A visitor from Mars  or even the East Coast  might think the intensity of Californias primary battle means the stakes are yuge, like deciding whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders becomes the Democratic nominee opposing Donald Trump.

Not that yuge. But Tuesdays results will be important in setting the tone for the seven weeks until the Democratic Convention, as well as at the convention itself.

Clinton will almost certainly clinch the nomination earlier that day by winning the New Jersey primary. The California result will probably either pad her delegate lead modestly or trim it slightly. Whichever happens, shell have a bigger margin in popular votes and pledged delegates over Sanders than Barack Obama had over her eight years ago.

And from a historical perspective, the significance of Tuesdays result is certainly questionable. Since Woodrow Wilsons 1912 loss to Champ Clark, many ultimate Democratic nominees have lost contested California primaries: Jimmy Carter (twice), Walter Mondale, Barack Obama.

Sanders has refused to concede his end is near.

I believe that if we do well here in California, well march in with momentum and well march out with the Democratic nomination, he said at a rally in Santa Monica.

Though thats unlikely, his persistence means a victory in California is the best way, and perhaps the only way, for Clinton to prevent the Vermont senator from damaging Democratic prospects by pressing that claim for another two months.

It would cement her majorities of elected delegates, popular votes and states contested. With no sign that superdelegates are weakening in supporting her, that would effectively end their contest, even if Sanders delays a formal endorsement.

On the other hand, a Sanders victory would doubtless encourage him to persevere, even if he loses any chance of winning a majority of pledged delegates. He suggested last week that intervening events, perhaps from the investigation into Clintons private email server, could yet convince those superdelegates to abandon her.

The State Department Inspector Generals report criticizing her use of that server is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates, are going to have that take a hard look at, Sanders said on CBS Face the Nation, adding, Everybody in America is keeping it in mind, and certainly the superdelegates are.

Sanders still hopes to win at least half of the states, and California may determine that. But its a meaningless statistic, given that many Sanders victories came in lower-turnout caucus states, one factor in Clintons overall 3 million vote majority. That quest may explain his failed effort to overturn Kentuckys slim Clinton victory.

So far, the Vermont senator has won 20 states, plus Democrats abroad, while Clinton has won 24, and Guam, Northern Marianas and American Samoa. Of six states remaining, Clinton is favored in New Jersey and California, while Sanders could easily win Montana, New Mexico and the two Dakotas. Primaries in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Island caucuses round out the schedule.

Some continued conflict between the two candidates seems inevitable, regardless of the California outcome. Sanders named two Platform Drafting Committee members who have strongly criticized Israels treatment of the Palestinians, though he said he expected a broad consensus on the issue.

And while Sanders has repeatedly said he will do everything possible to ensure Trumps defeat, he seemed to minimize his responsibility for persuading his youthful cadres to back the ultimate nominee.

If Secretary Clinton is the nominee, it is her job to reach out to millions of people and make the case as to why she is going to defend working families and the middle, provide health care for all people, take on Wall Street, deal aggressively with climate change, he said on NBCs Meet the Press. That is the candidates job to do.

He indicated one factor may be her running mate. He said he likes one favorite, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, very much, but added Democrats need a candidate who can excite working families, excite young people, bring them into the political process, create a large voter turnout.

Californias bottom line is simple: A Clinton victory will smooth the path to her inevitable nomination. A defeat will complicate  but not ultimately deter  it and delay the unity shell need to defeat Trump.
We were disappointed but certainly not shocked by Prestage Foods announcement late Thursday that it is no longer interested in building a state-of-the-art pork processing plant in Mason City.

Over the past weeks we listened and heard time and again the pros and cons, and in the end, we felt  and still do feel  that Mason City, North Iowa and Iowa would be able to handle all the challenges brought on by a $240 million project with the payoff of nearly 2,000 jobs.

So many facts had been distorted along the way, and thats why we had hope that a meeting Thursday morning could set the record straight and get the Prestage movement started again. But even with as little hope as we had after the surprise 3-3 City Council vote on May 3 dashed the project, we could have read a lot into the absence of Prestage officials at Thursdays meeting.

The confirming email came Thursday night.

Local officials thought as late as Thursday morning the deal could be salvaged, but the damage done  due in large part to misinformed acrimony  was too much to fix.

Prestage addressed the campaign against it Thursday night. Chief Operating Officer Jere Null said while the company appreciated the outpouring of support and efforts made on our behalf to secure support for our project, it is our belief that additional efforts are counterproductive to our company as well as Mason City.

It is clear to us that this project exposed deep divisions among the citizens of Mason City, he wrote.

Then, concerning the turmoil, Null said, Obviously, we did not adequately address the misinformation campaign that our opponents effectively used to influence public opinion. We will learn from this experience; we hope that Mason City will do the same.

We have little doubt Prestage will recover from this turn of events far faster than Mason City. Other communities began contacting the company almost as soon as the Mason City Council voted down the project.

Mason City, on the other hand, may feel this one for a long time.

The Prestage announcement followed comments by Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham who gave some clues about the challenges ahead for the region.

While the state, she said, will continue to direct firms to Mason City, the site selectors (mediators who help firms relocate) wont be as willing to forget.

Were not certain the Branstad administration wont hold a least a little bit of a grudge for how this played out, but we agree that the perception is poor at best. And were at the mercy of changing that perception.

Development officials were frank, for the first time, about ripple projects that were ready to follow Prestage to Mason City. They included natural gas, trucking and refrigeration companies to the tune of an additional $100 million.

Thats all gone now.

Before we reiterate what we still have to offer, here is a recap of our challenge:

School enrollment is declining, reducing the amount of state education funding coming to the district. On top of that the rate of increase in per-pupil funding from the state isnt keeping up with costs.

Unlike Iowas other metro areas, Cerro Gordo County hasnt recovered the jobs lost during the Great Recession. Total employment for the region has declined by the thousands.

The work force that remains is aging, and a significant portion will retire over the next 10 years.

If the trend continues, residents can expect tax hikes to maintain the status quo. In other words, Band-aids instead of beautification, survival instead of progress.

As we did after the May 3 vote, we reiterate that its essential to move ahead together.

Mason City remains an attractive site for industrial development. Were ideally located with easy access to outstanding highway and rail systems. We have industrial property ready or nearly ready for a variety of uses. Utilities shouldnt be a problem, either.

We have a downtown project in the works that will sparkle when, if all comes to fruition, a new ice arena/multipurpose center is built and busy, and the new Courtyard by Marriott joins the areas other fine motels and hotels along with the fabulous Park Inn Hotel across beautiful Central Park. We will have more and better retail opportunities. And we have quality-of-life attractions that continue to improve.

Altogether, the potential for Mason City and its neighbors in all directions remains high.

Our biggest challenge, then, is to do everything to prevent the perception that were closed for business.

It wont be easy. Negative talk will circulate in business circles, and only with vigorous recruitment efforts supported by entities throughout North Iowa can such talk be overcome.

The Prestage decision leaves many challenges and questions to be answered by community leaders. Frankly, we hope those leaders are willing to move ahead with unity and enthusiasm given the shellacking some of them took from some quarters. Because they will be the ones who must lead the movement forward to land other projects, big and small.

It can be done, as difficult as it may seem now. As much as we believed our community could handle the challenges of Prestage, we believe we can meet the next challenges that face us. It will take a unified effort by those who spoke passionately on both sides of the issue and who offered ideas for alternatives to the pork plant.

Now more than ever, their time and energy are needed and welcome.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., June 5, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - An existing cancer immunotherapy drug reduces tumor size in some types of rare connective tissue cancers, called sarcomas, report researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). Additional analyses of tumor biopsies and blood samples, which will help the researchers better understand which sarcoma subtypes will benefit most from the new treatment, are underway.

Interim results from the phase II clinical trial were presented today at the 52nd annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago by principal investigator Hussein Abdul-Hassan Tawbi, M.D., Ph.D., formerly of UPCI and current associate professor, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Sarcoma is a rare disease, encompassing less than 1 percent of adult cancers, and the available treatments are limited, so the need for new therapies is high, explained the current lead investigator for the Pittsburgh site, Melissa Burgess, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at UPCI.

"This is a pivotal trial for sarcoma, the first and largest trial to be conducted using this specific immunotherapeutic approach. What makes this trial special is that we collected biopsies and blood samples to really study how the treatment is working or not working in these patients. These immune monitoring studies will offer unique insights into the biology of immunotherapy in sarcoma," Dr. Burgess said.

Immunotherapies work by using a patient's own immune cells to target cancer cells. The new trial examined the safety and effect of pembrolizumab, which currently is approved for use in advanced melanoma and certain types of advanced lung cancer, on tumor size in four types of soft tissue sarcomas and three types of bone sarcomas.

UPCI, the first of 12 sites to enroll subjects, contributed approximately one quarter of the 80 total patients. Patients received the drug every three weeks. Tumor assessments began at eight weeks and were conducted every 12 weeks thereafter. The trial enrolled on a rolling basis, and is still in progress, so in these results, not all patients have received the drug for the same amount of time.

About 20 percent of patients in the combined soft tissue sarcoma group showed a reduction in tumor size during at least one time point. However, when the researchers looked at the sarcoma subtypes individually, they found one with especially promising results: 44 percent of patients with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma experienced a reduction in tumor size. Encouraging improvements in tumor size also were found in two subtypes of bone sarcomas, osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma, Dr. Burgess noted.

"Unfortunately, these early results suggest that there is limited efficacy of pembrolizumab in the patient population as a whole. However, it's promising that the drug seems to be beneficial in specific sarcoma subtypes. Our ongoing immune monitoring studies will allow us to better characterize the patients who will most benefit from this therapy for future clinical trials," said Dr. Burgess.

Funding for the trial was provided by Merck & Co., the maker of pembrolizumab, Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration, Sarcoma Foundation of America and QuadW Foundation. Funding for the ongoing studies was partially provided by local philanthropic support group Pittsburgh Cure Sarcoma.

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/06/prweb13464877.htm
DGAP-News: STADA Arzneimittel AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous STADA Arzneimittel AG: Change in leadership at STADA 05.06.2016 / 19:02 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change in leadership at STADA - Hartmut Retzlaff lays down office as Chief Executive Officer due to medical reasons. - Executive Board members Helmut Kraft and Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels jointly take over areas of responsibility previously overseen by the CEO - Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels initially appointed Chief Executive Officer Bad Vilbel, June 5, 2016 - The Supervisory Board of STADA Arzneimittel AG has decided on a change at the company's helm at an extraordinary meeting held today. Due to a serious, long-term illness, the previous Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Retzlaff has to lay down his office with immediate effect until further notice. His existing duties will be assumed by the Executive Board members Hartmut Kraft and Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels. Initially Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels has also been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. "Hartmut Retzlaff has shaped STADA. In his 23 years as CEO to date, he has successfully built and internationalized the company and diversified it unswervingly. STADA is now in better shape than ever. The fact that Mr. Retzlaff has been forced to lay down his office temporarily due to medical reasons comes as a surprise to us and saddens us deeply. But health has top priority. Together with all employees of STADA, the Supervisory Board wishes him a good and speedy recovery," said Dr. Martin Abend, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Helmut Kraft, who has been on the Executive Board since 2010 and is responsible for Finance, will also take charge of Marketing & Sales, Purchasing/Supply Chain Management as well as Research & Development. Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels, who has been the member of the Executive Board responsible for Corporate Development & Central Services since 2013, will also be in charge of Corporate Strategy, Corporate Communication as well as Production. Until further notice Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels will also take over as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Martin Abend stated about the appointment: "With Matthias Wiedenfels, an experienced, long-serving manager is initially taking over at the helm of the Executive Board. He has played an influential part in the group's positive development in the past years and he will consequently drive forward the initiated change for the benefit of the company. With that he stands for continuity as well as the ability to give the company the continuously necessary new impulses. We are sure that STADA will continue to develop exceptionally successful, not only because of a growth strategy that is acknowledged in the market and with highly motivated employees." Additional information for analysts: STADA Arzneimittel AG / Investor Relations / Stadastrae 2-18 / 61118 Bad Vilbel - Germany / Tel.: +49 (0) 6101 603-113 / Fax: +49 (0) 6101 603-215 / E-mail: ir@stada.de Additional information for journalists: STADA Arzneimittel AG / Media Relations / Stadastrae 2-18 / 61118 Bad Vilbel - Germany / Tel.: +49 (0) 6101 603-165 / Fax: +49 (0) 6101 603-215 / E-mail: press@stada.de Or visit us in the Internet at www.stada.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05.06.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: STADA Arzneimittel AG Stadastrae 2-18 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: +49 (0)6101 603- 113 Fax: +49 (0)6101 603- 506 E-mail: communications@stada.de Internet: www.stada.de ISIN: DE0007251803, DE0007251845, WKN: 725180, 725184, Indices: MDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart; Terminborse EUREX End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 469245 05.06.2016
Aarushi

MBA Consulting Team

PythaGURUS Education Signature Read More

Remember one thing while applying to ISB or even an international school: Lay a strong emphasis on your understanding of the school. Do not limit your application to perfect language and do not be very verbose in communicating your stories to them.We in India are used to taking tests such as CAT or even IITJEE and never did we have a requirement to write essays. As a result, we do not understand the importance of these stories. You will be surprised that we get too many enquiries for GMAT and MBA Applications( Yes I run a company called PythaGURUS Education: You can google us and see our admissions and applications description) and there are times the applicants from even the premium companies such as Bain/BCG/Mck plan their test dates 2-3 weeks before the MBA Deadlines. These applicants later get unpleasantly surprised to find out that 2 weeks are not sufficient enough to generate award winning essays. Imagine you are writing an essay on "Why this school?".I will share an article that I recently wrote, and yes ! It will help us further showcase our strengths in the MBA Applications...See belowMost Important Expression for a B - School : Why do I love you ?All of you will face a very important question stating  How will our school help you in your goals? or How will our school help you reach where you want to reach?.In this article, I wanted to reach out to you and bring up a better understanding of how focused you should appear while you are building your response to these questions. Any top tier MBA program will be very keen on learning more about your interests and knowing more about how they can add value to your profile. And I always use the analogy of Dating. Just as in any dating endeavours that you may have lived through, schools want the same personal attention of knowing why are they important enough for you and what parameters did you look at while making that decision.WE WILL LOOK AT: The three Varying Degrees (From worst to Best) of the response to Why do you want to pursue MBA from our school?WHOM DOES IT REFER TO?Existing Candidates: You are an existing candidate and are currently working on your school specific essays. This will help you in giving a Degree 3 expression mentioned below. You already have a good framework to follow for the first and second degree, and this will further create a very articulate expression.Prospective Candidates: If you are currently contemplating starting with us, and we have spoken on the recent past, this will probably help you in the thought process. I have already been sharing a lot of other emails around personal statement, class visits and other related chain of messages that may apply to your candidature as well.GMAT Test Takers: If you are considering GMAT, and are a part of our classroom program( or have enquired but are still contemplating), this will probably apply to you in the near future. But there is never a bad time to think about Why this particular school? .WHAT IS THE TOPIC?Worst to best case scenarios of approaching the question: Why do you want to come to our school?A lot of people spend enormous amount of energy on the schools website in learning more about the popularity of the program and the major accomplishments, and in final expression on the essay, they are essentially describing something that the admissions office is already aware of, and something that the admissions office designed in order to sell the school to you.i.e. They developed their elevator pitch to sell the school to you and the entire world. And you picked up the same pitch while describing Why is this particular school good for you?..... Just imagine the number of essays they will be passing through specially on weekends (YES ! A lot of admissions committee members love to go through the applications on the weekends as their day to day routine on a weekday does not allow them to lay keen attention to details on endless documents). And one after the other, they just read the same prose describing Why is Wharton an amazing school?Three Degrees of essays (Starting with the worst)Degree 1Worst Expression of Why Wharton is meant for you?  The worst expression responding to this essay question will involve statements containing all the superlatives from their website. As stated earlier, you will be talking about How Wharton is the greatest brand in the business community? How Wharton has an accomplished alumni? How the curriculum is the best in the industry? and the overall academia, teaching quality, and the overall IVY league stature of the university. While some of you may not like to agree, this may be the worst expression you can have while responding to Why do I want to join your school?. They asked for Why are we meant for you? and you told them Why are they the GREATEST school and why are they meant for everyone?. You lost that personal touch that should have contained an equation describing How Wharton will fit your goals and your aspirations, and how could you personally relate to Wharton?Degree 2The next degree( better than the one above but not the most suitable) is more specific around some of the target courses, clubs, and the teachers, and the other international projects, or practical engagements you get to work on. Essentially, the candidate is following the framework that covers- Everything Included in Degree 1PLUS ( Adding the following)- Some courses that the candidate is interested in: The school understands that you went through their website and wanted to introduce a personal touch.- Some clubs that you would like to be a part of: even though they had specialized essays on this one last year, you still ventured into explaining this in Why this school? essay.- Geographical preferences ( Being on the North East) + Proximity to New York ( For people planning a career in Finance or even consulting- The schools philosophy and how you could relate to it and made them realize you were meant to live with it.Degree 3The next degree in the entire sequence of seriousness includes a great emphasis on What measures you have taken to learn more about the school? What are the specific areas that can really help you in generating value in your profession and in your life?. Think about it this way: They are not just looking at a two year association: They are very interested in a life time relationship of getting you as very successful alum. What will make this expression most seriousDegree 1PLUS (Adding the following)Degree 2PLUS (Adding the following)- What measures did you take to learn about the school and your overall learning curve about them: Something that makes the admissions committee member value your statement: Do you know some schools have specific essays on What measures have you taken to learn more about the school?- These measures include but are not limited too Conversing with the alumni in India/International locations/current studentso Building the right elevator pitch to showcase your readiness for their program and asking smart questions. Smart questions are the ones that seek smart opinions and not address mere facts.o Finding time to network with the right people within your area of interest (Industry / Function).o Spending some extra money to make a trip to the target country and visit your target schools. It is not a bad idea of take a two week vacation and show the seriousness to your schools by visiting their campuses. Visiting their campuses does not mean you will be hanging out aloof in the school campus. A planned school visit essentially is your opportunity to interact with the key members of the school committee, and conduct informational interviews. It also gives the school an opportunity to display their strengths to you in action.While there is no SET FRAMEWORK for Degree 3 and the one used in Degree 2 just sets the foundation of this expression, the overall goal is to build up that maturity in the personal statement. And BY GOD! There is no doubt that with your attention to details on the points mentioned in Degree 3, and your perseverance, your tone , your expression and your overall reason for Why this school? takes the most meaningful turns. These small steps incrementally give such an amazing deviation from the monologue that you were planning to write initially (the one with sleeping pills for the admissions committee members)._________________
orange

that of Japan were instrumental in his development as a writer, informing his literary style as much as

that of

were

informing his literary style as much as

that of

was

and it informed his literary style as well as

was

informing both his literary style and

was

as it informed his literary style as much as

were

informing both his literary style in addition to

1. that of Japan / Japan ( parallelism )

2. was / were ( subject-verb agreement )

3. How they end ( modifiers/conjunctions )

Let's start with #1 on our list: that of Japan / Japan.

parallelism

Europe, China, and

that of Japan

Europe, China, and

that of Japan

Europe, China, and

Japan

Europe, China, and

Japan

Europe, China, and

Japan

We can rule out options A & B because "that of Japan" isn't worded the same way as the other two items on the list (Europe, China).

Now, let's move on to #2 on our list: was / were.

subject-verb agreement

singular

singular

was

was

were

We can rule out option E because it uses the plural verb "were" with a singular subject, which doesn't agree!

Now that we're left with only 2 options, let's move on to #3 on our list: how they end.

informing both his literary style and

CORRECT

as it

as much as

INCORRECT

at the same time

There you have it - option C is the right choice here!

Hello Everyone!Let's take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the right choice! Before we dive in, let's take a look at the original question and highlight any major differences between the options inRyunosuke Akutagawas knowledge of the literatures of Europe, China, andthe content of his fiction.(A)Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer,(B)Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer,(C) Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer,(D) Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer,(E) Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer,After a quick glance over the options, we have a few things we can focus on:This is an issue of! Let's take a look at each option, and determine which ones use parallel structure, and toss out the ones that don't:(A)were instrumental in his development as a writer, informing his literary style as much as(B)was instrumental in his development as a writer, and it informed his literary style as well as(C)was instrumental in his development as a writer, informing both his literary style and(D)was instrumental in his development as a writer, as it informed his literary style as much as(E)were instrumental in his development as a writer, informing both his literary style in addition toThis is an issue of! We know the subject of the sentence is "knowledge," which is asubject, and that means we need to use averb to match. Let's see which options use a singular verb, and toss out the ones that don't:(C) Europe, China, and Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer, informing both his literary style and(D) Europe, China, and Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer, as it informed his literary style as much as(E) Europe, China, and Japaninstrumental in his development as a writer, informing both his literary style in addition toWe need to make sure the ending makes sense, doesn't distort meaning, and is 100% clear for readers:(C) Europe, China, and Japan was instrumental in his development as a writer,This is! The modifier "informing both his literary style and..." is clearly modifying the subject "knowledge." It also follows the idiomatic structure "both X and Y" at the end when it says "both his literary style and the content of his fiction."(D) Europe, China, and Japan was instrumental in his development as a writer,informed his literary styleThis isbecause it's not written clearly. We have the pronoun "it," which could refer to knowledge or development. Vague pronouns are a major no-no on the GMAT! Also, the word "as" is a problem because it changes the meaning. This sentence is saying that Akutagawa's knowledge helped him develop as a writerthat it informed his literary style and the content of his fiction. This isn't true - he gained the knowledge first, and then it helped make him a better writer!It uses parallel structure, proper subject-verb agreement, and a clearly written modifier!Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it._________________
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The Democratic Governors Association has sent nearly two dozen payments to Gov. Steve Bullock and his campaign aides since 2013, including thousands of dollars paid to a current governors office staffer and a current Bullock cabinet member.

Two of those payments, totaling a little over $2,000, were sent directly to Bullock, who served separate yearlong stints as chairman of the Washington D.C.-based political advocacy group and head of its major donors program. The rest went toward travel, lodging and housing expenses paid to members of Bullocks inner circle.

"The DGA and the RGA both reimburse governors and staffers for travel to events and policy conferences," said Jared Leopold, communications director for the DGA. "Similarly, the Republican Attorneys General Association has reimbursed the Montana Attorney General for his travel to events. The reimbursements ... all fit that category."

Leopold did not answer questions about which specific events the Bullock staffers traveled to.

Bullock said through a spokeswoman that his staff "does not engage in political activity on state time."

He declined to respond to other questions posed by the Independent Record, as did each of the staffers and campaign aides who received a check from the DGA.

Leopold said the events to which the staffers traveled were "opportunities for governors to highlight their states to policy leaders from around the country."

The DGA is the sole financial backer behind a pair of PACs that accounted for more than half of all expenditures reported by state-registered political committees ahead of this weeks primary elections.

The group has also reported some $278,000 in payments sent to political vendors shared with the Bullock campaign.

Questions posed to the DGA about those vendors were referred to a Washington D.C.-based campaign finance attorney who said the group qualified as a "coordinated-side" political committee that can, unlike PACs which directly advertise to voters, legally coordinate campaign activities with Montana political candidates.

"The Federal Election Commission anticipates coordination between organizations on the 'coordinated side' and candidates," Leopold added. "This is how Donald Trump is able to work with the RNC, for example."

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl, Montana's top political regulator, wasn't so sure.

"If they are the functional equivalent of a political party committee, then nobody's asked me that question," Motl said. "The first thing I would do is say 'give me your bylaws.'

"I can't say if they are or aren't (a political party committee). It does sound like they've studied it and they believe they're OK."

Top aides paid

Tax filings submitted between May 2013 and December 2014 show the DGA sent at least one four-figure check to former top Bullock staffers Kevin O'Brien and Tim Burton, as well as current deputy chief of staff Ali Bovingdon.

State campaign filings show O'Brien, who went on to work for the DGA, served as Bullocks campaign treasurer from mid-2011 through the end of 2014, a period that saw the governors former deputy chief of staff receive almost $18,000 in payments from the DGA.

Bullock began a yearlong stint as head of the DGA just weeks ahead of OBriens exit, a stretch that saw the group send more than $1,900 in travel expenses to Montana Department of Commerce Director Meg O'Leary.

An archived version of the events calendar on the DGAs website shows the only event scheduled the month of OLearys reported travel payment was a policy conference in Puerto Rico.

The first-term governor also oversaw roughly $86,000 in payments made by the largely corporate- and union-funded group to Melanie Brock, his 2012 campaign finance director and a paid fundraising consultant for his re-election campaign.

DGA spokesman Leopold said Friday his group "works with consultants around the country," and said the payments to Brock did not represent any conflict.

Tax filings show that under Bullocks tenure, the DGA spent 292 percent more on Montana-bound travel, catering and in-kind expenses than it did under ex-chair and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Consulting payments sent to Brock accounted for 30 cents of every dollar the PAC spent in Montana during Bullocks chairmanship.

Leopold said the group, "like any business," pays its bills when the bills come in.

He did not answer questions about one such bill paid on a day Bullocks campaign treasurer and chief of staff -- along with a dozen former politicians, lobbyists, health care industry professionals and consultants -- were signed into the register at a shooting preserve near Moore, part of an apparent pen-raised pheasant hunt that took place on a Friday in September 2014.

That same day, a normal business day for most state workers, IRS tax filings show the DGA reported an $8,704 payment for in-kind facilities provided by the same shooting preserve in Moore.

DGA had no Montana events scheduled in September 2014, and none of its employees joined Bullocks staffers on that days register.

Less than a month later, the Bullock camp reported an undated in-kind contribution from the shooting preserve's owner, totaling more than $1,000 in "event costs, food and drinks.

Similar spending

Bullock has paid more than $211,000 to travel, media and consulting vendors shared with the DGA since the start of his re-election bid -- sometimes within days or hours of the group reporting expenses paid to vendors for the same or similar services.

Leopold stressed that sharing vendors between the campaign and the DGA was legal and to be expected.

In March, Bullock reported a $650 in-kind contribution for event, food and room rental services provided by Butte-based Headframe Spirits. Roughly a month later, the DGA reported cutting a $2,600 check for in-kind event services provided by the same distillery.

Another vendor shared by the two, Missoula-based charter air carrier Neptune Aviation Services, has received nearly $47,000 in payments for in-kind transportation services provided to the DGA over the past two years. The latest check cut to Neptune, for almost $26,000, was reported on the same day the Bullock campaign reported a roughly $4,400 payment to the same company.

Ten days later, Bullock reported a $13,333.34 research expenditure sent to a DGA-contracted polling firm. Eighteen days after that, the DGAs Montana branch sent a $13,333.33 payment to the same company for the same purpose.

Shared vendors

Such common campaign connections havent gone unnoticed in the past.

Some of the shared vendors listed on Bullocks re-election campaign reports, including fundraising consultant Brock, were named in a 2012 campaign complaint that alleged the governor illegally coordinated campaign activities with third-party groups that made independent expenditures supporting him through the same consulting firm.

But Motl, a Bullock appointee, found in his dismissal of the complaint that calls Bullock placed to a PAC-affiliated consulting firm did not qualify as evidence of coordination, because that firm had instituted a firewall separation between its candidate campaign and PAC activities.

Vendors shared by the governors re-election campaign and the DGA have not filed a similar firewall policy with state political regulators. The DGA says that is not necessary because shared vendors between DGA and campaigns are legal and unrestricted.

PACs make a splash

Bullocks past efforts to stanch the flow of undisclosed funds in Montana elections has become a major plank in his campaign platform, as well as a talking point for supporters who have criticized Republican challenger Greg Gianfortes March appearance at a PAC fundraiser in Washington, D.C.

Money supplied to such PACs by governors associations on both sides of the aisle has paid for much-discussed TV ads slamming the Bullock campaigns use of a state-funded airplane, as well as spots bashing Gianfortes tax plan.

Gianforte, who has sworn off PAC and party political committee contributions, has came under fire from political opponents for $150,000 he's given to the Republican Governors Association over the past four years. A spokesman for the GOP candidate called such criticisms a "false and desperate distraction," but did not directly answer questions about whether those donations were made in exchange for PAC-funded attack ads.

Editor's note -- This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of Leopold's first name and information about O'Brien's work history. It's also been updated to correct total expenses reported by the DGA the year Schweitzer led the organization.
DECATUR -- Bob Pickrel retired in 1999, but he didnt want to give up working.

He began searching for ways to be of use. He cleaned messes around Starbucks and volunteered at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Then he found Meals on Wheels. Pickrel, who in his 70s was older than many of the Meals recipients, began delivering one or two days a week. But soon, he was delivering all five.

I like to make sure, in my life, Im accomplishing something, said Pickrel, now 81. So, after I retired, I decided to would do volunteer work.

Growing up in Emerson, Iowa, Pickrel began working early, his job is the marker Pickrel uses when recalling his life. Much of it revolved around corn. He grew up on a farm and started working for Dekalb, a seed corn company that was bought by Monsanto in Pickrels final year.

During Pickrels 43-year career, he climbed the ladder, starting out as a crew leader, then an area man, then an inspector. Later he became an assistant manager, then a manager and finally the foundation manager.

Pickrel married and had three children. Through the years, the job took him several places, but he landed a manager job in 1978 in Decatur and stayed.

After divorcing his first wife, Pickrel met his second wife Melody and they married in 1991. She has two children, and together they have 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

"We met at a divorce support group," Melody said. "We went out to eat and we talked and hit it off. When you're older you don't want to date for six months and decide if you like each other or not. You kind of just say, 'Here it is.'

"We're blessed that our families love each of us and we love them. We don't have steps in our family."

A few years after Bob retired, Starbucks opened on Mound Road. The Pickrels were immediately hooked.

We really like Starbucks, Melody said. We started going there and Bob started noticing the messes people left. One day he came home and was telling me that he got the picker-upper thing and a little trash can and started cleaning up there in front of Starbucks, Papa Murphys and Verizon.

I was in Verizon one day and they started talking about the man with the yellow coat who picks up the trash, and I tell them thats my husband. The manager comes running out and says, We have to put him on the payroll. Whats his name. And I tell him, He doesnt want on the payroll.

But Bob would take the occasional pizza from Papa Murphys and cup of coffee from Starbucks.

All he drinks is black coffee, so when he would come in theyd say, Thats on us, Melody said. Then one day he came home and said he got a raise. I said, A raise? And he said, Yep, now I get my oatmeal cookie free, too. Theyd see him coming and have it all ready for him.

For several years, he worked weekends as a volunteer at DMH, taking patients to the exercise room.

Pickrel isnt sure how he chose Meals on Wheels as an activity, but one day he called the number and started showing up. After a few years, it grew to five days a week.

Someone quit and they couldnt find a replacement, so I just took it, Pickrel said.

Pickrel delivered five days a week for three years. The effects of Parkinsons Disease and bouts with skin cancer have slowed him down, but he still delivers Route 12, near the lake on the Decatur side, four days a week.

Hes faithful -- oh my gosh hes faithful, Melody said, laughing.

But hes also giving. Bob made good money at Monsanto, the reason he turns down money for jobs when offered. And when a woman on his Meals route had a hole in her ceiling, Bob was able to find contractors to fix it. Bob had planned on paying for it, but the contractors ended up volunteering to do it for free.

He has a gracious heart and he likes to do things for others, Melody said. He believes hes doing the Lords work.
DECATUR  The passage of time, not to mention Saturday's rain, kept attendance at a Webster-Cantrell Hall reunion well below the total possible for a child welfare agency that has been serving the the community for 100 years.

Yet for the former staff and residents who did turn out, reuniting with friends who once felt like family was sweet indeed.

It hadn't even been that long since Gwen Muex and Trea Johnson had seen each other because they have worshiped together for 23 years, ever since Muex, then a child care worker at Webster-Cantrell, began taking Johnson, one of her charges, to Kingdom Come Ministries with her.

Even so, Johnson still gave her beloved mentor a bouquet of roses.

I was suicidal at times, but Gwen, you took time to talk to me and let me know I was somebody, she said. You also taught me about God and prayed for me. I wouldn't be here without you.

Johnson, a certified nursing assistant, was one of several speakers who paid tribute to the agency during a Friday evening open house at Webster-Cantrell's headquarters at 1942 E. Cantrell St. followed by a Saturday cookout that was relocated from Nelson Park back to the main building because of weather.

Purchased originally in 1921 as a boys opportunity home by the former Cantrell Hall, the facility today provides residential services to 26 teenage boys following a merger in 1974 with the former Webster Hall for girls, which got its start in 1916. Services for up to eight girls, meanwhile, have been provided since 2011 at 2749 Norwood Ave.

Foster care and counseling for children and adults are among other services offered.

Martin Harris, executive director since January of last year, welcomed current and former staff and residents Friday and thanked each for coming.

It's my understanding this is the first time our alumni have come together, Harris said. Hopefully, we can organize a formal alumni association, both in terms of our clients and our staff, but know this: You are always welcome here.

Johnson, 36, was among a handful of former residents in attendance who spent the 1993-94 school year either in the girls unit of Webster-Cantrell Hall or in the agency's group home.

One was Demetra Jackson, 37, a middle school counselor in Memphis, Tenn., and another was Lisa Frazee, 39, of Decatur, who works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' outpatient clinic in Decatur.

Frazee said it meant a lot to her to see Linda Anderson, former supervisor of the agency's emergency shelter, and old photographs of her roommates from the group home, who were like brothers and sisters to her.

She said a particularly meaningful experience was traveling to Southern Illinois in 1993 under the leadership of Kevin Otis, former fund development director, and his wife, Kevin Morrison-Otis, former clinical director, to pack sandbags to help hold back a flooding Mississippi River.

We were hurting kids, but Webster-Cantrell Hall did not make us feel like victims and gave us the opportunity to give back to others, Frazee said.

Among those who stopped by Saturday was Robin Crowe, a former executive director who retired in 2015 after nearly 40 years with the agency.

It's always good to see kids coming back happy and successful, he said.

Other alumni included Brianna Rickman, 21, of Decatur who stayed at Webster-Cantrell Hall about eight years ago, and Michael Johnson, 34, of Indianapolis, who stayed from 1994 to 1999. She is a single mom working at McDonald's, while he works at a Walmart distribution center.

Among staff members greeting them was Lillie Rainey, lead case assistant in foster care, who said during her remarks Friday she had a lot of fun with Demetra Jackson and others during her time working in residential care.

I call Dee Dee my baby because I felt really close to her, Rainey said. When she put me out of her room, I guess I didn't know any better, because I went back again and would still talk to her.

I remember that night she was going to leave, and we sat on that bed and we cried and we talked.

I never realized she was actually listening to me.
DECATUR  There is a rising tide of heroin use throughout the nation, leaving in its wake destroyed lives and grieving families.

We have seen a major increase in the incidence of deaths related to heroin the last two years, including this year, said Macon County Coroner Michael E. Day, who is called to the scene of fatal overdoses whenever they occur. There seems to be no common thread in these circumstances. Heroin is reaching across all demographics of our county's population. We are seeing victims in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, all the way into their 60s and even late 70s.

At a recent coroners' seminar, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents said that this is a dramatic trend that encompasses every state.

A lot of people are experimenting with this, Day said. Some are moving over from other street drugs that have become more expensive. Others were abusing prescription drugs and have had their prescription drugs terminated by their doctors. If they have an addiction to those drugs, they have no other way to satisfy their addiction. Heroin is used quite often as a substitute for those substances that people have previously used.

One of the factors driving people to heroin is its cost, a bargain compared to many other street and prescription drugs.

This drug is dirt cheap, Day said. Heroin is often more potent than some of these other drugs. Here many of the people selling heroin know little about cutting the drug, to cut its potency. Without diluting it down, sometimes people are ingesting pure heroin. That can be lethal almost instantaneously.

Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott said the cost of addiction includes the fallout from many other crimes that addicts commit to obtain heroin, including robberies, burglaries and shoplifting.

We used to see heroin occasionally, now we see people getting arrested on a weekly basis, Scott said. It has taken over in different areas. Also a lot of people have gotten into it because of prescription medication, taken after surgery.

Possession of heroin, listed as a controlled substance along with other illicit drugs such as cocaine, is charged as a felony. Convictions for felonies carry severe consequences, including loss of employment opportunities.

Scott commended the local first responders who are saving lives by administering naloxone, also known as narcan, to those who suffer overdoses.

We don't want to lock people up, Scott said. We'd rather treat their addicitions and get them off of it. And we don't want to see them overdose.

To prevent overdose fatalities, Illinois legislators passed a Good Samaritan law in 2012, which provides some immunity from prosecution for those who report that someone is suffering from an overdose. Victims are also shielded from some of the possible charges under this law, if they report their own emergency.

Chad Ramey, one of the most senior members of the Decatur Police Street Crimes Unit, said the first heroin case he saw was about 14 years ago, three years after he was assigned to investigate narcotics cases. He said there was a small increase in cases a few years later, but the big surge began in 2011.

Known drug dealers were switching over to selling heroin instead of cocaine, Ramey said. Some will sell both. Usually, it's one or the other. There's been a decrease in cocaine. It's harder to get large quantities than it used to be.

The majority of heroin in the nation comes in from Mexico, Ramey said.

There's an overall abundance nationwide as well as potential abusers, partly because of opiate prescription addictions, Ramey said.

One of the major distribution points for heroin smuggled into the United States is Chicago.

Chicago is a large source city for any narcotics, Ramey said.

There are individuals who have moved to Decatur within the past decade who have been influential in flooding the city with heroin, a major factor in its rise here. One of those heroin dealers, who bragged at his recent trial that he was bringing down $20,000 worth of heroin from Chicago on a weekly basis, is serving life in prison for first-degree murder.

Almost all of the heroin used in Decatur is known as brown heroin. It has an off-white color, like gravel.

Most users start off on cannabis, Ramey said. They're usually starting on heroin in their early 20s. We are seeing some kids using it at 17 or 18 years old. They can get started by drug dealers, but a lot of times it's their associates and their friends.

Although many people consider marijuana as a harmless substance, Miller said he sees it as a gateway to the more serious drugs.

One of the main factors causing the heroin overdose deaths is the strength of the product that is being routinely peddled throughout the nation.

Before it was 5 or 10 percent heroin; now it's 80 or 90 percent heroin, Miller said.

Nearly 100 percent of the heroin in the United States is made in Mexico, Butts said. You don't know what's in it. You are playing Russian roulette with your life when you take it.
Editor's note: This is day one of a four-day series that examines the impact heroin is having on the community through the eyes of the addicts, their families, law enforcement and the groups that provide treatment.

DECATUR  Eric Buntain described the feeling of injecting heroin into his vein as warm, euphoric, comfortable and relaxing: It feels great.

About 30 seconds after injecting heroin, theres a surge of warmth coming from the low spinal area, a rush of sensation and an overriding sense of well-being.

Its like nothing else Ive ever felt, Buntain said. It just washes over you.

Buntain never wants that feeling again.

Thats because after five to 10 days of use, the urge to use the drug switches from a desire to feel good to a need to keep from feeling bad.

You get addicted quickly, and you build a tolerance, said Troy Pulliam, a former heroin addict and current Heritage Behavioral Health Center Drug Court recovery specialist. After that, the high is pretty much gone, and youre only using it so you dont get sick.

Users call it being drug sick, with symptoms of sleeplessness, excessive tearing of the eyes, yawning, muscle aches, joint pain, spasms, goosebumps, stomach cramps, hyperventilation, hypothermia, excessive pupil dilation, inability to focus, vomiting, diarrhea, hot and cold flashes, anxiety and hostile behavior. Withdrawal symptoms are the flu multiplied by 10.

To describe that  you almost just have to experience it yourself, said Buntain, whos now in long-term recovery. Its the worst feeling in the world. Your legs feel like theres something crawling inside them, you cant lay still, youre sick to your stomach, one minute youre sweating and the next minute youre freezing and your brain will not stop. All you can think is, Get me well. Get me well, and you know all it will take is one shot to do that instantly.

Heroin on rise

It's likely anyone reading this sentence has heard of heroin. It conjures up various images: needles and spoons; a disheveled man in dirty clothes nodding off; plunging a needle in Uma Thurmans heart in Pulp Fiction.

Heroin has been in the United States since 1898, 24 years after it was invented by British chemist C.R. Alder Wright. Its popularity has ebbed and flowed but has recently hit an all-time high.

According to statistics released by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, the number of past-year heroin users increased from 373,000 in 2007 to 914,000 in 2014. The same report estimates the amount of pure heroin produced in Mexico went up to 70 metric tons in 2015, a 67 percent increase over 2014, and a 169 percent increase over 2013. Nearly all Mexican heroin is targeted at the U.S., and most of the heroin in the U.S. comes from Mexico.

Because of Decaturs close proximity to St. Louis and Chicago, its been hit particularly hard, said Michael Reeves, a counselor at HSHS St. Marys Behavioral Health.

Its everywhere in Decatur, but not just in Decatur. It's in the small towns in Macon County, too, Reeves said. Weve seen a big jump in it here the last five years and especially the last two or three years.



Heroin's history

When heroin came to the U.S., it was a legal and sold over-the-counter in drugstores.

According to the book Heroin: Its History, Pharmacology, and Treatment, by Humberto Fendandez and Dr. Therissa A. Libby, heroin was first produced and sold in the U.S. by Bayer, the same company that later struck it rich with aspirin.

Diacetylmorphine, a substance made by boiling morphine with acetic anhydride, was marketed under the trademark name Heroin. It was sold as a nonaddictive cough suppressant that also was effective in treating chest pain, pneumonia and tuberculosis. It was available in liquid or powder form and was thought to be especially effective for children.

By 1913, as addiction and overdoses began to pile up, Bayer got out of the heroin business. The next year, the Harrison Act was passed, requiring doctors and pharmacists who prescribed narcotics to register and pay a tax. In 1924, the Heroin Act made the manufacture and possession of heroin illegal.

Heroin, like all opiates, is derived from the seed bulbs of opium poppy plants. Cultures have been using opium as far back as the Sumerians in 3300 BC. Today, there are natural opiates, such as codeine and morphine, semisynthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Thats just a sample. There are hundreds of types of opioids.

But heroin, unlike the majority of available opioids, is much cheaper because its not made by prescription drug companies.

Grown on remote mountain hillsides in Colombia, Myanmar, Mexico, Thailand, Laos, Afghanistan and Pakistan, poppy plants are harvested twice a year. Sap from the seed bulb is scraped and collected in burlap bags, which are taken to clandestine chemical processing plants, where, under the supervision of a chemist, the raw opium is transformed to pure morphine, then heroin.

Use is cyclical

After becoming illegal, heroin emerged on the black market in 1933, following the repeal of Prohibition. Needing a way to make up for lost revenue, organized crime turned to heroin. Prior to that, heroin was more of a middle-class housewifes addiction. As it flooded the streets, lower-class men of all races became hooked.

Responding to the growing problem, President Herbert Hoover created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. During Harry Anslingers 32 years as director of that organization, the addict population in the U.S. dropped from more than 200,000 at its peak to 20,000 in 1945. Increased port security during the war also helped curtail importation.

Heroin use in the U.S. remained low for the next couple of decades, but during the Vietnam conflict, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, high-quality heroin from the Golden Triangle (the area where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have common borders) began making its way to American and Australian soldiers in South Vietnam. After the U.S. withdrew, the Golden Triangle labs began exporting directly to the U.S.

Since then, use in the U.S. has been cyclical, rising then waning in favor of other drugs such as crack cocaine, crystal meth, MDMA and, more recently, prescription opioids.

A crackdown on prescription painkillers has led to the heroin boom in the U.S. in the past decade, but the movement toward legal and decriminalized marijuana possession and growth also has played a role.

According to a Jan. 11, 2015 story in the Washington Post, the higher-quality marijuana being grown in the western part of the U.S. is displacing the cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested in Mexicos Sierra Madre mountains. In turn, Mexican drug farmers have planted more opium poppies, and the heroin they produce is channeled by the Mexican drug cartel's traffickers  the infrastructure is already there  into the U.S., offering addicts a much cheaper alternative to suddenly expensive oxycodone.

Hits all demographics

Until recently, the heroin from Mexico was called black tar heroin, considered substandard to heroin produced in Afghanistan, still the largest producer in the world. But thats changed. Now Mexican heroin is pure, up to eight times more pure than it was up until a decade ago.

It used to be some people would snort it, but most would use a needle, said Bruce Angleman, Heritage division manager for addictions and criminal justice services. And for a lot of people, there was this line people wouldnt cross  'I wont inject because Im not a junkie.'

But now, with the potency so strong, people who are snorting it can get pretty high and get a habit pretty quick. And once they have a habit, its usually just a matter of time before they start injecting it.

And while the heroin made now is more potent, the price hasnt gone up. A novice can get high for $10 to $20.

Its super cheap, its easy to find because there's so much of it out there, and its pure, Reeves said.

It used to be that heroin would be cut, meaning it was mixed with a variety of ingredients including sugar, starch, powdered milk and talcum powder, to increase quantity. Manufacturers still cut it, but now are often using black market fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, to boost the strength because of the competitiveness of the market. Thats leading to more overdoses. According to the American Association of Medicine, there were 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014.

It also used to be that heroin was associated with poor black communities, but according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its use is rising fastest in white suburban communities.

It cuts across all demographics, St. Marys Behavioral Health counselor David Vail said. Its everybody and its everywhere.
MATTOON  Tom Thoele returned from his U.S. Navy service in the Korean War with no fanfare and went straight back to work on the farm.

"There was no parade. No welcome home. No nothing," said Thoele of Mattoon, who served as a machinist mate 2nd class on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer.

With this memory in mind, Thoele said he was amazed by the reception that he and his fellow veterans received May 18 when they returned from a trip with the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight program to see the military and war memorials in Washington.

Thoele said more than a thousand supporters, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, turned out to cheer for the veterans and shake their hands at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. Thoele was accompanied on the Honor Flight by his son, Eric, and saw his other three children and many of his grandchildren cheering him on in the crowd.

"That was emotional, seeing my family there," Thoele said. "That took a lot of work on (the Honor Flight's) part to get all those people together."

The Honor Flight program is a nationwide network dedicated to providing veterans with a free trip to Washington to visit memorials honoring their service and sacrifice.

In Illinois, the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight and Greater Peoria Honor Flight nonprofit groups organize trips to the nation's capital and provide volunteer guardians as needed to accompany the veterans on their flights.

Cheryl Grose of Mattoon, an Air Force veteran, said she was honored to be asked by her longtime friend, World War II Coast Guard veteran Marion Howard of Bloomington, to serve as her guardian during a May 3 trip with the Greater Peoria Honor Flight.

"It was really a trip of a lifetime," Grose said. "Basically, they treated all the veterans like royalty."

These recent trips each began with a dinner for veterans and supporters the night before the flights.

Grose said Howard was joined at dinner by Coast Guard Lt. Eric Neussl, who visited with the World War II veteran and presented her with a letter from the Coast Guard honoring her service.

The veterans flew out early the next morning to Washington, where they were greeted at the airport by a large group of well-wishers. These World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans then headed out for tours of their memorials and other points of interest. This was the first visit for Howard and Thoele to the memorials in Washington.

Grose said Howard, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was impressed by the architectural design of the World War II memorial and glad to see it include 56 pillars representing each of the U.S. states and territories at the time of the war.

The tours included stops at Arlington National Cemetery, where participants watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Thoele said he was emotionally moved by the ceremony and awed by the large size of the cemetery.

On their flights home, a "mail call" was held for the veterans. Each of them received a packet full of cards from family, friends and other well-wishers. More than a thousand supporters were waiting to greet the veterans when they returned to the airports in Peoria and Springfield.

Thoele said his day on the Honor Flight lasted from his departure at 4:30 a.m. to his return at 9 p.m., but he never minded the length of this day.

"There was a lot of adrenaline though. I did not get tired during the day," Thoele said. "Without a doubt, it's worth it."

More information about the Honor Flight program and upcoming flights is available by going online to www.landoflincolnhonorflight.org or www.greaterpeoriahonorflight.org/, or by calling Greater Peoria Honor Flight at (309) 397-6975.
CLINTON  The sadness that Clinton is experiencing can be mitigated when people talk with each other.

That was a message from the mental health community on Friday, the day after Exelon Corp. announced that it would close the Clinton nuclear power plant, DeWitt County's largest employer.

"There is sadness, concern about the impact it will have on the community, anger and anxiety," Sharon Mills, administrator of the DeWitt County 708 Community Mental Health Board, said of community reaction to the announcement.

"This is an acute issue for Clinton," said Dave Bowman, a licensed clinical professional counselor with Cornerstone Counseling Services LLC in Clinton. "It (the power station) is a huge employer. We're talking about peoples' livelihoods, retirement plans and futures."

Exelon plans to shut the plant on June 1, 2017. The power station has 700 full-time employees and about 100 contract workers, communications manager Brett Nauman said.

"While the news is shocking, this is not something that has come out of the blue," Nauman said. "We've been talking with employees about this for the past two years."

When the state legislature failed to act to extend carbon-free electricity subsidies to nuclear power plants, such as are given to wind and solar power, before adjourning, Exelon made its announcement. Talks on the legislation continue.

"This is something that has been talked about for a long time," Nauman said. "That doesn't make it any easier for employees."

"Exelon has said that it will have jobs for all of us," Nauman said. But that will involve relocating. Exelon has several other nuclear power stations, including four others in Illinois that will remain open, but the closest is the LaSalle County station, which about two hours north of the Clinton plant.

Exelon human resources professionals were on site at the Clinton plant on Thursday and Friday and will remain this week to discuss individual employee questions, including relocation, severance and retirement, Nauman said.

Employee Assistance Program representatives also were on hand for confidential meetings to discuss services, he said.

Employees, their families and others will be experiencing a variety of emotions in the coming months.

"People will be experiencing stress, anxiety, anger and frustration," Mills said. "That is to be expected with news of this type.

"I would encourage people to talk with others about this so they are not keeping it inside," she said. "Seek professional assistance if needed."

Mills also encouraged people to keep in contact with their legislators regarding efforts to keep the plant open.

"But people should plan for what's been reported at this point," she said.

When people lose their jobs, they sometimes lose self-esteem and question their qualifications for other jobs, which results in family tension, conflict and substance abuse, Bowman said.

If a family member is becoming increasingly irritable, has difficulty sleeping, changes eating habits and/or stops engaging in formerly enjoyed activities, talk with them, listen to them and suggest that they visit their doctor or a mental health professional.

As to children, "they understand more than we give them credit for," Bowman said. "It's OK to say there are problems, it's a challenge for us as a family but then invite them to talk about it. Listen and accept what they say whether it makes sense or not.

"Keep the family as close as possible."
We need to ease up on parents a bit.

We are altogether too tough on parents and parents on too tough on themselves.

Of course, this is leading to the four-year old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. One of the zoos gorillas took an interest in the boy, grabbed him and drug him around the exhibit and refused to follow the orders of his keepers. In order to keep the boy safe, zoo keepers shot and killed the gorilla.

Thats incredibly unfortunate and tragic, but undoubtedly the right decision. The 420-pound gorilla could have harmed or killed the boy. A tranquilizer dart would have taken several minutes to work and may have enraged the gorilla. When the choice is between a small boy and a gorilla, the only choice is to destroy the gorilla.

The mother of the boy has been vilified, mostly on social media. The public pressure got so bad that local law enforcement authorities launched an investigation, after saying that they wouldnt. A decision on charges is expected any day.

Most of the people commenting, including me, werent there that day. They dont know if the mother was watching her son closely, or if she wasnt paying any attention.

But Ive known my share of four-year-olds and they are universally curious and know no fear. A small child like this can slip away from even the most vigilant parent. The gorilla exhibit at the zoo has had the same safety barriers for 35 years and this is the first time any human has fallen into the enclosure. Folks, strange things happen each and every day that may well never happen again. Its called life.

Parents come in for a lot of criticism these days, a lot of it from folks who have a lot to say but little practical experience.

The term "helicopter parents, has been adopted in recent years. It depicts parents that are always hovering and are overly worried about their children, even when the kids should be standing up for themselves. A few months ago I heard a Mom ask a local store owner if they were hiring any college students for part-time work. The student was standing right there and should have been the one doing the asking. Although my judgment was instant, later I thought that maybe the Mother was teaching her reserved son that asking isnt that difficult.

But at the same time that many criticize parents for "hovering, let a child slip away for a few moments and the parents are criticized for not paying enough attention. Parents cant win.

Its also affecting parents. I hear a lot of parents worry about how they are doing, whether they are doing whats best for their children. Worrying is the natural state of being a parent, but parents seem more conflicted and concerned than ever. Im not condoning that parents become indifferent and certainly not abusive, but give yourselves a break. If youre worrying a little bit about being a good parent, chances are youre doing a good job.

For the rest of us, it might be wise to hold back our criticism until we have time to consider all the circumstances.
A photo that has made the rounds on the internet illustrates how many men view health issues.
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By 1947, in the interest of consolidating operating costs, executives at the two competing newspapers began discussing the possibility of forming a third corporation that would be owned 50/50 by both newspaper companies. On November 15, 1948, after months of negotiations, Madison Newspapers Inc. was born, with the Wisconsin State Journal agreeing to become the morning and Sunday newspaper and The Capital Times taking the more desirable (at the time) afternoon slot Monday through Saturday. Despite sharing the same building and printing facilities, the two newsrooms operate independently of each other and the newspapers remain spirited rivals to this day. In the mid-1990s, Madison Newspapers joined the Internet revolution with the birth of madison.com. The online embodiment of the city of Madison itself, madison.com features local news, forums, Community Pages and hosts the Web sites of the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times. madison.com has grown into the #1 local Web site in Wisconsin's Capital Region, and one of the leading newspaper Web sites in the entire country.

Madison Media Partners made the first of two major acquisitions in 2000, purchasing Central Wisconsin Newspapers and its host of publications, including the Baraboo News Republic and the Portage Daily Register.

In the spring of 2002, Madison Media Partners purchased Citizen Newspaper Group (a division of Conley Publishing), acquiring the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen and a number of other publications. A new Web site, WiscNews.com, was founded to serve as a portal to the many Madison Newspapers publications located outside the metropolitan Madison area.

The company's most recent change - and one of its most important - took place on April 26, 2008, when The Capital Times published its last daily print edition and became one of the first American daily newspapers to go primarily online. The Capital Times now consists of two separate, interrelated products. The main continuation of The Capital Times is its Web site, captimes.com, which continues the tradition of local, progressive, timely, hard-hitting journalism started by William T. Evjue over 90 years ago. Secondly, a new magazine-style print edition, The Cap Times, features in-depth local news and progressive commentary every Wednesday and is distributed with the Wisconsin State Journal and free via racks around town.

At the present time, Madison Media Partners publishes more than 30 newspapers, shoppers, specialty publications and Web sites blanketing a 17-county market area that is home to more than one million people in South Central Wisconsin. Additionally, Madison Media Partners offers the Wingra Community Press for commercial printing that responds to the needs of publishers, businesses, and institutions' needs for quality printed materials.
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Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. dzweifel@madison.com and on Twitter @DaveZweifel
Comfort foods dont have to be packed with butter to feel like a treat. These healthy comfort food recipes prove you can have your cake and ea
MADISON / BELLEVILLE - Alphonse Francis Gion, age 96, passed away on May 26, 2016, at Agrace HospiceCare in Fitchburg, Wis.

Alphonse was born on Sunday, 6 a.m., April 25, 1920, on the homestead farm of his parents, Michael and Margaret (Kilzer) Gion near Regent, N.D. At age six he began his education at Cherry Butte consolidated school a few miles from the farm. Upon graduation in 1933, he attended Assumption Abbey, a monastery/seminary high school at Richardton, N.D. Upon completion he chose not to become a monk, but returned to the farm until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in February 1942.

Soon after completing basic training he was selected to attend Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Okla., from which he was commissioned in October 1942. Having a German language skill, he was sent to Military Intelligence School, Camp Ritchie, Md., where he completed a course in Prisoner of War Interrogation and German Order of Battle. He was then assigned to a post in England where he completed parachute training in preparation for service as commanding officer of a prisoner of war interrogation unit with the 101st Airborne Division in the Normandy (D-Day) Invasion and later the Holland invasion and the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne.

Upon separation from the service in January 1946 he completed studies at UW-Madison for a B.A. degree in political science. On Sept. 17, 1949, he spoke marriage vows with Rosemary Doyle of Belleville, Wis. He was recalled to active duty in June 1950 accompanied by his bride to do duty at the Army Intelligence School at Fort Riley, Kan. It was there that their first son, Brendan Michael, was born on July 25, 1952. Soon thereafter, Captain Gion accompanied by Rosemary and Brendan was assigned to serve as Executive Officer of a Strategic Intelligence Unit at 7th Army Headquarters near Stuttgart, Germany.

After completion of his tour of duty in July 1954 he returned to UW-Madison to complete his M.A. degree. Subsequently, he served in various operational and administrative roles with the Wisconsin State and federal public programs for the furtherance of civil rights and equal opportunity. A second son, Gregory Gaffney, was born to the Gions on Oct. 14, 1956, at Madison.

Mr. Gion remained active in the reserves until 1974 when he retired with the rank of Colonel. He retired from the federal civil service in June 1979 and returned from Chicago to Madison, Rosemary's and his favorite spot. For many years they engaged in favorite hobbies and most of all in caregiving to Rosemary's mother, Rose (Gaffney) Doyle, and their son, Brendan, who has multiple sclerosis.

Alphonse was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Rosemary (Doyle) Gion; brothers, Joseph, Victor and August; and sisters, Anna (Joseph) Link, Hilda (Robert) Martin and Helen (Jerry) Colling. He is survived by sons, Brendan and Gregory, wife Therese (Cronin) Gion, grandchildren Alexander and Anna; as well as his sisters, Ethel Gion of Madison and Hermine (Lee) Martin of Denver.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, at ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CATHOLIC CHURCH, 338 S. Harrison St., Belleville, Wis., with the Rev. Michael Moon officiating with committal of cremains in the St. James Cemetery. Visitation will precede the Mass from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CATHOLIC CHURCH in Belleville.

The Becker-Beal Funeral Home of Belleville is assisting the family.

An online memorial with guestbook is available at www.bealfuneralhomes.com.
Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

The Republican co-chair of the Legislatures budget committee intimated last week that its not very conservative Republican-like to overload the states credit card to pay for road construction  which is true (at least in theory).

Its also not very conservative Republican to raise taxes, though. Nor has it been very conservative Republican to support alternative modes of transport  say, high-speed rail  and limits on fossil fuel use that might mitigate the need for borrowing or hiking taxes to pay for roads in the first place.

Looks like conservative Republicanism might be of little help to the conservative Republicans who control the levers of power in Wisconsin and are faced with finding a way to shore up funding for state roads, 71 percent of which have been deemed in poor or mediocre condition by federal transportation officials.

In a statement, budget committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said hed never seen a conservative platform against mass transit or other forms. I think where most conservatives draw the line is whether or not it should be subsidized with taxpayer dollars.

Conservatives including me tend to support all-of-the-above options of oil, coal, natural gas, etc., he continued, but until we have a real alternative to gas-powered transportation, is it even a relevant discussion when discussing road funding?

Nygren left the door open Thursday to raising taxes or fees to pay for roads, as did Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. In fact, Vos chastised the Republican-appointed state transportation secretary for saying he would not ask for any major new road funding in the 2017-19 budget. Vos suggested the secretary take a look at a 2013 bipartisan report that offers a range of options for raising money for roads.

Thats a bit of a turn-around given that when the report was released, Vos and the then-Assembly majority leader issued a statement saying, We will not support raising the gas tax or instituting mileage-based registration fees as a means to fund our roads.

Vos office did not respond to messages seeking comment on whether hes changed his position, or on whether he supports some options for increasing revenues, but not others.

Wisconsin wouldnt be too far out of line in forcing drivers to pay more for the privilege of having enough non-crumbling asphalt and concrete surfaces to drive upon.

The states registration and title fees are maybe a little higher than those in the four states it shares a border with, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Using figures from the American Petroleum Institute, the Tax Foundation ranked Wisconsin as 15th highest among the states in state gas taxes. But that still means Wisconsin has lower state gas taxes than Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Wisconsin is also a toll-free island in a sea of toll-road states, such as Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio, according to the NCSL.

With the exception of a meaningless five-and-a-half-month span in 2012 when Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans have had full control of the Legislature and governors office for five years now.

And yet theyve still not been able to coalesce around anything but massive borrowing as a solution for closing a long-running shortfall in state road funding.

Contrast that to the time its taken for top party officials to coalesce around a certain New York billionaire and reality TV star formerly despised by the partys establishment and known for his conservative Republicanism about as much as for his honesty, reserve and compassion for Latinos. First Gov. Scott Walker got on board the Trump train, then Janesville native and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan.

On Friday, Republican state party spokesman Pat Garrett said in a statement that our state party constitution has no mechanism for an official endorsement but there is no question we are working to elect Donald Trump just as we were Mitt Romney in 2012.

I guess party unity in the name of winning elections trumps (so to speak) party unity in the name of decent roads.
Madison police said they are investigating a robbery and gunshot reported Sunday morning on Madison's East Side.

Officers were called to the 4400 block of East Buckeye Road around 10:40 a.m. on Sunday for a report of a gunshot being fired in the area and learned it was related to a robbery, according to the Madison Police Department.

The suspect fled on foot, according to police, after the incident took place inside a vehicle. Police said the robbery and gunshot were not random and may be related to drugs. No injuries have been reported.
The Wisconsin State Journal has been following a diverse group of homeless individuals, some for nine months. Readers have learned about their challenges and watch as their lives unfold.

Here is an introduction to some of them.

"I can find a place to live in Chicago. What I can't find there is a job. The economy is messed up. Here, I found a job after just two weeks, but there's nowhere to live. No landlord will give us a chance."

 Alicia Turner, 25, with her sons K'won and Amir, on March 3 at the Salvation Army homeless shelter in Madison

Six-year-old K'won enrolled in kindergarten at Hawthorne Elementary School in October after his mother moved to Madison for better job prospects and to flee gun violence in Chicago. He became one of the hundreds of homeless students attending the Madison School District each year.

"A lot of homeless people don't want to get off the street. I do. I'm getting tired of it. I'm working hard to find a job. I have a lot of skills to offer an employer. I've had jobs where I've managed 30 people."

 John Haines, 56, on Feb. 22 at the Bethel Day Center, where he was volunteering as a cook to bolster his resume

While hitchhiking from eastern Wisconsin to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in November of 2015 to visit his mother, Haines suffered a heart attack, his fourth, near Madison and landed at UW Hospital. After his release, he began sleeping with all of his possessions in front of the U.S. Bank Plaza in Downtown Madison.

"I didn't have a place. I was thinking day to day. I just thought every hour. Every night and day. It made me feel like I had to do bad things to survive. I carry a lot of burdens and still make people smile."

 Brittany Shavon Carter, 19, on May 6 at the Briarpatch Youth Services co-op house after three years of homelessness and release from Dane County jail.

After a childhood amid the violence of Chicago's South Side, Carter moved with her mother from place to place in Chicago's suburbs before they landed in Madison when she was 11. She was eventually placed in foster care, became homeless at 15, landed in jail, and is now turning her life around in transitional housing.

"There are a lot of challenges. The homeless have different challenges, different worries. We help each other out. Everybody chips in."

 Roy Jacobs, 61, on March 22 in the van where he's lived for more than a year with his wife, Cindy, 56.

Despite health problems, the Jacobs' shared a two-bedroom apartment with another person until a landlord refused to renew their lease and they became homeless in June of 2015. They've since lived in their van, and have become close to a small group of others who live in their vehicles.

"I'm in a constant state of panic. It's just a very dark time for me. This relationship is the only thing that gives me peace, but it is also a source of panic. I love her. I don't want her out here by herself."

 Brannon Prisk, 45, on Feb. 26 in the tent in the woods where he and his girlfriend, Adria Mackesey, 38, have lived since the turn of the year.

Prisk and Mackesey, who have had health issues and separate brushes with the law, were living together in an apartment in Madison until he lost his job and had to chose between making car payments or covering rent. He set up a large tent in an isolated urban wooded area, and Mackesey joined him there as they pursue work.

"I had never been homeless before. It was a culture shock. There were days we didn't have money for food because we were trying to pay our hotel bill. But I'm not embarrassed. These days, it happens to the best of us."

 Andrina Tribble, 43, with daughters India, 17, foreground, and Shumira, 19, on April 20 at the family's transitional housing apartment.

A graduate of Shabazz City High School in Madison, Tribble, who works more than 40 hours a week, spent six months homeless last year with her husband and three children following a family health crisis and a dispute with a landlord. Nonprofit organizations are helping the family regain stability.

"I don't let them use homelessness as an excuse for bad grades. This cannot be a crutch for them."

 Patricia Rimmer, 34, top right, watches television with her family, including her sister, Jacqueline Hudson, on the other bed, as they all wind down and prepare for bed in a motel room in Madison.

Rimmer lives with her six children, as well as two other adults and two other children. When they can afford it, which is once every couple of weeks, they get a motel room for $52. Other nights, they sleep in a van or double up in an apartment with a relative. Five of the eight children attend school in the Madison School District.

"A lot of people think of the homeless as alcoholics or drug abusers. I'm neither. I'm out here working. I'm not getting anything handed to me."

-- Cheryl Marten, 58

Marten has been homeless in Madison for 18 months. She is the night closing manager for a fast-food restaurant and a custodian for a large retailer. Despite working more than 50 hours a week between the two part-time jobs, she said landlords have rejected her because she doesn't earn enough money and lacks a rental history.

"I was a 9-year-old addict ... I got kicked out when I was a kid ... What was I supposed to do? You tell me I'm a bad mom. It's just because I don't have a home."

-- Karissa Schaper, 27, homeless since her mother threw her out of the house a decade ago, has been sleeping with a blanket on the ground near the Starbucks on Capitol Square.

"You never stay in the same place more than two and a half days  ever. You can go back to it, maybe, if it's a good place. You always keep everything on you. You never leave it anywhere. That's the rule."

-- Debra Scott, 57, survived a traumatic youth and has lived a hard life with medical problems, but later in life she became a caregiver and lived with her elderly mother in seniors housing. After her mother had to move to a nursing home in April 2014, Scott became homeless when her lease expired several months later and lived from her vehicle.

"Sometimes it's hard to get money for food and trying to stay clean. ... Sometimes it's hard to get homework done. I don't like to be seen as homeless. I try to keep it hidden."
ST. PAUL, Minn.  Minnesota, which like Wisconsin has a significant homelessness challenge, is a contrast in advocacy, approach and funding.

There is a high amount of political and civic will, said Cathy ten Broeke, director of the Minnesota Office to Prevent End Homelessness, which was created in January 2013.

Key elements of the states efforts against homelessness:

The membership-driven Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless has a $500,000 budget, six full-time and two part-time staff, and is a steadfast advocate that pursues bipartisan support for funding and legislation. In March, its annual lobbying day drew more than 600 advocates, providers and homeless to the capitol.

The states Office to Prevent and End Homelessness has a $250,000 budget and two full-time staff plus use of personnel from other agencies, and serves as clearinghouse and coordinator on homeless matters. An Interagency Council on Homelessness is composed of the governor, plus heads of 11 key state agencies, delivering coordination and political clout.

The Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative includes some of the states most recognized foundations and nonprofit organizations, such as the McKnight Foundation, joined together to marshal resources and align investments.

Private, nonprofit Wilder Research, based in St. Paul, delivers data and analysis to help identify trends and target resources.

The state updates its detailed plan to prevent and end homelessness every two years; the 2016-17 blueprint is 49 pages.

The coalition pursues achievable goals with bipartisan support and stresses a return on investment, policy director Dan Kitzberger said. For example, a Wilder Research study shows that each $1 directed to supportive housing returns $1.44 through cost savings for services and wages earned, Kitzberger said.

In 2014, the Legislature approved $100 million in borrowing to create affordable and supportive housing, and added $10 million more in 2015. Advocates hope for another $45 million this year.

The states latest $88.7 million two-year budget for homelessness increases spending in several areas, including $2 million for a pilot program focusing on homeless and highly mobile students and $2 million more for the Homeless Youth Act.

The approach began under Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and grew with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, ten Broeke said. Its not a partisan political issue, at least not everything. Its not just the right thing to do. Its the right public policy.

The approach is showing results. While the number of homeless people in Wisconsin remained unchanged from 2014 to 2015, Minnesotas number fell 9.9 percent, according to an annual count required by the federal government. While Minnesotas rate of homelessness per capita is higher than those of Wisconsin and other Midwestern neighbors, Kitzberger said thats because it has more resources and thus identifies more homeless people.
Decades of inadequate leadership and insufficient direct funding from the state have weakened the fight against rising homelessness in Wisconsin.

Advocates and service providers say state officials must be more engaged to address an often hidden plight that shatters lives and creates significant costs for social services, schools, health care and law enforcement.

Theres no precise way to measure homelessness, but a State Journal review of data make clear that its scope is broad  affecting infants to seniors and all demographics.

By one estimate, perhaps 20,000 people are homeless in Wisconsin on any given night. One count shows the ranks of homeless single adults growing by nearly 25 percent since 2007. Another has the number of homeless children more than tripling since 2003.

State officials say Wisconsin spends tens of millions of dollars on homelessness. But the Wisconsin Coalition Against Homelessness and local officials and providers disagree, contending that most of the money isnt targeted directly at the issue. The state essentially has delivered no new direct funding for two decades, with the sum long stuck at about $3.3 million, the coalition says.

That sum is more than Iowas $1 million in direct funding, but its dwarfed by the $44.3 million in direct funding in Minnesota  seen as a gold standard of investment and approach in the Midwest  according to a coalition analysis from mid-2015 updated by the State Journal. In far more populous Illinois, the figure is at $49.5 million.

Wisconsin officials insist the state is doing a lot, and that funding only appears comparatively low because resources that can benefit the homeless arent all specifically labeled that way and flow through multiple agencies.

The coalition, forged just 18 months ago, insists more must be done. This week it is releasing A Roadmap to Ending Homelessness in Wisconsin with specific policy and budget recommendations.

At a minimum, the state should triple its dedicated funding to $10 million, said coalition executive director Joseph Volk, who said Wisconsin has fallen behind others in addressing homelessness in part because service providers havent advocated at the Capitol for a long time.

As the coalition presses its case, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, a Republican, is publicly making homelessness a priority and fact-finding in anticipation of offering ideas in the fall.

Kleefisch and her staff, who in recent months have visited housing and program sites and had multiple discussions with Volk, arent endorsing coalition recommendations or promising new funds  at least not yet. In a recent interview about possible initiatives, several times she promised, Stay tuned.

In a follow-up email, her office added: We have an ongoing conversation with Joe around these recommendations and will consider all of them in the broader context of the governors budget and upcoming legislative session when we reach that point.

For now, Gov. Scott Walker is noncommittal about the coalitions recommendations.

The governor supports the lieutenant governors leadership in combating homelessness, Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said. Addressing homelessness presents unique challenges, but the governors agenda of moving people into roles where they can have true independence through work can assist in these efforts. He plans to continue such initiatives, such as broader welfare reform including the drug testing and rehabilitation programs.

'The giant in the room'

In Madison and Dane County, the state isnt seen as a catalyst for action.

I do not see any leadership from the state on this, said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, who served in the Legislature for six years. We do what we can, but the state is the giant in the room.

The states direct funding, according to Volk, delivers $1.8 million for homelessness prevention, $1.4 million for emergency shelters and transitional housing, $50,000 for runaway youth and $20,000 for supportive and permanent housing.

Minnesota provides ample funding, leadership, direct approach on homelessness The state's approach contrasts sharply with Wisconsin's; "There is a high amount of political and civic will," one Minnesota official says.

In contrast, the Minnesota Legislature added roughly $13.7 million for a total $88.7 million in direct funding in 2016-17, he said.

The comparisons arent fair, Kleefisch maintained.

As we scan across the country and determine what is homelessness programming and homelessness funding and what is not, it manages to slip out of that label because it wasnt on that line item, she said. I think weve got to be cautious in saying who is spending this allotment of money and who is not.

At the State Journals request, the state Department of Administration provided a detailed outline of tens of millions of dollars spent across an array of agencies including the departments of Corrections, Veterans Affairs and Workforce Development.

But the states figures, Volk said, include large amounts from federal sources and spending on programs such as veterans nursing homes that are at best peripheral to homelessness. These are sums that arent included in other states funding summaries, he said.

Still, Volk applauds Kleefischs attention to the issue. Theyre putting in a huge amount of effort in terms of reading and understanding the issue and her making stops around the state at shelters and homeless programs, he said. My advice is to acknowledge the numbers and take that off the table. Its been bipartisan neglect of the issue. The question is, where do we go from here?

'No one was advocating'

Volk partly blames advocates for disappearing from the Capitol after federal funding began to flow in the 1990s.

Im to blame for this, too, because I was the head of a large agency, a provider, he said. All of a sudden, the feds got into homelessness in the 90s and money started to fall from the sky, so we basically left the statehouse. We had money and new programs, so state money was pretty much forgotten.

But federal money carries very proscriptive rules, Volk said, and is targeted at single adults with mental health and substance abuse issues, not families and children.

It doesnt fund emergency shelters, the front-door triage of the system. With state funding for emergency shelter stagnant, Wisconsin has lost much of its ability to provide the social services that move the homeless toward permanent housing, he said.

Further, while federal funds can be used to build permanent supportive housing for the homeless, services that make the approach successful must be secured from other sources, Volk said. Wisconsin doesnt provide such money.

Meanwhile, attempts to establish a statewide homelessness coalition in the 1990s and in 2009 failed, meaning there was no organized involvement in the state budget process, and there were no routine meetings with lawmakers or contacts with the governor, Volk said.

In the mid-2000s, the administration of Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, created an Interagency Council on Homelessness charged with developing a plan to end homelessness in the state. The 14-page plan, completed in 2007, is called Homeward Wisconsin.

The plan, however, has no metrics to measure progress, no funding recommendations and no assignment of tasks, Volk said. The council, he said, was dormant from 2008 to 2015 and recently revived, but like its predecessor, does not include higher-level administrators and the clout that comes with them.

State lawmakers struggle to name a go-to champion on the issue. And a modest package of bills by Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, to address youth homelessness, has stalled. GOP leaders denied her request for a study group on that issue this summer.

Im a Milwaukee Democrat, but I dont want this to be a bash the Republican side for not having done anything, because the reality of the history is that the Dems didnt do anything either, Volk said. The reason I think that happened is not because they are bad people, its because no one was advocating at the state level for 20 years.

'WHEDA's got it right'

The states main housing engine is the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), which distributes tens of millions of dollars in federal tax credits each year for projects with units for lower-income residents.

The city has begun to take advantage of those credits. Using its Affordable Housing Plan, now in its second year, its contributing $8.8 million  with at least $2.9 million from the county  to help secure $53.6 million in tax credits for eight projects costing a total $94 million. They will deliver 463 affordable units, including 114 for the homeless.

In their own words: Some of the voices of homelessness in Madison The Wisconsin State Journal has been following a diverse group of homeless individuals, some since January. Here is an introduction to some of them.

In May, Kleefisch and WHEDA deputy executive director Brian Schimming announced a total of $142 million in credits over a decade, including the latest for Madison, that will support the creation of 1,166 low-income units statewide.

WHEDAs got it right, but theyre a lone voice, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said. WHEDA is limited by the availability of tax credits, but with the tax credits theyve got and administering the program, from our viewpoint, its working. But we need more resources, they need more resources, and it has to be more than tax credits.

In 2009, the Legislature created another funding opportunity by letting cities keep open for an extra year tax incremental financing (TIF) districts set to close, with the tax revenue available for affordable housing efforts anywhere in the municipality.

But, when you look at the Legislature, with the exception of one anomaly, which is using the TIF dollars, theres no evidence of a plan or a program, Soglin said.

Kleefisch disagreed: There are a lot of programs that can touch this population, but unfortunately we see examples fairly consistently that people are unaware of that.

'A realistic advocacy goal'

The recommendations by the Wisconsin Coalition Against Homelessness draw heavily on practices in Minnesota, where a broad, bipartisan approach accompanies the far greater direct funding.

The Wisconsin coalition proposes:

An interagency council chaired by the governor with mandatory involvement of secretaries and directors of all state agencies that can address homelessness.

Better use of existing federal and state resources.

More state funding for emergency shelters.

A homelessness prevention program like a temporary one in Milwaukee County that reduced eviction rates during the Great Recession.

A state fund for services attached to permanent supportive housing projects.

That WHEDA come up with new strategies to house people with very low incomes.

A close look at social impact bonding  a public-private partnership to fund some social program costs.

An increase to $10 million would be a realistic advocacy goal in this environment Volk said, but it may be more important to replicate the political muscle of Minnesotas interagency council. When you look at the need, and at state spending, it will take time, he said.
John Smalley | Wisconsin State Journal John Smalley is the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal. Follow John Smalley | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

In todays world of daily journalism, where we put an emphasis on real-time reporting that breaks news seconds after it happens, its not often we get to spend weeks, let alone months, on a project.

Which is what makes todays launch of our summer-long report on Madisons homeless truly special.

Two of our most experienced and talented reporters, Dean Mosiman and Doug Erickson, have spent the past five months exploring the many and varied faces of homelessness in Wisconsins capital city.

Were calling the project Homeless in Madison | A City Challenged because challenge is at the heart of this issue. The complexities of homelessness are almost beyond measure. So many factors, so many variables, so many faces.

Thats why we started this project by just listening. Back in January, we invited in a small focus group of people working in the field  folks who engage with Madisons homeless, and the federal, state and local policies around the issue, on a daily basis.

Homelessness isnt an abstract concept for the people we met with. Its a 24/7 reality of allocating scarce resources  food, clothing, shelter  to the most needy in our community.

Essentially, we asked this group of big-hearted, civic-minded people to help us plot a course and strategy for this reporting project.

Who should we talk to? Where should we go? What facts need vetting? What myths need to be blown up?

Among the first things we learned: The most visible homeless people in our midst  male adults looking for places to be/sit/sleep around the Capitol Square  arent necessarily the largest population of need.

An estimated 2,400 homeless people are in Madison every night. And about half of them are children. Can you imagine more than 1,000 children every night without a place to go?

Mosiman and Erickson took time away from their regular beats  city government for Mosiman and K-12 education for Erickson  to spend nights on the streets, and days at homeless shelters. Theyve interviewed advocates, experts, policy makers and, yes, plenty of Madison residents who have no home.

Photography has also been integral to this project. The many compelling images captured by our photo staff  chief photographer Steve Apps, along with John Hart, Amber Arnold and M.P. King  bring added context, dimension and reality to the stories were telling.

At its heart, this is a tough, sad tale. There are few bright spots when you dig deep into peoples pain and suffering and examine their life paths  which are often obstructed with hurdles and dysfunction in the extreme.

But the issue of homelessness is so important  and so often misunderstood  that we decided to invest heavily in this project, with our time, our space and, yes, our hearts.

This four-part project  with installments planned for June, July, August and September  isnt designed to just put a spotlight on homelessness. We want to make a difference with this work, and to help our community engage and find a better way forward to deal with this vexing problem. We hope readers will follow along and connect with us as we carry out this special report over the next few months.
Rest in peace, Government Accountability Board.

Wisconsins strong and nonpartisan watchdog agency is being put down this month by Republican politicians who feared the agencys independence.

Instead of retired judges with long reputations for fairness overseeing elections and ethical standards, top lawmakers are appointing their partisan pals to look the other way. Thats clear from most of the appointments so far to the ethics and elections commissions, which will replace the GAB at the end of the month.

In fact, the commissions  weak and politically connected  will mostly serve at the pleasure of top lawmakers. That means lawmakers will essentially be in charge of policing themselves. So little scrutiny will occur.

A similar scenario was in place a decade ago, when the old ethics and elections boards had to ask lawmakers for money to investigate some of those very same lawmakers. It was a sham.

And the absence of strong enforcement of campaign rules contributed to the caucus scandal, in which state leaders turned public employees into private campaign soldiers. Only incumbents and the favorite candidates of top lawmakers were given taxpayer-subsidized staff, providing an unfair advantage in elections.

After a State Journal investigation exposed that public workers for the legislative caucuses were blatantly campaigning on state time, several top lawmakers went to jail. And the Legislature, in near-unanimous votes, eliminated the ineffective elections and ethics boards, creating the nonpartisan and independent GAB nearly a decade ago.

The GABs retired judges are insulated from politics as much as possible, and they can investigate suspected wrongdoing without having to ask the politicians for permission.

The GAB was a powerful force for good government in Wisconsin.

Now Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature are going back to the bad old days  before the caucus scandal  when enforcement of rules was weak. Theyre stacking the elections and ethics commissions with their political allies.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, has appointed Katie McCallum, a former GOP Senate staffer and now secretary of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, to the ethics panel. Shes also the daughter-in-law of a former GOP governor.

Who do you suppose shell be loyal to when ethical questions are raised?

At the same time, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, has appointed Peg Lautenschlager to the ethics board. Lautenschlager is a loyal Democrat who, as attorney general, drove drunk in a state car, violating state rules.

Then theres Steve King, appointed to the elections board by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who is a Republican National Committee member with ties to former Watergate conspirator John Mitchell.

Add to the mix David Halbrooks, appointed by Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, to the ethics commission. Halbrooks served as a loyal Democrat on the old elections board more than a decade ago, appointed by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala who went to jail in the caucus scandal.

Wisconsins watchdog agency is devolving into a pair of lap dogs, which risks corruption.
Jaitley has promised greater capital support to banks while warning that defaulters cannot be allowed to "sleep well", leaving all the worry to bankers.

By Press Trust of India: Amid 10 state-run lenders suffering losses of over Rs 15,000 crore in the March quarter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised greater capital support to banks while warning that defaulters cannot be allowed to "sleep well", leaving all the worry to bankers.

He also rejected suggestions that huge losses being posted by public sector banks (PSBs) were like "skeletons tumbling out", saying NPAs were mostly due to business-related losses in certain sectors, rather than due to frauds, and one must "distinguish between chalk and cheese".

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Jaitley, who was on a six-day visit to Japan to attract investments, said the losses were because of provisioning to cover for bad debt and most of the banks including State Bank of India and PNB had good profits at operational level.

"Look at the balance sheets of these banks. Punjab National Bank operationally had a good profit, SBI had a good profit. It is the provisioning which makes it look like a loss," the Finance Minister told PTI.

BAD LOANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE: JAITLEY



Stating that non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans have always been there, Jaitley said: "Whether you keep it below the carpet or you bring it into the balance sheet...I think a transparent balance sheet is the best way of doing business and that's what the banks are today doing.

"I am very clear, the government will fully strengthen the banks and fully support the banks where it is needed. I have declared a figure in the Budget, but I am willing to look at a higher figure if that is necessary."

BANKRUPTCY LAW



On measures being taken to empower the banks, he said bankruptcy law is one empowerment while the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) mechanism of RBI is also there.

"What we are doing to several other recovery laws the Securitisation, Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) itself is an empowerment. Therefore you cannot indefinitely have a situation where people who owe money sleep well and bankers have to worry. I think the people who owe these monies will also have to act," he said.

Asserting that all NPAs are not bank frauds, he said there may be some improper loans but there were a large volume of loans resulting from business losses or on account of sectoral losses.

"The loans were rightly given, sectors haven't done well.

So to say that these are all skeletons stumbling out (is not correct). A business loss is not a skeleton. A skeleton is something which is done as a scam or a scandal and therefore we must be careful to distinguish between chalk and cheese as far as the banking NPAs are concerned," he said.

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The Finance Minister said once the problem climaxes and the sectoral results start turning over, the situation would change.

Citing the example of PNB, he said the bank last year made a Rs 12,000 crore operational profit, which is not a low level of profit, but it declared loss because of NPA provisioning. "So it is the balance sheet provisioning which has led to that situation."

These NPA loans were not given recently, Jaitley added.

"These are old loans which relates to sectors which have been under stress. Those sectoral problems have been addressed significantly. In many of those sectors, the balance sheet has started changing and therefore slowly it must relate to the banks itself and reflect on their balance sheet," he said.

QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REVIEW



Against the backdrop of mounting bad loans and record losses of public sector banks, Jaitley will hold a quarterly performance review on Monday with the heads of PSBs and Financial Institutions.

He would "review the overall performance of PSBs during the financial year 2015-16 as well as with regard to the flow of credit to agriculture, insurance and MSE sectors among others", the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

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By Chef Jaydeep Mukherjee, Mail Today: The Nawabs have long gone, the remnant descendants, few and far between, have scattered. The pomp and the festivity has faded and the perpetual celebration of life and gastronomy in general does not hold centre stage in lives in the region anymore. The legacy of what they have left behind, however, is so thrilling, inspiring and amazing that many more volumes could be written about Awadhi lifestyle and cuisine, specifically. Kitchens were the size of playfields with teams of chefs and cooks that not just resembled but even worked like armies.



Bawarchis, rakabdars, nanfus--all high up on the social ladder of culinary elite were assisted by lesser mortals like masalchis who were experts in grinding masalas, degbos who washed utensils and mehris who lugged trays, containers, utensils and the general paraphernalia that went into setting up state of the art cooking facilities.

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The head rakabdars and bawarchis were semi royal themselves! They were paid as much as most ministers in the courts, often more! They had budgets that were bottomless when it came to cooking meals and acquired the best ingredients from various corners of the globe! They were fought over by the Nawabs and their protege and to have a particular clan cook your dastarkhwan was a matter of immense prestige.

Also Read: 5 tricky techniques from MasterChef Australia you ought to know

The food was not just delicious, it was generally nutritious and procedures followed were scientific and extremely hygienic, transferred from masters to apprentices, through rote, not so much written instructions. Chef Mukhtar Qureshi, dear friend and Master Chef of Neel, one of the best restaurant serving Awadhi Cuisine in the country! is a man of few words outside his kitchen but what he does inside it can only be described as a combination of magic and intense theatre! The fragrance of drying herbs, roots, spices and flowers, the spluttering of charcoal in his specially treated tandoor, the fluid efficiency of his highly trained cooks, meats resting on racks and salias, in between stints in special temperature controlled ovens and jargon only his boys understand, greeted me as I strolled through his kitchen. Classic Awadhi fare for the better part. Shorbas, kebabs, biryanis, nihari, pasanda, qurmas, salans, khaliya, an array of nans, sheermals and bakhakhanis and then a sampling of the legendary parde me khubani and angoori rabdi! Some of the names were familiar. I had studied about the cuisine in hotel school, eaten classic dishes in some of the best restaurants across the country.

Here was revelation! Each thing I slurped, bit into, smelt, touched, tasted, dug into finally, didn't begin and end there! There were literally layers of aromas, visuals, tastes, flavours and textures! Some subtle, some outright noisy and bold but all held together by stunning expertise and in-depth knowledge of a centuries old cuisine and culture. Awadhi food, as has been portrayed generally across media and also on restaurant menus worldwide, is not about the Mughal influence in the region alone! The Hindu ways of Oudh or Ayodhya and the impact of many hundreds of years of British rule has left vivid marks on the gastronomy from the region in general.

Also Read: 5 easy and delicious dishes you can eat out of a jar on the go

The use of simple seasonal produce--vegetables and fruits, delicate cuts of meat, the varied ways of treating aquatic life, the refined use of excellent dairy, varied lentils and pulses and the myriad ways they're put to use in Awadhi cuisine is a pleasure to observe. Stocks or yakhnis to flavour biryanis and tehris. Shorbas or essences and broths of not just paya or trotters but of fruits and vegetables to start meals in the most eclectic ways. Slow cooking with dum perhaps the best example of Slow cooking worldwide, all speak of an art form that was highly influenced by many elite cultures of the times and intensely evolved and orchestrated! Parallels can be drawn between much evolved French Cooking and Awadhi and in every respect this home grown cuisine, polished and refined over centuries, that has satiated gourmet kings, Nawabs and commons in equal measure, would emerge, without a doubt, on the pinnacle.

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Thanks to a Israel-based company, you can make beer at home! Why spend money in pubs, right?

By India Today Web Desk: A Israel-based company has come up with an easy way to make beer at home.

A device called Beer bar, created by SodaStream Intentional, lets you add sparkling water to a special beer concentrated formula called Blondie. The beer with 4.5% alcohol content, tastes just like what you buy from a bar.

SodaStream, in a press release, described the beer as having "a smooth authentic taste, and a hop filled aroma."

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The Israeli company has previously brought the concept of homemade carbonated drinks to kitchens and now is all set to do the same with beer.

With so many beer lovers across the world, it seems the company will be successful in helping people create a 'home pub'.



Also read: Biblical Brew: Last sip of beer Jesus might have drunk





Initially, the Beer Bar will be available from company's Germany website and through some retailers in Switzerland. However, by 2017 the product will be available in additional markets as well.

With new breweries, beer festivals and even 'Biblical beer' brewing, Israel's beer culture seems to be booming.

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In a recent expose by the India Today TV, Ruby was shown referring to political science as 'prodigal science, a subject which was meant for teaching cookery to students'.

Over 10 toppers were called for a retest after alleged irregularities surfaced. (Inset) Topper Ruby Rai has been given two days to appear for the retest after she failed to take it on Friday on health grounds.

By Giridhar Jha: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on Saturday cancelled the results of the two toppers of the Intermediate (Science) examinations, including Sourabh Shrestha, after they failed to prove their merit in a retest.

CLUELESS TOPPERS

Sourabh, who was declared the topper in the science stream earlier, and his college mate Rahul Kumar, were among the 13 toppers from the arts and science streams in the Class XII examinations who were asked by the board to reappear in a retest by the board on Friday following a controversy over their merit.

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BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh said while 11 students who took the test passed the test, Sourabh and Rahul, both students of the controversial Vishun Rai College, flunked. "Their results have been cancelled," Singh said.

The BSEB also suspended the affiliation of the Vishun Rai College, Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district. Singh said a judicial inquiry headed by a retired high court judge would be set up to probe the alleged irregularities.

Meanwhile, the board decided to give a week's time to Ruby Rai, the arts topper, from the same college who had failed to take the retest on Friday on health grounds. Her results would also be cancelled if she does not appear in a retest to dispel the doubts raised over her merit.

POLITICAL SCIENCE=COOKERY SCIENCE

In a recent expose by the India Today TV, Ruby was shown referring to political science as 'prodigal science, a subject which was meant for teaching cookery to students'.

The science topper Sourabh had also failed to correctly answer simple questions in the same expose, raising a big question mark over the quality of school education in Bihar.

The BSEB had subsequently decided to call all the 14 students from the arts and science streams who had bagged the top five positions in the Class XII examinations held earlier this year. Vishun Rai College, an unaided college, has been in the news in the past few years for alleged irregularities.

Last year, the then education minister PK Shahi had withheld its results after receiving several complaints about it. This year, 97.52 per cent candidates from this college cleared the Intermediate science examination even though only 67.07 per cent students could clear the test in the state.

Out of the total 646 students who took the examination, 534 had obtained the first division marks

Also read: Bihar board exam 'toppers' under scanner to skip retest ordered by government?

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By India Today Web Desk: Have you ever been in awe of Blake Lively's flawless existence? Yeah, same here.

The actress whose latest Cannes outing was all kinds of perfect recently spoke on what she does to look the way she does--and turns out, it isn't that tough.

In a recent interview to Vogue, the Cafe Society actress revealed that she "blots" her "scalp, the top of her nose and eyelids" to attain a certain "warmth" for her skin.

Because I need these glasses and earrings. Let's be honest. A photo posted by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on May 16, 2016 at 12:54am PDT

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Also Read: Blake Lively, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan add a dash of magic on day 3

But that's not it.

Here are the three secrets from Blake Lively's purse that require your attention right now.

Also Read: amfAR Gala 2016: Blake Lively, Diane Kruger turn heads on the red carpet



Take blush and apply it on your cheeks, on the tip of your nose and "wherever your parting is" because according to Lively, "that way it never looks like blush, it looks like the warmth showing up on your skin, asymmetrically. Not like make-up." Have a light lipstick in your purse that has "just a kiss of colour." Lively also said that she "normally" just wears "sunscreen, tinted moisturiser and nothing else."

...France doesn't make me happy at all. Clearly ???????????????? A photo posted by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on May 19, 2016 at 12:18pm PDT

Exactly, it really is that simple!

(With inputs from IANS)

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Siddharth Sharma would have turned 33 today had he been alive and not mowed down by a speeding Mercedes near civil lines police station on April 4.

By Anindya Banerjee: His friends and family gathered at their civil lines residence in Delhi to celebrate his birthday. Cakes were there, gifts were brought. But only the birthday boy was missing. Siddharth Sharma would have turned 33 today had he been alive and not mowed down by a speeding Mercedes near civil lines police station on April 4.

They wanted to celebrate 'Siddharth's memory'. Understandably, the mood was sombre. But on his birthday eve, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) observed the juvenile accused is fit to be tried as an adult, making him the first such juvenile accused after the government amended the law. An unprecedented observation in a country that has seen juveniles get away with heinous crimes like rape and murder.

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A TOUGH BATTLE

Shilpa Mittal, the sister who has been fighting a tough legal battle quips, 'Indeed it's a birthday gift for Sid (Siddharth). At least it's proved that the accused must be tried as an adult. But this battle is far from over'.

And she has reasons to say that. The prosecution needs to prove why the accused must be tried as an adult all over again, which may or may not uphold the JJB's verdict.

A little kid, who brought a packet of chocolate for her 'Sid uncle', was asked to cut the cake with 'we will miss you' written on it, his photo fell on the strawberry cake he cherished having. Ali, his friend almost instantly fumbled, 'This can't be a coincidence. He had the first bite'.

A LIVELY SOUL

Saj Khanna, Siddharth's friend who came for his birthday, told Mail Today, 'Siddharth was a very lively person. Always full of life. His life has been abruptly cut short. Probably if there is one gift Siddharth would want today, it is justice'.

Justice - that seems to be a far away dream for the family right now. But the entire family is 'battle ready'. Shilpa's husband Yogesh says, 'We will fight till the end and ensure he gets justice'. Shilpa with a teary eye agrees, 'It's not a fight any more. It's a war. And we will fight this war'.

Also read: Delhi Mercedes hit-and-run case: Accused juvenile to be tried as an adult



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Aich was the first Indian to win the Mr Universe title post-independence in 1952.

In 1950, at the age of 36, Aich won the Mr Hercules contest. Photo: PTI

By Indrajit Kundu: Legendary Indian body builder and the country's very first Mr Universe Manohar Aich died on Sunday. He was 102. Aich breathed his last at his north Kolkata residence following age related health issues.

MR UNIVERSE



A three-time Asian Games gold medalist, Aich was the first Indian to win the Mr Universe title post-independence in 1952. At 4 feet 11 inch, he famously nicknamed 'Pocket Hercules'.

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Age was never a deterrent for the veteran body builder who kept a stringent routine and even performed in his eighties. Born in Comilla district, now in Bangladesh, he began his career as a stuntman performing with the legendary magician PC Sorkar.

Also read: Meet Manohar Aich, the 102-year-old Pocket Hercules from Kolkata



BODYBUILDER



He would often enthral the audience with his daredevil stunts like bending steel with his teeth or lying on a sword. But it was during his stint with the Royal Indian Air Force under the British rule in 1942 that Aich took up bodybuilding, encouraged by British officers.

He even tried his luck in politics when he was fielded in the Lok Sabha elections of 1991 by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Aich is survived by his two sons and two daughters.

MAMATA BANERJEE CONDOLES AICH'S DEATH

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter to condole the death of Aich.

Saddened at the passing of world famous body-builder Manohar Aich. He made us proud. Rest in Peace; Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 5, 2016

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According to students, they were manhandled by policemen even when policewomen were present.

Manipur is currently on boil as Women activists have been pressing strongly for the implementation of Inner line permit system in the state.( Photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: Several girl students were injured after being beaten up by police while protesting for release of two arrested students, on Saturday.

According to students, they were manhandled by policemen even when policewomen were present.

Girls have also accused policemen of passing lewd comments on them.

"After scaling the boundary wall, we escaped. However some policemen followed us," said a student, also adding that police allegedly passed uncalled for remarks at the girl students.

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Condemning the act, students of CC Higher Secondary school took out a procession and later burned an effigy of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh. A sit-in protest was also observed to condemn the attempts to deflect the people's movement.

Here's all you need to know:



Some of the students of the TG Higher Secondary school sustained fractures. Examination in the DM College of Sciences were disrupted by the protesting students. College Students' Council leaders said that their stir will continue till Bruce and Vidyalakshmi are released without conditions. The students are demanding the release of two students, Bruce and Vidyalakshmi. The two students were arrested during the storming of political party offices announced by JCILPS. Manipur is currently on boil as women activists have been pressing strongly for the implementation of Inner line permit system in the state.

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On the last day of Asia's biggest security summit in Singapore, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route.

The waterway has become a flashpoint between the United States, which increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific under President Barack Obama's "pivot", and China, which is projecting ever greater economic, political and military power in the region.

By Reuters: China rebuffed US pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it "has no fear of trouble".

On the last day of Asia's biggest security summit in Singapore, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route.

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"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue, where more than 600 security, military and government delegates had gathered over three days.

"China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea."

The waterway has become a flashpoint between the United States, which increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific under President Barack Obama's "pivot", and China, which is projecting ever greater economic, political and military power in the region.

The two powers have traded accusations of militarising the waterway as Beijing undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while Washington has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Saturday, top U.S. officials including Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned China of the risk of isolating itself internationally and pledged to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades.

During a visit to Mongolia on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

Kerry, who will visit China next, said an ADIZ would be "a provocative and destabilizing act", which would question Beijing's commitment to diplomatically manage the dispute.

Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries present at the Shangri-La Dialogue were "warmer" and "friendlier" to China than a year ago. China had 17 bilateral meetings this year, compared with 13 in 2015.

"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future," Sun said.

"Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves."

COURT DECISION

On the upcoming decision by the international tribunal in The Hague in the case brought by the Philippines to contest China's claims in the territory, Sun reiterated Beijing does not recognise the court's authority.

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Sun said China wanted to solve the dispute with the Philippines bilaterally and said the door was open for dialogue with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte said on Thursday he would not surrender the country's rights over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, which China seized in 2012.

Japan's Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani told reporters all claimants must abide by the ruling or else "Japan will have no choice but to strongly raise its voice from the standpoint of placing importance on the rule of law."

China claims almost the entire sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

"China has the patience and wisdom to settle any disputes through dialogue. We also believe the related countries have the wisdom and patience to make peace," Sun said. "I've always believed that shaking hands is better than clenching fists."

Vietnam's deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh warned the rising tensions could lead to an arms race with "disastrous and unpredictable consequences" if not addressed. The United States lifted Vietnam's arms embargo last month.

Most countries at the summit stressed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters, through which trillions of dollars in trade is shipped every year.

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Sun denied such concerns should be focused on China.

"If there is any restriction ...it will definitely not be China's fault. If you don't believe it, just wait and see."

Also read: Chinese jets intercept US plane in South China Sea: Pentagon

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The agency would reply these queries in a week's time. As of now, the ED would provide a written reply via email to Interpol.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: Interpol, the world's largest international police organisation with 190 member countries, has sent its first set of queries to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking case details against liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Last month, the ED had sought a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Mallya, who is wanted by 17 banks in India for defaulting around Rs 9400 crore. Soon after reviewing the RCN proposal, Interpol has sent its first set of queries to the ED, seeking reasons for RCN against Mallya.

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IndiaToday.in spoke with few ED officials and got to know that the questionnaire is simple and specific.

What is the case all about. What are the major allegations and by whom. What are the IPC sections that are applied in the criminal complaint against Mallya. What role has Mallya played in the case. What is the total amount under scanner. Details of proceed of crime (PoC) in India and abroad. What are the major predicate offences against him. What are the major findings of all investigative agencies (including ED/CBI) against him. Why the case is getting probed under PMLA Act. What are the major evidences ED possesses against him. When and why the arrest warrant was issued against him by the PMLA Court. His previous criminal record, if any. Why a Red Corner Notice needs to be issued.

The agency would reply these queries in a week's time. As of now, the ED would provide a written reply via email to Interpol. Later, if Interpol remains unsatisfied with the reply then it could send another set of queries on the concerned issues related to Mallya's case. If required, it could also seek hard copies of case details (including investigation reports).

Lalit Modi case is a classic and unusual example, where Interpol sent seven rounds of queries to ED, but still remained unsatisfied.

A day after the UK refused to deport Mallya, the ED requested the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against the liquor baron.

A RCN is an international alert aimed at seeking the location and arrest of a person wanted by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his or her extradition. Once the said notice is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end.

Sources told IndiaToday.in that within the month of June, the agency is planning to attach liquid assets of Mallya across the country. It includes - domestic assets and shares worth Rs 9000 crore owned by Mallya in connection with its money laundering probe against him and others in the IDBI Bank loan fraud case.



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"This is the outcome of the appeal made by the district administration to locals including Jats and youth which confined people to their homes. They know that violence will only attract punishment," Duty Magistrate, Panipat Dalwinder Singh said.

Police patrol at railway station in Gurgaon as they are being deployed at various sensitive places in view of Jat agitation. Photo: PTI

The epicentre of violent Jat protests - Rohtak, which had attracted nearly 10,000 Jat protesters in February this year, managed to get only 300 Jats today when All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) kicked off its protest.



Similar number of Jats reached at Mayyad in Hisar but other locations like Madloda in Panipat and Kurukshetra could only get a dozen protesters.

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"This is the outcome of the appeal made by the district administration to locals including Jats and youth which confined people to their homes. They know that violence will only attract punishment," Duty Magistrate, Panipat Dalwinder Singh said.

Villagers at Nara - a hamlet close to Madloda were seen smoking Hookah under shady trees. Most of them were not in favour of a protest as they feared a police action.

STATE GOVERNMENT WARNED JATS OF ACTION



It is worth mentioning that the state government by sending notices to Jat leaders had warned them of a stern action including attaching their properties if they incited people to attack properties. The state government has already slapped a sedition case against Yashpal Malik and four others of his faction.

Sources said Jats also avoided joining the protest as they are busy harvesting their crops. Yashpal Malik is considered an outsider by Haryana's Jats as he belongs to Uttar Pradesh.

WHAT JATS ARE DEMANDING

Despite poor show - Yashpal Malik faction, which had announced protests in 15 towns, said the protests are indefinite and will continue till the government accepts their demands.

The demands include release of arrested Jat activists, government jobs and a compensation of rupees ten lakh to those who were killed in police action.

Meanwhile, the state government is not taking any chances and has deployed 55 companies of para-military forces in nine districts. Section 144 has also been imposed in Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, Jind and Kaithal districts.

"Adequate security arrangements are in place to deal with any situation like road or rail blockade. Law and order situation is under control in the state," Additional Chief Secretary Home, Ram Niwas said.

30 people were killed and over 300 were injured during the 9-day Jat quota sir which rocked Haryanna in February this year.

Also read:

Jats begin fresh quota stir, no reports of violence yet: Latest updates





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The incident took place when Malik and his supporters were protesting against BJP-PDP's stand on Kashmiri Pandits.

By India Today Web Desk: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik was today arrested for slapping and attacking policemen during a protest rally in Srinagar.

In a video, the separatist can be seen slapping and attacking policemen, while his supporters continue to hurl abuses at them.

The incident took place when Malik and his supporters were protesting against BJP-PDP's stand on Kashmiri Pandits.

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Police detained Malik and later took him to custody for spreading unrest in the state.

Also Read:



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Where Bigg Boss 8 star Tanna is vacationing in Bali, Mandira Bedi has been posting beautiful pictures of her Maldives vacation.

Mandira Bedi and Karishma Tanna are giving us some serious wanderlust. Picture courtesy: Instagram/ Mandira Bedi/Karishma Tanna

By India Today Web Desk: While you're probably sweating it out at work, actresses Mandira Bedi and Karishma Tanna are having the time of their lives.

Don't believe us?

One look at their respective Instagram accounts and you will.



Also Read: Mandira Bedi shares her childhood pic; isn't she looking cute?

Where Bigg Boss 8 star Tanna is vacationing in Bali, Mandira Bedi has been posting beautiful pictures of her Maldives vacation.



Bedi who is on a holiday with her husband Raj Kaushal and son Vir Kaushal, looks stunning in a series of pictures she has regularly been posting on her official Insta account. From swimming sessions to fancy dinners--Bedi's Maldives vacation sure looks like one surreal dream.



Got some jet ski action on the high seas with @jokeydebutler #Maldives #adventuresports #bluesea #blueskiesandsunshine A photo posted by Mandira Bedi (@mandirabedi) on Jun 5, 2016 at 12:35am PDT

The spa isn't far. And neither is the kids club. The morning is looking good! ??? #paradise #saltbymandira #Maldives A photo posted by Mandira Bedi (@mandirabedi) on Jun 4, 2016 at 9:57pm PDT

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What a lovely holiday it's been!! Thank you #Maldives #blueskiesandsunshine #bluesea #paradise #purebliss A photo posted by Mandira Bedi (@mandirabedi) on Jun 5, 2016 at 3:59am PDT

And if you're yet to snap out of Mandira Bedi's virtual vacation album, maybe some pictures from actress Karishma Tanna's Bali trip might help (or not!).









Ku de ta it is.. This place is just awesome!! #bali #kudeta #heaven #bliss A photo posted by Karishma Tanna (@karishmaktanna) on Jun 3, 2016 at 3:53am PDT





Lovely sundowner by the pool and the beach #balidiaries A photo posted by Karishma Tanna (@karishmaktanna) on Jun 4, 2016 at 3:45am PDT





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Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers in which 3000 persons have been made the accused.

By Press Trust of India: The death toll in the clashes between the police and encroachers of Jawahar Bagh has risen to 29 with two more persons succumbing to their injuries even as police registered 45 cases against the occupants.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinakoo, resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

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CASE REGISTERED, ARRESTS MADE

Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers in which 3000 persons have been made the accused.

He said some more arrests are possible in the case as police teams are trying to ascertain the accomplices of Ram Vriksh Yadav, the chief of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, who were providing financial support and arms to him.

Operations in Jawahar Bagh would continue till Monday in search of explosives and weapons, he said.

Bodies of ten encroachers, including two women, have been identified by their accomplices who are lodged in jail.

Efforts are on to identify the other bodies, Singh said.

If relatives do not come forward to claim the bodies within 72 hours, their postmortem would be carried out at 11 am on Monday following which their last rites would be conducted, he said.



ALLEGATIONS AGAINST UP MINISTER

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti accused Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav of being responsible for the violence and demanded that a case be registered against him.

Seeking strict action against him, she alleged that the encroachers had the protection of Shivpal which is why no action was taken against them even after over two years of encroachment.

She alleged that the administration was not given permission to take strict action against the occupants and adequate police force was also not deployed for the eviction.

BJP leaders claimed that they were not allowed entry into Jawahar Bagh.

"We had an argument with the police that out high-power committee wants to go inside and see the system of kitchens, water etc which was in place there since the past two and a half years. But they are not letting us go inside," a local BJP leader said.

Also read: Mathura violence mastermind Ramvriksh Yadav dead

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"The BJP government is only working for business houses and only they are benefiting from his foreign trips. His first year was anti-farmer and the second year was anti-people and anti-development," Mayawati said in Lucknow.

By Rajat Rai: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and said the PM is only trading dreams to the people of the country.

"The BJP government is only working for business houses and only they are benefiting from his foreign trips. His first year was anti-farmer and the second year was anti-people and anti-development," Mayawati said in Lucknow.

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WHEN SHE STUNG

The BSP supremo went ahead to attack UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and said the Mathura incident is a fresh example of the Jungle Raj prevailing in the state for the past four years. "While Modi will always be remembered for the 2002 Gujarat riots, Mulayam Singh Yadav's son has many feathers in his cap, including Muzaffarnagar and Mathura", she said.

The BJP won 71 seats in 2014 but the PM only remembers Varanasi. "The focus of SP government is only limited to Etawah and Saifai and the poor, downtrodden, Dalits and minorities are still waiting for Acchhe Din," Maya said.

"Modi has failed to deliver on the development front and he has not been able to fulfill even a single promise he made in 2014. His promise on black money is only focused on facilitating bigwigs to convert black money into white money. Both NDA and UPA are two faces of the same coin and RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has shown them (NDA) the mirror," she said.

CONFIDENCE OVERLOAD

Mayawati went ahead to repeat her promises of giving a development friendly government once she comes to power. "We (BSP) are going the form the government (2017) with full majority. The SP and the BJP will be contesting for the second place and this time, my focus will be on the development of the state rather than monuments and parks," she said.

ALSO READ:

Amit Shah dines with Dalits, Mayawati calls it melodrama



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Three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, while she was on her way to put her son onto a school bus near her home in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said.

By Reuters: The wife of a senior Bangladeshi police official known for battling Islamist militants was stabbed and shot to death today, and machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident.

Both attacks appeared to be the work of Islamist militants who have killed at least 30 people, including religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics, since February last year, police said.

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DETAILS OF THE CASE:

Three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, while she was on her way to put her son onto a school bus near her home in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said.

"She was stabbed first. Then they shot her in the head three times," Humayan Kabir, deputy police commissioner of Chittagong, told Reuters.

Her husband, police superintendent Babul Aktar, has played an important role in cracking down on militants in the region.

"Babul Aktar is an efficient police officer and played a key role in apprehending Islamists. They might have killed his wife because they failed to get him," Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.

Aktar, who was recently posted to police headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, busted several hideouts of the banned group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. His team also arrested one of the group's leaders, who was later killed in a grenade blast during a police raid in October.

GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES CRACKDOWN ON MILITANT GROUPS

The government has launched a crackdown on militant groups who want to impose strict Islamic law on Bangladesh, whose population of 160 million are mostly moderate Muslims.

In Sunday's other killing, Sunil Gomes, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, was hacked to death in his shop in the northern district of Natore, local police official Manirul Islam said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing Gomes, according to the U.S.-based monitoring service SITE.

Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many killings in the past but the government denies either group has a presence in Bangladesh and says home-grown radicals are responsible.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told Reuters in an interview last month that Islamic State was trying to ride a wave of religious radicalisation by falsely claiming killings, and said there was enough evidence implicating domestic militant groups.

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"Indians in Qatar are never away from India even for a minute, they are re-living India on the soil of Qatar," said PM Modi.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed the Indian community in Doha.

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

India and Qatar today signed seven agreements, including on investment and tourism promotion, following delegation level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

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HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF MODI'S SPEECH India's image has changed globally. Indians in Qatar are never away from India even for a minute, they are re-living India on the soil of Qatar. World is appreciating India's economic strategy. Global investors want to invest in India. The world economy too is not doing so well at this moment. Yet, despite this India is growing. India has been growing despite the fact that the monsoon has not been very good for the last two years. Global agencies are in agreement that if there is a fastest growing economy, it is India. Our growth rate is high. The change in India has not happened due to Narendra Modi. It is due to the 125 crore people of India. Corruption has troubled us for long, we are determined to eliminate it.

This is the second prime ministerial visit from India to Qatar in eight years after Manmohan Singh's visit in 2008.

Also read:

India, Qatar sign 7 agreements to boost economic ties

#StrandedInDoha: Indian workers appeal to PM Modi for help

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An agreement was signed on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters.

Modi's is the first prime ministerial visit from India to energy-rich Qatar since the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's in 2008. Photo: PIB/Twitter

By Indo-Asian News Service: India and Qatar today signed seven agreements, including on investment and tourism promotion, following delegation level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani here.

"From investments to skills, health to tourism, leaders witness signing of agreements to strengthen India-Qatar ties," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

MoUs SIGNED



According to one memorandum of understanding (MoU), Qatar will invest in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The government had set set up the Rs 40,000-crore NIIF last year for enhancing infrastructure financing in India. Another MoU was signed between India's Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Qatar's National Qualifications Authority/Supreme Educational Council, on cooperation in skill development and recognition of qualifications. A third MoU calls for Cooperation in tourism between the two countries. Another MoU was signed on cooperation between India and Qatar in the field of health. A fifth MoU was signed between Finance Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) and the Qatar Financial Information Unit (QFIU). An agreement was signed on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters. A first executive programme for MoU in the field of youth and sports between the two countries was also signed.

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Ahead of Sunday's delegation level talks, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Emiri Diwan here.

Modi's is the first prime ministerial visit from India to energy-rich Qatar since the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's in 2008.

FIVE-NATION TOUR



This is Modi's third visit to a GCC country. He visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia earlier.

Earlier on Sunday, Modi attended a meeting of Qatari business leaders and invited them to invest in India.

Modi will also interact with the Indian community here later in the day. Qatar is home to around 630,000 expatriate Indians -- comprising the single largest group of migrants in Qatar.

The Prime Minister, who arrived here on Saturday from Afghanistan on the second leg of his five-nation tour, visited a health camp organised for Indian workers here soon after his arrival.

He was later hosted for dinner by Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah Biv Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

On Sunday evening, Modi will depart for Switzerland on the third leg of his tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.



Also read:



#StrandedInDoha: Indian workers appeal to PM Modi for help



PM Modi meets business leaders in Qatar, invites them to India



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"Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders," the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted.

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

By India Today Web Desk: During his two-day Qatar visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met with business leaders and discussed trade and investment. This is the second prime ministerial visit from India to Qatar in eight years after then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit in 2008.

BUSINESS TALKS

"Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders," the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted.

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"Qatar's Minister of Trade and Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India," the MEA said in another tweet.

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Modi will hold detailed talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later in the day.

He addressed Indian workers at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Qatar on June 4, his second stop on his five-nation tour.



Also read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Qatar to boost economic ties



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Stranded Indian workers claim that they have no money to buy food or even to return to India.

By India Today Web Desk: At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a 2-day visit to Qatar, Indian workers who are stranded in Doha have appealed to the government for help.

Although PM Modi visited some camps in Qatar where Indian workers reside, he wasn't taken to those camps where Indian, Nepalese workers reside in poor conditions.

India Today spoke to some of the distressed workers who are stranded in Doha.

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These Indian workers worked with a construction company named EBID group which has now abandoned its operations in the country. There has been no response to the e-mails sent to the company's Qatar and Cairo offices by India Today in this regard.

India Today spoke to some of the workers who are now left without any money or work visa with them. There are about 150 workers of Indian origin who are stranded in Doha right now, a group of about hundred students are living in Al-Shahaniya whereas another group of about 50 workers are living in Sanaiya Industrial area.

"Conditions here are pathetic, we are forced to live in worst conditions without basic facilities, we neither have money nor licence to work here" said Md Sadiq, an Indian worker from Varanasi who has been working with EBID group since last two years.

"We did not get our salaries in the month of January, soon we came to know that the company had decided to wind up its operations in Qatar, we have no means to survive or return back to our motherland" Sadiq told India Today over phone.

"We contacted Indian embassy for help and were given assurance for the same but nothing has happened so far, we hope that this visit of PM Modi will result into a positive action and we will be able to return home during the month of Ramadan" said Anish Khan, another stranded Indian worker from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

"Even if the Indian government could help us in getting our work visa extended, we can earn enough money to arrange for our return" said Kanhaiya Lal, another Indian worker from Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu.

Ministry of External Affairs has taken note of India Today report and is trying to ascertain facts in this matter.



DETAILS OF THE CASE Workers claim that they haven't got their wages for the last 4-6 months. They claim that they have no money to buy food or even to return to India. The workers are forced to stay in cramped quarters. Workers have now appealed to the government for support and aid. "We complained to the police, but they asked us to go the court," said a stranded Indian worker.

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"We will provide all possible help to those who are stranded in Doha," said BJP's MJ Akbar.

Workers claim that they stay in poor conditions

PM MODI'S QATAR VISIT

PM Narendra Modi today met with business leaders and discussed trade and investment. This is the second prime ministerial visit from India to Qatar in eight years after Manmohan Singh's visit in 2008.

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Qatar on June 4, his second stop on his five-nation tour.



Also read:





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Maybe now is a good time to make that phone call?

By Indo-Asian News Service: Factors such as whether you are alone or with friends can affect how wisely you reason, says a study that suggests that our level of wisdom varies depending on the situation.

The study defines wise reasoning as a combination of such abilities as intellectual humility, consideration of others' perspective and looking for compromise.

"This research does not dismiss that there is a personality component to wisdom, but that's not the whole picture," said lead author of the study Igor Grossmann, Professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

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"Situations in daily life affect our personality and ability to reason wisely," Grossmann said.

Also Read: 5 reasons why living alone is the best thing you can do for yourself

The observation that wise reasoning varies dramatically across situations in daily life suggests that while it fluctuates, wisdom may not be as rare as we think.

Further, for different individuals, only certain situations may promote this quality.

"There are many examples where people known for their critical acumen or expertise in ethics seem to fall prey to lack of such acumen or morals. The present findings suggest that those examples are not an anomaly," Grossmann said.

Also Read: What depression feels like from the inside

The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

"We cannot always be at the top of our game in terms of wisdom-related tendencies, and it can be dangerous to generalise based on whether people show wisdom in their personal life or when teaching others in the classroom," Grossmann noted.

By examining conditions and situations under which people may or may not show wisdom in their lives, researchers and practitioners may learn more about situations promoting wisdom in daily life and recreating those situations.

For the next stage of this work, Grossmann and his team are preparing a tool to assess wisdom according to the situation.

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At a time when PM Modi is about to visit US for bilateral talks, India's most wanted Hafiz Saeed led a march on the streets of Islamabad raising anti-USA and India slogans.

By Ankit Kumar: Two of India's most wanted terrorists in Pakistan have once again come out in public after the killing of Taliban chief Mullah Mansour. On one hand, Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks and chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa led a huge anti-US/India march in Islamabad today, whereas the chief of banned organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad, Maulana Masood Azhar released an audio message against killing of Taliban chief. The message is from a piece written by Azhar and recorded in one of his closest associates' voice. Azhar recalled the role of former Taliban chief in his release from Indian jail after IC814 hijacking incident.

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HAFIZ SAEED'S OPEN DARE AGAINST US AND INDIA

At a time when PM Narendra Modi is about to visit US for bilateral talks, India's most wanted Hafiz Saeed led a march on the streets of Islamabad raising anti-US and India slogans. In a massive show of strength, this march was organised against killing of Taliban chief in US led drone attack inside Pakistan.

Hafiz Saeed has been attending rallies in Lahore, Islamabad and other cities of Pakistan but this is probably for the first time that the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa led an open march in Pakistan's capital against US and India.

"US has declared an open war against Pakistan, this is the toughest time for Pakistan since 1971" said Hafiz Saeed. "If any more drones or missiles attack a Pakistani target or a nuclear facility then by God's grace we have enough drones to strike each city of your's" threatened Hafiz Saeed. This was followed by anti-India slogans such as "Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi".

Commenting about India-Iran relationship, Hafiz said that Chabahar is one of the biggest attacks against Pakistan and it is their duty to protect China sponsored Gwadar route.

MASOOD AZHAR'S MESSAGE ON KILLING OF TALIBAN CHIEF



In his latest message, banned terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Maulana Masood Azhar has paid a tribute to Taliban chief Mullah Mansour. The tape is from a piece written by Jaish chief Azhar and recorded by Maulana Talha Al-Saif, one of the closest associates of Maulana Masood Azhar. Azhar who is believed to be the mastermind of several terrorist attacks in India, including 2001 Parliament attack and recent attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, called the Taliban chief the greatest martyr of recent history and threatened the enemies with dire consequences. "Enemies have played their part, now it is time for Muslims to give a firm reply, the world will see something spectacular" said Azhar. Even though Pakistan government has officially announced that Masood Azhar is being kept in preventive custody, the chief of banned outfit continues to dare Pakistan government by delivering hate messages through JeM's mouthpiece Al-Qalam and such audio messages.

Azhar also recalled his association with the former Taliban chief. He recalled a meeting with former Taliban chief Mansour (who was the minister for civil aviation during Taliban rule when the infamous hijacking of IC814 took place), "I was once invited by Taliban to Kandhar with a delegation from Karachi, Mullah Mansour came to receive me and took us to VIP lounge. He asked me to be seated on a sofa, he suddenly started laughing and told me that it was the same sofa where Jaswant Singh sat on when he escorted you to Kandhar, Jaswant Singh made an offer to Taliban government to return Azhar and others for a huge amount of money".

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The original transcript of this message by JeM chief was also published in JeM's mouthpiece Al-Qalam. Azhar also called the current Pakistani government lead by PM Nawaz Sharif, one of the weakest in recent history.

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With the number of militants infiltrating from PoK showing a steep rise this year, the Army found that terrorists carried a smart phone with no messages stored in it.

By Press Trust of India: A new app 'calculator' has been found on smart phones of terrorists infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir which helps them to remain in touch with their handlers in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) without being detected by technical surveillance mounted by army.

With the number of militants infiltrating from PoK showing a steep rise this year, the Army found that terrorists carried a smart phone with no messages stored in it.

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The Army's signal unit, which relies mainly on technical intercepts like usage of wireless and mobile phones by infiltrating terror groups to track them, is burning midnight oil along with National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and other agencies to crack this mechanism used by the terrorists.



HOW IT WORKS

The technology was first used by a US-based company during Hurricane 'Katrina' so that the affected residents could remain in touch with each other.

During interrogation of some of the terrorists of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), the agencies came to know that the terror outfit had modified it and created an application 'calculator' which can be downloaded on smart phones attached to the off-air network created specifically for them.

The technology is based on the concept of 'cognitive digital radio' that enables users to turn their smartphones into peer-to-peer, off-grid communication tools.

The network generates its own signal through proprietary adhoc networking protocols and automatically coordinates with other units within range which enables users to send and receive text messages, share their GPS locations on offline maps regardless of access to WiFi or cellular service.

The terrorists apprehended had their phones paired with the radio sets along the border and were receiving instructions about the route and terrain, official sources quoting interrogation details of some apprehended militants said.

In a related development, the army is trying to plug the holes in the anti-infiltration grid and has already started redeployment of troops.



RISE IN INFILTRATION

The infiltration of terrorists from across the border by end of April this year stands at around 35 in Kashmir area.

All the security agencies were unanimous about infiltration from the Jammu side where they claimed militants made three infiltration bids which were foiled by troops.

According to the sources, the militants, who infiltrated recently, have already gone to higher reaches of Bandipora from where they have moved towards central and south Kashmir.

During winter, infiltration is always low. However, this year, winter did not last long and terrorists are suspected to have taken advantage of the favourable weather conditions, sources said.

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There were 121 infiltration attempts along the border in Jammu and Kashmir in entire 2015 of which 33 were successful.

In 2014, there were 222 infiltration attempts in the state of which 65 were successful.

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By Press Trust of India: Once the fiery mascot of the Ram temple movement, Union Minister Uma Bharti wants a resolution to the lingering dispute through dialogue even as she hails controversial BJP MP Subramanian Swamy as her "hero", saying she believes his words that work on the temple in Ayodhya will start by the end of this year.

CONFIDENCE IN BJP

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Bharti ruled herself out as a possible chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but voiced confidence that BJP will be able to form its government in the key Hindi heartland state with Amit Shah at the helm of the party.



SWAMY IS MY HERO

On the issue of Ram temple construction and Swamy's remarks that the work on it will start this year, Bharti said, "I respect Swamy very much. He is my hero. I was 15-16 years old when Emergency was imposed and Dr Swamy, George Fernandes were my heroes. For me he is a heroic figure. So whatever he says, I will believe that."

The remarks by BJP's yesteryear Hindutva mascot comes at a time when the party leadership is skirting questions on Ram temple and repeatedly insisting that development will be the party's poll plank in UP as it seeks to wrest the politically important state from Samajwadi Party.



LAND DISPUTE



Speaking at an event in Mumbai in April, Swamy had claimed that work to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya would begin by this year-end. He had expressed confidence that next year Hindus would celebrate Ram Navami at the Ram temple.

"The issue in the Ram temple movement was whether it was the birthplace of Lord Rama or not. The three-judge bench of Allahabad HC said one thing undisputedly that the dome in the middle is of Ramlala. The Ram temple movement got legal sanction with that declaration.

"Now the dispute that remains is the dispute of land. There is no dispute now on whether it is Ram Janmabhoomi or not. Movements are not needed to resolve land disputes. It has to be resolved either through a dialogue or a legislation. I feel that the most beautiful solution to Ram janmabhoomi issue can be found through dialogue," she said.



Bharti suggested that parties to the dispute should sit together and saints and religious leaders of both sides facilitate dialogue between the two communities and tell the court they have resolved the issue.

"And a magnificent temple is built there. I am very proud that I took part in the movement, which has also got the stamp of the court that I was right," she said, referring to the Allahabad High Court judgement.



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Over the years, Sulabha mainly acted in lovable mother or grandmother roles, or evil mother-in-law characters, in both Hindi and Marathi films.

By India Today Web Desk: Veteran Bollywood and Marathi cinema, stage and television actress and director Sulabha Deshpande passed away here on Saturday. She was 80.

She was a recipient of the 1987 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindi-Marathi theatre acting.

Starting her life as a teacher in Chhabildas High School, Dadar, Sulabha's romance with theatre began when she asked the famous author-director Vijay Tendulkar in the 1950s to write some plays for the school students.

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Tendulkar, along with Vijaya Mehta, Shriam Lagoo and Arvind Deshpande, who later married Sulabha, were the initiators of the experimental theatre movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which she (Sulabha) joined subsequently.

Over the years, Sulabha acted in scores of movies, mainly in lovable mother or grandmother roles, or evil mother-in-law characters, in both Hindi and Marathi films, besides key roles in several TV serials and Marathi theatre, her first love and earned critical acclaim as well as audience approval.

Among her prominent films were Bhumika, Gaman, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyo Aata Hai, Vijeta, Virasat, English Vinglish, and Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan.

On stage, she acted in Marathi plays like Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, Sakharam Binder, Baba Harvale Aahet, among many others.

She was seen on the small screen in serials like Rishtey, Badalte Rishte, Tanha and Mrs Tendulkar among others.

In 1971, Arvind and Sulabha co-founded Awishkar, a theatre group and its kids wing Chandrashala which imparts training and performs professional children's theatre.

Top Bollywood, television and stage actors, directors and her colleagues expressed shock at her death.

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Vijay 60 marks the second film of Vijay-Bharathan duo. They have earlier worked together in the fantasy thriller Azhagiya Tamil Magan.

By India Today Web Desk: Actor Vijay is currently shooting for his upcoming film with director Bharathan, which is tentatively named Vijay 60. Rumours state that Ilayathalapathy will talk in the Nellai lingo in the upcoming film, which is set at the backdrop of Tirunelveli, according to a report published in Only Kollywood.

ALSO READ: Akshay Kumar to step into Vijay's shoes for Theri remake?

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Vijay 60 marks the second film of Vijay-Bharathan duo. They have earlier worked together in the fantasy thriller Azhagiya Tamil Magan. The upcoming film has Keerthy Suresh of Rajini Murugan in the lead role.

Vijay, Keerthy Suresh and Sathish

The crew of Vijay 60 has currently camped in Hyderabad for a shooting schedule.

Popular Telugu star Jagapathi Babu is playing one of the antagonists in the film. He has already acted in a handful of Tamil films including Thandavam and Rajinikanth's Lingaa.

Vijay 60 will have music by Santhosh Narayanan.



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GENEVA  As Charlie Chaplin finished out his long life on his bucolic Swiss manor, the former silent film star worried about drifting into oblivion, his connoisseurs say.

Little chance of that. The legacy of the Hollywood legend behind "The Dictator" and "Modern Times" lives on today in the minds of stars like Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr., in Broadway plays and in the general cultural consciousness. But he never had bricks-and-mortar museum honoring his life and achievements.

That changed recently with the public opening of "Chaplin's World," a multimillion-dollar project in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey. Its director-general says the museum is the first of its kind in the world to honor Chaplin, and has added value because it's at a place he called home for years.

The "Manoir de Ban" is where Chaplin lived his last 25 years raising children, writing music and movie scripts, and contemplating his legacy far from the glare of the Hollywood spotlight. Visitors can see his trademark bowler hat and cane, a replica studio, black-and-white photographs from his career, and the bedroom where he died at age 88 in 1977.

Working with Paris' Grevin museum, which is known for its wax figures, managers have displayed a number of figures of Chaplin as well as friends like Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill on the green 14-hectare (35-acre) grounds along Lake Geneva, said Jean-Pierre Pigeon, the Swiss-Canadian director of Chaplin's World.

"He was not just resting here, he was working. He was part of the region," said Pigeon. "He was able to live a normal life here. He found the right life-work balance here in Switzerland. In England, he was really poor, in the United States, he was really successful in his career and money-wise, but his real happiness was here for 25 years."

Organizers are hoping for more than 300,000 visits per year, Pigeon said, boosted by a nearby chocolate factory and a medieval castle.

What would the famed English-born actor and director think about "Chaplin's World?"

"I think his first reaction would probably be 'Oooh!'" Pigeon said with a chuckle. "But there was one thing he was scared of: being forgotten. So this is a good way to broaden his notoriety."

"A place where people can laugh and get emotion: That's what he would have wanted," Pigeon said.
CRAWFORD -- The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has issued a partial ruling in the renewal of Crow Butte Mines operating license, and while the board ruled in favor of those opposing the renewal on two issues, it declined to revoke the facilitys license.

The ruling issued May 26 addresses the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions attempts to consult with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Consolidated Intervenors to identify sites of historic and cultural significance within the mines license area.

Crow Buttes operational license expired several years ago, and the facility has been operating on a temporary license since 2007 pending the renewal process. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Consolidated Intervenors filed requests to intervene in 2008. Last fall, after the NRC had granted a 10-year license renewal to Crow Butte, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board heard conducted hearings to address ongoing concerns from the tribe and the Intervenors.

In the initial protest, the board admitted for review four environmental contentions brought forth by the opposing parties; the board admitted five more contentions last year regarding the NRCs analysis for the environmental assessment (EA). The partial ruling addressed only Contention 1 relating to the NRCs consultation with the tribe and the identification of tribal cultural properties.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled on four separate matters regarding Contention 1, issuing a split decision on those matters - two in favor of the NRC and two in favor of the intervenors.

This decision relates to the NRC and tribes working together to identify potential cultural sites. We are still reviewing the decision but it does not put our license at risk or affect our ability to operate, said Cameco spokesman Ken Vaughn in an email.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that the NRC staff made a genuine effort to consult with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, meeting its consultation obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act. The board also ruled that while the NRCs environmental analysis was deficient in explaining how it met those obligations, a review of the evidence in its entirety cures those deficiencies.

The board ruled in favor of the tribe, however, in finding that the NRCs survey of the license area for historical and cultural sites did not meet the identification obligations under the Preservation Act and that the environmental analysis is deficient under National Environmental Policy Act because the NRC failed to take a hard look at potential sites significant to the tribe and analyze the objections the tribe had to the site survey approach.

The record before the Board presents a close call as to whether the NRC Staff provided a meaningful opportunity for the Indian tribes to consult on the Crow Butte license renewal. We find that the NRC Staffs consultation process suffered from years of inaction and delay, a confusing multi-site approach, and for most of the process an absence of sincere respect for the government-to-government relationship that exists between Indian tribes and the United States. Nonetheless, in 2013, the NRC Staff attempted to rectify its mistakes by endeavoring to consult meaningfully with affected Indian tribes. Sadly, at that time, the Oglala Sioux Tribe also took steps that undermined the process.

While the NRC could have done many things differently, the board said there is no evidence that the OST has a genuine interest in further consultation efforts.

The report finds that the NRC delayed the consultation with the tribes for four years after Crow Butte filed its renewal application.

Once the NRC initiated communication, it created further problems by attempting to consolidate communications for the Crow Butte renewal license, the facilitys three expansion licenses, and the Powertech license in South Dakota, resulting in confusion on the part of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

The NRC did not separate the consultation on Crow Butte from Powertech until October 2012.

Other attempts at communication with the tribes included teleconference calls and a three-day trip in 2011 to Crow Butte allowed tribes to see the site, in which they were not able to exit the bus and there was no attempt to identify culturally significant sites.

That meeting, the rulings say, only served to initiate the consultation process.

To argue otherwise is to treat the entire consultation process as a checklist, without examining the substance of the dialogue among the parties.

The NRC also failed to give the Oglala Sioux Tribe the respect required in a government-to-government relationship. A meeting in February 2012, for example, was attended by the president of OST but the NRC sent no one holding a similar level of authority.

This example again reflects the NRC Staffs prioritization of form over substance  The government-to-government relationship is not benefited, and if anything harmed, if the focus does not remain on substantive consultations between equivalent levels of NRC Staff management and Tribal executives, the ruling says.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board found that the NRC eventually corrected that mistake by sending a deputy division director to meet with the tribe, but OST representatives did not attend the meeting. The NRC also made the mistake of sending a draft copy of the EA to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality but failed to send the document to OST. NRC staff never offered a satisfactory reason for the oversight, the ruling says.

It is worrisome that the NRC Staff could not admit that this was a simple mistake, and instead defended its failure to send the draft EA to the Tribe by asserting that theres no NRC regulatory requirement.

The OST, however, was not blameless in the lack of communication, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board said. The tribe failed to discuss their misgivings and instead disengaged, making no effort to work with the NRC staff.
James Jim Seacrest, a Lincoln philanthropist honored in 2014 for his charity and contributions to the city, has died.

He was 78.

Alongside his wife, Rhonda, Jim was awarded the Lincoln Community Foundations Charity Award two years ago for the couple's participation in several Lincoln nonprofit organizations, fundraising efforts and generous donations to various arts and education programs.

Seacrest was active in the newspaper industry for 40 years, and served as the president of Western Publishing Co., according to his obituary. The publishing company produced multiple newspapers in Western Nebraska.

He was also a member of the Board of Directors for the University of Nebraska Foundation from 1983-1989.

Seacrest was recognized nationally for his collections of model trains, books and historical ephemera.

Memorials in Seacrest's honor can be given to the University of Nebraska Foundation or the Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation.
Cool people dislike the "Star Wars" "prequels" - Episodes 1, 2, and 3. The dialogue is wooden, the actors are stiff, and there's far less energy and wit than in the beloved original trilogy. But if you're looking for a quick guide to current political struggles - both in the United States and all over the world - you should give the prequels another chance.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, paralyzing political divisions threatened democratic governments. Disputes over free trade, and the free movement of people and goods, were a big reason. Stymied by polarization and endless debates, the Senate proved unable to resolve those disputes.

As a result, nationalist sentiments intensified, leading to movements for separation from centralized institutions. People craved a strong leader who would introduce order - and simultaneously combat growing terrorist threats.

A prominent voice, Anakin Skywalker, insisted, "We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what's in the interest of all the people, and then do it." And if they didn't, "they should be made to."

Eventually, something far worse happened. The legislature voted to give "emergency powers" - essentially unlimited authority - to the chief executive. An astute observer, Padme Amidala, noted, "So this is how liberty dies ... with thunderous applause."

That, in a nutshell, is the story of the "Star Wars" prequels: the triumph of empire over democracy, facilitated by Anakin Skywalker and resulting in autocratic rule by Chancellor (later Emperor) Palpatine.

It's a bit of a cartoon, of course. But before filming, George Lucas studied real transitions from democracies to dictatorships - which sometimes occurred right after nations had moved to embrace democracy in the first place. He asked why "the senate after killing Caesar turn(ed) around and g(a)ve the government to his nephew?. ... Why did France, after they got rid of the king and that whole system, turn around and give it to Napoleon?"

He noted, "It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler. ... You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control." The problem is "a democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling."

In Germany, Hitler's rise was solidified by his successful claim to unlimited authority to make law, free from any requirement of legislative permission. In the midst of an apparent crisis, signaled by a fire at the Reichstag (legislative) building, Hitler demanded and obtained that authority.

A chilling newspaper account from Feb. 2, 1933, reads like something right out of "Star Wars" (above all, the grant of emergency powers to Palpatine), but it's real:

"The power to dissolve Parliament at his discretion and to rule Germany by decree without Parliament was entrusted today to Adolf Hitler, Germany's new chancellor, by President Paul von Hindenburg, according to the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, an organ close to the government. President von Hindenburg signed a decree for the dissolution of Parliament, which is expected to become effective before the reconvening of Parliament, scheduled for next Tuesday."

Which brings us to the present day. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia showed significant movement in the direction of democratic self-government. But amidst the nation's economic and political challenges, Vladimir Putin rose to power. He has often been a recipient of thunderous applause, not least when he defended the illegal seizure of Crimea.

More recently, authoritarian politicians with nationalist tendencies have been attracting significant support in Austria, Germany and France. Their platform? Protection against terrorism and crime, economic nationalism, doubts about free trade and an insistence on a muscular government, striking against the pervasive forces of disorder.

That is Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's platform as well. With respect to the Islamic State: "I would just bomb those suckers. ... I'd blow up every single inch." One of his defining slogans is "America First." With respect to trade, he proposes a 45 percent tariff on foreign goods as "a threat. It will be a tax if they don't behave."

He warns and threatens those who oppose him; sometimes he sues them. He doesn't seem to think all that well of freedom of speech, promising to "open up" libel laws. He exclaims, "We need law and order!"

When he says such things, Trump is often greeted with (you guessed it) thunderous applause. Is this how liberty dies?

We can't really know what Trump would do as president, and for over 200 years, U.S. institutions have proved to be spectacularly robust. In our country, any question about the potential death of liberty -- as occurred in a galaxy far, far way -- seems wildly excessive. But here's a lesson from "Star Wars": That's an essential question to ask.
WASHINGTON -- On Thursday, Donald Trump escalated his racist attacks on Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge hearing one of the fraud cases against Trump University.

The presumptive Republican nominee had already called the judge a "Mexican" -- the Latino jurist was born in Indiana -- and floated the allegation that Curiel's ethnicity biases him against Trump because of the candidate's immigration stance. Trump had threatened to use the power of the presidency against the judge, saying "we'll come back in November" and people "ought to look into" the judge. Then, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal also on Thursday, Trump said Curiel's "Mexican heritage" presented "an absolute conflict" in hearing a case against him.

Yet that very afternoon, the highest ranking Republican official in the land, House Speaker Paul Ryan, endorsed Trump. Incredibly, one of the justifications cited in Ryan's reasoning was that he had talked with Trump about "the proper role of the executive." And he learned that the proper role of the executive is ... to threaten a federal judge in an overtly racist attack?

Republicans had better get used to such jarring juxtapositions, now that the party has embraced a man who traffics in racist politics and conspiracy theories.

Ryan's salute ends any doubt: The GOP is the Party of Trump. Ryan and his colleagues have bet their future, and that of their party, on Trump, and they now own what the volatile showman says and does. Ryan, after holding out for a month before embracing Trump, folded without any tangible concession. The speaker says he thinks Trump would support the House Republicans' agenda. But the reverse is already true: The Republican establishment has, with Ryan's capitulation, made Trump's agenda their own.

And what is that agenda? Let's consider some of the theories Trump has floated -- and people such as Ryan are, with their endorsements, now countenancing:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered.

Rafael Cruz, Ted's father, was involved in the JFK assassination.

President Obama's wedding ring is inscribed "There is no God but Allah."

Bill Ayers wrote "Dreams From My Father."

Obama was born "Barry Soetero."

The Hawaii official who verified Obama's birth certificate was murdered.

Clinton administration official Vince Foster's suicide was really a murder.

A demonstrator who rushed the stage at one of Trump's rallies has ties to Islamic State.

The Islamic State pays the cellphone bills of Syrian refugees.

Trump is being persecuted by the IRS because he's a "strong Christian."

The government has falsified statistics on unemployment, Ebola, refugees, health insurance and immigration.

Global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese.

Vaccines cause autism.

These were among 58 conspiracy theories tallied up this week by People for the American Way, a liberal group, all documented with links to Trump's allegations. Better make that 59: Just hours after Ryan's endorsement, Trump declared that Clinton "killed four Americans in Benghazi." The list goes on: a U.S. general dipped bullets in pig's blood to shoot Muslims; Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11; Obama is a Muslim. All that's missing from Trump's ouevre is a theory about Area 51 and fluoridation.

Certainly not everybody who backs Trump supports everything he says. But Ryan and his colleagues, by embracing Trump, are making paranoia and racism -- once limited to the dark corners of the Internet -- mainstream. They are putting themselves, and their party, behind Trump's bigotry and conspiracy theories.

They are blessing Trump's recent attack on one of the few high-ranking Hispanics in the GOP, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and on his labeling Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., "Pocahontas" because she claimed to have Native American ancestry. The evening before Ryan's embrace of Trump, The New York Times reported the resignation of the head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee because of her discomfort with Trump.

They are legitimizing, too, Trump's attack on Curiel, in which he tries to disqualify a federal judge because of his ethnicity. He referred to the American-born Curiel as "the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican." This is reminiscent of how he referred to Obama: "We have a terrible president who happens to be African-American."

Surely Ryan and most of his GOP colleagues in Congress wouldn't allow such talk to cross their own lips. But in endorsing Trump, they have made his vile words the creed of the Republican Party. Win or lose, they have turned the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Trump.
LONDON -- Misery loves company, so refugees from America's Republican Party should understand that theirs is not the only party that has chosen a leader who confirms caricatures of it while repudiating its purposes. Jeremy Corbyn, the silliest leader in the British Labour Party's 116-year history, might kill satire as well as whatever remains of socialism.

Labour was founded in 1900 to demonstrate that a 19th-century political prophet was mistaken. Karl Marx had proclaimed that meaningful amelioration of working-class conditions could not be achieved by non-revolutionary, parliamentary means. Labour helped make modern Britain into a mostly middle- class, generally temperate nation impervious to exotic politics.

In the 1983 election, the last time Labour flirted with serious socialism, its manifesto (platform) was described as "the longest suicide note in history," and a party activist advocated "no compromise with the electorate." The electorate was not amused, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher continued residing at 10 Downing Street.

That year, Corbyn was elected to the House of Commons. He spent his next 32 years opposing the monarchy; writing columns for a Communist newspaper; expressing admiration for Hugo Chavez, whose socialism propelled Venezuela toward today's chaos; proposing that taxpayers should be permitted to opt out of paying for Britain's army; advocating that Britain leave NATO and unilaterally scrap its nuclear deterrent; blaming NATO, meaning the United States, for Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine; calling the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah "friends"; appearing with and funding Holocaust deniers and other anti-Semites; criticizing China's Communist regime for deviationism in accepting some free markets; demanding that Tony Blair, the only Labour leader since 1976 to win a general election (three of them), be tried as a war criminal (for supporting the Iraq War); praising Iraqi insurgents killing Americans; and calling the killing of Osama bin Laden a "tragedy." Along the way, Corbyn got divorced because his wife insisted on sending their eldest son to a selective school whose admissions policy recognized merit.

Last September, in a Labour Party process in which an intense fraction of 1 percent of the British electorate participated -- a cohort intensely interested in things other than winning the next election -- Corbyn was elected party leader with 59.5 percent of the vote in a four-way contest. He promptly named as shadow chancellor of the exchequer a former union official who lists in "Who's Who" his hobby as "fomenting the overthrow of capitalism," who says he was joking when he said that if he could relive the 1980s he would have assassinated Thatcher but who was serious when he praised IRA terrorist bombers. Corbyn's shadow farming minister, a vegan, says, "Meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it." Corbyn, appearing with unmatched jacket and trousers and with his tie loosened at a St. Paul's Cathedral service commemorating the Royal Air Force's heroism in the Battle of Britain, refused to sing the national anthem.

In 1937, George Orwell, a socialist disgusted with many socialists, published "The Road to Wigan Pier," half of which consisted of reportage about working-class privations in England's industrial north. In the other half, which the publisher of the Left Book Club wanted to omit from the club's edition, Orwell decried the socialist movement's "smell of crankishness," "the sandals and the pistachio-colored shirts" of "every vegetarian, teetotaler" and other exemplars of "priggishness" and "half-baked 'progressivism.'"

Corbyn is an apple that did not fall far from the tree: His parents met at a rally advocating peace in the Spanish Civil War. They got their wish. Peace came. When Gen. Francisco Franco came to Madrid. Corbyn is a vegetarian who does not own a car. He does own -- perhaps Al Gore knows why; Gore went through an earth tones phase -- many beige clothes bought from street vendors.

With his Greek fisherman's cap, Corbyn is a reactionary dressed as a revolutionary whose slogan could be "Onward to 1945!" Nostalgic for Labour's commitment (long dead when interred by Blair in 1995) to "common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange," Corbyn favors re-nationalizing the railroads and some energy companies.

Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh sees Corbyn as a symptom of broad social contentment. Corbynism is the persuasion "of people who can afford to treat politics as a source of gaiety and affirmation. ... They are in politics for the dopamine squirt that comes with total belief and immersion in like-minded company." So, they are not unlike America's Sandernistas and Trumpkins.
Lincoln residents should be aware that the so-called "autonomous car" technology is flawed, dangerous and years away from being able to safely implement, if ever.

Predictions by Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute and others that this system will eliminate the need for public rail and transit expansion will turn out to be so much hot air down the road.

The reality is that (1) autonomous cars being tested currently have dangerous flaws.A recent incident reported was on Valentine's Day this year when a computer-driven car sensed an object in the road ahead, thought it could change lanes and smashed into the side of a transit bus in the lane next to it. There have been other incidents in which the human driver prevented collisions.

(2) A whole new set of laws needs to be in place for driverless cars to become a part of the transportation system. If a driverless car runs a red light, who gets the ticket? Who appears in court and who pays the fine or goes to jail in the case of motor vehicle homicide? Who will be assessed points for traffic violations? Who will provide liability insurance? Who will you sue in court in case of an accident? How will the driverless cars be insured? Who owns the cars and pays the registration fee and wheel tax? Will the laws require that a licensed driver be in each car to take over or can all the passengers be non-drivers? Will Nebraska require all driverless cars to have over-ride controls so that a human can take over in case of computer error? (The Google car has no steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals.)

(3) Separate and apart from the legal issues, there are the reliability issues. What happens when a computer fails? Will a solar flare, weather or electromagnetic problem "fry" the computer? Tests in California with the driverless cars (so far with a driver in them able to over-ride the computer) show that the lidar sensors do not work in heavy snowstorms, fog, heavy rain and are confused by the glare from wet pavement. The Valentine's Day incident resulted from the driverless car's sensor shooting to the side failing to detect the transit bus in the next lane.

Will we ever be able to program a computer to make a wise decision when confronted with a new situation? Suppose the sensors detect two objects in the road ahead - a grocery cart loaded with groceries and a baby stroller with a child in it. The car can't stop in time and will hit one of the obstructions. Will it be smart enough to choose the grocery cart and not the baby stroller?

Some driving decisions involve ethical questions. Suppose a driverless car sees a crowd of 10 or more people blocking the street and can't get around them or stop in time. There is a thick concrete wall to the right side. Will the computer turn the car into the wall, risking injury and possible death to its riders or simply bowl on through the crowd and hope for the best?

(4) Then there is the whole issue of computer hacking. Even our conventional cars have min-computers which control various functions. Recently hackers were able to hack into Jeep Cherokee mini-computers and disable various functions like steering when the Jeeps were in motion. What will happen if a hacker is able to shut down 600 driverless cars on a multi-lane city street and they all stop suddenly blocking all lanes? Are Islamic terrorists smart enough to use the driverless cars to create a massive traffic jam? You bet they are!

(5) There is also a proposal for driverless semi-trucks and I don't even want to think abut an 18-wheeler coming across the median on I-80 and coming at me head-on. Interestingly, Bay Area Rapid Transit, a rail commuter system operating in the Oakland area for many years, has computer-operated train control. During a test with no motorman aboard and fortunately no passengers, the computer failed and the train failed to stop at a station where the track the train was on dead-ended. The train crashed into the station. From that point on, all the trains have a human motorman aboard with a manual over-ride control.

The fact that Lincoln was not selected as a pilot city for the driverless car concept is a huge relief. I can't understand Mayor Chris Beutler being willing to make Lincolnites human guinea pigs for this immature, dangerous technology.

The auto and auto products vendors are worried. The modern trend in transportation has been to realize that "You can't pave your way out of congestion." As a result there has been a great resurgence in public transit throughout the United States.

Let's not be lulled by O'Toole and others with a private agenda to quit spending to improve StarTran, think about Light Rail for Lincoln and get cracking on getting commuter trains running between Lincoln and Omaha instead of going down the perilous path of a Jetsons-like system that is wrong in so many ways.
The executive board of the Lincoln Police Union wishes to respond to an editorial (Right-sizing the police force, LJS, May 19) written by the Journal Star editorial board.

The editorial expressed views about the size and staffing levels of the Lincoln Police Department and discussed how the Lincoln Independent Business Association and City Councilman Roy Christensen were opening discussions about hiring more police officers. The Lincoln Police Union has participated in these discussions in the past and members of the union do feel the police department is understaffed.

The editorial indicated that increases in population and square mileage were legitimate reasons for increasing staffing but discounted the legitimacy of using the ratio between officers and the population of Lincoln as a basis for increasing staffing, quoting the International Order of Police Chiefs as saying that is totally inappropriate.

The editorial further stated, the ratio of police officers in Lincoln looks much better if the more than 30 university police officers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus are included. The executive board of the LPU couldnt agree more that adding 30 additional staff would improve the ratio. What the editorial board failed to note is that these are two separate and distinct agencies with very different roles, jurisdictions, budgets and funding sources. LPD does not investigate incidents occurring on UNL property and UNL PD does not investigate incidents off campus.

While the various law enforcement agencies in and around Lincoln enjoy a fantastic working relationship and help each other whenever needed, there is simply no way to include outside agencies for staffing purposes. To suggest such to the public is misleading and not feasible. We would liken this to the Journal Star claiming that anyone in the city of Lincoln who reads the Omaha World Herald is one of their own subscribers.

The members of the Lincoln Police Union are committed to providing the best police services we can, with the resources we have, to the citizens of Lincoln. We feel that discussions about public safety, including staffing levels, must be kept realistic, logical and achievable. If it were as easy as simply adding another agencys officers to the city staffing numbers, someone would have done so long ago.
Back in February when Sen. Ben Sasse brought up the possibility of the American electorate splintering into multiple political parties during a meeting with the Journal Star editorial board, the idea sounded far-fetched.

Lately the idea seems more plausible.

Nebraskas GOP lost a prominent member a few days ago when Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete changed her registration from Republican to Libertarian.

The final straw for Ebke came when she listened at the back of the room when Gov. Pete Ricketts at the partys state convention called out state senators by name for not supporting him and the state partys platform.

Ricketts was within his right, of course. The Nebraska GOP can be as heavy-handed as it wants when it comes to enforcing party discipline.

But Ricketts blast was a departure from the big tent concept espoused by former President Ronald Reagan.

And Ricketts insistence that elected officials in Nebraska adhere to the state GOP platform is inconsistent with events at the national level, where presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump holds positions at odds with the national platform on major issues such as reform of Social Security.

Theres little doubt that the major parties have become more extreme in recent years. Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel told Journal Star reporter Don Walton that the Republican Party he joined years ago no longer exists. Bob Kerrey, a Democrat who served as Nebraska governor and U.S. senator, told CNBC recently that he is almost like a person without a party.

Although fracture lines are most visible in the Republican Party, consternation is growing in the Democratic Party among supporters of Hillary Clinton as Sen. Bernie Sanders refuses to concede despite Clintons overwhelming lead in convention delegates.

In Nebraska both the Republican and Democratic parties have lost registered voters in the past decade. Meanwhile the number of Nebraskans who have chosen to register as independent has climbed 25 percent to more than 233,000.

Ebke, who always had identified herself as a Republican whose political philosophy was Libertarian, explained her decision to change her registration this way: I'm not willing to bend my principles to go along or cast a vote just for the sake of party unity."

Sasse has adopted much the same stance, although he is still a registered Republican. If the Republican Party becomes the party of David Duke, Donald Trump, Im out, he said in March, holding out hope that conservatives could find a third-party option.

Although Ebke and Sasse have been hammered by GOP partisans, both deserve admiration for sticking to their principles. Their independence hews to Americas oldest and truest political values.
Saying murders should not alarm residents is disrespectful and irresponsible (" Spike in murders no cause for alarm ," June 1). It sends the wrong message to everyone, especially children and criminals. While we should be thankful for the low crime rate in Lincoln, there is never a reason for saying we should not be concerned when a person is murdered.

In the 20 years we have lived in Lincoln, we have told everyone we know that it's a great place to live and raise a family. Public safety is one of the reasons Lincoln is great. However, one murder is one too many. Telling residents not to be alarmed when someone is murdered should never be printed in the newspaper.
Unyielding in his determination to oppose Donald Trump, his party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. Ben Sasse said Sunday he expects to cast a presidential vote in November, but not for Trump or likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Sasse said he and his wife, Melissa, have "decided to sit down in October and deliberate, pray and think" before they determine how to cast their presidential ballots.

Asked whether he would consider a vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson, Sasse said he "hadn't really looked closely at it yet."

But, he said, "the Libertarian Party is something I would certainly consider in the long term."

Sasse spoke during a brief interview outside Kimball Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus following an address to about 400 high school juniors at the opening session of this year's Boys State.

Nebraskans who have visited with him at a flurry of events during the current Senate recess overwhelmingly agree with his deep concerns about Trump, the senator said.

"People, perhaps 10 to 1, are saying thanks for saying what we believe," he said.

"But definitely there are some frustrated people who say they are anti-Clinton" and argue that is reason enough to support Trump, the senator said.

Sasse is the only Republican senator who has declared his opposition to his party's presidential nominee. Nebraska's first-term senator began campaigning against Trump in Iowa at the beginning of this year's series of presidential caucuses and primaries in an effort to derail him from reaching for the GOP nomination.

Although Sasse focused on big-picture issues like national security, foreign policy and the changing economy during an address that launched this year's session of Boys State, the first question he encountered from a Boys Stater centered on his opposition to Trump.

"That was the question I was most trying to avoid," Sasse told him with a smile.

Sasse reminded the youths that he is one of the most conservative members of the Senate, a constitutional conservative and "happily a member of the party of Abraham Lincoln."

But the presidential choice for Americans in November will be between "the two most unpopular nominees" in polling history, he said.

"Both sides are not doing a very good job of explaining what they are for," he said. Both are engaged in "creative destruction," he said.

Sasse said that among the vast changes that lie ahead for today's high school students is the possibility of a reordering of the traditional two-party system.

"Don't be so sure the two-party political system continues long-term," he said.

"Both parties are exhausted," he said. "They probably don't have the big ideas for the change that is coming."
Tough life for a roadside marker: It's subject to sun and snow and rain and, sometimes, tornadic-force winds.

It's an inadvertent target of cars and trucks, and the intentional bull's-eye for spray paint, handguns, rifles and shotguns.

It's been uprooted, abducted and, when the price of aluminum was higher, likely hustled over the state line and sold for scrap in South Dakota.

Hard to imagine a recycler would accept such an object, said Lynne Ireland, deputy director of the Nebraska State Historical Society, but history is a litany of occurrences that are hard to imagine.

And that's what these markers serve: History.

They endure all of this, the weather and the vandals and the bullet holes, to be able to tell you this was the spot of the Ainsworth Army Air Field. Or where Mari Sandoz grew up. Or where 25 military horses and four mules perished during the Easter Blizzard of 1873, or where Sam Bass pulled off the first and greatest robbery of a Union Pacific train four years later.

Or to give you more than 500 other place-based lessons about Nebraska's past.

But the damage takes its toll, and about 100 of the markers need repair, repainting or replacement.

Which is why the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation launched the Nebraska Marker Project, and is trying to raise $80,000 to fix the monuments by next year's sesquicentennial.

Not familiar with the foundation? They're aware of that, even though the organization that raises money for the Historical Society has been around since 1942 -- a full 15 years before the Legislature approved the placement of roadside markers.

When its staff attended the Cattlemens Ball last year in Lynch, few people had heard about the foundation, said Leslie Fattig, its executive director. But they had seen the states roadside monuments, which the foundation's fundraising has helped support.

We started talking about the Nebraska historical markers, and they said: 'You're those guys?' And we said, 'Yes, we're those guys,' she said. People relate to us through those markers.

So back in Lincoln, they came up with the Nebraska Marker Project, which they launched this week. It gets the foundation's name out there, and it raises money for the monument program.

The cast aluminum markers aren't cheap. A traditional two-post sign -- 5 feet wide, 6 feet tall -- costs $5,300. A smaller, single-post marker runs $1,950. The state doesn't budget for these, and the expenses are typically paid by local groups and governments.

Repairs can be costly, too. The foundation figures it needs to raise an average of $500 to $700 for each, Fattig said, depending on the damage.

Sometimes there's paint touch-up, sometimes the weather has wreaked havoc. Sometimes people have used them for target practice, and sometimes cars have run into them.

Sometimes they disappear. The society keeps a list of the state of the monuments, and it notes a marker near Wayne was possibly taken by the 2013 tornado, and markers are missing from Deuel and Dundy counties.

The 515 history lessons span millions of years, from the geology of Cheyenne County to Malcolm Xs boyhood home in Omaha. And the program remains popular: 13 markers were installed last year, and so far in 2016, 11 more have either been ordered or planted.
DAVID CITY -- When the City Council meets Wednesday, much of the regular monthly meeting will involve public input on the design of the Downtown Improvement Project.

Voters approved a 10-year extension of the existing 1.5-cent sales tax in May to pay for additional work.

In the lead-up to the election, the City Council had expressed a preference for installing concrete streets, while project leader Al Hotovy of the planning firm Leo A. Daly has held open the possibility of some bricks being incorporated. Installing mostly brick streets by re-using the century-old bricks, was deemed too expensive.

Mayor Alan Zavodny said recently that some element including brick surfaces needs to be considered.

I have become more and more convinced that if we were to totally eliminate bricks from our design that we would awaken the morning after the project is completed with regret, Zavodny said. (The June 8 meeting) is my opportunity to share my vision for the design. I am hopeful that I can convince at least three councilmen to agree with me.

The project will replace underground infrastructure and provide new street and sidewalk surfaces. A new challenge for the project involved a sewer line that runs through the center of Fifth Street.

The mayor said the street design needs to accommodate the heavier weight of todays trucks that pass through town, while also providing adequate drainage and offering some appeal better than all concrete.

The project includes 11 city blocks. The state will cover part of the cost for work on Fourth Street, which is also Nebraska 15.

Project costs are estimated at $4.6 million, with another $693,000 in contingency funds, $685,000 for design and $500,000 for oversight.

Construction could begin next spring.
BLAIR  Construction workers are making repairs at the former campus of Dana College in Blair, even though the future of the property is uncertain.

The campus has been closed since 2010 because an accreditation body refused to approve its sale to for-profit investors. Omaha developer Frank Krejci bought the property three years ago for the expansion of Fremont's Midland University, but the university dropped those plans in March.

Krejci is willing to donate the property for the right use, he said.

"I can be very generous," he said.

The City of Blair is being cautious with Krejci's offer. Even if the property were donated, the city would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to mow the grass, move the snow and pay utilities, City Administrator Rod Storm said.

Current utility and maintenance bills for the empty campus cost about $250,000 a year, Krejci said.

"The question becomes, how much can a community of 8,000 (people) afford?" Storm asked.

Blair officials plan to soon send literature on the property to colleges across the country.

Mayor Jim Realph said he wants the campus to remain an educational center, but added, "I'm kind of resigned to the fact that may not happen."

The campus had been considered to house a new $5.2 million library in Blair, but a different location was selected.

Other uses suggested for the campus have yet to materialize, including a renewable energy institute. The institute's founder and Krejci haven't come to an agreement on price, and the founder said in April that he also is looking elsewhere in the greater Omaha area.
The Nebraska Department of Roads will provide information on planned highway improvements in Cass County later this month.

The open house, set for 4-6 p.m. on June 16 at the Alvo Fire Station, will include information on work planned on Nebraska 63 between Alvo and the Interstate 80 interchange.

The project, scheduled to begin in 2017, would replace the existing asphalt pavement with concrete pavement. The road's alignment would be shifted to the west or east of the existing highway centerline in some places to minimize impacts to streams, wetlands, homes and two cemeteries, the Nebraska Department of Roads said in a release.

The project as proposed would require the acquisition of additional property rights from adjacent landowners.

Construction would extend through the fall of 2018.

The work would be completed in two phases but would require a detour utilizing U.S. 34, Nebraska 50, Nebraska 66 and I-80 during both construction seasons.

At the open house, personnel from the Department of Roads will be available to answer questions and take comments.
COLUMBUS  Growth at St. Anthony Elementary School led to a groundbreaking for a new parish center.

Since the Columbus school expanded to an all-day kindergarten program and began offering preschool more than a decade ago, space has gotten tight. The old convent attached to the school has been used as the parish center for St. Anthony Catholic Church. Some of that facility now houses the kindergarten and preschool programs, leaving little room for meetings and a gathering area for church members.

The idea of building a new parish center has been knocked around for a while, said St. Anthony Pastor Del Lape. When a parishioner left her estate to the church, the idea became a reality.

The discussion has been on the plate for quite some time. When we received this estate as a gift to us and our parish, we thought wed go ahead and build something, Lape said.

That donation came from Connie Peterson, a member of St. Anthony who died last year.

Her sister, Patti Loeffler, said Peterson wanted to give back and expressed that her donation be used to benefit St. Anthony Church.

Her intentions were to build something, fix something or buy something that the church would need, Loeffler said.

Loeffler, who lives in Yankton, South Dakota, was on hand for a groundbreaking and ground blessing ceremony for the new parish center that will be built south of the parking lot and the churchs parish office.

Peterson was born and raised in Columbus and was an elementary school teacher. Loeffler said her sister had a big heart and would be excited about the project.

The building will be 50 feet by 60 feet and hold up to 90-100 people, Lape said.

It will serve multiple purposes, including providing space for committee meetings, community gatherings held outside the social hall located in the school and storage. Construction should be completed by the fall and will be done by local contractors and volunteers.

The old parish center will be used by the school, which is just west of the church.
RACINE COUNTY  As early as 2013, Racine County Medical Examiner Michael Payne said the county was dealing with a heroin epidemic. He said that because in 2012, at least nine people in the county died from heroin overdoses.

That problem only got worse in the following years, peaking at 19 deaths in 2014 and reaching 16 in 2015. However, due to a crackdown on abuse of prescription opiates  which often leads to heroin addiction  on both legal and governmental levels, Racine County may start to see a significant drop in heroin and drug-related overdoses.

According to Payne, three people have died from heroin overdoses in the county so far in 2016, with another dying from a combination of heroin and cocaine, according to numbers as of Friday. At the same time last year, six people had died in the county from heroin overdoses.

Between (drug awareness) campaigns like The Fly Effect and first responders carrying Narcan, that could contribute to these numbers decreasing, Payne said.

However, the number of fatal overdoses overall in 2016 has remained on track with 2015 numbers. Seventeen people have fatally overdosed in the county on various prescription pills and other drugs since Jan. 1, while at this time last year 16 people had fatally overdosed.

Through aggressive law enforcement and legislation, theres reason to believe both numbers will continue to fall.

Operation Orange Bottle

Last month, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling addressed the media with several prominent county officials at his side. He told the story of a Racine drug abuser who sold an entire prescription to an informant immediately after getting it filled.

The ink wasnt even dry on the orange bottle yet, and they were already selling their entire scrip, he said.

That day, Schmaling announced that 50 people had been charged with prescription-drug-related offenses since his office had initiated a crackdown in fall 2015, and that those charges were just the tip of the iceberg. His agents, led by Metro Drug Unit head Sgt. Scott Krogh and in collaboration with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, are buying prescription drugs almost daily.

The goal of this operation has been to identify those sources of supply and to stop them from obtaining these very prescriptions and selling them to our children in our streets.

County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, who stood by Schmalings side at the news conference, said the Sheriffs Office deserves all of the credit for the operations early success.

The county and myself want to make sure he has all of the resources to proactively deal with this issue, Delagrave said. You can see by the results of Operation Orange Bottle that its been a really good thing for Racine County.

As the list of those charged and educated through the operation grows, Delagrave thinks the number of overdoses will go in the opposite direction.

I think with all of those things in total, youll see a huge drop, he said. Were really proud of the collaboration we have.

National legislation

While local law enforcement has cracked down, Congress has been busy passing bills to quash the nationwide opiate epidemic, an issue about which House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is acutely aware.

According to Ryans press secretary, Ian Martorana, the House has passed 18 bills since 2015 that specifically deal with opiate abuse. Those bills address everything from addiction treatment to prescription regulation.

In a meeting with The Journal Times Editorial Board on Friday, Ryan explained that the bills cover a wide variety of issues related to opiate abuse.

It involves prevention, it involves laws, it involves coordinating government, streamlining the FDA, getting the VA to know what the heck theyre prescribing somebody, Ryan said.

It also involves hitting the issue at its source, preventing traffickers from bringing opiates into the country.

Theres issues on the border with trafficking, Ryan said. Thats a big part of the problem.

Ryan said the Senate has also past several opiate bills, and his goal is to reconcile those with the house bills to pass legislation before the Republican National Convention in July.

I think theres broad acknowledgement that this is a serious problem and we better get on top of it, Ryan said. Lots of members of Congress, with different backgrounds and experiences, have really taken this on as their priority issue.

One of the House bills, H.R. 5046, was proposed by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. According to Ryans office, the bill will establish a streamlined, comprehensive opioid abuse grant program that will train first responders and law enforcement and aid investigators and drug courts with enforcement.

Addiction is a problem that affects all Americans, and it has been pushed to the back burner for too many years, Sensenbrenner, of Menomonee Falls, said in an emailed statement.

Sensenbrenner, who represents Wisconsins Fifth District, hopes his bill will positively affect the lives of millions of Americans.

The swift and bipartisan actions by Congress not only signal the seriousness of the situation, but also the fervor to find and implement meaningful solutions, he said.

And its that bipartisan effort that encourages Ryan about the possibility of developing a comprehensive solution to the epidemic, which he says effects everyone.

This is a scourge, he said. This is hitting everybody.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Despite threatening clouds and rain, more than 40 people gathered at a warehouse on County Road KR on Saturday morning and set to work on construction of four tiny houses.

While some workers had years of experience in trades like carpentry and others had never picked up a hammer before, their mission was to put a roof over veterans in the Racine area who wouldnt otherwise have a home.

Because they served for us; its plain and simple, explained Jeff Gustin, director of Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin and organizer of the project. They were brave enough to serve our country and defend our freedoms so we need to give back to them.

Eventually, Gustin plans that the four tiny houses built on Saturday will be part of the James A. Peterson Veterans Village  a community of 15 tiny houses specifically for homeless veterans around the City of Racine, providing them a place to live over a two-year program until they can obtain permanent housing.

Dedicated to curbing veteran homelessness, Veterans Outreach was founded in December 2013. Today, it runs a food pantry that serves 30 to 40 veterans a week. And in 2015, the furniture warehouse it maintains helped furnish the homes of 225 veterans.

The plan for the village of tiny houses would be to build the homes in three phases, with five homes being built during each phase, and Gustin said the organization is nearly halfway to the $125,000 needed to open the first phase of houses.

He said the organization has a written agreement to acquire a site for the village, but we will not be announcing the location until after discussing it with nearby residents.

With four houses built Saturday and more work to be done on the interior design in the coming weeks, Gustin said the goal is to open the first five houses of the community by September, or at least before winter hits.

Community pitching in

Dozens of residents and numerous organizations showed up on Saturday in two shifts with tools, building materials, food and water, money or even just their hands to help Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin meet that goal, including Vans Electric Service, Milwaukee Tool, Union Grove Lumberyard, and about 20 local members of local carpenters unions.

Everybodys affected by this, I mean theres no reason why any vet should be homeless, said Jim Anderson, representative of North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters and from Kenosha. If our government isnt doing something about it, its time for us to do something about it as a community.

In addition, the founders of nonprofit 2x4s for Hope, Mark and Chris Lawrence, drove six hours from their home in Quincy, Ill., to donate 1,200 2-by-4 strips of lumber and $2,500 for the project.

Among those donating time to the project Saturday was Racine Mayor John Dickert, who hoped other communities will adopt a similar shared focus on housing homeless veterans.

What we saw today is that when the community comes together, they can solve any problem, he said. Today we put a very, very strong effort into solving the problem of veterans homelessness.

One veteran working on the project Saturday was David Smith, who served five tours between Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marines Corps and saw his life turned upside down when he left the service, the only life he knew.

Working as a Veterans Outreach of Wisonsins warehouse manager and driver, he will live in one of the tiny houses in the village and serve as the on-site general manager.

Its nice that Ive got the support of everyone around me and that Im not doing it alone, he said of the project and of those who came to help Saturday. In the service, I always had my battle buddies and everything with me backing me up, and now Ive also got the community acting as that support as well.

Gustin said anyone interested in the effort can learn more about the project and how to donate time or money can visit Veterans Outreach of Wisconsins website and the projects GoFundMe site.
A case for communal harmony

The play Kathadesh 3, directed by Aashant Sharma, currently on at Gothale Theatre, depicts two ancient societies and tells us lessons that should be learned from them
A treat for bibliophiles

The exhibition hall was abuzz, filled with people of different ages, religions, and interests looking over the books and conversing with the stall owners
Boundary teams set date for New Delhi meeting

After a hiatus of two years, Nepal and India are set to begin high-level talks to resolve the long-standing boundary dispute between the two countries.
Budget for Karnali nothing more than window dressing

Locals say state discriminated against them again, failed to bring cheers
Cuba will never rejoin Organization of American States over Venezuela row, says Castro

Cuban President Raul Castro says the country will not return to the Organization of American States (OAS) in a show of solidarity with Venezuela.
Divided we are falling

Whether politicians will tolerate unity among the civil servants remains to be seen
Energy and synergy

The Budhi Gandaki project can be given a boost with water from the Trishuli River
Female migrant Nepalis taking up jobs outside domestic confines

Four months ago, Kala Kshetry was just a home-maker. She spent most of her time cooking, doing the dishes, washing clothes, and taking care of her family.
Forest Minister calls for special efforts to control wildfire

Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Agni Prasad Sapkota has stressed that the government programmes and policies should include a special plan to control forest fire.
Get involved

We need to do more than wave placards and hold rallies on World Environment Day
Held hostage for 16 yrs, claims Nepali worker in Saudi

Thirty-nine-year-old migrant worker Tek Bahadur Raskoti of Pallikot-4 in Gulmi claims to have been held hostage for the past 16 years in Saudi Arabia.
House paves way for phasing out SLC

Parliament on Saturday endorsed the eighth amendment to the Education Act-1972, paving the way for major restructuring of school education that would see phasing out of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) system and retirement of over 23,000 temporary teachers through golden handshake.
Hunting of Chir Kalij rife in Jajarkot

Hunting of Chir pheasant, known locally as Chir Kalij, has been going unchecked in various villages in Jajarkot district.
Kerry hails Mongolia as 'oasis of democracy' in tough neighborhood

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed Mongolia as an "oasis of democracy" sitting in a tough location between Russia and China as he made a rare visit by a cabinet-level U.S. official on Sunday.
Men, women and corruption

Is it womens participation in politics that is reducing corruption or is higher corruption deterring women from entering politics?
NC Prez Deuba doubts govts intention to hold election

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed his doubts about the current governments intention to hold local and provincial elections.
Alisha Sijapati is an arts and culture reporter at The Kathmandu Post, primarily covering human interest stories. She is intrigued by history, culture and films. Before joining the Post in 2015, she worked as a journalist for The Himalayan Times and ECS Media.
Nepse closes week 4.13pts down

The insurance sector led the losers side, including development banks, commercial banks and finance companies. The trading group was stable at 201.38.
New York state launches inquiry of online lenders

New York state's financial regulator sent a letter to 28 companies this week requesting information about their online lending activities, according to a person familiar with the matter and a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
CPN-UML rebuffs media reports; says PM Oli hasnt accused India, US of trying to topple govt

The ruling CPN-UML has said that the current government is cooperating with all friend countries including neighbours to seek their broader support for implementing the constitution and achieving the target of economic prosperity.
Process to pass House rules to start on June 15

The Legislature-Parliament has decided to start the process on June 15 to endorse its regulations.
Pun calls for polls in package

Amid increased debate over a national unity government and local elections in November/ December, a senior member of the ruling coalition has described the idea to hold local elections in the government-announced date as an unrealistic approach.
Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
Turkish warplanes target Kurdish militants, at least 27 killed: army

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran, the armed forces said on Sunday.
Two-way road

Nepal can benefit from a wise blend of two different neighbourhood economic policies
Two-year every last child drive gets under way

Campaign aims to reach the most deprived girls in the four target districts
Mathura violence mastermind Rambriksh Yadav dead

Confirming the death of the mastermind behind the deadly Mathura violence- Rambriksh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Javeed Ahmed on Saturday said that some of the dead in the Mathura operation were identified, including the body of Yadav, which was identified by his associates.
World Environment Day: Campaigners lay dead demanding right to clean air

In a symbolic protest on the World Environment day, more than 200 activists, students, environmental campaigners, cyclists and pedestrians laid dead on the ground on Sunday, demanding the government take urgent action to ensure constitutional right to live in a healthy and clean environment.
Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits

Yes, they will make the city more inviting

Maybe ... does it really matter?

No, the signs in place are fine

No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars

Vote

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Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Periods of rain. Thunder possible. Low 52F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Thunder possible. Low 52F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
PITTSBURGH  Whether its a summer job or a career launch, job search specialist Cheryl Hyatt has a word of caution for aspiring candidates: Dont get tripped up by small stuff or, more specifically, small talk.

Hyatt has heard some doozies about too-nervous interviewees. Theres the applicant who inquired about the companys policy regarding employee theft, or the one who sought a $90,000 salary so he could finance his new Camaro.

Most people have common sense and would not ask those questions, said the co-founder, CEO and partner at Hyatt-Fennell Executive Search, located outside Pittsburgh.

But even savvy and experienced candidates can get tripped up by little things, she said.

First, she says, job candidates should assume the evaluation process begins the minute they drive into the parking lot. Be professional with everyone from the security guard to the executive assistant who rides with you on the elevator up to the c-suite.

You think arriving 20 minutes early will impress the interviewing committee? Think again. They wont know what to do with you. Her suggestion: Arrive five minutes or so before the scheduled time unless youve been told there will be application forms to fill out beforehand.

Also, get familiar with the companys culture. If its a workplace where everyone wears jeans and polo shirts, You need to come in one step above what you think the company policy is. In this case, a shirt and tie with khakis would work for men, a pantsuit, skirt or dress for women  whatever feels most comfortable.

Once that preparation is done, youve come to an often-overlooked phase: Those first few minutes of small talk after introducing yourself to the interviewing committee.

Even if the topic is weather (and hopefully not religion or the current election cycle), remember that youre making a first impression. If they offer a beverage, Hyatt said, The best answer is, If you have water, that would be great.

Touch lightly on the personal, if at all. Its OK to say you have relatives in the area but telling them you want the job so you can move closer to family will not help your chances. Watch for unknowing tics, such as talking with your hands or dropping ums into every sentence.

Once the formal interview begins, she said the best responses fall in the 2 to 4 minute range, touching on how you would handle the situation and drawing on a related personal experience.

If you dont understand a question, dont fake it. Just say, Im not sure exactly what youre looking for. Not every answer will be a winner, she said. You just continue to smile.

If youve been invited to interview, the company has probably already decided you have the technical skills for the job so they want to find out if you are you are the right fit for us, she said.

The objective of the small talk phase is to avoid giving them reason to choose someone else.

You want to make them like you for who you are and what you can bring to the institution.
With grilling season having officially begun, thoughts turn to the big issues  namely, who cleans the grill?

That should be on your list  or someone near and dear  before the food even leaves the kitchen, which makes sense to anyone operating the grill.

But to be even more prepared for the summer cooking season, we turned to the grillmeister himself, Jamie Purviance, author of 15 books for Weber Grill, three of them New York Times best-sellers (Webers Way to Grill, a James Beard Award finalist; Webers Smoke, and Webers New Real Grilling). His new book, Webers New American Barbecue: A Modern Spin on the Classics, is hot off the presses.

Purviance, a graduate of Stanford University and the Culinary Institute of America, has explored what would seem to be every aspect of the grill, whether charcoal or gas.

We asked him for a Top 10 list of dos and donts for making the best meal outdoors. Heres what he had to say:

Do preheat the grill. A lot of cooks use a grill thats not properly preheated and they end up with food sticking or not browning very well, and not tasting particularly good, either. If the grate is cold, the food will stick and never have a decent chance of searing properly or developing those awesome grill marks. Even if a recipe calls for medium or low heat, you should preheat the grate on high first for 10 minutes. The grill temperature should reach at least 500 degrees.

Dont start with a dirty grate. If you left some stuff on the grate from your last barbecue, it could be the glue that holds your new food to the grill a lot longer than you want. To clean the grill, wait until the grill gets very hot (preheat it for at least 10 minutes), then scrape off the last meal. The best tool for the job is a sturdy, long-handled brush with stiff, stainless steel bristles.

Do get your act together. Bring everything you need near the grill before you start to cook. That means all the necessary tools, as well as food that is prepped  oiled and seasoned  along with any glaze or sauce or whatever else. Dont forget the clean platters for the cooked food.

Do give yourself at least two heat zones. Have one for direct heat (where the fire is right under the food) and one for indirect heat (where the fire is off to the side). This provides some flexibility, so you can move your food from one zone to another if the food is cooking too quickly or the coals are flaring up. Think of this as a safety zone. It also allows you to grill two very different foods at one time. There are foods that do well with a combination of types of heat, such as when you sear food on one side and then cook it more slowly on the other.

Dont overcrowd the grill. Packing a lot of food into a tight space is asking for trouble because it restricts where you can move the food. Case in point: If you try to squeeze too many pieces of food over direct heat, the pieces at the edge of direct heat, right where the indirect heat begins, will cook unevenly. The direct heat should extend at least 3 inches beyond all the items you are grilling. And try to leave some space between each item of food so that you get your tongs in there easily and move the food from one area to another. Purviance typically leaves 25 to 30 percent of the grill open so he has the flexibility to move food around.

Do use the lid. Keep the lid down as much as possible. It traps some of the smokiness that develops on the grill, which is important for flavor. It also eliminates a lot of flare-ups that are fueled by air rushing through the grill. Keeping the lid down also tends to cook things a little faster because now the heat is coming from below and above, reflecting off the lid. Thats really good for quick-cook items such as chicken breasts, hamburgers and pork chops, which dry out quickly. If you can cook them less on both sides by a couple minutes, they will be juicier. Dont forget to open the vents of a charcoal grills lid at least halfway. Every fire needs a little air to keep on burning.

Dont fiddle with food so much. Turn the food only once or twice. This is really important. It means you wont have the lid open so much, which affects how quickly food cooks (which impacts how dry it becomes). Cooks tend to try to turn food too early. This is especially true of fish and chicken with the skin on. As soon as food lands on the grate, it tends to stick, but if you leave it long enough, it releases. The problem is most cooks dont wait long enough, so they end up with some issues with sticking. And if you move the food too much, it never really develops as deep a sear as it could.

Do take charge of the fire. This is more of an issue with charcoal. Lit charcoal changes over time. Its quite hot in the beginning and then it fades out slowly or quickly. You need to take charge of the fire by refueling it, by pushing the coals around to suit your needs, by sweeping away the ashes that clog the bottom vents, and by adjusting the vents on the lid for optimal airflow. For the best result, anticipate what the fire is going to need and act proactively.

Do watch for doneness. Sometimes in grilling the most important thing to know is when to stop. Learn some doneness clues, as in the gently yielding firmness of perfectly grilled chicken when you press the surface with a fingertip. If you want an even more reliable test of doneness, get an instant-read thermometer, which will help you pinpoint that critical moment when your food is at its best.

Do use the grill for more than grilling. This is the spirit of the new book, that there is more to grilling than meat over the flames. There is a whole world of techniques that you can do on a grill, whether its charcoal or gas. You can smoke or roast, simmer, saute or stir-fry on the grill. If you want to be a true master of the grill, expand your repertoire and do a more mixed menu.

Pork loing spiedies

A spiedie is a type of hoagie from Binghamton, N.Y. Cubes of meat are marinated with a combination of Italian seasoning and mint, and then cooked and arranged, skewer and all, in a long roll or slice of Italian bread. This recipe must be prepared in advance and requires 6 long bamboo skewers and a handful of hickory wood chips. From Webers New American Barbecue: A Modern Spin on the Classics, by Jamie Purviance. Serves 6.

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoons fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pounds trimmed pork loin, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

6 Italian or French sandwich rolls, cut lengthwise in half but not all the way through

In a large bowl whisk the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mint, parsley, dill, garlic, salt, fennel seed and pepper. Reserve and set aside cup plus 2 tablespoons to drizzle over the cooked pork. Place the pork chunks in the large bowl with the remaining marinade, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring once.

Soak the skewers and wood chips (separately) in water for at least 30 minutes.

Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat (350 to 450 degrees).

Thread pork cubes onto the skewers. Discard the marinade. Drain and add the wood chips to the charcoal or to the smoker box of a gas grill, and close the lid. When smoke appears, grill the skewers over direct medium heat, with the lid closed, until the meat is evenly seared and cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees, 9 to 11 minutes, turning occasionally. During the last minute of grilling, toast the rolls, cut side down, over direct heat.

To serve in the authentic style, place a skewer on each roll and, using the roll as a pot holder to grasp the meat, twist and pull out the skewer, leaving the pork cubes in a neat line right down the middle of the roll. Drizzle each spiedie with 1 tablespoon of the reserved marinade and serve right away.

Hasselback potatoes with garlic butter and parmesan

The brilliant idea for these accordion-looking potatoes came from the chefs at Restaurant Hasselbacken in Stockholm. From Webers New American Barbecue, by Jamie Purviance. Serves 6.

6 russet potatoes, each about 12 ounces, scrubbed and dried

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Prepare the grill for indirect cooking over medium-high heat (400 to 450 degrees).

So that each potato will lie flat on the cooking grate, cut off a very small piece (1/4 inch or less) on the widest side of each potato, which will now be the bottom side. Then, using a very sharp knife, starting 1 inch from the end, cut slits crosswise into each potato, 1/8 to inch apart, stopping just before you cut through so that the slices stay connected at the bottom.

In a small skillet over medium heat on the stove, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the salt and pepper. Fan out the layers of each potato enough that you can get some butter and seasonings inside the layers. Brush the potatoes, including the bottoms, with half of the butter mixture.

Grill the potatoes over indirect medium-high heat, with the lid closed, for 30 minutes. Brush the potatoes with the remaining butter mixture, making sure some of the butter drips down into the slices. Continue grilling, with the lid closed, until the potatoes are almost cooked through, 30 minutes more.

Top the potatoes evenly with the cheese and cook until the cheese is melted and slightly browned and the potatoes are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, 5 to 10 minutes more. Garnish with the parsley and serve hot.
As a shopper, I always want to get the best prices possible for the groceries Im buying. I also know that different locations of the same chain often charge different prices for the same item. Ill discuss some reasons for this in a moment, but here are some emails from readers doing their own in-store pricing research.

DEAR JILL: There are two warehouse clubs in the same chain, and both are in our area (suburban Dallas). I was at the first location one week, and the next week I went to the new one on a major freeway. Each store is about five miles from my house. Afterward there was an item I wanted to return, so I checked both receipts to find it. Recently, I purchased 3-pound bricks of cream cheese at both store locations. Imagine my surprise when I noted that the price difference between these two identical items was $1.14. One brick was $6.48 and the other was $7.98.

I sent an email to the chain, which got me virtually nowhere, so I called. The manager at the store where the cheaper cheese was bought told me that the club store sets prices according to local demographics and grocery costs. In other words, they charge whatever they think they can get. The newer, more centrally located store is much bigger and more crowded, and their prices are quite a bit higher.

I doubt that very many people think that they are getting different pricing depending on which location they frequent. I know I was surprised and others Ive discussed this with are, too. I wonder if this something that other people would like to know.  Diane K.

DEAR JILL: Our local grocer has gallons of milk for $2.49 all the time. I stopped by a different store in the same chain and their milk was $1.99! Why is the store closer to my house so much more expensive when it is the same family of stores? Just because they can?  Hank P.

While store locations within the same chain typically share a set of advertised sale prices in the stores weekly circular, its true that the regular, nonsale prices of products that arent in each weeks ad can vary quite a bit between stores. There is nothing forcing each store location to adopt identical pricing, and there are many factors that can influence why pricing differs so much between locations.

Supermarkets operate on a very thin profit margin  according to the Food Marketing Institute, this profit margin rarely rises over 1 percent. Stores that are physically larger than others and have more employees will have higher operating expenses than smaller stores with fewer people on staff. Additionally, the cost of transporting products increases as groceries are trucked to store locations that are further from a warehouse or distribution center.

That said, theres some truth to the they charge more because they can argument. The demographics of a specific area will affect what stores are able to charge, too. For example, I live near two supermarket locations from the same grocery chain. One store is located along a busy street with two competing grocery stores on the opposite side of the street. The other location has no competitors nearby, and its also directly across the street from a large retirement community. Which location do you think has lower regular (non-sale) prices?

Whether you feel it is fair or not, the location with no competing stores nearby (and a large group of residents who undoubtedly love the convenience of having a supermarket extremely close to home!) has higher prices than the location with nearby competitors. However, for things like milk, butter, eggs and nonsale produce and meats, I will find slightly better pricing at the store in the higher-trafficked, more competitive area.

There are no regulations stating that stores in the same chain must carry the same prices  its a free market. By shopping wisely and paying attention to pricing differences, you can choose to spend your money at the stores that make the most financial sense to you.
Puzzled Grandma in the South recently wrote to Dear Abby asking Why is there so much angst today over raising children, especially in young mothers? Grandma has observed that moms of her generation (baby boomers) did not agonize over raising kids, and neither did her mother or grandmother. She also rightly points out that todays moms seem to lean a lot on expert advice, which she thinks is a bunch of nonsense. Ironically, I agree.

Grandma is correct in her analysis of the problem which is that a generation or so back, moms began to elevate their children to top priority in the family over their husbands.

This shift of priorities took place because the standard message from the experts has been that good parenting is a matter of properly interpreting and responding to a childs feelings. In effect, progressive parenting authors claimed that childrens emotions were (a) legitimate expressions of internal states that cry out (literally) for parental attention and (b) barometers of the quality of the parenting they are receiving.

Im hardly alone in believing women to be, on average, much more emotionally intelligent than men  more attuned to and seemingly more intuitive when it comes to knowing how to respond to other peoples feelings. (I dont find many men who disagree with that, by the way.) In short, the books in question spoke to women, who began to conclude (and correctly so, if the premise is valid) that they were the only gender qualified to properly carry out the new parenting prescription.

In short order, women began to feel that (a) their childrens futures rested entirely on their shoulders and (b) their kids success in school was a measure of their worth as moms. Rather quickly, the fairly laid-back American mom (as testified to by Puzzled Grandma) was transformed into a stressed-out, anxiety-ridden, child-focused micromanager. Without intention, women ended up marginalizing their husbands, turning them into second fiddles. As parenting shoved the marriage aside, husbands began to compensate for the loss of relationship with their wives by, among other things, becoming their childrens buddies.

Dear Abby told Puzzled Grandma that moms are stressed because women want to work outside the home while at the same time they want their kids to succeed in an increasingly complicated world. She says that PGs peers and female ancestors didnt agonize over her kids because the world was a simpler place 50 years ago. In short, Dear Abby just doesnt get it.

Yes, the worlds a more complex place than it was 50 years ago, but 50 years ago the world was a more complex place than it had been 50 years before that, and so on. But theres no historical evidence to the effect that as the world became more complex from generation to generation, mother anxiety steadily increased. In other words, the world becoming more complex isnt new, but moms agonizing over their kids is.

Its the price they are paying for listening to experts tell us how to do something that is fundamentally simple. The experts made it sound very, very complicated. The new mom believes proper parenting is something she does solely for her child. Not so. Proper parenting is an act of love for your neighbor. But thats hard to see when youve got tunnel vision.
BLACK RIVER FALLS  Art is expression for Lee Amborn. He always was drawing as a kid. It didnt surprise his mother when he pursued a career teaching art.

I think its the ability to express yourself on paper or on canvas  or whatever the particular medium was, but to express yourself in ways that you cant do verbally or with the written word, said Amborn, who will retire this spring after a 14-year career teaching art in the Black River Falls School District. For me, it was always easier to do that with a picture.

For me, (expression) just happened to be in art  drawing, painting, coloring. As I got older, I got more into it and enjoyed it more, and I found more of the ability to express myself through art. And I just thought, you know, it might be kind of neat to help others find that ability also.

Amborn is closing out his teaching career Wisconsin Middle School Art Educator of the Year, as awarded by the Wisconsin Art Education Association.

Hes just very caring, said BRF Middle School Principal Dave Roou, who wrote an award nomination letter in support of Amborn. Hes very direct with kids  they know where they stand with him, and hes always interested and puts in so much extra time for them.

He is very well-deserving of this recognition. Hes a great guy.

Amborn grew up in Black River Falls and graduated from BRF High School in 1973, after which he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for three years. He returned to the area and used the G.I. Bill to earn a degree in broad field art education at UW-La Crosse in 1980.

Art education jobs were scarce at the time, he said, and it was difficult to find open teaching positions. He kicked around odd jobs here and there and also did substitute teaching before going back into the military and making a career of it.

His Army career included time as an assistant professor of military science and information officer, and he retired in 2002 as a lieutenant colonel.

I was just thinking, well, if nothing else, I go back on active duty (and) its going to be youre still training soldiers, which its kind of the same thing  youre teaching, youre training, Amborn said. Youre still going to help young people find what theyre good at  reinforce those skills, hone them to a sharp edge and do the best that they can.

But after retiring from the military, it was back to art. A part-time elementary art position was open at Forrest Street Early Learning Center, and he took the job. He went on to teach second- and third-grade art at Third Street Elementary before a longtime middle school art teacher announced her retirement and Amborn applied and took the position, which hes held for the past nine years.

Elementary art is about introducing students to the different kinds of art, ranging from drawing and painting to print making and sculpture, and middle school starts to focus on the technique of the various areas.

I would have to say (my teaching style) is a mix between control and freedom, he said. I know that doesnt seem to make a lot of sense, but I start out each nine weeks  kind of tightly controlled, we talk about whats going to happen, we show how things work here in the art room.

As we progress through the nine weeks, I start to pull back on that control and give the kids more freedom to work on their projects and do things in their way as opposed to my way.

Sixth-grader Ashton Millis said he has enjoyed Amborns classes, crediting his teacher with letting him and others try again if the first attempt isnt successful.

(I like) that if you ask him to do it again, hell help you do it again, Mills said. I think its pretty cool he received the award.

Jen Dahl, a BRF elementary art teacher and a past WAEA award recipient, nominated Amborn. She said hes a good candidate because of his desire to help students. She also noted he assisted students with starting a middle school art club this year and a display program at Black River Falls Public Library for framed middle school art.

Lee will always go above and beyond for the students, not only in Black River Falls but for the students from across Wisconsin, said Dahl, president of WAEA.
ONALASKA  May was a month of ecognition for Empire Screen Printing of Onalaska. On May 16, at the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporations headquarters in Madison, Empire was announced winner of the Sustainable Process Award for large organizations.

Empire won that award for the technological advances it has pioneered in UV LED curing lamps and inks used in the screen printing process. In fact, Empire is the first screen printer in the world to successfully adapt UV LED technology. That innovation marks a big step forward  not only for the industry, but for the environment.

Operating expenses for a press with typical mercury vapor curing units  which generate plenty of heat  cost around $34,000 a year (and the mercury bulbs used eventually end up in a landfill).

However, the cost for the same press installed with UV LED curing units adds up to an energy efficient $658 per year.

According to Empires president, John Friesmuth, thats why the company has invested $1.8 million in the new technology  a technology essentially created by its own employees.

The companys can do attitude was also cited on May 12 when Empire was named Wisconsin Family Business of the Year for companies with more than 100 employees. The award program, now in its 13th year, is sponsored by Smith & Gesteland, a Madison-based CPA and business consulting firm, First Business Bank, and the Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek law firm.

The aim is to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of family businesses that make a positive impact on their communities and on Wisconsins economy. A panel of independent judges looked at 15 companies nominated for the award before naming Empire the winner in the large company category.

Empires founder and CEO, James Brush, started the company as a one-man operation in his garage in 1960. The companys board of directors includes Brush, his wife, Cindy, his daughter and HR manager, Autum Jacobs, as well as stepson and president Friesmuth.
Families were catching rays and catching fish Saturday morning at the fifth annual Free Kids Fishing Day at Pettibone Lagoon.

Hosted by the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO, the event coincided with Wisconsins free summer fishing weekend, during which no fishing license is needed to participate. The La Crosse Parks and Recreation department provided rods and reels, while businesses such as Ace Hardware, Bakalars and Kwik Trip donated fishing bait and hot dogs and beverages for the picnic lunch.

Each child received a prize, such as a new fishing pole, T-shirt or hat. Face painting and temporary tattoos were available for the less fishing-inclined.

This event doesnt magically come together, said Bill Brockmiller, president of the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO. We dont have the resources to do everything ourselves. Other local unions help us fund the door-prizes. We have 15 to 20 volunteers every year, some who have helped multiple times.

Brockmiller teamed with the Union Sportsmens Alliance five years ago to bring the fishing day to La Crosse.

We jumped at the chance to host, said Brockmiller. Its a great way to pull kids away from the video games. We get a lot of appreciation from the parents, who make it a family day.

The kids have a less verbal reaction, but their faces light up when they catch a fish or get a prize, Brockmiller said. They catch a fish the size of a quarter, and they think they caught Moby Dick.

The event draws 60 to 130 people each year, depending on the weather, from toddlers to 16-year-olds.

We have a variety of skill sets, Brockmiller said. Pettibone Lagoon has a lot of smaller pan fish, which are good targets for the smaller children. They can catch and release or take the fish home.

Volunteers assisted the first-time anglers.

We have some younger helpers who are teaching a whole new generation, Brockmiller said. It gives them a sense of community.

DuWayne Knobloch of the Iron Workers Local 383 union brought a team of seven to hand out fishing poles.

Member Austin Anderson enjoyed helping a small boy choose a pole.

He really wanted a yellow one. He was so excited, it was fun to watch, Anderson said.

Knoblochs nephew came from out of town to participate.

So far he hasnt caught anything but a hot dog, Knobloch laughed.

John Davis brought his children, Genevieve, 18 months, Wills, 6, and Veronica, 15.

The kids really look forward to this, Davis said. Its nice family-friendly activity. Its tough to do things with three kids, and here they have volunteers to help teach them.

Keaton Erickson, 15, helped Wills with his casting.

Ive helped a lot of kids today, Erickson said. Their smiles are the best.

Robert Wuensch accompanied great-granddaughter Passion, 8, for the second year.

We fish on and off, Wuensch said. But this is a fun event, and she likes the free gifts.

I got lots of prizes, Passion enthused. Its my favorite part.

Anthony Jones, 7, was equally enthused.

Were terrible at fishing, he said of his family. But its fun, and I want to come again.

The Free Kids Fishing Day will be back next summer for its sixth year.

As long as Im around I will be involved with this program, Brockmiller said. Seeing a kid catch that first fish  you cant beat that feeling.
Help for property owners in La Crosses floodplain could come this year as city staff investigate ways to fund a three-pronged approach to help people get out from under the expense of high-risk flood insurance.

The city has an estimated 1,800 structures within the special flood hazard area where FEMA estimates there is a 1 percent yearly chance of flooding. Thats considered high risk. The planning department has proposed attacking the floodplain problem on a home-by-home basis, targeting areas that have a more feasible fix at a local scale, said city planner Jason Gilman.

Gilman has proposed the city begin point-of-sale and loan-relief programs, which would provide up to 50 percent relief up to $20,000 for projects to lift structures out of danger. If approved by the La Crosse Common Council, when the buyer and seller of a house negotiate the sale, they could include a floodplain-related project and apply to have the city help cover the cost.

A second program would offer partial loan forgiveness for floodplain elevation projects, which can cost $20,000 to $40,000, depending on the needs. The loans would be administered between the home-owner and a private banking institution, which would determine the credit-worthiness borrower and security of the loan. If approved by the bank, the homeowner could then apply for up to 50 percent loan forgiveness from the city.

The exact amounts would be subject to change by the council.

The planning department also opened up community development block grant funding to floodplain-related projects this year, but so far no one has taken advantage of the program, which is subject to income restrictions.

Council member Jai Johnson, who represents the citys North Side and lives in the floodplain, is excited to see programs get going after many years of council members pushing to see city assistance for those areas.

Theres the money (the floodplain) robs our economy of, the inability of homeowners to make improvements because of the additional cost and the way it caps the tax base because it lowers value of homes, Johnson said. It greatly limits peoples ability to market their homes.

The La Crosse Finance & Personnel Committee began funding the programs last week by approving the reallocation of $250,000 from the La Crosse ReInvest fund, originally planned for housing rehabilitation projects. City officials will also consider a resolution allocating tax incremental district funds in June before the Common Council makes a decision at its July meeting.

The creative funding sources are necessary due to a lack of federal funding available without some sort of major flood event, according to city floodplain manager Doug Kerns.

La Crosse is stuck between a rock and a hard spot when it comes to qualifying for federal assistance for mitigation, Kerns said.

Despite the large number of homes in danger of a 100-year-flood, the city hasnt had a major flood event in decades and has never had a severe repetitive loss, which means multiple floods within five years.

The federal money that communities are looking for has a lot of strings attached, and one of the big ones is having a repetitive loss, Kerns said.

If something were to happen, FEMA would step in  after the disaster.

Exactly how much money will be needed for the program isnt clear, because there is no way to know how many people will take the city up on its offer and how much each project will cost, said Gilman. The city has an estimated 1,200 homes in the floodplain. Each has different needs. Some need a moderate fix, such as building up dirt around the foundation. More elaborate fixes include lifting entire structures.

Gilman proposed using the ReInvest fund because its close to the original budgeted purpose for the money, which had been sitting unused due to legal restrictions. Last months amendment to TID 13 on the North Side, which allows the city to use increment from the TID for projects within a half-mile of its boundaries, freed up money from one of the citys best performing TIDs to help cover costs. The district is expected to make the city at least $12 million over its life.

That would not be borrowed funding. That would be surplus funds, Gilman said.

It also ties into the purpose of TID funding.

The whole notion of using TID monies for a program like this is tied to economic stability, Gilman said.

Homeowners no longer encumbered with a flood insurance bill for hundreds of dollars per month have greater financial flexibility if they stay in their homes and a better negotiating position when it comes time to sell the property. It also enhances the neighborhood by encouraging investment in homes.

Floodplain properties by definition are blighted, so they are ideal for TIF funds, Johnson said.

Not to mention the increase in health and safety should La Crosse face a flood.

If we ever did have a levy breach, then people who are making improvements are protecting their value, Gilman said.

The city also approved in March spending $25,000 to hire a surveyor to acquire elevation data on about 100 structures, which would be the first step in identifying buildings to elevate out of the floodplain.

Johnson stressed that while these programs will be a great start, there is no single solution to the floodplain problem.

Floodplain properties by definition are blighted, so they are ideal for TIF funds. Jai Johnson, La Crosse City Council meet
State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, a darling among Wisconsin progressives who mounted a brief run for governor in 2014, spent much of this weekends Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention chatting up delegates, asking if they thought she should run again in 2018.

The answer, said Vinehout, D-Alma, was clear.

Pretty unanimously around here, they want me to run, she told the Wisconsin State Journal.

But Vinehout said its too early to say if shell join the race. Shell decide in early 2017, she said.

Im still doing my research, Vinehout said.

Vinehouts 2014 bid ended prematurely when she sustained serious injuries in a car accident, causing her to bow out.

Her populist tone and electoral success in her western Wisconsin district have caused some Democrats to view Vinehout as a candidate who can compete in areas outside of Madison and Milwaukee  much of which is swing territory in a statewide election.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker has hinted hes leaning toward seeking a third term in 2018.

Vinehout said Saturday that Walkers plans wont influence her own.

At this early stage, Vinehout is one of many Democrats thinking about a possible run for governor.

Other Democrats cited by party operatives as possible candidates include state Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha, Exact Sciences CEO Kevin Conroy, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind of La Crosse, Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser, state Rep. Cory Mason of Racine, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, state Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse and state Rep. Dana Wachs of Eau Claire.
Coffee. Its one of the few indulgences I feel I cant live without. Over half of all adults in the United States would agree; they drink coffee every day. However, many of us will be facing much higher prices  or giving up the habit entirely  due to impending coffee production instability.

Coffee is the second most internationally traded commodity in the world, and farming it is the livelihood for more than 25 million people. The crop also employs millions more secondarily at roasting facilities, restaurants, cafes and distributors around the world. Coffee can only be produced in a very specific climate. Consequently, coffee production is limited to areas near the equator, including southern Asia, south-central Africa and Central and South America.

Due to the changing global climate, almost all of these regions are seeing drastic reductions in the yield of coffee plants. Tanzanian coffee yield is down more than 50 percent from 1960, which researchers have attributed to increasing night temperatures as well as drought conditions. Virtually all coffee-producing countries are recording an increase in night temperatures of at least 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and in some cases, such as southern Brazil (the worlds largest coffee-producing country), as much as 4.8 degrees Celsius over the past half-century.

Years of below-average rainfall have been on the rise as well, leading to more drought-like conditions in these warm countries and further dampening coffee production. Coupled with periods of extreme rainfall, coffee crops are facing the harshest growing conditions they have faced in modern history.

In addition to these difficult growing conditions, coffee plants in South America are experiencing the biggest outbreak of coffee rust in decades. This coffee-destroying fungus is expected to decrease production of Arabica coffee, which is regarded as having superior flavor to Robusta coffee, by 15 to 40 percent in the next few years. The changing moisture and temperature levels in these areas have no doubt aided in the rise, spread and prevalence of this fungus. Unfortunately, farmers may be seeing more rust as our climate continues to change and create favorable conditions for this coffee crop killer.

Fungus isnt the only threat benefitting from climate change. Increasing temperatures in these regions have also helped the coffee borer beetle proliferate to unforeseen degrees. In areas where the beetle was once a rare sight, it is now thriving and destroying millions of dollars of coffee crops in the process.

Farmers and researchers are already hard at work trying to find more suitable conditions and land to produce coffee. Arabica coffee is a high-altitude crop, and there are only so many mountains where Arabica coffee plants can grow. Robusta coffee plants are particularly sensitive to flood and drought and would need to move, too. Much of this land would need to be deforested to be made suitable for growing coffee, an action that is known to accelerate climate change and global warming.

This is not a problem that we can easily outrun. Scientists are also working to breed new crops that are more resistant to climate changes, and there is also talk of moving coffee production to Indonesia and other Pacific islands. Hopefully these resourceful solutions will work; but one thing is certain, none of these options is cheap and you can expect to feel the results in your wallet.

TJ Semanchin, co-owner of Kickapoo Coffee Roasters in Viroqua, Wis., says they are working with coffee farmers to help promote and support sustainable farming initiatives. The farmers we buy from have no doubt that climate change is real and is putting stress on their crops. We work globally, contributing funds to help create organic farming operations that help combat carbon emissions, and locally, by running our facility entirely on solar-powered electricity.

We can all take a page from Kickapoo Coffees playbook and work on our own behavior both globally, by supporting coffee produced organically and sustainably, and locally, by supporting businesses with green power initiatives and environmental conscientiousness.

Researchers see that climate change is accelerating. It is clear the time to act is now. The longer we wait to limit carbon emissions and push for greener technologies, the more expensive it becomes to do so. As more countries continue to work on and pass legislation for carbon taxes and support non-polluting transportation and energy creation, I hope that our country, and the Coulee Region, will lead the way toward a brighter, cleaner, sustainable future where we can all still enjoy our morning cup of Joe.
BEIJING (AP)  Commemorations were held in Taiwan and elsewhere Friday ahead of the 27th anniversary of Chinas bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centered on Beijings Tiananmen Square, while the government in China, where the incident remains a taboo topic, said it had long ago turned the page on the political turmoil.

Former student leader Wuer Kaixi was joined by lawmakers at Taiwans legislature on Friday to mark the June 4, 1989, military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Taiwans democratic politics and open society have long served as a counterpoint to Chinas authoritarian one-party system, which permits no discussion of the crackdown or memorials for the victims.

Wuer said the Chinese government continues to prevent him from returning to China and bars his elderly parents from traveling to meet him and their grandson outside the country.

This is what a so-called great nation has done to me, Wuer told participants in the gathering outside Taiwans parliament. We are facing a nasty and brutal China.

Wuer fled China after the crackdown, in which he was named the second most wanted among the student leaders. Unable to return home, he married a Taiwanese woman and settled on the island in 1996. Earlier this year he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the legislature.

With the anniversary looming, security in China has been tightened and victims family members have been placed under additional restrictions. At least half a dozen people have reportedly been detained for attempting to commemorate the events, although a small group wearing T-shirts condemning the crackdown converged on the square on Sunday, among them former house painter Qi Zhiyong, who had both of his legs amputated after being shot by martial law troops early on June 4, 1989.

In Washington, D.C., the State Department called for a full public accounting of those killed, detained, or missing and for an end to censorship of discussions about the events of June 4, 1989, as well as an end to harassment and detention of those who wish to peacefully commemorate the anniversary.

In a statement, it also urged the Chinese government to respect the rights and freedoms of all its citizens.

Asked about the anniversary, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had long ago reached a clear conclusion about the political turmoil at the end of 1980s and other related issues.

Chinas explosive economic growth in the years that followed proves that the path of socialism with Chinese characters we chose to follow ... is in line with the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, and it represents a wish shared by them all, Hua told reporters at a daily news briefing.

Another former student leader, Wang Dan, told a commemorative event in Tokyo that Chinas post-crackdown development proves it isnt necessarily true that economic growth will eventually lead to democracy.

Wang, now a professor in Taiwan, said holding such memorials was about more than just remembering the 1989 events.

Its a gesture to show your political position, he said. Its a gesture to fight against the view of the Communist Party.
Once a year seventh-grade students at Tomah Middle School have the opportunity to see if theyre equipped to take freshman biology in eighth grade.

This year it began with a 111-question test and ended with a shark.

Students took the test May 17 after school, and following the exam they celebrated by eating pizza and dissecting a spiny dogfish shark. Seventh-grade science teacher Vicki Siler said the celebration was a practical application of what theyhave been studying.

Weve been learning about the circulatory system and the respiratory system and digestive system, she said. This kind of ties it all together. (In sharks) its easy to see all the systems.

Hannah Walker said the entire experience was fun. From the dissection, Walker said she learned something new about sharks.

Theres only one difference on the outside of a shark (to distinguish) male from female  the clasps, she said.

About 35 students out of 200 took the exam, which Siler described as very difficult.

The test is all what they would learn in eighth grade, she said. So usually not very many (go on to freshman biology), maybe one a year. ... The kids have to get an 80 percent or higher.

Siler said the students were eager to meet the challenge.

I just think the kids should be commended, she said. Because theyre showing the initiative ... todays kids sometimes get a bad rap of not working hard enough, trying hard enough, but heres a bunch that took the time out of their day to demonstrate their knowledge. Im proud of them.

Students not only had to study for the exam, but they had to study before dissecting the sharks, Siler said.

They had a pretty big PowerPoint  they had to go through and watch videos on it, she said. So there was some pre-learning on what to do. They were particularly looking if its a male of female (shark), if theres a liver, theyre trying to find the heart theyre looking at the gills, theyre looking at the ileum  the small intestine, all of that.

Walker said the entire experience  test and dissection  was a good opportunity to explore science

I wanted to do it because I wanted to see how much I know for myself and for future tests, she said. And why not take it?

Joaris Guzman agreed.

It was an opportunity I was willing to take, she said. I thought I was going to hate (the dissection), but its actually really fun.
Years before Tammy Maas joined the national guard, she had her sights set on serving her country with her father, Douglas Maas, serving as her inspiration.

On May 5, Maas took that service to a higher level when she was promoted to brigadier general and assumed command of the Wyoming Army National Guard in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Maas joined the National Guard in 1979, four years after graduating from Tomah High School in 1975.

She attended the University of Wyoming, where she graduated in 1985 with a bachelors degree in public administration. She received her masters degree in 1994 and also holds a masters of strategic studies from the Army War College.

In 1989 Maas transferred to the Wyoming National Guard. She fell in love with the area after spending a summer working at Grand Teton National Park.

She said her father, Douglas Maas, was her role model and inspired her to join the National Guard.

My father ... was in the guard, and he shared with me the benefits and advantages of being in the military, and he was certainly my role model, she said. So I waited four years after high school and decided to join.

The promotion to brigadier general, Maas said, is something she has been working toward for years.

There were several other very competitive officers that interviewed for it, so I was very humbled and honored to be selected, she said.

Her promotion, Maas said, was a lengthy process. It was announced in July 2015, but the ceremony didnt occur until May of this year.

It seemed really long, then all of a sudden it was around the corner, she said. But it gave me some time to plan what I was going to do while I was the commander.

The ceremony was held at the Joint Forces Readiness Center in Cheyenne with members of the Wyoming armed forces and government present, as well as Maas friends and family.

It was a really nice ceremony, she said. The governor of Wyoming was there, the adjutant general and many friends and family from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, community members  were a patriotic city in Wyoming, so it was a packed house.

Douglas Maas, Maas father, is very proud of his daughter.

I just think its great, he said. Its not very often that (someone) would be promoted to general. I think its through her hard work that Tammy was promoted.

Maas brother Matt agreed.

I was really proud of her, he said. It was a pretty special deal ... Ive seen what shes had to sacrifice. Shes had to put aside some of her personal things to serve. So for her to get there is pretty amazing. It paid off for her.

Tammy Maas said a special moment of the ceremony was to have her father pin on her new rank.

As the assistant adjutant general for the Wyoming National Guard, Maas will oversee the mission and people in the roughly 1,600-member force.

With her new position, Maas plans to focus on readiness.

A key component of (readiness) is strength, she said. We need more young people to value military service as a career. So I hope to get them in the military and hope they can value the discipline and values of service to our country.

There were several other very competitive officers that interviewed for it, so I was very humbled and honored to be selected. Tammy Maas
Research can be fun.

Thats what Tomah Middle School eighth-grade student Stevie Peterson learned from her European Culture Fair project.

Peterson and her partner Kylie Saville researched Greece.

We learned a lot about Europe, not just our country but other ones too, she said. It was a really cool idea.

For the past six years, the European Culture Fair has been an important supplement to the social studies curriculum, said eighth grade social studies teacher Greg Lueder.

We ... teach a big unit on Europe, we talk a little bit about the history, starting back from ancient Greece to the Roman Empire, all the way to the Renaissance, the Middle Ages. We kind of work our way through history until current times, he said. So we kind of thought, well, lets have a big activity, and we came up with this about maybe five, six years ago. Its a fun activity for the students.

The project aims to teach students about the five themes of geography  location, place, human-environment interaction, movement and region, Lueder said, as well as collaboration and research skills.

The project teaches them time restraint  you need to get things done on time, you need to be able to collaborate, you need to be focused, he said. It gives them a chance to use different resources to find information  books, magazines, internet, even local knowledge. The project overall gives them a sense of responsibility, a task, get it done, a sense of feeling.

The culture fair also forces students to put in more effort, said TMS eighth grade social studies teacher Taylor Semingson.

We have done this same project in the past with no culture fair, and students work, either they didnt get it done on time or the quality wasnt there, he said. So this puts a little bit more pressure on them, but it also gives all the students a chance to learn about countries that they didnt research.

Students worked in pairs over the course of a month to create the posters on their assigned country.

Semingson said watching students work in pairs was his favorite part of the project.

Its usually somebody that they chose to work with, but they come to roadblocks, they have a hard time finding some information and they have to collaborate and learn how to get through things together, he said. So seeing them work together and struggle through it as theyre learning is probably the most rewarding thing to see.

Saville said working with a partner was her favorite part of the project.

I think it was just fun putting it together and being able to do it with a partner, she said.

The project and fair, Semingson said, are beneficial to students because they get to learn about more than one culture.

Theyre learning about people that have different ways of life, different opinions and different landscapes than what theyve grown up with, he said. We have a lot of students in Tomah who have moved all around the United States and have seen a lot of different things, but there is also a large part of our population who have only spent time in Wisconsin. So for them to learn about other cultures, other places in the world, I think is really beneficial to them.

Kaitlyn Schroeder and Lizzie Lherault researched Norway.

Lherault said it was nice to learn about another country.

I liked just finding out where the people come from and basically learning about the population and climate and stuff  from the foods, what the largest is, whos the leader  its just fun, she said.
Gundersen Health System in La Crosse has added a second helicopter to its emergency flight service, deploying the choppers to corners of its coverage area, according to its director.

The volumes are increasing, with increases in requests and increases in turn-downs, said Stephanie Hill, program director of Gundersen MedLink AIR.

Because of our high demand, we arent always able to respond when a request for a transport comes in. Adding the second helicopter will allow us to better respond to the needs in our communities, Hill said of Gundersen facilities serving 19 counties in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, with flights extending farther, to a 150-mile radius from La Crosse.

MedLink, which was launched in 1992, has reached volumes of 500 completed runs a year amid 1,000 requests, including not only responses to crashes and other emergencies but also transfers to other facilities, Hill said.

Some requests are declined because of weather, but others result from the fact that MedLink has just one helicopter, based at its main La Crosse campus, she said.

Gundersen officials mulled the move for four years before settling on the six-month trial period starting today with a leased helicopter, Hill said.

During that time, one helicopter will be based at the Sparta/Fort McCoy Airport in Sparta and one at the Decorah (Iowa) Municipal Airport from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Both will return to their home hangar in La Crosse from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., with just one helicopter in service overnight, Hill said.

Opting for those schedules was a very strategic decision  to provide equal service and meet the most requests, she said.

Just 5 percent of MedLink flights now are from Gundersen in La Crosse, generally involving transfers for transplants or burns. Between 80 percent and 90 percent are incoming from crash sites or other facilities or involve relocating patients, such as a flight from Prairie du Chien to Madison, for example, she said.

Having our aircraft based outside La Crosse  will give us greater reach and allow us to handle a greater volume of flights from our regional hospitals and accident scenes, she said.

In most cases, it will also shorten transport time, especially from some of our remote locations. This should result in better patient outcomes for time-critical emergencies such as stroke and heart attack, Hill said.

The existing medical flight crews, including nurses and paramedics, will staff the choppers during the trial period, Hill said.

MedLink has not sought bids on buying a new helicopter, but one like the EC-145 it has now could cost about $7 million, she said.

Factors that officials will begin analyzing about halfway through the trial include the numbers of flights, their originating points, the tally of declined flights, response times and patient outcomes to see if it is feasible, Hill said.

The outcomes will be the most important, she said.
Rebecca Tervonen never expected an afternoon drive with her daughter would turn into a potential life-saving situation.

Tervonen, a correctional sergeant with the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, was recently honored with a Lifesaving Award from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for helping a motorist along Interstate 90/94 after her vehicle and trailer rolled over multiple times. Tervonen and another passerby pushed the vehicle on its side and stayed with the driver until emergency responders arrived on the scene.

After watching the vehicle flip over, Tervonen stopped to help. She didnt believe she would earn an award for her kind act, but shes honored and humbled to receive the recognition.

I wasnt expecting to even be nominated, Tervonen said. I was just doing what any person would have done when you see something bad happen to somebody else.

Tervonen and her daughter, traveling west along the interstate, were heading back to Mauston after shopping in Baraboo. They reached exit 84 near the Rocky Arbor State Park near Wisconsin Dells when her daughter shouted for her mom, who was driving, to watch out.

It was something I had probably never seen before in my life, Tervonen said. This lady ahead of us had this small, compact trailer and it started to break loose. She tried to go for the exit and hit the gravel and started to roll and its that part of the interstate where its cut out of the rocks so when she rolled, it threw her truck into the air and it hit the rocks and tipped her trailer almost completely upside down.

Tervonen stopped immediately and ran down the highway yelling to see if the driver would respond. When no one did, Tervonen and other bystanders helped push the truck on its side. They propped the truck up and eventually found the driver pinned in the middle of the front end of the car. To get to the driver, Tervonen tried to peel back part of a window that had shattered, cutting her hand. She grabbed a towel from a trucker to stop the bleeding and kept working on getting to the driver.

Tervonen realized another potential danger when she saw fuel leaking out of a punctured gas tank. Fortunately, a police officer, along with emergency personnel, arrived on the scene shortly after. Tervonen and another Good Samaritan stayed for awhile to retrieve several of the drivers family photos that had flew out of the truck when the accident occurred.

Some of these photos had gotten tossed over the rocks and all over the ground so this other woman and I picked them up and placed them in a box. We wanted to recover everything because these were family photos she would never get back, Tervonen said. We gave our statements to police and then I wanted to get out of the way to allow emergency personnel to do what they needed to do.

After returning home, Tervonen posted a notification on Facebook talking about one of the wildest afternoons she had experienced. A friend, whose husband works for the Wisconsin Dells Fire Department, wrote to Tervonen on Facebook saying the injured driver was going to survive.

I wanted to stay to make sure she was okay, but I also wanted to make sure I was out of the way so she could be extracted from the vehicle, Tervonen said.

After receiving the Lifesaving Award, Tervonen was honored at the state capitol in Madison by DOC Secretary Jon Litscher.

I am extremely proud of our employees, Litscher said in a press release. The individuals recognized exemplify the very best of the Department of Corrections  employees who were placed in difficult situations and took action to protect or preserve life.

Tervonen has worked in corrections for 13 years, serving in various departments. Brian Marten, an officer with the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, was also recognized with a Lifesaver Award. Marten declined to be interviewed for this story.

It is pretty nice to be recognized because we have kind of a thankless job, Tervonen said. Its nice to see us get this recognition outside our daily job duties.
Records released as part of a Senate investigation into narcotic over-prescription at the Tomah VA show a veteran contacted Congressman Ron Kind before he died at the facility and that Kind intervened in 2008 over complaints about abusive behavior by the top doctor.

Jason Simcakoski died in August 2014 in the Tomah VAs mental health ward from a toxic cocktail of more than a dozen drugs. He is one of two veterans whose deaths have been linked to allegations of over-prescription practices and abuses of power within the facility.

Phone records released Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs show the Marine veteran made dozens of calls to law enforcement agencies and one to Kinds office in the year before his death.

The result of a 16-month investigation, the report pointed to failures of VA officials and the departments watchdog agency to intervene.

The 359-page report revealed that the facility  and its former Chief of Staff Dr. David Houlihan  had a reputation for pushing prescription painkillers for more than a decade before the high levels of opioid use were made public by a nonprofit news organization in 2015.

According to the report, the facilitys former police chief acknowledged its reputation as a big pill box in 2009, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has been investigating possible drug diversion there for more than seven years, although it has yet to result in any charges filed, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Heather Simcakoski testified at a congressional hearing in March 2015 that her late husband had made reports to multiple law enforcement agencies of patients selling prescription medications but nothing came of those calls.

Inspector General records show the 35-year-old vet was treated at the Tomah VA on multiple occasions between 2005 and 2014 for mental health issues including addiction to painkillers.

More than 5,000 pages of source materials released by the Senate committee includes records of incoming and outgoing calls from two of Simcakoskis phones made between July and November 2013, nine months before his death. Among hundreds of calls marked personal and dozens to the Tomah VA pharmacy are 29 calls to law enforcement agencies, including the Tomah VA Police Department, the Tomah city police and the FBI.

The log also shows a seven-minute and 39-second call to Kinds Capitol office on Nov. 8, 2013.

Kind said Tuesday that he had no knowledge of the call but his office will conduct a thorough review of its files.

I cant imagine that if someone, anyone called my office, gave their name and asked for help then a case file would have been started immediately, he said.

Kinds office issued a statement Wednesday saying:

Our office has strict protocol to handle every call in the most appropriate way, so while we dont have a record of his call, our process ensures that when constituents provide their name and contact information, and have concerns, those concerns are addressed. If Jason had called our office to ask for help, we would have immediately opened a casework file and asked him to sign a Privacy Release Form in order to work on his case, as we have with almost 2,000 veterans cases since 2011. If he had provided information, we would have flagged it and sent to the authorities, like we did when we sent the VA Inspector General an anonymous letter we received in 2011. Lastly, if he in any way sounded distressed we would have asked for his contact information and taken immediate action to reach out to the proper authorities.

About a minute after the call to Kinds office, Simcakoski called the FBIs La Crosse field office. The 8-minute and 34-second call was the last of five made to that number, according to the records.

According to the committee report, the FBI denied any contact with Simcakosci, although Johnson played a voicemail Tuesday that was left on Simcakoskis phone by someone identifying himself as an FBI agent returning a call.

The report acknowledges the committee has no information about what was said in any of the calls.

A memo from Houlihan notes that Simcakoski talked to him Nov. 6 about another patient who had sold him $200 worth of pills in the past and was offering oxycodone and a stimulant. That conversation is the subject of a separate OIG investigation that was opened in February 2015, according to the report.

Heather Simcakoski said Thursday that Kinds staff apologized to her after the source materials were made public on Tuesday. She said she remains frustrated that law enforcement agencies as powerful as the FBI claim to have no record of the contacts.

Theyve at least admitted they did receive a call  I will give them credit for that, she said. As far as all the other agencies I feel like they could give two cares.

Kind, along with Sen. Ron Johnson and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, expressed outrage when the Tomah allegations surfaced in the media, though all have been criticized for not taking action sooner.

Kinds office received an anonymous complaint in 2011 about over-prescription, which he forwarded to the Inspector Generals office. Johnson and Baldwins offices were also made aware of problems in 2014. Johnsons staff referred the matter to a Senate committee. Baldwins staff sent letters to the Tomah director, the VAs congressional liaison and to the OIG.

In the wake of the scandal, Baldwin fired her casework supervisor who then accused the senator of scapegoating her for the failures of her chief of staff.

Former Sen. Russ Feingold, who is challenging Johnson in the November election, has also been accused of failing to act on a 2009 union memo that was marked as being hand delivered to members of Wisconsins congressional delegation, although the author, Lin Ellinghuysen, told the Senate committee that notation was based on a false assumption.

Ellinghuysen, who is president of the Tomah chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, told the committee union representatives contacted Kind and then Sen. Herb Kohl in 2008  not about narcotics but concerns that Houlihans treatment of the staff was affecting patient care.

She said Houlihan became more respectful after Kind met with the director but soon reverted to abusive behavior.
TOMAH, Wis.  The Tomah VA Medical Center will re-open its inpatient psychiatric unit next month, almost a year after a staffing shortage forced it to be shuttered.

The Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Services will open July 5 with seven beds with the goal of eventually returning to full capacity, VA spokesman Matthew Gowan said Tuesday. The 11-bed unit was closed Sept. 4 as the hospital struggled to recruit psychiatrists, who are in high demand nationwide and especially in rural areas.

Getting our Acute Psychiatric unit open has been the top priority of the medical center, said Victoria Brahm, acting medical center director. Ensuring that veterans have access to the safe, high-quality care they have earned and deserve is my top concern. We have always intended to re-open the unit and accept admissions, but only when we had the necessary psychiatric staff to do so safely. Today, I can announce that we will and we will again be able to provide this service to our veterans here at the Medical Center.

VA officials said Tuesday the facility has hired a full-time psychiatrist and two nurse practitioners to staff the unit. They are part of a slew of new providers  including four physicians, 11 nurse practitioners, two additional psychiatrists and a dentist  hired in the past few months.

The VA plans an open house for the unit on June 27.

The announcement came just hours after a congressional hearing into the facilitys past troubles with rampant opioid prescription levels and a culture of intimidation against whistleblowers.

Deputy Secretary of the VA Sloan Gibson praised improvements made during the past 16 months, noting that Tomah has some of the VAs shortest wait times and one of the lowest secondary infection rates among all the nations hospitals.
Two people were seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash in the town of LaGrange early Sunday morning.

Keanu Wright, 21, Tomah, was driving a 2000 Chevy Cavalier westbound on Highway G shortly before 2 a.m., when he failed to negotiate a curve, entered a ditch and struck a row of trees.

Wright and his passenger, Dion Wright, 21, Rapid City, South Dakota, were transported to Tomah Memorial Hospital with injuries that the Monroe County Sheriffs Office described as serious but non-life threatening.

Assisting the sheriffs office were the Wisconsin State Patrol, Oakdale Area First Responders, Tomah Area Ambulance Service and Monroe County 911 Communications Center.

The crash remains under investigation, and the sheriffs office said alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash.
A commission studying veterans health care is just one vote shy of endorsing a privatized Veterans Administration, a gathering of veterans and VA employees in Tomah was told Friday.

The American Federation of Government Employees local that represents workers at the Tomah VA hospital organized the town hall meeting to warn that the national VA system is under attack.

Many members of Congress, some presidential candidates and commissions are calling for the reduction and, in some cases, the total elimination of VA health care, said Wisconsin Disabled Veterans of America legislative director Al Labelle.

At issue is a strawman document developed by seven members of the 15-member Commission on Care, which was created by Congress in 2014 as part of legislation aimed at reducing waiting times at VA hospitals. Labelle said the document calls for the total elimination of VA health care no later than 2035.

Commission on Care chairwoman Nancy Schlichting said via the commissions website that the report hasnt been finalized.

As the term strawman implies, the document was created by a subset of commissioners to describe their personal ideas, which ultimately facilitated and focused public discussion and prompted new proposals, she wrote. It was not presented as a final report.

The commission is divided equally among members appointed by the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama. AFGE spokeman Mike Rosenblatt said the final report due June 30 doesnt carry the force of law but has the potential to be influential in the light of recent negative publicity involving VA hospitals. He urged union members to get involved and make sure any privatization proposal is undermined and sits on the shelf.

Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has openly called for privatization and blamed recent problems on a public-sector model that lacks accountability.

They are working within a single-payer, government-run bureaucratic health care system, Johnson said Tuesday in Tomah prior to chairing a hearing in Tomah that presented a 359-page report detailing reckless prescription drug practices and abusive management practices at the Tomah VA.

Ryan Honl, a former Tomah VA employee who provided information that triggered the investigation, attended the hearing and told the website watchdog.org, Until (the VA has) to compete and increase the quality and focus on quality and customer satisfaction, why would you change the product when you actually get more and more of the taxpayers money year after year regardless of worsening outcomes.

Labelle rejected those criticisms. He said the VA faces many of the same problems as private medicine but that the media has focused like a laser beam on the VA while the private sector is getting a pass. He said privatization is about generating profit for private medicine.

Theyre not seeing veterans; theyre seeing dollar signs, he said.

He said veterans organizations oppose privatization and that the vast majority of VA patients are satisfied with their level of care.

The problem is access, not quality of VA health care, he said.

Rob Hilliard, who receives care at the Tomah VA, agreed. He blasted the private choice program created by the 2014 legislation.

The choice program has been a debacle from day one, Hilliard said. Once we get on the outside, were going to be just a number. The best therapy we get is being around other veterans while were waiting for appointments. If we lose the VA, thats going to go away.
I dont hate guns; theyve been present in my life since I was small. My father had worked as a policeman and kept his service revolver as well as a shotgun hed had growing up on a farm. But he said a gun is always loaded, and now I know why.

In northern Minnesota, my husband hunted deer, and the first winter we relied on venison for food. Up there, everyone had a gun, but theyd all grown up with them and knew how to take precautions against accidents.

When the subject of gun control came up, I agreed with the saying, When they outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. I still agree with it, but now realize very few people, including Democratic lawmakers, want to ban all guns. They want required firearm training and reasonable controls over who can own them. In fact, polls show that the majority of Americans want stricter regulations, but its going to take responsible gun owners to make that happen.

There will be powerful forces fighting against them. The National Rifle Association, which used to be in favor of required training and reasonable regulations, has now become the lobbyist for firearm and ammunition manufacturers. It donates huge amounts of money to GOP lawmakers to ensure there are few restrictions. At their conventions, there even are booths and advertisements for lethal firearms designed for children under the age of 10. Thats insane.

Weve all read way too many stories about accidental deaths and injuries due to irresponsible gun owners. There also are numerous stories about toddlers who have killed or injured other children or their parents after picking up an untended firearm.

Jamie Gilt, a gun-loving mother, bragged on Facebook how she taught her four-year-old to shoot targets. This March, while she was driving with her child in the back seat, he picked up her gun and shot her through the back with her .45-caliber handgun. She lived, but I bet shes done bragging about her guns on Facebook.

In the first nine months of 2015, according to an Oct. 14, 2015, article in the Washington Post, 13 American toddlers had accidentally killed themselves, 18 injured themselves, 10 injured other people and two killed other people  all with firearms. From the reports Ive read this year, its obvious the numbers will be higher by the end of 2016.

And for those who believe keeping a gun at home makes them safer, all the statistics prove the opposite. The same Washington Post article cited FBI homicide data that shows there were 34 more criminal gun homicides and 78 more gun suicides for every instance of a justifiable killing  self defense or against a criminal.

Every year, 30,000 Americans die from gunshot wounds. If foreign terrorists killed and injured that many Americans, the GOP would be calling for all-out war.

Yet they push for looser regulations and vote against anything that would make owning guns safer.

This year in Wisconsin, Republican legislators passed Senate Bill 301, which eliminated the age limit for children and the number of weapons they can carry when involved in the hunting mentorship program. So technically, in this program, a toddler can legally carry an unlimited number of hunting weapons. I wonder how those legislators will sleep at night after the first child, mentor or innocent bystander is killed because of the bill.

As for adults, just because someone is approved to carry a gun does not guarantee they know how to safely use or carry one. Almost every day there are stories of accidental shootings by Americans with concealed weapons and by gun owners who fool around with them at home. Last month in Philadelphia, a father killed his four-year-old daughter when he accidentally shot her in the face. And theres the man who recently shot himself during a job interview, as well as one the other day in Georgia who shot himself and a woman while adjusting his gun during a graduation ceremony.

America has many more gun deaths per 100 people than any other civilized country and it will only get worse unless we demand change. We need to require extensive training and a 48-hour waiting period before someone can own a gun. We need to require that guns and ammunition are stored securely and separately so children cant get access to them and that severe penalties are enacted on those who dont comply. And we need universal background checks so people who cant pass one arent able to cross a state line and purchase a firearm.

These precautions wont stop all gun-related deaths, but if they save even one innocent life, enacting them would be worth it.

Pat Nash is a resident of Baraboo.
The village of Coon Valley is moving forward with fixing its water reservoir leak, but its sewer fund needs refreshening.

The village of Coon Valley received some good news in regards to repairs to its water reservoir, after the 26-year-old structure sprung a leak last fall and estimated costs to repair the structure were expected to be $150,000. On the flip side, the board also received confirmation from auditor Joe Haas that the village sewer fund is in desperate need of additional funds to become solvent.

The municipality doesnt have a choice of whether or not to fix the water reservoir, but Gary Woolever, of Vierbicher Associates, informed the village board that estimated costs came in at $90,000, which is far less than anticipated. The village board was elated with the news since they were unaware of leak until the budgeting process was already complete for 2016.

The Wisconsin DNR informed the village that the cover of the reservoir needed to be resealed to stop a slow leak in the top of the structure from getting worse. The village reservoir was built in 1990, with a water holding capacity of 200,000 gallons. It is located on the east side of the village, where Lier and Viking streets, intersect with Reservoir Street.

Village President Rick Stegen said any budgeted problems drain the amount of money the municipality has available to spend on its bucket list of aging infrastructure upgrades that the board has been whittling down for the past several years. Stegen said the village board has been working hard to keep updating the villages aging infrastructure street-by-street, but the unplanned reservoir repairs and a deficit in its sewer department cushion fund, also need to be addressed this year.

Woolever said the cost savings was partly due to a cutback on projected fencing upgrades, which are not needed. He added that the new reservoir roof would not have dirt over it, making it easier to inspect. The village invested $24,000 in a new SCADA emergency notification system at the facility, replacing the older dial up system which repair parts are no longer available for. The board also agreed to spend an additional $5,000 to increase the reservoir cover insulation from 1.5 inches to 3 inches.

There was no golden nugget available to fix the downward spiral of the municipal sewer fund, which has a declining cash flow and is in need of immediate attention. Hass informed the board at its May monthly meeting that operations are not paying expenses for the sewer fund. He stopped short of saying a sewer rate increase was needed, but said the sewer fund has been losing money for several years and the village has simply been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul for too long. In 2014 the sewer fund lost $18,878 and in 2015 the fund lost $19,006.

The village sewer rates have not been increased since 2011. Stegen said the board is looking into options, but that he is dead set against slapping the residents and businesses with a huge sewer rate increase like the city of Westby did.

City of Westby residents saw a 49-percent increase in their monthly sewer rates in 2016. The last sewer rate increase in Westby occurred in 2005 and the sewer department fund balance had dried up. The PSC does not control sewer rate charges and recommended increases are based on financial reviews by the city auditors. In Westby, the average residential customer saw its sewer rate increase from $15-$25 per month.

Coon Valley water rates are increased annually using the PSC simplified rate, which allows any municipality to raise water rates three percent without PSC approval or holding a public hearing. Haas said even with the annual simplified water rate increase the village water fund reserve does not have a safe cushion built up to cover for unplanned expenses, like the water reservoir leak, but it is holding its own.

Stegen said each unplanned expense definitely has a negative impact on the villages annual budget and as they look to the future there is no sacred cow when it comes to where cuts may need to be made to cover some of the shortfalls. The end result may mean an increase in residential and business utility rates, something Stegen said he is not a fan of with so many residents in the community living on fixed incomes.

The water reservoir repairs were approved and need to be completed before November 2016 in order to meet DNR timelines.
It was June 1966, Harlan Springborn and I were waiting at the La Crosse Airport for a plane that would fly us to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. There we would go to Fort Lewis, Washington, where we had gone through basic training together. Then we had a month-long summer cruise in the Pacific on our way to Vietnam where we spent a year in the Central Highlands with the 4th Infantry Division. After returning from Vietnam, we lost touch with each other and it took 37 years before we got reunited.

Fast forward to 2016.

People had been telling us about the Freedom Honor Flight that flies veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials. Its supported solely through donations and run by volunteers. There is no cost to veterans. Applicants are accepted to go on the flight on a first-come, first serve basis, with priority given to World War II veterans and veterans with a terminal illness. The trip takes place all in one day, leaving in the early morning and arriving back in the evening. Each veteran is accompanied by a volunteer guardian who assists the veteran throughout the day. They also have trained medical personnel and a doctor on the airplane and on each bus. Physicians and paramedics accompanying each flight help with oxygen, medication and personal needs, enabling those with chronic health problems or disabilities to attend.

A year ago in May, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing, malignant tumor in my brain. It has affected my ability to use my left side and to walk without assistance, so I was reluctant to apply, plus, I felt guilty going before all the World War II and Korea vets had a chance to go. People kept urging me to submit an application. I finally decided to apply and was accepted. My friend, Harlan, also applied as a Vietnam veteran and to be my guardian on the trip, He was accepted too. We left for Vietnam together from La Crosse airport and now 50 years later, we would leave together on the flight to Washington, D.C. Even though I was accepted, I still had feelings of guilt about going while so many older veterans from World War II and Korea hadn't been on the flight. Even up until a week before the flight, I wasn't sure that I should be on this trip.

Fast-forward to May 7, 2016, 5:30 am. We were waiting at the La Crosse airport hangar to get our flight. La Crosse has taken more than 1600 veterans on flights to date. The May 7 flight had seven World War II veterans, 78 Korean veterans and three Vietnam veterans There were others on the flight, like myself, who were accepted under the TLC (The Last Chance program), which allows terminally ill veterans to fly under priority status.

Around 8 o'clock that morning our plane lifted off and headed for Washington, D.C. It was a long and exhausting day, but one that we will never forget. I'd worried about being a burden to the people who had to help me get around, I normally use a walker, because my balance has been affected and I m not that mobile. They wanted us to use their wheelchairs on the airplane and buses. Those of us who had mobility problems would use the wheelchairs provided by the organization. When we landed in Washington, D. C., there were four buses ready to pick us up. This is a very well-planned and run operation. They really know what they are doing. Its a volunteer organization, supported solely through donations. There is no paid staff. Harlan was my guardian. I felt sorry for him because he had to push me around all day. It couldnt have been an easy task, but he never complained.

Our first stop was at the World War II Memorial. I got off the bus in my wheelchair, using the bus lift ramp and then went around looking at the memorial. One thing that really got Harlan and me was realizing the tremendous loss of lives in World War II. There were gold stars on a panel, representing 100,000 U.S. lives. Then it was back on the buses and to the Korean Memorial, which was one of my favorites. The Vietnam Wall was next. When Harlan and I stood by the Vietnam wall, we didnt realize how overpowering it was going to be until we saw all those names. Thousands of names. You realize that each one of those was a person that at one time was just like us. Harlan made the comment , How were we so lucky that we survived when so many of our friends didnt? It was very sobering for both of us. It was also depressing and we both agreed it made us very angry. Weve had 50 bonus years that they didnt have.

As we drove through Arlington Cemetery, Harlan made a comment about the thousands of white tombstones. The cemetery is immaculate. Then we watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns. You dont want to miss that if you visit Arlington. Next we were off to the Marine Corps memorial. I didnt realize how huge the Iwo Jima statue was until we got up next to it. We got to see the new Air Force memorial near it, that was built after 9-11. It had been a long, tiring day. On the flight back to La Crosse we enjoyed a box lunch. I managed to sleep for a short time.

As we neared the hanger at La Crosse, we could see that the big door was open. It was 10:15 pm. There must have been 1000 people waiting. As we came down the ramp from the airplane, people lined both sides, shaking our hands and thanking us for our service. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I think all of us were very surprised. The Westby Area High School Band performed on Saturday evening, when the Freedom Honor Flight returned from Washington DC. While on the tarmac, the band played a variety of patriotic songs honoring the veterans while we departed from the airplane. I want to thank Monte Dunnum, Kory Dahlen, and the band for coming out to welcome us home. It was greatly appreciated.

It was great traveling on the same flight with Joel Volden, a Korean veteran from Westby. His grandson, Todd Volden, was his guardian. It was a great experience for both of them. Todd learned a lot more about his grandfathers experiences in the military. One of the highlights of the trip was spending it with the other veterans and visiting with them. I would highly recommend that other veterans take advantage of this trip if you get a chance. Applications are available at veterans organizations or online at www.freedomhonorflight.org. A fall Freedom Honor Flight, flown out of La Crosse, is set for Sept. 17.

Veterans are selected in order of application, though World War II veterans have priority status. Ten of the veterans on the spring flight, including me, were flying under the TLC (Their Last Chance) program; which allows terminally ill veterans to fly under priority status. I thank the Freedom Honor Flight organization for this opportunity.

Fifty years after leaving for Vietnam together, Harlan and I are still friends and it was an honor to go to Washington, D.C. with him.

When Harlan and I got inside the hanger we had a surprise. Two friends we had served with in Vietnam had come to La Crosse to greet us. Ray Slaback from Monroe, originally from Readstown, and George Strop, from Byron, Minnesota. I hadnt seen George since we left Vietnam. That was a great way to end a very memorable day.
As another school year draws to a close and wonderful young people are graduating eighth grade, high school, college, even kindergarten, I am reminded of my childhood yet again.

Your writer feels so blessed to have attended a one-room school for all of my eight years of elementary school. I began school at Fairview on Hwy. 82 between Viroqua and La Farge. This wonderful building still stands and is used as the Webster Township Hall. The spring of my first year, we moved to a different country place which was common at that time, if you were a renter and not a landowner. My brother and I then attended Elk Run School, which I grew to love. There is where I completed my elementary education. The Elk Run School was located in Liberty township, on what is now called Elk Run Road and was about a mile off Co. S.

Education back then was so very different than it is today. One teacher took care of all of the educational needs of eight different age groups, all of us located in one large room. She was responsible for teaching us arithmetic, cursive writing, called penmanship back then, art, music, history, reading, spelling, social studies, health and geography. Those women and men, too, were amazing people, and it is a fact that the young people from the one-room schools were some of the best students when they entered high school. Younger children learned from the older children as they listened to their lessons and the older children, the big kids, helped the younger ones with their lessons if they needed help. Those teachers started the furnace in the early morning, fixed owies, warmed up our lunches on a hot plate, dried our mittens over the furnace and dried the tears of broken hearts.

Finally, we made it to the eighth grade. At last we were the big kids and it was our turn to help the younger children. There were three of us in my eighth-grade class, Shirley Shuckhart, Kay Clark, my best friend, and myself. We were so excited to learn that we would be having our eighth-grade graduation at the Vernon County Normal school, along with 61 other eighth-graders. What a thrill that was for us shy little country girls! We all had new dresses and the graduation ceremony was wonderful. Readers, you may recognize some of the young people I graduated with. Howard Sherpe, Jackie Heal, Sharon Boggs, Howard Hanson and Margaret Lee, were among the graduates that night.

Then at last, it was my last day of school at Elk Run. My teacher was Margaret Burkhardt during seventh and eighth grade. She was one of my favorite teachers and I learned so much from her. The last day of school, there were no classes, of course. All the families who had children took the day off from farm work and housework and joined the children at school. A wonderful potluck meal was served by the mothers. Lemonade and ice cream was a special treat that day. While the meal was prepared, the fathers played softball with the children. There were tears that day, as this would be the last day of teaching at Elk Run for Mrs. Burckhardt. Some of our friends we wouldnt see for awhile, especially for us who were going on to high school in the big cities of either Viola or Viroqua.

What we didnt know then would have made the day even sadder for us as our school would only be open for two more years. In 1961, Elk Run School closed its doors to learning forever, as the Elk Run School District consolidated with and became part of the Kickapoo Area School District. This wonderful old schoolhouse has recently been renovated by Ms. Eddi Blakely and her Amish friends and an open house was held in July 2013.

Such a bittersweet time for all children who love school as another year draws to a close.

The Westby Area Historical Society meets at 1 p.m. the first Monday of each month at the beautiful Thoreson House at 111 Bekkedal Ave., Westby. The next meeting is on June 6, and all are welcome. Come see what we are about, volunteer, donate and join us!


Millions of people in China are now sharing parts of their lives with the world by broadcasting live video on their phones.

There are more than 80 apps for live streaming in China, and the number is growing all the time. Two of the most popular are Twitters Periscope and Facebook Live.

The country also has its own video streaming app called Ingkee. It lets users send live video while interacting with viewers. In just one year, the app reached number one on Apples iTunes store in China.

Paul Haswell is a technology expert and partner with the law firm Pinsent Masons. He said streaming apps are popular with young people because they can send video of anything they want.

They are successful for the same reasons they are successful in the West. They allow anyone to be a broadcaster of anything, said Haswell.

Some users stream video of personal events like vacations or weddings. Others broadcast to as many people as possible while interacting with viewers through chat.

Youre becoming a live reporter anytime you want to, Haswell said.

College student Nic Li told Forbes.com she spends three to four hours each week chatting and singing with viewers on Ingkee. Sometimes I feel lonely and want to talk to people, she said. It feels nice when viewers are paying attention to me.

The apps are also being used for commercial purposes. Individuals and companies have used them for selling makeup and skin care products. Celebrities also use live streaming to directly interact with fans.

Some of the content, such as pornography, is illegal to send over video in China. The countrys Ministry of Culture has shut down many users and websites streaming illegal material on live apps.

But the activity has become big business in China. Ingkee says 50 million people have already downloaded its app. Another company claims 120 million users.

Even the person considered to be Chinas richest man, Wang Jianlin, has used live streaming to publicize his company.

Wang is chairman of the property development company, Dalian Wanda Group. He streamed live video while visiting a company theme park. He also sent video while relaxing aboard his private plane last week.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Shannon Van Sant reported this story for VOANews.com. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Do you use any live streaming apps with your phone? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

app  n. a computer application mostly used on a mobile device

streaming  n. method of transmitting video or audio over a computer network

interact  v.  to talk or do things with other people

makeup  n. cosmetics applied to the face

content  n. information contained in a website or other electronic source

pornography  n. material showing people naked or in sexual situations

download  v. the means of getting a file or program onto a computer or device

relax  v. spend time resting or doing something enjoyable


A Columbia University student said she ran away in May because life at the highly ranked school was too stressful.

Nayla Kidd of Kentucky was an engineering student at Columbia, in New York City, when she disappeared. Her friends, family and police looked for her for two weeks.

She was found living across the East River in another part of the city.

Kidd explained that she moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn after turning away from university life.

I skipped my final exams, changed bank accounts, got a second phone number and deleted my Facebook page, she wrote in the New York Post newspaper. I needed to break from my old life of high pressure and unreasonable expectations.

School success

Kidd said she received excellent grades at her preparatory school before Columbia. She said she was called The Science Girl because of her skills in the sciences.

I enjoyed the praise and self-worth I felt when I excelled in school, and I wanted to keep aiming higher, Kidd said, in telling her story in the New York Post.

She was excited when she got into Columbia because its such a prestigious school.

Columbia is part of a group of eight schools known as the Ivy League, a group that includes Harvard and Yale.

It made me feel like I had proven to myself, and everyone around me, that I made it, Kidd wrote.

The Washington Post newspaper noted that Kidds mother has academic degrees from two other prestigious U.S. schools -- Johns Hopkins University and MIT.

Kidd said of her mother: It was just her and I; she raised me as a single mom.

Leaving school

Even though she was eager to attend Columbia, Kidd did not feel welcome there. The school felt too big, too unfriendly and too impersonal, she said.

School just wasnt interesting to me anymore because I didnt have any close connections with my teachers, she said.

At the end of her second year there, Kidd left the apartment she shared near the campus with two former Columbia students. She missed final exams. She did not return texts or phone calls.

Friends and family created the hashtag #FindingNayla. Finally, the police found her and reunited her with her mother.

School stress

Just one month before Kidd went missing, the Columbia Universitys student newspaper wrote that many Columbia students have problems with stress. The newspaper is called the Columbia Spectator.

Students have singled out stress as an issue at Columbia with increasing frequency, The Spectator wrote. It said the repeated complaint has led many students to ask whether Columbia is a more stressful place than other top universities.

Noelle Leonard is the senior research scientist at New York Universitys College of Nursing. She said colleges like Columbia offer lots of resources for students, but they expect students to seek the help themselves.

It seems as if Nayla did not have an advisor or counselor that she could turn to, Leonard said.

Some colleges ask teachers and advisers to tell administrators if a student might be having problems.

For example, at Georgia State University in Atlanta, professors are told to report when a student misses a few classes, fails to turn in assignments, or fails tests.

The idea, said Vice Provost Timothy Renick, is to offer help before problems grow and force students to leave school.

Leonard and fellow researcher Marya Gwatz wrote a paper together, offering some advice for students:

Seek relationships with faculty, family and fellow students.

If you feel you need mental-health care, seek it out. Fight back against the stigma of mental-health care, they wrote.

of mental-health care, they wrote. Seek balance in your life between study, work and play. Balance will get you farther in life than a really good test score, they wrote.

Leonard said she thinks that African-American students are under more pressure to excel at mostly white, Ivy league universities, such as Columbia. Forbes.com reported that African-Americans make up 7.5 percent of Columbia students.

Reaction

Kidds story drew lots of comments on Twitter. Some supported her, some were critical and others offered mixed opinions.

So glad to hear Nayla Kidd has been found and is safe. I can totally identify with wanting to just up and leave and be unreachable, wrote one person on Twitter.

Another person wrote: I understand #NaylaKidd wanting a new life, but it was selfish not to consider how her disappearance would affect her friends and family.

Columbia University put out a statement saying officials are deeply relieved and gratified that Columbia Engineering student Nayla Kidd has been found and is safe.

Kidd herself said she is glad to be back in touch with her friends and family, but she does not plan to return to school. Instead of focusing on succeeding academically, she said, she wants to pursue her interest in the arts.

I'm Kathleen Struck.

Kathleen Struck and Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

We want to hear from you in the Comments section and on our Facebook page. Students, please share what works for you to reduce stress.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

stressful  adj. making someone feel worried or anxious

account  n. a record of money that has been paid and money that has been received

delete  v. to remove

preparatory school -- n. the level of school before college or university

prestigious  adj. a place known for success and high standards

academic -- adj. relating to education or study

gratification  n. providing satisfaction, pride and/or happiness

frequency  adv. happening often

stigma  n. a set of negative and often unfair beliefs about something
Though there are notable exceptions, most movie pin-ups who join politics frequently mix up reel world with the real. On silver screen, everything goes in accord with the screenplay. Don't like it? Scrap the script or force the director to make changes. In real life, however, there are no retakes. One could be hauled over coals for posting pictures of a movie shoot while violent shootouts break out in their constituency.

Let's face it, Hema Malini, the BJP MP from Mathura, has been incredibly callous. She was clueless about the tragedy which erupted on Thursday night and continued to remain so throughout the morning on Friday when she happily posted pictures from Mumbai's Madh Islands on an upcoming film. In fact, even when she was apprised of the fatal clash, she initially seemed to have misread the enormity of the tragedy.

So so upset by ths news frm a place which is so dear to me Will go there again if my presence is required.My heart goes out to the bereaved  Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) June 3, 2016

Hema Malini's tweets on the movie (which she deleted later after facing flak) were deemed inappropriate and the entire fiasco left the actor-turned-politician looking careless, inconsiderate, insensitive and even tactless. While handling questions during the media conference later, she appeared hurt and indignant over people accusing her of being tactless.

The BJP MP has looked out of depth and sorely lacking in realpolitik while handling the aftermath of a disaster.

But here's the thing. Is Hema Malini culpable for the cataclysmic tragedy that occurred at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura on Thursday night that left 24 people  including two senior police officers  dead and over 40 injured?

If a Lok Sabha MP is held responsible for the implementation of law and order in a state, why on earth did people of Uttar Pradesh elect Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his entire troupe of Samajwadi Party MLAs? To hold annual mega bashes on party chief Mulayam Singh's birthday?

Hema Malini goofed up but making her the scapegoat  as Congress party and a section of the media has done  is a convenient and malicious step to divert attention from Akhilesh Yadav's incompetence as an administrator and his government's abject failure on multiple levels.

If there is no complicity from the state government, how is it possible for a group of squatters to forcefully claim 300 acres of prime land in Jawahar Bagh as their own for more than two years and run what seems to have been a parallel administration?

Reports say the land grabbers, who call themselves Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi and the Swadheen Bharat Subhas Sena (the latter might even be Satyagrahi's militant arm)  an obscure band of violent madcaps  apparently transformed the vast green square into a "kingdom" with over 2,000 "residents", a hospital, a school, streetlights with electricity back-up, kacha and pucca houses and had round-the-clock security with over a dozen chowkis keeping an eye on the area. They wanted their own currency and cheaper fuel.

It seems as if in the middle of the bustling temple town, there is a rabbit hole which leads to this decidedly dodgy 'wonderland'. How on earth could they have performed their stunt without the knowledge of the administration?

Was the law and order machinery at Akhilesh Yadav's command sleeping? Or does this case of willful slumber have something to do with vote bank politics?

The opposition, while demanding the resignation of the SP government, has alleged that the fringe group enjoyed Akhilesh government's sponsorship.

"Illegal encroachment at Jawahar Bagh proves that the encroachers had been given high-level government patronage and it is an example of jungle raj in the state. The discovery of huge cache of firearms and ammunition proves that the ruling party was patronising criminals to use them during the upcoming UP Assembly polls," BSP chief Mayawati was quoted, as saying.

State BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya blamed Chief Minister's uncle Shivpal Yadav, a minister in Akhilesh's cabinet, for backing the cult which is dominated by Yadavs.

Leaving aside the political charges and counter-charges, it is inexplicable why the state administration waited for two years for the Allahabad High Court to order an evacuation of the land grabbers. And when ultimately forced by the court (which was acting on a PIL) to do so, why did the police appear unprepared when they went in to launch the eviction drive?

Does it not point to a massive intelligence failure that, as this Firstpost report points out, the cops had no input about the presence of firearms such as guns, pistols, rifles, and ammunition, swords, knives, bombs and even hand grenades within the park premises?

The police, which started the anti-encroachment operation with a small team, has admitted that the scale of the resistance took them by surprise and that they didn't know protesters were "so heavily armed".

If that is indeed the case, whose failure is it? Akhilesh Yadav has since blamed it on his police force, saying: There were some lapses. Police should have gone with full preparation and after holding talks, but there was no information that they would be having so much arms and ammunition.

The UP CM must know that the final blame for this tragic incident which resulted in loss of so many lives, lies with him.
Washington: India is likely to enter the missile technology control regime this week, a move that will boost the country's efforts to purchase Predator drones from the US and export its high-tech missiles to friendly nations. An announcement in this regard is anticipated as early as this week, possibly during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US at the invitation of US President Barack Obama, sources tracking the development told PTI.

The major breakthrough comes days after India announced that it is subscribing to 'The Hague Code of Conduct' against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, which is considered to be complementary to the missile technology control regime (MTCR).

India, had applied for its membership last year. But it was facing strong opposition from a few member countries of the MTCR where decisions are based on consensus. The Obama administration has strongly backed India's membership into MTCR and three other export control regime  Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

Established in April 1987, the voluntary MTCR aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks.

The MTCR regime urges its 34 members, which include most of the world's key missile manufacturers, to restrict their exports of missiles and related technologies capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload at least 300 kilometers or delivering any type of weapon of mass destruction.

Since 2008 India has been one of the five countries that are Unilateral Adherents to MTCR. After MTCR's announcement, India and the US are expected to fast-track their discussion on sale of predator series aircraft for the Indian military.

"Yes, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc is aware of India's interest in Predator-series Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)," Vivek Lall, chief executive of the US and International Strategic Development of 'General Atomics', the largest privately-held American defence company which designs and manufactures the world's famous Predator drones, had told PTI last December.

Membership into MTCR is a huge boost for India's ability to procure this capability.
Chandigarh: With a section of Jat community leaders giving a call to re-start protests for reservation from Sunday, the Haryana government and the state police are bracing themselves to deal with the situation.

Paramilitary forces and Haryana Police have been deployed in sensitive areas of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Jind, Panipat and Kaithal districts to ensure that the agitation does not get out of control and turns violent.

In Sonipat district, orders have been imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, prohibiting any assembly of five or more people at any place.

The Jat community has served a 15-day ultimatum to the Haryana government for implementation of reservation.

Reports said the agitators, who have started their agitation in rural areas instead of towns this time, had begun their protest rally at Mayyar village in Hisar district, Dhanana village in Bhiwani district, Jasia village in Rohtak district, Jhanj Khurd village in Jind district, Matloda village in Panipat district and Pranpura Bawal village in Rewari district .

With the Jat agitation being renewed after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the notification for quotas to the Jat and other communities, people in northern states comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Chandigarh appeared worried that the agitation could lead to road and railway blockades in Haryana again.

The call for the renewed agitation has been given by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS). Some other sections of the Jat community and its leadership have distanced themselves from the agitation call.

AIJASS leader Hawa Singh Sangwan assured that the protests would remain peaceful.

The Haryana Police on Thursday announced that leave of all police personnel had been cancelled.

Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Ram Niwas said that 48 companies of paramilitary forces would assist the state police in maintaining peace across the state.

Haryana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Mohammad Akil has said that police was fully geared up to meet any eventuality.

"Police and district administration would maintain law and order and safety of the people would be ensured. Individuals or groups of people found trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere directly or indirectly would invite stern action against themselves," he said.

"There is neither shortage of police force nor of equipment in maintaining law and order. Police would not tolerate any act to block road or rail. The police officers are holding meetings with responsible citizens to maintain peace in rural and urban areas," he said.

The BJP government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, which was blamed for inept handling of the violence in February, has set up a state-level riot control room to deal with the forthcoming agitation.

The administration in Haryana's Sonipat district also banned all Internet services ahead of the agitation.

"With a view to ward off any tension, fights, threats to human life, damage to property and deterioration in the law and order situation, District Magistrate, Sonipat, K Makarand Pandurang, has issued orders to ban all Internet services, including Internet 2G, 3G, 4G, Edge, GPRS and Bulk SMS sent via mobile, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code with effect from 4 June, 2016.

"This ban would be effective till further orders," a state government spokesman said on Saturday.

The ban has been imposed to prevent people from misusing these services which might be used to spread wrong information and rumours, the district magistrate said.

"These services could also be used in illegal activities such as blocking roads, highways and railway tracks, damaging government property and disrupting essential services and supply of food. Social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, Google Plus and mobile internet could be misused for this purpose," he added.

All telecom service providers have been directed to strictly abide by these orders, he added.

The Rohtak district administration on Saturday issued notices to four people for violating Section 144 imposed in the district by pitching tents for 'dharna' without permission of the competent authority.

Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Atul Kumar said that notices have been issued to former sarpanch of village Rithal, Umed Singh, Sombir Singh, resident of village Jasiya, Ashok Balhara of Dev Colony and Vijaydeep of Rohtak, for pitching tents near Kanhi Chowk in village Jasiya, for which permission was not sought from the administration.

"They have been directed to remove the tents immediately," he said, adding that the ground in Sector 6 had been earmarked for the dharna and restriction has been imposed on gathering of five or more persons within 500 metres of all national and state highways, railway lines and stations and connecting roads in the district.

Haryana saw the worst violence in its five decades of existence in February this year during the Jat agitation for reservation.

As many as 30 persons were killed, 320 others injured and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed during the agitation. The state remained paralysed for nearly 10 days.

The Khattar government had last month notified reservation for the Jat and five other communities in jobs and admissions but the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week stayed the notification which gave reservation in government jobs and educational institutions under the Backward Class category.
Mathura: A probe into the violence in Jawahar Bagh in which 24 people were killed, will begin on Sunday

with the spot visit by the Commissioner of Aligarh.

"I will first take stock of the situation by visiting the area. If somebody wants to present something (evidence or information) on the Jawahar Bagh episode, he would be heard," said the Commissioner Aligarh and Presiding officer the probe committee, Chandra Kant.

Asked if it would be a magisterial probe, he said "it would be a high-power administrative probe."

Meanwhile, a large amount of explosives were found during the search operation at Jawahar Bagh.

"Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag today," SP Rural Arun Kumar Singh said.

Nine company of PAC, along with police personnel, have been deployed in Jawahar Bagh to carry out search operation, he said.

"The search operation is on and till the forensic team complete there work Jawahar Bagh would remain out of bounds for everyone," he added.

He also said that associates of Ram Virksha Yadav, the chief of the violent encroachers in Jawahar Bagh, was among those killed in the clashes.

"After seeing the photograph, associates of Ram Virksha Yadav in jail, have confirmed that he had been killed," Singh said when asked about the status of Yadav.

Asked about the reason of delay in conducting post-mortem, he said "it is legally binding to give 72 hours to the family members or well wishers before conducting post-mortem."
Uttar Dinajpur: A 13-year-old boy was hit by a bullet on Sunday allegedly fired from a victory procession organised to celebrate the win of Trinamool Congress candidate Hamidul Rahaman from Chopra Assembly constituency in Islampur area of the district.

"The incident happened at around 2 pm this afternoon when a stray bullet hit a boy, Gar Ali, who was standing at the roadside and watching the procession pass near his home. Some local residents have alleged that the bullet was fired from the procession," said a senior police officer.

The family members of Ali first rushed the boy to Islampur sub-division hospital, but was later on referred to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for further treatment, the police said.

"We have not yet received any complaints, but an inquiry is on," the officer added.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday dismissed the opposition's claim that he is "occupying" two government residential bungalows, asking, "how can a person live in two bungalows?"

"I do not have two residential government bungalows. As per the provision, I have been allotted a bungalow (7, Circular Road) for life in the capacity of being an ex-CM. Another bungalow is allotted to me as the Chief Minister. I work from there," he said.

"It is a misinterpretation of facts to say that I am occupying two bungalows," Kumar said, and asked, "How can a person live in two bungalows?"

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had recently raised the issue of Nitish Kumar "occupying two government residential bungalows" in the state capital.

"I am ready to work from any where...I can live in one room of the BJP office provided I get accommodation there," he quipped.

Nitish also suggested that people having their own residence in Patna should not be allotted government residence in the state capital.
Yet another dimension of Indian soft power in Afghanistan was reflected well when Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on 3 June jointly inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier known as Salma Dam. The dam was built at an approximate cost of Rs 1,700 crore by 1,500 Indian and Afghan engineers, technocrats and other professionals.

This was the second time that Modi visited Afghanistan in the last six months. The Prime Minister was in Afghan capital Kabul last December to inaugurate the countrys new parliament building, which was built at a cost $115 million (Rs. 710 crore) by India.

Indias Afghan policy, which is marked by its soft power projections in that country, has remained unchanged since the Vajpayee-era. The policy got a huge boost during the Manmohan Singh regime. Modi is continuing this legacy. The basic premise behind this policy has been that as the Western countries led by the United States fight with the help of Pakistan (a big question mark, in reality) the fundamentalist Taliban and al-Qaida so that Afghanistan is strengthened and consolidated as a stable, modern and vibrant democracy, India will concentrate on the countrys social and economic development. This policy has covered four broad areas: infrastructure projects, humanitarian assistance, small and community based development projects, and education and capacity building programmes.

Within this framework India has already invested $11 billion in Afghanistan. It has further pledged another $2 billion for new projects such as Iron ore mines, a 6 MTPA steel plant (by SAILSteel Authority of India Limited), an 800 MW power plant, Hydro-electric power projects, transmission lines, roads etc. Then there is the India-Iran transit agreement on transporting goods to landlocked Afghanistan (Modi has just been to Iran to conclude the expansion of the Chabahar port through Indian investment of more than $100 million, which will serve as a hub for the transportation of transit goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia) at a cost of Rs.710 crores ($115 million). Besides, Afghan people have received aid from Indian people and private organisations such as TATA local busses for major cities and many other humanitarian aids.

Overall, Afghanistan is now the second largest recipient of Indian aid just behind Bhutan. This just goes to show how important Afghanistan is for India. India gives more money to Afghanistan than even Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, both of whom have traditionally been dependent on India for their development. In fact, India is Afghanistans fifth largest bilateral donor after the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.

Incidentally, India happens to be Afghanistans first strategic partner in the sense that the two countries signed in 2011 the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) to guide the contours of their overall relations. The SPA, inter alia, provides for assistance to help rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure and institutions, education and technical assistance to rebuild indigenous Afghan capacity in different areas, encouraging investment in Afghanistan's natural resources, providing duty free access to the Indian market for Afghanistan's exports support for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, broad-based and inclusive process of peace and reconciliation, and advocating the need for a sustained and long-term commitment to Afghanistan by the international community.

The only military dimension of the SPA has been New Delhis pledge to increase training for Afghan soldiers and police within India. The agreement does not include the deployment of Indian combat troops in Afghanistan.

That Indias soft power approach towards Afghanistan is a success story is evident from the fact that in a Gallup poll done in 2010, majority of Afghans preferred Indians over both Americans and Pakistanis. 71 percent of Afghans said that India was playing most positive role in country. A BBC guided opinion poll in Afghanistan has also established that India is the most popular country among Afghans.

So far so good. Now, the bigger question is whether soft power alone will serve the larger foreign policy goal of India in Afghanistan. All told, Indian soft power in Afghanistan is based on New Delhi being a service provider rather than a stake holder. And this soft power cannot be stretched too far when almost all the mega projects in Afghanistan being built with Indian help have neared completion.

In the ultimate analysis, India has three primary interests in Afghanistan. One is establishing a secure, strong and democratic state in Afghanistan to prevent an extremist takeover, which could, in turn, lead to terrorism in the region. Second is not seeing the hapless Afghanistan coerced to provide what is called strategic depth to Pakistan in the latters war against India. Third is ensuring Afghanistan providing the connectivity between India and the Central Asian Republics through Irans Chabahar port. Other interests include competing with China in exploring Afghanistans immense natural resources (minerals in general; oil and gas assets in particular).

However, Indias growing activities in Afghanistan have not gone well with Pakistan. After India opened consulates in heart, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kandahar, Pakistan has charged that these consulates provided cover for Indian intelligence agencies to run covert operations against Pakistan as well as foment separatism in Pakistans Baluchistan province. Pakistan believes that India is trying to encircle it through Afghanistan. Therefore it is no secret that Pakistan through its intelligence agencies has always attacked Indian personnel engaged in developmental activities in Afghanistan. Indian embassy in Kabul as well as Indian consulates in other parts of Afghanistan have also been attacked by Pakistani agencies.

What is the way out? American scholar Stephen Cohen, an authority on South Asia, argues that Afghanistan will be really safe and stable if India and Pakistan on the one hand, and the United States and Iran on the other, pursue a shared approach towards Kabul. But then, is such an approach realistic? It is problematic but highly desirable, says Cohen. According to him, one of the reasons why India and Pakistan are after each other in the subcontinent is that they share the same strategic legacy of the British Raj, and so both compete in the same space, including Afghanistan. The British had the same problem and the Mughals also fought for the same strategic space.

India and Pakistan share the British legacy in Afghanistan. Both India and Pakistan see Afghanistan as their strategic space. That means they compete with each other. Nobody has proposed  and I think America should have done  that the two countries sign an agreement to cooperate. An attempt should be made to bring them together in Kabul, Cohen says. Both can join to train Afghan soldiers and police. India has been doing a great job in helping in civil economic reconstruction and training of security forces of Afghanistan. But by training security forces, India is competing with Pakistan which is supporting the Taliban.

Cohen is emphatic that If India and Pakistan find a way to cooperate in Afghanistan it would be a win situation for all stakeholders, including the United States and Iran. He is clear that the Americans have no stomach to prolong their military presence in Afghanistan, or for that matter in any part of West Asia, given the rising unpopularity of American military involvement in the region within the United States.

However, there is only problem with Cohens thesis. India wants a stable and prosperous Afghanistan. But Pakistan cannot be said to be sharing the same approach. Because, once Afghanistan becomes strong, secure and stable, it will demand the return of its territories (inhabited by Pasthuns), now parts of Pakistan because of the Durand Line, drawn arbitrarily by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, who was foreign secretary in the colonial government of British India. He had signed a document with the king of Afghanistan Abdur Rahman Khan on 12 November 1893, relating to the borders between Afghanistan and the then India. However, no legislative body in Afghanistan has ever ratified the document and the border issue is an ongoing contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that Indias soft power in Afghanistan has reached its limits. Now is the time to develop a 'smart power' approach along with other stakeholders in Afghanistan. May be Modi will initiate a discussion on this when he meets the US President Barak Obama in the next few days.
There was a time when Rajiv Gandhi was seen as a political lightweight. That is putting it mildly. Mummys automatic, but utterly unprepared heir. His height of excitement as a pilot in Indian Airlines was either going off for a Chinese dinner or driving his uncle in-charge of security Gautam Kaul crazy with worry by taking a Piper or was it a Cessna from Safdarjang and dashing off to Dehradun. Avoiding security was a game Rajiv loved.

Politics left him stone cold. He would mock it all and say it wasnt for him. He was so into aircraft and nothing else mattered.

Rajiv was a reluctant shikari and some weekend mornings would be spent in Gurgaon (a forest then) flushing out partridges. Rajiv never shot them on the ground, always waited till they flew and used a Remington over and under 12 gauge gun to get them. He seldom did.

His first round as Prime Minister was marred by a selfish kitchen cabinet that closed doors around him and cordoned him from the nation. You have to remember there was no web, no social platform, nothing but government owned radio and television and Rajiv was blinkered by his buddies. He made wrong decisions, relied on disinformation and couldnt get past the coterie that had in thrall. It was pretty much a mess.

He was a damned decent bloke and if he hadnt been killed, his next round would have been probably brilliant because he had wised up to the texture for politics and had plans for a nation on the fast track. Rajiv Gandhi in the comeback would have been a stronger and more savvy leader.

Sometimes, greatness thrust upon you makes the man and gives him his moment.

Rahul Gandhi, the son, is currently lampooned, mocked and caricatured. But is he stupid? Maybe not as much as he is portrayed. You dont see your father blown up and your grandmother shot down without some gravel in your gut. No one can be so pathetic.

On the contrary, he has taken all the media hostility in his stride and sucks it up. That shows either a complete ignorance and inability to appreciate trends or a massive vat of patience and fortitude to wait till the time is ripe.

He is certainly going to be raked over the coals when he becomes Congress President. Hoots of jeering laughter will follow in the wake of the announcement. The old guard will squeal their indignation. The arrows of corruption will be let loose again. The attacks can be and will be ferocious and with the current public disaffection for the Congress per se, Rahul Gandhi will have to face several trials by fire.

What if he comes out of them scalded, burnt a bit, but forged in a new crucible?

The moment and the man again. Even the mouse roars. The rabbit growls.

I write this because I have just read a piece which underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modis joy if Rahul is selected. I would not celebrate prematurely. Next to it is another piece that says India deserves better than Rahul.

Neither piece says who? And how does one find the alternative?

We are a very fickle nation. We forget easily. We forgive even more easily.

Maybe he will be a flop. Like his fathers initial premiership. But the soft and spoilt Rajiv Gandhi came back hard and solid and almost statesmanlike. His comeback campaign, if you remember, was a chariot on fire.

But what if the persona is given a makeover. He chooses the right people, new faces, smart, slick think tanks and men and women of the 21st century ready to take India to the top of the ladder, to stop all the natterings over meaningless controversies and be counted for our incredible skills. Stop the noise, bring back the music.

Sometimes rank amateurs can spring a surprise.

You wouldnt bet on it. Maybe not? Perhaps he will fall flat on his face.

His daddy didnt. Hold that thought.
New Delhi: "Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure" and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.

Ramesh also said it was high time that the Congress changed in tune with changing India as "our communication strategy is not very effective" and "we need an aggressive outreach" with various sections of society against the backdrop of successive poll debacles.

"Challenges are very heavy but there is no room for despondency. Those who are writing off Congress party are writing its premature obituary," the former Union Minister told PTI, apparently referring to Modi's repeated calls for a "Congress-mukt Bharat".

Making a strong pitch for Gandhi's leadership, Ramesh said "uncertainty does not help". He said the challenges faced by Congress were akin to those that prevailed when Sonia Gandhi had taken over the party in March 1998.

Ramesh insisted that the Congress vice president has "a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into position very soon. He is de facto, but he should become de jure".

Noting that Congress presidentship has its own institutional importance, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi should take charge "as soon as possible". "He has got a clear concept of strategy. He knows people he wants to bring. One thing should be clear that when Rahul Gandhi takes over, a team takes over. When? that is the big question," he said.

He recalled that when Sonia Gandhi took over as party chief, Congress had only two states with it. Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister of MP and Giridhar Gamang of Odisha. But at that time the Congress' strength in the Lok Sabha was 140.

Ramesh said, for the first time, the party was very weak in the Lok Sabha, had reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha and was in power in very few states. "It is a difficult situation," he said.

Ramesh's strong pitch for Rahul's elevation has come at a time when opinion appears to be divided in the organisation on the timing of his taking over. Punjab PCC Chief Amarinder Singh had made a pitch for Rahul's elevation saying that Sonia is now approaching 70 and her deputy can get into her shoes if she was feeling tired. Senior leader Ambika Soni, however, said Sonia was working tirelessly and should continue, a view shared by another party leader Kamal Nath.
Dhaka: A Christian shopkeeper was hacked to death on Sunday in Bangladesh's Natore district.

Police said 60-year-old Sunil Gomes was attacked and murdered inside his shop, which is adjacent to his home, bdnews24 reported.

Family members rushed to the shop when they heard him screaming and found him in a pool of blood. He was taken to a local hospital where the doctors declared him dead, a senior police official said.

The past two months have seen in various parts of Bangladesh the murders of a secular activist, a professor accused of being an atheist, two gay activists, two Hindu traders, a Sufi spiritual leader, a Buddhist monk and a homeopathic doctor accused of promoting Christianity.
Doha: With the enhancement of India's image globally, the whole world is attracted to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

Today, the whole world is attracted to India, is curious about India, Modi said while addressing an Indian community reception on the second and concluding day of his two-day visit to Qatar. You also must have felt the change underway in India, he said after arriving to a rousing welcome to the reception.

India's image has been enhanced globally, he said as members of the gathering chanted "Modi, Modi".

Modi said that people of India living in Qatar were never away from India even for a minute. They are reliving India on the soil of Qatar, he said.

At around 630,000, Indians comprise the largest expatriate population in this Gulf nation.

Global agencies are in agreement that if there is a fastest growing economy, it is India. Our growth rate is high, the Prime Minister said, while pointing out that the world economy too was not doing well at the moment.

Global purchasing power has gone down and adversely affected our exports. Despite that, we have clocked this high growth rate, he said. The quarterly figures, even as India has faced two consecutive droughts, reflect a praiseworthy 7.9 percent growth.

Stating that corruption has troubled India for long, Modi said that we are determined to eliminate it.

We have introduced several schemes for combating corruption, for fiscal discipline and economic reforms, he said.

The Prime Minister concluded by saying that when the leaders of other nations he visits praise the achievements of the Indian diaspora, my hear fills with pride and joy.

Modi, who arrived here on Saturday afternoon from Afghanistan, visited a health camp for Indian workers soon after his arrival.

On Sunday, India and Qatar signed seven agreements following delegation level talks led by Modi and Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Modi also met with top business leaders of Qatar and invited them to invest in India.

Later on Sunday, he will leave for Switzerland on the third leg of his foreign tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.
Washington: India should meet the Nuclear Suppliers Group's (NSG) standards and open talks with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons if it wants to push its case for membership in the 48-nation elite group, a leading US daily said on Sunday.

In a lead editorial The New York Times said that America should press for India to adhere to the standards on nuclear proliferation to which other nuclear weapons states adhere. India's application for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is slated for discussion later this month.

"Obama is lobbying for India to win membership through a special exception," The Times editorial board said, ahead of the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will meet with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

"If he succeeds, India would be in a position to keep Pakistan, which has also applied for membership, from gaining membership because group decisions must be unanimous," the editorial said, adding that this could give Pakistan, which at one time provided nuclear technology to North Korea and Iran, new incentives to misbehave.

Opposition from China, which is close to Pakistan and views India as a rival, could doom India's bid for now, it said, adding that the issue, however, will not go away. India is growing in importance and seeking greater integration into organisations that govern international affairs, it said.

"If it wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state, it should be required to meet the nuclear group's standards, including opening negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons and halting the production of nuclear fuel for bombs," the editorial said.

The report alleged that for years the US had sought to bend the rules for India's nuclear programme to maintain India's cooperation on trade and to counter China's growing influence.

"As part of the 2008 deal, the Indians promised they would be 'ready to assume the same responsibilities and practices' as other nations with advanced nuclear technology. "But they have fallen far short by continuing to produce fissile material and to expand their nuclear arsenal," alleged the editorial board of the newspaper.

The NSG governs trade in nuclear-related exports and aims to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military uses.
Washington: Indian-Americans in the US are looking forward to listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the US Congress with American lawmakers flooding with requests from the community members for tickets to the visitor's gallery on 8 June.

A large number of Indian-Americans are disappointed by not being able to get tickets of the visitor's gallery for the event.

Indian-Americans from across the US are flying to Washington DC to listen Modi in person.

"It's a dream come true," Chicago-based Bharat Barai said.

"I am sure after listening to him, people of this country and Congressmen would realise the importance Modi attaches to the India-US relationship," he said.

"This is a speech, which I would like to watch in person. I do not want to miss it," said MR Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based successful investor and entrepreneur, who is flying from California to attend Modi's event at the Capitol Hill.

Rangaswami, the founder of Indiaspora, is among the lucky few who have managed to get a ticket to the visitors' gallery of the House Chambers, which has limited number of seats.

Congressional sources told PTI that lawmakers are having a tough time in declining requests for a ticket to the joint address by Modi.

In fact, most of the Congressmen have been allocated one ticket each.

Given the great demand for tickets, Congressional sources said at one point of time, there was consideration for erecting a huge tent for Indian-Americans to watch the speech live. But the idea was shelved because of Congress' protocol.

The speech would be telecast nationwide live on C-Span, a cable and satellite television network.

"The invitation (to the Prime Minister) itself shows the status of the relationship and how far we have come," Swadesh Chatterjee, an eminent Indian-American, said.

Chatterjee, who played a key role in reviving the India-US relationship after the Pokhran nuclear tests, vividly remembers how he and many other Indian-Americans had to lobby for months in the Congress to invite the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to address a joint session of the Congress on 14 September, 2000.

"And this time, we had no role to play. Congressmen themselves wrote to the Speaker (of the House of Representatives) to invite Modi to address the joint session of the Congress. And it took no time for Speaker (Paul) Ryan to invite India's Prime Minister," said North Carolina-based Chatterjee.

"Members of Congress are looking forward to hearing from Prime Minister Modi about growing US-India ties and the numerous ways the two countries can deepen their strategic partnership even further," said Ronak D Desai, an international Security Fellow at New America and an Affiliate at the Belfer Center's India and South Asia Programme at Harvard University.

"Lawmakers are eager to hear from Prime Minister Modi about the ways the United States and India can collaborate together to be a force of global and regional stability and deepen their cooperation even further. The partnership enjoys rare bipartisan support, and the us will continue to play a central role in moving it forward in a host of key arenas," Desai said.

In a conference call with reporters, Richard Rossow, senior fellow and Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Modi being invited to address the Congress is a significant development.

Manmohan Singh was the last Indian Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the Congress on 19 July, 2005.

Earlier addresses have been by Atal Bihari Vajpayee (14 September, 2000), P V Narasimha Rao (18 May, 1994) and Rajiv Gandhi (13 July, 1985).

Modi's engagement at the US Capitol on 8 June is expected to be kicked off by a meeting with the top leaders of the Congress including House Speaker, Paul Ryan; House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Thereafter Modi would address a joint meeting of the Congress, wherein he is expected to lay out his vision for relationship between the worlds largest and oldest democracies.

Soon after the joint address, Ryan would host a lunch for the Prime Minister at the Capitol. This will be attended by top Congressmen.

After lunch, the Prime Minister would attend a reception jointly hosted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Committee on Foreign Affairs in association with the House Caucus for India and Indian Americans and the Senate India Caucus.
Doha: With an intent to give a push to India-Qatar ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday held detailed talks here on a wide range of issues.

At the outset, Modi personally extended greetings to the Emir, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days back. The Prime Minister had called him on that day to convey the greetings over phone.

Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler. "The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha pic.twitter.com/wpGl0k404B  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

Cooperation in energy is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks that were to cover various aspects of the relationship. Qatar is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 standing at $15.67 billion.

Qatar is also one of India's key sources of crude oil. This Arab country has a large population of Indians who number over 6.3 lakh. While landing here on Saturday, Modi had said India attaches great priority to strong ties with Qatar and that his visit seeks to expand the bilateral ties further. The Prime Minister has been focusing on improving ties with the Gulf region which is crucial for India's energy security. He has already visited United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His trip marks a Prime Ministerial visit after eight years. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Doha in 2008.

The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.
Tokyo: A 96-year-old man from Japan man has entered the Guinness World Records after becoming the oldest person in the world to receive a university degree, officials said on Sunday.

Shigemi Hirata, who lives in Takamatsu, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Design from Kyoto University in March at the age of 96 years and 200 days, EFE news reported.

"I am genuinely happy. Learning is always fun at any age," said Hirata in an article published by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

The navy veteran was motivated by his interest in traditional Japanese pottery to enrol in a distance-learning course at the age of 85, and took 11 years to complete his degree.

Hirata was born in Hiroshima on 1 September, 1919, and served in the navy during the Second World War.

After the war ended, he worked as a security guard in a Takamatsu hospital until his retirement in the 1980s.

"My next goal is to live until 100. If I'm still in good shape at the time, I will consider going to graduate school," joked Hirata, who has two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms.

In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China.

From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project.

The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. As Chinas economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas.

But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbours protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavourable financing conditions.

They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and cancelled its part of the project in 2014.

For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

LAND-LINKED

In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began.

The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December.

Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said.

It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane.

Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked.

"There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that."

The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled.

They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favourable for China.

Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese.

"The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues.

Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said.

With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said.

UNREALISTIC

China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being unrealistic.

Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidised, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.

"You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge."

After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border.

"They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route.

"I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said.

Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea.

"The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China.

Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering.

"We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster."

BIG GAP

The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming.

Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centres.

But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads.

Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town".

"One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't."

(Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana in BANGKOK; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Neil Fullick)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
LIMA Peruvians voted on Sunday in a tight run-off for the presidency, choosing between right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a jailed former president, and former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Fujimori's lead over Kuczynski, 77, melted away in recent days, evoking memories of her close defeat to outgoing President Ollanta Humala in 2011.

In opinion polls by Ipsos and GfK taken on Saturday, Kuczynski pulled slightly ahead of Fujimori, though the two remained in a statistical dead-heat.

The 41-year-old Fujimori has spent the last five years seeking to broaden her appeal beyond loyalists to her father, Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for graft and human rights abuses.

She kicked his staunchest defenders off her party's congressional ticket and stepped up campaigning in provinces she lost to left-leaning Humala in 2011. Still, many voters remain wary as some of Fujimori's new associates become mired in fresh scandals.

"I remember what her father was like, and I think she would be the same. He controlled the media and was extremely corrupt," said Angela Agrela, a housewife who was voting for Kuczynski.

While both candidates are fiscal conservatives who would maintain a free-market model in the resource-rich Andean economy, their styles and approaches differ widely.

The election pits the Fujimori family's brand of conservative populism against Kuczynski's elite background and stiff technocratic style, which has curbed his appeal in poor provinces and working-class districts.

Fujimori, who has repeatedly said democracy is not at risk, waged a more energetic campaign than her rival, whirling out regional dances in far-flung villages where she has promised to deliver tractors and portrayed her rival as out of touch with struggling Peruvians.

Many in rural provinces have fond memories of her father, who built schools and hospitals and is credited with ending the violent Shining Path insurgency.

The younger Fujimori has responded to the top voter concern, crime, with a hard-line stance that includes support for the death penalty and promises to lock up the most dangerous criminals in five new prisons she would have built high in the Andes.

Asked why her running mate, who journalists claim gave them a tampered recording, was not at a traditional election-day breakfast on Sunday, Fujimori said she had opted for a family meal with her two daughters and American husband.

Fujimori defends her associates and says her party has been the victim of a smear campaign before Peru's fourth democratic election since her father's authoritarian government collapsed in 2000.

'DEMOCRACY AND UNITY'

Kuczynski, a former prime minister, has portrayed himself as honest and experienced enough to make good on promises to revive sluggish economic growth, and has captured the anti-Fujimori vote despite having endorsed her over Humala in 2011.

"I hope democracy and unity win," he said at his breakfast in Lima, surrounded by the beat of Afro-Peruvian drummers.

If he wins, Kuczynski would have to reckon with a solid majority of Fujimori's party in Congress and a leftist alliance that has promised not to align with either of them.

The Ipsos poll seen by Reuters on Saturday said a strong debate performance, corruption allegations plaguing Fujimori's inner circle, and the support of a former leftist candidate had helped Kuczynski in the final days of the campaign.

But if recent history is any guide, Fujimori has a good chance of eking out a victory. Every president since 2000 has first faced defeat in a run-off race in the previous election.

"She's ready, and deserves the chance to clear her father's name," said Santiago Celez, a 70-year-old taxi driver. "Not by pardoning him as some think but by simply doing things right."

(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Mary Milliken and Larry King)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Los Angeles: An Indian-American professor has said Mainak Sarkar, who was behind the UCLA murder-suicide, left little impression as a student in his class and never used to greet him when they passed each other despite both hailing from West Bengal.

Professor Ajit Mal was in his University of California, Los Angeles, office Wednesday getting ready to teach his engineering class when IIT-Kharagpur alumni Mainak Sarkar shot and killed 39-year-old professor William Klug, who he had accused of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else.

Mal praised another UCLA professor Christopher Lynch for his quick action that kept the 38-year-old UCLA gunman from escaping and potentially shooting more people. Both Mal and Lynch were quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that Sarkar's allegation that Klug had stolen his computer code was groundless.

Lynch said all UCLA employees and graduate students sign over any intellectual property developed there to the university and, if it is subsequently licensed, enter royalty agreements to share in the profits. Both men said that Sarkar had enrolled in their classes several years earlier but left little impression.

Mal said Sarkar was quiet and reserved and would not even greet him when the two men passed each other, which the professor found somewhat odd since both hail from West Bengal and speak the same language. He also said it was likely that Klug never knew of Sarkar's animosity toward him. If he had, Mal said, Klug would probably have consulted him for his Indian cultural insights and years of experience. The two men were close as Mal had headed the search committee that hired Klug in 2003.

"This whole thing is so incredible and bizarre because Bill is the least likely to have some conflict with students. He was so very caring," Mal said. Recounting the horrific incident, Mal said after hearing odd sounds, he came out of his fourth-floor office in the Engineering 4 building as did Lynch.

At that time, neither Mal nor Lynch, both professors of mechanical and aerospace engineering, knew what had happened. However, Lynch did know that Klug would never take his own life. He figured a shooter was inside. And he knew that more than a dozen faculty and staff members were on the floor at the time. So he went to Klug's office and held the door shut.

"If he had stepped out. We'd all be in trouble," Lynch said of the shooter. After that, Lynch heard a third shot inside and then silence. Lynch assumed the shooter had killed himself. Within minutes, the professors said, police converged and cleared out the floor. Lynch gave the door key to police without looking inside and left.

Besides holding the door shut, Mal said, Lynch also shouted at him and other colleagues to return to their offices and close their doors, thereby saving lives.
LONDON The campaign to stop Britain voting to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum has seen its lead shrink over the past two weeks, an online poll published by market research company Opinium showed on Saturday.

The poll conducted between May 31 and June 3 showed 43 percent of people planned to vote to stay in the EU while 41 percent wanted to leave, Opinium said on its website.

This was a narrower lead than the 44-40 split in Opinium's last poll for The Observer newspaper on May 21.

Other polls in the past week also showed gains for "Leave", and sterling fell sharply on Tuesday when both an online and a telephone poll for ICM showed a 3 percentage point lead for the "Leave" campaign.

Opinium said there would have been a majority for "Leave" if it had not re-weighted its latest poll to reduce the impact of a disproportionate number of socially conservative voters in its sample, something which it had not done previously.

The Observer said that without the adjustments, support for "Leave" stood at 43 percent while 40 percent backed "Remain", and focused on the unadjusted figures in its reporting of the poll it had commissioned.

"A fuller explanation of these changes and the effect they have will be posted on Monday," Opinium said on its website.

The polling company also said that when it asked undecided voters which direction they leant, this time there was a 36 percent to 33 percent split in favour of "Remain", while two weeks ago it was 47/32.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Diane Craft)

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Dhaka: The wife of a top Bangladeshi police officer who carried out several raids against militants was

stabbed and shot dead on Sunday by three bike-borne assailants in front of her minor son in the port city of Chittagong, the latest attack by suspected extremists, police said.

Mahmuda Aktar, 33, was targeted by the gunmen at around 6.45 am (local time) while she was on her way to drop her first-grader son to a nearby bus stop for school in Chittagong, about 275 kilometre from here.

She was the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, now posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka.

Babul has led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated several terror-related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the Detective Branch in Chittagong.

Babul, who was promoted in April, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and arrest of its military wing chief Mohamed Javed in October

last year.

"Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed was quoted by BDNews24 as saying.

Quoting witnesses, Chittagong metro police's Deputy Commissioner Paritosh Ghose said that three bike-borne attackers ambushed Mahmuda in front of her six-year-old son.

The boy said that the attackers first took him away and then one of them stabbed his mother with a knife before shooting her.

Police said that Mahmuda was shot in the head.

"We found three live ammunition and a used casing on the spot. The bullet hit her on the left side of the head," said Police Bureau of Investigation's Additional Superintendent Bashir Ahmed. She is survived by a four-year-old daughter.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular

bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.
'It was intentional': Prosecution tells jury in closing arguments in Darrell Brooks trial

Jurors began deliberating in the trial of Darrell Brooks Jr., accused in the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade attack that killed six and injured dozens more.
The threat of Donald Trump in the White House "scares the daylights" out of Australians and should prompt a rethink of the US alliance, says Greens Leader Richard Di Natale.

Asked if he agreed with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's comments that some of the presumptive Republican nominee's policy positions were "barking mad", Senator Di Natale said it was "a statement of the bleeding obvious".

"And I think it's worse than that. I think he's dangerous," he said on ABC TV's Insiders.
"In those parts of the world renting is not plan B, it is a very attractive place to be. That's obviously not the case here."

"We have a real imbalance between the rights of landlords and tenants in Australia compared to some other countries, particularly in Europe," she says.

It is fuelling calls for renters' rights to be overhauled to reflect that for a growing number of people it is not a transitory stage, but permanent.

Germany is sometimes held up as an ideal for renters, at the other end of the spectrum to Australia. Multi-year leases are common, rent increases are capped and new owners must honour existing agreements. Tenants are allowed to make alternations to the property, such as painting or hanging pictures, and to own pets.

In Australia, leases are mostly for a year, sometimes less, and pets are allowed only at the landlord's discretion. RSPCA Victoria says it accepted 700 animals last financial year  nearly two a day  from people who said they had to give them up because their landlords would not allow them.

One of those people was Naoimie Beveridge, who gave up Boo, an 11-year-old Maltese shih tzu, and Ollie, a purebred Burmese cat, when she moved into a larger place in Melbourne's outer-east with enough room for her three children. She had been through this before, having lost a Rhodesian ridgeback called Thai a decade earlier due to a similar rental agreement. Boo and Ollie found new homes, but she says Thai was put down.

The Victorian government is receiving submissions outlining stories such as Ms Beveridge's as it fulfils a 2014 election promise to review the state's Residential Tenancy Act. It will consider changes after receiving recommendations from Consumer Affairs Victoria. NSW is also looking at its residential tenancy laws, with a report due to be tabled in Parliament this month.

The reviews have heard renting horror stories that clearly break the law  moving into a house and finding a wall is missing exposing the driveway, landlords letting themselves in at 2am  but also everyday of people being forced to move with little notice or explanation. One Sydney family with three children told Fairfax Media they had moved 14 times in 11 years as houses they rented were repeatedly sold while they were in them. Others spoke of facing increases of up to 20 per cent without notice.
He stressed the FSA board had not examined the veracity of Ms Parker's claims, but considered the broader issues her case raised. "If a recipient of donor treatment did not turn up for a blood test, in theory we have a problem. It puts the [IVF clinic] in a difficult position; they wouldn't know whether a new family had been created."

Professor Rombauts said the IVF industry didn't have the power to compel patients to have a blood test, but these changes would "raise the bar" for compliance. "Most doctors want to do the right thing," he said. "Sometimes we have to work with legislation that is not entirely perfect."

The FSA board also agreed that detailed notes of counselling sessions should be kept to document any agreements between donors and recipients about future contact. A technical bulletin has been sent out to all IVF clinics in Australia advising them of the new guidelines. The relevant state authorities are also being informed.

Ms Parker said she was relieved the FSA had taken positive steps to close the loophole in the system and uphold the rights of donor-conceived children.

"I understand that their hands are tied in relation to some legalities and I am hopeful that the NSW Ministry of Health will work in collaboration with the FSA to further strengthen the system," she said.
It was just after sunrise on June 16, 1977, when a fisherman found Paul Edward Rath at the base of a cliff in Sydney's northern beaches.

The fisherman from Beacon Hill had parked his car at Fairy Bower, on the southern end of Manly, and was walking around the rocks when he spotted the body.

Mr Rath, who was found in a sitting position on the rocks, was 45 metres below a cliff ledge he often sat on to calm his nerves.

His trousers were down to almost knee level and his right shoe had also come off.
Tiny mosquitoes of the genus Aedes are helping to demonstrate why the U.S. Congress so richly deserves its 11 percent public approval rating.

Aedes mosquitoes carry the Zika virus, which is believed to cause serious abnormalities in fetuses, and may cause debilitating nerve disorders in children and adults. In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fight the spread of the disease. Congress still hasnt acted. Given its vacation schedule, it may not act until this fall.

It was cold in February and mosquitoes werent a problem. But now were entering prime mosquito season, particularly in southern states, and Congress still cant be bothered. In mosquito-dense Florida, even conservative, anti-big-government Republican Gov. Rick Scott is pleading for help.

Despite repeated calls for action, Congress has failed to act, and now they are on vacation, Scott said in a letter to the president last week, adding, Florida needs action from the federal government now.

On the White Houses Zika webpage, theres a map that shows how and when scientists expect the Aedes mosquitoes to spread. Last month there was almost no risk to Missouri and Illinois. This month the risk is low to moderate. By July it will be moderate to high.

It sure would have been good to confront this back in February. Three months in an epidemic is an eternity, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, told reporters last month.

Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt finds himself at the center of the Zika-funding storm. He is chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles health agency budgets. With Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Blunt crafted a $1.1 billion emergency spending amendment that the Senate agreed last month to attach to two pending appropriations bills.

Its less than the president wanted, the difference being mostly the presidents desire to restore the $600 million that he diverted in April from Ebola-fighting efforts to Zika. Frieden said the CDC could get the Zika job done with $1.1 billion, but he desperately needs the Ebola money restored. Lurching from crisis to crisis is not good public health policy, particularly when policy decisions are compromised by election year politics.

Over in the House, Republican leaders have approved spending only $622 million to fight Zika. They insist that the money be offset with cuts to other programs. Anything more than $622 million would wind up as a presidential slush fund, they say.

This is what happens when a party that is skeptical of science is put in charge of science funding. If the Aedes mosquitoes do the job that health experts expect them to do, Americans should use the fall election to fire the members of Congress who fail at what voters expect them to do.
A senior Chinese military official on Sunday rejected the U.S. defense secretarys assertion made the previous day that Beijing faces erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation if its continues with provocative militarization of disputed islets in the South China Sea.

We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now, we will not be isolated in the future, retorted Admiral Sun Jianguo of the Peoples Liberation Army.

"Clearly (U.S. Defense Secretary) Ash Carter's warning against China building a Great Wall of self-isolation struck a nerve, said Professor Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at Australian National University, who was in the room for the admirals remarks.

"Admiral Sun insisted China was not isolated, Medcalf told VOA. Yet there was plenty of evidence to the contrary in the anxious questions about China's security behavior from others in the room, of many nationalities."

Sun, the deputy chief of the joint staff department, sought to shift blame onto the United States for maritime tensions in the region. He criticized the U.S. militarys freedom of navigation operations and Washingtons support for countries in the region having territorial disputes with Beijing.

Countries that retain a Cold War mentality and are not directly involved in the disputes should not be allowed to engage in sabotage for selfish gains, Sun said. Nobody has the right to point fingers at China.

'No fear of trouble'

The admiral, in a comment seen as ominously directed at Washington, also stated We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble.

"The admiral's strident tone was intended partly for a domestic audience as part of his speech was broadcast live on national television in China, Medcalf said.

Carter, at the same forum in Singapore on Saturday, told defense ministers, security analysts and scholars there is growing anxiety about Chinese actions in the strategic waters and elsewhere.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to reporters in Mongolia on Sunday, said Washington would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act."

Some Southeast Asian nations are feeling caught between Washington and Beijing and expressing concern.

Whatever both countries do it must be balanced or it causes trouble, Thailands deputy defense minister General Udomdej Sitabutr told VOA.

Even with balance there are still problems but it will not escalate, added Udomdej, the former chief of Thailands army, which dominates the current military junta government.

Beijing claims virtually all of the sea, through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.

Much to the concern of others in the region and the United States  fearing impediments on freedom of navigation  China has recently constructed airstrips and placed military equipment on artificial islands built on previously submerged reefs.

During the annual Shangri-La Dialogue and Asia Security Summit here Chinese officials repeated Beijings long-held stance that such disputes should be settled through country-to-country discussions, not by multilateral engagement or international mediation.

In the case of its dispute with the Philippines, the Chinese are encouraged by recent comments made by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who has said he is open to bilateral discussions.

We hope the new Filipino administration can shake off the burden of the outgoing one, Sun said, in response to a question from the floor.

International response

Philippines President Benigno Aquino, contending Manila exhausted attempts to settle the matter directly with China, went to an international tribunal based at The Hague seeking a decision that any claims in the South China Sea must conform to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

A ruling is expected soon that, at least in part, will favor the Philippines, invalidating Chinas nine-dash line, which outlines the water and islands Beijing claims.

Admiral Sun and other Chinese officials at the Singapore meetings made it clear any decision at The Hague will not change Beijings stance.

China will not recognize nor honor any award made by an international tribunal regarding the dispute with Manila, he said.

Besides the Philippines, China is also facing conflicting maritime territorial claims with Brunei, Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The Vietnamese, most notably, have put aside the legacy of war with the United States to draw closer to the Americans in face of perceived increasing threats from Hanois giant neighbor to the north  a fellow communist state but also a repeated adversary over the past millennium.

Warning against self-interests

In comments targeting China, Vietnams deputy defense minister, Senior Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, who was sitting alongside Sun, warned the pursuit of narrow self-interests could lead to armed conflict.

From the rhetoric publicly expressed here during the past two days it is difficult for Beijing not to have the perception that a number of countries are drawing closer to the United States, at the expense of China, when it comes to how to settle the maritime disputes.

India  another traditional adversary of China  and Japan  which has a territorial dispute with Beijing in the East China Sea  are among those expressing fresh concern about Chinas activities while announcing new agreements with Washington in the defense arena.

Besides Japan, the United States also has mutual defense pacts with the Philippines and South Korea. There is also a U.S. defense partnership with Singapore.

Analysts attending the dialogue noted voices from beyond the region expressing concern about Chinas activities.

"It was striking that even distant countries like France, the U.K. and Canada had ministers present to advocate a rules-based order and respect for freedom of navigation and small countries," Medcalf said.
Topuz Bakhtiyars large family was fast asleep in their first-floor apartment in a five-floor building on Tsvetochnaya Street in the city of Yalta, Crimea, early in the morning of February 12 when a group of heavily armed masked men broke the windows and stormed the apartment. Shouting commands in Russian, the raiders locked the women in one room, the kids in another, and searched the house. They then handcuffed Bakhtiyar and took him away, leaving the family in shock and with some bloody scratches from broken glass.



Bakhtiyar, 35, a skillful shoemaker and talented designer, remodeled the first floor, a former kindergarten, with his own hands after buying the place, which was nearly in ruins, from the city. His three children, wife, sister and nephew, all were in their rooms when the Russian security forces stormed in.



Bakhtiyar was taken to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) building and thrown into a cell, where he spent the next 12 hours. He was released around midnight, after an FSB officer informed him he was arrested for alleged extremism on suspicion of being a member of Hizbut Tahrir, an Islamic organization banned in Russia, but legal in Ukraine. Bakhtiyars relatives arranged his familys escape to Kyiv, where he is now enrolled in college.



On Thursday, (June 2) four Crimean Tatars pleaded not guilty in a Russian court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don after being arrested in their home city of Simferopol, Crimea, on extremism charges.



Living in fear



Every morning I wake up thinking of home and afraid to check out the news, only bad things are happening over there, said Bakhtiyars uncle, Enver Ochilov, who lives in New York City with his wife and daughter. Ochilov told VOA in a phone interview that his friends and relatives back in Crimea live in fear.



They are afraid of Facebook posts, they are afraid of phone calls. I call and we speak about the weather, he said. According to Ochilov, Crimean Tatar elders say because there have been many disappearances, young men should not walk alone on the streets.



Since Russias annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in early 2014, there have been frequent reports of detentions, disappearances and mass arrests of Crimean Tatars. Russian security officials insist all the measures are aimed at preventing terrorist activities. Rights groups disagree, saying that Russia is accusing the Crimean Tatars of being Islamic extremists because the small ethnic group has never accepted Russias claim over their ancestral homeland.



The crackdown on dissent in Crimea continues to deepen, as the few remaining independent journalists and other critical voices are methodically targeted, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in April. As a result, virtually all forms of Tatar political expression and organization have effectively been criminalized.



In March 2014, during the initial days of Crimeas annexation, President Vladimir Putin reportedly telephoned Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar council, inviting him to a meeting in the Kremlin. Dzhemilev declined the Russian presidents invitation, instead calling for an immediate return of Crimea to Ukraine.



Brian Glyn Williams, a professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said Putin was deeply offended by Dzhemilevs rejection of the invitation to meet.



A photo with the Crimean Tatars leader would be such a powerful propaganda tool to use in efforts to legalize the occupation, Williams told VOA. After Dzhemiev rejected the Russian leader's invitation, he said, "repression" was "inevitable.



A 'Crimean Nelson Mandela'

Williams, who lived in Crimea while working on a book project, calls Dzhemilev a Crimean Nelson Mandela who would never accept the Russian occupation. Dzhemilev serves in the Ukrainian parliament and advocates internationally for an end to Russias occupation of the Black Sea peninsula.



In April 2014, a Russian court designated Dzhemilev as an extremist and banned him from entering Crimea or Russia for five years. This past January, a Russian court in Simferopol arrested Dzhemilev in absentia. The FSB added Dzhemilev to its list of most wanted fugitives. On May 20, a court in Moscow upheld the earlier ruling barring the Crimean Tatar leader from entering Russia.



On April 26, a Russian court banned the Crimean Tatars Mejlis, accusing it of extremism.



Crimean mosques have frequently been the targets of police raids and there have reportedly been mass detentions of parishioners. The latest such raid on a mosque resulted in a detention of about 50 Crimean Tatars, allegedly for not carrying their passports.



Deportation Memorial Day

In addition, the Russian-backed authorities in Crimea prevented residents from holding public commemorations marking Soviet dictator Josef Stalins mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars to Central Asia and parts of Russia on May 18, 1944.



In the past on Deportation Memorial Day the whole nation used the gather and commemorate the victims of the tragedy. This year all public gatherings where banned, Zair Smedlyaev, chairman of the election committee of the Kurultai, the Crimean Tatar elected representative council, told VOA in a phone interview from Simferopol.



Denied the right to come to streets on May 18, Crimean Tatars held community prayers in the cities and villages. All cars stopped at midday to honk simultaneously in a memory of the thousands of victims. Police briefly detained some of the drivers for disturbing the peace.



Although the authorities did not give any specific explanation for banning public events on Memorial Day, everybody understood it wasnt a coincidence, Smedlyaev said.



Last December the Russian nationalist group Sut Vremeni (The Essence of Time) organized an exhibition in Simferopol to honor the achievements of Stalin.



I went to see the exhibit, said Smedlyaev. I asked them nicely to remove Stalins portraits and those billboards praising a tyrant. They would not listen, so I pushed and turned their tables upside down. I knew it was a provocation, but what I did felt good.
As it has in previous years, Iran on Sunday denounced a recent U.S. State Department report that identified the country as the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman instead charged that U.S. ally Saudi Arabia was the real leader in funding terrorist activity and claimed that Washington turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world.

"While U.S. allies in the region in various ways support Daesh [IS] and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria, Hossein Jaber Ansari is quoted as saying on state-run Iranian television.

State Department report



The U.S. State Department published its latest annual report Thursday, in which it said Iran increased its support of Palestinian militants in Gaza last year and supported Hezbollah fighters trying to bolster the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In addition to supporting these groups, Iran also provides weapons and financial support to anti-Israel militants like Hamas, the report said.

Iran, however, defended its support for Palestinian militants, saying they have the right to resist Israels occupation.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Beijing at the start of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, called on all parties in the region to "find a diplomatic solution" to rising tensions in the disputed South China Sea.

"We are looking for a peaceful resolution to the dispute in the South China Sea and oppose any country resolving claims through unilateral action," Kerry said, referring to China's increasingly aggressive expansion in the area.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also addressed attendees at the opening session, said China and the U.S. need to develop a more trusting relationship.

"China and the U.S. need to increase mutual trust," Xi said, as he called for increased efforts to manage conflicts and avoid "strategic misjudgement."

Saying that it may take time to settle disputes in the region, he added, "The vast Pacific should be a stage for cooperation, not an area for competition."

Air defense zone

Heading into high-level talks aimed at expanding cooperation with China, Kerry had urged China not to unilaterally announce an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over portions of the South China Sea.

We will consider an ADIZ over portions of the SCS as a provocative and destabilizing act, said Kerry Sunday during a news conference after his meeting with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren in Ulaanbaatar.

An ADIZ requires all incoming aircraft, including civilian planes, to register with Chinese authority to fly in the air route.

China announced an ADIZ in the East China Sea two years ago, which caused grave concerns by the United States.

Kerrys remarks came after Asian defense ministers gathered in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue where delegates debated as to where China is planning the creation of an ADIZ.

He said such an act will automatically raise tensions and call into serious questions of Chinas commitment to diplomatically manage territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

In Singapore Sunday, a senior Chinese military official rejected U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter's assertion made the previous day that Beijing faces erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation if it continues its militarization in the South China Sea.

We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now, we will not be isolated in the future, retorted Admiral Sun Jianguo of the Peoples Liberation Army.

Discussion of differences

A senior State Department official said the U.S. will not gloss over differences in thorny issues during the last round of Strategic and Economic Dialogue with China under the Obama administration.

That includes our concerns with Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, [and] our concerns with things like the NGO management law and other forms of restrictions on human rights, said Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, last Tuesday.

Russel was referring to a new Chinese law that affects American civil society organizations and their Chinese partners to operate in China.

Russel also expressed U.S. concerns about anti-business discriminatory regulations and the use of cyber to disadvantage U.S. companies.

He said the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has served as a venue to discuss, and in some cases, to narrow our differences.

WATCH: Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel.

Highlights of this years talks include environmental and ocean conservation, combating wildlife trafficking, and a new dialogue on commercial aviation systems, said Catherine Novelli, undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment.

A landmark announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping last year to implement bans on ivory imports and exports in domestic and commercial trade has made the ivory smuggling less lucrative in China.

The price of ivory in China has decreased by half since the announcement, said Novelli Tuesday.

Washington-Beijing diplomacy

The eighth round of annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) will be held in Beijing Monday and Tuesday.

The strategic track is led by Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi. The economic track is led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang.

Officials from dozens of U.S. federal agencies are set to attend the flagship dialogue between the two countries.

Anxieties have been growing in the region over Chinas aggressive approach to its territorial claims in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

China is also ratcheting up demands that the U.S. should stop surveillance flights in the airspace above the South China Sea.

In a recent encounter, the U.S. Defense Department said two Chinese fighter jets intercepted in an unsafe manner a U.S. reconnaissance plane on a routine patrol in international airspace over the South China Sea, raising a "red flag" on implementation of existing Confidence Building Measures (CBM) between the two countries.

The measures were agreed to under previous rounds of S&ED that covers the rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters. Both countries concurred to avoid accidents while their assets are operating in close proximity in places like the South China Sea.

Russel said the U.S. is seeking to expand the scope of cooperation and establish broader frameworks beyond what the two countries have with the Navy and the Air Force.

"Both sides do need to discuss this incident and understand what happened and talk about how they will avoid any of these kinds of very unsafe intercepts in the future, Bonnie Glaser, regional expert from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA.

WATCH: Bonnie Glaser, director, CSIS China Power Project.

She added while a narrowing in differences between two countries over the South China Sea issue is unlikely, it is helpful to talk.

Cyber concerns

Another thorny issue is cyber security. The United States has clashed with China for years over cyber-enabled theft for commercial gain by state actors.

David Dollar, senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, told VOA the U.S. would follow through closely on a bilateral agreement during the coming high-level talks.

Dollar referred to an agreement reached last fall during Obama's meeting with Xi. Both countries agreed that neither government would conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled economic espionage to advance business interests.

This is a very big issue for U.S. companies, he said. U.S. companies have larger issues about intellectual property rights protection so this will continue to be an important issue.

Starting in 2009, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue is an annual high-level mechanism between Washington and Beijing to discuss challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
Under the cloudy, cold sky of Ulaanbaatar, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived at a rare destination in his globe-trotting career, and his first trip to Mongolia as the top U.S. diplomat.

He may be offered the choice of a horse, a camel or a yak by his Mongolian hosts as a gift.

Vice President Joe Biden chose a horse with his granddaughter when they visited in 2011.

A traditional Mongolian cultural festival - which features horseback racing, wrestling and archery - will be the highlight of Kerry's visit to promote cultural and people-to-people relations with Mongolia.

Best known as the birthplace of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, this landlocked country stands up as an oasis of democracy, surrounded by the single-party dominated governments of Russia and China.

The United States established diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1987. Washington has been supporting political and economic development of Mongolia, which also maintains good relations with its giant neighbors.

"It's a complicated balancing act," said a senior U.S. State Department official.

Kerry will launch a new USAID project to "increase both citizen engagement in the democratic political process, and also to enhance good governance in Mongolia," according to the State Department.

Relationship with China

While historically there have been tensions and conflicts between Mongolia and China, they are trading partners. Mongolia is situated along the corridor of the Chinese-proposed "silk road," an initiative China has sought to expand trade with other countries. Mongolia is also a member of the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Senior fellow from the Brookings Institution David Dollar told VOA he does not think China has a problem with Mongolia for having a stable relationship with the U.S.

"Mongolia is very happy to have the United States as a friend to provide some counterweight, Mongolia is a vibrant young democracy, the U.S. has provided quite a bit of assistance to help that democracy take off, so I think it's a stable situation where Mongolia is happy to do business with China, happy to have the United States as a friend."

Mongolia adopted democracy in 1990 and has since conducted several presidential and legislative elections.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Beijing after a visit to Mongolia, a rare destination in his globe-trotting career, and his first trip to the landlocked country as the top U.S. diplomat.

Kerry described Mongolia Sunday as "an oasis of democracy." The country is surrounded by the single-party dominated governments of Russia and China.

In 1987, the United States established diplomatic relations with Mongolia, best known as the birthplace of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.

Washington has been supporting political and economic development of Mongolia, which also maintains good relations with its giant neighbors.

However, some democracy and human rights issues in Mongolia are now being questioned.

A U.S. State Department report on human rights in Mongolia points at "vague laws and a lack of transparency in legislative, executive, and judicial processes" that "undermined government efficiency and public confidence and invited corruption."

Kerry launched a new USAID project while in Mongolia to increase both citizen engagement in the democratic political process, and also to enhance good governance in Mongolia, according to the State Department.

A traditional Mongolian cultural festival -- a so-called nadaam, which features horseback racing, wrestling and archery -- will be the highlight of Kerrys visit to promote cultural and people-to-people relations with Mongolia.

Kerry tried his hand at archery, and spoke with the winner of the wrestling competition before heading to China.

While historically there have been tensions and conflicts between Mongolia and China, they are trading partners.

Mongolia is situated along the corridor of the Chinese-proposed silk road, an initiative China has sought to expand trade with other countries. Mongolia is also a member of the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA he does not think China has a problem with Mongolia for having a stable relationship with the U.S.

Mongolia is very happy to have the United States as a friend to provide some counterweight, Mongolia is a vibrant young democracy, the U.S. has provided quite a bit of assistance to help that democracy take off, so I think it's a stable situation where Mongolia is happy to do business with China, happy to have the United States as a friend," Dollar said.

Mongolia adopted democracy in 1990 and has since conducted several presidential and legislative elections.
Swiss voters have rejected a plan that would have guaranteed a basic monthly income to the whole population whether people work or not. The controversial referendum was rejected by nearly 77 percent of the voters.

Swiss television affirms what opinion polls had predicted - that the unconditional basic income initiative has been massively defeated.

Under the proposal, which was put forward by an independent citizens group, adults would receive about $2,500 from the government every month and children about a quarter of that amount. Foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years, as well as all Swiss citizens would have been eligible for the stipend.

Pros and cons



Supporters claimed the plan would eradicate poverty. They say it would not cost as much as opponents fear because existing welfare payments would be cut. But the initiative garnered little or no support from most of the political parties, the government and population.

Ralph Kundig, president of the Swiss chapter of the Basic Income Earth Network and a leading proponent of the plan, said it would act as a stimulant to the economy, because people would be less afraid to take risks and more open to entrepreneurship.

But opponents said the measure would have crippled the national budget. They also said people should work for their money and not be given a handout, while warning a guaranteed monthly income would act as a magnet to attract millions of economic migrants to Switzerland.

Big budget dent



Switzerland is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, but also one of the priciest to live in. Swiss officials estimated it would take $25.6 billion to cover the annual costs of the proposal, leading to deep spending cuts or significant tax increases.

The initiative garnered little or no support from most of the political parties or the government, which urged voters to reject it.

Following the referendum, Interior Minister Alain Berset said the vote showed Swiss voters supported the economic and social system in place "and that this system works well."
Leon and Chris Sant of Gooding recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They met at BYU and were married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple on June 3rd, 1966.

With Leons career as a teacher and school administrator, they have had the opportunity to live in numerous places throughout the West and in Australia. The Sants moved to Gooding in 2005 after his retirement.

Leon and Chris have seven children: Diane (Ethan), Mark (Amy), Kathryn (James), Bryan, Tricia (John), James (Susie), and Laura. They also have 34 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

The Sants are grateful for the chance to celebrate with family and friends their 50 years of marriage.
ALMO  If I see you, Ill seize you until you burst.

It sounds like a threat but its actually a mnemonic device used to recognize the bright chirps of the warbling vireo, one of the roughly 165 known bird species at City of Rocks National Reserve.

Since Friday night, Wallace Keck, City of Rocks superintendent, along with fellow bird enthusiasts, used similar devices as they hiked down the reserves steep and rugged dry country for a 24-hour birding blitz.

Its a chance for some friendly competition between bird aficionados  see how many species you can spot and check off a list  and its a chance to study migratory and climate patterns. It can also get a little dangerous.

From here on, you travel at your own risk, Keck warned four others on Saturday morning, including a Times-News reporter and photographer.

The group crossed into an area near northern goshawk territory. The bird is a medium-sized raptor known for being aggressive. In recent weeks, park visitors have been getting attacked by them, though those have slowed down, Keck said.

The group passed an empty nest with green material, suggesting this nest wasnt abandoned.

Keck lay down in a shaded area, saying its the only way to protect yourself.

Just three weeks ago he was at City of Rocks to monitor the goshawks when one came his way.

It zeroed in on me from across the canyon, Keck said. His eyes were getting bigger and bigger and he was not getting out.

The bird veered off from Keck and perched itself onto a tree that day. It then let off a warning call for ten minutes.

This time around, the group spotted above a clearing, a northern goshawk circling in the sky toward its nest. Karl Ruprecht, a birding hobbyist in the small group, was closest to it.

Keck looked on with his cellphone in hand.

No need to go any farther, he said. Its an open spot. If hes going to swoop you, this is it.

Keck opened up a bird call app on his phone and played the grating goshawk sound, trying to get its attention. Too much noise and the bird may get stressed out and not return to its nest. Just enough and it may come closer.

This time, the goshawk stayed in its spot. Another merciful bird.

I was expecting it to dive on me like there it is, Ruprecht said.

The group moved on.

The terrain was dry country up top with mahogany trees and the reserves famed towering rock structures that families were climbing. Away from them, the only sounds are the soft crunching of sand as the group made its way down and crossed glittery, flat rocks that acted like impromptu sidewalks.

Patches of tiny cacti flanked the descending path until the scenery became more forested. The group winded down rock wall corridors with thicker bushes and trees. It was dim save for spatters of sunlight which give clover petals a bright green pop.

The sound of rushing streams of snow melt played rhythm to a lead of bird calls from different species. Their calls sounded like unrecognizable little bursts of chirps to untrained ears.

But Keck, Ruprecht and Becky Hansis-ONeill, from the Idaho Museum of Natural History, learned to recognize them by studying field guides and by coming up with some mnemonic devices.

Do you remember onomatopoeia from high school English? Ruprecht said.

He recited the phrase if I see you, Ill seize you until you burst, and whistled to show how the words sound similar to the calls of a warbling vireo.

Since Friday night, the trio and several more from different groups of bird blitzers, have checked off species including the house sparrow and Eurasian collared dove.

The teams have to get visuals of the birds to check them off  simply hearing them isnt enough. Their lists are based on the groups' honesty.

So why the fascination with birds?

Its like hunting and like collecting, ONeill said. But you dont have to spend money on equipment and you dont have to kill them.

Birding is so fun for them that at certain points, Keck couldnt contain his excitement.

On the way back up, the group heard a rapid staccato chirping. A sprightly little thing zipped right into a tree in front of them. It then darted to another.

Its the orange-crowned warbler! Keck said.
Q: If Im travelling east on a highway divided by a double yellow line and a school bus (heading west) is stopped with its flashers on, picking up students and the stop sign extended, must I, on the other side of the double yellow, stop as well? Paul

A: Yes, because the road was two lanes and that means you must stop or get an F for your grade which also costs a lot more money as this violation is a misdemeanor. The fine can range from $100 to $500.

If the road had been three or more lanes then you are not required to stop if you are going the opposite direction. I personally think that stopping would still be a good idea because you never know if a child might chase after a dropped school project that blew into the road and might get them an F if they lost it.

While I was looking up the code I found some other interesting school bus facts (I know now he tells us now that school is out) involved with this code (Idaho Code 49-1422). Did you know that a bus does not have to actuate the special visual signals when: In business districts designated by the department or local authorities; At intersections or other places where traffic is controlled by traffic control signals or peace officers; or In designated school bus loading areas where the bus is entirely off the roadway.

Bus drivers also have a duty to report violators who dont stop for the school bus. Idaho Code 49-1423 reads: The driver of a school bus who observes a violation of section 49-1422, Idaho Code, shall prepare a written report on a form provided by the department of education indicating that a violation has occurred. The school bus driver or a school official shall deliver the report no more than seventy-two hours after the alleged violation occurred to a peace officer of the state or a peace officer of the county or municipality in which the alleged violation occurred. The report shall state the time and the location at which the alleged violation occurred and shall include the motor vehicle license plate number and a description of the vehicle involved in the alleged violation.

Another interesting fact: When any school bus is sold and is no longer to be used for the transportation of pupils, before it may again be used on the highways of this state it shall be painted a color other than national school bus glossy yellow and all school bus markings shall be obliterated.

Officer down

Glad to report that as of time of submission there were no officers down to report.

Have a question for Policemandan? Email your question(s) to policemandan@yahoo.com or look for Ask Policemandan on Facebook and click the like button. Mail to: Box 147, Heyburn, Idaho 83336
Magic Mountain OHV Safety Fair

TWIN FALLS  The Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office, Magic Valley Safe Kids, and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation will be offering the 5th annual Magic Mountain OHV Safety Fair, on Saturday, June 11th. Three hour sessions are offered for anyone operating ATVs, UTVs or motorbikes. Classes will be held from 8:30  12:00, 11:30  3:00, and 2:30  6:00. This free class meets the requirements for all unlicensed operators as well as being a great course for anyone riding on Idahos public lands, roads and trails. Registration is online at www.parksandrecreation.idaho.gov

Conquest of the Snake

TWIN FALLS  Saturday, June 11, Andrew Vawser will be at the Twin Falls County Historical Museum with his documentary Conquest of the Snake. This film chronicles the evolution of a desert wasteland into the agricultural community we know today. For more information, please call 736-4675.

The Wendell Library Book and Rummage Sale

WENDELL  Sale will be open during Dairy Days Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 from 9 to 5 p.m.

in the Old Ag Bldg.375 1st street. Books of all gendres are available for $4 a bag. VHSs are FREE. Collectables are $4 each.

We will be closing out our bookstore and rummage sale. Many great bargains!

Come check us out!

A raffle for a BBQ Gas Grill, accessories and a $50 gift certificate to Simerlys will be available for purchase. Tickets are $l or 6/$5.

DeMary Memorial Library Book Notes

Fiction: Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin

In a time of sacrifice, what price can one put on true love?

Mystery: A Fool & His Monet Sandra Orchard

Sketchy politics and a palette of lies cant stop Serena Jones from exposing the mastermind behind the daring theft of a priceless work of art.

Fiction: A Powerful Secret by Dr. Kevin Leman & Jeff Nesbit

Sean has always felt like an outsider in his own family. Now he must risk never achieving what he wants mots-his fathers love.

Fiction: Someone Like You by Victoria Bylin

Fiction: Hope in the Land by Olivia Newport

Fiction: Code 13 by Don Brown

Fiction: Change of Heart by Courtney Walsh

Fiction: Sins of the Past by Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, Lynette Eason

Fiction: The Dandelion Field by Kathryn Springer

Fiction: Her One and Only by Becky Wade

Fiction: Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury

Fiction: Murder Comes by Mail by A.H. Gabhart

Doing a good deed never felt so bad.

Fiction: The Highwayman by Craig Johnson

In an investigation that spans this world and the next, Sheriff Walt Longmire and his best friend Henry Standing Bear take on a case that pits them against a legend: The Highwayman

Fiction: Blood Flag by Steve Martini

Defending a client accused of murdering her father, attorney Paul Madriani is drawn into a treacherous conspiracy dating back to World War II.

Fiction: Aunt Dimity and the buried Treasure by Nancy Atherton

Fiction: Night Shift by Charlaine Harris

Fiction: The Apartment by Danielle Steel

Fiction: Troublemaker by Linda Howard

Mystery: Boar Island by Nevada Barr

Fiction: 15TH Affair by James Patterson

Fiction: Darkness Rising by Lis Wiehl
$216,004

Total cash that all law enforcement agencies in Twin Falls County and the county prosecutors office have seized and retained since the start of 2010. This does not count proceeds from the sale of other assets such as cars and electronics.

$16,807.87

The largest seizure in Twin Falls County since 2010, made by the Twin Falls Police Department on Sept. 22, 2015. The money was seized from Christopher Dean Livingston, charged with seven felony drug counts. Livingston pleaded guilty to two felonies and did not answer the civil case against his money.

30

Number of vehicles seized and retained by law enforcement agencies in Twin Falls County since 2010, including a 2005 Honda motorcycle, a 2007 Ford Focus, a 2008 Ford Explorer and a 2001 BMW. Most cars that are seized are auctioned, but they also can be kept by the seizing agency for use in undercover operations and other drug-fighting operations.

70

Percentage of proceeds from forfeitures that law enforcement agencies in Twin Falls County keep. The Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorneys Office keeps the other 30 percent.

$800

Total money seized by Lincoln County since 2010, though it was soon returned to its owner. We seized it about two years ago, Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul said. But we blew the deadline (to file the complaint) and gave it back.

Number of seizures in Camas County since 2010. We just dont do them, Sheriff David Sanders said. I think weve done one in the last 18 years.

$492.8 billion

Payments made in 2015 by the federal government to state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation through the federal Equitable Sharing program. This program allows state and local agencies to make seizures under lenient federal laws, turn over the proceeds to the federal government, then receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds back.

$522,218

Total funds received by Idaho law enforcement agencies in 2015 through the federal Equitable Sharing program, down from nearly $800,000 in 2014.

$152,359

Funds obtained in 2015 by the Boise Police Department through Equitable Sharing  the most by any agency in the state. Idaho State Police obtained only $61,160 in 2015, down from $372,248 in 2014.

$17,714

Funds obtained in 2015 by the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office through federal Equitable Sharing. The Twin Falls Police Department is the only other Magic Valley agency to seize assets under Equitable Sharing in 2015, obtaining $776.

$3,771

Funds obtained in 2014 by the Jerome Police Department through Equitable Sharing. The department did not participate in the program in 2015.

 By Alex Riggins; numbers gathered from public record requests and federal reports
Criticism of civil asset forfeiture is growing across the nation, due in part to some high-profile cases. One case in particular prompted serious outrage earlier this year when sheriffs deputies in Oklahoma seized $53,234 from the manager of a Christian band who was stopped for a broken taillight.

The ordeal began Feb. 27 when Ben Moore, a sheriffs deputy in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, stopped 40-year-old Dallas resident Eh Wah for driving with a broken taillight. During a search of the car, deputies did not find drugs or evidence of a crime but did find the cash. The sheriffs department seized the money and let Wah leave without charging him with a crime.

Wahs explanation for having the money: He was a volunteer tour manager for a Christian band from Burma. The band, the Klo & Kweh Music Team, had been touring the U.S. for several months raising money for charitable causes including a Christian college in Burma, an orphanage in Thailand and a new meetinghouse for the Karen Christian Revival Church in Omaha, Neb.

The band and Wah are Karen Christians who are part of the Karen ethnic minority in Burma and Thailand, according to the Virginia-based law firm Institute for Justice. Many Karen Christians, who have been persecuted by the Burmese government, have fled Burma to escape persecution; Wah came to the U.S. in 1997 as a refugee and has been a U.S. citizen for more than 10 years.

Wah was later arrested on a felony warrant on a charge of acquiring proceeds from drug activity.

The Institute for Justice, which defended Wah and his money, called the criminal charge a bogus attempt to pressure Wah into surrendering the cash that was seized as part of a plea deal.

There is no evidence at all to support the charge, let alone probable cause, the Institute for Justice wrote on its website.

Wah and the band produced meticulously maintained records showing how much money was raised at each venue  the band had played 19 concerts across the U.S. from Nov. 14 to Feb. 20  and what the money was earmarked for. But Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge did not drop either the criminal case or the forfeiture case until the Washington Post ran a story about Wah and the seized money.

The day after the story began getting national attention, Loge told the Washington Post that he examined the criminal and civil cases further and determined he wouldnt be able to meet the burden of proof in either. He also cited the press coverage and told the newspaper hed heard from a lot of upset citizens.

Like Idaho and 23 other states, Oklahoma earned a D- in the Institute for Justices Policing for Profit report. The law firm grades states on three criteria: the financial incentive for law enforcement to seize, the governments standard of proof to forfeit, and who bears the burden in innocent-owner claims.

Two states earned an F: Massachusetts and North Dakota. In both, up to 100 percent of the money seized in an asset forfeiture case can be returned to the seizing law enforcement agency, and prosecutors need only to prove probable cause to win a case.

New Mexico graded out the highest with an A- because law enforcement agencies cant keep any of the assets they seize, they can seize only assets from those convicted of a crime, and they must have evidence thats beyond a reasonable doubt or thats clear and convincing.

New Mexico also puts the burden of proof on the government in an innocent third-party case  when a mothers child uses her car to traffic drugs, for example  and prosecutors must prove the third party had knowledge the money or other asset was being used illegally. In many other states, including Idaho, the burden of proof lies with the third party.

Others that graded high were Washington, D.C., Indiana, Missouri, Maine and Maryland; each earned a B+ or B. California and Oregon got C+.

The federal government, like Idaho, earned a D-.
TWIN FALLS  A string of errors and misunderstandings has prevented an 87-year-old Twin Falls man charged with murder from getting an evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial, his lawyer said.

District Judge Richard Bevan on Jan. 21 ordered Paul Robert Welch to undergo a mental competency evaluation. A grand jury indicted Welch last year on a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of 81-year-old Barbara Sue Chitwood last Aug. 21. The two lived together.

Bevan called for a status hearing May 17 to ask for an update from the defense and prosecution, at which time Welchs attorney, Keith Roark, recounted for the court a string of errors and mishaps that had prevented the evaluation from happening.

Im not sure what happened, Roark began. The court granted the motion (for the competency evaluation), and as far as I can reconstruct it, that order got lost at the Department of Health and Welfare.

Roark went on to explain that after making some inquiries  he did not specify when or what type of inquiries  the Department of Health and Welfare finally acted and appointed a doctor to conduct the evaluation. But before that could happen, sometime at the end of April or start of May, there was another delay.

In the meantime, my client had an accident at the Twin Falls County Jail and severely injured one of his hips, Roark said.

Welch was taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls for immediate treatment, then transferred to a St. Lukes facility in Jerome for rehabilitation, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs confirmed to the court.

The Department of Health and Welfare doctor attempted to do the evaluation at the Jerome facility, but ran into resistance from the rehabilitation facilitys administration, Roark said.

Everything is in place, the defense attorney said. Except that for reasons that arent clear to me and on a level thats not clear to me, the administration at the St. Lukes facility has some qualms about security. I dont know. My understanding is the doctor is prepared to go forward but has run into some impediment.

Sheriffs deputies were guarding Welchs room at all times and there should have been no issues with security, Loebs said.

The confusion or hesitance to allow the evaluation by the hospital administrators might have stemmed from the language of the court order, Roark said. The order only addressed conducting the evaluation at the county jail, where Welch was housed at the time the order was given.

But both Loebs and Roark said the order should still be valid at the hospital where jail staff are watching Welchs room at all times.

Bevan ended the May 17 hearing by saying he would amend the language of his order to make it clear the evaluation could happen at the Jerome rehabilitation facility.

Roark did not return a message Friday seeking to find out if the evaluation has happened since the May 17 hearing.

In February, Loebs said it would be best to get the evaluation done as fast as possible. He said typically when someone is found to be mentally incompetent theyre taken to a health facility and given treatment and medication in an attempt to help them become competent.

Given Welchs age, its unclear what the process might be if he were found incompetent.

I dont know for sure, Loebs said. The judge would have to make the decision on how to proceed.

Welchs trial was scheduled to begin March 1 but was delayed for the evaluation. No other hearings have taken place or been scheduled since the May 17 hearing.

Welch is accused of using a .22-caliber pistol to shoot Chitwood in the head Aug. 21 in the home where the two lived together on Lacasa Loop.
TWIN FALLS  In the first days of 2010, the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office received a tip from an anonymous source that a Hispanic man and his wife were selling drugs out of their home at 656 Callaway Court.

A deputy went to the home Jan. 8 and dug through the trash, finding evidence that a woman named Jasil Gomez lived there, according to court documents. A week later, Gomez answered deputies knock on the door.

She was about to experience firsthand the controversial practice known as civil asset forfeiture, the process by which law enforcement can seize money, cars and other personal belongings without a criminal conviction  sometimes without even accusing the person of a crime.

Gomez told the deputies at her door that there were no drugs and no large amounts of cash inside the Callaway Court home where she lived with her husband, Saul Torres. The deputies were persistent and asked Gomez if they could come inside to check for drugs. Gomez consented, and while looking through a tall dresser in the master bedroom, Deputy Guy Joslin found a plastic bag with a small amount of marijuana, and a glass pipe with brown and black residue.

The discovery prompted the deputies to secure the home and apply for a search warrant. Once a judge signed the warrant, a thorough search of the residence was conducted, Joslin wrote in a sworn affidavit.

But rather than finding evidence of a large-scale trafficking operation like the anonymous tipster had suggested, deputies found only circumstantial evidence, like a pendant with the picture of Jesus Malverde, a possibly mythical figure who is worshiped by some drug traffickers as the Narco Saint of Sinaloa, Mexico. They also found a counterfeit Social Security card and counterfeit permanent resident card bearing Saul Torres name.

And drugs? The search turned up just one more piece of evidence: another small bag of marijuana. In total, deputies found two small bags of the drug and one pipe, or what law enforcement commonly refers to as a personal-use amount.

But in the top dresser drawer, next to one of the small bags of marijuana, deputies found something else: $11,000 in cash. In other parts of the home, they found another $1,010.

Gomez claimed the money came from her business, a shop called Botanica San Judas that sold candles and other religious items and accepted only cash. But the deputies seized the $12,010, and four days later Joslin wrote an affidavit filed in civil court claiming the money was contraband, the fruits of a crime, or things otherwise criminally possessed. Ultimately, $3,000 was returned to Torres and Gomez, while the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office kept $9,010.

No criminal charges were filed against the couple.

Federal and state laws on civil asset forfeiture allow officers to seize cash, cars, guns and other items used in the furtherance of drug crimes. The purpose? Removing the proceeds of crime and disabling criminal organizations, says a memorandum by Twin Falls police and prosecutors.

While local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors defend the practice, critics call asset forfeiture policing for profit, and members of Congress in May introduced legislation to reform federal forfeiture law.

For supporters of the law, its use is simple, straightforward and obvious: Items that are used to commit drug crimes or that are the profits of drug crimes should be taken from the criminals and used to fight future drug crimes.

But critics say the practice gives law enforcement undue incentive to seize property, and they say the standard of evidence in civil asset cases is too low.

To have property seized, a person doesnt even need to be charged with a crime, and prosecutors dont have to prove a connection beyond a reasonable doubt. The standard of proof in a civil asset forfeiture case is whats called a preponderance of evidence.

It turns the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on its head, Magic Valley defense attorney Tony Valdez said during a May 24 interview from his Twin Falls office. The statute is pretty broad. You would think due process would require a finding of guilt  if youre guilty of a crime, then police can seize your property  but the way the statute is, the police just start taking it, and its on you to prove your innocence.

Jennifer Bergin, chief civil deputy in the Twin Falls County Prosecutors Office, defended her use of the practice. She said Idaho State Police were doing controlled purchases from Torres and that some of the seized money matched the bills used in the undercover purchases, further showing that the money was all part of drug deals.

There is a lot more information regarding why we believed the money was tied to drug trafficking, and not just a close proximity case of a little marijuana, Bergin said.

But Bergin didnt know why criminal charges were never filed; she didnt ask about the criminal case back then because the cases are kept separate and it wasnt relevant to her civil case.

How the Laws Work

There are three basic ways for law enforcement agencies to seize assets: local and state agencies such as Idaho State Police, sheriffs offices and police departments can seize assets under the Idaho forfeiture law; federal agencies such as the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration can seize assets under the federal forfeiture law; and state and local agencies can seize assets under the federal law through a program known as Equitable Sharing.

The most common way in Idaho is for a local law enforcement agency to seize money, cars and guns under the state law, Idaho Code 37-2744. Then the county prosecuting attorneys office has five days to file a complaint in rem for forfeiture  in rem meaning the legal action is taken against the property, not the person from whom it was seized.

That results in case names like Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney vs. $7,761 in U.S. Currency, and State of Idaho vs. Green 2005 Ford Freestyle.

Much like in a criminal case, the officer who seized the asset must write a sworn affidavit explaining why he or she believes the asset was connected to drug activity.

Once the complaint in rem has been filed, the owner or claimant of the property has 20 days to answer it. If the 20 days pass without an answer, the money or car is awarded to the law enforcement agency, which usually gives a percentage of the proceeds to the prosecuting attorneys office.

In Twin Falls County, for example, the prosecutors office keeps 30 percent, and the seizing agency keeps 70 percent.

If the claimant does file an answer, a hearing is set within 30 days. The cases rarely go to trial. Usually the parties agree to a settlement, which is much like a plea agreement in a criminal case. Thats what happened in the case of Torres and Gomez  they agreed to get back $3,000 and let the county sheriffs office keep the remaining $9,010.

Many get nothing back at all.

Because the cases are filed in civil court and filed against the property itself, the propertys claimants or original owners are not provided with legal assistance from the public defenders office. Claimants must either represent themselves or hire a private attorney.

There are not a whole lot of resources to combat it, Valdez said. A claimant is usually already paying to defend themselves in criminal court. And if the money seized isnt that much, how do you justify spending thousands to get $500 back?

There are other things to consider while challenging a civil case, too, such as ensuring nothing said in your civil hearings will affect your rights in a criminal case, Valdez said.

Federal civil asset forfeiture cases work much the same way as on the local level, with federal agencies like the FBI and DEA seizing assets and the U.S. Attorneys Office filing the complaint in rem. The biggest differences are the time that a claimant has to file an answer and the time it takes for a hearing to be scheduled.

Then theres the federal Equitable Sharing program, which allows state and local agencies to turn over seized assets to a federal agency or allows state and local agencies working as part of a joint task force with federal agencies to make seizures under federal laws.

The assets are turned over to the federal government; up to 80 percent of proceeds are returned to the state or local agencies, and the federal government keeps the rest.

Forfeiture Critics

The trouble with these laws, critics say, is that they give law enforcement agencies incentives through financial rewards and thus distort their priorities.

The argument goes like this: Why would police focus on getting drugs off the street when they could instead focus on seizing the drug dealers money and cars, which they can use to supplement their budgets? And even if there were not outright prejudice, wouldnt an officer be influenced by the simple knowledge that he or she could help fill the departments coffers?

Two of the biggest opponents of civil asset forfeiture laws are the American Civil Liberties Union and the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that says it litigates to limit the size and scope of government power.

Forfeiture was originally presented as a way to cripple large-scale criminal enterprises by diverting their resources, the ACLU says on its website. But today, aided by deeply flawed federal and state laws, many police departments use forfeiture to benefit their bottom lines, making seizures motivated by profit rather than crime-fighting.

For their part, local agencies write policies that make it clear what the law should be used for.

A draft of the Drug Asset Forfeiture Policy for the Jerome County Prosecuting Attorneys Office  obtained through a public records request  says the purpose of asset seizure and forfeiture is to deprive the criminal participants of the proceeds of their illegal activities and to disable criminal organizations.

Law enforcement is the principal objective of forfeiture, the policy draft says. Potential revenue must not be allowed to jeopardize the effective investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, officer safety, the integrity of ongoing investigations, or the due process rights of citizens.

Despite policies that clearly lay out rules and ethics, the ACLU and the Institute for Justice are skeptical. The Institute for Justice calls civil asset forfeiture laws some of the greatest threats to property rights in the nation today.

The law firm has done the most comprehensive work to date in compiling data on the assets seized at federal and state levels in its report Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture. The growth in the numbers is astounding.

From 2001 to 2006, the federal government seized and retained less than $1 billion of assets each year. In 2007, that number topped $1 billion for the first time. It grew to more than $2 billion per year in 2009, and by 2014 the federal government was seizing and retaining nearly $4.5 billion of assets per year.

Similar data for the total seized in Idaho are not readily available because of the states poor reporting requirements. That, plus law enforcements low bar of evidence and the fact that agencies can keep up to 100 percent of the forfeiture proceeds they seized, earned Idaho a D- in the Institute for Justices Policing for Profit report.

But Idahoans neednt feel slighted by the failing grade  24 other states also earned a D-, including Utah, Nevada, Washington, Montana and Wyoming. The only neighboring state to earn a better grade was Oregon, which earned a C+ because police cant keep as much of the proceeds from forfeitures and prosecutors must earn a criminal conviction before they can seize assets in a civil case.

The matter of civil asset forfeiture is uniting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Conservative Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, slammed the federal forfeiture law last year while calling for reform.

As asset forfeiture is currently practiced, nothing is obliging the government to control itself, Grassley said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in April 2015. Just the opposite, civil asset forfeiture leads government to exceed its just powers over the governed. It encourages law enforcement to take shortcuts. Rather than prosecute or even arrest, civil asset forfeiture enables law enforcement to seize property without any proof of wrongdoing. And the process creates perverse incentives.

Grassley wasnt the first lawmaker to call for reform to the federal forfeiture law, and he wasnt the last. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, announced May 24 he is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation aimed at reforming the federal forfeiture law.

The bill, authored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, and co-sponsored by 13 Republican lawmakers and six Democrats, is called the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act, or the DUE PROCESS Act for short.

The bill would establish stricter timelines for federal forfeiture cases and allow federal judges the discretion to decrease a forfeiture if its disproportionate to the underlying crime.

Most importantly, the bill would elevate the burden of proof by requiring the government to prove its case through clear and convincing evidence, Labrador said in a statement. But that still doesnt match the proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a criminal case requires.

The Fifth Amendment prohibits the government from depriving the people of their property without due process of law, Labrador said. This bill levels the playing field and takes an important step to guarantee the rights of property owners  While forfeiture can be an important tool for law enforcement, it also has been abused because of the financial incentive to seize property from Americans without due process.

The Institute for Justice, while it praised the reform legislation, would rather see forfeiture laws abolished.

On May 19, the bill was introduced in the House and referred to committees, and on May 25 it passed the House Judiciary Committee and moved forward to a full House vote.

Civil Asset Forfeiture in Magic Valley

For all the criticism that forfeiture laws get, south-central Idaho law enforcement agencies for the most part are simply acting within the laws that are on the books.

Its the legislators fault for allowing these statutes to exist, said the defense attorney Valdez. If you make them change it, it wouldnt happen. Im not going to say the law is being abused  the statute is what it is. That doesnt make it right, but if youre a cop and theres stuff to be had, the statute allows you to seize it.

And while talking abstractly about the law is one thing, seeing the benefits of the law adds nuance to the discussion.

On a May afternoon, Twin Falls police officer Bradley Baisch showed off what his K-9 partner, Enzo, could do. A Belgian Malinois, Enzo is almost 3 years old and is trained and certified for both drug interdiction and patrol.

Drug dealers paid for my drug dog, Baisch said with a smile.

And its true. Money seized from drug crimes paid the cost for Baisch to go to Alabama last year where he first met Enzo. The pair trained together for 10 weeks at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Officers Training Center. The total cost for Enzo and the training was about $14,000.

Its a nice benefit; we have no problem asking drug dealers to fund our battle against drugs, Twin Falls police Capt. Matt Hicks said in an interview last month.

Twin Falls police have used proceeds from forfeitures to buy vehicles for the departments narcotics team, Hicks said. Seized cash is what the department uses for money when it makes a controlled buy using undercover officers or confidential informants. And, of course, the forfeiture proceeds go toward paying for drug dogs like Enzo.

We have world-class dogs and world-class training, Hicks said. Our dog teams are nationally recognized. And its all thanks to funds seized from drug dealers.

The same day Baisch showed off Enzos skills, Twin Falls County Sheriffs Lt. Daron Brown stood next to the diesel engine Dodge pickup he drives and racked his brain to remember when the office seized the truck; his best guess is 2008 or 2009.

Often the cars that are seized in drug forfeiture cases are old and are auctioned off for little profit; records show that since the start of 2015, agencies in Twin Falls County have seized just three cars  a 1994 Ford Ranger, a 1996 Honda and a 1993 Cadillac.

But when the sheriffs office seized the 2005 Dodge Ram 4X4 SLT, it kept it. Its now adorned with a large sticker across the back: Marijuana Eradication.

If drug dealers are driving better trucks than police, we need to take them, said Brown, who has driven the truck since it was seized.

The truck serves several purposes in the quest to eradicate marijuana, the lieutenant said, not least of which is to serve as a reminder to drug dealers or would-be drug dealers that the police can and will seize their stuff.

The truck is also used while educating schoolchildren about the dangers of drugs, Brown said, and for practical purposes like hauling equipment into the mountains and other places where we look for marijuana grows.

Questionable Cases

Hicks, the Twin Falls police captain, said Twin Falls officers take a conservative approach to seizing assets.

Were not driven by money, Hicks said. Were trying to deter the sales of narcotics. We dont fund positions with the proceeds or use it to offset salaries.

That statement aligns with the Drug Asset Forfeiture Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2014 by then-Chief of Police Brian Pike and County Prosecutor Grant Loebs.

The proceeds of drug-related forfeitures may be used only to further drug enforcement efforts, the memorandum says. Department budgets and salaries will not be tied to the amount of assets forfeited and drug enforcement efforts will not be evaluated based on the amount of assets forfeited.

Like the Jerome County policy, the Twin Falls memorandum is explicit in saying that civil asset cases should be of secondary priority. A goal of any seizing agency investigation is the criminal prosecution and conviction of those in violation of Idaho Code, the memorandum says.

But the Times-News reviewed a sampling of Jerome and Twin Falls county cases from the past half-decade and found several that illustrate critics arguments against forfeiture laws.

In 2010, a month after Saul Torres and Jasil Gomez lost $9,010 without being charged with a crime, a 15-year-old Colorado girl was arrested at the Greyhound bus station in Twin Falls on suspicion of drug possession. Police said the girl ran away from her Colorado home and rode the bus to Twin Falls to meet up with a 22-year-old man shed met online. According to an affidavit, the girl had marijuana, illegal pills and $1,265 in her purse.

Police seized the cash and filed a civil forfeiture complaint against the money. The girls mother, who also lived in Colorado, answered the complaint and said her daughter had run away, taking her medical marijuana and cash without her knowledge. She said she was a disabled veteran and that forfeiture of the money would cause her undue hardship. She also accused the prosecutors office of not responding to her letters and phone calls.

The critics of forfeiture laws say the laws should protect people like the mother, known as innocent third-party property owners. Instead, the state of Idaho won the case and was awarded all $1,265 when the teen and her mother failed to appear for a hearing.

Just a week after the girls cash was seized at the bus station, Twin Falls police seized $4,377 from Timothy Lee Craig after they arrested him on a felony count of possession of a controlled substance. That charge was eventually dismissed, but Craig got only half of his money back. The other $2,188.50 went to the police department and the prosecutors office.

In January 2011, the Buhl Police Department seized $1,515 from Dewy Voorhees. He never answered the complaint, so the money was forfeited, but Voorhees was never charged with a crime.

In 2012, there were the similar cases 10 months apart of Matthew Lynch and Zachary Tessier. Both men were pulled over on U.S. 93 while driving cars with California license plates. Both were on their way to snowboard in Idaho; both had small personal-use amounts of marijuana; and both had a lot of cash.

Lynch, from California, was pulled over in February after a night in Las Vegas and had $7,761 seized by the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office. The agency took $9,100 from Tessier, a skydiving instructor from New Hampshire, who said he was paid in cash and didnt have a bank account. Both men admitted to having marijuana in their cars and showed no signs of trafficking the drugs, and both eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

Lynch ultimately got back $3,880.50  half of what was seized. Tessier got back $3,033, while the other $6,067 went to the sheriffs office and prosecutors office.

The ordeal was part of what prompted Tessier to move to Switzerland.

The system fought me so hard Ive left the U.S. never to return!! Tessier wrote in an email. I was a skydiving instructor; skydiving 1099s its employees. All the cash they took was made legally.

In 2011 in Jerome, Idaho State Police pulled over Salvador Alamilla-Gonzalez for driving in the left-hand lane, impeding the normal flow of traffic.

It was an absolutely horrible stop, said Valdez, who represented Alamilla-Gonzalez. The basis of the stop was something like he was driving too cautiously.

ISP troopers found a gun and a scale in the car, but no drugs. Alamilla-Gonzalez was arrested on a misdemeanor count of driving without privileges.

But troopers also found $14,670 in cash, which they seized.

A drug dog alerted on the money, apparently  imagine that, Valdez said. But this kind of shows how crazy it can be. He was not charged with anything criminally and they wanted to take nearly $15,000.

Magistrate Judge Thomas Borresen ultimately dismissed the case and ruled the stop itself was illegal and the ISP trooper had no justification for stopping Alamilla-Gonzalez.

To their credit, the folks at the attorney generals office said, Well give your money back, Valdez said.

The defense attorney also said most local prosecutors are willing to make deals.

I will say that at least locally, the prosecutors offices that Ive dealt with are willing to throw you a bone, willing to compromise, Valdez said. Theyll engage in settlements.

Its ultimately up to lawmakers to fix weak forfeiture laws, Valdez said  if the statutes are reformed and strengthened, law enforcement will be less likely to abuse forfeiture.
TWIN FALLS  In 1991, Frank Nichols worked as a deputy prosecutor for Twin Falls County, but his salary was paid by the Magic Valley Drug Task Force, a since-disbanded group of state, federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The task force at the time was funded by three sources: federal grants, donations and proceeds from assets seized under forfeiture laws. But the task force couldnt use federal grants to pay Nichols salary, so his only source of funding was donations and seized assets.

This was a problem in 1991, because the task force didnt receive as much federal grant money as it had anticipated; as insolvency threatened the task force, it didnt have the money to pay Nichols past October, the first month of that fiscal year.

Nichols November salary was paid by the county with the caveat that the task force would pay it back, while his December salary was in jeopardy unless the task force could somehow come up with the money through donations or forfeitures. But it hadnt yet received any donations for that fiscal year.

Thus, when the grand jury was convened on Dec. 16, 1991, Mr. Nichols knew that the absence of funds was an immediate threat to the continued payment of his salary, District Judge Daniel Hurlbutt later wrote in an order dismissing 28 of the indictments handed down by that grand jury.

In other words, Nichols convened the secret proceedings of a grand jury knowing that some of the 39 drug cases he was about to present could result in seized assets  the only way to fund his salary.

Mr. Nichols had an actual financial conflict of interest, should not have conducted the proceedings, and by doing so, misused the grand jury process, Hurlbutt wrote.

The judge also found Nichols had made several more egregious errors in front of the grand jury that required the indictments be dismissed.

The nature and extent of Nichols missteps before the grand jury is surprising, Hurlbutt wrote. They reflect either the action one would expect of a prosecutor possessing a financial conflict of interest or of a prosecutor appearing before a grand jury without adequate preparation and training.

The decision was a huge blow to the grand jury process in Twin Falls County and a prime example of one way to misuse and abuse civil asset forfeiture.

How could someone whose salary was dependent on assets being seized not have a bias when trying to convince a grand jury that a drug crime was committed?

Mr. Nichols cannot claim that he was disinterested and impartial, Hurlbutt ruled. Shortly after the indictments were issued, in a campaign appearance at a Republican Womens luncheon, Mr. Nichols stated that the Drug Task Force would become self-supporting through funding from forfeitures.

In his defense, Nichols argued he couldnt possibly know which of the cases he presented to the grand jury would result in seized assets because those were criminal cases separate from the related civil asset cases. But the judge ruled he had to know at least some of the drug cases would result in forfeitures.

Sure enough, 10 civil forfeiture cases were filed in connection with the cases for which the grand jury handed down indictments.
NAMPA  Idaho Republicans ended their state convention Saturday by sticking with their old chairman and trying to rally around the presidential candidate who didnt have the support of many of the attendees when the primary season started.

While the delegates did approve six resolutions that the Resolutions Committee signed off on Friday, they blocked efforts to change the party platform, meaning the document has gone unchanged since 2012.

While a 272-214 majority of delegates wanted to consider the Platform Committees report, a two-thirds majority was needed to suspend rules to take up the platform, since the timing of the May primary and the state and national conventions meant that none of the proposed amendments could have be made by the deadlines set in state party rules.

This years state convention was held about two weeks earlier than usual, to meet a June 3 deadline set by the national party to name delegates to the national convention. However, delegates to the state convention cant be named until the results of the May primaries are canvassed. As a result, the delegates couldnt be named and get proposed platform changes in by the deadline of 12 days before the convention set in state party rules.

Jared Larsen, a Burley resident and delegate who was on the Platform Committee, said he had wanted to remove planks in the current platform calling for a return to the gold standard and the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the popular election of U.S. senators. These planks, Larsen thinks, dont have much support among the wider population of Republicans, even if they may be supported by many of the people who become convention delegates.

The Platform Committee reaffirmed its support of these Thursday, and approved new policies arguing that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and climate change is because of God and not humans, according to the Associated Press. Larsen said that, since the platform couldnt be fully debated, he and others thought it would be better not to take up the recommendations of the Platform Committee,

There were a lot of people who felt we should be fully debating those planks, he said.

However, the delegates did vote to adopt six resolutions calling on lawmakers to take actions such as refusing to implement the Obama administrations guidelines on letting transgender schoolchildren use the bathroom they identify with, amending the state Constitution to allow for the use of the Bible in public schools for academically related purposes, and call a special session before the November election to change the law so people who register to vote at the polls cast provisional ballots which would only be counted after their registrations are processed.

As for the chairman vote, Steve Yates, who was named to the job at a special central committee meeting in August 2014 after a court ruled that Barry Peterson was no longer chairman after the 2014 convention fell apart, was elected by a convention for the first time. He beat challenges from Kathy Sims, a Republican lawmaker from Coeur dAlene who recently lost her primary bid for re-election, and Mike Duff, a sheep farmer from Blackfoot.

The incumbents were re-elected, generally over challengers associated with the partys more conservative wing, for other party offices. Mike Mathews, of Twin Falls, beat a challenge from Bryan Smith, an Idaho Falls political figure, for first vice chairman. Cindy Siddoway was re-elected national committeewoman over Janice McGeachin, and Damond Watkins was unopposed for re-election as national committeeman. Chris Harriman was re-elected treasurer, beating Maria Nate, and Marla Lawson was re-elected secretary over Shannon McMillan, who like Sims, is a right-wing lawmaker from northern Idaho who recently lost to a primary challenger. For second vice chairman, a position where incumbent Jim Pierce didnt run again, Tyler Hurst of Star beat Jennifer Locke of Kootenai County.

As delegates inside voted on party officers, a group wearing III Percenter garb gathered outside the convention center, some holding American flags or signs expressing support for LaVoy Finicum, the rancher who was killed by authorities during the Malheur standoff. They refused to talk to reporters, blaming the Times-News specifically.

Members of the group have, in the past, expressed displeasure with a story that ran more than 10 months ago, when they and members of groups like the Oath Keepers were guarding military recruitment centers in the aftermath of the Chattanooga shooting. The 500-word story contained two paragraphs quoting a sergeant who said he had received an email from his command saying the Oath Keepers are an anti-government group.

Saturday was the last day of the three-day convention, which went off much more amicably than the 2014 convention, where delegates couldnt agree even on seating delegates and adjourned without conducting any business. Many of Saturdays speakers looked forward to the presidential race, stressing the need to support Donald Trump, who came in a distant second in the Idaho primary and who had virtually no declared support among the Idaho political establishment before Ted Cruz dropped out and he became the partys presumptive nominee.

I jokingly say Trump wasnt even in my top 16, U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, who was a Rand Paul and then a Cruz backer during the primary, said to the crowd at lunch. Labrador immediately followed this by saying he backs Trump now.

Again and again, the elected officials and others who spoke stressed that, if Trump wins, he will likely appoint a conservative Supreme Court judge to the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia.

Doesnt that make the choice pretty obvious? Yates said.

Yates also condemned the attacks on Trump supporters by protesters at an event on Thursday in San Jose, Calif., and said Trump has been appealing to a whole group of people that we as a party have not been successful in recent years in engaging.

Labrador said Trump would make some good choices, and others not so good, but he would ensure Republicans keep the Supreme Court. He appealed to anyone in the crowd who knows Trump or has influence with him to urge the candidate to focus on the issues that unite the party rather than attacking people.

The keynote speaker at lunch was Buck Sexton, a conservative radio host and political commentator and former Cruz supporter who spoke of the need to back Trump so Clinton doesnt win. Sexton focused first on what he views as Clintons flaws, and then on Trump, saying his blunt style and willingness to say what others wont offers a necessary antidote.

Sexton said conservatives cant afford four years of Clinton in the White House, since she could change America irreversibly. Society is changing quickly, he said, and if you oppose that you are now considered a bigot.
TWIN FALLS  For years, Bhutanese refugee Mahendra Khanal felt like he didnt have an identity or nationality.

But that changed last week. Khanal was among seven Magic Valley residents who became a United States citizen during the first-ever naturalization ceremony at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.

It gives him nearly all the same rights as U.S.-born citizens, including the right to vote. But getting to that point is a long process, complete with an application, fees, fingerprinting, an interview and demonstrating knowledge of U.S. government and the English language.

Im so proud to be a citizen of the United States, Khanal said. It is the great moment of my life.

In total, 48 people from 19 countries participated in the May 26 naturalization ceremony, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced last week. Idaho Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, was the keynote speaker.

The immigrants are originally from Belgium, Bhutan, Canada, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Applicants for U.S. citizenship must be a permanent resident with a Green Card for at least five years. They must also be able to speak, read and write basic English.

Nationwide, more than 729,995 immigrants became U.S. citizens during fiscal year 2015.

Khanal arrived in Twin Falls nearly six years ago through the College of Southern Idahos Refugee Center. He joined his uncle, who came a month before he did.

Being at the ceremony last week and becoming a citizen was a great moment, he said, and people in the audience were cheering them on.

He said he felt fortunate to become a citizen at the Idaho State Capitol. I feel like Im in a dream.

Khanal said his family spent about 20 years in a refugee camp and it was frustrating to feel stuck without the ability to work. Now, he works the swing shift in the laundry department at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center.

And soon, Khanal will be reunited with his wife. They got married in Nepal and now she can join him in Twin Falls. Theyve been apart for nearly two years.

To become a U.S. citizen, Khanal passed a civics test. Applicants are asked 10 questions from a 100-question bank and must get six correct. They have access to all of the questions and answers ahead of time to study.

They also must correctly read a sentence in English and write down one thats read aloud.

CSIS Refugee Center offers classes to help newcomers prepare for the citizenship test.

For non-refugees, other community groups occasionally offer help. This spring, the Jerome County Democratic Party held a free three-week civics class to help people prepare for the citizenship test.

Burley resident Juan Martinez, 28, was among the seven Magic Valley residents who gained U.S. citizenship last week.

He has lived in the U.S. since he was 7, after his parents left Michoacan, Mexico for work.

Martinez said he wanted to become a citizen to be able to have the privilege to vote. Sometimes we want to see a change in the laws or something, but we cant do much about it if were not able to vote.

He plans to vote for the first time in the November general election. Its a crazy election, he said about the presidential race. Instead of complaining, if you want to be able to see a change, vote on it, he added.

Applying for citizenship took about three months, Martinez said. He remembered some of the material on the civics test from his high school social studies classes. But nearly a decade has passed since he graduated in 2007.

Participating in the naturalization ceremony in Boise was really interesting, Martinez said. It was his first time at the Idaho State Capitol, which he describes as a really nice place.

I think it gave me an opportunity to go to the state capitol, somewhere I never would have thought about visiting, he said.

Currently, Martinez works at a feedlot. But now that hes a citizen, hes interested in going back to school and possibly studying radiologic technology.
San Antonio, TX  Owen Shelly is waging war against a disease with a long, difficult to pronounce name: pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis.

Simply put, its a rare disease that has come to the forefront only in the past 30 years. Its characterized by an overabundance of capillaries in the lungs that can cause pulmonary hypertension and heart failure, Dr. Yuranga Weerakkody, an expert on the disease, said in an email.

Weerkakkody said the jury is still out on whether its genetic. But Shellys younger brother died of it at age 20, a couple years after he was diagnosed. And his grandmother died of it, as well.

Shelly, service coordinator for the infant/toddler program at the Department of Health and Welfare in Twin Falls, is hopeful he can overcome it, thanks to a perfect storm of things coming together.

Hes at a San Antonio hospital where hes number two on a list of those awaiting heart transplants. And hes got the support of New Covenant Church in Twin Falls, which is trying to raise $100,000 to help with his medical expenses through an online fundraiser.

They do 16 to 17 transplants a year at the hospital hes at, compared with three at the hospital in Salt Lake City where he had been receiving treatment. And Dr. Elliott is one of the best pulmonologists in the country. So theres a good chance he could get a transplant and make it through all this, said Shellys mother Judy Shelly, who lives in Hailey.

Shelly, who was raised in the Wood River Valley, was diagnosed with PCH in 2005. He had cut his teeth on the outdoors and was a strong hiker, skier and snowboarder and swimmer.

He was hiking one day when he suddenly couldnt catch his breath.

The people who were with him thought he was going to pass out, Judy Shelly said. Its difficult for people to understand how sick someone with PCH can be because the people who have it can be having a conversation with someone and look perfectly normal. People like my son can get fatigued just walking from the car to the store.

Owen worked for months even while on full oxygen and medication. But it finally got to the point where he had to take medical disability.

Owen and his wife Lindsey, whose mother Donna Fail lives in Twin Falls, had gone to Texas to see if living at sea level would help. Owen also wanted to check out the lung transplant center at University Hospital in San Antonio while there.

The lower elevation didnt help, and the family was returning to Idaho when Owen took a turn for the worse and ended up in the emergency room. He is currently hospitalized at the University Hospital in San Antonio.

There it no cure for Owens disease, except for a double lung transplant, said Christopher Folkerts, pastor of New Covenant.

Shellys insurance will cover many of his medical bills. However, he and his family need help to cover costs for travel, living near the transplant center for a year while Owen recovers and child care for the couples three childrenTiler, Lionel and Lucy, ages 6, 4 and 2.

To date the church has raised nearly $13,500.

We are Christians and are comforted that our lives are held in hands of our Father in heaven, Folkerts said. The Scriptures say, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. So in the midst of uncertainty and anxiety, our trust in our Lord. We rest in his steadfast love and give him all the glory.

Owen has two big goals following the transplant, Judy Shelly said. The first is to return to live in the Wood River Valley, which is dear to his heart.

The second is to take a hike with his mother on her birthday.

Every year on my birthday we take a hike, she said. We havent been able to do that the past couple years. It would be so wonderful to do that.
The Supreme Courts decision in February to stay President Barack Obamas Clean Power Plan may lead to a protracted legal battle over aging, unprofitable and environmentally unsound coal plants. But instead of litigating our way out of the problem, there is a simpler solution: The federal government could buy the plants and close them.

The courts move threatens to not only derail the presidents initiative to curb greenhouse-gas emissions at U.S. coal-fired power plants but also unravel the progress that the United States and 195 other nations made on climate change in Paris in December. If the courts invalidate or delay the Clean Power Plan, some climate activists may turn to a Plan B that would encourage enlightened business leaders and states with large coal plants to support a voluntary version of the Clean Power Plan. But such an effort would be even less effective than the complex and overly cautious Obama plan, which at best would reduce power-plant emissions by 15 percent more than what is expected without the Clean Power Plan and would take 15 years to do thatnot nearly enough to meet U.S. commitments under the Paris agreement.

There is another alternativewhich Ill call Plan Athat would avoid the considerable litigation risks of the Clean Power Plan and achieve more quickly and with greater certainty a reduction in emissions at least equal to those of the Clean Power initiative. Under Plan A, the federal government would buy or, if necessary, seize under eminent domain all existing U.S. coal plants and close them over 10 years. Such a use of federal authority is well-established and would not be subject to serious legal challenge. (Plant owners could dispute the amount of compensation offered but not the public purpose of federal action intended to protect the environment.) Plan A would include fair, market-based compensation for coal-plant shareholders and generous severance, relocation and job-training programs for employees, who should not be asked to bear the burdens of emissions reductions. Once authorized by Congress, Plan A could be carried out before the legality of the Clean Power Plan was finally adjudicated and long before it could be implemented. Moreover, since Plan A would set a firm deadline for coal plants to close, it would provide a strong incentive for wind, solar and other renewables to replace the lost coal capacity at rates that are already competitive with coal.

Impossible, you say, since a Republican- controlled Congress would never authorize the substantial sum required to purchase (or seize) the coal plants and provide support to their workers. Perhaps, but consider how Congress would react if coal-plant owners and unions supported such a program and urged their friends in the House and Senate to enact it. This is by no means fanciful. As the recent bankruptcy of coal titan Peabody Energy illustrated, coal-plant owners and institutional investors, as well as their lenders, are locked in to deteriorating assets that are losing the competition against natural gas and renewable energy sourcesand facing increased regulation of pollutants independent of climate change initiatives. These parties might welcome a graceful exit from coal. Even unions, faced with declining jobs and wages in the coal sector, might support a well-financed and carefully designed program to enable workers to pay off mortgages, car loans and medical or college bills and prepare for a more productive future in other energy- sector jobs.

The benefits of Plan A would likely exceed its costs. Although it is not possible to estimate accurately the total cost of acquiring all of the several hundred currently operating coal-fired power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the net benefits of the greenhouse-gas reductions under the Clean Power Plan at between $26 billion and $45 billion by 2030, not counting the substantial public-health savings from reducing coal plants toxic emissions unrelated to climate change. Plan A would achieve these same benefits, only faster and with more certainty. Such savings should go a long way toward making it feasible for the government to purchase or condemn the plants, which are typically almost 40 years old, fully depreciated and only marginally profitable under current and foreseeable market conditions and environmental requirements. Moreover, because Plan A would compensate private owners for the market value of their plants, it would avoid conservatives claims of excessive regulation without compensation.

Plan A would permit the United States to fulfill its Paris commitments on a timely basis and insist on similar levels of compliance by other nations. And Plan A could do this while avoiding protracted litigation and uncertain implementation of the Clean Power Plan, helping investors escape the declining value of their coal plants and providing meaningful benefits for workers who are asked to change careers as part of our nations commitment to a livable global climate.
For once, the headlines about the latest health scare are not hyperbole: The end of the Antibiotics Era may be nigh. Staving it off will require fast and creative thinking not only in medical science, but also in public policy.

Public-health officials were horrified but not surprised to find a Pennsylvania woman who had an infection with the same kind of drug resistance first identified last fall on farms in China. The E. coli found in the woman carried the same genetic mechanism of resistance to colistin -- a last-resort antibiotic -- that was discovered in Chinese livestock that were routinely fed the drug. And this mechanism is easily spread from one bug to another.

The looming danger is that the gene for colistin resistance will make its way to bacteria already immune to carbapenem, another last-resort drug, creating an invincible "superbug."

No one yet knows the magnitude of the agricultural threat because too many countries, including the U.S., fail to keep track of the amount and kinds of antibiotics fed to various livestock. This needs to change -- and fast. In January, American farms are scheduled to stop feeding antibiotics to animals merely to help them grow. But this is a voluntary program, not a legal ban (as in Europe), and data will be needed to find out if the change makes a difference.

People are fed too many antibiotics, too. A study last month found that, in outpatient settings, about a third of prescriptions are written for conditions the drugs cannot treat. Add to that the frequency with which doctors prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics because they don't know which bug is causing a patient's infection, and you've created a perfect environment for bacteria to develop resistance.

Ideally, medical science would maintain a full pipeline of new antibiotics to keep one step ahead of germ evolution. But that's not the case -- in part because antibiotics aren't a particularly good business. Even more ideal would be to have novel formulations that are sparingly used, so as not to overexpose them to the bacterial resistance machinery.

What's needed, from an economic standpoint, is a way to "de-link" the revenue from the sales of such drugs -- that is, guarantee that drugmakers can get paid for effective new formulations. A British commission on antibiotic resistance has just recommended raising billions of dollars from world governments to make payments of this kind.

Improved medical technology is also necessary, including fast diagnostic tests that would help doctors treat infections more narrowly, as well as vaccines, probiotics and other nontraditional approaches. And if public money is to be spent in support of basic science aimed at discovering new kinds of germ-killing compounds, then drug companies should be prepared to share their proprietary compound libraries.

It's some comfort to know that the Pennsylvania woman with the colistin-resistant infection has recovered; other drugs did the trick. So antibiotics aren't quite useless yet. But public-health officials are right to warn that they soon will be -- unless humans make a concerted effort to find new ways to fight the bacteria that threaten their existence.
Although he never saw battle or served in uniform, Barack Obama entered the White House with bold ambitions for what he wanted to achieve as commander in chief.

Instead of thinking about the U.S. role in the world in terms of military might alonewhat in the post-9/11 years became known as fighting the long warObama has sought to forge a grand strategy that reflects the totality of American interests and to project global leadership in an era of seemingly infinite demands and finite resources. This is playing the long game.

Obama sees war for what it is: often necessary, but always tragic. In his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize speech, which remains Obamas most important statement on the use of force, he made clear that the instruments of war are indispensable to the preservation of peace. He is willing to pull the triggerthink the Afghanistan surge in 2009, the bin Laden raid, hundreds of counterterrorism operations with drones or special operations forces, or the nearly 10,000 airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014. But at the same time, Obama often said privately that he did not want killing people to be his only lasting legacy.

At the core of moving from the long war to the long game is how one defines strength. Obama is frustrated that in the minds of many, military might is seen as the only meaningful metric of strength and leadership. He believes that too often the Washington debate defines strength simply as bold action with military might, and acting in the name of being tough. As Obama explained in a news conference late last year: American strength and American exceptionalism is not just a matter of us bombing somebody.

Obamas effort to recalibrate the instruments of American power has led to tensions with military leaders; the intense debates over the surge in Afghanistan and the pace of the withdrawal in Iraq (and later, what to do about Libya and Syria) stressed these relationships even further. But while they could be volatile, they were hardly broken. In fact, as I saw first-hand, Obamas relationships with his military leaders were for the most part strong and, with many of them, personally warm. He and his closest advisers took great care to tend to civil-military relations. And during the course of his presidency, Obama forged close bonds with his top military commanders, especially those such as Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2011 through 2015, who was perceived by the White House as an astute straight shooter.

Yet there is a natural tension between what the military demands in resources and what political leaders are ready to provide. There is also a fine line between civilians asking questions for greater specificity about military planning or fine-tuning options (to ensure they do not extend beyond the stated goals), and meddling in military decision-making. Obama appreciated the fundamental difference of perspectives, often saying that he understood why military commanders asked for the resources they did, but that his job was to consider such requests in the overall context of other interests, competing priorities and the trade-offs between them.

Sometimes the heat of debate would cause these differences to boil over. The second Afghanistan policy review in 2009 is an example. Numerous press leaks about the troop numbers Pentagon leaders were requesting caused frustrations in the White House that the military was jamming the president by raising the costs for him of rejecting their advice and, in effect, reducing his options (Obama certainly believed this to be the case). Intentional or not, such leaks accentuated these inherent tensions, leading to the impression that civil-military relations were more troubled than they actually were. Yet this was hardly the same kind of bitter struggle that plagued the George W. Bush administration, when the epic generals revolt over the direction of the Iraq war exploded in public in 2006, a factor that ultimately led to the dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The key premise behind Obamas shift from the long war to the long game was simple common sense: Even when America is most powerful, there are constraints on what it can do. And thats why it cannot overextend itself, especially militarily.

This sense of restraint is difficult to communicate without being criticized for being defeatist or for denying Americas inherent greatness. Obama often rejected the criticism that acknowledging limits was somehow new.

One of Obamas fundamental challenges as commander in chief was being forced to conduct a long-game strategy in a political and policy ecosystem that increasingly has come to resemble a reality television show with all the characteristics of professional wrestling: This new dynamic rewards over-the-top rhetoric and concocted drama instead of results that can be truly appreciated only with time.

When describing Americas role in the world, Obama has often pledged that the tide of war is receding. He has also frequently declared the war in Iraq as over and committed to bring the U.S. military role in Afghanistan to an end. So as American military forces returned to Iraq in 2014 and intensive U.S. airstrikes continued, many argued that Obama had been mugged finally by reality.

Considering the scope and scale of Americas current military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, it is true the tide of war is still with us. In retrospect, some of Obamas declarative rhetoric suggested starker conclusions than actually existed. Each day, thousands of U.S. military personnel take the fight to the Islamic State, whether by conducting direct military action or by supporting partners and allies on the ground, often at great risk. Given that Obamas strategy is premised on sustainability and patience, this battle will be conducted far into the future. He has always been clear about that fact.

This is where Obama as commander in chief is misunderstoodand, by some, purposely misportrayed. He has never believed in complete U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East or renounced the importance of military power. In words and actions, Obama has made clear his commitment to Americas interests and partners in the region, and to defeating the Islamic State. But he is equally determined not to ruin the country in the process or let the problems of the Middle East become the singular obsession of American foreign policy.

When explaining his decisions to use force, Obama explicitly stresses the attributes of balance, precision and sustainability, explaining his choices in the context of addressing other priorities at home and abroad. Obama is fond of quoting Eisenhowers adage about national security decisions, saying that each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.

This weighing of ends and means, calibrating an approach within the context of the totality of American interests, is the essence of grand strategy. The military aspects could not be open-ended or considered in isolation. For Obama, the key is not to allow the long war to return as the organizing principle for America in the world, causing everything elseour other interests, our values, our resource decisionsto be swallowed up. This fight must always be waged in the context of the long game.
Imagine youre driving down the highway after scoring big at the casino in Jackpot, Nev., and get pulled over for a broken taillight. The officer finds a lot of cash, leading him to believe you may be involved in criminal activity.

Regardless of whether thats true, police take your money.

Believe it or not, thats perfectly legal under civil asset forfeiture laws. Originally intended to allow investigators to seize the assets of big-time criminal organizations, the laws are now being used across the country to take cash, cars and property of people suspected of even minor crimes.

And police have the legal right to keep your cash even if youre not convicted of a crime. So much for innocent until proven guilty.

Clearly, civil forfeiture laws are an affront to liberty and property rights. Thankfully, lawmakers including Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho and others are taking another look at forfeiture laws.

As detailed in a Times-News special report in todays edition, police and prosecutor say the money seized through forfeitures help fund crime fighting. Some Magic Valley agencies even keep the cars seized from suspected drug dealers and use them as part of their department fleets.

For police and prosecutors, the ends justify the means.

Others, including defense lawyers, libertarian politicians and our editorial board, have serious concerns that civil asset forfeiture laws are an affront to basic American liberties, regardless of their effect on deterring crime or padding the pockets of police departments. Critics say the laws amount to policing for profit and point to numerous examples of innocent people (or those accused of low-level crimes like pot possession) whove faced financial ruin when police have taken their cash or cars.

In one Twin Falls case, police seized more than $1,000 from a runaway whod taken the money from her mother, a disabled veteran. The police kept every cent.

Since 2010, Magic Valley law enforcement agencies have seized nearly a quarter of a million dollars in cash alone. That doesnt count the cars and proceeds garnered from selling other assets, such as electronics. Police have seized at least 30 cars just in Twin Falls County in the past six years.

Simply put, we dont believe the government should be able to seize private property unless the accused has been proven guilty of a crime.

The controversy is making interesting bedfellows. Far-right and libertarian politicians like Labrador are on the same side of the issue as the American Civil Liberties Union. Labrador announced May 24 he is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation aimed at reforming the federal forfeiture law.

We encourage the rest of Idahos congressional delegation to join Labrador in revisiting these laws. And we hope state lawmakers take up the issue during the next legislative session.

The Fifth Amendment prohibits the government from depriving the people of their property without due process of law, Labrador said. This bill levels the playing field and takes an important step to guarantee the rights of property owners  While forfeiture can be an important tool for law enforcement, it also has been abused because of the financial incentive to seize property from Americans without due process.

We support police in their efforts to fight crime, but not when those efforts jeopardize basic American principles like protections from searches and seizures.

Labradors bill will soon be up for a full vote in the House. Contact your representatives and let them know that civil asset forfeiture laws as they stand have no place in Idaho, a state that believes deeply in individual liberties and limited government.
During President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba in March 2016, dictator Raul Castro said he would be willing to release all political prisoners; all he needed was a list of names.

Only the biggest fool would believe him, but several groups almost immediately released their lists. Of course, there was no mass release.

On April 25, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, one of the most credible sources in Cuba for information on political prisoners released its updated list of 93 political prisoners.

A major goal of this blog since its inception more than 10 years ago is to recognize those brave Cubans imprisoned because of their opposition to, and their actions in service of their beliefs, against the Castro dictatorship. It is one small step to ensure that they, and their oppressors, know that they are not forgotten

In that spirit, Uncommon Sense has revived one of its most important features, the Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week.

|---|

Wenceslao Chirino Perez, activist with the Patriotic Union of Cuba in Pinar del Rio, was arrested Feb. 9, after he was summoned to a police station, where he chastised a police official for harassing his sister. The cop responded by throwing him in a jail cell on a charge of "disrespect."

According to the Human Rights Commission, Chirino was later sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Learn more about Chirino in this radio report:
The immune checkpoint blockade drug nivolumab reduced tumor burden in 24.4 percent of patients with metastatic bladder cancer, regardless of whether their tumors had a biomarker related to the drug's target, according to clinical trial results from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study will be presented Sunday, June 5, 2016 at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

"The response rate is better than we've seen for other potential second-line treatments and nivolumab is really well-tolerated, which is important because bladder cancer patients are a fragile group after frontline treatment with platinum chemotherapy," said Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson.

Nivolumab unleashes an immune system attack on cancer by blocking activation of a protein called PD-1 on T cells, white blood cells that find and attack cells, viruses or bacteria that have specific targets. PD-1 acts as a brake, or checkpoint, to shut down activated T cells. PD-1 is turned on by a ligand called PD-L1, which is often found on cancer cells and other types of cells.

The presence of PD-L1 on a patient's tumor has been considered a potential biomarker to guide treatment. The study found no significant difference in response rates between those with little to no PD-L1 on their tumors (26 percent) and those with greater PD-L1 expression (24 percent).

"We can get good results without choosing to treat patients based on PD-L1 status," said Sharma, who also is scientific director of MD Anderson's immunotherapy platform and an investigator with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson. The platform is part of MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program, launched in 2013 to reduce cancer deaths by accelerating development of therapies, prevention efforts and early detection from scientific discoveries.

This Phase I/II clinical trial treated 78 patients: five (6.4 percent) had complete responses, 14 (18 percent) had partial responses, in which tumor burden shrinks by at least 30 percent, and 22 (28.2 percent) had stable disease. Thirty (38 percent) patients had disease progression.

Treatment-related side effects included mainly low-grade fatigue, itching, elevated lipase, rash, nausea, joint pain and anemia. Grade 3 or 4 side effects occurred in 20.5 percent of patients. Two patients discontinued therapy because of adverse events related to the drug.

At a median follow up of 213 days, 33.3 percent remained on treatment, and 45.6 percent of patients survived for at least one year, which Sharma noted "is better than anything we've seen in the past."

Overall survival will be analyzed in conjunction with the Phase II portion of this clinical trial, which provides nivolumab or a combination of nivolumab plus the immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab. The trial allows patients to cross over to the combination if nivolumab alone fails.

Initial results from the Phase II portion of the trial will be presented later this year.

Both nivolumab, known as Opdivo, and ipilimumab, known as Yervoy, were developed and marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which funded the clinical trial.

Ipilimumab targets the CTLA-4 checkpoint on T cells and was the first immune checkpoint inhibitor. It was based on the research of Jim Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology, executive director of the immunotherapy platform and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson.

Ipilimumab was the first drug ever shown to extend the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. Long-term follow up shows 22 percent of those treated with the drug survive 10 years or longer.

Nivolumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced melanoma, lung cancer, kidney cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma. The five-year survival rate for those with metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab is 34 percent. The two-year survival rate of patients treated with both drugs in combination is 69 percent.

Until May 18, there were no drugs approved for second-line treatment of metastatic bladder cancer. The U.S. FDA approved atezolizumab, which blocks PD-L1, for these patients.
via @jayhweaver

After his failed run for the Republican presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio returned to Washington with a pledge to finish strong and complete his work in Congress.

But the Florida lawmaker, who is leaving Congress in early January, has conspicuously left undone one legislative item: clearing the way for the Senate confirmation hearing of Miami lawyer Mary Barzee Flores. She is a former state judge who was nominated by President Barack Obama to a vacancy on South Floridas federal bench more than a year ago.

This past week, his office made it abundantly clear for the first time that Rubio  who along with Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson had recommended her for the judgeship  is blocking her nomination for reasons critics say boil down to extreme political partisanship.

Rubios office told the Miami Herald that he recently issued so-called blue slips triggering confirmation hearings for three Obama-nominated federal judges in Central and North Florida with Republican backgrounds. But the senator refuses to do the same for Barzee Flores, calling her the wrong person for the South Florida federal judgeship, without providing specific reasons about her legal credentials.

Senator Rubio recently returned the blue slip for three judges to fill other vacancies throughout Florida, but he will not return the blue slip on Ms. Barzee Flores, Rubios office said in a statement, which was released to other news media after the Herald requested an update on Barzee Flores confirmation hearing.

More here.
Faced by a loss, and perhaps by a loss of words, many of us find something to do with our hands. Here's a poem about just that by Arden Levine, published in 2015 in an issue of Agni Magazine. Ms. Levine lives in New York.

Offering

She tells him she's leaving him and he

bakes a pie. His pies are exquisite,

their crusts like crinoline.

***

He doesn't change clothes, works

in slacks, shirtsleeves rolled.

Summer makes the kitchen unbearable

***

but he suffers beautifully, tenderly

cuts the strawberries, pours

into the deep curve of the bowl.

***

She hadn't missed his hands since

last they drew her to his body.

Now she watches them stroke the edges

***

of the dough, shape it like cooling glass.

When the oven opens, his brow drips,

he brings his hands to his face.

***

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2015 by Arden Levine, Offering, (AGNI Magazine, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Arden Levine and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
One day, a doctoral student at the University of Montana brought Wayne Freimund a proposal to review for an experimental forest in Zambia.

The idea was to build a $6 million fence to enclose lions, and the College of Forestry and Conservation student told Freimund the project was for her father, Emmanuel Chunda.

At the time, Chunda was dean of the forestry college at Copperbelt University in Zambia, and Freimund, now interim dean of the same college at UM, saw parallels between the schools  two forestry programs working on similar issues, an emphasis on field work, both with experimental forests.

Through a U.S. Forest Service Office of International Programs grant, Freimund and Chunda made a connection here in Missoula. Then, they met in Africa at Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

There, at the site of the largest waterfall on Earth, Chunda posed a question to his colleague about the future of their relationship:

"Shouldn't you be studying places like this?"

Nearly 20 years later, the bond between "The Last Best Place" and a country some call "The Real Africa" is strong, and the similarities between the conservation story in Montana and Zambia run deep:

Copper mines that once lined pockets lose money.

Political leaders push to grow economies through tourism, touting big rivers and national parks.

Iconic animals, like the wolverine and the elephant, see threats from a warming climate.

On the 100-year anniversary of America's National Park Service, the link UM established is bolstering conservation on both continents as glaciers retreat in Montana and the mist and spray diminish from the churning waters at Victoria Falls.

The tie also is shaping the next generation of conservationists, leaders who will think about protecting lions and grizzlies and their wild habitats in the face of climate change and beyond the lines on a map.

During the years, UM has taught several doctorate students who have returned to Zambia as leaders in the field of conservation. Last year, for the first time, UM took a cohort of graduate students to the landlocked country to see conservation at work in a different place under different pressures.

Ian Williams, who graduated in May from the College of Forestry and Conservation, said in Zambia, it was clear that people are an intrinsic part of the ecosystem. It's a lesson that translates to places in his backyard, like Glacier National Park, and one he'll take with him as he embarks on a career in recreation management.

"I think they've realized pretty early on that if our goal is to protect wildlife or have this park area, then the benefits need to extend beyond the park borders in order for (local communities) to really reap the benefits," Williams said. "I think we could learn some lessons from that."

***

Freimund has fostered a relationship with peers in Zambia for the long haul. He's seen other Americans parachute onto the continent, write a thesis and return home, a situation he characterizes as intellectual colonization.

Through UM, he's taken the opposite approach: "We keep coming back."

The link was first born in 1998, when Freimund worked with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The country had just ushered in democracy and a new president and constitution, and at the time, university professors there lacked the credentials to match their experience.

"They were evolving quickly and in great need of capacity building," Freimund said.

They looked to UM to help build curricula, and Freimund quickly saw a gap in the offerings. When it came to conservation, the research examples at UM were based in Montana, Idaho, the West.

"They needed African contextualized data to put into their training," he said.

To fill the gap, the transatlantic team launched a joint research program with an emphasis on bringing students from Africa to Montana for coursework that didn't exist at home.

Several students turned out to be Zambians, including Nelly Chunda, daughter of Emmanuel Chunda, who died in 2012. The students from a country not unlike Montana started asking Freimund a question:

"When are you going to come to 'The Real Africa'?"

***

So Freimund turned his attention in Zambia's direction.

The professor struck up a relationship with Copperbelt University, and now, a memorandum of understanding creates a conservation network among five universities, including Copperbelt and UM.

Doctoral graduates from the early years are now in leadership roles at the African universities, and UM is the only school in the group that isn't in Africa.

"It's a real honored position for the University of Montana," Freimund said.

One student in particular, Jane Kwenye, is now a faculty member at Copperbelt University, and a couple years ago, Freimund decided it was time to work with her to take U.S. students to Zambia.

Shepherding students overseas is an enormous responsibility, and the UM professor is risk averse, but he believed Kwenye would be a strong partner in developing a study abroad course that would work.

"She really knows what we're like. She's taken classes here. She guest lectures. She understands our students," Freimund said.

Last year, he took the first group of UM graduate students to Livingstone, students from forestry and other disciplines who were mature enough to avoid the snakes and the bars. A couple times along the way, he wondered if he might have taken a class over earlier.

"The group we brought last year was absolutely remarkable," he said. "They were so mature, and I was really pleased."

***

In Zambia, Williams had an experience that brought to light for him the importance of the human in the natural ecosystem.

There, if an elephant is going to destroy crops or trample a child, the people don't have much incentive to protect it  unless the benefits of protecting the animals extend past the park borders.

"So conservation efforts need to incorporate people as well as wildlife as well as an ecosystem. So how are we, moving forward, going to do our best to protect these natural landscapes? Protect this wildlife? But also protect human livelihood in that process?" Williams said.

In the U.S., people value the parks and forest systems, he said.

"But we need to find that balance of also making sure the local communities are involved in decision-making as much as possible," Williams said.

In the future, the most important role for people in his field will be to strike the balance that allows people to see animals like grizzlies without being overly intrusive  and adversely impacting their habitat.

One evening last year in Chobe National Park, Williams saw elephants passing, probably to the place they planned to rest for the night. After most of them had passed, the animals realized they had walked past a pride of lions, maybe eight or nine.

The elephants spooked, and in the midst of the chaos, a baby charged the pride.

"So all the other elephants got involved and did the same thing and scared off the lions," Williams.

At the time, he was alone with the others in his Jeep, and he cherishes those moments of being quiet with the wild.

"There's so many other Jeeps out there," Williams said of the park in Botswana, a neighbor of Zambia. "It can kind of be annoying and makes you wonder, how good is this? How wild is this? But those moments when you were by yourself captured this amazing essence."

***

This year, UM canceled its Zambia course after an inadequate number of students signed up, but assistant professor Jennifer Thomsen is heading to Livingstone to connect with the contacts Freimund developed for future classes.

The conservation issues her students will face as professionals are global; issues like climate change, land preservation, biodiversity protection and managing tourism, one of the biggest industries in the world.

As Thomsen sees it, the next wave of conservation won't be bound by lines on a map, but will take into account the fuller complexity of a place.

"The next 100 years, with us and Africa, it's not about managing and conserving within these borders, but it's beyond the borders," said Thomsen, who teaches park, recreation and tourism management for the College of Forestry and Conservation.

This year, the U.S. celebrates the centennial of the National Park Service, and here, Montana is home to two of its gems, examples of "America's Best Idea."

Surely, the UM researchers have plenty to share with their colleagues across the Atlantic, but Freimund said the reverse is true, too. Zambia is poor and less developed, but Zambians remind him in his travels that his culture is so young.

Then, they reassure him.

"'We've been running around for 100,000 years, and we'll wait for you to catch up,'" Freimund said. "I would have never thought of it that way.

"There's these cultures in the world that we think might not be as developed, or developing, and they're just waiting for us to catch up."
The ink has run like a river torrent ever since the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Compact was introduced  and approved  in the previous legislative session.

Most of this ink has been spilled in service to explaining to Montana legislators, residents, farmers, ranchers and government officials the many various details of this complicated agreement. Thats only right, as clear understanding is essential to crafting good legislation.

However, a great deal has also been diverted to defending the compact from opponents who either dont understand the point of the agreement, or who seek to derail this critical resolution of historic water rights and turn it into a condemnation of state, tribal or federal authority  or all three.

On May 26, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester stepped out of the stream for a moment in order to introduce the compact legislation into the Senate. Such was largely expected of the Montana senator who has repeatedly introduced water compacts for the Blackfeet, and Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes; he also sponsored the Crow water compact, which languished in Congress for more than a decade before finally being ratified in 2010. Tester deserves applause for being a steadfast supporter of these duly negotiated agreements, and for taking on yet another monumental piece of legislation.

Thats no exaggeration. The 1,400-page CSKT Water Compact, decades in the making, will cost some $2.3 billion. Although the vast majority of this will be spent on critical water infrastructure, the sheer amount is still a large lump for Congress to swallow. Compounding this is the fact that our countrys Congress is not known for acting with speed even when confronted with the simplest of commonsense bills. A highly detailed bill that affects such a small portion of the nations population is likely to fall ill with that most deadly of congressional diseases: indifference.

Thats why it is even more important that all three of Montanas congressional delegates, who have expressed various degrees of support for the compact in the past, work together to keep this compact alive and to push for its successful passage  as well as Montanas other outstanding water compacts. It is past time to wrap up the last of Montanas seven tribal water compacts, and provide water rights holders throughout the state with the assurance they deserve that their rights will not be disputed as water becomes ever more valuable.

***

The entire purpose of the compact is to provide that assurance by finally settling historic water rights on and off the Flathead Reservation. It also resolves the tribes water claims with both the state and with the federal government, avoiding immeasurable litigation costs.

The compact will allow drinking water and wastewater systems in the region to receive necessary upgrades, as well as irrigation and water infrastructure though the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project. It also establishes funds for the expansion of agriculture development, from livestock barriers to noxious weed control.

CSKT Tribal Chairman Vernon Finley says the infrastructure and restoration projects will combine to create over 6,330 jobs and an economic impact of $52.9 million per yearproviding a major boost to the economy while enhancing the regions landscape and ecosystem.

Further, Finley says, This legislation also helps remedy some of the devastating impacts to our culture and children caused by failed federal policies relating to the water resources of the Tribes by supporting our cultural and educational programs.

According to a description from Testers office, the compact will also:

 Establish the right for CSKT to develop and market any hydroelectric power generation projects within the Flathead Reservation

 Quantify CSKTs allocation of water rights and usage for the Hungry Horse Reservoir

 Protect the water rights and allocation for existing on-reservation irrigation users

 Provide for water leasing allocations off of the Flathead Reservation

 Protect fishing habitats by establishing CSKT and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as co-owners for existing off-reservation basins

 Establish the Unitary Administration and Management Ordinance and Water Management Board to administer water rights on the Flathead Reservation

For these reasons and others, the compact has earned strong bipartisan support throughout Montana. Sen. Chas Vincent, a Libby Republican, introduced the bill into the 2015 Legislature and deserves the credit for educating legislators on the particulars of Senate Bill 262.

***

The compact has bipartisan support outside the legislature as well, from the Montana Farmers Union and Montana Stockgrowers Association, local elected officials, tribal officials and conservation groups. Montana's Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock supports the compact, as does Montana's Republican Attorney General Tim Fox.

Now, Montanas bipartisan congressional delegation must guide it through Congress.

Unfortunately, Congress has done a poor job of ratifying Montanas previous tribal compacts. The first to test Congress, the compact for the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, was passed by the Montana Legislature in 1985 and never ratified by Congress. It was allowed to take effect only because it was not attached to federal funding.

Congress has taken no action on the compact for Fort Belknap. The Blackfeet Water Compact sponsored by Tester was approved by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and will hopefully receive a floor vote some time before the next decade. Meanwhile, the House Natural Resource Committee, of which U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke is a member, has gone so far as to hold a hearing on the Blackfeet compact.

Technically, if a compact is not ratified within four years of the governors signing, it may be withdrawn. That may be exactly what opponents of the CSKT Water Compact hoping for.

Zinke, Tester and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines must not allow the passage of time and the leaky dam of Congress to endanger the hard work, countless hours and expert involvement that went into this water compact. Ultimately, its really not that complicated.
What's all the fuss? I personally think some portion of transgenderism is a result of mental illness, when a kid of 5 years old wants to be of the opposite sex after watching Cinderella or Batman and their parent says, "OK, you're a boy," then it's the parents mental illness being foisted on the child.

One in 1,500 to 2,000 is born, blessing or curse, with a physical difference or even a chromosome difference; they are part of America and should be embraced and accommodated. But that shouldn't require building a third bathroom at billions of cost. We can embrace those folks more easily than we properly embraced the handicapped.

Having just returned from Belgium and the Netherlands, where most bathrooms are communal as to the sinks and soap and private as to the stalls, with floor-to-ceiling enclosures of toilets, it works just fine and you have privacy.

The cost would be minimal: removal of open urinals and/or a stall to replace where feasible, no new space, new fixtures, new plumbing. What's so tough about that? Another problem solved with that missing ingredient in American society: common sense.

L. J. Martin,

Clinton
It seems that the goal of those who want to save the old Mercantile building is to preserve its charm and character in our downtown. Since no business seems to be able to afford remediating all the issues of the old building, perhaps there is another way to meet citizens concerns.

As it is now, it seems like anything goes when it comes to architectural design in downtown. However, if the city developed building guidelines for the greater downtown area that required new or refurbished buildings to match the architectural charm and character of our older downtown buildings, it would alleviate many fears and help keep Missoula unique. Without that, it we could end up with another building downtown that is as aesthetically pleasing as the new Verizon store.

The city of Whitefish has building ordinances that require even chain stores and franchises to meet strict building guidelines. Leavenworth, Washington, has very strict building design rules but that hasnt stopped development.

We can preserve the special, turn-of-the-century (late 1800 to early 1900) charm of our downtown and still allow development. We can preserve Missoula history, prevent inappropriate architecture and allay citizens fears for the future.

I hope that city council will start drafting effective building guidelines soon.

I would propose that:

 The Greater Downtown Area be defined as: from Railroad Street south to Sixth Street, and from Van Buren west to Orange Street.

 There be requirements for imitating pediments, cornices, sills, etc. to mirror those of old, stately buildings.

 Building materials should meld with the old. Somehow, stark steel, glass and corrugated sheet metal look really awkward and outlandish next to the meticulous, patina-d architectural detail of most of our old, cherished buildings.

You can try to preserve old buildings at high cost, or you can require new buildings to look like they belong.

Lorena Hillis,

Missoula
May 28, I saw on the television news the story that 35 violent protesters had been arrested while demonstrating in San Diego, California. While we hear of these arrests quite frequently, we never seem to hear what penalty they pay. Do they pay any penalty? Are they released the next day?

I have been asked several times why the protesters are throwing rocks at the police, vandalizing property and looting stores. My answer has always been the same: Because they can. I am then asked, what do you mean? I tell them that probably the protesters are living off the government programs paid for by the working people in this country. Therefore, they have the time to attend these functions while working people have to work and provide for their families.

What is the answer to this problem? Maybe if the violent protesters who are arrested lost their eligibility to receive these government programs it might help persuade them to be peaceful in the future.

Dave Nickerson,

Victor
HELENA  The Democratic Governors Association has sent nearly two dozen payments to Gov. Steve Bullock and his campaign aides since 2013, including thousands of dollars paid to a current governors office staffer and a current Bullock cabinet member.

Two of those payments, totaling a little over $2,000, were sent directly to Bullock, who served separate yearlong stints as chairman of the Washington D.C.-based political advocacy group and head of its major donors program. The rest went toward travel, lodging and housing expenses paid to members of Bullocks inner circle.

"The DGA and the RGA both reimburse governors and staffers for travel to events and policy conferences," said Jared Leopold, communications director for the DGA. "Similarly, the Republican Attorneys General Association has reimbursed the Montana Attorney General for his travel to events. The reimbursements ... all fit that category."

Leopold did not answer questions about which specific events the Bullock staffers traveled to.

Bullock said through a spokeswoman that his staff "does not engage in political activity on state time."

He declined to respond to other questions posed by the Independent Record, as did each of the staffers and campaign aides who received a check from the DGA.

Leopold said the events to which the staffers traveled were "opportunities for governors to highlight their states to policy leaders from around the country."

***

The DGA is the sole financial backer behind a pair of PACs that accounted for more than half of all expenditures reported by state-registered political committees ahead of this weeks primary elections.

The group has also reported some $278,000 in payments sent to political vendors shared with the Bullock campaign.

Questions posed to the DGA about those vendors were referred to a Washington D.C.-based campaign finance attorney who said the group qualified as a "coordinated-side" political committee that can, unlike PACs which directly advertise to voters, legally coordinate campaign activities with Montana political candidates.

"The Federal Election Commission anticipates coordination between organizations on the 'coordinated side' and candidates," Leopold added. "This is how Donald Trump is able to work with the RNC, for example."

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl, Montana's top political regulator, wasn't so sure.

"If they are the functional equivalent of a political party committee, then nobody's asked me that question," Motl said. "The first thing I would do is say 'give me your bylaws.'

"I can't say if they are or aren't (a political party committee). It does sound like they've studied it and they believe they're OK."

***

Tax filings submitted between May 2013 and December 2014 show the DGA sent at least one four-figure check to former top Bullock staffers Kevin O'Brien and Tim Burton, as well as current deputy chief of staff Ali Bovingdon.

State campaign filings show O'Brien, who now works for the DGA, served as Bullocks campaign treasurer from mid-2011 through the end of 2014, a period that saw the governors former deputy chief of staff receive almost $18,000 in payments from the DGA.

Bullock began a yearlong stint as head of the DGA just weeks ahead of OBriens exit, a stretch that saw the group send more than $1,900 in travel expenses to Montana Department of Commerce Director Meg O'Leary.

An archived version of the events calendar on the DGAs website shows the only event scheduled the month of OLearys reported travel payment was a policy conference in Puerto Rico.

The first-term governor also oversaw roughly $86,000 in payments made by the largely corporate- and union-funded group to Melanie Brock, his 2012 campaign finance director and a paid fundraising consultant for his re-election campaign.

DGA spokesman Leopold said Friday his group "works with consultants around the country," and said the payments to Brock did not represent any conflict.

***

Tax filings show that under Bullocks tenure, the DGA spent 32 percent more on Montana-bound travel, catering and in-kind expenses than it did under ex-chair and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Under Schweitzer, the DGA didnt report any spending on Montana-based consultants. Such payments, sent only to Brock, accounted for 30 cents of every dollar the PAC spent in Montana during Bullocks chairmanship.

Leopold said the group, "like any business," pays its bills when the bills come in.

He did not answer questions about one such bill paid on a day Bullocks campaign treasurer and chief of staff  along with a dozen former politicians, lobbyists, health care industry professionals and consultants  were signed into the register at a shooting preserve near Moore, part of an apparent pen-raised pheasant hunt that took place on a Friday in September 2014.

That same day, a normal business day for most state workers, IRS tax filings show the DGA reported an $8,704 payment for in-kind facilities provided by the same shooting preserve in Moore.

DGA had no Montana events scheduled in September 2014 and none of its employees joined Bullocks staffers on that days register.

Less than a month later, the Bullock camp reported an undated in-kind contribution from the shooting preserve's owner, totaling more than $1,000 in "event costs, food and drinks.

***

Bullock has paid more than $211,000 to travel, media and consulting vendors shared with the DGA since the start of his re-election bid  sometimes within days or hours of the group reporting expenses paid to vendors for the same or similar services.

Leopold stressed that sharing vendors between the campaign and the DGA was legal and to be expected.

In March, Bullock reported a $650 in-kind contribution for event, food and room rental services provided by Butte-based Headframe Spirits. Roughly a month later, the DGA reported cutting a $2,600 check for in-kind event services provided by the same distillery.

Another vendor shared by the two, Missoula-based charter air carrier Neptune Aviation Services, has received nearly $47,000 in payments for in-kind transportation services provided to the DGA over the past two years. The latest check cut to Neptune, for almost $26,000, was reported on the same day the Bullock campaign reported a roughly $4,400 payment to the same company.

Ten days later, Bullock reported a $13,333.34 research expenditure sent to a DGA-contracted polling firm. Eighteen days after that, the DGAs Montana branch sent a $13,333.33 payment to the same company for the same purpose.

***

Such common campaign connections havent gone unnoticed in the past.

Some of the shared vendors listed on Bullocks re-election campaign reports, including fundraising consultant Brock, were named in a 2012 campaign complaint that alleged the governor illegally coordinated campaign activities with third-party groups that made independent expenditures supporting him through the same consulting firm.

But Motl, a Bullock appointee, found in his dismissal of the complaint that calls Bullock placed to a PAC-affiliated consulting firm did not qualify as evidence of coordination, because that firm had instituted a firewall separation between its candidate campaign and PAC activities.

Vendors shared by the governors re-election campaign and the DGA have not filed a similar firewall policy with state political regulators. The DGA says that is not necessary because shared vendors between DGA and campaigns are legal and unrestricted.

***

Bullocks past efforts to stanch the flow of undisclosed funds in Montana elections has become a major plank in his campaign platform, as well as a talking point for supporters who have criticized Republican challenger Greg Gianfortes March appearance at a PAC fundraiser in Washington, D.C.

Money supplied to such PACs by governors associations on both sides of the aisle has paid for much-discussed TV ads slamming the Bullock campaigns use of a state-funded airplane, as well as spots bashing Gianfortes tax plan.

Gianforte, who has sworn off PAC and party political committee contributions, has came under fire from political opponents for $150,000 he's given to the Republican Governors Association over the past four years. A spokesman for the GOP candidate called such criticisms a "false and desperate distraction," but did not directly answer questions about whether those donations were made in exchange for PAC-funded attack ads.
HELENA  Rachel was feeling a little stressed out.

She and her boyfriend had returned to their apartment late at night and had a confrontation with her landlady, who had entered their unit without their permission. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and Rachel was trying to deal with it as best she could.

After about a half hour of working with horses, she left feeling better and with a new approach on how to deal with such problems in the future.

Rachel, 30, is part of the Montana Veterans Affairs Equine Assisted Psychotherapy program in an arena outside of Helena. The five-year Navy veteran said she is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.

"It's not the same as a normal counseling session," Rachel said. "It makes you think outside the box."

Rachel's real name is not being used for this story, nor is her face being shown in any of the photographs, in order to protect her privacy as she goes through counseling.

She is part of a unique program offered through the VA Montana Health Care System in which equine-assisted psychotherapy, also called EAP, is offered to veterans. Officials say it's the only fully leased and operated program of its kind by the VA.

***

The program started in 2013 and follows the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) model, according to information provided by the VA. The program blends the skills of a licensed therapist and a horse professional. Some of the mental health issues that can be treated include PTSD, depression, substance abuse and attention deficit disorder.

The EAGALA model believes all clients have the best solutions for themselves when given the opportunity to discover them, VA Montana officials said. Clients experiment, problem-solve, take risks, use creativity and find solutions that work best for them.

The Montana VA program is different than more common animal-assisted recreational therapy programs in that it is nationally accredited and the therapy is provided by a licensed behavioral health provider, officials said.

"It's effective," said April Brazill, an equine specialist, adding spouses say that the best thing about the program is that it decreases the symptoms. She said nearly 175 veterans participate in the program a year.

Brazill said it was local VA leadership that allowed them to start a pilot program.

***

Rachel said she tries to apply the advice given to her by counselors and "they observe how the horses respond to me."

She said she has brought her boyfriend to sessions to work on improving their communication.

The horses are not specially trained, the counselors said.

Two horses waited for her inside the barn. Clients are not told the horses' names or gender, to avoid any preconceived notions, counselors said.

"They want us to form our own opinion," Rachel said.

She notices a miniature donkey that's particularly headstrong is not in the barn that day.

"It's definitely the most stubborn," Rachel said.

Carl Cossitt, a licensed clinical social worker, said they are trying to get Rachel to think of a horse as a metaphor for her landlord.

One horse that afternoon is particularly friendly and likes to nuzzle. The other is a little more standoffish and yawns repeatedly, showing some pretty good-sized teeth.

"One horse represents how things go smooth and the other is more difficult," Cossitt said.

***

Rachel, who up until a year ago had been living in her car, said she rode horses while growing up, but never owned one.

"I wasn't a horse connoisseur or a horse whisperer," she said.

Horses present a lot of issues, Brazill said, adding they have different personalities.

"The beauty of them is they pick up on the nonverbal communication," she said. "The horse gives us a raw, natural instant response and gives the veteran instant feedback."

Cossitt agreed.

"You get to see it as it happens," he said. "We just cut to the chase so much quicker."

He said the exercises are "not so much about controlling the horses as much as it is about learning about yourself."

Rachel realizes the horses can pick up on her emotions.

"You can't get frustrated around them," she said. "You have to be calm. I've learned to keep trying."

***

On this day Rachel is told to coax the horses to move from one area to another. She is given various knickknacks to use such as Styrofoam tubes. Without her knowing, the counselors have removed a rope she likes to use from the arsenal. They later joke about her reaction upon learning the rope was gone.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who has nine veterans on his staff, recently toured the center and went through a session.

"This is a made-in-Montana solution for veterans who suffer service-related injuries, such as brain injuries and PTSD," he said.

"I think there is an important connection made between a veteran and an animal," Daines said, adding he had horses while growing up.

"I think it helps take the focus off your current problems," he said.

Daines said there are 100,000 veterans in Montana, and 22 veterans commit suicide daily nationwide.

"Anything we can do to help veterans is a positive thing," he said. Daines said he also thought a positive result of the therapy was to let veterans know they "are not walking this path alone. They are dealing with horses and some other team members."

Daines noted that horses were used as a therapeutic aid going to back to the ancient Greeks, and Hypocrites discussed therapeutic value of horses.

By the end of the day Rachel talks through her emotions with the counselors and how she will deal with landlord problems in the future.

"I always leave here with a sense of accomplishment," she said.
BILLINGS  A federal judge recently ruled in favor of a Billings police officer and the city of Billings in a wrongful death lawsuit in which the officer fatally shot a man who was attempting to flee in the officer's police vehicle.

Senior U.S. District Judge Don Molloy of Missoula found that Billings Police Officer David Punt was entitled to qualified immunity and that the plaintiffs claim of municipal liability against the city lacked merit.

Molloy granted Punts and the citys motions for summary judgment in a 31-page order issued May 11.

While the judge ruled for Punt and the city, Molloy expressed frustration with case law on deadly force vehicle chases.

In my view, this case should be tried by a jury. However, in light of our Supreme Courts cases on deadly force in car chases, it wont be, he said.

The lawsuit initially was filed in state District Court in December 2014 by Billings attorney Brad Arndorfer on behalf of Heather Brawley. The case was later transferred to federal court.

Arndorfer said no decision had been made on whether to appeal the ruling. Attorneys for the city and Punt could not be reached for comment.

***

Heather Brawley alleged that Punt unlawfully shot and killed her husband, Daniel, as he was driving Punts police cruiser after getting loose from zip-tie-like flex cuffs and climbing into the drivers seat. Punt had taken Brawley into custody and placed him in the back seat.

Punts actions, Heather Brawley said, violated her husbands constitutional rights to due process and to be free from unreasonable or excessive force.

The Jan. 6, 2013, shooting occurred as Brawley tried to flee in Punts patrol car after being arrested in the wake of a three-hour standoff stemming from a burglary investigation on the 800 block of Miles Avenue. Punt had left Brawley in his vehicle, which had two loaded firearms and the keys in the ignition, to go talk to other officers at the scene.

When Punt realized Brawley was trying to flee, he ran to his cruiser, got hit in a glancing way as Brawley was backing up and fell to the ground. Brawley put the car into drive and tried to go forward. Punt got up, ran toward his cruiser and fired his service weapon nine times. Brawley was hit once and died from a single gunshot wound that struck him in the armpit.

Molloy ruled for Punt saying that even if the use of force was not objectively reasonable, the law at the time did not clearly establish that Officer Punts conduct would violate the Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court has always found that an officer is entitled to qualified immunity in a shooting involving a fleeing vehicle, Molloy said. And the high court always holds that the law in such cases was not clearly established, he said.

The law would only be clearly established for the Brawley case if the facts were so different from other case law as to make it distinguishable or if there had been a significant change in the law between 2010 and 2013, Molloy said. Neither is the case here, he added.

Qualified immunity protects officials from civil liability as long as their conduct does not violate clearly established law or constitutional rights. A clearly established right is one in which a reasonable officer would know that his actions would violate that right, the Supreme Court has said.

And in ruling for the city, the judge said that Billings Police Chief Rich St. Johns actions do not show that he made a conscious, affirmative choice to approve Officer Punts actions and to adopt them as City policy, both of which are necessary to establish municipal liability.

Molloy said the parties disputed Punts location to the cruiser at the time Brawley tried to escape. Punt, he said, insisted he was in the direct line of the vehicle and feared for his life.

***

Heather Brawley claimed the cruiser did not face Punt as it accelerated forward and was headed down the street, away from Punt and other law enforcement officers.

Video footage, the judge said, did not blatantly contradict nor affirm either parties view of the facts.

Molloy said the issue was whether Brawley posed a threat to Punt. Construing the facts in the plaintiffs favor insofar as they are consistent with the video footage  a jury could conclude that he did not, he said.

When Punt fired his gun, the cruiser was parallel to him as the first and fatal shot went through the passenger window and hit Brawley, Molloy said. Punt continued shooting at the right side and rear of the cruiser as it accelerated down the street before crashing.

None of the many officers on the scene drew a weapon or fired a shot despite seeing, or hearing, the whole incident play out, Molloy said.

Referring to similar situations in three other cases, Molloy said that a reasonable jury could conclude that Punt was not in immediate danger at the time he fired.

The next issue was whether Brawley posed an immediate threat to others.

Considering the circumstances of this case in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, a jury could conclude that Brawley was not an immediate threat to Officer Punt or others at the time he was shot and killed. Even if a jury determined that he posed a threat, it could find that Officer Punts response to that threat was unreasonable, Molloy said.

The judge said that while he disagreed, Punt was entitled to qualified immunity even if he was mistaken in the level of force reasonable under the circumstances.

Molloy also expressed his frustration with the case calling it vexing that applicable law in this all-to-common scenario remains unclear despite at least four Supreme Court decisions and over 30 circuit court decisions addressing the use of deadly force in vehicular flight situations.

Molloy said, A far better resolution is to let a jury decide if the fleeing suspect is fair game for the use of deadly force.
BILLINGS  Some state legislative leaders are frustrated by the silence from the FBI and the BIA on an investigation into a woman found badly burned in April on the Crow Reservation.

Leaders in the state Democratic party and local state legislators met with Crow Nation leaders recently to discuss the issues facing their community.

House Minority Whip Jenny Eck said during the meeting the fact that a badly burned woman was found on the reservation was news to her.

She and several other legislators expressed shock at the lack of information coming from the FBI and the BIA regarding the crime.

"If this had happened to a child in any other community it would be national news," Eck said. "Here we are, elected officials in Montana, and that was the first we had heard of it."

Rep. Carolyn Pease-Lopez is a Crow tribal member and a state representative for the House District 42. She has served in the Montana Legislature since 2009. She said details are always scarce when it comes to crimes committed on the Crow Reservation.

"I want to know the FBI cares," Pease-Lopez said. "Why didn't they come forward and let the public know this terrible thing had happened?"

Pease-Lopez said the way information is kept from the public makes it look like the federal government believes human life has less value on the reservation. She said victims off the reservation are made human through stories about their families and friends. The way victims on the reservation are treated makes their deaths and assaults anonymous.

***

Native American women are 10 times as likely to be murdered as other U.S. citizens, and are sexually assaulted at 4 times the national average, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Indian Law and Order Commission.

Almost no information has been officially released about the victim, who was found between Lodge Grass and Busby, Pease-Lopez said.

"They don't investigate women being killed on the reservation," Pease-Lopez said. "We want to know one human being is worth as much on the reservation as off."

The FBI has released this statement about the incident.

"The victim is being treated for her injuries. The FBI and the BIA continue to conduct a joint investigation. We cannot release any further information due to the ongoing nature of the case."

When asked for the date of the incident and the location, the FBI said it was going to "stick to the statement" given. The FBI said to continue to check with them regarding more information in the future. That was almost a month ago.

Friday, the FBI said they could provide no new information but said the investigation was ongoing.

Melissa Hornbein, public information officer for the Montana U.S. Attorney's office, also said they could not provide any information.

***

Eck said Crow tribal leaders felt they were at the mercy of the drug cartels, who they said are trafficking drugs through their reservation.

"We need to pay attention and need to keep asking questions and pushing on these issues," Eck said.

Tribal members pay state taxes just like anybody in Montana and need to get more resources from the state to help them with the drug crisis they are dealing with, Eck said. The rest of the state is not immune to the problems on the reservations, she said.

House District 51 Rep. Kelly McCarthy said tribal leaders at the leadership meeting included Dana Wilson, vice chairman of the Crow Tribe, Sean Real Bird, a tribal council member, and C.J. Stewart, who handles energy policy for the tribe.

McCarthy said when he has contacted federal agencies involved with the Native American reservations, he has never had a call returned.

"I'm not saying I'm especially important, but the feeling I get is they are the Feds and I'm the state so they don't have to respond to me," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the lack of information coming out about crimes committed in Indian Country hides how desperate and dangerous things are getting in those communities.

"They have one BIA agent to patrol the (Crow) reservation," McCarthy said. "So if you've got one guy on him, you can operate without any harm to you."

***

According to the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act, fewer than 3,000 tribal and federal law enforcement officers patrol more than 56 million acres of Indian Country, which reflects less than half of the law enforcement presence in comparable rural communities nationwide.

McCarthy said the tribes are also hindered by the the General Crimes Act, which gives the federal government exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute all crimes committed by nontribal members against tribal victims in Native American nations. This excludes minor crimes.

Rumors have swirled within the Crow tribe about the woman's assault, Pease-Lopez said. Family members willing to come forward and make statements have now become silent. A GoFundMe page set up for the victim has a photo of the woman and a 241-character message.

"Our loved one was hurt and as family we want to help raise money for her recovery. ... She has 6 beautiful children. ... With the assault and burns she will require skin graphs (sic). ... Sorry not much detail. ... Thanks for your help, love and generosity."

The only information Pease-Lopez sees now comes from social media.

"That is supposed to be secondary," Pease-Lopez said. "I don't know what the rationale is for keeping this quiet."

McCarthy helped organize the conversations between leaders in the state Democratic party and local state legislatures. The legislators visited with Crow tribal leaders, Northern Cheyenne tribal leaders and people in the Colstrip community.

In 2014, of the 294 crimes investigated by the FBI on Montana Indian reservations, 169 reached federal court, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Indian Country Investigations and prosecutions report. That is 57 percent of crimes investigated by the FBI.
Wendy Wilson from Meadow Hill Middle School was named the Middle School Teacher of the Year by the Shape Montana organization in recognition of her ability to motivate the youth of Missoula to participate in lifetime physical activity and wellness. She was nominated by Paula Baker of the American Heart Association. Wilson will represent Montana at the Northwest District level of competition.

***

Michele Riordan and Maureen Karlin of Hawthorne Elementary School have been selected by the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association to be trained at the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. They will join 154 third- through fifth-grade teachers from across the nation from July 17-22 for this one-week, all-expense paid professional development opportunity.

***

Madelaine Millar of Hellgate High School was selected as a member of the 2016 Macys Great American Marching Band. She will join students from every state in New York City to march in the 90th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade this fall. Millar will be a member of the color guard.

***

Nathanael Jourdonnais of Missoula was one of 100 youth volunteers from across the country honored in the nations capital recently for their outstanding volunteer service during the 21st annual presentation of The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Each received a $1,000 award at an award ceremony and gala dinner reception held at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History.

A graduating senior at Big Sky High School, Jourdonnais organized a nine-month project to build a bike shelter in downtown Missoula so that bicycle commuters and recreational cyclists would have a convenient place to lock and protect their bikes.

***

The Montana Restaurant Association Education Foundation has named Tina Wetsch of Drummond High School a 2016 National ProStart Educator of Excellence. The award honors excellence in the classroom and passion, commitment and creativity in all aspects of the ProStart program. Wetsch has partnered with Parkers Family Restaurant in Drummond to provide her consumer sciences students hands-on experience.

***

Three Missoula International School students won prizes from the Montana Energy Education Council for their energy-related science fair projects entered in the 2016 Montana State Science Fair held recently at the University of Montana. Elizabeth Jenni was awarded the Eighth Grade First Place Energy Award for her project titled Distance of Resistance: How the Length of a Resistor Affects the Output of Light. Will Erving received the Eighth Grade Second Place Energy Award for his study on Classy Glass: Improving Energy Efficiency with Advanced Window Designs. Oliver Beck took the Seventh Grade Second Place Energy Award for his study of How the Amount of Volts and Amps Respond to the Form of a Battery.

***

Graduated

University of Mary, Bismarck, North Dakota: Blaire Brookshire, Stevensville.

Azusa Pacific University, California: Emily Wilson, Kalispell.

University of Jamestown, North Dakota: Jacoby Holte, Columbia Falls; Emerald Gyuricza, Missoula; Megan Kratofil, Hamilton.

St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York: Anna Carpenter, Whitefish.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design: Kayla Campbell, Missoula.

***

Deans List

Fort Hays State University, Kansas: Jeremy Treib, Missoula.

University of Vermont, Burlington: Samantha Sayer, Missoula.

Dickinson State University, North Dakota: Morgan Lutz, Potomac; Cain Boschee, Kalispell.

***

Compiled by Mary Gerber, Missoulian
BUTTE  A pretrial hearing for ex-Navy SEAL Rob ONeill, who denied driving under the influence in April, has been continued for two weeks, according to Butte city court records.

A hearing date was not scheduled as of Friday, when a pretrial hearing had been scheduled.

ONeill, 40, told Butte-Silver Bow police that he took a prescribed sleep aid before he was found sleeping behind the wheel of a Nissan Sentra at a Town Pump convenience store on April 8. Several customers had alerted a clerk that a man was asleep in the running vehicle.

A police report stated that the Butte native was hazy about whether he had imbibed or taken Ambien, a prescription drug used to treat insomnia, and where he had traveled from to his hometown.

ONeill was arrested and later refused a Breathalyzer test. He pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor DUI, a first offense, the day of the incident.

In a statement released by his public relations firm, ONeill said he took a prescribed sleep aid to help with long-standing insomnia.

While the timing was bad and I highly regret this decision, I am innocent of the charge and have entered a plea of not guilty. I am confident I will soon be cleared of this matter, he said.

Montana State University canceled a speaking engagement after ONeills arrest, citing unforeseen circumstances. His speaking fee of $28,000 was paid from a taxpayer-supported general fund.

ONeill has claimed he killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a U.S.-led attack in Pakistan in 2011.
HAMILTON  The Ravalli County attorneys office is not interested in giving Dr. Chris Christensen a second continuance on his trial for 400 felonies, including negligent homicide.

Christensen recently asked for a six-month stay in his case, a years delay in the trial, return of cash and other items seized from his office and relief from his $200,000 bond.

Deputy County Attorney Thorin Geists response to Christensens motion last week could be summarized in a word  no.

Christensen was arrested in August 2015 for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to his patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Initially, Christensen was represented by a public defender, but District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton concluded that he was not indigent and allowed the Office of Public Defenders to rescind their appointment last December.

During four status hearings since that decision, Christensen said he was still seeking legal representation and claimed that he was considering filing bankruptcy, which could reopen the potential of requesting a public defender.

Geists response said Christensen has yet to file for bankruptcy or reapply for a public defender or hire a private attorney.

At several hearings, Christensen has maintained that he had no desire to represent himself in the complicated case.

Geist asked the court to set a hearing in which Christensen should appear with counsel to show why the matter shouldnt proceed to trial.

If Christensen fails to appear with counsel, Geist said he will ask the court to conduct an inquiry into Christensens level of diligence in finding an attorney.

If the court finds that Christensen hasnt been diligent in finding an attorney, then Geist said the court should conclude that he has waived his right to counsel.

In his motion, Christensen said that he essentially faces a death sentence in this case because if hes convicted, he would likely die in prison.

Christensen faces a prison term of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges.

In his response, Geist agreed that Christensen will, more probably than not, die in prison if he is convicted, but the sentencing range hasnt changed since the day he was charged.

The fact that the defendant (Christensen) has elected to play Russian roulette  by not taking the simple step of retaining counsel  does not constitute good cause to continue the trial date a second time, Geist wrote.

Christensens trial was originally set for February, but was continued to Oct. 20 at Christensens request at a time when he was still being represented by the state Office of Public Defenders.

Geist said Christensen has had five months to retain an attorney, but, by his own admission, has only interviewed three in that time period.

Christensen has also told the court that he plans to file for bankruptcy and believes that will help his chances of getting a public defender. Geist said he hasnt done that either.

The defendants lack of diligence does not constitute good cause to continue the trial date again, Geist wrote.

Geist also objected to giving Christensen back $2,000 seized from his business. He said that money is proceeds from drug sales and will be used as evidence in the trial.

Considering the charges and the potential sentence, Geist said Christensens request for exoneration of bond should be denied as well.

Nothing about the defendants conduct in this case merits the Courts trust,  Geist wrote. The District Court originally set bail in the amount of $200,000 and imposed certain conditions of release including that he would not practice medicine without approval from the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. The defendant almost immediately violated the District Courts order and started practicing medicine without the approval of the MBME.
Draught Works Brewery will soon be able to stay open later into the evening following a vote by the Missoula City Council to approve a conditi
Duggan Dolan

CAVANAUGH  Friends of Mrs. Joan Clare Cavanaugh are asked to join the family on Thursday after 5 p.m. in the Duggan Dolan Mortuary chapel. Parish vigil will be recited at 7 p.m. Funeral mass will be celebrated on Friday at 11 a.m. in St. Anns Catholic Church. Cremation will follow mass with rite of committal to take place in the mausoleum at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery at a later date.

ANDREWS  Friends of Mr. John Franklin Andrews are asked to join the family Friday after 5 p.m. in Holy Family Catholic Church, located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Anaconda. Funeral mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 10 a.m. with rite of committal to follow in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

HARRINGTON  Mrs. Judith Joan Judy Harrington passed away on Saturday evening at the Crest Nursing Home. Funeral mass will be celebrated on Friday at 1 p.m. at St. Anns Catholic Church. Cremation will follow the mass with rite of committal to take place in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery at a later date. A complete obituary and further service information will be published in the Wednesday edition of The Montana Standard.

FEENEY  Mr. Michael Joseph Patrick Feeney passed away on May 31 near Flagstaff, Arizona. Funeral mass was celebrated at St. Gregorys Catholic Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Rite of committal will be recited on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery.
Mine disaster commemoration set

Ninety-nine years ago, on June 8, 1917, the greatest loss of life in hard-rock mining history happened in Butte, Montana, when 168 men died in the Granite Mountain-Speculator fire.

Church bells in Butte will ring on June 8 at noon to commemorate this disaster that impacted our city nearly a century ago.

In addition, the mine whistle from the Orphan Girl mine, recently restored by the World Museum of Mining, will also blow to honor all Butte miners.

In 2017, the 100th anniversary of this tragedy will be observed in Butte on a large scale. Memorial bricks can be ordered by calling 406-494-3841.

Creek reclamation tour Saturday

A tour of Silver Bow Creek reclamation is planned Saturday, June 11.

Mine waste removal and restoration of native vegetation along the Silver Bow Creek Superfund corridor has been underway for nearly 20 years but is now coming to an end.

Montana Native Plant Society's Calypso Chapter member Rich Prodgers of Bighorn Environmental will lead the trip. Learn what has worked and what has not. Be prepared for walking in wet areas and for variable weather conditions.

Details on time and place to meet: Rich at 406-683-6529 or bighornenv@centurylink.net.

Clancys Day slated June 11

CLANCY  Clancys Day runs Saturday, June 11, starting at 8 a.m. with homemade cinnamon rolls at the Methodist Church.

Also planned are a car show; heritage activities including candle-making, weaving, gold panning, and music from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; kids games beginning at 10 a.m.; barbecue hosted by the Clancy Boy Scouts at 11 a.m.; parade at noon; book sale; and open horseshoe tournament.

Other activities include appearances by mascots from Jefferson High School, the BigHorns and Brewers, JHS living statues, athletes and cheerleaders, JHS and Clancy School bands, the Hellz Bellz Roller Derby Team, chicken bingo and a dunk tank, a fully furnished chuckwagon with demonstrations, and samples of Dutch-oven cobbler with musical accompaniment, information booths, arts, crafts, antique and rummage sale booths, and more. Details: Mickey at 406-459-2615.

Eyeglasses, hearing aids to be collected

The Butte Mile Hi Lions Club will celebrate its annual White Cane Day on Saturday, June 11. Members of the Lions Club will be located at K-Mart and Walmart where they will collect used eyeglasses and hearing-aid donations for the Montana Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation. The hours of the collection will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
If you follow your local news, you probably read or heard stories about a technical problem causing significant challenges with MTGives Day and the other give local efforts in Montana and across the country. The online platform failure prevented give local sites from being able to process online donations, or at best, process them with huge delays. Theres no denying this led to a significant reduction in the number of donations and funds raised for nonprofit organizations in our state and many others. Montana Community Foundation apologizes for this  plain and simple. While we did not provide the technology and had no control over the events which led to the technical issues with the websites, as an organizer and promoter of the event we feel terrible this happened.

What we dont feel terrible about is the determination and resilience of our fellow Montanans. Despite this website crash, MTGives and the other give local events in the Gallatin Valley, Flathead, Helena, Missoula and Yellowstone saw some extraordinary successes. By pulling together, sharing ideas and information, acting quickly and getting creative, and most of all, showing the strength Montanans have in the face of adversity, the giving day turned into a success few could have imagined.

Columbus, a town with fewer than 2,000 residents whose goal was to raise $1,000 in their first give local effort, raised more than $25,000. Helena, which raised $55,000 last year, raised more than $62,000 this year. And the Bozeman Area Community Foundations Give Big Gallatin Valley give local event? Their goal was to raise $300,000 this year and they managed to shatter that by raising an incredible $420,000. While the final numbers wont be tallied for some time due to the technical issues and alternative methods of donating we all employed, were happy to report Montanans came together and raised approximately $880,000 through MTGives and other give local events across the state. We firmly believe if it werent for the website crash, we would have met and likely exceeded our $1 million goal for the state. These funds go to support nonprofits that are vital to our communities.

If theres a silver lining to the malfunction itself, its that the problem was caused by an overwhelming number of people going online to give to their communities through a charitable donation to a local nonprofit. As Meredith Printz of the Missoula Community Foundation put it, We didnt expect you to break the internet with your generosity, but you did.

Who could have imagined we would still raise more than $880,000 for Montana nonprofits? Who could have imagined communities would raise more than they did last year? Who could have imagined there were nonprofit organizations and communities that would surpass their donation goals? I dont think anyone imagined those things were possible in the thick of a website crash that began at 8 a.m. and continued the entire day, but those things did happen.

How did they happen? Montanans are a remarkable group of people and this is a remarkable place. We find ways to make the best of things and succeed in helping one another. Thats not something any of us have to imagine, thats something we are privileged to see and experience regularly in our great state. So thank you Montana  thank you for your support and generosity. It is a powerful, wonderful thing to behold.

-- Mary K. Rutherford, of Helena, Montana Community Foundation president and CEO since 2014, has more than 20 years of philanthropic leadership experience.
I listened to a local call-in show recently. There was an emergency room or trauma surgeon discussing and supporting the expansion of the current seat-belt law in Montana to make it a primary offense where you can be stopped and cited for not wearing a seat belt.

Some callers railed about their liberties or their rights, insisting on the right to be stupid.

We live in a civilized society where the populace can impose reasonable limits on what citizens can do.

When you were young you could sit in the outhouse and shoot tin cans off the porch. When you moved to the city, the neighbors in the form of local laws or statutes said that specified actions will not be allowed in the neighborhood, city, state or country.

To drive a vehicle on public roads, you must have a valid license, carry insurance, obey laws relating to speed and operation of the vehicle. The restraint systems in today's vehicles help ensure that the driver maintains control and reduces serious injury and death in case of an accident.

Several of the callers insisted that troopers, police and local sheriffs have nothing better to do than pull over malcontents who insist on not wearing their seat belts.

If you feel infringed upon, do not drive. If you do drive, buckle up.

-- John Horn, Helena
A recent newspaper article reported that 10 Republican legislators filed paperwork to convene a special legislative session to raise political contribution limits that they claim are "disproportionately low" compared to those of surrounding states. (Notably, every one of these legislators voted against Disclose Act campaign reforms that became law in 2015.)

First, who cares what the contribution limits are in surrounding states? Seems to me that Montana voters plainly indicated that they think there is already too much money floating around in politics when they approved Initiative-166 by 74.8 percent.

Second, under current rules, individuals can give $1,990 to candidates for governor, $530 for a state senator, and $330 for a state representative. Just how many ordinary Montanans are willing or able to contribute more than that?

Third, if Republicans can't raise enough campaign money within existing guidelines, maybe they need to find ways to expand their base of small donors. If legislators had to convince more small donors that their ideas were worth supporting, I doubt that a costly special legislative session to raise campaign contribution limits would be one of them.

-- Bob Balhiser, Helena
The sights and smells of summer are alive in Butte, America, but the budding limbs and unfolding flowers and grass that are growing now werent the first big changes on the Summit Valley scene in recent weeks.

They were all beat out by political signs that started popping up in January and have multiplied tenfold since, many fighting for looks in the same crowded fields and vacant lots throughout town.

This years field of county and legislative candidates  like all others in previous election years  has collectively spent thousands of dollars to put their names and faces on signs. On many campaign finance reports, theyre the first items listed in the expenditure column. They dont come cheap.

And those who just decide willy-nilly on how many to get and what they look like and where they go, well, do so at their own risk. Many candidates, including auditor hopeful Jeff Amerman, think strategically.

Instead of getting hundreds and hundreds of small signs made up, he got some small ones and some really, really big ones.

You still have to do the smaller ones, but the bigger ones are more visible, he said.

In crowded fields, Amerman says the bigger signs really stand out among others that are just sort of noise below.

There are seven people running for county auditor alone in Butte-Silver Bow and six running for chief executive. That means 13 different names floating around Butte for just those two offices.

One of the chief executive candidates  longtime county laborer Ron Sarge Rowling  cruises around Butte in a four-wheeler with a big, yellow campaign sign strapped to the back.

My wife and I painted it, he said. Its my advertisement.

It will be at Stodden Park for much of this weekend since he is umpiring several softball games. The only time he takes it off, he said, is when he takes a friend for an off-road ride.

He gets plenty of compliments on it, except when its dirty. Thats when hes told to wash it, he said.

Mark Reavis, who is also running for chief executive, is one of several candidates who said signs are simply a must-do if youre serious about getting elected.

Hes got signs with his picture scattered throughout town and one giant one gracing the side of a motor home. Turn the key, put it in drive, and you can move it anywhere  for a while, anyway.

This past Thursday afternoon it was parked in a vacant lot off Montana Street, just across the street from the Bonanza Freeze. Talk about a hot location this time of year.

Ive gotten some really good comments about my signs, the Butte architect said. I dont have that many out there. Its just my ugly mug with Butte in the background, and that is what I believe in.

The signs  as in everyones  are kind of out of control, he said with a laugh. But hey  its the political landscape in America.

There is a local ordinance that prohibits signs or placards or advertisements of any kind from being posted in Butte-Silver Bow parks without permission, said County Attorney Eileen Joyce.

Other rules are set in Montana law.

For example, political signs cannot be placed on any public right-of-way, and they cannot obstruct drivers or create traffic hazards. They cant be placed within 500 feet of primary highway intersections or resemble any official traffic sign, signal or device.

Actually, theyre only supposed to be placed on private property, and even then, only with permission of the owners. Theyre also supposed to be removed within 14 days following the election in question  in this case, Tuesdays primary.

Of course, Tuesday will only mean the end of the road for some candidates. Many will advance to the November general election, including the top two vote-getters for chief executive, auditor, and county superintendent of public instruction in Butte-Silver Bow.

Not all state laws on political signs are shall nots about them. One state law prohibits homeowners associations from barring political signs as a condition of property ownership.

Amerman said he has gotten permission to post all of his signs except the one on the corner of Texas and Shield avenues. That spot has been a traditional posting place for years and years, he said, and thats evident. Its perhaps the busiest display in town right now.

Dave Palmer, a longtime commissioner who is running for chief executive, said campaign signs come with the territory.

I think getting the word out and showing you are interested in the job is good, and youve got to catch peoples attention, Palmer said. They say you need to say things three times for people to remember it, so I think the more you get your name out there, the better off you are.

Of course, you cant just put them up and forget about them.

You need to water them well, Palmer said with a smile.
The Democratic Governors Association has sent nearly two dozen payments to Gov. Steve Bullock and his campaign aides since 2013, including thousands of dollars paid to a current governors office staffer and a current Bullock cabinet member.

Two of those payments, totaling a little over $2,000, were sent directly to Bullock, who served separate year-long stints as chairman of the Washington D.C.-based political advocacy group and head of its major donors program. The rest went toward travel, lodging and housing expenses paid to members of Bullocks inner circle.

"The DGA and the RGA both reimburse governors and staffers for travel to events and policy conferences," said Jared Leopold, communications director for the DGA. "Similarly, the Republican Attorneys General Association has reimbursed the Montana Attorney General for his travel to events. The reimbursements ... all fit that category."

Leopold did not answer questions about which specific events the Bullock staffers traveled to.

Bullock said through a spokeswoman that his staff "does not engage in political activity on state time."

He declined to respond to other questions posed by the Independent Record, as did each of the staffers and campaign aides who received a check from the DGA.

Leopold said the events to which the staffers traveled were "opportunities for governors to highlight their states to policy leaders from around the country."

The DGA is the sole financial backer behind a pair of PACs that accounted for more than half of all expenditures reported by state-registered political committees ahead of this weeks primary elections.

The group has also reported some $278,000 in payments sent to political vendors shared with the Bullock campaign.

Questions posed to the DGA about those vendors were referred to a Washington D.C.-based campaign finance attorney who said the group qualified as a "coordinated-side" political committee that can, unlike PACs, which directly advertise to voters, legally coordinate campaign activities with Montana political candidates.

"The Federal Election Commission anticipates coordination between organizations on the 'coordinated side' and candidates," Leopold added. "This is how Donald Trump is able to work with the RNC, for example."

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl, Montana's top political regulator, wasn't so sure.

"If they are the functional equivalent of a political party committee, then nobody's asked me that question," Motl said. "The first thing I would do is say 'give me your bylaws.'

"I can't say if they are or aren't (a political party committee). It does sound like they've studied it and they believe they're OK."

Top aides paid

Tax filings submitted between May 2013 and December 2014 show the DGA sent at least one four-figure check to former top Bullock staffers Kevin O'Brien and Tim Burton as well as current deputy chief of staff Ali Bovingdon.

State campaign filings show O'Brien, who now works for the DGA, served as Bullocks campaign treasurer from mid-2011 through the end of 2014, a period that saw the governors former deputy chief of staff receive almost $18,000 in payments from the DGA.

Bullock began a year-long stint as head of the DGA just weeks ahead of OBriens exit, a stretch that saw the group send more than $1,900 in travel expenses to Montana Department of Commerce Director Meg O'Leary.

An archived version of the events calendar on the DGAs website shows the only event scheduled the month of OLearys reported travel payment was a policy conference in Puerto Rico.

The first-term governor also oversaw roughly $86,000 in payments made by the largely corporate- and union-funded group to Melanie Brock, his 2012 campaign finance director and a paid fundraising consultant for his re-election campaign.

DGA spokesman Leopold said Friday his group "works with consultants around the country" and said the payments to Brock did not represent any conflict.

Tax filings show that under Bullocks tenure, the DGA spent 32 percent more on Montana-bound travel, catering, and in-kind expenses than it did under ex-chair and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Under Schweitzer, the DGA didnt report any spending on Montana-based consultants. Such payments, sent only to Brock, accounted for 30 cents of every dollar the PAC spent in Montana during Bullocks chairmanship.

Leopold said the group, "like any business," pays its bills when the bills come in.

He did not answer questions about one such bill paid on a day Bullocks campaign treasurer and chief of staff  along with a dozen former politicians, lobbyists, health-care industry professionals, and consultants  were signed into the register at a shooting preserve near Moore, part of an apparent pen-raised-pheasant hunt that took place on a Friday in September 2014.

That same day, a normal business day for most state workers, IRS tax filings show the DGA reported an $8,704 payment for in-kind facilities provided by the same shooting preserve in Moore.

DGA had no Montana events scheduled in September 2014, and none of its employees joined Bullocks staffers on that days register.

Less than a month later, the Bullock camp reported an undated in-kind contribution from the shooting preserve's owner totaling more than $1,000 in "event costs, food and drinks.

Similar spending

Bullock has paid more than $211,000 to travel, media, and consulting vendors shared with the DGA since the start of his re-election bid  sometimes within days or hours of the group reporting expenses paid to vendors for the same or similar services.

Leopold stressed that sharing vendors between the campaign and the DGA was legal and to be expected.

In March, Bullock reported a $650 in-kind contribution for event, food and room rental services provided by Butte-based Headframe Spirits. Roughly a month later, the DGA reported cutting a $2,600 check for in-kind event services provided by the same distillery.

Another vendor shared by the two, Missoula-based charter air carrier Neptune Aviation Services, has received nearly $47,000 in payments for in-kind transportation services provided to the DGA over the past two years. The latest check cut to Neptune, for almost $26,000, was reported on the same day the Bullock campaign reported a roughly $4,400 payment to the same company.

Ten days later, Bullock reported a $13,333.34 research expenditure sent to a DGA-contracted polling firm. Eighteen days after that, the DGAs Montana branch sent a $13,333.33 payment to the same company for the same purpose.

Shared vendors

Such common campaign connections havent gone unnoticed in the past.

Some of the shared vendors listed on Bullocks re-election campaign reports, including fundraising consultant Brock, were named in a 2012 campaign complaint that alleged the governor illegally coordinated campaign activities with third-party groups that made independent expenditures supporting him through the same consulting firm.

But Motl, a Bullock appointee, found in his dismissal of the complaint that calls Bullock placed to a PAC-affiliated consulting firm did not qualify as evidence of coordination because that firm had instituted a firewall separation between its candidate campaign and PAC activities.

Vendors shared by the governors re-election campaign and the DGA have not filed a similar firewall policy with state political regulators. The DGA says that is not necessary because shared vendors between DGA and campaigns are legal and unrestricted.

PACs make a splash

Bullocks past efforts to stanch the flow of undisclosed funds in Montana elections has become a major plank in his campaign platform as well as a talking point for supporters who have criticized Republican challenger Greg Gianfortes March appearance at a PAC fundraiser in Washington D.C.

Money supplied to such PACs by governors associations on both sides of the aisle has paid for much-discussed TV ads slamming the Bullock campaigns use of a state-funded airplane as well as spots bashing Gianfortes tax plan.

Gianforte, who has sworn off PAC and party political committee contributions, has come under fire from political opponents for $150,000 he's given to the Republican Governors Association over the past four years. A spokesman for the GOP candidate called such criticisms a "false and desperate distraction" but did not directly answer questions about whether those donations were made in exchange for PAC-funded attack ads.
Voters in Butte-Silver Bow County will decide Tuesday which two candidates for chief executive advance to the general election in November, but the most talked-about race here isnt about candidates.

Its whether a proposed water park flies with residents, about five years after voters narrowly rejected a bond issue for a pool, lazy river and improvements to Stodden Park.

This plan would cost property-taxpayers $7.2 million and up to $350,000 for annual maintenance with another $1.5 million in public and private funds paying for the frills  a lazy river and twisting, turning water slides.

Three people are running for chief executive in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, but like all races with more than two candidates, only the top two vote-getters will move on to November.

In three counties in southwest Montana  Beaverhead, Granite and Powell  there are only lone candidates for local offices. They likely have a free ride through November, unless well-known and well-organized write-in candidates get in and mount late, uphill challenges.

Several area legislators are unopposed for Statehouse seats, including Butte Democrats Jon Sesso in Senate District 37; Ryan Lynch in House District 76; and Amanda Curtis, a former legislator and U.S. Senate candidate, in House District 74.

Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte, is termed out in the Senate, so hes running unopposed for the House District 73 seat now held by Butte Democrat Edie McClafferty. She, in turn, is running for his Senate District 38 seat that covers parts of Jefferson and Silver Bow counties.

Two Republican lawmakers  Ray Shaw of Sheridan and Jeff Welborn of Dillon  face primary opponents Tuesday. For the third consecutive election, Shaw faces former Republican Rep. Robert Wagner of Harrison in House District 71.

Welborn is termed out in the House, so hes running for the Senate District 36 seat now held by Senate President Debby Barrett of Dillon. Welborn faces Dale Stewart of Dillon in a sprawling district that covers Beaverhead and Madison counties and a slice of Silver Bow County.

Although there are lots of local offices up for election in Butte-Silver Bow County this year, several have essentially been decided already because there is only one candidate. Those include clerk and recorder, assessor, clerk of district court, county attorney, and coroner.

Some races in Butte and elsewhere have only two candidates, and no matter what happens on Tuesday, both advance to the November general election.

They include the race for Butte-Silver Bow sheriff between incumbent Ed Lester and Butte Police Officer Russ Robertson as well as contests for city judge, justice of the peace, and treasurer. Primary results for two-candidate local races might indicate how well someone is doing, but they decide nothing.

Seven people are running to replace longtime county Auditor Danette Harrington, but only two will move on. Three people are running for county superintendent of public instruction, so voters will decide who advances  incumbent Cathy Maloney, Linda Sorini Granger, or Tim Norbeck.

Six are running for chief executive in Butte-Silver Bow. They are incumbent Matt Vincent; Commissioners Dave Palmer, Jim Fisher and Cindy Perdue-Dolan; Butte architect Mark Reavis; and Public Works laborer Ron Sarge Rowling.

Connie Ternes-Daniels is seeking another term as chief executive of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County. She faces Jenna Schafer and Bill Everett on Tuesday.

Primaries will matter in some county commissioner contests in southwest Montana.

Four people are running for the commissioner District 3 seat in Anaconda-Deer Lodge  incumbent Kevin Hart, Jason Mavrinac, Mike Huotte and Michael Merino. Two will advance.

Three are running for commissioner District 1 in Madison County: incumbent David Schultz, Daniel Allhands and Ellis Thompson.

Three are seeking the commissioner District 8 seat in Butte-Silver Bow: incumbent Brendan McDonough, Ed Pape and Walter Parrett.

The general election is Nov. 8.
MUSCATINE, IOWA  The Muscatine RAGBRAI XLIV Committee is holding two city beautification contests: one for the best yards along the route and another for public bike art.

The purpose of these contests is to promote the beautification of our city by the individuals and businesses within it by bringing their creativity to the forefront, said Ky Cochran, chair of the Muscatine RAGBRAI Hospitality Committee. We have incredibly innovative individuals in Muscatine. The committee wanted to give residents and businesses a way to show off their talents to the RAGBRAI riders coming to town.

Contestants must register to participate in the contests and can do so at ragbraimuscatine.com. All registrations must be completed by Friday, July 22 (postmarked by July 22 if sent in by mail). Paper copies of the registration forms are available at the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Best Yard Contest has three categories: Homes  Landscaping, Homes  Bike Art, and Businesses. Judging for all Best Yard contests will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday, July 29th and all work for the contests must be completed by then. Winners will be announced on the Muscatine RAGBRAI social media channels that evening.

The prizes for these contests include $250 plus a $75 gift card from Keller and Keller Landscape, Inc. for the Best Yard Contest, Homes  Landscaping category; $250 for the Best Yard Contest, Homes  Bike Art category; and $250 in advertising in the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GMCCI) newsletter for the Best Yard Contest, Business category.

The Homes  Landscaping category is open to all those who live along the RAGBRAI route, on Hershey Avenue from the bypass all the way down Mississippi Drive to Mulberry Avenue. Judges will pick the winner based on each entrys landscaping, including flowers and other plants. Suggestions for landscaping include the incorporation of the color purple in some way, whether in flowers or otherwise, though doing so is not required to win.

The Homes  Bike Art category is also open to all those who live along the RAGBRAI route, on Hershey Avenue from the bypass all the way down Mississippi Drive to Mulberry Avenue. Judges will pick the winner based on each entrys bike art. This art must incorporate bicycles in some fashion and be placed in the contestants yard along the route.

Contestants may enter their homes in both the Landscaping and Bike Art categories.

The Businesses category is open to all businesses positioned along the RAGBRAI route, on Hershey Avenue from the bypass all the way down Mississippi Drive to Mulberry Avenue. Judges will pick the winner based on each entrys bike art and/or landscaping. Businesses without yards may participate by decorating the outside of their businesses.

The Public Bike Art Contest is open to all residents of and businesses within Muscatine. For this contest, contestants must decorate a bicycle to be placed along the route on Mississippi Drive. Before being placed along the route, decorated bicycles must be checked in between 7 and 8a.m. on Saturday, July 30 at the parking lot on the corner of 2nd and Pine Streets downtown.

Bicycles will be judged based upon creativity. Judging will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the 30th. The prize for the winner of the Public Bike Art Contest is $100 in Chamber Dollars from GMCCI. Decorated bicycles are required to be picked up after 5 p.m. on July 30th. The Muscatine RAGBRAI committee is not responsible for the displayed bicycles.

For more information about these contests, visit ragbraimuscatine.com or call Cochran at 563-272-2534.
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 []
Strategic Fuel Fund chair Riaz Jawoodeen has warned that the risk of petrol and diesel shortages in South Africa could lead to an Eskom-like crisis.

The Rapport newspaper quoted Jawoodeen as saying that South Africa does not have a crude oil shortage, but rather a problem with product shortages.

The reason for these product shortages (which includes petrol and diesel) is a lack of refinery capacity.

According to the report, the risk of petrol and diesel shortages is increasing because international companies are not willing to invest in the countrys four oil refineries.

The capacity of the four refineries  Chevron, Engen, Shell and BP, and Total  have dropped because of stricter environmental requirements on the production of fuel.

To address this problem, the Strategic Fuel Fund wants to build storage facilities for petrol and diesel using the money from the sale of 10 million barrels of crude oil in December.

The Department of Energys decision to sell the countrys strategic fuel stock came under fire recently, partly because of the low price at which it was sold.

This fuel stock was negligently sold at $28 a barrel when the current price is around $49 a barrel, said the DA.

The DA said the sale has left the country vulnerable, with only enough oil in reserve to sustain SA for less than a day.

Jawoodeen dismissed the DAs concern, saying South Africa does not have a crude oil shortage, and the sale did not put the countrys strategic supplies at risk.

More energy news

Off-grid options could end Africas power crunch

South Africas nuclear build will cost less than R1 trillion: experts

South African government misses nuclear deal court deadline
Early this summer, crews at Glacier National Park will plow away the snow that leads to Logan Pass, where trails wind through fields of wildflowers. By July, masses of people will be driving and taking shuttle buses to the parking lot and visitors center at the top.

And if past years are any guide, mountain goats and bighorn sheep will be ambling down to greet them.

The animals like to lick salty things, and the annual arrival of humans offers them a veritable buffet, according to park spokeswoman Margie Steigerwald. She said sheep and goat tastes lean toward anti-freeze thats dripped by vehicles, and it includes places where people spit or pee because they didnt want to wait for the restroom. The wildlife have been undeterred by park workers who shake rock-filled cans or yell at them, push them back or otherwise haze them, she said.

So this year, the Montana park has a new employee that it hopes will herd the goats and sheep in the parking lot: a dog. Specifically, its a border collie, so its pretty much getting its dream summer job.

Park authorities have become increasingly worried that the hoofed hikers boldness will lead to trouble for the animals or the humansparticularly this year, when National Park Services 100th anniversary could bring even bigger hordes of visitors, many of whom will probably see the goats and sheep as selfie props. Theyre no grizzlies, but that doesnt make them gentle: In 2010, a visitor at Olympic National Park was fatally gored by a mountain goat.

They do have very sharp horns, said Steigerwald. We want people to see wildlife, but we want them to see it at a safe distance.

The dog is a 2-year-old female named Gracie, and the park is, naturally, calling her a bark ranger. Shes owned by Glaciers natural resources program manager, Mark Biel, who came up with the idea after learning that it had helped solve human-animal interaction problemsa common headache for national parkselsewhere.

Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada uses border collies to keep mule deer away from people, and the herding breed has also been deployed as geese police at the Lincoln Memorial and other spots on the National Mall in Washington. In the 1990s, Glacier used specially-trained Karelian bear dogs to shoo bears away from roadsides, and with that, Steigerwald said, we were able to keep new generations of bears from learning those bad habits.

Border collies have herding in their blood, but Gracies also learning the sheep- and goat-herding ropes at the Wind River Bear Institute in Florence, Mont., which trains the Karelian bear dogs that Glacier used. For now, her subjects are domestic sheep, Steigerwald said, and this dogs really smart. . . . Shes ahead in her training.

Gracie, clad in an orange vest, will begin her duties in July, and shell hit the parking lot only a few times a month, when there arent too many tourists or cars, Steigerwald said. The hope is that the goats and sheep, which fear wolves and coyotes, will do Gracies bidding.

Wildlife are pretty smart and they learn pretty quickly whether something has a consequence, Biel told the Daily Inter Lake. Granted, she doesnt look like a wolf, but to them, shes a four-legged, dog-like thing.
The Vintage High School Instrumental Music Department and Napa Valley Cruisers partnered to bring the first car show to the school on Saturday.

Profits from the Vintage Reserve Car Show will help send about 65 students in marching band, concert band and the string group to Londons New Years Day Parade in January.

The trip, scheduled for Dec. 27 to Jan. 3, costs approximately $3,600 per student, said Bill Gantt, the instrumental music director. To help with costs, various fundraisers have been held since October and will continue throughout the summer. The department has had students perform in the parade, which had a television audience of more than 300 million this year, three times before, but this was the first time theyve held a car show, Gantt said.

They seem like they got a winner, said Robert Schmidt of Napa. Schmidt enjoyed the car show and even had his 1930 Ford Model A Tudor on display. He calls the purple car Schmittys Purple People eater. Overall, Schmidt said that the event was well organized and benefits a good cause so he is glad it will be back again next year.

Exhibitors paid $30 per car to show their vehicles, and other revenue came from concessions and merchandise.

Tammy Robinette of Napa Valley Cruisers, who helped the students organize the event featuring 61 vehicles, said this school does it right. The students really worked hard, she said. It turned out really well. For a first car show to have this many cars is nice.

Some of the students not only helped with the car show, but also participated in it, like Greg Goleno. Goleno, a junior, won two trophies for the vehicles he had on display  a 1970 Chevy Pickup and a 1970 Honda CT90 Trail Bike. Hes been working on the truck for almost a year, but only started working on the bike a few weeks ago, he said.

My grandpa gave me my bike, and the truck was just in my family, he said.

Goleno plays the mellophone, a brass instrument, in the band and said that he is excited to be able to attend the London trip. Hes most excited about going to a different country for the first time, he said.

In addition to performing in the parade, the students will also be able to tour London and go on several excursions, Gantt said. Its a whirlwind event, he said. And an extra special one as Gantt will be retiring next year after working at the school for 30 years.

Thats our big thing for the kids and everybody, he said.
An injured hiker was rescued Saturday afternoon outside Napa by California Highway Patrol officers on routine patrol in a helicopter over Vallejo, CHP officials said.

A CHP pilot responded at 2:15 p.m. to Skyline Wilderness Park where a hiker was injured on a remote trail one hour away from a trailhead.

Officers on the helicopter were able to locate the hiker with the help of paramedics and Napa County firefighters and opted to perform a hoist rescue because the hiker was so far from a trailhead.

The pilot landed the helicopter and a paramedic got on board. The pilot took off again and lowered the paramedic to the hiker.

The paramedic treated the hiker and prepared them to be hoisted to the helicopter.

After the hiker was hoisted, the pilot landed and the hiker was put in an ambulance.
They interviewed the alleged victim, a juvenile female, who reported that an adult male relative whom she does not live with had been touching her inappropriately over the course of seven months, said Napa Police Sgt. Amy Hunter. Further investigation led police to an additional victim who had a similar incident occur in 2011, which had not been previously reported or disclosed, Hunter said.
An impressive group of palates joined the St. Helena Star/Napa Valley Vintners Tasting Panel in May at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Winemakers from Araujo, Silverado Vineyards, Laird, Summers Winery, Honig, Merryvale, Clif Family, Groth, Peju, Clos du Val, St. Supery, Lang & Reed, Chimney Rock, Dyer Wine, Vineyard 29, Napa Cellars, Folie a Deux, Stags Leap Wine Cellars and Cairdean Estate sat down to review the 2015 vintage of Napa Valley sauvignon blanc.

Anyone thinking that the regions winemakers are quick to compliment their own wines would be sorely mistaken. This is a group, scalpels ready, who are used to critically dissecting and analyzing their own wines in their labs as they create their masterpieces. (You can almost imagine a succession of Its Alive expressions echoing through the valley at harvest.)

So it was noticeable when, following the tasting of 20 2015 sauvignon blancs, there was general praise from panelists.

Kristin Belair, winemaker at Honig Vineyard & Winery, has been making sauvignon blanc for almost two decades in the valley, and recalled some of the earlier, less-than-stellar vintages she tasted upon starting in the industry. Noting vast improvements over the years, she called the 2015 vintage really well balanced; a lovely expression of sauvignon blanc with different styles from floral to riper fruits.

There is a real diversity of fruit flavors, and the aromatics are fresh, stated John Skupny, co-owner of Lang & Reed.

Stacia Williams, winemaker at Cairdean Estate, commented on the intensity of floral, fruit and minerality, and sensed that some of the wines were held on the skins.

The term held on the skins means that the juice of just-picked grapes stays in contact with the skins for a period of time. Generally, aromatic grapes like sauvignon blanc are put into a press shortly after arriving in the winery cellar, so the juice is released and separated from its skins. The winemaker wants limited contact between the juice and the natural phenols on the skins of grapes because these phenols (which include tannin) can add an astringency or bitterness to the wine. Generally, this is avoided when a fresh fruity wine is desired. Some winemakers, however, allow a very short period of skin contact (just a couple of hours usually) for an added layer of aroma and flavor complexity.

Historically, Napa Valley sauvignon blanc wines have not only had more skin contact, but as Jon Emmerich, winemaker at Silverado Vineyards, noted, there used to be a lot of sweet sauvignon blancs. With these wines (the 2015 vintage), there is not a lot of residual sugar.

Residual sugar as well as oak were used to mask the inherent herbal and pungently grassy aromas and flavors of sauvignon blanc that were unpopular in the wines decades ago. With improved vineyard and cellar practices, the floral and fruity nature of the grape can be stressed instead. The wines today that do include a slight touch of sweetness (referred to as off-dry) or oak-influenced flavors, integrate these finishing touches as a part of their desired style.

Not that everyone wants the natural green-ness of sauvignon blanc to be squelched. A touch of fresh cut grass can add to the overall flavors and complexity of the wine, and provide a distinguishing characteristic so sauvignon blancs dont taste like mass-produced who cares what the varietal is wines. As Master Sommelier Bob Bath stated, I am glad there is an herbaceous grassiness in some of the wines; this is a key part to sauvignon blanc character; its important.

In regard to the varying floral, fruity and herbal flavors the panelists found in the 2015 wines, Sara Fowler, director of winemaking at Peju, spoke to the harvest itself, stating, production was down 40 percent on average and likely caused winemakers to get creative in the cellar, possibly blending in other grape varieties to make up for reduced crop.

Tim Carl, winemaker and journalist, discussed another potential cause of the varying flavors: the choice of yeast. This may seem odd to anyone new to winemaking (you mean, there are yeast stores?), but its very common. Flavors of sauvignon blanc can be greatly influenced by the choice of yeast strain used to start alcohol fermentation. Where one may bring out the floral aspects of a wine, another can enhance the grapes natural citrus character. Some winemakers purchase a variety of yeast strains to encourage a range of flavors in the wines.

Curious as to some of the many aromas and flavors found in the 2015 Napa Valley sauvignon blancs? Those are noted below with the panelists favorite wines of the tasting:

Honig Vineyard & Winery ($18) having crisp tangerine citrus, sweet banana and ripe cantaloupe melon fruit with a hint of white blossom that finishes just off-dry.

Rombauer Vineyards ($24) shows fresh and zesty orange and lemon citrus with ripe Asian pear flavors.

St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery ($22) is dominated by ripe, juicy pear aromas and flavors.

Three Click Wines ($24) has a refreshing blend of lemon citrus and fresh spring grass.

Varozza Vineyards, St. Helena ($25) has round ripe flavors of sweet banana.

Yao Family Wines ($32) has lemon-lime citrus with fresh lemongrass and refreshing acidity that is rounded out by an off-dry finish.

Catherine Bugue, the Stars tasting panel columnist, loves writing about  and drinking  wine. You can contact Catherine at catbugue@gmail.com. Only wines from Napa Valley Vintners member wineries are accepted and tasted. Many wineries offer local residents discounts on their wines through the Napa Neighbor program. Visit napavintners.com/programs and click on Napa Neighbor under Community to learn more.




UPDATE: Governor Declares State of Emergency



TAMPA, Florida  Florida Governor Rick Scott is urging residents, visitors and businesses to prepare for potential severe weather, heavy rain, and flooding as the National Weather Service monitors a developing tropical system which could impact the Gulf Coast of Florida as early as Monday morning.





We are closely monitoring this tropical system and its potential impacts on Floridas Gulf Coast, said Gov. Scott. Our most important goal is to protect our families, visitors and communities, and we will take every action to make sure our state is prepared for this weather event. While Floridas emergency officials, first responders and National Guard stand ready to respond to any need, it is crucial that Floridians use every resource to make sure their homes and families are immediately and thoroughly prepared.





Rainfall amounts through Wednesday could reach up to five inches across much of Central and South Florida with isolated totals of eight to ten inches along the I-4 corridor. Severe thunderstorms are later possible across North Florida on Sunday. And other severe weather is possible through Tuesday across portions of Central and South Florida.





Even if this system does not develop into a named storm, it still poses significant risks from flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes, and rip currents, Floridas Emergency Management Director Bryan W. Koon added. This is expected to be a fast-moving storm, which means that it could mature very rapidly and very close, giving us little warning.




India and Qatar are expected to give a push to cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector, with the latter having the world's third largest gas reserves and being India's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Qatar has gas reserves exceeding 900 trillion cubic feet (25 trillion cubic metres), or 14 per cent of global reserves. It is the largest LNG exporter in the world. The Gulf Cooperation Council member accounted for 65 per cent of India's total LNG imports last fiscal. India is also hoping to tap the Gulf nation's sovereign wealth fund, estimated at $300 billion, for infrastructure projects. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Doha on the second leg of his foreign tour, praised the role of the Emir of Qatar in promoting business ties with India. Modi on Sunday also invited Qatari industry leaders to invest in India. "India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," Modi said, according to a tweet by India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup. "Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders," the spokesperson said in another tweet following Modi's meeting here with business leaders. "Qatar's Minister of Trade and Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India," it added. This is the second prime ministerial visit from India to energy-rich Qatar in eight years after Manmohan Singh's visit in 2008. "It (Qatar) can also be a large economic partner as it has a large sovereign wealth fund," Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Friday in a pre-departure media briefing. The trade between India and Qatar stands at $10 billion. Earlier this year, India re-negotiated favourably its LNG agreement with Qatar to bring down the cost of importing natural gas to less than $5 per unit from $12. In return for the renegotiation, India's Petronet LNG has signed an agreement for additional import of one million tonnes of LNG per year from Qatar's Ras Gas for about 12 years with effect from January 1, 2016, at the prevailing market prices. Ras Gas will also not seek Rs.12,000 crore from Petronet for under-lifting LNG by 38 per cent. The new contract is effective from January 1, 2016, and ends in 2028. Modi addressed Indian workers at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night. There are 6,30,000 Indians living in Qatar -- comprising the largest expatriate community in that country. Modi, who arrived here from Afghanistan, will visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico. --IANS bc-ab/kb/rn ( 446 Words) 2016-06-05-16:04:09 (IANS)
If youre in Mumbai and wondering how to watch the latest Malayalam film, then just head to the nearest multiplex, for you might be pleasantly surprised to catch the film with English subtitles. With the emergence of multiplexes, Malayalam films have found audiences beyond boundaries and in the process have conquered new lands. Although Malayalam films have been releasing outside Kerala for many years, they have attracted non-Malayali audiences in the last few years. Cities like Coimbatore, Mysore and some places in Gujarat have been screening Malayalam films for many years. Traditionally, it has always been one show in the morning during the weekends. However, it all changed when multiplexes replaced single screens, paving way for many shows on a single day, Sreedhar Pillai, trade analyst and industry tracker, told IANS. Pillai pointed out that the market is slowly expanding thanks to multiplexes. The new-age Malayalam movies with English subtitles are attracting non-Malayali audiences too. A film like Jacobinte Swargarajyam ran for four weeks in Vijayawada, and thats a rare feat, Pillai said, adding that strong marketing and distribution has also helped these films. According to producer Prem Menon of Global United Media, language has never been a barrier for good content. Audiences have become more aware. With internet, the world has shrunk and producers have to be careful of what is dished out to the audience. Today, good content has no boundaries and we have realised this with hits like Premam and Bangalore Days, Menon said. In Mumbai, both "Premam" and "Bangalore Days" celebrated a 50-day run in theatres. Mohanlals Drishyam ran for 100 days in Mumbai. Post Drishyam and Bangalore Days, the percentage of non-Malayali viewers of Malayalam films has increased, because these movies make it to Mumbai on the same day of the release in Kerala, Sethumadhavan, a Mumbai-based independent film critic, told IANS. In the rest of India territory, Sethumadhavan says Malayalam films also release in Pune, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara. Every second week, theres a Malayalam release in Mumbai. Popular Malayalam actors like Nivin Pauly, Dulquer Salmaan and Prithviraj have very good market outside. A Nivin film, especially after Premam, would get around 20 screens in Mumbai, he said, and added that on an average a successful Malayalam film would collect around Rs 2 million from Mumbai alone. While admitting that actors like Nivin and Dulquer have opened the doors for Kerala films outside, Menon said: These young actors have an appeal among the youth but one shouldnt forget that stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal and Jayaram have made a mark outside Kerala much before." Typically, a Malayalam film releases in around 40-50 screens in north India. Besides Mumbai, a Malayalam film releases in five to six screens in Pune, three to four screens in Delhi and eight to 10 screens across Gujarat. In the south, outside Kerala, it also releases in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, Sethumadhavan said. Global United Medias latest Malayalam release Kammati Paadam had a wide release and made it to cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Goa, Mysore and Vishakhapatnam. The pre-release buzz of Kammati Paadam helped in its wide release. The excellent response to the films teaser, which clocked over 500,000 views in less than a week, helped in creating lot of anticipation before the release, Menon said. Dulquer Salmaan-starrer Kammati Paadam did exceptional even outside Kerala. With the market for Malayalam films outside Kerala expanding with each passing day, Menon believes its how one can cleverly tap this situation to reap maximum benefit. (Haricharan Pudipeddi can be contacted at haricharan.p@ians.in) --IANS hp/rb/vt ( 610 Words) 2016-06-05-13:46:07 (IANS)
Britain's loneliest dog, who has been living in an animal shelter for six years and has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, has landed a role in the upcoming fifth installment of the Transformers film franchise. Freya, a six-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier cross, was dubbed Britains loneliest dog after spending almost all her life living in kennels. She was spotted on Facebook by animal-loving movie director Michael Bay, who has cast her in the fifth installment of the blockbuster "Transformers" series, reports mirror.co.uk. The film crew is due to start filming in Britain this summer. And the 51-year-old director says if the role doesnt find her a home hell take her in. Bay lives in Los Angeles and Miami with his two bullmastiffs, Bonecrusher and Grace, named for characters in Transformers and Armageddon, respectively. A spokesman for Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre said: We have had a fantastic response to our appeal for a new home for Freya, with lots of interest shown from around the world as well as closer to home in Britain. We are thrilled at the opportunity of a movie deal for Freya and at such interest and support from a major film director who is also a dedicated animal advocate. We look forward to showing the world what a wonderful and special dog Freya is. Last month Freya was featured on ITVs show "Good Morning Britain" in a determined bid to find her a loving home. --IANS sug/dg ( 253 Words) 2016-06-05-16:16:04 (IANS)
Jack Black is the latest victim of a celebrity death hoax after a Twitter prank. Social media was sent into a frenzy on Sunday after a hacked Twitter account claimed that the actor had died overnight. Messages posted by official Twitter account of Tenacious D, the comedy rock band co-founded by the comedian, said he had "died at the age of 46", reports dailymail.co.uk. But just hours later, the same profile wrote: Calm down guys! It's just a prank bro, look there's the camera. Black, 46, who was last seen in public two days ago, has been the victim of a number of death hoaxes, including one last week that went viral. Black, known for his roles in King Kong, School of Rock, and Kung Fu Panda franchise, performed at Rock am Ring Music Festival, near Nurburgring, Germany on Friday night. He was also seen posing with American DJ Diplo for an image posted on photo-sharing app Snapchat in the early hours of Sunday morning. Hours later, social media was sent into a frenzy by a series of tweets posted by the verified Tenacious D Twitter account. The profile posted: I'm sad to officially announce the death of Jack Black at the age of 46, rest in peace brother. A third message read: It is with a heavy heart I am to announce that Jack Black passed away last night at 3:37am. The cause of death is yet unknown. Guitarist John Konesky, who plays with Tenacious D, soon dismissed the rumours, writing: Twitter feed was hacked. Than s**t ain't true! They're working on fixing it! But dozens of social media users were swept up in the speculation. One Twitter user wrote OMG terrible news. What happened?, another said My heart just stopped. Tell me this is a joke. Just hours later, the hacker posted four further messages -- revealing the death announcement had been fake. The post read: Calm down guys! It's just a prank bro, look there's the camera...The Legend is still alive, it is ok guys. The hacker later exploited the publicity by encouraging users to follow their account on Twitter. It is the latest in a series of death hoaxes targeting Black in recent weeks. On Friday a Facebook page called 'R.I.P Jack Black' posted: At about 11 a.m. ET on Friday (June 03, 2016), our beloved actor Jack Black passed away. Jack Black was born on August 28, 1969 in Santa Monica. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page. Hundreds of fans posted condolence messages on the page, sending social media into a frenzy. The page was 'liked' by nearly one million users. --IANS sug/vt ( 461 Words) 2016-06-05-18:56:06 (IANS)
A team of researchers has found the 'Achilles heel' of breast cancer, paving the way for a treatment that would cure it for good. Scientists from the University of Zurich discovered why current treatments do not kill off the disease but render it dormant, meaning it can become active again at any time. They also found a way to 'switch off' the signals that tell cancer cells to grow and divide. Many invasive forms of breast cancer have too much of the receptor HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) on their surface, which leads to uncontrolled growth of the cancer cells. HER2 uses several signalling pathways at the same time to inform the cell that it should grow and divide. But, currently, the antibodies available only block one of those signalling pathways, while others remain active. Now, scientists believe they have developed a method to switch off all the signals, using a protein compound that binds to HER2 and changes its structure. This 'receptor bending' prevents any growth signals from being transmitted to the cell's interior, causing the cancer cell to eventually die. This new technique is especially promising, as tests on mice found only the cancer cells were targeted, leaving healthy cells unharmed. The active ingredient, which comprises several DARPins (designed ankyrin repeat proteins), is also easy to produce. A similar substance is currently being developed for testing in the future. Lead author Dr Andreas Plckthun said the discovery of the Achilles heel of HER2-positive cancer cells could lead to new opportunities for treating invasive tumour types like breast cancer more effectively in the future. The study appears in Nature Communications. (ANI)
In Uttar Pradesh, the probe ordered by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav into the violence at the Jawahar Bagh of Mathura, will begin today, as the Presiding officer of the high power administrative probe committee and Commissioner of Aligarh, Chandrakant will first visit the spot and take stock of the situation. The Commissioner said that if somebody wants to present any evidence or information on the incident, he will be heard. Meanwhile, a large amount of explosives were found during the search operation yesterday at the Jawahar Bagh where 25 people, including two police officers, killed following a clash between police and encroachers. The State government has reportedly announced an enhanced compensation to the kin of slain police officers from twenty to fifty lakhs. Facing flak from all corners for offering a compensation of only twenty lakh Rupees to the kin of policemen killed in Mathura violence, the state government reportedly swung into damage control and increased the amount of compensation from 20 lakh to 50 lakhs yesterday. It also announced that that the kin of the deceased security men will also be provided with extra ordinary pension. To show solidarity with their martyred colleagues, the policemen of nearby districts of Mathurahave decided to donate their one day salary to the families of the two officers who laid their life for nation. (ANI)
The deceased include 13 males and four females.

The driver of a swift desire car was changing a punctured tyre and an Innova stopped to help him.

Tragedy struck when a bus coming from Satara collided with both the cars and then fell into a 20 feet ditch on the left side of the road.

The injured were immediately rushed to the MGM hospital in Panvel. (ANI)
The apprehended fishermen were handed over to Sri Lankan fisheries department in Kankesanthurai.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to help release the four Indian fishermen, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy earlier on Thursday.

At least four Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard with assistance from the Navy earlier on Thursday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Lankan waters.

The naval personnel arrested the fishermen along with an Indian fishing trawler on northwest of Delft Island, reports the Colombo Page.

This was the second time that Lankan Navy had arrested Indian fishermen from India's southern Tamil Nadu state with mechanized boats after they resumed fishing at the end of its 45 day ban on fishing in the eastern coastal zone earlier on Sunday midnight.

The Navy personnel on May 30 arrested seven fishermen along with a trawler while fishing in Lankan waters northwest of Thalaimannar. (ANI)
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik has been shifted to Central Jail, Srinagar, while restrictions on chairmen of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and other separatists continued in the Kashmir valley. However, official sources said that some separatist leaders have been taken into custody and others put under house arrest to maintain law and order. A spokesman of the front said that Mr Malik was arrested yesterday at Maisuma when he was leading a protest march against the raid on houses by security forces late on June 3 night. He said Mr Malik has been shifted to Central Jail, Srinagar without producing before any Magistrate. Mr Malik was arrested on May 25 from Abi-Guzar headquarter of the JKLF and later shifted to Central Jail. However, he was released on June 3 evening only to be arrested yesterday again. He said Vice Chairman of the front Showkat Ahmad Bakshi, who remained under house arrest for the past few weeks, has been arrested and detained in a police station. Meanwhile, moderate HC chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq also remained under house arrest since June 2 evening to prevent him from leading a protest march after Friday prayers against construction of separate colonies for migrant pandits and Sainiks besides allotting land to non state subjects under new industrial policy. A spokesman of the HC said a large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed outside the Nigeen house of Mirwaiz who is not being allowed to move out. Media advisor to Mirwaiz, Advocate Shahidul Islam also remained under house arrest since June 2 evening. There was also no relief for chairman of hardline HC Syed Ali Shah Geelani who remained under house arrest since his return from New Delhi last month. Mr Geelani remained confined in his Hyderpora house, where security forces remained deployed outside, a spokesman of the amalgam said adding he was not even allowed to offer Friday prayers in a mosque since restrictions were imposed on him. Hurriyat spokesman Aiyaz Akbar also remained under detention in a police station for the past two days, he said adding restrictions also continued on Hurriyat General secretary Shabir Ahmad Shah and another senior leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan.UNI BAS ADG 1055 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-769962.Xml
Speculations are rife that Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) is likely to lend its support to Congress candidate Kapil Sibal, who is fighting a crucial battle of votes in Uttar Pradesh elections to Rajya Sabha on June 11. After BSP supremo Mayawati announced her support to Congress candidate Vivek Tankha from Madhya Pradesh, UP Congress is hoping the same gesture. Like Mr Tankha, who is a known lawyer at the Supreme Court, Mr Sibal also happens to be a senior lawyer. Congress sources here today said that party leaders are in touch with the BSP and there is possibility of Ms Mayawati extending her support to the Congress candidate. Mr Sibal is short of five votes to achieve the magic figure of 34 with the Congress strength in the UP Assembly being 29.The Congress may still need some additional votes keeping in view possibility cross voting by some of its members. BSP has 12 additional votes for the Rajya Sabha even after romping home two candidates and it can easily transfer its vote for Kapil Sibal for his easy ride home. BSP supporting the Congress is not a new development. The Mayawati led party had earlier supported Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand saving it from a virtual ouster last month. Its two MLAs supported the Congress government. UP will send 11 Rajya Sabha MPs. With SP fielding seven candidates, BSP two, Congress and BJP one each, the contest would have been an easy sail through for all but on the last day of filing nomination, BJP backed an independent candidate Preeti Mahapatra making elections inevitable. The Independent candidate, based in Mumbai, have since left for New Delhi on June 3 after the end of withdrawals. She is likely to return in a day or two, sources said. However, the ruling Samajwadi Party was seeking all options to keep its folk together besides reserving some votes of the Independents and other smaller parties. But on the other hand, the UP BJP leaders are yet to open their cards and it seems that the central leadership was working on the strategy to be adopted for the success of the party's second candidate for the council and Independent candidate for the RS.UNI MB SB SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-769992.Xml
Nagaland Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, M Lokeswara Rao today said the illegal trade in wildlife (ITW) is pushing many species of animals and plants toward local or global extinction. In a statement on the occasion of the World Environment Day, Rao said, "The loss of any species, even at a local level, is an erosion of the biodiversity that underpins the natural systems upon which we all depend for our food security, medicines, fresh air, water, shelter and a clean and healthy environment." ''This year slogan for WED is "Go Wild for Life" showing slaughtered elephants lying in the African Savannah with their tusks hacked off by poaching gangs; tiger skins with embalmed heads roaring silently from market stalls in Asia; the shells of giant sea turtles impounded by customs agents before they reach their Western buyers. "These highlight how the booming illegal trade in wildlife products is eroding Earth's precious biodiversity, robbing us of our natural heritage and pushing whole species toward extinction," the Principal Chief Conservator he added. The killing and smuggling of wildlife is also undermining economies, fuelling organised crime and feeding corruption and insecurity across the globe. The trade endangers iconic elephants, rhinos, tigers, gorillas and sea turtles. Lesser-known species include helmeted hornbills, pangolins and wild orchids. Efforts to protect them have scored some successes. However, these and many other species remain at risk despite international campaigns to influence policy and considerable investments in conservation and law enforcement, Rao noted. He pointed out that illegal wildlife trade has evolved into a complex activity and India being one of the world's biodiversity hotspots has emerged as a potential source country. The porous borders of India along with various gaps in wildlife law enforcement allow various protected species of wildlife and their parts to be trafficked. On the scenario of illegal wildlife trade in the North East Region, Mr Rao said it is a thriving business in the Northeast with the Dimapur Imphal corridor an important route for smuggling wildlife to Myanmar and ultimately to South East Asia and China. Citing instances of wildlife trafficking in recent days, Rao highlighted how pangolin scales, 62Star tortoises and consignment of elephant tusks were seized by authorities from Kohima and Dimapur from wildlife smugglers. In order to turn this tide, Rao expressed that more people need to understand the damage this illicit business is doing to the environment, economies, communities and security adding, "We must also change our habits and behaviour so that demand for wildlife products falls." In an appeal to the people of Nagaland on WED, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said it is everyone's duty to protect the wildlife so people should refrain from purchasing wild meat and inform the Forest Department officials and Police when they get information about wildlife trafficking. "Make Nagaland abuzz with sound of birds and allow wild animals, which are born free to roam free and live free," Rao urged. UNI AS PL SB RK1245 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-770072.Xml
In a bid to develop human capital to ensure international level of skills, the government has decided to train 26 lakh people by the next year. "We have trained 1.25 crore people in 2015-16. In the year 2014, 15.23 lakh people got trained through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), which has increased to 18.65 lakh as of now. We will train over 26 lakh job seekers by the next session," Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy said. The Minister also said that the number of ITIs would be increased for better training infrastructure to be provided to students. "In 2014, there were 10,750 ITIs and now it has increased by 22 per cent at 13, 105. Country has 1,736 formal skill training centre in May 2014 but now it has increased to 8,179. But, we will raise it to near 10,000 by the next year, he added. Keeping Naxal infested areas and backward blocks in mind, the government has planned to establish 1500 blocks on PPP model. The proposal has been sent before the Cabinet, which is yet to get its nod. "There are over 2500 blocks where no technical educations are being provided, even today. Out of these, a proposal has been sent to Cabinet for its approval for opening up of ITIs in 1500 blocks on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode," the Minister said. In order to match the global standards of skills and training, the government has entered into an agreement with United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. Certification from UK and Australia training institutes have worldwide acceptance that would help Indian job seekers to get jobs in overseas. "We have collaborated with the United Kingdom and Australia to fill the skill gap available in India. There are 82 job rolls with UK, if we provide skills here they can also get jobs in UK. In a same way, there are 26 job rolls with Australia," Mr Rudy said.UNI ASH SB 1402 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-770160.Xml
The Anglers Association Nagaland (ANN), a government registered organization with more than 400 members all over the state, will celebrate the World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) on June 18 at Noune Resort in association with Mahseer Trust, All India Game Fishing Association, Pelagic Tribe, Mustad, Surecatch, Agwetor, and Zerek. A release issued by ANN today said that 50 school children between the age group of 10 to 15 years will participate in the event, which will be held from 9am to 5pm. The event will include talk about India and its Migratory Fish, activities like Angling for Conservation, Catching & Releasing a Fish, Handling a Fish, Fish Anatomy, Drawing and Painting and Birding. Resource person for the event is Derek Dsouza, a world renowned angler from Bangalore. The release further mentioned that the objective of WFMD in India is to educate the younger generations about fish, rivers, and conservation. May 21 to June end is celebrated as World Fish Migration Day to create awareness on the importance of open rivers and migratory fish. The event is being celebrated in 263 locations worldwide. The concept of WFMD is that organizations from around the world volunteer to organize their own event around the common theme of: connecting fish, rivers and people.UNI AS PL RK1405 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-770117.Xml
Human Rights Law Network coordinator, Dr. Rosemary Dzvichu has informed that the hearing of the case pertaining to former chief minister and current Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio's educational degree issue has been set for June 26 next. A release issued by Ms. Dzvichu said she was constraint to react to the "misinformation given by Rio", purportedly during a meeting in Delhi on June 3. She claimed that Rio "had alleged that the legal case filed on the fake certificate issue has been done to equate him with the graduate degree controversy on current Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang". She clarified that the complaint filed against Rio "has not been done with any vested interest on the political scenario, but as an academic and social activist," the release said. UNI AS PL SB RK1355 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-770142.Xml
The managing director of Chevron's Angola subsidiary has said he supports the direction state oil firm is taking after President Jose Eduardo dos Santos appointed his daughter to head the company."The government has acted. It is clear the direction they want to go. I am always optimistic. I certainly support the direction Sonangol is taking," John Baltz said at a conference of the U.S. Angola Chamber of Commerce.REUTERS VS SDR RAI1503 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-770247.Xml
A 22-year-old woman Naxal who was carrying a reward of Rs two lakh was arrested by police in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-affected Kanker district, police said. Anshila Padda alias Pandari, a member of the outlawed CPI (Maoists)'s military company No 5 under North Bastar Division, was apprehended in the forested Dodgejhora village yesterday during a joint search operation launched by Badgaon, Bande and Partapur police. The woman Naxal, who had joined the Naxals as a member of the Mediki local operation squad in February 2009 and used to organise meetings in villages to woo the youths, was taken into custody by Partapur police for her alleged involvement in the brutal killing of one Lalit Ram Dugga (35) last month in the Katgaon hills.UNI SS PS AE RAI1457 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-770200.Xml
A youth was today feared drowned when he had gone to take bath in Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district, police said. Damoh-resident Jitendra Soni (21) was swept away when he had gone to take bath at Jilhari Ghat. As local divers failed to trace him, home guards were pressed into service to locate him. UNI XC-PS AE RAI1650 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-770364.Xml
Unidentified criminals attacked the manager of an LPG gas agency and looted Rs. 6 lakh from him under Mufassil police station area in West Champaran district. Police said here today that three motorcycle borne outlaws looted Rs 6 lakh from the gas agency manager Sarfaraz Ahmed alias Chunnu after attacking him with iron rods near Hari Vatika Chowk last night. Mr Ahmed has been admitted to Maharani Janaki Kuwar Hospital for treatment, sources added. An FIR had been lodged and police have launched a manhunt to nab culprits. UNI XC DH PL VS AE RAI1638 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-770356.Xml
BJP today congratulated Prime minister Narendra Modi on his extraordinary success in achieving the landmarks in foreign policy by forging alliances with India's neighbours and treading on the path of friendship with not much known friends of India especially the Gulf countries.Addressing media persons, BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar said,'' BJP president Amit Shah and the party congratulates Prime minister Narendra Modi on his stupendous success on achieving the feat of winning friends in the less treaded territories of Gulf countries and Afghanistan. ''''This is evident by the honour bestowed by the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the form of ''highest civillian honour'' of Afghanistan on Prime Minister Modi . This time, Afghanistan and India friendship is not limited to signing a few agreements but is cemented stronger by the announcement of construction of a dam called "friendship dam'' called "Salma dam'' which would be built with an investment of Rs 17,000 crores.''Mr Akbar said,'' BJP also pays rich tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives in the terror attack in Herat two years ago when Modi government was being sworn-in, in Delhi with the purpose of destabilising the South-East Asian region and derail the Indo-Afghan peace process..,..We salute the diplomats, workers and engineers working in Herat at the time. But our answer to terrorism is ''stability'' and ''development'' which we are aggressively pursuing.''''PM did not remain confined to Afghanistan alone . His Afghanistan success was replicated in Saudi Arabia when Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz conferred Modi with ''highest civillian honour of Saudi Arabia'' an achievement not achieved by any Indian PM till now. He was awarded ''custodian of two holy mosques'' in Saudi Arabia'' , a rare recognition for a Hindu in a Muslim country'', he said. ''Prime Minister is infusing energy in ties that had become dormant since the Independence. These honours are recognition of PM Modi's vibrant foreign policy which is creating ''alliances of prosperity''. The country has started reaping benefits of '' Sabka saath sabka vikas''. His policies are visionary and pragmatic'', Mr Akbar said. Indo-Afghan ties have now acquired dimensions beyond culture and politics and have become more economical now with the launch of ''Friendship dam'' paving way for more such endeavours in future. It has demonstrated to the world that no one can become obstacle between two friends.''PM Modi said,'' Your dreams are our duty''. ''The world is one family'' and ''our friendship is limitless'. The visit will yield two results. Firstly, it will forge strong ties with these countries and strengthen India's standing in the world and secondly it will attract Foreign Direct Investment which is vital for the economy. India needs FDI for economic prosperity and oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia can be a 'beacon of hope','' the BJP spokesperson said. On being queried about PM taking complaints of Indian workers in Doha, Mr Akbar said, ''PM talked to the workers and assured them that he would raise their problems with the host government and they will be looked after. He promised them support and full cooperation.''UNI SY SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-770517.Xml
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today demanded that former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse be booked under sedition charges for his alleged links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. He also asserted that sedition charges against jailed Patidar leader Hardik Patel be withdrawn. "Gujarat government should withdraw sedition charges against Hardik Patel. He is not guilty of sedition. Khadse is. Book Khadse under sedition," Mr Kejriwal tweeted.Yesterday, Mr Kejriwal called Mr Khadse a "traitor" for his alleged links with the gangster. Mr Khadse resigned yesterday for his alleged involvement in the illicit land deals and his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim.UNI SM AE 1732 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0271-770546.Xml
: Adding fuel to the fire, leader of the Opposition in Assembly and YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today made another controversial statement by asking people to show brooms to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in protest against his failure to fulfill promises. "Show brooms to Chandrababu Naidu. Let us agitate until the TDP led state government is immersed in the Bay of Bengal", Mr Jaganmohan said, while addressing people at Obulacharuvu village in the district. It may be recalled that three days ago, Mr.Jaganmohan stirred up a controvery when he urged the people in the state to slap Mr Naidu with slippers on his failure to fulfill assurances meted out to them, which led to widespread protests across the state. Significantly, 'Rythu Bhorosa Yatra' of Mr Jaganmohan continued on the fifth-day today in Ananthapuram district, amid high tension, with pelting stones by YSRCP and TDP activists. The YSRCP chief had earlier launched his tour to console the bereaved families of farmers. At Obulacharvu village, both YSRCP and TDP activists clashed by pelting stones. The irate YSRCP activists damaged a car, belonging to a TDP leader. However, police dispersed the clashing groups. The TDP activists staged rasta-roko on Kadiri-Obulacharuvu road this morning, in a bid to obstruct the convoy of Mr Jaganmohan. It may be noted that the YSRCP and TDP activists clashed in Kadiri town last night by pelting stones, forcing the police to resort to cane-charge to disperse them. Police said security has been tightened in view of the clash between the two parties.UNI DP KVV AK 1715 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-770258.Xml
Two persons were killed and eight sustained critical injuries after a passenger taxi rolled down and plunged into a deep gorge in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir today. According to police, "a taxi while negotiating a sharp curve met with a mishap at Kalar village this morning near Jarawali Gali and fell into a deep gorge in Surankote." Soon after the accident, police was informed, following which officials were dispatched to the spot and a rescue operation launched with the locals, later shifting the injured passengers to SDH, Surankot.The deceased, including the taxi driver, were identified as Tanveer Ahmed, resident of Saujiyan and Mohammad Sofi, retired CRPF jawan.Injured were identified as Zaffer Ahmed, Mehmood Ahmed, Zaffer Iqbal, Mohammad Irfan, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Sadeeq, Abdul Kareem and Mohd Ibrahim.UNI VBH SDR AE 1702 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-770465.Xml
A dacoit, who was carrying a reward of Rs 4,000, was today arrested at Satanbada in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, police said.On a tip-off that some dacoits are hiding in a bushy area in Satanbada, police cordoned off the area and nabbed one dacoit, Mahendra Gurjar. Gurjar hails from Pahari village in Morena. A 32-bore revolver and cartridges were seized from him.UNI XC-PS SDR AE BD1703 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-770386.Xml
It was a moment of conflicting ideology faced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar when he paid tributes to his mentor and socialist leader Jaiprakash Narain who had launched Sampoorna Kranti on this day in 1975 with a call to oust the then authoritarian rule of Congress. Mr Kumar had taken a plunge when Jaiprakash Narain called for total revolution to bring about changes in all spheres of life, holding the Congress, solely responsible for deterioration in values required for success of democratic set up. The moment was significant today when Mr Kumar paid tributes to his mentor as he heads a coalition government with Congress as its coalition partner in the grand alliance government against which Jaiprakash Narain had given a call for total revolution. Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and host of other dignitaries also paid tributes to Jaiprakash Narain at his statue near historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna where he had addressed a mammoth meeting attended by lakhs of people on this day in 1975, giving a clarion call to oust Congress government from the power at the Centre and in various states.MORE UNI KKS IS AE SS GC1748 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770435.Xml
Urging the State's youth to rise above the rubble and become a part of the movement for peace and change, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today said the young generation should become a potent voice to denounce violence, which has only brought miseries to the people."Violence has no religion and it just consumes everybody. I urge youth to come forward and help us in making peace a reality in the State and in ending the miseries of the people," the Chief Minister said while addressing the participants of the Special National Integration Camp-2016 organised by the National Cadet Corps (NCC) at JAK-LI Regimental Centre.State Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar was also present on the occasion."It was a very heart-rending day for me as immediately on my arrival here from Jammu yesterday morning, I had to lay the ceremonial wreath on the mortal remains of the three BSF personnel killed in a dastardly militant attack near Bijbehara on Friday and then came this terrible news that two policemen ASI Bashir Ahmad of Laktipora, Aishmuqam and Constable Riyaz Ahmad of Utrasoo, Shangus were killed in similar circumstances at Anantnag," she said."This senseless violence is not going to take us anywhere, except adding to the tragedies Kashmir has witnessed over the past more than two decades," she said."We have to ponder over the gory saga of death and destruction being perpetuated in most of the Muslim countries around the world including neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan where even schools and hospitals are not spared by the perpetrators of violence," Ms Mufti said and added that Jammu and Kashmir has distinct religious and cultural ethos and the emancipated people of the State will never allow to get entrapped in such an ominous situation. "And I am sure our well-informed and bright youth will lead us out of this gloomy scenario of death and destruction," she said.Ms Mufti said despite passing through the darkest era of its history, the main source of state's confidence was the substantial potential of building upon its young and enterprising human resource. "It is heartening to note that even after going through the most difficult times, our young boys and girls are doing us proud in whatever field they take a plunge," she said and added that the Kashmir's young population has suffered immensely due to the conflict and our youth now need to connect with the larger world outside to grab the opportunities available to their counterparts elsewhere.More UNI BAS PR AE BD1853 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-770556.Xml
While no terrorist of the group was in the site, a large number of items were recovered, indicating presence of terrorists not long ago, a defence spokesperson said here.

A Rifle, some gun powder, clothes, Sling shots, utensils and Rations were recovered.

In the last two days, the Army and police have apprehended two NDFB(S) terrorists in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.

In Kokrajhar, the apprehended terrorist was identified as Janak Brahma, in possession of a pistol and some ammunition.

In Chirang, a terrorist identified as Sobhaigo Mushahary was apprehended.

There terrorist had been in close contact with top NDFB(S) leaders and was providing them crucial logistics support and early warning of troops movement.

Both the terrorists were involved in extortion activities and other subversive activities.UNI SG BM VS AE RAI1928

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Two other members of the probe committee are retired judge G P Shrivastava and retired IPS officer Mitthu Prasad.

Bihar School Examination Board Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh told newspersons here that the committee had been asked to submit its report at the earliest.

Amid raging controversy over the irregularities in intermediate examination result, a high level probe committee was constituted to inquire into irregularities in the result.

"Toppers scam", which caused a major embarrassment to the Nitish Kumar government was revealed when some toppers gave "outrageous" replies to media queries on their respective subjects.

Bihar School Examination Board had conducted a re-test for 14 toppers in which topper and third topper in science stream could not clear the test yesterday. State Education Department had already cancelled their results.

Topper in Arts stream Rubi Rai did not appear in the re-test by taking the plea of her alleged "indisposition".

BSEB had yesterday served a notice to her with a direction to reply within seven days why she failed to appear in the re-test.UNI DH BMAE AN1912

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In order to discuss measures relating to the blindness and other eye ailments among children, and to update the knowledge of doctors in the recent advances for management of pediatric eye problems, a day-long 'Scientific Meet' SPOSI Mid-Term Conference-2016 was organized at SKICC . The Conference was organised by the Strabismus & Pediatric Ophthalmological Society of India (SPOSI) in association with the Post-Graduate Department of Ophthalmology, SKIMS Medical College Bemina, Srinagar, and attended by a large number of delegates, including young doctors from across the country. During this important event, the experts and young doctors shared their ideas, deliberated in length and breadth on the subject and stressed the need for collective efforts to find ways for preventing the blindness and other eye related ailments among the children. They called for making optimum use of the innovative techniques in the field of Ophthalmology and taking care of eye problems of the people, particularly the children. The experts enlightened the young doctors about the recent advancements for management of the pediatric eye problems in the country. The young doctors presented their research papers on the innovations. The best paper awards were also presented to the young doctors by the chief guest. Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat lauded the efforts of the SPOSI and Department of Ophthalmology SKIMS for organising such an informative and useful event in Kashmir, which he said, will go a long way in updating the skills of young doctors in the field of Ophthalmology, particularly relating to the problems of children. He hoped that the experience gained by the doctors from the Conference will be utilized in the best patient care in the State. He stressed the need for organising such conferences frequently to enrich the knowledge of the state medicos, especially the young doctors enabling them to meet the prevailing challenges in the field. While conveying his gratitude to the delegates from various parts of the country for participating in this important meet, the Minister said such events provide opportunities to the professionals to share their ideas and experience in the field, that ultimately help in serving the mankind in a more professional way. He called upon the fraternity to focus on the extensive research work to bring new innovations in tackling the challenges in the children ophthalmic problems. He also highlighted the initiatives taken by the state government to rejuvenate the healthcare infrastructure according to the prevailing scenario.MORE UNI BAS AE GC1945 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-770780.Xml
Addressing the Indian diaspora in Qatar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the world community has changed its opinion about India and now everyone is showing interest and curiosity about the country.Emphasising his government's performance on the economic front, Mr Modi said at a time when the global economy is in shambles and exports have contracted due to reduction in people's purchasing power, India's GDP has posted an impressive growth of 7.9 per cent.This, despite two consecutive years of drought, he added.To buttress his government's stated position that it is pursuing the policy of cooperative federalism, Mr Modi said earlier, only 35 per cent of divisible pool of Central taxes would go to states and the balance 65 per cent was kept by the Centre. But the policy has just reversed after the 14th Finance Commission's report - 65 per cent of proceeds go to states, while only 35 per cent is kept by the Centre, Mr Modi said, adding that he has resolved to rid India of corruption.He said the issue of One Rank, One Pension (OROP) for defence forces was pending for four decades. Political parties promised to implement OROP during elections, but forgot after they came into power. Many governments changed, but the policy was not implemented, he added.The Prime Minister said his government implemented OROP because those who lay down their lives for the country, their dignity has to be respected.He also highlighted the success of his government's policy initiatives like Direct Benefit Transfer scheme and use of Aadhaar Card to prevent misuse of subsidy provided for the poor. UNI NM RJ 2040 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0426-770918.Xml
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today launched the much-publicised Public Grievance Redressal Act, giving statutory right to people to seek redressal of their grievances within the stipulated time frame, a landmark decision on the historic 'total revolution day'. Mr Kumar, a political disciple of veteran socialist leader Jaiprakash Narain, who had given a call for total revolution on June 25, four decades back to bring about qualitative changes in all spheres the life, preferred to launch the Public Grievances Redressal Act on this historic day. The Chief Minister, while addressing a function organised here to mark the occasion, said that Right to Public Services Act was enforced in 2011, which made easy for the common man to get various kinds of services from the government machineries within the stipulated time frame,but it was not enough and the Public Grienvances Redressal Act was one step ahead in the direction of better delivery system of government for the people. "With Grievances Redressal Act coming into force from today, any one could approach the designated competent authority right from sub- divisional level to state level for redressal of his grievances within 60 days", Mr Kumar said, adding that the person concerned would have the opportunity to knock the door of appellant forum to register their protest, if he was not satisfied with the redressal of his grievance.MORE UNI KKS BM RJ AN2204 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770872.Xml
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul has expressed concern over the "ill-treatment" being meted out to Arunachali patients and students staying in Arunachal Bhawan in Navi Mumbai. The Chief Minister visited and inspected the living conditions at the Arunachal Bhavan, located in Navi Mumbai yesterday and observed that the US Roofs Ltd that shared the 17-storied building with occupants from the state had denied them access to hygienic living conditions. Patients complained that the company had reportedly denied the access to lifts for commuting between the floors and were denied entry to the building through the main entrance, an official report said here today. Regretting over such "discrimination" being meted out to Arunachali people on account of non-payment of certain maintenance bills, Mr Pul said, "If at all the company had genuine grievances, it could have directly reported it to Arunachal government rather than giving mental harassment to the patients people residing in Bhawan. He said the agreement, on the basis of which the buildings were shared between the government of Arunachal and US Roof, would be revisited and the number of rooms allotted to GoAP would be increased from the existing eight. The Maharashtra government in 1997 had allotted the land for the purpose of construction of an Arunachal Bhavan, cum Sales Emporium. However, being a very low revenue base state, GoAP could not start construction of the Bhavan because of which penalties were imposed for not meeting the construction deadline set by the CIDCO, Mr Pul informed and added that in later years the construction was done on PPP mode. The Chief Minister earlier met the patients who were mostly undergoing treatment for cancer at the Tata Memorial Hospital. UNI PB BM PR RJ AN2149 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770921.Xml
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today stressed that every section of the society has to worship and revere environment and carry out responsibilities with sincerity towards protection of the environment. He was addressing a function organized by the State Environment and Forest Department, Assam Pollution Control Board and Assam Science Technology and Environment Council on the occasion of World Environment Day here. Exhorting upon the people for creating a conducive environment, Chief Minister Mr Sonowal said, "There exists a communion between man and nature. The co-relation between man and nature vis-a-vis environment has been in existence since ages and will continue in future. The scientists too acknowledge this." The chief minister said the State Government has accorded priority to the protection of the environment and that the people must also play a pivotal role in this regard. Expressing serious concern over depletion of the forest cover, Sonowal said, "Each and every one of us must plant saplings in order to extend the green cover. The State Government will embark on a massive plantation drive in which 5 crore saplings will be planted in the next few months. We seek the cooperation of every one to make the afforestation campaign a success." Mr Sonowal pointed out that the State Government has plans on the anvil to make Guwahati a 'Green City' and appealed to the city dwellers to plant at least three numbers of saplings. On rhino poaching, the Chief Minister said that the State Government would take bold steps to tackle the menace. "We won't allow miscreants to destroy our environment. The people have to join hands with the Government and have to be sentinels in protecting our rich flora and fauna," the chief minister said. Raising serious concern over the increasing man-elephant conflict, Mr Sonowal said, "The conflicts have been due to the destruction wrecked on the environment leading to shrinkage in habitat of the pachyderms. One of the ways is to maintain the ecological balance so that man-animal can live in peaceful co-existence." Later the chief minister gave away prizes to the winners of the painting competition held on the occasion of World Environment Day. Mr Sonowal also planted saplings and distributed some among the students. The chief minister also released a book on environment. Speaking on the occasion, Environment and Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma appealed to the people to protect the flora and fauna for future generations and for the sake of posterity. The function was attended, among others, by eminent writer Arup Kumar Dutta, Director, Assam Science Technology and Environment Council, Dr. Arup Kumar Misra, Chairman, Assam Pollution Control Board, Hemanta Kumar Gogoi and senior officials of the Environment and Forest Department.UNI SG BM RJ BL2215 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770936.Xml
The World Environment Day (WED) was observed today across the state with various organisations carrying out tree plantation exercises. To mark this day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, " We will build a Green Earth. This is our pledge on World Environment Day." Like every year, Peoples Association for Science and Environment'(PASE) organized World Environment Day programme here for environment awareness. This year PASE organized a leadership training programme jointly with St John Ambulance, Tollygunge unit to celebrate WED at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium campus where eminent scientists and experts delivered lectures on environmental issues like climate change, biodiversity conservation and pollution control. Welcome address was given by Dr Amitava Bose, Secretary of St John Ambulance, Tollygunge. Prof. Saikat Maitra, Secretary, PASE in his inaugural address briefed the activities of PASE to popularize scientific temperament among school children and general mass at large. Significance and history of observing the environment day throughout the world was discussed by Dr Siddhartha Joardar, Asstt. Secretary, PASE. Among the guest speakers, Prof Narayan Bandyapadhyay, former advisor, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, pointed out our role to protect our environment. Prof Sampa Chakraborty and Dr Shibamoy Dasgupta raised the issues of environment pollution and its mitigation. Participants took pledge to work throughout their lives to safeguard environment. Renowned popular- science activist and writer SSankar Chakraborty acted as the Chief Guest of the programme. He opined that citizens of this generation should be more sincere and dedicated about protecting their environment to keep our earth habitable to the next generation. Mr Dipankar Chakraborty, Vice-President of PASE, presided over the function. The Indian Museum organised a workshop on clay modelling, painting, music, photography and origami with wildlife as its theme. The British Council screened two documentaries - David Attenborough's 'Natural History Museum' and 'Wild Eye - From Himalaya to Bay of Bengal'. The iconic Victoria Memorial was lit in green colours to mark the occasion. World Environment Day (WED) is organised around a theme that reflects a pressing environmental concern. The theme for WED 2016 is the illegal trade in wildlife, which threatens species such as rhinos and tigers with extinction. Wildlife crime also undermines economies and security, especially in developing countries. This year's World Environment Day celebrations are hosted by Angola, a country seeking to restore its elephant herds, conserve Africa's biodiversity-rich wildlife, and safeguard the environment as it continues to rebuild after more than a quarter-century of civil war. UNI BM RJ BL2201 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770958.Xml
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today exhorted the people to go for plantation as much as possible to protect the environment. Mr Kumar planted a sapling of "Patli tree" in premises of his official residence to mark the 'World Environment Day' and called upon the people to go for plantation as much as possible. People should also not hesitate in planting saplings, even in compound of their houses as this level of scarcity was the only way left to protect the environment, he added. A function was also organised at Beltron Bhawan in Patna which emphasised on the need for protecting wild life and uncared trees. Noted zoologist and head of department of Zoology department of Patna University Dr R K Sinha, widely known as Dolphin man for his immense contribution in protecting Dolphin in Ganga river, while inaugurating the function, said that uncared, untamed animals and plants were wildlife. "It is the responsibility of the people to be careful to protect the animals and plants", Mr Sinha said, adding that such effort would help in maintaining environment and also protecting the health of people.UNI KKS BM RJ BL2205 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-770967.Xml
Three persons died and as many were injured in a firing by criminals over old rivalry, in front of Naini Central Jail, when they were returning after meeting with a prisoner today. Police sources said here that some people came to meet Ashok Yadav, who is in Naini jail under charge of double murder. Gyan Chand Yadav, Vakeel Ahmad, Santosh Yadav, Anil Kumar, Srikant and one other person were returning after meeting Ashok, when they were ambushed in front of Naini Jail. Gyan Chand, Vakeel Ahmad and one other person died on the spot, while Santosh, Anil and Shrikant were severely injured. The reason behind this attack might be old rivalry, police said. The injured were taken to hospital. Police in six teams was probing the case.UNI XC-MB RJ 2300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-770997.Xml
India and Qatar today agreed to expand energy cooperation by undertaking exploration and setting up petrochemical complexes through joint venture routes.The two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in areas of training and human resource development, as well as research and development.The Indian side highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar, with Qatar Petroleum and other companies, in order to jointly explore new fields as well development of discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar, said a joint statement issued by India and Qatar at the conclusion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day long visit to the Gulf country. The Indian side invited Qatar to invest in India's exploration and production sector by bidding for exploration blocks in India under the new 'Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing' Policy and 'Discovered Small Fields' Policy, stated the document.The Indian side invited Qatar to participate in the second phase of the strategic reserves storage facility being created in India.The two sides expressed satisfaction at the growing bilateral trade in the energy sector, with Qatar being the largest supplier of LNG and LPG to India. The Indian side appreciated Qatar's contribution to India's energy security, according to the joint statement. UNI NM RJ 2346 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-771036.Xml
India's biggest hurdle at the upcoming Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Meeting on June 9 will be to overcome China's two-faced policy of opposing India's application to join the group on the one hand and on the other violating NSG terms by supplying banned nuclear materials to Pakistan. Analysts in the United States believe that India's NSG application is in a precarious position for several reasons, chief among them being China's assertion that if the NSG countries make an exception for India, they should do the same for Pakistan, even though Pakistan has been caught selling nuclear weapons secrets to Libya and was named and shamed globally. "Pakistan and China have played their cards really well this time around. Pakistan has an application for NSG membership and China can, therefore, argue what's good for the goose is good for the gander," said Micheal Krepon, a nuclear proliferation expert and co-founder of the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington DC. According to Krepon, the Chinese will underline the point that if the NSG makes an exception for India, the informal group of nations should allow Pakistan in too and that will compound the nuclear proliferation consequences because India becomes saddled with Pakistan's terrible track record. U.S. experts say that it is a fact that Pakistans nuclear program from concept to delivery is dependent on supplies from China in violation of international norms. The heavy water plant and the plutonium production reactors at Khushab were made with Chinese assistance. Also in the civil nuclear field, China assisted Pakistan with the construction of nuclear power plants at Chashma. China is also involved in the proliferation of missile technology, say experts. China's objection to India's membership to the NSG is by no means a principled stand given its own proliferation history which one analyst called a "very bad record". It is no secret that Beijing's continued assistance to Pakistan for the latters civil and military nuclear program is in flagrant violation of the obligations and commitments it made as a member of the NSG. "It would be very surprising if China lets India in without an equal concession for Pakistan," said Colin Cookman, program officer at the United States Institute of Peace. China has in the past talked of same status for Pakistan, but analysts believe that the Chinese know that the U.S. and several other NSG members will never agree to Pakistani membership. Beijing does not want New Delhi to have "full legal acceptance" as a nuclear armed power and have an equal footing in the global nuclear regime. Analysts widely believe that China's stand at the NSG is part of a strategic battle being fought in Asia. China was vehemently opposed to approval of the 2008 nuclear deal, but pulled back in the face of U.S. and Indian pressure. "China feared that a negative vote at that time would drive the Indians closer to the U.S. - in context of strategic hedging. Moreover, China believed that it could use its backing down as a carrot for India to move away from a closer strategic relationship with the U.S.," says Walter Andersen, Administrative Director of the South Asia Program at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. "China still does not want to antagonize India and will try to make an argument that it is not anti-India," feels Daniel Markey, a South Asia expert. "They will try to suggest that they are purely not anti-Indian, but their opposition is out of a sense of due equality of nations and so on, and there is a principal to be upheld here," he says. But, China's opposition is not the only hurdle for India. Nuclear proliferation experts point out that several NSG members are squeamish about supporting India's membership because of its refusal to sign the CTBT and the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty. However a bigger issue for some NSG members is that the promise of nuclear reactor construction contracts with India never materialised. "All these countries were drooling at the possibility of selling power plants to India and that made them enthusiastic backers of India's exceptions. But it hasnt worked out that well," says Krepon. But India strongly believes that it has walked the mile when it comes to meeting some of the concerns raised by member countries. India has resolved nuclear liability issues and officials readily point to reports of Westinghouse finalizing a deal to build six nuclear reactors in India as proof that the domestic nuclear power market is finally ready and open for business. While the U.S. administration has backed India's claim for membership, analysts feel that in 2008, the Bush administration led a "remarkable diplomatic effort that was quite strenuous" and such an effort is missing under the current administration. "I think the Obama administration does not have as much on the line as the Bush administration did. They are supportive, but India has to basically pull a lot more of the weight. It looks like PM Modi is trying to do that, but it's hard," says Markey. India has carried out a massive diplomatic exercise over the last decade in order to secure its membership to the NSG with President Mukherjees recent trip to China and PM Modi's trip to Switzerland and Mexico seen as part of the final push. India's diplomatic efforts may manage to convince several NSG members to back India, but no one is ready to predict what will happen at the NSG meetings on June 9th and June 23rd. Chinas objection certainly stacks the deck against India because the informal grouping of nations works on a consensus basis and it needs every country to at least not object its membership. While some analysts feel that if China is left standing alone they will back down again like in 2008, others say that there is more at stake this time around, and China might go all the way. China knows that India in the NSG will have a say on nuclear issues in a way in which the waiver didn't allow them and it also shuts down Pakistan's chances of entering the NSG. "When push comes to shove, will they actually oppose? They might. If you look at Chinese behavior in the UN with respect to protecting Pakistanis against sanctions over terrorism, they have been willing to veto and hold up," says Markey. China has been supporting Pakistan as a terror promoting state and it is in that backdrop that China's support to Pakistan is being seen by U.S. experts. Washington-based think tanks believe that by backing Pakistan, China is set to isolate itself globally and would be seen as standing on the side of a known nuclear proliferator. (ANI)
The western nations should beware of Pakistan's two-faced policies, and not back off from its ongoing aggressive counter-terrorism measures to neutralize the Taliban following the elimination of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhter Mansour in Balochistan last month, says a former U S envoy to Kabul. Former U.S Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilazad said that it is important for countries in the Western hemisphere to actually determine and assess Islamabad's relations with terrorist outfits like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba. He said it is good that the U.S. has launched an aggressive anti-terror policy, wherein, it will chase and hunt down terrorists who seek refuge and safe haven in Pakistan. Speaking to Arienna TV Network in Kabul recently, Ambassador Khalilazad said," This taking out of Mullah Mansour in Pakistan is a good step to deal with Pakistan's two-faced policies The issue of replacement of Mullah Mansour is important. The point is that what does Pakistan want? Does Pakistan want to make Taliban a terrorist group or make it political group towards progress and development. If Pakistan wants to make it a terrorist group, Sirajuddin (Haqqani) can be elected whose group is a world known terrorist group." Referring specifically to the role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Ambassador Khalilzad pointed out that its role can never underestimated when it comes to the internal affairs of the Taliban. He maintained that the ISI plays the double role of electing the Taliban chief, and also in preventing this group from coming together. The former envoy told the Afghan channel that following the killing of Mansour, the ISI shifted some people who would be help to them (Taliban). "The ISI has the main role and the world knows what ISI does. The time for Pakistan's cunning diplomacy has gone. Now, the ISI cannot say that we don't have any role in this and claim that the Taliban is doing everything itself. Technology and establishments of the world have progressed much, and that is why, our advice through this channel and other mediums to Pakistan is that the time has come to change in their policies. God forbid Pakistan must not continue with its wrong policies due to which Afghans have suffered a lot," Khalilzad said. He also said that it is far from reality that the United States supports the ISI, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "What is important is that for the first time America has hunted down a Taliban leader who had sought refuge in Pakistan ". This policy is a reiteration of the policy under which Osama Bin Laden was taken out in 2011. Ambassador Khalilzad warned that if Pakistan continues with its double-faced approach, lack of cooperation and cunningness in terms of its policies and play around with the world, it will be isolated like North Korea. He said, "I think Pakistan is heading towards isolation; the assistance of America is reducing and the relationship with America is becoming more problematic. Similarly, the world and its allies like China which is its close ally (of Pakistan) is becoming dissatisfied by these policies... Pakistan always target its friendly country, which can become the reason for it to go the way of North Korea." "The step which has been taken by U.S.A. against Mullah Mansoor is not the final step. This is the first step, and we are hoping that in future, other steps will also take place. We are hoping that America will cut down its economic and military assistance to Pakistan, and in future, America may take decision to pressurize international organisations like the World Bank and the IMF to disconnect from Pakistan," he added. Ambassador Kalilzad said that there was a need for Pakistan to introspect that how to respect the sovereignty of other countries. "If this President of America doesn't take this decision, the next President of America will take this decision. We are confident and believe that Mr. Obama has finally reached to an opinion that a must needed step should be taken regarding Pakistan," he added. The former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan cited three key reasons for Washington's change of policy (1) America is a very different country, it has patience for long time, but when it loses this patience, it takes very severe initiatives; (2) Pakistan's decision not to respond or to repeatedly violate the sanctity of various talks and MoUs with the United States, Afghanistan and China and (3) Elections are under process in United States, and Pakistan not cooperating and yet getting aid, has become an internal issue. The U.S. Congress is very angry at the implementation efforts of Pakistan. "All these reasons are important and one important reason is that America ran out of patience," Khalilzad said. He also said that it is far from reality that the United States supports the ISI, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. On the issue of Mullah Mansour reportedly being in possession of a Pakistani passport, and that he had been travelling to Iran to meet with Russian officials, Khalilzad said, "I can't believe these facts because these facts have been disclosed by Pakistan. These facts cannot be accepted as 100 percent correct. If we consider it true for a while, then I can say that every country does their diplomacy and has strategies. This is not important; what is important is that what Afghanistan is doing and what are the policies and strategies of Afghanistan." He said Afghanistan must get ready to act against its enemies and any group supported by ISI in the near future, because the real danger has started after the death of Mullah Mansour. (ANI)
While some world leaders have trumpeted support for Britain to stay in the European Union in this month's referendum, China has kept a low profile. But with an important stake in the economic consequences, Beijing also quietly wants the "remain" camp to win.Relations between Britain and China have been warming over the past few years, and economic links have multiplied in tandem. China has, for example, looked to London for help in developing its financial markets and regulation, and Britain has sought Chinese investment in fields such as power and high-speed rail."Of course, if you are investing in Britain as a way into the European market, using Britain as a bridge into the EU's 27 other nations, then once Britain leaves the EU, that bridgehead will be curtailed," Yao Ling, deputy director of a research centre under the Commerce Ministry, said in a ministry-run newspaper in May.Diplomatic sources say China has given coded support for the "remain" camp by calling for a strong, united Europe - something President Xi Jinping told British Prime Minister David Cameron in October, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated last month."This is China getting the message out indirectly that it wants Britain to stay in the EU," said one Beijing-based Western diplomat, citing conversations with Chinese officials.And for the avoidance of doubt, Chinese state-run media have given broad coverage to the potential economic and financial consequences of a British exit, or "Brexit", with some questioning why Britain is putting such risks up for a vote.One Chinese financial news website, FX678.com, carried a cartoon last month showing a rocket called "British dreams" being waved away by the people of the EU, under the headline: "The Brexit referendum isn't a game. Are the people of Britain scared yet?"The website warned that leaving the bloc would hit British growth and the pound, while a lesser impact would "wash over the globe".BREXIT OPPORTUNITIESChina has long avoided commenting on other nations' internal affairs lest it invite reciprocal interference in Chinese politics, and the media debate has also looked at the opportunities that could arise should Britain vote to quit on June 23.Last month's China Money magazine, published by the People's Bank of China, said it would leave Britain free to sign a free-trade deal directly with China, which could create opportunities for Chinese firms in Britain and vice versa."China's vast market could satisfy the exports needs of Britain post-Brexit, and the countries' cooperation would broaden and deepen," the magazine wrote.Though China and Britain have a history of disputes over human rights and the future of former British colony Hong Kong, diplomats say export-reliant China values Britain as a strong advocate for free trade.Britain has been a prominent supporter of Beijing's in the EU regarding China's push for market economy status, which would make it easier for China to import into the bloc and defeat protectionist measures."China would lose a big supporter of free trade in the EU if Britain were not there. China does not want a Europe dominated by France and Germany," said a second Beijing-based Western diplomat.Beijing is also worried about any weakening of the EU itself from losing its second-biggest economy and third most populous nation. Diplomats say it views the bloc as a vital counterbalance to the United States.One Chinese diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China expected British self-interest would ultimately deliver a win for the "remain" team, led by Cameron."The British people, at the end of the day, will vote to remain as it's in their best interests. A vote to leave would likely end the United Kingdom, as Scotland inevitably would then vote for independence," the source said. REUTERS DS PM0652 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0139-769892.Xml
US Secretary of State John Kerry said today the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defence zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilising act".Kerry was speaking to reporters during a visit to Mongolia.REUTERS DS PM0755 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0139-769896.Xml
US Secretary of State John Kerry said today the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act".US officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013."We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia."So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative."Kerry will visit China after Mongolia.China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea.China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies.Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.REUTERS DS PM0808 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0139-769907.Xml
Describing India as a land of opportunity and promising to remove identified bottlenecks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Qatari businessmen to invest in India. "India is a land of opportunity. I have come personally to invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," Mr Modi said while addressing a roundtable meeting with Qatari business leaders here.He added, "All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks that you have identified." More UNI NM SB 1300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-770118.Xml
Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world.Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America.Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join."Iran is the one that isolated itself by supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a recent news conference. "That is why the world reacted to Iran, and particularly the Islamic world, and basically said 'enough is enough'."Tehran denies it sponsors terrorism, and points to its record of fighting the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State through backing for Shi'ite militias in Iraq and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.Riyadh is alarmed by Tehran's support for the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and cut off military aid to the Beirut government after it failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Likewise, Saudi forces have launched a war on Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.But all this is part of its long-standing diplomatic, economic and military efforts to contain what it sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations. Now it is attempting to orchestrate support elsewhere, including from countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia through its creation last November of the coalition against terrorism."In many ways the dimensions of the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia are beginning to go beyond the Middle East. This is an interesting development that historically hasn't been the case," said Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University-Qatar.OLD ORDER DEADThe strategy partly responds to implementation of the nuclear deal in January. Riyadh fears this will give Iran more scope to push its interests internationally by releasing it from many of the sanctions which have crippled its economy.With even the United States now saying Western banks can resume legitimate business with Tehran, the Saudis believe their main Western ally is gradually disengaging from the region."They understand the old international order is dead and they have to take responsibility," said a senior diplomat in Riyadh.But the strategy is also driven by King Salman's belief that Iranian influence has grown only because nobody has stood up to it, said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security expert with close ties to the Saudi interior ministry.The coalition against terrorism falls into this context. When chiefs of staff from 34 Muslim states met after a joint military exercise in late March, a cartoon in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, owned by the ruling family, showed a bomber dropping leaflets with a no-entry sign onto Iran.The coalition, which caused some confusion as to its scope and membership when Riyadh first announced it, is now moving forward and work to establish a "coordination centre" may be formalised during the Muslim holy month which starts shortly."The next step is the meeting of defence ministers, perhaps during Ramadan. At the same time we prepare a coordination centre in Riyadh," said Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asseri.This centre will have permanent staff members from each participating country, Asseri said, and would be a place where states could either request help in dealing with militancy or offer military, security or other aid.TAKING THE FLAGAlthough not explicitly aimed at countering Iran, the coalition includes neither Tehran nor its allied government in Iraq. The alliance also aims to counter comment in some Western media that while Iran and its Shi'ite allies are fighting Islamic State, Sunni Saudi Arabia supports jihadist militancy on some levels."This new coalition is basically to get the worldwide Islamic support for Saudi Arabia to lead the fight against terrorism and take the flag from Iran," said Alani.Whether the coalition members see it that way is another matter.Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, praised Riyadh for setting up the coalition and said Islamabad would be happy to share expertise.But he also said the arrangements would take time to develop and added that Pakistan sought "brotherhood" between Islamic states and was therefore concerned about the escalation in tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.Beyond the coalition initiative, Riyadh is trying to win the support of India and encourage it to isolate Iran. So far it has achieved mixed results. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both countries last month, Saudi energy sales to India grew but New Delhi also agreed to build a port in Iran.Riyadh's hosting of a summit of South American and Arab League states last year was also partly aimed at pushing back Iran, said a Saudi analyst who sometimes carries out diplomatic functions for the government.Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador in 2012 seeking diplomatic support from the left-wing states, with little apparent success.AFRICAN RIFTSome African countries have followed many Arab League states in recent months in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. This followed the storming of Riyadh's Tehran embassy in reaction to Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shi'ite cleric in January.Tomorrow, Zambia's president appeared in Riyadh on an official visit soon after speaking out against Tehran.Iran has devoted money to winning friends across Africa, investing in local industries and paying to spread its Shi'ite version of Islam in Muslim states. Playing on its anti-imperialist credentials, Tehran's goal appeared to be winning wider support at the United Nations.Not only is soft power at stake. In 2012 two Iranian warships docked at Port Sudan, just across the Red Sea from the Saudi coast, following years of close ties between Khartoum and Tehran.Since then Riyadh has invested around 11 billion dollar in Sudan and ignored international arrest warrants on President Omar al-Bashir to allow him to visit the kingdom. In January, Khartoum cut off ties with Tehran.Djibouti and Somalia did the same. A document seen by Reuters in January showed Mogadishu had received an aid package of 50 million dollar shortly beforehand. But Djibouti denied in February that its break was motivated by money and accused Tehran of spreading sectarian tension in Africa.Overall, Riyadh believes its approach is succeeding. "Iranian expansionism is almost stopped," an adviser to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last month.But at Georgetown University-Qatar, Kamrava said it's too early to declare winners and losers."In international relations you can rent friends but you can't buy them. For Saudi Arabia the long-term effectiveness of this policy is questionable because these alliances are based on purely tactical or commercial relations," he said. REUTERS AKC PR1411 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-770195.Xml
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here tonight on third leg of his five-nation tour, that will also take him to the US and finally Mexico. Black money stashed in Swiss banks and the membership of Nuclear Suppliers' Group is likely to be the prime focus when Mr Modi meets President of Switzerland Johann Schnieder-Ammann tomorrow. During the talks, both the leaders will discuss the bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.This will be followed by delegation-level talks between the two countries and a business meeting between the two sides.With growing bilateral trade and foreign investment, India and Switzerland enjoy strong economic ties.Swiss-India bilateral trade nearly tripled from USD 1.6 billion in 2004 to USD 4.5 billion in 2011 even as the balance of trade has remained in favour of Switzerland.UNI MK AE -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0090-770246.Xml
"In the past three years alone, IS has recruited more sympathisers and operatives in Asean than Al-Qaeda did in the last decade, with more than 1,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria," Efe news quoted Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen as saying during 15th Shangri-La Dialogue.

The minister said militants who had returned to southeast Asia maintain an ideological link with the IS in the Middle East on "jihad".

Ng said the fight against Islamic terrorism was not a fight against Islam.

He said terrorist groups today had developed more sophisticated strategies and had the ability to carry out more deadly attacks that could destabilise the region if countries did not act together to stop them.

"Security forces, including militaries of individual countries, will have to combat terrorism rigorously... collectively, we must work closely together to build up joint responses, and strengthen intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts," Ng said.

The Shangri-La security forum in Singapore which ends on Sunday saw around 600 delegates from Asia, Europe, US and Australia.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries are Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

--IANS py/dg

( 225 Words)

2016-06-05-16:58:02 (IANS)
Other agreements include cooperation in health, tourism, and skill development, mutual assistance in customs matter and youth and sports.

The Prime Minister had arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit. He addressed business and industry leaders of Qatar earlier in the day after being given ceremonial reception.

Mr Modi on his arrival here last evening had visited a campus of Indian workers.

This is Mr Modi's first visit to Qatar and first by an Indian Prime Minister in the past eight years. The last visit was in 2008 by Dr Manmohan Singh.

The visit, which follows closely on the heels of Mr Modi's visit to Iran and to UAE and Saudi Arabia, builds further on Indians' relationship to the strategically significant Gulf nation and the Arab world as a whole.

Qatar has over six lakh strong Indian diaspora and its trade with India had exceeded 15 billion dollars in 2014-15.

The tiny Gulf nation is also the largest supplier of India's LNG needs and also one of the key sources of crude oil.

The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.UNI XC NAZ AE 1650

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-770438.Xml
When US Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke at a key Asian summit at the weekend, he used the word "principled" 38 times, floating his vision of a US-backed "security network" of countries in the region.Several delegations were quick to respond to the idea at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but it seemed to evolve into a form of diplomatic tag-team wrestling as a loose coalition of nations lined up to criticise China.Nations including Japan, India, France and Vietnam joined calls for greater respect for international law to resolve worsening tensions over the South China Sea, a dig at Beijing which has said it will not accept any ruling by a UN-backed court on the dispute.Chinese officials, meanwhile, stressed Beijing's commitment to being a peaceful, lawful and inclusive nation but said it would not be bullied."No one has the right to point their fingers at China," said Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the joint staff department of China's Central Military Commission, as he faced a string of questions at one public forum at the summit today."Belligerence does not make peace."Sun was sharing a podium with Vietnamese deputy defence minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, who said he was cutting short his own responses to allow his Chinese counterpart more time to rebut criticisms raised of Beijing.Concern at China's assertiveness over the vital trade route was deepening, several envoys said on the sidelines of the summit, particularly given the prospect of Chinese military facilities on new artificial islands built by on reefs in the South China Sea.Those concerns were forcing regional countries to band closer together to find new ways of standing up to Beijing.Carter's urging of greater regional efforts, particularly from China, to create his "principled security network" was underpinned by warnings that China risked isolating itself by its actions "on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region's airspace".Many militiaries in the region, he said, were working closer together, both among themselves and with the United Sates.Japan's defence minister, Gen Nakatani, said Japan would seek to participate annually in naval exercises together with the United States and India, similar to drills due to take place off the Japanese port of Sasebo later this week."It is very meaningful from the standpoint of securing safety in the wide area of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, for Japan, the United States and India to cooperate on security and defense areas and to conduct training," Nakatani said.GREAT WALL OF ISOLATIONCarter's warnings that China faced a looming "Great Wall of isolation" were rejected by Chinese officials, but some analysts said an "us versus them" divide may suit Beijing in current circumstances."It might sound tough talk, but my worry is that China's leaders will simply welcome that kind of view," Lee Chung Min, a professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, told Reuters."If its economy slows, China's leaders might welcome the chance for the isolationist talk to stir some domestic nationalism."Major General Yao Yunzhu, of China's Academy of Military Science and prominent figure during the weekend sessions, acknowledged perceptions that some nations might be "ganging up" on China but said this did not represent "objective reality"."The South China Sea is not the only security issue in the region, and events like this one are not quite full reality," she told Reuters. "Each nation has to think of its bilateral relations with China as well, and many other security issues, that pull us closer together."Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US forces in the Pacific, made clear that while the US military was attempting to engage and co-operate with China's rapidly modernising military, it was prepared for a darker outcome."The bottom line is this: we want to co-operate where we can, but we just have to be ready as a military to confront them if we must," he said.Malaysia defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein spelt out the costs to smaller regional countries if great power rivalries escalate, however.Whatever happens between major powers must not "leave us on the beach when the tide goes out". REUTERS VS AKC RAI1647 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-770434.Xml
Final bilateral engagement is an important meeting with the Father Emir of Qatar. PM Narendra Modi calls on him at Old Emiri Diwan, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Sheikh Hamad was the Emir of Qatar from 1995 till 2013.

Earlier on Sunday, India and Qatar signed seven agreements, including on investment and tourism following delegation level talks headed by Modi and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani here.

Modi also attended a meeting of Qatari business leaders and invited them to invest in India.

Modi will interact with the Indian community here later in the day. Qatar is home to around 630,000 expatriate Indians -- comprising the single largest group of migrants in Qatar.

The Prime Minister, who arrived here on Saturday from Afghanistan on the second leg of his five-nation tour, visited a health camp organised for Indian workers here soon after his arrival.

He was later hosted for dinner by Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah Biv Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Modi's is the first prime ministerial visit from India to energy-rich Qatar since the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's in 2008.

Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit four countries in the Gulf region having visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier.

On Sunday evening, Modi will depart for Switzerland on the third leg of his tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.

--IANS ab/rn/vt

( 269 Words)

2016-06-05-17:54:02 (IANS)
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Gen Ngo Xuan Lich to enhance bilateral defence cooperation. Mr Parrikar arrived here after wrapping up his Singapore visit, during which he attended the Shangri La Dialogue. The Defence Minister started his official engagement by laying a wreath at Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Vietnam is one of the parties to a dispute going on in the South China Sea. More than 70 billion dollar worth of Indian trade is routed through these waters. India also had also obtained oil-drilling rights in two blocks off the Vietnam coast.India's relations with Vietnam in the past few years have been keenly watched by China. When Russia sold the Kilo Class submarines to Vietnam, the Indian Navy trained the Vietnamese Navy.Vietnam has also said to be in talks with New Delhi to acquire supersonic cruise missile Brahmos. UNI MK AE 1721 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0090-770526.Xml
Nearly 50 air strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government aircraft, residents and a monitoring group said.The group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said an unidentified war plane had crashed in countryside south of Aleppo, in an area where Islamist rebel fighters are battling the Syrian army and Iranian-backed forces. It had no information on what caused the crash.A civil defence worker said at least 32 people were killed in the rebel-held parts of the city during the air strikes, with 18 bodies pulled from flattened buildings in the Qatrji neighbourhood, the worst hit.The monitor said dozens of barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel- were dropped by helicopter on densely populated districts."This week-long campaign of bombing is very intense and day by day it's getting worse ... it is the worst we have seen in a while," said Bebars Mishal, a civil defence official in rebel-held Aleppo.For their part, rebels hit government-held areas of Aleppo in what Syrian media said was an escalation of mortar attacks on the western districts.State media said attacks on Sunday on Hamadaniyah, Midan and other neighbourhoods by insurgents killed at least 20 people, in the second day of intense shelling of government-held areas. The death toll over the whole weekend was at least 44.Aleppo, the country's largest city before the war, has been divided for years between rebel and government-held zones.Full control of Aleppo would be a huge prize for President Bashar al-Assad. Russia's military intervention since September has helped to bolster Assad's government.Syria issued a toughly worded statement denouncing Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, holding them responsible for the latest surge in rebel attacks and accusing them of wrecking any effort to reach a U.N.-backed political settlement.Damascus says that along with several major Western countries, those regional countries finance and train Islamist rebels seeking to topple Assad's government.In the northwestern province of Idlib, meanwhile, residents said Syrian and Russian jets bombed the rebel-held provincial capital, setting fire to a bustling market in the heart of the city. More than 30 people were injured, at least three killed and dozens were unaccounted for, according to an activist contacted in the city.The Idlib strikes came just days after some of the heaviest raids on residential areas for months, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens on May 31. Idlib has been a relative haven for thousands of displaced Syrians.ATTEMPTS TO ENCIRCLE INSURGENTSThe air raids in Aleppo on Sunday came in the wake of strikes on civilian areas on Friday that residents said were the most intense in over a month.The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian government raids had targeted the main Castello road that leads into rebel-held Aleppo as part of a campaign to complete the encirclement of the city's insurgent-dominated areas.A Russian defence ministry statement on Sunday accused militant Syrian Islamist groups of firing mortars on the mainly Kurdish-populated Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood in Aleppo that overlooks the Castello road.The monitor said 13 people, including six children, were killed on Saturday in the Kurdish-run area by insurgents' mortars.Rebels accuse the powerful Kurdish YPG of working with the Syrian army to cut the main artery by intensifying their ground attacks on the highway.The Russians had on Saturday accused militants from radical Islamic groups of bringing at least 1,000 fighters into an area in the southern Aleppo countryside.The militants have consolidated gains since Friday in the area around the strategic town of Khan Touman, rebels say.The Nusra Front spearheaded an attack on Khan Touman last month, delivering one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters supporting Syrian government forces..Rebels say Russian jets today pounded insurgent positions in the area to prevent them from advancing towards the nearby town of Hader, which rebels say is a stronghold of Iranian-backed militias.Also U.S.-backed forces on Sunday engaged with Islamic State fighters in an offensive that began last Tuesday against IS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area where they continued to seize more villages, according to Kurdish sources and the monitor. REUTERS PR BL2329 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0105-771033.Xml
On Monday, Modi will hold talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Amman during which the issues of black money and India's membership in the NSG are likely to figure.

In a pre-departure media briefing in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said Switzerland was an important member of the NSG and he definitely expected the issue of India's membership to come up during the discussions.

India has already formally applied for membership of the group.

On the black money issue, Jaishankar said India has already been in touch with the Swiss government under the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) mandate and added that India hoped "to engage as early as possible in the automatic exchange of information with Switzerland".

Monday's discussions may also veer around renewable energy and vocational education, sectors Switzerland is strong in.

Switzerland is India's fifth largest trade partner and 11th largest investor.

After his engagements in Switzerland, the Prime Minister will proceed to the US later on Monday and on Wednesday to Mexico.

Modi had arrived in Qatar on Saturday from Afghanistan.

--IANS ab/pgh/

( 229 Words)

2016-06-06-03:26:03 (IANS)
Members of the Iraqi government forces help a man who fled the violence in his village of Saqlawiyah, north west ofFallujah, at a military point outside his village, on June 3, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

FALLUJAH, Iraq, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Saturday liberated the town of Saqlawiyah from Islamic State (IS) militants near the IS-held city of Fallujah in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

Around noon, the forces and allied paramilitary Shiite and Sunni units, known as Hashd Shaabi, entered Saqlawiyah in northwest of Fallujah, which itself is located some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and recaptured the central part of it, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops, backed by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, took control of the government building and raised the Iraqi flag on the building, while fierce clashes continued to drive out IS militants from the southern part of the town, the source said.

The advance in Saqlawiyah came after several days of clashes with the extremist militants.

The troops also are fighting to enter the militant-seized city of Fallujah, but were slowed down by heavy resistance from IS militants inside the city, in addition to hundreds of hidden bombs are believed to be planted by the militants.

The security forces also wanted to avoid heavy casualties among tens of thousands of civilians who are reportedly trapped inside Fallujah.

On May 23, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of the offensive to claim Fallujah.

Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who attempted to advance towards Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the Islamic State controlled parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.
Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in theSouth China Sea, south China. (Xinhua file photo)

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday urged the United States and Japan to stop pointing fingers at China on the South China Sea.

"Countries from outside should honor their commitments and not make irresponsible remarks on issues involving territorial sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in response to remarks of U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani at a security summit in Singapore.

According to a press release from the ministry, during the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Carter and Nakatani talked about the South China Sea issue and hurled unreasonable accusations at China.

"We have noted relevant remarks. They were mostly repeating their old tunes, which have no fact in them and are full of groundless accusations against China's legitimate construction activities on relevant islands and reefs." Hua said.

She added that they blamed China for the regional security issue when China is actually the victim and sowed discord between China and other regional countries.

"China is firmly opposed to that and the Chinese delegation attending the meeting has made our position clear." Hua stressed the following points:

First, China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the adjacent waters, which is fully backed by historical and legal evidence. China has never acknowledged the so-called "status-quo" formed by other countries' illegal occupation of Chinese territory, and is not going to do so.

Second, relevant construction has taken place on Chinese own territory. it went against no international law. It is the intention of some countries who have deployed large amounts of advanced weapons and equipment to the Asia-Pacific region that should cause alarm among regional countries.

Third, the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is not meant to resolve disputes, but to negate China's territorial right and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. This arbitration case severely undermines the sanctity and integrity of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), abuses and violates international law. China has already made clear non-acceptance and non-participatory position on the arbitration case.

Fourth, speaking of rules-based order, China and ASEAN countries inked the DOC back in 2002. The DOC is regional rules, which shall be abided by all parties.

On Friday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Shangri-La Dialogue that the maritime issue should not become a zero-sum game and regional countries should look beyond maritime border disputes and seek mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Also,Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said at the meeting that the UN Charter, the UNCLOS and the DOC shall be taken into full consideration and relevant disputes in the South China Sea be resolved step by step.

"We have noted the relevant statements." Hua said, adding that China always maintains that territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall be resolved peacefully between parties directly concerned through negotiation on the basis of respecting historical facts.

She said China supports and advocates the dual-track approach raised by ASEAN countries on properly resolving the South China Sea issue, that is, relevant disputes shall be resolved by countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation, peace and stability in the South China Sea shall be preserved by China and ASEAN countries together.

"China upholds a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security outlook for the region and believes that regional countries shall work together to build and share a path of regional security that benefits all." Hua said.

She said, for regional countries, the challenges brought by non-traditional maritime security matters are more pressing.

All parties should enhance maritime practical cooperation, jointly address non-traditional maritime security threats, and maintain regional peace and stability on the sea. Hua said.

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Facts show Taiping Dao is island, not rock, says FM

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- History and facts show that Taiping Dao in the South China Sea is an island rather than a rock, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Friday.

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters, including Taiping Dao. China has, based on the Nansha Islands as a whole, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. Full story

Admiral Sun Jianguo to expound China's stance on security issues at Shangri-La Dialogue

SINGAPORE, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, will deliver a speech elaborating China's stance on international and regional security issues at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a spokesman said on Friday.

Yang Yujun, spokesman of China's Defense Ministry, told the Chinese media that Admiral Sun will deliver a speech themed "the Challenges of Conflict Resolution" at the plenary session of the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday. Full story

China is staunch force for peace, stability in South China Sea: ambassador

LONDON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China is committed to peace and stability in the South China Sea, and desires to solve disputes peacefully through negotiation, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said Friday.

In a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Liu said China has long exercised "a high-level of self-restraint and forbearance" regarding the territorial disputes in the region. Full story

China calls for bilateral means to solve South China Sea disputes

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday called on thePhilippinesto settle disputes over the South China Sea through bilateral consultation and negotiation.

The Philippines has reportedly claimed arbitration was its last resort after all bilateral means had been exhausted. On the other hand, some people say China and the Philippines have never held negotiations over the Philippines' claims. Full story

China values free navigation in South China Sea more than any other country: senior military official

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China values the freedom of navigation and peace and stability in the South China Sea more than any other country in the world, said Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), on Thursday.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (R) meets with visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) at Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, on March 26, 2015. (Xinhua/file photo)

UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday expressed shock at the scale of grave violations against children in such countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

In his annual report on children and armed conflict covering the year 2015, the secretary-general noted the complex environments created by aerial operations by the armed forces of some member states and international coalitions, which killed and maimed many children.

In some cases, state-allied armed groups have recruited and used children and committed other violations, Ban said.

"Member states should consider, as a matter of priority, changes in policies, military procedures and legislation, where necessary, to prevent violations and protect children," he said, stressing that those who engage in military action resulting in numerous violations of children's rights will find themselves under the UN scrutiny.

The situation in Yemen was particularly worrisome with a five-fold increase in the number of children recruited and six times more children killed and maimed compared to 2014, the report said.

Violations committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and neighboring region continued to have a devastating impact on children, including persistent child recruitment and use and boys featured as child soldiers in social media and in some cases as executioners.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram increased suicide attacks, including through the use of 21 girls as suicide bombers in crowded public spaces. The armed group spread its activities from northeastern Nigeria to neighboring countries, causing a significant number of casualties among civilians and large-scale displacements.

In Syria, thousands of children have been killed during over five years of war there. Afghanistan recorded the highest number of child deaths and injuries since the UN started systematically documenting civilian casualties in 2009.

In Somalia, there was a 50 percent increase in the number of recorded violations against children.

In South Sudan, children were victims of gruesome violations, particularly during brutal military offensives against opposition forces.

"I am also gravely concerned by the increasing number of children deprived of liberty for their alleged association with parties to conflict," said Leila Zerrougui, the secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflicts.

She called upon member states to treat these children primarily as victims to ensure the full protection of their human rights and urgently put in place alternatives to detention and prosecution of children.

However, the UN envoy was encouraged by the perspective of more constructive engagement with non-state armed groups this year. "I wish to remind everyone that it is crucial to ensure appropriate resources for the reintegration of all the children released, with special attention given to psycho-social support and the needs of girls," she said.
Secret Service agents guard near the White House after a man brandishing a weapon outside the White House grounds was shot down in Washington D.C., the United States, May 20, 2016. (Xinhua/file photo)

CHICAGO, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Chicago' s homicide victims reached 66 in May this year. This is marks the deadliest May in the city since 1995, when 75 were slain.

Data released by the Chicago Police Department on June 2 showed that the total number slain in the city in the first five months of this year came to 243, the deadliest since 1999, when data put the death at 248.

Shootings also increased by more than 50 percent so far this year. Nearly 400 people were shot in May, bringing the number shot in the first five months to 1,500.

A Memorial Day weekend, when six were killed and 63 wounded, and a Mother' s Day weekend, when more than 50 people were shot with eight fatally, have added fuel to the deadly May, Chicago Tribune reported.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson cited gang conflicts and the proliferation of guns for increased violence.

Social media also contributed to the violence, he said, where some young people "taunt each other, brag about their crimes and dare others to confront them" .
YANGON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's new government has invited non-ceasefire signatory ethnic armed groups to participate in the political dialogue framework meeting slated for next week .

Dr. Tin Myo Win, the government's peace negotiator and chairman of the 21st Century Panglong Conference Preparatory Sub-Committee-2, extended the invitation to leaders of the non-signatory groups during the first meeting on Friday with the United Nationalities Federal Council's (UNFC) Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) in Chiangmai, Thailand .

He pledged to build mutual trust and understanding for the sake of peace and to build a peaceful , affluent, democratic federal union.

The Chiangmai meeting was held to enable the indigenous armed groups that have not signed the NCA to participate in the 21st Panglong conference.

Gwan Maw, a major general from the ethnic armed organizations' delegation, called for making reviews and analysis based on the meeting's minutes and information.

During the meeting, the non-signatories to the NCA discussed matters concerning participation in the peace conference and the terms and conditions which will enable them to participate.

Myanmar President's Office formed a 16-member Preparatory Committee on Tuesday for holding the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference to work for national reconciliation and domestic peace.

In anticipation of the emergence of a federal union, the conference is set to be inclusive of those ethnic nationalities deemed as deserving to be included.

The committee was organized with Peace Negotiator Dr. Tin Myo Win as chairman and U Kyaw Tint Swe, Minister of the State Counselor's Office, as vice chairman.

The committee is tasked to negotiate with those ceasefire signatory armed groups and non-signatory ones, and review the political framework for necessary amendment.

The committee is divided into two separate sub-committees to negotiate with the two categories of armed groups.

State Counselor and Chairperson of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to hold the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference successfully which is to be convened on the basis of the NCA.

Myanmar previous government and eight ethnic armed groups out of 15 signed the NCA on Oct.15, 2015. After that, a union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee was formed along with the tripartite UPDJC which was to draft a framework for holding political dialogue as part of the implementation of the NCA.

Under the NCA, the two sides agreed on some post-ceasefire steps and the unfinished peace process includes bringing in seven other ethnic armed groups that have not signed the ceasefire accord to complete the truce signing process.
LIMA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Maintaining economic growth will perhaps be the main challenge facing the next Peruvian president, said Carlos Aquino, director of economic research at the National University of San Marcos, in an interview with Xinhua.

"Despite having problems, the Peruvian economy is growing at an average rate far higher than other Latin American countries," and Peru should reach 4 percent GDP growth in 2016, Aquino said.

"However, there are still uncertainties among the private sector as to what the next president's economic priorities will be, as this sector has not grown as much," he said.

Aquino said the two candidates, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, who will contest the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday, have outlined a similar platform in terms of economic policies.

CHALLENGES

For the economist, while the two candidates share a common vision for economic development, Kuczynski's experience does mark the difference between them.

"Kuczynski is likely to follow the economic policy Peru has followed since the 1990s, as he has been minister of the economy, an investor and has many contacts around the world," Aquino said.

However, while Kuczynski's experience could boost investor confidence, he might not enjoy majority support in Congress for his full economic agenda, Aquino added.

A Fujimori presidency, though, would likely put more emphasis on social programs, particularly since her Popular Force party has an absolute majority in Congress, with 73 lawmakers out of 130, the expert said.

Unlike Kuczynski, Fujimori's weakness lies in the fact that she has never held any political office, Aquino added.

INVESTMENTS

Aquino said Peru still has many areas that need foreign investment, citing China's investment in the mining sector as an example.

"We have a big lack of ports, airports and highways, for which China can play a big role, like the inter-oceanic railway being considered between Peru and Brazil," he said.

The expert believes agricultural exports can rise to the fore under the next president. The sector has been improving its exports in recent years and "is providing ever more land and ever more chances to invest, even in fishing."

Aquino added that investors will be keen to see a government in place which is able to make the business operating environment more accessible and to speed up the development of infrastructure.

APEC

Since Peru has embarked on economic integration with regional and global blocs such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), it has become an entryway to new markets, especially China, Aquino said.

The economist added that Peru succeeded in completing a free-trade agreement (FTA) with China, which has helped the country become more globalized.

"2016 will also be very important as, last year, we began a study to create an APEC FTA in the Pacific," he said.

Aquino said the upcoming 2016 APEC Summit in Peru in November will be an ideal setting to present this study and analyze the FTA, which he believes will bring many benefits to Peru.
BAOFENG, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the accident site after a 19-seat bus, carrying 16 people, collided with a freight truck on a highway in Shangjiuwu Town of Baofeng County, central China's Henan Province, June 4, 2016. Four people were killed and 14 others injured in the passenger-bus and truck collision on Saturday afternoon. (Xinhua)

ZHENGZHOU, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and 14 others injured in a passenger-bus and truck collision in central China's Henan Province Saturday afternoon, police said Sunday.

A 19-seat bus, carrying 16 people, collided with a freight truck on a section of a highway in Baofeng County. One person on the bus died at the scene. Fifteen of the bus' passengers and two from the truck were injured and sent to hospital, according to the county public security bureau.

Three of the injured died at the hospital. Three people remain in a critical condition.

The investigation continues.
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A survey by Reef Check Brunei recently showed that some coral reefs in the sultanate are experiencing an increase of algae growth, which may be attributed to overfishing and pollution.

This was revealed by Lydia Koehler, a marine biologist during the International Symposium on Marine Biodiversity 2016 held at Brunei's Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism building on Saturday.

Koehler, who was a trainer for Reef Check Brunei, delivered a presentation during the symposium entitled "Reef Check Brunei 2016 - What changed since 2012?". She said that the coral reefs in Brunei are generally in good condition. However, the survey showed that there are some parts of the country's coral reefs that were in "worse conditions."

The survey was conducted over ten days involving 42 survey sites on 16 different reefs and 30 hours in the water.

Koehler said that when her team looked into the reefs that were not in good condition, they saw a lot of "damage" in the form of trash as well as "a lot of algae covering the corals." She said that algae cover in the nation's coral reefs has increased by 61 percent since the sultanate's last reef check survey in 2012.

She attributed the increase to overfishing. She explained that the herbivorous fauna in the coral reefs are decreasing therefore the algae growth cannot be controlled as they are not consumed.

She added that nutrients or chemicals from sewage channels may also contribute to the increased growth of algae in the nation's coral reefs.

Koehler said that algae is detrimental to coral reefs, as well as the fauna that live in it, because coral is unable to resettle or grow on a reef dominated by algae.

"When you cannot control algae growth, the ecosystem (of the coral reef) might shift where there is more algae than coral (and) this will be less beneficial for marine animals," she said.

"This is because the less coral cover you have, the less marine animals you will find living in those reefs," she added.
HAVANA, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- The 7th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) is held in Havana, Cuba, on June 4, 2016. The 7th summit of the ACS concluded on Saturday with the approval of the Havana declaration, which touches on political issues, such as the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the Venezuelan crisis. The bloc also approved a joint action plan for the next two years, which will increase economic and commercial cooperation among the member nations. (Xinhua/Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate)

HAVANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday in Havana spoke highly of the signing of the Havana declaration by the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and hailed regional unity.

The 7th summit of the ACS concluded on Saturday with the approval of the Havana declaration, which touches on political issues, such as the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the Venezuelan crisis. The bloc also approved a joint action plan for the next two years, which will increase economic and commercial cooperation among the member nations.

In a short closing address, Castro hailed these steps, but stated the region had much to do to face challenges, such as threats to peace and security, the effects of the international financial crisis and the consequences of climate change.

However, he seemed jubilant at the consensus reached on peace and collaboration. "We have reaffirmed our commitment to the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace, signed by ACS heads of state and government in January 2014," Castro said.

"This summit shows the capacity of our region to reach united positions concerning the common problems and challenges we face. We will persevere in search of such solutions, adapted to our conditions, needs and priorities," he added.

Earlier in the day, Alfonso Munera, the secretary-general of the ACS, called on the bloc to strengthen unity in order to face common challenges, such as an international market controlled by transnational companies and the threat of climate change.

During his speech to the summit, Munera stressed that ACS integration has advanced but remains insufficient.

He said the Caribbean countries have faced enormous disadvantages when trying to compete in a market controlled by large transnational corporations.

Most of these islands have serious structural obstacles which impair them in the global economy, he said.

Furthermore, he added that the threat of climate change risked wiping some countries from the map due to rising sea levels.

"There should be no walls dividing us, only unity can successfully lead us to face up to these challenges," said Munera.

The ACS was created in July 1994 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with an aim to promote consultation, cooperation and concerted action among Caribbean countries.
DHAKA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A memorial function was held in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday in memory of the the 38th anniversary of return of ashes of Atish Dipankar Srijnan from China to his country of birth.

Dozens of academics, politicians and and leaders of various religions have gathered in the memorial function to commemorate Atish Dipankar Srijnan (980-1054) , considered a man of many talents and served everybody without regard of caste, color, sex or religion.

During the 10th-11th Century, according to the discussants, Atish was known in Bangladesh, ancient India, China and northern Asian countries, as saint-philosopher by virtue of his unique character, erudition, scholarly attributes, and spiritual eminence.

Speaking at the memorial function, retired Lieutenant General Mahbubur Rahman, also the former Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army, said Atish inspires mankind in its search for peace, harmony and amity.

"Today we celebrate the 38th anniversary of return of ashes of this great scholar from China to his country of birth," he said.

The ashes of Atish, who was on a mission to preach peace, teach knowledge and share culture with China, including his expertise in mathematics and construction, were returned by China to Bangladesh in 1978.

During the handover in June l978, the Chinese side said that the return of Atish's ashes to Bangladesh was part of its efforts to strengthen China-Bangladesh relations.

Since then, Atish has become a symbol of a stronger China-Bangladesh relations. In fact, a mausoleum has been built in the village of his birth with support from the Bangladeshi government.

Rahman, who presided over the ceremony organized by Bangladesh Cultural Academy and Bangladesh Buddhist Research Association, stressed the need for developing a world-class center to study the life and works of Atish who is revered not only in Bangladesh, China and India but also in other parts of the world.

He also underscored the need for developing more relation with China, which has the legendary philosopher and teacher Confucius who lived between 551 and 479 B.C. and is a country of wisdom and knowledge.

China's peaceful rise has generated enormous prosperity for the countries of Asia even today, Rahman said.

Rahman also expressed the hope that the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative of reviving the ancient Silk Road through a network of roads and maritime linkages will boost peaceful cooperation between China and the various regional blocs, adding that this was precisely the dream of Atish: creating a continent of peace in the whole Asia.

Participants of the event expressed their gratitude to China for offering Bangladesh Dipankar's ashes.

"We express our gratitude to China for offering us Dipankar's ashes," said Sukumar Barua, a Dhaka University professor and research scholar.

"Atish teaches us universal love, non-violence and amity," he said.

Another Dhaka University Professor Emajuddin Ahamed said: "We're proud of Atish. He was able to conquer the world not with arms but with his remarkable knowledge and deep wisdom."

Named Chandragarbha by his parents, Atish was born in 980 or 982 AD to a royal family in Vajrayogini village on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Because of his outstanding knowledge and wisdom, he was named Atish Dipankar Srigyan, which means "glorious wisdom source of light." He has been venerated for nearly 1,000 years as an outstanding personality in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and other Asian countries north of the Himalayas.

At the age of 56, Atish journeyed to Tibet to introduce the Buddha's teachings in around 1042. Dipankar stayed in Tibet until he passed away in 1054.

He wrote over 200 Buddhist books, popularized medical science, built reservoirs and did some translations.

But the great philosopher of 10th-11th Century was forgotten for centuries in a peculiar twist of history in the land of his birth, Bangladesh, as well as in Indian sub-continent until the end of 19th Century.

Illness and the unfavorable weather conditions in the Himalayan region having prevented him from returning home to Bangladesh, Atish died in Tibet in 1054.
NEW DELHI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and more than 40 others injured after a private bus crashed into two cars before plunging into a 20-feet deep ditch on Mumbai-Pune Expressway in India Sunday morning, a senior police official said.

"The accident took place around 5:30 a.m. (local time) when the speeding bus rammed into a car that had stopped on the side of the high-speed corridor to help the driver of another car that had also stopped to replace a flat tyre," he said, on condition of anonymity.

What followed was a disaster. The bus did not come to a halt after hitting the first stationery car and it went on to hit the other vehicle that had a deflated tyre, before careening into the 20-feet deep ditch on the left side of the expressway.

"While 17 people, including a six-month-old infant died on the spot, those injured have been admitted to local hospitals where the condition of a few are said to be serious. The victims were mostly passengers of the ill-fated bus," the police official said.

Local TV channels showed footage of the mangled remains of the three vehicles and reported, quoting eye-witnesses, that the bus bus driver may have failed to see the tail-lights of the cars owing to a cloudy morning.

However, a probe has been ordered into the incident, the official added.

India records the highest number of road accidents in the world, with WHO figures indicating that over 200,000 people get killed every year.
HEFEI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The air in Tongling, along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in east China's Anhui Province, was so thick with sulfur dioxide and dust that when Ni Yuping, a heavy smoker, moved to the copper capital in 2009 he had no desire to light a cigarette for the first month.

Ni, the mayor of Tongling, was so shocked by the pollution that he decided that something must be done.

The municipal government shut down the outdated First Copper Smelter, affiliated with Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group (TNMG), the country's first copper smelter, which had been in operation since 1953, as well as two 125,000-kilowatt power generation units and two 150,000-tonnes sulfuric acid production lines. It also closed 136 small plants between 2010 and 2015.

The acid rain frequency was substantially reduced to 3.7 percent in 2015 from 44.4 percent in 2005, according to the municipal environmental protection bureau.

"After years of hard work on pollution control and industrial transition, Tongling has become quite a livable city," said Ni.

No pungent odor was noticeable when Xinhua reporters visited Jinlong Copper Co. Ltd., which produces 450,000 tonnes of cathode copper a year. Automatic sprinklers have been installed along all the roads across the complex, considerably reducing the dust.

"There is not a huge difference between Chinese and Japanese enterprises in environmental protection as China catches up and increases pollution control investment," said Hiroshi Sato, vice president of the Sino-Japan joint venture.

Tongling has a copper production history that spans over 3,000 years, and efforts to upgrade the sector, and find new growth drivers, were pressing. To this end, the deep processing of copper, energy conservation, environmental protection and new energy development were among the sectors identified as having the potential to drive future prosperity.

The Rare and Precious Metals Co., a TNMG affiliate that replaced the First Copper Smelter, produced 13 tonnes of gold and 460 tonnes of silver out of the copper slags in 2015, increasing resource utilization efficiency and extending the value chain.

Moreover, the city outsourced its household refuse treatment to Anhui (Tongling) Conch Cement Co. Ltd., and transformed the city's former landfill into a park.

In the past six years, more than 600,000 tonnes of household waste was incinerated in the company's cement kilns at temperatures exceeding 900 degrees, which can eliminate dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical and the biggest concern of garbage incineration.

Meanwhile, the cement company produced 500 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2015 from the heat generated by the kilns, providing 45 percent of its power consumption, said Liu Qingxin, executive deputy general manger of the company.

TNMG, China's largest cathode copper producer, will cut its annual production from 1.31 million tonnes to 1.22 million tonnes as the price of copper continues to fall.

To create new engines of growth, it expects to start a copper foil program by the end of the year and produce 20,000 tonnes annually to cater for the booming green car market.

The copper foil will be used for batteries for tens of thousands of electric buses and cars, said Ding Shiqi, deputy general manager of TNMG.
GUANGYUAN, Sichuan, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Operation of all tour boats and ships in the city of Guangyuan in southwest China's Sichuan Province has been suspended for a thorough safety inspection after a leisure boat capsized on a lake Saturday, local authorities said on Sunday.

A leisure boat carrying 18 people capsized on Bailong Lake due to strong gales Saturday afternoon. One child died and 14 people remain missing.

Three survivors remain under observation at a local hospital.

As of Sunday morning, a 320-member rescue team, including frogmen, had been dispatched to the site.

The search for the missing continues.

Eighteen people were onboard the boat, "Shuanglong," with 40 seats, when the incident happened. It is owned by a local ship company, according to Lizhou District maritime department, where the accident occurred.

Around Sunday noon, Blue Sky Rescue, a civilian group made up of outdoors experts, found the capsized boat thanks to a locating device and underwater cameras, however, there were no sign of life.

Li Xiang, a rescuer with Blue Sky Rescue, told Xinhua the boat had sunk to a depth of 65.1 meters. Underwater robots will be sent to assist the salvage on Monday.
DHAKA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Spouse of a senior Bangladesh police officer was shot dead Sunday by suspected militants in the country's southeastern seaport city Chittagong, some 242 southeast of capital Dhaka, police said.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Commissioner Iqbal Bahar told journalists that "Miscreants shot Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Babul Akter, superintendent of police of Dhaka police headquarters, to death at about 7:00 a.m. (local time) on Sunday."

He said three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed her first and then shot her when she fell down on the ground.

Mitu was walking along the street with her son to board a school bus in the morning. Mitu's son narrowly escaped the horrendous scene.

CMP Commissioner Iqbal Bahar said militants might have involved in the killing as Mitu's husband Babul Akter, who recently got promotion as superintendent of police and was posted at police headquarters in Dhaka, earlier as an additional deputy commissioner of detective branch in Chittagong, led many drives against militants.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has been facing a surge in violent attacks in recent years in which many have been targeted. A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh have been killed or seriously injured in attacks perpetrated by extremists since 2013.

Two persons including a writer of a LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) magazine were hacked to death in April by unidentified assailants in Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

Bangladeshi police said last month they had arrested a key suspect in connection with the murders of an editor and his friend, for which a "Bangladesh branch" of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent claimed responsibility.
PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Two gunmen were killed after militants stormed a provincial court office in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar on Sunday, sources said.

The attack took place at around 11:00 a.m. local time in provincial capital Pul-e-Alam city. The security forces launched a counter-attack and shot dead two attackers shortly after the gun firing, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

"The clash is still going on, we have no more details so far, but there is fear of casualties," he said.

Government troops cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

On Wednesday, five people, including four civilians, were killed after four Taliban militants attacked a local court office in neighboring Ghazni province.
by Xinhua writers Zhu Lei, Qi Zijian

NEW YORK, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials will gather on Monday and Tuesday in Beijing for an annual high-level dialogue that involves the most agencies and covers the widest range of issues under the bilateral relationship.

The eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which will be held in parallel with the seventh High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE), is of "quintet" significance as it takes place in a crucial year in which the United States is holding presidential elections and China is to host the Group of 20 (G20) summit.

Firstly, the dialogue will help implement the consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries, enhance strategic communication and advance mutually beneficial cooperation, and explore ways to boost cooperation to benefit both the two countries and the world at large.

Secondly, the dialogue will provide an opportunity for the world's two largest economies to coordinate policies before the G20 summit scheduled to be held in the east Chinese city of Hangzhou in September.

Bilateral coordination on economic polices and resultant better multilateral coordination would produce important results.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that the G20 summit will "focus on the core challenges and prominent problems encountered by the world economy" as China will stick to the problem-oriented principle.

The four main modules set up for the summit are "innovative growth modes," "more efficient global economic and financial governance," "robust international trade and investment" and "inclusive and interconnected development."

Equally remarkable are the three priorities for this year's economic dialogue: macro-economic policy and restructuring, open trade and investment, and cooperation on stabilizing and regulating the financial market.

Such a high matchup between the four main modules and the three priority topics is not a mere coincidence. It signals the will of the two countries to seek remedies for the significant downward pressure facing the global economy.

Thirdly, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the economic dialogue between the two countries, which was preceded by the Strategic Economic Dialogue established in 2006. In the past decade, this dialogue mechanism played an active role in promoting mutual trust and avoiding miscalculation in bilateral economic relations, regarded as the ballast and the propeller for the entire bilateral relationship.

Setting the goals and approaches for the next 10 years at this year's economic dialogue would continuously propel the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

Fourthly, this year's S&ED, the last for the Barack Obama administration, will play a crucial role in linking the past and the future relations between China and the United States.

The strategic dialogue will cover such topics as building a new type of relationship for major countries, managing differences and sensitive issues, and the two countries' interaction in the Asia-Pacific, while the CPE will aim to promote institutionalized cooperation between colleges, universities and think tanks, explore new cooperative models between medical organizations and launch public medical and healthcare cooperation regarding a third country.

Though phasic results are expected on many issues, they are hard to achieve in a year or two. A smooth transition of the China policy from the Obama administration to the next is the key to the success of this year's dialogue.

Last but not least, the dialogue will serve as an opportunity to absorb stress. Daniel R. Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said at a press briefing on Tuesday that the S&ED is one of the instruments that helped the two countries "absorb some of the shocks."

Only through candid dialogue could the two countries clear the "negative energy" and inject "positive energy" into bilateral relations by expanding common interests.

Related:

U.S. hails annual high-level China-U.S. dialogue as effective, important mechanism

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government hailed Friday the annual high-level China-U.S. strategic and economic dialogue as an effective and important mechanism to address a wide range of important issues.

"We believe it's a very effective mechanism. And anytime you can get senior members of the Chinese government and the U.S. government to sit down and talk about the issues that bind us, it's effective and it's important," Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, told a news briefing. Full Story

China urges U.S., Japan to stop pointing fingers on South China Sea

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday urged the United States and Japan to stop pointing fingers at China on the South China Sea.


HAVANA, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's President Raul Castro (Front) takes part in the 7th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana, Cuba, on June 4, 2016. The 7th summit of the ACS concluded on Saturday with the approval of the Havana declaration, which touches on political issues, such as the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the Venezuelan crisis. The bloc also approved a joint action plan for the next two years, which will increase economic and commercial cooperation among the member nations. (Xinhua/Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate)

HAVANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which concluded here Saturday, showed the region's capability to agree on positions on dealing with common challenges, said Cuban leader Raul Castro.

Agreements reached at the summit proved that the Caribbean nations can find a consensus on sensitive issues and persevere in search for their solutions, said Castro in a speech at the end of the summit.

The summit was attended by 19 prime ministers and heads of state of the 25 member-countries of the organization.

The Cuban leader and host of the regional meeting stressed that the Declaration of Havana agreed upon at the summit ratifies the ACS founding principles as a mechanism for consultation, consensus and cooperation to adopt common positions and promote integration.

The Declaration recognizes the threats and challenges faced by the Caribbean nations in order to reach sustainable development, and the need to strengthen regional cooperation to solve problems posed by economic crisis and climate change.

The Declaration ratifies as well the responsibility of the member countries for building more just societies, protecting human rights and eradicating hunger and poverty.

Castro also praised the action plan adopted by the summit for 2016-2018, which aims to stimulate tourism development in the region and trade, economic, and cultural and educational cooperation between the Caribbean countries and the rest of the world.

The summit also made a special statement on the situation in Venezuela, calling for the reopening of an effective dialogue between its government and the opposition.

This dialogue should be conducive to political stability and socioeconomic development in Venezuela, said the statement.

The member states elected St. Lucia diplomat June Soomer as the new secretary general of the organization in replace for Alfonso Munera from Colombia, who has headed the ACS for the last four years.

The ACS was created in July, 1994 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. It groups 25 members.

With the summit, Cuba wishes to strengthen the role of the ACS by boosting cooperation and consultation among its members.

Related:

Caribbean unity hailed as regional summit closes

HAVANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday in Havana spoke highly of the signing of the Havana declaration by the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and hailed regional unity.
ANKARA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A total of six people were killed, including three children, and four others injured in a car accident in southeastern Turkey on Sunday morning, Dogan News Agency reported.

The van driver lost control of the wheeling and crashed the car on the highway between southeastern Turkish provinces of Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa at around 5:00 am local time (GMT0800) on Sunday.

An investigation was launched.
CHICAGO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Blood samples can effectively monitor cancer and help doctors better prescribe treatment, a study said Saturday.

Currently tumor biopsies are generally used to assess changes in a cancer's DNA. New advances may allow researchers to study cancer via the bloodstream where tumor cells shed small, detectable pieces of their DNA, researchers said.

In a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers used blood samples from more than 15,000 patients and 50 types of tumors with a test technology invented by California-based Guardant Health, which looks for mutations in 70 cancer-related genes.

By assessing the DNA, doctors can "monitor changes in the cancer as it evolves over time, which can be critical when patients and physicians are discussing treatment options for continued tumor control," the study says.

"These findings suggest that analysis of shed tumor DNA in patient blood, also known as a liquid biopsy, can be a highly informative, minimally-invasive alternative when a tissue biopsy is insufficient for genotyping or cannot be obtained safely," said study presenter Philip Mack, professor and director of molecular pharmacology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Blood tests can also provide a more comprehensive sample of a tumor's DNA since biopsy tissues come from only one part of a tumor and therefore may not provide a sample of the changing DNA.

"Having a good, reliable option beyond a tumor biopsy could have a major impact on our ability to select the right therapy for the right patient," said Sumanta Kumar Pal, a medical oncologist at the City of Hope cancer center in California, who was not involved in the research.
by Tamara Traubsman

JERUSALEM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Jerusalem is bracing for an annual Jewish nationalist flag-bearing parade to mark Israel's 1967 capture of Arab East Jerusalem late Sunday, an event that could further instigate already months-long tensions between Israel and Palestinians.

Police were stepping up security for fear of clashes between Jewish marchers and Muslim as this year's parade is expected to concur with the opening prayer of the Muslim holy month of the Ramadan.

The so-called "flags parade" is the main event of Israel's "Jerusalem Day" with this year commemorating the 49th anniversary of the "reunification" of the east and west sides of the city. The marchers, predominantly right-wing nationalist-religious Jewish youths, walk from western Jerusalem via the Old City's Muslim Quarter en route to the Western Wall, in a demonstration of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

This year's Jerusalem Day will coincide with the opening evening prayer of the Ramadan, the exact start can only be determined on Sunday after sunset by moon sighting committees of Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The committees will gather to look at the Crescent moon and based on their observation they will decide whether to start the holy fasting month on Sunday or Monday.

If the Ramadan is to start on Sunday night, dozens of thousands of Muslim worshipers will be on their way to observe the Ramadan pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque, while tens of thousands of Jews will march towards the Old City's Western Wall, just below the al-Aqsa mosque

The compound is Jerusalem's most sensitive religious site. It is the third holiest site to Muslims, who revere it as "the Noble Sanctuary," and the most sacred site for Jews, who know it as "the Temple Mount."

The celebrations come at a sensitive moment in Jewish-Arab relations in Jerusalem, an eight-month-long surge of Palestinian uprising, including knife, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. The unrest began amidst a campaign by Jewish ultranationalists who press for prayer rights at the flashpoint site.

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal and indivisible capital," in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

The Palestinians, who makes up more than third of the city's overall population, consider east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

According to the Palestinians and human rights groups, the flags parade is a magnate to ultranationalist activists, who pass through local neighborhood, chanting anti-Arab insults and vandalizing Palestinian property.

"They go through the Old City, shouting racist slogans, like, 'death to Arabs.' They harass people, beating people, vandalizing shops, forcing merchants to close their stores and barricade themselves inside their homes," said Jawad Salhab, a Palestinian from the neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, across from the Old City.

Betty Herschman, director of international relations and advocacy for the Israeli human right groups of Ir Amim ("City of Nations,") told Xinhua in an email comment that "alarming acts of violence and incitement" were documented in previous years.

He said these marchers usually bang on windows of residences, shouting vicious slogans, spitting, pushing and vandalizing of public and personal property.

In a last-minute effort to reroute the parade, Ir Amim and Amir Cheshin, former Arab affairs adviser to the mayor of Jerusalem, filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court, to ban the parade through the Muslim Quarter to avoid violence.

The group said that finding an alternative route that bypasses the Muslim Quarter was particularly pressing this year due to "the extreme threat of violence posed by the conflict of parade and Ramadan dates during what is already a period of instability in the city."

The police moved up the time of the parade passing through the Muslim Quarter but according to Ir Amim the change is minor, and the two events are still expected to overlap.

A statement released by the police ahead of the parade urged the participants "to follow the instructions of the organizers, to act by the agreements, and to avoid any physical and verbal violence."

The police warned it will "show zero tolerance for any sign of physical violence and/or verbal abuses, and will act with any possible means against violators of public order and lawbreakers."

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that thousands of Jerusalem police, para-military Border Police, undercover police officers, and volunteers, have been deployed throughout the city to secure both events.
BEIJING, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- He Ping (R Front), editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency, and Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), shake hands during the WFP-Xinhua MOU Signing Ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Xinhua News Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Sunday.

Xinhua editor-in-chief He Ping told visiting WFP executive director Ertharin Cousin that Xinhua was ready to enhance collaboration with the WFP in fighting hunger worldwide.

Hunger is the greatest enemy of humanity in peacetime, He said, noting Xinhua appreciates the great efforts by the WFP in the noble humanitarian cause of alleviating hunger and poverty over the past decades.

As a responsible media organization, Xinhua is willing to record and promote the great historical process, according to He.

Cousin lauded China's achievements in eliminating poverty, saying that she believes Xinhua's broad network will help increase global public awareness of the issue.

The WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.
SINGAPORE, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese military official elaborated here Sunday on his country's policy, practice and proposals on regional security cooperation and governance.

In a speech delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, called for concerted efforts by Asia-Pacific nations to maintain peace and stability in the region.

"The world today is undergoing historic changes as never before and the Asia-Pacific countries share good times and bad times together, " said the Chinese admiral in the speech themed "Strengthen Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation and Promote Regional Security Governance".

China thus advocates a new security outlook, featuring inclusive, shared and win-win security cooperation, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently proposed that the Asia-Pacific countries should jointly build a security governance model that suits the characteristics of the region.

Sun, from the defense and military perspective, elaborated on the new governance model.

He stressed that all countries should stick to the path of peaceful development and abandon the outdated zero-sum mentality.

He suggested countries in the region promote mutual communication and learn among civilizations.

In order to lay a solid foundation for security governance, the Chinese military official also called for nations to seek mutual understanding and accommodation through dialogue and consultation.

"The jungle law goes against the trend of the times and belligerence does not make peace," said the admiral.

He propose to develop the security architecture suitable to the region and strengthen the security governance mechanism.

"The Asia-Pacific countries should refuse the Cold War mentality, deepen and expand security cooperation featuring no-conflict, no-confrontation, no targeting against a third party, mutual benefit and win-win," Sun said.

On the South China Sea issue, the Chinese admiral said the overall situation in the South China Sea has remained stable and freedom of navigation has not been affected because of some disputes.

He reiterated that China has always insisted on peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations and consultations.

The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue wraps up on Sunday afternoon.

Related:

Spotlight: Analysts refute Ashton Carter's China "self-isolation" claims

SINGAPORE, June 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. defense secretary's China "self-isolation" claims were totally incorrect, local analysts said here on Saturday.

In a speech delivered here Saturday at the on-going Shangri-La Dialogue, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation, but analysts here refuted Carter's remarks as one-sided and over-exaggerated. Full Story

Chinese admiral expects Singapore to guide Shangri-la Dialogue toward conflict resolution process

SINGAPORE, June 3 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Chinese military official said here on Friday that he expects host country Singapore to properly guide the process of the ongoing Shangri-la Dialogue, making it conducive to conflict resolution and regional peace and stability.
PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan, June 5 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people, including a senior local judge, were killed and 19 others wounded after militants stormed a provincial court office in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar on Sunday, police said.

"The initial reports found, five civilians were killed and 19 others wounded in Sunday morning's attack on Logar provincial Appeal Court office building," Nisar Ahmad Abdulrahimzai, deputy provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

The attack took place at around 11:00 a.m. local time in provincial capital Pul-e-Alam city.

Among the killed was Akram Nejat, head of provincial Appellate Court, the police official confirmed.

"The attack took place when an official ceremony was underway in the building. Nejat was appointed recently to serve as the chairman of provincial court but he was killed in the incident," the police official noted.

Two suicide bombers were also killed as a result of the attack, he said. At least one explosion occurred inside the building's yard, he said.

Government troops cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since early April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different areas of the country.

The Taliban urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government.

On Wednesday, five people, including four civilians, were killed and 16 others wounded after four Taliban militants attacked a local court office in neighboring Ghazni province.
BANGKOK, June 5 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition is held at the skywalk linking the national stadium skytrain station in Bangkok to increase public support for wildlife protection on Sunday, which is the annual World Environment Day.

Pictures of celebrities such as the Chinese actress Li Bingbing and Thai veterinarian Pattarapol Maneeorn overlapping animal images can be seen at the exhibition, which advocates zero tolerance against wildlife crime.

"Poaching wildlife, consuming meat of them, and destroying their natural habitats are important ways that viruses are transmitted to human beings, so protecting them and the environment is protecting ourselves." said the vet Pattarapol at the opening ceremony.

Some other guest speakers criticized the Tiger Temple of Thailand where dead tiger cubs and items made of tiger fangs and skin are found in a raid.

The now closed Tiger Temple is a famous tourist site and was described as a place where "monks and tigers live in harmony".

Besides the exhibition, Thai students and teachers at the nearby Bangkok Cultural Center were drawing animals on T-shirts and small boards that would be distributed to passers-by.

The event is organized by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNDP), the Freeland Foundation, the Bangkok Cultural Center, Roongaroon School, Thammasart University and Bangkok Mass Transit System Public(BTS) Company, which runs the skytrain in Bangkok.

According to CEO of the BTS Surapong Laoha-unya, the company has also supported the treatment of injured elephant across Thailand since 2010, which are often poached for their tusks.

World Environment Day 2016 focuses on urgent need for all to act against the escalating crisis of wildlife crime on the theme "Go wild for life".
Students read books at the library of Somali National University in Mogadishu, capital ofSomalia, April 17, 2016. The university, which re-opened in 2014, now has 755 students, 6 faculties and a team of masters and PhD holders steering the academic and administrative functions. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

MOGADISHU, June 5 (Xinhua) -- More than two decades after it closed doors due to break out of civil war and disintegration of the state, the Somali National University is back on its feet and determined to reclaim its position as the premier institution of higher learning in Somalia.

The university, which re-opened in 2014 following the flushing out of Al-Shabaab extremist militants from Mogadishu, now has a student population of 755. It has six faculties and a team of masters and PhD holders who steer the academic and administrative functions.

The faculties include Education and Social Science, Health Science, Economics and Management Science, Law, Agriculture and Veterinary and Animal Husbandry.

The university's rector, Professor Mohamed Ahmed Jimale, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Somali National University (SNU) is fast resuming its position as the source of qualified human resource and research as well as a driver of change in the country.

Students study in Somali National University in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, April 17, 2016. The university, which re-opened in 2014, now has 755 students, 6 faculties and a team of masters and PhD holders steering the academic and administrative functions. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

"The aim of this university is to develop skilled professionals who can design and implement development programs for the rebuilding of the nuova Somalia (the new Somalia)," said Jimale.

He said given Somalia is a largely agricultural and livestock driven economy, the university is keen on training professionals in agriculture, animal husbandry and economists.

With a strong teaching fraternity, most of whom acquired higher education in China through scholarship programs, the rector says SNU is poised to offer tuition free quality education while at the same time contribute to peace and state building.

"The number of enrolment increased a lot because many young people that cannot afford to pay the tuition fee for private universities find a good chance here at SNU, the only public and tuition free university," he said.

Students study in Somali National University in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, April 17, 2016. The university, which re-opened in 2014, now has 755 students, 6 faculties and a team of masters and PhD holders steering the academic and administrative functions. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

Access to university education still remains a big challenge in Somalia since most of the secondary school graduates cannot afford private university education, a scenario Jimale says pushes the youth to illegal activities out of desperation.

But SNU, Jimale said, aims to reverse this trend by scrapping tuition fees.

"I believe that the revival and the expansion of Somali National University will contribute to the security, peace and the stability because a large number of desperate youth that now have no access to the higher education, because of economic reason, will access to higher education and that will strengthen their hope to a prosperous future," he added.

Chinese ambassador to Somalia Wei Hongtian, himself alumni of the university with a fluency in Somali language, has played a critical role in facilitating scholarships and providing equipment to the university.

Students stand in front of the main office of Somali National University in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, April 17, 2016. The university, which re-opened in 2014, now has 755 students, 6 faculties and a team of masters and PhD holders steering the academic and administrative functions. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

Through this, Jimale said China is contributing in building the country's human resource and ensuring peace and stability.

"We believe that the Ambassador is doing his best for granting Masters and PhD scholarships for the lecturers of our university. Also, the ambassador is helping our university in other areas such as donating teaching aid materials, furniture and other useful and necessary equipment," said Jimale.

Before its closure in the early 1990s, SNU had a student population of 15,672, with about 700 academic and non-academic staff, and consisted of 13 faculties.

But the university is determined to grow even beyond these numbers. Jimale said they intended to set up campuses in regional federal states such as Puntland, Jubbaland and Somaliland.

He said the introduction of the centralized grade 12 exam system and subsequently universal free primary school under the "Go to School" program, was re-institutionalizing formal education in Somalia.
A fighter of the Syria Democratic Forces mans an anti-aircraft weapon in the southern rural area of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate,Syria May 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

DAMASCUS, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Saturday entered the administrative borders of the northern province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group, as jihadist groups in the northern province of Aleppo unleashed a wide-scale offensive against government troops' positions.

The Syrian army backed by Russian air cover managed to cross the administrative borders of al-Raqqa, just days after unleashing a wide-scale offensive on the route between the town of Athriya in Hama province in central Syria, and the al-Tabaqa town in al-Raqqa countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian forces are trying to reach the al-Furat lake and the road connecting al-Raqqa with the province of Aleppo, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on ground.

Only 40 km separate the army from the targeted areas, said the watchdog group.

The fighting, which broke out on Thursday, has so far killed 26 IS militants and nine security forces.

If the army succeeds, the IS will be besieged by the Syrian army in the south and southwestern parts of Aleppo, while the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) rebels will be besieging the terror group from the west.

The Observatory said the IS police, called Husbah, patrolled the city of al-Raqqa Saturday, threatening to execute anyone who disseminates news about the progress of the Syrian army in al-Raqqa.

It added that the IS is confused now that the Syrian army is advancing from the south and the SDF is advancing in the northern countryside of al-Raqqa and Aleppo.

If the Syrian army controlled the al-Raqqa-Aleppo international road, the IS fighters in Aleppo will be isolated, an achievement that would be in the interest of both the United States and Russia, said the Observatory.

Meanwhile, the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, which along with the IS, are both designated by the UN as terrorist groups, which are excluded from any settlements, unleashed an offensive against government troops positions in southern Aleppo and fired tens of improvised rockets on a predominantly-Kurdish district inside Aleppo.

Syria's national TV said over 40 people were killed Saturday by continuous rebel shelling against the Kurdish-dominated Sheikh Maksud district in Aleppo.

The incessant shelling also wounded 100 people, an escalation deemed as a breach to a recently-established and shaky truce, according to the report.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces walk in the southern rural area of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria May 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Meanwhile, the TV said 11 other people were killed, including a child, by similar shelling on government-controlled areas in Aleppo city, namely the Masharqa, Midan and al-Faid.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Right said the Saturday's shelling was intense.

Also in Aleppo, the SDF forces are still trying to advance toward the city of Manbej, which is controlled by the Islamic State group, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, near Turkey.

The Syrian army is also engaged in battles against the Nusra and likeminded groups in the southern countryside of Aleppo, mainly near the town of Khan Tuman.

The intensified battles in Aleppo also hit a new high when 1,000 fighters with the Nusra and likeminded groups mounted an offensive against Syrian military positions in southern Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and once an economic hub, holds its significance due to its location near the Turkish borders. Each party of the conflict is now fighting to consolidate positions, and claim more territory in that key area.

The progress by the Russian-backed Syrian army and the U.S.-backed SDF reflects a US-Russian understanding on the need to isolate IS and weaken its abilities, analysts said.
by Tai Beiping, Xia Lixin

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. defense secretary's China "self-isolation" claims will do no good to peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, a Sri Lankan expert said on Sunday on the sidelines of the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue.

"U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's remarks will not help build bridges between countries. What's important to do at present is to have a collaborative approach, rather than harsh comments," said Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, a visiting lecturer in International Political Economy for University of London in Sri Lanka Royal Institute of Colombo.

In a speech delivered on Saturday at the dialogue, the Pentagon chief claimed China could end up "erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation." Carter made these remarks when talking about issues related to the South China Sea.

"The remarks came with the U.S. pivot to Asia. This region is growing, the U.S. wants more presence here," Asanga told Xinhua, adding that the United States can actually be an important partner in this region, but what regional countries want is involvement through peaceful and collaborative means.

"If you look at the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance facilities that the United States built in this area, you can see a serious increase of U.S. presence. With the visit of U.S. President (Barack) Obama and the lifting of arms embargo on Vietnam, the message is becoming even clearer," he said.

The Sri Lankan expert stressed that the region needs more conversation, rather than intentions to isolate any one. He said the problem is there are prejudiced conceptions created by certain groups, and these wrong ideas affect relationships between regional partners.

Speaking of China, Asanga said the country's contribution has been immense as to the region's less developed countries like Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, trade between China and regional partners, such as ASEAN members, has increased tremendously.

"We share similar culture, it's one community," said Asanga, who maintained that China has never been isolated in the history, and will not be isolated in the future.

"If you look at the ancient history of the maritime Silk Road, you will see what the country once achieved," said Asanga, who believes that China's "Belt and Road" initiative is a very good project which will help many countries.

Over 560 delegates, including defense ministers, military officials and experts from 52 nations and regions, gathered here for the Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia-Pacific defense and security summit.

Commenting on certain arguments during discussions at the dialogue, the Sri Lankan expert said that some external players always try to create trouble as they have interests here.

"For someone, their job is that, to play up the noise, not to bridge the gap. But we should talk more toward achieving points of intersection and connection," he said.
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States had an in-depth exchange of views on security issues of common concern during an annual strategic security dialogue here on Sunday.

The strategic security dialogue, co-chaired by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was attended by military and foreign affairs officials from both sides.

The two sides discussed security issues relating to sovereignty, maritime interests, the Internet, space and military relations.

They agreed that the two sides should continue dialogue and communication on security-related issues, enhance strategic trust and cooperation, properly handle differences, and push for a stable and cooperative China-U.S. strategic security relationship.

The strategic security dialogue is under the framework of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which will be co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew from Monday to Tuesday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong will also co-chair a high-level consultation on people-to-people exchanges with Kerry.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli (3rd R, front), Tanzanian former President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (2nd R, front) and Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Lv Youqing (3rd L, front) attend the foundation ceremony of China-aided Chinese Library at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania, on June 2, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

DAR ES SALAAM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli has laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new library at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the biggest of its kind in Africa to be built at a cost of about 40 million U.S. dollars.

President Magufuli said project, wholly funded by the Chinese government, had come at the right time as the government was working hard to improve the country's education standard.

Once completed, the state-of-the-art facility will boast a space of 20,000 square meters and house over 800,000 books, he said on Thursday in the project's ground-breaking ceremony.

The planned mega-library will also be able to accommodate 2,600 university students at any one time, officials said.

Students of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) participate in the foundation ceremony of China-aided Chinese Libraryat the UDSM, Tanzania, on June 2, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

The ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the library was also attended by former president Jakaya Kikwete, who is the chancellor of the UDSM.

He appreciated the efforts by the Chinese government to fund various development projects in the country.

The Chinese ambassador to Tanzania, Lyu Youqing commended Tanzania's efforts towards the promotion of its economy which grew at high rate in the last 10 years.

Lyu commended President Magufuli's speedy transformation of the east African nation which aims to fulfill the Development Vision 2025 that would see the country developing into a middle class economy.

President Magufuli said his government had been providing 9.4 million U.S. dollars every month to fund free education.

"Increased enrollment in primary schools have left us with challenges of shortage of classrooms and desks. We request education stakeholders to keep on supporting the government," said the President.
DUBAI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Environment minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said here Sunday that it is essential to educate the public about economical, social and environmental implications of illegal wildlife trade, according to a statement released by state-run news agency WAM.

Sunday marks the World Environment Day, while this year focuses on "Zero Tolerance for Illegal Wildlife Trade."

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, the UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said the UAE contributed to global wildlife protection efforts by endorsing related international agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the London Declaration on Illegal Wildlife Trade.

Illegal wildlife trade is a threat for biodiversity and has contributed to making several species fall under the endangered list, he said, adding that the size of illegal wildlife trade has reached 15 to 20 billion U.S. dollars.

He said the UAE has led a concerted effort over the past several years, and has developed a number of programs that, according to him, have helped to expand the populations of animals that were deemed endangered.

The Gulf nation has also put in place laws and regulations that would slap heavy penalties for those engaging in illegal wildlife trade, and promote information exchange with the relevant regional and international organizations, said the statement.
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The work safety watchdog on Sunday demanded an investigation into the capsizing of a boat in the southwest province of Sichuan, in which a child died and 14 people remain missing.

The search operation continues, and a work team will be sent to the site of the incident, the State Administration of Work Safety said on its website.

The leisure boat, the "Shuanglong," was carrying 18 people when it capsized during strong winds on Bailong Lake in the city of Guangyuan Saturday afternoon.

Three survivors remain under observation at a local hospital.

The administration also called on local authorities in Sichuan to launch water transport safety inspections, improve the management of sightseeing boats, remove possible dangers and prevent major accidents.
Team members from Save the Elephants watch elephant behaviors at Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, March 1, 2016. (Xinhua file photo)

NAIROBI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Saturday launched an anti-poaching campaign to save elephants from poaching which has been rampant in the East African nation.

The East Africa Grass-Root Elephant Education Campaign Walk, with the theme of Ivory Belongs to Elephant, seeks to raise awareness on the importance of wildlife, in particular elephants and rhinos.

"I look forward to witnessing the policy changes that emanate from this campaign. I hope that just as you have inspired us here today, you will inspire the entire East African Community towards collaboration that allows the region to more effectively address the urgent issue of elephant poaching and ivory trade," Margaret said in Nairobi.

David from Save the Elephants watches elephants on a truck at Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, March 1, 2016. (Xinhua file photo)

The campaign brought together various stakeholders who participated in the walk to raise awareness on the value of elephants and rhinos, mitigate human-elephant conflicts and promote anti-poaching activities.

Margaret applauded the increasing support for activities geared towards protecting elephants. She said it is encouraging that ordinary individuals were now spearheading wildlife conservation efforts.

She praised Jim Nyamu, the Executive Director of Elephant Neighbours Centre, who is leading the new initiative to protect elephants and rhinos.

According to conservationists, elephant population in 1970 was at 167,000. The numbers stand at 26,400 elephants in Kenya today.

They warned that if this trend continues the national elephant population may decline given that mortality rate was 4 percent compared to a growth rate of 2 percent in 2011.

Elephants seen at Amboseli Park National Park, Kenya in 2016. (Xinhua file photo)

Over 80 percent of Kenya's elephants are found outside protected areas and the rest in National Parks and Reserves.

Poaching is an emerging challenge and if not managed now, it will lead to decline of elephant numbers and negatively impact the economy.

Margaret observed that engaging communities at the grassroots level to foster a spirit of harmony and peaceful co-existence between people and the ecosystems was one of the best ways to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts.

"I have been to a lot of events and a lot of meetings aimed at addressing the issue of poaching and ivory trade, but I can tell you I have never been to an event quite like this one! It is so encouraging to be here," she said.

Margaret expressed optimism that through individual and collective efforts, elephant poaching will be eradicated.

Photo taken on April 30, 2016 shows the site of a historic torching of ivory and rhino horns at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua file photo)

"Just one year ago, Jim began walking to save elephants and I understand that since then you have walked over 5,000 kilometres; which is simply astounding," she said.

The team led by Nyamu will take 135 days to cover about 3,247 km starting from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam (Moshi, Morongoro, Bukoba) to Kampala (Queens Elizabeth National Park, Jinja) and back to Nairobi through (Busia, Kakamega, Nakuru) in the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The First Lady expressed hope that through efforts such as Nyamu's, the entire East African Community will be pulled towards addressing the issue of elephant poaching and ivory trade.

Nyamu challenged Kenyans to come out in large numbers to help in wildlife conservation.
DHAKA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved 213 million U.S. dollars for two projects in Bangladesh to improve weather and climate information services and to strengthen college education provided through affiliates of the National University.

According to a statement of the bank received here on Sunday, the 113 million dollars Weather and Climate Services Regional Project will help Bangladesh provide reliable weather, water and climate forecasts and enable communities, especially farmers, to access weather information services easily.

It said the 100 million dollars College Education Development Project will help improve the teaching and learning environment of government and non-government colleges affiliated with the National University.

"To reach middle-income country status by 2021, Bangladesh needs to focus on priority areas, which include creating a skilled and competent workforce, and helping weather-dependent sectors cope better with climate uncertainties and natural disasters," said Qimiao Fan, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

"Modern hydro-meteorological forecasting services will improve disaster preparedness, while a stronger college education system consisting of 1.6 million students will help university graduates become more employable. These two projects, in turn, will help raise income-levels and reduce poverty."

The Weather and Climate Services Regional Project will strengthen hydro-meteorological monitoring and forecasting, and improve early warning systems. The project will help develop agro-meteorological services to farmers and provide tailored weather and climate data, and services.

The project will also support community level early warning systems for extreme weather events in the districts of Netrakona, Sunamganj Rajshahi and Naogaon.

"By providing access to weather and climate related information, the project will help the farmers cope with weather and climate extremes and increase agricultural productivity," said Poonam Pillai, task team leader, Weather and Climate Services Regional Project, World Bank.

"The project will set up agro-meteorological information kiosks in 487 Upazila and agromet display boards at 4,051 Union Parishads, enabling at least 300,000 farmers adjust to weather variability at the farm level."

In Bangladesh, over two-thirds of the students at tertiary level are enrolled in government and non-government colleges.

The College Education Development Project will support better education for graduate and masters students in the National University affiliated colleges. It also aims to strengthen the strategic planning and management capacity of the colleges. In addition, the project will help fill vacant teacher positions at the government colleges and provide training for around 8,000 college teachers and managers.

"As the first donor-supported intervention in college education, the project will support an improved teaching and learning environment and contribute to creating a globally competitive workforce," said Yoko Nagashima, task team leader, College Education Development Project, World Bank.
BUJUMBURA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Police on Saturday seized three bags containing about 200 kilograms of cannabis in a car intercepted at Ngagara in the north of the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

Burundian Police Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said police got information that a driver from the Democratic Republic of Congo heading to Bujumbura had a car loaded with cannabis.

"Police agents intercepted the car at Chanic roundabout, but the driver refused to stop. Due to excessive speed, the car overturned when it reached Ngagara police barrack. Police discovered, in the car, three bags cannabis containing about 200 kg," said the spokesperson.

According to Nkurikiye, the driver was seriously injured and was taken to hospital.

He added that the car and the three bags of cannabis were seized.

"Investigations will continue when the driver recovers from his injuries. We will know where the cannabis was shipped from and its destination. We will also know other members of the network doing that business," said Nkurikiye.
SANAA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- At least seven soldiers were killed when fierce clashes flared up in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz on Sunday between government forces and Shiite Houthi militants, a military source said.

Up to 18 soldiers were wounded so far in the ongoing fight in Wazieyah district in Taiz, the source said.

The fighting erupted late Saturday, during which the government forces with local armed resistance committees advanced against the Shiite Houthi fighters and their allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The military source said the Saudi-backed government forces with local resistance committees recaptured six areas and approached the district center, which was still under the rebels' control.

There was no immediate report of Houthi and Saleh casualties.

The joint Houthi-Saleh forces have ruled much of Taiz since they extended to the city under complete siege in September 2014.

Both warring sides were in almost shaky cease-fire since April 10 to facilitate ongoing peace talks in Kuwait backed by the United Nations to end more than a year of civil war.

The talks have yielded few principle results.

United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-moon on Thursday blamed the Saudi-led coalition for 60 percent of child deaths during the war and added it to the blacklists of states and armed groups that violate children's rights in war.
BAMAKO, June 4, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Chinese military team arrive at the airport in Bamako, Mali, June 3, 2016. A specialist medical team sent by Chinese military arrived in Mali on June 3 to join Chinese peacekeepers there and help deal with casualties from a Tuesday terrorist attack. (Xinhua/Yang Zurong)

BAMAKO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Mali's former prime minister Moussa Mara said Chinese peacekeepers under the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were more than bringing peace to the West African country.

"Chinese peacekeepers are not only a force of peace, they are also a force of development. They understand that maintaining peace not only means weaponry and sending soldiers, but also means improving the livelihoods of locals, winning their hearts," Mara said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Saturday.

"China not only provides military and defense assistance to Mali, it extends help to the hearts of Malians," Mara said.

In his eyes, China is good friend of Mali and a country that helps Mali the most.

His remarks came after the MINUSMA camp in Gao, northern Mali came under a terrorist attack on Tuesday, which killed a Chinese peacekeeper and injured five others.

Mara said he deeply regretted the casualties suffered by the Chinese peacekeepers and offered his condolences to the Chinese contingent, wishing the injured speedy recovery.

"The terrorist attack did not target China. It targeted peace. The purpose of the terrorists was to depress those who help Mali and return the country to crisis," Mara said.

Mara also recalled his trip in May 2014 to Gao when he was prime minister and shared his impression of the Chinese peacekeepers.

According to him, what impressed him the most were the strict discipline of the Chinese peacekeepers, and their contributions in various areas such as logistics, engineering, sanitation and health services as well as urban construction in Mali.

He said that the Chinese military have established mutual trust and cooperation with the locals.

"The people in Gao quickly learned that Chinese peacekeepers are dear to them. The Chinese peacekeepers, through their actions, demonstrated that they were not imperialists who pressed the Malian people. Instead, their mission in the country was to relieve their pains and help them get rid of the crisis," Mara said.

The former prime minister said that maintaining peace would remain the top task for the Malian government over the next five years.

He hoped that the Chinese government will continue to provide help to Mali and maintain its peacekeepers in the country.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali is the world body's deadliest active mission. More than 60 of its personnel have died on active service since it was set up in 2013 following a rebellion in the country by ethnic Tuareg fighters alongside armed groups.

China started contributing its peacekeepers to MINUSMA in 2013. Currently, nearly 400 Chinese peacekeepers are based in Gao, carrying out security, engineering and medical work.

Related:

Backgrounder: Chinese blue helmets help guard Mali's peace

China Voice: Attack on peacekeepers won't sway China's commitment to world peace

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- China has supported global peacekeeping missions for over a quarter of a century, and will continue to do so in spite of a recent tragic event.
MADRID, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Polls published in Spanish newspaper on Sunday continued to predict that the June 26 general election will produce another hung parliament in the country, but with important changes in the results.

A poll produced by Metroscope for the El Pais newspaper showed that the right-wing People's Party (PP) of Mariano Rajoy will win the election, but with a predicted 28.5 percent of the vote, the PP would only see an improvement of 0.8 percentage points from its performance in December 2015 and fall well short of the 176 seats needed for an overall majority in the Spanish Congress.

A major change of the poll is that the left-wing coalition Unidos Podemos has climbed to the second place with 25.6 percent of the voting intentions, a sharp rise from the 23.3 percent they were predicted to have by Metroscope just a fortnight ago,

That rise in support came with the stagnation of the campaign by the Socialist Party (PSOE), whose support has dropped to 20.2 percent. Opinion has become increasingly polarized between the left and the right with the center ground slowly being squeezed.

It could be a significant change as following the last election, Rajoy said he was unable to form a government and King Felipe VI turned to the Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to try to form a government.

Should Rajoy again be unable to reach an agreement with other parties, it would now be Podemos Unidos leader, Pablo Iglesias, who would almost certainly be given the chance to form a coalition government.

Meanwhile the center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens), whose support has been highly volatile in recent weeks, has got 16.6 percent of the vote.

These findings are echoed in another poll published in the online El Espanol newspaper, which gives the PP 27.7 percent of the vote, Unidos Podemos 24.3, the PSOE 21.6 and Ciudadanos 15.4 percent, once again highlighting Unidos Podemos' rising popularity and a possible polarization of opinion.
LAGOS, June 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 Boko Haram fighters were killed during a military operation in northeast Nigeria's Borno State, the Nigerian Army said Sunday.

In a statement made available to Xinhua, the Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman said several arms, ammunitions, vehicles and other items were recovered during the operation.

Usman said a top Boko Haram commander known as Ameer Abubakar Gana and his men were killed during a clearance operation on the terrorists' stronghold at Chukungudu area by troops from various army battalions with support from Air Force aerial surveillance.

Usman said the operation was conducted following intelligence report about the activities of the insurgents in the area.

According to him, troops recovered two anti-aircraft guns, one AK-47 rifle, a pistol, one rocket propelled grenade, 267 rounds of 7.62mm NATO metal link ammunition and 23 rounds of 12.7mm belt ammunition.

The army spokesperson said two soldiers who sustained gunshot injuries during the operation were in stable condition and responding to treatment.

Ground forces with aerial support from the Nigerian Air Force recently killed scores of insurgents, cleared their camps and rescued many hostages.

Headquartered across the border in northeastern Nigeria, Boko Haram seeks to carve out an emirate and impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

It has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced families mostly in northeastern Nigeria since it launched its campaign of violence in 2009.

The Nigerian army has in the past year retaken most towns and villages previously under Boko Haram control in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
MANILA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was killed and two others wounded in an attack by suspected leftist New People's Army (NPA) in the central Philippine province of Masbate on Sunday, police said.

Personnel of Baleno Municipal Police Station on board a patrol car were ambushed in Lagta village at around 5:40 a.m. local time while on their way back to the police station after responding to a report that a dead person was found in another village.

An improvised explosive device exploded along the road and this was followed by a burst of gunfire. The patrol car swerved and hit a concrete wall.

A police officer was fatally hit on the head during the explosion, while two other policemen were wounded during the gunfight, which lasted for 10 minutes.

The suspects fled to the hinterland villages of Aroroy town.

The NPA has been waging war against the Philippine government for over four decades.
HEBRON, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Palestinians carry national flags and banners as they take part in a rally to mark the 49th anniversary of "Naksa Day", commemorating the displacement of Palestinians that occurred after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, in the West Bank city of Hebron, on June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Mamoun Wazwaz)

RAMALLAH/GAZA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are marking the 49th anniversary of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories in 1967.

After 49 years, the Palestinians will not accept less than the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a speech carried by the Palestinian state-run news agency.

On June 4, 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights of Syria and parts of the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai. It pulled out from Sinai following 1978 peace treaty signed in Camp David with Egypt and unilaterally pulled out from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

However, it kept occupying large areas of the West Bank, all East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights of Syria.

Abbas added the Palestinians want to establish an independent Palestinian state on the territories Israel occupied in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"Our people, who provided large sacrifices over the past five decades to reach their main goal will never accept a reality that Israel has been always trying to forcibly impose, especially on Jerusalem and on our holy Islamic and Christian sites," he said.

The Palestinians sticks to the two-state solution based on reaching a permanent peace agreement with Israel, Abbas added, stressing that the Palestinian people are united around this goal.

However, Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Zahar said in an earlier statement that the Palestinian people believe that resuming the negotiations with Israel to reach a peace agreement "is waste of time," and that the two-state solution is not practical.

Hamas is against the peace process with Israel and against the recognition of the Jewish state. The Islamic movement has been ruling the Gaza Strip since it violently took control of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007.

It says Israel pulled out from Gaza due to armed resistance and not due to peace treaties.

In an interview with a pro-Hamas radio station based in Gaza, Al-Zahar slammed a French initiative on peace in the Middle East, saying it aims to waste another 20 years of negotiations. However, President Abbas said the French efforts will lead to a just and comprehensive peace in the region.

France has been exerting efforts to bring the stalled Middle East peace process back on track. On Friday, a large ministerial meeting held in Paris with the participation of around 20 foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to prepare for an international conference for peace in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the Palestinian consensus government Rami Hamdallah slammed Israel for keeping East Jerusalem isolated from the entire Palestinian territories.

He warned that this isolation "would widely open the door for endless violence in the region."

"Israel has never stopped its daily aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque and East Jerusalem," Hamdallah said in an official statement, adding that "the region won't enjoy peace and stability as long as East Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state is still occupied."

Hamdallah also stressed that there is no one single Palestinian that accepts an independent Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital, adding that the Israeli celebrations to mark the military occupation of East Jerusalem "will never hide the truth that this part of the Palestinian territories is till occupied."

After Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian and Arab territories in 1967, it announced in 1968 that it annexed East Jerusalem and considered the whole city undivided and it is the eternal capital of the state of Israel, while the Palestinians say East Jerusalem is the capital of their future state.
DHAKA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified attackers killed a Christian business on Sunday in Bangladesh's western Natore district, a police official said.

Shafiqul Islam, the district's assistant superintendent of police, told journalists that "Shunil Gomez, 60, was hacked to death at noon Sunday at his grocery shop in front of his house."

He said passers-by saw his body lying in the shop and informed the family members.

The motive behind the killing was unknown.

The official said the modus operandi was similar to recent killings of secularist bloggers by militants.

According to the jihadist threat monitoring portal, SITE Intelligence Group, Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibility for the killing of the Christian businessman which came hours after spouse of a senior Bangladesh police officer has been shot dead by suspected militants in the southeastern seaport city Chittagong, some 242 km southeast of the capital Dhaka.

Muslim-majority Bangkadesh has been facing a surge in violent attacks in recent months. A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh have been killed or seriously injured in attacks perpetrated by Islamist extremists since 2013.

Two persons including writer of an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) magazine were killed last month by unidentified assailants in Dhaka, hours after a prison guard was shot dead in a separate attack.

Unidentified attackers also hacked a minority Hindu people to death last month in the central Tangail district, some 97 km away from the capital.
Palestinian workers unload bags of cement from a truck after it entered the southern Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

RAMALLAH/GAZA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are marking the 49th anniversary of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories in 1967.

After 49 years, the Palestinians will not accept less than the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a speech carried by the Palestinian state-run news agency.

On June 4, 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights of Syria and parts of the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai. It pulled out from Sinai following 1978 peace treaty signed in Camp David with Egypt and unilaterally pulled out from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

However, it kept occupying large areas of the West Bank, all East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights of Syria.

Abbas added the Palestinians want to establish an independent Palestinian state on the territories Israel occupied in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"Our people, who provided large sacrifices over the past five decades to reach their main goal will never accept a reality that Israel has been always trying to forcibly impose, especially on Jerusalem and on our holy Islamic and Christian sites," he said.

The Palestinians sticks to the two-state solution based on reaching a permanent peace agreement with Israel, Abbas added, stressing that the Palestinian people are united around this goal.

However, Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Zahar said in an earlier statement that the Palestinian people believe that resuming the negotiations with Israel to reach a peace agreement "is waste of time," and that the two-state solution is not practical.

Hamas is against the peace process with Israel and against the recognition of the Jewish state. The Islamic movement has been ruling the Gaza Strip since it violently took control of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007.

It says Israel pulled out from Gaza due to armed resistance and not due to peace treaties.

In an interview with a pro-Hamas radio station based in Gaza, Al-Zahar slammed a French initiative on peace in the Middle East, saying it aims to waste another 20 years of negotiations. However, President Abbas said the French efforts will lead to a just and comprehensive peace in the region.

Palestinian and Israeli activists take part in a demonstration in support of peace near the West Bank city of Bethlehem June 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

France has been exerting efforts to bring the stalled Middle East peace process back on track. On Friday, a large ministerial meeting held in Paris with the participation of around 20 foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to prepare for an international conference for peace in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the Palestinian consensus government Rami Hamdallah slammed Israel for keeping East Jerusalem isolated from the entire Palestinian territories.

He warned that this isolation "would widely open the door for endless violence in the region."

"Israel has never stopped its daily aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque and East Jerusalem," Hamdallah said in an official statement, adding that "the region won't enjoy peace and stability as long as East Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state is still occupied."

Hamdallah also stressed that there is no one single Palestinian that accepts an independent Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital, adding that the Israeli celebrations to mark the military occupation of East Jerusalem "will never hide the truth that this part of the Palestinian territories is till occupied."

After Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian and Arab territories in 1967, it announced in 1968 that it annexed East Jerusalem and considered the whole city undivided and it is the eternal capital of the state of Israel, while the Palestinians say East Jerusalem is the capital of their future state.
GAZA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A top Islamic Hamas movement leader vowed here Sunday that his movement and other Palestinian factions would resist the initiatives that aim at settling a peace treaty with Israel.

Ismail Haneya, Hamas deputy chief, predicted that all these initiatives "carry the seeds of failure" in a rally in Gaza in support for Jerusalem on the 49th anniversary of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"We are able to topple the political illusion of these initiatives that overcome the legitimate rights, the holy sites and the streams of bloods," Haneya said, adding "but they never overcome or bypass our people who reject it."

Haneya was referring to the French initiatives that aim at reviving the stalled peace process in the Middle East and prepare for holding an international peace conference to end the ongoing Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Hamas, which was listed by Israel and the United States as a terrorist group, has been against the peace process and against recognizing the state of Israel.

The Islamic movement has been ruling the Gaza Strip since it had violently took control of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007, and says Israel pulled out from Gaza due to armed resistance, not due to peace treaties.

Haneya said that the 1993 Oslo accords for transitional peace signed between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization "had also carried the seeds of failure from the beginning."

"We believe that instead of running after these initiatives, the Palestinians need to made strategic decisions to overcome all the obstacles that face the Palestinian cause," said Haneya.
ANKARA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkish warplanes hit the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq, military sources said Sunday.

Airstrikes killed at least 20 militants in the Yuksekova district, southeastern Hakkari province and destroyed several PKK positions in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province on Saturday, according to the sources.

In another operation in Northern Iraq, Turkish air force pounded PKK bases in the Avasin, Qandil and Gara areas.

On Friday, air attacks killed 20 PKK operatives in Hakkari's Semdinli district, the source added. Hakkari lies in Turkey's far southeast, bordered by Iraq and Iran.

In neighboring province Sirnak, a PKK member was killed and a village guard wounded in fighting late Saturday. The guard died in hospital Sunday.

Turkey's military operation against the PKK intensified since last summer when the group declared an end to cease-fire with government and resumed attacks on security forces.

The PKK was listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. More than 5,000 terrorists have been killed in the past few months.
JERUSALEM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces have arrested a Hamas operative involved in operating the Islamic movement's underground tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said on Sunday.

The suspect, a 17-year-old Palestinian who is a member of the Palestinian Hamas' military wing, was captured in a joint operation by the Israeli army, the Shin Bet security agency and the Israeli police, a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

"During his investigation, details regarding Hamas' terror activities were revealed, including information about the recruitment process, training and details regarding other terror operatives from the group's military wing," the IDF said.

The military said it also learned about the Hamas' methods of constructing tunnels, its ways of communication within the network and digging locations.

This is the second Hamas operative involved in the group's tunnel network to have been arrested by Israel in a month.

On May 5, Israeli security forces said they arrested a Hamas operative who also supplied Israel with information about the tunnels.

Israel believes the underground tunnels are for future attacks against Israeli soldiers and citizens.

During Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, several tunnels were discovered that reached into Israeli territory, close to local communities.

The operation set out to curb the rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli territories, as well as destroy the underground tunnels. The Israeli army reportedly destroyed around 30 tunnels during the operation. Two new tunnels were discovered in the past several months, according to the Israeli military.

On a related matter, a 17-year-old Palestinian who committed a stabbing attack against Israelis in February 2015 was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of attempted murder.

The Palestinian youngster, who lives in Birzeit, a Palestinian village near Ramallah in the West Bank, stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem and moderately injured him. He also stabbed others.

The attack was carried out eight months before the start of the ongoing wave of violence in last October that claimed the lives of 28 Israelis and 205 Palestinians. Enditem
ULAN BATOR, June 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren attend a joint press conference after their meeting in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Zheng Chuang)

ULAN BATOR, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paid a brief official visit to Mongolia on Sunday, and the two sides discussed bilateral political and economic relations.

During the visit, Kerry held separate talks with Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren and President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.

Purevsuren said although political and defense relations between the two countries are developing rapidly, economic cooperation lags behind, adding that there are opportunities for the two countries to cooperate in agriculture and the renewable energy sector.

Kerry said concrete measures should be taken to improve the two countries' economic cooperation.

Purevsuren also asked the U.S. government to ease visa requirements for Mongolian citizens to visit the United States.

Meeting Kerry at his residence, Elbegdorj said he hopes the visit would further promote the cooperative relations between the two nations.

According to official statistics, last year Mongolia's exports to the United States stood just above 18 million U.S. dollars in comparison with the import volume of 154 million.
KHARTOUM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and South Sudan on Sunday reiterated commitment to implementing the cooperation agreement signed between them in 2012.

The joint Political and Security Committee between Sudan and South Sudan convened in Khartoum on Sunday in the presence of the foreign, defense and oil ministers of the two countries.

"These meetings come as continuation of the joint issues and implementation of a deal by the two countries' presidents," Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudan's Foreign Minister, said at a joint press conference with his South Sudanese counterpart Deng Alor in Khartoum Sunday.

He also said that the two sides have agreed to established the strongest ties between the two countries based on the deeply-rooted relations.

South Sudan's Foreign Minister Deng Alor, for his part, said that "there are some issues and difficulties facing the two countries' ties, and I have conveyed a message from President Salva Kiir Mayardit to President Omer al-Bashir dealing with resolving those issues."

"We have to resolve all the outstanding issues for the interests of the two peoples and the two countries," he noted.

He went on saying that "the important message is that we want to resolve all the issues and quickly move to fields of joint cooperation and development."

In September 2012, Sudan and South Sudan signed a cooperation agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa under the patronage of the African Union.

The agreement included a package of understandings related to security, citizens' status, border and economic issues. However, the signed agreements did not tackle the issues of Abyei and border demarcation.

The border issue represents one of the biggest obstacles hindering the settlement of differences between Sudan and South Sudan, revolving around five border areas, including Abyei, Dabatal-Fakhar, Jabel Al-Migainis, Samaha and Kafia Kanji.
LAGOS, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A federal lawmaker in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa State has raised concerns over recent Boko Haram attacks in his constituency.

Adamu Kamale, representing Michika/Madagali Federal Constituency, told reporters in Yola, capital of Adamawa on Sunday that the insurgents are still attacking border villages in the area.

Kamale claimed that last week the insurgents attacked Waga village in Madagali area where they killed two vigilante and abducted three women.

"I spent five days in my constituency where people are still living in fear. Last week, they killed two vigilantes in Waga , and hours later they proceeded to nearby villages during which three women were abducted," Kamale said.

He called for more military presence in his constituency, adding that he had reported the situation to the military authorities in Abuja, Nigerian capital city.

Last year, Nigerian troops recaptured Michika town and its environs in northeastern Adamawa from Boko Haram insurgents.

The insurrection by Boko Haram, which wants to create an Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria, has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the past five years.
Cuba's President Raul Castro (Front) takes part in the 7th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana, Cuba, on June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate)

HAVANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday slammed the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, for his recent statements on Venezuela and said the island "would never" return to that organization.

"The OAS since its foundation was, is and will be an instrument of imperialist domination and no reform will change its nature and history. That is why Cuba will never return to the OAS," vowed Castro at the opening of the VII Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana.

Castro criticized the position taken last week by Almagro on Venezuela, which saw him call for the organization to invoke its Inter-American Democratic Charter, leading to the potential suspension of Venezuela from the bloc for alleged "human rights violations and lack of democracy" .

"It is of deep concern that there is an unacceptable attempt to apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the OAS to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela," said the Cuban leader.

He also reiterated Havana' s support for President Nicolas Maduro' s administration and said Caracas faces an "imperialist offensive" to topple its socialist government.

"We firmly oppose the destabilization agenda and economic war faced by Maduro' s government and support the revolution that has brought social changes to the Venezuelan people," he added.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (C), takes part in the 7th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), in Havana, Cuba, on June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate)

ACS foreign ministers discussed several issues of importance on Friday, including the political situation in Venezuela, which led to a common declaration of support for Maduro' s government that will be evaluated by Caribbean leaders Saturday.

Castro also condemned the role of the OAS for suspending Havana in 1962 due to U.S. pressure.

The Seventh Summit of the ACS is being held at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana with the attendance of 19 Presidents or Prime Ministers of the 25 member states.

The members are expected to approve the Havana declaration, which touches on political issues such as the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the Venezuelan crisis as well as a joint action plan for the next two years, which seeks to increase economic and commercial cooperation within the bloc.

The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) was created in July 1994 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with the aim of promoting consultation, cooperation and concerted action among Caribbean countries.
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A piece of detergent advertisement shown recently on TV in China's business hub Shanghai drew criticism of racism, but those familiar with China would view the matter from a different perspective.

Late last month, a Shanghai-based French photographer posted video of a commercial he had seen on local television. In the ad, a pretty Chinese woman responds to the flirtatious advances of an African house painter by popping a detergent pellet into his mouth and then shoving him into her washing machine.

After a few seconds, she lifts the lid with a smile to reveal that the black man has been transformed -- into the pale-skinned young Chinese man of her dreams. An anodyne tagline follows: "Change begins with Qiaobi (the brand name of the detergent product in the ad)."

Jeff Yang, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, quoted his friend Paula Madison, a former diversity officer of NBC Universal who had made regular visits to China since 2011, as saying: "Is the ad awful? Yes. But the most racist ad I've ever seen? Are you kidding? Not by a long stretch."

Madison noted that as a black woman with Chinese ancestry, she is very interested in how black people are treated in China.

Madison said the commercial is rather a questionable attempt at humor, rather than racism, given that most Chinese have no direct exposure to black people.

"I refer to it as 'shadeism' -- people in China think of dark skin as something associated with working in the fields, with being a poor peasant," she said, adding that it doesn't automatically produce negative associations.

In fact, a study jointly conducted by researchers at Washington State University and Towson University found that attitudes among high school students in China toward African-Americans were generally more positive than their stereotypes of Americans in general.

Nevertheless, those students who had extensive exposure to U.S.-based media were more likely to perceive African-Americans as "poorer," "less moral," "less polite" and "less intelligent" than other Americans.

The researchers ultimately concluded that the results "can be explained by how African-Americans are portrayed more negatively in American media."

"I've never personally experienced racism in China...," said Madison. "But I have experienced it in Hollywood without question. And I think that China generally sees black people through the realm of pop culture, whose arbiters continue to perpetuate the myth that people of color don't 'play well' in that market."

Wang pointed out that if Americans are aghast at a Chinese ad featuring literal whitewashing, they should consider that the figurative whitewashing performed by Hollywood is a big part of what made it possible.

"Which means that -- to contradict the ad's tagline -- change doesn't begin with Qiaobi, it begins at home," he said.
The presidential candidate of Popular Force party, Keiko Fujimori, greets her supporters during an act of campaign closing for the second round of elections in Peru, in the Villa El Salvador District, Lima province, Peru, on June 2, 2016. (Xinhua/Luis Camacho)

LIMA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Maintaining economic growth will perhaps be the main challenge facing the next Peruvian president, said Carlos Aquino, director of economic research at the National University of San Marcos, in an interview with Xinhua.

"Despite having problems, the Peruvian economy is growing at an average rate far higher than other Latin American countries," and Peru should reach 4 percent GDP growth in 2016, Aquino said.

"However, there are still uncertainties among the private sector as to what the next president's economic priorities will be, as this sector has not grown as much," he said.

Aquino said the two candidates, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, who will contest the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday, have outlined a similar platform in terms of economic policies.

CHALLENGES

For the economist, while the two candidates share a common vision for economic development, Kuczynski's experience does mark the difference between them.

"Kuczynski is likely to follow the economic policy Peru has followed since the 1990s, as he has been minister of the economy, an investor and has many contacts around the world," Aquino said.

The presidential candidate of the "Peruanos por el Kambio" (PPK) party, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (R) reacts to supporters, in Lima, Peru, on April 10, 2016. (Xinhua/Oscar Farje Gomero/ANDINA)

However, while Kuczynski's experience could boost investor confidence, he might not enjoy majority support in Congress for his full economic agenda, Aquino added.

A Fujimori presidency, though, would likely put more emphasis on social programs, particularly since her Popular Force party has an absolute majority in Congress, with 73 lawmakers out of 130, the expert said.

Unlike Kuczynski, Fujimori's weakness lies in the fact that she has never held any political office, Aquino added.

INVESTMENTS

Aquino said Peru still has many areas that need foreign investment, citing China's investment in the mining sector as an example.

"We have a big lack of ports, airports and highways, for which China can play a big role, like the inter-oceanic railway being considered between Peru and Brazil," he said.

The expert believes agricultural exports can rise to the fore under the next president. The sector has been improving its exports in recent years and "is providing ever more land and ever more chances to invest, even in fishing."

Aquino added that investors will be keen to see a government in place which is able to make the business operating environment more accessible and to speed up the development of infrastructure.

Image taken on Jan. 29, 2016 shows the mine site of the company Shougang Hierro Peru, in the district of Marcona, province of Nazca, Ica, Peru. (Xinhua/Luis Camacho)

APEC

Since Peru has embarked on economic integration with regional and global blocs such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), it has become an entryway to new markets, especially China, Aquino said.

The economist added that Peru succeeded in completing a free-trade agreement (FTA) with China, which has helped the country become more globalized.

"2016 will also be very important as, last year, we began a study to create an APEC FTA in the Pacific," he said.

Aquino said the upcoming 2016 APEC Summit in Peru in November will be an ideal setting to present this study and analyze the FTA, which he believes will bring many benefits to Peru.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying (Xinhuanet file photo)

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman on Sunday said the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea has never been a problem.

China respects and supports such freedom enjoyed by all countries in accordance with international law, and has made great efforts in safeguarding the freedom with other countries in the region, Hua Chunying said in a press release.

She made the remarks in response to reports of some worries over the "freedom of navigation and overflight" in the South China Sea, expressed during the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Hua called the so-called problem of the navigation and overflight freedom a "pseudo-proposition" because there has never been a problem.

She said that the real intention of certain countries to hype up the topic is to sow dissension among countries in the region and create an excuse for political and military engagement in the South China Sea issue.

Safeguarding the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea is not only the requirement of international law, but also in line with China's fundamental interests, she said, adding that China will unswervingly ensure it.

"We hope those certain countries will stop disturbing regional safety and stability in the name of safeguarding the right of the navigation freedom," Hua said.

Related:

China urges U.S., Japan to stop pointing fingers on South China Sea

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday urged the United States and Japan to stop pointing fingers at China on the South China Sea.

"Countries from outside should honor their commitments and not make irresponsible remarks on issues involving territorial sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in response to remarks of U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani at a security summit in Singapore. Full Story

China urges Japan not to intervene in, hype up South China Sea issue

SINGAPORE, June 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday urged Japan to respect China's major interests and concerns, and not to intervene in or hype up the South China Sea issue.
ISLAMABAD, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan released 18 Indian fishermen on Sunday as a goodwill gesture, officials said.

The fishermen, who had been detained for illegal fishing in the Pakistani waters, were set free from a jail in the southern port city of Karachi.

The fishermen will leave for the eastern city of Lahore by train from there they will depart for India through the Wagah border, said spokesperson of Maritime Security Agency said.

Pakistan has released 199 Indian fishermen so far this year.

In March, Pakistan released 173 Indian fishermen in two groups.

Pakistan and India routinely catch fishermen who cross maritime boundaries for illegal fishing.

Groups working for the welfare of such fishermen said the fishermen mistakenly enter other's waters as the two rivals have not yet reached an agreement on maritime boundaries.

The fishermen were set free at a time when relations between Pakistan and India are at loggerheads over investigation into the attack on an Indian airbase in early January.

India had blamed a Pakistan-based group "Jaish-e-Mohammad" for the attack that prompted action by the Pakistani authorities against the outfit.

Director General of National Investigation Agency of India Sharad Kumar said in reported comments that there is no evidence so far to indicate direct complicity of the Pakistani government or Pakistani agencies in the Pathankot attack.

He reportedly said no evidence to show that the Pakistani government or Pakistani government agency was helping Jaish-e-Mohammed or its chief Masood Azhar or his aides carry out the attack.

Pakistan had detained Azhar and several other activists after the attack.

India had postponed official talks with Pakistan that had been scheduled to be held in mid-February following the attack.
Image taken on April 17, 2016 provided by the Ecuadorian and South American Public News Agency ANDES shows Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2nd, L) visiting an affected area by the aerthquake in Manta, Ecuador. Ecuador earthquake death toll soars to 413. (Xinhua/Cesar Munoz/ANDES)

QUITO, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The devastating 7.8 earthquake which hit Ecuador in April caused so much economic devastation that the country will only grow at 0.3 percent, said President Rafael Correa Saturday from the town of Pedernales, in the province of Manabi, one of the worst-hit areas.

According to Correa, Ecuador's central bank had predicted growth of 1 percent of GDP before the incident but "the earthquake will cause us to lose another 0.7 percent."

"However, we will continue pressing with full steam ahead as we have been doing," vowed the president, while he admitted the earthquake had devastated the fishing, shrimping and tourism industries, which are among Ecuador's main sources of income.

Image taken on April 18, 2016 provided by the Ecuadorian and South American Public News Agency ANDES shows people standing in front of a collapsed building by the earthquake, in Portoviejo, Ecuador. (Xinhua/Cesar Munoz/ANDES)

The province of Manabi is also expected to drop about 10 percent of its GDP this year as a result while 3.4 percent of its workforce have lost their work, making up around 22,000 lost jobs.

"We will get these jobs back, we will bring Manabi out of this, Esmeralda (another affected province) out of this, and the whole country," he said.

According to the latest government figures, the reconstruction will cost 3.34 billion U.S. dollars, of which the state will cover 67 percent and the private sector 33 percent.

On June 1, the government also activated new financial measures to raise funds, including raising VAT from 12 to 14 percent, and an extra tax worth one day of salary for those with salaries over 1,000 U.S. dollars a month.
Cuban President Raul Castro (front C) poses for group photos with guests during the opening ceremony of a summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Havana, capital of Cuba, on June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

HAVANA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday in Havana spoke highly of the signing of the Havana declaration by the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and hailed regional unity.

The 7th summit of the ACS concluded on Saturday with the approval of the Havana declaration, which touches on political issues, such as the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the Venezuelan crisis. The bloc also approved a joint action plan for the next two years, which will increase economic and commercial cooperation among the member nations.

In a short closing address, Castro hailed these steps, but stated the region had much to do to face challenges, such as threats to peace and security, the effects of the international financial crisis and the consequences of climate change.

However, he seemed jubilant at the consensus reached on peace and collaboration. "We have reaffirmed our commitment to the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace, signed by ACS heads of state and government in January 2014," Castro said.

"This summit shows the capacity of our region to reach united positions concerning the common problems and challenges we face. We will persevere in search of such solutions, adapted to our conditions, needs and priorities," he added.

Presidents and heads of state of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) pose for group photos during the opening ceremony of a summit of ACS in Havana, capital of Cuba, on June 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Earlier in the day, Alfonso Munera, the secretary-general of the ACS, called on the bloc to strengthen unity in order to face common challenges, such as an international market controlled by transnational companies and the threat of climate change.

During his speech to the summit, Munera stressed that ACS integration has advanced but remains insufficient.

He said the Caribbean countries have faced enormous disadvantages when trying to compete in a market controlled by large transnational corporations.

Most of these islands have serious structural obstacles which impair them in the global economy, he said.

Furthermore, he added that the threat of climate change risked wiping some countries from the map due to rising sea levels.

"There should be no walls dividing us, only unity can successfully lead us to face up to these challenges," said Munera.

The ACS was created in July 1994 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with an aim to promote consultation, cooperation and concerted action among Caribbean countries.
TEHRAN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the U.S. policies and its threats against Iran remain constant even after the nuclear deal reached with Tehran in July 2015, Press TV reported.

"The Americans, whether the government, Congress or presidential candidates, continue to make excessive demands and threats," Khamenei said, adding that "their stance and threats haven't changed."

"The enemy calculates reactions and if it senses any passivity or acquiescence from the opposing side, it increases its demands," he said.

Under such circumstances, "We cannot remain silent when insulted by insolent enemies. We must to be present in the international arena in order to silence them with a strong response," Kamenei said during a meeting with new Iranian legislators.

Since Iran's nuclear deal was finalized, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and after the West along with the UN lifted nuclear sanctions off of Iran, the country has yet to reap economic gains expected from the deal.

The United Sates still imposes sanctions against Iran, over alleged human rights violations and supporting terrorism, claims all denied by Iran.

Furthermore, Washington recently blacklisted several Iranian and foreign entities owing to their involvement in Iran's missile program.

These restrictions bar U.S. companies from undertaking business transactions with Iran's government and concern international companies from falling victim to U.S. punitive legislative measures if they invest in Iran.

The U.S. administration issued its annual State Department report on Saturday in which it designated the Islamic republic of Iran as a leading sponsor of global terrorism, a claim which was rejected by Iran's Foreign Ministry.

Iranian senior officials said they will assist regional countries and resistance movements facing the continued occupation of Palestinians territories by Israel as well as the spreading regional extremism.

On Sunday, Khamenei referred to Iran's "important" role in the Middle East's political direction, stating that Iran is the only obstacle preventing the triumph of Washington's strategy for the volatile Middle East region.

They were planing for a "new Middle East," a "greater Middle East," several years ago, but their plans for Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, have failed due to Iran's defiance, Khamenei said according to Press TV.

"There is a need to stand up to hegemonic policies and unmask their arrogant stance," added the Iranian leader.
A Chinese chef teaches cooking skills to a Nigerian housewife under the help of a language-translation app at a cooking school in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 11, 2016. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A piece of detergent advertisement shown recently on TV in China's business hub Shanghai drew criticism of racism, but those familiar with China would view the matter from a different perspective.

Late last month, a Shanghai-based French photographer posted video of a commercial he had seen on local television. In the ad, a pretty Chinese woman responds to the flirtatious advances of an African house painter by popping a detergent pellet into his mouth and then shoving him into her washing machine.

After a few seconds, she lifts the lid with a smile to reveal that the black man has been transformed -- into the pale-skinned young Chinese man of her dreams. An anodyne tagline follows: "Change begins with Qiaobi (the brand name of the detergent product in the ad)."

Jeff Yang, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, quoted his friend Paula Madison, a former diversity officer of NBC Universal who had made regular visits to China since 2011, as saying: "Is the ad awful? Yes. But the most racist ad I've ever seen? Are you kidding? Not by a long stretch."

Madison noted that as a black woman with Chinese ancestry, she is very interested in how black people are treated in China.

Madison said the commercial is rather a questionable attempt at humor, rather than racism, given that most Chinese have no direct exposure to black people.

"I refer to it as 'shadeism' -- people in China think of dark skin as something associated with working in the fields, with being a poor peasant," she said, adding that it doesn't automatically produce negative associations.

In fact, a study jointly conducted by researchers at Washington State University and Towson University found that attitudes among high school students in China toward African-Americans were generally more positive than their stereotypes of Americans in general.

Nevertheless, those students who had extensive exposure to U.S.-based media were more likely to perceive African-Americans as "poorer," "less moral," "less polite" and "less intelligent" than other Americans.

The researchers ultimately concluded that the results "can be explained by how African-Americans are portrayed more negatively in American media."

"I've never personally experienced racism in China...," said Madison. "But I have experienced it in Hollywood without question. And I think that China generally sees black people through the realm of pop culture, whose arbiters continue to perpetuate the myth that people of color don't 'play well' in that market."

Wang pointed out that if Americans are aghast at a Chinese ad featuring literal whitewashing, they should consider that the figurative whitewashing performed by Hollywood is a big part of what made it possible.

"Which means that -- to contradict the ad's tagline -- change doesn't begin with Qiaobi, it begins at home," he said.
COLOMBO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A fire erupted at an army camp outside the Sri Lankan capital on Sunday, resulting in multiple explosions at the camp and forcing evacuation of nearby villagers.

Army spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said the blaze erupted at an armory and spread in the camp.

He said the air force and navy personnel were sent to assist in attempts to douse the flames while the Colombo Fire brigade had also been deployed.

The spokesman said Army Commander Chrishantha de Silva has also gone to take stock of the situation in the area.

Residents in the area said windows in some houses were shattered following the explosions.
In the eastern German city Dessau-Rosslau, fellow students of the victim gather together to attend the commemorative event on June 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

by Lan Xi, Yan Feng

BERLIN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese student was killed recently in an eastern German city of Dessau-Rosslau. It is unbelievable that such a young lady came to a sudden end of her life.

Bafflingly, judicial procedures and media report went off track under the influence of multiple factors, followed by widespread speculations and rumors that discredited the dead, further traumatized her family and disrupted the investigation and prosecution.

According to reports, the victim failed to return from a jog on May 11 and was found dead near her accommodation by the local police two days later.

Based on preliminary judgment, police treated it as a criminal case. Two suspects, one male and one female, were caught by the police on May 23. Allegedly, the female suspect is his girlfriend and they both live in the victim's neighborhood.

Presently, German police have started criminal investigations and possible judicial frauds are also under investigation.

However, in an open-air press conference on the investigation, the chief prosecutor of Dessau-Rosslau disclosed some unverified sensitive details partially based on the confession of the suspects.

Photos, candles, toys and flowers in front of the bush where the killed Chinese student was found dead in the eastern German city Dessau-Rosslau on June 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Professional or not, such practice is obviously imprudent in terms of morality and justice, considering its practical consequences.

Due to complicated ties of the suspect's relatives with local police, public voice began to question the prosecutors in their behavior of stigmatizing the victim and misleading the case.

This issue has aroused extensive attention from both China and Germany. In many follow-up reports from the German side, unverified sensitive contents still prevail, some revealing the victim's face. This is undoubtedly inappropriate and inconsiderate and their professionalism, therefore, becomes questionable.

The situation was further confounded by some sensational or even distorting reports on network or social media in both countries, generating panic among Chinese students going to Germany and the students' parents.

One would hope that such media attention would accelerate investigation and the prosecution process. Nevertheless, truth under procedural justice is the best consolation for the victim's family. Before the truth comes to light, any false reports over unconfirmed information are irresponsible and would hurt the unfortunate family again.

In all fairness, a serious attitude and devotion of German police and the local government is clear in spite of existent doubtful points: they gave up weekends and holidays to accelerate the process; due to the ties of suspect's relatives with local police, the municipal and state governments have handed the case to another police authority and reportedly examined the necessity of replacing the controversial chief prosecutor; politicians in Germany and the German press have started to urge the related authorities to ascertain the facts as soon as possible.

China's embassy in Germany closely follows the development of the investigation, consoles the victim's family and assists actively in solving related problems. With the help of the embassy, family members are safeguarding their lawful rights and interests by legal means.

The embassy issued a statement a few days ago to express thanks to the efforts and devotion of German police, and made the requirements to verify the case as soon as possible and bring the perpetrator to justice.

Overseas Chinese in Germany, including Chinese students, took the initiative in searching for related evidences and organized memorial events together with universities and the local governments to express their rational appeals through various channels. With the efforts from all parties, things are developing towards a better direction.

As the bilateral exchanges and cooperation between China and Germany become closer, an increasing number of Chinese have come to Germany for study, investment and travel. The victim's university has over 800 Chinese students. The German side is obliged to exert greater efforts to make them safe and create a good environment for life and study.

For this specific case, it is imperative that justice and equity be guaranteed and convincing information and judgment be provided. We hope that the truth comes to light as soon as possible and the criminal will be held accountable according to law.
ASTANA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed in a shootout between police and a group of unidentified assailants that were apparently staging an armed robbery in the western Kazakh city of Aktobe on Sunday, local media reported.

Citing eye-witnesses, Kazinform, the national news agency of Kazakhstan, reported that a group of unidentified men robbed two weapon shops in Aktobe and a shootout broke out when a local police force arrived.

Some media reports cited an "official representative" of the Interior Ministry, Almas Sadubaev, as saying that units of the National Guard exchanged fire with the assailants on the scene, resulting in the death of one officer and one soldier.

Sadubaev also said that three of the assailants were killed, one was arrested, and several others managed to escape from the scene and remain at large so far.

Aktobe, a city near the Russian border, was the site of one of Kazakhstan's first terrorist attacks, where a suicide bomber set off an explosive device in the headquarters of the Kazakh security services in 2011.
MOGADISHU, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Somali security officers have arrested five soldiers working for the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and ten civilians for selling military supplies and fuel in the black market in Mogadishu on Sunday.

Somali Police Commissioner, Gen. Mohamed Hassan Hamud said the 15 suspects were nabbed during a security operation conducted by Somali police and intelligence officers at a garage in Benadir region.

"We arrested 5 AMISOM troops and 10 other Somali people who were selling AMISOM military supplies including fuel in Mogadishu. We recovered telephones ammunition materials and petrol and others," Hamud said.

He however, did not disclose the identities or nationalities of the five AMISOM soldiers who were arrested on Sunday.

Minister of Internal Security Abdirisak Omar Mohamed said the suspects will be arraigned in court once investigations have been completed since they committed a criminal action.

"This is a criminal action in which the government will not accept, but will pursue and take proper action against it," Mohamed said.

The AU soldiers and the other people will appear before the justice according to the Attorney General, Ahmed Ali Dahir.

This is the first time that the Somali government forces have arrested AU peacekeeping troops found engaging in activities against their mission in the country.

The troops from the pan African body and Somali National Army are jointly carrying out operations against Al-Shabaab militants in the south and central Somalia at moment.

There is no comment from AU officials on this issue so far.

The arrest comes after the European Union announced it would cut its financial support to the pan Africa body.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he gives a speech on Iran's late leader Khomeini's death anniversary, in Tehran, IranJune 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday echoed his recent fiery remarks against the U.S., saying that Washington's policies and its threats against Iran remain constant even after the nuclear deal reached with Tehran in July 2015.

On Friday, Khamenei said that U.S. is the "enemy" of the Islamic revolution of Iran and should not be trusted.

"The Americans, whether the government, Congress or presidential candidates, continue to make excessive demands and threats," Khamenei said, adding that "their stance and threats haven't changed."

"The enemy calculates reactions and if it senses any passivity or acquiescence from the opposing side, it increases its demands," he said.

Under such circumstances, "we cannot remain silent when insulted by insolent enemies. We must to be present in the international arena in order to silence them with a strong response," Kamenei said during a meeting with new Iranian legislators.

He said Friday that "the experience from the nuclear talks has shown that the U.S. will not quit its destructive measures" against Iran.

In the nuclear negotiations, Iran sat with the representatives of the P5+1 (namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany) and even separately with U.S. to reach a common ground, he said, adding that however, "the U.S. backed out and did not implement its commitments."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers in Tehran. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

"If any political trend trusts the U.S., it will commit a grave mistake," Khamenei made the remarks in a ceremony held on Friday to commemorate the 27th death anniversary of the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"The U.S. is the enemy of Iranian Islamic revolution, and this is in the nature of the U.S. that requires enmity, since their interests are in contradiction with Iran," he said.

The Iranian supreme leader reiterated his insistence on relying the domestic potentials to improve the economy of the country, and criticized the views which call for Iran's integration with the global economy.

Iran and the world powers reached a nuclear agreement on the former's disputed nuclear program in July last year, which was implemented in January to lift some western sanctions against Iran in return for significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran has incessantly said that fear from the U.S. pressures have stopped the international companies as well as the monetary institutions to cooperate with Iran in the aftermath of the nuclear implementation, hence no gain for Iran from the deal.

The U.S. still imposes sanctions against Iran, over alleged human rights violations and supporting terrorism, claims all denied by Iran.

Furthermore, Washington recently blacklisted several Iranian and foreign entities owing to their involvement in Iran's missile program.

These restrictions bar U.S. companies as well as international companies from undertaking business transactions with Iran's government.

On Saturday, the U.S. administration issued its annual State Department report in which it designated the Islamic republic of Iran as a leading sponsor of global terrorism, a claim which was rejected by Iran's Foreign Ministry.

Iranian senior officials said they would assist regional countries and resistance movements facing the continued occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel as well as the spreading of regional extremism.

On Sunday, Khamenei referred to Iran's "important" role in the Middle East's political direction, stating that Iran is the only obstacle preventing the triumph of Washington's strategy for the volatile Middle East region.

They were planing for a "new Middle East," a "greater Middle East," several years ago, but their plans for Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, have failed due to Iran's defiance, Khamenei said according to Press TV.
FALLUJAH, June 4, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Smoke rises after the U.S.-led coalition warplanes struck Islamic State (IS) militants in Fallujah city, some 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 4, 2016. At least three people were killed and eight others wounded during the bombing. (Xinhua/Sami Jawad)

Related:

Iraqi forces score breakthrough into IS stronghold in Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Saturday pushed into the besieged city of Fallujah and seized part of a district in southern the city after fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, a security source told Xinhua.

The troops have made a significant breakthrough in the day when they pushed into the al-Nuaimia district after defeating the IS defensive line in southern Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity. Full story

Spotlight: Iraq poised to recover IS-held Fallujah

BAGHDAD, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces are now in the final stage of recovering the IS-held city of Fallujah, which analysts said could temporarily relieve pressure on the embattled Iraqi government.
Prisons officer remains in police cell

The officer, who has four years service, and is from the St Helena area, is facing two charges of larceny servant and misbehaviour in public office.

It is alleged that the officer, who was responsible for the West Wing of the Remand Section of the PoS Prison, reportedly left the prison facilities on Thursday afternoon with the keys in his possession.

When the evening shift took over, the keys were discovered missing and attempts were made to contact the prisons officer, who allegedly failed to answer his phone.

However, on Friday afternoon, when the officer returned to duties, he was questioned and claimed to have no knowledge of the missing keys.

Officers of the PoS CID were called in and they detained the officer who was later taken to his St Helena home on Friday night, where the missing keys were allegedly found. The officer was taken back to the PoS CID where he spent the night and remained detained up until yesterday.

Sunday Newsday understands that a number of statements are to be recorded pending the final determination of the probe. Director of Public Prosecutions, Roger Gaspard, will then be consulted on the matter.

Since the incident, security has been beefed up in and around the PoS Prison as investigators attempt to ascertain if the keys were copied. New, stringent security measures have also been introduced and Sunday Newsday understands that some high risk prisoners at the facility are being monitored round the clock.

Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart is being briefed every step of the investigation while an initial report has also been presented to acting Minister of National Security Stuart Young.
Maraval man shot dead

According to reports, Gerel Solomon was walking towards his home at 54 Beharrylal Trace, La Seiva Road with a male friend when the occupants of a white station wagon was seen driving behind them .

Shortly after, several shots were fired at Solomon and his friend .

Solomon was shot about the body while his friend escaped unhurt .

The killers then sped away and residents of the area alerted the St Clair Police .

A District Medical Officer pronounced Solomon dead on the scene. Investigations are continuing
One for single mothers

Charles-Grant told Sunday Newsday that she had noticed that many mothers struggled with the load of their responsibilities.

This, she said, was especially the case with single mothers, but also with women whose husbands or child fathers were present in the home but did very little to support them financially, for the household, or the children.

Around the time I was thinking about the group, there was the issue of the school children fighting in schools, Charles-Grant recalled. One police officer made the comment that it was necessary to school the parents and talk with them because children are getting out of hand. I said, Lord, this is the confirmation of what I need to do, so I started planning. Last month Charles- Grant held the first meeting of Single Moms Support and Empowerment at the St Johns London Baptist Church on Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain. The meetings are expected to be held on the second Saturday of every month at various locations in and around Port-of-Spain. The goal is to enhance the lives of the women and their children, to empower them to make sound life choices through education and spirituality, and to encourage sustained healthy relationships between mothers and their children.

Charles-Grant said the meetings would be a space where women could share their pain and issues, as well as give advice. Sometimes, they dont have anyone to talk to in order to unload their stress, and they turn to drinking, partying and generally overdo things, she suggested.

Sometimes they are so overwhelmed that they do... whatever. They need their space, some time to be themselves - not just a mother. In addition to group discussions, Charles- Grant hopes to arrange outings, either for the children so that mothers could have some me-time, or for both mothers and children so that they could spend time with their children with the helpful supervision of other mothers.

She has also invited people to advise mothers on how to deal with or talk to their children so as not to exacerbate problems; to lecture on self-development; and to teach them work skills so the mother could be more self-sufficient.

Charles Grant also hoped to make some practical plans such as arranging for barbers to cut the hair of some boys or having a schoolbook drive where organisations donate stationery for school.

For single mothers with boys, she hopes to get trusted men to spend some time with the boys.

The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday June 11 at the Eastern Girls Government School in Port of Spain at 3.30 pm.

I wanted to do something holistic, for the mind, spirit, body, soul, emotions, everything, where the mothers can have some me-time, Charles Grant told Sunday Newsday. I am hoping that, coming out of this, the women would be more empowered and they will learn a lot of skills that could take them through some hard times, and that they do not feel overwhelmed knowing that they have sisters they can talk to or call over when they have a situation and get support so that they do not feel alone. She said people of all religious denominations are welcomed to the meeting.
$100M THA hotel deal

The Joint Select Committee on Local Authorities, Service Commissions and Statutory Authorities heard that the THA has purchased the Manta Lodge at Speyside and the Sanctuary Villa Resort at Grafton .

Currently we are working assiduously to revive the properties, said THA Management Accountant Gwen Toppin. There are a few teething issues. She said the acquisitions were made without financing from the Central Government .

There was no financing from Central Government, she said .

The THA has made those two properties priority projects. She said $68 million was the estimated cost to bring the two properties up to, operational standard .

Renovations will be done by Eidcot, the Eco-Industrial Development Company of Tobago, which is tied to the THA. How are you going to benefit? asked UNC Senator Daniel Solomon .

There will be an addition of 80 rooms to the island, that is the THAs way of contributing some rooms to the island, said Toppin .

Director of Tourism Frederica Brooks-Adams said the properties would be similar to the model of Hyatt and Hilton .

She said the facilities would cater for the differently-abled, in line with international standards. The same committee heard there are proposals for several new marinas currently before Cabinet .

Senior Research Officer Deokie Ramnarine said there is supposed to be a programme of room inspection on the island but it has not been ironed out .

She said THA surveys found the level of customer service on the island was poor. Also appearing before the committee were members of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association .

The associations president Chris James said a licensing requirement introduced in 2007 limited foreign ownership of land and had a big impact on foreign direct investment .

The committee also heard there will be only one ferry on the inter- island service during the coming school vacation period .

If there is a breakdown that is going to be a chaotic situation in terms of people getting goods and services, said committee chairman Ian Roach. THA Transport Coordinator Samuel Henry said CAL (Caribbean Airlines) should put on extra flights and the water taxi might be looked as an option .
Rowley receives Gideon Bible

The Gideons International, founded in 1899, serves as an extended missionary arm of the church, with the specific aim of the placement and distribution of the Scriptures in five main traffic lanes of human life: schools, hospitals, hotels, prisons and all areas of national security. The society took 93 years from their inception in 1908 to 2001 to place and distribute one billion Bibles while from 2001 to 2015, another billion copies of the scriptures were distributed with the immediate goal being to distribute 100 million Bibles annually and so achieve the third billion in a yet shorter period of time.

In a media statement, local Gideons national field coordinator, Norman O Imambaksh noted the Two-Billionth Commemorative Gideon Bible was published for presentation to the Heads of Governments in the 200 countries where Gideons are allowed to distribute Bibles.

This milestone Bible was presented to Prime Minister, Dr Keith Christopher Rowley, on June 1, 2016 with the fervent prayer that all enlightened leaders will continue to appreciate their sacred trust and be strengthened in the inner man to preserve the freedom that is required for the Gideons to fulfil their peaceable global mission, Imambaksh stated.

The delegation was warmly received by the Prime Minister who committed openly to take time from his busy schedule to read the Bible presented to him.
Time to take charge

The election takes place on June 26. SUNDAY NEWSDAY continues its profiles of the candidates in the runup to the eagerly-anticipated poll.

Peoples National Movement (PNM) Tobago Council leadership candidate Tracey Davidson-Celestine sees culture and agriculture as two areas in which the island can capitalise as it grapples with the effects of the economic downturn.

Davidson-Celestine, 38, believes these two sectors, which she regarded as largely untapped, will give Tobago a competitive edge in moving forward in the medium to long term.

She said the agricultural sector could be developed along the lines of organic food production while initiatives also can be developed to monetise Tobagos culture.

Tobago has a rich heritage and one that we ought to share with the rest of the world, Davidson-Celestine said of the latter.

As an example, Tobago has been host to many films and by now this should have been a catalyst for the development of a Tobago film industry. But Davidson-Celestine, the Secretary for Tourism and Transportation in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and representative for Parlatuvier/ LAnse Fourmi/ Speyside, also envisages a greater role for non-financial approaches focusing essentially on opportunities for selfhelp, volunteerism and subsistence farming.

For Davidson-Celestine, the lack of a legal regulatory framework to support the islands self-determination efforts is the greatest challenge facing Tobago.

Our development is stymied by our inability to make laws, by our inability to borrow and secure funding from international agencies and the lack of legal support to facilitate equity and equality between both islands, she observed.

It is stymied by the fact that we hardly have any authority over the regulatory framework that supports businesses which are the engines or growth in any society. If Tobago is to move forward like our neighbouring counterpart Nevis, we must have the legal framework that supports our economic growth and development. Davidson-Celestine, who holds a Bachelors degree in Accounting from the University of the West Indies, acknowledged that this challenge has been existing for some time and required the input not only of Tobagonians but the Parliament in the process.

This is where the greatest challenge is, she said, adding that she has been a member of the committee that was responsible for determining the policy that was currently guiding the review of the Act and amending of the Constitution to give greater authority to Tobago.

The review process is at an advanced stage now and I will continue to be an advocate for Tobago and to ensure that the process completed and submitted to Parliament for consideration in the shortest possible time, Davidson- Celestine said.

Hailing from Kings Bay, Delaford, the third of four children, Davidson- Celestines life, for as long as she could remember, has been spent on the provision of services to the people of Tobago.

Even before she entered politics in earnest, Davidson-Celestine was involved in community service.

She started by nurturing the minds of youths as a teacher at both St Josephs Convent and Bishops High School.

Davidson-Celestine also held executive positions within the Betsys Hope Village Council, which transitioned into an involvement in politics within the villages PNM party group, and in later years, the Tobago East Constituency group, where she was elected to serve as Education Officer and Vice-Chairman.

Additionally, Davidson- Celestine said she spent 12 years ensuring that Tobagonians are empowered through her contributions as councillor and Assistant Secretary in the Division of Education, Youth Affairs and Sport; Secretary with responsibility for Community Development and Culture; and more recently, Deputy Chief Secretary of The Tobago House of Assembly and Secretary with responsibilities for Tourism and Transportation.

The former Signal Hill Secondary student is currently the public relations officer to the Tobago East Womens League.

She listed the provision of social infrastructure support to various committees throughout Tobago, including the construction of eight multi-purpose facilities at Betsys Hope, Buccoo, John Dial, Hampden/ Lowlands, Speyside and Plymouth/ Bethesda as some of her achievements in office.

Davidson-Celestine said under her stewardship in the THA, she also has led the formulation of the Tobago Sport Policy and anchored the strategic expansion of the Tobago tourism sector.

She claimed that the latter has engendered a 200 per cent increase in cruise passenger arrivals, twice weekly rotations by British Airways, the return of Virgin Atlantic and the establishment of a new route from Manchester and Munich.

Taking credit for the upgrading of the beach facilities at Kings Bay, Pigeon Point and Storebay, Davidson-Celestine said she also negotiated for the establishment of the Tobago Tourism-oriented policing Unit.

It was Davidson-Celestines desire to provide focused leadership which prompted her to enter the leadership race for the PNM Tobago Council.

Leadership is about influencing persons to achieve a common vision or shared outcomes.

Through my interactions with people at the community, divisional and at the level of the party I was able to influence change and positive outcomes at every stratosphere in Tobago, Davidson- Celestine told Sunday Newsday.

I have demonstrated a level of humility, focus, decisiveness, empathy, honesty and accountability in all of my interactions with people and have ensured that I inspire them in the process.

Therefore, I see the vacancy created when the current political leader steps down as an opportunity for me to exercise this influence on an even larger scale to the benefit of the members of the party and Tobago by extension. This for me is a natural progression.

Moreover, having served almost 12 years as a member of the Tobago House of Assembly and holding significant positions within the PNM, I am confident that I have an excellent combination of both political and administrative experience that when added with values as outlined can cause a people to be well represented, she added.

Davidson-Celestine said a female leader of the Tobago Council would be in keeping with the process of change taking place within the PNM.

I am very pleased with the level of change and the fact that the changes have been embraced at all levels of the party, she said.

Therefore, to have a woman lead the PNM Tobago Council supports and is in keeping with the process of change and further brings women issues to the forefront. If elected, Davidson- Celestine said her first move will be to prepare the party for the THA election.

The preparation will involve ensuring that, after the internal elections there are team building exercises which will lead to unity of purpose, she said.

She added that a sound demonstration of empathy was critical in this regard, as the upcoming internal election will create tension therefore a process that allows for regrouping is paramount. On her plans for youth development, Davidson-Celestine said the THAs existing financial assistance programme must be strengthened.

There are a few minor changes to be made though to ensure that the financial assistance programme is geared towards assisting in start-up operations and aligned also to the areas of competitive advantages that we want to build on, she said.

She said there should be a focus on encouraging and assisting business in areas having to do with agriculture production and also initiatives that are linked to cultural development.

Davidson-Celestine said she envisioned a Tobago in which the people were committed to partnering to improve their lives and to help with sustainable solutions for the future of its citizens
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

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Six weeks after resuming firing, FF-1s fusion yield reached 0.25 Joules on May 23, 2016 a nearly 50% increase over the highest-yield shot previously achieved with this device. This increase, confirmed by a second shot on May 24, provides the most concrete evidence yet that our continuing effort to reduce impurities in FF-1 increases fusion yield.

FF-1 resumed firing on April 11 after a bake-out that had removed the vast majority of the oxygen in the devices vacuum chamber. Unfortunately, three unforeseen circumstances increased impurities far above their plans.

1. a leaky valve introduced about 100 mg of water vapor into the chamber right before the first shot, creating a thin layer of oxides.

2. some oxides may have been formed during the heating phase of the bake-out itself, due to a somewhat too rapid rise in temperature.

3. their initial effort at preionization by small pulses of current itself eroded tiny particles from the tungsten anode, allowing them to vaporize into the plasma.

Despite this rocky start, the LPPF research team had reason for optimism. The oxide layer was clearly much thinner than that which we dealt with in 2015, before their bake-out. Then, the layer was iopaque to light and the golden color of tungsten bronze, indicating a thickness of at least one micron. But in April, the layers color ran in a spectrum from red to violet, indicating interference coloring like that of a soap bubble, and thus a thickness of less than about 0.3 microns, or about 100 mg of oxygen.

Even more important, they could anticipate that FF-1 would be self-cleaning in its current configuration. When fired, the devices hot plasma would vaporize the oxide layer, breaking up the molecules and releasing free oxygen. Some of that oxygen would be trapped in the titanium nitride coating that we had added to the chamber surface, and bonded too tightly to be released in future shots. Another part of the oxygen would combine with the deuterium gas filling the chamber, becoming water vapor, which could then be pumped out. In that way, the oxides would be reduced shot by shot.

As they fired, they saw clear evidence of this cleaning effect, as the pressure pop after each shot, measuring how much oxygen was released, steadily declined by about 10% per shot. We also observed the fading of the colored deposits and the reduction of tungsten bands in the optical spectra for the plasma.

To improve preionization, they switched, on the suggestion of LPPFusion Research Physicist Dr. Syed Hassan, to a gentler method: a glow discharge. The aim of preionization is to create an electron traffic jamenough free electrons before the main pulses, so that the electrons will move slowly and have too little energy to vaporize the anode when they enter it. While in an arc discharge, a medium currentabout 100 ampsis suddenly discharged to create the free electrons, in a glow discharge a much smaller current, of about 40 microamps, flows continuously through the gas. Which type takes place depends on how much current is supplied in the preionization phase that precedes a FF-1 shot. Again they saw clear visual evidence that the glow discharge did not create new dust and allowed the shots to smooth away the erosion previously created.

After April 26, fusion yield started an accelerating rise, shot by shot. They still had too much impurity to run well with our planned nitrogen-deuterium mix. (The tungsten impurities combined with the nitrogen require too much ionization energy to strip off all their electrons during the compression phase of the shot, preventing even compression.) So we switched to pure deuterium. From May 11 to May 18, fusion yield doubled, and then doubled again.

As fusion yield rose, they got several additional indications that with fewer impurities, compression was more symmetrical.

These shots are a record not just for LPP Fusion. For all researchers working with this type of device, a dense plasma focus or DPF, their May 23 shot is 50% more than any previous shot at this peak current of 1.1 MA (million amps) and double the previous record for their total input energy of 60 kJ. This is important, as this shows they are moving back towards the steep scaling law that predicts energy increasing as the fourth power of the peak current. In previous work, this scaling curve has leveled off for current over 1 MA.

With much of that maintenance out of the way, they hope to get closer to 100 shots per month. In addition, in the past week, as they moved to lower fill pressures, the preionization discharge stopped working correctly. they will adjust the preionization current next week and monitor it more closely to ensure optimal function. They expect that this change, in addition to further self-cleaning, will again increase yield.

They plotted the latest published results of various fusion experiments. Right now the best plasmas have been obtained with the new Chinese tokamak experiment, EAST, and the giant US laser facility NIF. In a second group, about a factor of ten lower, is the new German stellarator W7X, the JET tokamak in the UK and the LPP fusions own FF-1 in fifth place. Spread out a factor of hundreds to thousands below the second group are the other privately financed efforts, EMC2, Tri Alpha and General Fusion. These efforts are much better funded than FF-1 but at the moment have far cooler and less dense plasmas.

A better way to look at overall performance of these various devices is what is called wall-plug efficiencythe ratio of the fusion output to the total energy put into the machine from the grid (the wall plug.) This combines how good the plasma is at producing fusion yield with how good the device is in getting energy into the plasma. For consistency we are comparing only results running with deuterium as a fuel, not the much more reactive deuterium-tritium mix.

Here the picture is different. The other private efforts drop out, as they dont have measurable fusion yield from their machines (or in the case of EMC2 have not published any). NIF drops back to 4th place, because its lasers are extremely inefficient in converting input energy into plasma energy. FF-1 moves up to second place, nipping at the heels of JET, and EAST is in third, right behind FF-1. This is in part due to FF-1s high efficiency in coupling electrical input into the plasmoid that produces the fusion.

Here is the full experiment project plan in planned test firings.

Summary of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics

LPP have their Tungsten electrode and then later switch to a berrylium electrode.

If successful with their research and then commercialization they will achieve commercial nuclear fusion at the cost of $400,000-1 million for a 5 megawatt generator that would produce power for about 0.3 cents per kwh instead of 6 cents per kwh for coal and natural gas.

LPPs mission is the development of a new environmentally safe, clean, cheap and unlimited energy source based on hydrogen-boron fusion and the dense plasma focus device, a combination we call Focus Fusion.

This work was initially funded by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is now backed by over forty private investors including the Abell Foundation of Baltimore. LPPs patented technology and peer-reviewed science are guiding the design of this technology for this virtually unlimited source of clean energy that can be significantly cheaper than any other energy sources currently in use. Non-exclusive licenses to government agencies and manufacturing partners will aim to ensure rapid adoption of Focus Fusion generators as the primary source of electrical power worldwide.

SOURCE  LPP Fusion
Switzerland has rejected the policy of guaranteed basic income by 77% to 22%. It will years before it comes up for a vote again and it will likely take at least 20 years before the vote would flip from a huge loss to a victory. It would take longer if ever for countries like the United States to vote for anything like a basic income.

An unconditional basic income (also called basic income, basic income guarantee, universal basic income,or citizens income) is a form of social security system in which all citizens or residents of a country regularly receive an unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, in addition to any income received from elsewhere.

An unconditional income transfer of less than the poverty line is sometimes referred to as a partial basic income.

A common argument for guaranteed basic income is the fear that automation, artificial intelligence and robots will create massive unemployment.

A frequent objection to basic income is that it would create a disincentive to work since the availability of the income is unconditional. In one study, even when the benefits are not permanent, the hours workedby the recipients of the benefitare observed to decline by 5%, a decrease of 2 hours in a typical 40-hour work week.

Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and in Europe has socialist leaning policies. They rejected the guaranteed basic income nearly 4 to 1.

Technology job losses and pay reductions are probable if not for the world as whole, this is likely in many fields at some point

Since basic income will not be implemented for decades, then people must take the action to protect themselves

Even before massive technological job loss and pay reduction  americans are in a financial mess

David Ramsey is a financial advisor and radio talk show host.

The 7 Baby Steps to money management

Step 1: Save $1,000

Step 2: Pay Off Debt

Step 3: 3-6 Month Fund

Step 4: Invest 15%

Step 5: College [NBF  this makes less sense if there is a massive robot automation scenario]

Step 6: Pay Off Home

Step 7: Give

Debt snowball

List your debts in order from smallest total payoff balance to the largest.

Attack debt by paying as much as you can on your smallest payoff balance. You need quick wins.

Once youve paid something off, move that entire payment to the next item on the list.

Reduce expenses and create passive income that would exist if there is technological automation

Massive expense reduction is possible where more people live in the same household. This was a strategy used by many of the vietnamese boat people when they came to the USA in the 1980s.

There are other examples of two couples buying one house together

Multiple generations can live together so that debt is reduced or eliminated while buying assets

Is Technological unemployment coming and how soon and how much ?

The third industrial evolution appears to have resulted in an intensification of trends already fledgling in the first two:

a hollowing-out of employment,

a widening distribution of wages and

a fall in labors income share.

The key question is what happens next?

A re-run of the 19th century, with productivity gains eventually boosting wages and the labour share?

Or, different than in the past, a permanent re-shaping of the labor landscape?

A number of authors have recently argued, persuasively, that it is a permanent re-shaping of the labor landscape. Based on past patterns, it is argued that information technology may be poised for exponential growth, as its full fruits are harvested. Indeed, we may be on the cusp of a fourth Industrial Revolution or Second Machine Age (Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014), Ford (2015)).

Its defining feature would be that new-age machines will be thinking as well as doing, sensing as well as sifting, adapting as well as enacting. They will thus span a much wider part of the skill distribution than ever previously. As robots extend their skill-reach, hollowing-out may thus be set to become ever-faster, ever-wider and ever-deeper. Or that, at least, is the picture some have painted.

How much wider and deeper? Research by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne has tried to quantify this hollowing-out, by assigning probabilities to certain classes of job being automated over the course of the next few decades. Their work was initially done for the US, but has recently been extended to the UK (Frey and Osbourne (2013), Deloitte (2015b)).

Using this methodology, the Bank has recently done its own exercise for the UK.

All of these projections, like those of Ricardo and Keynes previously, may be far too pessimistic. The lessons of history are that rising real incomes have ridden to the rescue, boosting the demand for new goods from new industries requiring new workers. During previous phases of technological growth, workers have moved up the income escalator by skilling up, thereby keeping one-step-ahead of the machine.

And some have argued that this pattern is set to repeat itself in future. Humans will adapt their skills to the tasks where they continue to have a comparative advantage over machines.

There is a fundamental reorientation in the nature of work could be underway. We may already be seeing early signs of that in the move towards part-time working, temporary contracts and, in particular, self-employment.

Various jobs that still exist are seeing substantial wage decreases. Cloud based versions of analytic software have substantially reduced the skill requirements for financial analysis jobs and seeing wages drop by 20-40%.

Some have speculated that these seismic shifts could result in the emergence of a new artisan class : micro-businesses offering individually-tailored products and services, personalized to the needs of customers, from healthcare and social care, to leisure products and luxuries.

SOURCES- David Ramsey, Switzerland, Wikipedia, Bank of England
His vehicle was spotted in Denver a day before the UCLA killing.

Sarkar later fatally shot engineering professor William Klug, 39, in his office at the UCLA on Wednesday.

He said Sarkar was convinced Klug had stolen his computer code and given it to someone else, and seemed bent on revenge.

A relative says a Minnesota woman who was killed by her estranged husband before he fatally shot a UCLA professor was a world traveler and close to becoming a doctor.

"They just didn't get along", Johnson told the paper.

She said Hasti was going to medical school at the University of Minnesota. "The only enemy she had was him, I guess". Authorities did not identify the second professor.

The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. This is an indescribable loss. "Knowing that so many others share our family's sorrow has provided a measure of comfort". The university was shut down for the day but reopened on Thursday and a vigil was planned later in the evening to honor Klug. With the weapons and ammunition Sarkar carried, "he could have caused many more fatalities than the one", Beck said. There police discovered the "kill list" and tracked down Hasti's body.

A Los Angeles police media relations representative said she had no information about the warrant.

Johnson said Hasti met Mainak Sarkar while she was studying at Scripps College in Claremont, California, in 2009 and 2010, when he was a student at UCLA. He said his neighbors were quiet and kept to themselves.

Officials in Hennepin County, in the midwestern state of Minnesota, said Hasti and Sarkar were married on June 14, 2011. It was unclear if the couple were still married at the time of their deaths.

The 2013 dissertation by Mainak Sarkar includes two lines about professor William Klug. "Thank you for being my mentor".

"I had looked forward to us growing into old grouchy professors together", Eldredge said.

The dissertation, approved by Klug and four colleagues, is dedicated to Sarkar's dead mother, Ira Sarkar.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that Hasti's name was on a "kill list" composed by Sarkar. Sarkar killed himself after killing Klug.

A suspicious package was found near the location, and the St. Paul police bomb squad responded to "render it safe", Linders said. Beck said the woman named on the list was the victim; and a neighbor told AP that Hasti lived in the home with her father.

At the residence, investigators found a so-called kill list with the names of two professors and a woman living in Brooklyn Park outside St. Paul.

Sarkar killed engineering professor Bill Klug and then killed himself. She also dabbled in stand-up comedy. Sarkar branded him a "sick man".

A blog post written in March by someone identifying himself as Sarkar asserted that Klug "cleverly stole all my code and gave it (to) another student" and "made me really sick".

It ends with: "Your enemy is your enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm", Sarkar wrote in the post.

A local Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman referred a Pioneer Press reporter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles or Los Angeles police.

Beck says the woman was found shot dead in her home in a nearby Minnesota town. Police say they had no previous calls concerning Hasti or Sarkar.

A police spokeswoman, Officer Jenny Houser, says the gunman was Mainak Sarkar.
He said he had done so on the telethon-style fundraiser he held in Iowa in January as he boycotted a Fox News presidential debate.

The largest donation, a $1 million check dated May 24 and drawn from Donald J. Trump's personal account, was addressed to a small Tuckahoe, New York, group that provides scholarships to the children of fallen Marines.

Trump was unequivocal: "I'm going to continue to attack the press", he said.

But the real estate tycoon said the media coverage seemed intent on finding fault in actions he said were entirely altruistic.

As he began to read the list of donations, he paused and contemptuously asked the gathered journalists: "Are you ready? Do you have a pen?" That depends on whom you ask: Donald Trump would probably say that it's an opportunity to hit the mute button on reporters; Bernie would explain that it's a speech at which only he gets to talk; and Hillary would be like, "Do people even do those anymore?" But beyond that, as we have said before, this exhibition of philanthropy badly managed and ridiculously defended against public scrutiny should be terrifying to people working in this sector. ".I find the press to be extremely dishonest".

On Tuesday, New Hampshire State Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, joined Trump to scold national reporters.

"Look, I'm glad he finally did it, but I don't know that he should get much credit", she told CNN on Tuesday afternoon.

A Donald Trump presidency is now firmly in the realm of possibilities, and the media is getting a taste of it. But in the way that Trump views the world, he tried to do something honorable-raise money for vets-and was unfairly rewarded with negative headlines. He said he and his team were vetting groups they'd never heard of four months after the fact, but that wasn't true.

While Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media, questions about the donations to veterans touched a raw nerve with him as he tries to build a conservative base ahead of the November 8 general election. The Associated Press on Tuesday found that of the almost two dozen charities that responded to its survey, almost half received checks dated 24 May, the same day the Post published its story. He was wrong. God knows how many other veterans Trump preyed on, to bleed them dry of their money.

"Trump has been evasive and dishonest about this money, and only after being confronted for attempting to defraud vets was he shamed into accounting for the missing funds", the group said in a release. "You send people out". You do a lot of work. Now most of the money went out quite a while ago.

In a statement to 13News Now on Wednesday, the foundation said, "While there is significant interest in recent donations to the Navy SEAL Foundation from many in the news media, we do not wish to distract us from our mission of service to the Naval Special Warfare community and its families".

Biggio had served in Iraq with the son of one of Trump's bodyguards. He then returned to the reporter minutes later.

More than a dozen big checks flowed out of NY last week, bound for veterans' charities from Donald Trump. Okay, Tom, thanks. Just for the record you are not a sleaze in our book.

Later that evening Bill O'Reilly defended Trump on the May 31 edition of The O'Reilly Factor.

"You're a sleaze", Mr. Trump spat caustically while jabbing his finger toward a reporter from ABC News.

"Yes, it is", he said.

"We will not let Donald Trump use veterans as props for his agenda for hate and fear", Maier told AFP.

Trump claimed during the press conference that the protesters had been sent by Clinton. The veterans said they had not, and as evidence one admitted to having voted for Bernie Sanders, Clinton's Democratic challenger.

Much of the media attention lately has been on Donald Trump's alleged donations to veterans groups and whether they were only made so Trump could score political points. China is a frequent target for Trump, who accuses the country of stealing American jobs and cheating at global trade.
Law enforcement officers from our area participated in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run.

Beginning at 7 a.m., the Torch Run traveled from Greenwood to Fort Smith before crossing over Midland Bridge into Van Buren, then on to Alma and Mulberry. The event is expected to be the largest simultaneous multi-community running event in Alaska this year, according to Special Olympics Alaska, with the goal of raising of $150,000 for SOA communities.

The Torch Run has become one of the most important fundraising activities for Special Olympic programs in the world. "We appreciate all law enforcement agencies showing up for (the athletes) and they know they are here for them".

Also at Saracen Landing were some of the special Olympians who will be taking part in the summer games at Harding University this weekend.

The morning started out with some stretching before heading to the start line with the torch. We have always had great support from local law enforcement and the community as well to cheer them on as they are going through the route. The Special Olympics gives an opportunity for those with special challenges to feel self confident in giving their best to compete and hopefully enter the winners circle.

Travis Harper, first sergeant with the North Carolina Highway Patrol, said he has enjoyed being involved with such a worthy event. "It inspires me every day", Rutledge said.
Most analysts expect a year-on-year drop in sales, in large part because of two fewer selling days and one less weekend this past month. US sales also fell, although deliveries in that market were still above the 17-million-unit level on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis.

"Notwithstanding a challenging calendar, we managed to muscle our way to our strongest May sales in over 10 years", said Reid Bigland, Fiat-Chrysler senior vice president of sales in a statement. "Rather than chasing volume for the sake of volume, they are making better margins", he said in a phone interview. The Spring Hill plant is launching the new 2017 Cadillac XT5 crossover, the Fairfax plant is launching the new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu and Lordstown is launching the new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze.

Detroit-based GM's deliveries plunged 18 percent, missing estimates for a 13 percent drop.

Feldman says there weren't as many selling days so far this year, compared to last year.

Volkswagen Group of America sales tumbled 17 percent compared to May 2015, as the German automaker continued to grapple with the diesel-emissions crisis. Those include not only the fear of plateauing USA sales but also uncertainty in China, where sales have been spurred by short-term tax breaks, and continued weakness in South America, Goldman said.

Mark LaNeve, Ford's USA sales chief, told analysts and reporters on a conference call: "Obviously we're hoping for improvement" in sales rate as the year goes on. Its Chevrolet and Buick brands saw the biggest declines; sales of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, its best-seller, were down 13 percent. GM, +0.40% fell 6.1% and 18% respectively. The Lincoln MKX drove sales for the luxury brand.

Fiat Chrysler's sales rose 1 percent to just over 204,000 vehicles, its best May in 11 years. For the year to date, FCA Canada sales are up 3.1 percent to 124,663 vehicles.

Six years ago, passenger cars captured about 53 per cent of the US market, Mr. LaNeve said.

Vehicle sales have enjoyed years of consistent growth - thanks to the broader availability of financing and pent-up demand from consumers after the lean years of the Great Recession, among other reasons. Toyota reported a 9.6% sales decline, Honda Motor Co. sales were off almost 5%, and Nissan Motor Co. reported a 1% drop.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCAU.N FCHA.MI sales were seen unchanged by Edmunds and rising 1.2 percent by TrueCar. The dip followed a record tally of more than 200,000 in April, which was the first time sales in Canada topped that level in a single month.

"It's easy to look at May's sales and conclude that the retail vehicle market is losing steam, but it's too soon to say for sure that auto sales are leveling off", said Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell.

"It still was the second-best May on record", said industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.
After kidnapping about 200 people in Afghanistan, the Taliban said Tuesday it killed 17 who were carrying Afghan government documents.

Kunduz police spokesman Hejratullah Akbari said on June 2 that the bodies of the two hostages had been found along a road on June 1. Nisar said that a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official had assisted Mullah Mansour's wife in acquiring the NIC.

The passengers were rescued during a night raid in Shina Tapa area last night, reports the Khaama Press.

Ghazni police chief Aminullah Amarkhil presented the operation as a quick win for the police saying they "shot dead the other bombers in no time".

Kunduz has been the site of heavy fighting this spring as the Taliban seek to overrun the provincial capital. They briefly held the capital city, Kunduz, a year ago before it was recaptured by Afghan forces.

Five civilians and a policeman were killed when Taliban gunmen stormed a courthouse in Eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Pakistani authorities have recovered the domicile certificate of slain Taliban chief Mullah Mansour which was illegally made under a fake name, officials said today. The attackers then blew themselves up. They also wore uniforms underneath, he said.

"One of the attackers detonated his suicide vest inside the compound and the three others were gunned down by police".

"The Taliban have brutally killed 16 civilians and taken about 20 with them", Hashemi said.

The incident came a week after a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul targeted court officials traveling to work in neighboring Wardak province.

Past year concerns that Afghan forces lacked the ability to resist the Taliban led the United States to postpone indefinite withdrawal of its own troops. Khan died when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, police general Abdul Razaq Qaderi said.
After Morocco expressed concerns last month that the US State Departments 2016 human rights report contained factual errors and misrepresented the Kingdoms efforts in that area, a bipartisan group of Members of Congress have voiced support to this response as being legitimate.

In a letter sent to President Obama last Thursday, the 16-member group hails Morocco as Washingtons strongest and oldest friend in a very important part of the world, and urges greater visibility for Moroccos role in promoting stability and development in the region, as well as the countrys progress on human rights.

We are concerned that recent developments in our strategically important alliance with Morocco need to be made a higher priority and that our support for Moroccos signal achievements, including on human rights, and the important role it is playing to enhance stability and development in the region, needs to be given much greater visibility in our public statements about this critical bilateral relationship with one of our oldest and most trusted partners, the letter signatories pointed out.

The Congressmen recalled in their letter that Morocco is the only country in the region to have established with the United States, since 2006 and at the request of Morocco, an on-going dialogue on human rights that is intended to be an open forum for objective and constructive engagement on these issues. This cooperative process aims at exchanging information intended to resolve issues throughout the year and contribute to the accuracy of the annual report.

We commend this process and would hope that it brings a positive contribution, the letter reads, recalling the centuries-old alliance between the two countries and their common battle against ISIL and other forms of terrorism at present.

Morocco shares our values and aspirations for the region and has been a model in promoting stability through substantial reforms, the signatories stated.

Morocco had expressed its anger and utter rejection of the contents of the US Department 2016 Human rights report regarding the situation of human rights in the North African country.

In a premiere, the Moroccan Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned US ambassador Dwight Bush in Rabat for a meeting with Junior Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, and the Head of the Moroccan Intelligence agency, Mohamed Yassine Mansouri.

During the meeting, the Moroccan officials raised three specific cases cited in the State Department report, proving manipulation and blatant factual errors.
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He also wants to be able to pick Supreme Court justices. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

In an interview with John Dickerson that aired Sunday on CBSs Face the Nation, Donald Trump didnt just hold on to his notion that a judge with Mexican heritage is incapable of treating him fairly in court, he agreed that it was possible that Muslim judges wouldnt be able to either. Referring first to U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the Mexican American judge who is presiding over a Trump University lawsuit, Trump reiterated his accusation of prejudice:

[Curiel] is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine. But I say hes got bias. I want to build a wall. Im going to build a wall. Im doing very well with the Latinos, with the Hispanics, with the Mexicans, Im doing very well with them in my opinion.

So in Trumps mind, despite his big beautiful wall idea, hes still doing very well with Latinos, Hispanics, and Mexicans, just not the ones that are members of pro-Mexican clubs or societies, and judges. And then there are those Muslims: Dickerson asked Trump if be believed he would also be unable to receive a fair shake from Muslim judges as a result of his proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, Trump responded, Its possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.

When Dickerson asked Trump whether he also believed in the American tradition that we dont judge people by who their parents were and where they came from, he replied:

Im not talking about tradition. Im talking about common sense, okay? [Curiels] somebody, hes proud of his heritage. And I think thats great that hes proud of his heritage.  You know, we have to stop being so politically correct in this country. And we need a little more common sense, John. And Im not blaming. Im proud of my heritage, were all proud of our heritage. But I want to build a wall.

Then again, Trumps pseudo-suggestion that justice is more important than an intense love of ones racial or ethnic heritage may not register with at least some of his own supporters.

In other news, RNC chair Reince Priebus has assured the Washington Examiner that Trumps rhetoric regarding Hispanics is likely to evolve between now and the election:

Ive said that I do think Donald Trump understands that his tone and rhetoric is going to have to evolve in regard to how were communicating to Hispanics across the country. I think he gets that. Now, theres a lot of time between now and November, and I think youre going to see an evolution on that particular issue.

Of course, that theory of evolution is not yet supported by evidence outside the minds of establishment Republicans who now find themselves chained to the Trump Express.

Referring to the Trump University lawsuit and Trumps attacks on Judge Curiel, Priebus added that, while he didnt know much about the case, I wouldnt invoke race into any sort of attack or commentary.

So which judges would be eligible, in Trumps mind, for the honor of treating Trump fairly? Philip Bump at the Washington Post thinks that can be figured out by process of elimination:

The benchmark for exclusion isnt solely membership in a group that Trump has criticized and/or sought sanction against. Its membership in a group that Trump might be able to argue could view him negatively. After all, he regularly insists that Hispanics love him, but he, for some reason, assumes Gonzalo Curiel doesnt. He assumes Muslims would judge him harshly but tells the world that Muhammad Alis rebuke of his ban on Muslim entry into the United States wasnt about him.

Using that logic, Bump argues that Trump would also seek to exclude judges who are Democrats, immigrants, women, black, or have physical disabilities  leaving able-bodied white or Asian Republican men as the only remaining candidates. (Its probably also worth excluding otherwise eligible men who have low energy, have wives who arent tens, or are named Mitt Romney.)

This post has been updated to include comments from Reince Priebus and analysis from Philip Bump.
Photo: Courtesy of HBO

Surely you have heard the one about R+L=J. But what about A+J=T? A+L=J? Beyond the alphabetical arithmetic, there is the question of Stannis Baratheons Pink Letter, Danys secret and burgeoning villainry, the supposed trinity of dragon riders  and let us not forget Lady Stoneheart. The North remembers, after all, and so do her many fervent fans.

There is something, in other words, about the Seven Kingdoms and their many complicated inhabitants that seems to inspire just as many, and just as complicated, theories about what it all means, and where the series is potentially headed. A few months back, Vulture rounded up the 50 most popular fan theories about Game of Thrones (as in the HBO show) and A Song of Ice and Fire (as in the book series the show is based on), but there are of course countless more, catalogued and dissected by rabid fans on message-board threads and podcasts. If you have spent any time in these places (not that I have  but I hear things), you know that the craziest of the theories are typically called tinfoil hat theories, referencing pop-culture depictions of conspiracy theorists who believe that wearing aluminum foil atop their heads will protect their brains from telepathy and electromagnetic fields.

And that little nod to conspiracy theorists seems very appropriate to Rob Brotherton, a psychologist and the author of the 2015 book Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories, who tells Science of Us that there are indeed some parallels between conspiracy theories about the real world and wackadoodle fan theories about fictional worlds, such as Westeros.

For one, Brotherton explains, the idea that all is not as it seems, that theres a hidden layer to reality, is a core feature of all conspiracy theories. There are those who will tell you, for instance, that our own Bran Stark  whom we have known from the very first episode and book  is more than meets the eye. Hes not just the second-youngest Stark boy; no, he is secretly every Bran Stark who has ever lived. Believers cite a passage from a Bran point-of-view chapter as proof:

Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.

For conspiracy theorists, the so-called official story is something to be rejected, not merely as mistaken hypotheses, but as falsehoods engineered to deceive, Brotherton said. Accidents are never accidents, democracy is an illusion, the media peddles lies. Conspiracy theorists think for themselves.

When it comes to fan theorizing, sometimes, the questioning and theorizing end up being more fun than the eventual, actual answers. As J.K. Rowling was still writing her Harry Potter series, there were some who theorized that Aunt Petunia  one half of the cruel Muggle couple who kept a young Harry in the cupboard under the stairs all those years  might secretly have some magic in her. (Her clean kitchen, after all, had an oddly unreal glitter to it.) Rowling, alas, later quashed this theory. Sometimes, a clean kitchen is just a clean kitchen. But this speaks to another key component of a conspiracy theory: the assumption that things are all planned down to the smallest detail, Brotherton said.

Another pop-culture phenomenon in recent memory that provoked massive amounts of fan theorizing was the mid-2000s TV show Lost, whose writers are still answering questions about whether or not the mysteries and plot twists were planned out ahead of time or improvised. For example, the Dharma Initiative, a writer for Lost revealed in an essay published last spring, was mostly just a hastily thrown together plot point, making the number of hours that I, for one, spent thinking and talking about it seem in retrospect what it always was: a colossal waste of time. Obviously, shows like this are planned and scripted in advance, but as the Lost writers essay makes clear, there can be a lot of necessary winging it (for lack of a better term) along the way, Brotherton said. The tin-foil-hatted among us would rather not hear this.

Last year, Brotherton and University of London psychologist Christopher French published a study in PLOS One identifying what they called an intentionality bias common among conspiracy theorists. People who buy into conspiracy theories are also more likely to reject the notion of accidents, or of chance, preferring instead to believe that things happen for a reason. Conspiracism is a broad phenomenon. It can range from fun, harmless speculation about shows like this, to more serious allegations against governments or other suspected conspirators, Brotherton explained.

To (greatly) simplify it, our minds prefer patterns to randomness, which means we sometimes see meaning that isnt really there. Its one reason why people see Jesus in their toast, or why some people believe celebrity deaths come in threes. Obviously there will be different political motivations at play for different theories, and some are more plausible than others, Brotherton added, but our brains are always looking out for clues and connecting dots. In the case of fan theories, though, lets not discount the fact that its also just a ton of fun to take seemingly disparate puzzle pieces and squash them together until youve constructed something resembling a plausible plot line. Plus: Its very fun when you turn out to be correct.

Because heres the thing about conspiracy theories, both fictional and nonfictional: Sometimes, theyre true. Last year around this time, Game of Thrones fans were desperately seeking clues to prove that Jon Snow had not actually died  or, if he had, that he would not stay dead for long. Kit Harrington, the actor who plays Jon Snow, told us himself that his character was a goner. Trust me, Im sad, too. But all I know is that hes dead, he said last June. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

This, of course, turned out to be a lie. Which goes to show, Brotherton said, that sometimes the conspiracy theorists get it right.
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It was always midnight in the belly of the beast.

The mutes had robbed him of his of robe and shoes and breechclout. He wore hair and chains

and scabs. Saltwater sloshed about his legs whenever the tide came in, rising as high as his

genitals only to ebb again when the tide receded.



His feet had grown huge and soft and puffy, shapeless things as big as hams. He knew that he

was in some dungeon, but not where, or for how long.



There had been another dungeon before this one. In between there had been the ship, the

Silence. The night they moved him, he had seen the moon floating on a black wine sea with a

leering face that reminded him of Euron.



Rats moved in the darkness, swimming through the water. They would bite him as he slept until

he woke and drove them off with shouts and thrashings. Aerons beard and scalp crawled with

lice and fleas and worms. He could feel them moving through his hair, and the bites itched him

intolerably. His chains were so short that he could not reach to scratch. The shackles that bound

him to the wall were old and rusted, and his fetters had cut into his wrists. When the tide rushed

in to kiss him, the salt got into the wounds and made him gasp.



When he slept, the darkness would rise up and swallow him and then the dream would come...

and Urri and the scream of a rusted hinge.



The only light in his wet world came from the lanterns that the visitors brought with them, and it

came so seldom that it began to hurt his eyes. A nameless sour-faced man brought his food,

salt beef as hard as wooden shingles, bread crawling with weevils, slimy, stinking fish.

Aeron gobbled it down and hoped for more, though oft as not he retched the meal up after. The

man who brought the food was dark, dour, mute. His tongue was gone, Aeron did not doubt.

That was Eurons way. The light would leave when the mute did, and once again his world

would become a damp darkness smelling of grime and mold and feces.



Sometimes, Euron came himself. Aeron would wake from sleep to find his brother standing over

him, lantern in hand. Once, aboard the Silence, he hung the lantern from a post and poured

them cups of wine. Drink with me, brother, he said. That night he wore a shirt of iron scales

and a cloak of blood red silk. HIs eyepatch was red leather, his lips blue.



Why am I here? Aeron croaked at him. His lips were crusty with scabs, his voice hard. Where

are we sailing?



Southfor conquest, plunder, dragons.



Madness. My place is on the islands.



Your place is where I want you. I am your king.



What do you want of me?



What can you offer me that I have not had before? Euron smiled. I left the islands in the

hands of old Erik Ironmaker, and sealed his loyalty with the hand of our sweet Asha. I would not

have you preaching against his rule, so I took you with us.

Release me. The god commands it.



Drink with me. Your king commands it.



Euron grabbed a handful of the priests tangled black hair, pulled his head back, and lifted the

wine cup to his lips. But what flowed into his mouth was not wine. It was thick and viscous, with

a taste that seemed to change with every swallow. Now bitter, now sour, now sweet. When

Aeron tried to spit it out, his brother tightened his grip and forced more down his throat. Thats

it, priest. Gulp it down. The wine of the warlocks, sweeter than your seawater, with more

truth in it than all the gods of earth.



I curse you, Aeron said, when the cup was empty. Liquor dripped from down his chin into his

long, black beard.



If I had the tongue of every man who cursed me, I could make a cloak of them.



Aeron hawked and spat. The spittle struck his brothers cheek and hung there, blue-black,

glistening. Euron flicked it off his face with a forefinger, then licked the finger clean. Your god

will come for you tonight. Some god, at least.



And when the Damphair slept, sagging in his chains, he heard the creak of a rusted hinge.



Urri! he cried. There is no hinge here, no door, no Urri. His brother Urrigon was long dead, yet

there he stood. One arm was black and swollen, stinking with maggots, but he was still Urri, still

a boy, no older than the day he died.



You know what waits below the sea, brother?



The Drowned God, Aeron said, the watery halls.



Urri shook his head. Worms... worms await you, Aeron.



When he laughed his face sloughed off and the priest saw that it was not Urri but Euron, the

smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to

heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered

round his feet and a forest burned behind him.



The bleeding star bespoke the end, he said to Aeron. These are the last days, when the

world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.



Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes

came at his command and bowed before him. Kneel, brother, the Crows Eye commanded. I

am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.



Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!



Why would I want that hard black rock? Brother, look again and see where I am seated.



Aeron Damphair looked. The mound of skulls was gone. Now it was metal underneath the

Crows Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords,

all dripping blood.



Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the

Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith...even the Stranger. They hung side

by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-

headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath.



And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest,

seawater still dripping from his hair.



Then Euron Crows Eye laughed again, and the priest woke screaming in the bowels of Silence,

as piss ran down his leg. It was only a dream, a vision born of foul black wine.



The kingsmoot was the last thing Damphair remembered clearly. As the captains lifted Euron

onto their shoulders to hail him as their king, the priest had slipped off to find their brother,

Victarion. Eurons blasphemies will bring down the Drowned Gods wrath upon us all, he

warned. But Victarion insisted stubbornly that the god had raised their brother up and that god

must cast him down.



He will not act, the priest had realized then. It must be me.



The kingsmoot had chosen Euron Crows Eye but the kingsmoot was made of men, and men

were weak and foolish things, too easily swayed by gold and lies. I summoned them here, to

Naggas bones in the Grey Kings Hall. I called them all together to choose a righteous king, but

in their drunken folly, they have sinned. It was for him to undo what they had done.



The captains and the kings raise Euron up, but the common folk shall tear him down, he

promised Victarion. I shall go to Great Wyk to Harlaw to Orkmont to Pyke itself. Every town and

village shall my words be heard. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!



At departing from his brother, hed sought solace in the sea. A few of his Drowned Men made to

follow him, but Aeron sent them off with a few sharp words. He wanted no company but god.

Down where the longships had been beached along the stony strand, he found a black salt

wave searching and foaming white where they broke upon a snarled rock, half buried in the

sand. The water had been icy cold as he waded in, yet Aeron did not flinch from his gods

caress. Waves smashed against his chest, one after another, staggering him, but he pushed on,

deeper and deeper until the waters were breaking over his head. The taste of salt upon his lips

was sweeter than any wine.



Mingled with the distant roar of song and celebration coming up from the beach, hed heard the

faint creak of longships settling on the strand. He heard the keening of the wind and now

whines. He heard the pounding of the waves, the hammer of his god calling him to battle. And

there and then, the Drowned God had come to him once more, his voice welling up from the

depths of the sea.



Aeron, my good and faithful servant, you must tell the Ironborn that the Crows Eye is no true

king, that the Seastone Chair by rights belonged to... to... to...



Not Victarion. Victarion had offered himself to the captains and kings but they had spurned him.



Not Asha. In his heart, Aeron had always loved Asha best of all his brother Balons children. The

Drowned God had blessed her with a warriors spirit and the wisdom of a kingbut he had

cursed her with a womans body, too. No woman had ever ruled the Iron Islands. She should

never have made a claim. She should have spoken for Victarion, added her own strength to his.



It was not too late, Aeron had decided as he shivered in the sea. If Victarion took Asha for his

wife, they could yet rule together, king and queen. In ancient days, each isle had its Salt King

and its Rock King. Let the Old Way return.



Aeron Damphair had struggled back to shore, full of fierce resolve. He would bring down Euron,

not with sword or axe but with the power of his faith. Padding lightly across the stones, his hair

plastered black and dank across his brow and cheeks, he stopped for a moment to push it back

out of his eyes.



And that was where they took him, the mutes who had been watching him, waiting for him,

stalking him through strand and spray. A hand clapped down across his mouth and something

hard cracked against the back of his skull.



The next time he had opened his eyes, the Damphair found himself fettered in the darkness.

Then came the fever and the taste of blood in his mouth as he twisted in the chains, deep in the

bowels of Silence. A weaker man might have wept, but Aeron Damphair prayed, waking,

sleeping, even in his fever-dreams he prayed. My god is testing me. I must be strong, I must be

true.



Once, in the dungeon before this one, a woman brought his food in place of Eurons mute. A

young thing, buxom and pretty. She dressed in the finery of a greenland lady. In the lantern light

she was the loveliest thing Aeron had ever seen.



Woman, he said, I am a man of god. I command you, set me free.



Oh, I couldnt do that, she said. I have food for you. Porridge and honey. She sat beside him

on a stool and spooned it into his mouth for him.



What is this place? he asked between spoonfuls.



My lord fathers castle on Oakenshield. The Shield Islands, a thousand leagues from home.



And who are you, child?



Falia Flowers, Lord Hewetts natural daughter. I am to be King Eurons salt wife. You and I will

be kin, then.



Aeron Damphair raised his eyes to hers. His scabbed lips were crusted with wet porridge.

Woman. His chains clinked when he moved. Run. He will hurt you. He will kill you.



She laughed. Silly, he wont. Im his love, his lady. He gives me gifts, so many gifts. Silks and

furs and jewels. Rags and rocks, he calls them.



The Crows Eye puts no value in such things. That was one of the things that drew men to his

service. Most captains kept the lions share of their plunder but Euron took almost nothing for

himself.



He gives me any gown I want, the girl was prattling happily. My sisters used to make me wait

on them at table, but Euron made them serve the whole hall naked! Why should he do that,

except for love of me? She put a hand on her belly and smoothed down the fabric of her gown.

Im going to give him sons. So many sons...



He has sons.



Baseborn boys and mongrels, Euron says. My sons will come before them, he has sworn,

sworn by your own Drowned God!



Aeron wouldve wept for her. Tears of blood, he thought. You must bear a message to my

brother. Not Euron, but Victarion, Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet. Do you know the man I mean?



Falia sat back from him. Yes, she said. But I couldnt bring him any messages. Hes gone.



Gone? That was the cruelest blow of all. Gone where?



East, she said, with all his ships. Hes to bring the dragon queen to Westeros. Im to be

Eurons salt wife, but he must have a rock wife too, a queen to rule all Westeros at his side.

They say shes the most beautiful woman in the world, and she has dragons. The two of us will

be as close as sisters!



Aeron Damphair hardly heard her. Victarion is gone, half a world away or dead. Surely the

Drowned God was testing him. This was a lesson for him. Put not your trust in men. Only my

faith can save me now.

That night, when the tide came rushing back into the prison cell, he prayed that it might rise all

night, enough to end his torment. I have been your true and leal servant, he prayed, twisting in

his chains. Now snatch me from my brothers hand, and take me down beneath the waves, to

be seated at your side!



But no deliverance came. Only the mutes, to undo his chains and drag him roughly up a long

stone stair to where the Silence floated on a cold black sea.



And a few days later, as her hull shuddered in the grip of some storm, the Crows Eye came

below again, lantern in hand. This time his other hand held a dagger. Still praying, priest? Your

god has forsaken you.



Youre wrong.



It was me who taught you how to pray, little brother. Have you forgotten? I would visit your bed

chamber at night when I had too much to drink. You shared a room with Urrigon high up in the

seatower. I could hear you praying from outside the door. I always wondered: Were you praying

that I would choose you or that I would pass you by? Euron pressed the knife to Aerons throat.

Pray to me. Beg me to end your torment, and I will.



Not even you would dare, said the Damphair. I am your brother. No man is more accursed

than the kinslayer.



And yet I wear a crown and you rot in chains. How is it that your Drowned God allows that

when I have killed three brothers?



Aeron could only gape at him.



Three?



Well, if you count half brothers. Do you remember little Robin? Wretched creature. Do you

remember that big head of his, how soft it was? All he could do was mewl and shit. He was my

second. Harlon was my first. All I had to do was pinch his nose shut. The greyscale had turned

his mouth to stone so he could not cry out. But his eyes grew frantic as he died. They begged

me. When the life went out of them, I went out and pissed into the sea, waiting for the god to

strike me down. None did. Oh, and Balon was the third, but you knew that. I could not do the

deed myself, but it was my hand that pushed him off the bridge. The Crows Eye pressed the

dagger in a little deeper, and Aeron felt blood trickling down his neck. If your Drowned God did

not smite me for killing three brothers, why should he bestir himself for the fourth? Because you

are his priest? He stepped back and sheathed his dagger. No, Ill not kill you tonight. A holy

man with holy blood. I may have need of that blood...later. For now, you are condemned to

live.



A holy man with holy blood, Aeron thought when his brother had climbed back onto the deck.

He mocks me and he mocks the god. Kinslayer. Blasphemer. Demon in human skin.



That night he prayed for his brothers death.



It was in the second dungeon that the other holy men began to appear to share his torments.

Three wore the robes of septons of the green lands, and one the red raiment of a priest of

Rhllor. The last was hardly recognizable as a man. Both his hands had been burned down to

the bone, and his face was a charred and blackened horror where two blind eyes moved

sightlessly above the cracked cheeks dripping pus. He was dead within hours of being shackled

to the wall, but the mutes left his body there to ripen for three days afterwards.



Last were two warlocks of the east, with flesh as white as mushrooms, and lips the purplish-blue

of a bad bruise, all so gaunt and starved that only skin and bones remained. One had lost his

legs. The mutes hung him from a rafter. Pree, he cried as he swung back and forth. Pree,

Pree.



Perhaps that was the name of the demon that he worships. The Drowned God protects me, the

priest told himself. He is stronger than the false gods these other worship, stronger than their

black sorceries. The Drowned God will set me free.



In his saner moments, Aeron questioned why the Crows Eye was collecting priests, but he did

not think that he would like the answer. Victarion was gone, and with him, hope. Aerons

drowned men likely thought the Damphair was hiding on Old Wyk, or Great Wyk, or Pyke, and

wondered when he would emerge to speak against this godless king.



Urrigon haunted his fever dreams. Youre dead, Urri, Aeron thought. Sleep now, child, and

trouble me no more. Soon I shall come to join you.



Whenever Aeron prayed, the legless warlock made queer noises, and his companion babbled

wildly in his queer eastern tongue, though whether they were cursing or pleading, the priest

could not say. The septons made soft noises from time to time as well, but not in words that he

could understand. Aeron suspected that their tongues had been cut out.



When Euron came again, his hair was swept straight back from his brow, and his lips were so

blue that they were almost black. He had put aside his driftwood crown. In its place, he wore an

iron crown whose points were made from the teeth of sharks.



That which is dead cannot die, said Aeron fiercely. For he who has tasted death once

need never fear again. He was drowned, but he came forth stronger than before, with steel and

fire.



Will you do the same, brother? Euron asked. I think not. I think if I drowned you, youll stay

drowned. All gods are lies, but yours is laughable. A pale white thing in the likeness of a man,

his limbs broken and swollen and his hair flipping in the water while fish nibble at his face. What

fool would worship that?



Hes your god as well, insisted the Damphair. And when you die, he will judge you harshly,

Crows Eye. You will spend eternity as a sea slug, crawling on your belly eating shit. If you do

not fear to kill your own blood, slit my throat and be done with me. Im weary of your mad

boastings.



Kill my own little brother? Blood of my blood, born of the loins of Quellon Greyjoy? And who

would share my triumphs? Victory is sweeter with a loved one by your side.



Your victories are hollow. You cannot hold the Shields.



Why should I want to hold them? His brothers smiling eye glittered in the lantern light, blue

and bold and full of malice. The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand,

and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new

lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are

lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts. He moved

closer. Our longships are raiding up the Mander and all along the coast, even to the Arbor and

the Redwyne Straits. The Old Way, brother.



Madness. Release me, Aeron Damphair commanded in his sternest voice, or risk the wroth of

god!



Euron produced a carved stone bottle and a wine cup. You have a thirsty look about you, he

said as he poured. You need a drink; a taste of evenings shade.



No. Aeron turned his face away. No, I said.



And I said yes. Euron pulled his head back by the hair and forced the vile liquor into his mouth

again. Though Aeron clamped his mouth shut, twisting his head from side to side he fought as

best he could, but in the end he had to choke or swallow.



The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and

burning on a boiling blood-red sea. He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was

no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the

deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in womans form, long

and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement,

male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each

other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed...



Aeron dreamed of drowning, too. Not of the bliss that would surely follow down in the Drowned

Gods watery halls, but of the terror that even the faithful feel as the water fills their mouth and

nose and lungs, and they cannot draw a breath. Three times the Damphair woke, and three

times it proved no true waking, but only another chapter in a dream.



But at last, there came a day when the door of the dungeon swung open, and a mute came

splashing through with no food in his hands. Instead he had a ring of keys in one hand, and a

lantern in the other. The light was too bright to look upon, and Aeron was afraid of what it

meant. Bright and terrible. Something has changed. Something has happened.



Bring them, said a half-familiar voice from the hapless gloom. Be quick about it, you know

how he gets.



Oh, I do. I have known since I was a boy.



One septon made a frightened noise as the mute undid his chains, a half-choked sound that

might have been some attempt at speech. The legless warlock stared down at the black water,

his lips moving silently in prayer. When the mute came for Aeron, he tried to struggle, but the

strength had gone from his limbs, and one blow was all it took to quiet him. His wrist was

unshackled, then the other. Free, he told himself. Im free.



But when he tried to take a step, his weakened legs folded under him. Not one of the prisoners

was fit enough to walk. In the end, the mutes had to summon more of their kind. Two of them

grasped by Aeron by the arms and dragged him up a spiral stair. His feet banged off the steps

as they ascended, sending stabbing pains up his leg. He bit his lips to keep from crying out. The

priest could hear the warlocks just behind him. The septons brought up the rear, sobbing and

gasping. With every turn of the stair, the steps grew brighter, until finally a window appeared in

the lefthand wall. It was only a slit in the stone, a bare hands breadth across, but that was wide

enough to admit a shaft of sunlight.



So golden, the Damphair thought, so beautiful.



When they pulled him up the steps through the light, he felt its warmth upon his face, and tears

rolled down his cheeks. The sea. I can smell the sea. The Drowned God has not abandoned

me. The sea will make me whole again! That which is dead can never die, but rises again

harder and stronger...



Take me to the water, he commanded, as if he were still back on the Iron Islands surrounded

by his drowned men, but the mutes were his brothers creatures and they paid him no heed.

They dragged him up more steps, down a torchlit gallery, and into a bleak stone hall where a

dozen bodies were hanging from the rafters, turning and swaying. A dozen of Eurons captains

were gathered in the hall, drinking wine beneath the corpses. Left-Hand Lucas Codd sat in the

place of honor, wearing a heavy silken tapestry as a cloak. Beside him was the Red Oarsman,

and further down Pinchface Jon Myre, Stonehand, and Rogin Salt-Beard.



Who are these dead? Aeron commanded. His tongue was so thick the words came out in a

rusty whisper, faint as a mouse breaking wind.



The lord that held this castle, with his kin. The voice belonged to Torwold Browntooth, one of

his brothers captains, a creature near as vile as the Crows Eye himself.



Pigs, said another vile creature, the one they called the Red Oarsman. This was their isle. A

rock, just off the Arbor. They dared oink threats at us. Redwyne, oink. Hightower, oink. Tyrell,

oink oink oink! So we sent them squealing down to hell.



The Arbor. Not since the Drowned God had blessed him with a second life had Aeron Damphair

ventured so far from the Iron Islands. This is not my place. I do not belong here. I should be with

my Drowned Men, preaching against the Crows Eye.



Have your gods been good to you in the dark? asked LeftHand Lucas Codd.



One of the warlocks snarled some answer in his ugly eastern tongue.



I curse you all, Aeron said.



Your curses have no power here, priest, said Left-Hand Lucas Codd. The Crows Eye has fed

your Drowned God well, and he has grown fat with sacrifice. Words are wind, but blood is

power. We have given thousands to the sea, and he has given us victories!



Count yourself blessed, Damphair, said Stonehand. We are going back to sea. The Redwyne

fleet creeps toward us. The winds have been against them rounding Dorne, but theyre finally

near enough to have emboldened the old women in Oldtown, so now Leyton Hightowers sons

move down the Whispering Sound in hopes of catching us in the rear.



You know what its like to be caught in the rear, dont you? said the Red Oarsman, laughing.



Take them to the ships, Torwold Browntooth commanded.



And so, Aeron Damphair returned to the salt sea. A dozen longships were drawn up at the wharf

below the castle, and twice as many beached along the strand. Familiar banners streamed from

their masts: the Greyjoy kraken, the bloody moon of Wynch, the warhorn of the Goodbrothers.

But from their sterns flew a flag the priest had never seen before: a red eye with a black pupil

beneath an iron crown supported by two crows.



Beyond them, a host of merchant ships floated on a tranquil, turquoise sea. Cogs, carracks,

fishing boats, even a great cog, a swollen sow of a ship as big as the Leviathan. Prizes of war,

the Damphair knew.



Euron Crows Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like

nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it

was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when

they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols

folded into the steel.



Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no

man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days

before the Doom, but even then, they wouldve cost a kingdom.



Euron did not lie. He has been to Valyria. No wonder he was mad.



Your Grace, said Torwold Browntooth. I have the priests. What do you want done with them?



Bind them to the prows, Euron commanded. My brother on the Silence. Take one for yourself.

Let them dice for the others, one to a ship. Let them feel the spray, the kiss of the Drowned

God, wet and salty.



This time, the mutes did not drag him below. Instead, they lashed him to the prow of the Silence

beside her figurehead, a naked maiden slim and strong with outstretched arms and windblown

hair...but no mouth below her nose.



They bound Aeron Damphair tight with strips of leather that would shrink when wet, clad only in

his beard and breechclout. The Crows Eye spoke a command; a black sail was raised, lines

were cast off, and the Silence backed away from shore to the slow beat of the oarmasters

drum, her oars rising and dipping and rising again, churning the water. Above them, the castle

was burning, flames licking from the open windows.



When they were well out to sea, Euron returned to him. Brother, he said, you look forlorn. I

have a gift for you. He beckoned, and two of his bastard sons dragged the woman forward and

bound her to the prow on the other side of the figurehead. Naked as the mouthless maiden, her

smooth belly just beginning to swell with the child she was carrying, her cheeks red with tears,

she did not struggle as the boys tightened her bonds. Her hair hung down in front of her face,

but Aeron knew her all the same.



Falia Flowers, he called. Have courage, girl! All this will be over soon, and we will feast together in the Drowned Gods watery halls.



The girl raised up her head, but made no answer. She has no tongue to answer with, Damphair knew. He licked his lips, and tasted salt.
Everyone loses their damn minds in this lol

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This is hands down one of my favorite moments from WLIIA with the female bodybuilder coming in second.

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this is one of the best moments the show ever had

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I've never seen this before. Thanks for sharing it. I forget what a good sport Richard was.

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bad idea to drink coffee right now



I love how at times the others aren't even trying







Edited at 2016-06-05 07:24 am (UTC)

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This has to be one of my favourite episodes of this show.

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given those reports about him recently. :(((

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I love him, I really hope he's ok. Lots of conflicting information about him in recent years. <3

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My gym teacher senior year made us follow along to sweatin to the oldies almost every class . bitch just used to seat on the bleachers doing word searches

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My gym teacher did the same but it was in elementary school. This was in the mid 80's when it was popular and my grandma always worked out to his videos so I was all about it at the time. In high school though I would have said fuck this shit.

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:(



He seems like a really sweet person, if he has anything dark hiding in his past I've never heard about it (ONTD loves to provide receipts though). Him possibly declining in mental health makes me sad

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I feel he's probably struggled with his sexuality. Never came out. Or ever publicly had a girlfriend, either.



Howard Stern could never get an answer out of him, either. Other than he is in love with his work, his dogs, and helping people.



And in any case, I feel he wanted to step away from the spotlight to age out of the public eye.

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i hope he gets help, his story has been pretty troubling :(

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Yikes, that doesn't sound good. It sounds from the comments that this has been going on a while? :(

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That is so sweet. I hope no one is taking advantage of him, either. He always seems to be upbeat and kind and that he goes around helping and motivating people is awesome.

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Yeah, my mom used to be a huge fan of his (grew up to sweatin' to the oldies in my house, lol) and one time she wrote him about her struggles and he personally wrote her back. I really wish I could find that letter. It was handwritten and everything.

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I never knew this. That is awesome of him. And I really hope he is ok.

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I hope he'll be fine, he seems to be in a rough spot these past few years.

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This is terrible. I really hope he'll be okay.

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Aww :(

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ppl always pick on him like david letterman used to always hose him down w fire extinguisher

i used to think he was in on it but it became clear that he wasn't ;(

hope he's doing alright

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i know they went back and forth and i always thought it was a bit

but the last time he went on the show, it really felt like he had had it and i never seen him on the show ever again

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as far as i know he's always been positive and kind to everyone, i hope everyone is treating him the same now

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Aw, wishing him well. :/

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is she gonna be cutting folks faces off with needle and slithering her tongue in the mouth holes?

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If you watch the finale from last season, Arya uses a face to kill a pedo.

No sign of any tongues used. lol

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are u asking if arya is dwight lol

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does the author of this article know the show is based on books...

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Well Arya's upcoming plot isn't in the books, and Jaqen's plot here is wholly invented for the show.

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when arya rejects the faceless men she had better fucking say "not today." if they miss that opportunity they are officially the shittiest writers on the planet.

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Do you think Walder Frey will make out alive this season? He hears them laughing. Mocking people for thinking he's dead already. Seems ominous.

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he's a goner tbh

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what is walder may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger and full of dusty sperm.

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YEEES this would be amazing. Syrio's teachings vs the Faceless Men's teachings is a parallel that's not focused on enough. In the books, she thinks about Syrio a lot but he doesn't come up in the show :(

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I'm just glad she's finally on her way to being Arya again tbh. nhf her being faceless/nameless

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grrm confirmed he will be revisting Arya & Gendry in the upcoming books. 0_0

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IT'S CANON

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my dream theory is that dany becomes the new aegon the conqueror and takes jon and aegon as her brother-husbands and since the baratheons have apparently been offed, they mutually decide to legitimise edric and gendry and give the stormlands to one of them (probably edric since he's highborn on both sides, but gendry is older, so~)

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let me stupidly ignore the age difference and get hyped for this!

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i wish they would have a romance when she is older. :(

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people wouldn't "feel a little bit scared of her and scared for her" if she reunited with gendry/her fam tho



i think she's gonna murder someone on her list and roll around in their blood tbh



or maybe take their face oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh

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I forgot they were friends

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well, duh



i know what would make me and fans in general happy - for arya to get a fucking move on because i've had enough of this faceless shit already

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I remember hearing the rumors about Arya barely being in this season, almost like Bran being absent in S5, glad they were wrong.



I don't like the repetitiveness of her storyline, but I can't wait to see her being even more badass now that she's fleed

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im not sure, tbh i just want to see more of my children aka the dragons. Dany needs to hand them to me so I can make use of them because she's stagnant and boring now.

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Well people were bitching about it being boring.

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She kind of has been on less. Her first half of the season scenes could have been pasted together for like two eps, you know? But next week's ep is entitled "No One" so that should be full of revelations.



Something is very off about Jaqen/KindlyMan.

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I wish she had officially become faceless/no-one/ninja whatever they call it.

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She has been there and separated for far too long. Thankfully things took an interesting turn last episode.

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And they filmed WOLVES. What will that mean? Wolf Dreams? Nymeria reunion? I am so excited.

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I would die if after he sliced Frey's throat, Nymeria and her pack just fucked the room up.

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i am so fucking ready for a nymeria + arya + hundreds of wolves team up



it's a nice day for a red wedding~~~

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A man ended up being a huge disappointing douche.

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When he hit her, I was like IM DONE WITH YOU.

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nhf for this jaqen hate

valar morghulis :o)

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valar dohaeris

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No way. More for me tho

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I did a true LOL

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i was so excited when they brought him back instead of introducing the kindly man

so color me disappointed when they made arya's storyline into what it is

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their

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IDK I still kind of like Jaqen. I mean, he turned her into exactly what she wanted to be, didn't he? An assassin. She was contracted out. She's a Stark, though, and Starks generally don't do shitty stuff except for Sansa who I will deal with shortly.

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But it's interesting that he said he sought her out and their meeting wasn't random.



Why? And remember last he mentioned she had many gifts? What gifts besides the things HE had to teach her?



Jaqen is a FM. WTF is he doing getting captured? Unless it was on purpose. In the books, his character was in the black cells the same time Ned Stark was waiting for his execution. Perhaps that was another coincidence?



Then when he leaves Arya in Season 3 and gives her that coin... he is heading to Old Town looking for a book on Dragons.





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jaquen is purpoted to be in those cells for a reason

[ Spoiler (click to open) ]

and then he becomes pate in oldtown. so many people think he is there to steal the scrolls or glass candles or something from the citadel

this is a popular theory, esp on the westeros.org forumsjaquen is purpoted to be in those cells for a reason

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A man seems dedicated to his waifu tbh.





Also I love how she knows Arya so well.



Edited at 2016-06-05 01:22 am (UTC)

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This youtuber explains it well:



Plus, the Waif pulls a stank face when Arya mentions Walder Frey. Remember the time Arya and her played the Game of Faces? The Waif told that lie about being the daughter of a Lord and him re-marrying...etc. Perhaps she is a Frey daughter or even a Bolton daughter? Could explain why she hates Lady Stark. You know the fight montage when Arya got her eyes back. Look at the part where she names her siblings + the Hound. The Waif hits Arya in the places where said name was killed.This youtuber explains it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb4fxqscECU Plus, the Waif pulls a stank face when Arya mentions Walder Frey. Remember the time Arya and her played the Game of Faces? The Waif told that lie about being the daughter of a Lord and him re-marrying...etc. Perhaps she is a Frey daughter or even a Bolton daughter? Could explain why she hates Lady Stark.

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PLEASE LET IT HAPPEN P L E A S E

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She kinda looks like a Frey tbh.

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I'm excited for the new Syrio Forel aesthetic version of Arya <3

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It's a Ned Stark thing.

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Yessssssss mte.

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I mean that's awesome for her but the criticism of sex and violence are still valid.

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"When asked about the criticisms of sex and violence on the show she suggests that if people are too prudish to watch then they should avoid it."

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lol mte

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LOL

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omg lol

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God I love this movie.



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lmao

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mte

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When asked about the criticisms of sex and violence on the show she suggests that if people are too prudish to watch then they should avoid it.



nothing to do with being a prude, it's just that the excessive sexual violence is unnecessary, and don't give me the "that's how it was at the times" idgaf. i hate sexual violence always being used as plot devices.





i mean i'm happy that the show helped her life. but that comment is nagl.



Edited at 2016-06-05 05:51 am (UTC)

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I wish more writers would realize this. It shows you're a hack if you have to stoop to this. I remember seeing a clip of Queen Latifah without her makeup and fully naked in the movie where she played Bess. It reminded me of when Viola Davis took off her makeup in HTAWM but did it without getting psychically naked and it worked.

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"that's how it was at the times"



doesn't even work. it's a fucking fantasy series. if he can create a world with dragons, he can create a world without rampant sexual abuse of women.

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DING DING DING. This is what I always say!!!!

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don't give me the "that's how it was at the times" idgaf.



a guy tried to give me that excuse recently. which proved exactly why i dislike talking about got, esp with dudes. next time im going to have to explain to him because that's such a shitty excuse.

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When asked about the criticisms of sex and violence on the show she suggests that if people are too prudish to watch then they should avoid it.



Oh, boy. I mean, if her life is better now then that's great, but surely a person involved in real-life sex work should understand why people are upset about how irresponsibly this show uses rape and sexualized violence and objectifying female nudity...? People always wanna turn it into a simplistic argument about censorship or general prudishness and a dislike of any sex and/or violence on TV, but really it's all about context and how it's used in the story. Sheesh.

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I think there's a bitter irony at the showrunners baiting sex workers to be on the show and acting as though having them merely PRETEND to be sex workers/get naked for the camera is saving them somehow. It's creeping me out. She's still a commodity to them.

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THIS. Who do the show runners think they're fooling?



Wait, don't answer that. The answer depresses me.

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nah. someone who has been sexually abused since the age of 12, and then was later "saved" by being futher sexually abused could easily have a warped perspective on this stuff. think about the life GoT "saved" her from and the life she had as a child. compare them both to her life now where she can support herself in a way that is critically acclaimed and respected by the majority. she's still being exploited but it's such a huge step up i completely understand why she doesn't see that and why she doesn't understand the criticisms.

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well I'm glad she was able to turn her life around thanks to the show



it's nice that GoT doesn't consider itself too high-brow to hire adult actresses when they want their naked extras, I guess

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I wonder if anyone has quoted her sex and violence quote instead of focusing on how terrible her ipringings were and how being introduced to cocsine at 12 are sad points.



But nah lets drag her!!!

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I don't think anyone was particularly harsh in pointing out that what she said irt to the sexual violence on the show was nagl.

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I've yet to see any "dragging" in this post.

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Saying something negative is dragging

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No one is dragging her.



Your assumptions on how you think other people feel is really what you really feel deep down inside.

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Right??? I like how everyone is just ignoring that to discredit her opinion

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this was sad to read, but if she's happy now, then good for her.

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All of this makes me very uncomfortable. The fact that she said a lot of the prostitute extras on GoT have similar backgrounds is concerning to me.

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I agree. Clearly they were "fishing" for women who were "easier" to be exploited on camera. It's really unsettling honestly, especially when one considers the context: Game of Throne routinely sexualizes rape and sexual violence.

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Ikr

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mte it makes it sound like whoever casted them "went to them" and then asked if they wanted to be in the show...

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yep. that's vile

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I would assume this is a safer job?

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at least they're in a safer environment making better money now..

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to me that isn't worrying, it's just logic. just because women who have done sex work are less likely to have hang ups about nudity. They would have quickly found out the audition was for a big network and felt at ease. I don't see this similarly at all to sex work, just a different job, a less stressful job. And I have done sex work.

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I think it's great that she leveraged the show to change her life for the better, the only thing I worry about is the inevitable D&D interview that uses this story and this woman as proof that they aren't garbage humans who exploit rape and women in virtually every episode and at every opportunity.



Something along the lines of:



"When we get asked if there's too much sex and violence in our show and see articles like that, well I just think of how our show gave an opportunity to a woman who played a prostitute on the show. It's all because of us that her life is changed, so the fact that we do have sex on our show and demand 90% of women on the show flash some boob at the very least, it's all thanks to us for casting her but most importantly, getting her naked on TV that gave her a chance a better life. We are humanitarians."

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If that's how they think, they have no understanding of privilege and power.



Which they obviously don't so...

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Hearing some of the things they say out loud publicly in front of other people and how non chalant they are is actually bizarre to watch. Their arrogance and lack of self awareness is astounding in some interviews as is their tone deaf attitude and unwillingness to receive constructive criticism.

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it's sad but I have no problems imagining they'd say this :/

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Wow. Some things you should just keep to yourself.

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You mean people who are prostitutes should feel ashamed?

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No. It's in her past; no one would have known if she didn't do the interview. It's no one's business but hers.

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i really don't see why she shouldn't be able to talk about her experience.

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omg i thought this was an fka post



anyway everything i've heard about this show super turns me off of it because it seems like the show really caters to bros

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i literally read the post twice and then i scrolled up and saw the username and i was like "what"

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It does. Nothing but violence against women, unacessary nudity (just women) and dick jokes

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I was considering volunteering with youth who were coming out of the foster system, but I changed my mind last minute. I'm not ready for that yet. So many of them go through terrible abuse.

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My mom is an art therapist and she had to switch jobs working within the foster system to working with the geriatric population because it just got to be too much for her.

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To do that kind of job you yourself need to be in supervisional therapy. I worked a similar job and we had mandatory group therapy but everyone needed much more. When you're working with large families where every single little girl has been repeatedly raped by a family member, and they're the one who gets rejected, gets blamed, or gets put in foster care, while the rapist/abuser just carries on with their daily life unaffected, it's basically impossible not to fall to pieces. It's utterly soul-crushing. If there's no therapy, the average person burns out and quits within 3 months.

A guy I worked with had 3 MA's, was a qualified psychotherapist and had a million other qualifications and trainings under his belt. He worked with pedophiles in prison, doing aversion therapy with them and even he couldn't do it for very long before needing a long break. The US system isn't set up in any way shape or form to do anything other than punish victims and that's what will shatter you, because despite all your hard work, good intentions etc the victims still end up completely fucked over.

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jesus :(

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yeah they hardly ever believe the kids, it's horrifying. My friend was in this position once, her father used to abuse her, she'd bring alcohol to school to get drunk and forget about her problems :/



the school didn't believe it about her dad, and instead she had to go to therapy sessions and they suspended her from school, to be at home. Where her father is. wtf...

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Yeah and they used coded language like "streetwise" to justify ignoring the abused children.

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yep. that mentality is so widespread, it's depressing.

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I have no idea what the comics are about but Joe Gilgun and Ruth Negga make the show

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this truth.



Kinda feel bad Dominic is getting left outta this praise ^^;;, rooting for her him!!

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I think Dominic is pretty good at Jesse, but I must admit, my love for Ruth and Joe is far superior thanks to Misfits!

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Is that Joe Gilgun I spy? And Ruth Negga is in this? gdi I may have to watch.

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Yes! They're both amazing in this so far.

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I'll have to give it a shot! Using my parents' Xfinity login yassss

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I'm so looking forward to Dominic's Q&A at Comicpalooza this month Istg.

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Awesome! Hope you do a con-report for it =)

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I hadn't thought about it but I just might do that if no one (better qualified) does. Idk if I'll be able to afford his autograph or not but I'll definitely be in the first few rows of his Q&A.

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what is this show about

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Here's a trailer :







Fulfilling a promise to his deceased father, one-time outlaw Jesse Custer returns home to West Texas to take over his dad's church. Jesse's mission, however, becomes twisted when his body is overcome by a cryptic force that unleashes within him a highly unconventional power. Together with hell-raising ex-girlfriend Tulip and Irish vagabond Cassidy, the preacher-in-training embarks on a journey to find God in a world inhabited by holy, hellish, and everything-in-between characters



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This looks amazing!

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i mean, who the fuck knows, but its entertaining

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dom only looks good with long hair and beard. he is absolutely delicious in the upcoming warcraft release.e yum.

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ahhhhhh i had no idea joe gilgun was in this as well!

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I need a new Sunday drama to watch so I may have to get into this.

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I'm so ready for tonight's episode.

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There is a legal way I can stream this show? lmao, like with Better Call Saul and Netflix? I want to watch it but I don't want to pirate it and I'm in Colombia so, no AMC ): ):

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It's on Amazon Prime in the uk, uploading one ep per week, so if you have that in Colombia try it

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I might wait and see if i can find any subtitles by tomorrow because I found Joe Gilgun's character kind of hard to understand. :x But I really enjoyed the pilot.

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I've watched the episode twice and I still only get about half of his dialogue

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me too! loved him in it but his accent was not great

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i could not get into this, i didnt know it was based on a comic but i thought there was too much going on (its just a show i wanted to watch b4 bed, i usually watch Motive or Law and Order SVU on demand)



i rly wanted to like it cuz the trailers looked cool

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JOE OMG!!!!!!!!!!

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After AoS's misuse of Ruth, I'm thankful for the blessing of having her and Joe on TV as well 

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i love joe but his irish accent was so bad. i could barely understand what he was saying

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I love Joe Gilgun but i need subtitles to understand him lmao



Love the three leads so i will stick around for this show

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Seeing your beautiful icon made me look up what he's been up to and I just checked out that Marcella trailer and I'm totally intrigued by it!



I'd love it if Harry crossed over here as well on TV sometime.

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If only!

I wish he booked a cable show in america.

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The Niger Delta Avengers have threatened to take Nigerias oil production down to zero.

In another wave of assaults on Nigerias oil infrastructure, the militant group in the Niger Delta has claimed that it has successfully pulled off three more attacks in the early morning hours of June 3. They blew up a pipeline operated by the Italian oil giant Eni and also set off explosions on a pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development company of Nigeria. The group took to Twitter to boast of their success.

The attacks struck pipelines that were already under force majeure, so the extent to which they disrupted more oil supplies is unclear. Related: Dollar Weakness Fails To Stimulate Oil Prices

The attacks on Eni and Shell came just a few days after the Niger Delta Avengers successfully blew up two of Chevrons oil wells. A week earlier the group damaged electricity infrastructure that fed power to some of Chevrons facilities, forcing the oil company to shut down production.

The Niger Delta Avengers have promised to disrupt the countrys entire oil production.

On June 2, Nigerias oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said that Nigeria managed to restore some of the countrys disrupted oil production, bringing output from 1.4 million barrels per day in May up to 1.6 mb/d as of early June. That may be an optimistic assessment  local news reports say that the countrys output is down to just 1.1 mb/d, cutting production in half from a 2015 highpoint of 2.2 mb/d. Nigerias oil production is now at its lowest level in more than two decades, turning Angola into the number one producer in Africa at 1.8 mb/d.

The Niger Delta Avengers are demanding that all international oil companies leave the region. They see the Nigerian government as illegitimate and want full sovereignty and control of oil resources in the Niger Delta. The Avengers are somewhat of a successor to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group that routinely attacked oil infrastructure in the 2000s. That era of violence came to an end when the Nigerian government offered amnesty and an infusion of cash to former militants.

The new government of President Muhammudu Buhari has vowed to fight the Niger Delta Avengers, so there appears to be no room for peace or compromise at the moment. The bad news for the Nigerian government is that the collapse of oil prices has sparked an economic crisis, leaving it short of the financial resources it needs not only to jump start the economy, but also to fight off the Avengers. The government would also struggle to scrape together the cash that it would need if it wanted to buy off the militants like it did nearly a decade ago. If the violence persists, Nigeria could struggle to bring its oil production back online for quite some time. Related: Against All Odds, Russia Plans to Boost Oil Production by 185,000 Bpd

Moreover, the sharp uptick in violence could scare away a lot of oil companies from the Niger Delta, a stated goal of the Avengers. "I think we have to look at what happened in the past and say, well, could they potentially shut in production? ... No company is going to keep their operations going when people show up with AK-47s," Helima Croft, the head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told Business Insider in an interview in May. "You just wait it out. You don't run a risk to your personnel or operations." The oil companies will try to wait it out for a while, but if the attacks persist, the Avengers could force some international companies to pull the plug entirely.

Nigeria, for now, is responsible for the loss of nearly 1 mb/d of oil production, although the government claims a smaller volume of oil has been disrupted. The IEA in May said that the global glut for crude oil was only going to be about 1.3 mb/d for the first half of 2016. The Niger Delta Avengers have single-handedly done quite a bit to erase most of that supply overhang. And the groups threat to take Nigerias oil production down to zero does not bode well, especially since it has demonstrated a ruthless efficiency at carrying out all of its threats to date.

Combined with other outages from around the world, the Niger Delta Avengers could be responsible for pushing oil markets to some sort of supply/demand balance much quicker than many expected.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
No one should be surprised at the outcome of the latest OPEC meeting, which was only hastily scheduled after the disastrous non-event that occurred in April. Still, no matter how many times that OPEC and non-OPEC oil ministers fail to reach any accord on production guidelines, there still exists a hope entering these short meetings and therefore a premium in oil's price that disappears after the inevitable failure occurs.

Every one of these failures and subsequent price drops have proven to be better and better opportunities to selectively buy oil stocks at a relative discount. And that is what I believe is happening again.

I've been completely convinced of the trajectory of oil's price after the bottoming of prices in February, and far less worried about a backtracking of prices that seems to plague nearly every other analyst I read. Most of them are increasingly cautious about the current rise in oil's price, now up more than 85 percent from those February lows. They point to temporary outages from Nigeria and Venezuela as well as the Canadian fires and rollover of production in Iraq and believe that the 'lofty' $50 price we've reached will be a temporary one, with a 'back and fill' movement in oil for the rest of the year. Most of these analysts even have targets for the end of 2017 not much higher than the prices we're seeing now, while in contrast I believe we'll see oil reach above triple digits by the end of next year. Related: Iran Eyes $185 Billion In Foreign Investment With New Contracts

And that is why I continue to see every even marginal drop in oil's price, from whatever source or for whatever reason, as a continuing opportunity to add to portfolios in quality oil E+P's and select oil services companies.

Like the drop being caused by this failed OPEC meeting.

The disaster of the previous OPEC meeting in April foretold this meeting's lack of an accord, as Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi was forced to resign after his plan to combine production quotas from Iran and Russia fell apart at the last minute. The Russians did not even attend this time.

The new Saudi oil minister, Khalid Al-Falih, is a younger but less experienced man, unlikely to be able to forge a deal where the older Al-Naimi was not. Further, the rising price of oil since that meeting in April delivered even less urgency to OPEC members to make a deal.

This meeting might have broken a record for brevity  with members leaving Vienna barely faster than it took to refuel their planes. Related: Why $50 Oil Makes Sense

Each time that OPEC meetings on production limits have failed, oil has reacted negatively  but the reaction has become less and less: At the first OPEC disaster on Thanksgiving of 2014, oil dropped more than 6 dollars, on its way to a complete rout. This time, oil barely dropped 50 cents, and I do not see the total reaction to be much more than a dollar or two.

Still, there is an opportunity in this: Oil stocks that have been on fire have taken a break with the lack of a production cut, as obvious as that result might have been. Some stocks are worthy of buying here.

EOG Resources has recently again tested $80 a share. I wouldn't hesitate to add to that position under $78. Anadarko under $50 would again represent value as would Continental Resources under $40. Every time Schlumberger again touches $72, it seems to be a great buy.

I'm saying you should use this latest OPEC failure to your advantage by adding still cheap, select energy stocks.

By Dan Dicker for Oilprice Premium

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Traditional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran, continue to fight to prove their supremacy in OPEC. Neither gives up an opportunity to hurt the other, whenever and wherever they can, and oil seems to be their favourite playground.

With Saudi Arabia scuttling any chances of a production freeze in Doha in April, Iran has followed suit by thwarting attempts by Saudi Arabia to introduce a production ceiling on OPEC production in Thursdays meeting held in Vienna.

Iran, which is close to its pre-sanction levels of production, had earlier agreed to discuss being part of any production freeze after it reached its desired output. However, in yesterdays meeting, Iran refused to adhere to any production ceiling, which led to OPEC abandoning the idea.

Iran has been a dark horse since the lifting of sanctions, increasing its market share quickly to the surprise of many investors.

Iran has resorted to offering large discounts to its Asian customers, undercutting the Saudi and Iraqi prices to levels not seen since 2007-2008 in order to regain their market share, reports Reuters.

Iran shipped 2.3 million b/d in April 2016, the highest level since 2012. These figures are 15 percent higher than the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast. Iran has been successful in its strategy until now, but increasing its market share further might prove difficult.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is attempting to cement its market share in the wake of this increased production from Iran and Iraq. Though Saudi Arabia is attempting to transition away from being an oil-dependent economy, its transformation depends on the successful listing of Saudi Aramco. Related: Clinton Campaign Pledges to Raise Fed Royalties for Oil Companies

As part of its preparation for the listing, Aramco is gaining market share and improving its efficiency, according to its chief executive, Amin Nasser.

"We are preserving our market share, which continues to increase year-on-year," he said in the interview. "This year, as last year, it is increasing. Our market share is picking up," he added, without giving figures, reports Reuters.

Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told Reuters that the Saudis looked set to increase production after speaking with executives and a member of the Saudi ruling family.

The struggle for supremacy between the two nations doesnt show any signs of abating, and there is no clear winner in this showdown.

Though Saudi Arabia has large reserves, it is burning them at a fast rate. On the other hand, experts believe that the Iranian economy is better equipped to withstand lower oil prices because its economy is more diversified and has an educated and hardworking population. Related: 4 Ways Latin America Can Achieve Energy Success



Emad Mostaque, a strategist with the London-based research consultancy Ecstrat, echoed a similar view. He said that Iran is better equipped to cope with the long-term upheaval because it is less dependent on oil than Saudi Arabia, having raised more through general taxation than through oil duties last year, reports Fortune.

The fight between the two for supremacy in the Middle East region is unlikely to end anytime soon. Currently, supply outages to the tune of 3.5 million b/d are supporting the oil prices by creating a balance between demand and supply.

Once Nigeria, Libya, and Canada resume pumping at their normal levels, the effects of the struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia will be felt. If both increase production, the world will be awash with oil, pulling prices back to the mid $30/barrel levels.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

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Many people know that Hmong Americans came to this country as refugees from Laos. But Mai Zong Vue, intercultural program coordinator at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, is worried this may be all they know. In media and public perception, Vue thinks Hmong Americans are stuck in the stories of their past.

To be sure, this past is important and complex. Hmong Americans have a complicated relationship with the United States government. The CIA enlisted Hmong men in Laos to fight in their "Secret War," an attempt to use local fighters to crush North Vietnamese supply routes that ran through Laos, a technically neutral country.

After decades of war, the communist takeover in 1975 led to a refugee diaspora across the world, from France to Australia to the U.S. Over 100,000 Hmong came to the U.S. as political refugees, and today the largest populations are in Minnesota, California and Wisconsin. Wisconsin alone has almost 50,000 Hmong, making up about 38 percent of the total Asian population in the state.

Vue wants people to understand that a lot has happened since then.

"This is the new chapter to the Hmong communitys life where we call Wisconsin home," said Vue.

An important player in this new chapter is what Vue calls the "1.5 generation." This is the generation of those born in Laos or Thai refugee camps and transported to America in their childhood. They represent the link between their parents, who lived through the war and are fluent in Hmong, and their children, who were born in America and are fluent in English.

Vue sees this generation as unique, as its members are the gatekeepers that pave the way for future generations of Hmong Americans to follow. They successfully made the transition to homeowners, taxpayers and active citizens, Vue said.

"They are leaders in their own field, and they are the community brokers and advocates that are trying to bridge the Hmong communities they live in with the mainstream," said Vue.

To showcase some of their impressive accomplishments, we are presenting 12 profiles of Wisconsin Hmong professionals in the "1.5 generation."

These profiles are not representative of the whole community, as there are Hmong professionals in many other fields than those listed here, including business, human services and politics. While not totally representative, these profiles do share common themes.

The parents of these individuals placed a high value on schooling, and often worked multiple jobs to ensure their children could get the best education available. An acute realization of their parents sacrifices fueled a drive to achieve. Now, they look to help the next generation, acting as mentors and role models.

"They are the fabric of the Hmong community," Vue said.

Here are some of their stories.

Nengher Vang: Learn from the past

Assistant Professor at UW-Whitewater, department of history

Nengher Vang firmly believes this country was founded on great principles like freedom and equality. But over the years, America has deviated from these ideas  whether through slavery, imperialism, immigration policies or its response to international events like genocide and refugee crises.

Vang lived through one of these less-than-proud moments of American history  Americas military intervention in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 1960s. So when Vang teaches American foreign relations at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he tries to encourage his students to prevent history from repeating itself.

Although Hmong people had worked as pilots, monitored radars and directed airstrikes for the U.S. in its war against Communism in Laos for more than a decade, when the war was over, the US did not want to accept the Hmong as refugees. The Hmong, who were largely illiterate, were considered "too primitive," Vang said. Left with few options, many Hmong made the long journey to refugee camps in Thailand.

Vangs family spent four years on the move: hiding in the jungle, sometimes surrendering and being placed in Communist detention centers, fleeing again and finally arriving at Ban Vinai, one of Thailands largest refugee camps. Vang spent seven years of his childhood there and nine more months in a refugee processing center before immigrating to America in September 1988.

"Theres not a fence or walls in Ban Vinai, but theres an imaginary border that you cannot go beyond," Vang said. If a Thai security guard found refugees outside this border, they would be subject to penalties like beating, imprisonment or fines.

While Vang and thousands of others were eventually granted refugee status and re-settled in the United States, he doesnt believe American international policy has significantly improved since then.

Just a few years ago, Vang was reading about Afghan interpreters who had worked for the US during the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Just as the US had abandoned the Hmong after the communists came to power, the US was denying many Afghan interpreters requests for refuge in the US after the Taliban began targeting them.

"I thought, Oh my God, this is happening again, and Im pretty sure its going to continue in Iraq, in Syria and in other places where we intervene and get people to serve for us. In the end, when theyre targeted by the enemies, were saying, No, were not going to provide refuge or a safe haven for you," Vang said.

This empathy for oppressed groups of all kinds developed throughout his education. In college, he found himself isolated among a predominately white, upper- and middle-class, well-educated student population. He made some friends with international students from Africa and South Korea, but found real connection when he was introduced to the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As someone who had lived as a minority his whole life  in America and in Laos  and as a refugee with limited rights in Thailand, Vang could strongly identify with Kings plea for equality and his struggle to create a "beloved community."

This connection with King, along with the social problems he saw in Hmong communities across America in the early 1990s, were what inspired him to major in sociology. He followed his bachelors with a Masters in theology, a Masters in peace studies and a PhD in history. All of these degrees were motivated in part by his desire to promote equality, freedom and "democratic visions not just for the Hmong community, but for all communities."

But Vang believes that to attain this vision, everyone, especially his students, need to think critically about American foreign policy. This criticism doesnt come from place of bitterness.

"I very much love America," Vang said. "It is out of a sense of love and perhaps also a sense of duty as a citizen of America that we need to be critical in the ways in which our country is engaging with the rest of the world. We need to make sure that America continues to be a beacon of hope for freedom and democracy for oppressed people."

Maysee Yang Herr: Helping Hmong stay in touch with their linguistic roots

Associate Professor at UW-Stevens Point, school of education

As soon as Maysee Yang Herrs family moved to the United States, her father made it clear that education was a priority. With no English skills, he set out to attain a high school degree, a rare feat for a Hmong man of his generation. This set a high bar for Herr and her siblings.

"My father said, I didnt bring you here for nothing. I came here, and Im working hard because I want more for you children. I came not knowing any English, and I finished a high school degree. I expect that at the very least that you all will receive a bachelors degree," Herr said.

Herr got a bachelors degree  and a few more degrees to boot. She now has a masters degree in educational psychology and a PhD in curriculum studies. Now, she helps give out degrees as an associate professor of education at UW-Stevens Point.

Herr doesnt confine her teaching skills to college students; she also wants to give the younger generation of Hmong American children an opportunity to learn about their culture.

Herr knows firsthand the difficulties of staying in touch with her Hmong heritage. Because she was born in a Thai refugee camp and came to the US when she was just three months old, she learned English easily and Hmong with more effort. She distinctly remembers a moment when she was trying to explain the concept of an earthquake to an aunt, who had recently immigrated from Laos.

"I tried to explain it to her with my English-thinking mind, and I tried to translate the English into Hmong and that wasnt working  so of course my mom has to say, Hmong American children these days; they dont know Hmong words!" Herr said. "To this day, I remember that word because of that moment. It was a sad moment for me to realize that I didnt know as much Hmong as I should."

That realization was part of what led her to start summer Hmong language and culture camps in her hometown of Wausau. She wasnt the only one looking for a way to connect with her culture. Hmong parents had expressed the wish for some sort of Hmong school, as their children were more comfortable speaking English than Hmong. Non-Hmong parents approached her as well, saying they wanted their children to be able to socially engage in an increasingly diverse world.

When Herr considers her future, the one thing she knows is that teaching will always be a part of her career. Shes realized that teaching is deep in her blood; Herrs father and brother are also teaching in various fields.

"I cant escape it, so I embrace it," she said.

Paul Ly Tong Pao: Education is an investment

Student Service Specialist for the PEOPLE program at East High School, Madison

When you move to a new country, some changes are big and traumatic, and some are small and off-putting.

When the communists took over Laos in 1975, Paul Ly Tong Paos family ties to the old regime meant a quick flight was in order. His grandfather had worked for the French administration and the King of Laos, and his grandfathers brother was a general in the Royal Army for the CIA. Clearly unwelcome in the new regime, his family escaped to France.

Only five at the time, Pao was enrolled in kindergarten and learned French naturally and fluently. Other changes were not so natural, especially for his parents, who didnt speak French. The culture was different. The lifestyle was different. The breakfasts were different. Suddenly, instead of waking up to steamed rice every morning, bread and pastries had staged a coup detat.

But these and other hardships brought about something valuable  personal experience  that Pao feels obligated to share with the next generation. A love of helping people and teaching them to be self-sufficient have guided his career.

When Pao was working full-time as a program coordinator at a community center, members of the Hmong community kept asking him to translate for them at the hospital. He did this so often that the hospital staff noticed. Finally, a Meriter Hospital interpreter called and told him: "If you want to be paid, you know we can hire you."

Pao is happy to interpret, but he believes one of the most powerful ways to help people is to enable them to get an education. He currently works as a student services specialist for the PEOPLE program in Madison, which aims to prepare low-income students and students of color for college. Pao oversees the East High School site, which means he acts as supervisor, guidance counselor and occasional tutor to the 90 participants in the program.

In this job, he preaches the gospel of education. Education is what prevents the stress of having to hold multiple, low-paying jobs like the ones the Hmong elders were forced to take, he says. Programs like PEOPLE make college attainable by offering scholarships, without which he knows many of these students would be forced to take out loans, postpone their education or give up their dream of college altogether. But in America, he said, education is an investment.

"They pay you for your knowledge. They invest into you with scholarships that come from taxpayers," he says. "Hopefully, you get a good job, and then we get more taxes for Uncle Sam."

While Pao is passionate about his message on the importance of education, he makes sure to emphasize that UW-Madison is not the be-all, end-all of success. Technical schools, four-year schools, it doesnt matter, said Pao. If you have the discipline to get the education, you will be better equipped to face whatever life throws at you.

Mayhoua Moua: Mediating between cultures

Executive Director of Southeast Asian Education Development, Inc.

Mayhoua Moua has vivid memories of her journey from Laos to Thailand to America.

She described fleeing from Laos for the book They Came to Wisconsin: "Before dawn my mother woke us. All the women and children were put in taxis  and the elders, too. We were so afraid. The children cried. We pushed the car to be silent. Pushed until daylight."

She believes the memories of that experience help her to better identify with the struggles and needs of her community. For her whole career, she has used that knowledge to act as a mediator between that community and mainstream culture.

Moua started her career in the nonprofit realm, working with Laos Family Community, Inc. She helped Hmong American families find housing and employment and taught them how to navigate the welfare system. Later, she started her own consulting business, where she again acted as a middleman, this time between Hmong populations and business and organizations. She provided interpretation services for Hmong populations and Hmong cultural competency training for businesses, school, hospitals, clinics and even political candidates.

One of the most frequent messages of these trainings was one of humility: Dont assume that because you have this training, you will have all the answers. The Hmong American community has many complexities, so ask questions, Moua said. One example she cites is differing medical care depending on whether a family subscribes to traditional Shamanism and Christianity.

"Like many other cultures, there are many layers of culture within the culture," Moua said.

Now, Moua is the executive director of the Southeast Asian Education Development, Inc., and shes still acting as a mediator, this time between the Hmong and medical communities.

Hmong populations have suffered high mortality rates of breast and cervical cancers, as a general lack of awareness of these diseases meant many Hmong women were not treated until the later stages of cancer, Moua said. The project aims to raise awareness and encourage early screenings.

Moua knows there are other groups in need of a mediator, and is looking to expand services to other Southeast Asian populations like Cambodians, Laotians and the Vietnamese. Southeast Asian Education Development, Inc., recently expanded their cancer education program to serve Burmese refugees.

"We went through it. Why not help them so they dont have to go through the whole trouble of having to learn everything on their own?" Moua says.


CPAC

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Ryan: Donald, thank you for talking with me about the policies and principles of conservatism that I formulated on behalf of the Republican Party. But, prior to starting our conversation, lets fall on our knees and thank the Lord that the Democratic Party is rigging their nomination process to select Hillary Clinton as their nominee. "Lord, we are thankful that the Democratic Party will be nominating Hillary and not Bernie and thus snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Amen."

Ryan: Now, Donald, I know you are exhilarated that you convinced the Republican Base that you are an outsider, but you have to be aware that the Republican Base is composed of lower-educated, lower-income and often lower-IQ people, and these people are not quite aware of the conservative principles good for the Republican Party itself. Furthermore, Donald, as I recite these conservative policies and principles, I am sure you will agree that it is in your best interest to always conform to them, even if not to the advantage of the Base that voted for you.

Trump: What are these conservative policies and principles? I have been doing quite well using just smash-mouth politics, and I will need to be convinced you have something better.

Ryan: OK, here goes. Donald, you have to realize that the Number 1 principle of Conservatism is to make sure everything you do results in the transference of wealth from the 92% to the 8%. You cannot tell your lower-educated, lower-income and often lower-IQ Base of this fact, but it is imperative that you follow this principle. Always.

Trump: Geez, that is a shock. But, thinking about it, I do the same, but my actions, I call them "deal making", have been for only on my personal account, not for the benefit of a political party. So, we will have to see how this works out. But, thinking about it, I know my Base won't care, for they are used to getting screwed. What other conservative policies and principles should I be aware of?

Ryan: The No. 2 principle is that you have to constantly sell fear, and that is closely allied to our No. 3 principle which is to promote war and, whenever possible, engage in war. As a former Democrat, you may not be aware that this is a core Republican principle. The Republican Party depends upon contributions from the military arms industry, and we would like this to continue. Also, all of the neocon think tanks and publications depend upon contributions from military arms suppliers, and neocons are an esteemed adjunct of the Republican Party. Yes, military arms suppliers contribute to Democrats, but we get an overwhelming portion of this source of almost-free taxpayer money.

Trump: What else do I need to be cognizant of?

Ryan: OK. Principle No. 4 is that you must agree to continue Republican Party fights against minorities, unions and women's rights. The latter has to do with placating our social conservative base, and this is very important.

Trump: Come on, Paul. You know I have been right at the top in disrespecting minorities and women and my past businesses have done their share in taking away rights and benefits from union members. I think I qualify as a bona fide Republican in this respect. What else?

Ryan: Just make sure when you talk about revising the tax code and eliminating or cutting back entitlements, you ensure such plans, when the dust settles, carry out our core mission, which is to transfer wealth from the 92% to the 8%.

Trump: Got it. Now can I have your endorsement?
Reprinted from Consortium News

The Obama administration is hoping that it can yet salvage Hillary Clinton's signature project as Secretary of State, the "regime change" in Libya, via a strategy of funneling Libya's fractious politicians and militias -- referred to by one U.S. official as chaotic water "droplets" -- into a U.S.-constructed "channel" built out of rewards and punishments.

However, so far, the "unity government" -- selected by U.S. and United Nations officials -- has floundered as the leaders of two rival governments bristle at demands for their compliance and show little interest in being good little water "droplets" flowing through the Obama administration's "channel."

In recent days, competing militias, supporting elements of the three governments, have converged on Sirte, where the Islamic State jihadists have established a foothold, but the schisms among the various Libyan factions have prevented anything approaching a coordinated attack. Indeed, resistance to the U.S.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) appears to be growing amid doubts about the political competence of the hand-picked prime minister, Fayez Sirraj.

Jonathan Winer, the State Department's special envoy on Libya, voiced some of the U.S. government's frustrations during a May 20 panel discussion at the Middle East Institute in Washington as he explained the U.S. strategy for reunifying Libya under the GNA.

"It's a bit like water hydraulics," Winer said. "You can't predict where an individual particle is going to go when water is flowing through something turbulent, that's the core of chaos theory, right? But if you dig a trench, you know most of the water's going to go down that trench, and if you turn it into a channel, more of the water's going in. And then after you dig the channel, you then coat the channel and put in filters and a variety of things to then get that water looking good and useful for more purposes.

"So what we're doing with the Government of National Accord is we're trying to create a channel, for national unity and reconciliation, and for building the institutions Libya needs, for building enough stability so the economy can come back, so they can pump oil, which Libya needs for Libyans, distribute the wealth fairly, equitably, in a way that brings people in, and take advantage of Libya's natural resources to rebuild the country. "

"Libyans overall can be quite fractious, so carving that channel in a way that's good, that they're going to say is good, is what we're trying to do, even if we can't predict where individual droplets are going to go, even if it's going to take time, which it is and it will."

Thus far, however, many Libyan political figures have been unwilling to jump into the "channel," which has led the Obama administration to both impose and threaten punishments against these rogue water "droplets," such as financial sanctions and even criminal charges.

"We've sanctioned [Aguila Saleh] the speaker of the parliament of the government in Libya we had recognized prior to the GNA after he undertook a series of activities to prevent people [in the parliament] from voting, which included substantial threats of violence and intimidation when a majority was ready to support the Government of National Accord," Winer said. "We sanctioned him."

The European Union also imposed sanctions on Saleh, whose government is known as the House of Representatives (HOR), based in Tobruk, as well as on Nouri Abusahmain and Khalifa al-Ghwell, the president and prime minister, respectively, of another rival government in Tripoli.

That government denied Sirraj and other GNA officials the right to land at the Tripoli airport in March, forcing the U.S./U.N.-backed "unity government" to arrive by sea and set up shop at a heavily defended naval base. The GNA threatened to deliver its rivals' names to Interpol and to the U.N. for "supporting terrorism."

Support from a Jihadist

Ironically, even as U.S. officials confront defiance from the rival Libyan leaders in Tripoli and Tobruk, they have won cooperation from Abdelhakim Belhadj, who was the leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a jihadist militia whose members were once driven out of Libya by Col Muammar Gaddafi and developed close ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

After the 9/11 attacks and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Belhadj was tracked by the CIA and captured in Malaysia in 2004 before being renditioned back to Libya, where he was imprisoned until 2010. In 2011, after Secretary of State Clinton convinced President Obama to join an air war against the Gaddafi regime on "humanitarian" grounds, Belhadj pulled together a jihadist force that helped spearhead the decisive attack on Tripoli.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

A state of disaster has been declared in 31 flooded Texas counties as rivers in the region are cresting at historic highs.

Six people have died, up to four more people are missing and hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Houston as the Brazos River reached over 54 feet in Fort Bend County.

On the East Coast, the National Hurricane Center declared that Tropical Depression Bonnie, which caused significant flash flooding in the US Southeast over Memorial Day weekend, has "revived" off the coast of North Carolina.

It's not just remarkable that Bonnie "revived" itself as a Tropical Depression -- it's remarkable that 2016 is the second year in a row that the Atlantic hurricane season has begun before June 1.



Over in Europe meanwhile, the French government issued an orange alert in response to days of torrential rains that brought the Seine's water level to over five meters.

As a result, the Louvre announced earlier today that it was not admitting any more visitors to the museum and that the museum will be closed to the public on Friday so that staff can prepare for the worst.

Nine people in total have died across northern Europe as a result of the storms and subsequent flooding: Streets are submerged, schools have been forced to close, thousands of people have been evacuated and others have been stranded on their rooftops.

The Loiret region in France alone has gotten six weeks of rainfall in three days, and the situation in Europe has been described as "worse than the floods of 1910," which cost France roughly $1.5 billion in today's dollars.

And the mainstream media in this country is committing malpractice with their coverage of these events.

The simple fact is, these storms are directly connected to global climate change.

More specifically, these storms are directly related to the "water vapor positive feedback loop."

Right now according to climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, there is about 5 percent more water vapor in the atmosphere above the oceans than there was in 1968 when Richard Nixon was sworn in, thanks to the fact that the oceans have already warmed 1 degree Celsius.

We know that the planet is warming and that it's warming because of human activities: We rip fossil fuels out of the Earth and burn them into the atmosphere, we destroy our soils with industrial farming and we clear cut carbon-rich rainforests to plant fields of monocrops.

All of those activities have contributed to unprecedented, and unnatural, global warming during the last century and a half.

And as a result, the planet's atmosphere can hold more moisture than it could have in the absence of human-caused global warming.
Larry Dorshkind is a retired architect. One of his projects was "Renovation of Infectious Diseases Laboratory" for the State of California's Department of Health. Another project was to design the nation's first purpose-designed Electron Microscope Laboratory for UC Santa Cruz. While in college, Larry served in the US Submarine Reserve where he earned his dolphins as a qualified submariner. Upon graduation, he served as an officer on an amphibious cargo ship where he came within a whiskers throw of participating in an amphibious invasion to start the Vietnam War in earnest (beyond action by "Military Advisors"). The operation was called off, but the War explosively expanded shortly thereafter. And the rest, as they say, is history, and that history is war after war. Larry's current concerns are the war against the planet and wars against other peoples. Pretty soon, though, there will be no need for concern, for a nuclear winter will eliminate the war-makers (and, at the same time, eliminate all of us too).
Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has called for the publication of the June 3 report into the flood and fire disaster in Accra that left at least 152 dead.



He said the failure of government to release the report, constitutes a major injustice to family and friends of the victims who lost their lives.



Two weeks after the disaster at the GOIL fuel station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, a five member committee was formed and mandated to look into the possible causes of the incident.



The committee, Chaired by a retired Appeals Court Judge, Justice Isaac Douse, submitted its report to then Minster of Interior, Mark Woyongo, two months later.



Apart from bits and pieces of the findings and recommendations that were made public during a media event to mark the presentation, details of the report remain sketchy.



We dont know what the recommendations are, except the little bits that we are told so we are unable to evaluate or track the implementation of the committees report, and so there is much more room for speculation and that is not justice, he said on Newsfile that airs on Joy FM and Multi TV Saturdays.



There isnt much transparency, Baako said about how details of the report have been managed.



Speaking on Newsfile Saturday, a member of the committee, Ing Wise Ametefe, would only repeat findings and recommendations already made public.



Key findings include:



The disaster was caused by the fire and flood that struck



The GOIL filling station was careless in not covering the petrol tanks



154 people perished in the disaster, another 154 persons sustained various degrees of injuries.



Five houses, including the GOIL filling station suffered various degrees of damages, as a result of the fire, valued at GH?1,658,847.00



Seventeen motor vehicles, including a fuel tanker were burnt beyond repairs, a mini mart located within the filling station, Bediako Pharmacy and the Honest Chef Restaurant were completely destroyed.



Fire was started by Seth Kwesi Ofosu, who has been handed to security agencies to ascertain whether his action was intentional or otherwise



Recommendations include:



Complete dredging of the Odaw River,



Ban on the use of plastics as carrier bags, water dispensers and cooked food containers.



Standardised training, certification and licensing of fuel station attendants,



Creation of sanitation police,



Compulsory fitting of all commercial vehicles with refuse baskets or bins should be ensured.



Disaster managers should be equipped with the requisite tools to effectively handle disasters.



These notwithstanding, Kwaku Baako say the government loses nothing in making the entire report public.



He said there must be full disclosure of details of the report to enable the public track and assess progress made with recommendations that will prevent a recurrence of fatal incident.



Baako said had the report been made public, speculations about payment of compensation or otherwise to survivors and families of victims would have been averted.



Meanwhile, Deputy Food Agriculture Minister, Ahmed Yakubu Alhasan, who was also on the news analysis programme said government has supported farmers affected by the floods.



"We are restoring system that will allow them to get back to their feet," he said.



He mentioned rebuilding of canals and engineering of lands on which farming is done to prevent destruction in the event of heavy rains.

Source: Myjoyonline.com









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2016 (I)  export of Ukrainian wood pellets increased by 28,8 %

The first three months of 2016 saw a 28,8% increase of Ukrainian wood pellets export as compared to the same period of the previous year. These rates show that Ukrainian manufacturers make productive efforts to expand available distribution areas as well as to find new ones. Moreover, this means that the level of wood pellet consumption is constantly increasing in the world and in Europe in particularly. Poland (11,657 tonnes), Italy (4,422 tonnes), the Czech Republic (3,603 tonnes) and the Slovak Republic (1,732 tonnes) are among the biggest importers of Ukrainian wood pellets in 2016. As compared to the first quarter of the previous marketing year, the list of the importing countries purchasing Ukrainian wood pellets has extended from 23 up to 27 countries. Made by the Ukrainian biofuel portal marketing experts, the analytic database gives detailed information on the export dynamics of Ukrainian wood pellets in each importing country.

Sergey Kozlov, an expert of the Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, commented on the quarterly prices given in the database: "Price policies optimization based on the market analysis is instrumental in successful export operations. Our marketing experts made price matrices on export in the European countries on terms of delivery Free Carrier (FCA). This helps find out the most appropriate export price with unified delivery terms. Moreover, we give a few more tables with prices on the other terms of delivery (DAF, CIF, DDU, CRF, CIP, CPT, FOB, EXW, FCA). The provided data give interested Ukrainian and European market players the possibility to optimize further trading partnership".

The Ukrainian export is Europe-oriented as the quality of Ukrainian wood pellets is relevant to the European standards. Minimizing the logistic expenses, which can significantly influence the final price, plays a very important role when the European trade partners make their decision in favor of wood pellets from Ukraine. Since the market is full of offers, only the detailed analysis and in-depth correct understanding of the marketing situation can help become a significant market player.
of PPP financing of infrastructure project. The world is full of immense examples of ongoing projects that connect a vas array of stakeholders that together contribute to the successful foundation of a project, of a such scale, as a PPP in practice. Many examples conclude results, that are simply impressive - varying from great journeys into tunnel building, health care provision or highways construction. As connection to my thesis. This one is related to the working process of PPP project producing the outcome of highway in Bratislava and its circuit road design, with a set of affiliated bridges, circuits, tunnel etc. By an result is an outcome of banking diplomacy, design initiative and else efforts. The relevant thing is, it is in a standard a common, world practice. Just recently, just now, more and more attention is being put onto design and completion of these projects and perspective of its further development into something great is immense, that either in developing world and the developed world. If you ask what to develop in Africa, well, you are a fool (pardon me) - the concept is simple, infrastructure as a whole, maybe more profound is that the managerial ability, negations skills, strategy making and integral individuals have to be trained too. That is an aching point and in my opinion might be also the result, why us, in Slovakia, suffer from undeveloped infrastructure, meanwhile the world is overloaded of cheap capital as ever in the all known economical history (maybe apart from the Wienmar republic, of which monetary tactics results we are now afraid, so we do not get this cheap) etc. I feel sorry to fire into my own ,,standings and footings", just to say, international criticism would judge by the same weight and planning should have taken place in our circumstances. Well, if there is not enough of potential candidates to do so, lets work with the Youth! Ask them for a professional job, I am sure they would be keen. A lot more as keen to work at a greenfield factory exporting overseas nextdoor, where they grandmother used to grow potatoes. Lastly, if it comes to PPP, even the west is lacking ahead. The European Commision has approved that in one of their recent White and Green Papers on Transportation in Europe in the forecast to 2030. Simple as that, maybe in France the trains are fast, but please, look at China. PPP is a benefit for anybody, Finland as one of the most innovative practice countries experiments for a while, the Brits even sooner - bow for them. Us? Lets develop us. I will let this series slowly continue, as my thesis will develop. In english language, because I would like to tweet in an international environment about the actualities that are going on, as my opinions shape etc.

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Thanks, more is to come.
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U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, through her E-PAC political action committee, contributed an additional $1,000 to the campaign of Rep. Richard Hudson, R-NC, who faces a primary challenge on Tuesday, according to a pre-primary report the Hudson campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission..
LAKE GEORGE  Rain could not dampen remembrance Sunday.

For the second time in four years, the annual Prospect Mountain POW/MIA service had to be moved from its traditional outdoor site to the Lake George American Legion post.

But that didnt stop a determined group of about 50 people, some of them members of the Patriot Guard Riders, from remembering for the 47th straight year those who never returned from Americas wars.

I firmly believe there are still POWs being held, we just dont know where they are, local veteran Rob McAvoy told the crowd. You believe, too. Thats why you are here. They need to know we are coming to get them.

McAvoy and Gene Pierce, who coordinates the annual event, said the country also needs to continue hunting for the remains of soldiers lost overseas.

They still go into the hedgerows in France and fighter American planes and with bodies a still in them, McAvoy said.

Terry Waterston, whose granddaughter Mackenzie was last years guest speaker, recounted her granddaughters trip to the Pacific island of Saipan last summer to look for remains of American soldiers. The group is going back, but Mackenzie Waterston will be attending an educational program in Washington, D.C., and Normandy, France.

Pierce pointed out the area is fortunate to have legislators who remain committed to military issues, including returning the remains of servicemen.

We are lucky in this area that our congressmen and senators are up on military issues, but we cannot let them forget, Pierce said.

As he has been for the past several years, World War II POW Manny Perez was on hand. Perez was taken to Stalag 11 after being captured during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

Its always important to have him here, Pierce said. He reminds us of why we are here.

McAvoy also talked about the history of POW camps, mentioning Andersonville, Virginia, and Elmira, New York, as well as the difference between the camps in Europe and Japan during World War II and the treatment of American pilots in North Vietnamese camps during the Vietnam. He pointed out that three-quarters of the American prisoners in that war were captured between 1964 and 1968, meaning their imprisonment lasted at least five years.

The ceremony also included a rifle salute by veterans from VFW Post No. 2475 and American Legion Post No. 233.

Nick Putney of Warrensburg High School played Taps.
At 1:30 p.m. June 10, 1916, a score of factory whistles in Glens Falls blasted to celebrate the selection, one hour and 10 minutes earlier in Chicago, of native son Charles Evans Hughes as the Republican nominee for president.

Glens Falls First Candidate for Presidency of the United States, proclaimed a headline in The Glens Falls Times and Messenger, the citys afternoon daily newspaper.

Glens Falls Chamber of Commerce was organizing an impromptu monstrous parade at 8:30 p.m. to celebrate.

Hughes would narrowly lose the November election to incumbent Democrat Woodrow Wilson in one of the closest presidential contests in history, but there was plenty of hometown pride then, and there still is today.

Exactly how monstrous the parade was is open to interpretation.

The nomination of Justice Hughes for the presidency was the cause of so much rejoicing in Glens Falls, the place of his birth, that it led to a celebration Saturday evening, the Ticonderoga Sentinel weekly newspaper reported June 15. A band headed the parade through the streets and there was plenty of red fire.

The Post-Star, a Democratic-affiliated paper at the time, downplayed the level of enthusiasm.

The Italian band, a few automobiles and a few men participated, and there was some red fire, the citys morning daily newspaper reported June 12.

Hughes, a U.S. Supreme Court justice and former New York governor, was nominated on the third ballot, one of 20 candidates who received votes during the process.

It was an unusual process.

Hughes did not campaign for the nomination, had no formal campaign organization and did not authorize his name to be placed in nomination.

He directed that his name be removed from primary ballots in states where supporters put his name on the ballot without his permission.

In Oregon, where election officials refused to remove his name from the ballot, Hughes overwhelming won the GOP primary.

In Vermont, he was not on the primary ballot, but enough supporters wrote in his name that he won handily.

Charles Evans Hughes ... was chosen by the convention not only without his consent, but against his wishes, Robert Fuller wrote in a campaign biography published in the official convention proceedings. It was the first time that a candidate for the presidency had been so chosen. Not a delegate in the convention knew when he was nominated whether he would accept or not.

Apparently even Hughes son, who was in National Guard training in Plattsburgh at the time, was uncertain.

When the news of his fathers nomination came, he (Charles Evans Hughes Jr.) was immediately made the center of many friends, the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on June 15. The young man received the news very calmly. His first question was, Has father accepted?

The nomination on June 10 came after a peace committee of representatives of the Republican and Progressive conventions, both meeting in Chicago, had recommended Hughes as the candidate most likely to be acceptable to both parties.

Theodore Roosevelt, after losing the Republican nomination in 1912, split off from the GOP and formed the Progressive Party.

Newspaper editorial writers in 1916 suggested the Supreme Court bench may have been the only place to find a prominent Republican who had been neutral in 1912.

Once Hughes was nominated at 2:20 p.m. June 10, delegates, and the nation, waited to find out if he would accept.

Possibly Hughes had not yet received the telegraph from party leaders when reporters came to his home in Washington, D.C., in the early afternoon.

I dont know anything about it except what you newspapermen tell me, Hughes said. If it is true, I shall have a statement to make at three oclock.

At 3 p.m., he announced he had resigned from the Supreme Court and accepted the nomination, in time for the news to be published in the Glens Falls afternoon paper.

If the news had not come in before deadline, many Glens Falls residents would not have learned of it until Monday morning, as neither The Post-Star nor Times and Messenger published on Sundays at the time.

I have not desired the nomination. I have wished to remain on the bench, Hughes wrote in his letter of acceptance. But at this critical period in our national history, I recognize that it is your right to summon me and my paramount duty to respond.

Familiar issues

As the campaign unfolded, major issues would be remarkably similar with contemporary politics: international security, global trade and relations with Mexico.

There even was discussion of building a stout fence along the nations southern border.

Automaker Henry Ford, after losing the Republican nomination, personally funded a national independent expenditure advertising campaign in support of Wilson, who pledged to keep the United States out of World War I, according to the 1944 memoirs of Josephus Daniels, a Wilson campaign adviser and secretary of the Navy in the Wilson administration.

As history shows, that was a pledge he could not keep.

Hughes said the United States military should be prepared to enter the war as a last resort.

Women social activists formed The Hughsettes, an independent womens campaign team that traveled coast-to-coast by train holding rallies in support of Hughes, who personally endorsed an amendment to the Constitution to provide national suffrage.

Hughes went beyond the Republican platform that encouraged individual states to allow women to vote.

Wilson adhered to the Democratic platform that encouraged individual states to allow women to vote, despite lobbying from his daughter for national suffrage.

Loyal to their native son

Republicans in Warren and Washington counties would remain steadfast behind Hughes, as they had been for months.

The Times and Messenger, a Republican-affiliated paper, published a full-page endorsement of Hughes on Jan. 15.

On April 13, the Warren County Republican Committee unanimously endorsed Hughes.

Harmony reigned supreme as the committee, meeting in Warrensburg, urged Hughes to accept his patriotic duty.

His country has the same right to his services in time of peace that it has of the larger number of patriotic sons in time of war, and we earnestly urge him to consider the matter not from a personal inclination, or from the tradition of the bench, but from a patriotic duty, the committee implored.

In early May, William Hobbs of Greenwich met with Gov. Charles Whitman, a leading Hughes proponent, in Albany to assure Whitman that Washington County Republicans supported Hughes.

Washington County looks on Hughes as a native son, almost, and when his name was brought to the fore as possible presidential timber, it was not surprising that declarations in his favor followed, Hobbs said.

Democrats in Warren and Washington counties would remain civil toward Hughes, even as they criticized the Republican Party.

A June 12 Post-Star editorial lambasted the Republican platform without mentioning Hughes.

The only direct reference to Hughes was in Editorial Pen Points, a forerunner of the modern Post-Star Don Coyote feature.

Again we have the Animated Feather Duster, a nickname Hughes was called as governor because of his thick whiskers.
Fifty journalists were murdered around the world in 2015.

Consider that for a second the next time you are disparaging a member of the media.

Since 1992, nearly 2,000 members of the media have died in pursuit of the news, including seven in the United States.

In 2007, Chauncey Bailey, editor-in-chief of the Oakland Post and four other California weeklies, was shot multiple times at close range by a masked gunman who was angered by Baileys coverage of activities at a local Muslim bakery.

In 2001, William Biggart, a freelance news photographer, was shooting photographs at the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed. His body was found in the rubble near several firefighters. The last photographs on his camera showed the tower collapsing toward him.

In 1992, Manuel de Dios, a Cuban-American newspaper and magazine editor, was shot in the head in a New York City restaurant in retaliation for hard-hitting stories he had written about drug- and money-laundering operations.

And in 2015, Allison Parker and Adam Ward, a reporter and cameraman for WDBJ7 in the Roanoke region of Virginia, were shot and killed by a disgruntled former co-worker while reporting live.

On Monday, the names of 20 more journalists  representing all those killed in 2015  will be added to the Journalists Memorial at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Each day, the Newseum shows the front pages of some 1,200 newspapers from all across the country outside its building on Pennsylvania Avenue. For only the second time in its eight-year history, no newspapers will be displayed. In their place will be blacked out pages and the hashtag #WithoutNews to raise awareness of the threats journalists face around the world.

Consider that for a second.

Consider a world without your morning newspaper, without dedicated journalists fighting to get you the news every day. And sometimes putting their lives at risk.

On Friday, the online news organization Politico reported that one of its staffers was removed from a Donald Trump campaign event after he was spotted typing on a laptop. The Trump campaign had refused to credential the reporter for multiple events, so the reporter acquired a general admission ticket to attend.

His offense? He was typing. He was covering the news.

On Tuesday, candidate Trump described reporters collectively as dishonest, not good people, sleazy and among the worst human beings he has ever met.

I took offense because I consider the colleagues that I know, that I have worked with over the past 35 years, to be among the most committed, dedicated and patriotic people I know.

They are some of the best our country has to offer.

They are trying to make a difference in their communities every single day of the year.

Perhaps Mr. Trump should make a pilgrimage to my paper here in Glens Falls, or any of the great community newspapers all around the country, and evaluate for himself whether they are among the worst human beings he has ever met.

The journalism community does not rise and set with The New York Times and Washington Post. There are countless others trying to make a difference, working nights, weekends, battling to get the facts to tell you, the readers, the truth. And it gets more difficult every day.

Mr. Trump will never have half the character of the men and women who work in community journalism.

His record of suing news organizations and his commitment to changing libel laws put our basic freedoms  religion, free speech, to peaceably assemble and a free press  at risk.

Six years ago, a reporter for the newspaper Cocalo de Saltillo was abducted. The next morning, his body was found outside a local hotel. His arms and legs had been bound and his body showed evidence of torture. The state attorney general concluded an organized criminal group was behind the murder because of stories the newspaper had written about the criminal organization.

He was another journalist doing his job.

I suspect that matters little to Donald Trump.

That reporter, Valentin Valdes Espinosa, was from Mexico.
Matt Funiciello is an outsider, but hes no Donald Trump. He presents an alternative vision for the country based on advocacy for the working class, reduction in military adventurism and promotion of green energy that is both radical and thoughtful.

We do not share Funiciellos moral certainty about what the country is doing wrong and what should be changed. But there is an impressive sincerity and consistency to his agenda.

Funiciello, owner of Rock Hill Bakehouse, is running as a Green Party candidate against Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik and Democrat Mike Derrick to represent our local district, the 21st, in Washington.

We are accustomed to a mix of slogans, pablum and predictable policy positions from congressional candidates. We have gotten so used to the sameness of political discourse, we perk up when a candidate says anything unpredictable, even if its moronic.

With Funiciello, you may not share his vision, but you cant call it simplistic or unambitious. It cannot be distilled to a four-word slogan. He believes large changes are needed, and that can happen only if we elect to Congress people who do not owe their political viability to large corporate interests.

Congress should be a glorious cacophony of voices, Funiciello said in his recent meeting with The Post-Star editorial board. Theyre not going to be different if they all have the same sponsors.

Theyre not our representatives. They represent the people who buy their seats for them, he said.

Two years ago, despite being vastly outspent by his Republican and Democratic opponents, Funiciello got about 11 percent of the vote in the 21st District. This time, although he still has little money to spend, Funiciello said he has more volunteers helping with his campaign.

He is also positioned to take advantage of the countrys impatient mood. He isnt jumping on the outsider bandwagon; he was, at least in this area, driving the wagon. He has been working for many years to organize the Green Party and promote its candidates, and he put himself forward for Congress long before it became clear, through the candidacies of Trump and Bernie Sanders, that the country was ready to embrace outsiders.

In the current mood, it is conceivable Funiciello could win a higher percentage of the vote than Mike Derrick. In the current mood, it is conceivable he could win outright.

During his first run, Funiciello was asked by one member of our editorial board about the problem of birds getting killed by windmills, in light of Funiciellos advocacy of alternative energy sources. He talked in detail about the tradeoffs of various energy sources, saying perfection is not possible and not what he strives for.

This time, he was asked about Fort Drum in Watertown, which is in the 21st District, and whether he would support another federal base closing commission. (A base closing commission in the 1990s ended up decommissioning Plattsburgh Air Force Base.)

He said he would support a base closing commission, that the U.S. has hundreds of bases worldwide and is spending far too much money on defense. With that much military spending  about as much as the next seven top-spending countries combined  is it defense, he asked, or is it offense?

At the same time, he said, he supports the working-class soldiers and believes the government should continue to employ them, if not for military action overseas then to secure the countrys borders or as workers in public utilities producing clean energy.

Funiciello admits that, if elected, he might not be able to transform much if any of his agenda into legislation. But, he argues, our current representatives dont get anything done anyway, and he would at least have a bigger stage as a congressman to advocate for positions that are barely heard now.

I would caucus with advocacy groups that never get a hearing, he said.

And while we are not yet ready to endorse any candidate for Congress, Funiciello is not a fringe candidate. He is not running just to raise awareness of certain issues that concern him, like the concentration of wealth and power among a tiny percentage of the countrys population.

He is running to win, and he is worth taking seriously.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representative Tom Portuese.
The student leaders, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, described their action as a peaceful picketing as they went round the school campus singing and shouting with red bands on their heads and wrists.

They went to the residence of the Principal of the College, Reverend Daniel Bosea-Gyinatwi, the Vice Principal Rev Bremang, the residence of the Bursar, the Dean of Students Affairs and the Quality Assurance Officer and the Administration block where they presented a five-point petition to the management.

The students leaders said, the level 100 teacher trainees were to receive GH 560.00 each while the level 200 trainees were to receive GH1,520.00 each for the two semesters.

However, the level 300 trainees who are about to complete their studies have received their grants.

The students also wanted a refund of GH 55.00 paid by each student for their 13th Annual Students Representative Council (SRC) Week celebration which did not come on.

They also accused management of the college of failing to distribute adequate syllabus to level 200 trainees to prepare their lesson notes for their teaching practice this academic year.

They said they were refused access to the ICT laboratory centre for their research work.

The students accused the management of refusing to release the anniversary cloth of the school to the male trainees, which they have paid for and also complain of bedbugs which have infected all the dormitories.

When management of the college was contacted, the Dean of Students Affairs, Mr Ayittey Chaitey said, though the college had received the two-semester feeding grants, some of the students owe the college more than GH 700,000.00 school fees and the sum would be deducted.

He explained that some of the students would not get anything after the deduction, while others would have to pay additional fees.

On the refund of the SRC Week Celebration contribution, he said the management of the college met with the SRC executives and informed them of efforts being made to refund the money to them.

Mr Chaitey said, the syllabus for the students is with the Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education and the Cape Coast University is responsible for the printing of the syllabus and not the college.

He explained that the anniversary cloth of the students have been sent to a tailor, whilst the ICT Centre was closed because the internet provider  Vodafone has disconnected the College for unpaid bills.
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KOMENDA SUGAR FACTORYPresident Mahama has commissioned the above. Judging from comments, one would think he did something wrong. That is unfortunate. This parade of worthless comments was capped by IMANI think tank's Kofi Bentil when he opined on Newsfile today that the new factory would produce "more propaganda than sugar". Really, Kofi? How would you know?These days, sometimes, more propaganda comes out of IMANI than policy. And that is a shame. It used to be a great think thank.Then the Minority spokesperson on Agriculture, the esteemed Dr. Afriyie Akoto, made some confusing pronouncements. He wondered how the government would get 1200 metric tones of sugar per day. Honourable, by encouraging the farmers to grow it!!That is the same model the Pwalugu tomato factory was based on, remember?As to his point that the factory will not solve all the sugar import needs of Ghana, it is baffling.The idea that we should not solve part of our sugar import needs until we can solve all of it is not worthy of the Honourable MP. Whatever portion of the 200 million USD we can save from sugar imports is good. Indeed, earlier in the week, the minority in parliament had wisely supported the idea of having the factory while raising legitimate questions. That was after Dr. Nduom had also raised questions about the viability of the factory. His questions were substantive and on point, his tone notwithstanding.We should be excited by this new factory. It follows the Kufuor model for reviving the Aluminum industry and for re-activating the Pwalugu tomato factory.It actualizes the NPP flag-bearer ' s view that we should add value to our raw materials.It is a tacit admission by the NDC that selling the KOMENDA sugar factory and others to private interests at "donkomi" prices was a mistake.It will revive sugar cane production and bring wealth to farmers while hiring thousands of factory hands.It will save us foreign exchange that otherwise would have gone to the importation of sugar.Until there is evidence that it is being managed badly, let us celebrate it, together with the President who built it.
The minister said this in Abuja at a news conference, adding that the dialogue would take place from June 6 to June 8in Abuja.

He explained that participants from Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, which made up the Chad Basin, would be present at the meeting.

He said the dialogue would be held in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the adverse effects of insurgency on the population of Lake Chad Basin.

The minister noted that the primary objective of the event would be to identify the protection risks of the population affected and adopt concrete measures to support refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

He added that emphasis would be on the vulnerable groups such as women, children and the elderly.

According to him, the dialogue will provide the opportunity to decide on common solutions to the problems of those affected by the violence.
Adesina stated that the president would travel to London on the same date.

"During the holiday, he will see an E.N.T Specialist for a persistent ear infection. The President was examined by his Personal Physician and an E.N.T Specialist in Abuja, and was treated.

"Both Nigerian doctors recommended further evaluation purely as a precaution, the statement said.

However, the Presidency had on Saturday denied reports that the President was sick, insisting that Buhari is "as fit as a fiddle."

Pulse recalls that the President had taken a short vacation in February, which he spent in London, United Kingdom. It was speculated that the President was really sick and sought medical attention in the UK.

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This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday, June 5, by Dogaras Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan.

The statement quoted Dogara as condemning the brutal murder of the woman in Kano.

Dogara, who urged all Nigerians to rise against the grievous act of lawlessness and impunity, asserted that the perpetrators of the crime must be fished out to face the full wrath of the law.

"There must be justice for the victim.

"We live in a society governed by clearly stated rules and laws.

"When such crimes of high magnitude are allowed to go unpunished for any reason, we risk descending into a state of lawlessness and anarchy where anyone can assume the role of judge, jury and executioner.

"The rule of law must prevail. I urge all security agencies to ensure that they carry out a thorough investigation into the events that led to her untimely death and ensure that the perpetrators of this crime are brought to face the full wrath of the law," he stated.

The speaker, however, called for tolerance among Nigerians, irrespective of religious or ethnic differences.

According to Dogara, the peace and sanctity of Nigeria is not negotiable and as such everything must be done to protect them.

"The fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the constitution must be respected by all."

Dogara condoled with the family of the deceased and prayed God to comfort them.
Fayose was said to have made the remarks at the Government House Chapel, Ado Ekiti, during a thanksgiving service to mark the first anniversary of the 5th assembly in Ekiti.

I am not a prophet of doom, but I must tell you the truth. It is this economic downturn that will pull down the Buhari-led government. Mark my word. The economy will improve, but it will be too late in the life of the Buhari-led government, spokesman of the speaker of Ekiti house of assembly, Stephen Gbadamosi quoted Fayose as saying.

God is angry with the Buhari-led government. It is shedding the blood of too many innocent people.

Soldiers would enter the home of poor village people and gun them down in cold blood. There is too much of blood-shedding. Look at what they did to that innocent woman in Kano.

I am telling you that God allowed them to get into government so that they would be exposed; so that everyone would see their inability and hypocrisy.

Fayose announced on Saturday, June 4, that he had joined the ongoing NLC strike in solidarity with the workers.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, stated this in a letter to the Governor, noting that workers are also concerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the country but, he said, this does not justify workers owed salaries for five months or more, as it amounts to slavery.

According to Wabba, some of the issues the Ekiti workers are protesting include state government's failure to pay five months salary arrears and pensions, non-implementation of promotion report since 2014, as well as issues regarding staff verification carried out in 2015.

Fayose was also accused of refusing to disclose the actual monthly sum of internally generated revenues.

Wabba said workers "are not unconcerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the polity," adding, "In our view, however, this does not constitute an acceptable rationale for owing workers and pensioners for so long. A laborer, the Holy Books tell us, deserves his wages. Stripped of his wages, he is reduced to a slave without rights or privileges."

The NLC advised that government "gives consideration to managing the cost of governance, raising the IGR profile and appropriately applying the bail-out funds given by the Federal Government."

Wabba urged the governor "to bring this strike action speedily to an end by commencing the process of payment and establishing a platform for dialogue at which the leadership of the workers at the state level could be availed of what accrues to the coffers of the state monthly."

He added that the NLC is prepared dialogue with the governor and work out a solution to the problem.

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The Borno NSCDC Commandant, Ibrahim Abdullahi, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.

We have been receiving distress calls from the public.

A man from Maduganari reported that his house was almost gutted by fire because he used adulterated kerosene.

We are surprised how they mixed kerosene and petrol, We dont know whether it is another ploy by Boko Haram to cause havoc, he said.

He said the command would leave no stone unturned to apprehend whoever was responsible for the act, and urged the public to report any form of nefarious activities to the law enforcement agencies.

Kerosene is a common commodity used in stoves for cooking in Borno and other Nigerian states.

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He made the call at a pre-Ramadan lecture held in Ikeja on Sunday, June 5.

Ambode, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, said Ramadan was a period of sober reflection which offered Muslims ample opportunity to be united and pursue a common cause.

He said peaceful coexistence of Nigerians was a pre-requisite to any step the country might want to take to tackle all the socio-economic challenges presently facing it.

Ambode congratulated Muslims and urged them to imbibe the lessons inherent in the blessed month.

He charged Muslims in the state to continue to live peacefully with other non-Muslim residents as mandated by the teachings of the Holy Qur'an.

The governor explained that Ramadan was about piety and frequent remembrance of Allah, where the rich and the poor would have to fast irrespective of their financial status as long they were healthy.

He urged Muslims to pray fervently for themselves, Lagos State and the nation at large.

The state's Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef, urged Muslims and non-Muslims to be patient about the current challenges in the country and to intensify prayers.

According to him, Ramadan is about endurance and sacrifice, where everyone will have to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, sexual relationship from dawn to sunset in the service of Allah.
He made this known in a statement signed by his spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu.

The lawmaker dismissed a report published by Sahara Reporters that his domestic aides were responsible for the theft, saying the perpetrators are yet to be identified. He also clarified that the money stolen was N12 million and not N300 million.

"The unknown persons broke into the safe in the Administrative Office and stole the N12 million. The incident had since been reported to the police and the Kwara State Police command are investigating the matter with a view to nail the culprits.

There is therefore no truth in the claim by SaharaReporters that the money ran into hundreds of millions, that it was in foreign currency or that the incident happened in Dr. Sarakis room. The amount was simply in Naira. Also, the money has nothing to do with Kwara State Government," the statement said.
The party was reacting to Fayose's statement on Saturday, June 4, that he had joined the ongoing labour strike in the state in solidarity with the workers.

Government workers in the state are on strike over five months unpaid salaries among other contentious issues.

In a statement issued on Sunday, June 5, by its state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC said Fayose has turned a serious business of governance to a moonlight drama.

Olatubosun said the Governor's so called solidarity strike shows that he is a man bereft of finesse to be entrusted with the leadership of the people for development.

He described Fayose's conduct as insensitive, adding that Fayoses self-imposed strike could not have been in solidarity with Ekiti workers, but a mockery of their present suffering caused by him and which he obviously enjoys."

Fayoses lies, inhuman and reckless statement on television that he cannot sell his children to pay salary is an acceptance of failure, so he should resign from that position.

There is starvation in the state over failure to pay salary, which has made workers conditions so bad that some of them have resorted to stealing from neighbours before they can eat.

Thieves are all over the place carting away foods in the process of cooking in the kitchen, while raw foods and soup ingredients, such as yams, garri, tomatoes, pepper, parcels of eba are being stolen by hungry Ekiti people.

How many Ekiti workers can afford to send their children to any of the secondary schools in Ekiti which Fayose has heavily taxed, let alone sending them to the highbrow schools that Fayoses children attend abroad? This is very wicked and inhuman.

Olatunbosun accused Fayose of taking N250 million security vote monthly, adding that he should emulate other governors facing similar challenges by engaging workers with honesty and frankness needed.

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Jonathan said he returned from the London last week having visited many countries including United States, United Kingdom, Senegal and Cote dIvoire on a six-week long international engagements and speaking tour.

This was contained in a statement signed by the former president's media aide, Ikechukwu Eze.

The statement said: We are inclined to proclaim straightaway that this claim or any insinuation to Dr. Jonathans contemplation of exile is not only false, tendentious but inciting.

"We maintain as Dr. Jonathan has himself stated, that the former President has no intention of turning his back on Nigeria, a homeland he served diligently as President, to the best of his abilities.

"It is instructive to note that while This Day continues to insist that Jonathan came from Cote dIvoire, the former President actually returned to the country last Wednesday evening from London, after visiting many countries including United States, United Kingdom, Senegal and Cote dIvoire on a six-week long international engagements and speaking tour."
The group has been carrying out systematic attacks on major oil installations in the region in the past months.

In a meeting held in Benin City, Edo State on Friday, June 3, the South South zone of the APC said the renewed attacks is to discredit and frustrate the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The zone is cocksure that the nefarious and ruinous activities of the Avengers are not driven by any patriotic and altruistic impulse, the APC said in a statement after the meeting signed by the APC National Vice-Chairman South South, Hilliard Eta, and the Zonal Secretary, Steven Ezekwem.

We have compelling reasons to strongly assert that these activities are sponsored and instigated by the opposition PDP to derail and frustrate the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari because of its determination to fight against corruption, stabilise and put our country on the path of sustainable development.

The statement alsorejected the inclusion of the Niger Delta region in the imaginary State of Biafra.

The APC said the inclusion is dubious, stressing that Niger Delta is not, cannot and will never be part of Biafra.

The party praised the Buhari administration for the courage to commence the clean-up of Ogoniland and other parts of Niger Delta.
On the last day of Asia's biggest security summit in Singapore, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route.

"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue. "China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea."

China and the United States have traded accusations of militarising the waterway as Beijing undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while Washington has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Saturday, top U.S. officials including Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned China of the risk of isolating itself internationally and pledged to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades.

Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries present at the Shangri-La Dialogue were "warmer" and "friendlier" to China than a year ago.

"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future," Sun said.

"Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.

On the upcoming decision by the international tribunal in The Hague in the case brought by the Philippines to contest China's claims in the territory, Sun reiterated Beijing does not recognise the court's authority.

Sun said China wanted to solve the dispute with the Philippines bilaterally and said the door was open for dialogue with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte said on Thursday he would not surrender the country's rights over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, which China seized in 2012.

China claims almost the entire sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which trillions of dollars in trade is shipped every year.

"China has the patience and wisdom to settle any disputes through dialogue. We also believe the related countries have the wisdom and patience to make peace," Sun said. "I've always believed that shaking hands is better than clenching fists."

Vietnam's deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh warned of a "deteriorating trend of security" in the South China Sea.
Air strikes on Saturday destroyed gun positions and shelters and caves used by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Gara area of northern Iraq and the countryside of Lice district in Diyarbakir province, the statement said.

It did not give a death toll but state-run Anadolu Agency cited security sources as saying small groups of PKK militants were killed in those strikes.

Separately, seven PKK militants were killed in a clash in Semdinli near the Iraqi and Iranian borders on Saturday, while air strikes in Semdinli on Friday killed 20 PKK fighters, it said.

The air strikes in Lice were conducted after the Diyarbakir governor's office declared a curfew there on Saturday. It said the curfew was lifted on Sunday morning after the completion of military operations there.

Turkish security forces on Friday concluded operations targeting PKK fighters in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border and in Sirnak near the border with Iraq.

More than 1,000 people, mostly PKK fighters, were killed in three months of clashes in those areas, security sources say. The fighting resumed in the largely Kurdish southeast last July after the collapse of a two-year-old ceasefire.
U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.

"So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative."

China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea.

China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.

China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies.
NEW ORLEANS  Events across the nation are planned today to mark the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Some of those events include:

The National World War II Museum in New Orleans is planning a slate of events to commemorate the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. June 6 will also mark the 16th anniversary of the museum that is considered one of the city's top tourist attractions.

Throughout the day, visitors can tour a Higgins boat. The boats were named after New Orleans businessman Andrew Jackson Higgins who designed and produced boats able to transport men and equipment from the sea to shore without using a harbor.

The boats were used extensively during the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings in France. The museum will also feature newsreels and film footage of the invasion.

In Bedford, Va., A new tribute will be added to the ceremony honoring the anniversary of D-Day. April Cheek-Messier, president of the National D-Day memorial in Bedford, said they expect a little more than a thousand people to attend anniversary events.

For the first time, the names of the 2,499 Americans who lost their lives in the attack will be publicly read during events at the memorial.

The Silent Wings Museum in Lubbock, Texas, will commemorate the anniversary of D-Day with a free three-day event that continues today.

Activities include screenings of the documentary D-Day Remembered, fly-ins of the Greatest Generation's C-47, Southern Cross and other small vintage aircraft.
When Eastern Iowa Community Colleges announced plans in August 2014 to construct an urban campus in downtown Davenport, Restoration St. Louis was identified as the developer and hopes were that classrooms could open as early as this fall.

The campus is pegged for the 3rd Street block between Brady and Main streets, north of the City Square redevelopment under way by Restoration St. Louis, using two former financial buildings on either corner, with a connector building in between.

Almost two years later, the $28 million project is still very much alive but has been delayed.

And it is no longer a given that Restoration St. Louis, owned by Amrit and Amy Gill, the forces behind the renovation of the Hotel Blackhawk, the Forrest Block and the Renwick Building, in addition to City Square, will be the developer.

Although information on the colleges' website states that the company "will be the full service developer for the project," a letter of intent between the two has expired, and a contract with a developer won't be executed until later this year, Eastern Iowa Chancellor Don Doucette said.

In the months since the project's announcement, the nine-member Eastern Iowa board of trustees and Doucette concluded that financing for the project would be more favorable if the college district  not Restoration St. Louis  owned the former First Federal Savings and Loan, sometimes known as the Social Security building because the agency was housed there for many years, and First Midwest Bank.

Ownership would provide "a better way to finance the overall package," Robert Gallagher Sr., board president, said in an interview. "You don't pay extra expenses with owning the building."

The decision reached by a unanimous vote of the trustees in December required a six-month period of due diligence.

Those reports, dealing with proposed financing, the feasibility of that financing and the how the project would be structured legally, were presented to the board last week in a 2-hour working session. All were all on the positive side.

The Urban Campus timeline at present is to close on financing by Aug. 31 and to begin construction in September with opening of classrooms a year later, Doucette said.

Although the district really wants the 2017 opening, it may consider a delay if that would mean more favorable financing, Doucette said.

Reports come in positive

The financing package was presented to the trustees by Sam Estep, a former senior vice president of development for Restoration St. Louis who worked on the project for that company.

He left to start his own firm and was hired by the district as an independent, third-party consultant to do the project's financial due diligence. Restoration St. Louis wasn't asked because, being party to the sales/purchase contract, it is not a third party, Doucette said.

Dick Davidson of the Davenport law firm of Lane & Waterman and Terry Kilburg, a certified public accountant with his own consulting firm and former chief financial officer for Von Maur, delivered assessments of the legal and financial feasibility of the project, respectively.

Several times during the discussion, Davidson said the Urban Campus project would operate under the same model as was used for the recent restoration of the Adler Theatre, Davenport.

"It's the exact same model as the Adler," he said.

With the Adler, the city of Davenport turned the theater over to a nonprofit group that then created various subsidiaries, including a for-profit entity, that processed the historic and New Market tax credits used in financing. When finished, the theater was sold back to the city and the various subsidiaries were folded.

With the Urban Campus, the buildings would be conferred to a nonprofit foundation that would create various subsidiaries, including a for-profit limited liability company, to process the credits. A for-profit is required because tax credits are awarded only to entities that pay taxes. When the tax credits expire, the campus would be sold back to the college (for the amount of the remaining debt) and the subsidiaries would be "unwound," Davidson said.

The only risk would be if the college did not finish the project or failed to operate the campus for at least seven years, Davidson said.

Financing: Banks are in

The project anticipates receiving $2.5 million in federal historic tax credits and $3.3 million of state historic tax credits, Estep said. Combined, this accounts for 45 percent of the project's qualified reimbursable expenses, or the "hard" costs of construction, not the "soft costs" of developer, legal or architect fees, he said.

The construction cost estimates, which came in under budget, were from Estes Construction, Davenport, Estep said.

The project qualifies for state historic credits because the First Federal building has been designated a local landmark by the city of Davenport.

"No matter what, we will get state credits," Estep said, although he added that approval may not come until after Jan. 1.

The project would qualify for federal credits if First Federal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a nomination seeking that status has been filed. Estep said he is confident of approval.

Also requested will be $4 million in New Market tax credits, available under a federal program to help economically distressed communities attract private investment capital by providing investors with a federal tax credit. Investments are to breathe new life into neglected, under-served communities.

Again, Estep is confident. The Urban Campus project meets all the aims of the program, including jobs and education, and the area is in a "severely distressed Census tract," which is another factor considered in scoring projects for approval, he said.

"Our project is what this program is all about," he told the trustees.

Overall, the only question is the timing of the New Market credits, a factor that could move a decision on the project back to October or November, Doucette said. That would mean the district "likely would not be able to move into the new campus until spring 2018," he said.

Securing a permanent loan of $6.5 million should be no problem, Estep said. The project already has commitments from four banks, including three in Iowa, competing to be the lender. The loan would be secured by the college's 20-year lease of the buildings. The lease will range from $650,000 to $1.3 million, depending on the lender that is chosen, Doucette said. The debt service would be paid from cost savings in the new efficiencies and from the lease, estimated at $250,000 annually, from its second floor center in the Ground Transportation Center.

The $8.2 million is the total investment of the college and foundation, including buildings.

Finally, the district already has raised $3.5 million of a $5 million capital campaign, securing commitments from the Harold R. Bechtel Charitable, John Deere, Roy J. Carver, Hubbell Waterman, Alcoa and Bob and Blenda Ontiveros trusts/foundations and the Scott County Regional Authority and the Riverboat Development Authority, now called the Regional Development Authority.

At one point, the colleges considered issuing general obligation bonds as a source of financing, but that is no longer the case.

Do the numbers work?

Kilburg, hired to crunch the numbers, began his presentation by saying, "I think this is a good project."

He examined the financial feasibility of the Urban Campus separate from any future project regarding the Kahl Building, now home to Eastern Iowa downtown classrooms, and found it doable.

When the Urban Campus project was first announced two years ago, renovation of the Kahl into 80 apartments and refurbishment of the Capitol Theatre was described as Phase II of an overall project.

Restoration St. Louis was described as the would-be developer and revenue from the apartments was going to be used to meet the majority of the annual debt service.

But now, it appears that rents are not necessary.

"You could do the Urban Campus and decide not to do the Kahl and the Urban Campus would be fine," Kilburg said. "You could sell the Kahl."

His main concern about the Urban Campus is that the college needs a tax increment financing district for the campus from the city of Davenport. If a district is not created, the district's for-profit subsidiary set up to receive tax credits would be liable for taxes on the $20 million in improvements.

"The taxes could potentially be $900,000, a high-risk obligation because it (the project) is being done not by the college (tax-exempt) but by a for-profit entity," Kilburg said. "You have to get this exemption from the city of Davenport."

Davidson commented, "I can't imagine in my wildest dreams that we wouldn't get a TIF from the city."

The developer question

Board members are scheduled to consider a purchase agreement for $3.2 million on June 20. The money would come from reserves in the colleges' capital improvement budget, Doucette said.

The price represents the amount Restoration St. Louis invested in the properties  $2,559,415 for purchase and $670,505 for development work, including architectural services, legal services, facilities repairs, environmental mitigation, financing and carrying costs for the properties, he said.

The "impetus for the district to purchase the two bank buildings was to improve the financial feasibility of the project and to solve a structural problem in the use of funds  (it) was never about changing developers, as we were never dissatisfied with the relationship, nor had EICC and RSL (Restoration St. Louis) ever entered into a development contract," Doucette wrote in an email.

The Times could not reach Amy Gill for comment last week, although she said in a March 30 email that she didn't think "much had changed" about the Urban Campus project.

"RSL and EICC have been partners in the development of the SCC Urban Campus since its conceptualization, when RSL proposed the project to solve an EICC need," she wrote. "We think this is a huge project for Davenport and support it whole-heartedly."
BETTENDORF  Jannine S. Givray (nee Smith), 65, of Bettendorf, passed away June 2, 2016, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after a courageous 17-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Her husband and daughters were lovingly by her side.

After earning her M.S. in exercise physiology, Jannine taught physical education in Naperville, Illinois. Jannine went on to enjoy a long and fulfilling sales career in the promotional products industry, where her personality, charm, intellect and tenacity propelled her to the top of her field. She was able to retire early and channel her love and passion into her charity work for Compass to Care and The Childrens Place Association. During this early retirement she dedicated her time, energy and heart to the things she loved most in life; being with her husband, daughters and family, playing with her grandchildren and enjoying her countless treasured friendships.

Jannine was a cherished wife to Henry Steven Givray for 29 years; a loving daughter to Edward Louis Smith and the late Betty Ann Smith (nee Roeh); the precious mother of Kerry (Derek) Maunus and Kristina (Ryan) Ritchie; a fun and devoted Neenie to her grandchildren, William Will, Bennett and Grant Maunus and Chase, Jillian and Graham Ritchie.

Jannine was an adored sister to Steven (Ann), David (Barbara), Thomas (Debra) and Jeffrey (Mary) Smith, and Michele (Kyle) Hodde. She also holds a special place in the hearts of her many nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles, and countless friends shes made along the way. She was a light in so many lives. Jannine will always be with us as her light will continue to shine through the loved ones she left behind.

The family will be hosting a Celebration of Life this summer in Colorado. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to www.compasstocare.org.

Arrangements entrusted to Cremation Society of Illinois, 800-622-8358 or www.cremation-society.com.
Sweat pours like rivers down 51-year-old Pat Morgans cheeks as he clasps the bar.

Three hundred and sixty pounds of weights clang together.

Tell him hes got to quit cause we cant add any more, someone jokes.

Morgan unracks the bar and lowers it to mid-chest. Then with a roar, the 245-pound Morgan presses the barbell back up, and the weight room inside Augustana Colleges Carver Center erupts in cheers.

I just came to see what I can do, the Davenport man said afterward, catching his breath as he stuffed his weightlifting belt into a gym bag.

Nineteen men and women pushed their limits at Saturdays Senior Olympics weightlifting competition. Morgan won the gold medal in his age category.

Judging was based on percent of body weight benched.

In its third year, weightlifting is one of the newer competitions at the Senior Olympics, which celebrated its 26th year in the Quad-Cities.

Senior Olympic events were held through the week, and included everything from ballroom dancing to track and field competitions. The event concluded with closing ceremonies at 4 p.m. at Augustana's Ken Anderson Academic All-American Center.

Back at the weightlifting competition, the strength of the seniors was impressive.

It is inspiring to see people who are older and what they can do, said Paul Mullin, a chiropractor on hand to watch the competition.

Lifting weights can prevent osteoporosis in addition to being good exercise for the heart and lungs, Mullin said.

That felt great, 64-year-old Pamela Mason said after pressing 60 pounds.

Mason lives in Silver Springs, Md., but grew up in the Quad-Cities and studied at Augustana.

Joe Casillas, 56, of Bettendorf said he lifts weights to stay in shape in order to keep up with grandchildren.

I love the physical and mental part of it, he said.

Casillas lifted 280 pounds on his first attempt, which he said was easy. At the third attempt, he pressed 310 pounds for a silver medal in his category.

Encouraging chants echoed as sweat left its film on the benches.

I want us to get loud today, 66-year-old Ken Beach of Davenport called out as participants groaned through two or three attempts to up the ante.

Beach, who weighs 156 pounds, made three tries before earning gold in his category for pressing 240 pounds. He failed in his third attempt, in which he tried to lift 250 pounds.

But the men and women smiled through their many disappointments.

Mike Smith, 55, of Rock Island could not quite push 255 pounds of weights back off his chest.

I really thought I had it, said Smith, a retired Rock Island High School teacher who hopes to inspire some youngsters with his dedication to weightlifting.

No one seemed more dedicated than Herb Meyer. The 68-year-old from Maquoketa, who suffers from arthritis and has had both hips replaced, participated in Saturdays competition with his elbow wrapped up.

Two years ago, Meyer was lifting weights in a gym at the Rock Island Arsenal when he tore a tendon in his triceps.

This arm was black all the way down to the wrist, he said, pointing to his left arm.

His arm was in a brace for a year and a half. His last doctors visit was six months ago, but he didnt heed the doctors advice.

My orthopedic surgeon said if he saw me again, hell kick my butt, Meyer said. He didnt want me lifting anymore.

Meyer, who is 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 181 pounds, said the most he has ever bench pressed was 320 pounds. That was when he was 56 years old. On Saturday, he pressed 210 pounds.

The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, who also has taught accounting at Scott Community College, said he will continue to lift weights as long as his body will allow.

Its in my blood, Meyer said.
These are the people I aspire to be. The good people. The doing-everything-right people, living life to the fullest while others are still asleep. Morning people.

Ive never been one of those people, but every once in a while  in a burst of motivation  I give it a try.

Twice this week, I got up at 5 a.m. and was out of the door a few minutes later. It gets light long before the sun comes up in this part of the world, the sun below the horizon offering a cool, grey light for the runners and the guy standing outside my building turning on his Map My Ride app before he got on his bike. The line of commuters driving across the Government Bridge still had their headlights on as I crossed into Illinois and headed for Moline.

After six months of living in the Quad-Cities, Im still discovering the places everyone else already knows about and the other night after taking my dad to the Bass Street Chop House, I stumbled upon the YMCA Rowing Center dock on a quiet piece of water behind the Kone building and decided to come back in the morning.

Before the sunrise, it was already warm on the water. The only sound on the water was the humming of John Deere and the sound of the small wake behind my boat. This was the first time Id seen the back of the iWireless Center or the Mark or whatever were going to call it come July 2017 when that sign comes down and another one goes up. Well always call it the Mark.

This part of the river is shallow. My paddle touched the mud and something slapped against the bottom of my boat. I saw the spiny back of a frantic and oblivious carp, shaking and spawning. A blue heron spread its wings and took off over a gathering of pelicans sitting on a sunken tree trunk. A thin fog hung over the water and I felt the heat of the first rays of direct sunlight.

Reveille sounded from the Arsenal and the world, it seemed, began to stir.

I remember, years ago, sitting on a surfboard in Maine, looking back at the beach from beyond the swells. In that moment, I felt like I knew something no one else know, alone out there seeing land from the water in the early morning. I felt that way again, paddling up this urban inlet in Moline, Illinois.

The I-74 bridge looks different down from the water. Down there, you dont feel the oppressive heat of sitting still in traffic  a mile of cars ahead and behind and no way out but to wait for your turn to crawl another few feet. Down there, you dont see the snowstorm of mayflies, leaving drifts of wings and bodies on the top of your windshield wiper. Down there, the green-gated bridge actually looks beautiful, and the only hint of the horrible experience above is the steady whine of tires.

Down river, I saw the flash of white from the broad side of oars as rowers glided by, perfectly timed. Compared to them, my kayak was wide and slow, rolling across the water like a flat tire.

But I didnt care. It felt so good to have found a calm patch of water. Living so close to the Mississippi River, Ive been surprised how hard it has been to find that spot where the water is slow and you arent fighting waves and wing dams. Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.

As I carried the boat out of the water, a group of rowers sat enjoying some coffee and conversation after their early morning workout. We talked about the carp and the water as I hosed off my boat.

Come back again, one man said. Were here every morning.

Yes. Keep going back, a friend said later that day. You havent seen anything yet, she said, just wait until the lotus bloom.
So far, the smartest thing I've read about this election season was written by Christina Saenz-Alcantara, a "Chicana small-business owner, daily meditator and nonprofit advocate" on the Latino Rebels website.

"I will be taking a radical position as a leftie that we can listen to [Donald] Trump supporters to gain a fuller understanding of the stories driving their anxieties and anger," Saenz-Alcantara wrote in March. "Not listening is part of what is driving voters away from messages of equality and pushing them towards the Trumps of the world."

Her words rang in my ears in the aftermath of news reports describing violent anti-Trump protests in New Mexico. According to The Associated Press, demonstrators overturned trashcans, knocked down barricades and threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, who, in turn, fired pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center. Authorities labeled the whole spectacle a "riot."

Clearly, few are listening anymore. "Dialogue" has been reduced to shouting matches on TV, at political rallies, on social-media platforms and even in homes where friends and family are cleaving along ideological lines.

Yet reports of violence at political rallies are obscuring the far-more important question: Aside from being angry, what are Hispanics going to do in the upcoming election?

Sure, there have been scattered news reports of naturalization applications for citizenship going up ahead of the election, but a fundamental concern about the Hispanic electorate is its historically low turnout.

And in addition to the challenge of Hispanic voters being a diverse group not united in nationality, political ideology or even language, there's the fact that it's easy to be against something (or someone). Agreeing on and coming together for a particular outcome is another matter.

According to Reuters, at a recent meeting between Democratic officials and representatives of several Hispanic advocacy groups, the consensus was that the party is "relying too heavily on Trump's inflammatory comments on illegal immigration to drive Hispanic voters to the polls, calling instead for the party to do more to address Latino concerns."

(And, again, for the record, different polls have all found the top "Latino" concerns to be jobs and the economy, education and health care, with immigration usually noted after these.)

Meanwhile, news outlets across the country are bending over backward to understand why Trump appeals to so many people from so many different walks of life, including minorities and liberals.

The Christian Science Monitor, in a sensationally titled article "Meet the Trump voters who aren't white and male," quoted Muslims, Latinos and Asian-Americans who simply believe that Trump is the guy who will best protect the promise of America.

Over on the website of The Atlantic, a white, young, self-proclaimed "left-wing activist" and Bernie Sanders primary voter explained why he's considering voting for Trump in the upcoming election: "A left which is focused on issues of identity and excludes issues of class (it was class issues which drew me to the left years ago) is no friend of mine, and it is no friend of the working class. ... Trump as a person seems despicable. But he also seems strong. ... He is against many things that I, as a leftist, have protested over the years, such as NATO, international trade agreements, and foreign wars. I feel like the corporate globalization of the 25-plus years has just ripped a hole through this country, especially in the Midwest where I am from."

Giving a fair hearing to those who support Trump has to be more effective, in the long run, than throwing flaming garbage at the people attending his rallies. If nothing else, one might learn that emotions more logical than simple racism, xenophobia and misogyny are at play.

As Saenz-Alcantara so succinctly put it: "When you listen, you might be surprised to learn that they may listen back. Even if they don't listen back, part of being a radical is doing things that others are not doing."

Acknowledging Trump's supporters is unlikely to change anyone's feeling of being vilified. But listening to the other side's concerns might be just one way for Hispanics to get beyond mere protesting to gaining a real understanding of what their participation -- or absence -- at the polls in November might mean for the future of the Latino vote.
Hillary Clinton's presidential bid faces a make-or-break moment following the scathing report by the State Department's inspector general. And, as of now, Clinton's campaign has chosen continued obfuscation and double-speak instead of an honest, candid conversation with the country.

Clinton's dishonesty about her illicit use of a private email server while secretary of State could anoint Donald Trump president. It's in the country's interest for Clinton to come clean.

Clinton simply isn't trusted, polls show. Decades of Republican probes into the private dealings of her and her husband, Bill, have fostered much of the skepticism. But Clinton's patented circle-the-wagons style lacks authenticity and basic humanity. It feeds the mistrust and doubts held by millions of would-be voters. And, now, the facts about her email use will incubate the suspicions through November.

Whether Clinton likes it or not, this issue isn't going away.

For once in her political life, Clinton must ditch the focus groups and legalese. She must speak candidly and openly. She must show her humanity and confess her sins.

Clinton was downright dishonest in a January meeting with the Quad-City Times editorial board, the inspector general report proves.

The private server was "convenient" and "permitted," she said. Her predecessors had done it, too, she said. The only "mistake" was in the fact that it caused such an "uproar" and put so many of her "friends" under the microscope, she said.

Put plainly, it's bull.

From 2005 to 2011, State repeatedly revised its record-keeping and security policies, the 83-page report says. Numerous memoranda were issued "specifically discussing the obligation to use Department systems in most circumstances and identifying the risks of not doing so.

So yes, Clinton was told that her server wasn't appropriate and secure, or at least, her subordinates were. She was notified of the conflict created with the Freedom of Information Act, the backbone of the nation's transparency laws. And never before, be it Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice, had a modern U.S. secretary of State done so much to dodge FOIA.

And that's what the private server was all about. It wasn't about covering up some tragedy in Libya. It wasn't about undermining national security. Ducking transparency requirements was the goal here.

It's a disheartening statement about the echo chamber within which Clinton exists. It calls into question her character and commitment to the law. It feeds the narrative that she can't be trusted. It's red meat for the likes of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

It was clear in January that Clinton didn't see the problem with her server. Questions about it annoyed her. And, to this day, it's clear that she doesn't understand how the black-and-white evidence of her disregard for the rules  and willingness to lie about her actions  damages her image.

Trump is a legitimate threat to the nation. Self-prescribed ignorance is the foundation of his campaign. Aimless anger is its fuel. Trump tells bald-faced lies when faced with contradictory policy statements. He demonizes the media when it dares challenge his dishonesty and incoherence. He lacks the basic curiosity to grapple with the problems of a complex, interconnected planet. Clinton's attacks on the firebrand are correct but useless in the post-Trump politic. This election will be about Hillary Clinton's character or lack thereof. Trump misogynism and racism are established. But his backers like it. The GOP is uniting around him.

Trump is dangerous.

It's a race Clinton should win, but only if millions of skeptical voters hold their noses and check the box beside her name.

It's to those voters  independents, waffling Republicans and Bernie Sanders supporters  to whom Clinton must speak. She must stand up and admit that she considered herself above the rules. She must promise it will never happen again. She must state her commitment to transparency.

Clinton must assume the mantel of flawed human being and ask for forgiveness before it's too late.
VIENNA | OPEC countries failed last week to agree on measures to influence crude supplies and prices, in a missed opportunity to show the resolve that for decades let them set how much consumers and industries worldwide would pay for gasoline, heating and related necessities.

At the same time, OPEC officials argued the cartel was alive and well, scoffing at suggestions that its authority was eroding to the point where it will soon be negligible.

"Don't take that (to mean) that OPEC is dead," said Secretary General Abdulla al-Badri. "OPEC will be powerful, will be strong. OPEC is alive."

But the decision to take no decision appeared more an illustration of lack of unity, particularly between OPEC rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose deepening struggle for Mideast supremacy has for years been mirrored at oil meetings.

Iran was second only to the Saudis inside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in terms of production before international sanctions over its nuclear program crippled sales. Now with a deal in place limiting its atomic prowess, sanctions have been lifted  and Tehran served notice even before the Vienna meeting that it intends to reach or surpass previous levels.

Mehdi Hosseini, the head of the oil contracts revision committee at Iran's Petroleum Ministry, puts pre-sanctions levels at around 4.2 million barrels per day. Accepting anything less than that, Hosseini said in April, would amount to "another sanction against ourselves. It is something we cannot accept."

The latest figures from the International Energy Agency show Iran making good on its pledge, with output jumping by 300,000 barrels a day to nearly 3.6 million barrels daily in April  the highest since November 2011.

One idea at the Vienna meeting that could have allowed for more Iranian production was to abandon a firm production target. OPEC countries had been considering a sliding ceiling that could shift between two benchmarks, both well above 30 million barrels a day.

But Iran already put its foot down against quotas of any kind in April. It did not even show up at a meeting between OPEC members and outside producers attempting to agree on a joint output freeze to push prices higher. The Saudis subsequently aid they would not cap output if Iran didn't do the same, dooming the gathering to failure.

In part, the OPEC divide reflects growing political tensions between Shiite powerhouse and the Sunni-ruled desert kingdom, regional rivals that back opposite sides in the Syria's civil war and the conflict in Yemen.

They broke off diplomatic relations earlier this year after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric, a move that sparked protests in Iran and the storming of Saudi diplomatic posts. The relationship soured further as the OPEC meeting was underway, with Tehran announcing it would not facilitate the sending of pilgrims to the hajj this year because of what it sees are insufficient Saudi security guarantees.

Still, with the Saudis used to setting OPEC's agenda, the main issue between the two in Vienna Thursday appeared to be oil-related.

Since deciding in 2014 to squeeze out outside competition by flooding the market to drive down prices, the Saudis have pumped close to or above 10 million barrels a day  close to a third of the organization's total. That, plus resurgent output from Iraq and Iran helped push down prices, with the desired effect of making shale production increasingly uneconomical.

But Saudi Arabia came to Vienna more focused on easing OPEC concerns of a further production increase that could reverse the upward price trend. The country's oil minister, Khalid A. Al Falih declared ahead of the meeting that his country "will be very gentle in our approach an make sure we don't shock the market."

That clashed with Iran's determination to produce all out  and contributed to foiling agreement on any kind on an OPEC output ceiling.

"It doesn't make sense for Iran to commit to a production freeze," said Robin Mills of Quamar Energy in Dubai. "On the Saudi side, it would be very difficult to come to an agreement that allows another OPEC member to increase its production "

It was clear, though, that the market was looking for at least an attempt by OPEC to show unified muscle. Shortly after the end of the inconclusive meeting, U.S. benchmark oil dropped 88 cents at $48.14 a barrel before recovering.

The final statement Thursday mirrored the communique at the last OPEC meeting in December in not even mentioning an output target. That December decision already effectively left it up to individual members how much crude to pump and was a strong signal of the cartel's eroding ability to act as a group in efforts to influence supply, demand  and prices.

OPEC president Mohammed Bin Saleh al-Sada denied that the organization was fading. Instead, he described the cartel as "a dynamic living organ responding to changes."

"The world has changed, is changing and will change," he told reporters Thursday, "so OPEC is responsive to change... interacting with facts on the ground. For today's market conditions OPEC is responding appropriately."

But Bob Minter, analyst at Aberdeen Asset Management Investment, said the meeting failed to "at least signal that members can agree on something."

"This should have been an easy meeting to re-establish OPEC relevance but they missed the opportunity," he said.
Theres an unwritten mandate for local firefighters: Anyone getting his or her name or photo in the media is required to buy ice cream for their station mates.

Mike Cronin, a 16-year veteran of the Rapid City Fire Department, has decided to risk the extra expense to announce his new business.

His work schedule allows him to dabble in an enterprise on the side, so he and a friend from Sioux Falls have decided to go into the moving business.

Well, sort of.

They are bringing in a BungoBox franchise, the first of its kind in South Dakota. Florida-based BungoBox offers rentals of re-useable plastic boxes for residential and commercial moving.

The boxes are made of recycled plastic and can be reused up to 400 times, saving both the waste of cardboard boxes and the hassle of messing around with packing tape. BungoBox claims savings of up to 50 percent over the cost of cardboard boxes and tape.

Youve circled the roll of clear aggravation trying to find the end for the last time, BungoBoxs website touts.

The business seemed like a no-brainer, Cronin said.

It was one of those things where no one else was doing it. What a great idea, so we decided to go for it, Cronin said.

Cronin and Pederson, who operates the southeast South Dakota side of the business out of Sioux Falls, dont do the actual moving.

Customers may pick up empty boxes at 753 Deadwood Ave. or they will deliver boxes to a location and pick up the emptied boxes afterwards. The Rapid City location serves the Black Hills area, including Spearfish.

Cronin said they can work with moves between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, or moves within their territory, but cannot rent boxes for moves out of state or across the country.

The sturdy boxes come in two sizes, 2.5 cubic feet and 4 cubic feet, and feature interlocking lids. Wardrobe boxes are also available. The boxes rent by the week, with a lesser charge for each succeeding week, encouraging movers to unpack quickly. Once returned, the boxes are cleaned and sterilized for the next customer.

The boxes stack neatly and their consistent size makes packing a moving van all the easier. You dont have to play a game of Tetris trying to load your truck, Cronin said.

They also sell other moving and packing items, such as bubble-wrap. Wheel carts are also available to help move stacked boxes.

Call Mike at 605-390-5187 or email mike.cronin@bungobox.com for more information, or to set up a rental.

Firefighters may check with Mike in person to specify chocolate or vanilla ice cream.

New attraction

Rapid Citys second escape room attraction is set to open later this month at 705 Main St. in downtown Rapid City.

Escape rooms are fast becoming a worldwide live-gaming phenomenon. Groups of people pay to be locked in a space with a set time, usually an hour, to solve a series of riddles and puzzles to find the key to opening the door and make their escape.

Groups are encouraged to work together, and businesses use escape rooms for employee team-building and camaraderie.

Owner John Reuter said Black Hills Escape Rooms will capitalize on the areas rich history for a trio of escape scenarios.

Reuter and his family tried out several escape rooms while vacationing in Sydney, Australia, over Christmas and New Years.

One of his sons said an escape room would go over big in Rapid City.

I said, well, whos going to do it? John said. You are, Dad, was the reply.

Properly chastened, Reuter began researching scenarios for his escape rooms, buying and reading dozens of books on local history.

He came up with three escape scenarios to start, one based on the killing of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, another based on the fable of a ghost haunting the Alex Johnson Hotel and a third on treasure hidden in the Hall of Records at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Black Hills Escape Rooms joins Rapid Escape, which opened on St. Patrick Street earlier this year. Reuter likes his downtown location, formerly the site of 705 Trending and Prairie Perfumery.

"I think theres room for two escape rooms in Rapid, he said.

Reuter hopes to be taking reservations by the middle of June. Cost is $20 for adults, $15 for ages 12-under, with children ages 2-6 free. Groups of 2-6 people are encouraged.

He hopes to capitalize on Thursday night crowds for downtown Summer Nights events.

Reuter is planning summer hours of 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Bookings for private parties will also be available, he said.

Reuter is originally from northwest Iowa and attended the University of South Dakota. He wrote software programs before making an escape of his own from Denver several years ago. He has been a stay-at-home dad for sons Ian, 20, and Ethan, 18, since returning to Rapid City.

I couldnt wait to get out of the rat race of the big city and come back to a place like South Dakota, Rueter said. I would choose West River over East River 1,000 percent of the time. This is a wonderful place, he said.

Once the business gets going, reservations may be made online at BlackHillsEscapeRooms.com or by calling 605-731-8050.

Unique Signs purchased

Print Mark-et owner Mark Schreiner has purchased Unique Signs from Swede Larson and is moving the sign shop from 118 Main St. to 404 St. Onge St., in west Rapid City.

Schreiner said the location is changing, but the Unique Signs name and phone number, 605-343-4603, will remain the same.

Vast realigns channels

Vast Broadband cable television subscribers will need to do a bit of channel surfing to find their favorite programs as of June 8.

Thats when the cable TV, internet and telephone provider will revamp its television channel lineup, rearranging existing channels into groups according to interest, such as sports, news and movies, and adding 25 channels to its High Definition offerings.

Customers will need to complete a channel scan/auto program on their flat-screen TVs to receive some of the new digital channels being added.

Call 866-991-9728 or see VASTbroadband.com/news for more information.
The bones buried in Badlands National Park have a story to tell and Chris Norris is one man bent on telling it.

Chris Norris, senior collections manager at Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Conn., is leading a project funded by the National Parks Service to inventory and image all specimens collected from the South Dakota Badlands, and to georeference the locations of the sites where early fossil collecting took place.

Its a great project for us and the parks service, said Norris.

Norris said the federal government has grown more interested in the collection and sharing of fossil collections across the U.S. There are many places that collections belonging to the federal government are housed, but very little of it is on display or digitally documented, Norris said.

Theres a better awareness that this stuff is important, he said. People have no idea about how little were able to show.

The Peabody houses more than 100,000 vertebrae from all over the world, but only a couple hundred are on display. The fossils collected on national park land are owned by the American people, Norris said, but its nearly impossible to display them all.

We hold and trust the fossils for the American people, but its inaccessible, he said. Making these fossils accessible is the most important thing we do.

Cataloguing and digitizing the specimen and the handwritten notes, maps and photographs by paleontologists, is an important step in the right direction, Norris said.

The Badlands fossils, which Norris dates between 25 and 35 million years old, are from rhinoceroses, camels, saber tooth animals, large tortoises, alligators and some birds and fish.

These are much more recent than dinosaurs, Norris said. It was at a point when the Earth changed from a greenhouse-like atmosphere to more dry and grassland like.

Paleontologists have been drawn to the Badlands to discover new fossils, but also study the transition of climate change and the effect on animals and reptiles.

It was a very rapid change, and the Badlands preserves that and shows the world in transition, he said.

Many of the Badlands fossils were collected by Yale University and Princeton University paleontologists before the Badlands was designated a national park. The Princeton fossils are housed at the Peabody and are included in the project. The Badlands National Park will receive the entire digital archive. Norris said there isnt an agreement yet for how long the Peabody will continue to house the specimens.

Christine Czazasty, chief of Interpretation and Education at Badlands National Park, said the information collected will be valuable.

This is going to create a much better database, he said. This will give us a more complete record.

Norris said the parks service will be able to manage the land better once they know where the fossils were discovered and will be able to provide better information to its visitors. It will take a year to work through the 2,000 to 3,000 fossils. They started at the beginning of the year.

Czazasty said they plan to spend three years on their end of the project, which will cost $175,000 and be paid for by Badlands entrance fees.

Well use part of the money from the entrance fees because were using the information in programs and exhibits, she said. We both see this as the beginning of a great partnership.
The Air Force will conduct another large-scale exercise in the massive Powder River Training Complex in the Northern Plains and is warning of potential sonic booms that can rattle the walls and windows of homes.

The training area covers nearly 35,000 square miles of airspace in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming  the largest military aircraft exercise space over the continental United States.

Officials at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota say multiple types of aircraft will take to the skies Tuesday through Thursday, June 7-9, and cautioned that some aircraft could cause loud noises, including sonic booms.

A sonic boom is a loud explosive noise caused by the shock wave from an aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound.

The website HowStuffWorks compares an airplane's sonic boom to a wake produced by a speeding boat. Being on the ground and experiencing a window-rattling sonic boom produced by sound waves is much like being on a lake shore and being hit by a large wave from a boat's wake.

Supersonic flights in the Powder River Training Complex airspace are supposed to occur only during large-force exercises, such as the one scheduled this week. Those exercises are limited to once per quarter for up to three days, not to exceed a total of 10 days per year.

All B-1 supersonic flying is supposed to occur 20,000 feet above mean sea level to minimize the severity of sonic booms. All fighter-jet supersonic flying is supposed to stay 10,000 feet above ground level.

B-1s are allowed to fly supersonic in the airspace for about 30 seconds during 60 sorties throughout the year, or approximately 30 minutes per year. Fighters engage in an estimated 48 minutes of supersonic flight per year in the airspace.

Several landowners and ranchers in southeast Montana and northwest South Dakota contacted this week by the Journal said they have not experienced any sonic booms since the military airspace was expanded in September.

But some ranchers have complained that the training exercises disrupt their operations, and the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association in February petitioned Air Force officials to provide more information to ranchers. The Rapid City-based group is pleased with steps the military has taken to better inform ranchers, such as posting notices in local newspapers, said Executive Director Silvia Christen.

She said more work is needed to improve communication between the military and ranchers who experience problems from low-level flights, but added, "for the most part I think we're on the right track."

Northwestern South Dakota rancher Clark Blake said his ranch was inundated with as many as 10 to 12 loud, low-level B-1 bomber flights on some days after the airspace was expanded. After complaints arose, the flights seemed to stay higher, he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved quadrupling the size of the training airspace in March 2015. The expanded complex officially opened in September, with flying operations that included B-1 bombers from Ellsworth and B-52 bombers from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The first large-scale exercise was in December, and the second was in March.

This week's exercise will include six types of aircraft, from fighter jets to refueling tankers, and involve several hundred personnel from multiple bases, according to Lt. Col. Lanny Anaya, assistant director of operations for the 28th Operations Support Squadron at Ellsworth.

"Honestly, it is a team effort," he said.

The Air Force cautions non-military aircraft pilots to review the FAA notice of the exercise and avoid areas and altitudes where military planes will be practicing.
South Dakota Republican legislative candidates have been cast this campaign season as opponents of guns, tax-and-spenders, draft-dodgers, cross-dressers, adulterers and even enablers of rape.

And thats by their fellow Republicans.

During the run-up to Tuesdays primary election, the partys two factions have seemingly grown farther apart and more contentious than ever before. The result has been a spate of aggressive and sometimes vicious campaign tactics, principally in the form of colorful, over-sized postcards sent by a handful of behind-the-scenes political operatives to the mailboxes of thousands of Republican voters.

One of the lowlights so far this campaign season was a postcard targeting legislators including Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City. The postcard said Sly thinks you should be left vulnerable to armed thugs and rapists, and the front of the postcard featured a picture of a woman cowering in front of a man with a giant knife. The allegations are spun loosely from Sly's past legislative votes on use of guns.

That postcard and others like it are manifestations of a divide between moderate, or so-called "establishment" Republicans, who make up the biggest voting bloc in the Legislature, and extreme or so-called "ultraconservative" Republicans.

Over the past two years, the moderates have helped Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard pass hundreds of millions of dollars in tax and fee increases for roads, bridges and teacher pay. Some Republican legislators also helped Daugaard block statewide regulations on bathroom and locker-room use by transgender people.

Motivated by anger about those actions, some ultraconservative Republicans, or "ultras," are waging insurgent campaigns to replace moderates in the Legislature, or to beat out moderates for open seats. Statewide, there are 22 legislative primaries Tuesday pitting Republicans against Republicans, compared to just four such contests among Democrats.

Both sides of the fractured GOP have been aggressive with campaign flyers that have filled voter mailboxes over the past few weeks, with the attacks becoming increasingly inflammatory and personal, moving beyond the traditional attack areas of gun rights and taxes. A closer look at the claims made in many flyers indicates that often, the senders use small snippets of legislation or an interpretation of what a measure might have done, and then magnify those into salacious messages.

Errors noted in taxation postcard

The recent tax and fee increases were among the first issues targeted in this campaign seasons flurry of postcards.

Moderate-leaning Republican candidates including Sly and Sen. Terri Haverly, both of Rapid City, were targeted with taxation-themed mailers that followed identical templates. When Haverly received the postcard about her, she was surprised to see that it claimed she voted 16 times for higher taxes.

I said, Holy cow, if I did that, Im not voting for me,' Haverly said in a recent phone interview.

She examined the postcard more closely and compared it with her voting record. It turned out that the card listed only 15 votes in its fine print, and one of those was a duplicate, dropping the actual number of votes cited to 14.

Some of the votes were for significant tax increases, but some of the votes were for fee increases requested by state agencies and approved unanimously or nearly unanimously by the Legislature. One of the votes, for example, was in favor of a bill that changed a number of copying fees charged by the Secretary of States Office from $1 to $2.

One of the bills listed on the postcard as receiving a supporting vote from Haverly, Senate Bill 150 during the 2015 legislative session, was actually never considered by any of the Senate committees that Haverly served on, or by the full Senate.

Haverly sent out her own postcard to debunk the claims about her voting record. Referencing the dubious math used to add up the number of her supposed pro-tax votes, Haverly's postcard offered this advice to voters: "Check your mailbox for false attack ads that don't add up ... literally!"

Cards connected to gun owners group

The taxation-themed postcards against Haverly and Sly were sent by the South Dakota Taxpayers Political Action Committee, which is registered to Ken McGregor, of Box Elder. The source of the committees funding has been effectively concealed until after Tuesdays election because of the way the committee reported its finances.

The committees pre-primary campaign finance report, filed May 27, showed no income and only $320.64 on hand at the beginning of the reporting period. Yet the committee reported spending $7,000 on expenditures incurred but not yet paid. In other words, the payment of the expenses and the funding to cover them wont show up until a future report.

Older campaign finance reports reveal that the committees only source of funding for the past few years was the South Dakota Gun Owners PAC, which is registered to Ray Lautenschlager at a Rapid City address. The South Dakota Gun Owners PAC gave the South Dakota Taxpayers PAC donations of $712.96 and $9,000 during the 2014 election cycle.

South Dakota Gun Owners has sent mailers of its own this campaign season, including the one that labeled Sly as a candidates who accepts assaults and as a rape-enabler. That postcard cited a number of gun-related bills that Sly voted against, many of which had only one or a few sponsors among the 105-member Legislature and never made it past the committee level.

The South Dakota Gun Owners PAC reported receiving its money so far this election cycle from the separate South Dakota Gun Owners nonprofit organization, which gave the PAC $10,000, and from the National Association for Gun Rights, which lists a headquarters in Virginia and gave the South Dakota Gun Owners PAC $8,000. Both the national and South Dakota gun owners groups proclaim that they take a no compromise approach to gun rights.

South Dakota Gun Owners is aligned with several Black Hills-area ultraconservatives who support that no-compromise approach. The group has endorsed and given money from its PAC to Sen. Phil Jensen, who is trying to fend off a challenge from Sly; Rep. Lance Russell, who is trying to unseat Sen. Bruce Rampelberg; and Tina Mulally, who is trying to unseat Haverly.

Ray Lautenschlager, who runs the South Dakota Gun Owners PAC, did not respond to a phone message or email from the Journal.

Cross-dressing photos used

Perhaps the strangest mailer this campaign season might be the one that features pictures of a male candidate in women's clothing.

That one came from the Prairie Country PAC, which has past ties to South Dakota Gun Owners. Prairie Country, registered to Richard Hilgemann and Ken Santema in Aberdeen, reported receiving $3,392 from the South Dakota Gun Owners PAC in 2014; so far this year, Prairie Countrys only major reported donation is $1,000 from Santema.

Some of that money was spent on a colorful flier sent to Republican voters in Legislative District 19, where ultraconservative former legislator Stace Nelson, of Fulton, is attempting a comeback. He is running for the partys nomination for an open Senate seat against political newcomer Caleb Finck, of Tripp.

The flier featured photos from Fincks Facebook page that showed him dressed in womens clothing. The photos were from Fincks college years, when he participated in South Dakota State Universitys Miss Homelycoming Pageant. Thats a tradition in which male students dress in drag for laughs as part of homecoming week festivities.

Those photos of Finck appeared on the flier alongside photos of Nelson from his previous legislative and military service.

Draft-dodging, adultery claims made

Ultraconservatives are not the only ones whove sent attack postcards. Rapid City businessman and former GOP legislator Stan Adelstein, who supports the more moderate Sly, donated $2,500 to his own All South Dakota PAC and used some of that money to send a postcard labeling Slys opponent, the ultraconservative Sen. Phil Jensen, as a draft-dodger.

Adelstein told the Journal he received a tip about Jensens Vietnam war-era draft status, followed up on it, and obtained records showing that Jensen was classified as a conscientious objector in 1972. The resulting postcard from Adelsteins PAC showed an excerpt from Jensens draft documents and posed this question in large lettering: Would you vote for a politician who refused to wear our countrys uniform?

Retribution arrived in mailboxes Friday when District 33 Republicans received a postcard that asked, "Who's behind Jacqueline Sly?" The postcard identified two people as the supposed masterminds of Sly's campaign: Adelstein, whom the postcard described as a "left-leaning millionaire," and another man described as a Democratic political operative. The postcard claimed that the operative, among other things, was a customer of the Ashley Madison website that serves married people seeking to have extramarital affairs.

In the postcard's fine print, it attributed the Ashley Madison claim to a website where email addresses can be searched to purportedly determine whether they were in a batch of hacked Ashley Madison accounts.

The Journal typed the operative's email, as listed on the postcard, into the search website. The site returned a message saying the email address was indeed found in the Ashley Madison hack; however, the message also said that Ashley Madison did not validate email addresses, and it's possible that somebody else accidentally or deliberately used the address.

Another adultery claim

The postcard with the Ashley Madison allegation came from the South Dakota Family Values PAC, which was registered this past Friday by Fred "Rip" Ryness, a Rapid City man who ran unsuccessfully for the Legislature from District 33 in 2014. The PAC sent an additional postcard claiming that a moderate-leaning Republican legislative candidate was also a customer of Ashley Madison.

The Journal chose not to name the political operative and legislative candidate who were the subjects of Ryness' postcards, because the Journal could find no independent verification of the allegations against them regarding the Ashley Madison website.

By waiting to form his PAC until after last week's deadline for pre-primary campaign finance reports, Ryness will escape having to disclose the source of his PAC's money until after Tuesday's election; in fact, he apparently will not have to file a campaign finance report until October. When the Journal asked him Friday to voluntarily disclose his PAC's funding source for this news story, he refused.

When asked if he is certain that the Ashley Madison accusations he made in the two postcards are true, he said, "I am, beyond a reasonable doubt."

It was necessary to disclose the Ashley Madison claims to voters, Ryness said, because a candidate's character is important. He added that using the information now could keep the targeted candidate from winning a Republican primary, which would then keep Democrats from using the information as a weapon in the general election.

More political postcards are probably arriving in Republicans' mailboxes this weekend, and if prior campaigns are any indication, the postcards might get even more vicious as Election Day draws nearer.

Sen. Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City, who is seeking re-election, said he has braced himself for attacks.

Weve got this kind of a battle going on now where there is an awful lot of innuendo and anecdotal stuff, and a lot of very loose treatment of issues and facts, and its unfortunate, Rampelberg said. Im just hoping there are enough common-sense people out there who recognize that and do their best to become knowledgeable and vote accordingly.

 This story has been modified from its original version. It originally said that a promised email from Rip Ryness containing instructions to download information about the Ashley Madison hack had not arrived by Friday evening. The Journal later learned that Ryness sent the email, but it was quarantined by a spam service and was not available for viewing by the Journal until after this story's deadline.
Rapid City teachers are divided over a proposal that would upend their existing pay structure to the benefit of newcomers and to the perceived detriment of veteran educators.

Rapid City Education Association president Sue Podoll says the crux of the discontent is educators will no longer be rewarded with salary increases based on their years of experience and higher levels of personal education.

Theyre basically telling me that my 11 years of experience, my degree, and my passion for my job dont mean as much as someone fresh out of college, said teacher Sabrina Henriksen.

Meanwhile, newer teachers like Taryn Thomas stand to benefit a great deal from the districts proposal, which would take incoming educators from $40,000 to $50,000 in six years.

Thats life changing, said Thomas, a second-year Rapid City educator.

Podoll said emotions are running high since last weeks announcement that 2016-2017 contract negotiations had fallen apart. A slim majority of the RCEAs membership voted against the districts proposal to replace the existing pay structure.

The districts contract package raises teachers base salary from $32,000 to $40,000. Incoming teachers with no experience also would receive a $2,000 yearly raise for six years until reaching a $50,000 annual salary. Any raises beyond that point would be subject to annual contract negotiations, and depend on how much money is available from the state.

To reach $50,000 under the current pay schedule, a teacher needs to work in the district for more than 15 years and have 45 graduate credit hours.

Current salaries are determined by stepsyears of employmentand lanesthe level of personal education. For example, a teacher with six years of experience and a bachelors degree makes $34,922. A teacher with six years of experience and a masters degree makes $40,604.

The districts present salary schedule has nine lanes for levels of personal education and 20 steps for years of experience. The cap is $63,656, for 20 years of service with a doctorate.

Sabrina Henriksens salary under todays pay schedule is $46,556. She has a masters in education degree and more than a decade of experience. Under the districts proposal, her pay would increase $3,444 to $50,000, the same as a newcomer would make in six years.

There are teachers in my building that will make the same as I do with only five years and a bachelor's degree, Henriksen said.

That prospect frustrates her and other veteran teachers who have struggled financially for years, working extra jobs and investing in their own personal education to gain salary boosts one small step at a time.

Henriksen says she feels slighted and sees little reason for teachers with higher degrees to stay because the district wont reward their efforts.

If I were a new teacher coming in, I would jump all over that new $40,000 pay scale. I would get my masters degree then leave, Henriksen said. Were going to be a training ground. Were going to have new teachers every five years. And thats not a good long-term plan.

Thomas, the second-year teacher, sees things differently.

I think the districts proposal was great, she said. I think it definitely will attract people.

Thomas currently makes $32,000. If the district proposal goes into effect at the start of the 2016-2017 fiscal year on July 1, she would immediately receive a $10,000 raise.

The districts proposed salary system does not recognize teacher education levels, instead matching pay to years of experience, at least for the first six years. Thats how Thomas, who is heading into her third year, would see her salary bumped up right away to $42,000, the amount all third-year teachers would make, regardless of education level.

Other Rapid City teachers now earning within the range of $34,000 after working here for six years or more, would gain up to $15,000 to bring their annual pay up to the $50,000 level under the new structure.

For newcomers like Thomas, the rapid inflow of such a large amount of money would be a game changer. As a single mother of two children with plenty of student loan debt, she says she has had to work extra summer jobs to scrape by. A higher salary with guarantees of significant raises for the next few years would relieve some of that pressure, and make pursuing a masters degree a bit more affordable, Thomas said.

Thomas understands why veteran teachers are unhappy, but thinks much of the discussion has become clouded by bitterness.

Shouldnt we be doing a happy dance? Finally were getting somewhere, Thomas said. Those veterans started out at a salary thats not OK. Its sad they had to go through that. But I think they should embrace the change as a win.

Angela Phillips also has taught in Rapid City for two years, but disagrees with Thomas outlook. Though the significantly larger salary is tempting, Phillips shares the concern of veteran teachers that the new system fails to reward the level of personal education.

I would receive a pretty healthy pay raise, but I voted no because I just received my masters and it was like (the district) was telling me that it didnt matter, Phillips said.

Philips, whose current salary is $38,670, has a total of six years of teaching experience, so her raise under the districts proposal would be $11,330 to bring her up to the $50,000 level.

Philips and Henriksen are worried about losing the sense of self-determination that comes with the current pay structure. Now, if teachers want a raise, they can pursue a graduate degree and move up the scale. The new system does away with that entirely.

I was torn, Phillips said. Is that money worth not having the acknowledgment of my higher degree? I could take the money and run or I could fight for having that acknowledgment. Its a hard position to be put in.

Under the original proposal submitted by the RCEA, the current steps and lanes structure would remain intact, albeit streamlined. The new base salary would have been $40,000, same as the districts proposal, and the system for advancing along the pay scale based on personal education would be retained.

But that system is old and unsustainable, said Assistant Superintendent Dave Janak. He said there simply isnt enough available money to finance the systematic raises the RCEA proposed.

The districts contract offer would use every cent of $5.2 million in new state money for teacher pay. The state only required the district to use $4.4 million for teacher salaries, but the districts new structure needs all the funding, Janak said. It also would require at least $1 million of capital outlay funds in addition to the more than $3 million already committed. Janak said financing the RCEAs proposed pay system would require even more money.

While he thinks the school board made a generous offer, Janak said he understands why veteran teachers are upset.

This is a huge paradigm shift for teachers. Period, Janak said. Not having that sequence anymore, and having had to struggle through that, which is what a lot of teachers for a ton of years had to do  Thats a pretty bitter pill for someone to swallow who had to fight tooth and claw to make it work.

The RCEA has 10 days from the announced impasse to request mediation from the South Dakota Department of Labor, according to James Marsh, director of the division of labor and management.

Podoll said RCEA members this weekend were discussing whether to pursue mediation.

She is frustrated the district did not make more of an effort to collaborate with the RCEA during negotiations.

It feels like an opportunity has been totally squandered here, Podoll said. If ever there was a time for the district administration and the RCEA working together to see how we could best put to use these new dollars, it would have been this year.
PIERRE | His name isnt on the ballot, but Gov. Dennis Daugaard has inserted himself into numerous GOP primary elections on Tuesday.

And how the results come in may be a referendum of sorts within his own political party over his handling of major issues over the past year, and could partly frame his final two years in office.

The Republican governor spent money from his campaign committee to help at least nine candidates seeking Republican nominations for Senate seats. He has thrown money behind a number of West River Republicans, and has failed to support their opponents in many GOP primaries on Tuesday.

How those nine contests come out will significantly shape the direction of the Senate Republican caucus for Daugaards final two years as governor.

Republicans are likely to keep majorities in the state Senate and House.

Standing against Daugaard is a tough opposition wing known by some as "ultra-Republicans."

The ultras candidates generally are trying to take out Republicans who voted to raise the state sales tax.

Many also disagreed with Daugaard over his veto which blocked legislation that would have required kids in public K-12 schools to use bathrooms based on their gender at birth.

A variety of states throughout the nation have since been battling over transgender bathroom laws.

Meanwhile, South Dakotas state sales tax rose to 4.5 percent on June 1.

Daugaard sought the $107 million increase to raise teacher salaries and to provide more property-tax relief, including businesses for the first time.

The tax rate had been 4 percent since 1969, except for two temporary periods to generate money to buy abandoned railroads and to create the REDI business-loan fund.

Daugaards involvement in the Republican legislative primaries this spring is relatively high.

In 2012, Daugaard gave money to five Republicans in legislative primaries. Two won.

Daugaard did not contribute to any Republican legislative candidates in the 2014 primaries, although he gave $1,000 each to Fred Deutsch of Florence and Kent Peterson of Salem, who were unopposed.

For the 2014 general elections, Daugaard donated $500 or $1,000 each to 24 Republican legislative candidates. All but three won.

Daugaard, who is term-limited and cant run for governor in 2018, began 2016 with more than $1.3 million in his gubernatorial campaign account.

Two significant political forces that have frequently disagreed in the past joined forces to help Daugaard win the sales-tax fight in the 2016 legislative session.

The political action committees of the South Dakota Education Association and the South Dakota Retailers Association have made major contributions to many of the same Republican primary candidates backed this year by Daugaard.

SDEA also made independent expenditures for mailing literature into five Senate districts in the Rapid City area.

On the other side, Rep. Elizabeth May, R-Kyle, made independent expenditures to help three "ultras" running in Rapid City legislative races.

The ultras coalesced somewhat around former Rep. Gordon Howie of Rapid City in the 2010 primary election for the Republican nomination for governor.

Daugaard, who was lieutenant governor, won the five-candidate primary in 2010.

The ultras found a new voice in 2014 as then-Rep. Stace Nelson of Fulton ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Former Gov. Mike Rounds won the five-candidate primary for U.S. Senate in 2014.

Nelson is running this spring for the Republican nomination to the state Senate. He faces Caleb Finck of Tripp in the primary. The incumbent, Sen. Bill Van Gerpen, R-Tyndall, didnt seek re-election. Daugaard supports Finck.

One of Nelsons top allies, Rep. Lance Russell of Hot Springs, is also running for a state Senate Republican nomination. Russell, who voted against the tax increase, is challenging Sen. Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City, who voted for the tax increase. Daugaard supports Rampelberg.

Another ultra, Sen. Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, faces a challenge from Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City. She led the House supporters of the tax increase and is term-limited in the House. Jensen opposed the tax increase. Daugaard supports Sly.

Sen. Terri Haverly, R-Rapid City, voted for the tax increase and now faces a primary challenge from Republican Tina Mulally of Rapid City. Daugaard supports Haverly.

Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, is term-limited in the Senate and is running for the House. Seeking his seat are Rep. Jeff Partridge, R-Rapid City, and Republican Janette McIntyre of Rapid City. Daugaard supports Partridge.

Partridge voted for the sales tax increase, after the House agreed to his amendment that would gradually reduce the tax if enough money came from the tax on remote sales by out-of-state merchants.

Another Daugaard tax-increase ally, Sen. Larry Tidemann, R-Brookings, is opposed for the Republican nomination by Doug Post of Volga.

The anti-abortion organization South Dakota Right to Life is supporting Post over Tidemann.

Republican activist Pat Powers of Brookings made an independent expenditure on Tidemanns behalf. Powers sent a postcard seeking votes for Tidemann for the Republican nomination and for himself for a Republican precinct post.

In 2014, former Rep. Lora Hubbel of Sioux Falls challenged Daugaard for the Republican nomination for governor. Daugaard won. This spring Hubbel is tangling once again with Sen. Deb Peters, R-Hartford. Daugaard is supporting Peters, who voted for the tax increase.

Daugaard also is supporting Sen. Alan Solano, R-Rapid City. Solano voted for the tax increase and was appointed to the seat by Daugaard three years ago. Richard Kriebel of Rapid City is challenging Solano for the Republican nomination.
PIERRE | A candidate seeking a Republican nomination to a legislative seat in the June 7 primary elections wrote a complaint to me a few days ago.

He didnt like his treatment by South Dakota Right to Life.

There was an obvious reason for the treatment. He didnt answer the organizations questionnaire. Consequently, he got a negative rating.

More so, the organization spent money through its political action committee to pay for a mailing sent into his district. The mailing opposed him and supported his two Republican opponents. The candidate said such questionnaires are a farce because people can lie.

Not to be harsh, but a person running as a Republican in South Dakota has to know the party officially opposes legalized abortion.

South Dakota Right to Life is anything but a farce. The platform of the South Dakota Republican Party directly reflects its anti-abortion position.

South Dakota Right to Life and other anti-abortion organizations are potent in Republican primary elections.

If youre running in a Republican primary in South Dakota, youre likely to be judged by many voters about whether you align with the Republican platform on this issue.

A handful of Republican primaries were decided on the abortion issue in the past decade or across South Dakota.

Republicans arent alone. A Democratic Senate primary will be decided Tuesday largely along the split within the Democratic ranks on legalized abortion.

South Dakota Right to Life spent some money in that contest, too.

The third contest targeted by South Dakota Right to Life involves a long-time Republican legislator who voted against the 20-week abortion ban this year. He has a primary opponent Tuesday as well.

The Legislature approved the 20-week ban, which South Dakota Right to Life organized. The Senate voted 21-14 for the measure, SB 72. The House of Representatives amended it and voted 59-7 for its version. The Senate gave the final OK to the House version 26-7. Then Gov. Dennis Daugaard quickly signed it into law.

Lawmakers have routinely added some restrictions year after year since the 1990s. Voters twice rejected near-total bans on abortion a decade ago.

Therein is the split in South Dakota. Voters routinely send super-majorities of Republicans to the Legislature. Republicans clearly oppose abortion in their platform. Yet voters clearly rejected the near-total bans on abortion.

Here is a look at the Republican platform adopted June 20, 2014, and its key provisions regarding abortion:

7.6 The South Dakota Republican Party reaffirms its long-standing historic support and respect for the sanctity of human life, including the unborn, the elderly, the chronically ill and the terminally ill.

7.7 The South Dakota Republican Party affirms that human life begins at conception.

7.8 The South Dakota Republican Party opposes abortion and supports the congressional ban on sex selection and partial birth abortion. We support those who provide alternatives to abortion or offer adoption services.

7.9 The South Dakota Republican Party opposes funding abortion providers with public resources.

The Right to Life questionnaire wasnt a farce. It is a litmus test for a Republican in South Dakota. A candidate ignores it at the risk of inviting attack and possibly defeat.
WASHINGTON | On Thursday, Donald Trump escalated his racist attacks on Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge hearing one of the fraud cases against Trump University.

The presumptive Republican nominee had already called the judge a "Mexican"  the Latino jurist was born in Indiana  and floated the allegation that Curiel's ethnicity biases him against Trump because of the candidate's immigration stance.

Trump had threatened to use the power of the presidency against the judge, saying "we'll come back in November" and people "ought to look into" the judge. Then, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal also on Thursday, Trump said Curiel's "Mexican heritage" presented "an absolute conflict" in hearing a case against him.

Yet that very afternoon, the highest ranking Republican official in the land, House Speaker Paul Ryan, endorsed Trump. Incredibly, one of the justifications cited in Ryan's reasoning was that he had talked with Trump about "the proper role of the executive." And he learned that the proper role of the executive is ... to threaten a federal judge in an overtly racist attack?

Republicans had better get used to such jarring juxtapositions, now that the party has embraced a man who traffics in racist politics and conspiracy theories.

Ryan's salute ends any doubt: The GOP is the Party of Trump. Ryan and his colleagues have bet their future, and that of their party, on Trump, and they now own what the volatile showman says and does. Ryan, after holding out for a month before embracing Trump, folded without any tangible concession. The speaker says he thinks Trump would support the House Republicans' agenda. But the reverse is already true: The Republican establishment has, with Ryan's capitulation, made Trump's agenda their own.

And what is that agenda? Let's consider some of the theories Trump has floated  and people such as Ryan are, with their endorsements, now countenancing:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered.

Rafael Cruz, Ted's father, was involved in the JFK assassination.

President Obama's wedding ring is inscribed "There is no God but Allah."

Bill Ayers wrote "Dreams From My Father."

Obama was born "Barry Soetero."

The Hawaii official who verified Obama's birth certificate was murdered.

Clinton administration official Vince Foster's suicide was really a murder.

A demonstrator who rushed the stage at one of Trump's rallies has ties to Islamic State.

The Islamic State pays the cellphone bills of Syrian refugees.

Trump is being persecuted by the IRS because he's a "strong Christian."

The government has falsified statistics on unemployment, Ebola, refugees, health insurance and immigration.

Global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese.

Vaccines cause autism.

These were among 58 conspiracy theories tallied up this week by People for the American Way, a liberal group, all documented with links to Trump's allegations. Better make that 59: Just hours after Ryan's endorsement, Trump declared that Clinton "killed four Americans in Benghazi." The list goes on: a U.S. general dipped bullets in pig's blood to shoot Muslims; Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11; Obama is a Muslim. All that's missing from Trump's ouevre is a theory about Area 51 and fluoridation.

Certainly not everybody who backs Trump supports everything he says. But Ryan and his colleagues, by embracing Trump, are making paranoia and racism  once limited to the dark corners of the Internet  mainstream. They are putting themselves, and their party, behind Trump's bigotry and conspiracy theories.

They are blessing Trump's recent attack on one of the few high-ranking Hispanics in the GOP, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and on his labeling Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., "Pocahontas" because she claimed to have Native American ancestry. The evening before Ryan's embrace of Trump, The New York Times reported the resignation of the head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee because of her discomfort with Trump.

They are legitimizing, too, Trump's attack on Curiel, in which he tries to disqualify a federal judge because of his ethnicity. He referred to the American-born Curiel as "the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican." This is reminiscent of how he referred to Obama: "We have a terrible president who happens to be African-American."

Surely Ryan and most of his GOP colleagues in Congress wouldn't allow such talk to cross their own lips. But in endorsing Trump, they have made his vile words the creed of the Republican Party. Win or lose, they have turned the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Trump.
WASHINGTON | If you look at the polls, it is clear who's winning in the 2016 presidential contest: Barack Obama.

There remains the technical impediment that the president is constitutionally barred from a third term. But the longer the campaign goes on, the higher Obama's approval rating rises. This should be bad for Donald Trump and good for the eventual Democratic nominee, almost certainly Hillary Clinton. But it is even better for Obama's legacy.

According to Gallup, which has been charting the nation's assessment of its presidents longer than anyone else, Obama's approval stands at 52 percent, compared with 44 percent disapproval. That may not look impressive but it is actually quite good for a president nearing the end of his second term; Ronald Reagan, by comparison, had 49 percent approval at this point in his tenure.

For most of last year, Obama's numbers were upside-down  more Americans disapproved than approved. So there are two obvious questions: What airport is going to be renamed Obama International? And why the turnaround?

I believe the increasingly warm feelings about the president must have something to do with the contrast between him and his potential successors. Trump and Clinton may be the most widely disliked major-party contenders ever (though Trump is arguably in a class of his own, with nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they would never, under any circumstances, vote for him as president.)

The speculation about when Trump will shift tactics and begin acting "presidential" is laughable. It should be clear by now that Trump is not only unwilling to change but incapable of doing so. Look at the way he continues to lash out at anyone he perceives as having slighted him  New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, for example, a potentially valuable ally whom Trump is determined to make into an enemy. Look at the news conference Tuesday at which he lashed out at a reporter, calling him a "sleaze," for having questioned Trump's record of charitable giving.

Then look at Obama. Whatever you think of his policies, not for a minute has he failed to comport himself with the dignity and gravitas required to serve as president. Never has he given the impression of acting out of pique rather than calculation. Never does he seem a threat to put ego-gratification above what he believes to be the best interests of the nation.

I'm setting a low bar here. The fact that Trump does not clear it has to engender a degree of fondness for Obama  and has to help Clinton, who does the gravitas thing just fine.

Another factor in Obama's rising approval has to be the realization that despite Republican proclamations of doom and gloom, on balance things are going pretty well. Slow but steady economic expansion has not only reduced unemployment to 5 percent but also perhaps begun to move the needle slightly on incomes. Consumer confidence, an important indicator, is up. The effect of the recovery hardly feels like a boom but is nothing like the total bust that Trump and other Republicans describe.

The president has been increasingly forthright in showcasing his administration's record  his remarks in Indiana on the economy this week sounded almost like a vintage Obama campaign speech. He has also demonstrated his intention to do everything he can to ensure that his successor is a Democrat who seeks to build on his achievements, not dismantle them.

Like many presidents in their final months, Obama is spending considerable time and effort on foreign affairs. Here, too, we see contrast and legacy. He has fundamentally changed the U.S.-Cuba relationship in ways that will be hard for anyone to reverse. He has continued to act with extreme caution in the Middle East, resisting calls for substantial deployment of U.S. combat forces. He made a bold statement against nuclear proliferation by visiting Hiroshima and hugging a survivor of the atomic bombing that turned the city into a smoldering wasteland  confronting the past without apology but with sober reflection.

Trump, on the other hand, believes it would be fine if Japan and South Korea got nuclear weapons of their own.

We tend to appreciate presidents more after they leave office. The inevitable reassessment of the Obama years seems to be starting early  perhaps in apprehension of the years to come. Even Obama's harshest critics have to admit he was a steady hand in the White House. Reflection upon this fact can only increase Clinton's chances against a man who prides himself on being combative, capricious and cocksure.
While we have many competitive races at the local level that will be decided on Tuesday, the same cant be said about what should be the centerpiece of the June 7 election  the race for president.

Even though the national media has for months devoted enormous resources to the Republican and Democratic races, South Dakota has had to settle for spectator status.

Only Democratic contender Bernie Sanders, who held brief campaign rallies on May 12 in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Pine Ridge, has made a trip to the state. The only other Democratic campaign visit was made by former President Bill Clinton, who was serving as a surrogate for his wife, Hillary, who thanks to superdelegates has what is called an insurmountable lead in the Democratic race.

On the Republican side, not a single serious presidential contender has visited this rock-solid Red State, and now that Donald Trump has clinched the nomination Tuesdays election has become a moot point.

But South Dakotan's frustrations are likely shared by those who did have the chance to vote in a system that many, including Trump and Sanders, say is rigged to benefit the political parties.

According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 38 percent of Americans have no confidence in how Democrats select their candidates and 44 percent feel the same way about the Republican Partys process.

The complaints revolve around the closed primary system, complicated caucuses and the Democratic Partys superdelegates, who are typically party insiders like former South Dakota U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, who long ago announced his support for Hillary Clinton.

Not only do many Americans feel disenfranchised by the professional political class, the process itself is not producing candidates that get many people excited as poll after poll shows that the presumptive nominees  Trump and Clinton  have unfavorable ratings of more than 50 percent.

In fact, the lack of enthusiasm for these two candidates could led to a low turnout in the November election, certainly an indictment on the state of politics in America, where it has become more about winning, feeding at the trough of special interests and consolidating power  and less about tackling the many challenges facing this nation.

But even though many Americans want to see the system changed, no quick fixes are likely as it would have to come from the same political parties that have a stranglehold on the process.

Fortunately, we do have many other good reasons to vote Tuesday with hotly contested city council, county commission and school board races here. And as we saw in the recent Deadwood mayoral election that was decided by a single vote, your voice still can be heard here and every vote can make a difference.
The Ravalli County attorneys office is not interested in giving Dr. Chris Christensen a second continuance on his trial for 400 felonies, including negligent homicide.

Christensen recently asked for a six month stay in his case, a years delay in the trial, return of cash and other items seized from his office and relief from his $200,000 bond.

Deputy County Attorney Thorin Geists response to Christensens motion last week could be summarized in a word  no.

Christensen was arrested in August 2015 for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to his patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Initially, Christensen was represented by a public defender, but District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton concluded that he was not indigent and allowed the Office of Public Defenders to rescind their appointment last December.

During four status hearings since that decision, Christensen said he was still seeking legal representation and claimed that he was considering filing bankruptcy, which could reopen the potential of requesting a public defender.

Geists response said Christensen has yet to file for bankruptcy or reapply for a public defender or hire a private attorney.

At several hearings, Christensen has maintained that he had no desire to represent himself in the complicated case.

Geist asked the court to set a hearing in which Christensen should appear with counsel to show why the matter shouldnt proceed to trial.

If Christensen fails to appear with counsel, Geist said he will ask the court to conduct an inquiry into Christensens level of diligence in finding an attorney.

If the court finds that Christensen hasnt been diligent in finding an attorney, then Geist said the court should conclude that he has waived his right to counsel.

In his motion, Christensen said that he essentially faces a death sentence in this case because if hes convicted, he would likely die in prison.

Christensen faces a prison term of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges.

In his response, Geist agreed that Christensen will, more probably than not, die in prison if he is convicted, but the sentencing range hasnt changed since the day he was charged.

The fact that the defendant (Christensen) has elected to play Russian roulette  by not taking the simple step of retaining counsel  does not constitute good cause to continue the trial date a second time, Geist wrote.

Christensens trial was originally set for February 2016, but was continued to Oct. 20 at Christensens request at a time when he was still being represented by the state Office of Public Defenders.

Geist said Christensen has had five months to retain an attorney, but, by his own admission, has only interviewed three in that time period.

Christensen has also told the court that he plans to file for bankruptcy and believes that will help his chances of getting a public defender. Geist said he hasnt done that either.

The defendants lack of diligence does not constitute good cause to continue the trial date again, Geist wrote.

Geist also objected to giving Christensen back $2,000 seized from his business. He said that money is proceeds from drug sales and will be used as evidence in the trial.

Considering the charges and the potential sentence, Geist said Christensens request for exoneration of bond should be denied as well.

Nothing about the defendants conduct in this case merits the Courts trust, Geist wrote. The District Court originally set bail in the amount of $200,000 and imposed certain conditions of releaseincluding that he would not practice medicine without approval from the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. The defendant almost immediately violated the District Courts order and started practicing medicine without the approval of the MBME.
To see the Whaley House through Doug Hagens eyes is to take a step back to a simpler time.

The historic white house on southeastern edge of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge dates back to 1877 when retired Indian agent Peter Whaley brought his wife and nine children to the Bitterroot Valley.

With sweat and muscle, they built a two-story home from square-hewn logs and then covered the outside with pine clapboard siding that was painted white.

The Whaley family was long gone when Hagens parents bought the place to raise their own family of three children.

Last week, the Great Falls man made the trip back to the refuge to deliver a 1940s-era panoramic photograph of his former home and his father tending his herd of milk cows.

My dad said the photographer climbed up on the fence and then let out a big shrill yell to get the cows to look at him when he took the photo, Hagen said, with a smile.

Over the past month, contractors have been working to stabilize the house. The hope is the building will someday be home to an interpretive center where visitors can learn about the days of Salish, the travels of Lewis and Clark, the valleys homesteaders and the beginnings of the wildlife refuge.

We want to be able to tell the stories about the transitions that have occurred on the landscape, said refuge manager Tom Reed. Thats our goal, but were still a ways off from that.

This round of work is expected to be completed in late June or early July.

It included jacking the house up off its shaky foundation, drilling piers 17 feet into the ground and placing steel beams under the old timbers that had served as the foundation.

In addition to that, workers built a cobble masonry structure around the foundation designed to match the old river rock and mortar placed there years ago. The windows have been redone. The siding repaired, the porches fixed and the chimney repainted. In the next few weeks, a new shake roof will be added.

The building is stable now, Reed said. After this, we should never have to touch the foundation again. It is disappointing to me that we werent able to finish the job.

The inside of the home still needs work. That will have to happen before the interpretive center can open.

On this day, its all about taking a walk down memory lane for Hagen.

At the back of the house, he stops and smiles.

This used to be covered in vines, he said. And right here, at this corner, there was a hive of bees. We left them alone. They never hurt anyone.

Hagens father ran a dairy on the place for years. The old dairy barn is now across the highway on a 40-acre tract still owned by the Hagen family.

It was hard work, Hagen said. Our cows ended up with Bangs disease and the next thing I knew, we were growing potatoes and sugar beets.

On the east side of the house, Hagen points to the place where the hired men used to eat. The addition to the original building was torn down years ago.

There was a bell from a steam engine that my mom used to call us all in, he said. The Flathead and Salish Indians used to come down and help us pick potatoes and raise sugar beets. At times, there were a lot of men working here.

At one point, the Hagen family tried their hand at making a value-added product by turning their potatoes into french fries that they sold to eateries in Missoula. The University of Montana was their largest customer.

More memories come in a rush as Hagen steps inside his childhood home.

As he looks around the kitchen, he shakes his head and grins.

Isnt it funny, he said. When you remember something from your childhood, it always seems like it was so much bigger.

Continuing his tour, Hagen remembers where the rolltop desk that had been hauled up the Missouri River on a steamer used to sit. Under the stairs, was a closet where his mother kept all the medicines and Band-aids.

My mother ended up being everyones nurse, he said.

Just up the stairs was the small room that he shared with his brother.

I cant tell you how many times I went up and down those stairs, he said. The only heat that we had up here came from downstairs. I suppose it was chilly at times, but I dont remember being cold.

What he does remember was that he lived in a house that was filled with everything imaginable.

Those people who lived through the depression never threw anything away, Hagen said. I think they just thought that they might need it someday so they kept everything.

Hagen has lived in Great Falls for decades now. Sometimes he considers the idea of moving back to the place where he grew up.

The problem is that its not the old Bitterroot that I left behind, he said. The Bitterroot Valley has changed a lot.

He stands back and takes one more look at the place where his childhood memories reside.

If the walls could talk, oh what stories they could tell, Hagen said. It was a wonderful place to grow up.
NIAMEY: Thirty soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed in a Boko Haram attack by hundreds of assailants on Friday on the southeastern town of Bosso close to the border with Nigeria, the Niger defence ministry said on Saturday.

It was the deadliest attack carried out in Niger by the Islamist group since April 2015, when at least 74 people, including 28 civilians, were killed at the Lake Chad island of Karamga.

The counter-offensive conducted early this morning helped to retake control of all the positions in the city of Bosso. The situation is under control, the defence ministry said in a statement. A sweep is ongoing in the area with the mobilisation of all land and air means.

Seven others from Niger and eight from Nigeria were injured in the attack that targeted a military post, according to the ministry, which reported several deaths among the assailants.

In a statement released later, Boko Haram claimed killing 35 soldiers and wounding nearly 70 from the Nigerien and Nigerian armies, according to the US-based jihadist monitoring service SITE. Boko Haram also said it seized a large quantity of weapons and ammunition during the attack.

The town of Bosso is part of the Diffa region, where many refugees and internally displaced people have sought shelter from Boko Haram violence elsewhere. The region has been targeted numerous times in attacks blamed on the militants.

Around 200 people took the streets on Saturday in the capital Niamey to voice support for the population in Diffa and to ask for an audit of military spending as they denounced a lack of results from army action.

Along with Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin, Niger has contributed troops to a 9,000-strong regional task force dedicated to fighting the group that has so far survived attempts by African armies to destroy it.

The terrorist threat remains a concern to our subre.
Guwahati, June 4: The Narayana Super-specialty Hospital has offered the Journalist Privilege Cards to the member-journalists of Guwahati Press Club. Over 175 health cards were distributed among the scribes in a function held today at GPC auditorium.

Senior officials of the north Guwahati based hospital including Amit G. Choudhury, Shantanu Bhattacharjee with other workers were present on the occasion. The first health card was

symbolically presented to senior GPC member-journalist Rupam Barua. Today's program was conducted by GPC secretary Nava Thakuria.

The privilege card will enable the scribes with their spouses for discounts on MRI, CT Scan, X-ray, Ultra Sonography and various laboratory tests besides priority in the admission. The hospital authority has also planned

for annual health check-up facilities for the card holders. Free ambulance service is also under consideration subject to the availability, informed the hospital authority.

Mentionable is that Narayana Super-specialty Hospital in northeast India was commissioned in December 2013 with 185 beds, under a 30 year public-private partnership initiative with Assam government. The hospital extends medical supports to the patients under the category of cardiac science, neuroscience and orthopaedics.

The hospital authority now plans to extend the benefits to the scribes based in other parts of the region. The GPC program was recognized as the starting point for the hospital's mission to support the media persons

working in the alienated part of India.
Kathmandu, Nepal: The internal rivalry of the CPN (UML) has taken a new height after senior leader duo Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal begun to exert pressure to the party Chairman and Prime Minister K .P. Sharma Oli to follow the nine point deal signed with the UCPN Maoist to handover the leadership of the government.

The leaders close to the Nepal and Khanal have been exerting pressure to the party leadership to follow up the nine point deal signed with the coalition partner Maoist regarding the leadership handover of the government.

However, the Prime Minister Oli has been denying about the so-called deal signed with the Maoist to handover the leadership of the government. The Maoist had brought the proposal regarding the leadership transformation after the budget but it was denied, Prime Minister Oli has a claim.

As not only the CPN Maoist Center but also the leaders from the UML begun to exert pressure to step down from the government, Prime Minister Oli has also been mulling about the defensive measures within the party and coalition partners.

In the standing committee meeting on Saturday, the leaders close to Nepal and Khanal had underlined the need of national consensus hinting to the deal with the Maoist stating that any deal signed with the coalition partners should be followed to pave the way to form a national consensus government.

It is said that Prime Minister and UML chairman Oli has also been consulting with the leaders close to him over the issue of government. Prime Minister Oli is ready to clear the way to form a national consensus government, but it should be proved first, a leader close to Oli said preferring anonymity.
Nepali Congress (NC) president Sher Bahadur Deuba

Pokhara, Nepal: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has alleged the incumbent government for distributing the national budget for the benefit of the cadres.

Speaking at a function at Pokhara of Kaski district on Sunday, Nepali Congress president, who is also the three times Prime Minister of the country, accused the government of distributing the budget on its own sweet will.

The budget present by the government is a distributive budget just to benefit the partys cadres but not for the overall development of the country, Deuba said.

The government has no capacity to collect the money but distributed the collected money by the previous government, Dueba said.
KUNMING, CHINA:For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms.

In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China.

From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project.

The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. As Chinas economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas.

But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbors protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavorable financing conditions.

They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and canceled its part of the project in 2014.

For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

LAND-LINKED

In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began.

The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December.

Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said.

It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane.

Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked.

"There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that."

The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled.

They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favorable for China.

Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese.

"The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues.

Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said.

With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said.

UNREALISTIC

China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being unrealistic.

Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidized, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.

"You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge."

After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border.

"They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route.

"I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said.

Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea.

"The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China.

Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering.

"We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster."

BIG GAP

The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming.

Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centers.

But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads.

Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town".

"One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't."
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 Clinton and Obama, crime and punishment | Main | Using the border agent case as a catalyst for federal sentencing reform 

January 28, 2007

The case against supermax

This week's Time magazine has this strong article entitled "Are Prisons Driving Prisoners Mad?". The article discuss the mental torture and negative consequences of how prisoner's are treated in Supermax prisons. Here are some snippets:

The U.S. holds about 2 million people under lock and key, and 20,000 of them are confined in the 31 supermaxes operated by the states and the Federal Government.... The origin of solitary confinement in the U.S. is actually benign. It was the Philadelphia Quakers of the 19th century who dreamed up the idea, establishing a program at the city's Walnut Street prison under which inmates were housed in isolation in the hope of providing them with an opportunity for quiet contemplation during which they would develop insight into their crimes. That's not what has happened.... By the 1830s, evidence began to accumulate that the extended solitude was leading to emotional disintegration, certainly in higher numbers than in communal prisons. In 1890 the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in, deploring solitary confinement for the "semi-fatuous condition" in which it left prisoners. The case was narrow enough that its effect was merely to overturn a single law in a single state, but the court's distaste for the idea of solitary was clear. "The justices saw it as a form of what some people now call no-touch torture," says Alfred W. McCoy, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of the book A Question of Torture. "It sends prisoners in one of two directions: catatonia or rage." Modern science has confirmed this, with electroencephalograms showing that after a few days in solitary, prisoners' brain waves shift toward a pattern characteristic of stupor and delirium. When sensory deprivation is added ... the breakdown is even worse. As long ago as 1952, studies at Montreal's McGill University showed that when researchers eliminate sight, sound and, with the use of padded gloves, tactile stimulation, subjects can descend into a hallucinatory state in as little as 48 hours.

Though this article notes some lawsuits over Supermax conditions, I remain amazed that there is far more litigation about a few minutes of possible physical torture that might accompany lethal injection for a few convicted murderer than there is about the indefinite mental torture being suffered by thousands of prisoners in Supermax facilities.

Some related posts:

UPDATE : Steven K. Erickson at Crime and Consequences has this strong post discussing prison conditions and mental conditions. It ends with this notable observation: "What most inmates desperately need are good social peers. I think prison ministries are an excellent idea and have witnessed their positive outcomes. I'm perplexed at the tremendous opposition to them." I could not agree more.

January 28, 2007 at 04:37 PM | Permalink

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 Supermaxing the Brain from Crime and Consequences

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Comments

Given that, for the most part, people who get to Supermax deserve their fate, I don't have a ton of sympathy--surprise surprise. But with all the psychiatric research, have they found ways to make solitary easier.

Posted by: federalist | Jan 28, 2007 6:18:03 PM

What they have done is to make it more dangerous for the staff. It has been known for centuries that solitary can result in insanity for some but not all individuals. It may be it makes a preexisting mild problem severe. I don't think that making people insane is a legitimate sanction it is just another example of criminal indifference.

Posted by: John Neff | Jan 28, 2007 8:36:23 PM

If the services provided by Prison Ministries had been paid for with non-governmental funds it is unlikely that they would have been taken to court. Once it became clear that the Iowa legislature was not prepared to end funding the court case became unavoidable. In preparing the case other irregularities in the Prison Ministries program were exposed.

I don't think there is any significant opposition to ministry in prisons. The Quakers and other churches have had prisoner support programs for many years.

Posted by: John Neff | Jan 29, 2007 8:45:35 AM

Federalist, You dont seem to get it. Deserved their fate is circular. Setting aside the smaller issue of how much money to spend, and staff safety, the issue here is whether people in such prisons, DO in fact, deserve their fate.

As a constitutional matter, the 8th Amendment posits that no matter what the crime, there are some fates that nobody deserves. The set of fates that nobody deserves is, of course, open to debate. But your analysis is strangely conclusory, since you conclude that these people do, in fact, deserve their fate. Reference to judicial processes does not help your argument since juries do not determine what kind of prison a person will be sentenced to. Judges can only make recommendations, so that doesnt help your argument, either.

Secondly, as a more general matter, it may well be that public policy militates against extreme isolation. But, you would need to address those issues more fully.

Posted by: S.cotus | Jan 29, 2007 12:22:37 PM

Doug, the reason there isn't more litigation over solitary confinement, etc., is money. The cases are capped by the PLRA (Thanks, Clinton) to a ridiculously low amount and no corporate firm's pro bono dept will take the cases, even if the pro se prisoner can get to court through the maze of administrative exhaustion and make a claim that would merit appointment of counsel without legal materials etc.* Public interest outfits simply can't handle the load. On the other hand, lethal injection claims are often brought by public defenders' offices who are precluded from making claims that don't relate to the sentence or its execution, upon penalty of losing their funding.

You don't seriously think that people litigating LI claims don't care about prison conditions, do you?



* It's worth noting that ADA claims aren't subject to the PLRA fee cap.

Posted by: | Jan 29, 2007 5:52:22 PM

The firm of Stohl Reeves denied Christmas bonuses to associates who worked too many pro bono hours (for prisoners). Word is the associates have learned their lessons and won't be doing that again. Too bad - they had done some good work.

Posted by: rothmatisseko | Jan 30, 2007 9:39:34 PM

I am the Mother of a Supermax Son at Red Onion. My exhusband and i got seperated and he got coustody of our three sons, until i could get a job and a place of my own. I had reasonable visitation rights is what the judge ordered. One summer in 19 years was all I got with them, and no help at all to help me fight him. Now on October 3,07 I heard from my oldest son and he informed me that my middle son was in prison serving a 63 year sentence. Now I had to search and knock on doors and emails to get what little information that i have. I wish I could explain to you what I am going thru but I do not know how too. He is my son, no matter what. He was 20 years old in a Supermax prison, in my heart I just served 19 year sentence from their dad all because he did not want me to them, and now another 63 years is added on!!I know very little about the crime[s], yet my gut instinct says there is more to this than what was told. I can not shake this, I've tried,but I do not think that he got the best for a defense, haven't you ever just had a gut feeling that went past what you could explain, and you just could not shake it, it just stays with you strongly? It is my hope that you have, then you will begin to understand. How do I get anyone to listen? How do I get help? Why is driving an inmate insane right? Why is excessive force to isolate people called 'Rehablitation?" Why? Is it better to treat them as mad, or insane, just to justify to the cruel harsh punishment, only to cover up the fact that the system is driving themmad/insane? Because I'm poor I don't count, because I have no money makes me not qualify for help? Why all the double standards? Why is it that people can work in this country pay state and federal taxes allowed illegaly and they get help,why? I'm a momma, and a taxpayer,born in this country, and yet people like me fall thru cracks and our children are wrote off and no one wants to help, this isn't freedom, its entrapment of the worst kind, and I'm tired of paying.Can anyone see or understand my point of view? I have been reading alot on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and am appauled at amonut of injustice done and no one sees or cares to do anything about it for fear they will upset their peers, get over it! We the people need you in truth and in justice to make a stand and stay put, if it were your children, would you do what I am doing? I hope so, cause they need us to be with them, not agaisnt them, to hear them in truth which holds the hand of integrity, as it embraces Rehabilitation to becomming productive people and instills faith with a moral consciouse, giving conviction a release in this fight of freedom. My children,your children, Americas children, they all need us to answer the call. i find it sad when the only one's who reach out to help these inmates are the prison ministries, cause even these ministries need us as a united unit to lift them as they answer their call and walk beside my son, your son, americas son's and daughters.

Thank You,

Wendy S Ryals

Posted by: wendy ryals | Oct 18, 2007 1:56:16 PM

Excuse me while I cry over bloodthirsty prisoners being driven mad from having to suffer the torment of being alone with their pathetic selves.

Note: Liberalism is a mental disorder.

Posted by: Eric Wood | Apr 7, 2010 5:53:29 AM

if you cant do the time, dont do the crime. Im sick of liberals and their political correction policy. ohh, supermax is torture. then the same people argue that since the budget shortfalls and the down economy, why not just let some of the prisoners out to save money... is commmon sense gone? they are so open-minded their brains must have fallen off. seriously, if you are a victim of one of these criminals, dont you think they deserve to be there? they are there because they deserve to be there , PERIOD. if you still think that solitary is a more torturous sentence than death, then line them up, put them on their knees and start a executing.

Posted by: c.a.f. | May 11, 2010 5:03:40 PM

If you all knew Wendy the way I do. she is a big phoney. She's livin up on Redneck hill, and preaches to everyone. Only she is one nasty hipocrite. She smokes and drinks, and lives off other people. Then she makes people feel sorry for her and they take her in. She makes a livin off doing that. Sick! Oh and by the way your son in prison. Mutilated someone and you wanna try and get him off. what about that poor person. What about that person's family. May your son rott in hell. All the prayin and preachin in the world will never get him out.

Posted by: CJ | Nov 18, 2010 12:40:52 PM

haha not! You don't pay taxes da76 does. What job do you do? You don't you're always at the trailer trash. You never leave, how the hell does that constitute you having a voice on anything about the constitution or bill of rights. Furthermore the bible. the lord helps those who helps themselves. Your poor because you chose to be, Get off your lazy ass and get a job. Your son in Red onion. He is going to hell for sure, is that why you keep preaching and judging everyone else but yourself. that is truely Narsasistic behavior Wendy. I'm glad you don't have your kids, your past is why. Druggie....Alcoholic trailer trash...

Posted by: Mosersgrocery | Nov 18, 2010 12:51:33 PM

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Posted by:    | Jan 3, 2011 8:04:45 AM

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March 10, 2009

Effective NPR coverage of supermax prisons and solitary confinement

Thanks to this post at How Appealing, I discovered that National Public Radio has recently run a series of effective pieces on supermax prisons and solitary confinement. Here are the links as assembled there:

March 10, 2009 at 04:45 PM | Permalink

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March 29, 2009

Why isn't there more constitutional litigation over the "hellhole" that is extended solitary confinement?

Today I finally found the time to read this terrific examination of solitary confinement appearing in the March 30 issue of The New Yorker. The piece by Atul Gawande is titled "Hellhole: The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?". Here are just a few choice snippets from a piece that merits a full read:

Most hostages survived their ordeal [involving solitary confinement] although relationships, marriages, and careers were often lost. Some found, as John McCain did, that the experience even strengthened them. Yet none saw solitary confinement as anything less than torture. This presents us with an awkward question: If prolonged isolation is  as research and experience have confirmed for decades  so objectively horrifying, so intrinsically cruel, how did we end up with a prison system that may subject more of our own citizens to it than any other country in history has?... Prison violence, it turns out, is not simply an issue of a few belligerents. In the past thirty years, the United States has quadrupled its incarceration rate but not its prison space. Work and education programs have been cancelled, out of a belief that the pursuit of rehabilitation is pointless. The result has been unprecedented overcrowding, along with unprecedented idleness  a nice formula for violence. Remove a few prisoners to solitary confinement, and the violence doesnt change. So you remove some more, and still nothing happens. Before long, you find yourself in the position we are in today. The United States now has five per cent of the worlds population, twenty-five per cent of its prisoners, and probably the vast majority of prisoners who are in long-term solitary confinement. It wasnt always like this. The wide-scale use of isolation is, almost exclusively, a phenomenon of the past twenty years. In 1890, the United States Supreme Court came close to declaring the punishment to be unconstitutional. Writing for the majority in the case of a Colorado murderer who had been held in isolation for a month, Justice Samuel Miller noted that experience had revealed serious objections to solitary confinement... Prolonged isolation was used sparingly, if at all, by most American prisons for almost a century. Our first supermax  our first institution specifically designed for mass solitary confinement  was not established until 1983, in Marion, Illinois. In 1995, a federal court reviewing Californias first supermax admitted that the conditions hover on the edge of what is humanly tolerable for those with normal resilience. But it did not rule them to be unconstitutionally cruel or unusual, except in cases of mental illness. The prisons supermax conditions, the court stated, did not pose a sufficiently high risk to all inmates of incurring a serious mental illness. In other words, there could be no legal objection to its routine use, given that the isolation didnt make everyone crazy. The ruling seemed to fit the public mood. By the end of the nineteen-nineties, some sixty supermax institutions had opened across the country. And new solitary-confinement units were established within nearly all of our ordinary maximum-security prisons. The number of prisoners in these facilities has since risen to extraordinary levels. America now holds at least twenty-five thousand inmates in isolation in supermax prisons. An additional fifty to eighty thousand are kept in restrictive segregation units, many of them in isolation, too, although the government does not release these figures. By 1999, the practice had grown to the point that Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Virginia kept between five and eight per cent of their prison population in isolation, and, by 2003, New York had joined them as well. Mississippi alone held eighteen hundred prisoners in supermax  twelve per cent of its prisoners over all.... This past year, both the Republican and the Democratic Presidential candidates came out firmly for banning torture and closing the facility in Guantanamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners have been held in years-long isolation. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain, however, addressed the question of whether prolonged solitary confinement is torture. For a Presidential candidate, no less than for the prison commissioner, this would have been political suicide. The simple truth is that public sentiment in America is the reason that solitary confinement has exploded in this country, even as other Western nations have taken steps to reduce it. This is the dark side of American exceptionalism. With little concern or demurral, we have consigned tens of thousands of our own citizens to conditions that horrified our highest court a century ago.... In much the same way that a previous generation of Americans countenanced legalized segregation, ours has countenanced legalized torture. And there is no clearer manifestation of this than our routine use of solitary confinement  on our own people, in our own communities, in a supermax prison, for example, that is a thirty-minute drive from my door.

The article's efforts to draw parallels in this last paragraph to segregation and GTMO help spotlight my own belief that constitutional lawyers and policy policy groups have been complicit, at least indirectly, in the growth of solitary confinement in prison nation. A generation ago, many civil rights lawyers and policy policy groups attacked segregation through constitutional court battles. And, in modern times, many lawyers and public policy groups have be actively attacking GTMO, as well as just about every aspect of the death penalty. But, while a few hundred accused terrorists and murderers have lots and lots of constitutional lawyers and activists running to court on their behalf, many thousands of lesser criminals confined to the hellhole of supermax prisons languish with very few persons even thinking about their plight, let alone fighting in court on their behalf.

Some related posts:

UPDATE: NPR's program "All Things Considered" had this segment on the article and the topic of solitary confinement. Here is the set up:

Humans are social animals; deprived of regular contact, we lose our minds. And that's just what's happening in solitary confinement cells across the country  that according to surgeon and author Atul Gawande, whose article in the current issue of New Yorker magazine looks at the effects of extended solitary confinement. Gawande talks to host Jacki Lyden about the personal toll of solitary confinement.

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Oh, the poor dears.

Posted by: federalist | Mar 29, 2009 9:07:08 PM

Berman: I suggest your working a single shift in a state prison. Then talk your criminal lover gibberish.

Show us how you manage the flinging of bodily fluids, an attempt at shanking you, and repeated batteries of prisoners and guards, physical and sexual. Show us.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 29, 2009 9:57:52 PM

Berman: Where is the evidence that solitary confinement causes any validated mental illness? A third of the prison beds are filled by straight mental patients, anyway. Thank the lawyer for preventing treatment of people needing it. Mental illness causes solitary confinement. With the lawyer protecting their rights to remain insane, and to refuse treatment, all that is left is removal.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 29, 2009 10:13:50 PM

The first evidence that solitary confinement caused mental illness was from the Eastern State Penitentiary built in 1829 using the Quaker idea that all prisoners should be held in solitary confinement. Many of them became insane and the practice was abandoned except as a temporary punishment tactic. There have been numerous articles about this problem and there is a large body of evidence that shows that solitary confinement can both induce and aggravate mental illness.





Posted by: John Neff | Mar 29, 2009 11:02:25 PM

I am a gradaute of Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia Law School (J.D.1987). I was convcited of white collar crimes, see, U.S. v. bollin, Gormley & Tietjen, 264 F.3d 391 (4th Cir.2001), and have never done anything violent in my life. Nevertheless, during my 8 years in the federal Bureau of Prisons, I was held in the Special Housing Unit (a/k/a, "the Hole") for 3 1/2 of those years. During my 19 months at F.C.I. - Manchester, Ky., I was held in the Hole, on 23 hour lockdown in an 8' x 12' cell for 16 out of 19 months. I was most recently released in September 2008, and am being treated for depression and suicidal ideations. Prolonged isolation in The Hole in prison is a form of psychological torture, with long-term consequences, but the public doesn't really know what goes on inside prisons and is done in their names.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Mar 29, 2009 11:17:12 PM

If you spend much time visiting prisons you may be aware of the work ethic and work load of the prison employees. I'm always quite interested in TV programs that attempt to show how overworked the staff is. In reality' there are many employees who do one task accompanied by back ups. Lots of down time and, casual conversation etc.

This is an industry with a strong union and lots of media support for their position. "Reality

Shows" do not give the public accurate information, as most of the subjects have lots of acting skills. Don't get your information from them, you will not be informed

Posted by: beth | Mar 29, 2009 11:59:11 PM

This is yet another example of how bad public policy becomes when we treat the average or normal person instead of the individual. There is indeed research that shows that solitary confinement can be a psychologically painful experience. Just the same way people find aging, "empty nest syndrome" and other life experiences painful that others seem not to notice at all. Does this mean that solitary confinement is torture? For some people yes, for others no. Indeed, at various times in human history people subjected themselves to solitary confinement willingly (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorite).

"If prolonged isolation is  as research and experience have confirmed for decades  so objectively horrifying, so intrinsically cruel." This pure BS. There is nothing intrinsically cruel about solitary confinement as a pan-human psychological matter.





Posted by: Daniel | Mar 30, 2009 1:18:42 AM

I await a reference to a scientifically validated study of the induction of a new mental illness by solitary confinement in a previously normal person, outside of stress reactions. Stress is the aim of punishment, and is normal, not a mental illness.

Perhaps, the left is pretextually using untreated mental symptoms that pre-existed and caused the confinement to further its pro-criminal agenda. Why does the left love the criminal and seeks to protect it from any measure that would lower crime? The above comment implied it, jobs. High pay, low skill work, and plenty of government jobs.

That is called Rent Seeking, a polite phrase for armed robbery.

What is next for the criminal lover left? Ban time out in the Thinking Chair outside the Kindergarten class. Why? Because it violates the human rights of the violent kindergarten student.

Again, not a word about the V word of these isolated criminals. Berman, I am sure, your local prison would extend the courtesy of allowing you to shadow or be a guard for a shift. Show us the proper left wing method of managing the feces flinging felon, the shank shoving bully, the serial rapist of fellow prisoners, the crime boss directing murders of witnesses from prison.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 30, 2009 7:11:58 AM

I welcome a return to reasoned public discourse post-2008. Proposing prison reform and a critical analysis of the efficacy of solitary confinement is not a vote against guards and in favor of prisoners. Prison administrators (in Britain--read the article) have found that constructive alternatives work far better in "controlling" problem prisoners than does solitary confinement. Guards are ultimately safer in such a system. In the meantime, guards should be better trained, better educated, better supervised, and better paid. And psychologically screened.

Posted by: t | Mar 30, 2009 10:42:38 AM

What are you going to do with entrenched gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood and other race-based prison gangs?

Posted by: federalist | Mar 30, 2009 11:06:04 AM

T: Let me understand correctly. If you give violent prisoners what they want, and "empower" them, they will not beat you up anymore. Is that what the British are saying? I bet I could do better than the British by giving the ultra-violent prisoners heroin, in prison, by having catered meals, by bringing in prostitutes, by paying them protection money for every day they do not beat up people.

I still await validated studies showing solitary confinement causes any mental disorder that did no exist before the confinement.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 30, 2009 3:28:51 PM

We have non violent first offenders in maximum security facilities. In deed, we have non violent first offenders in solitary.

There are very violent prisoners who need this control, but we are not very good at making these determinations.

Posted by: beth | Mar 30, 2009 4:16:30 PM

"It wasnt always like this."

Right. A lifer who committed a new crime of violence within prison once faced a serious threat of execution. Some states even had mandatory capital punishment for new murders by lifers. But Justice Blackmun said it wasn't necessary, because more restrictive confinement would do. Sumner v. Shuman, 483 U.S. 66, 84 (1987).

Posted by: Kent Scheidegger | Mar 30, 2009 5:35:11 PM

A state should have the right under the Constitution to have a mandatory death penalty for those who commit murder or attempted murder while incarcerated.

Posted by: federalist | Mar 30, 2009 5:38:54 PM

I watched a documentary on public television a couple weeks ago. Animal rights advocates were advocating for monkeys. Based on scientific studies as well as observations by the animals "keepers" the monkeys in isolation in small confined cages soon began to tear off their skin and bit themselves. The animal advocates appealed to our humanity. I never heard of advocates defending human beings before. Yes, many inmates are mentally ill and were so before being given interrogations. If they were too mentally ill to understand, they were convicted and if they are too mentally ill to do what the CO's tell them, they get put in the hole. I am really concerned about the regression of morals and plain old humanity in America in this time.



Posted by: Donna | Mar 30, 2009 8:55:50 PM

Update question: Again where are the data that solitary causes any mental illness. It causes a little stress, and people might yell. However, it is punishment. If people don't like it, let them stop raping others, flinging fluids, and engaging in additional crimes, both organized and disorganized. This is for their welfare. An alternative is the impromptu, informal header down the metal steps.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 31, 2009 6:24:14 AM

As to the New Yorker article, the author is a left wing, biased partisan. He is writing incompetently outside his specialty of neurosurgery. The article is naive, wrongheaded, and misleading. For example, the isolated rhesus monkeys were quite healthy. Babies learn behavior by imitating. If their role model is a static cloth covered object, they will act like that. Is that considered a significant discovery, that babies imitate? We would love it if prisoners acted like a cloth covered object.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 31, 2009 6:33:23 AM

There is a federal statute labeled the Prison Litigtion Reform Act or some such oxymoron which limits Section 1983 litigation. Someone help us out on this one.

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March 24, 2015

Justices Kennedy and Breyer urge Congress to reform "broken" federal criminal justice system

This new ThinkProgress piece, headlined "Supreme Court Justices Implore Congress To Reform The Criminal Justice System  Its Not Humane," effectively reports on the notable comments made about criminal justice reform by two Justices who were testifying before Congress on budget issues yesterday. Here are some of the details:

The prisons are one of the most misunderstood institutions of government. Solitary confinement drives individuals insane. And mandatory minimum sentences are a bad idea. These were the assertions of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer in testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee Monday afternoon. Asked by Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) about United States capacity to deal with people with our current prison and jail overcrowding, each justice gave an impassioned response in turn, calling on Congress to make things better. In many respects, I think its broken, Kennedy said of the corrections system. He lamented lawyer ignorance on this phase of the justice system: I think, Mr. Chairman, that the corrections system is one of the most overlooked, misunderstood institutions we have in our entire government. In law school, I never heard about corrections. Lawyers are fascinated with the guilt/innocence adjudication process. Once the adjudication process is over, we have no interest in corrections. doctors know more about the corrections system and psychiatrists than we do. Nobody looks at it. California, my home state, had 187,000 people in jail at a cost of over $30,000 a prisoner. compare the amount they gave to school children, it was about $3,500 a year. Now, this is 24-hour care and so this is apples and oranges in a way. And this idea of total incarceration just isnt working. and its not humane. Kennedy, traditionally considered the swing vote among the current set of justices, recalled a recent case before the U.S. Supreme Court in which the defendant had been in solitary confinement for 25 years, and lost his mind. Solitary confinement literally drives men mad, he said. He pointed out that European countries group difficult prisoners in cells of three or four where they have human contact, which seems to work much better. He added that we havent given nearly the study, nearly enough thought, nearly enough investigative resources to looking at our correction system. Kennedys comments come just weeks after a federal review of U.S. solitary confinement policy also found that the United States holds more inmates in solitary confinement than any other developed nation. Confinement typically involves isolation in an often windowless cell with a steel door for 23 hours a day, with almost no human contact. The treatment has been found to have a psychological impact in as many as a few days, though, as Justice Kennedy pointed out, many are held for decades. In the wake of the new report, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called upon the Federal Bureau of Prisons to alter its practices. In his response, Breyer honed in on Womacks use of the word priorities to suggest that prioritizing long prison sentences was not the best use of resources. Do you want to have mandatory minimums? Ive said publicly many times that i think thats a terrible idea, Breyer said. And Ive given reasons, which Ill spare you. Is it worth your time on earth, or mine, to try to work out ways of prioritizing? I think it is, Breyer said. I think it is a big problem for the country. and so I cant do anything more in the next minute or 30 seconds other than say I like the word prioritize. I hope you follow it up. And I hope do you examine the variety of ways that there of trying to prioritize and then work out one thats pretty good. As far back as 1998, Breyer has called for the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences, which mandate minimum prison terms by law according to the crime, amount of drugs, or other factors, and give judges no discretion to lower those sentences. He has said they set back the cause of justice because they dont allow for exceptions depending on the circumstances of a given case. Particularly for drug crimes, they have sent low-level drug offenders to prison for sentences that start at 5 or 10 years and quickly ratchet up from there.

This Wall Street Journal article, headlined "Two Supreme Court Justices Say Criminal-Justice System Isnt Working: Justice Breyer says mandatory minimum sentences are 'a terrible idea'," provides some more notable quotes from the Justices.

March 24, 2015 at 09:51 AM | Permalink

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What a distressing and deep misunderstanding the Justices have of prison. The purpose is to protect the public. It is not to treat. Treatment is weak at best if not a total scam. You give a prisoner a PhD. He cannot get a job due to the fear of prosecution and litigation against employers for negligent hiring even if the misconduct is irrelevant to the criminal record, such as in a car crash.

Say he gets a $10 an hour job. How does that compare to $100 an hour for criminal activity? The guy would have to be a self defeating fool to waste his contacts, criminal skills, and ongoing business practice.

I have repeatedly referred to a scientifically valid study showing solitary confinement to not harm anyone, and to benefit some.

The Justices want more power for pro-criminal judges to impose their sicko personal biases and feelings on the entire nation. The nation rejected these biases because of the massive criminality they caused in the 1970's and 1980's.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 24, 2015 11:07:28 AM

The previous comment is so idiotic and probably bordering on being a slightly retarded one at that.

Posted by: 76ers | Mar 24, 2015 6:05:35 PM

76ers. Can you specify the mistakes. I have specified the errors of the Justices. Also, please disclose the fraction of your income that comes from government. We may then discount the credibility of your remarks by the same fraction. You are merely defending your criminal dependent big government income I am guessing. Certainly the two Justices are. In their case, the conflict of interest is 100%, and everything they say is economically self serving.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 24, 2015 9:43:50 PM

So 2 justices of the USSC indicate that mandatory minimums are a bad idea. But 81 yr old chuck grassley from Iowa, says they Re needed to catch terrists with drugs.

Mr Grassley has no education in law, yet is chairing the senate judiciary committee and has the power to squash agenda items before they hit the table for discussion.

Why is Grassley at 81 still in the federal govt. It shows that the pace and scope of one doesnt really matter. The old saying, close enough for govt work, covers this well.

Chuck, go home, look out the window. Have your morning cup if coffee and snooze on your own time. Let someone fill your spot that can stand on there own and contribute.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Mar 25, 2015 2:38:09 AM

The same may be said about vile feminist lawyer Ruth Ginsburg. Usually fatal pancreatic cancer did not slow her down. Despite her chemo brain and perpetual daytime sleeping, she just won't quit. It tells you about the power of hatred she feels of men and of this nation, keeps her going.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 25, 2015 7:07:10 AM

SC

I agree with you. Gensburg had a glass of wine and slept in front of the president and America.

My, she canr refrain from drinking in an important event like that. Its not a wedding reception.

My rule is 70 yrs old for any govt mainline job. They wouldnt cut out here in the jungle.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Mar 25, 2015 5:34:07 PM

"Can you specify the mistakes." - all your statements are based on biased assumptions "please disclose the fraction of your income that comes from government." - zero, I'm not a public employee, nor do I depend on tax dollars to support myself but I do pay more than my fair share and I'm not on the dole for anything.

Posted by: 76ers | Mar 25, 2015 6:44:06 PM

Can you specify more, because your analysis is mere bilious ipse dixit?

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 26, 2015 3:50:49 AM

Your original argument by authority is weak. Always, especially difficult to take when it comes from people who believe that they're intelligent.

Posted by: 76ers | Mar 26, 2015 2:19:12 PM

Common law has since the 1600s allowed a judge to reduce sentences. It is only recently that legislatures who think they know better have usurp the public judges power. The idea that anyone can say that if you do an act, that it automatically deserves a minimum sentence of so many years was struck down in the 1600s. Before dictators defined that type of justice, and the common people said "no more", and gave the power to local judges to try each case individually, allowing flexibility of punishment to fit the crime.

Posted by: VAGuy | Mar 26, 2015 4:17:45 PM

How is New York's crime rate lower despite lower incarceration rates that other states. Of course new york still has a high poverty rate in many areas.

SC's logic is flawed, weren't crime rates lower when sentencing rates and lengths were lower in the 1950s and 1960s, even in the 1920s LWOP were not common even murder could get you off in 20 years unless it was an important figure or 1st degree brutal one.

Posted by: Alex | Mar 30, 2015 1:21:04 AM

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June 22, 2015

"Justice Kennedy practically invites a challenge to solitary confinement"

The title of this post is the headline of this Los Angeles Times article which effectively reviews the remarkable (off-point) concurrence penned by Justice Kennedy in last week's SCOTUS ruling in a Davis v. Ayala. Here are excerpts:

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in an unusual separate opinion in a case, wrote that it may be time for judges to limit the use of long-term solitary confinement in prisons. His comments accompanying a decision issued Thursday marked a rare instance of a Supreme Court justice virtually inviting a constitutional challenge to a prison policy. Years on end of near-total isolation exacts a terrible price, he wrote. He cited the writings of Charles Dickens and 19th century Supreme Court opinions that recognized even for prisoners sentenced to death, solitary confinement bears a further terror and a peculiar mark of infamy. Sentencing judges and the high court have largely ignored the issue, Kennedy said, focusing their attention on questions of guilt or innocence or on the constitutionality of the death penalty. In a case that presented the issue, the judiciary may be required, he wrote, to determine whether workable alternative systems for long-term confinement exist, and, if so, whether a correctional system should be required to adopt them. Amy Fettig, an attorney for the ACLUs National Prison Project, said Kennedy's comments came as a welcome surprise. Its a remarkable statement. The justice is sending a strong signal he is deeply concerned about the overuse and abuse of solitary confinement, she said. States such as Virginia and Texas routinely put death-row inmates in solitary confinement, she said. They are automatically placed there. It has nothing to do with their being violent or their level of dangerousness, she said. This month, a federal judge in Virginia is weighing a cruel and unusual punishment claim brought by inmates on death row there, she noted. Kennedy usually joins with the courts conservatives in cases involving crime and punishment, but he has also voiced concern over prison policies that he deems unduly harsh. These include life terms for juveniles and long mandatory prison terms for nonviolent drug crimes. Four years ago, he spoke for a 5-4 majority that condemned overcrowding in Californias prisons and said it resulted in unconstitutionally cruel conditions.... Kennedy's comments drew a short, but sharp retort from Justice Clarence Thomas. The accommodations in which Ayala is housed are a far sight more spacious than those in which his victims  now rest. And, given that his victims were all 31 years or age or under, Ayala will soon have had as much or more time to enjoy those accommodations as his victims had time to enjoy this Earth, Thomas wrote.

June 22, 2015 at 08:31 AM | Permalink

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Another lawyer making decisions without knowing the subject. Several times I cited the study showing solitary confinement is beneficial, done by people trying to measure its harm.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jun 22, 2015 8:56:25 AM

S.C. George Orwell and Jonathan Swift agree with you: "solitary cofinement is beneficial."

Posted by: onlooker | Jun 22, 2015 9:05:31 AM

Short term solitary might be the best solution of a bad situation but years of solitary is a bad solution to a bad situation.

Posted by: Joe | Jun 22, 2015 10:03:41 AM

S.C. writes of a study that showing that "solitary confinement is beneficial." That study has as much credibility as the one showing that burning heretics was beneficial because it saved their souls.

Posted by: observer | Jun 22, 2015 1:27:32 PM

Criminal lover freaks here, I demand you disclose the fraction of your income that comes from government, directly to you, or indirectly to your employer. You are freaks. Elsewhere, people with my views are in the overwhelming majority, such as among guards who have to control the prisoner. I invite the criminal lover freaks here, volunteer for a shift as a guard, and show us how the proper way to control the out of control prisoner.

Here. This study is peer reviewed. It was carried out by fellow criminal lover freaks, and they got these results instead.

This propaganda will not go away.

Here is a well designed rebuttal that explains all findings, as opposed to the ipse dixits of these pro-criminal rent seekers.

http://www.jaapl.org/content/41/1/49.long

"Discussion

The results of this study were inconsistent with the hypothesis that inmates, with or without mental illness, experience significant psychological decline in AS. Intercept comparisons showed that baseline differences were largely related to mental health status. Segregated inmates with mental illness displayed more symptoms than did inmates without mental illness. Mentally ill inmates in segregation were fairly similar to their comparison groups, but, from the beginning of the study, non-mentally ill segregated inmates had more symptoms than their GP comparison group had. It should be noted, however, that all offenders, regardless of their mental health status, reported symptoms that were significantly elevated over normative community samples. Although the initial values showed group differences, the change function indicated significant change in psychological symptoms over time with early fast improvements slowing to stability. In contrast to the hypotheses, this pattern of change was similar in all five study groups."

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jun 22, 2015 8:47:51 PM

The income of Justice Kennedy is 100% government dependent. That is the sole explanation why an intelligent person could be so stupid.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jun 22, 2015 8:53:28 PM

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 Might SCOTUS soon (finally!) take up the constitutionality of solitary confinement? | Main | "Deadly Statistics: Quantifying an 'Unacceptable Risk' in Capital Punishment" 

June 5, 2016

Looking into the Wisconsin case looking into the use of risk-assessment tools at sentencing

The Wall Street Journal has this effective new article discussing the case now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court considering a defendant's challenge to the use of a risk assessment tool in the state's sentencing process. The article's full headline notes the essentials: "Wisconsin Supreme Court to Rule on Predictive Algorithms Used in Sentencing: Ruling would be among first to speak to legality of risk assessments as aid in meting out punishments." And here is more from the body of the article:

Algorithms used by authorities to predict the likelihood of criminal conduct are facing a major legal test in Wisconsin. The states highest court is set to rule on whether such algorithms, known as risk assessments, violate due process and discriminate against men when judges rely on them in sentencing. The ruling, which could come any time, would be among the first to speak to the legality of risk assessments as an aid in meting out punishments. Criminal justice experts skeptical of such tools say they are inherently biased, treating poor people as riskier than those who are well off. Proponents of risk assessments say they have elevated sentencing to something closer to a science. Evidence has a better track record for assessing risks and needs than intuition alone, wrote Christine Remington, an assistant attorney general in Wisconsin, in a legal brief filed in January defending the states use of the evaluations. Risk-evaluation tools have gained in popularity amid efforts around the country to curb the number of repeat offenders. They help authorities sort prisoners, set bail and weigh parole decisions. But their use in sentencing is more controversial. Before the sentencing of 34-year-old Eric Loomis, whose case is before the states high court, Wisconsin authorities evaluated his criminal risk with a widely used tool called COMPAS, or Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, a 137-question test that covers criminal and parole history, age, employment status, social life, education level, community ties, drug use and beliefs. The assessment includes queries like, Did a parent figure who raised you ever have a drug or alcohol problem? and Do you feel that the things you do are boring or dull? Scores are generated by comparing an offenders characteristics to a representative criminal population of the same sex. Prosecutors said Mr. Loomis was the driver of a car involved in a drive-by shooting in La Crosse, Wis., on Feb. 11, 2013. Mr. Loomis denied any involvement in the shooting, saying he drove the car only after it had occurred. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to attempting to flee police in a car and operating a vehicle without the owners consent and was sentenced to six years in prison and five years of supervision. The risk assessment tools that have been utilized suggest that youre extremely high risk to reoffend, Judge Scott Horne in La Crosse County said at Mr. Loomiss sentencing. Mr. Loomis said in his appeal that Judge Hornes reliance on COMPAS violated his right to due process, because the company that makes the test, Northpointe, doesnt reveal how it weighs the answers to arrive at a risk score. Northpointe General Manager Jeffrey Harmon declined to comment on Mr. Loomiss case but said algorithms that perform the risk assessments are proprietary. The outcome, he said, is all that is needed to validate the tools. Northpointe says its studies have shown COMPASs recidivism risk score to have an accuracy rate of 68% to 70%. Independent evaluations have produced mixed findings. Mr. Loomis also challenged COMPAS on the grounds that the evaluation treats men as higher risk than women. COMPAS compares women only to other women because they commit violent acts at a much lower rate than men, wrote Ms. Remington, the states lawyer, in her response brief filed earlier this year in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Having two scales  one for men and one for women  is good science, not gender bias, she said. The parties appeared to find common ground on at least one issue. A court cannot decide to place a defendant in prison solely because of his score on COMPAS, Ms. Remington acknowledged, describing it as one of many factors a court can consider at sentencing. Her comments echoed a 2010 ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court holding that risk assessments do not replace but may inform a trial courts sentencing determinations.

June 5, 2016 at 12:17 PM | Permalink

Comments

Welcome to modern-day haruspicy. Now we use computer models instead of sheep livers, but the principle is the same.

The witch doctor rolls the bones to show the gods favor this fellow, and curse that one. Anyone with a lick of sense would see this is rigged to benefit nice people (like us), and ensure the horrors of the carceral state only fall on those other nasty folks.



Posted by: Boffin | Jun 5, 2016 6:13:23 PM

While different metrics have been used at different times, the concept of an "objective" risk assessment tool is not new. Way back in the pre-sentencing guidelines day, the federal parole agency used a "salient factor" score as part of parole consideration in an attempt to quantify which offenders were likely to re-offend.

There are three major concerns with any "objective" scale for quantifying risk. First, we are talking about probabilities. Some offenders who are categorized as a high risk to re-offend will not, but some who are categorized as low risk will. Second, it is difficult to determine the appropriate weight for factors. For example, many would give some weight to drug abuse, should drug abuse be worth 2% of the score or 4% of the score. Additionally, some factors may be correlated (e.g. mental disease and drug abuse) rather than truly independent. Third, there are some potential factors that would be controversial (particularly those with a genetic component). Do we use those to get a more accurate tool (recognizing that those factors may actually be correlated with the real factors) or do we try to find and isolate the underlying factors that are truly relevant.

Statistics is not the same as the old-fashioned reading of sacrificial omens. But statistics are only as good as the science, modeling, and mathematics behind them. Time and time again in the social sciences, statistical modeling has been shown to be somewhat subjective with minor difference in weighting leading to vastly different conclusions. Unfortunately, policy makers tend not to be experts in statistics able to make appropriate calls in structuring and choosing between tools, leaving too much influence to the men (and women) behind the curtain who do not want anybody looking too closely at their models.

Posted by: tmm | Jun 6, 2016 2:04:34 PM

Reading sheep livers is "evidence-based" too! And the haruspex had as much formal training as any contemporary statistician.

The problem is taking the wrong null hypothesis. What we have now is proof by incredulity: "I can't believe these computer models aren't useful for something or other."

I dare you - just as a though experiment - to consider a proper null hypothesis: That these computer widgets don't predict anything at all. Then ask, What sort of experiments could prove this hypothesis false? If you are honest, you'll admit that it could never be done. The complexities of human behavior and societal changes over time make any model useless.

Posted by: Boffin | Jun 6, 2016 3:11:07 PM

The thought experiment for testing is simple. The problem is that the thought experiment only disproves the particular model.

As an initial point, the validity of a statistical model requires distinguishing between probability and absolute certainty. Using the ELO chess ratings as a good example of a proven predictive statistical probability model, the gap in the ratings of two chess players (the ratings being based on past result) is a very good predictive tool for who will win. The bigger the gap between the two players, the less likely that the lower-rated player will win. Over time (approximately 80 years of use), statisticians can put a real probability on the chances that the lower-rated player will win. History has shown that the ranking system measures something that is real and significant. Yes, sometimes, the model will predict the wrong result, but at any significant gap (say 100 points on a scale in which the top players are at around 2700), the number of wrong results are both relatively few and close in number to what the system projects.

To the merits of any assessment of criminal behavior, testing begins with designing the model/scoring system and defining what it signifies. Then, you apply it to past cases (outside of the sample used to design the model). Say, for example, 2,000 inmates who received parole ten-fifteen years ago. The test is whether the model accurately distinguishes in a statistically meaningful way those who will re-offend from those who will not. (E.g., if the going recidivism rate is that 60% will re-offend if randomly selected, can the model pull out a group that only has a 20% recidivism rate and another group that has a 90% recidivism rate.) Take a second sample from a different state, does the model work in that state as well. If the model is unable to work with a random sample of past offenders, then it is flawed.

The distribution of crime (at least in "the law in its majesty equally forbids the rich and the poor to sleep on the banks of the River Seine" sense) does not appear to be purely random. The wealthy businessman might commit a large scale fraud scheme, but is unlikely to commit a bank robbery. The street level drug dealer is likely to commit additional drug offenses, but is no more likely than anybody else to commit a sexual offense. In short, we know that some factors at least have correlation with crime (failure to complete high school, committing juvenile offenses, having untreated mental illness, using controlled substances). While on a micro level, human beings and their behavior is complex; it's less so on a macro level. At the scale of large numbers, individual idiosyncracies cancel each other out. The problem is not with the concept of modeling, it is with the actual models.

Posted by: tmm | Jun 6, 2016 3:59:57 PM

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We've come around again to Negroni Week, the now international, annual celebration of that perfect cocktail that combines gin, vermouth, and Campari. Why does this cocktail need its own week, you ask? Well, this all started in 2013, partly via Imbibe Magazine, and there is a charitable component, with venues donating proceeds from drink specials to charitable causes. Last year, more than 3,500 venues participated and raised over $320,000, more than triple what was raised the year before. On Monday, June 6, Negroni Week kicks off again, with dozens of venues participating around the Bay Area and offering up unique twists on the cocktail, classic versions, and foods and sweets inspired by the ingredients of the Negroni.

Below, a few of those, in case you count yourself among the cocktail's many fans.

MONDAY, JUNE 6

Wise Sons Bagel is doing a Negroni-inspired bagel special all week. The Negroni bagel is an open-faced double poppy seed bagels topped with juniper cream cheese, Campari marmalade, and fresh fruit ($9).

1520 Fillmore Street

And also all week, Cafe Du Nord is doing a Negroni variation called Ants on a Log with Rutte Celery Gin, Campari, peanut-infused Cinzano vermouth, and garnished with a scotch-braised raisin.

2174 Market Street

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

Whitechapel, the gin joint to end all gin joints, is doing a special menu of Negronis and variations in their back bar, as well as a Campari Key lime pie with gin and vermouth sorbet for dessert. Proceeds benefit the SF-Marin Food Bank.

600 Polk Street at Turk, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

Holy Mountain, the cool Tiki-inspired bar tucked away on the mezzanine at Hawker Fare, is doing a "Negroni Goes Tropical" event featuring special Negroni variations and punches served in inventive vessels like coconuts, pineapples, and even an orange. One of those: Nora Fursts Love, Lava, and Burning Desire (Campari, Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Navy Strength, Burnt Sweet Vermouth, Navy Strength Gin, Fresh Passionfruit Juice, and Lime) is served over crushed ice in a pineapple for two to share, and garnished with Campari tuile, a flaming raspberry cup of 151 rum, and whipped blue curacao clouds. Proceeds go to benefit La Cocina.

680 Valencia at 18th, upstairs





THURSDAY, JUNE 9

Forgery is doing a Negroni variation with Bols Genever that sounds pretty delicious. From bartender Scotty Holland, the V.O.C. Negroni has also got Carpano Antica, strawberry-infused Campari, and some Tio Pepe fino sherry in it, and it's being served all week.

1525 Mission Street at 11th

And over at Alta CA, they're doing a series of Negroni variations, including one with St. George Dry Rye gin, St. George Bruto Americano, and Cherry Vermouth. Those are on the menu all week as well.

1420 Market Street at Fell

FRIDAY, JUNE 10

Perbacco is celebrating Negroni Week with an awesome sounding Old Tom Cat Negroni (Barr Hill Reserve Tom Cat American oak-aged gin, Campari, and Carpano Antica), as well some Negroni caramel corn, in which chef Staffan Terje infuses the caramel with Campari and sweet vermouth, and salts the popcorn with gin botanicals like licorice root, cardamom, and juniper. Proceeds go to benefit Meals on Wheels.

230 California Street

SATURDAY, JUNE 11

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at the New Mission is doing a fun movie party Saturday afternoon with a screening of the classic Italian film La Dolce Vita, with their on-tap Negronis being served throughout as well as a Malted Chocolate Negroni and Frozen Tropical Negronis. There's also an after-party when the movie ends.

2550 Mission Street, 4 p.m., with after-party at 6 p.m.

See all the participating venues and their Negroni Week specials here.
Asmussen, who has relatives in Sioux City, joined the Peru State faculty in 1994 and teaches in the School of Professional Studies. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of NebraskaLincoln and worked for 14 years in the maximum security unit at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
ORANGE CITY, Iowa | A number of Northwestern College students were selected to give poster presentations at the 28th annual Association for Psychological Science convention May 2629 in Chicago.

The students assisted with faculty research projects headed by psychology professors Laird Edman or Jennifer Feenstra.

Edmans research, Theory and Mind and Religiosity: The Experience and Types of Personal Prayer, operated under the concept that people who believe in a relational, personal deity tend to conceptualize god(s) as intentional agents with mental states. He suggests this belief follows the concept of theory of mind and may be one of the cognitive foundations of religious behavior. Edmans research examined this relationship as it corresponded to reported prayer experiences.

Assisting Edman with his research were Riley Harder, a senior biology health professions and psychology major from Sloan, Iowa; Chris Sietstra, a senior psychology and accounting major from Boyden, Iowa; and Molly Townsend, a senior psychology major from Tea, South Dakota. Students who also contributed to Edmans research, but did not attend the conference, include Haley Chambers, a May psychology graduate from Sioux Falls; Corey Kundert, a senior psychology major from Orange City; Kirsten (McConnel) Lesage, a 2013 Northwestern College psychology and Spanish graduate who is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside; Jacob Vermeer, a May psychology graduate from Pipestone, Minnesota; and Tyson Wiggers, a May psychology graduate from Holland, Michigan.

Feenstras research, Making a Difference: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior and Generativity to Predict Volunteering, surveyed students in the fall semester in relation to their possible participation in Northwesterns annual Spring Service Projects (SSPs). Measuring personal attitudes about SSPs, feelings of friends and family about service, beliefs in their ability to engage in service, and concern about the next generation, the research team sought to predict SSP participation in the spring 2016 semester.

Assisting Feenstra with her research was Chelsea Weidner, a senior chemistry and psychology major from Elk Point, South Dakota. Although they did not attend the conference, Myles Anderson, a senior biology health professions major from Urbandale, Iowa, and Jillian Estes, a senior psychology major from Sioux Center, Iowa, also aided with research.
PENDER, Neb. | Several health care professionals have recently joined the Pender Community Hospital team.

Gynecologist Dr. Rena A. Lohr joined the hospital on April 27, and will be seeing patients in the Outpatient Clinic on the fourth Wednesday of every month.

Pulmonologist Dr. Muhammad Ali joined the Outpatient Clinic on May 25. Ali specializes in the treatment and diagnosis of respiratory diseases with a focus on asthmas, COPD/emphysema/chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, lung infections and pneumonia, and pulmonary hypertension. Ali will be seeing patients on a monthly basis on Wednesdays.

Dr. Gordon Moshman joined the Pender Clinic on May 26, to start a twice-per-month Thursday/Friday schedule. Moshman has a 30-plus-year medical career, as well as a military career that included several deployments, including Desert Storm, where he served as both a helicopter pilot and physician. Since his retirement in 2011, Moshman has helped provide local Nebraska clinics with physician coverage, as well as working on his ranch.

In mid-June, Pender Community Hospital will begin its Behavioral Health program. It is being implemented to focus primarily on outpatient geriatric group therapy. Licensed social workers will drive the onsite program and will be executing care plans that are established by the psychiatrist and patient. Psychiatrists will meet with patients every three weeks via telehealth to evaluate progress and create new care plans.

A new family physician, Dr. Cole Reha, will be joining the Pender Clinic staff on Aug. 1, after he completes his medical residency program at Clarkson Family Medicine-Omaha, where he has served as chief resident.

Anesthesiologist and pain management expert Dr. Christopher Price joined the Pender Hospital staff on March 1. Price comes to the community from Norfolk, Nebraska, and sees patients twice a month on the second and fourth Tuesdays. Price specializes in back and chronic pain, as well as doing injections to manage that pain.
AMES, Iowa | Gary Wright, an Iowa State alumnus with extensive experience in agricultural finance and production, has joined the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach team as Northwest Iowa's farm management specialist.

Wright will work with farmers and producers in Lyon, Osceola, Sioux, OBrien, Plymouth, Cherokee, Woodbury, Dickinson, Emmet, Clay, Palo Alto, Buena Vista and Pocahontas counties. He will be based in the ISU Extension Woodbury County office.

Wright has over 20 years of experience working in Northwest Iowa. The co-owner and operator/manager of family row crop LLC operations in the area, Wright has also worked as a credit officer, vice president of finance and director of human resources in the agricultural finance industry.

Most recently he has served as a consultant for the Northwest Iowa Farm Business Association in Spencer, Iowa, and as the agricultural marketing director for Heartland Farm Partners in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also spent three years as an adjunct instructor at Western Iowa Tech Community College, and he has earned multiple leadership certifications.

Wright holds a degree in agricultural business and finance from Iowa State and an MBA from the University of South Dakota.
Lisa Lucas is a rare combination: a high-energy bookish extrovert.

If I can convince a small fraction of people to feel the same way that I feel about reading, then Ive done my job, she said.

It was only her third day as head of the National Book Foundation, the third person to lead it in three decades. And while its her job to keep the National Book Awards and its other programs going, she is clearly poised to bring the organization to a new level.

Her Wall Street office was lined with nearly bare bookshelves, and the hallway outside was filled with outgoing boxes of books.

In two weeks publishers would begin flooding the foundation with submissions for the 2016 National Book Awards, which have been given in various forms since 1950. The National Book Foundation was created to manage the awards and its annual November ceremony.

People who like movies watch the Oscars, she said. Why dont we celebrate books in the same way?

The National Book Awards, after all, gave its young adult literature prize to Sherman Alexies The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, despite sometimes controversial subject matter; its the prize that brought Patti Smith to tears when her memoir, Just Kids, won the nonfiction prize, and was met with a surge of social media delight when Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me received the nonfiction prize in 2015. Novelists William Faulkner, Bernard Malamud, John Updike and Philip Roth won the fiction prize more than once.

The nonprofit foundation also runs programs for at-risk students and on college campuses with National Book Award winners and finalists. There are celebrations of lifetime achievement, innovative reading programs and a New York reading series that always sells out.

As the new executive director, Lucas is tasked with expanding or building upon these programs, all while maintaining the financial health of the nonprofit, which has six full-time staffers and an annual budget of more than $1 million.

Her most important role at the foundation, though, is brand ambassador: She is its public face. And, with her outgoing yet literary personality, shes ideally suited for the part.

Her appreciation of books comes from her mother  my mom loved movies, she loved books, there were books ev-er-y-where, Lucas said  and her outgoing personality from her father, musician Reggie Lucas.

I feel like I have your standard issue suburban childhood: My parents divorced, I lived with my mom, went to my dads house every week, she explained.

Her father, who started playing guitar with Miles Davis at 19, became a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer  Madonna recorded her debut at his New Jersey studio, but Lisa, 36, was too young to have paid attention.

I was always all about the books, she admitted.

Already there are a few of her personal books rattling around on one office shelf: The Turner House by Angela Flournoy, which was both a National Book Award finalist for fiction last year and selected as one of its 5 under 35 titles; the novel The Whites by Harry Brandt (Richard Prices pen name); and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, which she planned to start next. In 2015, she was a big fan of Hanya Yanagiharas A Little Life  all 720 pages of it.

If you read for an hour every single day, youre reading seven hours a week, she said. Which is enough to bang through a decent amount of material if you do that every week for 52 weeks. And Im reading more than that. I dont even know if its speed or consistency; its probably a little bit of both.

Now she is ready to take that passion and share it. I think in publishing we spend a lot of time talking to each other. I love having that conversation personally, I have so many [book industry] friends and colleagues that I enjoy spending time with. But  every single thing Im doing, every single conversation Im having, is about how to make sure that we are audience-facing, so we can bring more people in.
LOS ANGELES | Wendi McLendon-Covey doesnt need to do a lot of preparation to play the mom on The Goldbergs.

The minute I put that wig on, its like putting on my battle helmet, she says. I know how she walks and talksinstantly.

Based on producer Adam Goldbergs real life, the ABC sitcom also features plenty of artifacts from his 1980s childhood. Those wild sweaters McLendon-Covey wears? Many are from Goldberg's mom's wardrobe.

Shes a very proud grandma, McLendon-Covey says of the real Beverly. Her beloved Murray is gone but she has a new husband and she has been to visit the set.

In a letter to the woman who plays her, Goldberg said she loves the show and enjoys watching it with old friends and family who actually know the stories.

Sometimes they cry together, sometimes they laugh, McLendon-Covey says. It touches them because it brings the memories back.

In the series, Bev is a real smother, willing to do anything for her children. She manipulates by design, McLendon-Covey says. In one episode she even said, I know I guilt you guys all the time but I have to. Otherwise, you wont talk to me. She knows what shes doing. They know what shes doing and, as long as they allow this not to work for her, theyre OK with it.

In real life, McLendon-Covey has no children. Its uncharted territory. But dont all mothers have a way of controlling their children? Even my friends who are moms do it. Youre the CEO of a householdyou better get your way.

Adam Goldberg says his mother took her job very seriously.

She wasnt mean-spirited, McLendon-Covey says.

Before the series started, the real Bev was worried we would rake her over the coals.

Adam did not have the desire to do that, McLendon-Covey says. Nor would anyone want to watch that. More times than not? She falls on her sword.

While McLendon-Covey has a string of comedy credits (she was in the big hit Bridesmaids and was a regular on Reno 911), she also produces and writes other films and series. She recently sold a series thats based on a horrible job she once had, so those stories will be coming from that sad part of my brain, but she has no intention of starring in it. Im happy to give it to somebody else, eat my popcorn and watch.

Beverly Goldberg, she insists, is enough of an acting challenge.

This is the longest Ive played a character, even though I was on Reno for five seasons. I dont think Ill get bored with it. Theres just so much there. And, were trying to stay true to what the real people were like.

Like Bev, a fan of bedazzling? You discover new things all the time, McLendon-Covey says.
WASHINGTON | After years of being denied entry to the U.S., Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a welcome guest in Washington, forging a surprising bond with President Barack Obama and deepening ties with America.

A new defense agreement and a possible announcement on U.S. investment in nuclear power in India could be in the cards on his latest visit. He will meet with Obama on Tuesday and have the honor of addressing a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.

Modi has shaken off allegations that he was complicit in anti-Muslim violence when he served as a top state official before becoming prime minister two years ago, but he could face pointed questions from lawmakers about India's human rights record.

It will be his fourth visit to the U.S. since his Hindu nationalist party swept elections in May 2014. Between 2005 and late 2013, during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat, the U.S. government avoided official contact with Modi over suspicions about his possible role in communal rioting that killed hundreds.

"He's gone from someone who was basically a pariah to someone who is going to be celebrated by official Washington," said Milan Vaishnav, an expert on South Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Modi will become the fifth Indian prime minister to address both houses of Congress. He'll also have lunch with congressional leaders and attend a reception hosted by the House and Senate foreign relations committees, where there's strong support for closer ties, but also some disappointment over what's been achieved on Modi's watch.

On the plus side of the ledger, defense ties have gotten closer. The U.S. and India share concern about the rise of China, and while New Delhi steers clear of a formal alliance with Washington  in fact, with any country  the two militaries conduct more drills together than with any other nation.

The U.S. has become a key supplier of defense equipment to India  with about $14 billion in sales contracted in the past five years  and the two nations are looking at joint development of technologies for jet engines and aircraft carriers. A defense logistics agreement is likely to be finalized when Modi visits.

Progress has been more elusive on opening the way for the U.S. nuclear industry to invest in India, eight years after the George W. Bush administration reached a landmark civil nuclear agreement with India, rolling back export restrictions in place since India's first nuclear test explosion in 1974.

The prime obstacle has been a 2010 Indian law on liability in case of accidents at nuclear power plants, but a workaround solution involving an Indian-supported insurance scheme means Westinghouse Electric Co. is closing in on a contract to build reactors in Andhra Pradesh state  a deal potentially worth tens of billions of dollars.

Arun Singh, India's ambassador in Washington, told reporters Wednesday that negotiations between Westinghouse and the Indian nuclear operator were at a "very detailed and advanced" stage. He said the main issues to be resolved concern cost and financing, not insurance. He did not say if a contract announcement was imminent.

Westinghouse declined to comment Friday. Another U.S. player, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, said it is still concerned about the Indian law, which could make nuclear suppliers, not just operators of nuclear plants, liable for accidents.

While U.S. lawmakers praise the progress in defense ties, they grumble about continuing restrictions on American investment in India, notwithstanding some liberalization on Modi's watch. Bilateral trade in goods and services has expanded from $60 billion in 2009 to $107 billion in 2015.

"In the case of U.S.-India relations, the hopeful rhetoric has far exceeded actual tangible achievements," Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a hearing last month.

Lawmakers of both parties also criticized India's failure to curb growing religious intolerance and human trafficking, and are likely to raise those issues with Modi. An Australia-based activist group estimates that India has around 18 million modern slaves, or 40 percent of the global total.

The world's two largest democracies have a surprisingly acrimonious relationship when it comes to human rights, and what India views as overbearing U.S. scrutiny. India has refused visits by a U.S. commission on religious freedom and by an envoy on LGBT rights.
LAKE VIEW, Iowa | For the past month, the walleye bit on Blackhawk Lake has been "hot."

That's the word Ben Wallace uses to describe the activity on Iowa's southernmost glacially-formed lake.

"Hot" sets the hook for an angler. Read on.

"We've seen limits of walleye caught all over the lake for the last month," Wallace says. "South Dakota fishers, who come from a premier walleye state, they're calling here to come fish walleye."

Steve Snyder, owner of The Bait Shop in downtown Lake View, adds his 2 cents: "We're seeing a night-and-day difference. People are coming here from South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and other states, to fish."

The uptick represents a sea of change in a 922-acre body of water that has experienced a sea of change since the Iowa Department of Natural Resources jumped in with both feet, starting a $27 million lake renovation project with a fish kill in November 2012. The renovation will last up to 30 years.

Four years ago, the DNR, in the latter stages of a drought, introduced the chemical rotenone in the water to kill carp and other rough fish swimming these waters and stirring up sediment on the bottom of the lake, resulting in poor water quality and the reduction of populations of other fish species.

The area of water, due to the drought, had shrunk significantly, meaning a fish kill at that point could be done cheaper and more effectively. Since that time, Wallace has seen just two carp in Blackhawk Lake.

"I think it was successful, as if they (carp) would have survived, they would have gotten off a good spawn in the absence of predators and having no competition for food," he says. "We would have seen thousands of carp by now."

After the fish kill and a waiting period, the DNR in 2013 stocked Blackhawk Lake with 2.3 million walleye fry, fish about the size of an eyelash. Some 2,300 walleye measuring 8 inches were introduced to the lake, as were 6,000 8-inch channel catfish, 280,000 bluegills, 380 muskies and 150-200 adult large mouth bass.

Those fish produced a decent fishing year in 2015, one that has grown to exceed expectations this year.

"We've seen limits of walleye caught all over the lake for the last month," says Wallace, a DNR fisheries biologist.

"The biggest walleye I measured was 24 inches," Snyder says. "We've got them in all sizes up to that."

In the meantime, Wallace, other DNR pros and organizations like the Blackhawk Lake Protective Association, the City of Lake View, Sac County and the Lake View Community Club keep their focus on the watershed feeding Blackhawk Lake. Cleaning up the lake means little if efforts to control run-off wane. Those entities continue to work with local landowners to construct terraces, plant cover crops and create retention swales, among other practices.

"It's a holistic approach to keep sediment and nutrients on the land and from the lake," he says.

Water clarity, according to Wallace, now measures 6 feet at some points on the lake. Three years ago, water clarity generally measured 6-10 inches.

Wallace predicts another blue-green algae bloom later this month as temperatures exceed 80 degrees. The shift to clear water doesn't mean the problem is fixed. That's what it is imperative for best management practices to be observed within the watershed.

A dredge near the inlet will soon be put to work, digging the inlet out from an average depth of 1.6 feet to 3 feet, a project estimated to cost $2.8 to $2.9 million.

"We could then see a significant reduction of phosphorous delivery into the lake," he says. "Overall, our goal is to reduce phosphorous delivery by 80 percent. We've exceeded 35 percent in phosphorous reduction just since 2012. We're ahead of schedule and that's exciting."

Snyder agrees. He's also excited about the number of boats on Blackhawk Lake and the number of anglers stopping by The Bait Shop.

"I've never seen so many boats on the lake," Snyder concludes. "The DNR did a really good job. This has been a long time coming."
SIOUX CITY | No one passed out bubble gum cigars or champagne flutes when a baby girl was born. Im sorries replaced smiles. All celebrations ceased because Sawyer had Down syndrome.

Ryan Allen looked into his daughters slightly slanted eyes and thought she was beautiful, but at the same time, the diagnosis was devastating.

Healing began on a yoga mat.

His wife, Meghan Nelson, a physical therapist, has been bending, breathing and bonding with Sawyer on the mat since she was 3 weeks old. At first, it was all about getting her into a low-impact exercise routine for toning and strengthening, but it became so much more.

A month before Sawyers first birthday last fall, they started Lumin Therapy to provide yoga-based community workshops and private in-home sessions for individuals and families with special needs.

Theyre already expanding and reaching out to other underserved populations.

What helped was receiving $4,000 from Dream Big Grow Here, a statewide grant competition for Iowa entrepreneurs, and $5,000 from finishing first in Innovation Market, a social think-tank put on by the Sioux City Growth Organization.

The fifth grade class at Clark Elementary School also raised $350 for the startup. Allen and Nelson were presented with a novelty check in the form of an 11-by-14-inch sheet of paper decorated with rainbows and a unicorn.

The grant money will help pay for equipment marketing, research and training.

In the spring, Allen went to Kansas City for a three-day intensive workshop, focused on mindful resilience for trauma recovery, hosted by the Veterans Yoga Project. On Memorial Day, he led a donation-based class at {be} Yoga Studio, 1101 Fourth St., to introduce trauma-sensitive yoga to the community.

Bringing yoga to every body, Allen, an associate professor of English at Briar Cliff University, teaches a kids yoga class on Saturdays, and Nelson teaches yoga for special abilities on Sundays, plus a regular vinyasa flow class on Tuesdays, all at Evolve Yoga & Wellness, 411 Pearl St.

Theyve also been doing an all-ages yoga class at Gigis Playhouse, a Down syndrome achievement center, on the second Thursday of every month.

For now, Lumin Therapy operates as a mobile business and thats how it will continue for the next couple years.

We want to do it right, he said. We want to meet the needs and meet them very effectively. If it organically grows from there, great. Thats where well go. If it doesnt, then were doing our little small piece of the pie to help our community be a better place to live.

As for Sawyer, its hard to tell how much shes benefited from yoga because shes being doing it her whole life. Shes 18 months old now. Her development is delayed, a symptom of Down syndrome, but she scoots around on the floor and gets into everything that shes not supposed to touch, just like any other toddler.

Shes not walking at this point, but shell do this all on her own time, Nelson said. Shes not saying as many words as the boys were at this age, but she says momma and dadda and her other first word was book.

That makes the professor proud.

If her next word is yoga, then Ill know weve done our job, he said. Books and yoga, thats all we need. Thats my recipe for being happy.
FRESNO, Calif.  Standing in line for a bag of dog food, Steve Verrue points out an outline of an angel on the chest of his dog, Sable.

Its a fitting badge of honor for the dog that saved his life. Sable woke him up in the middle of the night as a fire raged through his home. Steam from the blaze burned his lungs  hes now connected to an oxygen tank 24 hours a day  but because of Sable, he lived.

She means the world to the 53-year-old Fresno man.

Shes my best friend, my guardian, my alarm.

Verrue has little money to even feed himself, but the thought of losing Sable breaks his heart.

Thanks to Halo Cafe, a free pet food pantry in Fresno for those in need, hell never have to give up his beloved dog  or cut his own meals in half to feed her.

Halo Cafe has its own angel, Jennifer Quinn-Yovino. She founded the pantry in 2011 with her husband, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Jim Yovino, after years of volunteering with animal rescue groups and lugging pet food in the back of her car that she would give to homeless with pets and anyone else she spotted who was in need.

Halo Cafe is the only free pet food pantry that shes aware of in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Quinn-Yovino, also the special projects coordinator for the Fresno County Office of Education, was recently honored with a Love of Animals Volunteer of the Year Award during this years Hands Across The Valley Awards, sponsored by HandsOn Central California.

Halo Cafe was originally going to be Halo Cafe: Final Meals For Future Angels. Quinn-Yovino planned to go to animal shelters and feed dogs great meals and show them lots of love on the day before they would be euthanized.

Then she had another thought: Wait a minute, lets get them before they ever cross that threshold.

She went looking for a pet pantry to volunteer with  eager to help families keep and care for their pets  but she found none in the central San Joaquin Valley. So she started one herself.

Since its creation, shes helped feed thousands of pets through the hundreds of people who line up for a free bag of pet food twice a month. They also give away pet accessories, like beds and collars.

Theyve never had to turn anyone away, but there are a few rules. Some of the biggest: People must have their pets spayed or neutered to receive pet food, and once a contract is signed, that individual cant bring new puppies or kittens into their home. There are representatives from the Spay Neuter Intercommunity Project (SNIP) at the pantry to help people get pets spayed or neutered at low cost.

At Halo Cafe last month, Quinn-Yovinos husband watched her affectionately as she helped load a bag of dog food into a car and gave someone a warm hug. He said his wife has a gracious, caring heart.

This is what I love about her, he said. It doesnt matter who you are.

Halo Cafe volunteer LuAnn Ramirez McCaslin was part of nominating her friend for the Love of Animals Volunteer of the Year Award.

Jennifer is probably the most compassionate, brightest animal lover you will ever come across. I dont care if you are Bob Barker, McCaslin says. Jennifer feels everything the animals around her feel.

Quinn-Yovino calls the pantry bittersweet.

When folks line up, its bittersweet because I know they need it, and that makes me sad, she says, but were here, and that makes me happy.
SIOUX CITY | In order to work and earn more money, travel or even recover from the rigors of high school, many graduating seniors nationwide are taking advantage of a gap year.

At Siouxland institutions, however, the concept hasn't really taken hold.

Brian Eben, vice president for enrollment at Briar Cliff University, said students are encouraged to begin college the first year after graduation.

We tell them, 'Now is the time,' he said.

Nationally, some colleges have taken a different approach, encouraging students to take time to recharge, build on life experiences or pursue employment. Recently, President Barack Obamas daughter, Malia, made headlines for her decision to take a gap year before attending Harvard University.

Eben pointed out that a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics has shown that the likelihood of enrolling in college after taking a year or two off drops by nearly 30 percent.

He said students who are admitted to Briar Cliff are granted extra time to enroll, but said its recommended they begin right away.

We never encourage students to take time off (between high school and college), he said. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to finish in a timely manner.

A gap year is not extremely prevalent at Siouxland schools, though most report its not rare for a student or two each year to wait a while before attending college.

Jay Collier, director of college relations at Wayne State College, said students who want to take a year off to pursue work or travel are allowed to do so.

Rick Wollman, vice president for communications and marketing at Morningside College, said gap year requests are few and far between at the Sioux City school. Some students in the past have taken a year off for military service, which is among the most common reasons for students at area colleges to participate in the gap year.

Mark Bloemendaal, dean of enrollment at Northwestern College, said military service and youth mission work are the two most common reasons at the college. He said students may want to take off a year to work and save up for college, but added that could lessen the amount of financial aid a student receives.

Aside from less aid, he also said a student who waits a couple of years could be the oldest student in freshmen-level courses.

Thats the negative side of a gap year, he said.

Sonya Knauss, director of public relations at Dordt College, too said that a gap year may be beneficial in some ways, but students could also struggle to adapt after returning to education.

Some do have a hard time adjusting if they come back after taking a semester or a year off, she said. It could be a little harder for them to fit into classes because they missed the initial adjustment time.

Mark Petty, dean of enrollment at University of South Dakota, said the school allows incoming students to take a year off, provided they do not enroll in classes elsewhere during that time. Students who take advantage of the gap year are still eligible for the scholarships theyve been granted through the university.

Most commonly, he said, students take time off to work, travel or volunteer.

Its completely up to the student to make that decision, he said. As much as wed love to have them enroll, we understand they take a gap year for a variety of reasons.

We would just love to have them join us whenever they can, he added.
HINTON, Iowa | Four Le Mars women were transported to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City with injuries Saturday morning following a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of two county roads in Plymouth County.

According to a news release from the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department, the accident occurred at 10:11 a.m. when their car, heading south on K-49, stopped at the intersection with C-70 but failed to yield to oncoming traffic. While attempting to cross the intersection, the car collided with an eastbound pickup truck, the release said.

All four of the passengers in the white car were transported to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City. One of them was transported by Mercy Air Care.

The names of the injured are 20-year-old Sydney Mousel, 20-year-old Emily Meyer, 20-year-old Hannah Sitzmann, and 18-year-old Amy Isebrand, all of Le Mars, the release said.

Their conditions were not immediately available at Mercy Medical Center.

The driver of the truck, 31-year-old James Nash, of Kingsley, and a juvenile passenger were not injured, the release said.

Plymouth County Sheriff was assisted by the Kingsley Police Department, Woodbury County Sheriff's Office, Siouxland Paramedics, Kingsley Fire Department, Kingsley Ambulance, Hinton Fire Department, Hinton Ambulance and Mercy Air Care. Crews were on scene for several hours.
SIOUX CITY | Rick Bertrand has mere days to convince Iowa Republicans that they should support him in his longshot quest to unseat 14-year U.S. Rep. Steve King.

One political observer said Bertrand hasn't gone after King with the vigor needed to unseat a strong incumbent. The last time a sitting Iowa congressman lost a primary battle was 1948.

Iowa State University Professor Steffen Schmidt said Bertrand should have done more to raise doubts about King and paint him as a career politician. Schmidt said the fact that Bertrand played "Mr. Nice Guy" was a poor calculation.

"Bertrand never went on a brutal offensive and took down King. He needed to put King on the defense every week or maybe every day with new attacks coming on Twitter, rallies and press events. He did not do that, which gave King the victories by default," Schmidt said.

Bertrand and King have moved through the Iowa 4th congressional district courting votes in Northwest and North Central counties. On Friday, King, of Kiron, and six-year state senator Bertrand met in a televised debate in Sioux City to hash out issues.

Now, primary voters on Tuesday will decide which of the two moves onto the November general election that decides who holds the seat for the next two years. Both men say they soundly back conservative principles and thereby deserve to work in the U.S. House.

Bertrand acknowledges both candidates are conservatives, but are at different places in their careers. He contended King is out to make a name for himself by seeking the media light through appearing at the Mexican border and calling for a wall to stop illegal immigration, while Bertrand said he wants to boost Iowa over the next decade toward an economic rebirth.

"After 14 years, we've got an incumbent in place who has never passed a piece of legislation," Bertrand said. He said King is the most tenured Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, yet King is not the committee chairman, which Bertrand said shows Republican leaders don't have a good relationship with King.

"The difference between myself and Congressman King is effectiveness. I am going there to run a specific agenda that is outlined by Iowans. Right now, we have a congressman who believes he is untouchable," Bertrand said.

King said it is surprising that Bertrand has chosen to oppose him: "He has not objected to a vote that I have put up or a position I have taken."

King added, "I am a full-spectrum constitutional conservative who has never let you down. Why would you go for an unknown quantity when you have a proven commodity?"

King has piled up endorsements of the state's top elected heavyweights, essentially all notable Republicans except Gov. Terry Branstad. U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey are in the King camp.

King cited his long tenure as chairman of the Conservative Opportunity Society, a group that meets weekly to hear from notable right-wing politicos, and the trust that House Speaker Paul Ryan showed in having King lead a House task force on President Barack Obama's overreach.

King, of Kiron, is working with more campaign money. He brought in $110,193 from April 1 to May 18, compared to $52,727 for Bertrand during the same Federal Election Commission filing period. After spending, Bertrand's campaign had $34,473 cash on hand at the end of the reporting period, compared to King's $217,704 ending cash balance.

King said his campaign has observed Bertrand's events and they are drawing few people, which he takes as the sign of a faltering candidate.

Bertrand said the race is "unpollable," contending people are keeping impressions close to the vest, finally moving on after years of support for King.

"You get a lot of people who apologize, they apologize first, 'You know, I like Steve, I've known him for a lot of years, I used to donate to Steve. But I, I...' It is time, it is just time," Bertrand said.

The winner of the Bertrand-King race will advance to face Democrat Kim Weaver, of Sheldon, in the November general election.
BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. | Jennifer Dumas sits on a sofa, her smiling 6-month-old girl on her lap. The room is full of bright toys and children's books. A rainbow-colored activity mat is on the floor, and Winnie the Pooh is painted on the walls.

It looks like any other nursery, except that there are bars on the windows and barbed-wire fences outside the austere brick building.

New York's maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility is one of the very few prisons in the U.S. that allow inmates and their babies to live together, a century-old approach that not all corrections experts agree is the best way to deal with women locked up while pregnant.

Mothers who get such a chance say it's better than the alternative: In most prisons, babies born behind bars must be given up within a day to a relative or foster care.

"Before I came here, I thought it was a terrible idea. A baby in prison? No, thank you," the 24-year-old Dumas said as her daughter, Codylynn, gleefully rocked in a bouncy seat. "But it's actually wonderful to be able to spend this much time with my little girl. ... I'm blessed to be able to go through this."

Nobody thinks raising babies behind bars is ideal, and some worry that the children could be scarred by the experience. But some advocates say that the practice allows mother and child to develop a vital psychological attachment, and that the parenting classes and other practical instruction help the moms stay out of trouble when they get out.

About 112,000 women are in state and federal prisons, mostly for drug or property crimes. And an estimated 1 in 25 are pregnant when they enter, according to the nonprofit Sentencing Project. But there are no national statistics on the number of babies born to inmates.

WOMEN CAREFULLY SCREENED

Of the more than 100 women's prisons in the U.S., there are eight nurseries. While nearly 100 countries, including South Sudan and France, have national laws that allow for incarcerated mothers to stay with their babies, the U.S. is not among them.

Dumas was three weeks pregnant when she was arrested last year, along with her boyfriend, on charges they tried to steal a safe packed with $32,000 in cash and jewelry. Her baby was born just days after she took a plea bargain on attempted burglary charges that sent her to Bedford Hills, about an hour north of New York City, for up to two years.

She is now among 15 carefully screened new mothers allowed to serve up to 18 months of their sentences in a nursery unit that includes a communal playroom stocked with toys and mother-and-child rooms equipped with a single bed and a crib. The walls are painted with rainbows, fluffy clouds and jungle and barnyard scenes. The nursery currently has 16 babies, including a set of twins.

During workday hours, the babies are taken across the street to a day care center, where they are watched by staff and other inmates while the moms go to school or vocational programs.

But there are constant reminders it is a prison. Armed officers patrol the unit. And the moms know their babies can be taken away for such infractions as fighting or even leaving a toy in a crib while the baby sleeps.

"It's still scary," Dumas said. "At any given point if you do what you're not supposed to your baby could get sent home."

CHILDREN FORM CRITICAL ATTACHMENTS

Some women have been dropped from the program from time to time for breaking the rules, but corrections officials and advocates said they could not recall any instances in recent years in which a baby was harmed.

Still, some argue that prison should be reserved for punishment and that women should instead consider putting their children up for adoption.

"The focus should be on what's best for the baby," said James Dwyer, a law professor at the College of William & Mary who has written a paper on the topic. "There is skepticism about these women being adequate parents."

Columbia University researcher Mary Byrne, who spent years studying mothers and children who started life in Bedford Hills, said that the youngsters formed critical attachments to their mothers and that a second study after they were released found they were no different from children raised entirely on the outside.

"Many people would assume any exposure to prison would cause problems ... they'll be exposed to violence and horrible people, it will scar them," she said. "But that's not what we found."

Sister Teresa Fitzgerald, the Roman Catholic nun who runs Hour Children, the nonprofit organization that operates Bedford Hills' nursery, put it more bluntly: "Babies belong with their mother. In a palace or a prison, they don't know and don't care as long as they feel loved and supported."

The nursery is operated under an annual contract with the state of about $170,000, the correction department said. It would cost $480,000 a year to put 16 babies in foster care, according to state figures.

Bedford Hills' recidivism rate for women in the nursery program is fairly typical of such programs, at 13 percent versus 26 percent for all female inmates at the prison, according to a report by the Women's Prison Association, an advocacy group.

SOUTH DAKOTA OFFERS PROGRAM

Bedford Hills has the oldest continuously operating prison nursery in the country, opened in 1901. There were many nurseries years ago, according to Elaine Lord, the former superintendent. But they fell out of favor amid a huge influx of prisoners in the 1980s and a shift in thinking that said the privilege of living with your baby was inconsistent with the concept of punishment.

Most of the nation's prison nurseries have cropped up in the past 20 years.

The nursery at the Indiana Women's Prison houses up to 10 mother-infant pairs for up to 18 months. In South Dakota, a child can stay only 30 days. In Washington state, it's three years. The Decatur Correctional Center in Illinois opened a nursery in 2007, and 73 moms have participated.

In Decatur, Kalee Ford, who is about 26 weeks pregnant and in prison on a drug-related conviction, already has been accepted into the program and is taking prenatal courses. She said she wasn't the mother she could have been to her two other children because of methamphetamine. The program is giving her hope that she can clean up for good.

"I believe that everybody deserves at least one chance to fix mistakes that they've made," she said. "My children didn't do this, and they deserve to have me back."

At Decatur, Bedford Hills and other programs, mothers-to-be are selected based on their crimes and whether there is any history of child abuse.

Many advocates question why such women need to be incarcerated at all. Typically, women accepted into these programs are nonviolent offenders serving fairly short sentences  ideal candidates for less-expensive, halfway house-like programs for mother and child.

After their sentences are up, almost all of the mothers at Bedford go to a live-in halfway house in New York City run by Fitzgerald's organization that also helps with day care and jobs. Mothers say it's a golden ticket.

Dumas, who has a son on the outside, hopes to go there, too.

"It's a way to get on my feet, try being a parent again on the outside but with a safety net," she said. "I don't know anyone who gets that."
WASHINGTON -- Part of Bernie Sanders' charm is that for all of his arm-waving jeremiads, he appears unthreatening. He's the weird old uncle in the attic, Larry David's crazy Bernie. It's almost a matter of style. Who can be afraid of a candidate so irascible, grumpy, old-fashioned and unfashionable?

After all, he's not going to win the nomination, so what harm can he do? A major address at the party convention? A say in the vice presidential selection? And who reads party platforms anyway?

Well, platforms may not immediately affect a particular campaign. But they do express, quite literally, the party line, a written record of its ideological trajectory.

Which is why two of Sanders' appointments to the 15-member platform committee are so stunning. Professor Cornel West not only has called the Israeli prime minister a war criminal but openly supports the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions), the most important attempt in the world to ostracize and delegitimize Israel.

West is joined on the committee by the longtime pro-Palestinian activist James Zogby. Together, reported The New York Times, they "vowed to upend what they see as the party's lopsided support of Israel."

This seems a gratuitous provocation. Sanders hardly made Israel central to his campaign. He did call Israel's response in the 2014 Gaza war "disproportionate" and said "we cannot continue to be one-sided." But now Sanders seeks to permanently alter -- i.e. weaken -- the relationship between the Democratic Party and Israel, which has been close and supportive since Harry Truman recognized the world's only Jewish state when it declared independence in May 1948.

West doesn't even pretend, as do some left-wing "peace" groups, to be opposing Israeli policy in order to save it from itself. He makes the simpler case that occupation is unconscionable oppression and that until Israel abandons it, Israel deserves to be treated like apartheid South Africa -- anathematized, cut off, made to bleed morally and economically. The Sanders appointees wish to bend the Democratic platform to encourage such diminishment unless Israel redeems itself by liberating Palestine.

This is an unusual argument for a Democratic platform committee, largely because it is logically and morally perverse. Israel did in fact follow such high-minded advice in 2005: It terminated its occupation and evacuated Gaza. That earned it (temporary) praise from the West. And from the Palestinians? Not peace, not reconciliation, not normal relations, but a decade of unrelenting terrorism and war.

Israel is now being asked -- pressured -- to repeat that same disaster on the West Bank. That would bring the terror war, quite fatally, to the very heart of Israel -- Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport. Israel is now excoriated for declining that invitation to national suicide.

It is ironic that the most successful Jewish presidential candidate ever should be pushing the anti-Israel case. But perhaps not surprising considering Sanders' ideological roots. He is old left -- not the post-1960s, countercultural New Left. Why, the man honeymooned in the Soviet Union -- not such fashionably cool communist paradises as Sandinista Nicaragua where Bill de Blasio went to work for the cause or Castro's Cuba where de Blasio honeymooned. (Do lefties all use the same wedding planner?)

For the old left, Israel was simply an outpost of Western imperialism, Middle East division. To this day, the leftist consensus, most powerful in Europe (which remains Sanders' ideological lodestar), holds that Israeli perfidy demands purification by Western chastisement.

Chastisement there will be at the Democratic platform committee. To be sure, Sanders didn't create the Democrats' drift away from Israel. It was already visible at the 2012 convention with the loud resistance to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. But Sanders is consciously abetting it.

The millennials who worship him and pack his rallies haven't lived through -- and don't know -- the history of Israel's half-century of peace offers. They don't know of the multiple times Israel has offered to divide the land with an independent Palestinian state and been rebuffed.

Sanders hasn't lifted a finger to tell them. The lovable old guy with the big crowds and no chance at the nomination is hardly taken seriously (except by Hillary Clinton, whose inability to put him away reveals daily her profound political weakness). But when he makes platform appointees that show he does take certain things quite seriously, like undermining the U.S.-Israeli relationship, you might want to reconsider your equanimity about the magical mystery tour. It looks like Woodstock, but there is steel inside the psychedelic glove.
Last year, Kim Bursell of Sioux City contacted me about her great niece, Tryniti, who died at age 4 months after she was intentionally struck by her father. He was later convicted of child endangerment resulting in death. Kim was concerned that anyone convicted of this crime was immediately eligible for parole.

I agreed to sponsor legislation to create a mandatory minimum prison term for child endangerment resulting in death.

Research by the Legislative Services Agency showed the average time served for this crime had been only 4.6 years. My initial proposal had a 70 percent mandatory minimum, which is 35 years of the 50-year maximum and is the same penalty provided for murder in the second degree.

Before this year's legislative session, I contacted Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, a member of the House majority with whom I worked on the Judiciary Committee. After explaining these circumstances, he agreed to be the lead sponsor. Together, we introduced House File 2064 in January. The Judiciary Committee amended the bill so the mandatory minimum would apply to only intentional, not reckless acts. This was the first change to HF2064, which started an overdue discussion about the proportionality of other mandatory minimums.

In December 2013, the Public Safety Advisory Board (PSAB) had recommended a mandatory minimum of three rather than seven years for robbery in the second degree, which has a maximum of 10 years and involves any robbery without death, serious injury or a weapon. PSAB concluded mandatory minimums for lower-risk offenders taxes correctional resources with little benefit to public safety and, utilizing validated risk-assessment tools, may aid prosecutorial and judicial decision-making. Based upon this research, Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, proposed adding these robbery-2nd changes to HF2064.

Another concern hoped to be addressed was the fact Iowa has the nations third-highest rate of African-American imprisonment. While African-Americans constitute less than 4 percent of Iowas population, they constitute over 25 percent of Iowas prisoners. Changing the mandatory minimum for robbery 2nd was expected to positively impact African-American inmates, who comprise approximately 49 percent of those affected by the proposal. Additionally, with shorter prison terms, the change could save taxpayers over $400,000 per year.

Ultimately, the House amended HF2064 to give judges discretion to impose a mandatory minimum between three and seven years for robbery 2nd. Soon thereafter, the Senate Judiciary Committee amended HF2064 to require the judge to consider a risk assessment before imposing these new sentences for child endangerment and robbery.

Meanwhile, the Attorney Generals Office and the Department of Corrections had proposed changes to mandatory minimums for non-violent drug felons. The proposal impacts current inmates as well as new offenders by allowing the Board of Parole to release all felony drug offenders after half the 33 percent mandatory minimum unless they are high risk to reoffend.

This proposal addresses Iowas disproportionate minority prison population because over 14 percent projected for early release are African-American. It is also expected to save the DOC about $750,000 per year. Part of those savings may be used to hire additional parole officers for intensive parole programs, which utilize smaller caseloads and involve the African-American community providing guidance and accountability to parolees. Recidivism rates in Waterloo and Des Moines were reduced after similar programs began in 2009.

The Senate amended HF2064 by striking the robbery provisions and adding the non-violent drug provisions, which left the House and Senate bills in very different forms. However, with advocacy from Rep. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, Rep. Rizer, and myself, the House and Senate Judiciary Committee chairs, Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, and Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, reached a bipartisan compromise before session ended.

HF2064 became law on May 12. The final version provides the following: (1) gives greater discretion to judges and BOP in determining these three mandatory minimums and requires a validated risk assessment; (2) creates a mandatory minimum between 15 and 35 years for intentional child endangerment resulting in death; (3) allows a mandatory minimum between five and seven years for robbery 2nd; (4) creates a new crime of robbery 3rd, an assault without injury during an attempted theft, and allows up to two years in prison; and (5) allows the 33 percent mandatory minimum for drug felons, except the largest dealers, to be cut in half.

What began as a constituent request grew to become the most significant criminal justice reform legislation in years. I am proud I played a part in making HF2064 possible.

While this legislation cannot bring back Tryniti, it can discourage intentional acts that endanger other childrens lives.

David Dawson represents District 14 in the Iowa House of Representatives. In March, Dawson announced he will not seek re-election.
In each of his six previous races for re-election to the U.S. House, we endorsed Republican Steve King before the general election because we felt he was, despite our criticisms of him, the stronger candidate and better fit for this congressional district.

However, in primary opponent Rick Bertrand, King this year faces a challenger unlike anyone he faced before.

Like King, Bertrand - a successful businessman and state senator from Sioux City - holds conservative positions and views on domestic issues, including economic and social issues, in line with those of Republicans in the largely conservative 4th District.

In addition, in our view, Bertrand embraces an agenda focused more on the wants and needs of the 4th and less on national and international issues than the agenda pursued by King.

Finally, we believe Bertrand practices a more pragmatic approach to lawmaking, including an understanding of the need for compromise, and possesses a more effective package of personal traits, including less penchant for use of inflammatory rhetoric, than does King. We believe Bertrand's collegiality and less-combative, less-controversial style would work to the advantage of our district in Washington.

For these reasons, The Journal today endorses Bertrand for the Republican nomination to the 4th District U.S. House seat in the June 7 primary election and the right to face Democrat Kim Weaver in November.

This endorsement decision was difficult for us because we respect King and his service in Congress, but we have made no secret of our reservations about him, even when we endorsed him. Among the criticisms of King we have shared in this space: He is too rigidly partisan. Too often, he engages in incendiary language. He risks marginalization within the House by openly warring with House leaders, such as former Speaker John Boehner. He seems, at times, more interested in making a national name for himself (on the issue of illegal immigration, for example) than attending to priorities at home. He spends too much time focused on moving the nation's political center to the right.

With Bertrand, we see not only a strong conservative, but a proven track record of private and public accomplishments. We admire the vision of Bertrand as both a businessman and legislator. Passionate, informed and articulate, he quickly became a Statehouse leader and strong voice for Northwest Iowa - within the area of economic development, in particular.

The fact Bertrand in 2010 became the first Republican in 30 years to win a state Senate seat in Sioux City and the fact he was re-elected to the seat in 2014 in a district closely split between Republicans, Democrats and Independents speaks well of his ability to appeal to and work with all political constituencies. Bertrand understands the need, on occasion, to reach across the aisle. For example, he deviated in 2015 from his customary position of opposition to a tax increase by voting to raise Iowa's gas tax. Partly due to the political courage Bertrand exercised in supporting what was a necessary increase, the gas tax hike passed. As a result, important road and bridge work in the state, including an expedited plan for the long-awaited completion of the Highway 20 four-lane project, received a crucial infusion of money.

We understand Bertrand faces a daunting task in this race, but we believe he represents the first viable alternative to King for Republican voters in our congressional district.
We need more objective media coverage. (I am not blasting The Journal. This refers to the national media.) Whatever you think about Donald Trump, this latest suggestion that he was dishonest about helping veterans is simply unfair.

One organization right here in town - Partners for Patriots - received $100,000 within two to three weeks of Mr. Trump announcing his intention to help veterans organizations. I held that check in my hand and saw the bank statement after it was deposited. I was also present when that money helped Partners purchase a facility that will seriously enhance its ability to train service dogs for veterans. Several other donations were made at the same event in Council Bluffs. There was no secret about the event.
DES MOINES | Two out of five Iowa law enforcement agencies did not file any hate crime reports to the FBI over a six-year span, the seventh-highest rate in the nation, according to an Associated Press review of federal records.

The list of Iowa law enforcement agencies that did not file any hate crime reports from 2009 to 2014 is made up almost exclusively of small towns.

One state law enforcement official said that may be because hate crimes are rare in small Iowa communities.

But victim advocates and advocacy groups do not think that is the case.

Thats not true, said Nate Monson, executive director of Safe Iowa Schools, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gay, lesbian and transgender youth. I have received calls from students who have been accosted walking home from school because theyre gay. And its not a bullying incident. Its not from a peer. Its from an adult in the community.

And theyve reported to law enforcement, and nothing has been done, and thats frustrating.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offenders bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Filing reports for the federal count is voluntary, and guidelines call for reports to be submitted even if they list zero hate crimes, a signal to both the FBI and the community that local departments are taking such crimes seriously.

FBI Director James Comey has called on all agencies to do a more aggressive job tracking hate crimes, and he also has initiated training sessions on bias attacks for hundreds of law enforcement officers nationwide.

The Associated Press identified almost 2,800 city police and county sheriff's departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBIs annual crime tally from 2009 to 2014. That's about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide.

In Iowa, 164 agencies did not submit a hate crime report during that six-year span, about 41 percent of all of the states law enforcement agencies.

Thats the seventh-highest rate in the nation, which includes Mississippi at 65 percent, Louisiana at 59 percent and Indiana at 53 percent.

The Journal's Des Moines Bureau reached out to a handful of those law enforcement agencies; none returned messages.

Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdt, who responded to a request for comment to the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association, said he thinks hate crimes are rare in Iowa because of its demographics  fewer than 1 in 10 Iowans are minorities, according to census figures  and because Iowa is a very friendly state.

When you talk about rural Iowa, or I guess our beliefs and social makeup, I like to think were good people, Sandholdt said. I dont think theres a lot of issues.  I can speak for my county, that we dont have a lot of issues with hate crimes or anything that goes along with that.

I dont see it throughout Iowa when I talk to other sheriffs or police chiefs, whether it be a big metro or rural areas. I dont see a big problem with hate crimes. I think were very open, and I think were a very friendly state.  I just dont see its a huge issue.

Jennifer Eaton-Bertagnolli has a different explanation.

In 1988, her father Ken Eaton, an openly gay man, was stabbed to death by two teenagers whom he had invited into his home while Jennifer slept in the next room.

Eaton-Bertagnolli, who operates a foundation in her fathers name to raise awareness of violent crimes, said she thinks it is unfortunate that law enforcement agencies are not filing hate crime reports and she does not think hate crimes are not happening in rural Iowa.

I believe its happening. I think theyre just swept under the rug to be quiet, Eaton-Bertagnolli said, adding she thinks small-town law enforcement officials may be hesitant to classify incidents as a hate crime. I just think statistics are statistics. Its just a number. But I think that the truth should be reported.

The AP examined FBI hate crime reports for the years 2009 through 2014 and matched those against lists of every city and county law enforcement agency in each state, obtained separately from all 50 states.

An analysis revealed that law enforcement reporting is spotty even beyond the nearly 2,800 agencies that did not file even a single hate crime report. For example, thousands of city police and county sheriff's departments, which handle the vast majority of local law enforcement responses and investigations, reported in some years but not others. And in some cases, departments reported for, say, only one quarter of a year without submitting reports covering the rest of that span.

Some agencies said they thought they were reporting, even though they were not, and some thought they didn't have to file reports because they hadn't investigated any hate crimes. Others that oversee jails might have assumed they were exempt because they don't patrol the streets, but the FBI encourages reporting by all law enforcement agencies whose officers are empowered to make arrests.

Monson said he thinks law enforcement agencies should report hate crime data even when hate crimes are not occurring, so as to inform state and federal governments.

Monson, who is openly gay, said he was the victim of a hate crime while he was a student at Clarke University (then Clarke College) in Dubuque. Monson said someone mailed to him what he called a very creepy and threatening package that included a note that read, Repent now, God hates gays.

Monson said he was disappointed in law enforcements approach to the incident.

The officer gave me a card and said to call them if anyone follows me, Monson said.

Monson said he thinks law enforcement officials need better training to recognize hate crimes and how to investigate them.

A better accounting of hate crimes, the FBI and other proponents say, would not only increase awareness but also boost efforts to combat such crimes with more resources for law enforcement training and community outreach.

The issues in rural agencies may be preparing officers for the right questions to ask, Monson said. What I found, being a victim, is it takes a lot more training and a lot more commitment from law enforcement (to address hate crimes). 

We need to be working more with our law enforcement agencies. I think thats what this report tells us, that we need to do a better job of that.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to
In Australia it seems Malcolm Turnbull, the current prime minister and multi-millionaire, is continuing an ego trip that began some years ago. Whether there is any altruism beyond helping big business is hard to see.

Sometimes it is blindingly obvious but at other times it can be obscure and puzzling.

It is useful to speculate about what motivates people to run for political office.

Next year, in theory at least, there will be an election in Papua New Guinea.

THERE is an election in Australia at the moment. There is also a pre-election process in full swing in the USA.

On the other hand, opposition leader Bill Shorten is on a power trip, albeit laced with elements of social conscience.

In both cases, the two leaders reflect the values of their respective party ideologies.

American politics is harder to pick. The potential Republican nominee, Donald Trump, appears to be riding peak narcissism. There is no underlying ideology that can be remotely related to what he is doing. He represents the cult of celebrity gone mad.

The front running Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, is part of a political dynasty, a kind of royalty representing power and money.

The man dogging her heels, Bernie Sanders, is an American lightweight version of a socialist. Of all those Ive mentioned, he probably represents the least selfish and most altruistic presidential aspirant.

So those of us in Australia and the USA at least know what we are dealing with and can choose accordingly come election day.

So what motivates political aspirants in Papua New Guinea?

Before everyone jumps up yelling money, more money and maximum money let me note a few exceptions.

If you recall the last election in 2012, one of PNG Attitudes distinguished contributors, Jeffrey Febi, ran for election in an Eastern Highlands seat. He wasnt so much interested in money but more in helping his local people.

Febi didnt win but he made a good showing, so people must have responded to more than just the prospect of installing a potential cash cow.

And there is Gary Juffa, who has aims that would be very familiar to Bernie Sanders. With him are honest politicians like Sam Basil and Charles Abel.

What is missing in Papua New Guineas past and present aspirants is underlying ideology. If you were to ask a candidate whether they were left, right or centrist you would more than likely get a puzzled look.

If you care to attach the slightest hint of ideology to the present batch of politicians, the best fit would be free-market capitalists in the mould of the neo-conservatives. This description certainly fits prime minister Peter ONeill.

These are the people who gave us the global financial crisis and then eschewed responsibility for it while pocketing the funds various governments used to bail them out of their problems. And they are the people who learned nothing from the experience.

The lack of underlying ideology, and the party structures to embody and espouse it, creates the impression that politics in Papua New Guinea has no core values and is run by brigands and pirates.

The nearest thing to an ideology is Christianity, to which most politicians pay lip service.

Unfortunately religion is a feudal ideology. Witness the destruction of the carvings and totem pole in parliament house and the importation of a bible of questionable provenance.

Religion is the ultimate cargo cult. It promises not unlimited access to goods but to life everlasting. Unfortunately, and luckily for the churches, no one has come back from the dead to dispute the claim.

The absence of coherent ideologies in Papua New Guinea is curious because in its traditional societies distinct ideologies existed. Anthropologists have been codifying them for many years.

Unfortunately, except for a vague idea referred to as the Melanesian Way, none of these traditional ideologies have been successfully transformed and transplanted into modern times.

One of the most important things to spring out of ideology is policy. Policy in large measure reflect ideology.

The lack of ideology in Papua New Guinean politics yields no coherent policies. This essentially means that Papua New Guinean politicians have been making it up as they go along.

When one thing doesnt work they try another, and then something else after that. It is a kind of governance by reaction and lottery. Changes in mid-stride and constantly broken promises characterise what happens.

Ask a Papua New Guinean politician what they stand for and the honest answer would mostly be me. Thats no way to run a country.

Come 2017 we could have the United States, the most powerful country in the world, run by a scatological egomaniac plunging the world into unnecessary conflict and financial ruin.

Australia will have enormous trouble coping, but Papua New Guinea will have no hope whatsoever. If you think Australia ignores and manipulates Papua New Guinea for its own ends, you havent seen anything yet.
NEW YORK  Sophisticated X-ray body scanners that could curb widespread smuggling of scalpels and razors at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail have sat unused for years, shelved by a state law barring such devices that emit low doses of radiation.

The city instead is using weaker metal detectors that investigations have shown can allow blades to slip through if they are simply wrapped in duct tape.

"It's absurd," said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs a legislative committee overseeing the correction department. "They have these scanners and they paid a lot of money for these scanners and they're not getting used."

City officials say they purchased the seven airport-style body scanners in 2012 and 2013 for more than $1 million, putting them in operation at the jail complex for about a year before they learned of a state law that prohibits non-medical uses of machines that emit small doses of radiation. Federal law allows similar scanners to be used at airports and in some federal prisons.

Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte told legislators at a budget hearing last year that the machines, which were the subject of a handful of lawsuits by prisoners at Rikers, were pulled from service in early 2014.

Since then, they have sat in storage while the city lobbied lawmakers to try to pass legislation that would allow them to use the machines.

"They cite some law, but I don't know that any lawsuit or judge would say that the department is hurting somebody's physical well-being by allowing these scanners to be used," Crowley said. "I personally think they should use them with or without the state law."

For now, the majority of screening points at the 10 Rikers' jails are equipped with walk-through metal detectors, known as magnetometers. But the commissioner of a city agency that has led a sprawling investigation into corruption in the city jail system says the machines can be easily tricked and have repeatedly failed to catch people who admitted smuggling weapons.

"There's no comparison," said Cameron Lindsay, a former federal prison warden who now works as a jail security consultant. "The body scanners are much better. The technology is exponentially better, and you can see the entire person's body without strip searching them."

A city report issued in February said that more than 2,200 weapons were recovered inside city jails last year and that the number of slashings and stabbings at city jails rose 66 percent from the prior year. In November, a correction officer was slashed across the face by an inmate wielding a scalpel and needed more than two dozen stitches to close the wound.

A Rikers Island correction officer was indicted last month after authorities said he smuggled seven scalpels that were stuffed inside a package of synthetic marijuana and wrapped with duct tape. The officer, Kevin McKoy, had told investigators he was able to smuggle scalpels into the jail previously by walking through the magnetometers undetected, Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters said in announcing the charges.

McKoy has pleaded not guilty; his attorney has declined to comment on the case.

In 2014, a Department of Investigation probe found that an undercover investigator was able to smuggle a razor blade into the jails on Rikers Island in each of six attempts.

Ponte said the correction department is "taking aggressive steps to stem the flow of contraband," including increasing visitor searches and overhauling the process for recruiting correction officers.

The city says it has also purchased 10 new scanners that are designed to catch cellphones that may be smuggled into the jail and officials say those machines are also helpful in finding small wrapped weapons because of the sensitivity of the machines.

The city's top financial officer said the purchase of the body scanners was "an example of how a lack of due diligence can cost taxpayers money."

"The Department of Correction doesn't have to put these X-ray scanners up on eBay, but there's no point in having them sit there and depreciate down to nothing," New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said.

Norman Seabrook, president of the union that represents rank-and-file correction officers, said union officials need to learn more about the body scanners to verify there are no health risks to officers who may be posted at the scanners every day.

___

This story has been corrected to show the Rikers Island correction officer was indicted last month, not earlier this month.

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Associated Press writer Jake Pearson contributed to this report.

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Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The decree specified that existing rules already provided for the possibility of removing senior church officials from office.

However the new approach put emphasis on "grave causes," which include "the negligence of a bishop in the exercise of his role, especially in relation to cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults."

Stricter rules will come into effect from September 5 of this year, according to the publication of the Holy Sees press office.
TOKYO (Sputnik)  US Navy Petty Officer Aimee Mejia was driving on the wrong lane at around 11:40 p.m. local time on Saturday (14:40 GMT), when she collided with two other cars, the NHK said.

The broadcaster added that the servicewoman had already been arrested by local police on suspicion of driving under influence, as alcohol levels in Mejia's blood exceeded the permissible level sixfold.

This is not the first incident with US personnel from the Kadena Air Base in the recent months. In May, 32-year-old former US Marine Kenneth Franklin was arrested on suspicion of stabbing and strangling a 20-year-old Japanese woman near the base. The woman, Rina Shimabukuro, disappeared on April 28 and was later found dead in a forest. Franklin has reportedly admitted to committing the murder.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the local Diapazon newspaper, the criminals attacked arms shops to get weapons before reportedly taking hostages near a military unit and attacking a local police department. The newspaper added that police forces carry out special operation in three different districts of the Kazakh city. The evacuation of local residents in districts affected by the operation is reportedly underway.

The spokesman for Kazakh Interior Ministry on Sunday confirmed the fact of shootings in country's northern city of Aktobe, as well as casualties among attackers and Kazakh servicemen.

"Today at 15:45 Astana time [11:45 GMT] department of internal affairs responsible for Aktobe Region received a message about attack of unidentified individuals on 'Pallada' arms shop in the city of Aktobe. At 15:45 local time it was found out about an attack on one more arms shop and a military unit During the attack Pallada's salesman was killed and one more person was injured. In a military unit an officer and a serviceman were killed. Nine more servicemen were injured," Almas Sadubayev said, as quoted by the Vlast magazine.
BUFFALO  Students entering Buffalo's redesigned South Park High School this fall may not have to look far for a job upon graduation  1 mile to be precise, at a massive solar panel factory being built up the road.

The school is among five struggling high schools the district is redesigning with emerging local industries in mind. Along with regular classes, each will offer specialty programming around in-demand skills such as solar panel manufacturing, life sciences, homeland security and gaming.

The idea addresses both the district's challenge to motivate students to show up and graduate, as well as employers' concerns about a "skills gap" that threatens to leave them short-handed. It also follows a broader educational trend toward "career pathways" as alternatives to a four-year college degree.

"Our young people will take their places not just in the mail room but in the board room," said Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash, who sees in his 34,000-student district "a human capital pipeline" for skilled jobs being created amid a surge of economic development in the city.

About 12,000 new jobs are anticipated in the next few years, many of them concentrated within a 120-acre hospital and research corridor and a clean energy manufacturing complex anchored by SolarCity.

"This is part of a re-boot, a re-design of education in the Buffalo public schools," Mayor Byron Brown said while cutting the ribbon on the new Bennett High School, which had been targeted by the state Education Department for closure because of consistently low academic results.

The new Computer Academy of Technological Sciences at Bennett will offer college credits and industry certification with a focus on animation, gaming, coding, mobile application design and computer hardware.

Incoming freshman Nicole Baker, 13, and her father, Marvin Baker, were sold on the school during an open house that included a demonstration of 3-D printing technology that produced a replica frog. Nicole was the first student accepted.

"I pushed for her. She's very smart at computers, she's really quick with them," said Marvin Baker, who hopes the school will nurture his daughter's knack for technology.

The Solar Pathways Program at South Park High School is a partnership with Erie Community College and SolarCity, which expects to employ 1,400 people when the facility starts production next year. Mentored by SolarCity employees, students will earn a high school diploma and an associate degree in six years at no cost to them and be first in line for jobs when they graduate. The program is funded by a seven-year, $2.4 million state grant.

Such school-business relationships are becoming more common, said Sean Lynch of the National Association for Career and Technical Education.

"That's driven a lot by the skills gap and concerns about finding qualified employees to fill positions that are available today," Lynch said.

Funded by a four-year, $7 million federal grant, the Buffalo schools' new Bioinformatics and Life Sciences Research Lab is geared toward careers on the city's medical campus. Students will have access to nine college credits and medical and other industry licenses and certifications with mentors and partners from the University at Buffalo, Buffalo State College and Empire Genomics Co.

East Community High School, meanwhile, will offer a law and public safety pathway with an eye toward careers in corrections of homeland security. Lafayette International High School will serve English language learners from other countries with internships and mentoring in fields including education and business.
According to the broadcaster, it is the first visit of the US committee's delegation to Taiwan in 24 years.

In December, 2015, the administration of US President Barack Obama notified the Congress it approved an arms sale package to Taiwan amounting to $1.83 billion and including frigates, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment.
According to the authorities, the gunfire lasted for about two hours, and security forces eventually managed to kill all the three attackers. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with long-standing Taliban insurgency and other extremist factions operating in the country.
Despite repeated statements of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, the Chinese spokesperson rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries at the gathering were warmer and friendlier to China than a year ago.

China had 17 bilateral meetings this year, compared with 13 in 2015.

We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future, Sun said.

Talking about the South China Sea, the spokesperson mentioned the following important points regarding Chinas sovereignty over the disputed islands.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the adjacent waters, which is fully backed by historical and legal evidence, online publication China Daily reported.

The relevant construction which took place on Chinas own territory violated no international law. It is the intention of some countries that have deployed large amounts of advanced weapons and equipment to the Asia-Pacific region that should cause alarm among regional countries, the publication noted.

Another point to note according to Hua is that the South China Sea arbitration case one-sidedly commenced by the Philippines is not meant to resolve disputes, but to refute China's territorial right and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.

China upholds a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security outlook for the region and believes that regional countries shall work together to build and share a path of regional security that benefits all, China Daily reported Hua as saying.
KABUL (Sputnik)  No terrorist group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Sediqqi, the police have launched the investigation into the incident.

"Terrorist left the explosive device in front of Sher Wali Wardak's house. He died as a result of the explosion, eleven people got injures," Sediqqi wrote on his Twitter page.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Kurz suggested keeping migrants on islands to prevent them from reaching mainland Europe, in an interview published Saturday.

"It is no coincidence that immigrants to the US first came to the Ellis Island near New York. US authorities then decided who should be allowed to the mainland. Such island model could also work for Europe," Kurz told the daily newspaper Die Presse.

The minister speculated that people stranded on Greek islands like Lesbos without a chance of getting asylum status would be more willing to return home than those who had already moved in an apartment in Berlin or Vienna.
The newspaper added that police had rapidly responded to the attack, but one police officer was injured.

Flambouraris' house has been under police protection, as it had already been the target of protesters' attacks twice. The minister classified one of attempts to fire his house as a terrorist attack.
What is the Ukrainian military industry all about?

In the wake of the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited from the USSR one of the biggest military-iindustrial complexes, employing over 3 million people at more than 3,000 enterprises across the republic.

Twenty-four years later a mere 140 such enterprises are still at work.

The Ukrobotonprom concern was established in 2010 as an umbrella for 134 arms making enterprises, along with state arms exporter Ukrspetsexport.

With the outbreak of the armed conflict in Donbass more than 30 such enterprises were commissioned to repair damaged military hardware and build new units.

The bulk of Ukraines military output was traditionally sold abroad and this situation hardly changed even with the start of the civil war in eastern Ukraine.

According to Ukroboronproms CEO Roman Romanov, in 2015 the concerns portfolio of export contracts amounted to $1.3 billion, even though, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it was $323 million less than in 2014.

Cannibalized tanks

Tanks and fighting vehicles top the list of Ukrainian arms exports. Ten Oplot-T tanks arrived in Thailand on May 21, in addition to this number supplied earlier. The Thais are still unhappy because they expected 49 such tanks to arrive already three years ago.

Ukrainians have also failed to supply enough ammunition for the Oplots whose quality leaves much to be desired. Small wonder because the Oplot-T tanks being supplied to Thailand are just a cannibalized version of the old Soviet T-80 main battle tank.

According to Ukrainian media reports, there are hundreds of T-80 engines currently available in the country, which is more than enough to install on the remaining 29 Oplots the Thais are still waiting for.

Just how long these tanks will run after such an overhaul is anybodys guess though.

Like car thieves do

On July 7, 2013, Ukrspetsexport was commissioned by Croatia to repair and upgrade seven MiG-21 fighter jets and supply five new ones. After receiving 13 million euros from the Croatian defense ministry Ukraine supplied the jets in 2014. Before very long the planes began to fall apart and eight months later only three were able to get off the ground.

An official probe by Croatian military police revealed that the Ukrainians had installed used parts on the planes they claimed to have repaired, and stamped new serial numbers on the old engines they installed on the allegedly new MiGs (just like car thieves usually do.)

Ukrspetsexport customarily dismissed the charges as part of what it called an information war.

Limp Bucephaluses

In 2009, Ukrspetsexport was contracted to supply 420 Bucephalus armored vehicles to Iraq.

Widely trumpeted by Kiev as being fully in line with NATO standards, the Bucephalus fighting vehicle was proudly declared to be steps streets ahead of its Russian analogues.

By 2013, a mere 88 such units had been delivered. Moreover, the Iraqis sent back an additional 42 Bucephaluses with numerous cracks in their armor and canceled the deal altogether.

According to Iraqi media reports, 80 percent of the Ukrainian-supplied armored vehicles had broken down already before 2013 was out.

Kiev traditionally blamed Russia, with the director of Ukraines Da Vinci AG analytical group, Anatoly Baronin accusing Russian intelligence of being behind the cancellation of the lucrative contract.

Ambitions without borders

In 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko set the country an ambitious task of joining the club of the worlds top five arms exporters.

According to SIPRI, in 2010-2014 Ukraine accounted for 3 percent of the global arms exports, the target looked pretty real.

The problem isnt however, that a lions share of those exports consisted of decades-old weapons and parts Ukraine had inherited from the Soviet Union.

Even before the 2014 Maidan revolution the head of the Verhovna Radas defense and security committee Anatoly Kinakh admitted that weapons developed and built in post-Soviet Ukraine accounted for less than 20 percent of its exports.

The scope of the technological degradation of Ukraines military-industrial complex is so large that the country failed to launch the production of engines for its T-64 main battle tank.

With the old hardware that can still be sold now quickly running out, Ukrainian arms exporters are now facing stiff competition with the ongoing conflict in Donbass, which is eating up the bulk of what the countrys struggling military-industrial complex can offer.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the French Le Dauphine Libere newspaper, a gunman shot the bus carrying 75 tourists, including a group of children, who returned from Spain to Czech republic, with a rifle on Saturday night.

The newspaper reported that six people, including one minor, were injured by glass shards during the accident, as the shots had broken the bus windscreen and rear window.

Security measures in the vicinity of the accident had been strengthened, the newspaper added.
GENEVA (Sputnik)  The failed revolutionary proposal called for all Swiss adults to be paid an unconditional monthly income, regardless of whether they worked or not. According to the authors of the initiative, which was proposed in early 2016, the UBI reflected the high cost of living in Switzerland. Meanwhile, opponents of the idea, including those from the government, believe that this innovation would weaken the country's economy.

According to official data released by the country's authorities, 76.7 percent of the voters disagreed with the proposal, the initiative was supported by 23.1 of the voters. The most positive response was found in the cantons of Basel-Stadt  36 percent, Jura  35.8, Geneva  34.7 and Neuchatel  31.2 percent.

In January, a Demoscope poll revealed that 56 percent of the Swiss believed that the initiative would be rejected. Then, the majority of the Swiss population said they were unlikely to quit their jobs even if the initiative was supported.
ROME (Sputnik)  Virginia Raggi was able to garner between 34 and 38 percent of votes in exit polls right after the polling stations closed on Sunday, according to the La7 television.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi Democratic partys candidate Roberto Giachetti came second with 21.5 to 22.5 percent of votes and will face Raggi off in the second round.

Italians went to the polls on Sunday to elect municipal authorities in the countrys largest cities  Rome, Naples, Milan, Turin, Bologna, Trieste, and Cagliari.
There are seven days remaining in the state legislative session and members of the Assembly and Senate are looking to tackle some big issues before leaving Albany.

At (or near) the top of the list: Heroin.

The heroin epidemic is ravaging communities throughout the state, including here in Cayuga County. Local stakeholders have been urging government officials to pay more attention to the rise in heroin abuse.

Cayuga County's state legislative delegation is aware of the problem. Assemblyman Gary Finch has been advocating for more treatment options for addicts.

"The first step is generating the funding we need to tackle this epidemic," Finch, R-Springport, said. "We need detox centers, more rehabilitation beds and more practitioners singularly devoted to follow-up care to help recovering addicts avoid relapse."

It's not the first time this year Finch has said more funding is needed to address the heroin epidemic.

After the state budget was passed in April, Finch said there should have been more money in the spending plan to combat the problem.

In the post-budget session, the state Senate put forward its own plan to deal with the heroin epidemic. The chamber recently approved several bills targeting various aspects of the issue, including enforcement, prevention and treatment.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a heroin and opioid addiction task force in May. The panel has been tasked with developing recommendations for anti-opioid legislation. (One of the task force's public meetings was held in Syracuse.)

State Sen. Michael Nozzolio said whatever legislation is agreed to by both houses of the Legislature and the governor should focus on more than just criminal penalties.

A better focus, he said, is needed on prevention and treatment services.

"The bottom line is that people get hooked and have nowhere else to turn," he said.

Nozzolio, R-Fayette, recalled a conversation he recently had with a law enforcement official who told him that most of the heroin that comes into the Finger Lakes is brought in by drug dealers who obtain the drugs in Rochester or Syracuse.

Some of these dealers are addicted to heroin themselves and could be high while driving from somewhere in the Finger Lakes region to either of the cities.

"We're at risk," he said.

State Sen. Jim Seward is hopeful that one of his bills to combat the heroin epidemic will be signed into law.

The bill sponsored by Seward, R-Milford, would provide a tax credit to employers who hire graduates from drug court or a judicial diversion program. The idea is to reward those who are aiming to end their addiction.

"Giving those folks who are serious about recovery and I think they should be given an opportunity for a job," he said.

The state has spent a lot of time on the heroin epidemic in recent years. But Seward, R-Milford, and his colleagues agree that more needs to be done.

"We're continuing to lose too many people to this addiction and we've got to step up our efforts," Seward said.

The state legislative session is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, June 16. It's possible that state legislators could remain in Albany beyond that date if action is required on outstanding measures.
MANAMA (Sputnik)  The vessel was intercepted in the north of the country as it was setting sail, the interior ministry told RIA Novosti. Eight suspects were arrested together with the boats captain and first mate.

The ministry suspects two Bahraini citizens in Iran of being behind the smuggling attempt. They allegedly fled to the Islamic Republic after one of them was sentenced to life in jail for terrorism.

Bahrain, a majority-Shiite monarchy with a Sunni royal family, has been accusing Iran of backing Shiite militants. Many people have been jailed on charges of terrorism for taking part in anti-government protests.
"The core al-Qaeda, the thinkers and planners, are not coming to the front right now, but they are giving directions, and the local boys are going in big numbers," said one counterterrorism official in Karachi, speaking on condition of anonymity.

AQIS established cells in Karachi that work in madrassas and schools, casually preaching Islam before targeting certain students for potential recruitment, officials say.

AQIS aims to act through proxies, establishing connections with various militant groups in Pakistan, including local Sunni militias and ethnic Bengalis and other Urdu-speaking Mohajirs  the Muslim ethnic minority that migrated to Pakistan from India in the middle of 20th century.

"Al-Qaeda is just an umbrella, and the top of the pyramid is what is controlling and enduring," said Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, a retired Pakistani army colonel and sitting senator. "They don't have to put much effort into Pakistan because all they have to do is pick up all these existing, bloodthirsty splinter organizations and they have a ready-made killing machine."

That killing machine looks even more terrifying if one considers allegations made by US intelligence: AQIS seeks for sympathy among Pakistani regular forces. The only recorded major attack by AQIS in Pakistan was an attempt to hijack a Pakistani navy ship. The attack was repelled, but five navy officers were convicted for helping AQIS's orchestrate it.
CAIRO (Sputnik)  Egypt redrew maritime borders in April to give Saudi Arabia the sovereignty of the Tiran and Sanafir islands, prompting thousands of protesters to take to the streets in central Cairo on April 25.

Last Saturday, an Egyptian court sentenced 51 people to two-year jail terms with hard labor for anti-government protests. The majority appealed the verdict.

A court in the Egyptian capital ordered the release of 47 more protesters last week after they were sentenced to the maximum five years in prison for demonstrating.
TUNIS (Sputnik)  Kobler warned on Saturday those fighting for control of Benghazi in northern Libya they will be prosecuted for war crimes if attacks on civilians and medical facilities continue.

"I wish to express my deep concern about repeated violations of international humanitarian law, some of which may amount to war crimes, which are recurring in Benghazi," Kobler wrote in an open letter published by the UN Support Mission in Libya.

The UN official said that International Criminal Courts Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was planning to expand investigations in Libya.
The split is fraught with a civil war centering on who gets the control over the oil-rich Kirkuk province.

A large part of Kirkuk is now controlled by the armed forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, but there are also forces loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Osmanov said.

The regions oil wealth is also being claimed by the Iraqi government, who would hate to lose a major source of income.

"This could ignite a full-scale civil war with Iraq, Iran and the al-Hashd-al-Shaabi group [Shiite militia] using it as a pretext for joining in the fray, Osmanov warned.

He also mentioned the deep political and economic crisis Iraqi Kurdistan was now living through, stemming mainly from differences over the issue of a Kurdish presidency and the war with Daesh.

More than half of local MPs are holding out for a parliamentary republic while about as many are advocating a presidential one.

Ramazan Osdmanov said that a region-wide referendum and early presidential elections held the key to ending the stalemate.

In October 2015 security authorities of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) prevented parliamentary speaker Yusuf Mohammed Sadiq and a group of lawmakers from entering Erbil city, effectively bring the legislature to a halt.

The second and final term of Democratic Party leader and President Masoud Barzani ended in 2013. The autonomous parliament of the autonomy then extended his term for another two years, but even that extension ran out in 2015.
"Militants from al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham armed group conducted a mortar attack against the positions of [Syrian] government forces in the district of Ansar in Aleppo's southwest," a spokesman of the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeymim airbase said.

The attack with the use of mortars and multiple launch rocket systems was conducted from the Rashidin neighborhood in Aleppo, according to Russian military.
At the same time, on May 24, the Syrian Kurdish Forces (SDF) announced an operation to liberate Raqqa, from the north and north-east. They were assisted by a US-led international coalition. Over the recent days, Kurdish forces have managed to liberate from terrorists several towns and villages.

Raqqa will become a part of the Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria following its liberation from Daesh terrorists, a representative of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Iraqi Kurdistan, Gharib Hassou told RIA Novosti on May 26.

"Since the assault on Raqqa is carried out by the SDF, it makes sense that after its recapture, the city will become a part of the democratic federal system created by us in northern Syria," Hassou said.

In this context, many commentators have said that the operation by the Syrian Army has started a "race, with Raqqa as the main prize.

Syrian Army enters Raqqa Province in offensive to liberate the besieged city of Raqqa

Muhammad underscored that it was no coincidence that the army has launched its operation at the present moment.

"Over the past several days, the SDF supported by the US have taken control over six villages and farms near the town of Ayn Issa, 55 km to the north from Raqqa. However, then they turned to the west to liberate from terrorists the town of Manbij," he said.

He also underscored that the Syrian government will not let any of the warring parties raise their flags in Raqqa and other Syrian towns. Damascus will seek to restore government control over them.

Currently, Damascus and Kurdish forces are fighting against the common enemy. If the Kurds finally liberate Raqqa they will not be interested in military confrontation with the Syrian Army, Yury Zinin, a senior fellow at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), told Izvestia.

"After Syria is liberated from terrorists Kurds will seek ways to agree with Damascus. Without support from the government, Kurds will be surrounded by enemies. At the same time, Damascus is ready for a compromise with Kurds and will take their interests into account," Zinin said.
BAGHDAD (Sputnik)  The Iraqi armed forces and local militia have liberated 47 settlements from Daesh militants since the beginning of the operation to liberate the city of Fallujah, Abu Mahdi Muhandis, a deputy leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force, said Sunday.

"Fallujah is a powerful military stronghold of the enemy. 80 percent of terrorist attacks in Baghdad were planned and carried out by terrorists who settled down in this city. We have liberated 47 settlements in its neighborhood as of now," Muhandis told reporters adding that Fallujah has been "completely surrounded with an exception of a bottleneck near the Euphrates River."

According to Muhandis, up to 2,500 terrorists, 10 percent of whom are foreigners, can still be in the city.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Scores of military equipment, including machine guns, anti-aircraft munitions, explosive devices, sniper rifles and a grenade launcher were seized, the statement read.

"[On Saturday,] in Hakkari province, Semdinli, [southeastern Turkey, near the Iraqi and Iranian borders], seven members of the separatist terrorist organization have been neutralized as a result of airstrikes," the Turkish military said in a statement adding that 20 PKK militants were killed in the same area on Friday.

A ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish militants collapsed in July 2015, prompting the Turkish authorities to launch a military operation in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern regions.
Jaysh al-Islam is one of the most power factions within the Syrian opposition. Moscow and Damascus have repeatedly opposed the participation of Jaysh al-Islam members in the negotiations.

The group has been accused of attacking the Syrian Army and government facilities as well as of using terrorist tactics. It has been part of the so-called pro-Western Syrian opposition, backed by the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Ahrar ash-Sham is a coalition of multiple Islamist units fighting against the government of Bashar Assad. It is one of the largest Syrian rebel groups. The group, along with Jaysh al-Islam, is one of the main rebel groups supported by Ankara and Riyadh. It is also openly allied with al-Nusra Front.
There is always so much fun and exciting book news to share. If you are not already aware, there is a new Harry Potter book coming out in July. It will be titled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I & II: The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production." This is looking like the biggest release of the year (unless George R.R. Martin's "Winds of Winter" makes it out for the holiday season). From what I can gather, it is written as a play and is the eighth story, taking place 19 years after book seven. Harry is an adult, a father of three school-aged children and is struggling as an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic. His youngest son is struggling with the family legacy and Harry is having a hard time with the past. If this is something you will be interested in, I would suggest stopping in and putting in a pre-order. We are offering a 25-percent-off discount on the book price to anyone who does that ahead of time. It looks like I might also have some fun promo stuff available for the book release  stay tuned!

The book I am currently reading is "The Fireman" by Joe Hill. It is a little strange and usually that is not my thing, but I must say that it is very well-written and very entertaining. Have you ever read anything by Joe Hill? Ive had many customers at the store tell me that I should read him, and I have been meaning to for years. It took me getting an advanced copy of his newest release (this book came out last Tuesday), but it is always fun to discover a new author that you enjoy. Joe Hill is actually the son of Stephen King. I respect his decision to change his name before trying to get his first publishing deal, rather than just getting his book out because of his famous father. I found his writing style to be somewhat similar to his father, but also unique at the same time.

"The Fireman" is about a terrifying new plague that is spreading across the country called Dragonscale. When I read the synopsis I was worried it would be exactly like all of the other apocalyptic stories that authors have been pumping out over the past few years, but Hill does a great job setting this story apart from the crowd. Dragonscale is a highly contagious spore that tattoos itself in the hosts skin and grows until the host eventually combusts into flames. Nobody knows when or how it began, but it is causing mass hysteria and leading to the unhinging of the world, burning it down to ashes. Our protagonist, Harper, is the type to put others before herself. She works as a nurse, trying to help the infected until she becomes infected herself. This is where the story takes off. Her terrible husband loses his mind when she becomes infected, and believes she infected him as well. Trying to escape him, Harper runs into an improbable group of heroes who are trying to save the world. This group of people is led by a very powerful man, known as The Fireman.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A Russian military convoy brought food to civilians trapped in Aleppo and Damascus areas on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Citizens of Tavani (Damascus province) have received 2.5 tons of humanitarian cargoes. Food products and sweets for children are the basis of the cargoes," the military bulletin read.

Food items and flour was also delivered to Ain Asaf in the northern Aleppo province. In addition, Russian health workers provided medical assistance to over 30 people, including 14 children.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  US National Public Radio (NPR) photojournalist and his interpreter were killed Sunday while on an assignment in Afghanistan, the broadcaster said in a statement.

David Gilkey and NPR's Afghan interpreter Zabihulla Tamanna were travelling with an Afghan army unit when they came under attack, the details of which were not disclosed.
DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The advance is complicated by the rising dust storm, the military said. The army has seized control of several strategic positions on the highway to Raqqa, the Daesh (Islamic state) capital in Syria since 2014.

Al-Tabqah lies some 34 miles west of Raqqa. The Syrian general told Sputnik that the advancing troops were able to kill an unidentified number of Daesh militants and pushed them deeper into the province.

"A group of Daesh militants got disoriented by a dust storm, so the army tracked and eliminated them," the general said, adding Syrian troops suffered no casualties.
SINGAPORE (Sputnik)  Russia believes that a disjointed security system composed of closed military alliances is a "relic of the past" and intends to work with other nations on creating a framework for a mutually respectful partnership, Russias Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Sunday.

"The existing regional security system based mainly on a network of closed military alliances does not contribute to creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding, nor does it meet the interests or concerns of all Asia-Pacific states," he said at the "IISS Shangri-La Dialogue" Asia Security Summit in Singapore.

"Closed military blocs are a relic of the past," Antonov said. "Instead we suggest mutually respectful partnership, recognition of nations right to determine their fate independently, renouncement of any attempts to ensure one's security at the expense of the others."
The Leader-class is expected to be outfitted with Kalibr-NK anti-ship, anti-submarine and land-attack missiles, as well as P-800 Oniks supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometers. The Zircon hypersonic missiles could also be added to the mix.

The next-generation warship could also receive the sea-based version of Russia's most advanced air defense system, known as the S-500 Prometey or 55R6M Triumfator-M. It will aslo have a landing pad for two Kamov Ka-27 or Kamov Ka-32 helicopters.

The ship will most likely be nuclear powered. It will be capable of spending up to 90 days offshore without additional refueling or support.
Due to the fact that the islands also part of Indonesian territory the crew of the Hiu Macan 001 arrested the Chinese fishermen and headed home with them. After several hours though, the Chinese CCG3210 appeared. It signaled the Hiu Macan 001 and demanded to hand over the fishermen.

During this period the Hiu Macan 001s captain found out that his satellite communications gear had ceased to function as it was blocked by the Chinese vessel.

The Indonesian patrol boat complied with Chinese demands and returned the crew.

In March 2016, an Indonesian patrol ship seized the Chinese fishing vessel Kway Fey less than three miles from the Natuna Islands, the magazine reported.

The crew was arrested and this time a tow was hooked to the ship but the Chinese werent going to let their own be captured so easily.

Two Chinese coast guard ships arrived and one of them that looked very much like CCG3210 rammed the fishing boat, freeing it from the Indonesian vessels clutches.

Beijing has on a number of occasions claimed the waters around the Natuna Islands as part of a traditional Chinese fishing ground.

As the tension in the South China Sea rises, CCG3210 will continue to protect the Chinese ships with considerable skill and dedication.
Chinese military expert Zhang Junshu said in an interview with Global Times newspaper that the increased number of US spy planes near Chinese and Russian borders is a serious violation of their state security.

Gen. Carlisle also said that the number of Russian long-range bombers in Eastern Europe and near the US west coast is increasing while China wants to take control over the South China Sea.

"Our concern is a resurgent Russia and a very, very aggressive China," he said.

"Their intent is to get us not to be there So that the influence in those international spaces is controlled only by them. My belief is that we cannot allow that to happen. We have to continue to operate legally in international airspace and international waterways," he added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Reuters reported citing the UK-based NGO, the Syrian Obsevatory for Human Rights, that an unidentified warplane had crashed in Aleppo.

The cause of the crash was not reported, however, the NGO did not rule out that the jet could have been downed.

"All Russian Aerospace Forces' war planes are at the Hmeymim airbase," Konashenkov told reporters.
The USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer, will enter the Black Sea on Monday for bilateral exercises with partner navies, the US Naval Forces press office said Saturday. The office also stated that the ship's operations are aimed at enhancing maritime security, readiness, and naval capability.

"Permanent deployment of US destroyers in the European theater of war is already a provocation," Murakhovsky said during the broadcast, noting that there are four other such vessels permanently deployed in a naval base in Spain.
Russian pilots displayed their mastery during the Aviadarts-2016 flight skills competition in Crimea featuring fighter jets, bombers, helicopters and other aircraft. The annual event has been held in Russia since 2013. One of the most spectacular parts of the show is when the top gun pilots fired missiles.
Women from the central New York branch of the National League of American Pen Women recently took part in the organization's 48th Biennial NLAPW Convention April 30 in Washington, D.C.

Sheila M. Byrnes, of Baldwinsville, was elected second vice president for a two-year term. She was previously president of the CNY branch.

Three members of the local branch were juried into art exhibits at the National Woman's Democratic Club and the Pen Arts Building: Rachael Ikins (formerly of Skaneateles), Barbara Baum and Ilene Layow.

Member Mary Gardner, of Skaneateles, was also awarded third place in a poetry contest for her work about the trapped Chilean miners. She would also read a poem by Sister Frances Anne Thom at a memorial tribute that closed the biennial, where CNY branch members Thom and Natalie Murphy were among the honored women.

CNY branch member Joan Applebaum and her son, Ben, a White House photographer and videographer, also arranged a private tour of the West Wing for branch members.

For more information about the league, visit nlapw.org.
SINGAPORE (Sputnik)  Russia calls for "positive pressure" on North Korea in the issues of nuclear, as well as of missile proliferation, Russias Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Sunday.

"There is just one option for us  to continue positive, positive, I would like to emphasize, pressure on government of North Korea to rethink about the behavior regarding the missile and nuclear proliferation," Antonov said at the "IISS Shangri-La Dialogue" Asia Security Summit in Singapore, adding that Moscow would not recognize Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
In other words, those who work with al-Nusra Front even if they do so from time to time are de facto not moderate  whether they are described as such or not.

"The Obama Administration thus continues with the fiction that there are completely separate, vetted, moderate rebels who are dedicated to creating an inclusive, multi-cultural, multi-confessional, secular and democratic Syria as soon as both [Daesh] and the Assad government are defeated," political analyst Daniel McAdams, Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, noted ironically.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the US to convince those rebel groups which they support in Syria to leave areas where al-Nusra Front militants are present. The Americans "are telling us not to hit [al-Nusra Front], because there is 'normal' opposition next to it," the diplomat said. "But that opposition must leave terrorists' positions, we long have agreed on that."
According to the newspaper, Russia's reunification with Crimea, Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis, as well as the country's military buildup and the use of modern technologies to influence public opinion give the ground to Germany to consider Russia as rival, but not the partner.

Relations between Russia and the European Union, including Germany, as its member state, deteriorated amid the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russian sanctions since the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict.
Some have said that Tokyo could reverse its stance and return to the 1956 declaration, but Koshkin maintained that it won't be easy.

"The joint declaration was signed in a different era and its articles cannot be implemented without taking the changes that occurred into consideration. In fact, Russian authorities could withdraw from the Article 9 of the joint declaration, citing a fundamental change of circumstances as described by Article 62 of 1969 Vienna Convention on the law of treaties," he explained.

The groundbreaking change, according to the analyst, took place when 200-mile exclusive economic zones were introduced in 1977.

"If Russia hands over southern Kurils to Japan, it will lose 210,000 sq miles of water area rich in biological and energy resources. The Japanese understand this and take this into account when reviewing the Russian stance on the islands. Nevertheless, Russian leadership still agrees to conduct talks on the basis of the 1956 declaration," he added.

Moscow's stance, the analyst noted, could change since the majority of Russians are against any territorial concessions to Japan.
Tensions between Russian and the West have deepened over the crisis in Ukraine. Since 2014, the US and Brussels have imposed several round of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals. In response, Russia introduced a food import ban against a number of Western countries.

Initially, the idea of a united economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok was proposed by Vladimir Putin back in 2010 when he was prime minister of Russia.

He presented his vision in an article published in the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.

"In the future, we could even consider a free trade zone or even more advanced forms of economic integration. The result would be a unified continental market with a capacity worth trillions of euros," Putin wrote.

He also proposed closer cooperation between Russia and Europe, including in energy, manufacturing industry, and hi-tech segments.

Putins idea of a free trade zone across the continent later was supported by many European leaders and politicians.
Many Russians remember how the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia altered the social and political landscape in Eurasia, severing decades-long ties and throwing some regions in the post-Soviet space into chaos. It is highly unlikely that they want to experience the political upheaval of those days again.

Then there are more practical concerns.

"In practical terms, Russia appreciates the EU's solidity and the convenience of dealing with one trading area. Moscow was seriously rattled when the single currency appeared to be at risk  to the point of offering financial support to the European Central Bank. It saw a euro collapse as a danger to Russia, too," she explained.

The EU, the London-based writer added, has served as an inspiration for the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union that wanted to capitalize on the economic links established in the Soviet era. Established in 2015, the economic union comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

"It was to be a partner for the EU, not a competitor," Dejevsky noted.

#Lavrov: There is no sensible alternative to mutually advantageous partnership between Russia and the EU  we have very strong links  MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) 25  2016 .

Since Russia does not want the EU to fall apart, it is most likely opposed to any major event that could shake the very foundations of the union, including Brexit. Despite popular beliefs that Putin would benefit from the UK leaving the bloc and taking into account that Moscow has not made an official statement on the looming referendum, it is concerned with the outcome of the vote, scheduled for June 23, she added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In Thursday's report, the US State Department said that Iran's "sponsorship" of terrorism was a "significant threat" to the stability of Lebanon and the broader region. According to the report, in recent years, Iran's sponsorship of terrorism has become particularly active, and was being carried out through the Quds Force, a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, intelligence services and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.

"Under the conditions that most of the people of the world and some American and western politicians regard the biggest supporters of terrorism if not the US government itself but at least its close allies, as the worlds biggest state sponsor of terrorism. This recent annual report on terrorism has ridiculed the blatant facts and realities and has become the best document for lack of credibility of the US Department of State by justifying the false accusations against the Islamic Republic of Irans (alleged) support for terrorism," Ansari was quoted by the FARS News Agency as saying.
Lieberman's image as a politician with close ties to Russia has been repeatedly invoked in the media recently. Foreign Policy, for instance, emphasized that he "really likes Vladimir Putin." The magazine pointed to the fact that Israel's foreign ministry, led by Lieberman, refused to condemn Crimea's reunification with Russia.

In an interview with Radio Sputnik, Professor Efraim Inbar, who heads the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, described Lieberman as a "friend of Russia," who was "very influential in improving the relations" between the two countries.
"[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who is currently traveling in Kenya, said the vote to label the killings as genocide would 'seriously affect' relations between Turkey and Germany, and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted what appeared to be a subtle reference to Nazism," the article read.

The author noted that the decision of the Bundestag was made at an especially difficult time when the EU is trying to bolster an "already shaky deal" between Ankara and Brussels to stem the ongoing migrant crisis. According to the agreement, Turkey would accept more refugees in exchange for a visa-free regime with the Schengen zone.

"Ankara has hoped the eased travel could lay the groundwork for eventual EU membership. Recalling its ambassador to Germany, Turkeys most important trading partner and the very country that spearheaded the recent deal, might not be a great place to start," the article read.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Thursday, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting the two sides would discuss the situation in Ukraine and Syria and security in the Baltic Sea region among other international issues. The Russia-Finland bilateral and regional cooperation will be also on the agenda of the meeting.

According to the ministry, Soini is also expected to meet in Moscow with representatives of local civil society organizations.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier that Soini would arrive in Moscow on the invitation of Lavrov and it would be the first Soini's visit to Russia since he took office in May 2015.
The Seward House Museum has announced that it will once again participate in the Blue Star Museums program, which offers free admission to all active-duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

The program is a collaboration between the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families, the U.S. Department of Defense and more than 2,000 museums across America.

For more information about Blue Star Museums, visit arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

For more information about the museum, 33 South St., Auburn, call (315) 252-1283 or visit sewardhousemuseum.org.
The forum is also due to be attended by senior news agency and television broadcasting figures, including Al Arabiya English Editor-In-Chief Faisal Abbas, Athens News Agency Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA) President Michail Psylos, Xinhua News Agency Asia-Europe Bureau Director Weiguo Fan, Japan Broadcasting Corporation Executive Commentator Ichiyo Ishikawa, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) Director General Ahmed Dawa, Al Mayadeen TV Board of Directors Chairman Ghassan Jeddou, Sputnik news agency International Broadcasting Head Anton Anisimov and Rossiya Segodnya International Media Group Director General Dmitry Kiselev.

Assange launched the WikiLeaks website in 2006. Since then, the site has released millions of classified diplomatic documents from around the world on espionage practices, war crimes, torture and many other human rights violations. The US charges against the whistleblower include espionage, conspiracy, theft of government property and computer fraud  for which Assange could face about 45 years in prison.
Roscosmos picked the German companys PILOT program to ensure a safe and precise landing for the Luna-Resource heavy lander sporting an expanded set of scientific instruments.

The project is part of a joint bid by Roscosmos and the European Space Agency to set up a habitable base on the Moon.

We have to go to the Moon. The 21st century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process, The Daily Caller quoted leading Roscosmos scientist Igor Mitrofanov as saying on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream forum, hosted by the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and focused on discussing the changes taking place in modern journalism, is due to take place on June 6-7 in Moscow.

"The forumwill feature discussions on the condition of todays journalism and its transition to post-mainstream, the evolvement of alternative media, the mainstream media and their clients loss of their monopoly to form the everyday agenda for the world information space, and the existence of new media as guarantors of the freedom of information," Rossiya Segodnya said in a statement announcing the event.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A police officer was shot Saturday afternoon near an apartment complex in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia, but was protected by his bullet-proof vest, the Atlanta Police Department said.

"APD Officer shot in Zone 2 in City Of Atlanta. His vest protected him. We appreciate your prayers," the law enforcement department said in its official Twitter feed.

The policeman was alerted by two men trying to break into an apartment at Brookwood apartment complex, police were cited by the WSB-TV Atlanta Channel as saying.
The Miller ruling has been amended by Montgomery v. Louisiana case that led to the decision that the Miller ruling is retroactive, and can be applied to those sentenced prior to 2012. However, although it's been almost four years, some judges, prosecutors, and even public defenders don't know about Miller. So they still give life without parole sentences, mostly because they are used to it.

The practice of sentencing children to life without parole stems from the 1990s when the term "superpredator" was coined by political scientist John DiIulio. Superpredators were understood as young people who repeatedly committed violent crimes as a result of being raised without morals. This mainly applied to black children, who Dilulio, media and politicians framed as being shameless criminals "running wild, terrorizing law-abiding citizens," wrote The Intercept.

Hillary Clinton famously stated in 1996 that these "superpredator" children have "no conscience, no empathy; we can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel." As child crime decreased significantly in the early 2000's, the concept was debunked, which made Clinton apologize for this comment in 2016.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer, will enter the Black Sea on Monday for bilateral exercises with partner navies, the US Naval Forces press office said Saturday.

"The ships operations in the Black Sea are meant to enhance maritime security and stability, readiness, and naval capability with our allies and partners," the press statement read.
Kennedy expressed regret on behalf of the US government, and stressed that the incident triggered anger as it came at the time of mourning for a Japanese woman, who was killed by a former US serviceman last month, according to the Japanese Kyodo news agency.

The ambassador said that the US government would provide full support to the investigation.
ASTANA (Sputnik) Sadubayev said that law enforcement services are currently working on tracking and detaining the rest of the attackers.

"During the anti-terrorist operation in Aktobe four criminals were killed and seven others were detained, including two injured. A set of operational and investigative measures to detain the rest of criminals is underway," Sadubayev told RIA Novosti.

Earlier in the day, a group of criminals attacked Pallada arms shop in Aktobe and killed a salesman and a security guard and injured three police officers. During the attack on Panther arms shop the criminals killed one customer and injured another one. The policemen, who arrived at the scene of events, killed three criminals and detained one.
Adrian Hanover thwarted the determined challenge of Big Top Hanover and went on to score in a career-best 1:49.4 in Saturdays lucrative Pennsylvania Sires Stakes for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers at The Meadows.

The time matched the fastest this year by a three-year-old male pacer on a five-eighths-mile track. Another Daily Copy pulled off a 20-1 upset in the other division of the stake known as the Bye Bye Byrd.

Adrian Hanover quarter-poled to the lead for Dave Palone  just where Chris Oakes, who trains Adrian Hanover for John Craig, didnt want him.

I talked to Chris five minutes before the race, Palone indicated, and Chris said, I wouldnt put him on the lead. But I ended up getting away third, and I thought my best shot was to control it.

When the well-meant Big Top Hanover and Yannick Gingras came after him, the son of Somebeachsomewhere-Artaffection turned him back and defeated him by three and a half lengths, with Manhattan Beach third.

He really didnt mind the pressure, Palone said. Hes lazy, and as soon as Yannick came to him, it helped my cause. He got back up in the bit and paced home real strong.

Another Daily Copy, who had been racing almost exclusively on the front end of late, found the pocket trip Tony Hall gave him to his liking. He zipped by the leader, 4-5 favourite Check Six, in the stretch and downed him by a neck in 1:50, a lifetime mark. JK Will Power earned show. With the win, Another Daily Copy soared over $100,000 in career earnings.

He had a little breather today, said Nicholas DeVita, who conditions the homebred son of Somebeachsomewhere-Court Stenographer for owner/breeder Carl Sackheim. Plus he had a nice horse doing all the hard work for him. At two, he had allergies and tying-up problems, but he got better as he matured. Hes staked to everything, so well play it by ear.

$100,000 PA Stallion Series - Three-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pacers

In Saturdays co-feature, Power Of A Cruiser equalled the stakes record of 1:50.3 with a front-end triumph from post eight. Also taking $20,000 splits were Fashion Bythebeach, Good Living, Don McWhite and Rip This Joint. Tim Tetrick (Power Of A Cruiser, Fashion Bythebeach, Good Living) and Hall (Don McWhite, Rip This Joint) swept the five divisions.

Despite the unfavourable post, Power Of A Cruiser, a Yankee Cruiser-Power Of Thunder gelding, opened a commanding lead for Tetrick, trainer Les Givens and owner/breeder Michael Horsey, defeating the first-over Duke Of Delray by four and a half lengths. McDave was third.

Hes been showing speed, Tetrick said. When I got to cut it, he raced a really good mile.

Fashion Bythebeach also scored on the front end, holding off JJ Flynn by a neck in 1:52. Hollyrock Heyden completed the ticket.

He has extreme speed, but his heads not where it should be, said Vince Copeland, who trains the Somebeachsomewhere-Dontknocktherock gelding, a $27,000 yearling acquisition, for David D. Miller. He has a bit of an attitude. He wanted to kick Tim out of the bike during the post parade  he hadnt tried that with me. If I can put a flip-up bridle where he can see horses coming at him, I think hell be a lot better.

The Cancelliere brothers, John and Tom, have made big noise at many yearling auctions, but only once have they signed the ticket for a weanling, a Western Ideal-Artomatic brother to their millionaire performer Western Shore.

We gave $14,500 for him, Tom Cancelliere said. We threw him out in the field for a year and started breaking him with the other ones last year. Hes very green. On the front end today, he was on and off the gas, on and off the gas. He doesnt realize that he just has to go. He'll go to the sires stakes next.

That youngster, named Good Living, justified the brothers patience Saturday when he scored on the lead in a career-fastest 1:51.1. Yankee Artillery was second, two lengths in arrears, with Blake North third.

Change of Plans for Foiled Again

Elsewhere on the program, the $18,000 Preferred Handicap Pace marked a homecoming for Foiled Again, harness racings all-time richest pacer with more than $7.3 million on his card. The gallant 12-year-old gelding hadnt raced at The Meadows, the home track of his connections, in about three years. But his rivals spoiled the party, parking him for nearly three-eighths before he reached the front. Unlocked nosed out Dapper Dude for the win in 1:51.1, with Foiled Again a neck back in third.

Now winless in nine outings this year, Foiled Again had been targeting the Roll With Joe at Tioga Downs, but Saturdays race caused trainer Ron Burke to modify those plans.

I thought he was all right, Burke said. We may have to change his whole racing style. He might have to become a closer because he doesnt have quite the quick speed he used to have, and he gets himself in bad spots...Hell continue to race. I talked with my partners, and were leaning to keeping him here [at The Meadows] and race him here another start or two until I see if I can get him to pick it up a little bit.

(With files from The Meadows)
His participation in the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series has been diminished in recent years, but when Bob the Lumberman Troyer jumps up behind a trotter he produces great results.

Take, for instance, Saturday nights Billings Trot at Scioto Downs in the mid-west region action. Troyer once again guided Heza Rube to a come-from-behind victory, this time in a 1:57.4 clocking. For the lumber broker, it was his third winning drive in four seasonal starts and, over the last three years, Troyer has eight victories in just 14 trips to post.

I got away slowly and was sixth at the quarter and still sixth at the half. And when [Steve] Oldford moved Celtic Merchant out to challenge the leader up the backside I did the same and followed him and as we headed for home I wasnt sure my horse could beat the old guy, Troyer said referring to 13-year-old Celtic Merchant. "It was close at the finish, but [Heza] Rube got up in time to win it.

Not disappointed, Oldford took the defeat in stride. After Celtic [Merchant] made the front, I heard a horse coming fast on the outside and I didnt need to look, I knew it was Troyer, Oldford said. In the lane, my old guy couldnt hold off Heza Rube, but if hed been four years younger the results would have been different.

The swift early fractions set by Nordic Venture and driver Gary Soups Campbell set the stage for the closers in the race. And charge they did, but at the finish, Heza Rube was a neck better than Celtic Merchant. However, five other trotters in the rears raced side-by-side through the lane and it took photos to separate them at the wire. When the judges deciphered the pictures, third-place went to Speed Hanover, driven by Lawbook Larry Farley.

Heza Rube, a six-year-old Master Lavec gelding, is owned by Debra Kvernmo and trained by Marty Wollam. Sent off as the odds-on favourite, the winner paid $3.80 for win.

Coincidentally, the first three drivers under the wire (Troyer, Oldford and Farley) had come down from Delaware (Ohio) where they were luncheon speakers at at the USTA Driving School. And with them came over 30 of their students and, according to Oldford, some wagered on them in the trifecta and those who did were rewarded with an $81.40 payoff.

Next Billings action is slated for Saturday, June 11 at Tioga Downs.

(With files from C.K.G. Billings Series)
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"The AUBURN GAZETTE will be conducted upon principles purely national, without prejudice or partiality for any foreign power. Its politics will be decided, but not violent, and devoted to the principles and policy of WASHINGTON. It will support the Federal Constitution and the UNION OF THE STATES, as the first grand object of all HONEST and TRUE AMERICANS."

Those words were part of the three-paragraph introduction of a weekly newspaper launched on June 12, 1816, by printers Thomas M. Skinner and William Crosby.

That paper, the Auburn Gazette, would change ownership and names multiple times, and eventually evolve into The Citizen, the daily newspaper that still serves the Cayuga County-area today.

As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of this community newspaper, here's a look back at the paper's changing masthead timeline:

 The Auburn Gazette is launched on June 12, 1816, by Thomas Skinner and William Crosby

 The Auburn Gazette title changes to the Cayuga Republican in 1818.

 The Cayuga County Republican unites with the Free Press in May 1833 and takes the name Auburn Journal and Advertiser, published by Skinner and Henry Oliphant.

 In 1846, the paper is broken into a weekly called the Auburn Journal and a daily called the Daily Advertiser.

 In 1861, the Auburn Daily Bulletin is merged with the Daily Advertiser. Two years later, the publication would be called the Auburn Daily Advertiser and Union. In 1867, it would be called the Auburn Daily Advertiser.

 T.M. Osborne and Charles F. Rattigan establish the Auburn Citizen in 1905 in a new building on Dill Street after they acquire the business of the Auburn Bulletin.

 The Auburn Daily Advertiser becomes the Advertiser Journal in 1913.

 The Auburn Citizen and the Advertiser Journal merge in 1931 and become The Citizen-Advertiser.

 In 1973, the paper's long history of local ownership ends when the Osborne's sell The Citizen-Advertiser to Ralph Ingersoll of Sharon, Connecticut. Two years later, Ingersoll would sell to Howard Publications of Oceanside, California.

 After moving from across the street to a newly built facility half a decade earlier at 25 Dill St., The Citizen-Advertiser in 1976 becomes The Citizen.

 In 2002, Howard Publications sells 16 of its community newspapers, including The Citizen, to Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, which still owns the paper today.

Sources for historical information included "History of Cayuga County, New York," published in 1908, and the New York State Library's index of Cayuga County newspapers available at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/all/406.htm
In the last few months, an increasing number of mid-90s Hondas have begun disappearing.

The thefts arent a new problem, but theyve become more frequent than in past years. Since January, 71 Hondas have been stolen in Longview  almost as many as were stolen in 2014 and 2015 combined, according to Longview Police Department records. Thats an average of 14 Hondas per month.

A total of 115 vehicles have been stolen so far this year in Longview, nearly as many as were stolen in all of 2015. The increase in Honda thefts may be to blame for the overall rise in vehicle thefts.

In Kelso, 32 cars have been stolen since January, said Kelso Police Chief Andrew Hamilton. Twenty four of those were Hondas, which he said is a significant increase compared to this time last year.

Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson said his office also has seen a rise in the number of Hondas stolen, but none of the officials could pinpoint an exact reason for the increase. They did shed light on why Hondas are so often targeted by thieves.

Newer models are harder to steal than mid-90s models. Nelson said older Hondas can be unlocked and started using a shaved key. Once stolen, theyre often stripped  sometimes leaving behind only the cars body  and the parts are sold. Other times, thieves take just the high-dollar items, such as the engine, tires and wheels.

I think that Hondas are so popular, so widely used everywhere that (people) take them, they strip them down, they sell the parts, Nelson explained.

Kelso resident Laura Daly has witnessed not one, but two Honda thefts in the last two decades.

She said her 23-year-old daughters 1998 Honda Civic was stolen from Dalys home in October. It was taken from the home around 4 a.m., according to footage from the homes surveillance cameras.

Never got it back. We dont know where its at, Daly said.

Daly said the vehicle was in good condition. Inside, it had her son-in-laws dog tags and military helmet from when he served in Afghanistan. Daly said she hoped the car would show up eventually. Her own Honda had been stolen decades ago and found five days later in West Seattle.

But Daly said she never heard from law enforcement about her daughters vehicle after an initial report was filed.

I think they just shrugged it off like, Oh, thats another Honda,  she said.

Hamilton said some people steal Hondas for the contents or for certain parts that are easy to sell, such as radios. Others are simply taken as a mode of transportation.

It depends on whos taking them, Hamilton explained. Some of them are used merely to get from one point to another. Some of them are to (take) whatever they can get out of them.

When asked whether he suspects a local chop shop in the area, he said police havent seen signs of one. He said its rare that police find a car thats been entirely stripped, as it would be at a chop shop. Typically, the cars are missing just a few parts.

If (the vehicles) had nice tires and wheels on them, they might be missing, he said. But its not like theyre being dismantled like hoods and those kinds of things.

Hamilton and Nelson said the types of cars targeted by burglars change over time. Nelson said he remembers Toyota trucks being targeted years ago. Even so, Hondas have always been a hot item, he said.

In 2014, 1994 Honda Accords were the most-stolen vehicle in the state, with nearly 5,000 taken that year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. About 51,000 Accords were stolen throughout the country in 2014, according to NICB.

Honda Civics were the second most-stolen vehicle in 2014, according to NICB.

Crystal Mobbs, of Longview, said her 1997 Honda Accord was stolen a month ago from her driveway. Mobbs said it was stolen sometime between midnight and 6 a.m.

I opened the door and the car was gone, she said. I had to do a triple take. I was like looking around and questioning myself  then I was like, Oh my god, someone stole my car. 

Mobbs, 42, said police havent located her vehicle, which she said was her only means of transportation. She said she thought she saw someone driving her vehicle around town last week, but police determined the car had a different VIN number.

She said she doesnt know how her car was taken, but she suspects the thief somehow had a key. There was no shattered glass in her driveway, and she said she didnt hear a crash during the night. Shes a light sleeper, she said, and her bedroom window  which she often keeps open  is near the driveway.

I probably will never see it again, she said. If I get another car, will (the thieves) do it again? Ill never buy another Honda.

Mobbs said shes long understood Hondas are common targets of theft, but she didnt think her own car would vanish. Since it was stolen, she said shes had to ask for rides from friends. She cant yet afford another car.

I just feel violated that I worked hard for my money to buy that, and I feel like somebody violated me.
On Saturday afternoon, Silvia Uribe Alvarez performed her salsa at the Lower Columbia College stage wearing a black ballroom dress, silver heels and an Afro wig that sported the colors of the Colombian flag.

The professional salsa dancer from Colombia, South America doesnt normally make solo appearances, or appearances without compensation. But when Ethnic Support Council President Cindy Lopez Werth asked her to perform for the International Festival, Uribe Alvarez couldnt resist the chance to showcase her talent in Longview.

For me, its very important to (share) my culture, Uribe Alvarez said. The 28-year-old will return to her home country in July after visiting her brother, Kelso resident and pastor Francisco Uribe Alvarez, for about four months.

Hundreds attended the Saturday event at the Lower Columbia College as performers took to the stage to share their heritage.

Lopez Werth has been organizing the International Festival for more than 20 years. And since her involvement, she said shes seen the area grow more and more diverse.

There is more diversity in Longview than I think a lot of people understand or care to understand, said Mark Bergeson, who has been a volunteer for the festival for the past 20 years.

The festival hosted 10 performances, 32 information booths, and food and market vendors. The events were completely run by volunteers and about $4,000 worth of donations, Lopez Werth estimated.

Lopez Werth said the festival is also a source of information for social services, where organizations can reach out to people who may not have otherwise heard about them. Sometimes citizens have language barriers or cultural differences that may discourage them from seeking help.

On Saturday, Lopez Werth referred a woman to an organization that provides assistance with insurance after she discovered she was paying too much for health care.

We see some different people here that we interact with or can get information to, said Lesley Bombardier, secretary on the Board of Community Health Partners, who passed out information on free medical and dental clinics.

And Bergeson said he thinks its important to provide community members with a venue for displaying their heritage. At the International Festival, citizens can learn more about other cultures and get their heads out of the sand.

I think its one of those things that makes us human, that makes us who we are, he said. We all have a history. ... Its just another way of establishing human understanding.
Record-breaking heat sent flocks of people to Willow Grove Park on Saturday and apparently caused little trouble or illnesses, but the area is in for another scorcher Sunday.

Temperatures reached 94 degrees, easily burning away the old June 4 record high for Longview, which was 89 degrees back in 1950.

A Weather Service excessive heat warning for Southwest Washington and the Willamette Valley began at 10 a.m. Saturday and will remain in effect until 10 p.m. Sunday night.

Sundays high temperature record  91 degrees in 1989  also is expected to fall.

The beaches and boat launch at Willow Grove had people seeking sun and the soothing breezes and cool water of the Columbia River.

Jessica Boaglio, 41, brought her 8-year-old boy and his friends to cool down because she doesnt have air conditioning at home.

We knew it was going to be hot, said Boaglio, 41, of Longview. We gotta do something to stay cool.

Marykay Morelli, 62, didnt mind the early taste of summer.

Im enjoying the gorgeous weather, she said. I love it.

The early heat wave is caused by high-pressure system that is blocking any cool marine area from entering the region and is drawing hotter air into the region from California.

Temperatures in the surrounding Portland area are expected to hit 100 degrees today. Clark County, the northern Willamette Valley and the Columbia Gorge will have the hottest weather.

Seattle may also top the 90-degree mark Sunday for the first time this year. The city averages only three days a year with temperatures over 90 degrees, according to the Weather Service.

Mary Crawford, nursing supervisor at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center, said the hospital didnt get any cases of heat-related illnesses as of late Saturday afternoon.

Crawford said heat exhaustion is often caused by a lack of fluids and too much time in the sun. People should practice common sense, she said, by staying inside or in the shade and drinking plenty of water. Early signs of heat-related illnesses include feeling dizzy or nauseated.

The Weather Service also warned citizens against strenuous physical activity and hypothermia for those who plan to cool down in the water.
hidden

A Russian developer here has created an open source computer vision platform, in collaboration with Facebook and Google, that acts as a teaching machine and enables them "see".

VisionLabs, a solutions developer in the field of computer vision, data analysis and robotics, and a Skolkovo IT Cluster resident have developed this as a global open-source computer vision project with the support of Facebook and Google, an official said.

VisionLabs integrated two popular libraries for developers - OpenCV and Torch. The joint project with Facebook and Google was launched last year. "The two IT giants became interested in the in-depth study of neural networks and artificial intelligence and hence extended their support," the official told IANS.

The most popular tools for developers in this field are the OpenCV Open Source Computer Vision Library and the Torch Open Source Scientific Computing Framework with wide support for Machine Learning Algorithms. Each of them has thousands of users. VisionLabs initiated integrating the two libraries. Google and Facebook funded the work and tested the results.

Balmanohar Paluri, Research Lead, Facebook AI Research, said: "The project opens up the field of computer vision to a greater audience of developers. Our focus is making machines see. To do that, knowledge needs to be open."

As a result of the work undertaken, a number of technological barriers the developers had faced within the fields of computer vision and neural networks were lifted. From now on, any start-up in this field can launch a project in a matter of days where it could literally take years previously.

Google, Facebook and VisionLabs do not consider this a commercial project - its purpose is developing the community and its aim is long-term prospects.

The idea of integrating the two popular developer "worlds" had been on the cards for some time. The creators of Torch and OpenCV had been discussing it. But, as is often the case, nobody actually set about making the integration happen, the official elaborated.

In the end, it was VisionLabs, one of the top three world leaders in terms of image recognition, that was willing to realise the project and use its own know-how to do so that had previously only been applied inside the team.

Alexander Khanin, General Director, VisionLabs said they "regularly communicate with the world scientific community and attend all the important international conferences."

"We are already well-known and we are familiar with the research units of Google, Facebook, Twitter and other large-scale IT-companies. When the closed competition to become the project leader was launched, we put ourselves forward and, in the end, we were chosen. Google and Facebook financed our work, but I would like to reiterate that this is absolutely not a commercial project for us - all funds, that were in fact rather modest, were put to use," he added.

Albert Efimov, Head of the Skolkovo Robotics Centre, said: "Integration of machine learning and computer vision in a unified development kit is an important step towards stimulating the creation of the new technologies and products in such strategic industries as robotics and artificial intelligence."

A report on the integration of Torch and OpenCV with examples of the developed recognition software and fragments of source code was published recently in the torch.ch community that reaches 10,000-15,000 people a day.

IANS
tech2 News Staff

Update: Huawei contacted us with the following statement:

"We dont comment on future products, as a matter of policy. Huawei is committed to creating the worlds most compelling and innovative devices, offering an exceptional performance and outstanding user experience.

We are proud to have worked with Google, which is strong in innovation, on the Nexus 6P and will continue to collaborate in the future, such as our support for Daydream, the recently-announced platform for high performance mobile VR."

So Huawei will be building a Daydream-ready smartphone as indicated earlier, but for now, it does not seem to be working on a Google Nexus device.

A recent report by GearBurn of South Africa, who interviewed Charlene Munilall, general manager for Huaweis Consumer Business Group in SA has sparked plenty of chatter online about a third Nexus device coming from Huawei this year. While there is plenty of evidence, that HTC will be the one spearheading the Nexus smartphone line up, Munilall's statement at first glance does indicate that Huawei will have a Nexus smartphone out this year as well.

Charlene Munilall while talking about distribution of the Nexus 6P also commented, "Were doing the Nexus again this year, by the way, and plenty seemed to have taken this as a subtle hint that Huawei could be building a successor to the Nexus 6P. Turns out, this may be wrong as well.

As XDA author Aamir Siddiqui pointed out, it is all about context. And the author may have a strong case indeed. Turns out Charlene was talking about how distributors in South Africa do not usually take up Nexus devices. Here's the complete brief from the interaction.

Munilall also explained why there hasnt been an official Nexus 6P launch in the country.

The Nexus product is a very niche product the techies love it but theres a very small number of people that buy it. Hence Cellucity only brought 300 into the country, she explained.

The operators generally dont take up the Nexus device, Munilall added.

That said, the distributors, our open market, do bring in the device, thats how Cellucity got it and that will still be the same this year. Were doing the Nexus again this year, by the way, she explained.

In short, this could be Munilall talking about launching the existing Nexus 6P in South Africa as the company has not done that yet. This could be similar to earlier problems that Nexus fans had to go though in India. Manufacturers like Samsung and LG refused to bring Nexus devices in the country out of fear that consumers would ignore their flagship products (that came with plenty of bloat). This forced many to import the handset through e-commerce websites which also meant that they did not support warranty and that they could not be repaired in the country. Munilall's problems however are a bit different and are more to do with distributors instead.
tech2 News Staff

While we do know plenty of about the upcoming Motorola Moto Z flagship, there's always room for a bit more. A new leak coming from hellomotoHK, shows off the snazzy back covers that are set to arrive with the flagship smartphone dubbed as StyleMods.

The leaked images reveals that the Moto Z's StyleMods will be available in a number of materials and textures. These would include leather, ballistic nylon and wood. The same leaks also contains images of the flagship smartphone, once again showing off the large protruding camera module on the back. We expect the StyleMods to connect to the 16 pin connectors on the back as well, and bring in some form of customisation in the UI.

The connectors are expected to be used mainly with the MotoMods modular accessories, that are said to be launched with the smartphone. The accessories would be similar to what we have on the LG G5 modular smartphone. One of the MotoMods is expected to add a dedicated shutter button with a lens cover and even a an optical zoom lens. Motorola is expected to take charge of the modular smartphone race (until Google's Ara smartphones arrive) that should bring a better level of functionality compared to what we have on the LG G5, that somehow left us a bit unsatisfied.
With a federal appeals court panel's ruling last week reinstating the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York lawsuit against Union Springs, the village has a few options to consider.

1. Union Springs could attempt to appeal the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit reversing a federal district judge's decision that Clint Halftown lacked authority to bring a federal lawsuit against the village. Halftown took legal action in 2014 in an attempt to prevent the village from enforcing its local gaming prohibition against the tribe's commercial bingo hall.

2. Union Springs could try to work out a deal with Halftown to allow him to operate his bingo hall, perhaps in exchange for payments in lieu of taxes or a share of the receipts.

3. Union Springs could accept the appeals court decision, and prepare to battle Halftown on the underlying merits of his case.

Given the long legal history of Cayuga Nation matters in Cayuga and Seneca counties and the important issues this case can address, we urge village officials to take the third option.

Trying to appeal last week's ruling could be enticing, because the village has a strong case that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, contrary to what the circuit court judges concluded, has not given Halftown authority to file lawsuits. The BIA seemed clear that Halftown could not sue, negotiate private deals or do just about anything on behalf of the tribe except administer the federal monetary contracts that have long been in place for members' benefit.

Nevertheless, the issue of authority remains extremely thorny as the Cayugas attempt to resolve their internal leadership struggle. Spending money on litigation to try to untangle that mess almost seems wasteful, especially given the BIA's reluctance to actual make a clear statement on the issue.

Regarding the idea of settling the Union Springs case, we understand the thinking of Mayor Bud Shattuck, who said he's like to try resolve issues without spending money on lawyers.

But one thing Halftown has demonstrated is that he loves to go to court when he's challenged in any way. Even if a deal is carved out on the bingo hall, we're sure some issue will eventually arise that brings Union Springs back in front of a judge.

That's why we urge the village to defend its strong case before the U.S. District Court. The 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. was clear that tribes can't automatically claim sovereignty and ignore local laws on property they purchase on the open market. That decision was the primary reason the Cayugas lost a similar lawsuit against the village in 2005 and closed the bingo hall.

But in 2013, despite no substantive court ruling to change the Sherrill decision's impact, Halftown took steps to re-open the bingo hall. And then he took the village to court.

So here we are again.

In the interest of fairness to all of its residents and businesses, the village should stand up for the principle that one property owner isn't above the law.
CTG police super`s wife gunned down

Chittagong, June 5 (UNB)-Unidentified miscreants gunned down wife of a superintendent of police in GEC intersection area under Panchlaish thana of the city on Sunday morning. The deceased was identified as Mahmuda Khanam, 33, wife of Babul Akhter. Babul was in Dhaka as he was promoted as police super just last month. Earlier, he was additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police. Mohiuddin Mahmud, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish Police Station, said a gang of miscreants numbering three riding a motorcycle hit Mahmuda by the bike as she had been there to get her son Mahir Akhter into a bus of Chittagong Cantonment Public School and College around 7.15am. After being hit, she fallen down. Later the miscreants opened fire on her, which left her dead on the spot. The OC added there might be militant link in the incident as Babul had an important role in crackdown on religious terrorism.
Christian grocer killed in Natore

A Christian grocer was hacked to death by unidentified assailants at Banpara Christian Palli in Baraigram upazila on Sunday noon. The deceased was identified as Sunil Gomej. A gang of miscreants came in front of the grocery shop of Sunil in the area and in a sudden swoop they started hacking him while he was staying there at about 12:00 noon, said Officer-in-charge of Baraigram Police Station Maniruzzaman. Sunil Gomej died on the spot. Informed, police recovered the body and sent it to Natore sadar hospital morgue for an autopsy. -- Natore, June 5 (UNB)
Syrian army `crosses into Raqqa province`

Syrian army forces retake strategic heights in the Raqqa province.

Agencies, Beirut :The Syrian army has crossed the boundary of Raqqa province after advancing in a major Russian-backed offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).Heavy Russian air strikes hit ISIL-held territory in eastern areas of Hama province, near the boundary of Raqqa, on Friday to facilitate the Syrian army's advance, the UK-based SOHR said on Saturday.ISIL, which controls large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, is fighting Syrian troops, US-backed fighters and other rebel groups in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces and its on their stronghold of Fallujah. "Regime troops backed by Russian air strikes and Russian-trained militia entered Raqqa province on Saturday morning," Rami Abdel Rahman, SOHR's director, told the AFP news agency. SOHR said at least 26 ISIL fighters and nine Syrian government and allied troops were killed in the fighting. It was the first time that government troops had entered Raqqa province since they were ousted by ISIL fighters in August 2014.The Syrian army was making its advances from the Athriya area of eastern Hama province, close to the provincial border with Raqqa.The offensive brought troops to within less than 40km of Tabqa, which is the site of an airbase and a big reservoir, SOHR said.The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River, 40km upstream from Raqqa city, is also the target of a separate offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish-led forces advancing from the north late last month.Raqqa city, further east, is ISIL's de facto capital in Syria and also, along with Mosul in Iraq, the ultimate target of the international anti-ISIL coalition seeking to destroy the group's self-declared caliphate.Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border, said the push into Raqqa from was a "significant development" but there was a still "a long way to go"."Raqqa is besieged by government troops from the west and Syrian factions from the north and from the east - the south is linked to the bordering province of Deir az-Zor which is still an ISIL stronghold," Ahelbarra said."Now, whoever controls Raqqa will face a mammoth challenge, which is basically securing a vast territory," he added, noting that both the Syrian government and the Kurdish factions cannot maintain a significant presence of troops in the province as they are also involved in heavy fighting in different battlefields elsewhere in Syria.
S Arabia expands its anti-Iran strategy beyond the ME

Saudi King Salman (C) attends a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Reuters, Riyadh :

Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world.

Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America.

Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join.

"Iran is the one that isolated itself by supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a recent news conference. "That is why the world reacted to Iran, and particularly the Islamic world, and basically said 'enough is enough'." Tehran denies it sponsors terrorism, and points to its record of fighting the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State through backing for Shi'ite militias in Iraq and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Riyadh is alarmed by Tehran's support for the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and cut off military aid to the Beirut government after it failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Likewise, Saudi forces have launched a war on Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But all this is part of its long-standing diplomatic, economic and military efforts to contain what it sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations. Now it is attempting to orchestrate support elsewhere, including from countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia through its creation last November of the coalition against terrorism.

"In many ways the dimensions of the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia are beginning to go beyond the Middle East. This is an interesting development that historically hasn't been the case," said Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University-Qatar.

The strategy partly responds to implementation of the nuclear deal in January. Riyadh fears this will give Iran more scope to push its interests internationally by releasing it from many of the sanctions which have crippled its economy. With even the United States now saying Western banks can resume legitimate business with Tehran, the Saudis believe their main Western ally is gradually disengaging from the region.

"They understand the old international order is dead and they have to take responsibility," said a senior diplomat in Riyadh.

But the strategy is also driven by King Salman's belief that Iranian influence has grown only because nobody has stood up to it, said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security expert with close ties to the Saudi interior ministry.

The coalition against terrorism falls into this context. When chiefs of staff from 34 Muslim states met after a joint military exercise in late March, a cartoon in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, owned by the ruling family, showed a bomber dropping leaflets with a no-entry sign onto Iran.

The coalition, which caused some confusion as to its scope and membership when Riyadh first announced it, is now moving forward and work to establish a "coordination center" may be formalized during the Muslim holy month which starts shortly.

"The next step is the meeting of defense ministers, perhaps during Ramadan. At the same time we prepare a coordination center in Riyadh," said Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asseri.

This center will have permanent staff members from each participating country, Asseri said, and would be a place where states could either request help in dealing with militancy or offer military, security or other aid.




When police fatally shot an armed man after an attempted carjacking May 23 just blocks from the spot where Flagstaff Police Department Officer Tyler Stewart was gunned down in 2014, Jesse Dominguez started getting questions about whether the Plaza Vieja neighborhood  his home for 65 years  had become too dangerous.

People said to me, Oh you live in that neighborhood? You guys need to be armed, he said.

It was a strange thing to hear.

Dominguez, who is president of La Plaza Vieja Neighborhood Association, said residents there worry about traffic, not violent crime. Some families have lived there more than a century. There are two schools nearby. The neighborhood has worked hard to develop strong relationships with the police and the city.

Its a really welcoming neighborhood and weve worked really hard to keep that identity. We have a lot of positive things going for us, he said. If it had been downtown, that wouldnt make downtown less safe than a gated community. It can happen anywhere.

Flagstaff Police Sgt. Cory Runge said the shooting deaths in Plaza Vieja are not an accurate reflection of the neighborhood.

Those two crimes were not related, Runge said. Generally speaking, we dont respond to that many crimes in La Plaza Vieja. It seems to be a very safe neighborhood, overall.

So what makes a neighborhood safe?

MAPPING CRIME

The website CrimeReports.com plots recent criminal activity using data provided by law enforcement agencies, including FPD. The crime maps the website generates show two big factors that contribute to crime: population density and traffic.

From a distance, crime maps of the Flagstaff area appear to show two evenly split but distinct areas of criminal activity. One is on the west side of town and one is on the east side, with the imaginary dividing line falling somewhere in the vicinity of Ponderosa Parkway.

In reality, criminal activity is concentrated along the roadways with the most foot and vehicle traffic, including Milton Road, North Fourth Street, East and West Route 66 and North Highway 89.

Popular commercial areas, as well as some parks and schools in the city, tend to have a lot of crime reports. Among the locations with highly concentrated crime reports are Bushmaster Park, the commercial area around the Flagstaff Mall, the industrial area near Flagstaff Shelter Services, both of the citys Walmart locations, and Flagstaff, Coconino and Summit High Schools.

Thats where populations tend to congregate, Runge said. If youve got a high school and theyve got 800 kids in a condensed area, youre bound to get more reports filed just because of that alone. In general, young people are more likely to commit crimes and be victimized.

SPECIALTY SQUADS

Police departments in big cities use so-called heat maps to determine which neighborhoods are crime hot spots. In Flagstaff, which has fewer crimes than those cities, the Police Department analyzes citywide trends and maps crimes that are of particular concern during its monthly CompStat meeting. Mapping crime in Flagstaff is not as simple as east vs. west or north of the tracks vs. south of the tracks.

Its pretty sporadic across the city, Runge said. There are specific neighborhoods where things are going on and theyre the same neighborhoods (every month), but that is where the population density is.

Crime maps show high-crime pockets throughout the city, but the Police Department consistently has three specialized enforcement areas based on decades of data: Sunnyside, Southside and downtown Flagstaff.

They look for crime trends like hot spots, Runge said. Those areas have been identified as having specific trends or higher-than-normal crime trends for a long time.

Runge said making arrests is not the only reason those specialized enforcement squads exist.

A lot of their job is a lot more community policing, he said. These specialty squads do a lot more outreach programs.

In downtown Flagstaff, an officer assigned to the selective enforcement squad patrols on foot to address everything from biking on the sidewalks to aggressive panhandling, but they also focus on preventing alcohol-related crime while people are drinking at the bars or just after bar close.

Sunnyside and Southside each have what is known as a King Squad  a small group of officers dedicated to focused crime prevention in that neighborhood . In Southside, that means officers are often out at night to break up college parties that are disturbing the peace or working with Neighborhood Blockwatch members.

Lately, theyve been working on The Grove, Runge said, getting notifications out and developing pamphlets for longtime residents and for college students who are moving in, explaining on one side, heres how to be a good neighbor, and on the other side saying, heres how you make reports if youre having a problem.

The Sunnyside King Squad, which has a substation on North Fourth Street, has three officers who usually work at the same time four days a week to prevent shoplifting and crimes, but who also knock on doors, attend community events and get to know the residents. Since the King Squad moved into the neighborhood in 2008, there has been a dramatic reduction in crime.

FPD also does specialized enforcement on a less permanent basis when there is a crime trend in another neighborhood.

Well see a lot of drug-type crimes in Mobile Haven and our patrol officers will spend a lot of time there, Runge said. Its intermittent in, say, Greenlaw or Smokerise. Sometimes well see a crime trend and well focus on that area and then itll pull back and well kind of bounce back and forth.

Flagstaffs higher-cost neighborhoods are not immune to property crime or violent crime, but Runge said the Police Department does tend to get fewer reports from those areas. For instance, crime maps show significantly more drug crimes being reported in the neighborhoods near NAU than in the Continental Country Club area.

But there is another argument for why fewer reports come from high-cost areas.

People in higher-income neighborhoods tend to have more distance between their house and the neighbors house, so they disturb less people even if they are committing the same kind of activities, Runge said.

He said that can make the crime disparities between neighborhoods seem greater than they may actually be.

Police are going to go where police are called, Runge said. When were looking at hot spot maps to map crime trends, its about whats reported or whats found and thats whats going to show up as high-crime.
Who helped Alia learn Bihari accent for Udta Punjab?

Actor Pankaj Tripathi says he has helped actress Alia Bhatt to learn the Bihari accent for her role in the forthcoming crime thriller film Udta Punjab.

Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the film, which also stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh, features Alia as a migrant Bihari labourer.

Abhishek Chaubey is a good friend of mine. He asked me to help Alia prepare for her role of a Bihari girl. I taught her the language. As Alia has lived in an urban surrounding, it was a bit challenging for her to speak with a Bihari accent, Pankaj, best known for his roles in films like Gangs of Wasseypur, Omkara and Singham Returns, told IANS.


MoU between AIUB, Mexico UAG

Dr Carmen Z Lamagna, Vice Chancellor of American International University - Bangladesh and Lic Antonio LeaAo Reyes, President of Autonomous University of Guadalajara sign a MoU at the IAUP Semi-Annual Meeting 2016 held in Madrid, Spain recently.

Campus Report :

American International University - Bangladesh (AIUB) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG), the first private university in Mexico.

The signing ceremony was performed by

Dr Carmen Z Lamagna, Vice Chancellor of AIUB and Lic Antonio Leano Reyes, the President of UAG signed the MoU recently. Both expressed their eager interest in actualizing the numerous opportunities that this agreement opens up for the student and staff of both institutions, looking forward to getting to work on some of the prospective projects already discussed between the two.

AIUB and UAG agreed on opening the platform for joint cooperation in areas of research, academic development, and exchange of staff and students, during the IAUP Semi-Annual Meeting 2016 held in Madrid, Spain.


Army contingent in South Sudan replaced



Bangladesh has replaced an engineering contingent of its army working for United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, an ISPR release said.

The 145-men contingent was replaced yesterday. An engineering contingent of Bangladesh Army is working in South Sudan very efficiently under the mission from 2011. The contingent is designated for maintaining security of the locals, building and repairing roads and bridges, among others.

The contingent has been able to attract attention of world media with their competence and was highly praised by the government of South Sudan. The rotation of the contingent takes place each year and the work of rotation this time started on June 3. The last flight carrying soldiers replaced in the contingent is scheduled to return home on June 29.




No future for refugees

Hakan Ataman :

Following the deal struck between the European Union and Turkey, Greece began deporting refugees and migrants to Turkey on April 4, 2016. A second group was expelled a few days later. Although Greece has postponed the next batch of deportations until an unknown date, Turkey has already taken a number of measures in anticipation of deportations from EU countries, including the preparation of three harbors for readmissions in Kusadasi (Aydin), Gulluk (Mugla) and Dikili (Izmir), in the Aegean region.

In accordance with the EU-Turkey agreement, Turkey changed its Temporary Protection Regulation. Prior to this amendment, any Syrian under the temporary protection regime, who left Turkey after registration, would not be entitled to re-apply for this status. Now, temporary protection is granted to all Syrian refugees who are returned to Turkey from Greece. This provision does not cover non-Europeans and non-Syrians, including Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians.

However, the refugees deported from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios thus far were primarily of Pakistani and Afghan origin. Others were from Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Congo, Somalia and the Ivory Coast. Only a small number were Syrians. Following a simple health examination, the Turkish government sent them to the deportation center in Kirklareli, in the Thrace district, on the same day.

EU-Turkey deal undermines international protection of refugees

The EU and Turkey claim that the new agreement aims to provide "safe", "legal" and "regular" migration for refugees and migrants. However, the deal has attracted heavy criticism from NGOs and activists, who believe that the process undermines the international protection of refugees, not just in Europe, but also around the world.

Most critics are concerned about the lack of protection and practical difficulties encountered by refugees living or arriving in Turkey. The central question is whether Turkey can be considered a safe country.

In fact, it cannot be considered as such - neither for refugees and migrants nor for its own citizens. The latest edition of the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, BTI 2016, is very clear about this: Turkey "has left its path of democratization under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Recently regarded as a positive example of transformation in part due to its prospects of EU membership, the tendency in recent years toward the concentration of ever-greater powers in government hands, to the detriment of regime-critical media and civil society, has threatened freedom and democracy."

Refugees in Turkey face particular challenges in urban areas

Refugees and migrants face particular challenges regarding basic rights and livelihood support in Turkey. As of the beginning of April 2016, the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey was around 3.5 million. The majority of them live in urban areas, including cities without refugee camps, such as Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa.

Turkey's efforts to ensure the rights of refugees living in urban area are particularly inadequate. There, refugees do not fully exercise their right to access health, education, housing and the job market. Furthermore, urban areas are affected by a range of problems concerning security conditions and specific needs and risks such as child protection and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

To begin with, unregistered refugees and irregular migrants - both Syrians and non-Syrians - are not entitled to access any public services in Turkey except emergency health services provided by public hospitals.

Access to adequate housing is another big problem in metropolitan cities. The high rents charged there mean that many refugees are faced with eviction when their savings run out, or forced to live in poor conditions without privacy or hygiene.

When it comes to employment, the legal situation of refugees is improving but the actual situation is slow to follow suit. The Turkish government recently adopted a new regulation on work permits for refugees, with the result that there are now fewer legal restrictions stopping refugees from accessing the labor market. However, the process of obtaining work permits is very slow and difficult due to many bureaucratic obstacles and fees. Permits are also limited by quotas and restricted to certain industries. Therefore, most refugees are in irregular employment or work in the informal sector.

Child labor remains another huge problem. Human Rights Watch and UNICEF have reported that over 400,000 Syrian refugee children living in Turkey do not attend school.

International protection system for refugees must be revised

To sum up, there are no adequate national structures for the provision of services to refugees in Turkey. Local social programs and community-based organizations lack the capacity to meet refugees' needs, while the support provided by United Nations agencies, other development and humanitarian partners and the private sector is also limited.

On several occasions, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the conditions in Turkish deportation and detention centers for migrants and refugees amount to degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment.

There is no future for most refugees in Turkey. Without effective rights-based policies, issuing laws, regulations and agreements about refugees is of no practical consequence for refugees living in the country. While the international community must provide Turkey with financial assistance in this process, financial assistance alone will not solve the problem.

The international community must call upon Turkey to seek solutions based on human rights. However, to suggest or expect this might well be naive or even irrelevant given that the international protection system for refugees is collapsing on a global scale.

The Syria crisis - the worst crisis of its kind since Rwanda - is an important opportunity for the international community to begin reflecting on and taking the necessary steps to change its protection system.



(Hakan Ataman is Psychosocial Support Project Coordinator for Refugees at the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - Turkey. This article is part of the "Migration & Transformation" series supported by the German Bertelsmann Foundation).


Fencing border and good neighbourliness

WHEN the wind of opening up is blowing strong at global level Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's order to isolate Bangladesh under high-rise barbed wall around Assam border is shocking indeed. Media report said he has asked Sarbananda Sonwal, the Chief Minister of the new BJP Government of Assam to quickly complete the sealing of border with Bangladesh to stop illegal migration of Muslims from Bangladesh. It appears that the Indian Hindu Nationalist Party; which returned to power at the center two years back and now spreading wings in the northeast is desperate to use religious card to win anti-Muslim sentiment for political convenience. The party leaders earlier talked about sealing of borders and expelling Muslims in election campaigns from a state where Muslims constitute 35 percent of its population. Many in Bangladesh wonder why the ruling BJP are using volatile political issues; not supported by reality in the ground. Moreover any chaotic situation in the state may hamper development that the government may not like either. Assam has already sealed 223.7 km of border and out of the remaining 60.7 km; both countries have common rivers on 48.8 km; which are also technologically protected. There are only 11.9 km with vulnerability because of harsh local condition and India may fill it soon. But such fencing only suggests that Bangladeshi people illegally migrating to Assam and moreover it is a country infested by criminals and India must protect it. Such fencing hurts us all the more in a civilized world only to show Assam border resembles Israel's barbed fence in Palestine. What makes Bangladesh utterly unhappy is the way India is using sensitive issues critically damaging Bangladesh's image globally as a poor country and that its people are illegally migrating to Assam for livelihood. We must say Bangladesh is capable to feed its people better and the truth is that almost five lakhs Indian are now reportedly working in Bangladesh; most of them illegally earning their livelihood and repatriating money. India is a close friend of Bangladesh and we are offering all cooperation to Delhi denying shelter to insurgents and their cross border movement; which are critical to Indian security in the northeast. Bangladesh is risking its own security giving transit to India over land and river routes. We believe in a good neighbourhood policy in making these concessions but the policy that the new BJP government is pushing forward is not a policy of harmony and friendliness. What will be the fate of the 'Border Haats; is yet another question. In our view Bangladesh must protest. The government must take the issue immediately to tell India that Muslims from Bangladesh has no reason to migrate to Assam for economic reason after the partition of India in 1947. Muslims in Assam are mostly local population and the so-called settlers existed there from the British days. Bangladesh has nothing to do with them.
Writ against 20 pharmaceuticals

Staff Reporter :A Supreme Court lawyer on Sunday filed a writ petition seeking High Court directives to cancel licences of 20 pharmaceutical companies for their alleged failure of producing standard drugs. Advocate Manzil Murshid, President of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the writ with the HC saying that a five-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has been formed to detect the sub-standard drugs producing companies on September 20, 2014. The Committee comprises Professor ABM Faroque, Department of Pharmaceutical Techonology, University of Dhaka, Professor M Shahabuddin Kabir Chowdhury, Department of Pharmacy of Jahangirnagar University, Professor Dr. M Anwar Ul Islam, Department of Pharmacy, University of Rajshahi, Professor Dr. Sitexh Chandra Bachar, Department of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka and Professor Dr. Mohammad Shawkat Ali, Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Dhaka. The Committee on visiting 84 pharmaceutical companies submitted the report on February 1 this year with the suggestion of banning 20 companies on drugs production and 14 companies on production of Anti-biotics (Non-penicillin, penicillin and Cephalosporins). The recommendation has not been maintained till now. As a result writ petition has been filed, said Manzil Murshid. A bench of High Court Division comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq may hear the petition on Monday, added Murshid.
Mission one minute

Top anti-terror police officer's wife killed in Ctg: CCTV footage of killers grabbed: Militant link suspected

Shocked Chittagong Police Super Babul Akhtar consoling his two sons after their mother Mahmuda Khanom\'s (inset) killing by the militants on Sunday.

Staff Reporter :The wife of a top anti-terror police officer was stabbed and shot dead by three motorbike borne assailants in front of her minor son in the port city of Chittagong on Sunday, in the latest in a series of suspected attacks by militant groups.Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, 33, wife of Babul Akhtar, a Superintendent of Police (SP), was targeted by the assailants while she was on her way to drop her six-year-old first-grader son to a nearby bus stop for school."Three assailants came in a motorcycle and then stabbed and shot Mitu near her residence at the city's GEC intersection around 6:45am when she went out to drop her son for the school bus," Mohiuddin Mahmud, Officer-in-Charge of Panchlaish Police Station told The New Nation quoting witnesses.The son was unhurt, he added.Mahmud said: "On information, police reached to the scene and found Mitu's body lying on street in a poll of blood. We found nine wounds of stabbing on her back and belly".Police recovered the body and sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy, he added. The entire operation was over within a minute, investigators said."Three bike-borne attackers ambushed Mitu in front of her minor son", Paritosh Ghosh, Deputy Commissioner (North) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) told The New Nation on Sunday evening quoting witnesses.He said the attackers first took her son away and then one of them stabbed his mother indiscriminately with a knife before shooting her. The attacker later shot Mitu on the head from point blank range to make sure she was dead before fleeing. The entire operation was over within a minute."The bullet hit her on the left side of the head. Police found three live ammunitions and a used casing on the spot." said Paritosh Ghose.Mitu also has a four-year-old daughter.Police, however, suspect that Mitu might have been targeted as her husband busted many militant outfits.Babul Akhtar was working as an additional deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) in Chittagong before being recently promoted to the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP). Babul Akhtar, who was promoted in April, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned JMB and arrest of its military wing Chief Mohamed Javed in October last year."Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Moktar Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong's Detective Branch , told The New Nation on Sunday night."We primarily suspect that militants might have been involved in the killing as Babul Akter (victim's husband) conducted drives against them in the past," said Masood-ul-Hasan, additional commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police.The victim's husband fearlessly conducted operations against banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the police official told reporters at Chittagong Medical College Hospital where Mitu's body has been kept.Babul, top officials of police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were present there."Babul Aktar is an efficient and honest police officer and played a key role in busting hideouts of the JMB. They might have killed his wife because they failed to get him," Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Minister for Home Affairs told reporters told reporters after a programme held in Satkania upazila of Chittagong on Sunday..He added: The government will take stern action against those responsible for the killing of Babul's wife. Meanwhile, Chittagong police claimed that they have been able to spot the suspected killers of Mitu following the grab of close circuit camera footages from the adjacent areas.There were three men, riding motorcycles, involved in the killing, said Paritosh Ghosh, citing to the CCTV footage grab.The footage showed the three fleeing the spot riding a motorbike. The driver of the motorcycle wore a punjabi or a fatua. The man in the middle had his face hidden behind the driver, while the third, at the rear, was a slim-figured man holding the gun.He, however, said they were yet to find a tape that captured the murder. Those available showed incidents prior and post to the killing.The police officials said the contents of the video footage and the statement given by the victim's and witnesses matched with the killing incident.Ghosh said video footage from CCTV cameras installed on several nearby buildings confirmed the involvement of three assailants.
Ibrahim Khaled doubts about revenue target

Staff Reporter :If the government fails to meet the revenue target, how will it meet the budget deficit and implements long term projects? Asked Khandker Ibrahim Khaled, economist and former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank at a view exchange meeting, adding that a vested group is trying to denationalise public banks.The view exchange meeting was held at the National Press Club organized by Samannay to discuss about the budget on Sunday.He also said that the Finance Minister AMA Muhith did not make it clear, as to how would he make improvement on the proposed projects?He said, employment is very important. But there was no clear direction in the budget speech about the employment of educated people. Samunnay Coordinator Dilruba Yeasmin Chowdhury presented the keynote paper. She said the budget is very large and the income is also vast. But the question is if the income falls short of target, what will the government do?She said also if the government implements the budget, then answer of every question will be found. But the feasibility of implementation of the budget was not found in the budget speech of the Finance minister.Dilruba Yeasmin Chowdhury said the Women Affairs sector got very little percentage from the proposed budget. The panel discussion was held after the presentation. Professor Dr. AKM Enamul Haque from East-West University and Senior Research Fellow of BIISS Dr. Mahfuz Kabir, among others, attended the discussion. They said, the proposed budget aims equality, but where are directions? It was just expression of hope. It was not the right way. Some of the speakers said, the income gap between the rich and the poor is increasing seriously. Some of them said the government should assure us of the social safety. It needs sufficient allotment. Speakers said, Annual Development Project is the document of the economic development of he country. If the country is economically developed, the poor people will get some benefits. So, the percentage of ADP in the whole budget and the processing of implementation thereof are very important, said the speakers.
Christian trader hacked to death in Natore

IS claims credit

Staff Reporter :Some unidentified miscreants hacked a Christian trader to death inside his shop at Bonpara village in Baraigram upazila of Natore district on Sunday afternoon.The deceased was identified as Sunil Gomez, 60, grocery shopper, said Munshi Shahab Uddin, Assistant Superintendent of Police of the district.The murder came just hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was stabbed and shot dead in the southeastern city of Chittagong.Meanwhile, US-based SITE Intelligence Group quoted 'Amaq Agency' to report that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the murder.Locals of the community formed a human-chain protesting the gruesome murder in the evening. They demanded arrest of the killers for justice. Shahab Uddin said, "Some unknown assailants entered his shop just near a church at Bonpara and hacked him to death around 12:15pm and fled the scene promptly. Family members rushed to the shop when they heard him screaming and found him in a pool of blood. He was taken to a local hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead."It was preplanned murder, the police official said. He said that the body had several wounds of sharp weapons.Inspector Inam Ahmed, investigating the crime scene, said that the attack bore hallmark of previous militant killings carried out on free thinkers and people belonging to differing faiths.But he refused to say anything as to whether it was a murder of that kind.Police are trying to arrest the killers, the police official said.
Barrister Shakila Farzana set to get release

Staff Reporter :

The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday upheld a bail granted to Barrister Shakila Farzana in two cases filed against her over charges on terror financing.

A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order rejecting leave to appeal filed by the state after hearing the petition. "Now, there is no legal bar to get release for Barrister Shakila Farzana, as the apex court has granted bail for her," claimed her lawyers.

Advocate Khandoker Mahbub Hossain and Joynul Abedin moved for Barrister Shakila in the court, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.

"The Appellate Division has granted bail for Shakila Farzana till pressing charges in the two cases filed against her," said Khandoker Mahbub Hossain.

Earlier on February 22, the High Court granted bail to Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Shakila Farzana in the terror financing cases until the framing of the charges against her.

On 23 February, the Appellate Division of Supreme Court stayed the bail till February 29, in response to a plea filed by the state seeking a stay order over the HC bail to Shakila Farzana, a day after the HC granted the bail.

On 18 August, 2015, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three lawyers -- Advocate Mahfuz Chowdhury, Hasanuzzaman Liton and Barrister Shakila Farzana -- on charges of financing militant outfit Hamza Brigade from Dhanmondi area in the capital.

They were also shown arrested in an arms case filed in connection with arms recovery from Banskhali Latmoni Hill on February 21.

Shakila Farzana, 39, is practicing lawyer at the High Court Division of the Supreme Court.

She is the incumbent joint general secretary of the Supreme Court wing of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a pro-BNP lawyers' body.

Daughter of Syed Wahidul Alam, a former BNP whip and lawmaker from Chittagong during 2001-06 tenure, Shakila is also a member of the Dhaka District Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Advocate Hasanuzzaman Liton and Advocate Mahfuz Chowdhury are the lawyers of Supreme Court and Dhaka Judge Court respectively.

RAB claimed that these lawyers deposited Tk. 1.8 crore in the account of Moniruzzaman Don in phases.


Landmark Properties, the developer of The Standard, is threatening to sue the city of Flagstaff over three changes the city wants made to streets surrounding the student apartment complex.

According to notice of claim for $24 million filed with the city on May 12, Landmark is objecting to the citys denial of three variances the company filed in November. A notice of claim, is a warning to a city, county or state that person or company may file a lawsuit if their grievance against the local government is not resolved.

Landmark claims that the citys actions have cost it $4 million in pre-development costs, architecture deposits, engineering deposits, contract deposits and fees, along with $20 million in lost profits because the project has been delayed.

The city was requiring Landmark to make improvements to the intersection of Route 66 and Riordan Road to make the area safer for pedestrians and motorists, including purchasing additional right-of-way at the intersection, installing two bike lanes on Riordan Road and putting in a sidewalk with a parkway between the street curb and the sidewalk.

Landmark suggested three alternatives to the citys request, allow Landmark to install a 6 percent approach grade on Riordan Road to the intersection at Route 66, allow one bike lane instead of two on Riordan Road and allow the sidewalk on Riordan Road to back up to the street curb, eliminating the parkway that usually sits between the curb and sidewalk.

According to a letter to Council from City Manager Josh Copley, the city engineer denied the requests on Dec. 22. Landmark appealed the decision to Copley, who also denied the request.

According to Copleys May 2 denial letter to Landmark, he met with Landmarks legal team and the city engineer to discuss the situation. A third-party civil engineer, who was agreed on by both the city and Landmark, was hired to look at the variance request and the intersection of Riordan Road. Copley stated in his letter that based on information from city staff and the third-party engineer, he denied Landmarks variances on the grounds that, should they be granted, they would unreasonably jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of the public.

Landmark states in its claim that the city engineer unilaterally denied its variance requests and that the city concocted an unreasonable and dubious appeal process that unduly delayed and denied Landmark its due process rights.

It also states that the plans provided by the company were never legitimately opposed by qualified professional engineers and that the city did not provide a feasible alternative to its unreasonable demands.

In its claim, Landmarks states that it is willing to settle the dispute with the city in exchange for $24 million in payment for the damages or immediate reconsideration and approval of the variances, no later than June 1.
Subscribers facilities may be expanded

Kamruzzaman Bablu :The government has finally approved the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service, which will help cell phone subscribers to switch over to a mobile company from another with same phone number. However, the service will come into effect within the next four to five months, officials of the Telecom Regulator said. They said, the subscribers will be able to retain their existing number, even after they switch from one operator to another.Sources said, the PM Office has already approved the tender invitation file for the MNP system.Md Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, Secretary of the Post and Telecommunication Ministry expects that MNP value added services (VAS) will create competition in the market and push it to maturity. "The telecom regulator BTRC will receive the proposal within few days to take necessary action," he said.The Telecom Secretary said, the license will be awarded for 15 years, and from the second year of operations, the company will have to share 5.5 percent revenue with the government. "Telecom regulatory body, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), will begin the bidding process. 'Transparency' will be ensured in the bidding process," he said.Mohi-uddin Babar, a telecom consultant, recently told The New Nation, the flexibility of migration of subscribers is definitely a welcome step, which will enable access to quality of services."Really it will be a great news for mobile companies' about 11 crore subscribers who have been demanding at for long," he said.A senior official of the Post and Telecommunication Division said on Sunday that the MNP includes experience in conducting with nine points MNP work and making technical and system designs; global footprint, technical capacity, financial analysis, roll out management, and risk management. However, subscribers will be able to avail the MNP services paying a charge of Tk 30 only. They will be able to opt-in to the service through a text message, website application or retail service outlets.A subscriber will have to wait for 45 days after availing the facility to switch operators. The winning company will pay the government a one-time fee of Taka three crore and annual fees of Tk 50 lakh. The license's tenure will be for 15 years and from the second year, 5.5 percent of the revenues will have to be shared with the government. A top executive of Grameen Phone telecom operator expressed his reservation on the condition of anonymity and said that the subscribers were not likely to enjoy the facility before early next year. The delay would be for installation and establishment of hi-tech equipment to facilitate the mobile migration.MNP will allow a subscriber to switch from one operator to another without having to change the existing number. "The migration of the mobile phone numbers will conduct tough competition among telecom service providers," said Babar Ahmed, a former senior executive of a telecom company. "But there is a big challenge with MNP, said Ekram Kabir, Vice-President of Robi Axiata Limited. "The operators will have to brain storm to develop a framework acceptable for the telecom providers, specially the millions of subscribers. The telecom operators have to decide with a customer who is willing to migrate to a fresh package, but has unused talk-time, SMS, MMS and internet. Lots of issues need to be resolved before the MNP is launched," he said.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, 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Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.

What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?

Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.

Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property  there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:

You get to see exactly what will happen to your money

When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.

Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.

A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.

You find out about potential major repairs

Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.

If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.

You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on

One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.

Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.

You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for

While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.

This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.

Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.

You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price

If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.

You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.

You can sell your home faster and for more money

If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.

In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.

Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.

Your home will hold its value longer

As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.

When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.

You can make smart decisions about property investments

Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.

If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.

There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.

If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage

If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.

They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.

You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors

If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.

For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.

You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition

Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.

You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.

Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.

As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war?

You voted:
To the editor:

As so often before, Steve and Cokie Roberts hit the nail on the head in their June 2 opinion column,Trap of history and Trump." Trump has tapped into a pessimistic vein among a large number of Americans, particularly older, less educated white men who see the country heading down the wrong track. The wrong track in their view, is as the world used to be rather than as it is now. Hence the Trump motto Make American great again resonates with many.

Apart from Trumps less than subtle racism, sexism and xenophobic proclamations, the Roberts do miss one major point in their reference to the trap of history. One only has to look back to the 1920s and 1930s in Europe for that lesson. Benito Mussolini in Italy and subsequently Adolph Hitler in Germany used similar playbooks.

Restore Italy to its former glory, Mussolini declared repeatedly, in short restore the Roman Empire. Economically distressed after WW-1, Italy was sharply divided between emerging socialist forces on the left and a conservative but ineffective centrist government and king. A boisterous and charismatic figure, Mussolini blamed all the countrys woes on everyone from the very rich, to immigrants, the church, foreign countries and other subversives, namely intellectuals and eventually Jews. He manipulated and dominated the media, newspapers, tabloids and the-then brand-new medium of radio, to get his message across and effectively silence critics and political opposition. Eventually he was elected and became the self-proclaimed Il Duce, followed by throngs of gullible and at the time woefully ignorant citizens. A few years later Hitler adopted the same tactics of Make Germany great again, and we all know how well that turned out.

We dont have to make America great again; it still is by any measure. Above all, though, lets not forget George Santayanas immortal words Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

KLAUS BRASCH

Flagstaff
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
MARION  "The Hub of the Universe"  as Mayor Bob Butler likes to call it  continues to grow.

Several projects are on the way to Marion after the City Council approved a redevelopment plan for the Marion Hill View Tax Increment Financing District, and made amendments to the Marion Skyline District.

The Marion Hill View Tax Increment Financing District, or TIF, is the in northwest corner of Interstate 57 and the Illinois 13 interchange, just south of The Hill and next to Krispy Kreme.

As part of the redevelopment agreement approved by the Marion City Council on May 23, there is a potential of more than $27 million in private investment being discussed for the area. According to city documents, TIF agreements will be heavily used to bring investors to the area.

The city believes the redevelopment project area will be not developed without the use of tax increment financing, the documents state.

Some of the projects being discussed are five restaurant projects totaling about $6.7 million in private investment.

A future gas station for $3.9 million and a hotel project at $10 million. Also, two more commercial projects that could be a restaurant or a retail strip center for about $3.5 million, and business office complex for $3.5 million.

In the project descriptions, the city could have TIF agreements with all these projects for about $9.2 million combined.

A TIF district is created by creating a boundary area with an equalized assessed value of all the property. Once that base is set, any improvements made in that area that facilitated an increase of the value of an individual property creates a tax increment.

A tax increment is the difference between the base value when the property is originally assessed and the new assessment after redevelopment. If a project doesnt end up creating any improvement in real estate taxes, the developer will not receive any reimbursement.

Currently, the land in question for the projects has a current equalized assessed valuation of about $1.6 million. The current projects would increase the valuation of the land to about $9.2 million. This would produce a potential increase in equalized assessed valuation of about $7.5 million in the TIF district, the city documents show.

According to the city documents, two of the projects are supposed to be built this year, three more in 2017, two more in 2018 and one in each of 2019 and 2020.

Many of the companies that have been in touch with the city couldnt be named because there hasnt been a formalized plan, but national names such as Jimmy Johns and Buffalo Wild Wings have been rumored, but Mayor Bob Butler said those companies have not closed on land, yet.

I expect most, if not all, is going to materialize in less than 5 years, Butler said. This is Marion  the Hub after all.

He said all of the projections in the documents are just that  projections, but it isnt just a shot in the dark.

We have information that various entities are proceeding, he said. Our position is that we want do anything we can to exploit any plan.

Butler said many of the companies showing interest are national companies and those entities dont move without first doing some homework on a prospective city.

Butler and the city has used TIF and its home-rule power extensively since it created its first district in 1987, he said.

We have utilized every chance we had, because it is such a great economic tool, he said. When home-rule opened up, so many new avenues were there that were not available before. We have aggressively pursued both.

Marion currently has 14 TIF districts.

Also, in Marion, the IHOP on Blue Heron Drive is in the middle of construction. Also, John Browns on the Square is nearing restoration on the square and the city recently entered into a TIF agreement with Culvers.

In Carbondale, construction crews have started at the IHOP next to Staples, and Panda Express in the spot of the former Kentucky Fried Chicken on Illinois 13 is starting to take shape from the bottom. Additionally, the Hilton Home2 Suites in Carbondale hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in May and have the parking lot next to PKs roped off for construction.

Developer Srinivas Gundala said construction on the hotel was supposed to start in May.
Dr. Amar Sawar is set to host a luncheon June 10 to answer questions about sleep disorders at Pinckneyville Community Hospital.

Sawar will answer questions about common sleep disorders and how they affect the body, including sleep apnea, insomnia, hypersomnia, restless leg syndrome and more. Signs and symptoms of sleep problems will be discussed, as well as how sleep disorders are diagnosed and treated.

The luncheon is free and will be at 11:30 a.m. in the classroom of the hospital. Seating is limited. Call Stephanie at 618-357-5903 to reserve a spot.

Sawar conducts clinic in the Specialty Clinic at Pinckneyville Community Hospital on Fridays. Appointments can be made with Sawar by calling his office at 618-549-1717.

 The Southern
CARBONDALE  Since October 2015, members of Praise Central Church of Deliverance have been challenging their youth to complete the school year with top grades.

To recognize the successful efforts in their congregation, church member Joseph Selph said he, along with other members of the church's Men's Program, purchased new bikes for youth with a final report of A and B grades in school.

"I'm impressed that we raised enough money to buy them," he said. "The lovely thing is most of the places, where we bought the bicycles, were more than willing to drop the prices when they found out it was for our (program)."

Out of the six youths who attend Praise Central Church of Deliverance, Selph said, four succeeded in making the grades. On Friday, they were awarded their new bikes.

Selph, who is also a retired military veteran, said the challenge evolved after an incident landed him in the hospital.

"It actually scared me in knowing that our children are going to jail, and doing other things, and not getting (good) grades in school," Selph said, "and I'm not speaking just for a black race, or a color, I'm speaking just for our children period."

Since implementing the challenge, Selph said he has seen school reports significantly improve.

"(With) some of the kids that got higher grades in school their behavior is different, (and) they're more responsible at home, and in school," he said.

Additionally, Selph said the challenge acts as a way to get their students to recognize that they're better in numbers.

"I'm a military man, and I've learned over the years that your work is better in numbers," he said. "And I'm trying to get the kids to (understand that) by working together, it's going to make that part of their world better."
CARBONDALE  Retha Eurales laid out on the table her two irons, a sandwich-size plastic bag filled with unleavened flour, a small white bottle filled with olive oil, a spoon and a small bowl.

These are the tools she uses to make the thin unleavened bread that her church uses as part of its sacrament of remembrance of the body and blood sacrifices that some Christians believe Jesus Christ made to pay for their sins. In Bible days, the Israelites were told to eat unleavened bread during Passover to remember the time they fled Egypt in such haste that they did not have time to allow their bread to rise.

Eurales was asked to demonstrate how she made the sacrament bread by Bishop Albert Ingram Jr., pastor of the Olivet Freewill Baptist Church, which celebrated 150 years of existence this weekend. Ingram said as the church remembered its church history, he thought it was appropriate to focus on some of the traditional approaches of the church, such as the homemade unleavened bread and the washing of feet, done at Saturday's night celebration service.

A great many churches, like his, used pre-packaged unleavened bread and grape juice, to represent the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus Christ. Some Christians believe that they are to regularly eat the bread and drink the juice to remember the sacrifices that Jesus Christ made.

"We thought itd be (great to go) back to the way we used to do it where the Mothers made the communion bread," Ingram said. He said it would be up to the Mothers of the church to decide if they'd want to prepare the unleavened bread that way or use the commercial alternative.

At the demonstration Saturday afternoon, a handful of women gathered to watch Eurales work.

"When I start, I start with prayer," she said, beckoning those around the table to come in closer for prayer.

After the prayer, she explained that the little white bottle contained oil that had been blessed and that she used to anoint and wipe over all sides of the older-style irons she used, the spoon and small bowl she used to stir the flower and water and the hands of those helping out.

She mixed the flour and water in the small bowl, adding more flour at times for a more-desirable consistency and then spooned out one or two spoonful-size dollops onto the upturned bottom of one of the irons; the flour, she said, did not have baking powder in it. She noted that the irons are consecrated, specially set aside and dedicated only, to making the unleavened bread; she also used the older styles because they did not have steam holes on the bottom.

In a few seconds, she took the other iron and laid it atop the batter on the upturned iron, holding the irons compressed for a few second. When she pulled away the top iron, left behind was a thin, compressed, pancake-looking wafer that she either pulled off the hot bottom or let slide off.

One of those looking on was Erie O'Neal, one of the Olivet Freewill Mothers who said it reminded her of the times that her own grandmother made the unleavened bread for the church sacrament.

"(I am interested in) the way it was prepared  because it's my first time experiencing it for myself, 'cause my grandmother used to do it for communion when I was smaller," O'Neal said.

Trish Ollie, O'Neal's daughter, said she remembered when she was a little girl in the 1950s and '60s how her grandmother would make the unleavened bread.

She said the demonstration was a nice touch to the weekend of activities.

"It's something that my grandmother used to do years ago and  (it was good) just to see that again," Ollie said. "You don't see that anymore."

On Sunday, church leaders plan to celebrate the naming of the fellowship hall after Benjamin Randall, credited with founding the Freewill movement, and J.S. Manning and Albert "A.H." Chase, Albert Chase, Michigan evangelists who planted the Olivet Freewill church in 1866, a year after the Civil War ended.

Another big event was the laying of a new cornerstone, acknowledging the completion of this new church building in 2013.

"We had never laid the cornerstone for the new church, and so we deemed this would be a good opportunity now since it was 150 years old," Ingram said.
After state lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement this past week, Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed a short term bridge that has full-year funding for pre-kindergarten through high school and $600 million from the Education Assistance Fund for higher education. That $600 million is designed to get universities and community colleges through six months, similar to money appropriated in April.

This proposal is not designed as a full-year budget, Tim Nuding, director of the Governors Office of Management and Budget, said in a memo obtained by The Southern Illinoisan. It is designed as a bridge plan that allows schools to open, keeps the lights on, protects public safety and prevents a government shutdown.

Local lawmakers and those who aspire to hold office after the November general election have been on both sides of the fence, but the consensus is that keeping the schools open by the time fall rolls around is paramount.

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said although a full budget is what he would like to see, the schools have to be open.

Short of a full budget, we have to come up with something that will open the schools next year, he said. I dont think (Senate President John) Cullerton, (House Speaker Mike) Madigan, and the governor wants to shut down the schools.

Although he is in favor of keeping the doors open, he said the state needs something more definite than a temporary fix. The budget issue has been devastating to the universities, he said.

The only person up there (Springfield) that seems to not be willing to compromise is Madigan, Luechefeld said. The state will never be OK until we can create an atmosphere where people and business want to be here and not leave. The opposite is happening in this state and until you turn that around, everything else is just a temporary fix.

Democrat Sheila Simon, who is running for Luechtefelds 58th District Senate seat, said the proposal is just more of the same, and it's been absolutely awful for Southern Illinois.

I am disappointed in the legislature and the governor, she said. We should have already had a budget for the year that we are in now, and by the constitution, we should have a budget for the upcoming year.

Simon called any type of stopgap measure a disappointment.

Her opponent, Republican Paul Schimpf, said while the situation is not ideal, he believes that the bridge budget offered by Rauner is a step in the right direction.

After 11 months without a budget, the compromise will enable Illinois schools to open on time, aid in continuing critical government services, and allow for more thorough debate of our state's most pressing matters, he said in a written statement to The Southern. There has been too much uncertainty for too many months now, and it is my hope that House Speaker Michael Madigan will meet the Governor and legislative leaders in the middle to keep our state moving forward."

In the 59th Senate District, incumbent Democrat Gary Forby said funding for the schools is something that has to get done.

He said hes talked to superintendents in his district, and they are worried about having to complete a budget for 12 months. He called the money that could be appropriated just a number, saying it is up to the governor to spend it the way it is meant.

We just appropriate the money and he spends it, Forby said. I want to see every school opened one way or another. If that (Rauners proposal) is all we can get right now, then we just have to do it.

State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, says she fully supports the governor's proposal.

It is not all of what we need, she said. But we need to make sure schools open on time and get some relief for university and community colleges.

Bryant said it also fills some holes from fiscal year 2016 to make sure social services receive some funds. She said that talks are still occurring and bills can be amended.

It is a place to where we get schools opened in the fall, Bryant said. This is a proposal that is fully funded. It is not a matter of being billions of dollars in the hole.

Her opponent, Jonesboro Democrat Marsha Griffin, says she realizes it is important to come up with education funding  especially as an educator. But, she doesnt think the funding is fair.

I think the plan supported by governor is more beneficial to Chicago schools and the school down south are being short-changed, she said. I feel that students success should not be determined by your zip code."

She said all interested parties need to put politics aside and focus on a budget. Funding for the Hardin County Work Camp and Southern Illinois University are important, but the governors short-term plan was not the way to do it, Griffin said.

Benton business owner Dave Severin, a Republican who is running for the 117th District House seat, says he supports the stopgap plan.

"I'm for the stop gap proposal because it's a plan to fund our schools so they open on time in the fall, funds higher education, and gets money to critical social services while the legislature debates a full year, balanced budget. Most importantly, the proposal is paid for, he said in a written statement. I'm not one for writing checks I can't cash which is what John Bradley does every time he comes back down here bragging about voting for a budget that adds $7 billion to our debt -- the largest out of balance budget ever passed."

State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, said he voted for a spending plan Tuesday that wouldnt lose money for any of the schools in his district.

In fact, it was the most money our schools would have seen in years, he said.

Phelps said the plan he voted for would have included back pay for state employees, flood money for Alexander County and funds to open the Hardin County Work Camp.

He said he will not vote for anything proposed until he talks with school administrators and teachers, and he doesnt want to forget about funds for Alexander County or the work camp.

I dont think what he proposed will be the last thing we vote on, Phelps said. I hope he comes to the rank-and-file and asks us what we want in this budget as well.

State Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion; Dale Fowler, who is challenging Gary Forby; and Jason Kaisar, who is challenging Brandon Phelps, could not be reached for comment.
As the summer sun heats up the high country, Flagstaffs Community Market has bloomed for another season, ensuring residents and visitors alike have access on Sundays to hearty produce packed up from Arizona farms.

But now, the folks whove organized that farm-fresh experience for the last 16 years are beginning another adventure that satisfies a need for a venue connecting artisans with the public: the Flagstaff Urban Flea Market.

The market will be held every second Saturday of each month beginning June 11, continuing through Oct. 8, in the City Hall parking lot, 211 W. Aspen Ave., from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Learn more at Flagstaffmarket.com.

This first-of-its-kind event in Flagstaff was imagined by Heather and Art Babbott, who wanted to keep the Community Market true to its agricultural roots while acknowledging artisans desire for a similar space.

I think the Urban Flea Market is different than what people have in their minds about a flea market, said Heather, noting the diverse offerings from ceramics to niche products. It makes it really accessible to most people, and thats what we do with the Farmers Market, too.

The couple approached events producer Andres Dapper Dre Adauto to manage the new market.

I grew up going to flea markets and I love all the weird knick-knack collectibles people can find there, Adauto said. He and Headspace Southside Salon will share a booth packed with Adautos vintage clothing, and the community-oriented salons skincare products and cosmetics.

Each month, a portion of the markets proceeds will aid the work of various nonprofits, including Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Friends of Flagstaff's Future, Flagstaff Arts Council, Native American Business Incubator Network and Sharon Manor.

Participating artists and vendors will see a boost as well. With a booth fee of $10 plus 10 percent of the days gross sales, affordable setup offers a competitive experience for participants and buyers, who likely will notice lower price points than at consignment shops.

Were trying to make it inexpensive so people have the option to participate, Adauto explained. The goal is to keep stimulating them and allowing them to come back in a way they wouldnt get at a consignment shop.

Local artists Jill Carstens Sans and Delia Withey are just two of more than 50 vendors from Flagstaff, Prescott Valley and Phoenix already organizing their offerings for next weekends event.

Between Sans monthly offerings at First Friday ArtWalks Indigo Art Market at the Green Room, and Witheys online Etsy boutique, Chicadee Creates, both have experience connecting with admirers of their work  and saw the Urban Flea Market as another worthy venture.

Sans colorful and purposeful mandala-style paintings will occupy the bulk of her space where she will also display an assortment of vintage clothing and refinished furniture.

Basically all the loves of my life will be in one booth space, she said. Being in the flea market reminds me of my college days in Flagstaff where we had more secondhand clothing shops like Buffalo Exchange, Incahoots and just friends scavenging yard sales. I am trying to make a personal goal this year to not buy new things if possible and love the idea of offering the community the same concept, but with my own artistic flare.

Since taking up pyrography three years ago, Witheys wood-burned designs have become a major hit with friends and with the online community  but this will be her first time presenting her work in a setting like Urban Flea.

Each design is self-made and digitized through Photoshop, Withey said, while off-kilter surfaces are freehand-burned. From there, her series capture the likenesses of pop-culture icons like Bob Marley and David Bowie  each with a whimsical quality that delights in the offset of such a labor-intensive medium. Others illustrate Alice in Wonderland characters, plants and animals; even Flagstaff scenes.

Design-wise, it comes from what Id want in my house or what I want to give to my loved ones  and thats kind of where it started, she noted.

After burning a design into her boyfriends hand-built wood speaker, she took off making wedding gifts for friends, burning whatever surfaces worked well: spoons, cutting boards, light switch plates and wooden pendants.

And while her designs are fascinatingly detailed, Withey explained all of her items are entirely utilitarian.

I didnt want to create anything people couldnt use, she explained.

Now the community at large will have the opportunity to interact with artists like Withey and Sans for the first time, or revisit them.

I think Flagstaff could really use something like this because its an amazing opportunity to engage with your local community, Withey added. And as someone who has only previously done online sales, its a great option to meet my local market.
The Egyptian Division of the Illinois Association of School Administrators has selected longtime State Sen. David Luechtefeld as a 2016 IASA Presidential Citation awardee.

Luechtefeld, who has served in the Illinois General Assembly for more than 20 years, was nominated for the award by Gary Kelly, superintendent of Du Quoin school district 300. He received his award in May from Kelly and Sesser-Valier Superintendent Jason Henry in Springfield.

Senator Luechtefeld has consistently, actively represented public education interests, Kelly said in a news release issued this week. He has shepherded legislation through the process that has had a direct, positive benefit on the lives of Illinois students, especially those in Southern Illinois. Hes a perfect fit for a Presidential Citation.

Luechtefelds support of school programs and youth development comes at a critical time in public education in Illinois.

Our schools are facing harder challenges every day, Henry said, but, working together with solid partners like Senator Luechtefeld, were resilient. Local education systems thrive because of behind-the-scenes work that makes a difference for students. Senator Luechtefeld is one of those humble individuals. He knows the work of educators because hes been there. He will definitely be missed, and we wish him well in his retirement.

The Egyptian Division of IASA, the regional branch of the statewide superintendents association, serves district superintendents in Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Perry, Washington, Wayne, and White counties.
With the surrender of House Speaker Paul Ryan to the Trump crusade, it is fair to wonder what the Republican Party stands for.

Ryan's endorsement of Trump, which appeared in an op-ed the speaker wrote for his hometown paper -- rather than before a gaggle of reporters and newscasters with his arm draped around Trump's shoulders -- was a white flag from the establishment opposition.

In his op-ed, Ryan explained that though he doesn't support all of Trump's ideas (brave!), he's confident that a President Trump would support the House agenda. Moreover, Ryan felt that his endorsement was needed to maintain a Republican majority in the House.

In other words, he caved, as most everyone knew he would after a respectable period of resistance.

The party has to stand united, after all. Because, as the Geico guy would remind us, that's what they do.

Next likely to fall will be evangelical Christian leaders, who are scheduled to meet with Trump on June 21. The expectation is that Trump will promise to pick conservative Supreme Court justices who would restore the nation's social order to a pre-Roe v. Wade, pre-gay-rights version.

If the purportedly devout can accept the ungodly Trump as the nation's leader, then there really is nothing sacred. But, by God, he's better than Hillary Clinton, clamors the crowd.

To Trump's supporters, a billionaire with no governing experience, questionable business practices and secret tax returns would be vastly better than she on no substantive basis whatsoever. Most compelling of all is the belief that Trump would nominate conservative justices.

But this assumption is as conjectural as the belief in Trump's conservatism is wishful.

There's no knowing whom Trump would nominate, notwithstanding the list of 11 judges he released last month, indicating the sorts of jurists he'd select. The list was merely a "guide" Trump said he would use in making his selections.

In other words, what you see may not be what you get.

This applies as well to Trump, about whose policies we still know next to nothing. What we do know is that Trump is a chameleon who changes his positions with the same conviction he takes to the wedding chapel. More hummingbird than flip-flopper, he flits from one position to another, rarely alighting anywhere for long. Oh, yes, I like this one! No, that one.

Is Trump's flexibility owing to a low threshold for boredom? Or does he perhaps suffer severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? Suffice it to say, if he were a Democrat, Republicans would be blitzing the airwaves with cartoonish ads featuring Trump's head on a hummingbird, his nectar-straw Pinocchio-esque. The possibilities are delicious.

This is not to minimize his appeal or to denigrate his fans, some of whom probably figure that underneath all the bluster is a solid chap who will hire the best people to figure things out. Others don't much care for policy-talk, anyway, and whatever's good enough for Trump is good enough for them.

Millions of others, contrarily, can't ignore Trump's tendency to be crude, rude and impetuous, not to mention disingenuous, contentious, simplistic -- "I hate (nuclear) proliferation!" -- and irresponsibly ignorant. And yet party leaders against their better instincts have circled the wagons around a movie character, not Chauncey Gardiner in "Being There," as I once suggested, but Tom Hanks' character in "Big."

As you'll recall, Hanks acts the part of a boy, who, having been granted his wish to be all grown up, suddenly inhabits the body of an adult. But still a child, he behaves as one. Fortunately, the worst thing Hanks' character does is to behave so adorably that a grown woman falls for him.

Now imagine that the boy hadn't been a sweet child but was a spoiled brat and a bully. What sort of child-inhabited man might Hanks have been then? Kim Jong Un, North Korea's tantrum-throwing nuke-slinger comes to mind.

So does Trump, not that I'm comparing the two, but you get the gist. Of all the carefully examined flaws in Trump's persona, the most concerning and potentially dangerous is his immaturity.

Like a child used to getting his way, he shouts, pokes, bullies, berates, pouts and parades. And thanks to him, the GOP's big tent has become a tough-kid's idea of a party -- peopled with hot dames, swindlers, gamblers, bosses, bouncers and thugs -- and some, I assume, are good people.

At least now, Ronald Reagan can finally get some rest. The Republican Party has left him.
Before checking my e-mail Wednesday morning, I thought there was a pretty good plan in place for the Thursday edition of The Southern. Sure, breaking news can happen, and frequently does. Were often changing all the way up to our daily 4 p.m. news meeting  and sometimes long after that.

On Wednesday, District 117 Republican challenger Dave Severin thought we needed a better plan.

On Wednesday, Gov. Bruce Rauner thought we needed a better plan.

In separate emails sent to media outlets very early Wednesday morning, Severins campaign office and the governors office invited us to what they refer to as press conferences, and what I refer to as contrived photo ops.

Severin was holding his press event to criticize incumbent Democrat John Bradley and the entire Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

Rauner was doing the whirlwind downstate dog and pony show at state institutions to demonstrate his commitment to them and to all Southern Illinois voters.

The governors press office called me to make certain we were coming to the Vienna Correctional Institution stop. And  right up until the moment of that reminder phone call  we had planned to send both a reporter and a photographer. I changed my mind. I decided to send me. I hate being manipulated.

These events are orchestrated precisely so that the media will write about them, photograph them and shoot video to show on newscasts. Historically, when the governor shows up  any governor of any party  we almost always cave. We did two weeks ago when the governor choreographed a business roundtable at Walkers Bluff.

We didnt on Wednesday.

But I still wanted to be there, even though I knew exactly what the governor was going to say. And I was not disappointed. In no particular order and paraphrasing only slightly, this is what he said:

Under Speaker Madigan, Illinois has the highest property tax burden in the country;

Speaker Madigan has had 30 years of total power;

House and Senate Democrats cant even agree when deciding how much to spend bailing out Chicago Public Schools;

The General Assembly, under Speaker Madigan, again achieved stunning failure; and

Democratic Senate President John Cullerton doesnt want our schools to open on time without a Chicago bailout.

But, of course, it didnt stop there. On Thursday, and then again on Friday, The Illinois Republican Party sent out cut-and-paste emails on behalf of all Republican challengers daring Democratic incumbents to return to Springfield to fulfill their constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget. They even ripped a few quotes from The Southerns Thursday editorial in which they attempted to paint a picture of our editorial board marching in lockstep with the governor. Hmm, not exactly.

My greatest irritation in their attempts to manipulate the press is the expectation on behalf of Severin and Rauner that we will do the same  that well show up at the equivalent of reality television events and perpetrate the same manipulation on readers that they perpetrate on us.

This past Wednesday, I said "no!"
Governor Rauner proposed two spending plans this week. The first fully funds school districts for fiscal year 2017. It provides more money in total and no less money for any school district in the state. It employs the same antiquated formulas and incorporates none of the reforms introduced by Democratic Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, or Republican Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington. It preserves the status quo, precisely the opposite of what the governor claims to espouse in his turnaround agenda.

But it provides money and does so now, and it will not only get schools open in August, but keep them open and funded for the entire school year. We concur with 59th District Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, and his assessment of the situation: I want to see every school opened one way or another. If that (Rauners proposal) is all we can get right now, then we just have to do it," Forby said.

We agree. And since the memo from Tim Nuding, Director of the Governors Office of Management & Budget, specifically refers to continued discussion of elementary and secondary school funding reforms for use in 2018, preserving the status quo formula for another year is  by our states standards  not bad at all.

The second spending plan floated by the governor this week is a complete 6-month stopgap bill that covers state spending through December and  finally  releases 2016 funds to cover human services. This proposal prudently appropriates at the same level as expected revenues. Seems pretty basic, but as observed in last weeks shenanigans, a balanced budget is rarely a concern in Springfield.

Support for this proposal breaks down across party lines. It shouldnt. Both sides have pretty much already agreed on the basics  theyre merely a continuation of most of the half-a-loaf appropriations that have allowed us to (barely) limp through 2016.

Republicans seem to like it because the governor proposed it and his Director of Management and Budget spelled it out. Republicans think it speaks Republican. Fine. Vote for it.

Democrats dislike it, again, primarily because it seems to have been proposed by the governor. Attention, Democrats: Most of it continues funding at levels that you both proposed and approved in the year blissfully coming to an end in 25 days. Heck, Senate President John Cullerton  Democrat Cullerton  floated the idea of a six-month stopgap budget nearly a week before the governor co-opted it and called it his own. And among the final things said on the Senate floor before adjournment this past Tuesday came from Cullerton and Republican Minority Leader Christine Radogno. In unison they promised to continue working on a six-month plan.

The proposal is by no means optimal. It continues to gut higher education. It continues to underfund social and human services. It continues to ignore the states unfunded pension liability.

But both sides have already agreed to it for 2016  and should again. It will get gutless incumbents safely to the other side of the November election, but it should also force them to run on the gutless platform right up until Election Day.

Republican Paul Schimpf, candidate for Sen. Dave Luechtefelds 58th Senate seat, said that the stopgap would allow for more thorough debate of our state's most pressing matters. After 11 months of debate and rhetoric and little agreement, Schimpfs call for more thorough debate is ludicrous  and a fairly accurate summation of the state in which we live.




From the

EDITORS Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation was a quarterly journal published by Shalem Press from 1996 to 2012. It provided readers with a forum for serious, in-depth discussion on such subjects such as philosophy, culture, history, economics, politics, and law. Published in both English and Hebrew editions, Azure enabled thinkers from around the world and across the ideological spectrum to exchange ideas and information, and to shape a commonJewish and Zionistagenda. Read the editors farewell remarks here.



Featured

ARTICLE The Jews' Oldest Enemies



Assaf Sagiv



The seemingly bottomless wellsprings of mutual hate revealed by the recent furor over Israels Boycott Bill surprised no one. They are, unfortunately, a well-know Jewish pathologyone that, as even a cursory look at Jewish history shows, has repeatedly exacted a bloody toll. Unless we act to change it, the Israeli culture of public schismogenesis will surely hinder our efforts to establish a healthy and functioning democracy in the present, and erode our ability to survive existential crises in the future.



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Claflin University has received approval for a registered nurse to bachelor of nursing program, becoming the only historically black college/university in South Carolina to offer a bachelors degree in nursing.

We see this as a tremendous opportunity for Claflin to contribute to the workforce by producing visionary leaders in nursing and other professions within the health care industry, Claflin President Dr. Henry N. Tisdale said.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges has approved the launch of the program during the 2016 fall semester.

Claflins RN to BSN program is a blended program that offers online and on-campus courses.

The program is open only to registered nurses who have earned an associate degree in nursing from an accredited institution.

A partnership with Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College provides a pipeline for nursing graduates who can earn their bachelors degree at Claflin in less than 18 months.

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College and Claflin University have maintained a great working relationship over the years through collaboration on grants, and articulation agreements for academic programs, OCtech President Dr. Walter Tobin Jr. said. However, Claflins RN to BSN program represents a new opportunity for both institutions to collectively address a growing need in our region.

Tobin says the partnership will benefit students at both institutions.

We are looking forward to working with Claflin to help students achieve their academic and career goals in nursing, he stated.

The Regional Medical Center is another important partner and a source of potential students.

The Regional Medical Center has had a long-standing partnership with Claflin University, and we congratulate the university on the accreditation of its bachelor of science nursing degree program, RMC President and CEO Tom Dandridge said.

Claflin Provost Dr. Karl Wright congratulated his leadership team for successfully completing the accreditation process.

Members of the team were Dr. Zia Hasan, vice president for Planning, Assessment and Information Services; Dr. Verlie Tisdale, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Dr. Anisah Bagasra, interim director of Online Education and Dr. Cindye Richburg, executive director of Professional and Continuing Studies.

The program will be housed under the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and coordinated through the Center for Professional and Continuing Studies.

Orangeburg and some of the surrounding counties have been identified as being medically underserved areas. Experts are predicting a shortage of quality nurses in this area in the future due to retirement and career opportunities outside the state of South Carolina, Dr. Verlie Tisdale said.

The demand will be great and new job qualifications will require nurses to earn a bachelors degree, she added.

The fact that RN to BSN courses are taught online aligns with Claflins focus in re-engineering the teaching and learning experience with the integration of state-of-the art technology. Students are required to attend one on-campus class per month.
A National Public Radio profile of a student leader has Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 officials concerned about the portrayal of North Middle/High School.

There were a number of things that we feel werent portrayed accurately in the NPR article. We are not going to discuss any specific comment by the student, nor are we going to discuss any details about the student, OCSD5 spokesman Bill Clark said.

The piece entitled One student tries to help others escape a Corridor of Shame, explores the leadership of then-senior Robert Gordon Jr., who has since graduated.

Hes profiled as someone who helped both students and teachers at the school, where many referred to him as a second principal.

Gordon, 18, has raised funds for everything from proms to the senior class trip and has served as a counselor, mentor and leader for many students and staff members alike at the school.

But some aspects of the article have drawn concern among district officials.

Clark says the district does have student helpers who fill in gaps in their schedules by handling a variety of clerical tasks, such as copying and delivering items to classrooms.

But these student helpers  Im not going to call them assistant superintendents or assistant principals  do not have the authority to engage in any kind of administrative or guidance function, Clark said.

Student helpers also do not communicate with Superintendent Dr. Jesse Washington, Clark said.

Until graduation, I dont know that Dr. Washington had ever met this particular student, and I had only met him once, and that was the week before when the senator visited the school, he said, referring to U.S. Sen. Tim Scotts visit in May.

A student helpers chain of communication and supervision is going to be within the school, the school staff and with the principal, Clark said.

It was stated in the NPR feature that Gordon involves himself in administrative issues, including petitioning for a new math teacher.

According to the article, an instructor retired midyear and the classes were left without a full-time teacher for nearly a full quarter.

Gordon said last week that he went to the district office to fill out a form to request a new teacher, with the position being filled probably a week or so after I went there and filed the paperwork.

Clark said, The vacancy was filled with a substitute teacher for a period of about a month and after that, the vacancy was covered with a transfer of a teacher from Howard Middle School.

At all times, either the substitute or the transfer teacher was under the supervision of the existing math teacher at the school.

Washington said, And the substitute was certified. At no time were the students without a certified teacher.

Clark said he and Washington were also not aware that a petition was made for a new teacher.

Did he talk to some employee on Ellis Avenue? If he did, we dont know who it was. But the implication was that there was communication with the district office and the administration, and that would have been either the superintendent or the HR office, of which Dr. Washington was serving in both capacities, he said.

Washington said the NPR story struck him as being a little odd.

I think there were some things in there that were a little inconsistent, but I think it showed a lot of ambition and assertiveness, I guess, from the students perspective, which is good, he said.

Gordon said there were no untruths printed in the article.

The only thing that I can say about the article is that everything in there is completely true. In my opinion, its up to the reader whether it leans in a negative or positive light, but everything in here is true, Gordon said.

Everything seems to be in order. Nothing seems to be out of place. Most of the opinions came straight from Mr. Gregorys or the facultys mouths, the teen said, referring to North Middle/High Principal Charles Gregory.

Of the school, Gordon said, There are some improvements that can be made. But just like anything else, some people would prefer to have it the way it is, and others would like to change.

It just so happens that the people that want the change end up being the majority, and thats how the (NPR) article and I came about. I think someone needs to come in and restructure the school. Tell everyone what their position is and what they should be doing and see that they are doing their job to their full potential.

Washington said, In every aspect of a district, in all schools, theres always room for improvement. Were always trying to be better, but theres nothing that is going to sink the school right now. Im not sure where a writer or journalist could go and portray the student as a principal and it be believable. There are just too many holes that are just wide open.

The superintendent added, I mean, we can be better, we can be stronger, we can be tighter, and those are the things that we push for and strive to do every day across the entire district  not just at North.

Gordon said he has worked to motivate students to reach their full potential at the school, which sits along the so-called Corridor of Shame, a stretch of impoverished, rural school districts running along Interstate 95.

Once the child sees that theres somebody there that cares enough to put forth effort to make sure they have a good year and have a good time at a little small rural school or, as they call it, the Corridor of Shame, I think Im paid in full, Gordon said.

Clark said the schools placement along the Corridor of Shame didnt necessarily mean that the school building was in shameful condition.

If North Middle/High School is not the newest in the district, its certainly not anything that would be associated with Corridor of Shame type terminology and the descriptions of the facility that they used in that article, Clark said.

Washington said older schools in Orangeburg are being targeted for much-needed upgrades.

Gordon said, I would never say that North needs to be closed. I love North with all my heart. Its almost like a family-oriented school and with the small campuses, it just opens up so many more doors that I couldnt see open at a larger school.

Gordon is a minister and heads a youth ministry at his church, New Light United Methodist Church, located at 2810 Neeses Highway in Orangeburg.

I have three sermons lined up for this month, Gordon said. He will be dual majoring in religion and philosophy and mathematics education at Claflin University.

In the meantime, Washington said he is not concerned about the future of North Middle/High School and is planning no specific changes at the school.

Were always trying to be better, to improve, excel, grow and provide better and more learning opportunities for our students. It takes a whole community, and well continue to work with the community and continue to grow and be better, he said.
Donald Trump is known to attack one day and speak highly of a person the next.

New Mexicos Susana Martinez, the nations only Latina governor and chair of the National Governors Association, criticized Trumps rhetoric on Hispanics and his promise to build a wall along the Mexico border.

Trump hit back, criticizing her performance as governor.

She has to do a better job, OK? Shes not doing the job, he said at a rally in New Mexico. Maybe Ill run for governor of New Mexico. Ill get this place going. Weve got to get her moving.

On Thursday, Trump changed tunes.

Id like to have it, Trump said of a Martinez endorsement. I respect her. I have always liked her.

Trump critics, including his likely Democratic opponent in November, Hillary Clinton, contend the presumptive GOP nominees reversal of course on people is paralleled by his words on key issues. They are right.

Trump does not hold fast to positions but makes the case that is a strength. He is flexible and a negotiator  and an attacker. Every time Clinton attacks, Trump responds with venom. In his words, he is a counterpuncher.

The billionaire has rewritten the rules of presidential campaigning, saying and doing things that would have doomed previous contenders. And every time he is attacked, his supporters harden their hearts and become even more committed to seeing Trump in the White House.

To a point, the Trump frankness and rejection of politics-as-usual has been just what the country needs. His unwillingness to be tied to traditional liberal and conservative positions makes him attractive to people who blame Democrats and Republicans for what they see as an ineffective government that does not care about ordinary Americans.

But there comes a point of diminishing returns. Trump has reached it.

If he is going to be elected president, he will need more than the support of people who find his renegade style to their liking. Those in the middle of the electorate  not particularly loyal to Democrats or Republicans but wanting an effective leader  will have to support Trump in order for him to defeat Clinton.

Clinton is doing her best to appeal to those voters even as she fends off Bernie Sanders challenge  which continues to be a big problem as she is forced to lean more and more left.

In San Diego on Thursday, Clinton fired away at Trump, calling his ideas a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies and adding:

Imagine him deciding whether to send your spouses or children into battle. Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when hes angry, but Americas entire arsenal.

Trump responded with more vitriol in political attack mode, though he would do well to consider Clintons words as the two battle for the votes in the middle.

Dont look for Trump to change his flamboyant and combative style. He believes, and with good reason, that it has carried him to political heights that no one could have imagined back on New Years Day.

But if Trump is to be the national leader, his mission as a candidate, and as president, is to do more than what it takes to get votes at any cost. For the good of America, there needs to be less divisiveness and less ugliness, and fewer words and tactics that can lead to violence.

A candidate for the nations highest office has responsibilities. Though he should, Trump does not have to be respectful and civil by traditional standards. But he does have to be aware of the impact now that he is in a position where his every word matters far more than in ratings for reality television.
Claflin University Professor and Chair of the Department of Mass Communications Dr. Donna Gough has been selected by the Broadcast Education Association to chair its Historically Black Colleges and Universities Membership Initiative Committee.

The Gough-led committee is to encourage more diversity within the membership of BEA, the national association for educators in broadcasting and media. Gough also serves as vice chair of the Two-Year & Small Colleges Interest Division for BEA.

BEA is dedicated to diversity. So I hope that the committee will be able to encourage more minorities and women to join BEA in order to make the organization, itself, more diverse and to encourage new ideas and grow new leadership for the organization, Gough said.

She will be working with professors from universities across the United States as well as professionals from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the College of the Bahamas. Gough will be joined by fellow Claflin faculty and Department of Mass Communications instructors Dr. Patrick Stearns and Bianca Crawford.

Gough is founder and treasurer of the South Carolina Media Education Association. In addition, she served as president of the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association and as president of the Oklahoma Speech Theatre Communication Association.

These past experiences have enabled me to work and to represent Claflin University at the national level. Claflin is a great institution and deserves to be represented nationally, she said.

Gough came to Claflin University in August 2009 to serve as chair and professor for the Department of Mass Communications. She holds a bachelor-of-arts degree in theatre arts from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and a master of arts in theatre, film and television from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Gough earned a doctor-of-philosophy degree in mass communication at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.

She is a 2014 Fellow at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles and a longtime Rotarian with the Rotary Club of St. Matthews.

DSS official graduates from leadership academy

COLUMBIA  The South Carolina Department of Social Services announced that Stephanie Bradley, a program coordinator with Orangeburg County DSS, has completed the National Child Welfare Workforce Institutes Leadership Academy for Supervisors.

Bradley is one of more than 100 child-welfare supervisors who have completed this rigorous leadership training program.

During the course, Bradley utilized her leadership skills by assisting staff in improving the quality of their case management. Bradley has a B.A. in sociology from Claflin University and a master of science in individual and family development from South Carolina State University.

DSS recognizes the vital role that supervisors play in helping staff navigate the ever-changing child welfare environment while ensuring that children and families receive the services they need. Many supervisors who have completed this course have moved on to positions of greater responsibility within DSS.

South Carolina is one of several states utilizing this national leadership program to develop leadership competencies across all child welfare program areas. Along with the program, DSS continues to invest in the development of its employees by providing more opportunities for growth and education.

Local businesswoman in FedEx grant contest

Evelyn Haye-Primus of Orangeburg is participating in FedEx Small Business Grant contest, a program by FedEx to award 10 small businesses with grants up to $25,000.

Primus has an opportunity to win $25,000 to purchase equipment and expand her business, Creative Expressions & Gifts, at 3353 Neeses Highway. The business is in its sixth year.

Primus said she is always looking for opportunities to grow her business and constantly looks for grants.

She is a board member of the S.A.F.E organization, a nonprofit that works with teenagers in Orangeburg County and surrounding areas. She is also a board member for New America Corp., a non-profit organization located in Orangeburg.

Primus is a graduate of South Carolina State University and previously taught for more than 27 years at Elloree Elementary School.

To vote for Creative Expressions & Gifts to win the $25,000 grant go to

http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Gallery/Detail/71b941a3-559c-42c7-961d-cad2e48c5d3c or www.creativeexpressionsandgifts.com. Voting ends June 13.

SI Group/Earth Day

As a way of increasing the awareness and importance of Earth Day, SI Group partnered with Orangeburg Consolidated School Districts 4 and 5 to engage the elementary school students for an Earth Day Art contest.

Members of the Delta Alpha Chapter Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. partnered with SI Group to pick up litter as a part of the companys Palmetto Pride Adopt-A-Highway Program.

Get an update on a previous report, with new photos, at TheTandD.com
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Turkey's demand for Azerbaijani gas can significantly exceed 6 billion cubic meters per year, the volume which Turkey will receive as part of the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field, Simon Pirani, senior researcher at the UK Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said in Baku.



Pirani made the remarks while delivering a report during the Caspian Oil & Gas-2016 conference in Baku.



Currently, Russia remains the primary exporter of gas to Turkey, as it accounts for over a half of Turkey's gas import, said the UK expert.



He pointed out that over the last two years Azerbaijan has gradually increased the gas export to Turkey by bringing the volume of sold gas to the maximum level reflected in the contract.



Turkey's policy regarding the import from Russia will be one of the decisive factors, according to Pirani.



Further, he noted that another important direction of Azerbaijan's gas import is Europe.



"Azerbaijan not only sells gas to Georgia and Turkey from the first phase of development of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field, but also secured its future by signing a contract for the sale of gas to Turkey and Europe within the second phase of the Shah Deniz field's development," said Pirani.



But it is worth considering that Europe's demand for gas is gradually reducing, he added.



"If Europe's demand was 560 billion cubic meters of per year in 2010, this figure dropped to 469 billion cubic meters per year at the end of 2015," explained Pirani.



On the other hand, the Russian gas continues to dominate in imports of European countries, and now it is worth to see how it will compete with the US's liquefied natural gas (LNG), he noted.



The expert also said Azerbaijan will have to conduct the right pricing policy, as it will play an important role in the European market.

"Today the average price of natural gas is $154.4 per thousand cubic meters, and by 2018, the average price is forecasted at the level of $176-206 per thousand cubic meters," said Pirani. "Thus, in order to compete with the US LNG, Russia can sell its gas for $140 per thousand cubic meters."



Therefore, in order to get its share of the European market, Azerbaijan should consider these players, the expert believes.



Shah Deniz- 2 project envisages drilling 26 subsea wells, construction of two platforms, underwater pipelines for gas and condensate, expansion of the oil and gas terminal in Sangachal township, construction of two gas compressor stations and connection of this infrastructure to the South Caucasus gas pipeline.



As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
The Turkish Chief of the General Staff`s Assistant for legal affairs, Major-General Hayrettin Kaldirimci has hailed what the Azerbaijani government is doing to modernize judicial system as he met with deputy Prosecutor General, Military Prosecutor, Colonel-General Khanlar Valiyev as part of his visit to Baku. He said Turkey attached great importance to its relationship with Azerbaijan. Kaldirimci praised cooperation between the two countries` military authorities and law-enforcement bodies. He also highlighted judicial system in Turkey, and underscored the importance of experience exchange.





Valiyev said relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey were developing in all areas, including in military, political, economic and cultural ones.





He also informed the Turkish general of the recent Armenian provocations on the line of contact with Azerbaijan.




The participants of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis held in Baku June 4 appealed to the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The participants expressed deep concern about the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has continued for more than 20 years.

It was stressed that innocent civilians are killed, settlements, educational institutions, public facilities, historical monuments, located in the conflict zone, as well as flora and fauna, are destroyed as a result of military provocations of the Armenian armed forces.

The participants urged the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries to exert pressure on the Armenian leadership to liberate the Azerbaijani lands from the occupation and resolve the conflict peacefully.
The Armenian issue is being used to blackmail Turkey around the world, Turkish president has said, according to Anadolu agency.

Addressing a press conference in Istanbul Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said western countries were just using the Armenian issue as a tool to malign Turkey.

"I know in my heart that the main point is not Armenians. They are just being manipulated. The Armenian issue is just blackmail against Turkey around the world," Erdogan said.

"I want to let the world know: like it or not, we will never accept the 'genocide' accusation," he added.

On Thursday, the lower house of the German parliament approved a non-binding resolution recognizing Armenian claims of "genocide" during the 1915 events.

The resolution accused the Ottoman government of 1915 of allegedly carrying out "systematic genocide" against Armenians, as well as other Christian minorities.

According to Turkish president, Turkey had nothing to be ashamed of in its history.

"I emphasize one more time. We have nothing in our past to be ashamed of, but those countries that often accuse Turkey of 'Armenian genocide' have the blood of millions of innocent victims."

Erdogan said Germany should be the last country to speak about the so called 'Armenian genocide'. "They [Germans] should firstly define the meaning of Holocaust again. They should review the Namibia Holocaust," he said.

The Namibia Holocaust is considered one of the first genocides of the last century, which was carried out against the Heroro and Nama peoples in southwest Africa by the then German empire.

Turkey denies the alleged Armenian "genocide", but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during the events taking place during World War I.

According to Turkey's viewpoint, deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia in 1915 occurred after some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Lodewijk Assher said that the Kingdom will not recognize the events of 1915 as the so-called "Armenian genocide", Anadolu agency reported.

Asscher said that the Kingdom will continue to use the term "problem" with regard to this issue, as it was adopted in 2004 in the parliament.

The German parliament adopted June 2 a resolution recognizing the 1915 events as the "Armenian genocide".



Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, committed the so-called genocide against Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915.



While strengthening the propaganda of "genocide" in the world, Armenians achieved its recognition by parliaments of some countries.
Saudi Arabia's central bank has told banks it is banning the use of options and other derivatives to speculate against the riyal, in a new effort to reduce pressure on its currency peg, a senior executive at a Saudi bank told Reuters on Sunday.



The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "wants to make sure that there is no snowball effect against the riyal in the forwards markets", the executive said, declining to be named because of commercial sensitivities.



"So now banks in the country are banned from accepting any options against the riyal." Non-speculative trade in the riyal forwards market is not forbidden, the executive added.



The central bank did not respond to a telephone call to its headquarters seeking comment.



Its order is a renewed attempt to prevent low oil prices, which have saddled Saudi Arabia with big state budget and external deficits, from pressuring the riyal's three-decade-old peg of 3.75 to the U.S. dollar.



In January, commercial bankers in Saudi Arabia said the central bank had contacted them privately and urged them not to conduct derivatives trades against the riyal. The central bank has also been asking banks for information on their trades.



Since January, the riyal has rebounded in the onshore forwards market. But it has remained near multi-year lows in the offshore forwards market, which is not under the direct control of the central bank, and the cost of insuring Saudi sovereign debt against default has stayed high.



On Monday, the government is expected to announce details of a reform plan designed to reduce the economy's reliance on oil.



A general announcement of the plan's goals in April won praise from foreign economists for its ambition, but was also criticised for lacking detail, which made it difficult to gauge whether the plan was feasible.-Reuters
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has opened three new rest stops for trucks in different locations in the UAE emirate.



The project, which began in 2014, is part of RTAs plan to provide free laybys for trucks on highways.



It also signals the authoritys keenness to realise the objectives of its strategic plan towards ensuring traffic safety on highways and organising them with road users, said a statement from RTA.



Maitha Bin Adai, the chief executive of Traffic and Roads Agency at RTA, said that laybys are located at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Dubai - Hatta Road, and Ras Al Khor Road, thus bringing the total number of rest areas to nine.



"According to the plan, the new rest stops will be constructed this year, as RTA is now examining suitable sites and preparing safe designs, taking into consideration roads capacity, especially entrances and exits of these rest areas," she stated.



"While selecting locations of these rest areas, attention is given to certain parameters such as the proximity to service centers (petrol stations) to ensure the availability of basic and handy services to drivers," noted Bin Adai.



She reiterated RTAs attention on ensuring the safety of road users, and providing all safety and security precautions on internal and external roads to the highest international standards and specifications.



"All procedures and engineering projects would not be enough to stop traffic accidents and ensuing deaths unless all motorists and road users adhere to safety rules and avoid the traffic accident triggers," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Key stake holders, including government policy makers, municipalities, investors and experts, will discuss issues related to water management and conservation at a conference in Doha, Qatar, in November.

The inaugural Middle East Sustainable Water and Drainage Summit 2016, will be held on November 9 and 10.

The conference, organized by Nispana, will be addressed by high-profile speakers including Dr Mahmoud Abu Zeid, president  Arab Water Council; Eng Khaldon Khashman, secretary general  ACWUA; Dr Ghazi El Sayed Abdelkerim El Sheirf, environmental engineering expert  Public Works Authority, Ashghal; Prof Adel Sharif, research director  QEERI, Qatar Foundation; Dr Corrado Sommariva, managing director  ILF UAE; Prof Abu Obieda B Ahmed, head, hydrology & water resources research unit  Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation & Electricity and Rebhy El Sheikh, deputy head  Palestinian Water Authority.

Countries in the Middle East are forecast to invest $400 billion till 2020 in water related projects. Governments in the region are welcoming more of foreign direct investment (FDI) and private investment in the sector, said a statement.

There is a global scarcity of water caused by climate change, over population and poor water management. The Middle East is even more prone because of its arid geography. Rapid urbanisation in the region is putting further strain in the existing municipal and civil amenities. There is an urgent need for efficient management of our resources and effectively designing our infrastructure to meet these needs, the statement said.

Apart from harnessing the water, there is also a need to tap new sources of water. Water needs to be treated so that considerable amount of the water is saved, by implementing proper design in infrastructure without jeopardising the ecosystem, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
Japanese companies were urged to explore investment opportunities in Dubai and other parts of the UAE in the areas of energy, renewable energy, water, and environment.



The UAE is one of Japans major bilateral trade partners, having posted a business of over $51 billion in 2014, with non-oil trade between the two countries reaching $15 billion in 2015," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), participating in the Dewa-Japan Business Seminar & Networking event.



The event, organised by Dewa in cooperation with the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), was attended by over 50 Japanese companies and was held at Dewas Sustainable Building in Al Quoz.



The seminar supports Dewas efforts to enhance networking and strengthen relationships with Japanese companies.



During the seminar, Dewa invited Japanese companies to participate in the 18th Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (Wetex 2016) and the 1st Dubai Solar Show from October 4-6.



The seminar was attended by Hisashi Michigami, consul general of Japan in Dubai; Masami Ando, managing director of Jetro; Dewas executive vice presidents and vice presidents, and officials from Jetro and Dewa.



Al Tayer hoped that the seminar will help enhance the bilateral trade between the UAE and Japan that has grown continuously over the past few years.



"Over 300 Japanese companies work in the UAE, 250 of which are in Dubai. In light of the growth in Dubai and the UAE in all walks of business, these figures will grow further where Dubai offers promising opportunities to Japanese companies, especially with the ambitious vision of the emirate being realised by its major projects," he said.



"These include the Smart Dubai initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the happiest city in the world, and to become the innovation benchmark for smart cities seeking global sustainability and competitiveness. Dewa is a strategic partner and actively contributes to achieve this initiative by implementing major projects in collaboration with our partners in the public and private sectors.



"Dewa has launched three pioneering initiatives that support the Smart Dubai initiative. These are Shams Dubai to encourage building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity and connect it to Dewas grid, Smart Applications through Smart Meters and Grids, and the Green Charger to set up the infrastructure and install electric-vehicle charging stations across the Emirate, added Al Tayer.



Al Tayer emphasised that Dubai has a clear strategy for sustainable development based on the vision of Sheikh Mohammed, who launched the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 in November 2015. The strategy aims for 7 per cent of Dubais energy to be provided by clean sources by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050. - TradeArabia News Service


Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah, UAE, has successfully completed week-long road shows in Bangalore, Tumkur and Hassan cities in Karnataka, India.



The campaign, Hamriyah Free Zone  the global choice for investments and business opportunities in Sharjah", has attracted investors from commercial, industrial and service sectors.



The road show, which was held in association with Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industries (FKCCI), was a huge success in terms of attendance and enquiries, said Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, director of Hamriyah Free Zone Authority and Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (Saif Zone).



The shows were held as part of our international promotional tours that aim to strengthen ties and exchange experiences with the business and investment community in India, which is an important market for us", he added.



Majority of our investors are from India and currently we focus more on Asian market as part of our new projects and strategy. The road shows were an excellent opportunity to present various business options and investment opportunities to the South Indian business community," Al Mazrouei added.



Al Mazrouei was the guest of honour at "Manthan 2016" grand finale, which took place at Le Meridien Hotel, Bangalore. The ceremony honoured a number of top students who won innovation awards for commercial projects, which was organised by FKCCI.



T B Jayachandra, Karnataka Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Higher Education, Tallam R Dwarakant, FKCCI president and many other dignitaries were also present for the occasion. - TradeArabia News Service








The Syrian army pushed into Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State, after a major Russian-backed offensive against the militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.



The offensive is the third big assault on the self-proclaimed caliphate in recent days after Iraqi forces attempted to storm Falluja in central Iraq and a Syrian militia advanced with U.S. support towards Manbij in the north near the Turkish border.



The offensives are some of the most aggressive campaigns against Islamic State since it declared its aim to rule over all Muslims from parts of Iraq and Syria two years ago.



Friday's assault saw the army reach the edge of Syria's Raqqa province after heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of neighbouring Hama province.



Raqqa city, further east, is Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria and, along with Mosul in Iraq, the ultimate target of those seeking to destroy the group.



State media said on Friday the army had made territorial gains and inflicted heavy casualties on the militants.



Syrian army spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.



State media has given no indication of how many troops are involved in the offensive, or what weaponry they might be using.



The Observatory also had no comment about numbers or weapons, but said at least 26 Islamic States militants had been killed along with nine from the Syrian and allied forces.



The war monitor said the army advance meant it was now almost 40 km from an area in which U.S. backed rebels were also waging an offensive to isolate the militants' strongholds in northern Aleppo from their territories east of the Euphrates river, where Raqqa city is located.



Should the army be able to reach the area where the rebels are also fighting Islamic State, that would leave the ultra hard line group hemmed in, albeit by forces highly unlikely to work together as they are on opposing sides in the multi-faceted conflict.



ALEPPO OFFENSIVE



The U.S.-backed rebels also continued to make rapid advances in an offensive against IS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area where they continued to seize more territory, according to Kurdish sources and the monitor.



That thrust, supported by U.S. special forces, aims to deny Islamic State any access to the Turkish frontier, which is crucial for supplies of arms and food.



The Observatory said that these forces were able to reach nearly 5 to 6 km from Manbij town, further tightening the noose around the militants by cutting the town's main supply routes with Raqqa and laying siege to their fighters dug in the city.



"We made big progress and we are trying to ensure the safety of civilians before we begin our assault on the town," Sharfan Darweesh, a spokesman for the Military Council for Manbij, a tribal group affiliated with the U.S. backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) was quoted as saying.



The influential pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said on Friday the army operation did not aim to reach Raqqa city within the coming weeks, but was to reach Tabqa city and Lake Assad, which Taqba overlooks.



Islamic State captured Tabqa in 2014 at the height of its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq. Tabqa, the location of an air base, is some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city.



The town is on a key route that links Raqqa with areas the ultra hardline militants control in northern Aleppo.



Separately, militants from radical Islamic groups led by al-Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front consolidated gains in the last 24 hours in southern Aleppo, according to rebel groups.



More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring centre in Syria said in a statement on Saturday.



The centre also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city.



The insurgent advance will make it more difficult for the army and its allies to encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo city where intensified bombing in the last 24 hours has killed scores of civilians mainly by barrel bombing of residential areas.



An attack last month by Nusra Front in southern Aleppo delivered one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters, including Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah fighting in support of Syrian government forces.



It was a major success in recent months for rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.  Reuters
UAE-based Jackys Electronics, a leading multi-brand consumer electronics, has opened its ninth showroom at Arabian Center on Al Khawaneej Road in Dubai, UAE.



With this, Jackys targets more than 8,000 residents and the thriving local Emirati community within Mirdif and neighbouring areas, a statement said.



The new outlet, the only specialist electronics outlet in Arabian Center, was inaugurated by Jacky Panjabi, managing director of Jackys Group of Companies; Manohar Punjabi, executive director, Jackys Group of Companies; Mahesh Chotrani, assistant vice president of Jackys Electronics; and other top officials from the company.



Spread across 2092 sq ft, the store features a full range of TVs, home appliances, cameras, notebooks, mobile phones and IT accessories, and gaming products.



Community malls are growing in recent times and we, at Jackys Electronics, have strategically chosen to invest and open our latest outlet at Arabian Center, which is largest community mall in Dubai. With its prime location within the area of fast growing population, Jackys Electronics will be accessible to residents within Mirdif, Al Khawaneej and Rashidiya areas, said Chotrani.



The new outlet aims to cater to a diverse set of customers from local Emiratis to different expatriates living in the area providing them with their electronics and home appliance requirements.



As part of the celebration to launch the Arabian Centre outlet, Jackys Electronics is extending its Ramadan and Eid campaign Adventure into History, wherein any customers who shops for Dh500 ($136) will get a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Jordan for seven couples.



The new Arabian Centre showroom will also feature Jackys Electronics very own Mobile Clinic, a one-of-kind, one-stop-shop solution to ensure that customers can make the most of their gadgets.  TradeArabia News Service
Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, has appointed Flo Lugli as its new executive chairman, effective June 1.



In this new role, Lugli will chair the GHA board, while bringing new experience and perspectives to the alliance during a period of rapid expansion, which has seen GHA grow to 34 member brands and over 550 hotels. Lugli will also chair GHAs main strategy committee of member brand CEOs, which oversees the evolution of GHAs products and services.



Lugli has extensive and specialist knowledge and experience in the areas where GHA operates. She is currently founder and principal of Navesink Advisory Group, providing strategic business advisory and consulting services in the travel, hospitality and related technology industries. She was previously executive vice president, marketing at Wyndham Hotel Group, where she was responsible for distribution, e-commerce, loyalty, revenue management and research initiatives, as well as the global strategic direction for customer engagement and market positioning. During her time with Wyndham, Lugli chaired the board of Room Key, a joint venture online booking platform, co-owned by the industrys biggest hotel companies.



Prior to joining Wyndham, Lugli served more than 20 years with Travelport, where she held several marketing and commercial positions. She also spent six years leading the Airline Solutions business unit, where she was responsible for the development and delivery of business and technology solutions for the companys airline suppliers, with a specific focus on reservations hosting and data solutions.



Lugli holds several honorary awards, including one of the most influential women in hospitality technology from HFTP in 2014 and the first HEDNA award of excellence in 2002.



Lugli will take over the chairmanship from Mike Deitemeyer, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts, who has chaired the alliance since 2012. Deitemeyer will continue to serve as a member of the GHA board, which also includes Markus Semer (CEO, Kempinski), Colin Lubbe (CFO, Kempinski), Peter Strebel (CMO, Omni), Bernard Jammet (SVP, Oracle) and Chris Hartley, GHAs CEO. - TradeArabia News Service
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) yesterday opened its 72nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Dublin, Ireland.



Ireland is a great aviation country and the perfect location for the industrys leaders to meet. Aviation is a force for good. This year, airlines will safely transport 3.8 billion passengers and 52 million tonnes of cargo. That will stimulate economies and spread prosperity. But aviation faces challenges in providing the safe, secure, efficient and sustainable connectivity that the world depends on. The next two days are an opportunity to work together as an industry to make flying even better, said Tony Tyler, Iatas director general and CEO.



The 72nd Annual General Meeting will feature a keynote address by Shane Ross TD, Irelands Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport followed by Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, president of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The World Air Transport Summit will feature discussions on the top items impacting airlines including cyber security and sustainability.



The first order of business was to elect Aer Lingus CEO Stephen Kavanagh president of the AGM.



It is a pleasure to welcome the worlds airline leaders to Dublin. Ireland has for many years played an important role in the development of the global airline industry through the innovation of its businesses and people. Today we are home to a strong airline sector, a growing North Atlantic gateway, a vibrant leasing industry and thriving activities in aerospace. We see the impact of this success in our economy where aviation and tourism support over 220,000 jobs and $10.5 billion in GDP, said Kavanagh.



This is the second time the Iata AGM is being held in Ireland  the first being in 1962. The meeting of the worlds aviation leaders is being hosted by Aer Lingus, drawing some 1,000 participants to Dublin. The invitation-only event, which is taking place at the The Royal Dublin Society (RDS), will run till June 3. - TradeArabia News Service


Dubai Duty Free received its 12th Superbrands Award at the recent Superbrands Tribute Event held last month at the Inter-Continental Dubai Festival City.



The airport retailer was awarded with Superbrands status for the 10th time while it was the only brand to win the much coveted Brand of the Year award over two consecutive years (2010/2011).



The award was presented by the Superbrands Council in the UAE, an offshoot of the Superbrands organisation, which comprises of councils throughout the world. The UAE Council consists of senior executives from top companies within the emirates.



Commenting on the achievement, Dubai Duty Free executive vice chairman Colm McLoughlin said: We are delighted to receive our 12th Superbrands award which is a remarkable achievement and I thank the council members and associates for voting for Dubai Duty Free. This award is essentially a well-deserved endorsement of our brand and organization and reflects our efforts over the past 32 years."



Present to receive the award from Mike English, director of Superbrands Middle East & North Africa was Ramesh Cidambi, chief operating officer; Salah Tahlak, executive vice president; and Sinead El Sibai, vice president for marketing of Dubai Duty Free. - TradeArabia News Service
There was a time, not so long ago, when the idea of reclaiming land in one place to compensate for loss of habitat in another would have left Wyoming energy producers in a huff.

Today, they are working toward just that end. The shift is largely the result of the states sage grouse policy, which seeks to direct development away from prime nesting areas, and comes just as federal regulators implement a new approach to land management. The Obama administration last year announced it would institute a no net habitat loss standard for development on public lands.

Efforts in Wyoming have won plaudits from some environmental groups, who say the approach minimizes the impacts of development. Others are more critical, saying conservation measures dont go far enough.

But it is a tenuous alliance. Coordination remains in its early days and many details of how mitigation would be carried out have yet to be finalized. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is not expected to release a final mitigation plan until the fall.

Its going to be both a hurdle and also potentially an opportunity, said Paul Ulrich, the regulatory director at Jonah Energy, a natural gas company, who also serves on the board of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. And that is going to depend how they are going to apply it.

Dan Helig, senior conservation advocate at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, echoed that point, saying Im almost ready to call it a game changer.

A recently completed federal environmental analysis of a proposed 8,950-well natural gas development in southwestern Wyoming offers a first glimpse of how the new federal mitigation policy might work.

In the event one of the 18 companies involved in the Continental Divide Creston project cannot avoid or minimize their impacts, the BLM will calculate the potential damage of development and how many mitigation credits are needed elsewhere to compensate. They call this compensatory mitigation.

The specifics of how compensatory mitigation might be implemented in Continental Divide Creston remain unknown, however, because companies have largely stopped drilling in response to a steep downturn in natural gas prices. The BLM wont start a mitigation analysis until companies begin filling permits to drill.

The governments analysis of the development nevertheless lays out a plan for moving forward, said Jennifer Morton, a wildlife biologist who heads up the BLMs sage grouse conservation efforts in Wyoming.

The planning, she said, will help federal land managers take a broader view of the resources they manage.

Federal officials will also have to evaluate potential mitigation sites, comparing the quality of the habitat in the restored area to that in a proposed development. Four formal applications are being reviewed at present.

The Sweetwater Ranches Conservancy, a 600,000-acre ranch southwest of Casper, is the only mitigation site to be approved in the state to date. The ranch has tried to position itself in recent years as an option for companies seeking mitigation credits.

There is an opportunity to support conservation and at the same time pave the way for development and business in Wyoming, said Christine Anderson, the director of communications at Sammons Enterprises, the ranchs parent firm.

Oil and gas interests have faced off with regulators and environmentalists across the West over sage grouse conservation efforts. The federal government unveiled a sweeping strategy in 2015 to stem the birds demise and keep it off the endangered species list.

But much of that conflict has been avoided in Wyoming, where energy companies, conservationists and state officials have developed a core-area strategy to limit develop in nesting and breeding areas. BLMs sage grouse plan in Wyoming mirrored large parts of what the state had previously adopted.

Sage grouse is the most prominent but hardly the only species encompassed by Washingtons new mitigation effort. However, sage grouse planning has eased conversations for other species, environmentalist and industry representatives say.

Both sides nevertheless have concerns. Industry wants to ensure companies receive credit for avoiding sensitive habitat.

If we can properly avoid and minimize our disturbance, the need for compensatory mitigation isnt there, Ulrich said. If youre doing a good job on planning and you can effectively avoid the need for off-site mitigation.

The other concern is timing. The analysis of Continental Divide Creston began in 2006 and was finalized this year. Lengthy permitting delays leave Wyoming companies at a disadvantage to their peers in other states, where development is often on private and state land.

Environmentalists have their own worries. Avoiding a disturbance is the simplest and best way to conserve habitat. If companies ultimately conclude it is more cost-effective to pay for mitigation elsewhere and give up efforts to prevent disturbances than the idea might be for naught.

Still, the early signs are encouraging.

Were no longer viewing public lands as providing resources at an infinite level without consequence, Helig said.

For now, it seems most everyone else agrees.
So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could
Grownup Stuff

Free Wednesday lectures at fort

Fort Caspar Museum is pleased to announce its annual free summer lecture series for 2016. The lectures will be held on seven consecutive Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm, from June 8 to July 20. Each presentation will focus on a different Impression on Wyoming, from past to present and from east to west. These free programs are funded in part by the Fort Caspar Museum Association and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Each lecture will take place in the Multi-Use Room at Fort Caspar Museum. The programs are adult focused and will last approximately 60 minutes, including the lecture and a discussion opportunity. Most of the talks will feature a PowerPoint presentation, and if the speaker has published on a relevant topic, the lecture will conclude with a book signing.

The first lecture on June 8 will be Lonely Hearts and Lofty Ladies: A Short History of Aircraft Nose Art with Matthew Burchette, curator at Denvers Wings Over the Rockies Museum. The term nose art refers to the unofficial, personal decoration of military aircraft with names, slogans, or images. It saw its greatest use during the Second World War with the United States Army Air Force (USAAF).

Here are the dates, speakers, and their topics for the other six free summer lectures: June 15, Jessica Robinson will discuss Women and Horror: Wyoming Movies and Beyond; June 22, Miss V will present Amelia Earhart: Angel of Flight; June 29, Ray Maple will delve into the complex biography Tom ODay; July 6, Tom Rea will talk about Wyoming Bone Wars; July 13, Phil Roberts will explore Wyoming Prohibition; and finally, July 20, John Farr will present Wyoming: Sheepherders State.

For more information, contact the museum at 235-8462 or check the Fort Caspar Museum website, www.fortcasparwyoming.com. Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road.

New displays at senior center

What is Zentangle? Zentangle is a fun, relaxing ,easy method of drawing that creates structured images.

Visit the Senior Center at 1831 E. 4th St. to view this fascinating display of amazing drawings by local artists. Also featured is a collection of Japanese collectibles including pottery, clothing, dishes and more.

For more information, call 265-4678.

Adult book club on the move

This summer the Natrona County Library is mobilizing its adult book discussion to celebrate the summer reading theme of "On Your Mark, Get SetRead!" Featuring interrelated outings and books, participants will gather at a new location each month for a book discussion. The first Book Club Field Trip will be held at 6 p.m., on Tuesday, June 7, at the Bart Rea Learning Circle. June's novel is "The River Why," by David James Duncan. The discussion is free and open to the public. To participate, pick up your copy of "The River Why," at the Library's second floor Reference Desk, and then join us at the Bart Rea Learning Circle for an immersive experience. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Veteran Cigar Night

Every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., all veterans are invited to Veteran Cigar Night at the Casper Cigar Company, 4717 W. Yellowstone Highway, sponsored by Casper Cigar Company. There is no cost to attend.

This is a time and place for our community's combat veterans to relax and share their stories with other combat veterans while enjoying a good cigar. Veterans receive 20 percent off cigars. For more information, call Josh Cruse at 307-337-4400 or josh@caspercigar.com

Franscell sets book signing

Kelly Walsh, Casper College and University of Wyoming graduate Ron Franscell will return to Casper on Saturday, June 11, from 1 to 4 p.m., at Wind City Books to sign his newest book, "Morgue: A Life in Death," (St. Martin's Press). The nonfiction work explores some of the most historic, infamous, and heartbreaking cases of Dr. Vincent Di Maio, M.D., son of a famous New York City medical examiner and one of the lions of forensic science in his own right.

Franscell is the bestselling crime author of "The Darkest Night," and "Delivered from Evil." A lifelong journalist, he worked for newspapers in Wyoming, New Mexico and Californias Bay Area before hitting the road in one of American journalisms best beats, covering the evolution of the American West as a senior writer for the Denver Post. Shortly after 9/11, he was dispatched by the Post to cover the Middle East during the first few months of the Afghan war. In 2004, he became the managing editor for the Beaumont, Texas, Enterprise, where he covered the devastation of Hurricane Rita from inside the storm. He now lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Taylor Scott Band June 17

The Wyoming Blues and Jazz Society presents the Taylor Scott Band on June 17, 2016 at the Attic above the World Famous Wonder Bar. Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.Tickets are $12 for WBJS members, and $15 for non-members and can be purchased through the web site at www.wyobluesandjazz.org or at the door the night of the concert. Taylor, originally from Cheyenne, now lives in Denver. His music is influenced by soul, funk, blues, jazz, and rock and roll. His first band, Another Kind Of Magick, represented Wyoming in the International Blues Challenge in 2012.

'Marrying Walt' rescheduled

"Marrying Walt," a comedy by James Danek, has been rescheduled for July 14 to 17, and July 21 to 24. If you have purchased tickets, you can use them for the July performance of your choice, or you can turn them in at the outlet where you purchased them for a full refund. Casper Theater Company regrets the inconvenience this may have caused and invites you to a wonderful comedy to laugh and have your heartstrings pulled all at the same time. It is a wonderful love story about commitment, grown children, and senior citizens dedicated to one another. Performances Thursday through Saturday are at 7:30 p.m., Sunday performances are at 2 p.m., at 735 CY Avenue. For more information please call 267-7243, email caspertheatercompany@gmail.com, or visit the website at www.caspertheatercompany.net
Help Yourself

Housing info shared

Effects of the energy industrys downturn on central Wyoming housing and economy will be described at a free public session in Casper on Tuesday from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Natrona County extension office at the Agricultural Resource and Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Rd., according to Hannah Swanbom, community development educator with UW Extension.

The Wyoming Multiple Listing Service and Casper Board of Realtors are joining with UW Extension to provide the session.

The number of houses on the market and in foreclosure has shifted.

Swanbom said a variety of speakers will attend the session to help provide information.

Contact Swanbom at 235-9400 or hswanbom@natronacounty-wy.gov for more information.

Free writing workshop June 13

The Natrona County Library will sponsor a free writing workshop, "All the Water in Wyoming," by Lori Howe at 5:30 p.m., on Monday, June 13, in the Crawford Room. Join Wyoming landscape poet, Lori Howe, in writing on the meanings of water in Wyoming. Whether via poetry or personal essay, your knowledge, memories, and thoughts are the ink on the page in this workshop, which features a dedicated issue of "Clerestory: Poems of the Mountain West."

Lori Howe is the author of "Cloudshade: Poems of the High Plains" and "Voices at Twilight: A Poet's Guide to Wyoming Ghost Towns." She has taught English and creative writing workshops for the last decade at the University of Wyoming and Laramie County Community College (Laramie and Cheyenne campuses). She holds a Bachelor's degree in English and Spanish, a Master's degree in English, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from UW, and is a doctoral candidate in Literacy Studies at UW, with a focus on critical thinking skills and creativity for struggling writers.

Training for community educators

In conjunction with the Wyoming Center on Aging, the Wyoming chapter of the Alzheimers Association is presenting a class to train volunteers to take information about Alzheimers disease back to their communities.

After attending Training the Trainer: Alzheimers Instruction for Volunteer Community Educators, attendees will be able to present classes like The Basics of Alzheimers and Know the Ten Signs in their own communities.

The Training the Trainer program will be held on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at the Agriculture Resources and Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Road in Casper. The free class runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided and scholarships may be available to help defray travel costs.

No prior experience is required to attend, although participants are asked to take what they learn back to their communities and present programs provided by the Alzheimers Association. The Association programs include PowerPoint presentations, class handouts and teaching guides. Community Educators from more rural areas are especially encouraged to attend.

Space is limited, so those interested should register soon at http://www.uwyo.edu/wycoa

Those with questions can also call 307.766.2829 or 307.316.2892

Tips from a tech guru

The Library will offer a Tips from a Tech Guru class on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Tech Center. Come to learn some of the tips and shortcuts that make your computer work for you. This class will discuss password management, data backup, security settings, and more. Come learn how to use keyboard shortcuts, how to make the most of your mouse, and when to use cloud storage. Call 577-READ ext. 2 for more information. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Prayer Walk June 11

Casper Vital Network hosts a Prayer Walk on June 11, 2016, at the Crossroads Park Gazebo. All activity levels are accommodated. Walk as you are able. Take a sack lunch and join the fellowship after the walk.

Buddhist teaching June 11

American Buddhist Monk, Gen Kelsang Rinzin, returns to Casper from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., on Saturday, June 11, at the Healthy Life Yoga Studio in the Sunrise Shopping Center, 4200 South Poplar St. to teach on Buddhist Tantra; Creating a Pure World. Tantra is the graduate level of Buddhist practice. This introductory lesson will not make us expert practitioners, but it is designed to introduce us to and spark our interest in this centuries old practice of creating a Pure World. Everyone of any religion or no religion is welcome. The class includes a guided meditation, the teaching and a Q & A period. A $15 donation is requested. No pre-registration required. Just come join us. Questions? Call Joe at 315-1987.

Family continues suicide support

Good Grief, Support will continue at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott, by request of attendees. The family of J.R. Hunter, who died from suicide in June 2015 began the support before the especially tough holiday season. Anyone who is grieving a suicide, death, or considering suicide is encouraged to attend. Attendance at the meeting, as well as the content, will be strictly confidential. The Fresh Start Cafe will be open, and you can eat during the meetings. This meeting place was offered by Dan Cantine of the 12-24 Club. You need not be a member to attend.

Plaster workshop at Art 321

We have great workshops lined up this June at ART 321/ Casper Artists Guild.

The first of two workshops, "Plaster and Found Objects, will be presented by Linda Ryan. Linda is well known for her art and also as Casper College art instructor. This workshop will be held on Friday, June 10, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at ART 321/ Casper Artists Guild, 321 West Midwest Avenue. The fee is $65 for members/ $85 for non-members, plus a $15 supply fee. Open to all levels. Sign up by phone, in person, or on-line on our website: art321.org

Handgun/self defense class offered

Randy Cain is offering Handgun 101 at the Stuckenoff's Shooting Complex June 11 to 13. Cost is $600 each. Randy Cain is a world renowned self defense instructor and one of the last disciples of Jeff Cooper and the original Gunsite Academy. Handgun 101 is designed to drill down to the very basics of firearm safety, manipulation and marksmanship. It is suitable for the complete novice up through expert. A second follow-on class, Close Quarter Tactics, is offered June 17 to 19. CQT focuses on what really happens if a weapon is drawn. The class focuses on avoiding dangerous situations, but if Murphy has his way, then deflecting the initial attack, re-positioning and meeting the threat. Randy combines his lifetime of martial arts and firearms training to give his students the best chance for survival. Information and registration www.guntactics.com. Local contact Joe MacGuire 307-333-3653. Class enrollment is limited.

Portrait workshop at Art 321

Another great June workshop offered at ART 321: Drawing the Portrait in Pan Pastel and Charcoal. What a great opportunity to take this workshop by Justin Hayward, well known artist and art instructor at Casper College.

This workshop is offered on Saturday, June 25, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., ART321/ Casper Artists Guild, 321 West Midwest Ave. The fee for this workshop is $65 for members, $85 for non-members. Open to all levels. Goedickes will have a list of needed supplies for this class.

Parkinson's monthly support

Join us at 5:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500, Casper. The support group is open to anyone with Parkinson's or caring for someone with Parkinson's. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon. Upcoming meetings will be June 14 and July 12.

Parkinson's exercise

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinson's exercise program. Join us from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500. These classes are open to anyone with Parkinson's or caring for someone with Parkinson's.

Thursday's class is tailored for the individual with more advanced Parkinson's and focuses on improving endurance, safety and managing symptoms. We are open to all ages and can tailor the class to meet varying exercise needs. The cost of the class is $5. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Dog manners obedience class

Dog Manners Obedience Classes/STAR Puppy Classes will be held at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds, sponsored by the Central Wyoming Kennel Club. Cost ranges from $40 to $100.

The Central Wyo Kennel Club is hosting classes for puppies and adult dogs focusing on Socialization, Training and Responsible Dog Ownership.

For more information go to centralwyomingkennelclub.org or call Charlene at 473-1614.

Celebrate Recovery every Friday

Looking for a nontraditional approach to recovery from your hurts, habits and hangups? Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., there's either a lesson from Celebrate Recovery's planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Self-transformation class set

Conscious Co-Creation/Self-Transformation & Healing, taught by Cathy Hazel Adams, is 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and 26, at the Agricultural Resource Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Rd. Adams is an Intuitive Quantum Transformation & Energy Healing Practitioner and Certified Matrix Energetics Practitioner. The class is also offered live via webinar. For more information, go to www.cathyhazeladams.com or call 797-9677.

Saturday morning watercolor

Art 321, Casper Artists Guild Saturday morning watercolor classes are 10 a.m. to noon, with the following lineup of classes: June 11, practice session; June 18, Holly Bryson, including figures in your paintings; June 25, practice session. For more information, please call Ellen Black at 265-6783.

Here and Now: Dementia-focused monthly art class

Classes are every third Tuesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. There is no charge. Here and Now is a program made possible through a collaboration between Wyoming Dementia Care and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for people with dementia and Alzheimers and their loved ones.

To register, contact Dani with Wyoming Dementia Care 265-4678, ext. 106, or at wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or Zhanna Gallegos at 235-5247 or at zgallegos@thenic.org
CASPER  Royce Brown and Sandra Cremen Brown celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary June 4, 2016.

They were married June 4, 1966, at St. Andrews at Philadelphia Divinity School in Philadelphia.

He graduated from seminary in 1967 and she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 with a degree in nursing.

They moved around Nebraska for years and arrived in Casper in 1986 with three sons. He took a position as the rector for St. Marks Episcopal Church, which he held for 19 years. She took a position as an instructor of nursing at Casper College in 1987 and held that position for 17 years.

They have both lovingly and tirelessly volunteered in different ways around the Casper community since they moved here in 1986. Today they spend their days with their granddaughter, Macy, who makes sure they stay in shape.

They have three sons, Matt Brown, Casper; Tim Brown, San Diego; and Stephen Brown, Casper. They have four grandchildren.

They celebrated their anniversary with their family in Casper on the day of, and will celebrate in Rapid City, South Dakota, a week later.
Oil can be cruel.

The business can take time, money, just the right amount of knowledge and just the right amount of luck.

Its really easy to go broke, Reed Merschat said about the industry hes worked in since the late 2000s. Its really easy to have a lot of defeat.

The defeat and decline of oil in Wyoming has led Merschat here, in the shadow of his old high school, running Survivor AC Dealers in Casper. Hes one of many across the state working to create some financial breathing room during the roller coaster of Wyomings boom-and-bust cycle. Some move out of the state to chase energy elsewhere. Others pull up stakes and leave it all behind. And then theres Merschat, keeping one foot in a flailing industry while trying to build an entirely different business in the downturns wake.

Hes gambled on energy, and these days hes betting on a store with old motorcycles and vintage Pinocchios to help him make it through oils collapse.

The new business helps his income, he said. It helps his sanity.

Its easy to really get down and depressed in this sort of downturn, he said. Everyday you go in and you look, the revenue is down and oil prices are down and we have a tough project or two. Its, you know, hard to keep your head up getting through these situations.

n n n

When he was a kid, Merschat collected ballpoint pens and matchbooks bearing the insignia of Casper establishments that have been closed for years. Long after they were gone, the businesses left pieces of themselves scattered around town.

He was one of three partners to help open Metro Coffee Company in the early 2000s, and also helped fix and flip properties before entering the software development business for managing construction loans. He also helped co-found The Corridor Gallery. He started in energy in 2007 and works with his father, Walter, for an oil and gas exploration and consulting company, Tetrad Resources, and the family company, Merschat Minerals.

Being his own boss was an easy decision for the 40-year-old entrepreneur. But starting another business didnt mean he would leave oil behind, even during the downturn. Merschat still helps manage Merschat Minerals. He communicates with more than a dozen investors about Tetrads projects and wells.

I dont think people leave the energy industry with the intent of never coming back, said Joe McQuade, Tetrads chief financial officer. But I do think the people who are self-starters and successful find a way to channel their energies in a downturn time.

Both companies work on a project basis, meaning there are fewer personnel costs and overhead. Theres no traditional payroll and no set hours.

Theyre not obligated to spend all their day at the oil company fighting fires, McQuade said. You know, they can be gone. Ours is a consulting business and we go out and find deals, we get them done. We do the deal and then its over with.

When it comes to crude oil, state economist Jim Robinson said it appears Wyomings prices have reached the bottom. Maybe the worst is over, he said. Given the states economic climate, he said the Merschats decision to stick with oil while adding another business on the side makes sense. Leaving oil during a bust would make it difficult to come back when the industry is on the upswing.

It sounds like theyre kind of hedging their bets, Robinson said. They think that theres kind of a long-term optimism to producing in the state, and so they want to try to keep their hands on things as much as they can.

Sometimes its small businesses with no relation to the energy industry that open during a downturn to fill the void, Robinson said. But with mining jobs declining and the price of oil suffering, those small additions often do little to help the economy.

Whatever new activity you see, it probably pales in comparison to what you lost, he said.

n n n

Hidden in Merschats store, among the old typewriters and faded posters, lay mementos of Caspers past. A book of black and white photos show Texaco employees in the mid-1950s enjoying life in a Casper far different from the one seen today.

Every once in awhile, someone will take home a forgotten relic of a dismantled old oil company, maybe a sign, or an aging piece of equipment, that has far outlived the company that paid for it when they were both shiny, young and new.

There are about 16 different vendors at the mall, with everything from vintage comic books to motorcycles and western clothing. Merschats parents, Walter and Sharon, have items for sale at Survivor, including antique lighting and an old voting booth that Walter estimates is from the 1930s. He even has a plaster cast of the top of a grizzly bears head that used to belong to a local taxidermist. The Merschat patriarch said hes spent a lifetime in oil and gas, working as an exploration geologist in Illinois, Texas and Wyoming.

Ive been through so many booms and busts, Walter, 70, said. Theres always an avenue to take your business desire and do something. And when one of thems a little down, you can go in another direction, but you dont throw it all away. Were not just going to dump everything and go to work at McDonalds.

Its not the same kind of adventure, or risk, of hitting it big with oil, but Merschat still finds a thrill in hunting for items and flipping them for a profit in the Oil City.

Its similar to drilling a wildcat well, right? he said.You dont know whats there.

The clientele here is never quite the same, Walter said. Some are collectors, some are thrifters. Some are young, some are old.

It probably could be better, Walter said about the stores foot traffic. But anything could be better, right?

One day last week, a man came by the store and bought a $4 1981 Dean Morgan Junior High yearbook. The store has sold roughly 40 yearbooks since it opened. Nostalgia can be strong in a place where oil brings money and people one year and then empties it the next.

I think people are always impressed about what was, Merschat said. You know, and I think as our culture progresses and goes down the road, we quickly forget about what was.

***

Oil brought the Merschats to Wyoming.

And even in a downturn its kept them here, committed as ever. For better or worse, theyll stick with Casper. Theyll stick it out through the downturn. Theyll stick with oil.

You learn to live with the oil business, Walter said. The ups and downs, the boom bust. But theres something in both of our bloods, the adventure of doing the oil business. Were still working on wells.

The antiques malls name comes from the idea that the odds and ends in the shop have survived long enough to make it here. And in their own way, the Merschats are survivors as well. Walter looked over to his son as he talked to a customer.

I havent retired, Walter said, pointing to Reed. And hes not about to.

Casperites have to do more with less during a downturn, something Merschat thinks could help the mall gain a foothold. Why buy new and expensive when you can buy vintage and affordable? He plans to emphasize the mantra that they dont make them like they used to.

Our market here isnt as strong as some of the big cities, Walter said. But its a Casper market.

Merschat doesnt know what will happen if and when oil comes back. There are days when the stress of juggling retail and energy businesses causes him to take a breather, leaving Walter to run the shop as he hikes around Wyoming to find a moment of zen and peace. Even those breaks are few and far between.

Is it a smart time for me to start a business? I dont know, Merschat said. But it was a good time with my schedule to do it.

If working in antiques is his passion, then working in energy has become his habit. Even when the economy has fallen and the money has slowed, the risk and reward of Wyomings energy industry can be too enticing to leave behind for good.

Im always going to have some sort of attachment to the business, Merschat said.

At the front of the store theres a bowl of matchbooks with the Survivor AC logo printed in deep black lettering. In a place that could double as a museum of all that left Casper, the matches are one of the few things that come close to being new. And if this all fails, theres a chance they could become relics like the ones Merschat collected when he was a kid. It could be another reminder of a Casper store killed by the bust, another store in the Oil City thats vanished and been swallowed up by time.

He knows nothings a given in the state, the city or the economy.

Its all a risk.
Fifteen candidates will compete for six seats on Caspers City Council this election season, including Mayor Daniel Sandoval and Vice Mayor Steve Cathey.

The election will be held amid an economic downturn thats led to a sales tax shortfall and budget cuts. City leaders have also placed a greater emphasis on downtown development in recent months, including helping fund the David Street Station public plaza, buying the Plains Furniture building and choosing to restrict a new and valuable liquor license to Caspers downtown area.

Natrona County sheriffs deputy Michael Forbes said hes been a lifelong resident of Casper. The 29-year-old is running for a seat in Ward 1, which encompasses central Casper, because he thinks city should be wiser with its spending during the downturn.

Its sad to see some of the parks I grew up in, playing in, and how theyve turned into really just not as fun anymore, Forbes said. The grass is growing out of control; some of the equipment is broken and unsafe. I want to see this city get back to the way it used to be when I was a kid.

Forbes said both of the Ward 1 incumbents, Bob Hopkins and Sandoval, were great but that the city needs some new fresh blood in there.

Some new ideas, some younger ideas, he said.

Todd Murphy was the first candidate to start planting campaign signs around town. The 50-year-old is running for one of the open seats in Ward 2  the citys west side  and said he wants to be a voice of fiscal conservatism.

I would really like to see a lot more savings take place for reserves during the good times, Murphy said. And not try to find ways to spend it, necessarily.

Councilman Bob Hopkins said he knew some of the candidates running but that he enjoys working with the current city leaders.

Quite honestly, Id prefer to keep our team together that weve already got, Hopkins said. I think weve got some really good folks on Council right now. Everybody works hard to get up to speed with all the issues.

Another vacancy on the council could open in the near future. Ward 3 councilman Ray Pacheco announced in April that he was running as a Republican for House District 57. His term lasts until January 2019, according to the citys website.

If Pacheco, who represents the east side of Casper, wins a spot in the Wyoming Legislature, he will have to resign his seat on the Council. City attorney Bill Luben said that if Pacheco wins, he could still serve on the Council until hes sworn into his new office. In that case, the Council would appoint a successor to finish Pachecos term.

The list below comes from Natrona Countys website, as well as the city of Caspers glance.

Casper City Council

Ward 1 (Two open seats, four-year terms)

Michael Forbes

Bob Hopkins (incumbent)

Amanda Huckabay

Daniel Sandoval (incumbent)

Ward 1 (One open seat, two-year term)

Wayne Heili (incumbent)

R.C. Johnson

Jesse Morgan

Ward 2 (Two open seats, four-year terms)

Darin L. Crowell

Scott F. Miller (incumbent)

Todd Murphy

Charlie Powell (incumbent)

Ursula R. Wilkerson

Ward 3 (One open seat, four-year term)

Stephen Cathey (incumbent)

William C. Street

Christopher Walsh

Follow local government reporter Hunter Woodall on Twitter @huntermw.
Brett Governanti feels like Democrats arent being heard in Wyoming.

Its one of the main reasons why hes decided to run against Republican incumbent Kendell Kroeker for the House District 35 seat.

The 39-year-old works for the city of Casper as GIS specialist, focusing on the training and maintenance of geographic data, and also serves as the chairman of the Natrona County Democratic Party. He formally filed to run at the end of May.

Governanti said he decided to run to give voters another choice in the district.

For many years its just been the deepest red of red states, Governanti said of Wyoming. We need to really get out there because our voice is not being heard in Cheyenne. Its not being registered in the statehouse.

Governanti said he didnt agree with some of Kroekers legislation, including a public land access bill that the politician sponsored during this years budget session. That bill would have committed $100,000 to study how the federal government has restricted access to public lands in the state.

Governanti wants to make sure public lands will stay open. Hunting and fishing is important to many in the Cowboy State, he said, and the lands should not be split apart and sold.

I guess we have a difference of opinion there, Kroeker said. I think weve seen the disaster our economy is in when the federal government is blocking access to coal and oil and natural gas and I just think its better to have local people with local accountability controlling our local resources than it is to have people in Washington, D.C., telling us what we need to do with our resources out here.

Governanti also said he supports Medicaid expansion and that it should be a no-brainier for anyone who looks at the issue. Some of the legislators who dont support expansion do so out of mistrust for the federal governments funding, Governanti said.

Its not a very good argument, he said. Its not a very good reason why we should deny thousands of people access to medical care, or even options for medical care. Its just plum not right.

Born in upstate New York, Governanti said hes lived in Wyoming for roughly a decade. He knows its a challenge to run as a Democrat for House District 35. Kroeker didnt have an opponent in the general election in either 2012 or 2014.

I think I have a strong, conservative record that voters can look at and thats what Ill run on, is my record and my six years of service, Kroeker said.

To win, Governanti emphasized that he hoped to be a candidate that would connect with local Democrats, but also make inroads with those that dont support either of the major parties, including independent, libertarian and Green party voters.
BISMARCK, N.D.  The Air Force is set for another large-scale exercise in the massive Powder River Training Complex in the Northern Plains.

The training area covers nearly 35,000 square miles of airspace in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming  the largest over the continental U.S.

Officials at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota say multiple types of aircraft will take to the skies Tuesday through Thursday, and cautioned that could cause loud noises, including sonic booms.

Some ranchers have complained that the training exercises disrupt their operations, and the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association in February petitioned Air Force officials to provide more information to ranchers. But the group is pleased with steps the military has taken to better inform ranchers, such as posting notices in local newspapers, said Executive Director Silvia Christen.

More work needs to be done to improve communication between the military and ranchers who experience problems from low-level flights, she added, but for the most part I think were on the right track.

After years of consideration and public comment, the Federal Aviation Administration approved quadrupling the training airspace in March 2015. The expanded complex officially opened in September, with flying operations commencing that included B-1 bombers from Ellsworth and B-52 bombers from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The first large-scale exercise was last December.

Next weeks exercise will include six different types of aircraft, from fighter jets to refueling tankers, and will involve several hundred personnel from multiple bases, according to Lt. Col. Lanny Anaya, assistant director of operations for the 28th Operations Support Squadron at Ellsworth.

Honestly, it is a team effort, he said.

Such training is limited to 10 days each year, once every three months, with no exercise lasting more than three days. The first large-scale exercise this year was in late March.

The Air Force cautions non-military aircraft to review the FAA notice of the exercise and avoid areas and altitudes where military planes will be practicing.
SHERIDAN  Imagine living with a stranger. Sharing your kitchen, your living room and your bathroom with somebody who doesnt really know you. It is awkward, its frustrating and it can be exhausting.

For many who are caregivers to individuals with dementia, life resembles living with a stranger. Maybe not at first, but as months and years go by, the person you married or the person who raised you begins to disappear.

Sara Ary, 77, has been caring for her husband, Leo, for several years.

Forgetful

Ary said her husbands symptoms started small. He was forgetful, and he couldnt remember things she told him. He sometimes couldnt remember where he was, and Ary said he steadily declined from there.

The couple has already experienced many of the milestones of dementia. Ary took her husbands keys. Sometimes, Ary said her husband seems to travel back in time. Hell ask where one of the couples dogs went, but the dog had died. Every now and then, despite 30 years of marriage, Arys husband mistakes her for his sister or doesnt recognize her at all.

I knew it would happen eventually, Ary said matter-of-factly.

As the Alzheimers progressed, Ary has found that she cannot leave her husband home by himself. He has started to leave the house and wander. So she bought a GPS device that she puts in his wallet. It allows her to track his whereabouts from her phone. Shes already had to use it more than once.

Progressing frustration

Ary and her husband always picked on each other. Theyd joke around and tease. But as his dementia progressed, the teasing grew more biting.

He puts me down a lot, Ary said. He will pick at me, but now I wonder if thats what he thought all along.

The stress and the frustration have worn on Ary. About a year ago, her doctor prescribed her an antidepressant.

I was just getting really angry, Ary said. We started with a small dose and weve upped it once.

Ary said she thinks shes coping well, though. She ensures she has time for herself during the week. She attends a caregivers support group, takes time to run errands on her own and participates in a bowling league.

Occasionally, too, she takes advantage of the Day Break adult day care program at the Sheridan Senior Center.

But the frustration Ary feels never fully disappears. She said it comes from having to repeat herself over and over. It comes from not being able to go do the things they and she used to do.

The whole situation is just frustrating, Ary said. Here you have this man who was quite capable and now, you know, hes lost in his own house.

Finding a community

Ary said finding a community in a caregiver support group through the Sheridan Senior Center has helped with the pressures of care giving. Support groups and bowling give her an escape.

She doesnt attend the caregiver group every week, but she goes as consistently as she is able.

The hardest thing is, theres nobody to talk to, Ary said. I used to bounce everything off of him. But, now I cant do that.

The caregiver support groups help. Members talk through what is happening in their lives and with their loved ones. They offer advice and discuss issues without judgment.

At a meeting of the group in April, Ary mostly listened in while others shared. One attendee noted that she got a full nights sleep the night before  that made it a good week in her mind. Another shared that his wife had started misplacing things, putting towels in the refrigerator and her purse in the freezer. Another attendee noted that her spouse started going outside to relieve himself. He was a farmer, she explained, and was used to just standing behind the tractor in a field.

The meeting was full of laughter. What else can you do? attendees would shrug.

At one point, though, a woman shared that she had lost her cool with her spouse. She noted her guilt for blowing her stack. She apologized a few minutes later to her husband, but he didnt know what she was apologizing for. Still, she said, she didnt like losing control. And, while her husband didnt remember the incident, the feelings didnt disappear as quickly for her.

There were tears. The group shared frustrations and sadness. But they didnt dwell on those.

As one attendee noted, If you dwell on the negative, which is so easy to do because it is so present and its so there, you miss the high points. You have to grab those.

Mostly, though, the groups are a safe space to share their feelings and ask questions of others going through similar circumstances.

We need to talk about it, Ary said of the conversations. At least we know that were not the only ones in the world going through this, because I was sure I was.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  Colorado lawmakers are working to block an effort by Sen. John McCain that could put U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs on the chopping block.

McCain, R-Arizona, has floated the idea of merging Northern Command, which oversees defense of the continent, with Southern Command, which focuses on Central and South America.

Its an idea that has united Colorado politicians across partisan divides, with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, and U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, in rare agreement on the issue. Lamborn, whose district includes five military bases, has said hell kill McCains idea if it comes to the House. Bennet is working to squash it in the Senate first.

It doesnt make sense, and I havent seen evidence that makes it make sense, Bennet said.

In a series of hearings, McCain, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for redrawing the boundaries of the nations regional combat commands in a bid to cut Pentagon overhead while making the headquarters more effective in wartime.

We need a defense organization that can meet our present and future challenges, McCain said in a November speech.

At the heart of the debate is the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which built the combatant commands in a bid to clean up problems identified after Operation Eagle Claw, the militarys botched 1980 mission to rescue hostages in Iran.

Combatant commands such as Northern Command were set up as entities that exist outside the armed services. The four-starred leaders of those commands, like Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson who recently took the reins of Northern Command, report to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter rather than uniformed leaders.

That structure was meant to stamp out rivalries between the services that could cause chaos in combat.

But with the military facing a budget crunch and new ways of warfare emerging, some have argued that the combatant commands need a shake-up.

Cyber operations have reached such a high importance and complexity that arguably they should no longer be subsumed within Strategic Command, wrote Michael OHanlon of the Brookings Institute think tank. This question deserves scrutiny, as does the question of whether Northern Command is really needed, or whether it might best be merged with Strategic Command.

Northern Commands old boss, Adm. Bill Gortney, said he cant figure out why theres a push to squeeze that command out of business.

Im a fact-based person, Gortney said. What is the problem you want to fix?

Northern Command was created after the 9/11 attacks to monitor and deter threats to North America. It has the additional role of providing Defense Department help to local authorities when disaster strikes. In addition to terror concerns, Northern Command includes Americas contribution to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a 58-year-old binational organization built during the Cold War.

Carter in an April speech said the Department of Defense needs to cut the fat out of top-heavy combatant commands, but said merging commands isnt the right way to find efficiencies.

We can meet these targets without combining Northern Command and Southern Command, or combining European Command and Africa Command  actions that would run contrary to why we made them separate, because of their distinct areas of emphasis and increasing demands on our forces in them, Carter said.

Bennet said if McCain wants to understand the necessity of an independent Northern Command, he needs to visit Colorado Springs. The senator learned of its importance during a recent visit to the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, the underground command post that includes Northern Command operations.

It just became clear that these missions are so critical and that the infrastructure we need to carry out these missions is here, Bennet said.

Gortney said if McCain keeps pushing, Northern Command can easily justify its existence.

Sen. McCain asks tough questions, Gortney said. I like tough questions.
The sentencing for a New Jersey man charged in a 2010 arson fire that destroyed the landmark Hitching Post Inn in Cheyenne has again been postponed.

Falgun Dharia was first set to be sentenced in November, then March and then on Friday in federal court in New York for a single count of conspiring to commit insurance fraud but the hearing has again been delayed.

A new sentencing date has not been set.

Dharia was a principal in CJM Hospitality LLC, which bought the Hitching Post at a bankruptcy proceeding. Prosecutors say the blaze was set to defraud an insurance company of $13 million.

Dharia has admitted to knowing about the arson when filing an insurance claim, but denies responsibility for the fire.
CHEYENNE  Three candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Liz Cheney, a Fox News contributor; state Sen. Leland Christensen, R-Alta; and state Sen. Tim Stubson, R-Casper, participated in a candidates panel Thursday at the Wyoming Retail Summit, where they answered questions on various topics.

The Wyoming Retail Association sponsored the summit.

The three are among 13 candidates running for the states lone congressional seat.

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act for health insurance is absolutely realistic and I think its absolutely necessary, Cheney said. Obamacare has been a huge drag on our economy, as you all know. Its got to be repealed.

She said she wants a system where patients could buy health insurance across state lines. This would force (an) insurance company to compete for your business, so that your insurance policy meets your needs.

Christensen supports an end to Obamacare, too, and wants insurers to compete for customers business again.

As more people become employed and business thrives, the insurance issue takes care of itself, he said.

To see how bad Obamacare has been for the state of Wyoming, you just have to look at the number of uninsured, Stubson said. Its more now than when the bill was passed.

He said the single biggest thing you can do for the state of Wyoming is allow for us to purchase health insurance across state lines.

If we could participate in a national market rather than whats become a monopolistic state market, we would see instantaneous relief in state premium rates.

They all oppose changing the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Efforts to raise it would result in fewer jobs, Cheney said. Weve got to do everything we can to ensure that businesses get to set those wages and businesses get to create jobs so we dont have the federal government coming in saying it needs to be $15 an hour, which we know will kill jobs and opportunities for everyone across the state, she said.

The wage is a chance for young people to learn lessons of work, Christensen said. It is a starting option, he added.

An artificial increase would mean less opportunity for new employment, he said.

Lets stay out of that and let the businesses and free market set those, Christensen said of minimum wage levels.

Stubson said changing the wage is an idea that hurts the people it was trying to help.

A change could eliminate opportunities for some to enter the job market, he said. When an entry-level wage is taken away, opportunities for entry-level work are eliminated, he said.

Christensen and Stubson agreed that states should be able to require online businesses to collect sales taxes.

The two also support the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would require online businesses to collect such taxes. Cheney disagreed.

Stubson said he supports establishing a level playing field between online businesses and business owners who live in and help a community.

Wyoming should be able to collect sales tax on sales from internet companies, Stubson said.

Cheney disagreed. I dont agree with the Marketplace Fairness Act, she said. I believe strongly that we need to do everything we can to help our small businesses. I think that comes from reducing taxes, repealing things like Obamacare.

But she doesnt support giving the government more money from individuals.
Recently in Yellowstone National Park a mother black bear and two cubs ambled down a greening hillside along the road to Tower Falls.

Instantly a line of cars and photographers swooped in creating whats known in Yellowstone as a bear jam. Before a ranger could arrive to direct traffic and keep people back, I snapped these photos with a long lens of a woman getting way too close for comfort to the mama bear and cubs. The woman finally stepped back  either after getting her shot or because she was urged to move by a few people in the gathering crowd.

No animal is more dangerous than a mother who feels its offspring may be in danger. The risk the woman took is not only illegal in Yellowstone  tourists are required to stay 100 yards from bears and wolves  but also just plain ignorant.

Common sense seems to flee peoples minds incredibly fast when they see an animal, bird or even a line of cars pulled to the side of the road in Yellowstone National Park.

Already this spring, Yellowstone has been the site of several examples of people behaving badly. One tourist picked up a bison calf and gave it a ride in their car to the ranger station. A woman was filmed trying to pet a bison. One woman was struck by a vehicle and died after trying to cross a road to take photos of a bald eagle. A Canadian film crew illegally walked onto a hot springs feature, filming the entire trip. And the peak park visitor season hasnt even arrived yet.

If the recent bear jam is any indication, no matter how much information park managers publish or broadcast about the illegality of such incidents, folks either arent getting the message or just dont care about the rules meant to ensure their safety, as well as to protect wildlife and the park workers called to the scene of such incidents.

Last week when the woman photographer boldly advanced across the narrow road, I thought for a second that I would witness a bear attack. Luckily the mama bear showed more sense than the woman and moved away from the crowd and up the hill, along with its cubs.

Yet the incident makes many regular park visitors and staff wonder: What is going to happen next? Or maybe less politely: How stupid can tourists be? No wonder some park workers refer to visitors as tourons, a combination of the words tourist and moron. Last summer it was bison gorings and people falling from cliffs that made headlines. This year is anyones guess.

With a busy tourism season forecast as the Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday, chances are it wont be too long before another Yellowstone visitor behaves badly. Lets hope its not a fatal mistake.
Blythe earns promotion at Metro Title Agency

Sandra Blythe has been promoted to escrow operations manager for Metro Title Agency of Arizona.

She will oversee the companys statewide escrow operations from its Arizona headquarters in Tucson.

Blythe joined the company in 2009 as an escrow officer and rose to several supervisor and management positions. She has 26 years of escrow experience.

Nevada association honors radio host Buckmaster

Bill Buckmaster, host of Buckmaster on AM 1030 KVOI, will be inducted Aug. 20 into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame by the Nevada Broadcasters Association for his radio news reporting while news director at KORK radio in Las Vegas during the 1970s.

Last year, Buckmaster was inducted into the Arizona Broadcast Hall of Fame.

His communications career spans 50 years and includes hosting Arizona Illustrated for 23 years on KUAT-TV Tucson. Buckmaster has earned honors including the Silver Circle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Science and the Citizen Medal, Pima Countys highest civilian honor.

Norris Design hires 1, promotes 2 others

Norris Design promoted two employees and hired a third in its Tucson office:

Julie Parizek was promoted to senior associate. She is a certified parks and recreation planner, and has been practicing landscape architecture and planning in Southern Arizona for more than 20 years. Parizek is the Norris team leader for the city of Tucson Parks and Recreation System Master Plan.

Chris Stebe was promoted to associate. Stebe is a professional landscape architect and a licensed landscape contractor, who has practiced irrigation design and landscape architecture in Arizona for more than 15 years. Stebe heads the Norris irrigation division, and is leading the irrigation design for the Banner-University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson.

Baldwin Saer was hired as a landscape designer. Saer recently earned a masters of landscape architecture degree from the University of Arizona, and was recipient of a 2016 Arizona ASLA Honor AwardStudent Collaborative for Manufacture Ecology.

Callahan takes position at Green Valley Care Center

CareMore Health Plan of Arizona welcomes Helen Callahan to its Green Valley Care Center at 191 W. Esperanza. Callahan is an advanced practice clinician-primary care provider.

She completed her Master of Science in nursing and family nurse practitioner program at Duquesne University, and is a board certified family nurse practitioner. She is also board certified in advanced diabetes management through American Association of Diabetes Educators.

Morrow named manager of Truly Nolen office

Truly Nolen Pest Control promoted Daniel Morrow to manager of its national commercial service office in Tucson.

Morrow has been with Truly Nolen since February 2015, after spending eight years in the retail industry as a manager for companies including OfficeMax and Cycle Gear.

He is a graduate of the University of Arizona, with a degree in Japanese religion and linguistics.
Los dias mas oscuros de Ernesto Navallez llegaron cuando fue aislado en un confinamiento por agredir a un guardia. Estuvo en esa celda solitaria, desnudo, por 27 dias.

En cierto momento, un guardia se burlo de el, agitando una carta de su novia en la que decia que lo dejaba. Quebro una ventana del coraje. Los guardias lo esposaron a los barrotes de metal de su cama. Ya habia tenido suficiente.

Logro zafar su mano derecha de las esposas, y la utilizo para cortarse la muneca izquierda. Queria matarse.

Todavia no cumplia 18 anos.

La tarde del pasado jueves, dentro de un edificio de bloques y un techo bajo en el sur de la ciudad, el pastor Navallez recibio a su pequena congregacion para orar en la Iglesia Apostolica en Nombre de Jesucristo. Su esposa tocaba el organo electrico y conducia a los fieles en los cantos de apertura en ingles y espanol.

"Adoramos al Dios del valle", dijo Navallez suavemente ante los gritos de "Amen" y las alabnzas de los casi 20 fieles . "Y adoramos al Dios de la montana".

Vinieron mas alabanzas, en ingles y en espanol. Como pastor por los ultimos cinco anos, Navallez ha hallado paz en su vida y su ministerio.

"Es un regocijo poder ayudar a la gente", dijo Navallez, quien acaba de cumplir 69 anos.

Encontrar esa alegria y encontrar a Jesus toma tiempo. Criado en el lado sur de la ciudad, Navallez encontro los problemas facilmente. Se metio a una pandilla -Los Bumpers- en la que tambien estaba un hermano mayor. Estos muchachos andaban bicicleta pero robaban carros.

No termino la secuendaria. Primero lo mandaron a "Mothers Higgins", el centro de detencion juvenil del condado, y luego a Fort Grant, la correccional juvenil del estado.

Por los siguientes 26 anos, Navallez estaria entrando y saliendo de la carcel del Condado Pima, de la del estado en Florence y de la prision federal sentenciado por robo, asaltoo y trafico de heroina. No usaba la heroina, pero cuando estuvo en una carcel federal en el estado de Washington se topo con el LSD y consumieo el alucinogeno que fabricaban sus companeros, dijo.

Esa era la unica vida que el conocia. Pero en esos anos tambien encontro un camino para construir una nueva vida. Mientras estuvo encerrado coqueteo con religiones orientales -el budismo y el movimeinto Hare Krishna. En viejas fotografias se le ve contemplativo. Su cabello estaba largo y trenzado.

Un dia, en 1981, estando en la carcel del Condado Pima, un grupo religioso llego ofreciendo la salvacion. El mismo grupo habia estado yendo durante varios meses a la carcel en West Silverlake Road, pero los internos no respondian.

"Habiamos decidido que seria nuestro ultimo dia", dijo Bithinia Ortiz, nieta de un pastor apostolico.

Ortiz vio a Navallez en la primera fila. Estaba callado y llevaba puest un sarape con su cabello hasta sus brazos. "Se veia intimidante", dijo. "Simplemente se sento ahi".

Para sorpresa del grupo, Nevallez salto a su llamado. Paso adelante y lloro.

Fue su punto de inflexion. Lloro de arrepentimiento y en redencion, dijo. Enfrento su pasado y sus acciones.

"Dios me permitio salir", dijo Navallez.

No habia sido liberado de la carcel. Al contrario, volvio a la prision federal por una orden de la corte, pero en lugar de escupir aacido empezo a soltar palabras de la Biblia, la cual habia empezado a leer. Predico a sus companeros internos.

Navallez tambien se puso en contacto con Ortiz, pero ella no queria tener nada que ver con el. Sin embargo, dos anos despues, cuando el estaba en Florence, Ortiz lo volvio a ver cuando su grupo llevo el ministerio a los internos. El seguia interesado en ella pero ella seguia desinteresada en el humilde y arrependito Navallez.

"No me sentia atraida a el. Yo no estaba buscando novio", dijo ella.

Finalmente, en septiembre de 1990, Navallez fue liberado y fue a la iglesia para orar y para buscar a Ortiz. Se abrazaron, y ella sintio algo distinto entre ellos.

Ocho meses despues se casaron.

"Fue Dios" quien los unio, dijo ella. "Eso estuvo bien".

El mismo an en que se casaron, 1991, Navallez fue contratadp por una empresa ocal que crea paisajes artificiales para zoologicos, hoteles, museos y otros sitios. Viajaba por todo el paiy a tros paises creando y construyendo.

En el servicio del jueves en la iglesia, Al Zaragoza tomo la palabra. Conocio a Navallez cuando se estrecharon las manos a traves de la pesada cerca de la prision de Florence. Ahora como pastor asociado de la iglesia Apostolica en South Westover Avenue y West Dakota Street, cerca del Parque Manzanita, Zaragoza dijo que el y la congregacion han visto a Navallez crecer y madurar.

"Me siento honrado de llamarlo mi pastor", dijo Zaragoza.

Navallez dijo que su don es dar consejeria. Tambien intenta conectarse con ex presidiarios. Llevo a su congregacion de 50 miembros a visitar la carcel de Agua Prieta, Sonora, y les dio a los prisioneros articulos de higiene y ropa.

Aporta una fuerza tranquila y una experiencia ferrea de vida a su ministerios. Entre su congregacion esta un sobrino suyo que estuvo preso.

El domingo 5 de junio, Navallez bautizzo a Jesus Valenzuela, de veintitantos anos y le dio la bienvenida a su congregacion.

"Cuando me bautizaron senti una fuerza real apoderarse de mi", dijo Navallez.

Dijo que su camino a aceptar a Jesus en su vida sigue progresando. Se esfuerza por ser lo que Dios quiere que sea.

Navallez cree que sino hubiera aceptado a Jesus seguiria en la carcel, o estaria muerto.

Ernesto Navallezs darkest days came when he was put into solitary confinement for assaulting a prison guard. He was in the cell, naked, for 27 days .

At some point, a guard mocked him, waving a letter from his girlfriend that said she was leaving him. He broke a window in anger. The guards handcuffed him to his metal bed. He had had enough.

He freed himself of a handcuff on his right hand, which he used to cut his left wrist. He wanted to die.

He was not yet 18 years old.

Thursday evening on the citys southwest side, inside a slump-brick building with a low ceiling, senior pastor Navallez welcomed his small congregation to prayer at the Apostolic Church of the Name of Jesus Christ. His wife played the electric piano and led the congregants in the opening hymns, in English and Spanish.

We worship the God of the valley, Navallez said softly to the shouts of Amen and praise from the nearly 20 congregants. And we worship the God of the mountain.

More praise, in Spanish and English, came forth. As lead pastor for the past five years, Navallez has found peace in his life and ministry.

Its a joy to be able to help people, said Navallez, who recently turned 69.

Finding joy and Jesus took time. Growing up on the citys south side, Navallez found trouble easily. He ran with a gang  Los Bumpers  which included an older brother. The boys, who rode bikes, stole cars.

He didnt finish junior high school. Instead he was sent first to Mother Higgins, the countys old juvenile detention center, then to Fort Grant, the states juvenile corrections facility.

For the next 26 years, Navallez would be in and out of the Pima County jail, the state prison in Florence and federal prison, convicted of theft, burglary and dealing heroin. He didnt use heroin, but while in federal prison in Washington state, he tripped out on LSD, indulging in the hallucinogenic drug cooked up by inmates, he said.

It was the only life he knew. But in those years he also sought a way toward a new life. While incarcerated he flirted with Eastern religions  Buddhism and the Hare Krishna movement. Old photographs show him in contemplative poses. His hair is braided and long.

One day, in 1981, he was in the Pima County jail when a church group came to offer salvation. The group had been coming for several months to the jail on West Silverlake Road, but the inmates were not responding.

We decided it would be our last day, said Bithinia Ortiz, the granddaughter of an Apostolic pastor.

Ortiz spotted Navallez in the front row. He was quiet and dressed in a sarape with hair down to his arms. He looked intimidating, she said. He just sat there.

To the groups surprise, Navallez leaped to their call. He came forward and sobbed.

It was his turning point. He cried in repentance and redemption, he said. He took ownership of his past and actions.

God let me out, Navallez said.

He was not released from jail. He returned instead to federal prison on a warrant, but instead of dropping acid he dropped words from the Bible, which he began to read. He preached to fellow inmates.

Navallez also reached out to Ortiz, by phone, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Two years later, however, when he was in Florence, Ortiz saw him again when her group went to minister to the inmates. He remained interested in her, but she remained uninterested and rebuffed the humble, contrite Navallez.

I was not attracted to him. I wasnt looking for a boyfriend, she said.

Finally, in September 1990, Navallez was released and went to church to pray and to find Ortiz. They embraced, and she felt something different about the two of them.

The following year, eight months later, they married.

It was God that brought them together, she said. It was right.

The same year they married, 1991, Navallez was hired by a local company that creates artificial landscapes for zoos, resorts, museums and other places. He has traveled across the country and to other countries creating and building.

At Thursdays church service, Al Zaragoza spoke up. He first met Navallez when they shook hands through the heavy Florence prison fence. Now the associate pastor at the Apostolic church at South Westover Avenue and West Dakota Street, near Manzanita Park, Zaragoza said he and the congregation have seen Navallez grow and mature.

Im honored to call him my pastor, Zaragoza said.

Navallez said his gift is counseling. He also tries to connect with former inmates. He leads his 50-member congregation to visit the prison in Agua Prieta, Sonora, and to give the prisoners toiletries and clothes.

He brings quiet strength and steely life experience to his ministry. His congregation includes a nephew who spent time in prison.

Sunday, June 5, Navallez will baptize 20-something Jesus Valenzuela and welcome him to the congregation.

When I got baptized, I felt a real power had come over me, Navallez said.

He said his path to accepting Jesus continues to progress. He is striving to be what God wants him to be.

Navallez believes that had he not accepted Jesus, he still would be in prison  or he would be dead.
It was the buzzing that caught Keith Powells attention.

In late February or early March, Powell, an optical scientist at the University of Arizona, began hearing and seeing a small plane flying low over his Catalina Foothills home. No big deal  at first.

But days went by, then weeks and the same small plane just kept circling and circling over Tucson, with part of its flight path crossing over his home.

The center of where they were circling was way far away from me, but the orbit was right over my house, Powell said. It was 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 and 6:30 to 10:30 every single day. That plane was flying over my house 80 times a day.

Naturally, Powell got annoyed  and curious.

When he went searching, he discovered something others around the country have researched and discovered themselves. That buzzing mosquito of a Cessna, circling around and around over the city, belonged to the FBI.

Of course, this may sound like a wild-eyed conspiracy theory. It isnt. Last year, a variety of news outlets investigated sightings of planes flying in circles over cities and uncovered a widespread pattern of planes registered to dummy companies that were in fact fronts for the FBI.

Jack Gillum, a native Tucsonan who used to work at the Arizona Daily Star and now reports for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., led the most sweeping journalistic investigation last year. A year ago, Gillum and his AP colleagues found that the FBI had been flying over 30 cities in 11 states across the country during a previous 30-day period.

Some of the planes are bristling with surveillance equipment, they found: video, audio and, at times, cellphone tracking equipment. But the FBI said the planes arent doing bulk collection of information.

When I asked FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Ram on Friday about what the planes have been doing over Tucson, she responded this way via email:

Without commenting on specific flights, I can share that the FBI routinely uses aviation assets in support of investigations targeting specific individuals and, when requested, in support of state and local law enforcement. We do this in accordance with the Attorney General guidelines and the FBIs Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide.

This is, of course, small comfort. The regular patterns of flight times and paths that Powell observed suggested something more routine than, for example, watching a specific suspect move about the city. Powell said the circles over his house lasted from early March to late May.

He wasnt the only Tucsonan puzzling over the flights.

Tucson musician Glenn Weyant noticed similar flights last year. Both Weyant and Powell used the same website  FlightRadar24.com  to figure out why they kept hearing and seeing small planes circling over Tucson.

Thats a website that tracks flights according to their positions on radar all over the country. It lists the identification number of each plane, the model of the aircraft, its owner, altitude, flight speed and direction, and in the case of commercial flights, the origin and destination.

When Powell figured out who was behind the annoying overflights, he did one of those only-in-America things: He called the FBI and complained. Two days later, the flights stopped appearing on the website, though they continued over his house for a few weeks.

On the website, there was a difference in the planes that Weyant initially saw last year and what Powell saw this year. Last years circling planes were actually shown on FlightRadar24.com as being registered to the Department of Homeland Security.

The FBI flights that caught attention in March were registered to a front company called NBY Productions. Thats one of the names that was turned up in last years journalistic investigations.

Weyant is especially perceptive to sound. Hes a man who has played the border fence, sculptures around town and otherwise revealed the sounds of everyday life as a soundscape of our world. Hes pretty deep.

Unsurprisingly, he heard the federal planes and turned them into music. Under Tucson Skies Circling, his composition, is a sort of menacing combination of the buzz of the Cessnas accompanied by cello and overlaid by an artificial voice reading a letter denying his Freedom of Information Act request about a specific DHS flight.

Ive listened to them more than is probably normal, he told me last week. Im not a big conspiracy theory person. I realize we live in a military town near the border. But Ive noticed over the years planes circling.

Weyant is not convinced by government assurances that the flights target specific individuals. Perceptively, he points out that in nature, when youre being circled, youre being stalked. Think of hawks, vultures and sharks.

Then there are other data points to consider. Last month, a San Francisco television station revealed the FBI has planted microphones and recording devices in bus stops, outside courthouses and elsewhere.

If youre like me, you still want to believe that theyre acting in our interests. That theyre tracking criminals, smugglers, aspiring terrorists. But with planes circling and microphones scattered around the cities, you have to wonder.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst on privacy and technology for the ACLU, explained the broad context when we talked Friday.

During the Cold War, the United States built up an extensive surveillance operation aimed largely outward at the Soviet Union and other nation states, Stanley said.

What weve seen in recent years is that the surveillance machinery has turned inward.

Inward means on us. What they can detect, Im sure, would boggle our minds.

How they are using those powers  for us, or against us  is something we ought to demand that they tell.
The tiny, thin bird darted from oak to juniper trees in the Santa Rita Mountains, uttering soft whip calls, catching insects and occasionally flying over a birdwatchers head.

That was the pine flycatchers public intro-duction to Arizona and the United States. The Mexican bird, very hard to identify, was recorded in this country for the first time at a remote, rarely visited spring area in a grove of lush woodlands in late May.

For dedicated Arizona birders, this flycatcher, 5.5 inches long, has been the Holy Grail ... for decades, observed Kenn Kaufman, author of birdwatching guides and a former Tucsonan, in a Facebook post. Many ornithologists and other bird experts have suspected for years that it could occur here, but it had never been confirmed.

A veteran Tucson birdwatching guide, David Stejskal, first reported the flycatcher. On May 28, he spotted and photographed the flycatcher and recorded its voice while camping with family and friends.

It was flitting about at Aliso Spring, in a grove of sycamore and oak trees at about 5,800 feet and close to 10 rocky miles of dirt road west of Arizona 83 near Gardner Canyon.

Using sonograms that trace a birds voice with images, he and some colleagues then confirmed its identity. On Memorial Day, Stejskal and six other expert birders returned to Aliso Spring, easily spotted the bird, took numerous photos and got more recordings.

I was and still am super-excited about this bird showing up in Arizona from Mexico for the first time. Many avid birders like me live for making a discovery like this! Stejskal wrote in an email Friday. As he wrote, he was riding a small, 22-seater turboprop heading west over the Bering Sea, bound for St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs. An owner of Field Guides Inc., an Austin-based bird touring company, he was leading nine other birders on a tour.

Since May 28, the pine flycatcher has been seen and photographed daily. The female bird has nearly finished building a nest in an oak tree, according to online reports from birders, although no male bird has been seen.

Only female flycatchers build nests, said Laurens Halsey, a Green Valley-based bird guide who saw the bird last week and said thrill is rather an understatement of his feelings about the discovery.

Dozens of birdwatchers, from California and New Mexico and farther away have since flocked to catch glimpses of the flycatcher via a road whose last three miles require high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles, said Gary Rosenberg, another Tucson birding guide who helped Stejskal identify this bird.

This is a very significant discovery and a big deal in the birding community, said Nate Swick, editor of an American Birding Association blog.

New discoveries of bird species in the U.S. are rare, occurring maybe twice a year, said Rosenberg. He and Stejskal sit on the Arizona Bird Records Committee, a group of ornithologists that evaluates new bird records in the state.

That committee and the birding associations Checklist Committee must review the pine flycatcher record before the bird officially is classified as existing in the U.S., Swick said.

Thats probably a foregone conclusion, but it may not happen until next year, he said. Once that happens, the association will likely classify it as Code 5  the rarest possible ranking.

The flycatcher is also one of numerous Mexican-based species that have been flying into Arizona in increasing numbers in recent years, said Rosenberg and Tucson Audubons Jennie MacFarland. Thats very possibly due partly to the regions warming climate, they said.

But none of the other species were new to this country. Theyd simply been seen more rarely before.

Best-known of these is the highly colorful elegant trogon, long a regular Mexican visitor, said MacFarland, a bird conservation biologist. Its loud, clacking call is heard often on some of the pine flycatcher recordings from the Santa Ritas, long a trogon hotspot.

The flame-colored tanager, slate-throated redstart, rufous-backed robin, tufted flycatcher and rufous-capped warbler all remain incredibly rare in the state, but are turning up more often in the Huachuca and Santa Rita mountains and some even in the Catalinas, said MacFarland.

The pine flycatcher, commonly seen in mountains from northern Guatemala to southern Sonora, belongs to the Empidonax flycatcher genus.

Individual Empidonax species look very much alike. Their presence can torment even some experienced birdwatchers who try to tell the species apart.

Empidonax birds, called empids for short, include Acadian, gray, Hammonds, willow, dusky, Pacific slope and Cordilleran flycatchers, the latter two formerly combined as the Western flycatcher.

Probably the most prominent empid here is the southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered subspecies that frequents streamside riparian areas.

Identification (of the pine flycatcher) is subtle  shaped much like a Western Flycatcher, but colored more like a dusky, Rosenberg wrote on Facebook. The average birder probably wouldnt recognize it, he added in an interview.

Indeed, when Stejskal first heard the pines call while eating breakfast, he thought it sounded similar to those of the gray, dusky and willow flycatchers, he wrote in his email. Glimpsing it darting from a perch inside an oak tree about 15 feet off the ground, he then thought it a dusky flycatcher, a common Southern Arizona migrant. Since the dusky is usually nesting in Northern Arizona by this time, Stejskal decided to look more closely.

He tracked it down on a hillside as it hopped among oaks and junipers.

The bird wasnt at all shy and seemed to be very confiding, a few times flying right into the tree over my head! he wrote.

He saw it twice fly into a nearby tree where it would land in narrow crotches, sit down and turn to face different directions, which Stejskal interpreted as investigating potential nest sites.

Since dusky flycatchers dont nest here, that behavior made him think pine flycatcher.

It is very unusual that this birds first U.S. record is a nesting individual, Stejskal wrote, adding that he was pretty sure that he heard a pair of them calling when he returned to the site May 30.

But with no males seen since then, he wrote, It may simply be a lone bird that built a nest in hopes of attracting a mate  which may never show up.
Mining activity in the Painted Rocks Mountains, about 28 miles northwest of Gila Bend, became prevalent in the early 1900s.

Rowley Mine, located about 800 feet up the west slope of a mountain within the Painted Rock Mining District, is best known for its spectacular wulfenite specimens.

Geologic history consists of andesite and rhyolite flows dating back to the Tertiary Period more than 30 million years ago, since overlain by basalt. Old assays revealed the property was first mined for copper, lead and gold.

A small mining camp with a bunk house, boarding house, cottages, tents and power houses was erected on site that was operated by the Rowley Copper Mines Co., which was incorporated in 1909.

Water from below the surface proved challenging. Cornish pumps operating 16 hours a day and raising 200 gallons of water per minute were required to prevent the workings from being flooded.

By 1922, the Reliance Copper Co. assumed control of the mine. Its tenure was brief, as mining operations were suspended and the property foreclosed. Diamond drilling the following year showed no improvement in ore values at a depth of 360 feet, other than core samples revealing copper staining. A second drill hole at 290 feet revealed no improved ore grade.

Though sometimes referred to as the Rawley Mine, the Rowley Mine was named for Charles A. Rowley, who acquired the property as majority owner in 1927. As president of Rowley Mines, Inc., Rowley was very protective of his mine. He employed a night watchman at the site and also sealed off the area with a 6-foot barbed-wire fence embedded in the ground with concrete.

By 1933, the Rowley Mine comprised more than 1,462 feet of workings, including one 225-foot inclined shaft and another reaching 150 feet. A vertical shaft at 280 feet deep included several hundred feet of drifts and crosscuts at the 160-foot level. That year, a recorded $10,000 worth of ore was shipped to market. Increased flooding by groundwater seepage hindered further expansion.

During the 1950s, the underground workings were extensively mapped and the geology observed.

A 1971 report stated that a fire started by vandals destroyed the timbering in the incline shaft, making underground mineral collecting even more formidable.

In 1983, mineral dealer Dave Shannon, who had an interest in optioning the mine, reported foot-thick slabs of galena composed of 45 ounces of silver per ton as barred down from a hanging wall of the Rowley Mine.

Wulfenite, a lead molybdate, is perhaps the best-known mineral found at the Rowley Mine.

Early crystals were described as being deep orange with brilliant luster. Some took on the appearance of the dark red crystals similar to those at the Red Cloud Mine, while others had characteristics of symmetric octagonal crystals and square reddish crystals, which have diamond-shaped patterns inscribed on their faces.

Atop the crystals are blood-red balls of crystallized mimetite, a lead chlorarsenate thats also a favorite among mineral collectors.

Flooding has now made the lower levels of the mine inaccessible, causing the older collected specimens to sell at a high price.

Many mineral specimens from the mine have a barite matrix. Barite has the appearance of gray-to-white blades, and is the dominant gangue material heavily stained with iron oxide.

The ore body at the Rowley Mine consists of fractured barite, which historically caused instability for underground miners, even when the timbers were first erected. This has been a reason for extreme caution among miners and mineral collectors that have worked or collected at the mine in the past.

Other lead-copper minerals, some rare, have been found at the Rowley Mine. Those include diaboleite, minium, leadhillite, linarite caledonite and phosgenite. One stope at the Rowley Mine was christened the blue room because of its chrysocolla lined walls.

Mineral collecting on the surface dumps of the Rowley Mine, with permission of the lease holders, has yielded micromount specimens with some thumbnail-sized crystallizations.
Fewer foster children in Arizona are receiving psychotropic medications, but theyre still four times more likely to be on the powerful, mind-altering drugs than kids who arent in the system, a new report from the states Medicaid agency says.

The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System  known as AHCCCS  posted the long-awaited report on its website May 27, days before a deadline Gov. Doug Duceys office gave the agency in April.

The update comes four years after an AHCCCS report, based on 2008 prescription data, found disparities in how often foster children were given the drugs, compared with children not in foster care who were enrolled in AHCCCS.

Caring for Arizonas most vulnerable children is a top priority for the governor, and we will review the report closely as we seek ways to continuously improve our efforts, Ducey spokesman Daniel Ruiz said in an email.

Psychotropic drugs  including antidepressants, antipsychotics and drugs for attention-deficit disorder  can have serious and lifelong side effects, including weight gain, neurological complications and for antidepressants, increased risk of suicide.

The report found the percentage of foster children receiving psychotropic medications decreased from 20.3 percent in 2008 to 14.9 percent in 2014.

Compared with children not in the foster care system, in 2013, foster children were 4.1 times more likely to get prescribed the drugs, compared with 4.4 times more likely in 2008.

But the disparity between foster and nonfoster children on five or more drugs has worsened.

In 2013, the percentage of foster children on five or more psychotropic drugs in 2013 was 9.5 times that of nonfoster children, compared to 9 times in 2008.

POLYPHARMACY

Polypharmacy  the use of multiple drugs at one time  is a troublesome aspect of modern medicine, rooted in the belief that drugs can fix any problem, said Dr. Gary Hellmann, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson.

Polypharmacy is this grand experiment in modern psychiatry, he said. I think in 50 years, psychiatrists will look back and say, What were they thinking? This is going to be the thalidomide scandal from the 1950s  50 years from now.

Until it was banned in 1962, thalidomide was commonly prescribed for morning sickness, and caused severe disabilities in thousands of babies.

Among foster children, polypharmacy can be driven by demands of caregivers or providers, who can pressure doctors to fix a childs behavior, Hellmann said.

That has to do with getting these ultimatums from foster families, group homes, CPS workers sometimes, who say, You know, were going to lose this placement, if a childs behavior doesnt improve, he said. And that gets our attention. We dont want another disruption.

It takes time to address behavioral problems, especially those rooted in trauma, using psychosocial, nonmedical interventions, and the overwhelmed system is short on time, he said.

Hellmann said he actually expected the number of foster children on multiple drugs would be higher, but that doesnt mean the results are good, he said.

These kids have the greatest number of risk factors, and we are using medicines to help them solve their problems, when we should be making greater efforts at social interventions, he said.

The states best practice guidelines say psychotherapeutic interventions should be the first step before prescribing medication to children under 5.

LIMITS OF STUDY

The report notes that its comparison of foster children and nonfoster children covered by AHCCCS is somewhat misleading. Foster children are much more likely to have heightened behavioral health needs due to higher rates of trauma and other mental health conditions.

It is not surprising that children in foster care have higher penetration rates for behavioral health services than the general Medicaid population and correspondingly, higher rates of psychotropic medication prescriptions, the report said.

Overall, the report had some encouraging statistics, but shows continued oversight is necessary, not only to prevent overmedication, but to ensure children have access to behavioral health care  with or without drugs  when its truly needed, said Beth Rosenberg, director of child welfare at the Phoenix advocacy group Childrens Action Alliance.

The U.S. faces a shortage of child psychiatrists, which can lead to over-reliance on medication as a quick fix or lead to access problems, when children cant see a doctor in a timely manner, she said.

What we hear from the behavioral health community is that there are not enough providers out there to serve all the kids and adults that need it, she said.

Newly signed state legislation aims to address this by allowing foster children to seek treatment from providers outside their state insurances network, if they arent able to get an appointment within 21 days, she said.

DEMANDS FOR STUDY

Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, was frustrated in 2013 by AHCCCS lack of response to requests for an update to its 2012 report on psychotropic drugs and foster kids, which used 2008 data.

An April 10 Star article about the delayed report prompted Lesko to ask the governors office to give AHCCCS a deadline of the end of May.

The prescription data used to compare and foster and nonfoster children is now 2 years old.

When AHCCCS began the study two years ago, 2013 was the most recent year for which there was complete data on prescription utilization for those populations, the report said.

But in that time, the states foster care population has continued to swell: Since 2008, the states foster care population has exploded by 92 percent.

As of September 2015, more than 18,600 children were in out-of-home care in Arizona, compared with about 15,000 in 2013.

The report says AHCCCS will reproduce the study on an ongoing basis with more recent data, but spokeswoman Monica Coury said the agency hasnt specified when that will happen.

Due to the resource-intensive nature of these reviews, we have not established set time frames, she said in an email.

Sen. David Bradley, D-Tucson, who has worked in child welfare for three decades, emphasized the need for continued oversight of foster childrens health-care quality.

There has to be a perpetual vigilance here, he said. Its never going to be adequate enough to take a snapshot. The oversight has to be perpetual.

Bradley wants to empower  and fund  the hundreds of foster care review boards across Arizona to collect data on the children whose cases they review anyway.

Thats a great opportunity to collect data, he said. The civilian-run, independent boards are an obvious place for that oversight.
The Arizona Daily Stars Sportsmens Fund Send a Kid to Camp program raises money so children from low-income households and military families can attend overnight YMCA, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps for little or no cost to their families.

Our goal is to raise $180,000 to send 670 kids to summer camp. So far this year weve received 981 donations totaling $112,408. Were 62 percent of the way to our goal with camps underway.

Since 1947, the Arizona Daily Star Sportsmens Fund has helped pay for 37,907 children to go to camp. It is one of the oldest 501(c)(3) charities in Arizona.

Your contribution qualifies for the Arizona tax credit of up to $400 for donations to qualifying charitable organizations. Donations are welcome throughout the year.

Recent donations include:

Judith and John Ulreich, $200.

Joyce Andre, $100.

Bettina Arvizo, $150.

Linda Beccio, $75.

Harriet Belenker, $20.

Peter Bleasby, $100.

Mitch Blum, in memory of Ed Blum, $25.

Henry Bogen, $50.

Jeanne Clarke, in memory of Margaret Kenski, $50.

Dark Star Leather, in memory of Jay Pauline and Rick Leece, $50.

Helyn Davis, $50.

Bill Downey, in memory of Ted and Ora Downey, Chick Hawkins, Ted Hindhaugh, Wayne Friedman, Jimmy Leader, Bill Bambauer, Jim Riley, BJ Mooney and LaVerne Hawkins, $250.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Downs, $20.

Madeline Mitchell, $25.

Marilyn Freeouf, in memory of Michael Morrison, $100.

Kay French, in memory of Andy and Katie Tolson, $100.

M.G. & J.S. Hilman, $25.

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hirsch, $25.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles James, $25.

Joan Johnston, $50.

John LaBar, $50.

David Maher, $100.

Mrs. Philip Maloney, in memory of Janis McCarron, $50.

Stephen Thomas, in memory of his wife Margrit Cromwell, $200.

Two anonymous donations totaling $150.

More donations will be acknowledged in the coming week.
The gaping mouth of Resolution Copper Minings No. 10 shaft is 28 feet across and opens into a sheer drop of nearly 7,000 feet, making it the deepest continuous mine shaft in the United States.

Its also probably the deepest location where Arizona news reporters have roamed.

In recent months, Resolution Copper Mining  a subsidiary of mining giants London-based Rio Tinto Group and Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd.  has brought journalists, decked out in helmets, boots and safety harnesses, on tours down the dark shaft. Bloomberg News took a tour last December. Reporters from Arizona Public Media and Phoenixs Fox 10 ventured down earlier this year. The Star took a turn in April.

Weve got a great story, Resolution project director Andrew Taplin said. Were going to generate a lot of economic benefits and we want to tell our story.

Once the mine is operational  likely not for another 10 years  its expected to produce 25 percent of the U.S. copper supply, or about 1 billion tons annually. Supporters say it will help revive the flagging economy of Superior, which has weathered the boom-and-bust cycle of mining for generations.

But opponents say the media tours are an effort to distract from controversy over the mines expected environmental impacts and the damage it will do to the Oak Flat recreation area, considered sacred to Native Americans and recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

They have to keep the public interest up, especially when the opposition is growing so dramatically, said Roy Chavez, a former miner and director of the Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Coalition, which opposes the mine. He is also a former mayor of Superior.

Resolution, which in 2004 acquired the shuttered Magma Mine operation, has so far spent more than $1 billion expanding the mine, including build-out of two mine shafts. Before it even begins extracting copper, Resolution will have spent about $8 billion on mine construction, including finishing an existing shaft and adding four more.

Opponents still hope for a repeal of the controversial land-swap deal that gave 2,400 acres of public land, including Oak Flat, to the mining company. Resolution says its underground mining will result in a 2-mile-wide, 1,000-foot deep crater on the surface of Oak Flat.

The mine project is about to undergo a federal environmental review to gauge its impact. The public has until July 18 to weigh in on what the U.S. Forest Service should scrutinize during its assessment.

Topics raised include the mines potential to dewater nearby riparian areas and streams, its impact on Native American sacred sites and the damage to a recreation area popular among rock climbers, hikers and birders.

Resolution expects it will take five years to get mine approval, and new shaft construction will take at least five more.

Taplin said the mining company is invested in helping to diversify the local economy and is working with Superior schools to cultivate talent to work in the mine project.

The Resolution Copper Mine will be the flagship underground mine in the U.S., he said. Its critical we share the benefits of this project with our local and regional community.

DOWN THE SHAFT

From the boulder fields near the Oak Flat campground near Superior, two mine-shaft towers stand out on the horizon, marking the historic No. 9 shaft, unused for years after Superiors Magma Mine closed, and shaft No. 10, which took Resolution six years to build.

We step into a metal auxiliary cage  a kind of double-decker elevator  suspended from a towering A-shape structure above shaft No. 10 and are lowered down the vertical tunnel at a rate of 500 feet per minute.

Concrete-lined walls rush by just outside the cage, visible by headlamp through the grated holes of the cage. The cage and cables rattle loudly overhead. But in the darkness, the repeated need to pop our ears is the main indicator of how far were descending.

To keep claustrophobia at bay, I pose question after question to our guides: lifelong miners Andy Bravence, mine superintendent, and Randy Seppala, project manager for shaft development.

Initially, the temperature cools as the cage leaves the earths surface. But after a few thousand feet, the heat rises as we approach the Earths core. The humid smell of steam wafts up, emanating from hot water pouring from the rock far below.

After about 15 minutes, the cage creeps to a stop at 6,820 feet below ground, though the shaft reaches a depth of 6,943 feet. Were at a water-pumping station built to keep the shaft clear of water that unexpectedly poured into the shaft during construction.

A red light filters through the haze of steam. The door opens and we step into the hot cloud, boots splashing through pools of water.

Here, the rock and the water dripping from it are 175 degrees, though a powerful air-cooling and ventilation system keeps the temperature in the 70s and 80s. Heat stress is the critical risk in this mine  if a power failure shuts down the air-conditioning system, miners are prepared to evacuate immediately.

The 180-foot long cave is about level with the bottom of the 1.7 billion-ton ore body, which sits behind a wall of rock 2,000 feet to the east. The cave houses a cool, brightly lit substation to power the equipment. It was constructed underground after parts were lowered down the shaft, piece-by-piece. Eventually, the cave will include offices with wireless Internet access, Seppala said.

Two huge water pumps send water out of the cave. Its treated at an on-site plant and then pumped 30 miles to an irrigation district for use by farmers.

If both water pumps were to fail, within 15 hours the pumping station would be immersed in steaming water.

Shaft No. 10s purpose is mainly exploratory, and experimental. Miners had to show that it was possible to operate at this depth and keep temperatures at a livable level. But for a time, in 2013  with millions already invested  it wasnt at all clear it was possible.

Shaft-sinking equipment had reached a depth of about 6,500 feet when water from an underground aquifer began rushing in. The miners were prepared to handle 80 gallons per minute, which is what core samples from 30 feet away predicted.

The shaft-sinking methodology  the cooling, the pumping  were all designed around that, Seppala said.

But at its peak, water was rushing in at 580 gallons per minute. It took a year for workers to figure out how to pump out that much water and install the air-conditioning system that lets humans work in such hot conditions.

We never gave up, Seppala said, but there were times we worried if we could do it or not.

MINE SAFETY

Resolutions safety record has been better than the national industry average, data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration show.

Its mining operation has a below-average rate of health and safety violations per inspection day  one measure the mining administration uses to gauge an operations safety. The national average for underground metal and non-metal mines over the past 15 months is 0.66 violations per inspection day, while Resolution Coppers rate is 0.36.

But the project hasnt been free of incidents and has had one fatal accident. During exploratory drilling in 2007, 21-year-old Benjamin Scheer  an employee of subcontractor Major Drilling America  died from asphyxiation after he was caught and pulled into a cable winch.

An accident report from the Arizona State Mine Inspector said the contractor was fined $7,000 and noted there was an informal settlement.

Another subcontractor, Cementation USA, had at least one critical accident. In 2011, a 150-pound door dislodged from a piece of equipment being raised through the mine shaft and fell 50 feet onto a contract worker, resulting in life-threatening injuries, federal records show. The Mine Safety and Health Administration fined Cementation $52,000 for the incident.

While even one injury is too many, this was  and continues to be  the only critical injury to occur over the life of this project that spans eight-plus years, and millions of man hours, Willie Finch, spokesman for Cementation, said in an email.

Any injury to an employee or contractor work force is something we take seriously, Resolution communications manager Bill Tanner said in an email. He noted changes were made to ensure a similar accident wouldnt happen again.

In 2013, the injured worker, Gilbert Chavez, filed a civil suit against Resolution for its role in the accident. The parties settled the case last month, Pinal County Superior Court Records show. Terms were not disclosed.

The severity of a separate, Dec. 7, 2015, accident is unclear because Cementation didnt report it to regulators until more than a month after it happened.

In January, a mining inspector detected the oversight during a regular inspection, noting the failure to report was a case of high negligence, the inspection report says. The contractor was fined $745 for failure to report within 10 days. A belated accident report only says a miner injured his knee when the auxiliary cage slowed rapidly. The injury was serious enough that the worker hadnt yet returned to work by the Jan. 13 inspection.

Tanner said the accident was caused when the cage got hung up on a piece of metal that had fallen into the shaft. The employee has returned to work, he said.

Subsequent to the investigation, changes were implemented to avoid future occurrences, he said. The untimely reporting of a safety incident is not something that we tolerate.

Mine opponent Roy Chavez, who is related to the worker injured in 2011, said subcontractors offer employees financial bonuses for avoiding accidents, which gives miners an incentive to not report them.

Big mining companies like Rio Tinto avoid liability for accidents by subcontracting out the bulk of their mine construction work, he said.

This is todays world, said Chavez, who used to work in the Magma Mine. This is the difference between the old Magma copper operation, which was a mom-and-pop mine.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, LAND SWAP

The U.S. Forest Service extended its public comment period until July 18 due to the high interest in the Resolution project  and its complexity from a regulatory standpoint, said Neil Bosworth, supervisor for the Tonto National Forest. The forest, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, will conduct the environmental review of both Resolutions mining plan of operations and the land exchange that paved the way for the mine.

Usually I dont have to talk to attorneys all the time, but I do with this project, Bosworth said.

Under the land-swap deal Congress passed, Resolution will get title to 2,400 acres of Tonto National Forest land 60 days after the agency publishes its environmental impact study. That means privatization of the land likely will come before Bosworth releases a final decision on the project, raising questions about how far the forests regulatory authority extends.

For opponents, thats a big problem. On private land, Arizonas lax state mining regulations take over, and the Forest Services input becomes mere suggestions, said Curt Shannon of conservation group The Access Fund.

They cant make any of the mitigations or alternatives binding, Shannon said. Thats really how the legislation short-circuits the normal process. Normally, they could say, Well give you the land if you do this and this and this. 

Vicky Peacey, Resolutions senior manager of environment, permitting and communities, said the title transfer does not equate to permission to mine.

We will not be allowed to operate this mine if we cant show we are protective of the environment, she said.

Bosworth said the U.S. Forest Service will still have oversight where the mine project touches public land. But the legislation takes away the agencys ability to reject the land-exchange deal, which is one component of the project under review.

After the review, I have to decide to exchange the land, Bosworth said.

In response to public input, the Forest Service will pay particular attention to plans for a massive, unlined tailings pile to store mine waste, planned for public land near Queen Valley, Bosworth said.

Unlined facilities arent unusual, he said, but regulators must carefully examine the potential for hazardous chemicals to leak into the groundwater.

Peacey said post-mining reclamation is a priority for Resolution, which has already spent $30 million cleaning up the mess left after Superiors Magma Mine closed in the mid-1990s.

Before mining begins, Resolution must set aside funds to dismantle infrastructure and reclaim and revegetate the land after the mine closes.

If Rio Tinto ever goes belly up, Peacey said, the U.S. taxpayer is not left holding the bag.
Hong Kong Tiananmen Anniversary

Lily Wong, a 21-year-old legal assistant, attended the vigil with her friend Cecilia Ng, 19, a recent high school graduate. They didn't disagree with some of the criticisms leveled by the student groups, such as a format that is repeated every year and doesn't appeal to the younger generation, but they said it remained vital for the pro-democracy movement. "This is not a perfect event, but there are some meaningful things for us," Wong said. "It is very important for Hong Kong."
Help India!

By Ram Puniyani,

The performance of the Modi Government during last two years has to be seen in the light of the promises made in the electoral campaign and on the barometer of values of Indian Constitution of pluralism and diversity. Acche din had become a buzzword, black money being retrieved and being deposited in everybodys bank account was looked forward to and anticipation of creation of jobs got registered in peoples mind. None of this came through. Prices of essential commodities started shooting the sky, of all the things even dal (pulses) started becoming a luxury item. Fifteen lakhs is nowhere in the account and job creation is stagnant. As such the much flouted foreign policy remained on the confused platter with nothing to show except the PMs much hyped global rendezvous on regular basis. With Pakistan the policy of blow hot blow cold is in operation and the friendliest neighbor Nepal is drifting away from the earlier status of a close ally.

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The much touted Maximum Governance-Minimal Government has been reduced to all powers being centralized in the hands of a single person and authoritarian streaks are visible as the cabinet system, where PM is first among equals, is being overturned towards a PM controlling everything. The major damage is in the arena of the communal amity, autonomy of academic institutions and communal harmony.

This is the first time that BJP has got a simple majority in the Lok Sabha and with this the Hindutva agenda is being unfolded in a drastic way. Right from the word go; the affiliates of Hindutva politics became active and Mohsin Shiekh, a techie from Pune was killed by the activists of Hindu Rashtra Sena. The cabal of this politics stepped up spreading hate against those not agreeing with the agenda of ruling dispensation. Even before coming to power the current minister in the centre, Giriraj Singh had stated that those not voting for Modi should go to Pakistan. Another worthy in the ministry; Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti uttered the word Harmjade (illegitimate) for those not voting for her party. All and sundry from this dispensation reached the limits of spreading hate against religious minorities; all this when the all powerful PM kept overseeing the march of Hate other politics. It was said that as a Prime Minister how can he comment on every incident? It seems his silence was a deliberate one and part of the division of labor assigned by their parent organization, the RSS. Those making these hateful statements were not fringe elements as called by some; they are part of core agenda.

Hindutva politics thrives on identity issues. This time around the Holy Cow-beef eating took the center stage and the hysteria created around this issue led to the murder of Mohhamad Akhlaq in Dadri and many other acts of violence including murders. This came in the back drop of the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi. This Dadri incident became a sort of barometer of growing intolerance in the country, prompting many eminent writers, scientists and film makers to return their well earned honors. Rather than taking note of the growing intolerance in the society they were criticized heavily as being motivated politically or doing so for money.

The attempt of this Government to intrude in to the educational institutions became apparent soon enough. It was visible with appointments of those who are ideologically aligned with ruling organization irrespective of their competence. Gajendra Chauhan was appointed as the Chairman of FTII. The students protests against this decision were ignored. In Hyderabad Central University, Ambedkar Students Association was targeted. The local BJP MP, Bandaru Dattatrey complained to MHRD minister that anti-National and casteist activities are going on in HCU. MHRD Ministry pressurized University and Rohith Vemula and his friends were expelled from the hostel and their scholarship was stopped. This is what led to the suicide of Rohith Vemula.

There was a nationwide outrage against policies of Government towards the academic institutions. Meanwhile JNU was targeted and Kanhiaya Kumar and his friends who had not shouted anti-India slogans were charged under sedition. Those who shouted slogans were not arrested. This also ignored the fact that mere shouting of slogans is not a crime. The doctored CD was used to implicate the JNU scholars. They were charged under sedition act. This triggered the debate on nationalism leading to prominent scholars participating in teach-ins on nationalism in JNU.

RSS patriarch Mohan Bhagawat raked up another emotive issue by saying that youth must be told to say Bharat Mata ki jai. In response to that; Asadudding Owaisi of MIM said he will not say so even if a knife is put on his throat. In further building up the issue and RSS fellow traveler Baba Ramdev stated that had Constitution not be there, by now lakhs would have been beheaded. The ground level message of this is fraught with dangers.

All in all, two years down the line Modi, the RSS prachrak, is on the job of pushing the country towards Hindu nation and undermining Indian nationalism. Indian nationalism has liberal space and place for diversity built into it. As such communal politics resorts to emotive issues and thats visible in propping issues like beef, nationalism and Bharat Mata ki jai. While three more years are to go for this government the divisive agenda and policies which are detrimental to the welfare of average people is on the display. India needs to march on the path of inclusive growth and amity among the people that seems to be missing at the moment.

(Ram Puniyani is a former IIT Professor, Mumbai-based author and peace activist. His most recent book is Indian Nationalism Vs Hindu Nationalism .).


FAIRBURY -- Tucked away in a small valley surrounded by hills and woodland, a group of volunteers and enthusiasts this weekend recreated life as it was in the time of the Oregon Trail.

Set at Rock Creek Station State Historical Park, 6 miles southeast of Fairbury, Rock Creek Trail Days celebrates the heritage of Nebraska settlers, westward emigrants and the Pony Express station for which the park is named.

Living history demonstrators in tents and reconstructed historical ranch buildings welcomed visitors Saturday and Sunday, showing them what life was like when the standard family vehicle was a covered wagon. Blacksmiths, lace makers, ranchers, weavers and others plied their trades for the onlookers, while others took a short ride through the park's prairie field in a mule-pulled wagon.

Theatrical re-enactments of historical events were featured among the ranch buildings at the eastern edge of the park. Swaggering men carrying pistols and shotguns loaded with black powder blanks got into a "fracas," with most of the actors ending up dead.

The gun battle was followed by a cheerful demonstration of the quick horse changes employed by Pony Express riders on their way to deliver mail. As the departing hoofbeats clattered on the bridge across Rock Creek, a small squad of Union Army men marched in to demonstrate handling of muzzle-loaded rifles and battle tactics during a small skirmish.

To cap off the pioneer experience Saturday evening, visitors purchased tickets to attend a buffalo stew cookout, accompanied by the tunes of musician and historical storyteller Dave Marsh.

Rock Creek Trail Days takes place the first weekend of each June. The demonstrations are a collaboration of a variety of local and traveling enthusiast groups. The Pony Express demonstration was brought by two members of the National Pony Express Association, which this year is recreating a 10-day ride from Sacramento, Calif., to St. Joseph, Mo. The Union Army re-enactors are from the Great Plains Garrison, which provides educational demonstrations throughout eastern Nebraska.
Bollywood superstars and everyones favorite Katrina Kaif and Siddharth Malhotra have never worked together before. Their maiden movie together is their next titled Baar Baar Dekho which is already creating waves of excitement for their fans. On the live performances front they have never performed live together ever and this is exactly where the surprise lies.

Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pareeniti Chopra and Karan Johar to be a part of the tour

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif is going to perform live with Siddharth Malhotra in a full musical tour. She is being a part of a full Bollywood musical live tour for the first time in her career and it will really be awesome to see her perform with Siddharth.

Apart from them other Bollywood rising stars like Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and the ace film maker Karan Johar will also be a part of the live tour.

A special performance by Baar Baar Dekho lead

The highlight of the tour is going to be Baar Baar Dekhos item number on which Siddharth and Katrina will be seen sizzling live on stage. The last time Katrina Kaif was a part of a tour was way back three years ago with Bollywood Badshah Shahrukh Khan in Dubai. Katrina had performed on her hit songs like Afghan Jalebi, Bang Bang, Sheila Ki Jawaani and some more. This time it is going to be different as her performance will not be based on her past hits but an unreleased song from her yet to be released movie and that too with an actor with whom she has never performed live before.

We are pretty sure Katrina will nail this performance like her previous ones.

The live tour begins on 12th August 2016 in Houston and will tour six US cities and Canada, while the finale of the tour will take place in New York. Remo Dsouza, Punit Pathak and Binny Jhonny are said to be choreographing all the acts but Remo as suggested by online reports wont be able to tour in all cities since he is busy with completing his next movie titled Flying Jatt starring Tiger Shroff.

We wish the team of Baar Baar Dekho and the musical tour all the best and wish that it becomes a phenomenal success.
In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?

Complete overhaul the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.

Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."
China urges US, Japan to stop pointing fingers on South China Sea Updated: 2016-06-05 08:13 (Xinhua)

Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in theSouth China Sea, south China. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - The Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday urged the United States and Japan to stop pointing fingers at China on the South China Sea.

"Countries from outside should honor their commitments and not make irresponsible remarks on issues involving territorial sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in response to remarks of US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani at a security summit in Singapore.

According to a press release from the ministry, during the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Carter and Nakatani talked about the South China Sea issue and hurled unreasonable accusations at China.

"We have noted relevant remarks. They were mostly repeating their old tunes, which have no fact in them and are full of groundless accusations against China's legitimate construction activities on relevant islands and reefs." Hua said.

She added that they blamed China for the regional security issue when China is actually the victim and sowed discord between China and other regional countries.

"China is firmly opposed to that and the Chinese delegation attending the meeting has made our position clear." Hua stressed the following points:

First, China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the adjacent waters, which is fully backed by historical and legal evidence. China has never acknowledged the so-called "status-quo" formed by other countries' illegal occupation of Chinese territory, and is not going to do so.

Second, relevant construction has taken place on Chinese own territory. it went against no international law. It is the intention of some countries who have deployed large amounts of advanced weapons and equipment to the Asia-Pacific region that should cause alarm among regional countries.

Third, the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is not meant to resolve disputes, but to negate China's territorial right and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. This arbitration case severely undermines the sanctity and integrity of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), abuses and violates international law. China has already made clear non-acceptance and non-participatory position on the arbitration case.

Fourth, speaking of rules-based order, China and ASEAN countries inked the DOC back in 2002. The DOC is regional rules, which shall be abided by all parties.

On Friday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Shangri-La Dialogue that the maritime issue should not become a zero-sum game and regional countries should look beyond maritime border disputes and seek mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Also,Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said at the meeting that the UN Charter, the UNCLOS and the DOC shall be taken into full consideration and relevant disputes in the South China Sea be resolved step by step.

"We have noted the relevant statements." Hua said, adding that China always maintains that territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall be resolved peacefully between parties directly concerned through negotiation on the basis of respecting historical facts.

She said China supports and advocates the dual-track approach raised by ASEAN countries on properly resolving the South China Sea issue, that is, relevant disputes shall be resolved by countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation, peace and stability in the South China Sea shall be preserved by China and ASEAN countries together.

"China upholds a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security outlook for the region and believes that regional countries shall work together to build and share a path of regional security that benefits all." Hua said.

She said, for regional countries, the challenges brought by non-traditional maritime security matters are more pressing.

All parties should enhance maritime practical cooperation, jointly address non-traditional maritime security threats, and maintain regional peace and stability on the sea. Hua said.
China meets with 'enlarging circle of friends' Updated: 2016-06-06 00:05 By ZHANG YUNBI(chinadaily.com.cn)

During a 55-hour period ending Sunday, 64-year-old Admiral General Sun Jianguo took part in a whirlwind of military diplomacy comprising 17 two-way meetings on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

While the South China Sea was in the spotlight before and during the session, Sun, the deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department at China's Central Military Commission, told China Daily the meetings were productive.

"I'm very happy," Sun said. "The more meetings I participated in, the happier I was. Everyone was very friendly toward us and trusted us."

Both China's strong official ties and Sun's personal relations were self-evident during the meetings, in contrast to the "self-isolation" label US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used to describe China during a plenary session speech on Saturday.

Typifying China's engagement, Sun exclaimed "My Friend!" on Friday as he hugged New Zealand Defense Minister Gerry Brownlee in front of photographers.

Amid the regional security climate and growing interest in China's role, China's meetings with key officials from Australia, Vietnam and the UK were so news worthy that foreign media representatives from third-party countries joined the press pool. Among them, a Japanese television reporter described the scene on camera when Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh shook hands with Sun before they walked into a meeting room.

Sun's diplomacy was on show when he told Indonesia Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu: "As you are more senior than me in age and higher than me in official rank, please speak first."

And he did not miss the opportunity to present China's story at the end of the meeting as he bade farewell to his counterparts by presenting them with books, including one with the title "What One Needs to Know about the South China Sea". The English language publication includes basic facts and was compiled by leading scholar Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, who also attended the dialogue.

Sun, who is a PLA Navy general, went from meeting to meeting in his white uniform at the Shangri-La Hotel where he talked with officials from seven Southeast Asian countries from among the 10 ASEAN member states.

Deputy defense minister Vinh said Vietnam would "warmly welcome" Chinese warships wanting to visit a recently opened harbor. And Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Tea Banh told Sun during their meeting on Saturday that Carter's "self-isolation" comment about China was "not correct".

"I believe the best way to resolve disputes is with the parties concerned embarking on peaceful means and achieving mutual understanding over relevant issues via dialogue," he added.
Reporter's log: Weather clears for a moment at meeting Updated: 2016-06-06 00:05 By ZHANG YUNBI in Singapore(chinadaily.com.cn)

June is already rainy in Singapore, which is bad news for reporters like me who have to commute on foot for 15 minutes between my hotel and the venue for the Shangri-La Dialogue, the annual high-end security forum at the Shangri-La Hotel.

To make things worse, I arrived in the scenic city on Thursday without an umbrella, and the three-day meetings opened on Friday.

What occupied my mind at that time was the potential responses from defense chiefs and experts about the tensions in the South China Sea, a topic that has recently dominated media headlines like a rain cloud.

The first two striking days saw rain for a while, a deeper grey that added fuel to my anxiety about scooping newsworthy details.

A miracle dawned on Sunday, the final day: no rain.

Interestingly, in the hotel ballroom, senior officials of countries directly involved in the South China Sea issue spoke out in a manner milder than expected.

The fact is, sovereignty-related tensions fluctuate, and no policy insiders can say for sure when a standoff will end, any more than a weather forecaster can tell you the exact minute the rain will stop.

Similarly, experts think competition between China and the US may continue to flare this year, but they are not fortunetellers. They can't say what specific actions the US military will take at China's doorstep.

One scene intrigued me greatly on Friday. Admiral Sun Jianguo, who led the Chinese delegation, shook hands with US Defense Secretary Ash Carter at dinner. They spoke with each other briefly.

The handshake stood out because no official meeting was planned between them.

In a similar way, perhaps Beijing and Washington can work on easing the tense atmosphere out there in the sea, just like blowing away the rainy clouds.
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Plan adopted in 2013 by NCGA violates contract with current teachers, though new hires can be denied tenure

Court challenge

"As a result, we hold that sections 9.6 and 9.7 are unconstitutional, though only to the extent that the act retroactively applies to teachers who had attained career status as of 26 July 2013."

RALEIGH - In an April decision, the state's highest court held that the General Assembly had violated the U.S. Constitution when it stripped teachers of tenure protection. The N.C. Supreme Court's decision in large part was based on the state's failure to show such a dramatic step was reasonable and necessary.In 1971, the General Assembly first established a tenure system for teachers. The specifics of this career-status protect system have changed over time; in its most recent form, a local school board would vote whether to grant career status to any teacher reaching four years of experience in that school system. If approved, the teacher would enter a career contract which allowed dismissal, demotion, or relegation to part-time status based only under one or more of 15 reasons specified in the law.One reason is "inadequate performance." Any teachers recommended for dismissal had the right to a hearing at which they could be represented by a lawyer and present evidence.In 2013, the General Assembly, under full Republican control for the first time since the 19th century, abolished this teacher tenure scheme. In its place, it allowed school systems to enter into one-, two-, or four-year contracts with teachers. A decision not to renew a contract could be based on any reason not consideredThe N.C. Association of Educators and six teachers sued, claiming the tenure repeal violated Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids, among other things, the passage of any "law impairing the obligation of contracts." Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood ruled that the law was unconstitutional when applied to teachers who already had entered into contracts with the career-status provision. He also held that the General Assembly could adopt its new definition of tenure protection for teachers who had not entered into such contracts, that is, teachers hired after the 2013 law was enacted or who had fewer than four years of experience at their current school district.The matter eventually worked its way to the N.C. Supreme Court, which upheld Hobgood's ruling.wrote Justice Robert Edmunds for a unanimous court.The court held that the Career Status Law did not by itself create vested contractual rights. Instead, these rights came from career status contracts between individual teachers and school boards.Edmunds wrote.The justices went further. Federal and state case law previously held that even a substantial impairment of contractual rights can be upheld if it was a reasonable and necessary way of serving a legitimate public purpose. The state may not, however, alter existing contractual rights if a less drastic change would serve the same purpose.The high court affirmed that maintaining the quality of public schools was an important purpose. The problem came at the next step, as the state presented no evidence showing it had a problem getting rid of ineffective teachers. This prompted the high court to conclude that a necessary public purpose didn't exist to strip individual teachers of existing tenure protections.The Supreme Court also held that more modest options existed.wrote Edmunds.he wrote.The case is, (228A15).
U.S. students fare pretty well in early grades compared with their peers internationally, but then our proficiency levels begin taking a noticeable drop.

Last month, the National Education Association released "Rankings of the States 2015 and Estimates of School Statistics 2016." "Rankings and Estimates" is a useful publication for its per pupil expenditure and teacher pay rankings. For example, North Carolina is ranked 41st in teacher pay this year, an improvement of one spot since last year and six spots since 2014.But take a step back from North Carolina and consider the massive size and scope of the nation's public education enterprise and the relatively disappointing academic results it produces.NEA researchers estimate that the United States will spend just under $675 billon on public education this school year. To put that figure in perspective, public school spending alone is roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Switzerland, the 20th-largest economy in the world.Of course, the United States educates nearly 50 million children, which is around six times the total population of Switzerland, so one would expect that taxpayers would need to make a significantly larger investment in public schools. Yet, the national average expenditure in the United States is around $12,000 per student, which, coincidentally, joins Switzerland as the fourth-highest in the world.Even the Swiss would agree that that is some serious cheddar. Unfortunately, it does not mean that the United States is the academic big cheese.In "Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-20 Countries: 2015," the National Center for Education Statistics compared education input and output measures in the United States with those in Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and other Group of 20 countries. The report is the most current summary of the performance of students on major international assessments.In fourth-grade reading, students in the United States fared well. Seventeen percent of students reached an advanced level on international tests, eclipsing Canada, Germany, and several others. Mathematics performance is a different story. While 13 percent of U.S. fourth-grade students reached the advanced level, 39 percent of South Korean students and 30 percent of Japanese students hit that mark. Science performance among fourth-graders in the United States was competitive with Japan and Russia, but no nation outperformed academic powerhouse South Korea.By eighth grade, Pacific Rim nations begin pulling away from the pack. Nearly half of eighth-grade students in South Korea and 27 percent of Japanese eighth-graders scored at the advanced level in math. That compared to only 7 percent in the United States. In science, the gap between the United States and other G-20 nations was not as large. Even so, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and England all had higher percentages of eighth-grade students who scored in the upper achievement tiers on international science assessments.Proficiency levels in reading, mathematics, and science literacy among 15-year-old students suggests that the academic deceleration that begins in middle school continues into high school. Indeed, reading performance in the United States lags significantly behind Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. Although 9 percent of U.S. high schoolers scored at the top two achievement levels on international math assessments, 24 percent of Japanese and 31 percent of South Korean 15-year-olds attained top scores. Australian, German, and Canadian students were not far behind.Over the next year, international testing programs will release updated results from math, science, and reading assessments. Those reports will provide insight into whether the near-universal adoption of the Common Core State Standards in reading and math has improved the nation's international competitiveness. Yet, even if the United States closes the performance gap with top-performing nations, we will have done so at a great and largely unsustainable cost.
by Luong Thu Huong

Unlike other teenagers, Nguyen Thu Minh Chau and Hoang Lu uc Chinh would prefer to spend hours doing experiments on cancer treatment during their free time.

Together, the two 11th-graders from Thang Long Specialised High School in the Central Highlands city of a Lat have conducted a study on the ability to bind and kill several cancer cell types with human antinuclear antibodies. The study won a third-place prize in cellular and molecular biology category at the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2016.

The aim of the study was to practically evaluate the capacity of binding and destroying cancer cells in vitro of ANA or antinuclear antibodies, which initially proves its potential to treat the disease that has claimed so many lives worldwide. The study focuses on the treatment of human prostate cancer cell line PC3, human small cell lung cancer H211 and human primary glioblastoma/astrocytoma U87.

After returning from the US, where the contest took place, both Chau and Chinh were still overwhelmed by the glorious feeling of victory.

Both of us were very moved and surprised. The prize is really beyond our expectations, because we just considered it an experience, a playground to exchange ideas at first, Chinh said.

Despite coming from a specialised maths class, the two contest winners shared the same passion for biological research, which inspired them to come up with the idea for the study together.

My dream is to become a cancer specialist in the future because more and more people are unfortunately contracting this disease, Chau said. Both of us have two relatives who passed away due to cancer, so we can understand the pain that it leaves behind.

The two friends stumbled upon information about targeted cancer therapy, a new treatment utilising biological medicine to target and affect a specific part of the tumour, which proved to be more effective and safe in comparison with contemporary methods.

However, at the moment, the antibody is mostly taken from mice and then humanised with that of human, which limits the effectiveness of the treatment because that antibody is considered a foreign protein and rejected by the immune system, Chinh said about the inspiration for their study.

Therefore, we sought an antibody that was naturally a cell found directly in the human body and capable of killing cancer cells, he added.

An antibody capable of destroying body cells? We accidentally read the answer before thinking about that idea, he said. Both of us learnt about Lupus disease. The body of a Lupus patient creates a high amount of ANA, a nuclear antibody that can attack the cell of the body. We wanted to study whether it could affect cancer cells.

Early in August 2015, Chau and Chinh embarked on their study.

It took them days to read and generalise the related references, then design the experiments before actually conducting them in the a Lat Nuclear Research Institutes lab.

Their direct instructors were Phan Thi Ngoc Giau, a biology teacher from Thang Long Specialised School, and Nguyen Thi Thu from the institute.

We found some theories of several renowned scientists about the mechanism affecting cancer cells and the potential of ANA, but there were no experiments to prove that potential, Chinh said. Luckily, at the same time we were conducting our study, Yale University in the US released an announcement about ANA, which fundamentally supported the explanation of our experiments.

One of their biggest difficulties was the requirement of knowledge and techniques used in the laboratory. Each question that arose during the study could not be instantly answered, but needed a thorough understanding and modern technique for clarification.

So we had to spend a lot of time and effort reading references, most of which were in technical English, and also familiarising ourselves with conducting experiments, he said.

They were enthusiastically supported and encouraged by their teachers, especially by specialists who backed them from the beginning.

Our school has always encouraged and offered favourable conditions for students to conduct scientific studies, which will equip them with many new skills and methods of scientific research, group working and reporting, said Principal Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung of Thang Long Specialised School.

Those skills will be very meaningful to them when they enter universities.

Additionally, the two students successfully cultured prostate cancer cell line PC3, small cell lung cancer H211 and primary glioblastoma/astrocytoma U87 for experiment samples in the laboratory.

Nine months of hard work finally paid off when Chinh and Chau heard the good news from Vietnam Military Medical University that ANA was positively binding itself and increasing the rate of prostate cancer cells killed by five times.

I was very surprised on receiving such positive results. Our dedication to the study had finally paid off, Chau said happily.

Their study was granted a second-place prize in the national Science and Engineering Fair, and certificate of merits from the Society of In Vitro Biology in the US.

Their research, entitled Study on the ability to bind and kill several cancer cell types with an antinuclear antibody, was chosen as one of the six projects in Viet Nam to participate in the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2016.

Chinh and Chaus study received a high evaluation from international scientists in the fair due to its new discovery and practical application, said Tran uc Loi, vice director of the a Lat Citys Department of Education and Training.

Their result has significantly contributed to the achievements of Viet Nams delegation on the playground for young scientists and technicians. It also offers a chance for them to meet renowned scientists worldwide and receive more encouragement to pursue their dreams in the future. VNS
Around 20 years ago, farmers in Long An Provinces Chau Thanh District began to grow dragon fruit instead of paddy, which did not yield much profit. The fruit, now grown on almost 90 per cent of the land, has brought about a miraculous economic transformation, Van at discovers.

In the Mekong Delta, Viet Nams biggest rice basket, paddies are ubiquitous. Except here.

Along street after street in Chau Thanh, a rural district in Long An Province, the unbroken green of dragon fruit farms has replaced the yellow of ripe paddy fields.

The place usually buzzes with activity as lorries, container trucks and tricycles loaded with dragon fruit hurry back and forth between the farms and the slew of fruit processing plants in Tam Vu, a nearby town.

Almost 80 per cent of the fruit harvested here are exported to China, the US, Japan, the EU and other markets.

As people break out into easy smiles, it is not hard to guess that local farmers make a great deal of money for their toil.

It is not yet the peak harvest season, which is a couple of weeks from now.

To outsiders, the talk here seems to be solely about the fruit: on farms, in markets, at coffee shops, and even the party table.

But it should come as no surprise since it has been a source of prosperity for most people here for years. Some even think the fruit has wrought a miracle, turning a poor district with tired, dry soil into a wealthy agricultural area.

There has been a palpable improvement in the economic situation of virtually every household and ward since farmers stopped cultivating paddy a few decades ago and switched to the fruit.

People made the switch since it is not a well irrigated area and rice needs a lot of water whereas dragon fruit plants are more resilient to drought as well as more lucrative. Household followed successful household and the area under the fruit kept expanding until it was dubbed the dragon fruit kingdom.

The district has around 8,000 hectares of agricultural land, and almost 7,000ha are under dragon fruit. Less than 1,500ha of paddy are left, but clearly their days are numbered.

Across the district, almost everyone is involved with the fruit. This includes migrant workers from other provinces who came here to work on the farms, help package and transport the fruit, sell farm inputs or trade in the fruit.

Chau Thanh used to rank among the poorest districts in Long An, but is now among the wealthiest.

Using traditional poverty measures, only 1 per cent of its population is poor, and this rises to 3.7 per cent if the recent multi-dimensional poverty standards are adopted. But the rate is much lower than that of neighbouring districts, according to the local administration.

Nguyen Van Thinh, the chairman of the Chau Thanh District Peoples Committee, recalls that a decade ago authorities had to invest much effort in poverty reduction, offering vocational training courses and creating job opportunities. But now the living conditions of most people have improved, he says.

The affluence means it is easy for the local government to mobilise funds [from the public] for building infrastructure such as water supply system, roads and others.

It is fairly common in Viet Nam for the people to contribute money and labour for public works, especially in the countryside.

Lives changed

Nguyen Tien Linh, 27, who persuaded his parents to plant dragon fruit instead of paddy five years ago on their 1ha farm, cannot forget what happened after the first harvest.

I could not control my hands from shaking while counting VN500 million (over $22,700) given by a trader who bought out dragon fruit. With paddy, my family earned at most VN30 million if it was a bumper crop.

My family is not alone. Now most people in this district live without worrying about money.

Linhs mother, Pham Thi Hai, had similar feelings when they got the large amount of money: My heart was racing the first time. But later it became normal.

Sitting in her house in An Luc Long Commune, with a smile never far away, she recalled her familys economic situation was not good before 2010 when they were growing paddy.

The money they got from the harvest would only be enough to meet farming expenses. Her house used to be empty. Little did she dream that one day she would buy a lot of things for the house and have a large sum of money in the bank.

Pointing to new lavish houses in the neighbourhood, Hai says all their owners also grow dragon fruit. There are barely any thatched houses left in her commune, she says.

I plan to buy more land since I am aware the soil here is highly suitable for dragon fruit. With paddy, the district used to be the poorest in the province.

Le Nguyen ang, 36, of the same commune is happy to talk about the good fortune that the fruit bestowed upon his family and the fortuitous manner of his switch from rice farming.

When all neighbouring farms switched to dragon fruit, I could not grow paddy any more since ploughing and harvesting machines had no way to reach my farm.

He decided to grow the fruit himself.

He said: I was shocked when I held a hundred million ong after selling my first harvest.

Some 20 years ago many locals began to grow dragon fruit since paddy was not profitable. But their income was nothing to boast about since the fruit was not exported and was mostly consumed domestically.

In a region that was not the wettest, the hardy fruit became popular and gradually more than 90 per cent of farmlands in the district were brought under it.

Farmers say half-jokingly that the recent drought has brought tears to farmers in other parts of the country, but good fortune to them.

In Binh Thuan Province in the central region, another major dragon fruit-growing area, the crop has been very poor.

Also luckily, Chau Thanh has a river and canals, though this year the saltwater intrusion in them has been unusually intense.

As a result of the poor crop in other places, red dragon fruit prices have skyrocketed to VN60,000 per kilogram.

Since 2010 the district government has encouraged farmers to grow the fruit, Thinh says.

It plans by 2020 to have all 8,000ha under the fruit.

Large farm

Chau Thanh produces 250,000 tonnes of dragon fruit annually and exports mostly to China, though some portion is also shipped to South Korea, Japan, the US and other markets. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and several other free trade agreements that Viet Nam has signed are likely to help expand the market for them.

But exporting to demanding markets like the US, Japan and EU would require an improvement in quality. For this purpose, the district has persuaded farmers to pool together 2,000ha to achieve economies of scale and apply modern technologies.

In order to better manage the 2,000ha farm, we have decided to establish 20 co-operatives, with each taking responsibility for 100ha, Thinh said, adding that VietGap quality standards would be adopted.

The project has received strong support from local farmers, who realise it will help them reduce costs and improve quality.  VNS
By Thu Anh

They risk their lives for famous movie stars yet receive little recognition.

The unsung action heroes of Viet Nams film industry are the stunt persons who work for low pay.

In Viet Nam, where shoestring film budgets are the norm, stuntmen and stunt women receive an average of VN400,000 (US$20) per stunt.

The more dangerous the stunt, the higher the pay.

Six- or seven-metre high jumps from buildings and other sites pay VN3 million ($130), while a motorbike drive over a car commands double that amount.

The job is like an adventure, because working conditions are particularly dangerous and we lack safety equipment, says Quoc Thinh, founder of the Quoc Thinh Stunt Men Club.

Thinh, who has more than 24 years experience, tries to perform his stunts in a single take to save production costs.

Falls from four or five metres require cardboard boxes placed underneath to cushion the fall. Some of the stunt actors have broken their legs while jumping.

I escaped death when my safety belt broke when I was at a height of 57 metres, Thinh recalls.

Stunt actresses also appear in local films.

Thinhs younger female colleague, Phi Ngoc Anh, was the stand-in for three actresses in dangerous scenes in Gai Hong ( Roses Thorn ), a kung-fu and comedy film released last year.

She broke her collarbone jumping from a three-storey house. In the film, she can be seen performing a daring five-metre-long motorcycle jump, three metres in the air.

Thinh has worked with foreign film producers in Hong Kong, India, Thailand, South Korea and the US, who have praised the bravery and skills of Vietnamese stunt persons.

"Only stuntmen in Viet Nam can do these dangerous scenes in very poor conditions, says actor and film producer Ly Hung. Not only are they very good at martial arts, but they are very brave. They risk their lives for film."

Hung has worked with members of the Nguyen Du Cascadeur Club, sponsored by the HCM City Cinematography Association, in scenes from Red Sea Pirates (Hong Hai Tac) a Hong Kong film starring Vietnamese and Hong Kong actors.

Scenes for the film were shot in Hong Kong and Viet Nam in 1995.

In Viet Nam, the French word cascadeur is used to describe stuntmen and stuntwomen, as there is no equivalent word in Vietnamese.

Founded in 1992, the Nguyen Du Cascadeur Club was the first of its kind in Viet Nam. The clubs 45 members offer training to young people who are serious about pursuing the profession.
By Thu Anh

HCM City museums are taking to the road this summer, with mobile exhibitions that aim to offer young people an entertaining alternative to online games and videos.

The Museum of Southern Vietnamese Women and its partner, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province Museum, have staged a show of photographs and paintings, as well as documents and objects featuring Vietnamese women and their contributions in different eras.

Our shows highlight female soldiers and heroines who fought during the French and American wars, says museum guide Nguyen Thi My Nga. We hope to provide youth knowledge about our countrys history and older generations, and their contributions to the nation.

Tran Thi Thuy, a sixth-grade student from ong Nai Province, says her class plans to visit the War Remnants Museum in HCM City this month.

Well have a chance to see images of national heroines such as Nguyen Thi inh and Nguyen Thi Ut, who sacrificed their life for the countrys independence.

The War Remnants Museum this summer is taking two photo exhibitions called "Memories of War" to people living in southern provinces.

"Bringing museums to the public, particularly rural people is our goal," said Nguyen Thi Xinh, director of Ho Chi Minh Museums branch in HCM City.

Xinhs museum has worked closely with schools and universities in the city and other provinces to organise mobile showcases of documentaries, images, and artefacts; providing visitors with a deeper understanding of the countrys history and people.

Members of Xinhs staff have toured the region, visiting rural areas in Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Lam ong.

Images and documents about the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh are part of their mobile exhibitions.
By Moc Mien

As a beef lover, I can savour the meat three to four days in a row, so every beef restaurant is enticing to me.

From the Vietnamese-style beefsteak commonly sold on Hoe Nhai Street to beef hotpots and Bo nhung dam  beef dipped in vinegar-flavoured broth to even the fine European-style restaurants, all of them arouse my curiosity. I do not waste any time giving them a try.

In fact, I know that to have a dish of fresh, delicious, and high-quality beef is not an easy thing to do. As a Vietnamese saying goes, "something expensive is worth the money". However, I have to truly thank my girlfriend for taking me to a restaurant where the food was available at an affordable price, and yet made me so happy. The simple name of the restaurant tells us all about its core: Hanoi Steak.

Unlike the eye-catching ornate decor of many European-style restaurants that I usually see in Ha Noi, the simple outer look of Hanoi Steak was a slight turn-off. I expected the restaurant located on the Lapho Slope near the West Lake to have an elegant and romantic decor to fit in with this unique area. In contrast, although its location was on the slope connecting two streets, Thuy Khue and Hoang Hoa Tham, Hanoi Steak stayed humble, quiet and refreshing.

I arrived at Hanoi Steak around 6:30 on a Sunday evening. Small flickering light bulbs were hung on top of the trees outside the restaurant. After being there, I realised that Hanoi Steak shared its venue with another restaurant and understood why my friend had to RSVP to make sure that we would be served.

Dishes on the Hanoi Steaks menu did not have conspicuous names to impress customers. We were recommended the two most remarkable specialties by the restaurant owner: Tender-chewy beefsteak and silver beefsteak.

"I am really curious about the food quality here because everything seems so simple. The names of the dishes are all short and simple," I shared with my girlfriend.

The tender-chewy beefsteak was served on a big plate in front of me. A 250-gram serving of the American beef from the top blade for two people, marinated with minced herbs, ground pepper and sea salt. The fact that the meat was grilled on charcoal made it so much more delicious to me because I was a big fan of the traditional grilled dishes of Vietnamese cuisine.

Honestly speaking, the giant serving of tender-chewy beefsteak was a concern to me as both of us would be full and would have no room in our stomachs for the upcoming Silver Steak. However, after taking the first bite of the steak, I realised that I had been unduly concerned. I was totally impressed by the firm yet still tender texture of the steak, full of flavours and punctuated by the sweet-spicy pepper sauce. The dish had a much more interesting texture than the loin steak that I normally had. The steak was cooked perfectly medium-rare and retained its sweetness and succulence. The glorious meat juice oozed out every time I cut a bite to eat.

"The steak is half-done. Normally, at other restaurants, the steak retains some red spots but the juice has all dried up. Hanoi Steak has a very fine grilling technique," my friend shared.

"This is a truly special technique of Hanoi Steak. At other restaurants the beefsteaks serves were all dried up, and the customers could never enjoy the juicy, naturally sweet taste of the beef," Nguyen Tuan Viet, the Hanoi Steak owner, told.

"It seems like my wine sauce is a little bit too thin and too sour for my taste," my friend said while I deeply relished the steak with the delicious mushroom-pepper sauce.

While we were still eating the first dish, the waiter brought the silver steak to our table. Another surprise!

The second dish was wrapped in the aluminium foil, inside which was the 400-gram serving of top-blade beef, marinated in sea salt, fresh herbs, pepper from Nha Trang, and French wine for exactly two hours before being grilled on charcoal. After being grilled, the steak required two minutes rest before being served to customers to maximise its texture and natural juiciness.

As soon as the waiter unwrapped the foil, we were all amazed by the piping hot dish that appeared in front of our eyes. The green peppercorns and herbs garnished on top of the steak spread a wonderful savoury smell. We quickly put the chewy-tender steak aside and waited for a slice of Silver steak from the wooden tray.

"The Silver steak still has the sweetness and flavour of fresh meat but will be slightly more tender and drier than our previous steak," my friend commented right after her first bite of the steak dipped in sauce.

I tried my first bite with the newly served mushroom cream sauce, which was filled with aroma. The new sauce was not my cup of tea because it was too sweet for my taste and the creamy taste was not as good as I expected. Hence, I switched back to the mushroom sauce I loved. We slowly relished the dish with the fine French wine.

I then somehow managed to sense the passion of the restaurant owner, a student in France for many years who truly enjoyed the unforgettably delicious French-style beefsteak. In other words, through Hanoi Steak, the restaurant owner managed to share with everyone his passion for French cuisine, and bring its finest values to Ha Noi residents.  VNS

Hanoi Steak

Address: #1 Lapho Slope (#21 Thuy Khue, connecting Bach Thao Botanical Park va Thuy Khue Str)

Opening time: 6pm to 10pm  Mon-Fri; 11 pm to 1pm and 6 pm to 10pm  Saturday to Sunday.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hanoisteak

Price: Chewy-tender beefsteak 150 grams for VND95,000; 250 grams for VND150,000.

Silver beefsteak 400 gram serving for 2 people for VND360,000.

Comment: Fresh meat, finely cooked, affordable price.
By Moc Mien

Colleagues in my office are concerned about Nguyen Thi Hoas absence, due to taking her father to hospital to treat his newly broken leg.

He was doing his job as a security guard for a private company. Yesterday he had to manage a lot of motorbikes of guests and employees, and he wasnt careful enough. My poor father! Hoa, my colleague, said sadly over the phone.

All of us feel so sorry for him because at the age of over 60, no one knows when his leg will fully recover.

It is not the first time I heard about a senior citizen who took a job as a security guard and suffered occupational risks.

In Viet Nam, security guards are normally less respected than other professions such as nine-to-five officers. The average income of a guard is modest at about VN3-4 million a month. That might be the reason why it is difficult to attract young workers to this job.

Years ago, security guards in office buildings, organisations and companies were often senior citizens, some even older than 60. The labourers used to be retired soldiers, public employees or unskilled workers who were trying to find a simple job to earn extra money.

Nowadays, security services have become more professional with the birth of many private companies that are active in bringing security services to those in need. They have been acting as a bridge between organisations and security workers. Companies often hire employees with wide age ranges, including the young and the old. The number of young adults has increased rapidly in the sector. But it doesnt mean that the number of senior citizen employees has fallen drastically.

In fact, from my experience, security guards should be quick, flexible and have good observation skills. With the rapid development of the service sector, security workers now have to guard cars and motorbikes, and take and return vehicles to guests. Such responsibilities expose security guards to more risks, including injury and robbery.

Sometimes I cannot understand why old people do these jobs, said Nguyen Anh Tuan, an officer. They cannot be as quick as the young ones. How would they react if there is an emergency? They are more likely to get hurt or wounded while guarding a lot of vehicles and other assets.

Watching an old security guard pull and push a motorbike out of a crowded parking lot, I feel unsafe and worried.

In reality, most security guards havent received any official training on the job. It seems that any man with moderate health can perform this job.

I am retired now, but the pension cannot cover my living costs, said Nguyen Van Tuan, 62, a security guard for a cafe on Nguyen Khac Can Street.

Spending all day at home makes me weak and bored, so I decided to take this job to fix the problem.

On hot days in summer and cold ones in winter, I have to stay outdoors, which challenges my health a lot. But I still have to do this to meet my daily needs.

In this regard, private securities companies have their own opinions on the practice of hiring elderly people.

The mass birth of office buildings, enterprises and organisations has increased the demand for security guards. We need a lot of people to meet that demand, said Hoa M.T., personnel manager for Viet Phu Security Service Company.

Retired employees from State-owned organisations have a high sense of responsibility and discipline, she added. They fit this job very well.

This argument supports senior citizens access to employment opportunities regardless of the risks they may suffer.

My father knows that the job is not as easy as he previously thought, but he is determined to take it rather than sitting at home all day with a small pension, my colleague, Nguyen Hoa, said. He needs more money and the feeling of being useful.  VNS
The defence ministers of Japan and India have agreed to boost their trilateral security cooperation with the US.

Japanese Defence Minister General Nakatani on Friday said that "it is very significant" for Japan, India and the US, who "share the same values", to strengthen cooperation to ensure the security of the vast Pacific and Indian oceans, The Japan Times reported.

Nakatani proposed that the three countries start organising regular high-level meetings, a Japanese official said.

Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he will consider the proposal, according to the official.

The two ministers held talks in Singapore just before the opening of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security forum.

This year, the Maritime Self-Defence Force will join the navies of the US and India in the annual Malabar naval exercise.

India and the US have been conducting the drill since 1992.

Japan, which has taken part in the exercise four times in the past, became a permanent participant following an agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, in December.

Nakatani said the 2016 Malabar exercises will be carried out for a week from Friday in waters around Okinawa, close to the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands.
Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The US Diplomatic Mission to South Africa on Saturday issued a terror warning to US citizens in South Africa.

The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the mission said.

"This information comes against the backdrop of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the mission said without giving further details, Xinhua reported.

The South African authorities have not responded to the warning. A call to the state security agency went unanswered.

The US issued a similar alert in September last year, saying it had received information that extremists may be targeting US interests in the country.

The warning put South Africa on alert, but Security Minister David Mahlobo said then that there was no need to panic as its information from the ground was that there was no imminent danger or threat being posed by any terrorist group to South Africa.

Fears for terror attacks on Western targets in South Africa have existed for some time. There have been reports that "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite was seen spying on Western embassies in South Africa before she allegedly masterminded the West Gate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013.

The 31-year-old Briton is known to have been in South Africa between 2008 and 2011, travelling under the assumed name Natalie Faye Webb on a fraudulently obtained South African passport.

In January and February 2013, she was allegedly caught on CCTV cameras watching embassies in the Arcadia area of Pretoria, including the British High Commission.

Arcadia is home to the Union Buildings and South African president's official residence, in addition to the US embassy and many other foreign embassies.

--IANS

vr/
The leaders of Iowas largest employers are decidedly optimistic about the next six months, even if the farm sector wont go along.

Last week, the Iowa Business Council released an almost dizzyingly optimistic six-month outlook for the states economy.

In their second-quarter survey, members of the IBC  a group of top executives of Iowas largest businesses, the three Regent university presidents and the banking industry  issued a six-month forecast of 62, on a 100-point scale.

On a report card, 62 isnt all that hot, but in a forecast like this, its almost sizzling, especially considering where the group has voted recently. In this kind of report, a score of 50 is considered middling. Sixty is very good. Anything above that, outstanding.

The score is a five-point improvement over the first quarter. Its still five points behind the year-ago forecast, but that seems to be the way business cycles go.

And its a reversal from the last couple of quarters.

All of our numbers had fallen into the 50s; when that happens, you start getting a little nervous about the next quarter, said Elliott Smith, executive director of the Des Moines-based IBC. Getting 60 or above is always a good sign.

Numbers that could have been interpreted as a trend, now, may be considered an aberration, Smith said.

I think this follows on a bit on more national numbers were seeing in manufacturing, he said. So, for most of the rest of the year, were seeing a good bit of optimism from Iowas business leaders.

The reports most dominant features was the sales outlook of 64, which, for businesses, functions as the most reliable sign of things to come.

Sales is always a leading indicator, Smith said.

Keep in mind, that forecast comes at a time when John Deere, which is based in Illinois but builds its largest tractors in Waterloo and employs thousands of Iowa residents, recently forecast worldwide sales of agriculture and turf equipment to decrease by about 8 percent for fiscal-year 2016.

Certainly, the ag segment generally has been challenged, and Deere is a major player here, Smith said.

However, the IBC forecast is Iowa-focused, and the outlook is positive, Smith noted.

The outlook for capital spending scored 62 in the IBC survey, which also was five points ahead of the previous quarter and matched the year-ago reading.

The employment outlook is 60  five points higher than three months ago (55) yet nine points behind this time last year.

The was the most troublesome part of the report, Smith said.

That employment number is the one wed really like to see get closer to its heights and hope maybe over the rest of the year we see some success in that area, he said.

Business executives nationally are voicing optimism, as well. according to the second-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey released Thursday, which polls chief executive officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other certified public accountants in U.S. companies who hold executive and senior management accounting roles.

Some 37 percent of survey takers expressed optimism about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, up from a three-year low of 28 percent last quarter. That measure stood as high as 68 percent in the first quarter of 2015, however. Profit and revenue expectations also improved in the quarter, but remain below projected growth rates from a year ago.

On hiring, about 19 percent say their organizations are ready to hire immediately, up from 15 percent last quarter.

Anything can happen, especially in an election year. Nobody knows with precision where the states economy will go. And, theres always some unpredictable factor ready to spring. However, these latest forecasts are about as promising as any weve seen in awhile.
CHARLES CITY  A new chicken processing plant is on track to be up and running in Charles City by November, city officials said Friday.

The biggest issue in front of Overland Park, Kan.-based Simply Essentials LLC is a plan for wastewater, City Administrator Steve Diers said.

They bought the property and now are at a point of trying to figure out what the processing needs are going to be in meeting our wastewater requirements, Diers said Friday.

The city still has to figure out what the 40-year-old plant can handle and the improvements required. Were getting closer, Diers said.

Dennis Krause said work has been ongoing to ensure the plant capacity meets expectations. Simply Essentials officials are expected to attend a June 15 work session with city officials.

Wastewater loadings is an important issue that needs to be properly addressed, Diers said.

Environmental issues were among the concerns cited in early May when Mason City turned down a proposal from North Carolina-based pork producer Prestage Farms to build a 1,000-employee, $240 million, 675,000-square-foot pork processing plant in Mason City.

Diers said Charles City officials monitored that situation.

The new Charles City chicken plant will create 254 jobs initially. Eventually, they want to go to a second shift, and that should take them to 490 jobs, Diers said.

In March, Simply Essentials secured $1.1 million in financial assistance from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

Little needs to be done to the plant, which was built in 1973 and received a 17,000-square-foot addition in 2011 when the last occupant, Cedar River Poultry, operated there for only about a week, Tim Fox, economic development director of Charles City Area Development Corp., said at the time.

The Charles City operation will be three-year-old Simply Essentials first foray into poultry, company CEO Dennis Krause said when the IEDA package was approved. The company has focused on beef and pork up to now.

We chose this facility because of its great proximity to locally raised corn and soybeans, he said in March.

John Pastrano, the companys vice president of poultry, has been named general manager of the Charles City plant.

Management positions have been filled and production workers will be hired well ahead of the targeted November opening, Krause said.

The plant could process 300,000 birds per week, Krause said earlier.

Simply Essentials is in the process of purchasing the 3.16-acre property listed at $8 million.

The plant originally went up in 1973 as a pizza factory, Fox said. Poultry processor All States Quality Foods operated there from 1984 to 2006. Custom Poultry Processing opened in the facility in 2010 but filed for bankruptcy the next year. Then, there was the short-lived tenure of Cedar River Poultry.

Fox said Simply Essentials will be Charles Citys third-largest employer after animal and pharmaceutical manufacturer Zoetis, which has about 400 workers, and life sciences firm Cambrex Charles City Inc., which employs around 325.
ERIC BERNS and MARY PETERS, both Wartburg College employees, recently received the fourth annual Exemplary Staff Award for service to the college and its students. Berns is biology laboratory coordinator, and Peters is the Science Center office coordinator.

CAROLYN CHRISTENSON of Oakridge Realtors has been awarded the Bronze Individual Achievement Award from the Iowa Association of Realtors in recognition of excellence in sales and listings.

TOM MARRAH of Getting Ahead in the Cedar Valley has received certification as a Bridges out of Poverty trainer and has also received certification as a Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin-By World facilitator from aha! Process Inc.

VALERIE HENDERSON and AMY PEYTON have joined Care Initiatives Hospice. Henderson, of Denver, is an RN case manager. She has several years experience in long term care and obtained her LPN and RN from Hawkeye Community College and her BSN through Upper Iowa University. Peyton, of Jesup, is a spiritual care and bereavement counselor. She has eight years experience in hospice care and received her BA in psychology and a masters in social work, both from the University of Iowa.

Four new associates have joined VGM Group Inc. REBECCA DAMME is in the Billing Department. She comes to VGM from Ocwen Loan Servicing and is an Upper Iowa University graduate. MARKEES DRAYTON, an Oakwood University graduate, is a patient care coordinator. Drayton previously was with John Deere. JILL FAUVER, a wellcare patient care coordinator, previously was with Iowa Adult Medical Center. ASHLEY NEGUS, previously with American HomePatient, is in the Call Center. All four join VGMs Homelink division.

DAVID BEATY ChFC, CLU, president of Heartland Financial Services, Cedar Falls, has qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table for 2016 which represents the top 5 percent of the financial services representatives worldwide.

ANNE EDISON-ALBRIGHT will join Luther Colleges Office for College Ministries in Decorah as a college pastor. Edison-Albright previously served as pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Stevens Point, Wis., since 2010. She earned a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and completed her Lutheran Year formation at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She was ordained in 2010. She also has a BA degree from Michigan State University with majors in English and journalism and a teaching certificate from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

LUCAS BARTLETT has earned the Gold Achievement Award from the Iowa Association of Realtors in recognition of excellence in listing and sales of real estate.
WATERLOO  World War II veteran Glen McClain received Frances highest military decoration Saturday for his actions during the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

But the Waterloo resident and John Deere retiree insisted during a ceremony at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum that he isnt the one who should be receiving the French Legion of Honor medal.

My thoughts today are with my shipmates, said the 91-year-old. Nearly all of them were killed when his Navy landing craft hit a mine and exploded at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

If you call yourself Americans, you are indebted to my shipmates and so am I, he said. Theyre the real heroes, those are the guys that should be getting that medal pinned on, not me.

So, Im going to be the caretaker of that medal, just keep it polished, he added. Its a sad thing that theyre not here.

Mark Schlenker of Indianola, Frances honorary consul for Iowa, presented McClain with the medal, which is awarded to veterans who fought on French soil.

He said McClain was one of many young Americans who fought for the liberation of France, turning the tide of that battle 72 years ago tomorrow. They fought bravely in battles across France and, like Mr. McClain, they witnessed the worst in war.

Schlenker noted that more than 100 people were on board the landing craft when it was hit by a mine. McClain bravely saved others as an ultimate act of valor, he said.

He rescued shipmate, Nick Vasiliou of Charleston, W.Va., who lost both legs. They were the only survivors of their crew. One other person who survived the explosion died a day later.

Most of the soldiers they were taking up to the beach were lost, as well.

McClains son, Michael, of Ames, also spoke, noting his father enlisted in the Navy at age 17. The explosion near Omaha Beach two years later was a nightmare for him, knowing how much (of the crew) on that ship died, said Michael McClain. Its something that he has carried with him ever since.

It wasnt all good times growing up, because we saw our dad struggle, he added. But his father kept the pain away from the family, protecting them from what he had experienced.

Michael McClain and his siblings took a moment to demonstrate some gratitude to their father for that.

We never recognized dad the way the people of France are about to recognize dad, he said. I think its about time to recognize dad properly.

McClain asked his father to stand and called his siblings to the front. Youre going to get a second medal today for great conduct, he said as family members made the presentation.

Glen McClain had a singular response to his sons tribute: He laid it on a little thick, said the father. But I guess I can forgive that.
WATERLOO  City Council members are expected to decide this week whether to fill the vacant First Ward council seat themselves or leave the decision to voters.

Councilman David Jones, who represented the ward covering the southwest quadrant of Waterloo, resigned April 25 due to work obligations out of state.

Iowa law gives remaining council members the option to appoint a replacement to serve out Jones term, which expires at the end of 2017, or to call for a special election.

Councilmen Tom Lind, Steve Schmitt and Bruce Jacobs last month said they favored an appointment to save the estimated $5,000 cost of a special election and potentially fill the vacancy more quickly.

Councilmen Ron Welper, Pat Morrissey and Jerome Amos Jr. called for the special election because they believe voters should choose their representatives and it would be extremely difficult for an ideologically divided council to agree on a replacement.

City Clerk Suzy Schares set the Monday agenda for councilmen to vote first on whether to publish a notice of intent to fill the seat through appointment.

If that passes, the council would begin taking applications and would have until June 24, which is 60 days after Jones resigned, to select the appointee. Failure to agree on a replacement would force a special election, which couldnt be held until at least July 26.

Assuming a council representative is appointed, Ward 1 voters could still petition for a special election by gathering 183 signatures of eligible voters.

If councilmen reject the Monday resolution to start an appointment process, a second resolution will be on the agenda calling for a special election to be scheduled July 12, the earliest a vote could be held under law.

Candidates in the special election would need to get nomination papers signed by 37 Ward 1 electors to be on the ballot.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday in the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall.
Jon Crews, former Cedar Falls mayor, Quentin Hart, current Waterloo mayor, and Charleston, S.C., former Mayor Joe Riley deserve mention in the same breath. Crews and Riley served their cities successfully for literally decades, each leaving a positive legacy.

If Waterloos major Quentin Hart continues on his current political path, he stands to make a similar enduring difference.

A few words about the two lifelong mayors. Each began their terms in the 1970s as young men. Crews began in 1974 when he was 24. Rileys began in 1975 when he was 32. Each ended their political careers in 2015.

Crews won 15 two-year terms for a total of 30 years, with terms off, successfully succeeding his successors, as he put it. Riley won 10 consecutive four-year terms, running as a Democrat in a fully Republican state.

Last week I was reminded of Rileys popularity when I attended a concert in Charleston for the 40th anniversary celebration of Charlestons two-week Spoleto USA Arts festival.

Riley spoke onstage to a sold-out concert audience and received a rousing standing ovation before he started. He seemed startled by the outpouring of affection.

His speech offered enthusiastic support for the renowned Spoleto festival. He detailed its beginnings in 1976 and reminded the audience of its early struggles. Insisting Spoleto was his major contribution to Charlestons culture, Riley revealed his passionate support for the festival that put Charleston on the map.

Riley fought long and hard to make that happen, marshaled support and got it done  among other major transformative projects.

Through it all, Riley was a trustworthy and approachable mayor. As a visitor from Iowa, I met with him a few years ago about a possible street marker in downtown Charleston to honor Judge Waties Waring, a white civil rights leader years before civil rights became a cause. (See Tinsley Yarbroughs A Passion for Justice.)

Riley agreed, and even went further about the need for a sculpture to honor Judge Waring. Three years later I visited that life-sized sculpture in downtown Charleston. He had made it happen.

Visionary, personable, willing to listen and get things done  thats Joe Riley.

So too with Jon Crews. At a recent lunch, he was just as open and clear about his years of paying attention to constituents, and why he sometimes didnt, in all honesty.

Moreover, he and Riley share a rare trait: Humility.

They both give serious credit to citizens who helped along the way, knowing it takes a village to run a city. Small egos make great leaders.

Then theres Waterloos newly elected mayor, Quentin Hart. In my several hours of talking to and observing him, I observed these same qualities  openness to citizen input, clarity in decision making and humility about his place in the scheme of things.

Waterloo is lucky to have him, just as Cedar Falls and Charleston were lucky to prosper under the long leadership of Jon Crews and Joe Riley.
For those suffering from mental illness, Iowa has gone from a combination of state-provided mental health institutions combined with local care to a system based almost entirely on community resources.

Three weeks ago, I wrote about how the first stop in Iowas mental health care system is often the county jail. Patients remain jailed until some facility, in Iowa or out of state, is found for their placement.

To find out how this works for local care providers, I spoke with area hospital officials and others with expertise in the field. Because of privacy concerns, our conversations were general, but they were enlightening.

Here is how it unfolds: A patient shows up at the emergency room in an acute mental condition, described as a severe or intense situation that requires immediate attention.

It can be brought on by drug-induced psychosis, aggravation, depression or a host of other causes. What is needed is crisis stabilization, and that is what the hospital attempts to do.

Therein lies the problem. In Black Hawk County there are only about 40 beds. Unfortunately, the maximum a patient can stay for treatment is between four and six days. Thats because while that patient is there more have shown up needing stabilization.

Sometimes it is even necessary, until a bed opens up, to house them in the hospitals emergency department. Sometimes, they remain on the ward for months.

So the best the hospital and doctors can do is try to get the patient back into society with a plan to avoid a return trip. But because of the nature of these illnesses, it is as likely as not that in 30 to 60 days, the same patient will be back because they failed to take their medication or another crisis in their life developed. Our care providers are doing all they can, but the deck is stacked against them.

Nor are these easy places to work. A recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration study showed if you work a career in an acute care psychiatric facility, there is a 95 percent chance you will be a victim of an assault.

But in trying to move a patient from an acute ward to long-term placement, this paradox has to be confronted: The more a patient needs longer-term care, the harder it is to obtain. This is because residential facilities, privately operated, do not want difficult patients. Past misconduct, like fighting, almost guarantees an admission denial.

As for outpatient treatment, which works well for many, this method faces the same overload as the hospitals. I am told Black Hawk-Grundy County Mental Health Center has a long wait for treatment.

There are more questions than space permits us to answer here, such as why we dont build more beds, the impact of this treatment program on employers and families, and, of course, what should be done.

Lets realize the present situation does not lend itself to a solution. The necessity for quick stabilization treatment by itself is not the answer. Quite a few need the stable environment of a long-term care facility.

As a friend of mine, an expert in the field, told me, You cant cure depression in three days.
2022 (Music Lounge) | 90.9fm WDCB

Music Lounge - 2022

October

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella October 24th, 2022

Paul Marinaro  Not Quite Yet (122 Myrtle) Vocalist Paul Marinaro has taken his time between albumsseven years to...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella October 17th, 2022

Amina Figarova  Joy (AmFi Records) Pianist Amina Figarova has put together a powerful sextet for her latest album J...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella October 10th, 2022

Hey everyone! So, this week, I wanted to take a moment to check out some of the albums that are available during our Fall Ple...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella October 3rd, 2022

Devon Sandridge  Storyteller (self-produced) Vocalist Devon Sandridge has put together a nice band for his debut al...

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September

What's New on WDCB... with Dan Bindert September 26th, 2022

Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade  Long Gone (Nonesuch) All four members of this quartet ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella September 19th, 2022

Bobby Broom  Keyed Up (Steele Records) Bobby Broom is not just one of Chicagos great guitarists, hes also one...

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Ramsey Lewis Dead at 87 September 12th, 2022

Ramsey Lewis on September 1, 2018 at the Chicago Jazz Festival  photo by Alan Frohlichstein Ramsey Lewis May 2...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella September 12th, 2022

Tim Fitzgeralds Full House (Cellar Live) Tim Fitzgerald is a busy guitarist in Chicago, playing with musicians all ...

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Hyde Park Jazz Fest 2022 Line-Up! September 9th, 2022

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival is thrilled to announce that the HPJF will return to presenting in partnership with its long-...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella September 6th, 2022

Walt Weiskopf European Quartet  Diamonds and Other Jewels (AMM Records) Saxophonist Walt Weiskopf is back with a ba...

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August

Visit our WDCB Jazz Lounge at Chicago Jazz Fest! August 31st, 2022

This year, for the first time ever, well be hosting our own live music venue at the fest, the WDCB Jazz Lounge. We...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella August 29th, 2022

Hey everybody! This week, we're going to look back at three new releases from artists that will be at the Chicago Jazz Fe...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella August 22nd, 2022

T.S. Monk  Two Continents, One Groove (Storyville) T.S. Monk, son of the legendary Thelonious Monk, is a fantastic ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella August 15th, 2022

Joe Policastro Trio  Sounds Unheard: Odds and Ends 2012-2022 (Jeru Jazz) Bassist Joe Policastro is one busy guy. Be...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella August 8th, 2022

Tom Harrell  Oak Tree (High Note) A new Tom Harrell album is always a cause for celebration. They happen with some ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella August 1st, 2022

Ethan Philion  Meditations on Mingus (Sunnyside) Chicago based bassist Ethan Philion has put together a phenomenal ...

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July

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella July 25th, 2022

Pasquale Grasso  Be-Bop! (Sony Masterworks) Guitarist Pasquale Grasso got on my radar last year when he appeared on...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella July 18th, 2022

NYO Jazz  Were Still Here (Carnegie Hall Productions) Ill be frank. As WDCBs music director, I dont add...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella July 11th, 2022

Steve Cardenas, Ben Allison & Ted Nash - Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley (Sunnyside) Casual Jazz fans have prob...

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June

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella June 27th, 2022

Petra Van Nuis & Andy Brown  Lonely Girl: I Remember Julie (String Damper) The husband and wife team of guitarist A...

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What's New on WDCB... with Leslie Keros June 20th, 2022

The Paxton/Spangler Septet  Ugqozi (Eastlawn) Ugqozi represents the latest from a Detroit-based group co-led by tro...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella June 13th, 2022

Alan Broadbent Trio  Like Minds (Savant) Pianist Alan Broadbent has emerged from the studio with a solid effort fro...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella June 6th, 2022

Out to Dinner  Episodes of Grace (Posi-Tone) The Posi-Tone label, in addition to putting out excellent mainstream a...

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May

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella May 30th, 2022

Kim Nalley Band  I Want A Little Boy (self-produced) I Want a Little Boy is the first Id heard of Bay Area vocal...

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Some headlining acts announced for 2022 Chicago Jazz Festival! May 23rd, 2022

The Chicago Jazz Festival (Thurs, Sept 1 to Sun, Sept 4) returns with performances in Millennium Park and at the Chicago Cult...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella May 23rd, 2022

Mike Allemana  Vonology (Ears & Eyes) I wish Mike Allemana recorded more often. Sure, there was that great album, L...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella May 16th, 2022

Lynne Arriale  The Lights are Always On (Challenge) Pianist Lynne Arriales latest album, the recently released T...

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Shemekia Copeland, Billy Branch and Ronnie Baker Brooks to headline 2022 Chicago Blues Festival May 11th, 2022

Blues stars Shemekia Copeland, Billy Branch, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Eric Gales are among the Millennium Park headliners ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella May 9th, 2022

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Dee Alexander  On the Way to Be Free (JMarq) Chicago Jazz fans have long known th...

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Behind the Mic with Peter Oprisko May 5th, 2022

Peter Oprisko is the host of our new Saturday Soiree program. Its an hour of classic singers & swingers, airing...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella May 2nd, 2022

Catherine Russell  Send for Me (Dot Time) Vocalist Catherine Russell has a new album out, and thats always a cau...

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April

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella April 18th, 2022

Eric Hochberg & Steve Million  Passion Flower (self-produced) Bassist Eric Hochberg and pianist Steve Million...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella April 11th, 2022

George Freeman  Everybody Say Yeah! (Southport) Guitarist George Freeman is one of Chicagos elder statesmen, one...

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WDCB's John 'Radio' Russell Retires April 8th, 2022

The longtime host of Midwest Ballroom is retiring after more than 20 years of presenting swinging music on WDCB eve...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella April 4th, 2022

Joel Ross  The Parable of the Poet (Blue Note) On The Parable of the Poet, Joel Ross third album for Blue Note, ...

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March

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella March 28th, 2022

I figured a great way to wrap up Womens History Month would be to check out three great new releases from some women who h...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella March 21st, 2022

Addison Frei  Time and Again (Next Paradigm Records) Pianist Addison Frei has been becoming an ever more in-demand ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella March 14th, 2022

Lets consider this a Best of edition of my weekly Whats New on WDCB. All three of these Ive already profile...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella March 7th, 2022

This week's review features our Spring Pledge Drive Early Bird Special (for donations of $120 ($10 a month through the En...

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February

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella February 28th, 2022

Hinda Hoffman & Soul Message  People (Know You Know Records) Hinda Hoffman and the Soul Message Band have been freq...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella February 21st, 2022

Brev Sullivan & The Blue Road Session Band  Ira: The Tribute Album (Blue Road) We might claim Ira Sullivan as a Chi...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella February 14th, 2022

Pete Malinverni  On the Town (Planet Arts) In the world of Jazz, there are always going to be a lot of interesting ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella February 7th, 2022

Patricia Barber  Clique! (Impex) Vocalist, pianist, songwriter and Chicagoan Patricia Barber has a new album out ca...

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January

What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella January 31st, 2022

Blue Moods  Myth & Wisdom (Posi-Tone) Posi-Tone Records has put together an impressive stable of artists, both for ...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella January 24th, 2022

The Reid Hoyson Project  Your Move (RHP) Drummer Reid Hoysons latest project, Your Move, features him with two e...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella January 17th, 2022

Farnell Newton  Feel the Love (Posi-Tone) Trumpeter Farnell Newton did some recording throughout 2018 and 2019 that...

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What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella January 10th, 2022

Louis Hayes  Crisis (Savant) Drummer Louis Hayes is still swinging at the age of 84, and on his latest album, Crisi...

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What's (been) on WDCB - Best of 2021 Part 2 January 3rd, 2022

This week - in the second of two installments - Paul, Dan, & Bruce share their favorite discs from 2021. Paul Abella - ...

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No minimum contribution!

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Many of our listeners have asked to be able to contribute on a monthly basis. With WDCB's Encore Club, you decide the amount of your monthly "sustaining" donation and we'll process it automatically using your credit or debit card.

* Your Encore Club contributions continue as long as you authorize them. Also, because this is ongoing, you wont be bothered by renewals every year, which will save WDCB money spent on paper, printing and postage. And think of the amount of paper that will be saved.

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Employee Matching Gift Program

If your employer has a Matching Gift Program, you may be able to DOUBLE or sometimes even TRIPLE the impact of your donation to WDCB. Check with your employer to see if they have such a program, then ask your Human Resources Department for a matching gift form. Many employers now post the Matching Gift Program online. If that is the case, you need to know that our program is administered by the College of DuPage Foundation. After you find the College of DuPage Foundation listed, please indicate that the matching request matches a WDCB contribution. Does your employer participate? Please use our handy "widget" to check if your employer matches The College of DuPage Foundation (and hence WDCB). Thanks!

Questions?

Please feel free to give our Listener Support & Development Department a call. You can reach Phil Zuber, WDCB Development Assistant-Coordinator, by phone (630) 942-4192 or e-mail ZuberP@cod.edu. You can also check out our Listener Support FAQs below.



Listener Support FAQs



What is WDCB Listener Support?

WDCB Listener Support is comprised of listeners who make the commitment to support WDCB with an annual financial contribution. Your support of WDCB is critical to keep us providing the many services that our listeners have come to rely on.

Do you have a minimum amount for a contribution?

No. We gratefully welcome ALL contributions. We do have a donation level of $60 ($30 for seniors and students) to receive our monthly newsletter by USPS mail and other Basic Listener Support benefits.

What are the different levels of support?

For a minimum donation of $60 you will receive all of the Basic Listener Support benefits. (Basic Listener Support benefits start at $30 for seniors and students.) For your convenience, we offer a number of levels at which you can contribute. Many levels correspond to various thank you gifts. Feel free to contribute whatever amount you choose regardless if there is a level listed at that amount. We are flexible!

How does WDCB use my contribution?

WDCB is a non-profit, non-commercial public radio station. Our $1.2 million annual operating budget comes from a combination of contributions by listeners, grants, underwriting and corporate sponsorship, and special events. The largest single cash component of our income is from contributions by listeners like you who appreciate what we do enough to support us with a tax-deductible contribution.

Is my contribution tax-deductible?

Yes. Every contribution made to WDCB is tax-deductible. Many donors ask to not receive a thank you gift, and request that 100% of their donation be used to support WDCB. If you opt to not receive a thank you gift with your donation, then the full amount of your contribution is tax-deductible. If you choose to receive a thank you gift the amount of your donation, less the fair market value (FMV) of the thank you gift, is the amount that is tax-deductible.* When you contribute, you will receive a thank you letter, acknowledging the details of your contribution including any thank you gift(s) received, and the FMV of the gift(s).

* Always consult your professional tax preparer for tax advice.

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If you'd rather not make your donation online, you can still make your donation over the phone by calling (630) 942-4200, or you can click here to print out a donation form that you can send back to us through the mail.

How do I update my credit card details, or make changes to my Encore Club donation?

If you'd like to update your Encore Club donation, please log on to your WDCB Public Radio account by clicking here. If this is your first time logging in, click "New User Password Request" on the login page, and your password will be sent to your email address. If you like, you may change your password. Please store your password safely. Once you have your password you can log in and update your card account information. Please email us at membership@wdcb.org if you have any questions along the way. Please do not email your credit card information to WDCB.



Alternatively, if you prefer to do this over the phone, please call WDCB at (630) 942-4200, and ask for David Rash in the Fundraising Office.

What is an Employee Matching Gift Program?

If your employer has a Matching Gift Program, you may be able to DOUBLE or sometimes even TRIPLE the impact of your donation to WDCB. Check with your employer to see if they have such a program, then ask your Human Resources Department for a matching gift form. Many employers now post the Matching Gift Program online. If that is the case, you need to know that our program is administered by the College of DuPage Foundation. After you find the College of DuPage Foundation listed, please indicate that the matching request matches a WDCB contribution. Does your employer participate? Please use our handy "widget" to check if your employer matches The College of DuPage Foundation (and hence WDCB). Thanks!
WDCB is licensed as a non-profit/non-commercial public radio station. We rely on listener support and corporate donations for a large portion of our revenue.

Skip the details above, and go directly to our online pledge page where you can make a contribution. If you prefer to speak with a person, please call WDCB during business hours at (630) 942-4200. We'll happily help you with the donation process.

Learn the details of WDCB's Employer Matching Gift program.

Have questions about donating to WDCB? Learn the details of WDCB's Listener Support program.

Businesses benefit from an association with WDCB. We have many types of opportunities, something for everyone.

Please consider including WDCB in your Estate Plans.

We take care of all the details, from pick-up to paperwork!

Other

WDCB is additionally supported by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Illinois Arts Council through its administration of the Illinois Public Broadcasting Grant.
If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino

 Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.

 Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.

 What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.

The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.

 How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!

 Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package  which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.

 Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.

Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices

 Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.

 Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.

 Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.

 Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.

With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks

Betway:

Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.

Coral Casino:

Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.

Ladbrokes Casino:

Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

Paddy Power Casino:

Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

William Hill Casino:

William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.

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If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
Teleported NFT Club introduces new age conceptual art by teleporting people out of the photograph & into the metaverse!

2022-10-21 | 50 Street Photographs, trimmed of its people, will be introduced as NFT's. Evolved earthlings being able to teleport themselves out of the photograph and traverse across the Metaverse!
Christopher Wilson in Smithsonian:

Sadly in our nations historyerected on a foundation that included slaveryeven bacon can be tied to bondage, but we will celebrate still the achievements of the bondsmen and women as culinary creators. On big plantations in the Lowcountry, killing time was serious work, just like everything else in these forced labor camps. Hundreds of hogs had to be slaughtered and butchered to provide the 20,000 or 30,000 pounds of pork it might take to sustain the enslaved workers toiling all year to produce rice and wealth for the few, incredibly rich white families of the region. Mostly hogs were used as a way to extract resources from the surrounding wilderness without a great deal of management. The piney woods hogs of the region, which most closely resembled the rare Ossabaw Island breed, were left to fend for themselves and then, as depicted in the film Old Yeller, with the help of good dogs hunted down and subdued either for marking or slaughter. In public history on the subject of slavery, there is always a conflict in how the story is presentedwe often choose between presenting the story as one of oppression vs. resistance, subjugation vs. survival, property vs. humanity. Because the legacy of slavery is still so contested, audiences are sharply critical of presentation. If one shows a story of survival, does it follow then that oppression is given short shrift? If, on the other hand, we focus on brutalization, we run the risk of suggesting our enslaved ancestors were defeated by the experience of slavery.

This conflict is certainly at work in how we remember food on plantations. Missing from the common understanding of pork on the plantation though, is the skill of the enslaved butchers, cooks and charcutiers. The work involved young men like Shadrack Richards, born into slavery in 1846 in Pike County, Georgia, who remembered more than 150 people working for over a week on butchering and curing, preserving the sides of bacon and shoulders and other cuts to keep on the plantation and taking time to create great hams for sale in Savannah. Another survivor of slavery Robert Shepherd remembered with pride just how good the hams and bacon were that his fellow butchers created despite the cruelty of slavery. Nobody never had no better hams and other meat than they cured, he recalled.

More here.
Hughes State Attorney finds no facts to support investigation into Noem airplane use

The Hughes County States Attorney found Tuesday that there were no facts to support a criminal prosecution" for Noem's alleged misuse of the state airplane.
KINGMAN, Ariz.  Danielle Stephens grew up on a cattle ranch here in the 1950s. She rode horses, spent her days in the sun and, like many people in the area, delighted in watching mushroom clouds spring up beyond the mountains.

It was the middle of the Cold War, and about 150 miles north of Stephens ranch the federal government was engaged in a nuclear testing program. In Las Vegas, Nev., and the tiny towns of northern Arizona, people were beguiled by the atomic explosions that lit up the sky.

The Soviet Union had recently developed its first atomic weapon, and in response the United States ramped up its testing. Over 12 years, the U.S. performed 100 atmospheric tests at the Nevada Test Site.

I can remember that it was a big deal, kind of a carnival atmosphere, said Danielles brother, Dan Bishop. We got to see the dust clouds and on occasion we felt the wind. There was a lot of talk.

Today, Stephens and Bishop contend that radiation from the tests was the cause of cancer in dozens of their relatives and friends. At last count, 33 of their family members had died of cancer.

At that time we thought it was something great to be occurring because we already knew that the atomic bombs were very important, Bishop said. We didnt realize how important they were and how much danger they were.

Despite data showing that Kingman, like the rest of the southern portion of Mohave County, was exposed to double the amount of radiation recorded in other Arizona counties, the health risks are yet to be acknowledged by the federal government.

Left out of program

Its been more than 50 years since the United States stopped above-ground testing in Nevada. Since then, the federal government developed a compensation program for downwinders in certain counties in the Southwest, including six in Arizona.

Kingman residents, however, were not among them  and they say they dont know why.

With the people who witnessed the tests now 60 and older, theyre still seeing friends develop cancer and theyre still confused as to why they werent included in the program. Theyre fighting for what they believe is their right to compensation.

Kingmans too close  just a few miles, Stephens said. The Nevada Test Site is 135 miles (away)  I just feel someone has to continue to try.

In the 50s, Stephens and Bishop were out on a cattle drive when they were caught in the middle of an atomic wind.

There was five of us on horseback and Daddy says Here comes that dust, you guys. Ride as fast as you can and get low,' Stephens said.

But it was too late. All five of them were dusted on their horses while out in the Cerbat Mountains. Three of them, including Bishop, later developed cancer.

Bishop said he didnt realize the potential dangers of radiation until he became a reserve deputy sheriff in 1957. Members of the military came to the sheriffs department in Kingman and asked the officers to wear thermoluminescent dosimeters, small cylindrical containers, on their pocket lapels to test radiation levels.

Military came and gave them to us and we met in the sheriffs office and they (the military) picked them up, Bishop said. Thats all we knew. Well, thats all I knew.

The dosimeters showed the military how much radiation each person received. That information was never communicated to the department or the individuals who wore the devices.

I remember that nobody said anything about any kind of sickness, Bishop said. We knew it was an atomic blast, we knew there was a test site, but we didnt know the ill effects. Nobody told us that.

Researching health risks

A tiny town full of miners daughters and ranchers sons, Kingman didnt seem to be a major concern for the Atomic Energy Commission. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Kingmans population was just over 4,500 in 1960.

After the effects of radiation in Japan during World War II, the U.S. government sought to understand radiation health risks as one of its missions for the Nevada Test Site, said Allan Palmer, director of the National Atomic Testing Museum.

There were enormous radiation consequences that went with that, Palmer said. I dont think they really fully expected or knew that would happen. This was all brand new.

In order to get a better understanding of radiation, the government placed animals, buildings and mannequins, donated by J.C. Penney and other department stores in Las Vegas, at different distances from ground zero during nuclear tests to evaluate the effects.

But while officials were testing on dummies and sheep, they didnt realize that the radiation was capable of traveling into Arizona and across the country, subjecting civilians to these tests.

One year in the late 80s, Dan Bishop attended nine funerals. Aunts, uncles, cousins: All cancer deaths.

When Bishop would show up at the cemetery, the mortician would tell him to grab the keys to the four-door sedan and take the pallbearers to the mortuary and cemetery.

Thats getting too frequent, Bishop said.

The towns sheriff, Frank Porter, was one of the first to develop leukemia after the nuclear testing began. It was then that Eddie Pattillo, a native of Kingman, realized that the atomic blasts could actually be hurting them.

Pattillo developed cancer of the urinary tract in 2000, at the same time his sister, Sharon Davis, developed a rare cancer that spread to multiple organs before eventually causing her death in 2007.

When she was in school, teachers let Davis and her classmates run outside during recess and catch a glimpse of the mushroom clouds, Pattillo said. When she found out she had cancer, she was sure it was because of the radiation, he said.

Studies of survivors of the atomic blasts in Japan and medical professionals with increased exposure to radiation show higher levels of leukemia and thyroid cancer in these groups, according to the American Cancer Society.

But theres also no proving if any given cancer was caused by radiation or any other number of causes.

A political error

In 1990, nearly 30 years after the last above-ground test was performed at the Nevada Test Site, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, allowing people who developed certain cancers and lived in certain downwind counties during the testing to receive $50,000 from the federal government.

Originally, the only part of Arizona included in the act was the sparsely populated Arizona Strip, the part of Mohave County north of the Colorado River.

In 2000, the act was amended to add Apache, Navajo, Gila, Coconino and Yavapai counties. The southern portion of Mohave County, where Kingman is located, was never added.

Laura Taylor, a Prescott lawyer who specializes in Radiation Exposure Compensation Act claims, said leaving Mohave County off the act was a political error. Until recently, Mohave Countys congressional representation was often based in the Phoenix metropolitan area, over three hours away.

I think there was just a lack of representation on the part of some politician, Taylor said.

In 2003, at the prompting of hundreds of Mohave County residents, former Gov. Janet Napolitano asked Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency Director Aubrey Godwin to evaluate the radiation levels in each county.

He found that certain levels of radiation were being compensated, while other, higher levels were not, including southern Mohave County.

According to numbers compiled from the National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute, residents of the southern portion of Mohave County had between 0.6 and 0.7 average rads per capita exposure to the thyroid. Gila and Yavapai counties, both of which are compensated under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, had 0.3.

Godwin recommended that Congress set a baseline radiation level and compensate all U.S. counties that fall above that level.

Im not trying to decide whether they should or should not be compensated, Godwin said. Congress made that decision. That was a policy decision that Congress made to compensate. My only point was, if theyre going to compensate at this level in one county, they ought to compensate everywhere in the state or in the United States.

Money grab denied

There are critics of the Mohave County Downwinders, many of them in Kingman, who say the group is looking to make a quick buck off of the government.

But Stephens said that the people who say their efforts are just a money grab have never experienced $10,000 medical bills coming month after month.

Nobody is going to walk away with a Cadillac, Stephens said. They might be able to pay a few of those bills, but its not much.

Since 2010, Arizona Republican Reps. Trent Franks and Paul Gosar and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have introduced bills that would include all of Mohave County in the compensation program.

Gosars bill, introduced in 2013, was the only one to be heard in committee. It was then ruled out of order. Gosar said hes not sure why none of the bills has moved forward.

Were very frustrated in how to get compensation and have the fairness of RECA (the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act) being applied to the people that its responsible to, which would be all of Mohave County, Gosar said.

After meeting with congressional attorneys, Gosar was told the only way to get the whole of Mohave County included is to set a baseline radiation level and compensate all counties with radiation levels higher than that level. Hes planning to team with politicians in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, in an attempt to gain more support for the issue. Gosar said he planned to introduce a bill in early 2015.

Even if the bill passes the legal tests, it still faces a difficult journey to win approval from Congress, Gosar said.

Rural communities are often stepchildren of big urban districts, Gosar said. You see a lot more fanfare for stuff that happens east of the Mississippi. We need to have our same day in the sun in which to remedy some of the problems that exist.

Mohave Countys eligibility in the RECA program is a political issue. Its a matter of writing a bill in the right way and persuading enough politicians to vote for it.

To Dan Bishop, who said he has attended more than 30 funerals in Kingman, and Pattillo, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in October, cancer is far from political.

Its such a small detail, Bishop said. It means so little to most politicians. Its just like a toothache. They hope it will go away.
Maybe instead of worrying about which restrooms LGBTQ+ students use, the real worry is whether kids  whose gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth  are even in school.

Keeping young people who identify as LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer or other) safe and in school with access to resources is one of the goals of a new training video, I Am Me: Understanding the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality and Identity.

The 42-minute video, available to view at nmsoc.org/cocvideos, is a group effort supported by the Communities of Care, a project of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department.

The video provides an in-depth picture of how LGBTQ+ young people are marginalized in their everyday lives and the serious outcomes they face. The youth share how they can be supported to become successful adults.

Training adults

I grew up as a queer trans person in Santa Fe Public Schools, says Jess Clark, who uses he, him and his as pronouns to describe himself.

Clark, 30, is a prevention specialist at Solace Crisis Treatment Center in Santa Fe and was featured in the film.

My goal is to make our schools and our community a safe place for our young people. My school was fine, but it would have been great if some of the caring adults had been trained. People shouldnt have to explain their existence to get access to basic services. I shouldnt have to tell you my life story to get my elbow fixed. You shouldnt have to explain the intricacies of your identity to been seen by a doctor or attend a class.

According to a joint news release from Equality New Mexico, New Mexico Safe Schools Initiative and New Mexico Communities of Care, half of LGBTG+ students in the state dont feel safe at school. They are more than twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers.

About one-third of them, who make up 7 percent of the total youth population, have attempted suicide, compared to 8 percent of their straight peers.

To identify as gay or lesbian is not a pathology, says video producer Jenn Jevertson of Prevention at Play. Kids get bullied  picked on  for being different. LGBTQ youth have higher rates of suicide ideation and higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse because of how society responds to them.

The perfect tool

In the film, many young people talk about not going to school or anywhere much at all, because they experience discrimination and alienation.

Ashley Allers, 22, who appears in the film, says, I wanted to be part of I Am Me because there are so many adults who want to be as supportive as they can to LGBTQ+ young people, but dont necessarily know how to do so effectively. There were adults in my life in this situation when I was in school, and now that a tool is available to them, Im confident that more youth will feel supported in our state.

Another young person in the video, Julia Young, 19, expressed a similar view. In high school I would see teachers at a loss for words or some who didnt even know how to handle certain situations, but this film is the perfect tool to help those teachers and staff members.

Communicating and intervening in bullying are important ways to show support.

A lot of our young people get pushed out, says LuzMarina Serrano from New Mexico Gay Straight Alliance Network, describing the difficulties of staying in school.

Serrano, 34, who grew up in New York City, a child of undocumented immigrants, talks about the complex layering that creates an individuals identity. Serrano says she never came out as a lesbian until she was in college and away from home. It was hard to be Latina, indigenous and queer. It was hard to be my true self.

But part of the work for adults who care about young people in the LGBTQ+ community is to help them broaden their vision for the future and not give up, she says.

Now I have a loving partner of eight years. I have a lot of things I didnt think were possible. Now we see it was possible to live lives we didnt think were out there.

Serrano says she hopes the video will soon be translated into Spanish and Dine.

Words matter

One of the important aspects of the film is its definition of acceptable terms, Jevertson says. Its hard to feel included when language is sparse to describe your identity. For example, preferred words include cisgender, which means one identifies with the gender assigned at birth and transgender as an adjective to describe someone who identifies as other than the gender assigned at birth.

Some perjorative words include hate words and also homosexual or lifestyle to describe LGBTQ+ people. Queer is an umbrella term that can be used, but not everyone is comfortable with it so it should be used carefully.

Terms change and evolve. Youve just got to roll with it, Jevertson says. Another useful point raised in the film is to respect people by not guessing their gender identity, she says.

Ask, what pronouns do you use? Our society is binary. It assumes there are only two genders. In some indigenous communities there are more than seven words to describe gender, she says.

What we know is that our LGBTQ+ youth face serious discrimination and harassment from society. It is our duty to provide safe and welcoming places for these young people to be seen, heard and valued for who they are. The ultimate intention of this video is to help adults learn how to do best do that.
Members of New Mexicos tiny Islamic community say they have been touched by the support shown them by Albuquerque residents in response to political rhetoric that has roiled the presidential election campaign in the wake of the rise of ISIS and attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris, Brussels and California that killed dozens.

In December, after Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country  which he now claims was only a suggestion until we find out whats going on  the New Mexico Islamic Center in Albuquerque was deluged by mail expressing support from individuals, churches and other groups.

We literally received so many letters I stopped opening all of them, some well wishers even sent money, said Abbas Akhil, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico.

When someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the center in October 2014 shortly after an attack on the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa by a gunman who had converted to Islam, hundreds of people joined a hastily arranged peace walk to show their concern.

It was very heartwarming to see, Akhil said.

Around 4,000 Muslims were living in New Mexico in 2010, according to the most recent U.S. Religion Census figures. They hail from India, Pakistan, Turkey, the Middle East New York, Rio Arriba County and right here in Albuquerque. They are students, professors, professional people and families.

A very small number are refugees sent to New Mexico for resettlement after having been officially recognized as fleeing persecution by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Catholic Charities and Lutheran Family Services are the two agencies that work with refugees. Catholic Charities Executive Director Jim Gannon said his agency receives about 150 individuals a year and up to 25 percent of those are from Middle Eastern or African countries, but he did not have a detailed breakdown.

Tarrie Burnett, program director for Lutheran Family Services, said it received a total of around 100 individuals from Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran between Oct. 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015.

Only four Syrian refugees were resettled in New Mexico between Jan. 1, 2015, and May 25 this year, according to the Refugee Processing Center website wrapsnet.org.

Outreach efforts

Even before Trumps remarks, Muslim groups in New Mexico were making outreach efforts to educate the wider community about Islam. They wanted to counterbalance negative perceptions of Islam generated by acts of violence by the terrorist group ISIS.

People are killing innocent people in the world so we are trying to promote peace and dialogue and friendship, tolerance, living in harmony, mutual respect, said Necip Orhan, executive director of the Raindrop Foundation Turkish House, which opened in Albuquerque six years ago. The foundation promotes cultural awareness and also support services for people from Turkey and surrounding Turkic countries like Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Orhan called the political rhetoric disturbing though he did not think it reflected the beliefs of people he had met in Albuquerque.

But sometimes I feel concerned because that kind of rhetoric can motivate extremists to do something against Muslims, against Hispanics, against immigrants, Orhan said. If the rhetoric became a reality, said Orhan, It would be the end of the American dream. America is a role model in terms of co-existence, of living together, many ingredients in the same dish.

At the University of New Mexico, the Muslim Students Association has held regular open talk sessions on campus.

We talk to people about Islam and how Islam is misportrayed in the media, said association president Masood Mirza. People think what they see on TV is what Islam is.

The 20-year-old accounting student of Indian and Pakistani heritage said people are often surprised to learn he was born in Albuquerque and is not an Arab.

Our goal is to show how diverse a faith this (Islam) is, Mirza said.

In recent months, groups of Muslim women have been holding public forums at UNM, local libraries and churches where they answer questions about Muslim beliefs, prayers and attitudes toward women in Islam.

At a forum in late April at the Martha Liebert Library in Bernalillo, the first question posed to the six-woman panel was, Is Islam really violent?

The immediate and unanimous response to the question from the women panelists was No.

Although the panel moderator stated at the outset that there would be no discussion of politics, the panelists acknowledged that among the roughly 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide there are those that have committed violent acts. But those acts were about power and money not religious faith. They have nothing to do with Islam, said the panel moderator.

Islam means submission to God. It means peace, said Indian-born Sabiha Quraishi, who has been in Albuquerque for 27 years.

Muslims greet each other, she said, by saying As-salaamu alaikum, which means peace be upon you. The response is Wa alaikum as-salaam, which means and upon you peace.

Bernalillo Mayor Jack Torres, who was among a small crowd that attended the forum, was impressed.

I think its really good for us to try to expand our horizons, said Torres. For me, it was a lot of new information. I thought it was helpful to hear from people who are believers of that faith.

Local presence

Muslims have a long history in New Mexico as Akhil demonstrated in a presentation at the Albuquerque Special Collections Library.

Historic sources indicate Muslim presence in New Mexico dates back to the 16th century when a black slave called Estevan or Estevanico from Azamor in Morocco guided Fray Marcos de Niza in the 1539 expedition searching for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

Albuquerque-based historian Monika Ghattass 2012 book Los Arabes of New Mexico tells the stories of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants who came to New Mexico as traders and peddlers in the 1880s, though many of them were not Muslim.

In the early part of the 20th century, several Palestinian families from a village near Jerusalem settled in Gallup and established themselves as traders in jewelry, rugs and pottery, according to Akhil and Sheikh Imam Nurudeen of the Gallup Islamic Center.

Akhil came to New Mexico from Hyderabad, India, in 1974 to study at New Mexico State University and subsequently worked for Public Service Company of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories. When he settled in Albuquerque, he said there were about 15 Muslim students and professors who gathered for Friday prayers in a room beside the University of New Mexico chapel.

They were instrumental in the building of the first mosque, or masjid, which opened in 1986. Architect Bart Prince designed the 3,500-square-foot building in a simple functional style without a dome or minaret to fit the communitys limited budget. Prince even provided work notes for the community members who pitched in with the construction work.

That was a huge help, Akhil said.

The community eventually outgrew the original building and local architect Tafazul Hussain designed the present 13,000-square-foot center, which opened in 2006. Akhil said 300 to 350 worshipers attend the congregational prayer service on Friday. They hail from dozens of countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey and more.

The center provides a variety of social, cultural and educational programs for children and youth and programs for women.

Educational retreat

Another Islamic center, Dar al-Islam, has existed in the rural hinterlands near Abiquiu since 1981.

Nurudin Durkee, a former Catholic from New York, with help from Saudi businessman Sahl Kabbani and former secretary-general of the World Muslim League Dr. Abdullah Naseef, developed the idea of an Islamic village in the U.S. The foundation they formed bought a former ranch near Abiquiu with the intention of creating a center where American Muslims could live and worship, wrote William Tracy in a 1988 Aramco World magazine article.

Plans for Dar al-Islam, which means home of Islam, included a school, medical center and stores. The adobe-built mosque was dedicated in June 1981. In the early 1980s during the construction phase there were more than 100 people living there, including about 40 children who received schooling at the site.

Dr. Mohammad Shafi, chairman of the Dar al-Islam board of trustees, said they eventually sold off the houses on the land to the people who were living in them and it is now an educational center offering retreats for women and families, youth camps and workshops about Islam for teachers.
State Police have released the names of two of the three officers involved in a shooting that left a 25-year-old California man dead near San Antonio last month.

State Police officers Francis Alguire and Jose Carlos, along with a Socorro County Sheriffs Office employee, attempted to stop Angel Daniel Navarro, 25, on May 26, NMSP Sgt. Chad Pierce said in a Saturday news release.

Navarro, who was traveling south on Interstate 25, led officers on a 12-mile chase before stopping in the roadway near the 138 mile marker, according to police.

Officers fired shots and Navarro died at the scene.

Alguire has been with State Police for three years, and Carlos has been with the department for two years, Pierce said. The sheriffs office employees name has not been released because an interview is pending, he said.

Navarro, who is from San Diego, was driving a vehicle that police were looking for in connection with an Albuquerque armed robbery.

Pierce did not say which officers fired shots, or how many shots were fired. The incident remains under investigation by State Police. Upon completion, it will be referred to a District Attorneys Office for review.
Twenty years ago, the New Mexico Lottery Success Scholarship covered 100 percent of tuition at New Mexico colleges and universities. Last year that dropped to 95 percent, then 90 percent.

So as lawmakers pat themselves on the back for not allowing that percentage to fall further next school year, the states undergraduates continue to struggle to make up the difference as tuition increases. The programs inherent funding flaw means students should get used to that struggle.

Program insolvency has been discussed since at least 2001, yet in the ensuing 15 years the Legislature has slapped Band-Aids on a program headed nowhere but deeper into the red. Yes, some were important if piecemeal fixes, including increasing the course load to 15 credit hours at traditional universities while decreasing the semesters covered to seven  both designed to encourage students to graduate in four years.

But all the while lawmakers have also had to rob Peter to pay Paul, diverting millions from other revenue sources including the Tobacco Permanent Fund and the alcohol excise tax to keep the scholarships afloat.

The lotterys own website heralds that it has handed out 103,510 legislative lottery scholarships since 1996, with just 53,511 graduates. New Mexico deserves better than 50-50 odds on a payoff for its investment in legalized gambling, and its students deserve to be set up for four years of success, not a few semesters of failure.

A 2015 Legislative Finance Committee report says raising admission standards is directly correlated with improved graduation rates and each additional point in the average ACT of incoming freshmen increases graduation rates by five points.

That means finally ensuring that lottery scholarship recipients are ready not only to attend but ultimately graduate from college.

And that means finally establishing eligibility requirements that have something to do with scholarship.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
SANTA FE  After weeks of campaign rallies and rhetoric rolling across the country, New Mexico will get its chance Tuesday to weigh in on this years crop of presidential candidates.

The state is part of a final wave of six states holding June 7 primary elections or caucuses  California, New Jersey, North Dakota, Montana and South Dakota are the others  and Democrat Hillary Clinton is expected to clinch her partys presidential nomination based on the nights results, possibly even before New Mexicos results are tabulated.

But local supporters of Bernie Sanders, who is also vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, have been energized by Sanders three recent campaign stops in New Mexico and say theyre glad hes staying in the race  at least for now.

Meanwhile, voters around the state will also decide 23 contested legislative primary races on Tuesday, as well as a two-way Republican congressional contest in northern New Mexico, a Democratic contest for the Albuquerque-area Public Regulation Commission seat currently held by incumbent Karen Montoya and numerous county-level and judicial races.

Former state Sen. Eric Griego, a Sanders backer, said Democratic voter interest in the presidential race, particularly among younger voters, could have an impact on other races on the ballot and said he was glad New Mexico Democrats will have a choice between two active presidential candidates, both of whom have launched recent TV ads in the state.

He also expressed misgivings about the role of so-called superdelegates, or Democratic Party elected officials and insiders who are free to support the presidential candidate of their choosing at the partys national convention, regardless of a states voting results.

At least six of New Mexicos nine superdelegates have already publicly thrown their support behind Clinton, a list that includes U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Lujan and Michelle Lujan Grisham.

I am really disappointed in general that superdelegates havent waited until voters decide, Griego told the Journal, adding that the appearance of a fixed nomination process could increase voter malaise.

That sentiment was echoed by former state Rep. Eleanor Chavez of Albuquerque, also a Sanders supporter, who said, This isnt a coronation  its supposed to be a democratic process.

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who supports Clinton, has been a superdelegate in the past. She said shes open to changes being made in how presidential candidates are nominated, but said the current system has its merits.

These are the people who understand and know the system better than anybody, said Denish, who is not a superdelegate this year.

She also said she hopes many Sanders backers will eventually come around to support Clinton, after the former secretary of state secures the partys nomination.

In all, New Mexico will send 43 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July in Philadelphia. Thirty-four of those 43  the non-superdelegates  will be allocated proportionally based on primary election results, provided each candidate gets at least 15 percent of the votes cast.

Clinton needs just 71 more delegates  pledged delegates and superdelegates  to mathematically secure the nomination. However, Sanders has insisted that, if he wins a majority of pledged delegates, he could persuade superdelegates to change their minds.

GOP

On the Republican side, New York businessman Donald Trump has already sewn up the GOP nomination, but five other GOP presidential candidates who have suspended their campaigns  Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and John Kasich  will still be listed on the primary ballot.

Longtime New Mexico political observer Brian Sanderoff said voter turnout among Republican voters might be lower as a result of fewer contested races.

Theres not that many competitive races going on, Sanderoff said. Theres not much action occurring on the Republican side.

But that doesnt mean all is calm on the GOP front.

Trumps May 24 rally in Albuquerque drew huge crowds of both supporters and protesters, some of whom tore through crowd-control barriers and threw rocks and flaming items at police. Trump has vowed to return to the state later this year.

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who is not up for re-election this year, has remained noncommittal as to whether she will support Trump in the general election. However, Martinez has said she plans to help GOP legislative candidates in their races this fall.

Neither of New Mexicos two U.S. Senate seats is up for election this year either, and none of the states three U.S. Representatives  Lujan, Lujan Grisham and Republican Steve Pearce  face primary election challenges. All three are slated to have general election opponents, however.

Clinton-Sanders

As for the Democratic presidential face-off, Sanderoff said two factors are working in Clintons favor  New Mexicos highest-in-the-nation percentage of Hispanic voters and the closed primary system that does not allow independent voters to participate.

In a Journal Poll conducted in February, Clinton was favored by Democrats likely to vote in the primary. She bested Sanders with 47 percent of respondents to his 33 percent.

She was particularly strong with middle-age women and Hispanics, while Sanders drew support from men and young people.

The margin between the two candidates has likely narrowed in recent months, Sanderoff said, due in large part to the national momentum of Sanders campaign.

But he added the fact that Clinton has not held any public campaign rallies in New Mexico in the run-up to the primary election  her husband, former President Bill Clinton did stump for her in Albuquerque, Espanola and Las Cruces  likely reflects her confidence in winning the states popular vote.

Sanders has held rallies of his own in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and the southern New Mexico town of Vado in recent weeks, and told a crowd of more than 7,000 people in Albuquerque on May 20 that he would stay in the race until the last ballot is cast.

Udall, who spent last week in New Mexico, said in a recent interview that its important that voters voices are heard in a primary election.

But he added that hed like to see a detente in the days or weeks after the primary, saying, They need to start working together to have a good, strong convention.

U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., who stumped in New Mexico for Clinton last week, also said a resolution to the race should be near, telling the Journal, My sense is were going to wake up on June 8 and understand we have a nominee.

Turnout

Voter turnout could also be a factor to watch on Tuesday.

There are more than 1.2 million New Mexicans registered to vote, but only about 963,000 voters will be able to participate in the primary election. Thats because the state has a closed primary system that only allows registered Democrats and Republicans  not independents or those belonging to minor political parties  to vote.

In the last presidential primary election in 2012, turnout in New Mexico was below average with only one in four eligible Democratic and Republican voters casting ballots. Before that, turnout had averaged 28 percent in presidential election year primaries since 1996, according to the Associated Press.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

University of New Mexico regents voted in April to name the universitys newest water research center after a former member of the Mexican government who had earlier resigned in a public corruption scandal. The regents backtracked on the naming decision last month, however.

The former official, David Korenfeld, is perhaps best known as the former head of Mexicos National Water Commission, or Conagua. He resigned in April 2015, days after photos circulated on social media showing him and his family using one of the commissions helicopters for personal travel.

As head of Conagua, Korenfeld oversaw the transfer of millions of dollars in contracts to the nonprofit that funded the UNM center, according to a report in the Mexican press.

Korenfeld also serves on the board of the nonprofit organization, known as ANEAS de Mexico, which gave UNM $450,000 to fund the research center in his name. But he later asked the university for his name to be removed, saying it would be inappropriate for the center to be named for a living person.

Although UNMs vice president for research and compliance was aware of the helicopter scandal, he did not inform the regents, and he recommended that they name the center after Korenfeld. They voted to do so unanimously at a meeting in early April.

Influential Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui and a group called Mexicans Against Impunity and Corruption published a joint report May 26 on UNMs plan to name the research center after Korenfeld  prompting hundreds of comments in Spanish expressing anger and disbelief.

That same day, UNM inked a new agreement with ANEAS, officially changing the name from Centro David Korenfeld in Water Governance Studies to the Center in Water Governance Studies. UNM dedicated the center, which is housed in the Latin American Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, that day.

The joint report published by Aristegui also said ANEAS de Mexico, which stands for National Association of Water and Sanitation Utilities of Mexico, benefited from $2 million in Conagua contracts while Korenfeld headed the commission and four months after his resignation benefited from another $4 million in commission contracts.

Korenfeld served on the board of ANEAS from 2007 to 2011 and rejoined the board shortly after his resignation from Conagua, according to the joint report. ANEAS initially requested the name change in a letter dated May 4, though the administrator who oversaw the name didnt receive it until the week of May 23.

Helicopter rides

The chain of events is a window into evolving views in Mexican society.

In a nation that has been rife with corruption, Mexicans in recent years have taken elites to task through public shaming campaigns. Members of the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto have been prime targets.

In April 2015, Mexican news media reported that Korenfeld and his family were headed for Mexico Citys airport in the Conagua helicopter to catch a flight for a spring break trip to the Vail ski resort in Colorado. Korenfeld apologized on Twitter for using the agency helicopter, calling it an inexcusable error.

A federal anti-corruption agency fined him about 649,000 pesos, or roughly $42,500.

News of the scandal was picked up by English-language newswire services including Reuters and The Associated Press.

Before, you could be corrupt and use public funds, but now anyone can snap a photo of you using the Conagua helicopter, said Raul Pacheco-Vega, a professor of water governance and public policy at the Center for Research and Teaching Economics in Mexico City. Mexican society is now not happy at all to just let these things slip through.

Korenfeld could not be reached by phone at the Mexico City office of ANEAS or via social media.

Earlier this year, press coverage of the helicopter controversy continued with the Mexico City daily newspaper El Universal reporting Korenfeld used the agency helicopter like Uber, citing official documents that show he caught rides on the helicopter at least 15 times for personal use.

Agreement changed

UNM had executed an agreement with ANEAS de Mexico in January in which the nonprofit agreed to donate $450,000 to found the Centro David Korenfeld in Water Governance Studies to support  professional and academic residencies, conferences, international seminars or other research activities, according to a UNM Foundation gift agreement. But a UNM news release issued last week did not mention the name originally proposed, only announcing the creation of the Water Governance Center focusing in Latin America.

Carlos Rey Romero, UNMs associate vice president for research and compliance, earlier recommended to the Board of Regents that the center be named after Korenfeld  ANEAS original proposal, according to documents from recent meetings of regents.

Rey Romero said he researched Korenfeld and found information about the helicopter incident. But he said he didnt think it was problematic, given that Korenfeld had apologized, and he didnt mention it to regents.

It seemed like he tried to make amends, Rey Romero said.

But sometime in April or May, Korenfeld found out his name was attached to the center and asked for it to be removed, Rey Romero said.

He didnt feel it was so appropriate, Rey Romero said.

A committee of the regents voted to approve the name of the center in April, and the full board voted unanimously to approve the name later that month.

None of the regents packet material contained information about the helicopter incident or Korenfelds resignation from Conagua. And regent Marron Lee said she didnt know anything about the helicopter incident before voting to approve the name.

ANEAS confirmed Korenfelds board membership. He also serves as chairman of the international hydrological program of UNESCO and on the board of governors of the World Water Council.
The state Human Services Department is cutting Medicaid spending with a meat cleaver when even a scalpel may not be necessary to save the $33 million HSD expects by slashing payments to physicians, dentists, hospitals and other medical providers.

The state plans to reduce payment for inpatient hospital services by 5 percent in general and by 8 percent at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Physicians face a 2 percent to 4 percent payment cut. Dentists would lose 3 percent.

There is no question the states health care industry, like the nations, wastes a lot of money. Faced with price reductions, providers will find a way to respond, even though the response will likely not be ideal. There is reason to be concerned that some providers will respond by avoiding treating Medicaid patients when possible or by leaving practice altogether. There is also the hope that the health care industry will look for ways to reduce the estimated 30 cents of every health care dollar that is lost to waste.

The most promising solution to health care cost reduction, however, probably lies in better care management, according to a paper, published in March, that evaluated the UNM Health Sciences Centers Care One program. Care One manages treatment of UNMs most medically complex and expensive cases. These cases represent the 1 percent of patients who account for 20 percent of spending on care in the UNM system.

Researchers reported that the management of Care One patients resulted in a $92,227 reduction in per-patient billings compared with similar patients who were not in the program.

This kind of thing works because, as every health care manager knows, the vast majority of expense in the system is caused by a handful of patients. Get the care of a few patients under control, or even better, keep those patients from becoming patients in the first place, and you have saved a significant amount of money.

A 2012 analysis of survey data from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that 1 percent of the population accounted for 20 percent of all personal health care spending. Nearly half of all spending could be attributed to 5 percent of the population. Looking just at the Medicare patient population, which includes older and disabled people, researchers found that the top 5 percent of spenders were responsible for 38 percent of Medicare spending.

The Lewin Group, a health care finance and health policy consulting firm, found, to no ones surprise, that the biggest spenders had chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Many of them also suffered from some form of mental illness.

New Mexicos HSD asked the companies with contracts to manage the care of Medicaid beneficiaries to describe the patients who cost the program the most money. As far as I can tell, this is the first time the companies shared that information publicly, at a Medicaid Advisory Committee subcommittee meeting last April.

The plans reported that newborn children with medical problems, burn and trauma victims, cancer patients, patients with hemophilia, and patients with chronic conditions are the biggest consumers of care dollars provided by Medicaid.

Per-member spending per month on pharmaceuticals is the fastest-growing item, at 14.9 percent year over year. The companies spent $3.4 billion on medical care for Medicaid recipients in 2015 and $557.6 million on nonmedical costs like program administration, including $132.5 million in premium taxes.

A few simple things might reduce that spending in a hurry. Take problems with newborns. Insurance companies call these million-dollar babies because their care can cost a fortune. Often, these are children who are born to mothers who had inadequate prenatal care, and many of those mothers are teenagers. Public health researchers know which populations of girls are most at risk for becoming pregnant. Reaching out to these girls through school programs, church programs, social media and other avenues to get them the prenatal care they need would take very little money. If just a few neonatal cases are avoided that way, the savings to Medicaid will be in the millions of dollars.

The states problem, of course, is that it needs to save money right away, and care management takes time to implement and time to produce results. Meanwhile, the Legislature is trying to balance the states budget today. Meat cleavers do have the advantage that they do the job quickly if not elegantly.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Winthrop Quigley at 823-3896 or wquigley@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE  The plane engines revved hot and the asphalt baked in the New Mexico sun on Day One of the 2016 Kirtland Air Show, the first show at the base in five years and part of the bases 75th anniversary celebration.

Locals and visitors on Saturday mingled with airmen and peeked at their aircraft, sights that ranged from helicopters and bombers to massive cargo planes. Then a huge crowd settled in to watch pilots showcase their talents in a series of shows that ran all afternoon. Kirtland estimated that 42,000 people turned out for the event.

The taxpayers spent a lot of money on this, Jason Hock, an Air Force pilot, said of the planes. This is the chance for them to put their hands on it.

Aircrews for the various types of aircraft stood by their planes or helicopters and answered questions about the equipment. Hock, who specializes in helicopters, shared a video of himself flying back from Afghanistan while refueling the helicopter mid-flight, in a storm, over the Atlantic on the way to Bermuda. A hose latched onto a refueling plane flying above his helicopter.

They asked for volunteers for this (meeting with the air show attendees), but its not like people dont want to be here and talk about what they do, and what they love to do, he said. We take a lot of pride in our mission.

The air show, which is free to the public, continues today. Gates open at 9 a.m., and the shows start at 10:30 a.m. with a parachute act during the national anthem.

Thats followed by the comedy act of Kyle Franklin, who plays the role of a drunken guy who sneaks onto the runway and steals a plane. He then flies so the plane swerves up and down and side to side just off the runway while the announcer acts as if everyones about to witness a catastrophe.

The show is being held this year to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Kirtland Air Force Base, the premier training site for Air Force special operations, and combat search and rescue aircrews.

Annie Kornegay of Albuquerque said it was majestic to take her 1- and 3-year-old grandchildren through a C-5 cargo plane. The childrens father is in the military and stationed in Saudi Arabia.

You do get a visual of who sits in these planes and for what purpose theyre in there for, she said.

Jonathan Hernandez, a software engineer from Albuquerque, toured planes in the morning with his 2-year-old son.

He likes airplanes, and Im hoping to give him a lot of exposure, he said. What I like about it is the technology.

The aerial performances over the runway drew a large audience. People crowded around one another, some wise enough to bring umbrellas for shade.

Some of the demonstrations included a DC-10 air tanker flyby that dropped water on the runway, and a stunt performance by brothers Dave and Billy Werth.

Dave drove a motorcycle down the runway, and Billy, the pilot, flew a plane upside down over him and got so close that Dave reached up and touched the plane.

Their aunt, Sandy Nebl, of Pueblo, Colo., made the trip to Albuquerque to see her nephews perform for the first time.

Im excited and so proud of them. They bring a lot of joy, she said. Im thrilled to be down here. Its a great event for Albuquerque and a great military community.

The Thunderbirds, an Air Force air demonstration squadron, had to cancel their 75-minute performance after one of the planes crashed on Thursday during a U.S. Air Force Academy commencement ceremony attended by President Barack Obama. The pilot ejected safely.

Were very disappointed the Thunderbirds arent here, but we came anyway, said Consuelo Garcia of Phoenix, who took in the show while visiting her friend who works on the base. Its awesome to look at them and see how huge (the planes) are.

Along with the planes and performances, several vendors are selling food and drinks. Everythings cash-only, and ATMs are available.

If you plan on heading to the show today, brace for another hot one. The National Weather Service is forecasting a high in the mid-90s. There are portable water tanks throughout the show area.

Saturdays high temps didnt bother Geraldine Guerrero of Albuquerque and her three boys, who are 6, 8 and 11. The family sat down on the concrete to watch the performances.

Im glad they brought it back because the kids are interested about the military, she said. They play video games and see (planes) in the movies. To see the real ones is great for them.
LOS ANGELES  With the primary season near its end, a defiant Bernie Sanders declared Saturday that the Democratic presidential process should not be decided by party leaders and elected officials, predicting a contested summer convention against rival Hillary Clinton.

Speaking to reporters three days before the California primary, Sanders showed few signs of surrender, vowing to take his bid to the Philadelphia convention in July. He urged news organizations not to anoint Clinton as the presumptive nominee through a combination of pledged delegates and superdelegates.

It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night, Sanders said. Now I have heard reports that Secretary Clinton has said its all going to be over on Tuesday night. I have reports that the media, after the New Jersey results come in, are going to declare that it is all over. That simply is not accurate.

Sanders said that, by the end of the primaries on June 14, neither candidate would have enough pledged delegates to declare victory and would be dependent upon superdelegates to reach the magic number. In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention, he said.

Clinton currently leads Sanders among pledged delegates by a count of 1,769 to 1,501, an edge of 268 pledged delegates. An Associated Press count of superdelegates shows Clinton leading 547 to 46. Clinton is currently 67 delegates short of clinching the nomination through the combination of the two and is poised to cross that threshold in the coming days.

Sanders wants Democrats to break with tradition. In 2008, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama clinched the nomination against Clinton through a mix of both types of delegates. And superdelegates have historically backed the candidate who wins the most delegates from primaries and caucuses, a threshold Clinton is likely to cross this week.

It is a deeply flawed process, Sanders said Saturday, and whether I win this nomination or I do not win this nomination, I will do everything I can to change it.

The Vermont senator is seeking a victory in California, New Jersey and four other contests on Tuesday. A win in the Golden State, where polls show a tight contest, would be an embarrassment for Clinton and embolden Sanders to aggressively lobby superdelegates to switch their support to him, arguing hes the best candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Clinton has begun forcefully attacking Trump on national security and his overall temperament for the White House, and has largely looked past Sanders, hitting hard at the GOP real estate mogul. She told supporters Friday that if all goes well, I will have the great honor as of Tuesday to be the Democratic nominee for president.

Sanders is expected to return to his Vermont home on Wednesday and advisers say he intends to ramp up his courtship of the partys superdelegates, a process that is already underway, pointing to polls showing him faring better than Clinton in head-to-head matchups with Trump.

He will compete in the District of Columbia primary on June 14, the final contest. Beyond that, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said they are considering whether Sanders might appear at more rallies around the country after the primaries and speak in Chicago at a gathering of Sanders activists on June 17-19.

But a loss in California, the nations most populous state, would undercut his case against Clinton.

Once the numbers come in, I think we can begin a serious discussion among ourselves about what the right path for us is, said Tad Devine, Sanders senior adviser. He added: If he wins California and a lot of states, hell want to make a closing argument to the superdelegates.

Sanders is pushing for his policy views to be included in the partys platform, and wants the party to become more inclusive of independent and working-class voters.

I am running for president because I want to give the American people a real choice in this election  a choice not just to vote against somebody, but to vote for a vision for where our great country can become, Sanders said at the Los Angeles news conference. It is very clear that Donald Trumps negative ratings are enormously high, unprecedented for a major party presidential candidate, and Secretary Clintons negative ratings are also very, very high.

Recalling her own campaign against Obama in 2008, Clintons team has avoided urging Sanders to leave the race. But, if Sanders loses California, hes likely to face pressure to drop out.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this week that sometimes you just have to give up, a sign of what could come next.

Sanders has said he will work day and night to defeat Trump, whom he repeatedly assails as a divisive figure. Yet few expect Sanders to quickly follow the example set by Clinton, who campaigned extensively for Obama after suspending the roll call vote at the 2008 convention and, later, became his secretary of state.

Said Weaver: Given what he has said, I suspect there will certainly be a roll call vote at the convention.

Neither Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden has endorsed Clinton, but their nod of approval would send a strong signal to Democrats and could marginalize Sanders quest to push forward into the convention.

The AFL-CIO, the labor federation representing 12.5 million workers, has also withheld an endorsement, but could send a powerful message to union members by backing Clinton. And progressive icons like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has stayed neutral in the primaries, could help bridge the gap between Sanders and Clinton loyalists.
LOS ANGELES  When an active shooter alert spread across the UCLA campus Wednesday, some students found themselves in a frightening predicament: They were told to go into lockdown, but couldnt lock their classroom doors.

Images on social media of students piling tables, chairs and printers against doors sparked alarm and raised questions  yet, it was hardly the first time students at a university or school were unable to lock their doors during a shooting.

The same issue arose during other recent deadly attacks, including one at Virginia Tech in 2007 where students barricaded themselves inside rooms, and during the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012, where teachers did the same.

Some schools have installed locks in recent years following attacks, but experts say wider adoption has been hindered by the cost to retrofit doors and local fire codes that require doors to open in one motion during emergencies.

Yet, once an active shooter is in a building, most security experts agree getting into a locked room is one of the most effective deterrents against being injured or shot.

How many deaths would it have taken for us to address this issue more seriously? said Jesus Villahermosa, president of Crisis Reality Training, noting that an assailant, knowing police are on the way, usually wont bother trying to access a locked room.

The former deputy sheriff said UCLA was fortunate in that shooter Mainak Sarkar targeted professor William Klug and then committed suicide. If hed gone on a rampage, he might have easily found students unable to defend themselves.

The university said Friday it was assessing safety measures across the campus and will make appropriate changes.

Its unknown exactly how many school and university classrooms dont have doors that can lock from the inside. Villahermosa said the issue is more prevalent on college campuses than in K-12 schools.

There are a variety of reasons why a school may not have classroom locks.

Older buildings constructed at a time when classrooms typically contained just desks and a chalkboard  and not the expensive technology many have today  frequently did not include them.

Fire safety regulations for rooms with 50 or more students typically require that doors swing outward and be opened in one motion, meaning a bolt that has to be turned first would be a violation.

Others worry locking doors from the inside in itself could pose a threat. If an attacker walked inside and locked the door, students would be trapped. And the cost of installing new doors and locks can stretch into the millions.

Even when there is a lock, the shooter has often been a student with access to the classroom or building.

We should be spending more time on prevention than door locks, said Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia.

The National Fire Protection Associations life safety code adopted in 38 states does not prohibit putting locks on doors, division manager Robert Solomon said. But there are certain types of locks schools must install.

Schools usually dont have a lot of extra capital money sitting around, he said. But its something that theyre thinking about now.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

ACOMA PUEBLO  Dust and the bawling of 300 head of cattle, mother cows and calves, mingled in the air above the corral just east of Acoma Pueblos centuries-old Sky City.

Members of the Acoma Cattle Growers Association were busy opening and shutting gates as they separated calves from their mothers this past Thursday morning, a sunny day on which the pueblos buttes and mesas popped out in stark relief against a backdrop of blue sky.

The cows and calves were in no mood to appreciate a pretty day. They were agitated about being split up, and things were about to get even more disconcerting for the calves. Over the next four hours, 144 calves would be tied up, clamped down, branded and vaccinated. The bull calves would be castrated. And some calves  male and female  would be blessed according to sacred Acoma tradition.

But before any of that could happen, the calves had to be separated from their mothers and split into two groups according to whether they were to be branded on their right or left sides.

Much of that work fell to the young people at the corral, young people on whom Acomas tradition of raising cattle hinges. Its a fading tradition, a victim of the same trends that have seen all of this country shift from rural to urban as people seek out easier, higher-paying and more reliable ways to make a living.

There are 22 members in the association, so that means 22 different brands and earmarks  distinctive cuts made in an animals ear to indicate ownership. The calves had already been earmarked, so youngsters, ages 8 to 17, used those earmarks to determine each calfs owner and whether it was destined for a right-side or a left-side brand.

The young people get to know the earmarks, said Fermin Martinez, association president. We try to educate them as much as we can. One thing I stress is rangeland management. The young people will actually go out with a tape measure to measure grass so we know how many cows we can put on a section. And we want to get the kids to know whether that is blue grama or sacaton grass.

Brandings at Acoma are a mixture of old ways and modern methods. At Acoma, mounted cowboys no longer rope calves and pull them to a branding fire, the traditional practice still favored by many, including the cattle association at nearby Laguna Pueblo.

We havent branded with ropes and fires in about 12 years, Martinez said. We do less-stress management for the calves. We have tried to pass that on to the younger generation.

Acoma uses calf tables or branding tables. Thats a metal chute calves are run into. Their heads go through a hole in front of the chute and their necks are clamped in place. The rear legs are tied with rope to the back side of the chute. The chutes are swiveled into a position horizontal to the ground and the top side opened to provide access to the calf for branding, vaccination and castration.

Thats why its necessary to separate the calves according to which side is to be branded. The Acoma corral has two calf tables, one for each side.

The branding irons themselves are cooked to red hot on a heater fueled by propane. So much for all those cowboy songs about the smoke of the branding fire. The smell of burning calf hair is still the same, however.

People tell us we are high maintenance over here with all these chutes, Lance Chino, 27, said. Slowly we are getting away from the old ways. But its easier on the animals.

Even though all the animals trot off swiftly after being released from the calf tables, theyd likely disagree about the process being easier on them. But its true. Calves branded on Thursday ranged in age from several weeks to several months old. A 3-month-old calf can weigh 270 pounds or more. Manhandling an animal that size increases the potential for injury to calf and cowboys.

The oldest cowboy at Thursdays branding was Marvis Aragon, 68.

Ive been out here with the fathers and the grandfathers of these cowboys who are here today, he said. When I started working cattle here, we were riding dinosaurs.

Aragon was seasoned in the smoke of branding fires and remembers when pinkeye in Acomas early herds of Hereford cattle was treated by rubbing in a mixture of salt and charcoal.

Now, he marvels at the way calves are vaccinated in a matter of seconds for everything from shipping fever to respiratory problems and just about anything else that can happen to cattle outside of lightning strikes.

But we still believe in the old ways, the spiritual ways, Aragon said. We still go with what our grandfathers told us about how to keep (the calves) strong and healthy. We talk to them. Dont use the whip too much.

And the more traditional Acoma cattle owners, such as the Aragons, bless the calves.

As the calves lie confined on the branding table, women wash their faces with water and yucca soap, blow over an ear of corn held near the calves heads and put a granule of salt between the calves cheeks and gums.

We baptize the newborn calf, tell it to grow up to be strong and happy, said Wanda Aragon, Marvis wife.

I washed its face to welcome it into the herd, Glenda Garcia said. Thats a tradition my grandfather wanted me to keep. It is important to keep the family traditions.

One of those traditions is raising cattle.

When the Acoma Cattle Growers Association was started in 1942, there were 75 members and 2,000 cattle grazed on pueblo rangeland. Back then, the cattle were Herefords. Later, for about 10 years, the association raised mostly Beefmaster cattle, and for the last 10 years Black Angus have been the predominant breed.

The blood of all those breeds was represented at the Acoma corral last week. On Memorial Day, the association had branded 153 calves in addition to the 144 branded Thursday. And on Friday, Acoma riders were out looking for any mother cows and calves they had missed in the roundup a week ago.

Even so, the associations 22 members run only about 800 head, less than half of what the organization boasted more than 70 years ago.

Over the years, we have been losing a lot of the younger generation, Garcia, 54, said.

She said that when some of the younger people inherit cattle from their fathers, uncles or grandfathers, they sell the animals rather than work with them.

They have no interest, Garcia said. They see only dollar signs.

Chino said there used to be a lot more young men working the brandings than there were this past Thursday.

They slowly pan off, find work in town as corrections officers or whatever, he said.

Association president Martinez admits its a challenge to get and keep young people involved in the cattle business, but he believes he is up to it.

Thats why I attend all these seminars to learn how to make things easier, he said. Im trying to keep everybody working together, to keep everybody on the same road, the same path. I think the tradition will keep on.

And there were enough young people working at the corral Thursday to make an observer believe hes right.

Delbert Roughsurface III, 17, who will be a senior at Laguna Acoma High School next year, plans to be a veterinarian and spend his life working with cattle. He said the tradition will live on at Acoma as long as young people, such as himself, continue to tend to the cattle with their families.

Some young people dont like it, he said. They dont like the heat, or they get kicked. But out here, you get to experience things that people in the city dont. And it pays off. Come sale time, our grandfather takes us to get boots and other things we need. But we work for it.

And he wouldnt have it any other way.

Ive been basically doing this all my life, he said.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

Bernalillo County voters this week will choose nominees to manage hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers cash, serve as Albuquerques top prosecutor and fill other local offices.

The winners of Tuesdays primary election, of course, will shape the choices voters face this fall.

But, in most races, whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be heavily favored because Democrats comprise about 47 percent of registered voters in Bernalillo County. Republicans are about 30 percent, and the remainder are independents or affiliated with minor parties.

An investment meltdown that cost county taxpayers $17 million is the backdrop to the county treasurers race.

The field of Democratic candidates includes incumbent Manny Ortiz and former Treasurer Patrick Padilla  each of whom had a hand in the countys investment strategy, though both deny responsibility for the losses  and two challengers who say its time for new leadership.

Christopher Sanchez, an accounting manager in the Treasurers Office, and Nancy Bearce, a neighborhood leader who used to work for the state, are urging voters to embrace a change in direction.

Primary election voters tend to be older and more educated than the average voter, pollster Brian Sanderoff said. But, even so, they may have trouble sorting out the four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, he said.

None of the candidates has raised and spent enough money to flood the television with campaign ads.

Quite frankly, a lot of these races end up below the radar in the minds and hearts of the average voter, said Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc., which does surveys for the Journal .

Name recognition is an asset in down-ballot races, he said, though in this case that may be offset somewhat by negative publicity about the most familiar candidates: Ortiz and Padilla.

Ortiz endured a recall campaign and a unanimous vote of no confidence by the County Commission.

Padillas work has been harshly criticized by auditors, and his political career has endured plenty of controversy.

In 1993, for example, 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 2006, Padilla was arrested on a drunken-driving charge, which was later dismissed, and, in 2012, he faced a county investigation into harassment allegations.

Of the four candidates, Sanchez has raised the most money. He has raised about $22,000 in donations, Padilla about $8,000, Bearce about $2,000 and Ortiz $392.

The winner will face one of two Republicans  Kim Hillard or Christopher Mario Romero, neither of whom has raised much money  in the fall.

District attorney

The race for district attorney is a different story altogether.

Raul Torrez, who has worked as a local, state and federal prosecutor, has spent more than $312,000 on his campaign to win the Democratic nomination, more than five times the spending of his rival, Edmund Perea, a lawyer and former police officer.

Torrez also has the backing of an independent political action committee funded by a $107,000 donation from George Soros, the Democratic billionaire.

Perea has spent about $62,000 so far.

The winner will face Republican Simon Kubiak, a DWI lawyer and criminal defense attorney, in the Nov. 8 general election.

Incumbent Kari Brandenburg, a Democrat, is stepping down after 16 years in office.

Her replacement will face a backlog of police shooting cases and high dismissal rate.

County Commission

The massive Santolina development plan on the West Side is the dominant campaign topic in a race that will shape the County Commission.

Three Democrats are seeking the partys nomination to represent the South Valley and a chunk of the West Side: Robert G. Chavez, a retired police sergeant and business owner; Adrian Pedroza, development director of a nonprofit group based in the South Valley; and Steven Michael Quezada, an actor and a member of the Board of Education.

The winner will face Republican Patricia Paiz this fall.

A political action committee backed by the Santolina development team has raised about $25,000 to campaign against Pedroza, and in favor of Chavez and Quezada.

Pedroza opposes Santolina and calls it an example of sprawl development.

Chavez said he would consider the proposal the way a judge would, based only on the evidence before him.

Quezada voted against Santolina as a member of the school board, but has left open the possibility of supporting it in the future as a way to ensure well-planned growth.

Pedroza has raised the most money from donors. He has about $74,000, Quezada about $53,000 and Chavez about $25,000.

Incumbent Art De La Cruz, a Democrat, cannot run this year because of term limits.

County clerk

Voters will also choose a new county clerk to oversee elections.

On the Democratic side, Deputy County Clerk Roman Montoya faces Linda Stover, former director of the New Mexico Rural Rehabilitation Corp.

Montoya has raised about $51,000 in donations and Stover about $26,000.

The winner will face Republican Maryellen Ortega-Saenz.

Incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, is running for secretary of state.
DELTA, Colorado  Colorado GOP Party Chairman Steve House plans to meet with Delta County Committee Chairwoman Linda Sorenson after party members complained she was taking sides in a party primary race, which is a violation of party rules.

The latest criticism comes after a photo that compared President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee appeared on her web page. Party officials said the photo was posted by hackers.

Party members say Sorenson has been urging people to vote for U.S. Senate candidate Daryl Glenn, even though six Republicans competing for the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in the June 28 Republican primaries.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports (http://tinyurl.com/hpvnhuk ) Sorenson could not be reached for comment because her phone was disconnected and her Facebook page was taken down.

___

Information from: The Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com
PHOENIX  Southern Arizona could see record high temperatures again.

The National Weather Service says if Phoenix hits 114 degrees on Sunday, it will mark the third day in a row setting record high temperatures in Arizonas Urban Heart.

Much of Southern Arizona, from Phoenix to Nogales, is under an excessive heat warning.

Other western and southwestern U.S. states are experiencing above-normal temperatures in the triple-digits.

Officials are warning residents to stay hydrated and avoid the outdoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when temperatures are highest.

The Arizona Department of Health also says that neither people nor pets should be left in cars. It takes only 10 minutes for a car to reach deadly temperatures.
MAGDALENA, N.M.  Firefighters are continuing to fight several wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona amid record high temperatures.

Officials in New Mexico said Sunday a blaze raging through the San Mateo Mountains around 25 miles southwest of Magdalena, New Mexico has grown to 12 square mile. The Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands Magdalena Ranger District says the inferno is 20 percent contained.

Meanwhile, firefighters in Arizona are battling a much larger blaze. The Juniper Fire just south of the town of Young is now burning on over 28 square miles in the Tonto National Forest. Portions of State Route 288 have been closed to help firefighters fight the fire.

Officials say the extreme heat and a dry winter mean theres a high risk of wildfires.
Britannia Good Day Chunkies, one of the partners for Indias first ever International Food Festival - World On A Plate, provided the food lovers in the city a sneak peek into the lives, quirky moments and the gastronomic journeys of the 3 MasterChef Australia judges at an exclusive teteatete at U.B. City Amphitheatre yesterday.



The 3 MasterChef Australia judges - Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris, spoke avidly about the culinary delights they have experienced through the years  from street to gourmet food, their personal moments of indulgence, favourite recipes and their journey to being professional chefs, critics and food business owners. Hosted by the vivacious Maria Goretti, the event witnessed them sharing their passion for food, behind the scenes moments from MasterChef Australia and inspirational thoughts encouraging aspirational youngsters.



The most animated of the lot Gary Mehigan threw boxes of Britannia Good Day Chunkies at the crowd when the conversation came to the cookies they love. He also commented, I absolutely love cooking under pressure cooker situations. It is a part of who I am and I thrive on it. We advise the MasterChef Australia contestants to lose the fear of failure!



The suave George Calombaris said, If you really want to get where you want to be you have to push yourself. You have to live and breathe that passion. If someone asks me what my hobby is, I say food and I watch food shows during the time that I have to spare.









Present on the occasion Mr. Ali Harris Shere, Director of Marketing, Britannia India said, The World on a Plate food festival is a perfect platform for food enthusiasts who value taste and sensory experience of food, and thus the perfect partner for us. We were delighted to host this special session for MasterChef Australia fans, where they got to hear the icons of gourmet food, reveal their quirks and life experiences. They are amongst the finest chefs of today and Chunkies stands for the finest of cookies. We hope that the coming together of both has helped create an enjoyable experience for the foodies in the city.

Besides food lovers, the audience also consisted of winners from the digital contest #ChefsWithChunkies, wherein the participants shared innovative recipes created with Britannia Good Day Chunkies. The event turned out to be a true foodies delight with uplifting stories and an interesting talk of food, family and personal trivia amidst a roaring crowd.
King Mohammed VI visit to China: Upgrading the relationship with China to a strategic partnership

Moroccan Sovereign King Mohammed VI and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries.

the two leaders have signed the statement after talks at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing.

The strategic partnership will be a milestone for the development of the bilateral ties and bring new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in all areas, Xi said.

He added that China always attaches high importance to relations with Morocco, and will steadily support its efforts to maintain national stability and promote social and economic development. China also appreciates Moroccos adherence to the one-China policy and its support on major issues concerning Chinas core interests.

According to the joint statement, the two sides will increase exchanges between heads of state, government leaders and officials, strengthen communication and coordination on strategic issues, enhance cooperation and exchanges between legislative bodies and political parties.

The two sides reaffirmed the principle of respecting all countries sovereignty and territorial integrity, and vowed to support all sides efforts to maintain peace and stability of the regions they belong to.

The two sides called for peaceful solutions to international and regional crises and disputes; opposed interference in others internal affairs, use of force or threat by force; and condemned terrorism in all forms.

The two sides will implement the cooperation consensus reached under the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Xi said China welcomed Moroccos continued participation in China-Arab states cooperation and China-Africa cooperation, which will bring broad prospect for the development of the China-Morocco relations.

With regard to bilateral cooperation, the joint statement said the two countries will deepen cooperation in areas including petroleum, mining industry, agriculture, environmental protection, ocean fisheries, infrastructure construction and digital communication, expand cooperation in renewable energy, and develop partnership in industry, metallurgy and electronics.

Xi said China is willing to participate in Moroccos industrial revitalization and encourage companies to join in local infrastructure projects.

China is willing to strengthen military exchanges, tourism and educational cooperation with Morocco, and hopes a Chinese cultural center could be built up there as early as possible, Xi said.

The president said China is ready to strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation on international affairs such as climate change, to maintain the common interests of the two countries and other developing countries.

King Mohammed VI spoke positively of the traditional friendship between the two countries and thanked China for long-term assistance.

He echoed Xi saying the strategic partnership will inject new vitality into the two countries relations. Morocco is willing to join with China to expand trade and infrastructure cooperation, and strengthen coordination on development issues and climate change.

Morocco is willing to be an important cooperative partner of China in Africa and among the Arab states, the king said.

After the hour-long talks, the two sides signed several cooperation agreements in areas including judiciary, trade, energy, mining, finance, culture and food security.
On the sidelines of the visit King Mohammed VI carried this week in China, the Moroccan monarch and the President of the Peoples Republic of China, H.E. Xi Jinping presided over the signing of several public-private agreements, Moroccos Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The first agreement is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up an industrial and residential park in Morocco between the Kingdom of Morocco and Chinese group HAITE. The MoU concerns the construction of logistical and residential zones in the region of Tangiers.

The second is a cooperation agreement on the sector of investment and finance between the government of Morocco and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited.

The third is a MoU on the transfer of North-South Waters between the government of Morocco and China Harbour Engineering Company ltd.

The fourth is a draft agreement between Moroccos office for electricity and drinking water (ONEE) and Chinas SEPCO III Electric Power Construction. It touches on conducting studies to conclude a contract on the extension and maintenance of Jerada power plant.

The fifth is a partnership agreement between the Moroccan Tourism office and China International Travel Service (CITS).

The sixth is a partnership agreement between YANGTSE, the Societe dInvestissement Energetique (SIE), Marita Group and the Banque Centrale Populaire for purchasing and building a unit for manufacturing electric buses (ultra-light) worth 1.2 billion dirhams.

The seventh agreement concerns a partnership between Linuo Ritter, SIE, Cap Holding and Attijariwafa Bank for the creation of an industrial production unity for solar water-heaters in Morocco (worth around 96 mln dirhams).

The eight document is a partnership agreement between Hareon Solar, SIE, Jet Contractor and Attijariwafa Bank for the development of a production unit for photovoltaic cells (1.1 billion MAD on four stages).

The ninth is a MoU between China Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) and Attijariwafa Bank. It seeks to back up African enterprises by completing the loan offer through a contribution in capitals and efficient governance, in addition to opening new prospects for Moroccan-Chinese investment opportunities in Africa.

The tenth is a MoU between Haite Group, Morocco-China International and BMCE Bank of Africa. It touches on the setting up in Morocco of a Chinese-Moroccan industrial park, and a Chinese-Moroccan one-billion dollars investment fund targeting the sectors of aeronautics, finances, industrial parks and infrastructure, launching a fund management company and reinforcing partnership in the fields of life insurance in China, aircraft leasing, as well as a technical partnership to launch a bank on new technologies in China.

The eleventh is a MoU between BMCE Bank of Africa and China Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund). It concerns the funding of development projects in key-sectors in Africa, investment in markets of public and private debt in Africa, and partnership as part of the 223 Club, an initiative created by the BMCE Bank Group of Africa under the COP22 slated this year in Marrakech.

The twelfth is an agreement on financing the construction of a cement plant in Morocco.

The thirteenth is a MoU for the development of an industrial and logistical hub for manufacturing spare parts for railway, car and aeronautics industries between the Sichuan Huatie hi-tech Construction Engineering co. ltd, the Societe Nationale de Transport et de la Logistique (SNTL) and the ATTIJARIWAFA BANK.

The fourteenth document is a MoU for the development of logistical zones in Africa between China Harbour engineering company LTD, the SNTL and Attijariwafa Bank. It seeks to combine the Moroccan and Chinese know-how in engineering and infrastructure and benefit from the Moroccan expertize in logistical platforms development.

The fifteenth is a MoU for China-Africa cross-border E-Trade between CLEVY CHINA, the SNTL and Attijariwafa Bank. It is meant to develop a E-market platform for Chinese products sent to Africa by using Morocco as a distribution hub and a gateway to Africa.
The bodies of more than 100 people who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea were found washed up on beaches near the Libyan city of Zuwarah, a Libyan navy spokesman said.

Colonel Ayoub Gassim told The Associated Press on Friday that at least 104 bodies have been pulled out of the waters near the western city, but that the expected death toll is likely to be higher since such boats usually carry up to 125 people.

Most of the victims appeared to be from sub-Saharan Africa, though their bodies were decomposed and it was not clear when they had drowned.

On Tuesday, the UN refugee agency said at least 880 people drowned over the past week following a series of shipwrecks as departures from the North African coast towards Italy surged.

Many of the boats are believed to have left from the shore around Zuwarah and Sabratha in Libyas northwest.

A coastguard spokesman in Tripoli said no boats had been intercepted over the past two days, with rougher seas preventing patrols.

People smugglers in Libya have exploited political chaos and lawlessness to expand their activities along routes from sub-Saharan Africa, often working with local armed groups.

The head of the EUs Mediterranean naval mission recently said that people smuggling was estimated to account for between 30 and 50 percent of the gross domestic product in northwestern Libya.

Refugees and migrants reportedly pay smugglers hundreds of dollars for a place on boats, often flimsy inflatable craft that either sink or are picked up by international rescue missions.

The new Libyan government faces a complex challenge asserting its authority, while efforts to counter people trafficking were thrown into disarray by the conflict that followed Libyas 2011 uprising, and the coastguard feels abandoned.

The only assistance we have been offered so far is promises, Colonel Abdulssmad Massoud, of the coastguard in Tripoli, told the Reuters news agency.

So far this year more than 40,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Italy by paying people smugglers for the journey, broadly in line with a steep increase in numbers since 2014.
Since Algeria and the Islamic Republic of Iran restored relations in 2000, the two countries have forged an unlikely partnership, which has proven to be a source of consternation among some of the Arab worlds heavy hitters.

In late May, ministers from Algeria and Iran sat down to discuss partnerships in areas such as petrochemicals, agriculture, construction and energy. It was announced that the two countries would focus extensively on the production of automotive vehicles. At least 15 agreements were signed, which would grant Iran a foothold in North Africa to manufacture cars, vans and trucks.

Irans trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh remarked that there are no restrictions on cooperation between Iranian and Algerian companies. On a visit to Tehran, Algerias Minister of Industry and Mines Abdeslam Bouchouareb also welcomed the deal between the West and Iran to lift sanctions as a result of an agreement concerning the countrys nuclear programme.

These latest moves are significant if one considers their place within the broader geopolitical context. In the first instance, Algeria is a Sunni Arab state, which has rebuffed key Sunni power Saudi Arabias entreaties to be included in a coalition of Muslim states in the fight against ISIS. However, Algeria has traditionally avoided intervening militarily in regional conflicts.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia faces Iranian-supported resistance on two fronts: first in Syria, where Tehran is providing staunch support for President Bashar al-Assad and second in Yemen, where the Allah Ansar movement or the Houthis dominate the north east of the country. In early January, both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Iran. This prompted Algerias own Ministry of Foreign Affairs to release a statement stating, Algeria urges the political leadership of both countries [Saudi Arabia and Iran] to exercise restraint to avoid further deterioration of the situation which would have serious negative consequences at both the bilateral and regional level.

A mixed history

Before the Algerian military cancelled legislative elections in December 1991, relations between Algeria and Iran had generally been good. Algerian leaders such as Houari Boumedienne were supportive of Ayatollah Khomeini, since he was opposed to Western meddling in the Middle East. Yet, it would later be Algerian diplomats who would help secure the release of 52 US citizens from captivity in Iran, which resulted in the Algiers Accords of January 1981.

However after 1992, Algerias rulers had to work to prevent internal forces from launching their own Islamic revolution. According to writer Martin Stone, the Algerian government suspected Tehran of sponsoring the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). In March 1993, the two countries broke off relations, but seven years later, they were restored. In the coming years, both countries signed a number of cultural and economic agreements. In a mutual act of defiance, in 2012, during a conference for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Algeria were the only two countries opposed to the exclusion of representatives of Syrias Assad regime from attending.

The limits of friendship

While Algeria and Iran have demonstrated a willingness to cooperate, volatility in the energy sector is having a negative effect. As an OPEC member, Algeria has been persuading Saudi Arabia for months to cut production in order to boost prices, but they have refused unless producers such as Iran also agree.

Algeria is under increasing strain to ward off threats both close to home and abroad. According to Bloomberg, it is up against the threat of ISIS. Additionally, corruption within the state oil and gas company Sonatrach, as well as uncertainty over the health of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, does not help to attract investors.

Together, Algeria and Iran only generate $100 million in trade, but there are hopes that this will rise. While Iran has little to concern itself with through seeking out new markets in the Maghreb, Algeria will have to take a cautious approach. This is because Algeria could face greater isolation if it continues to press major OPEC players such as Saudi Arabia for reform, while also cultivating stronger ties with Iran. Finally, it may need to stop and reconsider the shape of its own economic and political landscape.
Algeria said on Wednesday its troops had killed eight Islamist militants and seized weapons during an operation 350 km (220 miles) east of the capital Algiers.

Militant attacks are rare since Algeria emerged from its 1990s war with armed Islamists, but small groups of fighters allied to al Qaedas North Africa branch are active in remote areas.

The eight militants were killed when troops ambushed them late on Tuesday near the town of Guelta Zarka in the eastern province of Setif, the defense ministry said.

More than 200,000 people died in Algerias civil war with armed Islamists in the 1990s, which ended with an amnesty deal with several groups of fighters.
France welcomes the conclusion of the trial in Senegal of former Chadian President Hissene Habre  a remarkable step forward in the fight against impunity.

This trial, which was conducted in an effective manner, with due respect for the rights of the defense and those of the victims, marks an important milestone for the international criminal justice system, especially in relation to Africa and its Extraordinary African Chambers. This is a prime example of how these courts can complement the essential work carried out by the International Criminal Court. France pays tribute to the role played by the African Union, to the personal commitment of President Macky Sall of Senegal and commends the very substantial support of the Chadian authorities for these courts.

We reaffirm our attachment to impartial justice and the fight against impunity everywhere. These are key to promoting human rights as well as helping to prevent conflicts and restoring peace in the countries affected by mass atrocities. France is fully mobilized to achieve these aims.
The Death of the leader of the separatist Polisario Front: Bad News, Good News.. No News

Mohammed Abdelaziz, the secretary general of the separatist movement Polisario Front, has died on Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with illness.

The movement ordered a 40-day mourning period, after which a new secretary-general will be chosen, it added.

Khatri Abdouh, one of the front leading members was appointed as interim Polisario Front leader.

However, for Morocco, Rabat has acted as a no news generating incident. This might be because of the fact that Mohammed Abdelaziz has played a major role in expanding hostilities between Morocco and Algeria, through his placement as a delegated agent, backed by Algerian army to advocate separatist thesis. Also, for his misleading role that triggered three decades of separations of thousands of Sahraouis from their families, through sequestration, ideological indoctrination and starvation mechanism.

According to information published by Spanish news website lainformacion.com, the late Polisario leader Mohammed Abdelaziz, revealed to one of his close friends that the lung cancer he battled for years led him to believe that his old convictions had become obsolete over time.

Since its creation, the Polisario is not the master of its destiny. Decisions are not made in the Tindouf Sahrawi refugee camps, but in Algiers.

Today, after the death of Mohammed Abdelaziz, the new leadership of Polisario might handle a new approach to the Western Sahara conflict and bring a new dynamic to the conflict, based on willingness to open up to Morocco and show readiness to negotiate a political solution . Or it will just stick to the Algerian sponsored thesis of separatism.

Nevertheless, whatever happens, the new leadership will not be able to refrain Saharawi young people from inquiring their rights to have self-worth life based on freedom to choose their representatives and to express their will.

The death of Mohammed Abdelaziz was in ground a convenient opportunity for young Sahraouis to see how the Polisario former leader , was just a rebellious Moroccan citizen, descended from a father who fought in the Moroccan army for the Moroccan territorial Integrity.

Mohammed Abdelaziz was born in Kasbat Tadla, outside of Marrakech, along with many of his siblings. He studied in Agadir, then in Rabat, like several other founding members of the Polisario.

His father, Khalili Ben Mohamed Al-Bachir Rguibi was born in 1912 and served as a member of the Moroccan Liberation Army, which was formed following Moroccos independence in order to fight Spanish colonialism in southern Morocco. He later joined the Moroccan Armed Forces until he retired in 1976.

It is expected that Mohamed Abdelaziz will be buried Bir Lahlou , located in the Moroccan land in the buffer zone in Western Sahara. But for Moroccans, this is not an issue that generates disputes, since Abdelaziz was born in Morocco of Moroccan father and a mother, it gives him a natural right to be buried inside Moroccan territory, regardless of their political convictions

News from the field talked about the existence of a state of emergency in various camps in Tindouf and around, due to tensions that prevail among sahraouis, especially among young groups that claimed just after the death of the front leader, the lifting of the ban on three files related to the suspected involvement Mohamed Abdelaziz,mainly in:

The context related to the assassination of the founder leader of the Polisario Front Mustafa el Ouali

The file related to the Deviation of humanitarian aid

Then the behavior of nepotism initiated by Abdelaziz at the top level of the decision-making inside the Front, including his political protection granted to his wife Khadija inside the Sahrawi Womens Federation, and to his sons inside the so called Sahraoui Television and inside the so-called Sahraoui Army

In this video published on YouTube: Abdelazizs father said that he had not seen his son since 1975. The former member of the Moroccan army also disowned his son due to his involvement with the Polisario.
Moroccan authorities on Saturday arrested a supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS), who was active in the city of Meknes (150 km east of Rabat), the Interior Ministry said.

The investigations have shown the total adherence of this man to the terrorist strategy of this extremist organization, and the long experience he has acquired in the manufacturing of explosive devices, in addition to his training in a mountainous region in order to develop his fighting skills, the ministry pointed out in a statement.

The investigations also confirmed that he was planning to carry out terrorist attacks in the kingdom or a European country, the statement added.

This individual will be brought before justice after the end of the investigation led by the prosecutors office, according to the same source.
In a letter sent to President Obama on Thursday, a bipartisan group of 16 Members of Congress hails Morocco as the USs strongest and oldest friend in a very important part of the world, and urges greater visibility for Moroccos role in promoting stability and development in the region, as well as the countrys progress on human rights. The letter comes shortly after Morocco expressed concerns last month that the US State Departments April 2016 human rights report on the country contained factual errors and misrepresented Moroccos efforts in that area.

The letter noted, We understand that Morocco is the only country in the region to have established with the United States, since 2006 and at the request of Morocco, an on-going dialogue on human rights that is intended to be an open forum for objective and constructive engagement on these issues. This cooperative process, we are told, aims at exchanging information intended to resolve issues throughout the year and contribute to the accuracy of the annual report. We commend this process and would hope that it brings a positive contribution.

[Morocco] has been our ally in both the early days and throughout our history  including during World War II, the Cold War, and now our common battle against ISIL and other forms of terrorism, read the letter. Morocco shares our values and aspirations for the region and has been a model in promoting stability through substantial reforms.

We are concerned that recent developments in our strategically important alliance with Morocco need to be made a higher priority and that our support for Moroccos signal achievements, including on human rights, and the important role it is playing to enhance stability and development in the region, needs to be given much greater visibility in our public statements about this critical bilateral relationship with one of our oldest and most trusted partners.

Signatories of the letter included Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).
National party Congress is in a confused state of mind and tug of war between old guard versus young Turks is happening again. Despite all the debacles in recent elections the old guards Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal have been nominated for Rajya Sabha seats rather than infusing young blood. No one was ready to give a fillip to Rahul Gandhi to become the top boss under the present circumstances. Politically, Rahuls rise to the post of the Congress president is inevitable. Having become the Congress Vice-president at Jaipur in 2013 just before Lok Sabha elections, he has to take the top job sooner or later. But when will he do that is a question that seems to fox all Congress leaders. Days after the senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh reiterating the need for having a surgery within the party all those who must know the direction in which the party is going to move on the leadership issue stand confused. Topping the category of the confused Congress leaders are the spokespersons that to field ticklish questions from the media to answer. The old guards may feel deserted if Rahul holds the President post but change is need of the hour and the high command is gearing up for drastic changes within its ranks to see renaissance in their new set up and go all out for revamp of the party and make sure of a revival within next five years.

Subbu Jayant

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
A major fire broke out at the countrys largest ammunition bunker, the Armys central Ammunition Depot (CAD) at Pulgaon in Maharashtra which has raised questions about the security aspect in defence establishments. As there was no sabotage suspected it is considered that the loopholes in fire safety measures in such sensitive places is the cause for the freak fire accident. Terrorists attack on Pathankot raised our eye brows and now a self-inflicted fire due to lack of fire safety measures claimed the lives of 20 army personnel. At a time, when we are worried about the attack by the intruders from our line of control, such major mishaps account for more losses without any infiltration. The mid-night fire explosions send wrong signals for safeguarding the interest of arms and highly sensitive ammunition. It is time to have a damage control on all these places and timely preventive measures will have to be taken. Indias biggest ammunition and weapons used by the Indian Army from Ordinance factories will be on a precautionary mode and prevent such serious mishaps in future.

Nickhil Krishnan

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Government has held a discussion with Malaysian giant Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Holdings on ways to increase collaboration for Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway and some other road projects.

A delegation of the company met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Heads of Mission (HoMs) conference on May 31 in New Delhi, Indian Ambassadors to 10 nations called on Fadnavis in Mumbai.

It was a pleasure to meet the Indian Ambassadors and High Commissioners to 10 nations as part of annual HoM Conference 2016. Prime Minister Modi believes that India lives in states. So such interactions are very important for presenting strengths of our states to world, Fadnavis said.

The Chief Minister said that he shared Maharashtras growth story, reforms, speedy governance, immense opportunities and the role HoMs can play in accelerating the growth of the state with the visiting dignitaries.

Lately, many investors are experiencing unimaginable speed of Maharashtra government along with the transparent and efficient way of working, Fadnavis said, adding that he discussed ways to increase collaboration for Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway and few other road projects.

We had a very good meeting with Malaysian delegation of CIDB holdings, he said.

He informed the delegation that investors have an opportunity to invest in industries, Smart City project, tourism and other infrastructure projects in the state. He also said that Maharashtra has decided to celebrate 2017 as Visit Maharashtra year.

Kaustubh Dhawse, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister Office (CMO), said that Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has already begun the process of land acquisition.

The Chief minister has set a target to complete this Super Communication Expressway by the end of 2019 and hence, all departments are jointly working expeditiously, he said.
China rebuffed US pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it has no fear of trouble.

On the last day of Asias biggest security summit, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route. We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble, Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where more than 600 security, military and government delegates had gathered over three days.

China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea.

The waterway has become a flashpoint between the United States, which increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific under President Barack Obamas pivot, and China, which is projecting ever greater economic, political and military power in the region.

The two have traded accusations of militarising the waterway as Beijing undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while Washington has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Saturday, top US officials including Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned China of the risk of isolating itself internationally and pledged to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades. Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries at the gathering were warmer and friendlier to China than a year ago. China had 17 bilateral meetings this year, compared with 13 in 2015.

We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future, Sun said. Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves.

During a visit to Mongolia on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.
Tehran dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State terrorist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against terrorists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Washington turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world, foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria.

Ansari said Washingtons support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the biggest sponsor of state terrorism.

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite groups, including Kataib Hezbollah as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State.

Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the governments fightback against the Takfiri extremists of IS.
A mysterious cult at the centre of deadly clashes in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, was running its own pseudo-government, army, court and a prison where torture was the norm, a senior police officer said.

Some 3,000 followers of the sect clashed with police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh during an eviction operation, leaving 29 people dead, including two senior officers.

The death toll in the clashes between the police and encroachers of Jawahar Bagh has risen to 29 with two more persons succumbing to their injuries even as police registered 45 cases against the occupants.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinakoo, resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers in which 3000 persons have made the accused.

Operations in Jawahar Bagh would continue till Monday in search of explosives and weapons, he said.

The secretive sect had occupied a 270-acre (109-hectare) stretch of parkland since late 2014, with the site almost entirely closed off to the outside world, the top police inspector general of the region said.

They set up a township of sorts with all kinds of people. Gradually, they started running a self-government, D.C. Mishra said, after officers seized documents and other evidence from the camp.

They set up a court which pronounced punishments and jail barracks where inmates were tortured.

Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms.

Police in the city of Mathura came under fire overnight Thursday from members of the sect, who were armed with automatic weapons and hurled crude explosive devices during the violence.

Mishra said the cult was being run by self-styled Hindu godmen whose aim was to drive followers towards a kind of religious terrorism.

They were also planning to come out with their own currency soon and they did not believe in the Indian constitution, he said.

On Saturday, the state police chief said Ram Vraksha Yadav, one of the key leaders of the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah sect, had died during the clashes Thursday.

Yadavs body identified by associates. Family intimated for final confirmation, Javeed Ahmed tweeted.
Two years ago, activists of splinter group of Baba Jai Gurudev, claiming themselves to be member of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, had occupied hundreds acres of land of Jawahar Bagh in Mathura on the pretext of dharna. Their demands included cancellation of election of President and Prime Minister of India, replacement of existing currency with Azad Hind Fauj currency, sale of diesel at the rate of 60 litres for one rupee and petrol at the rate of 40 litres for one rupee. The activists have been occupying the land since then. Twenty-four people were killed in the clash between police and encroachers during an anti-encroachment drive at Jawahar Bagh. The deceased includes Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi. Twenty-three policemen are injured while some of them sustained severe injuries.

The violence has only proved that there is complete breakdown of administration and law and order in the state. While 250 people have been detained for their involvement in the clash, the city continues to be tense even as heavy police reinforcement has been deployed.

Many attempts were made to hold discussions (with the encroachers), warnings were issued, but they still didnt evacuate the land. There has been a lapse as well. The police committed a mistake and went to the violence hit area without being fully prepared. There was so much danger involved. No one knew how many explosives were inside.

After this incidence, state and central governments are indulging in a tug of war. Since the UP assembly election is just a year away what was the purpose of so many arms and hand grenades being stored in ashram? Were they planning some riots or violence before elections? Questions are being raised on why the police and administration continued to ignore the assembly of over 3000-armed civilians in the Jawahar Bagh compound since the past 30 months, a negligence which resulted in such a disaster.

Twenty two rioters died in the violence apart from the Station House Officer of Farah and Superintendent of Police Mathura City. Out of the 22, 11 died in the fire that the rioters had set to their own shacks built inside the compound, while 11 lives were lost in the police lathicharge subsequent to a blatant attack on the police force by the rioters from all sides. The rioters had amassed massive volume of arms, ammunition and other types of bladed weapons and a tunnel inside the compound still contained a large number of bombs and grenades so that the police have cordoned off section of the compound as attempts are being made to defuse the bombs.

Sources indicated that the compound also acted as a shelter for several Maoists who had disappeared over the past couple of years in Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar and they had provided training to the rioters for combating the police force effectively. Several of the so-called Satyagrahis have dozens of criminal cases registered against them.

Complete system failure

Migrants from UP and Bihar have illegally occupied large areas of government land in Mumbai and Thane and have also constructed unauthorised slums in the area. Government must take immediate steps to remove the encroachers before it is too late.

It was not for the first time that such an incident has happened. Earlier, similar incidents had been reported from Azamgarh and Pratapgarh. Entire police system and local administration was sleeping when such anti- social elements were making their base there with huge ammunition.

Is law and order in the State failed to stop this unlawful occupation in whatever name? If any action were taken at the initial stages of encroachment, then present ugly situation would not have been arisen. Any probe should look for motives of the government for its laxity in taking action then. It has become customary that judiciary is sought to step in to sort out even normal executive roles of administration. The reason for such a situation arises out of the vested interests of the Party in power.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2016  A ship carrying Chinese catfish to the U.S. retreated back to China rather than allow its cargo to undergo inspection by USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service, according to U.S. government and industry officials.

They chose to withdraw the request for import inspection, a U.S. government official who asked not to be identified told Agri-Pulse.

The Chinese shipper did not say why it was refusing inspection by FSIS, but the refusal forced U.S. officials to bar the product from being unloaded, the official said.

Another U.S. government official who also did not wish to be named said a separate shipment of Chinese catfish did go through inspection and passed.

The incident could become more fodder for lawmakers fighting to keep catfish inspection under USDA authority. Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced a resolution of disapproval for provisions of the 2008 and 2014 farm bills that took catfish inspection authority away from the Food and Drug Administration and gave it to the USDA.

The Senate approved the measure and sent it to the House, but not before exposing a divide among Republicans on the issue. McCain and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire called the switch to USDA inspection a waste of taxpayer money, but John Boozman of Arkansas and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, among other senators, argued that USDA is doing a far better job at keeping contaminated catfish out of the U.S.

As evidence that USDAs inspection program was working, Wicker noted that the department recently blocked two shipments of catfish from Vietnam that were found to be contaminated with residues of banned dyes and antibiotics. FSIS inspectors have rejected two of the six shipments from Vietnam since the switch from FDA oversight on April 15.

And the fact that the Chinese shipper decided not to risk failing inspection is more evidence that FSIS scrutiny is more effective than FDAs previous efforts, supporters of the USDA inspection program say.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the FSIS catfish inspection program is working, said Tony Corbo, a lobbyist for the consumer watchdog group Food & Water Watch. To disrupt it at this point would put American consumers at risk. He said the Chinese shipper may have been particularly worried because FSIS sampling procedures for banned drug residues are more effective than the ones previously used by FDA.

Did you know Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website? Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.





There are other issues beyond food safety involved. Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute said recently that the inspection issue has the potential to cause a major trade spat with Vietnam, a key member country in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Vietnam, which ships hundreds of millions of dollars worth of catfish to the U.S. every year, has accused the U.S. of using stricter USDA regulations to erect an unfair trade barrier.

The impact of a WTO suit from Vietnam, which Vietnam would win  would be not only an impact on an important ag export market but (would result in) retaliatory tariffs from that market on U.S. ag exports, Gibbons said.

Meanwhile, the Catfish Farmers of America said they welcome the increased scrutiny that imports, and the domestic product, are receiving.

American consumers deserve to know that the catfish they eat has been inspected and is safe, spokesman Chad Causey said. The U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish industry has welcomed inspectors since the first day of FSIS inspection. We are confident in the safety and wholesomeness of the product we provide to American consumers. We have nothing to hide but it certainly appears that some importers do.

(CORRECTION: This report was corrected at 7:15 p.m. to show that just one shipment of Chinese catfish was turned away.)
Completion of wind tunnel testing campaign validates aerodynamic design and paves the way for demonstrator design start

Global network of European industries already involved in the development of all major demonstrator components

Flight-testing phase to begin before the end of the decade

Berlin  Airbus Helicopters earlier this year passed an important milestone in the development of the high-speed, compound helicopter demonstrator currently being built as part of the Clean Sky 2 European research programme. A mockup of the breakthrough airframe design has just undergone windtunnel testing in an Airbus facility. The tests proved the viability of the chosen design in terms of efficiency, sustainability and performance, paving the way for a preliminary design review expected end of 2016. Meanwhile, the overall project has passed its first official milestone involving all core partners by reaching the end of its pre-design phase.



Building upon the achievements of the company-funded and record-breaking X3 technology demonstrator, the Airbus Helicopters Clean Sky-demonstrator will help refine the compound aerodynamic configuration and bring it closer to an operational design, with the end objective of meeting future requirements for increased speed, better cost-efficiency, as well dramatic reductions of emission and acoustic footprints. Flight-testing of the prototype is expected to start in 2019.



We are honoured to be carrying out this project on behalf of the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking and the large number of European companies who are taking part in the development. Our ambition is to become the benchmark of the rotorcraft industry, and as such we are willing to drive a bold vision for the future of helicopter transportation, said Jean-Brice Dumont, Airbus Helicopters Chief Technical Officer. Our Clean Sky 2-demonstrator will not only be about going faster; it will help make speed smarter by seeking the best trade-off between cost-efficiency, sustainability and mission performance. We want to break the cost barrier usually associated with increased speed and range and pave the way for new missions sets for 2030 and beyond, by providing crucial emergency or door-to-door transportation services to European citizens where they need it most.



Development of the Clean Sky 2-demonstrator relies on a wide European network of industrial partners who are bringing their technical skills and know-how to the project. While Airbus Helicopters facilities in France, Germany, Spain and Poland are involved in areas such as structural and mechanical design, other countries like Romania, Italy and the United Kingdom also highly contribute their expertise through a large number of design and manufacturing work packages.



Ron Van Manen, Clean Sky 2 Programme Manager, highlighted that The LifeRCraft Demonstrator project in Clean Sky 2 will pull together capabilities from across the European Research Area, addressing technology gaps in systems, structures and overall design and demonstrating the viability of a compound rotorcraft design that can bring a fundamentally new combination of payload / range / speed to the aviation market. In particular where a rapid response or a key range requirement exists (such as in disaster relief, medical evacuation or search & rescue) this aircraft concept can bring important benefits to the public and open new market opportunities that will strengthen Europes already formidable competitive position in the vertical lift aviation sector.





About Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters, a division of Airbus Group, provides the most efficient civil and military helicopter solutions worldwide. Its in-service fleet includes nearly 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 154 countries. Airbus Helicopters employs more than 22,000 people worldwide and in 2015 generated revenues of 6.8 billion euros.

 (www.airbushelicopters.com)

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Four weeks and almost 140 flight hours after starting its demonstration tour of Latin America, the H215 is headed back to its base in the United States, having earned kudos among participating customers. In the middle of its tour, an unexpected call to aid a humanitarian mission showed that the heavy helicopter was more than just a pretty face.











The H215 basks in a successful Latin American demo tour

In a region where Airbus Helicopters has been providing rotorcraft solutions for forty years, the arrival of a new workhorse helicopter, the H215, on its Latin American demo tour left a renewed flood of good first impressions in its wake. Five countries played host to the newest member of the Super Puma family  Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Columbia  in a region where airborne needs range from oil and gas to public services to militarywith increasing need for emergency support in the event of natural disasters.



More than 250 passengers, among them pilots, press, members of the armed forces, and commercial operators, were invited to participate in demonstration flights across the region. The tour started in Dallas, TX in a ferry flight bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina in April. There, seven demo flights took passengers like the minister of security (Ministerio de Seguridad) and Argentinian navy (Marina Argentina) on tours designed to show off the H215s cutting-edge technology, which includes a glass cockpit and the 4-axis autopilot it shares with the H225, a key to the H215s superior flight envelope protection.



Some 23 pilots flew the helicopter in Buenos Aires, and dozens of others took the controls over the course of the month, where praise focused on the H215s unrivalled precision and stability in a variety of conditions. On taking the H215 on demo flights, pilots lauded it as easy to use and very steady, while commenting on the good power to weight ratio.

On 26 and 27 April, the helicopter paid a visit to Santiago, Chile for six flights with the countrys major operators, who included Ecocopter, ENAER, Calquin, the national police (Carabineros), and the Chilean Navy. Pilots post-flight impressions highlighted the H215s excellent useful payload.



From there, the H215 spent five days in Cusco and Lima, Peru where customers from energy and the oil and gas sector discovered the helicopters versatility and performance in high and hot environments. The National Police also had the opportunity to test the aircraft in extreme conditions, which proved to be a help in relation to their future anti-drug programs. Pilots and operators from the Ministry of Defense flew the helicopter in Cuzco and Lima, and consider the H215 to be a real alternative to the transport aircraft they are presently operating. With a 95 percent availability rate and long-range capabilities, the H215 has become an aircraft of choice for this particular sector.



At every stop, the tour provided customers with details about the H215s HCare support and services offer, which improves on performance guarantees, competitive pricing and larger coverage for the regions support and service needs.

The H215 was unexpectedly pulled off duty in Ecuador from 10 to 12 May, to assist with on-going humanitarian relief efforts in the wake of an earthquake that hit the Manabi and Esmeraldaes region on 16 April. More than 20,500 people were left homeless by the disaster, many without food and water. The Latam Demo Tour helicopter was pressed into service transporting food, water, and medical equipment to otherwise inaccessible areas.







After a short rest for the crew, the aircraft resumed duty in Bogota, Colombia from 16 to 18 May. A full schedule of 14 flights carrying some 120 passengers demonstrated the H215s suitability to multiple missions. Because it represents a new business model, the aircraft benefits from optimized lead times and flexible configurations, as evident in its suite of optional equipment, allowing it to perform a variety of missions for a very competitive overall price. This was nowhere more evident than in remarks from Colombian passengers, who viewed the H215 as a multipurpose platform capable of meeting the countrys challenges in the armed forces and law enforcement, particularly for disaster management and peacekeeping. The helicopter was also seen as a modern, efficient, and safe answer to impending fleet-replacement needs in the oil and gas sector.



At all stops and during every flight, the general consensus was that the H215 represented a proven platform able to operate safely in Latin Americas challenging terrain, whether at altitude, in the jungle or over the desert.

Medias:
French Polynesia, Honduras, the Great North . . . this fall, audiences will be treated to scenes of exploration and discovery in ultra high-definition, through the Explorers Network documentary series. Taking a visual snapshot of our planet today, the shows creators travel the world to capture Natures marvels on film - a feat made possible in part by specially - equipped H125 helicopters.

As we travel through a country, we discover its heritage, animals, people, and culture. With each show, we mount a specific expedition to discover something new.For the past twenty years, Olivier Chiabodo, the presenter and force behind the Explorers Network series, has had a dream to film the Earth for posterity. A doctor early on, he wanted to do a check-up on the planet as hed done for his patients. Its purpose would be to see whats happening at the level of culture, nature, environmentto show to the greatest number of people how beautiful it is, and that we must protect it.The show finally took off three years ago when Chiabodo discussed the project with a former TF1* colleague turned producer. Since then, he has been hard at work turning dream into reality.A typical episode requires three or four months to prepare in the hands of a team of 24. Often, several shows are under preparation at the same time. To date, the team  employing variously a seaplane, helicopter, and off-road vehicles to film  has shot in the Arctic, French Polynesia, and most recently Honduras, capturing footage on the ice, underwater, and in dense virgin forests. The show maintains an editing studio on board a boat with a helipad, in use by the crews H125.We film everything at a very high level of quality, said Chiabodo. This means 4K or UHD**, because we want it to last. That implies working with high-level material and its why aerial shots are done with fairly large systems in which we can put big cameras. For this we use the H125. Two helicopter pilots are employed, a man and a woman, to fly the H125s that the producers typically hire on location. A Sony F65 camera sits in the nose of the helicopter; its powerful lens lets the aircraft remain relatively distant from the action while zeroing in up to 1,000 mm on scenes of a sensitive nature. This has allowed the crew to capture footage of wild horses atop a cliff, and of a man spearfishing in solitude.There are a lot of inaccessible locations, Chiabodo said. Notably in a country like Honduras where some areas are difficult to access. There are mountains everywhere and theres the virgin forest. The helicopter is an extraordinary machine that lets us reach places like that.In the cabins interior, Chiabodos chief operator sits in the rear passenger seat with a joystick. Watching the scene outside with the aid of a screen in front of him, he is able to direct the camera and zoom. A second helicopter carries crew who film The Explorers H125 as it hovers over serpentine rivers and snow-laden mountainsides.In Honduras, working hand-in-hand with the Honduran military, the team mounted an expedition to find a city located deep in the tropical forest. Local pilots flew with the French crew to help navigate. It was really a shared experience and one of teamwork with the Honduran army, said Chiabodo. And they discovered some of the benefits of Airbus Helicopters choppers. They really liked the H125s performance and versatility.Around 70% of an episode is planned in advance, but the crew recognize the need to leave room for instinctive filming. You must be flexible and pay attention, said Chiabodo. There are some incredible things which happen right in front of you. We need to stay concentrated and instantly seize on them.Audiences will be able to watch many of these up-close encounters soon on television, IMAX, cinema, and on the web, where short clips will offer a quick glimpse of the shows progress around the globe.For more, go to www.theexplorers.com *TF1: French television station** UHD: ultra-high definition
Two H145s for rescue missions, offshore wind and transporting harbour pilots over the North Sea

Offshore version increases payload during winch operations by 200 kg

Berlin  Today, Airbus Helicopters and WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH signed a contract for two H145s in offshore configuration at the international aerospace exhibition ILA in Berlin, making them the first Airbus Helicopters products to be added to their WIKING Helikopter Service GmbHs fleet. The delivery of the first H145 is scheduled for the end of the year. Both rotorcrafts will be used for the transfer of harbour pilots to ships and service technicians to offshore wind farms as well as for air rescue missions over the North Sea.



Were glad to have signed the order today. The H145 perfectly meets our requirements regarding operations over the sea, says Alexander von Plato, director of WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH At the beginning of this year, during an offshore demonstration we were convinced of the advantages of the new Helionix cockpit of the H145 and its 4-axis autopilot with auto-hover function. Moreover, the machine offers high performance reserves as well as a large interior, and it satisfies our strict safety requirements for the transfer of persons over the sea, says Holger Stockmeyer, director of WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH.



By increasing the engine performance in single-engine operations (Single Engine Hover Performance, two minutes OEI HOGE), the H145 can now bear up to 200 kilograms more payload during winch operations. Thus, the aircraft fulfills the strict regulations for transporting people by winch (HEC - Human External Cargo). Furthermore, the H145 in offshore configuration is equipped with an emergency floatation system, certified for Sea State 6, weather radar, helicopter emergency egress lighting system and an automatic deployable emergency locator transmitter. The H145 in its offshore seating configuration can transport up to eight passengers. The combination of compact external dimensions, a comparatively small rotor diameter and the largest interior in its class make the H145 highly suitable for offshore operations.



The H145 has already proven its reliability with our clients in many missions around the world  during air rescue missions, with the police, with the special forces of the Armed Forces or as a helicopter for VIPs with Mercedes Benz Style design, explains Wolfgang Schoder, CEO of Airbus Helicopters Germany. The lowest maintenance costs and acoustic levels, which are almost 50% below the required limit, also contribute to this success, Schoder continues.



WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH focuses on the transfer of sea pilots via helicopters in all weather conditions all year round. The rope winch of the H145 with its adjustable arm and a capacity of 270 kg is perfectly suited for those requirements. The second field of activity of the company includes air rescue operations over the sea, so called Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS), e.g. in wind parks in the German Bight. The aircraft are fitted out with intensive care medical equipment and staffed with one doctor and a rescue assistant. Both the aircraft and the staff are ready to respond to any emergency in an extremely short time. Moreover, the helicopters are used in the field of offshore windfarming in order to transport and hoist service technicians to wind power stations. During this operation, the H145 transports with two pilots, up to six technicians.



The H145 is the most advanced member of its family. The worldwide customer fleet has already accumulated more than 18,000 flying hours since the first delivery in July 2014 with an average availability of over 90 per cent. Today, some 60 helicopters are already serving in 14 nations. With a maximum take-off weight of 3,700 kg, the H145 also allows a very efficient usage in the emerging offshore business, which will display a considerate growth over the coming years. Airbus Helicopters expects the market to develop a potential of up to 9bn  over the next two decades.



The H145 is the most advanced member of its family. The worldwide customer fleet has already accumulated more than 18,000 flying hours since the first delivery in July 2014 with an average availability of over 90 per cent. Today, some 60 helicopters are already serving in 14 nations. With a maximum take-off weight of 3,700 kg, the H145 also allows a very efficient usage in the emerging offshore business, which will display a considerate growth over the coming years. Airbus Helicopters expects the market to develop a potential of up to 9bn  over the next two decades.





About WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH

WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH has been an offshore specialist in the North and Baltic Sea areas for over 40 years and operates eight helicopters Sikorsky S-76, AgustaWestland A109S grand and AW139. Originally founded to support the transfer of harbour pilots in the German Bight, WIKING is still one of the most important systems in this business, having flown more than 54,000 transfers without an accident. Furthermore, WIKING is largely involved in the supply of offshore institutions, mainly in the offshore wind industry. In the past year, more than 22,000 passengers were brought to platforms and construction ships. Since 2012, WIKING and ADAC operate a HEMS helicopter for the workers in the offshore wind industry at the JadeWeserAirport on 24 hours a day.

 (www.wiking-helikopter.de)





About Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters is a division of Airbus Group. The company provides the most efficient civil and military helicopter solutions to its customers. Flying more than 3 million flight hours per year, the companys in-service fleet includes some 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 154 countries. Airbus Helicopters employs more than 23,000 people worldwide and in 2014 generated revenues of 6.8 billion euros.

 (www.airbushelicopters.com)

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Last updated April, 2019.
June 3, 2016

Rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are pouring all their energy and resources into one last race that could hold the key to the Democratic nomination and beyond.

A Sanders win in the June 7 California primary would empower the self-described socialist to force a leftward tilt to the partys political platform at next months convention. It would also hand Clinton a demoralizing defeat going into the general election against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Some pundits even argue that it could hand Sanders  or a potential third alternative  the nomination if the delegates who arent pledged to any candidate decide to break with Clinton.

A Sanders win in California would powerfully underscore Mrs. Clintons weakness as a candidate in the general election, Douglas Schoen, a pollster and political adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000, wrote this week in The Wall Street Journal. Democratic superdelegates  chosen by the party establishment and overwhelmingly backing Mrs. Clinton, 543-44  would seriously question whether they should continue to stand behind her candidacy.

The polls suggest the California race is close  and tightening. The RealClearPolitics average for the past few weeks shows Clinton with a six-point lead. But the most recent poll, an NBC News/WSJ/Marist collaboration released June 1, had Sanders behind by just two points, well within the margin of error.

With 475 pledged delegates up for grabs, California is getting considerable attention in part because its the last significant battleground before the Philadelphia convention in late July.

Clinton is the heavy favorite to win New Jersey (126 pledged delegates) on June 7 as well as the last primary in the nation in Washington, DC, June 14 (20 pledged delegates). Also voting June 7 are North Dakota (18 pledged delegates), South Dakota (20 pledged delegates), Montana (21 pledged delegates) and New Mexico (34 pledged delegates), usually political afterthoughts on which very little polling information is available.

With that in mind, the two Democrats are making their last stand in the Golden State.

Sanders has been in California for weeks, traveling in a bus across the state to headline dozens of rallies and forums. Clinton, meanwhile, launched a five-day swing through the state featuring appearances by her husband, including a June 2 national security speech in San Diego meant to pivot to the general election by showcasing her record against Trumps.

California has the nations largest number of nonwhite voters, who are supposed to be Clintons bread and butter. If she has trouble getting them to support her in Tuesdays primary, how will that affect her chances in the general election?

More generally, almost 14 months after her announcement speech on April 12, 2015, what does the prohibitive early favorites struggle to close the deal say about her campaign? Much of it has to do with her perceived lack of trustworthiness, epitomized by a long-running probe into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state that culminated in a scathing May 25 report by the State Department's inspector general.

The report didnt immediately appear to hurt Clinton, who is up by one percentage point over Trump in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average. Her political fortunes could shift, however, if shes charged with a crime.

Some 65% of likely voters believe Clinton probably broke the law, according to a recent survey by Rasmussen that also found that 43% think she should immediately stop campaigning if she is charged with a felony (50% said she should continue running until a court determines whether shes guilty). Some 71% of Democrats believed she should keep running, a view shared by only 30% of Republicans and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Meanwhile, Trump has been on a roll, with a last-ditch effort by some Republicans to run an alternative candidate against him quickly fizzling out and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., finally endorsing him June 2. However, the presumptive nominees personal attacks this week against critical reporters and a judge who has ordered the public release of potentially embarrassing documents in two class-action lawsuits against a Trump-branded real estate course could come back to haunt him.

Donald Trumps ideas arent just different, they are dangerously incoherent. They arent even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies, Clinton said in her San Diego speech, a line of attack shes expected to keep hammering until November. He is not just unprepared  he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.

Surely 2016 will be remembered as the year both major political parties were divided by outsider candidates determined to overthrow party regulars, aka the establishment. As of now, the jury is still out on the results.
June 3, 2016

In recent weeks, a play named Fleischer, written by Yigal Even-Or, is once again on stage, this time at Israel's national theater Habima. The revived production tells the story of the Fleischers, a couple living in a well-established secular neighborhood where new buildings are going up and ultra-Orthodox occupants are moving in. The ultra-Orthodox are depicted in the play as lusting for control, greedy and evil. The Rabbinate kosher certification granted to the local butchery owned by the Fleischers does not seem to satisfy the newly arrived residents. They aim to take over the neighborhood and tyrannize the veteran inhabitants, eventually driving them out.

The play was first staged in 1993 at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv and caused a great uproar at the time, both in the ultra-Orthodox sector and among the public at large. It was condemned back then as an anti-Semitic play. Its recent revival has given rise to feelings of anger and hurt in the ultra-Orthodox community, and it has enraged many across the country. The public uproar did not escape the Knesset. Knesset members Yigal Guetta (ultra-Orthodox Shas Party) and Ksenia Svetlova (center-left Zionist Camp) appealed to Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev, calling on her to stop government funding for the production. They charged that the play contains "anti-Semitic texts and incites against the ultra-Orthodox in a manner befitting the propaganda machine of dark regimes in dark times." Regev rejected their appeal, arguing that she is barred from interfering in the content dealt with by the theater, as the issue at stake is its "freedom of speech"  this, contrary to her position in other cases, where she did not hesitate to censure artistic content.

Talking with Al-Monitor, Sigalit Guvrin, a resident of Netanya who watched the show with her daughter, disagreed with the claim that the play is anti-Semitic. At the same time, she noted that at the end of the show she felt pain, despair and emptiness. "The play reflects the painful reality," she said. "Naturally, it takes things to the extreme  that's the nature of the theatrical medium; but that's the truth."

Likewise, Guvrin rejects the claim that the ultra-Orthodox are portrayed in the play the same way Jews were depicted in Germany in the 1930s  as greedy and evil. And in the same breath she wonders, "Well, aren't they [greedy and evil]?" She believes that the decline of the middle class in Israel is the fault of the ultra-Orthodox. "Wherever they go, they strive to gain control. Their politicians are cunning. They manage to secure ample resources at the expense of the secular middle class, which is slipping down the economic ladder."

Guvrin added, "I expect more from religious Jews. The play reflects the gaps and the polarization between the ultra-Orthodox and secular communities. And it shows that while we are expected to be tolerant of the ultra-Orthodox, they are doing nothing to accept [us], the nonreligious."

Ultra-Orthodox musician Yishai Lapidot also watched the play and was deeply shaken. "I was overwhelmed by the intensity of the hatred, by the aversion displayed and by the prejudice characterizing the play," he told Al-Monitor. "Like any other sector, the ultra-Orthodox have their good points and less good points. Just imagine a similar show staged in [the ultra-Orthodox city] Bnei Brak, where the transformation of an ultra-Orthodox enlisting in the army would be presented, illustrating how he becomes a monster, a murderer, a robber and a swindler  and all this under the influence of the nonreligious, who are supposedly all like this."

Lapidot said, "This is a demagogic play that foments hatred. It may be well-crafted, artistically speaking, but it has no room in Israel's culture and life, and it has alarming implications for our future coexistence here in Israel."

Lapidot added that following the show he realized that religious fanatics have their counterparts on the other side  the "secular fanatics," as he calls them, "who are convinced that the play carries a certain message, are proud of their ignorance and are openly flaunting it."

Actor Natan Datner, who plays the role of Fleischer the butcher, told Al-Monitor that the play does not criticize the ultra-Orthodox for their faith or religion, but rather focuses on the lack of communication between the groups. "The play presents a definitely extreme situation. It is meant to be an unsettling theatrical drama," Datner explained. "Obviously, there are the good guys and the bad guys in this specific storyline. But it's not something that we made up. It reflects  and naturally amplifies  phenomena that are all too familiar in Israeli society."

Datner is convinced that while the play quite clearly presents the two sides  the hounding and the hounded  ultimately it is rather conciliatory and illustrates the human aspect in all its complexity. "As it turned out, and perhaps paradoxically so, this play has raised issues that encourage an earnest dialogue between the secular and the ultra-Orthodox. The articles published [on the topic] and the interest shown by the ultra-Orthodox are the best proof of it."

Be that as it may, many in the ultra-Orthodox sector dismiss the play as irrelevant to our days, claiming that it does not really characterize current relations between the sectors. An ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva student, who sneaked into the theater (in the ultra-Orthodox sector, going to the theater is not the norm), told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, "There are numerous disagreements between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular, specifically with regard to the nature of the state; still, when it comes to relations between people, there is mutual empathy, more than it may seem. In recent years stereotyping is no longer as common as it once was, on either side  that's my impression."

Lapidot agrees that the situation has improved compared to the 1980s and 1990s. "I believe that the play was revived for cynical reasons  provocation and money," Lapidot said. "Someone at the theater apparently said, 'Let's cause a provocation, and provocation is money.' People now say, 'Let's go and see what everyone is talking about.' That's how you sell tickets."

The ultra-Orthodox community is deeply concerned about its image in the eyes of the seculars. There is, of course, the natural human concern for one's reputation. But there is more to it  the issue of Jewish law. In the jargon of the ultra-Orthodox community, it is called Chillul Hashem  the very opposite of Kiddush Hashem, namely the sanctification of the name of God. When observant Jews are perceived negatively, the name of God Almighty is supposedly desecrated.

Yet, many in the ultra-Orthodox community see this theatrical production as a spectacle of hate for which the ultra-Orthodox community cannot be blamed. In fact, it is commonly believed that its producers seek to fan hatred with the aim of attracting as many spectators as possible to the theater.
June 3, 2016

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  At the onset of 2016, the number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons increased significantly, specifically those detained for social media posts. This is the latest Israeli strategy against Palestinians to halt the uprising.

In the last three months of 2015, 130 Palestinians were arrested on the grounds of inciting violence on Facebook, while in March 2016, 148 Palestinians were arrested for the same reason.

The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies (PPCS) stated in a report published May 17 that 28 Palestinian women were arrested in the West Bank on the grounds of incitement through Facebook. They served administrative detention sentences and spent from 45 days to six months in jail. Four of them remain in Israeli prisons to complete their prison sentence.

On Feb. 20, Israel unveiled a special task force, Hatzav, to monitor Arab and Palestinian social media outlets. The unit was established 10 years ago to provide Israels military intelligence, Aman, with useful information to make decisions and conduct security operations.

Israeli intelligence created 5,000 Facebook accounts with Arab female usernames to monitor Arab accounts and extract information from them. Israel accused Facebook of helping to promote incitement, and this is why Facebook shut down many Palestinian accounts and pages.

Osama Chahine, director of the PPCS, told Al-Monitor that arresting people for inciting against Israelis on Facebook was not a recognized accusation in the past. It is a new Israeli way to justify the arrest of young Palestinian men and women to extinguish the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank.

Chahine noted that the center documented 300 cases in this regard since the uprising that broke out in October 2015. People face administrative arrest because Israeli law does not include an article incriminating Facebook posts. He indicated that this justification in one case allowed the Israeli court to sentence a Palestinian to seven years in prison.

Chahine added that the Israeli courts legalized this accusation of incitement, which is a clear violation of the freedom of expression. He said that Israel might allow itself to legalize new laws to justify the arrest of Palestinians.

Jorine Qadeh is a university student from the village of Shuqba in the Ramallah governorate, in the West Bank, and she was arrested by the Israeli army because of her Facebook posts on Oct. 29, 2015. She was kept in an Israeli army vehicle for 18 hours before being transported to Hasharon prison. She was then moved to Ramla prison and then to Ofer prison for investigation purposes before being transported back to Hasharon prison to complete her sentence.

Qadeh told Al-Monitor that the investigation lasted for less than half an hour, and the investigators mainly asked about her Facebook posts. She said that she was verbally abused by an Israeli investigator who ordered her to take off her veil to see her hair.

She said that on Nov. 1, 2015, she appeared before the Israeli court and the presiding judge ordered her to be administratively arrested for three months without disclosing the charge against her. The judge merely said that the indictment file is covert, and revealing information would harm the source of information. Qadeh boasted about the killings of Israelis via Facebook. However, Qadeh said that her Facebook post had nothing to do with Israelis, but it was rather a social post.

Similarly, Majd Atwan, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman from Bethlehem, south of the West Bank, was also detained over her Facebook posts supporting the Palestinian uprising. She said that this was her personal freedom, which is guaranteed by the law, and that she will continue to express her views on social media.

Since the very first moment I was arrested on the morning of April 19, 2016, I had been beaten and tortured, mainly on my left foot and my stomach, where I had already had a surgery, she told Al-Monitor. She said that the investigator asked why she writes such posts on Facebook. She answered that it was her personal right and she will continue to express her views.

The Israeli court sentenced Atwan to 45 days in prison with a 3,000 shekel ($780) fine but was released before completing the sentence duration on May 19, after paying the bail.

The mother of Palestinian detainee Suad Zureikat, who was also charged and arrested by the Israeli army for making incendiary Facebook posts, said that the Israeli army stormed their home in northern Hebron on Dec. 3, 2015, and arrested her daughter brutally.

She told Al-Monitor that the PPCS shared the list of charges with the parents of the detainees. Her daughter was accused of incitement against Israelis on her Facebook page through her posts and images and was sentenced to six months in administrative prison, before the sentence was renewed for another four months.

The mother said that she and her sons are not allowed to visit Zureikat under security pretexts, while the Israeli authorities allowed only her younger sisters to visit her. Zureikat went on a hunger strike in solitary confinement for 20 days. She ended her strike when the Israeli Prison Service responded to her demand to be moved to the Hasharon prison, since most detained women serve their sentences there instead of serving it in solitary confinement.

Samih Mushen, director of the West Bank branch of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, accused Israel of not respecting international rights laws and arresting people for their opinions. He said that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide for the respect of freedom of opinion and expression.

He told Al-Monitor that since the outbreak of the uprising in the West Bank in early October 2015, Israel has dedicated a unit to monitoring the posts of Palestinians on social media. Many people have been arrested because of their posts and expressed views that are against the occupation forces. He described what is happening as security and military decay in the Israeli institutions.

The pertinent question, however, is why are Israelis who are inciting against Palestinians on social media not being arrested?
A pageant is a pageant, right?

Not exactly.

America's two major pageants - Miss America and Miss USA - have similarities but are two different events. Both events feature young women completing a series of preliminary pageants to earn a spot in the big show to vie for crowns and titles. That doesn't mean everything about the two events is the same, however.

Miss America dates back to 1921 and the boardwalk of Atlantic City. Since its inception, the non-profit pageant has billed itself as providing an opportunity for young women to earn scholarships to continue their education. In all, Miss America's prize package includes a $50,000 college scholarship, with an additional $303,000 in scholarship money for the runners-up, finalists, preliminary talent winners, swimsuit winners and Miss Congeniality.

The winners also receive gifts from sponsors.

Miss America contestants also perform a talent as part of the pageant, something that's not required in Miss USA. Talent makes up 35 percent of the Miss America contestant's total score.

Miss USA, a for-profit company, has its origins in the Miss America pageant, when, in 1951, winner (and previous Miss Alabama) Yolande Betbeze refused to pose in a swimsuit in a newspaper. This enraged Catalina Swimsuits, a sponsor of the Miss America pageant, prompting them to form their own Miss USA pageant.

Miss USA's prize package is a bit glitzier - gifts from sponsors, wardrobe consultation and appearance clothes; skin and hair care services; a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy; modeling portfolio; a salary; and an apartment in New York City to use during their reign.

And, Miss America contestants are required to be between the ages of 17 and 24. Miss Universe contestants are required to be between ages 18 and 27.

The big difference is what happens after a person wins the crown. Miss America is the final stop for that pageant system but Miss USA goes on to represent the country in the Miss Universe pageant.

How do you tell who is who? Here's one easy way: Is someone is in the Miss America system, their title will be "Miss Alabama" or "Miss Louisiana." If they are in Miss USA system, they would be "Miss Alabama USA" or "Miss Louisiana USA."

So now you know.
Miss Alabama contestants greeted fans, friends and family at Brookwood Village to kick off the 2016 Miss Alabama Pageant week. The annual autograph party was the first of many activities the group will take part in this week. The 47 contestants represent the winners of Miss Alabama preliminary pageants throughout the state.

Preliminary competition for the for 2016 Miss Alabama Pageant starts Wednesday June 8, 2016 and continues through Friday. The finale, where the new Miss Alabama will be crowned, starts at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 11, 2016.

Before introducing the young women and Tiara Pennington, Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen 2016, one by one, reigning Miss Alabama Meg McGuffin spoke briefly about her time as Miss Alabama. She spent the past year traveling throughout the state to promote her personal platform "Healthy is the new Skinny."

"I really challenged the state of Alabama to redefine beauty, not as reflection in the mirror, but as what type of people we are, the way we make others feel and the way that we serve our communities," she said during the event.

Community service is an integral part of the Miss Alabama and Miss America scholarship programs. Each contestant has a personal platform that helps to improve the quality of life of others in their communities, work and schools. Participants in the local, state, and national Miss America organization also support Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and programs. The Miss Alabama organization placed fourth in the country for fundraising during the Miss America Serves 2016 day of service.

Finalists for the 2016 Catherine Crosby Long Community Service Award were announced during the autograph party. The finalists will interview with a panel of community leaders this week to determine the scholarship winners. Long, a Birmingham litigator, was Miss Alabama 2003 and the national winner of the 2004 Miss America Pageant Quality of Life community service award. The eight finalists were:

Shea Summerlin,

Cassidy Jacks,

Briana Kinsey,

Mi'a Callens,

KeLeigh Edwards,

Hayley Barber,

Megan Smith,

Chelsea Yarber,

Jessica Procter, Miss Tuscaloosa; Allyson Nuwayhid, Miss Samford University; Miranda Freeman, Miss University of Mobile, Chandler Shields, Miss Cahaba Valley; and Madelyn Gathings, Miss Tennessee Valley; received honorable mention.

This year marked the 26th year for the event at Brookwood Village. Contestants were also hosted by Alabama Splash Adventure later in the afternoon.

To purchase tickets to the preliminaries and finale, visit the Miss Alabama website here.

The Miss Alabama Pageant Class of 2016! 47 incredible young ladies. One of these will he crowned Miss Alabama on Saturday, June 11th. Posted by Miss Alabama Pageant, Inc. on Sunday, June 5, 2016

Here's a look back at the 2015 finale.
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Ruepert Don Bryan (SCSO)

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office says this man is Ruepert Don Bryan who is accused of producing child porn. (Shelby County Sheriff's Office)

An Alabama doctor is accused of producing child pornography more than 10 years ago.

Ruepert Don Bryan, 80, of Calera was arrested early Friday morning, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. His bond was set at $500,000.

Bryan is a long-time practicing ear, nose and throat physician in Alabaster.

He is charged with sexual abuse first degree and three counts of producing pornography with a minor, Bryan's arrest records show.

Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego said on Friday that Bryan was developed as a suspect after a member of the community came forward with "an abandoned videotape."

Court records claim this videotape contains images of at least one juvenile engaging in sexual activity. The video was produced sometime in 2002.

Bryan is also accused of sexually abusing at least one juvenile between May and August 2003, his arrest warrant states.

Samaniego said there's currently no evidence that Bryan committed crimes against children at his medical practice.

During a Friday afternoon press conference, the sheriff did call Bryan a pedophile that had likely been victimizing children for many years.

"We have multiple victims we have talked to. I can't really get into numbers," Samaniego said.

Samaniego asked anyone who may have been a victim of Bryan to come forward. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 205-669-4181 or the Secret Witness Line at 205-669-9116.

A court date has yet to be set in the case. It's unclear if Bryan has an attorney.
Caretakers of the 137 tigers removed from the Tiger Temple fear they will face a worse fate in government hands.

Kanchanaburi, Thailand  Tucked away among the swelling vistas of west Thailands Kanchanaburi province, Tanya Erzinclioglu paced around the periphery of Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno temple with her colleagues. Every now and again, she anxiously glanced at her phone, taking calls or checking for updates.

I have no idea whats happening, she said repeatedly to herself.

Tanyas mornings typically involved being inside the temple grounds where she helped to feed and observe some 137 tigers who were under her partial care. It had been her routine for six years and, from the passion with which she speaks about it, it seems to be where her heart lies.

But on the morning of Monday, May 30, more than 500 officers, wildlife officials, vets and police were waiting patiently outside the main entrance to the place better known as Thailands Tiger Temple. By the main road, a few officers sheltered from the heat under a nine-metre-high yawning tiger head sculpture.

It started as an impasse, but within six days, all 137 tigers would be taken in an unprecedented raid, which also unearthed dead tiger cubs, a dead bear and various animal horns.

RELATED Gallery: The end of Thailands infamous Tiger Temple

Thailands Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) was finally acting after years of allegations by multiple NGOs.

Tiger Temple has long been a staple attraction for tourists and backpackers looking for the perfect photo-op. A romantic picture was painted of ochre-clad monks and endangered tigers living together in a relationship of numinous unity. The message: You too can partake in the harmony  for a price.

With an entrance fee of anything from 600 baht ($17) to 5,000 baht ($140) per person, millions of dollars have flowed into the temple over the years.

Funding allocations

During the raid, a two-page DNP declaration was handed out to members of the press. It explained that, legally, every tiger in the country is a national asset and Tiger Temple has a long history of exploiting the property of the government for personal gain without permission from the government.

We knew that the temple was using the tigers for money, DNP Deputy District General Adisorn Noochdumrong told Al Jazeera. By law, they cannot do that.

WATCH: Saving Thailands Animals

Tanya, however, insisted that at least some of that money had gone into improving the living conditions of the tigers  an issue paramount to her and many of her colleagues. In particular, she highlighted the temples pride and joy: its almost five-hectare Tiger Island enclosure.

Completed in 2011 at an estimated cost of 90 million baht, (slightly more than $2.5m) the 28 enclosures in Tiger Island meant that, for the first time, the tigers were able to experience outside spaces, albeit on a rotating schedule.

The open areas are strikingly different from other tiger zoos in the country. At the frenetic Sriracha Zoo, activities include tiger shows that seem to, in part, include having the cats jump through flaming hoops.

When ex-DNP director general Damrong Pidech visited the Tiger Temple in 2012, he actually praised the tigers living conditions, telling the Bangkok Post: Frankly speaking, their living conditions are better than those in state-owned zoos.

But, for years, multiple NGOs have expressed concerns over the temple managements activities, alluding to corruption and even the illegal trade of tigers.

Corruption allegations

One of the most incriminating examples can be found in a 2015 report by the NGO Cee4Life.

The report contains a detailed investigation documenting events leading up to the disappearance of three tigers in December 2014, which were thought to have been sold into the illegal wildlife trade. Secretly taped audio and video recordings put forward a case suggesting that the temples abbot had been involved, breaking both Thai and international law.

What resulted was a seeming disconnect between the apparently superior living conditions of the tigers and suggestions of a murky history of opaque operations and illegal activities; a disconnect between staff who seem to genuinely care for the animals and a minority in the upper echelons of the temple who have been accused of not sharing their concern.

Adisorn said that the DNP has for years pleaded with the Tiger Temple monks and management to address their illegal or hazardous activities, such as the close contact permitted between tigers and tourists.

We wanted to talk first, and [get] the temple to do what we asked them to do, explained Adisorn. We asked them to separate male and female [tigers], he said, adding that they also highlighted the controversial practice of informal and unlicensed breeding  and subsequent inbreeding. We knew they were trying to [increase numbers].

When the temples management rebuffed their requests, Adisorn said they were left with no choice but to raid the grounds and relocate the tigers to their own facilities.

After slight delays on the first day of the raid, the DNP teams soon organised themselves into an efficient chain, managing the removal of all 137 tigers, averaging more than 20 a day.

Raid and extraction

Panee, one of the DNP vets working in Tiger Island, explained that it was risky work, but so far the tigers are healthy.

She added, however, that some inevitable complications had occurred. A few tigers are reacting not so [well to the sedatives], but we are [closely] watching them, she explained, holding up a vial containing the sedative used on the tigers so that they could be transported.

But as the raid progressed over the week, it soon became clear that Adisorn and his DNP team were extracting far more than just the tigers.

We had always planned to raid every building, but I didnt want it [to be] common knowledge, said Adisorn, suggesting that any potential contraband on the grounds might have been removed prior to the raid. I told [the Tiger Temple] we were only coming for the tigers.

By the second day of the temple raid, the majority of monks had already left. As it became clear, an investigation into activities was starting in earnest, any monks still within the grounds refused to comment and Al Jazeera was instead led to Adisorn of the DNP.

On the third and fourth day of the raid, 40 frozen tiger cub carcasses were pulled out of the temples freezer, while in another building, 20 cubs were discovered preserved in jars of formaldehyde.

READ MORE: 40 dead tiger cubs found in Thailand temple freezer

The local and international reaction was intense. The UNs environment programme released a statement, saying these cubs represented only a tiny proportion of the enormous extent of an illegal trade in wildlife.

Reacting to the numerous findings, Teunchai Noochdumrong, the director of Thailands Wildlife Conservation Office and Adisorns wife, told reporters: I am quite shocked. We have all heard concerns and allegations about this temple. I would never have thought they would be so blatant.

However, according to Tanya, these finds were actually the easiest to account for.

These were the policy of Dr Somchai [Visasmongkolchai, a former vet at the temple] since 2010, she explained. The DNP has been in our freezer loads of times in the past. Why are they acting surprised?

She pointed out that months before the raid, the official Tiger Temple Facebook page had addressed the policy in an open post, which claimed they were keeping carcasses as proof they were not being sold on.

Tiger pelts and protected rosewood

What eventually really shook Tanyas faith, and that of her colleagues, however, were the far less dramatic discoveries from those spaces to which she and the majority of the staff were never allowed access: specifically, the monks housing.

After a raid on their buildings, the DNP eventually emerged with a haul including a hacksaw, vice, and materials needed to make and sell deer antler supplement.

On trucks outside the temples main building, they loaded a vast amount of flat timber suspected to be protected Siamese rosewood. And earlier that morning, a truck with two temple staff and a monk was stopped at the main entrance while trying to leave.

RELATED Gallery: The end of Thailands infamous Tiger Temple

Hidden in the car were two tiger pelts, hundreds of vials containing tiger skin, and dozens of tiger fangs. Adisorn said those caught in the truck had referred the DNP to the abbot for any explanations.

Tanya said she had been driving past just as the DNP was showcasing these findings.

I didnt see [the tiger pelt] at first, but then I leaned around and saw this grotesque thing hanging over their hands, she said. Then I saw the second one. I felt sick.

Bad things have happened in the past, but the temple showed us [in 2015] that they have moved on and thats why I stayed, she explained.

Now, Tanya said she is left with mixed emotions about abandoning all the work she has done so far. Maybe that was the most naive thing ever, but it was real.

With the Tiger Temple closed indefinitely and a heaving body of evidence being presented to the police, Adisorn is keen to show that the DNP is following protocol to ensure justice is served.

READ MORE: Tourist dollars feed wild animal trade in Thailand

New sanctuary for relocated tigers

We are discussing the possibility of creating a new sanctuary for the tigers along with some other animals, he said, aware that there are fears the relocated tigers will suffer neglect.

Although he acknowledged that the DNP facilities are far from ideal, he promised it will take care of them.

We have been contacted by [the animal welfare charity] Four Paws, and they want to help to manage the tiger sanctuary with the DNP, he explained.

For Tanya and the others at the temple who are still reeling from the discoveries, the welfare of the tigers remains one of their biggest considerations.

The main thing we have ever fought for has been to have better lives for the tigers, said Tanya. Her colleague nods, explaining that they have formed relationships with the animals over six or seven years and have no plans to stop seeing the tigers.

They will maintain the pressure on the DNP to improve the conditions within the DNP facilities, they explained.

If no one is pushing and pushing, then there is no spotlight to make sure those conditions are improved, said Tanya. She worries that as international attention fades, so will the outlook for the tigers she has spent years caring for.

But she hopes her worst fears will not come to pass. In two weeks time, if anyone asks, Hey, do you remember when the Tiger Temple was raided? Theyll just say Oh yeah, it was the best thing ever, the best thing to happen to those tigers. Meanwhile, theyll all be stuck rotting in tiny cages.
Can Gaston Luken Garza and Mexicos new wave of independents offer viable candidate to the 2018 presidential elections?

A previous version of this article stated the bakery chain La Baguette opened in 1985, the correct date is 1982. A previous version of this article mistakenly made a reference to Cesar Chavez instead of Hugo Chavez.

Tijuana, Mexico  When hes walking the streets of Tijuana, Mexico, and campaigning for votes in the upcoming June 5 elections, the independent frontrunner for mayor comes across a lot of sceptical tijuanenses. In his 5-second pitch, Gaston Luken Garza tells them: This is a new option. Were not from a political party. What an independent serves is to say goodbye to the parties. This is your chance of firing these guys that arent up to the job.

He says that he is the outcast  that he is not part of one of the two major political parties, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN), that have piloted Mexico for eight decades towards the corrupt, cartel-infested country its known as today.

Describing the process of turning someone into a believer, he says, Its easy in two ways: One because [being an independent is] new, its different  its attractive.

The other one is that I know political parties well  Ive worked in two of them, Ive been an electoral authority at the National Electoral Institute  so I know that the change that is coming and that is needed will not come from them, Luken Garza says.

The beginning of an era

In 2014, Mexico passed a legislative reform that widened the playing field for independents to run for government for the first time starting in 2015.

That year, Jaime El Bronco Rodriguez, a gruff cowboy who made big promises on governmental reform and vowed to put Nuevo Leons then governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz in jail, gained international headlines for becoming the first independent governor in Mexico.

It was a win that marked the beginning of an era.

In a country where 91 percent of citizens distrust political parties, and drug cartels work with the government for control over state territories, the Mexican citizenry sees a disconnect between their vote and the trajectory of their governments.

Then, in 2015, Mexico saw its highest national turnout for a midterm since 1997, and perhaps not coincidentally, Rodriguezs Nuevo Leon state was one of the leading states in the country with a 58 percent turnout  11 points above the national average of 47 percent.

A wealthy businessman

Cesar Faz, founder of Tijuana political advocacy group, Republica de Baja California, and a member of Luken Garzas campaign, doesnt think he won on his non-party candidacy alone. [Rodriguez] was a populist in the way that populists as political figures are a reflection of the peoples personalities. Trump is a populist. [Cesar] Chavez is a populist. El Bronco is a populist.

Gaston is not a populist, interrupts Luken Garza. His team recognises that, as a wealthy businessman, he may not resonate with Tijuanas poorer populations like El Broncos toughness resonated with a state thats considered an epicentre of Mexican machismo.

Their biggest hurdle this Sunday, when Baja California and 13 other states in Mexico vote to elect a surfeit of state deputies, mayors and governors, will be another kind of voter disconnect.

People vote to a lesser extent because of a disillusionment with the political class. Many believe that all [politicians] are the same and not worth voting for, says Victor Alejandro Espinoza, a political professor at the School of the Northern Border, or Colef for short in Spanish, in Tijuana.

Thats why Luken Garzas win, and any other independent wins across the country this Sunday, will carry more weight than the triumph of El Bronco in Nuevo Leon.

If he takes Tijuana, one of the worlds busiest border towns and part of the United States largest binational territory, itll add steam to the likelihood that Mexicos new wave of independents can deliver a viable candidate to the 2018 presidential elections.

A new brand

Luken Garza has worked for both the Baja California and federal electoral bodies, and in 2009 he stepped beneath the umbrella of the National Action Party (PAN) to become a federal council. Prior to that, he helmed Proxima SA with his father, a Mexican business guru, Gaston Luken Aguilar. The company was a joint venture that partnered with San Diegos Sempra Energy to pipe natural gas into the Baja California capital, Mexicali, in the early 2000s.

Locals in Mexicali and Tijuana might know him best because of his first foray into entrepreneurship: La Baguette, a bakery chain he started in the area in 1985 when he was 23 years old.

As a businessman, Luken Garza knows that youre only as attractive as your brand, and hes managed to turn his campaign into one.

His social media presence is run with the fitness of a well-funded start-up by a fleet of young, hip tijuanenses.

An army of more than 700 young volunteers have helped him make history twice in less than a year: once when becoming the first independent to announce a bid for the Tijuana mayorship in September 2015, and second when presenting enough public signatures to the local electoral board to secure his spot as the first official independent candidate in April this year.

RELATED: Mexico elects El Bronco in show of mounting frustration

On the last day of campaigning on June 1, at a rally just outside Tijuanas city hall, a stream of people surrounded Luken Garza as the event tapered off to grab last-minute selfies with him. Hes charming like an actor in his golden years, and the people in this city mostly respond well to his name.

But not everyone is on board. Oliver Castaneda, 30, the owner of Aether Cafe, thinks Luken Garzas campaign is a case study of slick marketing. He has little faith that Garza, or any other new candidate for that matter, can revolutionise the political environment in Tijuana once he steps into office.

Theyre rich people, he says. Like Rodriguez in Nuevo Leon, Castaneda says, Luken Garza is a wealthy businessman who had the money to run for an independent candidacy without the financial backing of traditional parties. Theyre actually in politics for business themselves.

If you approach the campaign with a businessman image, maybe we can start trusting you more. Say, Im going to make some money, and Im going to leave some money for the rest of the people. But if you come around and say, I will change TJ in a kind of moralist way  thats the thing I dont believe in.

For Alfredo, a salesman in the Hidalgo Market in central Tijuana, assessing the current candidates can be done in one swoop  an echo of the types of responses Luken Garzas team faced day after day when campaigning on the streets last spring.

Theyre all the same, he says, waving off this reporter and refusing to add more to the response. All the same.

Theres a huge difference between hatred and apathy, says Luken Garza. Hatred is easier to be an ally and to convert it into a positive thing than apathy. [C]onsciously, not voting to them is a way theyre saying Im screwing [traditional political parties]. But eventually, these are the people that are getting more screwed than anyone else.

We are sick of PRI and PAN

A political campaign is only as successful as a win for its candidate, and his team is optimistic that there will be an upset in his favour at the polls this weekend.

In Tijuana, hell face hill after hill if he takes over city hall. A new drug trafficking cartel calling itself Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion is grasping for power over Tijuana in the face of the Sinaloa cartel, which has held sway over Baja California since driving most of the original Tijuana Cartel out in 2010.

Last year, the city had the second-highest number of homicides in all of Mexico, up from 7th place in 2011.

RELATED: Mexicos independent candidates challenge political status quo

As Tijuana rolls out its new bus rapid transit system in the fall this year, private transportation companies, known by locals in the city as transportation mafias because of their close ties with PRI and PAN, may continue to act out in rashes of violence because of what they see as the monopolisation of their industry.

His biggest threat is the political establishment itself.

Since Rodriguez took Nuevo Leon last year, at least eight states in Mexico have enacted what are being called anti-Bronco laws that add layers of bureaucracy to the nomination process for independent candidates. While hes stepped past all the major hurdles at this point, these laws indicate a trend of increasing pushback from the political elite.

During the final campaign rally for PRIs mayoral candidate Rene Mendivil Acosta on June 1, speakers for the party told the crowd that Luken Garza had stepped down from his candidacy and given his vote to the PRI.

At the same time, blocks away, Luken Garza was celebrating with a small but invested audience at his house, brimming with optimism that his campaign would get the win.

RELATED: Mexicos active and demanding citizenry

Youre an independent, so the political parties are against you, congress is against you, the government is against you, the president is against you  everyone is against you, says Luken Garza, repeating the common rejections he faces from his sceptics.

But we say, well, they have to comply with their job [as a democratic government]. They have to deliver their obligations to us.

That might be more of a hope than an actual path to recourse in a country known for being one of the most corrupt in Latin America.

But Luken Garzas vivacity, and the electricity surrounding independent politics in Mexico today, is part of what has equipped him with hundreds of youth volunteers and an engaged social media following. He may not think he is a populist, but the small movement welling up around him suggests that he is indeed popular to some.

Were sick of PRI and PAN because theyve never tried to support the poor, says Salina Manza, 56, outside a Luken Garzas rally in Tijuana.

We want a change, and were voting to bring that change. We have faith that hell help us.
Since 1992, 84 journalists and media workers have been killed in Pakistan.

Watch 101 Easts documentary about the risks of being a journalist in Pakistans tribal areas: Good Morning Pakistan: Journalists Under Threat
Afghan MP dies after bomb attack near his house in Kabul, hours after a Taliban attack on a courthouse kills seven.

An Afghan member of parliament was killed by a bomb planted near his residence in the capital Kabul, the interior ministry has said.

The device, hidden in a electrical box attached to a wall, exploded as Shir Wali Wardak left his house, ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Sunday.

It could either have been a bomb on a timer or one that was remotely detonated, Sediqqi said, adding that 11 people, including five of Wardaks bodyguards, were wounded in the blast.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

READ MORE: Civilians caught in crossfire of war against Taliban

The attack came hours after Taliban fighters stormed a courthouse south of Kabul, killing at least seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor.

At least 21 other people were wounded in the attack in Puli Alim, the capital of southeastern Logar province, the head of security for provincial police force said.

The new head of the court was being introduced today and the assailants used the rush hour opportunity to attack the court, Nesar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai said.

He added that all three assailants were killed by Afghan security forces.

READ MORE: Afghan Taliban in deadly bus attacks

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Puli Alim. The group frequently targets government officials, and has taken aim at the judiciary since the government executed six of its members last month.

Sundays attack is the third such attack on court facilities since the groups members were executed.

At least 10 people were killed and four others were injured when a suicide bomber hit a bus carrying judiciary staff members from Kabul to central Wardak province in late May.
Dozens killed in Aleppo air strikes as regime forces cross into Raqqa province for the first time since August 2014.

At least 53 people, including children, have been killed in government air strikes in Syrias Aleppo city, activists have said.

Dozens of barrel bombs  oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel  were dropped by military helicopters on the heavily populated al-Qatriji neighbourhood, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said on Sunday.

Activists told Al Jazeera that at least 53 people were killed in the air strikes, while the Observatory gave a death toll of 32, including three children.

Eight others were killed in shelling attacks by rebels on regime-controlled areas in the city, it added.

At least 40 air strikes hit the rebel-held areas on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government warplanes, the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as volunteer rescuing group White Helmets, have said.

READ MORE: Can the world provide Syrians with aid from above?

Rebels also hit government-held parts of Aleppo in what Syrian media said was an escalation in mortar attacks on the western parts of the countrys largest city before the war.





State media said missiles fired on Hamadaniyah and the Midan areas by rebels left scores injured and several casualties in a second day of intense shelling of government-held areas.

According to the Observatory, at least 74 people in Aleppo have been killed in air strikes since May 31.

Zouhir al-Shimale, a local journalist, told Al Jazeera that Aleppo had been hit by intensive raids over the past few days.

Every morning for the past few days over 50 air strikes and barrel bombs have targeted Aleppo. A local journalist was among those killed, while another journalist was injured.

A rescue worker was also killed while he was saving an injured person. It happened within two minutes, Shimale said.

Government advance in Raqqa

In another development, the Syrian army crossed the boundary of Raqqa province after advancing in a major Russian-backed offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the Observatory said on Saturday.

Heavy Russian air strikes hit ISIL-held territory in eastern areas of Hama province, near the boundary of Raqqa, on Friday to facilitate the Syrian armys advance, the Observatory reported.

IN PICTURES: Devastation reigns in Syrias Aleppo

The Observatory said at least 26 ISIL fighters and nine Syrian government and allied troops were killed in the fighting.

It was the first time that government troops had entered Raqqa province since they were ousted by ISIL fighters in August 2014.

The Syrian army was making its advances from the Athriya area of eastern Hama province, close to the provincial border with Raqqa.

The offensive brought troops to within less than 40km of Tabqa, which is the site of an airbase and a big reservoir, SOHR said.

ISIL, which controls large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, is fighting Syrian troops, US-backed fighters and other rebel groups in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces in their stronghold of Fallujah.

Russias military intervention in support of Damascus in September has helped to bolster President Bashar al-Assads government.
Babul Aktar, whose wife was stabbed and then shot dead, led drives against armed groups in countrys southeast.

Unidentified men have killed the wife of a senior Bangladeshi police officer responsible for operations against religiously motivated armed groups.

Three unidentified men stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Khanom in the head as she walked her son to a school bus stop near her home in the coastal city of Chittagong, the citys Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Moktar Hossain said.

She was the wife of Babul Akter who has led several high-profile operations against the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) group in the southeastern city in recent months.

Police said they had launched an investigation after the attack.

Q&A: Why are bloggers being killed in Bangladesh?

He had fled to Dhaka a few days ago after receiving threats. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the murder.

A nation of 160 million people, Bangladesh has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which liberal activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have been targeted.

However, security forces or their families have not been targeted in the wave of attacks.

Also on Sunday, a Christian grocer was hacked to death near a church in northwest Bangladesh.

Sunil Gomes, 65, was killed in the village of Bonpara, home to one of the oldest Christian communities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has claimed responsibility for some of the previous killings.

The government, though, denies the group has a presence in the country, saying homegrown groups are behind the attacks.
A broad area of thundery showers has been bringing heavy downpours to the western Caribbean over the past few days. It now looks likely that this system could develop into the third named storm of the year.

Should it do so, it will be named Colin. Remarkably, this would make it the earliest that we have reached a C named storm since the naming system was brought in for Atlantic hurricanes, and the earliest third storm of the year since records began in 1851.

The clutch of thunderheads looked set to become increasingly organised as they move from the northwest Caribbean and into the southern Gulf of Mexico. It is likely to become a tropical depression within the next 24 hours as it tracks northwestwards towards the Florida Peninsula.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring the system closely and has given an 80-percent chance that it will become a tropical storm within the next 48 hours. It has issued warnings for heavy rainfall.

There is a flood threat across parts of the Yucatan Peninsula along with western Cuba, the Florida Keys and later the Florida Peninsula over the next few days. Sea surface temperatures are already above average at 28C which will encourage big downpours.

One saving grace is that the system is expected to move through quickly. Hence, any heavy rain will not be over any one place for too long.
Amman  The news emanating from Paris on Friday 3 June was dominated by reports about the Seine River flooding and closure of the Louvre Museum rather than the international meeting convened by the French government to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Even without this competition, it is doubtful this latest Middle East Peace Initiative could have generated significant coverage. Primarily because, apart from the fact of the meeting itself, nothing of interest emerged from it.

The French initiative, as it has come to be known, was first proposed by the Hollande government last year. In its original form, it consisted of a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that would set forth clear parameters for Israeli-Palestinian peace, along with mechanisms and a timeline for achieving them.

Faced with concerted US opposition and Israeli hostility , the Quai dOrsay repeatedly watered down its terms and, concluding that US support for any such resolution would not be forthcoming as a matter of principle, ultimately chose to capitulate rather than stand its ground.

READ MORE: Palestinians sceptical of French-led peace talks

It became clear that the Obama administration would not resume its own attempts to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations after Secretary of State John Kerry threw in the towel in 2014 following nine months of talks that ended in failure.

European governments became increasingly concerned that a dangerous diplomatic vacuum that was brewing would lead to a renewed outbreak of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, and consequently undermine the position of the Palestinian Authority and further complicate  if not eliminate- the prospects for a two-state settlement.

It will be some time yet before the international community is persuaded that the only way to consummate a two-state settlement is to compel Israel to terminate the occupation and accept a just resolution of the refugee question.

As Israels subjugation of the Palestinian people continues to play a role in radicalising European Muslim youth, Europeans were persuaded that the Palestine Question cannot be left indefinitely unattended.

In its new iteration, the French initiative took the form of a proposed international conference at which Pariss key international and regional partners would reach consensus on parameters, an agenda and deadlines, and then task Israel and the Palestinians with their negotiation and implementation.

As with the aborted Security Council resolution, the French began preparing ideas and presenting them to the various parties for consideration and endorsement. And once again, they almost immediately began to backtrack in the face of American disinterest and Israeli rejection.

Initially, for example, France committed to Abbas that it would recognise Palestinian statehood if Israel had not done so within the agreed timeframe. A few sessions with Netanyahu later, this commitment, and indeed one for a timeline as well, vanished into thin air.

France, which from the late 1960s until the assumption of the presidency by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, had been considered among the European powers least aligned with Israel, is today among its most stalwart allies. Faced with incessant Israeli hostility to any formula other than bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without preconditions under exclusive American sponsorship, Paris effectively emptied its initiative of all substance.

WATCH: Can France revive Israel-Palestinian talks?

According to Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group, US participation in the Paris meeting demonstrates that, at least for now, Washington no longer sees the French initiative as a threat to its own interests. It would be incorrect to read Kerrys attendance as an American endorsement of a French alternative, to the extent one can be said to exist.

The assessment is borne out by the meetings final communique . Its five short paragraphs consist of little more than vacuous boilerplate that the status quo which has held since 1993 is not sustainable; that a [bilaterally] negotiated two-state solution is the only way to achieve an enduring peace; and the importance of both sides demonstrating, with policies and actions, a genuine commitment to this objective.





The casual observer could be forgiven for assuming that the PLO is, in word and deed, as implacably opposed to the two-state framework as the Israeli government.

In a further nod to equivalence between occupier and occupied, the communique states that actions on the ground  in particular, acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity  are dangerously imperilling the prospects for a two-state solution.

In so doing, it not only gives equal weight to the disease and its symptom, but accords greater prominence to the latter by placing it first. And while it calls for the exploration of meaningful [international] incentives to the parties to make peace, it studiously avoids recalling their obligations under existing agreements and international law, or warning of the consequences of systematically violating them.

The communique ends with the prospect of convening an international conference before the end of the year. Whether this will indeed transpire is very much open to question.

Contemporary France lacks the determination to flesh out this skeleton, and will, in any case, be easily outmanoeuvred by the US and Israel. Palestinian claims, and expectations, that France has set in motion an international diplomatic process similar to that which resulted in the Iranian nuclear agreement are in this respect woefully naive.

In the meantime, the Obama administration continues debating whether or not to issue parameters of its own prior to the conclusion of its term in January 2017, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to work closely with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to set up a parallel track based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative .

If  Egyptian denials notwithstanding  the latter does materialise, it is likely to enjoy substantial American support and put paid to the French effort.

The more pertinent point is that the international community remains determined to succeed where it has systematically failed in the quarter century since the 1991 Madrid Middle East Peace Conference.

It will be some time yet before the international community is persuaded that the only way to consummate a two-state settlement is to compel Israel to terminate the occupation and accept a just resolution of the refugee question.
Demonstators protested against increasing deportations of West Balkan asylum applicants, many of whom are Roma.

Berlin, Germany  About a hundred demonstrators protesting against Germanys asylum policy marched to the memorial for Roma-Sinti victims of Nazism to raise awareness of the plight of todays Roma asylum seekers.

The protest, which took place on Friday evening, was in response to recent changes to German asylum laws and to the increasing deportations of West Balkan asylum applicants, many of whom are Roma.

Last October, the German government amended its asylum law by adding Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia to its list of safe countries of origin, legislation that makes it extremely difficult for citizens of these countries to be granted asylum.

A year earlier, in November 2014, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro were added to the same list. Meanwhile, deportations of people from these six West Balkan countries tripled last year in comparison to 2014, and the pace of deportations has continued to intensify this year.

One of the people facing the threat of deportation is 15-year-old Victoria Zenkulovic Veselovic, a Roma who fled from Serbia to Germany in 2011 with her mother and brother. She has been going to school in Berlin and learned to speak German, but the familys asylum application was rejected and they could be deported any day.

She joined the demonstration because shes afraid of going back to Serbia.



IMF says refugees could boost German economy

I hope I stay here because I dont have a future in Serbia. If we go there I will face discrimination and attacks, Veselovic told Al Jazeera. I hope I can have a right to stay in Germany so I can finish my school and later find a job.

Roma people face discrimination and segregation in each of the six West Balkan countries that Germany designated as Safe Countries, according to the most recent annual reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the US State Department.

The spokesman for UNHCR-Germany, Martin Rentsch, explained minorities such as Roma people could become victims of discrimination in some of the Balkan countries.

Depending on the individual case, we think that the social, economic and cultural disadvantage of Roma people in some Western Balkan societies can be a form of persecution under the UN Refugee Convention, Rentsch told Al Jazeera.

But throughout the European Union, the recognition rates for Western Balkan asylum applicants have remained low.

German politician under fire over racist Boateng remark

Tobias Plate, a spokesman for Germanys Federal Ministry of the Interior, said each asylum application is reviewed individually, and every applicant has a chance to provide evidence to back up his or her claim for protected status.

The federal government is well aware of the fact that minorities are discriminated against in Western Balkan countries, Plate said. However, discrimination does not necessarily mean that people are also persecuted or mistreated.

Plate added that Germany provides protection only to people who face a level of discrimination that makes life impossible or creates such a hopeless situation that the person is forced to leave a country.
Two weeks after launching an operation to recapture Fallujah from ISIL, the army secures the southern edge of the city.

Fighters battling to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group say they have secured its southern edge and have almost encircled the whole Iraqi city.





A leader of the Iran-backed Shia coalition taking part in the offensive said on Sunday the only side of Fallujah that remained to be secured by pro-Baghdad forces was part of the western bank of the Euphrates.

We are now at the gates of Fallujah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, told a news conference broadcast on state TV.

People fleeing Fallujah have been using anything that floats to help them get across the river, which is about 250 to 300 metres wide at the crossing point in farmland just south of the city, provincial council head Shakir al-Essawi said.

READ MORE: Iraqis drown while fleeing Fallujah

About 50,000 civilians live in Fallujah, 50km from Baghdad, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to a UN estimate.





Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive on Fallujah had been slowed down in order to protect civilians.

Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shia militias alongside the army in the battle could lead to an increase in sectarian violence.

The Popular Mobilisation Forces have since the start of the operation confined their action to Fallujahs outskirts and left elite federal forces to conduct breaching operations.

But the Popular Mobilisation Forces military commander, who goes by the name of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said that could change if the fighting drags on.

Were partners in the liberation. Our mission is not yet done, he told reporters in Baghdad.

We have accomplished the task given to us, which was to surround [Fallujah] while the liberation was assigned to other forces.

We are still in the area and well continue to support [them] if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, well enter with them.

Fallujah is a historic bastion of the fight against the US occupation of Iraq and the Shia-led authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003.
Families cross Euphrates River as they flee fighting between government forces and ISIL fighters.

Several Iraqi civilians fleeing fighting in the city of Fallujah have drowned in the Euphrates while attempting to cross to safety into government-controlled areas.

Thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire in and around Fallujah, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group, as government forces and allied militias are trying to recapture the city.

Hundreds of Iraqi families were reportedly trying to cross the river into the government-held city of Amiriyat al-Fallujah, about 50km south of Fallujah.

In the absence of organised help by the government, many of the people fleeing have been using makeshift boats.

The UNHCR confirmed that several people, including children, had drowned while trying to flee the city.

The route is one of the safe corridors provided by the Iraqi army out of the city. Two other passages into government-controlled territory are not being used by civilians because of safety concerns.

Traumatised families

Caroline Gluck, a senior public information officer of UNHCR, said about 12,000 people have fled the conflict area since May 23 when the government offensive started.

Many of them are desperate and travelled long journeys trying to avoid detection by ISIL with nothing but the clothes they wear. The fleeing families were traumatised, distraught and looked pale, she told Al Jazeera.

The families were housed in camps in Amiriyat al-Fallujah and other areas in the region, and Gluck called on the government to do more to provide displaced families with the help they need.

The operation for Fallujah has come at a dire human cost, with thousands of civilians trapped between ISIL fighters and the advancing Iraqi army.

READ MORE: Fallujah battle explained

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the need to spare civilians was slowing his forces, which have surrounded Fallujah but have stalled at the fringes of the city.

Government troops were backed by US-led air strikes as they retook Saqalawiya on Saturday, some 7km northwest of Fallujah, Colonel Mohammed Abd, an army commander in western Iraq, told DPA news agency.

Security forces raised the Iraqi flag in the suburb after pushing deep into the area and killing at least 27 Daesh elements, he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL

There are up 50,000 people still stuck in the centre of Fallujah struggling with dwindling water and food supplies.

No aid has reached Fallujah since September last year and residents have been living on dates, dirty water from the Euphrates river and animal feed, aid groups said.

With reporting by Ali Younes
Israeli police deployed in Jerusalem to secure a march marking the seizure of the eastern half of the city.

Israeli police deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem to secure an annual march marking Israels 1967 invasion and subsequent occupation of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of the city, which Arabs call the Naksa (setback).





This years march comes as Muslims prepare to begin observing the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Palestinians visit al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalems Old City.

The Israeli march for Jerusalem Day on Sunday also plans to pass through the Muslim quarter of the Old City before arriving at the Western Wall, which is directly below the al-Aqsa compound, leading to fears of tensions.

On June 5, 1967, Israel invaded Palestinian, Egyptian, and Syrian territories at once.

Six days later, it had occupied the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.

Since that day, the West Bank and Golan Heights remain illegally occupied, while the Gaza Strip has been crippled under a nine-year blockade that has denied 1.8 million Palestinians their rights to access medical equipment, clean water, food and materials necessary to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals destroyed in repeated Israeli bombardments.

Israels occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 was never recognised by the international community.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the Occupied East Jerusalem, said there is a large police presence around the Damascus gate.

Not all Israelis actually celebrate this day but certainly the Jewish settlers and the far-right supporters mark this day.

READ MORE: Israel escalates forced transfer of Palestinians

There is a large police presence and that gives you a large indication that no one here is taking any chance. Shop owners have been asked to close their shops.





What happened this year is that one of the non-profit organisations has petitioned to the High Court asking them to ban this march to go through the Muslim quarters. The High Court refused, but they put a time limit so by 7pm Jeruslaem time everyone should have evacuated here, Abdel-Hamid said.

Some 30,000 demonstrators were expected at the march.

We shall be there in very large numbers, Israeli police spokesman Asi Aharoni said. We have more than 2,000 police just for the Jerusalem Day events.

Israeli rights group Ir Amim had asked Israels Supreme Court to bar the march from entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate, the main entry used by Palestinians.

IN PICTURES: Nakba  Palestinians will return to their stolen lands

The court rejected the appeal, but required the marchers to complete their passage through the Damascus Gate by 6:15pm and through the Muslim quarter by 7pm.

The time restrictions were in place in case Ramadan began on Sunday night. The start of Ramadan coincides with the sight of a new moon.

Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state. Israelis see all of Jerusalem as their capital.

The future status of Jerusalem is among the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Supporters of the Colourful Revolution movement call for further demonstrations to end criminal governance.

Skopje, Macedonia  Activists from Macedonias Colourful Revolution movement have called for protests to be intensified, just days after police charged dozens for alleged offences related to vandalising government property and cultural heritage sites.

In a statement circulated across social media, campaigners urged supporters to show up en masse on Monday at the Special Prosecution Office in the capital Skopje to end the criminal governance of Macedonia.

We have been protesting tirelessly for nearly two months for freedom, justice and equality, the statement read. The time has come that we put an end to the crisis.

No justice, no peace





At least seven activists in Skopje are facing criminal charges for their alleged involvement in vandalism during the protests, while 26 have been charged in Bitola, Macedonias second largest city, according to activists and local media.

Excluding Sundays, anti-government protests against alleged corruption and mismanagement have continued on a daily basis for 55 days, with activists marching through city centres across the country. The movement has been referred to as both the Colourful Revolution and I Protest on social media.

READ MORE: Who are Macedonias I Protest demonstrators?

More than 500 people marched through Skopje on Saturday night, stopping at government buildings to hurl paint balloons as fellow protesters as onlookers cheered in approval.

No justice, no peace, the crowd chanted in unison.

Riot police stood in a row between the protesters and the federal parliament, watching without interfering, as several young men used an impromptu slingshot to catapult paint balloons across the face of the building.

Im willing to take the blame

Angered by perceived corruption and the governments alleged wiretapping of more than 20,000 politicians, judges and journalists, protesters have recently started throwing paint-filled balloons at government buildings and controversial state-funded statues in the capital.

The statues, which have become targets for the I Protest movement, were put up in recent years as part of Macedonias Skopje 2014, a project aimed at renovating the capitals centre at a price of 80 million euros ($91m).

Critics of the government are angry that the actual cost reportedly tops 560 million euros ($636m), according to a 2015 investigation by the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network.

Speaking to Al Jazeera at Saturday nights protest, 30-year-old Pavle Bogaevski said he had found out he was among those charged with destroying cultural heritage by watching the local news. The media laid out the specific, alleged acts committed by me.

Bogaevski, who works for a local human rights organisation, said participating in the protest is an obligation.

I know what I did: I painted a bunch of buildings and a bunch of monuments, he added.

Im willing to take the blame for it, but as long as [former Prime Minister Nikola] Gruevski is right next to me taking the blame for his crimes. Going to jail for seven months to a year is a small price to pay  if Gruevski is in the cell next to me.

READ MORE: New protests in Macedonia as snap poll date set for June

Along with pressure from the United States and the European Union  of which Macedonia is hoping to become a member  the unrest contributed to the governments decision to postpone snap elections scheduled for June 5 until a later date. The new date for the vote has yet to be decided.

The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), the main opposition party, along with two political parties representing Macedonias Albanian ethnic minority, had declared a boycott of that vote.

Last month, President Gjorge Ivanov attempted to quell the growing anger by retracting 22 of 56 presidential pardons he had previously given to politicians and their associates who were facing criminal investigations.

Many of those pardoned are or were prominent members of the ruling conservative party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation  Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity.

Ivo Kotevski, head of the partys communications department, said protesters have caused more than 300,000 euros ($341,000) worth of damage to public property across Macedonia.

Around 70-80 percent of Macedonians are disgusted by the things they saw [the protesters] doing in the last month or two, he told Al Jazeera, blaming the SDSM and foreign-funded non-governmental groups for the unrest.

They are damaging public goods and monuments of Macedonian heroes and Macedonian history. It sends a very bad message to the general population.

Standing near the parliament in Skopje, as balloons splattered against the building and roars of support rose from the crowd, 32-year-old protester Dmitrija Karabas Poposki explained that he used to be a staunch supporter of the ruling party.

I am now a 100 percent against [it]. Theyre criminals, he told Al Jazeera, arguing that politicians have accumulated personal wealth at the expense of people in the country.

I hope for a better time for the people of Macedonia.

Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_
Interior minister says more than $10bn confiscated in the past years anti-corruption drive.

Nigeria has seized more than $10.3bn in looted cash and assets in the past year under President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption campaign, the west African countrys information minister said.

In addition, the government is expecting the repatriation of more than $330m stolen from the public treasury and stashed in banks abroad, Lai Mohammed said in a statement on Saturday. He said most of the money is in Switzerland.

Mohammed did not identify former and current officials accused of looting public funds, though the government had promised to publish them.

The minister did not say how much of the money has been returned voluntarily by former officials hoping for forgiveness or a plea bargain.

He said that the funds include $583.5m recovered in cash and $9.7bn in cash and assets under interim forfeiture including sea-going vessels, buildings and land.

READ MORE  Nigeria: One year on, has Buhari lived up to promises?

Hundreds of people have been arrested and many trials are ongoing, including that of retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, who was former president Goodluck Jonathans national security adviser.

Dasuki is accused of diverting $2.1bn meant to fight the Boko Haram armed group. Jonathan instructed that the money be paid to bribe party officials to help him win his partys presidential nomination, Dasuki has told the court.

Jonathan lost the March 2015 elections to Buhari, who succeeded him a year ago and said he inherited state coffers emptied by massive corruption.

Dasukis financial director, Shuaibu Salisu, told the court that $47m in cash was stuffed into 11 suitcases and taken at night from the Central Bank of Nigeria to Dasukis residence.
About 50,000 people attend protest against conservative government they say has limited their freedoms.

Two former Polish presidents have led tens of thousands of marchers in Warsaw to protest against the right-wing governments policies and mark 27 years since the fall of communism.

The march on Saturday was yet another in a series organised by a new civic movement, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, or KOD, against the conservative government that took office in November.

The governments policies have strained Polands relations with the European Union and the United States and angered many in Poland. But the ruling party insists it has a mandate from Polands voters.

WATCH  Poles Apart: Poland\s widening divisions

The nationalist government has focused on helping those left out of Polands economic growth and increased its grip on state institutions.

The moves have paralysed the nations Constitutional Tribunal, put state-owned media under government control and increased police surveillance powers.

The EU says Polands rule of law and democracy are in danger.

The protests on Saturday brought former presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski, a left-winger, and Bronislaw Komorowski, a centrist, together to remind the Poles about their attachment to freedom and to democracy, which they won on June 4, 1989, in an election that peacefully dislodged the communists from power.

We want a free Poland because we fought for it, we dreamed about it and we built it, Komorowski, a dissident under communism, told the crowd.

READ MORE: How Polands conservatism is playing home and abroad

Warsaw authorities said that 50,000 people took part. Smaller marches also took place in other Polish cities and in Berlin and Brussels.

Marchers chanted Freedom, equality, democracy! and carried Polish and European flags.

We want to live in a democratic country. We want to express ourselves, a protester at the march in the Polish capital told Al Jazeera. We want people to say what they want to say and do what they want to do.

At the ruling Law and Justice partys regional meeting in Warsaw, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski insisted on Saturday that his policies are improving the lives of Poles and protecting Polands independence in the 28-nation EU.

Poles have the right to a new, better shape [of Poland] that would better serve the vast majority of Poles and we will not give that right up, Kaczynski said, pounding the podium.
Gaza Strip  A surge in Israels destruction of EU-funded projects in Palestine is linked to the EUs decision in 2015 to label products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to a new report.

The report, titled Squandered Aid and authored by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, was disseminated on the sidelines of a recent EU session. The report, of which Al Jazeera obtained an exclusive copy before its release this week, documents Israels repetitive destruction of EU-funded projects in Palestine.

The Euro-Med group estimates the total squandered EU aid money at 65 million ($73m), lost over the period 2001-2015, with at least 23 million ($26m) lost only during the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza.

OPINION: Finally, the EU stages an Israel intervention

During the first three months of 2016, the number of demolitions  per month  of projects funded by private, international or EU parties increased to 165, from an average of 50 per month during 2012-2015. This includes 120 documented demolitions of EU-financed buildings over the first three months of 2016, compared with 82 demolitions between 2001 and 2011.

Its the classic catch-22, says Cecile Choquet, a researcher at Euro-Med. Palestinians need help to rebuild, but as soon as they start to get back on their feet, Israel knocks them back down.

Demolitions and stop-work orders were particularly directed at structures located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, which falls under Israeli security and civilian control. It is regarded by the international community as the main land reserve for a future Palestinian state. In a single week in August 2015, 63 houses were destroyed, leaving 132 Palestinians homeless.

The surge has attracted international focus. In 2015, 31 human rights groups condemned Israels wanton destruction of Palestinian property and of projects funded by international aid in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians need help to rebuild, but as soon as they start to get back on their feet, Israel knocks them back down. by Cecile Choquet, researcher at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

The office of the Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Occupied Territories (COGAT) claimed that measures are taken against illegal building. However, Euro-Med reports that, in some cases, Israeli authorities have demolished Palestinian projects they had earlier approved.

Further, permits are scarce, with only as few as 2.3 percent of applications for building permits in Area C approved by Israeli authorities between 2009 and 2012, according to the Israeli rights group BTselem.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported last Tuesday on a tense and difficult meeting between Israeli and EU officials, where the EU expressed opposition to home demolitions and forced evacuations of Palestinian populations.

The EU Ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, reportedly warned that a continuation of the massive demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank is liable to harm relations between the EU and Israel.

In accord with Euro-Med observation, Haaretz ascribed the significant increase in demolition activities, especially of construction funded by the EU, to an Israeli attempt to adopt sanctions against the EU in response to the decision to label products from the settlements in European supermarkets and heavy political pressure by right-wing Israeli parliamentarians.

READ MORE: Israeli home demolitions reach record high

Al Jazeera spoke to Wijnand Marchal, First Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah, who confirmed that Dutch-sponsored projects have been increasingly encountering problems during or after implementation, especially over the last six months.

We have seen an increase of stop-work orders and demolition orders, Marchal told Al Jazeera. In Gaza, the agricultural programmes have [during the latest war of 2014] witnessed the demolition of water wells, greenhouses, and packing houses belonging to cooperatives, he continued.

During 2015, Dutch projects incurred damages totalling over $230,000 as a result of Israeli enforcement activities. In case Israeli demolitions of Dutch development projects is continuing, this will have a negative impact on our relations with Israel, the Dutch diplomat told Al Jazeera.

Euro-Med deplores that since 2012, information on damage to EU-funded projects has been inaccessible to both the media and human rights institutions.





Rami Abdu, Chairman of Euro-Med Monitor, says the report relied primarily on field research, including interviews with eyewitnesses, village councils, municipalities and relevant governmental and non-governmental bodies, as well as past publications and anonymous tips made available by diplomats who asked to remain anonymous.

It might represent an embarrassment to the EU for not protecting its funded facilities properly, says Choquet of Euro-Med. Thus, most relevant data are classified.

In addition, Abdu warns that some in Europe are questioning the wisdom of investing more funds in the occupied Palestinian territories particularly in light of the austerity measures implemented following the debt crisis throughout the region and the wave of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.





At a recent conference in Washington, DC, the president of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), Bill Corcoran, observed that funding from large donors is beginning to dry up due to the realisation that rebuilt infrastructure will likely be destroyed once again, says Pam Bailey, an international secretary at Euro-Med.

The response of international agencies is to withdraw funds. But my question is: Why dont they instead finally take action against Israel, instead of penalising ordinary Palestinians?

Concluding the report, Euro-Med urged the EU commission to substantively penalise the Israeli government when UN- or European-funded projects are targeted.

Recently we have seen more interest by our parliament on the challenges facing development projects in the West Bank. Some parliamentarians press for compensation from Israel, the Dutch Representative Office told Al Jazeera, confirming that they remain even more committed to humanitarian and development assistance to Palestinians.

According to Bailey, Israels targeting of EU-funded projects wont stop until the EU takes action.
On World Environment Day, the UN warns that criminals are robbing the Earths resources faster than previously believed.

Luanda, Angola  The international community must work together together to tackle the alarming growth of environmental crime, a leading UN official has told Al Jazeera.

The value of plundered natural resources today is estimated to be as high as $258bn, up by 26 percent compared with 2014, making environmental crime the worlds fourth most lucrative illegal activity  following drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking.

Its not just an environmental problem, its a threat to our societies, Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, UNEP, said from Angola, which hosts this years World Environment Day celebrations.

Marked on June 5 annually, this years World Environment Day theme is about the fight against the illegal trade in wildlife.

Steiner spoke about the impact of environmental crime, the threat of poaching and the need to preserve biodiversity in Angola and beyond.





Al Jazeera: World Environment Day is about highlighting both the positives and the negatives  lets start with the positives.

Achim Steiner: People care more and more about whats happening to the environment. They care about what that means in terms of air quality and health, as well as in terms of threatened species and losing something that is part of our natural heritage.

They are mobilising more, and so are governments. We are realising at the beginning of the 21st century that we cant live without nature. Its not all about technology and that is changing the way we look at what we need to do.

Al Jazeera: What about the negatives?

Steiner: This week were focused on environmental crime, which is often underestimated. Between UNEP and Interpol, we now believe that the total volume in financial terms of environment crime globally is over $250bn  it has increased by 26 percent over the last two-three years.

It involves ivory poaching but it goes much further. Were talking about people cutting down forests for charcoal, illegal timber and fisheries and the dumping of electronic waste. Its not just an environmental problem, its a threat to our societies.

READ MORE: Stealing animals to sell as pets

Firstly, its stealing from nations; secondly the proceeds finance conflicts and divisions in society. Its a way of undermining our economies, let alone killing vital biodiversity and pushing some species to the point of extinction. It is something that the whole world has to work together on, its part of the phenomenon of globalisation. People can join the Wild for Life campaign to make a difference.





Al Jazeera: Why host the global event in Luanda, when Angola has been slow to join CITES, the convention to cut the illegal trade in wild animals? Angola is, after all, one of  if not the biggest  exporter of oil on the continent.

Steiner: We at UNEP believe in understanding the deeper story behind a country. Angola endured a brutal civil war for many years. Yes, it found oil and has been able to finance its recovery from war, but what many dont know is that this is one of the biggest countries on the continent, one of the most ecologically wealthy ones too.

The government has begun to understand the value of nature to its future and its people. Its shutting down the largest domestic ivory market on the continent.

INSIDE STORY: Who is gaining from illegal wildlife trade?

On Saturday, we inaugurated a new rangers school and theres new legislation to put poaching crime from a petty crime to a serious one. Were putting a spotlight on a country thats making decisions on a future that could go either way.

Al Jazeera: Is it clear now that governments cannot combat poaching alone?





Steiner: Yes, Angola is a source country for poached ivory and a transit country for ivory from parts of central Africa.

Were dealing with environmental crime, which is about much more than the poacher  its about criminal syndicates that are one day smuggling people, the next day weapons, the next day drugs.

What weve found in our new report is that the environmental crime economy is now the fourth largest economy in the world.

Al Jazeera: One of the key messages from Angola is that theres a huge impact from the bushmeat trade  people hunting wild animals for food or to sell. Has that issue slipped through the web of attention because weve been so busy worrying about the iconic species like elephant and rhino?

Steiner: Our tendency is to focus on what we call the charismatic mega-fauna, the big animals. But there is currently a National Geographic team trying to change that. Theyre exploring the head waters of the Okavango Delta  one of the great world wonders, which are here in Angola  and theyre finding whole new species.

The whole area that connects Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia is one of the most extraordinary wildlife ecosystems on the world  home to 250,000 of the worlds elephants, over half the population thats left.

READ MORE: Rare success story of wildlife protection in Kenya

Thats all part of the massive transfrontier conservation initiative. But its not just about parks and protecting nature. We have to make nature work for people.

Cuando Cubango in Angola is an extraordinary eco-tourism destination. If Angola can make that part of the country a conservation area that produces both habitat for wildlife and eco-tourism, then local people can make a living servicing that industry and there will be more of a motivation to preserve the wildlife.
The Philippines president-elect has urged citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers.

The Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has encouraged the public to go after drug dealers, urging citizens with guns to shoot and kill them.

In a nationally televised speech late on Saturday, Duterte, who will be sworn in on June 30, told a huge crowd in the southern city of Davao that he will offer huge bounties to those who turn in drug lords  dead or alive.

Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun  you have my support, Duterte said.

READ MORE: Philippines Duterte recommends death penalty

If a drug dealer resists arrest or refuses to be brought to a police station and threatens a citizen with a gun or a knife, you can kill him, Duterte said.





Shoot him and Ill give you a medal.

He also said that drug addicts could not be rehabilitated and warned, If you are involved in drugs, I will kill you. You son of a whore, I will really kill you.

A bloody war

Duterte, who won the May 9 vote, based his successful election campaign strategy on a pledge to end crime within three to six months of being elected.

OPINION: New dawn for Philippine-China relations?

Speaking on Saturday, he reiterated that his anti-crime campaign would be a bloody war and would large sums of money for slain drug lords.

I will pay, for a drug lord: five million [pesos] ($107,000) if he is dead. If he is alive, only 4.999 million, he laughed.

He did not say how a private citizen could identify suspects.

READ MORE: The contradictions of Rodrigo Duterte

The 71-year-old has been previously accused of running vigilante death squads during his more than two decades as mayor of Davao, a city of about two million people that he says he has turned into one of the nations safest.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm that Dutertes anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations.

Duterte and other Filipino officials have previously brushed aside warnings from human rights groups about the dangers of vigilante justice.
Swiss voters have rejected by a wide margin a proposal to provide a universal basic income grant to all citizens, initial results and projections showed.

National projections showed around 78 percent of voters rejected the initiative.

Voters went to the polls on Sunday to decide whether the wealthy country should grant all Swiss citizens an unconditional basic income (UBI) that supporters say will tackle poverty and inequality.

Foreigners who have been legal residents in Switzerland for at least five years would also be eligible for the grant.

The amount to be paid was not determined before the vote, but the group behind the initiative has suggested paying $2,500 a month to each adult, and $640 for each child.

Driven by a group of independent citizens, the initiative collected 126,000 signatures triggering the referendum.

People voting yes to the initiative will ensure that the principle of a dignified life guaranteed to all will be enshrined in the federal constitution, the campaign says.

Supporters argue that providing such an income grant would assist people in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are becoming harder to find. They say the initiative could be easily financed through slight increases in sales tax or through a small fee on electronic transactions.

The Swiss government and nearly all the countrys political parties have urged voters to reject the initiative.

Critics have slammed the initiative as a Marxist dream, warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, to the detriment of the economy.

If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing, Charles Wyplosz, economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told the AFP news agency.

Proponents reject this claim, arguing that people naturally want to be productive, and a basic income would simply provide them more flexibility to choose the activities they find most valuable.

For centuries this has been considered a utopia, but today it has not only become possible, but indispensable, Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners and president of the Swiss chapter of the Basic Income Earth Network, said.

There is little chance of the initiative passing, but Kundig said that just getting a broad public debate started on this important issue is a victory.

Authorities have estimated an additional $25.62bn would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or significant tax hikes.

How much the UBI would be, who it would apply to, and how it would be financed and implemented would all have to be debated by parliament in a process that could take many years.

The income grant was one of five issues on the ballot on Sunday. People also voted on issues related to public services and the application procedures for asylum-seekers.
At security summit, Beijing vows to ignore pending international court ruling while US steps up military patrols.

Singapore  Asias largest defence summit concluded on Sunday amid growing fears of a legal and military showdown in the South China Sea over Chinas rapid construction of artificial islands with ports, airstrips and helipads in one of the worlds most bitterly contested waterways.

At the weekend-long Shangri-La Dialogue , Chinese military officials vowed to ignore a legal ruling expected in the next few weeks by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on a Philippines challenge to Chinas growing assertiveness in the key sea route between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble, said Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the Peoples Liberation Army, who led the Chinese delegation at the summit.

Sun added: China will not bear with the arbitration award, nor will it allow any infringement of its sovereignty.

Looking for Chinas maritime militia

The Hague court is expected to rule on the legality of the so-called nine-dash line, Chinas cartographic marker that it uses to claim territorial rights over most of the resource-rich sea. Chinas claimed sovereignty stretches hundreds of kilometres to the south and east of its most southerly province of Hainan, covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs.

The nine-dash line, first shown on a 1947 Chinese map, carves out an area that runs deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, and overlaps claims from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

China has boycotted The Hague tribunals proceedings and instead wants bilateral talks with rival claimants, all of which lack Chinas economic and military prowess.

Meanwhile, the US has stepped up military patrols and exercises in the South China Sea, and pledges to ensure freedom of navigation and flight  acts that China considers provocative and targeted at its sovereignty and security interests.

The increased patrols of US littoral combat ships, jet fighters, and surveillance planes near Chinese-held islands come as China is reportedly close to imposing an Air Defence Identification Zone, which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers in the region. Beijing made a similar declaration two years ago in the East China Sea over several islands contested by Japan.

On Saturday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the summit that Chinas militarisation of the South China Sea is destabilising the region, and urged it to abide by the pending international tribunal legal ruling.



Asia Pacific defence ministers gather for annual summit

Countries across the region have been taking action and voicing concerns publicly and privately, at the highest levels, in regional meetings, and global fora, Carter said.

As a result, Chinas actions in the South China Sea are isolating it at a time when the entire region is coming together and networking. Unfortunately, if these actions continue, China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation.

The new Japanese assertiveness in Asia Pacific

While calling for diplomatic and legal solutions to the territorial disputes, Carter warned that the US will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.

Carter also warned that Chinese construction on a South China Sea islet claimed by the Philippines would lead to actions being taken by the US and other nations, but he did not elaborate.

Major-General Yao Yunzhu, of the Peoples Liberation Army, speaking at the summit on Saturday, said the US militarys presence in the disputed waters are unwarranted and could be interpreted as battlefield preparations.

China has said many times that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is not in trouble at all, said Yao, who is also a senior researcher at the PLAs Academy of Military Science.

She added, I dont think any state has the right to impose its own understanding of freedom of navigation as a universal rule and label those who do not agree as a default violator of freedom of navigation or even a violator of the rule-based international maritime order.



Duterte vows to settle South China Sea dispute

Yao also defended Chinas nine-dash line, which critics say is legally ambiguous. She said it allows China and other claimants to have more room to manoeuvre and to have more room to compromise.

US, not China, militarising the South China Sea: FM

The US and China traded harsh accusations in May after what the Pentagon said was an unsafe encounter between two Chinese fighter jets and a US military reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea.

While territorial disputes in the waters date back in some cases for centuries, China has created islands and installed military hardware at a rapid pace and now asserts sovereignty over most of the 3.5 million-square-kilometre waterway.

Last month, a Pentagon report claimed China has added more than 1,300 hectares of land over two years in the Spratly Islands archipelago.

China often uses a progression of small, incremental steps to increase its effective control over disputed territories and avoid escalation to military conflict, the report stated.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, quoted by the Associated Press following the reports release, called it hyped up and expressed strong dissatisfaction with its findings.

Tensions in the South China Sea are expected to drive up Asia-Pacific defence spending by nearly 25 percent from 2015 to $533bn in 2020, according security think-tank IHS Janes.

By 2020, the centre of gravity of the global defence spending landscape is expected to have continued its gradual shift away from the developed economies of Western Europe and North America, and towards emerging markets, particularly in Asia, said Paul Burton, director of IHS Janes.

The South China Sea territorial dispute has spilled over into presidential campaigns in at least two countries.

Incoming Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte made headlines during his campaign by saying that he would ride a jet ski to plant a Philippine flag on Chinas man-made islands.

In the US, presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump accused China of building a military fortress the likes of which perhaps the world has not seen.

Follow Tom Benner on Twitter: @tgbenner
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on Monday for most of the worlds 1.2 billion Muslims.

Millions of Muslims around the world are marking the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and good deeds .

Religious authorities in most Middle Eastern countries announced the new moon of Ramadan was spotted on Sunday evening.

Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim country, said Muslims there would begin fasting on Monday, as will Muslims in Singapore, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, among others.

Following these announcements, a mosque in Tampa, Florida, announced to its followers that they too would celebrate the first days fasting on Monday.

The sighting of the new moon marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar month that varies between 29 and 30 days.

Some countries use astronomical calculations and observatories, while others rely on the naked eye alone, leading sometimes to different starting times in the Middle East.

Ramadan begins around 11 days earlier each year.

Muslims believe Ramadan to be the month in which the first verses of the Quran, Islams holy book, were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago.

Fasting and praying





The faithful spend the month of Ramadan in mosques for evening prayers known as taraweeh, while free time during the day is often spent reading the Quran and listening to religious lectures.

Each day for the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset to focus on spirituality, good deeds and charity.

There are exceptions to fasting for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating and people travelling.

Many break their fast as the Prophet Muhammad did around 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset followed by prayer.

READ MORE: Ramadan in the shadows: Fasting while poor

It is common for Muslims to break their fast with family and friends and charities organise free meals for the public at mosques and other public spaces.

Families and friends get up early for suhoor, the last meal eaten before the sun rises, and at the end of a day of fasting, gather for iftar, the breaking of the fast at sunset.

The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

In many Muslim countries, offices are required by law to reduce working hours and most restaurants are closed during daylight hours.

Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan with a few days holiday called Eid al-Fitr.
The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers.
           2005     ..        
Army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, said a carefully planned and deliberate attack comprising troops of 22 Brigade Garrison, and 153 Task Force Battalion of 7 Division and 8 Task Force Division as well as Nigeria Air Force Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) and some Civilian JTF, was carried out on Boko Haram stronghold and camp at Chukungudu on Friday 3rd May 2016.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/troops-kill-boko-haram-leader-18-others/149763.html#2AOTj5BjsKiPtCT2.99

He added that while advancing the location, the troops encountered Boko Haram militants ambush positions at Muskari, Gilam and Hausasi before descending on their main objective at Chukungudu.

Usman said during the encounter at the camp, the troops killed 19 Boko Haram terrorists including their leader in the area called Ameer Abubakar Gana.

He said they also discovered and destroyed the terrorists Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) making factory, and successfully detonated four primed IEDs.

The troops also recovered two anti-aircraft guns, 1 AK-47 rifle, a pistol, 1 Rocket Propelled Gun (RPG) bomb, one AK-47 magazine, 267 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) metal links ammunition and 23 rounds of 12.7mm belt ammunition. Other recovered items include a canter truck, one gun truck, one Land Rover and a Toyota Hilux.

Usman added: Two soldiers suffered gunshot wounds as a result of enemy action. However, it is gratifying to state that both of them are very stable and responding to treatment at the Field Ambulance.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/troops-kill-boko-haram-leader-18-others/149763.html#2AOTj5BjsKiPtCT2.99
Peace plans are busting out all over. First we hear that prominent pro-Israel American Jews are putting forward a plan for the next administration to consider. Then we hear that 214 retired IDF Generals have put forward their plan. Both Plans essentially backed Obamas parameters requiring:

1. The 67 lines to be the border subject to negotiated swaps;

2. The division of Jerusalem; and

3. A just settlement of the refugee claims.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair and others in the international community were working behind the scenes to arrange for the Zionist Union, led by Yitzhak Herzog, to join the present government coalition in Israel. At the last moment, PM Netanyahu opted to include Avigdor Liebermans party instead. The deal was cinched by Lieberman dropping many of his demands and settling for his appointment as the Minister of Defense and the appointment of one of his associates as Minister of Absorption.

The Obama administration made their displeasure known. Lieberman was described as an ultra-nationalist and an extremist. In fact he was neither. Government spokesperson, Tony Ernst, said the Government was the most right wing government ever, which it isnt.

On Monday evening, Lieberman formally joined the government and was sworn in as Minister of Defense.

PM Netanyshu chose this moment to do something he had never done before. He embraced the Arab Peace Initiative (API), otherwise known as the Saudi Peace Plan.

The Arab peace initiative includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians. We are willing to negotiate with the Arab states revisions to that initiative so that it reflects the dramatic changes in the region since 2002, but maintains the agreed goal of two states for two peoples, he said.

The revisions he had in mind were limited to the regional developments since the API was tabled. No mention was made of his longstanding demand that Palestine be demilitarized, that borders be defensible, that Jerusalem remain the undivided capital of Israel or that Israel be recognized as the nation state of the Jews. We are left to speculate whether these omissions signal that he was dropping such demands.

Netanyahu also said, To this end, we welcome the recent speech by Egyptian President [Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi and his offer to help advance peace and security in the region. Avigdor Lieberman agreed with both Netanyahus comments.

So this underscores that negotiations will not just be about peace but also regional security. Thus what is suggested is a two-track approach as part of the same process. For a couple of years now Netanyahu has indicated that he was talking to the Arab states about mutual security interests.

When Egypts al Sisi gave his recent speech in which he offered to broker reconciliation among the different [Palestinian] factions in order to arrive at a genuine opportunity to resolve the Palestinian cause, I was upset. He seemed to be flying in the face of Israels desires. Now that his remarks were pleasing to Netanyahu, it appears more likely that the content was coordinated with Israel.

You will recall that al Sisi and Israel worked in tandem to reject a ceasefire in the Gaza war of 2014 proposed by President Obama and Qatar and to enforce their own ceasefire. Something similar is happening now.

Surprisingly, the Arab world has not responded to Netanyahus olive branch. Some people in Israel took note of this and said Netanyahus move was too little too late. I beg to differ. Given the threats from Iran and ISIS, now is a good time to try to cut a deal. And the Arab League has not slammed the door on talking with Israel.

The two peace plans mentioned above are not inconsistent with any of this, though perhaps more forthcoming. Caroline Glick rejects the plan put forwarded by the Generals, arguing that the Arabs have always rejected such a partition of the land, that any concessions on Israels part lead to more Arab demands, that such a plan if implement will not produce peace or acceptance by the international community but will yield the opposite. In a pithy comment she said:

There is no Palestinian constituency for peace with Israel. The more Israel offers the Palestinians, the less interested they are in settling.

Netanyahu knows this, so why does he believe in the possibilities now?

First of all, the Arab states are greatly in need of regional stability. They need Israel on their side in defending against Iran and ISIS. The Arab Peace Initiative (API) when originally tabled called for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians and in return, the Arabs promised to consider normalizing relations with Israel thereafter. In essence this gave the Palestinians a veto over regional cooperation.

I believe, they now want to make a deal with Israel, with or without Palestinian approval. If they were to make an agreement with Israel that showed more flexibility on borders and other issues than they had hitherto shown, it would seriously undermine the strategy and the endgame of the Palestinians.

Unfortunately, after the French Conference ended, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir rejected Netanyahus request for an update saying, "Why should we change the Arab Peace Initiative? I believe that the argument the Arab Peace Initiative needs to be watered down in order to accommodate the Israelis is not the right approach."

If that is the last word, there will be no deal.

But that is only part of the strategy. Abbas is a problem, but fortunately his rule is coming to an end. Thus there is an opportunity to get new leadership.

On May 26, it was reported that Israel and the Arab states were discussing replacing Abbas with Mohammed Dahlan. In fact as far back as Feb 2014, Netanyahus special envoy met with Dahlan to discuss his ideas on replacing Abbas.

Dahlan was recently interviewed by al Monitor and what he had to say was not comforting to my ears. He is an ardent nationalist. He wants to unify the Palestinians in order to strengthen their demands on Israel. He is capable of making a deal with Israel but it would have to be along the lines of the API. He gave no indication that he wanted the destruction of Israel -- which doesnt necessarily mean that he doesnt.

In his favor is that he could act as an important bridge between the West Bank and Gaza, which was at one point Dahlans power center. He also is a foe of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and an ally with al Sisi. Minister Lieberman has indicated that he is against wars of attrition and would likely move to destroy Hamas in the next conflict. This is more likely now, if Dahlan agrees to take charge of Gaza.

Strangely, these developments gave rise to a renewed effort to bring the Zionist Union, headed by Yitzhak Herzog, into the government. Moshe Kahlon, head of Kaluna Party and Minister of Finance, led the effort saying The rumors and talk of a significant diplomatic move in the region are far more substantial than mere hints in newspapers. These efforts lead me to believe that the Arab League and Israel are planning a paradigm shift in the peace process.

Israel was concerned that the French Conference that began last Friday, in which 29 nations are participating, including the US, might do as they announced, namely,

The international community can build on the work developed by the United States in elucidating the core issues and therefore it can help devise solutions, and offer assistance and guarantees for their implementation. It can provide a framework to accompany them to their conclusion.

Needless to say, Israel was not invited. Israel has insisted on direct negotiation -- that the PA rejects -- and argues that such a conference will encourage Pres Abbas to continue to avoid negotiations. It seems her arguments have gotten traction. President Hollande said at the opening of the conference that the French initiative can only help provide guarantees for a "lasting, solid accord." and that, "The discussion on the conditions for peace between Israelis and Palestinians must take into account the entire region." And in a statement ahead of the conference on Thursday, he said the meeting will allow participants to "reaffirm their commitment to the two-state solution and their determination to create the conditions for resumption of direct talks."

At the conferences end nothing was accomplished or agreed up other than to call for another conference at the end of the year.

Lurking in the background is the US, which has remained coy about its intentions. Israel is concerned that this international activity will lead to a United Nations Security Council Resolution that Pres Obama will not veto.

Israels efforts to negotiate secretly with the Arab League as an alternate track to international efforts in which they have no control, reminded me of the secret negotiations that she held with the PLO after the 1991 Madrid Conference, which she was forced to attend. This conference put Jerusalem on the table as a final status issue. It was in these secret negotiations that the Oslo Accords were born.

The Oslo Accords turned out to be a big mistake for Israel and many lives were lost on the altar of peace. Heres hoping for no repetition.
A saying attributed to Emperor Napoleon while in exile is What a novel my life has been. Today, an equally fascinating novel could be written based on the life of an intellectual emperor, Bernard Lewis, the worlds greatest scholar of the Middle East, past and present, who has just celebrated his 100th birthday. At this moment when deceit and spin have been prominent features of contemporary political activity, the record of Lewiss pursuit of the truth and his scrupulous analysis of Middle East affairs is especially commendable, and should be honored.

Bernards life starting with the passion for books and languages he had already displayed during his Jewish childhood in London, to his first publication in 1937, to his last book of reflections of a Middle East historian is one of devotion to his subject and commitment to truth. His writings on the Middle East, brilliant in the classical British tradition of Gibbon, Macaulay, and Hazlitt, have made an extraordinary contribution to understanding a troubled area of the world. All analysts, even media pundits, will appreciate his two approaches: emphasis on the need for careful historical research; and the importance of understanding a society from within, by learning its languages, reading its writings, visiting it, and talking to its people.

Bernard carried out his research in many countries, especially in Turkey, through his study of texts and documents in national archives that informed his commentaries on Islamic societies and cultures. He was proud of the fact that he was the first scholar to have access to the newly opened Ottoman archives, which then led in 1961 to his magisterial work, The Emergence of Modern Turkey. He was not proud of what Middle East countries have become.

A novel on Bernard would portray him as a man for all seasons. Readers would relish his mastery of a dozen languages, his eloquence in writing and in speech, his love of music, especially opera, his poetry written in a number of languages, his witty comments on people and affairs, and above all, his generosity in helping students and others interested in the Middle East to understand the issues.

One of the amusing events in his career occurred during World War II, while he was supposedly attached to the British Foreign Office but really a member of Army Intelligence. A document in Albanian had been found and possibly contained military information. Bernard learned Albanian in a few days, the only person in Britain who could accomplish this feat, and translated the document that turned out to be not a secret document but a laundry list.

It needs to be said in this era of political correctness that Bernard defended and was proud of his profession as a student of Orientalism, the philology, culture, and religion of the Middle East. Orientalism for him was not, as some literary critics such as Edward Said have asserted, a tool of Western imperialist domination or exploitation by the West to seek power over the Islamic world, but an honorable profession of objective scholarship.

Bernard gave a definitive answer to the critics of Orientalism. In his 1993 book he said, What imperial purpose was served by (Britain and France) deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?

Much of the continuing interest in Bernards work on the part of both specialists and the public, stems from his objective analysis of Islamic history and societies. Lewis was never politically correct, and considered political correctness to be anathema. His writings on the religion of Islam and Islamic societies remain vital because of the 1.3 billion Muslims and the role of the Muslim world at the present time. Bernard said he tried to provide a fair and balanced account of the realities of that world, good and bad.

For Lewis, Islam has multiple meanings, a religion with a system of beliefs, doctrines and ideas, and also a civilization that developed under the aegis of the religion. That civilization had gone through several different phases. It was now going through a major crisis, one of hatred and violence.

On the one hand, Lewiss work shows respect for Islam and the richness of Islamic history. On the other hand, he points out that the political history of Islam is one of almost unrelieved autocracy. It was authoritarian, often arbitrary, sometimes tyrannical, and still is today. There was a sovereign power to which subjects owed and still owe complete and unwavering obedience as a religious duty imposed by Holy Islamic law.

His work is full of unusual insights. In one essay in 1996 Lewis pointed out the absence of the concept of citizenship in the Islamic world, illustrating this by the fact there is no word in Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish for citizen. The concept of citizen as participant in governance is absent. In one of his books he discussed a rarely mentioned subject, one that is usually ignored today: the important Muslim involvement in and contribution to slavery and the slave trade. He was the first person to use the term Islamic fundamentalism.

Halfway through his career, Lewis almost by accident became a public intellectual. He reached a wider audience through his commentaries on the sad state of Islamic societies today. Perhaps the first influential and controversial publication was his essay in 1990 on The Roots of Muslim Rage. That rage stemmed partly from Muslim anger over the fact that infidels were ruling over true believers, and partly from the Muslim rejection and war on modernity.

The reality is that Muslim societies had not kept pace with the West. Lewis argued that from the 11th century on, Islamic societies have been decaying because if their own internal problems and self-inflicted failures on political, economic, and gender issues. The deterioration was not the result of Western colonialism. Nevertheless, Islamic societies blame the West for their failures rather than seek reform of their autocratic systems that subsidize extremism.

Lewis brought to public attention the concept of a clash of civilizations, a term he coined, the struggle between Islam and Christianity, both of which claim universal truth. He was the first analyst to be conscious, three years before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, of the significance of Osama bin Laden and his ideology of jihadism. Lewis saw Osama not as an ordinary terrorist, but as an ambitious warrior, planning to restore the Islamic Empire, first by conquering Andalusia (Spain), the last Islamic stronghold on the European continent that was retaken in 1492.

In this regard, two things were important for Lewis. One was that Islam has not divorced religion and politics. The other was that he rejected the idea that terrorism was not related to Islam. On the contrary, he asserted that terrorists themselves claimed to acting in the name of Islam. In an earlier book, The Assassins, dealing with the medieval group of that name, Lewis indicated that terrorist organizations were a deformation of Islam.

That group, the Assassins, failed and was eliminated. The issue now for the West is to seek the elimination of the present terrorist Islamist groups. How is this to be done? Lewis has warned about taking military action, but also argued that that Western efforts and hopes to democratize the Middle East were unlikely to succeed. Lewis challenges the political world to provide an adequate response to Islamic terrorism. Real peace in the Middle East can only come after the dictatorships in the area have gone.

It is important to recognize the intellectual giants who have contributed to our understanding of the world. Bernard Lewis is one of those giants. His 100th birthday is to be celebrated.
"What would Jesus do?" According to President Obama, Christ would open public school bathrooms to students based on their gender identity instead of their biological sex.

Speaking to a PBS News Hour Townhall gathering in Elkhart, Ind. on June 2, Obama cited the "Golden Rule" as his justification for sending the federal government into public school bathrooms:

And look, I have profound respect for everybody's religious beliefs on this, but if you're at a public school, the question is how do we just make sure that children are treated with kindness. That's all. And my reading of Scripture tells me that that Golden Rule is pretty high up there in terms of my Christian belief. That doesn't mean somebody else has to interpret it the same way. But it does mean, as president of the United States, those are the values that I think are important.

Obama perverts the "Golden Rule" by omitting that God, not Obama, defines what is good:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them  this is the Law and the Prophets.

What about all of the girls and boys who don't think it's "good" to share their bathrooms with the opposite sex? They're not feeling the "kindness."

Obama's eisegesis is consistent with how he reads into the Constitution a basis for whatever public policy he's pushing past congressional authority. Obama condemned using religious rationalization when he was running for office in 2004, according to Cathleen Falsani, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times:

I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God's mandate.

Obama told Falsani that he is "rooted in the Christian tradition" and that "there are many paths to the same place." Falsani found that an "unlikely theological position for someone who places his faith squarely at the feet of Jesus." Obama said that depends "on how a particular verse from the Gospel of John, where Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me,' is heard."

If Obama doesn't think Christ spoke clearly on something as vital as eternal salvation, he shouldn't be using Christ to direct traffic at the intersection of faith and public policy. That's a lot of cheek to turn.

Nonetheless, Obama is quite certain that the "Golden Rule" supports borderless bathrooms and same-sex civil unions, which he affirmed during the Falsani interview.

So now the rule applies if Johnny thinks his "sex assigned at birth" clashes with his crayons. To deny Johnny access to the girls' bathroom means the school loses federal funding under Obama's reading of Title IX, which is as convoluted as his reading of the Constitution and Scripture.

Obama could cite a better proof pretext from Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy's epistle to the Babylonians, or as the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia lampooned it, the "sweet-mystery-of-life" passage:

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.

Obama should ponder this solemn warning from Christ:

But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me  it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Enabling a child's sexual identity confusion isn't an act of "kindness," as Obama foolishly claims.

It is "collaborating with madness," according to Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the distinguished service professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who has studied transgenderism and so-called "sex-reassignment" surgery for 40 years. Michael W. Chapman, writing for CNSNews.com on June 2, quotes from Dr. McHugh's book:

I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex reassignment. The children transformed from their male constitution into female roles suffered prolonged distress and misery as they sensed their natural attitudes" as males develop.

It falls under the "Millstone Rule."

Finally, if a school principal announced that his Christian belief prevented him from opening school restrooms to students based on their gender identity preference, sirens would be blaring at ACLU headquarters. President Obama says his "Christian belief" compels him to force public schools to do just that, and the ACLU's silence is almost deafening.

ACLU lawyer Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of the ACLU, left the organization after encountering a big dose of perverse reality. According to the Atlanta Progressive News, May 29:

Dillard Smith argues that transgender rights have 'intersectionality with other competing rights, particularly the implications for women's rights.' "I have shared my personal experience of having taken my elementary school age daughters into a women's restroom when shortly after three transgender young adults over six feet with deep voices entered. My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer," she said.

Daniel Webster provides a timely and ominous warning:

[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.

Jan LaRue is Senior Legal Analyst with the American Civil Rights Union.
This Presidential campaign has been one for the history books, and not in a good way. Bernie Sanders's and Hillary Clinton's campaigns are based on their rage against the "undeserving rich," the 1%, the Donald Trumps of the world. This gets so tiresome and sounds so hollow, especially given the Clintons' prodigious wealth, most of it ill-gained. Have either of these candidates or their supporters ever been to a museum? A hospital? A theater? A university? Have they hoped to send their kids to a prestigious film school, music school, or medical school? Most likely they have been to at least one or two of such institutions and taken the perks of the others for granted. Did they notice the names on the walls and buildings, the names of all the people who made those museums, hospitals, universities and theaters possible? Perhaps not. A name we've never seen at any of these places is Clinton. And Trump's name appears only on buildings he owns or those to which he has sold his name.

The Music Center in Los Angeles is a wonder to behold. One can see opera, drama, classical music, all of the finest quality. None of it would be possible without the generosity of the very wealthy people who gave, and continue to give, millions of their dollars to make these places an ongoing reality for the public: Disney Hall, a Frank Gehry masterpiece, is a gift to the city from the Disney family.

Have they ever known someone hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles? It is a state-of-the-art hospital, one of the best in the world. Their doctors and nurses save countless lives every day. You cannot walk through any of their many buildings without seeing the names of the donors who made the place possible on the walls and buildings in which miracles are performed on a daily basis. Most of these names are unknown to the people who work there and are treated there, but they all benefit from the state-of-the-art science and technology made possible by the generosity of the very rich.

Larry Ellison just gave USC $200 million for cancer research. And yet Bernie Sanders loathes people like Larry Ellison. He hates the people who have earned so much money they can afford to donate millions to the causes of their choice. He believes the government should take the money away from people like Ellison, take it away or prevent them from earning it in the first place. That is the brand of socialism Bernie Sanders embraces. Enforced equality -- the cost to our once civilized society be damned. One only has to look at the quality of such institutions, if they even exist, in socialist or communist countries, to grasp the chasm between what we in America take for granted and what the citizens of socialist nations do not enjoy thanks to forced equality.

Visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or MOCA, the Getty, the Norton-Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena, which has one of the finest art collections in the world. Notice, as you browse through the numerous buildings chock full of some of the world's finest works of art, the names in large print on the walls or in fine print somewhere else. If it were not for the largesse of the very wealthy, those buildings, those galleries, that art would not be available to the public. The Autry Museum in Los Angeles, which honors the art and history of the American West, is a fabulous place. It exists solely because people like Gene Autry, and the other generous people who could afford to make it happen, gave the money to see it through.

The same is true throughout America, in every state and most cities. Consider the museums of New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, the WWII museum in New Orleans, and many others. Access to the arts and tangible history are available to us all thanks to the people wealthy and generous enough to build and fund universities, theaters, and museums. Millions of people are treated and made well, no matter how difficult their medical problems, at hospitals built with money donated by the fortunate rich. And yet Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, she rich but not at all generous, attack these people every day. Their rallies, their speeches, are rife with anti-capitalist rhetoric. None of those places would exist if it were not for capitalism. Not one of them. Our kids would not be visiting these museums on field trips, seeing plays in our theaters, or be treated in the emergency rooms of the finest hospitals in the world if it were not for the capitalist system that has improved the lives and health of multi-millions of people and the Judeo-Christian values that has led the most fortunate among us to share their wealth.

As a nation, we have arrived at the crossroads. Do we want an angry, incompetent and greedy person like Hillary, a known liar, socialist like Sanders, who means to punish success and promote undeserved entitlement at the expense of others, or Trump, who grasps the nature of work, business and success and at least believes he can rehabilitate the country, so debilitated by seven and a half years of the Obama administration?
Whenever they need to ignore objective reality, history, and constitutionality progressives just love to say that certainty is not possible. Its as if theyve stepped through a looking glass into a world of make-believe where the only reality they can be sure of is their own self-serving narrative. This handy two-step has become their default response whenever observational evidence and common sense are stacked against them, so when we see it we he should start peeling the onion to find the rot that sleek surface is hiding.

A simple example of how this two-step works is Obamas harebrained initiative to force America to accept transgender bathrooms by claiming gender defines sex, and not the other way around. Once the switch gains currency, it takes more than just unzipping his fly to prove a male predator has no business haunting the girls locker room. After all, no one can determine anyones gender for them, so claims that denying them access violates the rights of the sexually bewildered sprout like mushrooms.

It should be no surprise that the federal judiciary has provided abundant ideological support for this strategy. Most of us are quite aware of progressive bias. Yet, recognizing a judicial two-step and effectively debunking it can call for some serious digging, because the thing we need to discredit isnt the ideological bias itself -- which is obvious -- but the mechanisms by which it politicizes the courts, corrupts the media, and rots the culture.

For instance, its not immediately apparent why the three-prong structure of the Lemon test invites progressives to weave a web of lies about the establishment clause. Yet it does. One of their favorite ways of wriggling out of ideological corners is by obsessing over an actual legislative purpose while suppressing the laws statutory language and practical effect, then striking it down with conjecture based on anecdotal evidence. Done well, the narrative they spin can sound pretty convincing; but it crashes and burns the moment we state plainly their unspoken premise, one thats an insult to common sense:

We can strike down a law without asking what it says or does.

OConnors concurrence with Wallace v. Jaffree removes any doubt thats exactly what the progressives did in 1985 to fight off a challenge to their expansion of federal power. Although she recognized the reality that theres no threat to religious liberty in a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren, OConnor condemned the law nonetheless.

I agree with the Court that the State intended 16-1-20.1 to convey a message that prayer was the endorsed activity during the state-prescribed moment of silence. While it is therefore unnecessary also to determine the effect of the statute, it also seems likely that the message actually conveyed to objective observers by 16-1-20.1 is approval of the child who selects prayer over other alternatives during a moment of silence. [my emphasis]

A perfect two-step. And pure baloney. The thoughtful children are banished, and her decision rests on the perception of a message to endorse religion that the government conveyed or attempted to convey. According to OConnor, this perception of an abstraction by a term of art produces the politically correct result even if the governments attempt fails and has no observable effect, since thats what attempted to convey means when its placed in juxtaposition with conveyed.

As if on cue, Ishmael Jaffree admitted in an interview that he hadnt gotten the message OConnors objective observer perceived because the Alabama moment of silence law had done him no harm.

Undeterred, Justice Stevens took OConnors fantasy one step farther in his majority opinion, asserting that the finding of the trial court made it unnecessary, and indeed inappropriate, to evaluate the practical significance of the addition of the words "or voluntary prayer" to the statute. [my emphasis] This despite the fact that the district court had gone entirely rogue, reversing Engel v. Vitale and Abington v. Schempp by ruling that Alabama had the constitutional authority to establish a state religion. Stevens not only asserted his ability to strike down a law without asking what it says or does, he said the court must do so, kicking his arrogance up a notch with another unspoken premise:

This court must not question a politically correct decision because it might find its wrong.

Adding a final touch to this study in objectivity and sound logic, OConnor supported her decision with an example.

[A] moment of silence statute, either as drafted or as actually implemented, could effectively favor the child who prays over the child who does not. For example, the message of endorsement would seem inescapable if the teacher exhorts children to use the designated time to pray. [my emphasis]

The clauses in italics suggest two more unspoken premises, and the first one is a real doozy:

The purpose is the effect because the effect is the purpose.

This would appear to nullify the separation of powers by hopelessly confusing the legislative (drafted) and executive (implemented) functions, and as unlikely as that may seem, its made unmistakable by

Legislative purpose is established retroactively by violating the law.

Despite the fact, of course, that both OConnor and Stevens have declared such practical effects of the law irrelevant, and Stevens has gone one step farther by saying they must be suppressed, even though his decision in Wallace rests squarely on the words "or voluntary prayer."

If any doubt lingers that OConnor confused effect with purpose, and that her motives for doing so may not have been pure, perhaps one more sample of her confusion will help. Heres OConnors take on the progressives hallowed Neutrality Doctrine:

The solution to the conflict between the Religion Clauses lies not in "neutrality," but rather in identifying workable limits to the government's license to promote the free exercise of religion.

Forget, for the moment, that government promotion of free exercise is a contradiction in terms; but remember that in progressive establishment clause dogma taking religious sides is an automatic law killer. OConnors babbling about striking some sort of free exercise balance has nothing to do with accommodation because setting workable limits on the governments license to violate the First Amendment is dividing by zero.

The real key to this two-step is the designation of the government as a proxy for the Christian majority. OConnor is practicing one of the very foulest progressive deceptions: shes justifying an assault on religious expression by identifying the government, not the individual Christian, as the object of the courts hostility.

Shes not only wrong, shes in bad company. OConnors following the example of the progressive Founder of the Feast, William Brennan, in his Schempp concurrence:

Inevitably, insistence upon neutrality, vital as it surely is for untrammeled religious liberty, may appear to border upon religious hostility. But freedom of religion will be seriously jeopardized if we admit exceptions for no better reason than the difficulty of delineating hostility from neutrality in the closest cases.

I call this Brennans paradox. The English translation: The court's hostility toward Christians secures religious liberty for all. By limiting, not promoting, religious expression. I guess that makes sense coming from a judge who had a problem with the free exercise clause because it interfered with the Warren Courts establishment clause activism.

Progressive two-stepping may sometimes seem hilarious, and it can often be held up to ridicule because its narrative makes no sense; but in Wallace and a raft of similar establishment clause opinions it serves a deadly serious purpose that goes far beyond religion. For decades the establishment clause has been the fire hardened tip of the lefts ideological spear, so the district courts challenge to incorporation under the Fourteenth Amendment made Wallace a political battleground, pitting advocates of limited government in the Reagan administration against far-left separationists, who saw it as an existential threat.

That is, it had the potential to inflict the kind of damage Souter would describe in McCreary v. Kentucky ACLU as seismic. Ending the lefts flagrant abuse of the purpose test -- specifically, as it was abused in Wallace -- would undermine decades of progressive precedent. And thats the bottom line. When progressives see Christians religious liberty as that kind of threat, someones religious rights are going to burn. In OConnors looking-glass world, where a conjectural effect is exploited to gin up an actual purpose and then gets thrown away, its the governments; but on realitys side of the mirror its a Christian baker in Oregon who pays the fine.

Mr. Stewart is a freelance writer living in Austin, Texas. He is writing a book on the establishment clause and welcomes feedback at ehstewartjr@gmail.com.
Former Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales penned an op ed in the Washington Post backstopping Donald Trump's claims that the judge presiding over the lawsuit brought by former Trump University students is biased.

But instead of trashing Judge Gonzalo Curiels Mexican heritage, Gonzales suggests a far more effective attack; his ties to the Democratic party and specifically, Hillary Clinton.

Certainly, Curiels Mexican heritage alone would not be enough to raise a question of bias (for all we know, the judge supports Trumps pledge to better secure our borders and enforce the rule of law). As someone whose own ancestors came to the United States from Mexico, I know ethnicity alone cannot pose a conflict of interest. But there may be other factors to consider in determining whether Trumps concerns about getting an impartial trial are reasonable. Curiel is, reportedly, a member of a group called La Raza Lawyers of San Diego. Trumps aides, meanwhile, have indicated that they believe Curiel is a member of the National Council of La Raza, a vocal advocacy organization that has vigorously condemned Trump and his views on immigration. The two groups are unaffiliated, and Curiel is not a member of NCLR. But Trump may be concerned that the lawyers association or its members represent or support the other advocacy organization. Coupled with that question is the fact that in 2014, when he certified the class-action lawsuit against Trump, Curiel appointed the Robbins Geller law firm to represent plaintiffs. Robbins Geller has paid $675,000 in speaking fees since 2009 to Trumps likely opponent, Hillary Clinton, and to her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Curiel appointed the firm in the case before Trump entered the presidential race, but again, it might not be unreasonable for a defendant in Trumps position to wonder who Curiel favors in the presidential election. These circumstances, while not necessarily conclusive, at least raise a legitimate question to be considered. Regardless of the way Trump has gone about raising his concerns over whether hes getting a fair trial, none of us should dismiss those concerns out of hand without carefully examining how a defendant in his position might perceive them  and we certainly should not dismiss them for partisan political reasons.

I think it's futile to suggest that Curiel's Mexican heritage is a reason for the judge's treatment of Trump. First of all, it's impossible to prove. His parents arrived in America almost 100 years ago and Curiel was born, raised, and educated in America. Secondly, there is no hint in Curiel's previous opinions of any kind of political bias. It seems Trump has made a completely scurrilous charge with no basis in fact in an attempt to distract voters from the fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Trump University on students.

Gonzalez offers a far more profitable line of attack, citing irrefutable facts and raising legitimate questions about the fairness of the judge. But Trump seems determined to get a rise out the bigots who support him rather than actually try and defend himself from a possibly biased judge.
A former Marine was going to work at his Time Warner cable job on Memorial Day when he noticed that the company had not followed flag etiquette and lowered the standard to half mast. Taking it upon himself to rectify the error, Allen Thornwell ceremoniously lowered the flag - and ended up being fired for it.

Daily Caller:

A manager at the veterans placement company who arranged the job for Thornwell said Thornwells passion for the flag and political affiliation disturbed Time Warner. The company confirmed to the Charlotte Observor Thornwell was no longer under contract but declined any further comment. In response to the incident Thornwell told the Charlotte Observor, Im not even mad right now elaborating I dont know what kind of moral compass you need to fire a veteran on Memorial Day for lowering the flag. Thornwell arrived at the company on Memorial day and noticed the flag flying at full-staff. After lowering the flag unprompted he was approached by a security guard who reportedly told him its company policy that nobody touches the flag pole. The security guard even sympathized with Thornwell reportedly telling him I fought, I understand. The U.S. Flag Code advises the flag should be at half-staff until noon on Memorial day before being returned to its proper position. Thornwell said to the Observor the incident occurred at 2:30pm and he now wished he had gotten permission. He expressed regret saying I didnt think of it as Time Warners property adding its everybodys flag.

Thornwell was absolutely right. If you're going to fly the flag, you should carefully follow the rules governing its display. If not, why bother to fly it in the first place?

Time Warner should have been thanking Thornwell for his patriotic gesture. Instead, some small minded bureaucrat could only see Thornwell's action as violating the rules for which he must be punished.

Hopefully, the outcry will force Time Warner to reconsider firing a patriotic veteran on Memorial Day.
As weekend shootings continue in Chicago, we wonder if worse is ahead.

The original Red Summer was in 1919.

The Red Summer of 1919 marked the culmination of steadily growing tensions surrounding the great migration of African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North that took place during World War I. When the war ended in late 1918, thousands of servicemen returned home from fighting in Europe to find that their jobs in factories, warehouses and mills had been filled by newly arrived Southern blacks or immigrants. Amid financial insecurity, racial and ethnic prejudices ran rampant. Meanwhile, African-American veterans who had risked their lives fighting for the causes of freedom and democracy found themselves denied basic rights such as adequate housing and equality under the law, leading them to become increasingly militant.

The nations civil disorder wasnt confined to Chicago. It happened in other cities including Washington, D.C., Knoxville, Tennessee, and Omaha, Nebraska. But the violence was noteworthy in Chicago when,

Violence soon broke out between gangs and mobs of black and white, concentrated in the South Side neighborhood surrounding the stockyards. After police were unable to quell the riots, the state militia was called in on the fourth day, but the fighting continued until August 3. Shootings, beatings and arson attacks eventually left 15 whites and 23 blacks dead, and more than 500 more people (around 60 percent black) injured. An additional 1,000 black families were left homeless after rioters torched their residences.

Chicago is high on the distressed list of failing Big Red Cities. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Obamas former Chief of Staff, isnt universally loved. The public schools, operated by the city, are failing. And the citys population is declining. In short, the city  and the entire state  is a financial disaster, waiting to worsen.

When the Windy City wasnt chosen as the site for the 2016 Summer Olympics, its prospects for a recovery took a serious blow. Perhaps even a fatal one.

A perfect storm of hot weather, ever-declining job opportunities, Black Lives Matter agitation in conjunction with another police shooting like that of Laquan McDonald, along with the a heated presidential campaign and first-responder pension woes for Chicago police and fire departments, could bring another, ugly Red Summer to Chicago.

If so, we can anticipate blame being directed toward the Trump campaign by the Democrats.
Bill de Blasio, the hard-left mayor of New York City, is going down as a historically corrupt figure (which is saying something for New York City). Currently the subject of no less than five official investigations:

historians have been hard-pressed to find a mayor who, along with his administration and inner circle, was ever the subject of as many simultaneous investigations  conducted by as many different agencies  as Mayor Bill de Blasio now faces. I cant recall any other sort of perfect storm like this, coming from all those different angles, said Daniel Czitrom, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College and the author of New York Exposed: The Gilded Age Police Scandal That Launched the Progressive Era.

The citys newspapers are now competing with one another for leaks from these investigations, and the left-leaning New York Daily News has a doozy (to use an adjective popularized by the citys iconic Mayor LaGuardia).

When Mayor de Blasio began handing out prestigious appointments to obscure boards and committees in his first months in City Hall, he turned to a system of cash for cachet.

His team assembled an elite spreadsheet of major campaign donors, powerful lobbyists and celebrities as candidates for the coveted slots doled out by de Blasio.

This internal spreadsheet  obtained by the Daily News  reveals a blatant and highly choreographed effort to reward donors and New York power players with high-profile VIP appointments.

The 2014 list even goes so far as to suggest that de Blasio appoint lobbyists who were and are actively lobbying his administration on behalf of their wealthy clients.

A real man of the people, isnt he? Read the entire NYDN story for numerous examples of the way in which politics in command (to use an old Communist slogan) operated under deBlasio.

I hope that the story of de Blasios corruption will unfold in public during the presidential election, to offer a counterpoint to Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and other progressives (including Jane Sanders) arte as greedy as anyone, but more hypocritical.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman
As Hillary Clinton fights tooth and nail to avoid an embarrassing defeat in Calfornia on Tuesday, Republicans are continuing their effort - with much success - to unify their party in advance of the convention in Cleveland in July.

By this point in the campaign, Hillary Clinton fully expected to have wrapped up the nomination and pivoted to the general election where she would be stressing the themes and issues she expects will bring her victory in November.

But the coronation has been delayed by her pesky nemesis Bernie Sanders. Even if Sanders doesn't win California, he is promising to continue the fight all the way to Philadelphia and the Democratic convention.

The Hill:

"Hillary Clinton will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination at the end of the nominating process on June 14, Sanders told reporters in Los Angeles Saturday, according to CNN. Won't happen. She will be dependent on superdelegates." "The Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention," he said. Sanders criticized the media for accounting for superdelegates when talking about Clintons lead in the race, saying that their backing of a candidate is fluid and those who support Clinton now have six weeks before they actually cast their votes. Still, the Vermont senator acknowledged the difficulties of getting enough superdelegates to switch over to him in order to secure the nomination. "We understand that we have a steep climb," he said. "I'm not here to tell you that tomorrow we're going to flip 300 superdelegates. You don't hear me say that. But I am saying we are going to make the case." Clinton is outpacing Sanders among pledged delegates  1,769 to 1,501 and superdelegates, 547 to 46.

What makes Sanders' effort to secure the nomination so futile is that the vast majority of superdelegates were carefully wooed by the Clinton campaign months ago. There are hundreds of Democratic House and Senate members who have endorsed Hillary while hundreds more union members, social justice activists, high ranking state party officials, and state level officeholders have also tied their fortunes to the Clinton machine. It is a solid phalanx of support - Clinton's ultimate firewall - that Sanders will look to break up between now and the vote for the nomination.

Sanders only chance - and it's a hail mary - is that Clinton is indicted before the convention. Even then, he probably isn't the second choice of many Democrats.

So while the Republicans are prepping for the November election, Clinton is still begging for primary votes. Between today and Tuesday, Hillary and Bill Clinton have scheduled 30 appearances in California - a sure sign that she is panicking. She doesn't want to give Bernie Sanders any excuse to continue his campaign. But it sounds like Sanders won't withdraw under any circumstances.
In an historic referendum, Swiss voters have soundly rejected a plan to give every Swiss citizen a universal basic income in lieu of transfer payments. The plan would have doled out about $2500 a month to every adult and $600 a month for every child.

Reuters:

Opponents, including the government, said it would cost too much and weaken the economy. Projections by the GFS polling outfit for Swiss broadcaster SRF showed nearly four out of five voters opposed the bold social experiment launched by Basel cafe owner Daniel Haeni and allies in a vote under the Swiss system of direct democracy. Haeni acknowledged defeat but claimed a moral victory. "As a businessman I am a realist and had reckoned with 15 percent support, now it looks like more than 20 percent or maybe even 25 percent. I find that fabulous and sensational," he told SRF. "When I see the media interest, from abroad as well, then I say we are setting a trend." Conservative Switzerland is the first country to hold a national referendum on an unconditional basic income, but others including Finland are examining similar plans as societies ponder a world in which robots replace humans in the workforce.

The day is coming - much sooner than any of us realize - when smart machines will do the work being performed by tens of millions of us now. Even white collar jobs will vanish in the next decade.

And that's the idea behind this basic income scheme. The UBI will act as a buffer in the transition to a robot workforce. By giving everyone a floor income, the theory is that economic disruptions will be minimized.

But what about the "moral hazard" of just giving everyone money? Proponents have no good answers which is why Switzerland - one of the most generous of the European welfare states - rejected the idea.

Not so fast says American Enterprise Institute fellow Charles Murray. Murray has been advocating for a UBI in America for a decade. And now that the contours of the robot revolution are coming into focus, Murray believes the time is now to implement the plan.

Wall Street Journal:

The great free-market economist Milton Friedman originated the idea of a guaranteed income just after World War II. An experiment using a bastardized version of his negative income tax was tried in the 1970s, with disappointing results. But as transfer payments continued to soar while the poverty rate remained stuck at more than 10% of the population, the appeal of a guaranteed income persisted: If you want to end poverty, just give people money. As of 2016, the UBI has become a live policy option. Finland is planning a pilot project for a UBI next year, and Switzerland is voting this weekend on a referendum to install a UBI. The UBI has brought together odd bedfellows. Its advocates on the left see it as a move toward social justice; its libertarian supporters (like Friedman) see it as the least damaging way for the government to transfer wealth from some citizens to others. Either way, the UBI is an idea whose time has finally come, but it has to be done right. First, my big caveat: A UBI will do the good things I claim only if it replaces all other transfer payments and the bureaucracies that oversee them. If the guaranteed income is an add-on to the existing system, it will be as destructive as its critics fear.

It is here that the radicalism of Murray's idea for a UBI becomes clear:

The UBI is to be financed by getting rid of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, housing subsidies, welfare for single women and every other kind of welfare and social-services program, as well as agricultural subsidies and corporate welfare. As of 2014, the annual cost of a UBI would have been about $200 billion cheaper than the current system. By 2020, it would be nearly a trillion dollars cheaper.

The big reason why so much money would be saved is virtually eliminating the tens of billions in administrative costs siphoned off by government to run these programs. Fraud and waste would also be drastically reduced when everyone is eligible for the program.

But what about the "moral hazard" question? Murray says the real question is how much worse could it be compared to today with a a UBI?

Finally, an acknowledgment: Yes, some people will idle away their lives under my UBI plan. But that is already a problem. As of 2015, the Current Population Survey tells us that 18% of unmarried males and 23% of unmarried women ages 25 through 54people of prime working agewerent even in the labor force. Just about all of them were already living off other peoples money. The question isnt whether a UBI will discourage work, but whether it will make the existing problem significantly worse.

The amount Murray is proposing doesn't sound like much. But when you consider that you can earn up to $30K a year and maintain the level of UBI you receive, it begins to make sense.

In my version, every American citizen age 21 and older would get a $13,000 annual grant deposited electronically into a bank account in monthly installments. Three thousand dollars must be used for health insurance (a complicated provision I wont try to explain here), leaving every adult with $10,000 in disposable annual income for the rest of their lives. People can make up to $30,000 in earned income without losing a penny of the grant. After $30,000, a graduated surtax reimburses part of the grant, which would drop to $6,500 (but no lower) when an individual reaches $60,000 of earned income. Why should people making good incomes retain any part of the UBI? Because they will be losing Social Security and Medicare, and they need to be compensated.

What's not to like? A smaller, less intrusive federal government, saving a trillion dollars a year, and reinvigorating the voluntary associations that is one of the big things that makes America an exceptional country?

As a political idea, it is totally, completely unworkable. The left has government's claws into tens of millions of Americans and is not likely to let them go as dependents. They are the source of their political power and no matter what the employment situation, will continue to find ways to bind more and more of us to dependence on the state for our survival.

The left's response to the robot revolution will almost certainly be an effort to limit automation. This will make America uncompetitive with the rest of the world and our standard of living would take a nosedive.

Unless some other transformational event occurs during the transition to a robot economy, Murray's ideas are unrealistic and political poison. But they also create a vision for a different way that people can govern themselves, even if it will never materialize.

Note:
A new telescope is allowing archeologists to see inside the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Edgar Cayce, eat your heart out.

Back in 1906, if you didn't raise chickens in Montezuma, Iowa, they'd run your ass out of town.

Victory Outreach, a local "recovery program" for sex workers, gives escorts a place to turn their life around. Yesterday, they held an event dedicated to the 11 victims of the West Mesa murders that was designed to give people on the streets "hope." No mention about how keeping prostitution illegal puts purveyors of the oldest profession at needless risk.

That sweet ink you got on your back (the one with Wile E. Coyote in a Saint Jude pose) is going to make it easier for the FBI to identify you, thanks to the new tattoo recognition software they're developing.

A study has found that the use of basic tools might be instinctual in humans.
Another aspect of President Obamas fundamental transformation appears to be the return of tuberculosis to the United States, adding one more dimension of third world status to our new way of life. A highly communicable and fatal disease, TB is spread by coughing, making its spread in crowded environments  theatres, subways, schools, you name it -- particularly likely.

One of the epic battles in the history of public health in the United States was the (until now) successful effort to contain it. I vividly remember returning to the United States from Tokyo in 1968 on a flight that had many Filipinos connecting from Manila. They were required at that time to bring dated chest x-rays certifying that they did not carry TB, and the line of them at the health screening desk at JFK airport was long and slow.

Those days are gone, and our federal government is actively bringing TB Carriers into the United States and dispersing them among our polulation. Consider just two stories today. Michael Parker Leahy at Brietbart:

Two workers at Mercy Hospital and Abbot Northwestern Hospital, both located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and owned by Allina Health, have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB). I can confirm that one hospital worker at Mercy Hospital and one hospital worker at Abbott Northwestern Hospital were diagnosed with active TB, Allina Health Vice President of Marketing and Communications David Kanihan tells Breitbart News. (snip) The open ended nature of the Allina Health statement released on Friday  In late May, Allina Health began notifying 141 people who had been patients at either Abbott Northwestern Hospital or Mercy Hospital earlier this year that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis (TB). At each location, we learned that a worker who helped deliver care had TB. (emphasis added)  raises more questions than it answers. It is not clear when in 2016 the active TB cases in these two Allina Health workers were diagnosed, or when Allina Health first began communicating with the Minnesota Department of Health about these cases. Neither Allina Health nor the Minnesota Department of Health clarified that timeline when asked by Breitbart News. The Minnesota Department of Health reported that in 2014, 73 percent of the 147 active cases of TB in Minnesota were foreign born.

And via Bruce Parker of Vermont Watchdog:

Data from the Vermont Department of Health show that more than one-third of refugees resettled in Vermont test positive for tuberculosis. Since 2013, about 900 refugees admitted to the Green Mountain State have been tested for tuberculosis, a potentially fatal infectious disease affecting the lungs. Of that number, 318 refugees, or 35.4 percent, tested positive. Watchdog.org obtained the health data on Wednesday following reporting by Stateline that the disease may be making a comeback in the United States. Refugees brought to the United States undergo TB tests as part of comprehensive health screenings. State health departments track the data to monitor cases and protect against public health crises. According to IGRA (Interferon-Gamma Release Assays) blood test results from 2013 to the present, the highest percentage of incoming refugees to Vermont infected with TB occurred in 2013. That year, 108 refugees out of 248 tested, or 43.6 percent, showed positive for TB.

It is so unfair that the United States has been exempt from plagues like TB! That is a situation that President Obama and his progressive allies are remedying. Open borders work just great!
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By: Aysha Nesbitt

As the worlds largest archipelago, Indonesia is among the most important producers of aquaculture globally. In 2001, Indonesia ranked fourth in aquaculture output and has since increased its fishery exports to US $4 billion in 2015. Though Indonesias aquaculture industry has begun to make strides, it is still far from realizing its full potential.

In an effort to harness its comparative advantages, the Indonesian government has made monetary commitments to the sustainability of the industry and is working to relax regulations surrounding foreign investment. Upon their election in 2014, both President Joko Widodo and Susi Pudjiastuti, the Minister of Maritime and Fisheries, have been working to establish strategies to promote and expand Indonesias fisheries.

The governments commitment led to the expansion of the fishery sector by 8.37 percent in the third quarter of 2015. With strong government support, Indonesias fishery sector will remain competitive with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and a strong demand from the United States, Japan and ASEAN members. Investors are also tapping into the sectors low-tech infrastructure that demands attention from storage supplies, transportation infrastructure, and fast distribution processes.

Opportunities for Investment

Shrimp and tuna are Indonesias two largest fishery exports and are expected to grow with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The AEC works to boost regional economic integration between the ASEAN members. The Maritime Ministry predicts this agreement will help boost the growth of Indonesias captured fish industry by 2.4 percent and the cultivated fish industry by 8.72 percent. This growth is also being attributed to the discontinuation of the suspension on the issuance of fishing permits for those who used ex-foreign owned fishing boats, as Indonesia works to loosen regulation on foreign investors. Demand in the Indonesian fishing sector is strong with the United States accounting for 41 percent of their total fishery exports in 2015, followed by Japan, Europe and ASEAN countries.

Building Infrastructure in Indonesias Fishery Sector

Currently, the majority of local fisherman use traditional fishing techniques and equipment, which causes inefficient fishing and reduces the potential of the industry. In order to remain competitive, the Indonesian fishery industry recognizes that they are under pressure to modernize their equipment and techniques. Of the 3000 small-scale fishing ports, the majority do not have property storage facilities for the fish. Therefore, a short delay in processing is enough for a lot of the meat to go bad before it can be distributed. This provides large opportunities for companies in the shipment and transportation industry. Other opportunities for foreign investors lie in the harvesting of seafood, processing, and the sale of fishing devices.

Government Support

The potential of the aquaculture industry is estimated to exceed US $339 billion annually with the growth of costal businesses, biotechnology and fisheries. The governments commitment of US $1.9 billion to the improvement of the sector demonstrates strong government support in the hopes of attracting foreign investors.

The Indonesian government has also pledged to create 24 ports, maritime highways and modern fishing ships in order to reduce logistics costs. They have also enlisted the help of foreign companies to help modernize the aquaculture sector. Aquaculture, including the rearing of fish, process of fishing products, and manufacturing of devices is open to foreign investors who have partnerships with local players. Norway and China are two countries that have made investments into these sectors. Depending on the industry, foreign investors can expect a 5 percent reduction on their corporate income tax for the first six years.

Meeting Challenges Head On

Though the industry is opening up to foreign investment, investors must be wary of the heavy regulation surrounding their involvement in capture fishing operations or fishing of specific species due to the FDI restrictions in place. However, all global players are open to participate in any aquaculture operations that includes the rearing of fish, process of fishing products, or manufacturing of fishing devices, provided they have local partnerships.

For first time investors, Indonesia can prove to be a tricky market to navigate. In order to take full advantage of the growing industry, it is recommended to enlist the help of professional service firms with region-wide operations. Dezan Shira & Associates provides foreign direct investment advisory services as well as tax advisory and compliance to multinationals investing in China, India, Hong Kong and ASEAN.



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 asean@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

Annual Audit and Compliance in ASEAN

For the first issue of our ASEAN Briefing Magazine, we look at the different audit and compliance regulations of five of the main economies in ASEAN. We firstly focus on the accounting standards, filing processes, and requirements for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. We then provide similar information on Singapore, and offer a closer examination of the city-states generous audit exemptions for small-and-medium sized enterprises.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its Impact on Asian Markets

The United States backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) includes six Asian economies  Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, while Indonesia has expressed a keen willingness to join. However, the agreements potential impact will affect many others, not least of all China. In this issue of Asia Briefing magazine, we examine where the TPP agreement stands right now, look at the potential impact of the participating nations, as well as examine how it will affect Asian economies that have not been included.

An Introduction to Tax Treaties Throughout Asia

In this issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, we take a look at the various types of trade and tax treaties that exist between Asian nations. These include bilateral investment treaties, double tax treaties and free trade agreements  all of which directly affect businesses operating in Asia.
By David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, University of Western Australia









US Bureau of Labor Statistics





The impact of the Internet on the newspaper industry has been starkly highlighted by a graph released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. It shows how employment in that industry in the US has declined by 60% over the past 25 years, from 458,000 in 1990 to 183,000 in March 2016.









Statista





This statistic reflects the decline both in the number of newspapers and the shift to reducing the number of journalists and other staff required to produce increasingly digital output from a newsroom. From 1990 to 2014, nearly 300 newspapers closed in the US.

What the data also shows is that at least part of the job decline in the newspaper industry has been taken up by the rapid growth in Internet publishing and broadcasting.









US Bureau of Labor Statistics





Another growth area in that time has been in the massive increase in the number of people working in public relations which peaked first in 2000 at the height of the Internet Bubble to regain those heights in the subsequent years.

The numbers are more stark than they appear because in that same time, overall employment has increased by 23% with the US labour market adding 35 million new jobs.









US Bureau of Labor Statistics





This data simply confirms what has been obvious to everyone that with a disappearing business model for print newspapers, there is little room for the industry as a whole to continue to the same degree. The consequences of this are again not really going to be that surprising because in the end, it will be dictated by newspapers, who become predominantly digital, can make money. For a very few, this may be through digital subscribers. The New York Times, one of the few news sites that may pull off this transition with over a 1.2 million digital subscribers, still loses money. For most other sites however, digital revenue will come from advertising, driven by the types of content that drives clicks.

The Internet has not just impacted the print newsroom however. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data also shows significant declines in both the magazine and book industries. Again, this decline has been driven by falling audiences and revenue in the switch from the more lucrative print market to digital.

The disruption of the paper-based media industries by the Internet hasnt just been a question of doing the same thing with fewer people on a different medium. What has also changed is societys need and desire for this specific type of content. The disruption of these industries isnt a question of simply not moving quickly enough to adapt to a new presentation format, it is that the content produced has far less appeal to the current audience who are increasingly spending less time on news sites and more time accessing content through social media and in particular, as video.

The disruption of the news industry has been not so much like the shift from typewriters to computers but more like disappearance of the whaling industry as the products of that industry were no longer of importance to society and alternatives were found.

To that extent, all discussions of paywalls and the desperate but illusive search for alternative business models for news organisations are in the end going to prove redundant. It is hard to convince people to pay for something that they have simply decided they dont want to buy. It is not that the public wont pay for content on the Internet. They are only too happy to pay for video content through services like Netflix and other video streaming sites and for the equivalent services that stream music. News and opinion, on the other hand is something that increasingly is valued only when it is free.

Originally published in The Conversation.


HiI applied for 820/801 on Nov 2013 ,BVA granted and still waiting .2 years and 7 months waiting for 820 TR , 10 days ago I requested an update and current status for my application from immi,they responded :Your application is under final assessments ,we will contact you accordingly .What does that mean?Am I sson be granted ?Is that normal ?Note: I'm from high risk country .Any applicants around this date or any similar case ,can u plz share your experience.Thank you.Any advice appreciated
Good morning Nguyen,



Normally I only encourage clients to apply for the Sponsored Family Stream if they have difficulty obtaining a Tourist Stream visa because the Sponsored Stream usually requires putting down a bond of anywhere between $5000-15000. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that you will be granted a 5 year visa because normally only a 3-12 month visa is granted. So for a 5 year visitor visa to be granted, there must be exceptional circumstances.



I had a client who was in a similar position as your parents and she was granted a 2 year multiple entry visitor visas with up to a 12 month stay each time. We had to purchase health insurance before she was granted the visa.



To answer your questions:



1. Yes you can fill it out for the 5 year period if that is what you hope to get.

2. I always encourage clients to include a letter of invitation. Immigration is more reassured that way.

3. Before. My company has a special deal with BUPA that if you buy health insurance and the visa is not granted, you get a full refund. Also we are able to produce insurance letters required by the immigration department.

4. Medical examinations are usually required before the visa is granted.

5. Statutory declarations are quite simple. All you need to do is download a form from the immigration website, write a few sentences about not overstaying and sign it.



Hope all the above information helps.
5 June 2016 10:25 (UTC+04:00)

Member of the German Bundestag Mark Hauptmann has said Armenia disrespects the resolutions of the UN Security Council, Azertac reported. He noted that Armenia must respect international law and try to establish peaceful relations with its neighbours. "But unfortunately we see just the opposite. Since 1993 Armenia has been in a state of war with Azerbaijan and occupied Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region in contravention of international law. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted four resolutions that this region must be returned to Azerbaijan. Armenia has disrespected these resolutions so far," he said.

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5 June 2016 12:20 (UTC+04:00)

Colombia-based El-Espectador newspaper has published an article highlighting the global threat posed by Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia, Azertac reported.

Citing Azerbaijani Charge d'Affaires in Colombia Ramil Farzaliyev, the article says that Metsamor NPP is a source of global threat. The article says that the power plant is located in a seismic area, noting that the facility was closed after the 1988 quake in Armenia. "But the Armenian authorities restored the operation of the power plant in 1995."

The article also cites the Azerbaijani President's remarks at the Nuclear Security Summit which was held this April in Washington, where he urged the international community to take measures against the threats posed by the plant.

The article says that the documents and reports of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Union, the US Department of Energy and other international organizations describe the Metsamor NPP as the most dangerous one.

The article says that Armenia, which is now experiencing economic and political crisis, lost control over nuclear and other radioactive materials, which resulted in the smuggling of these materials in the country. The article calls on the International Atomic Energy Agency to strictly control the activity of the power plant.

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5 June 2016 15:07 (UTC+04:00)

The participants of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis held in Baku June 4 appealed to the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The participants expressed deep concern about the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has continued for more than 20 years.

It was stressed that innocent civilians are killed, settlements, educational institutions, public facilities, historical monuments, located in the conflict zone, as well as flora and fauna, are destroyed as a result of military provocations of the Armenian armed forces.

The participants urged the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries to exert pressure on the Armenian leadership to liberate the Azerbaijani lands from the occupation and resolve the conflict peacefully.

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5 June 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

A final meeting of the fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis has been held, Azertac reported.

Addressing the event, Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov said that the two-day congress featured fruitful discussions and heard interesting ideas. Hailing the Azerbaijani President's speech at the opening ceremony, the committee chairman noted that this was keynote instructions for the future activities of diaspora organizations.

Other speakers noted that the congress provided a good platform for the Azerbaijanis living in different countries across the world to work more actively for Azerbaijan, to combine efforts and to further strengthen coordination.

Hailing the importance of the congress, the Azerbaijani President`s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov highlighted the history of the idea of unity of world Azerbaijanis.

Saying President Ilham Aliyev signed 17 decrees relating to unity of world Azerbaijanis and the expansion of the activities of their organizations, the Presidential Assistant noted that world Azerbaijanis` coming together was of pivotal importance in terms of their committment to their homeland and strengthening unity among them.

Ali Hasanov underlined that world Azerbaijanis should be active and set example in social and political life of the countries where they reside and also integrate into the societies of these countries.

He hailed the significance of unity of Azerbaijanis around the world. "This is of crucial importance in terms of the protection, strengthening and development of the idea of Azerbaijanism," he added.

The participants adopted final documents of the congress, and approved the new Coordinating Council of World Azerbaijanis.

They unanimously re-elected President Ilham Aliyev as chairman of the Coordinating Council.

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5 June 2016 09:50 (UTC+04:00)

The Turkish Chief of the General Staff`s Assistant for legal affairs, Major-General Hayrettin Kaldirimci has hailed what the Azerbaijani government is doing to modernize judicial system as he met with deputy Prosecutor General, Military Prosecutor, Colonel-General Khanlar Valiyev as part of his visit to Baku, Azertac reported.He said Turkey attached great importance to its relationship with Azerbaijan. Kaldirimci praised cooperation between the two countries` military authorities and law-enforcement bodies. He also highlighted judicial system in Turkey, and underscored the importance of experience exchange.

Valiyev said relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey were developing in all areas, including in military, political, economic and cultural ones.

He also informed the Turkish general of the recent Armenian provocations on the line of contact with Azerbaijan.

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5 June 2016 12:36 (UTC+04:00)

The Croatian shipbuilding company will build two ferry vessels for the transport of railway carriages in the Caspian Sea, according to Kazakh TV, Azertac reported.

Kazakh and Croatian companies signed a number of agreements on investment cooperation in the amount of 260 million euros in Zagreb. The agreements include a joint production of baby food, the production in the field of IT-technologies, construction of asphalt-concrete plants and cable production in Almaty.

"Today we are working jointly with our partners from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and China on joint trans-Caspian transit corridor. And to provide cargo transportation we need ferries. Today we signed a corresponding contract for the construction of two ferries. This project is very important for the transit potential of our country, and next year we will get the first ferry, and a year later we will receive the second one," said Askar Mamin, President of Kazakhstan National Railway Operator.

Gianni Rosanda, Director General of Uljanik Shipbuilding Company, said: "We are very pleased that today we signed the contract on the construction of two ferries for Kazakhstan, which will operate on the Caspian Sea, because we believe that this region is very important to the world market with a great potential for cooperation."

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5 June 2016 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

Turkey's demand for Azerbaijani gas can significantly exceed 6 billion cubic meters per year, the volume which Turkey will receive as part of the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field, Simon Pirani, senior researcher at the UK Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said in Baku.



Pirani made the remarks while delivering a report during the Caspian Oil & Gas-2016 conference in Baku.



Currently, Russia remains the primary exporter of gas to Turkey, as it accounts for over a half of Turkey's gas import, said the UK expert.



He pointed out that over the last two years Azerbaijan has gradually increased the gas export to Turkey by bringing the volume of sold gas to the maximum level reflected in the contract.



Turkey's policy regarding the import from Russia will be one of the decisive factors, according to Pirani.



Further, he noted that another important direction of Azerbaijan's gas import is Europe.



"Azerbaijan not only sells gas to Georgia and Turkey from the first phase of development of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field, but also secured its future by signing a contract for the sale of gas to Turkey and Europe within the second phase of the Shah Deniz field's development," said Pirani.



But it is worth considering that Europe's demand for gas is gradually reducing, he added.



"If Europe's demand was 560 billion cubic meters of per year in 2010, this figure dropped to 469 billion cubic meters per year at the end of 2015," explained Pirani.



On the other hand, the Russian gas continues to dominate in imports of European countries, and now it is worth to see how it will compete with the US's liquefied natural gas (LNG), he noted.



The expert also said Azerbaijan will have to conduct the right pricing policy, as it will play an important role in the European market.

"Today the average price of natural gas is $154.4 per thousand cubic meters, and by 2018, the average price is forecasted at the level of $176-206 per thousand cubic meters," said Pirani. "Thus, in order to compete with the US LNG, Russia can sell its gas for $140 per thousand cubic meters."



Therefore, in order to get its share of the European market, Azerbaijan should consider these players, the expert believes.



Shah Deniz- 2 project envisages drilling 26 subsea wells, construction of two platforms, underwater pipelines for gas and condensate, expansion of the oil and gas terminal in Sangachal township, construction of two gas compressor stations and connection of this infrastructure to the South Caucasus gas pipeline.



As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

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5 June 2016 10:37 (UTC+04:00)

Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Lodewijk Assher said that the Kingdom will not recognize the events of 1915 as the so-called "Armenian genocide", Anadolu agency reported.

Asscher said that the Kingdom will continue to use the term "problem" with regard to this issue, as it was adopted in 2004 in the parliament.

The German parliament adopted June 2 a resolution recognizing the 1915 events as the "Armenian genocide".



Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, committed the so-called genocide against Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915.



While strengthening the propaganda of "genocide" in the world, Armenians achieved its recognition by parliaments of some countries.

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5 June 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said on Saturday he would like to visit China and have talks with his Chinese counterpart Chang Wanquan, Sputnik reported.



The 15th Asia Security Summit, or the Shangri-La Dialogue, is currently underway in Singapore, bringing together regional defense officials and Western military officials to discuss the pressing security issues.

"There are various issues, and dialogue is very important. I would like to visit your country [China]," Nakatani said at the security summit, while speaking to China's delegation head, Adm. Sun Jianguo, as quoted by the Japanese Kyodo news agency.

He did not provide detail on the possible timing of the visit.

Relations between China and Japan have been strained by a dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The Japanese, who have claimed the islands since the 19th century, call them the Senkaku Islands, the name mostly recognized globally, while in China they are known as the Diaoyu Islands.

Earlier in the day, Nakatani said that he was "deeply concerned" over China's construction of outposts used for military purposes in some of the disputed areas.

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5 June 2016 11:19 (UTC+04:00)

Trade turnover between Iran and Turkey stood at $2.93 billion during the first four months of 2016, according to the latest statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The trade turnover between the two countries reached $922 million in April, indicating a rise by 25.5 percent compared to $734 million in April 2015.

The exports of Turkey to Iran in April 2016 valued about $560.7 million, which shows a 104 percent increase.

In April 2016, Turkey imported goods worth $361.4 million from Iran, indicating a 21.4 percent decline.

Turkey's exports to Iran in the first four months of 2016 amounted to $1.44 billion, 25 percent more year-on-year.

The country also imported $1.5 billion worth of goods from Iran in the period, 37.4 percent less compared to the first four months of 2015.

The trade turnover between the two countries was $13.71 billion in 2014, which stood at $9.76 billion in 2015, indicating a 29-percent plunge.

The sharp decline came amid the plans to boost the annual trade turnover between Tehran and Ankara to $30 billion.

Last November, Iranian and Turkish top economic officials urged for increasing the volume of the bilateral trade between the two countries to $30 billion a year.

In 2014, Iran's non-oil exports to Turkey reached $2.15 billion. At the same time, Iran on the daily basis exports about 0.1 million barrels of crude oil and 27 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey.

Moreover, Turkey imported 2.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from Iran in 2014.

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5 June 2016 11:25 (UTC+04:00)

Turkey's Unit International announced that it will construct seven gas power plants valued $4.2 billion, Irna reported.



"The capacity for electricity production of these power plants equals 10 percent of Iran's need to electricity," the Unit International Company said in a statement.



The statements said that in line with the agreement reached with Iran's Energy Ministry, seven gas power plants with capacities of 6,020 megawatts and at a value of $4.2 billion will be constructed in Iran.



Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Hooshang Fallahian had said that Iran would sign contracts with Turkey's energy companies to construct 5,000-megawatt.

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5 June 2016 12:55 (UTC+04:00)

Iran is ready to synchronize its electricity grid with those of European countries, the Islamic Republic's energy minister, Hamid Chitchian, said.



Chitchian made the remarks in a meeting with Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak in Tehran, Mehr news agency reported June 4.



The Islamic Republic currently trades electricity with seven neighboring countries, Chitchian said, adding Iran and Russia have agreed to connect their power grids.



Chitchian added that Tehran and Baku has reached agreement to synchronize their power grids, and via Azerbaijan the Iranian electricity network will join to Russia's grid.



Iran is ready to link its electricity network with Europe as well, if the other side agrees, Iranian minister added.



He said that the Islamic Republic exports over 11 gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity to regional countries per year.



Tehran's electricity import also stands at four GWh annually, Chitchian added.



Rusnak in turn said that the issue can be discussed with European countries, if Iran submitters a proposal including its current electricity capacity, needs and future plans.



Iran eyes to increase its capacity for generating electricity to 100,000 MW by 2020 from the current 74,000 MW.

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Sussex-based The Hearth has been picked from almost 2,000 pizzerias to take part in the London Pizza Festival.

It will take part in a competition with four others to be named best pizzeria at the festival on 5 June. The event is being held in Londons Borough Market to celebrate the publication of Daniel Youngs Where To Eat Pizza: The Experts Guide To The Best Pizza Places In The World.

The Hearth creates Neapolitan-style pizzas and loaves in wood-fired ovens at its Lewes, East Sussex, site, as well as serving customers coffee and cake at a downstairs cafe.

Michael Hanson, owner of The Hearth, said: It was amazing to be included in the guide, and its absolutely fantastic to not only be part of the festival, but have a chance to be voted top pizzeria. Its a real feather in the cap for the whole team, but especially my head baker Tamas Kerekgyarto, who produces our tasty, and unique, sourdough pizza bases using our own locally grown heritage flour.

Were taking our mobile wood-fired oven up, and weve got to make two pizzas, a vegetarian and meat option. Were using a Sussex Blue from High Weald Dairy on the vegetarian option, and Sussex lamb from Stephen and Fizz Carrs Sussex Ox Farm, on the meat one. And, fingers crossed, well come up trumps.
A Bay area boy's act of kindness is going a long way for a child in need.

Steven Williams, 9, says he spends a lot of time at the Greater Palm Harbor YMCA. When he noticed a sign at the YMCA about its Send a Kid to Camp program, he immediately wanted to help.

Steven Williams, 9, created and sold paper flowers

The proceeds will go to the YMCA's "Send a Kid to Camp" program

He made a $100, says he'd like to give more

"I come here for swim team every single day and I saw the signs for 'Send a Kid to Camp,'" Williams said.

He came up with an idea to sell paper flowers to raise money for the program. The flowers are made out of seven pieces of paper and take about 45 minutes to make. He sold them for $5 apiece and was able to raise $100 for the YMCA.

"I felt happy and excited," Williams said.

The $100 will pay for one full week of summer camp for an underprivileged child or teen that may not be able to afford it. Staff members were overjoyed by Stevens generosity.

"A single person can make a difference no matter what the age is," said YMCA spokesperson James Macchiarola. "Steven is only 9 years old, but for a person of any age to make a difference in their community, I think that's just a special thing for us at the Y."

Williams said he wants to keep making a difference, and encourages others to pay it forward.

"I hope my purpose inspires other people, too. But right now I'm just trying to donate as much money as I can to the Y," Williams said.

The YMCA is still collecting donations for the "Send a Kid to Camp" program. If youd like to help, visit their website.


A Polk County business owner is taking the initiative and helping to lead the fight against the spread of AIDS in her community.

Twanna "T-Fay" Dewdney provides HIV testing at her salon

She partners with the county's Department of Health for training, test kits

Dewdney also provides counseling

June 5 marks 35 years since the first reported cases of AIDS were disclosed. Over three decades later, the epidemic is still spreading.



Winter Haven salon owner Twanna T-Fay Dewdney has made it her mission to stop the spread of the disease in her Florence Villa community.



The reason I love this ministry so much is because at the time my cousin was diagnosed, we were uneducated and, like I said before, we were afraid, said Dewdney. When he passed, I felt horrible because we never went to visit him. We were afraid of the stigma behind HIV and AIDS and this is my way of giving back.



To accomplish her mission, Dewdney partners with the Polk County Department of Health, which provides her training and free test kits. She believes shes tested hundreds of people in the 12 years shes been administering the tests.



I know one day we tested 41 people, Dewdney said.

(Stephanie Claytor, staff)

The tests are confidential. Dewdney offers tests that involve an oral swab or a blood test involving a finger stick. The finger stick provides more immediate results, while the oral swabs need to be sent to the Department of Health, and Dewdney later calls the patient with the results.



Before the test, Dewdney asks the client questions to determine their risk factors, and she provides counseling. She said she always remains non-judgmental.



I know theres a need in this community to get the information out," said Dewdney. "The black population is affected by HIV/AIDS more than any other group.



According to the Polk County Department of Health, nearly 50 percent of people diagnosed with HIV in Polk County are African American, even though they make up only a seventh of the population.



I feel if we get the information to the people, theyll be able to make wiser choices, said Dewdney.



Dewdney helps them make wiser choices by also handing out free condoms in her salon. People just walk in, ask for the fish bowl, and she goes and hands them a small bag of condoms.



We do not promote premarital sex," said Dewdney. "But we give out the condoms to protect you, because we know everybody is not saying 'no.'


From term limits to raising the minimum wage, nothing was off limits at the Before the Ballot South St. Petersburg Candidate Forum Saturday.

Hosted by Florida Fight for 15, the forum brought together the community and potential leaders. For the first half, candidates for Pinellas County School Board fielded questions regarding turnover, lack of funding and revamping failing schools.

Concerned citizens had a chance to ask questions



School system, gentrification and city funding were all discussed

Hopeful candidates were present, answering questions and providing insight



The school board candidates involved in Saturdays forum were Joanne Lentino, Matthew Stewart and Bill Dudley.

Danyell Rob Wilson came to the forum for guidance. He works at a Pinellas County school and his stepchildren attend schools in the district. Hes personally seen the turnover and he worries if its a distraction from his kids education.

I cant provide an education for these kids, Wilson said. I have to rely on Pinellas County schools to provide that funding. Im seeing it being washed down the drain because the kids are really not trying to learn.

The forum also included candidates for Florida Senate District 19: Betty Reed, Darryl Rouson, and Ed Narain.

Chane McKinney was born and raised in St. Petersburg. Hes watched the city grow and flourish, but he wants to know what the candidates will do to protect his city from gentrification.

This new sparked interest in St. Petersburg, while its bringing in amazing new retail and amazing new businesses, its also displacing a large portion of the African American community, the white American community and the working class families who depend on the legislature to stand up for them, McKinney said.

He hopes whoever lands the senate seat makes changes to protect all of St. Petersburg residents.

If we can build new sidewalks and put in new trees for million dollar condos, said McKinney, then we should also be able to make sure that our crumbling roads and our crumbling schools are also being taken care of.



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Here's what you need to know about Tampa Bay's weather for Sunday:

High temperatures in the low 90s



Chance of scattered storms in the afternoon



Today will be another warm and humid day. Highs reach the low 90s. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop in a south to southwest wind flow.

This will favor inland locations for most of the afternoon storms. The storms will linger into the evening and then our attention will shift to the potential development of a tropical low moving into the Gulf of Mexico.

This low, regardless of formal development, will spread widespread rain and gusty wind into our area during the day on Monday. Some areas could see several inches of rain which would lead to some flooding potential.




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Residents in portions of Tyler and Jasper counties are bracing for more flooding today as rainwater with nowhere else to go is expected to spill out of nearby reservoirs and floodgates.

On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott declared 31 counties, including Jasper and Tyler, as disaster areas. The American Red Cross, in advance of the thunderstorms expected to start today and continue through the weekend, opened a shelter at a Baptist church in the Tyler County community of Doucette.

The majority of the community's 80 residents said they have no intentions of leaving. They fear there will be nothing to come back to if they go.

Bronson Davis spent Tuesday and Wednesday re-paving the road near his property in Barlow Lake Estates, where Tyler County emergency management officials expect more flooding today.

The forecasted rain, which could exceed 4 inches over the next several days, could wipe out his work, but Davis said he wanted to make a path out of the neighborhood, just in case.

Barlow Lake Estates has been under a mandatory evacuation order since late last week.

"Everyone who stays assumes the risk," Davis said.

Abbott on Wednesday urged Texans to "heed warnings and any evacuation notices" from local officials.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers opened gates at Town Bluff Dam to 34 feet, which allows 25,000 cubic feet of water per second to discharge downstream.

Emergency management officials in Tyler County are concerned about rainfall in the Colmesneil and Chester areas, where water goes into the Neches River upstream of Steinhagen Lake.

"We have a lot going on right now," said Cassie Murphy, co-coordinator at Tyler County Emergency Management. "We're monitoring the Neches River and really just preparing for (Thursday). We've sent out notice of the shelter but so far, no one has come in the last two days."

The Toledo Bend Reservoir, which flooded Deweyville and parts of Orange County in March, decreased gate releases Wednesday from 18,000 cubic feet per second to 12,000.

It's far less than the 207,644 cubic feet per second that Toledo Bend released March 10 at the height of the historic flood event.

Residents in Deweyville on Wednesday were cautiously monitoring the gate releases at Toledo Bend.

"We think about it all of the time," said Larry Sears, who is rebuilding the interior of his Deweyville home.

"We talk about rebuilding but we don't know if we're going to just flood again."

In Silsbee, Kirby Elementary moved up graduation ceremonies to this morning instead of this evening because of the forecasted storms.

Flooding will be more widespread in the western portion of the state because the ground is soaked and unable to absorb the rain accompanying a new round of storms.

In Fort Bend County, near Houston, the Brazos River continued to rise slowly above 54.5 feet.

National Weather Service meteorologists had originally predicted that the Brazos River would crest at 53.5 feet by midday Tuesday in Fort Bend County, three feet above the previous record and topping a 1994 flood that caused extensive damage.

Wider flooding is expected in neighboring Brazoria County because of the revised forecasts on when the Brazos would crest. The river is now forecasted to stay at flood stage for at least two weeks, county emergency management spokeswoman Sharon Trower said on Wednesday.

"That water has no place to go," she said. The longer the river remains at flood stage, the farther the water will spread.

"We're thinking it could be worse than we thought," Trower said. "We don't know how deep it will be but it will be spreading."

Thousands of people live in the Brazoria County areas threatened by flooding, nearly all of them in unincorporated subdivisions.

During four days of torrential rain over the holiday weekend, widespread flooding affected communities along the entire Brazos, which runs from New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. A Brazos River Authority map shows all 11 of the reservoirs fed by the Brazos at 95 to 100 percent capacity.

Six people died in flood-related deaths in southeast and central Texas.

Four of the six dead were recovered in Washington County, located between Austin and Houston, said County Judge John Brieden.

Dozens more have been rescued throughout the state this week.

Houston Chronicle reporters Harvey Rice and Emily Foxhall contributed to this article.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
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Police are investigating an alleged assault on a 19-year-old man inside a house in north Belfast.

Officers received a report that a number of masked men entered the property in Kinnaird Street at about 11.25pm on Saturday and attacked the man.

One of the assailants was reportedly armed with a firearm, police said.

The alleged victim sustained a cut to his neck and bruising to his body. A woman, in her 40s, who was in the property at the time, was not injured.

Police said a number of other men, wearing hooded tops and covering their faces, waited outside the house while the assault was taking place.

Officers have appealed for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
David Cameron and Boris Johnson have clashed over the impact of the European Union on the British fishing industry.

In an interview with the BBC's Countryfile, Vote Leave figurehead Mr Johnson said Brexit would free the UK from "crazy" rules and give fishermen a boost.

But the Prime Minister told the programme that pressure from London to amend the Common Fisheries Policy had already removed many of the obstacles.

Mr Johnson, a Tory MP and former London mayor, said EU restrictions had inflicted a "tragedy" on traditional fleets - with the workforce at best a half of what it had been.

"Look at what's happened to our coastal towns, they are areas where in many cases you've seen too much poverty. Bringing back the fishing industry in those areas would be fantastic," he said.

"I'm not hostile to our friends and partners in the European Union, I just think we can do it just as well ourselves if we managed our waters.

"Some of the rules, chucking back perfectly good fish to manage the quotas, I mean come on that's got to be crazy, there's got to be a better way of doing it."

Mr Cameron hit back: "Since I've been PM actually the value of the British fishing industry and fish processing industry has gone up.

"With this greater regional control that we've managed to negotiate you're seeing fish stocks recover.

"Look at the most recent figures: we're actually allowing our fishermen now to land more plaice, more cod. Over the last five years, the UK-landed fish has actually increased by 20%.

"So I think when we talk about the common fisheries policy, it needed to change, a lot of it has changed.

"Is it perfect? No. Are we better off fighting from within? Yes. Is this market vital for our farmers and our fishermen? Absolutely yes."

Mr Cameron said the EU had a "mixed score card" on environmental protection - but defended measures such as protection for newts, which has thwarted housebuilding.

"Sometimes it feels a bit over prescriptive and can be frustrating but generally speaking, actually, we have to have rules on habitat," he said.

"If you look at species and biodiversity, things are getting better.

"Sometimes they will be frustrating for developers and house builders, but actually it's an important thing that we try to leave a country at the end of our time where species are thriving and not degrading."
Both Andy Murray, left, and Novak Djokovic are hungry for their first French Open title

Andy Murray endured yet more grand slam heartache as Novak Djokovic won the French Open final to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at the same time.

Murray won the first set 6-3, but Djokovic showed imperious form to take the second and third sets for the loss of just three games.

And despite a slight wobble in the fourth set when Murray recovered - pumping his fist and shouting encouragement to himself - Djokovic rallied to claim it 6-4 and the match 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4, the first time he has won at Roland Garros at the fourth time of asking.

It takes the 29-year-old Serb to 12 grand slam titles, joint fourth on the all-time list with Australian Roy Emerson, behind Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras on 14 and Roger Federer on 17.

The Scot said it "sucked" to see history being made from the other side of the net - a comment which drew sympathetic cheers and applause from the crowd.

For Murray, appearing in his first French Open final, it was another blow as he came up short at the final hurdle in a grand slam for an eighth time, his fifth loss against Djokovic.

It now means he has won just two of the 10 grand slam finals he has appeared in, a return of just 20%.

Djokovic fell to the floor after winning the final point, embracing Murray before drawing a heart shape with his racquet on the court and lying spread-eagled in the red clay.

He said: "It's a very special moment. Perhaps the biggest of my career."

In the stands his parents hugged as applause rang out around Court Philippe Chatrier.

Residents and well-wishers in Dunblane had headed for pubs and community centres in Murray's home town to cheer him on from afar.

But viewers in the The Dunblane Centre were spared Djokovic's final winning point when the television feed cut out just as the soon-to-be champion was about to serve.

Murray, 29, looked crestfallen as he picked up the runner's-up plate, while Djokovic appeared to shed a tear after he was handed the trophy that has eluded him for so long.

After the anthems, the Scot congratulated Djokovic and his team, saying they deserved the win.

He said: "To Novak, this is his day today. What he has achieved the last 12 months is phenomenal, winning all four of the grand slams in one year is an amazing achievement.

"This is something that is so rare in tennis, it has not happened for an extremely long time and it is going to take a long time for it to happen again.

"So everyone here who came to watch is obviously extremely lucky to see it. Me personally, being on the opposite side, it sucks to lose the match.

"But I am proud to have been part of today, so congratulations Novak, well done."

Djokovic swapped between French and English as he applauded Murray for an "amazing tournament" and thanked him for his kind words.

He told him: "It was a pleasure to play against you once more, to share very special moments on the court. Obviously, one had to lose but I am sure we will be seeing you with the big trophies in the future."

And he thanked his "family, team and loves" for "tolerating everything on a daily basis".

Speaking in French, he said it was the most special moment of his career and thanked the fans for their support, promising to return next year.

In Dunblane, Murray fans were pragmatic about his most recent loss.

Steve Birnie, 51, chair of the board of trustees at the Dunblane Centre, said: "I think the Dunblane Centre's wifi decided to spare us the pain of having to watch the final point.

"I thought Andy played really well, and I thought he might just pull it back towards the end of the last set but it was just too little too late.

"I think he lost some of the aggression that he seemed to have in that first set, and didn't get it back until he came to the end of those final sets when he showed that flash that made us think he might just make it.

"Dunblane loves Andy Murray and loves following Andy Murray, and it would have been a huge thing just to see him create another historic victory.

"But he's still got a chance to do it. Wimbledon is coming up and we've obviously got big hopes for that, so fingers crossed."
As Ramadan approaches, few Muslims will genuinely welcome it. The vast majority of practicing Muslims view Ramadans impending arrival solely through the lens of fasting, and the logistics thereof. What will I eat for suhur? How will I stay awake at work? How will I focus? Will I have enough energy to get Things Done? Can I beat traffic to get to the mosque for iftar? How much sleep will I get? What time should I wake up? Do I have time to go back to sleep after suhur? What do I do about my workout? and so on. This is all perfectly natural and doesnt detract from the spirituality of Ramadan; if anything it is part of the ibadat in a sense, because it boils down to one question: how do I enable my fasting?

That mental battle is tiring, though, and it sucks to be sapped of enthusiasm for Ramadans reflective nature because of the stress about how fasting will impact our lives. Which is why I like to read about Ramadan, especially the things Ive written during Ramadans past, when Id already surmounted the initial logistical obstacle and was closer to the spiritual communion aspect. Heres a roundup of links from this blog that is useful to me for this purpose, and I hope they are equally useful to others. Id love to see similar roundups from other Muslim bloggers too, and Ill link to them accordingly.

Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected! I am grateful to all my guest bloggers over the years, who have helped me build such a trove of reflection and inspiration as above.
So, Memorial Day, I turned on my television intending to watch a bit of the Indianapolis 500 auto race. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to revisit something I remember our family having to avoid when I was young; if we visited relatives in Illinois over the weekend of Memorial Day, we had to leave at odd hours to get past Indianapolis in order to avoid the traffic caused by race day.

Today, well, was unexpected. When I turned on the television station that was supposed to air the race, I saw, instead, a live high-speed chase down one of the freeways very familiar to me in the Southern California are! The car was certainly not going as fast as one of the race cars on the Indy Speedway, but the action was compelling. And my mind turned to one of the parts of my new book, Dont Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough, which deals with deep breathing. When the unexpected happens, immediately take a deep breath. Or two or three, if you have the time. It helps stave off some of the nerves that occur at such times, and with calmer nerves, we can make better decisions.

I suspect several of the drivers on the freeway during the chase did not know about deep breathing. Or, if they did, they didnt think to use it. Because as police with weapons drawn at the vehicle (which had run out of gas) waited for whatever was to come (the driver wasnt budging from the drivers seat), motorists on the other side of the freeway slowed down (to look?) and moved over to the lanes closest to the action, as if to be part of the scene!

A deep breath would have helped better thinking prevailwish I could have distributed copies of my book!

Anyway, the departure from what I intended to see was an interesting lesson in humanity. When the unexpected happens, well, you just never know. But it helps to take a deep breath!

Peace,

Maureen
The young son of Mahmuda Aktar, wife of a top Bangladeshi counter-terror police officer, mourns with others after his mother was killed near her home in Chittagong, June 5, 2016.

The wife of a senior policeman who had led counterterrorist raids against an outlawed Islamic militant group, and a member of Bangladeshs Christian minority, were killed Sunday in separate attacks across the country, officials said.

Authorities suspect that operatives from the banned group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) shot and stabbed to death Mahmuda Aktar in southeastern Chittagong, marking the first time that Bangladeshi militants have targeted and killed a woman in recent years, police said.

This targeted killing is aimed at demoralizing the police officers committed to crush the militants. Killing the wife of a police officer is a new [development] in targeted killings in Bangladesh, Syed Mahfujul Haque Marjan, a professor of criminology at Dhaka University, told BenarNews.

Amaq, a news agency of the Middle East-based extremist group Islamic State (IS), claimed that IS fighters carried out Sundays machete-killing of Christian shopkeeper Sunil Gomes in Bonpara, a village in northwestern Natore district, according to the website of the SITE Intelligence Group. However, local police told BenarNews that it was still too early to say whether Islamic militants were behind this killing.

The two killings brought to 11 the number of people slain since early April across Bangladesh by suspected militants, or who have been killed in attacks where police have not ruled out a religious motive. Sundays killings also occurred close to the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Since February 2013, according to figures from the Home Ministry, at least 34 people including secular writers, intellectuals, members of different religious minority groups and gay rights activists have been murdered in different parts of the country, mostly in machete attacks by suspected militants. Last month, four people were killed in four different attacks. Before Sundays attacks, the latest was the May 25 murder of Hindu shopkeeper Debesh Chandra Pramanik in the northern district of Gaibandha.

Mahmuda Aktar, the victim of Sundays first attack, was married to Police Superintendent Babul Aktar. Her husband was transferred to police headquarters in Dhaka in April and previously served as additional commissioner of the detective branch in Chittagong, a port city where his wife and two children were still living, according to neighbors and friends.

In October and December 2015, Aktar led police raids that took down at least two JMB dens in Chittagong, police said.

Mother killed before sons eyes

Mahmuda was killed by three people on a motorbike as she accompanied her young son to school at around 6:45 a.m., Paritosh Ghosh, a deputy commissioner with Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told reporters, according to local media.

Her killers separated the boy from his mother and then stabbed and shot her to death, before speeding off on the motorcycle, said Ghosh, adding that police had obtained closed-circuit television footage that could help them track down the suspects.

Can you imagine how traumatic it is for a six-year-old son to witness his mother being killed? Marjan said.

In Chittagong, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that the JMB went after Babul Akters wife because he had played a key role in tracking the militants.

They killed his wife [because] they could not get him, Khan said, according to local news reports.

The home minister spoke to BenarNews later on Sunday.

The killers will not be spared. We will crush them, he told Benar, referring to the killings of Mahmuda Aktar and Sunil Gomes, adding that the government would ensure the safety of the families of police personnel.

Christians killing

The attack on the shopkeeper Gomes took place around 11:45 a.m. inside his shop in Bonpara, a predominantly Christian village in Natore, police said.

We have yet to find out any clues, but the nature of the murder was similar to other hacking incidents. It is premature to say that the militants killed him. Let the investigation be over, Shafiqul Islam, assistant superintendent of police in Baraigram, an upazila or sub-district in Natore, told BenarNews by telephone.

The shopkeepers daughter told BenarNews that her father had no enemies.

We are not sure why he was killed, Swapna Gomes said.

A significant increase

Sundays killings followed the release last week of a report by the U.S. State Department, which said that Bangladesh had experienced a significant increase in violent extremist activity in 2015 compared with 2014.

Deadly attacks that occurred last year were notable because some, for the first time, were claimed in the names of transnational extremist groups, including Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaedas branch in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS), the State Department said about Bangladesh in its 2015 Country Reports on Terrorism.

[I]in past years violent extremist activity was associated with local groups. Despite these claims, the Government of Bangladesh attributed recent extremist violence to the political opposition and local terrorists, the State Department reported.

Home Minister Khan has steadily denied that IS or AQIS have a presence in the country and, on Sunday, he irritably repeated that assertion.

Why you ask me all the time whether IS is involved? We reject the claim that IS is here, he told Benar.
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Uganda has joined Uber's growing African network, adding the city of Kampala to the list of smart transportation hubs in Africa.

Image by 123RF

Uber provides a platform to connect drivers with riders in real time, at the touch of a button. Whether youre going to work or going out with friends, Uber provides an affordable, safe and reliable way to get across the city. Kampala is a growing city in the heart of Uganda, a country with a fast-growing economy.

The World Bank forecasts that the Ugandan economy is growing at a positive and upward trajectory. This is owing to targeting development of Ugandas infrastructure and intensified investment in the private sector. The World Bank also notes that Uganda is one of the worlds youngest populations, with 700,000 new people entering the workforce each year.

Alon Lits, general manager for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa says, Were really excited to be launching Uber in Kampala, a world class African city. We are inspired by the citys rapidly developing infrastructure and spirit of entrepreneurship and look forward to giving people in the city an affordable, easy and flexible choice to move around the city safely and reliably.

At Uber, we are proud to connect millions of global citizens to affordable and reliable rides. By offering a friendly and reliable complement to existing transport options, we can help improve urban mobility in Kampala. We are mindful of the citys current traffic congestion, and we aim to be part of the solution in improving it, while creating new, fruitful opportunities for drivers. Ultimately, we hope to reduce the strain on the citys roads, and minimise the environmental impact of traffic congestion that is part of a growing economy.

This is how Ubers model works:

Get your ride

You can start the Uber app from anywhere and wait safely for your car to arrive. That means no standing on the street to hail a cab or struggling to find the nearest bus stop late at night.

You can easily identify the driver and car coming to pick you up. When a driver accepts your request, you see his or her first name, photo, and license plate number. You can also check whether others have had a good experience with him or her. In addition, the driver can see your first name and rating.

You can contact the driverand vice versa through the app if there is any confusion around pick-up details.

Share your ride details with loved ones

Share your ETA and location. You can easily share your ride details, including the specific route and estimated time of arrival, with friends or family for extra peace of mind.

Theyll receive a link where they can see in real time the name and photo of the driver, their vehicle, and where you are on the map until you arrive at your destinationand they can do all of this without having to download the Uber app themselves.

After the ride

Feedback and ratings after every trip. After every ride, you and your drivers need to rate each other and provide feedback. Our safety team reviews this information and investigates any issues.

24/7 support. If something happens in a car, whether its a traffic accident or altercation between you and your driver, our customer support staff are ready to respond to any issues 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rapid response. We have a dedicated Incident Response Team to answer any more urgent issues. If we receive a report that a driver or rider has acted dangerously or inappropriately, we suspend their account, preventing him or her from accessing the platform while we investigate.

Behind the scenes

Always on the map. Accountability is one of the things that makes riders feel safe in an Uber. We use GPS to keep a record of where a driver goes during the ride, allowing us to verify that the most efficient routes are being used, which creates accountability and a strong incentive for good behaviour.

Working with law enforcement. In cases where law enforcement provides us with valid legal process, we work to get them the facts, for example by providing trip logs. Again, transparency and accountability are at the heart of the Uber experience.

Pre-screening drivers. All drivers must undergo a screening process before they can use the Uber app.

Lits adds, Uber is part of a broader evolution in transportation that is changing the way we travel and shaping the future of cities across the world. Kampala is a progressive, forward-thinking city that is ready for safe, reliable and efficient transportation and we are so excited to be launching here.

To celebrate Ubers launch in Kampala, Uber provided free rides for all Ugandans to enjoy in the city of Kampala, from Thursday last week, 2 June 2016, and over the weekend.
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Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen (right) meeting with Indian Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar at the inaugural Singapore-India Defence Ministers' Dialogue on the sidelines of the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue. Singapore MoD photo

SINGAPORE (PTI): India and Singapore held the first dialogue between their defence ministers as they agreed to enhance the scale and complexity of existing bilateral military interaction, at a time when freedom of navigation in international waterways has emerged as a major concern.



The first Defence Ministers' Dialogue (DMD) between Manohar Parrikar and his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen on June 3 marked raising of bilateral defence cooperation to the highest level.



"We had very detailed discussions. We have agreed on expanding the interaction between the armed forces and defence R&D and industry participation under (the) 'Make in India' (initiative)," Parrikar told reporters after the dialogue.



"I am very hopeful that this association with Singapore is going to build up to a much more than the strategic partnership," said Parrikar, who also called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that morning before the DMD.



"We have agreed (that the) scope and complexity of the interaction between the armed forces would be further enhanced," he said.



Parrikar further said the two sides also agreed to collaborate between industries.



"Under (the) 'Make in India' initiative, the industry-to-industry cooperation has already begun and it is showing positive response," he said.



The agreement will also see Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) working with a Singapore research agency on research-oriented projects.



Responding to questions, Singapore Minister Ng said: "We both agreed that we will work towards renewal of agreements" for training of Singapore armed forces in India from 2017 and 2018.



Singapore and Indian armed forces interact frequently and "it is a not a new relationship", stressed Ng.



"Both countries would also want to deepen the complexity and engagement between our two militaries under the revised defence cooperation agreement," he said.



A joint statement issued after the meeting said both ministers committed to enhance the scale and complexity of existing bilateral exercises between the militaries.



The minister emphasised the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational security threats.



In particular, both ministers strongly condemned terrorism, and renewed their commitment to cooperation in counterterrorism efforts besides emphasising the importance of safeguarding maritime security in international waterways, said the statement.



Freedom of navigation in international waterways like the disputed South China Sea has emerged as a concern for many countries including the US, which has sent warships and military planes to challenge territorial claims by China over the strategic waters. In response, China has deployed fighter jets and ships to track and warn off US ships.



Looking at the region, Parrikar also stressed India's stand on disputes in the South China Sea, saying "solutions should be found peacefully. This is our clear view about it.



"India will always be insisting that all parties should always resolve this (South China Sea) issue peacefully, based on international laws and norms.



"Do it peacefully. We are for free passage for all ships as well sea-lanes and air traffic. We feel that this should be resolved by sitting across the table," said Parrikar, who also addressed the annual Shangri-La dialogue, an inter- governmental security forum, on June 4.



The ministers commended the progress made in bilateral cooperation in defence technology, formally instituted since 2006 with several joint research projects including unmanned systems and soldier performance, said the statement.



The ministers reaffirmed India's vital role in the security of the Asia-Pacific region, in particular through ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) platforms.



Ng noted India's contribution through participation in the ADMM-Plus Maritime Security and Counter-Terrorism Exercise in May this year.



Pointing out that Singapore was now India's strategic partner, Parrikar said it was the reason for the DMD to be raised to the minister-level from secretary-bureaucrat previously.



He also underlined India's Act East policy, saying that country was now engaged with the countries in East Asia and was constantly in contacts with the countries in the region.



Singapore is a "major fulcrum centre" for India as it shifts its attention to the Asia-Pacific and boosts its presence in the region, Parrikar said.



"We consider Singapore as a major fulcrum centre for this policy to be initiated, a key component and key friend of India to ensure that peace and tranquillity remains in this region," Parrikar said.






ISLAMABAD (PTI): Pakistan on Friday raised its defence budget by 11 per cent from Rs 776 billion to Rs 860 billion to meet the military and security needs as it battles Taliban insurgency.



In his televised budget speech, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar provided details of various aspects of the 2016-17 budget, which he said was growth oriented.



"The defence budget will be increased by 11 per cent from Rs 776 billion to Rs 860 billion in the 2016-17 fiscal year," he said while presenting the annual budget in the parliament.



Pakistan has been fighting Islamist insurgency for over a decade that has killed more than 50,000 people.



Thousands of others have been made homeless because of ongoing military operations.



Dar set the 5.7 per cent GDP growth against 4.7 per cent growth which was achieved in the outgoing year. He said Rs 800 billion have been set aside in the development budget, which is Rs 100 billion higher than last year.



He said that 10,000 MW electricity will be added to the national grid by March 2018 and another 15,000 through major hydro-electric project after 2018.


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This article was published 05/06/2016 (2333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Doug Eyolfson did not love the physician-assisted dying bill at first, but he ended up supporting it.

The Winnipeg emergency room doctor and Liberal MP was concerned the Trudeau governments proposed legislation would not allow patients to decide in advance they would like to end their lives with the help of a physician once they reached a certain point.

Its something that I would personally want for myself and something I would like to see, at some point, provided to patients as an option, Eyolfson said.

The deeply personal played a major role in the decisions of individual Liberals when it came to their votes on Bill C-14, the federal governments response to the Supreme Court ruling that did away with the ban on physician-assisted suicide.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept his promise to give his caucus a free vote on this matter of conscience, while ensuring his Liberal government avoided embarrassment on a major piece of legislation which could, for better or worse, end up being an important part of its legacy.

The political victory could be short-lived, as C-14 is getting a serious grilling in the far-less-predictable Senate, but the moves to quell opposition debate in the House of Commons and the lengthy discussions with caucus offer a glimpse at how the government will handle other thorny issues it will face during its mandate.

A senior government source acknowledged that the key was to help those in caucus who felt the bill did not go far enough to understand that the cabinet took a cautious approach, because it would be easier to expand a program later, if necessary, than to restrict one that was later seen to have gone too far.

There were late-night information sessions, one-on-one conversations with Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould or Health Minister Jane Philpott and well-timed telephone calls to those sitting on the fence or showing signs of shifting from one side to the other.

Eyolfson said it was Philpott who personally made the case to him why the government chose to keep the question of advance requests out of the bill, even though it meant ignoring a major recommendation from the special joint committee the Liberals struck to provide input.

He said she explained to him that the Netherlands is the only jurisdiction that allows advance requests for patients who are not comatose and research has shown families and doctors are hesitant to actually comply with them.

Once that part was explained to me, it made sense as a prudent measure, said Eyolfson.

Winnipeg MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette voted against the bill from the outset out of concern for the impact it could have on indigenous communities, where an alarmingly high number of youth are turning to suicide. He said he felt no pressure to change his mind, but understood that more than personal convictions could come into play.

I think some people are nervous, but they are really good team players and they want to play on the same team and play nice, said Ouellette.

Andrew Leslie, the chief government whip, said getting the numbers right on C-14 involved more than his usual role.

Not only did he have to keep track of whether Liberal MPs were close enough to make it to the House of Commons for a vote on short notice, Leslie also had to gauge how they were feeling and thinking on any given day, never certain until each MP voted.

You cannot guarantee the will of Parliament, he said.

Right from the beginning, Leslie said, a handful of MPs had deeply personal stories that set them on one path or another, some telling him they were absolutely determined they could not support the government position.

There was little anyone could do about them, but there was another, much larger group of Liberals who either felt the governments position had not gone far enough in meeting the ruling from the Supreme Court  including some with concerns about the constitutionality of the bill  or had gone too far.

Leslie said he referred those MPs to Philpott, Wilson-Raybould or others who could provide them with more information and arguments.

He said he also had to fulfil his basic job of tracking the numbers and that sometimes involved calling cabinet ministers back from overseas trips  especially after an embarrassing near-miss when the New Democrats and Conservatives caught him off guard with a snap vote on an Air Canada bill. The ended in a 139-to-139 tie that Speaker Geoff Regan broke in favour of the government.

We had to win, Leslie said, but added that on such a personal issue, another factor came into play.

This is the time to stand and be counted, one way or the other, Leslie said.

Montreal-area Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes had planned on doing just that.

She was one of those who told Leslie right away that she could not support C-14 unless it was amended to include advance directives, an opinion she held to firmly after watching both her grandmothers slip away slowly due to Alzheimers.

But when the final vote came Wednesday night, Mendes said she got a few minutes behind in a seminar she was giving a couple of blocks south of Parliament Hill and then could not run fast enough in her heels to reach the Commons on time.

She missed the deadline by seven minutes and was so disappointed and angry with herself that she hid in Leslies office for half an hour until she calmed down.

So, for the most prosaic of reasons, I ended up missing a vote that was so significant for me on a personal level, Mendes wrote in an email.

 Follow @smithjoanna on Twitter
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This article was published 05/06/2016 (2333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Jody Wilson-Raybould likes to cite the case of E.F. when she warns of the danger that will exist as of Monday, when medically assisted dying becomes legal in Canada without any law in place to impose safeguards.

But the federal justice minister hasnt told the full story of how E.F.  a 58-year-old Alberta woman who died last week obtained judicial approval to end her suffering with medical help, according to the womans lawyer, Trista Carey.

To hear Wilson-Raybould tell it, E.F. was suffering from a mental illness and  a psychiatrist had approved (her) eligibility for medical assistance over Skype.

Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Jane Philpott, right, talk to reporters outside the House of Commons on Tuesday May 31, 2016 in Ottawa. Wilson-Raybould likes to cite the case of E.F. when she warns of the danger that will exist as of 12:00 a.m. Monday, when medically assisted dying becomes legal in Canada without any law in place to impose safeguards. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

I dont think thats a situation that we want to get into, she warned Liberals at the ruling partys national convention in Winnipeg last month.

The justice minister has repeatedly referred to the E.F. case while urging parliamentarians to pass Bill C-14, the governments proposed new law on assisted dying, by Monday. Shes argued that many doctors will refuse to provide medical assistance in dying in the absence of a legal framework while others may provide it to vulnerable people who shouldnt be eligible  like E.F., in Wilson-Rayboulds judgment.

Despite her warnings, the bill is not expected to be put to a vote in the Senate before the end of the week, at the earliest.

According to Carey, Wilson-Rayboulds version of the E.F. case isnt accurate.

E.F.s application for an assisted death was supported by three doctors: her long-time attending physician  who had treated her for 28 years, including referrals to several psychiatrists and at least one neurologist  an assisting doctor and a psychiatrist with expertise in E.F.s condition, who reviewed her medical file but did not examine her.

It was the assisting doctor, based in Vancouver, who used Facetime to interview E.F, in addition to a full review of her entire medical chart, multiple telephone conversations with her attending physician and email exchanges with a long-time friend, Carey stressed in an email to The Canadian Press.

She noted that the use of electronic interface between doctors and patients is a widely accepted practice that is actually promoted by provincial telehealth programs.

I question why this is acceptable practice except when utilized in the context of allowing our client to connect with a health care provider prepared to her assist her (who was) located in a different geographic location from her, Carey said.

In any event, Carey said affidavits from the three doctors were in evidence before Albertas Court of Queens Bench, which granted E.F. an exemption from the ban on assisted dying, and again before the Alberta Court of Appeal, which upheld the lower courts decision. In both courts, federal lawyers argued that the medical evidence of E.F.s eligibility, particularly from the psychiatrist, was insufficient.

At both levels of court, those arguments were rejected, Carey said.

E.F., whose name has never been disclosed to protect her and her familys privacy, had suffered for nine years from a psychiatric illness called severe conversion disorder. It caused her muscles to spasm involuntarily, producing constant pain and migraines and rendering her effectively blind, incapable of walking and often incapable of eating.

All three doctors agreed that E.F. was competent and enduring intolerable suffering that was irremediable. The Alberta Court of Appeal agreed, in the process blasting a hole in the rationale that the federal government has used to justify the restrictive approach taken in Bill C-14.

The appeal court said precluding a person who is not near death or suffering strictly from a psychological illness is inconsistent with last years landmark Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the ban on assisted death and gave the government a year to come up with a new law. The court granted the government an extension earlier this year that was to expire Monday.

The top court directed that assisted dying should be available to consenting adults with grievous and irremediable medical conditions who are enduring suffering that is intolerable to them.

C-14 is more restrictive, allowing assisted death only for consenting adults in an advanced stage of irreversible decline from a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and for whom a natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

Carey is among the witnesses scheduled to appear Monday before a Senate committee which is studying the bill. During initial debate last week, many senators expressed serious reservations about C-14, signalling that it may not pass he upper house without major amendments.

Any amendment would have to be sent back to the House of Commons to accept or reject, inevitably prolonging the legal void the government has been trying to avoid.

However, critics argue that there will be no void; the eligibility criteria set out by the Supreme Court and guidelines issued by medical regulators in every province will apply to anyone seeking medical assistance to die.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version wrongly spelled the name of Trista Carey
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This article was published 04/06/2016 (2334 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Green party deputy leader Bruce Hyer was in Brandon this week for a community discussion on electoral reform options, a change which was promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his campaign in the fall.

According to Hyer, about 20 people participated in what he called a lively discussion about the need for proportional representation.

Were hopeful that Canadians will realize that this is their chance to have their vote count, Hyer said.

In such a system, the number of seats a party holds in the House of Commons would be a direct reflection of the votes they received in an election.

Hyer called the current first-past-the-post system a flawed, antiquated inheritance from Britain that allowed for false majorities.

His Brandon stop was one of several hell be making across Canada as the debate continues at the federal level.

Although he called the trek a preaching and teaching tour, its uncertain whos doing the teaching.

When asked what form of proportional representation the Green party is advocating, Hyer replied: Were not.

Instead, his purpose is to foster discussion and new ideas within the electorate.

Were in favour of some kind of proportional system, and my line on this is pretty simple  the worst form of proportional electoral system would be better than what we have now, Hyer said.

The politician was in Winnipeg on Tuesday to host a similar meeting, for which 50 people came out.

Hyer said the party has prioritized climate change and electoral reform above anything else.

In the following weeks, he will make stops in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.

 aantoneshyn@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @AAntoneshyn
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WINNIPEG - Close to 300 people on a flight from Washington, D.C. to Beijing had an unexpected stop in Winnipeg when their plane suffered a mechanical problem.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/06/2016 (2333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAN FRANCISCO  People are lining up to beat the stuffing out of Donald Trump in one heavily Latino neighbourhood, according to the sales figures provided by pinata merchants.

Mohammed Shafi says hes sold 7,000 likenesses of the power-tie-wearing, big-haired billionaire. He initially struggled to meet the demand and had to create a waiting list.

Kids entering his store tell parents they dont want an elephant or a donkey  they want to knock the candy out of the candidate talking about deporting their friends and families.

Donald Trump pinatas hang outside of Discount City, a general store in a Latino neighbourhood of San Francisco where they're the top-selling pinata, on Sunday, May 29, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Panetta

They say, No, dad. I want this guy,' said Shafi, manager of Discount City in San Franciscos Mission District, where hes just ordered 180 more mini-Trumps from a Mexican supplier to fill his front wall.

No. 1 seller.  Everybody hates this guy.

Its the same down the street. Another general store says the $14.99 Trump pinatas are also their No. 1 seller. And the hostility here to the Republican party isnt limited to one nominee.

Some see California as a warning sign for the Republican party  a demographic canary in the coal mine, hinting at electoral fatality ahead unless it fixes its relationship with Latinos.

Many forget this was, until recently, a Republican-leaning state.

It voted Republican in nine out of 10 presidential elections before 1992. Since 1959, its governors were Republican as often as they were Democrats. In other words, a swing state like Florida and Ohio.

Then something shifted.

The Republican party campaigned against illegal immigrants in 1994. It embraced the Proposition 187 referendum initiative to strip school services for undocumented children. It ran ads with grainy footage of people running across the border, the narrator warning: They keep coming.

The Latino vote indeed kept growing.

Its opinion hardened against Republicans. Now, Democrats get an automatic boost in presidential elections by the massive haul of electoral-college votes from the biggest U.S. state.

It probably crystallized a level of opposition to the Republican party in California that has proven to be quite lasting, said Thomas Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who campaigned against Prop 187. Not just Latino voters, but other minorities.

The referendum proposal won and was later invalidated in court.

A debate rages over whether that initiative was the spark that scorched Republicans here. One prominent political scientist says no. In his book, The Lost Majority, Sean Trende analyses the Latino vote in California and finds it hasnt moved much, remaining since 1988 within a range of 24 to 34 per cent for the Republicans.

It is a bad misreading of the California GOPs decline, he wrote.

What he doesnt dispute is the demographic change. Latinos have more than doubled their share of the vote in California the last few decades, to an anticipated 25 per cent of the electorate.

This year, voter registration is surging particularly fast.

The apparent impetus is Trumps talk of a wall, deportation and Mexican rapists. Its described by Latinos as a national version of what happened here in 1994.

This campaign has awoken a thirst for justice, said Hugo Castro, who volunteers with the humanitarian group Border Angels, which drops containers of water in the desert to keep migrants from dying.

The community is between some feeling fear, but most feeling anger. Both those emotions are very negative.  We have to change that toward  unconditional love and hope. But its very hard.

Latino voter power is spreading elsewhere.

Laird Bergad of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at City University of New York cites what he calls meteoric growth: 15 million Latinos were in the U.S. in 1980, and more than 55 million today; their share of the electorate has grown  from four per cent in 1992 to 10 per cent this year.

He says theyre powering a shift in swing states. Its most obvious in Florida, but they could also shape tight races in Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.

Next up is Arizona; he said itll become a swing state in 2020. Then the big prize: Texas. He predicted the countrys second-largest state will be up for grabs in 2024.

You think the Latino votes going to be important in Florida this election? Wait til the next election, and the one after that. And Texas is going to go Democratic one day because of the Latino vote, he said.

So whats (Donald Trump) thinking? Does he think, actually? Is there a thought process?
Small Irish companies are being encouraged to contact their local Enterprise Office to help them build or improve their online presence.

Companies that have fewer than 10 employees can avail of training and apply for a grant of up to 2,500 to build a website.
Update 8.55pm: Gardai investigating the fatal shooting of a man in his 30s this morning at Hills Lane, Crooksling have arrested two people.

The man and woman (both aged in their mid-20s) were arrested this evening and are being detained at Tallaght and Rathfarnham Garda Stations respectively under Section 30, Offences Against the State Act, 1939.

Earlier:

Gardai have confirmed the identity of the man whose body was found in Tallaght this morning. The man's body had apparent gunshot wounds.

The man's family is being informed of his death. He is believed to have been in his 30s.

A post mortem will take place tomorrow morning, but gardai confirmed today the man had "apparent gunshot injuries".

A case conference is underway at Tallaght garda station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed. A full investigation team has been assembled which includes assistance from specialist national units within the force.

In a statement today, gardai said they believed a number of shots were discharged at Hills Lane Crooksling.

They have appealed for anyone who was in the Hills Lane or Crooksling areas between the hours of 9pm last night to 9am this morning, or who may have heard gunshots in the area, to contact Tallaght garda station on 01 666 6000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111.

Earlier:

A man's body has been discovered in Tallaght, Dublin. It is believed he suffered gunshot wounds.

A member of the public contacted the Gardai, and officers found the body just after 9am today at Hills Lane, Crooksling, just off the N81 Tallaght-Blessington Road.

The scene has been sealed off and the office of the state pathologist has been notified.

It is understood the person who discovered the body was driving down the laneway and saw the body on the side of the road. There seems to have been no attempt made to hide the body.

Spent bullet casings were later found nearby. The victim appeared to have head injuries.

The Garda Technical team have been carrying out a forensic examination of the scene.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the Hills Lane or Crooksling areas, or who may have noticed anything unusual last night or early this morning, to contact them at Tallaght garda station on 01 666 6000.
The Government is being urged to regulate the work of au pairs, and to provide a disputes-mediation body.

Fianna Fail is set to put forward a bill that would see the work and conditions of au pairs set out in legislation.

The bill will also propose the establishment of an independent body to accredit organisations offering the service.

The move follows a case in which the Workplace Relations Commission ordered that a Spanish au pair receive at least the minimum wage earlier this year.

The bill would limit the amount of hours a week and the pay the au pairs could receive.

It is being put forward by Fianna Fail's Anne Rabbitte, who said: "I would like to see the definition of the au pair, and of the work and a definition of how we would address the (payment) of the au pair.

"I would (also) like to see an overarching committee put in place as a watchdog that would protect the families and the au pairs, and where people would have an opportunity to go if there are any disputes."
A bus carrying Czech tourists has come under gunfire, injuring six passengers, as it travelled through south-eastern France.

Alex Perrin, prosecutor of Valence, said the bus was hit on Friday night as it travelled along the A7 on its way home from a trip to Spain.
LONDON: Rishi Sunak on Tuesday became Britains third prime minister this year and the first person of colour to...
It will save us $800 million, probably more. J.J. Marr, Hawker Whinging fair comment David Richards (Letters, June 2) asks that the incessant whinging in the Canberra Times about the light rail be banned. David appears to have relocated to the lovely south coast and is not affected, whereas some like us who would like to continue to live in Canberra (and others too who can't move for work and other practical reasons) have to continue to fight to keep our rates and taxes affordable and not be burdened long into the future with the light rail debt.

Graham Brady, Hughes Religion not above law Mike Hutchinson and Mike Dallwitz (Letters, June 2) are critical of me for seeming to suggest that religious groups are above the law. In my original letter (May 30), I clearly included religious groups as among those who attack our democratic freedoms by claiming absolute authority over us. I said that such claims, whether secular or religious, are contrary to our democratic ideals and should be resisted. That part of my letter as published was edited to leave out the reference to religious claims. Perhaps a correction from the Canberra Times would be in order.

Father Robert Willson, Deakin Context to terrorism It is quite unclear to me what the federal government is trying to achieve with the "If it doesn't add up, speak up!" advertising campaign. The ad in itself is ludicrous in its superficiality, along the lines of "they are everywhere" and clearly they go around with a big "Check this out: I am a terrorist!" sign around their necks and dustbins. Terrorism is much more effectively tackled when put in the correct context and terms. How big a threat does it realistically pose to Australians in Australia? It is not the noise made around a threat that makes it more likely to happen. There are plenty of professionals working on it, a substrate of would-be vigilantes is not required.

Secondly, is the attitude proposed by the ad campaign actually going to help? Would no one have ever thought about reporting anything suspicious, before? When you positively endorse and encourage paranoid behaviour, people may easily lose sight of what is reasonable and you give a powerful voice to the clueless or worse. I doubt Australian anti-terrorism services have the time and resources to filter a disproportionate amount of non-intelligence and false leads from those who get scared of their shadow or don't like their neighbour's beards. In the current climate, this can easily lead to other long-term issues much bigger than the threat itself, along more damaging and divisive pathways to separate communities on the basis of ethnic and religious identities. History is full of examples of the practice of making accusations without proper regard for evidence, all have in common citizens turned informants and large numbers of victims whose crime was to be on the wrong side of an arbitrary line. If we start manufacturing these divisions through paranoia, we have to ask whether all we are doing is in fact to create the problem from within.

Luca Biason, Latham Un-Christian hyperbole The Christian Lobby associating marriage equality with Nazism shows they have gone over the edge. They should reflect on the fact that German Protestants supported Nazism with few exceptions, and the Catholic Church famously came to a concordat with the Hitler regime. And it was gay people in Germany who went into the camps from the very start, from 1933. Marriage equality is the norm in most Western countries and supported by most Australians. Gay marriage is offered by many if not most mainline and established churches. As the US courts have exhaustively shown, there is no logic to anti-marriage equality arguments and no negative effects can be found. Which is why right wing Christian groups in Australia are turning in desperation to un-Christian hyperbole. No doubt as intended, this is what the community can look forward to in the run up to the Abbott plebiscite. Michael Fisher, Lyneham

Infertility treatment throws up issues The knee-jerk reaction of Rex Williams (Letters, June 1) to the Four Corners program on IVF requires a balanced response. I agree with the opinions of Robert Norman and Gab Kovacs but would make these points. 1. The lack of a common protocol among clinics for the investigation and treatment of infertility makes meaningful interpretation of results almost impossible, but it is clear that success rates decline with age, are negligible after age 40 and rapidly decline thereafter. 2. The fact that many patients succeed on treatments easier and cheaper than IVF has been demonstrated by Canberra Fertility Centre for 30 years. However, for patients under 39, a cycle of IVF gives a better live birth rate than any other treatment. The question of whether this justifies treating all patients with IVF remains unresolved.

3. There are, indeed, many bewildering ways in which to express success rates. The live birth rate per started treatment cycle is probably the most honest but I have some concerns about even that. 4. The "snake-oil" treatments referred to by Gab Kovacs are usually expensive additions to IVF treatment which [usually] poorly conducted research suggests may be beneficial. They are seized upon by doctors and patients desperate to improve the chance for a particular patient. Egg donors and surrogates are rare in this country because the policy of all political parties is to prohibit clinics from financially compensating these women. Many patients are thus denied the chance of children unless they can afford to travel overseas. This leaves the doctor with two choices: to continue or refuse treatment. Refusing treatment to a desperate patient is never easy and the fact so many in this position have deliberately avoided pregnancy until it's too late makes the situation more distressing but it is not discriminatory to decline to take a patient's [and the taxpayers'] money merely to provide false hope. It's a decision which should probably be made more often. Martyn Stafford-Bell, Yarralumla

Maths of killing the coal industry shows a poverty of argument Jenny Goldie (Letters, June 2) talks about climate change, and seems to believe that Australia can make a significant difference. Time for a maths lesson, and also a reality check. Australia produces 1.3per cent of the world's C02 emissions. If every Australian were to die today, if all commerce and industry ceased today, it wouldn't make the slightest difference, as China alone has a year-on-year increase that exceeds our emissions. So we would be cutting our throats and destroying our economy for no positive return. Both China and India have over 300million people each with no access to electricity or flushing toilets. They cannot achieve a decent standard of living without cheap electricity  which means coal which is why China alone is commissioning 50 new coal-fired power stations every year. Why would you want to consign 600 million-plus people to poverty, unable to enjoy the standard of living we enjoy?

As for closing down our coal industry, consider this: China, India and Africa are going to continue to import coal for at least 50 years. If we don't sell it to them, someone else will. And for those who are rusted on to wind turbines, consider this: no coal=no steel industry. Each wind turbine requires 220 tonnes of coal to create the steel involved. So, no coal=no steel=no wind turbines, which can't provide baseload power anyway. And somehow, some people believe that destroying our coal industry and putting thousands of people out of work will somehow magically save the Great Barrier Reef. John Burns, Hall Vote for sustainability At last weekend's leaders debate, both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten promoted policies to create jobs and growth  Turnbull via trickle down, Shorten via targeted, fairer projects. But both, like Thelma and Louise speeding towards the Grand Canyon, are courting economic and ecological disaster through unrestrained growth.

It seems to me the poles of politics in the 21st century are moving naturally towards amalgamation of the "jobs and growth parties (minus their more progressive thinkers)" vparties striving to establish "ecological sustainability and the existence of healthy humans in a healthy world". However, checks and balances are still needed to restrain extreme policies on either side. To restrain unsustainable growth, and to restrain overenthusiastic proponents of any questionable sustainability policies. But for now, vote for growth within a sustainable framework to correct the current bias favouring unrestrained growth. Keith Helyar, Watson High expectations After Julie Bishop had a spectacular "gotcha" moment on radio regarding superannuation, D.J. Fraser (Letters, 2) wrote that it was "low" of the readers to expect our leaders to be across all portfolios.

The constant catchcry that something is not in someone's portfolio (particularly by members of the Liberal Party) surely implies laziness or stupidity. Does this mean Teflon Julie is one or the other? Or both? Perhaps Foreign Affairs is just too difficult for her and she should move to a less difficult portfolio, such as Treasury? She tried that once and was a spectacular failure there, too. Oh. E.R. Moffat, Weston Deplorable timing Jane Timbrell (Letters, July 2) seems to have a strange understanding of statistics in her attack on the Master Builders Association for threatening to sue UnionsACT over a factually incorrect radio advertising campaign. While it would be far better if there were fewer claims than the 19 admitted, overstating the number of claims by 125per cent is misleading  and, if it implies that the employers are totally responsible, is defamatory. She should understand that many industrial accidents happen despite the best efforts of the employer; "horseplay" and worse is a frequent cause. The attempt by UnionsACT to mislead the public is deplorable under any circumstances, but is contemptible during an election campaign either the current federal election or the forthcoming ACT election. It is aimed at getting a political advantage but makes real politicians look virtuous.

Michael Lane, St Ives, NSW Iran deal a sham Clearly Ross Kelly believes that anyone who supports positions contrary to his own can only do so because they are "venal", rather than motivated by principle or informed analysis (Letters, June 2). Not a week passes without news reports showing that Colin Rubenstein, among others, is correct to warn that the Obama administration's much ballyhooed deal to curtail Iran's nuclear weapons program and moderate its politics is a sham. Since the deal's implementation, Iran has ratcheted up its anti-US and anti-Israel rhetoric. It's just elected the hardest of hardliners to head the important Assembly of Experts. It runs Holocaust denial cartoon contests. And in March, Iranian TV broadcast a test of a ballistic missile with the words "Israel must be wiped out" on its side. Unlike Israel, which has never threatened to destroy another country, Iran has made the Jewish state's elimination an ideological touchstone.

Since the Iran deal, a host of Iran's Arab neighbours have announced plans to establish nuclear research programs in what is no doubt the first step in a nuclear weapons race. Israel never sparked such a race  because its neighbours do not fear it in the same way. Indeed, a 2008 Wikileaks cable shows Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah urged the United States to "cut off the head of the snake" and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel was not mentioned. Alan Shroot, Forrest Brassed off? The musical denizens of Canberra missed a rare treat in brass when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Brass Ensemble played to an almost empty Llewellyn Hall last Thursday evening. A display of exquisite musicianship, including solos by the CSO's Rainer Saville, featured works modern and ancient, loud and reverential, and concluded with the utter delight of Bernstein's West Side Story suite.

I hope the loud applause of the few is enough to bring them back again. Joanne Blackburn, McKellar TO THE POINT STOP THE WHINGEING

I concur with David J. Richards' plea (Letters, June 2). Even an election offers no guarantee that this "incessant whingeing" will stop. I support the introduction of a light rail-free Canberra Times. Rebecca Clark, Red Hill NOT DRY HERE We're told Canberra had a warm, relatively dry autumn ("Hot, dry autumn sets records for capital", June 2, p1). At the airport and Tuggeranong, perhaps. Out west in Belconnen, I had 150.75mm. Bruce Glossop, Holt

ROADS COULD LIFT VOTE Now the boundaries of the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro encircle the ACT, I am surprised the major political parties have not focused more on the state of roads into and out of the electorate. If one party promised to upgrade the Barton Highway to dual carriageway, they would definitely get my vote, together with a couple more thousand, I am sure. Anthony Reid, Springrange, NSW POVERTY IGNORED Unemployment and homelessness, not to mention the widening gap between the rich and the poor, will never be solved by either the ALP or Liberal Party as they are happy to maintain the status quo  or are at the very least, unwilling to apply practical measures to solve these real problems.

Thomas Quinlan, Gordon VISAS OUT OF LINE The Immigration Department demonstrated dereliction of duty in failing to demand pizza franchisees categorically prove "market testing" had failed to locate Australian citizens/permanent residents possessing appropriate skills to labour for a pittance, so necessitating employment of 457 visa holders ("Pizza delivery driver settles dismissal case", June 2, p6). Albert M. White, Queanbeyan, NSW EGG ON ONE'S FACE

Ian Warden ("College crew recall days in sun", Gang-Gang, June 2, p8) states "during the 2000 Sunrace, crew members were 'laying' on the grass in front of Questacon [to catch the late sun on the solar panels of the solar vehicle]". I'm very sure no eggs were laid during this event! Cluck! Cluck! Pamela Fawke, Dunlop CLARIFICATION Jenny Goldie's letter (June 2) mistakenly claimed that "scientists like Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg say 400ppm is the upper limit for avoiding coral reef bleaching". The correct figure is 320ppm. This was a production error. Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.
Ian Bowie Bowral Missing in action I have just come back from a 'meet the candidates' meeting, in a community hall, on a very wet night. In the last 20 years I have been living in this electorate, this has never happened: all candidates have agreed to come to this small town. There were over 100 people attending on this dark and stormy night. We have seven candidates vying for election and only one, Peter Hendy, our sitting member, did not appear. Apparently he has decided that he is not going to appear at any community forums or debates. How can anyone vote for a candidate who is not prepared to talk to his constituents? And yes, I live in the 'bellwether' seat of Eden Monaro.



Louise Brown Wandella.

Team for Rio needs colour not Chiller's shade of grey Just reading about Kitty Chiller makes my blood boil ("Kyrgios blasts AOC over 'unfair and unjust' treatment", June 4-5.) I am surprised that anybody could claim how wonderfully she has dealt with the Nick Kyrgios issue.

If any reader received a 16-page "please explain" letter, would they feel that this is the OAC "reaching out to them"? Comparing Nick's behaviour with two others facing potential criminal charges is comparing apples with oranges. Australia always like to have mavericks and world-beaters  especially when it comes to sports. However, many people like Ms Chiller want them to be polite, deferential and a particular shade of grey. The two rarely ever go together. Nick's greatest crime appears that he made "some ill-advised comments about Kitty Chiller" on Twitter. Why were they "ill-advised" unless Ms Chiller feels that she is beyond criticism by those whose future she holds in her hands? I always find it remarkable that high-level sportspeople are also such accomplished representative speakers. But we can't expect them to be everything to everybody. Most of the most famous people in history have had pretty substantial character flaws. However, Kitty Chiller (and many others like her) want our stand-outs to be amazing and ordinary at the same time. We all understand that spectators on the sidelines often get carried away with passion, so it is a lot more natural to see an individual athlete succumb to "crimes of passion" when playing such a high pressure, individual sport at the highest level. Add to that, Nick has to cope with every other journalist with no inspiration is just waiting to criticise his latest transgression.

We need a wiser, more forgiving person at the head of our Olympic Committee. One that allows them more a little more latitude. This is not 1950, and if we allowed Ms Chiller to roll out her standards across society, then our own parliament would not be able to function. Rhys Williams Revesby







Scott appointment another brick in the all Why are you surprised Sharon McGuinness, John Cotterill, Dennis Suttling and all you naive supporters of public education out there?(Letters, June 4). Mark Scott's appointment as "Secretary" of Education in NSW is just another brick in the wall being built by Coalition governments and leaders to erode and marginalise public education and TAFE.



If Mark Scott really wants to show he is totally behind public education in NSW perhaps he could demonstrate this by reversing the $1000-plus "boarding school allowance" granted to every boarding school student in NSW last year and that goes on top of the $8000-plus boarding school allowance provided to every boarding school student by the federal government each year. No real explanation or rationale from the NSW government and an attempt to get an explanation from the minister, Adrian Piccoli, failed.



The sooner one of the articulate, high-profile advocates of public education stands up to be counted as a candidate for the Senate, the better. Judged by letters in the "Letters" pages, and resounding applause when private school funding is raised on Q&A, they would romp it in.



Kevin Farrell Beelbangera The love affair continues To be in love is to know lust fades, to live highs and lows, to see growth and change. So, be kind Elizabeth ("It was love at first sight when I first saw Sydney", June 4-5), she's growing and if you cannot embrace her changes then perhaps it's time to let her go. After all, Sydney has many suitors who, just like you did all those years ago, are experiencing their love at first sight moment today. Emma Kirkman Carlton

What Elizabeth Farrelly is arguing for is a just city. A just city requires that government and planners focus on maximising democratic processes, equity, affordable housing and social mix. It is evident that all four elements of a just city are being severely undermined by the Baird government due to its focus on economic growth and development above all else. Alan Morris Eastlakes Foot injury guaranteed In his latest foray into the world of climate change science, David Sayers (Letters, June 4-5) takes aim at Tim Flannery, and once again shoots himself in the foot. The suggestion that Tim Flannery has said it would "never rain again" is ludicrous. He has never said that. What is even more ludicrous is to suggest that what is now happening to the Great Barrier Reef has happened before. That's because the earth has never been warmed so rapidly by fossil-fuelled carbon emissions. There has only ever been one industrial revolution. And it's not happening over millions of years, but over decades. That's the whole point. When the history of all this is written, people like Tim Flannery will fare much better than the flat-earth climate change deniers whose wilfully ignorant actions and beliefs place us all at risk.

Michael Hinchey New Lambton Colin Booth may well have choked on his oats (Letters, June 4-5) however using Andrew Bolt's misrepresentation of what Tim Flannery said as a valid argument against the plight of the Great Barrier Reef, and his view of the world as limited to the condition of his local beach, rather than what is happening to small Pacific island nations faced with the threat of inundation, it seems a wonder with such myopia that Mr Booth could pour the milk into the bowl without missing.



Barrington Salter Neutral Bay So the federal authority reckons it's OK that 22 per cent of the reef has been wiped out as that means that 78 per cent has managed to survive. By extension does that mean that if cuts to Medicare and the PBS result in only 5 million Australians dying that it will be OK as 78 per cent of us will survive?



Barton Fielden Lindfield Gorilla not at fault Harambe the gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo was shot because a child fell into its enclosure ("Curious children will always test the boundaries", June 4-5.). There have been several such falls including at Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey, Channel Islands, in 1986 and again at the Brookfield Zoo, Illinois, in 1996. In those cases the animals were not shot. It is unforgivable that childproof enclosures are still not in place to protect these rare and valuable animals.

Gary Wilson MacGregor ACT Plea strikes a chord Here here to Reverend Dr John Bunyan (Letters, June 4-5). Just because one is older, does not mean one's needs and cultural hunger should not be met. Songs of Praise on ABC TV was one of the few remaining church music programs left on the ABC. There was an outcry when Kay MacClennan's early Sunday morning program whimsically called For the God who sings was axed.

For believers and non-believers, hymns are reassuring, comforting and a much loved part of our culture. If Songs of Praise, which came from the UK, has gone, why can't we create an Australian version of same?





Megwenya Matthews North Turramurra WestConnex flaws Never sipped a latte in my life Duncan Gay ("Baird's WestConnex mea culpa: we could have done better", June 4-5). Nor am I an anti-road zealot, although I do confess to being an inner-westie.

How about some consultation and openness about this project and its funding? And what I'd really appreciate is less of the state government's chumming up to big business, and more listening to those who'd prefer the $16-plus billion (and counting) to be spent on accessible public transport. Now back to my basket weaving.

Suzan Fayle Rozelle

Mergers not always bad

Those persons fulminating against the amalgamation of a few local government councils might take pause for thought that six huge colonies amalgamated to create a nation in 1901. ("Getting away with merger", June 4-5.) None of us seems the worse off.





David Griffiths Turramurra Husband's trial over, what now for Jacenko? Should someone take Ms Jacenko aside and explain to her that her husband has been found guilty of insider trading and is facing a very possible jail sentence. ("Dare to do: How duo turned motto into a motza", June 4-5.) So, not all about her after all.



Roger Ellis Millthorpe



Can't wait to hear that PR queen and long-suffering wife of naughty boy Oliver Curtis, Roxy Jacenko, has sold the rights to the film. Bet she cuts a mean deal. I can see Ryan Corr as Hartman, Patrick Brammell as Ollie, and of course Asher Keddie as the lady herself.



Donna Wiemann Balmain Followers of fashion I have admired many of Max Fischer's letters over the years (Letters, June 4-5.) But, as a married clergyman, I didn't think we had that much in common. I was heartened to read that we share a similar fashion sense. The only difference is my tracky dacks are usually bought for me by my wife from Big W.



(Rev Dr) Niall McKay Hamilton



Keep the dish
A century ago, Australia locked up far fewer people than we do today. In 1918, not a time famous for its progressive views on dealing with criminals, the imprisonment rate in Australia was less than 60 prisoners for every 100,000 adults. Today, it's more than 140.

We lock up far more women now than we used to: Australian women are jailed at a rate more than four times they were even as recently as 1982, much of which is due to harsher sentencing.

Australia locks up people at a greater rate than Canada, Britain and most of Europe. Credit:Peter Rae

We lock up far more Indigenous people: almost half as many again as when the country decided to go the other direction after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

We lock up everyone  people across the board  at a far greater rate now than we've ever done, at least for the last century. Given the sustained tough-on-crime campaign from powerful media voices and politicians from both sides, it is no surprise that sentences have become harsher. But the extent is something else.
Few who knew Arthur Warburton as a Cambridge-educated Melbourne businessman would have guessed he was raised by impoverished parents living for a time in an empty railway carriage. When he titled his autobiography A Class Act, Warburton chose a phrase which resonated throughout his life from curtain rise to curtain fall. In Act I, Arthur Francis Warburton was born into a humble Yorkshire family, with its own class and financial challenges. His pragmatic mother, Lorna, went on to run a Lancashire boarding house while his more visionary father, John, was often unemployed.

In summer, when the boarding house was full, Arthur was sent to sleep in the cellar on a board balanced on top of an old bath, which was usually full of coal.

Even as a boy he was determined to do what he could to pull his family out of poverty, with a series of early efforts driven by financial need and raw nerve.

He would tout for luggage at the local railway station, coming to recognise which passengers were the best tippers. He would close a country gate, wait for a passing car to come along, then open it with a flourish, hoping for a coin. He would re-purpose wooden fences, which he claimed were already falling down, for sale as firewood.

Primary school was of little interest, except where subjects provided a means of furthering his money-making schemes through art, mathematics or music.
She shot to fame playing Ivy Lynn in the television musical series Smash, but Megan Hilty is ready to show Australia the other sides to this mutli-faceted diamond.

Hilty began her career in the Broadway production of Wicked.

Megan Hilty is about to commence her first tour of Australia.

While most Broadway stars work their way through the ensemble and hope to one day get a crack at a lead role, Hilty was plucked directly from university to be the standby for the lead role of Galinda, the good witch.

Less than a year later, she took over the role permanently.
There are calls for an historic Brisbane house to be put on the Queensland Heritage Register as activists celebrate its salvage from demolition.

Acting Premier Jackie Trad on Sunday announced plans to demolish Abbotsleigh, an 1880s-built Bowen Hills home, would not be approved.

Abbotsleigh House in Bowen Hills was in danger of redevelopment. Credit:Lisa Williams

Owner Bellbird Park Developments had applied to destroy the locally heritage-listed building as part of a proposed development.

"Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) has advised the applicant that the development application would not be approved as long as it contains the extensive demolition of Abbotsleigh," Ms Trad said in a statement on Sunday.
One of Australia's biggest banks, a major sponsor of the Brisbane Mining Club, will question the organisation over its use of the gender divisive Tattersall's Club in the future, following the Premier's edict to her ministers to shun events held at the men's club.

ANZ, which has made achieving a gender balance within its own organisation an imperative, is a major sponsor of the Brisbane Mining Club, which aims to provide regular lunchtime forums as "an informal venue for networking".

Brisbane's Tattersalls Club has had men-only membership since it was built in the 1920s.

It has previously held events at Tattersall's Club, which has strict "like-minded" membership rules, which only allow men to join.

Women are allowed into the club, if they are vouched for by a male member, or to attend events.
Using the aging Go Card system to power an innovative plan to link taxis with buses, trains and ferries would be impossible, a prominent public transport advocate warns.

But Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow more broadly welcomed the idea stemming from a review into taxis and ride-sharing, saying it could be possible with an upcoming next-generation payment system.

Public sector veteran Jim Varghese floated the idea of using taxis to service the troublesome "first and last mile" of the public transport network in his paper discussing options for resolving the ongoing Uber-taxi conflict.

He hoped the plan would provide an extra income stream for taxi drivers struggling with the introduction of American company Uber and potentially other ride-sharing services while "transforming" Brisbane's public transport network.
Update: Home owners have used an iron bar to brutally bash two young men who tried to break into their house in Melbourne's outer north-west, police say.

The two men, believed to be in their 20s, were attacked during an attempted aggravated burglary at the home on Beverley Street in Kings Park, a police spokesman said.

Police

It's believed the home owners grabbed an iron bar with a wooden handle and fought off the armed intruders with the weapon at 6.45am on Sunday, he said.

One of the Kings Park men at the home told News Ltd, his brother, 26, went to buy groceries at 6.30am when he was confronted at the door by two men wearing hooded jackets and handkerchiefs over their faces.
Washington: On offer in a Swiss referendum: a guaranteed monthly income for every adult, paid for by the government.

In a fragile global economy that is increasingly driven by mechanised labour, the deal might seem like a welcome security net from one of the richest governments in the world. The Swiss are sure that they could pay for a substantial guaranteed income, if voters got behind it.

Supporters gather for an unconditional basic income in Basel, Switzerland. Credit:AP

The proposal to guarantee a minimum monthly income of 2500 Swiss francs ($3400) lost 76.9 per cent to 23.1 per cent. It could have, over time, lead to scrapping unemployment, social and pension payments.

The amount was for each adult Swiss citizen and foreigners who have legally resided in the country for five years, as well as an additional 625 Swiss francs for each child of theirs.
"Due to a brief moment of severe turbulence, some passengers suffered minor injuries," it said.

Flight MH1  en route from London to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday  encountered clear-air turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, the airline said in a statement.

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane has encountered severe turbulence in mid-flight, injuring several passengers, the airline says.

Flight MH1 has landed safely in Kuala Lumpur International Airport and all the passengers and crew are being attended to, the airline said.

Malaysia Airlines Airbus 380. Credit:Malaysia Airlines via Twitter

The airline said medical officers were at the airport to provide assistance to injured passengers and crew.

"Malaysia Airlines has assisted the 378 passengers and crew onboard MH1 and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused by this weather event which was entirely beyond our control," it said.

Images shared on social networking sites showed items inside the passenger cabin were scattered all over the place.
South Jersey fans revel in Phillies' trip to World Series

The wild ride continues for Phillies fans in South Jersey as team's improbable run lands them in first World Series since 2009.
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Close on the heels of a $3.5 billion fund raise, cab aggregator said it is on an "investment mode" in the country and will continue to spend on bringing in more customised offerings.

The company, which counts India as its third biggest market after the US and China, said it saw 26 times growth in the country in 2015 compared to the previous year.

"We are on investment mode in India. Every country is different and you have to customise in every market, even as the technology back bone remains the same. We have customised the app to work on low network conditions, we introduced cash payment here, which was a global first," India President Amit Jain said.

He further said India is a strategic market and it remains bullish on the country, where it has grown exponentially over the last two years.

In July last year, had announced an investment of $1 billion (nearly Rs 6,652 crore) in India to expand its services here. It has also set up a response and support centre in Hyderabad with an investment of $50 million.

It has also started leasing cars to driver partners, an addition to its balance sheet, as it looks to attract more driver partners to its platform in the country.

Jain did not comment if Uber has exhausted the earlier earmarked sum.

Earlier this week, Uber had raised $3.5-billion (nearly Rs 23,284 crore) funding from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

Jain said a "substantial portion" of the fresh funding would come to India. "With this investment, we have more than $ 11 billion in our global war chest to invest in our product and markets to grow and compete," Jain said.

The funds will help the US-based firm compete head-on with local rival, Ola, which is backed by investors like Japanese firm SoftBank and China's Didi Kuaidi.

Jain, however, declined to comment on the timeline to hit profits in the Indian market.

"We are a for-profit company and there is a definite path to profitability. I will not be able to talk about the time it will take to get there," he said.

Uber has hit black in its home market as well as certain European countries.

Last year, Uber made $1 billion in profits from its top 30 cities of operations, Jain said without disclosing the names of the cities.

Uber is available in over 400 cities across 70 countries. In India, it is available in 27 cities, more than any other country outside the US and China.

Talking about regulatory challenges in India, Jain said these exist across countries.

"These (regulatory challenges) are both a concern and opportunity. This (cab aggregation) is a new area of business. As technology moves at a fast pace, regulations have to keep pace and evolve.

"We are engaged with government across levels to ensure compliance and are committed to ensuring growth for driver partners and smooth experience for customers," he said.
A senior retired official of (ONGC) has brought to light gross irregularities and corrupt practices at the Navaratna companys Ankleshwar assets in Gujarat. Besides apprising the chairman and managing director of ONGC and Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan through letters, the whistle-blower has now knocked the doors of the Prime Minister seeking an independent probe.
India on Sunday thanked Afghanistan for conferring the country's highest civilian honour  the Amir Amanullah Khan award  on Prime Minister during his visit there.

Expressing gratitude to Afghan government for the prestigious award, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was an honour not only for the Prime Minister, but for the whole country.

Modi was conferred the award by President Ashraf Ghani yesterday during his short visit to Herat province in Afghanistan where he inaugurated a landmark dam built by India at a cost of Rs 1,700 crore.

It's a matter of great honour for India that the Indian Prime Minister has been conferred with the highest ever civilian award by the Afghan government. It is an honour not only for India's Prime Minister but for the whole country for which we are grateful to the government of Afghanistan, said Jaitley.

Modi is the first Indian and is among a handful of foreign leaders to receive the award.

Modi had also tweeted yesterday, My deepest gratitude to the Government of Afghanistan for conferring the Amir Amanullah Khan Award."



The award is named after Afgahn hero Amanullah Khan who championed the cause of Afghanistan's freedom. He was the ruler of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1919-1929.

About Prime Minister's visit to Qatar, Jaitley said it will help India get more investments from the Gulf country.

"In the last two years as the economy of India has picked up, the interest of global investors in India also has increased. The Prime Minister has today addressed the business community of Qatar.

"The government there, the business community and the funds have been extremely keen on investing in India and the Prime Minister's visit to Qatar will give a great fillip to that," said Jaitley.

The Prime Minister travelled to Qatar from Afghanistan yesterday as part of his five-nation tour.

Modi today invited Qatar's companies to "grab" the vast opportunities for business, especially in the infrastructure sector, in India, while promising to remove "bottlenecks" identified by them.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has renewed the licence of Juhu airport.



The airports licence lapsed in February but the civil aviation regulator allowed operations to continue even as the renewal process was underway.



Juhu airport in Mumbai is the busiest heliport in the country and handles about 100 movements daily, many of them to off shore oil rigs. The airport is run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Serbia's defeated Britain's Andy Murray in the final of the French Open at Roland Garros to win his 13th Grand slam. With this victory, Djokovic won his maiden Roland Garros crown and also completed his career Grand slam dream.
Prime Minister on Sunday met business leaders in Qatar, his second stop on his five-nation tour, and invited them to do business in India.

"Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

"Qatar's Minister of Trade and Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India," Swarup said in another tweet.

"PM addresses business leaders. Praises role of Emir of Qatar in promoting India Qatar business ties," Swarup tweeted.

Swarup quoted Modi as saying: "India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity."

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Modi will hold detailed talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later in the day.

He addressed Indian workers at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night.
India's newest state will have its own newspaper, two years after it was created. Next month will see the launch of an English-language daily by a company in which state chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has an investment.
Interpol has sought reasons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on why a Red-Corner Notice (RCN) should be issued on liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is facing a probe related to alleged money laundering in India.
To provide succor to the poorest of the poor in drought hit areas, Uttar Pradesh government has included four more districts flanking Bundelkhand region for the disbursal of free ration.
Amid 10 state-run lenders suffering losses of over Rs 15,000 crore in the March quarter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised greater capital support to banks while warning that defaulters cannot be allowed to sleep well, leaving all the worry to bankers.

He also rejected suggestions that huge losses being posted by public sector banks (PSBs) were like skeletons tumbling out, saying NPAs (non-performing assets ) were mostly due to business-related losses in certain sectors, rather than due to frauds, and one must distinguish between chalk and cheese.

Jaitley, who was on a six-day visit to Japan to attract investments, said the losses were because of provisioning to cover for bad debt and most of the banks including State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank (PNB) had good profits at operational level.

Look at the balance sheets of these banks. PNB operationally had a good profit, SBI had a good profit. It is the provisioning which makes it look like a loss, the finance minister told PTI.

Stating that NPAs or bad loans have always been there, Jaitley said: Whether you keep it below the carpet or you bring it into the balance sheet... I think a transparent balance sheet is the best way of doing business and thats what the banks are on Sunday doing.

I am very clear, the government will fully strengthen the banks and fully support the banks where it is needed. I have declared a figure in the Budget, but I am willing to look at a higher figure if that is necessary. On measures being taken to empower the banks, he said bankruptcy law is one empowerment while the strategic debt restructuring mechanism of RBI is also there.

What we are doing to several other recovery laws, including the Securitisation and the Debt Recovery Tribunal itself is an empowerment. Therefore you cannot indefinitely have a situation where people who owe money sleep well and bankers have to worry. I think the people who owe these monies will also have to act, he said.

Asserting that all NPAs are not bank frauds, he said there may be some improper loans but there were a large volume of loans resulting from business losses or on account of sectoral losses.

The loans were rightly given, sectors havent done well.

So to say that these are all skeletons stumbling out (is not correct). A business loss is not a skeleton. A skeleton is something which is done as a scam or a scandal and therefore we must be careful to distinguish between chalk and cheese as far as the banking NPAs are concerned, he said.

The Finance Minister said once the problem climaxes and the sectoral results start turning over, the situation would change.

Citing the example of PNB, he said the bank last year made a Rs 12,000 crore operational profit, which is not a low level of profit, but it declared loss because of NPA provisioning. "So it is the balance sheet provisioning which has led to that situation."



These NPA loans were not given recently, Jaitley added.

"These are old loans which relates to sectors which have been under stress. Those sectoral problems have been addressed significantly. In many of those sectors, the balance sheet has started changing and therefore slowly it must relate to the banks itself and reflect on their balance sheet," he said.

Against the backdrop of mounting bad loans and record losses of public sector banks, Jaitley will hold a quarterly performance review on Monday with the heads of PSBs and Financial Institutions.

He would "review the overall performance of PSBs during the financial year 2015-16 as well as with regard to the flow of credit to agriculture, insurance and MSE sectors among others", the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)s move to ease classification of Tier-I capital of banks and include revaluation reserves, deferred tax assets and other items had limited effect on the banks Tier-I capital ratio for the March 2016 quarter (Q4). ICICI Bank, Union Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have seen a favourable impact of 90 basis points (bps), 55 bps, 40 bps and 30 bps, respectively, on their Tier-I capital (as declared in Q4) after this easing. The information is based on disclosures by their managements in various media and analyst interactions. A hundred basis points is one percentage point.
The Green Initiatives Programme of the Indian Navy completes two years on World Environment Day. Over this period, considerable impetus has been given to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the Navy. Being a responsible and multidimensional force, the Indian Navy believes in an all inclusive and sustainable growth. Accordingly, the focus has not only been on correcting its impact on the energy and environmental footprint, but also to address the root cause of the problem, which lies in the way energy is used. .

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Creation of an Energy and Environment Cell at Naval Headquarters in Jan 16 to monitor pan Navy implementation of green measures is a concrete step in this direction. This Cell has been tasked to enable the Navys vision of adding a Green Footprint to its Blue Water Operations and make it an environmentally responsible force which is not only energy and resource efficient, but also resilient to energy costs/ disruptions. .

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The Key Result Areas of the INs Energy and Environment Policy underline the triple bottom-line approach of Energy Conservation, Diversification of Energy Supply and Minimising Environment Impact. The ever expanding reach of IN necessitates use of new platforms equipped with cutting edge technology and state-of-the-art equipment. These platforms are energy intensive and have a significant carbon footprint in terms of energy and fuel use. IN has initiated concerted steps to reduce the carbon footprint through efficient ship design and operations. Mass energy conservation awareness drives are conducted regularly at all Commands and Repair Yards to continuously educate and sensitise personnel on the importance of energy/ environment conservation in an effort to make this a way of life. Apart from greater awareness of the naval fraternity, the efforts have resulted in significant savings of approximately Rs. 12 Cr annually. The efforts of one of the major repair yards have seen it emerge as a model consumer, a feat lauded and recognized by the State Electricity Board. .

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The Navy has set itself an aggressive target of 21 MW Solar PV installation, to be implemented in three phases. The initiative is in line with the National Mission of Mega Watt to Giga Watt towards achieving 100 GW Solar PV installations by 2022. Additionally, IN has pledged 1.5 per cent of its Works budget towards Renewable Energy generation. Under this scheme, Solar PV projects are being undertaken at various Naval Stations across all Commands. Naval Stations, with scarce available land, have resorted to the deploying Rooftop Solar PV panels. .

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While the Renewable Energy scenario in the country is dominated by Solar and Wind energy, the Navy is also exploring the possibility of harnessing the Renewable Energy from oceans. Towards this, in consultation with pioneers in the field and MNRE, feasibility of exploiting Ocean Thermal Energy and Wave Energy as sources of power, are under discussion. .

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The pursuit of green goals of Indian Navy requires sustained and focussed efforts. The Men and Women in Whites, have, nonetheless pledged to walk hand in hand with the national objectives set by the Honble Prime Minister. .

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DKS/AC
Amid deepening divisions over the disputed South China Sea, China and US will hold their high level annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue here tomorrow during which a host of issues including differences over India's entry into the NSG are expected to be discussed.

Billed as the most comprehensive dialogue between the world's two largest economies, it will be attended by top officials from both sides, including US Secretary of State John Kerry.

While South China Sea (SCS) issue, which has now become a major flash point between the two countries is expected to dominate the two-day talks, a host of other issues including Taiwan, Tibet and India's inclusion in the (NSG) are also expected to figure.

While the US has expressed its firm backing to India's inclusion into the 48-member nuclear club building on the India-US nuclear accord, China has been insisting that there should be consensus among the members about inclusion of countries who have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India has not signed the NPT on the ground that it is discriminatory.

Officials here are hopeful of a solution as China-US dialogue is taking place ahead of two of NSG's key plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul during which the issue is expected to come up.

As India pressed its case, Pakistan too has applied amid reports that China is trying to push the case of its all-weather ally.

India itself has taken up this issue with top Chinese leadership as part of high profile diplomacy, specially during last month's President Pranab Mukherjee's visit here.

However, China last night said that differences still prevailed among the NSG members about non-NPT members.

"Discussion within the NSG is still going on about the accession of non-NPT countries, and NSG members remain divided on this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry told PTI.

Still sticking to its stand that that new members should sign the NPT, the Ministry said "the NSG is part and parcel of the non-proliferation regime".

About the Pakistan application which China is reportedly backing, the Ministry said "China has noted Pakistan's official application for NSG membership. Pakistan is not a party state to the NPT."

Ahead of the US-China dialogue, Chinese officials said besides the SCS,China will bring up topics related to its major concerns, including the Taiwan question, Tibet and maritime security.

The two countries have differing pursuits on major issues at the strategic level.

However, the two still have many common interests, official media here quoted Chinese officials as saying.
The US private sector will not sever seven decades of investment in Southeast Asia because of who occupies the White House, said US ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar. Acknowledging a high number of inquiries generated by Donald Trump's presidential bid, Wagar said while his country's democratic process was noisy, it had built-in checks and balances. "The one that is always forgotten is the private sector," Wagar said in an interview on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore. Estimating that around 50 million Southeast Asian ...
Decisiveness has always been the hallmark of a great leader. But with ever-changing technology, an increasingly competitive landscape, digital-savvy consumer and a volatile market, the need for speed is yoked to for all companies today. The message is - Cut the flab and make "agile" and "visible".
The latest product to come under attack of the CSE [Center for Science and Environment] is the humble bread. As the find themselves under attack, all bakeries around the country will be feeling the heat.
When we put our minds to setting up a home, like everything else, we would rather leave a personal stamp on the furniture that we buy. Thus, an obvious choice for many of us is to bring carpenters home to be sure that they carve out every piece according to our choice.
At least 18 Taliban insurgents, including prominent commanders, were killed and 19 others injured by the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces in the latest special military operations in Afghanistan.

The prominent Taliban commanders killed during the operations have been identified as Sangari and Qari Amin.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said that operations were conducted in Zabul, Ghazni, Helmand, Paktia, Faryab, Logar and Kabul provinces in the past 48 hours, reports the Khaama Press.

The statement said the two Taliban commanders were involved in major terrorist activities in the vicinity of Arghandab district of Zabul and Khogyani district of Nangarhar.

Meanwhile, the Afghan police forces also confiscated a PK machine gun, one Ak-47 rifle, one mortar and 34 mines during the operations besides heavy machine guns were destroyed along with several hideouts of the militants.

So far, the anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports.
At a time when Haryana is bracing itself to witness agitation for reservation across the state by the Jat community, Additional Chief Secretary Home Ram Niwas on Sunday said that security has been beefed up as 55 paramilitary forces have been deployed in all districts of the state.

Niwas told ANI that the state government is fully prepared to deal with the Jat agitation.

"The government has done adequate preparations for the protest. We have 55 paramilitary forces which include CRPF, RAF, ITBP, BSF and we have deployed them in all districts. We have also persuaded people to protest peacefully. And places where protest is being taken place without permission the administration has taken a note of that and they are being prosecuted as per the law," Niwas said.

"We, in prior have informed the leaders and politicians that if any miss happening takes place they will be held responsible for that. We have issued them notices and made them aware about the orders of the Supreme Court," he added.

Asserting that the government had given special training to security personnel to fight adverse situation, Niwas said, "We are fully prepared so that incidents like before do not take place, we have performed mock drills, we have trained our police officers for such situations."

"DCP, SP are visiting several villages and requesting people for maintaining law and order," he added.

Niwas further added that the Gram Panchayats and the Khap Panchayats of Haryana have lend their support and have given assurance that they will maintain law and order in the state.

Meanwhile, Duty Magistrate has been appointed before time, who is in sync with the police.

Administration has also issued order banning mobile internet service.

The ban which has been brought in effect yesterday will be implied till further orders. As it is being said that chances that mobile internet services might be used to spread wrong information and rumours. All telecom service providers have been directed to strictly abide by these orders.

Haryana saw the worst violence in its five decades of existence in February this year during the Jat agitation for reservation.

As many as 30 persons were killed, 320 others injured and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed during the agitation. The state remained paralysed for nearly 10 days.
Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday said the budget announcement for the fiscal year 2016-17 was introduced with an intention to misuse the state coffers.

"The money that the Congress had collected from foreign donors is being used for their cadres," the Himalayan Times quoted him as saying.

"Which nation do you think will believe in communists? Foreigners had trusted the Congress and provided money for earthquake survivors," he said.

Deuba urged his party cadres to stay alert against misuse of state funds.

"This budget may yield some temporary popularity to the government. But economists say it is not appropriate for sustainable development," he said.

He also accused the government led by the Communist Party of Nepal -Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman K.P. Sharma Oli of not willing to hold local elections.

Deuba said that he would work to end all forms of factionalism in the party.

"My last wish is to make the party one as the president. Now, the factional politics has ended in the party," he added.
As many as four Indian fishermen and one boat were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy at Neduntheevu in early morning hours today.

The apprehended fishermen were handed over to Sri Lankan fisheries department in Kankesanthurai.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to help release the four Indian fishermen, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy earlier on Thursday.

At least four Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard with assistance from the Navy earlier on Thursday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Lankan waters.

The naval personnel arrested the fishermen along with an Indian fishing trawler on northwest of Delft Island, reports the Colombo Page.

This was the second time that Lankan Navy had arrested Indian fishermen from India's southern Tamil Nadu state with mechanized boats after they resumed fishing at the end of its 45 day ban on fishing in the eastern coastal zone earlier on Sunday midnight.

The Navy personnel on May 30 arrested seven fishermen along with a trawler while fishing in Lankan waters northwest of Thalaimannar.
Jacqueline Fernandez is all geared up to make her television debut with the dance reality show, 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa,' replacing Shahid Kapoor.

Reportedly, after Shahid's presence on the panel of the reality show failed to bring in the desired TRP, the production crew decided to get the 'Kick' star on board.

Along with 'Housefull 3' actress, will be the regulars, Karan Johar and Ganesh Hegde on the panel.

As reported by Mumbai Mirrors, the 30-year-old actress shot the first promo in Mumbai on Friday and looked stunning in a golden gown.

"The promo is her introduction to the Colors family as well as an announcement for her TV debut. It is expected to go on air in two weeks," said the report.

"She will soon leave for Miami to shoot for the next Bang Bang film with co-star Sidharth Malhotra so she wanted to wrap up the promo shoot before. The show is expected to go on air sometime in July," it added.

Jacqueline's upcoming movie 'Dhishoom' is all set to release in July 2016.
Haryana government has made an elaborate security arrangement to deal with the Jat agitation which is being launched from today and has deployed 48 companies of the paramilitary forces, as well as imposed restrictions under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure at various like Hisar, Rohtak, Jind and Ambala.

Giving this information at Chandigarh yesterday, a government spokesman said that more companies of the Paramilitary forces have been demanded by the State.

He said that the police have banned the assembly of five or more persons near government offices, residences of MLAs and MPs, civil hospitals and premises of public sector enterprises.

Security has been tightened along the western Yamuna canal and Munak canal barrage from where the water is supplied to Delhi.

Meanwhile, Sonepat District Magistrate K Makarand Pandurang has ordered banning of all internet services and Bulk SMS sent via mobile, under Section 144 with immediate effect, to ward off any tension. The ban will remain in force till further orders.

The District Magistrate said that these services might be used to spread misinformation and rumours and that these services including social media can also be used in illegal activities such as blocking roads, highways and railway tracks, damaging government property and disrupting essential services and supply of food.
Among range of issues discussed between India and Qatar during the bilateral meetings here today, were the issues pertaining to enhanced energy cooperation between the two countries, which would benefit them mutually.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the two sides agreed to focus on enhancing cooperation in energy, covering the areas of training and human resources development and cooperation in research and development and through promotion of joint ventures in petrochemical complexes and cooperation in joint exploration in India and other countries.

The Indian side highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar, with Qatar Petroleum and other companies, in order to jointly explore new fields as well as development of discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar.

The Indian side invited Qatar to invest in India's exploration and production sector by bidding for the exploration blocks in India under the new "Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing" Policy and "Discovered Small Fields" Policy.

The Indian side invited Qatar to participate in the second phase of the strategic reserves storage facility being created in India.

The Qatari side appreciated the initiative taken by Prime Minister Modi leading to the formation of International Solar Alliance. They acknowledged the importance of this alliance in advancing new solar technologies worldwide.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani witnessed the signing of seven agreements to bolster ties.

The list of MoU's signed between the two nations are MoU for Investment in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, MoU in Cooperation in Skill Development and Recognition of Qualifications and Agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in custom matters.

The other agreements include MoU in Cooperation in Tourism, First executive program for MoU in the field of youth and sports, MoU on Cooperation in Field of Health and MoU on Finance Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) and Qatar Financial Information Unit (QFIU).
Iraqi security forces closed in on key territories under the clutches of ISIS in Iraq and Syria on Saturday with advances to regain control of militant controlled towns, military officials say.

According to CNN, Iraqi security forces, with the support of other militia, stormed the first neighbourhood in southern Falluja after recapturing the district of al Nuaimiya.

Iraqi security forces recaptured the key small town of Saqlawiya, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) northwest of Fallujah.

Troops there "raised the national flag over the town's main buildings," Iraq's Joint Operation Command said.

The takeover of Saqlawiya comes a day after coalition warplanes bombed ISIS command centers and tunnel networks in Falluja, killing dozens of militants.

In January 2014, Falluja became the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS -- dealing a blow to Iraq as well as Western countries battling the terrorist group.

Today is the first time more than two years Iraqi security forces have come this close to a full takeover, army officials said.

This is the first time in two years the Syrian Army has been inside Raqqa, the capital of ISIS' self-proclaimed caliphate.
The Congress on Sunday cornered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in connection with the resignation of Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse and alleged that this a cover-up operation to save a man in touch with the underworld and involved in corrupt activities.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told ANI, "Eknath Khadse's issue is purely a resignation drama. This is perhaps the first resignation that we have seen in the BJP dispensation. Despite Rajnath Singh's comment that in NDA you will never see a resignation unlike the UPA, now that their first resignation has happened. The question is whether this is entirely a cover-up operation to save a man, who has been in touch with the underworld."

"This resignation drama is purely a drama to bail him out. And an inquiry, a probe and an arrest are the right issues which the Maharashtra Government and the Centre need to take... And if the PM's words are to be believed that 'Na khayange na khane denge' is a clear indication 'Wo khane bhi de rahe hai aur khayenge bhi," he added.

Faced with charges of corruption in a Pune land deal and alleged phone calls to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse resigned yesterday.

The development came after Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi late on Thursday night, hours after he gave a report to BJP chief Amit Shah on Khadse.
Rubbishing rumours that media entry has been banned inside the Golden Temple on the occasion of the 32nd Operation Blue Star Anniversary tomorrow, Avtar Singh Makkar president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Sunday said that press is allowed to do its job inside the Gurudwara.

Makkar told ANI, "The day is of crucial significance and I urge all to maintain peace. Action will be taken against the miscreants. And as far as notice against the entry of the press is concerned, we have not issued any such notice and we will take action against those who have done this. I just request the press not to create any sort of unrest, rest the media is allowed to do their work."

According to reports, rumours fled that the SGPC yesterday banned media coverage at the premises of Golden Temple on Operation Blue Star Anniversary.

On June, 1984, over 1,000 lives were claimed during Operation Bluestar, the raid on Sikh's holiest shrine Golden Temple to cow down extremists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.

Bhindrawale and his associates were killed in the operation.

Meanwhile, Amrik Singh, who was appointed Keshgarh Sahib Jathedar by a Sikh conclave last year, urged Sikhs to reach Amritsar tomorrow to participate in prayer meeting to pay homage to those killed in Operation Bluestar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday left from Doha to Geneva for the third leg of his five-nation trip to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, United States and Mexico.

The Prime Minister took to Twitter to convey his gratitude to Qatar Government for their 'warmth and hospitality'.

"My gratitude to the people and Government of Qatar for their exceptional warmth & hospitality during this visit," he tweeted.

"My Qatar visit witnessed fruitful & comprehensive deliberations that will usher a new era of strong India Qatar friendship," he said in another tweet.

Earlier, India and Qatar inked seven agreements to bolster bilateral ties between both nations in presence of Prime Minister Modi and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Doha, Prime Minister Modi said there has been a remarkable surge in India's reputation across the globe in recent times. He said such a change was not because of him, but because of the 125 crore people living in the nation.

India and Qatar further discussed on a range of issues during the bilateral meeting to improve economic ties between the two countries, including the need to strengthen cooperation in the financial services sector such as banking, insurance and capital markets.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, both the countries expressed strong condemnation of the phenomenon of international terrorism, reiterating their firm resolve to cooperate together to root out this global menace which threatened all nations and societies.
What looked like a long lost Greek city on the bottom of the sea back in 2013, has now been deemed as "a naturally occurring phenomenon."

The underwater divers, who discovered what looked like paved floors, courtyards and colonnades, thought they had found the ruins of a long-forgotten civilization that perished when tidal waves hit the shores of the Greek holiday island Zakynthos.

But the research from the University of East Anglia (UK) and the University of Athens (Greece) revealed that the site was created by a natural geological phenomenon that took place in the Pliocene era - up to five million years ago.

The bizarre discovery, found close to Alikanas Bay, was carefully examined in situ by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of Greece.

Lead author Julian Andrews said, "We investigated the site, which is between two and five meters under water, and found that it is actually a natural geologically occurring phenomenon. The disk and doughnut morphology, which looked a bit like circular column bases, is typical of mineralization at hydrocarbon seeps - seen both in modern seafloor and palaeo settings."

Andrews noted that the linear distribution of these doughnut shaped concretions is likely the result of a sub-surface fault, which has not fully ruptured the surface of the sea bed. The fault allowed gases, particularly methane, to escape from depth. Microbes in the sediment use the carbon in methane as fuel. Microbe-driven oxidation of the methane then changes the chemistry of the sediment forming a kind of natural cement, known to geologists as concretion.

In this case the cement was an unusual mineral called dolomite which rarely forms in seawater, but can be quite common in microbe-rich sediments. These concretions were then exhumed by erosion to be exposed on the seabed today, she added.

She concluded that these features are proof of natural methane seeping out of rock from hydrocarbon reservoirs. The same thing happens in the North Sea, and it is also similar to the effects of fracking, when humans essentially speed up or enhance the phenomena.

The study appears in Marine and Petroleum Geology.
At least seven people, including a senior local judge, were killed and 19 others wounded after militants stormed a court in Afghanistan's Logar province on Sunday, police said.

The attack took place around 11.00 a.m. in the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam city, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The initial reports found five civilians were killed and 19 others wounded in Sunday morning's attack on Logar provincial Appeal Court office building," a senior police official said.

Among the killed was Akram Nejat, head of the provincial Appellate Court, the official confirmed.

"The attack took place when an official ceremony was underway in the building. Nejat was appointed recently to serve as the chairman of provincial court," the police official said.

Two suicide bombers were also killed in the attack and at least one explosion occurred inside the building's yard, he added.

--IANS

ask/ksk/vt
A 96-year-old Japanese man has entered the Guinness World Records after becoming the oldest person in the world to receive a university degree, officials said on Sunday.

Shigemi Hirata, who lives in Takamatsu, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Design from Kyoto University in March at the age of 96 years and 200 days, EFE news reported.

"I am genuinely happy. Learning is always fun at any age," said Hirata in an article published by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

The navy veteran was motivated by his interest in traditional Japanese pottery to enrol in a distance-learning course at the age of 85, and took 11 years to complete his degree.

Hirata was born in Hiroshima on September 1, 1919, and served in the navy during the Second World War.

After the war ended, he worked as a security guard in a Takamatsu hospital until his retirement in the 1980s.

"My next goal is to live until 100. If I'm still in good shape at the time, I will consider going to graduate school," joked Hirata, who has two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

--IANS

ksk/vt
Even as senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi is headed for Kotmi in the Marwahi assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh to announce his future political course on Monday, the Congress high command on Sunday dropped hints it will "wait and watch".

"He is holding a workers' meeting on Monday. So, we will wait and watch what he does," Congress General Secretary B.K. Hariprasad, who is in charge of the party's affairs in Chhattisgarh, told IANS.

However, a section of party leaders both in Delhi and in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state seemed to have reconciled themselves to the imminent exit of one-time Sonia Gandhi loyalist.

Earlier, some party leaders said though the rebellion from Jogi and his legislator son Amit Jogi is essentially linked to a father's affection for his son (Amit JOgi was expelled from the party), the departure of Congress' "popular tribal face" could harm the party in some select pockets.

The Ajit Jogi camp says if Jogi announces to float a party on Monday, the Congress could suffer huge loss of ground in districts like Bilaspur, Raigarh and Jagdalpur.

"We have the backing of at least 10 sitting Congress MLAs in Chhattisgarh," a source in the Jogi camp said.

While the Congress has 39 legislaors in the 90-member assembly, the ruling BJP has 49 and one seat each is held by Bahujan Samaj Party and an Independent.

"Ajit Jogi has lost political significance after three consecutive defeats of the Congress in state assembly polls. That's why Congress is not much interested in trying to retain him in the party either. Last month, (Congress vice president) Rahul Gandhi declined to meet him despite repeated requests," said a source close to state unit president Bhupesh Baghel.

Other Congress leaders too were not keen about reaching out to the former Chhattisgarh chief minister to avoid the split in the party.

"Migration is a continuous process in and there is always an arrival and departure lounge here," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said here during a media briefing on Thursday after Ajit Jogi indicated that he may float a new party.

The Jogi camp has expressed keenness to fight the BJP under incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has been in power since 2004.

On June 2, Jogi himself indicated his intent to quit the party and fight the BJP.

"There is a a lot of pressure on me by my supporters, well-wishers and friends that if I have to make Chhattisgarh Raman Singh-mukt (free), then I have to quit Congress. Congress is working like 'Team-B' of Raman Singh. If I have to defeat him, then I have to lead from the front," Jogi said.

But political watchers suggest that essentially Jogi -- if at all he walks out of Congress -- is guided by his affection for his son Amit Jogi, who has always been embroiled in controversies.

Amit Jogi was expelled from the Congress in January this year after a leaked telephonic conversation allegedly pointed fingers at him for fixing a by-election in favour of the BJP by putting only a "demo fight from the Congress side".

A Delhi court in April acquitted five people, including Amit Jogi in a graft case related to a 2003 sting operation involving former union Minister and senior BJP leader Dilip Singh Judeo.

--IANS

sid-nd/lok/vt
The situation assessment reports (sitreps) submitted by senior civil and police officers in Haryana to the Prakash Singh Committee that probed the role of officials during the large-scale violence during the Jat agitation for reservations in February has thoroughly exposed authorities at various levels in the administrative hierarchy.

In two districts worst-affected by violence - Rohtak and Jhajjar - the sitreps pointed out that the Rohtak range Inspector General, Shrikant Jadhav, was "very unstable and highly emotional" and was confined to the canal rest house. It was further mentioned that, as Rohtak and its neighbouring districts burnt, the officer "had already left Rohtak for Delhi in an army helicopter".

The report on the situation in Rohtak was submitted by Principal Secretary A.K. Singh and Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu to the Prakash Singh Committee. (Prakash Singh, considered a highly cerebral officer, is a former head of the paramilitary Border Security Force.)

Another report, submitted by Inspector General of Police (IGP) K.K. Rao, who was specially posted to the riot-hit Jhajjar district, stated: "The role of administration, especially DC Anita Yadav, IAS, was not cooperative. She did not appoint the magistrate timely with the police force. She never picked her phone despite giving her several missed calls."

"The situation deteriorated so much that the agitators were threatening to target the judicial complex and Judicial Magistrates. As a precaution, we had to fit LMGs overnight on their houses' rooftops. Even after this, the DC did not get out of her house to analyse the situation," Rao's report said.

"She has played a very adverse role in the whole agitation. She neither acted like a leader in the situation nor provided good support to the police or the army. She remained confined to her camp office or office during the whole agitation........ Her control was also very poor over her subordinates and many times they added confusion to the situation," the report said.

In the case of Jhajjar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Pankaj Setia, the report said: "He refused to sign the orders for army to take action against the agitators despite the fact that by that time several government property was put on fire by the rioters."

Rao said that there was "no coordination (among civil and police officers) because of the high-headedness of DC Anita Yadav".

On her part, Anita Yadav, who was termed by the Prakash Singh Committee as the "most non-performing officer", dismissed the comments on her action.

"This is a 100 percent wrong report. This is a baseless report and is devoid of facts. Who is Prakash Singh to comment on me? I was selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission and later by the Union Public Service Commission. This report is to save police officials. We were not heard," Anita Yadav, who appeared before the committee, told the media later.

Even Rao pointed to the unwarranted action of Rohtak range IGP Shrikant Jadhav.

"The situation in Jhajjar was very tense. S.P. Jhajjar was forcefully called to Rohtak by IGP/Rohtak on 19.02.16 with 500 policemen. He returned to Jhajjar with just 60 police personnel at 2.30 am on 20.02.16 as IGP/Rohtak had kept the other 460 police personnel with him.

"The number of agitators was very high - around 3,000-4,000 - and in comparison, the police force was less. But even in that scenario, I felt Jhajjar police performed exceptionally well. SP Jhajjar was very courageous and a brave leader," Rao said in his report.

That the Haryana government, right from the chief minister's office down to the local administration, had failed to respond to the near-anarchy engulfing the affected districts was exposed in reports submitted to the committee by other senior officers.

DGP K.K. Sindhu pointed to "lack of inputs from higher levels", adding: "In fact, during these days no inputs were received regarding unfolding situation in the state. There should be clear cut policy to deal with such situations at the highest political and administration levels."

"There was great hesitation in using force at the district level. There was a general impression that if they used force, their action may not be defended by the state government," the probe committee pointed out, highlighting instances where a murder case was registered against IPS officer Subhash Yadav in an earlier incident following pressure from one community.

That the Manohar Lal Khattar government had not applied its mind thoroughly while rushing in senior officers to control the situation could be seen from the report of additional DGP PK Aggarwal, who found himself in unfamiliar territory, leave alone initiating action.

"The undersigned (Aggarwal) has never been posted at Bhiwani in his entire career. Lack of adequate knowledge of the geography, demography & other vital aspects was a constraining factor," Aggarwal said in his report.

An ADGP, B.K. Sinha, referring to lack of directions from the top, said: "The constabulary was completely unknown and unaware of what will be their response to the agitators. This dilemma led to the ineffective and insufficient use of force on the ground and finally encouraged the agitators to create such large-scale arson at various places."

The committee said that several Haryana officers had told it "that the oral instructions from Chandigarh were to avoid the use of force".

The lack of coordination between various agencies became evident in the manner in which the army was requisitioned but its units could not immediately reach trouble-spots due to roadblocks put up by the Jat agitators.

Informal interactions of the Prakash Singh Committee with Brig. Vipul Singhal and Brig. Arun Yadav of the army's Western Command revealed that the army received directions to move its columns to Rohtak by road from Delhi but they "encountered insurmountable road blocks at Bahadurgarh on their way and could not proceed any further". The army personnel were then airlifted in helicopters from Hindon air base to Rohtak.

"For three days and three nights, the army conducted flag marches non-stop without sleeping at all," the army officers pointed out to the committee.

The committee also criticised the caste and community-based recruitment of constabulary in Haryana over the years, leading to the police force being divided.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in <mailto:jaideep.s@ians.in>)

--IANS

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The busting of another huge organ racket involving two employees of the city's Apollo hospital has again brought to light the massive scarcity of organs required for transplant, which experts say can be overcome only by legalising living organ donation in exchange for money, or "commercial donors".

Medical experts say the government was "not willing to even discuss the subject" of organ donation in exchange for money because it was apprehensive that poor people could take advantage of it lured by the monetary factor.

"Solution to such illegal organ racket is that the process should be legalised, but at the same time the government needs to ensure that the money to be received by the donor is directly transferred into his or her account, without any broker or middle man coming in between," M.C. Misra, Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told IANS.

Misra felt it was difficult to prevent illegal organ rackets as usually the top authorities of hospitals are involved. He said legalizing the process was the only solution or more such rackets could mushroom in the future.

"Legalising will at least prevent innocent poor people from getting exploited by the middlemen who do not pay them the promised money after they donate their kidneys or any other organ. A legal backing will help in doing away with the middleman factor," said Mishra, who is also chairman of the Renal Transplant Authorization Committee of AIIMS.

Police busted a major organ transplant racket on Thursday with the arrest of five people, including two employees of Apollo hospital. Police said the gang was involved in at least eight to 10 kidney transplants in the capital since January 2016, with each recipient paying Rs 25-30 lakh. However the poor donor received only 1-2 lakh.

In India, in every 15 minutes, a person is added to the long wait list for organ transplant. Every 10 minutes, a person dies waiting for an organ. Delhi, with a population of 9.8 million, saw only 14 organ donors in 2015, which is probably why families are increasingly turning to purchasing organs from "commercial donors".

Former Director of NOTTO (National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation) Saudan Singh, told IANS: "Yes, legalising organ donation in exchange for money is required, but the issue needs to be discussed by Parliament first. Currently doctors can't really do much about it. Today the situation is such that 90 per cent of the organ donation is happening by living donors, even if illegally, while cadaver donation which is legal happens only in around 5-10 per cent cases."

The 1994 Transplantation of Human Organ Act makes cadaver organ donation legal, but in the case of living organ donation it says that only the immediate family members of the recipient -- mother, father, brothers, sisters, son, daughter, and spouse -- can donate their organs.

As per the rules, the immediate relative is required to provide proof of relation by genetic testing or by legal documents. In case there is no first relative, the recipient and donor are required to seek special permission from the government appointed authorization committee and appear for an interview before the panel to prove that the motive of donation is purely out of altruism or affection for the recipient.

While in Western countries around 70-80 per cent of people pledge their organs, in India only about 0.01 percent do so.

According to Voluntary Health Association of India, about 2,000 Indians sell a kidney every year.

D.S. Rana, Chairman Board of Management at Gangaram Hospital, told IANS that he was not in favour of legalising commercial organ donation. He felt that it would increase the exploitation of the poor.

Rana, who is past president of the Indian society of Nephrology, said: "Only the poor will be affected. Instead the government should try to make the norms for transplantation more stringent."

(Rupesh Dutta can be contacted at Rupesh.d@ians.in <mailto:Rupesh.d@ians.in>)

--IANS

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In the early years of independent India, when the newly-freed nation was desperate to make its mark in the world, a 4 feet 11 inch bodybuilder -- Manohar Aich -- propelled the country into limelight, winning the Mr Universe title in 1952.

He was only the second Indian, after Monotosh Roy in 1951, to win the prestigious title in any category.

Aich passed away on Sunday, aged 104, having lived a life worth living -- replete with adventure, colourful experiences and dalliances with varied professions. A widower, Aich is survived by his two sons and two daughters.

The man, lovingly called "Pocket Hercules" for his short but muscular frame, will be remembered by posterity not only for his lifelong dedication to body building, but also for never flinching when ranged against heavy odds.

If he took up the job of bus conductor in London, he also churned out power-packed circus shows for years to make both ends meet.

Born in Comilla District, now a part of Bangladesh, to Mahesh Chandra Aich (Father) and Chapala Sundari (Mother), Aich joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 -- when India was still a British colony -- and took up body building, encouraged by a British officer, Reub Martin.

For Aich, the passion for exercise was a childhood habit that he picked up after watching palanquin bearers of Comilla take part in wrestling bouts and stick fights every morning to keep themselves supremely fit for their arduous job.

"This inspired him. From the age of five or six, he loved exercising, specially push-ups," said daughter Bani Banerjee.

Like most youths in colonial India, Aich was fired by patriotic zeal. The young man was thrown into jail in the mid-1940s for slapping a British officer in a police station -- and that is where he started practising body building more seriously.

Three years after India gained Independence, Aich won the Mr Hercules crown, which egged him to try for the Mr Universe title.

He travelled to London and in 1951 finished second in the contest. Not one to give up so easily, he stayed back in London to have another go in the Pro-Short division of the Mr Universe title.

But putting up in an unknown foreign had its problems. Aich had to work as a bus conductor to sustain himself.

"He once told me, 'I had to work as a bus conductor in London to live there and train', and he was so determined he won it next year," said former Bengal champion body-builder Ashim Mallik, who had seen Aich from close quarters.

Once Aich came back, he was warmly feted, becoming a virtual traffic stopper. He started his own gymnasium, and also dabbled in circus.

"There he used to showcase his strength. Aich used to pull chains, tear thick books. It was all about power for him," said Mallick.

He spent some time with the International Circus and later started his own circus company but ended up bankrupt. Then he spent about three years in Oriental Circus.

From the 1960s onwards, Aich was much in demand across the country and abroad for his body building shows. The chiselled frame, and the rippling biceps and triceps were a big draw among the crowd.

Even at the age of 85-90, the showman was a regular feature at body building competitions where he was bought in as the judge. But such was his fame, that everywhere he had to display his muscles on public demand.

In his traditional "akhara" called the "Manohar Byam Mandir", Aich used to train budding talent. For him exercise was the only way to stay fit.

"If you exercise daily you won't fall ill. When you are young, you train to build your body, when you are old, you train to maintain it," he said in an interview to a fitness portal a few years back.

A minor stroke in 2011 robbed him of his ability to lift heavy weights. But he was keen on watching the progress of his students, sitting on a chair of his akhara with a toothless, childlike grin.

Wily politicians also tried to exploit Aich's public appeal. He contested from Dum Dum constituency as a BJP candidate in the 1991 Lok Sabha election, and finished third, getting 1.63 lakh votes.

"Live life simply, tension-free, be disciplined. Eat to live, and don't live to eat. Be honest and truthful," thus was Aich's motto of life.

"And he stuck to this path till the end," said Bani Banerjee.

(Debdoot Das can be contacted at debdoot.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday left Qatar for Switzerland on the third leg of his five-nation tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.

"Ma'a Salama Qatar! After a productive visit, PM Narendra Modi departs for Geneva, the third leg of his journey," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Switzerland is India's fifth largest trade partner and 11th largest investor.

Modi will hold talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Amman on Monday during which the issues of black money and India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) are likely to figure.

In a pre-departure media briefing in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said Switzerland was an important member of the NSG and he definitely expected the issue of India's membership to come up during the discussions.

India has already formally applied for membership of the group.

On the black money issue, Jaishankar said India has already been in touch with the Swiss government under the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) mandate and added that India hoped "to engage as early as possible in the automatic exchange of information with Switzerland".

Monday's discussions may also veer around renewable energy and vocational education, sectors Switzerland is strong in.

Earlier on Sunday, India and Qatar signed seven agreements following delegation level talks headed by Prime Minister Modi and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Modi also met a group of Qatari business leaders and invited them to invest in India.

Prior to his departure, he addressed a reception of the Indian community here.

Modi had arrived in Qatar on Saturday from Afghanistan.

--IANS

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Nepal's ruling CPN-UML denied on Sunday that Prime Minister K.P. Oli had accused India of trying to topple his government.

In a statement, party Secretary Pradip Gyawali rejected media reports to this effect and said Oli had not made any such statement at any meeting.

Media reports here cited Oli, who is also the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman, as saying at the ongoing party Standing Committee meeting, that the US was also on the same page with India and both countries were hatching a conspiracy against his government and party.

Oli reportedly told party leaders that this had transpired as they had "started taking our decisions on our own", and the present conflict in Nepal was over who will take decisions, and will "they be made by us or somewhere else outside the country".

He said India was not cooperating with his government and seeking an alternative, according to the reports.

However, Gyawali stressed in the statement that the Oli government had received "well hearted support" from neighbouring countries and misunderstandings with India had been cleared.

"Our neighbours have exhibited generous support in the peace process, constitution drafting process and during search and rescue during last year's earthquake... the generosity shown by the neighbours to carry out the reconstruction work is commendable," he said, adding that the government expected better cooperation from neighbouring counties in the days to come.

Nepal-India ties saw a rough patch since Nepal promulgated its new constitution last September with India continuously urging its leaderships to resolve the political standoff in the Madhes area of the Terai region.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)

--IANS

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At least 18 Indian fishermen were freed on Sunday by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture, an official source here said.

The fishermen would arrive in Lahore on Monday from Landhi jail in the port city of Karachi, the source said.

"The fishermen will be taken to Wagah border by a special bus from Lahore railway station," it said.

Another official said India must reciprocate the gesture and release the Pakistani fishermen lodged in Indian jails.

Fishermen are frequently arrested by both India and Pakistan's maritime security for entering each other's territorial waters.

Pakistan has so far released 199 Indian fishermen this year.

--IANS

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A Russian developer here has created an open source computer vision platform, in collaboration with Facebook and Google, that acts as a teaching machine and enables them "see".

VisionLabs, a solutions developer in the field of computer vision, data analysis and robotics, and a Skolkovo IT Cluster resident have developed this as a global open-source computer vision project with the support of Facebook and Google, an official said.

VisionLabs integrated two popular libraries for developers - OpenCV and Torch. The joint project with Facebook and Google was launched last year. "The two IT giants became interested in the in-depth study of neural networks and artificial intelligence and hence extended their support," the official told IANS.

The most popular tools for developers in this field are the OpenCV Open Source Computer Vision Library and the Torch Open Source Scientific Computing Framework with wide support for Machine Learning Algorithms. Each of them has thousands of users. VisionLabs initiated integrating the two libraries. Google and Facebook funded the work and tested the results.

Balmanohar Paluri, Research Lead, Facebook AI Research, said: "The project opens up the field of computer vision to a greater audience of developers. Our focus is making machines see. To do that, knowledge needs to be open."

As a result of the work undertaken, a number of technological barriers the developers had faced within the fields of computer vision and neural networks were lifted. From now on, any start-up in this field can launch a project in a matter of days where it could literally take years previously.

Google, Facebook and VisionLabs do not consider this a commercial project - its purpose is developing the community and its aim is long-term prospects.

The idea of integrating the two popular developer "worlds" had been on the cards for some time. The creators of Torch and OpenCV had been discussing it. But, as is often the case, nobody actually set about making the integration happen, the official elaborated.

In the end, it was VisionLabs, one of the top three world leaders in terms of image recognition, that was willing to realise the project and use its own know-how to do so that had previously only been applied inside the team.

Alexander Khanin, General Director, VisionLabs said they "regularly communicate with the world scientific community and attend all the important international conferences."

"We are already well-known and we are familiar with the research units of Google, Facebook, Twitter and other large-scale IT-companies. When the closed competition to become the project leader was launched, we put ourselves forward and, in the end, we were chosen. Google and Facebook financed our work, but I would like to reiterate that this is absolutely not a commercial project for us - all funds, that were in fact rather modest, were put to use," he added.

Albert Efimov, Head of the Skolkovo Robotics Centre, said: "Integration of machine learning and computer vision in a unified development kit is an important step towards stimulating the creation of the new technologies and products in such strategic industries as robotics and artificial intelligence."

A report on the integration of Torch and OpenCV with examples of the developed recognition software and fragments of source code was published recently in the torch.ch <http://torch.ch> community that reaches 10,000-15,000 people a day.

(Mohit Dubey was in Russia at the invitation of the 'Start-Up Village 2016' initiative. He can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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At least seven students were killed and many others sustained injuries in a bus accident in Turkish province of Osmaniye, the media reported.

The bus, carrying students returning from a trip on Sunday, overturned after the driver lost control of the vehicle, Xinhua news agency reported.

Seven students died on the spot, and some of the injured were in critical condition.

Fire trucks and ambulances were sent to the site of the accident immediately.

--IANS

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The government's decision to impose Krishi Kalyan cess on services in order to help agriculture and farmers is welcome, although it has been met with ambivalence across the country.
First she described Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah's recent visit to a Dalit home in Varanasi for lunch as plain nautanki (drama). Now Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati (pictured) has alleged that the cook, who prepared the food eaten by the BJP president and other party functionaries at Jogiyapur village, was not a Dalit but someone from an upper caste. What's next? "Expose" Shah. Mayawati has asked some of her party members to identify the cook who prepared the food that day and prove that the entire episode was staged.
To say there is confusion over net neutrality in the country would be an understatement. In February this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, banned discriminatory pricing of data by telecom networks; in other words, no website or app could get preferential treatment on a network. It was no longer possible for a content provider to subsidise the subscriber's cost of surfing. But then, the regulator decided to allow differential tariffs so long as the service was offered in a "closed electronics communications network", or CECN. This, it is understood, is a "walled garden", a service exclusively for the subscribers of a network. It is not the internet, it was claimed, but an intranet, and thus did not violate the principles of net neutrality. But this really provides a loophole that opens the sluice gates for discriminatory tariffs. The telecom networks are now free to zero rate some content, or subsidise the cost of surfing them. This runs contrary to TRAI's original decision on net neutrality.
If you trawl the internet, you will come across several news items of Indian billionaires purchasing prime properties in central London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York. Indians are the biggest non-Arab investors in Dubai's market. Incidentally, Indians own the largest number of apartments in the iconic Burj Khalifa. With India's domestic market slowing down in the past couple of years, and the luxury segment in particular taking a hard knock, the well-heeled Indian is taking his love of abroad and buying properties in some of the toniest localities all over the globe.
In what could be one of the most important Delhi visits of the year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is scheduled to visit Delhi the coming weekend, possibly June 12. This will be her first visit to the national capital after assuming the office of Chief Minister for the sixth time. She will be coming to Delhi after two years.
In 2011, V Narayanasamy became one of the most powerful men in India - if power were to be measured as proximity to leadership. He was appointed minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, replacing Prithviraj Chavan, sent to Maharashtra as chief minister. This was in addition to his charge as minister for parliamentary affairs and MoS, department of personnel and training.
India's youngest state of Telangana was in the news last month when Tim Cook, global chief executive of Apple, the iconic information technology (IT) company, came here to launch the company's first development centre outside America.
As many as 14 BJP corporators from Jalgaon City Municipal Corporation (JCMC) today resigned in support of senior party leader and former Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse.

Khadse hails from Jalgaon district and had won from the Muktainagar constituency in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The resignations were submitted to Jalgaon city unit president and local BJP MLA Suresh Bhole.

Confirming the move, Bhole said all the BJP corporators submitted their resignations to him expressing their displeasure at the party asking Khadse to tender his resignation from the Maharashtra Cabinet.

"Party corporators expressed their support to Khadse. Since today is a Sunday and all party offices are closed, I will fax them (the resignations) to the state (Maharashtra) BJP leadership tomorrow," Bhole said.

Barring Bhole, no other supporter of Khadse from Jalgaon was willing to speak to the media.

Sources said that a section of the local BJP leadership and the 14 corporators loyal to Khadse felt that "the party had done injustice on Khadse" and that "the party did not support him".

Moreover, the local BJP supporters of Khadse blamed the media for forcing their leader to resign from the state Cabinet.

Sources said that strict instructions have been issued to local leaders not to speak to the media out of turn and hence no one is willing to talk on the issue.

Khadse or his closest ally BJP MLC Gurmukh Jagwani and others were not available for comment.

Yesterday, facing a string of allegations including irregularities in a land deal, Khadse had resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced an inquiry by a retired high court judge into the allegations against Khadse, as sought by the senior leader himself.
Two persons were killed and as many others injured after a police vehicle turned turtle and fell on two separate motorbikes in the district, police said today.

The mishap occurred yesterday at Rasegaon on the Nashik-Dindori road, an official attached to the Dindori police station said.

The police van, which was coming to Nashik, fell on the motorcycles, which were moving in an opposite direction, he said.

The deceased have been identified as Ganesh Pagare (42) and Kashinath Jai (40). The injured are being treated government hospital here, police said, adding investigations are underway.
Three persons, including a senior power utility official, were killed when a car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary truck on Patna-Bakhtiyarpur four lane near Ramnagar Musahari village under Salimpur police station of Patna district.

Salimpur police SHO Ajay Kumar said that the incident occurred when the car had partly collided with another vehicle and lost control before ramming into the stationary truck on fourlane.

They were going to Biharsharif from Patna.

The deceased, who died on the spot, have been identified as Ashesh Kumar Singh, Ajit Kumar Singh and Satyadeo Jha.

Ashesh Kumar Singh was the Chief Manager, (Planning, Environment and Social Management (PESM), Power Grid, Patna, he said.

While both Ashesh Kumar Singh and Ajit Kumar Singh were the residents of Patna Satyadeo Jha, who was driving the car, belonged to Darbhanga district, SHO said.

The bodies have been sent to Sub-divisional hospital, Barh for post mortem.
A 36-year-old man has been arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police for allegedly cheating a senior citizen of Rs 12 lakh.

Munna Singh was apprehended recently by a team of Crime Branch, from the office of weekly newspaper in Jahangir Puri here, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner (Crime) of Police.

"The accused came in contact with the complainant Gangaram Aggarwal at a library here and came to know about his interest in poetry writing and won his confidence over several meetings.

"He told the complainant that he would get published his poetry by a publisher in South Africa for which he would get huge amount in return in the form of royalty. For getting the poems published, accused cheated the complainant to the tune of rupees 10-12 lacs," a police release said.

According to the police, when the complainant pressurized him for publication of his poetry or return of the money that he had paid, the accused told him that his parcel of poetry books and the money from royalty is stuck in the ministry.

The accused told the complainant that he was trying to get his parcel cleared and to make the complainant believe that he was making genuine efforts, he fabricated the letter of PMO, the police said.

The computer which was used for preparation of fake letter of Prime Minister's Office has been seized from the office of the newspaper, it added.
At least four persons have been killed and 14 others injured when a passenger bus collided with a truck in China's central Henan province.

The 19-seater bus, carrying 16 people, rammed into the freight truck on a section of a highway in Baofeng county yesterday.

Fifteen of the bus' passengers and two from the truck were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital. One person died on the spot, according to the county public security bureau.

Three injured succumbed to their injuries and the condition of as many is said to be critical.
A high-level delegation, led by UK's National Health Service (NHS) chairman Sir Malcolm Grant, will be visiting the country as part an agreement between both the nations to increase investment and co-operation in health and related sectors.

This delegation is a part of the agreement between UK and India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK where the two Prime Ministers emphasised the potential to increase investment and co-operation in health and related sectors, British High Commission sources said.

The visit is also is part of the agreement between India and UK to develop 11 joint health institutes.

Facilitated by UK Trade Investments in India, the delegation, which consists of 23 UK companies working on modern healthcare, will be in the national capital on June 6 and visit Mumbai on June 8 to support India's smart healthcare initiatives.

In November last year, both India and UK had signed a joint statement to support the development of 11 Indo-UK institutes of health across 11 states in India.

In Delhi, Sir Malcolm will be inaugurating an exhibition, meet senior health ministry officials and hold a round-table with leading hospitals in north India, they said.

He is also meet innovative health companies and investors.

In Mumbai, he will jointly inaugurate the exhibition with Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant and Pratap Reddy from Apollo Hospitals.

He will discuss strengthening ties between the UK and Maharashtra in the healthcare sector and also meet private hospitals, innovative companies and hold an interactive session with medical students in Mumbai's King Edward Memorial College, they added.

The healthcare mission represents the UK healthcare sector's researchers, scientists, engineers, designers, National Health Service clinicians and an unrivalled database and network of healthcare professionals.
Bogged by delays for six years, may pull out from the proposed 21.5 billion dollar rail and mine project in Australia amid a series of legal challenges from environmental groups against the Indian energy giant's plans to build one of the world's largest coal mines.

Stating that he was "disappointed", the company's founder and chairman Gautam told 'The Australian' newspaper that the "pit to plug" project was yet toreceive the green light after six years of environmental assessments and court battles.

"You can't continue just holding. I have been really disappointed that things have got too delayed," said.

Adani said he hoped the court challenges to Australia's largest proposed coalmine would be finalised early next year.

However, with one court case yet to be heard in the Federal Court, and at least two groups threatening High Court action, Adani warned he could not wait indefinitely.

Adani said that he was already scouting alternatives to feed his power stations in India.

Confirming he had met Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull last December to seek to deliver greater certainty on such projects, Adani said, "We were suggesting how to bring in the certainty of the timing."



"We were asking how we get certainty of the time schedules...That is the most important for us in committing all of our resources."



"It's just covering up the real fact that what is damaging the reef is an increase in the temperature of the seas through climate change," he said.

Another new Federal Court challenge tothe mining lease for Carmichael, issued by the Palaszczuk Labor government, will be heard this year.

Adani said he originally believed the approvals process would take two to three years and that he has already spent 3 billion dollars buying the tenements and the Abbot Point port lease.

The company is still exploring the financing issue of the project.

Adani said if there were no more unexpected delays, he had confidence that the project would get financing and "still be competitive" against other alternative sources of coal in India and Indonesia.

Adani Australia chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj said the co-ordinated campaign by anti-coal activists to block the mine had damaged Australia's reputation.

He said the business community in Indiahad expressed concern about future investment in Australia.

"I think it has already turned off a lot of switches. I am not saying it is going to be permanent, but there has been damage."



Turnbull's office did not comment yesterday about Adani's call for greater certainty to the approvals process. But the government has argued that all commonwealth approvals are in place and there are no remaining federal obstacles to the project proceeding.

Adani's plan to coal mines in Australia has been hampered time and again. A federal court in August last year had revoked the original approval due toenvironmental concerns.

In October last year, the project got a new lease of life after the Australian government gave its re-approval.

Australia's Queensland state government in April gave Adani permission to mine coal reserves estimated at 11 billion tonnes and to build roads, workshops, power lines and pipelines associated with the mine.

Environmentalists are fighting the approvals, saying the project will jeopardise the state's future and destroy national treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.
'Britain's loneliest dog', who has been living in an animal shelter for six years and has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, has landed a role in the the new Transformers movie.

Freya the Staffordshire bull terrier was dubbed 'Britain's loneliest dog' after spending almost her entire life living in animal shelters, watching more than 50 of her kennel mates be re-homed during her time at the centre.

Freya was spotted on Facebook by animal loving Hollywood movie director Michael Bay, who decided to cast her in the fifth instalment of the blockbuster Transformers series.

Bay, 51, said that if the role did not find the dog a home, he would keep her, 'The Mirror' reported.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity of a movie deal for Freya and at such interest and support from a major film director who is also a dedicated animal advocate," a spokesperson for Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, where Freya is currently lodged, said.

Till now, Freya has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, but staff at Freshfields hope that she will now find a loving home.

"Freya is a beautiful dog with a beautiful personality, and that will shine through to the right person," said Debbie Hughes, fundraiser at the shelter.
Six Czech tourists were injured when their bus was hit by gunfire while travelling through southeastern France, a prosecutor said today.

The bus was carrying 75 Czech tourists from Spain to the Czech Republic when the incident described as an "isolated act" occurred on a highway on Saturday night.

"An initial shot smashed the front windscreen and a second exploded the rear window of the vehicle a few seconds later," said prosecutor Valence Alex Perrin.

Six passengers were hurt by broken glass, including a woman whose eye was seriously damaged, and a child.

Perrin said initial investigations had revealed the shooter used a hunting rifle. One of the bullets was found inside the bus.

"We don't have any reason to believe this bus was targeted instead of any other," said Perrin.

All the passengers who were not hospitalised have returned to their home country.
On the occasion of World Environment Day today, over 1,000 residents of Hasdeo-Arand region, a rich coal reserve area, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to restrict coal mining inthe eco-sensitive forests.

The residents of around 35-40 villages of the region held a conference at Madanpur village in Korba district and deliberated on the subject 'Challenges and Role of GramSabhas in Self-Governance and Environment Conservation'.

In the letter, they drew the PM's attention to the consequences of coal mining in their area.

"Last month, Prime Minister in his 'Mann Ki Baat' had mentioned his concern for environmental conservation and protection offorests," Convener, Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA), Alok Shukla told PTI.

"In this context, tribal and forest dwelling villagers of the bio-diversity rich Hasdeo Arand wrote aletter to the PM reminding him that many of the government's policiesand decisions were against the protection and conservation of the ecologically fragile dense forest regions, and sought his interventionin remedying such policies," he added.

The gathering, jointly organised by CBA and 'Hasdeo-Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti', discussed various issues and strategies forconservation of environment and reviewed many of the government'spolicies and decisions in this regard, Shukla said.

The villagers made reference to an earlier letter to the PM submitted by a delegation of villagers in New Delhi in January last year, whichcontained the resolution passed by 18 gram sabhas of Hasdeo-Arand region to restrict coal miningand protect the forests, he said.

"Despite the resolution passed by gram sabhas, the government went ahead and allotted 5 coal blocks ofthe region - Gidmudi, Paturia, Parsa, Parsa East and Kete Basan," he said.

The villagers alleged that the implementation of the



Forest Rights Act has been poor in the region and that its provisions have been regularlyviolated.

Shukla claimed that the Forest department has been cutting forests on a large scale,seemingly to illegally clear way for mining companies.

The villagers appealed to PM to stop theprocess of dilution of the environment and tribal-friendly policies like Go/No-Go area.

Moreover, they requested thePM to ensure proper implementation of Forest Rights Act and Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) (PESA)provisions in Hasdeo-Arand, he added.

Hasdeo-Arandcoalfield, spread over an area of 1,878 sq kms over Korba, Surguja and Surajpur districts in north Chhattisgarh, is located around 300 kms away from the state capital.

1,502 sq km of the total areahasforest cover rich in biodiversity.

The coalfield, having total estimated reserves of 5.1709 billion tonnes, was declared as "no-go" zone for coal mining by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2010.

This area is under threat due to the presence of a large number ofcoal blocks being identified for auction/allotmentwhich will have disastrous environmental and social consequences, Shukla claimed.
A Christian businessman was today hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church in Bangladesh, hours after the wife of a top anti- terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists.

Sunil Gomes, 65, was found dead inside his grocery shop at around midday today in northwestern Notore district, police superintendent Shyamal Mukherjee told PTI over phone.

The assailants fled the scene immediately after hacking to death Gomes inside his shop at the commercial hub near a church at Banpara village at the outskirts of the district town, he said.

"We are yet to know the details of the incident but our policemen are gathering information about the murder," Mukherjee said.

The motive behind Gomes' murder was now known immediately, police said.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the wife of a top Bangladeshi police officer who carried out several raids against militants was stabbed and shot dead by three bike- borne assailants in front of her minor son in the port city of Chittagong.

Mahmuda Aktar, 33, was targeted by the gunmen at around 6:45 AM (local time) while she was on her way to drop her six- year-old first-grader son to a nearby bus stop for school in Chittagong, about 275 kilometres from here.

Police suspect religious extremists were behind her murder, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.

She was the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, now posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka.

Babul has led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated several terror-related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the Detective Branch in Chittagong.

Babul, who was promoted in April, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and arrest of its military wing chief Mohamed Javed in October last year.

"Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed was quoted by bdnews24 as saying.

Quoting witnesses, Chittagong metro police's Deputy



Commissioner Paritosh Ghose said that three bike-borne attackers ambushed Mahmuda in front of her minor son. The boy said the attackers first took him away and then one of them stabbed his mother with a knife before shooting her.

Police said that Mahmuda was shot in the head.

"We found three live ammunition and a used casing on the spot. The bullet hit her on the left side of the head," said Police Bureau of Investigation's Additional Superintendent Bashir Ahmed. She is survived by a four-year-old daughter.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent weeks especially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.

Two days later, Bangladesh's first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

On April 30, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants in his shop in central Bangladesh.

The ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.
Hillary Clinton will have enough delegates by Tuesday when a multi-state primary vote is to take place to make her the first woman presidential nominee of a major party in the US, her close aide said today.

"We think we're going to come out of Tuesday night with the delegates we need for her to be the first woman nominee on a major party ticket in the United States. So, we're looking forward to that," John Podesta, chairman of the Hillary Clinton Campaign, told Fox .

Presidential primaries are scheduled to be held in six states, including the delegate-rich state of California (475) on Tuesday.

The other states where primaries will be held are -- Montana (21), New Jersey (126), North Dakota (18), New Mexico (34) and South Dakota (20).

Clinton currently is 60 delegates short of the magical figure of 2,382 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic party's nomination.

The 68-year-old former secretary of state is receiving a tough fight from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has 1,547 delegates against Clinton's 2,323, as per the latest count of RealClearPolitics.Com.

"What we're saying is that she will have the delegates to be the nominee. We're going to do everything we can to reach out to appeal to his supporters, to appeal to his (Sanders) campaign and to him directly. We want to bring this party together because the country faces a major threat in Donald Trump. We hope that he will join us," Podesta said.

He exuded confidence that Clinton would be way ahead of Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, during the general elections.

"He (Trump) has consolidated the Republicans. That's led to something of a tightening of a pulse. But this has really just begun. That's why Hillary Clinton on Thursday of this week went to San Diego and really laid out a strong case about why he's unfit, why he does not meet the commander-in-chief test," he said.

"And what did she use to prove that point? Really his own words, the things he said in this campaign from being in favour of expanding and proliferating weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons to pulling out of NATO to offending our allies and supporting dictators around the world," Podesta said.

He argued that over the long term people are going to come to see Trump as not having the temperament to serve as president and commander-in-chief.

"The card we're going to play against Trump is that he has always been for himself. He's a self-aggrandizer at the expense of literally thousands of people," the top Clinton aide said.
In a step forward, Cyprus has said it is very close to revising the bilateral tax treaty with India as the island nation has accepted in principle proposals made by the Indian side on taxing capital gains.

Cyprus, a source of significant foreign fund flows into the country, said rising importance of India, both as the largest emerging economy and a major security player in the new geopolitical chess game, necessitated a serious re-appraisal and upgrading of the bilateral relationship.

As part of larger efforts to curb illicit fund flows, Indian government has been working on revising tax treaties with various countries, including Cyprus and Singapore. Last month, India announced revising taxation agreement with Mauritius  a major source of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)  that would allow levy of capital gains tax on investments coming from that nation.

Cyprus and India are very close to concluding a revised Double Taxation Agreement. The Cyprus authorities have expressed their readiness to the Indian authorities to finalise the revised agreement. After final and formal approval by both sides, the new agreement will be ready for finalisation, signing and entry into force, a Cyprus government official told PTI.

Responding to a query on whether both sides have been able to resolve pending issues related to taxation, the official said, the Cyprus authorities have accepted the main proposals submitted by the Indian side, as an indication of good faith.

The few pending issues, including on source-based taxation of capital gains from alienation of shares, have been accepted by both sides, in principle. Therefore, they are expected to be formally agreed upon soon, the Cyprus foreign ministry official said in e-mailed responses.

Expressing hope on finalising amendments to the tax treaty with India in the next few months, the official also said bilateral ties have been on a new and ambitious trajectory since the new government came to power at the Centre in May 2014.

Last month, a senior Indian government official said India hopes to revise tax treaty with Cyprus in line with Mauritius by the year-end.

From April 2000 till March 2016, India received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth Rs 42,680.76 crore from Cyprus, as per latest data available with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

According to the Cyprus official, the island nation has sent to the Indian authorities their acceptance regarding Article 13.

Under the double taxation convention between the two countries, Article 13 pertains to technical fee -- payments made to any person who is not an employee of the entity making the payments.

"Conclusion and finalisation of those amendments should be achieved in the next few months, at the latest, with a view to signing the revised double taxation agreement," the official noted.

The official noted that new partnerships in economic sectors, energy and renewables, agriculture as well as defence cooperation, "including maritime security, intelligence exchange and counter-terrorism, are in the order - all of which have significant economic benefits, over and above the political and security advantages for each side".

In this regard, the Joint Economic Committee would be meeting on June 8 in order to elevate the relationship to a modern economic plateau, actively pursuing partnerships and promoting mutually beneficial investments, the official added.

India and Cyprus have long standing ties dating back to the 1950s.

Noting that India has been a reliable and consistent partner of Cyprus, the official said co-operation on issues of common interest is ongoing in the context of international organisations, notably at the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

"Third, in bilateral relations, there is much at stake through the conclusion of a number of important bilateral agreements (Air Services, Merchant Shipping, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Social Security, Transfer of Prisoners, Cooperation in Legal Matters), not least because of the significant economic benefits for both sides," the official said.
A 25-year-old Dailt was today shot at and injured for fetching water from a government tubewell outside a village here, triggering clashes between two groups.

The incident occurred in Amva village in Chauri area when Pankaj Dhaikar wanted to take water from a government tubewell and Kailash Pathak prevented him, leading to a clash, Chauri police station SHO Vinod Yadav said.

While people from both sides gathered and indulged in brick batting and clashed with sticks, Pathak shot at Dhaikar and fled from the spot, he said.

Dhaikar sustained bullet injuries and was rushed to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable, police said.

An FIR has been lodged in this regard and a manhunt has been launched to apprehend the accused.
The Trade and Taxes department of Delhi Government has launched crackdown against unregistered dealers in the national capital.

In its recent survey, the department found that many such dealers are making sale through e-commerce websites in the national capital which is illegal.

VAT Commissioner S S Yadav said the department has issued an advisory to thousands of these dealers to get registered immediately whose annual turnover is more than Rs 20 lakh and involved in inter-state sale or purchase.

According to Trade and Taxes department, there are about 3.3 lakh dealers registered with it. However, it is estimated that there are at least 2 lakh more dealers who qualify for registration but have not registered themselves so far.

"In last one week, the department has sent enforcement teams to the premises of 10 unregistered dealers for search and survey operations and has unearthed tax evasion of crores of rupees by these dealers," Yadav said, adding that more such dealers will be surveyed by the trade and taxes department in the coming days.

He also said department will continue strict action against unregistered dealers and will not spare any tax evaders.

"Government has also launched awareness drive to educate people about legal provisions regarding registration under the Delhi Value Added Tax Act 2004 and the Central Sales Tax Act through print, electronic media and hoardings," Yadav further said.
Newly appointed Kerala Police chief Loknath Behera today visited the house of the 30-year-old Dalit woman, who was raped and murdered near Perumabavoor in Ernakulam district more than a month ago.

Behera, who visited the house of the law student, said a scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits involved in the crime.

"We are doing the investigation. Investigation is not like magic. A scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits," he told reporters in Perumbavoor.

Noting that the probe into the sensational case was progressing well, he said it might take some time to nab the criminals.

Facing flak over the delay in arresting the people involved in the crime, Behera said in some cases arrests can be made in 24 hours but in some cases it may take at least a year to arrest the culprits.

The DGP also met the victim's mother who is admitted in a Government Taluk Hospital in Perumbavoor.

He also held a meeting with the recently constituted investigation team headed by ADGP B Sandhya and other officers at the Aluva Police club.

The LDF government in one of its first decisions appointed senior woman IPS officer Sandhya as the head of a new team to probe the case.

The Kerala High Court had last week rejected the plea for a CBI probe into the case noting that a new Special Investigation Team had been set up in the case.

The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was allegedly raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house on April 28.

The murder was in focus during the Assembly polls campaign with political parties attacking the then UDF regime for "tardy" progress in the investigation and failure to nab the culprits.
The Group of Ministers, which finalised the draft Memorandum of Procedure, is likely to respond to the objections raised by the Supreme Court collegium to the document that will guide future appointments of judges to the apex court and the high courts, within three weeks.

The collegium had on May 30 returned to the government the revised MoP suggesting changes to certain clauses.

The clause on right to reject a recommendation in national interest, as proposed by the government, is contrary to the current practice where it is bound to accept a recommendation by the collegium comprising four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and the CJI, if it reiterates the same.

The revised MoP further provides that once the Centre has rejected a recommendation it will not be bound to reconsider it even after reiteration by the collegium.

These are among various clauses which have not gone down well with the collegium.

The government is likely to take three weeks to respond to the collegium's observations on the MoP, the sources said.

A copy of the observations made by collegium has already been sent to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi seeking his opinion.

The AG had played a key role in finalising the draft MoP.

The GoM headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had drafted the document which was handed over to Chief Justice of India T S Thakur by Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in March.

"Since it was the GoM which had finalised the draft, it is natural that it responds to the observations made by the collegium. But first we have to await what the AG says on the observations made by the collegium," a senior functionary said.

The memorandum was revised after a Supreme Court bench asked the government to rewrite it in a bid to make the collegium system more transparent.

Addressing a press conference on April 24 after the joint conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers here, the CJI had said the core of the document, based on a Supreme Court judgement, will remain "unaltered" that the collegium will make recommendations.

"Things like the number of judgements a candidate has delivered are contributory in nature," he had said.

Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act to overturn the over two-decade old collegium system where judges appoint judges. The law was struck down by the apex court in October last year, paving the way for the return of the collegium system.
A pair of powerful Senate Republicans today warned Donald Trump to drop his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, joining the widespread rejection of their presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of the federal jurist.

A third prominent Republican who also supports Trump urged the candidate to start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."



"We're all behind him now," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned, adding that it's time for unifying the party, not "settling scores and grudges."



"I hope he'll change his direction."



So far, Trump has refused, reiterating in interviews broadcast today that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial involving a billionaire who wants to build a border wall to keep people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico.

Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-born parents making him, in Trump's view, "a hater of Donald Trump."



"I couldn't disagree more" with Trump's central argument, McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."



"I don't condone the comments," added Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on ABC's "This Week."



And Newt Gingrich, who became speaker of the House promising to open the GOP more to minorities, delivered the harshest warning of all.

"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it's inexcusable," Gingrich, a former presidential contender, said on "Fox Sunday.
In a move that may trigger a tussle between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) controlled municipal corporations and Delhi government, the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation has ordered a crackdown against civic bodies over lack of cleanliness, following which district magistrates issued 267 notices seeking an explanation from civic officials.

"267 notices under CrPC Section 133 (were) issued to MCDs (Municipal corporation of Delhi) yesterday for unsatisfactory sanitary conditions," Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain tweeted.

The move comes days before the Delhi Assembly meets for a two-day special session starting June 9 to discuss the working of the three civic bodies  East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation  with respect to sanitation.

According to Delhi government, the notices have been issued to officials of three MCDs under Section 133 of CrPC which empowers District Magistrate (DM), Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), and Executive Magistrate (EM) to act on the basis of complaints or otherwise for removal of nuisance from any public place that may be injurious to the health or physical comfort of the public.

A senior government official claimed this provision in criminal law also makes it clear that in case the DM is satisfied about the necessity to invoke this section for the health safety of general public, it cannot be challenged in court.

"With these orders, it is clear that the officials concerned of the three MCDs will have to provide reasonable explanations for the lack of satisfactory cleanliness and hygienic conditions in their respective jurisdictions, failing which further legal action will be initiated," the official said.

Three days ago, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had accused the BJP-controlled civic bodies of turning the city into a garbage bin.

Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up for elections to the three civic bodies to be held next year.
Highlighting India's "investment- friendly policies", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Qatar's companies to "grab" the vast opportunities for business, especially in the infrastructure sector, while promising to remove "bottlenecks" identified by them.

On the second day of his visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation, he held an hour-long closed-door interaction with top business leaders of Qatar, telling them about the work done by his government over the last two years to facilitate the ease of doing business.

Qatar's business community had some questions related to rules and and clearances, to which Modi said his government had changed rules and norms to enable easier Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in a number of sectors, sources said.

He specifically mentioned sectors like railways, defence, manufacturing and food processing. He also spoke about the big opportunity existing in the tourism sector.

The Prime Minister told them that his government will continue to work for easing the norms and rules further to make it more easier to do business in India.

Inviting investments from Qatar's companies, he said that India is a "land of opportunities and they should grab it". In this context, he underlined the fact that India and Qatar have close ties and physically too the two countries are located close to each other.

"India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted, quoting Modi.

"All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks you have identified," Modi told the business leaders.

Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister said, "there is a vast potential for Qatar investment authority to increase its investment in India, keeping in view India's huge investment needs and investment-friendly policies.

He said Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund and other state-



owned entities are keenly looking at attractive investment options in infrastructure in India.

"At the round-table with businesspersons from Qatar, discussed ways to enhance India-Qatar economic cooperation," Modi tweeted later.

"Also talked about the investment opportunities in India and why the world must come and @makeinindia," he added.

He also noted that in the last two years, "there has been a substantial growth in India's exports to Qatar".

The major items of exports include machinery, textiles, electronics, construction material, chemical, spices and cereals.

Among the 10 business leaders were Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani, Chairman of QBA & CEO of Al Faisal Holding, Sheikh Fahad M J Al-Thani, Chairman of Doha Bank and Rashid Ali Al-Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Stock Exchange.

While inviting Qatar's business community, the Prime Minister said, "India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion & upgradation & manufacturing are my other priorities," the MEA spokesman tweeted.

"Our projects for Smart Cities, metros, urban waste management etc are geared towards upgrading quality of life of people," Modi added.

The Prime Minister identified agro processing, railways & solar energy as very promising areas for Qatari investment.

He praised the role of Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Thani in promoting business ties between the two countries.

The bilateral trade for the financial year 2014-15 stood at USD 15.67 billion, of which India's exports accounted for nearly USD 1 billion.

The balance of trade is heavily in favour of Qatar.

India is the third largest export destination for Qatar after Japan and South Korea, with LNG being the major item of trade. India is also a major buyer of ethylene, propylene, ammonia, urea and polyethylene from Qatar.

Modi, who is on a five-nation visit, landed in Qatar yesterday from Afghanistan.

Modi will also visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico as part of the tour.
Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej recently visited archipelago Kiribati in the South Pacific to make a documentary on raising global awareness of environment issues.

The documentary deals with Kiribati which is facing the threat of being submerged over the next few decades due to rising water levels.

Kej said that in Kiribati, he was granted the opportunity to record an extended interview with Kiribati's three-time President Anote Tong, whose speech at the December 2015 United Nations COP21 conference in Paris had inspired him.

Tong was in office from July 10, 2003-March 11, 2016.

"At the conference, Tong had called for bold action to address climate change and his message to the conference could not have been clearer," Kej told PTI on World Environmental Day today.

Kej said Tong has been spreading awareness that the rising sea levels in the last several decades have slowly eaten away his country's 313 square miles, and now the country's 102,000 people face the prospect of becoming the world's first climate change refugees.

"For many world leaders, climate change exists as an abstract concept or a theory that remains to be proven, but for Tong, it is a reality he faces every day," Kej said.

Kej said Tong told him that the Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on climate change was fairly conclusive that it (climate change) was human induced and that within this century, countries like his will be under water.

"For long I have admired President Tong. For me, he is Mahatma Gandhi of the Pacific. So, when given the opportunity to create a project to raise awareness about climate change, I looked to the example of Tong for inspiration," Kej said.
The Health department of Gujarat government would meet the representatives of self-financed medical colleges of the state tomorrow to hold discussion on a state government ordinance to abolish 15 per cent NRI quota, currently in place in the colleges.

"For the benefit of students of Gujarati origin, the state government has decided to scrap the 15 per cent NRI quota," Gujarat Health Minister Nitin Patel said.

"The 15 per cent NRI quota would be replaced by an increased 25 per cent management quota (which is currently 10 per cent) to ensure that Gujarat domicile students get maximum benefit," he said.

Under the new rules of management quota, the applying students would be expected to have completed class 12th from a school of Gujarat, and should be a domicile of Gujarat, an official said.

The self-financed medical colleges have already raised an objection to the said ordinance, citing that the Supreme Court had fixed the 15 per cent NRI quota.

They stated that the government's direct or indirect control on filling the 25 per cent management quota seats would cause the colleges to incur losses.

There is no NRI quota in government-run medical colleges in Gujarat.
The Gujarat government today announced its first ever 'IT and Electronics Start-up Policy', having special focus on encouraging new ventures by providing them various incentives and subsidies.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced the policy, which will be applicable only to IT and electronics related start-ups.

"Under the policy, the state government would develop 50 incubators to mentor and guide 2,000 start-ups in the next five years", Patel told reporters.

"Our aim is to attract an investment of Rs 7,000 crore through this policy for start-ups. The Gujarat government will allot around 10 lakh sq feet of land for development of 50 incubators, which will provide guidance to budding innovators in setting up their start-up units," she said.

Under the policy, the Gujarat government will provide 50 per cent capital investment assistance, in the limit of Rs 50 lakh, for setting up an incubator.

As per the policy, they (incubators) will be entitled to get Rs 5 lakh each year as mentoring assistance and the state government will also give Rs 1 crore as assistance for the procurement of software to these incubators.

Under the policy, these incubators and new start-ups will get 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty and registration fees.

Other incentives for start-ups include interest subsidy of 9 per cent per annum in the limit of Rs 2 lakh per year, marketing assistance of Rs 1 lakh per start-up, product development assistance of Rs 1 lakh and lease rental subsidy of Rs 15 per sq feet per month.

To register their patents, government will give Rs 2 lakh as assistance for domestic registration and Rs 5 lakh for international patent registration.

"For better results, we will involve industries as well as education institutes under this policy. During August, we will organise a workshop to spread awareness about this policy. We will also invite experts to evaluate the viability of new start-ups," the Chief Minister said.
After repeatedly postponing the runoff of last fall's disputed presidential election, will now re-run the vote in October, the country's interim leader has said.

Interim president Jocelerme Privert whose term is scheduled to end mid-June announced the October 9 balloting date at a regional summit of Caribbean countries gathered in Havana, according to an online report on Saturday by Le Nouvelliste.

Just days before, an independent commission recommended cancelling last October's first-round results, saying fraud had marred the vote.

has been in deep political crisis since its first postponement in December, when a runoff between then-president Michel Martelly's favoured candidate Jovenel Moise and opposition flag-bearer Jude Celestin was called off amid violence and allegations of fraud in the first round.

The opposition condemned the first voting round on October 25 as an "electoral coup" in favour of Moise, who collected 32.76% of the vote against Celestin's 25.29%.

The long-delayed crippled electoral process in continues to hinder the island nation from rebuilding after the 2010 earthquake that killed 220,000 people.

The electoral census has not been updated since that catastrophe, and the deceased remain on the voter registration list, enabling voter fraud.

After the Martelly's departure, Parliament elected Privert as interim president, with a mandate to organise elections.

The Haitian government has yet to propose a solution to manage the vacuum of power that could transpire after the interim president's term ends June 14.

Completely reorganising the ballot would require a much bigger budget than the poorest country in the Americas can possibly afford alone.

donors mostly financed the aborted elections in 2015, to the tune of $100 million. Its low 25% turnout makes financing the next election critical.
Pledging to take their relationship to new heights, India and Qatar today agreed to work together to check terror financing and illegal financial transactions as they signed seven pacts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Qatari firms to "grab" vast opportunities in India.

At the end of wide-ranging talks, Modi had with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the leadership here, the two sides highlighted the need to "isolate" the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and agreed that urgent action against all such entities, which support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy, must be taken.

The two sides decided to take the relationship beyond a trading one to that of partnership by exploring the possibility of joint investments and agreed to set up a high-level ministerial committee to chart the future path.

Modi also took up with the Qatari leadership the issue of the welfare of Indian community, which is about 6.5 lakh strong, and received assurance about their security.

With Qatar being the largest source of India's LNG needs, the two sides agreed to focus on enhancing cooperation in energy, covering the areas of training and human resources development and cooperation in research and development and through promotion of joint ventures in petrochemical complexes and cooperation in joint exploration in India and other countries.

The Indian side highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar, with Qatar Petroleum and other companies, in order to jointly explore new fields as well as develop discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar.

Modi, before winding up his two-day visit here, expressed confidence that the bilateral relations will get "new strength" through the agreements signed.

After the talks, the two sides signed seven MoUs, including one on sharing of information between Financial Intelligence Units for sharing of intelligence on illegal movement of money, termed as 'hawala'.

The agreement is aimed at checking terror financing, hawala money as well as other sources of illegal financial transactions, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha said.

"The two sides further agreed to take action against illegal transfer of money," a joint statement issued after the talks said.

There is a lot of money flow and investment from Qatar. A number of black money investigations have taken Indian authorities to Qatar's shores and such an MoU is seen as a move to help combat money offences.
Indian-Americans in the US are looking forward to listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the US Congress with American lawmakers flooding with requests from the community members for tickets to the visitor's gallery on June 8.

A large number of Indian-Americans are disappointed by not being able to get tickets of the visitor's gallery for the event.

Indian-Americans from across the US are flying to Washington DC to listen Modi in person.

"It's a dream come true," Chicago-based Bharat Barai said.

"I am sure after listening to him, people of this country and Congressmen would realise the importance Modi attaches to the India-US relationship," he said.

"This is a speech, which I would like to watch in person. I do not want to miss it," said M R Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based successful investor and entrepreneur, who is flying from California to attend Modi's event at the Capitol Hill.

Rangaswami, the founder of Indiaspora, is among the lucky few who have managed to get a ticket to the visitors' gallery of the House Chambers, which has limited number of seats.

Congressional sources told PTI that lawmakers are having a tough time in declining requests for a ticket to the joint address by Modi.

In fact, most of the Congressmen have been allocated one ticket each.

Given the great demand for tickets, Congressional sources said at one point of time, there was consideration for erecting a huge tent for Indian-Americans to watch the speech live. But the idea was shelved because of Congress' protocol.

The speech would be telecast nationwide live on C-Span, a cable and satellite television network.

"The invitation (to the Prime Minister) itself shows the status of the relationship and how far we have come," Swadesh Chatterjee, an eminent Indian-American, said.

Chatterjee, who played a key role in reviving the India-US relationship after the Pokhran nuclear tests, vividly remembers how he and many other Indian-Americans had to lobby for months in the Congress to invite the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to address a joint session of the Congress on September 14, 2000.

"And this time, we had no role to play. Congressmen themselves wrote to the Speaker (of the House of Representatives) to invite Modi to address the joint session of the Congress. And it took no time for Speaker (Paul) Ryan to invite India's Prime Minister," said North Carolina-based Chatterjee.

"Members of Congress are looking forward to hearing from



Prime Minister Modi about growing US-India ties and the numerous ways the two countries can deepen their strategic partnership even further," said Ronak D Desai, an international Security Fellow at New America and an Affiliate at the Belfer Center's India and South Asia Programme at Harvard University.

"Lawmakers are eager to hear from Prime Minister Modi about the ways the United States and India can collaborate together to be a force of global and regional stability and deepen their cooperation even further. The partnership enjoys rare bipartisan support, and the us will continue to play a central role in moving it forward in a host of key arenas," Desai said.

In a conference call with reporters, Richard Rossow, senior fellow and Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Modi being invited to address the Congress is a significant development.

Manmohan Singh was the last Indian Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the Congress on July 19, 2005.

Earlier addresses have been by Atal Bihari Vajpayee (September 14, 2000), P V Narasimha Rao (May 18, 1994) and Rajiv Gandhi (July 13, 1985).

Modi's engagement at the US Capitol on June 8 is expected to be kicked off by a meeting with the top leaders of the Congress including House Speaker, Paul Ryan; House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Thereafter Modi would address a joint meeting of the Congress, wherein he is expected to lay out his vision for relationship between the world's largest and oldest democracies.

Soon after the joint address, Ryan would host a lunch for the Prime Minister at the Capitol. This will be attended by top Congressmen.

After lunch, the Prime Minister would attend a reception jointly hosted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Committee on Foreign Affairs in association with the House Caucus for India and Indian Americans and the Senate India Caucus.
Tehran today dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA agency.

"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria."



Ansari said Washington's support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the "biggest sponsor of state terrorism".

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also "increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State."



Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the government's fightback against the Sunni extremists of IS.
The Iraqi government will investigate allegations of abuses by the security forces in the course of the operation to retake the jihadist-held city of Fallujah, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered the creation of a human rights committee to examine "any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians", Saad al-Hadithi said in a televised briefing.

He said Abadi had issued 'strict orders' for prosecutions to take place in the event of any abuses.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has issued guidelines intended as a form of code of conduct for forces fighting the Islamic State group and aimed at curbing abuses.

Officials including Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi have expressed concern over reports of abuses committed by the forces involved in the operation to recapture Fallujah.

Juburi spoke on Thursday of "information indicating that some violations were carried out by some members of the federal police and some volunteers against civilians".

The statement did not provide details on the alleged abuses, but urged Abadi to "look into these acts and deal with them in a strict and expeditious way".

Fallujah is a Sunni city that lies only 50 kilometres west of Baghdad and is one of IS's most emblematic bastions.

The Hashed al-Shaabi taking part in the Fallujah operation is an umbrella organisation that includes Sunni tribal fighters but is dominated by powerful Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

It is nominally under Abadi's authority but some of its most powerful groups answer directly to Iran.

Those groups have been repeatedly accused of fuelling sectarianism and their involvement in the Fallujah battle was seen as potentially explosive.
In March, a senior commander with the Islamic State group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion.

The killing of Abu Hayjaa al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadi, sparked a panicked hunt within the group's ranks for spies who could have tipped off the US-led coalition about his closely guarded movements. By the time it was over, the group would kill 38 of its own members on suspicion of acting as informants.

They were among dozens of IS members killed by their own leadership in recent months in a vicious purge after a string of airstrikes killed prominent figures.

Others have disappeared into prisons and still more have fled, fearing they could be next as the jihadi group turns on itself in the hunt for moles, according to Syrian opposition activists, Kurdish militia commanders, several Iraqi intelligence officials and an informant for the Iraqi government who worked within IS ranks.

The fear of informants has fueled paranoia among the militants' ranks. A mobile phone or internet connection can raise suspicions. As a warning to others, IS has displayed the bodies of some suspected spies in public or used particularly gruesome methods, including reportedly dropping some into a vat of acid.

IS "commanders don't dare come from Iraq to Syria because they are being liquidated" by airstrikes, said Bebars al-Talawy, an opposition activist in Syria who monitors the jihadi group.

Over the past months, American officials have said that the US has killed a string of top commanders from the group, including its "minister of war" Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, also known as Abu Wahib, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Haji Iman, Abu Alaa al-Afari or Abu Ali Al-Anbari.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest city held by IS across its "caliphate" stretching across Syria and Iraq, a succession of militants who held the post of "wali," or governor, in the province have died in airstrikes.

As a result, those appointed to governor posts have asked not to be identified and they limit their movements, the Iraqi informant told The Associated Press. Iraqi intelligence officials allowed the AP to speak by phone with the informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his life.

The purge comes at a time when IS has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi government offensive recaptured the western city of Ramadi from IS earlier this year, and another mission is underway to retake the nearby city of Fallujah.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some IS fighters began feeding information to the coalition about targets and movements of the group's officials because they needed money after the extremist group sharply reduced salaries in the wake of coalition and Russian airstrikes on IS-held oil facilities earlier this year.
Israeli prosecutors charged a Gaza teenager today with membership of the military wing of Hamas, after he was said to have provided information about the group's tunnel network, officials said.

The Shin Bet security service said the 17-year-old had been arrested last month after crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel "on his own".

The suspect, who as a minor cannot be identified, was the second Gazan 17-year-old allegedly involved in tunnelling to be charged by Israel in a month.

In addition to those two, another man, 29-year-old Mahmud Atawnah, was also charged over his alleged part in the militant group's tunnel network in May.

The Israeli army said the minor charged on Sunday was a member of the northern Gaza "Beit Lahiya battalion of Hamas's military wing".

"The perpetrator conveyed valuable information regarding Hamas activities in the northern Gaza Strip and especially Hamas's offensive tunnels," a statement said.

It alleged that "it was also revealed that Hamas is operating to establish multiple tunnels deep within the Gaza Strip connected to the offensive tunnels infiltrating Israel".

The suspect was charged at Beersheba district court in southern Israel for a series of felonies including "membership in a terror group, weapons offences and infiltrating Israel", a justice ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

Clashes broke out on the Gaza border last month as Israel revealed a new tunnel reaching into its territory from the Palestinian enclave, after one was discovered in mid-April.

The violence was the worst flare-up between the army and Hamas since a devastating 2014 war, with Hamas attacking forces operating nearby with mortar rounds and Israel responding with air raids and tank fire, which resulted in the death of a Gaza woman.

Hamas has an extensive network of tunnels inside Gaza, including those extending towards Israel and Egypt.
Israel today released a correspondent in the Golan Heights for Iran's Arabic-language television after four days of detention, police said.

Bassam al-Safadi, a journalist for the Al-Alam channel, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of "supporting a terrorist organisation and incitement to violence and terrorism," police said.

A court in Nazareth in northern Israel extended his remand until Sunday, when he was released "under limitations, including a five-day house arrest," police said.

In an interview with Beirut-based Al-Alam on Sunday, Safadi said he was "accused of incitement to terrorism, supporting terror organisations and standing behind terror organisations."



The 43-year-old was described by police as Arab Israeli, but many Arab residents of the Golan, who are from the Druze community, consider themselves Syrians.

Iran is an ally of Syria, which is technically at war with Israel, and a sworn enemy of the Jewish state.

Hussein Mortada, head of Al-Alam's office in Syria, said on Wednesday that the arrest was part of a "systematic campaign" by Israel against the media.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
The 2.4-km second stage of Jaipur Metro is expected to be completed by March 2018, in which advanced technology has been employed with an eye on preserving the city's rich heritage.

"We have completed one tunnel already. It is Badi Chaupar. The second tunnel is about to be completed. We are right on schedule and the completion date is around March 2018," said Christopher Mark Cooper, Project Leader of the Jaipur Metro.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has undertaken the development of first phase of Jaipur Metro corridor.

The work for the 9.25-km phase 1A from Mansarovar to Chandpole began in February 2011 and within a span of four years, DMRC completed the construction and made the route operational, making it one of the fastest project implementations in Metro sector.

While the construction for phase 1B is being done by a Taiwanese company, DMRC is playing the role of general consultant.

Phase 1B is aimed at providing the metro service in the more inward and congested but significant areas of Jaipur.

Apart from enhancing connectivity and improving the city's public transport system, DMRC and Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) are also making it a point to preserve and promote the city's rich cultural, architectural and archaeological heritage.

Excavation at the two chaupars (city squares) -- Badi Chaupar and Choti Chaupar -- which fall on the proposed phase 1B route was thus done in scientifically and archaeologically appropriate manner.

During the excavation at Choti Chaupar station, a nearly 300-year-old water reservoir ('baoli') with ancient tunnels on all four sides was restored.

JMRC plans to reconstruct it at its original location after the completion of Choti Chaupar station.

The design of Choti Chaupar station has been revised to accommodate the water body over station roof and depth of the station was also increased.

DMRC and JMRC came up with similar innovative approach in the case of Chandpole gate, which though historically significant, was falling in way of the tunnel being dug to connect Chandpole metro station with yet-to-be-constructed Badi Chaupar.

"Chandpole was a big challenge not due to geology but due to very low overburden machine so it is technically very challenging. It was nice to complete it with zero damage to the Jaipur Gate," Cooper said.

DMRC is expanding its footprint in other parts of the



country.

It has done the detailed planning of Phase-I of Kochi Metro for a 25.612-km corridor from Aluva to Pettah with 22 stations.

The construction of Phase-I of Kochi Metro started in June 2013 and is expected to be completed in 2017.

DMRC has prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Metro lines in other Indian cities also and is a consultant for them in various capacities.

This includes Metro projects in Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, East West Corridor of Kolkata Metro, Mumbai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Noida-Greater Noida, Vijaywada and Surat.

"We have constructed the Jaipur Metro (phase 1A) in nearly four years. We are also constructing the Kochi Metro. In fact, trials have already started there. These are the projects where DMRC has itself done the construction. These constructions are on fast-track and the work is being done swiftly," a top DMRC official said.

DMRC is also making its presence felt in the international arena lately.

It recently completed Special Assistance on Project Implementation study for the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit System in Indonesia.

It is also acting as a project consultant for the Dhaka Metro where it is helping in the preparation of specification and manuals for the Dhaka MRT-6 project.
Three months after their violent agitation left 30 dead, Jat leaders on Sunday renewed their quota stir in Haryana which was restricted to small meetings in 15 districts amid tight security by the BJP government which had drawn flak over its handling of the protest last time.

"It has been peaceful so far," Haryana's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil said, as nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a close vigil across the state, including on highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.

Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a havan as they started the second round of the agitation on a tepid note with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which gave the call for the protest, pitched a tent along the Rohtak-Panipat highway just outside Jassia and also held dharnas in 15 of the state's 21 districts.

The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases against members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, and compensation for the injured.

The agitation this time was restricted to so called 'Jat belt' comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind.

"There are small groups of protesters mainly in the rural areas. At some places, the protesters handed over memorandums to district authorities," an official said.

Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in these districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.

A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, the state DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.

AIJASS Hisar president Rambhagat Malik said, "We are committed to holding dharnas in a peaceful manner."



After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi along with other neighbouring states, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.

However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.

In Hisar, members of the Jat community started an indefinite dharna at a stadium in village Mayyar away from railway tracks and highway, police said.

Addressing the protesters, Jat leaders accused the Haryana government of not being serious towards their demand for reservation.

The Jat leaders said, in case the government did not respond to their demands in a positive manner, they would be left with no other option but to take to the streets.

"The dharnas have been peaceful. People have the right to put forth their views in a democratic set up but it should be within the ambit of law," state Agricultural Minister O P Dhankar said.

"We had fulfilled their demand but it was challenged in court. The state government is doing the needful," he said.
To mark World Environment Day, Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu today planted saplings at Raj Bhavan and appealed to the public to do the same on auspicious occasions like weddings and birthdays.

Employees of the Raj Bhavan joined the Governor in planting saplings of various species, a Raj Bhavan release said here.

Lauding the state government's effort in plantation works, she appealed to the people to make it a success and plant fruit-bearing saplings.

She urged people to plant saplings on the occasions of marriages, birthdays and other ceremonies to make them memorable.

Meanwhile, at a seminar titled 'Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources', Urban Development Minister C P Singh also pitched for plantation in a big way and asked the organisations to organise such seminars at school level.

Stating that the state government has planned for plantation of one crore sapling, Singh said Jharkhand is endowed with abundant greenery and rules should be implemented sternly to preserve it.

Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma pitched for 'jan andolan' (people's movement) to protect the environment, connecting everyone.

Under the 'Namami Gange' programme, she said plantation work would begin along five of the 83 km-stretch along Sahibganj and Raj Mahal this fiscal.

Principal Secretary of Forest, Environment and Climate Change Sukhdeo Singh said 950 square km forest has increased since the state's creation.

He said earlier plantations were done in forest areas while now it has also been decided to cover non-forest areas and Rs 70 crore has been marked under the 'Jan Van programme' for roadside and institutional plantations.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today spoke to the family of Station Officer Santosh Yadav, who was killed in the clashes in Mathura, and conveyed his condolences.

"The Delhi Chief Minister talked to the brother of Yadav over phone and conveyed his condolences. The CM also offered help to the Yadav family," said a senior Delhi Government official.

He said the Chief Minister could not talk to the wife of Yadav as she is still in a state of shock over her husband's death. Yadav was a Station Officer (SO) at Farah Police station in Mathura



Yesterday, Kejriwal had spoken to the family of slain Mathura Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukul Dwivedi who was also killed in the clashes that claimed 27 lives.
US Secretary of State John Kerry today warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the disputed South China Sea during a visit to Mongolia.

Washington would consider the establishment of such a zone - which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers - "a provocative and destabilising act," Kerry told reporters in Ulan Bator.

The remarks came on the eve of a US-China dialogue in Beijing and after a Hong Kong newspaper cited Chinese army sources as saying Beijing was mulling such a zone, similar to one Beijing established over the East China Sea in 2013.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has pressed its claims by rapidly building artificial islands suitable for military use.

Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese claimed reefs, angering Beijing.

Further US actions in the region "will give Beijing a good opportunity to declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea," a Chinese army source told the South China Morning Post newspaper last week.

Kerry said such a move would "raise tensions".

"We would consider an ADIZ, an ADIZ zone, over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilising act, which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said.

"We believe that it is critical that no country move unilaterally to militarise the region," he added.

Kerry also repeated Washington's standard line that it does not take sides in disputes over the sea.

But that stance has been called into question by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who last month accused Beijing of "pressing excessive maritime claims contrary to international law".

China blasted his remarks as expressing "typical US thinking and US hegemony" and a "cold war mentality".

Carter warned a regional security forum in Singapore yesterday that Chinese construction on an islet claimed by the Philippines would prompt "actions being taken" by the US and other nations.

The US and Mongolia have enjoyed strong ties for decades. Washington sees the country as a strategic ally against its regional rivals Russia and China.
Delhi Police today intensified its search for the kingpin of the kidney trading racket, even as they served notices to Apollo Hospital authorities here asking them to join probe and provide documents related to kidney transplants in the past few months.

Five separate teams are conducting raids at Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad for the kingpin Rajukumar Rao, who is believed to be in the business for the past few years and connected to similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, a senior official said.

Suspecting the involvement of some senior staffers and even doctors in the racket, Delhi Police has served notices under CrPC sections 90 and 160 to the higher authorities of Apollo Hospital asking them to join probe and provide documents pertaining to kidney transplants carried out in the hospital in the past few months. They will be scrutinised by a 25-member special team set up to crack the entire nexus, the senior official said.

Investigators have also identified at least three recipients and five donors having links with the racket and are considering further legal action.

While two of the donors are women who are presently in hospitals, three recipients are from Kolhapur, Jammu and Ghaziabad.

A police team also visited the address of the Ghaziabad-recipient, but it emerged that he had left that place.

Meanwhile, two more prominent private hospitals in the city have come under the police scanner. Police have so far come across five cases of kidney transplants conducted in the city through this racket and during interrogation the accused disclosed about 10-15 more transplants conducted at Jalandhar and Coimbatore in the past two years, an official said.

They used to charge Rs 40-50 lakh from the recipients, of which not even 10 per cent reached the donors.

Police are also investigating a money trail starting with two bank accounts of one of the arrested persons and believed it can lead them to the kingpin.

With the arrest of five persons, including the personal secretaries of a neurologist in Apollo Hospital, police had unearthed the kidney trading racket. The racket used to lure poor people across several states to sell their kidney off and also hound for people desperately looking out for kidney for transplant.

They allegedly forged documents to establish relationship between the donors and the recipients in order to adhere to the law.

In a statement, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals said, "We are cooperating and providing to them all information required to help them in their investigation. This matter is of grave concern and our teams are extending all support to the police.
Thousands of supporters have celebrated Congolese leader Joseph Kabila's birthday with a rally in Kinshasa, at which a party supremo floated the idea of holding a referendum to extend the president's rule.

The suggestion is likely to fuel opposition suspicion that Kabila, in power since his father's assassination in 2001, is preparing to remain in office beyond his two-term limit which ends in December.

In a show of support for Kabila, some 5,000 people marched through the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo in a carnival-like atmosphere before gathering at a stadium to mark the leader's 45th birthday, an AFP reporter saw yesterday.

"Happy birthday, comrade president, founder of the party," read a giant banner next to a portrait of Kabila.

Political unrest has plagued DR Congo for months over fears that Kabila will postpone elections due to be held late this year.

His supporters have said they want the polls to be delayed for at least two years because of logistical and financial difficulties, despite Western pressure to stick to the schedule.

Tensions rose further when the country's Constitutional Court ruled in May that Kabila could remain in a caretaker capacity beyond December until elections are held.

Addressing the crowd at the birthday rally, Henri Mova, the secretary general of the ruling PPRD party, accused Kabila's opponents of seeking "to destabilise" the country.

He also raised the prospect of a referendum to allow the Congolese to have their say on presidential term limits.

"The Congolese people are sovereign and their will shall not be questioned," he said.

"If the people decide on a referendum, they will do it," he said. "The people of Congo-Brazzaville did it, the people of Rwanda did it," he added.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo won re-election this year after a constitutional referendum ended a two-term limit.

In Rwanda, a referendum last year led to constitutional changes that could see President Paul Kagame rule until 2034.

Both leaders faced criticised at home and abroad over their legal manoeuvres to cling to power.
Sri Lanka will by year-end resettle all people, including the minority Muslims and the Sinhalese, who were displaced during the nearly three-decade-long war against the LTTE, a senior minister said today.

"We have six months to go, we will resettle all in the north by end of the year," Minister of National Dialogue Mano Ganesan said, adding that even the Sinhala and Muslim minority communities who were chased out by the The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be given their lands back by inviting them to return to Jaffna.

The return of the land was a top reconciliation priority for the government, he said.

While the Sinhalese left their land in then early 1980s, the Muslims were evicted by the LTTE in 1990.

Ganesan is a member of the panel appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to identify the lands that are needed to resettle the war displaced.

The Sirisena government had released some of the Tamil civilian land held by the military during the 30-year conflict with the LTTE, that finally ended in 2009.

Sirisena recently in Japan had said that the Tamils' lands must be returned at the earliest.
Delhi Chief Minister on Sunday accused Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and Bharatiya Janata Party of blocking the government's ambitious bus-lane proposal under which motorists obstructing plying of buses in such dedicated lanes would be fined Rs. 2,000.

Three months after Jung sought a clarification from the Delhi government on its dedicated bus-lane proposal, the AAP dispensation had on Thursday sent back the plan to him after making minor changes in it.

"We trying to implement it (bus-lane proposal). Unfortunately, LG n BJP blocking it (sic)," the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted.

In another tweet, Kejriwal hoped that the LG and BJP would stop blocking the AAP government's public interest schemes.

As per the government's plan, dedicated bus lanes will be created along major roads across the national capital.

The Delhi government has recommended giving a special power to junior engineers and Public Works Department (PWD) senior officials to impound vehicles and challan motorists obstructing plying of buses on the dedicated lanes.

Dedicated bus lanes have been marked along 500 km of PWD roads in the capital, PWD Minister Satyender Jain has said.
The prime minister of Libya's UN-backed unity government has ruled out an international military intervention to fight the Islamic State group, which has had a growing presence in the country since 2014.

Some 25 nations including the United States and Russia agreed last month to help Libya arm itself against the jihadists, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he would not allow foreign troops on the ground.

"It's true that we need help from the international community in our fight against terrorism and it's true that this is something we have already received," he said in the interview, published today.

"But we are not talking about international intervention," Sarraj said, adding that the presence of foreign ground troops would be "contrary to our principles".

"Rather we need satellite images, intelligence, technical help... Not bombardments," he said.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.

However, it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar.

Both bodies are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive the Islamic State group out of the coastal city of Sirte, a bastion for jihadists in the country.

Yesterday, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken a jihadist air base near the city.

Sarraj told Journal du Dimanche that "total victory over IS in Sirte is close".

"(We hope) that this war against terrorism will be able to unite Libya. But it will be long. And the international community knows that," he said.
Drug major expects to launch up to 30 drugs in the US market in the current fiscal while it awaits approval of around 160 products from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The Mumbai-based firm said products filings have been made to the US health regulator from company's Indian as well as overseas facilities.

"We are looking at roughly around 25 to 30 launches, 15 out of Somerset (Gavis earlier which was acquired by Lupin) and another 15 out of India," Group President and CEO Vinita Gupta told analysts in an investor call.

Majority of the filings out of the company's sites in India are from Pithampur (Indore) and roughly 30 per cent from Goa, she added.

Group President and Managing Director Nilesh Gupta said: "We have about 100 filings pending approval (from India) and about 30 of them are the ones pending from Goa."



Overall, between Lupin and Gavis together, over 160 products filings are pending for approval with the USFDA.

Lupin has a portfolio of 124 products in the US market. The company, which faced around 12 inspections from the USFDA last year, including a repeat inspection of its Goa plant, has been trying to achieve a 'holistic transformation' at its facilities.

"We have responded to the observations and we have provided an update...And we are now working for a holistic transformation," Lupin Vice Chairman Kamal K Sharma said on the inspection of the Goa plant.

He further said: "We are very confident that we are going to be able to deal with it like we did it in the past in 2009."



Preparing for any eventuality, the company has also started to move some of the pending product applications from Goa plant to other locations.

"We certainly have aligned a lot more into what we feel we need to do. (It is) hard to say at this point whether it would go into a warning letter or not, but one of the things that we are doing in terms of moving pending applications is obviously even preparing for the worst if that were to happen," Nilesh said.

The company, however is optimistic of getting new product approvals despite challenges in Goa, Vinita Gupta said.

Hoping to resolve the issue with the USFDA, she said: "Proactively, we have started transferring the products that we expect to launch in fiscal year 2016-17 to our other approved sites to Indore, Aurangabad and to Somerset."



On the R&D investment for the current fiscal, Nilesh said: "We believe that it will be somewhere between 12 and 15 per cent for the 2016-17 period."



The company is also looking at a capex of over Rs 1,000 crore for the fiscal.

"The run rate in the past is close to about Rs 1,000 crore but next year we are looking at a substantially higher amount," Lupin CFO Ramesh Swaminathan said.
The BJP in West Bengal has demanded immediate sealing of the Indo-Bangla border, claiming madrasas operating along it are a breeding ground of terrorism and anti-national activities in the country.

"We all know that these madrasas in bordering areas are breeding ground of anti-national elements. These madrasas get funds from foreign countries. These madrasas are creating a chain, which is making the Indo-Bangla border vulnerable to anti-national activities, illegal cattle trade and smuggling," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claimed.

Seeking to justify his claim, he referred to a purported statement of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya that a section of madrasas in border areas were functioning as breeding ground of fundamentalism.

"Few years ago, the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said that madrasas in bordering areas of West Bengal are breeding grounds of fundamentalism. But later on he had retracted his statement due to pressure from his party. But you can't take a chief minister's comment lightly. Whatever he had said was on the basis of reports of IB and police," Ghosh claimed.

He said the porous border that West Bengal shares with Bangladesh is a threat to national security.

"Infiltration has stopped in northern and western part of India where it shares border with Pakistan. But infiltration from this side of Indo-Bangla border is still on. Whenever there has been a terror attack or blast, during investigation some of the clues have led to Bengal and its bordering areas. The anti-national and anti-social elements are using this route to enter India," Ghosh told PTI.

"Why isn't the state government, like the newly-elected government in Assam taking up the matter of sealing the Indo- Bangla border in Bengal," said the 52-year-old MLA, who won the recent assembly elections from Kharagpur Sadar constituency in West Midnapore district.

The firebrand leader, who was inducted from RSS into the state BJP in early 2015, became the state president in December.

"We will fight against these bordering madrasas. Politically also we will inform the people about the anti- national activities going there. We will raise this issue in the state assembly and will also ask the state government to take action against these madrasas which are helping anti- national elements," he said.
Maharashtra government has held a discussion with Malaysian giant Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Holdings on ways to increase collaboration for Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway and some other road projects.

A delegation of the company met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here recently.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Heads of Mission (HoMs) conference on May 31 in New Delhi, Indian Ambassadors to 10 nations called on Fadnavis in Mumbai.

"It was a pleasure to meet the Indian Ambassadors and High Commissioners to 10 nations as part of annual HoM Conference 2016. Prime Minister Modi believes that India lives in states. So such interactions are very important for presenting strengths of our states to world," Fadnavis said.

The Chief Minister said that he shared Maharashtra's growth story, reforms, speedy governance, immense opportunities and the role HoMs can play in accelerating the growth of the state with the visiting dignitaries.

"Lately, many investors are experiencing unimaginable speed of Maharashtra government along with the transparent and efficient way of working," Fadnavis said, adding that he discussed ways to increase collaboration for Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway and few other road projects.

"We had a very good meeting with Malaysian delegation of CIDB holdings," he said.

He informed the delegation that investors have an opportunity to invest in industries, Smart City project, tourism and other infrastructure projects in the state. He also said that Maharashtra has decided to celebrate 2017 as 'Visit Maharashtra' year.

Kaustubh Dhawse, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister Office (CMO), said that Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has already begun the process of land acquisition.

"The Chief minister has set a target to complete this Super Communication Expressway by the end of 2019 and hence, all departments are jointly working expeditiously," he said.
A number of Union ministers and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states have congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on being accorded the Amir Amanullah Khan award, Afghanistan's highest civilian honour.

The award was conferred on Modi by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani yesterday during his short visit to Herat province where he inaugurated a landmark dam built by India at a cost of Rs 1,700 crore.

Expressing gratitude to Afghan government for the award, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "It's a matter of great honour for India that the Indian Prime Minister has been conferred with the highest ever civilian award by the Afghan government. It is an honour not only for India's Prime Minister but for the whole country for which we are grateful to the government of Afghanistan.

BJP President Amit Shah said Afghanistan bestowing its highest civilian honour on Modi is matter of pride and honour for all Indians.

"This award is yet another testimony of increasing warmness in India's relations with the world and India's important role in global affairs (sic)," he said on twitter.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, "Congrats to PM Sh @narendramodi for being conferred With #Afghanistan's Top Civilian Honour-Amir Amanullah Khan Award."



"PM @narendramodi being conferred highest civilian honour of Afghanistan embodies India's goodwill overseas. Hearty congratulations to PM!(sic)," Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel tweeted.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it reflected "emotions of Afghan people towards us", while his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis "saluted" PM's "unique leadership for uniting the world for peace".

"Long history of friendship with Afghanistan - being cemented further under your leadership (sic)," Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said in a tweet. Her Chhatishgarh and Haryana counterparts, Raman Singh and Manohar Lal Khattar, also lauded the Prime Minister.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said: "Our PM's leadership is recognised globally. Proud moment for us."



Union minister Anant Geete "saluted" Modi for making "Indians feel more prouder each day", while Union minister Birender Singh said the proud moment "attests PM's global stature".

"An honour for India and our leader. India is getting the status it deserves in international geopolitical scene," Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

Union minister Jitendra Singh described it as a "rare honour" for India, while Piyush Goyal said it once again affirmed India's global recognition.

Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Ram Vilas Paswan, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Maneka Gandhi, Kalraj Mishra, Dharmendra Pradhan and Rajyavardhan Rathore also congratulated the Prime Minister.
A doctor belonging to Pakistan's minority Ahmadi community was today gunned down by motorcycle- borne assailants in Punjab province, in the latest attack on one of the country's most persecuted groups by extremists.

Hameed Ahmad, 63, was killed when he was returning to his home in Attock district, aJamaat Ahmadiyya official told PTI.

He said two men on motorcycle intercepted Ahmad and shot him dead in district, some 300 kilometres from Lahore.

Theattackers managed to escape.

"Ahmad had been facing threats and intimidation for some time from religious extremists on account of being an Ahmadi. Over a year ago unknown assailants had thrown petrol bombs at his clinic but luckily he survived as he was not present at the time of attack," the official said.

Last week,another member of the minority community was killed in a targeted attack in Karachi. In 2014, at least three female members of the Ahmadi community, including two minors, were killed in Punjab's Gujranwala People's Colony when a mob torched several houses over alleged blasphemy.

"It seems that members of the Ahmadi community are again in the crosshairs of extremist groups. On the one hand, the authorities speak of good governance and on the other nothing is done to safeguard the rights of Ahmadis in Pakistan," said Jamaat Ahmadiyya spokesman Salimuddin.

He said hate-speeches against Ahmadis have become a matter of routine and enables tragic events like this to take place.

"The National Action Plan (NAP) was meant to crackdown on hate-crimes but it seems that this is not the case when it comes to Ahmadis. We call on the authorities to apprehend Dr Hamid Ahmad's killers as quickly as possible and send out a clear message that attacks such as this will not be tolerated and dealt with in the harshest terms," he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered the police to arrest the culprits.

Ahmad is survived by two sons and three daughters.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani today received birthday wishes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in person before the two leaders began their official talks.

"Birthday wishes in person for the Emir. PM Narendra Modi conveys his greetings at the start of official talks," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

British-educated Sheikh Tamim, who turned 36 on June 6, came to power after his father Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani announced his abdication as leader of the gas-rich Gulf state in June 2013.

Born in Doha, he is the fourth son of Sheikh Hamad and became Qatar's heir apparent in 2003 after his older brother Jasim renounced his claim to the throne.

On the second leg of his five-nation tour, Modi arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit which is focused on giving a new push to the economic ties, particularly in the hydrocarbon sector, between India and Qatar.
Describing India as a "land of opportunity", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Qatar's business leaders to take advantage of it by investing in the country and promised to address "bottlenecks" identified by them.

"India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," Modi said in a roundtable meeting with Qatari business leaders, his first engagement on the second day of his visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation.

The Prime Minister identified agro processing, railways and solar energy as very promising areas for Qatari investment.

"All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks you have identified," Modi said.

He described 800 million youth in India as the country's biggest strength.

"India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion & upgradation & manufacturing are my other priorities," Modi said.

He added that projects like smart cities, metros and urban waste management are geared towards upgrading quality of life of people.

The Prime Minister also praised the role of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in promoting India-Qatar business ties.

Earlier, Qatar's Minister of Trade & Economy Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani welcomed Modi and sought more intensive economic engagement with India.

The size of annual bilateral trade between India and Qatar is around USD 10 billion and both the countries would like to expand it significantly. Qatar has a major sovereign wealth fund and India is eyeing to attract investment from it.

Modi is on a five-nation visit and has landed in Qatar yesterday from Afghanistan.

Modi will also visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico as part of the tour.
With an intent to give a push to India- ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday held detailed talks here on a wide range of issues.

At the outset, Modi personally extended greetings to the Emir, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days back. The Prime Minister had called him on that day to convey the greetings over phone.

Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler.

"The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

Cooperation in energy is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks that were to cover various aspects of the relationship.

is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 standing at $15.67 billion.

is also one of India's key sources of crude oil and it also has a large population of Indians over 6.3 lakh.

While landing here on Saturday, Modi had said India attaches great priority to strong ties with Qatar and that his visit seeks to expand the bilateral ties further.

The Prime Minister has been focusing on improving ties with the Gulf region which is crucial for India's energy security. He has already visited United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His trip marks a Prime Ministerial visit after eight years. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Doha in 2008.

The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.
Madhya Pradesh government is yet to establish civil services board to decide on transfer of IAS officers in the state.

Replying to an RTI query, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) here said it does not have quarterly report from the state on officers transferred before completion of their minimum prescribed tenure.

The information assumes significance as the state government had recently transferred Ajay Singh Gangwar, an IAS officer and Collector of Barwani in Madhya Pradesh, after he praised Jawaharlal Nehru in his Facebook post in Hindi.

He was also slapped a show cause notice last week for allegedly advocating a 'jan kranti' (people's revolution) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a comment made on the social networking site.

"The information regarding the constitution of Civil Services Board (CSB) regarding posting/transfer for IAS officers of Madhya Pradesh is not available with this department.

"Quarterly report of CSB pertaining to the state government of Madhya Pradesh has not been received," the DoPT said replying to the RTI application filed by social activist Ajay Dubey.

It said Madhya Pradesh government has been reminded four times--between 2014 and 2015--to send the quarterly report.

As per rules, all states should have civil services board or committee to decide on transfer and posting of bureaucrats.

This board and committee are mandated to record reasons for transferring a civil servant before completion of his or her fixed tenure. Officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) generally have a minimum of two years tenure in each posting.

The CSB shall submit a quarterly report in the prescribed form to the central government clearly stating the details of officers recommended to be transferred before the minimum prescribed tenure, with the reasons for the same, the rules say.

"The state government is working as per its whims and fancy when it comes to postings of IAS officers. They must form the civil services board at the earliest and submit quarterly report to the Centre," said Dubey.

He alleged that some officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) are also being transfered arbitrarily by the state government.
Opposition National Conference (NC) today said the PDP-BJP government's "crackdown" on separatist leaders including JKLF chairman Yasin Malik has "exposed the PDP's claims" of facilitating a political engagement between the Hurriyat and the Centre.

"The PDP-BJP 'Agenda of Alliance' had clearly promised new initiatives to facilitate engagement and talks between Hurriyat Leaders and New Delhi, and had also spoken about a proposed 'battle of ideas' with the separatist leadership in the state.

"Today there is an unprecedented crackdown on Hurriyat leaders and some of them have been sent to the Central Jail for cases that are 29 years old. What kind of 'Battle of Ideas' is this?" senior NC leader and former finance minister, Abdul Rahim Rather said addressing a workers' convention at Chrar-e-Sharief in central Kashmir's Budgam district.

He said PDP's 'battle of ideas' had turned out to be a "vicious" and "retributive" battle against ideas.

"Rather than trying to facilitate talks between Hurriyat and New Delhi, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has taken upon herself the task to appease BJP and RSS by ordering retributive action and crackdowns on the homes of Hurriyat Leaders.

"Engaging with the Hurriyat was a mainstay of the PDP-BJP 'Agenda of Alliance' and, like every other promise, this promise too has crumbled to dust within the very first year of this opportunistic alliance," Rather alleged.

The senior NC leader said the PDP-BJP 'Agenda of Alliance' had promised to get the central government to engage in meaningful and sustained dialogue with Hurriyat leadership and also with Islamabad.

"Not only have Hurriyat leaders been prevented from going to New Delhi to meet visiting diplomatic delegations for the first time in the last two decades, PDP has also ensured an unprecedented crackdown on Hurriyat leaders - hounding and humiliating them at every possible opportunity that could have been used to usher a new phase of reconciliation and engagement," he said.
Nepalese Prime Minister K P Oli's party today dismissed as "baseless" reports that he had said India and the US have colluded to topple his government.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) dismissed the media reports that Oli made the remarks during a Standing Committee meeting of the party yesterday.

Oli's press adviser Pramod Dahal told PTI that the media reports were "baseless and totally false."



"What the Prime Minister said was that he underlined the need for unity among all to counter move by some elements that were making efforts to obstruct the implementation of the Constitution," he said.

Oli did not name any country during the party's meeting, he clarified.

Reports here said that Oli, also the CPN-UML chief, at the meeting had said that the US was on the same page with India in hatching a conspiracy against his government and party.

Dahal said the party has also issued a statement and dismissed the reports.

Party's secretary Pradip Gyawali has issued a statement saying the Oli government had received "warm-hearted support" from neighbouring countries and misunderstandings with India had been cleared.

Meanwhile, Maoist chief Prachanda and Oli today discussed about the prevailing political situation in the country.

During the meeting, the two leaders stressed the need to seek support from the main opposition Nepali Congress and other opposition groups towards implementation of the new Constitution, Dahal said.

The Constitution, adopted in September last year, has upset the Madhesis people living in Nepal's southern plains bordering India who share strong cultural and family ties with Indians.

Madhesi groups have been holding protests demanding better representation under the new Constitution. They had blocked trading through the India-Nepal border for months, causing acute shortage of essential goods.
Traders in Nepal have expressed concern over India starting operations on its new Integrated Check Post on the Nepal-India border, saying trading through the ICP may hit commerce via the Raxaul-Birgunj customs point.

India has started preparations to start operations at the ICP on its side of the Birgunj-Raxaul border in Bihar, but the infrastructure on Nepal's side was yet to be completed.

Indian authorities inaugurated the ICP on their side on Friday and all services required for export-import including customs, immigration, quarantine and banks were being built on the either side of the international border.

Nepali traders voiced concern that commencing the ICP operations on Indian side could affect normal trade through the Birgunj customs point.

They said they will now have to cover a long distance to reach the ICP for custom clearances, media reports said here.

Indian authorities will conduct the clearance-related documentation at the ICP and send goods through the Birgunj customs.

The two centres are separated by nearly 13 kilometres.

Nepali traders said this would affect export-import through the "open" Birgunj border.

"For example, tankers receiving loading from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) near Raxual customs will have to reach Pantaoka-based ICP for customs clearance," an importer said.

"The tankers need to cross a railway track."



The Nepali ICP is being built at Sirsiya which is close to the Indian ICP. Once the Nepali ICP is completed, Birgunj customs will shift there.

According to Nepali officials, 25 per cent work on the ICP on the Nepali side is yet to be completed. Not only in the import petroleum products, export-import of other goods are also likely to be affected.

According to President of Birgunj Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pradeep Kediya, Nepal's trade will be heavily affected if the ICP on the Indian side comes into operation.

"Importers will be affected. So we would like to request the Indian ICP not be start its operation until the Nepali ICP is ready," he said.

Former President of BCCI Ashok Baidya said Nepali importers might have to pay millions of rupees in demurrage charges.

"More than 1,000 trucks enter Nepal through Birgunj and traffic jam due to train movement could force importers to pay demurrage charges heavily.
Scientists have developed a virtual reality smartphone app to help people gain insight into the varied symptoms people with dementia experience in everyday life.

The app, called A Walk Through Dementia, was developed by Alzheimer's Research UK and virtual reality company VISYON, and uses the widely-available Google Cardboard headset to put the public in the shoes of someone with dementia.

This is the first time a smartphone Cardboard app has been used to engage the public with the condition, researchers said.

The experience uses a combination of computer generated environments and 360 degree video sequences to illustrate in powerful detail how even the most everyday task of making a cup of tea can become a challenge for someone with dementia.

Unfolding over three scenarios, the user is tasked with buying ingredients, taking them home and making a cup of tea for their family.

A supermarket environment unveils difficulties at the checkout, counting money, reading the shopping list, busy environments and finding items.

A second street sequence illustrates problems people with dementia may face with navigation, visual-spatial problems and disorientation.

Finally, back at home, making tea for visiting family presents challenges around memorising instructions, visual symptoms and coordination problems.

"Dementia is commonly misunderstood, so A Walk Through Dementia is designed to offer the public a clearer picture of the challenges that people living with the condition face in everyday life," said Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Research UK.

"The app also gives a poignant insight into the emotional impact of symptoms, an element that people with dementia told us was important to achieve," Evans said.

"Although each person with dementia experiences the condition differently, and it would be hard to recreate the full range of complex symptoms, harnessing new technology like virtual reality helps us engage people with the impact of dementia on a new level," she said.

"With a condition as misunderstood as dementia, the power of this technology to inform and connect with people could really change attitudes," said Pere Perez, CEO at VISYON.
India and the US face the same dilemma how to engage a "newly assertive" China in Asia, a former top American diplomat has said as he backed strong Indo-US ties.

"When (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (US president Barack) Obama meet in the Oval Office, the glue that will bind them together is their mutual concern about a newly assertive China in Asia," former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said.

Both face the same dilemma, Burns felt adding that they have no choice but to engage China on trade, global economic stability and climate change given Beijing's vast international weight and influence.

At the same time, Washington and New Delhi understand the necessity of standing up to China's bullying of Vietnam, the Philippines and other claimants to the Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea, Burns wrote on Friday in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

Observing that Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has been particularly effective in laying the groundwork for a more integrated US military future with India, Burns said on a recent visit to New Delhi, he was struck by a change of attitude among senior Indians who have long debated how much they should strengthen ties to the United States given India's traditional non-alignment.

Despite differences between the two countries, Burns argued by virtue of their solid democratic foundations, India and the US may be best positioned for global influence far into this century.

He said Modi's move to transform India to a "true world power" mirrors goal of Obama and his predecessor George Bush that a strong India is in America's national interest.

"In fact, this 'foreign policy prime minister', as many call him, aims to transform India itself from the dominant country in South Asia to a true world power. That goal mirrors Obama and Bush's calculation that a strong India is in our interest," he said.

Republican and Democratic leaders should continue to support it, Burns said.

"Our strengthening partnership with India is a striking success. It has been built by the internationalist center in both parties that can still unite them on important foreign policy issues. The next US president will have the opportunity to work with Republicans and Democrats in writing the next chapter with India," Burns said.
A 55-year-old man was killed and three persons were seriously injured when suspected members of a liquor mafia attacked a family in Suheli village.

According to the police, four persons yesterday barged into the house of Kashmir Singh and attacked his family with swords for disclosing information about their racket.

Singh died in the attack and three others were injured who have been shifted to a hospital, police said.

A case against the members of the liquor mafia Sardar Ajmer Singh, Sher Singh, Jagraj and Ranu has been registered, SP Santosh Kumar Mishra said.

The body of the deceased has been sent for postmortem.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the people of the state to exercise restraint while observing the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar tomorrow peacefully even as police continued to crack down on radicals across the state.

On the sidelines of Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi assembly segment here, the Chief Minister said the state government was committed to maintaining peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state.

He said the state government is keeping a strict vigil and every effort is being made to maintain law and order.

The Chief Minister said peace and communal harmony should be our priority as they are catalysts for overall development of any state.

He bemoaned that Punjab had already suffered a lot during the "black days" of the militancy due to which the economic development of state was stalled and several thousand precious lives were lost.

"So the need of the hour is that all of us should join hands to strengthen the ethos of peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state," Badal said.

On the proposed agitation of Congress in Balad Kalan village on June 18, the Chief Minister termed it as a 'political gimmick'.

He said the state government is already probing the issue of lathicharge by the Bhawanigarh police on agitating Dalits on May 24 at Balad Kalan village and there was no need for a protest by Congress leadership.

The party is only wasting energy by politicising the issue, the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, as part of a statewide police crackdown on radical Sikhs ahead of the anniversary of Operation BlueStar, police has rounded up SAD(A) and Damdami Taksal activists from several places.

SAD (A) state executive committee member Rajinder Singh Fauji was arrested as a preventive measure from Phagwara, police said.

Members of Damdami Taksal, Dal Khalsa and SAD (A) are also being held as preventive steps, they said.

A crackdown on Sikh radicals was being made in view of the intelligence reports of a possible trouble by them during the observance of BlueStar anniversary at Akal Takht Sahib inside Golden Temple Complex tomorrow, police said.

SAD (Amritsar) President Simranjit Singh Mann appealed to



various Sikh organizations not to hold separate functions tomorrow to pay homage to those killed in operation Blue Star.

He appealed to all organizations and general public to reach Golden Temple and participate "in a big way" in ardas (prayer).

He criticised the SAD-BJP government for detaining activists of Dal Khalsa and SAD (A).

Meanwhile, in an early morning raid at Tharaj village of Bagahpunana in Moga district, police rounded up Chamkur Singh, district president of United Akali Dal.

According to some reports, several activists of radical organisations have gone underground to avoid arrest, police said.

Police also staged flag marches at different places, including Amritsar and Moga to instill confidence among people.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today held bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Ngo Xuan Lich, where the two discussed key military issues including possible sale of supersonic missile Brahmos to the Southeast Asian country.

The contentious South China Sea was also believed to have been discussed by the two Defence ministers.

Parrikar, who arrived in Hanoi city today, also placed wreath at Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. He is on two-day visit to Vietnam, official sources said.

The visit assumes significance amid the raging South China sea issue in the region.

India had yesterday called for a regional framework for security management to peacefully resolve disputes, threat and use of force in the Indo-Pacific region, amid China flexing its muscles in the area to advance its maritime claims against its Asian neighbours.

"Regional framework for security management must enshrine a commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes, the threat or use of force," Parrikar has said in his address at the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue.

Last year, India and Vietnam had decided to enhance their bilateral defence cooperation and signed a joint vision statement for five years.

Vietnam, which is building a naval deterrent to China with Russian-made Kilo-class submarines, is keen on India training its submarine personnel. It also has expressed interest to acquire Indian-made BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a deal for which India is open to.

Vietnam may become the first country to be supplied the 290 km-range BrahMos weapon system, a joint venture of India and Russia.
Peru's presidential vote has headed for a photo finish in a race between the daughter of an ex-president jailed for massacres and a former Wall Street banker.

Conservative Keiko Fujimori, 41, and her centre-right rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 77, were virtually tied in exit polls as voting closed on Sunday at 2100 GMT.

The runoff election has forced voters to confront the South American nation's dark past. A 1980-2000 civil conflict involving leftist insurgents killed an estimated 70,000 people.

Many mistrust Keiko Fujimori because her father Alberto is in jail for corruption and the slaughter of alleged terrorists in the 1990s.

"We want no more dictatorships. There was a lot of repression and a lot of people died and disappeared," said Enrique Castillo, a 61-year-old queueing to vote in Lima.

hope Keiko Fujimori will be tough like her father in fighting a wave of violent crime in Peru, a major cocaine-producing country.

"Her father did good things too against crime," said administrative worker Silvia Cuadros, 45, waiting in line to vote for Fujimori.

"Our parents may make mistakes, but that does not mean their children will do the same."

Cheering supporters of the candidates gathered in separate rallies in Lima to watch the results come in yesterday evening.

Fujimori and Kuczynski earlier spoke to television crews at their traditional election-morning breakfasts with their families.

"Go out and vote, do it early and let us do it united, thinking of our country," Fujimori said.

"Today is a day of celebration and the winner should be Peru."

Kuczynski called for a "government of unity."

"Vote happily and think of democracy and dialogue. That is the only thing that will save us from corruption, drug-trafficking and turbulence."

Both candidates are right-leaning, US-educated politicians.

Kuczynski, son of a Jewish doctor from Germany, also studied in Britain in the 1950s.

They have both vowed to fight crime and create jobs in the nation of 31 million people.

Fujimori is the granddaughter of Japanese immigrants. A mother of two, married to an American, she is seen as more populist and socially conservative, and would be Peru's first woman president.
Car buyers seem to have begun lapping up petrol variants in a big way with the diesel vehicles facing wrath of the courts on pollution concerns, prompting automakers to recalibrate their production strategy.

Major car makers like Hyundai and Honda are re-working their strategy to meet the demand for more petrol vehicles. Even in the fancy SUV segment, hitherto a stronghold for diesel versions, sales of diesel-powered cars is on a decline.

In the luxury segment too, market leader Mercedes Benz has predicted that there could be "a tide turning" in India in favour of petrol versions although the company hasn't witnessed a strong shift so far.

"In the last few months, there has been an accelerated change in demand in favour of petrol vehicles. This is mainly due to the government policy on diesel vehicles (higher excise duty) and cases surrounding diesel vehicles, including NGT order to ban those over 10 years," Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), R S Kalsi, told PTI.

He said that between 2013-14 and 2015-16, there was a gradual shift from petrol towards diesel vehicles but the trend has now reversed.

Expressing similar sentiments, Hyundai Motor India Ltd's (HMIL) Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava said, "The sales of diesel passenger vehicles have come down to 40 per cent of total sales for the industry, from 46 per cent earlier."



Total passenger vehicle sales in India stood at 27,89,678 units in 2015-16 and in April this year, it stood at 2,42,060 units.

One major factor favouring diesel cars in India in the past has been lower price of this fuel, in comparison to petrol.

Singling out diesel vehicles consequent to the pollution problems in the capital, the government decided to impose a 2.5 per cent cess on diesel vehicles of length not exceeding 4 metres and engine capacity not exceeding 1,500 cc, while higher engine capacity and SUVs and bigger sedans were slapped a cess of four per cent on the value of the car.

These are over and above a cess of one per cent on petrol/LPG/CNG driven vehicles of length not exceeding four metres and engine capacity not exceeding 1,200 cc.

The government also proposed "to collect tax at source at the rate of one per cent on purchase of luxury cars exceeding value of Rs 10 lakh".

Last December, the Supreme Court banned registration of diesel cars and SUVs with engines above 2,000 cc in Delhi-NCR which has now been extended till further hearing, expected in July.

"The limited ban on diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR has added to the uncertainty, thereby affecting demand and leading to a shift in preference for petrol over diesel vehicles," Srivastava said.

He further said, "This shift is even more visible in SUVs, which traditionally had higher percentage of demand for diesel engines. It has seen a pronounced shift towards petrol with diesel demand coming down to 80 per cent from 90 per cent earlier."



Echoing his views, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said: "Even for our new model B-RV in the SUV segment, where there is normally more demand for diesel, we are seeing even sales of diesel and petrol.

Sen said there has been a distinct shift in demand from



diesel to petrol in Honda Cars India's (HCIL) models, including the City sedan, which have both diesel and petrol options.

Srivastava said a major reason for consumers preferring petrol vehicles is the reducing gap in the prices of petrol and diesel from Rs 14 a litre to Rs 11.67.

"It substantially increased the cost of ownership of diesel vehicles and played a big role in the shift," he said.

In the luxury segment, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Roland Folger said: "We haven't yet seen such a strong shift towards petrol versions, but that wouldn't mean that there could not be a tide turning."



He said there could be a clarity in the next three months on where it could drift since people are not sure at the moment on the implications of the ban imposed by the Supreme Court in diesel SUVs and cars with engines above 2,000 cc.

When asked if HMIL has adjusted its production according to demand for petrol vehicles, Srivastava said, "We have a flexible engine manufacturing unit which is able to adjust to the shift in demand along with the support of our vendor partners and work to meet the increased requirement for petrol engines."



Similarly, Sen said: "We have adjusted our production but we can't do it overnight as it takes time. That has been reflected in our May sales figures as it took a bit of time to supply more petrol engines."



HCIL's overall diesel car production came down to 3,194 units in May, from 7,643 units in April. Petrol car production also came down to 7,376 units, from 9,388 units in April this year.

The company's overall production was down in May due to block closure of plants for maintenance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on the third leg of his five-nation tour during which he will hold talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Modi, who visited Afghanistan on Saturday, arrived here after his two-day visit to Qatar during which he held talks with the leadership there on a host of issues.

"Bon Soir Geneve! A late night arrival in the picturesque Swiss city marks beginning of third leg of PM's journey," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Ahead of his five-nation tour, Modi had described Switzerland as India's key partner in Europe.

"I will hold talks with President Schneider-Ammann to deepen our bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

"In Geneva, I will meet prominent businesspersons. Our agenda will be to expand economic and investment ties. I will meet Indian scientists working at CERN. India takes pride in their contribution to exploring new frontiers of science in the service of humanity," he had said.

The Prime Minister is likely to raise the issue of black money stashed by Indians in Swiss banks.

Modi is also likely to seek Switzerland's support for India's membership of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group as it is a key member of the elite grouping.

From here, Modi will travel to the US and then to Mexico before returning to India.
Thousands of people participated in rallies organised by a pro-Kurdish, opposition party to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament.

More than 1,000 demonstrators yesterday gathered in Istanbul and around 3,000 others convened in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in protests organised by the People's Democratic Party, or HDP. Demonstrations in other cities were banned by authorities.

Last month, Turkey's parliament approved amendments to the constitution that clear the way for the prosecution of nearly 140 legislators, many of them from the People's Democratic Party, or HDP.

"In the coming days our trial is going to start," HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said in Istanbul. "We aren't afraid to be on trial, but it is our right to expect to be judged by a real judicial authority. Is there something like that? There is not."



The amendment was proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party after Turkey's president accused the HDP of being an arm of outlawed Kurdish rebels and demanded their prosecution on terror-related charges.

Demirtas said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was still seeking revenge for HDP's electoral win in June last year, when the party secured enough votes to enter parliament.

"This is why he is using the tanks, panzers, and cannons in a merciless way against the crowds," he said in reference to a series of large-scale security operations in southeast Turkey.

Demirtas also attended the demonstration in Diyarbakir later in the day. The gathering was timed to mark the anniversary of a bombing in the southeastern city that killed two people and injured scores of others during an HDP rally before last year's general election.

The Turkish state has been locked in renewed conflict with Kurdish fighters since last summer when a 2-and-half-year truce with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, collapsed. Kurdish rebels have set up trenches, barricades and explosives to keep the authorities out of areas where they want autonomy.

Turkey and its Western allies consider the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, a terrorist organisation.
Actor Pulkit Samrat, who is sharing screen space with rumoured girlfriend Yami Gautam in yet another romantic film, says it's difficult to express love on screen.

Pulkit and Yami were seen romancing each other in "Sanam Re". The two have now teamed up again for another romantic film "Junooniyat".

"I think saying 'I love you' is the most difficult thing to do on screen and most boring thing to do off screen. On screen you have to put so much effort to say or do things in a such a way that it looks romantic, otherwise it might look fake. It's only the eyes that speak when it comes to express things," Pulkit told PTI.

"It is difficult to express love on screen as difficult it is to do a comedy or action film. There are other people on sets who help in making romance look good on screen," he said.

In the Vivek Agnihotri-directed movie, the 32-year-old actor plays the role of an Army officer.

"The uniform itself is so special. The respect and strength comes organically. There is a certain aura that the uniform has. People look at you differently, you walk and talk differently," he said.

"He (the role played by Pulkit) is a strong person who is ready to take bullet on his chest for his country, how passionate he can be with a woman he falls in love with. That is interesting," he said.

The "Fukrey" actor feels lucky to have shot the film in Army bases.

"We would like to thank Army people for all the help. Having access to Army people helped me in picking up some nuances from them," he said.

The love story produced by Bhushan Kumar is set to release on June 24.
The Ranchi Police today joined the Lions Club of Ranchi and Laxmangarh Nagarik Parishad in donating blood.

Superintendent of Police (City) Kaushal Kishore and other police personnel donated blood at the camp organised at Nagarmal Modi Seva Sadan in memory of Late Gobind Prasad Bangar, a press release said here.

Several social workers also donated blood.

After donating blood, Kaushal said it was a pride for all healthy persons to help protect human life and appealed to the people to donate blood, the release said.

He said the people's support has helped curbing crime and asked them to be in touch with the police, which would stand by them any time, the release said quoting the SP.
Armed men suspected of being religious extremists went on the rampage in a town in Kazakhstan, killing three civilians and three soldiers, the interior ministry said.

The coordinated attacks on two weapons stores and a military base in the western town of Aktobe yesterday triggered a major counter-terrorist operation with police clearing people from shopping malls and markets while public transport was shut down.

Four of the gunmen were killed by security forces and seven others arrested, ministry spokesman Almas Sadubayev told Russian agency Interfax.

A civilian shop owner and a security guard were killed in the first gunshop that was targeted, while a customer was shot dead in the second firearms store, he was quoted as saying.

Gunmen also killed three soldiers as they tried to storm a military base.

"The assailants hijacked a bus. They then ordered the passengers and the driver to get off and tried to ram the gates," Sadubayev told Russian media. "They opened fire and shot dead three soldiers."



The attackers were probably "religious extremists", he told AFP earlier.

It was not immediately clear how many suspects in total were involved in yesterday's attacks in the mainly-Muslim Central Asian country, which came on the eve of the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Aktobe is a city of about 400,000 in western Kazakhstan, about 60 kilometres from the Russian border.
An administrative probe into the Jawahar Bag violence has begun and the report will be submitted within a fortnight, Aligarh commissioner Chandra Kant said today.

"The report will not be delayed. It will be submitted to the government within a fortnight," he told reporters here.

"I have talkedto DM Rajesh Kumar, SSP Rakesh Singh, ADMs and City Magistrate Ram Araj Yadav. I have also visited JawaharBag and recorded statements of people regarding the incident," he said.

Kant, who is heading the investigation into the violent clashes between police and encroachers at Jawahar Bagh on Thursday, said all possible angles will be looked into.

29 people, including SP Mukul Dwivedi, and SHO (Farah) Santosh Yadav died during the clashes.

"Why the incident has taken place, whether it was properly tackled, shortcomings in operation Jawahar Bag, what is the level of shortcoming, whether firing orders were given late or any other factor--everything will be thoroughly probed," he said.

Meanwhile, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said the Uttar Pradesh government "mishandled" the situation.

"In spite of the Allahabad High Court order and repeated requests of the district administration in the last three months, adequate force was not provided in time to tackle the situation," she said, adding it had happened due to "intelligence failure".

"The Chief Minister or any senior minister of his Cabinet should have personally condoled the death of two police officers," she said



Jyoti also said only a CBI probe could satisfy the families of the officers.
A delegation of Safai Karamcharis (sanitation workers) today met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and thanked him for accepting their demands.

A delegation comprising several outfits of sanitation workers and the office bearers of the unions, met the CM at his residence and thanked him for releasing the Diwali bonus for East Delhi Municipal Corporation for 2015 besides several other decisions taken by him on their request.

The delegation, in a release, said that the Chief Minister reiterated the welfare of the 'Safai Karamcharis' and assured them of their well-being.
Israeli police deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem today for an annual march marking the country's 1967 seizure of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of the city.

This year's march came as Muslims prepare to begin observing the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Palestinians visit the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City.

The Israeli march for "Jerusalem Day" was also passing through the Muslim quarter of the Old City before arriving at the Western Wall, which is directly below the Al-Aqsa compound, leading to fears of tensions.

Some 30,000 demonstrators were expected at the march which began at around 5:15 pm.

"We shall be there in very large numbers," Israeli police spokesman Asi Aharoni said ahead of the march.

"We have more than 2,000 police just for the Jerusalem Day events."



Israeli rights group Ir Amim had asked the supreme court to bar the march from entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate, the main entry used by Palestinians.

The court rejected the appeal, but required the marchers to complete their passage through the Damascus Gate by 6:15 pm and through the Muslim quarter by 7:00 pm.

The time restrictions were in place in case Ramadan began on Sunday night. The start of Ramadan coincides with the new moon.

Young Jewish demonstrators gathered in the city centre near the Old City ahead of the march, including religious students with separate processions for males and females.

At Damascus Gate, heavy security included barricades and nearby cafes that cater to tourists had closed.
Spain's former prime minister has met with jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, the first meeting of its kind in more than two years.

The prison visit was part of a high-risk diplomatic effort to defuse Venezuela's escalating crisis.

The meeting between Lopez and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero lasted about 90 minutes, Adriana Lopez, the prisoner's sister, told The Associated Press. She said she didn't know what the two discussed and declined further comment.

It's the first time in more than two years an outside visitor besides Lopez's family or lawyers has met with the combative leader in the military prison outside Caracas where he's being held.

In 2015, he was sentenced to nearly 14 years in jail for inciting violence at anti-government protests in proceedings widely condemned as a politically-motivated show trial by the US and human rights groups.

"We don't know who permitted it or why," Leopoldo Lopez, who shares his son's name, said on Twitter. "All we know is that there was a surprise."



Venezuela's opposition is demanding the release of Lopez and dozens of other activists it considers political prisoners as part of an international mediation effort led by Zapatero and the former presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Last month, the three presided over two days of informal meetings in the Dominican Republic in which they shuttled messages between representatives of the opposition and the government.

One of the government's participants at that meeting, Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodriguez, escorted Zapatero to the jail yesterday but did not partake in the meeting, according to a source close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was private.

Zapatero has kept quiet about his dealings and many observers believe they are doomed to fail so long as Maduro refuses to yield to the opposition's demands that his government allow to go forward this year a proposed recall referendum on whether to cut short his six-year term.

But yesterday's meeting is likely to give more oxygen to the mediation effort, which has the support of the Obama administration and regional governments and comes as pressure is mounting on the Organisation of American States to suspend Venezuela for violating standards of democracy and the rule of law.
Much of Florida's western coast was under a tropical storm warning, with the threat of heavy rains and high wind moving quickly northeast from the Gulf of Mexico.

It is the latest in a series of severe whether events across the country, from record-breaking heat in the West, flooding in Texas and storms that are expected to cause problems in the nation's capital and mid-Atlantic region.

The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said a tropical depression in the southern gulf was expected to become a tropical storm before hitting the Florida Gulf coast today afternoon. The depression was moving at a speed of about 19 kph and was expected to pick up the pace later yesterday.

"It's going to impact most of the state in some way," Governor Rick Scott said in a phone interview. "Hopefully we won't have any significant issues here, but we can have some storm surge, some rain, tornados and some flooding."



Scott postponed a political meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump scheduled today in New York so he can remain in the state capital to monitor the weather.

Tropical depressions have wind speeds of less than 63 kph, while tropical storms carry wind speeds of between 63 kph and 117 kph.

What was expected to become Tropical Storm Colin was likely to bring dangerous rainfall levels, and residents were warned about possible flooding and hazardous driving conditions. Rain began falling in the Tampa Bay area just past noon yesterday.

Scott warned residents not to simply look at the centre of the storm, saying the heaviest rain will be to the east and west of it.

The National Weather Service in Mobile issued a flood warning for the Shoal River near Crestview and warned of possible widespread flooding in streams, creeks, and canals. Wind gusts threatened to bring down trees and branches and cause power outages.

The Georgia coast and the north Florida Atlantic coast were placed under a tropical storm watch yesterday evening. Sand bags were being distributed to residents in St. Petersburg, Tampa and nearby cities.

"We're surrounded on three sides by water," said Pinellas County spokesman Nick Zoller, who said the county distributed 3,300 sand bags on Saturday, a number he expected to go up now that a tropical storm warning is in effect.

Just to the north, Pasco County Emergency Services Director Kevin Guthrie said the message is to be prepared. "We are going to flood in parts of Pasco County," Guthrie said in an email.
The administration in Odisha's Ganjam district has chalked out strategies to take precautionary measures to tackle a possible flood-like situation, with an eye on the approaching monsoon.

Ganjam, one of the coastal districts in the state, is in the flood and cyclone-prone zone. The strategies were discussed at the district natural calamities committee meeting held at Chhatrapur recently, said officials.

The executive engineers of the water resources department were asked to inspect the weak and vulnerable points in the river and embankments from time to time.

They have also been asked to make arrangements for stockpiling of required flood-fighting materials like sand-bag, bamboos in advance at vulnerable points. The executive engineers have identified 13 vulnerable locations on different river embankments across the district.

The administration has decided to install temporary police wireless stations and telephones in the flood-prone areas, where telephone connectivity is not available for communication.

"At least 45 boats will be kept ready for use during rescue and relief operation. The boats will be utilized depending on the gravity of the situation," said collector P C Choudhary, who presided over the meeting.

One unit of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) has been stationed at the 8th battalion, Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP) Chhatrapur, equipped with search and rescue materials, sources said.

Similarly, an airstrip and 17 helipads have been identified for landing of helicopters carrying essential relief services, sources added.
Dozens of Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo killed at least 16 civilians today, a monitor said, and caused huge damage to one rebel-held district targeted by a barrel bomb.

The crude, unguided explosive device hit the Qaterji neighbourhood, where an AFP photographer saw a street strewn with rubble as residents ran for safety and a rescuer rushed a bloodied child into an ambulance.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine civilians were killed in Qaterji and two others, including a child, were killed in the Mayssar neighbourhood of the northern city.

Another five civilians were killed in two other districts and on the city's outskirts.

In Qaterji a man stood in the middle of a road surrounded by debris and shouting angrily: "There are only civilians here, there are no rebels!"



Further down the street two women and two children scrambled for safety past the mangled iron shutters of shops and buildings badly damaged by the barrel bomb, the AFP photographer said.

The rescuer, his hair covered in white dust, carried a child with a blood-covered face to an ambulance in which another wounded child already lay.

A truce agreed by Russia and the United States in February has been violated nearly continuously around Aleppo, where the regime and rebel groups have fought for control since 2012.

Around 200,000 people lived in eastern parts of Aleppo held by the rebels and the only route out of those areas has been cut following fierce fighting that erupted on Thursday.

More than 300 civilians have been killed in Aleppo since April as rebels have pounded government-controlled neighbourhoods with rocket and artillery fire and the regime has hit rebel areas with air raids.

At least 280,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Elaborate security arrangements have put in place at Amritsar and several parts of the state, as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday exhorted the people to exercise restraint and observe anniversary of Operation Blue Star on Monday peacefully.

"We have made sufficient deployment of security forces in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala," a senior Punjab police official told PTI on Sunday.

As many as 15 Companies of paramilitary forces including Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force, Rapid Action Force, besides police personnel in strength, have been deployed.

"Six Companies of paramilitary forces have been placed at Amritsar while rest will be deployed in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala," he said.

As part of a statewide police crackdown on radical Sikhs, police has already rounded up activists of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Damdami Taksal from several places to avoid any trouble in the wake of 32nd anniversary of .

Several activists have also gone underground in the wake of the preventive arrests, official sources said.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made in Amritsar to thwart any attempt by miscreants to disturb law and order.

"We will not allow anyone to disturb peace and harmony in the city," Amritsar Police Commissioner, A S Chahal said.

While a few radical Sikh organisations have given a call for a shut down in Amritsar, Chahal said nobody will be allowed to close shops forcefully.

"We will not allow anyone to force shopkeepers to shut down their shops and brandish swords," he said.

Over 8,000 security personnel including paramilitary forces have been deployed in Amritsar, Chahal said, adding that police will keep an eye on people to thwart any attempt by miscreants to create disturbance.

Security personnel have also been deployed around the Golden Temple in Amritsar, he said.

"CCTVs have been installed at key locations for surveillance purposes," Chahal said.

"Devotees coming to Golden Temple will not face any problem," he assured.

He also said Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has deployed its task force inside the Golden Temple and will remain on alert.

On June 6 last year, five youths were injured in a clash inside the Golden Temple when people had gathered there to mark the anniversary of .
The body of a timber trader, in his mid sixties, was today found lying in a pool of blood in his apartment in central Kolkata, the police said.

The body of Khurshid Alam with his throat slit was found when police personnel from Jorasanko Police Station broke into his rented apartment at Bolai Dutta Street after locals informed them.

The body also bore injury marks, the police said.

Prima facie, the death appeared to be murder not for gain but could be because of any other dispute, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

"Going by the nature of the killing it seems that this is not a case of murder for gain. There may be something else behind this... Can be over property dispute or something else. We are looking into it," the officer said adding that mobile tower location were also being monitored for the probe.

Sleuths from the Force's Homicide section and sniffer dogs were pressed into action.

Alam belonged to Darbhanga in Bihar.
A top Syrian Kurdish commander died today, several days after sustaining injuries during a US-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State group from its de-facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.

Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, was hit by IS sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, an Islamic State group stronghold that controls the supply route between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the Kurdish website Rudaw said. He was evacuated by US forces to a hospital in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, where he died.

The commander fought against IS militants in Kobani in early 2015, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. Those battles, the first major setback to the IS advance in northern Syria, were seen as instrumental to securing US support for Kurdish forces in the country's multi-layered conflict.

The SDF are now advancing on Manbij, 155 kilometers (72 miles) to the northwest of Raqqa, as Syrian government forces backed by Iranian, Lebanese and Russian firepower, advance on the IS capital from the south. It is unclear whether the twin offensives were coordinated.

Pro-government forces reached within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Tabqa Air Base, to the west of Raqqa, according to the Observatory.

IS militants captured the base from the government in 2014, killing scores of captured soldiers. The media arm of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces, said the Syrian army took a small village 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the southwest of Tabqa air base.
Eminent yoga institutions are conducting training programmes for trainers from central government offices across the country to ensure the success of the second International Yoga Day on June 21.

"The celebration of International Day of Yoga would involve a very elaborate training programme on common yoga protocol for mass yoga performance as well as discourses, lectures and talks by eminent yoga experts.

"Various reputed and eminent yoga institutions have agreed to support the efforts of the government by providing training to trainers and other expert advice in celebration of International Day of Yoga, 2016," a letter issued to all secretaries of central government ministries said.

The secretaries have been asked to "issue necessary instructions to all officers" of their ministries, departments, attached and subordinate offices located in different parts of the country to prepare a detailed action plan for celebrating the International Yoga Day.

Most departments have sent the action plans to Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) in this regard, a senior government official said.

He said the participation of employees in yoga day celebrations is voluntary and they have been asked to follow the common yoga protocols in case they plan to attend it.

"The government of India has decided to take forward the momentum created by International Day of Yoga, 2015 with greater and more active participation of youth during the current year celebrations.

"The main programme would be the mass yoga demonstrations from 7 AM to 8 AM by following the common yoga protocol at the state, district, block and panchayat levels," the letter reads.

All ministries have also been asked to organise events like yoga fests, seminars, workshops and musical and cultural programmes based on yoga.

There are nearly 50 lakh central government employees working across the country.

In a first, India has decided to give tourist visa and e-tourist visa to foreigners willing to undergo short term course in yoga in its bid to popularise the ancient discipline for physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing globally.
Two drug peddlers were arrested and cannabis were seized from their possession in Kavi Nagar area here, police said today.

Acting on a tip off, police nabbed Umesh and Rajesh, hailing from Chapra, Bihar, yesterday near IMS Ghaziabad and seized two kg cannabis and Rs 40,000 from them, SHO, Ashok Shishodia said.

Both have been sent to jail under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act, he added.
Two persons were killed and as many seriously injured after unidentified assailants opened fire on them outside the Naini Central Jail here today, police said.

The incident took place this evening around 4 pm in which Vakeel Yadav and Lalta were killed, while two men, Suresh and Jai Prakash, were seriously injured.

The men were fired upon by the assailants while they were coming out the jail after meeting Yadav's father, Chandra Bhan Yadav, who is convicted in a murder case, Inspector R S Sonkar said.

After hearing gunshots, security personnel rushed outside the jail but the assailants managed to escape, he said.

A 315-bore rifle and a nine mm pistol were recovered from the spot and they have been sent to forensic experts, Sonkar said.

Lalta was killed on the spot while Vakeel Yadav succumbed to injuries while on the way to hospital. Suresh and Jai Prakash were admitted in a critical condition. Their condition is stable now, he said.

The injured men in their statement to police have alleged the attack was carried out on the behest of Shailendra, a Jhusi resident with whom Chandra Bhan has a long-standing feud, he added.

Chandra Bhan is serving the prison term for the murder of two brothers of Shailendra.

"We are carrying out our investigations on the basis of the testimony of the witnesses. The firearms recovered for the spot are also being examined by forensic experts as these might have been used by the assailants," Sonkar said.
It's a snapshot from another political era. Forty-one years ago, in Britain's last referendum on Europe, Margaret Thatcher hit the campaign trail clad in a woolly jumper emblazoned with a Union flag.

But the 1975 poll, which saw Britain embrace membership of what was then the Common Market, has plenty in common with the current bitter and closely-fought debate.

It also carries lessons for politicians ahead of the June 23 vote on whether to stay in or leave the European Union -- not least that the referendum may not resolve the issue for long.

Labour prime minister Harold Wilson called the referendum on June 5, 1975, as a way of trying to appease the eurosceptic wing of his fractured party, and urged Britons to stay in after securing concessions from Brussels.

This time around, it is Conservative premier David Cameron who is holding a vote to try to heal party splits, and who is campaigning to "Remain" on the basis of a renegotiated EU settlement.

For Tim Bale, politics professor at Queen Mary, University of London, the lesson of the past is that a referendum cannot guarantee to put a contentious matter to rest.

"It will fail utterly to settle the Europe question 'once and for all'," Bale wrote in a blog post.

"As to whether, in a democracy, that kind of never-ending uncertainty is necessarily a bad thing, who knows?" he said.

Wilson secured 67 percent support for staying in the European Economic Community (EEC), which Britain had joined two years earlier -- a result Cameron would be very happy with.
An hunt has been launched for an Indian-origin man found guilty of repeatedly raping a six-year-old child in the UK.

Vijesh Kooriyil fled to India, just a day before his trial was due to commence in Oxford on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old business manager boarded a plane to Delhi on Monday night and was unanimously convicted of two rapes and sentenced in absentia to an extended prison term of 18 years at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, Daily Mirror reported.

Kooriyil, who hails from Kerala, had been charged with repeatedly raping the boy after trapping him in his bedroom in Oxford in 2010 and 2011.

He had been permitted to keep his passport under his bail conditions, which were unconditional because he had no previous cautions or convictions.

"Vijesh Kooriyil deployed the all too familiar ways of gaining a child's trust. He would often call the boy to come and play with him. Some of those games were innocent enough, but took place in the defendant's bedroom," Judge Peter Ross said during sentencing.

"It was there, having secured the door with string and a nail, that the defendant began to rape a six-year-old, then-seven-year-old boy," he added.

Now a global manhunt is under way for the child rapist from Eastbourne in East Sussex county of England to be brought back to the UK.

Kooriyil had come to UK from India as a student and was living in Oxford when he carried out the abuse.

Prosecutor David Smith told the court these crimes only came to light after the boy started learning about sex at school and realised what had happened to him.

"He started to feel ashamed about what had happened to him, it made him feel angry and confused. He is very suspicious, not with children, but with adults. He cannot understand why he did such a thing to him," he said.

Kooriyil was summoned by post to attend Oxford Crown Court for trial and attended on November 13 last year to deny both charges.

But he failed to turn up on Tuesday, having misled his solicitors and fled the country, before the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Allister Tavner said the police were working with other authorities to bring Kooriyil back to the UK to face justice.

"Kooriyil has been found guilty and sentenced for some extremely serious offences, we are working very closely with the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) and other authorities in order to locate him," he said.

"This is in the very early stages but every power available will be used to return him to the UK to serve his sentence," he added.
Supported by air strikes of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias launched an assault last week on northern town of Manbij, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights  a Britain-based monitoring group.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces are now within about five kilometres of the strategic city of Manbij," said the monitoring group.

Manbij located along a route connecting Raqa  the group's de facto capital in Syria  to the Turkish border, a vital conduit for supplies and foreign fighters.

At least 74 people have died in the fighting since the start of the offensive last Monday, including 32 civilians mainly killed as a result of coalition air strikes, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of medics and activists to monitor the conflict.

Thirty jihadists were also killed, it said, along with 12 SDF fighters.

After taking the village of Khirbet al-Rus, about 20 kilometres southeast of Manbij, the SDF rescued a group of Yazidis  six women and 16 children  who were being held captive by IS, the Observatory said.

The women and children were among hundreds of Yazidis taken captive in mid-2014 as carried out brutal massacres, enslavement and rape against members of the Yazidi minority.

US Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said on Saturday that SDF fighters had seized more than 100 sq.km of territory during the advance.

More than 55 air strikes have been carried out since the offensive began, he said, adding that the goal was to hamper IS's ability to move fighters, weapons, finances and supplies in and out of Syria and Iraq.

Some 3,000 Arab fighters were taking part in the offensive, backed by around 500 Kurdish militia members and also informed that US special forces were working at the command and control level in the operation.

Russian-backed Syrian troops are also advancing against IS in Raqa and on Saturday pushed into the province from the southwest, within 40 km of the Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa, site of the country's biggest dam.
An American sailor was arrested today on suspicion of drunken driving causing an accident on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, where public anger has run high over crimes by US military personnel.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, assigned to Kadena base in Okinawa, was arrested after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles late yesterday, said police spokesman Takashi Shirado. She was not injured but two people in the other cars were injured, one in the arm and the other in the chest, he said.

The US military did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke with U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy about the arrest, with Kishida asking the US do more to prevent a recurrence, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Kennedy offered her regrets to the family of those injured, the ministry said. The US Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Protests are common on the island, where residents feel they are being forced with an unfair burden of housing the US troops under a bilateral security agreement.

American military personnel are under a midnight curfew and off-base drinking is banned through later this month in Okinawa after a former US Marine who worked on an American military base was arrested after he led police to a woman's body. He is being held on suspicion of abandoning the body, while police investigate.

The suspected murder of the woman was such a critical issue it came up during President Barack Obama's recent visit to Japan. Obama offered his condolences and promised that the US would fully cooperate to have the man prosecuted under Japanese law.

Japan and the US have been working together to relocate a US Marine Corps air station from a densely populated neighborhood in central Okinawa to another part of the island, but the project has repeatedly been delayed. Protesters are demanding that the facility be moved off Okinawa.

In March, a sailor was arrested on charges of raping a Japanese woman. A 1995 rape of a schoolgirl in which three US servicemen were convicted set off widespread outrage.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Mongolia today, the latest senior US official to make the trip to the mineral-rich country neighboured by Russia and China.

Kerry will stop in the capital Ulan Bator for several hours, where he is scheduled to meet with President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, launch a new USAID programme and attend a festival of horse-racing and Mongolian wrestling.

"I think the label that attaches itself pretty naturally to Mongolia is 'plucky democracy'," a senior State Department official said ahead of Kerry's visit.

Mongolia is "in a very, very tough neighbourhood", the official added, noting the country depends on Russia for three-quarters of its oil and China for about 90 percent of their trade.

"So it's not an easy place to operate," the official said, adding "Mongolia is a terrific partner to the United States and a good friend".

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and US Vice President Joe Biden are among other top officials to have visited the country in recent years as America "pivots to Asia".

The former Soviet nation of about three million people possesses enormous mineral resources and deposits of gold, copper and uranium, still largely untapped.

Its mineral resources saw the country achieve over 17 percent growth in 2011, but that has since drastically fallen to under 3 percent last year along with plummeting metal prices and capital flight.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, one of the country's key investors, has been hit by rising nationalist sentiment among Mongolians concerned about the growth of foreign firms as well as environmental damage from mining.

In 2012 the country passed a strict law on investment in "strategic" sectors and foreign direct investment collapsed. Parliament has since cancelled the controversial law.

In May Rio Tinto announced it would start work on an expansion of its giant gold and copper Oyu Tolgoi mine after years of gridlock, a huge project requiring a $5.3 billion investment.

The State Department official acknowledged, in an answer to a question posed by a member of the press, that a US bid for the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine several years ago was hampered by a very slow process. The bid ultimately went to a Chinese contractor.

"We think that the regulatory environment and the legal environment in Mongolia needs to be improved," the official said, after he was asked about transparency within the key sector.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today expressed her deep and heartfelt condolences at the sad demise of former Mr Universe Manohar Aich.

In her condolence message, Mamata Banerjee said the passing away of Aich has marked the end of an era and it has deeply saddened her.

"104-year-old world famous body-builder Manohar Aich passed away today afternoon. His demise ended an historic era. Saddened at the passing. He made us proud," Banerjee said in her message.

"We had honoured him with the Bangabhibhusan award in 2015. May his soul Rest in Peace. Please accept my deepest condolences for your family's loss," the Chief Minister said in her message to the Aich family.

Describing Aich as a "legend of body building", West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi also expressed his grief over the demise of the former Mr Universe.

In a message, Tripathi expressed his heartfelt condolences to Aich's bereaved family and followers.

(REOPENS CES14)



West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh today mourned the demise of Manohar Aich.

"I express my condolences to the family members of Manohar Aich," Ghosh said.

In 1991, Aich had contested the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket and finished third, getting over 1.63 lakh votes.
Male students may perform better than females in life science exams not because they have better academic ability, but due to the way the questions are designed, according to new research.

The study also found that high socioeconomic status students perform better than lower-status students on the same tests.

Researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) in the US found that females and males do equally well on exams that require mostly memorisation. The same holds true for low- and high-socioeconomic status students.

However, when tests include cognitively challenging questions that require elevated critical thinking, females and lower socioeconomic students score lower than their male or high-status peers, even though the students have equal academic ability, researchers said.

Over a three-year period, researchers looked at 87 undergraduate introductory biology exams taught by 26 instructors at a public research university. They included over 4,800 students in the analysis.

"At first glance, one might assume the differences in exam performance are based on academic ability. However, we controlled for this in our study by including the students' incoming grade point averages in our analysis," said Christian Wright from ASU.

"We were surprised to find that this gap emerged based on cognitive challenge level, and that this negatively affected women and lower socioeconomic students," said Wright.

Researchers recommend using active learning practices to help close the gap, including clickers, classroom discussion and other tools known to enhance student learning and help students perform better on critical thinking questions.

According to Wright, psychological factors such as stereotype threat, which can impact cognitive load, or students having growth or fixed mindsets may be the reason why a gap emerges when they take more challenging exams that test critical thinking.

The findings were published in the journal CBE-Life Sciences Education.
State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa today charged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with silently backing some Congress workers who caused 'mental agony' on Anupama Shenoy, who resigned as DSP at Kudligi reportedly in protest against their interference in her official duties.

Anupama had tendered her resignation yesterday after these people protested against the preventive detention of the trio, who wanted to extend their liquor shop, which would have blocked a road leading to Ambedkar Bhavan.

The complaint was lodged by Dalit leaders.

Yedyurappa, in a statement here, charged that the mental agony perpetrated by Congress workers on Anupama Shenoy had the silent nod of the Congress government in general and Chief Minister in particular.

The former Chief Minister said the 'silence' of the Siddaramaiah government reflects its 'innate allergy' and hate towards sincere and efficient officers.

He alleged that the episode started with Labour Minister Parameshwar Naik who got the woman police officer shunted out six months ago on flimsy ground.

The CM and Home Minister did not defend her or take Naik to task. Instead they stood by him and transferred her, thus creating a demoralising environment, he contended.

Recalling the Upa Lokayukta Subash Adi controversy, he said the CM and his party workers had created a situation of helplessness for Anupama, forcing her to resign in disgust.

"It may be recalled that the government humiliated as well as tried to cast aspersions on Justice Subhash Adi, Upa Lokayukta. But the panel constituted by the High Court royally slapped and snubbed the Congress government," he said.

Yeddyurappa demanded that Home Minister G Parameshwara put an end to this 'shameful episode' and said that as KPCC President, he must discipline his party workers for creating a disgustingsituation for an honest police officer to resign.

He also said Anupama's resignation in protest against interference of Congress workers in her official duties was a telling comment on the 'disgusting and suffocating atmosphere' prevailing in Karnataka under the Siddaramaiah headed Congress government.

He also said it was reprehensible to subject Anupama to humiliation and harassment for the second time in the last six months.
If you really want to get to know an economy, one of the first numbers you look at is jobs. Do people have a regular source of income, which they can use to buy their basic needs? How many people are out of a job and could be contributing more to the economy if only they had one?
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TUESDAY

Government contracting seminar

A business registration for government contracting seminar is from 2-4 P.M. at Center for Economic Development, 3209 S. Staples, Room 141. The seminar will provide guidance to establish business credentials and enhancing business profiles on various governmental search engines. Free. Information and registration: www.seminarscc.com

WEDNESDAY

Orientation for small businesses

A small business orientation is from 4-6 p.m. at the Economic Development Center, 3209 S. Staples St., CED 146. The seminar will provide new business owners information to start a business. Topics include: small business loans and financing requirements, business plan, licensing, contracting and permit information and resources. Free. Information: www.seminarscc.com

LATER

NAWC meeting set for June 21

The National Association of Women in Construction will conduct their monthly business meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 21 at The Bar-B-Q Man Restaurant, 4139 S. Interstate 37. Cost: $20. Information: 361-438-0593 or texwicvic@juno.com

Compiled by Natalia Contreras
AP file Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally May 27, 2016, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Donald Trump's rat-a-tat-tat firing of insults, outrages, slurs and personal slams have come at a dizzying pace.

He has barely finished sending a volley against one target  House Speaker Paul Ryan for a lack of enthusiasm over Trump's candidacy  than he moves on to maul another. The latest was his tirade against the press for their impudence in forcing him to account for the millions he said he had collected for veterans.

Amid the mud balls coming out of his mouth recently was an attack on a federal judge who he labeled "a hater," "very hostile," and "a Mexican."

With that race-baiting attack Trump has again torn away any illusion that progress has been made in race and ethnic relations.

Or at least any progress among those of Trump supporters who understand and embrace his blatant appeal to prejudice.

We may have believed that, as Martin Luther King Jr. hoped, that we are judged "by the content of his character" and not by the color of our skin or the ethnicity of our background. Trump has disabused us of the thought that the ideal was universal.

His target was Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge in the Southern District of California. Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana. That's a long, long way from Mexico.

For Trump's purposes, it doesn't matter that Curiel has a sterling judicial record and an inspiring career as a federal prosecutor specializing in going after drug cartels.

He's "a Mexican." That's all Trump knows about Curiel and all he asks his supporters to know.

Curiel is the judge who is presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump University in San Diego, California. The defunct school charged students thousands of dollars for courses in real estate that have been called nothing more than infomercials.

Trump's ire was triggered when Curiel ordered that internal university documents be released to the public. Trump's lawyers had fought against the motion filed by The Washington Post. Trump who has a long history of litigation said he was being "railroaded" in the federal court suit.

Curiel is now the latest Hispanic target of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Only days before his attack on Curiel, Trump had again slammed New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

That she is a rising star in Republican national politics and chairwoman of the Republican National Governors Association didn't restrain Trump's harangue against the governor.

At a May 25 rally in Albuquerque, Trump said, "Your governor has got to do a better job. She's not doing the job. Hey! Maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico."

Martinez' offense is her reluctance to endorse the real estate mogul. She has said she is offended by the language he uses to describe immigrants whom he has called "rapists" and "killers."

Add Curiel and Martinez to the list that includes Columba Bush, the wife of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump attributed Bush's moderate stand on immigration to the Mexican origins of his wife, Columba and then refused to apologize for dragging her into a political fight. Trump used a scurrilous and evidence-free article in the National Enquirer to suggest that somehow the elder Cruz was linked to the Kennedy assassination.

It was no surprise that the reporter he singled out in his press attack is Hispanic, ABC reporter Tom Llamas.

Yet the attack on Curiel, of all of Trump's racial and ethnic slurs, is the most blatant evidence that he has legitimized verbal bigotry. He does it and gets away with it. And his most barbed and vicious verbal assaults seem mostly directed at Hispanic targets.

This is the kind of labeling that was, in another time, a way to reduce a man's life to a caricature, and usually not even an accurate caricature. You may have been born in the U.S., have a successful career, a family man, a property owner and a respected member of the community. But to some, you were always "a Mexican."

Calling Curiel "a Mexican" is not a clumsy attempt to identify his heritage  his parents are Mexican immigrants  but a clear signal to diminish the standing of an adult man who is a graduate of the University of Indiana, a law school graduate and a former assistant U.S. attorney. He is one of 124 federal judges in the nation of Hispanic heritage.

Yet there was on Cinco de Mayo, tucking into a taco salad, tweeting "I love Hispanics."

Does he think we're all idiots?

Nick Jimenez has worked as a reporter, city editor and editorial page editor for more than 40 years in Corpus Christi. He is currently the editorial page editor emeritus for the Caller-Times. His commentary column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Some Texas counties show drop-off in first-day early voting numbers

Texas could be reverting to the normal low-turnout status for midterm elections this cycle after the high-excitement election of 2018.
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Policing one's own is a rarity in politics and governing. It's a duty shirked regularly by otherwise-principled people in power who keep their own houses in order but ignore the miscreant behaviors of others for fear of retaliation or out of party loyalty.

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott and Comptroller Glenn Hegar did that rare thing. They took principled action to stop the widespread unprincipled practice of using emergency leave as severance pay or hush money for departing state employees. They issued a directive to stop the practice until the Legislature addresses the issue  which the Legislature already is preparing to do.

Emergency leave is meant for actual emergencies such as an unexpected injury or illness suffered by the employee or a family member, or a death in the family. The envisioned duration for emergency leave is a few days or sometimes weeks  not the several months that the abusers of emergency leave have provided to people who left their jobs or were forced out.

Abbott, Hegar and lawmakers wouldn't have known to act had the Dallas Morning News not exposed the practice. Every Texan who has paid a sales tax should appreciate the role of the Morning News, Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman in exposing various aspects of this scandal.

Abbott and Hegar were in a unique position to act, not only because of the authority of their respective offices, but also because so far as we know  they're not among the abusers of the system. The news organizations didn't dig up anything on them, there is no reason to suspect them and their worst political enemies probably would describe them as straight arrows.

Most noteworthy among the abusers of the system is Attorney General Ken Paxton. By virtue of the office he holds, Paxton should be the first to know and let everyone else know the proper and improper uses of emergency leave. Other departments discovered by the Morning News to have used emergency leave as severance or hush money include Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Child Protective Services, the Water Development Board, the Teachers Retirement System and Parks & Wildlife.

The General Land Office under Commissioners George P. Bush and predecessor Jerry Patterson found another back-door severance device, according to the American-Statesman. Instead of emergency leave, the GLO just filed false time sheets, according to the Statesman. A GLO spokesman actually defended the practice as a protection against costly employment lawsuits. Another way to protect against lawsuits is to follow good professional management practices.

It may be politics as usual to fire competent employees for no good reason other than to give their jobs to one's friends and campaign staff, like Bush did wholesale. But personnel management-wise, it stinks and Texas taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for its consequences.

In addition to Abbott and Hegar, House Speaker Joe Straus deserves recognition for ordering the House to look into emergency leave practices that "appear contrary to the intent of the law."

Abbott and Hegar didn't scold Paxton or any other transgressors. They just recognized their responsibility to police their own and fulfilled it, knowing that it can be risky. The more likely, safer course would have been to shrug and say their powers are limited and wait for the Legislature.

Texans have a personnel management tool at their disposal. It's called voting. They should remember who abused the system and who took corrective action.
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Snoop Dogg told his fans to boycott the remake of the 1977 landmark miniseries "Roots."

SHARE John Salangsang/Invision/AP Snoop Dogg performs during a concert in Inglewood, Calif.

When I first saw the clip of rapper Snoop Dogg telling his fans to boycott the A+E Networks' remake of the 1977 landmark miniseries "Roots," I joined the collective eye-roll among most African American history professors and scholars.

But many people, black and white, share his opinion. Slavery as a subject seems to exist in our society on a kind of shame-blame rotation cycle that we have yet to fully reconcile.

Some African-Americans are ashamed of this history, despite the fact that "the shame is not ours." Still, this period marks a time when we were literally branded, whipped, raped, demoralized and separated from our most precious family members.

Under the circumstances, it's difficult to condemn Snoop for not wanting to go there.

Some whites believe we use this history to shame and blame. They find it hard to acknowledge the racism, savagery and greed of their ancestors. And they do not want to delve too deeply into this history lest they be forced to acknowledge the ways that it has benefited them.

Slavery is an ugly, agonizing, brutal, yet seminal chapter in the history, prowess and struggles of this nation. In many respects, I agree with the current miniseries editor, Will Packer, who said in his response to Snoop's criticism, "This is a story that's important enough it should be told in repeated ways."

That said, Snoop's comments suggest that scholars may need to do a better job of showing how this history is important for dealing with racism and systemic inequalities today.

Examining enslavement in the United States touches upon two interrelated aspects that remain critical flashpoints: the utter disregard for black humanity and the ways that the legal system implemented and maintained this profound dehumanization and alienation.

As slavery took form in the legal system, a series of laws accompanied its development and institutionalization. Laws that made lifelong servitude for Africans acceptable went on the books as early as 1640. By 1662, laws were written saying the offspring of enslaved mothers would be enslaved, thus making them also the property of the slave owner.

Over the centuries more laws followed: laws requiring passes for blacks traveling unaccompanied by whites, laws preventing blacks from gathering in large numbers, laws making rape a crime only if the victim was white.

Even after the Civil War, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude "except as a punishment for a crime." Officers used trumped-up vagrancy charges on newly freed blacks. Once in police custody, these women and men would be forced to labor on plantations and work on farms and chain gangs across the South.

The North is not exempt from this history. In places like Pennsylvania, black freedom was met with a fortified criminal justice system and the establishment of the nation's first penitentiary.

In other parts of the country, African-Americans were disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, and they were systematically targeted by police. In a lot of ways, slave patrols and night watches were the forerunners of modern policing.

The significance of this history in the ongoing murders of unarmed African-Americans along with the inability to obtain justice in these cases is undeniable.

We must confront slavery because it shows how this country's approach to policing and justice is inherently racially biased.

The history of slavery calls attention to the dire need for serious reform in the current justice system beginning with the legal codes right on down to revamping police forces nationwide. That might be something even Snoop could get behind.

But here is where Snoop and I agree: At the same time when we need popular representations of enslavement, we also need different kinds of stories about African American history in general. Just as we don't begin with slavery, we also don't end with civil rights.

Our histories run the gamut  everything from bold, inspiring and creative to accounts of a more haunting nature. It would be great to start seeing some of these stories told too.

Kali Nicole Gross is an associate professor of African and African Diaspora studies at The University of Texas at Austin and author of "Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America."
The head of the Texas Oil & Gas Association thinks that any study pointing out the health effects and dangers of fracking and oil refining is "junk science" ("Let real facts govern energy," Caller-Times, May 29). Surprised?

Neither are we. But we agree with Todd Staples that decisions about oil and gas extraction and refining should be based on facts and sound science. So let's review the facts on what scientists, the industry itself, and regulators policymakers say about the impact oil and gas has on health and the environment.

Fracking uses an enormous amount of water and chemicals. According to data self-reported by industry, oil and gas companies have injected 10 billion pounds of chemicals, including hydrochloric acid, benzene, and methanol, underground and used 120 billion gallons of water to frack 54,958 oil and gas wells in Texas since 2011.

Those chemicals are harmful. A recent analysis by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health identified 157 chemicals used in fracking that are toxic; the toxicity of 781 other fracking chemicals examined by the researchers is unknown. Toxic substances in fracking chemicals and wastewater have been linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and neurological and immune system problems.

Oil and gas drilling has polluted our rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater. Pollution occurs from surface leaks and spills of fracking fluid, well blowouts, the escape of methane and other contaminants from the well itself into groundwater, and the long-term migration of contaminants underground.

According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report, the state documented 557 instances of groundwater contamination due to oil and gas production in 2014. For example, according to the Railroad Commission (the state's primary regulator of the oil and gas industry), fracking wastewater injected into a disposal well contaminated the Cenozoic Pecos Alluvium Aquifer near Midland.

And people have gotten sick from pollution released by fracking and refining. In 2014, a Dallas County jury found that emissions from 22 gas wells surrounding the family ranch of Bob and Lisa Parr made them and their daughter, Emma, sick. A study by the University of Texas School of Public Health said children living within two miles of the Houston Ship Channel, home to many polluting oil refineries and petrochemical plants, had a 56 percent higher risk of contracting acute lymphocytic leukemia than children living more than 10 miles from the channel.

Much of the pollution released by refineries is unauthorized. According to data self-reported by industry to TCEQ, 679 oil refineries and other industrial facilities released 68 million pounds of mostly illegal air pollution in 2015 due to breakdowns and maintenance work. Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that such emissions from ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery and chemical plants were violations of the Clean Air Act and subject to penalties.

And then there's the global warming being fueled by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels. In the last few years, Texas has been hit by historic drought, wildfires and now extreme rainfall and flooding  all conditions scientists, including the entire Atmospheric Sciences Department at Texas A&M, expect in a warming world.

Too often Texas does not employ the "science-based regulation" that Mr. Staples claims it does. The Railroad Commission refuses to accept that fracking wastewater injection can trigger earthquakes, despite strong scientific evidence documented by the U.S. Geological Survey, researchers at Southern Methodist University, and oil and gas regulators in Oklahoma. TCEQ's Chair denies the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change. He even claims, despite decades of scientific research to the contrary, that reducing smog will make Texans sicker, not healthier!

The science clearly shows that oil and gas development is taking a toll on the health of Texas families and our environment. It's not surprising, but still irresponsible, that the Texas Oil and Gas Association refuses to acknowledge this. But we can take steps to rein in the worst impacts of dirty drilling, including by getting the Legislature to make sure oil and gas companies, and not taxpayers, pay to clean up the messes they make and by pressing state and federal regulators to hold violators of environmental laws accountable. Eventually we'll need to get off oil and fossil fuels completely. Until that day, we need to make sure that the science, and not the profits of Big Oil, prevails in our decision making.

Luke Metzger is the Director of Environment Texas, a statewide advocate for clean air, clean water and open spaces.
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Craig Pierce

Zika funding delay unconscionable

When the Pope suggests that Catholics in some regions of the world can use contraception, we know there is a real problem at hand. The Zika virus spreads via both mosquitoes and sexual transmission and the impact will be both lifelong and/or life shortening. When it infects a woman during pregnancy, it invades a fetus' prenatal brain, affecting lobes that control vision, hearing and cognition. As many as 13 percent of infected pregnant women risk giving birth to babies deformed this way. And that does not even consider what we don't know will happen with the other 87 percent born seemingly normal. Also, while statistically less likely, Zika will produce symptoms in some adults of temporary paralysis, requiring an iron lung for a time to stay alive.

On Feb. 22 President Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion in emergency funding to combat Zika. While a significant portion of this is for prevention and emergency assistance, research for a vaccine/cure is desperately needed. Realize that neither prevention nor a cure is on the near term horizon. And while there ARE companies with development expertise in this field they are currently hamstrung by both a lack of funding and an FDA operating like it is still the 20th century.

Yet Congress is dithering over passing a bill of even one-third of the President's request. Every day our congressmen and senators delay, more lives are being damaged beyond repair. To quote Center for Disease Control director Tom Frieden: "Speed is critical. A day can make all the difference."
In a letter to patrons, market organisers recognised there was "uncertainty about what will happen to the [Woden] campus in the future" so they wanted to secure a new long-term home for the market.
"We expect these initiatives will also increase public transport patronage so more people will choose to use public transport, which is great news for them, but also great news for people who might otherwise need to use our road network. It'll mean less cars on our road and therefore less congestion on our roads.
Private sector interest in the site was likely to be strong, the internal document said, but the community's perception of the arboretum as a public space and the "pre-eminence of the forests as the main purpose and drawcard" would be among the considerations before the development went ahead.
"Perhaps the most surprising thing is that even though the Senate has always worked to slow down the pace of reform - remembering for example that John Howard had to water down his GST- so many commentators are surprised that after each election that the Prime Minister will have to negotiate rather than dictate major policy changes," he said.
"I think it's going to have a huge impact on the election because you've got to look past the raw numbers of job losses and think of the public servants themselves, then it becomes a large group of voters," he said.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
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One of the most iconic supercars of the 90s, the McLaren F1, is blowing 24 candles and the British manufacturer celebrates by reissuing the original press release and photo gallery.



Developed using Formula 1 technology and following eight ultra successful racing seasons, the exotic still remains one of the most sought after supercars of all time. With just 106 units rolling off the assembly line, its no wonder that some of them change hands for more than $10 million.

Sporting a carbon-composite tub to keep its weight down, the F1 was equipped with bespoke dampers by Bilstein, Brembo four-piston front calipers and Goodyear tires capable of withstanding top speeds beyond the 200 mph (322 km/h) barrier. Another novelty for the world of supercars was the three-seat layout, with the driver sitting in the middle flanked by the two passengers.

However, nothing can quite compare to the naturally aspirated mid-mounted 6.1-liter V12 developed by BMW Motorsport that put out 627 PS (618 HP) and was mated to a six-speed manual transaxle. The engine bay alone is a work of art, with real gold being used for heat insulation, and the whole car owes a lot to McLarens then head of engineering, Gordon Murray, who was obsessed with keeping weight as low as possible.

You can check out the original press release from 1992 here.

ORIGINAL PHOTO GALLERY

RESTORED MCLAREN F1
This is one of those moments you wish to win the lottery as an original GTA 1300 Junior Stradale heads to an auction.



And its not just any GTA this one; Serial no. 776131 is not only the seventh from the last of the GTAs production run at the Autodelta shop, but also one of the 193 original Junior Stradale models, the rarest in the world of classic Giulias.

Back in 1965, Autodelta started the production of the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, a special lightweight version of the normal Giulia Coupe developed for racing. The first batch of GTAs was powered by a 1.6-litre engine and was offered both in Corsa spec strictly for racing and Stradale spec for road use.

In 1968 Autodelta started the production of the GTA 1300 Junior in response to the growing popularity of the sub-1300cc racing class. Powered by a de-stroked 1290cc version of the 1.6-litre unit, the GTA Junior produced up to 170hp in Corsa spec thanks to Autodeltas fuel injection system, with Stradale versions sticking to dual carburetors and making up to 110hp, just like the one we got here.

This Junior Stradale is actually the final GTA to be sold as new from the factory and its in original, unrestored and frankly amazing condition. It was delivered in December 1975 to a Florence-based racing team in the same Hawthorn White with a black vinyl interior it wears today. The team planned to convert it to a full-on race car but by the time it was delivered, FIA had changed the rules in its class, making ineligible to enter a race.

That when the original owner decided to register it for use on the public roads. A few years later, the car was sold to a German collector which in turn sold it to a noted Japanese Alfa Romeo collection through Alfaholics.

The car is described as a totally rust-free example with matching numbers thats been meticulously preserved over the years. Everything works as it, should with the clocks showing just 64,000km (39,000 miles) since new.

This simply stunning Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA 1300 Junior Stradale will be offered by Bonhams at the Greenwich Concours dElegance Auction on June 5, with the price estimated between $150,000 and $200,000. I need to rob a bank asap.

H/T To Petrolicious!

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Allan Brooks Nature Centre.

A celebration of First Nations, Metis and Inuit culture takes place at Allan Brooks Nature Centre on June 11.

Traditional song and dance will be delivered by performers in regalia, along with ceremonial events and demonstrations.

Other attractions include local artists' work on sale, traditional bannock roasting over a fire, as well as other traditional food.

The free event includes activities for kids such as face painting, a friendship bracelet workshop, rock painting and storytelling.

The event is organized in collaboration with the First Nations Friendship Centre, Okanagan College and Aboriginal Community Elders Society.

For more information or to get involved, contact the Allan Brooks Nature Centre at [email protected]
Photo: Jennifer Zielinski

A resident of Birch Manor in Rutland had just returned from an outing when she noticed smoke coming from under the hood of her car.

The woman called 911, and Kelowna firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames in the apartment building's underground parking lot and threatening an adjacent balcony.

Platoon Capt. Tim Light said at the scene the initial call came in as a structure fire on Leathead Road about 4 p.m. Friday. It was upgraded to a vehicle fire with structure exposure by the time fire crews arrived.

The incident closed Leathhead and Franklyn roads to traffic as residents of the building were evacuated with the help of RCMP members. They waited anxiously on the front lawn of the complex.

The building is operated by the Society of Hope, and Light said several residents would have needed special assistance so were "sheltered in place" while firefighters quickly knocked down the flames.

The vehicle was heavily damaged, and there was lots of damage in the parkade, said Light, with "a little melted vinyl siding on the building, but structurally, no damage."

Crews arrived to visible flames from the parkade. While the fire was quickly doused, firefighters ripped open the ceiling to ensure fire had not spread to the apartments above.

Residents were allowed back in to the building by 5 p.m.

 with files from Jen Zielinski
Photo: Wild Festival for Youth

More than 300 young people from across the Okanagan will gather together next Thursday in Kelowna.

The Get to Know Program will be hosting the 17th annual Wild Festival for Youth, a day filled with exciting nature and art-related activities.

Sneha Philip, the program coordinator, says activities include a live Birds of Prey show by Shuswap Bird of Prey, Learning to Fish, led by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C., guided nature hikes with park interpreters from the Regional District of the Central Okanagan and birdhouse building and painting with the Capri Rotary Club and TELUS Community Ambassadors.

This year we invited Councillor Ryan Donn to give his remarks about the Wild Festival for Youth and the importance of getting outside, active and connecting with nature.

The Get to Know Program was founded in 1999 by naturalist, and artist, Robert Bateman and Mary Clark, with the dream to inspire youth to get outside and 'get to know' their wild neighbours.

The event will take place at Okanagan College in Kelowna on Thursday, June 9, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photo: Google Street View

The Kelowna Fire Department made short work of an excavator fire early Saturday morning.

Fire crews were called to a property in the 1600 block of Swainson Road about 4 a.m. Saturday for an excavator which was fully engulfed in flame.

Crews were able to quickly knock down the fire, preventing it from spreading to other buildings or property.

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, platoon captain Eric Simpson offered a sage piece of advice.

"The Kelowna fire Department would like to remind people to dispose of any smoking materials in a proper manner."
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet It's a big thumbs up for future pilot Noah Wiebe, 8.

Noah Wiebe has a dream.

The eight-year-old Kelowna resident wants to pilot a plane someday.

And, not just any plane.

"I want to be a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines," said Wiebe Saturday.

While he didn't get that chance Saturday, Wiebe and about 140 other kids age eight to 17, did get a chance to feel the sensation of flight.

They were all part of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association event at the Kelowna Airport.

Pilots from the Kelowna Flying Club, and some from Vernon, Penticton and Summerland volunteered their time, and planes, to take to the sky with the wide-eyed group of youngsters.

"I just like Hawaii," added Wiebe when asked why he wants to fly for Hawaiian.

It's been a dream of his for about three years now to be a pilot.

"I just like to fly to all kinds of different places," he said.

Wiebe took his first flight when he was four days old, but his most vivid memory is a trip he took when he was a little older.

"Going to Panama."

Wiebe came to Saturday's event dressed for the part, wearing a sharp pilot's outfit.

This is the third year for COPA for Kids in Kelowna. Along with getting a ride in a small plane, the youngsters also took in a short ground school where they learned about the planes and were shown how to prepare for a flight.

"We have a mix of everything," said event organizer Pam Nelson.

"For some, it's a brand new experience. They've never been up and close to an airplane before. They get a chance to come on this side of the fence, the hot side, the apron."

Nelson said the event gives youngsters, and their families, a chance to learn about aviation, aviation in Kelowna and how it touches everybody's lives.

And, there's always something magical between kids and planes

"They're cool. They fly. They give us a freedom. They give us wings. That's not something we can get from any other place."

Events like this are held all over the country.

In B.C. alone, between 450 and 500 kids will get the chance to fly at events in Kelowna and Pitt Meadows this weekend and Boundary Bay next weekend.

Vernon and Penticton have also held successful events this year.

Next year, the Kelowna chapter of COPA will host a national event at the airport. About 200 planes will come to town for that event, the first of its kind ever held in Kelowna.
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

Jokingly, they called themselves rogue landscapers of sorts.

It was 2013, and a few members of the BC Society of Landscape Architects took it upon themselves to give the downtown Kelowna laneway near The Sails a makeover.

"It was like a tactical urbanism, a DIY approach," said Ben Walker, a member of the 2013 team, and now a property officer with the city.

"We always looked at this laneway as a space that was under utilized, so, in 2013, we did a DIY project as part of the downtown association's block party. A lot of people identified at the time that they wanted to see spaces like this turned into more permanent pieces in Kelowna."

Fast forward to 2016, where Kelowna council has given its blessing to have the laneway dressed up as a temporary project this year, with an eye to making it a permanent feature in 2017 and beyond.

Lights were strung up Tuesday on the lane, which joins Bernard and Lawrence avenues. Friday, the area was pressure washed.

Saturday, volunteers with BCSLA gathered to paint the space.

"It is a temporary install, so we tried to do something not too crazy," said Walker.

"It's the City of Kelowna logo colours. Something fun, and vibrant."

And, the feedback, said Walker, has been positive from those walking by.

"We've probably talked to a 100 people or so of all ages. Everyone walking by is excited.

"For the most part they are excited to see these types of spaces get utilized, other than cars and garbage."

Now that the space is clean, Walker hopes surrounding businesses will take a little more pride in where they put their garbage.

"Keep in mind we are doing this for the community, and to draw focus to these urban spaces. Get people downtown, and support the local businesses."

Aside from making it look better, Walker said the plan for the space is to put events on throughout the summer.

It will get its dry run June 16 as part of the DKA's Small Shops at Night.

There will be live music that night and members of Ballet Kelowna will also perform.

Public feedback will be garnered throughout the summer before it's determined what the space will look like moving forward.

If this is successful, Walker said there are other spaces in the downtown area that could also benefit from this type of makeover.
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet Four-year-old Lecia Fylyshtan-Burkinshaw gets her helmet fitted during Saturday's bike clinic in Kelowna.

The first thing you noticed when you checked out the bike clinic in City Park Saturday - every child riding a bike had a helmet.

Bike safety was the order of the day during the event hosted by Interior Health.

School District 23 and BrainTrust Canada also partnered in the event.

The event included a bike inspection station provided by Kelowna Cycle, brain injury education, helmet fitting and a 'rules of the road' obstacle course, provided by SD23.

About 30 free helmets were provided to youngsters by BrainTrust Canada.

"It's all about making people understand how fragile our brains are," said BrainTrust spokesperson Magda Kapp.

"Brain injury awareness is key. Making sure people have helmets and they are fitted properly. We want kids to be safe."

Kapp said just having a helmet isn't enough. She said they must also fit properly.

"There is a fitting process...making sure they aren't too big or too small.

"It forms a vee around your ears and comes halfway down your forehead.You have one finger in the chinstrap so it's not too loose, so when you fall it's not going to come off."

Kapp said she is disappointed to see how many people still ride without a helmet.

It is the law.

"Especially when you see kids wearing helmets and the parents don't. Kids learn by example, so we're really disappointed to see that."
Photo: Dave Ogilvie

A day on the lake ended in injury Saturday night.

Paramedics and firefighters responded to the Peachland waterfront just after 9 p.m. for a report of a boater with a serious foot laceration.

The patient was stabilized on the Beach Avenue docks and was able to walk to a waiting stretcher with help by about 9:40 before being loaded into an ambulance.
Photo: David Ogilvie

There were only minor injuries after a Sunday morning fender bender in West Kelowna.

According to a witness at the scene, a car and a SUV crashed on Main Street at Brown Road at approximately 8:20 a.m. this morning.

The left-hand southbound lane was closed while emergency crews cleaned up the scene.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Photo: Carmen Weld Kelowna Yacht Club board of directors

It's a tradition from days of yore, but the Kelowna Yacht Club strives to keep it alive each year.

Sunday marked the 2016 Sailpast at the Kelowna Yacht Club.

An event that sees club members prepare their boats, head out to the water and salute the commodore in a traditional naval sailpast.

This formal and historically-important occasion officially opens the boating season.

At the beginning of every season, we have a gathering where we do a blessing to the fleet, to ensure they have a safe season for the summer. It is a yachting tradition, a naval tradition, explains general manager Sally Howard.

It is also a good excuse for social gathering, so all of our members are here for a champagne reception and hors d'oeuvre and some fellowship.

Each year, the commodore's boat heads out into the water and anchors, as the 'fleet' of club member's boats sail past saluting the commodore as they go.

There is also a count done each year to see how many of each type of boat salute the commodore, as a fun rivalry is held each year between those with power boats and those with sail boats.

Past commodore Murray Ramsden explains that the tradition is rooted in a time where power boats didn't even exist.

It is a naval tradition that goes back hundreds of years, where their commander and chief would inspect his or her fleet, explains Ramsden. The boats were to pass by the commodore to one, acknowledge the commodore, and two, make sure the fleet is seaworthy.

Now, it kicks off the boating seasons and acknowledges the commodore. It is a volunteer position, the individual puts in a lot of time and effort.

He adds that the weather may have played a part in the strong turnout this year.

It was the first time I've been out on the water this year and it was just gorgeous, says Ramsden. Looking at the city, the downtown development going on, the yacht club in the background, all of the boats, it is lot of activity and it is just early June. It is the place to be.

This year's commodore is Nancy Thompson, one of the few women to claim the title, she says it was a wonderful day out on the water.

The weather couldn't have been better, says Thompson. I really appreciated the opportunity. Often they came so close we could have a little bit of a chat and I could salute them too.

It maintains a longstanding tradition. It is important to recognize the people that have gone before us and it is also historically interesting to keep it going.

Thompson says they have a group of strong young women on their Board of Directors and thus she hopes there will be more female commodores to come.

Members young and old took part with lifetime-member 93-year-old John Bell taking the helm of his own his new boat to complete the sailpast.

Thompson says another member in her nineties also hitched a ride to complete the traditional event.
Photo: RCMP

Central Okanagan Search and Rescue crews are actively searching for a missing Kelowna woman today  and they need your help.

COSAR crews are searching the downtown Kelowna core this afternoon, after emergency personnel received multiple reports that Sandra McLaughlan was seen downtown this weekend.

McLaughlan, 60, went missing on May 19, 2016.

Police are very concerned for Sandra McLaughlans health and well-being and friends and family report that it is out of character for her to be out of contact for this long, said Const. Jesse ODonaghey last week.

McLaughlan is described as:

Caucasian female;

60 years;

5 ft 6 in (169 cm);

161 lbs (73 kg);

blonde hair;

hazel eyes;

As SAR crews feel she is currently downtown, they are asking the public to call with any tips or information if they saw her this weekend.

You can call COSAR directly at 250-862-1685.
Photo: Castanet Staff

Petro Canada stations continue to run out of fuel this weekend, as stations across Western Canada close their pumps for business.

Last week, several Petro Canada stations throughout the Southern Interior ran out of gas, and now more are joining the list. On Sunday, the Petro Canada station at Highway 33 and Dougall Road in Rutland also ran out.

The Fort McMurray wildfires and an unplanned outage at an Edmonton refinery are being blamed for the fuel shortages at Suncor's Petro-Canada stations across Western Canada.

On Friday, Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal said the cumulative effects of lower crude production because of the fires and the Edmonton outage meant the company has been producing less diesel and especially less gasoline for its retail operations.

"Given the prolonged duration of the fires and its impact on the supply for our refinery, as well as ongoing planned seasonal maintenance in the industry, our product inventories are greatly reduced," Seetal said.

The company is reporting temporary shortages at Petro-Canada stations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as at sites in the British Columbia Interior.

Seetal said it was difficult to say when supplies would return to normal, but that Suncor is working to restore the refinery and restart its oil sands operations to provide more crude oil input to its system.
ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Hillary Clinton wants you to know that, in theory, she supports taxes on guns.



On Sunday, the Democratic presidential candidate told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News This Week that "the American public has a right to require certain kinds of regulatory responsible actions to protect everyone else" from gun violence.



But just how far would a Clinton administration go to ensure that?



Back in September 1993 at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, the then-first lady was asked by then-Sen. Bill Bradley whether she would support a 25 percent sales tax on handguns and automatic weapons. Her support was unequivocal.



"I'm all for that. I just don't know what else we're going to do to try to figure out how to get some handle on this violence," Clinton said. I'm speaking personally, but I feel very strongly about that."



On Sunday, Stephanopoulos asked Clinton whether she still believes in the idea. Although she stopped short of adding it to her campaign promises, saying, Im not going to commit to any specific proposal, she nonetheless issued an extended, comprehensive defense of the policy.



"What I was saying back then was that we have a lot of public health costs that taxpayers end up paying for through Medicaid, Medicare, through uncompensated care, Clinton said, because that was in the context of the push for health care reform and that we needed some way to try to defray those costs."



But her arguments go beyond the context of 1993, Clinton clarified, invoking several survivors of the San Bernardino attack she said she met Friday, who were cowering in abject terror by the terrorist's unbelievable assault on their co-workers, during the incident last December.



"When you have mass shootings, you not only have the terrible deaths, you have people who are injured," Clinton said. "What they talked to me about was, where do they get the financial support to deal with both the physical and the emotional trauma. You know, is it a workman's comp support, which is one of the arguments? Is it private insurance, Is it because they work for the county, something the county should pay for?"



"There are real costs that people incur because of the terrible gun violence epidemic. And we have to deal with it," she added.



While the former Secretary of State nonetheless stated that she is "not committed to anything" beyond those proposals that her campaign has already articulated, she said, I do want people to ask themselves, can't we do better than to have 33,000 people killed every year by guns and many thousands more injured? And I think we can.



Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
A Chicago police officer guards a pickup truck outside the Northwestern Memorial Hospital emergency room after two people were shot in the South Loop neighborhood and drove themselves to the hospital in the early morning hours of June 6, 2016. The man was pronounced dead at the emergency room, the woman, who was shot in the leg, survived. (Jose Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Police responding to a call of shots fired early Sunday in Grand Crossing found a silver car in an overgrown alley with the engine running and a man shot dead inside.

Neighbors in the 7900 block of South Drexel Avenue had heard a gunshot about 12:50 a.m. Other than that, not much was known. The man had no identification on him; police estimate he was in his 20s. Several of the houses closest to the car are vacant.

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Sergeants and detectives scoured the scene with flashlights, looking for bullet holes in nearby buildings and inspecting the car. A small gray cat crawled under the car and off into the alley.

"That's our witness!" a detective said.

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The man found dead was one of nine people shot since Saturday morning. Two of those shootings were fatal; two others left men in critical condition.

At 6:02 p.m. Saturday, a 21-year-old man was shot dead in Gresham, police said. He was in the passenger seat of a car at a gas station in the 8600 block of South Ashland Avenue when someone reached into the car from an open driver's side window and fired at him. He was shot in the chest and right arm and pronounced dead at St. Bernard Hospital, police said.

The man was later identified as Kori O. Sellers, 20, of the 7900 block of South Sangamon Street, the medical examiner's office said Sunday. He was pronounced dead at 6:52 p.m.

At 6:05 a.m. Sunday, a 27-year-old man was shot in the head in 4000 block of West Belmont Avenue in Avondale. Earlier, the victim, gotten out of his car to speak with the man who later shot him. An argument between the two ended in gunfire and the attacker fled the scene.

The 27-year-old man was rushed to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition as of Sunday morning.

In the other critical injury, a 36-year-old man was shot and wounded in Bridgeport at 3 a.m., police said.

He was on the second-floor back porch of his home in the 600 block of West 28th Street smoking a cigarette when someone shot him multiple times, according to police and bystanders at the scene. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

He is out on the porch all the time, neighbors said, because he doesn't smoke in the house.

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"Whoever did it must have known he goes out there smoking," one neighbor said.

Several large shell casings were found lying in the alley, clustered directly in front of the porch where he was shot.

Two 15-year-old boys were shot within an hour and a half of each other in Back of the Yards:

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At 11:25 p.m. Saturday, a 15-year-old boy was in the passenger seat of a car at the intersection of 47th Street and Ashland Avenue when a gunman on foot fired shots and the teen was hit in the back. The driver, who was unharmed, drove north on Ashland Avenue until coming to rest just north of Roosevelt Road, where an ambulance came to take the boy to Stroger Hospital. He was listed in fair condition.

At 12:50 a.m. Sunday, another 15-year-old boy was walking in the 4400 block of South Marshfield Avenue when he heard gunfire and realized he was shot. He was shot in the left leg and back and went to Stroger Hospital. His condition was stabilized.

Other shootings:

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At 2 a.m., a 25-year-old man was shot in the arm in the 3500 block of South Vincennes Avenue. He got himself to Provident Hospital, and his condition was stabilized.

At 3:43 p.m., a man and a boy were shot in the 1600 block of East 70th Street.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the left elbow and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized. A 17-year-old boy was shot in the stomach and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition also stabilized, police said.

Editor's note June 8: The man shot on Drexel was later identified as Dontay Murray Jr., 21, of the 6600 block of South Michigan Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:11 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Jeremy Givens, of the 200 block of West 111th Place, was arrested after he was identified as the suspect who stabbed Eugene Bailey, 42, of Morgan Park, in the chest, according to police. (Chicago Police Department)

A 26-year-old man got into a fight with another man, then waited outside with a knife before fatally stabbing his adversary on Christmas Eve on the Far South Side, prosecutors said.

Jeremy Givens was arrested after he was identified as the suspect who stabbed Eugene Bailey, 42, of Morgan Park, in the chest in the 300 block of West 111th Place, police said.

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The stabbing occurred at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 24, about one block from Givens' home in Roseland. Bailey was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died.

Givens was arrested in Chicago Heights on Friday on a warrant in connection with a 2013 burglary charge, authorities said.

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Although Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas set bond at $1 million on the murder charge Sunday, Givens was ordered held without bail until a Monday hearing because of the burglary warrant.

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Givens and the victim were in another person's house when they got into an argument that turned physical, Assistant State's Attorney Anna Sedelmaier said Sunday.

After the fight, Givens, of the 200 block of West 111th Place, got a knife and waited for the victim to leave the home.

"The defendant began taking off his coat, hoodie and shirt and pulled out a knife," Sedelmaier said. "The witness stepped between the defendant and the victim, and the defendant pushed the witness to the ground. The defendant then lunged at the victim approximately four times, stabbing him one time in the chest.

"After the stabbing, the defendant indicated 'that bitch can die.'"

Following several surgeries, Bailey died from the stabbing on Christmas Day.

tbriscoe@tribpub.com

Twitter @_tonybriscoe
Devonte M. Dodd, 20, left, was charged June 5, 2016, with felony murder, attempted armed robbery and mob action in the death of Pamela Johnson, 32, on May 29. Semaj Waters, 18, right, was charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and mob action last week. (Chicago Police Department)

A second man has been charged with murder in connection with an attempted robbery in the Gold Coast that ended with a woman fleeing the attack being fatally struck by a pickup truck on Lake Shore Drive.

Devonte M. Dodd, 20, of East Chicago, Ind., has been charged with murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and misdemeanor mob action in connection with the death of Pamela Johnson, 32, and injury of her boyfriend early May 29.

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Johnson and her 43-year-old boyfriend were enjoying a stroll in the 600 block of North Lake Shore Drive when a group of men began chasing them. The couple tried to flee across Lake Shore Drive, and Johnson was hit and killed by a truck and her boyfriend injured.

Dodd, according to police, approached the victims and announced the robbery. Dodd, of the 400 block of East Chicago Avenue in East Chicago, had been expected to appear in bond court Sunday afternoon in the Leighton Criminal Court Building but instead will appear Monday.

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Semaj Waters, 18, of the 9100 block of South Burnside Avenue, who police say pointed a handgun at the victims, appeared in court Saturday on a murder charge. A Cook County judge set Waters' bond at $500,000.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 6 Family members react to the death of Pamela Johnson, right, who was killed when she was hit by a truck on Lake Shore Drive. (Tribune / family photos)

Police credited Dodd's arrest to tips from the community after authorities released photos of several "persons of interest" from surveillance footage.

On Friday, relatives said Waters is innocent and insisted that he and friends were running away from the same gunman as Pamela Johnson, 32, early last Sunday.

"My little brother did not do this," a tearful Latisha Waters said after a news conference outside police headquarters as the charges were announced. "He's innocent."

Police said last week that they were questioning six "people of interest," two adults and four juveniles.
People install a huge poster reading "What would you do if your income were taken care of" on the Plaine de Plainpalais Square in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 14, 2016. (Magali Girardin, EPA)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland  Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have guaranteed everyone in the Alpine nation an unconditional basic income, according to projections published Sunday by public broadcaster SRF1.

The plan could have seen people in this wealthy nation of 8 million people receive about 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,560) per month  enough to cover their basic needs.

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Proponents argued that a basic income would free people from meaningless toil and allow them to pursue more productive or creative goals in life. Critics said the plan would explode the state budget and encourage idleness, arguments that appear to have convinced voters.

Based on a partial count of results from 19 Swiss cantons (states), the gfs.bern polling group calculated that 78 percent of voters opposed the measure against 22 percent in favor.

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The Swiss government itself advised voters to reject the proposal put forward by left-wing campaigners who collected the necessary 100,000 signatures to force a vote on the issue.

But the idea has won over some economists, who say it could replace traditional welfare payments and give everybody the same chances in life.

Salaried workers who earned more than basic income would have received no extra money, while children would have received one-quarter of the total for adults.

The Dutch city of Utrecht is planning a two-year experiment with a similar plan, handing money to residents who already receive welfare benefits.

The unconditional basic income proposal was one of five measures up for decision nationwide Sunday. Proposals to reform publicly owned companies and financing of transport routes was rejected, while voters backed plans to simplify the application procedures for asylum-seekers and another that will allow screening of embryos before they are implanted in the womb.

Associated Press
Morkes Chocolate Shop in Huntley offers a large patio area for diners to sit outside. (Jeanie Mayer / The Courier-News)

Huntley's newly revitalized downtown has opened up opportunities for local businesses to offer outdoor cafe seating.

Morkes Chocolate Shop offers a large patio area for diners to sit outside, but other eateries have only the public right of way in which to place a few chairs and bistro tables.

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Village Manager David Johnson sought direction from the Village Board on Thursday night for regulating the sidewalk cafes and the types of food and beverages that could be served outdoors in the public rights of way.

The Village Board agreed to the possibility of requiring a special permit and liquor license agreement with each business and assessing an additional fee of $50 for serving alcohol in the outdoor cafes. The board also discussed regulating the color and materials used for outdoor seating and whether the areas needed to be enclosed in some way with a fence or border.

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No final decisions were made regarding the regulations at the board meeting Thursday, but staff was directed to draft a set of regulations, based on the board's input, for its review at a future date.

Jeanie Mayer is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Tom Jensen, a 92-year-old WWII vet holds a photograph of himself as a 20-year-old (1944) seen here at his home in Homewood on Thursday, April 28, 2016. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Tom Jensen squeezed his eyes shut to help dredge up memories from June 6, 1944, which is now written in history books as D-Day.

"At that time, we didn't know it was D-Day," said Jensen, who was 20 years old that day. "We just knew we had a job to do."

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Jensen was born in Chicago, the youngest of eight kids, attending Pullman Technical High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army on April 1, 1943. He did so without much thought about historic days, heroic acts or the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, which would profoundly alter World War II.

Jensen served Uncle Sam as a sergeant with the 626th Engineer Light Equipment Co., which prided itself on moving, bulldozing or rebuilding anything and everything, from small pillboxes to entire towns. It later received the Meritorious Unit Award and related ribbons for its combat work in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and central Europe.

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That same unit would later earn the Philippine Liberation Service Ribbon when it was shipped toward Japan after it helped claim victory over Nazi Germany. Jensen's specialized unit was sent wherever its combat engineers were needed.

"We didn't ask questions. We took orders," said Jensen, who's now 92 and living in Homewood, Ill.

"They didn't tell us anything we didn't need to know," he said. "Heck, some of the guys on our ship thought we were headed to Japan, not Normandy. Just months earlier, we were either in high school or working odd jobs. We weren't soldiers, at least not yet."

While traveling aboard a ship from South Hampton, England, for Normandy, headed for what was nicknamed Utah Beach, Jensen and his fellow soldiers heard rumors that Adolph Hitler has devised a "secret weapon" to counter any invasion.

Jensen suspected it was merely wartime propaganda. His fears told him otherwise.

"We honestly figured that at least half of us would be killed by that secret weapon," Jensen recalled with a chuckle. "That's what kept running through our head."

Jensen was one of more than 160,000 Allied troops to land on the 50-mile beach in France. Of those, more than 9,000 were killed, according to the Army.

One soldier on the ship toward Utah Beach kept saying out loud, "Why me? Why me? Why me?"

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Jensen countered. "Because the time is now and we're here to do a job. That's that."

This was Jensen's mindset when he shipped out of New York City for England in February 1944. He clearly remembers staring at the Statue of Liberty in the hazy distance while aboard the HMS Arawa, an armed merchant cruiser.

"I wondered if I would ever see her again," he recalled. "Or my home and my family."

While crossing the choppy and dangerous North Atlantic Ocean in a massive naval convoy taking 13 days, two of the ships were sunk by German submarines, he said.

Jensen told the other young, nervous soldiers, "I think we're in the war, boys."

In England, his unit was stationed in the small village of Sherston, where he made friends with the town's baker, Mr. Vining, who he kept in touch with for many years after the war.

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"That village was like a fairy-tale Christmas card," Jensen recalled. "We loved it."

In the early 1960s, Jensen returned to that village to visit the baker and his family, who later returned the gesture by traveling to Chicago to visit the Jensens' home.

"During the war, we had no idea if we would ever see each again," Jensen said. "No one did."

Jensen's duty was to waterproof all the military vehicles in his unit.

"To see if they could run underwater if need be," explained Jensen, who was always mechanically inclined. "As Winston Churchill joked, our trucks were ugly. And they were. But they were made to do a job and, by God, they did that job, even underwater."

Jensen's superiors asked for volunteers to first put their boots, M-1 rifle and fate into the water at Utah Beach under enemy gunfire.

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"My buddy, D-Day Dan, was the first one in our ship to do it," Jensen said.

His buddy survived the beach landing, and the war, but not before his body was riddled with bullets from German snipers above that beach.

"We were getting mowed down, and they were blastin' us pretty good," Jensen said, again closing his eyes to conjure up those distant images.

He survived that epic beachfront battle and advanced inland with his unit. Together, they built a bridge in Maastricht, The Netherlands, rebuilt war-ravaged roads along the Rhine River in Germany, and dodged or battled retreating German soldiers.

Along the way, Jensen found a German soldier's helmet, which his unit proudly displayed on their military vehicle while marching across Europe.

"We got 'em now, boys!" they yelled to other units.

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Jensen returned home with the helmet, which he still has in his home. It's only shrapnel from history these days but it still means something to him. Something most of us will never experience.

Jensen routinely downplayed his personal role on D-Day, as well as throughout that war. His son, Chuck Jensen, who lives a few doors down, helped fill in those gaps. Tom Jensen's niece, Patty Hamilton of Knox, filled in much more about his post-war life.

"My uncle won't tell you what a great guy he is," she told me. "How he helps so many people who are less fortunate. How he took care of his wife the last few years as she suffered with dementia. And how he went through 20 radiation treatments last October for skin cancer."

"Tom Jensen is truly the epitome of a soldier," she said. "I am so proud of this man."

Jensen's wife, Evelyn Rose, died March 18, 2015. She was 88.

"She's buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood," Jensen said, showing a photo of the cemetery. "I'll be buried there, too. I could have been killed and buried in France or Europe. But I made it out of there alive."

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Jensen was stationed in the Philippines when he heard news that our country dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities he knew little about.

"We thought to ourselves, thank God, this war can finally end," he said. "And we were right."

But they weren't right about another collective conclusion at that time.

"Just after the war ended, when we learned about the doomsday capabilities of the atomic bomb, all of us thought for sure there would never be any more wars," said Jensen, who was honorably discharged Dec. 23, 1945.

"I guess we were wrong."

jdavich@post-trib.com

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Bodies of at least 117 migrants were washed ashore in the western Libyan city of Zwarah after their boat sank on the way to Europe, Libyan navy spokesman revealed on Friday.

Ayob Qasem said that the number is likely to increase, as the boats that carry illegal immigrants to Europe usually carry 125 people.

In a statement on Thursday, Zwarah's municipality council condemned "leniency and inaction of the state institutions and international organizations" towards the migrant crisis in the city.

"The municipality of Zwarah holds the officials of the Libya institutions and international organization responsible for the failure to provide assistance to fight this phenomenon."

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 880 migrants died on the way to Europe this week.

Smugglers take advantage of the state of chaos and insecurity in Libya to send thousands of migrants to Europe.

Thousands of migrants chose to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe from Libya, many of whom died on the way.
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The file photo shows Shen Liangliang the Chinese peacekeeper who were killed in a rocket attack in Mali. [Photo: Worldhuanqiu.com]

A Chinese investigation team has arrived at a UN peacekeeping camp in Mali where a rocket attack killed one Chinese peacekeeper and injured a number of others this past week.

China's Ambassador to Mali, Lu Huiying, says the Chinese team is there to provide support to the United Nations as it probes the attack.

"The working group at this time is made up of personnel from the Chinese military and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. They arrived in Mali yesterday. And today, they departed for Gao early in the morning. They will stay in Gao for two to three days, mainly to provide support to our officers and soldiers and help them deal with the aftermath of the attacks."

Two separate attacks on Tuesday hit UN targets in Gao, the latest in a string attacks on UN forces in the region.

One French national and two people from Mali were also killed in Tuesday's attacks.

A number of others, including two other Chinese soldiers, were injured.

The UN says it plans to improve the Mali mission's defense capabilities against such attacks.

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Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, met Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov in Singapore on Friday, and the two men pledged to step up military cooperation.

Sun, who met Antonov on the sidelines of the ongoing Shangri-La Dialogue, said that the two countries have seen a sound development trend in military cooperation, as overall relations between the two sides are running well.

He said both sides faced a more complicated international security situation, and closer cooperation is needed.

For his part, Antonov praised the effective cooperation between the two defense ministries.

"You see that we have excellent relations and military cooperation between our two countries. It is very important for our leaders to have an opportunity to meet together. They give us instructions how to develop this cooperation. Frankly, I cannot see any problem for facilitation, for the promotion, of our cooperation."

He also expressed a willingness to join hands with China in the fight against security threats including terrorism.

"We are ready to make new steps. It is very important that our ministers meet together. Recently your minister of defense visited Moscow. He participated in the 5th conference on international cooperation and stability. I hope that very soon our two ministers will meet together, and they will elaborate a lot of plans for the prosperity of China and the Russian Federation,"

Antonov also vowed to deepen mutual military cooperation under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

He said that the Russian military is keen to launch more joint maritime drills and anti-terror exercises with the China.

The Russian minister also suggested that countries should join hands at the forum to find solutions to tackle global challenges and problems.

"It is very important that this platform gives us an opportunity to sit together without protocols, without official speeches, but simply to understand where we are and what we have to do to improve the international situation."

The 15th Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia-Pacific defense and security summit, got underway in Singapore on Friday and runs through till Sunday.
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Two gunmen were killed after militants stormed a provincial court office in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar on Sunday, sources said.

The attack took place at around 11:00 a.m. local time in provincial capital Pul-e-Alam city. The security forces launched a counter-attack and shot dead two attackers shortly after the gun firing, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

"The clash is still going on, we have no more details so far, but there is fear of casualties," he said.

Government troops cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks.

On Wednesday, five people, including four civilians, were killed after four Taliban militants attacked a local court office in neighboring Ghazni province.
ZHENGZHOU - Four people were killed and 14 others injured in a passenger-bus and truck collision in Central China's Henan Province Saturday afternoon, police said Sunday.

A 19-seat bus, carrying 16 people, collided with a freight truck on a section of a highway in Baofeng county. One person on the bus died at the scene. Fifteen of the bus' passengers and two from the truck were injured and sent to hospital, according to the county public security bureau.

Three of the injured died at the hospital. Three people remain in a critical condition.

The investigation continues.
Zhang Chunxian, Party chief of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region wishes Muslims of the region a happy Ramadan before the holy month begins tomorrow.

"Ramadan is about peace and self-reflection as well as dedication and self-discipline. It also makes people advocating good deeds and lending a helping hand to those less fortunate," Zhang said after visiting the Xinjiang Islamic Institute on Sunday.

Ramadan is observed by Muslims around the world as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief. This year the holy months falls between Jun 6 and July 5 in China.

He hopes Muslims from Xinjiang to promote faith in the righteousness and more importantly to preach peace and tolerance so the families, neighborhoods and the society can be more harmonious.

Zhang also urges Islamic leaders to be more competent and stand against religious extremism by setting good examples when he talked to the teachers and students of the institute, the only Islamic institute in China that teaches in the Uygur language.
Resuers have found the capsized boat in Bailong Lake of Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province, June 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGYUAN - Operation of all tour boats and ships in the city of Guangyuan in Southwest China's Sichuan province has been suspended for a thorough safety inspection after a leisure boat capsized on a lake Saturday, local authorities said on Sunday.

A leisure boat carrying 18 people capsized on Bailong Lake due to strong gales Saturday afternoon. One child died and 14 people remain missing.

Three survivors remain under observation at a local hospital.

As of Sunday morning, a 320-member rescue team, including frogmen, had been dispatched to the site.

The search for the missing continues.

Eighteen people were onboard the boat, "Shuanglong," with 40 seats, when the incident happened. It is owned by a local ship company, according to Lizhou district maritime department, where the accident occurred.

Around Sunday noon, Blue Sky Rescue, a civilian group made up of outdoors experts, found the capsized boat thanks to a locating device and underwater cameras, however, there were no sign of life.

Li Xiang, a rescuer with Blue Sky Rescue, told Xinhua the boat had sunk to a depth of 65.1 meters. Underwater robots will be sent to assist the salvage on Monday.


The Institute for Global and Transnational History (IGTH) is unveiled at Shandong University in Jinan on Sunday. Photo by Zhao Ruixue/chinadaily.com.cn

More than 40 historical study experts attended the opening ceremony of the Institute for Global and Transnational History (IGTH) at Shandong University in Jinan, East China's Shandong province on Sunday.

Following the opening ceremony, the experts from universities including Princeton University, University of Paris 1, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, and Beijing Foreign Studies University exchanged opinions on theories and practices of global and transnational history studies.

"Global history is the study of what has already become or is becoming global, local accommodation and resistance to the global, and the tensions and interactions between these interactive processes," said James Lee, dean of Humanities and Social Science School of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and also the director of the just opened IGTH.

Lee said the IGTH of Shandong University is important because with the recent rise of China, what is currently local may also become global and because the transnational perspectives on China global studies distinguishes global Chinese history from Chinese national history and in so doing what makes Shandong University not just a world class university but a university of the world.

Hu Jinyan, deputy head of SDU, said the IGTH is set to develop into a world class high-end platform and think tank for global and transnational history studies within ten years by integrating SDU's academic resources and cooperating with other universities and institutes.

Compulsory and elective courses on global and transnational history studies will be set for SDU students.

The institute will enroll two to three doctoral students and three to five postgraduates every year to major in global and transnational history studies.

French historian Serge Gruzinski who won the inaugural International Prize of History at the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences last August is employed as the honorary director of the IGTH for his pioneering work on questions of global and transnational history.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn
SINGAPORE - A senior Chinese military official elaborated here Sunday on his country's policy, practice and proposals on regional security cooperation and governance.

In a speech delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, called for concerted efforts by Asia-Pacific nations to maintain peace and stability in the region.

"The world today is undergoing historic changes as never before and the Asia-Pacific countries share good times and bad times together, " said the Chinese admiral in the speech themed "Strengthen Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation and Promote Regional Security Governance".

China thus advocates a new security outlook, featuring inclusive, shared and win-win security cooperation, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently proposed that the Asia-Pacific countries should jointly build a security governance model that suits the characteristics of the region.

Sun, from the defense and military perspective, elaborated on the new governance model.

He stressed that all countries should stick to the path of peaceful development and abandon the outdated zero-sum mentality.

He suggested countries in the region promote mutual communication and learn among civilizations.

In order to lay a solid foundation for security governance, the Chinese military official also called for nations to seek mutual understanding and accommodation through dialogue and consultation.

"The jungle law goes against the trend of the times and belligerence does not make peace," said the admiral.

He propose to develop the security architecture suitable to the region and strengthen the security governance mechanism.

"The Asia-Pacific countries should refuse the Cold War mentality, deepen and expand security cooperation featuring no-conflict, no-confrontation, no targeting against a third party, mutual benefit and win-win," Sun said.

On the South China Sea issue, the Chinese admiral said the overall situation in the South China Sea has remained stable and freedom of navigation has not been affected because of some disputes.

He reiterated that China has always insisted on peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations and consultations.

The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue wraps up on Sunday afternoon.
Rescuers use sonar radar and an underwater camera in the search for survivors in Guangyuan, Sichuan province, on Sunday. Gao zhinong/for China Daily

Rescuers were still searching on Sunday for 14 passengers missing after a fatal boating accident in Sichuan province.

The accident happened on Saturday afternoon when a leisure boat capsized in gales on White Dragon Lake in the Lizhou district of Guangyuan, the northernmost city in the province.

One child died in a hospital. Three survivors are under observation at Lizhou District No 2 People's Hospital, said Zeng Jia, a doctor.

Li Jijun, an information officer with the Lizhou district committee of the Communist Party of China, said, "Rescuers worked day and night and have found the sunken boat."

The local weather bureau said the boat sank in extreme weather conditions, when a wind speed of 17.5 meters per second was recorded.

The boat, designed to carry 40 passengers, had 18 people on board when it capsized, including Zhou Piqiang, the 49-year-old owner of the vessel, his wife Wang Xingju, 43, and son Zhou Lin, 4. All three are among those missing.

Of the 15 passengers, five are young women and another five are children.

Rescuers were divided into two groups. One group tried to find the sunken boat, while the other cruised the scene of the accident and areas 10 km away from the site on the upper and lower shores of the lake.

As the water depth at the accident scene was beyond the reach of divers, rescuers relied on sonar and images taken underwater to identify the boat.

Li Xiang, a member of the civilian group Blue Sky Rescue, said the boat sank in waters more than 65 meters deep.

On Sunday, a robotic device was being transported from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to Guangyuan, and was expected to arrive within 24 hours. It would be used to recover the lost boat, Li said.

All tour boat operations have been suspended in Guangyuan for safety checks, said Yang Mingguang, deputy chief of the city government's information office.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn
Vice-Premier Wang Yang and US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew were due to showcase Sino-US friendship on Sunday.

They were scheduled to make a boat trip at the Summer Palace in Beijing.

Lew arrived in Beijing a day before the annual China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, being held in the Chinese capital.

However, this friendly prelude came ahead of probable fierce arguments between the world's two largest economies over key strategic and economic issues, including the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula, analysts said.

A 400-plus United States delegation, including more than 10 ministers, arrived in Beijing on Sunday to attend the two-day dialogue.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will co-chair the strategic part of the dialogue with State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Monday. Launched in 2009, the dialogue has become an important platform for communication between the two countries.

Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, said the main issues at the dialogue are likely to be nuclear security on the Korean Peninsula, preserving and enhancing the global trading system, and the South China Sea.

"Looming in the background are specific issues such as North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the rise of trade protectionist sentiment in the US  even as China's economy shows increasing vulnerability  and the Obama administration's policy of heightened US involvement in the South China Sea," he said.

Wang Fan, vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University, said strategic competition between China and the US is increasing even though the two countries have made progress on military and people-to-people exchanges.
China working on next step in high-speed rail transport, says innovation expert

A next-generation high-speed train is being tested in China. The train can run at 400 kilometers per hour and is suitable for cross-border services. DOU XIN/XINHUA

China is developing a next-generation bullet train that can run at 400 kilometers an hour and is suitable for cross-border services, a senior researcher with the nation's high-speed rail program said on Sunday.

"The train, to be developed in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), will have wheels that can be adjusted to fit various gauges on other countries' tracks, compared with trains now that need to have their wheels changed before entering foreign systems," said Jia Limin, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and head of China's high-speed rail innovation program.

"Once the new bullet train is put into service, it will operate on China's rail network as well as on the Moscow-Kazan high-speed line in Russia, which is designed for 400 km/h trains," he added, referring to the 770-km link that connects Moscow and Kazan, a metropolis on the Volga River. The rail line is a joint venture between China and Russia.

According to an agreement by Chinese and Russian authorities, the Moscow-Kazan line is likely to be extended to Beijing, which will significantly reduce rail travel times between the two nation's capitals.

Wheels on trains now traveling between China and Russia have be changed before crossing the border because the gauges are different. The new bullet train will not require this procedure, saving time and money, Jia said.

He was speaking in Beijing on the sidelines of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) Technology and Innovation Achievements Exhibition.

Currently, high-speed trains in China run at speeds ranging from 250 to 300 km/h, although their maximum speed can reach about 350 km/h.

With the aim of exploring new concepts, Jia said China has developed and begun to test an ultrafast bullet train that is potentially able to travel at 600 km/h. The train has been made by CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co, a subsidiary of the country's largest train maker, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, in Shandong province.

The ultrafast train is being used to trial cutting-edge technologies, advanced materials and to test operational limits, the professor said, adding that its development means China is now able to design and manufacture trains that can travel at least 500 km/h.

However, Liu Youmei, a bullet train expert and academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that under the current conditions, the maximum speed for high-speed railways cannot exceed 400 km/h because higher speeds will incur much higher operation costs.

He said the ultrafast train should be used only for demonstrating new concepts and technologies rather than commercial operation.
The top official in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region wished the area's Muslims a happy Ramadan, the holy month that started on Monday, during a visit to an Islamic center over the weekend.

"Ramadan is about peace and self-reflection, as well as dedication and self-discipline. It also makes people advocate good deeds and lend a helping hand to those less fortunate," said Zhang Chunxian, the region's top official.

He made the comments on Sunday while meeting with teachers and students at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, the only one of its kind in China that teaches in the Uygur language. Xinjiang is home to about 51 percent of China's Muslim population.

Ramadan is observed by Muslims around the world who fast for a month to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, according to Islamic beliefs. This year, the holy month runs from Monday until July 5.

While at the institute, Zhang said he hoped Muslims from Xinjiang will promote faith righteously and preach peace and tolerance so that families, neighborhoods and society can be harmonious. He also urged Islamic leaders to stand against religious extremism by setting good examples.

Last year, Zhang ate a meal with Muslims in Urumqi, the regional capital, to mark the end of Ramadan.

While fasting from dawn until sunset, Muslims refrain from consuming food and drinking liquids. "To accommodate fasting, the 300 students at the institute will only have classes in the mornings during Ramadan," Abudulrekep Tumniaz, the institute director, said on Sunday.

A spokesman for Arman, a Halal food producer based in Urumqi, said the company expects sales of its ready meals to double during the holy month as people stock up so they can eat at home as soon as fasting is over for the day.

In southern Xinjiang's Kashgar city, Akbar Memet said he will continue to drive his taxi as usual during fasting. "The month of Ramadan is also when tourism in Kashgar begins to pick up," the 22-year-old said. "I won't miss the opportunity to make more money."

Kurbanjan Turhong, who makes traditional Uygur pottery, bought a sheep and big bag of rice a week before Ramadan. "Fasting actually can make me more concentrated when I make the pots because I won't be disturbed by lunch breaks," said the 39-year-old from Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture.
Libyan Red Crescent workers put bodies into body bags, after migrants who died when a boat sank off the coastal town of Zuwara west of Tripoli,in Libya June 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

TRIPOLI - Bodies of at least 117 migrants were washed ashore in the western Libyan city of Zwarah after their boat sank on the way to Europe, Libyan navy spokesman revealed on Friday.



Ayob Qasem said that the number is likely to increase, as the boats that carry illegal immigrants to Europe usually carry 125 people.



In a statement on Thursday, Zwarah's municipality council condemned "leniency and inaction of the state institutions and international organizations" towards the migrant crisis in the city.



"The municipality of Zwarah holds the officials of the Libya institutions and international organization responsible for the failure to provide assistance to fight this phenomenon."



According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 880 migrants died on the way to Europe this week.



Smugglers take advantage of the state of chaos and insecurity in Libya to send thousands of migrants to Europe.



Thousands of migrants chose to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe from Libya, many of whom died on the way.
Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in theSouth China Sea, south China. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - The Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday urged the United States and Japan to stop pointing fingers at China on the South China Sea.

"Countries from outside should honor their commitments and not make irresponsible remarks on issues involving territorial sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in response to remarks of US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani at a security summit in Singapore.

According to a press release from the ministry, during the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Carter and Nakatani talked about the South China Sea issue and hurled unreasonable accusations at China.

"We have noted relevant remarks. They were mostly repeating their old tunes, which have no fact in them and are full of groundless accusations against China's legitimate construction activities on relevant islands and reefs." Hua said.

She added that they blamed China for the regional security issue when China is actually the victim and sowed discord between China and other regional countries.

"China is firmly opposed to that and the Chinese delegation attending the meeting has made our position clear." Hua stressed the following points:

First, China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the adjacent waters, which is fully backed by historical and legal evidence. China has never acknowledged the so-called "status-quo" formed by other countries' illegal occupation of Chinese territory, and is not going to do so.

Second, relevant construction has taken place on Chinese own territory. it went against no international law. It is the intention of some countries who have deployed large amounts of advanced weapons and equipment to the Asia-Pacific region that should cause alarm among regional countries.

Third, the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is not meant to resolve disputes, but to negate China's territorial right and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. This arbitration case severely undermines the sanctity and integrity of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), abuses and violates international law. China has already made clear non-acceptance and non-participatory position on the arbitration case.

Fourth, speaking of rules-based order, China and ASEAN countries inked the DOC back in 2002. The DOC is regional rules, which shall be abided by all parties.

On Friday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Shangri-La Dialogue that the maritime issue should not become a zero-sum game and regional countries should look beyond maritime border disputes and seek mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Also,Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said at the meeting that the UN Charter, the UNCLOS and the DOC shall be taken into full consideration and relevant disputes in the South China Sea be resolved step by step.

"We have noted the relevant statements." Hua said, adding that China always maintains that territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall be resolved peacefully between parties directly concerned through negotiation on the basis of respecting historical facts.

She said China supports and advocates the dual-track approach raised by ASEAN countries on properly resolving the South China Sea issue, that is, relevant disputes shall be resolved by countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation, peace and stability in the South China Sea shall be preserved by China and ASEAN countries together.

"China upholds a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security outlook for the region and believes that regional countries shall work together to build and share a path of regional security that benefits all." Hua said.

She said, for regional countries, the challenges brought by non-traditional maritime security matters are more pressing.

All parties should enhance maritime practical cooperation, jointly address non-traditional maritime security threats, and maintain regional peace and stability on the sea. Hua said.
AMMAN, - The Syrian army pushed into Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State, after a major Russian-backed offensive against the militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

Smoke rises from clashes with Islamic State militants near Falluja, Iraq, June 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The offensive is the third big assault on the self-proclaimed caliphate in recent days after Iraqi forces attempted to storm Falluja in central Syria and a Syrian militia advanced with US support towards Manbij in the north near the Turkish border.

The offensives are some of the most aggressive campaigns against Islamic State since it declared its aim to rule over all Muslims from parts of Iraq and Syria two years ago.

Friday's assault saw the army reach the edge of Syria's Raqqa province after heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of neighbouring Hama province.

Raqqa city, further east, is Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria and, along with Mosul in Iraq, the ultimate target of those seeking to destroy the group.

State media said on Friday the army had made territorial gains and inflicted heavy casualties on the militants.

Syrian army spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

State media has given no indication of how many troops are involved in the offensive, or what weaponry they might be using.

The Observatory also had no comment about numbers or weapons, but said at least 26 Islamic States militants had been killed along with nine from the Syrian and allied forces.

The war monitor said the army advance meant it was now almost 40 km from an area in which U.S. backed rebels were also waging an offensive to isolate the militants' strongholds in northern Aleppo from their territories east of the Euphrates river, where Raqqa city is located.

Should the army be able to reach the area where the rebels are also fighting Islamic State, that would leave the ultra hard line group hemmed in, albeit by forces highly unlikely to work together as they are on opposing sides in the multi-faceted conflict.

ALEPPO OFFENSIVE

The US-backed rebels also continued to make rapid advances in an offensive against IS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area where they continued to seize more territory, according to Kurdish sources and the monitor.

That thrust, supported by US special forces, aims to deny Islamic State any access to the Turkish frontier, which is crucial for supplies of arms and food.

The Observatory said that these forces were able to reach nearly 5 to 6 km from Manbij town, further tightening the noose around the militants by cutting the town's main supply routes with Raqqa and laying siege to their fighters dug in the city.

"We made big progress and we are trying to ensure the safety of civilians before we begin our assault on the town," Sharfan Darweesh, a spokesman for the Military Council for Manbij, a tribal group affiliated with the US backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) was quoted as saying.

The influential pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said on Friday the army operation did not aim to reach Raqqa city within the coming weeks, but was to reach Tabqa city and Lake Assad, which Taqba overlooks.

Islamic State captured Tabqa in 2014 at the height of its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq. Tabqa, the location of an air base, is some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city.

The town is on a key route that links Raqqa with areas the ultra hardline militants control in northern Aleppo.

Separately, militants from radical Islamic groups led by al-Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front consolidated gains in the last 24 hours in southern Aleppo, according to rebel groups.

More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring centre in Syria said in a statement on Saturday.

The centre also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city.

The insurgent advance will make it more difficult for the army and its allies to encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo city where intensified bombing in the last 24 hours has killed scores of civilians mainly by barrel bombing of residential areas.

An attack last month by Nusra Front in southern Aleppo delivered one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters, including Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah fighting in support of Syrian government forces.

It was a major success in recent months for rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.
Beijing will not accept South China Sea issue descending into chaos, forum told

Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department at the Central Military Commission

Beijing will not sit by and see several countries throwing the South China Sea into chaos, the head of China's delegation to a high-profile intergovernmental security forum said on Sunday.

Admiral Sun Jianguo, speaking in a raised voice, made the comments at a plenary session of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, attended by defense chiefs and experts from around the world.

But Sun, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department at the Central Military Commission, spoke in a lower voice to say he believes that other parties involved have "wisdom and patience"  like China  in charting "a path of peaceful negotiation".

Elaborating on this, Sun said, "Countries that are not involved are not expected to act out of selfish interests and deliberately damage this path."

The different tones used by Sun reflect China's attitudes toward players in the South China Sea issue, where tensions have increased after recent claims by the United States over "freedom of navigation" and an arbitration case brought by Manila against Beijing.

"The world today is undergoing historic changes as never before and the Asia-Pacific countries share good times and bad times together," Sun said in his speech.

During his stay in Singapore from Friday to Sunday, Sun held 17 bilateral meetings on the sidelines with senior defense officials, including seven from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It was the second year that he had represented China at the dialogue.
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(Photo : Getty Images/Tommaso Boddi) Tinder is updating its application to be more transgender-friendly.

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Popular dating app Tinder is planning to unveil new transgender-friendly features soon. Currently, Tinder does not cater to transgender users with its binary gender classification of male and female only. Some transgener people have called for a ban on Tider who they accuse of bullying.



"There's a transgender community on Tinder and we haven't done enough to give them a good experience," Tinder's CEO Sean Rad said. He added that Tinder's current setup does not cater to the needs of transgender users. Rad stressed that the changes will not only be good for Tinder but its "the right thing to do for the world."



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Tinder is said to be collaborating with activist Andrea James and Gay and Lesbian Association Against Defamation to ensure that the update takes all the factors into account. The dating app currently provides only two options for gender identification. Last year, the company came under heavy criticism after one of its users was banned from the site. The issue happened after the banned user was reported as a transgender by a male user she was matched to.



The app will now have a more flexible system for people to identify themselves as transgender. The new features are likely to be implemented within next two months. The move comes following a debate about the rights of transgender individuals.



Rad said that the new system will make the app safer for transgender people and will let them "be who they are."



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Recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Turkey and Paris, make for attention grabbing headlines. However, the truth is, violence and chaos are at all-time lows globally overall. Crime rates in the United States and in most other Western nations have nose-dived. Meanwhile, the standard of living for developing nations is improving.



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With that said, threats to our property and personal safety will always exist in some fashion. Caution and security ought to always be factors in the way we manage ourselves as nations, enterprises, and people. It's a matter of risk-assessment: figuring out where the most likely point of attack will come, the motives behind it, and who is ultimately responsible.



To this end, few components of contemporary life seem as vulnerable as our computer networks and cloud management systems - the backbone of modern civilization. Terrorist organizations are increasingly interested in attacking their enemies on the virtual front in addition to their trademark acts of violence.



The current proliferation of multi-device mobile access to the Internet has introduced a whole new host of avenues for terrorists to take in the pursuit of cyber attacks. Individuals, businesses, and government bodies are turning to cloud security precautions designed to protect the otherwise incredibly porous barrier between unauthorized users and their online targets. This has shown to be vastly effective at countering cyber attacks, but "one-and-done" steps to prevent terrorists from breaking into restricted web-based digital space are not enough. Constant monitoring and adaptation to new threats are key.



This is thanks in part to the new age of so-called nation-states participating in what can only be called cyber terrorism. The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the bombing attack in Brussels, also has the means to fund sophisticated cyber attacks on their enemies.



However, the online antics of ISIS are nothing new. Russia, China, North Korea, and yes, even the United States, have participated in cyber attacks against enemy nations and organizations. However, these "attacks" have historically boiled down to little more than corporate espionage and old-fashioned spying. The "new age" of cyber attacks, financed by sophisticated organizations including terrorists, threaten more than just business interests and state secrets.



Transportation infrastructure is consistently on the top of the target list for physical and cyber terrorists around the world. Preventing a nation's airlines, trains, or car traffic management systems from functioning property has the potential to shut huge swaths of the economy down. Though so-far unmet on a grand scale, government agencies have already devised considerations, contingencies and response scenarios in case these systems are ever shut down by malicious means.



Communications is another go-to for terrorists interested in disrupting a targeted society. Close down our means of relaying information to one another in an age when everyone is nearly constantly connected to everyone else, and things are sure to get a little crazy in the streets. Once again, most nations have devised plans in the event such an attack were to ever occur.



Healthcare systems are also highly prized points of attack for cyber terrorism. Hospitals and other medical facilities around the world are increasingly dependent on digital data sharing via cloud computing and other forms of rapid file sharing. Disrupt this flow and lives may be on the line.



All of this may seem relatively benign in comparison to the threats of physical violence posed by modern terrorist organizations. However, it's the combining of digital sabotage with real-world attacks which "next-gen" terrorism desperately seeks to achieve. Imagine 9-11, the Paris attacks of 2015 or the attacks in Brussels just recently, happening in conjunction with downed transportation, communication, and healthcare infrastructure?



Alas, remember the original point: the world is far less frightening than the media at-large would have us believe. Terrorism, for all its horrors and devastating impact on society, is not something the average person will be affected by in their lifetime. The same goes for violence in general.



However, upticks in relative safety will never completely remove evil from the world. As humanity becomes ever more dependent on computers and digital data to function, risk assessment must adapt in order to illuminate the ways in which wrongdoers will use technology to their advantage.



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Tagsterrorism, terrorist attacks
(Photo : ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images) Primary school students compete calligraphy on the playground on Jan. 13, 2015 in Dongyang of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province of China.

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China's primary and secondary education sectors posted the highest increase in jobs created across the country in 2015.



This was among the major findings of a report on the employment status of Chinese college graduates released by the education consulting firm MyCOS, China Daily reported.



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The report's results are based on MyCOS' tracking assessment of 2015graduates for six months since their graduation, covering 123,000 undergraduates and 127,000 higher vocational college graduates.



According to the report, the nation's primary and secondary education sectors were responsible for providing 8.7 percent of the total work opportunities for graduates in 2015, which is an increase of 2.2 percent over the previous year.



Unfortunately, the average salary of fresh graduates who joined China's primary and secondary education sectors was the lowest at around 3,500 yuan ($533).



Among the other sectors in the country which recorded the biggest job increases included internet development and application, finance, medical care or first aid service, and media and publishing.



The report likewise disclosed that those who entered the internet development and application industries were among the best paid, with an average monthly salary of 5,017 yuan, which they received only six months after graduating.



On the other hand, the five occupations which had the sharpest fall in work opportunities in 2015 were architectural engineering; machinery or instrument; marketing; electrical or electronics (with computer science excluded); and automobile engineering.



In particular, architectural engineering posted the biggest drop in jobs generated, decreasing 1.6 percent from the previous year, though it still managed to provide six percent of total job opportunities.



This came as a surprise to many, as architectural engineering was among the employment clusters that witnessed an increase in jobs from 2011 to 201.



In contrast to the growth in China's primary and secondary education sectors, MyCOS noted that the architectural engineering sector's decline in the number of jobs created last year may be a result of the Central government's tightened national policy on property.



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Tagschina, China Primary and Secondary Education Sectors, China education
(Photo : Getty Images) Xi Jinping, leader of China, is adamant on bilateral talks instead of international arbitration to resolve the South China Sea dispute.

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China announced on Saturday that it would ignore the ruling of the United Nation's Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on the case initiated by the Philippines over Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea.



Guan Youfei, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of China's National Defense Ministry, stated that "To put it simply, the arbitration case actually has gone beyond its jurisdiction."



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The Philippines filed the lawsuit with the United Nations' mandated court under the Convention on Law of the Sea, questioning whether or not China has a legitimate claim to the territories in the South China Sea. The court ruled last year that it has jurisdiction over the case, despite protests from China. The arbitration panel is expected to rule on the case soon.



Guan claims that "Because the territorial and sovereignty disputes have not been subjected to the arbitration, we think the arbitration is illegal."



Guan's statements reflect China's longstanding decision not to participate in any international arbitration to settle the territorial dispute. Instead, Beijing insists on addressing the issues through bilateral discussions.



Meanwhile, Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has said that he is open to having bilateral talks with China over the South China Sea dispute. Experts say China more confidence to undermine any ruling of the arbitration court since the incoming government of the Philippines does not seem very interested in the case.



Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam are also claiming portions of the South China Sea. The United States has openly supported these nations as well as the Philippines in the face of China's aggressive expansion in the disputed territory, and this has placed Beijing and Washington at odds.



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Tagschina, Philippines, South China Sea, United States, United Nations
(Photo : Getty Images) Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar. The defense ministers of India and Britain have urged China to resolve its dispute with other claimant countries in the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations.

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Delegates at the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's largest security summit currently being held in Singapore, have called on China and other claimant nations in the South China Sea to peacefully resolve their territorial dispute without threats or force.



Defense ministers from India, Malaysia and Britain discussed the South China Sea issue at the summit, expressing concern that the dispute could threaten their economic interests in the international waterway.



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Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar told the forum that several countries, including India, remain vigilant of the situation in the South China Sea.



"We have traditional links with the countries in the South China Sea - more than half of our trade passes through its waters," he said.



International law



Parrikar said that while India will not take sides in the maritime territorial contest, it will uphold the right to freedom of navigation in accordance with international law.



"While we do not take a position on territorial disputes, which should be resolved peacefully without the threat or use of force, we firmly uphold freedom of navigation and all flight in accordance with international law, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," he said.



India's Defense Minister warned countries in the region to recognize the freedom they have enjoyed over the past decades could be jeopardized all because of the aggressive behavior 'of any one of us.'



Around $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes through the South China Sea yearly. The disputed territory is also a rich fishing ground.



Besides China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the area.



Peaceful negotiations



British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the forum that although he is not taking sides on the South China Sea issue, China and all the claimants need to pursue actions only within the realm of international law.



"We urge the resumption of peaceful negotiations, including on a binding code of conduct on the South China Sea," he added.



The 15th Shangri-La Dialogue, which kicked off on Friday, June 3, is being attended by more than 560 delegates from 52 nations and regions, including 32 official delegations.



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TagsShangri-La Dialogue, International Law, South China Sea, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, china
(Photo : YouTube) MediaTeks Pump Express technology now supports USB Type-C Power Delivery.

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One of the biggest hurdles smartphone manufacturers are yet to overcome is how to make batteries last longer, especially now that devices tend to be more power-hungry. As a band-aid solution to this problem, tech companies have resorted to fast charging technology. The latest to join the fray is MediaTek, with its Pump Express technology.



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Quick charging technology is becoming a trend now, Oppo has its Super VOOC, Qualcomm has its Quick Charge, and ASUS has its BoostMaster. MediaTek's Pump Express technology recently received a boost after the company announced that it is crossing over to support USB Type-C Power Delivery instead of the conventional VBUS current modulation.



Dubbed as the Pump Express 3.0, the upgraded technology will significantly reduce overheating while charging by bypassing all circuitry that are inside the smartphone. MediaTek did this by putting a switch inside the smartphone. The switch allows the current to circulate directly to the battery from the adapter, which in turn cuts power dissipation by up to 50 percent.



Unlike Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 which does not support USB-C, MediaTek's USB-C Power Delivery technology is able to deliver high current rate while at the same time adhering tp the specifications of USB-C, according to Android Police.



With the new Pump Express 3.0, MediaTek added a bidirectional communication between the adapter and the phone. It has more than 20 safety mechanisms that monitors the temperature and automatically adjust the voltage needed to ensure optimal charging.



Pump Express 3.0 can charge over 5A with low impedance. According to MediaTek, the technology can charge a completely drained battery to 70 percent in about 20 minutes. However, MediaTek did not point out the battery capacity that it used when doing its tests. It is important to note that quick charging technology can have varying results when charging different battery capacities.



MediaTek said that the new Pump Express 3.0 will be integrated into the company's upcoming Helio Series P20 line of devices. The technology would make its debut before the end of the year and will be integrated into MediaTek chipsets in 2017.



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Tagsmediatek, MediaTek Pump Express, Quick Charge, quick charging, MediaTech USB Type-C
(Photo : YouTube) Samsung Galaxy Note 6 Edge will to launch with SM-N935G model number.

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The South Korean tech giant's next flagship Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is nearing its speculated summer launch. An Edge variant of the phablet leaked on Zauba with model number SM-935G.



Samsung has already released its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, and now it is set to release a follow up to the 2015 Galaxy Note 5. The looming Galaxy Note 6 made headlines in February when reports indicated that the device will sport a 5.8-inch Slim RGB screen, a massive 6 GB of RAM, and a 12MP rear camera with Super OIS Plus.



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Speculations intensified in April when reports emerged that the Note 6 would be similar to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge with regard to the waterproof case. There were leaks revealing the handset with a codename "Grace" together with an official model number SM-930. Furthermore, there was evidence confirming that the phablet would be available to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.



It was rumored that Samsung was testing two Galaxy Note 6 models - one with a dual-curved display and another with a flat display - with only one of them set for an actual launch, according to Tech Times. Unlike last year's Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ release, the manufacturer will follow the same trend it used when launching the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge in 2014.



A listing for what is said to be the upcoming Galaxy Note 6 Edge has been spotted on Zauba official website, which is known to give details of unannounced mobile devices. It is evident that the phablet's model number SM-N935G follows the same naming convention of the Galaxy Note 6, which is SM-N930.



Although it is early to conclude that the SM-N935G is the Edge version of the Galaxy Note 6, it is unlikely that the South Korean tech giant is preparing to release a follow up to the 2015 Galaxy S6 Edge+, since the Galaxy S7 Edge fills that space with its 5.5-inch display. Watch the footage for details on the upcoming Galaxy Note 6 Edge.





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TagsSamsung Galaxy Note 6 Edge, SM-N935G, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge
(Photo : Getty Images) China has warned that the U.S. may end up isolating itself in response to Defense Secretary Ash Carter's criticism that Beijing could be isolated if it continues militarizing the South China Sea.

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China has responded to remarks made by the U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter about Beijing's militarization of South China Sea.



A senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer on Sunday responded to Carter's assertion that Beijing risks isolation if it continues militarizing the South China Sea.



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"China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea," Admiral Sun Jianguo said on the concluding day of annual Shangri-La Dialogue and Asia Security Summit in Singapore. "We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble."



"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future. Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves," Sun added.



Earlier on Saturday, Carter accused China of de-stabilizing the South China Sea region.



"Countries across the region have been taking action and voicing concerns publicly and privately, at the highest levels, in regional meetings, and global fora," Carter told the gathering of Asian defense ministers. "As a result, China's actions in the South China Sea are isolating it at a time when the entire region is coming together and networking. Unfortunately, if these actions continue, China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation."



Chinese Foreign Ministry has also slammed the United States and Japan for pointing fingers at Beijing over the South China Sea dispute. The ministry described Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani's remarks about the South China Sea 'irresponsible.'



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Tagschina, US, South China Sea, Ash Carter, Shangri-La Dialogue
(Photo : Youtube) Hoax or real? Bigfoot's fossilized skull from Utah

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This Utah man claims to have discovered what he claims to be a fossilized skull of Bigfoot after a hike in the mountains. Todd May of Ogden, Utah was on one of his hikes when he came across the usual rocks and fossils when he stumbled upon a bizarre object, resembling a skull, weighing around 75 pounds.



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Bigfoot is a giant, mysterious creature resembling a giant hominid or ape-like creature that possesses a big, hairy built. This creature is part of American folklore where many witnesses claim to have spotted the creature in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.



Many of these tales involving this giant ape creature circulate around the United States however, there is still no concrete evidence of their existence, where this fossilized head could possibly hold clues about these elusive ape-like creatures.



May admits that he has always been interested in Bigfoot for a long time now, since he also lives near the so-called hotspots where the creature has been sighted. He also claims that he already observed Bigfoot on two separate occasions in the past.



The first time he encountered Bigfoot, May describes that he was startled by its odd, humanoid ape-like features as Bigfoot suddenly appeared out of nowhere, however, it ran off immediately after establishing eye contact.



May also explored Ogden Canyon where he hopes to catch another glimpse of the Sasquatch. In Ogden Canyon, he claims to have encountered his second Bigfoot here but this one sported red fur and was even larger than the first, giving him a serious scare.



Many are skeptical about the claims of this Bigfoot hunter, where his critics say that his claims are mere hoaxes but May still believes that he saw the real thing. He adds that there are still many haters and other Bigfoot enthusiasts are not convinced that his findings are real.



Now, geoscience professor Jesse Carlucci of the Midwestern State University examined and analyzed this bizarre, large object that May found and concluded that this is mainly made out of a piece of rock that has been experiencing some extreme weathering from the elements.



Carlucci says that this ancient rock possesses some natural fractures and cracks revealing some sort of chemical breakdown process that is more often than not caused by exposure to rainwater.



Since fossilized skulls are made from very fragile material of bone, they possess an entirely different composition that can be easily observed on the surface texture compared to rocks. Carlucci confirms, May found a rock object and not a Bigfoot skull.



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Tagsbigfoot, fossilized bigfoot skull, Utah, ogden, sasquatch, bigfoot skull
home US ACLU leader resigns when daughters were left 'visibly frightened' by presence of transgender in bathroom

A leader of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) resigned from her post after she saw how her daughters became "visibly frightened" when a group of teen-aged biological men entered the women's bathroom.

Maya Dillard Smith, who worked as the interim director of ACLU's Georgia chapter, said that the incident caused her to quit in light of the organization's strong support for the transgender bathroom law.

She recounted how her young daughters were in the restroom with her when suddenly three transgender teens walked in. She described the group as being more than six feet tall and talking in "deep voices."

Because of the incident, Smith decided she could no longer agree with the organization's stand on the issue.

"My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer," she said, according to LifeSite News.

Smith shared her story with ACLU. However, the organization chooses to promote certain progressive rights based on who gives them funding and does not necessarily protect all rights, she said, without giving details about ACLU's fund sources.

However, Smith believes it is possible to find a solution that can address the needs of both women and transgenders in public bathrooms, dressing rooms and others. She said such a solution could "ensure women and girls are safe from those who might have malicious intent," The Advocate reported.

Georgia is one of 11 states that have filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration for the directive that mandates public schools and universities to open women's bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms and even accommodation facilities to transgender students.

The transgender bathroom controversy was sparked when North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2, which requires transgenders to use the bathroom according to their biological sex as specified in their birth certificate. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the governor.
home Faith American pastor says Evangelicals' hateful comments about Muslims worsens Christian persecution around the world

Dr. Bob Roberts, who has participated in high level Christian-Muslim dialogues in the past, is worried that the unloving attitude adopted by American Evangelicals toward Muslims is only triggering animosity among people of the two faiths especially in Muslim-majority countries.

"We are creating a nightmare for Christians around the world," Roberts declared in an interview with The Christian Post.

Referring to the LifeWay Research surveys that placed Evangelicals as having the most negative view of Muslims, the senior pastor lamented that it is the Evangelical pastors themselves who have the "worse attitude." Roberts thinks this runs contrary to what it means to be Evangelical and is only making things worse than they are for Christians in Muslim countries.

He explained: "When Christians make harsh statements against the Muslims around the world, it just makes things far more difficult. Christians actually increase Christian persecution around the world in America by being hateful to Muslims. And those are your brothers in Christ. The world is connected."

Roberts expounded that people in the West and non-Muslim majority nations often misconstrue the Islamic State and Boko Haram terrorist groups as representative of what Islam is, which worries Muslim leaders who condemn the terrorist groups as "not true Muslims."

The senior pastor of Northwood Church in Texas was one of around 50 non-Muslim representatives alongside nearly 250 Muslim religious and government leaders who penned and signed the "Marrakesh Declaration" in Marrakesh, Morocco back in January.

The Declaration aims to "confront all forms of religious bigotry, vilification, and denegration of what people hold sacred, as well as all speech that promote hatred and bigotry" as the gathering recognized the persecution suffered by religious minorities especially in the Muslim world.

In October 2015, Roberts hosted the "Spreading the Peace Convocation" together with the executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, Imam Muhammad Magid. The dialogue was attended by nearly 200 Evangelical pastors and imams.

Roberts is also not a fan of conversion.

"We should never be driven to convert people," he said. "I think the goal should be to share the love of Jesus in reaching out to people. I've seen people of different faiths follow Jesus."

Robert's challenge to the Western non-Muslim people is to be loving toward Muslims and for Muslims to be more tolerant of Christians and religious minorities.
home Faith Billy Graham: 'The days of Noah' are returning

Famous evangelist Billy Graham warned that the "days of Noah," which signify the judgment of God, are coming to earth.

"History records for all to see that nations have been destroyed not by enemies from without, but by the deterioration that is evidenced by immorality, adishonesty, greed and pride from within," Graham wrote in a message published in Decision Magazine.

He said the Bible gives repeated warnings that before God's Day of Judgment comes, people will be as in the days of Noah a living in great wickedness and sin. He referred to Genesis 6:5, which says that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

He also said the last days are marked by "perilous" things, and people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, blasphemous, unholy, unforgiving, slanderous, proud, lovers of pleasure and lacking self-control, among others.

However, he clarified that he does not know when the Day of Judgment will come exactly.

"But there are many indications that we are now living in the closing period of history, and we are warned from the Scriptures that we are to repent and return to Christ as that day draws nearer," he said.

Graham also said many people today live their lives the way they want yet believe that they are saved. These people are believing a "false notion" because they have already chosen to be like the world. Attending church and doing good works are not an assurance of salvation, Graham said.

He urged the people to turn back to God and not harden their hearts while there is still time, for there will come a time when they will call on God but He will no longer answer.

Anne Graham Lotz, Graham's daughter, said she believes the return of Jesus will happen in her lifetime. She said Biblical warnings written in Romans 1 are already happening today, the Christian Post reported.
home World Buses install panic buttons for women in India

As previously announced by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on May 25, the mandatory installation of emergency panic buttons, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and GPS-enabled tracking devices on public transport buses in India was passed into law on Thursday, June 2.

According to The Indian Express, the Depot Chief Manager's phone at Jaipur Control Room and the nearest police control room will be alerted with the bus' location and live video feed once the panic button is pressed. The government's women's helpline number is also connected to the panic button. The control room can also use the GPS device in cases when a bus deviates from a scheduled route, while the CCTV footages will be stored for a maximum of five years.

Al Jazeera cited that in 2012, India's official record of public and private buses was already an estimated 1,676,500. New buses have already been equipped with the emergency devices in the initial phase. The next phase will be for the old vehicles.

Auto rickshaws have also been installed with GPS trackers, as reported by CNN. Moreover, the government has previously mandated that all mobile phones in 2017 should come with panic buttons and then a GPS device the following year.

During an event at Bikaner House in New Delhi, Gadkari told reporters that the bill on buses came about "to ensure safety of women after the unfortunate Nirbhaya incident."

Gadkari was referring to the 2012 case that triggered worldwide furor and nationwide protests after a 23-year-old medical student, gang-raped by six men at the back seat of a bus, died of injuries.

However, Sehjo Singh of the anti-poverty group ActionAid India believes that more than the new laws, what's needed is the government's follow-up action.

"If I press the panic button, what happens after? This is very important," Singh told Al Jazeera.

General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, Annie Raja, shares the same opinion and said that the implementation to use these laws as protection for women is "not happening."

"India is a country with patriarchal social values and thinking," Raja stated. "So, we don't consider women as equal citizens."

The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 32,077 cases of rape in 2015 or almost one incident per hour.
home Faith Muslims converting to Christianity in Saudi Arabia, NPO report says

A growing number of Muslims are turning to Christianity in the Sunni Islamic state of Saudi Arabia, a Christian non-profit organization said.

Open Doors, a non-profit organization that works for persecuted Christians in 60 countries for more than 60 years, has ranked Saudi Arabia as 14th in its list of countries with highest incidences of Christian persecution.

On the other hand, the organization also reports that there is an increasing number of citizens converting from Islam to Christianity "along with their boldness in sharing their new faith." Open Doors describes the country's population as largely young, majority of which is under thirty, and growing with social discontent.

In Saudi Arabia's 30 million population, Open Doors records 1.2 million Christians in an environment where religious persecution is categorized as "severe" brought about by Islamic extremism.

A study published early in the year, as reported by Christian Today, revealed that from a documented less than 0.1 percent of Christians in 1910, the population in the Islamic state is now up to 4.4 percent.

Aside from documenting cases of Christian persecution in the country, Open Doors also supports the Christian faith among its converts by online programs such as Bible and Gospel Development. The online support is instrumental to the converts who are restricted to become secret believers due to the state's rampant and severe persecution.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published a report stating that Saudi Arabia "remains uniquely repressive in the extent to which it restricts the public expression of any religion other than Islam."

"It continues to prosecute, imprison, and flog individuals for dissent, apostasy, blasphemy, and sorcery," read a statement in the report.

USCIRF also disclosed that the country uses a 2014 law, where blasphemy and atheism are considered acts of terrorism, against human rights activists. Authorities are also considered abusive against dissidents of its rival Shi'a citizens.

The findings prompted USCIRF to recommend the Islamic state to be designated as "a country of particular concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

USCIRF also noted that the country was already designated as CPC in 2004 and in July 2014.

"However, since 2006, an indefinite waiver has been in place on taking action otherwise mandated by law as a result of the CPC designation," the report said.
home World Church of England clergy crisis: Retirements exceed ordinations

The Church of England is facing a shortage of clergy as more priests are retiring and fewer priests are being ordained.

The present statistics gives both "a warning and an encouragement" to Church of England leaders, Rev. Peter Ould wrote in an article published on Christian Today.

"Although there is a looming crisis in numbers of stipendiary (salaried) clergy, there are signs that the Church is slowly turning the employment corner," Ould said.

He said many priests who receive a stipend, or those who are financially supported by the Church, are nearing retirement, and more than 25 percent of them are about to retire in the next 10 years. However, the number of new priests being ordained is not enough to cover for those who are leaving.

In some places, like Canterbury and Truro, a whopping 40 percent of the priests will enter retirement in a decade, and many of those who will be left are in their 50s. However, with this impending problem, some dioceses do not appear to be doing something about it, Ould said.

In spite of all these, there is good news a more younger people in their 20s and 30s are being trained in the Church compared to older people. Additionally, more women are joining the clergy, and the new ones are enough to compensate for those who are facing retirement.

Yet, these are still not enough to make up for the retiring ones overall.

Ould said one contributing factor to the diminishing number of clergy could be a move made by the Church in the 1970s and 1980s emphasizing the need for people with more "life experience," which effectively drove the younger men away.

"The result was that younger men were turned away from ordination and never came back," Ould said.

It took many years to break this trend, but with new efforts such as "Call Waiting," younger men are being encouraged to join the clergy.

Ould remains confident in the fact that many members of the Church of England today are serious about their faith.

"We might yet have some parishes that struggle to employ a vicar, but increasingly we have men, woman and children in the pews who take their faith seriously and live it out in ways not imagined a generation ago," he wrote.

The Church of England traces its roots to the time when Christianity was introduced to Britain during the Roman Empire. It is a "Catholic and Reformed" church, as it used to acknowledge the pope's authority until the Reformation.
home World G7 nations support effort to 'drive out culture of corruption'

World leaders recognize that there is a correlation between corruption and, among other things, the persecution of religious minorities around the globe, and the G7 said they support the effort to "drive out the culture of corruption."

"The G7 has endorsed the London Summit's outcomes, and will play a leading role in their implementation," British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the conclusion of the G7 Summit in Japan on May 27.

The G7 is a group of the seven industrialized democracies in the world, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the meeting Cameron was referring to was the Anti-Corruption Summit held in London, England in May.

"Corruption is at the heart of so many of the world's problems," the Anti-Corruption Summit's official communiquA reads. "It erodes public trust in government, undermines the rule of law, and may give rise to political and economic grievances that may, in conjunction with other factors, fuel violent extremism. Tackling corruption is vital for sustaining economic stability and growth, maintaining security of societies, protecting human rights, reducing poverty, protecting the environment for future generations and addressing serious and organised crime."

Its aim is to have a common approach in order to: expose corruption, including misusing companies and legal entities to hide the proceeds gained from illegal financial flows; punish perpetrators and support those who have been or are affected by corruption by making sure that there are laws in place; and "drive out the culture of corruption wherever it exists" by encouraging "long-term institutional partnerships which promote integrity." The comminique discusses in further detail how countries individually and collectively can take steps in battling this problem.

Cameron said, reports TruNews, that it is "undermining our security by pushing people towards extremist groups."

The meeting brought together world leaders as well as business executives and representatives from civil society organizations and G20 nations. According to the report, many countries agreed to publish their respective "register of beneficial ownership," which is a list of the real owners of corportation within their territories. Among those who have agreed to or have expressed a desire to maintain such registers are Afghanistan and Nigeria, along with Britain, France, Kenya, and the Netherlands.

However, the United States reportedly did not sign the pledge during the summit, and neither did other territories like the British Virgin Islands, which is deemed as a tax haven.
home US Georgia ACLU director resigns after daughters 'visibly frightened' by bathroom incident with transgender women

Maya Dillard Smith stepped down from her position as head of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday, June 2 as she revealed a bathroom incident that left her daughters "visibly frightened" by transgender women.

Dillard Smith shared a previous experience which she said placed her in the middle of the transgender bathroom controversy. The transgender bathroom bill, which was endorsed by President Barack Obama in May, allows transgender individuals to use bathrooms according to their chosen gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Back in Oakland, California, Dillard Smith recalled how three transgender women entered a restroom where she and her daughters were in and described the transgender women as "all over six feet tall, all with really deep voices, all were obviously men."

"My kids were visibly frightened. I was scared. And I was ill-prepared to answer their questions," Dillard Smith told The Kelly File (via Fox News).

She claimed that she started researching and actively asking questions about the issue after the incident. The Democrat shared that she was originally thrilled when the organization invited her to head Georgia which she referred to as a "state that I think has enormous potential to advance civil liberties and civil rights in the American south."

However, she found herself at the opposing end of the transgender controversy which the ACLU is known to actively endorse.

She explained, "It became evident to me that ACLU and myself were simply principally and philosophically unaligned on a number of issues."

Dillard-Smith revealed that her resignation was prompted by the organization's hostile reaction to critiques and questions she raised about the transgender policy.

"There are real concerns about the safety of women and girls in regards to this bathroom debate," she told AJC. "It seems to me that instead of stifling the dialogue, we want to encourage a robust debate to come up with an effective solution."

Dillard Smith uploaded a video on YouTube that endorsed a website she created called "Finding Middle Ground," described as a safe place for discussing the transgender debate.
home Video Joyce Meyer: God values the heart, true motive behind your actions ahead of 'religious works'

Evangelical leader and New York Times' best-selling author Joyce Meyer says God is more interested in the right motives behind one's action and in treating other people right than one's religious works.

"God is much more concerned about why we do what we do than what we do," said Meyer as a guest speaker for Sunday service at Pastor Craig Groeschel's megachurch, LifeChurch.

"I don't want you to just do religious works trying to impress me, I want you to get the sin out of your life and learn how to treat other people right," is what God is trying to tell His people in Bible verse Isaiah 58, according to Meyer.

Meyer drew references on today's "image-driven age" where people are more "concerned with their image than their character." She said it's better to be filled with the spirit of Christ and let it shape one's image than be seen with bumper stickers of Jesus' name on their cars.

She emphasized how important it was to always check one's motive and to be "pure in heart" which means "those who do what they do with pure motives." Meyer also shared how she herself would ask the question, "Why am I doing this?"

The preacher, who celebrated in March her 40th year of teaching the Bible, recalled how she realized one day that Isaiah 58 was a message for her. She revealed how she used to be one of those people occupied doing religious things and yet she was also fighting and arguing with her husband. She then stressed that some people could be so busy doing "God-things" and yet have no time to be with God.

Meyer also preached about doing personal inventories of how one has been a blessing to others by asking questions such as "Who did I help today?" and "Who did I bless this week?"
home US Pastor's credentials suspended after officiating same-sex marriage ceremony

The Executive Board of the Mennonite Church has suspended the credentials of a pastor for officiating the wedding of two women.

Pastor Isaac Villegas of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship in North Carolina expressed his intention to perform the same-sex wedding during a February board meeting, but the board members advised him that it would put him at variance with the church's Membership Guidelines. He was told to resign if he insists on pushing through with it.

However, despite the board's counsel, Villegas officiated the wedding of two women from his community on May 21. He turned in his resignation from the executive board on May 23.

"As a member of my congregation, as a minister of this gospel, I would be denying God's call in my life if I were to reject our discernment of the Spirit's leading," he said in his resignation.

Two days after his resignation, Villegas received an email from the Virginia Mennonite Conference telling him that after a brief investigation confirmed what he did, his credentials as pastor have been suspended "effective immediately on the basis of a breach of trust with the Conference."

"We are saddened by the necessity of this action and pray that our unity in common mind (2 Cor. 13:11, Phil. 2:2) and shared ministry will be restored by Christ," the Conference said in the email.

The Conference also told Villegas that a support team will work with him in the process of healing the breach of trust and restoring the "mutually agreed understandings and expectations of credentialed ministry."

Villegas said he never regretted what he did, and that he would officiate another same-sex wedding if he has the chance.

"I sensed the Spirit at work when I pronounced the couple wife and wife in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," he said.

Members of the Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship have not left the side of their pastor and are planning to hold a celebration marking his 10th year in ministry.
home US NC Christian students says university violates First Amendment rights by requiring permits to talk to students

A United States district judge questioned North Carolina State University on their policy that requires student groups to first get a permit before being allowed to distribute fliers and engage other students in conversations on campus.

"These are adults, adults on a campus, a state-run campus, and before they can talk with anyone or solicit them in some way like, 'Come join our club,' they have to get a permit?" asked U.S. District Judge James Dever during a hearing on Thursday, as quoted by WRAL.

Grace Christian Life, a Christian student organization, is asking the court to order a preliminary or permanent injunction on NCSU's Speech Permit Policy, which they said is a violation of their First Amendment rights. Moreover, the group deems that they have been singled out by the university because non-religious student organizations have not been pushed to get permits in the same way.

"The University's Solicitation Policy (the 'Speech Permit Policy'), which regulates expressive activity on campus, requires students to obtain the prior permission of the University before they engage in any expressive activity anywhere on campus, including distribution of any written material or even oral communication to other students," the complaint filed by non-profit organization Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of Grace Christian Life says. "The Policy also grants University officials unbridled discretion to restrict the content and viewpoint of student speech if it is not 'consistent with the University's mission and purpose of the location.'"

According to the report, the attorneys for the state told the judge that the permit is like a restaurant reservation since hundreds of student groups are trying to get space, and it also helps the university to pinpoint safety issues. However, they reportedly could not identify an example of a safety issue when asked.

"You have a policy that tries to regulate one-on-one conversations," the student group's legal counsel Edmund LaCour argued. "It's clear you can't have the 'non-permitted-speech police' everywhere on campus, and so, when you have something like that, it will be applied in a discriminatory manner."

In a statement in April, Chancellor Randy Woodson denied any implication that the policy discriminates against an organization because of its religious nature. The "lawsuit is without merit," he said.

The judge said that he would decide this weekend if the university can continue requiring student organizations to obtain permits while the lawsuit is still pending.
home US Obama transgender bathroom stance based on Bible reading, interpretation of law

The Obama administration's directive to public schools that they should let people use restrooms and similar facilities in accordance to their gender identity has sparked outrage and criticism. The president of the United States defended his stance by saying that it is based on his reading of the Bible and the law.

"My reading of scripture tells me that that [the] Golden Rule is pretty high up there in terms of my Christian belief," President Barack Obama said at a town hall in Elkhart, Indiana, as quoted by Breitbart.

He said that in the past, students were made to suffer silently, and schools have been trying to find a proper procedure in order to address it.

"What happened and what continues to happen is you have transgender kids in schools. And they get bullied. And they get ostracized. And it's tough for them," Reuters quotes the president as saying. "My best interpretation of what our laws and our obligations are is that we should try to accommodate these kids so that they are not in a vulnerable situation."

In a letter issued by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education on May 13, public schools were given guidelines on civil rights protections for transgender students. The letter "explains how the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) evaluate a school's compliance" with the regulations of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination, including against a person's gender identity.

"As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations," it reads.

Among other things, a school should let students choose which restroom or locker room they wish to use, depending on which gender they identify with. Also, students must be addressed using names and pronouns consistent with their gender identity. Transgender students should also be allowed to use housing and overnight accommodations consistent with the their gender identity, and a school "may not require transgender students to stay in single-occupancy accommodations or to disclose personal information when not required of other students."

"I have profound respect for everybody's religious beliefs on this, but if you're at a public school, the question is, how do we just make sure that, children are treated with kindness," he said.

While Obama doesn't think he made the transgender bathroom controversy an issue, he said many people think that he did. He said there are more pressing issues, such as the Islamic State, than the one on transgender bathroom use.
home World Woman tortured, burned to death after rejecting marriage proposal in Pakistan

Maria Sadaqat was the 19-year-old schoolteacher who died on Wednesday, June 1 after she was tortured and set on fire by a group of men in Muree, Pakistan for turning down a marriage proposal.

"She was badly tortured and then burned alive. We brought her to hospital in Islamabad but she succumbed to her wounds today," Abdul Basit, the victim's uncle, informed Agence France-Presse (AFP) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, as reported by The Express Tribune.

Sadaqat was able to provide a statement to the police that she had been beaten up by her five attackers before they poured petrol all over her and set her on fire. Neighbors heard her cry for help but by then she had already suffered major burn injuries.

BBC reported that Sadaqat's father points one of the attackers as the owner of the private school Dhok Kallar in Lower Dewal.

"She was teaching at their school," Aasia, the victim's maternal aunt, told BBC. "They sent in the proposal six months ago but the guy was already married and had a daughter. They wanted her to run the school after marrying the son of the owner of the school. Her father refused the proposal and they took the revenge by doing this."

Rafaqat Abbasi, Sadaqat's uncle, said that his niece was left behind to baby-sit her five-year-old sister while her family left for a funeral in a nearby town.

"At the funeral her family was alerted that she 'was on fire.' Initially the thought was there had been some sort of accident, perhaps a pipe had burst or something," Abbasi narrated to CNN.

He added that the family returned home Monday night and found Sadaqat lying on the floor with 85% burns on her body.

BBC's M Ilyas Khan reported that similar to other cases, the victims' relatives are under pressure to remain silent and resort to out-of-court settlements in order to preserve their honor.

"Your daughter is gone and they are going to malign her and your family's honour the more you highlight it in the media," BBC quoted one of the elders telling Sadaqat's father.

On April 29, a teenage girl was burned alive for helping out her friend to leave their village. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has documented 76 cases of women who were set on fire in 2015 alone.
home US Graduation prayer tradition terminated at high school after parent complains ceremony 'too Christian'

A Facebook debate started on May 26 fixes the spotlight on Pottsgrove High School's decision in August to terminate its tradition of prayer during commencement exercises after a parent complained that last year's program was too Christian.

Shortly before this year's graduation, the school's current and former board members engaged in a public discussion started by the school's former board president Justin Valentine. Valentine shared a controversial link on their Facebook page, Pottsgrove Discussion Group, which was immediately removed by the current board President Rick Rabinowitz.

Valentine's link was an article about another public school that was threatened with a lawsuit by an atheist organization if they would not discontinue their 70-year-old tradition of singing the "Lord's Prayer" during commencement exercises. This year's graduating class of East Liverpool High School, led by the class valedictorian, boldly defied the atheists by reciting the "Lord's Prayer" instead.

Rabinowitz said that the post wanted to incite the Christian students of Pottsgrove to imitate the class act of East Liverpool while Valentine accused Rabinowitz of suppressing the discussion with the post's removal.

"Parents and students of other religions do not come to graduation to attend a Christian religious service," wrote Rabinowitz. "They are there to celebrate the accomplishments of their students."

Valentine shot back, "Let's be honest here, this has nothing to do with the law, it has to do with personal preference. And you are using the solicitors words as a cover for personal preference."

Rabinowitz disclosed in an interview with Fox 29 that a parent lodged a complaint when a student invoked Jesus Christ in last year's ceremony.

Superintendent Shellie Feola also told The Mercury, "Last year's was much more specifically religious than anything I had heard at Pottsgrove before. I myself was kind of taken aback by the prayer."

Feola then said that they came up with the decision after they researched and consulted with the district's Solicitor Marc Davis that proved their practice to be illegal since the commencement is a government-sponsored event.

The school has decided to review its decision on a public meeting a few days before their graduation ceremony on June 15.
12 million Indian children less than 10 years old forced into marriage last year, 84% of them Hindus and 11% Muslims

Some of us cannot even fathom the idea of getting married during our teenage years, or even during our 20s. In India, however, innocent children are being forced into marriage at an alarming rate.

About 12 million Indian children were married before the age of 10 last year, according to a data journalism initiative called IndiaSpend. This number is already equivalent to the entire populations of two regions in India.

Of all the children who were married at a very early age, 84 percent of them are Hindus while 11 percent are Muslims.

Both Hinduism and Islam consider arranged marriages as acceptable, unlike in Christianity where this sacred union requires the consent of an adult man and an adult woman.

Since women are also generally still looked down upon in Hinduism and Islam, 65 percent or more than 7.84 million of the married children were young girls. Eight in every 10 girls who were forced into marriage were also found to be illiterate.

Most of the Hindu girls (72 percent) who were married at a very young age were also found to come from rural areas. A lower but still alarming number of Muslim girls who were forced into marriage58.5 percentalso came from the outskirts of India.

IndiaSpend also reported a survey from the Delhi-based advocacy group Nirantar, which revealed that Christian women were among the oldest who enter marriage in India. Christians in the predominantly Hindu nation were found to get married at a median age of 20.6 years old, although this age is still young when compared to Western standards.

Women who follow the religion called Jainism registered the oldest median age for getting married at 20.8 years old, while Sikh women usually get married at the median age of 19.9 years old.

As expected, Hindu and Muslim women were found to get married the youngest, at a median age of 16.7 years old.

The same survey also revealed that the level of teenage pregnancy and early motherhood is nine times higher among women with no education than among women with 12 or more years of education.
Christians face 'bloodless persecution' in U.S. amid 'severest threats' to religious freedom, warns Baltimore Archbishop

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori says institutions protecting religious freedom and morality 'under assault'

Most of us tend to think of persecution among Christians in the extreme and violent sense: death, torture, rape or the outright forbidding of the practice of religion, mostly in areas controlled by extremists.

A Roman Catholic archbishop, however, warned that there is such a thing as "bloodless" persecution, and it is happening in the nation that is supposed to be one of the freest in the world, the United States.

During his address at the opening of the Divine Mercy University in Virginia, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said Catholic institutions in America are "experiencing the severest threats to their religious liberty" at present.

Lori, who is also the supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus and chairs the U.S. Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, said institutions that are supposed to protect religious freedom and morality end up being "under assault."

"The institutions that are under challenge are places of mercy that seek to bring the healing balm of truth, love, and human skill to the spiritual, emotional, and physical wounds of human existence, to be indeed the 'field hospital' amid a culture where many are wounded daily," the archbishop said, as quoted by LifeSiteNews.

To illustrate his point, the Roman Catholic official cited the legalisation of same-sex marriage and U.S. President Barack Obama's contraceptive mandate as particular threats to religious freedom.

"We have only to think about the arbitrary redefinition of marriage and family or anti-family welfare and relief policies. As these intermediate structures either disappear or come under the direct control of the government, our society becomes less merciful and more impersonal, less apt to be a setting for human flourishing," Lori said.

The prelate urged the faithful and all Christian groups to be steadfast in promoting values, especially during this year, called the Holy Year of Mercy by Catholics.

This year "presents us with a graced opportunity to see the most fundamental of our freedoms, religious freedom, through the prism of God's mercy and compassion," he said.
European women welcome Muslim migrants into their homes  only to get raped in return for their hospitality

More women, including young girls, are being raped in Sweden and Germany by Muslim migrants, but news of the attacks does not get published for weeks, even months, according to the Christian website WND.

What is even more troubling is that many of the rape cases are never reported or only quietly reported without media coverage because of the "leftist mentality toward rape at the hands of Muslim migrants" in parts of Europe.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, explained this leftist mentality during an interview last month.

He said progressives in Europe believe it's impossible for an "oppressed" class of people such as Muslims to commit rape against white European women, arguing that these Muslims are merely lashing out in violence against those they see as oppressing them.

Last week, a 26-year-old Afghan man was sentenced to 30 months in prison by the court in Cologne, Germany for raping a 20-year-old woman who had allowed him to live in her apartment, the local German news outlet Kolner Rundschau reports.

The migrant, who came to Germany two years ago, sneaked into the woman's room while she was sleeping and raped her on Oct. 25, 2015, says the report.

A similar story was reported in Sweden earlier this month when a mother decided to open her home to a male refugee from Eritrea. She even asked her daughter to vacate her room to accommodate the migrant. In return, the migrant raped her 10-year-old daughter, the Daily Caller reported.

Muslim migrants raping Westerners trying to help them is not unusual anymore, according to WND.

In some cases, the assaults take on a surprising twist when the guilt is placed more on "Western culture" than on the Muslim rapists.

Last February, a 24-year-old German woman reported that he was attacked and gang-raped by a group of Muslim migrants in a parking lot. However, two weeks later she shockingly expressed sympathy with her rapists, saying they were mere "victims" of German and Western culture, the U.S. Herald reported.

The woman even posted an apology on her Facebook page to the three men who raped her, blaming their actions on the "racist" atmosphere and "sexist society" in Germany. She began her post by writing, "Dear male refugees, I am so sorry!"

A Norwegian man also reported having been raped earlier this year by a Somali migrant. He then expressed guilt and remorse when the rapist was deported back to Somalia, Breitbart reported.
Florida university professor triggers uproar after citing benefits of Sharia law he himself described as 'barbaric'

Sharia law in the United States?

The idea sounds preposterous if not incredible in the country considered as the world's bastion of democracy.

However, there are indications that not all Americans are against this harsh system of justice practiced in the Islamic world. For instance, a new video was posted on YouTube recently showing a Florida college professor promoting the benefits of Sharia law, according to CBN News.

The United West, a Sharia watchdog organisation, filmed a panel discussing Islamaphobia in front of an audience at Florida Atlantic University on May 23.

The video shows Dr. Bassem Al-Halabi, a computer science and engineering professor at the university, describing Sharia law as the best way to stop organised crime. For instance, he claims that cutting off the hands of a thief, one of the punishments sanctioned under Sharia law, is an effective way to stop stealing.

"It sounds very severeit sounds very barbaric I know," Al-Halabi says. "But if it takes one or two people to have their hands cut off and then there's no more stealing in the whole nation that's a much better resolution than having hundreds of people die every day."

The video shows the audience erupting in protest, prompting a panelist sitting next to Al-Halabi to say that the professor was referring to Shariah law practiced overseas and not in America.

However, this appears to have done little to appease the audience since Al-Halabi himself moments earlier had assured the audience that Sharia law is already being practiced in some parts of the U.S. He even mentioned the Islamic Center of Boca Raton in Florida as one of the Islamic centres practicing Sharia law.

Another panelist, Rabbi Barry Silver, then speaks up to denounce Al-Halabi's statement.

"When we believe on faith in the absence of evidence, we can get lost," Silver says. "You can actually have someone sitting here rationalising cutting off hands."

Al-Halabi also supports blasphemy laws which outlaw the criticism of Islam.

Sharia law is cast from the actions and words of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which are called "Sunnah," and the Quran, which he authored.

The law cannot be altered, but its interpretation, called "figh" by imams, is given some leeway, according to billionbibles.org.

Sharia law covers a wide spectrum of topics, including both public and private behavior and private beliefs. Of all legal systems in the world today, Islam's Sharia law is considered as the most intrusive and strict, especially against women.

Under the Sharia law, theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand. The punishment of death is imposed on people found guilty of criticising or denying any part of the Quran, criticising or denying Muhammad is a prophet, and criticising or denying Allah.

Death is also meted on a Muslim who becomes a non-Muslim, a non-Muslim who leads a Muslim away from Islam, and a non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman, also according to billionbibles.org.
Franklin Graham calls Mikey Weinstein an 'anti-Christian bully' for picking on Delta Force hero Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin

Rev. Franklin Graham is upset with former United States Air Force officer Mikey Weinstein, who is now leading the non-profit civil rights organisation called Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), after he kept retired Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin from speaking at a June 6 prayer breakfast event. That prayer breakfast is part of the Victory Week celebration at Fort Riley, Kansas.

When "anti-Christian bully" Weinstein got word that Boykin would be leading it, he "put up a stink" so Boykin would be "disinvited" from speaking, Graham says.

"He called Boykin, who is one of the original members of our country's famed Delta Force and a national hero, all kinds of names  'homophobic, Islamophobic, fundamentalist Christian extremist," Graham writes on his Facebook page. "As a result, the military base canceled the prayer breakfast and said they would pursue a different speaker and reschedule 'in an effort to ensure everyone in our broad and very diverse community feels welcome at any event on Fort Riley.'"

Graham says Weinstein's actions are "sickening," adding that he cannot believe people listened to his complaints. "It is unbelievable that our country has fallen to this point and that Christianity is the only thing it's okay to be intolerant of and discriminate against. Excuse me, General Boykin's first amendment rights still exist, and so do those of everyone who wants to hear him speak," says Graham.

Meanwhile, Graham is happy that 12 states are planning to sue the Obama administration after the President insisted on implementing the transgender policy in schools and have students use bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with rather than their biological sex, meaning boys can enter and use the bathroom for girls.

"We need more politicians and leaders like these who will take a stand against the dangerous riptide of political correctness in this country," says Graham. He adds that people need to protect their family's privacy and stand up against policies that allow sexual predators inside women's and girls' locker rooms and bathrooms.
Hundreds of pastors running for office this November hoping to make a change in American politics

Hundreds of pastors in the United States are running for office this November, hoping to make a change in American politics.

Last year, Pastor Rob McCoy ran for City Council in Thousand Oaks, California and won.

"I'm in exile in my own state and my own nation and this is a directive that God gave me, praying for the peace of the city locally," said McCoy, according to CBN News.

Charlotte, North Carolina pastor Mark Harris is running for the ninth congressional district in the state.

Harris, senior pastor at First Baptist Church, said, "I'm committed to advancing the conservative principles that are representative of hard-working families in the ninth district," the Charlotte Observer reports.

The pastor is known for leading the campaign to void protections for LGBTs in Charlotte.

Pastors are running this year in races from local schools boards to Congress.

Leading the effort to support pastors to run for public office is the American Renewal Project, which has a network of 10,000 pastors and headed by evangelical Republican political leader David Lane, according to Reuters.

"This is a fundamental shift in strategy," said John Fea, a history professor at Christian Messiah College. "Rather than forcing this from the top down, this is about a grassroots approach to changing the culture by embedding ministers in local politics from the ground up."

California Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove said experience is not necessary.

"I want you to know that it doesn't take experience; it doesn't take qualifications. God will call you and if you are called, He will qualify you," she told CBN News.

Pastors are running for office to make a change in the U.S. in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalised gay marriage and the issue of transgender bathroom policies.

"Do you think that if people on your deacon board or pastoral board were serving on the school board that you would be discussing same-sex bathrooms?' Grove asked.

U.S. Senator James Lankford, who spent 15 years in the Southern Baptist ministry, said he is excited about the surge of pastors running for office.

"While some people try and paint it as extraordinary, it's not. It's actually a very normal American thing  people who love our country and who love God and love other people to get engaged in the political process. I'm excited it's happening. It should be a conversation that's bubbling up around the country," he said.

McCoy said the main aim is to rebuild America along the lines of Psalm 11:3.

"The answer to the question that the Psalmist asked that if 'the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?'' is very simple: rebuild the foundation," he said.
'Narcos' season 2 spoilers: plot focus to switch to Mexican drug trade and trafficking after Pablo Escobar's demise?

"Narcos" season 2 may mark Pablo Escobar's (Wagner Moura) demise, but it might not be the end of the series. According to reports, the show will be shifting its focus.

During an interview with Slash Film, "Narcos" producer Eric Newman said that although storylines after Escobar's demise in "Narcos" season 2 are still being figured out, he took interest in drug trafficking stories, particularly the Mexican drug trade.

"You can go to the civil war in Guatemala where American trained soldiers who made their way to Mexico and introduced a new level of violence," Newman said.

Talking about the violence deemed to be police reforms in Mexico, the "Narcos" big man said, "Cops realize we're going to get in trouble for things we did then, we may as well go work for the traffickers and actually get paid."

Newman said that this story is "incredibly complicated and amazing" and that it will be a perfect subject for a television series. This suggested that this might be tackled after "Narcos" season 2.

At the moment, Newman concerns himself primarily with making "Narcos" season 2 the best that it can be, but he believes that beyond Escobar's death in the series, which they recreated in detail, there are still a lot of stories to tell.

Apart from the Mexican drug trade possibly being the center of "Narcos," the show's musical scorer, Pedro Bromfman, suggested that it would be great for the series to pick up a storyline focused on Escobar's rival, the Cali cartel.

In "Narcos" season 2, viewers will watch the rise of the said cartel. It is easy to imagine for the show to go that route since Helmer "Pacho" Herrera (Alberto Ammann), who happens to be one of the Cali cartel's executives, has appeared on the show already.

Bromfman told iDigital Times that there will be more faces to meet in "Narcos" season 2, which hints that the show is prepping up for its post-Escobar era. The composer added that as long as there are providers and eradicators of drugs as well as people interested in it, the show will not go anywhere.

"Narcos" season 2 will premiere this August.
Series of new Marian apparitions approved in Argentina: Glowing rosaries, miraculous healings, woman's stigmata seen as proof

A series of apparitions by the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, has been approved by a bishop in Argentina as worthy of belief, owing to its "supernational origin," the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports.

Bishop Hector Cardelli of San Nicolas in Argentina's Buenos Aires province made the announcement on May 22 during a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas.

Cardelli said after investigating the Marian apparitions for years, he has come to the conclusion that "Jesus through His Most Holy Mother, the Holy Spirit through his beloved spouse, has desired to lovingly manifest Himself in our diocese."

Michael O'Neil, a miracle researcher and author who runs the website MiracleHunter.com, said the bishop's approval is significant since this means that the messages from the apparitions are not only approved for the faithful to read but also that the events that transpired were in indeed actual miraculous apparitions.

"That puts it on par with Lourdes, Fatima and Guadalupe," O'Neil said.

The apparitions began after some rosaries owned by residents in San Nicolas de los Arroyos in Buenos Aires began to glow inexplicably in 1983.

A wife and mother named Gladys Quiroga de Motta saw these glowing rosaries and began to pray to the Virgin Mary. She said the Virgin Mary appeared to her on Sept. 25 that year, carrying the infant Jesus and wearing a blue gown and veil. She said her figure glowed with light.

Gladys said one month after she saw the Marian apparition, the Virgin Mary again appeared before her and gave her a white rosary, saying, "Receive this Rosary from my hands and keep it forever and ever. You are obedient; I am happy because of it. Rejoice, for God is with you."

The Virgin Mary then asked Gladys to look for a statue that had been blessed by a Pope and was forgotten away in a church. Gladys found the statue on Nov. 27, 1983 in the belfry of the diocesan cathedral.

The statue was that of the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus. It had been brought from Rome after it was blessed by Pope Leo XIII.

Gladys said the statue resembled the Marian apparition she saw.

She said the Virgin Mary visited her 68 times, each time bearing messages from Jesus.

Gladys has shared about 1,800 messages from the Virgin Mary, O'Neil said. Many dwell on peace, repentance, returning to the sacraments, and drawing people closer to Christ. But there are also apocalyptic messages, predicting great turmoil for humanity ahead, O'Neil said.

As further proof of the Marian apparitions' authenticity, Gladys reportedly received the stigmata on her wrists, feet, side and shoulder.

There were also documented miraculous healings related to the apparitions, including the healing of a boy with a brain tumour, according to CNA.

Father Rene Laurentin, an expert on Marian apparitions, noted the apparitions' messages in his book, "An Appeal from Mary in Argentina."

In one of the messages, the Virgin Mary warned that mankind is "in the process of falling into a progressive self-destruction," saying, "It is up to you to set your eyes and your heart on God," Laurentin said.
Freddie Gibbs was arrested Thursday night in Toulouse, France on charges stemming from an alleged rape that occurred in Austria in August 2015. The Shadow of a Doubt rapper was scheduled to perform at Toulouse's Le Rex Friday night when he was detained, forcing the cancellation of the concert.

A European warrant was issued for the rapper's arrest, Le Depeche reports. Austrian authorities are now seeking extradition for the rapper to face questions regarding the investigation in Austria. A decision on Gibbs' status could come in several days.

"Freddie Gibbs adamantly denies the allegations that have been levied against by Austrian authorities," Gibbs' lawyer told Rolling Stone in a statement. "It makes you wonder why it took almost a year for Austrian officials to bring these charges. Freddie will be fighting the extradition request as these are nothing more than trumped up charges."

Gibbs' set at Primavera Friday was also canceled "due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the festivals control," the fest tweeted Friday.

Gibbs had a Vienna, Austria concert scheduled for May 26th, but that show was abruptly canceled. "Apologies to my fans in Vienna, Austria. Had some transportation issues. Will be back soon," Gibbs tweeted at the time without mentioning that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

The status of Gibbs' remaining European shows  including stops in London, Marseilles, and Porto, Portugal  is unclear. The rapper's next North American concert is scheduled for June 17th in Toronto. Recently, Gibbs revealed that he and Madlib were reteaming for their follow-up to Pinata, one of Rolling Stone's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2014.

This article originally appeared on Rollingstone.com: Freddie Gibbs Arrested in France on Alleged Rape Charges
When we think of summer vacation time in Texas, we think water features. Nothing beats a 100-degree day like a big body of cool H2O.

But perhaps you're not the type of person who likes sand in your face, mosquitoes all around you or tons of people competing for your inner tube. Maybe you want to guarantee there is not one child in sight, or at least find a person who will take your children away for a while.
One by one, Monmouth County SPCA workers walked into the two-story home covered in hazmat gear. Each time the workers emerge from the house, they were holding at least one dog. After about 15 hours, they were finally done.

Workers rescued 276 dogs from a Howell, New Jersey, home with severe hoarding Friday. According to The Asbury Park Press, many of the dogs had never been outside the house and were found on book shelves and even inside the walls.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
In 2013, a police lieutenant at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey retired with an annual salary of $129,000; the next year, he began collecting a lifetime pension of $172,000, or one-third above his base pay. The officer had managed to juice up his annual pension through pay sweeteners provided by the Port Authority, including lots of overtime work. He was far from alone. An assistant operations manager at one of the Port Authoritycontrolled New York airports retired at a salary of $89,000, but soon began collecting a pension of $103,000, 16 percent above annual pay. An electrician quit working with a base salary of $76,000 and started collecting a pension of $79,000. These are extraordinary numbers, culled from a database of Port Authority pay practices provided by OpenTheBooks.com.

Formed nearly a century ago as a good-government unit to manage the bistate operations of the massive Port of New York, which spans both states, the Port Authority has evolved over the years into the worst kind of government operation: a vast but poorly run agency. Much of whats wrong is reflected in its pay and retirement practices. In labor-friendly New York and New Jersey, unions have bullied the agency into giving away incredibly generous benefits to workers, and then the authority, through mismanagement, has proved unable to control key costs like overtime that drive pay even higher. The result: a workforce among the highest paid in government, even by the dizzying standards of public-employee compensation in the greater New York area. The Port Authoritys retirees regularly rank among the top pensioners in the lucrative New York state retirement system, to which most agency workers belong.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is groaning under $20 billion in debt, struggling to make investments in local infrastructure, and levying steep fees on New York and New Jersey residents and businesses to keep itself afloat. (See The Port Authority Leviathan, Winter 2016.) For those stuck with paying for the authoritys plush benefits and mismanagement, one sign of hope is that New York governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who effectively control the Port Authority, have embarked on a search for a chief executive officer to fix the troubled agencya task that would include grabbing control of soaring pension and persistently high overtime costs. Still, the Port Authority has struggled with these same issues for at least three decades, with little in the way of successful change to show for it. It may take something closer to a revolution to free area residents from the Port Authoritys grip.

The governments of New York and New Jersey were dragged reluctantly into forming the Port Authority in 1921. The two states often fought over operations at the Port of New York, until a federal judge admonished both to settle their differences with the mutual good in mind. The states set up a commission to explore how best jointly to run the port, and thus was born the Port Authority, modeled on the Progressive-era ideal of a government agency directed by enlightened bureaucrats, with input from an appointed board, independent of local politics.

Regional political leaders, initially opposed, soon discovered all sorts of uses for the Port Authority beyond its original mission. They folded the operations of a new Hudson River crossing, the Holland Tunnel, into the authority in 1930, for example, and handed it the mission to build additional ones. The agency assumed control of newly emerging air traffic by taking over the airportseven though the operation of the airports didnt cross state lines. And political leaders began using the Port Authority as a dumping ground for their problems. The authority took over the bankrupt Hudson Tubes rail line in 1962 and assumed the task of trying to revive the West Side of lower Manhattan by constructing the massive World Trade Center complex.

As its role widened, the Port Authority swelled to gigantic proportions, with sprawling facilities and a huge payroll. Today, the Port Authority employs more than 7,800 workers, including nearly 1,700 police officers. Almost 70 percent of the agencys workers are covered by collective bargaining, with more than 5,700 former employees currently collecting pensions. In 2014, the agency spent $1.19 billion on pay and benefitsan average of more than $150,000 per employee for an operation that largely hires blue-collar workers.

Today, the Port Authority employs more than 7,800 workers, including nearly 1,700 police officers.

In a region where public-employee unions wield enormous power, the Port Authority has proved an easy and lucrative mark for labor groups. The agency enjoys a monopoly over New York and New Jersey assetslike airports and tollwaysthat people need to use, and it has levied steep fees on residents and businesses in order to pay for generous worker contracts. When, for instance, the Port Authority assumed control of the Hudson Tubes in 1962, it acquired not only a bankrupt rail line but also militant unions that learned how to use the agencys resources to burnish members pay and benefits. In 1973, the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen demanded a new contract with a 45 percent pay increase and enhanced pensions that would let members retire with full benefits after just 20 years on the job. When the Port Authority balked, the union struck for 63 days, creating chaos for the 40,000 riders using the daily service, dubbed PATH. As members of a rail union, the striking workers received strike benefits from a federal fund and eventually settled with the authority for a 19 percent pay increase over two years. Just five years later, the union demanded a three-year pay increase totaling 36 percent, and when the Port Authority again resisted, workers shut down the train line for another 81 days, ultimately securing a new deal that raised pay 35 percent over three and a half years and added pension sweeteners.

The combative rail unions also tangled with the Port Authority over work rules, especially reforms that might make the rail line more efficient at the expense of union jobs. In 1967, the PATHs engineers union won an injunction to prevent the rail line from adopting walkie-talkies, which would enable workers to communicate with one another more easily and frequently, boosting efficiency. A judge eventually intervened, giving the PATH the go-ahead to deploy the technology. The engineers staged a sick-out in 1993 to protest management demands for work-rule changes, including an end to time off for blood donations. Only a compromise avoided another strike. In 1997, signalmen threatened to strike when the Port Authority initiated a policy that allowed supervisors to discipline workers taking too much time off for illness or injury. The union wanted members to be able to miss up to 40 days without ramifications; over time, the parties settled on ten days of sick time.

In the 1970s, frequent work stoppages and trains regularly getting stuck in tunnels prompted the New York Times to observe that the PATH was no tunnel of love for commuters. For rail workers, it was a different story. PATH employees, who not long before had worked for an insolvent private railroad, became among the highest-paid rail workers in the greater New York area. In 2014, according to OpenTheBooks.com data, the top-earning rail employee at the Port Authority was a unionized maintenance supervisor, who took home $216,378more than half of it in overtime. Several union colleagues did nearly as well, frequently surpassing their white-collar, nonunion supervisors in pay. In fact, five of the top ten compensation leaders in Port Authority rail operations in 2014 were union members, including a track foreman who earned $208,994 and another who brought home $206,295. The base salary of an experienced conductor is $74,173, though the top-earning conductor in 2014 took home $156,343, thanks to overtime and other pay add-ons. On average, Port Authority rail workers earned $91,000 each in total pay in 2014, and thats not counting the steep cost of benefits, which add about 55 percent beyond salary to the cost of employing a worker.

If work stoppages, slowdowns, and PATH strikes werent enough to test the patience of area residents, the Port Authoritys police union has also used its leverage to demand higher pay and steeper benefits for members, whom the union once claimed were underpaid. In March 1972, the cops disrupted vehicle traffic in a job action that snarled the approaches to the Hudson River crossings connecting New York and New Jersey. The action bolstered the unions negotiating position, and it won a 25 percent pay increase over two years. Barely 15 months later, the union threatened another job action when the Port Authority, trying to cut costs, announced that it would start using civilians to perform some non-safety jobs that cops were then doing. Asked about what his members might do to tie up traffic, the head of the police union said, Anything is conceivable. The agency backed off, avoiding a showdown, but the issue arose again in 1979, with several hundred off-duty officers disrupting operations at the authoritys midtown Manhattan bus terminal in a dispute over pay and the hiring of more civilians.

From Port Authority employees perspective, the confrontations have yielded impressive results. A 2012 study by the Citizens Budget Commission found that the agencys public-safety forceone of the nations largestis paid more generously than those of most other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, with senior officers pay averaging between 25 percent and 48 percent higher than compensation of similar officers employed by New Yorkarea local governments. Only cops working for Nassau and Suffolk Counties receive more generous compensation (and the jaw-dropping cost of Nassaus police force is a major reason that the state has placed the county, one of the nations richest, under a financial control board). The average base pay of a Port Authority officer after six years is $90,000, but officers (like other authority workers) have many ways of increasing compensation, including longevity pay based on years of service, extra payments for work done under non-regular conditions (such as night or holiday shifts), uniform allowances, and the most lucrative categoryovertime pay. In 2014, the 870 Port Authority officers earning the top-tier base pay of $90,000 annually enjoyed an average of $153,784 in total cash compensation, with $46,192 per officer in overtime pay, nearly $5,500 per worker in longevity compensation, and $7,511 per worker in extra pay for working under unusual circumstances.

The Port Authority has an even tougher time managing the overtime of its senior public-safety staff. The departments 123 full-time sergeants earned a base-salary average of $102,532 in 2014, but total compensation for these workers was an astounding $182,133 per officer, thanks to $56,539 per worker in overtime and $9,492 per worker in pay differentials for unusual shifts. In its 2012 study of regional police departments, the Citizens Budget Commission noted that many police forces, including New York state troopers and New York City police officers, dont receive pay differentials for duties such as holiday work, which are typically assigned in public safety on a rotating basis.

Other authority unions have secured similarly plush compensation for their workers. Toll collectors, represented by the Transport Workers Union, enjoy a base annual pay that tops out at $65,026 annually for the most senior membersfor a job that requires no special skills. Total compensation for this senior group averaged more than $85,841 in 2014, thanks to some $7,600 in overtime and $4,030 per employee in extra pay for work performed under special circumstances. Buildings and grounds workers at the agencys facilities earned a top average base pay of $55,900 in 2014, with total pay averaging $74,846 for those who worked full-time at that pay. That included an average $14,936 per worker in overtime. Electricians, represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, top out at an annual base pay of $76,024; the 100 of these workers employed full-time in 2014, however, earned an average $111,463 in total compensation, with nearly $29,455 per worker in overtime.

Problems managing and restraining overtime pay have plagued the Port Authority for yearsa testament to the agencys inability to budget properly and supervise workers adequately. A 2011 audit by the New York state comptroller noted that overtime flows like water at the agency. Three years later, the New Jersey Courier News observed: Among the sure things in this world besides the inevitability of death and taxes are stories . . . about how much over budget the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey went in paying overtime. Published articles about the agencys efforts to control overtime date back to the mid-1980s. A typical example: a November 1986 New York Times story reported that Port Authority overtime costs would grow by nearly 25 percent that year, despite an agency pledge to cut total compensation. Little has changed. In 2014, 5,360 Port Authority workers received overtime, with about 100 effectively doubling their base salary. Of the remaining workers employed by the agency, 2,200 worked in nonunion jobs that dont qualify for overtime. Only 289 of the thousands of authority employees who qualified for overtime failed to get it in 2014. Management has no clear strategy to achieve its own benchmarks and goals for curbing costs, the New York state audit noted in 2011.

A big reason for the overtime cost explosion is that the Port Authority made the questionable decision in the past to try to save money on expensive benefitswhich average about $55,000 per employeeby hiring fewer workers and instead paying overtime to current ones. The authority wound up cultivating not savings but an uninhibited culture of overtime, which it now seems incapable of changing, as evidenced by data that show workers piling on extra hours as they near retirement, to spike pensions. That and the fact that the retirement system bases lifetime benefits on total compensation have added more to the agencys costs than pay data reflect.

Even by the standards of other public-sector retirement programs, the Port Authoritys pensions are incredibly generous. A 2011 study by the New York state comptroller found that 71 of the top 300 pensioners in the New York state retirement system were Port Authority retirees, though only about 5,750 members of the systems 430,000 current beneficiaries worked for the agency. Like many public-sector workers, authority employees can qualify for full pensions with less time on the job than can private-sector workers. In 2013, for instance, a Port Authority police sergeant retired after 20 years on the job with a pension of $92,500, representing more than 85 percent of his annual base pay during his final working years. That same year, an officer with 25 years service began collecting a pension of $95,800105 percent above his base pay during his final years on the job. Non-public-safety agency employees must work longer to collect a full pension but can still take home sizable retirement checks in a shorter time than is typical in the private sector. A unionized supervisor at one of the areas airports retired after 30 years of work in 2013, with a final salary of $69,900, but began collecting an annual pension of $83,000.

One consequence of these earlier-than-usual retirement schedules is an unusually high ratio of pensioners to current workers, with approximately one Port Authority pensioner for every 1.2 active workers. (PATH employees at the Port Authority are part of another retirement system for rail workers.) The price for having so many retirees adds up. In 2014, authority pensioners collected $277 million in retirement pay from New York State. Annual payments by the Port Authority to the New York state retirement system are soaring, rising nearly 135 percent, to $143 million from 2009 to 2014. Annual pension contributions for public-safety workers are particularly high, relative to payroll, increasing from $32 million, or 16 percent of payroll, in 2009, to $71.4 million, or 28 percent of payroll, in 2014. Those costs are likely to keep rising fast, thanks to an ill-considered decision by the Port Authority years ago to place its employees, including those from New Jersey, in the New York retirement system, where theyre protected by an unusually strong state constitutional clause that makes it impossible to change current worker pensionseven for work theyve yet to perform.

Over the years, Port Authority management has continued to make questionable decisions on pension policies that suggest that it couldnt care less about rising costs. In 2002, for example, the agency began giving bonuses to top managers and letting them count that money as part of their pay, in order to boost their pensions. The practice stopped only when a New York state comptroller audit in 2011 discovered the bonuses and ruled that they couldnt be counted toward pensions. Considering who was getting the benefitsthe agencys chief financial officer, general counsel, and chief administrative officer were among the recipientsthe bonus plan clearly appeared as a perk that the managers had awarded themselves, after years of watching unionized staff spike their own pensions.

One consequence of early retirement schedules is an unusually high ratio of pensioners to current workers.

All this irresponsibility would add up to a damning indictment of the Port Authority under any circumstances. But the agencys missteps are even more worrisome in light of the doubling of its debt in recent years to help pay for redeveloping the World Trade Center site after September 11 (another project that it has bungled). The agency also needs to begin financing investments that it desperately needs to make in infrastructure around the region, including a projected $10 billion for a new bus terminal in Manhattan. To keep its finances from sinking completely, the agency has already sharply boosted fees on bridges and tunnels, up for cars from $8 in 2008 to $15. The result has been a half-billion dollars in additional tolls and fares paid by users of these important facilities. The authority has also kept raising the fees that it charges airlines at its airports. In 2014, it collected $242 million more in aviation fees than it did five years ago. United Airlines, the major tenant at the Port Authoritys Newark Airport, says that its gate fees there are the highest in the nation, 59 percent higher than it pays at Chicagos OHare. Among the reasons United cites for the inflated charges: the high costs that the Port Authority pays for its airport police force.

The Port Authoritys continued effort to subsidize its high labor costs and money-losing operations with spiraling fees is generating growing controversy. In a 2013 report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office questioned the authoritys recent toll hikes in light of a federal statute that holds that interstate-agency crossing rates must be just and reasonable. The GAO criticized the Port Authority for a lack of transparency in setting the fee increases. The Port Authority refused to provide the GAO with copies of its own audits of its operations, the report noted. The Automobile Club of America, meantime, has sued the authority over the toll hikes, charging that theyre illegal because theyre being used to fund other, money-losing agency operations. The lawsuit is still in court. United Airlines has similarly sued the Port Authority over its stratospheric airport fees, contending that the agency is milking airlines to fund other operations. The controversies illustrate a major flaw in the governance of an independent agency with significant taxing power but that stands outside the jurisdiction of any elected official. Taxpayers dont seem to know whom to hold accountable for the fiscal consequences of authority mismanagement.

Gaining control of the Port Authoritys workforce will be a major task of the agencys new chief executive, but hell need the support of the governors of New York and New Jersey. As an independent body, the Port Authority can make changes in its workforce policies and practices without passing legislation. One already-proposed reform would end unions right to bargain over changes in health benefits, which would enable the agency to impose money-saving changes. Most private employers can make such alterations to their health plans without bargaining with workers (and if they dont like the changes, employees have the right to seek employment elsewhere). The Port Authority should have the same prerogative. In fact, in 2012, the agency announced just such a change to its policies, but Governor Cuomo nixed it after unions pressured him. The agency needs to revisit that policy.

The Port Authority should also stop placing workers in the New York state retirement system. That way, it could escape New Yorks constitutional provision that blocks any reform for current employees. Instead, the agency should explore other options, including creating an independent pension plan outside New York State for new workers.

The Port Authority is custodian of some of the most vital public assets of the greater New York area. One look at its compensation practices makes it clear that the agency has often operated those resources more for the benefit of its workforce than for the people of the region. That needs to changeand soon.

This is the second in a series of articles on the Port Authority.

Top Photo: The Port Authority imposes exorbitant tolls at Hudson River crossings to feed its porcine budget. (JOHN MUNSON/STAR LEDGER/CORBIS)
In 18 years, Southeast Texas resident Art Myrick says hes been ordered or asked to evacuate his home near the Brazos River about 20 times, but he didnt always do so and the house never flooded  until now.

Flooding comes with living in Simonton, a small town west of Houston. But this latest round has convinced the 66-year-old Myrick, who retired four years ago, that he should move. He has land to build a new home in San Antonio.

Were gone. Getting too old to live with this, Myrick said of him and his wife Wednesday, while sitting on a cot inside a Red Cross shelter in Brookshire. For us, the Lord is in charge of everything and maybe this is his final message to us  a sign its time to move on. I hate it because I love that house.

Simonton, which has about 800 residents, and other Texas communities continued Wednesday to deal with flooding from rivers and waterways swollen by heavy rain last week, and from a new round of thunderstorms drenching the state.

Hundreds of residents remained evacuated from their homes as the Brazos River reached 54.7 feet in Fort Bend County, which includes Simonton and has had more than 300 water rescues the last four days, before finally beginning to slowly fall. But additional rain this week could mean it might take days or even weeks before the Brazos and other waterways drop to normal levels. The Neches River in East Texas and the Colorado River extending southeast of Austin also were overflowing.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster Wednesday in 31 flood-affected counties including Lubbock County in West Texas, Hidalgo County in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, and Jasper County in East Texas.

At least six people died in floods last week in Central and Southeast Texas.

The storms have prompted flooding in parts of Texas that two years ago had run dry because of drought conditions. They are the latest in a string of torrential rains since May 2015 that have put swaths of the state underwater.

Southeast Texas has been hit particularly hard and often, including storms in March that dumped up to a foot of rain in some areas and brought record flooding not seen since 1884 along the Sabine River. In April, more than a foot of rain fell in parts of Houston, submerging scores of subdivisions and several major highways, forcing the closure of schools and knocking out power to thousands of residents who were urged to shelter in place.

State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said the average annual rainfall in Texas over the last century has increased about 5 to 10 percent. But the severe weather over the last year was exacerbated by El Nino, which is the natural warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide.

The El Nino period is dissipating but Nielsen-Gammon said the frequency of heavy rains likely will continue.

Elevated water levels could continue through the weekend as forecasts call for more rain. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the greater Houston region where 8 to 10 inches could fall through Friday in some isolated locations. The Austin area is expected to receive 3 to 6 inches through Friday, while Dallas and North Texas is forecast to receive 3 to 5 inches by the end of Thursday.

Fort Bend Countys emergency management coordinator, Jeff Braun, said his biggest concern is the additional heavy rainfall in the forecast, which could delay evacuated residents from returning to their homes for up to a week because the water in flooded areas will not have anywhere to go with more rain.

While Myrick said hes relocating, Barbara Leach, who lives in Rosenberg in Fort Bend County, said shes not going anywhere. The Brazos flooded the mobile home where she and her husband have lived for 41 years, but Leach, 78, said she enjoys their proximity to nature too much to leave.

Leach, her husband Dan, and their family spent Wednesday ferrying furniture and other belongings from their mobile home to dry land on two boats.

Leach said while government officials could have done some things to help mitigate flooding problems, nothing could have really stopped it.

This is Mother Nature and I dont think they could have prepared for this. I dont care how many dams or dikes or whatever they have, she said. Im not blaming anybody for it. Thats life. Thats the way the world is. People have been hit harder than we have. So well come out OK.

(Warren reported from Dallas.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Salman Rushdie's 'Shalimar the Clown' Premieres This Month at St. Louis Opera

A new opera based on the 2005 novel by writer Salman Rushdie, Shalimar the Clown, will receive its world premiere this month at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Sir Rushdie, a British Indian novelist and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 for his literary contributions. He is perhaps best known for his controversial 1988 tome, The Satanic Verses.

Shalimar the Clown is the eighth novel by the postcolonial author. A love story set in the historically disputed territory of Kashmir, Shalimar's storyline is described by Rushdie in a parallel of our modern extremist epoch to The Paris Review:

"In Shalimar, the character Max Ophuls is a resistance hero during World War II. The resistance, which we think of as heroic, was what we would now call an insurgency in a time of occupation. Now we live in a time when there are other insurgencies that we don't call heroic -- that we call terrorist."

In a recent interview with Vital VOICE, OTSL choreographer Sean Curran described his enthusiasm in preparing Rushdie's story for the opera stage:

"Shalimar is a premiere. No one's ever done the show. No one's ever seen the show. That's where the excitement lies. It's almost like making something from scratch. The composers have been working on it for years, and James Robinson, the director, has had a hand in how it's been shaped."

The author visited St. Louis earlier this spring to discuss the book with the theater's performance company. Shalimar, a tragic wartime romance, is a germane fable for operatic interpretation.

Rushdie, four-times divorced, is reported to be currently involved with New York fashion designer Melissa "Missy" Brody. The couple are pictured above at the NYC premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014.

Shalimar the Clown will be performed multiple times throughout the month at the Loretto Hilton Center at Webster University starting this Saturday, June 11. Tickets are available now at www.opera-stl.org.

Below, watch an excerpt of a workshop performance of Shalimar the Clown from the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Let us know what you think in the comments section.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsSalman Rushdie, Shalimar the Clown, The Satanic Verses, Missy Brody
wellness-nutrition-2

Cleveland's capital call is prominent.

(Courtesy photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There has been much debate in the Plain Dealer, other regional publications and in private conversations all over Northeast Ohio about the current state of the tech industry.

What is the direction of the tech industry? Should we focus more on IT than biotech or the opposite? Who is going to lead it? What are the local tech industry's strengths and weaknesses?

Michael C. DeAloia

Originally, I was going to review all the things wrong with the tech industry in Northeast Ohio. Yet, there is an amazing vitality to the industry, and despite its fragile nature, there are some truly astounding macro trends taking root. After many illuminating, and at times vexing, conversations with area entrepreneurs, investors, civic and political leaders it became evident that there are three issues shaping the local tech dynamic:

Capital Culture Scale

This two-part column (today and next Sunday, June 12) will evaluate the Cleveland call for capital and look into the dramatic search for new capital sources and the vetting of a new set of ideas. Culture and scale, both mission critical elements as well, will get their due in future columns. But right now, it's all about the money.

So what has actually occurred in Northeast Ohio from a tech investment perspectives so far? Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart, offered great detail on how much his organization has invested during the past 10 years, the follow on capital that JumpStart companies have received and the total amount of capital invested in the tech industry. The stats are compelling:

JumpStart has invested $33.2 million in 83 companies since 2006.

In those 83 investments, JumpStart was the first money in 95 percent of them.

$12 million on cash return that has been redeployed into new investments.

15 financial exits that equate to $12.3 million in returns.

19 companies that have closed down with little or no return of capital invested.

52 active companies still in the JumpStart portfolio and the organization expects 10-15 "significant exits" in the next two-plus years.

Revenues generated by JumpStart companies are at a $539 million run rate and are expected to double in the next two years.

Companies getting JumpStart investment in the past 10 years have been able to secure $702 million in follow-up funding.

$1.9 billion in capital raised by Northeast Ohio companies as a whole since 2006.

And yet, according to a report by VentureOhio, an organization whose mission is to advance and support entrepreneurship in Ohio, this region is still $263 million short in financing the ongoing needs of the tech industry.

If this region, and especially Cleveland, wants to fully join the New Economy, then the leadership here (in all of its forms) must solve the capital funding issue. Perhaps new leadership, in the form of the large corporate sector, getting involved is necessary to solve this issue.

The stage is set for great success in our local tech sector including B2B software, biomed, life sciences, medical devices and big data. We, as a region, have acted in the past to save our industries. Remember the marches not too long ago to save LTV Steel and other Old Economy companies? The jobs were slowly eroding, but those that could be saved were thought to be of major relevance. Today, we have numerous companies growing like weeds without nutrition to fully take root and that same civic mindset must emerge to save this region's future in the New Economy.

Next week, this column will review six potential solutions or key pieces to the capital conundrum that needs heavy debate, vetting and possibly implementation to nurture and grow our promising tech industries.
Donald Trump

In this May 24, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Albuquerque, N.M. Guest columnist Bryan Hambley, founder of the PAC, Stand Together Against Trump, urges protest at the Cleveland convention as a "moral imperative."

(Brennan Linsley, AP Photo)

Bryan Hambley is founder and treasure of Stand Together Against Trump.

AAAA

Guest columnist Bryan Hambley is the Founder and Treasurer of Stand Together Against Trump (STAT), an independent expenditure political action committee formed this month to organize protests of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in July.

When the sun sets over Cleveland on July 21, Donald Trump will have accepted the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. In response, some have called for Cleveland 2016 to resemble the chaos and violence of Chicago 1968. Instead, we offer an alternative for our community to come together to protest the nomination of a candidate who challenges the moral foundation of our city.

Episodes of police brutality and violent protests are not a foregone conclusion, but avoiding these scenes will take effort and planning on all sides. Three recognitions are vital for our city to stand together during this critical juncture in American political history.

First, protesting Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention is not a radical political act, it is for many a moral imperative. The Republican Party has chosen a candidate whose stated beliefs conflict with our bedrock ideals of liberty and equality.

Instead of articulating a vision for tackling national issues, Trump turns ethnic and religious minorities into scapegoats. It should not become cliche to remind voters that this man has mocked a reporter's physical disability and called for banning immigration of an entire religious group. These are not positions to be debated; they are an affront to our shared humanity.

Second, Cleveland has a responsibility to protect the First Amendment rights of its people. Much attention has been given to our city's purchasing of riot gear and military-grade equipment. However, it should be noted the most violent language in anticipation of the convention has come from Trump himself.

In response to any candidate, especially one who has called for the mass deportation of many residents and banning immigration of Muslims (many of whom work in our communities, including Cleveland's finest hospitals and universities), Cleveland has a responsibility to protect free speech. This responsibility includes granting protest permits in a timely fashion for demonstrations downtown.

Third, protesters also will have responsibilities. Protesters have no right to threaten the physical safety of candidates or convention attendees. Quicken Loans Arena itself should remain a secure facility, and protesters should refrain from attempting to enter the building. This is not to say the entire downtown of our city should become Fortress Trump. A small, cordoned off area outside the arena and adequate security details for candidates are appropriate, blocking off large areas of downtown from free speech is not.

Cleveland 2016 should not become Chicago 1968. We should indeed be Cleveland 2016, a city that has faced the worst fury of the globalized economy, yet turned a corner towards a more prosperous future. A city that has seen its share of racial and ethnic tensions, but finds deep within its people a desire for a more egalitarian community. A city that has served as the landing spot for generations of immigrants, and meets each new one with respect.

Cleveland 2016 is not a city without challenges, but we are a community built on the idea that we are strongest when we face those challenges together. Donald Trump's arrival will test that foundation, but our core principles will not be broken.

We invite you to join our community's response to this hateful candidate. Come support a more positive vision for our future, learn more at standtogetheragainsttrump.com.

Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Linda Kinsey at lkinsey@cleveland.com. Essays must also include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today's topics are also welcome.
Iron City Cafe

A 24-year-old man was fatally shot leaving the Iron City Cafe.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 24-year-old man was killed early Sunday and another man was injured after two gunmen opened fire on a group of people after they left a bar, police said.

The shooting happened about 2:30 a.m. near the Iron City Cafe in the 4000 block of Jennings Road.

The 24-year-old man walked from the bar with a group when when two men fired shots.

The 24-year-old man was shot in the chest and a 27-year-old man was shot in the foot, police said.

The gunmen drove from the area in an unknown vehicle, police said.

Both men were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, where the 24-year-old man died.

No arrests have been made in the case. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner will release the man's name once his family is notified.

A man who identified himself as the owner of the bar declined to comment.

If you want to comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
Williams doing a tough job well, mediating between police, public

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams became emotional during a press conference at police headquarters last Oct. 2. The night before, five-month-old Aavielle Williams had been killed while sitting in a car. She was the third Cleveland preschooler to die in four weeks. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)

(Lisa DeJong)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Starting Monday, The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com will offer an unprecedented look at the problem of shooting deaths among young men, along with various solutions.

This report, which we're calling "Pathways to Peace," has been six months in the making, and has taken us to four different cities. It contains important insights about people who live with the violence, and feel trapped by it. It illuminates the efforts of police and social workers to bring peace; and it describes the inner workings of a few programs that have had measurable success.

Aavielle Wakefield, age 5 months, was shot and killed in October while sitting in a car. (Family photo)

That's a lot of reporting, by a great team: John Caniglia, Rachel Dissell and Brie Zeltner of The Plain Dealer. Olivera Perkins of our staff took a close look at the question of jobs as a deterrent to violence. Separately, Leila Atassi of cleveland.com covered related news, which will be included this package.

Reading their work is worth the effort. It will appear online beginning Monday on cleveland.com and will be folded in to a special section in next Sunday's Plain Dealer.

Cleveland, like many other major American cities with large concentrations of poor and jobless residents, has lost far too many lives to gunfire over the past few years. Most of the victims, like most of the killers, are young black men. But bullets fired in a crowded city kill anyone in front of them. Last fall, in one four-week period, we lost Ramon Burnett, 5, Major Howard, 3, and Aavielle Wakefield. She was five months old.

Ramon Burnett (left), age 5, was shot last September as he played football behind his grandmother's apartment on Louise Harris Drive. (The Plain Dealer)

Saving innocent young lives is reason enough to care about stopping the carnage. There are plenty of other reasons, too, if one needs them.

Each fatal shooting can cost society up to $1.3 million in medical care and lost productivity. And the costs keep coming. Violence can be toxic to young people; those who experience it while young, and who get no help dealing with it, are more likely to inflict it later. The fear it inspires is toxic to whole neighborhoods.

Even suburbanites who never travel to Cleveland have a stake here. The slaughter spills beyond the city's borders, spreading like an epidemic. Indirectly, the impact can be felt from Mentor to Medina. Cleveland's health is critical to the economy of the entire region, and no city can thrive while mothers fear letting their children play outdoors.

Major Howard, age 3, was shot and killed last September while sitting in a car on East 113th St. near Union Ave.

This is not inevitable. Some cities have cut death rates by 60 percent or more. Clevelanders, too, have made real progress in the past, thanks to the tireless and heroic efforts of a small group of extremely dedicated people.

There are, however, no easy solutions. Reducing violence takes sustained, intense effort. It takes a big commitment up front, and a willingness to change direction as circumstances change. Many cities never make the commitment. Many make it, then fail to adapt or persevere. In effect, they choose to walk away. Sometimes a cruel set of circumstances will overwhelm even the best efforts at amelioration.

The solutions we saw do not fit any simple ideological framework.

Effective policing is part of the answer. People who commit violent acts must be stopped. Effective social service agencies matter, too. When young people want to break out of the cycle of violence, they often need help with counseling, therapy, job training, employment, and transportation.

Resources are critical, and often are lacking or evanescent. Sometimes a special grant will launch a promising program, which later dies for lack of sustained funding. But spending more time or money is not sufficient. It has to be spent on the right people, in the right ways, at the right time. Doing that requires consistent data collection and close analysis of results.

Good intentions and passionate commitment matter, but so does focused, get-the-job-done daily leadership.

The discussion is timely, because city officials are drafting plans for the future. One comes from the administration. It calls for tighter integration of successful social-service programs with existing police-based efforts. Another idea comes from Council Member Zack Reed, who advocates a national program called Cure Violence, which deploys reformed offenders to break cycles of violence in their own communities.

The draft plan from City Hall recognizes some gaps in Cleveland's past efforts, in terms of resources and coordination. It's too soon to say how well the next plan will work. We can glimpse its level of ambition. One version sets the goal for reducing violence among young people over the next three years at 10 percent. A city spokesman said that was determined by "looking at the success of other cities." Members of the planning team say they want to avoid over-promising, and hope to over-deliver.

City leaders say that City Hall can't fix this problem alone, and they're right. Success will depend on the city's execution, but also on on widespread civic commitment. How willing are we to support the people and organizations that are trying to make the city safer? Will we make a big commitment, and stick to it?

Everyone needs to find their own answers. I hope our special report helps explain why the questions are so important.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five years ago, Jermaine McCorey couldn't see a way out of his life dealing drugs in North Philadelphia, even after he was shot three times in an attempted mugging.

With the help of a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network, The Plain Dealer explored the hospital-based trauma program that helped transform McCorey's life.

Over the past six months, we also studied violence reduction and policing strategies in New Haven, Connecticut and Virginia Beach -- with an eye toward what Cleveland might learn.

Beginning Monday, you'll hear what we learned from people like New Haven's Stacy Spell, a retired detective who is a critical ingredient to the success of Project Longevity, a program that has cut homicides by more than half since 2011.

In Virginia Beach, we followed efforts to get back to the roots of policing, and to arm officers with knowledge on the teen brain.

Closer to home, you'll spend time with Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority officer Lou Catalani and hear about his department's partnership that connects families and children with social services. Their work is part of a long-term effort to stem generational violence while also improving relationships with police.

We also met with Cleveland leaders who will share what they've figured out about how to make lasting, sustainable progress on such a complicated problem.

It's clear that no one city has found the perfect way to dramatically and sustainably cut shooting and violent deaths.

But there's plenty to learn.
minwage.jpg

Home-care workers press for an increase in wages to $15 an hour during a protest in 2014 in Cleveland.

(Thomas Ondrey/The Plain Dealer/file photo)

Wendy Patton is a senior project director for Policy Matters Ohio.

Guest columnist Wendy Patton is a Senior Project Director with Policy Matters Ohio, a not-for-profit, non-partisan research organization with a mission of contributing to a more vibrant, equitable, inclusive and sustainable Ohio.

Demand for home care is growing rapidly, yet until recently the nation's 2 million-plus home-care workers did not have wage and hour protections like the rest of America's workforce. New federal rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) change that. The much-needed rules protect home-care workers with a wage floor, time sheets and overtime pay - steps that will help stabilize the workforce and improve quality of care.

In Ohio, home-care workers typically get at least minimum wage, but many are not paid for travel time between clients and don't get overtime for long hours worked. Ohio is implementing the new rules, but there have been glitches along the way and there's still a lot of room for progress.

Ohio's 86,000 personal-care and home-health workers do important work, taking care of our disabled and elderly. They are underpaid for demanding jobs that often require training and even certification: the median wage of a home-care worker is $9.85 an hour and a personal care attendant, $9.67 an hour. Even at 40 hours per week, a home-care worker with one child lives near the poverty level.

This is one of Ohio's fastest-growing jobs. It is a largely a public service job, financed primarily by Medicaid and Medicare. Few states fund a living wage for home-care workers. Until the new rules were put in place, many states did not even pay them minimum wage.

In Ohio, the majority of these workers are employed by agencies, which are responsible for implementing the new rules. However, thousands also work as "independent providers," employed by the person receiving the care but paid by the state. Ohio is responsible for implementing the federal rules for independent providers.

Last year, as lawsuits over the new labor rules were resolved and implementation appeared imminent, Ohio officials considered eliminating independent providers. They initially cited fraud and abuse as the reason, but rather quickly turned around and admitted the real reason was cost. Many home-care workers were angered by the accusation of corruption and what was widely seen as efforts to avoid the cost of fair labor practices.

Taking care of vulnerable Ohioans is an essential public service that is badly needed and widely supported. To regain the trust of home-care workers, the clients they serve and the general public, the state must do a better job of ensuring the new federal rules are properly implemented and enforced. The state should collect data on home-care workers' hours and travel time, budget for costs, and develop oversight and enforcement mechanisms to ensure fair pay and accurate timekeeping.

Lawmakers should also raise wages. Workers in the gigantic field of home health care earn too little because legislators fail to appropriate funds to pay them a living wage. A wage increase would lower a shockingly high turnover rate, stabilize one of Ohio's fastest growing occupations and ensure competent care for our family members and neighbors.

Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Linda Kinsey at lkinsey@cleveland.com. Essays must also include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today's topics are also welcome.
MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Residents, businesses, city administrators and other local sponsors have joined together to defray the cost, and lend their personal time, to bringing a poignant 80-percent scale version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall to Middleburg Heights in July.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute memorial will make its way to the city July 18 and be on display to the public through July 24 at Middleburg Commons, located at Craigmere Drive and Bagley Road. The wall is 360 feet long and 8 feet tall at its peak. More than 58,000 names are engraved on its surface.

Middleburg Heights Chamber of Commerce President John Grech said efforts began last July to host the exhibit.

"It was a unanimous decision," Grech said Friday. "It's important to honor the veterans and the servicemen and servicewomen who have served our country. It is important not only for the chamber but also for the city, which is involved in this project with us."

Cindy Peck, executive director of the chamber of commerce, said she was deeply moved when she experienced the full-scale memorial in Washington, D.C. more than a decade ago. The traveling wall, she said, provides an opportunity for veterans to experience it who are not able to journey to the nation's capital.

"It's because of veterans, the people who put their lives on the line, that we're here today and able to do what we do," Peck explained. "I'm hoping that this lends closure to people, too. We're doing this in the midst of the 50th commemorative year of the Vietnam War, so it all ties in together. It's amazing."

Grech and Peck expressed their appreciation to the community for all the money raised as well as for the dozens of volunteers who have stepped forward to make it all possible. They have surpassed the initial $10,000 required to transport the wall to the city, and any money that remains after the exhibit moves on will be donated to veterans' organizations, Grech said.

"I hope the wall is a learning experience for people, especially the younger generation that may not know much about the Vietnam War," said Grech, adding his father and grandfathers are military veterans.

More than 1,000 vehicles of all types (military, motorcycles, etc.) will form a procession from 4 to 5 p.m. July 18 to escort the wall to the exhibit site. People are encouraged to line Pearl Road with flags to welcome the wall.

Volunteers will assemble the display early the following morning. The wall then will be accessible to the public beginning at 1 p.m. July 19, with an opening ceremony scheduled for 3 p.m.

"Being a part of this has shown me the passion that people have, and it's been incredible and very inspiring," Grech said. "We thank people for their support and willingness to help out."
Illinois Legislature Glance

With projections that Illinois' unpaid bills will total $10 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, the state's 11-month budget impasse dominated discussion during the Illinois legislative session that concluded last Tuesday. By contrast, Ohio's budget passed on time, and is balanced, writes Thomas Suddes.

(Seth Perlman, Associated Press)

Ohioans can find plenty to gripe about. And they do. But Ohio's bean-counters know how to manage money. That matters, because Republican Gov. John Kasich and his aides have one last state budget to craft, for the two years that'll begin in July 2017.

Ohio's budget picture is a lot prettier than state finances are in some nearby states. Illinois now has the lowest bond rating of any state. In fact, Illinois doesn't even currently have a state budget, because the Land of Lincoln's GOP governor, Bruce Rauner, and its Democrat-led General Assembly can't agree on one. Illinois is expected to end this fiscal year with unpaid bills (to state vendors, etc.) totaling $10 billion, according to the Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability, part of the nonpartisan (Chicago) Civic Federation.

And Pennsylvania went without a budget for 266 days of this fiscal year, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer tally. The budget finally fashioned in Harrisburg (though "jury-rigged" is a better term than "fashioned") only took effect because Democratic Gov. Thomas W. (Tom) Wolf let it become law without his signature. Reason for Pennsylvania's deadlock: Political war between Democrat Wolf and a Republican General Assembly. It appears the Keystone State's Republican state legislators believe in what could be called the Mitch McConnell rule of governing: Don't.

In contrast, Ohio's cashbox, comparatively speaking, is both full and secure, though the Blame Kasich First crowd will deny that until the day Gabriel blows his horn.

The GOP-led legislature passed Ohio's 2015-17 budget last year - on time. And, as the Ohio Constitution requires, the budget (Amended Substitute House Bill 64, which Kasich signed last June 30) is balanced.

In an important financial sidelight, there's this, too: Last month, legislators passed House Bill 390, which "effectively pays back Ohio's [remaining] loan [balance] from the U.S. Department of Labor," the Legislative Service Commission reports. Those borrowings, which began before Kasich became governor, helped Ohio provide benefits when joblessness rose steeply. Final repayment, state Budget Director Timothy S. Keen told legislators, will cut Ohio employers' unemployment compensation taxes "by an average of $76 per employee." Paying off that unemployment compensation debt was long sought by everybody in Columbus who knew about it; now, that's getting done.

And yet, outside Ohio, Republican presidential primary voters rejected a governor whose administration has helped Ohio recover financially -- in favor of a carnival barker in love with the sound of his own voice.

Legislative logic: Late in May, Michael R. Barrett, a U.S. district judge for Southern Ohio who sits in Cincinnati, put at least a temporary hold on a bid by the legislature's Republicans and Kasich to deny Planned Parenthood public funding for certain non-abortion health care services.

The next day, another U.S. district judge, Michael H. Watson, who holds court in Columbus, ruled that Republican legislators and Kasich can't abolish so-called "Golden Week," a pre-election period when an Ohioan may both register to vote, then immediately cast his or her ballot.

Watson ruled that it was unconstitutional to abolish Golden Week because the evidence showed that abolishing Golden Week reduced opportunities for black Ohioans to vote. (Surely it was the last thing on Statehouse Republicans' minds that, because black Ohioans tend to vote for Democrats, abolishing Golden Week might make it easier for a Republican presidential candidate to carry Ohio.)

Both the Planned Parenthood and Golden Week rulings prompted some Statehouse Republicans to harrumph about activist federal judges, etc. But as a matter of fact, Watson and Barrett were appointed to federal judgeships by ... George W. Bush.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@gmail.com, 216-999-4689
Republican Presidential Candidates Debate In Houston, TX

From left, Republican presidential candidates Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio, (R-FL), businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-TX), and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are introduced during a debate sponsored by CNN, Telemundo, Salem Media Group and the RNC at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music Opera House on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

(Sipa USA)

Richard M. Perloff is a professor at Cleveland State University

Are facts extinct? Are those time-honored arbiters of truth on the run, their empirical entrails in hot pursuit by the opinion-bloated vultures of social media, where facts seem so much beside the point, and voicing a partisan worldview is all the rage?

It's a popular thesis. Do the facts corroborate it?

Legions of activists have relentlessly promoted the notion that vaccines cause autism, most recently in a movie that opened in New York City, "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe," directed by Andrew Wakefield, the former doctor best known for his discredited Lancet study.

Vaccines do not cause autism. That's a scientific conclusion corroborated by medical research and emphasized nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, here in Cleveland, by Dr. Max Wiznitzer, the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital neurologist and autism expert. Yet despite evidence prominently promoted by medical authorities, a 2014 National Consumers League survey found that about one-third of American parents believe vaccines can cause autism, perhaps because they reject anything that smacks of science.

Politics is another area where facts often succumb to pre-existing biases. Supporters of Donald J. Trump are convinced that illegal immigration has risen to dangerous levels, when data show the number of individuals trying to slip across the border has dropped since 2009. Bernie Sanders' enthusiasts believe that a single-payer health plan will reduce costs to levels paid in European countries. However, as a recent New York Times Upshot article showed, costs are likely to stay high, partly because physicians are paid much more in the United States than in Western Europe.

Social media can contribute to these perceptual inaccuracies. People frequently gravitate to social media posts that reinforce what they already believe, so it is entirely possible that Trump's and Sanders' supporters primarily encounter information that echoes their strongly-held beliefs.

But here is where it gets more complicated.

People filtered political information through their biases long before social media came around. And contrary to popular belief, a 2015 study by Facebook researchers found that nearly 3 in 10 news stories on individuals' Facebook's news feeds seemed to present information in conflict with their political beliefs.

Facts are not a purely objective entity either. They are massaged and exploited for political purposes (see Vietnam War deceptions and, Weapons of Mass Destruction fraud). People have good reason to distrust "facts." What's more, facts change. For years, economists believed free trade had few downsides; new research shows that free trade bled manufacturing jobs far more than economists assumed.

This leads many people to assume that it's all subjective, opinionated, and faux. Supposedly, there is no such thing as facts; they're just another gambit in the persuasion game, manipulated by the power structure, as postmodern academics like to tell us.

Yes, facts can be stubbornly open to question, difficult to separate out from values, and susceptible to manipulation. But we have scientific methods for a reason. They help to establish truth, within a distribution of probability. Facts - those that have been verified scientifically -- remain important because they help evaluate social programs, offer insights into the effectiveness of seemingly equivalent policies, and serve as weapons to counteract demagogic political speech.

We live in an age of unparalleled access to information. But it comes with risks. People used to say "seeing is believing"; now they claim that "Googling is believing," Michael Lynch observes in his new book, "The Internet of Us," suggesting that people believe they rarely discover facts, but download them! Of course, information you download may be neither factual nor true.

People are capable of separating fact from opinions; jurors do this all the time. The problem is we have gotten out of practice in the electoral context because our politics has become so poisonously polarized, which encourages voters to view candidates only through their biases. In addition, facts are popularly presumed to be only a matter of perspective, and online media can frame facts so they algorithmically congeal with users' pre-existing preferences.

Democratic discourse cannot ethically proceed in the absence of facts. With the fall presidential campaign set to begin, the prospects for a national discussion informed by consensually agreed upon facts is dismal. Some voters will retreat into comfortable cocoons, believing only their side, but that's not the answer. The trick is to figure out a way for facts to bulldoze past our biases.

The press, frequently maligned but a critical safeguard, remains important. News outlets must call out politicians much more than they have for prevarications, plastering fact checks all over conventional and social media. Debate moderators should correct misinformation immediately. Facts can't solve our problems, of course, but they can clarify our prescriptions and offer common ground for collaborative discussion.

Richard M. Perloff is a professor of communication, political science and psychology at Cleveland State University.
Damon excoriated politicians who are "incentivized to think short term, and simply do not engage with long-term problems."

In a commencement speech on Friday before nearly 3000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) undergraduates and graduate students, the Boston-bred Damon gave a politically tinged speech that also took aim at presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, the media and elected officials.

Yet Damonan outspoken Democrat who has endorsed Hillary Clintonreserved some of his harshest critique for bankers, which he faulted for the 2008 financial pandemic that reverberated through the global economy. Ironically, Clinton has come in for sharp criticism for her ties to the financial industry, cultivated during her tenure as New York's junior senator.

Calling the crisis "the biggest heist in history," the "Jason Bourne" actor insisted that financial institutions were aware of the ramifications of their actions, which he called fraudulent.

"It was theft, and you knew it. It was fraud and you knew it, And you know what else? We know that you knew it," Damon said. "I don't know if justice is coming for you in this life or the next but if it does come in this life? Her name will be Elizabeth Warren," he added.

Judging by the sparse applause during his comments, Damon may have been speaking to a less than receptive audience.

In fact, a 2015 study by Harvard Business School found that finance was the ranked as most popular industry among MIT grads entering the labor market, with more than 8 percent taking jobs in the financial sector after graduation. MIT's business program is a feeder school to many large Wall Street banks and hedge funds, but at placement rates less impressive than competitors like Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and New York University.

In 2012, Damon and fellow actor Ben Affleck raised money for Warren's Senate campaign. Warren, who is wildly popular with rank and file Democrats, is frequently mentioned as a future presidential contender.

Damon even weighed in on the subject of whether the U.K. should sever ties with the European Union. He called Brexit an "insane idea," and described it as the U.K. trying to "cut loose from Europe and drift out to sea."




Basically your definition of WinMain isn't correct it has parameters and a call directive, it will look like an overloaded function in that form

Copy Code int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow){



I haven't done this in ages but you had a console app and are trying to turn it to a windows app so there will be a project setting somewhere. To be honest the fastest way to do this will be to set the project up from scratch. Delete all the files in your directory except the source files and stuff you made. Then goto "new project" and select your directory but make sure you select Win32 Application not Win32 Console Application. On the next screen click on the "application settings" and tick the box "empty project". Ok all that and you get an empty project.



Now on the source files entry in solution explorer simply select "add existing item" and bring your source files in as you need.



With the right WinMain you are then good to compile and all should be fixed.



If that all gets too hard here is one I prepared earlier Skeleton Windows App project setup[^]

In vino veritas



modified 9-Jun-16 4:21am.



leon de boer wrote: Sometimes I just shake my head at answers offered I get much the same feeling with more and more of the questions posted here.



1.dev enviromentVC++ 6.0



2.build program in 'release'



3.store 1000000 simple objects in CArray



4.run the program without debug





After running the code , it's about 85M memory cannot be release on my computer.



Can anyone explain and solve the problem for me? Thanks.



BTWBecause of the legency project code,my dev IDE is not allowed to update to the latest VisualStudio. So i have to solve the problem in VC 6.0 IDE.





#include "afxtempl.h"



long int g_cCount = 0;

long int g_dCount = 0;



class CMyTest

{

public:

CString m_str;





CMyTest()

{

m_str = "test string";



g_cCount++;

}





~CMyTest()

{

g_dCount++;

}



};



typedef CArray<CMyTest,CMyTest&> CArrayTest;







void Test()

{

g_cCount = 0;

g_dCount = 0;



CArrayTest testArray;



int count = 1000000;

for(int i =0;i < count; i++ )

{

CMyTest testObj;

testObj.m_str = "test string";



testArray.Add(testObj);

}



testArray.RemoveAll();

testArray.FreeExtra();

}



void CTestMemDlg::OnOK()

{

Test();



CString strInfo;

strInfo.Format("Object construction: %d destruction: %d \r

",g_cCount,g_dCount);

AfxMessageBox("finish\r

"+strInfo);

}





C++ Copy Code typedef CArray < CMyTest,CMyTest > CArrayTest;

(no reference). This will cause every element to be copied into the array, but should work.

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.



--Winston Churchill



RemoveAll will remove all the elements from the array but will not actually dispose them (i.e. call their destructors). Should be easy enough to test.



lostangels wrote: Copy Code CArrayTest testArray; int count = 1000000 ;<br /> for ( int i = 0 ;i < count; i++ ) { CMyTest testObj; testObj.m_str = " test string" ; testArray.Add(testObj); }





What will happen if you change this code to

Copy Code CArrayTest testArray; int count = 1000000 ;<br /> testArray.SetSize(count, 100 ); for ( int i = 0 ; i < count; i++ ) { CMyTest testObj; testObj.m_str = " test string" ; testArray.SetAt(i, testObj); }





C# Copy Code After running the code , it ' s about 85M memory cannot be release on my computer

How exactly do you know it isn't released?



For example looking at the memory use in Task manager means nothing if that is all you are using. So has this statement got some actual tool basis?



If all you are doing is running task manager run the Test for me twice please one after another.

C# Copy Code void CTestMemDlg::OnOK() { Test(); test(); CString strInfo; strInfo.Format( " Object construction: %d destruction: %d \r

" ,g_cCount,g_dCount); AfxMessageBox( " finish\r

" +strInfo); }

If the memory use doesn't double to 170M you aren't leaking memory at all you just misunderstand what windows task manager is reporting.

In vino veritas



modified 6-Jun-16 9:34am.



How to track for char as input while doing addition for integers. If accidentally given char as input how to prevent it from performing addition calculation.





1.) Scan each character of the entry before doing anything with it, this is the generic form of a parser.

2.) Try converting it and if you get an error prompt, reloop and ask for entry again.

3.) Look for an error and if found exit program with error notification.



Which depends on what the source of the number is and what your goals with your program are. For example if the source of the number is a file not much use prompting and asking for re-entry ... files can't do anything about it



So the question comes down as, in the program you are writing what do you think it should do? What is the most elegant and most useful?

In vino veritas



modified 5-Jun-16 3:13am.



Can anyone explain me what is the difference in determination value?



double a = 0.0;

double a = .0;

double a = 0.;



https://isocpp.org/std/the-standard[^] (the current draft can be downloaded as PDF; see there 2.13.4 Floating literals).



Instead of reading the standard it is often sufficient to read a C++ online reference like floating point literal - cppreference.com[^] because those are not so hard to read as the standard and contain examples.



Hi,



I have a Base Class Header File as follows, C++ Copy Code class MyClass, typedef void (MyClass::*PFN_DO_SOMETHING)( void * pData); class MyClass{ PFN_DO_SOMETHING m_pfnDoSomething; void Act( void * pData); } void MyClass::Act( void * pData){ m_pfnDoSomething(pData); } Needless to say, 'pfnDoSomething' has been initialised elsewere. I boiled the question down to the essentials, the correct CPP syntax for calling a member function from a pointer to it.



I get a Compiler error stating that 'pfnDoSomething' does not resolve to a function call.

What is the correct syntax for calling this function.



regards

Bram van Kampen



modified 2-Jun-16 4:00am.





C++ Copy Code class MyClass{ typedef void (*MyClass::PFN_DO_SOMETHING)( void * pData); PFN_DO_SOMETHING m_pfnDoSomething; void Act( void * pData); }; void MyClass::Act( void * pData){ m_pfnDoSomething(pData); }

Your errors:



The asterisk in the typedef is at the wrong place.

is at the wrong place. Place the typedef inside the class to avoid the forward declaration which would not work here with the correct typedef .

inside the class to avoid the forward declaration which would not work here with the correct . The function member name is m_pfnDoSomething (not pfnDoSomething ).

Note also that there is no need to use the class prefix with the typedef . You may also use:

C++ Copy Code typedef void (*PFN_DO_SOMETHING)( void * pData);



I've always had difficulty with this, but if memory serves, function pointers in classes are required to be declared static .

[edit]

Memory does not serve.

[/edit]



modified 2-Jun-16 3:16am.







Copy Code void MyClass::Act(void* pData){ if (m_pfnDoSomething) m_pfnDoSomething(pData); }



Here is a minimalist function ptr .. no need for forward delaration, typedef or even a name of field. All you need is the * dereference before the function ptr name it knows what you are doing from that and really all it needs is what the function looks like so when you try to set it, that it checks for match.

Copy Code class MyClass{ void (*MyClass::m_pfnDoSomething)(void*); void MyClass::Act(void* pData){ if (m_pfnDoSomething) m_pfnDoSomething(pData); } };



Finally especially since your in a class I would suggest you don't pass in the void* data pointer but look at other options to typecast or marshal the data in a way that is a little safer.

In vino veritas



modified 4-Jun-16 11:36am.



C# Copy Code How to generate XML file dynamically using C on Linux platform?



printf (and the gcc compiler).

e.g.

C Copy Code #include < stdio.h > int main( int argc, char * argv[]) { if (argc != 2 ) return - 1 ; printf( " <html>

<head></head>

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"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson



"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons



"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles





Well, you have to write the Content!



I have no idea of your compiler environment, but, for starters you need to create or select a folder and a File, where the resulting code will be stored. These files would have a 'htm' or 'html' extension. Most environments I know create the Headers and Footers for a blank Page. You have to write the content of the Page in between. You can inspect your work by opening it in Internet Explorer.

Bram van Kampen



How to determine file offset of each section using RVA in pe file ?


Collectors 1844 $20 note from the Seneca County Bank in Waterloo, N.Y., is reported to be a contemporary, but non-genuine, design for the bank.

Readers Ask column from the June 20, 2016, weekly issue of Coin World:

Over the years I have collected many notes and coins. While I was looking through some of my stuff, I came across a very nice 1844 $20 note of the Seneca County Bank in Waterloo, N.Y.,that I cant identify and find very little reference to. The Haxby catalog mentions it but has no pictures. Ive seen Stacks auctions feature $2 and $3 bills of the bank, but never a $20 bill.

I have gone out to several collectors and feel like someone is trying to take advantage of me  actually, most of them. Ive gotten offers ranging from $150 to $800.

Im trying to figure out if its worth getting it authenticated, and possibly consigning it along with some other items.

Its time to pony up for college (twins ). Every little bit will help.

In 1983, I chose numismatics over the stock market and its been a blast. But it served a purpose and now the time has come. Anything you can help me with would be appreciated.

Antonio Goncalves / via email

I forwarded the inquiry to paper money specialist Wendell Wolka, who pens the Coin World column Collecting Paper, published in the fourth issue of every month.

According to Wolka, the type of note you have is addressed in James A. Haxbys United States Obsolete Bank Notes 1782-1866, Volume 3. Haxby lists, but does not illustrate your $20 note, which references the Seneca County Bank in Waterloo, N.Y., on its face.

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Haxby lists the note as N5  a contemporary, but nongenuine, design for the bank, according to Wolka. It is also identified by Haxby as SENC  Surviving Example Not Confirmed. However, all sorts of notes are listed as SENC, Wolka said. He checked an 1862 Counterfeit Detector book, which does not list this design among genuine issues of the bank. What this all means is that we really dont know what this note is  genuine issue, counterfeit, or something else.

As for potential value, This note appears to be well done, and an offer in the $100s does not seem out of line, Wolka said. My guess is that it would go for $200 to $400 or so in an auction.
A very rare Original Series $100 national bank note (Friedberg 454a) is at the forefront of a cache of never-before-seen notes from the Salem National Banking Company (New Jersey) featured in Stacks Bowers Galleries Official Currency Auction of the American Numismatic Association Worlds Fair of Money this August in Anaheim, Calif. The auctioneer says that only about 40 Original Series notes are known of this denomination and this is the first one ever from the state of New Jersey.

The bank (Charter Number 1326) issued less than $3 million worth of notes in total, of which only 575 were $100 notes, all of the Original Series. The example being auctioned in August is graded Very Fine 35 Net by PMG with some restoration. It is described as having only moderate circulation, with bright paper and boldly inked design elements including the red overprint of serial number 518. It is estimated at $80,000 to $120,000.

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Also being offered from the same group of Salem notes are several Original Series and Series of 1875 $5 and $10 notes, as well as a $10 Brown Back from the bank and a serial number 1 sheet of 1929 Type-1 $5 notes from the same issuer.

Charter Number 1326 was issued under two titles, first the Salem National Banking Company and later the Salem National Bank & Trust Co. The Track & Price software used by paper money dealers shows only seven notes issued under the former title until now. Another 19 large-size notes and 46 small-size issues are recorded from the second entity.

As is common with so many discovery nationals, the notes being sold in Anaheim have a connection to an employee of the bank. In this case, they were bought at face value by a family member of the consignor who worked in banking in New Jersey in the 1960s. The man participated in the former national banks acquisition and during an audit of its vault, these old and odd-looking notes were discovered. He was able to buy them and hold on to them for the next 40 years.

More information is available at www.stacksBowers.com, by phone at 800-458-4646 or by email to currency specialist Brad Ciociola at bciociola@stacksbowers.com or director of currency Peter Treglia at petert@stacksbowers.com.
In readiness for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Royal Mint struck all 4,700 medals. They are the largest and also heaviest Summer Games medals ever produced. These are the only items in The Royal Mint Experience that have been borrowed  they are on loan from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the entrance hall to the Center is a 1967 Morris Mini 1000 saloon. The mini is an icon of the sizzling 1960s and immediately conjures up images of the age of youth. In 1967, the Beatles were at the height of their fame and the Lennon-McCartney single, Penny Lane, was recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions. As part of the promotion of the single at least two, and possibly more, Penny Minis were created, sensationally covered in old British pennies, reflecting the eccentricity of the age. This is believed to be one of those minis, though there is no supporting documentation linking this car with the Beatles. Nevertheless, it is a great exhibit.

The area of the Experience relating to collecting coins. The numerous answers to the question Why do you collect coins? revealed when lifting the telephone receivers cover everything from collecting from change to acquiring historical coins from dealers.

This is an interactive experience that allows visitors to explore three of the Royal Mints homes  the Tower of London, Tower Hill in London and its newest one, the 35-acre site at Llantrisant in South Wales.

Royal Mint employee Sadie Butler and her family enjoy watching the journey of a coin from the furnace through blanks to the actual striking. The journey was shown on a concave wide screen, and reporter John Andrew notes the effect was that at times he felt he had been transformed into a coin.

Editor's note: This is the final part of a story by Coin World London Correspondent John Andrew about his visit to the Royal Mint Experience new visitor's center. The original story appears in the June 20 issue of Coin World.

The final area of the Royal Mint Experience is the largest.

One is welcomed by an enlargement of Englands first gold sovereign struck in 1489 during the reign of Henry VII. This denomination was considerably larger than any previously minted gold coin. Its obverse features the enthroned monarch who declared that it was to be called a Sovereign deliberately suggesting a close association with himself as king.

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It was intended to add strength and authority to the new Tudor dynasty. Although the sovereign was not struck after 1604 and was eventually replaced by the guinea, the denomination was revived in 1817. During the 19th century, it was considered the chief coin of the world and circulated not only in Britain and the British Empire, but in many countries with no ties to the United Kingdom.

Very early in its history, the Royal Mint began to make coins for circulation overseas. The earliest occasion was in 1325 during the reign of Edward II when coins were exported to Bordeaux for use in the kings territories in southwest France.

As the British Empire grew, so did the demand for coinage. Indeed, by the end of the 19th century, nearly half of all new British silver coins made by the Royal Mint were being shipped overseas.

Following the Australian gold rush, in 1855 a branch mint was established in Sydney and two others later in Melbourne (1872) and Perth (1899). In the 20th century branch mints were also established in Canada (Ottawa, 1908), India (Bombay, 1918), and South Africa (Pretoria, 1941). The Indian branch was the first to close in 1919 followed by Sydney (1926), Canada (1931) and finally Perth (1970).

Much of the credit for creating the Royal Mints foreign coin business should go to Sir Robert Johnson, who became deputy master of the mint in 1922. An energetic individual, he took the helm after World War I. The deputy master acts as the institutions chief executive officer, its titular head being the chancellor of the exchequer, who also has the title master of the mint.

This was a difficult time for the mint. To ensure that his skilled workforce was kept occupied, he took steps to build up the export business. He was most successful. Additionally, as the 20th century progressed, many countries within the former British Empire were granted independence and turned to the Royal Mint to continue to provide their coinage. The mint has exported to over 100 countries and in a typical year it ships coins and blanks to 60 countries. Blanks are an important part of its business as many overseas mints have a striking capability, but cannot make their own blanks.

Having seen how coins are made and learned of the Mints global presence, we jump back to explore the journey from a drawing to the die.

First, a large hand-carved plaster of the design is prepared. The larger canvas allows for minuscule details to be incorporated that would be impossible to add working on a scale of the actual coin. When completed to everyones satisfaction, the plaster is placed on a scanning machine where a digital camera photographs the details from all angles.

Changes can be made to the digital image, which appears on a screen, via a computer. When all the tweaks have been made, the digital file of the image is turned into a cutting program. This instructs a computer-controlled engraving machine to cut the design into a soft piece of steel that is the size of the desired coin. This is known as a reduction punch. The punch is the first in a series of tools, which after a number of stages, result in the finished dies that are used to strike the coins.

At this stage, a skilled craftsman may make further adjustments by hand.

Here we really see the craftsmanship of the Mint employees. The one that was particularly memorable was the gentleman who was preparing the Proof dies and polishing the fields with diamond paste. He had been employed by the Royal Mint for 40 years. Afterwards sitting with Kevin Clancy and Graham Dyer, Clancys predecessor and currently senior research curator, Dyer revealed that in 1913, 20 percent of the mints workforce had served for 25 years or more and in 2013 the percentage was the same, though the workforce has tripled.

At a very high tech display our excellent guide took us through the Mints locations in the Tower of London (from at least 1279), its purpose-built premises on Tower Hill (from 1810) and South Wales (from 1968). The mints area at the Tower was very cramped and was an area between the inner and outer walls known as Mint Street. In addition to making coins, workers also lived there. The last coin was struck at Tower Hill in November 1975.

The decision to move the mint to a more spacious modern plant at Llantrisant, 12 miles northwest of Cardiff, was announced in 1967 by James Callaghan, chancellor of the exchequer and master of the Royal Mint. The fact that he was a member of Parliament for a Cardiff constituency possibly influenced the location.

The larger plant was needed because of the impending decimalization of the U.K. currency, which replaced the pounds, shillings and pence coinage with a pounds and pence system on Feb. 14, 1971.

Our 45-minute guided tour then came to an end and we were free to explore the remaining static and interactive exhibits.

The most impressive was a short film on a large concave screen showing the manufacturing process from the furnace to the coining press. It was shot so close-up that one could easily imagine being the molten metal, blank and coin. There was a very good explanation and a superb film of the Trial of the Pyx (effectively a trial by jury of a selection of coins made the previous year by the mint). It is a colorful event set in the splendors of Goldsmiths Hall. Then there was the role of coins in every day life as symbols of luck and good fortune. I never knew that a sixpence was placed in a brides shoe for luck!

Coins and medals on display

Coin rarities were exhibited, including a 1933 penny and an Edward VIII sovereign. There was a large display of medals since 1815 for the armed services which the Royal Mint has struck.

Winners medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics were displayed as well as commemorative medals and coins. A section was also devoted to a relatively new area for the mint, Seals of the Realm, which have been the responsibility of the Mint since 1901.

Finally there is a section on collecting. This is certainly not a plug for the Royal Mints commemorative coins (though these are covered in the exhibition).

What was particularly fascinating was audio recordings (accessible by telephone ) in which individuals from a wide cross section explain why they are attracted to coins. As well as those with an interest in historical pieces, there were also those who collected from their change or simply bought commemoratives. In other words, there was something for all.

Did I enjoy my visit?

Definitely YES!

Would I recommend it? Again a very positive response.

As the Welsh Tourism Minister Edwina Hart stated, The [Royal Mints] new visitor centre will be an all year and all weather visitor attraction showcasing a unique product and global brand and will incorporate a rich heritage resource alongside a live factory working environment. This project has the potential to become an iconic attraction for Wales.

I totally agree and congratulate all those involved with this project.
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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.
How a community saved the Wooldridge Baptist Church from wildfire

The wildfire in Wooldridge burned about two dozen buildings. Remarkably, no one died, and the church remains.
By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

A daylong search for a missing woman ended Saturday night with police saying they may have found her body behind a house in Frayser.

Police said they found the body, the city's 95th homicide of the year if ruled a homicide, from clues picked up in a "massive search" for Zeneatric Crawford, whom they believed was abducted, along with her two children, by a boyfriend. She was identified on Facebook as Zeneatrice Crawford.

Throughout the day, police broadcast alerts about an investigation of the "possible abduction" of Crawford, 40, and her children from North Memphis about 7:30 a.m. Broadcasts described Clark as potentially armed and dangerous, with a history of fighting with police.

Saturday night, Col. Mickey Williams, the duty chief, said police were still searching for Crawford's boyfriend, Raymond L. Clark, 40, and Crawford's blue, 2013 Buick Verano.

The children were found on Alta Vista in Frayser about 1 p.m., police spokesman Louis Brownlee said.

"We are on the scene here of a death investigation where a female has been found deceased at the address across the street," Williams said, referring to a home on the southeast corner of Whitney and Sunrise. "She has not been positively identified, so we would have to make positive identification and next of kin notification before any names could be released."

Williams continued, "We received some information from an investigation earlier today, and we put together a team of officers from across the city. Every precinct was involved -- the canine unit was involved, the aviation unit was involved. It was a massive search trying to locate a victim of an earlier incident today. Based on the information we received from some of the involved parties, we were able to locate this house and find the deceased person behind the house.

"The information we received from the investigation into the abduction and the kids being found helped us find this location," Williams said.

He declined to discuss details of the investigation.

"It was good teamwork by officers all across the city to bring us to this point. Unfortunately, it's got a tragic ending," Williams said.

Clark was arrested last December for aggravated assault but the charge was dismissed for lack of prosecution in January, Shelby County General Sessions Court records say.
June 5, 2016- Memphis Police officers join together and bow their heads for fellow officer Verdell Smith, 46, who was killed in the line of duty when he was struck by a vehicle while working Beale Street detail. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)

By Ron Maxey and Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

An 18-year veteran of the Memphis Police Department died Saturday night after being struck downtown by the vehicle of a fleeing shooting suspect.

Verdell Smith, 46, died at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, making him the latest casualty in a brutal year that's seen 95 homicides so far -- possibly more if the death of a woman whose body was found in Frayser earlier Saturday evening is ruled a homicide or if any of three other victims in the crime that claimed Smith die.

(Photo gallery)

"This highlights the dangers officers face every day," MPD Director Michael Rallings said during a press conference outside Regional Medical Center shortly before 2 a.m.

In a strongly-worded statement released at 2:30 a.m., Mayor Jim Strickland called on Memphians to remember Smith's family in prayer on Sunday.

"My family joins all of Memphis in mourning the loss of Officer Verdell Smith, who gave his life in service to our city. I call on every Memphian to remember Officer Smith's family in prayer and reflection today and in the coming days -- and to be grateful for the dangerous, important work our men and women of MPD perform every day.

"I am angry this morning -- angry at the senseless loss of a dedicated public servant, and angry at the absolutely unacceptable level of violence in our city," Strickland added. "We must not accept this as our norm. I most certainly will not, and I will continue to act to make our city safer."

Rallings said no charges have been filed yet against the suspect who felled Smith, who left a father, fiance and children.

Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee sent this tweet shortly before Rallings spoke:

God bless us all! pic.twitter.com/h6J6DzjkTE  Louis C. Brownlee (@loubrownlee) June 5, 2016

Smith was struck after the unidentified suspect, who was taken into custody and transported to the Regional Medical Center in noncritical condition, shot three people during a spree that began in the Pinch District at Westy's Restaurant and Bar and spilled over to Bass Pro Shops before ending near Beale and Third streets.

Rallings said police at Main and Exchange heard shots at 9:55 p.m. and found two male victims at Westy's. They were transported to Regional Medical Center and remained in critical condition.

At 10:02 p.m., Rallings said police got a call to the nearby Bass Pro, where a male employee had been shot. He was taken to Regional Medical Center in noncritical condition.

The suspect fled in a silver vehicle and was spotted on Riverside Drive before officers lost sight near the interstate.

Rallings said police weren't sure what route the suspect took next, but he ended up at Beale and Third as officers were working to clear the area. That's where Smith was struck.

The suspect was taken into custody after a foot chase.

Martin Norris and Jake Schorr IV, employees of Westys, said a man walked up from the south on Main Street, talking loudly to himself, pulled a handgun and shot two customers who were sitting at a picnic table in front of the restaurant.

Norris and Schorr chased the man down the block, but he crossed Front Street and jumped a fence, heading toward the parking lot of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid.

There, truck driver Luis Cortez of Laredo, Texas, was exiting Bass Pro with his family when he heard gunshots in the parking lot. Cortez said the victim appeared to be a store employee who had been collecting shopping carts.

Cortez said he saw a car near the victim, but couldnt see inside it because of dark-tinted windows. The car sped away and the victim ran to the store entrance, Cortez said.

Memphis resident Tina Jamison said she was on Beale when the crash occurred, and she approached officers on the street.

"We heard on the scanner, 'officer down,' Jamison said.

She said when she heard commotion, she initially thought there had been a fight on Beale.

"They told us to go inside one of the restaurants," she said.

Staff reporter Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this story.
June 6, 2012 - Southern Serenity Ranch Tennessee Walking Horse "Walk Hard" is shown by Patrick Thomas at the Germantown Charity Horse Show Wednesday evening. "Walk Hard" was thoroughly inspected before entering the ring to ensure there was no evidence of any kind of soring. (The Commercial Appeal/ Nikki Boertman)

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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  Lawmakers and animal-rights activists who have pushed the federal government to crack down on an illegal practice that's sometimes used to give Tennessee Walking Horses their exaggerated, high-stepping gait are feeling encouraged that President Barack Obama's administration appears ready to act.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture served notice in April that it is proposing a new rule to strengthen federal requirements aimed at eliminating the practice known as "soring."

The proposed changes would update the existing Horse Protection Act and would impact everything from inspection procedures to the responsibilities of managers of show horses, exhibitions, sales and auctions. The agency said it's also looking at devices, equipment, substances and practices that can cause soring.

In late May, a bipartisan group of House members urged the administration to move as quickly as possible on the new rule so it can be finalized before Obama leaves office next January.

"These changes will not destroy the Tennessee Walking Horse industry, as you may hear from opponents of the proposed rule, but will instead save this industry from imploding because of the bad actors who continue to abuse horses at the expense of the breed's reputation," the lawmakers said in a letter to Shaun Donovan, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Donovan's office is reviewing the proposed changes, a key step before the proposal is released to the public for comment.

The letter to Donovan was signed by 175 House members, including U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat. Cohen was the only Tennessean whose signature appeared on the letter.

"Soring horses is both illegal and morally unacceptable, but some trainers are clearly taking advantage of lax oversight and wide loopholes to do it anyway," Cohen said last week. "We need to strengthen enforcement of the Horse Protection Act and ensure that trainers are following the law to finally put an end to this terrible abuse."

Cohen is one of the lead sponsors of pending legislation that, if approved, would take several steps to end soring. The bill, however, has stalled in a House subcommittee, as did an earlier version of the legislation, so the regulation the Obama administration is proposing is probably the best shot at cracking down on soring.

Already illegal under federal law, soring is still used by some trainers to deliberately injure the legs and hooves of Tennessee Walking Horses and related breeds to create the animals' high-stepping gait and give them an advantage at horse shows.

Chemical agents, chains, pads and other devices are used to inflict pain to the horses' legs and feet so that when they touch the ground, the animals kick up their feet higher and faster than normal.

Federal law already bans the use of chemical agents but not the chains, hoof bands and other devices used to cause soring.

Exactly what the Obama administration is planning is not yet clear because the proposed rule hasn't been released for public comment.

But animal-rights groups and others hope the new rule will ban all equipment used in soring and eliminate the industry's self-policing system, which critics say has been a failure rife with conflicts of interest.

"The industry groups don't have the incentive to find violations and keep horses out of the race," said Keith Dane, the Humane Society of the United States' senior adviser for equine protection. "They want to let as many horses into the race as possible."

The Humane Society and other groups would like to see the self-policing replaced with a system in which inspectors would be licensed, trained and supervised directly by the Agriculture Department.

Supporters are racing against the clock to get the new regulations enacted because, in just seven months, a new president will take office. If the changes aren't implemented before then, the transition to a new administration could significantly impede the process, Dane said.

But, "there's still plenty of time to get this rule finished this year," he said. "We are hopeful and anticipating that will happen."

Michael Collins is The Commercial Appeal's Washington correspondent. His weekly Tennessee in D.C. column highlights Volunteer State lawmakers, causes and connections. Contact him at 703-854-8927 or mcollins2@gannett.com.
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As long as the Shelby County Schools board continues to delay the necessary closing of underutilized schools, it will leave itself open to charges that the board is unwilling to make tough decisions.

That is a key consideration as SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson asks the Shelby County Commission to give the district more than $27 million to close its budget gap for the 2016-2017 school year.

If the commission eventually approves SCS' request, that $27 million could grow to $44.5 million with matching funds for charter schools, the state's Achievement School District and the six municipal school districts.

That is a lot of money in a tight county budget year.

Still, county Commissioner David Reaves, a former SCS board member, and other commission members are right for insisting that SCS reduce the size of the district's footprint and that schools like Carver High School, which has about 200 students, aren't being closed fast enough.

That is something some members of the school board are having trouble doing.

The board last week again delayed a vote on whether to close Carver before fall. Hopson said the community has presented him with additional options to try to keep the school open. The district will hold another meeting with community stakeholders to discuss options.

In truth, the school's alumni are putting up a massive effort to persuade the district to keep the school, which has graduated some of the city's most successful and civic-minded African-American residents, open. The same alumni, several years ago, successfully fought to keep the school open.

The board also has agreed with Hopson to keep Northside High School open one more year, even though the North Memphis school faces the same enrollment situation as Carver.

We have said before that we understand what closing a school means to a community, especially one that has a dearth of community anchors residents can rally around. But as long as the school district refuses to close underutilized schools, it leaves itself open to criticism about asking for more money while refusing to make necessary cuts.

That drowns out the reality that since the legacy Shelby County Schools and legacy Memphis City Schools merged for the 2013-2014 school year, the district has closed 22 schools and cut some 2,000 jobs. More teachers are expected to be displaced because of takeovers by the Achievement School District, school closures and loss of enrollment within schools. The district's budget proposal calls for cutting about 60 more positions.

Delaying closing schools also keeps parents and teachers in limbo. The parents are left trying to decide whether to enroll their children in another school. Teachers are trying to decide whether to stay, try to transfer to another school or seek other employment opportunities.

In fact, the uncertainty already has resulted in some teachers leaving the district.

In the world of government budget-increase requests, the rule, generally, is not what you have done, but what are you doing now to cut expenses.

That question will continue to be a sticky wicket for SCS until the school board makes the tough, but necessary, decision to close all its underutilized schools.

We do not envy the school members, especially those being lobbied hard by school supporters. We also understand that the decision may be even tougher for those representing inner-city neighbors that have several underutilized schools.

Yet, it is about what is best for the students, and it is not underutilized schools that also are failing schools.
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Jon K. Thompson

Germantown

Your May 26 article about the Germantown city manager picking up trash was nothing but a feel-good waste of time.

You should concentrate on why he is not spending more of his expensive time balancing the budget or exactly what his salary is. He is one of the highest-paid employees in Tennessee, even more than the governor, with myriad benefits that not a single alderman can explain.

I am a retired businessman and West Point graduate who believes in duty, honor, country and transparency, and I have been billed by Germantown several thousand dollars for this salary information under the Freedom of Information Act. I have been told it takes too long and now I must wait another month. Why?

I have been on several boards and never has the board not known exactly what the chief executive officer makes. In Germantown, it is called executive action where the city manager and mayor make nefarious decisions unbeknownst to the aldermen, and life goes on.

My trash has been there for four weeks now, so I am no exception.

Maybe your reporter can help me share with my fellow citizens and Germantown employees why we are spending upward of $300,000 per year on this trash collector.
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By Emily Taylor Graves and Susan Northen Lacy, Special to Viewpoint

The importance of park space for our community is undeniable from a health and an economic standpoint, particularly for lower-income families and minorities. Our intent is to promote the preservation of city green spaces.

We recognize the intrinsic value of quality parks. We also focus on the validity and transparency of decision-making in our local government. We expect city leaders to make thoughtful, well-informed decisions and to think critically about the information with which they are provided to make those decisions. As physicians, we are required to practice medicine based on proven evidence and reliable information, and we expect city leaders to do the same.

The Memphis Zoo has commissioned an economic impact study and a popularity survey to justify the continued use of a significant portion of historic Overton Park as a parking lot. As taxpayers in Memphis, who subsidize the zoo with $3 million to $4 million yearly, we have every right to understand the validity of the conclusions derived from these studies.

The document titled "Memphis Zoo Economic Impact" was meant to support a 2015 news release that boasted of the allegedly phenomenal impact that the zoo has on our city financially. That news release has been cited repeatedly by the media, city leaders and zoo administration as justification for giving the zoo rights to the bulk of the Overton Park greensward.

However, this document is not a study. A study utilizes defined materials and proven methods, collects objective data and derives defensible conclusions based on a scientific method. The document released by the zoo is a promotional device, intended to influence the opinions of city leaders and the public at large and to manipulate decision-makers into unquestioningly supporting the zoo.

Evaluating the integrity of the data used in the document is problematic. The raw data is not provided at all and, according to the document itself, the data is based on opinions, subjective data and assumptions. Some assumptions come from the Tennessee Visitor Profile, which assesses all visitors to the entire state of Tennessee and is not specific to the city of Memphis or the zoo.

These broad assumptions cannot be indiscriminately applied to the narrow subset of zoo visitors. This would be like telling a patient with an ingrown toenail in the emergency room that he or she can expect to stay five to six days because that is the average length of stay at that hospital. Data doesn't work like that.

Additionally, the methods used in obtaining the data were not explained. The document indicates the zoo surveyed its visitors. How many people were surveyed? How were they selected? What were they asked?

The zoo has released more information purportedly justifying the continued need for greensward parking, based on public opinion. Again, data was not provided.

While others are spending time and money finding solutions to the parking problem, the zoo administration is spending time and money trying to prove its popularity and, meanwhile, has not implemented any of the solutions it previously endorsed that could be carried out immediately at little to no cost.

The figures from these documents are being used to justify the Memphis Zoo being given rights to Overton Park. It has become clear that the data is not valid, and the citizens of Memphis are being misled. In other words, the emperor has no clothes. It is time for city leaders to re-examine their positions on the Overton Park issue.

Dr. Emily Taylor Graves and Dr. Susan Northen Lacy are co-founders of Physicians for Urban Parks, an organization of physicians and professionals dedicated to preserving urban green space and promoting public health while educating communities about the numerous economic and health benefits of quality urban parks.
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By Carl P. Leubsdorf

A visitor from Mars, or even the East Coast, might think the intensity of California's primary battle means the stakes are YUGE, like deciding whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders becomes the Democratic nominee opposing Donald Trump.

Not that YUGE. But Tuesday's results will be important in setting the tone for the seven weeks until the Democratic National Convention, as well as at the convention itself.

Clinton will almost certainly clinch the nomination earlier that day by winning the New Jersey primary. The California result will probably either pad her delegate lead modestly or trim it slightly. Whichever happens, she'll have a bigger margin in popular votes and pledged delegates over Sanders than Barack Obama had over her eight years ago.

And from a historical perspective, the significance of Tuesday's result is certainly questionable. Since Woodrow Wilson's 1912 loss to Champ Clark, many ultimate Democratic nominees have lost contested California primaries: Jimmy Carter (twice), Walter Mondale, Barack Obama.

Sanders has refused to concede his end is near. "I believe that if we do well here in California, we'll march in with momentum and we'll march out with the Democratic nomination," he said at a rally in Santa Monica last week.

Though that's unlikely, his persistence means a victory in California is the best way, and perhaps the only way, for Clinton to prevent the Vermont senator from damaging Democratic prospects by pressing that claim for another two months.

It would cement her majorities of elected delegates, popular votes and states contested. With no sign that superdelegates are weakening in supporting her, that would effectively end their contest, even if Sanders delays a formal endorsement.

On the other hand, a Sanders victory would doubtless encourage him to persevere, even if he loses any chance of winning a majority of pledged delegates. He suggested Sunday that intervening events, perhaps from the investigation into Clinton's private email server, could yet convince those superdelegates to abandon her.

The State Department inspector general's report criticizing her use of that server "is something that the American people, Democrats and delegates, are going to have that take a hard look at," Sanders said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," adding, "Everybody in America is keeping it in mind, and certainly the superdelegates are."

Sanders still hopes to win at least half of the states, and California may determine that. But it's a meaningless statistic, given that many Sanders victories came in lower-turnout caucus states, one factor in Clinton's overall 3 million-vote majority. That quest may explain his failed effort to overturn Kentucky's slim Clinton victory.

So far, the Vermont senator has won 20 states, plus Democrats abroad, while Clinton has won 24, and Guam, Northern Marianas and American Samoa. Of six states remaining, Clinton is favored in New Jersey and California, while Sanders could easily win Montana, New Mexico and the two Dakotas. Primaries in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Island caucuses round out the schedule.

Some continued conflict between the two candidates seems inevitable, regardless of the California outcome. Sanders named two Platform Drafting Committee members who have strongly criticized Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, though he said last week he expected "a broad consensus" on the issue.

And while Sanders has repeatedly said he will do everything possible to ensure Trump's defeat, he seemed last week to minimize his responsibility for persuading his youthful cadres to back the ultimate nominee.

"If Secretary Clinton is the nominee, it is her job to reach out to millions of people and make the case as to why she is going to defend working families and the middle, provide health care for all people, take on Wall Street, deal aggressively with climate change," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "That is the candidate's job to do."

He indicated one factor may be her running mate. He said he likes one favorite, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, "very much," but added Democrats need "a candidate who can excite working families, excite young people, bring them into the political process, create a large voter turnout."

California's bottom line is simple: A Clinton victory will smooth the path to her inevitable nomination. A defeat will complicate  but not ultimately deter  it, and delay the unity she'll need to defeat Trump.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Contact him at carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com.
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By George Will

LONDON  Sitting on the sun-dappled terrace of the House of Lords, watching the Thames flow, Lord Nigel Lawson explains that the June 23 referendum, which he hopes will withdraw Britain from the European Union, was never supposed to happen. It is, he says, the fulfillment of a promise Prime Minister David Cameron expected to be prevented from keeping.

Going into the 2014 general election, Cameron, heading a coalition government with Liberal Democrats, placated anti-EU Conservatives by promising a referendum on the EU membership. He expected that another close election would leave him again heading a coalition, and that he would be able to say, truthfully, that his pro-EU Liberal Democrat partners would block a referendum. But his Conservative Party won a large parliamentary majority, inconveniently liberating Cameron from the constraints of a coalition and leaving him with an awkward promise to keep.

Full of years, 84 of them, and fight, Lawson has spent 42 years on the Thames embankment, as a member of both houses. He is impatient with the proposition that it is progress to transfer to supra-national institutions decision-making that belongs in Britain's Parliament.

When Britain votes on whether to withdraw from the EU, it will be deciding for or against the constraints of deepening involvement with a political entity born from cultural despair about Europe's past and complacency about a European future of diminishing social dynamism and political democracy. Britain will consciously choose between alternative national destinies that Americans are less consciously choosing between by their smaller choices that cumulatively subordinate them to a vast, opaque and unaccountable administrative state.

Cameron says leaving the EU is unnecessary because Britain has rejected membership in the eurozone currency and is not bound by the EU's open borders policy. Advocates of "Brexit" reply that if the common currency and open borders, both crucial attributes of the EU, are defects, why remain?

Cameron says leaving the EU would be imprudent for security reasons. Wielding the fallacy of the false alternative, he says those who favor leaving the EU favor "going it alone" and "isolationism." They respond that Britain out of the EU would remain Europe's foremost military power. When Cameron recalls "war in the Balkans and genocide on our continent in Srebrenica," Leave advocates note that the EU had nothing to do with suppressing this, which fell to NATO and especially the United States, neither of which would be diminished by Britain leaving the EU.

Cameron invokes "the serried rows of white headstones" on British graves in military cemeteries on the continent as a "silent testament to the price that this country has paid to help restore peace and order in Europe." Historian Andrew Roberts tartly responds that the British war dead "fought for British independence and sovereignty, not for European unification."

The Remain camp correctly says that Britain is richer and more rationally governed than when European unification began. The Leave camp, however, correctly responds that this is largely in spite of the EU  it is because of decisions made by British governments, particularly Margaret Thatcher's, in what is becoming a shrinking sphere of national autonomy.

In 1988, Thatcher said: "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels." Stressing Britain's European credentials, she also said "our maps still trace the straight lines of the roads the Romans built." But today's Leavers, who carry the torch of Thatcherism, do not favor straight lines drawn by foreigners. They prefer G.K. Chesterton's celebration of spontaneous, unplanned cultural particularities:

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,

The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.

In politics, sensibility is prior to and inseparable from philosophy. The referendum will record, among other things, the strength of the revulsion many people here feel about a multiculturalism that celebrates every permutation of identity  except that of nationality. This is a trans-Atlantic revulsion.

What Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an Irish-American and Anglophile, called "the liberal expectancy" is the belief that the rise of reason and science would mean the waning of pre-modern forces such as religion, ethnicity and even nationality, which would be regarded as an anachronistic tribalism. British voters, who may be as weary as many Americans are of constantly being told that they cannot "turn back the clock," and that history's centralizing ratchet has clicked irreversibly too many times, might soon say otherwise.

George F. Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.
Two brothers were sentenced Friday to 87 months in prison for running an H-1B fraud scheme intended to create a low cost, on-demand workforce, federal law enforcement officials said.

Atul Nanda, 46, and his brother, Jiten "Jay" Nanda, 45, were each sentenced by Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn, the Chief U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, to 7 years and two months in federal prison, according to U.S. Attorney John Parker. The brothers were recently convicted by a jury following a trial.

U.S. authorities filed an indictment in 2013 alleging that the firm created by the brothers, Dibon Solutions, sponsored H-1B workers for jobs that didn't necessarily exist. The visa holders were only paid if the company was able to place them.

Dibon was headquartered in Carrollton, Texas.

The U.S. requires visa holders to be paid an annual salary. It bars firms from benching or holding workers in unpaid reserve between contracts. The government said that Dibon actively recruited H-1B workers and benched them.

"These two brothers created a highly profitable, and highly illegal business model at the extreme expense of the alien workforce that they recruited," said Katrina W. Berger, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Dallas. "In addition, this same illegal business model operated at an unfair advantage to Dibon's competition since it had a much lower operating overhead."

Parker said in a statement that "when employers abuse the program, however, the foreign workers become a captive stable of cheap labor, victimized to the company's financial benefit."

The company also required candidates to pay visa processing fees, even though current law requires the hiring firm to pay these fees. The company "attempted to hide this" by having the H-1B candidates pay the fees directly to Dibon, the U.S. said.

Three other defendants were charged in this case: Siva Sugavanam, 37, Vivek Sharma, 48, and Rohit Mehra, 39, each pleaded guilty before trial to one count of aiding and abetting visa fraud, the U.S. said. They were were each sentenced earlier this month to two years' probation.
Dear Prime Minister and Chancellor,

Getting the facts clear on the economic risks of remaining in the EU

We all recognise that there are real risks facing our economy if we remain in the EU. Every citizen needs to be aware of these in coming to a balanced decision about how to vote on 23 June.

We would be grateful if you could confirm a series of facts about the serious crisis in the Eurozones economy and the failure of EU institutions to reform, failings which will deeply affect British interests if we remain in the EU. Agreement on these facts will enable us all to have a fully informed debate.

We already agree on some basic principles. In particular, we all agree that the Eurozone economies and EU institutions need far greater reform than the EUs leaders agreed to in the recent renegotiation.

You made the case for real reform in your 2013 Bloomberg speech which outlined many of the problems with the EUs current structures. You argued persuasively for fundamental, far-reaching change but the EU has not changed its fundamental structures. The other EU states rejected the Governments reform agenda.

As you explained in the Bloomberg speech, the Eurozone suffers from severe economic and institutional problems. It is blighted by low growth and high and rising debts and taxes. Unemployment and youth unemployment are high  at their worst level since the 1930s  in some parts of southern Europe youth unemployment is over 50%. The Eurozone also suffers from the costs incurred by a rapidly ageing population and large unfunded pension liabilities.

The Eurozone countries are trapped in a low-growth system in which debts are rising remorselessly. This adds to pressures on taxpayers and creates a vicious cycle . The Eurozones economic policies since the financial crisis have helped Germany and made Greece less competitive. The wealthy in the Eurozone have grown wealthier and the poor poorer  the precise reverse of what is needed to address the economic problems of Europe.

The Eurozone institutions remain broken and have been unable to cope with the euros crisis. Despite writing a promise of no bail-outs into the EU Treaties, there have been massive bail-outs. The so-called Stability and Growth Pact was abandoned by Germany and France as well as Greece and Italy and no substitute has been found. The Eurozone banking system remains in crisis and lacks clarity about who is in charge of what. The European Central Bank is under attack from the Bundesbank and German Government.

Because of this interaction between economic and institutional crisis, Greece and other southern European countries face years or decades of austerity and mass unemployment. This Eurozone crisis is a disaster for millions of Europeans and it is also a danger to Britain.

We fear the situation in the future can only get worse. The nations of the EU are not creating new technologies and new industries in the way other countries are. The EU lacks the networked relationship between great universities, entrepreneurs and venture capital that generate economic breakthroughs. That is why there have been no EU equivalents of Apple, Uber, Amazon, Netflix, Google or Facebook. Indeed the EUs whole regulatory structure works against innovation. The EU now has slower growth than any other continent apart from Antarctica. Unless the EU reforms, it will continue to decline with damaging consequences for all its members.

Given the publics desire for the facts ahead of the referendum, we would like you to confirm the following facts:

 The Eurozones economic crisis is fueling the rise in migration. Millions of people in southern Europe, particularly young people, are giving up hope of their countries escaping recession. Unsurprisingly, migrants from those countries are disproportionately coming to Britain. Given the Eurozone crisis, we can only expect this to continue for many years. If we stay, we are tying ourselves to a broken Eurozone economy while simultaneously accepting unlimited migration of people trying to escape that broken economy. The only way to restore democratic control of immigration policy is to vote to leave on 23 June.

 These problems will only get worse when countries in the pipeline to join the EU become members in the near future. British taxpayers are already paying nearly 2 billion for Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey to join the EU. The European Commission recently announced an acceleration of these plans and is already extending visa-free travel to the border with Syria and Iraq. This is dangerous. The Governments claim that Britain has a veto is meaningless if it is simultaneously trying to accelerate this process.

 The Eurozone now has a permanent structural majority in the EUs voting system. We only have 12% percent of the votes (at most 8% in some circumstances). When the Eurozone countries vote together to prop up the broken system, they can impose their will and force us to accept laws that are not in our interests. The recent renegotiation did nothing to change this situation. This has left us dangerously and permanently exposed to being forced to hand over more money and accept damaging new laws.

 We have been forced in the past to pay unexpected bills at the demand of the European Commission. For example, in 2015 the Eurozone announced it would use the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism to pay bridging finance to Greece. As the Chancellor said, this was a flagrant breach of an earlier agreement that this fund would not be used for the purpose of bailing out the Eurozone. In October 2014, the European Commission announced that the Government would have to pay an additional 1.7 billion into the EU budget.

The Government said it would not pay. It then paid nearly 1 billion to Brussels. As with failures on immigration, this was damaging to public trust. As the Eurozone crisis deepens we may be forced to contribute to new bailouts under article 122(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, or by some other legal route. The public cannot trust EU or Government promises that we wont be paying for Eurozone bailouts given the history and how we can be outvoted.

 The EU has failed to agree trade deals with the most important economies in the world. We have much stronger historic links with countries like America and India than any other EU member does. Outside the EU, we would regain our independent voice at the World Trade Organization, control our own trade policy, and be responsible for our own trade agreements.

 Countries across the world enjoy trade with the EU without being part of the EU. Trade does not require this country to give away permanent control of issues as diverse as immigration and the regulation of cancer drugs.

 Even the European Commission has been unable to provide evidence of significant gains from the Single Market. It claims EU GDP is 2.13% higher than it would have been without the Single Market project, less than half of what it forecast would be the gains in 1988. This sum is dwarfed by estimates of the cost of the Single Market made by both the Treasury and by Peter Mandelson.

 The Single Market includes many complex regulations on procurement and competition policy. A vote to stay means permanent EU control over crucial aspects of how public services work including the rules on hospital building, privatisation, and procurement. We all saw how the 2012 disaster over rail franchises cost taxpayers over 50 million and delayed the project. Many of these EU rules help a small number of big companies but cost the taxpayer billions and pose a growing threat to the NHS.

 Despite the plan to get a complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the statement earlier this year that the Charter should not be in force in Britain, no meaningful change was secured in the recent renegotiation. This means that the ECJ can use the Charter to take control of many vital economic policies. It has already used the Charter to increase the price of insurance. This sort of problem can only multiply as the ECJ exercises its new powers.

 There is already an official plan and timetable for the Eurozones next wave of centralising power in Brussels, described in the Five Presidents Report. This official EU plan involves the use of the Single Market legislative system, in which the Eurozone has a permanent voting majority, to force through the next transfer of powers to EU institutions. The next stage involves yet another Treaty and the creation of a central government raising European-wide direct taxes. The Governments recent renegotiation represents a commitment by Britain under international law not to block this process. Our veto on further centralisation was one of our strongest cards. It has been given away. This represents another severe danger to our economy.

 Although some very large banks and multinational companies profit from the EU system, the situation is very different for small and medium sized businesses, the backbone of the economy. By 2:1 SMEs think the EU is bad for their business. About 70 percent of businesses think that Britain should take back the power to make our own trade deals and have done so for over a decade. This is only possible outside the EU. British companies know that we can trade with Europe without giving away permanent control of regulation.

 The Treasury published analysis claiming that each household would be permanently poorer by 4,300 per year by 2030 if we take back control. This figure was calculated by dividing a putative future reduction in GDP growth by the current number of households. This figure is bogus because it assumes 3 million more persons will come to the UK by 2030, a figure that could be considerably lower if we took back control over our borders, which would boost per capita income. It is economically indefensible to calculate changes in disposable income by dividing total GDP in 2030 by the current number of households. The analysis also didnt consider any of the benefits of leaving the EU. And of course the Chairman of the IN campaign said wages will go up if we leave.

 The Commission has delayed publishing the new budget until after our referendum. We already know the official bill for our membership is due to rise to 20.65 billion per year by 2020-2021. Our rebate cannot be counted on  as the Chancellor has said, It is not a unilateral decision of the British Treasury or the British Government to just say, This is our rebate. We are entitled to it. Pay up. The way this works and has always worked is there is a negotiation with the European Commission. It could be abolished altogetherin five years time. A vote to stay is a vote to keep sending more and more money to a dysfunctional bureaucracy that has no proper democratic oversight.

 Our official bill does not, of course, include many other costs of the Single Market, such as the multibillion tax refunds we are having to make to big business because of decisions of the European Court setting aside our tax legislation. HMRC estimates payouts could be as high as 43 billion by 2021, a huge sum of money that would be better spent on schools and hospitals. A vote to remain is a vote to keep paying these sums, no matter how large and no matter how badly public services are damaged. The European Court will continue to prioritise the rights of big companies, not our public services.

 We have a large trade deficit with the EU. It is in everyones interests to do a free trade deal. There is a free trade zone from Iceland to Turkey. This will not end just because Britain decides to take back control and be a normal self-governing democracy.

Overall, EU membership helps some people and some businesses but they are disproportionately those with power and money. The reality of the Single Market has not even closely matched what we were promised a quarter of a century ago. EU membership makes it impossible to control immigration and this is putting enormous strain on public services and is corrosive of trust in politics. Sadly the European Union and its euro project have become an engine for job destruction and there is no prospect for reform unless Britain votes to leave and forces a new agenda on Europes elites.

We all want greater cooperation in Europe. It is clear to us that the best way to further European prosperity and international cooperation is for us to vote leave on 23 June.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Gove, MP for Surrey Heath

Boris Johnson, MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip

Gisela Stuart, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston
The Sheer Terror Of Looming Biosphere Collapse



By Dr. Glen Barry

06 June, 2016

EcoInternet

The global ecological system is collapsing and dying as humanity overruns natural ecosystems and the climate. We are entering an age of unrelenting violence and suffering, prior to biosphere collapse and the end of being, unless dramatic social change based upon a global ecology ethic arises quickly.



Humans evolved within a lush and vibrant Eden teaming with life, which until just a few generations ago provided for natural abundance and the prospect of perpetual human existence. We are one of many species utterly dependent upon natural ecosystems for all needs including air, water, food, and shelter.

The rise of ecological colonialism and the industrial revolution changed all that, as million year old naturally evolved ecosystems became fodder to be liquidated and consumed for accumulation of paper wealth. The disambiguation of buying our needs with money has led us to deny our ecological nature.

For two centuries humanity has waged an unrelenting war upon nature. Ecological habitats and their wildlife residents have been slaughtered incessantly. Entire species have been wiped out, as their members have been burnt, shot, tortured, and left to starve. Whole ecosystems have been dismantled to create throw away consumer crap that quickly is thrown away.

Concurrently Western science has learned what indigenous peoples have long known, that we are but one species in a web of life. That all is one, intertwined in a miraculous system whereby life creates the conditions for life. And that as goes nature befalls us. Those in touch with nature realize ecology is the meaning of life. And that without ecology there can be no economy.

It has become increasingly obvious to experts and astute lay persons that the ecological fabric of being is fraying. We now know that ecological boundaries exist, and that the human endeavor has overshot them. Old-growth forests remain as tawdry remnants, soil has become lifeless and sterile, oceans are dying, and water and food are scarce for humanity and kindred species.

Ever expanding human numbers have lost sight of our place within ecology, and have little knowledge of the natural world. Instead well-being is defined by mobile apps and expensive play-things that soon grow old and are discarded. For many life is a vacuous search for status and stuff. And for the rest  the large percentage of people living in abject poverty  life is a squalid struggle to meet basic needs amidst Disneyfied conspicuous over-consumption by celebrities and bankers.

Long a war-prone species, humans have concurrent with ecocide nonetheless undergone remarkable social evolution whereby slaverys prohibition, womens rights, freedom of thought, and representative democracy has largely been achieved. Nonetheless attempts last century to eliminate war have failed miserably. Over-populated inequity in an age of resource scarcity  stoked by grotesquely wasteful over-consumption by the few  fuels a rise of authoritarian fascism and conflict between the haves, have-lesses, and have-nots.

Few diagnose the state of perma-war waged by lone terrorists and drones as the result of environmental decline. Yet the coming anarchy can be seen all around us, by those who wish to see.

Streams of refugees flee collapsing ecosystems and abrupt climate change. Traditional food stocks from the oceans and forests are virtually exhausted. The act of saving seeds has become a radical act of resistance as all that is natural is commodified, homogenized, and toxified.

All around are well-meaning peoples pursuing pieces of the solution. Organic permaculture, ending fossil fuels, protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, consuming less, and more are occurring. But it is too little too late by orders of magnitude as the sheer inertia of ecocide found in mass conspicuous over-population and consumption prepares its final assault upon the natural world.

Already societies and economies are collapsing, from Syria to Haiti, and including the downturn in economic aspirations for the petty-bourgeoisie. The Earths capacity to provide for human well-being is collapsing. Every last natural ecosystem is to be mopped up for chopsticks and the last drop of oil. Not only will your children not have more than you have, they may die in an unimaginably horrendous ecological apocalypse.

Every month without the rise of ecologism, we fall deeper into nothingness, as the signs of sick ecosystems and dysfunctional climate are written off by the ecologically challenged. Soon as the pillages of war and ecocide come to your neighborhood you can expect to know hunger, disease, and the bad kind of anarchy.

Expect to face firsthand the terror of biosphere collapse  where your mothers and daughters are raped, along with your sons sold into the military and other forms of slavery, before they and you die like famished stray dogs on a dead Earth.

The global ecological system is collapsing and dying.

We are a clever species, with opposable thumbs and relatively large brains. Perhaps the Internet community and the sense of the human family it engenders can help us realize there is no god but Earth, that we are one people, and that we are one species of animals amongst many. And that we can choose to return to natures fold.

All that is green and natural must be protected in earnest and urgency with all our might or the biological foundation of being ends. Start with growing your food and restoring the land, reject personal cars and large families, and work outward to reconnect your community to its peaceful and healthy bioregion.

Otherwise the hairless ape show all intentions of pulling down the biosphere as we frantically seek more not understanding there is no more to be had. The sky is falling. The end of being looms.

Dr. Glen Barry is the President and Founder of Ecological Internet (EI). He is recognized internationally by the environmental movement as a leading global visionary, ecological policy critic and public intellectual committed to communicating the severity of global ecological crises - and related justice, rights and equity issues - while actively organizing with others sufficient solutions










Defiance Of Law And Impunity In Bangladesh

By Taj Hashmi

05 June, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Karl Marx, among other critics of imperialism, had some kind words for British colonial rule in India, especially in regard to the prevalent rule of law in the colony. The civil and criminal laws, as evolved in Bangladesh  as in all the former British colonies, worldwide  are based on the British Common Law. However, barring a handful of former British colonies, there have been endemic violations of the law in Africa and Asia, including extra-judicial killings, and impunity from arrests and prosecutions of certain privileged individuals. Being one of the most corrupt and ungovernable countries in the world, of late Bangladesh provides hitherto unheard of impunity to well-connected people, mostly politicians, businessmen, civil and military officers, and their henchmen.

As arbitrary power leads to undue privileges, so members of the ruling elite, bureaucracy and law-enforcers frequently break the law by taking advantage of the ordinary peoples compliance to feudal, colonial and pre-modern traditions. The British  who introduced the Common Law and nurtured the rule of law in the Subcontinent  conceded certain (unwritten) privileges and extra-judicial power to high civil and military officers, and members of the landed gentry. However, the British did not allow extortions, torture, and public humiliation of people, at least not in the last two decades of the Raj.

In the backdrop of frequent violations of law  including the grant of impunity to the privileged few  in Bangladesh, one may be too naive to impute this disorder to British colonial rule. And its absurd; the law-breakers are not ignorant of the law, colonial or postcolonial, which dont allow vigilantism, extra-judicial killings, and any impunity from arrest and prosecution to the guilty, irrespective of ones power, position, and status in the social hierarchy. Its no exaggeration that British rule  at least during the last decade of the Raj, 1937-1947  ensured much better law and order situation, democracy, freedom of the press, and human rights to the people in this country than what prevail here since Independence.

As the Common Law and its derivatives are quite adequate and comprehensive, so are the well-structured criminal and civil law in Bangladesh. Theres hardly any inadequacy in the law. The problem lies elsewhere, especially in the highhandedness of the executive and legislature, which stifle the judiciary, and influence the bureaucracy. Theres an ongoing tug of war between the legislature and the judiciary. While the former refuses to part with its power of impeaching judges, the latter apprehends the power could be arbitrary, and even worse, politically motivated.

Since the right credentials and connections matter most in Bangladesh, certain people enjoy undue benefits from corrupt regimes; they may kill and humiliate people, swindle billions from public and private sectors, with total immunity from arrests and prosecutions. For those who know the art of remaining well-connected forever, immunity goes hand in hand with impunity. Loyalty to one particular party or ideology is out of place in Bangladesh. Beneficiaries of ruling parties often change sides with the change of regimes, and join another ruling party, which might have totally different ideologies and programmes.

The predominance of the ruling party, or the Present Government Party (PGP)  I coined the acronym in the 1970s, which got a wide currency among my colleagues at Dhaka University  and the proliferation of the PGP Men and PGP Culture are at the roots of the prevalent culture of impunity. Then again, impunity isnt a sign of strength, but of corruption, nepotism, weakness and incompetence of the government. Throughout history, incompetent autocracies failed to ensure the rule of law for the common people. And the rest is history  they didnt last long. They either imploded due to civil wars and revolutions, or exploded due to foreign invasions.

Of late, we frequently hear from certain members of the ruling elite that development is more important than democracy. As if, the so-called development is unimpeded, and not subject to any retardation; and as if nothing can hold back Bangladeshs growth and development despite corruption and violations of human rights! Hence the advocacy for the Mahathir Mohamad model of development! Nothing could be more condescending, complacent, and foolish than preferring development to democracy. Actually, today unimpeded democracy is the epitome of development.

Mahathir Mohamad, Lee Kuan Yew, Park Chung Hee and other authoritarian rulers didnt ensure any immunity and impunity to members of the ruling elite, let alone police and bureaucracy. Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea  among other autocracies in the recent past  developed only by ensuring the rule of law or total accountability of the politicians, bureaucracy, police, military, judiciary, businessmen, and professionals. No government in Bangladesh has so far been able to ensure the rule of law, which is a sine qua non of growth, progress, and development. In sum, the rule of law is the mother of development.

Shockingly, influential people who were involved in mega scandals, corruption, or violation of human rights in the recent past, never had to face any law enforcer or the court of justice. The Padma Bridge Scandal, the Share Market Scam, the capture of seven million taka from a ministers PSs car in the middle of the night, the shooting of a 12-year-old boy by an MP, a ruling party MPs alleged role as a drug lord, a former MPs nephews drunk driving and killing a pedestrian in broad daylight, and last but not least, MP Salim Osmans recent public violation of human rights of a school headmaster at Narayanganj may be mentioned in this regard.

Although the police, journalists, and sections of the population know who the criminals and their associates are, the well-connected criminals somehow remain unscathed. Thanks to the hush-hush culture, and the culture of fear of intimidation from above, people tend to feign indifference to the grossest violations of human rights, scandals in the share market, and fraudulent banking and financial transactions. What many people dont realise, financial corruption leads to political corruption, and political corruption to impunity, and impunity to chaos, and disorder. In short, impunity is corruption, which breeds tribalism and fractured states. And corruption begins at the top. Mao Zedong has aptly said: A fish rots from the head down.

It would be sheer recklessness to assume that since Bangladeshis have tolerated all the excesses by members of the ruling elites during the last four decades, they would remain compliant and complacent for an indefinite period. Corruption, impunity, and unaccountability never saved any regime in the past. As the social media indicates, people want justice, not impunity for a select few. Its time the superordinates read the writings on the wall. Its a sacred obligation to the nation, not a favour to anybody. What Abraham Lincoln has said in this regard is very relevant to Bangladesh today: You cant fool all the people all the time.

The writer teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University in the US. He is the author of several books, including his latest, Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan (Sage, 2014). Email: tajhashmi@gmail.com












ALEX SLITZ/COURIER & PRESS Rick Iorio (left) and Tamara Robey, both of Evansville, sit with their 11-month-old beagle cattle dog mix Pixel at Gerst Haus. Area restaurants participating in "Paws on the Patio" in the month of May with proceeds will benefit Another Chance for Animals.

SHARE Brian Buxton, of Newburgh, is photographed with his 11-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Brando, at Madeleine's Fusion Restaurant in Evansville. ALEX SLITZ/COURIER & PRESS Pixel rests her head on a table at Gerst Haus.

By Brian Buxton, Special to the Courier & Press

Dogs are man's best friend.

Growing up, though, my grandmother was always a cat person, but I can't remember a time we didn't have at least one dog. From German shepherds, cocker spaniels and beagles to mixed-breed mutts, we had them all.

I can still visualize most of them in my head, remembering their names. Rama was a beautiful majestic German Shepherd who was also fiercely protective of us. Peanut was a small, mixed-breed who wasn't the brightest but was very affectionate. Fraulein was a gorgeous black German shepherd brought over from Germany who was extremely intelligent. Taffy was a longhair golden cocker, who on one of our hikes, famously took a swim in an oil well sludge pit. My mother was not amused.

For the last 11 years I have enjoyed the companionship of a black and tan Yorkshire terrier named Brando. He is by far the smartest, sweetest and most loyal dog I have ever had, and I am fortunate enough that my job has allowed him to accompany me almost everywhere. He accompanies me to my office daily where he "works" as shop security. Brando is a regular visitor to many local businesses, and he has traveled to Florida, Michigan and all of the states in-between. Anywhere we go people approach us to compliment his behavior, show him affection and relate stories of their own past and current pets.

As I travel frequently, the issue of pet-friendly hotels and restaurants is always a part of the planning process. Over the years I have found information on pet-friendly restaurants to be almost nonexistent. Even in large cities such as Detroit and Indianapolis there are only a handful of pet-friendly restaurants listed online. From experience I have also found that just because local restaurants have patios does not mean that they are pet-friendly. So instead of waiting for someone else to do it, I decided to start local and undertake the research myself here in the Tri-State.

I began with a list of all restaurants in the Evansville area who had patios and contacted each one to find out their official policy on non-service animals. The results were very surprising, as our area has many more dog-friendly restaurants than I had imagined  more than 50.

I knew some of my usual haunts were pet-friendly, but the size of this list was an eye-opener.

I contacted Chris Borowiecki, the director for the Environmental Division of the Vanderburgh County Health Department, who said there are no health concerns with dogs on restaurant patios, and there are no local laws prohibiting it. "The decision to allow or disallow a non-service dog on restaurant property is the discretion of each individual restaurant owner. There is no local ordinance against it, and as long as the animals are outdoors and do not enter the restaurant our department has no issues."

There are no federal laws applying to dogs in restaurants except the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring restaurants to allow service and guide dogs at indoor and outdoor dining areas.

With that being understood, there are a few rules and courtesies that all responsible pet owners should keep in mind:

1. Dogs should be reasonably well-trained and well-behaved.

2. Owners should be considerate and respectful! Dogs should remain on-leash at all times and not allowed to roam, bark or otherwise disturb other patrons. Your pet should always be monitored, maintained and controlled. Keep them from socializing with other diners or employees, unless welcomed.

3. Remember to tie your dog to your chair and not a table. A dog tied to a table can result in spilled drinks or food.

4. Your dog should be current on all shots and vaccinations.

5. Many restaurants will provide water for your dog, but it isn't a bad idea to have some on hand, especially in the hotter summer weather.

6. Keep a plastic bag handy to clean up any "accidents." Better yet make sure the dog has relieved itself before going to any restaurant setting.

Restaurants where non-service dogs are allowed in outdoor seating areas

Evansville:

Angelo's Italian (downtown)

Backstage Bar & Grill

Bokeh Lounge

Cafe 111

Carson's Brewery

Chido Mexican Bar and Grill

Chipotle

Commanders Grill (Boonville)

Dapper Pig

DiLegge's

Eclipse Spanish Tapas

Gerst Haus

Hilltop Inn

Hornets Nest

Just Rennies

Lamasco Bar & Grill

Los Tres Caminos

Madeleine's Fusion

Milanos Italian

Mission BBQ

Moe's Southwest Grill

Oasis Mediterranean

O'Charlies

Pangea Kitchen

Peephole Bar & Grill

Penny Lane Coffeehouse (downtown)

Rafferty's

Ri Ra's Irish Pub

Schaum's Pizzeria

Smittys Italian Steakhouse

Sportsmans

Stockwell Inn

Talk of the Town Pizza

Tiki Time (Inland Marina)

Tin Man Brewing Co.

Toast

Tom & Chee

Qdoba (Burkhardt)

Waltons International Comfort Food

Weinzapfels Tavern

Newburgh:

Beef O'Brady's

Ben & Pennys Cafe

Bostons

Cafe Arazu

Edgewater Grille

Tin Fish

Henderson

Mr B's

Owensboro

Bee Bops

Catfish Willys

CYO Brewery & Taproom

Famous Bistro

Feta pizza

Gambrinus

Lure

Miller House
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By Chelsea Schneider, USA TODAY NETWORK, Indianapolis Star

The vast majority of incoming high school seniors who could qualify for a state-funded scholarship are running the risk of losing out on the assistance that covers up to four years of college tuition, according to newly released state data.

About 80 percent, or more than 14,000 students, are behind on meeting new requirements for the states 21st Century Scholars program, which is designed to help low-income Hoosiers afford college. In Marion County alone, nearly 3,300 students arent on track.

Faced with a large number of students falling behind on the programs mandates, state officials are working to make members of the Class of 2017 aware of the new requirements, including conducting meetings throughout the summer to connect with potential scholarship recipients.

Next years graduating class is the first group of students that must complete 12 tasks, including creating a graduation plan, visiting a college campus and participating in a service activity. In exchange, those students can receive as much as four years of tuition at an Indiana public university, or a comparable amount to what a public school costs to attend a private school.

The scholarships, which started under then-Gov. Evan Bayh, reward financial assistance to low-income students who meet certain academic requirements and stay out of trouble. Even before the newest round of conditions, state data showed on average about half of students who could qualify for a 21st Century scholarship were meeting requirements to receive the assistance.

Lawmakers added new requirements after becoming concerned about poor college completion rates of the programs students, said Sen. Luke Kenley, a Noblesville Republican. State data show lagging but improving graduation rates, with about 20 percent of scholarship recipients going on to complete college on time, according to an analysis of the 2014 graduating class. Thats up from about 15 percent of program participants who graduated on time in 2013.

The state established a more rigorous program to turn around student performance, said Kenley, the General Assemblys leading budget architect.

Im not too surprised to see were still struggling with this, Kenley said. Its going to take some time to turn this around.

School officials who administer the program say they plan to work with their seniors to ensure they finish the activities and qualify for the scholarships. They expect that students have already completed many of the tasks but have yet to notify the state of their progress.

In meeting that goal, administrators are confronted with daunting statistics.

In Marion County, just 13 percent of incoming senior scholarship candidates are up to date on completing the requirements, data show. Only about half of those potential recipients have taken the first step in the process  registering with the state website ScholarTrack to log completed activities.

Decatur Township Schools officials are planning an immediate effort to help seniors who havent logged on to the state website once they return from summer break, said Chris Duzenbery, the districts director of college and career readiness. The district's students cover most of the activities required by the 21st Century Scholar program through a course they already take in school, he said. But state data indicate just under 10 percent of potential Class of 2017 scholarship recipients from Decatur Central High School have completed all requirements for Grades 9-11.

We have made a significant dent in being able to get these kids on track and get them caught up, Duzenbery said. I believe (the requirements) are appropriate because they all are aligned with college- and career-readiness skills and experiences students need to be able to have before they graduate.

A counseling director for Indianapolis Public Schools said the districts 21st Century Scholar students are completing the activities, but they do so with a program separate from the one created by the state.

It helps us as a district continue to create opportunity for our students to have rigor, rigorous courses to make sure that not only are they completing them but are able to have a great retention rate when they do get to college, said Tracy Pruitt, coordinator of student support services.

Typically, about 12,000 to 15,000 new 21st Century Scholar recipients enter college each year. But during the recession, the state saw as many as 30,000 students enter college qualifying for assistance  which caused its costs to skyrocket. The state budgeted $174 million for the past school year and nearly $160 million for the upcoming school year to cover the scholarships.

Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers said the program was never designed to distribute financial aid to students at the end of their senior year in hopes they would be successful in college. The programs aim is to make sure students succeed once they arrive on campus, she said.

The new requirements, which were born out of legislation passed in 2011, cap a string of changes to the program, in part to ensure that students are prepared for college and to rein in costs to the state. First, lawmakers raised the high school GPA to become eligible for the program to 2.5 from 2.0. Students also must complete at least 30 credit hours each school year  a course load the state considers full time  or receive a lesser scholarship amount.
SHARE A syringe such as this one commonly is used with heroin. Joshua Smith/Richmond Palladium-Item

By Kris Turner, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network

Gregg Fore isnt surprised when people who apply to work for his RV supply business cannot pass a drug test.

More than half of all applicants who come through the door are drug users, he said.

Certainly, a majority of applicants in the current environment cannot pass, said Fore, president of Elkhart-based Dicor Corp., which makes sealants, roofing and specialty products for recreational vehicles. More than half cannot pass the controlled substance requirements.

Fores story is one that resonates through the Indiana business community. The unemployment rate, which was 5.2 percent in April and has hovered near that mark for months, has created a shrinking applicant pool filled with undesirable candidates.

The problem has been more pronounced in Indiana because of the state's growing number of opiate addicts, experts said.

Employers are reporting an increase in the number of potential employees who are drug users, compounding the facts that many available Hoosier workers are unskilled and unable to perform midrange manufacturing jobs.

Drug use while operating heavy machinery, driving a transport vehicle or working around hazardous materials can lead to serious injury or death.

We are seeing more and more drug use in rural parts of the state, which can be a real issue, said Carol Rogers, deputy director of the Indiana Business Research Center in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Relating it back to employers, there is not a lot of hard data on this.

What we do hear pretty consistently is employers are not able to find people who can pass a drug test.

According to data compiled by Quest Diagnostics, a laboratory that performs workplace drug testing, illicit drug use is increasing among U.S. workers. The company found that of 6.6 million urine tests performed in 2014, 4.7 percent of workers tested positive for drugs, up from 4.3 percent in 2013.

American workers are increasingly testing positive for workforce drug use across almost all workforce categories and drug test specimen types. In the past, we have noted increases in prescription drug positivity rates, but now it seems illicit drug use may be on the rise, according to our data, Barry Sample, director of science and technology for Quest Diagnostics Employer Solutions, said in a statement.

Although Quest Diagnostics data don't include a state-by-state breakdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed Indiana as one of the worst states in the nation for drug poisoning mortality rates. The state had 1,172 drug-related deaths in 2014.

A chart mapping drug-related deaths across the state showed that the problem was most severe in Central Indiana and rural areas. For instance, in Scott County, a largely poor, rural area, an opioid epidemic led to an HIV outbreak last year.

We certainly have a pretty significant portion of our jobs in Indiana that are goods producing or goods handling, so it may be more stark in those communities where they do have significant employment in manufacturing, Rogers said.

Indiana leads the nation in manufacturing employment  almost 17 percent of the states workforce is employed by manufacturers. More than 30 percent of the states gross product is manufacturing, again placing Indiana ahead of all other states.

Fore said drug use presents a huge liability for manufacturers because there is a greater risk of injury or death while working. Dicor makes paneling for RVs using a large machine, and if someone was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it could lead to a hazardous situation, he said.

I dont believe the employer can afford to take any potential risks as it relates to controlled substance issues, Fore said. In our company, we will not accept any risk in that regard. If its an issue, the employee knows what the consequence is.

If theres an accident in the workplace, we will test those who are involved in any accident, and if they are found with drugs in their system, they will be terminated.

The shrinking applicant pool has created a challenging environment for manufacturers that want to ramp up, said Christine Scullion, vice president of human resources policy for the National Association of Manufacturers. Drug use has added to the litany of problems employers face when they want to expand, she said.

Almost all U.S. manufacturers  82 percent, according to an association survey  think they will have trouble hiring to meet increased customer demand, Scullion said.

There is just a generic skills gap and understanding of the basic science, technology, engineering and math skills that are necessary for success, Scullion said. In the next decade, we expect about 3.4 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled, but only about 1.4 (million) will be filled.

This is a significant issue across a broad base of manufacturing sectors.

The Indiana chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business said drug use is one of the factors affecting employers that want to hire. Finding qualified applicants is an ongoing issue.

Barbara Quandt Underwood, Indianas federation director, said prospective employees often lack soft skills, such as showing up to work on time and coming to work every day.

We do hear they are having difficulty finding all of those things in employees: the soft skills, having the right job skills and passing a drug test, she said.

If businesses are unable to find workers who are the right fit, they may enroll prospective hires in programs to help them kick their drug habits, Rogers said.

Allison Transmission said drug use has remained low among prospective employees. Of 128 positions filled since 2015, two candidates did not show up to take their drug test, and one failed. The person who failed was not hired, a company spokesman said.

For Fore, theres no easy solution to the problems employers face. The demand has outstripped the supply, and businesses will have to temper their growth if they cant find drug-free employees, he said.

Youre never going to get an equal balance if our demand doubles for workers, Fore said. Were probably not going to double the number of qualified workers.

___

By The Numbers
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Tom Wannemuehler

Evansville

I wish to express my gratitude to President Obama for visiting Hiroshima, a truly symbolic gesture of peace, reconciliation, and solidarity with the people of Japan who suffered the horrendous deaths of hundreds of thousands of their citizens at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.

Hopefully, the United States will step back from the cries for increased militarism and commit itself to the ways of peace, including the dismantling and elimination of all nuclear weapons.
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Robert Wolf

Evansville

(Indiana Gov. Mike) Pence is a hypocrite. First he turned down $80 million (in) Federal Preschool Development Grants to show his disdain for President Obama. Now he wants to get federal taxpayer dollars to use as a campaign tool to bolster his approval ratings.

He already wasted $60 million taxpayer dollars in his quest to persecute gay people. Vote him out. His whole agenda is appeasing a handful of radical donors.
Good job, Mike Pence.

He was the first governor in Indiana history to secure state funds for a public preschool program. On My Way Pre-K officially launched in January 2015 and provided schooling for 2,300 4-year-olds  including 196 in Vanderburgh County.

Nobody else did that. Not Mitch Daniels. Not Evan Bayh. Not even Ratliff Boon.

Of course, in October 2014, Pence abruptly decided not to pursue a chunk of $80 million in federal funds that could have almost tripled the size of the program. Because of that, thousands of children were denied a year of preschool  about 3,000 in Marion County alone, and 70 or so in Vanderburgh County.

So he took away preschool for more kids than he provided it to.

But! Schooling for 2,300 is better than schooling for none. I should know. I had to drop out of tannery night school after third grade to tend to the family ostrich farm.

Now more kids may avoid my fate. In a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services released on Thursday, Pence said he's now open to taking federal cash.

"By not expanding the pilot program prematurely, I kept a promise I made to key legislative leaders in order to gain their support for my prekindergarten program," he wrote in the letter.

Of course it's odd that such a promise had to be made, and that state legislators would adopt such a careful approach to funding. They never cared about wasting money before. According to the Indianapolis tourism bureau Visit Indy, the fallout over the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by those same legislators, cost the city $60 million in possible economic impact  six times the amount of money the state sets aside annually for pre-K programs.

But! Pence and the legislators were right to be wary. We're not talking about normal money here. We're talking about federal money. Scary Barack Obama money. The kind of money that steals your guns and winks at your wife.

"Anytime you bring federal dollars, you have to count the cost and determine what kind of flexibility you're losing," Pence told Indy Politics on Friday.

What kind of flexibility would the state lose? A two-day series of emails with Pence spokeswoman Kara Brooks rendered few specific answers aside from "you have to walk before you run." But you know that darn federal government. Always trying to tell us how to do our business. Why, I even hear they want schools to teach science.

Of course there is no federal program regulating preschool education. And even if there was something akin to the K-12 Common Core, the Department of Education has no say over curriculum and has a limited to nonexistent role in funding. That's all controlled on the state level.

And under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund of the stimulus law passed by President Obama in 2009  which made the early education grants possible  Pence would have had two fiscal years to commit all federal money. With the proper planning, it's likely Pence could have taken the money for 2015, operated the pilot program in the same way, and still had the cash on hand to expand pre-K education in time for the coming school year.

That would have provided preschool education to thousands of additional students without delay. According to the state's report on the first year of On My Way, "research clearly indicates that high quality early education experiences are important to the future successes of children  in particular children who are growing up in poverty."

But! He's going to apply for the grants now, so why bellyache? Quit complaining about the past, critics.

Stupid, stupid critics. Can you believe some of them think Pence's about-face is a political ploy? It's as if an occult hand is squeezing the juice out of their brains.

Of course when Pence made the decision to forego funding in October 2014 he was considered a longshot presidential candidate. Being that hard-line Republicans equate taking federal money with light manslaughter, he could have used his rebuke of D.C. to his advantage.

But! If it's all about politics, why is Pence changing his mind now?

If you say it's because he's facing a brutal re-election slog against John Gregg, I'm going to drop-kick you in the jaw.

Of course a recent Enterprise Republicans poll found that only 32 percent of respondents thought Pence would be the best choice to improve education. He may be desperate. Last week, his campaign released an ad featuring former educator Karen Pence that highlights "the good work" the governor has done in schools.

But! Teachers love Pence. The last time I told a teacher I support him, she got so excited that she broke the windshield on my car.

Listen: All this cynicism does nothing to help the state of Indiana or the young children poised to benefit from On My Way Pre-K. And it's time that we recognize Pence for the hero he is: the governor of the 43rd state to adopt a public pre-K education program. It was incredibly brave to pursue a long-overdue program with bipartisan support that could never possibly backfire.

Unless he did something really misguided. Like, I don't know, refuse money that would have undoubtedly made the program better.

Good job, Mike Pence.
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Starting in December, millions of salaried workers across the nation will find they have to begin keeping track of their hours.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the overtime threshold for salaried workers would be increased from $23,660 to $47,476 a year. That means any salaried employees earning up to the new threshold who work more than 40 hours a week must be paid time-and-a-half for those extra hours. The change goes into effect Dec. 1.

In the weeks since the announcement, business owners have been trying to figure out exactly what the new law means for their employees and their bottom line.

I started receiving some calls from member companies, said Mark Soycher, human resources counsel for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. Some of the calls are very basic: Do I have to do this now? Others are sorting out how it is going to apply, who it is going to affect and what area of the payroll practice it will affect.

Labor officials estimate the change will extend overtime protections to 4.2 million people, including 46,000 in Connecticut.

Were in a world today where fewer people are punching a clock and more people are asked to do more, said Lori Pelletier, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO.

More Information https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/17/fact-sheet-growing-middle-class-paychecks-and-helping-working-families-0 http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/statement-department-labor-s-overtime-rule See More Collapse

Pelletier said the new law will end up putting more money in peoples pockets and, consequently, more money into the economy. It is expected the new law will raise wages by an estimated $1.2 billion every year over the next decade.

The threshold will also be updated every three years.

I think its a way of helping boost the economy, Pelletier said.

The new threshold will make it necessary for newly eligible employees to now keep track of their hours, something they may not be used to as salaried employees. This creates a situation where everything become more rigid, said Eric Gjede, assistant counsel at CBIA.

Soycher noted that employees with flexible schedules may find they will be unable to take work home or work remotely.

Especially with the electronic connectivity, we have some people who can work from anywhere, he said. Now thats going to be a questionable practice. If I cant reach out and touch or see the person, how do I know theyre working?

But Gjede noted Connecticut differs from other states because of the salaries offered here. Hopefully it wont have as big an impact on Connecticut because Connecticut wages are pretty high, he said.

In fact, Connecticut is expected to have the lowest share in the nation of salaried workers that will directly benefit, at 16.2 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Gjede said the law may also not work the way advocates expect it to work. Just because people are eligible for overtime doesnt mean employers will allow overtime, he said.

Some businesses are already considering cutting base pays so that when overtime is included the person makes the same salary, keeping the employers costs the same, experts said.

If the goal was to have a more equitable level of pay, theres loopholes that will allow for that goal to not be realized, said David Lewis, president and CEO of Norwalk-based OperationsInc, a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. I think its a good first step but I think 15 more steps are needed to be taken to correct or fix this law.

He said the Fair Labor Standards Act should have been made more clear for businesses and should have included specific information about what jobs are exempt and which ones are not exempt.

Pelletier said she found the idea of cuts in base pay or hours to be troubling.

If employers want to keep good people, they want to give them incentives to stay, Pelletier said. Cutting hours or finding loopholes is not a good way to do that at all.

Dhrupad Nag, political director for the Connecticut Working Families Party, said even if some companies use loopholes to prevent paying employees more, the new law will still go a long way toward cutting unfair scheduling practices.

I do think, for the most part, responsible business owners will adhere to these rules, Nag said. Workers will no longer be expected to work long hours without being fairly compensated.

For now, businesses will have to figure out the details before the law goes into effect in December.

Business owners should really take notice to the fact that this is not going to be something that they should ignore, Lewis said.

ktorres@hearstmediact.com; 203-330-6227
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Mark Boughton is taking a lesson from Donald Trump.

Grab your campaign website while the getting is good or wind up like Jeb Bush.

Danburys eight-term Republican mayor has renewed the domain name teamboughton.com, the strongest signal yet the 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial candidate could run again for the states highest office in 2018.

Were looking very closely at the 2018 race, Boughton told Hearst Connecticut Media. Were gearing up. I think, by the fall, Ill make a decision whether Ill jump in our not.

Boughton said he spent a couple of hundred bucks of personal funds re-registering the site, which Trumps rivals such as Bush would probably consider money well spent.

Once considered the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, the former Florida governor was forced to use the website jeb2016.com for his doomed campaign website after Trump snagged jebbush.com. Ted Cruz suffered a similar indignity when political foes bought tedcruz.com and displayed the message, Support President Obama. Immigration Reform Now!

The preemptive jockeying by Boughton comes after state Rep. Jason Perillo, of Shelton, a fellow Republican, stockpiled website domains bearing the names of rumored suitors for the governors office in 2018 on both sides of the aisle.

With all the cybersquatting going on, we thought it would be prudent to lock up the teamboughton website, Boughton said.

Private eyes

The healing powers of yacht rock shouldnt be underestimated in Donald Trumps inner circle.

Trumps campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and communications director, Hope Hicks, were spotted speaking together on friendly terms in the VIP tent during Hall & Oates performance at the Greenwich Town Party.

Thats a stark contrast from a Page Six item in the New York Post last month that reported a screaming match between the pair, which the newspaper attributed to Lewandowskis diminishing role in Trumps campaign.

Hicks, 27, a former Ralph Lauren model-turned-publicist first for Ivanka Trump and then The Donald, is from Greenwich. Chatting the pair up in the VIP tent was Drew Marzullo, a Greenwich Democratic selectman and paramedic who works with Hicks sister, Mary Grace Hicks, an EMT. Hicks was at the concert with her parents and sister, as well as several other Trump campaign staffers.

Cashing in

Remember when lawmakers figured they could squeeze savings out of Connecticuts publicly funded elections program?

Neither do they.

Seventeen candidates for the Legislature have already qualified for Citizens Election Fund grants, including Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby. The second round of grants was announced last week by the state Elections Enforcement Commission, which administers the program.

Senate candidates can receive $95,710 for the general election and $39,410 for a primary if they raise $15,000 from at least 300 contributors in their districts. House candidates can get $28,150 for the general election and $11,260 for the primary if they raise $5,000 from at least 150 contributors in their city or town.

The state is expected to pay out $10 million to $11 million this election cycle, which will feature 151 House and 36 Senate races. But grappling with a $1 billion budget deficit, Democrats and Republicans targeted the program for cuts, only to stand down.

The goal of the program is to wean candidates off special-interest money and free them from the time required for fundraising. It came into existence a decade ago following the resignation and imprisonment of Gov. John G. Rowland for accepting bribes from state contractors.

Name dropping

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were relegated to Archie Bunker status by the Connecticut Democrats at their annual fundraising dinner last week.

For the first time in the 68 years of the event, its two presidential namesakes were eliminated from the program. In addition to both owning slaves, Jacksons role in the persecution of Native Americans in the Trail of Tears led to the state party renaming the event as the Connecticut Democratic Progress Dinner. Jacksons image is being replaced on the $20 bill by Harriet Tubman.

The event, a traditional showcase for the partys rising stars, was formerly known as the Jefferson Jackson Bailey Dinner. The events third namesake, John Bailey, who led the state party and then the Democratic National Committee under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, was preserved in a new award for service to the party.

We dont have any names on this dinner anymore, but lets remember that we are a party with so many heroes in whose footsteps we walk, said Luke Bronin, Hartfords first-year mayor and a Greenwich native. This is still the party of Roosevelt, Franklin and Eleanor. This is the party of Kennedy, the party of Barack Obama, the party of Bailey, the party of (Abraham) Ribicoff and so many others.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
In 2011, amid growing concern about bullying, the state Legislature passed a law requiring schools to keep track of the number of bullying instances.

Since then, the reports of verified bullying cases have plummeted from 1,453 in the 2012-13 school year, to 1,296 the next year to just 857 in 2014-15, the most recent data available, according to Connecticut Department of Education records.

Nearly 542,000 students attend public schools in the state, but in some 50 school districts, there were no verified cases of bullying last year, and in more than 70 others there were five or fewer.

Experts say those numbers dont paint a complete picture of the problem, because the law gives school administrators a good deal of latitude in determining what qualifies as bullying.

The figures are a true reflection of the number of situations that meet the state definition here in Fairfield, David Title, the outgoing schools superintendent, said.

What the numbers dont show, he said, are situations that go unreported or conflicts between students that do not meet the statutory definition of bullying.

More Information Bullying counts by district in 2014-15 Ansonia* Bridgeport50 Derby0 Easton0 Fairfield7 Milford10 Monroe* Oxford* Region 9* Seymour* Shelton41 Stratford13 Trumbull0 Westport0 Charter Schools Bridgeport Achievement First Charter 7 Great Oaks Charter School, Bridgeport* Park City Prep Charter School, Bridgeport0 The Bridge Academy Charter School, Bridgeport14 See More Collapse

Not surprised

Joanne Freiberg, the school climate specialist for the state, said the numbers dont tell her a lot, but neither do they surprise her.

To label something bullying is a really hard thing to swallow, Freiberg said.

The state law defines bullying as the repeated use of written, oral or electronic communication by one or more students against another that either causes physical or emotional harm, puts the student in fear of harm or disrupts their learning.

The investigation to deem someone a bully, Freiberg added, involves a good amount of subjectivity. The state requires the investigator be trained, but does not dictate a common standard.

In Bridgeport, Dementred Young, the districts director of social work and school climate officer, said the districts reporting to the state of 50 bullying instances in 2014-15 showed how seriously it took the policy.

Parents often come into his office telling him their children are being bullied when the situation just doesnt fit the state definition, Young has said.

Fighting, stealing lunch money or name-calling may prompt disciplinary action, he said, but often do not fall into the realm of bullying.

That can be frustrating to parents, who say it can be hard to get school officials to take them seriously, let alone act on their complaints.

Michael Iacurci, an attorney in Madison, said he has been approached by a number of parents, including some in Westport, who have concerns about the process districts use to investigate claims of bullying.

The problem we are encountering is that Connecticut law and the policies enacted by town boards sound good, but dont include a mechanism to ensure the policies are being enforced or administered correctly Iacurci said, noting districts self-report and self-regulate bullying claims.

What the Legislature has created is a law that has no teeth because there are no consequences, except for litigation, if the school districts decide not to follow the law. Ultimately, we are talking about damage to children, he said.

Others worry that districts have made it too burdensome to report bullying. Westports online form and instructions is 11 pages long and calls for a parents signature.

A Wesport parent who has consulted with Iacurci, but who requested his name not be used, said students get very few lessons in identifying bullying.

Some may have no idea, he said.

That applies both to the bully and the victim, he added.

A label not a behavior

Freiberg, meanwhile, said the value in the law is the spirit of it.

Are we there in terms of creating safe schools for every child? Freiberg said. Absolutely not. The truth falls somewhere in between the low number you are seeing and this epidemic that seems to be out there.

Every district is required to have a safe school plan that addresses how bullying should be reported and a safe school climate coordinator and a climate specialist who must investigate written reports of bullying. Accounts that are verified get reported to the state.

A lot is left in district hands to determine, Freiberg said. Still, all districts have virtually identical anti-bullying plans, she said.

Last October, Trumbull, which according to the state had no reported cases of bullying in 2014-15, revised its Bullying Prevention and Intervention policy to incorporate teen dating violence.

Pauline Smith, the safe school climate coordinator in Trumbull, said the districts low numbers are the result of a very proactive stance against mean behavior.

Trumbulls focus on the systemic plan, Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports, and Social/Emotional learning, contributes to the students sense of well-being and this results in low instances of bullying, Smith said.

Like Young in Bridgeport, Freiberg said every parent who walks through her door at the state level has a story to tell about their child being bullied.

Behavior that gets labeled bullying can range from being stared at, to being intentionally touched, Freiberg said. Bullying is a label and a conclusion, not a behavior.

The spirit of the law is to create safe spaces for children, physically emotionally, intellectually, Freiberg said. Are we there in terms of creating safe schools for every child. Absolutely not.

More useful to Freiberg is getting districts to work on their school climate plans and then enact them.

Bullying is one piece of the picture, Freiberg said.

Still hard to believe

When Young presented his figures, some called them hard to believe.

This is not possible, Maria Pereira, a board member, said when she saw the figures. (Bullying) is a national epidemic. Children are committing suicide.

When bullying is substantiated in Bridgeport, the school resource officer confers with the student and develops a safety plan that includes the parents, staff and student. The plan is given to all appropriate staff, parents are kept abreast of student interactions.

In Fairfield, Title said the district started an online anonymous reporting system.
Messaging is about to transform marketing -- but maybe not in the ways you expect. In a culture obsessed with technology, messaging apps are poised to take marketing back to the basics of commerce and relationship management.

Over the past few years messaging apps have exploded in popularity; now these social networks are about to have their big moment. Whether youre one of Facebook Messengers 900 million monthly active users, or your family and friends are logging into Snapchat, Kik, and WhatsApp, messaging apps are already part of your life. But now smart marketers are taking notice: messaging apps are growing into platforms that will transform the way brands manage e-commerce, information, advertising and customer service.

In China, 650 million people a month use the WeChat messaging app for everything from transferring money to hailing taxis and sharing photos. Eight million businesses transact their ecommerce through WeChat. Now U.S. companies are following Chinese brands lead to realize messaging apps are rife with possibility. Messaging is marketings real-time responsive, media-rich future that simultaneously harkens back to a pre-digital -- pre-Sears catalogue, even -- era when commerce and customer relationships were rooted in conversation. Messaging takes the most powerful form of marketing, a dialogue with a salesperson, makes it scalable and gives everyone immediate access. Theres no place in messaging for anything short of a real conversation, if customers dont care about what youre saying, or feel slighted by your brands mis-use of bots, theyll leave and may never return. Its time to let go of everything we believed about marketing, or rather get back to age old basics. But how will messaging transform your business?

Related: Report: Google Is Building a 'Smart' Mobile-Messaging App to Rival ...

1. Marketers will get personal, not just personalized.

Over 100 years ago, the Sears catalogue ushered in a new era of shopping. While it provided more choice than a trip to the general store, shopping at home failed to provide the same emotional experience and personal connection. The 20th century saw the rise of major retail with shopping malls, department stores, chain stores, and big box retailers providing more human contact than catalogue shopping. Big retail also offered consumers savings due to global manufacturing capabilities. But these businesses still didnt compare to the personal shopping experience consumers found with local merchants.

When the digital age arrived, Amazon and other online shopping behemoths attempted to improve upon the model with algorithmic personalization. Through consumer product reviews and real-time recommendations, e-commerce giants tried to combine the best of near-limitless selection and shop-from-home convenience with the personal experience of a brick-and-mortar store. But personalized isnt personal: keyword and past purchase-based recommendations arent the same as speaking to a friendly salesperson.

Now and in the very near future, mobile, social and messaging apps will converge and combine the best of online and offline shopping, enabling brands to engage customers in one-on-one conversations via smartphone and act as personal, on-demand, smart shopping assistants.

Related: Twitter Premieres New Mobile Video and Group Messaging Features

2. Marketers will embrace their brands human side.

Broadcast advertising was marketings keystone for decades. In the age of messaging apps, creative concepts will give way to the art of conversation. Although clever copy, graphics, and video can reinforce your message, the future of marketing lies in brands ability to have contextual conversations to sell products and build long-term relationships on customers terms.

Brands will have to learn to take risks and react -- basically, to act like real, live people. But beyond conversation, brands will be expected to facilitate interactions between customers and anyone else who might have insight to offer: from industry experts to fellow shoppers. For travel brands, this could mean connecting weary road-warriors with local guides. For trendy boutiques, this could mean fashion fiends scan tags to get styling tips from designers and shop with their friends virtually by their side.

3. Marketers will invite customers to participate.

People use messaging apps to communicate, watch, share, play and learn. If brands inundate customers with broadcast-style marketing messages theyll leave or even block them. Forget traditional ideas about product placement: Messaging apps enable marketers to embed experiences driven by conversational engagement. When both the real and digital worlds are in play simultaneously, and seamlessly integrated, theres no shortage of content to share, games to play, and adventures to embark on -- plus opportunities to invent new ones.

Related: Five Tips for Better Text-Message Marketing

An increasingly-fragmented media landscape means customers, armed with choices, turn away from advertising and mass marketing techniques. Smart brands will re-imagine marketing as conversational, collaborative and organic. Because messaging apps travel everywhere customers carry their smartphones, the boundaries between physical and digital are blurred.

Messaging apps make the most effective marketing method -- a conversation with a real, live person -- scalable, and integrates it into a media-rich app ecosystem that looks a lot like the future. Which means in the age of messaging well no longer think point of sale, we'll think point of conversation.

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Pa. is about to vote. Here's what to know about voting and ballot access in 2022
Candidates come out swinging in only debate of Florida governor's race

Gov. Ron DeSantis and his opponent, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, met in their first and only debate October 24 at the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce.
I'm not often prescient, but even I could see the writing on the wall. In October 2013 I wrote in the Daily Mail of my visit to BHS on Oxford Street: This is where clothes go to die. 1/10, only gaining a point for the sweet sales assistants I cannot see why or how this store is still in business.

Those sales assistants are today facing unemployment, given it was announced on Thursday that the chain of department stores is due to close, prompting pundits to bemoan the death of the Great British High Street.

We should all be in mourning, apparently. We look back wistfully at old black-and-white photos of the high street  with its greengrocer and striped awnings, lack of parking restrictions, shoppers wearing hats and proper shoes  and bemoan its passing.

This week the final attempts to save BHS were abandoned but does it really mean the death of the 'Great British High Street'?

How much less frantic life was then, how much more personal, when a shopkeeper knew our name. And how isolating that young women are now buying goods online, and not taking part in that great rite of passage: the Saturday shopping session.

The British have a fondness for department stores. The most excitement I ever had as a teenager was being taken to Bonds (now a dreary Debenhams) in Chelmsford. There was Mary Quant make-up, a Psychedelic Department (disappointingly, it just sold bolts of paisley needlecord), rail upon rail of loons (low-slung cotton trousers always bought two sizes too small), a Record Department with listening booths, and a Coffee Shoppe.

But is it really a shame that BHS has sold its last synthetic red sweatshirt with teddy bear applique, buttons and a polka dot lining, made in Romania? Is a fast-changing high street really such a bad thing?

I went back to Chelmsford, my teenage stamping ground, to see whether it is now a sea of pound stores, charity stores and shop fronts that, to paraphrase the comedian Peter Kay, no longer need a window cleaner, but someone with a sander. And it was a revelation.

While I find it unimaginative that every other shopfront seems to be a Pret or a Costa, the only place to have a Coke when I was growing up was the Wimpy. There were no tables on pavements in my day, just groups of shy girls shivering in bus shelters, bored witless.

As I stood outside the new Primark, I realised the young girls appear so much more beautiful, better dressed and confident than I was. If only Primark and Topshop had been here in the 1960s perhaps I would not have been so unattractive and awkward, so sad, self-destructive and boy-less.

John Lewis opens here soon, while there is already a White Company, that ultimate symbol of middle-class good taste (growing up, Id thought bald candlewick was the sine qua non of interior design).

ALL the girls I met told me they prefer to shop online, as they can search for what they want, are never tempted to impulse-buy, can set a budget limit, and still come to the town centre to meet friends.

BHS collapse: About 300 head office staff have been dismissed and 11,000 store staff could now follow

I walked from Sainsburys to the bus depot, and wondered how on earth my mum, in pain from arthritis, managed the distance every Friday afternoon, let alone while hauling carrier bags of food for seven children (she couldnt drive). She would have loved to have ordered food from Ocado. But its not all good. The Chancellor Hall, where I once saw rock god Kevin Ayers, is now a nightclub, with the wholly unevocative name of Evoke. The bookshop next door has gone, but there is a Waterstones that is probably bigger and nicer. There is a shop that sells only brightly coloured onesies that are hideous, but so too were the smelly Afghan coats once sold in the market.

Chelmsford High Street has been pedestrianised and now hosts a vibrant food market, which means a list of all the things we need in a town to make it worth living in  local cheeses, fresh fish, cappuccino, a bouquet of flowers, the latest Hilary Mantel, a mop  can be ticked off. As a child, the most exotic food my mum bought was Vesta Chow Mein. Now Chelmsford has stalls selling cupcakes, home-made Indian food and artisan bread. As a teen, I only ever knew Nimble.

The last time I shopped here, a couple of years ago, I bought my late mum an armful of tulips.

I dont remember you, shed said when I shoved the blooms in her face. Ive just been to Chelmsford, Mum, remember? Oh, Bonds! she replied, blue eyes twinkling.
I have seen British politics at its best and worst during my 43 years in Parliament but this referendum has reached a new low and it is time we came to our senses.

If last weeks opinion poll that put the Leave campaign ahead of Remain is accurate, in three weeks time our country may be sucked into a vicious spiral of unintended consequences that will cause future generations to curse us.

Our reputation as a mature democracy is at stake. Our ability to protect our long-term interests as a major European power is already being sapped.

There is still time to prevent the Leave campaign  or quitters, as I call them  winning but it will take a lot more vigour and determination to make sure that happens. We have had too much statistical speculation and not enough passion. More than enough personal sniping and not enough straight talking.

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Former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd (pictured) says our reputation as a mature democracy is at stake

I watch with dismay at the antics of a split government. I shudder at the prospect of a cabal of Eurosceptic Right-wingers taking power then deposing David Cameron, as they surely will, wrecking the unity of the UK in the process.

That is why I deplore the refusal of Labours leadership to make common cause with Tories who support Britains EU membership. This is not the time to air ideological differences. They can do that in a General Election, which may not be far off. And this is not a General Election.

I have already cast my postal vote to remain in the EU and fight to reform it. I am not a quitter. Nor, I believe, are the British people. But emotions are running high.

Having, in the judgement of impartial authorities, been decisively beaten in the economic debate, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are focusing on the vote-winning potential of that tried and trusted formula for Right-wing parties with little of substance to offer  immigration. If they win, imposing immigration controls without EU agreement will be a key plank in their manifesto along with other unreal solutions to complex issues. A Eurosceptic Government and Tory Party led by a maverick such as Johnson, propped up by the likes of Nigel Farage, may be to the taste of some, but not me.

Most senior citizens always vote, the young cannot or often do not. So we have a special obligation to them. Stripped of bluster and baloney, the question we face is straightforward.

Do we want to bequeath them a country that sits on the sidelines in an increasingly interdependent world? Do we want to mortgage their future for the illusory slogan of taking back control? Do we want them to lose access to the free market and sacrifice free movement?

OUR friends can hardly believe what is happening. An astute Italian commentator expressed his dismay with deadly accuracy: To be alone among enemies in 1940 was heroic. To choose to be alone amongst friends in 2016 would be absurd.

My generation confirmed European Community membership in 1975 by a decisive majority. Since then, we have integrated key areas of life with our continental partners  industrially, commercially, scientifically, culturally, professionally.

It is a two-way exchange. Lets get real. The NHS could not survive without EU nationals and British jobs are at stake. Our relationship with the United States and our role in the Commonwealth, both of which give us global reach, are also at risk.

Closer to home, Anglo-Irish relations have never been so good. To restore border controls and end free trade between north and south would cause havoc. So would another Scottish referendum, which would almost certainly follow Brexit and is more likely to result in the Scots breaking away than in 2014.

Our place is at Europes top table, fighting for reform and consensus around a programme taking us all forward. We will never be a servile lackey. Nor should we be quarrelsome wreckers. Next year it will be our turn to chair the EU Council and set its agenda. We have already joined forces with others to push for liberalisation of new markets in the digital revolution, where Britain is at the forefront. London has become the most vibrant, cosmopolitan capital in Europe. It would be madness to throw that away.

To our shame, many youngsters are poorly equipped to get decent jobs at a time when Britain needs all the skills it can muster. Home ownership is beyond their reach.

The former Commons Speaker says Boris Johnson (pictured) and Michael Gove are focusing on the vote-winning potential of that tried and trusted formula for Right-wing parties with little of substance to offer  immigration

If inequalities of wealth and incomes make us a nation of haves and have nots, the fault is ours, not Europes.

Every week brings fresh evidence of problems of our own making, especially in public services. Hard on the heels of Birminghams failure to care for at-risk children comes the tragedy of Liam Fee, the two-year-old killed by his mother and her partner after social workers lost contact. Our fault, not Europes.

The EU is in a state of flux, lets not worsen it. Whether we like it or not, our fate is tied to Europe. Look at the cover of our passports. It declares us citizens of the European Union and the UK. Young people take this dual identity for granted.

DO we really want to have to explain why they need a visa to go on holiday to France or Spain? Why they cannot study there and cannot work there without endless form-filling? Is that the brave new world we want to bequeath to them?

I am no economist but when the Governor of the Bank of England and the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies cast doubt on Brexit claims, I take heed.

Nor am I a diplomat. But when US president Barack Obama and other world leaders urge us to stay in the EU, unlike some politicians, I do not sneer at the presidents origins and bracket Hitlers Third Reich with todays democratic Germany.

It fell to me, as Speaker of the Commons, to use my casting vote to save John Majors opt-out from the social chapter in the Maastricht Treaty. I did so because the vote was tied and the Labour attempt to overturn the opt-out had no majority. There must be no such doubt about the referendum result. I also sat in the European Parliament for a time, so I am all too aware of its failings. Our Parliament is not perfect either.
I still struggle to persuade many Tory loyalists that their party has now actually become a rather Left-wing version of New Labour. If only theyd listen, it might help them come round to recognising one of the most important facts about modern Britain.

Heres some evidence. The Cabinet Office Minister, Matthew Hancock, has announced plans to grill job applicants to find out if they have been to independent schools.

He explains this inquisition by saying: Social justice is at the heart of everything this one nation Government is trying to achieve.

There is a simple and proven way to make the best use of the nations talents: restore the 1,000 fine state grammar schools in England and Wales (file photo)

'Our goal is simple: to make sure everyone has the opportunity to succeed and make the most of their talents, whatever the circumstances of their birth.

Social justice? This is, of course, top-grade tripe. What Mr Hancock wants is to destroy quality, in the name of equality.

There is a simple and proven way to make the best use of the nations talents: restore the 1,000 fine state grammar schools in England and Wales madly destroyed in an idiotic frenzy between 1965 and 1990, and their equivalents in Scotland.

Then build more of them. And reopen the best independent schools to the children of poor homes by reintroducing the direct grant system, which gave a free, first-class education to thousands of talented children from state primaries, the late Alan Rickman being a good example.

Every time I hear politicians drivelling that the independent schools should do more to help the state sector, I long to shout in their ears: But they did! And it worked! And you abolished it in 1975, and are so pig-ignorant you dont even know about it!

Even now those supposed towers of snobbish privilege which are the independent schools do what they can (often through the generosity of parents already paying stiff fees) to take in as many boys and girls from less well-off homes as they possibly can, free of charge.

Meanwhile, huge numbers of children at these alleged Snob Academies come from families where the fees are a giant strain on the family budget, willingly accepted. Many have tried the supposedly improved state education system and found it gravely wanting. They just think education is more important than holidays or new cars or restaurant meals.

They tend not to be rich enough to live in the catchment areas of the exclusive fake comprehensives where wealthy Leftists send their young, pretending to be apostles of equality when to all intents and purposes they have paid for their children to be privileged.

Mr Hancocks scheme would waft these pampered Leftists into the best jobs, as they are already wafted into the top universities, which are ceaselessly pestered to make them discriminate against independent schools. And it would slam the door of opportunity in the faces of many who would make the most of it. Crazily, it would do this in the name of progress.

How insane this all is. None of these people knows what he is doing. The Left has not only taken over all the parties, but now proceeds to spit on the very people  the poor  it claims to be helping.

I will quote here what that great teacher, headmaster and university Vice Chancellor, Lord James of Rusholme, told the House of Lords in 1976 as he protested against the destruction of all these schools: If I were a High Tory instead of a Fabian Socialist  a Tory of a type that now scarcely exists even in cartoons, one who really believes in privilege and keeping the lower orders down  one of the first things I should do would be to get rid of grammar schools and, above all, I should applaud what we are doing this afternoon, getting rid of the direct grant schools.

I would like to point this out to Mr Matthew Parris, former Tory MP, BBC favourite and frequent apologist for David Cameron, who wrote last week: The present public mood of sneering at public school toffs is healthy.

'The brand must be trashed. People must be made to feel sheepish about going to Eton or Harrow. It was welcome news yesterday that the Cabinet Office Minister, Matt Hancock, is drawing up a list of questions that employers may ask job applicants about their socio-economic background.

He added that he meant this to sound aggressive. Well, I mean my response to sound rude. Mr Parris and Mr Hancock have adopted opinions which are stupid, ill-informed and utterly wrong.

Finally...the great housewife myth is turning to dust

The nastiest and most dishonest slogan of the ultra-feminists was that women who stayed at home to raise their children were chained to the kitchen sink.

This unpleasant expression scared many women away from doing the most important and responsible (and rewarding) task which most of us will ever have  raising the next generation to be worthy inheritors of a great free country, hand-reared individuals rather than battery children, the conformist products of TV and mass culture.

The nastiest and most dishonest slogan of the ultra-feminists was that women who stayed at home to raise their children were chained to the kitchen sink (file photo)

And it gulled them into undergoing a real enslavement: wage-slavery. How many really wanted to do this, and how many were cajoled and propagandised into it?

Well, last week Professor Maggie Andrews, of the University of Worcester, told the Hay Festival that the old assumption was that feminism was about escaping the domestic, getting out of the home, getting a job and being financially independent.

But people are more sceptical about that now - they see a much more complex picture. They see the domestic space as one area of womens power.

Certain elements of the domestic have become much sexier, much more popular, an escape from the horrors of society.

Well, thats one way of putting it. I just think many women have discovered that wage-slavery was a false liberation, and that, if there are any chains in their lives, they are the chains of money that keep them from their children.

A sorry war with nothing but baddies

News from the supposed liberal democratic paradise of Ukraine, so much nicer than Mr Putins nasty Russia.

According to the United Nations, Ukrainian forces are rounding up and torturing suspected rebel sympathisers.

One victim had his hand smashed with a hammer and was waterboarded while being kicked and punched in the genitals.

The UN had to abandon an anti-torture inspection after being denied access to five secret detention centres. The Russian rebels are just as bad, but you knew that. So sorry, but there are no good guys in this conflict.
The Leave campaign have made much of the running in the last week by concentrating hard on immigration. But, as on so many other issues, their position is vague and lacks real hard substance.

It is easy to attack the current Government for its failure to get net migration under control  and its failure to keep its own promises. But do the Brexit faction, and its chief spokesmen Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, really have any firm ideas on how to do any better? Do they even understand their own proposals?

They repeatedly cite the Australian points system as their solution to the problem. But in a powerful and typically rigorous article for The Mail on Sunday, Lord Green points out today that Australia's method does not suit their aims at all.

Former London Mayor Boris Johnson addresses supporters during a rally for the 'Vote Leave' campaign in Manchester

As he says: 'Its whole purpose is to encourage immigration into an empty continent For a crowded island like our own that wishes to reduce net migration and slow its rapid population growth, this model just does not suit.'

Lord Green is universally respected as the most powerful and well-briefed advocate of migration control, and is anything but a member of the Establishment. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove simply cannot dismiss him  as they dismiss so many critics  as an Establishment voice.

They need to answer his points head on and in detail. They also need to explain how they can overcome the greatest single weakness in their position  that we cannot stay in the Single Market unless we also accept free movement.

Both Mr Gove and Mr Johnson must realise the awkward truth: that much of our current economic success relies on a continuing influx of migrants. Dare they explain this to those whom they have won to their banner by seeming to promise tightly controlled frontiers? Let us hope that broadcasters, whose questioning is crucial in these final weeks of the campaign, will press them hard on this.

There is another aspect of this which we reveal today. Inevitably, talk about immigration attracts those whose motivation and beliefs are disreputable  bigots and neo-Nazis. That is why mainstream politicians have for so long been very careful about engaging on this subject.

Of course, millions of decent people are reasonably concerned about immigration for sound and civilised reasons. But the leaders of the Out campaign must clearly disown any prejudiced backers. Votes won with such support would be tainted. The democratic process relies, in the end, on decency.

The MoS write Michael Gove (pictured) and Mr Johnson must realise the awkward truth: that much of our current economic success relies on a continuing influx of migrants

Doubt must be dispelled

The Commonwealth remains an important and influential institution, especially beloved by the Queen herself. Its Secretary-General therefore needs to be an impeccable figure, above suspicion.

Baroness Scotland, who holds this post, faces worrying allegations she may have secured her job by improper methods.

It is essential, for the good of the Commonwealth itself, that these claims are now swiftly, thoroughly and impartially investigated.

Farewell to a legend
David Cameron is anxious about discussing immigration

A couple of years ago, David Cameron was sitting in his Downing Street 'den', chatting to friends about his plans for a Conservative second term. The subject turned to immigration. 'I'd be happy if I never had to mention the word 'immigration' ever again,' he confided.

This is the default position of the British Establishment towards the most contentious and emotive issue in politics. Don't mention the 'I-word'. Don't debate the 'I-word'. Don't build your policy agenda around the 'I-word'. It's a position that's been eroded, and  as the EU referendum looms ever closer  has finally collapsed. For decades people have been demanding an 'open and honest debate on immigration'. Now, at last, they have their wish.

The complexities of the referendum have been distilled down to a simple and clear choice: economic security, as advocated by those who argue we should vote to stay in the EU; or the security of Britain's borders, as advocated by those calling for Brexit.

That was not how the Remain camp wanted the campaign framed in its closing weeks. They know the economic argument has been won, and wanted continued headlines underlining the very real economic dangers of withdrawal. But the dam has burst. The Great Honest and Open Immigration Debate is upon us. And there is no option but for us all to swim with the tide.

In the past, whenever the 'I-word' has been uttered, the 'R-word'  racism  has swiftly followed. It's 50 years since a notorious General Election when a Tory candidate said: 'If you want a n***** for a neighbour, vote Labour.' This has since been updated to 'Would you want a group of Romanians to live next door?' And as we report today, there are still people crawling around the gutter of politics trying to hijack the referendum for their own putrid ends.

But the charge of racism cannot be levelled at Vote Leave. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Priti Patel are not the shaven-headed plastic Nazis of the English Defence League. They are moderate, mainstream politicians, with concerns about immigration that are legitimate, and reflective of wider public opinion.

Supporters of Britain's place in Europe need to engage with them respectfully. Honestly and openly, in fact. Vote Leave's arguments about the inability to control immigration boil down to the following. It places pressure on housing. It places pressure on education. It places pressure on health. It places pressure on jobs and on wages. And crucially, by pledging to act on and alleviate these pressures  and failing  David Cameron has misled the British people. Those arguments deserve to be tested openly and honestly.

On Friday, the latest construction figures were published. They showed fears of Brexit have resulted in the sector's weakest performance for three years. Partly that's because of the general economic uncertainty being created by the referendum, but also because Brexit poses a specific risk for Britain's construction firms. Last month the chief executive of Barratt spelled them out. It would put 'even more pressure in terms of skills shortages,' he said. 'If you ask any housebuilder what their main challenge is, they say it's labour availability.' Brexit would, he confirmed, 'hamper the industry's ability to build much-needed homes'.

At the start of the referendum campaign, Universities UK, representing our nation's highest seats of learning, didn't wait to be asked what they thought of Brexit, but instead launched a campaign against it. It would undermine vital research, they warned. It would costs tens of millions in lost tuition fees. Courses would be placed at risk. Highly skilled lecturers and tutors would be lost to competitor institutions.

Health professionals have been equally clear about the implications of Brexit for the NHS. Questioned about the likely impact, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens was unambiguous. 'Very dangerous,' he said. Dave Prentis, leader of the largest health union Unison, warned Brexit would 'place untold pressure on the NHS's already perilous finances'. The Royal College of Midwives said 'patient care is safer' as part of the EU.

Housing. Education. Health. People want openness and honesty. Fine. The open and honest answer is that in each of these areas, the consequences of Brexit would be disastrous. But these are net consequences; the result of weighing the direct effects of lower immigration, then offsetting them against the broader benefits of remaining in the EU. And as we know, our open and honest debate has no room for such conjuring tricks.

At the end of March, the Office for Budget Responsibility published a specific assessment of what would happen if the Government succeeded in its aim of cutting overall annual immigration to 100,000.

The net impact would, they concluded, be to wipe out any projected budget surplus, which would mean 'additional spending cuts or tax increases'. The truth hurts. And again, the truth is the closure of Britain's borders would hit both jobs and wages. And that's if those borders could be successfully closed in the first place.

Vote Leave last week advocated 'an Australian-style points system' to manage migration flows. In December 2014, Alp Mehmet, Britain's former Ambassador to Iceland and an advocate of tough immigration controls, published an assessment of this sort of scheme. His conclusion was 'it is extremely complex and would be a non-starter for the UK. Yet another rehash of such a system would be a disaster it would be totally unsuitable for the UK'.

Michael Gove (pictured) has apparently 'never really been into immigration'

The leaders of Vote Leave know this. They are honest and open people. And they know that while they are criticising the Prime Minister for pledging and failing to control migration, their own plan would be equally unworkable. But they keep pushing it anyway. Which brings us to the crux of the Great Open and Honest Immigration Debate.

In 2013, Boris Johnson wrote: 'I am the only British politician who will admit to being pro-immigration.' Last year he advocated an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Two weeks ago, as Vote Leave put the finishing touches to a poster ludicrously claiming Turkey was poised to join the EU, a video emerged of him advocating Turkish accession.

On Friday I spoke to a long-standing political friend of Michael Gove. When had our famously liberal Justice Secretary become a covert to the tender mercies of Botany Bay-style immigration, I asked. 'He hasn't ever really been into immigration,' he responded. 'When it has come up, like over the immigration cap, he's been on the liberal side of the argument, like Boris. He was certainly the opposite side to Theresa May and the Prime Minister.'

Another friend pointed me to an appearance Gove had made on Question Time last year. 'Our country has succeeded in the past by being open, by being inclusive,' Gove said, 'And I think the debate on immigration has been poisoned by those who say we should pull up the barriers.'

If we want honesty and openness, so be it. Johnson and Gove know their policy of pulling up the immigration drawbridge will serve no purpose other than their own. Providing the keys to Downing Street in the case of Boris Johnson  and the key to rescuing a faltering campaign in the case of Michael Gove.

When the Treasury released figures showing Brexit would cost each family 4,300, Arron Banks, the head of the maverick Leave.EU, described it as 'an absolute bargain'. The leaders of the official Leave campaign know full well the price of Fortress Britain. Fewer houses built. Fewer of our children getting a high-quality university education. Poorer health care. Lower pay. The loss of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs.
If you came across Sarah Holloway on the street, you wouldn't expect her to be a witch.

The striking 30-year-old wears a flower crown, has long brunette hair and wouldn't look out of place partying at popular summer festivals.

But Ms Holloway also runs Sisters of the Equinox, a witch collective based in Melbourne. The collective meets regularly, and also attends festivals and events to read tarot cards and teach people about witches.

Boil, boil, toil and trouble: Sarah Holloway (left) is a young witch based in Melbourne. She started the witch collective Sisters of the Equinox

Under moonlight: Ms Holloway started the collective at the same time she started a 'moon circle' of local witches. Her coven meets every month at the full moon and new moon

From the earth: At the moon circle, the coven has an altar where they place items to evoke the elements, like crystals (above), plants and feathers

She said the group started around the same time as she started her own 'moon circle', or coven, of witches.

'We're a group of women who need time with other women,' Ms Holloway told Daily Mail Australia. 'We meet every full moon and new moon.'

At the meetings there is an altar, which has items placed on it that 'evoke the elements' like a feather, plants and crystals.

The witches focus their energy at each meeting, with the new moon a time for setting goals and intentions for the next month and the full moon for celebrating what has been accomplished and 'wrapping the wounds' they have suffered.

No wands: The witches cast spells, for example to bring friends to you, to boost your sex drive or to send your enemies away

'They all entail natural elements': The spells use ingredients like candles, sand, plants and herbs

The power of the cards: The witches also read tarot cards (above) and palms. Ms Holloway said that many people want to know about their love lives

A SPELL TO SEND SOMEONE AWAY This spell needs to be done during a Waning Moon, but exact the day and time does not matter. Pour white sand into a bowl. Place a candle in the center of the dirt. Light the candle and concentrate on the person you would like to move. Repeat the following incantation three times: Sand from lands far away name will go and I will stay Both of us, happy will be With name far from me. Deliver a portion of the sand to the person for seven days in a row. You don't have to hand it the person, just stick it in their mailbox or sprinkle it against their door. Advertisement

Ms Holloway explains that, as a witch, some of the stereotypes are true.

'Yes we do spells,' she laughs. 'We cast spells for things like drawing in friends and boosting your sex drive, or sending bad people out of your life.'

'They all entail natural elements like flowers and essential oils. For example, you can put a bay leaf under your pillow so you dream of your love.'

The young witch says she believes strongly in the power of crystals as well, which she uses to bring in different energies to her life.

She also reads tarot cards and palms, giving people an insight into their future.

She said that most often people want to know about their love lives when they have their cards read.

Cycles: Ms Holloway explained that the new moon is a time of setting goals, whilst the full moon is for healing wounds and celebrating accomplishments

Collective: The Sisters of the Equinox also attend festivals and events (above) to read people's tarot cards, teach them spells and hand on knowledge

The power of women: Ms Holloway said that some people, especially men, are afraid of witches, but that many stereotypes about them are untrue

However some of the stereotypes scare people off. She said that often people are scared of her when she tells them she's a witch, especially men.

'Some of my ex boyfriends got freaked out,' Ms Holloway said. 'Usually if they got scared then I'd ask them for a lock of their hair.'

Her advice for any women who wanted to learn more about witches and joining a circle was to do some research online first.

'There's lots of moon circles that have pages and groups on Facebook,' she said. 'Witch shops can also be helpful and point you in the right direction.'
FRENCHTOWN  Danica Winters, a romance novelist who lives in an immaculately clean home with a neatly mowed lawn, wouldn't appear to have ever been anywhere near a police station.

For her latest book, she paid some visits to the police and the fire department. She did a lot of Googling that would seem suspicious.

"I am pretty sure I am on the FBI watch list at this point," she said with a laugh. "For this book, I actually had to look up bomb-making, and how fires are started, how chemical fires and oxidizers work."

The romance novelist's new book, "Smoke and Ashes," features a Missoula fire inspector as its protagonist who's on the trail of an arsonist targeting a woman trying to escape an abusive marriage.

Winters also consulted with her father, a retired Missoula city firefighter who for a time was a training officer. A Missoula city police officer provided information on their operations and evidence kits.

Mel Holtz, a Frenchtown firefirefighter and paramedic, thought it was funny when she called asking questions about arson, until she explained that it was for a book. He said it's usually the opposite of their outreach, such as visits to schools on how to prevent fires.

As with any profession, he said he's used to seeing the details botched in popular culture.

"You kind of have to laugh when the TV gets it wrong and (a) movie gets it wrong," he said.

"I want the books to be accurate and realistic. There's going to be people out there who've had firemen in their lives, that are firemen or firewomen, or police officers, so I want it to be right," she said.

"You're going to get picked apart in this business," she said.

Harlequin romance

Winters grew up in Missoula and graduated from Big Sky High School. She grew up reading Harlequin novels. "It was a closet habit," she said. But she thinks fans are open about it now.

She attended the University of Montana and earned a scholarship for writing, but switched to anthropology when she decided she didn't want to go into teaching.

In 2007, she began publishing her writing for Mamalode magazine, which is based in Missoula. That led to marketing work for a publishing house. She became an assistant editor and began writing romance novels five years ago.

She joined a local romance writers' group to learn the beats and contours that the genre requires.

"It taught me to write a bit quicker, and taught me the ways and rules to write a romance novel," she said.

"Smoke and Ashes" marks her debut on the "Intrigue" suspense line for Harlequin  the publisher whose name is practically an adjective for romance novels, a genre unto itself.

There's something of a stigma attached to romance writers, even though Winters' books never delve into R-rated behaviors.

"'Oh, you write smut. You write porn.' I probably get it at least once a week," she said.

However, the bulk of the criticism of "Smoke and Ashes," which she said has sold some 21,000 copies in the last month, has focused on the character's morals: Heather begins a relationship while still married, albeit to an AWOL abusive husband. One magazine article called Heather "morally ambiguous," a trait that's usually a point of pride in literary fiction.

"It's causing some backlash. People are saying 'I couldn't even look at this book, it disgusts me,'" she said.

More important to Winters were the issues of domestic abuse, which she said she's experienced in other periods of her life.

"As a female, if you're raised in a situation where you are abused and believe you have less value than a man, less self-worth, and told you're fat and ugly and stupid and never going to do anything with your life, then you look for a relationship later in life that is similar to what you already know," she said.

It typically falls upon the victim to break the cycle, a point she'd rather raise with the character's marriage.

"Why aren't we celebrating her strength, and her ability to finally see the situation for what it is?" she said.

Writing life

Winters estimates she spends about 30 percent of her time managing her writing life. There are social media accounts to maintain, newsletters to produce and marketing plans to develop, all while writing up to 3,000 words a day.

There are at least two more books in her fire inspector series. Another series set in Ireland is being shopped to television.

And she has another western Montana series in the works, this one set at Dunrovin Ranch outside Lolo, famed for its osprey nests and accompanying osprey cams. As popular as the cameras are, osprey fans should be warned: Winters said her readers are more interested in horses.

Like "Smoke and Ashes," the series will have some law-enforcement characters, and she's going to do some research. This time, it's at a sunnier locale than the police station.
Chefs hate when people try and order items not on the menu

Waiters said they hate when children were left to run wild and make a mess

The confessions came in a Reddit thread for hospitality workers

staff have shared the things they hate customers doing

Restaurant workers have taken to social media to vent about common traits of their worst customers.

In a thread on Reddit, waiters, hosts and chefs unloaded about the things that diners do that make their life harder.

One of the main complaints? Being discourteous.

Oops: Restaurant staff have confessed on Reddit the things that they say make you a bad diner

Turn it off: Being on your phone whilst ordering was a pet hate for many waiters, as it makes their job harder

'Be nice to me and I'll be nice to you,' one Redditor wrote. 'I always do everything in my power to make your experience as good as it can be. A touch of courtesy will make your experience much better.'

Other waiters agreed, saying rude customers inevitably got worse service because of their attitude.

'Had a party of over twenty, all couples with separate checks, but no one was sitting with their partner. You got crappy service and deserved it,' one man wrote.

Another pet hate? People using their phones before staff have been able to take their order. It means that waiters can't tell if people are ready to order, and wastes time.

Keep clean: Waiters also warned that parents should control their children, with one of the biggest complaints that kids made a mess

Stick to the menu: Chefs said customers who ordered off the menu were a nightmare, as usually they don't have the ingredients needed

Children's behavior also ranked high on the list of grievances.

'Don't take your baby and have them throw rice all over the place and then laugh about it,' one user wrote.

Letting your kids run wild was a big no no for all restaurant staff, so make sure you keep an eye on them unless you want an angry waiter.

'There are hot plates, and coffee, and sharp steak knives and other hazards balance on overloaded trays. The last thing we need is for your s****y child to trip us and cause a lawsuit,' one former waiter explained.

Be nice: Not tipping was also a huge complaint, along with customers who were rude to staff for no reason

Listen: Waiters said that they hated when customers didn't wait to be seated, or moved seats once they sat down, because it made serving difficult

Not waiting to be seated and not tipping were also big annoyances to staff.

Chefs also vented about their pet hates, with the number one being when people order things that aren't on the menu.

'As a cook here. If it's not on the menu, don't create your own meal. It usually doesn't work out the way the customer wants,' one man said.

They also advised customers don't stack their plates.

'Don't try and stack your finished plates up for the server. Odds are good you won't stack them in a way that'll be stable long term and you probably won't think to move each plate's silverware before stacking creating an unstable tottering mess the server will have to restack anyway,' one man wrote.
Birthdays, graduations and engagements are all common reasons for throwing a big party.

But few would expect to be celebrating the end of a marriage.

Over the past few months 'divorce parties' have risen in popularity as Australian women celebrate the end of their relationships with a wild girls-only bash.

Cheers: There's been a rise in the number of divorce parties, with a 75 per cent jump over the past 12 months

I don't: Many parties involve divorce cakes, games, topless waiters and sex toy demonstrations

Teneille Lake, whose company Sassy Minx holds divorce parties, says that the increase in women wanting to hold the parties has been incredible.

'We have had over 75 per cent growth in the business in the last 12 months,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Women are telling us they are keen to mark the moment of divorce with their friends, and move on.'

The parties Sassy Mix holds are similar to what might happen at a hen's party- with some differences.

Just divorced: Zoe Coleman, 25, (pictured) had a divorce party on Saturday to celebrate her new single life

New toys: The party involved a demonstration of lingerie and sex toys, which attendees could purchase

Ms Lake holds the parties at women's homes, and brings a range of lingerie and sex toys for them to browse and buy.

There are also party games, demonstrations of the toys, and a little sex education.

In addition, women can choose to have a topless male waiter serve them food and drinks, and the entire night is focused on women's pleasure.

'The night is focused on moving forward in a light-hearted and engaging environment, to reflect and rejoice at what was, but having a champagne and giggle with your close friends for comfort and to regain some confidence,' Ms Lake explained.

'It was a way to celebrate a new life': Ms Coleman said that the party was about a new era and moving on from her six year marriage

Healing: Whilst Ms Coleman admitted divorce is extremely sad, she said she was happy she had the party

Zoe Coleman, a 25-year-old from Sydney, had her divorce party on Saturday night. The young woman got married at 19, and finalised her divorce in May.

She said that whilst her divorce wasn't messy, it was still sad, and the party allowed her to get some closure.

'It was a way to celebrate a new life thats about to start for me,' she explained. 'It was closing an era... it was lifting a weight off.'

At the party Ms Coleman and some of her closest girlfriends played a number of racy games, like a 'naughty' version of pin the tail on the donkey.

Trying something new: Ms Lake, who runs the Sassy Minx parties, also does 'sex education' teaching the women about products they can buy and tips for the bedroom

Fresh start: The party also involved 'naughty' versions of pin the tail on the donkey and 'lots of champagne'

There was also an 'I don't' cake, and 'lots of champagne' the divorcee said.

Ms Coleman also said that the girls enjoyed the sex education portion of the night, which involves lessons on sex toys and female orgasms.

Ms Lake says that this is often a popular segment, and that the We-Vibe 3 and the OhMiBod Wearable Vibrators are the most popular selling items at divorce parties
She's one of just a few female actors who have enjoyed a successful career well past her 50s.

But Dame Helen Mirren, 70, says the best part about getting older is not the parts she's played that include the Queen, but 'being relieved of the whole sex-symbol tag'.

In an interview with Stella Magazine, the Eye In The Sky actress revealed she 'loved being young' but has 'enjoyed every stage in different ways'.

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Dame Helen Mirren, 70, pictured at the 2016 Museum of Modern Art Party at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) on June 1, revealed she 'loved being young' but has 'enjoyed every stage in different ways'

The Eye In The Sky actress, pictured in 1979, said that for her, the best part about getting older is 'being relieved of the whole sex-symbol tag'

The Oscar-winning actor added: 'I'm happy being in my 70s and there will be another person in me at 80, hopefully, and I can't wait to meet her.

'I'm just incredibly grateful to be here and incredibly grateful for my health.'

Dame Helen, who is the face of L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Rosy Glow Day Moisturiser, admitted in a recent interview that finding her partner, director Taylor Hackford, 71, later on in her life has enabled her to have a very different view of their relationship.

Dame Helen admitted in a recent interview that finding her partner, director Taylor Hackford (pictured), 71, later on in her life has enabled her to have a very different view of their relationship

Speaking to the Today show host Hoda Kotb, she said: 'The great thing about finding a partnership later on [in life] is that you recognise it as such.

'You recognise the partnership level of this relationship as much as the love and the lust and all the rest of it.'

Helen appeared on the Today show to talk about her project Collateral Beauty, which sees Helen star alongside Kate Winslet, Will Smith, Keira Knightley and Edward Norton, and centres around an ad man who is sent into a dramatic downward spiral by a tragic event.

Hitting the red carpet at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair flanked by a pair of soldiers, Dame Helen Mirren cut a striking figure in a lace dress as she arrived to promote her late co-star and friend Alan Rickman's last feature film, Eye In The Sky, in London

She has received rave reviews for her role in her most recent blockbuster, Eye In The Sky, which follows the story of military personnel facing the legal dilemmas for using drones.

In the film, Helen stars as Katherine Powell, a military intelligence officer, whilst Alan Rickman - who died at the age of 69 last January - plays Lieutenant General Frank Benson.

Speaking about what would be his final acting role on The Andrew Marr show, Dame Helen explained: 'Alan was a genius character actor and he could play all these amazing baddies.

'The Alan we see on the screen in Eye In The Sky is Alan. It's Alan as I remember him. His wit, his humanity, his intelligence.

Dame Helen, pictured at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, has received rave reviews for her role in her most recent blockbuster, Eye In The Sky

'I think Alan would have been really, really proud for this to have been his last film.'

Daily Mail film critic Brian Viner said of Eye In The Sky: 'Another imperilled child is the focus of Eye In The Sky, a decent war-on-terror thriller, in which Helen Mirren, splendid as ever, plays a colonel in British military intelligence who must give the order, from her Army base near London, for a drone strike on a terrorist safe house in Nairobi.

'Thanks to some surveillance wizardry, and the brave efforts of the local agent (nicely played by Barkhad Abdi, who was so good as the chief hijacker in Captain Phillips), the watching British and Americans know that several of their most wanted targets are holed up in the house.
Women will spend almost six months of their working life deciding what to wear, a study has found.

Cluttered wardrobes and anxiety about wearing the right outfit means the average woman spends almost 17 minutes a day rifling through their wardrobes.

This amounts to more than four days a year or almost six months between the ages of 18 and 60.

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A study has revealed that women will spend six months of their working life deciding what to wear

But, the poll, by Marks & Spencer's Shwopping campaign found the huge amount of time spent staring at their clothes trying to make a decision has led to 62 per cent of women suffering 'wardrobe rage' - irrational tantrums about not having anything they want to wear.

And while men might not be as bad, they aren't immune - spending 13 minutes a day or the equivalent of three days a year deciding what to wear.

One in five men even own up to throwing clothes around the room as they struggle to pick an outfit, while more than a third have succumbed to a bout of 'wardrobe rage' at least once in the past.

The poll was commissioned by M&S, who are partnering with Oxfam to encourage people to donate - or 'Shwop' - their unused or unwanted clothing to clear out their wardrobes.

Fashion stylist Bay Garnett believes it should take no longer than two minutes to pick and outfit in the morning, with a carefully curated wardrobe needed to put an end to the morning tantrums.

She said: 'We all need a regular closet detox: it helps us to not only easily choose what to wear, but also clear our mind.

The amount of time rummaging through a wardrobe equates to four days a year for women and three for men

'Opening our wardrobes in the morning can bring a startling range of emotions. Why do we put ourselves through it?

'We need to start thinking about dressing for the present - for the size we are now, for the job we're in now.

'It's a process of streamlining and getting rid of some past negativity before we add anything new.

'Shwopping these items will not only make your wardrobe more manageable for the first time in years, but also make your mind instantly clearer.'

The study of 2,000 Brits found the average wardrobe contains 152 items, but just 44 per cent of these are worn regularly.

Stylist Bay Garnett says that with a curated wardrobe it shouldn't take longer than two minutes to get dressed

On top of that, 57 items are left unworn, a staggering 3.6 billion items of clothing across the nation with an average of 16 items only worn once, while 11 still have tags on.

Shockingly, one in 20 of us has over 50 items in our closets with the tags still on, while one in eight (12 per cent) own more than 300 items of clothing

Despite the staggering amount of clothes in the nation's wardrobes, one in 20 adults will complain that they have nothing to wear at least once a week.

But this has led to 28 per cent of adults throwing clothes around their room in frustration, while almost one in five admit they have ended up upset or angry at not finding an outfit they are happy with.

Fifteen per cent even say the drama around choosing their outfit has often ruined their mood for the rest of the day.

It has also seen one in ten regularly arriving late to work because of the time spent choosing their outfit for the day, while one in twenty have missed an occasion altogether because they too so long deciding what to wear.

One in five (21 per cent) women even admitted that it has caused them to row with their partner and 14 per cent have refused to go out as a result of struggling to choose an outfit.

Three in ten (29 per cent) of adults admit their wardrobe is a mess, with another 48 per cent admitting they need to declutter.

Marks & Spencer and Oxfam are calling on the nation to edit their wardrobes and release the power of good in their once-loved items of clothing, if all these items were donated, it could be worth over 2.7 billion.

M&S and Oxfam's Shwopping collaboration is urging shoppers to donate - or 'Shwop' - and release the power of good in these once-loved items of clothing. If just a fraction of these clothes were donated, Oxfam could help hundreds of thousands of people around the world out of poverty.

Joanna Lumley who works with M&S on their Shwopping campaign each year encourages women to give away their old and unwanted clothes to Oxfam

Just 5 raised from the sale of a shwopped cardigan could provide safe water for five people.

Joanna Lumley, M&S's Shwopping ambassador said: 'I have seen first-hand how a humble old pair of trousers can help to build a community for women, or provide clean, running water to those without it.

'We are a nation that holds onto everything, because we feel it may be of use to us again, but it won't.

'By tidying your wardrobe regularly, you will not only get a tidy mind, but also a clear conscience by Shwopping.'

Joanna Lumley has joined the decluttering trend and her shwopped items will join a host of celebrity supporters' items and clothes from the public at an online sale this summer. The Oxfam Shwop Shop will see all proceeds going to the charity's work to alleviate global poverty.
She took part in drills on the water, target practice and exercises focused on securing the railways

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For the past few months, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has stepped out in elegant ball gowns, stilettos and styled hair for an array of glamorous royal events.

But the stylish Princess donned military camouflage and combat boots over the weekend to take part in a Land Exercise with more than 5,000 members of the Danish Home Guard in Denmark.

The Australian-born royal was snapped taking part in a series of challenging field exercises both on water and on land.

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A natural: The 44-year-old looked as though she was thoroughly enjoying herself as she jumped in a boat for a water drill, before picking up a gun and taking part in target practice

On board: She was also seen engaging in conversations with other members of the Guard and wearing a helmet and hi-vis vests with her military ensemble for more challenging exercises including an exercise focused on securing the railways

Ditching heels for boots: The stylish Princess Mary of Denmark donned military camouflage and combat boots over the weekend to take part in a Land Exercise with more than 5,000 members of the Danish Home Guard in Denmark

The 44-year-old looked as though she was thoroughly enjoying herself as she jumped in a boat for a water drill, before picking up a gun and taking part in target practice.

She was also seen engaging in conversations with other members of the Guard and wearing a helmet and hi-vis vests with her military ensemble for more challenging exercises.

According to the Home Guard's website, the 2016 Land Exercise was held to 'combine education with unity and help to equip guards for future tasks.'

The exercises offered a number of challenges to 'suit all regardless of skills and ambitions' and each of the exercises were tailored to different sectors of the military organisation - the Army Home Guard, Air Force Home Guard and Naval Home Guard.

During the land exercises, Princess Mary joined her fellow Guard members in war training tasks and developing new military skills.

The tasks included guarding and surveillance in crisis and emergency situations, police assistance drills, sea rescue challenges and environmental tasks.

Focused: The tasks included guarding and surveillance in crisis and emergency situations, police assistance drills, sea rescue challenges and environmental tasks

The mother-of-four also joined them in an exercise focused on securing the railways and an open vessel event in Fredericia Harbour where they practiced sea rescues and fighting oil spills.

The Danish Minister of Defence, Peter Christensen, was also present and observed various parts of the exercise.

Following the drills, the Princess took part in a large parade with over 4,600 volunteers.

The parade is the largest of the Home Guard events and was observed by Queen Margrethe of Denmark.

High rank: Princess Mary was promoted to first lieutenant in September, 2015, after taking part in the Danish Home Guard's field exercise 'Svend Gonge'

Princess Mary was promoted to First Lieutenant in September, 2015, after taking part in the Danish Home Guard's field exercise 'Svend Gonge'.

Major General Finn Winkler commented on the Princess' performance following the September drills:

'The Home Guard is happy and proud of the Crown Princess' participation in this exercise. We greatly appreciate the recognition Crown Princess once again shows the Home Guard, the volunteers and the tasks that they contribute to the Armed Forces and society,' he said.
Shirt, 370. Trousers, 365, available now from net-a-porter.com

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Coco Bodu Hithi, Maldives

WE LOVE: Bag, 225, Rebecca Minkoff, harrods.com

IT'S A GUY THING

No more excuses, chaps, because with London Collections Men (the male version of Fashion Week) starting this Friday, its never been easier to be a dapper gent about town. We asked Darren Skey, head of menswear buying at Harvey Nichols (and one of the brains behind its Knightsbridge stores newly revamped menswear section, above), to pick his favourite labels right now. (Surreptitiously stick this page under the nose of the man in your life)

We asked Darren Skey, head of menswear buying at Harvey Nichols (and one of the brains behind its Knightsbridge stores newly revamped menswear section, above), to pick his favourite labels

The father-and-son team behind Casely-Hayford are known for their anarchic style. The brands 48-hour, made-to-measure suit service (with 500 fabrics and 50 styles to choose from) is exclusive to Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge. From 1,495.

Grenson sets the tone of the Harvey Nichols footwear edit. The British brand has taken its iconic Albert brogues and created exclusive versions for the store, from high-shine black to informal grey suede. From 340.

PEIR WU stays true to the idea that mens clothing should be as immaculate as it is functional. The brands current ten-piece collection includes a water-repellent jacket and a shirt-jacket crafted from mercerised cotton. From 110.
Q I have suffered with nail psoriasis most of my adult life, although I dont have the skin condition. I had a nail removed and now its growing back very slowly and misshapen. Can you recommend an oil or cream to help?

A Psoriasis, with its hallmark patches of red scaly skin, affects one in 50 people  about half of whom are estimated to have nail psoriasis.

Some people develop severe nail changes with only minimal skin problems, whereas in other cases, such as yours, psoriatic nail disease occurs alone.

Nail psoriasis is often misdiagnosed as a fungal nail infection, although the two can coexist.

Finger and toenails may develop tiny dents or pits, become discoloured and/or grow abnormally. Nails often become loose and separate from the nail bed. In severe cases, they may crumble

Finger and toenails may develop tiny dents or pits, become discoloured and/or grow abnormally. Nails often become loose and separate from the nail bed. In severe cases, they may crumble.

Psoriasis is also linked to a form of arthritis known as psoriatic arthritis, where nail changes occur in about 80 per cent of sufferers.

An over-the-counter product that may help is Herbfarmacy Nail & Cuticle Oil, 12.50, herbfarmacy.com

According to the charity PAPAA (the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Alliance, papaa.org), nail psoriasis is difficult to treat: A large number of treatments have been tried, none of which has given particularly good results.

However, massaging a vitamin D cream or ointment (also used for skin psoriasis) into the cuticles twice daily for five minutes has shown success and should be regarded as the first choice of treatment, advises PAPAA.

Prescription formulas can irritate skin and so should only be used in small amounts on affected areas  not on healthy skin. (Keep away from pets or children, as it is toxic if ingested.) Discuss this with your doctor.

Research has shown that painting on the herb indigo naturalis (used in Chinese herbal medicine as qing dai) can help affected nails, with few side effects apart from staining.

A 24-week study  with sufferers using either indigo naturalis extract in oil (Lindioil) or a vitamin D product (calcipotriol)  found significant improvements in users of the herbal product compared with calcipotriol.

I cant currently find a UK supplier of Lindioil; one option is to consult a registered Chinese herbal medicine practitioner via the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (rchm.co.uk).

An over-the-counter product that may help is Herbfarmacy Nail & Cuticle Oil (12.50, herbfarmacy.com).

One reviewer says: For anybody who suffers from nail psoriasis, buy this product  I cannot recommend it enough.

It contains horsetail and calendula herbs, among other natural ingredients. Remember  re-growing your nails may take a year or more, so do be patient.

DIY TIPS FOR NAIL DISEASE

Keep finger- and toenails short and dry.

Wear gloves when washing up or doing any manual work.

Nail varnish can be used to cover pitting but avoid false and gel nails.

Do not use varnish remover with acetone, which can damage nails.

Avoid the base of the nail during a manicure as it may cause infection.

Consult a qualified podiatrist about painful toenail psoriasis (scpod.org).

Information from patient.info/health

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Air ambulance pilot Mike Allen designed these exercise sandals  recommended by British Airways  after his aunt died from deep vein thrombosis following a flight

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Mind Body Baby by Ann Bracken (Hodder & Stoughton General Division, 14.99)

One in six couples experience fertility issues. Stress can be a key factor, says author Ann Bracken. YOU reviewer Laura Bond (laura-bond.com) found it a comprehensive, compassionate guide for couples hoping to get pregnant. It offers scientifically proven ways to reduce stress and optimise fertility  including mindfulness meditation and nutritional advice from Dr Marilyn Glenville.

To order a copy for 11.99 until 19 June, visit you-bookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640; free p&p on orders over 15

Always consult your doctor if you have a medical problem
Oh! Theyre back again  my big juicy meatballs. But this time with my favourite rigatoni pasta. Turkey, beef or pork meatballs will all work well with this sauce, so feel free to mix it up.

CARB-RICH

SERVES 1

200g dried rigatoni

 tbsp coconut oil

 red onion, finely chopped

250g ready-made beef meatballs

1 tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar

200g tinned chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

50g frozen peas

handful of baby spinach leaves

a few basil leaves, to serve (optional)

 Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Drop in the rigatoni and cook according to the packet instructions.

 Melt the coconut oil in a large frying pan over a medium-to-high heat. Add the onion and fry, stirring regularly, for 1 minute before tumbling in the meatballs. Fry the ingredients together, stirring every now and then, for about 2 minutes, by which time the meatballs should be starting to colour.

 Pour in the vinegar and the chopped tomatoes, along with about 75ml of water, and sprinkle in the sugar. Place a lid on the pan (if you dont have a lid then cover with a large plate), bring the whole lot to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, by which time the meatballs should be cooked through.

 About 2 minutes before the pasta is ready, drop the frozen peas into the saucepan. Bring the water back up to the boil and then drain in a colander. Leave in the colander until youre ready to serve.
When AIB comedian Tanmay Bhat sat down with Snapchat one day, morphing the faces of Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, little did he realise that he would be fodder for prime time television channels the next day.

Or maybe he did. (His tweets suggests so.)

The 28-year-old comedian fingered the sentiments of many Indians who worship Tendulkar and Mangeshkar, not to mention the sentiments of political parties waiting for a chance to jump at youngsters who are culture-less and disrespectful.

Nationalist Congress Party women activists protest against All India Bakchod (AIB) and burn and effigy of comedian and founder Tanmay Bhat

Both Tendulkar and Mangeshkar did not comment, nor did any of them ask for an apology.

Kiku Sharda, another comedian known for his role in Comedy Nights with Kapil, landed in trouble sometime back, when he mimicked the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Though the godman himself was oblivious to his parody, Sharda was arrested, as his comedy allegedly hurt the sentiments of the god-man's followers.

The AIB team including Tanmay Bhat (fifth from left) at a brainstorming session

Comedians in India are expected to know their boundaries, especially if their styles are irreverent, like a stand-up or a roast (regarded cool by the millennials), conveying the message that the more you try to push the envelope, the envelope pushes you back.

India is still with its first generation of comedians, says Cyrus Broacha, the author-comedian who made life lighter with shows like Bakra.

By the time we have our next set, they will have something to learn from, he says.

I think what pissed many people in Tanmays video was its crass language. Indians get very emotional regarding language. After about 10 years of writing comedy, you catch up. You can either be idealistic or choose to work between the lines, he says.

Cyrus Sahukar, who tickled many a funny bone with shows such as Semi Girebaal, says we always blow issues out of proportion.

If our headlines were cat scratches man, insult comedy would be a worrying topic, referring to how frivolous issues get too much media attention.

He also adds that personal attacks are not his thing.

I did the Simi Garewal spoof when she was on top of the world. I believe in ripping apart the careers, but not ripping apart their personal life. However, it is the comedians choice.

Bhat anticipated attacks much before the video went viral, his tweet suggests.

So was this all a stunt for publicity?

Anuvab Pal, stand-up comedian dismisses the thought as juvenile.

You have the luxury to create controversies, if you are say, 23, single, have parents who dont live in India, and desperately want to be famous.

I do not think you would do that if comedy is what pays your bills, says Pal.

Says Broacha: If it is so, he is a cunning man. Sure, everyone wants the country to speak about them. But I am sure he is not stupid enough to have anticipated death threats.

Do comedians feel that everything they say is put under the scanner nowadays?

Has the number of death threats from political parties and intolerance spiked in the past two years?

There were ludicrous attacks on MTV office too, much before the controversy was in vogue, says Sahukar.

Of course, the hatred is much more now because of the surge in digitisation. There is a lot of drama coming from both the comedians as well as the viewers. We all need to take a chill pill, he adds.

Sapan Varma from East India Comedy and a content creator of the new mini web series Laughter Games says online content is tricky.

When it is a live show, there are like minded people and I can say whatever I want to. They also know the context. But when the content is online and crosses one million viewers, there is no saying who is watching it. And those who watch it do not know the context nor the comedians body of work. So judgements are made quickly, he says.

Every one of them unanimously says that censorship takes the sting out of humour.

If you dont like it, dont watch. Make fun of it or even insult it. But filing criminal cases is very juvenile. My national icon may not be yours, says Pal.

You get angry if I insult SRK, I get angry if you insult Mini Punjab, the restaurant that delivers food for me every day. So, live with it.

As Broacha, the author comedian says, we put people on pedestals.
A 21-year-old son of a school principal has emerged as the new face of terror in the Valley.

After two attacks on security forces, of which one was claimed by the Hizbul Mujhahideen, leader of the outfit Burhan Muzzafer Wani has shot into the limelight.

Burhan, who is seen as the icon of new-age militancy in Kashmir, became the first militant commander to release his pictures on social networking site Facebook.

Burhan Wani is a 21-year-old son of a school principal and the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen.

He later posted a video on the site. The 21-year-old, who belongs to a middle-class family, has put security agencies in a tizzy.

They are now trying to decipher the causes of why educated youth are taking to militancy despite not having weapons.

For the first time in the two decade- old armed insurgency in the Valley, militants are finding it difficult to lay hands on weapons.

Security agencies have described Burhans act of going public as an attempt to galvanise the youth towards militancy in an attempt to bring back the days in the 1990s, when thousands of young men took up arms with a dream of bringing Azadi in the Valley.

Police say militants had for long used the veil of secrecy in order to escape the forces vigil.

The cops say, Burhans images have changed the situation.

Burhan, however, was dealt a blow when his close aide Tariq Pandit was recently arrested.

According to the police, the militants are carrying out these attacks to reassert themselves.

Pandit was one of the 11 militants of a group led by Burhan, who had uploaded pictures brandishing AK-47 rifles last year.

According to a defence spokesman, Tariq was arrested by the Army in an operation last week in south Kashmirs Pulwama district.

Tariqs cousin Naseer Pandit was killed in a gunfight in April.

Naseer, who was a former constable had fled from the residence of a former Minister in 2015 along with three AK-47 rifles and joined the militants.

Thousands of people had participated in Naseers funeral.

Meanwhile, two police personnel were killed after militants launched an attack on them.

No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for the strike.

Police say the attack was a bid by the militants to make their presence felt in Anantnag as the constituency goes to polls on June 22 with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti herself in the fray.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, Hizbul Mujhahideens operational spokesperson Burhanuddin said several Indian troops were killed in the attack.

He claimed that the field commander has directed the organisation to intensify the attacks in the Valley.

The attacks on the security establishments will continue, he said.

Saturdays attack is third one carried out on a highway this year.

In February, militants carried out an attack on a CRPF vehicle outside the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) Pampore killing two CRPF men and then took shelter in the EDI building.
This time of year, the flowers of Russian olive trees emit a sweet fragrance, a harbinger of the coming summer.

But the non-native species, declared a noxious weed in some states, but not Montana, leaves a sour taste in the mouths of many. The fast-growing tree has a nasty habit of crowding out native varieties and taking over riparian areas, where it consumes copious amounts of water.

Russian olives are common throughout Billings and other parts of the state. Stand on the shore at Lake Elmo State Park, and you see dense thickets of the silver-leafed trees dotting the landscape in almost all directions.

On Saturday, more than 40 volunteers, including park neighbors and volunteers from Harvest Church, waged a battle against Russian olives in the northwest section of Lake Elmo State Park. They worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks employees to chop up the pre-cut trees and cart them off to the Billings landfill.

Its a dent in the parks large Russian olive population, said Terri Walters, manager of the state park for the past 16 years. It and previous efforts are helping to make a difference.

This has been one of our biggest issues, and I have tried making progress in multiple ways, Walters said, speaking over the loud buzz of multiple chain saws on Saturday morning.

Walters and other park officials put together a management plan on how to systematically approach the Russian olive situation. The intent isnt to remove every single Russian olive  they provide shade and the birds enjoy them  but to maintain control over the population.

The plan involves removing dead Russian olive trees, which the park manages internally, and recruiting groups to help clean out the canopies underneath groves of cottonwoods and other species.

The Montana Conservation Corps has helped in the past, as has United Way volunteers and other local organizations.

Weve had a couple of groups come in and done specific groves in the park," Walters said. "But this is by far the biggest attempt so far.

The city also gave the park a one-time burning permit to remove the trees. The benefit of that, she said, is the work is less labor-intensive.

Park ranger Jessica Sharbono oversaw Saturdays project. Driving a small utility vehicle on a trail, she pointed out where the work was being done. Across from one spot, Sharbono motioned to a small cleared space that FWP employees tackled last fall.

It took us a couple months to do what theyre doing in a day, she said.

Sharbono also nodded to Russian olive seedlings springing up next to the Billings Bench Water Association canal. Birds eat the trees seeds, which the birds then deposit all over the park.

If you leave them there about a year and a half, theyll be 4 feet tall, she said.

In advance of Saturdays work, Sharbono worked with Jim Routson, recruited for the project by Harvest Church. Routson and Sharbono spent part of Thursday and all day Friday prepping for Saturday.

Routson operated a skid-steer with a tree-sheer to cut down the trees. Sharbono then applied a chemical treatment to the stumps to prevent the trees from re-growing.

On the brief Saturday tour, she pointed out small willow trees and junipers that had been completely hidden by the Russian olives. With the insidious interlopers removed, the other trees get more sun exposure and a better chance to grow.

Herm Elenbaas, one of the parks nearby neighbors, was on hand to help out on Saturday. He and his family enjoy the lake and frequently take walks on the 1.4-mile path around it.

So its neat to be able to give back something, to help them get a job done that theyve wanted to do, he said.

Elenbaas, also a member of Harvest Church, approached the Rev. Vern Streeter, pastor of the large Heights congregation, to see if the church would be willing to help. Since Harvest had previously completed a similar Russian olive project at the John H. Dover Memorial Park in the Heights, Streeter was glad to give the go-ahead.

I just dropped the word to Vern, and he said Harvest is all in,  Elenbaas said.

Streeter asked Chuck Barthuly, executive director of the Better Billings Foundation, the charitable arm of the church, to spearhead Harvests involvement in the project.

So Chuck put the Harvest wheels on the thing and got the teams out here for today, Elenbaas said.

Volunteer Jeff Rohrer, wearing a green Harvest Event Crew T-shirt, used a chain saw to chop up the thorny branches. Then he carried them to a waiting pickup and tossed them onto a growing pile.

This is just part of the stuff we do at Harvest, Rohrer said, pausing for a moment from his task. Just volunteering in the community is awesome.

Its also part of the culture of the church, he said. Rohrer also helps with another Harvest ministry, a food truck that delivers meals to the homeless and he serves on the parking and traffic team.

A day of physical labor isnt easy, he admitted.

But its nice to see when its done, the impact that you have, especially with these nasty things, Rohrer said.

Sweat dripped off Scooter Gates brow as she gathered bundles of branches to deposit in one of the the rigs waiting to cart away the debris. Gates, another Harvest volunteer, said the goal at Harvest is to help the community, and we want to do whatever we can to pitch in.

Its also a chance to get to know other members of the congregation, she said, and to make a difference.

It will be nice to come by, and all these nasty Russian olives will be gone, Gates said, smiling.
The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on Saturday cancelled the results of the two toppers of the Intermediate (Science) examinations, including Sourabh Shrestha, after they failed to prove their merit in a retest.

Sourabh, who was declared the topper in the science stream earlier, and his college mate Rahul Kumar, were among the 13 toppers from the arts and science streams in the Class XII examinations who were asked by the board to reappear in a re-test following a controversy over their merit.

BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh said while 11 students who took the test passed it, while Sourabh and Rahul, both students of the controversial Vishun Rai College, flunked.

Over 10 toppers were called for a retest after alleged irregularities surfaced

Their results have been cancelled, Singh said.

The BSEB also suspended the affiliation of Vishun Rai College, Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district.

Singh said a judicial inquiry headed by a retired High Court judge is set up to probe the alleged irregularities.

Meanwhile, the board decided to give a weeks time to Ruby Rai, the arts topper, from the same college who had failed to take the retest on Friday on health grounds.

Ruby Rai, topper in Humanities stream, failed to take the retest on health grounds

Her results would also be cancelled if she does not appear in a retest to dispel the doubts raised over her merit.

In a recent expose by the India Today TV, Ruby was shown referring to political science as prodigal science, a subject which was meant for teaching cookery to students.

The science topper Sourabh had also failed to correctly answer simple questions in the same expose, raising a big question mark over the quality of school education in Bihar.

The BSEB had subsequently decided to call all the 14 students from the arts and science streams who had bagged the top five positions in the Class XII examinations held earlier this year.

Vishun Rai College, an unaided college, has been in the news in the past few years for alleged irregularities.

Last year, the then education minister PK Shahi had withheld its results after receiving several complaints about it.

This year, 97.52 per cent candidates from this college cleared the Intermediate science examination even though only 67.07 per cent students could clear the test in the state.
For nearly six decades, she was the wife of a famed military aviator.

Nobody - not even close family - knew she was a hero in her own right, a spy who reported on Soviet troop movements from behind what came to be called the Iron Curtain.

Now Stephanie Czech Rader is finally being recognized for her work.

Rader received the Legion of Merit posthumously on Wednesday, during funeral services with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Rader was recommended for the Legion of Merit in 1946 for her intelligence on Soviet troop movements in Poland, but her nomination was not acted upon for seven decades. Pictured: In the 1940s

The casket of Stephanie Rader is carried during a full military honors conducted by the Army's 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va, on Wednesday

The Legion of Merit, posthumously awarded to Stephanie Rader, is displayed during a post-funeral reception

She died in January at the age of 100, a longtime resident of Alexandria and native of Poughkeepsie, New York.

Rader worked for the Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the CIA.

The daughter of Polish immigrants, her fluent Polish caught the attention of the OSS. The office recruited her from her job with the Women's Auxiliary Air Corps and put her in Poland from October 1945 to February 1946.

She was employed as a clerk at the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, but her real job was to report on Soviet troop movements.

She traveled the countryside on her own and while her bosses offered her a gun for protection, she refused it, saying 'What was I going to do with a dumb gun?', according to Charles Pinck, president of The OSS Society in Falls Church.

Carrying a gun, after all, could blow her cover.

In January 1946, Rader was carrying sensitive documents when she was arrested by Polish security, but she was able to dispose of the compromising papers before she was taken into custody. She remained under 24-hour surveillance for the rest of her tour, Pinck said.

Her bosses recommended her for the Legion of Merit in 1946, but the recommendation was never acted upon  perhaps because she was a woman, and perhaps because the OSS soon dissolved and there was no organization to advocate for her.

Pinck said OSS was ahead of its time in employing women. About a third of the 13,000 people who served in the OSS were women, he said. He estimated that OSS veterans still alive number only in the hundreds now.

Ken Elder, friend of Stephanie Rader, is presented an American flag by U.S. Army Capt. Andrew M. Pannozzo-DaRonco during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery

She died in January at the age of 100, a longtime resident of Alexandria and native of Poughkeepsie, New York. Pictured: Photographs of Stephanie Rader, and other items are displayed during a reception following her full honors funeral

Rader served in the OSS under her maiden name, Stephanie Czech, but went on to marry William S. Rader, a decorated World War II bombing commander who became an Air Force brigadier general and himself received the Legion of Merit. Pictured: The pair on their wedding day

Rader served in the OSS under her maiden name, Stephanie Czech, but went on to marry William S. Rader, a decorated World War II bombing commander who became an Air Force brigadier general and himself received the Legion of Merit.

They had been married for 57 years when he died in 2003.

In 2008, when records of the OSS were declassified, The OSS Society and other historians learned of Rader's work and began to lobby for her to receive the award.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, also took up her cause, and last week the Army announced that Rader would receive the award posthumously.

U.S. Army Capt. Azande Sasa, the presiding chaplain at the ceremony said: 'Stephanie chose the life of a warrior. She has earned her place among those honored here', reported The Daily Beast.

For years, her family knew nothing of her spy craft.

Niece Kathy Roxby of Santa Barbara, California, said she didn't learn her aunt had been a spy until Rader's 100th birthday, well after her service had been declassified.

She was employed as a clerk at the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, but her real job was to report on Soviet troop movements

In 2008, when records of the OSS were declassified, The OSS Society and other historians learned of Rader's work and began to lobby for her to receive the award. Pictured: Her funeral Wednesday

'She said she was supposed to keep it a secret,' Roxby said.

Another niece, Linda Hobbs of Charleston, South Carolina, said that while the revelations about Rader were a surprise, it makes sense in retrospect.

'She was tough, let me tell you. As a kid, I was a little scared of her,' Hobbs said.

Despite Rader's best efforts, she wasn't able to keep her secret from everyone. The Raders became good friends and business partners with Ken and Judie Elder, often traveling together.

Once, about 30 years ago, they traveled to Poland together, Ken Elder recalled Wednesday. As they toured the old town square in Warsaw, she told a story about Eisenhower touring the rubble in the immediate aftermath of the war.

The next day, on a guided tour, the tour guide talked about some of the exact same things, casually mentioning that few people remembered the details of Eisenhower's visit.

That piqued Elder's curiosity, and he started questioning Rader about the source of her knowledge.

He eventually asked: 'Were you a spy?'
A little girl in Cumberland, Maine was astonished when she got a return letter from a fisherman in Spain three years after she sent her message in a bottle bobbing across the Atlantic.

In 2014, Terra Gallo, 14, was visiting her aunt, who lives on the secluded Monhegan Island, when she and her little sister, Nola, decided to throw a message in a bottle into the deep currents, hoping that someone might find it and correspond back.

Terra threw the bottle off shore the island on June 12, 2013 and it was discovered on May 28, 2015 by a man named Iuaki, who was fishing with friends in the Gulf of Biscay, near a fishing village north of Armintza, in Basque Country, Spain.

Terra Gallo (left), sister Nola (center) and mom Susan (right) were excited when the girls' message in a bottle was answered by a man fishing off the coast of Spain

The bottle traveled more than 3200 miles from Monhegan Island Maine to Armintza, Spain and took almost two years exactly

'We thought there was slight possibility that someone would find them, but it was just a fun little experiment,' Terra told ABC News. 'I dont think we were expecting something this big to come out of it.'

In fact, Terra and her sister threw ten message bottles into the ocean, with one letter coming back from Cape Elizabeth, about 50 miles away, a couple of months later. The rest disappeared. They then forgot about their experiment.

Then last weekend, a letter with an unknown return address arrived at Terra's aunt's P.O. Box.

The sisters were stunned when their aunt opened the letter and saw that it was from a fisherman in Spain, and that the bottle had traveled 3200 miles to him, likely through the Canary Current.

The Gallo girls threw ten bottles in the water and two came back - one from nearby Cape Elizabeth, and one that traveled over 3200 miles to a fishing village in Spain

'I hope you are as thrilled to receive this letter as I was when I found your bottle and I hope we'll receive more answers when I return the bottle to the sea,' the man wrote.

Terra had asked in her letter that if anyone found it, that he or she write another letter, and send both letters out to sea again.

The fisherman not only did that, but apologized for being a year late in his response.

'This year [is] the first day we go fishing for hake, Ill throw the bottle into the sea with your letter and my answer, and maybe someone else finds the bottle in another part of the world and contacts us,' he wrote.

A wildlife biologist told ABC News that the girls weren't really littering with their bottle tossing, since sea life can cling onto the glass, and indeed the fisherman included a picture of himself on his boat, with Terra's barnacle and mussel-covered green bottle next to him.
An 80-year-old Pennsylvania man who told police he had a suicide pact with his wife of more than 50 years was charged Friday with criminal homicide.

Edward Friday cut the throat of his 82-year-old wife, Wilma Jean Friday, then slit his own wrists and took 20 opioid painkillers at their home May 22, Rostraver Township police said.

Police found her bleeding and unconscious, and the couple was taken to a hospital. She died two days later of hypovolemic shock, which occurs when a person loses more than 20 percent of his or her blood.

Edward Friday cut the throat of his 82-year-old wife, Wilma Jean Friday, then slit his own wrists and took 20 opioid painkillers at their home May 22, Rostraver Township police said

The defendant was discharged from a hospital Friday and jailed without bond, which is automatic in a criminal homicide charge in Pennsylvania. He faces a preliminary hearing June 13.

Assisted suicide is illegal in Pennsylvania. It's a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison to aid, assist or help someone plan a suicide. If the planning or aiding results in a suicide or an actual attempt, the charge becomes a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said that's irrelevant in this case.

'He did not assist her in committing suicide,' Peck said. 'He killed her.'

Criminal homicide is a broad charge that encompasses anything from murder to involuntary manslaughter.

Friday's attorney said the case was complex and unfortunate.

The defendant, seen a photo from TribLive.com, was discharged from a hospital Friday and jailed without bond, which is automatic in a criminal homicide charge in Pennsylvania. He faces a preliminary hearing June 13

The couple's Pennsylvania home is pictured here. According to the affidavit, Friday told police that his wife started to cut her own throat but couldn't do it

'It's tragic, it's sad, it's complicated and it's extenuating,' said attorney Robert Del Greco Jr. He declined to address the specific allegations or comment on whether the couple did indeed have a suicide pact.

'I wasn't hired to represent a cause. I've been hired to represent a client,' Del Greco said.

According to the affidavit, Friday told police that his wife started to cut her own throat but couldn't do it.

'The defendant further stated, "I grabbed the knife and started to cut her throat." When asked if he realized he was killing his wife he said yes,' the affidavit said.

Video courtesy WPXI

Friday also told police his wife 'reached up and grabbed his hands to stop him' and he had scratch marks on his arms, authorities said. Wilma Friday had defensive cuts to her left hand and finger, police said.

Police didn't address a motive for the killing in the affidavit and charges, but they recorded other statements in an earlier affidavit for a search warrant.

'She had a bad hip and other things were wrong with them,' Edward Friday told police in that document. 'He said they have lived long enough and were going to die today.'

Neighbors said the childless couple had been married more than 50 years, were retired and appeared to be happy. Wilma Friday had hip surgery after a recent fall, friends and neighbors said.

Edward Friday told police he took the pills once he realized he wasn't dying from cutting his wrists. He went outside and was feeling faint, then walked back to the house and fell on the floor, which is where police found him after a neighbor noticed something amiss and called 911.
Environmental crews worked on Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire.

However, officials have said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife.

Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed on Friday near Mosier, Oregon, about 70 miles east of Portland.

Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2am on Saturday. No injuries were reported.

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An oil train burns near the Oregon town of Mosier, about 70 miles east of Portland, after derailing on Friday

Smoke billows from the derailed oil train near. Environmental crews worked on Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after the derailment

This aerial view shows scattered and burned oil tank cars on Saturday in the aftermath of the derailment

There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine.

Officials said they would consider lifting the evacuation order on Saturday evening.

'I want to apologize to the community,' Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said at a news conference, adding that the company would pick up the tab for the response costs.

'This is the type of accident we work to prevent every day.'

The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail  especially through populated areas or along a river that's a hub of recreation and commerce.

The tank cars were carrying especially volatile crude from the Northern Plains' Bakken region, which has a higher gas content and vapor pressure than other types of oil.

More than 100 people rallied and marched in nearby Hood River, Oregon, on Saturday to call for a halt to the practice.

The derailment involved eight cars filled with oil, and one was burning. Highway 84 was closed for a 23-mile stretch between The Dalles and Mosier and the radius for evacuations was a half-mile

Tank cars, carrying oil, are pictured in the aftermath of the derailment. No injuries were reported

The accident happened just after noon about 70 miles east of Portland, Oregon

Emily Reed, the city council president in Mosier, joined them.

In a telephone interview, Reed said her son was evacuated from school because of the derailment.

Her husband, a firefighter, was a first responder. The family evacuated their house, and her father was unable to ship the first crop from his small cherry orchard.

'I've just listed four major risks that I have, and I don't see the benefit I'm getting in exchange for this risk,' Reed said.

'There is no safe way for these fossil fuel trains to come through our town, and I'd like to see them stopped until there are standards and we know it's safe.

'This isn't a one-off,' Reed said. 'It's happening in my town, but next time it'll be somebody else's town.'

At first light Saturday, crews noticed a light sheen in the Columbia at the mouth of Rock Creek.

Responders deployed about 1,000 feet of boom to contain it. It was not clear how much oil had spilled from the trains.

Lane Magill, Wasco County Sheriff, spoke at a press conference on Saturday. He addressed Friday's oil train derailment and subsequent fire and oil leakage

There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine

The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail  especially through populated areas or along a river that's a hub of recreation and commerce

This photo shows an oil containment boom place at the site where the train carrying oil derailed sparking a fire

By Saturday afternoon, three of the cars had been re-railed. Crews had been waiting for the cars to cool before transferring the oil into tank trucks.

Union Pacific officials said on Saturday the company had inspected the section of track where the derailment occurred at least six times since March 21.

It was most recently checked last Tuesday, and within the past month, the company had used checked for imperfections and inspected the ground along the track.

To get to refineries on the East and West coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, oil trains move through more than 400 counties, including major metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia; Seattle; Chicago; Newark, New Jersey; and dozens of other cities, according to railroad disclosures filed with regulators.

Including Friday's incident, at least 26 oil trains have been involved in major fires or derailments during the past decade in the U.S. and Canada, according to Associated Press analysis of accident records from the two countries.

The worst was a 2013 derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Damage from that accident has been estimated at $1.2 billion or higher.

An aerial-view photo shows the containment booms placed around an oil slick on the surface of the Columbia River on Saturday

The tank cars were carrying especially volatile crude from the Northern Plains' Bakken region, which has a higher gas content and vapor pressure than other types of oil

Responders deployed about 1,000 feet of boom to contain it. It was not clear how much oil had spilled from the trains

At least 12 of the oil trains that derailed over the past decade were carrying crude from the Northern Plains' Bakken region. Of those, eight resulted in fires.

Since last spring, North Dakota regulators have required companies to treat oil before it's shipped by rail to make it less combustible.

Reducing the explosiveness of the crude moved by rail was not supposed to be a cure-all to prevent accidents.

Department of Transportation rules imposed last year require companies to use stronger tank cars that are better able to withstand derailments.

The tank cars that derailed in Oregon were newer model CPC-1232s, said Union Pacific spokesman Justin Jacobs.

Critics say the upgraded models still aren't safe enough to transport volatile Bakken oil.
A babysitter accused of giving an 8-month-old boy a fatal dose of Benadryl has been given a $750,000 bond and told to have no contact with children and no unsupervised contact with her own children.

Lori Conley was arrested Friday on charges of murder and child endangering.

Authorities say the 43-year-old Conley was baby-sitting eight toddlers and infants at her Reynoldsburg, Ohio, home when she found Haddix Mulkey unresponsive May 13.

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Authorities say 43-year-old Lori Conley (left) was baby-sitting eight toddlers and infants at her Reynoldsburg, Ohio, home when she found Haddix Mulkey (right) unresponsive May 13

Haddix died at a Columbus hospital.

Lt. Ron Wright told 10TV: 'She told us it was Benadryl to try to get the baby to go to sleep.

'She was very vague on exactly how much, but she did give adult size dosages - the pills that are adult size dosages.'

Police say the charges were delayed until toxicology tests confirmed the baby received a fatal dose of the over-the-counter allergy drug.

Conley was arraigned Saturday in Franklin County Municipal Court and jailed, pending her release on bond. Court records don't name an attorney for her.

Haddix's grandmother Denise Mulkey, 10TV reported, said: 'Devastating as a parent because my daughter is broken.

Police say the charges were delayed until toxicology tests confirmed the baby received a fatal dose of the over-the-counter allergy drug

Conley's Reynoldsburg, Ohio, home is pictured here. Haddix died at a Columbus hospital

'And since she is broken I can't fix her. This is something that only God can fix.'

Her daughter and Haddix's mother Katie Mulkey, WCMH reported, said: 'I want justice for my baby because this was something that was robbed from me.

'I'll have to see my baby in a cemetery not in my arms.

'He is not down the street, but in a cemetery, and going through this is not something any mother should go through.'

A GoFundMe page set up in the boy's memory has raised more than $1,500.

The page says: 'After death of my 8 month old son. I would love to donate a wagon to Children's Hospital in his memory.

'So Haddix could ride along with the other children.'
A group of students at a western North Carolina high school built a wall made of boxes and blocked access to a common area, and their Latino classmates are upset.

The students were allowed into McDowell High School, about 100 miles northwest of Charlotte, on Wednesday to perform a prank as a teacher supervised them.

A photo of the wall with about 30 students standing in front of it was shared on Instagram and captioned, 'We built the wall first.'

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A group of students at a western North Carolina high school built a wall made of boxes and blocked access to a common area, and their Latino classmates are upset

Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, has promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border if he gets elected

Principal Edwin Spivey says one of the kids wanted to put a Donald Trump logo on it and was told he couldn't do that.

The wall was taken down before classes began on Thursday.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border if he gets elected.

He said in a June 2015 speech announcing his candidacy: 'I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.'

At the time, he also said: 'When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.

'They're not sending you. They're not sending you.

'They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us.

'They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.'

A school district spokesman says the students won't face any disciplinary action. Brian Oliver told WLOS: 'There was no offensive activity at the time. 'What became offensive or concerning was what took place on social media afterwards'

Spivey had a meeting with and said he was sorry to Marta Guardian and Johnny Campos, the two students told WLOS.

Guardian told the TV station: 'I'm proud of where I'm from.

'I'm proud to be a Mexican-American because I was born here.

'I was taught here. I learned about American culture, but I never left my roots.

'Some kids are left alone here because their parents are illegal, and their kids are left here because they are legal and their parents get deported.

'They separate families. That is not OK.'

Campos said in a statement to the TV station: 'I am the president of the Hispanic Youth Club.

'After this incident was brought to my attention, I asked to meet with our principal, Mr. Spivey.

'It was a very productive meeting and I believe Mr. Spivey will handle this in a way that helps everyone begin to repair relationships.

'McDowell High School is a great place, and I want the Class of 2016 to be known for building bridges for a better tomorrow - not judged by the insensitive actions of a few people.'

A school district spokesman says the students won't face any disciplinary action.

Brian Oliver told WLOS: 'In viewing the actual photo and what took place, there's not anything offensive in the photo.

'There was no offensive activity at the time.

'What became offensive or concerning was what took place on social media afterwards.
It is the biggest confidence trick of the entire EU referendum battle.

But it's at the heart of the Remain campaign: the notion that the UK faces a simple choice between remaining safe and sound as we are  or driving headlong into a dark, uncertain void signposted 'Brexit'.

Vote to leave, cry the Remainers, and we will be casting ourselves into a friendless world where no one will trade with us.

It is, of course, a fiction that the British people have seen through, as the audience laughter at last week's televised question-and-answer session with David Cameron showed.

Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) claims we need Australian rules to close Britain's door on mass immigration

Far from being some economic perfection, the EU is actually dysfunctional and unstable  and becoming a direct threat to Britain's national interests.

The single currency has left more than half of young Greeks jobless, and almost as many young Spaniards. Stay in the European Union and we will be dragged into attempts either to rescue the euro or clear up the wreckage.

The single market has turned into a red-tape machine in Brussels that is a serious drag on our businesses.

The EU's reckless determination to tear down all border checks in pursuit of integration has allowed more than a million migrants to surge across the continent in the past year  with few checks.

Brussels has detailed its plans for eradicating the independence of nations and creating a single federation in the eurozone, as set out in the EU's Five Presidents' Report.

As Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi put it: 'I dream, think and work for the United States of Europe.'

This is the reality of the EU's future.

Vote to remain and we will be accepting it and all the future risks.

Just look at the hostile regulation threatening our financial services industry which provides one in eight of our tax pounds to fund public services.

As the Prime Minister's token renegotiation demonstrated, the EU has no interest in serious reform.

Last Thursday, David Cameron admitted that because Britain is an EU member, he is powerless to meet our Conservative manifesto pledge to cut immigration to the tens of thousands. 'I'm not going to put a date on it,' he said.

It was a counsel of despair, spelling out clearly that staying in the EU means elected governments cannot carry out their promises.

Migration is closely linked with who governs us and our economic future. Those on the lowest incomes suffer the most as a result.

The Bank of England said in December: 'The biggest effect is in the semi/unskilled services sector, where a ten percentage point rise in the proportion of immigrants is associated with a two per cent reduction in pay.'

It is these people who experience first-hand the pressure on public services  finding their schools full, or while trying to get a doctor's appointment or a toehold on the housing ladder.

It is no wonder that a recent poll showed that almost two-thirds of people oppose the current levels of EU migration, while fewer than one-third think it has been good for the economy.

The former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions writes that Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) admitted that because Britain is an EU member, he is powerless to meet our Conservative manifesto pledge to cut immigration to the tens of thousands

Regaining control over borders will mean designing a migration system that serves the economy.

Regardless of where people have been born, we will be able to accept them on a points-based system that recognises the skills we need. As one frustrated businessman said to me recently: 'You know what I want to tell the Government: 'Immigration is the economy, stupid.' '

We also need to bury the Remain camp's assertions that the EU will lock Britain out of trade if we leave the single market.

The day after Brexit, we will still have access to the same market of nearly 500 million people that we did the day before.

Europe will not start a suicidal trade war with Britain when we buy nearly 70 billion more from the EU than we sell to them.

Companies trade with each other across borders  unless you are North Korea and  although Brussels may be wrong-headed, it is not Pyongyang yet.

The Prime Minister who claimed last week that leaving the EU would be a 'disastrous outcome' for our trade is the same David Cameron who said earlier this year: 'You're never going to hear me say that Britain couldn't succeed outside the European Union.'

He was right then; he is wrong now.

On June 23, the choice is clear.

We can remain inside an undemocratic, dysfunctional EU that is headed towards a supranational government which will take away more powers from democratic nation states while permitting mass migration.

Alternatively, we can stay friends and keep trading with Europe and the rest of the world  while retaking control of our government and our borders.

That is the real choice. It is why Britain needs to leave the EU.

Do this and, on June 24, we will finally celebrate Independence Day.

... No, we don't! Oz points plan will increase the influx

By Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationWatch UK and a leading critic of UK immigration policy

It is an eye-catching proposal  an Australian-style points-based system to help control immigration. This has been advocated by the Out campaign, Vote Leave, which says such a scheme could be in place within three years.

Under its plan, the automatic right of EU citizens to live and work in the UK would end, and workers and students would be selected on the basis of points awarded for their skills, age, education and so on.

Unfortunately, life is not as simple as that. The Australian system, advocated by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove among others, is not right for Britain.

The points-based system is actually designed to facilitate immigration by those who want to live and work in Australia and have skills that are needed  from accounting to goat-farming. Crucially, it does not require an applicant to have a job to go to.

In fact, the Australian points system's whole purpose is to encourage immigration into an empty continent. That is why, proportionately, they have three times as many immigrants as the UK. For a crowded island like our own that wishes to reduce net migration and slow its rapid population growth, this model just does not suit.

It is not for me to say how people should vote. There will be many other matters to consider. But what I can say is that urgent action on immigration to the UK is essential. And that there is much the Government must do now, whether we stay or leave. Despite its aim of reducing annual net migration to the tens of thousands, the actual figure now stands at a third of a million.

Public concern remains as high as ever and it is not hard to see why. Our population is growing at its fastest rate for nearly a century  at around half a million per year. This means building the equivalent of a city the size of Liverpool every year. Two-thirds of this increase is down to immigration.

So what could be done?

The Australian model is a distraction. What we need is a work permit system that applies to all-comers.

If the UK does vote to leave the EU on June 23, the Government should seek a settlement with the European Union that would allow the introduction of work permits for EU migrants, but only for workers with skills we need. (Irish citizens should be exempted.) Our own analysis suggests that this could reduce net migration from the EU by around 100,000 a year.

There should be no question that those EU citizens already living in the UK would have the right to remain. Nor should there be any reason to interfere with free travel for tourism to and from the EU, something that is very much in all our interests.

Clearly, this would involve tough negotiations. It should also be said that if we choose to remain in the European Union  the position backed by David Cameron and George Osborne  there would be nothing we could do about nearly half of our immigration that is accounted for by the arrival of EU citizens. They would still have the right to live and work here.

However, even if the referendum decides in favour of remaining, there is much that could be done to get the overall numbers down. The other half of our annual net migration of 330,000 comes from outside the EU. Some of these immigrants break the rules to get here or stay on here.

High on the Government's priority list should be restoring the credibility of the immigration system. Illegal immigration allows unscrupulous employers to undercut wages, is unfair to migrants who play by the rules, and it undermines the rule of law. Yet there is little deterrence to overstaying a visa since the chances of getting caught and being removed are very slim. Enforcement must be scaled up.

The Government must also redouble its efforts to weed out fake foreign students whose main purpose in coming here is to remain and to work.

Hand in hand with this must be full restoration of exit checks to identify those people who overstay their visa, and for the Government at last to know who is in the country.
Friends and family paid tribute to him at the beach where he was attacked

Perth shark attack victim Ben Gerring has been remembered as an 'absolute legend' and 'top bloke' as friends and family pay tribute at the beach where he was attacked.

The father of the much loved surfer, whose leg was torn off by a great white shark, broke down in tears at Falcon Beach and hailed the surfers who tried to rescue his son as 'angels of the ocean'.

The 29-year-old was attacked at the popular Gearies break at Falcon Beach, 80km south of Perth, on Tuesday.

He died on Friday night in Royal Perth Hospital with his family by his side.

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Perth shark attack victim Ben Gerring has been remembered as an 'absolute legend' and 'top bloke' as friends and family pay tribute at the beach where he was attacked

Mr Gerring, 29, died in hospital on Saturday after a shark tore part of his leg off while he was surfing at a beach south of Perth only hours after reports of a great white shark lurking nearby

The surfers death is the first shark fatality in WA since December 2014, when spear fisherman Jay Muscat was killed by a four-to-five metre great white near Albany.

Mr Gerring's family thanked everyone involved in his rescue and treatment at Royal Perth Hospital in what was a difficult time.

'The guys that actually swam out, to me, they are absolute heroes. They're just incredible to risk their own lives to go out and get him. And through them, they gave us those days (in hospital) with our boy,' Shane Gerring told The Sunday Times.

'They're angels of the ocean, they really are.'

The surfer's brother Rick also thanked the 'heroes' who helped Mr Gerring from the water and emergency services for trying to save him.

'Ben loved the ocean, but his great love is and always will be Jasmine,' Rick told reporters on Saturday.

Mr Gerring's fiancee Jasmine Boyer is expecting the couple's first child. She posted a picture on Facebook on Saturday morning of them embracing in a kiss.

'We've got a lot to deal with now and we've got a bub on the way  Ben's first and the first grandchild for me,' Mr Gerring's father said.

The father of the much loved surfer broke down in tears at Falcon Beach (pictured) and hailed the surfers who tried to rescue his son as 'angels of the ocean'

Touching tributes including a picture of Ben Gerring and his fiancee Jasmine Boyer kissing have been posted on Facebook following the death of the board rider, whose leg was torn off by a shark

Mr Gerring's family said this week that he had been afraid of sharks and would never have gone surfing if he had known of a Surf Lifesaving WA tweet warning that a large shark had been spotted in the area earlier that day.

Fellow surfers rushed into the surf to rescue Mr Gerring straight after the attack.

On Thursday a 4.2 metre great white shark was trapped and killed after it was caught on baited drum lines near where Mr Gerring was attacked.

Western Australia's Department of Fisheries set baited drum lines at 7am on Wednesday (WST) at the site of the attack to trap the shark as part of its controversial serious threat policy.

The department revealed that the shark was caught on Wednesday afternoon and died on the drum line. It was then towed out to sea and dumped after samples and measurements were taken.

He was pulled from the water at a popular surf break of Gearies near Falcon after a shark attacked him from behind just before 4pm.

The surfer's brother Rick thanked the 'heroes' who helped Mr Gerring from the water and emergency services for trying to save him

Mr Gerring (pictured) who had been expecting a child with fiancee Jasmine Boyer (right) was attacked at about 4pm on tuesday and a local shopkeeper said two men came frantically running from the sand asking for ice, claiming a surfer had his leg 'fully' bitten off

President of the Mandurah Boardriders Club Brian Williams on Saturday said his friend had lost a mammoth battle for life.

'Our mate Ben Gerring finally caught his last wave here on earth,' Mr Williams posted on Facebook.

'I know he is getting pitted off his head up there somewhere. I would like to give our heartfelt thoughts to Ben's family. RIP, forever surfing Benny.'

A gofundme page set up for the Mandurah man has raised over $24,000 for the family which was set up to 'help Ben and Jas in any way possible'.

Mr Gerring's family said that he had been afraid of sharks and would never have gone surfing if he had known of a Surf Lifesaving WA tweet warning of a shark sighting

Mr Gerring was described as a keen big wave surfer who had paddled out further and screamed for help before being dragged under the water.

Mr Williams, was preparing to go for a surf when he noticed a commotion with about 15 surfers rushing back to shore and 'all hell broke loose' as a couple of men came out with Mr Gerring propped up on a board.

'They jumped to work straight away, it was pretty horrific to see someone you know in that predicament,' he told ABC radio.

A 4.2 metre great white shark has reportedly been caught on drum lines near to where West Australian surfer Ben Gerring was attacked on Tuesday

Western Australia's Department of Fisheries set baited drum lines at 7am on Wednesday at the attack site

Mr Gerring was given CPR for around 20 minutes on the sand and his severed leg was wrapped in a towel before two ambulances arrived and he was transported to hospital with life threatening injuries

Mr Williams described the efforts of those who had bravely rescued Mr Gerring as heroic.

Friends and surfers have rallied online, including Tarsh Wright Webster who posted: 'Praying very hard for you Ben. You are in the very best care at RPH (Royal Perth Hospital). Also to the people who rescued him, you are heroes. Well done.'

Fisheries Department regional manager Tony Cappelluti said the drum lines were set on Wednesday morning as per the WA government's serious threat policy.

No biological material or tooth fragments were detected during the scientists' inspection of the surfboard pieces.

The beaches around Surf Break Lookout at Falcon have re-opened.

But fisheries officers will continue to monitor the area and are warning surfers to be extra cautious.
A man bravely ran to the aid of an Oregon museum gift shop worker who was allegedly being dragged at knifepoint by a man who threatened to kill her.

Duncan McDonnell is not sure if he was at the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time when he decided to help the employee as chaos broke out at the High Desert Museum on Tuesday.

Regardless, he said he would not have forgiven himself if he stood back and watched as 36-year-old Nicholas Berger forced the 38-year-old woman through exhibit halls while holding her in a headlock and threatening to kill her.

A man bravely ran to the aid of an Oregon museum gift shop worker while she was being dragged at knifepoint by a man who allegedly threatened to kill her at High Desert Museum in Oregon (photo from the scene above)

Nicholas Berger, 36, (pictured as he grasps the woman by the neck) forced the museum employee through exhibit halls while holding her in a headlock, authorities said

Duncan McDonnell (left) said he would not have forgiven himself if he stood back and watched as Berger (right) forced the woman through exhibit halls while holding her in a headlock and threatening to kill her

Before Tuesday's incident unfolded, which ultimately ended with Berger being fatally shot by a state police trooper, McDonnell had been observing turtles with a friend when he heard a woman scream.

He recalled hearing shouts of 'Let her go, you're choking her' and 'She can't breathe,' to which a man replied, 'I'm going to kill her,' Oregon Live reported.

McDonnell raced towards the commotion where he found the six-foot-six, 425-pound Berger grasping the five-foot-three petite woman around the neck with one arm, and a fistful of her hair in his other hand as he dragged her backwards.

'To see someone with that level of fear in their eyes was pretty scary,' McDonnell told Oregon Live.

Prosecutors said Berger was armed with a knife and forced the unidentified woman out of the gift shop before dragging her through various exhibit halls.

Authorities said a struggle ensued as the woman fought for her life.

McDonnell told Oregon Live that during the ordeal, Berger repeatedly blamed the woman for some perceived offense but would not elaborate.

He said at the time he believed the incident was going to end in a physical battle so he decided to follow Berger and the woman as he attempted to calm him.

'I kept telling him, "you don't want to do this. Whatever it is you're looking for, taking this woman's life isn't going to get it for you,"' he told Oregon Live.

The woman was able to get away from Berger before police encountered him, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said

An Oregon State Police trooper used a Taser and then fired three shots at Berger, who died at the scene. Hummel did not say exactly what occurred before the trooper fired shots

He said he managed to follow them for about 40 yards until they reached the end of a hallway near the front entrance.

McDonnell then attempted to leave through an exit with the woman but had trouble opening the door.

After trying to reason with Berger, McDonnell said Berger suddenly pushed the woman into his arms and fled out the door. McDonnell said he was stunned Berger had let the woman go.

The woman, who was also in shock, told McDonnell that Berger mentioned he had a gun which she thought he had run to get. McDonnell then relayed the message to nearby museum employees.

Following his about ten-minute encounter with Berger and the woman, McDonnell said he never saw the pair again, and told Oregon Live he was later told that Berger was fatally shot.

The woman was able to get away from Berger before police encountered him, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said.

An Oregon State Police trooper used a Taser and then fired three shots at Berger, who died at the scene.

An autopsy was conducted on Berger Wednesday but the results have not yet been released.

Hummel did not say exactly what occurred before the trooper fired shots.

About 30 other museum-goers were in the vicinity at the time, some of whom Hummel said tried to help the employee. On Tuesday, the museum had 269 visitors, which included 36 students

The trooper, who has not been identified, has since been placed on paid administrative leave as an investigation continues, according to Oregon Live.

The district attorney will determine whether to charge the trooper with any crimes based on the results of the investigation, Hummel said.

Meanwhile, the woman suffered non-life threatening injuries and is cooperating with investigators, police said.

Police have not found a connection between the man and the woman, Hummel said.

'The evidence we have now is that they didn't know each other,' Hummel said.

Berger had recently moved to Bend, and it is unclear what led up to Tuesday's incident, according to Hummel.

About 30 other museum-goers were in the vicinity at the time, some of whom Hummel said tried to help the employee. On Tuesday, the museum had 269 visitors, which included 36 students.
In a small office on the second floor of the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office building, two volunteers read internet comment threads about the countys oldest cold case.

Three donated computers and scattered papers cover the desks. On the wall, a sheet of paper hangs on the wall with a message printed on it: Incarnate evil doesnt always look evil.

The volunteers, Scott Goodwin and Diana Walker, read aloud to each other, hoping to pick up some new morsel of information to add to the volumes of case files. Dozens of large binders sit on a bookshelf at the back wall, but one was removed.

It was one of many binders covering the 1973 homicides of Cliff and Linda Bernhardt. The couple was found bludgeoned in their Dorothy Lane home. Their feet and hands had been bound, and Linda had been raped.

Investigators have been trying to solve the case since.

Its one of nine cases that the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office Cold Case Unit has looked into over the past four years. The part-time volunteers, most of whom are ex-law enforcement, have been working behind the scenes, piecing together clues for murder cases that span decades.

Longtime reserve deputy Monty Wallis coordinates the unit. His group tries to find breaks in homicide cases that full-time law enforcement has investigated for years. The work can be frustrating and often tedious.

Looking at cold case homicides is a lot different than regular law enforcement duties, Wallis said. Really, its a research process.

Getting up to speed

Sheriff Mike Linder announced the Cold Case Unit in 2012. A research group would examine unresolved homicide cases, sort out the evidence and find ways to keep the investigation going.

The unit is comprised of volunteers. The computers, software and some money for lab tests were donated, Linder said. Without the unit, the six officers of the offices detective division would tend the cases when their current caseload allowed for extra time.

Manpower would not allow us to be in here full time, he said.

The group started with 14 volunteers. They were former detectives, patrol officers, probation and parole personnel and specialized investigators.

Every genre of law enforcement in the community weve been able to tap, said Sgt. Dan Paris, a detective with the sheriffs office.

Much of the initial work involved digitizing and indexing the old case files. The old work had been done on paper, with carbon copies and other pieces of evidence added throughout the life of the case. There are walls of case files to go through, Wallis said.

In cataloged, digital form, current detectives can draw connections with other cases more quickly. If a name pops up in a 2016 case, investigators can easily see if that name appears in a cold case. With a strong lead, the detective division would then take over.

If information comes in on a particular case, they can follow up and ferret it out, Paris said.

He estimated that the digitization effort has saved him three months of work.

Most of the files have been digitized, though more are being added all the time. The unit is now down to about five volunteers. Collectively, they work up to 200 hours per month, Wallis said.

They go over the case files, determining what evidence is available and searching for new leads  different ways to approach the investigation. Much of that comes from newer DNA technology that can be applied to evidence retained over the years.

Its time consuming work. A DNA analysis can take up to a year, depending on the Montana State Crime Labs load of current cases. Private labs can charge thousands to analyze a sample. But if theres a strong lead, DNA is a good shot at bringing the case to a prosecutor.

Thats really how cold cases are solved these days  DNA evidence, Wallis said.

In some cases, the passing of time can loosen lips. As relationships change, witnesses sometimes come forward, or sometimes witnesses who had been overlooked are discovered. Earlier this year, Brian David Laird was convicted for murdering his wife in 1999.

The Big Horn County case was cold for years until the FBI spoke with a couple who happened to be vacationing in a trailer next to the Lairds on the night of the murder. That testimony, as well as other evidence, led to Lairds conviction in March.

Thats the goal for the Yellowstone County Cold Case Unit. After review, the volunteers compile reports for each case, which are turned over to the detective assigned to the case.

Out of the nine cases that we have, weve probably made good progress on four, Linder said.

He avoided identifying the specific cases. Though the cases are cold, theyre still open. None have been solved since the unit started.

Unresolved

The nine cases span 27 years.

Some are high-profile crime stories. The Bernhardt case, for example, attracted a $100,000 reward from an anonymous donor in 2013.

The death of Miranda Fenner in 1998 garnered national attention. The 18-year-old was found on the doorstep of a Laurel video store with a knife wound to her throat. She died two hours after paramedics reached her. Accounts of the cold case made national television.

A $25,000 reward still stands for information leading to her killer.

In 2000, the remains of Jeanette Charlie Atwater were found in the trunk of her car, which was set on fire on Bench Boulevard.

The list goes on.

Progress is slow and prosecutions are rare in cold cases, but there are incremental victories. Linder said those small clues  potential clues, even  generate the excitement to keep the group going.

People still call into the Cold Case Unit every once and a while, especially following news coverage of the work, Wallis said. They might field 50 or more calls that lead nowhere, but theres always that chance for valuable information to come through.

This is a long-term proposition, Wallis said. Its not something that happens overnight.
Problems faced by todays youngsters such as teenage pregnancy and pornography obsessions could be solved by bringing children up around naked bodies, according to a nudist movement.

Though many parents are concerned about the extent to which children these days are exposed to sexual images, it is prudery that is a form of child abuse, says a shock new report by British Naturism. The group is facing a struggle to attract female members and has started a recruitment campaign.

Only 40 per cent of naturists in the UK are women and a series of events is underway at naturist clubs across the country to encourage more women first-timers. The recruitment drive is particularly aimed at mothers with school-age children.

Shock report by British Naturism brands prudery a form of child abuse. Report concludes The report concludes the prudification of society is a growing and serious problem that could lead to greater sexualisation and violence

New guidelines on the groups website offers advice to men who cant persuade their partners to get naked with them, and promotes a buddy system where women can get naked in pairs.

Andrew Welch, spokesman for British Naturism, said: Naturism appeals more intuitively to men and we have a gender imbalance. We thought we had a duty in the modern world where so many women are upset by body image issues putting pressure on them.

It is an opportunity for us to say here is something that can solve your problems.

The elusive naturist woman: Only 40 per cent of naturists in the UK are women and a recruitment drive is particularly aimed at mothers with school-age children

But while British Naturism discourages young women from becoming defined by their appearance, schools that ban short skirts are criticised.

The end result of the skirt-lengthening spiral is the burqa, the report says.

Sex education in the UK also comes under fire. According to naturists, learning about bodies and sex, should be done by bringing up children in a naturist environment where body honesty is key.
An Australian branch of the US advocacy group 'End Rape on Campus' is being established in a bid to make universities more accountable for what it claims is a failure to act on student sexual assault and harassment claims.

Sharna Bremner, 32, who works in Adelaide in support services for American students studying abroad, is behind EROC in Australia, along with US founders Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino.

Ms Bremner told Daily Mail Australia that, while there are avenues of support for students that have experienced sexual assault or harassment, EROC is slightly different.

L-R: Amanda Wingle, Sharna Bremner, Sofie Karasek (co-founder of EROC), ), Cheryl Heitzman and Annie E. Clark (another c-founder) in New York in 2015. Ms Bremner is establishing End Rape on Campus in Australia

'EROC offers peer level support that students can relate to, people are the same age and they can really understand exactly what they're going through,' she said.

Ms Bremner claims reports of campus sexual violence in Australia spike during orientation week and during university games competitions.

She also said, anecdotally, Australian universities may impose greater sanctions on students for plagiarism than for sexual assault.

In the US American students have certain rights under legislation that prohibits any form of discriminatory harassment (including dating violence, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and stalking) on any university grounds.

Ms Bremner (second from right) pictured with EROC co-founder Annie E. Clark (second from left) in Thailand with students, where they first met during a study abroad exchange in 2009

Ms Bremner (right) with Ms Clark (left) at the Washington Press Club. Ms Clark and other founders of EROC are assisting Ms Bremner to set up a branch of the advocacy group in Australia

She said while the same sort of legislation doesn't exist in Australia, many students are unaware their universities have codes of conduct in place to protect them on campus.

Ms Bremner initially met Ms Clark, while studying on exchange in Thailand in 2009.

The Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assaults on college campuses in the US, starring EROC founders Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, has been recently screened at universities in Australia.

Ms Bremner said more and more students have come forward with their experiences since the screenings.

Ms Bremner claims reports of campus sexual violence in Australia spike during orientation week and when university games competitions are on

'People are under the impression that it (sexual assault) only happens in the US, the general response is that we dont have fraternities,' she said.

'But we do have residential colleges, and the systems in place in those are very similar to fraternities.

'It's not a coincidence when I get students in Perth, Wollongong, Cairns, Sydney telling me similar stories about universities or staff they reported incidents to and how they responded.'

The End Rape on Campus group has launched dozens of legal actions against universities in America, alleging they have broken the law by how they handled sexual assault complaints, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

Universities Australia chair Barney Glover has reportedly said that Australian universities were taking a proactive approach with the $1 million Respect. Now. Always campaign to stamp out sexual violence on campus.

New Sexual Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said she was 'deeply concerned' by reports of inadequate responses from universities.
An Australian motorcycle sidecar racer has died following a crash in a race on the Isle of Man off England's northwest coast.

ACU Events Ltd announced the 27-year-old's death on Saturday in a statement on the official website of the Isle of Man TT race, saying the organisers expressed their deepest sympathy to the rider's family and friends.

The BBC reported the dead rider's name as Dwight Beare, who was originally from Melbourne but lived in Onchan, on the Isle of Man.

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Australian motorcycle sidecar racer Dwight Beare (pictured front), 27, has died following a crash in a race

Mr Beare (left) tragically died following a crash in a race on the Isle of Man off England's northwest coast

His passenger, Benjamin Binns, was airlifted to the island's Noble's Hospital, with a fractured ankle. His condition was described as 'stable', according to the BBC report.

The race was immediately called off after the accident but was later run again.

Beare made his TT Races debut in 2014, finishing 12th in his second race on the Isle of Man when he competed with father Noel as his passenger. The pair returned to the Isle of Man TT last year, registering a 17th place in the first sidecar race.

The ACU Events statement said Beare died near Rhencullen in Saturday's Sidecar Race 1.

Family and friends have posted tributes for Mr Beare online, reflecting on the devastating loss of a 'top bloke' and a 'fearsome competitor' who would always smile 'no matter what was happening.'

'Absolutely f***ing heart broken, spent last night with youse (sic) having a laugh and a joke. The worst happens that makes us questions the sport we all love so very much. Just no words. Thought are with familyride the clouds fella,' wrote Hayley.

'Devasting doesn't even come close to what has happend today! Im truely lost for words,' wrote Dave.

'In the short time that ive known you am truely honoured to call you my friend, what a top bloke and so down to earth and was amazing with everyones kids. you will be so sadly missed pal.'

His passenger, Benjamin Binns, was airlifted to the island's Noble's Hospital, with a fractured ankle

Family and friends have posted tributes for Mr Beare online, reflecting on the devastating loss of a 'top bloke' and a 'fearsome competitor' who would always smile 'no matter what was happening'

A sidecar motorcycle is a three-wheeled vehicle with two passengers. Sidecar racing involves cooperation from both driver and passenger, as they work in unison to make the machine perform and deal with racing tracks at speeds of up to 187 kilometres per hour.

Safety concerns and boycotts by riders saw the Isle of Man stripped of its status as a world championship venue 40 years ago.

Nevertheless, the annual two-week event on the Isle of Man is still regarded as the pinnacle of motorcycle street racing, with competitors in all classes routinely exceeding speeds of well over 100 miles per hour (161kph).
The Turnbull government will pledge $5 million to protect species - including the world's rarest marsupial - that are at risk of dying out.

Malcolm Turnbull is promising the special funding to help community groups protect threatened animals and plants throughout Australia if the coalition wins on July 2.

'Protecting our vulnerable wildlife is not a task governments can do alone,' he said on Sunday, in an announcement that coincides with World Environment Day.

The Gilbert's Potoroo - which was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994 - is one of the species that will receive funding support if the coalition is re-elected

There's thought to be only 30-40 Gilbert's Potoroo left in the wild in an area of WA's south coast

The Golden Bandicoot is another of the endangered species which will receive funding under the proposed plan

A Queensland group will receive money to save the habitat of the Mahogany Glider (pictured)

An effort to help the rarest marsupial in the world - which was thought to be extinct until being rediscovered in 1994 - Gilbert's Potoroo, will received $250,000, according to the ABC.

There's thought to be only 30-40 left in the wild in an area of WA's south coast.

WHICH PROJECTS WILL RECEIVE FUNDING? WA groups will receive assistance to save rare potoroos marsupials and bandicoots.

Queensland groups will use the money to protect cassowaries from feral pigs, save the mahogany glider's habitat and help the Ormeau Bottle Tree thrive.

A NSW group will restore saltmarsh habitat for migratory shorebirds in the Hunter region.

Tasmanian group will eradicate feral cats in the Meander Valley to help the eastern barred bandicoots and eastern quolls

Victorian groups will do propagation and re-vegetation work to aid helmeted honey eaters at Yellingbo and plant shrubs in the Terrick Terrick national park. Advertisement

Other species to receive funding under the announcement are the golden bandicoot, mahogany glider, the cassowary and the eastern curlew.

The ABC quoted Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt as saying in a statement the funds would support organisations dedicated to preserving unique wildlife in the country.

'Protecting our vulnerable wildlife is not a task that governments can do alone.

'We can only be successful by working in partnership with all levels of government, the private sector and the community.'

He said the fund would 'galvanise' community groups at the forefront of conservation work, where it was needed the most.

Nine projects have been earmarked so far.

The election promise builds on the coalition's strategy to save 20 priority bird species, 20 mammals and 30 plants by 2020 and cull two million federal cats.

Queensland groups will use the money to protect cassowaries (pictured) from feral pigs
More than 60,000 Britons are condemned to an early death every year because of failings by the NHS and other public health bodies, a damning new report reveals.

The shocking findings show that the UK performs worse than almost every other nation in Western Europe  and even former Soviet states such as Slovenia  at keeping alive patients aged under 75.

Just over a third of the 185,500 Britons in that age group who died in 2013 did so needlessly, according to a report comparing all 28 nations in the European Union.

The report says a third of the 185,500 Britons under 75 who died in 2013 did so needlessly due to failings by the NHS or other public health bodies

These 63,442 deaths could have been avoided in the light of medical knowledge and technology, according to experts at Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. In France, just under a quarter of deaths before the age of 75 were avoidable.

The appalling gulf highlighted Britains patchy record at fighting cancer and other major killers, a leading oncologist said last night.Professor Karol Sikora warned: The NHS lacks enough capacity when it comes to diagnosing cancer and other serious diseases quickly.

Access to your GP, prompt access to hospitals for tests like CT scans  these are things we just dont do well enough compared to other Western European countries. If you have a symptom of something that might be cancer, on the Continent it gets investigated in a week. Here it can take months. Its just too slow. Such delays can mean the difference between life and death.

Prof Sikora, Dean of Medicine at Buckingham University, added: The problem is that across the UK you can get very high-quality care and very poor patches of care. Too often patients needed sharp elbows to get tests and treatment.

Surgeons performing cardiac surgery at a hospital in Greece, which is one of only three countries whose figures were worse than the UK

Numerous reports have shown that cancer patients in Britain tend to die sooner than those in comparable countries. In 2013 a study found that Britains five-year survival rates lagged the European average in nine of the ten most common cancers.

However, the new report suggests cardiovascular disease is an even bigger cause of avoidable early deaths in the UK. Almost half  just over 30,000  were due to heart disease and strokes. In France, with a similarly sized population, there were just 15,000.

Britain came only 16th out of 28 EU countries when ranked on avoiding amenable deaths before 75, meaning those that were potentially preventable given effective and timely health care.

Britains figures were worse than every other Western European country bar Ireland (34.6 per cent), Greece (37.1) and Malta (42).

Besides France, other countries that performed better include Denmark (27.1), Belgium (27.5), the Netherlands (29.1), Spain (31.3), Germany (31.4), Poland (31.4) and even Slovenia (33.1). The EU average was 33.2 per cent.

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust health think-tank, said part of the problem was Britains high prevalence of coronary heart disease and obesity. The early diagnosis of cancer was also hampered by our stiff upper lip attitude towards disease.

The Department of Health said: Life expectancy is at a record high and the latest data shows that avoidable deaths under 75 have fallen by 6.5 per cent since 2010.

Campaigns such as One You and free health checks help reduce peoples risk of heart disease and stroke.
Baroness Scotland was last night accused of securing the top political job in the Commonwealth through an 'utterly corrupt process' in which she allegedly awarded bogus knighthoods and made promises of cash in return for votes.

The former Labour Cabinet Minister is accused of trying to win support from Commonwealth prime ministers and presidents with offers of honours and charitable donations from an obscure Catholic order of which she was a prominent member and whose leader in Britain is her 'dear friend' Anthony Bailey.

A Mail on Sunday investigation has found that the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George made an astonishing 21 visits to the Caribbean in the months before she took office as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. Top politicians in at least five island nations, which all had a vote in her election, were given knighthoods or medals from the Order.

Baroness Scotland was last night accused of securing the top political job in the Commonwealth through an 'utterly corrupt process'

Those honoured included the Prime Minister and President of Dominica, who later officially nominated Baroness Scotland as their country's candidate, despite the fact she has not lived there since she was two.

Last night, Conservative MP James Cleverly led calls for a full investigation into the allegations against Baroness Scotland whose 160,000-a-year political post is second only to the Queen in the Commonwealth hierarchy.

'The Commonwealth is a vitally important and respected institution and we can't allow it to be dragged into any kind of scandal. There must be the fullest possible inquiry,' he said.

The leader of the Opposition in Dominica, Lennox Linton, described Baroness Scotland as 'opportunistic, deceitful and disgraceful'.

After detailing his concerns in a letter to the Queen, he told the MoS: 'There is no doubt in my mind that [Baroness] Scotland, Bailey and the Order used the influence of knighthoods to government leaders and heads of state  along with charitable contributions  as part of Scotland's campaign to become Secretary-General.' The whole process, he alleged, was 'utterly corrupt'.

Following last week's revelations in this newspaper that Bailey obtained an Antiguan knighthood in return for dispensing the Constaninian Order's own honours  which are not recognised by the Vatican  a Mail on Sunday investigation in the Caribbean and London has also found that:

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was knighted by the Order and given promises of investment just six months before he appeared in London to endorse Baroness Scotland as a Caribbean candidate for Commonwealth Secretary-General;

Skerrit later renamed a Dominican primary school after Baroness Scotland;

She caused outrage at the time by saying those who criticised the unpopular Dominican PM should 'suck salt'  a deeply offensive Caribbean curse;

She was appointed as an 'international relief co-ordinator' by Skerrit last year before taking her sister to the island on a 'scoping mission' financially supported by the British Government;

A former Nigerian oil minister being investigated in Britain over corruption allegations was given a diplomatic passport by Skerrit. The MoS understands this was six days after the minister and Skerrit may have been introduced to each other by Baroness Scotland at an event in London;

Charitable projects in Antigua announced by Bailey and Baroness Scotland 18 months ago on behalf of the Order are still awaiting nearly half of the promised 1.1 million;

A wealthy businessman who Bailey persuaded to donate money in return for a knighthood in Antigua pulled out at the last minute because 'it became clear all was not well, the process involved was irregular and not as originally described'. Sources close to the Order deny these claims and say he did not pull out until the MoS published its story last week.

Buckingham Palace demolished Bailey's repeated assertion that he is entitled to call himself 'Sir' in the UK by issuing an unprecedented statement clarifying the issue;

The Charity Commission last week contacted the Order  which is not a registered charity  for potentially 'misleading and confusing' the public and to 'seek clarification about its status'. British charities that the Order claims as 'partners' said they received few or no recent donations. The Order says it is a society, not a charity, and that allocations will be made shortly. It also says many donations are made directly by members;

The Order's Grand Treasurer in Italy has quit after questioning its financial situation and commitment to helping the needy.

Bailey and Baroness Scotland acted as delegate and vice-delegate respectively in Britain of the Order, an antiquated Catholic organisation resurrected by Bailey in the 1990s. The knighthoods and damehoods given out by the Order do not allow the holder any titles or privilege.

However, the Order has influential and wealthy backers at home and abroad, including British MPs and the Archbishop of Westminster. Baroness Scotland was invested into the Order in 2003. In June 2015, at the height of her campaign to become Commonwealth Secretary-General, she was promoted to the rank of vice-delegate, only stepping down in April.

Meanwhile, Bailey and members of the Order made 21 trips between 2014 and April this year to Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Baroness Scotland accompanied Bailey to the Caribbean on at least three of the trips and held three meetings in London and one in Rome with Caribbean leaders on behalf of the Order.

Separately, in the run-up to the Commonwealth election, Baroness Scotland had become increasingly keen to establish her links to her birthplace in Dominica, despite having spent most of her childhood and adult life in Britain, where she became a QC and politician, rising to Attorney-General in Gordon Brown's Government.

By September 2014 she had gained the trust of Skerrit to such an extent that she represented Dominica at a meeting of Caricom (Caribbean Community) foreign ministers. To Skerrit's opponents this was extraordinary.

'She is a sitting member of the [UK] House of Lords, in a position where she was in the Parliament of one country while working for another,' said Lennox Linton. 'She clearly went to the Caricom meeting as a way of gaining credibility for the Dominican nomination for the Secretary-General post.'

She was not a popular choice. Most Caribbean countries favoured the 'consensus' candidate, the respected Antiguan diplomat Sir Ron Sanders. Antigua's Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, told the MoS: 'We take the position that she [Baroness Scotland] was not a Caribbean candidate because her dominant nationality is British.

'We were quite sure that our candidate Sir Ron Saunders brought superior intellect to the table and far more experience. His contribution to the Caribbean spans his entire working life. In her case she contributed nothing.'

ISLAND FURY AT HER 'CREOLE CURSE' Baroness Scotland publicly denounced thousands of islanders with a deeply insulting Caribbean 'curse' at a ceremony where a school was named after her. Addressing an audience in French-based Creole, widely spoken on Dominica, the newly appointed Commonwealth Secretary-General said critics of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit should 'sousay sel' or 'suck salt'. The expression is recognised across the Caribbean as a 'vile condemnation' to pain and hardship. Radio host Angelo Allen said: 'It caused uproar here. This is a curse and the last thing you'd expect to hear from the lips of a British politician. She would never have behaved in such a way in England  but she thought she could get away with it here.' And Opposition leader Lennox Linton called it 'disgusting' and an 'unjustified act of hostility'. He said: 'She has effectively made herself part of the political machinery of Roosevelt Skerrit with that statement because you are effectively condemning a people who have the democratic right to disagree with and criticise their prime minister.' Mr Linton complained about last December's incident in a letter sent to the Queen, claiming the diplomat's outburst was a 'gross violation' of the Commonwealth Charter and its values of tolerance and respect. The school in the village of Vieille Case was renamed after the Labour peer weeks after she was elected. 'No one is quite sure why,' said Mr Linton. Advertisement

It was because of this that Linton says Dominica came under pressure from Caricom to drop Baroness Scotland in favour of Sanders. Around this time, November 2014, the peer visited the Caribbean region with Bailey and members of the Order. In Antigua they exchanged honours with dignitaries and promised to contribute to three charitable 'endeavours' in conjunction with the island's Catholic diocese.

But Archbishop Kenneth Richards, who is overseeing the projects, revealed last week that work on two of them was halted last year because only half of the 1.1 million promised was forthcoming.

The third scheme  a new wing for St Joseph's Academy in the capital St John's  had to be completed by the start of the school year, so the Church was forced to meet the final cost by borrowing 120,000 from the bank.

Despite this, Bailey later took credit for the completion of the school wing, claiming it had been 'financed' by the Order. It is understood that the Order claims it is still paying for this and other projects.

From Antigua, Bailey and the rest of the delegation, including Baroness Scotland, caught a 30-minute flight to Dominica, where the Order lost no time honouring Skerrit and the country's president. More promises of charitable donations were made.

Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke is being investigated in Britain over corruption allegations she was given a diplomatic passport by Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit. The MoS understands this was six days after the minister and Skerrit may have been introduced to each other by Baroness Scotland at an event in London

According to Linton, this came at a crucial juncture. There was speculation that Skerrit was about to switch his support to Sir Ron Sanders. But Linton said: 'Skerrit  who was facing an election himself the following month  accepted a re-election image boost by way of a knighthood arranged by the Constantinian Order.

At this time the Prime Minister was becoming extremely important to Baroness Scotland. She had to find a way of keeping him on board. It's all connected. These ruling party politicians were unduly influenced into making sure Scotland was nominated for the top Commonwealth job.'

By May last year Skerrit's support was assured. At a party in London to launch her campaign he was introduced to disgraced former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Allison Madueke, possibly by Baroness Scotland, and issued her with a diplomatic passport six days later. At the time Madueke was under investigation in Britain over allegations of corruption. Baroness Scotland was elected in Malta in November last year.

A spokesman for Baroness Scotland said: 'Patricia Scotland was unanimously appointed as Secretary General by the 53 Member States of the Commonwealth because they were persuaded she had all the qualities and attributes which befitted her to discharge that role and was preferred above any other candidate.
A teenage Islamic State supporter who allegedly carved an ISIS sign into his cellmate's head is now reportedly being investigated over threats to behead prison staff.

Bourhan Hraichie, 18, is under investigation by counter-terrorism officers after allegedly writing a letter containing death threats to senior staff at Goulburn Supermax Jail, according to reports.

The teenager was charged with causing grievous bodily in April after a brutal attack on ex-army reservist Michael O'Keefe.

The 18-year-old has been accused of using a razor blade to etch 'E4E'  meaning 'eye for an eye' into O'Keefe's forehead. He then allegedly tortured O'Keefe.

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Bourhan Hraichie, 18, (pictured) who allegedly carved an ISIS sign into his cellmate's head is now being reporteldy investigated over threats to behead staff

The Sunday Telegraph reported that a threatening letter to staff was written in the name of ISIS.

Hraichie has reportedly been reprimanded twice recently for writing ISIS propaganda on his prison cell walls.

He was transferred to Goulburn Supermax Jail after allegedly assaulting Mr O'Keefe on April 7.

Mr O'Keefe was attacked after he and Hraichie were placed in the same cell at Kempsey jail in New South Wales despite having different security classifications.

On top of the gruesome carving, it is alleged Hraichie also poured boiling water onto a towel he then placed on the 40-year-old former Toowoomba-based digger's face

Senior prison sources claim the bloody assault went on for more than 20 minutes before Mr O'Keefe was rushed to Port Macquarie hospital.

He had serious burns to his face and injuries to his head and sternum and was placed into an induced coma.

Following the attack, the general manager of the prison, Greg Steele, was stood down.

Hraichie was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and intentionally choking a person.

Michael O'Keefe, 40, was attacked after he and Hraichie were placed in the same cell at Kempsey jail (pictured) in New South Wales despite having different security classifications (stock image)

The teenage jihadi was charged with causing grievous bodily in April after allegedly using a razor blade to etch 'E4E'  meaning 'eye for an eye' into O'Keefe's forehead (stock image)

A Corrections Department spokeswoman said the department would not comment on the threatening letter 'as the matter is the subject of a police investigation' (stock image)

The teen ISIS supporter was transferred to Goulburn Supermax Jail (pictured) after allegedly assaulting Mr O'Keefe on April 7

The teen ISIS supporter has been a known supporter of the terrorist group for several months and had been previously caught sending graphic images of beheadings to other IS extremists housed in Goulburn.

Staff at Goulburn Supermax were unable to confirm the matter to Daily Mail Australia, though a Corrections Department spokeswoman told the Sunday Telegraph that department would not comment on the threatening letter 'as the matter is the subject of a police investigation'.




Cyber criminals are believed to have taken down the London Stock Exchange (LSE) website for more than two hours as part of a campaign against the worlds banks and financial institutions.

The attack was carried out by a group based in the Philippines which is part of the hacktivist network Anonymous  an organisation infamous for hacking government, religious and corporate websites.

Anonymous claims the incident was one of 67 successful attacks it has launched in the past month on the websites of major institutions, with targets including the Swiss National Bank, the Central Bank of Venezuela and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

A loosely associated international network of activists and hackers, Anonymous first came to public attention in January 2008. It uses the meme of V, an anarchist freedom fighter (pictured)

The attack on the LSE took place at 9am on Thursday, but experts say trading was unlikely to have been affected and that no sensitive data was stolen.

In the 24 hours before the LSE site went down, Anonymous said it had also attacked the websites of the Turkey Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.

A loosely associated international network of activists and hackers, Anonymous first came to public attention in January 2008 following a series of high-profile cyber attacks on groups such as the Church of Scientology.

Elad Ben-Meir, from cyber-security company CyberInt, said that one of the groups goals is to bring down capitalism as part of their opposition to injustice and establishment hypocrisy.

He said: Its highly unlikely they will succeed in bringing down capitalism, but this latest round of attacks on central banks and stock exchanges around the world highlights the vulnerability of financial institutions at this time.
Thousands of UK-bound migrants were yesterday flooding into a giant 'staging post' shanty town that has suddenly sprung up close to the Eurostar hub in Paris.

It follows the announcement by Paris's socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo that the city's first-ever international refugee camp will be built in the French capital later this summer.

Migrants from all over Europe, including many who were previously camped out in Calais, were yesterday heading for a city park that has become their temporary home.

The Jardins d'Eole have already turned into a lawless, rubbish-strewn mess, full of around 2,500 people, mainly young men, planning their journeys to Britain.

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Thousands of UK-bound migrants were yesterday flooding into a giant 'staging post' shanty town that has suddenly sprung up close to the Eurostar hub in Paris (pictured)

Charity workers have handed out tents and are providing three meals a day for those in the camp, just a short stroll from Gare du Nord, from where high-speed trains travel to and arrive from London.

The lawns and flower beds around the camp have turned into an open-air toilet, while people-smugglers offer passage to London for the equivalent of 2,000, 'temporary passport' included, via the city's airports.

Many other migrants rely on the train network to take them to ports, where they will attempt to stow away on ferries or Channel Tunnel trains.

Last night, Mail on Sunday reporters witnessed violence breaking out between rival gangs, mainly Afghans, Sudanese and Eritreans, while police struggled to keep order.

Tegani Ugomai, a 26-year-old from Sudan, said of his new home: 'We'll be looked after here before completing our journey to England and have the option of moving into the new camp if we need to. There is everything we need here  shelter and food.

Yes, there is trouble here at the moment, but the situation will improve as more money is put into our accommodation.'

With overcrowding, hygiene and security already a problem, conditions are only likely to worsen, with officials warning that the camp will become a magnet for even more people.

A Royal Navy vessel which could be used to deter people-smugglers was hosting an open day for police in the North East as a boat full of migrants landed in Kent

The Mail on Sunday followed migrants who had been staying in the so-called 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais by train to Paris.

One of them, Assaf Udari, a 25-year-old Afghan, said: 'In Paris there is much more available for us than in Calais, and it is only going to get better.

We are situated close to the stations and main roads for when we want to get to Britain.'

French housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse has attacked the decision to allow the vast settlement to spring up, saying: 'Camps are not the solution.'
Australia's major supermarkets are reportedly failing to meet standards set out by the country's top research organisation when it comes to selling free-range eggs.

An investigation by Fairfax found Woolworths, Coles and IGA stores are selling eggs as free-range which fail to meet the definition as set out by the CSIRO - with only three out of 30 products meeting the standard.

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Australia's major supermarkets are failing to meet CSIRO standards when it comes to free-range eggs (stock)

An investigation by Fairfax found Woolworths, Coles and IGA stores are selling eggs as free-range which fail to meet the definition set by the CSIRO (stock)

The CSIRO's voluntary code recommends a maximum of 1,500 birds per hectare.

Earlier this year consumer affairs ministers said that housing 10,000 hens per hectare can be called 'free-range'.

B ut, according to CHOICE, only eggs produced in conditions which meet the CSIRO standards can be considered 'genuine' free-range.

New laws, which include mandatory labelling of products detailing producers' stock density, will provide 'clarity' for the consumer, according to NSW Minister for Innovation Victor Dominello.

The CSIRO's voluntary code recommends a maximum of 1,500 birds per hectare, but earlier this year consumer affairs ministers agreed up to 10,000 hens per hectare can be called 'free-range'

Animal rights and consumer advocates labelled the new laws 'a win for intensive egg producers' (stock)

Animal rights and consumer advocates labelled the consumer egg laws 'a win for intensive egg producers.'

'This decision is unbelievable,' Victorian Greens animal welfare spokesperson, Sue Pennicuik MLC said in a press release.

'Ten thousand birds per hectare is clearly not what any reasonable person would regard as free range.

'As a result of this decision, producers will be able to cram hens into a shed, label the eggs 'free-range' and still charge consumers a premium.'

Last month, Western Australian egg producer Snowdale Holdings was heavily fined for misleading free range claims.

And in April, The Federal Court fined Derodi Pty Ltd and Holland Farms Pty Ltd $300,000 for making false or misleading representations in their labelling of eggs as 'free range'.
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College credit. Billings area high school students will be able to enroll in dual-credit courses next year at no charge. The High School Connections program will waive fees during the 2016-17 academic year for credits earned in classes in which a high school partners with Montana State University Billings or City College.

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Primary turnout. More than 32,000 Yellowstone County voters had cast early ballots as of last week, and Bret Rutherford, county elections administrator, predicted a record number of voters will participate in Tuesdays primary. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. till 8 p.m. on Election Day. Montanans may also vote from 8 a.m. till noon Monday at their county elections office.

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Library cutbacks. The coal severance tax collections have decreased, leading to a decrease in those funds that had been dedicated to Montana libraries. As a result, libraries wont have money to continue access to databases of scholarly articles used by K-12 students and other researchers.

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Shots for kids. In the last week of school, Billings Public Schools alerted parents that when school resumes in August, the district will enforce state law requiring students to have recommended vaccines, unless parents have opted them out as provided by law. About 500 students recently were still behind on their shots. About 2,000 students started classes last August without required vaccinations.
Photographer has asked Trump to give him money for using his picture

said they don't support him or anyone

A photo of a Cincinnati family used to endorse Donald Trump on Twitter has faced a backlash after it was found to be used without their permission.

And to top it off - the parents in question don't even support him.

Taken last September at the Midwest Black Family Reunion, the photo shows a smiling family of five posing for the camera.

It was originally used by news site WCPO as part of their coverage of the event but has since been used without their permission and completely out of context.

A photo of Cincinnati family used to endorse Donald Trump on Twitter has faced a backlash after it was discovered it was used without permission - and that the parents in question don't even support him

It was originally used by news site WCPO as part of their coverage of the Midwest Black Family Reunion event but has since been used without their permission and completely out of context

The Donald himself then re-tweeted the post, originally from a user called Don Vito, although this has since been deleted

Tweeted by Trump mega-fan known as Don Vito, the picture has been doctored with the words 'American Families For Trump: We need a common sense president'.

The tweet reads: 'Thank you Mr. Trump for Standing up for Our Country! #VoteTrump2016 Join me on the #TrumpTrain'.

The Donald himself then re-tweeted it, although this has since been deleted.

But parents Eddie and Vanessa Perry told BuzzFeed that they are not publicly supporting any presidential candidate - including Trump.

Eddie Perry said that when they were alerted to the photo they 'immediately knew it was political propaganda'.

He said: 'Why use it without asking for someone's permission? Why use our image without asking?

Perry added that he's not saying 'there aren't black families who endorse Trump' but 'this black family didn't endorse anyone.'

Not only was the family in question upset, but social media unsurprisingly went into melt-down, criticizing the presumptive Republican nominee for blindly re tweeting something that has not been formally verified.

Taken last September at the Midwest Black Family Reunion (pictured) the photo shows a smiling family of five posing for the camera

People gather at the Midwest Black Family Reunion back in September, where the photo in question was lifted from

One tweeter, Lawrence Walsh, joked: 'Pictures found on the internet love Trump!'

While Cindy Wise wrote: 'Take a look at this and Trumps morning retweet. Unreal! He is such a fraud!'

And the photographer who owns the rights to the photos simply tweeted: 'WOW'.

Joseph Fuqua told WCPO that no one contacted him to ask for permission.

He added: 'Look, I know how campaigns work and I don't imagine Donald Trump did it personally. It was some intern. But if a billionaire is going to use my photo, he should pay for it.'

This isn't the first time Don Vito has caused a stir with a tweet.

Back in March, Trump was criticized for sharing an unflattering image of Heidi Cruz next to a glossy photo of his wife Melania, the caption read: 'A picture tells a thousand words'.

This tweet also originated from Don Vito, who describes himself as an 'American Patriot Supporting The People's Choice For President!'

Trump also faced a back last yesterday during a speech in Redding, California, when he told crowds he expected the turnout to be 'tremendous' on Election Day, and then pointed to one black man in the crowd and said; 'Look at my African-American over here. Look at him.'

Trump also saluted an African-American supporter who attended one of his rallies in Arizona who punched a protester. He said that fan "was like this great guy, a military guy. We have tremendous African-American support."

Polls show that when it comes to support among African-American voters, Trump consistently trails his likely general election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Shocking allegations about the 'Tatler Tory' scandal that has rocked the Conservative Party emerged last night.

'Tatler Tory' Mark Clarke, an election aide to David Cameron, reportedly threatened a senior female Conservative at a drinks party hosted by Tory peer Emma Pidding.

Clarke angrily confronted the party guest, claiming he had obtained the names of activists who had complained to Tory HQ about his alleged bullying.

Clarke's outburst is said to have taken place a week before activist Elliott Johnson, who had triggered a Conservative HQ bullying inquiry into Clarke, killed himself.

'Tatler Tory' Mark Clarke (right) reportedly threatened a senior female Conservative at a drinks party hosted by Tory peer Emma Pidding (left)

It is one of several new allegations following last week's inquest into the death of 21-year-old Elliott last September. Coroner Tom Osborne ruled that Elliott had committed suicide, believing himself to have been bullied. Evidence submitted to the inquest, only part of which was aired at the hearing, states:

Another young male activist was the victim of an 'internet sex-video blackmail sting' that 'Clarke tried to brief to journalists';

Tory chairman Lord Feldman's sister, Deborah, a Conservative HQ aide, warned a senior party figure that Clarke was 'on the warpath'  three months before Elliott's death;

Married Clarke's mistress and a 'psychotic' ally 'screamed' at a female Tory activist, demanding she 'take the blame for Elliott's death';

Clarke's crony Andre Walker told Elliott that 's*** would happen' if he did not drop his bullying complaint against Clarke.

In a separate development, The Mail on Sunday has learnt that Elliott's father Ray Johnson is considering suing Clarke and the Conservative Party for damages.

The new allegations stem mainly from evidence submitted to the inquest by Paul Abbott, who was chief of staff to former Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps.

He also ran the Conservative Way Forward (CWF) organisation, for which Elliott worked.

Clarke's (centre) outburst is said to have taken place a week before activist Elliott Johnson, who had triggered a Conservative HQ bullying inquiry into Clarke, killed himself

Baroness Pidding, a former chairman of the party's National Convention, was ennobled last November and had arranged for Clarke to appear at a rally with the Prime Minister weeks after the 2015 General Election.

But according to Mr Abbott, Clarke, dubbed the 'Tatler Tory', was in a clash with a female guest at a party hosted by Clarke's friend Baroness Pidding at a drinks party she hosted on September 7  the day Elliott gave evidence to the Tory bullying inquiry.

Mr Abbott said Clarke had 'walked up to her [the guest], bold as brass, and threatened her, saying he knew the names of at least two CWF volunteers who had made complaints [against Clarke to the Tory HQ inquiry].' This newspaper understands that the function took place at the Tory Carlton Club in London.

Mr Abbott said one was a 19-year-old male victim of an 'internet sex-video blackmail sting'  first revealed last year by the Mail on Sunday.

The teenager had been 'fooled into sending a sex video of himself to an anonymous Facebook account'. The anonymous person who received the video then 'tried to blackmail him and extort thousands of pounds'.

Clarke's crony Andre Walker (pictured) told the now deceased Elliott Johnson that 's*** would happen' if he did not drop his bullying complaint against Clarke

Mr Abbott added: 'Clarke denies being behind this but admits trying to brief the sex video to journalists. It nearly destroyed the young man's life.' Mr Abbott said a senior female youth activist was subjected to 'inhuman' threats by Clarke's mistress India Brummitt and 'psychotic' Tory aide Sam Armstrong.

The unnamed woman claimed that Ms Brummitt and Armstrong, 'apparently at Clarke's request, rang her screaming about Elliott, demanding she take the blame for Elliott's death'.

They told her to write on Facebook that Elliott's death 'was in no way Mark Clarke's fault'.

Armstrong was accused of attempting to film Tory Minister Robert Halfon leaving a gentleman's club in London last year with a female Conservative lover. Mr Abbott said he was 'baffled' that Armstrong still works for MP Craig Mackinlay. Clarke, Walker and Armstrong were banned from last year's Conservative Party conference. Clarke has been banned from the party for life.

Elliott's father fought to hold back tears at the inquest as he read out a text message exchange between Elliott and Walker, in which Elliott said he was too ill to attend a meeting during the bullying row.

Walker's message read: 'If this is an excuse you've got 15 mins to come clean,' before Elliott responded: 'I am like dying.'
The number of over-65s seeking a room has soared by 725 per cent

Spare Room site said almost 40,000 of its users are now over 55 years old

More than one in ten of those in shared

For many of us, the days of fighting over whose turn it is to clean the bathroom or buy the milk are long over.

But soaring numbers of the middle-aged and elderly people are being forced to live in flat-shares because of relationship breakdowns and high property prices.

More than one in ten of those in shared accommodation are now aged over 40  with a large proportion resigned to being 'lifetime renters', according to two of the UK's largest flat-share websites.

Spare Room said almost 40,000 of its users are now over the age of 55, while the number of over-65s seeking a room to rent has soared by 725 per cent since 2009.

Spare Room said almost 40,000 of its users are now over the age of 55, while the number of over-65s seeking a room to rent has soared by 725 per cent since 2009

At the same time, the average user's age on Easy Roommate is 28, while the proportion of its customers aged over 40 has risen 13 per cent in the past three years.

And while the majority of flat-sharers are under 30, many are wary about living with people old enough to be their grandparents.

According to an Easy Roommate survey, 68 per cent of under-30s would not share with someone over 60.

Property market analyst Kate Faulkner said: 'We noticed four or five years ago that people were selling up their houses and moving into rental accommodation.

'A lot of people started to cash in the chips on their property because they considered it their pension, but in the UK we're also looking at a high divorce rate and an ageing population.'

Spare Room director Matt Hutchinson, said: 'A big factor is that people are renting and sharing for longer.

Some people haven't got on to the property ladder at all and now consider themselves to be lifetime renters.

'People are coming out of long-term relationships, and getting divorced. While perhaps ten years ago they would have rented on their own, they're finding that's not affordable any longer.'

Dan Wilson Craw, policy manager at campaign group Generation Rent, added: 'Housing costs have been rising faster than wages for nearly a decade, so renters have had to find flatmates to make renting affordable, and many are reaching their 40s without a home of their own.

'Although it is not yet the norm, more over-40s are finding themselves in living arrangements more associated with twentysomethings. While some might enjoy this, many others would prefer their own space.

'Everyone has the right to an affordable home but the Government is not doing enough to build the homes we need.'

Soaring numbers of the middle-aged and elderly people are being forced to live in flat-shares because of relationship breakdowns and high property prices

Jamie Brunel, 57, from Devon, whose friend Deborah Menhinnitt, 69, lives in her spare room, said that flat-sharing with a friend offered the perfect living arrangement. 'It gives you companionship, security and someone to talk to,' she added. 'I can't remember ever having an argument.

'Some of the nearby villagers have strange ideas about us, but we are from similar backgrounds and have shared interests. We have seven cats together now.'

Elaine Salisbury, 62, said after 'losing everything' in a divorce over a decade ago, she has been unable to buy another property.

After living with a landlord in his 30s, she is now moving into a house with five others, including students and teachers.

Ms Salisbury, an NHS administrator from Surrey, said: 'Until I can claim my state pension, I've got to carry on as I am, sadly. I would like to get a mortgage, but it's not going to happen with my income and at my age.

'Another alternative would be to rent my own flat, but the average price in the area is 1,600 a month, which is what I take home after tax so it's out of the question.
airport is operating with one runway and delays are expected

Around 100 sets of traffic lights across the city have been blacked out

There is no access to Anzac Bridge after two eastbound lanes closed

Torrential rain battering Sydney has forced multiple main road closures across the city as forecasters predict 200 millimetres to fall by the end of the weekend.

Heavy traffic conditions remain in the CBD and there is no access to Anzac Bridge after two eastbound lanes at Victoria Road in Rozelle were closed due to flash flooding.

Sydney airport is currently operating with one runway and travellers uploaded photos of buckets overflowing with water as they waited to board flights.

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Sydney airport is currently operating with one runway and travellers uploaded photos of buckets overflowing with water as they waited to board flights

Torrential rain battering Sydney has forced multiple main road closures across the city including the closure of Anzac Bridge (pictured)

Lewisham train station has been closed due to flooding and fallen trees have affected the Chatswood and North Sydney line as well as the Rhodes and Epping line.

The Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line is closed between Martin Place and Bondi Junction due to a tree caught in overhead wiring at Edgecliff. Buses have been called in to replace trains between the stations in both directions.

Urgent repairs to Liverpool station have delayed trains on T2 and T3 lines, and buses are replacing trains between Campbelltown and Macarthur.

The South Coast line has been heavily affected by the weather, and buses are replacing trains between Waterfall and Thirroul and Wollongong and Bomaderry.

Due to road closures, no buses or trains will run between Wollongong and Port Kembla.

Trains have been suspended between Granville and Cabramatta due to a landslide at Ku-ring-gai Chase on General San Martin Drive.

Flooding at Picton has delayed some services in the Southern Highlands.

A tree caught in overhead wiring at Woy Woy has also delayed trains, and buses are replacing some train services between Gosford and Hornsby.

Two eastbound lanes at Victoria Road in Rozelle have been closed, cutting access to the Anzac Bridge.

Live Traffic NSW has advised drivers take a detour via Pyrmont Bridge Road and allow extra travel time due to the 'heavy traffic conditions'.

Pittwater Road is closed in both directions between Wakehurst Parkway and King Street after heavy flooding.

Canal Road near Burrows Road at St Peters has been closed in both directions.

James Ruse Drive at the M4 in Clyde is only operating one lane each way as emergency services try to deal with continued flooding.

One of two westbound lanes has been closed on the City West Link opposite the UTS Haberfield Rowing Club.

Earlier in the morning, northbound traffic was affected at Flinders Street and Oxford Street in Darlinghurst after emergency services attended to floodwater covering all three lanes. But by midday it was under control.

More than 100 sets of traffic lights have been blacked out in the Sydney Basin area due to the bad weather.

Over 9000 homes have also been left without power across Sydney and the Central Coast.

More than 100 sets of traffic lights have been blacked out in the Sydney Basin area due to the bad weather

Traffic approaching the Sydney International Airport terminal in Mascot have been warned of heavy conditions and are advised to plan extra time to make their flight

Live Traffic NSW has advised drivers take a detour via Pyrmont Bridge Road and allow extra travel time due to the 'heavy traffic conditions'

Traffic approaching the Sydney International Airport terminal in Mascot have been warned of heavy conditions and are advised to plan extra time to make their flight

NSW police have urged all motorists to 'avoid all non essential travel in weather affected areas'.

One of three lanes at Military Road, near Bardwell Street in Mosman has been closed after a tree fell and blocked part of the road.

Alfords Point Road between Brushwood Drive and Old Illawarra Road in Menai and Audley Road in the Royal National Park remain closed.

On Victoria Road, two westbound lanes were blocked near Charles St by fallen wires and delays are expected.

Newbridge Road near Rickard Road has been closed in Milperra and the Illawarra Highway is closed between the Princes Highway and Tongarra Road.

Two of three lanes are closed on the Pacific Highway near Grandview Street due to fallen wires and trees.

In Holsworthy, Heathcote Road was closed at Macarthur Drive and emergency services have advised motorists to avoid the area.

One of three lanes at Military Road, near Bardwell Street in Mosman has been closed after a tree fell and blocked part of the road

Lanes are closed in both directions on Newbridge Rd between Rickard Rd and Riverside Drive due to flooding.

Oxford Falls has been blocked in both directions at Wakehurst Parkway. Rozelle, North Strathfield, Chipping Norton, Milperra, Loftus, Lane Cove, Gladesville and Rouse Hill are all flood affected.

Sydney's Vivid event as well as the afternoon NRL match will also see various other road closures.

A clearway will be in place from 1pm to 7pm on roads surrounding Moore Park in Sydney's south-east as the Roosters and Tigers prepare to face off.
Brock Allen Turner, 20, was found guilty of raping an unconscious woman near fraternity housing

The woman who was raped by a former Stanford University swimmer at a campus party while she was unconscious read out a powerful letter to her attacker as she came face-to-face with him in court.

Brock Allen Turner's 23-year-old victim explained in the emotional speech at Thursday's sentencing hearing how she learned she had been attacked by a stranger and the toll the trial had taken on her, as his attorneys argued that she had consented to sex.

His victim provided her full statement to BuzzFeed News.

In it she said: 'You dont know me, but youve been inside me, and thats why were here today.

'He is a lifetime sex registrant. That doesnt expire. Just like what he did to me doesnt expire, doesnt just go away after a set number of years.

'It stays with me, its part of my identity, it has forever changed the way I carry myself, the way I live the rest of my life,' she added.

Turner, 20, who was part of Stanford's high-powered swimming program was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court of three counts of sexual assault.

He had been facing a 10-year prison term but was given just six months behind bars for his crime. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky said he weighed Turner's character, lack of criminal history and that he was remorseful in determining to bypass a heavier penalty.

His victim told BuzzFeed News she was disappointed with the 'gentle' sentence and angry Turner still denied the attack.

'Even if the sentence is light, hopefully this will wake people up,' she said.

'I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder.'

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Brock Turner, 20, right, makes his way into the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in Palo Alto, California, on June 2

In court the victim asked the judge if she could address Turner directly. She begun reading her statement by describing how she had planned to stay at home on January 17, 2015, but that her younger sister was visiting so after her father made them dinner she decided to go to the party with her sibling.

Once there she said she let her guard down and 'drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college'.

She 'blacked out' after drinking two whiskey shots, two vodka shots.

She explains: 'The next thing I remember I was in a gurney in a hallway.

'I had dried blood and bandages on the backs of my hands and elbow.

'I thought maybe I had fallen and was in an admin office on campus.

'I was very calm and wondering where my sister was.

'A deputy explained I had been assaulted.

'I still remained calm, assured he was speaking to the wrong person. I knew no one at this party.

'When I was finally allowed to use the restroom, I pulled down the hospital pants they had given me, went to pull down my underwear, and felt nothing.

'I still remember the feeling of my hands touching my skin and grabbing nothing.

'I looked down and there was nothing. The thin piece of fabric, the only thing between my vagina and anything else, was missing and everything inside me was silenced.

'I still dont have words for that feeling. In order to keep breathing, I thought maybe the policemen used scissors to cut them off for evidence.'

The attack took place on Stanford University's campus in Santa Clara County. Turner was apprehended by two cyclists who witnessed part of the attack

She then described how she was examined and asked to sign papers that said 'Rape Victim' before being allowed to shower.

She continued: 'I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I dont want my body anymore. I was terrified of it, I didnt know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.'

She said that she was told she was found behind a dumpster by two passing cyclists and had potentially been penetrated by a stranger.

She added: 'I (was told I) should get retested for HIV because results dont always show up immediately. But for now, I should go home and get back to my normal life.'

She said she was not ready to tell her boyfriend or her family what had happened because she did not know herself.

'I may have been raped behind a dumpster, but I dont know by who or when or how. If I told them, I would see the fear on their faces, and mine would multiply by tenfold, so instead I pretended the whole thing wasnt real.'

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen reacts to what happened in the courtroom outside of the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in Palo Alto, California

She went on to explain how she became isolated and shut herself off from the world, not eating or sleeping and pretending it didn't happen.

She eventually discovered what had happened to her reading the new on her phone and came across an article about how she was found unconscious.

'This was how I learned what happened to me, sitting at my desk reading the news at work. I learned what happened to me the same time everyone else in the world learned what happened to me,' she said.

'I read something that I will never forgive; I read that according to him, I liked it. I liked it. Again, I do not have words for these feelings.'

Turner had maintained that the pair went outside the Kappa Alpha House, where the party was taking place, and kissed.

He said he took off her underwear, penetrated her with his hands and touched her breasts, but never took off his pants.

According to Turner, the woman appeared to be enjoying herself as she rubbed his back.

He added that his 'intentions were not to try and rape the girl without her consent' but to 'hook up' with a girl'..

He said 'we' started 'dry humping' - rubbing against each other with their clothes on - but said he then felt sick from the seven beers and two sips of whiskey he'd drunk.

He said he stumbled away thinking he would vomit when he noticed another man near him asking what he was doing.

Turner was detained after being spotted by two cyclists, before trying to flee.

The pair managed to tackle him while a third man called the police, Santa Clara County prosecutors say.

After reading about the assault in the news she sought the support of her family and told them what happened to her.

'The night after it happened, he said he didnt know my name, said he wouldnt be able to identify my face in a lineup, didnt mention any dialogue between us, no words, only dancing and kissing,' she said.

'When the detective asked if he had planned on taking me back to his dorm, he said no. When the detective asked how we ended up behind the dumpster, he said he didnt know.

'He admitted to kissing other girls at that party, one of whom was my own sister who pushed him away. He admitted to wanting to hook up with someone.

'I was the wounded antelope of the herd, completely alone and vulnerable, physically unable to fend for myself, and he chose me.

'Sometimes I think, if I hadnt gone, then this never wouldve happened. But then I realized, it would have happened, just to somebody else.'

She went on to describe the impact the trial had on her and was faced with a barrage of personal questions into her private life and recalling all that she could of the night in excruciating detail.

She said Turner changed his story nearly a year after the attack saying that he had asked her for consent and she said 'yes' and that the only reason they were on the ground was because she had fallen down.

She added: 'On top of all this, he claimed that I orgasmed after one minute of digital penetration. The nurse said there had been abrasions, lacerations, and dirt in my genitalia. Was that before of after I came?'

As she concluded the letter she said Turner had done 'irreversible damage' to her and her family and thanked all those who had supported her - friends, family and strangers and the two men who saved her.

'To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget,' she said.

She finished by saying: 'And finally, to girls everywhere, I am with you. On nights when you feel alone, I am with you. When people doubt you or dismiss you, I am with you.'

Speaking after judge Persky handed down the six month sentence, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement on Thursday: 'The punishment does not fit the crime,'

'The predatory offender has failed to take responsibility, failed to show remorse and failed to tell the truth. The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim's ongoing trauma.'

A jury found Turner guilty of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person.

he was also handed three years' probation but with good behavior he is expected to serve three months in county jail, The Mercury News reported.

Turner will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and complete a sex offender management program.

The sentence will do nothing to quell the feeling among many that Stanford is among a number of universities criticized for having relaxed policies on sexual assault.

A law professor at the university, Michele Landis Dauber, has urged the school to make serious changes in their policies towards sexual assault.

Only four of the 175 reported sexual assaults at Stanford between 1997 and 2009 were properly investigated.

Dauber has called the statistics 'appalling'.

Dauber said that despite some improvement by the school in investigating sexual assault cases and acting for welcoming to victims, there is still room for improvement.

The university praised the student cyclists who stepped in to help the victim.

'Several students, both graduates and undergraduates, were upstanders in this situation,' Catherine Criswell, the University's Title IX Coordinator said.

'They made the courageous decision to intervene and provide assistance. That is exactly the type of leadership and caring we attempt to cultivate in our community, and we commend those students on their courage and quick response.'

Turner voluntarily withdrew from the university shortly after being charged. After his arrest he was released on $150,000 bail.

Originally from Ohio, Turner swam for the Dayton Raiders before being recruited for Stanford and was a three-time All-American high school swimmer at Oakwood High School.

Some accomplishments include breaking the Ohio record for fastest time by a male 18 and under in the 800-meter freestyle, winning high school state titles in the 200 and 500 freestyle, and making the U.S. Junior National team.
The worlds first artificial intelligence triage nurse will be pitted against the real thing this week, in a head-to-head contest that could mark a turning point in medicine.

British start-up firm Babylon Health will test its programme, called Check, against a doctor and nurse in a competition to see which can deal most quickly and accurately with a range of common health problems.

The smartphone app has been designed to act like a triage nurse, asking a series of questions to advise users whether their problem is nothing to worry about, something they should consult their GP about, or a matter that requires calling 999.

British start-up firm Babylon Health will test its programme, called Check, against a doctor and nurse in a competition to see which can deal most quickly and accurately with a range of common health problems

It does not give a formal diagnosis.

Its developers, who believe AI will transform medicine in the coming years, said last night they were very confident their app would come out on top.

Babylon Health boss Ali Parsa said Check could analyse thousands of problems with astounding precision.

It is more accurate than any human, just as a computer weather forecast is now more accurate than any human, he said.

The smartphone app has been designed to act like a triage nurse, asking a series of questions to advise users whether their problem is nothing to worry about, something they should consult their GP about, or a matter that requires calling 999 (pictured the Babylon Health logo)

The algorithm was developed with the help of more than 100 doctors, who repeatedly tested it and, so far, could not fault it.

Check will not make the final step of giving a formal diagnosis, although Babylon, which is particularly keen to push into parts of the developing world where people often have difficulty seeing a doctor or a nurse, is not ruling that out for the future.

Steve Hamblin, head of Babylons artificial intelligence team, said: As for replacing doctors, thats not our goal. Im not in the business of putting a doctor out of business. Im in the business of giving them a boost.




This is the dramatic moment Muhammad Ali saved a suicidal man who was threatening to jump out of a ninth-floor window in Los Angeles in 1981.

Ali heard the man was sitting on a ledge and preparing to jump to his death so he sped towards the scene, driving the wrong way down roads with his lights flashing as he raced to make it there in time.

The champion boxer ignored the crowds calling out his name as he headed upstairs, before he was seen poking his head out of a window further along the building as he tried to convince the man that his life was worth living.

This is the dramatic moment Muhammad Ali saved a suicidal man who was threatening to jump out of a ninth-floor building in Los Angeles in 1981. Ali (right) is seen leaning out of a window pleading with the man

Pictured left, the man sits on a window ledge as Ali, right, tries to persuade him to come down

Ali (pictured helping the man down) leaned out of the window and told the man: 'You're my brother. I love you'

Ali, who died on Friday evening aged 74, leaned out of the window and told the man: 'You're my brother. I love you and I wouldn't lie to you. You got to listen. I want you to come home with me, meet some friends of mine.'

During the tense 20 minutes, the 21-year-old man, from Michigan, was captured by CBS News telling Ali that no one loved him.

'Why do you worry about me? I'm a nobody,' the man told the three-time heavyweight champion of the world.

'I told him he wasn't a nobody,' Ali later told the Reading Eagle.

'He saw me weeping and he couldn't believe I was really doing that, that I cared that much about him.'

Ali told the man: 'If you jump, you're going to Hell because there's no way to repent.'

After miraculously talking the man down, Ali - dressed in a suit and tie - drove him to a police station in his Rolls-Royce and went with him to a psychiatric hospital

Ali (pictured in the 1980s) died on Friday evening aged 74 after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease

After miraculously talking the man down, Ali - dressed in a suit and tie - drove him to a police station in his Rolls-Royce and went with him to a psychiatric hospital.

The gathered crowd chanted 'USA! Digs Ali' as he left the scene with the man he had saved.

'I'm going to help him go to school and find a job, buy him some clothes,' Ali said.

'I'm going to go home with him to meet his mother and father. They called him a nobody, so I'm going home with him. I'll walk the streets with him and they'll see he's big.

'Everyday I'm going to visit him in the hospital. I told him I'd stay close to him.'

Ali died at a hospital outside Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday, days after he was taken there with difficulty breathing.

The father of nine married four times and will be remembered for his outstanding victories over Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Leon Spinks, as well as his gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

He was also known for his trash-talking, coming up with phrases such as 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'.

President Barack Obama was among those who paid tribute to the boxer, thanking him for 'gracing our time'.

Do you know the man Ali saved? Email ollie.gillman@dailymail.com

For confidential support in the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
A man and a woman will appear in a Queensland court after they allegedly tied up a man with duct tape and stabbed him in the arm with a syringe in an overnight ordeal.

Police say the alleged assault took place when the 55-year-old victim went to a home in Ipswich, southwest of Brisbane, on Friday evening.

After escaping at around 9am on Saturday, he went to Ipswich police station where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

A man and woman who allegedly tied up a man with duct tape and stabbed him in the arm with a syringe will appear in a Queensland court on Monday (stock image)

A crime scene was declared at a house on Syntax Street, and a man and the duo were taken into custody.

The accused pair, both aged 47, will appear at Ipswich Magistrates Court on Monday charged with assault occasioning bodily harm, torture and stealing.
A courageous war surgeon reveals today how the Queen calmed him when he suffered a terrifying flashback to the horrors of the Syrian conflict  with the aid of her corgis.

David Nott was at a private lunch at Buckingham Palace just ten days after returning from Aleppo when he was hit by the post-traumatic incident, triggered when Her Majesty asked about his work.

The surgeon couldn't bring himself to answer, but says the Queen instinctively sensed something was wrong, and called for her corgis to help take his mind off the atrocities he had witnessed.

And he tells today's edition of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that the dogs had a therapeutic effect.

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David Nott (pictured) reveals how the Queen calmed him down when he suffered flashbacks at Buckingham Palace

'I was coping [in Syria] with children that were really badly damaged, and she must have detected something significant,' he recalls.

'I didn't know what to say. It wasn't that I didn't want to speak to her  I just couldn't. I just could not say anything.

'She picked all this up and said, 'Well, shall I help you?' I thought, 'How on earth can the Queen help me?' '

'All of a sudden the courtiers brought the corgis, and the corgis went underneath the table.'

Mr Nott, who has saved lives in conflicts since Bosnia in 1993, says the Queen then got a tin of biscuits and gave one to him, saying: 'OK, why don't you feed the dogs?'

'And so for 20 minutes during this lunch the Queen and I fed the dogs. She did it because she knew that I was so seriously traumatised. You know the humanity of what she was doing was unbelievable.'

Asked by the show's host Kirsty Young if the dogs had helped, Mr Nott says: 'Very much so. Stroking the animals, touching dogs, feeding them She talked about her dogs and how many she had. She was wonderful and I will never forget it.'

The lunch, in October 2014, was also attended by Prince Philip and other guests. Mr Nott, who was inspired to use his skills in war zones after watching the 1984 film The Killing Fields, also speaks of some of the horrors he has witnessed  and how it has taken its toll on his mental health.

He reveals how his legs shook like jelly when he was confronted by Islamic State fighters in one makeshift operating room. He later risked his life so he could continue to operate on a seven-year old girl when it appeared the hospital in Gaza City was going to be bombed.

The surgeon says the Queen instinctively sensed something was wrong, and called for her corgis to help take his mind off the atrocities he had witnessed (stock photo)

At times during the emotional interview, the NHS consultant  who splits his time between the Royal Marsden, the Charing Cross and the Chelsea and Westminster hospitals in London, while taking three months out each year for his humanitarian work  struggles to speak.

He says: 'I do suffer. There is no doubt about it. It takes me about three months to get over a mission sometimes.

'Sometimes I am very angry and that is part of the post-traumatic stress. But I think more recently I have suffered severely. When I came back in 2014 I had almost psychotic post-traumatic stress.

'A tiny little ember when somebody says something to me will grow into this fire, which grows into this furnace which grows into something uncontrollable.'
The mother of a woman put on death row after her two boys were brutally stabbed to death in their upscale Texas home, still claims her daughter is innocent, 20 years on.

After a dramatic trial that gripped the nation for months, Darlie Lynn Routier was given the death sentence when a jury found her guilty of capital murder.

When police arrived to the home on June 6, 1996, her eldest son Devon, 6, was already dead, having been stabbed all the way through his torso while Damon, 5, died shortly after from stab wounds to the back.

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Darlie Lynn Routier was given the death sentence in 1997. Left: In 1996 with a stab wound to her neck, Right: Routier today, having been on death row for nearly 20 years

Darlie Lynn Routier (center) was given the death sentence in 1997 when a jury found her guilty of capital murder of two of her sons, Devon and and Damon pictured. Her youngest son drake, center, was unharmed.

But when she was filmed by a news station shortly after, with bleached hair, giggling, while spraying Silly String on her son's graves, opinions began to shift (pictured)

Mother Darlie Kee told the site: 'They ended up deliberating on the Silly String. Silly String is not a lethal weapon.'

Routier, meanwhile, was taken to hospital with stab wounds on her right arm and a slash across her throat. A third child, Drake, was upstairs with the father but was unharmed.

But despite the 1997 conviction, Routier's family, friends and ex-husband still support her story: That an intruder broke into the home and launched a random attack.

This was the first version of events to emerge after the tragic incident and appeared to be the most plausible explanation.

But when she was filmed by a news station shortly after, with bleached hair, giggling, while spraying Silly String on her son's graves, opinions began to shift.

Indeed that video was played to jurors at least seven times before they reached their verdict, reported The Dallas Morning News.

Mother Darlie Kee told the site: 'They ended up deliberating on the Silly String. Silly String is not a lethal weapon.'

Kee says that her daughter had been celebrating her eldest son Devon's birthday, who would have turned seven that day.

What came before was a somber prayer service for Devon and Damon, but that 'wasn't captured on TV', argues Kee.

And even two decades on, lingering questions remain about Routier's guilt.

Routiers supporters often point to a bloody sock that was found in the alley about 75 yards from the familys home, with bloodspatters from the two children.

Darlie's mother Kee (pictured with youngest son Drake, still alive) says that her daughter had been celebrating her eldest son Devon's birthday, who would have turned seven that day.

Routier was taken to hospital with stab wounds on her right arm and a slash across her throat

But beyond the damning 'silly string video', police quickly found inconsistencies between the statements and the physical evidence

Some argue that it would have been impossible for her to have stabbed herself, cut the window and had time to run barefoot down the alley - while leaving no blood trail of her own.

But the defense insists that the case is closed.

Beyond the damning 'silly string video', police quickly found inconsistencies between the statements and the physical evidence.

Lt David Nabors, who was on duty at the time of the incident, told NBC-News that after officers focused on the bloody crime scene, a different, even more disturbing story emerged.

The point of entry, for example, was purported to be through a fiber glass window that had been slashed from the outside.

But particles of the fiber glass were found on a kitchen knife that came from the Routier kitchen.

Blood spatters on her clothing were consistent with her wielding the knife, said Nabors.

And the motion action security light in their backyard, which stayed on for exactly 17 minutes was off when they arrived, despite her calling police only seven minutes after the attacks and telling them the intruder had left through the back door.

Thirteen days after the incident, police arrested Routier for capital murder and Nabors said it was only when she was arrested that she began to show any emotion.

A third child, Drake, was upstairs with the father (pictured right) but was unharmed. Drake is now 20

The sons were stabbed to death in the Routier's upmarket home in Rowlett, Texas

Police, doctors and nurses who subsequently talked to Routier described her as 'unaffected by their deaths'.

Moreover, when her case came to trial, her story didn't seem to add up. As a light sleeper, is it possible that she would not wake up when her sons were being brutally attacked and her own throat slashed?

She claimed she had suffered 'traumatic amnesia' but Toby Shook told Dallas News: 'She said she couldn't remember and slept through the murder.

'But whenever she needed to explain the evidence, she had a good memory.'

While lead prosecutor Greg Davis said: 'The defense has yet to poke a credible hole in the case. That speaks to the strength of the evidence before the jury.'

For mother Dee, however, the case has yet to be solved and the state have still not found the person who killed her grandsons.

The youngest boy, Drake, now 20, was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago but is expected to survive.

The only contact he has had with his mother has been through prison glass.

He lives in Lubbock with his father Darin, who has previously said his ex-wife his innocent.

For now, Routier remains locked up in Gatesville Prison, Texas, and is one of six women on Death Row in the state.
Billings area voters have received more attention than usual in a presidential election. First Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters overflowed the Montana Pavillon at MetraPark to hear the Vermont senator. Then former President Bill Clinton stumped for his wife, Hillary Clinton, before an evening audience at Will James Middle School gym. On May 26, Donald Trump drew a crowd to the Rimrock Auto Arena on his victory lap after winning enough delegates to assure that he will be the GOP presidential nominee.

Montana Republicans have already chosen their national convention delegates. Not all are Trump supporters, but the delegates are pledged to vote for the winner of Tuesdays GOP primary.

On the Democratic side, Montana delegates also will be apportioned according to the votes cast in the Tuesday election. Nationally, Clinton has a delegate lead, but in Billings Sanders clearly organized earlier than the Clinton campaign. The time and place of Bill Clintons speech wasnt announced until two days before the former president arrived, and just a week after the former secretary of state opened a campaign office in Billings.

Trump organizers had more time to publicize the MetraPark rally, they attracted the largest crowd among the three events with about 6,000 people in the arena.

One thing that all three candidates have in common is a lack of understanding of Western issues. All three come from the East where the Bureau of Land Management isnt a major land manager. They havent lived through the lengthening wildfire seasons that darken September skies and burn up the U.S. Forest Service budget, leaving little money for roads, timber management or any other need. They dont know what its like to live 50 miles from the nearest hospital or to depend on telemedicine to consult specialists.

Billionaire Trump boasted of his hunter support. But neither he nor Clinton nor Sanders has ever worried about access to public lands as a Montana resident hunter.

Montanans will want to know more about where the candidates stand on issues most important to our state, such as natural resource development and protection, agriculture policy and delivering public services across the vastness of a sparsely populated state.

Clinton needs 71 delegates from states voting on June 7 to claim the Democratic nomination. That means Montanas 27 delegates matter to her. They also matter to Sanders who has done well in small population states, racking up more state wins while Clinton has claimed more delegates by winning more populous states.

Montana has 798,555 residents of voting age, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That population is older than the nations voting-age population with fewer residents between 18 and 44, and more over age 64. Perhaps thats why Montana typically has a higher voter turnout than the national average. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, in the 2012 presidential general election, 65.7 percent (495,000) of Montanas voting age citizens cast ballots. Compare that with 61.8 percent nationwide, 63.9 percent in North Dakota, 58.9 percent in Wyoming, 61 percent in South Dakota and 57.5 percent in California.

Montanans need to make our votes count. The 2016 Montana Primary Election matters to the presidential candidates who put Billings on their campaign schedules. It should matter to all Montana voters.
A coroner ruled last week that Private Cheryl James, 18, (pictured) died of an intentional 'self-inflicted' gunshot wound

The head of the British Army has backed calls for a public inquiry into the deaths of four recruits at Deepcut Barracks.

General Sir Nick Carter's comments follow former Army chief General Lord Dannatt's call for such a probe to investigate the culture of abuse at the Surrey base.

Asked about the possibility of a public inquiry into the Deepcut scandal on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Nick said: 'The Army needs to get to the truth.

'If a [public inquiry] is the best method of getting to the heart of the matter, then I guess that should be the way that we go.'

Sir Nick, who is spearheading a campaign to stamp out bullying in the Army, also apologised unreservedly to the parents of Private Cheryl James, who was found dead at the base in 1995.

A coroner ruled last week that Pte James, 18, died of an intentional 'self-inflicted' gunshot wound, while also criticising the 'haphazard provision of welfare support' at the facility.

Contrary to Army policy, Pte James had been posted as a lone female armed guard. She shot herself with her high-velocity SA80 rifle in woodland near the entrance to Deepcut Barracks.

The coroner also noted the culture of heavy drinking and sexual promiscuity at Deepcut, adding that some instructors 'saw young females as a sexual challenge'.

Pte James' family, from Llangollen, north Wales, has vowed to continue their fight for justice.

Sir Nick added: 'As the head of the Army, but also as a father, I deeply regret Cheryl's tragic death and I want to apologise unreservedly to Mr and Mrs James for the duty of care failings at Deepcut Barracks in 1995.

'After the comprehensive inquest into Cheryl's death, we will be sure to learn from the recommendations made in the coroner's conclusions.

Sir Nick Carter (pictured), who is spearheading a campaign to stamp out bullying in the Army, also apologised unreservedly to the parents of Private Cheryl James, who was found dead at the base in 1995

'The tragedy of Cheryl's death has taught us hard lessons and will serve as a constant reminder, for me and for all of those who both lead and serve in the Army, of the importance of ensuring all of our people are valued and have the opportunity to flourish.'
You're never too old to rock and it seems the maxim extends to toy horses, too.

For rocking horses, once the preserve of youngsters, are increasingly being snapped up by adults  and even the Queen has bought one as a gift.

She had one custom-made for the Canadian Mounties  at a cost of 5,000  as a thank-you for all the genuine horses they have presented to her over the years. They include Burmese, the beloved black mare she was riding when six blank shots were fired during the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1981.

Horse play: Estate agent Pippa Scott was given rocking horse made by specialists Stevenson Brothers, of Ashford, Kent

Patrick Egan, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said: 'It was a surprise gift and such an honour. The rocking horse is still being shipped to us but we intend to display it at our museum in Ottawa, hopefully before the summer.

'We get lots of schoolchildren visiting us but I don't think we will allow anyone to play on it.'

The rocking horse, which includes leather saddle, reins, stirrups and personalised blanket with the Mounties' insignia, can bear the weight of a rider up to 20st.

It was made by specialists Stevenson Brothers, of Ashford, Kent, who say that up to a third of their sales are for adult models, priced between 3,500 and 6,000.

Estate agent Pippa Scott was given one for her 30th birthday last month, to reflect her interest in showjumping and eventing.

It is a replica of her own chestnut gelding, VIP, which she has owned for 18 years.

'I have always wanted one,' she said. 'I've ridden horses since the age of two but never had a rocking horse. It's beautifully made and I can sit on it for hours. It's so relaxing.

The Queen on Burmese, the beloved black mare she was riding when six blank shots were fired during the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1981

'It's in the kitchen at the moment. I often sit on it for five minutes in the morning while drinking my coffee. All my friends like to jump on and have a ride.

'It's a beautiful, unique piece to have in the home. It's also much cheaper than a real horse  and it doesn't need feeding or mucking out three times a day.

'But when you get in the saddle, it's like sitting on my real horse.'

Adult demand in rocking horses is said to be driven by women wanting to fulfil a childhood dream of owning one.

The young Queen had a rocking horse of her own, which she used to ride with her sister Margaret. And the tradition looks set to continue as Prince George was given a rocking horse by President Obama and his wife Michelle, which he showed off on their visit to Britain this year.

Buckingham Palace was unable to comment on the horse given to the Mounties, as it was a private gift.
Carly Paoli, said: 'I am blessed that Ave Maria has been chosen as part of the Jubilee Celebrations

She is the fast-rising opera star who grew up as a lorry drivers daughter in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire  and has already performed to the delight of the Prince of Wales.

And now Carly Paoli, pictured, has been selected for the rare honour of singing for the Popes celebrations in Rome.

Her soaring voice will welcome visitors to the Vatican, as millions of Catholics journey to the Eternal City for the Churchs year-long Jubilee.

A recording of Miss Paolis rendition of Ave Maria  the cherished song for Catholics  will be used on the official app for pilgrims on tour around the Italian capital during the Jubilee.

Miss Paoli, 27, said: I am blessed that Ave Maria has been chosen as part of the Jubilee Celebrations.

She was brought to the the attention of the 16-time Grammy Award wining record producer David Foster who helped launched the careers of Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.

Last September, he asked Carly to perform at his glitzy charity gala in Calgary, Canada, where she shared the bill with Aerosmiths Steven Tyler.
A teenager at a boarding school for children from military families has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

The 15-year-old, a pupil at The Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover, Kent, is alleged to have raped a teenage girl twice between 2014 and 2016.

The school, which caters for children aged 11 to 18, is part-funded by the Ministry of Defence and prides itself on its military traditions.

Last year, Prince Harry arrived by helicopter on a surprise visit to present medals to outstanding students and told them how the Army had shaped his life.

Military values: The school, which caters for children aged 11 to 18, is part-funded by the Ministry of Defence

Service families pay just over 1,000 a year in boarding fees at the school, which is set in 150 acres, while other boarders are charged 4,165 a term. The school's patron is the Duke of Kent and alumni  known as 'Dukies'  include Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Nye, who served as Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff in the Second World War.

Prince Harry's friend Simon Daglish, co-founder of the Armed Forces charity Walking With The Wounded, is also a former pupil. Mr Daglish and Harry trekked together to the South Pole in 2013 to raise money for the charity.

The school's website says it places great emphasis on leadership, character, pride, self-discipline, spirituality, sportsmanship and respect for others. The most recent Ofsted report in 2014 rated it as 'good' and said it 'meets the current requirements for safeguarding'. It added that pupils were happy and well looked after, with school life 'underpinned by caring and aspirational values'.

However, parents have previously claimed that incidents of bullying and self-harm by pupils were covered up to protect the school's reputation.

Last night, a Kent Police spokesman said they were 'investigating allegations of sexual assault involving a teenage girl. The incidents are reported to have occurred between September 2014 and April 2016. A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the reports and inquiries are ongoing'.
The three men found guilty of committing a murder so gruesome that it inspired its own season of a television show have failed in their appeals against their sentences and will remain in jail.

Anthony 'Rooster' Perish, his brother Andrew and Matthew Lawton are in prison for the 2001 death of drug dealer Terry Falconer, who was kidnapped while on day release from prison before his chopped up body was found in plastic bags in a northern New South Wales river Hastings.

Televisions show Underbelly: Badass, released in 2012, was based on the story.

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Anthony 'Rooster' Perish (left), his brother Andrew and Matthew Lawton will remain in jail for the murder of Terry Falconer (right) whose chopped up body was found in plastic bags in a New South Wales river

The trio were jailed the same year for their role in the murder, but last month lost appeals to the NSW Supreme Court's Court of Appeal, The Daily Telegraph reported.

They had made their appeals on a number of grounds, including that they were victims of miscarriage of justice.

Now, if the trio wish to appeal further, they'll have go to the High Court of Australia.

The Perish brothers had been motivated by the 1993 killing of their grandparents who were shot dead at their Leppington home.

They believed Falconer was responsible.

The three convicted men are serving sentences ranging from nine-24 four years imprisonment.

Terry Falconer's death inspired its own season of the Australian television drama Underbelly. Pictured is Anthony La Paglia playing Anthony Perish in Underbelly:Badass

The trio were jailed the same year for their role in the murder, but last month lost appeals to the NSW Supreme Court's Court of Appeal
A clean-up of flood damage, fallen trees and damage to roofs commenced on Sunday after 1000 calls for assistance

On Saturday night the storm battered Queensland's coast with winds up to 95km/h and 250mm of rain

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An iconic Australian beach was blanketed in dirty foam after the weekends superstorm battered the coast and churned up the surf.

Curious Queensland residents flocked to Burleigh Beach on Sunday morning, soaking up the sun after the coast was smashed with 90km/h winds and 250mm of rain on Saturday night.

They found the beach smothered in fluffy brown froth which crept up the rocks with the incoming tide.

Queensland's Burleigh Beach on the Gold Coast was blanketed in dirty brown foam after the coast was battered by a superstorm on Saturday night. Some hardy souls waded into the froth and scooped it up in their arms

High winds overnight churned the surf into a thick froth which crept the rocks with the incoming tide

The churning surf soon completely obscured the rocky coast. The thick froth settled on the rocks and did not wash away until windy conditions eased on Sunday afternoon

Beachgoers were not deterred by the site, with some parking up in sunloungers just out of the tides reach to take in in the bizarre view.

Other more hardy souls rolled up their pants and took the opportunity to frolic in the froth and scoop it up in their arms.

The thick foam crept up the beach with the incoming tide and settled on the rocks until it was washed away on Sunday afternoon.

Beachgoers were not deterred by the site, with many flocking to the coast to soak up the sun after a weekend of torrid weather

Although the Gold Coast had blue skies, many beaches remained closed - including Burleigh Heads (pictured) - due to powerful winds and abnormally high tides

Queensland residents were relieved to wake up to a sunny day after the superstorm struck on Saturday night.

State emergency crews were run off their feet, racing to attend to the more than 1000 calls for help that they received overnight.

There was concern for the 14-kilometre City2South fun run in Brisbane's CBD as storm clouds threatened to cancel the event, but participants were relieved as the morning remained sunny and the event managed to raise $100,000 for charity, The Brisbane Times reported.

Burleigh Beach on the Gold Coast was closed on Sunday due to abnormally large surf

As the sun shone down, many enjoyed the foam rolling in from the abnormally high tides at Burleigh Beach

After receiving more than 1000 calls for assistance on Saturday, 10 State Emergency Services crews are racing to complete the remaining clean-up jobs before Sunday evening

A strong upper trough soaked Queensland's southeast on Saturday with some of the heaviest falls occurring in the Gold Coast Hinterland before moving south into NSW.

Sydney continued to be smashed by storms on Sunday with winds of up to 125km/h and up to 200 millimetres of rain expected.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman told AAP while all the jobs in the Brisbane region had been cleared through, about 80 remained on the Gold Coast.

Flooding, fallen trees and damage to roofs were the most common complaints after the huge deluge.

Beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts were closed because of strong winds and high seas

There was concern for the 14-kilometre City2South fun run in Brisbane's CBD as storm clouds threatened to cancel the event, but participants were relieved as the morning remained sunny

After it was smashed with wind gusts of up to 90 km/h and 250 millimetres of rainfall overnight, Queensland residents have been relieved to wake up to a sunny day

The City2South fun run went ahead as planned after organisers decided the rain would hold off for the entire race

A single housing complex at Elanora suffered damage to 20 different properties, an SES spokeswoman said.

The extreme system was cited as a possible cause of a horror smash near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, that claimed the life of a man and woman on Saturday morning.

Five people were also injured in a separate crash at Woodlands, south of Gatton, while there were multiple reports of cars being swept away by floodwaters.

A strong upper trough soaked Queensland's southeast on Saturday with some of the heaviest falls occurring in the Gold Coast Hinterland before moving south into NSW

Queensland homes remain heavily affected by floodwater, but there are no signs of more rain on Sunday

Emergency service personnel received more than 1000 calls for assistance on Saturday

Beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts were closed on Saturday due to strong winds and high seas, while more than 220mm of rain dumped on Upper Springbrook, in the Gold Coast hinterland.

The Bureau issued a flood warning for the state that covers from Fraser Island, down to the NSW and Queensland border.

The SES Queensland's Kevin Walsh told Sky News on Saturday morning that residents should 'stay homeit's probably safest'.

After receiving more than 1000 calls for assistance on Saturday, 10 State Emergency Services crews are racing to complete the remaining jobs before Sunday evening

It comes after emergency service personnel received more than 1000 calls for assistance on Saturday

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman told AAP while all the jobs in the Brisbane region had been cleared through, about 80 remained on the Gold Coast

Beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts were closed because of strong winds and high seas

After receiving more than 1000 calls for assistance on Saturday, 10 State Emergency Services crews are racing to complete the remaining jobs before Sunday evening

On Saturday, flood water was metres high and this carpark at the Toombul shopping centre in Brisbane was completely immersed




Greens leader Richard Di Natale believes a Donald Trump presidency should prompt Australia to take another look at its alliances with the US.

Senator Di Natale said just talking about prospect of the Republican candidate winning the US presidency was scary.

He said on Sunday that Mr Trump winning the American election would be dangerous for the whole world.

'I think there's no better time ... to redefine the terms of the US alliance,' he told ABC TV.

'I think he's dangerous, I think he's dangerous for the US and for the global community, and you just need to look at those clashes that we have seen recently between anti-Trump and pro-Trump supporters, huge division in the US at the moment.'

Mr Trump secured the required number of convention delegates to seal the Republican nomination in May, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale (pictured) said the prospect of Republican candidate Donald Trump winning the US presidency was dangerous for the whole world

Senator Di Natale said Australia should reconsider its strategic alliance with the United States and stop orientating its foreign policy around Washington.

'We think it should be done ... the fact that we are even talking about a Trump presidency scares the daylights out of most people,' he said.

'I think the first thing to do is look at the Australian national interest. I think it is absolutely in our national interest to redefine the terms of our alliance and not to commit troops blindly to international conflicts in the way we have done in the past.

He also pointed out that Australia is the only country in the world that has followed the US into every international conflict since World War II, including major strategic blunders.

'I think the sign of a mature relationship is one where you can stand up to a partner and tell them when you think they have got it wrong. We haven't done that, to our own detriment and the international community,' Senator Di Natale said.

In May, opposition leader Bill Shorten said a Trump presidency would be 'very difficult' for Australia.

He suggested Americans should vote for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, drawing criticism from the government and some commentators.
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Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and celebrities have been sharing pictures of billowing smoke as a wildfire tears through southern California.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West left their Calabasas home on Friday just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area and Kylie Jenner shared photos of smoke on social media.

As that fire started three others broke out in southern California, NBC 4 reported, burning 200 acres of land and threatening 3,000 homes.

'Three thousand homes are evacuated, which is about 5,000 people,' Tony Coroalles, city manager of Calabasas, told CNN.

The fire forced mandatory evacuations in the Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville neighborhoods, fire officials said.

But as night fell on the area and temperatures cooled, it was reported about 15 per cent of the fire had been contained.

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Firefighters fight a wildfire from the air in Calabasas, California on Saturday evening. Tony Coroalles, city manager of Calabasas, said three thousand homes had been evacuated

Hundreds of firefighters worked to douse the wildfires as they approached homes and worked to get residents out of the area - one firefighter was injured while battling the blaze

The fires all merged in the Calabasas area, causing one massive blaze, dubbed the 'Old Fire'. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes

Four massive fires have torn through 200 acres of land in Southern California causing a mandatory evacuation in the Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville neighborhoods

Hundreds of firefighters spent all day Saturday into the night trying to contain the raging inferno that consumed the upscale Calabasas area

Kylie Jenner posted these images to Snapchat of a raging wildfire burning through the Calabasas area on Saturday

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West left their Calabasas home on Friday just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area, causing a mandatory evacuation. Kylie Jenner (pictured, right) was posting pictures of the blaze from her home (left) on Saturday

Kylie continued to post photos of the fire (pictured) raging in her hometown of Calabasas as she drove around the city with her friends

Firefighters approach a brush in the foothills outside of Calabasas on Saturday, as the fast-moving brush fire swept through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles

Firefighters monitor a brush in the foothills as the fire, which has damaged homes and prompted neighborhood evacuations, rages on

A firefighting helicopter, carrying water, flies near the Kittridge Fire in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Calabasas, near where the Kardashians live

Another of Kim's sisters, Kylie Jenner, is one of the celebrities close to the path of the inferno.

Kylie posted multiple videos to Snapchat, showing black smoke billowing over her home.

'Theres the fire next to my house!' she said, narrating one of her videos.

In a second Snapchat she can be heard asking: 'Am I going to have to evacuate?'

Celebrities also sent tweets out about the fire.

Ellen DeGeneres said: 'Sending thanks to Portia's brother Michael & all the rescue workers on the scene of this dangerous fire in Calabasas.'

Makeup artist and model Jeffree Star wrote: 'Just getting home and THANK YOU for all asking if me and Nathan are ok! Calabasas has some crazy fires...'

But one Calabasas resident told DailyMail.com: 'While the celebrities are being dramatic as we can all see the fires, no one is being forced to flee as the fires were always headed east and Calabasas is in the west.'

'Nobody can sit in their driveways or sit in their houses and ride this out. They need to get in their car and evacuate immediately,' Los Angeles County Fire Chief Dennis Cross told NBC 4

The blaze was reported at approximately 4.30pm and immediately started creeping toward homes, NBC reported.

By 5.30pm the fire had grown rapidly in acreage.

Several structures have been damaged, but to what extent has not yet been made clear.

The 200-acre blaze that erupted Saturday afternoon northwest of downtown Los Angeles is threatening about 3,000 homes, according to Los Angeles County fire officials

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and celebrities have been sharing pictures of billowing smoke as a wildfire tears through southern California

A firefighting helicopter dumping water on fire in the foothills could be seen from the corner of Eddingham and Mullhuland Highway, where mandatory evacuations were being enforced

A firefighter hoses down the remains of an out building near the foothills outside of Calabasas

As she drove around Kylie stuck her head out the window to smell the blaze. 'This is our city. We were born and raised in Calabasas. This cannot happen,' Kylie said in a video

She seemed to be feigning fear as she posted images of herself looking terrified while watching local news coverage of the Calabasas fire

Kim Kardashian (left) and Kanye West (right) went out of town on Friday, just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area, causing a mandatory evacuation

Fires were burning close to homes in the Topanga Canyon and Mulholland Highway areas around Calabasas, but officials didnt have an immediate damage assessment

The blaze was reported at approximately 4.30pm and started creeping toward homes. By 5.30pm it had rapidly grown in size and caused damages

Hundreds of firefighters worked to douse the wildfires as they approached homes and worked to get residents out of the area.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported that one firefighter was injured while battling the blaze.

Three water-dropping helicopters were also used to put the fires out.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills Station was initially leading a voluntary evacuation in the area and sending residents to nearby Agoura High School.

The cause of the fire is believed to be linked to excessive heat in south California.

A propane tank exploded from the heat of the fire near the Calabasas Klubhouse Pre-School as the flames crept closer. Firefighters worked to control the area and protect the school.

Officials believe another fire began when a car crashed into power poles, downing lines in three different places, NBC 4 reported.

The fires all merged in the Calabasas area, causing one massive blaze, dubbed the 'Old Fire'.

One of the fires, in Temecula, California, burned 35 acres of brush and caused temporary highway closures.

Only an eighth of an acre was burned in a Santa Clarita fire and a the third blaze burned two acres of the West Hills area.

This year has seen El Nino storms finally bringing some relief to the drought-ravaged Golden state.

However, central and southern California  especially the foothills of the Sierra Nevada  have been at high risk for fires in 2016.

Wildfire season is considered to be in July and August because of hot and dry conditions.

'That's the smoke over my neighborhood right now,' former Playboy bunny Kendra Wilkinson Snapchatted on Saturday during the blaze

Smoke from a fast-moving brush fire sweeping through hills in Calabasas, California, could be seen from Pasadena some 40 miles to the east

Hundreds of firefighters worked to douse the wildfires as they approached homes and worked to get residents out of the area. Three water-dropping helicopters were also used to put the fires out

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills Station was initially leading a voluntary evacuation in the area and sending residents to nearby high school

The fires are believed to have been caused by an abnormally high temperature and dry winds, though the temperatures are not record-breaking

But the months before and after are still subject to sparking massive fires.

Last year California had two of the top-10 most devastating fires in the state's history  very similar conditions to what's occurring in Canada right now, Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention told CNBC.

There's drought-induced tree mortality and we have just critically parched, dry vegetation, all (resulting in) just explosive fire conditions, he said.

One of the major problems facing California is its population of dead trees.

State and federal officials estimate there are 29 million dead trees throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range, CNBC reports.

There are a lot of trees that have died because of long-term drought and maybe some bugs as well, Heath Hockenberry, National Weather Service's national fire weather program manager, said.

The trees act as fodder for the fires to rage.

Two mega-fires in northern California caused an estimated $2 billion in damages last year.

The Butte and Valley fires destroyed 1,830 homes and left six people dead.

It also destroyed approximately 150,000 acres of land in five different counties, including areas that were home to wineries and vineyards.

The fire risk potential is quite high, particularly in Central and Southern California, where either the hope for El Nino rains didn't really come but there were enough rains to cause more brush to grow and chaparral to grow.

What will happen as they go into the dry season is all that new growth and greenery will dry out and it will just end up being more fuel for potential fires later this summer and autumn, Mark Bove, a senior research meteorologist for Munich Reinsurance America, told CNBC.

This year appears to be on track for a more average year for us than we've had in five or six years, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Calabasas is a city of about 23,000 residents in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley and northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The black man Donald Trump pointed out at a campaign rally as his 'African-American over here' has insisted he did not think the Republican presumptive candidate was being racist.

Trump singled out Gregory Cheadle in the crowd while he was speaking in Redding, California, because he was one of the few black people in the audience.

'Look at my African-American over here,' Trump said. 'Look at him. Are you the greatest? You know what I'm talking about, OK?'

Cheadle, a Republican who is running for Congress, said he 'never, ever sensed any racism' and that he felt it an honor to be spoken to by Trump - but does not know if he will vote for him.

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Donald Trump pointed out Gregory Cheadle (pictured) at a campaign rally as his 'African-American over here'

'To give the black folk the time of the day, I was happy,' Cheadle told the Redding Record Searchlight.

He said he understood how the moment could be construed as racist, but that he did not feel that was the case.

'It's a compliment to me,' Cheadle told CBS News.

'We are a super-sensitive people now when it comes to race. I mean, super sensitive. And we're so ready to pull that racist trigger and sometimes unnecessarily so,' he said.

'I'm running in a district that's at least 90 per cent white. If I wanted to find racism, I could.'

Cheadle added that he felt being called out by Trump was a sign that his 'work is paying off, that we as a black people can achieve things'.

Cheadle, a Republican who is running for Congress, said he 'never, ever sensed any racism' and that he felt it an honor to be spoken to by Trump

Huge: Donald Trump predicted he would get 'tremendous' support from black voters in the upcoming election during a speech on Friday

The congressional candidate added that he briefly spoke to Trump about job creation after the event, but was yet to decide on whether he would vote for him.

Cheadle said he had an 'open mind' but was 'inspired' by The Donald.

During the speech, Trump predicted he would be receiving a huge amount of support from black voters in the upcoming presidential election.

Trump also saluted an African-American supporter who attended one of his rallies in Arizona who punched a protester.

He said that fan 'was like this great guy, a military guy. We have tremendous African-American support'.

Polls show that when it comes to support among black voters, Trump consistently trails behind his likely general election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump spent much of the Redding rally bashing Clinton.

He also pledged to 'play heavy in California' in an effort to capture the electoral college's biggest prize in November.
The United States and Cuba are reportedly in talks about a possible prisoner exchange that could see the release of Tupac Shakur's aunt and a notorious Cuban spy.

The discussions, which are part of efforts to normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, are believed to be in the early stages, according to NBC News.

Among those reportedly named as prisoners to be released in the possible swap include the aunt of late rapper Tupac Shakur, Joanne Chesimard, and Cuban spy Ana Montes.

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The U.S. and Cuba are reportedly in talks about a possible prisoner exchange that could see the release of Tupac Shakur's aunt Joanne Chesimard (left) and Cuban spy Ana Montes (right)

American officials said the US is keen to have Americans who sought refuge in Cuba from US prosecution returned to American soil.

Of those Americans they would reportedly be interested in getting back include Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerester in 1973, NBC reported.

A former Black Panther, Chesimard was sentenced to life in prison but she escaped in 1979 and then fled to Cuba.

In 2013, she became the first woman to be added to the FBI's Most Wanted List.

American officials said the US is keen to have Americans who sought refuge in Cuba from US prosecution returned, including Chesimard (left), also known as Assata Shakur, who is the aunt of late rapper Tupac (right)

She was convicted of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerester in 1973, NBC reported. A former Black Panther, Chesimard was sentenced to life in prison but she escaped in 1979 and then fled to Cuba

Meanwhile, Cuban leaders are reportedly interested in getting Montes back to Cuba, a former senior US Defense Intelligence Agency analyst convicted in 2002 for spying for the Cuban government for 17 years.

Montes, who was arrested in September 2001, is considered one of the most damaging spies in recent history, because she had access to - and betrayed - U.S. intelligence activities in Cuba.

Investigators said she memorized classified information while working on the job and then typed it on a laptop when she was at her apartment before storing it in coded form on disks, NBC reported.

Montes, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, then passed the information to her Cuban handlers. She is set to be released in 2023.

While the State Department declined to discuss the details of a possible prisoner exchange, a spokesman told NBC the US is continuing to seek the return of fugitives from US justice from Cuba.
Whom are you going to believe, Donald Trump or your own lying eyes?

Trump is hoping the answer is Trump.

At an event in Fresno on May 27, the presumptive Republican nominee had the gall to declare that Californias severe four-year drought was a figment of voters imaginations.

Never mind the record-low levels of Sierra snowpack last year, which, through runoff, provide about a third of the water used by the states cities and farms. Never mind that snowpack conditions across California stand at 29 percent of their normal levels. Never mind that the last two years were Californias hottest on record.

Never mind that there were record numbers of acres claimed by wildfires and of tree deaths nationwide last year, in large part because of years of dry conditions out west.

Nope. Trump ignores all these obvious symptoms of severe drought. Instead, he blames the states entire water shortage on an environmental program to save a fish.

Note that Trump was not merely criticizing the governments response to a natural-resource scarcity (as have many on both left and right); he was claiming there was no scarcity to begin with.

Quoth Trump: There is no drought, further explaining that the water shortage is just a manufactured crisis created by a pro-environmentalist conspiracy.

This attack on empiricism is not exactly an unusual stance for the presumptive Republican nominee.

Just a few days earlier, Trump returned to another hobbyhorse of his: a claim that the unemployment data were doctored, too. Anyone who believes the Labor Departments headline unemployment rate of 5 percent is a dummy, Trump declared to the New York Post last week.

His was not the nuanced criticism some economists have made, that the headline unemployment number doesnt tell the whole story because it excludes two groups of workers: those who want jobs but have given up looking and those who want more hours but cant find them. If these additional groups of workers were factored in, they would indeed bump up the jobless rate by several percentage points.

We know this because the Labor Department actually reports those alternative measures of labor underutilization, too.

But Trump declares that even these numbers are fake.

The true unemployment rate, he claims, is quadruple what the government tells us, closer to 20 percent. The evidence, he told the New York Post, is not in any research or formal data collection hes done or seen, but merely the strong attendance at his own rallies.

As part of his war on data, Trump pledged to investigate these government-produced numbers, presumably also for signs that the Labor Department lackeys are cooking the books.

Its easy to mock Trump for denying reality. But in truth, he is hardly a pioneer in the postmodernist political effort to create parallel universes of facts.

For years the right-wing commentariat has deliberately dismantled public trust in major U.S. institutions, including government and the mainstream media. Media narratives are always skewed against conservative causes, they say, as are any standardized tools of policy analysis or fact-checking. (Meanwhile, major media organizations have doubled down on their self-proclaimed roles as impartial arbiters of truth, investing more resources in data-driven analysis and fact-checking operations ahead of this election.)

Conservative pundits have politicized some of the most apolitical subjects possible  math and science  through an array of arithmetically creative tax proposals and bogus attacks on climate change. Republican legislators have repeatedly cut funding for U.S. statistical agencies, upon which both policymakers and private businesses rely for objective information about the world around them.

The noble federal bean counters who tally up local temperatures, or census surveys on employment status, or data on consumer prices, are not political appointees; they are humble scientists, academic researchers and civil servants who serve in administrations of both major political parties.

In discrediting any rival and possibly neutral arbiter of truth and accountability  that is, entitling himself to his own facts as well as his own opinions  Trump achieves two important objectives. First, he frees himself up to invent colorful problems, conspiracies and villains that only a President Trump can defeat.

And second, he robs the public of any independent means of assessing whether hes ever actually succeeded.
A man managed to make the most of stormy Sydney conditions and catch a fish from his second floor balcony.

Vincent Cotte's property is usually 30 metres from the water, so when the Narrabeen Lake in Sydney's north flooded he decided to take the opportunity to throw a line in from the comfort of his balcony.

Vincent Cotte, whose property is usually about 30 metres from the lake, decided to make the most of the flood by throwing a line in from the comfort of his balcony

The Narrabeen Lake in Sydney's north flooded and water has covered the yards of nearby houses

The Narrabeen Lake (pictured) in Sydney's north flooded and water is covering the yards of nearby houses

To his delight, he reeled in a small fish before throwing it back into the rain-swollen lake.

'It's like Christmas,' he said. 'Look at them, there are heaps of fish.'

Earlier, residents from the nearby North Narrabeen Caravan Park and the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation were evacuated after fears the lake would flood.

SES crews are currently door-knocking areas around Narrabeen Lagoon and Narrabeen Lake on Sydneys Northern Beaches warning residents their homes may be inundated as the rain continues to fall.

Crews are asking residents to place important items up high and monitor the rising flood water.

Winds of up to 125 km/h and up to 200 millimetres of rain is expected to have hit Newcastle and Sydney overnight as the wild east coast system moved through.

SES crews are currently door-knocking areas around Narrabeen Lagoon and Narrabeen Lake on Sydneys Northern Beaches warning residents their homes may be inundated as the rain continues to fall. Above, Narrabeen beach on Saturday night

Crews are currently door-knocking areas around Narrabeen Lagoon and Narrabeen Lake on Sydneys Northern Beaches warning residents their homes may be inundated as the rain continues to fall

An evacuation centre has been opened near the Tweed River, in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, after fears the river could breach its banks.

'We are going to experience over the next 48 hours increased rainfall and heavy winds - the public needs to take care in these conditions,' Acting Assistant Commissioner Kyle Stewart said on Saturday night.

'Our message is clear - do not put your life and that of emergency services personnel in danger.'

The SES has responded to thousands of calls for help, including five people rescued after their car got caught in flash floodwaters at Murwillumbah in NSW's north.
A man is in a critical condition after residents allegedly confronted armed intruders in their Melbourne home.

Two men in their 20s, both with upper body injuries, are under police guard in The Royal Melbourne Hospital after an attempted armed burglary at a home in Kings Park about 6.40am on Sunday.

Police believe the homeowners used an iron bar to fight off the unwelcome visitors, who reportedly fled the scene in a light-coloured Toyota Camry, leaving behind a trail of blood.

A man is in a critical condition after residents allegedly confronted armed intruders in their Melbourne home (stock image)

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said paramedics were called to a house in nearby Deer Park, where they found two men - one in a critical and one in a stable condition.

Than, 24, told the Herald Sun that his 26-year-old brother came home after buying groceries at around 6.30am on Sunday morning to find the burglars at the door.

'The attackers pulled up next door and demanded that my brother open the door,' he said.

The burglars were reportedly wearing hooded jumpers and had handkerchiefs over their faces.

Than, who asked to keep his surname hidden, said he came to his brother's support and a fight spilled out onto the street, according to the Herald Sun.

He says no weapon or iron bar was used in the melee.

'The home owners fought off the intruders ... our investigation is continuing,' a Victoria police spokeswoman told AAP.

No arrests have been made.

The two alleged home intruders are under police guard at The Royal Melbourne Hospital




Woman pulled from water by diving partner, 43, and taken to a boat ramp

Witnesses reported seeing a shark which was 'bigger than

A 60-year-old woman has died after being attacked by a shark while she was diving at Mindarie, about 35 kilometres north of Perth on Sunday.

Police said her 43-year-old diving partner pulled her from the water but she had died before they made it to shore.

Three men who came to the pair's aid reported seeing a shark which was longer than their 5.3 metre fishing boat.

Police said the woman's injuries 'were apparent and severe' and consistent with a shark attack.

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A woman has died after being attacked by a shark- Three men who came to her aid reported seeing a shark which was longer than their 5.3 metre fishing boat

Police said the woman's injuries 'were apparent and severe' and consistent with a shark attack

A woman has died after being attacked by a shark while diving at Mindarie Beah, about 35 kilometres north of Perth

Police were called at 11.50am and told that an injured person was found in the water off Mindarie.

She was taken to a boat ramp in Mindarie.

The womans diving partner had felt something go past him' while he was in the water, police told the ABC.

'Police and St John Ambulance personnel attended the scene and located a female person deceased.'

The Department of Fisheries also said it was treating the incident as a 'possible shark attack' and said in a statement the people who brought the woman to shore at reported seeing a shark.

It is understood fisheries officers are set to deploy baited drum lines in the area.

Less than half an hour before the shark attack, Surf Life Saving WA reported a shark sighting and 'possible shark interaction' off Mindarie Beach.

The Department of Fisheries believes the shark is more than 3 metres long and officers have set gear to catch and kill the animal.

The incident on Sunday is the second fatal shark attack in the Perth area in a week.

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Police were called at 11.50am and told that an injured person was found in the water off Mindarie

Police examine a boat in Mindarie - believed to be the same one used by the diver

If the injuries were inflicted by a shark it would be the second shark attack in the Perth area in a week

Less than half an hour before the suspected shark attack, Surf Life Saving WA reported a shark sighting

It comes just days after a surfer had his leg bitten off by a shark while paddling his surfboard at Falcon Beach in his hometown of Mandurah, south of Perth, on Tuesday afternoon.

Ben Gerring, 29, was brought to shore by fellow surfers and taken to Royal Perth Hospital, but tragically died late on Friday night from the injuries.

An inspection of his damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible.

Western Australia's Department of Fisheries trapped and killed a 4.2 metre great white shark on Wednesday afternoon but don't know if it was the same shark that attacked Gerring.

The huge shark was caught on Wednesday afternoon and died on the drum line.

It was then towed out to sea and dumped after samples and measurements were taken.

The latest incident happened around 100km north of Tuesday's attack.

Ben Gerring (pictured), 29, was brought to shore by fellow surfers and taken to Royal Perth Hospital, but tragically died late on Friday night from the injuries

An inspection of Ben Gerring's (left) damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible

A 4.2 metre great white shark was trapped and killed on Wednesday afternoon by Western Australia's Department of Fisheries (pictured)

The use of traps to catch sharks is controversial and was widely criticised on Wednesday
A Memphis police officer who was struck by the vehicle of a man suspected in a downtown shooting spree that left three other people injured died on Saturday night, police said.

Officer Verdell Smith, 46, was pronounced dead from his injuries at 10.43pm Saturday, Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings said during a news conference.

Police said two people were taken to the hospital in critical condition after being shot by the suspect - described only as a black male - on North Main about 10pm Saturday.

They say the suspect then ran to Bass Pro Pyramid and shot a male employee. The condition of that victim was not immediately available.

It was a grim scene in downtown Memphis Saturday night when Officer Verdell Smith, 46, was struck and killed by a suspect fleeing the scene of a triple-shooting

Chaos erupted when a suspect shot three people and then fled the scene in a silver car and eventually ran over Officer Smith, who was trying to clear the area of people

Memphis police officer Verdell Smith was stuck and killed Saturday night by a suspect fleeing the shooting of three people on busy Beale Street in the downtown district

Police said the suspect then fled in a silver vehicle, traveling the wrong direction down a busy street, and later struck Smith, who had been working with other officers to clear the area.

The unidentified suspect then fled briefly on foot but was apprehended by police, taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to face charges.

An investigation is ongoing.

Rallings said Smith was an 18-year police veteran who is survived by a father, fiance, a son and two daughters.

'He's a man's man and he was an officer's officer. He was definitely a great father,' Rallings said. 'Like I said, he loved his son - always talked about him, always had him with him. I think his son is taking it really, really hard. He had two daughters as well.'

The officer was so popular with the community that shop owners ran out of stores to the scene, hoping he wasn't the cop they'd heard had been struck. Smith leaves behind a fiance and three children

Rallings said the department mourned the loss not just of Smith but of other officers killed in the line of duty, including Officers Sean Bolton in 2015 and Martoiya Lang in 2012.

'Each one of them have their own characteristics that they bring to this job,' he said. 'When called to do the job that they've been asked to do  each and every one of these individuals has done that.'

Shop owners along the strip said that Smith was an officer who got to know the community and protected them, and when they heard that an officer was struck, many ran out of the their stores to the crime scene, hoping it wasn't him, reported WMC Action News 5.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland posted a message of remorse and anger on his Facebook page.

'My family joins all of Memphis in mourning the loss of Officer Verdell Smith, who gave his life in service to our city,' Strickland's post read. 'I call on every Memphian to remember Officer Smith's family in prayer and reflection today and in the coming days - and to be grateful for the dangerous, important work our men and women of MPD perform every day.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised new legislation to protect volunteer firefighters in their dispute with the state government and firefighters' union, at a rally in Victoria on Sunday.

Mr Turnbull told hundreds of Victorian Country Firefighters Association (CFA) volunteers in Melbourne that he would stand with every one of them.

'I give you this pledge: if we are returned to government on the 2nd of July, we will ensure the law is changed to protect you from this takeover,' Mr Turnbull said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured second from right) has promised new legislation to protect volunteer firefighters in their dispute with the state government and firefighters' union

Mr Turnbull told hundreds of Victorian Country Firefighters Association (CFA) volunteers in Melbourne that he would stand with every one of them

'The idea that you would be overruled ... subordinated to the UFU (United Firefighters Union) is incredible.'

CFA volunteers are angry the state government appears to be going ahead with a proposed enterprise agreement which favours the United Firefighters Union.

The agreement was backed by the Fair Work Commission last week in non-binding recommendations.

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett is on the brink of quitting following news Premier Daniel Andrews could go ahead with a controversial deal with the Firefighters Union

The state government has said it accepts Fair Work Commissioner Julius Roe's findings that nothing in the new enterprise bargaining agreement will affect CFA volunteers.

But the CFA says the union would be given unprecedented veto power which could affect the CFA's general operations and culture.

The prime minister flagged the coalition would make changes to the Fair Work Act, with the help of Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who was also at the rally, as was Environment Minister Greg Hunt.

Earlier during the rally, Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria CEO Andrew Ford said he did not care 'which colour of government' is in power as long as they stopped changes which threaten the management of emergency services and volunteer-based organisations.

'We've been at this for decades, trying to fix it. Enough is enough, today is a line in the sand,' Mr Ford said.

The state's Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett is on the brink of quitting over the mounting dispute.

The Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria are planning a mass rally over the issue, which they believe could undermine the role of firefighting volunteers

Ms Garrett claimed she would prefer leaving cabinet than accept the deal which critics claims could undermine the role of firefighting volunteers and give more power to the union.

If she steps down she will be the second minister to do so in 11 months after Adem Somyurek left cabinet in July 2015 over allegations he was bullied.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has appointed Emergency Services commissioner Craig Lapsley as independent arbiter to ensure the implementation of a new pay deal won't affect volunteers.

Mr Lapsley, a former Bendigo firefighter, is well regarded by both career and volunteer firefighters, and would act as 'a good circuit breaker', a government spokesman told AAP on Sunday.

Government sources have pointed to the deal's value sits at $160 million, while the CFA estimated it cost $1.2 billion.

The deal is expected the deal will go to cabinet on Monday before it will be officially signed.

The CFA has estimated the deal with United Firefighters Union cost a staggering $1.2 billion




From a broken family and living in inner-city public housing, Sequoia Baker was fed up with her life being stuck in a rut.

The teenager's parents were unable to make her high school graduation and her prospects for the future looked bleak.

But determined not to give up, the Milwaukee student bagged herself a place at college and applied for numerous internships and part-time jobs.

After years of hard graft, Miss Baker's dreams were realized when she was offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for Michelle Obama.

Rags to riches: Sequoia Baker went from living in public housing to being an intern for Michelle Obama

After years of had graft, Miss Baker's dreams were realized when she was offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in the White House

Miss Baker has been the First Lady's unpaid communications intern for four months, but if you had asked her five years ago whether she would be working in the White House at the age of 22, she would have laughed.

'I remember skipping my high school graduation, too embarrassed to show up knowing I wouldn't have parents who'd be there,' she wrote on Facebook.

'What I didn't know is that five years later I'd finish undergrad working for First Lady Michelle Obama, whose story as a first generation college student is all too familiar.'

The hardworking University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student took on as many communications internships as she could, getting valuable experience on the radio and in the public sector with Milwaukee County.

Miss Baker was the first in her 'broken family' to go to college, but now lives the high life traveling around America and the world - when she's not busy in the Washington, DC, of course.

'While I can't say accomplishments erase rejection, I've learned that you owe it to yourself, those who've inspired you and those you'll inspire to show up and live the life you've envisioned,' she wrote on Facebook.

Intelligent@ Miss Baker has been the First Lady's unpaid communications internship for four months

Miss Baker was the first in her 'broken family' to go to college, but now lives the high life traveling around America and the world - when she's not busy in the Washington, DC, of course

Despite her success, she considered not picking up her diploma when she graduated last month because of the difficult memories of her high school graduation.

'The night before graduation, I debated again about just getting my degree in the mail [and] not walking,' she told ABC News.

'But when you grow up in the environment that I grew up in, and you make it to these places that people grew up in those environments don't make it to, or don't have an opportunity to get to, I just think you kind of owe it.'

She was one of hundreds to apply to be a communications intern in the First Lady's office, so was overcome with joy when she got the job.

'It was right after the holidays. Holidays are typically rough. They can be rough for anybody who deals with family issues. And, honestly, I had given up because ... I just kind of thought, "You just didn't get it." But I was very excited, to say the least, when I got the email,' she said.

She helped with the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the historic Nordic State dinner last month.
The Border Force is said to be in talks with the Royal Navy over the possibility of sending military vessels to patrol the English Channel.

Officials are understood to have asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for more support amid concerns that an increasing number of migrants will attempt to reach Britain by water.

The two agencies already work together on operations protecting Britain's coastlines but it is understood officials are requesting further assistance, although no formal request has been made.

Support: HMS Sutherland (pictured) could be deployed to the Channel to pick up migrants crossing the sea from France, it was reported. The Border Force are understood to have asked for more help from the Navy

A source told the Sunday Times: 'The MoD has been asked to look at the ways in which they could enhance the existing collaboration between the Border Force and the Royal Navy.

'Ministers have not given the go-ahead but it's about scoping out the possibility.'

Just three Border Force vessels patrol 7,700 miles of coastline after another was deployed to the Aegean Sea to tackle the migrant crisis.

Bernard Barron, president of the Calais coastguard, warned last month the Channel risks seeing the same scenes of tragedy as the Mediterranean as migrants are taking increasingly desperate risks to get on to British shores.

A network of professional people smugglers are operating across the entire northern coast of France and Belgium, he added.

'It has become virtually impossible for migrants to cross to the UK through the Channel Tunnel or on car ferries. So smugglers have found a new strategy.

'It has started to be a very similar situation to that seen in the Mediterranean and I fear that the scenes we have seen there will be repeated in the Channel,' he said, adding: 'This all confirms our fear that the smugglers are willing to take extreme measures.'

Two British men were in court last weekend charged with immigration offences after 18 Albanians were saved from a sinking dinghy off Dymchurch, Kent.

Dangerous: Officials have warned migrants are taking increasingly desperate risks to get on to British shores. Pictured, migrants camp on the cliffs near Dieppe, northern France, hoping to cross the English Channel

It comes after it was reported that a Royal Navy warship could be deployed to the English Channel to pick up migrants crossing the sea from France.

HMS Sutherland  already at high readiness defending Britain's coastline  could be tasked with saving hundreds of migrants and dropping them off in the UK.

The Plymouth-based frigate is often used to escort Russian and Chinese warships which pass into UK territorial waters and through the Channel.

Navy sources have said it would take on a similar task to British ships currently in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.

A source told the Daily Mail: 'If asked by the Home Office, it could be tasked with the job. In an extreme situation it would be very strange if the warship did not pick up migrants. The laws of the sea mean it would have to. In theory it could pick up hundreds of people.'

Another Navy source said there would need to be a policy put in place in order to make it a 'directed task'  like the mission in the Mediterranean  rather than one they just react to. It would require a request by the Home Office and then the Ministry of Defence would assign the ship.

It comes after aerial surveillance of Britain's shores was scrapped in January to save money. Both Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency and HM Revenue and Customs officials are said to be 'deeply concerned' that the UK has not got control of its territorial waters.

Earlier this month a report by peers said claims that Operation Sophia, the EU naval mission against people smugglers, would act as a 'magnet to migrants' had some validity.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'There is currently no formal request for military support in the English Channel.'
The chief executive of the UK's top wind industry trade body has admitted that more turbine projects in England aren't viable - because it isn't windy enough.

Hugh McNeal, of RenewableUK, made the astonishing admission but did say that projects should still take place in other parts of the UK.

Mr McNeal said that new projects were 'very unlikely' apart from those which have received subsidies and are waiting for construction.

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Hugh McNeal, of RenewableUK, made the astonishing admission but did say that projects should still take place in other parts of the UK

He said: 'We are almost certainly not talking about the possibility of new plants in England. The project economics wouldnt work; the wind speeds dont allow for it.'

The Conservative government has already implemented its pledge to end wind farm subsidies, and Mr McNeal said its his job to convince people that wind energy is still the cheapest form of new energy generation.

Government research suggests that there is still 425 megawatts of capacity in England in the turbine planning system, but this is far less than in Scotland, reported The Telegraph.

There are 4,000 onshore wind turbines already powering 4million homes, with another 3,000 granted planning permission

The Conservatives have ended the controversial system of offering subsidies for landowners who agree to have a turbine built on their land.

The chief executive of ScottishPower Renewables, Keith Anderson, said that he believed a solution could be removing small old turbines to replace them with more powerful ones.

The director of policy and research at the Renewable Energy Foundation, John Constable, said: 'There has to be grid expansion to remove bottlenecks, short-term response plant and/or demand, and the cost of operating a conventional fleet of almost unchanged size to guarantee security of supply.'

There are 4,000 onshore wind turbines already powering 4million homes, with another 3,000 granted planning permission.




Liam Fee died in Fife area in March 2014, after being

Stephen Moore, who worked at Fife Council, earned 132,000-a-year

A council boss whose staff failed murdered toddler Liam Fee retired on a 60,000-a-year pension.

Stephen Moore, who worked at Fife Council and earned 132,000-a-year, quit his role five months after the two-year-old was killed by his mother and her partner a year after social workers were warned about them.

He died in Thornton, Fife in March 2014, when his heart ruptured from blows to his chest following two years of sustained abuse.

His mother Rachel Trelfa, 31 and her partner Nyomi Fee, 29, were found guilty of murder after denying the charge.

The couple, who were originally from Ryton, Tyne and Wear, are now due to be sentenced.

A source speaking about Mr Moore told The Sun: 'He just waltzed off into the sunset with all his money as though nothing happened and everything was fine.'

The nursery which the toddler attended had told Fife Council about the numerous injuries he sustained in January 2013.

After a home visit the toddler 'fell off the radar' and despite further concerns raised in June 2013 Liam was not saved.

Three separate investigations criticised child protection measures at the council whilst Mr Moore worked as social work director.

Mr Moore, 58, has paid off his mortgage and now works two day a week at Audit Scotland.

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During his time as a council boss more than 350 full-time jobs including 30 post in the child and family protection team were culled.

The responsibility for child protection had moved to another council manager seven weeks before Liam died.

Mr Moore said there was nothing to connect the toddler's death with this pension pot.

A spokeswoman for Fife Council declined to comment on Mr Moore's salary or retirement package.

Liam (pictured) died in Thornton, Fife in March 2014, when his heart ruptured from blows to his chest following two years of sustained abuse

Rachel Fee (left), 31, who is also known as Rachel Trelfa, and her partner Nyomi Fee, 28, who have been convicted of murdering her two-year-old son Liam Fee

The prison van containing Rachel Trelfa and her civil partner Nyomi Fee leaves Livingston High Court
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former spin doctor, is reportedly due to be cleared by the Chilcot Inquiry over claims he 'sexed up' an Iraq war dossier

New Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell is set to be cleared of wrong doing over the Iraq War despite more than a decade of claims he 'sexed up' a No 10 dossier make the case for war.

Mr Campbell has reportedly not been sent a letter by the inquiry setting out criticisms and offering a right of reply - unlike his former boss Tony Blair.

Inquiry sources told the Sunday Times Mr Campbell was 'in the clear' and indicated intelligence chiefs would be blamed for producing the material No 10 presented to the public.

The long-awaited Chilcot Inquiry report will finally be published on July 6, almost seven years after it was first ordered by then-prime minister Gordon Brown.

The 2.6million word report is thought to run to some 6,000 pages.

One source told the paper: 'Campbell has not had a letter. He is in the clear.

'He was in some ways a bit player in this. Those who were directly responsible were the heads of the agencies who allowed him to 'sex up' the 'dodgy dossier' and of course the prime minister for whom he was working.

'Press officers are not supposed to be key policymakers, even though they sometimes are.'

Another source added: 'The panel sees Campbell as a sideshow.'

Mr Blair is expected to be heavily criticised in the inquiry report and last week insisted he planned to robustly make his case when the huge review is published.

The Sunday Times said he was consulting with key allies from his No 10 team, including Mr Campbell, as well as Jonathan Powell, his former chief of staff, former ministers Lord Mandelson and Lord Falconer and aides Anji Hunter and Baroness Morgan.

An ally of the former prime minister said concern was focussed on how far Sir John Chilcot would go in accusing Mr Blair of lying to Parliament - a major claim of his opponents.

They told the paper: 'The lying issue is the greatest concern.'

Sir John Chilcot is due to publish his 2.6million, 6,000 page report on the run up to and aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War on July 6

Pressed in a TV interview last week on whether he would accept the findings of the Chilcot report, Mr Blair said: 'It is hard to say that when I haven't seen it.'

The former PM defended his decisions on Iraq, saying: 'I think when you go back and you look at what was said, I don't think anyone can seriously dispute that I was making it very clear what my position was.'

Sources close to Mr Blair today said: 'He will come out all guns blazing.

'But Iraq has affected him a lot. It has made him into a defensive, awkward, self-conscious individual who feels destabilised by it.'
After 35 years exploring every corner of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, author, journalist, historian and academic Sandy Barnard has come to the conclusion that three factors were primarily responsible for the demise the U.S. Seventh Cavalry on the rolling Montana prairie in 1876.

It wasnt all down to its commander, Lt. Col. George A. Custer, who a decade earlier had performed brilliantly as a Union general in the Civil War. Start with what he was given to work with, Barnard said in a telephone interview from his home in North Carolina.

During his much-lauded Civil War career, Custer had led a well-trained, motivated and experienced Michigan cavalry armed with Spencer repeating rifles.

The Seventh Cavalry was not the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, Barnard said.

Forty percent of the troopers who saddled up for the Little Bighorn campaign were poor immigrants barely familiar with horses or marksmanship, he explained. Their firearms werent seven-shot repeaters, but single-shot Springfields prone to jam.

Then there was the strength and overwhelming numbers of Custers opponents  Sioux and Cheyenne trained from childhood as horsemen and warriors, Barnard said. They were fighting on familiar ground, furiously protecting their women, children and way of life.

But the primary obstacle for the Seventh Cavalry campaign may have been the land itself.

Terrain, Im convinced, is the most important factor, he said. When youve been on the ground as much as I have, you realized how rugged it was, how hard it was for the men and horses.

"They (battle critics) have no idea what the terrain was like.

The landscape of the fatal June 25 encounter is the subject of Barnards new book Photographing Custers Battlefield. Images featured in its 257-pages are those of legendary U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent and photographer Kenneth F. Roahen of Billings, who roamed the battlefield for work and pleasure from the 1930s to 1970s. Roahens photographs are paired with those Barnard took of the same scenery during several weeks-long visits to the battlefield in 2012 and 2013.

Here are the rugged ravines, steep hillsides and narrow ridges that stretch from the Little Bighorn River to Last Stand Hill. A few miles away, the photographers capture the daunting bluffs Maj. Marcus Reno and three companies under his command retreated up after launching the initial attack on Sitting Bulls camp.

Marked by stark white headstones commemorating the fallen and crossed by trails and roads, the landscape has been significantly altered in the 140 years since the most famous battle of the Indian Wars. But the basic elements would still be recognizable to combatants on both sides, even with intrusion of Custer National Cemetery and a 1950s visitor center.

The terrain has a history and evolution all its own. Comparisons of Roahens photographs from 40 to 70 years ago and Barnards more contemporary shots, demonstrate the pace of change. Roahen pictured the landscape before the Park Service built its visitor center in the heart of the battlefield in 1952 and before Interstate 90 carved up a big chunk of the historic battleground in the 1970s.

The visitor center is the worst thing they ever did," Barnard laments. If they ever remove it, Roahens photographs will be very useful in restoring it to what it looked like at the time of the battle."

For more than 30 years, battlefield advocates and the National Park Service have been trying unsuccessfully to find a way to build a new visitor center/museum away from the primary scenes of the Little Bighorn fight.

Interstate 90, its four lanes clearly visible from much of the national monument, destroyed the scene of Renos Valley fight, Barnard said.

Before the attack, Custer had divided his command in three parts. One, under Reno, was ordered to initiate the action with a charge on the Indian village spread for miles in the Little Bighorn Valley. Capt. Frederick Benteen and his command were sent to scout territory a few miles away. Renos attack proved disastrous and he and his men scattered pell-mell across the river and struggled up treacherous bluffs to what is now known as the Reno-Benteen battlesite. There he was soon joined by Benteen and his troops. The combined forces held out for two days until a relief column arrived. They had no idea Custer and his five companies had been slaughtered several miles away at Last Stand Hill.

After arriving on the bluffs, the troops could hear heavy firing from the direction of the Custer fight. Capt. Thomas Weir, without orders, galloped toward the guns. Others soon followed, but got only as far as what is now called Weir Point before being forced back by warriors racing to meet them.

Troopers, many of whom were later awarded the Medal of Honor, risked their lives dodging bullets and arrows as they scampered down what is now known as Water Carriers Ravine to bring water from the Little Bighorn to the wounded on the hot, dry bluffs above.

The Roahen and Barnard photographs, taken largely from the same vantage points, explore the scenes of all of this action and much more. Bernard has organized the book starting at the Crows Nest, a precipice in the Wolf Mountains from where Custers Crow scouts first spotted the enemy many miles away on the Little Bighorn. He and Roahen follow the cavalry combatants to both Last Stand Hill and to the Reno-Benteen Battlesite.

Barnard began researching the book off and on beginning in 2009 when The Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin received Roahens collection of about 10,000 photographs from his niece Elaine Ooley of Billings. He made arrangements with museum director Diana Scheidt to research the collection and use parts of it in his book. Then he set about reshooting the same scenes from the same point of view, noting the changes that have occurred over several decades.

Roahen was as intriguing as his photographs. He began his Fish and Wildlife Service career battling Prohibition-era gangsters who were illegally culling ducks from Chicago-area waters. He was beaten, shot and left for dead many times during his five years in Al Capone country. Finally, in 1930, when it had become clear he was a prime target for the lawless element, Roahen was transferred to Montana where he served as an agent until 1955.

As his interest in photography grew, Roahen captured the images of a changing world. He was frequently called on to record scenes at the battlefield. Postcards made from his work were sold at the visitor center. Historians asked him to provide photos for their books.

Barnard, a retired journalist and college professor, has been visiting the battlefield since a family vacation in 1980. On the trip, he purchased a book that mentioned Mark Kellogg, a reporter who died with Custer at the Little Bighorn. Intrigued, he began research that led to one project after another. He has written 14 books related to the battle or the battlefield and has two more being readied for publication. Another four or five research topics wait in the wings.

Therell always be another story to write, he said.

Photographing Custer Battlefield was published by The University of Oklahoma Press and is priced at $39.95. Barnard will visit the battlefield in June for the 140th anniversary of the Last Stand. A book signing is planned at the battlefield.
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: A five-year-old has suffered life-changing injuries after her neighbour's dog pinned her down and bit a chunk of her cheek off in a vicious attack. Elsie (before injury left; after, right), from Croydon, South London , was playing with her friends outside her home when the Staffordshire bull terrier attacked her, leaving her with wounds requiring three surgeries. Elsie's mother, Kirsty, 29, has revealed that as well as her physical injuries, her daughter has been left traumatised. 'She doesn't want to go out, particularly on public transport because she doesn't want people to stare at her,' she said. 'She hasn't been back to school since because she doesn't want her friends to see her like this.' The vicious attack took place at around 5pm on September 25 when Elsie and her sister Amelia, 9, were playing with friends in a secure area in front of their block.
Sir John Major today mauled Mr Johnson as a 'charming court jester' but claimed his disloyalty now would mean he would never be able to lead a united Tory party.

The ex-PM said Vote Leave was offering a 'fundamentally dishonest' case for why Britain should leave the European Union.

And he claimed: 'I'm angry at the way the British people are being misled.'

The explosive interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr was immediately followed by another with Mr Johnson - who dismissed the claims he just wanted to be PM as 'absolute nonsense'.

Senior Tory and Brexit campaigner David Davis suggested Sir John had launched his attack on orders from No 10 - warning it had been a 'very bad idea' - while Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt said Britain 'deserves better than' name calling.

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Sir John Major launched a savage attack on Boris Johnson during an extraordinary live interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr today

The former prime minister predicted Mr Johnson would face the same fate as Iain Duncan Smith if he seized control of the party after leading the Brexit rebellion.

In a deeply personal attack on Mr Johnson, Sir John said: 'Throughout the whole of my political life, people have regarded me as being guilty of understatement.

'I am angry at the way the British people are being misled. This is much more important than a general election - this is going to affect people, their livelihoods, their future for a very long time to come.

'If they decide to leave on the basis of inaccurate information, known to be inaccurate, then I regard that as deceitful. That is how I see their campaign... for once I am not prepared to give the benefit of the doubt.

'I think this is a deceitful campaign... they are misleading people to an extraordinary extent.'

He said: 'People are being invited to vote for a pig in a poke.'

He added: 'I can't see inside Boris's mind and I would not attempt to do so - but I would offer this piece of friendly advice.

'He's a very engaging and charming court jester and a very engaging and charming public figure and he's very likeable.

'But... if the Leave campaign led by Boris continue to divide the Conservative Party as they are doing at the present time and if Boris has the laudable ambition to become prime minister he will find if he achieves that he will not have the loyalty of the party he divided.

'Iain Duncan Smith was serially disloyal in the 1990s. When he became leader he was surprised no one was loyal to him.

'Boris should learn from that.'

Sir John's attack including claims Vote Leave's campaign on immigration was 'squalid' and warned the NHS would not be safe in the hands of Eurosceptic Tories

Mr Johnson was sat on the BBC set at Sir John levelled his fierce attack against him

Asked if Mr Johnson was fit to be Prime Minister, he added: 'That's a matter for a much wider view than mine - it's a matter for the Conservative Party, ultimately for the whole electorate.

'I merely say whether Boris is Prime Minister is no doubt a very important matter to Boris and many other people, it is less important than the decision we have to take in less than three weeks time.'

MICHAEL GOVE REFUSES TO SAY HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO CUT IMMIGRATION Michael Gove has insisted Brexit is essential to meeting the Tory pledge of getting net migration down to the tens of thousands. But interviewed today he refused say how long it would take after a Brexit vote on June 23. The Justice Secretary also suggested Britain would still be in the EU in 2020 regardless of the outcome - despite the fact EU treaties suggest leaving the bloc should take no more than two years. He told the ITV Peston on Sunday programme: 'We wouldn't have left the European Union by the end of this Parliament but we would in due course bring it down to tens of thousands. 'I wouldn't set a time limit for it but the ambition would be to bring it down to tens of thousands.' Put to him that it would mean reducing both EU and non-EU immigration, Mr Gove said: 'Yes. 'I absolutely don't think (that it would damage Britain's prosperity) because at the moment uncontrolled numbers coming in here only depress wages for working people. 'It's also the case that they put a considerable strain on public services, on housing, on the National Health Service, and of course on school places. 'We grew very successfully in the 1980s and the 1990s with immigration in the tens of thousands.' Advertisement

Mr Johnson hit back in his own interview and told Marr: 'I dismiss it. We have a very short time now until the referendum and what people want to hear are the arguments.

'What we are setting out on the Leave side is an agenda for the Government to take back control on June 23 of a lot of things that really matter to the people of this country.'

Mr Johnson said it was 'absolute nonsense' he was backing Brexit for career reasons.

Asked if he believed the attacks against him were part of a plot to 'take him out', he said: 'Whether it is or not, I'm rather with John McDonnell this morning who says that there is too much of this blue on blue action and what he wants to hear is the arguments and that's where I am.'

The ex-London mayor rejected suggestions the Vote Leave campaign claim Britain sends the EU 350million was untrue and robustly stood by the figure.

And he said: 'Invisibly, many aspects of our lives are controlled by the EU, from abroad, from Brussels, in a way that is anti-democratic.

'At the heart of this campaign... for me this is a question of democracy.

'At the moment we have absolutely no power to control our immigration policy.'

Sir John, whose 1990s premiership was rocked by constant Tory infighting over Europe, said Mr Johnson should take responsibility for stopping untruths by Vote Leave.

He said: 'I have no doubt there are many people in this country, including those in the Leave campaign, who thoroughly believe what they are say - I've never questioned that though I must say in Boris' case it was a rather late conversion.

'I don't know if he had a day trip to Damascus and then came back.'

He added: 'What they have done now they have begun the campaign is feeds out to the public a whole galaxy of inaccurate and frankly untrue information.'

Sir John warned: 'If we cut ourselves adrift, we will become a vastly diminished country.'

And he claimed the referendum was not 'about politicians priorities' but about the fortunes of ordinary men and women and their families.

And he warned against playing 'Russian roulette' with their lives by quitting the EU.

He slammed Vote Leave for a campaign over immigration 'verging on the squalid'.

In his own interview today, Mr Johnson defended the Vote Leave campaign and stood by a series of controversial claims made by him and allies

And the former PM condemned the 'utterly false' suggestion 88 million Turks were ready to come to Britain if the country rejects Brexit.

Sir John said the campaign's promises to spend more on the NHS wee 'fatuous' and 'frankly, a deceit'.

And he said the leading Tories at Vote Leave could not be trusted with the health service, adding: 'The NHS is as safe with them as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python.'

But in his own exchanges, Mr Johnson defended Vote Leave over immigration. He confirmed his view immigration was positive in itself but insisted it needed to controlled.

Mr Johnson said: 'The question the Remain campaign have to answer is what is their long term programme, what is their answer for the country if the numbers continue at this rate.

'At the moment, if we grow the size of a city like Newcastle every year, we will see our population rise inexorably to 70 or perhaps 80 million.

'What the Remain campaign have to say is where is our vision for this? It may be a great vision, it may be a positive thing, but where are they going to build the homes?

'What is going to happen to the green belt? How will it work for schools and hospitals and all the public services that will be affected? We are not hearing anything about how this is supposed to work.'

Mr Johnson dismissed Sir John's claims about the Vote Leave campaign and warned the Remain campaign had to spell out a vision for dealing with a rising population

Marr accused Mr Johnson's Vote Leave campaign of making a statement that was 'untrue' on posters which say 'Turkey is joining the EU'.

Mr Johnson said Government policy was for Turkey to join the EU and added: 'I don't mind if Turkey joins the EU provided the UK leaves the EU.'

Told again the poster was not true, Mr Johnson said: 'Government policy is Turkish membership should be accelerated.'

Tory former leadership contender David Davis said he guessed that No 10 had asked Sir John to go on the attack.

He told BBC One's Sunday Politics: 'I guess he was trying to reduce the credibility of the Leave campaign's claims.'

Sir John's assault had been a 'very bad idea',' the senior Conservative said.

'It was a pretty harsh attack and I don't think very wise.

'One of the problems, both sides of this campaign has been they have been too personalised. I don't think it gains anything.'

Ms Mordaunt said: 'The 'In' campaign had an opportunity to properly engage in the debate on Sunday and explain why the risks of remaining in the EU are worth it.

'Instead all they were able to offer was name calling and an attempt to rewrite history, rather than a serious debate about the issues. The British people deserve better than that.

'If we Vote Leave on 23 June we can take back control of the 50 million we hand to Brussels every day and protect ourselves from the risks of remain.'

'We don't want Farage's Britain': George Osborne slams Boris and Gove for adopting Ukip leader's policies and warns following him to Brexit will make mortgage bills soar

George Osborne today slammed leading Brexiteers Michael Gove and Boris Johnson for lifting policies on immigration from Nigel Farage.

The Ukip leader sparked new outrage today after explicitly warning women faced the risk of mass sex attacks by migrants if they refused to back Brexit on June 23.

Vote Leave has pushed hard on immigration in recent days - and been rewarded in the polls, many of which now show a lead for the campaign to quit the European Union.

But in a major interview, the Chancellor warned the tussle over Europe would be defining for Britain's national character.

Chancellor George Osborne claimed the referendum battle was a fight over the 'soul' of Britain as he slammed Michael Gove and Boris Johnson for adopting Nigel Farage 'mean vision' of the country

He told the Sunday Times: 'This is a battle between Farage's mean vision of Britain and the outward-facing, generous Britain that the mainstream of this country celebrates.

'I say: we don't want Farage's Britain.

'That means voting to remain.'

Mr Farage today stepped up his campaign rhetoric about a series of violent attacks in Germany earlier this year, reportedly carried out by migrants who arrived in Europe among hundreds of thousands fleeing the war in Syria.

He told the Sunday Telegraph a difference in 'cultural' issues would contribute to the attacks.

When asked if such attacks could happen in the UK Mr Farage said: 'It depends if they get EU passports. It depends if we vote for Brexit or not. It is an issue.'

In his own interview today, Mr Osborne made a fresh dig at ex-London mayor Mr Johnson - suggesting he only backed Brexit for his own career ambitions.

The two men are widely seen as front runners in the race to replace David Cameron at No 10 and as Tory leader at some point between the referendum in two weeks and the 2020 election.

Mr Osborne today insisted he at least had made no calculation about his future in deciding to back the Remain campaign.

He told the paper: 'The idea you could make a calculation about your own career when there are issues of such principle and fundamental importance for a country at stake, that's not me.'
Police in Spain have arrested three people including an airport guard after thwarting a bid to smuggle more than 30,000 worth of cannabis onto a flight to London.

Detectives say the guard was helping the other two men get the drugs onto the plane in their hand luggage by bypassing security controls to restricted areas of Malaga Airport.

The two passengers arrested were trying to board a flight to Gatwick with a small suitcase containing 4.5 kilos of the drug.

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Police in Spain have seized cannabis worth 30,000 as well as cash and mobile phones after three people tried to smuggle it on a flight to Gatwick

Police also seized more than 350, six mobile phones and 23 50 euro notes from the three men, all Spaniards aged between 30 and 43.

They are being probed on suspicion of belonging to a drugs trafficking gang.

Detectives say the arrests happened after they were tipped off that several people were smuggling drugs on commercial flights between Spain and the UK.

The operation to catch those believed to be responsible was called Operation Roky.

Three people have been arrested, including an airport security guard following after they were tipped off about the drug smuggling operation

The two passengers arrested were trying to board a flight to Gatwick with a small suitcase containing 4.5 kilos of the drug

Police were not able to say how much cannabis they thought had been smuggled into Britain before the trio were arrested

A spokesman for National Police in Malaga, which made the arrests, confirmed them in a statement.

The said: 'National Police officers have arrested three people at Malaga Airport when they were trying to smuggle cannabis on a flight to Gatwick.

'One of the detainees worked as a security guard in the airport and permitted - with the collusion of the other two - the transportation of drugs in hand luggage so it could reach the UK.

'The three men held, all Spanish and aged between 30 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of drugs trafficking and membership of an organised gang.

'The police operation, dubbed Operation Roky, began in Marbella when officers learnt several people were getting drugs from Spain to the UK through commercial flights.'
An ice addict who stabbed her boyfriend to death with a glass pipe while high has walked away from the crime scot-free, the victim's mother has claimed.

Melbourne woman Lisa McLaughlin, 50, pleaded guilty to the September 2014 manslaughter of boyfriend Graham Stevens and was ordered to serve a two-year community corrections order.

The former pharmaceutical executive was released from custody in April after spending 537 days behind bars  effectively walking free from prison according to Mr Stevens' mother Therese, reported The Age.

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Lisa McLaughlin (right) stabbed her boyfriend Graham Stevens (left) to death in September 2014 while high on ice

Ms Stevens told The Age it was not fair McLaughlin - who was 20 years older than her lover - was free to spend time with her two children, while she had to visit her son at the cemetery.

Mr Steven's mother Therese said it was not fair McLaughlin walked free while she had to visit her son in a cemetery

'I want it reopened, I want it re-investigated, I want a fresh look at this court case,' she said.

'She has gotten away with it. She has a life. She can still see her two children. I have to go to a cemetery.'

McLaughlin's life became unhinged and she turned to ice when she lost her five-year-old son Zane, in a boat accident in April 2008.

She cradled her son's lifeless body in her arms until he died after the family's boat collided with another vessel in the Patterson River, southeast of Melbourne.

McLaughlin, a successful businesswoman before the incident, had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a major depressive illness.

McLaughlin lost her job, left her husband and in 2011 started dating Mr Stevens,31, entering into a volatile relationship defined by their growing drug dependency.

Mrs Stevens said that it was at this point her son spiralled out of control and she began to fear for the worst.

She told The Age: 'For six months, I was waiting for police to turn up at my doorstep and tell me he's dead.'

McLaughlin stabbed Stevens, 31, with a glass pipe from behind after an argument, fatally piercing an artery.

During the hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court the court hear how both become involved in low-level drug dealing to support their habit and often had police complaints about domestic violence during their three-year relationship

McLaughlin stabbed Stevens, 31, with a glass pipe from behind after an argument, fatally piercing an artery.

Lisa McLaughlin (centre) pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her boyfriend Graham Stevens in September 2014. She spent 537 days in custody and was released in April 2016

McLaughlin was a former pharmaceuticals executive who turned to drugs after the tragic death of her son Zane (right) in 2008. She cradled her son's lifeless body in her arms until he died after the family's boat collided with another vessel in the Patterson River

During the hearing the Victorian Supreme Court heard how both become involved in low-level drug dealing to support their habit and often had police complaints about domestic violence during their three-year relationship.

The court heard that McLaughlin grabbed a shattered glass pipe and stabbed him from behind- thrusting the shard 12 centimetres into his back - after he hit and kicked her.
Four people have tragically died in separate crashes on New South Wales roads in what has been described as a 'traumatic' weekend for families and emergency services.

On Saturday afternoon, 29-year-old hairdresser Renee Lenz crashed into a tree on the Princes Highway at Bulli Tops just after 3pm.

No one else was involved in the crash, and the woman died at the scene.

Renee Lenz, 29, was one of four people to lose their life on NSW roads over the weekend

The hairdresser from Fairy Meadow was engaged to be married before she died after crashing her car into a tree on the Princes Highway

The woman, from Fairy Meadow, was found unconscious when paramedics arrived.

A NSW Ambulance spokesman told the Illawarra Mercury Ms Lenz is believed to have clipped the jersey barrier in the middle of the road.

Her car then ricocheted off the barrier, spinning 180 degrees before hitting a tree just behind the drivers side door.

Later that day a pedestrian on the Pacific Highway near Marks Point died after he was hit by a car travelling south down the busy road.

On Saturday night, a 59-year-old man was killed after he smashed his Mercedes in to a BMW sedan carrying four people.

The cars collided at the intersection of New South Head Road and Cross Street in Double Bay.

The driver of the Mercedes is believed to have suffered a medical episode before the incident, and he died shortly after paramedics took him to St Vincent's Hospital.

A male driver aged 24 and three women, aged 25, 62 and 57 who were in the BMW, were trapped in the car before being freed and also taken to St Vincent's Hospital for possible spinal injuries.

A 59-year-old man died in hospital after smashing his Mercedes in to a BMW carrying four people, who became trapped in the car

Police were forced to cut the male driver aged 24 and three women, aged 25, 62 and 57, out of the sedan

At 2:55am on Sunday, an 18-year-old man driving an unregistered trail bike was struck by a white sedan on Jersey Road in Plumpton.

The bike rider was thrown from the bike and received serious injuries.

He was taken to Westmead Hospital but died a short time later. The 21-year-old female sedan driver is helping police with their investigation.

NSW Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said it had been 'a very very traumatic weekend for families, a traumatic weekend for emergency services, but more importantly, a very dangerous weekend for everybody on our roads'.

He warns that the end of the wild weather will not bring an end to the added danger of the last few days.

'The roads have been churned up by this bad weather, so there can be dangerous parts - slippery road conditions and more importantly, major pot holes where there weren't any before,' he said.

Accidents over the weekend have brought the death toll on NSW roads to 174 - up from 139 at this time last year.
The Islamic State are so broke that they have resorted to fining its citizens for minor 'crimes' such as not closing doors and failing on-the-spot Sharia law tests.

A new report on the terror group has revealed that as ISIS continue to lose ground across Syria and Iraq, they have lost a quarter of their revenue.

And with the number people living under the control of the Islamic militants dropping from nine million last year to six million this year, they are now issuing fines for minor offences.

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The Islamic State are so broke that they have resorted to fining its citizens for minor 'crimes' including not closing doors and failing on-the-spot Sharia law tests

According to the report compiled by global think tank IHS, one of the new taxes includes fining citizens $100 (69) for leaving their front doors open.

Other fines relating to social behaviour include fining men $50 (34) for trimming their beards while women can be forced to pay up $25 (17) if their cloak is too tight.

Women can also be fined $30 for leaving the house without wearing socks and gloves and any females revealing their eyes will be punished with a $10 (6) penalty.

Other bizarre offences include putting a bell around a sheep's neck, which carries a $10 (6) fine and confiscation of the animal.

The report comes after Iraqi forces launched a ground offensive last month to recapture the key city of Fallujah from ISIS

Iraqi tanks are stationed on the edge of Fallujah as they attempt to recapture the city from the control of the terror group

In addition, any Islamic State citizen, who fails to answer a question during a spot test on Sharia law, is fined $20 (14) per wrong answer.

Meanwhile any non-Sunni Muslims and anybody who previously worked for the Iraqi or Syrian government must buy a 'repentance' certificate costing between $200 (138) and $2,500 (1,722).

Ludovico Carlino a senior analyst at IHS told Market Watch: 'Taxation makes up about 50 per cent of the Islamic States monthly revenue sources and encompasses almost every aspect of the populations life.

'Taxes are imposed by a central government body and flexibility is allowed for regional governors. But, revenue from taxation has decreased by 23 per cent due to the groups failure to hold on to territory.'

Displaced Iraqi families arrive at an army camp after fleeing their homes in Fallujah as fighting continues between ISIS and government forces

The report comes after Iraqi forces launched a ground offensive last month to recapture the key city of Fallujah from ISIS.

Yesterday, on the city's northern edge, Iraq's military issued a statement announcing ISIS had been pushed out of the neighbourhood of Saqlawiya.

The statement also said an Iraqi flag had been raised above the area.

However the main push into the city centre has been slow.
Two powerful Senate Republicans warned Donald Trump to drop his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, joining the widespread rejection of their presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of the federal jurist.

A third prominent Republican who also supports Trump urged the candidate to start acting like 'a potential leader of the United States'.

'We're all behind him now,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday, adding that it's time for unifying the party, not 'settling scores and grudges'. He added: 'I hope he'll change his direction.'

Donald Trump has split the GOP with his brash comments about pretty much everything, but the GOP has called a fragile truce with him and have asked him to rescind his comments about Judge Curiel, which he refuses

So far, Trump has refused, reiterating in interviews broadcast Sunday that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial involving a billionaire who wants to build a border wall to keep people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico.

Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-born parents - making him, in Trump's view, 'a hater of Donald Trump.'

'I couldn't disagree more' with Trump's central argument, McConnell said on NBC's Meet the Press.

'I don't condone the comments,' added Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on ABC's This Week.

And Newt Gingrich, who became speaker of the House promising to open the GOP more to minorities, delivered the harshest warning of all.

'This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it's inexcusable,' Gingrich, a former presidential contender, said on Fox News Sunday.

Their remarks solidify the line GOP leaders have drawn in recent days between themselves and Trump, with whom they've made a fragile peace over their shared sense that almost anyone would be a better president than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

'I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest' Trump said of Judge Curiel (pictured), who is overseeing a class action lawsuit against Trump University, and has Mexican heritage - the judge was born in Indiana

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ky. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington - he has called for Donald Trump to stop 'settling scores and grudges' and to unite the party

The GOP pushback against Trump comes two days before presidential primaries in California, home to more Latinos than whites.

It's the final major battleground between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Far ahead of Sanders in the delegate race, Clinton is poised to clinch her party's nomination in the next few days.

Trump has no more competition for the GOP nomination, but he does have significant issues with the most senior elected members of the party he hopes to lead.

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan tepidly endorsed Trump  but 24 hours later disavowed the billionaire's remarks about Curiel.

Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in New York that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate. Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. Trump's legal team has not sought to have Curiel removed.

Trump University is being sued for $40million in New York by students who claim they were defrauded, as well as the separate class-action lawsuit in San Diego that is being overseen by Curiel.

The San Diego lawsuit claims lectures were more like infomercials and students were pressured to buy more seminars - paying up to $35,000 for courses.

The lawsuit states that students were made to fill out the satisfaction surveys before the courses ended and that they were not anonymous, leaving people afraid to criticize their lecturers.

According to the class-action complaint, a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar.

Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout, and many instructors were bankrupt real estate investors, the lawsuit says.

Trump already has rejected calls for him adjust his approach.

'I'm not changing': Trump not only refused to back down from his position that a judge with Mexican parents could be fair at his trial, he double downed by saying a Muslim judge could be unfair with him too

'I'm not changing,' he said Tuesday at a fiery news conference at Trump Tower.

On Sunday, Trump doubled down on the idea. Asked on CBS whether a Muslim judge would be unfair given Trump's plan to ban Muslims from the U.S, Trump responded: 'Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.'

For a party that in 2012 explicitly pinned its survival on drawing support from Hispanics, Trump's words create an ugly series of headaches.

Asked three times whether Trump's attack on Curiel was racist, McConnell thrice refused to respond directly and repeated a statement about disagreeing.

'I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans,' said McConnell, R-Ky.

Gingrich answered: 'I think that it was a mistake... I hope it was sloppiness.

'(Trump) says on other occasions that he has many Mexican friends, et cetera, but that's irrelevant. This judge is not Mexican. This judge is an American citizen.'

Corker, R-Tenn., expressed the same discomfort many other Republicans in Congress have complained about when they're asked to respond to, or justify, Trump's remarks.

'I thought this interview was going to be more about the foreign policy arena,' Corker said on ABC.

Like Ryan, all three Republicans have endorsed Trump. But their comments carried the implicit caveat that their support depends at least in part on Trump dropping his criticism of Curiel. All three also suggested ways Trump could move beyond his legal issues.

Corker, who recently met with Trump in New York, said Trump 'has a tremendous opportunity' to build out his foreign policy agenda.

Gingrich urged Trump to become more of a statesman.

'Trump has got to, I think, move to a new level," he said. 'This is no longer the primaries. He's no longer an interesting contender. He is now the potential leader of the United States and he's got to move his game up to the level of being a potential leader.'

McConnell's advice was blunt.
Donald Trump suggested on Sunday's 'Face the Nation' that a Muslim judge handling his ongoing Trump University case might also treat the presumptive Republican nominee unfairly.

'It's possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely,' Trump said, after being asked the question several times by host John Dickerson.

Trump, in recent days, has said that Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a Mexican-American judge born in Indiana, would rule against the businessman-turned-politician because of Trump's well known calls for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

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Donald Trump said during an interview on 'Face the Nation' that a Muslim judge might treat him unfairly too - just as a Mexican-American judge might be biased against Trump because of his plans for a border wall

Donald Trump said it would be possible for a Muslim judge to show bias. Trump has been critical of the Mexican-American judge who is handling his Trump University lawsuit

Dickerson asked in the interview, which was pre-recorded on Friday, what Curiel's Mexican heritage had to do with anything.

'I think it has a lot to do with it,' Trump replied.

'He is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine,' Trump continued.

'But I say he's got bias. I want to build a wall. I'm going to build a wall. I'm doing very well with the Latinos, with the Hispanics, with the Mexicans, I'm doing very well with them in my opinion.'

Trump then insinuated that he was doing well with this voting bloc because 'I'm providing jobs. Nobody else is giving jobs.'

'But just so you understand, this judge has treated me very unfairly, he's treated me in a hostile manner and there's something going on,' Trump said.

Dickerson then asked about a Muslim judge, who might also treat Trump unfairly as the presumptive nominee has backed a controversial non-American Muslim ban, something he came up with in the wake of the San Bernardino terror attacks.

'Would a Muslim judge be also out of the question here?' Dickerson posed.

At first Trump answered the question by talking about immigration.

'We are allowing tremendous numbers of people coming into this country that we know nothing about,' he said.

Dickerson tried again.

'If it were a Muslim judge, would you also feel like they wouldn't be able to treat you fairly because of that policy of yours?' Dickerson asked.

Face the Nation host John Dickerson was 'confused' throughout Sunday's program - trying to get Trump to articulate his stance on the Mexican-American judge, Libya and sending Hillary Clinton to jail

Trump answered that it was possible, yes.

Dickerson followed up by asking if Trump thought there was a tradition in the country not to judge somebody by where their parents came from.

'I'm not talking about tradition  I'm talking about common sense, OK? He's somebody, he's proud of his heritage. And I think that's great that he's proud of his heritage,' Trump continued.

The broadcaster noted that Trump has suggested it was a barrier to the judge doing his job.

'Well, he's not treating me, he's not treating me fairly,' Trump said, explaining that his lawyers think the case should have been dismissed in part because a plaintiff no longer wanted to sue the businessman over Trump University.

'Yeah, I guess I'm just still confused how  what his Mexican parents have to do with that,' Dickerson said.

'Excuse me, I want to build a wall,' Trump answered. 'I don't think it's very confusing.'

'Has nothing to do with anything except common sense,' Trump continued.

During the interview, Trump also more fully articulated his position on Libya, with Dickerson pointing to a video blog entry in 2011 in which the businessman said he was for intervention.

'"Now we should go in. We should stop this guy," this guy being Gaddafi, "which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it, and save these lives,"' Dickerson said, reading Trump's quote.

Trump has been highly critical of likely Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's intervention in Libya, but the businessman on 'Face the Nation' tried to suggest that his comments didn't mean tha the had supported the same thing.

'I was for something, but I wasn't for what we have right now,' Trump said, noting that 'ISIS is selling the oil and it's a total mess.'

Dickerson again used the word confused to explain what was happening.

'This is one of the things that confuses some people about your positions  you said you weren't for intervention, but you were for intervention,' Dickerson noted.

'I didn't mind surgical, and I said surgical,' Trump replied. 'You do a surgical shot and you take him out, but I wasn't for what happened. Look at the way  I mean look at with Benghazi and all of the problems that we've had, it was handled horribly.'

Dickerson belabored the point, saying Trump's flip-flop was 'confusing.'

'I was never for strong intervention,' Trump said. 'I could have seen surgical where you take out Gaddafi and his group.'During the interview, Dickerson also asked Trump  who had thrice called for Hillary Clinton to be jailed in 24 hours  to articulate what crime she had committed.



'She's guilty of the server,' Trump said to 'Face the Nation' host John Dickerson in a preview clip released of Sunday's show. 'She's guilty of  you look at the confidential information, I mean, all of the information that probably has gotten out all over the world, and then you know what else she's guilty of?'

'Stupidity and bad judgement,' Trump said, answering his own query.

Dickerson pointed out, 'if that were criminal, we'd all be in jail.'

Dickerson started in on Trump asking the presumptive Republican nominee if he would have his attorney general go after Clinton, even if the FBI clears her name.

'OK, so I have spoken to and to and I've watched and I've read many, many lawyers on the subject, you know, so-called neutral lawyers. OK? Not even on one side or the other,' Trump began. 'Neutral lawyers.'

'Every one of them, without a doubt, said that waht she did is far worse than what other people did, like General Petraeus, who essentially got a two-year jail term,' Trump said.

General David Petraeus was sentenced to two years probation.

The former CIA director also received a $100,000 fine for leaking known classified information to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell.

Petraeus avoided prison time by pleading guilty to mishandling classified material.

'General Petraeus and others had been treated, I mean, their lives have been in a sense destroyed,' Trump said. 'She keeps campaigning, I mean, what she did is a criminal situation, she wasn't supposed to do that with the server and the emails and all of the other.'

'Now I rely on the lawyers,' Trump went on 'These are good lawyers. These are professional lawyers. These are good lawyers These are professional lawyers. These are lawyers that know what they're talking about and know  are very well versed on what she did.'

'They say she's guilty as well,' the billionaire stated.

Dickerson noted how it sounded like Trump was making a promise that his attorney general would go back and look into Clinton's use of private email as a public official at the State Department.

'Yes, I would,' Trump replied. 'Because everyone know that she's guilty.'

'Now, I would say this, she's guilty, but I would let my attorney general make that determination. Maybe they would disagree,' he continued.

'And I would let that person make the determination,' the Republican added.

When Trump couldn't name the crime she would be guilty of, Dickerson asked how she would go to jail.

'What's the difference here between rhetoric and law?' the CBS newsman asked.

Trump again brought up 'the lawyers.'

'What the lawyers are saying is what she did in terms of national security - they have very strict rules and regulations, she's broken all of them,' Trump said.

Dickerson tried one more time.

'So the classification issue?'

Trump just repeated his previous statement.

'She's broken all of them,' he said, adding, 'of course it is,' without giving more details.

Trump again attacked Clinton's judgment.

'But she's so-you know if you look at from the standard of why did she do it, judgment, the word judgment, this isn't criminal judgment, you make bad judgment,' Trump said.

'Although, actually, under those rules and regulations, judgment is even criminal. You know, you're not supposed to do it. If you make a mistake, they don't take that into account,' he continued.

'Why would a person and how can a person with this kind of judgment become the president of the United States?' he added.

Trump also noted how 'this is a cyber world.'

'If we're in a cyber world and she can't even handle her emails, how can she be president?' he asked.

'And she's being hacked all over the place by Russia, by China probably, I mean, to the best of anyone's knowledge, it seems to be,' he said.
Rain and wind are expected to ease off by the morning but damage remains

Sydney commuters could be looking at massive delays on their way to work after the weekend as wild weather continues to hit roads and train lines.

Buses are expected to replace ferries between Manly and Circular Quay, and Meadowbank and Parramatta. The usual service will not be running on Monday morning due to heavy rain.

Ferries between Palm Beach, Wagstaffe and Ettalong were not operating on Sunday night as torrential rain and strong winds continue to sweep through the state.

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Most ferry services will be closed tomorrow due to heavy swell but will be replaced by buses

A number of train lines will be closed overnight as workers scramble to repair extensive damage caused by the storm, and it is likely some of this work will carry on through the morning rush on Monday.

The Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line is closed between Martin Place and Bondi Junction due to a tree caught in overhead wiring at Edgecliff. Buses have been called in to replace trains between the stations in both directions.

Transport Management Centre Spokesperson Rebecca Walsh said it is unlikely the Eastern Suburbs line will reopen by Monday morning, as the damage in Edgecliff is extensive.

The South Coast line has been heavily affected by the weather, and buses are replacing trains between Waterfall and Thirroul and Wollongong and Bomaderry.

Due to road closures, no buses or trains will run between Wollongong and Port Kembla.

Walking to work could be the way to go tomorrow, as public transport systems struggle to recover from the wild weather over the weekend

Many train lines were damaged by trees falling in the strong winds, and a landslide at Guildford caused further damage

Trains have been suspended from Granville to Cabramatta due to a landslide at Ku-ring-gai Chase on General San Martin Drive.

Buses will replace trains up until 12:00pm.

Flooding at Picton has delayed some services in the Southern Highlands.

A tree caught in overhead wiring at Woy Woy has also delayed trains, and buses are replacing some train services between Gosford and Hornsby.

Many major roads also remain closed after extensive flooding.

Some routes in to the city will be delayed on Monday by flooding over the past two days

A mixture of heavy rains and strong winds have caused significant damage to Sydney roads

Pittwater Road is closed in both directions between Wakehurst Parkway and King Street after heavy flooding.

James Ruse Drive at the M4 in Clyde is only operating one lane each way as emergency services try to deal with continued flooding.

Earlier in the morning, northbound traffic was affected at Flinders Street and Oxford Street in Darlinghurst after emergency services attended to floodwater covering all three lanes. But by midday it was under control.

Areas on the northern beaches faced extreme flooding over the weekend, with cars submerged in water

Two eastbound lanes at Victoria Road in Rozelle have been closed, cutting access to the Anzac Bridge

More than 100 sets of traffic lights have been blacked out in the Sydney Basin area due to the bad weather.

Over 9,000 homes have also been left without power across Sydney and the Central Coast.

For those planning to take to the sky on Monday, expect delays at Sydney Airport, which continues to run off only one runway.

Various buses are diverting and delayed throughout Sydney, and damage to overhead infrastructure has closed the Light Rail between Fish Markets and Lilyfield

Passengers are advised to delay all non essential travel.

Jane Golding, weather forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said Sydney should expect heavy rain and wind to ease by the morning, as the low pressure trough causing the inclement weather moves south and offshore.
Heart recipient Marc McCay: 'It's the biggest gift anyone could give'

A new BBC Radio 4 programme tells the story of the lives that were saved

She and husband Nigel agreed with doctors to donate their son's organs

A grieving mother has told of the moment she came face-to-face with the people whose lives were saved by organs donated from her teenage son.

Just hours after Sue Burton's 16-year-old son Martin was struck down by a fatal brain haemorrhage in 2003, doctors asked if she and her husband Nigel, a former RAF engineer from Grantham, Lincolnshire, agreed to donate his organs.

His heart, lung, liver, kidneys and corneas were subsequently given to patients around the country.

Usually the recipients would remain anonymous, but a new BBC Radio 4 series, The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away, which starts tomorrow, pieces together the story of what happened next and the lives that were changed forever.

Sue Burton and Marc McCay share a special bond after his life was saved with a heart donated from her son

For Andrew Seery, from Winchester, the chance to receive a new liver had a profound impact on his life.

Andrew was suffering from an enzyme deficiency known as Vampire's Disease, so-called because his skin would blister in the sunlight.

At the point of receiving a new liver, the thirty-something father was wheelchair-bound, on a drip and weighed just 6st 4lb.

Similarly, the life of Scottish teenager Marc McCay was also saved thanks to a new heart.

Around the same time of Martin's passing, 15-year-old Marc was attacked by a virus and suffered major organ failure.

Marc, who is now 28, and lives in Paisley, Renfrewshire, was in a coma at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and had just hours to live when the donor heart became available.

In 2014, Mrs Burton met Marc for the first time. He immediately took her hand and placed it on his chest.

A BBC Radio 4 series charts the stories of those saved by the organs of 16-year-old Martin Burton

Mrs Burton, 57, said at the time: 'It was the most poignant moment, to put my hand onto Marcs chest and feel my sons heart beating there.

He reached for my hand and placed it there and it was so emotional. I shed a bucketful of tears.'

She added: 'When I felt my sons heart beating in his chest it was such an amazing moment and such a comfort to me after losing Martin.'

Marc was also overwhelmed with emotion at the meeting and said: 'I couldnt thank them enough for saving my life.

Now two years on, BBC Radio 4 has reunited the pair for the programme.

'Lives have been saved': Sue and Nigel Burton stand by their decision to donate their son Martin's organs

At their second meeting, Marc reflects on the last 13 years of his life since he received a new heart.

He said: 'How are you supposed to thank somebody for giving you a heart? It's the biggest gift anyone could give, and there's no way to say thanks.'

Today, Mrs Burton stands by her decision to donate her son's organs, albeit one she never thought she would have to make.

'I don't want you to feel guilty because Martin died and you lived,' she tells Marc. 'And we are thrilled to know that lives have been saved by it.'
Those who aren't cleared to leave are considered 'law of war detainees' and may be held indefinitely without trial

The Obama administration is scrambling to release as many prisoners as possible from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in a bid to fulfill his pledge to close the detention center.

Officials are considering novel legal strategies that include allowing some men to strike plea deals by video-teleconference and sending others to foreign countries to be prosecuted.

But it looks to be little, too late to close the prison before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, denying him the chance to fulfill a campaign pledge.

There's the difficulty in transferring prisoners from the U.S. base in Cuba, questions about the legality of plea deals and solid opposition in Congress to anything that might help Obama achieve that promise.

A detainee cell in Camp 6 (above) at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama is rushing to close it to fulfill a campaign promise

'The clock has struck midnight and the American people have won,' said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who has said he would oppose any effort to move detainees to prison facilities in his state. 'The president needs to admit that.'

Later this month, lawmakers are on track to extend a ban on moving detainees to U.S. soil. That would leave the president with no way to make the January 2017 deadline, barring an unexpected reversal in Congress or a politically explosive executive order.

The White House increasingly is pointed to a parallel strategy: trying to shrink the number of detainees in hopes of persuading lawmakers that Guantanamo is too expensive to sustain as a prison.

Of the 80 remaining detainees, 30 have been cleared for an overseas transfer. Most will leave starting in late June and continuing into July, according to a U.S. official.

Those prisoners will go to a number of countries, including at least one in Europe, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the administration had not authorized public release of the information.

There are only 80 detainees left in Guantanamo Bay, of that 30 have been cleared for overseas transfer and most will leave starting in late June - it's unclear what will happen to the rest

Seven additional detainees are facing trial by military commission, including five charged with planning and supporting the September 11 attacks.

Three others have been convicted. But commission proceedings have gone on at a glacial pace. In April, the Pentagon put forward fresh proposals for Guantanamo, but none has been incorporated into defense legislation moving through Congress.

The remaining 40 were either at one time considered for prosecution or held as indefinite 'law of war detainees' until the end of hostilities in the fight against terrorism that began after the 2001 attacks.

The United States started using Guantanamo for suspects in January 2002; at its peak, the facility held about 680 prisoners.

U.S. officials have chipped away at those numbers through the Periodic Review Board, a multiagency task force that conducts parole-style hearings for men once deemed too dangerous to release.

The board did not hold a hearing until November 2013, but recently it has picked up its pace, holding more than 20 so far this year. Outcomes are leaning heavily in prisoners' favor.

If the government keeps up its current pace of about two per week, it wouldn't complete hearings, much less arrange for transfers, until December.

The U.S. also is working with other governments to prosecute some detainees overseas, the official said. These could be prisoners accused of conduct outside the U.S. involving offenses against citizens of other countries.

It would otherwise be difficult or impossible to prosecute these men in an American court.

The U.S. government is working with other governments to prosecute some detainees overseas - one example could be Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, suspected of involvement in a terrorist attack in Mombasa, Kenya that killed 13

One possible example would be Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, a 42-year-old Kenyan accused of involvement in plots in Mombasa in November 2002: an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel, in which 13 people died, and an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

The official declined to identify any specific cases but said there could be five to 10 in all.

The defense bill up for debate in the Senate soon includes a provision that would allow detainees to enter guilty pleas - via video teleconference - in federal civilian courts. If a judge accepts the plea, the detainee would be sentenced and transferred to serve that sentence in a foreign prison.

In conversations with advocates, White House officials have said the Justice Department has reservations about such guilty plea proposals.

Chief among the concerns is whether the judge could accept the guilty pleas as entered by the defendant knowingly and voluntarily - a bedrock principle of the American criminal justice system - while there is no mechanism in place to stand trial. The prisoner's only other choice is continued, indefinite detention.

The White House has not taken a position, but suggested it is receptive to the idea. The president believes it is 'important that we have available to us a variety of tools at our disposal,' National Security Council spokesman Myles Caggins said in a statement, which also noted that federal courts have 'outstanding record' of handling terrorism cases.

Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer who has represented many Guantanamo prisoners over the years, including three still held, said the ability to strike a plea deal in federal court would benefit relatively few detainees. He said the renewed administration interest in closing the prison is hard to take seriously now.
Seven former police chiefs have urged voters to reject Brexit because it would be a gamble with security that leaves security at risk.

The officers, which include two former commissioners of the Met, said EU membership was good for security because of the access to systems such as the European Arrest Warrant.

In an open letter, the group said quitting the trading bloc would 'put us at a disadvantage in tackling terrorism and organised crime'.

Security and justice issues were cited by Home Secretary Theresa May when she announced she would be supporting the Remain campaign in February.

Among the signatories of the letter were former Met Commissioner Lord Blair (left) and Sir Hugh Orde, the former President of the Association of Chief Police Officers

And the group was backed today by former home secretary Charles Clarke and serving Home Office Minister James Brokenshire.

The seven said: 'As former Chief Officers and Policing professionals our experience has been better than most about what is required to tackle terrorism and crime and to keep the people of our country safe.

'This is why we believe that Britain will be safer inside the European Union, and that leaving Europe would make us less safe and put us at a disadvantage in tackling terrorism and organised crime.'

They added: 'The EU helps our police forces to work together, making it harder for criminals and terrorists to evade justice.

'The arrest of Hussein Osman, who plotted a bomb attack in London and tried to flee to Italy, was thanks to European Arrest Warrant.

'We do not believe that staying in Europe makes us more vulnerable, it is not credible to argue so, all the evidence is to the contrary.

'We can see no case for taking such a gamble with our security that leaving the EU would entail.'

The open letter was signed by Sir Matt Baggott, former Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Lord Blair of Boughton, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Lord Condon, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Also included were Sir Peter Fahy, former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Hugh Orde, former President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Paul Scott-Lee, former Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary and Peter Neyroud, former Chief Executive Officer for the National Policing Improvement Agency, and former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police.

The former police chiefs intervention was endorsed today by Home Office Minister James Brokenshire who warned the terror threat needed closer European cooperation

Mr Brokenshire said: 'The firm view from those with significant frontline experience of fighting organised crime and terrorism is that we gain clear security benefits by remaining in the EU.

'Britain gets the best of both worlds by harnessing our access to EU security systems in combination with our enduring intelligence relationships with partners like the US.

'At a time of continuing terrorist threat our domestic security requires us to work even more closely with our European partners.

'It's difficult to see how we can possibly do this by shouting from the sidelines rather than sitting at the table as an equal member.'

Mr Clarke said: 'Michael Gove might not want to hear from experts but I trust the opinion of those who have spent their careers fighting crime and terrorism.
The mother of a 21-year-old man who was brutally murdered six years ago claims the suspect jailed over her son's death was wrongly convicted as she fights for his release from prison.

Josh Warneke was attacked and killed as he walked home after a night out with friends in Broome in Western Australia in the early hours of February 25 in 2010.

More than two years later, police arrested an Aboriginal man named Gene Gibson, who was sentenced to seven-and-half years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2014.

However, Ingrid Bishop claims that Gibson did not kill her son  pointing the finger at an alleged botched police investigation, lack of forensic evidence and a confession she believes was coerced, according to 60 Minutes.

Ingrid Bishop, the mother of Josh Warneke (pictured), who was killed after a night out in Broome in 2010, says the man who police believe killed her son is innocent and she wants him released from prison

Gene Gibson (pictured) confessed to police to killing Josh, but Ms Bishop believes he was coerced because forensic evidence doesn't match his statements

Ms Bishop (pictured) claims that Gibson did not kill her son  pointing the finger at an allegedly botched police investigation

Ms Bishop believes Gibson is innocent as she's working with his family to get him out of jail and is searching for her son's killer  who she believes is still out there.

'It is the right thing to do  Gene Gibson is innocent  that is a no brainer and if no one else is going to do it, I'm going to do it,' Ms Bishop told 60 Minutes.

Ms Bishop said there is also a lack of forensic evidence connected Gibson to her son's murder

Josh was killed as he walked home after a night out with friends in Broome around 3am (pictured)

'I will never get my son back but I'm not going to have someone sit in a prison for how many years because no one else could be bothered doing their jobs  shame on the lot of them,' she said, referring to the Western Australian police officers who investigating her son's death.

Gibson, who is believed to suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, told the police three different stories on how he allegedly killed Josh, none of them matching the forensic evidence, Ms Bishop said.

Tests conducted on hair found in Josh's hand suggest that he was attacked with an axe or a sharp object, unlike the rock and pole Gibson told police he hit Josh with, Ms Bishop said.

She is working with Gibson's family (pictured) to get him out of jail and is searching for her son's killer  who believes is still out there

Tests conducted on hair found in Josh's hand suggest that he was attacked with an axe or a sharp object, unlike the rock and pole Gibson (pictured) told police he hit Josh with, Ms Bishop said

His interview with police was not recorded and in 2014 a supreme court ruled that his confession couldn't be used in a trial because officers didn't conduct the investigation properly, according to 60 Minutes.

Officers were then forced to drop the murder charge and offer Gibson a plea deal for manslaughter, which he took.

11 police officers that worked on the case have been disciplined after the court's ruling but are all still employed, Ms Bishop said.

Ms Bishop (pictured) says she now wants a coronial inquiry

'I just want to know how Josh died and I just want to know who killed him,' she said (pictured with her other son, Matt)

'Who is wandering around in Broome who committed a murder?'

Ms Bishop says she now wants a coronial inquiry.

'I just want to know how Josh died and I just want to know who killed him,' she said.
ISIS KILLS DOZENS OF ITS OWN FIGHTERS - SOME BY DROPPING THEM INTO ACID - IN DESPERATE HUNT FOR SPIES AFTER LEADERS HIT BY AIR STRIKES

In March, a senior commander with ISIS was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion.

The killing of Abu Hayjaa al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadi, sparked a panicked hunt within the group's ranks for spies who could have tipped off the U.S-led coalition about his closely guarded movements. By the time it was over, the group would kill 38 of its own members on suspicion of acting as informants.

They were among dozens of ISIS members killed by their own leadership in recent months in a vicious purge after a string of airstrikes killed prominent figures. Others have disappeared into prisons and still more have fled, fearing they could be next as the jihadi group turns on itself in the hunt for moles, according to Syrian opposition activists, Kurdish militia commanders, several Iraqi intelligence officials and an informant for the Iraqi government who worked within ISIS ranks.

ISIS has been busy murdered alleged informants after several members of their leadership were killed

The fear of informants has fueled paranoia among the militants' ranks. A mobile phone or internet connection can raise suspicions. As a warning to others, ISIS has displayed the bodies of some suspected spies in public  or used particularly gruesome methods, including reportedly dropping some into a vat of acid.

ISIS 'commanders don't dare come from Iraq to Syria because they are being liquidated' by airstrikes, said Bebars al-Talawy, an opposition activist in Syria who monitors the jihadi group.

Over the past months, American officials have said that the U.S. has killed a string of top commanders from the group, including its 'minister of war' Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, also known as Abu Wahib, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Haji Iman, Abu Alaa al-Afari or Abu Ali Al-Anbari.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest city held by ISIS across its 'caliphate' stretching across Syria and Iraq, a succession of militants who held the post of 'wali,' or governor, in the province have died in airstrikes.

As a result, those appointed to governor posts have asked not to be identified and they limit their movements, the Iraqi informant told The Associated Press. Iraqi intelligence officials allowed the AP to speak by phone with the informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his life.

The terror group fears its leaders are being betrayed and set up for US-led air strikes in Syria and Iraq

The purge comes at a time when ISIS has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi government offensive recaptured the western city of Ramadi from ISIS earlier this year, and another mission is underway to retake the nearby city of Fallujah.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some IS fighters began feeding information to the coalition about targets and movements of the group's officials because they needed money after the extremist group sharply reduced salaries in the wake of coalition and Russian airstrikes on ISIS-held oil facilities earlier this year. The damage and the loss of important ISIS-held supply routes into Turkey have reportedly hurt the group's financing.

'They have executed dozens of fighters on charges of giving information to the coalition or putting (GPS) chips in order for the aircraft to strike at a specific area,' said Abdurrahman, referring to ISIS in Syria.

The militants have responded with methods of their own for rooting out spies, said the informant. For example, they have fed false information to a suspect member about the movements of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and if an airstrike follows on the alleged location, they know the suspect is a spy, he said. They stop fighters in the street and inspect their mobile phones, sometimes making the fighter call any unusual numbers in front of them to see who they are.

After the killing of al-Anbari, seven or eight ISIS officials in Mosul were taken into custody and have since disappeared, their fates unknown, said the informant.

'Daesh is now concentrating on how to find informers because they have lost commanders that are hard to replace,' said a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Baghdad, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. 'Now any IS commander has the right to kill a person whom they suspect is an informer for the coalition.'

Another Iraqi intelligence official said at least 10 ISIS fighters and security officials in Mosul were killed by the group in April on suspicion of giving information to the coalition because of various strikes in the city.

ISIS has been placed under serious pressure as a result of US and Russian air strikes

Mosul also saw one of the most brutal killings of suspected informants last month, when about a dozen fighters and civilians were drowned in a vat filled with acid, one senior Iraqi intelligence official said.

In the western province of Anbar, the Iraqi militant Wuhayeb was killed in a May 6 airstrike in the town of Rutba. Wuhayeb was a militant veteran, serving first in al-Qaida in Iraq before it became the Islamic State group. He first came to prominence in 2013, when a video showed him and his fighters stopping a group of Syrian truck drivers crossing Anbar. Wuhayeb asks each if he is Sunni or Shiite, and when they say Sunni, he quizzes them on how many times one bows during prayer. When they get it wrong, three of them admit to being Alawites, a Shiite offshoot sect, and Wuhayeb and his men lay the three drivers in the dirt and shoot them to death.

After Wuhayeb's killing, ISIS killed several dozen of its own members in Anbar, including some mid-level officials, on suspicion of informing on his location, and other members fled to Turkey, the two intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Some of the suspects were shot dead in front of other ISIS fighters as a lesson, the Iraqi officials said.

After the Tunisian militant Abu Hayjaa was killed on the road outside Raqqa on March 30, ISIS leadership in Iraq sent Iraqi and Chechen security officials to investigate, according to Abdurrahman and al-Talawy, the Syria-based activist. Suspects were rounded up, taken to military bases around Raqqa, and the purge ensued. Within days, 21 ISIS fighters were killed, including a senior commander from North Africa, Abdurrahman said.

Dozens more were taken back to Iraq for further questioning. Of those, 17 were killed and 32 were expelled from the group but allowed to live, Abdurrahman and al-Talawy said, both citing their contacts in the militant group. Among those brought to Iraq was the group's top security official for its Badiya 'province,' covering a part of central and eastern Syria. His fate remains unknown.

Non-ISIS members are also often caught up in the hunt for spies. In the Tabqa, near Raqqa, ISIS fighters brought a civilian, Abdul-Hadi Issa, into the main square before dozens of onlookers and announced he was accused of spying. A masked militant then stabbed him in the heart and, with the knife still stuck in the man's chest, the fighter shot him in the head with a pistol.

Issa's body was hanged in the square with a large piece of paper on his chest proclaiming the crime and the punishment. ISIS circulated photos of the killing on social media.

According to al-Talawy, several other ISIS members were killed in the town of Sukhna near the central Syrian city of Palmyra on charges of giving information to the coalition about ISIS bases in the area as well as trying to locate places where al-Baghdadi might be.

Sherfan Darwish, of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces, which has been spearheading the fight against ISIS in Syria, said there is panic in IS-held areas where the extremists have killed people simply for having telecommunications devices in their homes.

'There is chaos. Some members and commanders are trying to flee,' Darwish said.

The U.S. -led coalition has sought to use its successes in targeting ISIS leaders to intimidate others. In late May, warplanes dropped leaflets over ISIS-held parts of Syria with the pictures of two senior militants killed previously in airstrikes. 'What do these Daesh commanders have in common?' the leaflet read. 'They were killed at the hands of the coalition.'

The jihadis have responded with their own propaganda.
An Oklahoma detective who saved a little girl in a Walmart grocery store after a man snatched her and held her at knifepoint relived the moment in an emotional interview.

Three years ago police Maj David Huff, 50, was faced with one of the hardest decisions he's ever had to make throughout his 26-year career, when a 911 call led him to a 30-minute hostage situation.

It was just after 3pm on June 17, 2013, when Huff and Detective Darrell Miller, both trained hostage negotiators, came face-to-face with Sammie Wallace, who was holding a knife to two-year-old Zoey Keating's stomach.

During an emotional interview with CNN, Huff talked about the decision to shoot Wallace in order to to save Zoey's life.

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Three years ago police Maj David Huff, 50, was faced with one of the hardest decisions he's ever had to make throughout his 26-year career as an officer, when a 911 call led him to a 30-minute hostage situation

It was just after 3pm on June 17, 2013, when Huff and Detective Darrell Miller, both trained hostage negotiators, came face to face with Sammie Wallace, who was holding a knife to two-year-old Zoey Keating's stomach. Zoey and Huff (pictured) meet for the first time in three years since the incident

Huff explained that once he and Miller walked into Walmart, they suspected that Wallace was mentally ill because he was highly agitated. Zoey calls Huff her superhero

With tears in his eyes, Huff told CNN: 'Taking someone else's life. Cop for 26 years, and I never fired a shot at another human being. Ever.'

Huff explained that once he and Miller walked into Walmart, they suspected that Wallace was mentally ill because he was highly agitated.

Surveillance footage showed Sammie Wallace (pictured) wandering the store, pushing an empty grocery cart, before he grabbed Zoey out of her mother's cart

'We wanted to keep him calm,' Huff said. 'He was in this manic state where he was basically blurting out statements.'

Surveillance footage showed Wallace wandering the store, pushing an empty grocery cart, before he grabbed Zoey out of her mother's cart.

Wallace held the terrified child at knifepoint in front of her mother and stunned shoppers.

Alicia Keating, Zoey's mother, told CNN that she started screaming: 'Somebody help. This man has my baby.'

The store was cleared of shoppers, including Zoey's mother who was taken outside.

Huff said he and Miller tried various techniques to get Wallace to calm down and release Zoey.

Miller described him as getting more and more 'amped up' as the conversation deteriorated.

'When he started to speak, and he started making statements about the cameras are all watching us, it's the Illuminati. And George Bush is watching us. And he made reference to the CIA and that type of thing,' Huff told CNN.

Huff said they got the feeling Wallace was 'probably somebody who was mentally ill' because those types of statements 'usually come from someone who has paranoid schizophrenia'.

At one point Wallace threatened to kill Zoey after his demand for a Dallas police officer, whom he went to school with, wasn't met.

Wallace started a 60-second countdown, moving the knife closer to her throat.

'Looking at the way he was acting and the things he was doing, I absolutely took him at his word that when he got down to zero, he would hurt Zoey,' Huff told CNN.

Huff added that he was thinking 'the only way Zoey doesn't get hurt is if the barrel of my gun is touching his head'.

Surveillance footage shows Huff moving the gun right behind Zoey's body and firing one shot directly into Wallace's head.

After Wallace collapsed in the chair, Huff leaned over the shelves and punched the wall.

Alicia Keating (pictured), Zoey's mother, said she started screaming: 'Somebody help. This man has my baby.'

The store was cleared of shoppers, including Zoey's mother who was taken outside. Huff said he and Miller tried various techniques to get Wallace (pictured on surveillance) to calm down and release Zoey

Detective Darell Miller described him as getting more and more 'amped up' as the conversation deteriorated

'I didn't know if he had already stabbed her,' Huff told CNN as he wiped away tears.

'I was angry. I wasn't angry at Sammie Wallace. I was angry that he made me do it. And at that point, I thought that Zoey had already been cut or stabbed and that I waited too long,' Huff told CNN.

'They finally came around and said, "She doesn't have a scratch on her". That was the best part.'

Throughout the years, Huff struggled to deal with that horrifying day but he said other officers told him he handled the situation perfectly, but to him a perfect situation would have been everyone walking out of the store alive.

'I know in my logical mind that taking his life most likely saved Zoey's life. But you still have this feeling that you failed, because if you had succeeded, you would have thought of some way to do this without taking a life.'

Zoey, who is now five years old, calls Huff her superhero who 'saved the day'.

He said he hopes his story will help other officers learn to cope with the stress of every day life in the line of duty.

On May 16, Huff was one of 13 police officers awarded the Medal of Valor by President Barack Obama, according to News 6.

At one point Wallace threatened to kill Zoey after his demand for a Dallas police officer, whom he went to school with, wasn't met. Wallace started a 60-second countdown, moving the knife closer to her throat

Surveillance footage shows Huff moving the gun right behind Zoey's body and firing one shot directly into Wallace's head. After Wallace collapsed in the chair, Huff leaned over the shelves and punched the wall

On May 16, Huff was one of 13 police officers awarded the Medal of Valor by President Barack Obama for his 'uncommon poise to end the result of a dangerous hostage situation'
Google has hired from Downing Street, the Home Office and the Treasury while senior executives from the firm have been appointed to Government.

The revelation of the appointments will raise new fears about a 'revolving door' between the heart of Government one of the world's biggest firms.

At least 80 people are thought to have transferred in one direction or another between Google and European Union governments in the past decade.

Joanna Shields, a former Google managing director, was made a baroness and minister by David Cameron, while the Prime Minister also appointed Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, to his business advisory council.

Google has been at the centre of controversy over corporate tax arrangements while the European Commission has accused of abusing a dominant position in the market.

Research has revealed at least 80 people have moved between Google and European governments, or vice versa, in the past decade (file picture)

Dame Margaret Hodge, the former chairwoman of the Commons public accounts strategy told the Observer - which revealed the scale of the appointments - the posts were a deliberate attempt by Google to boost its influence.

She said: 'I have absolutely no doubt it's part of their strategy.

'Google deliberately nurtures that culture, and I have absolutely no doubt that they see it as strategically important to be as close as they can to government.'

Google has hired at least 28 British officials since 2005, the paper said, with appointments also made from the Department for Education and the Department for Transport.

Among those taken on are Sarah Hunter, who was a senior advisor to Tony Blair, who is now head of policy for Google X, the firm's division focused on drones and self-driving cars.

Verity Harding, a former advisor to Nick Clegg, was hired in 2013 and is now policy manager at Google DeepMind, which is focused on artificial intelligence. The firm recently secured an NHS contract.

The number of appointments was researched by the Campaign for Accountability (CFA) and its Google Transparency Project.

David Cameron appointed two former Google executives to senior positions while the search giant has also hired several officials from Government departments

The campaign group said Google was completing in Europe a tactic it had pursued in America.

Anne Weismann, executive director of the CFA, told the Observer: 'Google's influence in Washington today is unmatched.

'The company regularly spends more on lobbying than any other, and our analysis found that Google's lobbyists enjoy unrivalled access to the White House.

'On average, Google executives visit the White House more than once a week. At the same time, we have documented more than 250 'revolving door' moves between Google and the US government.

'Now Google appears to be trying to replicate its Washington influence machine in Europe, where it is facing mounting threats from policymakers on a variety of issues.'

A Google spokesman told the paper: 'European politicians have many questions for Google and about the internet.

'We're working hard to answer those questions, helping policy makers understand our business and the opportunity for European businesses to grow online.'
The former partner of a young British mother who plunged to her death from a 12th floor holiday apartment in Tenerife after a violent row is said to have told friends he begged her not to jump.

Holidaymakers described hearing frightening exchanges between Kerry Roberts, 25, and her 33-year-old ex-boyfriend David Jones just before she died in the early hours of Friday morning.

The pair from Bristol had been on holiday with Mr Joness parents and their young child, staying in two adjacent apartments in the resort of Costa Adeje. Local reports said Mr Jones was arrested after CCTV footage allegedly showed him assaulting Miss Roberts.

Tragic: Kerry Roberts, 25, from Bristol, died after she fell from a high-rise hotel apartment in Tenerife

According to reports in Spain, police detained a man after detectives viewed footage from CCTV cameras. But Kerry's death is no longer not being treated as suspicious

But he was released after police decided that the death was non-suspicious.

Officers are understood to be treating it as a suspected suicide, according to The Sun, while Mr Jones claims he pleaded with his former partner not to jump for the sake of their five-year-old daughter.

A family friend said: 'He said he was trying to call her back from the balcony but she wouldnt listen.

'They had a row over her seeing her ex-boyfriend and things got out of hand.

She went to the balcony and threatened to jump, but David didnt think shed actually do it.'

The friend told how Mr Jones said he was 'powerless to stop her'.

One of the holidaymakers staying in a neighbouring flat at Apartments Paraiso del said: They had been out drinking, he was obviously very drunk.

'We could hear a man shouting in the corridor leading to the apartment. It was very aggressive and very loud.

Kerry's devastated family and loved ones in Bristol have paid tribute to the 'gorgeous angel' and the community has been left in shock

Ms Roberts is believed to have jetted to the island last month with her ex-boyfriend and their child

The tragedy struck at the high-rise holiday apartment in this block, Apartments Paraiso del Sur, in the resort of Costa Adeje

Then we heard a piercing scream and a loud thud, we thought it was the garbage men emptying the bins but it was the sound of her body hitting the ground.

'Then all you could hear was the screaming of the mans mother. It was horrible.

Another guest added: It was bad, lots of shouting and then this scream. The child would have been in one of the rooms.

The community has rallied to pay tribute to Kerry

A friend said Miss Roberts, a former customer service assistant, had only gone on the holiday for the sake of her daughter.

Detectives initially detained Miss Roberts ex-partner after viewing footage from CCTV cameras which is said to show her being kicked and punched before the couple entered the apartment, local reports said.

A source said Civil Guard officers released Mr Jones after ruling out his involvement: The police investigation has subsequently determined he was not in the same spot as the woman when she fell to her death. He is being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence because of images taken from CCTV footage.

A close friend of the mother of two, who arrived in Tenerife at the end of May, said: Kerry had only gone to there for the sake of her daughter. She was only there so she could have a family holiday.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are offering assistance to the family of a British woman who has sadly died in Tenerife.

Mr Jones returned to the apartment yesterday and was pictured wearing shorts and sandals.

He was later seen looking sombre in a pub with his parents and daughter.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116 123, or visit a local Samaritans branch - see www.samaritans.org for details.

Floral tributes have been left outside St James Church in Bristol, where Kerry Roberts attended

Emergency services raced to the scene after the incident on Friday, but were unable to save Ms Roberts
Others say cops are scared to act in case they're put on YouTube

The unexplained rise of violent crimes - from homicides and rapes to robberies - in many major cities over the past year has left experts stumped, especially as figures have dropped elsewhere.

The rise has struck some cities - most notably Chicago, which had its most violent January since 2000, with 50 left dead - and left others alone.

No single reason can be identified and the jump isn't enough to indicate a trend. Nevertheless, authorities are jumpy.

'I don't know what the answer is, but holy cow, do we have a problem,' said FBI Director James Comey said at a special press briefing in May.

Dangerous: Chicago (pictured) has become the most notorious example of a spike in violent crime that's been seen in cities across the U.S. - it's already had almost half the number of murders that it did all last year

Blame: FBI Director James Comey (left) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (right) have both blamed online videos showing police officers shooting and arresting suspects for making cops scared to act

The U.S. has enjoyed low crime rates since a peak in the 1990s, but last year saw the beginning of a worrying rise in violent crime that has continued unabated.

What's unusual, however, is that it's not happening everywhere: Chicago and Los Angeles are seeing homicides on the rise, but other places such as Miami and Oakland are not.

Chicago, a city long associated with the violent crime that plagues its poorer neighborhoods, saw six people fatally shot over the Memorial Day weekend and 56 wounded, ending a bloody month in a bloody year.

And in May it suffered 66 homicides - 19 more than the same month in 2015 and 25 more than 2014 - raising the total number of homicides so far past the 240 mark.

That's more than 50 per cent higher than at this point last year, and puts the beleaguered city on a pace to easily surpass the 500 homicides it saw in 2012.

But those figures are only homicides. Perhaps more significant is the number of people who are being shot: well over 1,200 as of Tuesday, which far surpasses the 800 shot by this time last year.

All of this has left the city on edge.

Spike: Los Angeles (pictured) has also seen a spike in crime, with killings up 27.5 per cent in the first two months of the year and violent offenses in general up by 12.6 per cent

'Our kids are afraid to go out of the house,' said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest and activist on the city's South Side. 'You have children asking teachers to pray for them before they go home.'

But why? For Chicago there's no clear single reason.

Some say the splintering of gangs has created deadly rivalries; others say the disbanding of specialized police units has helped embolden gangs.

Shot: Laquan McDonald (pictured) was just 17 when he was shot by a white Chicago cop who was later convicted of murder. The recording of his shooting went viral online

Guns are pouring into the city. Police saying they've seized more this year - 3,500 - than any city police department in the United States. But critics say courts also have overturned or gutted the city's once-tough gun laws.

And there are concerns, expressed publicly by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and privately by officers, that videos like the one of a white officer fatally shooting black 17-year-old Chicago teen Laquan McDonald in October 2014 are making officers reluctant to combat crime.

That video, which led to murder charges against the officer, exposed and deepened the rift between the community and the police force.

And many say that has made the public less likely to offer police the cooperation they need to prevent and solve crimes.

'Quite frankly, trust has broken down between the community and police,' new police superintendent Eddie Johnson said.

And Los Angeles saw killings up by 27.5 per cent in the first two months of 2016, with violent offenses overall increasing by 12.7 per cent, the LA Times reported.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association, a nonprofit that works with police chiefs in the 50 largest cities in the U.S. as well as the seven largest cities in Canada, started hearing last year that violent crimes were increasing, executive director Darrell Stephens said.

In response, the group began collecting data to better document crimes, data that showed that violent crimes had increased in 2015 compared to 2014.

Already the first quarter of this year has shown across-the-board increases in homicides, rape, robbery, aggravated assaults and non-fatal shootings compared to 2015.

The reasons vary, Stephens said: Chicago and Los Angeles attribute much of it to gang-related violence - with more than half of the 48 homicides recorded in January and February having gang connections - while others chalk it up to significant drug problems that lead to violent crime.

Some in law enforcement - including Comey, whose remarks were dismissed by the White House - speculate that the 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, led to a climate in which bystanders with phones are more likely to record and distribute videos of cops.

That in turn has made officers reticent about taking the steps needed to stop crime, they argue.

But Stephens says that tough scrutiny on policing has always been part of the job, even if it's 'more visible, more strident' now.

And even with violent crime outpacing past years, it's a far cry from the more notorious early 1990s when there were about 25,000 homicides each year. 'We're nowhere near that level,' he said.

Plus, other cities are seeing a decrease in crimes, including Miami, where there were 25 homicides in the first three months of 2015 but 12 during that same time frame this year.

Oakland, California, is also faring better now: the number of homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults was down in the first three months of this year compared to the same period a year ago.

Ups and downs: While LA (pictured) has seen more violent crime, other cities such as Oakland, California, and Miami, Florida have both seen violent crime go down. Overall, however, violent crime is trending upwards

Still, the crime spike has raised alarms among national law enforcement officials, notably the FBI director.

'Sometimes people say to me, well, the increases are off of historic lows. How does that many of us feel any better?' Comey said.

'A whole lot more people are dying this year than last year, and last year than the year before. And I don't know why for sure.'

In Indianapolis, which saw a record 144 homicides last year, the police department launched a new crime-fighting approach last month.

Officers now patrol 19 new beats in crime-plagued neighborhoods where 45 per cent of last year's homicides occurred.

Those neighborhoods were chosen with help from the capitol city's new crime-fighting technology center, which pinpoints areas where beat patrols could have the greatest impact.

Indianapolis police spokesman Sgt. Kendale Adams said last year's record homicides and the continued rise in killings this year is being driven by a multitude of factors, including the proliferation of guns, disputes over drugs and fights that escalate into gunfire.

'People want a reason, right? There's got to be a reason, but when we look at the data it's disturbances, it's drugs, it's even simple disputes on Facebook. It's very lifestyle-oriented, that's what the data is telling us,' he said Wednesday.

'Disputes that normally would have been settled through fighting are being settled through lethal means.'
Move over Ariel, Belle and Elsa, Princess Hot Dog is here to take your crown.

A little girl decided to dress up as a hot dog on wear your favorite costume day at the Holly Springs School of Dance in North Carolina.

All of the pupils chose to wear princess costumes - except Ainsley, who will be seven in July.

The fearless free thinker decided to dress as a hot dog - complete with a bun and a slash of yellow mustard down the middle of the weenie.

'In a world of princesses, be a hot dog': Ainsley, six, decided to dress up as a food stuff rather than a princess at her dance school

One of these things is not like the other: Little Ainsley is a free thinker who also just happens to love hot dogs

Ainsley, top, may have started a revolution, but her dad says she actually does own princess costumes, she just decided to go as a hot dog that day

Pictures of the young individualist standing in a dance studio with seven other young girls dressed in tutus, wings, silks and sashes, soon went viral.

The girl's dad, Brandon E. Turner of Apex, North Carolina, took to Twitter to show his support for his daughter's unique fashion sense and revolutionist sensibilities.

He wrote: 'No parent is ready to learn that their daughter is trending. #hotdogprincess. Best part is it was all her idea!'

Pictures of the girl at class have been shared almost 90,000 times on the Best of Tumblr's Facebook page and received over 26,000 comments.

Princess Hot Dog was the hit of the dance recital at Holly Springs School of Dance in Holly Springs, North Carolina (above, with one of her dance instructors). 'A special thanks to her teachers and HSSOD for loving and accepting her in the moment' says Ainsley's dad

A fan portrayed Ainsley as a hot dog princess in a world of Disney princesses (above) using Lego and sent it to Ainsley's dad

Asked by a fan if the girl had based her costume on 'The Hot Dog Princess' from Adventure Time Cartoon, he replied: 'We've actually never seen that show. She just loves hotdogs!'

Turner says his daughter actually does own princess costumes but just simply chose to be a sausage that particular day.

'We all are surprised by the attention but like the "be yourself" message it gives,' he told the Daily Mail.

Turner has received a few memes in honor of his maverick daughter, and one person even made an image of Ainsley and her classmates using Lego and posted it to Instagram.
Four thugs who attacked a family of British holidaymakers in an unprovoked attack in a Thai resort have been jailed, it was reported.

Lewis and Rosemary Owen and their 43-year-old son, also named Lewis, were beaten unconscious by the gang of drunken men during Thai New Year celebrations in April.

Mrs Owen, then 65, was left with brain damage while her husband, 68, and son needed stitches for head injuries. The attackers were arrested after police released CCTV footage of the horrific assault.

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Holidaymakers Rosemary and Lewis Owen, pictured, were attacked alongside their son in Thailand in April

Mrs Owen, pictured left and right with a black eye after the attack, was left with brain damage from the assault

The assault was captured on CCTV footage (circled, above), which was later released by the police

Mrs Owen (pictured in an image released by the Thai tourist board) was treated in hospital after the attack

The attackers have today been jailed for the attack, according to the Bangkok Post.

Suphatra Baithong and Yingyai Saengkham-in, both aged 32, and Siwa Noksri and Chaiya Jaiboon, both 20, were each sentenced to four years in prison.

However as all four men confessed, their sentences were halved and each man will only serve two years behind bars.

Mr and Mrs Owen, who live in Wenvoe in South Wales, have been regular visitors to Thailand since the 1980s. Their son, Lewis, lives in Singapore.

The family were attacked on the night of April 13 as they made their way back to their holiday apartment, apparently after Lewis accidentally bumped into one of the defendants.

Catalyst: The row appeared to start when Lewis, known as Blue to his friends, put his hand out and brushed a local man who had collided with him as they walked down the road

As the stunned woman tried to sit back up after being punched in the face, one of the attackers kicks her hard on the jaw knocking her unconscious (circled)

Thai police later released video footage of the assault in a bid to trace the suspects - however officers refused to show the Owens the clip because it was 'too violent'.

The video showed the mother, father and son being punched to the ground before being repeatedly kicked and stamped on as they lay helpless.

By the time the men had finished their vicious attack, all three Owens were lying on the floor.

Beaten black and blue: Grandmother Rosemary Owen arrives at Hua Hin provincial court to give evidence against her alleged attackers after she, her husband and son were knocked unconscious by a gang of thugs

Lewis Owen also appeared at the Hua Hin provincial court under heavy security to give evidence

The crowd which had stood by and watched the brutal beatings only daring to step forward once they were sure the gang had left.

Mrs Owen needed an operation to ease swelling on her brain while her husband sustained heavy bruising, two black eyes and needed six stitches in his forehead.
A married fashion designer fired a younger employee because he refused to have sex with her, a lawsuit has claimed.

Daniel Coyle, 39, has accused Joanne Del Prete-Rosten, 52, the owner of BigApple-based clothing company Canto NYC, of letting him go after he refused her advances.

The Texan claims in federal court documents that she made frequent passes at him and even bragged about having sex with someone who 'penetrated her with a gun'.

He claims he suffered through the 'vulgar conduct' as he feared losing his job and he wasn't shown the door until he complained.

Married fashion designer Joanne Del Prete-Rosten, 52, fired a younger employee because he refused to have sex with her, a lawsuit has claimed

Daniel Coyle, 39, has accused Del Prete-Rosten (left and right), the owner of Canto NYC, of letting him go after he refused her advances

But Del Prete-Rosten has branded the allegations as a 'bunch of lies' and insists that she never had a relationship with Coyle.

A lawsuit seen by the New York Post claims the pair met three years ago at the NASCAR track at Pocono Raceway.

Coyle claims the pair then started having sex twice a week until Del Prete-Rosten asked him to join her company, which specializes in leather pants and tops inspired by race cars, that cost $400 a piece.

On his first day as chief operating officer, he discovered that his boss was actually married, and her husband, Pete Rosten, was an executive at the company, the lawsuit says.

He put the alleged affair on hold after the discovery, supposedly leaving Del Prete Rosten hurt.

During a business trip to Las Vegas, Del Prete-Rosten allegedly burst into his hotel room drunk and only wearing her underwear.

Coyle describes that she then jumped onto his bed and 'grabbed his genitals'.

On another night, he was supposedly dancing with a woman at a nightclub when Del Prete-Rosten 'aggressively pushed him out of the way and kissed this woman'.

The Texan claims in federal court documents that his boss (pictured left and right with her husband Pete Rosten) made frequent passes at him and even bragged about having sex with someone who 'penetrated her with a gun'

He says in the court papers that this was a way 'to demonstrate her power over Mr Coyle within the Canto hierarchy'.

She also allegedly told Coyle to take her assistant out and 'f**** her brains out.'
Mohamed Zahran, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for forcing his victims to degrade themselves on a living room carpet at a house in County Durham

A psycho knifeman has been jailed after forcing two women to stage a lesbian sex show in front of a terrified toddler before repeatedly stabbing them when they refused to let him join in.

Mohamed Zahran was sentenced to 16 years in prison for forcing his victims to degrade themselves on a living room carpet at a house in County Durham.

Zahran, 38, a chef, ordered the two adults to strip naked at knifepoint and lie on top of each other while pretending to film them on his phone.

The two friends sobbed as they were forced to touch and kiss each other - while the daughter of one of the women looked on, thinking it was only 'a game'.

But when Egyptian-born Zahran wanted 'his turn' to have sex, the child's mother said no and he repeatedly knifed both women.

The mother's injured friend ran naked into the street and screamed at neighbours to call police - who burst into the house to find Zahran had stabbed himself in the stomach.

Jailing Zahran, a judge told him: 'The sexual activity you forced them to endure and your knife attack will haunt them for the rest of their lives.'

After the sentence, the victims described how they feared they would be raped and murdered when Zahran revealed his 'psycho plan' at a house in County Durham.

The mother of the little girl forced to watch the sick show choked back tears as she recalled: 'He said I had to take off my clothes and have sex with my friend.

'I had no clothing on at all. My friend removed her clothing. She was distressed and terrified.

'We thought he was going to kill us. He had the knife in his hand and my daughter was still running around the room.

'He told me I had to lay on my friend. We were both lying down and he told us to start kissing, to moan and the make sexual movements. He was holding the knife in one hand and his phone in the other.

'We changed positions so that she was lying on top of me. He then began touching himself and touched me. We were crying and screaming.

'He was looking towards my friend. He was looking as though he was going to rape her and she was begging him not to.

'He told her it was her turn now and his turn to have sex with her. I told him not to touch her, he could do whatever he wanted with me.'

Then Zahran suddenly began stabbing her friend.

She was covered in blood. I saw him stabbing her. She was on her knees and couldn't get to her feet

She added: 'She was covered in blood. I saw him stabbing her. She was on her knees. She couldn't get to her feet.

'He came over to me and my friend ran to the window, she was banging on it and screaming. He came over to me and stabbed me seven times.

'I managed to push him hard and he fell over onto the floor. I told my friend to run.

'My friend was naked and bleeding. She ran into the street and was banging on the doors of neighbours to get help.'

The woman still suffers flashbacks and nightmares, and cannot bear take a shower or look in the mirror because of the scars.

The other victim, 29, told how she tried to leave the house when she Zahran grabbed her by the throat, threw her to the floor, sat on top of her, and started jabbing her throat with the blade.

She said: 'I thought that's it - he's going to kill me. I was looking around for anything I could grab, anything that could help me.

'There was nothing there close enough and I realised I couldn't protect myself. I felt this is really it. That was the moment that broke me and I realised I would probably do anything he asked for, just to get away.

'I said sorry a million times even though I never felt it. I just thought it would convince him to let us go.'

She did not feel the blade go in and only realised she had been stabbed when she saw she was bleeding.

She continued: 'My mind was only on one thing - to get out of this house and phone the police.

Zahran, of Bowburn, County Durham, admitted two charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent before his trial at Teesside Crown Court, pictured. He has now been jailed for 16 years

'He told me he had a gun, that he had bought a gun, and that there was going to be a bullet for the head of anyone I cared about.

'I will never forget the look of satisfaction on his face as he enjoyed inflicting fear and pain on me.'

Zahran, of Bowburn, County Durham, admitted two charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent before his trial at Teesside Crown Court.

He denied two offences of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, sexual assault and false imprisonment but was convicted by the jury.

Prosecutor Deborah Smithies told the court that the women suffered 'gratuitous degradation' in the 'sustained and prolonged' attack.

Judge Simon Phillips QC told Zahran he will also have to serve an extended five years on licence recall after his release, and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.

He said: 'These women did not want to do what you were demanding. They were afraid you would hurt them. Fearing for their life, they complied.

'One of them told the jury she firmly believed you were going to rape her, but was prepared to die rather than give in further to your knife-point demands.'
You might think that the billionaires who live in 740 Park Avenue - the richest building in New York, a stone's throw from Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side - are the luckiest people on Earth.

But in recent years its occupants have suffered a string of disasters, including losing jewelry worth $250,000 in a series of heists, having apartments flooded by poor plumbing, and being forced to flee when an inferno ripped through the building.

And that's not to mention the in-fighting and arguments between its billionaire tenants, as Michael Gross, author of '740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building', revealed in the New York Post Saturday.

Rich pickings: Apartments at 740 Park Avenue currently sell for $22.5m-32.5m and would-be tenants must have $100m in liquid net worth to even be considered for residency. But it's been hit by bad luck of late

Golden gates: Behind these impressive doors lie tales of fire and floods - and from May 30-July 4 2013 that saw $250,000 in bling was stolen by thieves. The stolen items were never found

Koch up: Billionaire residents such as David Koch (pictured with wife Julia Margaret Flesher) were affected by a fire in the building on April 6, 2016, with Koch's apartment being soaked with water by firefighters

The run of bad luck started in October 2011, the Post says, when Occupy Wall Street took its protests to the front door of the 87-year-old building.

With America's largest concentration of billionaires, apartments currently costing $22.5m-32.5m and would-be residents requiring $100m in liquid net worth before they'll even be considered by the co-op board, it's symbolic of the one per cent.

Glitter pickers: Thieves made off with $100,000 worth of jewelry from the home of novelist Danielle Ganek (pictured in 2007) and her financier husband David, including two Patek Philippe watches, in 2013

Holding aloft signs and chanting, protesters hoped to disrupt the lives of its wealthy occupants, a list that includes New York's richest man, 76-year old David Koch, whose personal wealth in 2015 was $44.5billion.

But the real disruption began seven months later, in May 2012, when the building's longtime superintendent left. His replacement gave the boot to six members of staff while another four retired.

New staff might not seem the biggest problem a building could face, but just over a year later, starting May 30 2013, the occupants were struck by a daring series of heists that saw hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry vanishing.

The first to be hit in the six-week-long crime spree were financier David Ganek, and his novelist wife Danielle, who lost diamond earrings, two Patek Philippe watches and other jewelry worth nearly $100,000 from their sixth-floor home.

Socialite June Dyson, 95, the widow of financier and philanthropist Charles H. Dyson and occupier of a third-floor pad, lost an $82,000 diamond bracelet and a rhinestone pin between May 31 and June 16.

And Lauren Merkin, 60, the wife of Ezra Merkin, 63, who was charged with civil fraud for allegedly steering $2.4 billion in client money to Ponzi schemer Madoff, was hit too.

She lost a $47,000 diamond necklace, $5,000 diamond earrings, a gold Movado watch and two wedding bands from her sixth-and-seventh-floor duplex.

For these - and other - residents to lose such vast sums in a seemingly secure building over the course of six weeks seems unimaginable, but a resident of the building who did not wish to be names told the NY Post that it was all too plausible.

'It seemed high-security until you got inside,' the resident said. 'I was shown other apartments by the staff when people were away'

'If you have five residences and 15 watches, the chances are you'll think you misplaced it. That's the life (these tenants) lead. It made them easy targets.'

Another unnamed tenant agreed: '(They) have so much, they barely notice,' she said. 'They think nothing of leaving a diamond watch on a counter and forgetting its there for two weeks.'

However, she added: 'Its the last place youd expect a robbery... The Kochs have 11 bodyguards. We assumed it was an inside job.'

Occupied: In 2011, the building's billionaire occupants attracted protesters from Occupy Wall Street - the first in a series of misadvantures and disasters for residents

That suspicion was borne out by private investigators brought in by the building's management, who said that the building's security cameras had been turned off during at least one theft.

They said two people had entered the video room just before that happened: a recently hired handyman and a porter who had been there since 2008.

According to the NY Post, the handyman was fired, and the porter was given $40,000 to leave the building in August of that year, with the new superintendent following that September.

The crime spree ended in June, after police were finally called in by David Ganek, who needed a police report for an insurance claim.

The goods were never found, and the culprit remains unknown. Police said the building's board sabotaged their investigation; some residents say that private detectives hired by a victim spooked the thieves. Regardless: the jewels were gone.

But still worse was yet to come, as residents found themselves at the mercy of the elements, thanks to floods and raging fires.

The apartment owned by Steven Mnuchin, a banker and film producer - and currently Donald Trumps chief fundraiser - usually lies dormant as he spends most of his time in California.

Perhaps that's why it has been responsible for multiple floodings, affecting the Ganeks below, and the home of Tamara Winn (daughter of billionaire industrialist Ira Rennert) and husband Randall Winn below them.

Floods and tears: The apartment of banker Steven Mnuchin (left) flooded multiple times, affecting those below him, while fashion designer Vera Wang (right) had to flee her home after it was filled with smoke in the April fire

The Winns had also suffered floods from the Ganeks' apartment, leading to 'agitation and litigation,' according to the NY Post.

But it was on April 6, 2016 that the building was struck by its most dramatic bout of bad luck yet: a fire began in the sauna of Ezra Merkin, which was being used to store clothes and books, after staff turned it on.

As the apartment was consumed by fire, those above it - Thomas Tisch, private investor and member of the old-money Tisch clan, and fashion designer Vera Wang - were choked by smoke and fumes.

So were people on the same floor, with the homes of Ganeks, construction heiress Giovanna Bongiasca and banker Thomas Strauss and his wife Bonnie, all being filled with smoke from their unfortunate neighbor's apartment.

But those below didn't escape either, with hoses drenching the homes of the Kochs and real-estate mover and shaker Andrew Stone.

Those evacuated from their homes wound up in hotels - albeit plush ones such as Madison Avenue's The Mark - where some of them remain.

Smoked out: Thomas Tisch (left), one of the old-money Tisch clan, and wife Alice (right) had to flee their 740 Park Avenue apartment after it was filled with smoke rising from the burning apartment beneath

'It's gonna be a mess for a while,' an unnamed resident told the NY Post of Merkin's apartment, which was gutted by the fire.

And there have been personal injuries too - like Koch's wife, Julia Flesher, who fell in the dark, gloomy lobby and broke multiple bones.

The lobby is now being refitted with grip strips on the stairs and brighter lights, but some of the less wealthy tenants - who acquired their apartments before prices went astronomical - are protesting.

And even the exterior is having problems, with the building now surrounded by scaffolding as its famous - but crumbling Art Deco facade is removed, The Real Deal reported.

The ongoing process aims to replace rusting metal brackets that hold the limestone in place, before they break and send the heavy blocks plummeting to the sidewalk below.

But that's cold comfort to residents who quite literally paid a fortune to live in the building.

They will now be hoping its bad luck has burned out - but given the events of the last few years, who can know for sure?
These are the faces of the Fort Hood drowning tragedy, pictured for the first time today after they were identified by the military.

The group ranges from a four-time veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and father-of-one, to a cadet not due to graduate West Point until 2018.

Staff Sergeant Miguel Colonvazquez, 38, from New York, and Cadet Mitchell Winey, 21, from Indiana, both drowned after their armored truck rolled into a river.

Staff Sergeant Miguel Colonvazquez (left), 38, a decorated war veteran who served four tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, died at Fort Hood, alongside Cadet Mitchell Winey (right), 21, who only joined West Point last year

Also among the dead is Private Tysheena James, 21, from New Jersey (left), who was named by the military today, and former homecoming queen Private Eddy Rae'Laurin Gates (right), 20

Also among those killed was Private Eddy Rae'Laurin Gates, 20, a former homecoming queen who had only served in the military for seven months before her death.

Private First Class Zachery Fuller, 23, from Florida and Private Tysheena James, 21, from New Jersey, also joined active service around the same time as Gates, in November last year.

Private Isaac Deleon, from Texas, was the youngest to die at age 19 and had also only served for around seven months at the time of the accident.

Yingming Sun, 25, an Army specialist from California who joined the military in 2013, was also identified on Sunday as being among the dead

Special Christine Armstrong, 27, from California, and Private First Class Brandon Banner, 22, of Florida, who joined active service in 2014, were also killed.

Officials later identified the final victim as Yingming Sun, a 25-year-old Army specialist from California. They had been waiting until his family were informed before naming him.

Three survivors were released from hospital on Friday and have since returned to duty.

Investigators say they still do not know what caused the vehicle to flip over as it crossed a creek on Fort Hood Army post in central Texas on Thursday.

Military chiefs have also not revealed why the group were traveling close to the swollen river at a time when the base was closing flood-hit roads.

Paying tribute to Gates yesterday, Gates' father said: 'She put someone else before herself.

'She wanted to serve her country with a smile. She wanted to serve in 20 years in the service.'

Five soldiers were found dead on Thursday after the two-and-a-half ton truck flipped over in Owl Creek at the base.

Four more soldiers were unaccounted for after the tragic accident, but their bodies were found further downstream on Friday - taking the death toll to nine.

Private Isaac Deleon (left) was the youngest to die, aged 19, after just seven months in service, the same amount of time as Private First Class Zachary Nathaniel Fuller, 23 (right)

Private First Class Brandon Banner, 22 (left), also died alongside Specialist Christine Armstrong (right), 27. They had both served in the military since 2014

Their remains were discovered after a lengthy search by military helicopters and boats.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave his condolences to RaeLaruins family and the families of those killed in Thursdays accident.

The Combat Readiness Center's experts will examine the scene of the Fort Hood accident and evaluate the factors that caused the deaths.

They will then send a report to the commanding unit, which will become public after 90 days.

However, it could take months for the investigation to be completed.

A Fort Hood spokesman said the dirt road near Owl Creek was not known to be flooded and soldiers are used to passing through weather conditions like the one experienced.

'In this case, we see that there can be something learned in the way of future prevention,' said Michael Negard, spokesman for the Army's Combat Readiness Center.

Colonvazquez (pictured) who was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2011, and Afghanistan in 2009 and 2013, drowned after the vehicle he was in rolled into a swollen river

Both Gates (left), and James (right), had only been in the military for around seven months before their vehicle was swept away by floodwater in Texas, causing them to drown

A Fort Hood spokesman said officials were in the process of closing roads on the sprawling Army post when a truck carrying 12 soldiers was swept away by high water on Thursday.

Post spokesman Chris Haug said the soldiers were being trained how to operate the two-and-a-half ton truck when it overturned Thursday morning along Owl Creek.

Haug says the portion of road where the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle overturned was not known to be overrun by water during past floods.

The vehicle resembles a flatbed truck with a walled bed and is used to carry troops.

Emergency crews searched through the night for the four missing soldiers before their bodies were found on Friday afternoon.

The Combat Readiness Center's experts will examine the scene of the Fort Hood accident and evaluate the factors that caused the deaths

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave his condolences to RaeLaruins family and the families of those killed in Thursdays accident

Officials told KWTX that the deceased soldiers were found downstream.

The four soldiers who were found on Friday are from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

Army aircraft, canine search teams, swift-water rescue watercraft and heavy trucks were used in the search for the missing soldiers.

Fort Hood spokesman John Miller said the low-water crossing of the creek was flooded by two days of intermittent heavy rains when the swift water swept the truck, called a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle, from the road.

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the soldiers, their families and the Fort Hood community,' Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

A Texas DPS helicopter flies over Lake Belton near the scene of the accident as part of the search operation

Heavy rainfall in Texas over the past few days has caused severe flooding in some areas, with at least three prisons evacuated because of rising water levels.

While the rain largely came to an end on Saturday, bringing relief to many communities at risk of flooding, those downstream are now at risk as the water drains into the Gulf of Mexico.

Emergency officials in Brazoria County warned residents in East Columbia, Bailey's Prairie and Bar-X to be prepared to evacuate their homes.

The Brazos River is already 9ft over flood level which is only expected to rise further on Sunday.

The weather ranged from drizzle to bouts of heavy rain, Brazoria County spokeswoman Sharon Trower said.

About 2,000 homes have been ordered evacuated in the Rosharon area, about 30 miles south of Houston, and emergency shelters were filling, she said.

No injuries have been reported in the county from the flood.
A young woman has died in hospital after a suspected ecstasy overdose at a top nightclub.

Police believe the 22-year-old, who has not been named, had taken party drug MDMA at The Box in Crewe, Cheshire.

She had been at the popular venue for the 'Core Blimey - The Carnival of Rave' night which was billed to finish at 6am.

Police were called at just before 2am after she was taken to Leighton Hospital as staff became concerned about the unconscious woman.

Police believe the tragic 22-year-old, who has not been named, had taken party drug MDMA at The Box in Crewe, Cheshire (pictured)

Forensic officers investigate at The Box nightclub in Crewe, Cheshire today following the woman's death

Police searched the nightclub after the 22-year-old girl was found unconscious and later died

Detectives are now investigating the death and have urged any other clubbers who took the drug to seek medical attention.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police said: 'At 1.50am police received a call from staff at Leighton Hospital in relation to a 22-year-old female that was unconscious having suffered an adverse reaction after taking drugs at 'The Box', Crewe.

'It is believed that she had taken MDMA. Tragically, the 22-year-old later died.

'The circumstances surrounding her death are now being investigated by Cheshire Constabulary.'

The organisers of the 'Core Blimey' events have cancelled all future evenings because of the death.

Detective Chief Superintendent Serena Kennedy, from Cheshire Police, added: 'Sadly, it is unlikely that the victim was the only person to have bought and taken drugs at this location last night.

'We would urge anybody who may have taken the drug to seek urgent medical attention.

'This is a tragic situation and my thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim.'

Officers were called at just before 2am after she was taken to Leighton Hospital in the town as staff became concerned about the unconscious woman

The Box is a popular venue situated opposite Crewe train station and near the Manchester Metropolitan University in the town.

On its website the club says it has helped launch more than 600 bands and boasts its India stage is 'one of the top venues in the UK'.

Popular bands including Funeral For A Friend, The Twang and Ash have appeared there in the past as well as DJs such as Chase & Status and Mr Hudson.

No one was available for comment at the club today.

A post on the Core Blimey rave event Facebook account said: 'We at Core Blimey would like to share our deepest condolences to the girl that lost her life last night [Sunday morning].

'Our thoughts go out to her family and friends through this sad time. As a result, and to be fair we have been thinking about it for a while we will be cancelling all future CB events indefinitely.
A tourist bus carrying 75 tourists including young children has come under gunfire while travelling through south eastern France.

Six people were injured when the passengers, who all came from the Czech Republic, were making their way home from Spain last night.

Alex Perrin, the prosecutor of Valence said the bus was travelling along the A7 motorway when it was blasted by gunfire.

A tourist bus carrying passengers from the Czech Republic came under fire as it made its way along the A7 motorway in France, pictured

He also decribed the incident as an isolated act.

Mr Perrin explained: 'An initial shot smashed the front windscreen and a second exploded the rear window of the vehicle a few seconds later.'

Six passengers were hurt by broken glass, including a woman whose eye was seriously damaged, and a child.

Mr Perrin said initial investigations had revealed the shooter used a hunting rifle. One of the bullets was found inside the bus.

He added: 'We don't have any reason to believe this bus was targeted instead of any other.

The motorway in the south eastern town of Valence. Six passengers were hurt by broken glass, including a woman whose eye was seriously damaged, and a child

'Five people suffered light injuries, while the sixth was more serious.'

All the passengers who were not hospitalised have returned to their home country.

Local newspaper Dauphin Libere reported that police officers had been stationed on bridges over the road, in case the attacker strikes agai.
The most recent was in the suburb of Burwood, after an elderly man died

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has claimed Sydney's recent string of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks had stemmed from the city's water supply.

Ms Brockovich, who successfully sued Pacific Gas and Electric in California in 1993, blamed the 59 legionnaires cases confirmed in Sydney this year on the city's use of chloramine as a disinfection process for drinking water.

'I smell a cover-up Sydney' Ms Brockovich posted to her Facebook.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (pictured) is blaming Sydney's string of Legionnaire's disease outbreaks this year on the city's use of chloramine as a disinfection process for drinking water

'I smell a cover-up Sydney' Ms Brockovich posted to her Facebook, claiming that the bug was being transferred through the city's water supply

'It's in the water supply... Sydney Water foolishly uses chloramine as a secondary disinfectant... and has lost control of the distribution system... which is now suffering from biofouling and likely nitrification in some areas... this will significantly contribute to the bacteriological regrowth and spreading of legionella,' she said.

The fourth outbreak of the respiratory disease this year occurred in May in Sydney's western suburb of Burwood, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Other outbreaks have been confirmed this year in the city's CBD, northern suburb Dee Why and southern suburbs known as St George.

The fourth outbreak of the respiratory disease (pictured) this year occurred in May in Sydney's western suburb of Burwood

Health officials have hit back, saying that there is no connection between the 59 confirmed cases in 2016 and the water supply

In April alone, 17 people were infected with the bug and one man who had visited Burwood died from the disease on May 11

In April alone, 17 people were infected with the bug and one man who had visited Burwood died from the disease on May 11, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Sydney health officials hit back at Ms Brockovich's claims.

'There is no evidence to suggest water treatments used by Sydney Water are in any way linked to the recent cases,' NSW Health chief health officer Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.

A Sydney Water spokesman also told The Daily Telegraph that there was no connection.
Two spear fishermen were chased out of the water at Tweed Heads by a pack of sharks on Tuesday.

Spear fishermen Waade Madigan and Dr Seyong Kim were heading in for the night when three aggressive bronze whaler sharks circled them and tried to bite the men as they made the kilometre-long swim to safety.

The men told the Gold Coast Bulletin that sharks followed them all the way to the shore at Kingscliff from the reef, where the men had gone fishing.

Waade Madigan, 23, was spearfishing with a friend when the men were approached by sharks

The men were spearfishing mackerel on a reef off the coast of Kingscliff, near Tweed Heads in New South Wales

At first, two sharks swam up to the men.

'It was fun at first but if you were there with us you would have seen our attitude change when we realised they weren't going away,' said the 23-year-old.

'Then a smaller, third shark came out of nowhere and hit us first, then all three hit our fins, guns, everything.'

As the men reached shallow water close to the beach the sharks continued to attack the men,only giving up when they left the water.

Long-time shark hunter Joel Merchant warned more shark attacks were on the way earlier this week

The men were swimming for an hour to escape the predators, and Mr Madigan says he crawled up the beach on his back

At no point did they consider using their spears, said Mr Madigan  who believes the predators are 'majestic animals'.

Former shark fisherman Joel Merchant, who spent ten years hunting sharks, warned that more shark attacks were imminent  stating that a lack of shark fishermen combined with the humpback whale migration would attract more of the predators closer to shore.
A Norwich man accused of stabbing his pregnant wife to death before setting their home on fire has told police he committed the crime to save himself from becoming a voodoo sacrifice.

Police say Patrick Antoine, 39, arrived at the police station in Norwich, Connecticut, at 10.49am Thursday morning, covered in blood and admitting to the murder of his wife, Margarette Mady, 37.

He claimed Mady, who was eight months pregnant when she died, had been casting spells on him for years and had threatened to sacrifice him ahead of the child's birth in July, necn.com reported.

'Voodoo': Patrick Antoine (left, in police mugshot) is accused of stabbing Margarette Mady (right, with Antoine in May), 37, to death Thursday. Cops say Antoine claimed he killed her because she was a voodoo priestess

Scene of the crime: Mady was killed in this apartment block in Norwich, Connecticut. Antoine told police she had threatened to sacrifice him before the birth of her daughter in July. He says he's not the father

According to police, Antoine and Mady had been arguing in the kitchen of their apartment at 283-285 Franklin Street on the morning of the murder.

When Mady left the room, cops say, Antoine slipped a steak knife into his pocket.

They then continued arguing until she started shoving him, at which point he stabbed her repeatedly in the head, face and feet.

Antoine then used a bic lighter to set fire to the curtains in the room and headed to the police station to turn himself in - arriving just as fire crews were dispatched - court reports say.

'My wife is dead,' Antoine allegedly told officers at the station. 'I killed my wife.'

He then claimed that his wife was a voodoo priestess who had been casting spells on him for years, and that she had threatened to sacrifice him before the birth of her child in July.

He also said that he was not the father of her child.

Mady was found unresponsive and badly burned, and was pronounced dead on the scene at 11.10am.

She was pregnant with a girl - her third child. The other two children were not in the house at the time of the incident.

Her cousin, who is also a neighbor and called the fire brigade after she smelled burning coming from the apartment, said she wasn't aware of any problems between the couple, the Hartford Courant reported Friday.

Both Antoine and Mady worked at Foxwoods Resort Casino and had attended a Jehova's Witness meeting shortly before her death.

Antoine has been charged with first-degree murder and arson, and his bail has been set at $2million. Under Connecticut state law he cannot be charged with the death of the fetus.

He will go before a court again on June 20.
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Muhammad Ali's younger brother Rahaman wept as he was surrounded by mourners at a memorial service for the late boxing legend.

Ali's younger brother put his hand to his face, overcome with emotion, as members of the King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville's west end paid tribute to the heavyweight champion who died on Friday night at the age of 74.

He also clapped and swayed to hymns as the boxer's hometown began to mark his passing.

The church features a painting by Ali's father, Cassius Clay Sr., and isn't far from the pink house where the boxing champion grew up.

During the two-hour service, assistant pastor Charles Elliott III asked the congregation to stand to honor Muhammad Ali. In his tribute, Elliott said 'there is no great man that has done more for this city than Muhammad Ali'.

Ali's brother, Rahaman Ali (pictured), arrived just before the 11.30am service to join the mourners at the King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church. He raised his arms in the air during an emotional service

Rahaman recalled what Ali was like as a boy named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., long before he became the most famous man in the world, celebrated as much for his grace and his words as his lightning-fast feet and knockout punch

He seemed to share a moment that raised a smile as he braced assistant pastor Rev. Charles Elliot III

Rahaman Ali broke down in tears before he clapped and swayed to hymns and hugged members of King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville's west end. The church features a painting by Ali's father, Cassius Clay Sr

President Barack Obama led the tributes to the man whose personality transcended his sport when thanked the champ for 'gracing our time'. Ali is pictured in 1962

Elliott's father, the Rev. Charles Elliott Jr., knew Muhammad Ali for decades. He recalled Ali's generosity in support of an anti-hunger program in the city.

All across Ali's hometown, the faithful headed to Sunday church services to mourn the loss of the Louisville Lip, the city's most celebrated son.

The city will also be the spot for Ali's funeral on Friday, an event that will be open to all and streamed across the world.

On Saturday, Rahaman recalled what Ali was like as a boy named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., long before he became the most famous man in the world, celebrated as much for his grace and his words as his lightning-fast feet and knockout punch.

In their little pink house in Louisville's west end, the brothers liked to wrestle and play cards and shoot hoops.

'He was a really sweet, kind, loving, giving, affectionate, wonderful person,' Rahaman said, wearing a cap that read 'Ali', the last letter formed by the silhouette of a boxer ready to pounce.

Speaking to ABC, Rahaman said having the boxer as his brother was like 'heaven on earth' and described him as an angel.

When he was 12, Ali had a bicycle that was stolen and he told a police officer he wanted to 'whoop' whoever took it. The officer told him he'd have to learn how to box first.

Hundreds of fans - many visibly shaken by the passing of their hero - also visited the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville Sunday to lay flowers and heartfelt messages to 'The Greatest Of All Time'.

President Barack Obama led the tributes to the man whose personality transcended his sport when he thanked the champ for 'gracing our time'.

Obama also phoned Ali's wife Lonnie to offer his deepest condolences for his passing and expressed how lucky he and the First Lady felt having met her husband.

Rahaman (left) and his older brother Muhammad Ali (right) are pictured posing together for a family photo

Ali (center) meets with the press after defeating challenger Smokin' Joe Frazier in the 14th round by TKO. Next to Ali is boxing promoter Don King (right), and Rahaman (left)

The brothers - Muhammad (right) and Rahaman (left) - stand alongside the boxer's wife Lonnie (right in hat) during a dedication to his training center in 2005

Hundreds of mourners gathered outside Muhammad Ali's home on Sunday to celebrate the life of a man who undeniably inspired a nation not only through his fighting in the ring, but how he fought for freedom

Ali's death on Friday at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease shocked the world. A man takes a selfie in front of the pink home on Sunday as several fans created a makeshift memorial

Mourners set out Sunday morning to pay tribute outside the little pink home where he grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Dearejon White, of Louisville holds up a newspaper as he tries to take a photo of it with Ali's childhood home

Dorothy Poynter, who grew up with Ali in the neighborhood, walks past his childhood home

He told her how the universal heartbreak and outpouring of support following his death was a true testament to his enduring spirit and how he 'changed the arc of history'.

One mourner left a note that said: 'Rest in power champ. The G.O.A.T that never compromised, never stopped standing up for justice and peace.

'A son of Louisville, a hero to the world.'

Andre Watkins shadowboxed Sunday morning outside King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville's west end, which is not far from where Ali grew up.

'I thought he couldn't die he was so good,' Watkins said.

Ali's father, Cassius Clay Sr, a painter, was a fixture at King Solomon before his death decades ago.

He painted a mural of Jesus' baptism that hangs still behind the pulpit. Jesus and John the Baptist stand waist deep in a lake, and a white dove hovers overhead.

Ali's brother, Rahaman Ali, arrived just before the 11.30am service to join the mourners.

The Rev Wanda McIntyre, who presided over the early service Sunday, said what she remembered most about Ali was that famous, dazzling smile.

He came with his father to worship occasionally, even after he converted to the Islamic faith, she said.

It reminded her that he believed above all in living life with tolerance and an open heart.

All across Ali's hometown, the faithful headed to Sunday church services to mourn the loss of the Louisville Lip, the city's most celebrated son

The city will also be the spot for Ali's funeral on Friday, an event that will be open to all and streamed across the world. A visitor takes a photo of the childhood home of Ali

Hundreds of mourners - many visibly shaken by the passing of their hero - visited the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville Sunday to lay flowers and heartfelt messages to 'The Greatest Of All Time'

Ali died in Scottsdale close to the home he moved to when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. The condition had virtually silenced the voice that delighted the world with pronouncements such as 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'

'Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water,' he once said.

'So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different forms and times. It doesn't matter if you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew.

'When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family.'

On Saturday, Russ Greenleaf had planned to go to his synagogue in Louisville. But the 59-year-old chose instead to attend a memorial service to Ali.

'I thought God wants me to be here,' he said. 'This is the greater worship, really, to pay tribute to this great man.'

He stood in his Jewish prayer shawl and yarmulke to honor a Muslim who devoted his life to fairness for all colors and creeds.

At King Solomon, the Rev Charles Elliott Jr said he knew Ali for decades. He recalled once in the 1960s when he was trying to raise money to keep a program running to feed the city's hungry, and Ali cut him a check.

The solace he found Sunday morning, he said, was that Ali's suffering was finally over. He noted that Ali's daughter said The Greatest's heart kept beating a half-hour after the rest of his organs failed.

'He always did something nobody ever did,' Elliott said.

Rest in Power: A mourner wrote a a heartfelt note about Ali calling him a 'hero to the whole world'

A remembrance left at a growing makeshift memorial in the plaza of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky

Andrew Hale holds his three-year-old daughter Chloe both of Louisville, as he explains to her who Ali was as they visit a makeshift memorial to him at the Muhammad Ali Center

Parishioners arrive before the start of a service at King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church where Ali's father worshiped in Louisville
DICKINSON -- The Dickinson Police Departments investigation into Eric Haiders death is officially closed and its report details the struggle to find his body at the construction site he disappeared from in 2012.

Haiders remains were unearthed May 21, 2015, by private investigators working with a construction company.

Still, Maryellen Suchan, Haiders mother, says how her son died has been a difficult open question.

I want closure, like any parent would want, Suchan said. We want the truth.

At the time of his death, Haider was 30 years old, living in Bismarck and working for Cofell Plumbing and Heating Inc., a company based out of that same city. He went missing May 24, 2012, while working at a Cofell job site near the Baker Hughes offices in north Dickinson. That particular job was for the underground work, installing sewer and waterlines where Fourth Avenue East was slated to be placed.

Haiders remains were found last May during excavation for road construction, buried under the earth in a crouched, kneeling position and facing the same length of pipe hed been working on three years earlier.

Arguable basis for either manslaughter or negligent homicide

In early March of this year, Stark County States Attorney Tom Henning declined to file criminal charges in the case. His decision, however, wasnt unchallenged.

Suchan and a small group of Haiders family and friends held protests of both the Dickinson Police Department and Hennings office March 4 to contest the matter and insist on finding justice for the disappeared worker they believed had been buried alive by coworkers while on the job.

But in a May interview, Henning said his decision not to file didnt mean he didnt believe a crime wasnt possibly committed, but rather that the nature of the event made it difficult to develop probable cause for a case.

You look at it from the standpoint of whether there was a crime committed -- then Id say yeah, we have an arguable basis of saying either manslaughter or negligent homicide occurred here, Henning said.

Though Henning said it seems a crime was committed, its unclear as to who would take accountability. At the time Haider was likely buried, there were two heavy machinery operators backfilling the trench he was in.

Even after the police investigation, Henning said it isnt clear which of the two operators were responsible for Haiders death. The states attorney questioned whether the court would have reasonable grounds to believe either accused backfiller was truly the one who committed the crime, given the available information.

The judge is going to say, Arent there two shovels out there? Can you tell me where they are, with precision? Henning said. He answered his own question with no almost immediately before continuing with what he believes would be potential court dialogue. So youre saying you cant discern from one operator to the other? No. Its likely this guy or that guy? Yes. Can you confirm that its one of those two? I cant even be sure I can do that.

Henning said, from a standpoint of criminal culpability, it was possible for the foreman of the operators to be held accountable. Businesses can also be charged with crimes, but Henning said cases which would require that more often go to civil suits.

He added that death offenses, like negligent homicide or manslaughter, generally have no statute of limitations.

Body found less than 10 feet from 2012 police excavation

When Henning chose not to file charges, the Dickinson Police Department decided to close the Haider case, an action which opened the record of the incident and the subsequent investigation to the public.

A narrative within that record filed by Dickinson Police Detective Sgt. Kylan Klauzer, the lead investigator in the case, states Haiders body was positioned in a manner that was consistent with dirt being pushed in on top of it while it was seated near the pipe or while it had been standing and had been forced to the ground.

Klauzer stated in the report that the initial find was made by a pair of investigators from Discovery Investigations Inc., a Rapid City, S.D., private investigation firm hired by Suchan to look into her sons disappearance. The investigators account is also included in police records.

According to that account, two Discovery investigators worked with BEK Consulting workers, who were excavating the area to add drainage functions, to dig strategically in an area where they were 80% convinced Haider had last been working. Several weeks earlier, the Discovery report adds, cadaver dogs had recorded a non-definitive hit at that location.

With the help of BEK workers, the body was discovered at a depth of about 6 feet.

Klauzer noted in his report that the police department conducted its own excavation of the area shortly after Haiders disappearance. That search found neither a body nor anything that indicated Eric was buried.

In a May interview, Klauzer said the eventual length of Haiders disappearance came down to a matter of yards.

From the point of the first excavation, we were within 10 feet of where Eric was located, Klauzer said. From all of the information that we had at that time, in confirmation with talking to everybody in the crew and as many people on the work site as possible, with the parameters we dealt with, we still believed we had went wider and farther than all the information at hand.

Haider had been checking seals in the ditch he died in

Police records also include interviews with Cofell staff who were with Haider the day he went missing. Klauzer said there were things that they had implied through conversation, but that none of the workers ever directly admitted to knowing they buried Haider.

Jack Bettenhausen, the Cofell foreman that day, told police he had shouted down to Haider to ask about a seal as Haider worked on a pipe in the hole earlier in the day. The report later states that Bettenhausen viewed surveillance footage of the site with Klauzer of the day Haider disappeared. Klauzers report noted that Bettenhausen did not seem nervous while watching the video and stated he feels confident that Haider had not been buried on-site.

Some other Cofell employees told police they last saw Haider when they all went out to lunch at a fast-food restaurant. Some told authorities they believed Haider, who carpooled from Bismarck with other workers, had walked off the job site without informing them. Haider had reportedly had a request for vacation time denied, and had expressed frustration to at least one of his coworkers.

After the discovery of the body, interviews conducted with the co-workers in the summer of 2015 indicated they believed Haider may have been buried in the ditch by backfilling operations while he was checking pipe connections for leaks, as co-workers believed hed been instructed to do by Bettenhausen.

One of the two backfillers who worked that day recalled to Klauzer there was a high pile of dirt near a connection in the waterline that would have obscured the sightline to the bottom of the ditch where Haider would have been working. While the other backfiller invoked his right to remain silent when contacted by police after the discovery of Haiders body, a co-worker described him as operating his backfiller like a raped ape.

The backfiller that did speak with police a second time did not describe his counterpart as reckless, but said he worked fast. The cooperative backfiller did not believe he had buried Haider, but couldnt say whether or not he thought his counterpart did.

Calls made by Cofell workers to Haiders cellphone after his disappearance were reported to have gone straight to voicemail. When Haider didnt reappear, the workers eventually left the scene and returned to Bismarck.

Cofell representatives did not return a request for comment.

Disappearance theories included run-away, foul play

Speculation was rampant in the days after Haider seemingly vanished, and when the first excavation failed to turn up answers, community members supplied their own to Dickinson police.

Tipsters pointed investigators to drug dealers and other illegal actors, alleging Haider had fallen on the radar of violent characters.

Haider had some criminal history and issues with drug use in his past, and some of those who contacted the police believed that former affiliates may have had reason to cause him harm. Others believed Haiders disappearance may have been connected to other cases in the Bakken and others beyond that alleged the man was safe from harm and lying low somewhere. Suchan still believes her son met with foul play.

Klauzer said he told Suchan at the beginning of the case that the department would do its best in looking into all information that came across its way. Still, when the various stories were investigated, Klauzer said they didnt amount to much.

There was nothing -- they were dead-ends, so to speak, he said.

Klauzer said the abundance of less-credible information isnt uncommon when people go missing.

With cases like this, any time you get into missing persons or similar sort of case, when it draws any sort of attention, youll find people will come forward with certain pieces of information, he said. Its not necessarily with malice in intent, but oftentimes its not with always the best intentions. That might not be the best way of saying it, but sometimes people tell us things and want their name tied to it.

Its my flesh and blood

Suchan and her family, including Haiders siblings and his daughter, marked a four-year memorial of his disappearance on May 24.

They have also hired an attorney to explore their legal options.

Suchan described the last four years as hell, as a non-stop roller coaster but said she wouldnt stop seeking accountability for the death of her son.

In that, she looks to Cofell.

What they dont realize is how much of my life they took away, she said. Its my flesh and blood. It's a constant. We cant finalize it yet, so its still open and its like pouring salt in that wound every time something comes up. Its four years today, and were still fighting.
A female Muslim Labour MP has revealed she received death threats from vile online trolls telling her 'Muslims should all burn in hell'.

Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, claims she was told, 'If I could, I would kill you' in a torrent of abuse which began when she started campaigning for the north London seat last year.

The 33-year-old added that she has formed an unofficial support group with several other new female Labour MPs to deal with the threats.

Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, has revealed she received death threats from vile online trolls telling her 'Muslims should all burn in hell' and 'If I could, I would kill you'

Siddiq was allegedly told last year: 'Why aren't you wearing a hijab' and 'the young people of Hampstead will never vote for someone with a name like yours'.

She said: 'Online abuse and can be really frightening and upsetting for some women.'

The second wave of abuse came after she made comments about Donald Trump, she told The Sunday Times.

She had branded the Republican frontrunner 'corrosive' during a debate on banning the tycoon from Britain over his 'racist' views in January.

Siddiq argued that Trump should not be allowed the enter the UK due to his 'violent ideology.'

'His words are not comical, his words are not funny, his words are poisonous,' she added. 'They risk inflaming tension between vulnerable communities.'

'Hate crime is being inflamed and stoked by the words that Donald Trump is using,' she said.

After her comments, she claimed people sent her death threats and tweets like: 'Shut your mouth you silly woman, you look like a seven-year-old' and 'Muslims should all burn in hell.'

In May Labour MP Jess Phillips revealed she received 600 rape threats in just one night - days after launching a campaign to end online sexist bullying

She alleged that the most recent abuse came after the birth of her daughter Azalea nearly two months ago - in which people told her to: 'Make up your mind, you are either a mother or an MP, you can't do both'.

The MP, who said she no longer replied to Tweets as it exacerbated the situation, admitted she sometimes felt an urge to send a 'sarcastic' response.

She has called for social media sites to provide 'abuse buttons' so threats can be reported and wants Twitter to require users to provide their contact details so they can be traced.

It comes as several high-profile female Labour MPs have been targeted by online trolls.

In May, Labour MP Jess Phillips revealed she received 600 rape threats in just one night - days after launching a campaign to end online sexist bullying.

The Birmingham Yardley MP hit out at Twitter for allowing 'mass bullying' to take place and said their business model is 'totally flawed'.

She told her 25,000 Twitter followers: 'To see the attack of a pack on here check out my mentions 600 odd notifications talking about my rape in one night. I think twitter is dead.'

She said this morning that many of the abusive messages she received told her she wasn't worthy of being raped.

Ms Phillips revealed earlier this year she was sexually assaulted as a teenager and she has spearheaded campaigns to highlight sex abuse, domestic abuse and online bullying since being elected an MP in last year's General Election.

Her campaigning on Ms Phillips has been a regular target for Twitter trolls. The wave of abuse she received yesterday appears to have been launched after she replied to one person who told her: 'I wouldn't even rape you'.

Jess Phillips, the Birmingham Yardley MP, hit out at Twitter for allowing 'mass bullying' to take place and said their business model is 'totally flawed'. She told her 25,000 Twitter followers last night: 'To see the attack of a pack on here check out my mentions 600 odd notifications talking about my rape in one night. I think twitter is dead'

Jess Phillips said that many of the abusive messages she received told her she wasn't worthy of being raped

Jess Phillips has received thousands of abusive messages on Twitter since she launched the 'Recl@im the Internet' campaign last week

She has previously been subjected to rape threats online after she laughed at Conservative Philip Davies when he called for a discussion in Parliament to coincide with International Men's Day last October.

Speaking about the recent abuse, the Labour MP told BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: 'I could never block them - you would need someone employed full time to block the amount of people who have been in touch with me over the weekend.

Last year Daniel Labacik, 38, was given a suspended sentence for threatening Drewsbury MP Paula Sherriff with a Facebook message that read: 'Dead girl walking. Hope you get raped. We got your phone number and details'.

The MP was subjected to rape and death threats from the father-of-four from Nottinghamshire, after calling for her local community to unite in the wake of the attack by Britain's youngest suicide bomber.

Sherriff had appealed for the West Yorkshire town to come together after local teenager Talha Asmal carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Craig Wallace, 23, (pictured left) of Willesden Green, north London, converted to Islam while serving a jail term for attempted robbery and said he wanted to bomb Tory MP Charlotte Leslie's (right) house

Speaking at the time, Ms Sherriff said: 'It's horrible. It was a difficult day for everybody concerned with Dewsbury yesterday.

'I'm here to represent the constituents and clearly these are very emotive issues but no-one should have to tolerate comments of this nature whether they are an MP or not.'

The MP added: 'The comments were made in a direct message to the 'Paula Sherriff Fighting for Dewsbury' page.

'I didn't see it until late last night as it had been a long day in Parliament. I felt sick. It was just a horrible feeling and it is worrying.'

And in December last year a white Muslim convert trolled a Tory MP Charlotte Leslie on Facebook and said he would 'show her what it's like to murder innocents, you dirty pig f*****g whore' has been jailed for eight weeks.

Craig Wallace, 23, of Willesden Green, north London, who converted to Islam while serving a jail term for attempted robbery, said that he wanted to bomb Leslie's house.

Just three weeks after he was released from prison he launched a tirade of abuse at the Bristol North MP on a thread of comments on the UK Truth Movement Facebook page.




Pilot Major Alex Turner has been praised after he managed to eject unharmed when his engine failed during a Thunderbird display on Thursday

The Thunderbird pilot who managed to eject from his plane after getting into difficulty during a fly-past watched by Barack Obama has been hailed as a hero by fellow airmen.

Pilot Major Alex Turner, a veteran with more than 1,200 hours of air time including 270 over Libya and Iraq, escaped unharmed after his F-16 jet experienced an engine failure during a graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy.

John Venable, a former Thunderbird commander, has since praised the skill Turner displayed with his landing, while a former Air Force colonel revealed he had just seconds to avert disaster.

Venable, who led the Thunderbird team from 2000-2001, told the Military Times: 'Those guys are really, really good at what they do, and this particular pilot, especially so.

'He did everything he could to save the airplane, and when he couldnt, he put the airplane in the position where it could glide. Its why the airplane looks so extraordinarily intact following this mishap.'

Meanwhile Dan Hampton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who has logged more than 4,000 flight hours in F-16s, revealed Turner would have had just one or two seconds to react after his engine cut out.

He said: 'Instantly, he has to react and react correctly - and he did.

John Venable, a former Thunderbird commander, said while all the team's pilots are good at what they do, Turner is 'especially' gifted

Venable said Turner did everything possible to save the plane by gaining altitude as quickly as possible and then putting it into a glide, and when he couldn't save it, he ejected

Before bailing, Turner guided the aircraft into an open field away from buildings or people, letting it glide down which is why it appears so intact after hitting the ground

'My hat's off to this guy, because he did exactly what he's supposed to do. It happens and nobody got hurt.

'And that's the best possible end to that story, other than him being able to land it on the runway.'

The Air Force jet crashed on Thursday in a field just 15 miles south of the academy in Colorado Springs while the president was still on site, posing for pictures with graduates.

The aircraft went down just minutes after the jets flew in formation over cadets, at around 1.30pm.

Authorities were still looking into what caused the jet's engine to cut out suddenly.

Benjamin Newell, spokesman for the Air Force's Air Combat Command in Langley, told the Denver Post the crash resulted from a 'mishap' as the pilot returned to the Peterson Air Force Base.

The crash, which is still being investigated, happened just minutes after the Thunderbird team completed a fly-past at the Air Force Academy in Colorado

The Thunderbirds were performing in the area for the Air Force Academy graduation at the time of the incident. Moments later one of the plane crashed and landed 15 miles away

The Air Force jet crashed in a field near the academny while Barack Obama was on site, posing for pictures with graduates after his commencement speech

'We are unable to release the specifics at this time,' he said due to an ongoing investigation.

Turner intentionally aimed for open fields, away from homes and businesses, after he began getting into difficulties.

Air Force's Air Combat Command tweeted after the crash that the plane was No. 6 in the fleet.

Turner was in his first season with the Thunderbirds team when the crash happened.

Obama was at the academy to make the final commencement speech at graduation, reassuring the cadets that the US military remains the dominant fighting force in the world.

Under searing sun and sweeping blue skies at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he told graduates they'd be called upon to strike a complicated balance between realism and idealism, withdrawal and overreach.

He also appeared to take a swing at Trump, calling isolationism a 'false comfort,' he added that history had shown how 'oceans alone cannot protect us'.

President Barack Obama, center, meets with Turner at Peterson Air Force Base Thursday before returning to Washington after the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony
An experienced skydiver has died following a mid-air collision.

Bond Springer from Boca Ranton, Florida, was found dead in his wingsuit in Chester County, South Carolina, just before 9am on Sunday.

The 32-year-old jumped out of a plane near Skydive Carolina during a festival. He then slammed into a fellow daredevil as he made his descent.

Bond Springer (pictured left and right) from Boca Ranton, Florida, was found dead in his wingsuit in Chester County, South Carolina, just before 9am on Sunday

Deputies told WCNC that the area where his body was found is being treated as a crime scene.

The other skydiver was taken to hospital after suffering a broken leg.

Skydive Carolina released a statement saying: 'On Saturday, June 4th at approximately 7.10pm, two experienced skydivers collided while making a wing suit skydive at Skydive Carolina during the annual Carolinafest skydiving festival.

'The collision occurred midair. One of the two skydivers deployed his main parachute and landed despite sustaining minor injuries.

'The second skydiver was reported missing and search parties were deployed to locate the individual. Search efforts had to be called off due to storms that rolled in followed by darkness.

'On Sunday, June 5th at 7am, search parties resumed their search. At 8.52am. the individual was found, deceased.'

Springer, who died on Sunday after a mid-air collision, is seen jumping out of a plane with sandals on his feet
A dying mother asked her friend to take her six children before she tragically lost her battle with breast cancer.

Single mother Beth Laitkep was lying in a hospital bed in Virginia when she asked her friend Stephanie Culley, 39, to take her children.

Culley told The Washington Post that Laitkep asked her: '"Will you take my babies? Will you do this for me?''

'I told her yes, I would do it in a heartbeat,' Culley said.

Single mother, Beth Laitkep was lying in a hospital bed in Virginia when she asked her friend Stephanie Culley, 39, to take her six children: Left to right, Will, 15, Selena, 14, Jaxon, 11, two-year-old Ace, Dallas, 10, and five-year-old Lily

Laitkep (right) found out she had breast cancer in 2014, when she was pregnant with her youngest son, Ace (left). Ace was delivered by emergency C-section at 30 weeks, so that Laitkep could begin aggressive chemotherapy treatments

Laitkep found out she had breast cancer in 2014, when she was pregnant with her youngest son, Ace.

Ace was delivered by emergency C-section at 30 weeks, so that Laitkep could begin aggressive chemotherapy treatments, Culley told the Post.

Laitkep's other children are Will, 15, Selena, 14, Jaxon, 11, Dallas, 10, and five-year-old Lily. Ace turned two Sunday.

The treatments appeared to be working over the course of a year and Laitkep and her children moved from Texas to Virginia.

But a year ago, Laitkep received devastating news that the cancer had come back and not only did it spread to her bones, but it had spread to her brain and spine.

Culley and Laitkep had been friends since high school and Culley told the Post that she started helping Laitkep with the house, taking her to doctor appointments and, then, sitting by her bedside when the medicine was no longer helping.

'The doctor told me that there was nothing that could be done,' Culley told the newspaper. 'That's when we started talking about the kids.'

Culley (left) said they unanimously decided that she and her husband, Donnie (right), would 'take all of them and keep them all together as our family'

Laitkep's dying wish was for her children (pictured) to be cared for in the same way she would have cared for them and she didn't want them to be split up

The father to the older children wasn't in the 'picture' and the younger children's father had left Laitkep as she was battling cancer, Culley told the Washington Post.

Laitkep's dying wish was for her children to be cared for in the same way she would have cared for them and she didn't want them to be split up.

Culley told the Post that they brought the kids to the hospital to discuss the matter.

'We said, "If you do not get a miracle for mommy, who do you want?" They all pointed to me. That melted my heart.'

Culley said they unanimously decided that she and her husband, Donnie, would 'take all of them and keep them all together as our family'.

Laitkep died at 39 on May 19 and the couple, who have three children of their own, took the kids into their home. Culley said that she and her husband have temporary custody of the six children (pictured) and are set to appear in court this month to obtain permanent custody

At Laitkep's funeral, the entire family (pictured) showed up in pink and the girls wore matching bows in their hair

Laitkep died at 39 on May 19 and the couple, who have three children of their own, took the kids into their home.

The family's GoFundMe page has raised more than $26,000, as of Sunday afternoon.

Culley told the Post that she and her husband have temporary custody of the six children and are set to appear in court this month to obtain permanent custody.

She said her friend's death was 'heartbreaking' and 'the most difficult thing I have ever watched'.

At Laitkep's funeral, the entire family showed up in pink and the girls wore matching bows in their hair.
'Duellist': Robert Williams, 37, of El Paso County, Colorado, allegedly drew a gun on his daughter in an argument, then challenged her to a duel. Both fired but nobody was hit, police said

A man in El Paso County, Colorado, was arrested Wednesday after a bizarre domestic dispute that climaxed with him pointing a gun at his juvenile daughter and challenging her to a duel, police said.

Police say Robert Williams, 37, was arguing with his daughter, whose name and age have not been released, at around 7.20pm when he pulled a handgun on her and his wife.

He is then alleged to have commanded his daughter to go get a gun from another room and take part in a duel - which she did, a spokeswoman, told ABC 7.

After the girl had retrieved the gun a struggle ensued in which the father fired a round, according to a release by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

The daughter then returned fire, shooting once in the direction of the father, the release said.

Neither party was injured in the duel, but as the daughter, wife and at least one other child attempted to flee the house, Williams allegedly went to a shed and grabbed a second gun.

He pointed that gun at the wife, but she was able to wrestle it from his grasp and call 911, police said.

She then took the children to a neighbor's house.

Police then headed to the couple's home on the 6200 block of South Calhan Road, where Williams was arrested.

He has been charged with two counts of felony menacing, prohibited use of a weapon and child abuse.

The names and ages of his wife, daughter and other children have not been released.
A seven-year-old boy has been mauled to death during a dog attack in Maine, police said.

Officers in the town of Corinna, around 30 miles west of Bangor, were called to a property at 5.15pm on Saturday and found the boy dead inside.

Detectives at the Penobscot Sheriff's Office have yet to release the boy's name, the breed of dog involved, and any details of the attack itself.

A seven-year-old boy was found dead inside a home in Maine on Saturday afternoon after being attacked by a dog, according to police (file image)

It is not known whether the boy lived at the home where the attack took place, or whether the dog belonged to the homeowner.

Officials did reveal that the dog has been impounded pending the outcome of the investigation.

There were 34 deaths from dog attacks in 2015, according to Dogsbite.org, with more than 80 per cent of those carried out by pit bulls, despite them making up just 6.6 per cent of dogs in America.

In 2015, nearly one third of all people killed by dogs were either visiting or living temporarily with the dog's owner when the fatal attack occurred.
During the First World War, the Royal family faced a significant public relations problem. War with Germany saw the King George V's army locked in battle with Kaiser Wilhelm II, who happened to be his cousin.

But across Britain, there was some discontent about the German nature of the monarchy, which was not helped by their surname - Saxe-Coburg-Gotha - which underlined their continental connections.

When the name change eventually happened, George V's son, Edward, who was in France, wrote of his pleasure of disposing of the 'Hun' name.

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King George V was forced to change his family name during the First World War over its German origins

Edward VIII wrote that he was delighted by his father's decision to 'abolish the Hun' name from his family

George decided to change the name after the similarly-named Gotha G-IV bomber, pictured, attacked London

When the new Prime Minister Lloyd George received a summons to Buckingham Palace in 1916 after coming to power, he is reported to have said: 'I wonder what my little German friend has got to say to me.'

Of his family, 19 cousins on his father's side were German, the remaining ten were half German. It was slightly better on his mother side with only six Germans and 25 half-Germans. Of all his 50 first cousins, not one was British.

Due to his close German links, George V held an honorary rank in the Imperial German Army and was even fitted for a uniform - which is still in the Royal Collection.

What made the situation even worse for George V, was the first airstrkes on Britain using fixed-wing aircraft.

On June 13, 1917, 23 biplanes crossed The Channel and attacked London, killing 162 people and injuring 432 others - including 16 children in Poplar primary school.

Not one of the attacking aircraft was destroyed by the Royal Flying Corps, but it soon emerged the new bombers were called the Gotha G IV - similar to George V's name, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

A second attack less than a month later killed 57 and injured 193.

This led to panic within the Royal Household as the monarchy feared their German name would alienate them from the people outraged by the death coming from the air.

George V, pictured, took the decision after a two air strikes in London in 1917 which killed more than 200

Meetings were held to come up with a new name, with some considering bringing back the name of previous dynasties such as Tudor or Stuart.

However, George V's private secretary Lord Stamfordham, decided upon 'Windsor'.

The Kaiser reportedly laughed at the change of name suggesting they may need to host a hastily re-written performance of the Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

On July 17, 1917, the King made public the formal change of name.

According to The Times, the King's son, who would later become Edward VIII and was serving in France as a staff officer wrote of his pleasure following the name change.
Daniel Markel, 41, was shot dead in the driveway of

Daniel Markel, 41, was found shot dead in his driveway two years ago in what police believe was a murder for hire plot

The Florida State University law professor killed nearly two years ago as he parked his car in his garage in his Tallahassee home may have been the victim of a murder-for-hire plot linked to his bitter divorce from another ex-FSU law professor, authorities now believe.

And after arresting a South Florida career criminal and an alleged accomplice, police said they expect other arrests in the execution-style murder of dad-of-two Daniel Markel, 41.

In a startling probable cause affidavit unsealed last week and obtained by Daily Mail Online, police in the Florida state capital named two suspects: Luis Rivera, a Miami-based alleged Latin Kings gang leader who was just sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison in an unrelated case; and Sigfredo Garcia, whose rap sheet includes 22 arrests since 1997 on charges ranging from burglary, car theft, cocaine possession, threatening a witness and possession of an explosive device.

Shocking new details in the paperwork spell out ties between one of the two men who allegedly drove a Prius six-and-a-half hours to north Florida for the killing, Garcia, to the close-knit family of Markel's ex-wife, Wendi Adelson.

According to police, Garcia has a direct connection with Wendi Adelson's brother, Charles Adelson. Charles, the documents show, 'did not like Markel and did not get along with him.'

What's more, authorities in Tallahassee say in the unsealed charging papers that Charles' girlfriend at the time of the killing, Katherine Magbanua, had two children from a previous relationship with alleged Markel killer Garcia.

On July 18, 2014, about 11 a.m., according to the probable cause affidavit, police called to Markel's modest home in the quiet neighborhood of Betton Hills found the professor sitting in the driver's seat of his car in the open garage with the engine running.

Prosecutors say Sigfredo Garcia (left) killed Markel on request from his wife's family after the couple divorced. Charles Adelson (right), the wife's brother, knew Garcia and was dating the mother of his children

After Wendi Adelson divorced Markel she left for South Florida with the couple's children, but was forced to return after a court ruling which prosecutors say could have motivated the murder

The Harvard Law School graduate was slumped over the wheel of the idling car, a gunshot to the head.

'The investigation of the crime scene showed no indication that this incident was part of any other criminal intent, such as burglary or robbery,' the unsealed charging documents read.

The shooting was heard by a witness who spoke with Markel on his cellphone when Markel reported a person he did not recognize in his driveway The witness then heard a muffled conversation in the background and 'something that sounded like a loud grunt' before Markel started breathing laboredly into the phone.

Police now say a light-colored Prius was tailing Markel that day, from the time he dropped his children off in daycare then stopped by a gym for his morning workout.

When he left the gym about half an hour before the shooting, cellphone GPS records and surveillance footage showed a Prius was tailing him. Police tracked down video from city buses as well as commercial buildings along Markel's route home, and the ominous Toyota was behind him.

A neighbor described seeing two men leaving Markel's house  sold in December for 280,000 -- in a hurry. The passenger described as Hispanic, carried a black object in his hand and fell into a canal while hurrying to a small carparked in an adjacent neighborhood.

The affidavit shows detectives started to focus on Markel's divorce early on while looking for a motive.

After Wendi filed her divorce petition in September 2012, Markel returned home to find, the charging papers read, 'his family gone, a majority of the contents of the house missing and the paperwork of the dissolution of marriage displayed on his bed.'

It turns out Wendi had moved to her parents' home near Fort Lauderdale with the couple's two boys.

In a startling probable cause affidavit unsealed last week, police in the Florida state capital named two suspects: Luis Rivera, a Miami-based alleged Latin Kings gang leader and Sigfredo Garcia, whose rap sheet includes 22 arrests since 1997 on charges ranging from burglary, car theft and cocaine possession

Shocking new details in the paperwork spell out ties between one of the two men who allegedly drove a Prius six-and-a-half hours to north Florida for the killing, Garcia, to the close-knit family of Markel's ex-wife

Detective believe that the close-knit Adelson family plotted to have Markel killed after he dragged Wendi away from where they were living in South Florida

In time, Markel went back to court and was successful in obtaining a court order forcing Wendi to move back to Tallahassee with their sons.

In June 2013, according to records, family court Judge Barbara Hobbs denied Wendi's request to move officially away from the Florida's capital city.

A month later, the couple signed a settlement agreement and the divorce was finalized.

The atmosphere, however, remained poisoned as Markel started questioning in court papers the veracity of his ex-wife's financial disclosures and accused her of hiding ample financial assets.

Wendi, according to emails obtained by police, was also getting pressure from her mother, Donna Adelson, 66.

The elder woman repeatedly asked her daughter to 'coerce' Markel into allowing her to return to South Florida. And, divorce papers show she allegedly made disparaging remarks about Markel to her two grandsons.

Markel had filed a motion to prevent the boys from spending unsupervised time with Wendi's mother, but Judge Hobbs never heard the motion.

It was scheduled to take place soon after Markel was killed.

'Investigators believe the motive for this murder stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family to relocate Wendi and the children to South Florida, along with the pending court hearing that might have impacted their access to the grandchildren,' the affidavit states.

In their affidavit, investigators wrote they also focused on ties between Wendi's brother Charles, a dentist like his dad, and alleged murderer Garcia.

At the time of the shooting, Charles was dating the woman who had two children with Garcia.

'Charlie was involved in a personal relationship with Katherine Magbanua  Sigfredo Garcia is the father of Magbanua's two minor children, both with the last name Garcia,' the paperwork reads.

Police say a light-colored Prius was tailing Markel that day, from the time he dropped his children off in daycare then stopped by a gym for his morning workout

Markel, a world-renowned legal professor, was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head behind the wheel of his car in July 2014

Through a payment transponder to travel Florida's Turnpike and cellphone records, police say they are sure Garcia and Rivera were in Tallahassee, and even in Betton Hills, on the day of the shooting.

What's more, a witness at a local motel reported to police he rented a room to the duo on the afternoon of July 17. They checked out early on July 18.

So far, Garcia is denying ever going to Tallahassee.

South Florida records, meanwhile, show the Adelsons to be a tightly-knit family where business, including the successful dental practice and extensive real estate holdings, and blood ties are intertwined.

Patriarch Harvey, 71, founded the Adelson Institute For Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Tamarac, corporate records show. He is listed as manager.

Billing itself The Florida Smile Maker, the company was then joined by Wendi's father Charles Adelson, a periodontist known to travel to Jamaica several times a year to provide free dentistry to children in Kingston's poorest neighborhood.

Motor vehicle records show dad Harvey owns a half dozen black luxury cars, including three Mercedes-Benzes, two Lexus and a Ferrari. They are driven by Wendi and Charles.
A new report suggests that 30 per cent of criminal immigrants who are not deported re-offend after being released from prison - over four times higher than figures previously given out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

Those new offenses - committed by immigrants who were not deported once their prison sentences were up despite orders to do so - included child molestation, murder and rape.

The three-year study by The Boston Globe looked at 323 foreign criminals who were released from prison in New England from 2008-2012 - using data made available only after the paper sued the federal government.

Shocking: The shocking stats revealed that 30 per cent of New England's undeported criminal immigrants re-offended - a much higher figure than the seven per cent quoted by an immigration official in 2011

Brutal: Jean Jacques was convicted of attempted murder in Connecticut and was supposed to be deported to Haiti on release in 2012. He wasn't. In 2015 he stabbed a 25-year-old woman to death and is now in prison again

Speaking in 2011, ICE Executive Associate Director Gary Mead told a House judiciary subcommittee that from 2009-2011 ICE released 'criminal and noncriminal aliens [who had] a relatively low re-detention rate of 7 per cent.'

But The Globe's own sample, from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, suggests that may be considerably higher in some areas.

Although its focus was on criminal immigrants, which would account at least partly for the increased numbers, The Globe's story highlighted some particularly grim tales.

One was the story of Jean Jacques, who had been imprisoned for attempted murder in Connecticut and was ordered to be deported to his home in Haiti on his release in 2012.

But Haiti refused to send him back and ICE eventually gave up trying and released him.

Three years later he stabbed 25-year-old Casey Chadwick of Norwich, Connecticut, to death and stuffed her body in a closet. He was convicted of murder in April.

'It is unacceptable that ICE failed to remove a convicted attempted murderer subject to a final deportation order - a measure that would have saved the life of Casey Chadwick,' said Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) in a January statement.

'Unacceptable': Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) said it was 'unacceptable' that ICE didn't deport Jacques. ICE said it has no choice if governments refuse to take criminals back when it wants to deport them

'ICEs responses thus far to our repeated inquiries into this case have been incomplete and unsatisfactory, and we hope that this independent inquiry will finally uncover the facts surrounding this tragedy, enabling reforms necessary to ensure that this never happens again.'

But details such as these are difficult to come by, since ICE says its records are private, and therefore cannot be disclosed under federal law - making it the only federal branch to do so.

The Globe had to take the federal government to court to get the list of released criminals it used in its study.

One of those criminals was Oscoe Housen, who had attacked a Framingham, Massachusetts woman with a hammer in 2008 and was locked up until 2009, when he was supposed to be deported back to Jamaica.

To the woman's surprise and horror, she ran into him outside a Stop & Shop in 2010. Early the next morning he broke into the woman's home and stabbed her and her male friend while her children were sleeping nearby.

Both survived and Housen, now 64, is serving up to 12 years in prison.

In 2000, Nhoeuth Nhim, then 18, was the oldest of a group of five teens who broke into the home of a hard-working immigrant Cambodian family, tied up all five residents - including a six-year-old girl.

After robbing the home, they then dragged them down to the basement where they lit a fire and left the family to burn.

The family survived, and Nhim was convicted - but instead of being deported on his release in 2009, ICE released him into Rhode Island, where he later sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend. He is now back in prison.

And that same year ICE released Bo Kang Me, a Cambodian immigrant with a long criminal record who was quickly re-arrested and put away again.

Despite his history with the police, he was allowed to roam free in 2013, the year he picked up a child from a Providence, R.I. school and molested her. He was re-imprisoned.

'Infuriating': Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said the release of criminals marked for deportation was 'infuriating.' ICE says the Supreme Court won't allow it to keep criminals locked up indefinitely

The Globe pointed out that the stats don't suggest immigrants are more likely to commit violence than American citizens - in fact statistics suggest the opposite - but do raise questions about the dangers of not deporting violent criminals.

ICE refused to comment on individual cases, but said: 'The decisions made in every case are made with the best available information ICE is able to obtain at the time.'

The agency says that its hands are tied in cases where the criminals' home countries refuse to take them back, as due to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, it is not able to hold people indefinitely.

The Supreme Court said that if no deportation order can be made within six months, ICE should release the immigrant in question back into the U.S.

'So to sit there and say that the proud women and men of law enforcement in ICE are choosing to release criminals is absolutely unforgivable,' ICE Director Sarah Saldana told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in April.

But Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was unimpressed. 'Whats going on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement is one of the most infuriating things I think Ive seen in this government yet,' he told Saldana, adding: 'How do you look (victims) in the eye?'

Those like Chaffetz say there ought to be workarounds: seeking a civil commitment to have mentally ill people who commit crimes placed in secure care facilities, for example.

Or getting the Department of State to enact punitive measures on countries that don't take back their citizens if they commit crimes.

ICE said it plans to figure out the recidivism rate in the future.

ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer told the Globe in an email: 'ICE is committed to continually improving the agencys ability to track and manage ever evolving agency-related data, but the agency does not have statistically reliable information on recidivism rates prior to [fiscal year 2013],'
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Brush fires veered away from a luxurious Los Angeles suburb after firefighters made gains against the fast-moving fire on Sunday.

The fire has burned more than 500 acres and threatened homes in the affluent city of Calabasas, authorities said.

After some 5,000 people were forced to evacuate the area, fire officials lifted mandatory evacuations on Sunday in Calabasas, a city of rugged hills and ranches 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles that several celebrities call home.

The fire had burned 516 acres by sunrise and was 30 per cent contained, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Weather had cooled considerably overnight from Saturday's high temperatures, but could heat up again.

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Brush fires veered away from a luxurious Los Angeles suburb after firefighters made gains against the fast-moving fire on Sunday

The fire has burned more than 500 acres and threatened homes in the affluent city of Calabasas, authorities said. Weather had cooled considerably overnight from Saturday's high temperatures, but could heat up again

After some 5,000 people were forced to evacuate the area, fire officials lifted mandatory evacuations on Sunday in Calabasas, a city of rugged hills and ranches 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles that several celebrities call home

The fire had burned 516 acres by sunrise and was 30 per cent contained, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said

Evacuation orders remained in place higher up in the hills in Topanga Canyon, a rustic stretch famous for its resident artists and musicians that rolls down to the Pacific Ocean

Evacuation orders remained in place higher up in the hills in Topanga Canyon, a rustic stretch famous for its resident artists and musicians that rolls down to the Pacific Ocean.

About 400 firefighters were battling the blaze, and three of them sustained injuries, John Tripp, deputy chief of the LA County Fire Department, said at a morning news conference.

Helicopters and air tankers were also brought in to make water drops.

Two single-family homes sustained minor damage and a commercial building was destroyed in the fire, which started when a vehicle hit a utility pole and brought down a power line, authorities said.

The fire was one of several burning in Southern California, where days of high temperatures dried out brush produced what Tripp called 'extremely stressed vegetation'.

About 400 firefighters were battling the blaze, and three of them sustained injuries, John Tripp, deputy chief of the LA County Fire Department, said at a morning news conference

Helicopters and air tankers were also brought in to make water drops. The fires all merged in the Calabasas area, causing one massive blaze, dubbed the 'Old Fire'

Two single-family homes sustained minor damage and a commercial building was destroyed in the fire, which started when a vehicle hit a utility pole and brought down a power line, authorities said

Firefighters spent all day Saturday and into the night trying to contain the raging inferno that consumed the upscale Calabasas area

Kylie Jenner posted these images to Snapchat of a raging wildfire burning through the Calabasas area on Saturday

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West left their Calabasas home on Friday just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area, causing a mandatory evacuation. Kylie Jenner (pictured, right) was posting pictures of the blaze from her home (left) on Saturday

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West left their Calabasas home on Friday just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area and Kylie Jenner shared photos of smoke on social media.

As that fire started three others broke out in southern California, NBC 4 reported, burning 200 acres of land and threatening 3,000 homes.

'Three thousand homes are evacuated, which is about 5,000 people,' Tony Coroalles, city manager of Calabasas, told CNN.

The fire forced mandatory evacuations in the Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville neighborhoods, fire officials said.

But as night fell on the area and temperatures cooled, it was reported about 15 per cent of the fire had been contained.

Kylie continued to post photos of the fire (pictured) raging in her hometown of Calabasas as she drove around the city with her friends

Firefighters approach a brush in the foothills outside of Calabasas on Saturday, as the fast-moving brush fire swept through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles

Firefighters monitor a brush in the foothills as the fire raged on Saturday

A firefighting helicopter, carrying water, flies near the Kittridge Fire in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Calabasas, near where the Kardashians live

Kylie posted multiple videos to Snapchat, showing black smoke billowing over her home.

'There's the fire next to my house!' she said, narrating one of her videos.

In a second Snapchat she can be heard asking: 'Am I going to have to evacuate?'

Celebrities also sent tweets out about the fire.

Ellen DeGeneres said: 'Sending thanks to Portia's brother Michael & all the rescue workers on the scene of this dangerous fire in Calabasas.'

Makeup artist and model Jeffree Star wrote: 'Just getting home and THANK YOU for all asking if me and Nathan are ok! Calabasas has some crazy fires...'

But one Calabasas resident told DailyMail.com: 'While the celebrities are being dramatic as we can all see the fires, no one is being forced to flee as the fires were always headed east and Calabasas is in the west.'

'Nobody can sit in their driveways or sit in their houses and ride this out. They need to get in their car and evacuate immediately,' Los Angeles County Fire Chief Dennis Cross told NBC 4

The blaze was reported at approximately 4.30pm and immediately started creeping toward homes, NBC reported.

By 5.30pm the fire had grown rapidly in acreage.

Several structures have been damaged, but to what extent has not yet been made clear.

The 200-acre blaze that erupted Saturday afternoon northwest of downtown Los Angeles is threatening about 3,000 homes, according to Los Angeles County fire officials

The fire was one of several burning in Southern California, where days of high temperatures dried out brush produced what Tripp called 'extremely stressed vegetation'

A firefighting helicopter dumping water on fire in the foothills could be seen from the corner of Eddingham and Mullhuland Highway, where mandatory evacuations were being enforced

A firefighter hoses down the remains of an out building near the foothills outside of Calabasas

As she drove around Kylie stuck her head out the window to smell the blaze. 'This is our city. We were born and raised in Calabasas. This cannot happen,' Kylie said in a video

She seemed to be feigning fear as she posted images of herself looking terrified while watching local news coverage of the Calabasas fire

Kim (left) and Kanye West (right) went out of town on Friday, just before a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in the area, causing a mandatory evacuation

Fires were burning close to homes in the Topanga Canyon and Mulholland Highway areas around Calabasas, but officials didn't have an immediate damage assessment

The blaze was reported at approximately 4.30pm and started creeping toward homes. By 5.30pm it had rapidly grown in size and caused damages

The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported that one firefighter was injured while battling the blaze.

Three water-dropping helicopters were also used to put the fires out.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills Station was initially leading a voluntary evacuation in the area and sending residents to nearby Agoura High School.

The cause of the fire is believed to be linked to excessive heat in south California.

A propane tank exploded from the heat of the fire near the Calabasas Klubhouse Pre-School as the flames crept closer. Firefighters worked to control the area and protect the school.

Officials believe another fire began when a car crashed into power poles, downing lines in three different places, NBC 4 reported.

The fires all merged in the Calabasas area, causing one massive blaze, dubbed the 'Old Fire'.

One of the fires, in Temecula, California, burned 35 acres of brush and caused temporary highway closures.

Only an eighth of an acre was burned in a Santa Clarita fire and a the third blaze burned two acres of the West Hills area.

This year has seen El Nino storms finally bringing some relief to the drought-ravaged Golden state.

However, central and southern California  especially the foothills of the Sierra Nevada  have been at high risk for fires in 2016.

Wildfire season is considered to be in July and August because of hot and dry conditions.

'That's the smoke over my neighborhood right now,' former Playboy bunny Kendra Wilkinson Snapchatted on Saturday during the blaze

Smoke from a fast-moving brush fire sweeping through hills in Calabasas, California, could be seen from Pasadena some 40 miles to the east

One of the major problems facing California is its population of dead trees. State and federal officials estimate there are 29 million dead trees throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills Station was initially leading a voluntary evacuation in the area and sending residents to nearby high school

The fires are believed to have been caused by an abnormally high temperature and dry winds, though the temperatures are not record-breaking

But the months before and after are still subject to sparking massive fires.

Last year California had 'two of the top-10 most devastating fires in the state's history  very similar conditions to what's occurring in Canada right now,' Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention told CNBC.

'There's drought-induced tree mortality and we have just critically parched, dry vegetation, all (resulting in) just explosive fire conditions,' he said.

One of the major problems facing California is its population of dead trees.

State and federal officials estimate there are 29 million dead trees throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range, CNBC reports.

'There are a lot of trees that have died because of long-term drought and maybe some bugs as well,' Heath Hockenberry, National Weather Service's national fire weather program manager, said.

The trees act as fodder for the fires to rage.

Two 'mega-fires' in northern California caused an estimated $2 billion in damages last year.

The 'Butte' and 'Valley' fires destroyed 1,830 homes and left six people dead.

It also destroyed approximately 150,000 acres of land in five different counties, including areas that were home to wineries and vineyards.

'The fire risk potential is quite high, particularly in Central and Southern California, where either the hope for El Nino rains didn't really come but there were enough rains to cause more brush to grow and chaparral to grow.'

'What will happen as they go into the dry season is all that new growth and greenery will dry out and it will just end up being more fuel for potential fires later this summer and autumn,' Mark Bove, a senior research meteorologist for Munich Reinsurance America, told CNBC.

This year appears to be on track for a 'more average year for us than we've had in five or six years,' U.S. Forest Service officials said.
More than 100 students were recognized for their service, leadership and accomplishments in areas ranging from academics to volunteerism at the 2016 University of Mary Awards Banquet.

The following awards were presented to area students:

Outstanding Student in Elementary Education  MiKayla Schette, Bismarck; this award is given to a student who has interest in teaching, has outstanding personal qualities and character, has high academic ranking and is involved in campus activities and community organizations.

Outstanding Student in Secondary Education  Carolyn Knox, Bismarck; this award is given to a student who has interest in teaching, has outstanding personal qualities and character, has high academic ranking and is involved in campus activities and community organizations.

St. Catherine Medal  Ryan Buchholz, Bismarck, an honor to recognize servant leadership and academic achievement. The medal depicts the traditional patroness of Kappa Gamma Pi, St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin martyr, encircled by the spiked wheel of her legendary martyrdom and holding a quill and scroll, which symbolize learning and wisdom.

Senior Nursing Leadership Award  Sara Robley, Bismarck; this award is given to a student who represents the philosophy and goals of the university and the Division of Nursing, is recognized for professionalism, e.g., accountability, creative leadership and effective collaboration with others. This may also include involvement in campus activities other than those related to nursing as well as activities in the larger community. The student also demonstrates significant academic achievement, attainment of the university-wide competencies and Division of Nursing Outcomes.

Hazel B. Berve Scholarship  Christopher Ottemoeller, Bismarck, given in memory of Berve who wanted to support men in nursing; this scholarship is awarded annually to a junior nursing student with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher who has submitted an essay of their goals in nursing.

NSAND Leadership Award  Alli Greff, Bismarck. The Nursing Student Association of North Dakota State Leadership Award was established in 1998 to honor Brenda Sperle, a U-Mary nursing student who died in an automobile accident. It was established to honor a senior National Student Nurses Association member with outstanding leadership qualities.

Lambda Beta National Respiratory Therapy Honor Society  Erin Hamar, Ellendale; this award is given to a student who is in the top 25 percent of their class and has an overall GPA of 3.50 or higher.

Outstanding Senior in Biology  Adam Worniecki, Hebron; this award is given to a student based upon his/her character, academic excellence in the biological sciences and demonstration of leadership.

North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society Scholarship  McKeon Meyhoff, Hazen; this award recognizes a student who has shown leadership, integrity and a commitment to the conservation of North Dakotas natural resources.

R.D. Koppenhaver Exam Scholarship  Ashley Brodehl, Mandan; this award is based on academic achievement and for a student planning to take the certified public accountant exam.

Abby Renschler Memorial Award  Kelsey Fike, Harvey; this award is in memory and honor of Abby Renschler, a 2015 graduate of the Gary Tharaldson School of Business, who died on June 27, 2015. The award is presented to a junior or senior from the Gary Tharaldson School of Business based on the following criteria: demonstration of academic achievement with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher; demonstration of passion for learning; and who sets a positive example for others.

UMTFO Academic Excellence Scholarship  Lydia Pansegrau, Bismarck, the U-Mary Teaching Faculty Organization gives this award based on GPA, university and community activities, academic excellence and nomination by a faculty member. The winner receives a $1,000 scholarship.

Sandra Nicholson Award  Rachel Goettle, Mandan; this award, established by the family of the late Sandra Nicholson, a former faculty member, is presented to an outstanding junior vocal music major.

Student Government Outstanding Faculty and Staff Awards  David Echelbarger, Deb Mattis and Tim Myers, Bismarck; this award recognizes staff or faculty members who have made an impact on students academically and/or personally.

Student Government Service Award  Thomas Stromme, Bismarck; this award recognizes a senator, serving at least one year on Senate, who has exemplified premier service to student government. He/she has shown leadership and service to student government and embodies the Benedictine value of service in his/her everyday life.

Foot Print Award  Liv Stromme, Bismarck; the Foot Print Award is given to an outgoing senior student government member who has provided an outstanding contribution to the Senate and the student body throughout their entire career at U-Mary.

Support Staff Scholarship  Veronica Dvorak, New England; this award is given to an undergraduate student with a GPA of 2.75 or above who has earned 30 credits at U-Mary. They are chosen based on their participation in college activities, their service to the college community and their community service hours.

Student Organization Adviser of the Year  Robyn Zeltinger, Bismarck; this award is in recognition of exemplary service and commitment to students as an adviser to a student organization.

Outstanding SPURS  Veronica Dvorak, New England; Matthew Schaefbauer, Strasburg; Ashley Stoltz, Dickinson; and Amelia Bickler, Williston. This award recognizes SPURS members who have met the criteria for selection based on meeting attendance, leadership and participation in SPUR chapter service activities.

Presidential Student Leadership Awards  Veronica Dvorak, New England; Kendra Enget, Stanley; Meghan Huber, Bismarck; and David Sorenson, Williston. This award is given to students who are sophomores or above who have attained a GPA of 2.75 and higher. The honorees are selected based upon the students involvement and responsibility in campus organizations and activities; the students demonstration of leadership and initiative in getting others to participate; the students mature desire to be involved in projects that will further his/her own educational goals; and the students basic dedication to the Benedictine values and mission of the university.

Whos Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges  Mariah Benz, Ashley Bernhardt, Austin Phillips, Ryan Buchholz, Brandon Schock, MiKayla Schuette, Courtney Sibla, Elesha Tatro, Preston Tescher, Morgan Wanner and Kendra Weigel, Bismarck; Erin Hamar, Ellendale; Karen Schaaf, Glen Ullin; Holly Krumm, Hague; Matthew Schumacher, Hazelton; Kendra Enget, Stanley; Matthew Schaefbauer, Strasburg; Mariah Sondrol, Turtle Lake; and Alexia Russell, Washburn.
A body has been found in a ravine in the hunt for a British backpacker who went missing while trekking in the Atlas mountains.

Connor Jarvis, 19, was due to return home to Bath, Somerset, from a solo trip to Marrakech but was not on board his flight on May 28.

An unidentified body was discovered by a guide in the bottom of a ravine close to Mount Toubkal, the summit of the Atlas mountains.

A body has been found in a ravine in the hunt for Connor Jarvis, 19, a British backpacker who went missing while trekking in the Atlas mountains

The body was found on Saturday afternoon in the locality of Imlil - a region of Morocco that is popular with hiking tourists.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that a body had been found but said formal identification was yet to take place.

They had earlier said that Mr Jarvis's disappearance was out of character and officers were appealing for him to get in touch.

'His disappearance is out of character and concern is growing for his whereabouts,' a force spokesman said.

'We now understand that while in Morocco, Connor met and spoke to a soldier who is from the Bath area.

The unidentified body was discovered by a guide in the bottom of a ravine close to mount Toubkal, the summit of the Atlas mountains (file photo of Atlas mountains)

'He was heading for an eight-day trip to the Atlas Mountains.

'We are keen to speak to this man who might have information to help our inquiries. We would like anyone who may know of the soldier to contact us.'

A spokesman for the Foreign Office added: 'We are providing assistance to the family of a British man who was reported missing in Morroco.'

Mr Jarvis worried sister also took to Facebook earlier this week to appeal for information.

Dental nurse Casey Sian Jarvis wrote: 'Feel absolutely lost! The feeling of helplessness is horrible!

'Anyone who knows any soldiers from the bath area that has been training for the army in Marrakech please let me know! And ask them to get in touch!'
woman with back and leg injuries was found on the street

A siege involving an armed man who barricaded himself inside a unit for more than 12 hours following a domestic dispute has come to an end.

The man locked himself inside a home in Woodend, an inner suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, at around 8.30pm after a woman believed to be his partner was found unconscious on the street.

Police had difficulty communicating with the armed man overnight but specialist officers were able to gain access to the unit on Monday at around 9.10am and have taken him into custody.

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A siege involving an armed man who barricaded himself inside a unit for more than 12 hours following a domestic dispute has come to an end

The man was believed to be injured during a domestic disturbance before he locked himself inside the unit and was taken to Ipswich Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Police tried to enter into negotiations with him via phone but he reportedly refused to answer his landline or pick up a mobile that was left outside his home.

According to Nine News, officers tried to get him to open his door to allow a robot with a camera to enter and check on his welfare.

The man's partner, believed to be in her 30s, was taken to Ipswich Hospital in a stable condition after being found outside the home and was treated for soft tissue injuries to her leg and back.

Police had difficulty communicating with the armed man overnight but were able to gain access to the unit on Monday at around 9.30am and have taken him into custody

Police tried to enter into negotiations with him via phone but he reportedly refused to answer his landline or pick up a mobile that was left outside his home

Officers also tried to get him to open his door to allow a robot with a camera to enter and check on his welfare

The man refused to come out overnight and police declared an emergency situation just before 1am on Monday

Police atempted to negotiate with the man overnight after he barricaded himself inside a unit following a domestic disturbance

Police said the man was in possession of a gun and declared an emergency situation just before 1am on Monday.

'We believe he is armed and at this stage we obviously consider him to be dangerous so we are taking all precautions,' Senior Sergeant Gareth James told the Today Show.

Queensland Police Inspector Keith McDonald told Nine News that they were reluctant to force their way into the unit as the man made threats against two other people on the scene.

'We've got two witnesses who were in the unit at the time who were threatened with a long-arm [gun].'

The street was cordoned off as negotiators attempted to reason with the man.

Charges are yet to be laid against the man.

Queensland Police Inspector Keith McDonald said they were reluctant to force their way into the unit the man made threats against two other people on the scene

The street was cordoned off as negotiators attempted to reason with the man who is understood to have sustained injuries during the original altercation








Rain and wind are expected to ease off by the morning but damage remains

Sydney commuters are facing massive delays on their way to work thanks to the damage caused by wild storms that smashed the city on the weekend.

Public transport was thrown into chaos with massive lines of people seen outside train stations across the city, as buses were called in to replace train services that could not run.

The train lines impacted on Monday morning are: the Inner West and South Line, the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra Line between Martin Place and Bondi Junction, and the Cumberland Line between Blacktown and Campbelltown.

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Peak hour commuters were forced onto packed buses on Monday morning after trains services were cancelled or impacted by Sydney's storm

Huge lines of people waiting to catch buses in Sydney's city centre were seen on Monday morning

The Manly to Circular Quay ferry at 6.35am was cancelled and also replaced by buses, while ferries between Bundeena, Cronulla, Ettalong, Palm Beach, and Wagstaffe were also cancelled.

Those who drive to work were also impacted by the lingering effects of the storm, with a number of road closures in Blacktown, St Marys, George Hall, Milperra, and Rivertsone.

Authorities urged people to work from home if possible, and said there were not enough buses available to cope with the numbers.

It comes after it was revealed buses would replace ferries between Manly and Circular Quay, and Meadowbank and Parramatta. The usual service will not be running on Monday morning due to heavy rain.

A crowd of people are seen waiting to get onto a bus in Sydney's east after train services were disrupted

Hundreds of people are seen at Bondi Junction Station in Sydney waiting for replacement buses during peak hour on Monday

Ferries between Palm Beach, Wagstaffe and Ettalong were not operating on Sunday night as torrential rain and strong winds continue to sweep through the state.

It comes after a number of train lines will be closed overnight as workers scramble to repair extensive damage caused by the storm.

The Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line is closed between Martin Place and Bondi Junction due to a tree caught in overhead wiring at Edgecliff. Buses have been called in to replace trains between the stations in both directions.

Train lines across Sydney were impacted by the huge storms that battered the city on Saturday and Sunday

Sydney commuters are facing massive delays on their way to work thanks to the damage caused by wild storms that smashed the city on the weekend

Transport Management Centre Spokesperson Rebecca Walsh said it is unlikely the Eastern Suburbs line will reopen by Monday morning, as the damage in Edgecliff is extensive.

The South Coast line has been heavily affected by the weather, and buses are replacing trains between Waterfall and Thirroul and Wollongong and Bomaderry.

Due to road closures, no buses or trains will run between Wollongong and Port Kembla.

Walking to work could be the way to go tomorrow, as public transport systems struggle to recover from the wild weather over the weekend

Many train lines were damaged by trees falling in the strong winds, and a landslide at Guildford caused further damage

Trains have been suspended from Granville to Cabramatta due to a landslide at Ku-ring-gai Chase on General San Martin Drive.

Buses will replace trains up until 12:00pm.

Flooding at Picton has delayed some services in the Southern Highlands.

Some routes in to the city will be delayed on Monday by flooding over the past two days

A tree caught in overhead wiring at Woy Woy has also delayed trains, and buses are replacing some train services between Gosford and Hornsby.

Many major roads also remain closed after extensive flooding.

Pittwater Road is closed in both directions between Wakehurst Parkway and King Street after heavy flooding.

James Ruse Drive at the M4 in Clyde is only operating one lane each way as emergency services try to deal with continued flooding.

A mixture of heavy rains and strong winds have caused significant damage to Sydney roads

Areas on the northern beaches faced extreme flooding over the weekend, with cars submerged in water

Earlier on Sunday, northbound traffic was affected at Flinders Street and Oxford Street in Darlinghurst after emergency services attended to floodwater covering all three lanes. But by midday it was under control.

More than 100 sets of traffic lights have been blacked out in the Sydney Basin area due to the bad weather.

Over 9,000 homes have also been left without power across Sydney and the Central Coast.

For those planning to take to the sky on Monday, expect delays at Sydney Airport, which continues to run off only one runway.

Two eastbound lanes at Victoria Road in Rozelle have been closed, cutting access to the Anzac Bridge

Various buses are diverting and delayed throughout Sydney, and damage to overhead infrastructure has closed the Light Rail between Fish Markets and Lilyfield

Passengers are advised to delay all non essential travel.

Jane Golding, weather forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said Sydney should expect heavy rain and wind to ease by the morning, as the low pressure trough causing the inclement weather moves south and offshore.
Pig-human embryos have been created in a dramatic bid to solve the organ transplant shortage.

Scientists have successfully combined human stem cells and pig DNA - with the aim of growing a human organ inside a pig.

But critics say the development of such hybrids is offensive to human dignity.

The chimera embryos have been implanted in living sows and allowed to grow for 28 days before being tested and destroyed.

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Scientists have successfully combined human stem cells and pig DNA to create pig-human embryos in a dramatic bid to solve the organ transplant shortage (pictured a pregnant sow carrying human-pig chimera embryos)

The idea is that if such an embryo matured inside an adult pig, the foetus would have an organ inside made from human cells. This could then be harvested and transplanted into a patient.

Experts are bitterly divided over the ethical implications of the breakthrough and the boundaries of genetic research.

Supporters claim it could spell an end to the shortage of donor organs  which means 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a transplant.

But others have described it as terrifying Frankenscience.

The technique is being trialled on pig foetuses by US scientists who are experimenting with the genes involved in creating a pancreas.

Strict rules mean that, for now, the embryos cannot be matured past 28 days and no birth of a hybrid animal is allowed.

Supporters claim it could spell an end to the shortage of donor organs  which means 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a transplant

British universities could soon follow suit, with official UK guidelines published in January paving the way for labs to be granted licences for similar experiments.

The UK Animals in Science Committee, a part of the Home Office, said three-year research licences could be given if there was no viable method for creating organs other than combining human and animal cells.

The Government is keen to keep the UK at the forefront of the rapidly accelerating field of genetic engineering, which is set to revolutionise medicine in the coming years. Britain has already become the first nation to authorise a type of IVF that allows the creation of three-parent babies, and last week also became the first country to license the genetic editing of human embryos.

The latest breakthrough has been made at the University of California, Davis, where scientists have implanted pig-human hybrids into sows. Doctors have long discussed using pigs for human transplants, as the organs are roughly the same size as a humans.

But they have repeatedly failed to overcome two hurdles  that the human body would instantly reject the foreign tissue, and that there is a risk of passing animal viruses into people.

The idea is that if such an embryo matured inside an adult pig, the foetus would have an organ inside made from human cells. This could then be harvested and transplanted into a patient

Those challenges have been surpassed by gene-editing technology called CRISPR, which allows scientists to alter DNA with remarkable precision.

They have worked out how to remove from a strand of pig DNA the exact gene responsible for making a pancreas. This creates a void, which they hope will be filled when they inject the embryo with human blank stem cells, capable of forming any form of tissue.

The hybrid embryo is then implanted into an adult sow  and as it grows into a foetus it develops a human pancreas.

Dr Pablo Ross, leading the research, told BBC Panorama: Our hope is that this pig embryo will develop normally but the pancreas will be made almost exclusively out of human cells and could be compatible with a patient for transplantation.

But the work is intensely controversial. The main concern is that the human stem cells might migrate to the developing pigs brain, giving it some human characteristics.

Dr Ross insists: We think there is very low potential for a human brain to grow, but this is something we will be investigating.

The technique is being trialled on pig foetuses by US scientists who are experimenting with the genes involved in creating a pancreas (pictured human embryo)

Supporters claim it could spell an end to the shortage of donor organs  which means 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a transplant. But others have described it as terrifying Frankenscience

But US regulators remain cautious, insisting the foetus is removed within four weeks, so its cell structure can be examined.

Professor Walter Low of the University of Minnesota, which is researching a similar project, said pigs were an ideal biological incubator, adding: The organ would be an exact genetic copy of your liver [for example] but a much younger and healthier version and you would not need to take immunosuppressive drugs which carry side-effects.

Professor Low admitted that human cells spreading to the brain was a concerning prospect, but he added: With every organ we will look at whats happening in the brain and if we find that its too human-like, then we wont let those foetuses be born.

But Josephine Quintavalle, of campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: These experiments are absolutely offensive to human dignity, and no utilitarian justification whatsoever can ever bypass such opposition. We are absolutely horrified at this arrogance.

Professor Stuart Newman, of New York Medical College, said: Youre getting into unsettling ground that I think is damaging to our sense of humanity.

Peta UKs Julia Baines condemned the research as Frankenscience, adding: Creating human-animal hybrids is bad for people and worse for animals.

Panorama  Medicines Big Breakthrough is on BBC One tonight at 8.30pm




Hearing shuffling and banging coming from the back of our yacht during the hours of darkness, I thought my boyfriend Dan was getting a drink of water. But when I looked across to his bunk, he was still in bed and awake.

'Someone's on board,' I whispered. Dan hurriedly climbed into his underwear and I flung on a T-shirt to cover my nakedness.The boat, being only 31 feet long meant we could see everything from our cabin.

'OMG,' I said, 'Pirates!'

Meraid and her boyfriend Dan aboard the She of Feock in Agadir, Morocco

Romantic lifestyle: Meraid is pictured sailing past Ilheu vila da franco and Sao Miguel in the Azores

I threw open the fore hatch, allowing Dan to scramble on deck and find the intruder. Meanwhile, my heart thumped against my chest and I started to shake as I made my way to the galley and the open companionway.

I often dreamed of having an adventure. Sailing on the world's oceans was something that fascinated me. As a child, I'd read many books about adventures in faraway lands - buried treasure, secret coves and pirates.

Six years ago, I left my home, family and job for a life of adventure on the high seas. After five days of basic sailing experience, I climbed aboard a wooden sailing boat and ventured towards the Arctic with only the Captain, John, a retired physicist for company. I was 43 years old.

Six months later, on a cold December day, I met Dan, skipper of the She of Feock. We hooked up, then sailed south towards Africa and the quiet harbour of El Jadida, where we were welcomed by the warm and friendly people of Morocco.

We continued our journey to Safi, the largest sardine fishing port in the country and moored among the wooden fishing vessels, where ours was the only yacht and I was the only woman.

Six years ago, Meraid left her home, family and job for a life of adventure on the high seas. Here she is pictured sailing to England at the end of the trip

Meraid met Dan (left), skipper of the She of Feock and the pair sailed south towards Africa and the quiet harbour of El Jadida, Morocco

Dan's computer was missing, as was the hand-held GPS, both phones, his camera and a few pounds worth of dirhams. Our wallets and passports were safe.

Moments later, and still before dawn, Dan sat in the cockpit, put on his shoes then went ashore to the Gendarmerie's office to report what had happened.

I stepped on deck, reaching over a sleeping ginger cat that had taken up residence under the spray hood, for my flip-flops. They were gone; my Havaianas had been stolen. My pink deck shoes were gone too. I was shoeless.

I'd harboured fantasies about pirates before setting off on this sailing adventure. You know, Pirates of the Caribbean style, with me being captured by Johnny Depp and feigning a little resistance; while looking into Captain Jack's kohl lined eyes and hearing the words, 'C'mere, me beauty,' before being tied to a mast on his ship, The Black Pearl. But that's all it was  a fantasy.

The truth was nothing quite as fanciful. Put simply, pirates are thieves who rob from ships and yachts and steal flip-flops.

The duo continued their journey to Safi, the largest sardine fishing port in the country and moored among the wooden fishing vessels, where theirs was the only yacht and Meraid was the only woman. She is pictured catching cod in the North Sea

Horrified at the loss, I went below and made myself a cup of tea. Soon after, Dan arrived back said he would have to make a formal statement at 9am.

Snivelling, I handed him tea and gave him a hug, more for myself than him. He would never understand how important those white-soled rubber sandals were to me; symbolising my life of freedom and simplicity.

'Don't worry, we'll go shoe shopping later,' he said, in an effort to console me.

Dan was taken away in the back of a police van for his appointment. My job was to wait on the boat for the detectives to arrive.

I tried to carry on as normal beginning with sorting out the laundry. Suddenly, the boat heeled over. Wearing only a vest top and yoga pants, I reached for a dirty shirt and covered myself up.

Three men stood in the cockpit; one had a camera slung around his neck, another carried a black box which I assumed was the forensic kit, and the third, well he seemed less important.

'Bonjour Madame. Nous sommes CSI Maroc,' said the camera man, grinning from ear to ear.

Piratres boarded the She of Feock in the night stealing Dan's laptop, hand-held GPS, both phones, his camera and Meraid's shoes. Pictured the pair encountered dolphins during their travels

I let out a nervous giggle and using my best French combined with charades, described what had happened earlier. By the time I got to my flip-flops, I was in tears.

A photograph of the chart table was taken, and then several of me. The camera man asked for my phone number and I reminded him that my phone had been snatched, so he accepted my email address.

Throughout the investigation, the black box remained shut, and I thought perhaps it was a lunch box.

Then one of the detectives asked me more personal questions  in English.

'What is your job?' he said.

'Are you married?'

'Yes,' I replied.

'But are you really married? We are CSI.'

I shook my head in shame, and lied again.

'We'll soon be married.'

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief and scribbled something in a notebook.

He told me there had never been such an incident in Safi and assured me he would get in touch.

CSI Maroc arrived and investigated the pirate incident. They are pictured boarding the boat

Meraid was forced to move the yacht for the first time alone after the burglary

Hours passed.

The harbour master ordered me to move the yacht. Despite my plea that I was alone because my 'husband' was at the police station, being tied alongside the lifeboat, I had to move the boat, immediately.

'Shiver me god damned timbers,' I thought. If pirates and CSI Maroc weren't enough excitement for one day, I had to move the boat on my own, something I'd never done before. In front of a crowd of fishermen and other bemused onlookers gathered on the dock to see the spectacle of a woman moving a boat unaccompanied. I did it.

Eventually, Dan returned. And in the heat of the afternoon sun, I pulled on my sailing boots and made my way along the dock, past drying nets and spilled fish guts towards town. My eyes were fixated on the feet of every man woman and child I met.

At the market, I tried on some pointy yellow shoes, but nothing could replace the practicality of my deck shoes or the comfort of my flip-flops. Dan's shoes weren't taken, because nobody in Morocco wears size 13 shoes.
Hotel guests may lose confidence in the key cards given to them at the front desk after watching this video that exposes a major security flaw.

Calling it a complete hotel key fail, two travellers have recorded footage of themselves opening three adjacent rooms at a $38-a-night budget hotel in New Mexico.

The men said they used the same key card the open the rooms and got the idea after another guest mistakenly entered their room in the middle of the night.

Two travellers recorded footage of themselves opening three adjacent rooms at a $38-a-night budget hotel

In the clip, one of the men holds up a key card for the camera and uses it to open the room where they stayed

The man then goes to the adjacent room and uses the same key card to unlock that door

Their footage was posted on YouTube on Saturday and has already had more than a million views.

The men said they opened three rooms with a single key card during their stay at the Rodeway Inn in the city of Gallup, on Route 66 near New Mexicos border with Arizona.

In the video, the man recording tells the camera: Last night, were laying in bed and somebody decides just to walk right into our hotel room at 1:46, which were definitely assigned to.

We asked the hotel lady why this might have happened and she said, well, they gave the other people the master key.

So we did a little bit of research ourselves to see, well, what if theyre all master keys?

The men said they opened multiple rooms with the same key card at a Rodeway Inn in New Mexico

The travellers said they got the idea after a guest walked into their room in the middle of the night

The man unlocks a third door with the same key card. The hotel's owner said the flaw has been addressed

As he narrates his friend holds up a key card, which indicates it is for room 146 on the ground floor, and proceeds to open the room.

The camera pans to show a view of the hotel and the friend walks into view again and opens rooms 145 and 144 with the same card.

The man who filmed the video says: Were at the Rodeway Inn in Gallup, New Mexico.

His friend adds: Where everybody has a key to everybodys room.

Where youre all welcome, says the man filming.

The men wrote on YouTube that they stayed at the hotel during their 4,000-mile road trip to the Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevadas in California.

In a post on YouTube, Choice Hotels International, which owns the Rodeway Inn chain, said: 'Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have contacted the hotel and determined that there was a malfunction in their key system.

'They have taken immediate action to address this.'

A spokeswoman for Choice Hotels later told MailOnline Travel that it has terminated the property's franchise licensing agreement following a review of the incident.

She said: 'The operator failed to uphold the high standards we place on guest safety and security, which is unacceptable.
Hundreds of easyJet passengers were forced to spend the night in hotels after 16 travellers were removed from a flight for allegedly being disruptive and drinking alcohol they had brought on board.

The plane took off from Liverpool for Amsterdam on Friday afternoon, but returned to the airport a short time later after one of the passengers caused problems for the crew.

After the Airbus A320 landed an additional 15 passengers were kicked off for disruptive behaviour  but instead of taking off again the flight was delayed until Saturday morning because the crew had to be replaced.

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Merseyside Police were called to meet the plane after more than a dozen passengers became disruptive

Merseyside Police told the Liverpool Echo most of those who were removed from flight EZY7009 broke airline rules by consuming alcohol they had brought on board.

Police told the newspaper no criminal offences had been committed and none of the planes 146 passengers was arrested.

Passengers in Liverpool  and those who were scheduled to fly to Liverpool from Amsterdam once the plane had arrived at Schiphol airport  suffered a frustrating delay due to the disruption to their travel plans.

They were put up in hotels and given meals, and flew to Amsterdam on Saturday morning.

A passenger who was stranded in Amsterdam told the Liverpool Echo: Its really frustrating. We were given updates on the situation, but it spoilt a few lovely days.

Most of the disruptive passengers had brought alcohol on board at Liverpool's airport, said police (file photo)

An easyJet spokeswoman told MailOnline Travel: EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY7009 from Liverpool to Amsterdam was overnight delayed due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively on board which resulted in a diversion back to Liverpool.

The safety and well-being of customers and crew is always our priority and upon landing the disruptive passengers were met by police.

All passengers disembarked normally once in Liverpool terminal where they were provided with information by our ground staff.

Hotel accommodation and meals were also offered.

We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused by the diversion and thank them for their patience.

EasyJet does not tolerate any abusive or threatening behaviour and will always push for prosecution.

The spokeswoman added: 'Due this issue a replacement crew was needed to operate the flight.'

Drunk or disruptive passengers have caused significant problems for Britains budget or holiday airlines.

Last month it emerged that hundreds of passengers have been arrested on suspicion of being drunk on a plane or at an airport in the last two years.
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The world is best viewed from above, and these incredible aerial snaps of stunning landscapes or famous landmarks reveal what it looks like under infrared light.

The photos of everything from Dubai's man-made Palm islands to the Canada's frozen Labrador coast were taken by British pilot Captain Jon Bowles from his cockpit at altitudes of up to 40,000ft.

Some of his best snaps show the peaks of K2 - the second-highest mountain in the world - and Kilimanjaro, the sacred waters of the Ganges Delta, and the salt flats of Pakistan.

Bowles, 55, from Bolton, used a modified Sony Nex 5N camera to capture these awe-inspiring views in a completely different spectrum.

His amazing photography shows the world in a light impossible for the human eye to detect.

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British pilot Jon Bowles snapped this image of a winding river and land that was once under Lake Urmia, in northwestern Iran

Dubai's man-made Palm Jumeirah islands and its glittering skyline, which includes the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world

Bowles photographed K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums, in the Himalayas and Karakoram ranges

The Bangladesh side of the Ganges Delta, which is the world's largest delta. The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus

An open cast mine has a reddish glow in this photo, which was taken under infrared light from the cockpit of an airliner

One of the perks of the job for piltos is seeing some of the most amazing sights in the world, including Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro

Bowles infrared photo of the Padma River, in Bangladesh, looks more like a work of art than a photograph taken from as high as 40,000ft

Kunyang Chhish mountain is located in the Karakoram range of Pakistan, near the country's northeastern border with China

Canada's frozen Labrador coast, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the mainland portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador

Bowles snapped this remarkable photgraph of a hydrothermal vent while flying over the 3,700-mile Great Rift Valley in Africa

The British pilot's amazing photography shows the world in a light impossible for the human eye to detect (pictured: the Great Rift Valley)

Many of Bowles' best photos show rugged mountain ranges in Asia or Africa. This snap shows the Kunlun Mountains in China

Iran's Lake Urmia, near the border with Turkey, was once the largest lake in the Middle East but has shrunk due to the damming of rivers

These rolling fields and small towns in Bulgaria look they're part of a puzzle in this snap taken from the cockpit by Bowles

Bowles used a modified Sony Nex 5N camera to capture these views in a completely different spectrum (pictured: rugged hills in Iran)

Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey. The saline soda lake is fed by water from small streams that run from the surrounding mountains

Bowles snapped this photo while flying over Dubai. It shows Dubai Marina, the desert city's artificial canal district

An aerial view of an industrial zone shows different shades of colour that are invisible to the naked eye

The Red River, pictured in northern Vietnam, runs from the province of Yunnan in southwest China to the Gulf of Tonkin
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These eerily beautiful images of abandoned places are the work of a fearless photographer who is travelling the world to capture stunning scenes inside derelict buildings.

Romain Veillon, from Paris, has travelled across Europe and to countries in Africa and South America to photograph everything from decaying houses, and decommissioned trains to abandoned casinos and empty prisons.

The 32-year-old urban explorer said he has been impressed by derelict places since he was a child, when he played in abandoned buildings near his grandparents' houses.

Veillon told MailOnline Travel: 'I always loved to go there and try to imagine what could have been their stories and how people used to live and work there.

'With time I decided to try to capture the spirit and timeless atmosphere we can experience there, to show how time has stopped there and how decay and nature slowly take back possession of it.'

Veillon's photos are featured in his first hardcover book, called Ask the Dust, and he hopes to visit abandoned buildings in Asia soon to add to his collection. He is highly secretive when it comes to the buildings he has photographed, choosing not to reveal most of the exact locations because he fears they would be 'trashed' by vandals.

Romain Veillon, from Paris, has travelled around the world to take photos of abandoned buildings, including this house in Belgium

The 32-year-old urban explorer snapped this image of a staircase in a crumbling building during his travels through Portugal

While he visited Poland, Veillon toured an abandoned building where he took this photo of a dusty piano that has partially toppled over

In this old home in France, the ceiling and walls have started to fall apart and cave in, leaving debris all over the beds and floor

Veillon snapped photos of several abandoned buildings when he visited Romania, including this church that no longer has a roof

Although most of his photos were taken in European countries, Veillon has visited Namibia and Argentina (pictured: an estate in Italy)

Although some visitors might find it creepy, this abandoned church in France was a peaceful location to photograph, said Veillon

Impressive paintings adorn the crumbling walls of this property in Italy. Veillon prefers not to disclose the exact location of his photos

Veillon said he chooses to keep the locations a secret so they aren't ruined by vandals (pictured: a grand estate in France)

Once a stately manor, this abandoned property in Scotland - with a fireplace and wood-panelled walls - has been reclaimed by nature

Many of Veillon's photos have been taken in France, including this one at an abandoned building that is being overtaken by vines

An old pram and wardrobe were left behind in this decaying house, which was photographed by Veillon during his time in Italy

Veillon took this shot when he visited the derelict amphitheatre at the UFO-shaped Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria

Veillon's work includes everything from photos of this abandoned house in Italy to decommissioned trains and a derelict casino
Forget contemporary sculptures or centuries-old portraits - Los Angeles' hottest new museum features unwanted objects that once belonged to jilted lovers.

The Museum of Broken Relationships, which opened this weekend in Hollywood, displays everything from women's underwear and love letters to a wedding dress and jewellery.

Dedicated to heartache, the permanent exhibit shows off gifted or unwanted items from former partners and is based on a museum that opened in Zagreb, Croatia in 2006.

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The Museum of Broken Relationships, in Los Angeles, displays women's underwear on the walls

Visitors can browse items such as adult magazines (left) or a full-length mirror and read details of each split

For $18 (12.50), visitors can browse objects that were no longer wanted after a break-up and read descriptions which contain details of each relationship's demise.

Other items include photographs, adult magazines, a digital camera, half-empty bottles of cologne, full-length mirror, musical instruments, clothing and an iron used to iron a groom's suit before a wedding.

One of the strangest objects on display is a transplant caregiver manual which was donated by a woman whose boyfriend ended their relationship after he underwent a double lung transplant.

Museum bosses said it offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse and find comfort through creation and by contributing to the permanent collection.

Anyone can donate an item from a previous relationship - be it a gift from a former lover or a souvenir from a romantic holiday or something else.

Museum bosses said the exhibit offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation

The permanent exhibit in Hollywood is based on a museum that opened in Zagreb, Croatia in 2006

A travelling exhibit (pictured during its stop in Berlin) displayed a wedding dress, T-shirts and an axe

Although donors must give their name and sign a donation form, their personal information will not be revealed to visitors, said the museum.

Each exhibit has a title, the duration and dates of the relationship, the city and country and an accompanying story, which could be a personal confession, a rant or a tale of absolute agony.
Eating breakfast at a cafe this past week, I overheard an older farmer in the next booth explaining how adopting precision farming was boosting his yields and profits. This technology matches seeding and fertilizer rates to small differences in productive capacity across a field.

Then the conversation switched to politics, and the same man opined: There is nothing that the government does right, and it does nothing that helps the economy at all.

He had no idea of the irony in what he was saying. His improvement in production and income from precision farming would never have happened without government.

Precision farming hangs entirely on precise control of location while planting, fertilizing, spraying or harvesting a field. It uses differential GPS, inputting real-time locations to an onboard farm machine computer that controls seed and fertilizer rates or logs production. It may even steer the machine.

The GPS part of this technology depends on the Global Positioning System produced by the federal government. The differential part is additional data supplied through ground stations. In my state, about 130 such stations are operated by the Department of Transportation. There are similar efforts in all other states, though the degree of resolution and area of coverage vary widely. These ground stations supply corrections that augment the accuracy of satellite positioning from being within a few yards to fractions of an inch.

That degree of accuracy is termed survey grade, which indicates an important reason why the government agency most visible for repairing highways is supplying data that farmers use to plant seeds and apply fertilizer. You can use the same technology to guide snow plows and lay out a new highway interchange.

Savings in time when draining a field, snow plowing a highway or laying out an entrance ramp are increases in economic efficiency. So are higher yields of corn and reduced use of fertilizer and diesel fuel. This is basic economics. Living standards grow; society gets more goods and services to meet peoples needs for the same use of resources.

So given these benefits and the apparent market demand, would  and could  the private sector provide similar resources?

In economic terms, differential GPS has the classic characteristics of a public good that is non-rival and non-excludable.

Non-rival means the use of it by one person does not mean someone else cannot also use it. A hamburger is rival. If I eat it, you cannot. A tornado warning siren is non-rival. Even if I hear it, so can you. Ditto for a differential GPS signal. My friend, John, can use it to plant the bottom field on the south quarter, a DOT crew 20 miles away can survey for a new bridge and a drainage contractor in the next county can install miles of tile, all without interfering with each other or clogging the system.

Similarly, my hamburger is excludable. The fast-food joint can refuse to give it to me unless I pay for it. But it is impossible to prevent non-payers from hearing the tornado warning. It is also nigh impossible to keep anyone from using a GPS signal. One could perhaps encode the differential corrections put out by the DOT and charge for the service. But the marginal cost of one more user is near zero, so society is best off if it is provided free.

The private sector never would have put dozens of navigation satellites into orbit 40 years ago, because excludability was near-impossible at that time. The investment was tens of billions of dollars, and there seemed to be few uses besides military and navigation. The government was already spending tens of millions on the LORAN system of tower-broadcast navigation signals. And the military advantages on their own were deemed overwhelming enough to justify the outlay.

The military worried enough about enemy use of the signals that for nearly two decades, the signal available to civilians and foreign militaries was degraded to make location less accurate. But as the civilian applications of GPS and the economic productivity boom that might spring from more accurate location data became evident, President Bill Clinton ended the signal degradation near the end of his term.

So it was not government alone that got us to where we are, but we never would have gotten here without government.

The history of productivity increases through provision of public goods goes back to the flood control and irrigation programs in the Nile, Indus, Po and Ganges River valleys of antiquity. This history includes chapters such as early modern lighthouses that were built without government involvement in some cases, but in such insufficient quantities that economic efficiency still suffered. It is a history that many ignore and that is never discussed in presidential campaigns. But it has a greater cumulative effect on our lives than any individual elected to the White House in 80 years.
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United Airlines has pulled back the curtain on its new business class cabin, which was designed to help passengers get a good nights sleep on long-haul flights.

The Polaris cabin will be available on intercontinental flights between the US and destinations such as London starting this December.

In addition to a redesigned cabin, passengers will have access to new pre-departure lounges that feature menus created by chefs, spa-like showers and sleep pods  a first for a US airline.

The Polaris cabin will be available on intercontinental flights between the US and destinations such as London starting this December

Each suite has a do not disturb sign, mood lighting, one-touch lumbar support, surfaces for working and dining and a 16in HD screen

The suites feature multiple surfaces for working or dining and were designed based on 12,000 hours of research, said United

Every passenger in the Polaris cabin will have direct aisle access and a 180-degree lie-flat bed with up to 6ft 6in of bed space

This is the first time in more than a decade United has overhauled its business class in an attempt to win customers from rival airlines.

The Chicago-based airline conducted more than 12,000 hours of research to design a premium cabin that it hopes will make it easier for weary corporate travellers and those who can afford a $7,000 (5,000) return ticket.

Named after the North Star, the Polaris cabin features custom-built seats that were designed with Acumen Design Associates and PriestmanGoode, and manufactured by Zodiac Seats in the UK.

Every passenger will have direct aisle access and a 180-degree lie-flat bed with up to 6ft 6in of bed space.

This is the first time in more than a decade United has overhauled its business class in an attempt to win customers from rival airlines

The custom bedding, including plush duvets, lightweight day blankets and a large and small pillow, is from Saks Fifth Avenue

Every suite has multiple storage areas for headphones, while every passenger will receive the airline's new amenity kit

Passengers will receive slippers on all flights, while those on flights longer than 12 hours can request customised pyjamas

Each suite has a do not disturb sign, mood lighting, one-touch lumbar support, storage areas, surfaces for working and dining and a 16in HD screen.

The custom bedding, including plush duvets, lightweight day blankets and a large and small pillow, is from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Passengers will receive slippers on all flights and a gel-cooled pillow on request, while those on flights longer than 12 hours can request pyjamas.

United has also unveiled new business class amenity kits with ergonomically-designed eye shades, calming lavender pillow mist and additional products from Soho House & Cos Cowshed Spa.

Passengers will have access to new pre-departure lounges that feature sleep pods, a first for a US airline, and spa-like showers

The new Polaris business class lounges will open at nine airports, including Chicago OHare, Newark and London Heathrow

In-flight menus feature regional flavours and were developed with the Trotter Project and chefs including Bill Kim, while the on-board wines were selected by the airlines own sommelier.

United said the cabins will eventually be available on aircraft including the Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner and Airbus A350-1000.
She was recently commissioned to bake the Queen's 90th birthday cake.

But Nadiya Hussain didn't let the fame go to her head as she gave away some of her best baking tips at the Food Festival in Birmingham on Saturday.

The Great British Bake Off winner couldn't have looked happier as she took to the stage for the appearance, despite last weekend's brave revelations about Islamophobic abuse.

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What a sweet treat! Nadiya Hussain gave away some of her best baking tips at the Food Festival in Birmingham on Saturday

The 31-year-old star admitted last Saturday that things haven't always been plain sailing for her since winning the hit show - especially in the wake of terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists.

This weekend, Nadiya recounted her experiences of racist abuse during a cover interview for The Times Magazine.

The TV personality said that not only had people push into her as a result of her Islamic faith, but they had even thrown things at her as part of the abuse.

Talking to the magazine, Nadiya said: 'After every Islamic attack I walk out of the door with a cloud over my head.

Proud: The Great British Bake Off winner couldn't have looked happier as she took to the stage for the appearance and flashed a hint of her perfect pearly whites

'If I'm on the train, people will sit away from me, or God forbid I've got a rucksack or a suitcase... I've been shoved waiting for a bus, had things thrown at me.'

The baker also revealed that after the Paris attacks in November, her brother faced verbal abuse.

And since she rocketed to fame last year, Nadiya has previously admitted that she has also faced online abuse about her religion and at one point even had to have a police presence at her home.

Speaking on Loose Women earlier in the year, Nadiya told the panelists: 'There was quite a lot of negativity on Twitter.

Speaking out: The 31-year-old recently admitted that she often faces Islamophobic abuse, especially following terrorist attacks

'I tried really hard not to look at it. My husband is one of those who has to read everything, so he sat there and read everything.

'You can do two things, and the old me would have very much regretted everything, and there were times when I thought, 'What have I done? Am I putting my kids in danger?' and he was always the one to just say, 'It's OK. They're such a minority and it doesn't matter'.

'And if anything, I proved to myself that I can have the confidence not to care what people think. For me, that's what came out of it all.'

But as she wowed fans with her kitchen skills once again on Sunday, Nadiya's torment seemed far from her mind and she even flashed a hint of her perfect pearly whites.

The mother-of-three looked radiant for her demonstration as she dressed in muted shades of black, taupe and cream.

She let her natural beauty do the talking as she opted for barely there makeup to show off her fresh and dewy complexion.

However, the superstar baker made sure that her eyebrows were perfectly preened for the occasion as they drew attention to her deep brown peepers with a glamorously arched shape.
She's expecting her first child - a girl - with husband James Rothschild.

And on Saturday Nicky Hilton showed off her blossoming baby bump as she arrived at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey.

The 32-year-old looked radiant in an off-the-shoulder mini dress while taking in the festivities at the Liberty State Park event.

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Blue belle: Nicky Hilton showed off her growing baby bump in a stunning, off-the-shoulder sundress as she arrived at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey on Saturday

Nicky wore a flattering, bright blue ruffled dress which was embellished with red polka dots and perfectly hugged her petite frame.

The patterned mini dress, which hit at just above her knees, also highlighted the 365 Style author's toned pins.

The mom-to-be coupled the playful dress with a pair of strappy, tan peep toe heels, which showed off her pale pink pedicure.

Happy to be here! The mom-to-be showed off a big smile as she posed on the carpet, carefully caressing her blossoming belly

She carried a straw handbag with the look, and accessorized with a stylish, wide-brimmed hat that covered her long, curly blonde tresses.

Nicky also accessorized with a playful set of necklaces, featuring charms such as a lightning bolt and a heart.

Her bright blue eyes were accentuated with liner, and she balanced the bold look with a light pink lipstick.

On trend: Nicky accessorized her blue and red polka dot dress with a playful, charm necklace as well as a stylish, wide-brimmed hat

Putting her best foot forward: The blonde beauty finished off the striking look with a pair of strappy, tan peep toe heels

Nicky clearly seemed to be enjoying her Saturday afternoon, as she took to her Instagram account to share a few photos from the polo event.

In one snap the expectant mother put her bump on display as she stood to the side, with one of the polo players - as well as the Statue of Liberty in the distance - in the background as she posed.

'Beautiful day at Liberty State Park #VCPOLOCLASSIC,' the blonde beauty captioned the captivating photo.

What a view! Nicky posed in front of the field to show off the polo players, also giving a good look at the Statue of Liberty in the background, as well as her baby bump

In good company: The hotel heiress also shared an Instagram snap of her smiling as she sat beside Bijou Phillips

Another picture had Nicky showing off a smile as she posed on a couch beside Bijou Phillips, who looked lovely in a short-sleeved, white sundress with cut-outs.

Nicky married banker James in London in July of 2015, with news that the couple was expecting their first child together following in January.
She may have married their son last year.

But Geri Horner is only just beginning to see eye to eye with her in-laws, as it has been reported that the former Spice Girl is patching things up with Christian Horner's parents.

Garry and Sara Horner famously avoided the couple's wedding ceremony in May 2015 as they didn't approve of their son's new romance.

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Mama I love you? Geri Horner is only just beginning to see eye to eye with her in-laws, as it has been reported that the former Spice Girl is patching things up with husband Christian Horner's parents

However, after the Red Bull F1 chief, 42, decided to make amends with his parents, Geri, 43, has been able to spend more time with them and they even went out to watch the Grand Prix together in Monaco.

A source told The Mirror: 'It has been a long time coming, but they are back in contact and things finally seem to be on the mend.

'The fact it has taken so long for them to speak again shows how serious that fallout was. But hopefully this is the start of everybody moving forwards again.'

Locking horns: The parents of Christian (here with Geri in 2014), Garry and Sara Horner, famously avoided the couple's wedding ceremony in May 2015 as they didn't approve of their son's new romanc

MailOnline has reached out to Geri's representatives for comment.

Christian's parents were initially said to have been 'devastated' when the couple announced their engagement in 2014.

According to reports, they were unhappy that he had left his partner of 14 years, Beverley Allen, months after the birth of their first child Olivia.

Christian is also step-father to his former partner's two children from a previous relationship.

Disappointed: Christian's parents were initially said to have been 'devastated' when the couple announced their engagement in 2014

However, the dispute isn't the only thing that Geri is hoping to move on from this year, as she recently announced that she also planned to leave Ginger Spice behind.

Speaking to G2 magazine about finding happiness with Christian she explained that she found happiness and love later on in life, as she felt she was 'emotionally stunted' at the height of her pop success in the '90s.

And with one year of domestic bliss under her belt, she explained that she no longer identifies as her public persona, Geri, rather she sees herself as Geraldine Horner.

'That's who I am, deep down I am Geraldine Horner,' explained the mother-of-one.

And while she is still keen to release music as an artist, her new direction has also influenced the direction of her work.

'You've got to move it on,' She said of herself as a performer. 'I'm not going to be in my hotpants going: "Still got it!"'

And speaking of the new phase in her life, she revealed she feels more positive about herself than before.

Explaining her viewpoint, she said: 'I think I definitely am in a phase where I like myself a bit better now.'

Working it out: Geri, 43, has been able to spend more time with her in-laws and they even went out to watch the Grand Prix together in Monaco
Jennifer Hawkins, 32, and Jake Wall, 33, celebrated their third wedding anniversary on Saturday.

The genetically blessed couple marked the occasion with a romantic dinner out in Sydney, and cosied up for a loved-up selfie that she later posted to Instagram.

Showing off her racy side the 32-year-old former Miss Universe flaunted her legs in thigh-high boots for her date night and appeared absolutely smitten next to her husband.

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Love-birds: Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall celebrated their third wedding anniversary on Saturday and headed out for a romantic dinner together

Braving the horrible weather Jen bundled up in a pink coat layered over a little black dress which showed off her lithe physique.

The glamazon flaunted her long legs in a pair of pale grey thigh high boots that featured a generous heel adding more hight to her towering stature.

Meanwhile, Jake looked dapper in a heavy black coat layered over a black round necked T-shirt.

He and Jen looked smitten as they leaned in together while flashing cheeky smiles to the camera.

Thighs the limit: The 32-year-old model flaunted her lithe physique and long limbs as she donned a pair of grey over the knee boots for their date

In another image the Australia's Next Top Model host perched against the sofa in what appears to be their home and crossed one elegant long leg over the other to show off her boots.

The latest business venture she and Jake have embarked on is an alcohol company, Session Tequila and before they went out she captioned on image: 'Heading out Pre dinner margs'

Earlier in the day she took to Instagram to post a picture of the pair pulling silly faces, showing off the lighter side of their relationship as they marked three years of wedded bliss together.

Silly side: Earlier in the day she took to Instagram to post a picture of the pair pulling goofy faces, showing off the lighter side of their relationship as they marked three years of wedded bliss together

Jake chose to post a sentimental black and white shot of the two on their glamorous wedding day in Bali in 2013.

The former rugby league player turned carpenter added the caption: 'Three years ago today... Here's to many more fun adventures together... Happy anniversary babe x'.

Jennifer met her handsome beau in Newcastle, just prior to winning the 2004 Miss Universe crown and in the years since they have become regular fixtures on the social scene.

As loved-up as ever: Jennifer met her handsome beau in Newcastle, just prior to winning the 2004 Miss Universe crown and the couple were married in Bali in 2013

In the years since, they have managed to grow an impressive, multi-million-dollar company, J Group, which they operate jointly.

Their $10 million portfolio ranges from beauty products such as J Bronze, swimwear in the form of COZI by Jennifer Hawkins, and property development.

It's been a busty few months for the blonde beauty, who is gearing up to appear on the forthcoming instalment of Australia's Next Top Model, where she is returning as the host.
It is one of the best loved shows from the Queen of Sitcoms.

But the tale of a frustrated housewife daydreaming about adultery in Butterflies was in fact inspired by the affair that ended the marriage of Carla Lane.

Now, after the writers death last week at the age of 87, a poem in which she gave voice to the emotional turmoil of the 20-year-long relationship can be published for the first time.

Miss Lane was married when she began the affair in the 1970s with the TV producer and did her best to keep his identity a secret.

Emotional turmoil: The tale of a frustrated housewife daydreaming about adultery in Butterflies was in fact inspired by the affair that ended the marriage of Carla Lane (pictured)

In conversations with family and friends, the mother of two  who also created The Liver Birds and Bread  would simply refer to him as him or the lover.

But the poem reveals her frustrations over the relationship and her lovers involvement with another woman.

Miss Lane wrote: You almost made me love you with your secret look and your boys hair.

But something moved behind your smile, Was she still there?

The poem suggests a woman struggling to come to terms with the fact that her lover will never turn his back on the other woman.

In conversations with family and friends, the mother of two  who also created The Liver Birds and Bread  would simply refer to him as him or the lover. Above, the previously unpublished poem

In Butterflies  which ran from 1978 to 1983  Wendy Craig played housewife Ria who fantasises about an affair with businessman Leonard, played by Bruce Montague. Miss Lanes son Carl Hollins, 67, who shared the poem with The Mail on Sunday, said: I dont think the poem has ever been published.

She produced a pamphlet called Dreams and Other Aggregations which was a collection of poems meant for just family and friends.

The poems are based on her own life and experiences and we believe that the poem is about the long-standing relationship with the producer which was obviously very important to her.

I think it was a very important relationship precisely because it did influence much of the work.

Miss Lane was still married to her husband Eric when she began the affair. She is understood to have met the mystery man shortly after she moved to London to capitalise on the success of her first show, The Liver Birds. The relationship flourished and continued following her amicable divorce from Hollins in 1981.

In an interview, she once described her marriage to Hollins as handcuffs, saying: He feared me being among writers, and away from home and meeting someone else. And I did meet someone else (a producer) lets be honest about it. Miss Lane later said her husband was lovely and deserved better than me.

The television show 'Butterflies', starred Wendy Craig and Bruce Montague (pictured), who played her lover

The storyline was inspired by Miss Lane's affair with a mystery man who still hasn't been identified

Mr Hollins said he had no idea about the identity of the man who was referred to in several newspaper obituaries of the star last week.

He said: Mum had many suitors and she would never drink. But when I would arrive at her house there would always be bottles of Dom Perignon in the fridge.

I said, Bloody hell, Mum, whats this, but she would say, I dont know, Michael Winner keeps bringing them around.

Asked if his mother could have had a relationship with Mr Winner, Mr Hollins said: I drank a lot of his champagne, I can tell you that, but I dont know. Miss Lane wrote about the relationship with the producer in her 2006 autobiography, called Someday Ill Find Me, but refused to identify the man.

A newspaper later reported that the lover was in fact the acclaimed TV producer Sydney Lotterby, who worked with Miss Lane on both The Liver Birds and Butterflies.

Mr Lotterby last night said: It was not me. I accept if you read the book it sounds like me as well. But it absolutely isnt me. Of course, the relationship could have all been in Carlas imagination because many of the Butterflies scripts came out of her imagination.

Felicity Kendal, who starred in Miss Lanes shows Solo and The Mistress, said: I was aware there was someone else but I never knew who it was. Carla was very outspoken about being an independent woman who wanted to live the life she wanted to live.

Mr Hollins also revealed his mother had died virtually penniless because she had donated her millions to animal welfare charities.
Phoebe Tonkin was certainly dressed to impress when she arrived at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic on Saturday.

Stepping out at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, the 26-year-old Australian actress stunned in a chic purple printed dress.

The short-sleeved frock featured a nautical themed print throughout, and was designed in such a way to showcase her slender figure perfectly.

Stylish: Phoebe Tonkin was certainly dressed to impress when she arrived at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey on Saturday

Finishing just below the knees, her stylish dress revealed a glimpse of her trim pins.

Meanwhile The Originals star also added a few striking accessories to take her look to the next level.

With her caramel locks worn out in loose waves, Phoebe propped a classy white hat on her head.

Gorgeous: Stepping out at Liberty State Park, the 26-year-old Australian actress stunned in a chic purple printed dress

Famous friends: The Originals star posed for some photos with fellow Australian actress Rose Byrne

She slipped her feet into a pair of black laced boots, while a chained handbag was slung over her right shoulder.

While mingling with other famous faces at the event, Phoebe stopped to take some photos with the likes of Rose Byrne and Tyson Beckford.

Not by her side on this occasion was her boyfriend Paul Wesley.

Finishing touches: With her caramel locks worn out in loose waves, Phoebe propped a classy white hat on her head

Phoebe is well-known for playing werewolf Hayley Marshall-Kenner on The Originals.

The star - who is originally from Sydney - is also known for previous roles including mermaid Cleo on Australian show H20: Just Add Water.

Before heading to Hollywood, she also appeared on other Australian shows including long-running soap Home and Away.
It was billed as a gorgeous wedding in Bal Harbour, Florida.

But guests didn't know they'd also be privy to the stylings of the legendary DJ Ruckus, who gave a surprise performance as his gift to the happy couple after the ceremony on Saturday.

The DJ brought model fiance Shanina Shaik, 25, as his date to the wedding of his friend, AKR Public Relations founder Amanda Ruisi, 33, to Robert Sorrentino, 43.

What an event! DJ Ruckus and fiance Shanina Shaik attended the wedding of his friend, PR expert Amanda Ruisi, 33, and Robert Sorrentino, 43, in Florida on Saturday

DJ Ruckus - who usually charges around $75,000 per set - stepped up to the laptop to do a surprise set, which had guests dancing until 2am.

Australian model Shanina wore a minimalist pink gown with spaghetti straps as she kicked up her heels on the dance floorl.

The bride Amanda looked lovely in a custom Rivini gown from Kleinfeld and a silver jacket.

It seemed as though everyone had a part to play in the big day, as even the couple's beloved dog Ruby served as 'Flower Dog' in her own white wedding gown.

Giorgio Armani Beautys Face Designer, Tim Quinn, was also on hand the entire weekend to make sure the brides makeup survived the Florida heat.

Surprise! Long-time AKR client and wedding guest DJ Ruckus, whose real name is Greg Andrews, took his spot behind the turn tables

Boogie down: At one point the bride joined DJ Ruckus in the booth

Jealous? Of course his plus-one happened to be Australian model-and his fiance-Shanina , 25, who kicked up her heels on the dance floor

Big day: Former Jersey Shore star Pauly D, left, also attended the wedding

After the lovely ceremony, elaborate five course meal and the presentation of a massive wedding cake, the hours of dancing began.

That's when the surprise dropped, as long-time AKR client and wedding guest DJ Ruckus, whose real name is Greg Andrews, took his spot behind the turn tables.

Of course his plus-one happened to be Australian model-and his fiance-Shanina, who couldn't help but fawn over the blushing bride's epic wedding ring.

Paradise: After the lovely ceremony (pictured), elaborate five course meal and the presentation of a massive wedding cake, the hours of dancing began

Only the best: Following the canine's entrance, Amanda floated down the aisle in a custom Rivini gown from Kleinfeld

Good dog: It seemed as though everyone had a part to play, as even the couple's beloved dog Ruby served as Flower Dog in her own white wedding gown

The celebration was also attended by other celebrities, such as Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio from Jersey Shore, former Miss USA Erin Brady, and broadcast journalist Alicia Quarles.

With DJ Ruckus at the helm, it was no surprise that he kept guests grooving well past 2 a.m.

The longtime couple were engaged in June 2015 and reside in NYC. They also own a home in CT together, where they met.

Long night: With DJ Ruckus at the helm, it was no surprise that he kept guests grooving well past 2 a.m.

Well-attended: The celebration was also attended by other celebrities, such as Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio from Jersey Shore (pictured), former Miss USA Erin Brady, and broadcast journalist Alicia Quarles
She boasts near perfect credentials that saw eagle-eyed touts pluck her for a regular slot on the Victoria's Secret runway.

And on Saturday, Shanina Shaik was seen meandering around Jersey City rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic.

The 25-year-old model showcased her enviable physique in a pretty grey patterned off-the-shoulder dress as she sipped on a glass of rose at the Liberty State Park event in New Jersey.

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Shoulders are the new cleavage: Shanina Shaik was seen meandering around Jersey City rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey on Saturday

Cheers! The 25-year-old model looked pretty grey patterned off-the-shoulder dress as she sipped on rose

The natural beauty wore her raven locks loosely over her shoulders and struck a relaxed and carefree figure in the summer attire.

Beaming for the cameras, she showcased her slender physique in the dress nipped in at the waist and showed off her flawless complexion in the sun which highlighted her freckles.

The Melburnian, whose mother is of Lithuanian descent while her father boasts Pakistani and Saudi Arabian heritage, meandered around in high-heeled sandals.

Professional poser: Shanina wore her raven locks loosely over her shoulders

Working it: The Victoria's Secret model showcased her slender physique in the billowing dress

Natural: She showed off her flawless complexion in the sun which highlighted her faint freckles

And while her fiance DJ Ruckus didn't appear to be at the event, her ex, fellow model Tyson Beckford, was.

He arrived with a pretty PR in a chauffeur driven car in what may have been a move to make his ex jealous.

In 2008 she came second in reality television show Make Me A Supermodel where she met American model and actor Tyson, whom she went on to date for several years.

Mixing in the right circles: Shanina is pictured at the event (L-R) with Michael B. Jordan, Jaimie Alexander and Nadine Leopold

Her ex: Model Tyson Beckford attends the Ninth Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic at Liberty State Park

The pair parted ways last year and soon after Shanina revealed she had moved on with the DJ.

More recently, Tyson, a former Ralph Lauren model, reportedly got into a late night fight with Ruckus over her on Thursday outside the Up & Down nightclub in Manhattan, New York, according to TMZ.

A slanging match is said to have erupted with the 32-year-old DJ flipping off the 45-year-old model turned actor, sources told TMZ, and they took it out to the street.

Affectionate: The model has been spending time stateside with her fiance DJ Ruckus stateside

In 2011 Shanina became the fifth Australian model to walk for Victorias Secret, joining Miranda Kerr, Elyse Taylor, Jess hart and Abbey Lee Kershaw.

The exotic beauty began modelling in catalogues from the age of eight.

She has previously told of her love for Ruckus saying he makes her feel like 'a princess'
It's barely been two weeks since he reportedly had a 'brawl' with his ex's fiance DJ Ruckus.

But it would appear model Tyson Beckford might be trying to make Shanina Shaik a little jealous, posing with an attractive publicist while en route to the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New York.

Sharing a selfie from inside a Rolls-Royce on Saturday, 45-year-old smiled as he prepared to crack open a bottle of champagne.

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'When I do it I do it XXL!' he wrote in the caption with the hashtags 'team Tyson' and 'BFF' or 'best friends forever'.

The former Ralph Lauren model has shared snaps with the pretty brunette in the past, placing his arm around her while they attended a party.

However there appears to be no romance between them, with Tyson writing in the caption of the photo: 'No new friends' with again the hashtag 'BFF'.

Tense: It's barely been two weeks since he reportedly had a 'brawl' with his ex's fiance DJ Ruckus

Power purple! Tyson rocked a mauve suit with black slippers while his ex Shanina looked effortlessly gorgeous in a floral number by Zimmermann

His ex Shanina also attended the prestigious event, but it appeared she attended solo as Ruckus was not pictured with her.

On May 24, it was reported by TMZ that Tyson had been involved in a brawl with Ruckus over the Victoria's Secret model.

A slanging match erupted with the 32-year-old DJ flipping off the 45-year-old model turned actor, sources told TMZ, and they took it out to the street.

Where's Ruckus? Shanina appeared to attend the star-studded event solo

Former flames: Tyson and Shanina dated on and off since 2008

The website reported that the fight was violent and bloody, with Tyson on top of Ruckus beating him up as one of the DJ's friends began punching Tyson in the head.

A doorman called the cops but by the time they got there the men were gone and no arrests were made.

Tyson and Shanina dated on and off since 2008, however she became engaged to Ruckus, whose real name is Gregory Andrews, in January this year after about seven months of dating.
The new motto in the state penitentiary's solitary confinement unit is "behave your way in, behave your way out."

Only the most serious behavior should land an inmate in segregation. Only good behavior, not just time served, can get one out.

Recently, administrators defined actions that can land someone in segregation. These include assaults causing serious bodily injury, sexual assaults, homicide, arson and inciting riots. Repeat rule violations are occasionally punished with short periods in isolation, but not with long-term segregation.

Prisoners accused of acting out are placed in the segregation unit temporarily while their case is investigated. If a person is in segregation for more than a few days, he will be assessed for behavioral and mental health issues.

During the assessment, staff watch how prisoners give back food trays, talk to officers and maintain their cells. If a committee of administrators decide the person has serious behavioral problems, he will be placed in segregation and assigned a set of goals to be met in order to return to general population.

"This guy could be a risk to the institution and get in a fight, balanced with the harm that is done to the person in segregation," said Karianne Wolfer, director of correctional practices.

If they are found guilty in the investigation and placed in segregation, they may enter a more or less intensive prison wing.

In both wings, staff come by to talk or practice skills with inmates twice a day. In the more intense wing, inmates are visited by a psychologist. In the less intense one, they do group therapy three times a week.

Officers ask inmates questions like, "What is one way you've grown in the last year?" and "What keeps you going when life is difficult?" They teach skills with names like "thought-stopping" and "using self-control."

By participating, inmates work their way out more quickly. They also get "reinforcers," often a cup of coffee or extra food.

Inmates who show improved behavior and willingness to participate are moved to a transition wing meant to help them adjust back to life with others. They eat lunch in the dining room, hang out with other transitioning inmates in a room plastered with motivational posters and join the general population inmates in the yard once a week.

Administrators think the program makes inmates less violent, but data so far is mostly anecdotal.

Wolfer said that, after three days of holding group, one prisoner who tended to isolate asked to join in. Staff have noticed that prisoners ask them to come by and practice skills, instead of throwing trays or banging on the door for attention.

Peterson said she gets fewer cat calls as she walks the tier. Sgt. Travis Krein said he has a better rapport with the men.

"I don't know about learning anything," said Shane Habermann, an inmate who has participated in the program. "It plants a seed."

He could rattle off some of the lessons staff try to teach: coping with people, alternatives to violence, not losing one's temper.

But he believes people need to choose change for themselves.

Habermann, who was sent to solitary after he fought with another inmate, still struggles to balance pride and sense.

"If you're walked on, you're a carpet," said Habermann, who concedes that he has an "institutional mindset" from years inside, but said he wants to earn his way back to general population.

Habermann, who is in prison for escaping Dickinson's Southwest Multi-County Correctional Center in 2015, said he has spent time in solitary in other prisons.

He said the program shows that the state penitentiary is trying to do something for them. It also improves relationships with guards.

"The program forces them to interact with us. It rubs away that barrier a little bit," he said.
Michelle Bridges has shared a lovely snap of her and beau Steve 'Commando' Willis to celebrate his birthday.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the 45-year-old Biggest Loser Australia trainer posted a black and white filtered image of the couple, in which the Commando, who has turned 40, cosied up to his lady.

'Happy Birthday my  xxx,' Michelle captioned the image, which attracted over 2,000 likes within an hour.

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Cute couple: Michelle Bridges has shared a lovely snap of her and beau Steve 'Commando' Willis to celebrate his birthday

Swapping his fitness gear for more relaxed attire, the Commando was seen wearing a checkered shirt.

Michelle rested her head on her man's strong right shoulder, and he affectionately placed his hand on her brown hair.

The couple welcomed their first child, Axel, in December last year.

Last month Michelle revealed she learnt the tricks of parenthood off her partner who already fathers three other children.

Family: The couple welcomed their first child, Axel, in December last year - Michelle pictured with her bub last month

While appearing on Channel Seven's The Morning Show, she revealed her personal trainer beau has been easy to learn off because of his relaxed personality.

'I turn to him a lot because he is just so relaxed about being a dad,' the media personality explained to hosts Larry Emdur and Angela Cox.

She went on to add: 'I am actually learning from him.'

Michelle also gushed about watching Commando be a parent to a newborn.

'He is so sweet,' she simply stated.

'He is very good at it...well he [Axel] is his fourth child so he [Commando] is an old hand at it,' Michelle joked.
They shocked fans with reports of a split earlier this week.

But model Gigi Hadid and pop star Zayn Malik are reportedly still together, sourced told Just Jared on Saturday.

The break up reports are completely false. And they have met each other's families despite false rumors circulating,' a source told the site.

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Strike a pose: Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik are reportedly still together, according to Just Jared; pictured at the Met Gala in New York City on May 2

On Friday, the 21-year-old model Snapchatted herself singing Zayn's song, Pillowtalk, while at the Maybelline New York LA Beauty Bash she hosted at The Line Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Maybelline spokesmodel looked incredible in a navy dress featuring double thigh splits and spaghetti straps.

The blonde blonde, who added a choker and deep red lipstick, shared clips of herself belting out the tune to her Snapchat.

Belti it out: On Friday, the 21-year-old model Snapchatted herself singing Zayn's song, Pillowtalk, while at the Maybelline New York LA Beauty Bash in Los Angeles

Stunner: The blonde blonde, who added a choker and deep red lipstick, shared clips of herself belting out the tune to her Snapchat

Wow factor: The Maybelline spokesmodel looked incredible in a navy dress featuring double thigh splits and spaghetti straps

Gigi starred in the music video for Pillowtalk, where the duo are seen kissing and embracing each other.

Dazzling: During a girls night out, the supermodel added a necklace with her and Zayn's initials

During a girls night out on Thursday with pals Kendall and Kylie Jenner and Hailey Baldwin, the supermodel added a necklace with her and Zayn's initials.

The necklace features a Z and G letter that overlap each other; the blonde beauty added the new sparkler to her jewelry collection in January.

She wore the diamond piece with a cropped concert tee and sheer leggings.

Gigi and Zayn, 23, who have been dating for seven months, were reported to have parted ways last week.

On Thursday E! News' source confirmed the split, although the insider did tell the site that 'they can likely get back together tomorrow.'

She's got the look: She wore the diamond piece with a cropped concert tee and sheer leggings

The source also told E!: 'It's all very unclear what going on between them now. They been having some issues lately that involved communication and getting along.'

Gigi posted a card to her Snapchat on Thursday evening, featuring a shirt with a heart on its sleeve.

Beneath the tee, it read: 'I know it's obvious, but I love you;' she added a smiley face as a caption.

The look of love: Gigi and Zayn, 23, who have been dating for seven months, were reported to have parted ways last week; pictured at the Met Gala on May 2 in New York City
He's just returned from a whirlwind trip around the US, enjoying a break from life on the farm.

But Married At First Sight and Farmer Wants A Wife star Lachie McAleer seemed happy to be home in Sydney despite the pouring rain.

The 37-year-old uploaded a video of himself to Instagram on Sunday, singing along passionately to 60s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival's Who'll Stop The Rain.

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Happy to be home: Married At First Sight and Farmer Wants A Wife star Lachie McAleer uploaded a video of himself singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival's Who'll Stop The Rain, after returning from the US

Lachie is cuddlifng up to his small dog he calls 'Snoop Dogg', keeping dry under a shelter as the rain falls heavily in the background.

The Sydney-based farmer is sporting a pair of reflective blue aviator sunglasses and it looks like he's rugged up in a few layers for the chilly Sunday afternoon.

He's captioned the video: 'Back down unda with Snoop, enjoying the rain!!!!'

'Keeping dry': He made sure to rug up for the chilly Sunday afternoon and stood under some shelter with his adorable pup

In an attempt to find love, the romantic has put his destiny in the hands of two different reality dating shows over the past year.

And although it's clear the passionate farmer loves life on the farm, his busy and isolated lifestyle has made finding the woman of his dreams quite the challenge.

Lachie's public search for the one started when he starred on Married At First Sight in 2015.

Not giving up: In an attempt to find love, the romantic has put his destiny in the hands of two different reality dating shows over the past year

Channel Nine's controversial reality series paired up four couples, each matched by relationship experts, who agreed to marry when they first met.

Lachie was matched with Clare Tamas from Sydney and they took part in a commitment ceremony at the altar.

However, their 'marriage' did not go the distance, as Lachie told A Current Affair the pair had split.

Searching: The eligible bachelor was the star of Farmer Wants A Wife this year, momentarily finding something special with Belinda Reid

The eligible bachelor was then the star of Farmer Wants A Wife this year, momentarily finding something special with Belinda Reid.

The two seemed happy together when the show wrapped filming, but less than 24 hours after the finale aired, it emerged the couple have already gone their separate ways.

Lachlan cited long distance as the reason for their split and told TV Week: 'We were trying back and forth and spoke on the phone all the time, but the distance makes it really hard.'
Katie Holmes made the most of her day off as she relaxed with her parents in a pretty day dress in Calabasas, California on Saturday.

The 37-year-old actress looked happy as she spent a sunny day with dad Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr., and mum Kathleen A. Stothers-Holmes.

However, later that day, she along with a host of other stars were reportedly forced to evacuate her Calabasas home due to raging 500-acre fire.

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Family time: Katie Holmes made the most of her day off as she relaxed with her parents in a pretty cherry-print dress in Calabasas, California on Saturday

MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for Katie Holmes for comment.

Earlier in the day, the actress cut a stylish figure in a black cherry-print dress with a sheer frilly panel cut diagonally across her thighs.

The mother-of-one completed her outfit with simple black pumps, a black hold-all bag and a black cardigan with cropped sleeves.

Covering her make-up free face with large shades, she kept her accessories simple with a gold pendant necklace.

Summery: The American star completed her outfit with simple black pumps, a black hold-all bag and a black cardigan with cropped sleeves

Mother and daughter print: Dawson's Creek star's mum Kathleen got in on the printed-dress action too, with a monochrome polka-dot dress and similar black cardigan, completing her outfit with tan sandals

Just Suri Cruise missing! Two generations of the Holmes family enjoyed a sunny day out

The Dawson's Creek star's mum Kathleen got in on the printed-dress action too, with a monochrome polka-dot dress and similar black cardigan, completing her outfit with tan sandals.

Katie and her family appear to have had to leave their home shortly after the pictures were taken.

It is believed a handful of celebrities may have been made to evacuate their homes over the weekend, after a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in Calabasas, Southern California, causing a mandatory evacuation.

'Three thousand homes are evacuated, which is about 5,000 people,' Tony Coroalles, city manager of Calabasas, told CNN.

Wildfires: A handful of celebrities may have been made to evacuate their homes over the weekend, after a third-alarm brush fire sparked up on Saturday in Calabasas

It is believed the fire is dangerously close to the homes of Kim's sisters Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, as well as Scott Disick, Lamar Odom, Jessica Simpson, Katie Holmes, the Jackson family and Mariah Carey, according to x17 Online.

Katie is currently busy filming miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot, and also intends to direct an episode.

The new four-part series will focus on Jackie's life after the November 1963 assassination of her first husband, President John F. Kennedy.

Jackie later wed Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968 and remained his wife until his death in 1975.
She's beautiful, intelligent and charming.

But former Miss World Australia Courtney Thorpe has revealed she narrowly missed out on a role she had hoped to snag - the star of the next Bachelorette series.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the 25-year-old said she made it all the way to the final two candidates during casting for the popular reality dating show.

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So close! Miss World Australia Courtney Thorpe, 25, has revealed she narrowly missed out on becoming the next star of The Bachelorette

And although the brunette beauty couldn't reveal who won the role, she did say the show's producers decided on 'someone older' than herself.

The idea of finding the one was definitely the drawcard for Courtney, saying she is 'really ready to find the right person'.

'I just want to find a nice, sweet guy.'

Nearly: The brunette beauty, who is also studying law, made it down to the final two in castings, losing out to 'someone older'

She added: 'I loved seeing Sam [Frost] find someone and be so happy.'

The Brisbane native was crowned Miss World Australia in 2014, finishing in fifth place in the global competition.

And although she can be easily grouped into the same category as fellow beauty queen Jesinta Campbell - who competed at the 2010 Miss Universe competition - Courtney told Daily Mail Australia earlier this year that she hopes to pursue a different sort of career.

While Jesinta has forged a successful career as a model, Courtney hopes to make a name for herself in television as a presenter, with long-term goals to enter into politics.

'I loved seeing Sam [Frost] find someone and be so happy:' Courtney implied she wanted to find the one, just like Sam Frost (pictured) did after starring on the show in 2015

'I'm done with [fashion] to be honest,' she said when asked if she would be interested in continuing her career as a model.

'It was my life and I will always love it, but in terms of what my main priorities are now, it's more about getting out there...[and] getting to talk to people and interacting with people,' she added.

While she still calls Australia home between her many travels, she conceded that relocating to America might be on the cards to follow her aspirations.

'I'm all for doing whatever it takes, so if an opportunity came up and it was amazing, I would absolutely, in a heartbeat, go for it.'
Tyga's rumoured girlfriend Demi Rose has reportedly claimed she's a victim of identity theft, after her pictures have been found on escort agency websites.

TMZ reports the 21-year-old model is said to be 'considering legal action' after finding escort agencies across the globe have profiles featuring stolen photographs of her.

The website claims the British-born beauty 'says she's fallen victim to prostitute identity theft', after it was discovered high-class escort agencies were featuring profiles using her name and pictures.

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Not happy: Tyga's rumoured girlfriend Demi Rose has claimed she's a victim of identity theft, after her pictures have been found on escort agency websites

The news comes as numerous profiles using both her pictures and name have appeared on high-class escort sites in both the US and Dubai.

However, TMZ reports the model said, 'don't believe the hype', as 'she's never done any sort of escorting and doesn't want her name associated with it'.

The website also claims: 'She's seen this happen to lots of girls in her biz ... and she's considering legal action (sic).'

Ready to get the lawyers involved? TMZ reports the 21-year-old model is said to be 'considering legal action' after finding escort agencies across the globe have profiles featuring stolen photographs of her

Don't believe it: TMZ reports the model said, 'don't believe the hype', as 'she's never done any sort of escorting and doesn't want her name associated with it'

Demi - who comes from the Midlands - has shot to fame after she was pictured out in Cannes during the city's 69th Film Fesitval on the arm of Tyga, who recently split from Kylie Jenner.

Last month MailOnline revealed the British model grew up in a middle class home in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham.

Parents Barrie, 78, a former bank manager, and Christine, 61, said she is a very different person at home and insisted they were proud of her.

Her mother said: 'We're right behind her. She's such a beautiful girl, why shouldn't she? If you've got it, flaunt it.

'She's very kind and a really down-to-earth girl  nothing like what we are seeing in the press.'

The Instagram favourite, who has more than two million followers, has become the talk of the globe after being pictured with Rack City rapper, 26.

Despite seeming inseparable from Demi Rose, Tyga took to Twitter last week to insist that he is not dating anyone new, telling his followers: 'Single. Focused. Blessed. Living Life (sic).'
He announced their separation in August 2014 and filed for divorce just four months later.

But Nick Cannon is legally still married to Mariah Carey, with TMZ reporting that he has refused to sign their divorce papers, making it illegal for her to currently wed her billionaire fiance, James Packer.

Sources told the site that the 35-year-old presenter 'still loves Mariah and doesn't want to officially let her go.'

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Moving on: Mariah Carey is still married to Nick Cannon - who she separated from in August 2014 - even though she is gearing up to wed her billionaire fiance James Packer

Nick and Mariah wed in 2008 at her private estate on Windermere Island in the Bahamas, and the couple share two children, four-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe.

It is believed that financial-settlement issues initially delayed their divorce proceedings, but these have reportedly been resolved.

MailOnline have contacted representatives for Nick and Mariah for comment.

Stubborn: Nick Cannon is reportedly refusing to sign divorce papers despite separating from estranged wife Mariah two years ago

So happy: James Packer proposed to Mariah in January with a $7.5m diamond engagement ring. The Australian casino businessman is worth an estimated $4.5 billion in US dollars and swept her off her feet

Mariah will need to be legally separated from Nick in order to marry her fiance James, who she got engaged to in January.

The Australian casino businessman is worth an estimated $4.5 billion in US dollars and swept her off her feet after they went public with their relationship in June last year.

The couple have not announced their wedding date, but the Honey hitmaker recently revealed it was going to be an intimate affair.

Well wishes: Nick (pictured with Mariah when they were still married in 2012) congratulated his estranged wife on her engagement, saying they were a 'great couple' and 'may God Bless Your Future Union'

Appearing on Live with Kelly last week, the star remained coy at details of her upcoming nuptials, saying that she has some 'stuff in the works'.

After the hosts asked about whether she'll have a reception or 'after-party' Mariah replied 'Reception is for if you have a big wedding.

'I never said it was gonna be a big wedding,' she added.

The songbird's engagement ring is a 35 carat diamond sparkler estimated to be worth approximately $7.5 million.

Need some TLC? Nick feigned heartsickness in a humorous snap with Kevin Hart's help before congratulating ex-wife Mariah on her engagement to billionaire James Packer in January

Wow: The songstress' engagement ring is a stunner created by Wildred Rosado to perfectly reflect Packer's love and adoration for Mariah and is worth a whopping $7.5m

Nick was one of the first stars to congratulate his estranged wife on her engagement, taking to Instagram to share a hilarious snap with friend Kevin Hart.

The America's Got Talent host was seen in a hospital bed clothed in one of those unsightly hospital gowns with eyes closed as though prostrate with heartsickness, as Kevin hovered over him with a worried expression.

But it was all staged fun as Nick wrote: 'Ha! This made me laugh out loud for real!!! HILARIOUS! #AllLove.'

He then added on a sincere note: 'Congrats to @MariahCarey and James! May God Bless Your Future Union... #GreatPeople #GreatCouple'
Following a whirlwind 10 month romance he proposed during a romantic break in Monte Carlo last week.

And it seems that Duncan Bannatyne and his new fiancee Nigora Whitehorn were determined to celebrate their engagement in style aboard a luxury yacht in Cannes.

Putting on a PDA heavy display as they enjoyed the sun, the Dragon's Den star, 67, and the former dental receptionist, 36, looked the picture of love as they soaked up the sun in the South of France.

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Celebrating in style? It seems that Duncan Bannatyne and his new fiancee Nigora Whitehorn were determined to celebrate their engagement in style aboard a luxury yacht in Cannes

Duncan, who proposed to Nigora with a rumoured 40,000 sparkler, couldn't keep his eyes of his fiancee as they enjoyed a day in the sun.

Making sure they made the most of their time on the Cote d'Azzur, the couple headed to the mainland where they relaxed and enjoyed each other's company by a swimming pool.

Opting for an extremely low-cut one-piece, Nigora - who is believed to have started dating Duncan in July 2015 - made sure her phenomenal figure was on full display.

Fun in the sun? Putting on a PDA heavy display as they enjoyed the sun, the Dragon's Den star, 67, and the former dental receptionist, 36, looked the picture of love as they soaked up the sun in the South of France

All eyes on Nigora: Duncan, who proposed to Nigora with a rumoured 40,000 sparkler, couldn't keep his eyes of his fiancee as they enjoyed a day in the sun

And the swimsuit didn't just allow Nigora to show some cleavage, as the tiny black number also allowed her to show plenty of leg.

What a gem! Nigora was sure to wear her huge, sparkling diamond ring - rumoured to be worth 40K

Adding a pair of nude peep-toe stilettos to her ensemble, the raven-haired beauty further accentuated her lithe pins.

Though Nigora was also sure to wear her huge sparkling ring; which is similar in design to the diamond-encrusted Soleste Pear by Tiffany, which starts at a price of 11,500.

Wearing her long dark tresses brushed back off of her face in gentle waves, she allowed her striking features to shine through - using a subtle and natural make-up palette to define her pretty looks.

Duncan meanwhile showed off his impressive lean and muscular physique, by wearing a pair of red swimming shorts.

With his brown and grey-tinged locks slicked back off of his face, the former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant looked to be in the mood to relax.

He accessorised his chilled out look with a pair of sunglasses and a gold wristwatch.

Heading back to the yacht, Nigora changed out of her black swimsuit and into a teeny, tiny aqua bikini, which only served to showcase more of her enviable figure.

Taking the plunge: Making sure they made the most of their time on the Cote d'Azzur, the couple headed to the mainland where they relaxed and enjoyed each other's company by a swimming pool

Flaunting her figure: Opting for an extremely low-cut one-piece, Nigora - who is believed to have started dating Duncan in July 2015 - made sure her phenomenal figure was on full display

Clinking flutes of champagne together, the happy couple looked to be toasting their engagement before they headed to the prow of the boat to sunbathe and lavish attention on each other.

Last Sunday the Gym and Spa magnate announced the happy news hours after the romantic event on his Twitter page.

The Scottish multimillionaire chose to confirm the couple's happy new in a tweet, hours after proposing on Saturday night, writing: 'It is true @wnigora_nigora& I are now officially engaged.'

All aboard the love boat! Heading back to the yacht, Nigora changed out of her black swimsuit and into a teeny, tiny aqua bikini, which only served to showcase more of her enviable figure

A toast to us! Clinking flutes of champagne together, the happy couple looked to be toasting their engagement before they headed to the prow of the boat to sunbathe and lavish attention on each other

Nigora retweeted a congratulations message from someone who urged her to 'ignore the haters' over their age gap, replying: 'Oh trust me, we don't! Our time is too pressures (sic). We are very happy to be with each other!'

Meanwhile, Duncan acknowledged he was a lucky man to be engaged to such a beauty when one of his Twitter followers said he was 'punching massively your weight Duncan man.'

He replied: 'Oh I know. I very much know.'

The couple have been dating for approximately 10 months, after going public with their romance in July 2015.

Tender touch: Nigora gently pulled Duncan towards her at one point, obviously keen to shower him in affection

Sealed with a kiss: The couple looked more in love than ever, as they shared a passionate kiss aboard the yacht

They met when Duncan visited the Harley Street Dental Clinic where Nigora worked as a 'coordinator'.

Duncan - who split from his second wife, Joanne McCue, in 2011 - and Nigora have been almost inseparable since they started dating.

And Nigora was even in Australia to support Duncan during his stint in the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! camp in December.

Duncan has six children from his time with Joanne, and was married to first wife Gail from 1983-1994.
She battled treacherous flood conditions in Paris to enjoy date night with her beau The Weekend on Friday night.

And it seemed like nothing could hold down Bella Hadid's jovial mood as she greeted fans outside her hotel in France's capital on Saturday.

The 19-year-old model utilised her effortless style chops to pull off a quirky ensemble which saw her don a statement faux-fur outerwear over an oversized hooded top.

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Living the dream: Bella Hadid, 19 was in a great mood as she greeted fans outside her hotel in Paris, France on Saturday

Like a typical teenager, she made sure to not forego her edgy accessories and exhibited two chokers around her neck- a pink embellished one and a delicate silver piece.

Wearing a slick of lip gloss, she covered the rest of her pretty face in a pair of large black tinted sunglasses while the hood of her garment covered her chocolate tresses.

Completing the look, the younger sister of supermodel Gigi Hadid, 20, and Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Hadid, 52, wore a pair of leather trousers and white shoes.

A huge smile was plastered across her face as she hugged eager young fans who hung around to catch a glimpse of the rising supermodel.

Quirky and cool: The in-demand model donned a statement faux-fur outerwear over an oversized hooded top. She teamed it with cool leather trousers

Grunge accessories: She exhibited two chokers around her neck- a pink embellished one and a delicate silver piece

Noticeably missing however was her boyfriend of one year.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye - accompanied Bella for some alone time the previous night.

The beauty was once again dressed down in dark comfy essentials and her Canadian beau matched her dark colour palette in a navy bomber jacket, dark jeans and a hoodie which covered his signature locks.

Bella has been enjoying her downtime in Paris following her high-profile modelling duties in London.

Role model: Her locks were covered and a huge smile was plastered across her face as she hugged eager young fans who hung around to catch a glimpse of the rising supermodel

The brunette beauty walked for Dior's Cruise fashion show at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Tuesday.

Talking about being the face of the brand, she enthused on Instagram: 'So beyond excited to announce that I am the new ambassador and face for @DiorMakeup!!!'

Bella will star in a new collection of web videos, dubbed Dior Makeup Live With Bella Hadid, which will be released on June 6.

Model of the moment: In an Instagram snap shared prior to the event, Bella was seen wearing a chic pair of thigh-high boots which flaunted her statuesque frame

She also shared a video on Friday night where she struck a model pose with Givenchy's Artistic Director, Riccardo Tisci.

Their friendship has further been cemented by Bella's latest Givenchy campaign, which she shared on her social media platform.

Dressed in a military style trousers-suit, the stunner struck a fierce stance as she was joined by other models.

Fashionista: Bella shared her latest Givenchy campaign on Instagram, where she wears a military style trouser suit alongside other models




With her hourglass figure and abundance of sex appeal, she has become something of a seductive pin-up girl.

And burlesque star Dita Von Teese has brought her Strip, Strip, Hooray! tour to Australia, saying it is about more than just putting on a provocative show.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Monday, the 43-year-old revealed an insight into what she hopes will come of her work as a performer.

Hello Down Under: Burlesque star Dita Von Teese has brought her Strip, Strip, Hooray! tour to Australia

'I want my legacy to be about promoting glamour and helping people believe they can be whoever they want to be and live the life that they want to live,' she said.

She added that for audiences, appreciating her dancing doesn't even scratch the surface of the overall message she is trying to convey.

'What I'm really most proud of is the show as a whole, the message of diversity in beauty and sensuality, that is what I aim to do.'

Her legacy: The raven-haired dancer has said she wants to help 'people believe they can be whoever they want to be' through her show

Putting on a show: During her famous burlesque performance, the beauty dances in a giant martini glass emblazoned with 250,000 Swaroski crystals

'Of course, I want people to see what my life's work has been but more importantly I want people to change their minds about what burlesque is and have them see all different kinds of performers owning the stage.'

Dita began performing over 20 years ago and is known for her old-school glamour and extravagant performances.

During her famous burlesque show, the beauty performs in a giant martini glass emblazoned with 250,000 Swaroski crystals and also rides a life-sized pink velvet mechanical bull.

Strip, Strip, Hooray! marks her first live ticketed shows in Australia, and while in the country, she will also star as a headline act at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

A professional: Dita began performing over 20 years ago and is known for her old-school glamour and extravagant performances

The raven-haired stunner will also appear at the Wheels & Dollbaby Sydney store on June 29 to launch her latest cardigan collaboration.

She is close friends with the designer of the iconic Sydney label, Melanie Greensmith.

Dita performed at Sydney's Luna Park Big Top on June 4 and 5, and has a third show at the Enmore Theatre on June 28.

She is also set to take her tour around Australia in the coming weeks, visiting Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.
Three Lincoln City Council candidates aim to take the city's 4,500 people beyond a bedroom community status and inject some retail life and upgraded infrastructure. Erv Fischer, Jon Hale and Tom Volk are seeking to fill two open four-year city council seats June 14.

Erv Fischer

Erv Fischer, 57, a self-employed contractor, has served on the Lincoln City Council for two years.

Fischer, a 19-year resident of Lincoln, said he wants to follow through on the drainage plan started by the city. He describes integrating a city drainage system to one installed by Burleigh County as one of the city's most important issues in the next four years.

"I'd like to make sure the improvements we made continue. I'd like to see some retail and give us a better tax base. I'd like to see an overpass of the train tracks at 66th Street. I'd work with state government," said Fisher, a graduate of Bismarck High School.

Fischer said retail is important to Lincoln.

"We are in the process of getting a home rule charter. We need a lot of retail. I see (the home rule charter) used for expansion  city shops, repair the streets and flood issues and drainage of the underground water," said Fischer, adding the city is dealing better with its drainage issues with the help of its engineer SEH for $150,000.

"We farmed out the dirt there and saved $120,000 for the Millenium Park and Stanley Drive," he said.

SEH is seeking grants to fund six-figure costs for lagoon repairs and capacity upgrades, according to Fischer.

"We're looking at expanding with another (lagoon) cell. Right now, water is an issue and that adds volume to that," he said.

Fischer suggests the city seek more businesses through the city newsletter and market studies.

Fischer has six children and five grandchildren.

Jon Hale

Jon Hale, 50, a former police chief for Lincoln and now a postal processing worker, said he wants to serve four years on the council because he is "a proponent of controlling growth."

The Arizona native served in law enforcement for 20 years, including the National Park Service, moved to Lincoln in 2009, serving its Lincoln Police Department for nearly three years  two as its police chief. He said growth is a good thing.

"Lincoln has a problem of we're a bedroom community to Bismarck with very few businesses .... It's about time to start attracting businesses, offer businesses some type of tax incentive or whatever we can do to attract them," Hale said.

Hale said the home rule charter needs more study.

Budgeting will be Lincoln's most important challenge in the next four years, according to Hale.

"Lincoln is primarily residential. We've got to get out of the residential business. If we are going to be our own city, then we need to bring businesses. Once you get the businesses in place, then the home rule charter with its tax base will be more able to stand on its own two feet rather than rely on surplus funding from the state and to tack on extra fees."

A shop is needed by the city to prevent city equipment, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, from deteriorating rapidly, Hale said.

"One of the biggest issues is working with the new rural fire chief and getting a building for public works," said Hale, adding he wants the public works building to have a bay for a fire engine, so a crew could reach a fire in Lincoln five to seven minutes earlier than outside of town.

Hale and his wife, Vanessa, have two children.

Tom Volk

Tom Volk, 38, a drug prevention specialist for the state Department of Human Services, said he would like to continue the progress the city council has made since he was appointed nearly one year ago.

"We need someone who can efficiently think ahead and motivate the community. We need new ideas and new solutions. Being new to the city, I can bring that perspective," said Volk, a Ray native who earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Dakota.

Volk, who has lived in Lincoln just more than a year, said Lincoln residents deserve to have their money spent efficiently.

"We need someone who will take things head on, take responsibility and do something about it," he said.

Volk supports a home rule charter for the city.

"I would like to see the taxes stay in our city so we can promote businesses and look for incentives to move businesses in. Everything now is levied from Burleigh County," he said. "If we make Lincoln a place people want to do business, that would bring more business."

Volk assures he'll look for new solutions to the growing city's challenges.

"I bring fresh perspectives .... I work on the real issues and give new solutions to those issues. There were a lot of wrongs done in previous years. I worked hard the last few months to fix that," said Volk, who characterized the city finances as previously a mess  a problem he would like to stabilize in the next four years.

Volk and his wife, Amanda, have two children.

Special election

Separately, Jonathan Aman is uncontested in his bid for the unexpired term of Toni Zainhofsky, who resigned from the council earlier this year due to work confilcts. Barring any large write-in campaigns, he will serve two years on the council in the special election.
It's the flop that nearly ended his career.

But Ben Affleck laughed about his infamous film Gigli as he and pal Matt Damon took to the stage at Spike's Guys Choice Awards on Saturday.

As the old friends were jointly named Guys Of The Decade, Oscar-winner Affleck joked: 'I think it goes without saying that this is an award Matt and I have been dreaming about since we were little boys.'

Their night: Matt Damon (L) and Ben Affleck (R) were given the honor of the Guys of the Decade Award at Spike's Guys Choice Awards on Saturday

'I did Gigli and Matt did that Liberace movie and all of a sudden it all seemed out of reach. Then I did [Batman v Superman] and all of a sudden it was back in reach again,' he added.

The father-of-three continued, as reported by People. 'Now we're the... coveted Dudes Of The Decade ... the Guys Of The D***heads? What is it?'

The two actors have famously been longtime friends, often inspiring jokes regarding their close relationship.

Entertaining the crowd: After hitting the stage, Ben joked: 'I think it goes without saying that this is an award Matt and I have been dreaming about since we were little boys'

Whoops! The Argo star quipped that at first they had thought the award was out of reach, after he had starred in 2003's Gigli and Matt had starred in 2013's Behind the Candelabra

Back in their grasp! However, Ben joked that after appearing as the caped crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it looked as if the award was once again within reach

However, the success that they have found as working partners certainly has not been a joke, what with the duo taking home an Academy Award in 1998 for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen for Good Will Hunting.

They have also collaborated on movie making reality series Project Greenlight, which returned last year after ten years off the air.

And the two are currently working on an HBO film about the global water Crisis, Thirst, as well as a reality competition series called The Runner for the Go90 platform.

His turn: After Ben's bit, Matt jokingly mispronounced the award's title, saying that they were the 'D***heads of the Decade'

In good company: The stars were honored alongside other celebrities such as Julia Roberts (Woman of the Decade) and Anna Kendrick (Hot and Funny)

They did it! Matt and Ben excitedly held their awards up in the air after being announced as Spike's Guys of the Decade

Separately the duo are rather successful as well, with Matt recently garnering an Oscar nod (as well as a Golden Globe win) for his role as stranded astronaut Mark Watney in Ridley Scott's critically acclaimed picture The Martian.

He will next appear in a new Jason Bourne film, as well as Yimou Zhang's mystery/thriller The Great Wall.

Meanwhile, Ben has been busy directing Live By Night, while also landing a role in Zack Snyder's big budget action flick Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

They make quite a team! They have collaborated quite often since Good Will Hunting, such as on HBO's movie making reality series Project Greenlight (pictured at a premiere for the series in 2015)

Off to a great start: They may get teased about their friendship, but Ben and Matt certainly do work well together (pictured here in their Oscar-winning 1997 film Good Will Hunting)

Starring as Batman himself, Ben will also appear in Suicide Squad, two planned Justice League films, as well as - reportedly - a standalone Batman feature.

Matt and Ben were honored at the awards show, alongside stars such as Julia Roberts, who took home the trophy for Woman of the Decade.
She's an avid animal activist.

And Joanna Krupa certainly knows how to stir up attention for her cause as she attended the Art for Animals Fundraiser Evening for Eastwood Ranch Foundation in Los Angeles.

The 37-year-old beauty went braless in a plunging teal dress that flashed her ample cleavage at the star-studded benefit on Saturday.

Revealing! Joanna Krupa, 37, went braless in a plunging teal dress at the Art for Animals Fundraiser Evening for Eastwood Ranch Foundation

Colourful cuties! The former Real Housewives of Miami star and Katie Cleary, 34, stunned in their bold numbers

The former Real Housewives of Miami star made sure to turn heads in the vibrant blue dress which also gave a glimpse of her long bronzed legs.

She paired the brightly-coloured asymmetrical frock with futuristic pointed iridescent stilettos.

The Dancing with the Stars alum kept her accessories to a minimum as she let the dress speak for itself, carrying only a sparkly clutch and wearing her daily Kabbalah bracelet.

Puckered up! The gorgeous models smooched for the cameras in numerous playful poses

Joanna was spotted with America's Next Top Model vet Katie Cleary, 34, who also wore a dress of several bold hues.

The gorgeous models smooched for the cameras in numerous playful poses.

Clint Eastwood, 86, posed with his daughter on the red carpet, Alison Eastwood, 44, who founded the non-profit animal rescue organization.

Animal activists! Clint Eastwood, 86, posed with his daughter on the red carpet, Alison Eastwood, 44, who founded the non-profit animal rescue organization, Eastwood Ranch Foundation

Eccentric! David Arquette, 44, dressed in a formal tuxedo with paisley black and blue jacket as he posed with actress Breeda Wool

David Arquette, 44, dressed in a formal tuxedo with paisley black and blue jacket as he posed with actress Breeda Wool.

Actresses Julia Faye West, 28, and Frances Fisher, 64, aldo attended the star-studded animal benefit.

Eastwood Ranch Foundation is a non-profit animal rescue organization founded by Clint Eastwood, daughter, actress and director Alison Eastwood.

They rescue domestic animals from high kill shelters around their community, support other vetted local rescues and provide care until a forever home is found.

Charitable! Actresses Julia Faye West, 28, and Frances Fisher, 64, aldo attended the star-studded animal benefit
They say age is just a number. And that certainly seems to be the case for Sharon Stone, who at 58 has lost none of the sex appeal that made her a household name.

The actress looked foxy in silver as sheleant her star power to a good cause on saturday, hosting the Hotbed Benefit Gala presented by the Dever Family Foundation in Tiburon, California.

The veteran actress stunned in a floor-length Tony Ward Couture gown adorned with silver and gold embroidered appliques, which also included intricate beading around the neckline.

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Philanthropic: Sharon Stone hosted the 5th annual Hotbed Benefit Gala presented by the Dever Family Foundation in Tiburon, California on Saturday evening

Hostess with the mostest: Stone swept her newly cropped 'do away from her face using a sparkling diamond hair comb and her makeup called for a shimmering smokey eye and bold red lip

A sheer panel of nude-colored chiffon ran down the center of the skintight ensemble, allowing Stone to flaunt her impeccable figure and ample cleavage.

Stone swept her newly cropped 'do away from her face using a sparkling diamond hair comb and her makeup called for a shimmering smokey eye and bold red lip.

According to the event's invitation, which supports providing resources and educational opportunities to children in underprivileged communities, Stone spearheaded the silent auction portion of the evening.

Show time: Andrea Bocelli also left party-goers in awe as he gave a private piano performance while Sharon leaned in to get a better listen

All smiles: A sheer panel of nude-colored chiffon ran down the center of the skintight Tony Ward Couture ensemble, allowing Stone to flaunt her impeccable figure and ample cleavage

Musical performances by Victoria Noyes and Rayvon Owen were listed on the invitation in addition to a fashion show by Tony Ward and a number of circus acts to complement the gala's Cirque de Nuit theme.

Andrea Bocelli also left party-goers in awe as he gave a private piano performance while Sharon leaned in to get a better listen.

Hotbed founder and Sharon's sister, Kelly Stone, lingered nearby alongside actor Gilles Marini and business mogul Maxwell Drever.

On deck: According to the event's invitation, which supports providing resources and educational opportunities to children in underprivileged communities, Stone spearheaded the silent auction portion of the evening

Applause: Hotbed founder and Sharon's sister, Kelly Stone, lingered nearby alongside actor Gilles Marini and business mogul Maxwell Drever

The star studded event was held at the Drever Family Estate in Northern California and put on by the Drever Family Foundation.

TV personality Frankie Grande served as the evening's ringmaster and actress Sela Ward was also on hand to support the well-deserving cause.

She looked lovely in a lace up black gown and heels complemented by a dramatic cape draped over her shoulders.
She's back in Los Angeles serving as a judge for the newest season of America's Got Talent.

But Heidi Klum took a well-deserved break from her demanding schedule to soak in the sun in a rather cheeky display over the weekend.

The 42-year-old supermodel took to Instagram, exposing her bare back and pert backside in a cheeky selfie captioned: 'Sunday' alongside a smiley face.

Sunday fun day: Heidi Klum took a well-deserved break from her demanding schedule to soak in the sun in nothing but her flawless birthday suit over the weekend

Though the bombshell's face is mostly covered by her golden blonde tresses, a closer look reveals Heidi is offering coy smile to the camera as the topless model lays face down on an orange-colored blanket.

Her bronzed skin takes the spotlight as her toned arms and shoulders glisten in the sunlight while her famous derierre peaks out from the left side of the image.

The mother-of-four appears to have spread out on an expansive grassy field - perhaps her back yard.

Still got it: The 42-year-old has also launched a successful lingerie line called Heidi Klum Intimates

She's back: The blonde beauty has returned to Los Angeles as a judge for the latest season of America's Got Talent

She surely slathered sun screen across her trim body, given the afternoon's completely cloudless sky.

Prior to the show's premiere last week, the German beauty was counting down the days to the new season of reality show America's Got Talent.

She posted a playful photo of herself covered in shaving foam on her Instagram on Friday with the caption: '2+2=4! Thats how many days are left till the new season of @nbcagt premieres! #AGT.'

For the talent competition's eleventh season she'll share judging duties with former Spice Girl Mel B, comedian Howie Mandel and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell.
Kim Kardashian got all dolled up to help her husband Kanye West celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

The couple, who are currently staying in New York, headed to Harry Cipriani restaurant, and Kim, 35, made sure all eyes were on her in a sexy plunging pencil dress.

The clingy number showed off lots of cleavage and featured a white lace trim and a slinky satin panel around the waist.

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Killer curves: Kim Kardashian strutted her stuff in a racy pencil dress on Sunday as she headed out to celebrate husband Kanye West's birthday

Causing a stir: The 35-year-old reality star stepped out in a plunging white lace dress with satin panel around the waist

Showcasing her post-baby figure, Kim stunned onlookers in the figure-hugging look.

She teamed it with towering ankle-strap heels and wore her raven locks in tousled waves.

She coupled the flattering dress with a satin, black trench which she hung casually on one arm as she exited the restaurant.

Sexy look: Kim completed the look with ankle-strap stilettos

Eyeful: The reality star showed off lots of cleavage in the lace trimmed number

Early celebrations: The couple were pictured leaving Cipriani after their dinner

So hip: The rapper wore a velvet jacket over a Rolling Stones t-shirt

Special occasion: The mother-of-two shared Snapchats backstage at the Hot 97 Summer Jam showing off Kanye's 'Pablo' birthday cake

Meanwhile, Kanye was supposed to headline the last day of popular New York City music festival the Governors Ball before it was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Kim took to social media on Sunday to share a video expressing her disappointment as she gushed: 'We're so sad Governors Ball is cancelled!'

The music producer ended up performing at Hot 97's Summer Jam instead which Kim documented on Snapchat.

Backstage celebrations: While the Governor's Ball was cancelled, Kanye ended up performing at the Summer Jam on Sunday

Special occasion: The star celebrated with other Summer Jam performers including Big Sean, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Young Thug, Future, Travis Scott, and DJ Khaled

Doting dad: Earlier in the day Kanye carried the couple's daughter North, two, as the family enjoyed a trip to see the Lion King

The E! star shared clips showing them backstage celebrating with an orange 'Pablo' cake and singing Happy Birthday to the rapper.

The duo celebrated with other Summer Jam performers including Big Sean, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Young Thug, Future, Travis Scott, and DJ Khaled

It was an early celebration for the Gold Digger hitmaker who turns 39 on June 8.

During the day Kim, Kanye and their daughter North, two, headed to see the Lion King together.

Sultry snap: Kim shared a glam Instagram as she got ready for the day

Change of plans! The trio were spotted heading to The Lion King on Broadway after the last day of New York City musical festival The Governors Ball (which Kanye was headlining) was cancelled due to inclement weather

Kanye wore a black, zip-up jacket with gold embroidered embellishments and sported a coordinating gold wristwatch.

The rapper showed off a tie-dyed The Rolling Stones T-shirt, and also wore a pair of fitted, black jeans for the show.

He finished off the look with a pair of tan boots and a gold chain as he seemed bummed about missing his gig.

North, meanwhile, looked super excited for the Broadway show, and was seen sporting a fringed, black leather jacket, which was coupled with black Yeezy sneakers.

She's got some front! Kim showed off her ample assets and hard-earned figure in a black and white lace dress with a plunging front

Disappointed: Kanye looked bummed out following the news that his gig had been cancelled on Sunday

Coordinating: Two-year-old North looked fashionable in a fringed, leather jacket, as her father dressed similarly in an embroidered, black zip-up

Doting: Kanye held tightly to daughter North as the family headed inside to see the popular Broadway show

Bummer: Earlier that day Kim had shared her disappointment on Snapchat and Instagram gushing: 'We're so sad Governors Ball is cancelled!'

Not a fan: Kim signed off on this video by sticking out her tongue, showing that she was disappointed in the news about the Governors Ball

The couple's eldest child was Kim's little mini me on the outing, sporting a black lace dress as her mother modeled a daring black and white lace number.

And Kim couldn't help but smile as she watched her little girl having a blast as they walked around the city.

Even Kanye seemed to be in better spirits as he showed off a small smile while following close behind the rest of his family.

That same day Kim had taken to her Snapchat and Instagram accounts to share videos of the family hopping aboard a private jet as they headed to New York City for the Governors Ball.

Lending a hand: Kim helped daughter North out of the car after their theatre trip

Her mini me: North seemed to be following in her mother's footsteps as she also wore a black, lace dress on Sunday

Everyone showed off smiles in that first video, as Kim concluded the clip by blowing a kiss to the camera.

She had captioned the video: 'Governors Ball here we come....Follow me on snap for the craziness [ghost emoji] KimKardashian.'

Unfortunately, not too long after that she headed back online to let everyone know that the event had been cancelled.

One of Kim's videos ended abruptly ended with the mother-of-two revealing the comical reason to fans in another video: 'You guys, North just threw my phone when she heard I was on Snapchat.'

She then turned the camera on Kanye, who looked to be in a really good mood as he smiled and laughed while Kim showed off his 'dope' jacket.

On the upturn: After seeing The Lion King on Broadway, it seemed everyone's spirits had been lifted

Giddy: North in particular seemed to be having a blast as she was swung in the air while holding hands with her mother as they walked

Can't hide her smile: The doting mom showed off a big grin as she saw North playing and having a good time

Time for dinner: Although, the young girl did seem a bit bummed when they stopped swinging her around upon arriving at the restaurant

Whoops! Kim joked on Snapchat that North had thrown her phone after hearing that she was on Snapchat

Look at that smile! The reality star had her husband in stitches as she showed off his 'dope' jacket

Fan friendly: Despite feeling a bit down about the Governors Ball being cancelled, Kanye still stopped to sign autographs for fans

Earlier on Sunday Kanye was spotted leaving the Mercer Hotel solo after finding out his concert had been cancelled.

He looked tired as he stretched while walking out of the hotel, sporting a loose-fitting, white T-shirt underneath a light wash denim jacket.

He also wore a pair of fitted, black jeans as well as black sneakers, accessorizing with a gold necklace.

However, despite being a bit down about his show, Kanye was still fan friendly, stopping to sign autographs.

Man of the hour: Kanye seen backstage at Summer Jam

In awe! Kim looked to be documenting her husband's show

BFF: Jonathan Cheban was on hand to hang with Kim backstage

Silver lining: Though Kanye was seen pouting he likely felt better later as he attended the Broadway show with his wife and young daughter

Checking in with Kim? Kanye was distracted on the phone as he took a solo stroll

Laid-back: The star sported a loose-fitting white T-shirt underneath a light wash denim jacket while at the Mercer Hotel

Tired? The rapper was spotted stretching on Sunday as he looked tired while leaving the Mercer Hotel earlier in the day
She's not the first to have tired of Paris Hilton's princess-like persona.

And while Nicky Hilton is her sister's closest companion, even she lost her temper with the simpering heiress on Sunday.

Tensions between the sisters got a rare outing on social media, when pregnant Nicky called out Paris for faking a sultry whisper in her constant stream of Snapchat updates.

'Stop with that f***ing voice,' the 32-year-old snapped at her older sister, while an unconcerned Paris recorded a video of the two wearing virtual flower crowns.

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Fighting back: Tensions between Nicky and Paris Hilton, when the socialite called out Paris for faking a sultry whisper in her constant stream of Snapchat updates

Playful argument: In the video, Nicky demands the 35-year-old to 'stop!' using her 'Snapchat voice' when Paris offers a breathy, 'Flower children forever.'

In the video, Nicky demands the 35-year-old to 'Stop!' using her 'Snapchat voice' when Paris offers a breathy, 'Flower children forever.'

In response Paris jokes: 'I don't know how to talk in a normal voice,' to which Nicky responded testily, 'Just talk in a normal voice.'

'Hi, I'm Paris. This is my voice,' Paris then said, her barely audible mumble suddenly switching to a deeper, more profound statement.

When not sniping, the sisters pouted and posed together, with expectant mother Nicky wearing a strapless grey frock while Paris opted for a skintight camisole underneath an edgy leather button down.

Opposited attract: The blonde beauties looked effortlessly gorgeous together, as Nicky wore a strapless grey frock while Paris opted for a skintight camisole underneath an edgy leather button down

The playful argument comes just after Nicky celebrated her baby shower with Paris by her side last Wednesday.

During the big event, the heiress looked radiant in head-to-toe white which featured a sheer detailed neckline and short sleeves.

Her svelte physique was put on full display next to the DJ, who accidentally revealed the gender of the soon-to-be-born bundle of joy on Instagram with the caption: 'Can't wait to meet this little girl! #AuntParis' .

Elegant: The sisters enjoyed the lavish surroundings of the Waldorf Astoria hotel as they celebrated with fellow celebrity guests
Anne V has revealed that she is engaged to Adam Cahan.

The 30-year-old showed off her diamond ring on Instagram Sunday, after she said yes to Adam, an executive at Yahoo!

The model and her beau, 44, welcomed their first child together last June - their daughter Alaska.

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'Yep this happened': Anne V showed off her diamond ring on Instagram Sunday, after she said yes to Adam Cahan, an executive at Yahoo

On Sunday, she shared a photo to her 172,000 Instagram followers while holding up her sparkling engagement ring, captioning it: 'Yep this happened.'

Anne wore a simple black blouse tucked into her skinny jeans for the grinning snap.

The Russian model added a black choker and a delicate necklace and chose to leave her blonde tresses lose with a slight wave.

The blonde stunner followed it up with a picture with her fiance Adam, their daughter Alaska and his daughters on her Instagram.

Happiness: The blonde stunner followed it up with a picture with her fiance Adam, their daughter Alaska and his daughters on her Instagram writing: 'Luckiest girl in the world #modernfamily'

Adam is father to two daughters with his ex-wife British fashion designer Alice Larkin.

And they were also part of the happy news, with the 'modern family' all posing together for a second Instagram shot.

'Luckiest girl in the world,' wrote the Victoria's Secret model.

Love is in the air: Anne posted a sweet picture to her Instagram while posing with her beau, captioning it: 'One and only #HappyMonday'

Joy: Adam is father to two daughters with his ex-wife British fashion designer Alice Larkin; Anne pictured with daughter Alaska and Adam's kids from his previous marriage

On Friday, Anne V shared an Instagram a picture of their daughter while at the airport on the way to Russia.

The infant, dressed in a bright yellow and black onesie, peered around her stroller at the airplane.

Anne V. captioned the picture: 'Mother Russia we are coming for you...13 hrs down and a 6 hour delay to the next flight.'

Ready for their flight: On Friday, Anne V shared an Instagram a picture of their daughter while at the airport on the way to Russia
Shiri Appleby showcased her tiny waist at the West Hollywood screening/Q&A for her Lifetime series UnREAL on Saturday.

It's hard to believe it's only been six months since the 37-year-old actress welcomed her and longtime fiance Jon Shook's second child.

The Los Angeles native looked pretty as a petal in a puff-sleeved floral LBD and pink heels.

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Nice stems: Shiri Appleby showcased her tiny waist at the West Hollywood screening/Q&A for her Lifetime series UnREAL on Saturday

June versus January: It's hard to believe it's only been six months since the 37-year-old actress welcomed her and longtime fiance Jon Shook's second child

Appleby sported minimal peachy make-up and a sideswept plaited hairstyle onstage the Harmony Gold Theatre.

'All dolled up!! #unrealtv #fyc,' the 5ft3in brunette captioned a snap to her 1.8M followers.

Shiri was joined at the cast and crew event by her co-star Constance Zimmer, who plays unscrupulous executive producer Quinn King.

In UnREAL, the Roswell alum plays reality TV producer Rachel Goldberg, who oversees a Bachelor-style dating competition called Everlasting.

Leggy lady: The Los Angeles native looked pretty as a petal in a puff- sleeved floral LBD and pink heels

On the mic: Appleby sported minimal peachy make-up and a sideswept plaited hairstyle onstage the Harmony Gold Theatre

The 5ft3in brunette captioned a snap to her 1.8M followers: 'All dolled up!! #unrealtv #fyc'

Partners in crime: Shiri was joined at the cast and crew event by her co-star Constance Zimmer, who plays unscrupulous executive producer Quinn King

'I think it's so fun to watch a trainwreck,' Appleby admitted on the May 24 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

'I think it's just fun to watch people's lives fall apart. It makes us feel better about ourselves. America loves it.'

On Thursday, Lifetime announced they were renewing UnREAL for a third season.

The behind-the-scenes style show's second season premieres this Monday.

All smiles: In UnREAL, the Roswell alum plays reality TV producer Rachel Goldberg, who oversees a Bachelor-style dating competition called Everlasting

Appleby admitted on the May 24 episode of The Late Show: 'I think it's so fun to watch a trainwreck. I think it's just fun to watch people's lives fall apart. It makes us feel better about ourselves. America loves it'

Hot tub close-up: On Thursday, Lifetime announced they were renewing UnREAL for a third season

Critically acclaimed: The behind-the-scenes style show's second season premieres this Monday

Group shot: Shiri and 45-year-old Constance later posed with their castmates Johanna Braddy - who plays (attorney/contestant Anna Martin) and Freddie Stroma (who plays British playboy Adam Cromwell)

The Girls guest star later changed into a midriff-baring black cocktail dress for the after-party on a yacht.

Not seen with Shiri on Saturday were her chef babydaddy, their son Owen, 6 months, and daughter Natalie, 3.

The University of Phoenix grad also plays TV Daughter in the mother-daughter dramedy The Meddler, which finally hits UK theaters June 24.

'I'm on a yacht!! #unrealtv!' The Girls guest star later changed into a midriff-baring black cocktail dress for the after-party on a yacht

'Glad to welcome home Owen Lee Shook': Not seen with Shiri on Saturday were her chef babydaddy, their son Owen, 6 months, and daughter Natalie, 3

#tbt Sunday morning with two of my favorite people #familytime #mommaismybestrole #missingtiger A photo posted by Shiri Appleby (@shiriappleby) on Apr 7, 2016 at 2:01pm PDT
China says it doesn't fear 'trouble' in S. China Sea

An Asian security summit ended in discord Sunday after China denounced US "provocations" in the South China Sea and declared it does not fear trouble in the contested waters.

"The South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests," Admiral Sun Jianguo told an annual forum in Singapore.

Sun, who stressed China's desire for a peaceful solution, spoke one day after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said any Chinese construction on an islet near the Philippines would prompt unspecified "actions" by the United States and other nations.

China's South Sea Fleet takes part in a drill in the Xisha Islands, or the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 5, 2016

On a visit to Mongolia Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry also warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone over the disputed waters.

"We would consider an ADIZ, an ADIZ zone, over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilising act, which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said.

"We believe that it is critical that no country move unilaterally to militarise the region," he added.

His remarks came on the eve of a US-China dialogue in Beijing and after Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper cited Chinese army sources as saying Beijing was mulling such a zone.

China claims nearly all of the sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has pressed its claims by rapidly building artificial islands suitable for military use.

Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese-claimed reefs, angering Beijing.

Rhetoric has escalated ahead of a decision at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on a case brought by the Philippines, a longtime US ally and former colony, against China, which says it will not recognise any ruling.

The Chinese admiral said US naval and air patrols in the sea were a display of "military muscles" and China was being forced to "accept and honour" the tribunal's ruling.

"China firmly opposes such behaviour. We do not make trouble but we have no fear of trouble," Sun, the leader of the Chinese delegation in Singapore, said in prepared remarks.

Carter had left Singapore by the time Sun made his speech.

Sun also took exception to Carter's statement on Saturday that Beijing risks building a "Great Wall of self-isolation" with its military expansion.

- China 'not isolated' -

"We were not isolated in the past. We're not isolated, and we will not be isolated in the future. Actually I am worried some people and countries are still looking at China with a Cold War mentality and prejudice," the Chinese admiral said in response to questions from other delegates.

Apparently referring to the United States and the Philippines, Sun said "some hegemonic countries have empowered small countries to make provocations against big countries".

The SCMP has reported that China plans to establish an outpost on Scarborough Shoal 230 kilometres (140 miles) off the Philippines which considers it part of its exclusive economic zone.

According to a Pentagon report, China has added more than 3,200 acres (1,295 hectares) of land to the seven islets it occupies in the Spratlys, a separate island chain from Scarborough.

Manila says China took effective control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012, stationing patrol vessels and shooing away Filipino fishermen.

Carter declined to elaborate when pressed on Saturday over what "actions" Washington might take. But the Pentagon chief proposed stronger bilateral security cooperation with China to reduce the risk of a mishap.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the forum that the European Union had a stake in maintaining freedom of shipping and navigation in the South China Sea, and said he would speak to his counterparts on the issue.

Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims in the sea.

Beijing's territorial claims, based on controversial historical records, have pitted it against the United States, which has conducted patrols near Chinese-held islands to press for "freedom of navigation" in the waterway.

Pentagon officials say two Chinese fighters last month conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US spy plane in international airspace over the South China Sea.

Disputed claims in the South China Sea Adrian LEUNG, Gal ROMA (AFP)

China's Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, delivers his speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 5, 2016 Roslan Rahman (AFP)

Alleged on-going reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan in 2015 Ritchie B. Tongo (POOL/AFP/File)
Libya PM rules out international military intervention

The prime minister of Libya's UN-backed unity government has ruled out an international military intervention to fight the Islamic State group, which has had a growing presence in the country since 2014.

Some 25 nations including the United States and Russia agreed last month to help Libya arm itself against the jihadists, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he would not allow foreign troops on the ground.

"It's true that we need help from the international community in our fight against terrorism and it's true that this is something we have already received," he said in the interview, published Sunday.

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj (2nd R) said the presence of foreign ground troops to fight the Islamic State group would be "contrary to our principles" Fethi Belaid (AFP/File)

"But we are not talking about international intervention," Sarraj said, adding that the presence of foreign ground troops would be "contrary to our principles".

"Rather we need satellite images, intelligence, technical help... not bombardments," he said.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.

However, it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar.

Both bodies are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive the Islamic State group out of the coastal city of Sirte, a bastion for jihadists in the country.

On Saturday, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken a jihadist air base near the city.

Sarraj told Journal du Dimanche that "total victory over IS in Sirte is close".
While gubernatorial candidate North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says budget concerns would remain in the forefront if he were elected, prison reform would be key during any first term in office.

Recidivism among offenders, particularly in drug-related offenses, is a major concern and drain on money and resources, Stenehjem said.

In a 2014 survey of North Dakota judges, more than two-thirds said theyve sentenced someone to prison to get them into mental or substance abuse treatment programs even if theyre not considered high-risk offenders.

Were going to have to rethink the way we look at corrections, said Stenehjem, adding his decades of legislative and executive branch experience make him the best candidate for guiding the state through an economic downturn and position it for long-term success.

In addition to prison reform, he cited his top priorities for funding as education, public safety and tax relief.

Despite a $1.074 billion state budget shortfall that had to be plugged earlier this year through budget cuts and use of rainy fund dollars, Stenehjem said he is optimistic about the states future.

There has never been a better time to live in North Dakota than right here and right now. Our future is very bright, said Stenehjem, 63.

The most frequent concern brought up on the campaign trail is the budget, according to Stenehjem, who said a majority of residents understand the cyclical nature of oil and commodity prices.

He said communities that couldnt keep up with growth when oil activity spiked now have the opportunity to catch up before the price of oil recovers. Like the state, communities are going to have to manage the downturn by scaling back their budgets, he said.

Stenehjem says he is supportive of the budget guidelines proposed recently by Gov. Jack Dalrymple. State agency heads are to craft budgets for the 2017-19 biennium at 90 percent of approved ongoing spending for the current biennium. Exceptions were made for the departments of corrections and human services.

Thats somethings thats achievable, but thats only the first step, Stenehjem said.

New programs created during the oil boom along with program expansions will require close review of their need, Stenehjem said.

Running against Stenehjem are Fargo businessman Doug Burgum and Bismarck business consultant Paul Sorum.

Stenehjem said hes been disappointed by what he called a sharply negative campaign being waged by Burgum.

I think people want a governor that is positive, Stenehjem said. Thats one of the stark differences between us.

Stenehjem rejected the premise of a recent television ad claiming that he supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare.

Stenehjem joined a lawsuit with counterparts in several other states in attempting to overturn the law.

When it comes to litigation against federal overreach, I lead the nation, said Stenehjem, adding that his office has been involved in more than 60 lawsuits since 2004.

A Mohall native, Stenehjem graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1977. Stenehjem is married to Beth Bakke Stenehjem and they have a son, Andrew. Hes the longest-serving attorney general in state history.
Kerry praises Mongolia as 'oasis of democracy'

Pungent cheese curds and near-naked wrestlers greeted US Secretary of State John Kerry during his flying visit to Mongolia Sunday, with the envoy hailing it as an "oasis of democracy" sandwiched between China and Russia.

Kerry was following in the footsteps of his predecessor and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden as part of the US pivot to Asia.

He spent several hours in the homeland of the legendary and brutal conqueror Genghis Khan, taking in the delights of Mongolian culture in the capital Ulan Bator.

US Secretary of State John Kerry shoots a bow and arrow in Ulan Bator, Mongolia on June 5, 2016, during a visit to the mineral-rich country neighboured by Russia and China Saul Loeb (POOL/AFP)

Under clear blue skies and on rugged plains Kerry enjoyed a festival featuring traditional nomadic pursuits. He even tried his hand at archery but missed his target.

America's top diplomat praised the country's decision to embrace democracy a little more than a quarter of a century ago.

"The bottom line is very simple: Mongolia has made remarkable progress for a young democracy even as it strives to strengthen its institutions and to keep up with the hopes of its people," he said.

"You got China on one side of you and Russia on the other side of you, and there are always a lot of pressures. And here you are in this oasis of democracy, fighting for your own identity even as you hold on to great traditions."

Kerry was also treated to musical performances native to Mongolia, enjoying a break from crisscrossing the globe as a peacemaker in international hotspots.

- Mineral wealth -

The former communist nation of about three million people, once a close ally of the Soviet Union, was "reaching out in a significant way" in its relationships with other countries including Afghanistan, Burma and Myanmar, he said.

Kerry added: "I understand with your geography you have automatically significant relationships with both China and Russia. But you've chosen actively to be a democracy and you're pursuing that with vigour.

Mongolia, which says the US is its "most important third neighbour", depends on China for more than 60 percent of its trade.

China receives around 90 percent of Mongolia's exports, also supplying it with more than one-third of its imports. Mongolia also relies on Russia for 90 percent of its energy supplies, according to US State Department information.

It possesses enormous mineral resources including deposits of gold, copper and uranium, still largely untapped.

Its mineral resources saw the country achieve over 17 percent growth in 2011, but that has since drastically fallen to under three percent last year along with plummeting metal prices and capital flight.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, one of the country's key investors, has been hit by rising nationalist sentiment among Mongolians concerned about the growth of foreign firms as well as environmental damage from mining.

In 2012 the country passed a strict law on investment in "strategic" sectors and foreign direct investment collapsed. Parliament has since cancelled the controversial law.

In May Rio Tinto announced it would start work on an expansion of its giant gold and copper Oyu Tolgoi mine after years of gridlock, a huge project requiring a $5.3 billion investment.

US Secretary of State John Kerry's motorcade drives to a meeting with Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj at Ikh Tenger in Ulan Bator on June 5, 2016 Saul Loeb (POOL/AFP)

Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren and US Secretary of State John Kerry shake hands prior to a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, June 5, 2016 Saul Loeb (POOL/AFP)
Oil price plasters over OPEC rifts - for now

OPEC looks to be in a happier place with oil prices recovering, but its inability to agree an output ceiling to restrain the flow of crude betrays lingering divisions that could spell trouble ahead, analysts warn.

Meeting in Vienna on Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expressed confidence that the crisis of the past two years that saw prices plunge and splits emerge was now over.

It said that since December, "crude oil prices have risen by more than 80 percent, supply and demand (has been) converging and oil and producer stock levels in the OECD have recently shown moderation."

Meeting in Vienna on Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expressed confidence that the crisis of the past two years that saw prices plunge and splits emerge was now over Joe Klamar (AFP)

According to Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets, the mood at the bi-annual gathering was a "lot more upbeat" than the acrimonious last meeting in December.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih, newly appointed by the kingdom's dynamic Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went on a "charm offensive" to "mend fences," Croft said.

This was helped by the fact that OPEC's Riyadh-driven strategy of keeping pumping oil at high levels in order to maintain market share and squeeze competitors despite low prices appears, at last, to be working.

With dozens of US shale oil producers going bankrupt, non-OPEC output is forecast to fall and prices have recovered to around $50, a six-month high, having tumbled from over $100 in 2014 to almost $25 in January.

At the same time, the International Energy Agency predicts the stubborn global supply glut -- which sparked the vicious price collapse -- would "shrink dramatically" this year. Demand also looks healthy.

This recovery is coming just in time, too, with years of low prices having hit investment in new wells and technologies, creating concerns about possible supply problems in the future.

"You have to have stronger oil prices. Investment is so low now, it has been shrinking for two years. This has never happened before," Bill Farren-Price of Petroleum Policy Intelligence (PPI) told AFP.

- No dogfight -

The meeting also saw regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran -- which is ramping up output after nuclear sanctions were lifted this year and adding to pressure on the price -- appearing to bury the hatchet, in Vienna at least.

Saudi Arabia "made it very clear that they have no intention of swamping the market with oil as a means of hurting Iran economically through a lower oil price," said Bjarne Schieldrop at SEB Markets.

This signalled that there is no "internal dogfight," Schieldrop said.

"I believe that this time there was a very good unity between OPEC members," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, with no signs that any members would "do something against each other to destabilise the market".

This better mood allowed OPEC to finally name a new secretary general. Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo will replace long-serving Abdullah el-Badri of Libya, who soldiered on in the job for years as OPEC members could not concur on a successor.

However, the 13-nation cartel -- 14 from July 1 with Gabon joining -- didn't manage to agree a new collective output ceiling, having scrapped its previous one at the December meeting.

Experts said that the Saudis proposed reinstating one but that the Iranians baulked. Zanganeh said that setting a collective OPEC ceiling "means nothing" without agreeing production quotas for members.

- OPEC 'adrift' -

But for RBC's Croft, a ceiling would be "a positive sign that down the road at some point they will be involved in more active market management. Right now we have had 18 months of essentially OPEC being adrift."

Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics, agreed, telling AFP that the lack of ceiling "throws into question their efficacy to operate regarding physical production levels".

Ole Hansen at Saxo Bank said that OPEC's "struggle to agree on much apart from (the) status quo" means that prices could "once again turn towards the downside".

"With key technical levels currently being tested there is a raised risk of a deeper correction," Hansen said.
Vietnam breaks up protests as anger seethes over fish deaths

Dozens of activists were detained in Vietnam's two biggest cities Sunday as they tried to hold protests calling for greater government transparency over a recent spate of mass fish deaths.

Tonnes of dead fish and other marine life began washing up on central Vietnamese shores two months ago and continued to appear for two to three weeks, sparking widespread anger.

Frustration has been further fuelled by a perceived lack of clarity from the communist leadership about what caused the deaths.

A man walks among dead fish on a beach in the district of Quang Trach in Vietnam's central coastal province of Quang Binh in April 2016

Major streets in central Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were temporarily deserted on Sunday morning as security forces blanketed the area.

Activists used social media accounts to document many arrests, saying people had been detained in both cities either before or while they joined protests.

AFP saw one incident in Hanoi where plainclothes officers tackled an activist and dragged him off.

Another 30 people were detained after launching a brief protest in front of Hanoi's cathedral.

Activists posted pictures showing the protesters holding banners with slogans like "Fish dead, people dead" and "No Formosa".

Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa, which runs a steel mill in the area where the fish have died, is widely suspected of being the cause.

State media initially pointed the finger of blame at the company but have since rowed back, as anger grew in Vietnam against ethnic Chinese interests in the country.

Authorities have since responded with a crackdown against protesters, placing many activists under house arrest and at times interrupting the Internet.

Facebook has been intermittently unavailable since Saturday night.

Human rights groups hit out at the latest crackdown.

"The Vietnam government should be leading the investigation into what caused these fish kills, not suppressing peoples efforts to demand answers and accountability," said Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch.

On Thursday government official Mai Tien Dung was quoted in state media as saying that investigators have now concluded what was killing the fish.

But they would only release the results after "independent consultation from domestic and foreign experts", he said.

Fishing and tourism in central Vietnam have been hit hard by the marine deaths.

Vietnam's communist rulers tolerate little dissent but anger over corruption and environmental degradation often spark significant protests.
Clinton's challenge: convert tepid support into enthusiasm

Hillary Clinton, about to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, rallied with supporters Saturday in this California farmtown. But the real party occurred in nearby Los Angeles, where thousands of young voters gathered to see their hero Bernie Sanders.

Both politicians have been criss-crossing the largest state in the union ahead of Tuesday's primary, and while it is Clinton who is all but certain to prevail in their national battle, Sanders still appears to draw larger and more energized crowds.

The stark difference -- Clinton speaking to hundreds in a high school gymnasium in Oxnard, Sanders inspiring thousands at the Los Angeles Coliseum -- highlights the challenges of a candidate who turns towards her head-to-head battle with Donald Trump with only tepid support from many Democrats.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a conversation on immigration at Los Angeles Mission College on June 4, 2016 in Sylmar, California Irfan Khan (Pool/AFP)

"I would say there's some Hillary fatigue out there," Jeremy Jackson, a 39-year-old teacher in Oxnard, told AFP, reflecting on the more than three decades in which Clinton has been in America's public eye.

"Plus, people don't like a common-sense approach. They want extreme."

Clintonites don't have "all the pizzazz, but that doesn't mean we're not as enthusiastic," added a federal law expert in Oxnard who identified herself as Erica B, age 35.

"We're tired of having to defend Hillary, so we're not always super vocal."

Clinton's campaign exudes party establishment -- she was a US senator, served as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, and was first lady in Bill Clinton's presidency, while Sanders epitomizes the scrappy outsider.

She would make history as the country's first female commander in chief-- another milestone, but one that comes after Barack Obama's landmark achievement eight years ago, when he became the first African-American commander in chief.

Clinton's unfavorable ratings are sky high, similar to those of Donald Trump, the braggadocious billionaire who is 2016's presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Sanders argued at his Saturday rally that he consistently fares better against Trump than Clinton does.

He also said he will take his fight all the way to the Democratic convention in July where he aims to sway enough super-delegates -- unbound delegates who can vote for whomever they choose at the convention -- in his favor to win the nomination.

It is a tall order. Clinton has amassed 2,313 total delegates, according to CNN's tally, just 70 shy of the number needed to clinch the nomination.

She inched closer to the goal Saturday, winning the caucus in the Virgin Islands, where seven pledged delegates were at stake. Puerto Rico's 60 delegates are up for grabs Sunday.

With more than 600 pledged delegates in play Tuesday, Clinton will wrap up the nominations race on June 7 when California, New Jersey and four other states vote.

So why isn't there a swell of support for one of America's most respected women?

- Sanders 'listens to us' -

Shannon Freshour, a paralegal from Los Angeles who waited in the steamy sunshine to get into Clinton's Oxnard event, offered an answer.

Clinton is a known quantity for millions, especially those backing her, the 41-year-old said.

"The only enthusiasm that matters is showing up to the polls."

Clinton has won three million more votes in the primary race, Freshour noted. "There is a gap in the idea of what constitutes enthusiasm."

Many Clinton supporters insist she will unite the party and head into the general election with strong advantages over Trump in terms of experience, policy positions, and commitment to improving middle-class and working-class lives.

"I think Hillary's momentum is strong," US congresswoman Julia Brownley said after Clinton's event, noting that the candidate's support has "strengthened" after last week's foreign policy speech in which she hammered Trump.

But Clinton is under threat of losing California, which she won in 2008 when she finished strong against Obama in the primary.

Now she is the one facing an extraordinary push by a challenger.

Sanders backers are firm that if Clinton prevails, she will need to win over skeptical Democrats and independents.

"She will have to take into account that what we're following Bernie for is not because he's some sensation, not because he's offering free college to us," 25-year-old Travis Sneider-Eaton, a theater writer wearing a "Feel the Bern" hat, said at the raucous Sanders rally.

"He listens to us."

Others are more forceful, stressing that there is a patina of disingenuousness about the Clintons. But when faced with the prospect of President Trump, they turn pragmatic.

"I have to believe that Hillary is better than Trump, and because of that I'll vote for Hillary" in the general election, said television producer and Sanders supporter Pat McGee.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talks to farm worker Maria Licea, 49, and her nine-year-old daughter Jasmin Aguilar at Los Angeles Mission College on June 4, 2016 in Sylmar, California Irfan Khan (Pool/AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders addresses the thousands-strong crowd at a GOTV concert and campaign rally at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 4, 2016 Jonathan Alcorn (AFP)
US-backed fighters close in on IS Syria bastion

US-backed fighters have advanced to within five kilometres (three miles) of the Islamic State group's stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, threatening a crucial jihadist supply line.

The assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) adds to the pressure on IS as it faces another offensive by Russian-backed regime troops in its bastion province of Raqa and in Iraq.

Supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has made steady gains since launching the operation against Manbij last week.

Syrian Kurds, pictured here during the funeral of fighters on June 4, 2016, are backed by Washington and have launched an assault on the strategic northern town of Manbij on the Turkish border, regarded as a key entry point for foreign jihadists Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Sunday the SDF was "now within about five kilometres" of Manbij.

The town is on a route connecting Raqa to the Turkish border, a vital conduit for supplies and foreign fighters.

US Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said Saturday SDF fighters had seized more than 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) of territory during the advance.

More than 55 air strikes have been carried out since the start of the offensive meant to hamper IS's ability "to move fighters, weapons, finances (and) supplies into and out of Syria and Iraq", he said.

A top SDF commander known as Abu Layla has died of wounds sustained on Friday in the battle for Manbij, the Observatory said.

Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the international coalition fighting IS, tweeted his "prayers" for Abu Layla who he said died in the operation "to liberate his hometown" Manbij.

Some 3,000 Arab fighters were taking part, backed by around 500 Kurdish militia members, while US special forces were working "at the command and control level" in the operation, he added.

- Yazidi captives freed -

In the village of Halula just east of Manbij, an AFP correspondent saw several US soldiers in jeeps as they assisted SDF fighters.

Washington has said US forces are advising the SDF on the ground but not taking direct part in combat.

In Halula, the AFP reporter saw dozens of civilians who had fled areas around Manbij, including many children, most with few belongings.

"They lived near us and we had to do what they said or they would kill our children or take our homes," mother of nine Jawaher said of IS.

The United Nations says that at least 20,000 civilians have fled the fighting around Manbij.

At least 74 people have died in fighting since the offensive began last Monday, including 32 civilians mainly killed in coalition air strikes, said the Observatory.

Thirty jihadists were also killed along with 12 SDF fighters, said the monitor which relies on sources on the ground for its reports.

After taking the village of Khirbet al-Rus, southeast of Manbij, the SDF rescued six women and 16 children, all of them Yazidis who were being held captive by IS, it added.

IS abducted hundreds of Yazidis in mid-2014 as it carried out a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against the minority.

- Regime raids rock Aleppo -

On Saturday, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thrust into Raqa with Russian air support.

They pushed into the province from the southwest, moving to within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa, site of the country's biggest dam.

Since starting with a 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests, Syria's conflict has evolved into a complex, multi-front civil war that has left more than 280,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

IS emerged from the chaos of the war in mid-2014, seizing control of large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, declaring a fundamentalist Islamic "caliphate" and committing widespread atrocities.

Iraqi forces have also been steadily regaining ground against the jihadists, and late last month began a major offensive to retake the city of Fallujah, just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Diplomatic efforts to get Syria's regime and non-jihadist rebels to move towards peace have been thwarted by a lack of trust and continued fighting, especially around second city Aleppo, which is divided between government and rebel control.

Dozens of regime strikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Sunday killed at least 32 civilians, the Observatory said. Eight others died in rebel rocket attacks on regime-held neighbourhoods.

The violence also left more than 200 people wounded on both sides, the monitor said.

The rebel-held neighbourhood of Qaterji was devastated by a crude barrel bomb attack. An AFP journalist saw a street strewn with rubble as residents scrambled for safety and a rescuer rushed a bloodied child into an ambulance.

Syria and Iraq: zones of control Sabrina BLANCHARD, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ, Simon MALFATTO, Jean Michel CORNU (AFP)

Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations troops ride in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa on May 25, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

Syrian families, who fled the assault by Arab and Kurdish forces against IS fighters in Manbij, arrive at an encampment on the outskirts of the town on June 4, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP)

The battle for Raqa
Lee Chong Wei gets Olympic boost with Indonesia win

Lee Chong Wei beat Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen in a hard-fought final to win the Indonesia Open Sunday, raising hopes the Malaysian badminton ace may be on course for Olympic victory.

World number two Lee battled back from one set down to defeat Jorgensen 17-21, 21-19, 21-17 in a thriller featuring a series of long rallies and dramatic smashes.

Fifth seed Jorgensen dominated in the early stages of the men's singles final and appeared to be heading for victory as he took the lead in the second set.

Lee Chong Wei celebrates his victory against Jan o Jorgensen in the final of the Indonesian Open on June 5, 2016, making it his sixth win in Jakarta Adek Berry (AFP)

But second seed Lee fought back doggedly, winning a series of tough rallies to cling on.

By the final stages of the third set, Lee was firmly in control, winning point after point as Jorgensen's initial confidence faded.

Lee said he was "very happy" to win his sixth Indonesia Open title after the tough match, that lasted one hour and five minutes, but admitted he did not play well at the start.

"In the second game he was leading 19-17, I was preparing myself to lose," he said.

Jorgensen said he was "very disappointed" at his loss.

"I felt that I had the game in my hand and I think I should have won it," he said.

The victory will be a boost for Lee as he heads to Rio this summer, where the 33-year-old will again try for Olympic gold.

At the last two Olympics, Lee lost in the final to his arch-rival, China's Lin Dan.

In another boost for the Malaysian, Lin was knocked out of the Indonesian Open earlier in the tournament, losing in a shock defeat to unseeded Indonesian Jonatan Christie.

Top seed Chen Long of China withdrew, blaming an injury.

Despite his loss in the final, Jorgensen's impressive performance will be a boost for the Danes, coming hot on the heels of their maiden Thomas Cup victory last month.

In the women's singles finals, unseeded Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan beat fourth seed Wang Yihan of China 21-17, 21-8, capping a miserable badminton tournament for China.

Chinese players were also beaten in the final of the women's doubles and men's doubles, although a Chinese pair won the mixed doubles.
Seven killed as Taliban gunmen raid Afghan courthouse

Taliban gunmen stormed a court complex in a city south of Kabul Sunday, killing at least seven people in the insurgents' third so-called "revenge" attack for last month's execution of Taliban-linked prisoners.

The attack in Pul-i-Alam, capital of volatile Logar province, also left 23 prosecutors wounded as they were meeting to decide the fate of six newly arrested Taliban militants.

The head of the court Mohammad Akram Nejat was among those killed in the attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive after naming a new leader late last month.

Afghan security personnel prepare for an operation against Taliban militants in Kunduz province on May 31, 2016 Najim Rahim (AFP/File)

"Three gunmen wearing police uniform entered the court building and started shooting people," the provincial governor Mohammad Halim Fedayee told AFP.

"Unfortunately seven people were killed including Mohammad Akram Nejat, the newly appointed head of the court."

Hasib Stanakzai, a member of Logar's provincial council, confirmed the death toll.

The Taliban said the attack was in retaliation for the execution of six Taliban-linked inmates in early May, part of President Ashraf Ghani's new hardline policy against the insurgents.

"The martyrdom attack was carried out in revenge for the execution of our mujahideen," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

The violence underscores Afghanistan's fragile security situation as the militants intensify attacks against the Western-backed government.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack. In a statement the head of the mission, Nicholas Haysom, urged Afghan authorities "to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions."

"Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted," he said.

On June 1 Taliban suicide bombers wearing police uniforms raided a courthouse in the eastern city of Ghazni, killing six people.

And on May 25, 11 people were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing that targeted court employees near Kabul.

The Taliban on the same day announced Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after officially confirming the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike.

The drone attack was the first known American assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil.
South Sudan resumes talks with Sudan on independence issues

South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on Sunday on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.

The south's foreign affairs, defence, interior and oil ministers travelled to Khartoum for the talks, the first since a unity government was formed in Juba last month in a bid to end its devastating civil war.

"There are some difficulties in our relations," South Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor acknowledged at a joint press conference with his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour (L) meets with his South Sudanese couterpart Deng Alor in Khartoum on June 5, 2016 Ebrahim Hamid (AFP)

"I delivered a message from our President Salva Kiir to President (Omar) al-Bashir calling for fast resolution of bilateral issues."

The south's independence in 2011 left a raft of issues unresolved, including the status of the Khartoum-occupied border district of Abyei, which had been supposed to hold a plebiscite on its future, and the payments Juba should make for the use of an oil export pipeline through Sudan.

Ghandour said that he would hold further talks with Alor to resolve the issues.

"Sudan's top priority is to build relations with South Sudan given our historical links," he said.

South Sudan's oil production virtually ground to a halt during the civil war that erupted after the dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar in December 2013.

Khartoum is hoping that Machar's return as vice president in a unity government last month will lead to renewed exports through the pipeline to Port Sudan on its Red Sea coast and resumed transit fee payments.
Philippines' Duterte urges public to kill criminals

The Philippines' president elect Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to join his anti-crime crackdown, offering people huge bounties for killing drug dealers.

His announcement late Saturday came as other officials began paying bounties for slain suspected criminals in an apparent attempt to ride on Duterte's success.

Duterte won the presidential election last month, running on a platform of a ruthless anti-crime campaign.

Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte (C) speaks to journalists in Davao City Manman Dejeto (AFP/File)

After previously saying he would unleash the military and police on criminals, Duterte said the public could go after them as well.

"If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support," he told his cheering followers.

"If he fights and fights to the death, you can kill him," he said, adding: "I will give you a medal."

He stressed that drug addicts could not be rehabilitated and warned, "if you are involved in drugs, I will kill you. You son of a whore, I will really kill you."

Duterte reiterated that his anti-crime campaign would be "a bloody war," as he offered money for slain drug lords.

"I will pay, for a drug lord: five million (pesos)($107,000) if he is dead. If he is alive, only 4.999 million," he laughed.

Duterte, who takes office on June 30 and is the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, also offered smaller amounts for lower-ranked figures involved in the drug trade.

He did not say how a private citizen could identify suspects.

Duterte has previously been linked with vigilante "death squads" that have killed scores of people in Davao and has vowed to widen his campaign when he becomes president.

Others have followed his lead with the elected mayor of the central city of Cebu, Tomas Osmena, admitting he paid more than $3,000 to police officers for killing drug traffickers.
Iran says US ally Saudi the real 'terrorism sponsor'

Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

Iran, its embassy pictured here in Sanaa, has pointed to Saudi Arabia's role in Iraq supporting the government against IS jihadists and its backing for the Syrian regime as evidence of Riyadh being a state sponsor of terrorism Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria."

Ansari said Washington's support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the "biggest sponsor of state terrorism".

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also "increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State."
MELBOURNE, Australia  Australia cruised through the 2008 global financial crisis on the back of a massive minerals boom. China could not get enough of its iron ore. The lucky country, rich enough to be a laid-back country, proved its good fortune once again. After agriculture and wool came coal and ore. Meltdowns were for losers.

In the United States, there is the affectation of industriousness. People like to make it appear they work all the time. In Australia, as the environmentalist Tim Flannery observed, there is the affectation of effortlessness. People are determined to make it appear they are not working too hard. Sometimes that is the case.

But some of the angst endemic to the developed world, with its lost manufacturing jobs and squeezed opportunities, has seeped of late into the irreverent Australian psyche. The minerals bonanza and commodities frenzy are over. Jobs in services are beginning to follow manufacturing offshore. For many young Australians the only way to get into the stratospheric Sydney housing market, inflated by rule-of-law-seeking Chinese buyers, is to wait for parents to die. Unemployment is not high, but underemployment is. Australia is Americas ally in an increasingly Chinese neighborhood; that could be problematic.

Could Australias luck have run out? Is it ripe for the politics of anger that play well these days from the United States to Austria?

There has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian, insists the conservative Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. Hes big on digital innovation, from which he made a fortune, and the convergence of great universities, scientific research and creative industries.

That is troubling to some. For a lot of people, innovation equals I am going to lose my job," David Smith, a political scientist, told me.

This is the backdrop to a July election in which Turnbull and his conservative Liberal party confront Bill Shorten of the opposition Labor party. Turnbull promises a more entrepreneurial Australia, Shorten a fairer one.

The Labor party has committed to legalizing same-sex marriage and fighting climate change, issues Turnbull has shied away from. Climate change is nonsense for the flat-earth rightist wing of his Liberal party, whose figurehead is the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Turnbull took Abbotts job but has generally hewed to the Abbott line.

The only issue the parties seem to agree on is getting tough with refugees trying to reach Australia by boat  so tough that the refugees end up in limbo on sweltering Pacific islands where desperation, self-harm and death stalk them. This untenable policy, too, reflects anxiety.

Australia shows signs of the fundamental divide in developed societies today  between an international urban elite of progressive social values and angry nativists suspicious of the outsider, blindsided by globalization, wary of change, and unsure of their childrens future.

Indeed, Abbott, a loudmouth with a loony streak, was in some ways a precursor of Donald Trump. His slogans had three words  Stop the boats (immigrants), Ax the tax (climate change).

Humanity is showing its other face. The sway of neoliberal economics favoring the wealthy in Western societies, the departure offshore of manufacturing jobs, stagnant wages, large refugee flows from war zones, media outlets with tribal followings and the flourishing of violent anti-Western jihadi ideology in an Arab world of blocked political systems have created a near-perfect storm for rightist populists of the Abbott and Trump ilk.

Australia in its vastness, at once protected and troubled by the tyranny of distance, watches the U.S. and European political dramas from afar. But it is not immune to the new anger.
Netanyahu set for third Russia visit in recent months

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow Monday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, the premier's office said, with the two having held talks in recent months over the conflict in Syria.

Netanyahu's two-day trip is his third to Russia since September and also comes as the two nations mark 25 years since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.

The Israeli premier's office said the two leaders would discuss "implementing the understandings reached during Netanyahu's visit to Moscow in April".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be making his third to Russia since September, this one coming as the two nations mark 25 years since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations Menahem Kahana (AFP/File)

They will also discuss "regional issues, including those pertaining to the fight against global terror, the situation in Syria and its surroundings, and the prospectives for the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians", a statement read.

With both Israel and Russia having carried out military operations in war-torn Syria, the two countries have sought to coordinate their actions to avoid accidental clashes.

Russian forces back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the conflict.

Israel opposes Assad but has sought to avoid being dragged into the war. However, it fears that the chaos in the neighbouring country could help strengthen its arch-enemy Hezbollah.

Netanyahu admitted publicly for the first time in April that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys in Syria which were transporting weapons to the Lebanese Shiite militia, which fights alongside Assad's forces.

In September, Netanyahu and Putin agreed to set up a "hotline" to avoid accidental clashes.

Joining him will be Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and Soviet-born Zeev Elkin, a minister with Netanyahu's Likud party who will finalise a deal regulating pensions for Russian expats who moved to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu will also visit the Moscow museum holding an Israeli tank taken by Syrian forces in the 1982 Lebanon war and later handed over to Russia, which Putin recently agreed to return to Israel.
Saudi-led coalition rejects UN blacklisting over Yemen

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen rejected on Sunday a UN report that placed it on an annual blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in air strikes.

"The report is imbalanced and does not rely on credible statistics, nor does it serve the Yemeni people," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It misleads the public with incorrect numbers and mostly relies on information from sources associated with the Huthi militia and the deposed (former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah) Saleh," he said.

A Yemeni man walks past the site of a Saudi-led airstrike that targeted a building in the capital Sanaa in January 2016 Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

The report, released on Thursday by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said 785 children had been killed and 1,168 injured in Yemen last year, blaming the Saudi-led coalition for 60 percent of the toll.

It blacklisted both the coalition and rebel forces for a "very large number of violations" including "attacks on schools and hospitals".

Saudi Arabia launched the intervention in Yemen in March last year in support of the internationally recognised government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Huthi rebels accused of having links with Iran and army units loyal to Saleh, who was forced out of office in 2012 under a Gulf-sponsored deal.

The war has left some 6,400 people dead, according to the UN.

Assiri said the coalition was in Yemen to "protect the Yemeni people, including children, from the actions of the Huthi militia."

He cited a $30 million Saudi aid programme for Yemen launched in cooperation with the UN children's fund (UNICEF).

In separate comments to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, he said Ban's report would not help peace talks underway in Kuwait, and would "complicate the mission" of the UN's envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about Saudi air strikes on urban areas in Yemen and accused the coalition of deliberately targeting civilians with cluster bombs, which would constitute a war crime.
More migrant bodies wash up on Libyan beaches

The bodies of 132 migrants trying to reach Europe have been found on western Libyan beaches over the past four days, the Red Crescent and a local official said Sunday.

All except three washed up on beaches in the town of Zuwarah, while the rest were found on a beach in Mellitah 20 kilometres (12 miles) further east.

"The total number of migrant bodies found on the beaches of Zuwarah since Thursday has gone up to 129," Red Crescent spokesman Mohammad al-Misrati told AFP.

Security guards from the nearby Mellitah Oil and Gas terminal, on the outskirts of the northwestern Libyan port city of Zuwarah, retrieve the body of a migrant that washed up on a beach on June 4, 2016 Stringer (AFP/File)

He said 117 bodies were found on Thursday, confirming earlier reports, and said 12 more were found on Friday.

Zuwarah council member Khaled Ben Khalifa said three other bodies washed up on a beach in Mellitah, near a gas plant, bringing the total to 132.

People smugglers have exploited the chaos gripping Libya since the 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi to traffic migrants across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

It is a lucrative business for the smugglers who cram migrants into boats that are small and unsafe for the perilous journey to Italy just 300 kilometres (190 miles) from Libya's shores.
Modi hails 'new era' between India and Qatar

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed a "new era of friendship" between his country and Qatar on a two-day trip to the emirate.

He was writing on Twitter after officials from gas-rich Qatar and India signed seven agreements covering areas such as investment, financial intelligence and education.

"My visit to Qatar has witnessed comprehensive and fruitful discussions that will usher in a new era of friendship between India and Qatar," Modi said.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, pictured on May 31, 2016, met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Included was a memorandum of understanding to open up the Indian market to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the estimated $300 billion Qatar Investment Authority.

The memorandum said it aimed to facilitate the "participation of Qatari institutional investors in infrastructure projects in India".

The Indian community is the largest ethnic group in Qatar, numbering some 700,000 in a total population of just over 2.5 million.

Qatar is already India's largest supplier of liquified natural gas, and bilateral trade is thought to stand at around $10 billion.

Earlier Sunday, Modi met the Qatari emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on his visit, part of a five-nation tour that has already taken him to Afghanistan.
Warner half century as Australia thrash Windies

David Warner scored an unbeaten half century as Australia romped to a six-wicket thrashing of West Indies in their opening Tri-Nation Series day-night game at the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday.

Warner's 55 not out saw Australia home with almost 25 overs to spare after the West Indies earlier collapsed from 50 for one to 116 all out from 32.3 overs.

Australia then wasted little time in getting to the modest target, Warner anchoring the effort to ensure a victory that was never in doubt despite the loss of three wickets for seven runs with the end in sight.

Australia's David Warner plays a shot on June 5, 2016 Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (AFP)

Spinners Sunil Narine, with two wickets in one over, and Sulieman Benn caused the discomfort but it was not enough to save the hosts.

The emphatic victory earned Australia a bonus point to move ahead of the West Indies in the three-team standings before Tuesdays final game at Providence against South Africa.

"Our batting is a real concern," said West Indies coach Phil Simmons.

"The bowlers and fielding side are doing a great job but we need to get it together with the bat for the next two matches in St Kitts."

- Starc back with a bang -

Boosted by a four-wicket win in the tournament-opener against the South Africans at the same venue two days earlier, the West Indies plummeted back down to earth at the feet of the World Cup-holders, whose frontline spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa did the bulk of the damage with three wickets apiece after the usual effective opening burst from Mitchell Starc.

"I really enjoyed it out there on that pitch," Zampa enthused after his performance.

"South Africa will be a big challenge though on Tuesday with so many quality batsmen."

Playing his first international match for more than six months after being sidelined by injury, the left-arm fast bowler breached the defences of openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles to finish with figures of two for 37 from nine overs.

He showed signs of rustiness in delivering five wides and a no-ball, however his lethal pace proved more than a handful for the West Indies top order.

Starc's tally of ODI wickets is now at 92 in his 47th match and should he take eight more before the end of this competition he will eclipse Pakistan's Saqlain Mustaq for the record as the fastest to 100 wickets in terms of matches played in this format of the international game.

Charles topscored with a chancy 22 while all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite was last out for 21, Aaron Finch taking the catch at long-on to give Zampa his third wicket.

Notwithstanding the turgid surface, the home batsmen contributed to their swift demise with a succession of poor shots, exemplified by Darren Bravo's loose cover-drive at seamer Mitchell Marsh which offered a straightforward catch to Zampa at cover.

Lyon, the experienced off-spinner, had an almost instant impact in disposing of Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard off successive deliveries. Pollard, whose unbeaten 67 guided the West Indies to victory over the Proteas two days earlier, attempted a heave over long-on to be taken by Warner on the boundary.

Jason Holder gave mystery spinner Narine first use of the new ball from one end in hopes of an immediate breakthrough at the start of the Australian reply, but it was left to the captain to separate the opening pair as Warner and Finch got off to a flying start with a succession of boundaries on both sides of the wicket.

They had put on 44 by the eighth over when Finch was leg-before for 19 in Holder's first over, giving the gangling Barbadian his 50th wicket in One-Day International cricket.

Australia's Nathan Lyon catches out the West Indies' Sulieman Benn on June 5, 2016 Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (AFP)
Governors Ball fest with Kanye scrapped due to weather

New York's Governors Ball festival canceled its final day Sunday, which was to be headlined by rap superstar Kanye West, due to expected severe thunderstorms.

Organizers of the three-day festival on Randall's Island in the city's East River cited the risk of lightning amid heavy rain across the US East Coast.

"The safety of fans, artists and crew always comes first," Governors Ball said in a notice on its smartphone app. "We are just as devastated as you are."

Festival goers walk through the mud at the Governors Ball Music Festival, June 4, 2016 in New York Bryan R. Smith (AFP/File)

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office had already issued a weather advisory for Sunday, warning of the possibility of flash floods and encouraging New Yorkers to consider staying inside.

The final day of the festival was set to be headlined by West, in one of the first concerts for the ever-in-the-news star since the release of his album "The Life of Pablo" in February.

Sunday was also due to feature an appearance, announced only the day before, of Prophets of Rage, the politically charged new supergroup with members of Rage Against the Machine and frontman Chuck D of rap legends Public Enemy.

Other scheduled performers included garage rockers Eagles of Death Metal, tragically now known best as the band who played the Bataclan club in Paris during the November 13 massacre by Islamic extremists.

Eagles of Death Metal was slated for Governors Ball even though two festivals in France recently canceled appearances by the band after frontman Jesse Hughes alleged a conspiracy by Muslim staff members at the club.
Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts Monday in Gulf

The annual fasting month of Ramadan is due to begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, religious authorities in the four Muslim countries said.

The announcement was made on Sunday after the sighting of the crescent moon.

Other Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa are also expected to begin observing Ramadan on Monday or on Tuesday.

Indonesian Muslims hold prayers to mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al Akbar mosque in Surabaya on June 5, 2016 Juni Kriswanto (AFP)

During Ramadan, Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk.

The break the fast with a meal known as iftar and before dawn they have a second opportunity to eat and drink during suhur.

Ramadan is sacred to Muslims because tradition says the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed during that month.
Iraqi forces find mass grave near Fallujah

Iraqi forces discovered a mass grave on Sunday after retaking an area from the Islamic State group near Fallujah, where the jihadists are using thousands of civilians as human shields.

Growing numbers of families reaching camps south of Fallujah told horrific accounts of how IS shot at them as they fled, but there was still no escape for the tens of thousands believed trapped in the city centre.

In Saqlawiya, northwest of Fallujah, Iraqi forces found a burial site thought to contain the bodies of around 400 people, most of them soldiers executed by IS in 2014 and 2015.

A member of the Iraqi government forces walks amid the rubble of a destroyed building on the front line near the village of al-Azraqiyah, northwest of the city of Fallujah, on June 5, 2016 Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP)

"The security forces of the federal police, the army and the Hashed al-Shaabi found a mass grave in the Shuhada neighbourhood during a mine clearing operation," a police colonel said.

He said most of the victims, whose remains were being transferred for identification, appeared to have been shot in the head.

"The mass grave also includes civilians executed by Daesh (IS) on various charges such as spying or breaking the organisation's rules," said Rajeh Barakat, a member of the provincial council of Anbar, where Fallujah is located.

Iraqi forces launched a vast operation on May 22-23 to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions.

The first phase of the operation was aimed at sealing the siege on the city by cutting the jihadist group's supply lines in outlying areas, including in Saqlawiya.

- Rights committee -

A week ago, elite troops launched a second phase aimed at breaking through into Fallujah itself, a dense city where US soldiers in 2004 suffered some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War.

But the Iraqi forces have been moving slowly, only making some forays into some southern neighbourhoods.

The Baghdad government said concern for the fate of an estimated 50,000 civilians still inside the city was slowing the operation.

"The operation to liberate Fallujah could have been completed in days but we put the safety of civilians first," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said.

Out of the approximately 18,000 people who have reached displacement camps south of Fallujah since the offensive began two weeks ago, only a handful lived in the city.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Sunday that those who arrived at its camps in Amriyat al-Fallujah, to the south, told of how IS would open fire on them to punish them for fleeing.

"An unidentified number of civilians have been shot and killed trying to cross the river," it said in a statement.

"This is the worst that we feared would happen to innocent men, women and children who have had to leave everything behind in order to save their lives," the statement quoted NRC country director Nasr Muflahi as saying.

The premier's spokesman said that the government would also investigate claims of abuses committed against the civilian population by Iraqi forces in the course of the operation.

He said Abadi had ordered the creation of a human rights committee to examine "any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians".

- Militia warning -

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has issued guidelines intended as a form of code of conduct for forces fighting IS and aimed at curbing abuses.

Officials including Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi have expressed concern over reports of abuses committed by the forces involved in the operation to recapture Fallujah.

Juburi spoke on Thursday of "information indicating that some violations were carried out by some members of the federal police and some volunteers against civilians".

The Hashed al-Shaabi taking part in the Fallujah operation is an umbrella organisation that includes Sunni tribal fighters but is dominated by powerful Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

It is nominally under Abadi's authority but some of its most powerful groups answer directly to Iran.

Those groups have been repeatedly accused of fuelling sectarianism, and their involvement in the Fallujah battle was seen as potentially explosive.

Their role so far has been confined to the initial phase of shaping operations, but their top military commander said on Sunday they would move into the city if progress was too slow.

"We're partners in the liberation, our mission is not yet done," Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis said at a press conference.

"We are still in the area and we'll continue to support (them) if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, we'll enter with them," he said.

The battle for Fallujah Valentina BRESCHI, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP)
Security tight as Israelis mark 1967 capture of east Jerusalem

Israeli police deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem on Sunday for an annual march marking the country's 1967 seizure of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of the city.

This year's march came as Muslims prepare to begin observing the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Palestinians visit the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City.

The Israeli march for "Jerusalem Day" passed through the Muslim quarter of the Old City before arriving at the Western Wall, directly below the Al-Aqsa compound.

Israelis gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's old city on June 5, 2016 with their national flags as they celebrate the Jerusalem day which marks Israel's 1967 seizure of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of Jerusalem Menahem Kahana (AFP)

Tens of thousands of people joined the march, which began at around 5:15 pm (1415 GMT).

"We have more than 2,000 police just for the Jerusalem Day events," Israeli police spokesman Asi Aharoni said ahead of the march.

Tight police supervision helped ensure the march went ahead in a relatively orderly fashion.

Police said two participants were arrested for making racist remarks to Arabs.

Israeli rights group Ir Amim had asked the supreme court to bar marchers from entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate, the main entry used by Palestinians.

The court rejected the appeal, but required the marchers to complete their passage through the Damascus Gate by 6:15 pm and through the Muslim quarter by 7:00 pm.

The time restrictions were originally imposed in case the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan began on Sunday night.

Young Jewish demonstrators gathered in the city centre near the Old City ahead of the march, including religious students with separate processions for males and females.

At Damascus Gate, heavy security measures included barricades and nearby cafes catering to tourists were closed.

Small groups of young Jews waving Israeli flags and chanting nationalist slogans filed through the Muslim quarter.

Some shopkeepers closed their stores as a precaution.

"Last year they put glue to destroy my lock," said shopkeeper Rimon Himo as he wrapped tape around his lock. "I learned my lesson."

David Haim, 24, said it was important for him to take part in the march since there were "still obstacles to our sovereignty".

"Every year, this pilgrimage reminds us the city is ours, the most natural and obvious place as Jews," he told AFP.

While Israelis see the day as celebrating the "reunification" of Jerusalem, Palestinians view the 1967 war as resulting in the seizure of their land.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Sunday that "for 49 years Jerusalem is free of its shackles. We won't return to a reality of a divided and wounded city."

Israeli media also quoted him as saying that "we will continue to build Jerusalem for all its residents".

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state, whereas Israelis see all of Jerusalem as their capital.

The future status of Jerusalem is among the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Maritime disputes loom large as US, China hold talks

Mounting tensions over South China Sea territorial rows could overshadow US-China talks in Beijing Monday, after the two global powers exchanged barbs over the disputed waterway.

China claims nearly all of the sea despite competing declarations by several Southeast Asian neighbours and has built artificial islands suitable for military use in the South China Sea.

Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese-claimed reefs, angering Beijing.

This photo taken on May 10, 2016 shows crew members of China's South Sea Fleet taking part in a logistics supply drill near the James Shoal area

Tensions mounted after the South China Morning Post reported last week Beijing could establish an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the sea -- which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers.

On a trip to Mongolia Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the establishment of such a zone would be considered "a provocative and destabilising act".

"We believe that it is critical that no country move unilaterally to militarise the region," he told reporters in Ulan Bator.

Kerry arrived later Sunday in Beijing for the two-day "Eighth US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue", which will also be chaired by US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang.

The meeting follows an Asian security summit in Singapore Sunday attended by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, where the South China Sea dispute was front and centre.

"The South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests," Admiral Sun Jianguo said at the meeting.

Despite the terse exchanges, Kerry insisted this week's dialogue with Beijing was about cooperation, not discord.

"Some people want to try to create a sense of tension and clash, but I think it's much more important to be working on the things that we can do to cooperate together and to make a difference," he told Hong Kong's Phoenix TV in an interview aired Sunday.

He highlighted areas of collaboration between the global superpowers, including on the Iran nuclear deal, combating Ebola in west Africa and supporting UN sanctions against North Korea, Beijing's traditional ally.

- 'Concerned' -

Monday's meeting is set to cover issues beyond the South China Sea, including climate change, cyber-security, terrorism, trade and economic cooperation.

A US Treasury Department statement said talks will focus on "a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term economic and strategic interest".

But ahead of the meeting, a US official told AFP: "The tensions on the South China Sea are higher than last year. We remain concerned."

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims in the South China Sea, which encompasses vital global shipping routes and is believed to have significant oil and gas deposits.

Manila accuses China of taking effective control of the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and has brought a case against Beijing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. China has shunned the proceedings and says it will not recognise any ruling.

China's vice minister of foreign affairs Zheng Zeguang warned against rising tensions ahead of Monday's meeting.

"Confrontation between the US and China will only be disastrous for the two countries and for the world," he told reporters Thursday.

While in China, Kerry will also attend the annual US-China Consultation on People-to-People exchange, a forum bringing together government officials and private sector representatives to strengthen ties in fields such as education, culture and sports.

Kerry arrived in Beijing after visiting Mongolia, which he hailed as an "oasis of democracy" sandwiched between China and Russia.

Disputed claims in the South China Sea Adrian Leung, Gal Roma (AFP)
If you are intoxicated in the Bismarck area and have nowhere to go youre facing a grim outcome. Theres likely eight hours in a urine-smelling cell on a mattress on a cold floor in your future. Once you sober up, youre on your own.

Reporter Blair Emerson last Sunday explained the bleak situation in Bismarck-Mandan and the state when it comes to detox cases. In the south central region of the state, referred to as Region 7, that includes Bismarck, there are only two programs that provide social detoxification services: West Central Human Service Center and Heartview Foundation. There's no medical detox facility in Bismarck and the two city hospitals dont offer beds just for medical detox.

When law enforcement picks up an intoxicated person without a place to go, its a trip to a hospital for a checkup and jail. Its a system that condemns the intoxicated person to repeated bad behavior. Its not the fault of law enforcement. Dealing with the situation can be costly, and time-consuming for officers. Its also disheartening for them to see people in almost hopeless situations.

Its a problem that demands action and some steps are being taken.

Federal officials told Emerson that North Dakotas situation isnt unusual, that the problem exists nationwide. Federal consultants spent six months gathering information in Bismarck and offered a list of recommendations last month to interested parties. The consultants said the region needs to decide how best to use its resources and create a facility where intoxicated people can go to detox and, if they want, stay for treatment. The proposal has merit and those involved need to research how it can be done. There are obvious costs involved and funding will be an issue.

Several providers in the area  Heartview, law enforcement and jail officials among them  decided after the meeting with the consultants to explore how to avoid incarcerating intoxicated people who haven't committed any crimes.

Earlier, the Burleigh County Detention Center joined with Heartview to create a voluntary Web-based portal inmates can use that directs them to services, including treatment programs.

The portal was created under a federal grant and is in its beginning stages. It will be used with an initial screening or mental health questionnaire the county jail has been using the past two years.

The initial screening is intended to flag whether a person could use additional services, and then a second screening will identify the services needed.

"It's a change of philosophy for county jails to do these kinds of things, because we've never had to do that in the past," Burleigh County Sheriff Pat Heinert told Emerson. "But in order to help people in today's world, we have to start looking at those kinds of things."

Heinerts correct, different approaches are needed to solve the problem. One doctor listed alcohol, narcotics and meth as the top three players in detox cases. Helping anyone overcome one of these problems is a challenge. Not everyone will be saved, but our community needs to find ways to help as many as possible. Otherwise the endless cycle of abuse will continue.
American journalist David Gilkey and his Afghan translator were killed while traveling with an Afghan army unit that came under fire in southern Helmand province on Sunday, National Public Radio said.

The translator was identified as Zabihullah Tamanna, who was a freelancer who often worked for NPR, the network's spokeswoman, Isabel Lara, said.

The Afghan army Humvee was traveling between the provincial capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, and Marjah when it was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps, Shakil Ahmad Tasal, told Reuters.

The attack occurred around 2.30pm local time and also killed the vehicle's driver, an army soldier, Tasal said.

American journalist David Gilkey (right) and his Afghan translator, Zabihullah Tamanna (left), were killed while traveling with an Afghan army unit that came under fire in southern Helmand province on Sunday, National Public Radio announced

Gilkey pictured last Sunday at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. He was a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio

The pair were on assignment with two other journalists named as reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, who were unharmed.

NPR said the vehicle in which Gilkey, 50, and his translator were traveling was struck by shellfire near the town of Marjah.

The road between Marjah and Lashkar Gah had only recently been reopened by security forces after heavy fighting in the area.

The details of the attack and the journalists' deaths were confirmed by the 205th Corps commander, General Mohammed Amin.

Helmand has been the scene of deadly fighting between Taliban insurgents and NATO-backed government troops.

'David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11,' Michael Oreskes, NPR's senior vice president of news and editorial director said.

Gilkey pictured left. The vehicle carrying him and Tamanna was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps, Shakil Ahmad Tasal, told Reuters

Two other journalists traveling with Gilkey (pictured), named as reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were unharmed

'He was devoted to helping the public see these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing that commitment.'

'As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him. He let us see the world and each other through his eyes,' he said.

In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, Gilkey covered the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010, the fall of apartheid in South Africa, famine in Somalia, and war in Rwanda and the Balkans.

Gilkey received a 2007 national Emmy award for a video series about Michigan Marines in Iraq.

'The things to do were amazing and the places to see were epic,' he once said. 'But the people, the people are what made it all worth the effort.'

His photography helped earn NPR a Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola epidemic.

'His coverage in Africa put a face to a disease and refused to let listeners think of the stricken individuals as separate from our own families,' NPR said, with images that captured both the dangers and intensity of the battlefield and quiet life in villages and on bases.

The translator was identified as Zabihullah Tamanna (pictured left and right), who was a freelancer who often worked for NPR, the network's spokeswoman, Isabel Lara, said

The attack that killed Tamanna (pictured right) occurred around 2.30pm local time and also killed the vehicle's driver, an army soldier, Tasal said

'He made a global story very personal.'

A 'devastated' NPR president and CEO Jarl Mohn said 'horrific incidents like this remind us of the important role journalists play in America's civic life.

They help us understand beyond the headlines and see the humanity in others,' he said.

The well-respected journalist received many accolades, including being named Still Photographer of the Year by the White House Photographers Association in 2011 - among 36 distinctions, including nine first place awards, he received from the group since 2009.

His role in an NPR investigation on veteran medical care helped the outlet earn a 2010 George Polk Award, Society for News Design's 2011 Award of Excellence and a 2011 Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage.

Last year, he was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of international breaking news, military conflicts and natural disasters - the first time the Corporation for Public Broadcasting presented the prize to a multimedia journalist.

Afghan security forces walk at the scene of a suicide bomb attack that targeted foreign military vehicles in Lashkargah city, capital of Helmand province, in November 2015. Afghanistan is among the most dangerous countries for media

Afghan residents walk as smoke rises from the direction of a suicide bomb attack that targeted foreign military forces in Lashkargah city in November 2015. Twenty-seven journalists have reportedly been killed in Afghanistan since 1992

Gilkey also received a 2007 national Emmy award for a video series Band of Brothers about Michigan Marines in Iraq.

In 2004, he was named Michigan Photographer of the Year by the Michigan Press Photographers Association.

His first journalism job was with the Boulder Daily Camera in Colorado, where he covered local assignments for the paper and overseas assignments for Knight Ridder, according to NPR.

He later joined the Detroit Free Press until he began working for NPR in 2007.

Afghanistan is among the most dangerous countries for media, with at least 27 journalists killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In January at least seven employees of a major Afghan TV station died in a suicide attack in Kabul, while the last foreign journalist killed in the country was Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was shot to death by an Afghan policeman while covering the elections in 2014.

AP special correspondent for the region, Kathy Gannon, was also in the car and wounded in the attack.
Patchy reporting undercuts national hate crimes count

BOGALUSA, La. (AP)  The knock on the door, strong and quick, jolted Barbara Hicks Collins awake. It was the middle of the night. Someone must be in trouble, she thought. She flung open her front door to the shocking sight of her car engulfed in flames.

Investigators later determined someone had deliberately set fire to her Mercedes and also tried to burn down the one-story brick house she shared with her mother in this eastern Louisiana town, once known as a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity. Hicks Collins, a black woman, had no doubt the fire  set on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2012  was racially motivated. Her father had been a prominent civil rights leader who filed lawsuits that desegregated local schools and forced police to protect protesters, and her family remained active in the community.

Despite the circumstances, the case was never counted in the nation's annual tally of hate crimes. In fact, neither the police department nor the local sheriff has filed a hate crime report with the FBI since at least 2009.

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

And that's not unusual, an investigation by The Associated Press found. The AP identified more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff's departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBI's annual crime tally during the past six years  about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Advocates worry that the lack of a comprehensive, annual accounting disguises the extent of bias crimes at a time of heightened racial, religious and ethnic tensions. The nation was stunned last June when nine black parishioners were shot dead at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, in an attack labeled a hate crime, and community groups have reported a notable increase in violence against Muslims and mosques in the wake of last year's terror acts in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Gay and transgender people also are regular targets.

A better accounting of hate crimes, the FBI and other proponents say, would not only increase awareness but also boost efforts to combat such crimes with more resources for law enforcement training and community outreach.

"We need the reporting to happen," said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. "Without a diagnosis, we don't know how serious the illness is. And without a diagnosis, there is no prescription. And without a prescription, there is no healing."

The FBI defines a hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity." Filing reports for the federal count is voluntary and guidelines call for reports to be submitted even if they list zero hate crimes, a signal to both the FBI and the community that local departments are taking such crimes seriously.

FBI Director James Comey has called on all agencies to do a more aggressive job tracking hate crimes, and also has initiated training sessions on bias attacks for hundreds of law enforcement officers nationwide.

In response to an inquiry about Hicks Collins' case, officials with both the Bogalusa Police and the Washington Parish Sheriff's Department said they did not know hate crime information was not being reported and blamed clerical errors.

Four years later, no arrests have been made in the attack on her house and the state fire marshal's office, which ultimately conducted the investigation, said it was unable to determine whether the setting of the fires constituted a hate crime or not.

Under FBI guidelines, an incident should be reported as a suspected hate crime if a "reasonable and prudent" person would conclude a crime was motivated by bias. Among the criteria for evaluation is whether an incident coincided with a significant holiday or date, specifically citing the King holiday. A suspect need not be identified to meet the threshold for reporting.

For Hicks Collins, the failure to count the 2012 attack as a hate crime is a painful reminder of the continuing struggle for racial progress.

"The more things change," she said, "the more they remain the same."

Between 5,000 and 7,000 hate crime incidents are catalogued each year in the FBI report, with nearly half of all victims in recent years targeted because of their race.

"It is the most important data collection initiative, but it is far from complete," Michael Lieberman, the Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, said of the FBI's survey.

The ADL has launched a "50 States Against Hate" campaign that includes improved data collection by law enforcement as a top priority, and also is seeking passage of hate crime laws in the five states that do not have them: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming.

Lieberman, who worked with the FBI and others on updating the agency's hate crimes training manual published last year, said law enforcement agencies must neutralize the issues that can lead to non-reporting, such as departments fearing negative publicity and victims who may not trust the police.

"If these crimes are never really counted, it's a way of saying they are not important," said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S. "For many black people, it's another form of being victimized. It's a way of saying your life doesn't matter."

___

The AP examined FBI hate crime reports for the years 2009 through 2014 and matched those against lists of every city and county law enforcement agency in each state, obtained separately from all 50 states.

An analysis revealed that law enforcement reporting is spotty even beyond the more than 2,700 agencies that never filed even a single hate crime report. For example, thousands of city police and county sheriff's departments  which handle the vast majority of local law enforcement responses and investigations  reported in some years but not others. And, in some cases, departments reported for, say, only one quarter of a year without submitting reports covering the rest of that span.

Some agencies said they thought they were reporting, even though they were not, and some thought they didn't have to file reports because they hadn't investigated any hate crimes. Others that oversee jails might have assumed they were exempt because they don't patrol the streets, but the FBI encourages reporting by all law enforcement agencies whose officers are empowered to make arrests.

The vast majority of the departments that did not file any reports during the six-year period represented small towns, often consisting of just a few thousand residents or less. But the list also included the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which handles law enforcement in a heavily populated and sprawling region around Portland, Oregon.

A number of larger cities with a history of racial troubles also were missing, including Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Jackson Police did not file any hate crimes information to the FBI between 2009 and 2012, followed by only spotty reporting the next two years. And yet, during that time, state and federal charges were filed in connection with the June 2011 death of James Craig Anderson, a black man who was beaten and run over by a truck containing a group of white teenagers, some of whom yelled racial epithets during the assault.

Jackson Police spokeswoman Colendula D. Green insisted the FBI investigates potential hate crimes in the city and thus would be the reporting agency, even though that is not what the guidelines specify. A Birmingham Police spokesman said his agency had submitted the reports to the state, and it was unclear why they didn't make it to the FBI.

The statistics analyzed by the AP also revealed wide disparities in how seriously states take the reporting. Nationwide, there were 16 states in which more than 25 percent of local law enforcement agencies did not appear at all in the FBI hate crime database between 2009 and 2014. That included 64 percent of agencies in Mississippi and 59 percent in Louisiana.

In March 2009 in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, nine inmates were charged with hate crimes following three attacks at the Lafourche Parish Detention Center, but the sheriff's office is among the agencies submitting no information in the six-year span the AP studied.

Sheriff's Sgt. Brennan Matherne said his agency had been directed to report crimes through the state crime reporting system based on the most significant charge, and that hate crimes are considered a secondary offense. He said the sheriff's office would review the process going forward.

He noted that the department had recorded 17 hate crimes locally in 2009, three in 2010, three in 2011, six in 2012 and three in 2013.

According to officials in Hawaii, nine hate crimes were recorded in the state in the years 2009 through 2014, but they were not reflected in the national statistics because the state's police agencies did not send such information to the FBI, despite submitting data on violent crimes such as homicide and rape. State officials have been compiling their own hate crimes report with information collected from local prosecutors rather than police, but the state will be switching to a new police filing system with hate crimes reporting built into it.

The AP's analysis determined that some states clearly make reporting a priority. In Nevada, not a single police or sheriff's department failed to report for all six years. In two of the nation's most populous and diverse states, California and Florida, compliance also is nearly universal.

Nearly all the roughly 350 local law enforcement agencies in Tennessee routinely file. State officials there point to a robust state system for reporting crimes, along with regular training and audits of crime reports. Also helping with compliance is a state law under which law enforcement agencies can lose funds for failing to file.

Nationwide, the AP's analysis found signs that the FBI's efforts to step up reporting could be starting to pay off. In 2014, about 200 local law enforcement agencies that had not reported in the previous five-year period submitted information to the FBI.

"We must continue to impress upon our state and local colleagues in every jurisdiction the need to track and report hate crime," Comey, the agency's director, said in a speech that year. "It is not something we can ignore or sweep under the rug."

___

It's not just law enforcement departments that fail to report hate crimes. Many victims do not report them either.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics projected that just 40 percent of the "hate crime victimizations" it recorded in 2012 were reported to authorities. Among the top reasons given for staying silent, the agency said: fears of reprisals, a feeling that "police could not or would not help," or the incident being considered a personal or private matter.

In recent years, members of the Sikh community have been targeted by attackers who, in some cases, confused them with Muslims because of their turbans or other head coverings. But S. Gulbarg Singh Basi, chairman of the American Sikh Council, said that some in his community fear that reporting those incidents might invite even more hate crimes.

"'Keep your eyes closed and the problem will go away,'" said Basi. "I'm not saying that is right, but quite a few people think that."

In Atlanta, authorities are trying to give officers an increased understanding of hate crimes and emphasizing more community outreach and a greater response to complaints in hopes that more victims speak up.

The department's two-person LGBT Liaison Unit has been working to build relationships within the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, as well as increasing awareness, training and knowledge of LGBT issues within the department itself.

"One of the biggest challenges that I think will take many years to resolve is the general mistrust the police have with the LGBT community, especially in terms of LGBT people of color," said Officer Eric King, who is assigned to the unit. "The community has to feel confident that if they experience something, that we will be there to not only listen but take action and help them toward some sort of resolution, whatever that might be."

Another challenge for law enforcement is that investigators looking into hate crimes must gather evidence not only of what happened, but why. And that's not always easy to determine.

Serious injuries might indicate an assault. But without clear evidence that the infliction of the injuries was motivated by bias, it can be difficult to say whether the assault qualifies as a hate crime.

The FBI standard is that a reasonable person would conclude the perpetrator was motivated by bias. The agency's guidelines suggest investigators take into account whether victims are members of a minority group where the incidents took place and whether a substantial portion of the community believes bias was the motive.

"In the course of any investigation, there is not always a bright line saying, 'OK, it's a hate crime,'" said Brian Edgell, a supervisor with the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program. "It's really up to their discretion, and we give them the mechanism to report that to us."

___

David Beltier and his boyfriend were on an afternoon walk with their standard poodle, Beauty, in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro in March 2013. Beauty's fur had been dyed a light pink color, and a few passers-by already had made derogatory remarks.

Then a man yelling gay slurs out the window of an SUV made a U-turn, headed straight for Beltier and his boyfriend. Beltier said he seemed determined to fight, so he told his boyfriend to take Beauty and get away.

"I knew something bad was going to happen," he said.

Beltier, who had martial arts training, was able to block most of the man's punches, but the assailant then grabbed a metal tool from his SUV and hit Beltier in the head.

The man was arrested and ultimately faced a federal hate crime charge, in addition to state charges. After a federal jury deadlocked, he pleaded guilty to an assault charge in state court and the federal case was dismissed.

Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBI's national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period.

Hillsboro Police Lt. Michael Rouches blamed the lapse on a technical problem between his department and the state, and said the problem was discovered last year when the department was in the process of applying for a grant and noticed the data was missing.

The lack of reporting should not suggest the department didn't aggressively investigate what happened to Beltier and his boyfriend, Rouches said.

"We ran with it as soon as we got it, and we got to the bottom of it," he said.

To this day, however, Beltier avoids walking in the dark and hates to be alone, although he takes comfort from the bystanders who stopped to help him and tracked down his assailant.

He feels grateful to the police  but also he wants to know that future hate crimes will be reported.

"The community needs to be aware that this is happening in their own town," he said. "It will give everyone the chance to help fix it and bring a better future."

___

Associated Press data journalist Michelle Minkoff in Washington, D.C., Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Christina .

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE - In this July 11, 1966 file photo, Robert Hicks, vice president of the Bogalusa Voters League, second from left, and other demonstrators chant as they pass white onlookers upon their arrival in Franklinton, La., concluding a two-day march from Bogalusa, La. Several hundred demonstrators ended the hike with a rally at the courthouse. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, File)

FILE - In this April 16, 1976 file photo, Bill Wilkinson, state grand dragon of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan", and armed body guard Johnny Jones, look over the dedication site for a KKK headquarters in Bogalusa, La. The paper mill town was a civil rights hot-spot in the 1960s. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this April 8, 1965 file photo, Robert Hicks, vice president of the Bogalusa Voters League, holds a rifle as he inspects damage to a vehicle belonging to a group of university students that was hit by a passing vehicle while it was parked in front of his home in Bogalusa, La. Hicks said he shot back at the attackers. (AP Photo, File)

This Jan. 16, 2012 photo shows the burned remains of Barbara Hicks Collins' car in front of her mother's home in Bogalusa, La. The Louisiana Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the incident, which happened in the early morning hours of Martin Luther King Day, as an "intentionally set" fire. Her father, Robert Hicks, was a long time civil rights activist and the family has remained active in civil rights issues. For Hicks Collins, the failure to count the 2012 attack as a hate crime is a painful reminder of the continuing struggle for racial progress. "The more things change," she said, "the more they remain the same." (Marcelle Hanemann/The Bogalusa Daily News Via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, a historic marker is seen from inside the childhood home of Barbara Hicks Collins, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, an American flag is seen outside the childhood home of Barbara Hicks Collins, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Nov. 28, 2015 photo, Jeremy Mark, right, and David Beltier, walk their dogs, Beauty and Princes, near their home in Hillsboro, Ore. In March 2013, Beltier was walking with boyfriend Mark, and their poodle when a man in a truck began yelling homophobic slurs at the pair, got out of his truck and began punching Beltier. The man, leaving at one point to grab a metal tool from the truck and hit Beltier again in the head, was later charged with state and federal hate crimes. Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBI's national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period of 2009-2014 examined by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

In this Nov. 28, 2015 photo, Jeremy Mark, left, and David Beltier, sit with their dogs, Beauty and Princess, near their home in Hillsboro, Ore. In March 2013, Beltier was walking with boyfriend Mark, and their poodle when a man in a truck began yelling homophobic slurs at the pair, got out of his truck and began punching Beltier. The man, leaving at one point to grab a metal tool from the truck and hit Beltier again in the head, was later charged with state and federal hate crimes. Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBI's national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period of 2009-2014 examined by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

FILE - In this June 26, 2011 image made from security surveillance video, people gather in a parking lot next to the Jackson, Miss., street where James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old black man was allegedly run down by a pickup truck driven by Deryl Dedmon, a white teen. Jackson Police did not file any hate crimes information to the FBI between 2009 and 2012, followed by only spotty reporting the next two years. And yet, during that time, state and federal charges were filed in connection with the June 2011 death of Anderson, who was beaten and run over by a truck containing a group of white teenagers, some of whom yelled racial epithets during the assault. (AP Photo)
Patchy reporting undercuts national hate crimes count

BOGALUSA, La. (AP)  The knock on the door, strong and quick, jolted Barbara Hicks Collins awake. Someone must be in trouble, she thought. She flung open her front door to the shocking sight of her car engulfed in flames.

Investigators later determined someone had deliberately set fire to her Mercedes and also tried to burn down the one-story brick house she shared with her mother in this eastern Louisiana town, once known as a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity. Hicks Collins, a black woman, had no doubt the fire  set on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2012  was racially motivated. Her father had been a prominent civil rights leader, and her family remained active in the community.

Despite the circumstances, the case was never counted in the nation's annual tally of hate crimes. In fact, neither the police department nor the local sheriff has filed a hate crime report with the FBI since at least 2009.

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

And that's not unusual, an investigation by The Associated Press found. The AP identified more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff's departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBI's annual crime tally during the past six years  about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Advocates worry that the lack of a comprehensive, annual accounting disguises the extent of bias crimes at a time of heightened racial, religious and ethnic tensions. The nation was stunned last June when nine black parishioners were shot dead at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, and community groups have reported a notable increase in violence against Muslims and mosques in the wake of last year's terror acts in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Gay and transgender people also are regular targets.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 hate crime incidents are catalogued each year in the FBI report, with nearly half of all victims in recent years targeted because of their race.

A better accounting of hate crimes, the FBI and other proponents say, would not only increase awareness but also improve efforts to combat such crimes with more resources for law enforcement training and community outreach.

"We need the reporting to happen," said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. "Without a diagnosis, we don't know how serious the illness is. And without a diagnosis, there is no prescription. And without a prescription, there is no healing."

Filing reports for the federal count is voluntary and guidelines call for reports to be submitted even if they list zero hate crimes, a signal to both the FBI and the community that the agency is paying attention to bias attacks.

FBI Director James Comey has called on all agencies to do a more aggressive job tracking hate crimes, and also has initiated training sessions for hundreds of law enforcement officers nationwide.

Officials with both the Bogalusa Police and the Washington Parish Sheriff's Department said they did not know hate crime information was not being reported and blamed clerical errors. No arrests have been made, and investigators were unable to determine whether the setting of the fires constituted a hate crime.

Under FBI guidelines, an incident should be reported if a "reasonable and prudent" person would conclude a crime was motivated by bias. Among the criteria for evaluation is whether an incident coincided with a significant holiday or date, specifically citing the King holiday.

The AP examined FBI hate crime reports for the years 2009-2014 and matched those against lists of every city and county law enforcement agency in each state, obtained separately from all 50 states.

An analysis revealed that law enforcement reporting is spotty beyond those that never file. For example, thousands of city police and county sheriff's departments  which handle the vast majority of local law enforcement responses and investigations  reported in some years but not others. And, in some cases, departments reported for, say, only one quarter of a year.

Some agencies said they thought they were reporting, even though they were not, and some thought they didn't have to file reports because they hadn't investigated any hate crimes.

"It is the most important data collection initiative, but it is far from complete," said Michael Lieberman, the Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, which has launched a "50 States Against Hate" campaign that includes a call for more robust reporting of bias attacks.

The statistics analyzed by the AP revealed wide disparities in how seriously states take the reporting. Nationwide, there were 16 states in which more than 25 percent of local law enforcement agencies did not appear at all in the FBI hate crime database in the six-year period studied. That included 64 percent of agencies in Mississippi and 59 percent in Louisiana.

Some states clearly made reporting a priority, however. For example, nearly all the roughly 350 local law enforcement agencies in Tennessee routinely filed. Under a state law, they could lose funds for failing to file reports.

One challenge for law enforcement is that investigators looking into hate crimes must gather evidence not only of what happened, but why  which is not always easy to determine.

Serious injuries might indicate an assault. But without clear evidence that the attack was motivated by bias, it can be difficult to make the call.

"In the course of any investigation, there is not always a bright line saying, 'OK, it's a hate crime,'" said Brian Edgell, a supervisor with the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program. "It's really up to their discretion, and we give them the mechanism to report that to us."

___

Associated Press data journalist Michelle Minkoff in Washington, D.C., and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Christina .

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -FILE - In this July 11, 1966 file photo, Robert Hicks, vice president of the Bogalusa Voters League, second from left, and other demonstrators chant as they pass white onlookers upon their arrival in Franklinton, La., concluding a two-day march from Bogalusa, La. Several hundred demonstrators ended the hike with a rally at the courthouse. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, File)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -FILE - In this April 16, 1976 file photo, Bill Wilkinson, state grand dragon of the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan", and armed body guard Johnny Jones, look over the dedication site for a KKK headquarters in Bogalusa, La. The paper mill town was a civil rights hot-spot in the 1960s. (AP Photo, File)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -FILE - In this April 8, 1965 file photo, Robert Hicks, vice president of the Bogalusa Voters League, holds a rifle as he inspects damage to a vehicle belonging to a group of university students that was hit by a passing vehicle while it was parked in front of his home in Bogalusa, La. Hicks said he shot back at the attackers. (AP Photo, File)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -This Jan. 16, 2012 photo shows the burned remains of Barbara Hicks Collins' car in front of her mother's home in Bogalusa, La. The Louisiana Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the incident, which happened in the early morning hours of Martin Luther King Day, as an "intentionally set" fire. Her father, Robert Hicks, was a long time civil rights activist and the family has remained active in civil rights issues. For Hicks Collins, the failure to count the 2012 attack as a hate crime is a painful reminder of the continuing struggle for racial progress. "The more things change," she said, "the more they remain the same." (Marcelle Hanemann/The Bogalusa Daily News Via AP)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, a historic marker is seen from inside the childhood home of Barbara Hicks Collins, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, Barbara Hicks Collins talks of her upbringing, in her childhood home, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this Dec. 11, 2015 photo, an American flag is seen outside the childhood home of Barbara Hicks Collins, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in honor of her father, civil rights activist Robert Hicks, in Bogalusa, La. The home was both the site of mobilization of civil rights activism, and the target of Ku Klux Klan hostility. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER - In this Nov. 28, 2015 photo, Jeremy Mark, right, and David Beltier, walk their dogs, Beauty and Princes, near their home in Hillsboro, Ore. In March 2013, Beltier was walking with boyfriend Mark, and their poodle when a man in a truck began yelling homophobic slurs at the pair, got out of his truck and began punching Beltier. The man, leaving at one point to grab a metal tool from the truck and hit Beltier again in the head, was later charged with state and federal hate crimes. Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBI's national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period of 2009-2014 examined by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER - In this Nov. 28, 2015 photo, Jeremy Mark, left, and David Beltier, sit with their dogs, Beauty and Princess, near their home in Hillsboro, Ore. In March 2013, Beltier was walking with boyfriend Mark, and their poodle when a man in a truck began yelling homophobic slurs at the pair, got out of his truck and began punching Beltier. The man, leaving at one point to grab a metal tool from the truck and hit Beltier again in the head, was later charged with state and federal hate crimes. Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBI's national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period of 2009-2014 examined by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016 AND THEREAFTER -In this June 26, 2011 image made from security surveillance video, people gather in a parking lot next to the Jackson, Miss., street where James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old black man was allegedly run down by a pickup truck driven by Deryl Dedmon, a white teen. Jackson Police did not file any hate crimes information to the FBI between 2009 and 2012, followed by only spotty reporting the next two years. And yet, during that time, state and federal charges were filed in connection with the June 2011 death of Anderson, who was beaten and run over by a truck containing a group of white teenagers, some of whom yelled racial epithets during the assault. (AP Photo)
Spain's ex-PM meets with jailed Venezuelan opposition leader

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Spain's former prime minister met with jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Saturday, the first meeting of its kind in more than two years. The prison visit was part of a high-risk diplomatic effort to defuse Venezuela's escalating crisis.

The meeting between Lopez and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero lasted about 90 minutes, Adriana Lopez, the prisoner's sister, told The Associated Press. She said she didn't know what the two discussed and declined further comment.

It's the first time in more than two years an outside visitor besides Lopez's family or lawyers has met with the combative leader in the military prison outside Caracas where he's being held. In 2015, he was sentenced to nearly 14 years in jail for inciting violence at anti-government protests in proceedings widely condemned as a politically-motivated show trial by the U.S. and human rights groups.

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2016 file photo, supporters of Venezuela's jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez hold posters of him during a protest demanding the release of Lopez and other jailed opposition leaders, on the second anniversary of his imprisonment, in Caracas, Venezuela. Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had a surprise jailhouse meeting with Lopez on June 4, 2016. It's the first time an outside visitor besides Lopez's family or lawyers have met with Lopez in the military prison where he's been held for over two years. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

"We don't know who permitted it or why," Leopoldo Lopez, who shares his son's name, said on Twitter. "All we know is that there was a surprise."

Venezuela's opposition is demanding the release of Lopez and dozens of other activists it considers political prisoners as part of an international mediation effort led by Zapatero and the former presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Last month, the three presided over two days of informal meetings in the Dominican Republic in which they shuttled messages between representatives of the opposition and the government.

One of the government's participants at that meeting, Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodriguez, escorted Zapatero to the jail on Saturday but did not partake in the meeting, according to a source close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was private.

Zapatero has kept quiet about his dealings and many observers believe they are doomed to fail so long as Maduro refuses to yield to the opposition's demands that his government allow to go forward this year a proposed recall referendum on whether to cut short his six-year term.

But Saturday's meeting is likely to give more oxygen to the mediation effort, which has the support of the Obama administration and regional governments and comes as pressure is mounting on the Organization of American States to suspend Venezuela for violating standards of democracy and the rule of law.

Lopez's jailers have in the past turned back attempted visits by the former leaders of Colombia and Chile, as well as legislative delegations for from Brazil and Spain.

Maduro is under pressure to negotiate an end to the stalemate as Venezuelans' frustration with an economic crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and widespread food and medicine shortages grow.

Venezuela's government has yet to comment on the meeting.

___
Leader of Honduras' gay community abducted, murdered

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP)  A leader in Honduras' gay community has been buried several days after he was kidnapped and killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.

Rene Martinez, 39, was a city employee working in anti-violence outreach programs and a rising member of the National Party.

The attorney general's office said in a statement that his body showed signs of having been strangled. No motive for his murder was given.

Martinez's family said in a statement that assailants kidnapped him on Wednesday after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighborhood. He was buried on Saturday.

In a statement Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras condemned his murder and called for a thorough investigation.
Clinton says toddler granddaughter Charlotte cheers her on

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP)  Hillary Clinton says she has had a secret weapon in her debate prep: her 20-month-old granddaughter.

Clinton told a group of women gathered at a campaign event Saturday that her granddaughter, Charlotte, cheered her on before debates at the urging of her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and her son-in-law.

"Before debates they would coach her. Before she could talk, she'd hold up a sign, 'Good luck, Grandma,'" Clinton said, adding that as Charlotte got older she would say the words. "It just lifted my spirits. It was just the best."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton poses for photos with supporters at an event at a restaurant, Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Santa Barbara, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Being grandmother to her is "like falling in love all over again," said Clinton, who said she loves talking over FaceTime. "We'll have a long, sometimes hard day and my phone pops open and there they are."

Clinton joked that her daughter and son-in-law tell her that Charlotte asks for her and "of course I believe it every single time."

Clinton said the family is looking forward to the birth of Charlotte's sibling. Chelsea Clinton, 36, announced in December that she was expecting her second child.

"So we are wondering how this very independent, very assertive little girl, Charlotte, how she's going to adjust to the new baby. That will be our next adventure," Clinton said. "We talk to her about it. She seems to be less interested in that than she does in Elmo and other games and toys."

Chelsea Clinton is married to hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky, the son of former U.S. Rep. Edward Mezvinsky and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky.
In Mongolia, Kerry seeks closer ties with democracy 'oasis'

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP)  Cultivating closer ties in this land of Genghis Khan lore and traditional yurts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday tried his hand at archery, sampled curdled cheese and watched ancient wrestling, all while hailing Mongolia as a modern "oasis of democracy" in its neighborhood.

For Mongolia, sandwiched between undemocratic China and increasingly authoritarian Russia, the desire for deeper relations was mutual.

Kerry's stop in this nation of 3 million people included heaps of praise for its unlikely democratic story. Parliamentary elections next month will be the seventh since 1990, when this vast territory of grassy steppe and nomadic herders shook off its status as a Soviet satellite state.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a joint press conference with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren following their meeting at Foreign Ministry in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Sunday, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

But the top American diplomat also pushed for greater transparency in Mongolia, a sensitive issue given the foreign scramble for its rich resource deposits and questions about how revenue is being shared among the country's many impoverished citizens.

In March, hundreds of protesters gathered for a rare demonstration in the capital's central square, demanding parliament be dissolved and a new government formed. Nevertheless, mining giant Rio Tinto announced last month the next stage of a multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine that had become a symbol of the tension.

The government is expected to finalize a transparency agreement with the U.S. in coming weeks, Kerry said. Doing so, he said, will help attract foreign investment and boost an economy expected to shrink slightly this year amid sinking commodity prices and weakened demand from China.

"Mongolia has made remarkable progress for a young democracy," Kerry told reporters. He credited it for contributing troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, helping even younger democracies in Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in their transitions, and being a "responsible global citizen."

Kerry traveled later Sunday to Beijing for annual U.S.-China strategic and economic talks. And his comments about China in a question-and-answer session, just moments after praising Mongolia, stood in stark contrast.

With reports suggesting China may establish an air defense zone in the contested South China Sea, Kerry warned against what he said would be a "provocative and destabilizing act." Such action would raise tension between China and its Asian neighbors, he said, and undermine China's commitment to diplomatically resolve disputes over islands and maritime claims. The matter is likely to be a major focus of discussions in the next days.

Sunday also included fun and games. After lunching with Mongolia's Harvard-educated president, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Kerry attended a "naadam," a competition with archery, horseback riding and wrestling.

The scene in the verdant fields outside Ulaanbaatar, accompanied by an orchestra playing triumphal music, illustrated Mongolia's rich cultural heritage. The games come from the nomadic tribes which spread from this territory across Asia, the Middle East and Europe, at one point amassing the largest land empire in human history.

First came the wrestling: Men in slips, chest-less tunics and leather boots hurling each other to the ground, while spectators sipped sour-flavored, fermented mare's milk.

Then, Kerry fired two arrows at a target 75 meters away. He missed, but acquitted himself decently. Moments later, horseback riders sprinted to the nearby finish line of their race. The festivals usually last several hours; Sunday's version was condensed to 45 minutes.

Before Kerry, Hillary Clinton visited Mongolia as secretary of state in 2012. Vice President Joe Biden traveled here in 2011 and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stopped by three years later, all to support what the U.S. calls Asia's "plucky democracy."

Wanting to safeguard its sovereignty, Mongolia has been reaching out to Washington as part of its "third neighbor" policy.

The approach is somewhat similar to several southeast Asian nations developing friendlier relations with Washington because they feel threatened by China's rising military and economic might.

Kerry, who announced a $2.5-million democracy program targeting Mongolia's young leaders, said the two countries shouldn't be defined by their geographical separation.

"When it comes to our hopes, our aspirations for our people," Kerry said, "we really couldn't be closer."

US Secretary of State John Kerry samples cheese curds alongside a woman in traditional attire as he disembarks from his airplane upon arrival at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry, alongside US Ambassador to Mongolia Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, walks past a traditional honor guard upon arrival at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry talks with US Embassy staff and family members at the US Ambassador's Residence in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry samples cheese curds alongside a woman in traditional attire as he disembarks from his airplane upon arrival at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry holds up a children's book shown to him by a young boy (C) as he meets with US Embassy staff and family members at the US Ambassador's Residence in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a meeting with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Kerry cautions China on actions in South China Sea

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says China would be committing a provocative and destabilizing act if it establishes an air defense zone in the South China Sea.

Kerry says doing so would raise tensions between China and other Asian countries. He says such an act also would call into question China's commitment to resolving disputes over islands and maritime claims diplomatically.

Kerry says the U.S. doesn't take sides on competing claims. He says no country should move unilaterally to militarize the resource-rich region.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a meeting with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 5, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Son-in-law fights in UFC bout a day after Ali's death

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP)  Muhammad Ali's son-in-law fought to a majority draw in a UFC bout Saturday night, one day after Ali's death.

Kevin Casey, a veteran middleweight mixed martial artist, fought Elvis Mutapcic on the undercard of UFC 199 at the Forum.

"It's a lot to go through before a fight," Casey said to the crowd immediately afterward. "But thank you guys for the support, and God bless my family."

Kevin Casey, top, fights Elvis Mutapcic during UFC 199 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Saturday June 4, 2016. Casey, Muhammad Ali's son-in-law fought to a majority draw in a UFC bout one day after Ali's death. (Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News via AP) NO SALES; MAGS OUT; HILLS OUT, LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT ANTELOPE VALLEY PRESS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

The 34-year-old Casey is married to Hana Ali, the daughter of Ali and his third wife, Veronica Porsche. Hana Ali is the older sister of boxer Laila Ali. Muhammad Ali was married four times and had seven children.

Muhammad Ali also fought at the Forum, beating Ken Norton by split decision in their second meeting in September 1973. Ali got that redemptive victory six months after taking his second career loss when Norton broke Ali's jaw in their first bout in San Diego.

Casey is a native of Inglewood who has been a professional fighter for nine years, the past two in the UFC. He has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Casey looked sharp at times in a grinding bout with Mutapcic, an Iowa-based fighter in his second UFC fight. Casey landed several big shots and gained ground control in the early rounds, but he spent the final minute pinned to the canvas and desperately blocking Mutapcic's blows.

One judge apiece scored the bout 29-28 for each fighter, and a third judged it 28-28.

While Casey's post-fight comments were brief, Mutapcic dedicated his performance to Ali's memory.

"I knew (Casey) was going to be motivated," Mutapcic said. "Muhammad Ali is the greatest of all time, and that's his father-in-law. I feel like Kevin had a little more to prove because he married into the family and he was going to want to make a statement."
Music producer whose long sentence drew outcry is free early

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A Utah music producer who was ordered to 55 years behind bars for bringing guns to marijuana deals has been set free, after 12 years in prison and national outcry over the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that forced a federal judge to impose the lengthy term.

Weldon Angelos, 36, was freed Tuesday. He says he kept his release quiet for a few days because he wanted to spend time with his three teenage children, who were much younger when he was sentenced in 2004 at 24.

"It's amazing," Angelos told KUTV-TV on Friday at his home in Sandy, a Salt Lake City suburb. "I just keep hugging them every time I get a chance."

In this Friday, June 3, 2016 photo, Weldon Angelos, right, holds his son Anthoney in Sandy, Utah. Weldon Angelos, a Utah music producer who was ordered to 55 years behind bars for bringing guns to marijuana deals has been set free, after 12 years in prison and national outcry over the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that forced a federal judge to impose the lengthy term. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) DESERET NEWS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

His lawyer says the prosecutor who charged Angelos was eventually crucial in getting his release.

Angelos founded Extravagant Records in Utah, producing hip-hop and rap music. He had no criminal record before he was convicted of selling $350 worth of marijuana to a police informant three times.

Prosecutors said he was a gang member who carried a gun during two of those deals, though he was not accused of using or showing a weapon. Angelos denied being in a gang and having a firearm, but police found several guns while searching his apartment.

He was convicted in federal court of 16 counts of drug trafficking, weapons possession and money laundering.

The penalty for possessing firearms during a drug transaction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for the first offense and 25 years for each subsequent deal. The federal system does not have parole.

Former federal judge Paul Cassell said he was troubled by the 55-year sentence he was required to hand down.

"I thought the sentence was cruel, unjust, and irrational," Cassell told KUTV. "Everybody in the courtroom knew that was too long for this particular crime."

Cassell, now a law professor, sent a letter to President Barack Obama in February asking him to commute Angelos' sentence. It echoed a similar effort in 2013, when more than 100 high-profile figures petitioned the White House, including an ex-FBI director, prosecutors and celebrities.

In the end, it wasn't Obama that granted clemency. Angelos' lawyer, Mark W. Osler, told The Washington Post that the move for release came from the Salt Lake City prosecutor who charged Angelos in the case.

"After three and half years of inaction on Weldon's clemency petition, he is free because of the fair and good action of a prosecutor," Osler said, according to the Post. "He returns to citizenship because of the actions of one individual  just not the individual I was expecting."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah didn't immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment.

Cassell told KUTV that he hopes for changes in the law "to make sure these kinds of injustices don't occur more frequently."

Meanwhile, Angelos said he's making up lost time with his family and is not sure about his next steps.

"There's just so many things I could do," he told Salt Lake City-based KSTU. "I'm just going to take it easy, and relax for a couple weeks and see what happens."
At the state Republican convention, Doug Burgum presented four areas of government spending he believes need drastic cuts. While spending has grown, Burgums ideas for our health care education system are very concerning.

As an upcoming first-year medical student, Burgum proposing cuts for North Dakotas residency programs hits home. North Dakota recently built a new $124 million medical school and established new in-state residency programs in order to train student physicians to serve the states needs.

After completing medical school, graduates require a 3-plus-year residency training program subsidized by the taxpayers. Considering the age of the persons, it is reasonable to assume that a large amount of new physicians settle down in the place of their residency to build their career.

My question to Burgum: What is the point of investing in a medical school to only later cut residency programs, programs that keep our medical professionals serving the people who paid for their education? North Dakota would be wasting valuable resources in training doctors if they then move to build careers serving other states.

North Dakota is in the midst of a physician shortage. Current projections from the 2015 University of North Dakota Biennial Report include a shortage of 260-360 physicians by 2025. Physician shortages lead to longer waiting periods, decreased health care access and overall lower-quality health care. North Dakotans already wait weeks, if not months, to see a doctor; what will the future hold if there is an even greater shortage?

Investing in classroom education but not residency programs tells me that Burgum is more interested in political posturing rather than common-sense ideas.

Does Burgum believe in this solution? Either he does not care for our states health care, or he has not researched the effects of his proposed spending cuts.

I do not like the sound of either answer.
Tropical Storm Colin forms in Gulf, speeds toward Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Tropical Storm Colin formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday and was speeding on a course to hit Florida on Monday with rains that forecasters said could cause serious flooding along much of the state's Gulf coast.

A large portion of Florida's western and Panhandle coast was already under a tropical storm warning when the National Hurricane Center announced that a quickly moving depression had become a named storm. The center said it is the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basin.

It is the latest in a series of severe weather events across the country, from record-breaking heat in the West, flooding in Texas and storms that are expected to cause problems in the nation's capital and mid-Atlantic region.

Cattle are herded through floodwaters toward higher ground, Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Chenango, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The storm was moving at a speed of about 12 mph (19 kph) and was about 450 miles southwest of Tampa on Sunday night.

"It's going to impact most of the state in some way," Gov. Rick Scott said in a phone interview. "Hopefully we won't have any significant issues here, but we can have some storm surge, some rain, tornados and some flooding."

Scott postponed a political meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump scheduled Monday in New York so he can remain in the state capital to monitor the weather.

Tropical storms carry wind speeds of between 39 mph (63 kph) and 73 mph (117 kph).

Tropical Storm Colin was likely to bring dangerous rainfall levels, and residents were warned about possible flooding and hazardous driving conditions. Rain began falling in the Tampa Bay area just past noon Sunday.

Colin is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches with up to 8 inches possible in western Florida, eastern Georgia, and coastal areas of the Carolinas through Tuesday, forecasters said Sunday.

Scott warned residents not to simply look at the center of the storm, saying the heaviest rain will be to the east and west of it.

The National Weather Service in Mobile issued a flood warning for the Shoal River near Crestview and warned of possible widespread flooding in streams, creeks, and canals. Wind gusts threatened to bring down trees and branches and cause power outages.

The Georgia coast and the north Florida Atlantic coast were placed under a tropical storm watch Sunday evening.

Sand bags were being distributed to residents in St. Petersburg, Tampa and nearby cities.

"We're surrounded on three sides by water," said Pinellas County spokesman Nick Zoller, who said the county distributed 3,300 sand bags on Saturday, a number he expected to go up now that a tropical storm warning is in effect.

Just to the north, Pasco County Emergency Services Director Kevin Guthrie said the message is to be prepared.

"We are going to flood in parts of Pasco County," Guthrie said in an email.

___

TEXAS TRAGEDY

Fort Hood officials have identified the last of nine soldiers who died in Texas floodwaters during a training exercise as a 25-year-old Army specialist from California.

Army officials on Sunday said Spc. Yingming Sun enlisted in 2013 and first arrived at Fort Hood nearly two years ago. He and eight others who were previously identified died when fast-moving waters washed a 2 -ton vehicle from a low-water crossing Thursday.

Three others soldiers survived and have returned to duty.

Heavy and persistent storms the past two weeks have dumped more than a foot of rain in parts of Texas. The rain is expected to diminish this week and dry out areas such as Southeast Texas, where officials gave evacuation order to about 2,000 homes.

___

TAKING AIM AT THE NATION'S CAPITAL

The National Weather Service is warning of an "enhanced" risk of severe storms in the mid-Atlantic region with the possibility of damaging winds.

Sterling, Virginia-based meteorologist Chris Strong says the primary threat in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area is from damaging wind gusts, and there's a lesser threat for tornados.

Wakefield, Virginia-based meteorologist Lyle Alexander says the threat on the Eastern Shore is from winds and more localized heavy rain.

The weather service warns that heavy rain in central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley could mean flooding in areas that received rain Saturday. Flash flood watches are in effect until evening.

Mount Holly, New Jersey-based meteorologist Lance Franck says in Delaware the threat is from high winds and torrential downpours bringing flooding to urban areas and areas with poor drainage.

In New York City, the last day of a music festival that was to include performances by Kanye West and Death Cab for Cutie was canceled because of weather concerns.

___

ARIZONA HEAT

The National Weather Service said Phoenix hit 113 degrees on Sunday, marking the third day in a row setting record high temperatures in Arizona's Urban Heart.

Much of Southern Arizona, from Phoenix to Nogales, is under an excessive heat warning.

Other western and southwestern U.S. states are experiencing above-normal temperatures in the triple-digits.

Officials are warning residents to stay hydrated and avoid the outdoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when temperatures are highest.

___

INDIANA TORNADO

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in eastern Indiana when a weekend storm passed over the area.

The weather service's Wilmington, Ohio, office said Sunday that a tornado with wind speeds of up to 85 mph cut a 1 mile path Saturday near Richmond, Indiana. No one was injured by the EF0 tornado, which is the weakest tornado designation the weather service assigns.

An evacuated Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison surrounded by floodwaters is shown in this aerial view near Lochridge, Texas, Saturday, June 4, 2016. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Horses surrounded by floodwaters are shown in this aerial view Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Rosharon, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A home surrounded by floodwaters is shown in this aerial view Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Holiday Lakes, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A home surrounded by floodwaters is shown in this aerial view Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Richmond, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A home surrounded by floodwaters is shown in this aerial view Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Richmond, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The Brazos River flows out of it's banks Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Simonton, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A man carries a bicycle on his head as he walks through floodwaters Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Holiday Lakes, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A woman walks through floodwaters Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Holiday Lakes, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A man carries a bicycle on his head as he and a woman walk through floodwaters Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Holiday Lakes, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Horses surrounded by floodwaters are shown in this aerial view Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Rosharon, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

A home surrounded by floodwaters is shown in this aerial view, Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Rosharon, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cattle are herded through floodwaters toward higher ground, Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Chenango, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Wife of Bangladesh policeman who battled militants killed

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  At least three men riding a motorbike Sunday killed the wife of a police superintendent who led drives against Islamist militants and drug cartels in southeastern Bangladesh, police said.

Separately, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killing of a Christian man Sunday in northwestern Bangladesh.

Police said they did not know who was responsible for killing the police superintendent's wife, Mahmuda Khanam, but they were not ruling out militant groups, said Iqbal Bahar, the police commissioner in the city of Chittagong, where the attack took place.

The attackers stabbed and shot Khanam in the head as she waited with her son for a school bus, Bahar told reporters.

Khanam's husband, Babul Akter, had led a number of raids against Islamic militant groups, especially the banned outfit Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, Bahar said.

Paritosh Ghosh, a senior police official in Chittagong, said authorities were collecting video footage from closed circuit cameras at the scene.

"We do not rule out involvement of any militant groups or drug cartels," Ghosh said, adding that Akter had led a number of operations against both.

Authorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh say suspected Islamist militants have attacked and killed a number of people in recent years, including atheist bloggers, publishers, teachers and activists, and minority groups and foreigners.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group, but authorities have denied that IS has a presence in the country.

In the other attack on Sunday, unidentified men hacked to death a Christian man in northwestern Bangladesh's Natore district, police said.

Family members found Sunil Gomes lying in a pool of blood after the attack in his grocery shop, which is close to a church and a Christian neighborhood, said Monirul Islam, a local police chief in Natore.

The Islamic State group-linked Amaq News Agency said IS was responsible for the attack.
Gunmen kill Afghan prosecutor, 7 others in courthouse attack

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Taliban gunmen stormed a court building in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor, the latest in a series of insurgent attacks on judicial employees.

The attack began as the prosecutor, Akram Nejat, was addressing a ceremony to introduce him in his new position, said Nesar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai, deputy police chief of Logar province.

A statement from the interior ministry said 21 others, including six police officers, were wounded in the attack on the courthouse in Puli Alim, the provincial capital.

The three attackers were shot dead by Afghan security forces, the statement said.

The Taliban have increasingly targeted the judiciary since the government executed six convicted insurgents last month. The executions signaled a tougher approach to the Taliban after two years of failed government efforts to revive peace talks.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack. In a statement, it said that one of those killed was a junior prosecutor and that three judges were among the wounded. In the statement, the head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom, said he urged "authorities to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions."

"Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted," he said.

In the capital, Kabul, an Afghan lawmaker was killed in a roadside bombing late Sunday afternoon, said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

Sher Wali Wardak was a parliamentarian from Kabul, whose brother Farooq Wardak was a former education minister.

Another 11 people were wounded in the attack, which took place near Wardak's house, Sediqqi said.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)  Criminal gangs in Russia, operating through gay dating sites, have found a lucrative new blackmail target: homosexual men.

A St. Petersburg economist, one of their latest victims, said several men burst into the apartment where he was meeting his date. Claiming that his date was under age, they threatened to call the police and to release a video they had secretly filmed unless he paid up.

The gay rights group Vykhod, or Coming Out, said they registered 12 such attacks in St. Petersburg in 2015 and at least six more gay men have come to them so far this year. LGBT activists believe the real number is far higher and say the attacks have increased in the past two years.

In this Friday, May 27, 2016 photo, visitors relax in a gay nightclub in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Since homosexuality finds little acceptance in Russian society, many gays keep their sexual orientation hidden from their families, friends and co-workers. This makes them easy extortion targets for criminals.

Vykhod spokeswoman Nika Yuryeva said most of the recent attacks have followed the same pattern as the one seen by the St. Petersburg economist.

Alexander Loza, a legal adviser at Positive Dialogue, an organization that provides consulting services for gays, particularly those living with the HIV virus, has heard similar stories.

"Many gay people in Russia lead a double life, unwilling to disclose their sexual orientation to their family or at work," Loza said. "In the case of such setup dates, they are afraid to disclose their status, to be accused of pedophilia, and therefore they are afraid to appeal to the police."

The activists said Russian criminals have been emboldened by a 2013 law that made it a crime to expose children to gay "propaganda," part of a Kremlin-backed effort to defend traditional family values and counter the influence of what it considers a decadent West.

Alexander Zhelezkin, who manages outreach programs at Positive Dialogue, said the law was what made him decide to become a gay activist.

"Now, my coming out is my defense," he said.

For prominent television journalist Anton Krasovsky, however, that move ended his career in Russia. He was fired after he came out on the air in 2013 and hasn't been able to find a job in television since.

Krasovsky said it will be a long time before gays in Russia feel protected enough to speak publicly about their sexual orientation.

"To stop being afraid, they need to begin to trust the state where they live, but they don't trust the state where they live now," he said.

The St. Petersburg economist, however, did go to the police. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity out of fear that his attackers, who know where he lives, would seek retribution if they learned that he had reported them.

The economist, who gave his age as "about 30," said he thought they were lying about his date being a minor. But he said the attackers beat and threatened him  and suggested they had friends in the police force who they said would lock him up on fabricated charges.

He said they demanded more than 100,000 rubles ($1,500). One of them took his bank card and cleaned out his account, and they released him only after he agreed to transfer the balance the next day, he said.

The crime gangs who carry out such attacks are not necessarily anti-gay, but have identified a profitable niche where they feel they can operate with impunity, Loza and Yuryeva said.

The economist agreed.

"They commit these crimes not because they are homophobes  they are simply taking advantage of the situation," knowing that few people would go to the police after such an experience, he said. "I think they are just common criminals who chose this kind of method."

St. Petersburg police spokesman Vyacheslav Stepchenko said he had not heard about these blackmail cases and said he wasn't aware of any anti-gay attacks being registered in the city in recent years.

He offered to check with the specific police station that the economist reported the crime to, but the economist didn't want to draw public attention to his case by disclosing which station it was.

Timur Bulatov, an anti-gay activist who claims to have helped get a number of teachers fired after outing them as homosexuals, said he sees no need to resort to the blackmail used by criminal gangs.

"Why attack a sick person? Such a person needs treatment," he said. "I have a bunch of legal methods to use to influence such a person, to put pressure on him."

Bulatov, who wears camouflage outfits and carries a handgun in a hip holster, said gays are the "enemies" of Russian society and its children, but should be opposed only through legal means.

He said the law banning gay propaganda among minors was intentionally made vague so it can be applied in a wide range of circumstances. The law, for instance, has made it easy to target gay and lesbian teachers in Russia because they work directly with children.

The federal law was modeled on a 2012 St. Petersburg law authored by Vitaly Milonov, a city lawmaker and outspoken opponent of LGBT rights.

"This law is a preventive measure. It was introduced not to punish anyone, but to prevent such public actions as gay parades, because parents in Russia don't want their children to see these things," Milonov told the AP.

Milonov, who has a large portrait of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch on his office wall, said his mission was to promote "normal" families with many children.

"There is no oppression of homosexual people in Russia," he said. "When gay organizations complain of such harassment, they do it in order to get more money from soft-hearted Europeans."

In this Friday, May 27, 2016 photo, visitors talk in a gay club in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Friday, May 27, 2016 photo, visitors watch a show in a gay nightclub in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Friday, May 27, 2016 photo, visitors relax in a gay nightclub in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Alexander Zhelezkin, who manages outreach programs at Positive Dialogue, speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alexander Zhelezkin, from Positive Dialogue, an organization that provides consulting services for gays, particularly those living with HIV/AIDS, said the law was what made him decide to become a gay activist. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Alexander Loza, a legal adviser at Positive Dialogue, an organization that provides consulting services for gays, speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Vitaly Milonov, a member of the city legislature and outspoken opponent of LGBT rights, speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Milonov, who has a large portrait of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch on his office wall, said his mission was to promote normal families with many children. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Vitaly Milonov, a member of the city legislature and outspoken opponent of LGBT rights, speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Milonov, who has a large portrait of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch on his office wall, said his mission was to promote normal families with many children. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this Tuesday, May 24, 2016 photo, gay rights group Vykhod spokeswoman Nika Yuryeva speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Bus crashes into truck in Spain, killing 2, injuring 45

MADRID (AP)  Officials say a bus traveling from Algeciras in southwestern Spain to Madrid has crashed into a stationary truck, killing 2 people and injuring at least 45 others.

The Interior Ministry says the accident happened in the early hours of Sunday when the bus smashed into the truck that had broken down but was not displaying any warning signs.

It says four of those injured in the crash, just south of the city of Montoro, are in serious condition.

Most of those hurt have been transferred for treatment to the Reina Sofia hospital in the nearby city of Cordoba.
Egypt appeals court acquits 33 convicted for April protests

CAIRO (AP)  An Egyptian defense lawyer says a Cairo appeals court has acquitted 33 protesters sentenced to two years in prison for taking part in anti-government demonstrations

Sarah Rabie says Sunday that the court's verdict was issued late the night before.

The 33 are among nearly 300 people arrested for taking part in illegal protests in April over Egypt's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Most have been freed without charges, convicted and later acquitted or released on bail.
Gunfire hits Czech tourist bus in France, 6 injured by glass

PARIS (AP)  Two rounds of gunfire have hit a bus carrying Czech tourists through southeastern France, injuring six passengers.

The prosecutor of Valence, Alex Perrin, says the bus was hit Friday night as it traveled along the A7 highway on its way home from a trip to Spain.

Six of the passengers, which included school children, were slightly injured after being hit by flying glass and one person was seriously hurt.

Perrin told BFM-TV that a first shot hit the front window and a second hit the rear window, shattering both.

There have been no arrests, claims of responsibility or even conjectures about the motive.
Turkey's military says it has killed 27 Kurdish rebels

ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkey's military says its forces have killed 27 Kurdish rebels in Hakkari province near the Turkish border with Iraq and Iran.

In a statement issued Sunday, it said air strikes carried out Friday killed 20 fighters of the Kurdish Worker's Party, or PKK, in Semdinli district.

Another seven PKK fighters were killed during clashes in the same area in southeastern Turkey on Saturday.

Turkish war planes also deployed Saturday to hit PKK targets in the area of Gara in northern Iraq and in Diyarbakir province.

The Turkish state has been locked in conflict with Kurdish fighters since last summer when a 2.5-year truce with the PKK collapsed.
A cloth stained with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral, it has emerged.

German police said a visitor noticed on Sunday that the religious relic had disappeared and alerted a church usher.

The cathedral's provost, Gerd Bachner, lamented the spiritual loss of the item and urged thieves to return it.

A cloth stained with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II (pictured) has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral, it has emerged

'Its material value is small but the spiritual loss is much greater,' Bachner is quoted as saying.

Bachner urged the thieves to 'come to their senses' and return the relic.

A visitor raised the alarm after seeing the cloth was missing from its glass case, which was built to recall a visit by the pontiff to Cologne in November 1980.

German police said a visitor to Cologne cathedral (file picture) noticed on Sunday that the religious relic had disappeared and alerted a church usher

Police later released a picture of the glass with a hole smashed by the thieves.

Detectives assume the theft took place between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Pope John Paul II led the Catholic church from 1978 until his death in 2005.
GRAND FORKS -- The Federal Election Commission has dismissed allegations against North Dakota Republican leaders and a political action committee over foreign campaign contributions that were refunded after Grand Forks Democrats filed a complaint.

The commission reviewed allegations that Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Grand Forks state Sen. Lonnie Laffen received contributions from Canadian businessman Leo Ledohowski in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which bars foreign nationals from making financial donations in connection with federal, state or local elections. Ledohowski is executive chairman of the Winnipeg hotel chain Canad Inns, which has a location in Grand Forks.

In February notifications to Dalrymple and Laffen, the commission said it appeared the contributions from Ledohowski "violated the prohibition on contributions by foreign nationals under the act and commission regulations." Dalrymple accepted $2,500 in 2012, while Laffen received $1,000 in 2010 and $1,945.42 in 2014, according to the complaint.

'Inadvertent'

Both notices note that Dalrymple and Laffen "relied on guidance provided by a state government office that was ultimately incorrect," an apparent reference to the North Dakota Secretary of State's office. They also state that both officials refunded the contributions from Ledohowski last year, shortly after being notified of the complaints.

"Based on the available information, it appears that the violations may have been inadvertent in nature," both notices state. "In light of the fact that the illegal contributions were refunded within the 30-day time period required by commission regulations, further enforcement resources are not warranted in this matter."

Similarly, the ND Oil PAC, the campaign finance arm of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, accepted $500 from Dean Potter, who is a Canadian citizen, in 2014. The PAC ultimately refunded the donation, and the FEC again said further enforcement was "not warranted."

The complaint was filed in April 2015 by Daniel Hinnenkamp, treasurer of the District 43 Democratic-NPL Party. The commission voted in December to dismiss the allegations, according to records on the FEC's website.

"It's too bad the whole incident had to be referred to the FEC, that the people running those persons' campaigns didn't follow the rules in the first place," Hinnenkamp said. "But I'm glad that it's been taken care of."

Dalrymple, who took over as North Dakota governor in 2010, is not seeking re-election this year. Laffen most recently won re-election in 2014 to represent Grand Forks' District 43.

Other complaint, reaction

The FEC found no violations related to another contribution included in the complaint, however.

Dalrymple received a $1,000 contribution from John Pfeffer, who has a London mailing address, in October 2012. Dalrymple responded that he believed Pfeffer was a U.S. citizen, given that the original contribution check shows a Tennessee address.

Pfeffer also confirmed that he is a U.S. citizen, and the FEC said the contribution did not violate federal law.

Al Jaeger, the Republican North Dakota Secretary of State, said last week they will "continue researching the matter to determine whether legislation should be considered in the next session to include the (prohibition) to match the federal rules." He said the FEC made "the right decision in both cases based on the facts."

Laffen reiterated last week that he had checked with the Secretary of State's office, which had said the contributions wouldn't be prohibited under state law. Laffen said he returned the contributions "because we didn't want any issues."

Dalrymple's spokesman, Jeff Zent, said in a brief email the FEC's decision "was the expected outcome."
Chris Christie has Trump's esteem but is scorned at home

TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Gov. Chris Christie had hoped the New Jersey primaries Tuesday would be the day home state voters endorsed his Republican presidential candidacy.

Instead, Christie is at a crossroads  empowered by his early support of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump while struggling to earn approval at home as the state faces financial crises and the continuing George Washington Bridge scandal.

Christie's term ends in 2018, but with that brings the possibility of moving on to an administration post under Trump if the billionaire businessman is successful in November. At the same time, Christie faces hurdles that show no sign of going away soon in New Jersey, where a recent Fairleigh Dickinson poll showed just 26 percent approve of the job he's doing. The poll surveyed 702 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

FILE - In this May 12, 2016, file photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering in a garden constructed over a parking garage at Thomas Edison State University's new Glen Cairn Hall in Trenton, N.J. Christie is at a crossroads  empowered by his early support of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump while struggling to earn approval at home as the state faces financial crises and the continuing George Washington Bridge scandal. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

Experts say the governor's path lies with Trump's success and a possible slot as vice president or attorney general.

"Popularity in New Jersey is really no longer a relevant factor to his political future," said Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray. "Right now, he's all in with Donald Trump."

Christie is chairman of Trump's White House transition team, in charge of recommending staff and about 4,000 agency positions if Trump wins the presidency. Christie also benefited from a Trump fundraiser that went to pay Christie's presidential campaign debt as well as a separate event to pay down the state GOP's debt, stemming from legal fees in the lane-closing scandal.

Two former Christie allies have pleaded not guilty to charges they conspired to shut down lanes of the bridge for political retaliation and another has pleaded guilty. An request by media organizations, including The Associated Press, to have a list released of unindicted co-conspirators in the scheme will be heard by a federal appeals court Monday.

Christie also faces a more than $600 million budget deficit this year because of lower revenues than his administration projected. He is plugging the hole by dipping into the state's surplus and forgoing spending on already-authorized items. Meanwhile, the borrowing authority of the state's fund for transportation spending is set to elapse at the end of the month.

Christie says that kind of pressure has been part of his job since he entered office. His treasurer has a plan for the deficit and he says he will tackle transportation funding with the Democrat-led Legislature now that he has signed a rescue package for cash-strapped Atlantic City.

"I feel pressure every day in this job to get something done," Christie said recently. "And I felt that way from the minute I walked in, and I will feel it until the minute I walk out."

Democrats constantly criticize the governor over his handling of the state's nearly $34 billion budget and are quick to link the lane-closure scandal to Christie, even though he has not been charged and was cleared of any involvement by a review ordered by his administration. But they're also inviting Christie to cut deals over the biggest issues in the state, including transportation funding.

"I don't know what the outcome of Bridgegate is going to be," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a frequent Christie critic who recently took him to task for not stopping to talk to her while they rode on the same train. "I don't know how that ultimately will be decided but he has a chance, and a very limited window, to establish his legacy by helping us solve these really serious problems that have evolved over the last seven years."

Despite the polls and the slow drip of the bridge case, Christie is still an influential, respected figure among New Jersey Republicans. They point to his refusing to agree to Democratic proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and his tackling the public pension, which had been underfunded for years.
Muti returns to La Scala stage for 1st time in 11 years

MILAN (AP)  Riccardo Muti received two standing ovations upon his return to La Scala's stage Sunday after an 11-year absence, not to conduct this time but to discuss his nearly two decades as music director at the fabled opera house.

"Welcome home," someone shouted from the upper tiers.

Muti's last appearance in 2005 was to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in a benefit concert just weeks after abruptly stepping down after 19-years as music director amid backstage turmoil.

A view of "Muti at La Scala" an exhibition set up by La Scala Opera House to honor maestro Riccardo Muti, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, June 5, 2016. La Scala offers some salve to old wounds with an exhibit on the contributions of its long-time music director Riccardo Muti, whose 19-year tenure ended abruptly in 2005 amid backstage turmoil. Curator Lorenzo Arruga said the exhibit is a gesture of gratitude toward the maestro as he turns 75. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

"What I can say is that the return to this room and this audience is reason for great emotion," Muti told the audience, opening a two-hour chat with musical interludes provided by a string ensemble. "Even if I am one who doesn't let his emotions be seen on the outside."

Muti's appearance on the La Scala stage coincided with the opening of an exhibit on his years at La Scala, organized by the new opera house management to salve old wounds. His musical return will come next January, conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he is currently music director.

The conductor grew visibly more comfortable as the evening wore on, giving up his chair to address the audience standing up as he shared anecdotes about the theater and his long, distinguished career.

He recalled when he brought back "La Traviata" to La Scala after an absence of 26 years, describing the premiere as "something that I will never forget, not even on my deathbed."

Many in the orchestra at the time were near retirement and had played the last production of "La Traviata" two decades earlier, Muti said.

When the music started "I saw some musicians with tears in their eyes," he said. "It was incredible to hear how that sound belonged and belongs to this theater."

Critic Lorenzo Arruga, who led the conversation and curated the exhibit in the theater's museum, called the event a "gesture of gratitude toward the maestro."

The exhibit comprises photographs, recordings and videos that show Muti's influence on La Scala.

"The exhibit doesn't want to document his work at La Scala, which is so vast, wide-ranging and important," Arruga said. "We are trying to enlighten the visitor as to why Muti is a great artist and why he is so loved."

Muti's contributions to La Scala included reviving popular masterpieces like Verdi's trilogy of "Rigoletto," ''Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" as well as the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy and Beethoven's nine symphonies, Arruga said.

"Then there is all that is not measurable, like his charisma and imagination," he said.

La Scala spokesman Paolo Besana said the exhibit was requested by general manager Alexandra Pereira and principal conductor Riccardo Chailly "as a moment of reconciliation after many years."

It also reflects Pereira and Chailly's desire to duly recognize all the artists who have helped contribute to La Scala's reputation in the music world, Besana said. He noted that Daniel Barenboim, La Scala's music director from 2011-2014, will conduct La Scala's Philharmonic Orchestra next season.

"We are trying to make regular meetings with artists who did and do make La Scala great," Besana said.

A woman looks at pictures on display at an exhibition set up by La Scala Opera House to honor maestro Riccardo Muti, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, June 5, 2016. La Scala offers some salve to old wounds with an exhibit on the contributions of its long-time music director Riccardo Muti, whose 19-year tenure ended abruptly in 2005 amid backstage turmoil. Curator Lorenzo Arruga said the exhibit is a gesture of gratitude toward the maestro as he turns 75. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Pictures are displayed at an exhibition set up by La Scala Opera House to honor maestro Riccardo Muti, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, June 5, 2016. La Scala offers some salve to old wounds with an exhibit on the contributions of its long-time music director Riccardo Muti, whose 19-year tenure ended abruptly in 2005 amid backstage turmoil. Curator Lorenzo Arruga said the exhibit is a gesture of gratitude toward the maestro as he turns 75. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
The Latest: Partial results give slim lead to Kuczynski

LIMA, Peru (AP)  The Latest on Peru's presidential election (all times local):

21:10

Preliminary official results in Peru's presidential election point to a razor-thin advantage for a former World Bank economist over the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

Supporters of presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski celebrate in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Early exit polls show presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski with a slight lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori in Peru's runoff presidential election. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

With 36 percent of voting acts counted, Peru's electoral authority says Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had 50.6 of the votes cast Sunday, compared with 49.4 percent for his rival Keiko Fujimori. Two quick counts by local pollsters show Kuczynski winning by around 1 percentage point, which is still within their margin of error.

Fujimori won the first round of voting in April by nearly 20 percentage points but has seen her strong lead in opinion polls disappear in the final stretch as a string of scandals inside her Popular Force party have underscored voter fears that her victory would revive the corruption and criminality associated with her father's authoritarian rule in the 1990s.

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20:25

Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori is putting on a brave face, despite two quick counts of the vote that suggest she was trailing, dancing to her campaign theme song on a flat-bed truck and telling supporters to await official results expected later Sunday.

"We're going to wait with prudence because all night votes will be coming in from the provinces, from abroad and from the rural voters of deep Peru," she said. "This is a tight result without a doubt."

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19:40

If Pedro Pablo Kuczynski prevails in Peru's presidential runoff, at age 77 he would the country's oldest president at the time of taking office.

He wouldn't be the oldest Latin American head of state at the time of taking office, however. At least three regional strongmen have taken office later in life although none of them for the first time. Among them are Juan Domingo Peron who occupied Argentina's presidency for the second time at age 78 and the Dominican Republic's Joaquin Balaguer who took office for the third time at 80.

(This entry is corrected to reflect that at least three, not just one, Latin American president took office at an older age than Peru's Kuczynski).

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18:50

Quick counts of ballots predict a razor-thin result in Peru's presidential election with a former World Bank economist apparently enjoying a slight edge over the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

Local pollster Ipsos-Apoyo says Pedro Pablo Kuczynski would get about 50.5 percent of the votes cast Sunday, compared with 49.5 percent for his rival Keiko Fujimori. Another quick count by GfK showed Kuczysnki winning by a slightly larger margin.

But both results are within the polls' margins for error of plus or minus 1 percentage point, meaning it is still too close to call.

Official results weren't expected until after 9 p.m. local time.

Fujimori won the first round of voting in April by nearly 20 percentage points but has seen her strong lead in opinion polls disappear in the final stretch as a string of scandals inside her Popular Force party have underscored voter fears that her victory would revive the corruption and criminality associated with her father's authoritarian rule in the 1990s.

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16:05

Two exit polls show that a former World Bank economist looks likely to eke out a slim victory over the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori in Peru's presidential runoff

Local pollster Ipsos-Apoyo says Pedro Pablo Kuczynski would get about 50.4 percent of the votes cast Sunday, compared with 49.6 percent for his rival Keiko Fujimori.

A survey by pollster Gfk showed Kuczynski winning by more than 2 points while a third poll gave Fujimori a small victory.

Official results weren't expected until after 9 p.m. local time.

Fujimori won the first round of voting in April by nearly 20 percentage points but has seen her strong lead in opinion polls disappear in the final stretch as a string of scandals inside her Popular Force party have underscored voter fears that her victory would revive the corruption and criminality associated with her father's authoritarian rule in the 1990s.

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11:10

Both presidential candidates have had breakfast with supporters in what's become an election-day tradition in Peru.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and wife Nancy Lange came to a home in a working-class district in the capital and urged voters to consider what's at stake for Peru's democracy.

Keiko Fujimori ate at a rural-themed restaurant in Lima, accompanied by her husband Mark Villanella and their two children. She urged Sunday's voters not to be afraid amid a last-minute push by Kuczynski to associate his rival with the crimes of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori.

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10:55 a.m.

President Ollanta Humala is celebrating a new benchmark in Peru's democracy as he casts his ballot in Sunday's presidential election.

He says his successor will be the fourth straight democratically elected president. That's a feat Peru hasn't seen since its independence from Spain in the early 19th century.

Humala leaves office besieged by allegations of corruption and with low approval ratings that prevented him from having a chosen successor elected. Peru does not allow immediate re-election.

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10:40 a.m.

Regardless of who wins today's election, Peru's next first spouse will be an American.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski met his wife Nancy Lange while working in the U.S. and they managed a private equity fund together in Miami. Lange is a relative of Hollywood actress Jessica Lange.

Keiko Fujimori met her husband Mark Villanella while studying abroad in the U.S. after she had already served as Peru's first lady following her parents' divorce. For a while, he was working as a consultant to IBM in Peru.

Both Lange and Villanella are considered close advisers to the candidates but have assumed a low profile on the campaign trail.

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8:45 a.m.

Voting is just getting underway in Peru, but some of the 3 million Peruvians living abroad have already cast ballots.

Around 885,000 Peruvians are eligible to vote abroad, representing about 3.8 percent of the electorate. If the results are close and turnout abroad is high, ballots cast in the 234 voting stations at embassies and consulates worldwide could prove decisive.

Both candidates spent money courting Peruvians abroad and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski even traveled to the United States for a campaign event in Paterson, New Jersey. More than 500,000 Peruvians live in the U.S.

Keiko Fujimori is counting on strong support among the roughly 50,000 Peruvians living in Japan, many of them like her descendants of immigrants to Peru. Her father, Alberto Fujimori, fled to Japan at the end of his turbulent presidency in the 1990s and is still a revered figure in the Asian country.

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8:00 a.m.

Polls are open in Peru's presidential election. Around 23 million people are eligible to vote at over 5,000 polling stations spread across the country.

Voting is mandatory in Peru about 10 percent of voters usually cast blank or destroyed ballots to express their disregard for the process.

Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori greets supporters after presidential runoff election at a hotel, in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Early exit polls show presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski with a slight lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori in Peru's runoff presidential election. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski celebrates from the balcony of his house next to his first vice presidential candidate Mercedez Araoz, left, and his wife Nancy Lange in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Early exit polls show presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski with a slight lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori in Peru's runoff presidential election. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the "Peruanos por el Kambio" political party dances with a supporter during a breakfast before casting his ballot in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Peru is holding a runoff presidential election between Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru's former strongman. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

A man searches for his voting station number, as he holds a baby, during presidential runoff election in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Peru is holding a runoff presidential election between economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru's former strongman. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

The word "Keiko" is painted on a wall, top left, in support of presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, in the Villa el Salvador district of Lima, Peru, Saturday, June 4, 2016. The South American country is gearing up for a tight June 5th runoff between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, and former World Bank economist Pedro Kuczynski. The sign at bottom right reads in Spanish "Christ resurrected." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Men exercise in the Lurin district of Lima, Peru, Saturday, June 4, 2016. The South American country is gearing up for a tight June 5th runoff between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, and former World Bank economist Pedro Kuczynski. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

People wait at a bus stop covered with posters of presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, in the Villa el Salvador district of Lima, Peru, Saturday, June 4, 2016. The South American country is gearing up for a tight June 5th runoff between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, and former World Bank economist Pedro Kuczynski. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Electoral workers carry voting boxes to a polling station in Lima, Peru, Saturday, June 4, 2016. The South American country is gearing up for a tight June 5th runoff between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, and former World Bank economist Pedro Kuczynski. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the "Peruanos por el Kambio" political party waves supporters as he arrives at a breakfast before casting his ballot in Lima, Peru, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Peru is holding a runoff presidential election between Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru's former strongman. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
Protests in Turkey against lifting of lawmakers' immunity

ISTANBUL (AP)  Thousands of people participated in rallies organized by a pro-Kurdish, opposition party on Sunday to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament.

More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Istanbul and around 3,000 others convened in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in protests organized by the People's Democratic Party, or HDP. Demonstrations in other cities were banned by authorities.

Last month, Turkey's parliament approved amendments to the constitution that clear the way for the prosecution of nearly 140 legislators, many of them from the People's Democratic Party, or HDP.

"In the coming days our trial is going to start," HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said in Istanbul. "We aren't afraid to be on trial, but it is our right to expect to be judged by a real judicial authority. Is there something like that? There is not."

The amendment was proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party after Turkey's president accused the HDP of being an arm of outlawed Kurdish rebels and demanded their prosecution on terror-related charges.

Demirtas said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was still seeking revenge for HDP's electoral win in June last year, when the party secured enough votes to enter parliament.

"This is why he is using the tanks, panzers, and cannons in a merciless way against the crowds," he said in reference to a series of large-scale security operations in southeast Turkey.

Demirtas also attended the demonstration in Diyarbakir later in the day. The gathering was timed to mark the anniversary of a bombing in the southeastern city that killed two people and injured scores of others during an HDP rally before last year's general election.

The Turkish state has been locked in renewed conflict with Kurdish fighters since last summer when a 2 -year truce with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, collapsed. Kurdish rebels have set up trenches, barricades and explosives to keep the authorities out of areas where they want autonomy.

Turkey and its Western allies consider the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, a terrorist organization.

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Fire and explosion at Sri Lankan army camp kills 1 soldier

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  A fire that set off explosions and killed a soldier at an army camp near Sri Lanka's capital has been put out, officials said Monday.

Military spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera said soldiers had doused the fire, and that although small blasts were still happening they "are not harmful and are happening inside the ammunition dump of the camp."

The fire broke out Sunday night at the Salawa army camp about 22 miles (35 kilometers) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. The fire later spread to an ammunition dump, setting off explosions.

One other soldier was injured, and authorities evacuated thousands of people in the area. Jayaweera said authorities were allowing people to return to their homes, but those living within one kilometer (half a mile) of the camp would have to wait until soldiers check and clear the area.

Jayaweera said it was not known what caused the fire, adding the total cost of the damage was not yet known.

Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayake said the fire started at a small arms depot and then had spread to other depots where heavy weapons, such as artillery shells, were stored.
The Latest: Sanders avoids mention of Puerto Rico outcome

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on the presidential campaign, with Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders holding events Sunday in California and Democrats in Puerto Rico voting in the party's primary (all times Eastern Daylight Time):

11:10 p.m.

Bernie Sanders is making no mention of the outcome of Puerto Rico's Democratic primary, but says the party's leaders should notice the "energy and grassroots activism" surrounding his campaign.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., campaigns in Huntington Park, Calif., Saturday, June 4, 2016. (Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via AP)

Hillary Clinton won a decisive victory in Puerto Rico on Sunday, putting her within striking distance of capturing her party's nomination.

Sanders is seeking an upset in Tuesday's California primary. He said at a Sunday evening rally in San Diego that Democratic leaders should realize his campaign has the energy to win in the fall, not Clinton.

He pointed out that pro-Clinton super PACs have received millions from Wall Street, telling supporters, "we have got to take on Wall Street, not take their money."

10:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is rapidly approaching the Democratic nomination and pledging to take the fight to Donald Trump in a general election.

Clinton has appeared at a raucous rally in Sacramento Sunday night, addressing more than 1,200 supporters. She has made clear she expects to be the Democratic nominee, though she did not celebrate her win in the Puerto Rico primary. Instead, she focused her fire on presumptive Republican opponent Trump.

Clinton says: "We're going to have a very contentious campaign because I'm going to point out at every single moment that I can, why I believe the Republican nominee should never get near the White House."

The former secretary of state drew huge applause when she mentioned her recent foreign policy speech slamming Trump. She says Trump was not "qualified or temperamentally fit" to be president or commander in chief.

She's urging voters to come out for Tuesday's primary. Clinton says she wants to "finish strong in California. It means the world to me."

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9:45 p.m.

Hillary Clinton has overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico's Democratic primary, putting her within striking distance of having enough delegates to capture the Democratic presidential nomination.

While Puerto Ricans don't cast ballots in the November election, their voice could be decisive.

After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the U.S. territory, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination.

That's according to an Associated Press count.

But the Democratic race wasn't on the minds many voters in Puerto Rico, who instead said they were focused instead on the island's economic crisis and opposition to a proposed federal control board to oversee the territory's $70 billion in debt.

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9:01 p.m.

Expected clerical issues and the hand counting of ballots are slowing the announcement of results of the Democratic presidential primary in Puerto Rico.

Polls closed on the island at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Six hours later, only a small fraction of the vote had been tallied. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton led Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by a 2-to-1 margin in those early returns.

Kenneth McClintock is Puerto Rico's former Democratic National Committeeman. He says election officials on the island are focused first on releasing results in the island's local races.

Those results are being counted electronically for the first time, while the presidential results are tallied by hand.

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7:56 p.m.

No visits to burger joints or shaking hands at the beach for Hillary Clinton in California.

The former secretary of state spent Sunday afternoon in a somber policy conversation with community leaders in Vallejo, one of a number of such talks she's been holding in California before the state's Tuesday primary.

Clinton discussed criminal justice reform, education and health care with a few dozen people crowded into Vallejo's Good Day Cafe.

She told the crowd that she valued listening as much as talking, saying: "I do think it's important to hear from people directly."

Clinton stressed that it was important to work together to improve communities, saying "too many people are retreating or are protesting. We've got to hit the sweet spot in the middle where people roll up their sleeves."

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5:54 p.m.

Bernie Sanders is looking for votes on the Santa Monica Pier, even taking his grandchildren for a ride on the pier's carousel.

Sanders shook hands and stopped for photos during a stroll of more than an hour Sunday along the shops, restaurants and amusement park rides of the California landmark. The Vermont senator reminded voters about the state's California primary, urging them to vote.

Sanders stopped by a charity "Pedal on the Pier" fundraiser, telling people riding on stationary bikes that the U.S. should have "an economy that works for all people, not just the one percent."

Sanders and his wife, Jane, wrapped up the excursion by standing alongside grandchildren Dylan and Ella Driscoll as the kids sat atop horses and rode on the Santa Monica Carousel.

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4 p.m.

Bernie Sanders is pressing his case and surprising diners during drop-ins at trendy West Hollywood restaurants.

Sanders apologized at Hamburger Mary's as disco lights swirled inside.

California's presidential primaries are Tuesday and the Vermont senator is campaigning aggressively to deny Democratic rival Hillary Clinton an important victory in the state. Sanders told diners he hopes everyone will make clear with their votes on Tuesday that the time for establishment politics and establishment economics has passed.

Says Sanders: "We need real change in this country."

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3 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is pledging to challenge the gun lobby as she opens another California campaign day at an Oakland church.

Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at Greater St. Paul Baptist Church that the country is "getting indifferent to the great toll of gun violence."

The former secretary of state is closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination and has been campaigning aggressively to win California, which votes Tuesday.

She's also been drawing an enthusiastic response for a recent speech slamming Republican Donald Trump's foreign policy.

Clinton did not mention Trump or Democratic rival Bernie Sanders at the church. She recalled a summer interning at an Oakland law firm in 1971 when she and Bill Clinton were first dating, along with some "really wonderful memories."

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11:40 am.

Puerto Ricans frustrated by the island's economic crisis are voting in the U.S. territory's Democratic presidential primary, as front-runner Hillary Clinton drew closer to securing the number of delegates needed to win her party's nomination.

A blowout win Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands left Clinton just 60 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination.

Sixty pledged delegates are at stake in Puerto Rico. Clinton would need to win more than 85 percent of the vote to get them all.

Voters were mainly focused on the island's economic crisis.

Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders visited Puerto Rico and pledged help as it seeks to restructure $70 billion worth of public debt that the governor has said is unpayable.

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10:30 a.m.

Donald Trump says "it's possible" he wouldn't be treated fairly if the federal judge hearing a lawsuit against Trump University was Muslim.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has called for banning Muslims from entering the United States.

Trump responds "it's possible, yes," when asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether he'd feel a Muslim judge would treat him unfairly because of his policies.

Trump has also proposed building a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico. He's been arguing that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing the case, is biased against Trump because of the border proposal and the judge's heritage.

Curiel is an Indiana native whose parents are Mexican.

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9:45 a.m.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Donald Trump's criticism of a federal judge hearing a lawsuit against Trump University is one of the candidate's "worst mistakes" and is "inexcusable."

Gingrich is declining on "Fox News Sunday" to accuse the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of racism.

But Gingrich says Trump has to recognize that he's now the "potential leader" of the U.S. and should move his game to a new level.

Trump has proposed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And he argues that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has a conflict of interest in the legal case because of the judge's heritage and because of Trump's border plan.

Curiel is a native of Indiana whose parents emigrated from Mexico.

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9 a.m.

Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump "doesn't really have ideas" but "makes bizarre rants and engages in personal feuds and outright lies."

Clinton is likely to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination in the next few days, and she's taking direct aim at Trump as she tries to move past challenger Bernie Sanders.

She tells ABC's "This Week" that people around the world aren't used to seeing an American presidential candidate who's "so loose with the truth, so divisive."

Clinton is just 60 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to advance to the November general election, according to The Associated Press' count. Puerto Rico holds its primary Sunday and 60 delegates are at stake.

On Tuesday, six states  including New Jersey and California  vote, with 694 delegates up for grabs.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., campaigns in Huntington Park, Calif., Saturday, June 4, 2016. (Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Greater St. Paul Church, Sunday, June 5, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Puerto Rico residents line up to vote during the U.S. territory's Democratic primary election at the Luis Llorens Torres Elementary School in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday June 5, 2016 . Puerto Ricans frustrated by island's economic crisis are voting in the U.S. territory's Democratic presidential primary, as front-runner Hillary Clinton draws closer to securing the number of delegates needed to win her party's nomination. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)
6 dead in armed attack in northern Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (AP)  Six people are reported to have died in armed attacks on gun shops and a military base in Kazakhstan's city of Aktobe, including three of the attackers.

The Interfax news agency cited a spokesman for the Kazakh Interior Ministry, Almas Sadubayev, as saying the attackers were believed to be followers of "nontraditional religious tendencies," a phrase that often refers to radical Islam.

Reports cited Sadubayev as saying the attackers targeted two gun stores and a National Guard base on Sunday afternoon in the city in Kazakhstan's northwest, about 1,400 kilometers (875 miles) southeast of Moscow.
A battle royal shaping up for open Senate seat in Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP)  In a state where the politics can be as raucous as the casinos, the race for U.S. Senate in Nevada is shaping up as a battle royal.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's retirement after three decades has created a rare open seat that offers Republicans their one real shot at winning a state now held by the Democrats. With their slim Senate majority under siege around the country, Republicans are determined to replace Reid with one of their own, Rep. Joe Heck, a wonkish and hard-working Army reservist.

But the canny Reid is just as intent on installing a Democrat to replace him. He recruited a former state attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto, who would be the first Latina ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. Her candidacy is giving the state's increasingly powerful and overwhelmingly Democratic Latino voting bloc an opportunity to send a message to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is sowing fear and anger in their community with his threats to build a wall with Mexico and deport more than 11 million immigrants who are in the country illegally.

In this May 31, 2016, photo, U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto applies a sticker to her jacket after voting at an early voting site in Las Vegas. A former state attorney general, Masto, would be the first Latina ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/John Locher)

With special interest money already gushing into the race, the dynamics make for a super-charged throw-down in this state of bright lights and wild contradictions.

"It's not lost on either side of the aisle that the Senate majority in 2017 could very well come down to this race," Heck said in an interview in his clean and orderly campaign office. As volunteers worked the phones, Heck professed confidence, saying he has won three competitive races for his Southern Nevada House seat and insisted he would do it again for Senate.

"After eight years of Barack Obama and 30 years of Harry Reid people are truly ready for a change, especially in a place like Nevada where we're still bouncing along the bottom in economic recovery," Heck said.

Campaigning at El Tarasco Mexican restaurant, where colorful offerings included rose petal ice cream, Cortez Masto played up a different kind of change. She emphasized her Mexican roots, reminding supporters her grandfather emigrated from Chihuahua and she and her sister were the first in their family to graduate from college. In an interview, she was quick to link Heck to Trump.

"It is crazy to me that in this day and age we're having this discussion about electing somebody who is full of hate and discrimination," Cortez Masto said. "I have an opponent I'm running against, Congressman Heck, who is supporting him."

It's a line of attack that figures to be a staple of Democratic Senate campaigns around the country this year. In Nevada, Democrats are sending two people in parrot costumes and Trump hats to follow Heck around, intending to suggest he parrots Trump's views. Despite blistering heat topping 100 degrees, the parrots jumped up and down outside a Hyundai dealership where Heck was campaigning one recent afternoon, before getting escorted off the lot.

Heck insisted such attacks won't work.

"People know who Joe Heck is," he said. "This idea of identity politics or guilt by association, I think the electorate is smarter than that."

If Heck faces a challenge in being linked to Trump, Cortez Masto is confronting something similar in her connections to Reid, who is closely involved in her campaign and has put his still-formidable political machine behind her. Reid, 76, is a polarizing figure in the state, beloved by many Democrats but loathed by Republicans.

Cortez Masto, a cautious campaigner who has not previously faced a highly competitive race, is quick to change the topic when asked about him.

"Sen. Reid's not on the ballot, and to me this is a race I'm focused on about the issues that people in my state, where I was born and raised, care about, because I will be representing them in Washington, not Sen. Reid," Cortez Masto said.

Yet for both candidates in Nevada, as in other states with competitive Senate races, the outcome will depend partly on something they can't control: how the presidential race plays out between Trump and the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Republicans are optimistic Trump could win Nevada, but the state has gone Democratic in the past two presidential elections. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by some 65,000 voters, a figure Democrats and labor unions are working hard to increase even more.

With Trump as their nominee, Republicans face the prospect of record Latino turnout. Activists point to increased voter registrations and citizenship applications as evidence Latinos are lining up to prevent Trump from becoming president.

"Heck is doomed," Reid himself predicted when asked about the impact of the Latino vote.

After greeting supporters at El Tarasco restaurant on a recent afternoon, Cortez Masto headed across the street to an early-voting site where a life-size Elvis Presley cutout beckoned voters to the polls ahead of the state's June 14 congressional primary.

Neither Cortez Masto nor Heck faces serious opposition in the primary, though in a taste of Nevada's colorful politics one of Heck's opponents is a hard-core conservative named Sharron Angle. She lost a winnable Senate race against Reid six years ago after a series of gaffes, including telling Latino school-children they looked like Asians. Angle doesn't appear to have much money or support this time around, but she recently produced an ad depicting herself as a tiger and Heck as a bunny rabbit, and showing herself gripping Trump's hand.

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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ericawerner

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., speaks during a roundtable event in Henderson, Nev. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reids retirement has created a rare open seat that offers Republicans their one real shot at winning a state now held by the Democrats. With their slim Senate majority under siege around the country, Republicans are determined to replace Reid with one of their own, Heck, a wonkish and hard-working Army reservist. (AP Photo/David Becker)

In this May 31, 2016, photo, U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto votes at an early voting site in Las Vegas. A battle royal is shaping up in Nevada over the open Senate seat created by the retirement of Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. (AP Photo/John Locher)

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, right, R-Nev., looks on as others speak at a cost-of-living adjustment bill introduction event in Henderson, Nev. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reids retirement has created a rare open seat that offers Republicans their one real shot at winning a state now held by the Democrats. With their slim Senate majority under siege around the country, Republicans are determined to replace Reid with one of their own, Heck, a wonkish and hard-working Army reservist. (AP Photo/David Becker)

In this May 31, 2016, photo, signs for U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto sit on a table during a campaign event at a restaurant in Las Vegas. A battle royal is shaping up in Nevada over the open Senate seat created by the retirement of Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. (AP Photo/John Locher)

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, left, R-Nev., speaks with Dr. Daliah Wachsa after a roundtable event in Henderson, Nev. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reids retirement has created a rare open seat that offers Republicans their one real shot at winning a state now held by the Democrats. With their slim Senate majority under siege around the country, Republicans are determined to replace Reid with one of their own, Heck, a wonkish and hard-working Army reservist. (AP Photo/David Becker)

In this May 31, 2016, photo, U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, center, laughs while speaking with people at a campaign event at a restaurant in Las Vegas. A battle royal is shaping up in Nevada over the open Senate seat created by the retirement of Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. A former state attorney general, Masto, would be the first Latina ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/John Locher)

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., speaks at a cost-of-living adjustment bill introduction event in Henderson, Nev. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reids retirement has created a rare open seat that offers Republicans their one real shot at winning a state now held by the Democrats. With their slim Senate majority under siege around the country, Republicans are determined to replace Reid with one of their own, Heck, a wonkish and hard-working Army reservist. (AP Photo/David Becker)

In this May 31, 2016, photo, U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, left, meets with people at a campaign event at a restaurant in Las Vegas. A former state attorney general, Masto, would be the first Latina ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Austria suggests interning migrants on Greek islands

BERLIN (AP)  Austria's foreign minister is proposing interning migrants on Greek islands.

In a newspaper interview, Sebastian Kurz says Europe could copy Australia's model of intercepting migrant boats offshore  either sending them back or keeping them in island camps until their asylum claims have been processed.

Human rights groups have criticized the practice as inhumane and a breach of international law.

Migrants sit on the dock after disembarking from the Clipper Hebe, the ship that rescued them, upon arrival at the port of Augusta, on the island of Sicily, Italy, Saturday, June 4, 2016. The Norwegian tanker carrying 221 migrants who survived a shipwreck Friday arrived at the Italian port on the island of Sicily with the body of a migrant who drowned in Friday's shipwreck of a smuggling boat that sank in the southern Mediterranean Sea. The human trafficking route from North Africa to southern Europe has claimed the lives of over 1,000 migrants in the last two weeks. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Kurz told Austrian newspaper Die Presse in an interview published Sunday that "of course the Australian model can't be copied one-to-one, but the basic principle can be applied to Europe too."
Latest: Evacuations ending for Southern California wildfire

CALABASAS, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on a Southern California wildfire (all times local):

All evacuations have been called off for homes in the hills northwest of Los Angeles after a day of major progress on a wildfire.

The fire near the wealthy and semi-rural enclave of Calabasas is 80 percent contained early Sunday evening  up from 30 percent at daybreak.

Firefighters douse a brush in the foothills outside of Calabasas, Calif. on Saturday, June 4, 2016. A fast-moving brush fire sweeping through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles has damaged homes and prompted neighborhood evacuations. Los Angeles County fire officials now say the brushfire is threatening about 3,000 homes in the Calabasas neighborhood. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Most evacuations, including all of those called for in Calabasas, had already been canceled.

Los Angeles County fire officials said at a briefing that evacuees from nearby Topanga would be allowed to return starting at 6 p.m.

Sheriff's officials said an estimated 3,000 homes were threatened and about 5,000 residents were evacuated at the fire's height Saturday.

Temperatures on Sunday hovered in the mid-80s  down from more than 100 degrees a day earlier.

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3 p.m.

Crews working in steep canyons took advantage of cooler temperatures and calmer winds as they held back a brush fire that drove residents from homes in the hills northwest of Los Angeles.

Officials say the fire near the wealthy and semi-rural enclave of Calabasas is 75 percent contained Sunday afternoon  up from 30 percent at daybreak.

Firefighters used water-dropping aircraft to attack the eastern and southern flanks, keeping the blaze at just over 500 acres.

Residents of Calabasas were allowed back into their homes, but evacuation orders remain in parts of nearby Topanga.

Sheriff's officials said an estimated 3,000 homes were threatened and about 5,000 residents were evacuated at the fire's height Saturday. Three homes sustained minor damage.

Temperatures on Sunday hovered in the mid-80s  down from more than 100 degrees a day earlier.

____

1:45 p.m.

Officials say a Los Angeles County fire that has charred more than 500 acres of dry brush and driven residents from their homes is contributing to poor air quality.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory Sunday for the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Residents are warned that air quality could reach unhealthy levels and are urged to avoid outdoor activities.

Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, the county's interim health officer, says areas where there is visible smoke, soot or ash, or even the odor of smoke, could be dangerous for some people.

The blaze in the rugged hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles is 30 percent contained. Residents of Calabasas have been allowed to return home, but evacuation orders remain in the Topanga area.

___

8:10 a.m.

Authorities lifted some evacuation orders after crews working through the night protected homes and held a brush fire in the populated hills northwest of Los Angeles to just over 500 acres  but serious challenges remain.

Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp says firefighters hope to get the eastern and southern flanks of the blaze surrounded before temperatures soar again Sunday. Tripp says hot, dry conditions a day earlier led to spot fires that had crews scrambling.

The fire is 30 percent contained and residents of Calabasas are being allowed back into their homes, which may be without electricity. Evacuation orders remain in the hilly enclave of Topanga.

Sheriff's officials said some 3,000 homes were threatened and about 5,000 residents were evacuated at the fire's height Saturday. Three homes sustained minor damage.

Firefighters approach a brush fire in the foothills outside of Calabasas, Calif. on Saturday, June 4, 2016. A fast-moving brush fire sweeping through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles has damaged homes and prompted neighborhood evacuations. Los Angeles County fire officials now say the brushfire is threatening about 3,000 homes in the Calabasas neighborhood. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
BOTTINEAU  May 19 was more than Virgil T. Olson's 90th birthday. The longtime pilot and aircraft mechanic from Westhope also received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award and Charles Taylor Master Mechanic award for 50 years of safe operations in aviation.

The prestigious Federal Aviation Administration awards were presented to Olson by Jay Flowers, Fargo, FAASTeam (FAA Safety Team) program manager, at the Good Samaritan Center in Bottineau.

Olson has also donated his homebuilt Piel Emeraude aircraft to the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot as a permanent asset, the Minot Daily News reported.

Olson began his life as a licensed pilot as World War II was coming to an end, according to retired Air Force Lt. Col. Leo D. Jostad of Bottineau. Jostad nominated Olson for the awards. Olson soloed at Minot in a 65 hp T-Craft Sept. 9, 1945.

About two years later in May 1947, Olson received his airframe mechanics certification, according to Jostad.

Having a pilot's license came in real handy for Olson during the winter of 1948-1949, the year of the big snow when Emergency Flight support operations lasted 66 days or longer.

According to Jostad, military and airline personnel flew large aircraft for Operation Haylift. Small private planes with skis flew mercy missions during what was called the Grasshopper Brigade.

"They flew mail, medicine, food, coal, hay, doctors and ambulance flights, or whatever needed delivering. Virgil was one of many 'grasshopper' pilots that operated in the Westhope-Bottineau area. During one of his usual drops, the stranded residents moved the drop target closer to the front of the house for ease of retrieval. While circling, he noticed one of the boys open the front door and, with a flourish, point at it. Jokingly of course! Well, Virgil delivered! The tightly bound package hit the hardened snowdrift close to target, bounced, and came to rest on the front room carpet. You guessed it the window through which it arrived had not been opened. The residents did not mind a bit they got their supplies. Often, he flew morning till dark and during January-February totaled 288 hours in 59 days." For the missions Olson flew an 85 hp Cessna 140 with skis.

Ten or so years later, in 1960-1961, Olson built and flew a gyrocopter. When he wasn't satisfied with his craftsmanship, he cut it up and built a second one. It flew better but there was a problem with overheating the McCullogh drone engine, Jostad said in his nomination letter. "Being a pragmatic Norwegian mechanic, he donned hat, mitts, botts and goggles, put skis on the wheels, and flew only during the N.D. wintertime. Problem solved," Jostad wrote.

Olson, his wife Ada Marie and her mother spent time in the 1960-1970s slowly and persistently building an all wood French-designed homebuilt airplane called the Piel Emeraude, Jostad wrote.

"Sadly Ada Marie and her mother did not see the airplane finished," Jostad said. Olson completed the plane and in 2001, he was certified as the sole mechanic for the plane. Named the "Ada Marie," the plane "is a beautifully flying aircraft and was well done by Olson and his gal crew," Jostad said.

Nearly 25 years after Olson soloed, in 1969 he obtained his commercial certificate.

He flew planes for business meetings, hauling plumbing parts and supplies as well as joy rides with friends and neighbors, according to the nomination.

When he was 52 in 1978 Olson got his instrument rating.

Olson continued to fly until about late 2015. Steve Heth, of Westhope, who Olson gave his first airplane ride, was along on the 2015 flight.

"Virgil always loved to share the joy and benefits of flight with others and promoted it with enthusiasm. He was very safety conscious and always ready to use his skills and aircraft to assist someone in need of help," wrote Jostad in the nomination letter.
Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, putting her within striking distance of capturing her party's nomination.

After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the U.S. territory, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count.

'I'm for Hillary, girl,' said 83-year-old Candida Dones. 'I can't wait for a female president. She's one of us. She wears the pants. If we don't look out for our own interests, who will?'

Scroll down for video

Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary on Sunday. Pictured today in California

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, left, takes the stage with Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif, at a rally at Sacramento City College, in Sacramento, California on Sunday. Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination

Clinton tweeted the above post after the Puerto Rico results were called on Sunday. She maintained a steady 2-to-1 lead over Sanders

The results were slow to arrive on Sunday, as officials counted ballots by hand and focused first on releasing results tied to the island's local primary elections, said Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico's former Democratic National Committeeman.

As the results from Puerto Rico trickled in, Clinton maintained a steady 2-to-1 lead over Sanders.

While Puerto Rican residents cannot vote in the general election, the island's politics could reverberate into the fall campaign.

Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have left the island to escape a dismal economy, with many resettling in the key electoral battleground of Florida.

Nearly 2.9million people are registered to vote on the island, according to The Guardian.

Puerto Ricans were also voting for candidates for local senators, representatives, mayors and the next governor, meaning that turn-out was high Sunday.

The island also has a single, nonvoting representative in the US Congress.

Though Clinton did not spend much time campaigning in Puerto Rico, the victory is fraught with symbolism for her campaign.

Eight years ago, with the presidential nomination slipping from her grasp, she rolled through the streets of San Juan on the back of a flat-bed truck, wooing voters to a soundtrack of blasting Latin music.

She beat then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with nearly 68 percent of the vote.

Both Clinton and Sanders spent Sunday in California, the biggest prize among the five states voting on Tuesday.

She took to the stage Sunday evening at Sacramento City College and told the several hundred supporters: 'We're going to have a very contentious campaign because I am going to point out at every single moment that I can why the Republican nominee should never get near the White House

On the campaign trail: Clinton waves as she sits down to talk during a campaign stop at a small restaurant in Vallejo, California, Sunday

Selfie stop: Clinton takes a picture with supporters during a campaign stop in Sacramento, California, on Sunday

She added that Trump was a running a campaign based on insults and said: 'I believe that Donald Trump is not qualified or temperamentally fit to be president.'

Meanwhile Sanders made no mention Sunday night of the outcome of Puerto Rico's Democratic primary, but said the party's leaders should notice the 'energy and grassroots activism' surrounding his campaign.

Sanders is seeking an upset in Tuesday's California primary. He said at a Sunday evening rally in San Diego that Democratic leaders should realize his campaign has the energy to win in the fall, not Clinton.

He pointed out that pro-Clinton super PACs have received millions from Wall Street, telling supporters, 'we have got to take on Wall Street, not take their money.'

Earlier that day, Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at Greater St. Paul Baptist Church in Oakland the country is 'getting indifferent to the great toll of gun violence,' while Sanders made a series of stops in Los Angeles before an evening rally in San Diego.

'Sorry to disturb your brunch,' Sanders said at Hamburger Mary's, taking the microphone during their 'drag brunch' as disco lights swirled inside.

'I just wanted to say that on Tuesday as you all know there is a very important Democratic primary here in California.

'And my hope is that everyone will stand up and make clear it is too late for establishment politics.'

Meanwhile Sanders made no mention Sunday night of the outcome of Puerto Rico's Democratic primary at a Sunday evening rally in San Diego (pictured)

Defeated: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (pictured campaigning in Huntington Park, Saturday) is crushed in Puerto Rico

Defeated? Bernie Sanders, at a Town Hall meeting on Latin American & Immigration Policy Saturday

While those watching the results in Puerto Rico focused on their impact on the race for the Democratic nomination, the focus of many voters on the island was its ongoing economic crisis.

Both Sanders and Clinton had pledged to help as the island's government tries to restructure $70 billion worth of public debt the governor has said is un-payable.

'This is one of the most important political moments for Puerto Rico,' said Emanuel Rosado, a 29-year-old Clinton supporter. 'I'm taking action as a result of the economic crisis.'

Two weeks before the primary, Sanders criticized a rescue deal negotiated by U.S. House leaders and the Obama administration as having colonial overtones.

In a letter to fellow Senate Democrats, Sanders said the House bill to create a federal control board and allow some restructuring of the territory's $70 billion debt would make 'a terrible situation even worse.'

He later promised to introduce his own legislation to help the island. Campaigning on the island last month, Sanders promised to fight against 'vulture funds' on Wall Street that he said would profit off the fiscal crisis.

'That bill is anti-democratic and it's not in the best interest of Puerto Rico,' said Jorge Gaskins, a 67-year-old farmer who supports Sanders and opposes a control board.

Clinton has said she has serious concerns about the board's powers, but believes the legislation should move forward, or 'too many Puerto Ricans will continue to suffer.'

While those watching the results in Puerto Rico focused on their impact on the race for the Democratic nomination, the focus of many voters on the island was its ongoing economic crisis.

Both Sanders and Clinton had pledged to help as the island's government tries to restructure $70 billion worth of public debt the governor has said is unpayable

As the results from Puerto Rico trickled in, Clinton maintained a steady 2-to-1 lead over Sanders

Among those voting Sunday was Democratic Party superdelegate Andres Lopez, one of the party insiders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at the summer convention. He had remained uncommitted, but said Sunday he will support Clinton.

Clinton has 1,807 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,516. When including superdelegates, her lead over Sanders is substantial  2,355 to 1,562.

With Lopez's endorsement, all seven of Puerto Rico's superdelegates have pledged their support for Clinton.

'It is time to focus on squashing 'El Trumpo,'' he said, referring to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the latest polls out of California and New Jersey are teeing up a dramatic night for Democrats on Tuesday.

Frontrunner Hillary Clinton leads rival Sen Bernie Sanders by 27 points in New Jersey, while the Democrats are running nearly even - 49 percent to 47 percent - in California, according to a new CBS/YouGov poll.
Police arrest 5 accused of stealing $4,700 in energy drinks

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP)  Police in Northern California say they arrested five men for stealing $4,700 worth of energy drinks.

San Jose television station KNTV reports (http://bit.ly/1TVjpkv) Vacaville police officers nabbed the four adults and one juvenile Friday night as they wheeled a cart full of Red Bull out of a grocery store and loaded it into a waiting U-Haul van.

The Vacaville Police Department says the grocery store was one of many places visited by the group. Police said the U-Haul van was packed with the energy drink.
Will Ohio's Lake Erie strategy work? Answers won't come soon

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP)  Ohio's attempt at slowing down the toxic algae turning Lake Erie green hinges on a plan that some environmental groups say relies too much on voluntary programs and lacks the sense of urgency needed to thwart the growing threat to the region's drinking water.

The state's strategy outlined recently by Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency is centered on new regulations and programs put in place within the past year.

Now the question is will it be enough to thwart the algae blooms.

How well those changes  stopping farmers from spreading manure on frozen fields and encouraging them to use the right amount of fertilizer  work won't be known for a couple more years.

The moves are part of the state blueprint for a 40 percent reduction in the amount of phosphorus runoff that fuels the algae in the lake's western end. Ohio, along with Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario, all have pledged to reach that goal within the next 10 years.

"It's possible but it's going to be difficult," said Mike Shriberg, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes office.

Last year's algae bloom was the biggest on record, and another in 2014 left more than 400,000 people in Toledo and southeastern Michigan unable to drink tap water for two days.

Ohio's plan deserves credit, Shriberg said, for including a strong focus on coordination and monitoring efforts to fight the algae. But he doesn't see the sense of urgency that's needed.

"This plan makes the assumption that doing more of the same will get us there," Shriberg said.

More than anything, the state should be requiring and verifying that all farmers are taking steps to reduce field runoff, he said.

Scientists say fertilizers and livestock manure from the region's farms are the main sources of the phosphorus feeding the harmful algae. Sewage from treatment plants and leaking septic tanks play a role, too.

Farm organizations say they are doing their part by promoting voluntary efforts aimed at cutting runoff and by contributing to ongoing research projects.

A report released earlier this year by the University of Michigan Water Center said not enough farmers in Ohio and Michigan are taking part in the voluntary practices and say sweeping changes are needed to cut enough phosphorus to stop the algae blooms. Agriculture groups criticized the study for focusing only on farms.

Karl Gebhardt, deputy director for water resources at the Ohio EPA, said the state's plan will be evolving over the next decade and if what's being done now isn't working, changes will be made.
Many Muslims to begin fasting for month of Ramadan on Monday

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.

Saudi Arabia's state TV announced the new moon of Ramadan was spotted Sunday evening. Local media in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, also said Muslims there would begin fasting Monday, as will Muslims in Singapore, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, among others.

Following these announcements, a mosque in Tampa, Florida announced to its followers that they too would celebrate the first day's fasting Monday.

People offer evening prayer at a mosque ahead of the Muslim month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will be observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Muslims follow a lunar calendar and a moon-sighting methodology that can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart. By Sunday evening, Pakistan and Iran had yet to officially announce Monday as the first day of Ramadan. Traditionally, countries announce if their moon-sighting council spots the Ramadan crescent the evening before fasting begins.

The faithful spend the month of Ramadan in mosques for evening prayers known as "taraweeh," while free time during the day is often spent reading the Quran and listening to religious lectures.

Each day for the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. Even a sip of water, coffee or a cigarette can invalidate one's fast. There are exceptions to fasting for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, and people travelling.

Many break their fast as the Prophet Muhammad did around 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset followed by prayer. It is common for Muslims to break their fast with family and friends and charities organize free meals for the public at mosques and other public spaces.

The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. Non-Muslims or adult Muslims not observing the fast who eat in public during the day in Ramadan can be fined or even jailed in some Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which is home to large Western expatriate populations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan with a three-day holiday called Eid al-Fitr.

Pakistani vendors prepare traditional vermicelli for the upcoming Muslim month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will be observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A fishing boat moves through the Persian Gulf at sunset off the coast of Karzakan, Bahrain, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Bahrain announced that Monday would be the first day of the Islamic month of Ramadan, a time Muslims worldwide focus on prayer, fasting and charitable giving. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

Shoppers buy foodstuff for the Muslim month of Ramadan, at a weekly market in Islamabad, Pakistan. Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will be observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Shoppers visit a weekly market to buy foodstuff for the upcoming Muslim month of Ramadan, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will be observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Muslim women perform an evening prayer called 'tarawih' marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, June 5, 2016. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Muslim women perform an evening prayer called 'tarawih' marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, June 5, 2016. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

An Afghan street vendor carries bread on his head ahead of the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will observe Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
New Orleans police officer seriously injured in accident

NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A New Orleans police officer suffered a massive brain injury after being struck by a drunken driver early Sunday morning, the city's police chief said.

Multiple news outlets reported that Superintendent Michael Harrison said the officer was inside her police vehicle on the side of the road with the emergency lights on when she was hit.

"This hurts," Harrison said during a news conference Sunday. He identified the officer as Natasha Hunter, a 12-year veteran of the police force.

Hunter was taken to the hospital where she remains in critical condition in an unresponsive state.

The police chief said Hunter was at the scene to help divert traffic after a multivehicle accident when she was hit. He said the driver, who was not identified, admitted to police he'd been drinking and will be arrested after being released from the hospital.

In a statement Sunday, the police said the accident happened on Interstate 10 at the Esplanade St. exit.

It was a dangerous weekend for law enforcement officials around the state.

On Saturday, a Winnsboro Parish police officer was killed during an early morning traffic accident while responding to a call.

Along another stretch of Interstate 10, in St. Charles Parish west of New Orleans, a Louisiana State Police trooper was injured Sunday as he was responding to an accident.
Police: Dog attacks, kills 7-year-old boy in Maine

CORINNA, Maine (AP)  Officials haven't yet released new details in a dog attack that left a 7-year-old boy dead.

The Penobscot (peh-NAHB'-skaht) County Sheriff's Office in Maine said the attack happened Saturday evening in the town of Corinna, about 30 miles west of Bangor.

Sheriffs say they responded to the house around 5:15 p.m. and found the boy dead at the scene.

Authorities have not yet released the boy's name, breed of the dog involved in the attack or details on if the dog was a pet. No one else was injured.
Most races too close to call in Mexican elections

XALAPA, Mexico (AP)  Most of the 12 Mexican governorships contested in elections seen as a test for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party remained too close to call Sunday night, with results only beginning to dribble in.

Exit poll results published by Milenio TV and El Financiero showed the most closely watched states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas  both with large populations where the PRI has never lost  too close to suggest a possible winner.

But that did not stop three candidates in Veracruz and two in Tamaulipas from declaring their victories.

A man casts his vote during state elections in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Veracruz is the biggest prize in Sunday's gubernatorial elections, which could shape the fortunes of the country's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in its bid to hold onto the presidency in 2018. In five of the 12 statehouses up for grabs, including Veracruz, the party has ruled uninterrupted for more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Ilse Huesca)

Entering Sunday, the PRI controlled nine of the 12 states electing new governors. In five of the 12 statehouses up for grabs the party has ruled uninterrupted for more than 80 years.

The number of states the party controls heading into 2018 will have a significant impact on the amount of resources it has and the number of votes it can muster in the presidential contest.

The PRI lost the presidency in 2000 for the first time in 71 years and won it back in 2012. But President Enrique Pena Nieto is suffering from low approval ratings, intense narco violence in parts of the country and what some see as a lack of commitment to fight corruption.

The PRI's president, Manlio Beltrones, said shortly after voting ended that their exit polls suggested good results in 11 states. The exception was Puebla, where there seemed to be agreement that the National Action Party had a substantial edge. Still, there was no official result.

Exit polls appeared to indicate the PRI had substantial advantages in seeking to maintain power in Sinaloa and Hidalgo.

PAN President Ricardo Anaya proclaimed it an historic night for his party shortly after voting ended. He said the PAN had never won more than three governorships in one election, but that on Sunday they had. He did not say which states he thought they had won.

Government and political leaders reported scattered incidents of election-related violence.

In Veracruz, a two-party alliance backing an opposition candidate complained of attacks against party members in seven municipalities, including vehicles being burned and gasoline bombs thrown at a party office in the state capital of Xalapa.

Jose Mancha Alarcon, the state leader of the National Action Party said attackers burst into the home of the mayor of Acajete and set it on fire.

In the town of Emiliano Zapata, near Xalapa, a severed human head was left in a park just steps from a polling station.

Veracruz state Public Security Secretary Arturo Bermudez confirmed that the driver for a local lawmaker had been kidnapped. The lawmaker is part of the opposition alliance's gubernatorial campaign.

Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that attackers with clubs and stones damaged dozens of buses carrying campaign material in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. It said a mob in the southern state of Oaxaca burned some ballots and threatened to prevent polling stations from opening, while in Zacatecas a gasoline bomb was tossed at the door of the state congress.

Voters were also deciding local races in Baja California. And in Mexico City, voters were selecting 60 members of a constituent assembly who will write a constitution for the capital.

___

Sherman reported from Mexico City.

People prepare to cast their vote during state elections in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Veracruz is the biggest prize in Sunday's gubernatorial elections, which could shape the fortunes of the country's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in its bid to hold onto the presidency in 2018. In five of the 12 statehouses up for grabs, including Veracruz, the party has ruled uninterrupted for more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Ilse Huesca)

A man is taken into custody by state police after he was caught near a voting booth allegedly trying to pay voters to vote for a candidate in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Veracruz is the biggest prize in Sunday's gubernatorial elections, which could shape the fortunes of the country's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in its bid to hold onto the presidency in 2018. In five of the 12 statehouses up for grabs, including Veracruz, the party has ruled uninterrupted for more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Ilse Huesca)

A woman casts her vote during state elections in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Veracruz is the biggest prize in Sunday's gubernatorial elections, which could shape the fortunes of the country's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in its bid to hold onto the presidency in 2018. In five of the 12 statehouses up for grabs, including Veracruz, the party has ruled uninterrupted for more than 80 years. (AP Photo/Ilse Huesca)

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto casts his vote during local state elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A man casts his vote for a new constitutional assembly for Mexico City, at a polling station in Mexico City, Sunday in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A woman cast her vote for a new constitutional assembly for Mexico City, at a polling station in Mexico City, Sunday in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are also voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A man casts his vote for a new constitutional assembly for Mexico City, at a polling station in Mexico City, Sunday in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A woman casts her vote for a new constitutional assembly for Mexico City, at a polling station in Mexico City, Sunday in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are also voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Members of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute meet with local representatives and members of the constitutional assembly, in Mexico City, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Mexicans are voting in 12 states to pick new governors. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Detroit man ordered held on $1M in kidnapping of dead teen

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP)  A 26-year-old Detroit man has been ordered held on $1 million bond after being arraigned on a kidnapping charge related to the disappearance of a 13-year-old whose body was found in a vacant lot last week.

Ernest Coleman was arraigned Sunday via video before Judge Michael Callahan in Romulus. A not guilty plea on the kidnapping charge was entered on Coleman's behalf. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for June 16, and court records do not indicate he has hired an attorney.

Three others are being held but have not been charged in Tuesday's kidnapping of Deontae Mitchell, who disappeared while riding bikes with a cousin. The cousin told police that Deontae had picked up money dropped by a man outside a market.

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016 photo, people gather for a vigil at Nino's Market in Detroit, where Deontae Mitchell was abducted by a man on Tuesday. A fourth person was arrested Friday in connection with the abduction and death of the teenage Detroit boy, whose body was found this week in a vacant lot, police said. (Salwan Georges/Detroit Free Press via AP) DETROIT NEWS OUT; TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT DETROIT FREE PRESS
Turkey's president: work no reason to skip motherhood

ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkey's president says work is no reason for women to decline motherhood.

Speaking Sunday at a women's association in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "a woman who abstains from motherhood saying 'I am working' means she is in fact rejecting motherhood."

Erdogan, quoted by the state-run Anadolu Agency, said that "I absolutely don't accept making (a woman's) business life an alternative to motherhood."

From left to right; Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdogan, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attend a ceremony to open a new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, June 3, 2016. Erdogan opened the new Turkish embassy in Somalia's capital on Friday amid heavy security less than two days after militants attacked a hotel in the city, killing 15 people. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Earlier this week, he spoke out against birth control saying it was incompatible with Muslim traditions.
Fan shot outside Central African Republic stadium at game

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP)  Central African Republic's security minister says a man fatally shot a fan outside the stadium where the country beat Angola in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.

Jean Serge Bokassa said Sunday that a man believed to be a Muslim militia member pulled out a gun and shot the fan dead after the victim identified him as ex-Seleka. Bokassa said security forces dispersed an angry crowd, which attacked the vehicle of the National Assembly president.

Bokassa said the gunman is being held by the gendarmerie.

Central African Republic descended into violence after Muslim Seleka rebels toppled the president in 2013. A Christian militia then unleashed sectarian fighting that forced hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians to flee. Tensions remain in the country.
Prescott attacks Corbyn for 'not pushing Labour's argument on EU'

John Prescott has attacked Jeremy Corbyn for failing to push Labour's case in the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

The former deputy prime minister said so-called blue on blue assaults were "destroying the Tory party hopefully" but questioned "where's Labour?" in the battle.

Remain campaigners could lose the June 23 vote because Labour is failing to secure backing from its supporters, he warned.

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"It seems as if we are just enjoying the fight between them but that is not putting Labour's position," Lord Prescott told BBC One's Sunday Politics.

"We are not putting Labour's arguments."

The peer said Labour was "absolutely" failing to galvanise its supporters, admitting " Jeremy's not a passionate man".

Mr Corbyn has faced repeated criticism that his role in the campaign has been too low key.

In his second major intervention in the campaign, much of the Labour leader's focus was on criticism of the Tories and areas where the EU needed to be improved.

Lord Prescott said Mr Corbyn was right to refuse to share a platform with the Conservatives.

He said: " Don't say, ah well, we all believe in Europe, let's travel on the same bus. Nonsense. No wonder our people are confused.

"Get a strong Labour voice. I'm glad Jeremy's said what he said but get putting out our case and point out what these beggers did in government."

He added: "I do want to see a united party, we are not best at it at the moment," he said.

Labour must set out more clearly where it stands on immigration, the peer added.

"Start saying where we stand and be a bit clearer on immigration. We have been cowards on immigration, not only Labour, the whole political establishment has avoided the argument."

He added: "There's going to be more migration coming from African countries like that, which have no water, no food because of climate change."

The peer said global powers like the United States, China and India would set the course on issues like immigration, crime and security.

"We'll just be a little island with a pea-shooter shouting out 'don't you recognise we are a big power' but you'll have no say in the decision."

The peer branded Damian McBride as a " totally confused man" when pressed on claims the Labour aide has been giving advice to the Leave campaign.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson admitted it has been difficult for the party to get its message across as media coverage has understandably focused on Tory Cabinet splits.

But he insisted Mr Corbyn was getting a "raw deal", saying he has been making several speeches for Remain.

Mr Watson told the Murnaghan programme on Sky News: "It is quite hard for us to get our message across.

"When you've got the kind of battles that are going on across the Cabinet, we understand that, that's the most newsworthy issue.

"It sometimes seems to me that the Leave camp is transforming itself into a Government in waiting and that is very hard for us to try and find the space to get our message over."

He added: "I do feel very sorry for Jeremy though.

"He was in Cornwall campaigning yesterday, Cardiff the day before, he's been making speech after speech after speech about Labour's case to remain in the European Union and I think he's getting a bit of a raw deal on that."

Mr Corbyn said the criticism was unfair as he is touring the country extensively during the campaign with visits covering the distance from Dundee to Bournemouth this week.

In an interview recorded ahead of a rally in Cardiff on Friday, the Labour leader told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "Look at the attendance here tonight, there's a lot of people very interested in this, very interested in the future.

"We are not giving a blank cheque to the European Union.

"What we're saying is we want a Europe where the solidarity of socialist parties, of trade unions, of people that want to see a decent society, welfare state, National Health Service, full employment, decent rights at work, all of those things - we better achieve those things working together, not leaving Europe to the free marketeers and big business."
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman edging closer to taking over at Everton

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is edging closer to taking the reins at Everton, with a compensation fee in the region of 5million understood to have been discussed.

After leading Saints to their best Premier League finish in back-to-back seasons, the 53-year-old had started negotiations about extending his stay at St Mary's.

Former Barcelona defender Koeman had a season remaining on his three-year deal, but the Dutchman now looks set for a move to Goodison Park.

Ronald Koeman looks set for the Everton hotseat

Press Association Sport understands a compensation fee of around 5million has been discussed and a resolution could be reached as soon as Monday.

Rob Jansen, who recently replaced Guido Albers as Koeman's agent, told Voetbal International on Saturday that they had "reached an agreement with Everton" and "now it is up to the clubs".

Koeman is understood to have been the first choice of the club's new major shareholder Farhad Moshiri, although Sevilla manager Unai Emery is believed to have been preferred by some others at Goodison Park.
Shi'ite militia says it will storm Iraq's Falluja when families leave

BAGHDAD, June 4 (Reuters) - An Iranian-backed Sh'ite Iraqi militia said on Saturday it planned to storm Falluja, Islamic State's stronghold near Baghdad, once civilians left the city, backtracking on earlier statements that it would leave this task to the Iraqi army.

"We will not enter Falluja as long as there are families inside," said Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the largest component of the Shi'ite paramilitary coalition known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization.

"Of course, we will go in and rid the city from the evil of this cancerous gland, with nobody preventing us," he said, when asked what would happen if civilians managed to flee the Sunni city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.

Falluja is the first Iraqi city that Islamic State captured, in January 2014, and the second largest still under its control after Mosul in the north. Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shi'ite militias alongside the army in the battle to retake the city could lead to sectarian violence.

Amiri was speaking to reporters while touring one of the frontlines near Falluja. Last week he said the militias would take part in encirclement operations but leave the army to storm the city.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive to dislodge the ultra-hardline Sunni militants had slowed down in order to protect civilians. About 50,000 are trapped in the city, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to the United Nations.
Louisiana, Mississippi areas under flood watch as Texas floods spread

By Alex Dobuzinskis

June 4 (Reuters) - Torrential rains in Texas which caused flooding that killed 16 people this week have spread to southern Louisiana, leaving parts of that state and Mississippi under a flash flood watch through Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy rains could strike the Florida panhandle early next week, but not as intensely as in Texas, Daniel Petersen, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in Maryland, said in a phone interview on Saturday.

Small streams in southern Louisiana have overflowed their banks, causing localized flooding, he added.

At least 16 people have died in Texas in the past week as some rivers swelled to levels not seen in more than 100 years, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes in low-lying areas.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster in more than 30 counties, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement on Saturday. In Bastrop County, southwest of the state capital of Austin, flooding damaged nearly 300 homes, it added.

Heavy rainfall was forecast to continue on Saturday along the Texas coast and potentially trigger more flooding there, state and federal officials said.

National Weather Service hydrologist Gregory Waller said in a phone interview on Saturday that the Brazos River was expected to crest this weekend near Rosharon, a community south of Houston that is home to more than 1,500 people.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice began evacuating on Friday about 1,700 inmates at its Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, due to flooding along the Brazos.

Flooding struck Richmond, upriver from Rosharon, earlier this week when the Brazos overflowed its banks and according to state officials damaged nearly 80 homes.

Forecasters said that on Sunday the threat of flash floods in Texas would decrease as rains become less intense.

"We think that tomorrow, the lower rain totals are going to give them a chance to dry out," Petersen said.

Even after the rains stop, parts of the state are likely to have a challenging path to recovery.

Gov. Abbott on Friday toured flooded areas south of Houston and told reporters some neighborhoods were "literally islands, completely surrounded by water."

Nine soldiers died on Thursday when their troop carrier overturned during a training exercise at the U.S. Army base of Food Hood in the central part of the state, in a region where torrential rains caused flash flooding.
Libyan brigades capture air base from Islamic State south of Sirte - spokesman

TRIPOLI, June 4 (Reuters) - Brigades aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Saturday they had captured Ghardabiya air base from Islamic State to the south of the militant group's stronghold of Sirte.

Spokesman Mohamed al-Gasri said the capture of the base, about 20 km (12 miles) from the centre of Sirte, was strategically significant since it cut off supply routes for Islamic State and "trapped them further" within the city.

Three fighters from the government-backed brigades were killed and around five wounded in Saturday's fighting, he said.

The brigades, mainly made up from fighters from the western city of Misrata, have driven Islamic State back to the outskirts of Sirte from the west over the past three weeks. They counter-attacked after Islamic State had advanced towards Misrata in early May.

To the east, a separate force that controls oil terminals and is also loyal to the U.N.-backed government captured two small towns from Islamic State earlier this week.

Western states are hoping the U.N.-backed government, which arrived in Tripoli in March, can bring together Libya's competing factions to defeat Islamic State.

The extremist group established a foothold in Libya amid political chaos and conflict in the North African state, creating its most significant base outside Iraq and Syria, and gaining control over Sirte last year.

The U.N.-backed government's prime minister told Reuters on Friday that it was too early to give a timeframe for the battle for Sirte, but that he was confident that Libyan forces could unite to retake the city.

Most of Sirte's population of about 80,000 is thought to have fled, and Gasri previously said residents who remain would be given a chance to escape before the government-backed brigades advanced into residential areas.

"We are concerned now because Daesh (Islamic State) militants are hiding among civilians inside the city" of Sirte, Gasri said on Saturday.
Clinton hits rivals on immigration in California campaign swing

By Mike Blake

LOS ANGELES, June 4 (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton fought on two fronts in California on Saturday as she sought to wrap up her battle with Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, taking aim at him and at Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, with attacks on their immigration stances.

Both Clinton and Sanders campaigned across California, stopping in immigrant communities, big cities and the agricultural heartland on the final weekend before Tuesday's primary in the nation's biggest state.

Clinton used a stop at a Los Angeles-area college to criticize Trump for making "hateful, very prejudicial" statements about immigrants and Sanders for voting against a 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill.

"I was in the Senate then, so was President Obama and so was Senator Sanders. President Obama and I voted for it, Senator Sanders voted against it. And that ended it," Clinton said.

"It was heartbreaking," she added.

Latinos comprise almost 40 percent of California's population of roughly 39 million.

Clinton, also a former secretary of state, is expected to sew up the party nomination on Tuesday, when California is one of six state holding nominating contests. Except for Washington, D.C., those states are holding the last Democratic nominating contests before the party's July convention. Clinton needs a win in heavily Democratic California to begin unifying her party.

Though Sanders, a U.S. senator of Vermont, faces nearly insurmountable odds to become the Democratic nominee, he has invested heavily in California, where a win could pressure the party to adopt some of the populist policies that have driven his campaign.

Polls show Sanders has chipped away at Clinton's lead in the state, where Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have built a vast network of supporters, including increasingly powerful Hispanic voters.

Recent tracking polls showed Clinton having a 2 to 10 percentage point lead over Sanders in California.

At a town hall in Los Angeles, Sanders promised to fight for comprehensive immigration reform and said that trade deals, over which he and Clinton have frequently sparred, funnel "cheap corn" into Mexico and "drive small family farmers off their land."

California is home to one-fourth of the immigrant population in the United States, at around 10 million people, and also home to one-fourth of the 11.3 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Clinton, with 2,312 delegates, needs 71 more to reach the required 2,383 for the Democratic nomination. Sanders has 1,545. California, the most populous U.S. state, has 548 delegates who are awarded proportionately to the popular vote.

The other states holding nominating contests on June 7 are Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Clinton also slammed Trump on immigration at a rally in Oxnard, a city of about 200,000 located northwest of Los Angeles that is almost 75 percent Hispanic.

Trump on Friday escalated his attacks on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a lawsuit involving fraud at a failed Trump business, Trump University. Trump suggested that Curiel's Mexican-American heritage was influencing his opinion on the lawsuit. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants.

"This is not just another outlandish insulting comment from Donald Trump and it is not normal politics, this is something much, much more dangerous," Clinton said.

"Judge Curiel is just as much of an American as I am and just as much of an American as Donald Trump is," Clinton said.

The New York billionaire businessman has vowed to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Italy elects mayors in test for PM Renzi

ROME, June 5 (Reuters) - Italians vote on Sunday to choose mayors of the largest cities in elections that will test the popularity of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and could produce a big breakthrough for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

Only in Turin is the candidate of Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) a clear favourite. He insists the elections will have no repercussions for his left-right coalition government.

If, as polls suggest, no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the initial city votes, run-offs between those who come first and second will be held on June 19.

Some 13 million people, or a quarter of the adult population, are eligible to vote for mayors of around 1,300 towns and cities, though political attention is focused firmly on the biggest, Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin.

The capital Rome offers an opportunity for 5-Star to capitalise on anger towards the main parties on the left and right which have been embroiled in corruption scandals.

Five-Star appeals to voters across the political spectrum with a simple slogan: honesty.

It promises to slash politicians' pay and privileges, and hold a referendum on whether Italy should remain in the euro. But its chief asset remains its image as the only party that is serious about taking on graft and privilege.

Voting opens at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and closes at 11 p.m., when the result of exit polls will be announced for the main cities. Initial projections based on the actual vote count will be issued after around an hour, and then at regular intervals.

Five-Star's candidate Virginia Raggi, a photogenic 37-year-old lawyer, hopes to become Rome's first woman mayor and was ahead in opinion polls before their publication stopped 15 days before the vote, as required by Italian law.

Milan is probably the key contest for Renzi. His chosen candidate Giuseppe Sala, the former head of the Expo world fair held in the city last year, was expected to win comfortably but now looks seriously threatened by a moderate centre-right rival.

In Turin, incumbent mayor Piero Fassino, one of the PD's best-known national figures, was well ahead in the polls.
On southwestern fringe, China's Silk Road ambitions face obstacles

By Brenda Goh and Simon Webb

KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE, June 5 (Reuters) - For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms.

In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China.

From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project.

The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. As China's economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas.

But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbours protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavourable financing conditions.

They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and cancelled its part of the project in 2014.

For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

LAND-LINKED

In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began.

The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December.

Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said.

It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane.

Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked.

"There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that."

The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled.

They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favourable for China.

Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese.

"The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues.

Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said.

With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said.

UNREALISTIC

China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being "unrealistic".

Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidised, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.

"You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge."

After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border.

"They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route.

"I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said.

Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea.

"The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China.

Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering.

"We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster."

BIG GAP

The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming.

Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centres.

But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads.

Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town".

"One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't."
Kerry hails Mongolia as "oasis of democracy" in tough neighborhood

By Yeganeh Torbati

ULAANBAATAR, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed Mongolia as an "oasis of democracy" sitting in a tough location between Russia and China as he made a rare visit by a cabinet-level U.S. official on Sunday.

Arriving from Paris, Kerry made the visit to Mongolia en route to Beijing to attend the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the high-level talks held between the United States and China each year.

The Obama administration has sought to cultivate Mongolia as a partner, given its location between two increasingly assertive U.S. rivals - China and Russia, countries Mongolia relies on heavily for trade and energy imports.

U.S. officials regularly tout Mongolia, a country of three million people, as an inspirational story of democratic transition since winning independence from the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.

"You really set a great example," Kerry told Mongolian and American embassy staff at the U.S. ambassador's residence.

"You've got China on one side of you, and Russia on the other side of you, and there are always a lot of pressures, and here you are in this oasis of democracy fighting for your own identity."

But Mongolia's democratic and human rights records have come under scrutiny.

The 2015 State Department report on human rights in Mongolia noted "vague laws and a lack of transparency in legislative, executive, and judicial processes" that "undermined government efficiency and public confidence and invited corruption."

Parliamentary elections are to be held this month, and democracy advocates have criticized a rule change by parliament last month that is expected to disadvantage smaller parties.

The lack of transparency in business regulations has hampered foreign investment, officials say, badly needed in an economy where growth has all but halted, far from a peak of 17.5 percent in 2011.

Falling prices for its chief exports, coal and copper, and weak demand from China, by far Mongolia's biggest trading partner, are behind the slowdown.

Kerry said it was important the Mongolian government implement a transparency agreement with the United States, which would provide greater business confidence to foreign investors.

The Mongolian and U.S. governments signed the agreement in 2013 after years of negotiations but its final implementation has been mired in red tape.

The agreement would commit Mongolia to publish in English an explanation for proposed regulations, and allow for public comments on those regulations, among other measures.
Military identifies Fort Hood soldiers killed in Texas floods

June 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military released the names on Saturday of eight of nine soldiers who were killed this week when their vehicle overturned in flood waters in Texas.

The soldiers died when their military vehicle flipped over in a flood-swollen creek on Thursday at Fort Hood Army post in central Texas.

Three survivors were released from hospital on Friday.

Among those killed were Staff Sergeant Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, Specialist Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, Private First Class Brandon Austin Banner, 22, Private First Class Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, and Private Isaac Lee Deleon, 19.

Private Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, Private Tysheena Lynette James, 21, and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, also died in the accident, the circumstances of which remain unknown, pending an investigation by a team from the Army Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, the Fort Hood base said in a statement.

The vehicle overturned at a low-water crossing and military officials have not said why the convoy was training near a swollen waterway. The sprawling army post, which covers an area about 15 times larger than Manhattan, was closing flood-hit roads when the accident took place.

The identity of the ninth soldier killed will be released after the next of kin are formally notified.
Egypt non-oil business activity slows for eighth straight month in May-PMI

CAIRO, June 5 (Reuters) - Business activity in Egypt shrank for the eighth straight month in May but at a lesser extent than previous three months, a survey showed on Sunday.

The Emirates NBD Egypt Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the non-oil private sector recorded 47.6 points in May after 46.9 points in April, remaining below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.

Egypt has been struggling to revive its economy since a popular uprising in 2011 and subsequent political upheaval that has driven both investors and tourists away, depriving it of the foreign currency it needs to import raw materials.

"It's definitely encouraging to see signs that the downturn has started to ease, as tentative as those indications may be," said Jean-Paul Pigat, Senior Economist at Emirates NBD.

"The survey also continues to point to fundamentally weak demand conditions across the economy, which in light of the ongoing FX shortage, is likely to persist as we head into the start of FY2016/17," he added.

The new orders subindex improved from the previous month but remained below the crucial 50 point. It reached 46.9 points in May from 45.5 points the previous month.

"New business fell at approximately one-fifth of survey participants, with high prices linked to currency depreciation mentioned as a key contributing factor," Markit, which compiled the data, said in a report.

The rate of decline also eased in the output subindex, which reached 46.5 points in May from 45.5 points in April.

Egypt has been wrestling with a currency crisis that economists blame on an over-valued pound. The central bank had devalued the pound to 8.85 per dollar from 7.73 in March and announced it would pursue a more flexible exchange rate.

It later firmed up the pound to 8.78 per dollar. Economists say it is still over-valued.

The survey showed declines in employment continued in May, although at the slowest pace since February, with the related subindex rising to 46.3 points in May from 45.5 points the month before.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pledged to reduce the jobless rate to 10 percent over the next five years. It stood at 12.8 percent in December, according to the government, but analysts believe it may be much higher.

The economy grew around 4.2 percent in 2014/15 and is expected to grow around 5 percent in 2015/16.

- Detailed PMI data is only available under licence from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a licence. To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below:
Bangladesh police wife shot dead in suspected militant attack

DHAKA, June 5 (Reuters) - The wife of a police official known for his role in curbing Islamic extremism was shot dead in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday, in what police suspected was the latest in a series of attacks by Islamists in the majority-Muslim nation.

Three assailants riding a motorcycle shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, when she was on her way home after putting her son onto a school bus in the port city of Chittagong, said Humayan Kabir, additional deputy police commissioner of Chittagong.

They shot her in the head three times, Kabir told Reuters by telephone.

There might be a militant link as her husband Babul Aktar, superintendent of police, played an important role in apprehending top militants, Kabir said.
Russian hopes for Iran trade boom run aground at Caspian port

By Svetlana Burmistrova

ASTRAKHAN, Russia, June 3 (Reuters) - When sanctions on Iran were lifted in January, Russia might have expected to be near the front of the queue for business opportunities. Moscow, after all, was one of Tehran's oldest allies and is now its partner on the battlefield in Syria.

On the evidence of the commerce passing through the Caspian Sea port of Astrakhan, the main jumping-off point for Russian sea-borne trade with Iran, it's not playing out like that.

The value of goods shipped from the Astrakhan region to Iran in the first four months of this year was down 16 percent on the same period last year, according to the regional government.

"There's a pause with grain, timber products are being loaded, metal gets shipped very rarely and then only in very small consignments," said Artyom Ulyanov, commercial director of Astrakhan's central cargo port. "Overall, we're loading less that we did in previous periods."

That, according to traders and shipping industry sources, is partly because Russian red tape is choking trade at a time when Iranians can do deals with Western countries that were effectively closed off to them before because of sanctions.

To be sure, the port at Astrakhan is only a snapshot of the state of Russian-Iranian ties. But it could point to the limitations of a relationship that is forged from a convergence of interests in areas like Syria rather than a shared world view.

The mood around the wharfs and dockyards at Astrakhan, Russia's biggest Caspian Sea port, is sour.

On a visit late last month, a Reuters correspondent found that cranes in several sections of the port were standing still because there was no cargo to move.

"Before, we had to search for ships" to carry cargo to Iran because the volume of the trade was so high, said the owner of a grain-exporting company that supplies Iran, speaking of trade before the international sanctions were lifted.

Now, said the businessman, who asked not to be identified so he could speak candidly, ship operators came knocking on his door looking for business.

Last month, Russia's ministry for economic development organised a Russian-Iranian business forum meant to take place in Astrakhan. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was scheduled to attend.

It was called off, with the local government citing "circumstances that have arisen". Some participants only found out the event was off when they were already on the way there.

"We and another thousand people from Iran got tickets and visas, but they called off the forum two days before it starts," said Taban Tizgush, president of the chamber of trade and industry in the Iranian province of Gilan, on the Caspian Sea.

"That causes us a lot of damage."

MIDDLE EASTERN PARTNERS

How Iran and Russia get along with each other matters globally.

The joint operation between Russia's air force, Iran's military and the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia turned the tide of the Syrian civil war in favour of President Bashar al Assad's administration, frustrating Western efforts to push him out and testing U.S. influence in the Middle East.

What happens next in Syria depends in large degree on whether the Russian-Iranian partnership holds together and keeps backing Assad.

The port at Astrakhan gives one perspective on ties between the countries. Elsewhere, deals are being done.

Russia's government said last year it had agreed joint projects with Iran worth $40 billion. A Russian shipbuilder won a contract in May worth nearly $1 billion to build five offshore drilling rigs for Iran. Moscow is also selling sophisticated weapons to Tehran, including S-300 air defence missiles.

But the mood at the port chimes with a more general atmosphere of tension in ties between Iran and Russia.

Some Iranian officials are wary of getting too close to Russia, which occupied Iran twice in the 20th century. Russia for its part is wary of Iran becoming too powerful and of alienating Iran's rivals in the Middle East.

Interactions between the Kremlin and Iranian officials can, at times, be fraught.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran in November last year for a gas exporters' forum, Iranian security officials barred reporters travelling with Putin from entering the venue.

That sparked an argument between Iranian security and Kremlin press service officials, and in the scrum that resulted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Novak, the energy minister, were jostled, according to a Reuters reporter who was there.

NEW COMPETITION

In an interview with Reuters, Alexander Zhilkin, the Astrakhan region governor, said grain exports this year would be lower than in 2015 because Iran was enforcing temporary grain import restrictions.

But he said he expected trade to double within 18 months of all the international sanctions being lifted on Iran.

"Petrochemicals, paper, glass, wood, wood products; there is demand for all of that," he said. "This year, unexpectedly, we've had requests from Iran for potatoes and onions."

However, local business people say the deeper problem is not demand.

Traders who move goods through Astrakhan to Iran talk of layers of red tape that can hold up cargoes for months, of corrupt officials withholding permissions, and of import and export regulations changing without warning.

"That's why our share of trade with Iran is pitifully small," said Alexander Rybakov, finance director of RusIranExpo, an exporters' union.

Despite those issues, during the years of sanctions trade was healthy. That was in part because Russian companies were prepared to take the risk of doing transactions with Iran, while many other countries were not.

The main exports via Astrakhan - wheat, timber and scrap metal - were not banned by sanctions. But the international restrictions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme effectively barred Iran from international financial systems, so settling bills was complicated.

Russian firms found ways around that, by using intermediary banks in third countries. Grain exports from Russia to Iran grew while sanctions were in force.

But with sanctions gone, business people in Astrakhan predict that big global grain traders will now move into the Iran market, squeezing out Russian players.

The big global traders will have lower costs because they can deliver grain on vessels of up to 70,000 tonnes via Iran's Gulf ports, while the maximum size of vessels in the Caspian is 6,000 tonnes, said Hossein Lotfi, owner of a trading firm.

"If Russia does not take steps to hold onto its trade with Iran, it could lose 20 to 30 percent of grain exports," said Lotfi, who is also a consultant to Astrakhan's chamber of commerce with Iran.

"Once payments are simplified new players could come into the south of Iran, and they can offer lower prices."
Saudi Arabia expands its anti-Iran strategy beyond the Middle East

By Angus McDowall

RIYADH, June 5 (Reuters) - Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world.

Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America.

Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join.

"Iran is the one that isolated itself by supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a recent news conference. "That is why the world reacted to Iran, and particularly the Islamic world, and basically said 'enough is enough'."

Tehran denies it sponsors terrorism, and points to its record of fighting the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State through backing for Shi'ite militias in Iraq and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Riyadh is alarmed by Tehran's support for the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and cut off military aid to the Beirut government after it failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Likewise, Saudi forces have launched a war on Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But all this is part of its long-standing diplomatic, economic and military efforts to contain what it sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations. Now it is attempting to orchestrate support elsewhere, including from countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia through its creation last November of the coalition against terrorism.

"In many ways the dimensions of the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia are beginning to go beyond the Middle East. This is an interesting development that historically hasn't been the case," said Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University-Qatar.

OLD ORDER DEAD

The strategy partly responds to implementation of the nuclear deal in January. Riyadh fears this will give Iran more scope to push its interests internationally by releasing it from many of the sanctions which have crippled its economy.

With even the United States now saying Western banks can resume legitimate business with Tehran, the Saudis believe their main Western ally is gradually disengaging from the region.

"They understand the old international order is dead and they have to take responsibility," said a senior diplomat in Riyadh.

But the strategy is also driven by King Salman's belief that Iranian influence has grown only because nobody has stood up to it, said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security expert with close ties to the Saudi interior ministry.

The coalition against terrorism falls into this context. When chiefs of staff from 34 Muslim states met after a joint military exercise in late March, a cartoon in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, owned by the ruling family, showed a bomber dropping leaflets with a no-entry sign onto Iran.

The coalition, which caused some confusion as to its scope and membership when Riyadh first announced it, is now moving forward and work to establish a "coordination centre" may be formalised during the Muslim holy month which starts shortly.

"The next step is the meeting of defence ministers, perhaps during Ramadan. At the same time we prepare a coordination centre in Riyadh," said Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asseri.

This centre will have permanent staff members from each participating country, Asseri said, and would be a place where states could either request help in dealing with militancy or offer military, security or other aid.

TAKING THE FLAG

Although not explicitly aimed at countering Iran, the coalition includes neither Tehran nor its allied government in Iraq. The alliance also aims to counter comment in some Western media that while Iran and its Shi'ite allies are fighting Islamic State, Sunni Saudi Arabia supports jihadist militancy on some levels.

"This new coalition is basically to get the worldwide Islamic support for Saudi Arabia to lead the fight against terrorism and take the flag from Iran," said Alani.

Whether the coalition members see it that way is another matter.

Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, praised Riyadh for setting up the coalition and said Islamabad would be happy to share expertise.

But he also said the arrangements would take time to develop and added that Pakistan sought "brotherhood" between Islamic states and was therefore concerned about the escalation in tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Beyond the coalition initiative, Riyadh is trying to win the support of India and encourage it to isolate Iran. So far it has achieved mixed results. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both countries last month, Saudi energy sales to India grew but New Delhi also agreed to build a port in Iran.

Riyadh's hosting of a summit of South American and Arab League states last year was also partly aimed at pushing back Iran, said a Saudi analyst who sometimes carries out diplomatic functions for the government.

Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador in 2012 seeking diplomatic support from the left-wing states, with little apparent success.

AFRICAN RIFT

Some African countries have followed many Arab League states in recent months in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. This followed the storming of Riyadh's Tehran embassy in reaction to Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shi'ite cleric in January.

On Monday, Zambia's president appeared in Riyadh on an official visit soon after speaking out against Tehran.

Iran has devoted money to winning friends across Africa, investing in local industries and paying to spread its Shi'ite version of Islam in Muslim states. Playing on its anti-imperialist credentials, Tehran's goal appeared to be winning wider support at the United Nations.

Not only is soft power at stake. In 2012 two Iranian warships docked at Port Sudan, just across the Red Sea from the Saudi coast, following years of close ties between Khartoum and Tehran.

Since then Riyadh has invested around $11 billion in Sudan and ignored international arrest warrants on President Omar al-Bashir to allow him to visit the kingdom. In January, Khartoum cut off ties with Tehran.

Djibouti and Somalia did the same. A document seen by Reuters in January showed Mogadishu had received an aid package of $50 million shortly beforehand. But Djibouti denied in February that its break was motivated by money and accused Tehran of spreading sectarian tension in Africa.

Overall, Riyadh believes its approach is succeeding. "Iranian expansionism is almost stopped," an adviser to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last month.

But at Georgetown University-Qatar, Kamrava said it's too early to declare winners and losers.
Bahrain arrests 8 men trying to escape to Iran by boat- BNA

DUBAI, June 5 (Reuters) - Bahrain's coast guard has arrested eight people who were trying to escape to Iran by boat, state news agency BNA reported on late on Saturday.

Bahrain's official agency said two other men it described as "fugitives" had organised the escape from Iran.

The eight men had already been convicted - in absentia - and sentenced to between 10 to 15 years in prison, BNA said.

Six prisoners reported to have escaped from a Bahraini prison on Friday were not among the detainees, as the list of names for both groups of men published by BNA did not match.

A total of 17 people convicted on unspecified charges had escaped Bahrain's Dry Dock Detention Center on Friday, but 11 were recaptured.

Thousands of mainly Shi'ite Muslim Bahrainis are in jail on charges ranging from participating in anti-government protests to armed attacks on security forces in the Western-allied Gulf kingdom, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based.

Bahrain was rocked in 2011 by Arab Spring-style mass protests staged mainly by the Shi'ite community demanding political and economic reforms, including a bigger share in running the country.
Head of Chevron' Angola subsidiary says supports direction state oil firm taking

LUANDA, June 5 (Reuters) - The managing director of Chevron's Angola subsidiary has said he supports the direction state oil firm is taking after President Jose Eduardo dos Santos appointed his daughter to head the company.
Turkish warplanes target Kurdish militants, at least 27 killed - army

ISTANBUL, June 5 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran, the armed forces said on Sunday.

Air strikes on Saturday destroyed gun positions and shelters and caves used by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Gara area of northern Iraq and the countryside of Lice district in Diyarbakir province, the statement said.

It did not give a death toll but state-run Anadolu Agency cited security sources as saying small groups of PKK militants were killed in those strikes.

Separately, seven PKK militants were killed in a clash in Semdinli near the Iraqi and Iranian borders on Saturday, while air strikes in Semdinli on Friday killed 20 PKK fighters, it said.

The air strikes in Lice were conducted after the Diyarbakir governor's office declared a curfew there on Saturday. It said the curfew was lifted on Sunday morning after the completion of military operations there.

Turkish security forces on Friday concluded operations targeting PKK fighters in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border and in Sirnak near the border with Iraq.

More than 1,000 people, mostly PKK fighters, were killed in three months of clashes in those areas, security sources say. The fighting resumed in the largely Kurdish southeast last July after the collapse of a two-year-old ceasefire.
Deny migrants right to seek asylum -Austrian foreign minister

ZURICH, June 5 (Reuters) - Migrants who try to enter Europe illegally by boat should be denied the chance to apply for asylum and be sent back, Austria's foreign minister said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.

Austria's centrist government promised tougher action on immigration after the far right's candidate very nearly won a presidential election two weeks ago on voter concerns about Europe's biggest peacetime migration crisis.

"Whoever boards a boat and tries to enter Europe illegally has ruined his chances of gaining asylum in Europe and will be sent back," Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

Kurz, a member of the conservative OVP party, said Australia had shown it was possible to rescue migrants at sea without automatically letting them into the country.

"There is a country we can learn from. Australia had a similar problem. But the country managed to decide itself who is allowed to come, and didn't leave this decision to people-smugglers," the 29-year-old minister told the newspaper.

Australia is frequently criticised by human rights campaigners for detaining migrants intercepted at sea in camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru as well as its attempts to resettle refugees in poorer countries such as Cambodia.

Hundreds of people are estimated to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean this week as a power vacuum in Libya continues to allow people-smugglers to operate with impunity, taking advantage of waves of desperate people fleeing war and poverty.
Diplomatic tag as countries find new ways of standing up to China

By Greg Torode and Masayuki Kitano

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - When U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke at a key Asian summit at the weekend, he used the word "principled" 38 times, floating his vision of a U.S.-backed "security network" of countries in the region.

Several delegations were quick to respond to the idea at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but it seemed to evolve into a form of diplomatic tag-team wrestling as a loose coalition of nations lined up to criticise China.

Nations including Japan, India, France and Vietnam joined calls for greater respect for international law to resolve worsening tensions over the South China Sea, a dig at Beijing which has said it will not accept any ruling by a U.N.-backed court on the dispute.

Chinese officials, meanwhile, stressed Beijing's commitment to being a peaceful, lawful and inclusive nation but said it would not be bullied.

"No one has the right to point their fingers at China," said Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the joint staff department of China's Central Military Commission, as he faced a string of questions at one public forum at the summit on Sunday.

"Belligerence does not make peace."

Sun was sharing a podium with Vietnamese deputy defence minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, who said he was cutting short his own responses to allow his Chinese counterpart more time to rebut criticisms raised of Beijing.

Concern at China's assertiveness over the vital trade route was deepening, several envoys said on the sidelines of the summit, particularly given the prospect of Chinese military facilities on new artificial islands built by on reefs in the South China Sea.

Those concerns were forcing regional countries to band closer together to find new ways of standing up to Beijing.

Carter's urging of greater regional efforts, particularly from China, to create his "principled security network" was underpinned by warnings that China risked isolating itself by its actions "on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region's airspace".

Many militiaries in the region, he said, were working closer together, both among themselves and with the United Sates.

Japan's defence minister, Gen Nakatani, said Japan would seek to participate annually in naval exercises together with the United States and India, similar to drills due to take place off the Japanese port of Sasebo later this week.

"It is very meaningful from the standpoint of securing safety in the wide area of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, for Japan, the United States and India to cooperate on security and defense areas and to conduct training," Nakatani said.

GREAT WALL OF ISOLATION

Carter's warnings that China faced a looming "Great Wall of isolation" were rejected by Chinese officials, but some analysts said an "us versus them" divide may suit Beijing in current circumstances.

"It might sound tough talk, but my worry is that China's leaders will simply welcome that kind of view," Lee Chung Min, a professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, told Reuters.

"If its economy slows, China's leaders might welcome the chance for the isolationist talk to stir some domestic nationalism."

Major General Yao Yunzhu, of China's Academy of Military Science and prominent figure during the weekend sessions, acknowledged perceptions that some nations might be "ganging up" on China but said this did not represent "objective reality".

"The South China Sea is not the only security issue in the region, and events like this one are not quite full reality," she told Reuters. "Each nation has to think of its bilateral relations with China as well, and many other security issues, that pull us closer together."

Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, made clear that while the U.S. military was attempting to engage and co-operate with China's rapidly modernising military, it was prepared for a darker outcome.

"The bottom line is this: we want to co-operate where we can, but we just have to be ready as a military to confront them if we must," he said.

Malaysia defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein spelt out the costs to smaller regional countries if great power rivalries escalate, however.
Vietnam police bus away protesters days after Obama chides on human rights

HANOI, June 5 (Reuters) - Police in Vietnam on Sunday forcibly removed people protesting in the capital Hanoi against a perceived delay in government response to a mass fish death, just days after U.S. President Barack Obama chided the country on its human rights record.

Police bussed dozens of protesters away from at least one of several marches, a Reuters witness said. They had been marching against a government decision to seek further proof before disclosing the reason why fish have been washing up on the beaches of central provinces since April.

The government and police have not made any comment on the incident, and local media have not reported on the protest.

The incident follows a visit to the communist country last month by President Obama, who fully lifted a decades-long arms embargo but also expressed concern regarding freedom of speech and assembly after activists were stopped from meeting him.

There have been several demonstrations nationwide regarding the dead fish in past months, with those involved and local media questioning the role of a steel factory operated by a subsidiary of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp.

Formosa Plastics was not available to comment on Sunday but in April said any link between the factory and the deaths should be determined by the government. It also apologised for a comment by local subsidiary representative Chu Xuan Pham.

Chu said in an interview with local television in April that Vietnam had to choose between "catching fish and shrimp and building a modern steel industry." The Vietnamese public responded with the hashtag "toichonc" meaning "I choose fish."

Last week, the government said it had identified the cause of death but said it needed to gather more proof before making any allegation public.

On Sunday, dozens of people held peaceful marches to convey frustration at the decision but were met with police who forced them onto buses and took them away, the Reuters witness said. Police also moved away tourists and bystanders, blocked some roads and stopped people photographing and filming.

Access to Facebook, used by a third of the nation with a population of 90 million, was also blocked at the time of the protest, hampering demonstrators' efforts to communicate and spread news on public marches.
Iran rejects terror charges in U.S. report

DUBAI, June 5 (Reuters) - Iran rejected terrorism charges raised against it in an annual U.S. State Department report, Iranian media outlets reported on Sunday, saying the Islamic Republic merely supported nations fighting for freedom.

"The legitimate struggle of nations which are occupied ... are not examples of terrorism, and such charges in the American report are rejected," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

Ansari in turn condemned "U.S. military interferences and destructive support for terrorist groups in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Yemen", the agency said.

As in previous years, the report cited Iran as the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, saying Tehran supported conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and was implicated in violent Shi'ite opposition raids in Bahrain.

Bahrain has accused Iran of fomenting unrest in its country and of supplying weapons to Shi'ite militants behind several bomb attacks on security forces. Iran has denied the claims.
US Treasury Secretary Lew says excess capacity "corrosive" for China growth

By David Lawder

BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) - China's excess industrial capacity will have a "corrosive" impact on its future growth and efficiency unless it is reduced, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Sunday, adding that it was also causing distortions in global markets.

Lew, speaking to students in Beijing, said he hoped to make progress on the excess capacity issue in bilateral meetings with senior Chinese officials starting on Monday in Beijing. He noted that past discussions had eased currency tensions between the world's two largest economies.

"Excess capacity is not just a domestic issue in China," Lew said at Tsinghua University. "The question of excess capacity is one that literally has an enormous effect on global markets for things like steel and aluminum, and we're seeing distortions in global markets because of excess capacity."

A flood of Chinese steel into the United States has prompted the U.S. Commerce Department to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on a wide-range of Chinese steel products, while U.S. business groups have complained about new Chinese regulations they say favour local firms.

China, which now produces more than half of the world's steel, has criticised U.S. anti-dumping duties targeting Chinese steelmakers as irrational and harmful to diplomatic ties. Beijing has said it needs time to address its excess capacity problem.

Lew said excess Chinese steel capacity was causing problems for steel-producing economies worldwide, and government subsidies were at the root of the problem by encouraging overbuilding.

"Excess capacity ultimately is corrosive of an economy's efficiency," Lew said. "It means you have misallocation of resources, it means that ultimately, the only way to clear the market is to sell things at a price that is below what the world market price would otherwise be."

Lew credited past sessions of the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue talks with helping to reach understandings that have made currency less of an irritant for the two countries. The Treasury did not designate China as a currency manipulator in its recent currency report because it found that China's recent interventions were not problematic, he said.

China's latest interventions have been aimed at supporting the yuan's value, not pushing it down.

"It's fundamentally in China's interest not to have an undervalued exchange rate," Lew said, adding that a market-driven yuan would benefit Chinese consumers' purchasing power.

"Having a strong consumer in China is central to the future of China's growth," Lew added.
Syrian and Russian aircraft step up bombing of Aleppo city - monitor

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN, June 5 (Reuters) - Nearly 50 air strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government aircraft, residents and a monitoring group said.

The group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said an unidentified war plane had crashed in countryside south of Aleppo, in an area where Islamist rebel fighters are battling the Syrian army and Iranian-backed forces. It had no information on what caused the crash.

A civil defence worker said at least 32 people were killed in the rebel-held parts of the city during the air strikes, with 18 bodies pulled from flattened buildings in the Qatrji neighbourhood, the worst hit.

The monitor said dozens of barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel- were dropped by helicopter on densely populated districts.

"This week-long campaign of bombing is very intense and day by day it's getting worse ... it is the worst we have seen in a while," said Bebars Mishal, a civil defence official in rebel-held Aleppo.

For their part, rebels hit government-held areas of Aleppo in what Syrian media said was an escalation of mortar attacks on the western districts.

State media said attacks on Sunday on Hamadaniyah, Midan and other neighbourhoods by insurgents killed at least 20 people, in the second day of intense shelling of government-held areas. The death toll over the whole weekend was at least 44.

Aleppo, the country's largest city before the war, has been divided for years between rebel and government-held zones.

Full control of Aleppo would be a huge prize for President Bashar al-Assad. Russia's military intervention since September has helped to bolster Assad's government.

Syria issued a toughly worded statement denouncing Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, holding them responsible for the latest surge in rebel attacks and accusing them of wrecking any effort to reach a U.N.-backed political settlement.

Damascus says that along with several major Western countries, those regional countries finance and train Islamist rebels seeking to topple Assad's government.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, meanwhile, residents said Syrian and Russian jets bombed the rebel-held provincial capital, setting fire to a bustling market in the heart of the city. More than 30 people were injured, at least three killed and dozens were unaccounted for, according to an activist contacted in the city.

The Idlib strikes came just days after some of the heaviest raids on residential areas for months, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens on May 31. Idlib has been a relative haven for thousands of displaced Syrians.

ATTEMPTS TO ENCIRCLE INSURGENTS

The air raids in Aleppo on Sunday came in the wake of strikes on civilian areas on Friday that residents said were the most intense in over a month.

The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian government raids had targeted the main Castello road that leads into rebel-held Aleppo as part of a campaign to complete the encirclement of the city's insurgent-dominated areas.

A Russian defence ministry statement on Sunday accused militant Syrian Islamist groups of firing mortars on the mainly Kurdish-populated Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood in Aleppo that overlooks the Castello road.

The monitor said 13 people, including six children, were killed on Saturday in the Kurdish-run area by insurgents' mortars.

Rebels accuse the powerful Kurdish YPG of working with the Syrian army to cut the main artery by intensifying their ground attacks on the highway.

The Russians had on Saturday accused militants from radical Islamic groups of bringing at least 1,000 fighters into an area in the southern Aleppo countryside.

The militants have consolidated gains since Friday in the area around the strategic town of Khan Touman, rebels say.

The Nusra Front spearheaded an attack on Khan Touman last month, delivering one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters supporting Syrian government forces..

Rebels say Russian jets on Sunday pounded insurgent positions in the area to prevent them from advancing towards the nearby town of Hader, which rebels say is a stronghold of Iranian-backed militias.
Fosun in advanced talks for stake in French recreation group -Le Monde

PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - Chinese diversified group Fosun is in advanced talks to take a 10 to 15 percent stake in tourism and leisure group Compagnie des Alpes, Le Monde newspaper said in its weekend edition.

Compagnie des Alpes specialises in ski resorts, family parks and attractions.

The newspaper said the company, in which French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots (CDC) holds a 39.54 percent stake, is looking for partners to beef up its capital and accelerate its international development.

"We are in contact with several groups, not just Chinese," Dominique Marcel, Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie des Alpes told Le Monde. "In depth discussions are ongoing and I would like them to go faster."

The paper quoted an unnamed source as saying that among the candidates, "Fosun is one with which discussions are most advanced."
Six people wounded as shots fired on Czech tourist bus in France

PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - Six people travelling on a Czech tourist bus through France were injured when the vehicle came under fire, a prosecutor said on Sunday.

Authorities gave no clue as to the motive for the shooting, along a highway near Drome in the south-east. Initial investigations indicated the shot was fired from a hunting rifle.

Prosecutor Alex Perrin said the injured were hit by shattered glass. The bus was carrying 75 tourists including children on a school trip.
MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi shares fall before reform news; Zain up on refinancing

By Celine Aswad

DUBAI, June 5 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's stock market fell on Sunday the details of the kingdom's economic reforms are announced, but telecommunications operator Zain Saudi soared in response to a loan refinancing. Other regional markets were mixed.

The Saudi index dropped sharply late in the session and closed 1.2 percent lower.

The Saudi government is expected to announced on Monday details of economic reforms that it originally outlined in April. That may include targets in a drive to make government more efficient, efforts to involve the private sector in development, and possibly fiscal steps to curb a budget deficit caused by low oil prices.

April's announcement was largely a list of aspirations rather than specific measures, and it remains unclear whether Monday's announcement will include much more detail.

In any case, Saudi investors sold on Sunday in the belief the market has already largely digested positive aspects of the reforms and the details may contain aspects that are bad for stocks, such as fiscal austerity.

Mining company Ma'aden, which surged after the April announcement because of hopes that it would spearhead the reform plan's efforts to develop the mining industry, sank 3.3 percent on Sunday.

Saudi Basic Industries, which could be hurt by future cuts in energy and gas feedstock subsidies, dropped 3.6 percent.

But Zain Saudi jumped its 10 percent daily limit to 8.25 riyals after saying it had signed a 2.25 billion-riyal ($600 million) loan refinancing with a group of four local banks. The stock is below its mean target price of 9.64 riyals, according to the average of nine analysts polled by Reuters.

UAE, EGYPT

Business activity in the United Arab Emirates' non-oil private sector grew faster in May as employment resumed expanding, according to a purchasing managers' survey published on Sunday.

"This may have offered some encouragement for investors to buy back on price dips," said a Dubai-based trader.

Abu Dhabi's index added 1.0 percent as investors bought banking shares, which were the main laggards last week. First Gulf Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank climbed 1.3 and 1.2 percent respectively.

Dubai's index reversed early losses and added 0.7 percent to 3,285 points, rebounding from technical support on its 100-day average, now at 3,237 points, as it did in late May.

Shuaa Capital jumped 3.8 percent, taking its gains to 5.6 percent since last Tuesday, when Reuters reported that several local investment firms were among the bidders for Dubai Group's 48.4 percent stake in the Islamic financial firm .

Dubai Islamic Bank added 1.8 percent, snapping a four-session losing streak. The stock had been in a downtrend since its rights issue started trading on May 30; the last day of trading those rights will be June 13.

Business activity in Egypt shrank for the eighth straight month in May though at a slower pace than in the previous three months, a purchasing managers' survey showed. With more than four-fifths of stocks retreating, Cairo's main index fell 0.7 percent.

Cleopatra Hospital Holding, which listed on Thursday, fell 0.4 percent. The company announced a 57 percent increase in its 2015 annual net profit to 68.8 million Egyptian pounds ($7.8 million). On Thursday, shares in the hospital operator jumped 6.9 percent.

SUNDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index dropped 1.2 percent to 6,413 points.

DUBAI

* The index added 0.7 percent to 3,285 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index climbed 1.0 percent to 4,296 points.

QATAR

* The index rose 0.4 percent to 9,571 points.

EGYPT

* The index fell 0.7 percent to 7,564 points.

KUWAIT

* The index edged down 0.1 percent to 5,371 points.

OMAN

* The index edged down 0.02 percent 5,819 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index edged down 0.1 percent to 1,115 points.
Mexican state elections test ruling party's hopes for 2018

By Dave Graham

XALAPA, Mexico, June 5 (Reuters) - Mexican regional elections on Sunday pose a major test for the ruling partys hopes of retaining the presidency in 2018 as discontent over corruption and impunity fuels support for the anti-establishment message of a resurgent leftist firebrand.

Voters across Mexico choose new governors in a dozen of the countrys 31 states, including bastions of President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at risk of falling to the opposition after more than 80 years of one-party rule.

Election booths opened early on Sunday in oil-rich Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico, the country's third most-populous region, which the PRI has ruled since the party's inception in the late 1920s.

Years of gang violence, mounting debts and allegations of corruption have turned Veracruz into a liability for Pena Nieto, and only thanks to splits in the opposition does the centrist PRI look to have any hope of holding onto the state.

Polls in Veracruz show the PRI in a very tight race with Cuitlahuac Garcia, the candidate of the new leftist party of two-time presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as well as a joint ticket by the main center-right and center-left opposition parties.

Election observers are also on the lookout for any signs of fraud or violence around voting, a common occurrence in Mexico's rough and tumble campaigns. Party representatives often go door to door during elections with money and small gifts to encourage people to vote for their candidates.

"Corruption is what's done the most damage to Veracruz, and what's done the most damage to Mexico," Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday as he campaigned in the northern state of Sinaloa.

Accused by critics of presiding over rampant impunity and misuse of public funds, Veracruz governor Javier Duarte has become such a lightning rod for anger over the political class that the PRI candidate to succeed him said last year that he was "embarrassed" to be in the same party as the 42-year-old.

Since Duarte took office, Veracruz's debt has more than doubled to 46 billion pesos according to official data, though other estimates put the figure far higher. The state has also become notorious for violent crime and murders of journalists.

Narciso Bautista, who backs Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration Movement (Morena), said rampant corruption in Veracruz had eroded support for the government, and "formed a chain from the traffic cops right up to high officials."

"They're lining their pockets," the 36-year-old businessman said. "If they had used the money properly, there wouldn't be all this debt. What we want is change."

A former Mexico City mayor, Lopez Obrador routinely lumps all the established parties together as different faces of the same corrupt system, and if Morena wins Veracruz it would be a powerful springboard for a presidential tilt in 2018.

Latest polls suggest Lopez Obrador, a relentless campaigner, has a genuine chance of winning in 2018. Some senior government officials say in private he is the man to beat.

The PRI suffered a fresh blow on Friday when a judge ordered properties of one its former governors seized in an investigation into fraud and other crimes in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, which it lost control of last year.

Partly due to deepening political fragmentation, several state contests on Sunday are too close to call.
Vietnam, South Korea may buy Lockheed planes amid Chinese buildup

By Andrea Shalal

BERLIN, June 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam and South Korea are looking seriously at buying refurbished Lockheed Martin Corp P-3 and S-3 maritime surveillance planes to counter China's military buildup and repeated North Korean missile launches, the company said.

Vietnam is expected to request formal pricing and availability data on four to six older U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft in the next few months, Clay Fearnow, a senior executive with Lockheed's aeronautics division, told Reuters at the Berlin air show last week.

The Obama administration's move to completely lift its arms embargo on Vietnam last month paved the way for such a sale, but any deal would still have to be carefully reviewed by the U.S. government, according to U.S. and Lockheed officials.

Washington's decision to permit lethal arms sales to Vietnam, its former enemy, underscored both countries' shared concerns about China's growing military clout.

Vietnam, which borders China, is also a key part of President Barack Obama's efforts to rebalance U.S. strategy toward Asia amid worries about Beijing's assertiveness and sovereignty claims to 80 percent of the South China Sea.

If the sale goes through, retired U.S. Navy P-3 turboprop planes now parked in a desert would be rebuilt with new wings, a new mission system and anti-submarine warfare equipment for Vietnam, Fearnow said.

The cost could exceed the $80 million to $90 million price tag for each of the 12 P-3s rebuilt for Taiwan several years ago, given the added equipment, Fearnow said.

Lockheed has built new wings or rebuilt aircraft for over 90 P-3 aircraft around the world, including the United States, Norway, Taiwan, Chile and Germany, since 2008, with some orders still in the works, Fearnow said.

The company is scrambling to drum up more orders and extend its wing production line in Marietta, Georgia.

Brazil and South Korea are each looking at ordering new wings for existing aircraft, but must decide by Sept. 1 to avoid a potentially costly gap in the supply chain for the wings, he said.

Boeing Co is also marketing its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance plane, but it is significantly newer and more expensive than the P-3. Another possible competitor is Airbus Group SE's C295 plane, which is built in Spain.

The U.S. State Department said it could not comment on potential P-3 or S-3 sales until it formally notifies the U.S. Congress.

In addition to South Korea's interest in new wings for eight of its P-3s, Seoul is also looking at acquiring 12 of the U.S. Navy's S-3 aircraft, which were retired in 2009 and are now parked in a desert, Fearnow said.

He said Spain, Portugal and Argentina also had P-3 aircraft that could use new wings, but those countries all face budget pressures. Japan, which has about 100 P-3 aircraft, is replacing them with its own P-1 aircraft, and the U.S. Navy is replacing its P-3 fleet with the Boeing P-8s.
South African spin needs polish to counter Aussie hitting

GEORGETOWN, June 5 (Reuters) - South Africa must polish the weaker element of their bowling armoury and make better use of a spinning wicket when they face Australia in the tri-nation series in Guyana on Tuesday.

They must also nullify the threat of Australia's powerful hitters to stand any chance of victory in their second one-day international, spinner Aaron Phangiso told reporters on Sunday.

South Africa lost the opener in the 10-match series to hosts West Indies at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence on Friday after being dismissed for a paltry total of 188 as Sunil Narine returned to international action with a six-wicket haul.

South Africa's spinners took six wickets in reply but were also laid into by Kieron Pollard, whose unbeaten 67 took West Indies to a four-wicket victory.

"We can maybe try a different approach when a player like Pollard is on the attack, perhaps change up the lengths a little bit," Phangiso said.

"It's something that we will need to work on -- how to counter a situation when a batsman is being positive and on the attack," he added.

Against West Indies, Phangiso posted career-best figures of 3-40, which might have looked a lot more flattering had Pollard not hit him for three enormous sixes.

"The surface was dry, definitely not one that you get back in South Africa often. It was very helpful to the spinners, we saw Narine taking a six-for-27 for the West Indies and our spinners picked up six wickets between us.

"I'm quite pleased with my performance but there is still a lot of improvement to be done," he said.
Turkey wrap up Euro preparations with win over Slovenia

ISTANBUL, June 5 (Reuters) - An early goal from striker Burak Yilmaz gave Turkey a 1-0 victory away to Slovenia on Sunday, boosting morale in their final warm-up game before Euro 2016 starts in France next week.

Burak found the net with a powerful header in the fifth minute, running on to a free kick from Hakan Calhanoglu, who last week scored Turkey's first ever goal against England.

Turkey, whose 2-1 loss to England at Wembley followed a 14-game unbeaten streak, face holders Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic in Group D at the tournament which starts on June 10.
NY Fed first rejected cyber-heist transfers, then moved $81 million

By Krishna N. Das and Jonathan Spicer

DHAKA/NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. The Fed's decision to later fulfill a handful of resubmitted requests raises questions about whether it missed red flags.

The New York arm of the U.S. central bank initially denied the transfer requests because they lacked proper formatting for the SWIFT messaging system, the network banks use for international financial transfers, the two officials said.

The Bangladesh Bank official said they lacked the names of correspondent banks, which typically receive wired funds. The Fed rejected the requests, which came from hackers who had broken into the SWIFT network through Bangladesh Bank systems.

Later in the day, however, the cyber thieves resubmitted those 35 requests. On the second try, the messages had the proper formatting, the New York Fed official said. The requests had been authenticated by SWIFT, the first line of defense against fraudulent wire transfers.

Despite the technical compliance, the New York Fed rejected 30 of the requests a second time. But the Fed did approve five requests - for a total of $101 million. Later, one of those five transfers - a $20 million request - was reversed because of a misspelling.

The New York Fed has said it blocked the 30 resubmitted requests because they were flagged for economic sanctions review. Only afterward were they deemed potentially fraudulent.

The Bangladesh Bank official and another source close to the bank said the New York Fed should have rejected all the requests on both the first and second attempts.

The source close to the bank, who also had direct knowledge of the matter, said anomalies in the four transfers that ultimately went through should have raised questions at the New York Fed. They were paid to individual recipients, a rarity for Bangladesh's central bank, and the false names on the four approved withdrawals also appeared on some of the 30 resubmitted requests rejected by the bank, said the source close to the Bangladesh Bank.

"Of course, we asked the Fed why the repetition of the names did not create red flags," the source said.

"They are saying they rejected 35 badly submitted ones," the source said. But when the requests were re-submitted, they "paid 5 of them and stopped 30. Why? They can give no answer."

Bangladesh Bank and SWIFT declined to comment. The New York Fed has said there were no problems with its procedures for approving SWIFT fund transfers, and declined to comment on whether it missed any warning signs.

The cyber theft from Bangladesh's central bank - and recent disclosures of other similar fraud attempts - have brought scrutiny on the SWIFT messaging system. SWIFT is a cooperative of global banks formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, and its transaction system was used as a conduit for one of the largest cyber bank heists in history.

In the United States, a congressional committee has launched a probe into the New York Fed's role in the bank heist. The Bangladeshi central bank might seek compensation for the funds from the Federal Reserve, and Bangladesh Bank police have said that recent installation of a new SWIFT settlement system at the bank last fall may have provided thieves an opportunity to gain access to the bank's SWIFT servers.

RED FLAGS?

The New York Fed's reviews of payment requests that come over the SWIFT system are focused chiefly on guarding against money laundering and transfers to people and entities that are under U.S. government sanctions, Fed officials have said. But requests often also are temporarily halted to fix typos and other formatting problems.

The Fed branch has said its clients, including Bangladesh Bank, and SWIFT have primary responsibility for preventing unauthorized transfers.

Fed employees queried Bangladesh Bank about the purpose of the payments requested on Feb. 4 and again on Feb. 5, according to a letter to congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) by New York Fed General Counsel Thomas Baxter.

The four transfers totaling $81 million went to accounts in the Philippines. The money wound up with casinos and casino agents and remains missing. An attempt to transfer $20 million to a foundation in Sri Lanka was reversed because the word "foundation" was misspelled.

The source close to Bangladesh Bank said questions about the anomalies in the approved requests were discussed at a meeting in Basel last month between New York Fed President William Dudley, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir and representatives from SWIFT.

Rep. Maloney and Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, both have made inquiries to the New York Fed.

The House Science Committee informed the New York Fed in a letter this week that it is launching a probe into its handling of the transfer requests. The committee plans to examine the New York Fed's response to the heist, the oversight of SWIFT, and whether additional measures are needed to address vulnerabilities to cyber attacks.
U.S. Navy sailor arrested in Okinawa on suspicion of drunken driving -U.S. forces

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy sailor stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa has been detained by Japanese police on suspicion of drunken driving, U.S. Forces-Japan said, in an incident likely to fuel further resentment of the heavy U.S. military presence in the region.

The statement, seen by Reuters on Sunday, said a vehicle driven by the sailor had been involved in a "serious three-car accident with injuries" on Saturday and that U.S. Navy officials were fully cooperating with police in Okinawa.

A U.S. official said the person detained was a 21-year-old female sailor.

"We deeply regret this incident and express our heartfelt sympathies for the accident victims and their families. We wish them a fast recovery. The sailor is in Japanese police custody for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and we are cooperating fully with this investigation," said Lt. Gen. John Dolan, the U.S. Forces, Japan commander.

Dolan said the U.S. military had "zero tolerance for driving under the influence" and that any military member convicted of doing so "faces severe consequences."

The incident comes as the U.S. military observes a 30-day period of mourning at its bases on Okinawa, where an American civilian working at a U.S. military base was arrested last month on suspicion of dumping the body of a 20-year-old Japanese woman.

That incident stoked anger in Japan, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to protest the killing during talks with U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of the Group of Seven summit in central Japan.

Many associate the bases with crime. The rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by U.S. military personnel in 1995 sparked huge anti-base demonstrations.

Okinawa, the site of a brutal World War Two battle, hosts 50,000 U.S. nationals, including 30,000 military personnel and civilians employed at U.S. bases, and many residents resent what they see as an unfair burden.

Both governments have wanted to keep the incident of the Japanese woman from fanning further opposition to an agreement to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base to a less populous part of Okinawa, a plan first agreed upon after the 1995 rape but opposed by the island's governor and many residents who want the base off the island entirely.
Even as it is now official that Ram Vriksh Yadav, the key accused in Thursdays (June 2) sensational Mathura violence was among the 28 dead, the police claim is not above suspicion.

According to latest reports reaching the state headquarters in Lucknow, the body, stated to be of that of Ram Vriksh, was completely charred and therefore disfigured.

Neither the district magistrate nor the SSP of Mathura were able to explain how they had identified the body as that of the self-styled supremo Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena who literally bossed over them and ran his private fiefdom on an illegally occupied 280 acre government land at a stones throw from the district magistrate's residence for a good 30 months.

Sections of the local population are suspicious that the declaration of Ram Vrikshs death could be a ploy to keep under wraps the many skeletons that he was believed to have in his cupboard. A dead Ram Vriksh would would seal many doors that could have exposed his conduits that kept him far above the reach of the law of the land.

His proximity to Shivpal Yadav, Uttar Pradesh's most powerful multi-portfolio minister is already being talked about in the state's corridors of power. Shivpal is Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle.

Ram Vriksh Yadav with his gunmen on his routine daily round in Mathura before his clash with cops.

Significantly, Ram Vriksh was also receiving a special monthly pension of Rs 15,000, that was started by an earlier Mulayam government, which then took a decision to give pension to all those who were imprisoned under stringent laws like Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency.

Many pertinent questions are being raised in this regard. Why did it take the administration more than 36 hours to declare Ram Vriksh's death, especially since he is believed to have died in the blast in the organisations own camp, from where a huge cache of firearms were also recovered?

Were the local officials not familiar with Ram Vrikshs face that they took so long to recognise him? Who were sitting in the two vehicles which sped away from the scene while the exchange of fire was taking place?

Many more incriminating facts have come to light. It was common knowledge in Mathura that all local officials would eat out of Ram Vrikshs hand. He was also understood to have been instrumental in getting the present district magistrate Rakesh Kumar and SSP Rajesh Kumar posted in Mathura.

Even SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi who was lynched to death by Ram Vriksh's private army on Thursday as well as SHO Santosh Yadav, who fell to bullets, owed their appointments to the anarchist whose clout with the ruling dispensation was an open secret.

Any objectivity on the part of these officials who were clearly obliged to Ram Vriksh is doubtful. That they would sign on the dotted line is clearly evident and perhaps that was the reason the government had not shown any motivation to shift them.

What has surprised many that even after chief minister Akhilesh Yadav sought to blame it all on the local machinery, no action had so far been taken against a single official.
I wrote that "Day One: all about money of his own" - my observation only - some hardcore fans rushed up to his defense.

: TJKCB  [  ] [  ] [  ] [  ]  2109  (114712 bytes) http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/currentevent/813243.html http://blog.wenxuecity.com/myblog/57970/201605/931396.html

All honesty, I argued that once a business man, always a businessman, very rare capable of acrossing the aisle like Michael Bloomberg (took $1 salary per year, sitting in a cubicle office, as the mayor of New York City) - you can't expect more from Trump. If you're for him, be prepared to allow him work

for himself in expense of the public resources, as seen now!

What bothers me more is that Trump is spending time opening hotels when he ought to be boning up on international politics, protocols, history, geography, economics, trade, and the like. In case the U.S. voters lose their collective minds and vote this incompetent into the highest office on his very first run for office.

Now look at what he's doing, he hijacts the national platform for his own money!

For those fellows dreaming of Trump "save legal immigrants by excluding the illegal (undocumented, as definded by George W. Bush, of your own GOP) immigrants," look closely at the facts, hard/cold facts, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, born in the US from legal immigrant parents, was appointed to office by fellow GOP Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California - one of Trump's own GOP, presumably only if Trump, for real, a GOP, or NOT.

If you're still defending him, expecting Trump for the public, read what GOP leaders said about Trump:
Video

In tones both aspirational and political, Michelle Obama on Friday used her last commencement address as first lady to salute graduates of the City College of New York as living, breathing proof that the American dream endures, while also criticizing name-calling leaders who engage in anger and intolerance.

Mrs. Obama did not specifically mention Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. But her intent could not have been clearer as she warned that leaders who rule by intimidation  leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people  often do so because they have nothing else to offer.

Here in America, we dont give in to our fears, she told the class of 2016, with its 3,848 graduates, in an outdoor ceremony on the colleges Manhattan campus. We dont build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere but sought out this country and made it their home.

For Mrs. Obama, the address, the last of her three commencement speeches this year, was intended to highlight several issues that have been dear to her, including public education and immigration. Noting the colleges proximity to the Statue of Liberty , she said there was no better way to celebrate this great country than being here with you.

Mrs. Obamas commencement address at City College, the flagship school in the City University of New York system, was the latest high point in its long, distinguished history. In 1847, it was founded as the Free Academy of New York, with a mission to provide an education to anyone, at low cost.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

But her visit also came at a precarious time for the CUNY system, which has been troubled by overcrowded classes, shrinking course options and budget cuts , as described in a recent investigation by The New York Times. Faculty members and employees represented by the universitys biggest union, who have worked without a raise for six years, recently voted to authorize a strike in the fall if no contract deal was reached.

Indeed, dozens of faculty and students on Friday morning handed out fliers to people filing past security to enter the campus, in Upper Manhattan, urging public officials to invest more money in the system.

None of the speakers at the commencement directly addressed CUNYs woes. But in her 24-minute address, which elicited frequent and enthusiastic applause, Mrs. Obama said that public education is our greatest pathway to opportunity in America. So we need to invest in and strengthen our public universities today, and for generations to come.

At several points, she mentioned notable immigrants, or the children of immigrants, who had attended City College, including Jonas Salk, Ira Gershwin, Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Grove, the former Intel chief executive, who died in March. But she also applauded the valedictorian and salutatorian of the graduating class , who delivered rousing addresses on the importance of diversity and the hard-fought battle to break cultural barriers.

Mrs. Obama added some personal perspective, as well:

Its the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters  two beautiful, black young women  head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: to get an education and improve his prospects in life.

Continue reading the main story
WASHINGTON D.C. - USA - NASA has announced that they may have discovered the source of methane gas on the Mars surface. Picture exclusive.

The NASA space agencys Mars rover had detected bursts of methane gas on the Martian surface last week.

Scientists were baffled to the source of the methane gas, which if found could reveal signs of life on Mars.

We were really excited when the analysis of the Mars atmosphere found methane gas. We got our Mars rover to go all over the place to find the source of this gas. Thats when we got the pictures, Ed Collins, chief scientist on the Mars project told CNN.

NASA received the pictures back last night, and are amazed. This confirms there is life on Mars, and could be a defining moment in human history.

The space agency is appealing to anyone who knows what the creature in the photo could be to contact the space agency with suggestions.
LONDON - England - Through the incessant electioneering and spectacular displays by buccaneering politicians, the polling stations will be wild with excitement on the night, but the decision has already been cast for the 2015 General Election.

The oracles that reside in the ether and transmogrified effervescence have revealed their answer.

David Cameron will win the 2015 General Election to continue the just mission of taking Britain forward, not backwards.

The oracle cannot be judged for the decisions are already set in stone nothing can change itnot even the BBC.
BRUSSELS - Belgium - If the UK stays in the EU, it will most certainly lose its long-standing rebate because of David Cameron's veto loss.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has made clear the rebate is a discretionary grant which is subject to annual renegotiation: It is not a unilateral decision of the British Treasury or the British Government to just say, This is our rebate. We are entitled to it. Pay up. The way this works and has always worked is there is a negotiation with the European Commission.

The rebate has no basis in the Treaties. Its only existence is in article 5 of Council Decision 2014/335/EU. This expires in 2021, so the rebate could be abolished entirely in the event of a vote to stay.

During David Camerons EU negotiations the UK lost its last bargaining chip veto, and if we remain in the EU we will be vulnerable to any changes the EU wish to implement on the UK.

Iain Duncan Smith: They know that that right to veto gave us quite a strong position to stop development in the European Union which we did not want.

We have given it away and that makes our position, if we vote to remain, even weaker than it was before.

So dont be fooled by the idea that there is some negotiation that we undertook.

When the EU starts to negotiate the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the rebate will certainly be on the table again. Many other EU countries would like to see it scrapped or reduced.

But with the EU leaders required to approve the MFF unanimously, the UK which previously could have used its veto power would now be powerless because of David Camerons loss during the recent EU negotiations which did not achieve any real concessions, but also lost Britains last bargaining chip in the EU.

Perhaps David Cameron is attempting to undo all the great work achieved in the past..
New Delhi: After the consolidation, the telecom sector is once again going to enter an exciting phase, heralding lower tariffs. Thanks to new virtual network operators (VNO) licence guidelines released last week, new players are expected to enter the Indian telecom sector.

DataWind, erstwhile maker of Aakash tablet, has confirmed that it will apply for VNO licence and launch services before Diwali.

Experts are expecting the entry of at least 2-3 more players in the space. Markets are abuzz that American telecom giant AT&T and Virgin Media are looking to enter India through the VNO route.

VNO offers voice and data services under their own brands without owning network or spectrum. They buy voice and data in bulk from the licensed telecom operators and sell them under their own brand enhancing competition in the market.

VNO usually provide tariffs which are less than traditional players and offer differential services like targeted towards youth or other segments accompanied by huge marketing blitz.

Despite significant growth in telecom penetration over the last few years, India remains a country with almost 50 crore without access to telecom services, and almost one billion people without internet access, said Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO and founder, DataWind. We are already in discussions with network operators and intend to file our application for a VNO license shortly, he said.
A total of 46,833 passengers were affected due to the flight cancellations, delays and denied boarding, involving a compensation of Rs 1.33 crore during April this year.

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry is likely to announce soon new norms for ticket cancellation, baggage and denied boarding, amid the increasing number of complaints on these issues.

The move also comes after domestic air passengers' body Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) had written to the civil aviation ministry and aviation regulator DGCA to address these issues including adequate compensation to fliers in the eventuality of their flight getting cancelled or delayed.

At present a passengers gets between Rs 2,000-4,000 depending upon the duration of the delay.

In the case of denied boarding also, the compensation ranges in the same amount, "We are revisiting regulations concerning these issues," a senior official said.

The revamped norms are expected to be made public soon, the official added. Significantly, after domestic airlines including the largest airline by market share IndiGo and Government-run Air India hiked its cancellation charges, Directorate General of Civil Aviation had sought an explanation from the carriers over the issue.

"We have been trying to compare (ticket cancellation charges) with international trends and like that... It (analysis of cancellation charges) will take more time," DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy had said last month.

Budget carrier IndiGo had in April done away with the slab system for charging ticket cancellation fee and made it uniform at Rs 2,250. National carrier Air India too had in February effected a hike of Rs 500 for cancelling its flight tickets, which now stands at Rs 2,000 per ticket.

"We certainly welcome the (proposed) move. But at the same time we want a fool proof system in place. If a passengers misses his connecting flight he should also be compensated," D Sudhakara Reddy of APAI said.

According to DGCA, more than two-thirds of the airline flights in April were cancelled due to technical and operational reasons. Also, a total of 46,833 passengers were affected due to the flight cancellations, delays and denied boarding, involving a compensation of Rs 1.33 crore during April this year.
In the past four years, the country has lost more than Rs 10,000 crore revenue from Tamil Nadu, admitted industry sources associated with the council after submitting a report.

Chennai: India has lost to Brazil in granite exports as Madurai stopped mining exploration since 2012. Industry sources have warned the Centre through the Granite Development Council that if the situation persists the country will lose its global position also to China and Dubai, besides other Asian players.

With about 50 quarries closing operations in Tamil Nadu due to court cases and denial of permission for mining, the state has been losing a revenue of Rs 4,000 crore per year. In the past four years, the country has lost more than Rs 10,000 crore revenue from TN, admitted industry sources associated with the council after submitting a report in this regard to the top brass of the Union ministry of mining.

Madurai region is the granite hub for the entire Indian granite industry as the region produces 25 colours of granites and now with the production being suspended due to several factors, India has lost its market to Brazil, said K. Subbha Reddy, vice president, Federation of Indian Granites and Stone Association.

The only respite to the market is that the policy of Andhra and Telangana has helped to sustain the industry with both the states now earning revenue close to Rs 3,000 crore per year.

The once neglected stones and those considered second in grade have now picked up sales. Rajamundry white, Madanapalli white and Vizhag whites are the brands that are now helping the market and the present situation in TN has affected about 25,000 people associated with mineral industry, Reddy said adding TN has the maximum number of granite colours in the country, ranging up to 35.

Both Tamil Nadu private players and Tamin have established their credentials as an exporter of International repute catering to United States, Japan, China and UK but now the supplies have gone down. If the trend continues, we will lose our global customers and will be hard to compete with foreign countries, said Rajasekharan, president, Madurai Granite Association.

There is no proper transparent policy all these years. We were treated like industrialists and now we are booked like criminals for exploiting the resources, lamented a granite exporter of Tirunelveli

Meanwhile, sources in the Industries department admitted that revenue of the state by exporting minerals has drastically dipped by one third and added the low VAT fixed by Rajasthan had also started draining the earnings of state run Tamil Nadu Minerals Ltd.
Data suggests that dogs were domesticated twice, on both sides of the Old World.

London: Ancient humans made dogs their best friend not once but twice, by domesticating two separate populations of wolves thousands of miles apart in Europe and Asia.

That is the conclusion of scientists who said on they had used modern genetics to unravel canine evolutionary history, revealing a deep internal split between dogs from opposite ends of the Eurasian continent.

People and hounds go way back - they were living together at least 15,000 years ago, or 5,000 years before cows, goats and pigs arrived - but how, why, when and where the two species got friendly has been a mystery.

It was widely believed dogs were tamed just once, with some experts claiming this happened in Europe and others favouring central Asia or China.

But a new story emerged when researchers used the inner ear bone from a 4,800-year-old dog unearthed in Ireland to sequence its full genome, and then compared it to both modern animals and DNA traces from 59 ancient dogs.

"Our data suggests that dogs were domesticated twice, on both sides of the Old World," said Laurent Frantz, a geneticist at the University of Oxford, whose work was published in the journal Science.

"This suggests that at least two group of humans independently came to the same conclusion: dogs can be domesticated. It also suggests that the process of domestication, while mostly rare, may be replicated more often than we think."

After constructing a family tree for dogs based on the genetic data, the scientists concluded there were very old domesticated animals in both the east and west of Eurasia but not in the middle.

At some point in prehistory, they believe the eastern dogs dispersed with human migrants and replaced most of the western ones, so Asian ancestry is now dominant in modern dogs.

Although it is possible there was only one domestication event in Asia, followed by early transportation to Europe, the research team argues the lack of archaeological evidence for dogs in the middle of the continent makes this very unlikely.

Other scientists not involved in the work believe more samples from ancient dogs and wolves will be needed to prove the point conclusively.

WOLF, AFGHAN, YORKIE

What remains unclear is how grey wolves started down the long road that has ended up with today's kaleidoscope of dog breeds from Afghan hounds to Yorkshire terriers.

The idea that it began with a hunter-gatherer picking up a wolf pup and breeding tamer and tamer offspring is probably too simple, according to Greger Larson, a genetics expert in Oxford's archaeology department.

"It's likely to have been co-evolution. At first a pack of wolves got close to humans, then humans got used to the wolves and, finally, there would have been something more intentional on the part of people," he said.
Sardar Satyajit Singh of Bharoli came in to join the party and in the course of conversation, asked the maharaja whether he could buy the Maybach lying unused in Patiala.

New Delhi: Do you know a rare Maybach car gifted to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala by Adolf Hitler in the mid 1930s changed hands without any transaction of money and later made its way to a vintage collector's hands?

Or the Patiala House here was witness to a historic meeting that decided to hold the Asian Games every four years with the first games in the national capital in 1951.

"Princely Palaces in New Delhi", authored by Sumanta K Bhowmick and published by Niyogi Books, has several such anecdotes related to the mansions which form an integral part of New Delhis urban topography.

Citing an incident in Patiala House in 1957, the author writes, "...It resulted in the loss of the rare Maybach car gifted to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh by Adolf Hitler after their meeting in Germany in 1935. There were only six of these specially made cars in the world and the last of them stood unused in the garage at Motibagh Palace in Patiala.

"As young Raja Malvinder Singh (Bhupinder Singh's grandson) was sitting in the drawing room in the first floor at Patiala House, his father (Maharaja Yadavindra Singh) ordered him to make drinks for some assembled guests."

Sardar Satyajit Singh of Bharoli came in to join the party and in the course of conversation, asked the maharaja whether he could buy the Maybach lying unused in Patiala.

"The maharaja replied generously that he was not selling any car but if his guest wanted the car as a gift, he could take it. Sardar Satyajit did not hesitate to accept the offer; furthermore, he got a letter from the Maharaja of Harvey, the garage in-charge at Patiala Palace, directing to hand over the vintage car to him.
Adventurer Aleksander Doba paddled off from the tip of Manhattan Sunday. (Photo: AFP)

New York: A Polish grandfather attempting his third solo trans-Atlantic kayak crossing has given up because of strong waves off the US coast.

Adventurer Aleksander Doba paddled off from the tip of Manhattan Sunday. His goal was to reach Portugal in time to celebrate his 70th birthday on land in September.

But waves off Sandy Hook in the state of New Jersey pushed Doba ashore, he said on his Facebook page Friday.

Doba reached shore safely with his kayak but it was too severely damaged to go out again, his land-based team said.

He will try again next year, it said.

A star at home, gray-bearded Doba gained global attention when he was named a National Geographic adventurer of the year in 2015.

At that point, the retired engineer also an avid rock-climber, parachutist, glider pilot, sailor and yacht skipper had already had two solo Atlantic kayak crossings under his belt.

The first, between October 2010 and February 2011, took him from the Senegalese capital Dakar to the Brazilian city of Acarau.

The second saw him set off from Lisbon in October 2013 and arrive in Florida in April of the following year.
New Delhi: A 25-year-old Dailt was on Sunday shot at and injured for fetching water from a government tubewell outside a village here, triggering clashes between two groups.

The incident occurred in Amva village in Chauri area when Pankaj Dhaikar wanted to take water from a government tubewell and Kailash Pathak prevented him, leading to a clash, Chauri police station SHO Vinod Yadav said.

While people from both sides gathered and indulged in brick batting and clashed with sticks, Pathak shot at Dhaikar and fled from the spot, he said.

Dhaikar sustained bullet injuries and was rushed to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable, police said.

An FIR has been lodged in this regard and a manhunt has been launched to apprehend the accused.
Kochi: Newly appointed Kerala Police chief Loknath Behera on Sunday visited the house of the 30-year-old Dalit woman, who was raped and murdered near Perumabavoor in Ernakulam district more than a month ago.

Behera, who visited the house of the law student, said a scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits involved in the crime.

"We are doing the investigation. Investigation is not like magic. A scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits," he said in Perumbavoor.

Noting that the probe into the sensational case was progressing well, he said it might take some time to nab the criminals.

Facing flak over the delay in arresting the people involved in the crime, Behera said in some cases arrests can be made in 24 hours but in some cases it may take at least a year to arrest the culprits.

The DGP also met the victim's mother who is admitted in a Government Taluk Hospital in Perumbavoor.

He also held a meeting with the recently constituted investigation team headed by ADGP B Sandhya and other officers at the Aluva Police club.

The LDF government in one of its first decisions appointed senior woman IPS officer Sandhya as the head of a new team to probe the case.

The Kerala High Court had last week rejected the plea for a CBI probe into the case noting that a new Special Investigation Team had been set up in the case.

The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was allegedly raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house on April 28.

The murder was in focus during the Assembly polls campaign with political parties attacking the then UDF regime for "tardy" progress in the investigation and failure to nab the culprits.
New Delhi: India on Sunday thanked Afghanistan for conferring the country's highest civilian honour  the Amir Amanullah Khan award -- on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit there.

Expressing gratitude to Afghan government for the prestigious award, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was an honour not only for the Prime Minister, but for the whole country.

Modi was conferred the award by President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday during his short visit to Herat province in Afghanistan where he inaugurated a landmark dam built by India at a cost of Rs 1,700 crore.

"It's a matter of great honour for India that the Indian Prime Minister has been conferred with the highest ever civilian award by the Afghan government. It is an honour not only for India's Prime Minister but for the whole country for which we are grateful to the government of Afghanistan," said Jaitley.

Modi is the first Indian and is among a handful of foreign leaders to receive the award.

Modi had also tweeted yesterday, "My deepest gratitude to the Government of Afghanistan for conferring the Amir Amanullah Khan Award."

The award is named after Afgahn national hero Amanullah Khan who championed the cause of Afghanistan's freedom. He was the ruler of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1919-1929.

About Prime Minister's visit to Qatar, Jaitley said it will help India get more investments from the Gulf country.

"In the last two years as the economy of India has picked up, the interest of global investors in India also has increased. The Prime Minister has on Sunday addressed the business community of Qatar," Jaitley said.

The government there, the business community and the funds have been extremely keen on investing in India and the Prime Minister's visit to Qatar will give a great fillip to that," he added.

The Prime Minister travelled to Qatar from Afghanistan yesterday as part of his five nation tour.

Modi on Sunday invited Qatar's companies to "grab" the vast opportunities for business, especially in the infrastructure sector, in India, while promising to remove "bottlenecks" identified by them.
Earlier, a group of Muslim women moved the Supreme Court demanding entry into all mosques in the country. (Representational Photo: AFP)

Jaipur: Amid rising demands by Muslim women to allow them to enter and offer prayers in mosques across the country, the Jamia Masjid in Jaipur has made special arrangements for the fairer sex to offer 'individual Namaz' at a separate section in the Mosque.

Joint Secretary of the Jamia Masjid, Jaipur, Mohammed Tahir Azaad, told ANI, that arrangements have been made for women, but they cannot offer Namaz, led by Imam, along with their male counterparts.

"As far as women offering Namaz is concerned, they cannot offer Namaz along with the Imam. They can offer individual Namaz in the Mosque. There are two kinds of Namaz, one that is read along with an Imam can be read only by males," he said.

He said such an arrangement has been made so that Muslim women do not miss out on Namaz because they are outdoors or busy in work.

"Now, when women are outside, doing some work, and there is a risk of Namaz being missed, then they can offer prayers here after the males finish their prayer. A place has been designated for it where they can come and pray individually," he added.

He further said Namaz is a right of every follower of Islam, whether male or female.

Earlier, a group of Muslim women moved the Supreme Court demanding entry into all mosques in the country.

The petition by the Muslim women reportedly asks that every mosque that receives monetary aid from the government be prohibited from discriminating against women.

According to reports, women are allowed to enter mosques that have a separate space for them, but most mosques in India do not.

A Muslim women's rights group is locked in a bitter legal battle with trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah, which barred women's entry into mosque's mausoleum in 2011.

While defending its ban on women, the Haji Ali Dargah trust had reportedly said that it was a "grievous sin" as per Islam for women to be in close proximity of the grave of a male Muslim saint.
New Delhi: In its drive to sensitise locals about issues concerning people from African nations living in the city, Delhi Police today held a meeting of resident welfare associations in south Delhi's Hauz Khas area.



Joint Commissioner of Police (Southeast) R P Upadhyay presided over the meeting, held at Delhi Police's south district office in Hauz Khas, which was attended by the Presidents of Resident Welfare Association of the localities in and around Hauz Khas area.



The objective of the meeting was to sensitize them about issues concerning African persons living in the colonies where they reside, a senior police official said.



Delhi Police had started sensitization programme following a series of alleged assault on Africans in south Delhi.



The first such big meeting was chaired by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh.



Later, another sensitisation meeting, attended by Africans and locals both, was chaired by Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma among several other meetings chaired by senior police officials at local levels.



The police's efforts in this regard was also appreciated by Union External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
Mumbai: Former AAP leader and social activist Anjali Damania, who was on a hunger strike demanding a probe into corruption charges against former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, ended her fast this evening.



She broke her hunger strike after getting a written assurance from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.



Roshni Raut, a close associate of Damania, told PTI, "Damania ended her strike after she received a message from Chief Minister on her mobile informing her that a proper inquiry has been constituted."



"The former AAP leader was also informed that a committee would be formed very soon to speed up (the probe) and ensure the time-bound investigation, following which she (Damania) decided to end her fast," Raut said.



Damania had on June 2 sat on a hunger strike at Azad Maidan here demanding Khadse's ouster from the Maharashtra Cabinet in the wake of charges of impropriety over purchase of a land belonging to the government-owned Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Pune against him.



She had also demanded a time-bound inquiry into the matter led by a retired High Court judge.



Earlier in the day, facing a string of allegations including irregularities in a land deal, Khadse had resigned and become the first casualty in BJP since the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine took over pledging zero tolerance towards corruption.



Fadnavis had announced an inquiry by a retired high court judge into the allegations against Khadse, as sought by the senior leader himself.
New Delhi: The Group of Ministers, which finalised the draft Memorandum of Procedure, is likely to respond to the objections raised by the Supreme Court collegium to the document that will guide future appointments of judges to the apex court and the high courts, within three weeks.

The collegium had on May 30 returned to the government the revised MoP suggesting changes to certain clauses.

The clause on right to reject a recommendation in national interest, as proposed by the government, is contrary to the current practice where it is bound to accept a recommendation by the collegium comprising four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and the CJI, if it reiterates the same.

The revised MoP further provides that once the Centre has rejected a recommendation it will not be bound to reconsider it even after reiteration by the collegium.

These are among various clauses which have not gone down well with the collegium.

The government is likely to take three weeks to respond to the collegium's observations on the MoP, the sources said.

A copy of the observations made by collegium has already been sent to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi seeking his opinion.

The AG had played a key role in finalising the draft MoP.

The GoM headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had drafted the document which was handed over to Chief Justice of India T S Thakur by Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in March.

"Since it was the GoM which had finalised the draft, it is natural that it responds to the observations made by the collegium. But first we have to await what the AG says on the observations made by the collegium," a senior functionary said.

The memorandum was revised after a Supreme Court bench asked the government to rewrite it in a bid to make the collegium system more transparent.

Addressing a press conference on April 24 after the joint conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers here, the CJI had said the core of the document, based on a Supreme Court judgement, will remain "unaltered" that the collegium will make recommendations.

"Things like the number of judgements a candidate has delivered are contributory in nature," he had said.

Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act to overturn the over two-decade old collegium system where judges appoint judges. The law was struck down by the apex court in October last year, paving the way for the return of the collegium system.
Chennai: Fresh from her spectacular victory, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa will travel to New Delhi mid-June to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Union ministers for detailed discussions on issues concerning the state. But, the BJP is trying to use Ms Jayalalithaas visit to convince her to join the National Democratic Alliance.

Mr Modi, personally overseeing BJPs efforts to strengthen the NDA, is expected to broach the topic of AIADMKs inclusion in the alliance, not necessarily the Union Cabinet, when she calls on him on June 14, the most likely date for the meeting.

Ms Jayalalithaa, sources in Chennai said, is likely to undertake a two-day visit to New Delhi for discussions with Mr Modi and other ministers on issues like financial package for Tamil Nadu, water issues with neighbouring states and the issue of fishermen being arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy.

The Chief Minister is also expected to seek generous financial assistance from the Centre to fund her pet projects. Though the Prime Minister and the BJP government would heed to the requests made by Ms Jayalalithaa, the BJP seems to be interested completely in discussing politics with the AIADMK chief. BJP president Amit Shah has launched efforts to strengthen the NDA in its pursuit to achieve Congress-free India and want to rope in the AIADMK, which has a combined strength of 49 MPs in Parliament.

The Jayalalithaa-Modi meeting is being keenly watched by all parties. The BJP wants to formalise the relationship with AIADMK. The AIADMK has been on the BJPs side as far as Parliament is concerned and now the time has come for the Dravidian party to be in the alliance, a senior BJP leader said.

Since the Chief Minister shares an excellent rapport with Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ravi Shankar Prasad, the sources said the two senior leaders are expected to meet the AIADMK chief during her visit to New Delhi to persuade her to join the NDA. Mr Venkaiah had represented Mr Modi at Ms Jayalalithaas swearing-in as Chief Minister on May 23.

Not just the BJP, its allies especially the TDP seems to be more interested in the AIADMK joining the NDA. Top TDP sources told DC that the party would absolutely have no objections to the AIADMK joining the BJP-led NDA and that they would be happy if the tie-up materialises.
Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is yet to take a decision on who would handle the 10 portfolios that were being looked after by Eknath Khadse. Sources said that finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar could be the first choice for revenue department, while other portfolios such as agriculture and minority welfare, would be divided among the other ministers.

Mr Mungantiwar, meanwhile, said the Cabinet would be expanded in the upcoming week. After addressing the media at the BJP office Saturday morning, Mr Khadse went to Ramtek, his official residence, while state party president Raosaheb Danve went to chief ministers residence Varsha.

A party insider said both leaders discussed the possible candidates for the portfolios that were being handled by Mr Khadse. Mr Khadse had major portfolios, including revenue, state excise along with agriculture, relief and rehabilitation, minority welfare and Wakf, animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries.

It is likely the chief minister will take charge of revenue ministry but Mr Mungantiwar is another possible name for the portfolio.

However, Mr Mungantiwar has denied accepting the revenue ministry. I dont want to attract controversies by accepting the revenue department. I have a major responsibility of finance and planning and its huge work in these departments, said Mr Mungantiwar.

The finance minister further said the chief minister should keep the revenue ministry with himself. Stating that the Cabinet would be expanded in the upcoming week, he said, I have suggested to expand it on the eighth of this month. So the issue of portfolio allocation will be solved, he said.

Pandurang Phundkar, the senior-most party legislator (MLC) could be the next agriculture minister if he is inducted after the Cabinet expansion.

A party insider said the party had no legislators capable of handling the portfolios that were with Mr Khadse. We dont have an MLA who can handle minority affairs portfolio, he said.
DGP Javed Ahmed look at the arms recovered from the Jawarhar Bagh encroachers, in Mathura. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: A mysterious cult at the centre of deadly clashes in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, was running its own pseudo-government, army, court and a prison where torture was the norm, a senior police officer told AFP.

Some 3,000 followers of the sect clashed with police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh during an eviction operation, leaving 26 people dead, including two senior officers.

The secretive sect had occupied a 270-acre (109-hectare) stretch of parkland since late 2014, with the site almost entirely closed off to the outside world, the top police inspector general of the region said.

Read: 'High-power' administrative probe into Mathura violence begins today

They set up a township of sorts with all kinds of people. Gradually, they started running a self-government, D.C. Mishra said, after officers seized documents and other evidence from the camp.

They set up a court which pronounced punishments and jail barracks where inmates were tortured.

Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms.

Police in the city of Mathura came under fire overnight Thursday from members of the sect, who were armed with automatic weapons and hurled crude explosive devices during the violence.

Mishra said the cult was being run by self-styled Hindu godmen whose aim was to drive followers towards a kind of religious terrorism.

They were also planning to come out with their own currency soon and they did not believe in the Indian constitution, he said.

On Saturday, the state police chief said Ram Vraksha Yadav, one of the key leaders of the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah sect, had died during the clashes Thursday.

Yadavs body identified by associates. Family intimated for final confirmation, Javeed Ahmed tweeted.

In postings on social media, the sects followers describe themselves as political and social revolutionaries. Their demands include the abolition of elections and cheaper fuel for everyone.

In several videos posted on YouTube, Yadav can be seen pledging allegiance to Indian independence hero Subhash Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fouj (Indian National Army), a rebel movement founded by Bose to combat British colonial rule.

The leaders duped their followers into believing that they will attain nirvana and get to meet an incarnation of Bose, Mishra said.

Bose disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1945.

Police have arrested more than 300 people following the bloody raid, although the sects four main leaders are still believed to be on the run.

The states Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced compensation of two million rupees ($30,000) each for the families of the slain policemen.

The government will ensure speedy prosecution of all those accused in the violence, his office posted on Twitter.
New Delhi: The NITI Ayog will hold a two-day workshop on water, waste water and solid waste management in New Delhi to be attended by UDD secretaries of five states, a Maharashtra Urban Development department (UDD) official said.

UDD secretaries of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Assam in the workshop to be held on June 15-16 will put forth challenges and issues pertaining to waste water and solid waste management in their respective states.

A pre-workshop meeting of NITI Ayog was also held recently that was attended by UDD secretaries of these five states and experts from Singapore.

Municipal Commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivli, Nashik were also present at the meeting from Maharashtra.

The official said on condition of anonymity that NITI Ayog has focused on issues like urban planning, water, waste water and solid waste management and public financing under the PPP model to develop urban infrastructure.

"This initiative of NITI in partnership with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and Temasek Foundation Singapore provides a platform to state governments and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) to share the challenges being faced in urban transformation in these key areas," the official said.

It is also an opportunity to evolve and design efficient solutions to some of these challenges through partnership with urban sector experts from Singapore, he said.

The official said the workshop will cover two broad themes -- Integrated Urban Water Cycle Management for Sustainable and Resilient Water Infrastructure and Healthy Cities and second is Solid Waste Management.

"During the pre-workshop meeting, the participating officials and ULBs raised a diverse range of challenges being faced by them," he said.

"Officials from Nasik civic body pointed issues such as finding technical solutions to specific problems like froth formation in rivers due to discharge from sewage treatment plants. Whereas UDD officials said Maharashtra is developing a PPP model to provide sewage treatment plant with territory capability to provide treated water to thermal power station," he added.

The official said experts from Singapore were of the opinion that rainwater harvesting at individual-level (house) is not very efficient and that the need is at the city-level.

Such an initiative is being planned in Bengaluru, he apprised.
Lucknow: An administrative probe into the Jawahar Bag violence has begun and the report will be submitted within a fortnight, Aligarh commissioner Chandra Kant said on Sunday.

"The report will not be delayed. It will be submitted to the government within a fortnight," he told reporters here.

"I have talkedto DM Rajesh Kumar, SSP Rakesh Singh, ADMs and City Magistrate Ram Araj Yadav. I have also visited JawaharBag and recorded statements of people regarding the incident," he said.

Kant, who is heading the investigation into the violent clashes between police and encroachers at Jawahar Bagh on Thursday, said all possible angles will be looked into.

29 people, including SP Mukul Dwivedi, and SHO (Farah) Santosh Yadav died during the clashes.

"Why the incident has taken place, whether it was properly tackled, shortcomings in operation Jawahar Bag, what is the level of shortcoming, whether firing orders were given late or any other factor--everything will be thoroughly probed," he said.

Meanwhile, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said the Uttar Pradesh government "mishandled" the situation.

"In spite of the Allahabad High Court order and repeated requests of the district administration in the last three months, adequate force was not provided in time to tackle the situation," she said, adding it had happened due to "intelligence failure".

"The Chief Minister or any senior minister of his Cabinet should have personally condoled the death of two police officers," she said

Jyoti also said only a CBI probe could satisfy the families of the officers.
Cola units are creating trouble for the local population as they are causing water shortage and pollution in areas around them, said the group. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: With several states grappling with drought and water shortage, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate has said the government should "control or close down" cola units, saying soft drink industry is "wasting" water.

It also said the government should not make a push for development at the expense of ecology, insisting that "survival is more important than so called development" and seeking "severe restrictions" on cutting trees for development projects as ecological imbalances may endanger the human race.

Read: RSS to dump shorts, adopt brown full-pants on its inception day

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, in a resolution passed at its national council meeting, suggested several measures that include shutting down the cola units in the country, besides giving top priority to rejuvenation of water tanks and water bodies.

"Government should understand that survival is more important than the so called development," the resolution passed at its recent meeting held in Bhopal said.

"In these life threatening circumstances, Swadeshi Jagran Manch urges the government, to tackle global warming and climate change with all the seriousness it deserves. Control or even close down coca-cola, pepsi-cola and such other water wasting soft drinks industries," the Manch said.

These cola units are creating trouble for the local population as they are causing water shortage and pollution in areas around them, SJM's national co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said, adding the organisation had earlier also opposed setting up of such units due to their negative impact on environment.

"Big corporate interests give a damn to environmental concerns. The ecological imbalances created by such industries will endanger the survival of human race," Mahajan told PTI.

In an apparent dig at government's push for higher GDP, Mahajan said, "Talking about growth does not mean anything if the very survival of human beings is in danger."

The RSS-linked outfit also sought control on cultivation of sugarcane and other water intensive crops and imposing curbs on cutting trees for developmental projects.
Hyderabad: The efforts of Telangana state government to exert pressure on the Centre to not notify the draft sent by Krishna River Management Board to take control of the irrigation structures in both TS and Andhra Pradesh appear to run into a wall, and the issue has inadvertently landed in the Centres court. TS irrigation minister T. Harish Rao met Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Saturday and urged him to speak to Union water resources minister Uma Bharathi and get her to stop the Centre from issuing the notification as desired by the KRMB and AP.

However, a press communique by Mr Dattatreya said that he spoke to Ms Bharathi and requested her to arrange a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states along with officials to resolve the issue. This was what AP has been asking the Centre to do. The AP Cabinet had passed a resolution asking the Centre to call a meeting of the Apex Council, of which the two Chief Ministers are members. Meanwhile, a delegation of the TS government, headed by irrigation minister T. Harish Rao was supposed to hold talks with Ms Bharathi but the meeting was postponed to Monday.
Chandigarh: Elaborate security arrangements have put in place at Amritsar and several parts of the state, even as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday exhorted the people to exercise restraint and observe anniversary of Operation Blue Star on Monday peacefully.

"We have made sufficient deployment of security forces in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala," a senior Punjab police official said.

As many as 15 Companies of paramilitary forces including ITBP, CRPF, RAF, besides police personnel in strength, have been deployed.

"Six Companies of paramilitary forces have been placed at Amritsar while rest will be deployed in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala," he said.

As part of a statewide police crackdown on radical Sikhs, police has already rounded up activists of SAD (Amritsar) and Damdami Taksal from several places to avoid any trouble in the wake of 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar.

Several activists have also gone underground in the wake of the preventive arrests, official sources said.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made in Amritsar to thwart any attempt by miscreants to disturb law and order.

"We will not allow anyone to disturb peace and harmony in the city," Amritsar Police Commissioner, A S Chahal said.

While a few radical Sikh organisations have given a call for a shut down in Amritsar, Chahal said nobody will be allowed to close shops forcefully.

"We will not allow anyone to force shopkeepers to shut down their shops and brandish swords," he said.

Over 8,000 security personnel including paramilitary forces have been deployed in Amritsar, Chahal said, adding that police will keep an eye on people to thwart any attempt by miscreants to create disturbance.

Security personnel have also been deployed around the Golden Temple in Amritsar, he said.

"CCTVs have been installed at key locations for surveillance purposes," Chahal said.

"Devotees coming to Golden Temple will not face any problem," he assured.

He also said Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has deployed its task force inside the Golden Temple and will remain on alert.

On June 6 last year, five youths were injured in a clash inside the Golden Temple when people had gathered there to mark the anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Judicial officers working at the subordinate courts have decided to go on mass leave to protest the recent provisional allotment list of subordinate judicial officers between Telangana and AP. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: The Telangana Advocates JAC has decided to boycott courts from Monday till June 13, paralysing work in all the 10 district sub-ordinate courts in the state.

Judicial officers working at the subordinate courts have decided to go on mass leave to protest the recent provisional allotment list of subordinate judicial officers between Telangana and AP. The Bar Association of Hyderabad High Court and all courts in the state, the Telangana Judicial Officers Association, Judicial Employees Association and the Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee will boycott the courts till June 13.

We want to paralyse work at subordinate courts from Monday. We will take a decision to boycott the High Court next week. Advocates JAC convener T. Sriranga Rao told newsmen on Sunday after a meeting of the committee. He said all subordinate court judicial officers decided to go on mass leave to support the agitation.
66 accused had been named in the case by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). (Photo: AFP)

Ahmedabad: A special SIT court on Monday adjourned the hearing in the Gulberg society massacre case to June 9. The court was to pronounce the quantum of punishment for 24 convicts in the 2002 post-Godhra Gulberg society massacre case in which 69 persons including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri were killed.

Read: 2002 Gulberg case: Zakia disappointed with verdict, will continue fight

Out of the 66 accused, six had died during the trial. Of the 24 convicted on June 2, 11 have been charged with murder, while other 13 have been convicted for lesser offences. The court said that there is no evidence of criminal conspiracy in the case, while dropping section 120 B of the IPC.

The 24 convicted includes VHP leader Atul Vaidya, BJP corporator Bipin Patel, Congress corporator Meghsinh Chaudhary and KG Erda, then police inspector of the area under which the Gulberg Society was located, are among those acquitted.

Last week, the court had turned down pleas moved by two accused -- Narayan Tank and Babu Rathod -- to conduct narco analysis and brain mapping tests on them to prove their innocence. The court maintained that it was not required when the verdict was imminent.

Read: Gulberg verdict: SC should step in

During the trial, riots victim's lawyer had argued that the massacre was a pre-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused to kill minority community members of the Gulberg Society.

The defence had refuted the conspiracy theory of prosecution and claimed that the mob resorted to violence only after slain Congress MP Eshan Jafri fired several rounds on them.

The Gulberg Society case is one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots probed by the Supreme Court appointed SIT.

Read: From Muzaffar to Vivek: Gulberg massacre victims transformation tale

The incident had taken place a day after S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt near Godhra train station, where in 58 'karsevaks' were killed.
PM Modi interacts with the people of Indian community in Doha, Qatar on Sunday. Earlier, Mr Modi along with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani signed key agreements in various fields. Mr Modi who is on a five-nation tour later left for Switzerland. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modis second visit to Afghanistan and the inauguration of the Salma dam in Herat there, the assessment in South Block is that India has succeeded in getting the Afghan Government out of the Pakistani orbit of influence, forging what is seen as an emerging Indo-Afghan-Iranian axis and is all set to further strengthen its already-close ties with the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis whirlwind diplomacy has caused jitters in Islamabad and has further isolated Pakistan which now has only China as its main backer, Government sources said.

They said Afghanistan appears to have seen through Pakistans sinister game plan of continuing to promote the Afghan Taliban and exporting terrorism. On Sunday, India also thanked Afghanistan for conferring the countrys highest civilian honour  the Amir Amanullah Khan award  on PM Narendra Modi during his visit there.

Its a matter of great honour for India that the Indian Prime Minister has been conferred with the highest ever civilian award by the Afghan government. It is an honour also for the whole country for which we are grateful to the government of Afghanistan, finance minister Arun Jaitley said. Indias serious push for membership of the NS G and Chinas attempts to block it has also exposed the Beijing-Islamabad nexus globally.
Genres : Animation, Action, Adventure

Starring : Bryn Apprill, Kumiko Aso, Morgan Berry

Director : Mamoru Hosoda

Plot Synopsis

The latest feature film from award-winning Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children): When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he's taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who's been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely pair will be put to the ultimate test-a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.
Lucknow: The UP police are now probing the Maoist angle in the Mathura clashes. The police have seized mobile phones from Jawahar Bagh as well as from the arrested persons.

We have shortlisted some numbers that supposedly belong to Maoists and we have put them on surveillance. We are also interrogating some close aides of Ram Vraksh Yadav , the mastermind of the clashes, the official disclosed.

Read: UP police stops BJP 'fact-finding' team from visiting Jawahar Bag

Ram Vraksh apparently was in touch with some extremist groups who had been supplying arms and explosives to him. It is believed that he also provided a safe haven to extremists who frequented his makeshift township in Jawahar Bagh. Apparently, Ram Vraksh worked as a conduit for these groups, both for money and arms supply, the official said.
WARANGAL: With demand for cotton declining drastically in the international market, farmers in the district were asked to cultivate alternative crops such as maize, red gram, green gram and other pulses.

The district administration is taking steps to this effect. The agriculture officials were asked to undertake awareness campaign to educate the farmers.

A week-long intensive campaign would begin soon covering all the villages.

Pamphlets containing information on alternate crops, availability of seeds, fertilizers and crop loans will be distributed to farmers and they would be explained about government subsidies.

District collector Vakati Karuna said that, with this move, farmers are expected to cultivate soybean, maize, red gram, green gram and other pulses in about 1.50 lakh acres in the current Kharif season.

We have prepared seeds and fertilizers for distributing to the farmers. Soil tests were conducted throughout the district and soon we will be handing out soil health cards to the farmers. Loan distribution and other benefits will be taken up in a computerized online process from now on, she said.

Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari said it is not an easy task to convince farmers not to cultivate cotton but asked the officials to take up the challenge. He asked officials to provide input subsidy, subsidised seeds and fertilizers to the farmers who come forward to take up pulses.

A report from Karimnagar said farmers were worried over the menace of adulterated seeds and fertilizers ahead of the Kharif season in June. Farmers often end up purchasing adulterated seeds and incur losses.

Absence of vigilance officers has resulted in unauthorised brands turning up at shops. Officials have formed teams to check the spread of fake seeds.
Kolkata: The BJP in West Bengal has demanded immediate sealing of the Indo-Bangla border, claiming madrasas operating along it are a breeding ground of terrorism and anti-national activities in the country.

"We all know that these madrasas in bordering areas are breeding ground of anti-national elements. These madrasas get funds from foreign countries. These madrasas are creating a chain, which is making the Indo-Bangla border vulnerable to anti-national activities, illegal cattle trade and smuggling," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claimed.

Seeking to justify his claim, he referred to a purported statement of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya that a section of madrasas in border areas were functioning as breeding ground of fundamentalism.

"Few years ago, the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said that madrasas in bordering areas of West Bengal are breeding grounds of fundamentalism. But later on he had retracted his statement due to pressure from his party. But you can't take a chief minister's comment lightly. Whatever he had said was on the basis of reports of IB and police," Ghosh claimed.

He said the porous border that West Bengal shares with Bangladesh is a threat to national security.

"Infiltration has stopped in northern and western part of India where it shares border with Pakistan. But infiltration from this side of Indo-Bangla border is still on. Whenever there has been a terror attack or blast, during investigation some of the clues have led to Bengal and its bordering areas. The anti-national and anti-social elements are using this route to enter India," Ghosh said.

"Why isn't the state government, like the newly-elected government in Assam taking up the matter of sealing the Indo- Bangla border in Bengal," said the 52-year-old MLA, who won the recent assembly elections from Kharagpur Sadar constituency in West Midnapore district.

The firebrand leader, who was inducted from RSS into the state BJP in early 2015, became the state president in December.

"We will fight against these bordering madrasas. Politically also we will inform the people about the anti- national activities going there. We will raise this issue in the state assembly and will also ask the state government to take action against these madrasas which are helping anti- national elements," he said.
Puducherry: Former Union minister V. Narayanasamy will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry on Monday (June 6) at a glittering ceremony on Beach Road in this tiny Union Territory.

PCC chief A. Namasivayam and four others will be sworn in as ministers, while former Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam is expected to be Speaker of the Assembly.

Narayanasamy told mediapersons on Saturday he would be sworn-in as Chief Minister by Lt Governor, Kiran Bedi, at noon on Monday. He has invited DMK chief M. Karunanidhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

After detailed discussions with Congress high command, Narayanasamy is understood to have submitted the list of ministers to Bedi. Sources said Namasivayam, former ministers M. Kandasamy, M.O.H.F. Shahjahan, R. Kamalakannan and Malladi Krishna Rao will get cabinet berths again.

Vaithilingam, who was adamant on getting a cabinet berth, finally settled for Speakers post after Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervened and put an end to the deadlock.

Narayanasamy, along with Namasivayam and Vaithilingam, was in New Delhi holding hectic discussions with the central leadership including Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi on cabinet formation. Most ministerial hopefuls were also camping in New Delhi, further delaying the process of ministry formation.

Unhappy over non-inclusion of Vaithilingam and K. Lakshminarayanan in the cabinet, their supporters staged a demonstration. Supporters of Vaithilingam burnt effigies of Narayanasamy in his hometown Maducarai and put up road blocks, while supporters of Lakshminarayanan picketed PCC office and later staged a protest on Beach Road.
New Delhi: "Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure" and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.

Ramesh also said it was high time that the Congress changed in tune with changing India as "our communication strategy is not very effective" and "we need an aggressive outreach" with various sections of society against the backdrop of successive poll debacles.

"Challenges are very heavy but there is no room for despondency. Those who are writing off Congress party are writing its premature obituary," the former Union Minister said, apparently referring to Modi's repeated calls for a "Congress-mukt Bharat".

Making a strong pitch for Gandhi's leadership, Ramesh said "uncertainty does not help". He said the challenges faced by Congress were akin to those that prevailed when Sonia Gandhi had taken over the party in March 1998.

Ramesh insisted that the Congress vice president has "a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into position very soon. He is de facto, but he should become de jure".

Noting that Congress presidentship has its own institutional importance, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi should take charge "as soon as possible".

"He has got a clear concept of strategy. He knows people he wants to bring. One thing should be clear that when Rahul Gandhi takes over, a team takes over.However, his incumbency as the chief of the party is a big question," he said.

He recalled that when Sonia Gandhi took over as party chief, Congress had only two states with it. Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister of MP and Giridhar Gamang of Odisha.

But at that time the Congress' strength in the Lok Sabha was 140.

Ramesh said, for the first time, the party was very weak in the Lok Sabha, had reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha and was in power in very few states. "It is a difficult situation," he said.

Ramesh's strong pitch for Rahul's elevation has come at a time when opinion appears to be divided in the organisation on the timing of his taking over.

Punjab PCC Chief Amarinder Singh had made a pitch for Rahul's elevation saying that Sonia is now approaching 70 and her deputy can get into her shoes if she was feeling tired.

Senior leader Ambika Soni, however, said Sonia was working tirelessly and should continue, a view shared by another party leader Kamal Nath.

Sonia Gandhi holds a record of sorts by being at the helm for over 18 years in the 130 year-old organisation. Rahul Gandhi was made the party vice president in January 2013 at the Jaipur 'chintan shivir'.

A former Union Environment and Rural Development Minister, Ramesh has been pitching for long for Rahul to take over the reins.

Ramesh saw no wrong in National Conference leader Omar Abdullah's recent tweet on the issue of Rahul's elevation.

"Isn't the Congress fed up of planting Rahul's imminent elevation stories? Been reading them for years now. Just do it & let him get on," Omar had said.

Ramesh said the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister is a well-wisher of the Congress party and his tweet "reflected the sentiments of the well wisher".

Asked about his ideas for turnaround of the party, the 62-year-old Congress leader said India is changing and Congress has to reflect that change.

"One of the big areas of change has to be communication. Our communication strategy has not been very effective. We have to understand technological changes that are taking place. Three Cs - clear, consistent and credible. Messages must be consistent and clear," Ramesh said.

Besides, Congress needs to have a "far more aggressive outreach", he said.

"Congress is a 130-year-old organisation and it needs to emphasise why it needs to be voted and supported in this time and age. We need to tell people what is the difference between Congress and BJP. This communication outreach has to be made to various sections of society like students, doctors, teachers," Ramesh said.

He also stressed that Congress has to be more decentralised as Rahul Gandhi has been saying for a long time.

"More decentralisation means the PCC chiefs and the DCC Chiefs will have more powers. Rahul Gandhi is harping on the need to empower people. We cannot be a centralised outfit," Ramesh added.
According to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the state government is working on various modalities.

Hyderabad: The Singapore consortium of companies will develop land in the seed capital area allotted to it at nominal price and provide a share to AP government in the developed land.

According to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the state government is working on various modalities. The development partner will give us a share. They will develop and market (the land) across the globe. There are several models being worked out, he said.

The next meeting of the State Cabinet is likely to finalise the sale of land to Singapore consortium of companies. Mr Naidu said iconic buildings like AP Legislative Assembly and High Court will come up by 2019, before the elections.

Mr Naidu said, Once the momentum picks up, the capital will take shape. The time period depends upon how it takes shape.
Hyderabad: Leaders of Opposition in State Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council K. Jana Reddy and Shabbir Ali on Sunday condemned the comments made by senior party legislator Komatireddy Venkat Reddy against TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and appealed to party leaders not to criticise the appointments made by AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Jana Reddy said the comments made by Mr Venkat Reddy against the PCC chief holding him responsible for all the defeats of the party in the bypolls was not justified and that it was wrong to target any particular leader for the defeat.

Any remark against Mrs Gandhi is not in the interests of the party. If they have any objection, they should raise the issue at an appropriate party forum but not in the public, Mr Jana Reddy said.

Mr Shabbir Ali, meanwhile, asked Telangana Congress leaders not to criticising each other in public. Despite the Congress president giving statehood, Mr Ali said the Congress has failed to win the last elections largely due to infighting. Instead of worsening the situation further, he asked all leaders to work in a united manner.
The BJPs birthday bash after two years of rule of the party-led government at the Centre had an underlying theme: the Xiification of Prime Minister Modi. The personality cult honed by Chinas President Xi Jinping was in full flow and Mr Modis ministers and supporters sought journalists to broadcast their achievements, with the principal then appearing after Bollywood actors had done their bit interspersed by the sound and dance routine against the backdrop of India Gate. And Mr Modi used the occasion to attack the Congress.

The country has become used to the use of modern technology so effectively employed by Mr Modi during the 2014 general election campaign. But this was more in the nature of a coronation, with the bearded visage dominating lavish advertisements in the national and regional press and private television channels portraying the presiding deity as the centre of all government programmes. Both India Gate  remember Mr Modis inauguration of the World Yoga Day last year  and reverential references to the PM by his ministers were essential features of the theme.

Coming as the second anniversary did after BJPs election victory in the Assam Assembly election and breaking ground in Kerala, it was something of a double celebration. But the projection of Mr Modi as the leader with a magic charm was unmistakable. As has now become customary, the PM is no respecter of norms and lustily campaigns for his party in Assembly elections.

As Mr Modi faces three years of his remaining term, how do the pluses and minuses stack up? Undoubtedly, after the lacklustre last years of the UPA, the BJP leader has given a new direction and thrust. The last PM, Dr Manmohan Singh, was hobbled by the dual-key arrangement at the top  the other, perhaps main, key was with Congress president Sonia Gandhi  but was also forced to tolerate dubious ministers of his allies. Although the UPA government was able to initiate major initiatives like the Aadhaar, the minimum work scheme and other support programmes for the poor and the landmark nuclear agreement with the US, a series of scams got the better of it.

It was Mr Modis good luck that he took office at a time the worlds oil prices were falling giving India a shot in the arm. Besides, his NDA government demonstrated that it would try unorthodox policies if necessary to achieve fast development. He had some success in cutting out deadwood and launching new schemes. Notably, he was viewed as his own boss.

On the debit side, two themes have consistently hung around the NDAs neck. the centrality of the RSS relationship with the BJP and the Hindutva agenda, often expressed in trivialities such as directing individuals eating habits and forcing them to chant a particular nationalism formula.

The mentor status of the RSS is well known. Many of the principals and party functionaries are primarily RSS men and women. Nor is it a secret that the RSS goal is to create Hindutva. The problem arises in two forms.

After Indias experiment in secularism led by the Congress and movement for 60-plus years in Independent India, imposing the idea of a Hindu India flies in the face of the countrys mixed population compromising 14 per cent Muslims and other minorities like Sikhs and Christians. The second problem is the rewriting of history with the goal of elevating ancient India as the great age of civilisation and learning not only in segments of Hindu rule, but by obliterating the period of Muslim rule although tolerating two centuries of British rule.

It is a rule that most ideologues lack a sense of humour. Mr Modi himself has waxed eloquent on planes flying in ancient India and head transplants being a common practice. Therefore, it is not so absurd for his supporters to brandish their Hinduness in the face of the minorities.

The divisive nature of this discourse is plain to see. Add to it is the ambiguity of Mr Modis own beliefs. How far is he prepared to challenge his mentor in pursuing pragmatic policies?

For instance, he has had no problem in bestowing the education and human development portfolio to Smriti Irani, a school leaver, because the RSS priority is to mould the minds of the young. We have had many pearls of wisdom from her in the direction of taking education to new, paths.

As Mr Modi has made it clear through his forays in campaigning, he is a street fighter. But his Opposition-bashing rhetoric sits ill with the task of governing. Was it appropriate that he should celebrate two years in office by going after the Congress, which is facing its own crisis? Sometimes, it would seem that he forgets that he is the leader of the country, rather than merely a party.

The disadvantage of building a personality cult is that he can bask in glory if things go right, but he would have to bear the largest share of blame if things go wrong. If his ministers and supporters raise him to the level of a demi-god, they might be seeking to cash in on his patronage but are doing harm to the country. We are humans, not celestial beings.
The resignation of Maharashtras revenue minister Eknath Khadse has been secured after media reports that BJP president Amit Shah sent him a veiled ultimatum in the background of reports that his wife had bought a piece of government land for a song.

There were other allegations too  that an aide of Mr Khadse was found demanding a bribe of Rs 30 crore, and that the former minister had been engaged in conducting a telephonic conversation with the notorious Mumbai gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who has made Pakistan his home.

Thats quite a list of allegations indicative of dubious conduct on the part of arguably the BJPs most influential OBC leader in Maharashtra, who was in the running for CM before the party opted for Devendra Fadnavis.

However, there is nothing on record to show either the BJPs or CM Devendra Fadnavis displeasure against the erring former minister for any misdemeanour, leave alone on grounds of corruption. This is a word the BJP is running scared of since all that it has done in the past two years is to accuse Congress leaders of corruption and would be loathe to have the same allegation flung at it.

In Parliament, the ruling party has steadfastly refused to acknowledge any trace of corruption in MPs Vyapam scandal or the rice scandal in Chhattisgarh. These are BJP-run states. The government has also simply turned a deaf ear to Opposition demands for a probe into the Lalit Modi scandal, in which allegations were made against external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj as well as Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

Following the same pattern, the BJP has not officially pointed any fingers at Mr Khadse. In fact, the Maharashtra party chief and other senior leaders have leapt to his defence. A probe by a retired HC judge is being ordered, but the CM has tweeted that this was being done only because Mr Khadse had himself sought a probe. In the fitness of things the government should institute a probe into the former revenue ministers dealings under the Prevention of Corruption Act. But the BJP appears worried about getting on the wrong side of someone as influential as Mr Khadse in state politics, and it is unclear if serious steps will be taken to hold the former minister accountable.

As matters stand, the strange case of Mr Khadse appears to be BJPs way of handling a serious allegation of corruption through a sleight-of-hand.
Many things in nature look attractive and beautiful in a holistic perspective from a distance, but a closer look changes everything. A microscopic version of beautiful objects looks quite different if not unattractive. The human face in its entirety is sometimes remarkably beautiful but a close-up of any part, such as the ear, nose or eye gives a completely different impression.

So it seems is the case with us and our country. The larger picture is beautiful. But at close quarters and being better informed brings regrettably the darker side of our social character. For someone who loves India and revels in every moment of life in the country, written a book, At Home in India, and who is under hawk-like gaze of the media, how do I publicly accept unsavoury dimensions of our national like?

On the other hand, how does one descend into the hypocrisy of being in denial?

I am reminded of words of George Bernard Shaw, If I have to choose between a friend and my country, I hope I have the courage to choose my friend. But it surely must have been said about a special friendship.

Even as countries go, I believe there's a difference between just any country and India, that is Bharat. India is an experience more than an entity: the sense, vision and dream of Mohammed Iqbal, Tarana-e-Hind (Sare Jehan se achcha, Hindostan hamara), Rabindra Nath Tagore (Bharat Bhagya vidhata), Jawaharlal Nehru (At the stroke of the midnight hour India shall awake to Freedom), Lata Mangeshkar (Ai mere watan ke logon) and innumerable other great Indian minds.

Bharat Mata ki Jai has become a perplexing bone of contention in recent times just as Vande Mataram had during the Independence movement. Be that as it may, Mother India, the idea immortalised in a way by the late Sunil Dutt, most certainly cannot and must not encompass vile and violent outbursts of the kind we have seen in recent times.

Macabre sexual assaults and killing of women and children, the lynching of innocent persons on grounds of imagined insults or errant behaviour, destruction of public and private property by rioting because of inane excuses, and now gratuitous assaults on African visitors are not the manner in which Nehru imagined we would redeem the pledge made to destiny.

This is not the India we grew up to love and cherish or the land we were inspired to think of as our mother. Yet in this vast nation not all is so distasteful, there is the spirituality of Bhakti movement and Sufi culture, the ingrained atithi devo bhava. That is the real India, apna Hindustan.

This is but an aberration, though a disgusting one at that. What is the reason then of the dark side of India? Every modern society has problems of post-Industrial internal conflict and the fallout of modern urbanisation. Some have handled it better than others; some developed countries have to revisit their successful transition to modern societies due to emergent tensions within their immigrant communities, the extremist urban violence in parts of Europe being the latest painful example.

It is ironic that in some ways they have to deal with difficult problems that we in India (and perhaps in our neighbourhood) had, nor entirely resolved. We were in political remission from the awful cancer of Partition (of land and emotions) till the relapse hit us. For that reason we are not really at peace with ourselves and the inevitable urge for rapid economic growth and development has brought its own stress.

We have become a society at war with itself under the influence of commerce and consumerism, completely out of sync with Gandhian ethos. But the battle between good and bad, evil and virtue, self and selflessness continues.

India is not the first and the last nation to battle for its soul. Most countries go through intense experiences to be persuaded or even forced to rediscover themselves. In many cases it is war or a natural calamity that destroys more than just the physical infrastructure. Rebuilding and reconciliation follow. But that does not happen without throwing up leadership of the highest quality in all spheres of human endeavour, not merely in politics or public life.

We were lucky to have been through that process of nation building after the Independence in stark contrast with the lack of that in Pakistan, perhaps due to the sudden disappearance of their top leaders. The idea of Pakistan remains stultified even as the idea of India flourished.

But sadly recent electoral developments have pushed back that remarkable accomplishment even as we engage in a fresh bout of name changing, ghar wapsi and questioning the very idea of India.

Clearly the war cry is writ large on the wall of history: opinions and views are under stress; we are not at peace with ourselves. In such an atmosphere some people, hopefully not many, look for objects of jealousy and hate, the other.

Base human instincts take over. It can happen to the most ordered and organised of societies if race riots are anything to go by in Europe and America. Even without that public discourse akin to physical assaults becomes dominant: the mayoral election in London and the ongoing US presidential election primaries for 2016 polls.

Despite that ugly words and deeds that we have heard and seen in recent times, instinct tells us that India will overcome the pitfalls and the idea of India shall prevail.

We will once again, symbolically and sincerely celebrate our friendship with Africa and its people whose struggle has been our struggle, whose dreams have been our dreams, and whose future we see as our own future. Where each thorn has been planted, a beautiful flower will one day blossom. Late Martin Luther Kings words will ring aloud once more, I have a dream...

The world being pulled apart by conflict needs a renaissance inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Sant Kabir, and all the saints and Sufi sages who made India that we cherish.
Genres : Biography, Drama, Romance

Starring : Samuel Froler, Pernilla August, Max von Sydow

Director : Ingmar Bergman

Plot Synopsis

Swedish master Ingmar Bergman penned this loving tribute to his parent's epic romance. In 1909, poor, idealistic theology student Henrik Bergman falls in love with Anna Akerbloom, the intelligent, educated daughter of a rich family in Uppsala. After their wedding Henrik becomes a priest in the north of Sweden. Urbane Anna can't stand living in the rural county and grows increasingly restless. She returns to Uppsala and the couple's love and commitment are put to the test.
The time for introspection is past. This is a dead expression trotted out by sheepish politicians as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has just done in the backdrop of the perceptions generated by the Assembly poll results in May.

To take a concept from Islam, what the Congress really needs is to wage the Greater Jihad  the one in which you wrestle with yourself in an effort to improve  in order to try and be in better shape for the next important poll battle. This can go alongside the Lesser Jihad in which the fight is against perceived foes. But the Greater Jihad cannot be postponed.

The battle for self-improvement hardly needs to be on the lines of the surgery that senior party leader Digvijay Singh may have in mind, although he has not elaborated. The same may be said of the observations of another Congress stalwart, the former maharaja Amarendra Singh of Patiala, who has asked party chief Sonia Gandhi to step aside in favour of her son Rahul.

However, many in the party seem perfectly happy to let Mrs Gandhi remain in her present position. It would be presumptuous of the BJP to imagine that its job is easier than that of the Congress. The people have got very little out of Modi sarkar and the hosannas being sung are mostly propaganda, plain and simple. But the Congress cannot take anything for granted either. The Congress badly needs to reorganise its act. But this is not because it lost the Assembly election in Assam, the apparent reason for so much Congress-baiting these days, including from inside the party.

The election in Assam was Congress to lose after 15 years in office on the trot. The surprise would have been if the BJP had lost. The country has a young population profile, and voters are eager for change.

Even so, it is noteworthy that while the Congress won just 26 seats in the state as against the BJPs 60, it won a greater percentage of the total votes polled  31 per cent as against BJPs 29. Now it seems the Congress critics would have wanted the party to win Assam for the fourth time in a row, and anything less counts as ignominy. The plain truth is that the BJP was able to form a government because it struck local alliances while the Congress was foolish enough to not even try. Assam turned out to be Bihar the other way round. But the fundamental reason for a Greater Jihad in the Congress goes well beyond present-day politics and election outcomes.

For decades, the Congress has become entrenched as a paternalistic party, not a democratic one. (Its left-of-centre stance, a Nehru-Gandhi hallmark much loved by the people, is beside the point.) This has led to a severe dynastic distortion at all levels, especially at the top. (The fact that other parties are seeking to mimic the Congress in this is hardly a consolation.)

It is true the Nehru-Gandhis were away from the vortex of power after Rajiv Gandhis assassination. The party fared especially badly under Sitaram Kesri as chief and lost the support of a big chunk of the electorate after the demolition of the Babri Masjid when P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. As a rescue act, Mrs Gandhi had to be literally entreated to take charge as president. Its been nearly two decades since then.

Mrs Gandhi brought the Congress a string of highs, which were followed by a deep low in 2014 in terms of parliamentary numbers. That was the perfect time to walk away from the scene in every sense except the ideological. The lotus of Hindutva had bloomed and the Congress chief would have had greater faith in her own ability to contest the Hindu right than in any other Congress leaders.

But there the line needs to be drawn if the original legacy of the Congress is to be retrieved. Mrs Gandhi had herself been drafted by a party in desperation  to revive it. She has done what she could and the time is to move on.

The time is not for chopping or changing advisers and other hangers-on, and engage in surgery of that kind, or to rope in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is just another dynastic alternative. The time is for genuine party elections in which Mr Rahul Gandhi voluntarily sits out. Just the announcement of such an exercise is apt to breathe new life into the party.

When the genuine CWC is elected by genuine AICC members, let it choose a new president with Mrs Gandhi volunteering out. Well learn soon enough if the Nehru-Gandhis need the Congress more, or is it the other way round.
Mr Modi attacked the BJD government, saying the state had failed, as it was ruled by a non-BJP government and called for a change.

Please dont Compare

As if subsidies, government accommodation, various perks and allowances were not enough, some of our MPs are pushing for a salary hike.

While the government is yet to take a call on a parliamentary panel report that recommends a hike in the salary of MPs, Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agrawal and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad are impatient. So much so that they have accused the government of not speaking on the issue due to media pressure.

A parliamentary committee which decides on the salary and allowance of MPs had given a report which has been suppressed due to media pressure, Mr Agrawal said.

He is right... we are afraid of the media. One-fourth of the salary of the editors of electronic media would be sufficient, said Mr Azad, backing Mr Agrawal.

MPs are entitled to Rs 50,000 per month as salary, Rs 45,000 as constituency allowance, Rs 15,000 as office expenses and Rs 30,000 for secretarial assistance. When Parliament is in session, they get a daily allowance of Rs 2,000. MPs are also reimbursed for 34 flight trips and unlimited rail and road travel for the year on official business.

However, it seems our MPs are not even aware of the plight of the average journalist, whose pay and perks is nowhere near the amount quoted above. And considering this it seems to be an unfair comparison.

The healer PM

Perhaps among current politicians in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows best how to appease sulking colleagues and punch rivals perfectly.

In his two meetings in February this year in Orissas Bargarh and Paradip, the BJP gave an impression that the party was promoting Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan as its chief ministerial candidate in the state. At the Bargarh and Paradip meetings, Mr Pradhan was seen sitting close to Mr Modi and intermittently chatting with him, sending out a message to the gathering that he was close to him. On a few other occasions in New Delhi, Mr Pradhan also successfully projected himself as the PMs blue-eyed boy.

Shocked, senior leaders like Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, Bijoy Mohapatra and Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo began sulking for quite some time.

On June 2, Mr Modi undertook a damage-control exercise at his Balasore public meeting. He described Mr Oram as a messiah of tribals and called Mr Mohapatra, Mr Singh Deo and Dilip Ray on to the stage.

Realising that their self-respect had been restored to some extent, Mr Oram, Mr Mohapatra and Mr Singh Deo beamed, as their followers applauded Mr Modis healing touch move.

Criticised for calling the BJPs key enemy Orissa CM and BJD president Naveen Patnaik as Mere Parama Mitra (my best friend) and Sriman (virtuous) in the Rourkela and Paradip meetings, Mr Modi attacked the BJD government, saying the state had failed, as it was ruled by a non-BJP government and called for a change.

Lull before the storm

Lull before the storm

Sometimes, especially in politics, silence is more deafening than noise. A classic example of this is senior Samajwadi leader and UP minister Azam Khan.

Ever since his arch-rival Amar Singh was welcomed back into the party and given a Rajya Sabha ticket, Mr Khan has gone into silent mode.

After initially terming Mr Singhs return as unfortunate, he has refused to comment on developments in the party.

He has been staying in his constituency, Rampur, even though political circles are buzzing with activity in Lucknow.

Mr Khan did not attend the nominations of party candidates to the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad and then sta-yed aw-ay from a Cabi-net me-eting tho-ugh the age-nda included issues related to his urban development ministry. Now he has quietly left for Germany, with officials in tow.

Party insiders feel this is the proverbial lull before the storm, and when it comes, it is going to be rather deadly.

No more junkets!

The PMOs intervention in slashing the cash-strapped North Delhi Municipal Corporations proposed rates for using its land for providing services by any agency has shattered the dreams of many of its officers and leaders, who had been planning foreign junkets from the revenue it could have generated by implementing the original plan.

The NDMC, which is not even in a position to generate its own salaries, had estimated that by charging Rs 75,162 per sq. m. per year, it could have easily generated about Rs 60,000 crore every year. But with the PMOs intervention, it had to bring down its rate to Rs 684 per sq. m. one-time charge. So what could have turned the civic agency into a cash-rich corporation finally works out to just 0.9 per cent of its expected target. For the time being the officers and leaders planning to go for foreign junkets are now busy working on creative solutions that can help them not only to revive the financial health of the body, but also enable them to visit places like Switzerland, London, Paris, etc.

TRP-hungry media

The battle for TRPs has always kept news channels on their tenterhooks. Be it an earthquake or a tsunami, the news channels are right at the spot to get you breaking news on any human tragedy.

The pressure of TRPs is so much on the channels that they now constantly monitor 24x7 forecasts of the meteorological department.

But the recent Met department forecast that heavy rainfall would lash Uttarakhand in the coming days disappointed all as some channels had even rushed their crews from Delhi to get the best footage.

But all that the news-hungry TV journos returned with were sweet memories they had recorded on their mobile sets of a selected few tourist destinations.

One TV journo who was called back from the state by his channel smilingly said that next time if he was assigned a similar assignment, he would definitely take his family along to enjoy a paid vocation.

Too much to tell

The almost six-hour-long mega show aired live by Doordarshan on May 28 to celebrate the NDA governments two years in office culminated with a half-an-hour speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the entire programme amply highlighted the various policy and people-centric initiatives of the government through discussions with almost all Cabinet ministers, Mr Modi emphasised the benefits of these schemes by giving examples of how actually they have benefited the common man and helped in combating corruption.

As the programme stretched till almost midnight, Mr Modi, perhaps mindful of the time, in a lighter vein added while wrapping up his speech, that considering the sheer volume of good work done by the government, the Doordarshan guys may have to record him for a week if he starts going into details of various initiatives of his government.

Bhaag, BJP, bhaag

Bhaag, BJP, bhaag

It had all started with BJP president Amit Shahs maiden public rally in Kolkata way back in November 2014. Mr Shah had grandly declared that he had come to uproot the Trinamul Congress from West Bengal. Emboldened by a huge turnout, Mr Shah asked the people to give the BJP a chance because like the Left Front, the Mamata Banerjee too had betrayed its mandate.

It was BJP national secretary and observer for West Bengal Sidharth Nath Singh who set the tone for the BJPs future campaign by coining the slogan: Bhaag Madan bhaag... Bhaag Mukul bhaag... Bhaag Mamata bhaag

This slogan caught the imagination of BJP workers. The arrest of transport minister Madan Mitra in December 2014 in the multi-crore Saradha scam and the interrogation of TMC national general secretary Mukul Roy by the CBI on January 30, 2015, and his subsequent marginalisation, made the people believe that Mr Singhs slogan might prove prophetic.

For the next one year, the slogan became Mr Singhs signature tune. In every public meeting, he would say: In 2016 it will be bhaag Mamata bhaag. BJP leaders gleefully used it to mock and berate Ms Banerjee and her partymen. The Mamata camp was obviously furious over what it described as a disparaging political slogan. However, the situation totally changed on May 19 when the TMC won a landslide victory.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to congratulate Ms Banerjee. On May 27, Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Babul Supriyo and P.A. Gajapathi Raju specially flew down to Kolkata to attend Ms Banerjees swearing-in. Relishing his partys glorious triumph, TMC MP Sultan Ahmed wondered why Mr Singh, who was a regular visitor till a fortnight ago, had suddenly stopped coming to the city. I am not sure whether I should say bhaag Sidharth bhaag or bhaag BJP bhaag, Mr Ahmed quipped.

Rich officers, poor offices

Rich officers, poor offices

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has been given a presentation by all departmental heads, including the chief secretary, on the functioning of departments. Most of the departments are reeling under a acute financial crunch and jostling with problems. After the presentation, Mr Sonowal remarked that the departments were very poor. However, a few upright officers could not stop themselves as they corrected the chief minister  Sir, our departments are certainly very poor, but officers are very rich.

It was enough for chief minister to understand the ongoing state of affairs. Mr Sonowal has given the go-ahead to the officers to take steps for a turnaround of the departments, but it is yet to be seen what the new chief minister does about the rich officers.
Scientists have developed a virtual reality smartphone app to help people gain insight into the varied symptoms people with dementia experience. (Representational image)

London: Scientists have developed a virtual reality smartphone app to help people gain insight into the varied symptoms people with dementia experience in everyday life.

The app, called A Walk Through Dementia, was developed by Alzheimer's Research UK and virtual reality company VISYON, and uses the widely-available Google Cardboard headset to put the public in the shoes of someone with dementia.

This is the first time a smartphone Cardboard app has been used to engage the public with the condition, researchers said.

The experience uses a combination of computer generated environments and 360 degree video sequences to illustrate in powerful detail how even the most everyday task of making a cup of tea can become a challenge for someone with dementia.

Unfolding over three scenarios, the user is tasked with buying ingredients, taking them home and making a cup of tea for their family. A supermarket environment unveils difficulties at the checkout, counting money, reading the shopping list, busy environments and finding items.

A second street sequence illustrates problems people with dementia may face with navigation, visual-spatial problems and disorientation.

Finally, back at home, making tea for visiting family presents challenges around memorising instructions, visual symptoms and coordination problems.

"Dementia is commonly misunderstood, so A Walk Through Dementia is designed to offer the public a clearer picture of the challenges that people living with the condition face in everyday life," said Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Research UK.

"The app also gives a poignant insight into the emotional impact of symptoms, an element that people with dementia told us was important to achieve," Evans said.

"Although each person with dementia experiences the condition differently, and it would be hard to recreate the full range of complex symptoms, harnessing new technology like virtual reality helps us engage people with the impact of dementia on a new level," she said.

"With a condition as misunderstood as dementia, the power of this technology to inform and connect with people could really change attitudes," said Pere Perez, CEO at VISYON.

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Ransomware malware attacks in India have increased over the past few years. (Representational image)

Mumbai: Ransomware malware attacks in India have increased over the past few years, making it one of the top five nations to encounter this problem, according to an executive official from software security group Kaspersky.

According to reports, Vitaly Kamluk, Head of APAC Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab, said that Ransomware attacks are increasing in India and it is definitely one of the top five countries where the virtual infection exists.

Kumuk presented vital insights during a round-table conference held on Friday, pointing out that India occupies the first spot among the list of countries that were attacked by Teslacrypt ransomware in March-May 2016. Moreover, the country also ranked fourth in its count of Locky Ransomware attacks during the same period.

During the discussion, he also mentioned that 11,674 users in India were attacked by TeslaCrypt ransomware during March-May 2016; 564 users were victims of Locky ransomware during the same phase.

Giving a state-wise count of the attacks, Kumluk pointed out that Karnataka with 36.58 per cent attacks was the most affected state, Tamil Nadu came second with 16.72 per cent, Maharashtra occupied the third spot with 10.86 per cent attacks, and Delhi with 10 per cent was the last one in double digits.

Other than that, there were other states which were subjected to lesser attacks such a West Bengal, UP, Telangana, Kerala, Gujarat, and Haryana.

On different types of Ransomware, he explained that there are predominantly five types of ransomware globallyencryption ransomware, master boot record (MBR) ransomware, screen locker, ransomware encryption web servers, and mobile device ransomware.

In all these cases, most users that were subjected to ransomware attacks were victims of their own ignorance, added Kumluk. Adding to that point, he said most of the infections are caused by malicious websites, malvertising, transfer of affected file via-email (documents or multimedia files), and instant messaging and social networks.

Dont surrender to ransomwares

Kumluk also said that users who have be attacked by a ransomware should not pay to get the data back, as there is no guarantee that the attacker will release the key after paying.

He also explained that users should always be ready for such attacks and keep their data backed up at all times to avoid any loss. Also, having a reliable antivirus solution helps prevent such attacks.

Citing this huge increase, he said the government and security companies should work together to curb cyber-attacks.

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Hyderabad: The Windows Mobile platform had received multiple jolts over the past week, rendering it a power on the wane, at least in India. Firstly, the software giant had cut 1,850 jobs in Finland, driving the final nail in the coffin of its ill-fated multi-billion dollar Nokia acquisition. And then, to quell any panic in the ranks of its OEM (original equipment manufacturers) partners, it sent out an email assuring them of all support now and in the future.

I want to assure you that your investment in Windows phones is not at risk. The mobility of the Windows 10 experience remains core to our More Personal Computing ambition, said the Microsoft memo, quoted by a Windows news website. We will continue to support and update the Lumia devices that are currently in the market, and the development of Windows 10 phones by OEMs, such as HP, Acer, Alcatel, VAIO, and Trinity; as well as develop great new devices.

By saying Microsoft will continue to support and update the Lumia devices that are currently in the market and develop great new devices, the Redmond company has all but confirmed what many Windows aficionados had feared  the end of the Lumia line of smartphones. They will continue supporting the phones already out there, but the memo clearly suggests the x50 series (950xl, 950, 650, 550) will be the last Lumias manufactured by Microsoft, which is reportedly working on the much-rumoured Surface Phone.

Why the reports of gloom, then? It is clear from the memo that Microsoft will take the backseat to allow its OEM partners more freedom and incentive to come out with with new devices while it will focus on annual niche devices that will be targeted at the business segment. In effect, Microsoft will not make any consumer phones and will leave that to the OEMs.

One of the aspects in which Microsoft has enjoyed an upper hand over its competitors has been the camera segment. Now, with focus on business users, the camera will hardly be a priority for Redmond. To sum it up, Microsoft has given up any thoughts of competing with Android and Apple, and aims to take over the void left behind by BlackBerry.

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South Africa has so far escaped the ISIS attacks seen in several other African countries. (Photo: PTI/Representational Image)

Cape Town, South Africa: The United States on Saturday warned its citizens in South Africa of possibly imminent terror attacks by Islamic extremists in the country's major cities.

"The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town," the local embassy said on its website.

The warning came against the background of the ISIS group's "public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the embassy said.

South Africa's foreign affairs ministry played down the threat.

"The state security agency and other security agencies in this country are very much capable of keeping South Africa safe and everybody in this country, including Americans," spokesman Clayson Monyela was quoted as saying by local media.

"The last time they did this, towards the end of last year, nothing came out of that advisory."

In September last year the US advised its citizens in South Africa to be on heightened alert against attack, saying extremists may target American interests in the country.

The US regularly warns its citizens around the world to beware of terror attacks, but Saturday's note was specific about the targets and the imminence of the threat.

South Africa has so far escaped the ISIS attacks seen in several other African countries.
Washington: Hillary Clinton scored a sweeping win in the US Virgin Islands on Saturday, picking up all seven pledged delegates at stake as she inched tantalizingly close to the Democratic nomination.

She is now just 60 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to advance to the November general election.

The party said Clinton won 84.2% of the vote, while Bernie Sanders earned 12.2%. Under Democratic National Committee rules, a candidate must win at least 15% of the vote to be eligible to receive delegates.

It was almost as big a margin as Barack Obama had in 2008, when he beat Clinton by 90% to 8%.

The Virgin Islands is one of five US territories that casts votes in primaries and caucuses to decide the nominee, even though those residents arent eligible to vote in November. While its pool of delegates is small, the island chain took on more importance as Clinton gets closer to clinching the nomination.

Earlier this month, former President Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife in the Virgin Islands while Sanders opted to focus more on neighboring Puerto Rico, which has 60 delegates at stake in a primary Sunday.

People were excited and overjoyed when Bill Clinton came to visit, said Cecil R Benjamin, who chairs the party there. He noted that in addition to the seven pledged delegates, all four of the Virgin Islands superdelegates are now backing Clinton. Superedelegates are party officials who can back any candidate.

We are the only state or US territory where she got 100%of the delegates, he said, citing in part the large voter turnout. It was great, and we are ready for the national convention.

Clinton now has 1,776 delegates to Sanders 1,501, based on primaries and caucuses.

When including superdelegates, her lead is substantial  2,323 to Sanders 1,547. It takes 2,383 to win.

In the final stretch of the primary season, six states including New Jersey and California will vote on Tuesday, with 694 delegates up for grabs. The District of Columbia is the last to vote on June 14.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during their bilateral meeting in Singapore. (Photo: PTI)

Washington: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his American counterpart Ashton Carter on Sunday discussed the progress made on "a wide range" of defence issues, including the importance ofnetworked security architecture" for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, the Pentagon said.

During their meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of the 15th Shangri-La Dialogue, the two leaders also reviewed the preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US next week.

"The two leaders exchanged views on the regional security environment, and discussed the importance of a principled, networked, security architecture to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement on the fifth meeting between the two within a year.

"They also discussed progress made on a wide range of bilateral defence issues and committed to further efforts to expand defence cooperation between the United States and India," Mr Cook said.

They agreed to continue close cooperation, he said.

India and the US have been increasingly working together and networking security, Mr Carter has said, adding that India-US military relationship is as close as it has ever been.

Apart from Mr Parrikar, Mr Carter also held meetings with his counterparts from Japan and Malaysia.

With Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani, Mr Carter signed a Reciprocal Defence Procurement Memorandum of Understanding, which will increase defence technological collaboration and cooperation, Mr Cook said.

Mr Carter and Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin exchanged views on regional security in Southeast Asia.

"They discussed the need for peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, and Secretary Carter noted that the UNCLOS Arbitral Tribunal ruling on the Philippines-China claims will be binding on both parties," Mr Cook said.
The NSG governs trade in nuclear-related exports and aims to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military uses. (Photo: AP)

Washington: India should meet the Nuclear Suppliers Group's standards and open talks with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons if it wants to push its case for membership in the 48-nation elite group, a leading US daily said on Sunday.

In a lead editorial 'The New York Times' said that America should press for India to adhere to the standards on nuclear proliferation to which other nuclear weapons states adhere.

India's application for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is slated for discussion later this month.

"Obama is lobbying for India to win membership through a special exception," 'The Times' editorial board said, ahead of the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will meet with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

"If he succeeds, India would be in a position to keep Pakistan, which has also applied for membership, from gaining membership because group decisions must be unanimous," the editorial said, adding that this could give Pakistan, which at one time provided nuclear technology to North Korea and Iran, new incentives to misbehave.

Opposition from China, which is close to Pakistan and views India as a rival, could doom India's bid for now, it said, adding that the issue, however, will not go away.

India is growing in importance and seeking greater integration into organisations that govern international affairs, it said.

"If it wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state, it should be required to meet the nuclear group's standards, including opening negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons and halting the production of nuclear fuel for bombs," the editorial said.

The report alleged that for years the US had sought to bend the rules for India's nuclear programme to maintain India's cooperation on trade and to counter China's growing influence.

"As part of the 2008 deal, the Indians promised they would be 'ready to assume the same responsibilities and practices' as other nations with advanced nuclear technology.

"But they have fallen far short by continuing to produce fissile material and to expand their nuclear arsenal," alleged the editorial board of the newspaper.

The NSG governs trade in nuclear-related exports and aims to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military uses.
The victim added that Zahran then asked both of them to start kissing and make moaning sounds along with sexual movements. (Representational Image, Photo: AP)

Durham: An armed man has been arrested in Durham, North Carolina on the charges of brutally stabbing two vulnerable women after forcing them to perform degrading sex acts on each other.

Identified as Mohamed Zahran, 38, the knife-wielding man forced two ladies to strip completely naked and then lie on top of each other while he pretended to capture the entire ordeal on his mobile phone, according to a report in the Mirror.

Terrified, the victims sobbed and begged for their life as the psychotic accused forced them to kiss and touch each other while the daughter of one of the victim's stood in a corner and watched the assault.

As the duo lay on top of each other at knifepoint, the accused stepped forward saying that it was his 'turn to have sex.' The minor child's mother refused, following which the accused stabbed the victims.

One of the injured ladies ran out on the streets naked, bleeding and screaming in pain asking for help. She managed to get help of the neighbours who then informed the police and got Zahran arrested.

During the trial of the case in Teesside Crown Court, one of the victims told judge that, he said I had to take off my clothes and have sex with my friend. We were scared. We thought he was going to kill us. He had the knife in his hand and my daughter was still running around the room.

The victim added that Zahran then asked both of them to start kissing and make moaning sounds along with sexual movements.

"He was looking towards my friend. He was looking as though he was going to rape her and she was begging him not to. He told her it was her turn now and his turn to have sex with her. I told him not to touch her, he could do whatever he wanted with me," one of the victims was quoted as saying.

Zahran has pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious body harm with intent. However, he denied any offences of forcing victims into sexual acts without consent, but was convicted by the court.

Although Zahran has been jailed, the victims fear that once he is out of the prison, he might come back to haunt them or even kill them. "I live in fear of the day he will be released from prison, and that he will try to find me and finish what he started, said one of the victims.

Zahran has also been registered on 'sex offenders' list for life.
Genres : Horror, Thriller

Starring : Lorraine Gray, Michael Caine, Mario Van Peebles

Director : Joseph Sargent

Plot Synopsis

Once again the peace of Amity and the lives of the Brody family are shattered by a bloodthirsty shark in this suspense-packed sequel to the original classic chiller. Lorraine Gray reprises her role as the now widowed Ellen Brody who finds herself reliving the horrors of the past when a mammoth shark kills her son. Grief-stricken, she travels to the Bahamas to be with her other son, a marine biologist (Lance Guest), and his family. There she meets and falls for a carefree airplane pilot (Michael Caine). But just as she is putting her life back together, the nightmare of the past returns when her granddaughter is attacked by an all-too-familiar Great White. Determined to end the terror once and for all, Ellen sets out for a showdown to the death. The action and tension build rapidly to a shattering climax in this, the most incredible Jaws adventure of them all. And this time, it's personal!
The North staged its fourth atomic test in January and a long-range rocket test a month later -- widely seen as a ballistic missile test, banned under existing UN resolutions. (Photo: AFP)

Seoul: North Korea hit back at the United States on Sunday for labelling it a money-laundering state, describing it as a "nonsensical" effort that only revealed the flaws of existing sanctions pushed by Washington.

The US on Wednesday branded Pyongyang a "global money laundering concern", aiming to lock the impoverished by nuclear-armed country out of the world financial system.

The move would prevent both direct and indirect North Korean financial activities within the US banking network, ensuring that any third-party deals involving significant sums of US dollar or other currencies cannot transit the US.

But the North's National Coordination Committee for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism slammed the US action as "another illegal act of infringing upon the sovereignty and vital rights" of the country.

"The US is loudly calling on the neighbouring countries to increase pressure upon the DPRK... but the DPRK dismisses this as a nonsensical talk," it said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), using the country's official name of Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

It claimed Pyongyang had a "well-regulated" system to combat money laundering and was "not frightened in the least" by the latest label.

Washington's move comes after the UN Security Council slapped the harshest-ever sanctions on the North in March for its widely-condemned nuclear test and a long-range missile launch.

The North staged its fourth atomic test in January and a long-range rocket test a month later -- widely seen as a ballistic missile test, banned under existing UN resolutions.

Washington led the drive for new sanctions applied in March, which urged unprecedented inspections of all cargo to and from the North, and called for UN members to sever banking ties with Pyongyang.

The money laundering designation however was proof that the US found it "hard to achieve its objective (to punish the North) through the unreasonable UN... sanctions," said KCNA statement.

"The US is sadly mistaken if it calculates it can attain its sinister political goal through the action," it added.

The North has recently faced growing pressure from the international community, although questions remain on whether China -- its economic lifeline -- would join the push.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is set to urge China to crack down harder on the North during a planned visit to Beijing from Monday to Tuesday, according to senior US officials.
Shocked, the victim agreed to meet the paedophile at a hotel room in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton. (Representational Image)

Nuneaton, Warwickshire: A paedophile has been facing trial at the Warwick Crown Court in England for raping a schoolgirl and threatening to share her explicit photographs with others.

According to a Mirror report, the accused identified as Mark Greenall, 26, traveled more than a 1000 miles to rape the 12-year-old girl. He also blackmailed that he would share her naked photographs with her classmates.

The victim first met Greenall on a chatting website where they both exchanged their contact details.

After exchanging a few messages, Greenall somehow persuaded the minor to share her topless photos with him, which he later used as a tool to threaten her into having sex with him.

The girl, however, refused to sleep with Greenall, after which he posted a photo of the victim exposing her breasts on a website. He then sent a screengrab of the website to her.

Shocked, the victim agreed to meet the paedophile at a hotel room in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton. He then traveled around a 1000 miles from Liverpool to Nuneaton to rape the vulnerable girl.

"He undressed her and raped her both orally and vaginally and the next morning he asked her for sex again, and they embarked on intercourse before showering together and getting dressed and leaving the hotel room, the court heard.

Greenall was arrested after the victim's mother saw a Facebook message sent by Greenall to the victim and discovered that her daughter was no longer a virgin and that she was abused, raped and blackmailed, following which a police complaint was registered.

Greenall pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of forced oral sex. His bail plea has been rejected by the court and the case has been adjourned until later this month.
A Chinese couple has a wedding photograph taken on the flooded banks of the Seine river in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Paris: The death toll from the flooding in France has risen to four, officials said on Saturday, as the water level of the Seine river in Paris slowly started to decrease after reaching its peak overnight.

But authorities warned it could take up to ten days for the river to return to normal after swelling to its highest level in nearly 35 years, about 4.5 meters above average.

The death toll from the flooding across the country has risen to four while 24 people have been injured, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a meeting at a government crisis centre on Saturday. He didnt give any more details about the additional death, which brings the total death toll across Europe from the flooding in recent days to 17.

Mr Valls said the water level of the Seine is now decreasing slowly but steadily in Paris and that several ministerial meetings will be held next week to ensure quick financial help to the people affected.

He also urged Paris visitors and residents to take care to observe safety precautions since many have been walking along the river banks to observe the rare phenomena. Nearly a week of heavy rain led to serious flooding across parts of France, Germany, Romania and Belgium.

Authorities have shut the Louvre museum, the national library, the Orsay museum and the Grand Palais, Paris striking glass-and-steel topped exhibition center.

Curators were scrambling to move some 2,50,000 artworks from basement storage areas at risk of flooding to safer areas upstairs.
Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday urged Turkish women to have at least three children, saying a womans life was incomplete if she failed to have offspring. Erdogans comments were the latest in a series of controversial remarks aimed at encouraging women to help boost Turkeys population, which had already risen exponentially in the last years.

The president emphasised he was a strong supporter of women with careers but emphasised that this should not be an obstacle to having children. Rejecting motherhood means giving up on humanity, Mr Erdogan said in a speech marking the opening of the new building of Turkeys Womens and Democracy Association.

I would recommend having at least three children, he said. The fact that a woman is attached to her professional life should not prevent her from being a mother, said the president.
Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," said Iran (Photo: File).

Tehran: Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Read: Saudi Arabia expands its anti-Iran strategy beyond the Middle East

Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria."

Read: Irans Khamenei says US, 'evil' Britain remain main enemies: report

Ansari said Washington's support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the "biggest sponsor of state terrorism".

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also "increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State."

Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the government's fightback against the Sunni extremists of IS.
The Qatari side briefed the Indian side on the reforms in labour laws which would protect the interests of skilled and unskilled labour in Qatar. (Photo: Twitter)

Doha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday discussed the problems faced by Indian workers with the Qatari leadership, who briefed him about the reforms being undertaken to protect the interests of the skilled and unskilled labour in the gas-rich Gulf nation.

Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, appreciated the role and contribution of of the Indian community for the development and progress of Qatar.

Read: India, Qatar sign 7 agreements to boost bilateral ties

In his meeting with Modi, the two leaders "noted" that people-to-people contacts were at the heart of India-Qatar relations and both sides would continue to nurture these relations.

The Qatari side briefed the Indian side on the reforms in labour laws which would protect the interests of skilled and unskilled labour in Qatar, an official joint statement said.

The prime minister conveyed "sincere thanks" to the Qatari leadership for hosting the Indian community and for ensuring their continued welfare and safety.

The two countries welcomed the signing of an MoU for Cooperation in Skill Development and Recognition of Qualifications.

Addressing Indian workers at a medical camp in downtown Doha last night, Modi said he was aware of the issues being faced by Indian workers and the companies that bring them in Doha.

"I am aware of the issues you are facing. I will talk about it when I meet the authorities," Modi had said.

The Indian diaspora of over 6,30,000 Indians comprise the largest expatriate community in Qatar and are engaged in a wide spectrum of professions, including medicine; engineering; education, finance; banking; business; media and labour.

There are 14 Indian schools in Qatar, offering CBSE curricula to more than 30,000 students, most of whom are the children of Indian nationals working in Qatar.
Following his speech, he joined the workers for a quick bite as he moved from table to table interacting with them and asking them about their issues and problems. (Photo: Twitter)

Doha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who landed in Qatar on the second leg of his five nation tour, began his engagements by interacting with Indian workers at a medical camp in downtown Doha and assured them of complete help on his behalf to resolve all their issues.

"I landed Doha this evening and my first order of the day was to meet all of you. I asked what the major problems of the workers here are and they say that the need is of more counselling," the Prime Minister said.

Asserting that India's global image is not made by its Prime Minister or its Ambassador, he added that it was through the behaviour of India's workers here who earn the nation a good name

"Last year, when His Highness visited India, he praised the unmatched contribution of the Indian community in Qatar to its development. I believe that the leadership in the Gulf has a lot of love and belief in the Indian community here," the Prime Minister said.

Read: On five-nation tour, Modi reaches Qatar; to seek new investments

Stating that he was aware of the issues the workers were facing there, he added that whenever he met the leadership of Qatar in the international arena, he always raised the problems being faced by the workers.

"If you have some issues on changing some rules and regulations, I will work with you all to bring about these changes. Do work hard, but while doing so, please do focus on keeping your health and body fighting fit," the Prime Minister said in his brief address.

Following his speech, he joined the workers for a quick bite as he moved from table to table interacting with them and asking them about their issues and problems.

"It was like meeting someone from our family, it got me teary-eyed. This is definitely a first in Indian history and other politicians should wonder why this didn't happen sooner," a worker from the medical camp told ANI here after interacting with the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi arrived here today after concluding the first leg of his trip in Afghanistan and was greeted by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani at the airport.

Upon landing in Qatar, Prime Minister Modi tweeted in Arabic saying that he was looking forward to the various programmes that will enhance the economy and relations between India and Qatar.

Smiles and snacks in Doha...my first programme in Qatar was a visit to a Workers' Camp in downtown Doha. pic.twitter.com/vgQwZdZssX  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 4, 2016

Asserting that India gave high priority to Qatar, he added that through his visit, he would be looking to expand the bilateral cooperation between the two nations.

While in Herat, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani conferred Prime Minister Modi with the country's highest civilian honour, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award.

President Ghani and Prime Minister Modi also inaugurated the 'Afghan-India Friendship Dam', earlier known as the Salma Dam, which was rebuilt with India's aid.

During his stay in Qatar, Prime Minister Modi is expected to sign a number of agreements with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

From Qatar, PM Modi will leave for Switzerland on Sunday.
Doha (Qatar): Highlighting India's "investment- friendly policies", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Qatar's companies to "grab" the vast opportunities for business, especially in the infrastructure sector, while promising to remove "bottlenecks" identified by them.

Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani also held detailed talks here on a wide range of issues here.

At the outset, Modi personally extended greetings to the Emir, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days back. The Prime Minister had called him on that day to convey the greetings over phone.

Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler.

"The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

Earlier, Modi held an hour-long closed-door interaction with top business leaders of Qatar, telling them about the work done by his government over the last two years to facilitate the ease of doing business.

Qatar's business community had some questions related to rules and and clearances, to which Modi said his government had changed rules and norms to enable easier Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in a number of sectors, sources said.

Read: On five-nation tour, Modi reaches Qatar; to seek new investments

He specifically mentioned sectors like railways, defence, manufacturing and food processing. He also spoke about the big opportunity existing in the tourism sector.

The Prime Minister told them that his government will continue to work for easing the norms and rules further to make it more easier to do business in India.

Inviting investments from Qatar's companies, he said that India is a "land of opportunities and they should grab it". In this context, he underlined the fact that India and Qatar have close ties and physically too the two countries are located close to each other.

"India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted, quoting Modi.

"All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks you have identified," Modi told the business leaders.

Building a business coalition for India's development. PM @narendramodi with Qatari Business Leaders pic.twitter.com/mUSXPWOmTg  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister said, "there is a vast potential for Qatar investment authority to increase its investment in India, keeping in view India's huge investment needs and investment-friendly policies, said Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund and other state- owned entities are keenly looking at attractive investment options in infrastructure in India.

"At the round-table with businesspersons from Qatar, discussed ways to enhance India-Qatar economic cooperation," Modi tweeted later.

"Also talked about the investment opportunities in India and why the world must come and @makeinindia," he added.

He also noted that in the last two years, "there has been a substantial growth in India's exports to Qatar".

The major items of exports include machinery, textiles, electronics, construction material, chemical, spices and cereals.

Smiles and snacks in Doha...my first programme in Qatar was a visit to a Workers' Camp in downtown Doha. pic.twitter.com/vgQwZdZssX  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 4, 2016

Among the 10 business leaders were Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani, Chairman of QBA & CEO of Al Faisal Holding, Sheikh Fahad M J Al-Thani, Chairman of Doha Bank and Rashid Ali Al-Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Stock Exchange.

While inviting Qatar's business community, the Prime Minister said, "India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion & upgradation & manufacturing are my other priorities," the MEA spokesman tweeted.

Read: Modi interacts with Indian workers in Doha, assures to resolve their issues

"Our projects for Smart Cities, metros, urban waste management etc are geared towards upgrading quality of life of people," Modi added.

The Prime Minister identified agro processing, railways & solar energy as very promising areas for Qatari investment.

He praised the role of Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Thani in promoting business ties between the two countries.

The bilateral trade for the financial year 2014-15 stood at USD 15.67 billion, of which India's exports accounted for nearly USD 1 billion. The balance of trade is heavily in favour of Qatar.

India is the third largest export destination for Qatar after Japan and South Korea, with LNG being the major item of trade. India is also a major buyer of ethylene, propylene, ammonia, urea and polyethylene from Qatar.

Modi, who is on a five-nation visit, landed in Qatar yesterday from Afghanistan, and will also visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico as part of the tour.
Riyadh: Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world.

Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America.

Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join.

"Iran is the one that isolated itself by supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a recent news conference. "That is why the world reacted to Iran, and particularly the Islamic world, and basically said 'enough is enough'."

Tehran denies it sponsors terrorism, and points to its record of fighting the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State through backing for Shi'ite militias in Iraq and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Riyadh is alarmed by Tehran's support for the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and cut off military aid to the Beirut government after it failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Likewise, Saudi forces have launched a war on Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But all this is part of its long-standing diplomatic, economic and military efforts to contain what it sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations. Now it is attempting to orchestrate support elsewhere, including from countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia through its creation last November of the coalition against terrorism.

"In many ways the dimensions of the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia are beginning to go beyond the Middle East. This is an interesting development that historically hasn't been the case," said Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University-Qatar.

Old Order Dead

The strategy partly responds to implementation of the nuclear deal in January. Riyadh fears this will give Iran more scope to push its interests internationally by releasing it from many of the sanctions which have crippled its economy.

With even the United States now saying Western banks can resume legitimate business with Tehran, the Saudis believe their main Western ally is gradually disengaging from the region.

"They understand the old international order is dead and they have to take responsibility," said a senior diplomat in Riyadh.

But the strategy is also driven by King Salman's belief that Iranian influence has grown only because nobody has stood up to it, said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security expert with close ties to the Saudi interior ministry.

The coalition against terrorism falls into this context. When chiefs of staff from 34 Muslim states met after a joint military exercise in late March, a cartoon in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, owned by the ruling family, showed a bomber dropping leaflets with a no-entry sign onto Iran.

The coalition, which caused some confusion as to its scope and membership when Riyadh first announced it, is now moving forward and work to establish a "coordination centre" may be formalised during the Muslim holy month which starts shortly.

"The next step is the meeting of defence ministers, perhaps during Ramadan. At the same time we prepare coordination centre in Riyadh," said Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asseri.

This centre will have permanent staff members from each participating country, Asseri said, and would be a place where states could either request help in dealing with militancy or offer military, security or other aid.

Taking the Flag

Although not explicitly aimed at countering Iran, the coalition includes neither Tehran nor its allied government in Iraq. The alliance also aims to counter comment in some Western media that while Iran and its Shi'ite allies are fighting Islamic State, Sunni Saudi Arabia supports jihadist militancy on some levels.

"This new coalition is basically to get the worldwide Islamic support for Saudi Arabia to lead the fight against terrorism and take the flag from Iran," said Alani.

Whether the coalition members see it that way is another matter.

Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, praised Riyadh for setting up the coalition and said Islamabad would be happy to share expertise.

But he also said the arrangements would take time to develop and added that Pakistan sought "brotherhood" between Islamic states and was therefore concerned about the escalation in tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Beyond the coalition initiative, Riyadh is trying to win the support of India and encourage it to isolate Iran. So far it has achieved mixed results. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both countries last month, Saudi energy sales to India grew but New Delhi also agreed to build a port in Iran.

Riyadh's hosting of a summit of South American and Arab League states last year was also partly aimed at pushing back Iran, said a Saudi analyst who sometimes carries out diplomatic functions for the government.

Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador in 2012 seeking diplomatic support from the left-wing states, with little apparent success.

African Rift

Some African countries have followed many Arab League states in recent months in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. This followed the storming of Riyadh's Tehran embassy in reaction to Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shi'ite cleric in January.

On Monday, Zambia's president appeared in Riyadh on an official visit soon after speaking out against Tehran.

Iran has devoted money to winning friends across Africa, investing in local industries and paying to spread its Shi'ite version of Islam in Muslim states. Playing on its anti-imperialist credentials, Tehran's goal appeared to be winning wider support at the United Nations.

Not only is soft power at stake. In 2012 two Iranian warships docked at Port Sudan, just across the Red Sea from the Saudi coast, following years of close ties between Khartoum and Tehran.

Since then Riyadh has invested around $11 billion in Sudan and ignored international arrest warrants on President Omar al-Bashir to allow him to visit the kingdom. In January, Khartoum cut off ties with Tehran.

Djibouti and Somalia did the same. A document seen by Reuters in January showed Mogadishu had received an aid package of $50 million shortly beforehand. But Djibouti denied in February that its break was motivated by money and accused Tehran of spreading sectarian tension in Africa.

Overall, Riyadh believes its approach is succeeding. "Iranian expansionism is almost stopped," an adviser to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last month.

But at Georgetown University-Qatar, Kamrava said it's too early to declare winners and losers.

"In international relations you can rent friends but you can't buy them. For Saudi Arabia the long-term effectiveness of this policy is questionable because these alliances are based on purely tactical or commercial relations," he said.
Falluja is the first Iraqi city that Islamic State captured, in January 2014, and the second largest still under its control after Mosul in the north. (Photo: AP)

Baghdad: An Iranian-backed Sh'ite Iraqi militia said on Saturday it planned to storm Falluja, Islamic State's stronghold near Baghdad, once civilians left the city, backtracking on earlier statements that it would leave this task to the Iraqi army.

"We will not enter Falluja as long as there are families inside," said Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the largest component of the Shi'ite paramilitary coalition known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization.

"Of course, we will go in and rid the city from the evil of this cancerous gland, with nobody preventing us," he said, when asked what would happen if civilians managed to flee the Sunni city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.

Falluja is the first Iraqi city that Islamic State captured, in January 2014, and the second largest still under its control after Mosul in the north. Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shi'ite militias alongside the army in the battle to retake the city could lead to sectarian violence.

Amiri was speaking to reporters while touring one of the frontlines near Falluja. Last week he said the militias would take part in encirclement operations but leave the army to storm the city.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive to dislodge the ultra-hardline Sunni militants had slowed down in order to protect civilians. About 50,000 are trapped in the city, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to the United Nations.

Falluja is a historic bastion of the insurgency against the US occupation of Iraq and the Shi'ite-led authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003.
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.

But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.

Borrow some creative writing techniques

Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.

consider your own opinion

Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.

Cut the waffle

Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.

Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.

employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing

Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.

You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.

Avoid repetitive phrasing

Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.

Use some figurative language

Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.

As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts  mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.

Employ rhetorical questions

Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.

One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.

Proofread

Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
The assault on the city by the SDF adds to pressure on the jihadist group in Syria, which also faces another offensive by Russian-backed regime troops in its bastion province of Raqqa. (Photo: AP)

Halula: US-backed fighters advanced Sunday to within five kilometres (three miles) of the Islamic State group's stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, threatening a crucial supply link for the jihadists.

The assault on the city by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) adds to pressure on the jihadist group in Syria, which also faces another offensive by Russian-backed regime troops in its bastion province of Raqqa.

Supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition battling IS in Syria and Iraq, the SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has been making steady gains since launching the operation to take Manbij last week.

Read: Iran-backed militia may enter Fallujah if fight against ISIS drags on

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said Sunday the SDF was "now within about five kilometres of the strategic city of Manbij".

Manbij is located along a route connecting Raqqa -- IS's de facto capital in Syria -- to the Turkish border, a vital conduit for supplies and foreign terrorists.

US Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said Saturday SDF fighters had seized more than 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) of territory during the advance.

More than 55 air strikes have been carried out since the offensive began, he said, adding that the goal was to hamper IS's ability "to move fighters, weapons, finances (and) supplies into and out of Syria and Iraq".

Some 3,000 Arab fighters were taking part, backed by around 500 Kurdish militia members, he said, adding that US special forces were working "at the command and control level" in the operation.

In the village of Halula 27 kilometres (16 miles) east of Manbij, an AFP correspondent saw several US soldiers in jeeps as they assisted SDF fighters. An AFP photographer last week took several pictures of US special forces in the area.

Washington has said US forces are advising the SDF on the ground but not taking direct part in combat.

In Halula, in an area of dry hills dotted with occasional trees, the AFP reporter saw dozens of civilians who had fled areas around Manbij, including many children, most with few belongings.

Sitting under a tree with her nine children, Jawaher said she was from a village near Manbij that had been under IS control.

"They lived near us and we had to do what they said or they would kill our children or take our homes," she said.

The United Nations says at least 20,000 civilians have fled the fighting around Manbij.

At least 74 people have died in fighting since the start of the offensive last Monday, including 32 civilians mainly killed in coalition air strikes, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of medics and activists to monitor the conflict.

Thirty jihadists were also killed, it said, along with 12 SDF fighters.

After taking the village of Khirbet al-Rus, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Manbij, the SDF rescued a group of Yazidis -- six women and 16 children -- who were being held captive by IS, the Observatory said.

They were among hundreds of Yazidis taken in mid-2014 as IS carried out a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against the Yazidi minority.

The timing of the offensive -- as Syrian troops advanced into IS-held territory -- has raised suspicions that Moscow and Washington are covertly coordinating operations by their respective Syrian allies.

On Saturday, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pushed into IS's bastion province of Raqqa in northern Syria.

With Russian air support, Syrian troops pushed into the province from the southwest, moving to within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa, site of the country's biggest dam.

Since starting with a 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests, Syria's conflict has evolved into a complex, multi-front civil war that has left more than 280,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

IS emerged from the chaos of the war in mid-2014, seizing control of large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, declaring a fundamentalist Islamic "caliphate" and committing widespread atrocities.

Iraqi forces have also been steadily regaining ground against the jihadists, and late last month began a major offensive to retake the city of Fallujah, just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Diplomatic efforts to get Syria's regime and non-jihadist rebels to move towards peace have been thwarted by a lack of trust and continued fighting, especially around second city Aleppo, which is divided between government and rebel control.

Dozens of fresh regime strikes on opposition-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday killed at least 23 civilians, the Observatory said.

Nine civilians were killed when a crude barrel bomb hit the Qaterji neighbourhood, where an AFP journalist saw a street strewn with rubble as residents ran for safety and a rescuer rushed a bloodied child into an ambulance.
The statement said the two Taliban commanders were involved in major terrorist activities in the vicinity of Arghandab district of Zabul and Khogyani district of Nangarhar. (Photo: AP)

Kabul: At least 18 Taliban insurgents, including prominent commanders, were killed and 19 others injured by the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces in the latest special military operations in Afghanistan.

The prominent Taliban commanders killed during the operations have been identified as Sangari and Qari Amin.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said that operations were conducted in Zabul, Ghazni, Helmand, Paktia, Faryab, Logar and Kabul provinces in the past 48 hours, reports the Khaama Press.

The statement said the two Taliban commanders were involved in major terrorist activities in the vicinity of Arghandab district of Zabul and Khogyani district of Nangarhar.

Meanwhile, the Afghan police forces also confiscated a PK machine gun, one Ak-47 rifle, one mortar and 34 mines during the operations besides heavy machine guns were destroyed along with several hideouts of the militants.

So far, the anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said China would be committing a provocative and destabilising act if it establishes an air defence zone in the South China Sea.





Kerry said doing so would raise tensions between China and other Asian countries.

He said such an act also would call into question China's commitment to resolving disputes over islands and maritime claims diplomatically.



Kerry said the US doesn't take sides on competing claims. He said no country should move unilaterally to militarise the resource-rich region.



Kerry spoke to reporters while visiting Mongolia. He travels on to China later today for annual US-China strategic and economic talks.


Interpol has sought some "clarifications" from the ED before it issues a global arrest warrant against liquor baron Vijay Mallya wanted by the probe agency in a money laundering case emerging from a Rs 900 crore alleged bank loan fraud.





Officials said the global police body had asked agency sleuths to provide to it certain detailed information on the legal processes undertaken by ED in the case before it can notify a red corner notice (RCN) against Mallya, sought by the investigating officer of the case to make the beleaguered businessman join probe in the alleged loan fraud of IDBI Bank, also being probed by CBI.



"Interpol has sought certain clarifications that are in the nature of providing additional details of the money laundering case against Mallya. The global police has not said it is denying the ED request to get an arrest warrant against him issued.The clarifications are being responded to," agency sources said.



They said such seeking of information is done in many cases, like in the Lalit Modi case, and the agency was hopeful that it will be able to satisfy Interpol on these issues.

The agency had first sought the RCN against Mallya last month in order to make him join investigations in the case personally.



Mallya had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport and is believed to be in the UK.



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



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



Mallya and others are being probed by the ED in the over Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case in which it registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) early this year.



Britain had recently made it clear that Mallya cannot be deported and asked India to seek his extradition instead and the agency is mulling invoking the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) existing between the two countries to get this job done.



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



The ED is also mulling attaching domestic assets and shares worth about Rs 1,400 crore owned by Mallya in the first go.




In a second attack of its kind in less than 24-hours, militants on Saturday attacked a police party in south Kashmirs Anantnag district killing two personnel including an officer.





Reports said two motorcycle-borne militants opened fire on a police party near the Anantnag Bus Stand, 52 km from here, killing assistant sub inspector Bashir Ahmad and constable Riyaz Ahmad. The spot is barely some metres away from a police post.



Eyewitnesses told DH over phone that the firing created panic in the area with people running for safety. They said the militants taking advantage of the melee managed to escape from the spot.



Immediately after the attack, the area was cordoned off to nab the assailants. However, reports said, no arrest was made till late in the evening.



No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. This was the second attack in the district in last 24 hours.



On Friday, three Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and seven others injured after militants ambushed their convoy on Srinagar-Jammu national highway in the same district. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen had claimed the responsibility of the attack on the BSF convoy and had warned of more such attacks.



A senior police officer said they have inputs that the militants may carry out more strikes on security forces in south Kashmir, particularly on the National Highway between Anantang and Pampore.



Anantnag Assembly segment is slated to go for bypolls on June 22. The polls were necessitated after the death of former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in January. Incumbent chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the bypolls against Congress and National Conference candidates.



J&K DGP K Rajendra Kumar rushed to Anantnag after hearing the news of the latest attack.



Later, chairing a security meeting, Rajendra asked the officers from police and central paramilitary forces to gear up all resources to apprehend the culprits. He said that the desperate attempts by the militants would strengthen our commitment to eradicate menace of terrorism from the state.



Meanwhile, the government said that it has taken up investigation into the attack. Two to three unidentified gunmen attacked a police naka party. Two cops were injured, who later succumbed to their injuries, Minister for Rural Development Abdul Haq Khan said in the Lower House.






Speaker Ram Niwas Goel accepted his deputy Bandana Kumari's resignation on Saturday. The Shalimar Bagh MLA filed her resignation after she failed to help the AAP win a seat in the recently held civic by-polls.





She had quit last week taking responsibility for the partys defeat in ward number 55, Shalimar Bagh, which falls in her constituency by the same name.



A statement issued by the government said Goel has accepted Kumari's resignation.

"With this, the office of Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi has fallen vacant w.e.f. the fore-noon of Saturday, the 4th of June, 2016," the statement said.



Kumari had first sent her resignation to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following defeat of Shalimar Bagh candidate Anvika Mittal. Sources alleged that she campaigned for the candidates defeat, as the AAP was unwilling to cancel Mittals nomination despite her insistence.



Mangolpuri MLA Rakhi Birla is tipped to be the next Deputy Speaker and she is expected to be administered the oath of office during the Assembly session next week. Birla was a minister in the previous AAP government. Sources said Kumari was asked to step down.

Hours after the government issued the statement, Delhi Assembly website continue to show Kumari as the Deputy Speaker. She has been actively involved in social service since her youth, he profile on the website says.



She has contested first election in December 2013 Delhi Assembly polls and was elected as member of the Fifth Legislative Assembly (2013-14). She was again elected as member of Sixth Legislative Assembly from Shalimar Bagh Assembly Constituency in February, 2015.



Last month, AAP fell short of a decisive victory in the MCD by-polls, winning 5 of the 13 wards.



However, the party claimed it is in a great shape to repeat the sweep it showed in the last years Assembly elections and it was good.






With the arrest of a man, the Delhi Polices Special Cell claimed to have busted an inter-state gang involved in running an illegal firearm business.





Twenty-seven semi-automatic pistols have been recovered from the possession of accused Salamuddin (23), the police said.



The gang used to procure sophisticated semi automatic pistols from Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh, and sell them further to criminal elements in Delhi and NCR, said a senior police officer.



The arrest came to light following a study by the Delhi Police that most of the sophisticated illegal firearms used in heinous crimes in Delhi and NCR over the past few years were manufactured in Khargone, Barwani and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh and were being smuggled into Delhi NCR.



A team of Special Cell was constituted to wipe out the menace of illegal firearm smuggling into Delhi NCR, Mewat and Mathura region.



The team collected data pertaining to the gangs operating in Delhi and NCR. The team travelled to many areas in west UP, east UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.



On Friday, information was received that one arm supplier from Uttar Pradesh would come to ISBT Sarai Kale Khan, Delhi at about 8:30 pm to deliver a huge cache of semi automatic weapons manufactured in Sendhwa, district Barwani in Madhya Pradesh to his contact.



A trap was laid near Ring Road, ISBT Sarai Kale khan area. At about 9 pm, one suspicious person holding two bags, one on his shoulder and another on his hand, came near a CNG station/pump. Within 15 minutes he was overpowered and apprehended, said a police officer.



Interrogation of the arrested identified as Salamuddin revealed that he has been working for one Mushtaq of Chhata, Mathura, UP. Mustaq is the main receiver of these illegal arms from Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh, the police said.



Mushtaq used to supply these illegal weapons to the gangsters of Delhi & NCR and other parts of the country. 9 pistols were to be delivered in Delhi to one Sonu, a resident of Dwarka, Delhi and 18 to someone in UP, the police said.



The police also said that Salamuddin had also been arrested by the Special Cell in the month of December 2014 alongwith his two associates and total 10 semi automatic pistols were recovered from their possession.




Days after Congolese national Masonda Ketad Olivier was lynched in Delhi, Joshua Boit looks flustered. Had Prime Minister Narendra Modi heeded his letter, the incident would never have happened, he says.





Boit is one of those African nationals who reached Delhi to participate in a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar on May 30, but met with disappointment.



He looks at his cellphone and says he has received a text: the protest has been cancelled and African diplomats will be meeting shortly at the Eritrean embassy. Oliviers parents had requested not to carry out any protest, Association of African Students in India, a group leading the protest, says.



The Ministry of External Affairs and Delhi Police gave an assurance that African students will be safe in Delhi, the group said in a statement issued after the Jantar Mantar protest was called off.



But Boit, the president of Kenya African Students Association in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, says he is not sure why the protest was cancelled or postponed.

According to him, Aurangabad has close to 400 African students in various universities.

He says the racist attacks in Delhi only reflect what is happening across the country. The Kenyan student tells reporters, You would know what happened in Bangalore. A Tanzanian student was stripped and beaten. He says he had written to Narendra Modi expressing concern regarding the spate of attacks against African nationals in India.



I came here because I have faced racism, all through. I came here eight years ago, and I am a journalism and mass communication student in Aurangabad. When I arrived in India, the first problem I faced was at the airport immigration, Boit tells Deccan Herald.

In the streets of Aurangabad, they call us kaley, monkey. Sometimes, they also use some cuss words, he says.



Another protester, a Nigerian student, also says he is upset about the protest being called off. I am studying MTech at Allahabad University. I have been living here for the last three years, he says. When asked for his name, he says, No names please! But when asked again, he says, Just put a smiley.



Students are safe only inside the campus, he says.



David Mboyo, a Congolese national, says he is going back to his country after collecting his degree from a local management institute.



I have already finished my course here, he says, informing that his visa is close to expiring. I have lived in India for years. I think some places are welcoming, some are not, he adds.



The Greater Kailash resident says Delhi is no easy place to be in. Honestly, the situation here is not good at all. The attack on Olivier is one of the many things to have happened in the recent past. There are concerns regarding safety, housing, discrimination  sometimes people face difficulty opening a bank account, he says.



When asked if he has ever felt discriminated, Mboyo recalls his experience with the local banks while applying for an account. They rejected my form saying: this is missing, that is missing. I tried my luck at several places, he says.



The Congolese student rues that locals have harboured a lot of misgivings. Not all African are into drugs and prostitution. Yes, some are, but not everyone, he says.

Mboyo says his parents back home are worried for his safety after Oliviers death sparked an outrage in his country. His parents rang him to advise that he should not go out at night.



Olivier, 29, was beaten to death by a group of men in south Delhis Vasant Kunj area last month in a fight over hiring an autorickshaw. Days later, some Africans were attacked by local residents in a village near Chattarpur. In what seemed to be a backlash after the lynching of the Congolese national, some Indians were attacked in Congo.

Delhi Police have swung into action following the alleged racist attack.



Association of African Students in India says its delegation met Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma and other senior police officials. Contact details of high-level officers were shared among us, promises and commitments to ensure better policy with respect to Africans were guaranteed, the group said in its May 30 statement.



When reached for further comments on Friday, the office bearers of the group told DH that they have decided not to speak to the press without holding formal meetings.



A section of African students staying met Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma on Friday to discuss their safety. According to a senior police officer, students offered their help in identifying suspected criminals within their community.



Mboyo says he hopes that bonhomie between Indian and African nationals will increase in the years to come, as locals will develop appreciation for their way of living. Unlike some of his friends, the Congolese student says, he didnt participate in any of the peaceful protests in the city.



Foreign minister of Congo has assured the country about students safety in India, he says. But I am not politically very aware. You can meet some of our student leaders here.



According to him, the lure of better educational and business opportunities brings African nationals to India. Everything is fine, education system is fine, economy is fine, he says.

Laxmi Nagar, Khirki Extension, Ber Sarai, Munirka, Sangam Vihar and Tilak Nagar have sizable African expat population, many of whom are

students.



Popular university

Delhi University authorities say African applicants have quadrupled in a years time. Out of the 3,792 foreign students seeking admissions in this years academic session, 428 are African nationals, Amrit Kaur Basra, the head of DUs foreign registration office, says. Last year, less than 100 students applied to various varsity-run programmes.



She says the university has received applications from a majority of the African countries, including Niger, Lesotho, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. All university departments and colleges have 5 per cent supernumerary quota for foreign students. It means the institutions can admit 5 per cent more students than their sanctioned strength.



A few university officials allege that some African national apply in DU just to obtain a student visa. All they want sometimes is the letter of interest  that says the university is ready to take the student. But after taking admission, these students never show up in classes, a university official says.



The officials say DU has approached the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in R K Puram on several occasions, and have informed them about the truant students. FRRO deals with immigrants living illegally in the city. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations, however, has been awarding more and more scholarships to African nationals wanting to study in DU.






We are staying here from birth. We will not leave the area. Instead, we will drive them out. If they have to live here, they have to adopt our lifestyle, says a local resident at Chattarpurs Rajpur Khurd village.





About six Africans were beaten up in Madan Garhi and Rajpur Khurd villages in on May 28 in separate attacks, but apparently by the same group of local people. While the African community in the village is trying to move past the incident, the locals want an immediate solution to the ruckus allegedly created by them at night.



A group of villagers sit in a corner discussing the incident. The problems have been going on since the Africans started coming to the village two years back. We were living peacefully before that, says another local resident.



For Frank, on the other side of the divide, it is business as usual at his salon in the village on Thursday morning. The Nigerian youth came to India one and a half years back.



He has tried to move on since a fateful incident seven months back. But the attack on the African community has brought back memories of his own nightmare.



I was walking in the street. It was during the night... Three bikes came and surrounded me from all sides. The bikers then went ahead, reversed their bikes and then attacked me. They hit my stomach and assaulted me. Imagine attacking a man who is just walking in the neighbourhood, says Frank while styling a clients hair.



If this is not a racist attack like the locals are claiming, then what is it? Attacks on Africans are common in this area. The locals are promoting enmity against the African community, he says.



Franks salon is popular in the area with a steady flow of African clients walking in for hair styling.



A few metres away is another hair salon exclusively for African women. The women here refuse to talk on the attack. Other African members in the area make a living by running eateries, salons and dry cleaning shops.



The social tension in the village is palpable as one walks down the narrow lanes. As a Nigerian youth with earphones plugged nears the end of a road, a few local youths jeer at him. The youth mumbles long route and starts walking in the opposite direction.



John Harrison, who has come from Ghana, distances himself when asked about the social tension in the area. I have nothing to do with the community here. I work with an NGO here to spread the word of God. I am on a three-month visa here, he says rushing into an autorickshaw.



It is not that Indians do not have respect for foreigners. But they do not have respect particularly for Africans, says Abdul from Cape Town in South Africa.



They are terrorising the African community here. There are other disadvantages for us, like language barrier. What is the need to terrorise a community which is only a minority here, he adds.



Abdul is on a six months tourist visa to India and has been staying in Hyderabad for the past three months. Hyderabad is a friendlier city than Delhi, where he came a few days back, he adds.



There are several Indians in South Africa who have lots of investments there. We have made peace with it and maintain good relations with them. We do not terrorise them.



The attacks are not one-off incidents. While the African community here calls such unprovoked attacks frequent, most locals here feel civilised people cannot live with the Africans. The locals grievances against the Africans range from them having a provocative sense of dressing and for maligning the Indian youths, to being non-veg eaters, aggressive and a nocturnal community indulging in anti-social activities.

Locals accuse the Africans of running prostitution, drug and cybercrime rackets in the area.



The Delhi Polices effort last Wednesday of organising a sensitisation programme in the village and blur differences between the two communities seems to have had little impact. The local residents claim the police are not addressing the problems and the Africans are still not sure that there wont be any further attacks on them.



When we walk down the streets at night, we feel we have come to another country and this is their country. How is it possible for us to accept their culture which is so different from ours? says Kuldeep Singh, who has been living in the area for three generations now. Locals dismiss the attacks as road rage incidents and not racial attacks.



They claim the Africans pushed some residents to take the law in their hands. Despite repeated complaints to the police on brawls in the area, there is no intervention, they say.



They play loud music and block the roads at night. They easily pick up fights if we protest, says Kunal, 20.



Police do not take the matter seriously. The Africans are always creating a ruckus in the area and drawing the local youths into their drug rackets, says Baljit Singh, who teaches Mathematics at a tuition centre.



But it must also be highlighted that we do not hate them. Not all of them behave the same way, he adds.



Om Prakash Rathi, 60, points out that they do not approach police if they face problems allegedly caused by the African community as it would drag the landlords into the matter. There will be disharmony among us and other locals who have rented out apartments to members of the other community.



With the village coming into media focus, even children in the area are not unaware of the recent differences between the two communities. So much is happening between the Africans and local residents here. I have been updating reporters who are coming to the area to cover the recent incidents, says Dushyant, a class 9 student.



A few interesting hoardings in the area like Exteem African & Indian salon and New Silver Line Drycleaners  African and Indian service are perhaps reason for optimism that both the communities still have scope to reach out to each other.



With conflicting versions of what triggered the attacks in the village, the Africans still wonder why their community is stereotyped by Indians. Africans are still portrayed in movies very awkwardly. This develops misconceptions among people, says Old Jason, who runs a salon.




Swiss voters were on course on Sunday flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income with no work required, initial results and projections showed.



In a global first, the Swiss were asked whether they wanted all citizens, along with foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years, to receive an unconditional basic income or UBI.



National projections showed 78% of the voters had opposed the initiative, according to numbers provided by gfs.bern polling institute to public broadcaster RTS an hour after polls closed.



Supporters say providing such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are increasingly hard to come by.



The group behind the initiative has suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs (Rs 1.71 lakh) a month to each adult  considerably less than what most workers earn  and 625 francs (Rs 42,000) for each child.



But the idea was controversial from the start, with the government and nearly all political parties urging voters to reject the scheme.



Andreas Ladner, a political scientist at Lausanne University, told RTS the Swiss were "realistic" in their assessment of the UBI plan. Accepting that people can "be paid without having to work would have been a very big step" for the industrious Swiss, he said.



Critics have slammed the initiative as a Marxist dream, warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, causing economic chaos. Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.



That argument likely to hit home with the Swiss who have previously turned up their nose at initiatives that would have ushered in a minimum wage and increased paid holidays from a minimum four to six weeks, fearing they would hurt competition.



But supporters of the UBI initiative were not cowed by the resounding defeat.We are very happy, Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told the ATS news agency. Supporters threw a party in Lausanne to celebrate the 22% of votes they had garnered.
A Christian businessman was today hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church in Bangladesh, hours after the wife of a top anti- terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists.



Sunil Gomes, 65, was found dead inside his grocery shop at around midday today in northwestern Notore district, police superintendent Shyamal Mukherjee told PTI over phone.



The assailants fled the scene immediately after hacking to death Gomes inside his shop at the commercial hub near a church at Banpara village at the outskirts of the district town, he said.



"We are yet to know the details of the incident but our policemen are gathering information about the murder," Mukherjee said.



The motive behind Gomes' murder was not known immediately, police said.



Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the wife of a top Bangladeshi police officer who carried out several raids against militants was stabbed and shot dead by three bike- borne assailants in front of her minor son in the port city of Chittagong.



Mahmuda Aktar, 33, was targeted by the gunmen at around 6:45 AM (local time) while she was on her way to drop her six- year-old first-grader son to a nearby bus stop for school in Chittagong, about 275 kilometres from here.



Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said police suspect religious extremists were behind her murder. Kamal, who was in the port city at the time of the murder, told reporters that the Islamists likely to have killed Babul's wife as he played a key-role in a major campaign against JMB.



She was the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, now posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka.



Babul has led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated several terror-related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the Detective Branch in Chittagong.



Babul, who was promoted in April, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and arrest of its military wing chief Mohamed Javed in October last year.



"Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed said.



Quoting witnesses, Chittagong metro police's Deputy Commissioner Paritosh Ghose said that three bike-borne attackers ambushed Mahmuda in front of her minor son. The boy said the attackers first took him away and then one of them stabbed his mother with a knife before shooting her.



Police said that Mahmuda was shot in the head.



"We found three live ammunition and a used casing on the spot. The bullet hit her on the left side of the head," said Police Bureau of Investigation's Additional Superintendent Bashir Ahmed. She is survived by a four-year-old daughter.



There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.



Islamic State (also known as ISIS) reportedly claimed responsibilities of most of the murders but Bangladesh authorities rejected the claims.



"The home grown militants visibly are repeatedly trying to prove their links with international outfits like IS or al- Qaeda," a senior home ministry official had told PTI.



"Our investigations found no link of any international group to the incidents (clandestine attacks) in Bangladesh.



In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.



There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent weeks especially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.



In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.



Two days later, Bangladesh's first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.



On April 30, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants in his shop in central Bangladesh.



The ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.
Accel Partners India, a leading early stage venture funding company, said that the current valuation markdown of Flipkart is part of a cyclical phenomenon, and it is not planning for an early exit from the ecommerce giant.





Interacting with Deccan Herald, Accel Parnters Indias Subrata Mitra  a board member of Flipkart  said, every company will have to go through a cyclical change. Like large companies, startups in India will have to undergo cyclical phases during their business journeys, he said.



Accel, which owns about 20% stake in Flipkart, is the second largest investor in the company. Tiger Global is the largest investor in the company, followed by investors like DST Global, Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC and ICONIQ Capital.



Mitra opined that startups, especially ecommerce ventures, should realise that they will have to bear with the environment. Besides Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Trust lowering per-share value to $87.9 as of March 31, 2016 from $142.24 in June 2015, T Rowe Price also cut its value of its stake in Flipkart by 15%. Recently, mutural fund companies like Valic Co 1 and Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II marked down Flipkarts value.



Accel, the first venture investor in Flipkart, remains the second-largest shareholder, next to New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management. Qatar Investment Authority purchased a fractional stake in Flipkart from Accel Partners for $100 million (about Rs 650 crore) in last November. Mitra said the company will continue to invest in three core areas in the country, which include consumer, mobile and software as a service (SaaS).



Commenting on investing in early startup in the country, he said it will help in building bigger organisations. We will continue to invest in Indian companies and it is normally for long tenure. Our dilution of funds depends on the money that the company might raise in future as per the investment requirement, he said.




Standing at the edge of a six-foot trench at an archaeologist from Nepals government peered down at a row of round holes  new evidence, he said, that below our feet lay a 2,500-year-old thatch-and-timber city where the Buddha lived until the age of 29.



The archaeologist said he was thinking about the future, when thousands of pilgrims would be climbing down from rows of buses every year to see the ruins in the Nepalese town of Tilaurakot. We are trying to compel them to spend money here, he said.



Similar enthusiasm could be detected about 17 miles away on the Indian side of the border, where India invites tourists to visit another site it claims are the ruins of the Buddhas childhood home. Asked about the Nepali site, an Indian archaeologist sniffed. The question doesn't arise, he said.



Begun in the glory days of the British Raj, this archaeological tug-of-war has remained unresolved for more than a century, of concern to virtually nobody. But changes are coming to the baking orange plains that straddle Nepal and India.



Buddhist history is an ever-more-serious business. China and India, two giants manoeuvring for control in South Asia, have identified Buddhism as an instrument of soft power. In an area where, for centuries, Buddhism all but disappeared, a range of global stakeholders are investing in infrastructure to accommodate throngs of future pilgrims. Indias prize attraction is Bodh Gaya, the site where, it is believed, the Buddha attained enlightenment. Nepal, increasingly aligned with Beijing, jealously guards its claim to the Buddhas birth and early life.



It is a matter of surprise that even today, in this 21st century, 2,500 years later than the time of Buddhas birth, that its still a little bit confused, said the Nepali prime minister, K P Sharma Oli, at a government-sponsored Buddhist conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, last month.



Of the conferences 385 delegates, more than 300 were Chinese; Indias delegation numbered nine. When Oli complained about outsiders trying to encroach on Nepals status as the Buddhas home, it was quite clear whom he meant. There are people, a few people, perhaps, who are deliberately trying to create a situation of confusion, he said.



Buddhist lore has it that Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, grew up within the luxurious setting of his fathers palace in the city of Kapilavastu, carefully guarded from any exposure to human suffering. When, at 29, Siddhartha stepped outside, he was confronted with the sight of the aged, the diseased and the dead, an experience that shook him so powerfully that he left his fathers home the following day, embracing life as an ascetic.



Until the time of the British Raj, there was little serious effort to determine where these events occurred. A powerful Hindu revival had rolled over the plains, extinguishing virtually all trace of the religion that had begun there. Then came the European Indologists, armed with the only shreds of evidence available: the accounts of Chinese monks who travelled the Buddhas path in the fifth and seventh centuries AD.



By the time the British withdrew, digs at two different locations had both declared victory. The modern border between Nepal and India had also come into existence, and the two claims, supported by fragmentary evidence and fired by nationalism, hardened into a cranky rivalry.



Engulfed in complete darkness, the scholars made a beginning in the direction of locating Kapilavastu like a wild-goose chase, K M Srivastava, of the Archaeological Survey of India, wrote in a memoir of his expedition to the Indian town of Piprahwa.



His discoveries, he wrote, a bit huffily, so infuriated a particular set of scholars that they derived pleasure in indulging in the most unparliamentary language questioning the identify of Kapilavastu.



The Indian consensus has held  at least in India, where tour operators market Piprahwa as the place where the Buddha spent his childhood grappling with the overwhelming and puzzling problem of human existence.



This spring, Indias minister of culture opened a museum there, displaying evidence, mostly in the form of inscriptions on ancient seals, that was said to prove it was the true site of the Buddha's childhood home.



Across the border in Tilaurakot, a Nepali-British team supported by Unesco has been ploughing ahead with its own hypothesis: that an Indian-organised expedition in the late 1960s had simply stopped digging too early.



The leader of that Indian expedition, Debala Mitra, uncovered traces of a sprawling brick city, but she said it could not have been Kapilavastu because it had been built hundreds of years after the Buddhas life. Last year, the Unesco-backed team cut down through the brick structures Mitra had found and discovered a second fortification whose ramparts were made of clay.



Then they dug even farther, slowing their work to a crawl. They were watching for cylindrical depressions in the earth: evidence that under the clay fort had once stood timber fence posts, perhaps for so long that the wood had decayed, leaving a shell of earth behind.



Six feet below the earths surface, they found them. The traces of hardened earth inside those holes, when analysed in a laboratory, dated from the sixth century BC, meaning they would have stood during the Buddhas lifetime.



Great hopes



In late April, a scorching heat settled on the plains, and workmen used wheelbarrows to refill trenches, shutting down the expedition for the hot season. Placards were erected, announcing that it would have been on this roadway that Siddhartha travelled on toward the Eastern Gate before renouncing his princely life. A wooden walkway was also built so that pilgrims who prostrated themselves would not become covered in mud.



It was a bit hard to imagine a crowd there; the forest was empty except for a young boy, who was amusing himself by throwing stones. But Ram Bahadur Kunwar, from Nepals Department of Archaeology, paced the site of a ce-ntral walled complex and spoke of great hopes. It is still a mystery, because we have not opened it up, he said. But when we do, I think that this structure will tell the history of Kapilavastu.



He was not alone in his excitement. The Asian Development Bank is helping to finance a $54 million upgrade of the international airport close to the Nepalese town of Lumbini, the Buddhas birthplace. The upgraded airport, when it is completed in 2030, will accommodate six million passengers a year. Lumbini is about 16 miles from Tilaurakot.



It seems that many of those visitors are expected to come from China, which is experiencing a Buddhist revival: Tour guides are picking up Mandarin, new hotels are hiring Chinese chefs, and local authorities are planning to erect a statue of the ninth-century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim whose travel journal established Nepal as the Buddhas birthplace.



Sunanda Sakyaputra, a Buddhist monk who had travelled to Tilaurakot to meditate, said the site of the ruined palace, a place where the Buddha was not happy, gave him a profound sense of the futility of human suffering. Asked about the town on the Indian side, he snorted.



That is wrong, very wrong, he said. All things. India thinks all things are hers. Why?




In the unquiet atmosphere in Kashmir, two controversial proposals, which are not new but are being pushed with some vigour now, are creating more disquiet and meeting widespread opposition. The proposals relate to setting up exclusive enclaves in the Valley for resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits and creating residential colonies for ex-servicemen belonging to the state. The proposals are supported by the BJP, which is a partner in the states government. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has tried to explain and make a weak defence of the proposals. She has said that the proposed separate clusters for Pandits will be transit camps where they can live before they are settled in their original homes. Her statement that Pandits should not be thrown like pigeons before the cat created controversy, but she said that it was distorted by the opposition and the media. She also said that the proposal for a Sainik colony was not new because Jammu already had one.



The proposals are opposed not only by militant bodies and organisations like the Hurriyat Conference and the JKLF but also by political parties and large sections of civil society. They are taken as moves to change the demographic character of the state. Though only Kashmiris will be settled in the colonies, the fear is that in due course others might be allowed in. The fear is supported by the notion that changing the demography of Kashmir is part of the Hindutva agenda. While the fear may be exaggerated, the merit of setting up separate colonies is questionable. Pandits were an integral part of Kashmir and they lived as a part of its composite society. To set up separate colonies will tantamount to making ghettos for them. They should be rehabilitated among the majority community and there should be trust and harmony between them. Separate enclaves will create suspicion and distrust and may be unsafe for the residents, however well protected they are. Kashmiriyat, the basis of the states social life, is a pluralistic and inclusive idea which will be ill served by the creation of separate clusters for Pandits.



The same is the case with the proposal for a Sainik village. In Jammu, it was set up by a cooperative society of ex-soldiers. What is proposed in Kashmir is a government plan for settlement. It should be noted that even moderate Kashmiri Pandits have opposed these proposals. There is no point in pursuing proposals which are opposed by most Kashmiris. Mehbooba and her party would be opposing them if they were not in government.


Issuance of a Red Notice against liquor baron Vijay Mallya may take some more time with the Interpol seeking clarifications from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).





The ED had last month approached the Interpol against Mallya, who is holed up in the United Kingdom, in connection with the probe into money laundering case emerging out of the Rs 900 bank loan given to him by IDBI Bank.



Official sources said the Interpol has asked for more clarifications from the ED before it issues the arrest warrant. The international agency has sought details on the legal processes undertaken by the ED before it can notify the Red Notice.



They said the Interpol has not denied the EDs request for Red Notice. We are providing details sought by the Interpol, a senior official said.



Such seeking of additional information is nothing new and has been done in many cases, like in the Lalit Modi case.



The ED hopes that the Red Notice would enable it to bring Mallya back to India and make him join the investigations into the case. Mallya, who was a Rajya Sabha member, had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport and is believed to be in the UK.
Seventeen people were killed and 30 others were injured when a bus rammed into two stationary cars on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday.





The luxury bus fell into a ditch at Shedung village after ramming into two cars. The accident spot is located 20 km away from Navi Mumbai.



According to initial investigations, spot assessment and statements of eyewitnesses, a Maruti Swift Dzire with a flat tyre was parked on the right side of the road and people were fixing the tyre.



People from a passing Toyota Innova stopped behind it to offer help. The luxury bus of Nikhil Travels, coming from Satara, failed to notice the two vehicles in the darkness of night and rammed into the two cars before getting veered off the road and falling into a 20-foot ditch.



Also, as the morning was cloudy and the bus would not have noticed the tail lights. The accident near Panvel on Mumbai-Pune Expressway is tragic, deeply pained over the loss of lives and injuries, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.



The two cars have suffered extensive damage and are completely mangled. The bus too suffered damage and cranes were called to lift it, said a police official. It is a big accident and a matter of concern for us, said Public Works Minister Eknath Shinde, adding that the cause of the accident would be investigated in detail and appropriate steps will be taken.



Rushed to hospital

The injured were rushed to the Mahatma Gandhi Mission and Ashtavinayak hospitals in Navi Mumbai. Two of the injured are still in critical condition. The victims have sustained major injuries to their heads besides fractures.



The deceased include 10 women, 6 men and a six-month-old infant, who were all occupants of the bus. Reports said that the driver of the bus too died in the accident. The accidents on the Mumbai-Pune expressway have been a matter of concern for the Maharashtra government.



In most of the accidents be it the recent Mumbai-Pune expressway accidents or the turtling of heavy vehicles, buses in ghat regions, human factor is largely responsible for road accidents, than other causes.



Over 75% of road accidents have human factor involved in it, a police official said. Since 2008, more than 600 people have been killed and over 1,000 injured in accidents on the E-way.



Speeding and bursting of tyres are some of the causes of the accident.


The Centre is gearing up to launch 32 educational channels soon, picking up yet another UPA-era programme which was gathering dust in the HRD Ministrys files so far.





The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is expected to roll out these free-to-air 24x7 channels by August. The Department of Space has agreed to allot two transponders on a GSAT series satellite for their airing through direct-to-home (DTH) platform.



The long-pending project is finally set to see the light of day after a committee of experts gave it a final shape at its meeting last month.



The erstwhile UPA government had readied its plan to launch a total of 50 free-to-air educational channels on the DTH platform at the fag end of its five-year term in 2014.



The project, which initially remained stuck for about two years due to the Information and Broadcasting Ministrys objections, was finalised in March 2014 after the Union Law Ministry gave clearance to the HRD Ministrys proposal.



The ministry, however, could not launch the channels as the Congresss focus was shifted to the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India had also signed a memorandum of understanding with the HRD Ministry to offer structured educational programmes through one of the 50 channels.



The 32 channels, finalised by the BJP regime, will broadcast lectures by outstanding teachers, both live and recorded, through various centres in select higher educational institutions, including six of the Indian Institutes of Technology.



While the teachers will deliver live lessons with multimedia material on the channels, students can have live interaction with the teachers.



As proposed, students can ask questions through video conferencing, mobile, land line, SMS, email and get instantaneous reply to their queries from the available teacher.

Officials hope that the channels could turn out to be a game changer in improving access to quality education.

DH News Service
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week. She will submit a memorandum on the states requirements, especially financial assistance for several welfare projects.





This will be Jayalalithaa's first visit to the national capital after taking over as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time.



AIADMK sources told DH on Sunday that Jayalalithaa is also expected to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitely during the two-day visit.



"The memorandum to the PM will include a demand for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Board to implement the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, a senior AIADMK leader said seeking anonymity.
BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday charged the government with turning a blind eye to the harassment meted out to DySP, Kudligi sub-division, Anupama Shenoy, who has resigned from her post.



In a statement, the BJP leader said the officer resigned in protest against the interference of the Congress workers in her official duties. It is a testimony to disgusting and suffocating atmosphere prevailing in the state under the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah, he said.



I strongly condemn the tendency of the Congress workers and the government. It is also most reprehensible that the officer is subjected to this kind of humiliation and harassment for the second time in the last six months, he said, referring to the controversy a few months ago wherein Shenoy was transferred from her post for keeping the phone call of Labour Minister P T Parameshwar Naik on hold.



Yeddyurappa demanded that Home Minister G Parameshwara, who is also state Congress president, should come clean on the issue.



As the KPCC president, he has to discipline his party workers who have created a disgusting situation for an honest officer, he added.

Siddaramaiah claims ignorance

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed ignorance regarding the resignation of Anupama Shenoy, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kudligi sub-division, Ballari district.



Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme in the Bengaluru on Sunday, the chief minister said he was not aware of her resignation. I do not know about her resignation. This question is not related to me, he said, declining to comment further. A senior police officer from the police headquarters said, We have not received any communication about the resignation of Anupama Shenoy. It was learnt through the media. For now, we have not received any letter.


A 32-year-old manager of a cafe on Vittal Mallya Road died after he accidentally crashed his motorbike into the sidewall of the Kasturi Nagar flyover on the Outer Ring Road near K R Puram in the early hours of Sunday.





The police identified the victim as Esakki Doss, a native of Tamil Nadu and resident of Devasandra in Bengaluru.



Around 3 am, he was riding back home after meeting his friends, when he lost control of the bike and crashed it into the sidewall of the flyover, suffering severe head injuries.



Passersby, who noticed him lying in a pool of blood, alerted the police. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Doss was driving under the influence and was not wearing the helmet, the KR Puram traffic police said.



Woman killed

In another accident, a 35-year-old woman died while her husband sustained injuries, when a private bus rear-ended their bike near JC Road on Saturday evening.



The police gave the name of the deceased as Povai, a resident of Kogilu Cross near Yelahanka. Her husband Nanda Kumar escaped with injuries.



The couple, natives of Tamil Nadu, earned their living by stitching seat covers for vehicles. On Saturday evening, they had been to JC Road to purchase seat cover materials. Around 6.30 pm, they were returning home when the private bus, bearing a Tamil Nadu registration number, knocked down their bike.



Both Kumar and Povai fell off the bike. Povai, who suffered severe injuries on her stomach and neck, was rushed to Victoria hospital, where she breathed her last. The City Market traffic police have seized the bus and arrested the driver, Madhappan.

DH News Service
The row surrounding a pre-wedding photo shoot at Amba Vilas Palace here has taken a new twist with Deputy Commissioner C Shikha charging Deputy Director of Palace Board T S Subramanya with dereliction of duty.





In a report to the government, the DC, also the executive officer of Palace Board, is learnt to have brought the dereliction of duty on the part of the deputy director to the notice of the higher ups. The DC has also provided some incriminating evidences, substantiating the findings of the report, sources told Deccan Herald. The DC had ordered Additional Deputy Commissioner T Venkatesh to conduct a probe into the incident.



ACP of Palace Security Force Shylendra, who was tasked with the inquiry of the photo shoot episode, has been relieved as the inquiry officer following complaints that the probe was moving at a snails pace. Now, DCP (Law and Order) Dr H T Shekar has been told to investigate the incident.



B N Aditya and Navyatha, a couple, had posed during their pre-wedding photo shoot at durbar hall and kalyana mantapa inside the Palace in the month of February. However, it was only recently, did the covertly conducted photo shoot with a Hyderabad-based cameraman wielding the lens, came to light, pointing fingers at the gaping holes in the board.



Some of the interiors of the Palace, especially those with ornate structures, are strictly prohibited for photographs and videos. The last time the Durbar Hall was shot in a film was Dr Rajkumar-starrer runaway hit movie Mayura.



In the recent days, when permission was sought to shoot Rajinikanth starrer Lingaa, the palace board had denied the same. Instead, permission was given to shoot at the exteriors, as shown in the movie.


India and Qatar on Sunday signed seven pacts and decided to enhance cooperation in the

energy sector.





Prime Minister Narendra Modi also invited Qatar to invest in Indias exploration and production sector by bidding for the blocks under the new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy and take part in disinvestment of Indian PSUs.



An MoU was signed with the Qatar Investment Authority for facilitating Qatari investment in the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.



India highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar in order to jointly explore new fields as well as development of discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar, said a joint statement issued after wide-ranging talks between Modi and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.



The two sides agreed to focus on enhancing cooperation in energy, covering the areas of training and human resources development, cooperation in research and development and through promotion of joint ventures in petrochemical complexes and cooperation in joint exploration in India and other countries.



They also agreed to work together to check terror financing and illegal financial transactions. The two sides noted the need to isolate the sponsors and supporters of terrorism. They agreed that urgent action against entities that support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy must be taken. Modi concluded his visit to the country and left for Switzerland.



Modi also took up with the Qatari leadership the issue of the welfare of Indian community, which is about 6.5 lakh strong, and received assurance about their security.



India invited Qatar to participate in the second phase of the strategic reserves storage facility being created in India, the statement said. Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG and LPG to India.



The seven MoUs included one on sharing of information between financial intelligence units for sharing of intelligence on illegal movement of money, termed as hawala. 



The agreement is aimed at checking terror financing, hawala money as well as other sources of illegal financial transactions, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha said.
Exhausted commuters plying between Corporation Circle and Majestic on Sunday evening had no idea why a man was holding placards on the busy stretch. Not many bothered to ask him either.





He wanted the government to set up a special anti-rape squad in all police stations across the country, which should include three professional women police officers as well as forensic experts and a dedicated 24X7 support centre.



Meet Dr Noel K Mathew, a doctor at Fr Muller Medical College in Mangaluru. After staging similar demonstrations in Kochi (May 15) and in Mangaluru (May 29) on Sundays, Matthew was in the city on Sunday and is planning to travel to Manipal (June 26) and Chennai in order to spread the message.



Holding placards in hand, the 25-year-old doctor stood all alone from 4 pm to 6 pm on Sunday near Ulsoor Gate police station. At 6.30 pm, his friends joined him expressing their solidarity as they marched forward with candles and lights towards Hudson Circle. This is how Mathew holds the demonstration in different cities. Mathew is not happy about the present system where women have to go to the police station which are not approachable.



There is a sense of anxiety and (a) kind of mental harassment in approaching the police station. The rape victim is considered as a loser. The anti-rape squad, consisting of women officers, should change that into a comfortable ambience for the victim to open up, he said.



He felt a stringent law and speedy trial will reduce the number of rape cases.

DH News Service
For effective fighting of court cases, especially those related to service matters of government employees, the Delhi government has decided to loosen its purse strings to attract the best legal talent.





The limits for payment of fees to the Delhi government have been upwardly revised and the new limit in some case of a department is virtually 20 times of the Rs 10 lakh that was fixed a few years ago.



The decision to spend more on talented lawyers seems in sync with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals resolve to forcefully present the AAP governments view and, if needed, fight for its rights against the Centre in legal fora.



Litigation involving Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jungs office, environment issues emerging from National Green Tribunal decisions, power discoms, transporters and taxi aggregators and private school association have seen a spurt since the AAP government came to power.



Political matters involving defamation and other political statements issued by Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers and complaints in courts over alleged corruption by AAP government ministers were also considered before enhancing the legal fee limit for departments.



The decision to raise the limit for fees payable to advocates was conveyed to all departments by Principal Secretary (Finance) S N Sahai.



In a note, Sahai said the competent authority is pleased to enhance the financial delegation of the Administrative Secretaries in respect of fees payable to advocates to the extent: General Administration Department Rs 2 crore, Education Department Rs 50 lakh, Health and Family Welfare Rs 50 lakh and Transport Department Rs 50 lakh.



Giving a free hand to the departments to select a panel of private lawyers, Sahai cautioned that steps in that direction could be taken only through the law department.



The department concerned shall obtain the approval of the Law Department for the engagement of the advocates those who are not in the approved panel of Law Department, said Sahai.



Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia held several rounds of discussions with department heads to identify the problem behind governments failure to win favourable decisions in courts.



The process for strengthening the legal team of the AAP government began soon after the Kejriwal governments first anniversary in February.



The last office memorandum on the issue of delegation of power to accord expenditure sanction in respect of fees payable to advocates was issued on March 2.

DH News Service
A woman and her two daughters were found dead in their house in New Usmanpur area in north east Delhi on Sunday, police said.



The decomposed bodies of Sayra (50) and daughters Nisha (25) and Shabnam (12) were found in their two-storey house on Sunday evening after neighbours sensed a foul smell emanating from the house, and alerted the police.



Initial investigation revealed that the murder might have taken place at least three days ago. The victims throats were slit with a sharp-edged weapon, the police said.



The main door was locked from the outside and there were no signs that the house was ransacked, police said.



While Nisha was found lying in a room on the ground floor, Shabnams body was found in the bathroom on the same floor. Sayras body was recovered from the second floor.



The police is looking at a possible property dispute as the owner of the house had died two years ago. Since Munnas death, Sayra and her family had been living in the house, police said. The bodies were sent for autopsy.



Sayras relatives were also questioned.

DH News Service

Speeding car kills biker in Rani Bagh

A speeding car killed a cook and injured his two friends who were travelling on a motorcycle in north west Delhis Rani Bagh area, the police said on Sunday.



Cops hunt kidney racket kingpin

The Delhi Police on Sunday intensified its search for the kingpin of the kidney trading racket, even as they served notices to Apollo Hospital authorities.




How are Black residents here doing compared to rest of U.S.?

news
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.
EUFAULA  A Eufaula man who opened fire on as many as three individuals, including a two-year-old girl, before firing at Eufaula Police officers, was eventually killed Saturday morning by Eufaula officers.

According to a press release from the Eufaula Police Department, the Eufaula Police Department received a report at 7:54 a.m. Saturday that an individual was shot at Level Acres Mobile Home Park. After responding to the scene, officers confirmed that a two-year-old female had been shot in the leg, allegedly by Demarco Rhymes, 35, of Eufaula.

According to reports, Rhymes left Level Acres after shooting the child and went to Davis Street where he shot a 42-year-old female. He then allegedly proceeded to Norman Street where a 39-year-old male received multiple gunshot wounds.

Eufaula Police officers first made contact with Rhymes near Zion Church where he fired shots at the officers. During the subsequent vehicle and foot pursuit, Rhymes continued to fire at the officers. In order to stop the imminent deadly threat posed by Rhymes, the officers employed deadly force. Rhymes was pronounced dead at Medical Center Barbour. No officers were injured in the incident. Pursuant to the Eufaula Police Departments established policy, the officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.

The two-year-old was transported by jet to a Birmingham hospital. The other two victims were transported to hospitals in Dothan in critical condition. Investigation of the officer involved shooting has been turned over to the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation. The other shootings remain under investigation by the Eufaula Police Department. Preliminary reports indicate domestic disputes involving multiple parties as a possible motive for the shooting rampage by Rhymes.

The Eufaula Police Department said that no further details will be released at this time.

Our prayers are with the victims, officers and all those affected by this incident, Eufaula Police Chief Steve Watkins said. Our highly trained officers are prepared to address such incidents and I commend the officers who responded and deployed their training both effectively and efficiently this morning.
The climate from Brazil to Baltimore, Fallujah to Ferguson and Kabul to a Lee County courtroom (at least currently) is scary at best.

Just as everyone with good, common sense believed O.J. at the very least had a hand in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goodman, most everyone outside of those trying to protect their personal investment in Mike Hubbard believe he is guilty of at least a handful of the 23 felony charges filed against him for ethics violations.

Oh, and guess who authored those ethics laws. Thats right, the slick-haired, even slicker politician himself. Hes the same guy who once asked a public official at a ground-breaking ceremony in Enterprise who a certain guy was so he would know what the man looked like because he wanted to wipe the floor with his -- shall we say -- derriere. Thats our Speaker of the House. Classy. So very classy.

Hes the same guy District 91 State Representative Barry Moore had to face the music for using threats from Hubbard to run off Moores opposition in 2014 or else a deal between Enterprise State Community College and Australian-based Enterprise Electronics would be in jeopardy. Using kids education as a threat again, very classy.

Hopefully, Moore and others who have fallen under Hubbards spell have seen enough of the old Western movies to know they need to unhitch their wagons quickly from the south end of Hubbards horse because if it runs off the cliff you see where this is headed?

Hubbard has called his trial a political witch hunt, although prosecutors who waited 582 days to get the trial started said during opening arguments Tuesday that Hubbard pocketed $2.3 million from his office, including soliciting help to save his businesses. The if-it-wasnt-true-itd-be-funny irony is that it was Hubbard who authored the ethics laws that he is being blamed to have broken, and now he says those laws are too vague. Also, Hubbard attorney Bill Baxley said the 23 felony counts are mumbo jumbo, this despite the fact that the prosecution has laid out details of where money changed hands.

All together now Do what?!

If this all sounds too familiar, youre probably thinking of the Hillary Clinton-email scandal. Yeah, I guess thats mumbo jumbo, too.

Hubbard called his trial a political witch hunt. Sure looks like the state has their trophy witch in their crosshairs.

Stay tuned for this sure-to-be entertaining trial out of Opelika.
Debi Breedlove remembers Wallace Community Colleges first computer. It took up about a third of a floor and it was used solely for handling student schedules.

A lot has changed during Breedloves nearly four decades at the college, but one thing Breedlove said has remained constant is Wallaces commitment to serving its community.

Its hard not to love working somewhere you get to see peoples live change, she said.

Breedlove recently retired after serving Wallace for 38 years. A former newspaper editor, Breedlove joined the college in the late 70s as a publications adviser. Breedlove switched jobs several times during her time at Wallace and ended her career as the schools coordinator of dual enrollment services.

Breedlove said watching the dual enrollment program grow over the past decade has been exciting. The program allows high school students to take Wallace courses at the college or at their schools for high school and college credit. Breedlove said the program has helped put college in reach of many high school students and has also helped many save money on higher education.

Breedlove said increased access to college was one of the major trends she observed over her career. Breedlove said, oddly enough, that the construction of Wiregrass Commons Mall played a big role in Wallaces growth in the 80s. Breedlove said the mall drew many workers to Dothan who chose to take classes at Wallace before and after work.

Breedlove said early in her career, Wallace was mostly focused on career technical programs. As time went on, the school became more focused on academics and preparing students for four-year programs. As she leaves the college, Breedlove said the pendulum has swung back around, as the demand for skilled labor has resulted in community colleges renewing their focus on career tech.

Good paying jobs tend to be more career tech oriented, she said.
Monday is Jefferson Davis Holiday in Alabama.

Alabamas State Capitol and Grounds are designated a National Historic Landmark as the First Capitol of the Confederate States of America with a statue of President Davis at the entrance.

President-elect Jefferson Davis rode down Dexter Avenue in Montgomery in an open carriage without any security to the cheers of thousands and delivered his First Inaugural Speech from the same steps of the Alabama Capitol where, in 1944, eight Confederate Veterans gathered for the last Veterans' Reunion in front of a large Confederate Battle Flag.

Abraham Lincoln, the most unpopular U.S. president ever, receiving only 39 percent of the popular vote, sneaked into Washington, D.C., hiding behind thousands of federal soldiers to deliver his Inaugural speech, saying he would only invade the South to collect taxes.

After Lincolns Tax War, Jefferson Davis placed the cornerstone for the beautiful Confederate Monument on the Alabama Capitol Grounds outside the Governors Office to honor the 122,000 Alabama Confederate Veterans.

The largest funeral procession ever in the South brought Jefferson Davis body from New Orleans to lie in state inside Alabamas Capitol, as throngs of grateful admirers paid respects to the last American President of the voluntary union of independent States.

Roger K. Broxton, president

Confederate Heritage Fund

Andalusia
D-Day was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, but Thurman Shopes war had just begun when the Allies successfully stormed the beaches of Normandy.

Shope, 93, was a new recruit at Camp Rucker (Fort Ruckers WWII-era predecessor) when news of the successful invasion arrived. Shope was shipped out to France a few days later.

There was really no information before we left, very secret, he said. Any mail that we sent in the weeks prior to leaving was read by others before we were allowed to mail it.

Shope said he and his fellow recruits were elated by the news that the invasion had been successful. Once they arrived in France, they realized that they still had a long war ahead of them.

After he got to France and saw what he did, he was very happy he was not there on D-Day, Shopes son, Mark Shope, said. They were fighting hedgerow to hedgerow when he arrived, very intense and scary. There were lots of dead and wounded. He said the only way you would not be scared was if you were not there.

Shope spent the next two years marching through Europe, carrying a 60-lb. mortar.

I figured it was just getting started, Shope said. I was there for about two years and it was scary the entire time. I got to see General Patton and we followed him for some of the time I was there.

Shope said he had two friends who participated in the invasion who were killed.

I know the ones that went in on D-Day, it was hell for them and for all of us that followed, he said. It was something that had to be done and we all had to sacrifice, but the U.S. would be a much different place today had the invasion not happened or not been successful.
dpa ElectionsData

With dpa ElectionsData you get access to a unique collection of data. Via a programming interface (Rest-API), your developers can access detailed information, candidate profiles and live results for all national elections in the European Union and important international elections, like the US Midterm elections etc.

The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties.
When thinking about places to visit in Thailand, the first places to come to mind , especially by most tourist would be Phuket and Bangkok. A very few, not even myself, would even think of going to Nan, Thailand have I not been invited by the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Council for a multi-country fam trip.

Nan is a province of Thailand located at the northern side and near the border of Laos and very close to Luang Prabang. The Thailand and Laos border via Nan is a 3 1/2 hour drive about 150 kms from the city. If you plan to do multi-country/ cross country trip to Thailand and Laos this is the place to be, just make sure to have your passport ready and cash to pay your Entry Visa to Laos if you are not from any ASEAN country (US$35.00).

The provincial capital of Nan has a relaxed charm that can lure tourist in for adventures into the countryside or sightseeing in town . Here are some of the things we did in the province that you may want to look in to when you pay the town a visit.

Things to do in Nan, Thailand:

ATTRACTIONS

EXPERIENCE REAL LIFE TEMPLE RUN!

Whats Thailand without their culture rich Temples? Admire century old architecture, religion and art and find which of the temples you like best. Here are some of the temples you can check out:

Temple 1: Wat Phrathat Chae Haeng

This was the first of a couple of temple we visited at Nan in Thailand (there is about 200++ temples in the city!). This temple is said to represent the Year of the Rabbit and you will notice a lot of rabbit figures all over the place. It also features a 55 meter-high golden chedi containing holy relic from Sukhothai. Over the viharns door frames and on parts of the roofs are sttucco designs in the shape of Naga, the greatest serpent, which represent an artistic best in local architechture.

Temple 2: Wat Phrathat KhaoNoy (or Khao Noi)

If you want to have a 180 degrees view of the entire city of Nan, this is the place to be. The remple was construced in 1487. The Phrathat is a chedi made of bricks and cemebt reflecting a combination of Burmese and Lanna arts. It contains the Lord Buddhas hair and was renovated in 1906-1911 by Burmese craftsmen. It features a 9-metre Buddah image in giving blesing posture on a lotus base. The head finial of the image was made of gold with total weight of 27 Baht and cast during an auspicious occassion of his Majesty the Kings 6th Cycle Birthday Anniversay on December 5, 1999.

Temple 3: Wat Phumin

Among the temples we visited, I think the Wat Phumin Temple is the best in Nan, Thailand because of the beautiful mural paintings inside and the four faced/sided buddha in the main hall. Wat Phumin, It is a royal temple located in the old city called Tambon Nai Wiang and is next to the Nan National Museum. The temple was constructed in 1569 and renovated in 1867. What I love best about this temple was the painting inside the assembly hall. The mural paintings or Hup Taem depict the Buddhist Jataka stories. There are also interesting depiction of the lifestyles of the people in town during this time in the paintings. The most popular painting in the temple was the Nan Couple whisper into my ear the couple is said to be not of Nan heritage but are actually foreigners as the costume / clothes they wore in the painting reflects the popular styles in Europe during that time. This Nan couple image can be seen all over the city and is now an iconic symbol in town.

Temple 4: Wat Nong Bua

At the Nong Bua Village, Pa Kha sub-district is Wang Bua an ancient temple where mural paintings on the ordination hall depict the story of Panyasa Jataka, the past life of Lord Buddha created by Thit Buaphan, a Lao Phuan painter. The temple was built in 1862. The paintings is close to those displayed at the wall of Wat Phumin . Apart from the murals , at the base of the main Buddha image is enshirned many tiny Buddha images in Lanna style, as well as a Butsabok , a movable pavilion with a pointed roow. A replica of the Thai Lue house can be seen there.

APPRECIATE LOCAL ART

The Nan Riverside Art Gallery is the largest private art galery in Nan , founded by WinaiPrabirpoo, the Nan Riverside Art Gallery also functions as a contemporary art center to showcase artworks of local artist .

At the second floor you will see artworks of the Royal Family and also modern interpretations of the famous Nan Couple from the Wat Phumin temple .

LEARN HOW THEY MAKE SILVER JEWELRIES

We also visited the Doi Silver Factory where we personally saw how they make gorgeous silver jewelries from scratch. Everything is carefully handcrafted, amazing.

PIG OUT: HAVE A FOOD TRIP

All the temple running / sightseeing/ picture taking and admiring the beautiful architecture, history and culture surrounding it can make one very hungry! There are different options to try in Nan.

You can grab a quick bite and find something to munch on while looking around for something to buy as souvenirs at the NAN CITY NIGHT MARKET which is only open on weekends from 5pm onwards. This night market is just a few walks away from the Wat Phumin temple. You can find so many local eats from the market from the most exotic to the conventional ones. However, theres this one stall that got our attention, te Gai Ob Ong, perfectly roasted chicken with mouth watering flavor. The chicken was roasted in a big clay jar , something we dont see often!

If youre tired of all the walking you can try the authentic Thai dishes at the HUEANHOM RESTAURANT , this is just a block away from the night market. When your done having your fill grab deserts at the most popular desert place in Nan, AUNTIE NIM!

At the outskirts , an hour away from the Thailand  Laos border is a coffee shop with a view of the lush mountains and a bed of cat whiskers, the THAI LUE CAFE. A few minutes away from the cafe is the PUAPIROM BAR AND RESTAURANT , their Tom Yam Goong is soooo good!

REST and RELAX

ACCOMMODATIONS

We stayed for one night at the NANTURGJAI BOUTIQUE HOTEL Nan, Thailand. They said it is one of the best boutique hotels in the city. You may book here for your hotel needs in Thailand and get Php600 credit on your first booking :

HOW TO GET THERE/ TRANSPORTATION

Thai Air Asia flies to Nan, Thailand from Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok daily. They have fight to Yangon (4 flights a day), Mandalay (1 flight daily) , Hanoi (1 flight daily) Ho Chi Minh (3 flights a day), Phnom Penh (2 flights a day) and Siem Reap (3 flights a day) and Luang Prabang ( 1 flight a day). Nan from Bangkok is just an hour flight away . For more flight details you may visit www.airaisia.com

If you would like to experience or visit the same places as I did, you may contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand www.tourismthailand.org who assisted us by arranging our itenerary during our Nan, Thailand leg of this #TourismMekong trip.

This sponsored travel for the blog gig happened last May 21-27, 2016. I dubbed the trip #EarthAsianAdventure as I was at three countries (Malaysia, Thailand and Laos) in a span of one-week which is an incredible experience. Malaysia was my lay-over country, while Nan, Thailand and Luang Prabang, Laos was our main destination. Air Asia was our carrier ergo dubbing my trip #EarthfliesviaAirAsia as well.

This trip was part of a familiarization tour organized by the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. I was with fellow bloggers from different parts of the world

Dwight from Bangkok Fatty, Robert from Another Traveler, Maciek from Skok W Bok, Edgar from EazyTraveler and Soraya from Hello Raya.

Did you find this post helpful? Do you have some other tips about things to do in Nan, Thailand? I would like to hear your thoughts! Please leave your comment and suggestions at the comment section below!

Stay gorgeous everyone!
Considered to be the Ten Best UFO Photos Ever Taken I am sure that we could add more pictures to this list but these are considered ten o...
IIT Bombay Racing , Indias Formula Student electric team , recently unveiled its latest edition of an all-electric race car named Orca. The car is the institute's fifth consecutive entry into an annual Formula Student Competition held in UK at Silverstone circuit. The competition is to be held on July 14 to 17, 2016. It is designed to reach a top speed of 154 kmph and an acceleration of 0-100kph in less than four seconds. The car is succeeding the legacy of Evo 1, Evo 2, Evo 3 and Evo 4. IIT Bombay Racing was started eight years ago by a team of eight students. They built a racing car and started participating in inter-collegiate competitions. They didnt have much success initially, but five years ago, they won the Baja Series in Indore. After that, they decided to build electric cars and compete internationally, says Chinmay Maheshwari , second year undergraduate from mechanical engineering department, IIT Bombay. Currently, the team comprises 75 racing enthusiasts and is headed by Rushabh Kapasi, a fourth year undergraduate from the engineering physics department. A 3-tier team structure is present to ensure project management, knowledge transfer and smooth functioning. The current structure has fourth year undergraduates at the pinnacle, who head the team and have decision-making powers, followed by third year students who are behind the design of the car and next comes the second year undergraduates who are involved mostly in assisting the seniors and getting ready for designing the next year's car. The team is further divided into three parts --- mechanical, electrical and organisational. As the name suggests, the mechanical team looks into the mechanical aspects of the car comprising designing suspensions, steering system, chassis, cooling system, etc. Whilst the electrical team looks into harnessing the battery power in best possible ways. They also look into fetching data from variety of sensors located on the car and utilising it. The organisational team oversees event planning, bringing funds to the team and other work which makes sure that the team works smoothly. The 75 students belong to eight departments and they are required to manage their time well and maintain a balance between academics and the car. The planning generally begins in August every year followed by the "design phase." The outcome of the design phase is a CAD model of the car which comes to reality in the "manufacturing phase." Once the car is complete, the rigorous testing phase begins in which the car is tested and made fit for shipping for the event. We had a 180-page rule book issued by the competition authority, making sure that the car is in accordance with all the rules was challenging. Funds are also a constraint for the team when it comes to competing with highly funded foreign teams. There are times when the team members have to contribute from their pockets, adds Maheshwari . Apart from daily classes and quizzes the team-mates used to work individually on week days and the then assemble on weekends to work together. The weekends were kept for all team meets and everyone connected to the project would gather and brainstorm. There were also design review meets in which alumni of the team would guide others. The Orca is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. If you view the car from the side, it looks like it is leaping out of the ocean, showing its enormous power and beauty to the world. Thus, we decided to name it Orca, says Maheshwari.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
Mexico City, Jun 5 (EFE).- Violent incidents were reported across Mexico, where several states held gubernatorial elections on Sunday.

One of the most serious incidents occurred in Acajete, a city in the Gulf state of Veracruz, where the house of Mayor Ranulfo Hernandez, a member of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, was torched.

PAN congressional leader Joaquin Guzman Aviles's driver was kidnapped and a vehicle belonging to a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was burned in the eastern state.

People in Veracruz, where the elections are tight, started receiving messages on their cell phones on Saturday evening urging them not to vote on Sunday because "things are going to get dangerous," the PAN said in a statement.

A human head was found a few hours earlier near an elections precinct with a message threatening a candidate, and the offices of several parties were attacked with Molotov cocktails.

In the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the birthplace of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman, shots were fired at the home of Ahome Mayor Miguel Angel Camacho and PRI offices were torched.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, first lady Angelica Rivera and one of the couple's children voted in Mexico City.

"The day is developing normally and calmly. There have been just a few very isolated incidents and I have no reports of major incidents. I expect it'll be this way for the rest of election day," Pena Nieto told reporters after casting his ballot.

The governorships of 12 states, 966 local government posts, 388 state legislative seats and 393 community posts are up grabs in Sunday's election, along with 60 legislative seats in Mexico City.
Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London.

13:33, 25 OCT 2022
It seems like Amal Clooney is having a hard time making friends with her husband George Clooney's inner circle of friends these days.

That, or she just doesn't want to. Following reports that said Amal had a hard time getting along with George's good friends Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford, there's now a new report that says Hollywood actress Julia Roberts is no fan of the international human rights lawyer, either.

According to Naughty Gossip on Thursday, Julia was not impressed with the brunette beauty during a laid back trip the Clooneys took with her family recently. While Julia is mostly known for her anti-Hollywood, take-it-easy style, Amal is anything but.

One source close to Julia dished, "Amal would constantly have her hair and makeup touched up during a casual weekend. Julia laughed at her because she thinks she's so absurd!"

So far, reps for both Julia and Amal did not comment on the report. Amal has been accompanying her husband on trips he's been taking with his pals at his private villa in Mexico to his estate in Lake Como, Italy.

Amal and George tied the knot in a lavish, star-studded wedding in Venice, Italy back in September 2014. This is the first marriage for Amal and the second for George, who was previously married to actress Talia Balsam.
A new drug that harnesses the immune system to attack tumors is highly effective against advanced bladder cancer, according to the results of an international clinical trial to be presented June 5 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

As part of the latest study findings to be presented at the Chicago meeting, injections of the experimental agent atezolizumab were found to shrink tumors by at least 30 percent and stall new tumor growth in 28 of 119 (or 24 percent of) patients. All had received the medication as their initial therapy for the disease. Part of a new class of drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors, atezolizumab, also known by its brand name, Tecentriq, was last month approved by the Food and Drug Administration based on recent research from a related clinical trial presented in 2015.

"Our new study results argue that atezolizumab represents a major advance in the treatment of bladder cancer," says lead study investigator and medical oncologist Arjun Balar, MD, an assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and a member of its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center.

"Atezolizumab is the first therapy to be approved in more three decades for this disease, and it is the new standard of care for patients whose initial therapy with platinum-based chemotherapy drugs has failed," says Balar. "Indeed, it may be the only therapy some patients need."

The current "first-line" standard of care in bladder cancer, Balar says, is cisplatin, a drug that kills tumor cells by preventing them from repairing damage to their DNA. In widespread use since the 1970s, cisplatin extends survival to slightly more than a year, but nearly half of bladder cancer patients, most of whom are elderly with other serious health issues, cannot take it because of its toxic side effects on nerve and kidney function, as well as hearing. Moreover, many patients' cancers develop drug resistance to cisplatin and similar chemotherapy medications over time.

Balar says atezolizumab was well tolerated by all patients in the current study, which was conducted in medical centers across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Patients reported relatively mild instances of fatigue, itchy skin, and diarrhea, which represented far fewer and less-severe side effects than seen with cisplatin or its common alternative, carboplatin, Balar says.

In addition, half the patients who responded to the new therapy did so within 15 weeks, with almost all (21 out of 28) remaining on therapy without any detectable signs of cancer growth (at a dose of 1,200 milligrams every three weeks). As part of the study, all 21 patients still in cancer remission continue to be monitored, with some having continued to receive atezolizumab since the study started in May 2014.

Seven patients who initially responded to therapy eventually saw their cancer return and were referred for other therapies, along with those who did not initially respond to atezolizumab.

Patients who responded to therapy saw their tumors shrink or disappear altogether as part of a sustained immune response, with the shrinkages confirmed by radiological scans.

Balar says checkpoint inhibitors -- some already approved to treat other forms of cancer -- are designed to "retrain the immune system" to attack tumor cells by blocking the action of proteins believed to help cancer cells evade recognition by the immune system. While the drug's precise mechanism of action is subject to further research by the team, the scientists say the new medication primarily blocks the interaction of the protein PD-L1, or programmed death ligand-1, with its programmed death receptor partner and checkpoint, PD-1. This "lock and key" connection, Balar says, is critical to the detection of tumor cells by immune system T cells.

An estimated 76,000 Americans will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2016. Less than 15 percent survive past five years if the disease is diagnosed in its advanced stages. Men are about three to four times more likely to get bladder cancer during their lifetime than women.

###

Balar is a paid consultant to Genentech, the manufacturer of atezolizumab and the company that funded the current study and all related clinical trials. Genentech is a subsidiary of Roche. Balar has also received research support from Merck, which is developing a competing immunotherapy to atezolizumab. The terms of these arrangements are being managed in accordance with the policies of NYU Langone.

In addition to Balar, other investigators involved in this research are Mathew Galsky, MD, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York; Yohann Loriot, MD, MSc, at the Institute Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France; Nancy Dawson, MD, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC; Andrea Necchi, MD, at the Instituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, Italy; Sandy Srinivas, MB , at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; Richard Joseph, MD, at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.; Ulka Vaishampayan, MD, at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Mich.; Srikala Sridhar, MD, MSc, at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada; David Quinn, MBBS, MD, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; Alexandra Drakaki, MD, at the University of California, Los Angeles; Ignacio Duran, MD, at Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio in Seville, Spain; Thomas Powles, MD, at Queen Mary University in London; Jean Hoffman-Censitis, MD, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia; Na Cui, PhD; Sanjeev Mariathasan, PhD; Ann-Christine Thastrom; and Oyewale Abidoye, MD, all of Genentech in South San Francisco; and Jonathan Rosenberg, MD, and senior study investigator Dean Bajorin, MD, both at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Media Inquiries:

David March

212-404-3528

david.march@nyumc.org

On site at ASCO news conference

Jim Mandler/Jamie Liptack

347-714-3768/646-530-0454

jim.mandler@nyumc.org/jamie.liptack@nyumc.org
ABSTRACT: 4501

The immune checkpoint blockade drug nivolumab reduced tumor burden in 24.4 percent of patients with metastatic bladder cancer, regardless of whether their tumors had a biomarker related to the drug's target, according to clinical trial results from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study will be presented Sunday, June 5, 2016 at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

"The response rate is better than we've seen for other potential second-line treatments and nivolumab is really well-tolerated, which is important because bladder cancer patients are a fragile group after frontline treatment with platinum chemotherapy," said Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson.

Nivolumab unleashes an immune system attack on cancer by blocking activation of a protein called PD-1 on T cells, white blood cells that find and attack cells, viruses or bacteria that have specific targets. PD-1 acts as a brake, or checkpoint, to shut down activated T cells. PD-1 is turned on by a ligand called PD-L1, which is often found on cancer cells and other types of cells.

The presence of PD-L1 on a patient's tumor has been considered a potential biomarker to guide treatment. The study found no significant difference in response rates between those with little to no PD-L1 on their tumors (26 percent) and those with greater PD-L1 expression (24 percent).

"We can get good results without choosing to treat patients based on PD-L1 status," said Sharma, who also is scientific director of MD Anderson's immunotherapy platform and an investigator with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson. The platform is part of MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program, launched in 2013 to reduce cancer deaths by accelerating development of therapies, prevention efforts and early detection from scientific discoveries.

This Phase I/II clinical trial treated 78 patients: five (6.4 percent) had complete responses, 14 (18 percent) had partial responses, in which tumor burden shrinks by at least 30 percent, and 22 (28.2 percent) had stable disease. Thirty (38 percent) patients had disease progression.

Treatment-related side effects included mainly low-grade fatigue, itching, elevated lipase, rash, nausea, joint pain and anemia. Grade 3 or 4 side effects occurred in 20.5 percent of patients. Two patients discontinued therapy because of adverse events related to the drug.

At a median follow up of 213 days, 33.3 percent remained on treatment, and 45.6 percent of patients survived for at least one year, which Sharma noted "is better than anything we've seen in the past."

Overall survival will be analyzed in conjunction with the Phase II portion of this clinical trial, which provides nivolumab or a combination of nivolumab plus the immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab. The trial allows patients to cross over to the combination if nivolumab alone fails.

Initial results from the Phase II portion of the trial will be presented later this year.

Both nivolumab, known as Opdivo, and ipilimumab, known as Yervoy, were developed and marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which funded the clinical trial.

Ipilimumab targets the CTLA-4 checkpoint on T cells and was the first immune checkpoint inhibitor. It was based on the research of Jim Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology, executive director of the immunotherapy platform and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson.

Ipilimumab was the first drug ever shown to extend the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. Long-term follow up shows 22 percent of those treated with the drug survive 10 years or longer.

Nivolumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced melanoma, lung cancer, kidney cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma. The five-year survival rate for those with metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab is 34 percent. The two-year survival rate of patients treated with both drugs in combination is 69 percent.

Until May 18, there were no drugs approved for second-line treatment of metastatic bladder cancer. The U.S. FDA approved atezolizumab, which blocks PD-L1, for these patients.

###

Co-authors with Sharma, who presented the data at ASCO, are Petri Bono, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; Joseph Kim, Yale Cancer Center; Pavlina Spiliopoulou, Beatson, West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow; Emiliano Calvo, Centro Integral Oncologico Clara Campal, Madrid,Spain; Rathi Pillai, Emory Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta; Patrick Ott, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Filippo DeBraud, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy; Michael Morse, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.; Dung Le, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore; Dirk Jaeger, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany; Emily Chan, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Chris Harbison, Chen-Sheng Lin, Marina Tschaika, Alex Azrilevich, of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Jonathan Rosenberg of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
ABSTRACT: 3503

In the first-ever clinical trial for metastatic patients previously treated for the disease, research led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that the immune checkpoint blockade nivolumab shows promise for the majority of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA).

The study also is the first to investigate the use of immunotherapy in this patient population. The prospective Phase II findings will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting by Cathy Eng, M.D., professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at MD Anderson and the study's national principal investigator.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 8,000 people will be diagnosed with anal cancer in the United States in 2016 and more than 1,000 people will die from the disease. About 20 percent of patients present with metastatic SCCA, and an additional 20 percent who had early-stage disease will later develop metastatic anal cancer, explained Eng.

"Although a rare malignancy, the incidence is on the rise and has a strong association with the HPV virus," said Eng, the study's senior author and co-leader of MD Anderson's HPV-related Cancer Moon Shot. "There are no standardized treatment options for metastatic anal cancer patients, so there's truly an unmet need in those whose disease has not responded to initial therapy."

Nivolumab unleashes an immune system attack on cancer by blocking activation of a protein called PD-1 on T cells, white blood cells that find and attack cells, viruses or bacteria that have specific targets. PD-1 acts as a brake, or checkpoint, to shut down activated T cells. PD-1 is turned on by a ligand called PD-L1, which often is found on cancer cells and other types of cells.

Conducted through the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Experimental Therapeutic Clinical Trial Network and Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, 39 patients enrolled in the trial, NCI9673, with 37 patients receiving treatment. MD Anderson enrolled 18 patients. All were previously treated; however, prior immunotherapy treatment was not allowed. PD-L1 expression was not required for participation. The study's primary endpoint was response rate, with overall and progression-free survival rates (OS and PFS, respectively) and toxicity as secondary endpoints.

The study closed within five months of opening because of the rapid accrual rate - underscoring the unmet need in this patient population.

Also of note, this is the first completed anti-PD1 study to include HIV-positive patients as well as patients with Hepatitis B or C. Two HIV-positive patients were enrolled in the trial.

"Immunosuppression is a known risk factor for this disease. Since HIV predisposes patients to compromised immune systems, it is a well-defined risk factor for anal cancer," said Van Morris, M.D., assistant professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at MD Anderson. "It was important to include a patient population that was representative of this disease."

All patients received nivolumab every two weeks. Of the 37 patients evaluable for response based on intent to treat, two patients (5 percent) had a complete response, seven (19 percent) had a partial response, and 17 (46 percent) had stable disease - a control rate of 70 percent. The median PFS was 3.9 months. Six patients remain on study. Common adverse events include: fatigue, anemia and rash; there was one incident of pneumonitis.

"Our findings represent an exciting step forward for patients with no standard of care. We now plan to expand the study further looking at combined immunotherapy agents," said Eng.

The researchers will also report on additional biomarkers samples later in June at the ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancers. Preliminary correlative research was presented by MD Anderson researchers in April at AACR.

###

In addition to Eng and Morris, other authors on the study from MD Anderson include: Robert A. Wolff, M.D.; Padmanee Sharma, M.D. Ph.D.; Jane Rogers; Manolo Pasia, Jr.; Gail Bland; Aki Ohinata and Chimela Ohaji. Additional authors include: Kristen Ciombor, M.D. and Tanios Bekaii-Saab, M.D., both of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital; Mohamed Salem, M.D., Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University; Halla Nimeiri, M.D., Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University; Syma Iqbal, M.D., University of Southern Caliornia/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; Preet Singh, M.D., Washington University, Siteman Cancer Center; Blase Polite, M.D., The University of Chicago; Dustin Deming, M.D., University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics; Emily Chan, M.D., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center; James Wade III, M.D., Cancer Care Center of Decatur; Hope Uronis, M.D., Duke University Medical Center;

The study was supported by MD Anderson's HPV Moon Shots Program and the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation, the E.B. Anal Cancer Fund, an NIH N01 award and a philanthropic donation.
Written by ACM

*Strasbourg./CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- CoE's Director on Action against Terrorism, including via the Internet, Ivan Koedjikov, speaking to "Eurofora", confirmed that the PanEuropean Organisation intends to Publish asap. a "Hanbook" on how to Struggle against Radicalisation in Prisons, focusing on the "Implementation" of CoE's "'Guidelines" (decided by its Committee of Ministers on March 2016), which will contain, mainly "Best Practices" ideas gathered thoughout its 47 Member States, ECHR's relevant case-Law, etc.



This New Tool is destinated to be used, in their everyday practice, by All relevant Actors on Prisons : Public Administration, Guardians, Chaplains, Anti-Terrorism Officials, NGOs, etc, he pointed out. Currently Drafted by a CoE's Group of Experts, it will have, as usual, to be presented, debated and endorsed by the PanEuropean Organisation's Committee of Ministers.



Koedjikov also said that Today's input by Christian and other European Religious Officials comes Timely, and its Conclusions could be taken into account by the CoE, as a useful Contribution of one among the main Actors of Civil Society, (See Infra).



He didn't also exclude a priori the suggestion earlier made by Vatican's Permanent Representative to the CoE, Mgr Paolo Rudelli, for a "Consultation of Civil Society" to be eventualy made before that forthcminfg Publication of this New, Practical Tool, even if he appeared to Hesitate, particularly as far as it concerns the possible Financial "Cost" of such a move, in the current context of Budgets' Restrictions.



-"Spiritual Well being of People inside and outside Prisons" is important, and "without involving All Actors, it will not be possible to Prevent Radicalisation", he observed Earlier, as a Keynote Speaker at CoE's Conference, organized together with Religious Officials from all Christian Denominations and a Group of Musims, on "Radicalisation in Prisons".



- In fact, the overall "Problem of Radicalisation" is provoked both "through the Internet" and "inside Prisons". "Internet is the Biggest" factor, but "Prisons", which are comparatively "less" influential, nevertheless, have recently become "very Spectacular" as a factor of Radicalisation, (considering f.ex. also the case of "Koulibaly", the Terrorist who killed Civilian People at a Jewish Shop, in association with those who Killed "Charlie Hebdo"'s critical Journalists, back on Januray 2015 in Paris), observed the competent CoE's Anti-Terrorism Director, who is in charge of Both Internet and Ordinary Crimes.



- On the "Internet" side of that Terrorist Radicalisation Problem, "we (CoE) are currently Trying to Work Together with Providers", i.e. Web Access Companies, Ivan Koeddjikov said to "Eurofora". Inter alia, "Internet Never Forgets, Never Forgives", he added earlier, observing, f.ex. the fact that "even People who Died may still receive invitations rfom Facebook", etc., and/or that old "Photos with a Kalashnikof" can be found, etc.



But, also "Religion" is "not to be suppressed" in the Struggle against Radicalisation, because, on the Contrary, it could Help promote certain "Common Values", since also "CoE is all about Values" from its very inception, as its Statute stresses from the outset, particularly if we "Find a way to speak about them, withourt seeming offensive to other religions", he added. This could play a notable role also regarding the "Distinction between Push and Pull Factors of Radicalisation : "Push" factors being f.ex. "perceptions of InJustice, Loss of Rights" and/or "of Opportunities in Society", etc., while "Pull Factors can be very Strong in Prisons", particularly if fragile Detainees "fall in the Hands of Radicalized Groups". Last, but not least, the "Human Factor", linked to the Idea of "Dynamic Security", and concerning also "Interactions with Prisoners", can be very important. It requires, howecer, for all Prisons' "Staff to be Trained", f.ex. in order "to Assess and Evaluate" eventual Risks of Radicalisation, "to Know How to React", etc. Therefore, the planned CoE's Handbook, by including CoE's "Guidelines" against Radicalisation, "adopted on March 2016", various "Best Practices", and other relevant Ideas, can become very Useful, he concluded.



Meanwhle, in consultation with the CoE, the European Bishops' and the Chaplains' Organisations, who prepared this Week's 3-Days long Conference in Strasbourg, are due to Wrirte and Publish a special "Statement" with the main Conclusions of the Debates with Participants by various Christian Confessions, a Group of Muslims, Anti-Terrorism and CoE's Officials, etc. But, apparently, the particularly Sensitive aspects of the Multifacet Struggle against Radicalisation in Prisons, unexpectedly Delayed the Official Publication of that Statement, which was Due for Today, but will probably be Finalized on the sidelines of certain Meetings closed to the Press, which Continue and will conclude in Strasbourg Tomorrow.



(Comp. also Other "Eurofora"s NewsReports on that issue, f.ex. at : .... ).





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("DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora"s Subscribers/Donors, earlier. A more accurate, full Final Version might be Published asap).

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Written by ACM

*Strasbourg./CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Experienced, Long-Time Member of CoE's Anti-Torture Watchdog "CPT", (i.e. the PanEuropean Committee to Prevent Torture"), Anton Van Kalmthout, who has worked in that field for "11 Years" in Strasbourg, a University Professor of Penal Law in the Netherlands, the current EU Presidency holders, speaking to "Eurofora", explained what he meant when he denounced a "New Issue" in the Struggle against Inhuman/Degrading Treatments, in his Earlier intervention as a Keynote Speaker at CoE's Conference, co-organized with Religious Officials from Catholic and other Christian Denominations, as well as a Group of Muslims, on "Radicalisation in Prisons" :



- "A New Issue for CPT", (which has been established by the CoE for "more than 27 Years" now, i.e. after an Anti-Torture Treaty signed back on 1987), concerns "People in Social Care Homes", he had pointed out.



- Because, "Many such Social Care Homes, are, in fact, Worse than Prisons !", Professor Kalmthout warned.



- Currently, the CPT is Preparing a set of "Guidelines", because there aren't yet any, in these cases, in order to "Safeguard" those People's Human Rights against eventual Torture or Inhuman/Degrading Treatments, he told "Eurofora".



- "This kind of things" can concern f.ex. People suspected to suffer, more or less, from "Dementia", as also various other things : - "There are Different Situations", about "Old or Young People" : F. ex., " It can be for Pysical reasons : they can be Disabled People". Also, "in the Past" some places concerned very "Poor People, and this still exists", particularly "for Children", etc. .



+ Sometimes, as long as it is Not possible to Live at Home, and there is No Special Institution (for some People), they put them even in Prisons".. . But "it might be also People kept in Hospitals, for a too Long Time, because they don't have where to go" afterwards, he added. In several cases, it may also be Parents who wish to "Get Rid" of some Elder People, that push them to be kept in some kind of Social Care, he denounced.



->>> - So, "there are Many Institutions, where you have to keep People who canNot Live Alone at Home", he clearly stressed from the outset.



- In Most of them, "in Theory, these People are Free, they are Not Detained by force. But, in fact, there are Situations in which People are "De Facto" detained". Professor Kalmthout denounced.



= > And, then, it's Our (CPT's) Mandate" to check the Conditions in which they are kept, in order to prevent any eventual inhuman/degrading treatments, (as in formal Prisons and Detention Centers), he concluded.



CoE's Parliamentary Assembly, chaired by its New President, Pedro Agramunto, former Chairman of its Biggest Group of MEPs : that of ChristianDemocrats/EPP, adopted recently in Strasbourg a Resolution against "Involuntary Measures in Psychiatry", unless there is unquestionable Proof that, otherwise, they are a real Danger for Society and/or for themselves. Both for Human Rights' reasons, given various Risks of Abuses, and because Nobody can't forget that, f.ex., in the former USSR and elsewhere, some Authoritarian Regimes exploited that in order to "Silence Dissidents' Voice", as CoE's Rapporteur, Ms Magradze from Georgia stressed



---------------------------------------------



- CPT has been often Criticised, because "we are Only a "Soft Law"" instrument of the CoE, since we "can't take Sanctions", the Experienced CPT's Long-time Member acknowledged earlier.



- Thus, CPT's efficiency is "still Hindered" mainly by "the Problem of Impunity" of perpetrators, "as long as States doN't take Action". In fact, "Article 3" of the PanEuropean Convention on Humuan Rights, which Prohibits Torture and Inhuman/Degrading Treatments in all cases, "is Too Often Neglected by those who should take Action", he criticized.



- "But, even "Soft"", CPT's Rules "it is Law, and it has to be taken into account", he stressed.



=> F.ex., "Often, Lawyers refer to Article 3" and CPT's Findings, in their applications to National Courts and even at the ECHR.



+ Moreover, "we (CPT) have a Weapon", which consists into "Making a Public Statement", whenever a CoE's Member State repeatedly doesN't respect its Obligations in this regard. "It's a Real and Important Weapon, which has Proved to be quite Effective", in practice.



++ Last, but no least, "Impunity" of perpetrators "will revive Problems" : F.ex., "a Prisoner will become Ready to be Radicalised" and Manipulated by Extremists. Because, in general, "if you Want to Stimulate Radicalisation" in Prisons, then, "Act Inhuman !", Professor Kalmthout Warned in Conclusion.



However, by a Coincidence, this Same Day, a Father was Protesting, at the entrance of the ECHR, against the Placement of his Children to Social Care, in view of an Adoption by Other People : - "Our Children are Crying". They "Need their Parents"; "Give back our Children : They are Not for Adoption read Placards posted in front of EuroJudges' Building in Strasbourg, reminding anOther recentlty "Hot" Issue of "People kept at Social Care", among Various, often Dramatic cases, evoked by CPT's experienced Member...

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("DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora"s Subscribers/Donors, earlier. A more accurate, full Final Version might be Published asap).

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The recent paradox of freezing EU Talks with front-runner Croatia, while continuing controversial EU - Turkey talks, despite Zagreb's acceptance of Refugees' Human Rights to return, that Ankara refuses fex. in Cyprus, while both have "Good Neighborhood" problems vis a vis Slovenia, or Greece, Cyprus and Armenia respectively, can it be justified by the non-fullfilment of EU criteria, as Slovenia says, or, is it "Double Standards" ?

The question became unavoidable after statements by Presidents of Slovenia and Croatia, Tuerk and Mesic, respectively, to "EuroFora", exclusively or among Strasbourg's journalists this week at the CoE, on the sidelines of its 2009 Summer University for Political Schools, which topically brought them together as successive key-note speakers.



Comming only a few Months before EU checks Turkey's compliance to its commitments on Cyprus, etc., scheduled for December 2009, this obviously has a special importance for the coherence of EU Enlargement's principles.



Suspension of EU Negotiations is a normal consequence in case of a Candidate Country's failure to fullfil EU Conditions, such as "Good Neighborhood relations", stressed at first Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk, current CoE's chair.



But, regarding EU's Criteria, there shouldn't be any "Double Standards", reacted Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, commenting the fact that Turkey's controversial EU negotiations continue, while they were recently "freezed" in the case of Croatia, an "unquestionably European Country", which oficially accepts to respect Refugees Human Rights, contrary to Ankara's notorious refusals or reluctance.

- "EU itself has set as a Criterium (for EU Enlargement) the "Good Neighborhood relations", and their absence justifies the "Suspension" EU Negotiations, (f.ex. with Croatia), because of a Border dispute affecting the territorial integrity of an EU Member Country, stressed Slovenian President, Danilo Tuerk, CoE's Chairman in office (May - November 2009), speaking to Journalists in Strasbourg including "EuroFora".

Questioned earlier what "consequences on EU's Enlargement policy" can have the "Ban on EU Membership Negotiations", imposed to Croatia, Tuerk replied that "this question comes down to the fulfillement of (EU) Criteria for membership. One has to look at each Candidate Country ., from the point of view whether it fullfils the Criteria that EU has set. One of them are Good Neighborhood Relations, I'd like to remind. And also, there are other factors, such as Justice, Home affairs, Rule of Law, and others".



- "Now, ..Candidate Countries are at Different Levels of fulfillement of Criteria", he observed.



- " Croatia is obviously the closest to that. I'm rather optimistic : I think that in the coming Months we'll have an opportunity to look at all these issues constructively and hopefully we'll be able to make progress". "My main concern, at this point, is the situation in Bosnia : We haven't seen enough progres domesticaly. We haven't seen enough during ..political parties within their country.We need a New Energy, a new energetic move towards the Candidature for EU membership. "Other (Western Balkan) Countries (Serbia, Montenegro, FYROM, Albania) have been making soaring Progress, and I think that they should be ready, in a few Years, for the Candidate status".



- "As far as the Western Balkans are concerned, .. nobody should be left outside" the EU, Slovenian's President concluded, ommitting to mention Turkey's controversial EU bid.



- "This process may be seen as Slow, but.. Slovenia has also has also been exposed to various "Booms of Slowness" in our accession period. But now we can say that the process was relatively quick, because changes which occur after becoming EU member, are quite large, and they require proper Preparations before the (EU) membership becomes a new factor, an impacting line for a new (EU) member country".

----------------------------

EU "Solidarity" ?

------------------------------

Slovenian statements made some participants from certain 3rd Countries as FYROM, etc. claim that "the Principle of EU Solidarity" would "produce a.. rising European Union Nationalism (sic !), against Non-EU Countries", as they said, asking unhappy foreign countries to form a "bloc" to exert pressure on the EU...

But Croatian President Stjepan Mesic dismissed that, supporting "EU Integration", "after the Economy also in Political" issues, as "the achievement" of our times. In EU there is "diversity, but it's United", he stressed, "EU has to be United so that it can become a central factor of Peace" also at the surrounding areas, he replied.

Speaking later exclusively to "EuroFora", the experienced twice President of Croatia, former President of the International "Non-Aligned" movement, denounced "Double Standards" in the way EU treats recently Croatia compared to Turkey :

- "I think that there shouldn't be Double Standards", stressed the Croatian President, in reply to a Question comparing the freeze of EU - Croatia talks, with the continuation of EU - Turkey talks, despite the fact that Croatia is an "unquestionably European country", while Turkey's EU bid is notoriously controversial.



Mesic was reacting to the observation that, even if he confirmed his "respect of Refugees' Human Rights to return, etc. (See infra), nevertheless, EU talks are suspended with Croatia.. While for oher, controversial candidates, who refuse to respect Refugees' Rights to return, etc., as fex. Turkey does in occupied Cyprus and elsewhere, EU negotiations continue".



- "I believe that Croatia's accession will confirm that all European Countries who fulfill all of the Conditions and achieve European Standards, have to join the EU. There shouldn't be any Double Standards", went on to add in reply President Mesic.



In this relation, Croatia's President found "of paramount importance", CoE's "mechanisms enforcing ECHR's judgements"



- "On Refugees and Displaced persons, the process will be completed only after the last person demanding to return will be allowed to do so !", President Mesic Croatia stressed earlier, setting a general standard of obvious importance also for otherr candidates, as f.ex. Turkey, often accused to exclude or heavily restrict Greek Cypriot Displaced persons' return to their Family Homes and ancestral land, provoke difficulties to Turkish-Kurd IDPs return to their home regions at the South-East, etc.



Some "2.000 People are still reported Missing" in former Yugoslavia, for some Years, (as in Cyprus, modern Europe's oldest case, for 3 Decades. Nagorno-Karabach, Tcecnya in Russia, etc, more recently), and Investigations "will only be completed after establishing the fate of the last one of them", he added.



Speaking earlier on "War Crimes", President Mesic stressed that "Leaders are responsible for (the) Wars (of the Past), not the People", and called against Impunity : "Individuals have to be held Responsible for Crimes. International Penal Tribunals have to persecute those individuals", perpetrators of War Crimes, he underlined.



Such statements naturally made Mesic rather popular at ECHR, whose President, French EuroJudge, Professor Jean-Paul Costa, looked particularly smiling when he welcomed him later on Wednesday afternoon, after Slovenian President Daniko Tuerk earlier this week.





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KILLEEN  Retired state administrator Joseph Larry stared at a monument to Army Staff Sgt. Justin Michael DeCrow, one of 13 people killed in a bloody shooting at Fort Hood more than six years ago, thinking about TV news reports on yet another tragedy here.

The Army had recovered the bodies of four missing 1st Cavalry Division soldiers the day before, bringing the death toll to nine in an incident where a wall of water Thursday morning swept them out of their tactical vehicle while they were training and into a raging, rain-swollen creek.

The Army and state and local agencies conducted a fruitless search for survivors that ended Friday afternoon.

The oldest of the dead, Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, of Brooklyn, New York, had served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sole Texan among the victims, Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, was 19. A cadet who had just finished his first year at West Point died with the soldiers, most of them lower-ranking enlistees.

I was wondering how nine servicemen  how they could drown because these are the best of the best, said Larry, 64, of Clinton, Mississippi. They can swim, they have survival skills. What happened? I dont know.

More Information Identities of the soldiers who died Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, of Twentynine Palms, California Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, of Milton, Florida Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, of Brooklyn, New York Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, of San Angelo Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, of Palmetto, Florida Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, of Dunn, North Carolina Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, 21, of Jersey City, New Jersey Spc. Yingming Sun, 25, of Monterey Park, California West Point Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, of Valparaiso, Indiana See More Collapse

The weekend began with Killeen reeling from yet another stunning loss of life on Fort Hood, a post that is home to around 43,000 soldiers. The nine GIs died after their tactical vehicle was knocked over by floodwaters in a convoy exercise, marking the worst death toll on the post since Maj. Nidal Hasan gunned down 13 people and wounded 31 others Nov. 5, 2009.

The day is called 5-11 in Killeen, a city that has been buffeted by a seemingly endless string of brutal tragedies that have drawn national media attention. The worst incident is the 1991 attack in which gunman George Hennard killed 23 people in a Lubys cafeteria and wounded 27 others before taking his own life, but there have been others.

Fort Hood has been rocked by a pair of mass shootings. The first was Hasans jihad-inspired rampage at a deployment center. It was followed by a 2014 attack by a troubled specialist, Ivan Lopez. The attacks left 64 dead and wounded.

In addition, a young infantryman from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was given a life sentence for plotting to blow up a restaurant here and kill the patrons as they fled. On an Islamic holy war of his own, Naser Abdo had hoped to target fellow soldiers.

Just before the past Thanksgiving, four crewmen were killed in the crash of their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on the northeastern part of the 214,868-acre post. Then came last weeks drownings, which occurred amid torrential rains that have caused flooding in San Antonio and the Hill Country.

The morning after the incident at a low water crossing on the creek, a familiar scene unfolded in front of the posts main gate. There, television networks and local TV stations trained their cameras on yet another commander giving a news conference in front of a large sign reading, Welcome to III Corps and Fort Hood The Great Place. Maj. Gen. John Uberti, the posts deputy commander, tersely read from a brief prepared statement and left without taking questions.

Reporters did their stand-ups, but had few answers.

There are a lot of good things, a philosophical Killeen Mayor Jose Segarra said, taking stock of the spotlight falling on his town once more in the wake of tragedy. But we understand that a lot of the good things are not going to make national headlines. Thats the unfortunate part, is what gets the attention.

The drownings stirred powerful emotions for some who lost loved ones on 5-11. Roughly an hour east in Cameron, Joleen Cahill took a call from a friend in Wisconsin, Jeri Krueger, asking if those in the area were safe from the flooding and if she knew any of the victims families.

She was concerned about what happened there, said Cahill, 66.

Krueger lost her daughter, Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, as the heavily armed Hasan, a psychiatrist, squeezed off rounds from a handgun in the Soldier Readiness Processing Center.

Cahills husband, retired Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael G. Cahill, a 62-year-old physicians assistant, was gunned down as he charged Hasan with a chair high over his head.

The drownings opened old wounds that are never far from mind or heart, she said, adding, Its a trigger for a lot of us because we know that those families are going to go through what we went though.

Far away in North Carolina, retired Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford was thinking that the morale of soldiers on the post, home to the 1st Cav and a major player in the war on terrorism, cant be good.

Its not just killing somebody, its always something major thats happening that makes the post look like thats not the place to be, said Lunsford, who was shot seven times in the head and torso by Hasan.

I have found our citizens to be very resilient, said former Killeen Mayor Fred Latham, who served from 1998 to 2000. He added that many live on the threshold of the possibility of losing a spouse in the war effort.

The post had lost 576 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by 2014, and more  around 1,000 from Fort Hoods 3rd Cavalry Regiment, are headed to the war zone this summer.

Its sadness. Its terrible, said Segarra, a Gulf War veteran who was at Fort Hood when the Lubys massacre occurred. He talks of the town he leads as a place thats deeply tied to the Army and supportive of it.

At the beginning there, they said that there were still some missing and youre hoping for the best, that theyre OK and they find them, and its a tragedy when they find that they didnt make it, he said of last weeks drownings.

Standing at the 5-11 memorial, Larry eyed an inscription on a bronzed laptop computer screen that stood atop a granite pedestal dedicated to DeCrow, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. He died at 32.

This really struck me, Larry said, and began to read it aloud.

Those we love dont go away,

They walk beside us everyday,

Unseen, unheard,

Always near, still loved, still missed,

and very dear.
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In March, Araceli Garcia, 17, was among numerous parents, educators and community leaders who met at Palo Alto College to voice concerns about the future of the South Side community.

It was the first town hall meeting of South San Kids First, a group founded by District 4 Councilman Rey Saldana and residents concerned about issues in the South San Antonio Independent School District

Saldana called Garcia to speak before more than 150 attendees as a student who excelled in her school, despite difficulties in the district. Araceli, a student at South San High School, stood before the crowd as her civic duty. She spoke about how she achieved her goals in the face of obstacles she said students shouldnt have to face in any school district.

Hours of preparation for the address settled any nerves the young speaker might have had. Since she was a freshman, she had trained with the National Hispanic Institute, a leadership organization, on how to present and defend her view. Her concern for her classmates and future generations is rooted in lessons from teachers and sacrifices her mother made over the years.

She was the one that made sure I had everything I needed, Araceli said of her Mom. I was never without a school supply missing in my backpack since I was in Pre-K. Shes been a constant beam of support. She put me and my brother before any of her needs.

Araceli is often touted as a role model in the district, excelling in advanced placement classes and extracurricular activities. Shes been accepted to Stanford University and is the recipient of several scholarships, including Baumberger and Gates Millennium.

Friday evening, at the Freeman Coliseum, shell address her classmates as valedictorian and class president. Her message to her class is that everything they want to achieve is within their grasp.

Regardless of our economic background or last names, this stereotype that tries to define us doesnt have to, she said. I believe its such a fitting message, because of where were graduating from and the family situations a lot of us come from, I think its something we dont hear often enough. If youre willing to put in the work, the sacrifice, whatever it takes to get to your goal, it can happen.

Araceli credits her success to a long line of strong women in her family, who lived for their children.

She said the best way she can honor her mother, who went to Texas A & M in College Station for one semester, is to succeed. Her mother wasnt prepared academically or socially for college and didnt want Araceli to have the same experience.

Garcia waited tables at a River Walk restaurant at night, so she could be available for her children during their school days. They lived on the West Side, with Aracelis grandmother, Angelina Resendez, until Araceli went to middle school.

Bob Owen, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Resendez cared for her and her brother, Andres, while her mother worked. Araceli slept with her grandmother and her brother slept with her mother until middle school, when they moved into their own home built through the Habitat for Humanity program.

Deep down, I think they need to have a good place to live, Garcia said, of her children. That goes toward helping them become better people.

Garcia said her daughters selection as valedictorian of her class was a milestone for their family.

She stayed up late, wrote the papers and she made it, Garcia said. I felt if she didnt push herself, shed regret it and I didnt want her to have that regret.

Aracelis English teacher, Marie Altakali, recommended her for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Altakali said she recognized the young womans drive and spirit when she was a sophomore. On her own, for example, Araceli would tutor fellow students who needed help.

I think her joy comes from wanting to improve her community, Altakali said. I admire her, its not just about herself and reach her goals, she wants to help everyone along the way. She has a great heart and shes going to use it to help others.

vtdavis@express-news.net
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SMILEY  When a horse or donkey turns up loose in Bexar County and the owner cannot be found, theres a good chance it will end up 70 miles to the east at the Meadow Haven Horse Rescue.

I get most of their strays and seizures, and very few are claimed. Im usually dealing with horses turned out on the highway. People just abandon them instead of taking them to auction, said Darla Cherry, 51, who has run the nonprofit operation for eight years.

All told, Bexar County impounded 73 horses and 47 donkeys last year, as well as numerous other livestock. While some were reclaimed by owners and others were sold at auction, 44 horses and two donkeys were taken by the rescue firm.

Unlike some other horse rescuers in Texas that dont accept animals from the public, Meadow Haven rarely turns any away.

On 45 acres of pens and sheds of an old hog farm, about 185 unwanted horses, minis and donkeys that otherwise might have ended up going to a slaughterhouse in Mexico now enjoy improbable reprieves.

I do not believe in slaughter and I never will. Its a cheap and easy way out for people, said Cherry, who once bred and trained horses for a living. There is nothing humane about a slaughter house. The horse smells it, hears it, knows it.

Meadow Haven gets by on cash donations, donated hay and equipment, and $1,000 a month from Bexar County for accepting county strays. The rescue also adopted out about 60 horses last year.

But lately, she said, the donations and horses seem to be going in opposite directions.

Its gotten worse. No one wants donkeys and there are more horses in trouble. The backyard breeders arent slowing down, she said. Its a struggle every day. I dont buy groceries sometimes.

On a stroll through the muddy pens and corrals, Cherry introduced a few of her more noteworthy guests, beginning with Methuselah, a geriatric red dun mare with papers that give her age as 47 years, the rough equivalent of a centenarian human.

Then there was an edgy gray male donkey, recently arrived from Bexar County, and still getting used to the roaming pack of a dozen loud dogs that provide on-site security.

Hes a full jack. He was kept with some goats, but he killed two babies, so they put him in a trailer and were driving around looking for a place, she said.

Nearby, was a small chestnut stallion from San Antonios South Side, which Cherry said produces a lot of the unwanted horses and donkeys in Bexar County.

Hes never had a bridle on him. Never been ridden but he had a lot of girlfriends. This is what they are breeding  short, little things, she said with disapproval.

Pausing in front of an emaciated bay mare that has needed help standing up since arriving, Cherry said, I got her from Bexar County about four days ago. Shes only 6 years old but looks 30. Shes another cruelty case, so no one is going to claim her.

Bill Lohrke, Bexar Countys livestock deputy, works closely with Cherry and confirms her opinion that the situation is getting worse.

In 2006, when they still had slaughter houses in Texas, youd get $500 to $600 for a horse at the sale, he said. That year, he impounded only 10 horses and four donkeys in Bexar County.

Now there are many more unwanted animals and they are worth much less. The average price of the seven horses taken to auction last year was $48, he said.

With prices so low, Lohrke said, there is little incentive to take a horse to the sales, particularly if it is old, sick or thin because the sales price might not cover the transportation.

I cant prove it, but I kind of have a suspicion they just open up the gate and let the horse out for the county to deal with, he said.

Darla, bless her, will take anything. One time we had a cockfight and seized 150 roosters. I called Darla and she took them all, he said with a chuckle.

Lately, Cherry said she has been dealing with an entirely new type of rescue call.

In the last year, she said, some kill buyers have begun reselling horses bought at auctions on their Facebook pages.

The profiles of the individual horses recently listed for sale on Kaufman Kill Pen and Bowie Auction Horses, both based in Texas, each included a ship date.

It represents a sale deadline of sorts, because it shows when the animal  if left unsold  would be loaded on a truck and sent to Mexico for slaughter.

Now all these good-hearted people who used to give money to rescues are buying these horses online from the kill pens to save their lives. They call it bonding them out,  she said.

In many cases, the buyer soon realizes that they cant care for them and contact rescue operations, including Meadow Heaven.

Ive gotten calls in the middle of the night from Oklahoma and Louisiana. Can you take these horses for me? We just bought them to save them, she recalled.

On the trip around the pens, Cherry pointed out a half-dozen or so horses that were bought online from the kill pens and then given to her. One small mare already has made herself useful.

This is Lucy, a Kaufman Kill Pen survivor. Shes my public relations specialist. She goes to all my functions. She the sweetest thing. She was going to Mexico, she said.

The shelter welcomes donations of labor, hay and cash. Contact: office@rescueahorse.net
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PRESIDIO  A roadside memorial south of Balmorhea includes a metal sculpture of a horse in jaunty pose, a rusty cutout of a dozen steeds in full gallop and an old ranch saddle astride a cottonwood log.

Visitors have left more than 100 cards on the fence, each with the same poignant message: Dedicated to all the slaughter bound horses, burros and mules that have been hauled down this highway on their last ride.

Their ride down Texas 17 in crowded stock trailers includes a stop at the stockyards in Presidio, where they are weighed and inspected before continuing south into Mexico.

Their nightmare journey begins when they enter the slaughter pipeline at the auction house. My ultimate goal would be to keep them all out of those kill-buyer trailers, said Neta Rhyne, 65, of nearby Toyahvale, who erected the memorial last year.

Nearly a decade after the last three horse slaughterhouses closed in the United States  including two in Texas  the trafficking of American horses for slaughter continues and the controversy burns as fiercely as ever.

In 2014, it flared anew when a legislative loophole prompted efforts to open slaughter operations in Oklahoma, New Mexico and elsewhere. That opening since has closed, leaving foreign slaughter the only option.

Since 2007, almost a million American horses have been sent to Mexico and Canada to be killed, butchered and exported to Europe and Asia, where local palettes find the meat a delicacy. A small amount of meat is returned to the U.S. to feed zoo animals.

Last year, the U.S. exported almost 75,000 slaughter horses to Mexico, through Presidio, Eagle Pass, El Paso and New Mexico, and another 40,000 to Canada.

But in the land of Trigger, Black Beauty and My Little Pony, there is a deep aversion to killing and eating what many consider a national cultural icon.

Public opinion is on the side of the horses, said Holly Gann of the Humane Society of the United States. National polling in 2012 showed that 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter for human consumption.

Opponents, some of whom see the horse as a noble, companion animal, claim the practice of shipping them long distances, with little state or federal oversight, often involves abuse and neglect.

Others, however, say that the roughly 130,000 or more horses exported each year represent an unwanted domestic surplus, and that slaughter, even in Mexico where it can be less than humane, is better than neglect and abandonment at home.

Many of the horses acquired at auctions and shipped by kill buyers are young and in good health. And with horse rescue groups already overloaded, there is no obvious way to absorb more unwanted animals.

Repeated legislative attempts to halt the practice have failed since 2006, when the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act was first introduced.

A bill pending in Washington takes a different approach. HR 1942 would declare horse meat unsafe for human consumption because of drugs given to the animals, and also prohibit transportation of horses for human consumption.

If passed, the bill, now lingering in committee, would end horse slaughter.

But for some animal welfare groups already struggling with too many unwanted horses, the prospect of 100,000 or more new animals materializing, year after year, is alarming.

Its a terrifying question from a horse rescue persons perspective. I dont know what would happen. We would be flooded and were already flooded, said Jennifer Williams, president of Blue Bonnet Equine Humane Society in Austin.

I think over the course of 10 to 15 years, maybe fewer, it would stabilize. People would realize they dont have a low-end option to dump all the foals they breed that have no purpose, but that would take time. Horses can live 25 to 30 years, she said.

The last stop

For tens of thousands of horses a year, the dusty stockyards east of Presidio, an isolated border city south of Marfa, are the last stop on the way to slaughterhouses in Ciudad Chihuahua and Zacatecas, Mexico.

For most horses, the layover in Presidio is brief: After being inspected by Mexican veterinarians and weighed, theyre reloaded on trailers and sent south on the final leg of the ride.

On a recent morning, about 170 newly arrived horses waited in the pens at the Baeza Cattle and J&R Horse lots, nibbling hay and oat straw.

To the untrained eye, almost all appeared in good health, with only a handful showing signs of aging, neglect or minor injury.

In the subsequent inspections by veterinarians, only one horse was rejected, lot operators said.

The most common reason for rejection is wounds. The second is ticks. If they cant walk or are sick, they are rejected, said Dr. Fernando Trujillo, one of three veterinarians who inspected horses that day at the two lots.

Other horses, Trujillo said, can be turned back because of irregularities in the paperwork and their microchip information.

Overall, the quality of the horses has improved over the last five years, he noted.

Horses rejected by Mexican inspectors must stay behind in Texas, and, having suddenly lost most of their commercial value, can be returned to their owners or face a still more uncertain fate.

Five years ago, 46 carcasses were found in a creekbed behind C4 Cattle Co., which went defunct. The illegal dumping prompted an investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, although no citations were issued.

Earlier that year, an animal welfare group complained about hundreds of starving horses and cattle in the Alvarado pens.

The county sheriff concluded the animal cruelty claims were unfounded but sequestered 300 hungry horses until their owners could claim them.

This spring, as first reported in the Big Bend Sentinel, Presidio was forced to confront an extraordinary surge of large animal carcasses being brought to its municipal landfill.

In 2012, city officials say, 12.5 tons of dead horses and donkeys were disposed of there. Over the next three years, 330 tons of carcasses  representing about 1,000 dead animals  were dumped, almost all by the exporters.

City officials said the longstanding charge of $22.50 a carcass is much too low and that the life expectancy of the small landfill is being shortened by the flood of large dead animals.

Very few other places have this problem. It was really created by the USDA stopping the butchering of horses in the United States. So that forced them down here on the border, said Brad Newton, Presidios economic development director.

Each dead horse, he said, requires a large hole and 3 feet of dirt cover, while normal trash needs only 6 inches. The space taken up by each dead horse could hold $200 worth of compacted trash.

I guess the people who were trying to protect the horses actually made things worse for them. These are not Presidio horses, were just the end of the trail, he said.

After much haggling with the horse pen operators, the City Council last month approved an increase in the dumping charge to $60 for the first eight horses delivered each month, and $70 each for all beyond that.

Unwanted horses

The reason for the dramatic 10-fold increase in dead animals in Presidio remains unclear.

Ruben Brito, who runs the J&R Horse pens east of town, which in November alone dumped 75 animals, attributed the sharp rise to normal attrition during a period of very high volume.

In November, J&R shipped 110 loads of horses  representing about 3,300 animals  to Mexico. All told, J&R disposed of more than 400 dead horses and donkeys in 2015, according to city figures.

I have been accused of being a horse-killer, said Brito, who has had confrontations with animal protection people on his lot. The thing that bugs me is they accuse me of all kinds of things, but its all just a game to get people to send more money.

He said the horses end up in Presidio because theyre apparently unwanted elsewhere.

What are you going to do with these horses here? he asked.

Pointing to a large black and white paint leaning curiously over the pen fence, he noted: This mare has never been ridden. Look at its shoes. Its gentle but its not broken, and its never been bred. Who is gonna buy this horse?

Motioning to another, a stout gelding with numbers branded into its hip, he said, Thats a rodeo horse, but if you dont buck, what then? Its like everything else.

And because the nearest veterinarian is an hour and a half away, if an injured horse must be euthanized, it gets a bullet in the head, a practice some others have found shocking, he noted.

Weve got too much regulation, too many goody-goodies. You cant be a rancher without having a lawyer by your side, he complained.

The other currently active operation, Baeza Cattle, is far smaller and disposed of only about 50 animals last year, the citys figures show.

If a horse is broke down, if it cant make it into the truck, you have to put it out of its misery, said Salvador Baeza, most of whose business is importing cattle from Mexico.

Im not in the horse business. I never buy horses. I never own horses, he said, adding he merely provides a temporary way-station at a charge of $6.50 a horse.

Our suppliers send us good horses. Do you see horses that have been mistreated? Baeza asked. Anytime you put horses in a trailer they can get hurt.

Brito said that lately, the horse traffic to Mexico has slumped significantly.

We were doing 15 to 20 loads a week, but now were down to seven or eight. Its the devaluation of the peso, he said.

Exports to Europe banned

Last year, the number of horses exported to Mexico dropped by about 20,000, to just under 75,000. This year, the pace of exports is even slower, with only about 25,500 horses exported through May.

One reason for the slowdown was a move last year by the European Union to stop accepting horse meat from Mexico. It acted over fears of drug contamination and claims by activists of cruelty and neglect.

The decision came after a welfare group called Animals Angels, which regularly does on-the-scene investigations of the trade, from the auction to the slaughterhouse in Mexico, shared its findings with the Europeans.

Its reports, which sometimes include graphic photos of badly injured, starving or abused animals, include accounts of visits made to the border stock pens.

The Presidio slaughter horse export pens in Texas have a long, sordid history of violating environmental laws, illegal carcass dumping and animal cruelty, Animals Angels wrote in one recent assessment.

In late 2014, Animals Angels submitted a thick report to the European Union detailing abuses and possible contamination by pharmaceuticals of horse meat processed in Mexico.

We flew to Brussels and I met with the European Commission myself, said Sonja Meadows, founder of the Maryland-based group.

We showed a video of our findings for the past seven years. We gave them a 100-page report highlighting the transport issue and the food-safety issue, she said. I could see they were truly appalled and surprised at the amount of cruelty they saw. I think it kind of caught them by surprise.

In early 2015, the EU, which had also sent its own inspectors to Mexico and the U.S., including to the stock pens in Presidio, imposed a ban on horse meat from Mexico.

Noting that 87 percent of the Mexican horse meat came from U.S. horses, the final report cited animal welfare problems and a lack of confidence in the system designed to ensure the animals have a clean drug history.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not take responsibility for the reliability of affidavits issued for horses originating in the US, and the FVO audit team found very many affidavits which were invalid or of questionable validity, read the report.

Where Europe had regularly imported most of the horse meat produced in Mexico, that market has vanished. Now, Mexican horse meat is believed to be going elsewhere, and consumed domestically.

We have found they have shifted to the Russian market, and some to Vietnam, Meadows said.

Animal welfare issue

Despite its nearly 200 co-sponsors, and fervent support from the Humane Society, ASPCA and other animal welfare groups, HR 1942, the so-called Safeguard American Food Exports Act, appears mired in the political mud of Washington.

Nevertheless, ASPCA vice president Nancy Perry said, the bill has brought progress in the public and political realms on the underlying issue.

The administration has been overtly supportive of a ban on horse slaughter. (Hillary) Clinton has an animal welfare platform that includes a prohibition on horse slaughter. It just hasnt been part of the dialogue at that level before, she said.

And, she said, the ASPCA is convinced that millions of Americans would adopt horses if they were no longer being exported for the benefit of the horse industry.

Yes there would be disarray and chaos, but the horses would be better off. If we quit incentivizing overbreeding and discarding horses, the market would adjust to the circumstances, she added.

But some groups that oppose the bill believe it would create bigger problems.

Its strictly an animal welfare issue for us, said Ward Stutz of the American Quarter Horse Association, which, along with the Farm Bureau of America and others oppose HR 1942.

What do you do with all those horses if that act should pass? I just think the potential for abandonment and neglect is much greater, Stutz said.

Things probably were better for horses before the closures of the domestic slaughter plants effectively ended oversight by USDA inspectors of the industry, he said.

For both sides, the humane treatment of horses is paramount. Its just that some dont agree that a horse should be euthanized and processed for food, he added.

Even the American Veterinary Medical Association opposes a legislative ban on horse slaughter without adding protections for the surplus, unwanted horses.

Impasse continues

An operator of a North Texas horse auction, who has been involved in the business for 30 years and has sold thousands of horses to the kill buyers, says the current impasse will likely continue.

I think nothing is going to change about this situation. There are people who want horse plants back in the States. That is not going to happen, he said. There are people who want to stop the horses from going to Mexico and Canada. That is not going to happen.

The auctioneer, who asked that his name not be used or business be identified, said the issue has become an untouchable third rail for politicians.

Its too controversial. No one will vote for it. No one will vote against it. It doesnt matter which way they go, people are going to be upset. So, these bills will continue to lay there, he said of pending legislation.

The closing of the U.S. slaughterhouses in 2007, the economic crash of 2008, and the multiyear drought that followed all have conspired to force the price of horses to record lows, he said.

They went from about 60 cents a pound to about 20 cents a pound. Now we are running into a shortage of horses. We are lower than anytime in 15 years, he added of market bottom horses.

Mostly, he said, he just wishes the whole thorny issue, which is bad for business, would just go away.

We need this deal to quiet down as much as possible. Theres a lot of rescue people who come and buy horses, and were OK with that. Anyone is welcome. We sell to the highest bidder and we want the highest prices possible, he added.

jmaccormack@express-news.net




If the adage is true that all publicity is good publicity, then the numbers are adding up nicely for Bruce Leslie, the controversial chancellor of the Alamo Colleges who spent some quality time recently with his cellphone at Palo Alto Colleges graduation.

So far, more than 2,000 words about the incident have been posted online on four websites, along with embarrassing photos.

That sum doesnt include the more than 2,500 words registered in the comments section under just one of those stories in Inside Higher Ed, which covers higher education issues. The Chronicle of Higher Education and the Huffington Post have written about it, too.

Leslies netiquette has garnered huge reviews, few of them supportive.

To be fair, the loudest critic quoted in the stories has been Palo Alto assistant professor Tony Villanueva, a longtime critic of what he calls Leslies top-down decision-making process and management style.

Villanueva sees Leslie as dismissive of both faculty and student input on campus issues and says that while Leslie has managed to appear to listen to teachers and students, he does it only to carry on with his own agenda.

Its also important to know that Villanueva was sitting next to a fellow professor at the graduation who clocked Leslies cellphone usage at about 40 minutes.

Leo Zuniga, associate vice chancellor of communications, said Friday hes not aware of how much time the chancellor spent on his phone that night but that it makes no difference.

He has expressed that he meant no disrespect, and he wishes to apologize to those he offended, the spokesman said.

Leslie has not commented on the issue.

Like others, Villanueva said he would have understood a casual, momentary text or a fun-loving selfie from the stage. The latter actually might have endeared Leslie to students.

Critics also would have understood Leslies taking an emergency call, or having to step away to handle a crisis.

But the combination of Leslies alleged time on his cell and his posture illustrated boredom, distraction and inattentiveness, all bad coming from the highest-ranking educator on stage.

That first-generation college students represent a sizable demographic and customer base for the Alamo Colleges bothered others. Several noted on Facebook that one of the graduates walking past Leslie was wearing a red, white and blue stole, possibly indicating veteran status.

Its interesting is hear what Villanueva, who teaches psychology, read into Leslies body language. His nonverbal behavior shows a disinterest in whats happening, said Villanueva. I would even call it disrespect.

Villanueva called attention to Leslies posture in photos: slouched in his seat, legs stretched out in front of him, or sitting forward, elbows on legs and head slumped forward into his cellphone.

It didnt read Theres a crisis, Villaneuva said to those whove suggested, kindly, that Leslie might have been handling an urgent issue. We still dont know what had the chancellors attention that night.

Still, all of us can relate. Sitting in a huge venue waiting for your graduate to come to the stage can be tedious. At a recent graduation, the snack bar stayed busy serving up nachos, and I received a text from a relative sitting just a few seats away that said, Get off your phone!

Maria Antonietta Berriozabal, a former councilwoman and social justice activist, has been a longtime opponent of Leslie, too, and has called for his resignation. Student protesters have done the same.

For her, Leslies behavior at Palo Altos graduation was the last straw. She has been among those whove criticized Leslies budget priorities that favored cosmetology for cuts in lab hours, she said, or his decision to remove degrees on diplomas.

Taken together, the incident is a reflection of the chancellors mind-set that Berriozabal said shows a lack of respect for students, their families and the community.

Shes reminded of a saying her father used to counsel his children. El respeto no cuesta nada, respect costs nothing. Its the least he should do.

Diane Gottsman, a San Antonio-based etiquette expert who has appeared on the Today Show and writes for the Huffington Post and Inc.com, has advice to all of us in these situations.

Put your cellphone away. Turn it off, or at least put it on silent, she said. Be cognizant that social media can record your every move. The more negative it is, the sooner it hits Facebook.

The founder of the Protocol School of Texas, which specializes in executive leadership training, said anyone in power must set an example, especially in the face of another reality  that people make judgments of what they see and their perceptions become truth.

Anyone in Leslies position can turn it around, she added. It calls for integrity and ethics. A strong leader can stand up and say, I apologize, and know what that looks like.

It probably doesnt look like an apology through a spokesman.

Leslie could turn the incident into a powerful message about learning and growing  that hes really listening this time.

Its what we do with the experience, moving forward, that sets us apart, Gottsman said.

And in case anyones counting, the number of words about Leslies case of bad manners just went up by about 880.
I know Chicanos, and you, authors, dont know Chicanos.

Apologies to the late Lloyd Bentsen for mangling his famous rejoinder to Dan Quayle during a 1988 vice presidential debate. Their topic was John Kennedy.

Our topic: Chicanos. Specifically, a textbook proposed for Texas classrooms  Mexican American Heritage. The book comes from Momentum Instruction, which appears to be owned by Cynthia Dunbar, a Texas state school board member from 2007 to 2011. She once questioned the constitutionality of public schools.

She and her textbook authors appear to know as much about Mexican-American heritage as I do about quantum physics.

I do, however, know Chicanos  a self-description I once used more frequently. I still view the phrase as interchangeable with Mexican-American, though some still do not and some Chicanos at the time railed against this.

The textbook says Chicanos adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society.

Let us concede that back in the Chicano movements heydey  the 1960s and 70s  the rhetoric was often heated and, at times, separatist. Inequality and official obstruction to righting wrongs tend to generate anger. They just do.

Exhibit No. 1 to claims that Chicanismo is about the reconquista  reconquest  of lands long settled by Mexican and Native Americans before Anglos came visiting is El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan. It was adopted at a Chicano youth conference in 1969 in Denver. The campus-based MEChA, Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, followed.

Many folks still view MEChA as a revolutionary cell intent on reconquest. But those acquainted with the campus chapters know they mostly promote higher education and cultural awareness. But its true; El Plan does prominently mention reclaiming the land.

We can only conclude that social, economic, cultural and political independence is the only road to total liberation from oppression, El Plan says.

But most Mexican-Americans, whether or not they identified as Chicanos, had a more nuanced interpretation of independence, liberation and nationalism, another term invoked. They didnt necessarily march in lockstep with El Plan, which can, in any case, still be read as accommodating an interpretation of taking control of our own lives and communities within the context of being Americans. That meant pushing, mostly nonviolently, for equal rights in representation, voting, the workplace, education and public accommodations. And toiling in the mainstream to achieve our own dreams and helping others with theirs.

Yes, there was Reies Tijerina, who led a violent raid on a New Mexico courthouse in 1967 in a quixotic quest to reclaim lands stolen by Anglos after the Mexican-American War. But then there was the icon Cesar Chavez, whose efforts for farm workers offered the broader model of working within the system for justice and dignity. That model is what barrio nonprofits and activists used nationwide.

And that broad effort was called the Chicano movement. Not the Mexican-American movement. Not the Latino or Hispanic movement.

This is why painting Chicanos with broad brush as anarchists bent on overthrow is about as accurate as characterizing the civil rights movement as being more about gun-toters than Martin Luther King Jr., demonstrators set upon by dogs and fire hoses, court wins and on-point legislation.

If by revolutionary, the authors refer to the Chicano movements call for equality and more opportunities for upward mobility, I plead guilty on behalf of Chicanos everywhere. Many of us Chicano radicals, by the way, are military veterans and have been nonsecessionist taxpayers for years. Heck, some of us have even been Rotarians and Kiwanians.

I have this sneaking suspicion that still far too many view upsetting the status quo in the interest of fairness as just way too radical  i.e., Chicano and American  for our own good. And this revisionism is likely sour grapes from those who resisted progress, then and now.

o.ricardo.pimentel@express-news.net

Twitter: @oricardopimente
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Government and regulatory agencies should take early action to repair local authority planning processes, which have become progressively more clunky in recent years, says the National Pig Association.

Keeping livestock in new buildings dramatically reduces the need for veterinary interventions, yet pig farmers in particular are finding it increasingly difficult to get planning permission to replace worn-out buildings.

Therefore, as part of its recently introduced Pig Industry Antibiotic Stewardship Programme, the NPA is urging Government to issue binding guidance on four fronts:

 That the level of detail demanded by planners should be proportionate to the scale of the application.

 That planners should reject all attempts at interference by animal rights and vegan organisations, as such organisations are opposed to all livestock farming on principle, and their arguments are irrelevant to the planning process.

 That planners should not accept representations from third parties after a consultation period has ended, as it adds cost and uncertainty for the planning applicant.

 That strict timelines should be observed by statutory consultees such as the Environment Agency, to prevent unfeasible delays in the planning process.

New livestock housing breaks chain of infections

"The recent O'Neill report on antimicrobial resistance stressed one of the most fundamental ways to reduce use of antibiotics is to break the chain of transmission of infections and that's exactly what new pig housing does," said NPA's Dr Georgina Crayford, who leads the NPA Pig Industry Antibiotic Stewardship Programme.

"Many pig farmers are prepared to invest in new housing, if only they can get planning approval in the face of intimidatory campaigns by animal rights groups, and dithering by statutory consultees.

"O'Neill is right to warn that animals living in non-hygienic conditions can act as a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance and can accelerate its spread, and he is right to cite the importance of reorganising the planning of production sites to help reduce disease.

"The pig industry is prepared to play its part, but we are going to find it difficult to significantly improve the health of the national pig herd in a reasonable time-scale unless Government helps us overcome these growing planning obstacles."

One of the problems facing pig farmers wanting to build new or replacement pig units is the growing disconnect between consumers and food producers.

"For instance we've seen animal rights campaigners deliberately scaring local residents by telling them housing for 1,500 growing pigs will be a so-called mega-farm," said NPA policy services officer Lizzie Wilson.

"In fact a building for 1,500 pigs a year would be no more than a part-time venture, incapable of supporting a full-time employee.

"However, such a building, or two such buildings, can make a useful addition to a family farm which might otherwise be unviable in today's highly competitive food production environment."

Pig Industry Antibiotic Stewardship Programme six key strands:

 Capture and collate antibiotic use data recorded on pig farms.

 Benchmark each farm's antibiotic use against other farms of a similar type.

 Extend education in effective disease control strategies.

 Reduce antibiotic use, consistent with responsible human and food-animal medicine.

 Promote veterinary prescribing principles to strictly limit the use of antibiotics of critical importance to human health.

 Appoint Stewardship Commissars who will continually review industry's use of antimicrobials and champion initiatives.
"Strong access and pricing regime provisions have also been made, including a number of protections designed to ensure continued fair access to relevant port facilities and services and to mitigate the risk of potential abuse of market power and unfair pricing."
What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you

John Zimmerman said he was active with the Oath Keepers from September to November 2020, then left after a falling out with founder Stewart Rhodes.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are locked in a custody war over their dogs Pistol and Boo.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

The 52-year-old actor and his 30-year-old wife, who filed for divorce last month amid claims of domestic abuse, and while Amber wants Pistol, given to her by ex-girlfriend Tasya van Ree, Johnny is battling to keep both.

A source told MirrorOnline: "Johnny adores both dogs.

"He wants them to be happy and finds it unbelievable she is suggesting dividing them. Money means nothing when it comes to those animals.

"They're effectively treated as their kids. For Johnny, this is war. He'll stop at nothing to have Pistol and Boo with him."

Amber landed in hot water last year after she snuck the dogs into Australia.

She pleaded guilty to supplying false documents and the couple made a cringe-worthy confession video to say sorry earlier this year.

The pair attended Southport Magistrate's Court in Queensland, where they were last pictured in public together, to hear the two charges of illegal importation had been dropped.

The blonde actress' lawyer Jeremy Kirk told the court she was under the impression Johnny's staff had dealt with the two dogs' travel forms when they arrived. Kirk said the documents had "slipped through the cracks".

Meanwhile, this will not be Johnny's first divorce. He married make-up artist Lori Anne Allison in 1983 but they went their separate ways two years later.

He also split from French actress partner Vanessa Paradis - who he has daughter Lily-Rose, 16, and 13-year-old son Jack with - in 2012 after 14 years together.

Amber was in a three-year relationship with girlfriend Tasya until 2011.
Muhammad Ali's family are "coping" following his death.

Muhammad Ali and wife Lonnie

The legendary boxer tragically passed away on Friday (03.06.16) from complications following his long battle with Parkinson's disease and though his loved ones are devastated, they are "moving forward" and pressing on with their plans for his funeral.

Family friend and actress Holly Robinson Peete said Ali's widow, Lonnie, "seems to be doing fine", while she has also been in contact with her friend, the boxer's daughter Laila.

Holly told People magazine: "Everybody is just in power mode.

"They're just moving forward and they want to send him off in the best way possible.

"You have so much to do, and he's a superstar. He's a global icon, so it's a big deal."

The '21 Jump Street' actress spoke of how Ali's battle with Parkinson's disease gave her own father, late actor Matt Robinson, "hope" when he was also diagnosed with the condition.

She said: "When my dad got Parkinson's disease around the same time as the Champ did, he was dark and destitute and sad and depressed. And when Muhammad Ali lit that torch in Atlanta for the [1996] Olympics, it gave him new life and it gave him so much hope."

And Holly will always be grateful to the sportsman for attending one of her HollyRod Foundation's events as he "put [us] on the map".

She added: "We started a charity to help families impacted by Parkinson's and we called him thinking he'll never come. And he came."

Ali's public funeral will be live streamed from the KFC Yum! Centre in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday (10.06.16) and Holly and her husband Rodney will be in attendance to mourn his "huge loss".

She added: "This man has just left such an indelible imprint on every level of life. As a young man. As a boxer. As a humanitarian."
It's our final theory rounding out our entire week of Game of Thrones theory, and this time we're going to be looking at the Lannister family. In particular, we'll take a deeper look into Jaime Lannister, and whether or not he could one day be the man to kill his sister, Cersei.

Credit: HBO

Where did this theory come from?

Back in her childhood, Cersei Lannister was given a prophecy from Maggy the frog after taunting her, which told her she would die at the hands of the 'Valonqar'. In High Valyrion, 'Valonqar' is translated to mean 'little brother'.

Despite a male pronoun being used, many of the people theorised to be in the frame of the Valonqar by fans are female. This is because Valonqar is actually a gender-neutral term, despite High Valyrian using the male gender. This is because High Valyrian has ALWAYS used the male gender when gender is actually unknown. It's also possible that Maggy wasn't fluid enough in High Valyrian to differentiate between the genders.

All that being said, our theory today does look at a male as the Valonqar. Cersei has always thought of it as being her younger brother Tyrion Lannister, but we in fact think it could be Jaime. Though he is her twin brother, Jaime was the second twin to be born from their mother, and so he is also a younger sibling to Cersei.

Credit: HBO

The prophecy given to Cersei reads: "Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

Now, some fans say this actually rules Jaime out. He does of course now only have one working hand, and one that was crafted for him. However, the fake hand was made in such a way so that it could hold a goblet and similar objects, so would be the perfect shape to hold Cersei down by the neck.

There's also the possibility that at some point, Jaime will become Hand of the King and wear the chain of the Hand. This chain could then be used to "choke the life" from Cersei.

Strangling someone to death is an extremely personal and intimate method of murder. It hints that an overriding emotion has led to the strangulation rather than a murder planned out months in advance. There could a betrayal that leads to this moment, and who else but a member of the Lannister family could feel betrayed by Cersei at this point? Everybody else already has her number...

Credit: HBO

How plausible is it?

Again this is another possible theory, but Jaime has done so much for his sister and has shown he loves her more than anything else in the world. Could he end her life? Possibly. There have been moments when Jaime has acted for the greater good rather than just for the good of his family. But, again, this is his beloved Cersei we're talking about. The mother of his children. The only way we see this happening is if Cersei refuses to allow peace to prosper in the land despite it being the only logical next step for the family to escape completely being wiped out. What do you think?

Game of Thrones continues Sundays in the US on HBO and Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic.

Theory #1 - 'R+L=J'

Theory #2 - Tyrion Targaryen

Theory #3 - Bran Stark the Three Eyed Raven Builder

Theory #4 - Bran Stark is the Night's King

Theory #5 - The Grand Northern Conspiracy

Theory #6 - The Ice Dragon

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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With the array of wedding favours out there to choose from, we talk to Joanne Hunter, partner at Grasmere Gingerbread  Shop on why you should choose some ginger loveliness for your guests on your wedding day!

Weddings on Female First

Why has Grasmere Gingerbread been so popular in the Lake District since its debut?

When Victorian creator cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread in 1854 no-one had tasted anything like it before! Crumbly, chewy, spicy-sweet - a dynamic cross between a biscuit and a cake - it captured the imaginations and taste buds of not only villagers but the increasing number of visitors and tourists to the Lake District. When they returned home, taking pieces of Grasmere Gingerbread with them, its popularity quickly grew. Sarah Nelson dedicated her life to ensuring that there was always enough freshly-baked Grasmere Gingerbread available every day of the year to satisfy public demand and she sold it from a tree stump outside her simple Church Cottage home (now the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop) in Grasmere. It is still made fresh here every day to Sarah's secret recipe and its fame has spread across the world! Step inside the shop and you step back in time. Sarah Nelson would still recognise much of her former home we have always believed in retaining the integrity and authenticity of her life.

Why is ginger associated with love, passion and fertility?

Ginger's warm and spicy qualities are intoxicating on the tongue so no wonder its reputation grew as an aphrodisiac - warming the blood and inducing passion and affairs of the heart! Its mystical and healing properties were celebrated by many different cultures as long ago as 500 BC. South Pacific islanders used ginger in love potions and spells and as it spread around the world via early global trade many different societies embraced this vigorous spice! It is alluded to in Shakespeare, The Arabian Nights and numerous literary texts as a fiery ingredient that promotes amour. I love everything about ginger, including its aroma and the deep sense of well-being it promotes.

Why did you decide that Grasmere Gingerbread would be ideal for wedding favours?

It was sheer demand by brides-to-be that persuaded us to create the range which is now so popular. We have always produced Grasmere Gingerbread as traditional oblong-shaped pieces so when customers starting asking us for favours we developed heart-shaped pieces as an option presented in a variety of pouches, boxes and tins. We now visit wedding fairs up and down the country and the response from couples planning their weddings is so positive. The feedback we get from couples who served them on their big day is amazing.

Can you tell us a little bit about the origins of wedding favours?

It's a story that goes back in time! Wedding favours originated in the courts of European aristocrats when they greeted their guests with trinket boxes made of crystal and porcelain encrusted with jewels or gold and silver. These bonbonnieres contained sweet confections - symbols of wealth and position in High Society. As weddings were thought to be lucky, by giving bonbonnieres the happy couple were passing good fortune onto their guests. But sugar was a precious commodity few could afford so many bridal couples would offer their guests tokens such as love knots made from ribbon and lace. Others would create little embroidered linen bags filled with plain almonds. By the 13th Century sugar became more affordable and almonds were coated with sugar for special occasions such as weddings. Over the years, sugared almonds evolved into the coloured, hard candy shelled confections we are familiar with today. Wrapped in delicate fabrics and tied with ribbon, they soon became the "standard" wedding favour although they have fallen out of fashion in recent years.

Why in times gone by was the number five important as a quantity of edibles to give the wedding guests?

Traditionally, five 'edibles' were given to guests symbolising health, wealth, happiness, fertility & longevity. People often ask me why the number five? The main reason is that the number five is indivisible and therefore represents the strength of the new union between a married couple, that they will share everything and not be divided as they go through life.

How do Grasmere Gingerbread wedding favours combine tradition with ancient mysticism?

With exotic ginger at the heart of all Grasmere Gingerbread wedding favours - which are then presented in packaging that reflects centuries of history - we create a fusion of the ancient and traditional. We know that guests who receive our tins, pouches or boxes of favours open them very delicately and are always surprised when they bite into the Grasmere Gingerbread and experience a burst of spicy-sweet taste!

Grasmere Gingerbread Shop

Church Cottage, Grasmere, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 9SW, UNITED KINGDOM

by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Researchers at the University of Calcutta are discussing a possible collaboration with a confectioner to make available a probiotic 'Mishti Doi' that will be particularly beneficial to those suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).



Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for human health, especially one's digestive system.



Mishti Doi is sweet yoghurt and one of the most famous Bengali sweets.



Ena Ray Banerjee, associate professor in the zoology department of the university, told IANS that probiotic products hold great promise for their anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative roles in cases of IBD.



IBD is a group of intestinal disorders, primarily including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, that cause prolonged inflammation of the digestive tract.



"We have designed a combinatorial probiotic which shows anti-inflammatory properties and regenerative potential in cases of degenerated digestive tract," Banerjee said.



"Through tests on mice we have discovered it has immense potential to be administered as a nutraceutical for therapeutic purpose," she said.



IBD is more than just "a bathroom issue", she said, pointing out that it's painful, hard to cure and many patients require surgeries.



While Crohn's disease may attack any part of the digestive tract, in ulcerative colitis the large intestine (colon) becomes inflamed.



With a view to realising the health potential of probiotics in commercially available foods, the researchers at the University have been exploring a collaboration with KC Das Grandson Pvt. Ltd, a 60-year-old confectionery here that claims to have been furthering the legacy of Nobin Chandra Das, the putative inventor of 'Rosogolla'.



The company's Executive Director Dhiman Das said it planned to a launch a probiotic 'Mishti Doi' as a nutraceutical.



The confectionery already has a probiotic 'Mishti Doi' in its repertoire but this would be the first time the sweet would be introduced for IBD and ulcer patients.



"The scientists worked on the probiotic culture we had for the probiotic 'Mishti Doi' and developed a novel one. We are aiming for a research collaboration and initiate clinical trials on humans with the participation of gastro-enterologists," Das told IANS.

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Weve all experienced some form of grief and weve all dealt with it in our own way. Yet, when it comes to comforting a grieving loved one, our well-meant words sometimes come off as entirely inappropriate and insensitive.

Dr Maya Kirpalani, consulting psychologist and family therapist, Jaslok Hospital & Research Center, explains why you just shouldnt say these five things:



Youll get through it. Be strong.

You can say this at a later stage, but not right away, says Dr Kirpalani. Since the individual is in a state of shock and grief, suggesting that they buck up comes off as harsh.

People create such a hue and cry about losing mobile phones or if their favourite dress gets burned while ironing. They get upset because they feel a sense of loss, explains Dr Kirpalani. These are things that can be replaced, yet people grieve for them. So why cant we allow grief for human loss? she asks, simply.



I know exactly how you feel.

No one knows exactly how anyone feels, explains Dr Kirpalani. Each individual has a different personality and conditioning. Even if youve experienced similar loss, saying you understand what theyre going through undermines their extent of grief and shock.



Shes in a better place now.

It may be okay to say this at a later stage, if the individual being mourned was in chronic pain or had a debilitating illness. But only once the shock has settled, after a period of time.



At least he didnt die young.

The griever is still connected to the person. Age doesnt determine the quality of the relationship. Even if the person was 80 when he passed, saying this is incredibly insensitive.



You can always have another child.

Dont say this too soon, warns Dr Kirpalani. Allow the griever to get past the initial stages of grief. This holds true for whether your loved one is mourning a miscarriage or the death of a young child. After all, she carried the child in her womb.



What you can do instead is just be there for the person grieving. Be available to them and allow them to emote.
Garbage is one of the biggest issues that has been plaguing Bangalore for years. While measures like garbage segregation have been put in place to ensure that waste is disposed off responsibly, a big issue that seems to have gone largely unnoticed is the burning of garbage that is rampant in many areas across Bengaluru -and an issue that we have to take cognizance of this World Environment Day.



Moreover, many people are not aware that this act is illegal, and is silently killing us. "A lot of people don't know that garbage burning is illegal. Though plastic bags are banned, they are thrown in other forms, which can get toxic when burnt," says environmental activist Divya Narayanan. "When children's toys are burnt, they release dioxin into the environment. This is a toxic carcinogen, which can result in birth and growth defects. Every time we walk past a pile of burning garbage, we are inhaling all sorts of toxic substances, which can wreak havoc on our health," adds Divya, who is also a campaigner with Jhatkaa.org, which, as part of their campaigns related to air pollution, has started an online petition to highlight the issue and spread awareness.



"Apart from this, we are also setting up an online interactive map, on which we will map areas in the city where garbage is burnt. To help us, we are asking people to send us pictures and the location of where trash is burnt, which is then put on the map. Once we collate the information, we will present it to the BBMP so that they are aware about the wards that need the most attention. We, along with other citizen groups, will put pressure on the authorities to take action," adds Divya.



The BBMP, on its part, says that it has been doing its bit to create awareness with a three pronged effort -by educating the pourakarmikas, Shuchi Mitras and citizens. "We have also brought the issue of garbage burning to the notice of resident welfare association (RWA) members, who have gone ahead with the development of master trainers - an army of 250-300 citizens who will work with the pourakarmikas and Shuchi Mitras on the field to ensure that proper waste management practices are followed," says Subodh Yadav, special commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP.

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Theres all kinds of ways to decorate a washroom, but the main question arises, what is your style? After contemplating on what your personality seeks; you could be a minimalist or a maximalist, your bathroom needs those added droplets of details that truly complete the space. If you want a space to luxuriate and relax, a beautiful bathroom is a wonderful refuge. If you need to wake up and get going, a well thought through bathroom design can help you shake off your desire to go back to bed. Remember, nice-smelling, aromatic and comforting bathrooms will help everyone in your home to be happier, healthier, and feel more, well, more at home.





While some have bigger houses, and some dont, on average a Bathroom tends to be one of the smallest spaces in your home. But dont get bogged down by the size of a space? After all, size is just a number! There are many benefits of having a small-sized bathroom, as theyre also functional space, and a lot can be incorporated in a small space. Theres far too many ways in the design guide to amp up a small or large bathroom; with a little tweaks here and there, we are here to help you achieve the dream bathroom youve always wanted. From inexpensive decorative accents to statement ones that set a bold tone, here is the ultimate buyers guide for the stylish bathroom decorative add-ons you should buy right away!

Annie Sloan

Who said that your bathroom needs to just be a space to wash up and dry? If anything, a decor-lover would know that a bathroom is more than that! Its a space where you spend a majority of your time, either washing up or in deep thought. Like any other room in your home where you spend any amount of time worth noting, its important to know that your bathroom design should be welcoming. It has to reflect your personality and be tailored to your comfort.
The homosexuals have to keep their identity hidden for fear of being ostracized and ridiculed. But why live in agony, questions and pleads a gay reader who wrote this touching letter to us.



I am 21. I am an engineering student. And I am a gay. I am writing this article because I am angry, frustrated and feel unbearably suffocated in my closet. I realized I was gay by the time I was 14. No, I never had any 'bad experience' in my childhood that made me 'turn gay'. No uncle or elder cousin ever molested me. I am gay because I believe I was born gay. God or nature, whatever one believes in, made me what I am. Just as some people are blonde or left-handed, sexual orientation is also a feature that is decided biologically. Modern technology can determine the sexual orientation of a child even before he is born.



The WHO has removed homosexuality from its list of psychological disorders. Yet, some people would like to believe otherwise. They would say that if everyone were gay, there would be no society. This is a dishonest argument for the simple reason that everyone is not gay. They say it's against the Bible  an abomination of God. But if Christians can change their views on the issues of divorce, women's rights and slavery, why not on the issue of homosexuality as well? Then there are those in India who claim that homosexuality is against Indian culture and Hinduism. Have they never been to the Khajuraho temples embellished with homoerotic art? Do they not know that the Kamasutra is not just about straight sex? Do they not know that there is not a single scriptural missive against homosexuality in the Vedas?



I had my first boyfriend when I was 19. We met online in a gay-dating chat room and when we finally met face to face, it was love at first sight. Never before in my life had I been so happy. He too was a closeted gay, but was far too petrified to ever come out. When he refused to commit to a future with me just because his family would not accept it, and he'd ultimately have to marry a girl as all Indian men are expected to do, I broke up with him. Our relationship lasted only a few months, but it left me emotionally scarred and broken in spirit. But I also realized that it was not totally his fault.



A survey has shown that 80 per cent of the gays in India are too scared to reveal their sexuality to their families and are trapped in 'normal' (read heterosexual) marriages. A few months back, a gay couple in a West Bengal village committed suicide. My heart cries for these two souls who chose death over separation.



I am writing this because I want to warn all parents of the pain that they might be causing to their children, because of their naive assumption that they are straight. I want to appeal to the political class of India to repeal or at least tone down Section 377 that criminalizes homosexuality. I want to appeal to all readers to shed their homophobia and stop hating us for who we love. Stop committing violence against us.



I am a closeted gay and I want to come out. But that won't be possible until this highly homophobic society keeps the closet door firmly shut on the face of some 30 million gay and lesbian people of the nation. Today, I have a boyfriend whom I love with all my heart and who loves me as much. He has recently moved to another city for his job, and we miss each other a lot. But we look forward to being together very soon. Probably, that won't be possible in India without sacrificing our freedom and dignity. Probably, we'll have to leave India for a more gay-friendly country like Canada or the UK. But I love India and I do not want to leave my motherland. And that is why I fervently appeal to all those who are reading this  please stop judging people by who they love, and start judging them by whether they love.



I wrote this poem about a couple of years back, but ironically enough, even today, it remains as relevant in my life. In it, I dream about the day I can be myself, when people would love me for what I am, and not what I pretend to be.



There will be a day

I can tell the world I'm gay

When hatred and disgust shall not bar my way

To come out of the closet so stifling today.

When "normal" men realize I'm no less normal;

When archaic laws don't deem my love criminal;

When I walk hand in hand

And proudly I can stand

With my beloved beside me

And the light of freedom around me.

There will be a day

I can tell the world I'm gay...



(This letter was written before the Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality.)



(Published in Soul Curry: Inspirational Stories To Touch And Heal Your Heart, 2010)

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Patnitop

Perched on a hilltop at an altitude of 2024m, Patnitop offers the best possible view of the Shivalik Range. Run amok with the goats or go for a horse ride or better still, just lie down and relax because everything will seem fine in the world at this cute, little hill station. You can visit Gaurikund, a pilgrimage spot from where you can see the holy Kailash Parbat. Enjoy trekking at Shivgarh and paragliding, rappelling, rock climbing and camping at Sanasar, an hours drive from there. You can also visit the village of Kud that is famous for various kinds of sweets.


CIMB Groups Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd. (BCHB) upped its offer for Southern Bank Bhd. to M$6.7 billion ($1.8 billion) on Wednesday (March 15), after months of heated negotiations over Malaysias largest banking takeover.BCHB, the nations second-largest lender sweetened the deal to M$4.30 per share, up about 4% from an initial hostile offer of M$4.15.CIMB Group and Southern Bank, which is the nations second-smallest lender, jointly announced the proposed merger, saying they now have unanimous support from the boards of directors of both BCHB and Southern Bank, "as well as endorsement from substantial shareholders of Southern Bank" for the proposed acquisition by BCHB u alluding to the five-month old negotiating struggle.Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd and JPMorgan are the advisors for CIMB Group's BCHB, while Goldman Sachs is the advisor for Southern Bank.The specifics of the proposal, which needs approval from Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, is that BCHB will pay M$4.30 per Southern Bank share and M$2.56 per warrant. Southern Bank shareholders will also receive a gross dividend of 5 sen per share and have a choice of taking the payout in cash or in a combination of cash and unsecured loan stocks.In addition, Southern Bank will set aside M$50 million for loyalty and severance payments to its directors and staff. The voluntary general offer is expected to be completed in late May. Then, BCHB will merge Southern with its existing business and eventually delist the bank.According to analysts, the deal has been valued at roughly 1.92 times book value, but it rises to 2.1 if an upfront loan loss provision of M$300 million is factored into the equation. By comparison, Malaysia's Public Bank paid 2.5 times book value to buy Hong Kong's Asia Commercial Bank last month, although valuations in Hong Kong tend to be much higher.BCHB is expected to pay for much of the acquisition using its own cash, however some of it may be debt-funded. Analysts say BCHB could raise up to M$4 billion in hybrid or senior debt to help fund the offer.oThis proposed merger and acquisition is strategic and consistent with our priority agenda of transforming our consumer banking franchise,o says CIMB Group Chief Executive Nazir Razak of the deal. oIt augurs well for the future as it gives us the lead in the long anticipated next round of banking consolidation, positioning the BCHB Group even stronger in terms of diversity and scale with total assets increasing from M$121 billion to M$152 billion.oBy comparison Malayan Banking Bhd - the country's number one lender - has M$192 billion of assets. The acquisition will bolster BCHB Groups consumer banking, given that Southern Bank boasts a client list of wealthy individuals and small businesses, which will help it compete against Maybank.The sector has been attempting to consolidate ahead of next years industry liberalisation when foreign banks will be permitted to establish a greater presence locally. It shrunk from 54 banks prior to the Asian financial crisis to 10 by 2000, but since then, marriages have been hard to negotiate. This deal puts the number of banks at nine.But pair-ups are necessary for the banks to survive, as next year, in order to fulfil World Trade Organization commitments, Malaysia will permit the foreign banks operating in the country, such as Citigroup and HSBC, to set up as many as four additional branches each.Indeed, Southern Bank Chief Executive Director Tan Teong Hean, who was one of the detractors of the original offer, said at the press conference announcing the deal: "Today, we are at the centre of the largest, most public takeover in Malaysian history with ripples that will be felt in corporate Malaysia. Developments here will trigger a second wave of consolidation in the financial sector as the industry prepares for a new age of fierce global competition when Malaysia opens its doors to further market liberalisation."Tan has been offered an executive advisory role for two years at BCHB to help with the integration but he has yet to accept the offer, Nazir comments.Market rumours circulated in September that CIMB wanted to make an offer for Southern Bank. In October, it received approval from the central bank to make an offer only to find a cool reception: While a major Southern Bank shareholder group, the Selangor royal family, favoured the merger, Southern Bank's chief executive, who is also a substantial shareholder and arguably the architect of the banks recent growth, Tan, argued at the time that Southern Bank should remain independent.A formal offer was made on February 13, with CIMB willing to pay M$6.35 billion ($1.7 billion) for Southern Bank. It made two separate offers: One was a direct offer of M$4.15 to all Southern Bank shareholders. The second was to Southern Banks board of directors u proposing M$4.08 a share in cash for the operation, which valued the lender at M$6.17 billion.The next day, Southern Bank said its board had unanimously rejected the CIMB offer because it "fundamentally undervalues" the bank. It also claimed the offer didn't comply with the country's takeover and merger regulations and it rejected a call to hold a shareholders' meeting to vote for the offer.At that point, it looked like the deal was dead. But mergers are needed in the sector to survive.According to Bloomberg, BCHB shares, which have risen 7.9% this year, rose 15 sen, or 2.5%, to M$6.15 before they were halted from trading on March 13 ahead of the merger announcement. It was the stock's biggest gain since Feb. 6.On the same day, Southern shares added 4 sen, or 1%, to M$4.20 before their trading was suspended.

 Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
Mexican building materials supplier Cemex has officially kicked off the partial sale of its Philippine operations through an initial public offering on the Manila stock exchange, posing the first test of market sentiment towards new equity offerings since Rodrigo Duterte's election as president.

Premarketing of the Reg S/144A transaction started on Friday and will run through June 10, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The IPO will be closely watched as a measure of investor sentiment on the Philippines as the tough-talking Duterte prepares to take office on June 30, and on the country's industrial sector, which has attracted far less international interest than the consumer sector.

According to Cemexs filing with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, the company plans to sell new 2.34 billion shares through the IPO and retains 55% of the Philippines unit. Cemex Holdings Philippines, as the subsidiary is officially named, could raise Ps39.7 billion ($860 million) based on the maximum of Ps17 per share.

Nonetheless, sources familiar with the situation said the offer price is largely indicative and the final offer size could be around $500 million. Still, that would make it the countrys largest IPO since Robinson Retail Holdings $621 million transaction in 2013.

Market response to the IPO will be a gauge of investor confidence in the development of the Philippines' industrial sector, as most foreign investment has instead flowed into the fast-growing consumer sector. In recent years, the major equity offerings out of the Philippines included LT Group, Robinson Retail and Travellers International, all from the consumer sector.

Duterte, who has attracted headlines more for his uncomprimising rhetoric on crime than his economic thinking, has pledged to increase spending on infrastructure projects and accelerate a public-private partnership scheme initiated by outgoing president Benigno Aquino III.

The outspoken president-elect last week announced plans to build a new railway system to connect Manila to three locations in Luzon: Nueva Ecija, Sorsogon and Batangas. He has also unveiled plans to establish a railway system in the southern island of Mindanao.

To benefit from these infrastructure projects, Cemex Philippines plans to spend $300 million to expand cement production capacity by 1.5 million tons by the end of 2019. That would increase the current installed capacity of 5.7 million tons by 26%, according to its preliminary prospectus.

Debt restructuring

The spin-off of Cemexs Philippine operations is part of the groups plan to reduce its debt by $2 billion by the end of next year. According to the companys annual report, it has outstanding debt of nearly $4 billion due the end of this year, while its long-term debt amounts to $12.3 billion.

Cemex expects the debt reduction programme, which will be conducted mostly through asset sales, to help it recover the investment-grade ratings it lost after the global financial crisis of 2008.

The company is rated B+ by S&P and BB- by Fitch, representing three and four notches respectively below investment grade.

Monterrey-based Cemex announced the disposal of some of its US production facilities to Mexicos Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua for $400 million last month.

Company profile

Cemex Philippines is the countrys third largest cement producer by production capacity, with a 20% market share last year. That ranked behind Holcim Philippines and Republic Cement & Building, according to Cement Industry Report.

Yet the Philippines made up only a small portion of Cemexs global revenue last year. According to Cemexs annual report, Asian operations including the Philippines contributed just 5% of total sales.

While only a small part of the global business, Cemex Philippines reported a higher operating Ebitda margin of 20.6% last year, compared to 18.7% at the group level.

The company operates two production facilities, in Cebu and Rizal.

Cemex Philippines could potentially benefit from the increasing cement demand in the domestic market. Total cement demand is expected to reach 36.5 million tons by 2020, which represents an average annual growth of 8.4% from 24.4 million tons in 2015.

But the company is also likely to face fierce competition from a number of major local cement producers that have announced capacity expansion plans to help capture such demand.

San Miguel, the countrys fourth largest cement producer by volume, is the most aggressive market participant after announcing plans to increase capacity by 10 million tons. Holcim Philippines is also planning to increase capacity by 2.6 million tons.

In recent years, oversupply of cement in neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and China has also added pricing pressure to Philippine cement producers as cement producers there exported the excess supply.

Valuation and timetable

Cemex Philippines indicative market capitalization of $1.1 billion equates to approximately 17 times earnings last year. This represents a significant discount to the parents shares on the Mexican stock exchange, which trade at a price-to-earnings multiple of 58 times.

Industry sources say Holcim Philippines, the nations only listed cement maker, could be directly comparable to Cemex Philippines. Holcim currently trades at 12.1 P/E, but the stocks underperformance could largely be attributed to uncertainties over the merger of its Swiss parent and French cement maker Lafarge.

Under the tentative timetable, Cemex Philippines will start institutional offering in the third week of June with a June 27 target pricing date. It is set to trading on the Philippine stock exchange on July 11.

Joint bookrunners of the transaction are Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan, while BDO Capital is a domestic underwriter.
Insly, an Estonian provider of a SaaS solution for insurance brokers and agents, raised 1M in seed funding.

Angel investors from UK, USA, Estonia, Switzerland and Germany participated in that round.

The company intends to use the funds for strengthening the development team and for mapping out new potential markets for growth.

Established one and a half years ago through spin-off from an Estonian broker company by Mr Risto Rossar, CEO, Insly provides a SaaS-based solution for insurance brokers and agents to manage clients, policies, objects and payments. The platform also offers a sales workflow for both the client as well as for the salesperson.

Insly currently employs 30 people in offices in London, Tallinn, Minsk, Warsaw and Vilnius with 870k in revenues in 2015 and expectedly reaching 1.6m in 2016.
Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprise Ltd may walk away from its proposal to build one of the world's biggest coal mines in Australia, citing long delays caused by legal challenges to the project by groups concerned about the environment.

Adani is battling multiple legal challenges from green groups opposed to its $10-billion Carmichael mine, rail and port project.

The Australian on Saturday reported that the company's founder and chairman, Gautam Adani had told the newspaper the company may abandon the project because of long delays due to legal challenges.

"You can't continue just holding. I have been really disappointed that things have got too delayed," Adani told The Australian.

Australia's Queensland state government in April gave Adani permission to mine coal reserves estimated at 11 billion tonnes and to build roads, workshops, power lines and pipelines associated with the mine.

Environmentalists, however, are still fighting the approval on numerous fronts, including lobbying banks not to provide loans. They cite potential damage from port dredging, shipping and climate change stoked by coal from the mine.

Environmental groups in late April asked the Supreme Court of Queensland to review the state government's environmental approval of the mine.

With coal prices stuck near nine-year lows and demand growth uncertain as governments have committed to curb carbon emissions, analysts have said lenders will be reluctant to back Adani's mega coal project.

Adani, which aims to start building the Carmichael mine in 2017, expects to be able to go ahead eventually as most of the coal is slated to go to its own power stations in India.
Chandigarh: The situation assessment reports submitted by senior civil and police officers in Haryana to the Prakash Singh Committee that probed the role of officials during the large-scale violence during the Jat agitation for reservations in February have thoroughly exposed authorities at various levels in the administrative hierarchy.

In two districts worst-affected by violence - Rohtak and Jhajjar - the reports pointed out that the Rohtak range Inspector General, Shrikant Jadhav, was "very unstable and highly emotional" and was confined to the canal rest house. It was further mentioned that, as Rohtak and its neighbouring districts burnt, the officer "had already left Rohtak for Delhi in an Army helicopter".

The report on the situation in Rohtak was submitted by Principal Secretary AK Singh and Director General of Police (DGP) BS Sandhu to the Prakash Singh Committee. (Prakash Singh, considered a highly cerebral officer, is a former head of the paramilitary Border Security Force.)

Another report, submitted by Inspector General of Police (IGP) KK Rao, who was specially posted to the riot-hit Jhajjar district, stated: "The role of administration, especially DC Anita Yadav, IAS, was not cooperative."

"The situation deteriorated so much that the agitators were threatening to target the judicial complex and judicial magistrates. As a precaution, we had to fit LMGs overnight on their houses' rooftops. Even after this, the DC did not get out of her house to analyse the situation," Rao's report said.

"She has played a very adverse role in the whole agitation. She neither acted like a leader in the situation nor provided good support to the police or the army. She remained confined to her camp office or office during the whole agitation........ Her control was also very poor over her subordinates and many times they added confusion to the situation," the report said.

In the case of Jhajjar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Pankaj Setia, the report said: "He refused to sign the orders for the Army to take action against the agitators despite the fact that by that time several government property was put on fire by the rioters."

Rao said that there was "no coordination (among civil and police officers) because of the high-headedness of DC Anita Yadav".

On her part, Anita Yadav dismissed the comments on her action.

"This is a 100 percent wrong report. This is a baseless report and is devoid of facts. Who is Prakash Singh to comment on me? I was selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission and later by the Union Public Service Commission. This report is to save police officials. We were not heard," Anita Yadav, who appeared before the committee, told the media later.

Rao also pointed to the unwarranted action of Rohtak range IGP Shrikant Jadhav.

"The situation in Jhajjar was very tense. The SP of Jhajjar was forcefully called to Rohtak by IGP/Rohtak on 19.02.16 with 500 policemen. He returned to Jhajjar with just 60 police personnel at 2.30 am on 20.02.16 as IGP/Rohtak had kept the other 460 police personnel with him.

"The number of agitators was very high - around 3,000-4,000 - and in comparison, the police force was less. But even in that scenario, I felt Jhajjar police performed exceptionally well. The SP, Jhajjar was very courageous and a brave leader," Rao said in his report.

That the Haryana government, right from the Chief Minister's office down to the local administration, had failed to respond to the near-anarchy engulfing the affected districts was exposed in reports submitted to the committee by other senior officers.

DGP KK Sindhu pointed to "lack of inputs from higher levels", adding: "In fact, during these days no inputs were received regarding unfolding situation in the state. There should be clear cut policy to deal with such situations at the highest political and administration levels."

"There was great hesitation in using force at the district level. There was a general impression that if they used force, their action may not be defended by the state government," the probe committee pointed out, highlighting instances where a murder case was registered against IPS officer Subhash Yadav in an earlier incident following pressure from one community.

That the Manohar Lal Khattar government had not applied its mind thoroughly while rushing in senior officers to control the situation could be seen from the report of additional DGP PK Aggarwal.

"The undersigned (Aggarwal) has never been posted at Bhiwani in his entire career. A lack of adequate knowledge of the geography, demography & other vital aspects was a constraining factor," Aggarwal said in his report.

An ADGP, BK Sinha, referring to lack of directions from the top, said: "The constabulary did not know what will be their response to the agitators. This dilemma led to the ineffective and insufficient use of force on the ground and finally encouraged the agitators to create such large-scale arson at various places."

The committee said that several Haryana officers had told it "that the oral instructions from Chandigarh were to avoid the use of force".

The lack of coordination between various agencies became evident in the manner in which the army was requisitioned but its units could not immediately reach trouble-spots due to roadblocks put up by the Jat agitators.

Informal interactions of the Prakash Singh Committee with Brig Vipul Singhal and Brig Arun Yadav of the army's Western Command revealed that the army received directions to move its columns to Rohtak by road from Delhi but they "encountered insurmountable road blocks at Bahadurgarh on their way and could not proceed any further". The army personnel were then airlifted in helicopters from Hindon air base to Rohtak.

"For three days and three nights, the army conducted flag marches non-stop without sleeping at all," the army officers pointed out to the committee.

The committee also criticised the caste and community-based recruitment of constabulary in Haryana over the years, leading to the police force being divided.
Three months after their violent agitation left 30 dead, Jat leaders on Sunday renewed their quota stir in Haryana which was restricted to small meetings in 15 districts amid tight security by the BJP government which had drawn flak over its handling of the protest last time.

"It has been peaceful so far," Haryana's Additional Director General Police (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil said as nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.

Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a 'havan' as they started the second round of the agitation on a tepid note with influential khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which gave the call for the protest, pitched a tent along the Rohtak-Panipat highway just outside Jassia and also held dharnas in 15 of the state's 21 districts.

Keeping February's violent agitation in mind, the Delhi police will soon impose Section 144 (restriction on freedom of assembly) in parts of the city, NDTV reported. The restrictions will be put in place in south-west, north-west and south-east Delhi.

The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, a status of 'martyrs' for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.

The agitation this time was restricted to so called 'Jat belt' comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind.

"There are small groups of protesters mainly in the rural areas. At some places, the protesters handed over memorandums to district authorities," an official said.

Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in these districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.

In Rohtak, authorities said that the protest by Jat groups was illegal, as restrictions on people assembling had been imposed, as per a report by The Hindu.

A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, the state DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.

AIJASS Hisar president Rambhagat Malik said, "We are committed to holding dharnas in a peaceful manner."

After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi and other neighbouring states too, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category. However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.

In Hisar, members of the Jat community started an indefinite dharna at a stadium in village Mayyar away from railway tracks and national highway, police said. Addressing the protesters, Jat leaders accused the Haryana government of not being serious towards their demand for reservation.

The Jat leaders said in case the government did not respond to their demands in a positive manner, they would be left with no other option but to take to the streets.

"The dharnas have been peaceful. People have the right to put forth their views in a democratic set up but it should be within the ambit of law," state Agricultural Minister OP Dhankar said.

"We had fulfilled their demand, but it was challenged in court. The state government is doing the needful," he said.

In the wake of severe criticism for failing to check violence, the Khattar Government had set up the Prakash Singh Committee whose inquiry report had indicted 90 officials for "deliberate negligence" during the stir.

The panel, in its 451-page report, had said that "administrative paralysis" had gripped the state and the "highest functionaries in the government failed to show the kind of guidance, direction and control that is expected in a crisis of such proportions".

Ram Bhagat Malik, spokesman of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (Yashpal faction) which held protests in Hisar, said the dharna would be peaceful this time so that normal life remains unaffected.

Hisar Deputy Commissioner Nikhil Gajraj deployed 17 duty magistrates to maintain law and order in their respective areas.

"Fifty-five companies of paramilitary personnel drawn from CRPF, ITBP and BSF have been deployed in sensitive districts in the state," Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said. One company comprises nearly 100 personnel.

With inputs from PTI
Doha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met with business leaders in Qatar, his second stop on his five-nation tour.

"Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders," the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted.

Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders pic.twitter.com/DOhpXGn8ZE  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

"Qatar's Minister of Trade and Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India," the MEA said in another tweet.

Qatar's Minister of Trade & Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India pic.twitter.com/0LQ4btZOwc  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

The prime minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Modi will hold detailed talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later in the day.

He addressed Indian workers at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night.
Rapper Sofia Ashraf's previous video Kodaikanal Won't made waves across the world. Its message to make Unilever accountable for its actions resonated with many people and the video clocked over three million views. Modelled on Nicki Minaj's famous song Anaconda, the video asked Unilever to pay for mercury poisoning it caused in Kodaikanal. The company finally agreed to compensate the victims and their families.

Now, Ashraf has come up with another video. Titled Dow v/s Bhopal | Toxic Rap Battle, it aims to bring to the forefront the the 32-year old Bhopal gas tragedy and continue the fight to ensure that the victims are compensated. She has joined hands with a group of activists who have also started a petition on the White House website, urging the US Department of Justice to get involved so that DOW chemicals, which bought over Union Carbide, will compensate the victims of the tragedy for the leak.

Considered to be one of the worst industrial disasters of all time, the Bhopal gas tragedy exposed over 5,00,000 people to methyl-isocyanate, killing many and affecting even the third generation born in Bhopal.

The internet is an incredibly volatile medium, and rap is a means, and not an end, says Ashraf, adding that there is an entire generation which is growing up without even knowing about the tragedy. This is something that needs to be addressed, she explains.

The video shows Ashraf arguing both sides - the people of Bhopal as well as DOW Chemicals. The most striking visual of this video however, is the noose that is shown around Ashraf's neck while she argues for the people of Bhopal, a metaphor for being refused justice for 32 years.

After the tragedy, India had charged Union Carbide with manslaughter, but Union Carbide refused to appear at the trial. Post the takeover by DOW Chemicals, the Indian government had sent multiple notices to the United States Department of Justice, but to no avail. In the video, Ashraf asks the DoJ to pick a side, as it has itself been in a position where it has made the wrongdoers pay  such as Deepwater Horizon for its oil spill.

Speaking to Firstpost, Ashraf said that although there are a lot of petitions floating on the internet (and she is downing in a barrage of them), this petition on the White House website needs to be signed as it aims to push the US government to get DOW Chemicals to meet its obligations and answer the summons of the Bhopal court. But in order to get any response, the petition needs 1,00,000 signatures by 14 June.

As Ashraf signs off in the video - "If you sign one petition this year, let it be this one."
Will Ajit Jogi, former Congress leader and first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, rise like a phoenix with his new party on 6 June? Will he be able to create a dent in the Congress votebank in Chhattisgarh after a hibernation of 13 years?

Jogis recent announcement to float a new political party outside the Congress fold to make Chhattisgarh free of Raman Singh regime has created a strong buzz in the states politics, especially within the state unit of the Congress party.

Jogi, who has been touted as a spoiler by many of his party colleagues, has simultaneously emerged as a threat for the grand old party of India in the state.

According to political analysts, Jogi, the bureaucrat-turned-politician, who has a considerable hold over the backward classes (BCs) and other backward classes (OBCs), is likely to make inroads in the Congress votebank, if his yet-to-be formed party contests the next Assembly election in Chhattisgarh.

Senior journalist and political analyst Anal Prakash Shukla said, Ajit Jogis floating a new party will positively affect the Congress votebank. It will cause damage, as Jogi has a strong arithmetical understanding of the 90 constituencies in the state and a strong hold among a large section of sub-castes and OBCs. Hes known as a master manipulator. Moreover, with his son Amit by his side, he has built a strong team of young voters. A section of sitting Congress MLAs is in a dilemma, whether to side with Jogi or not, but some of the ex-MLAs will definitely join Jogis new outfit.

In Chhattisgarh, Jogi exercises considerable influence among the sub-castes in the districts of Bilaspur, Raigarh, Jagdalpur and some parts of Raipur, which are outside the purview of the BJP. Despite the controversy of his fake caste certificate under which Jogi declared himself as a tribal and not from OBC, he continues to be an undisputed leader. The BCs and OBCs constitute a large votebank in the state.

Chhattisgarh-based political economist Vivek Joglekar remarked, Hes the only leader for the voters belonging to sub-castes from Bilaspur-Raigarh belt. He has a strong fan following in Marwahi in Bilaspur district, where theres a sizable number of voters, who till now have been with the Congress and may now support Jogi, if he forms a new party.

However, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has refuted this viewpoint. They have reasons to do so. A large number of Congress workers have celebrated the news of Jogi forming a new party. They see Jogis exit as a good omen for the party.

Chhattisgarh PCC president Bhupesh Baghel said, Jogi forming a new party wont have any adverse impact on the Congress. In fact, party workers are seemingly happy with this news and they have celebrated it by burning firecrackers, because they were demoralized due to Jogis presence. Jogi is hand-in-glove with Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has completely got exposed after his underhand dealings during the Antagarh Assembly bypoll surfaced. He also got support from the chief minister in his fake caste certificate issue.

Baghel is optimistic about Rahul Gandhis possible elevation as Congress president.

Were waiting for Rahuljis elevation as president. Chhattisgarh Congress is well equipped to take Jogi head on, if he forms a party and contests the Assembly elections. Well put all our united efforts to win the next election. Possibly sensing Rahul Gandhis taking over as party chief, Jogi has decided to quit as his kind of activities wont be tolerated, Baghel said.

Added Shukla, The dedicated Congress workers across party rank and file are feeling relieved by Jogis possible exit. Because, according to them, it was the Jogi factor that was responsible for the Congress loss in the last three assembly elections. This development may compel Congress party in Chhattisgarh to be more organized and cohesive.

Meanwhile, Jogi is unfazed by any allegations against him or his son  whether its related to his caste issue or the Antagarh tape incident or the old case of murder of an NCP leader.

Jogi said, First of all, the allegations are baseless. Right from the high court to the Supreme Court  all have cleared me and my son of accusations and charges. Ive a strong support of 10 lakh people of Chhattisgarh, who want me to lead against Dr Raman Singh and the BJP government. The Congress party in the state is not equipped to take them head on, as the party leaders including the PCC chief in Chhattisgarh have made compromises with the BJP. Im waiting for 6 June.
Sambhal (UP): BJP workers have been booked for holding an unlawful protest in connection with the Mathura incident.

"An FIR has been registered against over 50 BJP workers on a compliant of Samajwadi Party leader in Sambhal Mahmood Akhtar for gathering unlawfully to protest at Malviya Chowk on Saturday," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kamlesh Dixit said.

During the protest, they had burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and raised anti-government slogans charging it with being responsible for the Mathura incident, Dixit said.

The FIR was registered yesterday under section IPC 143 (unlawful assembly), he said.

A probe is on in the matter, he said.
Mumbai: As many as 14 BJP corporators from Jalgaon City Municipal Corporation (JCMC) on Sunday resigned in support of senior party leader and former Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse.

Khadse hails from Jalgaon district and had won from the Muktainagar constituency in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The resignations were submitted to Jalgaon city unit president and local BJP MLA Suresh Bhole.

Confirming the move, Bhole said all the BJP corporators submitted their resignations to him expressing their displeasure at the party asking Khadse to tender his resignation from the Maharashtra cabinet.

"Party corporators expressed their support to Khadse. Since today is a Sunday and all party offices are closed, I will fax them (the resignations) to the state (Maharashtra) BJP leadership on Monday," Bhole said.

Barring Bhole, no other supporter of Khadse from Jalgaon was willing to speak to the media.

Sources said that a section of the local BJP leadership and the 14 corporators loyal to Khadse felt that "the party had done injustice on Khadse" and that "the party did not support him". Moreover, the local BJP supporters of Khadse blamed the media for forcing their leader to resign from the state cabinet.

Sources said that strict instructions have been issued to local leaders not to speak to the media out of turn, and hence no one is willing to talk on the issue.

Khadse or his closest ally BJP MLC Gurmukh Jagwani and others were not available for comment.

On Saturday, facing a string of allegations including irregularities in a land deal, Khadse had resigned from the Maharashtra cabinet.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into the allegations against Khadse, as sought by the senior leader himself.
If destinations are trendy, then Japan is currently having a moment with Indian travellers. It seems like its the destination that everyone is flocking to - from chefs to that family in your building that you just met on their way back from two weeks abroad.

And theres a lot that the country has going for it - it manages to be both on the cutting edge of modernity whilst still fiercely holding on to its traditions. It has a wealth of wonders - natural, man-made and anything else that may hold your fancy; it has got history and culture (did you know it's currently the time of the year when sumo wrestling tournaments are on); and it is easy to zip across in the Shinkansen (thats a bullet train for the uninitiated). Oh, and did I mention - its a food lover's paradise. Yes, theres the sushi and ramen, but thats stating the obvious. What youll find in Japan includes yakitori, okonomiyaki, tempura and so much more!

I was looking forward to sampling all of this and more, but my first meal in Japan was an underwhelming one. I picked up an egg sandwich and some canned cold coffee from a train station 7-Eleven kiosk while waiting for the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. The fortification would serve me well on the three plus hour bullet train ride, after an eight-hour-flight from Mumbai and a one-hour-train ride into Tokyos city centre.

From there though, things began to look up, and over two weeks I managed to sample nigiri at a 24 hour Tokyo sushi restaurant, have an omakase platter of yakitori after the language barrier between me and chef couldnt be broken down by smiles and gestures, and eat multiple hearty bowls of ramen - each fatty, unctuous and full of flavour.

A couple of things to note: for all the countrys advances, a lot of the smaller eateries do not accept credit cards; come armed with cash, and lots of it. Secondly, the Japanese have perfected the art of the highball whisky with soda and youd be advised to order it at most restaurants and bars you visit. For those looking for local Japanese drinks , theres sake (a brewed alcohol made from rice), which goes down extremely smoothly and ranges from dry to sweet; theres shochu (a distilled spirit made from barley, rice or sweet potato); and finally theres umeshu (a sweet plum liquor usually made by steeping the fruits in alcohol).

In Kyoto, at a smoke-filled sake bar in the residential part of town (in Japan, you can smoke in restaurants but not out on the street), I had my aforementioned omakase chicken yakitori platter - grilled meat on skewers. After trying to navigate the menu, I left the choice up to the chef and got five skewers - one each of gizzard, heart, ground up meatball, juicy leg grilled with leeks, and liver. For a first proper meal in Japan, it was a revelation. Each skewer had its own flavour and texture, even after being doused in the umami-rich yakitori sauce.

When in Osaka, you have to try okonomiyaki, the savoury Japanese pancake that that is grilled. Recommended by two people, I tried my first one at Okonomiyaki Kiji, in the basement of the Sky Umeda building. The fully stuffed pancake comes with a variety of options - though I chose to go fully loaded, with octopus, pork and squid. Served on the grill and allowed to crisp as you make your way towards the middle , the pancake is a filling meal. Armed with just a mini spatula (called a hagashi) and chopsticks, you cut away the crisp edges and allow the centre to cook for longer. The Tokyo version, known as monjayaki is a runnier version of the dish - imagine an omelette filled with seafood and vegetables. After you finish your meal, you can make your way to the observation deck on the top of the building for a 360 degree view of the city.

At my final stop, Tokyo, I made the trek to the citys famed Tsujuki fish market for an omakase nigiri meal. The 10 pieces of glistening fish ranged from chu toro (the fatty, flavourful part of the tuna belly) to the ligher Amberjack whitefish. Then after it was almost over, a curious menu item caught my eye - basashi or raw horse meat sushi. After a meal where the subtle flavours of fish had danced across my palette, I wasnt sure if I wanted to end with the stronger (Id assume) taste of horse meat- but I was in Tokyo, and I wanted to eat like a local (I later learned that horsemeat is a local speciality in Kumamoto, on the island of Kyushu - the southernmost of Japans four big islands). So throwing caution to the wind, I ordered a single piece of basashi. It was passed to me over the sushi counter - somewhere between brown and maroon. I gestured to the chef - should I dip it in soy? He signalled, yes, and so I gingerly lifted the nigiri with my chopsticks and plunged it into the soy sauce before eating the bite-sized piece whole. There was the distinct feeling of eating an animal I shouldnt be - but beyond that, the cold meat was a mix of partially soft and partially chewy with a gamier texture than any of the fish that had come before it. Paired with a glass of cold Asahi beer, it was a meal that underscored the freshness of seafood that is available in Japan and the technique needed to bring out its natural flavours.

In Tokyo, youll also find ramen, and lots of it. For a light citrusy take on the hearty bowl, make your way to Afuri for the yuzu shoyu ramen. You order via a machine, which spits out a receipt that you then hand over to the servers behind the bar. From there, your ramen is assembled, ladled out of vats, combined with noodles, pork, soft boiled egg and veggies before being topped with a glistening sheet of seaweed. The tartness of the yuzu balances out the natural fatty oils for a light, clean eating experience.

Japan and its cuisine contain a multitude of options - everything from fish, to meat to vegetables can be eaten raw, or grilled, or batter fried - depending on your mood. And while our perception of Japanese food is expanding, it will still take some time to encompass everything that can be found when visiting the country. A lot of it has to do with the local product - being an island, Japan is blessed with a large coastline and a variety of seafood - and then theres the fastidious nature of the people - to repeat and better till perfect - but what I came back with was a satisfied belly and a desire to learn more about the different aspects of Japanese food.
ULAANBAATAR U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act".

U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.

"So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative."

Kerry will visit China after Mongolia.

China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea.

China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.

China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies.

Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait and Lincoln Feast)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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Marijuana legalization has been growing like a weed for the past two decades, but 2016 could prove to be its most monumental year yet. Although marijuana has gained 24 state approvals for medicinal use, and four states have legalized its recreational use, we could see up to 12 separate approvals for the currently illicit drug in November.

This expansion is especially important because current President Barack Obama has suggested that the best way to get the attention of Congress is to continue legalizing the drug at the state level. Doing so would eventually force lawmakers to reconsider the federal government's current Schedule 1 stance on the drug.

In total, voters in three states are guaranteed to vote on marijuana this November. Of the remaining nine states, one is a seeming lock to get a marijuana initiative on the ballot, while the remaining eight are still in the process of collecting signatures.

Three states guaranteed to vote on marijuana in November

1. Nevada

Heading into 2016, there was only state guaranteed to vote on marijuana this year, and that was Nevada. Nevada's recreational-marijuana initiative, known as Question 2, was approved for the ballot in November 2015, and it aims to make the drug legal for adults aged 21 and up. If it's approved, an excise tax of 15% would be enacted to support the state's K-12 education budget.



2. Florida

Florida's medical-marijuana initiative, known as Amendment 2, or the Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, wound up collecting nearly 693,000 signatures by late January, working its way onto the ballot once again. Medical marijuana use under the law would be limited to "debilitating" medical conditions as defined by a physician. This year's effort follows the narrow defeat of a similar medical-marijuana initiative in 2014 that saw the "yes" votes fall 2.4% short of the 60% required to pass.

3. Maine

Roughly a month ago, Maine also announced that enough signatures had been gathered to get a recreational-marijuana initiative on the ballot this November. If the initiative -- known as the Marijuana Legalization Act -- is approved, then a state excise tax of 10% would be imposed on recreational marijuana sales, and licenses within the state could be limited.

This state may as well be a lock to vote on marijuana

4. California

While it may not be guaranteed as of yet, it looks to be a near lock that California residents will vote on a recreational-marijuana initiative, known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, this fall. Though just 365,880 signatures were required, supporters had gathered around 600,000 as of this writing. According to Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, "You can rest assured this will be on the November ballot." Given that California has the largest economy by GDP in the U.S., an approval would be a crowning victory for the movement in 2016.

Eight states still collecting signatures

5. Arizona

Residents in Arizona could vote on a recreational marijuana initiative, known as the Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Act, this November, assuming 150,642 signatures are collected by July 7. Based on figures from Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, around 100,000 signatures had already been collected by late February. If it's approved, a 10% tax would be imposed on recreational-marijuana sales. This could prove to be a close vote as well, with polls in April showing that the "No" votes outnumbered the "Yes" by 6 percentage points.

6. Arkansas

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 was approved in mid-February by the state's attorney general to begin collecting signatures. In late March, Arkansans for Compassionate Care reported that more than 68,000 signatures had been collected, with 84,859 needed to get the measure on the ballot. If the amendment is approved, half of the sales tax revenue from the sale of medical marijuana would go to the state's Vocational and Technical Training Special Revenue Fund, while another 30% would head to the state's general fund. The remainder would go toward a Skills Development Fund and to the medical-marijuana program.

7. Massachusetts

The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Initiative in Massachusetts seeks to legalize the use of recreational marijuana. Initially, 64,750 signatures were needed, which supporters easily met. However, the legislature failed to enact the initiative, requiring supporters to collect an additional 10,792 signatures by June 22 if it's to make it onto the ballot. If approved, recreational marijuana would be taxed at the state's 6.25% rate, plus an excise tax of 3.75%. Cities and towns could also tack on up to 2% in local taxes, too.

8. Michigan

In Michigan, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative needed 252,523 signatures by June 1 to make it onto the November ballot. If approved, the measure would institute up to a 10% tax on recreational marijuana and expand the statewide cultivation of industrial hemp. Recent polls have suggested a slight majority in favor of approving recreational marijuana within Michigan.

9. Missouri

The Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative in Missouri, if approved, would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes and impose a 4% tax on the retail sale of medical marijuana. Proceeds from the tax revenue would be used to pay for healthcare services for military veterans and to cover the costs of administering the program. Signatures have already been submitted and are being reviewed for their validity.

10. Montana

Montana actually has multiple recreational-marijuana initiatives in the process of collecting signatures. Normally, when multiple initiatives are on the table, legislators eventually decide on just one. Marijuana Legalization Initiative I-178 would legalize the use of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and up and institute a 20% excise tax on retail sales, which would then be allocated to the state's General Fund.

11. North Dakota

The Legalization of Marijuana Initiative in North Dakota is looking to legalize recreational marijuana within the state while also limiting taxation on recreational marijuana to no higher than 20%. Interestingly, this bill also proposes to prevent the state from requiring a license to grow, possess, use, or distribute marijuana. Sponsors will need to gather 13,452 signatures by July 11 to get the initiative on the November ballot.

12. Oklahoma

Lastly, the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative in Oklahoma is looking to legalize the licensed growth and use of medical marijuana. The measure, filed in April, mandates that supporters collect at least 65,987 signatures to get it on the November ballot. However, this could prove a tall order: Signature collection for a medical-marijuana initiative has fallen short in Oklahoma twice before.

Caution is still warranted

Even though we could be looking at a record-breaking year in terms of expansion for marijuana, investors who are seeing dollar signs may want to temper their expectations. Just because marijuana could gain new state-level approvals in 2016 doesn't mean the federal government will necessarily be in any hurry to change its stance. In other words, it means the marijuana industry will continue to face several big disadvantages.

For starters, marijuana businesses have minimal access to basic banking services. Most marijuana companies are struggling to get lines of credit or even checking accounts because they fear possible prosecution from the federal government down the road. If marijuana businesses are struggling to get basic financial services, then it could constrain their hiring and expansion efforts.

The other issue here is that U.S. tax code 280E forbids businesses that sell illegal substances from taking normal business deductions. This means marijuana companies can't even write off their rent expenses, causing them to pay a substantially higher tax rate than they should.

Long story short, even with marijuana expanding to new states, marijuana companies may not be poised for success. Until we see discernable changes at the federal level, I'd still advise you to avoid "marijuana stocks."
Whether you're a younger investor pursuing the next great growth opportunity or a more experienced one whose selection of stocks tends to be less aggressive, every investor's portfolio should have a niche carved out for more-conservative options.

Here are three starkly different opportunities -- Aqua America (NYSE: WTR), Franco-Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV), and Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) -- that could help investors avoid tossing and turning all night.

Come on in, the water's fine

When it comes to low-risk investments, utilities like Aqua America are among the most popular choices. Tracing its history back to 1886, Aqua America, the second-largest water utility by market cap, currently provides water and wastewater services to 3 million people in eight states. Unlike smaller, regional water utilities, like California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT), Aqua America has a geographically diversified customer base that mitigates the risk of adverse local weather phenomena.

Furthermore, Aqua America deals primarily in the regulated market, so management has clear insight into future revenue, thereby allowing it to strategically plan for capital upgrades to its vast infrastructure. This, in turn, enables the company to increase operational efficiency and generate stronger margins. From 2018 through 2020, for example, the company expects to reinvest $1.4 billion in upgrades to its infrastructure.

Granted, investors shouldn't expect to see revenue rise from a flood of new customers in the days ahead; nonetheless, management has demonstrated its prowess at growing the top line through the steady acquisitions of smaller municipal water companies. This, in concert with consistent upgrades to the company's infrastructure, has resulted in revenue increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.59% over the past 10 years and operational cash flow rising at a CAGR of 5.55% during the same period.

To further illustrate the allure of Aqua America, consider how its performance compares to leading peers American Water Works (NYSE: AWK), California Water Service, and Connecticut Water Service (NASDAQ: CTWS).

Over the past five years, Aqua America has consistently demonstrated a superior ability to turn shareholders' investments into profits. Of course, the company's past performance is no guarantee that it will continue to generate the same type of returns moving forward. It does, however, suggest that management has developed a successful business model for satisfying the water needs of its customers and quenching investors' thirst for profits.

Moving forward, investors can confirm the company's growth strategy remains intact as it acquires smaller municipal water systems, a key component of its growth strategy. Over the last 10 years, for example, it has completed nearly 200 acquisitions. Moreover, additional acquisitions remain in the company's crystal ball. Aqua America currently has six municipal asset agreements signed, and it is committed to continuously acquiring additional systems in the future.

A golden opportunity

Unlike gold-mining companies that dig the precious metal from the ground, Franco-Nevada is a royalty and streaming company, which acts like a specialized financier, providing miners with up-front capital to cover the considerable costs of mine construction. In return, Franco-Nevada receives the rights to purchase gold and other minerals at preset prices or to receive a percentage of mineral production from a mine.

Over the past two years, gold and other precious metals accounted for an average of 92% of the company's annual revenue. Attempting to mitigate the risk associated with a downturn in any of the precious metals markets, management has identified a long-term goal of generating 80% of its revenue from precious metals. Another way in which the company reduces risk is through the geographic diversification of its assets. In 2017, for example, Latin America accounted for 42% of the company's adjusted EBITDA, while the U.S., Canada, and the rest of the world accounted for 18%, 21%, and 19%, respectively.

In 2017, Franco-Nevada reported production of 497,745 gold equivalent ounces -- a company record. And the company expects plenty of growth on the horizon. During a presentation from earlier in the year, management forecast production of 565,000 to 595,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2022, assuming a gold price of $1,300 per ounce; this represents roughly 17% growth over that which it reported in 2017. And positioning itself for further growth beyond 2022, the company has a strong, well-diversified pipeline of assets in the exploration phase of development, including 138 precious metals projects, 70 projects representing other minerals, and 82 oil and gas projects.

Let's keep it clean

Fashioning itself as "the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services," Ecolab helps to meet the needs of its customers in 170 countries, from water treatment solutions for the energy industry to cleaning solutions for the restaurant industry. For conservative investors, Ecolab's attraction is clear: The company provides its services to a wide swath of industries, mitigating the effects of a downturn in any one of them.

A mature company, Ecolab was incorporated in 1924. Consequently, investors shouldn't expect the sharp top-line growth that is oftentimes associated with younger companies. With this in mind, the fact that Ecolab grew sales at a modest 4.4% over the past five years should hardly be shocking. The surprise, rather, is the ability with which the business has been able to grow cash flow and profits.

Management's adept ability to grow the bottom line and continuously churn out cash ensures that Ecolab is able to fund operations, complete acquisitions, and satisfy other needs without having to rely excessively on debt. The company, for example, ended 2017 with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.4, illustrating how it is not overly reliant on leverage. Moreover, the company retains an investment-grade balance sheet. And according to Ecolab's most recent 10-K, the business holds "current credit ratings of A-/Baa1 by the major ratings agencies."

In the days ahead, investors can watch how Ecolab progresses in achieving its goal of greater profitability by streamlining its operations. By developing digital platforms and other cost-saving initiatives, management has targeted a goal of a 20% operating margin, a notable increase over the 14.3% operating margin it has averaged over the past five years.

Three ways to sleep better at night

Appealing to risk-averse investors, Aqua America, which provides vital services to millions of customers, will surely not see demand ebb anytime soon. Franco-Nevada, moreover, represents another possibility since demand for gold -- prized for thousands of years -- is unlikely to wane in the coming days. And Ecolab, whose solutions are sought by a wide swath of industries, represents another viable consideration for investors who are keen on avoiding risk.

10 stocks we like better than Aqua AmericaWhen 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 quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Aqua America wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 4, 2018

Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ecolab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In fact, you could argue that Shell is using this downturn to get better, since it recently completed the acquisition of a natural gas-focused competitor. That fuel looks destined for increased demand as utilities around the world opt for cleaner-burning fuel options. The only problem is that it was an expensive deal made during an industry downturn. Some market watchers believe it will strain the company's finances enough to lead to a dividend cut.

There's no question that the oil industry has been struggling ever since oil started a deep price decline in mid-2014. That's taken oil's giants and minnows alike for a rough ride, leaving some of the smaller players mired in the bankruptcy process. A giant like Shell, however, is highly likely to survive this downturn, just as it has every other downturn over the past 100-plus years.

It's hard to put a value on an intangible asset like a brand or reputation. Yet we know there's a huge amount of value in these things. That's why it can be a good idea to look for what are often called fallen angels -- stocks with great brands and reputations that, for some reason, fall on hard times. Right now Royal Dutch Shell , Nucor Corporation , Eaton Corporation , and Emerson Electric are all cheap big brand stocks.

So far, management has stood behind the dividend, but investors don't like uncertainty and Shell's shares have been punished. For example, Shell trades at a little below book value while competitors such as ExxonMobil trade at more than twice book. In fact, Shell is trading even cheaper than BP , the company that brought us the Deepwater Horizon oil spill not too long ago.

But for those willing to take on a little risk, Shell's dividend yield of more than 7.5%, its history of navigating the oil market, and its great brand might be worth a little more research. Exxon's yield, for reference, is less than half of what Shell offers.

The company of steel

To be fair, unless you follow the steel industry you've probably never heard of Nucor. That's a shame, because it's one of the largest, and perhaps best run, U.S. steel mills around. To put some numbers on that claim, Nucor has lost money only once over the past decade, in 2009. That was around when the steel industry's long downturn began, during the deep 2007-to-2009 recession. Competitors such as United States Steel , a name you've probably heard of, can't boast that kind of success: Iconic U.S. Steel has bled red ink in six of the past 10 years, including four of the past five.

NUEYCharts

To be fair, weaker competitors are cheaper than Nucor right now. But this is a case where sticking with an out-of-favor industry's best names is a better choice. And there's good reason for that here. For example, Nucor has a focus on more modern electric arc furnaces, which are generally cheaper and more flexible to run. Its employees are compensated in a way that rewards them during the good times but asks them to feel some pain during the lean times, which helps reduce Nucor's costs exactly when it's most advantageous. Nucor also has a history of investing during downturns. This time is no different, so it will come out the other side a stronger company.

Oh, and then there's the little fact that this roughly 3.2% yielder has increased its dividend every year for over 40 years. All steel stocks are pretty cheap today because of the difficult industry environment, which has made Nucor a very compelling investment option for those who like to stick with best-of-breed investments.

Industrial trials

Another sector that's feeling some heat today is the industrial space, as global growth isn't as robust as it was just a few years ago, with emerging markets slowing down, agricultural markets weak, the mining industry in the dumps, and China struggling to maintain its heady growth. This environment has hit globally diversified industrials such as Eaton and Emerson pretty hard.

ETNYCharts

In fact, despite some recent price strength, these two remain well below their recent highs. Honestly, there's good reason for that, since growth is lacking right now. Both Eaton and Emerson expect organic revenue to decline this year. Eaton is calling for organic growth to drop by as much as 4%, and Emerson thinks organic sales could fall up to 5%.

But here's the thing. Eaton expects to earn between $4.15 and $4.45 a share this year, and Emerson is looking for between $2.61 and $2.88 a share in its fiscal 2016. Emerson's numbers, however, include costs associated with spinning off a lagging division. Remove those expenses, and the industrial giant's earnings would increase to between $3.05 and $3.25 a share. The takeaway here is that even during the hard times, this pair is very profitable.

You have great name brands, global businesses, and impressive portfolios, and, last but not least, each one yields around 3.7%, roughly 20% more than their average yield over the past five years. That makes this industrial duo worth a deeper dive if you are looking for cheap big brand stocks.

Some homework

There are risks associated with any investment decision you make. Shell, Nucor, Eaton, and Emerson are hardly slam-dunk options. But they all have great brand names and are relatively cheap today. If you like the idea of sticking with leaders, you should start doing a deep dive on these companies right now.

The article 4 Incredibly Cheap Big Brand Stocks
With interest rates still close to record-low levels, and major market benchmarks seemingly bumping up near all-time highs on a daily basis, there are fewer places where income-focused investors can find a compelling yield these days. That said, one place that still offers a generous income stream is the oil and gas sector. While there's an added risk associated with the industry due to its ties to volatile oil prices, there are several lower-risk options that can provide investors with plenty of income. Here are five top ideas that all yield more than 3%.

The big dog in oil-field services

Schlumberger is the world's largest oil-field services company. That scale is important because it enabled the services giant to leverage its global operations during the oil market downturn and squeeze out costs so that it remained profitable at a time when smaller competitors were losing money. In fact, Schlumberger generated a whopping $2.5 billion of free cash flow last year, which was almost enough to cover its dividend. While the company did have to dip into its cash position a bit, it still had $7.4 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of the first quarter, giving it plenty of cushion in the turbulent market. Because of that cash cushion and cash flow, Schlumberger has the financial strength to maintain its dividend while it waits for market conditions to improve.

Keeping up its aristocratic ways

Oil giant Chevron generates a boatload of cash flow each year. In fact, last year the company produced $12.8 billion in cash flow from operations despite turbulent oil prices. Because of that cash flow, and its top-tier balance sheet, Chevron was able to increase its dividend once again last year, marking the 29th straight year it raised the payout, enabling it to keep its title of Dividend Aristocrat. Meanwhile, with several large growth projects starting up in the near term, Chevron's cash flow should expand even if oil prices flatten out, which positions the company to continue paying a growing dividend in the coming years.

Focused on returning capital to shareholders

Leading independent refiner Valero Energy paid its investors $1.1 billion in dividends last year despite a challenging year for the refining sector. In fact, the company fully covered that dividend since it generated $4.8 billion in cash flow from operating activities. It used the remaining money to buy back $1.3 billion in stock and reinvested $2 billion into maintaining and expanding its business. Meanwhile, with a strong balance sheet and a balanced approach to capital allocation, Valero remains positioned to continue growing its dividend and has already increased it 17% for 2017.

A high yield with room to grow

Unlike the others on this list, pipeline and processing company MPLX generates very predictable cash flow since fee-based contracts support 95% of its earnings. Because of that stability, and the fact that MPLX has a healthy distribution coverage ratio of 1.3 in the first quarter, and an excellent balance sheet backed with a low leverage ratio of 4.0 times debt to EBITDA, it has the financial strength to sustain its distribution over the long term. In fact, thanks to several growth initiatives currently underway, MPLX expects to deliver 12% to 15% distribution growth in 2017 and double-digit growth next year.

Getting back on its feet so it can begin to grow

Plains All American Pipeline shares many similarities with MPLX, though it's not on quite as secure a financial footing since it won't completely cover its payout this year and it has a higher debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 4.8. That said, thanks to a repositioning transaction with its parent company last year, its financial metrics should strengthen over the next year after it completes a slew of growth projects. The growth from these expansion projects should fuel 17% earnings growth next year and as much as a 33% increase in profitability over the next several years. That growing earnings stream will further stabilize Plains All American Pipeline's financial metrics, which should eventually put it in the position where it can start increasing its already very generous payout.

Investor takeaway

All five of these companies share one thing in common: Each generates healthy cash flow despite operating in the volatile energy sector. For Schlumberger, Chevron, and Valero, the key to their ability to produce such robust cash flow stems from their large-scale operations, which enables them to keep a lid on costs. MPLX and Plains All American Pipeline, on the other hand, generate gobs of cash flow by collecting stable fees as they process, transport, and store oil and gas. Because these companies generate so much cash flow, they have ample left over to pay a generous dividend at a time when it's tough for investors to find a compelling yield.

10 stocks we like better than Plains All American PipelineWhen 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 Plains All American Pipeline 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 June 5, 2017

Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Ambarella.

Shares ofAmbarella have been getting slammed since GoPro's growth prospects started to dim, but the provider of video compression and image processing semiconductors is holding up better than many expected in product categories outside wearable cameras.

Revenue in its latest quarter clocked in at $57.2 million, 20% below where it was a year earlier. This is the first time Ambarella has posted a year-over-year decline on the top line.

Margins contracted with adjusted earnings roughly cut in half to $0.34 a share. This may seem like a bad report, but keep in mind that GoPro, Ambarella's most prolific customer, recently reported a loss and a 50% decline in revenue during the same period. Analysts were holding out for Ambarella to perform worse than it ultimately did for the period.

Learning to fly

Ambarella's weakness through its GoPro partner was partly offset by growth in home monitoring applications (it's a provider for Nest and other surveillance gear makers) and flying cameras (drones, drones, drones).

There's caution in its outlook, but it's tied mostly to a one-time event outside GoPro's general malaise. The mid-April earthquake in Jumamoto, Japan, disruptedSony's ability to produce image sensors, slowing the ability of Ambarella customers to build cameras. Ambarella sees the Sony hiccup affecting demand for its chips through the next few quarters.

The longer-term outlook remains bright. Wearable cameras may or may not bounce back when GoPro rolls out Hero 5, but relying more on home monitoring cameras, drones, and dashboard cams isn't a bad thing. Ambarella continues to raise the bar with richer specs on its video solutions, and hopping off GoPro's coattails isn't a bad thing.

Eating its own cooking

Ambarella stock has gotten crushed over the past year. The shares have surrendered 64% of their value since peaking last summer, and that includes last week's pop. Ambarella is putting some of its money where its mouth is, declaring a $75 million share buyback plan.

Even before GoPro strapped a rocket to its back, Ambarella has been a thinking investor's way to play the camera revolution. Consumer tastes may have moved on from wearable cameras, but Ambarella is still arming the companies making today cool and tomorrow cooler. From its presence in Xiaomi smartphones to a role in the ascending virtual-reality market, Ambarella has often been miscast as merely a play on GoPro. Yes, GoPro is the reason it's coming off its first year-over-year decline as a public company, but there are so many other catalysts to send the stock higher in the future.

The article Can Ambarella Keep Going After Last Week's 13% Pop? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Rick Munarriz owns shares of Ambarella. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ambarella and GoPro. 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: White House on Flickr.

Since it was first signed into law in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act has been highly controversial.

The ACA, which you likely know better as "Obamacare," wound up completely revamping how consumers shop for health insurance, making the process more transparent than ever. Obamacare also removed insurers' ability to pick and choose who they'd accept and required that health-benefit providers offer compliant plans that provided 10 minimum benefits.

On the flip side, Obamacare introduced a widely disliked component known as the individual mandate. This mandate requires that consumers purchase health insurance or pay a penalty come tax time, known as the Shared Responsibility Payment. Never before had the government told consumers they needed to buy something or face a penalty. In fact, a motion to invalidate the mandate went all the way to the Supreme Court and was eventually upheld.

Despite its controversy, Obamacare still managed to enroll about 12.7 million people via its federal and state marketplace exchanges by the end of the 2016 enrollment period. This figure doesn't even count the nearly equal number of low-income individuals and families who've qualified under the expansion of Medicaid in 31 states. All told, Obamacare sliced the rate of uninsured adults in this U.S. to the lowest levels on record, according to Gallup and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The headline numbers for Obamacare look pretty good. But the big question nearly everyone is asking is whether the program is sustainable.

Obamacare faces a big problem in 2017

Forget for a moment that President Barack Obama is set to leave office in just over seven months and that his program could be subject to change once a new president is in the Oval Office, because there's a much more immediate problem to contend with: rate requests.

Every year since Obamacare's full implementation, May is typically the month when health insurance companies submit their premium rate requests to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC). Every state has an OIC that's responsible for reviewing requests for double-digit percentage premium changes, whether they're for increases or decreases in price. Thus far, more than a dozen states have made their average rate requests public, and the vast majority of requests have been for double-digit percentage hikes.

A few weeks ago we looked at Oregon and Virginia, which were among the first to publish their insurers' rate requests. The average weighted increase for these states, courtesy of data aggregation from ACASignUps.net, was nearly 18% in Virginia and 27% in Oregon. The following week didn't get any better, with Washington, Florida, Maryland, Maine, and New York insurers all requesting average or weighted-average increases that were firmly in the double-digits. Now that another week has passed, the increases are compounding further. Insurers in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Iowa, California, and Indiana can be added to the mix, having requested double-digit weighted increases in premium prices for 2017.

If premium prices get out of hand, it could directly impact consumers, causing them to forgo a health insurance policy or drop their coverage.

Why Obamacare premiums are expected to soar in 2017

You might be wondering why insurers are requesting such hefty increases from OICs in 2017. It essentially boils down to three key factors.

First, Obamacare enrollees are generally a sicker group of individuals, at least according to a huge study conducted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). A BCBSA analysis of 4.7 million medical claims of individual members and 25 million employer-based group members found that Obamacare enrollees cost an average of $559 per month through the first nine months of 2015. Comparatively, clients with employer-based coverage cost insurers an average of $457 per month over the same timeframe. This 22% difference takes into account the fact that people who'd previously been excluded from enrolling for health insurance can no longer be turned away. Put simply, these sicker individuals are costing insurers a pretty penny.

Secondly, young adult enrollment isn't up to par. Even though young adult enrollment improved in 2016, perhaps directly as a result of increased penalties for not having insurance, the figures still aren't enough to make Obamacare plans sustainable for most insurers. Young adults are often healthier and less likely to go to the doctor, thus their premiums are needed to help offset the high costs of treating older and/or sicker patients.

The final issue ties into the failure of the risk corridor. In easy-to-understand terms, the risk corridor was a financial fail-safe for insurers, providing a cash payment if they suffered excessive losses on Obamacare's marketplace exchanges. The money was to be provided by excessively profitable insurers. Unfortunately, few insurers made enough to fund the program, causing just 12.6% of the $2.9 billion in requested funds to be paid. In total, more than half of Obamacare's healthcare cooperatives closed their doors due to excessive losses, and major players like UnitedHealth Group raised the white flag after big losses -- UnitedHealth Group announced it'd leave most of the 34 states it was operating in as of 2016. Adding salt to the wound, the risk corridor won't be around in 2017, potentially discouraging new competition from entering Obamacare's marketplace exchanges.

Image source: Flickr user Mara Tr.

Will Obamacare unravel in 2017?

Given this laundry list of concerns with Obamacare, it's understandable why so many people view Obamacare as running on borrowed time. However, there's one aspect of Obamacare that I suspect will save it from implosion in 2017 regardless of how high premiums go -- namely, the Advanced Premium Tax Credit, or APTC.

The APTC, or subsidy as you might know it, provides a partial reduction in premium costs, funded by the federal government to encourage lower-income and middle-income individuals and families to enroll in Obamacare. Anyone whose income is between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level can potentially qualify for the APTC, which can substantially lower some enrollees' monthly premium payments.

In 2016, the average national premium without subsidies was a whopping $407 per month, compared to $113 per month with the APTC. Because about 85% of Obamacare enrollees qualify for the APTC, and most see only a minimal uptick in monthly premium prices due to their subsidies, there's a good chance that nearly all of these enrollees will be able to withstand double-digit percentage increases in premiums.

Of course, the remaining 15% of non-subsidized enrollees, as well as uninsured folks who don't qualify for the APTC, could find themselves in a world of hurt if premiums jump by a double-digit percentage. Although there's a very real possibility that enrollment could head in reverse, I doubt that it would be enough to unravel Obamacare in 2017.

Obamacare is certainly not out of the woods, especially with the presidential elections around the corner, but it's not going anywhere soon.

The article Could a Double-Digit Percentage Premium Hike Kill Obamacare in 2017? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth 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.
Biogen is a great company, even though it's hit hard times lately since the revelations that the company's biggest blockbuster, Tecifdera, might cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) -- a potentially deadly brain infection. The multiple sclerosis (MS) drug's growth has slowed considerably. I'm bullish on the stock's potential with incoming data readouts from its exciting next wave of potential mega-hit drugs -- nusinersen, anti-LINGO, and aducanumab (for spinal muscular atrophy, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's, respectively). That's why I'm a proud shareholder. But for investors looking to increase their healthcare exposure, there are three stocks I think are better buys today: Gilead Sciences , Celgene Corporation , and Johnson & Johnson .

Celgene has fewer question marks

Celgene Corporation is heavily levered to its multiple myeloma drug Revlimid (which represented 63% of company revenue in Q1 2016), but management is projecting strong growth for the company's other major drugs over the next few years. The cancer drug Abraxane is expected to bring in about $1 billion in 2016 (around 9% of total anticipated revenue), and the autoimmune treatment Otezla is on a fast ramp, with over $1 billion in sales expected in 2016. Unlike Biogen, Celgene doesn't have a couple of tent-pole drugs in its pipeline that centralize its risk; management has done a great job of diversifying the pipeline through a number of licensing agreements

Johnson & Johnson is more diversified (and stable)

With its recently announced spinoff of its hemophilia business, Biogen's management is slimming the company down to focus more on multiple sclerosis and developing its diverse pipeline (particularly nusinersen and aducanumab). People usually like management focusing where they're experts...but Johnson & Johnson is a huge exception to that rule. The conglomerate is diversified across medical devices, pharma, and consumer products (like Band-Aids and Tylenol), and it continually chugs out slow, steady, reliable growth. With anticoagulant Xarelto posting 29% year-over-year sales growth last quarter, and Invokana/Invokamet up 18%, pharma continues to drive the company's overall growth. Johnson & Johnson is a Dividend Aristocrat (meaning a stock that has grown its dividend for at least 25 consecutive years), and its dividend yields 2.8%. For the income-focused investor, it's hard to argue that Biogen would be a better pick.

If you only had to buy one...

My money's on Gilead. Truth be told, I own every stock I'm talking about in this article. I think all four of them are great businesses with lots of interesting opportunities ahead of them. But Gilead's valuation has gotten so out of whack with the stock's substantial business prospects -- and management's superb history of capital allocation

The article Forget Biogen: These 3 Stocks Are Better Buys
When investors discuss hot start-ups, they often mention fast-growing tech companies like Xiaomi , Snapchat, or Uber. Fewer people probably mention eyeglass retailer Warby Parker, which was valued at $1.2 billion after its last round of funding. That makes Warby the second most valuable e-commerce start-up in America and one of the few e-tail start-ups to top the $1 billion "unicorn" mark without being acquired. Let's take a closer look at this six-year-old start-up, how it makes money, and how it measures up to publicly traded rivals.

Image source: Warby Parker.

Starting online, expanding offline

Warby Parker was founded by four students -- Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider -- in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's Venture Initiation Program six years ago. The company sells affordable, custom-designed eyeglasses that cost less than $100. By designing the frames in-house, Warby Parker avoided licensing fees, which could reach 15% of thewholesale cost of the glasses. By only selling its glasses online, it avoided brick-and-mortar markups, which would have doubled or tripled the final price.

Flattering coverage in Vogue, Elle, Esquire, and GQ -- which dubbed Warby the "Netflix of eyewear" -- generated lots of publicity for the company with minimal advertising. The company also introduced a "Home Try-On" program, which lets customers pick five frames online thatare shipped to them free of charge to be tried on at home. It also lets customers upload a selfie to "virtually" try on glasses. This unique business model resonated with younger "cheap chic" customers, and disrupted the time-consuming and pricier process of trying on and ordering glasses at a third-party vendor like Luxottica'sLensCrafters.

Warby Parker then opened a handful of brick-and-mortar showrooms across the U.S. to spread mainstream awareness of its brand. In 2013, it started opening full retail shops, which employed roughly half of its workforce of around 500 last year. The company also announced plans to build its own point-of-sale system, which would enable it to better track and analyze customer relationships.

Warby Parker's "Home Try-On" package. Image source: Warby Parker.

How much money does Warby make?

Warby Parker's annual revenue reportedly rose from $35 million in 2013 to over $100 million in 2015, butit isn't profitable yet. Being valued at around 12 times sales without any profits doesn't bode well for an IPO, which was rumored eversince its valuation crossed the half-billion mark. However, Warby's founders have stated that they're in no hurry to go public.

In an interview with Inc. last year, co-founder Neil Blumenthal stated that "it's not intelligent to grow in the short-term at the expense of the long-term potential." Indeed, Warby Parker's valuation looks lofty compared to Luxottica -- which dominates the eyewear market with its Oakley, Ray-Ban, and licensed brands, as well as its retailers LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, and Sunglass Hut. Luxottica's revenue surged 17% on a constant currency basis to 9 billion euros ($10.1 billion) in 2015, but it currently trades at less than three times its trailing-12-month sales.

Nonetheless, David vs. Goliath comparisons between Warby Parker and Luxottica persist. But instead of directly competing against Luxottica, Warby has carved out a niche that the Italian giant can't touch. Luxottica's eyeglasses cost an average of $300 but can go up to $4,000, and it licenses a wide variety of well-established brands like Chanel, DKNY, and Ralph Lauren. Meanwhile, Warby's glasses are much cheaper and seem popular with younger, more tech-savvy customers. That's probably why Alphabet'sGoogle tapped it tocreate more fashionable Google Glass frames in 2013. Glass ultimately flopped, but the partnership likely boosted awareness of Warby Parker's brand among younger gadget enthusiasts.

But is Warby Parker built to last?

Warby Parker has gotten off to a solid start, but it's still a young company that hasn't figured out how to turn a profit with its innovative business model. Warby will have to address that challenge if it goes public, but the disruptive little eyeglass retailer could still have plenty of room to evolve and grow before it does so.

The article How Does Warby Parker Make Money? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (C shares) and Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Marijuana legalization has been growing like a weed for the past two decades, but 2016 could prove to be its most monumental year yet. Although marijuana has gained 24 state approvals for medicinal use, and four states have legalized its recreational use, we could see up to 12 separate approvals for the currently illicit drug in November.

This expansion is especially important because current President Barack Obama has suggested that the best way to get the attention of Congress is to continue legalizing the drug at the state level. Doing so would eventually force lawmakers to reconsider the federal government's current Schedule 1 stance on the drug.

In total, voters in three states are guaranteed to vote on marijuana this November. Of the remaining nine states, one is a seeming lock to get a marijuana initiative on the ballot, while the remaining eight are still in the process of collecting signatures.

Three states guaranteed to vote on marijuana in November

1. NevadaHeading into 2016, there was only state guaranteed to vote on marijuana this year, and that was Nevada. Nevada's recreational-marijuana initiative, known as Question 2, was approved for the ballot in November 2015, and it aims to make the drug legal for adults aged 21 and up. If it's approved, an excise tax of 15% would be enacted to support the state's K-12 education budget.

2. Florida Florida's medical-marijuana initiative, known as Amendment 2, or the Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, wound up collecting nearly 693,000 signatures by late January, working its way onto the ballot once again. Medical marijuana use under the law would be limited to "debilitating" medical conditions as defined by a physician. This year's effort follows the narrow defeat of a similar medical-marijuana initiative in 2014 that saw the "yes" votes fall 2.4% short of the 60% required to pass.

3. Maine Roughly a month ago, Maine also announced that enough signatures had been gathered to get a recreational-marijuana initiative on the ballot this November. If the initiative -- known as the Marijuana Legalization Act -- is approved, then a state excise tax of 10% would be imposed on recreational marijuana sales, and licenses within the state could be limited.

This state may as well be a lock to vote on marijuana

4. California While it may not be guaranteed as of yet, it looks to be a near lock that California residents will vote on a recreational-marijuana initiative, known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, this fall. Though just 365,880 signatures were required, supporters had gathered around 600,000 as of this writing. According to Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, "You can rest assured this will be on the November ballot." Given that California has the largest economy by GDP in the U.S., an approval would be a crowning victory for the movement in 2016.

Eight states still collecting signatures

5. Arizona Residents in Arizona could vote on a recreational marijuana initiative, known as the Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Act, this November, assuming 150,642 signatures are collected by July 7. Based on figures from Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, around 100,000 signatures had already been collected by late February. If it's approved, a 10% tax would be imposed on recreational-marijuana sales. This could prove to be a close vote as well, with polls in April showing that the "No" votes outnumbered the "Yes" by 6 percentage points.

6. ArkansasThe Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 was approved in mid-February by the state's attorney general to begin collecting signatures. In late March, Arkansans for Compassionate Care reported that more than 68,000 signatures had been collected, with 84,859 needed to get the measure on the ballot. If the amendment is approved, half of the sales tax revenue from the sale of medical marijuana would go to the state's Vocational and Technical Training Special Revenue Fund, while another 30% would head to the state's general fund. The remainder would go toward a Skills Development Fund and to the medical-marijuana program.

7. Massachusetts The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Initiative in Massachusetts seeks to legalize the use of recreational marijuana. Initially, 64,750 signatures were needed, which supporters easily met. However, the legislature failed to enact the initiative, requiring supporters to collect an additional 10,792 signatures by June 22 if it's to make it onto the ballot. If approved, recreational marijuana would be taxed at the state's 6.25% rate, plus an excise tax of 3.75%. Cities and towns could also tack on up to 2% in local taxes, too.

Image source: Flickr user Cannabis Culture.

8. Michigan In Michigan, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative needed 252,523 signatures by June 1 to make it onto the November ballot.If approved, the measure would institute up to a 10% tax on recreational marijuana and expand the statewide cultivation of industrial hemp. Recent polls have suggested a slight majority in favor of approving recreational marijuana within Michigan.

9. MissouriThe Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative in Missouri, if approved, would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes and impose a 4% tax on the retail sale of medical marijuana. Proceeds from the tax revenue would be used to pay for healthcare services for military veterans and to cover the costs of administering the program. Signatures have already been submitted and are being reviewed for their validity.

10. Montana Montana actually has multiple recreational-marijuana initiatives in the process of collecting signatures. Normally, when multiple initiatives are on the table, legislators eventually decide on just one. Marijuana Legalization Initiative I-178 would legalize the use of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and up and institute a 20% excise tax on retail sales, which would then be allocated to the state's General Fund.

11. North DakotaThe Legalization of Marijuana Initiative in North Dakota is looking to legalize recreational marijuana within the state while also limiting taxation on recreational marijuana to no higher than 20%. Interestingly, this bill also proposes to prevent the state from requiring a license to grow, possess, use, or distribute marijuana. Sponsors will need to gather 13,452 signatures by July 11 to get the initiative on the November ballot.

12. OklahomaLastly, the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative in Oklahoma is looking to legalize the licensed growth and use of medical marijuana. The measure, filed in April, mandates that supporters collect at least 65,987 signatures to get it on the November ballot. However, this could prove a tall order: Signature collection for a medical-marijuana initiative has fallen short in Oklahoma twice before.

Image source: Pictures of Money via Flickr.

Caution is still warranted

Even though we could be looking at a record-breaking year in terms of expansion for marijuana, investors who are seeing dollar signs may want to temper their expectations. Just because marijuana could gain new state-level approvals in 2016 doesn't mean the federal government will necessarily be in any hurry to change its stance. In other words, it means the marijuana industry will continue to face several big disadvantages.

For starters, marijuana businesses have minimal access to basic banking services. Most marijuana companies are struggling to get lines of credit or even checking accounts because they fear possible prosecution from the federal government down the road. If marijuana businesses are struggling to get basic financial services, then it could constrain their hiring and expansion efforts.

The other issue here is that U.S. tax code 280E forbids businesses that sell illegal substances from taking normal business deductions. This means marijuana companies can't even write off their rent expenses, causing them to pay a substantially higher tax rate than they should.

Long story short, even with marijuana expanding to new states, marijuana companies may not be poised for success. Until we see discernable changes at the federal level, I'd still advise you to avoid "marijuana stocks."

The article Up to 12 States Could Vote on Marijuana This November -- Here They Are originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
I recently discussed how business messaging start-up Slack , with a valuation of $3.8 billion, became more valuable than former enterprise leader BlackBerry . Slack only has about three million daily active users, but that figure has tripled since the beginning of 2016. Nearly a third of those users pay for its service, which could generate about $64 million in recurring revenue this year -- more than double the $30 million Slack expected to generate in 2015.

Slack's iOS app. Image source: iTunes

That triple-digit growth has created lots of buzz about Slack going public. Let's discuss what we know so far about the potential IPO, which investors would profit, and whether or not this would be a good stock to own.

Starting an "IPO readiness" program

Last November, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield toldThe Australianthat his company had "started an internal campaign for IPO readiness" a few months prior. That campaign included its first external audit, new controls, and security practices. The company is also boosting its spending on data analysis and infrastructure.

Butterfield stated that "the absolute earliest that we could IPO, if everything came together right, would be 18 months from now." He noted that while investors look for "predictability" in public companies, Slack's rapid growth made it "impossible to predict" where it would be in six months time. He also stated that initiating an IPO readiness program "doesn't mean we intend, want, or need to go public anytime soon."

Meet the top investors

But if Slack eventually goes public, the deal could make its early investors a lot of money. Most of Slack's current backers areprivate venture capital firms like Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Social Capital -- which are off limits to mainstream investors.

But that list also includes Comcast Ventures, the cable and media giant's venture capital arm. Comcast Ventures participated in the round of funding earlier this year, which raised $200 million from six different investors. It's unclear how much money Comcast contributed, but it likely only accounts for a small percentage of Slack's $3.8 billion valuation.

Another company to watch is Microsoft , which reportedly wanted to buy Slack for $8 billion earlier this year but nixed that idea in favor of improving Skype as a communications tool. However, Microsoft recently unveiled a new venture arm called Microsoft Ventures, which will participate in "Series A and beyond" investments in North America and Israel. Microsoft might use that arm to invest in Slack without paying a hefty premium for the whole company.

Slack's Android app. Image source: Google Play

What if Slack went public?

If Slack went public today with a $3.8 billion valuation, it would be worth nearly 60 times its projected sales for 2016. Butterfield stated that Slack wasn't profitable last year and thatits losses totaled a "few hundred thousand dollars per month." With a nosebleed enterprise value-to-sales ratio and no profits, it would be hard to justify buying shares of Slack today.

That's why Butterfield doesn't think that Slack can go public until 2017. If Slack can keep growing sales at double or triple-digit rates, get spending under control, and stop raising more valuation-inflating capital, its financials could look much more reasonable when it finally launches its IPO.

But that's easier said than done. Slack's initial user growth looks impressive, but three million users is still a drop in the enterprise pond. Competitive threats like Facebookat Work and Microsoft's Yammer integration in Office 365 could eventually throttle Slack's overall growth. If Facebook, Microsoft, or other enterprise players start offering premium features comparable to Slack's for free, its core business model could crumble.

The bottom line

Slack is a hot unicorn start-up, but it's definitely not ready for an IPO. It must first demonstrate that its sales growth is sustainable, that it can generate profits, and that it can widen its moat against bigger challengers. If it prematurely begins the IPO process before achieving those goals, the stock could crash and burn overeager investors.

The article When Can I Invest in the Slack Technologies IPO? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Leo Sun has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Intel recently unveiled its first 10-core desktop CPU, the Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition. The new processor runs at 3GHz (with boost speeds of up to 3.5GHz), has 25MB of cache, 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, and features Intel's new Turbo Boost 3.0 technology.

Intel claims those specs make it twice as fast as its top-tier quad-core i7 6700K for 3D rendering and 65% faster at editing 4K video. But customers will pay a lot for that performance boost -- the 10-core i7-6950X will cost a whopping $1,723, roughly five times the price of the i7 6700K. So who is Intel actually targeting with such a pricey processor?

Image source: Intel.

Intel says it's for gamers

In its press release, Intel declares that the "growing community of more than 1.3 billion" gamers "are continually raising the bar" by "driving their systems to its limits." The company also says that the 10-core CPU delivers "a fantastic experience" with virtual reality headsets like Facebook's Oculus Rift and HTC's Vive.

But for most gamers, buying a $1,700 processor is complete overkill. Simply take a look at the recommended specs for two graphically demanding current-gen games -- Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider and Electronic Arts' Star Wars Battlefront.

Rise of the Tomb Raider's recommended requirements include a Core i5-750 2.4GHz CPU ($150), Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970($300), and 16GB of RAM. Battlefront's recommended requirements includea Core i5-6600 3.3 GHz ($230), a GeForce GTX 970, and 16GB of RAM. Most modern games rely more on the GPU and the amount of available RAM instead of the processor, so spending $1,700 on a 10-core CPU for gaming seems pretty wasteful.

Rise of the Tomb Raider. Image source: Square Enix.

Meanwhile, prices for high-end graphics boards are rapidly dropping. Nvidia's new GTX 1070, for example, costs $380 andoffers better performance than its top-tier Titan X, which costs around $1,000. PC Gamer's recent guide for building a high-end gaming PC noted that all the necessary components could be bought for around $2,000. As for virtual reality, "VR ready" PCs generally cost around $1,000. Lastly, a recent Valve survey found that less than20% of gamers plan to upgrade their current systems to play VR games -- which greatly limits the total addressable market of a 10-core desktop CPU.

It's really all about Moore's Law

Intel's launch of a pricey niche CPU doesn't really make sense in the context of gaming, but it makes sense in the context of Moore's Law's coming undone. That "law" claimed that the number of transistors within the same area of silicon can double every two years, and served as the foundation of Intel's "tick-tock" strategy for decades.

During a "tick" launch, Intel introduces a smaller microarchitecture with a new manufacturing process. During a "tock" launch, the microprocessors are upgraded but the die size remains the same. In the past, the tick-tock cycle was about two years long. But over the past few years, it became increasingly expensive and difficult to engineer smaller chips. In March, Intel announced that it would officially replace the 24-month tick-tock cycle with a 30-month "process, architecture, and optimization" model.

Simply put, Intel couldn't keep boosting clock speeds and keep shrinking down its chips as quickly as before, so it resorted to a cheaper way of boosting performance -- adding additional CPU cores to existing architecture. In addition to a 10-core CPU, Intel is launching six- and eight-core CPUs based on the same Broadwell-E architecture. A notable drawback of Broadwell-E is that clock speeds gradually decline as more cores are added, so Intel added the Turbo Boost feature to compensate. But Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham recently pointed out that for single-threaded tasks, "a faster CPU with fewer cores may well beat your new 10-core, $1,700 monster."

Is Intel just trying to generate media buzz?

Intel likely knows that it won't sell many 10-core desktop CPUs. But it also likely knows that announcing a "10-core" processor would generate free publicity about its processors and potentially counter the notion that its CPU upgrades weren't that dramatic anymore. It's not all that different from IBM's claimof creating the world's tiniest CPU with 7nm technology last year. That announcement initially stunned Intel investors, but it quickly became apparent that Big Blue's chip would be too costly to mass produce.

Intel also can't sidestep the slowdown in PC sales by relying on gamers, as Nvidia did, because high-end gaming relies more on add-in graphic boards than multi-core CPUs. Therefore, Intel's new six, eight, and ten-core CPUs probably won't move the needle for its Client Computing Group, which posteda 2% annual sales decline last quarter. But they represent interesting technical milestones, which might appeal to a niche group of desktop PC enthusiasts.

The article Who Will Buy Intel Corporation's $1,700 Desktop CPUs? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Leo Sun has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
What: Shares of Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing, and commercializing novel small-molecule therapeutics, shot up 58.3% last month,according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Pharma's grand acquisitor, Pfizer made an offer Anacor's board couldn't refuse.

ANAC data by YCharts

So what:Well, it wasn't a Godfather-esque proposition,but the $99.25 per share Pfizer offered for each share of this purveyor of toenail fungus ointment was far too generous for any sensible board member to turn down.

The company hasn't produced an annual profit sinceValeant Pharmaceuticalsshelled out $142.5 million to settle an intellectual property dispute in 2013.

Almost two years following Kerydin's approval for treatment of toenail fungus,its launch has been disappointing to say the least. In the first quarter of this year, Anacor recorded the minimum gross profit possible under its distribution deal with Novartis, just $13 million. This hardly covered Anacor's expenses, and the company reported a $16.1 million loss.

Now what:While its toenail fungus ointment has no legs and probably won't bring the company to profitability, an application submitted to the FDA in March seeking approval for a novel eczema ointment just might have. The trouble is, Anacor took on $287.5 million in convertible notes -- a form of debt that can be converted to shares of stock -- due about seven years from now.

Without Pfizer's intervention, Anacor could have faced serious solvency issues if ointment number two, crisaborole, failed to win approval, or performed as poorly in the market as Kerydin. But luckily, Pfizer swept in to the rescue.

As a Pfizer shareholder, I wouldn't be too thrilled about the $5.2 billion dollar cash offer, especially given the company's less than perfect record of making accretiveacquisitions.

Management believes crisaborole has peak annual sales potential of at least $2 billion.The giant's global sales force should be capable of maximizing the drug's potential, although that estimate seems awfully high. At least Pfizer refrained from mentioning "anticipated synergies" to justify the splurge.

The article Why Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Stock Jumped 58.3% in May originally appeared on Fool.com.

Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow Cory on Twitter @TMFang4apples or connect with him on LinkedIn for more healthcare industry insight. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Valeant Pharmaceuticals. 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: NRG Energy.

Don't look now, but corporate America may lead the next phase of the renewable energy revolution. And that's terrible news for utilities across the country.

Companies are looking at renewable energy as a way to save costs, lock in rates, and go green, and they may have more power to upset the utility business model than even a million homeowners installing solar panels. The defection of even a small number of large companies from the traditional grid could cause havoc in the utility industry.

The bottom line is reason 1, 2, and 3

If you look at energy from a company's perspective, there are a lot of advantages to looking into buying your own renewable energy and forgoing the utility's monopoly. Rates for solar energy in sunny states are now $0.05 per kWh, or less -- that is, less than half of what the average commercial customer pays today.

The simple fact of the matter is that utilities have little incentive to provide electricity at lower prices to commercial customers. Their incentive is to build more and more assets and then spread those costs among customers, which they've done for a hundred years.

Image source: SunPower.

Then think about the incentives for utilities and customers in the long term. A utility has no ability, or interest, to control commodity costs long-term. If natural gas prices rise, the utility will just pass the cost on to customers, as is its right as a monopoly. But commercial customers want stability and predictability in costs. If they can lock in long-term power purchase agreements from renewable energy, why not lock up the lower cost?

To put the finances of energy choice into perspective, leaving the grid was so valuable for MGM Resorts that it recently said it will pay $86.9 million to leave NV Energy and buy electricity on its own. Seriously, it's paying nearly $90 million just to cut the cord to the utility. Most customers, like Apple , which is buying energy from third-party plants and building some of its own plants, don't even have to pay fines, so the economics are even better.

If the economics didn't work, commercial customers wouldn't be looking to buy renewable energy today. But it does, and that's the biggest reason commercial customers are looking to go renewable.

The PR boost can't hurt

While economics is the real driver of commercial renewable energy projects, the PR boost can't be bad for companies. They get to call themselves green or say they have a small environmental impact, something companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have been pushing for years.

It's not clear exactly how this affects consumers' opinions about companies, but it can't hurt to appear green.

Who is winning the commercial energy market?

Unlike utility- or residential-scale solar, I think commercial solar projects will largely be won by a small handful of players. That's because commercial companies want to work with known counterparties with a track record of success building projects on time and on budget.

Two companies that are already winning in this space are First Solar and SunPower . First Solar signed a massive deal to supply Apple's headquarters with solar energy and was behind Switch's agreement to stay with NV Energy in Nevada (the data company was the first that tried to leave the grid). SunPower has built multiple projects for Apple around to world and has a pipeline of over $1 billionin commercial projects. Like First Solar, it's working primarily with larger commercial entities that can provide the scale it needs to make a dent on the income statement.

Recurrent Energy, which is owned by Canadian Solar , could also be a major player in the solar development side. The company has shown the ability to win competitive bids for utility-scale projects in North America and could develop projects that are competitive for commercial buyers. And NextEra Energy could be interesting to watch from the power producer side. It could offer a bigger suite of energy-generating options for commercial customers and has started to develop its own renewable energy projects as well.

However the commercial renewable energy market plays out, we know that companies have an appetite to buy more renewable energy and are willing to cut ties to the grid to get it. That's great news for renewable companies and terrifying for utilities,which are already struggling with slow demand growth and rising costs. If commercial customers start to leave the grid en masse, it'll only raise costs further, causing more defections. That's something investors should keep in mind as they decide where to put energy investments in the future.

The article Why Corporate America's Love of Renewable Energy Should Terrify Traditional Utilities originally appeared on Fool.com.

Travis Hoium owns shares of Apple, First Solar, and SunPower. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com and Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft and NRG Energy, Inc. and 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.
In 1980, John Mackey co-founded Whole Foods -- a store that looked to redefine what grocers could accomplish. He focused on holistic principles: offering the healthiest food possible, creating an equitable workplace, and encouraging sustainable agricultural practices. He later coined the phrase "conscious capitalism."

Seven years later, Howard Schultz bought out what is now Starbucks . Like Mackey, Schultz has a long track record of offering generous benefits for employees, as well as encouraging sustainable practices by coffee farmers across the globe.

The very first Whole Foods. Image source: Whole Foods.

In many ways, these two companies couldn't have been more alike: a focus on food and drink, run by founder/CEOs who focused on more than just the bottom line. They became "lifestyle" brands for the affluent, conscientious consumer.

Both saw their stocks -- and their underlying businesses -- suffer during the Great Recession, but as we've pulled out of that mess, Starbucks has achieved notable success and seen its stock more than triple in the past five years. Whole Foods, on the other hand, has found no such success, seeing its shares advance just 14% while the overall market surged 60% during the same time frame.

Both were first movers in under-appreciated niches

There was nothing in particular that Starbucks was offering up that other coffee shops couldn't. But for years no one thought patrons would willingly return to pay $2.00 for a cup of coffee.

Potential competition ignored the underlying goal: to become the "third place" in people's lives -- aside from work and home. Two dollars was a pittance to have a friendly place to socialize and work. And between 1995 and 2011, Starbucks increased net income by 20% per year.

Inside Starbucks' original Pike Place location, circa 1977. Image source: Seattle Municipal Archives, via Wikimedia Commons.

Whole Foods likewise didn't have a monopoly on organic produce. But for the longest time, no one took the natural/organic movement seriously enough to devote requisite shelf space. It was a very profitable venture -- net income increased by 43% per year over the same time frame

But here's where they diverged

Coming out of the Great Recession, the competition had caught on. Mom-and-pop coffee stores -- as well as fast-casual restaurants and even fast-food stalwarts like McDonald's --realized that offering coffee, Wi-Fi, and an inviting place to gather was key.

And grocers quickly saw that the natural/organic food movement was here to stay. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Krogerbecame a huge seller of organic goods; Costco was offering it in bulk; and even Wal-Martdeveloped its own private-label organics.

So why has Starbucks continued to prosper while Whole Foods hasn't.

In a word: convenience.

In its 1996 annual report, Starbucks stated that, "its customers choose among retailers primarily on the basis of quality and , and, to a lesser extent, price [emphasis added]." By the time 2011 rolled around and the competition had caught on, it was too late: Starbucks was by far the most convenient national chain to go to.

Create column charts

As you can see, the company underwent two building sprees. The first was domestic and took place from 2003 to 2007, when it increased its store count by 30% per year-- adding almost 7,000 new locations. The second was international, and took place between 2011 and 2015, when the number of stores jumped 25% per year --adding over 6,000 locations worldwide.

But Whole Foods had a different take on its advantages. In 1996, the company stated that it offered, "a broad selection of foods at competitive prices with an emphasis on customer service [emphasis added]."

There's no doubt that Whole Foods succeeded in upping the ante for grocery store customer service. The problem is that any grocer can start a new chain -- or rebrand an old one -- with a focus on customer service. The idea of "convenience" never came up as an important differentiator or strategy in the annual report.

That helps explain why Whole Foods only increased its store count by an average rate of 10% per year --less than twice as fast as Starbucks.

Create column charts

Note as well that the 26% yearly expansion rate between 2005 and 2007 was largely due to the acquisition of Wild Oats' locations. Without that, growth would have only been 7% per year during that period.

Real world examples: Which do you find more convenient?

I live in rural Wisconsin with my family. Five years ago, if we wanted organic products, we usually had to travel 30 miles to downtown Milwaukee. The Whole Foods there was one of only two locations in the entire state of Wisconsin. But then, Krogersubsidiary Roundy's opened a new grocery store that was half the distance and was basically a carbon copy of the Whole Foods experience. We don't go to the Whole Foods anymore.

But with Starbucks, there were already three locations in our tiny town of 10,000 people five years ago. While other options have surfaced, I still go back to my local Starbucks regularly. It's just that convenient.

Of course, some will argue that opening a new coffee shop is much less capital-intensive than opening a grocery store -- and they'd be right. But they'd also be missing the bigger point: It was also cheap for Starbucks' competitors, and expensive for Whole Foods' rivals.

What we thought was wise, was foolish -- and what we thought was foolish, wise

For a number of years after the Great Recession, Whole Foods adopted a strategy of opening new stores only with cash from operations. That seemedlike a fiscally responsible and wise tactic.

But it ignored what was happening: the commoditization of Whole Foods' business. Had the company decided to take on debt -- or issue more shares -- to accelerate the pace of store opening, it might be in a much better competitive position today.

Of course, shareholders at the time wouldn't have been happy. But then again, that's part of running a public company -- convincing others that you can see around the corner to prepare for what's coming.

Starbucks opened so many stores in the mid-aughts that we made jokes about Starbucks locations opening inside the bathrooms of existing locations. And when Schultz returned to the helm in 2008, he wasn't happy about the rapidity of openings. But in the end, that's turned out to be a difference maker -- a wise move that's ultimately led to market-bashing performance.

It's a humbling lesson to remember as we prognosticate about the "good" and "bad" decisions public companies make. Often times, it is only in hindsight that we can really know what was wise, and what was foolish.

The article Why Starbucks Succeeded While Whole Foods Stagnated originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brian Stoffel owns shares of Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Costco Wholesale, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market. 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.
Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne are taking baby steps along the long road to reconciliation, reports the New York Post.

Theyre not about to book a trip to the Maldives together, said a source close to the family, but they talk every day. Shes still disgusted by him.

The insider added that Sharon has been getting a lot of support since it was revealed that Ozzy had been having an alleged affair with a hair stylist, Michelle Pugh.

Sharons co-host on The Talk, Sarah Gilbert, has really been there for Sharon, and the kids [Jack andKelly] are firmly on Team Sharon, not Team Ozzy, added the source.

The paper reported that Sharon has been spotted at the Beverly Hills Hotel while Ozzy has remained at their nearby mansion.

Click here to read more in the New York Post.
Legislation that would restructure Puerto Rico's $72 billion debt problem was added to the House calendar by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday evening, putting it on track for a possible vote next week.

Set to be considered as early as Thursday, the bill, H.R. 5278, would appoint an oversight board to help the struggling U.S. territory manage its finances. Senate lawmakers have said they will wait until the House version of the bill passes instead of filing legislation of their own.

The bill has support from prominent lawmakers from both parties, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. However some Democrats oppose some elements of the legislation, which includes limiting minimum wage hikes. Some conservatives too have their issues with the bill, seeing it as a taxpayer bailout.

Last month, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act passed the House Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 29-10, after lawmakers participated in bipartisan negotiations with the White House.

Read more on WashingtonExaminer.com
A top Hillary Clinton campaign official on Sunday praised the former secretary of states involvement in the controversial 2011 Libyan intervention, even as the country has descended into chaos since dictator Muammar Qaddafi was deposed and killed.

Clintons presidential campaign chairman John Podesta lauded Clintons role in advocating for a NATO-led coalitions intervention to end a civil war in Libya that had led to countless civilian casualties.

You know, shes got a strong record to stand on when it comes to the question of Libya, Podesta said of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

But that record has come under increasing scrutiny as Libya approaches failed state status. Armed groups  including elements of ISIS  have risen up across the country, and there is no universally recognized government.

Her statement in the wake of Qaddafis death  We came, we saw, he died  has also come to haunt her as disorder spread throughout Libya.

Perhaps of even more importance to her political opponents, however, is the Benghazi terror attack that killed four Americans on Sept. 11, 2012. The attack became the key symbol for many Republicans of Clintons involvement in Libya. Several congressional hearings were held to determine Clintons exact role the night of the attack and find out what she knew and when she knew it in the aftermath.

But despite the myriad criticisms, Podesta had no issue tying the intervention firmly to Clinton.

She recommended that intervention, he said. And, you know we still have to work at it. But it was the right decision at the time.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has canceled his trip Monday to New York to meet with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump so he can monitor a tropical depression expected to hit the state, Fox News confirmed Sunday.

Scott and Trump were purportedly going to discuss Trumps general election strategy in Florida. President Obama won the state in 2008 and 2012. A RealClearPolitics.com poll average shows Trump and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton tied in a hypothetical matchup in the state.

Scott, a former businessman like Trump, was being mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick. However, the two-term governor ON Friday told CNN, which first reported the canceled meeting, that he was not interested.

Scott has endorsed Trump, who in March won the Florida primary.

Fox News' Christopher Snyder contributed to this story.
Donald Trump supporter Newt Gingrich on Sunday sharply criticized the presumptive GOP presidential nominee for his racially-sensitive remarks about the judge presiding over the Trump University civil fraud case.

It was one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. Inexcusable, the former GOP House speaker, who has become one of Trumps closest advisers, told Fox News Sunday.

Trump has argued that American-born District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whose parents are from Mexico, is biased against him, considering Trumps vow to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out Mexicans.

Hes Mexican, Trump told CNN on Friday. Were building a wall between here and Mexico.

Gingrich, whose is considered a potential Trump running-mate, also called the comment a mistake but stopped short of calling it racist.

That judge is not a Mexican. Hes an American, he said. I hope it was sloppiness.

Still, Gingrich continued to laud Trump, particularly for the first-time candidate's defeat of 16 other major GOP candidates to win the party nomination.

Im amazed at his speed, how fast he learns, Gingrich said. Hes a remarkable leader. We have a very good relationship.

However, he argued the billionaire businessman is at a turning point in which he must become more disciplined and take more of his campaign advisers advice if he wants to defeat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Compared to Hillary Clinton, Id support Donald Trump all year, Gingrich said. Shes a much more flawed person.

Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in New York that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate.

Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. His legal team has not sought to have Curiel removed.

Trump on Sunday again defended his comments about the judge and dismissed Clintons assertion that his remarks are racist.

I have been treated very unfairly by this judge, Trump told CNNs State of the Union.

In an extended back-and-forth exchange with host Jake Tapper, Trump acknowledged that Judge Curiel is indeed from Indiana but argued that hes very proud of his Mexican heritage, to the extent he is a member of a very pro-Mexico society.

Im building a wall. Im trying to keep business out of Mexico, said Trump, suggesting the situation has created a conflict of interest for the judge.

He also suggested Clinton should be put in jail for using a private email server while secretary of state and called her a stiff.

Trump, who after a series of terror attack also called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "its possible" that a Muslim judge would treat him unfairly.

Clinton on Sunday was again critical of Trumps comments about the judge, which she called inaccurate and very vicious.

"Judge Curiel is as American as I am and certainly as American as Donald Trump is, Clinton said on ABCs This Week.

She also suggested that the attacks were typical of Trumps strategy of trying to divert attention from his problems, in this case very serious fraud charges against the real estate school.

Trump's continuing ethnic slurs and rants against everyone, including a distinguished federal judge, I think makes my point rather conclusively, Clinton said.

Also on Sunday, a pair of powerful Senate Republicans warned Trump to drop his attacks on the judge.

"We're all behind him now," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding that it's time for unifying the party, not "settling scores and grudges."

"I hope he'll change his direction," the Kentucky Republican also said.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told ABC: "I don't condone the comments."

Their remarks solidify the line GOP leaders have drawn in recent days between themselves and Trump, with whom they've made a fragile peace over their sense that almost anyone would be a better president than Clinton.

The most-recent GOP pushback against Trump comes two days before presidential primaries in California, home to more Latinos than whites.

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan tepidly endorsed Trump -- but 24 hours later disavowed the billionaire's remarks about Curiel.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Top Hillary Clinton adviser John Podesta acknowledged Sunday that his candidate is fighting to win the upcoming California primary, despite needing just 60 more delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, and that Republican challenger Donald Trump is gaining strength.



Californias important, Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, told Fox News Sunday. And thats why Hillary is crisscrossing the state. And we are fighting to win here.

A total 694 Democratic delegates are available in six primaries Tuesday, including 475 in California.

Polls show Clinton essentially tied with long-shot challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in California. And a Sanders win would be a momentum-killer for Clinton as she prepares for the partys July nominating convention and to take on Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, in the general election.

We think were going to come out of Tuesday night with the delegates we need for her to be the first woman [presidential] nominee on a major party ticket in the United States, Podesta also said Sunday. Were looking forward to that.

He downplayed polls in recent weeks that show Clinton and Trump essentially tied in a general election race and in key swing states Florida and Ohio, saying the contest is just coming into focus.

However, Podesta acknowledged that the hypothetical race is indeed close for now and attributed the situation to Trumps recent success at bringing together his party, including getting a key endorsement last week from House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

I think that's what weve seen over the last few weeks, Podesta said. He has consolidated Republicans. And thats led to something of a tightening of the polls. But this has really just begun.
A forthcoming book from a former Secret Service officer assigned to the White House during Bill Clintons presidency alleges that presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office.

The book, Crisis of Character, is due to be released June 28  a month before Hillary Clinton is likely to take the stage to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia. Written by ex-Secret Service Officer Gary J. Byrne, who was posted directly outside President Clintons Oval Office, the 285-page book describes Hillary Clintons appalling leadership style as being volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants, and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else.

While most of the books contents have remained under wraps so far, the Amazon.com preview features large sections from the introduction, first two chapters and afterward. It also shows the title page, featuring a Chapter 11 titled Wild Bill.

In the introduction, Byrne said he personally observed President Clintons infidelities and was complicit in covering them up.

I even secretly disposed of sordid physical evidence that might later have been used to convict the president, Byrne wrote.

Byrne recalled an alleged fight between the first couple during the summer of 1995 in Chapter 1, The Vase. Byrne said a vase was smashed during the loud argument and the next morning President Clinton sported a shiner, a real, put-a-steak-on-it black eye. Clintons personal scheduler Nancy Hernreich allegedly told Byrne the eye condition was a result of Clintons allergy to coffee.

The book is not solely about the Clintons, however.

While writing about his career prior to the Oval Office post, Byrne revealed an incident on May 30, 1983, when he said Russian bombers were spotted 5 miles off the U.S. coast while President Ronald Reagan was holding an economic summit in Williamsburg, Va. Byrne said U.S. fighter jets ended up shooting a warning missile right past a bombers nose and the Soviet bombers turned around.

The media never heard of it, Byrne wrote.

While books about the Clintons written by supposed insiders are plentiful, Byrnes credibility is bolstered by reporting at the time of the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton sex scandal. A New York Times article from April 1998 reported that Byrne, a uniformed member of the Secret Service assigned to the White House, told the deputy chief of staff in 1996 about concerns he had regarding Lewinskys visits to the West Wing of the White House. A CNN article from April 1998 said Byrnes complaints about Lewinsky ultimately led to her being transferred to the Pentagon.

Byrne said in the introduction to Crisis that what he saw in the 1990s sickened me.

We were supposed to lay our lives  not our consciences  on the line, he wrote.

Neither Clinton has commented on the book.
Donald Trump has made his first congressional endorsement by backing GOP North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers in a hotly contested primary battle.

Ellmers is facing fellow GOP Rep. George Holding for the states 2nd Congressional District seat, after a federal court panel ordered their districts redrawn.

The decision has forced Ellmers, Holding, 3rd Congressional District, and Dr. Greg Brannon, a two-time Senate candidate, into a three-way primary contest Tuesday.

Ellmers campaign released a 40-second robocall Saturday from Trump declaring his support for her re-election.

I need her help in Washington so we can work together to defeat ISIS, secure our border, and bring back jobs and frankly so many other things, Trump says. Renee knows how to do it. She gets it, and together we will make America great again.

Ellmers told FoxNews.com in a statement: I am proud to be the first member of Congress to have received an endorsement from the Republican nominee and soon-to-be president Donald Trump.

Ellmers also said Washington is in desperate need of leaders who aren't beholden to the establishment 'good ole boys' and who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work for the American people -- and I am honored to have Mr. Trump endorse me as one of these conservative leaders.

An aide to Holding argued Trumps backing wont change the incumbents record on the issues.

Ellmers voted for (President) Obama's omnibus budget deal, voted to support Obama's executive amnesty for illegal immigrants and supported John Kasich in a straw poll during the (GOP) presidential primary, the aide said Sunday. Now she's trying to fool voters to get reelected.

Brannon could not be reached for comment.

Ellmers, elected in 2010, represents about 16 percent of the newly drawn 2nd District, while Holding represents about 60 percent.

Most of North Carolina's primaries were held on March 15, but the court decision forced the Legislature to redraw parts of the congressional map and caused the state to move the House primaries to early June.

Outside groups -- including the pro-life/antiabortion groups the National Right to Life Committee and Susan B. Anthony List -- argue Holding, elected in 2012, is more conservative than Ellmers.

They criticized Ellmers after she temporarily halted and forced changes last year to a House bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.
Firefighters are spending the weekend battling several wildfires in California, New Mexico and Arizona.

A wildfire is burning nearly 12 square miles in the San Mateo Mountains near Magdalena, which is about 100 miles southwest of Albuquerque. The fire was caused by lightning and is 20 percent contained.

In Arizona, firefighters are battling a much larger blaze. The Juniper Fire just south of the town of Young is now burning on over 28 square miles in the Tonto National Forest. That fire is also 20 percent contained and was caused by lightning.

In Southern California, a brush fire has burned 30 acres near Temecula, forcing the closure of the southbound I-15 freeway. No homes are immediately threatened.

Officials say the extreme heat and a dry winter mean there's a high risk of wildfires. Summer has typically been considered wildfire season but experts now say blazes happen year-round.
President Barack Obama has shortened the sentences of 42 people serving time for drug-related offenses, continuing a push for clemency that has ramped up in the final year of his administration.

Roughly half of the 42 receiving commutations Friday were serving life sentences. Most are nonviolent offenders, although a few were also charged with firearms violations. The White House said many of them would have already finished their sentences if they had been sentenced under current, less onerous sentencing guidelines.

The latest group of commutations brings to 348 the total number of inmates whose sentences Obama has commuted  more than the past seven presidents combined, the White House said. The pace of commutations and the rarer use of pardons are expected to increase as the end of Obama's presidency nears.

"He remains committed to using his clemency power throughout the remainder of the administration to give more deserving individuals that same second chance," White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post.

Eggleston added that the offenders receiving commutations had "more than repaid their debt to society and earned this second chance."

One of the offenders, Douglas Ray Dunkins Jr. of Fort Worth, Texas, had been held up by civil liberties groups as one of the most egregious examples of over-sentencing. Dunkins had only a minor shoplifting conviction on his prior record in 1993 when, at age 26, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report. No drugs were found, but prosecutors used testimony from co-conspirators who testified in exchange for lighter sentences, the ACLU said.

The ACLU said Dunkins had worked for nearly a decade as a paralegal helping other inmates with legal work and wanted to mentor youth if he ever got out. Dunkins is slated to be released in October.

"The day-to-day of prison is taking an even greater toll on me. ... I wake up every day and pray in a cell that's white and grey with little room to move around in between me and my cellmate," Dunkins wrote in an opinion piece last year in The Guardian. "Clemency is something that I long for  not just for me, but for a lot of inmates who have served well over 20-plus years for crimes involving crack cocaine."

Though there's wide bipartisan support for a criminal justice overhaul, what had looked like a promising legislative opportunity in Obama's final year has mostly lost steam. As with Obama's other priorities, the chaotic presidential campaign has increasingly made cooperation among Republicans and Democrats in Congress difficult to achieve this year.

Obama has long called for getting rid of strict sentences for drug offenses, arguing they lead to excessive punishment and sky-high incarceration rates. With Obama's support, the Justice Department in recent years has directed prosecutors to rein in the use of harsh mandatory minimums.

The Obama administration has also expanded criteria for inmates applying for clemency, targeting nonviolent offenders who have behaved well in prison and would have received shorter sentences if convicted of the same crime a few years later. Civil liberties groups hailed that move but have since raised concerns that too few are actually receiving clemency under the policy.
As many as 276 small dogs were rescued from a New Jersey home in what local authorities were calling one of the worst animal hoarding cases theyve ever seen.

Officers with the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the dogs were living in deplorable conditions in a home in Howell, the Asbury Park Press reported Saturday.

The SPCA seized the dogs Thursday after an animal control officer was called to find a dog that had gotten loose.

Most of these dogs have never seen the outside of their house before, the SPCAs Ross Licitra told the paper.

Licitra said most of the animals were in fair condition. He said officers found no dead dogs.

Officials said charges are expected to be filed against the couple who own the house.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A fast-moving brush fire swept through hills in Southern California on Saturday, threatening 3,000 homes, damaging a few and forcing hundreds of people to flee, some with pets and livestock.

The fire erupted in late afternoon in tinder-dry brush as temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees in the canyons and ridges northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

A handful of fires erupted in Calabasas and the neighboring West Hills area of Los Angeles but the West Hills blaze was quickly doused while other fires combined and grew to more than 200 acres in a matter of hours, fire officials said.

At its peak, 50-foot-high flames raced along ridgelines and torched trees and brush very close to million-dollar Spanish-style homes below.

Three homes were damaged although the extent of the damage wasn't immediately clear, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Keith Mora said.

Several other buildings, including some at a city park, also were damaged.

2 of the helicopters working the #OldFire are Firehawks capable of up to 1000 gallons per drop (@L2_Digital) pic.twitter.com/0K0ckxmH21  LACoFireAirOps (@LACoFireAirOps) June 4, 2016

Three neighborhoods that crowded on twisty streets below the hillsides were ordered evacuated. They might not be able to return until Sunday afternoon, Mora said.

About 200 homes and some 500 to 600 people were under the mandatory evacuation orders, Mora said, but he urged the others to consider leaving in order to avoid creating a traffic crush later if it becomes necessary to remove them.

"We're dealing with a fire that's moving in every direction simultaneously...we can't get to everybody," Battalion Chief Dennis Cross told KNBC-TV.

Some horse-owners in the area put the animals in trailers and hauled them away.

Authorities set up an evacuation center for people with large animals at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.

Around 200 firefighters, aided by bulldozers and water-dropping helicopters, battled the blaze and as night fell and the weather cooled, they were making significant progress.

"The threat is substantially less," Mora said. "There's just some hot spots within this whole area. I do see a lot of white smoke."

By 10 p.m., the fire was 15 percent contained.

The fire may have started when a car hit a power pole and knocked down a power line, sparking flames in the tinder-dry brush, fire officials said.


A recent investigation shows that 30 percent of illegal immigrants who committed crimes were charged with new offenses  such as rape, child molestation and attempted murder  contrary to assurances from federal officials that the criminals rarely went on to re-offend.

The investigation by The Boston Globe revealed that 30 percent of 323 criminal immigrants released in New England from 2008-2012 went on to re-offend, a rate more than four times as high as previously suggested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

While speaking before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee in 2011, ICE Executive Associate Director Gary Mead said only 7 percent of illegal aliens released since 2009 had been re-booked into ICE custody. But The Globe review of records in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine showed recidivism was substantially higher.

The Globe investigation took three years, as staffers searched police logs, Internet databases, court records and media reports to identify which criminal immigrants had committed new crimes. A judge ordered the names of the 323 immigrants released in 2013.

Among the crimes The Globe uncovered:

- A Massachusetts man marked for deportation after serving jail time for hitting his ex-girlfriend on the head with a hammer was released in October 2009. He later found the woman and stabbed her multiple times.

- A Maine man with a long criminal record robbed a man at knifepoint outside a 7-Eleven soon after his release from ICE custody.

- ICE fought to deport Jean Jacques to Haiti in 2012, but released him when Haiti wouldnt accept him. Jacques stabbed a Connecticut man to death in 2015.

ICE is committed to continually improving the agencys ability to track and manage ever-evolving agency-related data, but the agency does not have statistically reliable information on recidivism rates prior to (2013), ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer told The Globe in an email.

ICE has released 86,288 criminals nationally from 2013-2015.
A 21-year-old man with mental health issues who allegedly shot three people, stole a car and struck and killed a Memphis police officer Saturday was charged with first-degree murder on Sunday.

Authorities said officers previously made an emergency commitment of Justin Welch in December 2013, two and a half years before the crime spree that ended in the death of Officer Verdell Smith.

Welch is also charged with vehicular homicide, evading arrest, theft and reckless driving.

Police have not yet established a motive.

Smith, 46, was an 18-year veteran of the police force. Hes survived by a father, fiance, son and two daughters.

"This highlights the dangers officers face every day," Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings said.

Police said two people were in critical condition after Welch shot them near a Westys restaurant at about 10:00 p.m. They said Welch then ran into a Bass Pro Pyramid and shot a male employee. The condition of the employee wasnt immediately known.



Martin Norris and Jake Schorr IV, two Westys employees, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that a man was talking loudly to himself, walked up to two customers who were sitting at a picnic table in front of the restaurant and shot them.

Police said Welch fled in a vehicle and struck Smith.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland urged the city in a statement to pray for Smith and his family.

"I am angry this morning -- angry at the senseless loss of a dedicated public servant, and angry at the absolutely unacceptable level of violence in our city," Strickland said. "We must not accept this as our norm. I most certainly will not, and I will continue to act to make our city safer."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The heavy rain that's been hovering over parts of Southeast and Central Texas and caused deadly flooding began to lift Saturday, but officials said the flooding emergency near the Gulf Coast was worsening and Army officials kept up their investigation of a training exercise that turned deadly at Fort Hood.

Only the wheels of an Army transport truck were visible after swift floodwaters washed the 2-ton vehicle from a low-water crossing on Thursday, killing nine soldiers, Coryell County emergency medical services chief Jeff Mincy told the Killeen Daily Herald. Mincy said he arrived at the scene about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and that firefighters had already pulled the three surviving soldiers from the rushing waters of usually dry Owl Creek.

"I can't estimate how fast it was flowing, but it was faster than I would have felt comfortable putting anything into the water," Mincy said. "When we did find the vehicle, we could see the tires sticking up out of the water, so in that position where the vehicle settled, it had to have been about 8 feet deep."

#RedCross meeting with people in Richmond, Texas as they begin the recovery process following #TexasFloods pic.twitter.com/JRB3cVUo7L  Red Cross Houston (@RedCrossHouston) June 5, 2016

The bodies of five soldiers from the Central Texas post were recovered Thursday and four were found Friday, while the three surviving soldiers were discharged Friday from Fort Hood's hospital and returned to duty.

Fort Bend County is 880 square miles and is estimated to have had 17% of the County covered by the #BrazosRiverFlood pic.twitter.com/7LR80777h9  FBCSO Texas (@FBCSO) June 4, 2016

Late Saturday night, Fort Hood officials released the names of eight of the nine soldiers who died. They identified them as Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, of Brooklyn, New York; Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, of Twentynine Palms, California; Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, of Milton, Florida; Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, of Palmetto, Florida; Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, of San Angelo, Texas; Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, of Dunn, North Carolina; Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, 21, of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, of Valparaiso, Indiana.

Officials with the post say the name of the ninth soldier who died won't be released until family can be notified.

In Southeast Texas, water levels began to recede Saturday along upstream portions of the Brazos River, but the peril increased downstream as the water churned toward the Gulf of Mexico. Emergency officials in Brazoria County warned residents in East Columbia, Bailey's Prairie and Bar-X to be prepared to evacuate their homes.

The Brazos River stood at 52.55 feet near midday Saturday at Rosharon in northern Brazoria County, which is 9.55 feet above flood stage. It is expected to crest at 52.8 feet late Sunday morning  third-highest crest on record at that gauge.

The weather ranged from drizzle to bouts of heavy rain, Brazoria County spokeswoman Sharon Trower said. About 2,000 homes have been ordered evacuated in the Rosharon area, about 30 miles south of Houston, and emergency shelters were filling, she said. No injuries have been reported in the county from the flood. Three prisons in the area have been evacuated since last week.

Except for widely scattered showers in Central and East Texas, the bulk of the rain Saturday was confined to the upper Texas Gulf Coast and the southern tip of Texas.

In Fort Bend County, just southwest of Houston, emergency officials reported seeing slightly improved conditions in flood-struck areas. And while the rain-swollen Brazos has ceased to rise, County Judge Robert Hebert said, some neighborhoods remain cut off by floodwaters and many local streets remain impassable.
A California judges decision to hand a six-month jail sentence to a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus after a party is being decried as a slap on the wrist.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Turner, 20, to six months in county jail and three years probation after the woman who was assaulted read the court an emotional statement that has since gone viral.

Turner must also complete a sex offender management program and register as a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.

In her statement, the woman described how the attack left her emotionally scarred.

"My independence, natural joy, gentleness, and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition. I became closed off, angry, self-deprecating, tired, irritable, empty," she said.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he was disappointment that the judge did not sentence Turner to prison.

"The punishment does not fit the crime," Rosen said in a statement after the sentence was announced Thursday. "The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim's ongoing trauma. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape."

In his sentencing, Persky cited Turners age and lack of criminal history for his so-called lenient decision.

A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him  I think he will not be a danger to others, Persky said.

Turner was found guilty in March of three felony sexual assault counts for the January 2015 attack, which was interrupted by two graduate students who saw Turner assaulting a partially clothed woman behind a dumpster after a fraternity party. Turner tried to flee the scene but was pinned down until police arrived and arrested him.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that Turners blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. The three-time All American high school swimmer from Ohio withdrew from Stanford after the arrest.

The woman, who is not a Stanford student, told authorities she drank had about four shots of whisky before going to the party and then drank vodka there. The next thing she said she remembered was waking up at a San Jose hospital, where a deputy told her she might have been a victim of sexual assault.

"I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I don't want my body anymore. I was terrified of it," the woman wrote in a letter to Turner and Judge Persky that she read in the courtroom during the sentencing. "I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else."

In an editorial, the San Jose Mercury News called the six-month county jail sentence "a slap on the wrist."

"Brock Turner's six-month jail term for sexual assault of an intoxicated, unconscious woman on the Stanford campus last year is a setback for the movement to take campus rape seriously," the newspaper said. "If Turner's slap on the wrist sentence is a setback, activists can take some comfort that the jurors at the trial in March saw what happened as a very serious crime."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A West Virginia couple was arrested after they tried to sell the womans 3-month-old baby reportedly to buy drugs, authorities say.



Jonathan Flint, 20, and Ashley Harmon, 25, of Layland, West Virginia, attempted to sell the infant for $1,000 and then $500, WSAZ-TV reported.

Investigators believe Harmon and her fiance were going to use the money to buy drugs, the station reported.

Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler was quoted in a press release as saying the case was shocking.

Law enforcement officers frequently deal with some pretty strange situations, he said. A situation like this is really out of the ordinary, though.

Flint and Harmon, who were arrested Friday, are accused of offering to sell the baby to neighbor Carolyn Redden after going to her home May 28. Redden knew Flint but not Harmon.

Redden told WSAZ she didnt want the baby, who appeared sick. She said they then left the baby with her to go to the store and never came back.

She said she eventually called 911 because the baby would not stop crying and was shaking. She said an EMS worker who showed up told her the infant may be suffering from drug withdrawal.

Child welfare workers took custody of the baby.



Flint and Harmon are facing charges of selling or attempting to sell a child and child neglect.

They were behind bars after their bail was set at $100,000.
An Iraqi Christian who escaped the ISIS stronghold of Mosul says she was "married and divorced" as many as nine times a night, all to give her tormentors a twisted justification for rape, according to an interview conducted by an advocacy group and reviewed by Fox News.

"They had me whenever they would desire it," the woman, whose name was withheld for her own protection, says in the interview with the nonprofit group In Defense of Christians (IDC). "Especially this one, Farouk, who was obsessed with me and he would say, 'I like the people of Jesus.'"

The rapes were preceded by phony marriage ceremonies that the Islamic radicals believed gave them permission to attack her, she said.

"What wedding?" said the woman, who appears to be in her thirties and is seen sobbing and shaking in parts of the interview. "For them it was a wedding, but what kind of wedding is this?"

The woman said her story is not uncommon, and that she wants it told so the world will act to protect Christians, said In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini.

Click here for genocide report by Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians

"She asked for her story to be heard in the United States - that it is happening not only to her," said Baaklini. "It's happened to many, many Christians, Yazidis and Yazidi woman, and others."

In the interview, a tape and partial transcript of which were provided to Fox News, the woman recounts how her husband vanished after ISIS took control of Mosul in 2014. Baaklini said she left two older children in the care of neighbors, and along with her new baby, began searching for him.

"People were leaving, everyone was leaving, I mean, even the Muslims were leaving," she says. "But I didn't have anybody and I had hope in my husband and I said to myself, 'If I left, where would I go?'

"I had no idea where I would go to, so I stayed," she says.

ISIS fighters confronted her, and discovered a crucifix tattoo on her arm, she says. They took her and the baby to a school that had been converted into a slavery camp where she was repeatedly assaulted.

The U.S. decision earlier this year to officially designate the plight of Christians in Iraq as genocide is one step, the next should be the creation of a safe haven for them similar to the way the U.S. and NATO sought to protect Muslims in the 1990s during the Bosnian war, said Baaklini.

"They just want to live in peace and pray and be free, so the safe haven, a secured area would be the next step for us to help them go back to their homes," Baaklini said.

The advocacy group also provided what appeared to be an ISIS price list for slaves, where the highest prices were demanded for children between the ages of 1 and 9. The woman's claims about rape camps, and the slave price could not be independently confirmed but were reviewed by outside experts and judged to be consistent with the terror group's brutal tactics.

Referring to women and children as "Merchandise" and "Spoils of War," the document said the prices are mandatory and those who violate the "price controls will be executed ... It is not allowed for any customer to purchase more than 3 spoils, except for foreigners like Turks, Syrians and Gulf Arabs."

In additional to sexual exploitation, outside experts said ISIS also sells woman and children as house servants and for manual labor. IDC said the Iraqi Christian was able to escape because an ISIS fighter in the school of death was from her Mosul neighborhood, recognized her, and allowed her to slip away.
An American sailor was arrested Sunday on suspicion of drunken driving causing an accident on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, where public anger has run high over crimes by U.S. military personnel.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, assigned to Kadena base in Okinawa, was arrested after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles late Saturday, police spokesman Takashi Shirado. She was not injured but two people in the other cars were injured, one in the arm and the other in the chest, he said.

The U.S. military did not immediately respond to email requesting comment.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke with U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy about the arrest, with Kishida asking the U.S. do more to prevent a recurrence, the ministry said in a statement.

Kennedy offered her regrets to the family of those injured, the ministry said. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

American military personnel are under a midnight curfew and off-base drinking is banned through later this month in Okinawa after an American, a former Marine who worked on a U.S. military base, was arrested after he led police to a woman's body. He is being held on suspicion of abandoning the body, while police investigate.

Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Protests are common on the island, where residents feel they are being forced with an unfair burden of housing the U.S. troops under a bilateral security agreement.

The suspected murder of the woman was such a critical issue it came up during President Barack Obama's recent visit to Japan. Obama offered his condolences and promised the U.S. would fully cooperate to have the man prosecuted under Japanese law.

Japan and the U.S. have been working together to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps air station from a densely populated neighborhood in central Okinawa to another part of the island, but the project has repeatedly been delayed. Protesters are demanding that the facility be moved off Okinawa.

In March, a sailor was arrested on charges of raping a Japanese woman. A 1995 rape of a schoolgirl in which three U.S. servicemen were convicted set off widespread outrage. Although sexual crimes are especially sensitive, people in Okinawa say car accidents are also a problem, because sometimes the driver will flee back into the base grounds in a hit-and-run, making prosecution difficult.
The teacher crisis is real, and were not going to work our way out of it simply by making it easier to hire teachers.
Explore Outfitters Launches A Water Resistant Hiking Backpack For Outdoor Adventuring

A newly released water resistant hiking backpack by Explore Outfitters offers a quality and affordable product that encourages people to go outdoors.

--

Colorado Springs, United States - May 31, 2016 - Explorers will now have a cheaper way to enjoy outdoor adventures as Explore Outfitters launches their Water Resistant Outdoor Hiking Backpack.

"We felt that in light of embracing the upcoming summer season, this was the perfect time to launch our 40L hiking backpack. " said Shawn Gibson, the founder of Explore Outfitters. "We wanted our customers to have access to cheaper outdoor products and still have the same quality as the mainstream brands. Our company encourages people to enjoy the outdoors and launching the Explore Outfitters Hiking Backpack is just one way to fulfill that goal."

The Water Resistant Outdoor Hiking Backpack was created in response to rising demand of impermeable travel bags. After hearing the plight of hikers getting soaked during downpours on long trail hikes, Explore Outfitters immediately moved its Water Resistant Outdoor Hiking Backpack option to the top of its priorities.

"Hike, fish, explore, camp, shop, and dine - these are some of Colorado's major activities during spring and summer," Gibson said. "Our hiking backpack for women and men does not only help organize things better but also helps carry the right amount of weight."

Explore Outfitter's water resistant 40L backpack features a a top-loading compartment with expandable design and a variety of compartments for extra storage and organization options. Made from high-density Ripstop Polyester, the bag keeps the contents inside dry during inclement weather. It also contains its own water reservoir pouch to hold hydration bladders. The straps on the sides offer good compression for gear in the backpack and has a mesh padded hip belt to help distribute the backpack's weight between the shoulders, back, and hips . The bag makes good company for camping, backpacking, travel, and sports.

According to Gibson, the backpack is not only good for men but also for women. "Women typically want backpacks that range from 40 to 70 liters for one to three day backpacking trip and our backpack is just perfect for that," he said. "With a price much more affordable compared to other outdoor brands, people will truly enjoy this product ."

The water resistant hiking backpack has also received rave reviews on Amazon which made Gibson proud. One customer said, "The backpack is great for minimalist backpackers who want to carry less weight and have a decent amount of gear. Having a 40L backpack that is lightweight and weights only a couple of pounds makes it impressive."

Gibson emphasized that the company will continue to create products promoting the outdoors. "Our team has made incredible efforts to ensure customers enjoy great quality for a reasonable price. Whether customers are looking for outdoor essentials for men or women, they are sure to have a variety of affordable options in our shop."

Explore Outfitters Water Resistant Hiking Backpack is available on Amazon.com:

With a 100 percent money back guarantee, Gibson makes sure that any customer who is not satisfied with the product will get full refund or a new bag in exchange for the returned item.

For more information about the Water Resistant Hiking Backpack and other Explore Outfitter products , please visit

For more information about us, please visit http://exploreoutfitters.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Shawn Gibson

Email: support@exploreoutfitters.com

Organization: Explore Outftiters

Address: 5085 List Drive, Suite 308

Phone: 719-309-0104

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/explore-outfitters-launches-a-water-resistant-hiking-backpack-for-outdoor-adventuring/117435

Release ID: 117435

For more information visit r



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Stumbling onto the high school campus as greenhorn freshmen, students often need a period of time to transition to a new educational experience.

The students work through challenges, reach new heights in a variety of arenas and to put it simply, grow into young men and women. It goes fast and before long, its time to turn the tassels.

That particular message was among the points that Philomath High School senior Rhuby Noriyuki outlined in her student speech on a hot Saturday afternoon at Clemens Field.

Rhuby said it perfectly  they started out as freshmen lost  but yet they persevered and stayed the course and look at them now, said retiring PHS principal Ken Ball, who was seeing off his last senior class. And thats their motto, look at us now.

This years graduating class of 97 was the smallest at Philomath in several years. Since 2002, the average PHS graduating class size has been 131 with the number topping 140 on four occasions, including last year's group.

I cant believe Im graduating, said Jessica Berger, one of eight valedictorians and a student who attended school in Philomath since kindergarten. Weve been working so hard to get to this point and when youre little, you feel like its so far away and then you feel the same in high school and all of a sudden its here, its surreal.

Paige Celorie, another valedictorian, wasnt so sure it she was ready to walk off campus for the final time.

Its definitely tough to leave all the friends that Ive made here and I know that Ill see them around, but itll be a big change, Celorie said. Its been a lot of work but Im really excited to see the next chapter in my life begin. Its a little bit scary but also exciting.

Kelsey Provance, who earned the Outstanding Senior Award and was another valedictorian, was thrilled after she and the other students threw their mortar boards up into the air.

It feels so amazing, Provance said over the roar of excited students, families and friends. We worked so hard and Im so proud of all of my classmates. We made it.

Along with Berger, Celorie and Provance, the other valedictorians were Jema Bacho, Chad Beeton, Madison Caples, Justice Heern and Jacob Esbenshade.

Ball called his final graduation bittersweet, yet very rewarding.

There are so many stories of great kids  and I have that every year, Ball said. Every group of graduates that comes through, its just been rewarding for me very much.

Ball also pointed out the commitment of the schools staff for sticking with students the whole way. Many students have a teacher that made a difference in their educational journey.

For Berger, science teacher Len Cerny was that person.

He really brought the subject to life for me and showed me what this class is and that I can understand more than I thought I could, said Berger, who will pursue a nursing degree at Murray State University in Kentucky. I can do a lot more than I think I can. I have the right tools on my side.

Celorie, who also earned the outstanding in activities senior award, found a strong connection with math teacher Jodi Moade.

Im a huge math geek and she has just brought my love for math and problem solving to a whole new level, said Celorie, who will head to Oregon State with plans to major in general engineering. I mean, shes just the kind of teacher that you want to go get help from because you can talk to her about just about anything.

Clay Youker was a double winner among the senior student awards with outstanding athlete and outstanding in activities. Other special award winners included Kayley Kildea (outstanding sportsmanship), Dawson Brattain (outstanding sportsmanship), Kendra Sheeder (outstanding athlete), Rebekah Collins (outstanding citizenship), Grant Gardner (outstanding citizenship), Kallie Hagel (outstanding leadership), Jacob Esbenshade (outstanding leadership), Madison Caples (outstanding in enthusiasm) and Caleb Henderer (outstanding enthusiasm).

You are joining a proud and long list of graduates at Philomath High School, Ball told students during his final graduation speech. You are and always will be, Warriors.
China Coast Guard

The leadership of China's coast guard was transferred from oceanic authorities to the country's army beginning 01 July 2018, a move that analyst said will enable it to play a bigger role in emergencies and crises including war. A marine police corps under the Chinese People's Armed Police Force will be established to guard China's marine rights and function as a law enforcement body. The decision was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, on 22 June 2018. The coast guard was previously administrated by the State Oceanic Administration.

The change put the coast guard under the direct administration of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), enabling the China Coast Guard (CCG) to be more involved in military drills and daily exercises with People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. The coast guard can cooperate more efficiently with the PLA Navy when involved in emergencies and war. The coast guard is responsible for fighting criminal maritime activities, search and rescue, and enforcing laws including maritime resource exploration, environmental protection, fishery management and anti-smuggling efforts. Coast guard ships would be armed with more powerful small diameter cannons instead of water cannon, Song said. Under the leadership of the CMC, ship crews could also be authorized to carry fire arms. A coordination mechanism will be established among the CCG, public security bureaus and relevant administrative departments.

At the annual National People's Congress in March 2018, delegates voted to put the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force. Since January 2018, this military police division answered directly to the Central Military Commission, a body chaired by President Xi Jinping. According to the language authorizing the reorganization, the move was required to fully implement the [Chinese Communist] Partys absolute leadership over the PLA and other armed forces."

Since 2013, the China Coast Guard had been a division of the State Oceanic Administration, which is under the civilian Ministry of Land and Resources. In addition, the State Oceanic Administration - itself just five years old - was be disbanded. The agency was created in 2013 to bring together all of China's maritime law enforcement units under one umbrella. Its functions were taken over by the newly formed Ministry of Natural Resources, which also replacee the Ministry of Land and Resources and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

The use of civilian maritime security agency vessels has consistently been a successful tactic by China in staking claims to maritime territories. During the 2012 Scarborough Reef and Senkaku Island tensions, the China Maritime Surveillance (CMS) and Fisheries Law Enforcement Command (FLEC) ships were responsible for directly managing the disputes on a daily basis, while the PLA Navy maintained a more distant presence away from the immediate vicinity of the contested waters. China prefers to use its civilian maritime agencies in these disputes, and use the PLA Navy further ashore from disputed areas or as an escalatory measure.

China had five different departments and maritime law enforcement tasks. They belong to the higher authorities from different business perspectives respectively responsible for law enforcement within their respective business areas. According to Chinese statistics, there were about 40,000 people in maritime law enforcement jobs.

Lyle J. Goldstein noted in 2010 that "China remains relatively weak in the crucially important middle domain of maritime power, that between commercial prowess and hard military power, which is concerned with maritime governanceenforcing a nations own laws and ensuring good order off its coasts. Despite major improvements over the last decade, Chinas maritime enforcement authorities remain balkanized and relatively weakdescribed in a derogatory fashion by many Chinese experts as so many dragons stirring up the sea. In Northeast Asia, Chinas weak maritime enforcement capacities are the exception, especially when compared to the coast guard capacities of Japan (or, outside the region, of the United States). Indeed, Japans coast guard was recently described as almost, if not quite, a second navy for Tokyo. Chinas relative weakness in this area is a mystery..."

Develop the marine economy and build China into a maritime power was a new goal set at the 18th CPC National Congress. At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the country's leaders announced that the nation would accelerate the development of its ocean resources, resolutely safeguard its maritime rights and interests, and develop into a big maritime power. A big maritime power is one that develops the seas and its resources to benefit the country and safeguard its maritime territories and rights. A big maritime power is also one that develops its marine resources and maritime economy, protects its marine ecology and boosts its coastal defenses.

By becoming a big maritime power, China can improve the development pattern of its marine resources - making it more reasonable and orderly - coordinate the distribution of land and sea resources and make its economy sustainable. Becoming a big maritime power will help China develop innovative marine technology by promoting deeper research into significant marine issues and it will help China protect its marine ecology and biodiversity. On the military front, it will help China strengthen its maritime forces and coastal security, and help it protect its overseas interests.

Meng Hongwei, the vice-minister of public security, was named as the head of the Maritime Police Bureau and the deputy director of the State Oceanic Administration, according to the State Oceanic Administration. The agency held a press conference on 19 March 2013 to announce the appointment after a restructuring plan was unveiled on 10 March 2013 to integrate the country's maritime law enforcement forces. Under the plan, the newly built Maritime Police Bureau will unify multiple marine forces, including the China Maritime Surveillance, the coast guard forces of the Ministry of Public Security, the fisheries law enforcement command of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the maritime anti-smuggling authorities of the General Administration of Customs.

China's top oceanic administration formally went into operation 23 July 2013 after months of restructuring. A new name board of China Coast Guard was officially put outside its headquarters in Beijing. The status of the former State Oceanic Administration was obscure, with some sources reporting it had been replaced by the Coast Guard, and other resporting that the Coast Guard was subordnate to the SOA. The restructured body integrates the functions of China Marine Surveillance, the coast guard forces under the Ministry of Public Security, the fisheries law enforcement command with the Ministry of Agriculture and maritime anti-smuggling police of the General Administration of Customs.

It will be seen that there is some ambiguity in the translation of agency names from Chinese to English. The "State Oceanic Administration" [SOA] is also rendered as the "National Oceanic Administration" (NOA) while the terms "China Coast Guard" and "China Maritime Police Bureau (CMPB)" are used rather interchangably. Most sources prefer State Oceanic Administration [SOA] for the pre-existing agency, and "China Coast Guard" for the agency newly formed in 2013.

The move was made as part of the Chinese government's efforts to restructure its cabinet earlier this year, along with five other departments, to enhance maritime law enforcement and strengthen protection and use of its oceanic resources. The new administration is supervised by the Ministry of Land and Resources, and implements maritime law enforcement and safeguard the country's sovereignty over territorial waters within the jurisdiction of the China Coast Guard.

On the afternoon of 30 July 2013, the eighth group study session on the development of a maritime power was held by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping, who presided over the study session, stressed that to develop the marine sector is an important part in Chinas efforts to construct a socialist country with Chinese characteristics. "To protect our nations maritime rights and interests, we should take a more balanced approach. We love peace and will adhere to the path of peaceful development, but that doesnt mean that the country will abandon its legitimate rights and interests, in particular with regards to the nations core interests. Safeguarding state sovereignty and security is consistent with the interests of development, and enforcement should be enhanced to match the improvement of comprehensive national strength. "We should settle dispute peacefully through negotiations, and strive to maintain peace and stability. Meanwhile, we should be prepared to cope with complicated issues, and improve our capabilities to resolutely maintain the nations maritime rights and interests. China will continue to follow the principle of sovereignty residing with us, shelving disputes and seeking joint development for areas over which China owns sovereign rights, promote friendly cooperation for mutual benefits, while pursuing and expanding common converging interests with other countries. "The Chinese government has been consistently upholding the principle of sovereignty residing with us, shelving disputes and seeking joint development for areas over which China owns sovereign rights."

The new administration's duty on the integrated marine management and the maritime law enforcement will be strengthened, according to a circular issued by the State Council on 09 June 2013. Three maritime police branches, 11 police corps and its detachments across China's coastal provincial-level regions will be set to perform law enforcement, reads the circular. "By integrating five maritime divisions, it is conducive to the unity of command, and can help avoid overlaps," Yang Mian, a professor of international relations at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times.

"In addition, the new agency will also make our law enforcement more powerful. Except for China Marine Surveillance, those four administrative divisions that were not allowed to be equipped with weapons can be armed now," Yang said, adding that will be helpful to turn the situation around when they face other countries' maritime armed forces.

The maritime police command, a department under the SOA, is tasked with commanding and deploying marine police officers. The maritime police consists of the North Sea, East Sea and South Sea branches, with a total of 11 corps across China's coastal provincial-level regions.

On 10 March 2013 China announced plans to restructure the country's top oceanic administration to enhance maritime law enforcement and better protect and use its oceanic resources. The move would bring China's maritime law enforcement forces, currently scattered in different ministries, under the unified management of one single administration, according to a report to be delivered by State Councilor Ma Kai at the annual parliamentary session. The new agency, still named National Oceanic Administration (NOA), would have under its control the coast guard forces of the Public Security Ministry, the fisheries law enforcement command of the Agriculture Ministry, and the maritime anti-smuggling police of the General Administration of Customs. The NOA used to only have one maritime law enforcement department, China Marine Surveillance. The law enforcement agency of the expanded administration will be called the Maritime Police Bureau, Ma said. Analysts said law enforcement vessels currently painted with various ministerial logos will fall under the bureau, a Chinese version of the coast guard.

The move aimed at solving the problems of low efficiency in maritime law enforcement, improving protection and use of oceanic resources, and better safeguarding the country's maritime rights and interests, according to the report. The proposed administration, under the Ministry of Land and Resources, would carry out law enforcement activities in the name of China maritime police bureau and under the operational direction of the Ministry of Public Security. Apart from law enforcement, other functions of the new administration include outlining oceanic development plan, supervising and managing the use of sea waters, and protecting oceanic environment, the report said. A high-level consultation and coordinating body, the National Oceanic Commission, will also be set up to formulate oceanic development strategies and coordinate important oceanic affairs, according to the report.

The restructured State Oceanic Administration (SOA) and the newly-formed China Maritime Police Bureau (CMPB) officially opened on 22 July 2013, according to a report by China Ocean News. The SOA was reported to take on expanded responsibilities regarding marine law enforcement, while the CMPB, partly under the SOA's control, was reported to be responsible for deploying and commanding police officers. However, the bureau would also be under the "operational direction" of the Ministry of Public Security. The CMPB was reported to unify multiple marine forces, including China Maritime Surveillance, the coast guard under the Ministry of Public Security, the Fisheries Law Enforcement Command (Ministry of Agriculture) and the maritime anti-smuggling authorities of the General Administration of Customs. Approved by the State Council in June, the formation of two new oceanic departments was said to highlight the expanded duties of maritime law enforcement, improving the protection and usage of oceanic resources as well as better safeguarding China's maritime rights.

Xinhua reported 09 July 2013 that the maritime police command, a department under the SOA, was tasked with commanding and deploying marine police officers, according to the rule. The maritime police had three branches, namely the North Sea Branch, the East Sea Branch and the South Sea Branch, with a total of 11 corps across China's coastal provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. China Daily rported 10 July 2013 that China's maritime authority was to boost its law enforcement capability with the allocation of some 16,300 marine police officers to safeguard maritime rights and interests. The Maritime Police Command Center, a department under the SOA, would give orders to the maritime police bureau, draw up law enforcement regulations and organize daily training, but the bureau would also be under the "operational direction" of the Ministry of Public Security.

Chinese vessels maintained regular patrols in 2013 in the territorial waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands to safeguard the country's maritime rights, said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), on 16 January 2014. China also achieved effective management and control over Huangyan Island last year, and Chinese ships have carried out patrols in the territorial waters around Beikang Ansha and Nankang Ansha since August, said Liu at a national maritime work conference. According to the China Coast Guard (CCG) of the SOA, CCG vessels conducted 36 regular patrols on 262 days in 2013, covering all the sea areas under China's jurisdiction. The vessels sailed close to 18 sites that have been encroached upon by other nations, around the Nansha Islands for observation and patrolled the territorial waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands 50 times, said Liu.

"In 2014, the SOA will safeguard the country's legal rights and stability, and resolutely maintain China's maritime rights," he vowed. The SOA will reinforce patrols in territorial waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands, Huangyan Island, Ren'ai Jiao, Beikang Ansha and Nankang Ansha, according to the body's director. It will likewise secure the base points of the country's territorial sea, he said. Liu added that China will also deepen maritime cooperation to create a win-win situation and stipulate strategies for a "maritime Silk Road" to promote sea-based economic collaboration.

IN JUne 2020 China introduced a law to further integrate its coast guard into the military. The amended law on the People's Armed Police Force went into effect on 21 June 2020 after the revision was approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress the previous day. The coast guard became part of the armed police force two years ago. The law says the coast guard will conduct joint drills with the military. In an emergency, the coast guard will be put under the command of the Central Military Commission headed by President Xi Jinping or theater commands.

The five civilian agency entities, commonly referred to as the Five Dragons are:

Agency Ship

Prefix Mission CCG China Coast Guard Hai Jing ASB Anti-Smuggling Bureau Haiguan Subordinate to the General Administration of Customs and Ministry of Public Security. Armed entity responsible for criminal investigations and smuggling cases along Chinas inland border posts and rivers. CMPB Maritime Police Haijing aka China Coast Guard. Subordinate to the Ministry of Public Security. Active duty maritime police force responsible for combating maritime crime. CMS China Marine Surveillance Haijian Subordinate to the State Oceanic Administration and Ministry of Land and Resources. Responsible for asserting Chinas marine rights and sovereignty claims in disputed maritime regions. FLEC Fisheries Law Enforcement Command YuZheng Subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture. Enforces PRC fisheries laws and handles fishery disputes with foreign entities across Chinas exclusive economic zone (EEZ). MSA Maritime Safety Administration Haixun or Haibiao Subordinate to the Ministry of Transport. Responsible for safety of life at sea (SOLAS), maritime pollution control, and cleanup, port inspection, and maritime investigation.

In the decade out to 2020, an expanded and modernized force of civilian maritime ships would afford China the capability to more robustly patrol its territorial claims in the ECS and SCS. China is continuing with the second half of a modernization and construction program for its maritime law enforcement agencies. The first half of this program, from 2004-2008, resulted in the addition of almost 20 ocean-going patrol ships for the CMS (9), Bureau of Fisheries (BOF) (3), Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) (3), and China Coast Guard (2). The second half of this program, from 2011-2015, includes at least 30 new ships for the CMS (23), BOF (6), and MSA (1).

Several agencies have also acquired ships that were decommissioned from the PLA Navy. Some old patrol ships will be decommissioned during this period. In addition, MLE agencies will likely build more than 100 new patrol craft and smaller units, both to increase capability and to replace old units. Overall, CMS total force level is expected to increase 50 percent by 2020 and BOF by 25 percent. MSA, China Coast Guard, and Maritime Customs force levels will probably remain constant, but with larger and more capable units replacing older, smaller units. Some of these ships will have the capability to embark helicopters, a capability that only a few MLE ships currently have. The enlargement and modernization of Chinas MLE forces will improve Chinas ability to enforce its maritime sovereignty.

CMS state-level ships in the North Sea region were numbered 1x, 2x and 3x (Qingdao), in the East Sea region 4x (Ningbo), 5x (Shanghai) and 6x (Xiamen), in the South Sea region 7x, 8x and 9x (Guangzhou).

CMS provincial-level ships are numbered according to province: 10xx Liaoning, 20xx Hebei, 30xx Tianjin,, 40xx Shandong, 50xx Jiangsu, 60xx Shanghai, 70xx Zhejiang, 80xx Fujian, 90xx Guangdong, 11xx Guangxi and 21xx Hainan.

FLEC state-level ships in the North Sea region were numbered 1xx (Qingdao), in the East Sea region 2xx (Shanghai) and in the South Sea region 3xx (Guangzhou).

FLEC provincial-level vessels use the standardised provincial numbers: 21xxx Liaoning, 12xxx Tianjin, 13xxx Hebei, 37x0xx Shandong, 32xxx Jiangsu, 31xxx Shanghai, 33xxx Zhejiang, 35xxx Fujian, 44xxx Guangdong, 45xxx Guangxi and 46xxx Hainan (plus most inland provinces).

The Sea Police (Hai Jing) vessels use the same system, which is also being introduced on the former Customs (Hai Guan) vessels.

As the former CMS and FLEC state-level ships are reflagged into the new China Coast Guard, the numbers are changed into a four-digit format, with first digit 1, 2 or 3 indicating region, second digit displacement class, 3rd and 4th being individual numbers. After the entry into service of the new construction 1,000-ton provincial vessels, they too have changed to this system (and so will the 1,500-ton ships do as they enter service). The Marine Police unveiled the new painting, with impressively large print "China Coast Guard".

A draft of a revised law governing China's coast guard allows the use of arms against foreign vessels unlawfully conducting activities in waters under China's jurisdiction. The National People's Congress revealed the draft on 04 November 2020 for the first time. The draft details the responsibilities of the coast guard, maintaining it has the authority to forcibly drive away foreign vessels that intrude into Chinese territorial waters or interrogate the crew. It also allows the use of arms against vessels that do not obey orders in territorial seas, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf.

China passed a new law 22 January 2021 granting the China Coast Guard (CCG) more leeway in asserting the nations claims in the contested South China Sea and authorizing the use of force against foreign vessels. The National Peoples Congress passed the Coast Guard Law of the Peoples Republic of China to help the CCG defend Chinas national sovereignty, security, and maritime rights and interests.

Since it was founded in 2013, the CCG has operated across the South China Sea, which is the site of overlapping maritime and territorial claims between China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei. In 2018, the CCG was transferred from the State Oceanic Administration to the Peoples Armed Police, making it part of Chinas military. The CCG already had a reputation for confronting and sometimes clashing with fishing boats and other vessels of neighboring countries in contested waters in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually all for itself.

Analysts saw the new law as an attempt to provide grounds for escalating CCGs assertive behavior in the South China Sea. University of New South Wales Emeritus Professor Carl Thayer told Radio Free Asia that China is just trying to dress up whatever it does and say Our laws cover it.

Article 22 of the new law authorized the CCG to take all necessary measures including the use of weapons to stop infringements and eliminate dangers when foreign organizations and individuals infringe upon Chinas national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction. Article 47 permited CCG personnel to use hand-held weapons when foreign vessels resist orders from the CCG and other stopping measures fall short.

Article 20 allowed the CCG to stop foreign countries from constructing buildings, structures, and setting up all kinds of fixed or floating installations in Chinas jurisdictional waters or on islands and reefs claimed by China. It also authorizes the CCG to demolish these structures. Other articles in the law gave the CCG the right to track and monitor foreign vessels in Chinas jurisdictional waters, detain or forcibly remove foreign vessels operating in Chinas territorial seas, and forcibly evict foreign military or government vessels from jurisdictional waters. Another section allows CCG personnel to use shipborne weapons, airborne weapons, and hand-held weapons in anti-terrorism operations, during serious violent incidents, and when CCG ships and aircraft are attacked with weapons or other violent means.

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Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) / Booby Traps

IED Overview

An IED can be almost anything with any type of material and initiator. It is a "homemade" device that is designed to cause death or injury by using explosives alone or in combination with toxic chemicals, biological toxins, or radiological material. IEDs can be produced in varying sizes, functioning methods, containers, and delivery methods. IEDs can utilize commercial or military explosives, homemade explosives, or military ordnance and ordnance components.

They are unique in nature because the IED builder has had to improvise with the materials at hand. Designed to defeat a specific target or type of target, they generally become more difficult to detect and protect against as they become more sophisticated.

IEDs fall into three types of categories:

Though they can var widely in shape and form, IEDs share a common set of components and consist of the following:

A switch/trigger;

An initiator (fuze);

Main charge (explosive fill);

A power source for the switch/trigger; and

A container.

Improvised devices are characterized by varying employment techniques. In most of the techniques shown below, an unexploded ordnance (UXO) can easily be engineered to replace a mine or explosive device using one of the several following techniques:

Coupling . Coupling is a method of linking one mine or explosive device to another, usually with detonating cord. When the first device is detonated, it also detonates the linked explosive. This technique is often used to defeat countermine equipment, such as mine rollers

. Coupling is a method of linking one mine or explosive device to another, usually with detonating cord. When the first device is detonated, it also detonates the linked explosive. This technique is often used to defeat countermine equipment, such as mine rollers Rolling . The roller will pass over the initial, unfuzed device and set off the second fuzed device. This in turn detonates the overpassed device underneath the clearing vehicle. When the linked devices are directional fragmentation mines, they can create a large, lethal engagement area.

. The roller will pass over the initial, unfuzed device and set off the second fuzed device. This in turn detonates the overpassed device underneath the clearing vehicle. When the linked devices are directional fragmentation mines, they can create a large, lethal engagement area. Boosting . Buried mines, UXOs, or other explosive devices are stacked on top of one another. The device buried deepest from the surface is fuzed. Fuzing only the deepest ordnance helps mask no- and low-metal explosive hazards placed near the surface. This reduces the probability of detection by metal detectors, and it increases the force of the blast.

. Buried mines, UXOs, or other explosive devices are stacked on top of one another. The device buried deepest from the surface is fuzed. Fuzing only the deepest ordnance helps mask no- and low-metal explosive hazards placed near the surface. This reduces the probability of detection by metal detectors, and it increases the force of the blast. Sensitizing antitank (AT) mines . On some nonmetallic AT mines, the pressure plate is cracked and the spring is removed to reduce the pressure required to initiate the mine. Similarly, the pressure plate can be removed from metallic AT mines to create the same effect. A pressurefuzed AP mine can be placed on the top of an AT mine, thus creating a very large AP mine as an alternative method.

. On some nonmetallic AT mines, the pressure plate is cracked and the spring is removed to reduce the pressure required to initiate the mine. Similarly, the pressure plate can be removed from metallic AT mines to create the same effect. A pressurefuzed AP mine can be placed on the top of an AT mine, thus creating a very large AP mine as an alternative method. Daisy chaining. AP mines may be used in daisy chains linked with other explosive hazards. Enemy forces may link the mines together with trip wire or detonating cord. When the initial mine is detonated, the other mines may detonate. This may also create large, lethal engagement areas.





Booby traps and IEDs are similar to mines in that they are designed to kill or incapacitate personnel. They are also emplaced to avoid detection and improve effectiveness. Most are victim-activated, but some may involve remote or command detonation architectures.

The use of booby traps is limited only by the imagination of the adversary. Booby traps are victim-activated devices intended to create casualties and terror and may or may not be found in areas of tactical significance.

Booby traps:

Are usually explosive in nature.

Are usually activated when an unsuspecting person disturbs an apparently harmless object performs a presumably safe act; for example, souvenir hunting.

Are designed to kill or incapacitate.

Cause unexpected random casualties and damage.

Create an attitude of uncertainty and suspicion, in effect lowering morale and inducing a degree of caution that restricts or slows movement.

Threaten force protection.

Assume that all mines are booby-trapped.

IED Incident Vs. Non-IED Incident

IED Incidents:

Hand grenade with pin pulled, placed in a small glass with glass filled mortar or plastic of paris.

120-mm HE mortar with hole drilled in shipping cap with an electric blasting cap inserted (placed in a sandbag). Suicide vest-leather-look sleeveless waistcoat with explosives and ball bearing sewn into the interior.

A thrown block of TNT with a grenade fuze inside

Non IED Incidents:

A hand grenade thrown into a building or dropped from a bridge.

A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired at a vehicle from the manufactured launcher. An RPG fired from an improvised launcher (while the launcher is improvised, the round was fired as intended without modification).

A landmine placed in the roadway using the manufactured fuze to initiate it as designed.

Survivability

A study of the Soviet/Afghan war has proven extremely useful in addressing medical issues associated with mine strikes. Throughout the course of that war, 30 to 40 percent of trauma cases treated by Soviet medical personnel were caused by mine strikes. Necessarily, the Soviets adopted measures to improve force protection, gained a greater understanding of the effects of a mine strike on the body, improved casualty evacuation techniques, and implemented measures to plan for medical contingencies at the lowest level.

Some simple mine countermeasures that increase mine strike survivability include-

Training (refresher) in first aid.

Training in mine awareness.

Wearing flak jackets.

Sandbagging the vehicle floors using fine aggregates because large particles become missiles.

Riding on top of armored vehicles when the tactical situation permits.

Leaving vehicle hatches cracked with the latch pin in place to permit dispersion of the concussive effects of a mine blast.

Disseminating information through intelligence channels and/or the mine information coordination cell.

Injuries sustained during a mine strike are caused by the pressure wave of the primary blast, the penetrating and nonpenetrating wounds of the secondary blast, and the injuries associated with being thrown some distance. The combat medic or lifesaver must be aware of multiple wounds and combination wounds that usually result from a mine strike and must know how to thoroughly treat the patient. Additionally, treatment of shock becomes important, especially since 86.5 percent of Soviet mine strike victims went into shock. Fifteen percent of shock cases were irreversible, and the victim died in a short period of time.





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Cold War

Dating the end of the Cold War requires dating its beginning, which requires defining what it was about. By one reckoning, the Cold War began in the 1945-1948 timeframe, and ended in 1989, having been a dispute over the division of Europe. By another account, the Cold War began in 1917 with the Bolshevik Revolution, and ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, having been a conflict between Bolshevism and Democracy.

The Cold War was the most important political and diplomatic issue of the later half of the 20th Century. The main Cold War enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a "hot war," nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They played havoc with conflicts in different parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each other. Or they tried to make each other look foolish.

The term "Cold War" was first used in 1947 by Bernard Baruch, senior advisor to Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, in reference to the frequently occurring and exacerbating crises between the United States and the former Soviet Union, despite having fought side-by-side against Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

The Cold War grew out of longstanding conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States that developed after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Soviet Communist Party under V.I. Lenin considered itself the spearhead of an international movement that would replace the existing political orders in the West, and indeed throughout the world.

The Cold War can be said to have begun in 1917, with the emergence in Russia of a revolutionary Bolshevik regime devoted to spreading communism throughout the industrialized world. For Vladimir Lenin, the leader of that revolution, such gains were imperative. As he wrote in his August 1918 Open Letter to the American Workers, "We are now, as it were, in a besieged fortress, waiting for the other detachments of the world socialist revolution to come to our relief."

Western governments generally understood communism to be an international movement whose adherents forswore all national allegiance in favor of transnational communism, but in practice received their orders from and were loyal to Moscow. In 1918, the United States joined briefly and unenthusiastically in an unsuccessful Allied attempt to topple the revolutionary Soviet regime. Suspicion and hostility thus characterized relations between the Soviets and the West long before the Second World War made them reluctant allies in the struggle against Nazi Germany.

The United States and Great Britain fought against the Bolsheviks, unsuccessfully, between 1918 and 1920. In 1918 American troops participated in the Allied intervention in Russia on behalf of anti-Bolshevik forces. In the two decades thereafter, Soviet attitudes towards the West oscillated wildly. American diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union did not come until 1933. Even then, suspicions persisted. During World War II, however, the two countries found themselves allied and downplayed their differences to counter the Nazi threat.

The Cold War was a decades-long struggle for global supremacy that pitted the capitalist United States against the communist Soviet Union. Although there are some disagreements as to when the Cold War began, it is generally conceded that mid- to late-1945 marks the time when relations between Moscow and Washington began deteriorating. This deterioration ignited the early Cold War and set the stage for a dynamic struggle that often assumed mythological overtones of good versus evil.

At the close of World War II, the Soviet Union stood firmly entrenched in Eastern Europe, intent upon installing governments there that would pay allegiance to the Kremlin. It also sought to expand its security zone even further into North Korea, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Similarly, the United States established a security zone of its own that comprised Western Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. From the long view of history, it is clear that both sides were jockeying for a way to secure their futures from the threat of another world war, but it was the threat that each side perceived from the other that allowed for the development of mutual suspicion. It was this mutual suspicion, augmented by profound distrust and misunderstanding that would ultimately fuel the entire conflict.

For the first few years of the early Cold War (between 1945 and 1948), the conflict was more political than military. Both sides squabbled with each other at the UN, sought closer relations with nations that were not committed to either side, and articulated their differing visions of a postwar world. By 1950, however, certain factors had made the Cold War an increasingly militarized struggle. The communist takeover in China, the pronouncement of the Truman Doctrine, the advent of a Soviet nuclear weapon, tensions over occupied Germany, the outbreak of the Korean War, and the formulation of the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as rival alliances had all enhanced the Cold War's military dimension. U.S. foreign policy reflected this transition when it adopted a position that sought to "contain" the Soviet Union from further expansion. By and large, through a variety of incarnations, the containment policy would remain the central strategic vision of U.S. foreign policy from 1952 until the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Successive American presidents and successive Soviet premiers tried to manage the Cold War in different ways, and the history of their interactions reveals the delicate balance-of-power that needed to be maintained between both superpowers. Dwight Eisenhower campaigned as a hard-line Cold Warrior and spoke of "rolling back" the Soviet empire, but when given a chance to dislodge Hungary from the Soviet sphere-of-influence in 1956, he declined. The death of Stalin in 1953 prefaced a brief thaw in East-West relations, but Nikita Khrushchev also found it more politically expedient to take a hard line with the United States than to speak of cooperation.

The United States and the Soviet Union were the only two superpowers following the Second World War. The fact that, by the 1950s, each possessed nuclear weapons and the means of delivering such weapons on their enemies, added a dangerous aspect to the Cold War. The Cold War world was separated into three groups. The United States led the West. This group included countries with democratic political systems. The Soviet Union led the East. This group included countries with communist political systems. The non-aligned group included countries that did not want to be tied to either the West or the East.

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Operation Inherent Resolve

New 'Coalition of

the un-Willing' Albania Arab League Australia Austria Bahrain Belgium Bosnia Bulgaria Canada Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Egypt Estonia European Union Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Iraq Ireland Italy Japan Jordan Kosovo Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Morocco NATO The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Oman Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of Korea Romania Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Somalia Spain Sweden Taiwan Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States

The US Department of Defense said 09 December 2021 its forces in Iraq had ended their combat mission and will instead take on a training and advisory role for the country's military. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that the number of US troops in Iraq would not drastically change. The US has about 2,500 troops stationed in Iraq. The formal end of the combat mission is unlikely to change the facts on the ground; the coalition stopped engaging in combat missions early in 2020, and since then, the main US focus has been assisting Iraqi forces. Iraqi Staff Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shammari, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command for Iraq, said Iraqi forces were ready to take up the fight against ISIL.

US forces in Iraq will end their combat duties there within months, President Joe Biden announced 26 July 2021 during a White House meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. In response to reporters' questions in the Oval Office, Biden, alongside the Iraqi leader, said the new role for American troops in Iraq will be "to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS (Islamic State group) as it arises, but we're not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission." Biden declined to say how many U.S. troops, of the current level of approximately 2,500, will remain there.

In reality, no American troops have fought in combat in Iraq for more than a year. But the announcement was more of a symbolic gesture designed to boost al-Kadhimi ahead of parliamentary elections this fall. "It looks more like a rebranding exercise designed to help [al-Kadhimi] politically and throw a bone to those Iraqi groups that have joined the push for a troop withdrawal," said ARON LUND, a fellow at The Century Foundation.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017 after more than three years of grueling combat against the terrorists in a war Iraqi forces fought with close US support. Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017 after more than three years of grueling combat against the terrorists in a war Iraqi forces fought with close US support.

By early February 2018 the US-led coalition and the Iraqi government reached an agreement to draw down troops in Iraq for the first time since the war against Daesh was launched over three years ago. Dozens of American soldiers have been transported from Iraq to Afghanistan on daily flights over the past week, along with weapons and equipment. "Continued coalition presence in Iraq will be conditions-based, proportional to the need and in coordination with the government of Iraq," coalition spokesman Army Colonel Ryan Dillon said.

One senior Iraqi official close to Prime Minister Haider al Abadi said 60 percent of all American troops currently in country will be withdrawn, according to the initial agreement reached with the United States. The plan would leave a force of about 4,000 US troops to continue training the Iraqi military. A Pentagon report released in November 2017 said there were 8,892 US troops in Iraq as of late September 2017.

The U.S. on 30 April 2018 shut its Iraqi military headquarters controlling American ground operations against Islamic State, signifying the end of major combat operations against the insurgents. Islamic State once controlled a third of Iraq and its second biggest city, Mosul. But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi last December declared that Iraqi forces, with the assistance of 5,000 U.S. troops in a support role, had defeated it. The U.S. deactivated its Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, "acknowledging the changing composition and responsibilities" of the coalition's fight against random Islamic State attacks. The U.S., however, will continue to station troops in Iraq, although neither Washington nor Baghdad would say how many. They will continue to advise and equip missions in support of the Iraqi Security Force.

The Coalition conducted a total of 31,406 strikes between August 2014 and end of November 2018. During this period, based on information available, CJTF-OIR assessed at least 1139 civilians had been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve. In the month of November, CJTF-OIR carried over 194 open reports from previous months and received 15 new reports. The assessment of 25 civilian casualty allegation reports has been completed. Out of the 25 completed casualty allegation reports, three reports were determined to be credible and resulted in 15 unintentional civilian deaths. Two of the reports were determined to be duplicate reports that had previously reported and the remaining 20 reports were assessed to be non-credible.





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"When [Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe came from Japan, first thing he said to me when I first met him. He walked out. "Thank you, thank you." I said, "For what?" F-35. You bought, you saved us one hundred million dollars. Because theyre part of the group that buy the ninety planes. Its a lot. We get, they get, different allies. "But I saved Japan a hundred million bucks. Took me probably an hour if I added up all the time. But I will be saving, when we put that out over two, the two thousand five hundred planes, billions of dollars. Nobody ever wrote a story about that. "But they said the F-35 program is now straightened out and the costs are way down. Theyre down because of me. "Then Boeing when the F-18, I mean I must have got thirty-five million of each plane off. . . . You know they had the F-35s, they had thirty-five of them fly over Japan when [Defense Secretary] General [James] Mattis was there, and they were not detected by the radar. They flew over and everyone said where the hell did they come from? Thats stealth. Its pretty cool, right. Thirty-five of them flying at a high speed, low, and they were not detected. They flew right over the top of the deal, nobody knew they were coming. Pretty cool, right?"

Donald Trump, Time Magazine, 08 May 2017

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Lightning II

South Korea held a procurement competition between the [non-stealthy] F-15 and the stealthy F-35. The F-35 was three times as expensive, so the Koreans bought the F-15. For a few months. Suffering buyers regret, South Korea soon decided it really wanted the F-35 to face China's fleet of stealth fighters.

The current Super Hornets cost about $70 million, while the F-35C costs about $130 million a plane. Lockheed's F-35 program manager Jeff Babione said in summer 2016 that the price of the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing version of the jet would drop to under $100 million per plane in the 10th low-rate production contract in early 2017.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said 21 March 2017"The game-changing impact of the F-35 was recently seen at the Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. It was there that 13 F-35As notched a 20-to-1 kill ratio. "

In realistic Red Flag battle simulations held at at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in early 2017, the F-35 demolished expectations after losing just one aircraft for every 15 enemies eliminated. During desert drills running from January 23 to February 10, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter faced potent threats, including radar jammers, surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, and mock opposition aircraft. The F-35s avionics software was the star of the show, according to Aviation Week.

"Although there have been issues with the F-35s 3i software loadthe aircrafts systems occasionally shut down and need to be rebooted and there were also problems with clutter and repeating targetsnone of the aircraft at Red Flag have experienced any system failures."

The F-35 used virtual-reality technology to create a realistic heads-up display inside the pilots helmet, an autonomic logistics information system dubbed the jets nerve center, a laser-based electro-optical missile-targeting platform, and a sensor-fusion system that uses several onboard sensors to "create a single integrated picture of the battlefield," Sputnik reported. As part of the battle simulations, the sensor-fusion system discovered each individual threat on the battlefield in a way that made the F-35 indispensable, even after it ran out of munitions. This scouting ability of the F-35 amplified the potency of F-22 Raptors and other legacy jets in the fleet.

F-35 - Overview

The F-35 program, which began in 2001, is 70 percent over initial cost estimates, and years behind schedule, but top US officials say it is now making progress. Lockheed is developing the F-35 for the Marines, Air Force and Navy, and eight countries that helped fund its development: Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway, Italy, Turkey, Denmark and the Netherlands. Israel and Japan have also ordered the jet.

Der Speigel, citing classified documents leaked by former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden, reported 18 January 2015 that hackers affiliated with the Chinese government stole "many terabytes" of sensitive military information including plans of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)  the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The stolen data contained details of the stealth fighter's "radar systems which are used to identify and track targets; detailed engine schematics; methods for cooling exhaust gases; and "aft deck heating contour maps".

The Pentagon had admitted previously that cyberattackers made repeated attempts to hack into its database targeting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter military program, and accused China of the intrusions. Both the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin Corp, the jet's designer, asserted that no "classified information" was stolen during cyberattacks.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed 08 January 2015 that the F-35 aircraft's 25mm GAU-22 weapon system was on track to go operational in two years. The announcement follows reports that the General Dynamics weapon system was delayed until 2019.

The software for the F-35s primary gun, a 25-mm rapid-fire cannon, wont be ready to install until at least 2019 despite the fact that the jet is expected to be on the front line by the end of 2015. There is no software to support it now or for the next four-ish years, said one Air Force official affiliated with the F-35 program told the Daily Beast 31 December 2014. It is slated for release in 2019, but who knows how much that will slip? The Pentagon has had to ground F-35s more than a dozen times due to problems with the planes Pratt & Whitney-made engine. Another issue is that the stealth jet is actually easy to detect.

In June 2016 the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter scored an 8:0 kill ratio against the F-15E during mock air combat. Combat-coded F-35As flying from Hill Air Force Base were part of the evaluation process needed in order to declare the aircraft's initial operational capability. The seven fighters used also demonstrated cabilitied to carry out basic close air support and limited SEAD/DEAD missions, with crews attaining a 100% sortie generation rate with 88 of 88 planned sorties and a 94% hit rate with 15 of 16 GBU-12 bombs on target.

JSF is a joint, multinational acquisition program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight cooperative international partners. Expected to be the largest military aircraft procurement ever, the stealth, supersonic F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) will replace a wide range of aging fighter and strike aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied defense forces worldwide. The program's hallmark is affordability achieved through a high degree of aircraft commonality among three variants: conventional takeoff/landing (CTOL), carrier variant (CV) and short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft. Innovative concepts and advanced technologies will significantly reduce weapon system life-cycle costs while meeting the strike weapon system requirements of military customers. Procurement is planned to continue through 2026 and possibly beyond. JSF aircraft may well stay in service until 2060 or longer.

Lockheed-Martin teamed with Northrop Grumman and British Aerospace on the project. Pete Aldridge, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said that both teams "met or exceeded the performance objectives established for the aircraft and have met the established criteria and technical maturity for entering the next phase of the program."

The Lockheed Martin X-35 was chosen over the competing Boeing X-32 primarily because of Lockheed's lift-fan STOVL design, which proved superior to the Boeing vectored-thrust approach. The lift fan, which is powered by the aircraft engine via a clutched driveshaft, was technically challenging but DoD concluded that Lockheed has the technology in hand. The lift fan has significant excess power which could be critical given the weight gain that all fighter aircraft experience.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is developing the F-35 at its fighter aircraft plant in Fort Worth, where the new stealth warplane is expected to provide about 9,000 jobs over the next three to four decades. Northrop Grumman Corp. is to build the F-35's center fuselage in California and BAE Systems the aft body in England.

For much of the free world's military forces, the F-35 represents the future- a new family of affordable, stealthy combat aircraft designed to meet the twenty-first-century requirements of the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The program is truly international in its scope and participation: Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Australia, and Norway recently joined the F-35's system development and demonstration (SDD) phase. All SDD partners will be active in the F-35's development process and stand to gain economically from the program.

The JSF aircraft design has three variants: conventional takeoff and landing variant for the Air Force, aircraft carrier-suitable variant for the Navy, and short takeoff and vertical landing variant for the Marine Corps, the United Kingdom, and the Air Force. These aircraft are intended to replace aging fighter and attack aircraft currently in the inventory.

Historically, the 1970s saw development and production of many outstanding aircraft which comprise much of today's U.S. fighter inventory. The combination of service-life exhaustion and escalating threats will require all three services to slowly retire their current fighter aircraft. The British Royal Air Force Harriers and Royal Navy Sea Harriers - aircraft that first flew more than 30 years ago - are encountering similar problems. The F-35 JSF will affordably replace the aging fleets, while also supporting the existing and expanding roles and requirements of F-35 JSF customers.

The Air Force's F-35A version of the craft is a conventional takeoff and landing airplane to replace the F- 16 Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt II. It will partner with the F-22 Raptor. The Marine Corps, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force need and want a short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft, dubbed the F-35B. The Marines want new aircraft to replace their AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18 Hornets. The British want to replace Sea Harriers and GR.7 Tornado fighters. The Navy's F-35C version of the plane is a carrier-based strike fighter to complement the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. It will replace earlier versions of the F/A-18 as well as the A-6 Intruder, which already has left the inventory.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be:

Four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air engagements

Eight times more effective than legacy fighters in prosecuting missions against fixed and mobile targets

Three times more effective than legacy fighters in non-traditional Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD/DEAD) missions

More expensive in procurement cost than legacy fighters, but requires significantly less tanker/transport and less infrastructure with a smaller basing footprint

The program's objective is to develop and deploy a technically superior and affordable fleet of aircraft that support the warfighter in performing a wide range of missions in a variety of theaters. The single-seat, single-engine aircraft is being designed to be self-sufficient or part of a multisystem and multiservice operation, and to rapidly transition between air-to-surface and air-to-air missions while still airborne. To achieve its mission, the JSF will incorporate low observable technologies, defensive avionics, advanced onboard and offboard sensor fusion, and internal and external weapons.

Plans call for the F-35 to be the world's premier strike aircraft through 2040. It will provide air- to-air capability second only to the F-22 air superiority fighter. The plane will allow the Air Force forces to field an almost all-stealth fighter force by 2025. The Navy and Marine variants will be the first deployment of an "all-aspect" stealth airplane.

The goals for the F-35 are ambitious: to be a single-pilot, survivable, first-day-of-the-war combat fighter with a precision, all-weather strike capability that uses a wide variety of air-to-surface and air-to-air weapons- and that defends itself in a dogfight. The F-35 program emphasizes low unit-flyaway cost and radically reduced life-cycle costs, while meeting a wide range of operational requirements. The stretch in combat radius means that the pilot can operate with reduced dependence on air refueling and can have significantly greater time on station for close air support or combat air patrol missions.

Survivability, a cornerstone of F-35 design, is enhanced foremost by the aircraft's radar-evading properties. Stealth capability, available for the first time in a multirole fighter, will minimize the threat to the pilot during operations in heavily defended areas. The aircraft also is configured with advanced countermeasures to reduce the effectiveness of enemy defenses.

Integral to the aircraft's low-observable equation is the large internal-weapons bay. When stealth is not required, the F-35 also can carry wingtip air-to-air missiles and up to 15,000 pounds of external ordnance mounted on underwing pylons. A pneumatically powered ordnance-release system replaces the traditional cartridge-powered equipment. This new design greatly reduces maintenance requirements. The internal 25 mm cannon will enable pilots to engage targets from higher altitudes and longer range.

The F-35's mission systems are designed to return the pilot to the role of tactician and to increase combat effectiveness dramatically. Next-generation sensors will provide the pilot coherent and fused information from a variety of onboard and off-board systems. Sophisticated data links will connect the aircraft to both ground-combat elements and airborne platforms. In addition to fighter-to-fighter data links, the F-35 will be equipped with satellite-communications capability for both transmitting and receiving.

The aircraft's onboard sensor suite is optimized to locate, identify, and destroy movable or moving ground targets under adverse weather conditions. This all-weather capability is achieved with the aircraft's advanced electronically scanned array (AESA) radar built by Northrop Grumman. The AESA enables simultaneous air-to-ground and air-to-air operations. It can track moving ground targets and display them on a radar-generated terrain image, enabling precise target location relative to terrain features. These instruments, coupled with off-board sensors, will make the F-35 capable of all-weather close air support under the most demanding conditions.

An internally mounted electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) is installed in the nose of the F-35, enhancing both air-to-ground and air-to-air capabilities. The EOTS will provide long-range, high-resolution targeting-infrared imagery; laser-target designation; and battle-damage-assessment capability. This system will provide pinpoint weapons-delivery accuracy for close air support and deep-strike missions.

A distributed-aperture-infrared sensor system will provide full spherical infrared coverage around the aircraft. In addition to providing warnings of missile launches, information from the system can be displayed on the pilot's helmet visor, permitting the pilot to see "through" the airplane's structure in all directions, and eliminating the need for night-vision goggles. This system will dramatically increase the ability of the F-35 to conduct any type of mission at night.

The F-35 team has crafted an exceptionally lethal, survivable, and supportable next-generation strike aircraft. Compared with the aircraft it will replace, the F-35 will provide significant improvements in range, payload, lethality, survivability, and mission effectiveness. Uniting stealth with advanced mission systems and high maneuverability, the F-35 will bring revolutionary twenty-first-century capabilities to the battle space.

Deputy Commandant for Aviation at the US Marine Corps, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, described the F-35 as a "state-of-the-art, game-changing, war-winning" aviation platform in July 2016 testimony to the US House Armed Services Committee. Davis also compared the single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighter to a powerful dinosaur. "The F-35's  twenty-four to zero kill ratio  killed all the targets," he said. "It was like Jurassic Park, watching a velociraptor  kills everything, does really well. We can't get that airplane fast enough into the fleet."

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M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

Designed in the 1970's by the Land Systems Division of the General Dynamics Corporation in response to the U.S. Army's MBT-70 program, the first M1 rolled off the assembly line in 1978. After two years of acceptance trials, the first of these vehicles was delivered to the US Army on February 28, 1980. By 1985, evaluations of field service had prompted the first modification requests, and production shifted to the M1A1. The first M1A1's were delivered to units in August of 1985. The Army converted 368 older M1s to M1A2s. An additional 580 M1s were upgraded to A2s under a five-year contract awarded in FY1996, with a total of 998 M1 upgrades. In 1999 the Army began upgrading M1s to the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP) configuration. The SEP embeds digitization capabilities inside the Abrams' electronic architecture, eliminating the requirement for electronic appliques.

The last original model of the M1 tank was retired from duty in the active Army in September 1996. HHC, 2-81 Armor of the 1st Armor Training Brigade at Fort Knox used this early model of the M1 to train National Guard and Reserve units. It was the last active duty unit to carry this model in its inventory. The Fort Knox armor unit's 10 M1s being retired from active duty were rebuilt as M1A2s. Meanwhile, the unit was to receive M1A2s as replacements.

The original M1 revolutionized the Army's combat capabilities and marked a turning point in U.S. tank development. Its most impressive feature was its special armor, a composite "sandwich" of steel and other materials capable of defeating HEAT rounds in addition to kinetic energy penetrators. The M1 was faster and more maneuverable than its predecessors in the M60 series, while offering a lower, smaller silhouette. It was constructed of flat armor sections welded together, rather than armor castings, the method used in earlier U.S tanks.

The earliest M1s were armed with the M60's 105mm rifled cannon, a British design first adopted to the final versions of the old M48 series. Subsequent M1s were upgunned with the German Rheinmetall smoothbore cannon of 120mm. Another revolutionary feature of the first M1 tanks were their turbine engines, replacing the diesels that powered the M48 and M60 series tanks. The engine change, despite a penalty in fuel consumption, resulted in much quieter operation, so much so that soldiers encountering the tank in early maneuvers dubbed it "Whispering Death."

Fielded in February 1980, the M1 General Abrams main battle tank revolutionized armored warfare. Incorporating an advanced shoot-on-the-move fire control system, a thermal imaging sight, a 1500 horsepower gas turbine engine and an advanced armor design similar to the Chobham armor developed in England, the M1 was the most lethal armored vehicle in the world. Conceived in 1971 as a replacement for the aging M60 tank, which was itself an extension of the 1050s era M 47/48 program, the M1 was going to be of a completely new design, establishing a new family of American main battle tanks.

Providing the Abrams with a true shoot on the move capability, the fire control system automatically corrects for range, turret slew (motion) rate, crosswind, and tank axial tilt (cant). In addition, the gunner manually enters ammunition or weapon type, air and ammunition temperatures, barometric pressure, and gun tube wear, while range is instantly calculated by a Nd:YAG (Neodymium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) near infrared laser rangefinder. Lastly, the gunner can compensate for gun tube deformation (caused either by heat generated from firing the cannon or atmospheric changes) through the use of a muzzle reference system, which allows for a rapid realignment of the cannon and the gunner's primary sight.

The Chobham armor built into the M1 represents a veritable leap in armor technology. Composed of layers of metal, ceramics, and spaces, this new armor is far superior to RHA (Rolled Homogeneous Armor) in defeating kinetic and chemical energy weapons. To increase crew safety and survivability, all of the M1's ammunition is stored in armored compartments which are designed vent dangerous gasses and fragments away from the crew in the event of an ammunition explosion. The crew and engine compartments are equipped with an automatic fire suppression system, utilizing numerous fire detection sensors and pressurized Halon gas, which can react to and suppress a compartment fire in less than 250 ms.

To survive on the NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) battlefield the M1 is also equipped with both an over pressurization and air sterilization system which will protect the crew from these hazards and allow them to continue combat operations without having to wear protective overgarments and masks while buttoned up inside the vehicle.

Lastly, the M1 was the first land combat vehicle to utilize a gas turbine multi fuel engine, which offers a higher power to weight ratio than any other contemporary tank power plant and gives the Abrams unparalleled tactical mobility and cross country speed. The M1 retains the M68 105mm rifled cannon used on the M60 series tanks, which was originally based on the British M7 105mm cannon design, and is capable of firing both rifled and fin stabilized ammunition. In addition, the M1 is equipped with two M240 7.62mm machine guns; one mounted coaxially with the main gun and fired by gunner, and the other mounted at the loader's station. The Commanders Weapon Station (CWS) is equipped with an M2 heavy barrel Caliber .50 machine gun. The CWS can be reconfigured to fire the M240 machine gun as a substitute.) The M1 is equipped with a pair of M250 red phosphorus smoke grenade launchers and is capable of generating smoke by injecting diesel fuel into the engine exhaust.

Originally designated the XM1, the first production model was designated the M1, of which 2,374 were built between 1982 and 1985. In 1984 the M1IP (Improved Product) was introduced, which was outwardly identical to the M1, but which incorporated a number of internal automotive, electronic and armor improvements. Production of the M1IP was halted at 84 tanks in 1986, when the Lima and Detroit tank plants were reconfigured to produce the up-gunned 120mm M1A1. In 1992 a study was conducted evaluating the feasibility of upgrading the Army's fleet of M1s to M1A2 SEP (Standard Equipment Package) standard and low rate production was approved in 1994. Since then the Army agreed to convert 547 M1s to the M1A2 SEP standard.

The M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version 2 is the latest M1 variant. The most technologically advanced digital tank in US, the M1A2 SEP V2 includes improved color displays, day and night thermal sights, auxiliary power and a tank-infantry phone. It can also accommodate future technology improvements for compatibility with the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems. In January 2008 the U.S. TACOM Lifecycle Management Command awarded General Dynamics Land Systems a contract for parts to upgrade 435 M1A1 Abrams tanks to the M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package Version Two configuration. The U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command awarded General Dynamics Land Systems $614 million on 01 August 2008 to upgrade 235 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to the M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package (SEP) Version Two (V2) configuration. The order was made under the multi-year contract awarded in February 2008 which authorized the modernization of 435 M1A1 tanks that have been in the Army's inventory for more than 20 years. An additional 180 tanks remain to be upgraded through the program, which will complete the conversion of all tanks in the Army's active component to the M1A2 SEP V2 configuration.

The Army is looking at further versions, up to V4, with capabilities being considered by the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

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Explosives - ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate - Fuel Oil)

On 10 November 2009 International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in the southern city of Kandahar. Ammonium nitrate fertilizer, is used to make about 95 percent of the bombs in Afghnaistan. Roadside bombs account for 80 percent of US casualties in Afghanistan. IED incidents in Afghanistan have fallen from more than 1,000 in July 2009 to 704 in October 2009. US troops in southern Afghanistan have had the authority to compensate local farmers for fertilizer seized by US troops. Farmers can receive about $28 - twice the market rate - for each 50-kilogram bag of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. [SOURCE: Jeff Schogol, writing in the November 12, 2009 edition of Stars and Stripes ]

Ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO) blasting agents represent the largest industrial explosive manufactured (in terms of quantity) in the United States. This product is used primarily in mining and quarrying operations. The components are generally mixed at or near the point of use for safety reasons. The mixed product is relatively safe and easily handled and can be poured into drill holes in the mass or object to be blasted.

Melvin A. Cook's life is intimately connected with the history of explosives, he is a scientist,, inventor, teacher, businessman, theorist, consultant, expert witness, entrepreneur, and author. Cook, a professor of metallurgy at the University of Utah, was a businessman and author of works on explosives. He also published works on creationism, particularly on the relationship between science and Mormonism. Cook's personal involvement in both the theoretical and practical aspects of the field of explosives spans more than fifty years.

Cook's greatest commercial explosives invention was formulated in December of 1956, when he created a new blasting agent using an unusual mixture of ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, and water. The safety and efficiency of this new explosive were apparent, and the use of water was revolutionary. Tests that followed resulted in the development of a new field of explosives: slurry explosives. This invention converted the commercial explosives industry from "dangerous dynamite" to "safe slurry" and dry blasting agents [ANFO]. In 1972 Cook developed the BLU-82, the largest and most powerful chemical bomb, using aluminized slurry.

Blasting agents consist of mixtures of fuels and oxidizers, none of which are classified as explosive. Nitrocarbonitrate is a classification given to a blasting agent under the US Department of Transportation regulations on packaging and shipping. A blasting agent consists of inorganic nitrates and carbonaceous fuels and may contain additional nonexplosive substances such as powdered aluminum or ferrosilicon to increase density. The addition of an explosive ingredient such as TNT changes the classification from a blasting agent to an explosive. Blasting agents may be dry or in slurry forms. Because of their insensitivity, blasting agents should be detonated by a primer of high explosive.

Ammonium nitrate- fuel oil has largely replaced dynamites and gelatins in bench blasting. Denser slurry blasting agents are supplanting dynamite and gelatin and dry blasting agents. The most widely used dry blasting agent is a mixture of ammonium nitrate prills (porous grains) and fuel oil. The fuel oil is not precisely CH2, but this is sufficiently accurate to characterize the reaction. The right side of the equation contains only the desirable gases of detonation, although some CO and N02 are always formed. Weight proportions of ingredients for the equation are 94.5 percent ammonium nitrate and 5.5 percent fuel oil. In actual practice the proportions are 94 percent and 6 percent to assure an efficient chemical reaction of the nitrate.

Uniform mixing of oil and ammonium nitrate is essential to development of full explosive force. Some blasting agents are premixed and packaged by the manufacturer. Where not premixed, several methods of mixing in the field can be employed to achieve uniformity. The best method, although not always the most practical one, is by mechanical tier. A more common and almost as effective method of mixing is by uniformly soaking prills in opened bags with 8 to 1O percent of their weight of oil. After draining for at least a half hour the prills will have retained about the correct amount of fuel oil.

Fuel oil can also be poured onto the ammonium nitrate in approximately the correct proportions as it is poured into the blasthole. For this purpose, about i gal of fuel oil for each 100 lb of ammonium nitrate will equal approximately 6 percent by weight of oil. The oil can be added after each bag or two of prills, and it will disperse relatively rapidly and uniformly. Inadequate priming imparts a low initial detonation velocity to a blasting agent, and the reaction may die out and cause a misfire. High explosive boosters are sometimes spaced along the borehole to as sure propagation throughout the column.

As in other combustion reactions, a deficiency of oxygen favors the formation of carbon monoxide and unburned organic compounds and produces little, if any, nitrogen oxides. An excess of oxygen causes more nitrogen oxides and less carbon monoxide and other unburned organics. For ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) mixtures, a fuel oil content of more than 5.5 percent creates a deficiency of oxygen.

Ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) has a broad spectrum of Velocities of Detonation according to numerous references. However, some of these references are more specific when establishing parameters. A military catering charge lists a VOD of 10,700 feet per second (fps). A 4" diameter steel tube confinement is at 10,000 fps, while a 16" diameter tube is at 16,000 fps. In charge diameters of 6 in. or more, dry blasting agents attain confined detonation velocities of more than i2,000 fps, but in a diameter of 1- 1/2 in., the velocity is reduced to 60 percent. When ANFO is used in boreholeing, the VOD has a positive slope as a function of depth, the VOD increases as the detonation front progresses down the borehole. Enhanced effects of very large quantities, which is essentially self tamping, the VOD is expected to be in the 13,000-15,000 fps range. A ballpark approximation for very large quantities of blasting agents, which is accepted in the commercial industry, is roughly half the VOD of C-4/plastics, which equates to 13,000 fps. The recognized VOD of urea nitrate, however, is 11,155 to 15,420 fps.

The specific gravity of ANFO varies from 0.75 to 0.95 depending on the particle density and sizes. Confined detonation velocity and charge concentration of ANFO vary with borehole diameter. Pneumatic loading results in high detonation velocities and higher charge concentrations, particularly in holes smaller than 3 in. (otherwise such small holes are not usually recommended for ANFO blasting).

The simple removal of a tree stump might be done with a 2-step train made up of an electric blasting cap and a stick of dynamite. The detonation wave from the blasting cap would cause detonation of the dynamite. To make a large hole in the earth, an inexpensive explosive such as ANFO might be used. In this case, the detonation wave from the blasting cap is not powerful enough to cause detonation, so a booster must be used in a 3- or 4-step train. The yield from the blasting caps and safety fuses used in these trains are usually small compared to those from the main charge, because the yields are roughly proportional to the weight of explosive used, and the main charge makes up most of the total weight.

Advantages of insensitive dry blasting agents are their safety, ease of loading, and low price. In the free-flowing form, they have a great advantage over cartridge explosives because they completely fill the borehole. This direct coupling to the walls assures efficient use of explosive energy. Ammonium nitrate is water soluble so that in wet holes, some blasters pump the water from the hole, insert a plastic sleeve, and load the blasting agent into the sleeve. Special precautions should be taken to avoid a possible building up of static electrical charge, particularly when loading pneumatically. When properly oxygen- balanced, the fume qualities of dry blasting agents permit their use underground. Canned blasting agents, once widely used, have unlimited water resist-ance, but lack advantages of loading ease and direct coupling to the borehole.

In 2001, US explosives production was 2.38 million metric tons (Mt), 7% less than that in 2000; sales of explosives were reported in all States. Coal mining, with 69% of total consumption, continued to be the dominant use for explosives in the United States. Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Wyoming, and Virginia, in descending order, were the largest consuming States, with a combined total of 46% of US sales.

After completing an investigation into dumping of ammonium nitrate from Ukraine that was begun in 2000, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) issued its final determination in August 2001. The ITC determined that imports of ammonium nitrate from Ukraine were sold in the United States at less than fair market value and that critical circumstances did not exist with regard to these imports. As a result of the negative determination regarding critical circumstances, the duties were not retroactive and only apply to ammonium nitrate that has been imported since March 5, 2001. The antidumping duty of 156.29% ad valorem that was finalized by the International Trade Administration in July 2001 was applied.

Sales of ammonium-nitrate-based explosives (blasting agents and oxidizers) were 2.34 Mt in 2001, which was an 8% decrease from that of 2000, and accounted for 98% of US industrial explosives sales. Sales of permissibles and other high explosives increased slightly. Data for 2001 are not exactly comparable to the 2000 data. One company, Nelson Brothers LLC, did not provide data to the Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME) in 2001, and no estimate for its sales was included in the totals.

By 2001 engineers in the Fuels and Lubricants Group of Shell Co. of Australia developed a technique to blend waste oil with ANFO for a product that can be used in blasting. Mines throughout the world produce thousands of liters of waste fuel oil that needs to be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. By using the fuel oil in a blasting compound, transporting the waste oil is eliminated, the quantity of fuel oil needed for blasting is reduced, and potentially toxic hydrocarbons in waste oil can be destroyed by the high blast temperature. Shell tested the ANFO-waste oil blend at Hamersley Iron's Marandoo mine site, and found that the ratio of waste oil to ANFO blend could be as much as 50-50 without any detrimental effect to the final blasting performance.

Urea nitrate is also considered a type of fertilizer-based explosive, although, in this case, the two constituents are nitric acid (one of the ten most produced chemicals in the world) and urea. A common source of urea is the prill used for de-icing sidewalks. Urea can also be derived from concentrated urine. This is a common variation used in South America and the Middle East by terrorists. Often, sulfuric acid is added to assist with catalyzing the constituents. A bucket containing the urea is used surrounded by an ice bath. The ice serves in assisting with the chemical conversion when the nitric acid is added. The resulting explosive can be blasting cap sensitive. Urea nitrate has a destructive power similar to ammonium nitrate.

By one estimate, the bomb used to attack the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 consisted of an ANFO explosive main charge of approximately 4,000 pounds, based on an estimate of the Velocities of Detonation [VOD] of approximately 13,000 fps. Other estimates claim that the 1995 explosion that collapsed portions of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City contained 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. Later estimates suggested that the bomb had in excess of 6,200 pounds of various energetic materials, including explosives other than ANFO, equivalent to 5,000 pounds of TNT. In the Salameh World Trade Center bombing case resulting from the bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC) on February 26, 1993, FBI Explosives Unit examiner David Williams opined that the main explosive used in the bombing consisted of 1,200 pounds of urea nitrate explosive. The FBI chemists specializing in the examination of explosive residue, however, did not find any residue identifying the explosive at the World Trade Center.

Not all large truck bombs have used ANFO. On June 25, 1996, Saudi terrorists sponsored by Iran attacked the Khobar Towers barracks, a high-rise building complex in a densely populated urban environment in Saudi Arabia. T tanker truck loaded with at least 5,000 pounds of plastic explosives was driven into the parking lot in front of the Khobar Towers residential complex in Dhahran. Nineteen American service members were killed in the blast, and hundreds of other service members and Saudis were injured. There is no doubt that the extent of the casualties at Khobar Towers resulted, in part, from the extraordinary size of the terrorist bomb. Reports initially estimated that the bomb contained the equivalent of 3,000 to 8,000 pounds of TNT, but a study by the Defense Special Weapons Agency concluded that the power of the bomb was actually closer to 20,000 pounds of TNT.



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Explosives - Compositions

In general, high explosives are compositions and mixtures of ingredients capable of instantaneously releasing large amounts of energy and doing work of various kinds on objects and bodies surrounding them. In some cases the useful work that is done is limited only by the energy content of the explosive composition, while in other cases the transfer of energy from the explosive composition to surrounding bodies is controlled to a large degree by the momentum or impulse released by the detonating explosive.

Amatol

Research and development during World War I yielded amatol (TNT plus ammonium nitrate), an explosive with three times the power of gunpowder. Amatol consists of TNT and ammonium nitrate mixed in either 20 /80 or 50 /50 ratios. When the U.S. entered the war, Amatol was adopted for loading high explosive shells. Owing to shortages of TNT and RDX (cyclonite) most World War II mines had had 50/50 ammonium nitrate and TNT (amatol) warheads. This was a low quality explosive but was later improved by the addition of about 20% aluminum to produce minol.

This explosive is a mechanical mixture of Ammonium Nitrate and TNT. It is crystalline and yellow or brownish, moisture-absorbing, insensitive to friction, but may be detonated by severe impact. It is readily detonated by Mercury Fulminate and other high explosives. Amatol 50/50 has approximately the same rate of detonation and brisance as TNT. Amatol 80/20 (used in Bangalore Torpedoes), produces white smoke on detonation, while Amatol 50/50 produces a smoke, less black than straight TNT. Amatol is used as a substitute for TNT and is to be mainly found in large caliber shells.

Driven by its liquid propellant engine, the V-2 had a range of approximately 200 miles. Its warhead consisted of 2,000 pounds of amatol.

Baratol

Baratol is a composition of barium nitrate and TNT. TNT is typically 25-33% of the mixture with 1% wax as a binder. The high density of barium nitrate gives baratol a density of at least 2.5.

Early implosion atomic bombs, like the Gadget exploded at Trinity in 1945, the Soviet's Joe 1 in 1949, or India in 1972, used an Composition-B [RDX-TNT mixture] as the fast explosive, with baratol used as the slow explosive.

Composition A

Composition A is a was-coated, granular explosive consisting of RDX and plasticizing was. Composition A is used by the military in land mines and 2.75 and 5 inch rockets. Comp A-3 explosives are made from RDX and wax. Composition A-3 is a wax-coated, granular explosive, consisting of 91% RDX and 9% desensitizing wax. Composition A-3 is not melted or cast. It is pressed into projectiles. It is nonhygroscopic and possesses satisfactory stowage properties. Composition A-3 is appreciably more brisant and powerful than TNT; its velocity of detonation is approximately 27,000 fps. It may be white or buff, depending upon the color of the wax used to coat the powdered RDX. Composition A-3 is used as a fillerinprojectiles that contain a small burster cavity, such as antiaircraft projectiles. It can be used as compressed fillers for medium-caliber projectiles.

Composition B / Comp B

Comp B explosives are made from TNT, RDX, and wax, such as 59.5 percent RDX, 39.5 percent TNT and 1 percent wax. Desensitizing agents are added. Composition B is used by the military in land mines, rockets and projectiles. Cast Composition B has a specific gravity of 1.65 and a detonation velocity of 'about 25,000 fps and is used as a primer and booster for blasting agents.

Composition B is a mixture of 59% RDX, 40% TNT, and 1% wax. The TNT reduces the sensitivity of the RDX to a safe degree and, because of its melting point, allows the material to be cast-loaded. The blast energy of Composition B is slightly higher than that of TNT. Composition B is nonhygroscopic and remains stable in stowage. It has an extremely high-shaped-charge efficiency. The velocity of detonation is approximately 24,000 fps, and its color ranges from yellow to brown. Composition B has been used as a more powerful replacement for TNT in loading some of the rifle grenades and some rocket heads. It can be used where an explosive with more power and brisance is of tactical advantage and there is no objection to a slight increase of sensitivity. While no longer used in newer gun projectiles, some older stocks may be found with Composition B main charges.

Factors for Equivalent Weight of Composition B Explosive Equivalent Factor Comp B 1.00 PBXN-109 1.19 Tritonal 1.09 AFX-777 1.47 AFX-757 1.39 PAX-28 1.62

Composition B-3

During the development of a series of melt-castable explosive formulations devoid of TNT, non-TNT formulations yielded self-heating temperatures significantly lower than predicted. In other tests, Composition B (59.5% RDX, 39.5% TNT, 1% wax) demonstrated an exceedingly low self-heating temperature that ultimately results in a violent final reaction. It is often processed above its self-heating temperature, yet it is safely processed in 300-gallon melt kettles. Researchers subjected Composition B and its individual energetic components to one-liter cook-off testing. They expanded their investigations to include neat TNT, neat RDX (HRDX), an insensitive RDX (IRDX) essentially absent of microinclusions and voids, and Composition B-3 (60% RDX, 40% TNT) made with IRDX. Following analysis of these tests, researchers also tested an HRDX/TNT (13% HRDX, 87% TNT) mixture.

Neat TNT is thermally destabilized by the presence of RDX, either HRDX or IRDX, indicating that RDX is the trigger in the thermal decomposition process associated with Composition B (HRDX) and Composition B-3 (IRDX). The reaction violence of both neat HRDX and Composition B made with HRDX were exceedingly violent, with either partial detonation or detonation occurring. Additionally, researchers observed that the reaction of Composition B-3 (IRDX/TNT) was more violent than either neat TNT or neat IRDX. Once again, they hypothesized that solubilized RDX in molten TNT was the source of the effect. They believe the high-quality, defect-free crystals of IRDX were modified by a dynamic equilibrium in molten TNT, with IRDX solubilized and reprecipitated as ill-defined, voided crystals similar to HRDX. They suspect these ill-defined RDX crystallites present at cook-off temperatures were the source of the reaction violence at cook-off.

Composition C-3

Compositior C-3 is one of the Composition C series that has now been replaced by C-4, especially for loading shaped charges. However, quantities of Composition C-1 and Composition C-2 may be found in the field. Composition C-1 is 88.3% RDX and 11.7% plasticizing oil. Composition C-3 is 77% RDX, 3% tetryl, 4% TNT, 1% NC, 5% MNT (mononitrotoluol), and 10% DNT (dinitrotoluol). The last two compounds, while they are explosives, are oily liquids and plasticize the mixture. The essential difference between Composition C-3 and Composition C-2 is the substitution of 3% tetryl for 3% RDX, which improves the plastic qualities. The changes were made in an effort to obtain a plastic, puttylike composition to meet the requirements of an ideal explosive for molded and shaped charges that will maintain its plasticity over a wide range of temperatures and not exude oil.

Composition C-3 is about 1.35 times as powerful as TNT. The melting point of Composition C-3 is 68C, and it is soluble in acetone. The velocity of detonation is approximate y 26,000 fps. Its color is light brown. As with Composition B, Composition C is no longer being used as a gun projectile main charge. However, some stocks may still be in service with Composition C-3 used as a main charge.

Composition C-4 / Comp C-4 Plastic Explosive

The plasticized form of RDX, composition C-4, contains 91% RDX, 2.1% polyisobutylene, 1.6% motor oil, and 5.3% 2-ethylhexyl sebacate.

The Demolition charge M183 is used primarily in breaching obstacles or demolition of large structures where large charges are required (Satchel Charge). The charge assembly M183 consists of 16 block demolition charges M112, four priming assemblies and carrying case M85. Each Priming assembly consists of a five-foot length of detonating cord assembled with two detonating cord clips and capped at each end with a booster. The components of the assembly are issued in the carrying case. The demolition charge M112 is a rectangular block of Composition C-4 approximately 2 inches by 1.5 inches and 11 inches long, weighing 1.25 Lbs. When the charge is detonated, the explosive is converted into compressed gas. The gas exerts pressure in the form of a shock wave, which demolishes the target by cutting, breaching, or cratering.

Using explosives provides the easiest and fastest way to break the frozen ground. However, the use of demolitions will be restricted when under enemy observation. Composition C-4, tetrytol, and TNT are the best explosives for use in northern operations because they retain their effectiveness in cold weather. Dig a hole in the ground in which to place the explosive and tamp the charge with any material available to increase its effectiveness. Either electric or nonelectric circuits may be used to detonate the charge. For a foxhole, 10 pounds of explosive will usually be sufficient. Another formula is to use 2 pounds of explosive for every 30 cm (1') of penetration in frozen ground.

DMDNB (2-3 dimethyl, 2-3 dinitrobutane) is a new, military unique compound used as a tagant in C-4 explosive. Therefore there is no OSHA or ACGIH standard. However, USACHPPM's Toxicology Directorate did a study to determine an Army Exposure Limit. There is no toxicological data for DMDNB's effects on the human body, but tests were done on laboratory animals and they showed a reversible liver hypertrophy in rats that were exposed to DMDNB. An exposure level was determined and a one thousand fold safety factor was used to lower the Army exposure level to 0.15 mg/m^3. (At this level there are no warning properties, i.e. smell, taste, etc.)

Composition H6 / COMP H6

H-6 is an Australian produced explosive composition. Composition H6 is a widely used main charge filling for underwater blast weapons such as mines, depth charges, torpedoes and mine disposal charges. The M21 AT mine is 230 millimeters in diameter and 206 millimeters high. It weighs 7.6 kilograms and has 4.95 kilograms of Composition H6 explosive.

In weapon applications, computational models require experimental data to determine certain specific output parameters of H6 to predict various underwater blast scenarios. To this end, the critical diameter dc, which is the minimum diameter which will sustain a stable detonation, and the limiting value of the velocity of detonation at infinite charge diameter D-infinity, were determined for unconfined cylinders of H6.

Cyclotol [Composition B]

Cyclotol, which is a mixture of RDX and TNT, is an explosive used in shaped charge bombs.

CXM-6

On 30 August 1999 Holston Army Ammunition Plant restarted production of new explosives to fill an order for Composition CXM-3. This is the first new explosive production by Royal Ordnance North America (RONA) as the operating contractor at Holston. CXM-3 will be supplied to Atlantic Research Corporation to fill warheads for the Tomahawk missile system. RONA is also planning to produce other RDX and HMX products, including approximately 800,000 pounds of Composition C-4, by the end of December.

Detasheet

Detasheet is a plastic explosives, manufactured by DuPont containing PETN with nitrocellulose and a binder. It is manufactured in thin flexible sheets with a rubbery texture, and is generally coloured either reddish/orange (commercial) or green (military). In use, it is typically cut to shape for precision engineering charges.

Dynamite

In 1847 a new explosive came into being. This was nitroglycerine, made by treating glycerine with nitric and sulphuric acids. But at first it was even more dangerous to handle than guncotton, for the least shock exploded it, and its violence was terrific. The great chemist Alfred Nobel tried to improve it by mixing it with gunpowder, but the powder did not absorb all the nitroglycerine, and accidents of the most terrible kind became more and more frequent. Yet the new explosive, being liquid, could be poured into crevices in rocks, and was so useful as a blasting agent that its manufacture went on until a large vessel carrying cases of the explosive from Hamburg to Chili blew up at sea. The ship was blown to bits and her crew killed, and the disaster caused so great a sensation that the manufacture of nitroglycerine was prohibited in Sweden, Belgium, and in England. But Nobel still continued his experiments, and at last, after trying sawdust and all other sorts of absorbents in vain, found the perfect absorbent in the shape of keiselguhr-a sort of earth made of fossil shells. The mixture is what we know to-day as dynamite; and in spite of the fact that modern chemistry has produced very many new explosives, some of terrific power, dynamite remains the safest and most widely used of all explosives.

Many attempts have been made to use dynamite in guns; and the Americans at one time built some huge air guns for the purpose of firing large shells, or rather aerial torpedoes, charged with dynamite. But these guns, of which one or two were used in the Spanish-American War, were very cumbersome and slow in use. Nor could they throw a projectile to a greater distance than a mile. So they were soon abandoned in favor of rifled cannon-firing shells loaded with explosives such as cordite or lyddite.

Dynamite was originally a mixture of nitroglycerin and diato-mite, a porous, inert silica. Today, straight nitroglycerin dynamite consists of nitroglycerin, with sodium nitrate, antacid, carbonaceous fuel, and sometimes sulfur in place of the inert filler. It is most commonly manufactured in weight strengths of 20 to 60 percent. Because of the tendency of nitroglycerin to freeze at low working temperature, another explosive oil usually replaces part of the nitroglycerin in a straight dynamite.

Straight dynamite has a high detonation velocity which gives a shattering action. It resists water well in the higher grades but poorly in the lower grades. Straight dynamite generally has poor fume qualities, and is unsuitable for use underground or in poorly ventilated spaces. The use of straight dynamite has declined because of high cost, sensitivity to shock and friction, and high flammability. Ammonia ("extra") dynamites have replaced straight dynamite in most applications.

Ditching dynamite is a name given to 50 percent straight dynamite. Its high sensitivity is advantageous in ditching where sympathetic detonation eliminates the need for caps or detonating fuse with individual charges. Sixty percent straight dynamite is sometimes packaged in special cartridges for uncle rwater work.

Ammonia dynamites (extra dynamite) are the most widely used cartridge explosives. An ammonia dynamite is similar to a straight dpmite except that ammonium nitrate replaces a portion of the nitroglycerin and sodium nitrate. High-density ammonia dynamite is commonly manufactured in weight strengths of 20 to 60 percent. It is generally lower in detonation velocity, less dense, better in fume qualities, and considerably less sensitive to shock and friction than straight dynamite. Extra dynamite can be used effectively where the rock is not extremely hard and water conditions are not severe. It is widely used in quarrying, stripping, and in well-ventilated mines for smaller diameter holes of small blasting operations.

Low-density ammonia dynamite has a weight strength of approximately 65 percent and a cartridge strength from 20 to 50 percent. Like a high-density extra dynamite, it contains a low proportion of nitro-glycerin and a high proportion of ammonium nitrate. The different cartridge strengths are obtained by varying the density and grain size of the ingredients. Several manufacturers produce two series of low-density ammonia dynamite, a high- and a low-velocity series. Both series are of lower velocity and density than high-density extra dynamite. Because of its slow, heaving action, the low-velocity series is well suited to blasting soft material such as clay- shale or where a coarse product such as riprap is desired. It is well suited for use in structural excavation blasting in certain rock types.

Fume qualities and water resistance vary with the cartridge material. Wrappers sprayed with paraffin give fair to poor water resistance and fair fume rating, whereas a paraffin-impregnated wrapper gives very poor water resistance and a better fume rating. The explosive has little more water resistance than that provided by the wrapper. Low-density extra is the lowest cost cartridge explosive available. The composition of low-density ammonia dynamites is similar to that of a 60 percent high-density extra dynamite with a lower proportion of nitroglycerin and a higher proportion of ammonium nitrate.

Gelatin

Blasting gelatin is a rubber-textured explosive made by adding nitrocellulose (guncotton) to nitroglycerin. An antacid is added for stability in storage. Wood meal is usually added to improve sensitivity. Blasting gelatin attains a very high detonation velocity and has excellent water resistance, but it emits large volumes of noxious fumes upon detonation. It is the most powerful of all commercial explosives. Blasting gelatin is also known as "oil well explosive."

Nobel did much more than merely invent dynamite; he also invented blasting gelatine, gelatine dynamite, and gelignite, both of the latter being better suited for rock blasting than pure dynamite. Blasting gelatine was used to pierce the great St. Gothard Railway tunnel through rock so hard that without it the task could never have been accomplished. Blasting gelatine was tried in guns, but burst them, so Nobel set himself to discover an explosive less violent, yet equally clear and smokeless. By mixing nitroglycerine and guncotton he found a comparatively slow-burning powder which he called ballistite, and this, when he gave it to the world in 1888, caused a very great sensation.

Straight gelatin is a dense, plastic explosive consisting of nitroglycerin or other explosive oil gelatinized with. nitrocellulose, an antacid, sodium nitrate, carbonaceous fuel, and sometimes sulfur. Since the gelatin tends to coat the other ingredients, straight gelatin is water-proof. Straight gelatin is the equivalent of straight dynamite in the dynamite category and is manufactured in weight strengths of 20 to 90 percent with corresponding cartridge strengths of 30 to 80 percent. The cartridge strength or the weight strength may be referred to by the manufacturer as the "grade" of the gelatin, a term which is confusing. Straight gelatin has been used in very hard rock or as a bottom charge in a column of explosives. It has been replaced in most applications by a more economical substitute such as ammonia gelatin, brit higher grades are still used in underwater blasting and in deep well shooting.

Straight gelatin has two characteristic detonation velocities, the confined velocity and a much lower velocity which results from insufficient confinement, insufficient initiation, or high hydrostatic, pressure. Extremely high water pressures may cause a misfire. To overcome this disadvantage, high-velocity gelatin has been developed. High-velocity gelatin is very similar to straight gelatin except that it is slightly less dense, more sensitive to detonation, and always detonates near its rated velocity regardless of water pressure or degree of confinement. High-velocity gelatin is particularly useful as a seismic explosive, and is also used in deep well and underwater work.

Ammonia gelatin (special gelatin or gelatin extra) has a portion of the nitroglycerin and sodium nitrate replaced by ammonium nitrate. Ammonia gelatin is comparable to a straight gelatin in the same way that a high-density ammonia dynamite is comparable to a straight dynamite, and was developed as a cheaper substitute. Ammonia gelatin is commonly manufactured in weight strengths of 30 to 80 percent with corresponding cartridge strengths of 35 to 72 percent. Compared with straight gelatin, ammonia gelatin has a somewhat lower detonation velocity, better fume qualities, and less water resistance, although it will fire efficiently even after standing in water for several days. It is suitable for underground work because of its good fume rating. The higher strengths (70 percent or higher) are efficient as primers for blasting agents.

A semigelatin is comparable to an ammonia gelatin as a low-density ammonia dynamite is comparable to a high-density ammonia dynamite. Like low-density extras, semigelatin has a uniform weight strength (60 to 65 percent) with the cartridge strength varying with the density and grain size of the ingredients. Its properties fall betieen those of high- density ammonia dynamite and ammonia gelatin, and it has great versatility. Semigelatin can be used to replace ammonia dynamite when more water resistance is needed. It is cheaper for wet work than ammonia gelatin, although its water resistance is not quite as high as that of ammonia gelatin. Semigelatin has a confined detonation velocity of 10,000 to 12,000 fps, which, b contrast to that of most explosives, is not seriously affected by lack of confinement. Very good fume qualities permit its use underground. The compositions are similar to ammonia gelatin with less nitroglycerin and sodium nitrate and more ammonium nitrate.

H6

H-6 is a binary explosive that is a mixture of RDX, TNT, powered aluminum, and D-2 wax with calcium chloride added. H-6 is an Australian produced explosive composition used by the military for general purpose bombs.

HBX [Hexahydro - 1, 3, 5 Trinitro-8-Triazine]

HBX is a form of high explosive made from TNT, RDX, aluminum, lecithin, and wax. HBX was developed during WWII that replaced the more shock-sensitive TORPEX used in depth bombs and torpedoes. The warhead for the 2.75-inch "Mighty Mouse" rocket was filled with HBX (40 percent RDX, 38 percent TNT, 17 percent aluminum powder, and 5 percent desensitizers) or composition B (59 percent RDX, 40 percent TNT, and 1 percent wax). All Navy warhead filling activities in the TNT Plant ceased in early The major longer range improvements resulting were the Navy's development of HBX type explosives together with asphaltic, "hot melt" liners for bombs and other munitions. The hot melt liners were developed to coat and eliminate metal-to metal pinch points. After the Naval Magazine, Port Chicago, CA accident of 17 July 1944 , HBX and H-6 explosives were developed that incorporated wax and other chemicals to desensitize the explosive and hot melt liners were introduced for lining bombs and warheads to give some thermal protection and eliminate potential pinch points from cracks or fissures in the bomb or warhead case. Later, plastic-bonded explosives were developed for increased thermal protection and fragment impact resistance.

LX-14

Minol

Although ANFO is not generally suitable for military use, since it's troublesome to store without drying out, mixtures of AN and TNT known as "amatols" were used in both WWI and WWII as a means of stretching the supply of explosives. The proportion of AN in the mix ranged from 50% to 80%. A mix of ANFO, TNT, and powdered aluminum enhancer named "Minol" is still in use [40% TNT, 40% ammonium nitrate, 20% aluminum]. Owing to shortages of TNT and RDX (cyclonite) most World War II mines had had 50/50 ammonium nitrate and TNT (amatol) warheads. This was a low quality explosive but was later improved by the addition of about 20% aluminum to produce minol.

Octol

The melt-cast explosive Octol is a TNT-based explosive (70% HMX:30% TNT or 75 percent HMX, 25 percent TNT). Explosives to be stored on Navy ships must not contain TNT or Octol.

PBX

The ideal high-energy explosive must balance different requirements. HE should be easy to form into parts but resistant to subsequent deformation through temperature, pressure, or mechanical stress. It should be easy to detonate on demand but difficult to explode accidentally. The explosive should also be compatible with all the materials it contacts, and it should retain all its desirable qualities indefinitely.

No such explosive existed in 1944. While using what was available to meet wartime demands, scientists at Los Alamos began to develop a high-energy, relatively safe, dimensionally stable, and compositionally uniform explosive. By 1947, scientists at Los Alamos had created the first plastic-bonded explosive (PBX), an RDX*-polystyrene formulation later designated PBX 9205. Although other PBXs have since been successfully formulated for a wide range of applications, only a handful have displayed the combination of adequate energy content, mechanical properties, sensitivity, and chemical stability required for stockpile nuclear weapons. Since the 1960s, Livermore has been researching and developing safer HE for Livermore-designed weapons.

The plastic coating that binds the explosive granules, typically 5 to 20% of each formulation by weight, is what gives each PBX its distinctive characteristics. Pressing a PBX molding powder converts it into a solid mass, with the polymer binder providing both mechanical rigidity and reduced sensitivity to accidental detonation. The choice of binder affects hardness, safety, and stability. Too brittle a PBX can sustain damage in normal handling and succumb to extreme temperature swings or thermal shocks, while too soft a PBX may be susceptible to creep and may lack dimensional stability or strength.

PBXN-5

PBXN-5 is referred to as a plastic-bonded explosive because it is an explosive coated with plastic material. The composition is made of 95% HMX and 5% fluoroelastomers.

The Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System (APOBS) Detonating Cord Assembly consists of PBXN-8 explosive, silicone rubber, polyamide yarn type I and II, and composition A-5 explosive. Grenade Assembly consists of PBXN-5 explosive booster pellet, PBXN-9 explosive pellets, grenade tube, and male and female grenade shells. Grenade Assembly consists of PBXN-5 explosive booster pellet, PBXN-9 explosive pellets, grenade tube, unisex grenade shells, and ring clamp.

PBXN-7

China Lake designed, developed, and qualified the Tomahawk Block III WDU-36 warhead in 48 months to meet evolving Tomahawk requirements of insensitive munitions ordnance compliance and range enhancement, while maintaining or enhancing ordnance effectiveness. The WDU-36 uses a new warhead material based upon prior China Lake warhead technology investigations, PBXN-107 explosive, the FMU-148 fuze (developed and qualified for this application), and the BBU-47 fuze booster (developed and qualified using the new PBXN-7 explosive). Block III was first used in the September 1995 Bosnia strike (Deliberate Force) and a year later in the Iraq strike (Desert Strike).

PBXN-9

PBXN-9 Explosive is made for the HELLFIRE/Longbow Missile System. Because of its acceptance into a number of fleet uses, additional characterization and performance tests were conducted on PBXN-9 to support various warhead developmental efforts. Included are the results of various explosive performance tests, such as detonation pressure, cylinder expansion (cylex),and wedge tests, as well as additional material sensitivity studies (large-scale gap test and small-scale gap test).

The JASSM contains the WDU-42/B (J-1000), a 1000-pound class, penetrating warhead with 240 pounds of AFX-757. AFX-757 is an extremely insensitive explosive developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory/High Explosives Research and Development Facility, Eglin AFB, Fla. The fuze is the FMU-156/B employing a 150-gram PBXN-9 booster.

The Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System (APOBS) Detonating Cord Assembly consists of PBXN-8 explosive, silicone rubber, polyamide yarn type I and II, and composition A-5 explosive. Grenade Assembly consists of PBXN-5 explosive booster pellet, PBXN-9 explosive pellets, grenade tube, and male and female grenade shells. Grenade Assembly consists of PBXN-5 explosive booster pellet, PBXN-9 explosive pellets, grenade tube, unisex grenade shells, and ring clamp.

A Low-Energy Exploding Foil Initiator (LEEFI) is a low-energy input device with high-energy output that can detonate a main charge of PBXN-9.

PBXN-10

PBXN-106

This explosive is one of the new plastic-bonded explosives. It is a cast-cured explosive composition made from a homogeneous mixture of RDX in a plasticized polyurethane rubber matrix. Once cured, the material cannot be easily restored to a liquid state. The finished material is flexible and will absorb considerably more mechanical shock than conventional cast or pressed explosives.

PBXN-107

PBXN-109

PE4

PE4 is a conventional plastic explosive, widely used for the production of improved energetic systems for defensive and offensive use. PE4 is RDX based and is available in cartridge and bulk form. An extrudable for DEMEX 400 is also available. Distinctive standard colours indicate the explosive component: C4, or PE4 ( British) is white and Semtex-H is orange.

Pentolite

Pentolite is a mixture of equal parts of TNT and PETN. When cast, it has a specific gratity of 1.65 and a confined detonation velocity of 24,000 to 25,000 fps. Cast pentolite is used as a primer and booster for blasting agents where its high detonation pressure assures efficient initiation of the blasting agent.

Semtex

Semtex is an explosive containing both RDX and PETN. Semtex, a Czech-made explosive, has been used in many terrorist bombings. Dynamite has been replaced by the more destructive and easily concealed Semtex. SEMTEX is a plastic explosive that is odorless. SEMTEX along with a detonating cap, can be inserted inside a 5" x 6" musical greeting card, undetected. Three pounds of Semtex plastique packs enough punch to raze a two-story building. Terrorists attack with no warning and no rationale. Their weapon of choice is a pliable, odorless substance that is twice as powerful as TNT and is virtually invisible to conventional security devices. It can be hidden in a brief case or a small cassette recorder.

Czechoslovakia was among the world's chief arms exporters. It sold hundreds of tanks, thousands of firearms and large quantities of Semtex to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Cambodia and other trouble spots, a practice that stopped long ago. In 1985 and 1986, the Irish Republican Army [IRA] took delivery of nearly 120 tons of arms and explosives from Libya, including a ton of Semtex explosive and 12 SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles. Some of those weapons and explosives have been used by the IRA in terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and in other European countries. Libyan terrorists used Semtex in 1988 to down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 persons.

The on-again, off-again export of the general-purpose plastic explosive Semtex, manufactured in Czechoslovakia during the height of the Cold War and linked to terrorist groups around the world, resumed in 1994. The Czech Republic recently announced that exports were beginning to selected countries. The first Semtex shipment under the resumed exportswent to the British Defense Ministry. Czech reporting suggested that the British authorities intend to run experiments on the explosive that is often used by Irish Republican Army terrorists-including the October 1993 destruction of a building in Belfast.

According to the 1991 international convention signed in Montreal, Semtex intended for industrial applications is to be a bright red-orange color and detectable by security-monitoring equipment. Variants of the explosive produced for civilian purposes are also less powerful than the nearly odorless version that became a favorite weapon of terrorists. Despite this and the export ban that had earlier been in place, Semtex continues to be smuggled across borders.

Substantial quantities of the explosive have been stolen from industrial enterprises in the Czech and Slovak republics for sale on the black market. Shortly before the most recent ban was lifted, Czech police seized 100 kilograms of industrial Semtex from a group of Czech citizens who were planning its illegal sale abroad. In Slovakia in October 1993, some 900 kilograms of the explosive were stolen from the warehouse of a private firm, together with more than 2,000 detonators. Czech officials candidly admit that they have no idea how much Semtex has been stolen or illegally diverted, and the continued black market trade in the explosive seems certain.

Slurries

Slurries, sometimes called water gels, contain ammonium nitrate partly in aqueous solution. Depending on the remainder of the ingredients, slurries can be classified as either blasting agents or explosives. Slurry blasting agents contain nonexplosive sensitizers or fuels such as carbon, sulfur, or aluminum, and are not cap sensitive; whereas slurry explosives contain cap- sensitive ingredients such as TNT and the mixture itself may be cap sensitive. Slurries are thickened and gelled with a gum, such as guar gum, to give considerable water resistance.

Since most slurries are not cap sensitive, all slurries, even those containing TNT, are often grouped under the term blasting agent. This grouping is incorrect. A blasting agent, as defined by the National Fire Protection Association, shall contain no ingredient that is classified as an explosive.

Slurry blasting agents require adequate priming with a high-velocity explosive to attain proper detonation velocities, and often require boosters of high explosive spaced along the borehole to as sure complete detonation. Slurry explosives may or may not require priming. The detonation velocities of slurries, between i2,000 and 18,000 fps, vary with ingredients used, charge diameter, degree of confinement, and density. The detonation velocity of a slurry, however, is not as dependent on charge diameter as that of a dry blasting agent. The specific gratity varies from I.i to i.6. The consistency of most slurries ranges from fluid near iOOO F to rigid at freezing temperatures, although some slurries maintain their fluidity even at freezing temperatures. Slurries consequently give the same advantageous direct borehole coupling as dry blasting agents as well as a higher detonation velocity and a higher density. Thus, more energy can be loaded into a given volume of borehole. Saving in costs realized by drilling smaller holes or using larger burden and spacing will often more than offset the higher cost per pound of explosive. Adding powdered aluminum as a sensitizer to slurries greatly increases the heat of explosion or the energy release. Aluminized slurries have been used in extremely hard rock with excellent results.

A slurry and a dry blasting agent may be used in the same borehole in "slurry boosting," with the buk of the charge being dry blasting agent. Boosters placed at regular intervals may improve fragmentation. In another application of slurry boosting, the slurry is placed in a position where fragmentation is difficult, such as a hard toe or a zone of hard rock in the burden. The combination will often give better overall economy than straight slurry or dry blasting agent.

Tetrytol

Tetrytol is a mixture of ~70% tetryl (2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-methylnitramine) and ~30% TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. In 1944 the M104 auxiliary booster was first given to Redstone Arsenal as an experimental order with instructions to develop a manufacturing procedure for loading it with tetrytol. The booster had heretofore been loaded with tetryl pellets. The tests that Redstone conducted showed that tetrytol-loaded M104 auxiliary boosters had a greater brisance than the tetryl-loaded ones but that a heavier booster charge was required for detonation. Since such a booster charge was already available, the tetrytol-loaded auxiliary booster was considered more satisfactory than the tetryl-loaded one.

TORPEX

TORPEX is an explosive based on trinitrotoluene (TNT) that gave a greater blast than TNT, but was more sensitive. It was replaced by HBX or HBX-1 later in WWII. Torpex is RDX/TNT/Aluminum/Wax desensitizer. It was used in several types of torpedoes and mines. Due to it sensitivity to bullet impact, the first weapons loaded were ones for which there would be the least possibility of rifle bullet and fragment attack, namely, submarine delivered mines and torpedoes. The loading stations were advised that they must take adequate care in mixing and loading and in the handling of the loaded items. It was declared that the British had been able to handle it without incident for 2 years and that the risk was worth the advantage gained in its underwater power.

Tritonal

The GBU-28 contains only six hundred pounds of Tritonal. The BLU-109/B was an improved 2,000-pound-class penetrator bomb designed for attacking the most hardened targets. Its skin was much harder than that of a standard iron bomb, consisting of a single-piece, forged warhead casing of one-inch, high-grade steel. The bomb featured a 550 pound tritonal high-explosive blast warhead and was always mated with a laser guidance kit to form a laser-guided bomb. The Tritonal filling of the BLU-109/B is similar in size to the warhead of the Mk.48 series torpedo. Explosive (NEW) 535 lbs. Tritonal in the BLU-109 and 945 lbs. of Tritonal on the MK 84.

The Munitions Directorate's successful completion of the Miniaturized Munition Technology Demonstration (MMTD) Program, has provided an innovative weapon called the Small Smart Bomb. The miniaturized munition concept includes a weapon that issix feet long, six inches in diameter, and weighs only 250 pounds with approximately fifty pounds of Tritonal explosive material. The weapon is effective against a majority of hardened targets previously vulnerable only to munitions in the 2,000 pound class. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate has set the baseline for small bomb development by successfully demonstrating the technology that will be used to further the development of a 250-pound class munition. Small Smart Bomb's size will allow future fighter and bomber aircraft to carry more weapons in their weapons bays.

Polynitrocubane Super Explosives are a family of new energetics. In FY96, the Army initiated the synthesis of a more powerful polynitrocubane explosive. In FY97, the Army scaled up the polynitrocubane explosive to pound level. In FY98, scale up the polynitrocubane explosive to pilot plant quantity and initiate formulation study for anti-armor warhead (Shaped Charge or explosively Formed Penetrator) loading. In FY99, conduct static warhead test using the polynitrocubane explosive to show increase in energy performance by up to 25 percent and with comparable sensitivity to LX-14.

The current winner in the most powerful explosives debate is heptanitrocubane (HpNC). It has beat out the theoretically more powerful octanitrocubane (ONC) in actual tests recently performed. ONC has only been synthesized in the last year, but it has been calculated to have the greatest density of any explosive we could make. In reality ONC does not achieve this theoretical density. Since it has existed for such a short time, researchers conclude that they simply have yet to find its most dense crystalline form. The default winner is the next best thing, HpNC. Further conjecture into nitro cubane chemistry has hypothesized at the possibility of polynitrocubane molecules which could achieve even greater densities.



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Container Ship Types

The ship dimensions, such as the ship breadth, depend on the number of containers placed abreast on deck and in the holds. Thus, one extra container box abreast in a given ship design involves an increased ship breadth of about 2.8 meters. The average loaded container weighs about 10-12 tons but, of course, this may vary, so the modern container vessels are dimensioned for 12-14 dwt per TEU.

Containership capacity is normally expressed in Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU), which is defined as the number of 20' x 8' x 8'6" containers it can carry; or, similarly, in Forty-foot Equivalent Units. Containerships vary considerably in size. Some of those serving major ports have capacities exceeding 5,000 TEU. Some recently built for feeder service (i.e., serving small outports from a major port) have capacities of 400 TEU or less.

PanaMax

The delivery in 1980 of the 4,100 teu Neptune Garnet was the largest container ship to date. Deliveries had now reached a level of 60-70 ships per year and, with some minor fluctuations, it stayed at this level until 1994, which saw the delivery of 143 ships. With the American New York, delivered in 1984, container ship size passed 4,600 teu. For the next 12 years, the max. container ship size was 4,500-5,000 teu (mainly because of the limitation on breadth and length imposed by the Panama Canal). The hull dimensions of the largest container ships, the so-called Panamax-size vessels, were limited by the length and breadth of the lock chambers of the Panama Canal, i.e. a max. ship breadth (beam) of 32.3 m, a max. overall ship length of 294.1 m (965 ft), and a max. draught of 12.0 m (39.5 ft). Panama Canal lock chambers are 305 m long and 33.5 m wide, and the largest depth of the canal is 12.5-13.7 m. The canal is about 86 km long, and passage takes eight hours.

The corresponding cargo capacity was between 4,500 and 5,000 teu. These maximum ship dimensions are also valid for passenger ships, but for other ships the maximum length is 289.6 m (950 ft). However, it should be noted that, for example, for bulk carriers and tankers, the term Panamax-size is defined as 32.2/32.3 m (106 ft) breadth, 228.6 m (750 ft) overall length, and no more than 12.0 m (39.5 ft) draught. The reason for the smaller length used for these ship types is that a large part of the world's harbors and corresponding facilities are based on this length. At present the canal has two lanes, but a possible third lane with an increased lock chamber size is under consideration in order to capture the next generation of container ships of up to about 12,000 teu.

Several maritime incidents during the early 1990's underscored the risk of serious injury or death, vessel loss, property damage, and environmental damage caused by improperly secured cargo aboard vessels. The most well-known incident occurred off the New Jersey coast in early 1992. During a voyage in bad weather, the M/V Santa Clara I lost 21 containers overboard, including 4 containers of the hazardous material, arsenic trioxide.

The Coast Guard convened a Board of Inquiry to investigate the M/V Santa Clara I mishap. The Board found that the container losses were caused by cargo securing failures related to bad weather and human error. Based on its findings, the Board recommended adopting the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) voluntary guidelines on cargo securing manuals as regulations in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS). The Commandant approved the Board's recommendation. With the support of other IMO member governments, the U.S. led a proposal to include new requirements for cargo securing manuals in SOLAS. These requirements were adopted as part of the 1994 amendments to SOLAS. These requirements are located in SOLAS Chapters VI/5.6 and VII/6.6.

Under SOLAS, all cargo vessels engaged on international voyages and equipped with cargo securing systems or individual securing arrangements must have a Flag State approved Cargo Securing Manual (CSM) by December 31, 1997. Under SOLAS and Executive Order 12234 -- which authorizes the Secretary to issue regulations that implement SOLAS--these requirements for a cargo securing manual apply to all U.S.-flag cargo vessels of 500 gross tons or more, engaged in international trade. Vessel types affected include general-cargo vessels, cellular containerships, roll-on/roll-off vessels, passenger/cargo vessels, supply vessels, bulk vessels capable of carrying non-bulk cargo, heavy lift ships, freight ships carrying packaged or break-bulk cargoes, and other similar vessels.

Post-PanaMax

APL developed a new transportation net without using the Panama channel. This marked the creation of the new 'Post-Panmax' type. In 1996 the Regina Mrsk exceeded this limit, with an official capacity of 6,400 teu, and started a new development in the container ship market. Since 1996, the maximum size of container ships has rapidly increased from 6,600 teu in 1997 to 7,200 teu in 1998, and up to 8,700 teu in ships delivered in 1999. The vessels delivered or on order with a capacity of approx. 9,000 teu have exceeded the Panamax beam by approx. 10 m. The development of the post-panamax fleet has been dramatic; today 30% of the world's fleet, by capacity, is post-panamax

From the carrier perspective, the primary appeal of the mega ship is operating economy of scale. The operating cost of a 6,000 TEU vessel is not proportionally higher than that of a 4,000 TEU ship. However, viewed in terms of their impact on the larger transportation system, such vessels may actually impose higher costs. Problems with the Super Post-Panamax class of ship include the massive surge of containers discharged in a single port call; the challenge inherent in trying to fill a very large ship with cargo on a repetitive basis; and the expense involved in providing sufficient channel and berth depth, terminal area, gantry cranes of adequate size, and other items of equipment and infrastructure. Despite these concerns, over 50 orders for ships in this class were placed with shipyards in 1999 alone.

These ships are of a revolutionary design, answering the question "who needs hatchcovers?" In all but two forward holds, reserved for special and non-containerized cargo, traditional hatchcovers are missing. Instead, permanent cell guides run from the tank top to several levels above deck. As a result of the continuous cells, container twistlocks and lashings are not used. Speed of load/discharge is improved and container shifting is reduced. Taking into consideration that five cargo holds are exposed to rain and sea water, emphasis has been put on the development of the most efficient bilge system.

By 2000 the global container ship fleet numbered over 6,800 vessels. Over 71 percent of these are fully cellular, meaning they are "purpose-built" to carry ocean containers in specially constructed vertical slots. The capacity of this fleet was over 5.8 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units, or TEUs. While nearly three-quarters of the fleet by number consists of relatively small ships (specifically, those of under 1,000 TEU capacity), the "mega ship," or Super Post-Panamax vessel of 4,500 TEU and larger, is growing rapidly in prominence. By the end of 2001, about 10% of the global box ship fleet by capacity consisted of Super Post-Panamax ships.

At the beginning of the year 2004 there were already about 100 container ships with a capacity of 8,000 TEU in use. The Samsung shipyard builds a container ship with a capacity of 9.200 TEU, commissioning in 2005. Samsung delivered a 9,600 TEU ship in 2006. The increase in the maximum size of container ships does not mean that the demand for small feeder and coastal container ships has decreased. Ships with capacities of less than 2,000 teu account for more than 50% of the number of ships delivered in the last decade. Container ships compete with conventional reefer ships and, when it was delivered in 1996, the Regina Mrsk was the ship with the largest reefer capacity, with plugs for more than 700 reefer containers. There is almost no limit to the type of commodities that can be transported in a container and/or a container ship. This is one of the reasons why the container ship market is expected to grow faster than world trade and the economy in general. Some car manufacturers have already containerised the transport of new cars, and other car manufacturers are testing the potential for transporting up to four family cars in a 45-foot container.

All in all, the demand for transport capacity increases by 7-8% per year, and there is a fine balance between the yards' order books for container ships for delivery in 2001 and 2002, and the expected increase in the market (total 210 ships ~750,000 teu), i.e. no scrapping is envisaged. In total, the number of container ships delivered increased from 150 a year in 1994-1995 to 250 in 1998. As a consequence of the financial crises in the industrialised East Asian countries, deliveries decreased to 114 ships in 1999 and 115 in 2000. This shows how important the East Asian region is to the container ship market.

One train is physically limited to 240 40-foot containers. Therefore, about 10 double-stack trains would have to be arranged to move the inbound containers from one such 9000 TEU ship. Those problems can be solved through infrastructure improvement. Container vessels in the size range of 400-3,000 teu still hold a very important part of the freight market.

The larger the container ship, the more time is required for loading and unloading and, as the time schedule for a container ship is very tight, the extra time needed for loading/unloading means that, in general, larger container ships may have to sail at a proportionately higher service speed. The increase in ship size has been followed by a corresponding demand for higher design ship speeds. For ships in the size range of up to 1,500 teu, the speed is between 9 and 25 knots, with the majority of the ships (58%) sailing at some 15-19 knots. The most popular speed for the 1,500-2,500 teu ships is 18-21 knots, which applies to 70% of these ships. In the 2,500-4,000 teu range, 90% of the ships have a speed of 20-24 knots. 71% of the 4,000-6,000 teu ships have a speed of 23-25 knots. Finally, 80% of the ships that are larger than 6,000 teu have a speed of 24-26 knots. For the future ultra large container ships, a ship speed of 25-26 knots may be expected, whereas a higher ship speed would involve a disproportionately high fuel consumption.

In February 2005 it was announced that Lloyd's Register was to class the world's largest declared capacity container ships - four 10,000 teu vessels, to be built in Korea at Hyundai Heavy Industries for China Ocean Shipping Corporation (Cosco). The vessels will be delivered between late 2007 and mid-2008. Each of the ships will have a length overall of 349 meters, a breadth of 45.6 meters and a depth of 27.2 meters. Each ship will be fitted with a 12-cylinder 94,000 horsepower engine to enable a trading speed of 25.8 knots.

Lloyd's Register has an established track record of classing large container ships, including a series of 8,500 teu ships recently completed by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) for Canadian, Chinese and Greek owners. Other orders for large container ships to Lloyd's Register class include 9,200 and 9,600 teu ships at SHI, 8,400 teu ships at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, 7,030 teu ships at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 6,400 teu ships at Hanjin Heavy Industries. The 10,000 teu container ships ordered by Cosco are the next step towards the 12,500 teu limit.

Suez-Max Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS)

The Suez Canal canal is about 163 km long and 80-135 m wide, and has no lock chambers. Most of the canal has only a single traffic lane with several passing bays. It is intended to increase the depth of the canal before 2010 in order to capture the largest container ships to be built.

Suez-max investigations showed that in future, perhaps by 2010, Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS) carrying some 12,000 teu containers can be expected. This ship size, with a breadth of 50 m / 57 m, and corresponding max. draught of 16.4 m / 14.4 m, may just meet the present Suezmax size.

For these very large vessels of the future, the propulsion power requirement may be up to about 100 MW/136,000 bhp. Investigations conducted by a propeller maker show that propellers can be built to absorb such high powers. Single-screw vessels are therefore still being considered, along with twin-skeg vessels (with two main engines and two propellers).

The ultra-large container ship (ULCS) study was initiated by Lloyd's Register, in association with Ocean Shipping Consultants Ltd, in 1999. The study commissioned by Lloyd's Register concluded that ultra-large container ships of up to 12,500 teu are entirely feasible and that the first of these vessels may be in service by 2010. The larger ships offer reduced cost, even taking into account the additional time spent in port. The calculations have been carried out on the assumption that a trading speed of 25 knots will be required across this entire range of ship sizes. This necessitates a twin-engine installation for ships of 10,000 teu and above. For the 18,000 teu container ship one might assume that an overall length of 470 m will be possible, assuming that the problem with the hull strength will be solved. This will reduce the ship draught and enable more harbors to handle such a large container ship.

Beyond 12,500 teu it is expected that container ship and container terminal design will have to undergo significant change. For container ships, this might include the addition of a second screw, with the added capital investment that this entails. The industry will probably see the first 12,500 teu ship ordered before 2010.

In September 2005 an innovative design study for a 13,000 TEU container ship was presented by Germanischer Lloyd and the Korean yard Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The new ship design with two main engines and two propellers. All the relevant calculations have been carried out and the design completely approved by Germanischer Lloyd; the Korean yard is now accepting orders. The ship is 382 metres long and 54.2 metres wide, and has a draft of 13.5 m. The 6,230 containers below deck are stacked in 10 tiers and 19 rows, while the 7,210 deck containers are stowed in 21 rows. Powered by two 45,000 kW engines, the vessel's speed is 25.5 knots. The design study is characterized by two technical innovations: the cooperation partners decided on a twin drive configuration and the separation of deckhouse and engine room.

The question as to what propulsion powers and arrangements are needed to achieve the desired speed of 26 knots may be answered by diverse technical approaches: in the early phase of detailed calculations, not only the twin drive, but also the possibilities offered by one main engine, as well as one main engine with an additional pod drive, were considered. The cost estimate for the various drive configurations, never before done by a shipyard, indicated that a twin propulsion system was only negligibly more cost-intensive than the variant with only one main engine.

From the technical standpoint, the aspect of absolute safety is a major argument for the twin drive. In the event of an engine failure, the ship would remain manoeuvrable and could reach a safe harbour under its own steam. The main-engine and shaft sizes correspond to those of a 4,000 TEU carrier. More than 15 years of experience and smooth operation speak in favour of this size of propulsion unit. Engines and propellers of this size are in widespread use, making the maintenance and procurement of spare parts both easy and cost-effective.

On the other hand, the single-engine variant leads to several difficulties that have not been solved as yet. The output of a 14-cylinder engine is not enough to achieve the required speed, whereas a 16-cylinder engine would be too large. As regards propeller size, HHI believes that the maximum has been reached with a diameter of 9.5 m and a weight of 110 t. What is more, the single-screw design involves a great risk of cavitation; the extremely high shaft power also represents a hazard.

With a view to meeting the SOLAS requirements for bridge visibility on such a large ship, the design envisages the separation of deckhouse and engine room. The innovative arrangement of the deckhouse in the forward part of the ship permits an increase in container capacity and a reduction in ballast water. The international regulations on the protection of fuel tanks are also satisfied with this design, because they are located in the protected area below the deckhouse. Another welcome result of this innovation is reduced bending and increased stiffness of the hull.

Over a period of one and a half years, the cooperation partners Germanischer Lloyd and Hyundai Heavy Industries performed calculations for all components of the ship. The study investigated the layout of the ship, the number of containers and their stowage, the design of the fuel tanks, and also provided for strength analyses. Further aspects included slamming calculations, propulsion plants, engine room design and vibration analyses. In addition to towing experiments, tank model tests were also carried out at Hyundai in respect of parametric rolling, with the support of Germanischer Lloyd. At the same time, programs developed by Germanischer Lloyd were used to examine the behaviour of the ship in a seaway, especially parametric rolling. Moreover, exhaust emission tests were conducted to determine the optimum position for the funnels.

The production period for such a ship lies at 9 to 10 months. Owing to the great workload of the yard, delivery before 2009 will not be possible.

Many ports in America simply couldn't accommodate such vessels, except at great expense. And ports are differently endowed through the vagaries of geography or geology. Gulfport, Mississippi, for example, has about 36 feet of draft. New Orleans has about 40 feet, with all that sediment coming down the Mississippi. The Seattle approach channel, on the other hand, was glacier-carved; it averages 175 feet. Halifax, Nova Scotia, averages about 60 feet, Baltimore and Hampton Roads average about 50 feet, while New York/New Jersey presently averages 40 to 45 feet.

Thus, some U.S. ports will have an easier time of it when accommodating megaships, with the consequent potential for some reshuffling of rank among various North American ports. This would be very similar to another change that happened 40 years ago during the advent of containerization. Some people could make it--some people couldn't make it. San Francisco decided it didn't have the room to pursue containerization. It became a tourist waterfront and gave all of its cargo up to Oakland. Manhattan decided that it couldn't do it and gave it all to New Jersey.

Post-Suez-Max

Post-Suez-max nvestigations indicate that in about 10 years the ULCS will perhaps be as big as 18,000 teu, with a ship breadth of 60 m and a maximum draft of 21 m. Today, this ship size would be classified as a post-Suezmax ship, as the cross-section of the ship is too big for the present Suez Canal. It is claimed that the transportation cost per container for such a big ship may be about 30% lower than that of a typical 5,000-6,000 teu container vessel of today.

Post-Malacca-Max

Malacca-max relfects the fact that a draft of 21 m is the maximum permissible draught through the Malacca Strait.

With the intended increase of the cross-section breadth and depth of the Suez Canal over the coming ten years, the 18,000 teu container ship will also be able to pass the Suez Canal. On the other hand, a future container ship with a draft of 21 m would require existing harbors to be dredged. Today, only the harbors of Singapore and Rotterdam are deep enough.

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World's Largest Armies

This resource is updated at various intervals from time to time. The January 2020 revision elevated Iran from 13th place, based on the active regular Army alone, to 4th place, including Army, IRGC and IRGC proxy groups. This is probably a "no greater than" estimate, as many of the proxy militias operate in a grey zone between being non-state-affiliated and taking direct orders from the Revolutionary Guard. In 2019 IISS attributed a strength of about 100,000 troops to the Syrian Arab Army, which seems about right. The so-called Free Syrian Army appears to have evaporated.

The May 2016 version elevates the Korean People's Army to the world's largest army. The February 2016 iteration included several significant changes from the October 2015 version. These changes are made as new data becomes available, and as new insights are gained on foreign military formations. The intent here is to provide an apples-to-apples comparison with the US military, which is complicated by assessng the combat readiness of reserve forces. In the 19th century, reserves were cannon fodder, and today in most militaries around the world this remains the case. The US guard and reserve are not cannon fodder.

The size of the the Korean People's Army [KPA] is a source of controversy. By late 2015 a number of scholars both in South Korea and other countries concluded that the North Korean army was composed of around 700,000 soldiers. This is 500,000 fewer than the South Korean governments official estimate of 1.2 million soldiers. The DPRK's Reserve Military Training Unit [RMTU] consists of about 600,000 members, and upon reflection it seems that the organization, training and equipment ofthis formation are not substantially inferior to the North's regular forces, and so now it is counted here. South Korea has a large mobilization individual reserve force, but it is more a force of desperate last resort than the sort of routinely deployable force like the US Army Guard and Reserve [or the DPRK's RMTU]. Even though the ROK army is less than half the size of the KPA, it has higher overall combat effectivness.

There are over three dozen armies around the world with more than 100,000 soldiers. Arguably, the United States has the world's largest army, combining the troops of the US Army and the US Marine Corps. While the US Army is not a marine corps, the US Marine Corps is an army by any usable definition of the term. While the Marines might quibble, the distinction was probably lost on the enemy in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Somewhat surprisingly, the world's most populous country [China], seems not to have the world's larget army. No one seems to know the size of the Chinese army. According to some Western sources such as the IISS Military Balance, the size of the Chinese ground forces is the largest in the world with approximately 1.6 million personnel. IISS reports that about half this number are conscripts, while the other half are professional. In a white paper titled "The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces", which was published by the State Council Information Office in May 2013, the PLA disclosed the strength and formation of its ground force, air force, navy and missile arm. According to the document, the eighth of its kind issued by the Chinese government since 1998, the mobile operational units of the PLA ground force consisted of 18 combined corps and several independent combined combat divisions or brigades. These units were reported, to demonstrate the transparency and openness of the Chinese military, to have a strength of 850,000. The US Departement of Defense seems to have split the difference, reporting 1.25 million active duty PLA personnel as of 2012.

China on 17 April 2013 revealed the military strength of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for the first time, saying it had 1.483 million personnel divided into 18 different corps. Titled, the "national defence white paper", it also revealed for the first time, the identities of the "group armies", or the 18 different corps the PLA has. In terms of numbers, the paper was a marked departure from earlier similar documents. "China now has about 850,000 army servicemen in 18 combined corps and additional independent combined operational divisions (brigades)," the paper said. Troop numbers, currently at less than 3 million after 10 reductions from a peak of 6.27 million in 1951, would be reduced to 2 million  1 million in the national guard and 1 million in the army, navy and air force. The army will bear the brunt of the reductions, being cut from 850,000 at present to 490,000. The navy would go from 235,000 to 210,000 and the air force from 398,000 to 300,000. In April 2015, the PLA Daily reported that the army would cut a large number of non-combat posts, including medical, communications and artist troupes.

The major military powers of Western Europe are comparative light-weights, with barely more than 100,000 soldiers, while any number of developing countries not normally thought of as major players have twice as many soldiers.

Russia was in second place in the list of the strongest military powers in the world. This is the conclusion analysts of the financial conglomerate Credit Suisse. They ranked the armies of the world, depending on their military capabilities - without nuclear weapons and non-conventional weapons. In the first place were the United States, and the third by a small margin from Russia is China. Army evaluated on six criteria: personnel, tanks, aircraft, attack helicopters, aircraft carriers and submarines.

This rating can be considered very sketchy, said a member of the Association of Military Political analyst Alexander Perendzhiev. "Evaluate the military force only on the number of tanks, planes and aircraft carriers, I think a little bit incorrect. Because, firstly, there are still nuclear weapons, and secondly, we probably have more to say about the quality of personnel, his professionalism, and of the concept of military force included not only material but also non-material means. What is meant by them: First, it is the people's spirit, morale, readiness to sacrifice their lives - these moments are also present."

Strangely absent from this list is Nigeria, the world's seventh most populous state, normally thought of as a military heavy-weight in Africa, but with only 62,000 soldiers it may be large by local standards, but not by world standards. Two other demographic heavyweights are punching below their weight - Indonesia, with a population of 250,000,000 has an army of 230,000, while Brazil, with a population of 200,000,000, has an army of 190,000.

This is a list of the world's largest armies, measured by the number of soldiers in uniform. This is not a list of the world's "strongest" armies, since military power is not simply a function of headcount. But headcount is an interesting measure, nonetheless. Counting heads is perhaps not as straigtforward as might be imagined. The first problem is the terminological ambiguity of the word "army" which can mean either ground force troops, as in the US Army, or in many countries the ground forces are called ground forces, or words to that effect, while the entire military establishment is called the army.

This is a list of ground forces only, not the entire military establishment. Except for the United States, these totals do not include Marine Corps or Naval Infantry, which in other countries with such formations are typically rather small, and are counted in another list. These totals also generally do not include gendarmerie or interior ministry formations. In the Soviet Union, the Interior Ministry had tank divisions, in China today the People's Armed Police are admirably equiped, and some European gendarmeries have low intensity conflict combat potential. But the range of variation from one country to another in the roles and capabilities of these organizations is too great to warrant their inclusion.

Afghanistan is an exception to this rule. In June 2011, the Afghan government approved an increase of the Afghan National Security Force [ANSF] to a total end strength 352,000 by October 2012  to include 195,000 in the Afghan National Army [ANA] and 157,000 in the Afghan National Police [ANP]. By March 2012 the force strength of the ANSF was 337,516 (187,874 in the ANA; 149,642 in the ANP). The Afghan National Police is engaged in the same counter-insurgency fight as the Afghan National Army.

Bangladesh is another exception, since the 60,000-strong Bangladesh Border Guard [BBG] is officered by regular army officers, and has internal security duties that are not readily distinguisable from the internal security operations of the regular Army, which is 200,000 strong [not counting 50,000 individual reservists]. Curiously, IISS places the Army at only 126,000. Bangladesh is also an exception, since the regular Army spends time enaged in activities not normally associated with an "army", such as collecting delinquent telephone bills and checking up on absenteeism among civil servants.

Cambodia is another extremely poor country that presents even more difficult methodological problems. IISS reports about 75,000 soldiers, while Wikipedia reports 175,000 soldiers. In fact, the Royal Government of Cambodia does not have a clear idea as to the actual size of the Army. The present Army was formed in 1993 through the amalgamation of three formerly hostile armies, with a plan to demobilize 70% of that force, but demobilization never happened. There may have been some 165,000 personnel on the rolls 1999 [twice as many as had been in service in 1993], and in 2001, there were officially 129,449 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) personnel. But many commanders inflate their personnel rolls, keeping ghost soldiers on the books and pocketing the monthly wages of the ghost soldiers.A large number of the regular force is reaching the end of service life and was ready for retirement. The Armys report released in the 5 Year Work Achievement Review revealed that officers accounted for up to 77 percent of the force as of 2006. In December 2011 Janes reported that "some sources estimate that up to 30,000 army personnel are medically or otherwise unfit for service. This would leave the army with a strength of around 110,000 on paper and an effective field strength of around 70,000 regular and provincial militia troops."

At one time the 125,000 troops of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would have been counted along with the 350,000 soldiers of the regular army, but the Guard Corps now appears to have been reconfigured as an internal security force. The Afghan National Army reached its goal of 134,000 trained Afghan soldiers in August 2010, and a year later the force numbered just over 171,600. But about 90 to 95 percent are illiterate. Attrition in the Afghan national security forces continues to run very high, as much 32 percent per year. And between January and June of 2011, there were more than 24,000 Afghan soldiers who went AWOL.

The actual headcount of the Sri Lankan Army is a bit of a puzzle. Since 1995 the authoritative Military Balance, published by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, has estimated the total number of troops on active duty at more than 100,000 and less than 120,000, up from 50,000 in the year 1990. But the number of maneuver battalions has increased from about 18 in 1990 to over 100 by the year 2010. On 25 July 2010 Army Commander Lt. General Jagath Jayasuriya said that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had over 200,000 men.

Myanmar is widely reported to have an army of about 375,000. But most maneuver units in Myanmar's Army are somewhere between under-manned and badly undermanned, with far fewer troops assigned than would be expected based on their notional Tables of Organization and Equipment [TOE] or the manning levels of foreign counterpart units. Or maybe Myanmar's Army is not badly under-manned, but rather Army as a whole is seriously over-officered. IISS reports a strength of 375,000 as of 2011 [implying a typical battalion strength of 86 soldiers]. As of 2009 orbat.com reports a total authorized strength of 450,000 with only 250,000 actually on hand.

By 2013 two years of civil war had reduced the Syrian army from 220,000 [21st place] to perhaps 110,000 [35th place]. The army of Indonesia grew from 233,000 troops in 2012 to over 300,000 troops in 2013 [according to IISS], for no apparent reason.







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Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ]

China is attempting to extend its territorial waters to cover the full extent of its exclusive economic zone [EEZ]. This is contrary to the past several centuries of maritime legal practice. China might assert that it is not bound by these precedents since much of this was worked out before China stood up. But then China would either have to repudiate international law generally, which would seem inconsistent with a peaceful rise, or it would have to explain why it was in general agreement with the prevailing international legal regime, with just a few exceptions.

All states, including the US and China must defend their state interests as they see them. The US is a maritime power, and freedom of navigation is fundamental to US global policy. Possibly China does not have such a maritime tradition, and does not care about freedom of navigation. Acceptance of China's claim that military forces are categorically excluded from EEZ transit, would render the PLAN a coastal defense force that could never leave Chinese home waters. The PLA Navy is trapped by the EEZ of Japan and the Phillipines. Leaving aside South China Sea claims, to the south it is trapped by the South China Sea littoral states. This would certainly be consistent with Chinese traditions. Possibly this would be a good thing. Possibly the world would be a better place without power projection High Seas Fleets, with naval forces that were merely Coast Guards. But this is not the world of today, and has not been the real world for the past half millennium.

China opposes any military acts in its exclusive economic zone [EEZ] without permission. "We hold a consistent and clear-cut stance on the issue. We oppose any party to take any military acts in our exclusive economic zone without permission," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement. According to the US Navy, only 27 countries share this view, including China, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Maldives, North Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. About 40 other countries are landlocked [45 if the Caspian and Aral Seas are included], leaving about 130 other countries in the dissenting majority. China recognizes 12-nautical-mile-wide territorial waters and regards the 200-nautical-mile-wide EEZ under its jurisdiction in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The comment came as the United States and the ROK planned to hold joint military exercises in waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula starting from 28 November 2010. The United States sent aircraft carrier USS George Washington to join ROK's naval forces in the four-day drill. The military drill was announced after ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea exchanged artillery fire in waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, leaving four people dead. U.S. forward-deployed super aircraft carrier entering the Yellow Sea, which would bring the Chinese capital, Beijing, within its striking distance.

China has an expansive view of its rights in the EEZ,treating the area as fully sovereign territory in amanner not consistent with international law. Under the June 1998 "EEZ and Continental Shelf Act" the PRC does not recognize the airspace above its EEZ to be "international airspace" and has interfered with and protested US reconnaissance flights over its EEZ. The U.S. has protested this claim numerous times since this law was passed. The June 2002 "Surveying and Mapping Law" criminalized "survey" activity by foreign entities in any waters "under the jurisdiction of" the PRC. The PRC does not distinguish between MSR and military surveys and has interfered with and protested U.S. military survey activities in its EEZ. The U.S. has protested this claim numerous times since this law was passed.

China said 06 May 2009 that a US Navy surveillance ship, which conducted activity in China's exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea, violated international and Chinese laws. "The fact is that the USNS Victorious conducted activities in China's exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea without China's permission. China has expressed concern over this issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement. "We demand that the United States take effective measures to prevent similar acts from happening," Ma said.

On 22 September 2002 China called on US vessel to stop its activities in China's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), observe the principles of international law and respect China's rights and interests in its zone. "We consider that such an act violates the principles of international law, infringes on China's rights and interests as well as jurisdiction over the EEZ, ", commented Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue on recent activities of the Bowditch, a US naval vessel, in China's EEZ without approval.

On 01 April 2001 a US EP-3 reconnaissance plane collided with and destroyed a Chinese fighter jet, causing the death of the Chinese pilot Wang Wei, in airspace near China's island province of Hainan. Later the US plane intruded into China's territorial airspace and landed at a Chinese military airport without permission. The incident happened in the airspace over China's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). According to Lu Shumin, head of the Chinese delegation and Director-General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, under " ... the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, overflight over the EEZ of another nation should not violate the general rules of the international law such as the inviolable nature of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Due respect should be given to the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation concerned and the national security, peace and order of the said nation should not be jeopardized. The activities of the U.S. side in the airspace over the waters close to China's coast have seriously harmed China's national security and national defense interests and gone far beyond the limit of the freedom of overflight provided for in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea."

There are now several maritime security disputes between Japan and China. They are delimitation of the EEZ and continental shelf, a territorial dispute and national activities in the other states' EEZ. Both countries are parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Their Claims for Exclusive Economic Zone overlap in the East China Sea as the breadth of the sea between the two countries is less than 400 nautical miles. Japan insists that the median line between the two countries should be a common line for the delimitation of the EEZ. China, however, claims that her continental shelf extends beyond the median line to the Okinawa Trough very close to Japan. In another big dispute, China has claimed the sovereign right to 'Senkaku Island (Known in China as Tiaoyu Tao)' since the 1970s.

For hundreds of years, the marine environment was free from regulation of fishing, shipping, and resource exploitation. Over time, coastal States (countries) had an increased interest in national security and the enforcement of laws to protect its commerce and marine resources. As a result, a balance was needed to maintain the freedom of navigation that many foreign maritime interests had relied upon. This need for balance is captured in the history of the law of the sea.

The birth of a nation's authority to control its coastal waters has been traced back to the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth century, the father of international law and doctrine on the freedom of the seas, Grotius, recognized the existence of a nation's jurisdiction over the coastal waters that could be effectively controlled from the land. The extent to which a nation could control its coastal waters was largely based on the reach of its cannons on the shore. Thus, the 3 nautical mile (nm) limit of the territorial sea resulted from what is often referred to as the "cannon shot" rule.

In the US, the creation of a territorial sea and contiguous zone date back to as early as the late 1700s in response to issues of national security and law enforcement at coastal areas, including a 1793 diplomatic note sent from Thomas Jefferson and legislation passed by Congress in 1799 to allow the boarding of foreign flag vessels within 12 nm from the coast. This zone was known as "customs waters" and was later called the "Contiguous Zone." By 1930 the proprietary rights of the coastal state over the resources of the territorial sea was well established, provided it did not interfere with a vessel's right of innocent passage.

In 1945, President Truman issued a proclamation asserting rights to explore and exploit the oil and gas resources of the continental shelf outside of the 3 nm territorial sea. The concept of a fishery conservation zone was born in another Truman Proclamation but Congress did not enact laws regarding a 200 nm fishery conservation zone until 1976. This evolved into a zone whereby a coastal nation had exclusive control over all economic exploration and exploitation of the natural resources off its coast. By 1982, the custom of asserting a 12 nm territorial sea, 24 nm contiguous zone, and 200 nm EEZ was codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The U.S. proclaimed a 12 nm territorial sea in 1988, a 24 nm contiguous zone in 1999, and a 200 nm EEZ in 1983, consistent with customary international law as codified in UNCLOS.

This customary law is a balanced compromise between a flag State's interest in maritime shipping and a coastal State's interest in protecting and managing its coastal waters. State sovereignty over its terrestrial lands extends to its internal waters and territorial sea, including the airspace above and the seabed below. Subject to ancient customs where nations should provide safe harbor to ships in danger or distress (force majure), the State may restrict entry or travel through its internal waters. The State may also prohibit the entry into portions of the territorial sea, provided there is still an area that allows for vessels to exercise their right of innocent passage through the territorial sea. "Passage" through the territorial sea must be continuous and expeditious, although that may include stopping and anchoring under certain circumstances. While warships are generally immune from laws and regulations, the U.S. has the right to require foreign warships comply with State laws. If they don't, the State may order the foreign warship to leave its territorial sea.

The contiguous zone is a buffer to the territorial sea, and within it, the State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulation of territorial sea. In addition, the State may regulate the removal of cultural heritage, including foreign flagged vessels and nationals in its contiguous zone.

The EEZ extends from the territorial sea out to 200 nm. It does have exclusive sovereign rights and jurisdicton for exploration and exploitation of natural resources of the seabed, subsoil, water column, and air space in the EEZ. According to the United States, The State "does not exercise sovereignty in the contiguous zone or the EEZ".

China takes a different view of this matter. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China "exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the vast continental shelves and exclusive economic zones (EEZs), as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea."

As Captain Raul Pedrozo, JAGC, U.S. Navy, noted "the PRC's position is inconsistent with international law (including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and state practice. The PRC's position is also somewhat disingenuous, as PRC naval units routinely conduct submarine operations, military survey operations, and surveillance/intelligence-collection operations in foreign EEZs throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In short, nothing in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) changes the right of military forces of all nations to conduct military activities in the exclusive economic zone. Moreover, prior to and subsequent to the adoption of UNCLOS military forces have routinely conducted military activities seaward of the twelve-nautical-mile territorial sea without coastal-state notice or consent. These activities include task-force maneuvering...."

In 2012, the PLA Navy for the first time began to conduct maritime intelligence collection operations in foreign exclusive economic zones (EEZs) * without providing advance notification. In one instance, the PLA Navy operated near Hawaii during a major US-led multilateral exercise.90 This activity runs counter to Beijings insistence that foreign militaries provide notification and receive approval prior to operating in Chinas claimed EEZ. In June 2013, a senior PLA official confirmed Chinas naval deployments to foreign EEZs and said China is sort of reciprocating Americas reconnaissance in our EEZ by sending our ships to Americas EEZ for reconnaissance. The PLA official added China has done so only a few times, in contrast to the U.S. and Japans almost daily reconnaissance of China.

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My dear, here we must run as fast as we can,

just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere

you must run twice as fast as that.

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

People's Liberation Army Versus the US Military

Zeno of Elea, son of Teleutagoras, the pupil and the friend of Parmenides, is supposed to have been born towards the beginning of the 5th century BC. In Plato's Parmenides, Socrates, "then very young," meets Parmenides, "an old man some sixty-five years of age," and Zeno, "a man of about forty, tall and personable," and engages them in philosophical discussion. Of the paradoxes used by Zeno to discredit the belief in plurality and motion, eight survive in the writings of Aristotle.

Zeno's Sixth Paradox holds that if a tortoise has the start of Achilles, Achilles can never come up with the tortoise; for, while Achilles traverses the distance from his starting-point to the starting-point of the tortoise, the tortoise advances a certain distance, and while Achilles traverses this distance, the tortoise makes a further advance, and so on ad infinitum. Consequently. Achilles may run ad infinitum without overtaking the tortoise. But here Zeno mistakenly confounds a finite distance infinitely divided with an infinite distance.

The PLA Air Force has been upgraded in the five years 2012-2017, with the "20" series aircraft. The J-20, a stealth fighter jet independently developed by China, was officially commissioned into military service on 28 September 2017. The Y-20, a versatile plane with a maximum takeoff weight of about 200 tons, is designed to carry cargo and personnel over long distances in hazardous terrain. It officially entered military service in July 2016. On September 2, 2016, PLA Air Force Commander Ma Xiaotian said that China is developing a new generation long-range strategic bomber. Chinese military enthusiasts and analysts call it the H-20, which they believe could match the US B-2 stealth bomber. The Z-20 utility helicopter, which China considers a match for the UH-60 Blackhawk, is also undergoing tests in plateau regions in China.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said 24 June 2015 that China was rapidly closing the technology and capabilities gap with the US when it comes to air and space defense superiority. The Defense Department, he said, "cannot overlook the competitive aspects of our relationship, especially in the realm of military capabilities, an area in which China continues to improve at a very impressive rate."

The United States is taking action to make sure it militarily stays ahead of China, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on 06 November 2015 in remarks at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. We definitely keep an eye on China and we take specificactions to make sure we stay ahead of Chinese military capabilities, Carter said. This is built into our budget.

Chinas military buildup is approaching near parity with the United States on the land, sea, air and in cyber warfare, US Pacific Command (PACOM) commander Admiral Harry Harris told Congress on 21 February 2018. "Chinas impressive military buildup could soon challenge the United States across almost every domain," commander Admiral Harris said in testimony before the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. Key advancements include "fielding significant improvements in missile systems, developing fifth generation fighter aircraft capabilities, and growing the size and capability of the Chinese navy," Harris said.

Notes:

1 - This includes $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for 2009 and $130.0 billion for 2010 to support ongoing overseas contingency operations.

2 - This includes $33.0 billion for a 2010 supplemental request and $159.3 billion for 2011 to support ongoing overseas contingency operations.

3 - As of 30 September 2009

4 - Includes A-10 and OA-10 types

5 - Excludes Vietnam-era designs

6 - Does not include any residual number of obselete H-5/Il-28 types

7 - B-737-200, Il-76MD, Tu-154M, and Y-8

8 - C-5, C-17, and C-130s (less AC-130, HC-130, KC-130, and MC-130 types)

9 - 0ver 3000 tons

10 - 0ver 7500 tons

11 - Landing Ship Dock, Landing Platform Dock types

References

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Cuba's Government

The national referendum to ratify Cuba's new constitution took place on February 24, 2019. The Magna Carta currently in force was passed in 1976 but had important amendments added in 1992 and 2002.

Cubans overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission. Preliminary results showed 84.4 percent of the 7.8 million potential voters participated in the referendum. Of the potential electorate and not actul votes cast, 73.31 percent ratified the charter, 7.6 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank. By comparison, in 1976 when the current constitution was ratified, 99.02 percent of voters in a 98 percent turnout reportedly ratified and just 54,000 were opposed.

There are important changes in the new constitution that reflect the gradual opening of the Caribbean island nation since the fall of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union. There are references to markets and recognition of private property, foreign investment, small businesses, gender identity, the internet, the right to legal representation upon arrest and habeas corpus. The new constitution also restructured government, adding a prime minister and setting two five year term limits for the president  previously unlimited for the sake of Fidel Castro - among other changes.

Raul Castro is the leader of the Cuban Communist Party. Cuba is a totalitarian communist state headed by General Raul Castro and a cadre of party loyalists. Raul Castro replaced his brother Fidel Castro as chief of state, president of Cuba, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces on February 24, 2008. Fidel Castro had served as President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers and his brother Raul had served as First Vice President of both bodies as well as Minister of Defense.

Cuban lawmakers approved a commission that tasked with updating the country's Soviet-era constitution. President Miguel Diaz-Canel convened a special session of Cuba's parliament on 02 June 2018 that saw legislators approve the commission to be led by former President Raul Castro and some 30 others, including Diaz-Canel. The current constitution was written in 1976 at the height of the Cold War. "This gives rise to a process of particular importance for the country and we must all be aware of the duty and the civic responsibility that this demands," Diaz-Canel said to nearly 600 delegates at the National Assembly.

One of the expected changes would limit presidents to two five-year terms and impose an age limit  a huge change considering the near 60-year leadership of Castro and his late brother Fidel, who both ruled into their 80s. Another potential change would incorporate the market reforms of recent years into the constitution and could regulate private property in a limited way.

The first period of ordinary sessions of the National Assembly of Peoples Powers 9th Legislature concluded 22 July 2018, after addressing a full agenda of important issues, outstanding among which was a proposed new Constitution. The 600 legislators approved plans to submit the draft, as modified during this session, to popular consultation, August 13 through November 15. On a special day for the island's inhabitants, commemorating the 92nd anniversary of the birth of the historical leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro (1926-2016), work centers and neighborhoods are scheduled around the country to hold meetings in which people can express their opinions and make proposals to improve the letter of the constitution.

The new text is composed of one preamble and 224 articles (87 more than the current Constitution), divided into 11 titles, 24 chapters and 16 sections. The draft includes the Communist Party as the main leading force in society and the State, although it doesnt mention the progress towards a Communist society as a goal in this version, which was included in controversial Article 5 of the Constitution that was approved in 1976. The draft affirms the socialist nature of the island and the leading role of the Communist Party in its society, proposes changes in the structure of the State, broadens human rights and presents to the constitutional rank principles such as the condemnation of terrorism and the promotion of multilateralism.

Term and age limits on senior officials would not alter the political and media monopoly of the Cuban Communist Party. The separation of presidential functions and a prime minister role suggest checks on any future reforming leader. Noteworthy changes to the proposed draft are the legalization of same-sex marriages and greater autonomy for municipal governments. The proposal set to be debated would also eliminate the Peoples Power provincial-level assemblies to be replaced with a council and governor. In the legal field, the text extends the rights of individuals, with issues such as the guarantees of due process, Habeas Corpus, the presumption of innocence and the social reintegration of those deprived of liberty.

The new Constitution includes changes in the structure of the State, such as the creation of the offices of President and Vice President of the Republic, and of the Prime Minister. The President of the Republic is head of state, and Prime Minister is in charge of the Republics government. Both are required to be deputies to the National Assembly of Peoples Power. The Council of State maintains its character as the permanent body of the National Assembly of Peoples Power, with greater interaction with the Assembly stipulated, among other aspects, since the President, Vice President, and Secretary of the two bodies will be the same individuals.

The Draft Constitution of the Republic ratifies the importance of foreign investment for Cuba's economic development. The document also recognizes the different forms of property that coexist in the country, but it makes it clear that the economic system is based on the socialist property of the entire people. The recognition of the role of the market and of new forms of property, including private, is in tune with the Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development and the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Communist Party and the Revolution. Likewise, it envisages planning as a key element in the economic system, as well as the workers' role and participation in this process.

On May 20, 2002 U.S. President George W. Bush, during a meeting in Miami, demanded that Cuba renounce the socialist character of the Revolution in a new Constitution. Cubas response was historic: a plebiscite held over a seven-day period, June 10-17, 2002. Support for the socialist system was made clear in several massive marches and more than nine million people expressed their position signing a petition to the National Assembly of Peoples Power to modify the Constitution in this regard. Thus the Law of Constitutional Reform was approved June 26, 2002, which made expressly clear the irrevocable nature of socialism and the political, social, economic system established within it, as well as the prohibition on negotiating with a foreign power under force, threat, or coercion.

On 24 February 2013, the so-called "historical generation" began the transition of leadership to a new generation. Jose Ramon Machado Ventura made available to his post as first Vice President, and he himself proposed Miguel Diaz-Canel to occupy it. Raul Castro said this was a step in "defining in shaping the future direction of the country through the gradual and orderly transfer to the new generation..."

Since 1965 Cuba has been governed by a highly centralized system headed by the Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de CubaPCC), which is the only authorized political party and rules as the highest leading force of society and the State, according to the constitution. The party monopolizes all government positions, including judicial offices. Though not a formal requirement, party membership is a de facto prerequisite for high-level official positions and professional advancement in most areas, although non-party members are sometimes allowed to serve in the National Assembly. The Communist Party or one of its subsidiaries vets candidates for any elected office.

President Castro exercised control over all aspects of life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy headed by the Council of State, and the state security apparatus. President Castro personally chose the membership of the Politburo, the select group that heads the party. The Communist Party controls all government positions, including judicial offices. The judiciary is completely subordinate to the Government and to the Communist Party.

The 24-member Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de CubaPCC) is the partys leading decision-making institution and Cubas most important decision-making entity. The PCC monopolizes all government positions, including judicial offices, and approves candidates for any elected office. The PCCs highest authority is the Party Congress, which elects a Central Committee (150 members in 2005) to supervise the partys work. To direct its policy, the Central Committee elects a Politburo (24 members in 2005, reduced from 24 to only 15 in 2011).

The Council of State of the National Assembly of Popular Power is the states highest decision-making body, and the Council of Ministers is the highest executive and administrative authority. Beginning on December 2, 1976, Fidel Castro assumed the functions of president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers. A Peoples Supreme Court, accountable to the National Assembly, oversees a system of regional courts. Municipal, regional, and provincial assemblies also have been established.

As amended in July 1992, the 1976 constitution vests all formal legislative powers (including the powers to amend the constitution) in the National Assembly of Popular Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder PopularANPP). The National Assembly is the supreme organ of state and the sole legislative authority. The National Assembly has the formal power, among others, to approve the budget and the national economic plan; elect the members of the Supreme Court; and generally oversee the rule-making activities and electoral processes of the provincial assemblies and municipal assemblies. The National Assembly deputies are elected by direct popular vote for five-year terms. There are no contested elections for the roughly 600 members of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), which meets twice a year for a few days to rubber stamp decisions and policies previously decided by the governing Council of State.

According to the Soviet-style Cuban constitution of 1976, the National Assembly of People's Power, and its Council of State when the body is not in session, has supreme authority in the Cuban system. Since the National Assembly meets only twice a year for a few days each time, the 31-member Council of State wields power. Prior to 1976, the Council of Ministers had exercised both executive and legislative functions. The Council of Ministers, through its nine-member executive committee, handles the administration of the economy, which is entirely state-controlled.

The president of the Council of State is also president of the Council of Ministers, in which executive and administrative authority is vested, and thus serves as both chief of state and head of government. In mid-2006, the Council of Ministers had 28 ministry posts (two of which were vacant), including the minister without portfolio. By early-2013, the Council of Ministers had 22 ministry posts (none of which were vacant), but no ministers without portfolio. The constitution empowers the Council of Ministers, as the highest executive and administrative organ, to issue regulations to administer laws and decrees and to authorize exceptions to state ownership of the means of production. The ministers are responsible principally to the Councils nine-member Executive Committee, which includes its president, first vice president, and five other vice presidents. The Executive Committee is the decision-making body of the Council of Ministers, and one of its main functions is to oversee the administration of the economy. The Council of Ministers answers to the National Assembly and to the Council of State. The president and vice presidents of the Council of State and the National Assembly elect ministers for a term of five years.

Although the constitution theoretically provides for independent courts, it explicitly subordinates them to the National Assembly and to the Council of State. Due process is routinely denied to Cuban citizens, particularly in cases involving political offenses. The constitution states that all legally recognized civil liberties can be denied to anyone who opposes the "decision of the Cuban people to build socialism." Citizens can be and are jailed for terms of 3 years or more for simply criticizing the communist system or Fidel Castro.

The Cuban court system consists of a Peoples Supreme Court, provincial courts, municipal courts, and military courts. The Peoples Supreme Court, the highest judicial body, is organized into five chambers: criminal, civil and administrative, labor, state security, and military. Its members are nominated by the minister of justice and confirmed by the National Assembly with two exceptions: First, its president and vice president are nominated by the president of the Council of State; second, the members of the military chamber are nominated jointly by the minister of justice and the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

The minister of justice exercises administrative control over all the courts, including the Peoples Supreme Court, which has no authority to declare a law unconstitutional. Judges are appointed for a term, not for life, and they can be removed from office if proper cause is shown. As a result, the courts show considerable deference to executive authority and are marked by political timidity. The Office of the State Prosecutor is subordinate to the National Assembly, which formally elects the prosecutor. This office has wide latitude to review the past conduct and prospective actions of all organs of state power. The prosecutor has specific oversight over all law enforcement and a rank equal to a Supreme Court justice. The prosecutor is directly responsible for cases of treason or corruption.

In 1976 the Council of Ministers divided Cuba into 14 provinces and 169 municipalities. Listed from west to east, Cubas provinces are Pinar del Rio, La Habana, Ciudad de La Habana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo. The Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth), the Cuban archipelagos second-largest island, is a special municipality.

Provincial and Local Government: The central government directly oversees the provincial and local governments through a hierarchical network of assemblies and committees. Each of Cubas 14 provinces is formally governed by a provincial assembly, which elects a provincial committee. The president of the provincial committee functions as the provincial governor. A provincial assembly must have at least 75 members, and they serve for five years. Each of the countrys 169 municipalities is governed by a municipal assembly, which elects a municipal committee, whose president functions as mayor. Municipal assembly delegates serve for two and one-half years. Nominations for municipal assembly elections come from regional assemblies at the precinct level.





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Religion in Cuba

Cuba is a multiracial society with a population of mainly Spanish and African origins. The largest organized religion is the Roman Catholic Church. Afro-Cuban religions, a blend of native African religions and Roman Catholicism, are widely practiced in Cuba. Officially, Cuba has been an atheist state for most of the Castro era. In 1962, the government of Fidel Castro seized and shut down more than 400 Catholic schools, charging that they spread dangerous beliefs among the people. In 1991, however, the Communist Party lifted its prohibition against religious believers seeking membership, and a year later the constitution was amended to characterize the state as secular instead of atheist.

Although nearly 90 percent of the population was nominally Roman Catholic in pre-revolutionary Cuba, the number of practicing Roman Catholics was probably less than 10 percent. Other estimates suggest that about half of all Cubans were agnostic, that slightly more than 40 percent were Christian, and that less than 2 percent practiced Afro-Cuban religions. Membership in other religions, including Judaism, was limited.

There is no independent authoritative source on the size or composition of religious institutions and their membership. The Roman Catholic Church estimates that 60 to 70 percent of the population is Catholic but that only 4 to 5 percent regularly attend mass. Membership in Protestant churches is estimated at 5 percent of the population. Baptists and Pentecostals are likely the largest Protestant denominations. Jehovahs Witnesses reported approximately 94,000 members; Seventh-day Adventists and Methodists each estimated 30,000; Anglicans, 22,000; Presbyterians, 15,000; Quakers, 300; and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 50. The Jewish community estimated 1,500 members of whom 1,200 reside in Havana. According to the Islamic League, there are approximately 6,000 to 8,000 Muslims, although only an estimated 1,000 are Cubans. Other religious groups include the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Buddhists and Bahais.

Many persons consult with practitioners of religions with roots in West Africa and the Congo River basin, known as Santeria. These religious practices are commonly intermingled with Catholicism, and some even require Catholic baptism for full initiation, making it difficult to estimate accurately the total membership of these syncretistic groups.

Religious groups were no exception to the governments generalized efforts to monitor all civic activities, and the Communist Partys Office of Religious Affairs monitored and regulated almost every aspect of religious life, including the power to approve or deny religious visits, the construction or repair of religious buildings, the ability to conduct religious services in public, and the importation of religious literature. Except for two Catholic seminaries and several interfaith training centers throughout the island, religious schools were not permitted and military service was mandatory, with no legal exception for conscientious objectors.

In response to strict restrictions on the construction of new buildings, many religious organizations used private homes, known as house churches, for religious services. Estimates on the total number of house churches varied significantly, from just under 2,000 to as many as 10,000. The Office of Religious Affairs allowed this but required that recognized groups seek approval for each proposed location through a separate registration process. Religious groups indicated that while many applications were approved within two to three years from the date of the application, other applications received no response or were denied. Some religious groups were only able to register a small percentage of their house churches. In practice, most unregistered house churches operated with little or no interference from the government.

A license from the Office of Religious Affairs is necessary to import religious literature and other religious materials. The government owns nearly all printing equipment and supplies and tightly regulates printed materials, including religious literature. During the year the Catholic Church and some other churches were able to print periodicals and operate their own Web sites with little or no censorship.

In November 1996, President Fidel Castro invited Pope John Paul II to visit Cuba after an agreement was reached on some of the issues important for the church to carry out its religious activities in Cuba and prepare for the visit. During the Pope's visit, the government permitted four open-air masses, provided media coverage, and assisted with transportation of the public to the masses. In 1997 Christmas was officially recognized as a holiday for the first time since 1969, and the following year was permanently reinstated as a national holiday. While on the island, Pope John Paul II spoke of broadening the space and freedom of action of the Catholic Church and asked Fidel Castro to grant a prisoner amnesty. The Cuban Government responded by freeing at least 300 prisoners, some 70 of which were being held on political charges. The Pope's visit was seen as an important, positive event for bringing a message of hope and the need for respect of human rights. Unfortunately, these improvements did not continue once the Pope left the island. While some visas were issued for additional priests to enter Cuba around the time of the visit, this practice has once again become extremely limited.

Pope Benedict XVI concluded his first official visit to Cuba on March 27, 2012 after meeting with former President Fidel Castro and holding a mass before a multitude gathered in Havana's Revolution Plaza. During his trip, which included a stop in Mexico, the pope called on Cuba's government to reconsider Marxism and urged the people to embrace the faith of their elders. In his homily, the pontiff spoke of his joy at the recent increase in freedom given to the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba.

The Catholic Church continued to publish periodicals that sometimes included criticism of official social and economic policies. As in previous years, the Catholic Church also received permission to broadcast Christmas and Easter messages on state-run radio stations and, in 2011, a televised mass on September 8, the feast day of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, the countrys patron saint. The Council of Churches, the government-recognized Protestant umbrella organization, was authorized to host monthly two hour-long radio broadcasts.

The government worked with the Catholic Church to facilitate the public procession of an icon honoring the Virgin of Charity to mark the 400th anniversary of her appearance in Cuba. The procession concluded in December with a public open-air mass in Havana attended by over 3,000 citizens as well as by government officials. It was the first country-wide religious procession permitted since the Cuban revolution.

The Catholic Church is slowly increasing the scope of the activities it is willing and able to conduct in Cuba. The relief work of Caritas and various parishes after the 2008 hurricanes has earned the Church some additional street credibility. Some parishes also offer soup kitchens, medicines, and some form of parochial education for children, all of which are at risk since they technically compete with the Cuban Government's desire for complete control over the provision of social services. The Church goes to great lengths to keep a low profile and stay out of any public discussions that may be deemed political, or certainly counter-revolutionary. For years, the Church has worked to distance itself from well-known opposition figures who are also devout Catholics such as Oswaldo Paya and Dagoberto Valdes. As such, any activities the Church may be carrying out to prepare for a post-Castro Cuba are not being shared either from the pulpit or in our private discussions with Church officials. The church hierarchy, from the Cardinal on down to parish priests, complains that emigration decimates the ranks of the laity and that they have to engage in constant recruitment merely to replace those laity who emigrate.

Religious organizations reported significant ability to attract new members without government interference. Many churches reported increased participation in religious instruction for children because government schools no longer scheduled competing activities on Saturdays or Sundays. The majority of religious groups reported little interference from the government in conducting their services and saw improvement in their ability to import religious materials, receive donations from overseas, and travel abroad to attend conferences and religious events. Some religious groups found it easier to bring in foreign religious workers and restore houses of worship.

The leadership of Jehovahs Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists stated that mistreatment and job discrimination, which had been particularly harsh in the past, were now rare and that their members were usually exempted from political activities at school. Seventh-day Adventist leaders stated that their members employed by the state usually were excused from working on Saturdays.

Cuban religious groups -- including evangelical Christians, whose numbers are growing rapidly -- have benefited from the relative relaxation of official restrictions on religious organizations and activities. Although particularly hard hit by emigration, Cuba's small Jewish community continues to hold services in Havana and has pockets of faithful in Santiago, Camaguey, and other parts of the island. Assistance from Jewish communities abroad, including arranging for visiting rabbis and rabbinical students, helps to keep the Hebrew faith alive in Cuba.





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Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers [EME]

The role of Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers [EME] is to achieve and maintain the operational fitness of electrical, mechanical, electronic and optical equipment of the Army. The Electrical and Mechanical Engineers who light to factory-level repairs to everything the Army uses. With their forward repair teams based on customized armoured vehicles, they function within a battlefield, recovering equipment casualties from their point of collapse. Back at base workshop, they strip and rebuild anything that the Army owns be it fighting vehicles, electronics, or data processing equipment.

The history of the Corps, born in 1943, is indeed glorious. Over the decades, the Corps has, with remarkable speed, welded itself into a fine and efficient organisation. It is imbued with requisite zeal and determination to overcome, if necessary by improvisation, all the impediments it faces in the rapidly changing technological environment. The efficacy with which an organisation performs its role is dependent to a large degree upon the sense of union developed amongst its elements - the esprit de corps. These 56 years have built up traditions and relationships of a lasting kind. These have sustained amongst its troops the concept of honour, courage, fidelity to the organisation, professional integrity and a pride in developing technical skills.

The Corps is responsible for providing engineering support to the army equipment ranging from light vehicles to tanks, guns, missiles, radars, computers, helicopters, communication equipment, night vision devices, simulators and so on during war and peace. Over the years there has been phenomenal rise in the sophistication, quantum and variety of military hardware. The Corps has effectively met the challenges arising from the proliferation of such multi-disciplinary high technology military hardware through continuous evolution of its engineering support system.

There are some schools of thought which maintain that war is just a fight between soldiers in combat arms; this is not the case. It is true that an army is a fighting machine, but there are three basic needs if it is to achieve its full potential in battle - leadership, equipment and training. Wars involve the employment of a great deal of modern and sophisticated equipment and the EME plays a major role in assisting the Army's posture of operational preparedness and combat effectiveness to win any war. If combat arms are the teeth of the Army then EME has a vital function of keeping them sharp. Through the war and the many operations that the Indian Army undertook over the past five decades, the Corps has proven itself as a first class repair, recovery and in many cases as a design and development organisation. It is actively involved in counter insurgency operations both in J & K and in North-East.

EME History

From the role of mere servicing the arms and ammunition, the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) rose to the level of managing technology for the Armed Forces. In this odyssey, the corps crossed many hurdles and carved a niche for itself in the service of the nation.

The story of warfare, in essence, is a story of man's struggle for existence. Earlier, man used to shape tools and weapons to outwit his opponents. Later, he projected his need to someone else to make weapons for war. Consequently, the need of craftsman arose.

By the turn of the nineteenth Century, Inspectors of Ordnance Machinery (IsOM) were responsible for repair of guns, small arms and instruments in arsenal workshops in India. Later, in 1925, a new cadre of Ordnance Mechanical Engineers (OMEs) was brought in and the IsOM came on the roll of Indian Army Ordnance Corps. Later, the Supplies and Transport Corps emerged as the Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC). There were 11 transport workshops providing first and second line repair cover to the vehicle fleet. They stocked spares, assemblies and fitment items required for the vehicles. By mid 1942, allied war production gained ground and a large number of equipment like tanks and guns were coming to India for the Allied Forces.

An American Tank Detachment Commander, Lt Col Rothwell H Brown was on duty with the British forces in India for the purpose of advising them on maintenance and operation of armoured vehicles. He suggested the urgent need for improving the efficiency of the mechanical engineering service of the Army.

Accordingly, the Commander-in-Chief of British Forces approved the raising of an equivalent of the REME in India. On May 1, 1943, the Mechanical Engineering Directorate at General Headquarters (India) was formed and units were allocated. On September 15, 1944, Lt Gen Sir Clarence A Bird was appointed as the Colonel Commandant of IEME. The new born Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers had the motto omnia fascimus meaning-'We can do everything'.

On October 15, 1943, the actual transfer of personnel from IAOC to IEME took place. This resulted in the birth of the Indian soldier craftsman and since then October 15 is observed as the EME Corps Day.

The nascent Corps almost doubled its strength in a matter of two years to establish 632 different IEME units including 12 training centres, 13 commands, 6 bases and 113 station workshops. The IEME personnel distinguished themselves in every theatre of war where they operated.

When India became a Sovereign Republic in 1950, the Corps dropped "I" from its name to be called as EME. The design of the new Corps badge was to promulgate the ethos of the Corps. The design prepared by Maj SE Doig when Brig IH Reeves was the DME, was approved in 1953 and taken into use from 1955. The motto was also changed to 'Karm hi Dharam' which means-"Work is Supreme Duty".

The advancements in technology in the 80s and 90s resulted in use of electronics in all types of equipment. In tune with the times, the equipment profile of the Army had predominance of electronics which necessitated the Corps to change its outlook from electrical to electronics. In January 2001, the corps was re-christened as the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers. During last six decades, the corps proved itself with distinction in all the tasks assigned to it.

Army Base Workshops (ABW)

Eight Army Base Workshops (ABWs) were established during the second world war to carry out repairs and overhaul of weapons, vehicles and equipment to keep the Indian Army operationally ready. Towards this end, they also undertake manufacture of spares. The ABWs work under the overall control of Director General Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) who functions under the Master General of Ordnance (MGO). Headquarters Base Workshop Group is responsible for planning and co-ordination of functions of the ABWs.

The ABWs are co-located with the ordnance depots which feed them with repairables and spares. The overhauled/repaired equipment are received by these depots for issue to the user units. The production/repair capacity of ABWs is determined on the basis of manpower and are fixed in terms of standard units (SUs) which is equivalent to 100 man hours. Various committees have recommended norms for the functioning of the ABWs from time to time.

The workshops of EME are the centers where military equipment gets a new lease of life. At present, there are eight Army Base Workshops (ABWs) at Delhi, Agra, Meerut, Kirkee, Jabalpur, Kankinara, Allahabad and Bangalore.

Headquarters, Base Workshop Group located at Meerut coordinates all the activities of ABWs in consonance with the policy laid down by Army Headquarters.

The 505 Army Base Workshop in New Delhi overhauled a variety of 'A' and 'B' vehicles which include Churchill, Stuart, Sherman, AMX-13 and Vijayanta tanks and armoured cars like Diamler, Humber and GM Fox. The workshop has carried out re-powering of Vijayanta tanks with T-72 engines, upgrading them with night vision devices, fire control system and fire detection equipment.

The latest achievement of this workshop is manufacture of Windy-505, a fast attack vehicle. Recipient of ISO 9001 : 2000 certification during 2002-2003, 507 Army Base Workshop overhauls 'B' vehicle engines and also manufactures spares. Its major activity includes overhaul of Kraz vehicles of Army and Air Force.

While 509 Army Base Workshop is a specialist workshop responsible for base repairs of radar systems, electronic test equipments, optical and fire control instruments and night vision devices, 510 Army Base Workshop located at Meerut overhauls air defence and guided missiles systems. It carries out overhaul of Schilka and Kvadrat weapon systems, multi-barrel rocket launchers and specialist heavy-duty vehicles.

The 512 Army Base Workshop takes credit for upgrading T-55 tanks in the 70s under Project May flower and Sun flower. In the late 80s, T-55 tanks overhauled with Polish technology rolled out of its production line. At present, it is undertaking overhaul of T-55 and its variants.

Originally known as 10 Advance Base Ordnance Workshop, 515 Army Base Workshop undertakes repairs of 'B' vehicles, small arms, armaments and engineering equipment. At present, it is manufacturing simulators for the Army and para-military forces. One Advance Base Workshop looks after the equipment in the Eastern Theatre.

EME's 3 Advance Base Workshop undertakes base repairs for units in Northern Command like overhaul of guns and engines. Recently it has become a nodal centre for repair of thermal imaging and electronics equipment. It has also designed, developed and manufactured electronic equipment like Ashi Pillai which has been instrumental in saving valuable lives in counter-insurgency operations.

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Mexico - Religion

Roman Catholicism is the main religion in Mexico; 88 percent of the population five years of age and older identified themselves as Roman Catholic in the 2000 census. Protestants and Evangelicals were the second largest religious group, accounting for approximately 5 percent of the population. The rapid growth in Protestant and Evangelical membership slowed during the 1990s, averaging a 3.7 percent annual rise from 1990 to 2000 (versus 10 percent during the 1970s and 5 percent during the 1980s).

The Roman Catholic Church's role in Mexican history goes back to 1519. When Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of New Spain, landed on the coast of Mexico, he was accompanied by Roman Catholic clergy. All new Spanish territories were to be conquered in the name of the cross as well as the crown. Since those early days, the Roman Catholic Church has always been present, playing different roles, some of which have led to violent confrontations.

The history of the relationship between church and state following independence involves a series of efforts on the part of the government to curtail the church's influence. Nineteenth-century liberals, trained in the law and influenced by the French Revolution, were anticlerical. Liberals, who also were federalist and favored free competition, were highly concerned that the Roman Catholic Church, by owning between one-quarter and one-half of the land and by controlling most schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions, was practically a state within the Mexican state.

Between 1833 and the early 1840s, the Mexican government produced various pieces of legislation to limit the power of the church. In 1833 the government adopted several anticlerical measures, including one providing for the secularization of education and another declaring that the payment of the ecclesiastical tithe was not a civil obligation.

The first major confrontation between the church and the state occurred during the presidency of Benito Juarez (1855-72). The 1855 Juarez Law drastically reduced traditional ecclesiastical privileges. On March 11, 1857, a new constitution was adopted that denied all ecclesiastical entities the right to own real estate and abolished most remaining ecclesiastical privileges. On July 12, 1857, Juarez confiscated all church properties, suppressed all religious orders, and empowered the state governors to designate what buildings could be used for religious services. Mexico's first religious civil war was fought between 1857 and 1860 in reaction to the legislation.

The constitution of 1917 highlighted and institutionalized many of the nineteenth-century secular reforms. The new constitution included at least five articles that affected all religious groups, regardless of denomination. These articles, which remained in effect until 1992, appeared to preclude any national role for the Roman Catholic Church. Article 3 forbade churches from participating in primary and secondary education. Article 5 prohibited the establishment of religious orders. Article 24 mandated that all religious ceremonies occur within church buildings. Article 27 gave the state ownership of all church buildings.

Article 130 contained the most extensive restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church. The article stated that the Roman Catholic Church lacks legal status; ecclesiastical marriages have no legal standing; state legislatures can determine the maximum number of clergy operating within their boundaries; and operation of church buildings requires explicit government authorization. Among the most contentious provisions of Article 130 was Section 9: "Neither in public nor private assembly, nor in acts of worship or religious propaganda shall the ministers of the religions ever have the right to criticize the basic laws of the country, of the authorities in particular or of the government in general; they shall have neither an active nor passive vote, nor the right to associate for political purposes."

Beginning in 1926 and continuing until the late 1930s, various federal and state administrations strenuously enforced these constitutional edicts and related laws. Their actions paved the way for the second Mexican religious war, the bloody Cristero Rebellion of 1926-29 in western Mexico (see The Calles Presidency, 1924-28, ch. 1). During this period, the governor of Sonora ordered all churches closed, officials in the state of Tabasco required priests to marry if they were to officiate at mass, and the Chihuahua government allowed only one priest to minister to the entire statewide Roman Catholic population.

Church-state conflict officially ended with the administration of Manuel Avila Camacho (1940-46). With the notable exception of Article 130, Section 9, the government tacitly offered nonenforcement of key constitutional provisions in exchange for the Roman Catholic Church's cooperation in achieving social peace. Over the next four decades, enforcement of Article 130, Section 9, served the interests of both the government and the Roman Catholic Church. The constitutional restriction on ecclesiastical political participation enabled the state to limit the activities of a powerful competitor. It also permitted the Roman Catholic Church to sidestep controversial political issues and to concentrate on rebuilding its ecclesiastical structure and presence throughout the country.

By the early 1980s, however, this unspoken consensus supporting the legal status quo had eroded. The Roman Catholic Church regarded the constitution's anticlerical provisions, especially those governing ecclesiastical political activity, as anachronistic. It demanded the right to play a much more visible role in national affairs. At the same time, the church became increasingly outspoken in its criticism of government corruption. The Mexican bishops' Global Pastoral Plan for 1980-1982, for example, contained a highly critical assessment of the Mexican political system. According to the Roman Catholic hierarchy, democracy existed only in theory in Mexico. The ruling PRI monopolized power, producing apathy and frustration among citizens and judicial corruption. The principal worker and peasant unions were subject to political control. Peasants and Indians constituted an exploited, marginalized mass barely living at a subsistence level and subject to continual repression. During the mid-1980s, the bishops of Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez assumed prominent roles in denouncing electoral fraud in northern Mexico. In the south, the bishops of San Cristobal de las Casas and Tehuantepec frequently accused the government of human rights violations.

The 1980s and early 1990s witnessed a notable shift in religious affiliation and in church-state relations in Mexico. Although Mexico remains predominantly Roman Catholic, evangelical churches have dramatically expanded their membership. Motivated in part by the evangelical challenge, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has sought greater visibility, speaking out on sensitive public issues and ignoring constitutional bans on clerical involvement in politics. These actions ultimately led in 1992 to dramatic constitutional changes and a resumption of diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

The Roman Catholic share of the population declined steadily during the period from 1970 to 1990. In 1970, 96.2 percent of the population five years of age and older identified itself as Roman Catholic. That dropped to 92.6 percent of the population in the 1980 census and to 89.7 percent in 1990. The 1990 census revealed significant regional variations in numbers of Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics represented more than 95 percent of all Mexicans in a band of central-western states extending from Zacatecas to Michoacan. In contrast, the least Roman Catholic presence was found in the southeastern states of Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, and Quintana Roo.

Dozens of evangelical denominations have engaged in strong recruitment efforts since 1970. Protestant or "evangelical" affiliation--the terminology used by Mexican census officials--surged from 1.8 percent in 1970 to 3.3 percent in 1980 and to 4.9 percent in 1990. Traditional Protestant denominations, including Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, have had a small urban presence dating from the late 1800s. However, the Protestant membership explosion during the 1970-90 period was led by congregations affiliated with churches such as the Assemblies of God, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mor mons), and Jehovah's Witnesses. For example, the Mormons reported that membership surged from 248,000 in 1980 to 617,000 in 1990 and increased further to 688,000 by 1993.

Protestant or evangelical growth was especially strong in southeastern Mexico. In 1990 Protestants or evangelicals composed 16 percent of the population in Chiapas, 15 percent in Tabasco, 14 percent in Campeche, and 12 percent in Quintana Roo. Yet a significant evangelical presence also has appeared in several other areas, including the states of Veracruz and Mexico, where more than 20 percent of all Protestants or evangelicals live.

In the central and southern regions, according to Voz de los Martires, some leaders of predominantly Catholic indigenous communities regarded evangelical groups as unwelcome outside influences and as economic and political threats. These leaders sometimes ordered or acquiesced in the harassment or expulsion of individuals belonging chiefly to Protestant evangelical groups. Whether a group was displaced forcibly or left voluntarily to avoid harassment, it often found itself living on the outskirts of another local community in circumstances worse than the extremely poor conditions common to the region.

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Nigerian Army

Nigeria's military is the largest in West Africa, but is significantly less capable than its size and equipment inventory would indicate. A large percentage of the Army is capable of little more than basic defensive operations, and most of Nigeria's ships and aircraft are inoperable. The leadership of the military, from junior to senior levels, recognizes the role that the Armed Forces play as Nigeria's most effective national institution, and the principal one committed to its unity.

A lack of investment in training, failure to maintain equipment and dwindling cooperation with Western forces has damaged Nigeria's armed services. Unlike Nigerian peacekeepers in the 1990s, who were effective in curbing ethnic bloodshed in Sierra Leone and Liberia, those in Mali in 2013 lacked the equipment and training needed to be of much help against al-Qaida-linked forces. In 2014 security swallowed nearly 938 billion naira ($5.8 billion), a quarter of the federal budget. Of that, the defense ministry took more than a third, but only 10 percent was for capital spending. Corruption is a factor in the shortfallsA, ss senior officers pocket money meant for equipment. When democracy returned in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military man, feared the army. The starvation of the military occurred since Obasanjo, as a strategy to ensure they couldn't conduct more coups.

As a large, complex organization, the Nigerian military contains a number of contradictions, incongruities, and internal disjunctions. It is the largest, most capable military in West Africa with major foreign deployments under ECOWAS and the AU, as well as extensive UN PKO commitments. At the same time, chronic under-resourcing has led to low operational readiness, lack of training, and relatively poor conditions of service. These problems, along with endemic corruption, have made the Nigerian military somewhat of a hollow giant resting on its reputation -- more capable than any other force in the sub-region, but considerably less capable than it should be with tens of thousands of troops and a large stock of major weapons systems and other equipment. A high percentage of the heart of the force -- the 60,000-soldier strong Army's 25 infantry battalions -- were capable of little more than basic defensive operations.

The history of Nigerian Army dates back to 1863, when Lt Glover of the Royal Navy selected 18 able-bodied men of Northern extraction, and recruited them into a local force christened Glover Hausas to mount punitivee expeditions and protect British trade routes around Lagos. The NA metamorphosed from this into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF), the Queens Own Nigerian Regiment (QONR), the Nigerian Military Force (NMF) in 1956 and the Royal Nigerian Army in 1960.

It could be argued that the army constitutes a major potential threat to security in Nigeria. It remained an ill-trained and ill-disciplined outfit, composed of large units led by junior officers who were also poorly trained. Within the officer corps there was some ill-feeling between the "dirties" (those who had enriched themselves during military rule) and the "cleans" (those who have not). Some officers, as well as some in the ranks, were bored by barracks life, and were seeking diversion, either by stirring up trouble in areas near the barracks or by discussing among themselves the political and military problems of Nigeria. Under the circumstances, a considerable amount of low-level turbulence involving soldiers and civilians would be expected, some intermittent factional feuding among officers, and a growing political awareness in the army.

None of this would pose much of a threat to the Federal Nigerian Government, or to the cohesion of Nigeria. The dangers were that local squabbles can easily become riots, which might be difficult to put down, and that political discussions tend to be dominated by tribal interests, suspicions of corruption, and ties between officers and civilian politicians. There were reports of plotting by junior officers against the regime. These came to naught, but the atmosphere wes conducive to plots and conspiracies.

Gowon and his advisors were well aware of the potential threat to themselves from an idle or discontented army. Indeed, Gowon was more concerned with army affairs than with internal political problems, economic development, or foreign relations. His plans for the army centered around the provision of vast amounts of new equipment and training. Before this ambitious program can get underway, how-ever, Gowon will face serious challenges. Given the situation he confronts-centrifugal forces at work in the Nigerian Army, the divisive effect of corruption in the military, uncertain loyalties and allegiances, conflicting ambitions of key individuals, and the gradually rising pressures from civilian tribal and regional factions-we think Gowon will have great difficulty in staying in office over the six year period which he has said is necessary for the turnover of power to civilians. Much will depend on Gowon's success in bringing Nigeria together.





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Al-Qaida / Al-Qaeda (The Base)

al Qadr

Group for the Preservation of the Holy Sites

International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders

Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places

Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Shrines

Speaking at the February 2019 Munich Security Conference, Alex Younger, the chief of Britains foreign intelligence service MI6, said that Daeshs* setbacks in Syria may contribute to the strengthening of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda, which has always been in a rivalry, and almost zero sum relationship with Daesh, has, I think, undergone a certain resurgence as a result of the degradation of Daesh. It is definitely not down and out.

More than two and a half years after the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, by early 2014 American experts and counter-terrorism officials said his organization remained a major threat across the Middle East and North Africa. Violent jihad in the name of al-Qaida in particular is growing in adherence. It is not shrinking. It is actually gaining ground and exploiting new opportunities. While many of Bin Laden's top lieutenants may now be dead, killed by US Special Forces or in drone strikes, jihadist groups in Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and West Africa were able to mount several major operorations during 2013.

By late 2019 Al-Qaida was concerned about the focus of the Taliban leadership on peace talks. Al-Qaida representatives undertook shuttle diplomacy, persuading various factions of the Taliban and field commanders not to support negotiations with the Government of Afghanistan and promising to increase financial support. Central Asian groups, experiencing financial problems, tend to support Al-Qaida. If a peace agreement is reached, Al-Qaida intends to develop a new narrative to justify continuing the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Relations with the Taliban continue to be close and mutually beneficial, with Al-Qaida supplying resources and training in exchange for protection. This is evidenced by the operation in the Musa Qalah district of Helmand Province in September in which some members of Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent were killed. Their protection had been arranged by the shadow governor of the district. There are an estimated 400 to 600 Al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan, mainly in the Provinces of Khost, Kunar, Nuristan, Paktiya and Zabul.

General Overview

Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network founded by Usama bin Laden [the "Osama" spelling is deprecated, because there is no letter "O" in Arabic). Sustained counterterrorism pressure since 2008 - including the killing of al-Qaida leaders Usama bin Ladin, Atiyah Abel al Rahman, and lIyas Kashmiri in 2011 - reduced the Pakistan-based core al-Qaida's cohesion and capabilities, including its ability to mount sophisticated, complex attacks in the West similar to the 2006 Transatlantic Airliner plot. However, despite these setbacks, al-Qaida retains its intent, though perhaps not the robust capability, to plan and conduct terrori st attacks against the West, including the U.S. homeland. Core al-Qaida almost certainly will also try to inspire regional nodes and allies, as well as unaffiliated but like-minded extremists, to engage in terrorism against the West.

Established around 1988 by bin Laden, al-Qaeda helped finance, recruit, transport and train thousands of fighters from dozens of countries to be part of an Afghan resistance to defeat the Soviet Union. To continue the holy war beyond Afghanistan, al-Qaeda's current goal is to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems "non-Islamic" and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries.

In February 1998, al-Qaeda issued a statement under banner of "The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders" saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens-civilian or military-and their allies everywhere. Al-Qaeda would merge with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Al-Jihad) of Ayman al-Zawahiri in June 2001.

After al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on America, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda's bases there and overthrow the Taliban, the country's Muslim fundamentalist rulers who harbored bin Laden and his followers. "Al-Qaeda" is Arabic for "the base."

In an al-Qaeda house in Afghanistan, New York Times reporters found a brief statement of the "Goals and Objectives of Jihad":

Establishing the rule of God on earth

Attaining martyrdom in the cause of God

Purification of the ranks of Islam from the elements of depravity

In 1998, several al-Qaeda leaders issued a declaration calling on Muslims to kill Americans-including civilians-as well as "those who are allied with them from among the helpers of Satan."

Activities

Tactics include assassination, bombing, hijacking, kidnapping, suicide attacks, et al. Numerous reports and public bin Laden proclamations indicate strong desire to obtain and utilize biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Targets tend to be prominent symbols (public buildings, embassy and military personnel, etc.) of the United States, its allies, and moderate Muslim governments. According to the former CIA Director George J. Tenet, "Usama Bin Ladin's organization and other terrorist groups are placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks in an effort to avoid detection. For example, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) is linked closely to Bin Ladin's organization and has operatives located around the world-including in Europe, Yemen, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. And, there is now an intricate web of alliances among Sunni extremists worldwide, including North Africans, radical Palestinians, Pakistanis, and Central Asians. Some of these terrorists are actively sponsored by national governments that harbor great antipathy toward the United States."

The group has targeted American and other Western interests as well as Jewish targets and Muslim governments it saw as corrupt or impious - above all, the Saudi monarchy. Al-Qaeda linked attacks include:

May 12, 2003 car bomb attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

November 2002 car bomb attack and a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner with shoulder-fired missiles, both in Mombasa, Kenya

October 2002 attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen Several spring 2002 bombings in Pakistan

April 2002 explosion of a fuel tanker outside a synagogue in Tunisia

September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

October 12, 2000 U.S.S. Cole bombing in Aden, Yemen killing 17 crew members and wounding 39.

August 7, 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Al-Qaeda is suspected of carrying out or directing sympathetic groups to carry out the May 2003 suicide attacks on Western interests in Casablanca, Morocco; the October 12, 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and a series of incidents in Saudi Arabia against U.S. targets from 1995 to 1996

Plots linked to al-Qaeda that were disrupted or prevented include: a 2001 attempt by Richard Reid to explode a shoe bomb on a transatlantic flight; a 1999 plot to set off a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport; a 1995 plan to blow up 12 transpacific flights of U.S. commercial airliners; a 1995 plan to kill President Bill Clinton on a visit to the Philippines; and a 1994 plot to kill Pope John Paul II during a visit to Manila.

Information about Al-Qaeda's U.S. operations has come from investigations following the September 11 attacks and the December 1999 foiled Los Angeles airport attack. Interrogations of captured al-Qaeda terrorists are occurring at Guantanamo Bay and from additional undisclosed locations. The extent to which valuable intelligence or information about al-Qaeda's organization is being provided is not known.

In the federal indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was apprehended in August 2001, prosecutors described how the hijackers lived in the United States for months before the attacks-renting apartments, taking flight classes, joining health clubs, and living off funds wired from overseas.

On 29 October 2004, four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaida leader Usama bin Laden threatened new attacks on the United States. He appeared in a video broadcast on the Arab TV network Al Jazeera claiming responsibility for the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York. Speaking in a calm but strong voice, the terrorist leader referred to the following week's U.S. election, telling Americans their security did not depend on President Bush or Democratic candidate John Kerry or al-Qaida, but would depend on government policies. Bin Laden said al-Qaida decided, in his words, to destroy New Yorks' World Trade towers in 2001 and listed several factors that motivated the attack, including frustration over what he called America's pro-Israeli Middle East policies. He said Israel's bombing attacks on Beirut in 1982 gave him the idea of targeting New York's skyscrapers.

AQ likely played a role in the unsuccessful 2006 plot to destroy several commercial aircraft flying from the UK to the United States using liquid explosives. AQ claimed responsibility for a 2008 suicide car bomb attack on the Danish embassy in Pakistan that killed six, as retaliation for a Danish newspaper re-publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and for Denmarks involvement in Afghanistan.

In January 2009, Bryant Neal Vinas  a U.S. citizen who traveled to Pakistan and allegedly trained in explosives at AQ camps, was captured in Pakistan, extradited to the United States, and charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit murder. Vinas later admitted his role in helping AQ plan an attack against the Long Island Rail Road in New York and confessed to having fired missiles at a U.S. base in Afghanistan.

In September 2009, Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant and U.S. lawful permanent resident, was charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, to commit murder in a foreign country, and with providing material support to a terrorist organization as part of an AQ plot to attack the New York subway system. Zazi later admitted to contacts with AQ senior leadership, suggesting they had knowledge of his plans. In February 2010, Zazi pled guilty to charges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

In a December 2011 video, AQ leader al-Zawahiri claimed AQ was behind the August kidnapping of American aid worker Warren Weinstein in Pakistan. Weinstein remained in AQ custody throughout 2013.

Al-Qaeda's Operations Manual

In the early 1990s, al-Qaeda produced the Encyclopedia of the Afghan Jihad, a detailed how-to guide for using handguns, explosives, and biological and chemical weapons, in print and on CD-ROM. Materials belonging to a captured al-Qaeda operative in England detailed techniques for forgery, surveillance, and espionage.

Location/Area of Operation

Al-Qaida has cells worldwide and is reinforced by its ties to Sunni extremist networks. Coalition attacks on Afghanistan since October 2001 have dismantled the Taliban-al-Qaida's protectors-and led to the capture, death, or dispersal of al-Qaida operatives. Some al-Qaeda members at large probably will attempt to carry out future attacks against US interests. Other known areas of operation: United States, Yemen, Germany, Pakistan.

Al-Qaida is a multi-national network possessing a global reach and has supported through financing, training and logistics, Islamic militants in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Chechnya, Eritrea, Kosovo, the Philippines, Somalia, Tajikistan, and Yemen, and now Kosovo. Additionally, al-Qaida has been linked to conflicts and attacks in Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Republics, the Middle East, as well as North and South America.

The headquarters of al-Qaeda are not known anymore. Osama bin Laden moved between various locations in the North Western Frontier Province. Osamas family spent the last six years of his life at a compound in Abbottabad, just minutes away from Pakistans elite military academy. Osama was shot dead by US Navy SEAL commandos in May 2011. Many AQ leaders have been killed in recent years, including then second-in-command Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, in May and August 2011, respectively. Al-Rahmans replacement, Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in June 2012. Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri remained at-large.

A small group of al Qaeda members, many of whom have intermarried with local clans and forged ties with Afghan and Pakistani insurgents, remains active in the remote valleys of northeastern Afghanistan. However, as a result of sustained U.S. and Afghan counterterrorism operations, this group of al Qaeda members does not currently pose an imminent threat to the U.S. and Western nations. Further, so long as adequate pressure is maintained via U.S. and Afghan counterterrorism operations, the group is unlikely to regenerate the capability to become a substantial threat in the 20152018 timeframe.

From 1991 to 1996, al-Qaeda worked out of Sudan.

From 1996 until the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, al-Qaeda operated out of Afghanistan and maintained its training camps there.

U.S. intelligence officials think al-Qaeda's senior leadership tried to regroup in lawless tribal regions just inside Pakistan, near the Afghan border, inside Pakistani cities or in Iran.

In May 2003, administration officials claimed that senior al-Qaeda figures were in Iran and urged Tehran to apprehend them. Sa'ad bin Laden, Usama bin Laden's son, in an October 2003 report, was said be among those in Iran.

Al-Qaeda has autonomous underground cells in some 100 countries, including the United States, officials say. Law enforcement has broken up al-Qaeda cells in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Albania, Uganda, and elsewhere.

The leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in September 2014 the group had launched a new off-shoot in the Indian sub-continent. The new organization aims to create a Muslim caliphate in Burma, Bangladesh and parts of India. The new group will be called Qaedat al-Jihad and will be led by Asim Umar, while Ustad Usama Mahmoud will be the branchs spokesman. The main goals of the new off-shoot are to establish sharia law and free all occupied Muslim lands on the Indian sub-continent.

Strength

It is impossible to known precisely, due to the decentralized stucture of the organization. Al-Qaida may have several thousand members and associates. It trained over 5,000 militants in camps in Afghanistan since the late 1980s. It also serves as a focal point for a worldwide network that includes many Sunni Islamic extremist groups, some members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin.

In South Asia, AQs core has been seriously degraded. The death or arrest of dozens of mid- and senior-level AQ operatives  including bin Laden in May 2011  have disrupted communication, financial, facilitation nodes, and a number of terrorist plots. However, AQ serves as a focal point of inspiration for a worldwide network of affiliated groups.

Al-Qaida has cooperated with a number of known terrorist groups worldwide including:

Armed Islamic Group

Salafist Group for Call and Combat and the Armed Islamic Group

Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt)

Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya

Jamaat Islamiyya

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

Bayt al-Imam (Jordan)

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir)

Asbat al Ansar

Hezbollah (Lebanon)

Al-Badar

Harakat ul Ansar/Mujahadeen

Al-Hadith

Harakat ul Jihad

Jaish Mohammed - JEM

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan

Laskar e-Toiba - LET

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (the Philippines)

Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines)

Al-Ittihad Al Islamiya - AIAI (Somalia)

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen)

These groups share al-Qaeda's Sunni Muslim fundamentalist views. Some terror experts theorize that Al-Qaeda, after the loss of it Afghanistan base, may be increasingly reliant on sympathetic affiliates to carry out it agenda. Intelligence officials and terrorism experts also say that al-Qaeda has stepped up its cooperation on logistics and training with Hezbollah, a radical, Iran-backed Lebanese militia drawn from the minority Shiite strain of Islam.

Al-Arabiyah television reported on 20 October 2004 that Jama'at Al-Tawhid wa Al-Jihad had released a statement claiming it has officially joined the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Al-Jazeera broadcast a statement by the group identifying itself as Tanzim Qa'idat Al-Jihad in Bilad al-Rafidayn (Organization of Jihad's Base in the Country of the Two Rivers). Iraq is commonly known as the land of the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates.

The US Intelligence Community judges that al-Qaida's regional affiliates-al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI), al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and al-Shabaab -- will remain committed to the group's ideology, and in tenns of threats to US interests will surpass the remnants of core al-Qa'ida in Pakistan.

External Aid

Bin Laden, member of a billionaire family that owns the Bin Ladin Group construction empire, was said to have inherited tens of millions of dollars that he uses to help finance the group. Al-Qaida also maintains moneymaking front businesses, solicits donations from like-minded supporters, and illicitly siphons funds from donations to Muslim charitable organizations. US efforts to block al-Qaida funding has hampered al-Qaida's ability to obtain money.

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The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

Northern Uganda has been a vulnerable population right from the time of Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Lakwena then up to Joseph Kony and his Lords Resistance Army (LRA) outfit who devastated the region.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which had been waging a war in northern Uganda and committing gross human rights violations since 1989, had been supported by the Sudan government in retaliation for Uganda's support of the Sudanese rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Under United States (U.S.) pressure the Sudan government cut off assistance to the LRA.

In March 2002, with the permission of the Sudan government, the UPDF launched a major offensive against the LRA in southern Sudan - "Operation Iron Fist." The initial plan to eliminate the LRA failed, as the LRA fled to mountains in southern Sudan and then crossed back into Uganda. These military operations had a horrendous impact on the civilian population in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. By the end of 2013 the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which launched its uprising two decades earlier, had moved from Uganda to the border region of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), where it could rebuild in the political chaos sweeping through the country.

A report released by the Washington-based Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative in August 2015 said efforts to combat LRA rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and elsewhere had made significant progress since 2010. Just a few years ago, the LRA had about 800 combatants. As the result of defection campaigns and operations conducted primarily by the Ugandan military, along with the support by the US, by 2015 it was estimated to have about 200 combatants left.

On 05 March 2012, the non-profit organization Invisible Children, released a video on the internet to kick off an awareness campaign entitled "Kony 2012," to highlight the actions of Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The goal of the campaign was to promote efforts to capture and bring Kony to justice by the end of 2012. Criticism was leveled at the campaign and at Invisible Children over how information was presented in the video and their overall activities. Criticism included: implying that Joseph Kony and the LRA were still operating in Uganda (which they are not), implying that the LRA is still a large organization (which it is not), stating that Kony and the LRA were objectively worse than other similar actors in the region (such as recently convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga) or governments accused of human rights violations (like that of Uganda), and suggesting that Operation Observant Compass was the first attempt by the United States to provide support for regional forces to capture or otherwise neutralize Kony and the LRA (which is incorrect).

Joseph Kony was born in 1961 in the village of Odek among the Acholi people of northern Uganda. He inherited power through his aunt because she was the tribe's mystic who started the Holy Spirit Movement, which sought to unseat the Kampala government. This movement was started by his aunt, Alice Auma, and required that the Acholi people retake the capital city Kampala. It was believed that doing so would redeem the Acholi from the violence they had collectively done to the civilians of the Luwero triangle and initiate a paradise on earth.

Even though this movement failed, Kony used a similar spiritual base. He believed that he was a prophet sent from God to purify the people of Uganda and to create a bastion of peace. Kony had been a soldier with the Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA), which got him involved in military affairs. The leaders of the UPDA signed an agreement with the Ugandan government called the Gulu Peace Accord of 1988 in which most of the former rebels were integrated into the government's army. Kony refused to go along with the agreement and splintered off with other soldiers. With the combination of his military background and religious beliefs he created the Uganda Christian Democratic Army and began fighting against the government. In 1991 he changed the name of the group to the Lord's Resistance Army.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, operated in the north from bases in southern Sudan. The LRA committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children. In addition to destabilizing northern Uganda from bases in Sudan, the LRA congregated in the Bunia area in eastern Congo. They linked up with the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) and other rebel groups that were battling with forces from the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD).

Even though Joseph Kony and his rebel force, the LRA, professed to fight a spiritual war for the Acholi people against the GoU and its military, the Ugandan Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), the majority of Acholi people did not respect or voluntarily assist the LRA. This repudiation can largely be attributed to the enhanced phase of terror inflicted upon the civilian population after the peace talks brokered by Betty Bigombe in 1994 fell apart. Rape, landmines and the mass abduction of children as combatants became the signature work of the LRA. To this day, the facial mutilations of women who had their lips, ears and noses severed at gunpoint are visible in displacement camp settings. When the peace talks failed, the Sudanese government allegedly began to heavily support Joseph Kony. By providing safe refuge in the form of encampments, land to cultivate, materials to build homesteads, hospitals for treatment of war-related injury and even pharmaceuticals for treatment of common infections such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the Sudanese supported the LRA by enabling them to systemize their incursions into Uganda from protected base camps in the Sudan. To a large extent the Sudanese support of the LRA, including weapons, ammunition and landmines, was the key factor in consolidating Joseph Konys reign of terror as the longest child hostage crisis in human history. By October of 1996 the casualty levels were high, the numbers of abducted children numbered close to five thousand and, the conflict had intensified with rebel incursions becoming a normal part of daily life. Due to the focused efforts of the LRA the GoU facilitated the shift of villagers into Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps, and approximately 210,000 villagers moved from their homes into government-sanctioned camps. Voluntary movement was not considered an option. At the time, most of the camps were located in the Kilak, Aswa and Nwoya counties of Gulu district, as they were the most affected by rebel incursion. By the year 2000, there were approximately 23 government-recognized camps in the region. In the wake of September 11th, 2001, and with increased pressure by the US government on Islamic states supporting terrorism, the Sudanese and Ugandan governments committed to improving bilateral relations. In March 2002, the Ugandan government launched Operation Iron Fist (OIF), a military offensive against the LRA. Thousands of ground troops and air support were deployed. The governments intention was to resolve the situation in the North using military force, and diminish the effects of what was becoming an international embarrassment for the government. In response, the LRA rebels poured back across the Ugandan border and sought revenge against the civilian population with intensified attacks on communities, increasing abductions and forced recruitment. The number of abducted children under 18-years of age jumped from approximately 12,000 as of June 2002, to nearly double that by June 2003 and at least 30,000 by May 2004.

The LRA continued to kill, torture, maim, rape, and abduct large numbers of civilians, virtually enslaving numerous children. Although its levels of activity diminished somewhat compared with 1997, the area that the LRA targeted grew. The LRA sought to overthrow the Ugandan Government and inflicted brutal violence on the population in northern Uganda. LRA forces also targeted local government officials and employees. The LRA also targeted international humanitarian convoys and local NGO workers.

The LRA abducted large numbers of civilians for training as guerrillas. Most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.

In particular, the LRA abducted numerous children and, at clandestine bases, terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998, although many of those abducted later escaped or were released. Most human rights NGOs placed the number of abducted children held captive by the LRA at around 3,000, although estimates varied substantially.

Civil strife in the north of Uganda led to the violation of the rights of many members of the Acholi tribe, which was largely resident in the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum. Both government forces and the LRA rebels, who themselves largely are Acholi, committed violations. LRA fighters in particular were implicated in the killing, maiming, and kidnapping of Acholi tribe members, although the number and severity of their attacks decreased somewhat compared with 1997.

The LRA rebels stated that they fought for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. They were notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become rebel fighters or concubines. More than one-half-million people in Uganda's Gulu and Kitgum districts had been displaced by the fighting and lived in temporary camps, protected by the army.

As the years progressed, the LRA lessened their attacks in Uganda and began to attack other regions. They spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). The LRA continued to move between these three regions and evaded capture despite the efforts made by joint military operations of the countries. The LRA continued to plague these regions with their only goal being survival. They performed raids on remote locations to gather food, money, or people which would help sustain their rebellion.

Operation Iron Fist, the military offensive against the LRA launched by the Uganda government in 2002, created circumstances where more people were displaced from traditional homesteads and interrupted significantly the households ability to generate income from the sale of harvests including groundnuts, sim-sim and maize. When families cannot dig and become completely food-aid dependant, the most vulnerable of all are the daughters. This lack of dynamism in IDP camp economies has kept displaced families in perpetual poverty and has led to fundamental changes in the way women and men lead their lives and provide for their families.

The situation whereby mothers were forced to leave girls idle and unsupervised in the camps during the day due to security concerns was quite different from leaving a daughter at home alone in a village-setting, prior to the war, where homes were at least three kilometers apart. For a child to move from household to household looking for where to sleep and to get something to eat was totally unacceptable in the Acholi culture. It was disgusting, worrying, and it undermined the socialization process. Parents reported feeling incompetent and useless in such circumstances and felt that their power and rights to protect their families and children had been taken away with the on-set of displacement camp living.

The night-commuting phenomenon during the war, where thousands of children flocked from their villages to Gulu town to sleep in churches, hospitals, and on verandas in order to avoid abduction and other violence, is well documented. At its peak in the spring of 2004, there were 40,000 children commuting every night. Children would walk several kilometers to town every night to sleep; in the morning they would walk back home, go to school, and then come back into town to sleep again.

The last LRA attacks in Uganda were in 2006, but Kony and other senior figures remained at large. One, Dominic Ongwen, was apprehended in 2015 and is awaiting trial at the ICC in the Hague. Thought to now number no more than 200 to 300 fighters, the group still carried out attacks in recent years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and the Central African Republic. At least 13,000 members of the LRA have been granted amnesty in Uganda, according to official figures.

Belief in spirit power and in channeling remains widespread and vigorous among the Acholi people. The Kony movements profound failure and its many killings have caused many Acholi to re-examine and reject, based on empirical evidence, the assertion that Kony has spirit power. The population still fears Kony. But many stated they now believe that his power derives not from spirits, but from Sudan.

In the view of many Acholis, the Government of Sudan assisted the LRA in retaliation for Ugandan Government support of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), the southern Sudanese insurgency which for many years waged an armed struggle against the Khartoum government.

When President Obama came into office in 2008, the LRA had about 800 troops. When the bill was signed into law in 2010, Kony had about half that number. Today, thanks in large part to the military operations and the defection campaign that are supported by U.S. troops in the field, theres only about 190 to 200 troops left, Paul Ronan, project director at Washington-based Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative, said in August 2015.

As LRA attacks and abductions increased, and districts in Northern Uganda previously relatively unaffected by the war became targets of the LRAs insurgency, unprecedented numbers of people fled their homes and were displaced into IDP camps all over Acholiland. The total number of people displaced and aid-dependent swelled. While in August 2001 there were an estimated 480,000 IDPs, by 2005 the total number of displaced persons had expanded to over 1.8 million, which accounted for over 90 percent of the population of Northern Uganda. At that time, nearly 70 percent of the displaced population was under 25-years of age. With the majority of people in the northern region now in camps, an unintended consequence of OIF was the complete destruction of Northern Ugandas economic base, agriculture. Like many conflict-affected regions across Africa, Acholiland - once a very fertile region of the country - was left neglected, untended and uncultivated.





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Mercenary / Private Military Companies (PMCs)

The term mercenary is applied to a variety of historical situations which do not appear to have elements in common. Casca, the eternal mercenary, pulled the duty of nailing Christ to the Cross and was doomed to spend eternity as a soldier, a career that can lead to billets like sitting on five-gallon water cans in the cold desert wind on Christmas Eve in Saudi Arabia.

The recruitment and use of mercenaries is legally defined in international law, in the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, as well as the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, to which Ukraine is a party. The criteria for a mercenary are taking part directly in hostilities, motivated primarily by the desire for private gain, being paid substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of the party to the conflict, and not being a national of the party to the conflict or a resident of the territory controlled by a party to the conflict. The recruitment and use of mercenaries is prohibited by international law.

With regard to foreign fighters, there is no internationally agreed legal definition of foreign fighters, nor a specific regime governing them. A foreign fighter is generally understood to refer to individuals who leave their country of origin or habitual residence and become involved in violence as part of an insurgency or non-State armed group in an armed conflict. Foreign fighters are motivated by a range of factors, notably ideology, but can also be attracted fight for financial reward. Foreign fighters are obliged to respect applicable rules of international human rights and humanitarian law during armed conflicts.

In Deccember 1989 the UN General Assembly adopted the "International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries", which noted that "the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries should be considered as offences of grave concern to all States and that any person committing any of these offences should either be prosecuted or extradited..." This convention defined a mercenary, as a person, who among other attributes "Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party..."

The Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination was established in July 2005 pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/2. It succeeded the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries, which had been in existence since 1987 and was serviced by Mr. Enrique Bernales Ballesteros (Peru) from 1987 to 2004 and Ms. Shaista Shameem (Fiji). In March 2008, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Working Group for a period of three years. In September 2014, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Working Group for a period of three years.

Given that the modern national state military dates back only 200 years, the privatized military industry (PMI) is not the departure from tradition that it first seems. But PMIs are not purely mercenaries. They come in three general types: providers, consultants, and support services. Executive Outcomes was a provider (i.e., a combat force). Consultants are more accurately designated military advisors and trainers; for example, Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), a spin-off from the Lockheed-Loral merger, built the Croat army. A representative support PMI is Brown & Root Services, the Halliburton subsidiary that is currently a major contract rebuilder in Iraq.

Estimates of the number of private international security personnel range from 15,000 to 20,000. That is as much as 15 percent of the total US presence of about 130,000 soldiers. These private contractors -- who most often work for corporations, diplomats, or journalists -- have no accountability to the US military. These private security contractors can earn up to $1,000 a day. NATO forces have used private soldiers for security in the Balkans. But the proportion of private security personnel to regular military soldiers was no greater than 10 percent.

Part of the US Occupation force in Iraq, the in-country commander, LTG Sanchez decreed that federal civilians will not carry weapons. But being well acquainted with some fellow federal civilians, if they were armed over here it would scare the "you know what". Consequently, every time civilians leave their "safe area", they must have what are called "shooters" with along. They are sometimes the mercenary security teams who are hired and paid by the contractors. Other times they are young American men and women in the US Army.

Since the end of the Cold War there has been a disproportionate growth in the tail to tooth ratio on the battlefield; that is, a marked escalation in the number of support functions relative to actual combat power. As weapons and equipment become more complex and challenging to maintain and operate, there is a greater willingness to rely on civilian contractors who can provide services ranging from monitoring advanced weapon systems to rendering technical assistance and logistical support. No longer restricted solely to acquisition and logistical functions, contractors often accompany the military into war zones and even into battle.

Is the battlefield contractor, in a sense, a corporate soldier and is the US military becoming increasingly commercialized, privatized, and outsourced? The presence of civilians accompanying the force on the battlefield has legal and ethical ramifications and raises troubling questions relating to issues of chain of command, authority, accountability, force protection, and, ultimately, mission effectiveness. That presence, too, provokes discussion about the growth of the privatized military industry and the reliance on civilians in the realm of military training, international security missions, and peacekeeping operations.

The post Cold War world has given rise both to new problems and new opportunities. In many areas we need to test the received wisdom against an evolving post Cold War reality. The global confrontation of the Cold War and its massive military establishments have been winding down; instead we find ourselves in a world of small wars and weak states. Many of these states need outside help to maintain security at home. There may also be an increasing need for intervention by the international community. At the same time, in developed countries, the private sector is becoming increasingly involved in military and security activity. States and international organisations are turning to the private sector as a cost effective way of procuring services which would once have been the exclusive preserve of the military. It is British Government policy for example to outsource certain tasks that in earlier days would have been undertaken by the armed services.

The demand for private military services is likely to increase. The cases that attract most attention are those where a government employs a private military company to help it in a conflict - as the governments of Sierra Leone and Angola have done. Such cases are in practice rare and are likely to remain so; but we may well see an increase in private contracts for training or logistics. Some of this demand may come from states which cannot afford to keep large military establishments themselves. But demand may also come from developed countries. It is notable for example that the United States has employed private military companies to recruit and manage monitors in the Balkans.

A further source of demand for private military services could be international organisations. The private sector is already active and effective in areas that would once have been seen as the preserve of the military - demining for example. And both the UN and international NGOs employ private companies to provide them with security and logistics support. A strong and reputable private military sector might have a role in enabling the UN to respond more rapidly and more effectively in crises. The cost of employing private military companies for certain functions in UN operations could be much lower than that of national armed forces. Clearly there are many pitfalls in this which need to be considered carefully. There are, for example, important concerns about human rights, sovereignty and accountability.

A private military advisory and training company has the ability to assist a dysfunctional state by providing the initial professional and neutral framework to serve as a core around which new security forces can be formed and moulded. The client government may well have trained and capable personnel, but may lack functioning structures and systems and may be plagued by the lack of mutual trust in the residue of an internal conflict. A professional and neutral (impartial and a-political) organisation can fill those gaps and simultaneously create an opportunity for the client country's own surviving professionals to recover and begin to rebuild.

A private military advisory and training company can equally assist a functioning country that is recovering from a conflict, or which faces a sudden threat and must quickly build up armed forces. More often than not a country in such a position will need foreign assistance, but may not be keen on committing itself to any one country and may then opt for a private company. It may also be acquiring equipment from countries antagonistic to each other, which could create real practical problems where training teams of those countries were to encounter each other on site. A neutral training team from a private company can offer real advantages in such a situation.

Today's world is a far cry from the 1960s when private military activity usually meant mercenaries of the rather unsavoury kind involved in post-colonial or neo-colonial conflicts. Such people still exist; and some of them may be present at the lower end of the spectrum of private military companies. One of the reasons for considering the option of a licensing regime is that it may be desirable to distinguish between reputable and disreputable private sector operators, to encourage and support the former while, as far as possible, eliminating the latter.

MPRI was purchased by L3, DynCorp was purchased by CSC, and Vinnell was purchased by Northrup Grumman.



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The Russian Quest for Warm Water Ports

By opening the Syrian-Mediterranean front in 2015, Russia bypassed the whole military network that NATO and the United States had placed along the Russian Federations Western land borders.

Peter the Great was the ruler of a landlocked nation. The Baltic was practically a Swedish lake and the Black Sea belongpd entirely to the Turks. For nearly two hundred years the policy of obtaining, maintaining, and increasing a seaboard has been consistently followed. If that policy was inaugurated by Peter the Great, it was nevertheless absolutely due to the operation of irresistible natural forces.

A great nation must seek a seaboard corresponding in extent to its needs, and Russia could no more be restrained in her seaward expansion than could the United States in overflowing the Rocky Mountains in their march to the Pacific. The policy thus forced upon Russia by the conditions of her being has involved many wars and great sacrifices. The methods adopted have been various, and, in common with those which have commended themselves to all nations, have not been wholly blameless; but only the curious inability of the British people to realise the necessities of others can blind us to the fact that Russian expansion was as inevitable as our own. To the fifty millions of Great and Greater Britain free access to the sea is the breath of national life; by the eighty millions of Russia the same vital need is instinctively felt.

A glance at the map serves to show that, after nearly two centuries of effort, the conditions of Russia, from the maritime point of view, remain exceptionally disadvantageous. The British Empire had free access to all the oceans and seas of the world. France faced the Atlantic and held fourteen hundred miles of the shores of the Mediterranean. Spain is admirably placed for the exercise of sea-power. Germany, by means of the North Sea Canal, held an outlet to blue water in her own hands. The United States front two oceans. Japan is almost as favorably situated as the British Islands.

Russia, on the other hand, by a freak of circumstance, unfortunate for herself and other nations, had her sea-communications in Europe land-locked and partially ice-locked, and the effect of these great geographical disadvantages was manifested in the Crimean War. In the Far East, Kamtschatka, annexed in 1697, has its spring, summer, and autumn compressed into four months. Vladivostock, which became a Russian port in 1860, is ice-locked for about four months,* and is situated in the almost inland Sea of Japan. Even Port Arthur, the latest acquisition, does not provide such unimpeded access to the ocean as is given by Brest, Cadiz, New York, or San Francisco, and has the additional drawback of being fully four thousand four hundred miles by the shortest railway route from the Russian capital.

Although Russia is the predominant resident power on the Eurasian Continent, geography has been very "cruel" to her in the sense that it has left her virtually landlocked. In the north, her access to the world is frozen in winter. In the west. Europe blocks her entry into the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the south, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan deny her a passage to the Arabian Sea. Lastly, in the east, China and Korea separate her from the South China Sea, while Vladivostok, her sole warm water port, is "neutralized" by South Korean and Japanese domination of the strait of Tsushima. Her problems were uncomfortably accentuated by the fact that her principal adversaries were the world's dominant sea power, first Great Britain, then the United States. Russian strategists have, over the last two hundred years, sought to remedy this through a steady, but relentless drive to the seas. In this respect they seem to have drawn upon the advice and thinking of two of their great strategists, Peter the Great and Prince Gorchakov.

A "warm water port" is a port where the water does not freeze in winter. Because they are available year-round, warm water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest, with the ports of Saint Petersburg and Valdez being notable examples. Russia needed a warm water port to have a well rounded economy like China or America. As the Russian empire expanded to the East, it would also push down into Central Asia towards the sea, in a search for warm water ports.

Russia's Czar Ivan III (1462-1505) had warred to unify Russia and to break free of the Mongol yoke. Ivan IV (1533-84) had conquered the Mongols and warred unsuccessfully to acquire a warm water port. In the 17th century, Russia expanded westward at the expense of Poland, acquiring the Ukraine in the process, and then expanded to the Pacific and to the frontiers of China. Following upon all this, Peter's foreign policy may be reduced to three simple goals: (1) reaching the Baltic Sea; (2) reaching the Black Sea; and (3) expanding southward at the expense of Iran. Ultimately, only the first of these thrusts was successful, though it took the 21-year Swedish or Northern War to complete it.

Fifty-one years prior to the birth of the United States Peter the Great died, leaving behind his celebrated will in which he advised his subjects to " ... approach as near as possible to Constantinople and India. Whoever governs there will be the true sovereign of the world. Consequently, excite continual wars, not only in Turkey, but in Persia And, in the decadence of Persia, Penetrate as far as the Persian Gulf advance as far as India." (In today's world, "India" ought to be read as "Pakistan").

St. Petersburg is inexorably linked with the personality of its founder, Tsar Peter I. Peter inherited a Russia that was too backward for his taste. Trade was relatively undeveloped due to the lack of access to a warm-water port (the Baltic belonged to the Swedes and the Black Sea was in Turkish hands) and the populace, even the aristocracy, was for the most part uneducated. Novorossiysk, Russia's largest warm water port on the Black Sea, was home to USSR President Brezhnev's favorite winery, Myskhako. Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky is the last warm water port along the Northern Sea Route from Southeast Asia to Europe. Kaliningrad, a Russian region strategically located "within" Europe, has the No.1 rating for social-economic development in the North-West federal region. Kaliningrad's economy has grown rapidly due to the fishing industry, oil and gas exports, and heavy industry, and has Russia's only warm water port on the Baltic coast.

Every nation desired above all things access to that highroad to everywhere, which the oldest of poets called thirty centuries ago the Wide-Wayed Sea. Russia was the only great State that found this access through her northern ports closed during the winter by ice, and through her southern ports on the Black Sea liable to be at any time closed by the Power which held the shores of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. She had long sought a warm water harbor on the Atlantic, and thought of buying one from Norway. She had got a sort of haven on the Arctic coast west of the mouth of the White Sea, but eastwards thence along the Siberian and Kamchatkan coasts there was none nearer than Vladivostock on the Sea of Japan, unsurpassed as a naval station, for the long channel of approach is eminently defensible and capable of being kept open throughout winter by an ice breaker.

It had been the adverse fate of Russia on reaching the shores of a sea to discover that it was not an open sea. Each time Russia prepared to set foot on a seaboard, and her soldiers weary but victorious were ready like the Greeks of the Anabasis to utter the joyous cry, "The sea at last!" they met with disappointment. It was not access to a free, open sea that they had conquered for their country, but merely a salt lake controlled by some other Power. The Baltic, to the shores of which Russia came after a struggle of over two centuries against the Poles and Swedes, was closed by the ice of the Finnish Bay and by the Danish Straits. The exit from the Black Sea was found to be a trap door that might any moment be opened or closed against Russia by the Turkish janitor acting in his own interest or, more serious still, in the interests of those who might bribe or intimidate him against Russia. The bleakness of the Siberian coasts and the ardent aspirations of the Japanese neighbor deprived Russia of an egress to the warm waters of the Pacific. But it was the Black Sea that caused Russia many a dark day of her history, turning even her victories into defeat. The Black Sea was even less hospitable to the Russians than to the Greeks, who gave it the euphemistic name of the Hospitable Sea.

The Tsars of Russia had always their eyes on the warm water ports in the south to control the world economy. The Soviets, having naval supremacy in Indian Ocean, had since long enough of naval ships facilities and number of ships in these water. Warm water ports were made available by Ethiopia and South Yemen in the west and Kam Rahn Bay in the east to cherish their long term desired to capture the warm waters with ease. Latest technology, long range nuclear missiles had also reduced the dependance on large distance bases. This historical compulsion of the Russians was, however no longer valid.





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How Much is That in Real Money?



Aureus

1 of gold

Denarius

25 of silver

Sesterce

100 of brass [Orichalcum]

As

400 of bronze

It is nearly impossible to compare the value of Roman money to that of modern times, for a variety of reasons. The confident parenthetical conversions prevalent in the literature of two centuries ago now pale in the face of a variety of methodolgical quandries. Changes in the total stock and relative prices of gold and silver produce subsantial divergences between ancient and modern prices calculated in the two metals. While estimates of Purchasing Power Parity [PPP] exchange rates offer some basis for comparison, the absence of a remotely common basket of goods clouds the estimates.

Scholars have proposed quite diverging estimates of the monetary stock in Roman imperial times. According to Goldsmith, at the end of the Augustan age the magnitude was in the order of some 7 billion sesterces, 3 billion in silver coins (that is, 2,895 tons of silver) and 4 billion in gold coins (that is, 309,6 tons of gold), plus a small amount of subsidiary coins. A much higher estimate, almost threefold, was suggested, for the '60 of the II century AD, by R.P. Duncan-Jones: roughly 20 billion sesterces, 880 tons of gold and 5,766 tons of silver.

Under a gold standard, exchange rates are not prices, but are more akin to conversion units, like 12 inches per foot, since under an international gold standard, every national currency unit would represent a specific weight of the same substance, i.e., gold. As such, their relationships would be immutable. Since 1492 there had never been a year in which the growth of the world gold stock increased by more than 5 percent in a single year. In the 20th Century, the average was about 2 percent.

During the 1990s the price of silver was consistently about $300 per ounce [$10 per gram]. At these prices, the aureus would be worth about $100, the silver denarius [25 to the aureus] worth about $4, and a sesterce [4 to the denarius] about $1. Taking the modern value of gold at about $1000 an ounce, an aureus would be worth about $300, the silver denarius [25 to the aureus] worth about $12, and a sesterce [4 to the denarius] about $3. As of mid-2010, the price of gold was over $1200 per ounce, placing an aureus at about $325, the silver denarius at about $13, and a sesterce [at 4 denarii] $3.25.

During the 1990s the price of silver was consistently about $4 per ounce [$0.15 per gram]. From 2005 through 2010 the price of silver averaged about $15 per ounce [about $0.50 per gram], briefly reaching as high as $20 per ounce [about $0.65 per gram]. With 3.9 grams of nearly pure silver, the denarius would have been worth about $0.60 in the 1990s, and about $2.00 between 2005 and 2010. By extension, the sesterce, one-quarter of a silver denarius, would have been worth about $0.15 in the 1990s, and about $0.50 between 2005 and 2010.

Year Per c. GDP Index 1 $ 576 1.35 1000 $ 427 1.00 1500 $ 771 1.81 1600 $ 889 2.08 1700 $ 997 2.33 1820 $ 1,202 2.81 1870 $ 1,960 4.59

The Roman economy was no more backward than the early modern West European economy, and late medieval Western European economies were no more backward than 18th century economies. Only the introduction of machinery and modern sources of energy marked a sharp discontinuity and defined a new path of development from the first half of the 19th century onwards. Maddison's view can be summarized by the series of data (in 1990 international dollars PPP) concerning Western Europe and covering almost two millennia.

In the early Empire, a rate of 4 sesterces [1 Denarius] is suggested as the daily wage by a variety of contemporarneous sources. The daily wage rate for male laborers in Rome under the late Republic was estimated [by Duncan-Jones] as 3 Sesterces. This would suggest a modern equivalence of about 1 sesterce = $0.50, that is 1 denarius = $2.00. Other such calculations could set the value of 1 sestertius as the equivalent of as much as $1.50.

item HS $ $ / HS loaf of bread HS 0.5 $4.00 $8.00 sextarius (~0.5 liter) of wine HS 1.0 $10.00 $10.00 modius (6.67 kg) of wheat HS 7.0 $1.33 $0.20 tunic HS 15.0 $150.00 $10.00 donkey HS 500 $2,000.00 $4.00 slave HS 2,500 $0.00 $0.00 HS $. $.1 wheat = 60 pounds per bushel

According to one estimate, at the time of the early Empire, a prostitute charging 8 to 10might have 5 sexual encounters each day [for a total daily income of about 50], while a prostitute charging 2might have 15 to 20 encounters per day [for a total daily income of about 35]. In the late 20th Century, estimates by prostitutes ranged from 3 [sometimes 5 or 6] to 5-9 to 10 to 15 encounters per day. Sources dating from the early Imperial period give prices ranging from 0.25 as to 16 asses and perhaps more. Known examples are about equally weighted at below 2.5and above 3.0. [ The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World ] By one estimate modern out-call prostitutes charge a price for full service of about $150 [grossing about $600 and netting about $400 per night], while an inner-city street-walking prostitute might expect to make $45 for a half hour of "service" [grossing about $700 and netting about $150 per night]. [ Strippers make more money than prostitutes ] These "estimates" - both ancient and modern - are little better than conjectural, but are plausible rough orders of magnitude. These numbers suggest a Purchasing Power Parity exchange rate of [50= $600] = 1= $12, to [35= $150] = 1= $4.25. With the rate of 4to the sesterce, this would set the PPP value of the sesterce at somewhere between about $15 and about $50.

According to the price of gold, the sesterce today would be worth $3.25, by the price of silver, the sesterce today would be worth $2.00, according to general labor rates, 1 sesterce = $0.50, while prostitute prices would set the PPP value of the sesterce at somewhere between about $15 and about $50. Various commodity prices would suggest a value of possibly $10.00. Differing methods produce a range in the modern value of the sesterce at somewhere between $0.50 and $50.00, seemingly rendering any conversion to modern prices problematic at best.

To return to Crassus [played by Charles Laughton in the movie Spartacus], his wealth of 200,000,000 sesterce was said to be unprecedented. In 2010 Forbes estimated that Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu was the richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated at $53.5 billion [Bill Gates was only worth $53 billion]. By 2021 Forbes estimated that Jeff Bezos was the worlds richest for the fourth year running, worth $177 billion, while Elon Musk rocketed into the number two spot with $151 billion, as Tesla and Amazon shares surged. If the sesterce were valued at $10, Crassus would be worth $2,000,000,000. On the Forbes 2010 list of rich people, this would place him just behind #463 William Wrigley [chewing gum] but tied with #488 Charles Bronfman [Seagram liquor]. By 2021 there would be dozens of people worth $2,000,000,000, all tied in 1580th place, including Joe Rogers, Jr of Waffle House and Hamdi Ulukaya, known as the yogurt king, is the founder of America's most popular Greek yogurt brand, Chobani. But if the sesterce were valued at $1.00, Crassus would be worth an entirely unremarkable $200,000,000.





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"The Arabs are even less stable than the Turks. If properly handled they would remain in a state of political mosaic, a tissue of small jealous principalities incapable of cohesion."

(1916 intelligence memo by Colonel T.E.Lawrence of Arabia

cited in Mark Curtis, Secret Affairs, Pluto Press, London, 2010, p. 9)

The Arab Spring

The Arab Awakening

The Arab Spring, also called the Arab Awakening, is a term used to refer to a wave of peaceful and violent demonstrations, civil unrest, and civil war that began with the collapse of the government in Tunisia between December 2010 and January 2011. Though the Middle East and North Africa saw the bulk of the disturbances, the widespread agitation against regimes in those regions also gave rise to similar movements or the speculation of similar movements in countries without majority Arab populations. The term Arab Spring was often used in relation to these political crises and conflicts as well.

In December 2010, widespread protests occurred against President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his regime in Tunisia. President Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January 2011, after a month of protests and rioting sparked by widespread unemployment and high food prices. When Ban Ali departed the country, interim authority fell to Fouad Mebazaa, the President of the National Assembly. Mebazaa's principal task as interim President would be to organize elections and, from an RCD perspective, maintain the party's hold on power. Continued protesting forced Mebazaa, a member of the ruling political party, to make additional concessions concerning the future of Tunisian politics.

By the end of January 2011, similar protests had begun in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak. On 1 February 2011, President Mubarak pledged that he would not stand in presidential elections in September 2011, as protestors continued to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo demanding his immediate departure. Protestors rejected this compromise and held a "Day of Departure" rally on 4 February 2011, demanding President Mubarak immediately step down. On 11 February 2011, President Mubarak resigned, and on 13 February 2011, a military junta calling itself the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said it would stay in power for six months, or until elections.

Also in February 2011, protests broke out in numerous Libyan cities, such as Benghazi and Tripoli, against the regime of Muammar Qadhafi. Similar protests occurred in Bahrain's capital Manama, against the monarchy of King Hamad. A violent crackdown followed in both countries. Government loyalists and opposition tribesmen also clashed during protests in Yemen, especially in the capital Sana'a, against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In Libya, the military and militias loyal to Qadhafi killing numerous protestors. On 26 February 2011, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1970 in response to the violent crackdown. The resolution called for an immediate end to the violence and referral of specific cases to the International Criminal Court, as well as instituting an arms embargo on Libya and freezing the assets of Muammar Qadhafi and other government officials.

In Bahrain, protestors occupied and set up camp in the Pearl Square in Manama, refusing to leave until their demands had been met. Security forces responded by surrounding the square and firing on protestors. On 14 March 2011, military and other security forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain under the auspices Gulf Cooperation Council, to help Bahraini security forces respond to the unrest. On 16 March 2011, Bahraini security forces forcefully ejected protestors from the square. The statue at the center of Pearl Square, which had become a symbol of the unrest, was later demolished. Reports also surfaced that Bahraini security forces had taken control of hospitals in Manama and actively denied medical care to protestors. Major protests largely stopped after the square was retaken, but a crackdown involving the arrest of protest leaders and other figures continued.

By March 2011, anti-government rebels in Libya had begun to organize and were actively fighting forces loyal to the Libyan government. These forces would later become known as the National Transitional Council (NTC). Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which provides for the use of force if needed, UNSC Resolution 1973 was adopted on March 17, 2011, by 10 votes to zero, with five abstentions. UNSC Resolution 1973 specifically:

Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi(...)

On 19 March 2011, the coalition, led by the United States, launched air and missile strikes on Libyan targets under the umbrella of the United States' Operation Odyssey Dawn. On 23 March 2011, NATO launched Operation Unified Protector, becoming the lead entity for a multi-national coalition conducting operations enforcing Resolution 1973. The NATO operations involved a no-fly zone, operations to protect civilians, and a naval blockade to enforce the arms embargo. On 31 March 2011, NATO took complete command of all coalition forces operating over and around Libya.

In March, protests also began in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. A violent crackdown followed, with President al-Assad vowing to defeat what he referred to as a "foreign plot." The Syrian government subsequently promised political reforms, including the legalization of political parties. Violent clashes continued, however.

In April 2011, President Saleh of Yemen rejected a Gulf Cooperation Council proposal that would have seen his resignation, leading to increased protests and clashes between his supporters and the opposition. In late April 2011, reports surfaced that President Saleh had finally agreed to a GCC proposal that would see him leave office. Violent clashes continued and on 30 April 2011, President Saleh publicly said he was rejecting the deal. The situation subsequently devolved into open fighting between military forces loyal to the government, defecting military forces, and tribal militia in the capital Sana'a in May 2011.

In late April 2011, the Syrian government decided to send military forces into cities seen as hotbeds of opposition activity. The deployments to Deraa include the use of tanks and armored personnel carriers and appeared to be similar to the Syrian crackdown in the town of Hamah in 1982. An international outcry to the escalation of violence followed, with the United States imposing various sanctions on Syria and specific governemnt officials on 29 April 2011. In spite of this, the Syrian government expanded its crackdown into May 2011, with some elements of the opposition beginning to arm themselves, leading to a fear of a civil war.

Since the Arab Spring, chaos seemed to have further engulfed the already volatile Middle East. By mid-2013, as Syria continued its sectarian civil war, some argued that state-based nationalism was declining and something larger and older was taking over. The Syrian war seemed to mark the beginning of the end for the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Ottoman Empire after World War I and created the modern Middle East.

The Arab Spring-uprisings, along with the geopolitical rivalry of Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, pushed the region into unchartered and dangerous waters. The sectarianism that has been unleashed may mean at the very least the end of strong unitary states for many Middle East countries. Analysts say the Middle East seemed to be heading towards a future of enfeebled states and possibly smaller ones, divided along sectarian lines and so weak they are unable to resist the influence of Saudi Arabia, Iran or Western powers or curb the activities of non-state actors like al-Qaida.

By 2015 security threats and religious extremism have provided the so-called deep state security agencies the opportunity to mount comebacks - as in Egypt, where figures from the era of Hosni Mubaraks rule were key to the consolidation of power by former army chief and now President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

French scholar Jean-Pierre Filiu tracked the survival and resurgence of the Arab deep states featuring the ousted regimes security agencies, business associates and politicians and argued that the former regimes have benefited from Islamic extremism - a monster they helped create. In his book, From Deep State to Islamic State: The Arab Counter-Revolution and its Jihadi Legacy, he argued that while battling Islamic extremists, the former regimes also colluded with them.

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Argentina Dirty War - 1976-1983

The Dirty War, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year campaign by the Argentine government against suspected dissidents and subversives. Many people, both opponents of the government as well as innocent people, were "disappeared" in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were tortured and eventually killed. These people are known as "los desaparecidos" or "the disappeared."

A military coup overthrew Juan Peron and restored the traditional Argentine oligarchy to power in 1955. During the subsequent 18 years of exile, Peron used the Montonero insurgents as a primary means of breaking the resultant political impasse. He also used them as a political bridge to a worker-based mass movement and as a bridge to rebellious youth movements.

Argentina experienced three failed attempts at rural guerrilla warfare between 1959 and 1969. At that point, the insurgents decided in favor of urban warfare. It seemed obvious that they would be safer and more relevant in crowded urban space than in isolated rural areas.

One final attempt was made at generating a conventional rural-based insurgency. In 1974, Marxist admirers of Che Guevarra (the Peoples Revolutionary Army [ERP]) took control of the remote province of Tucuman and actually governed that part of the national territory. In 1975 the Army was ordered to Tucuman to eradicate the insurgents and restore the province to the Argentine state, and did so swiftly and ruthlessly. And 1975 marked the end of any serious rural insurgency effort.

Between the ouster of Peron in 1955 and his return from exile in 1973, a number of urban insurgent organizations emerged. Six major groups - two Marxist-Maoist- Guevarrist-oriented, and four populist-nationalist Peronist-oriented - eventually dispersed or joined either the ERP or the Peronist Montoneros. The Montoneros became the largest and most active of the two revolutionary movements, but maintained close ties with the ERP.

After the death of the controversial President Juan Peron in 1974, his wife and vice president, Isabel Peron, assumed power. However, she was not very strong politically and a military junta led a coup against her and removed her from office. This military junta maintained its grip on power by cracking down on anybody whom they believed was challenging their authority. The new regime under General Jorge Rafael Videla attempted to apply a monetarist solution to economic problems and launched what it called the war against subversion, which came to be widely known to others as the "dirty war", in an attempt to defeat definitively left-wing guerrilla activity that was out of control by early 1976.

With the complicity of silence among all but a handful within the Argentine population, the military regime undertook widespread kidnappings, torture, and murder  not only of the violent guerrilla left but also of the nonviolent leftist political activists, their sympathizers, and their families. The war against subversion was viewed within the military's National Security Doctrine as the beginfling of "World War III," which it defined as a struggle against the efforts of communism for world supremacy. In three years as many as 30,000 Argentines were killed.

The Peronist Montonero insurgency and the Argentine governmental response to it are prime examples of how not to conduct an insurgency and how not not to conduct a counterinsurgency. The Montonero insurgent leadership made a conscious decision to militarize the struggle and attack ? directly ? the Argentine armed forces. The political objectives that originally motivated the confrontation were sacrificed to military considerations. The groups that were supposed to bring national and social liberation to the country developed into mirror images of the Argentine armed forces, and legitimizing political-psychological efforts were considered unproductive niceties.

Unlike previous military governments which were generally satisfied to manipulate or disrupt economic or social programs it did not approve of, or end the term of a government with a political ideology counter it its own, these military leaders set out to reform society through its proclaimed Process of National Reorganization (or El Proceso). El Proceso focused on three basic objectives: the elimination of subversion, improvement in the economy, and the creation of a new national framework.

In the view of the new regime, the eradication of subversion meant not only the guerrillas' activities, but also any form of dissenting behavior whether found in the school, the family, the factory, or even the arts or culture. Building a new national framework required eradicating the Peronists, the unions, parliamentary radicals and leftists. To build the economy required eliminating an industrial sector populated by an undisciplined worker class and inefficient managers.

Military governments usually assume one of three different forms: guardians, moderators or rulers. As "rulers," when the generals leave the barracks, they imbue the regime with their own alleged virtues, organization, hierarchy, obedience, discipline, punctuality, and efficiency. They eliminate participatory mechanisms such as legislatures, parties, and political associations, because they see little need to organize consent. They do away with competitive politics and all instrumentalities of representation in order to reduce complex issues to simple, clear-cut issues. In Argentina, the military definitely assumed the role of hard-line rulers.

Everyone fell into the net: union leaders who struggled for a simple increase in wages, adolescents who were members of a student association, newspaper reporters that were not addicted to the dictatorship, psychologists and sociologists who were part of suspect professions, young pacifists, nuns and priests that had carried the teachings of Christ to the miserably poor. And friends of any of them, and friends of those friends; people that had been denounced for reasons of personal vengeance or by kidnap victims under torture.

Victory was achieved after three years of limited open fighting and a stream of kidnappings, "disappearances," bombings, and killings that brought a total breakdown of due process for those suspected of being connected with the guerrillas. By June 1978 the guerrillas were all but eliminated, and the military declared victory. By 1980 the last vestiges of the terrorist groups had died out, and the disappearances had stopped.

Although the military dictatorship carried out its war against suspected domestic subversives throughout its entire existence, it was ironically a foreign foe which brought the regime to an end. In the early 1980s, it became clear to both the world and the Argentine people that the government was behind the tens of thousands of kidnappings. The junta, facing increasing opposition over its human rights record, as well as mounting allegations of corruption, sought to allay domestic criticism by launching a successful campaign to regain Las Islas Malvinas (the Falkland Islands).

Jesus Fernando Gomez argues that "The military engaged in the "Dirty War" in order to suppress its opposition, principally the Peronists, because the cost - measured in terms of legitimacy - of suppressing them was relatively low at the beginning of the junta's rule. But the cost of suppression increased over time because of the military regime's ruthless suppression of anyone who opposed it, its failed economic policies, and its embarrassing loss of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands War, and thus it had to tolerate its opposition and eventually return power to civilian authority."

The Falkland Islands had been a source of contention between England, which administers them, and Argentina, which claims them, since 1820. The junta had thought that it could reclaim these islands relatively easily, that England wouldn't mind their loss, and that the government would regain its popularity and control over its people. However, the government was wrong in its anticipations when 72 days after the invasion of the Islands, the British military won the war, having captured 9,800 Argentine POWs.

This unexpected loss was the final blow for the military regime, and in 1982, it restored basic civil liberties and retracted its ban on political parties. The Dirty War ended when Raul Alfonsin's civilian government took control of the country on December 10, 1983.

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Iran-Iraq War / The Imposed War (1980-1988)

The Iran-Iraq War permanently altered the course of Iraqi history. It strained Iraqi political and social life, and led to severe economic dislocations. Viewed from a historical perspective, the outbreak of hostilities in 1980 was, in part, just another phase of the ancient Persian-Arab conflict that had been fueled by twentieth-century border disputes. Many observers, however, believe that Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Iran was a personal miscalculation based on ambition and a sense of vulnerability. Saddam Hussein, despite having made significant strides in forging an Iraqi nation-state, feared that Iran's new revolutionary leadership would threaten Iraq's delicate SunniShia balance and would exploit Iraq's geostrategic vulnerabilities--Iraq's minimal access to the Persian Gulf, for example. In this respect, Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Iran has historical precedent; the ancient rulers of Mesopotamia, fearing internal strife and foreign conquest, also engaged in frequent battles with the peoples of the highlands.

The Iran-Iraq War was multifaceted and included religious schisms, border disputes, and political differences. Conflicts contributing to the outbreak of hostilities ranged from centuries-old Sunni-versus-Shia and Arab-versus-Persian religious and ethnic disputes, to a personal animosity between Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini. Above all, Iraq launched the war in an effort to consolidate its rising power in the Arab world and to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state. Phebe Marr, a noted analyst of Iraqi affairs, stated that "the war was more immediately the result of poor political judgement and miscalculation on the part of Saddam Hussein," and "the decision to invade, taken at a moment of Iranian weakness, was Saddam's".

Iraq claimed territories inhabited by Arabs (the Southwestern oil-producing province of Iran called Khouzestan), as well as Iraq's right over Shatt el-Arab (Arvandroud). Iraq and Iran had engaged in border clashes for many years and had revived the dormant Shatt al Arab waterway dispute in 1979. Iraq claimed the 200-kilometer channel up to the Iranian shore as its territory, while Iran insisted that the thalweg--a line running down the middle of the waterway--negotiated last in 1975, was the official border. The Iraqis, especially the Baath leadership, regarded the 1975 treaty as merely a truce, not a definitive settlement.

The Iraqis also perceived revolutionary Iran's Islamic agenda as threatening to their pan-Arabism. Khomeini, bitter over his expulsion from Iraq in 1977 after fifteen years in An Najaf, vowed to avenge Shia victims of Baathist repression. Baghdad became more confident, however, as it watched the once invincible Imperial Iranian Army disintegrate, as most of its highest ranking officers were executed. In Khuzestan (Arabistan to the Iraqis), Iraqi intelligence officers incited riots over labor disputes, and in the Kurdish region, a new rebellion caused the Khomeini government severe troubles.

As the Baathists planned their military campaign, they had every reason to be confident. Not only did the Iranians lack cohesive leadership, but the Iranian armed forces, according to Iraqi intelligence estimates, also lacked spare parts for their American-made equipment. Baghdad, on the other hand, possessed fully equipped and trained forces. Morale was running high. Against Iran's armed forces, including the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) troops, led by religious mullahs with little or no military experience, the Iraqis could muster twelve complete mechanized divisions, equipped with the latest Soviet materiel. With the Iraqi military buildup in the late 1970s, Saddam Hussein had assembled an army of 190,000 men, augmented by 2,200 tanks and 450 aircraft.

In addition, the area across the Shatt al Arab posed no major obstacles, particularly for an army equipped with Soviet river-crossing equipment. Iraqi commanders correctly assumed that crossing sites on the Khardeh and Karun rivers were lightly defended against their mechanized armor divisions; moreover, Iraqi intelligence sources reported that Iranian forces in Khuzestan, which had formerly included two divisions distributed among Ahvaz, Dezful, and Abadan, now consisted of only a number of ill-equipped battalion-sized formations. Tehran was further disadvantaged because the area was controlled by the Regional 1st Corps headquartered at Bakhtaran (formerly Kermanshah), whereas operational control was directed from the capital. In the year following the shah's overthrow, only a handful of company-sized tank units had been operative, and the rest of the armored equipment had been poorly maintained.

For Iraqi planners, the only uncertainty was the fighting ability of the Iranian air force, equipped with some of the most sophisticated American-made aircraft. Despite the execution of key air force commanders and pilots, the Iranian air force had displayed its might during local riots and demonstrations. The air force was also active in the wake of the failed United States attempt to rescue American hostages in April 1980. This show of force had impressed Iraqi decision makers to such an extent that they decided to launch a massive preemptive air strike on Iranian air bases in an effort similar to the one that Israel employed during the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War.



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Iraq Civil War

Iraq celebrated its victory over the Islamic State with a military parade 10 December 2017 in the capital, a day after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the successful ouster of the jihadist group from the country. The parade was not broadcast live and state media were the only ones allowed to attend. Iraqi army units in the parade marched across the main square in central Baghdad as helicopters and fighter jets flew overhead. "Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh [IS]," Abadi said at a conference in Baghdad that was arranged by the Iraqi journalists' union.

Middle East analyst Nadim Shehadi of Chatham House in London argued many in the West are making too much of the role of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] militants in the battle against the Maliki government. "There is too much concentration on ISIL and the militants. There is a lot more to that than ISIL and the militants," Shehadi said. "Underneath that is a genuine discontent and marginalization on the part of mainly Sunni constituency and one should not address ISIL as being the main protagonist. It affects the solution. It affects the way you seek a solution." Shehadi went on to stress that underlying discontent among Sunni tribes is what sparked the revolt against the Maliki government. ISIL, he insisted, jumped in to take advantage of the rift or discontent. The solution to the conflict, he claimed, is to address the discontent, not to address ISIL.

By the summer of 2013, jihadi fighters, who once held sway over most of Iraq's Sunni areas until they were beaten by US and Iraqi troops and their local tribal allies during the surge campaign of 2006-2007, were again on the ascendant. The conflict in neighboring Syria and discontent among Iraq's minority Sunnis had dramatically escalated the threat posed by al-Qaida, leading to violence unseen in Iraq since the height of the US-led war five years earlier. Throughout, the security forces of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government were outmatched, unable to bring security to Baghdad or protect Shi'ite areas in the south, much less sweep fighters from northern Sunni areas under their grip.

Iraqi forces made progress in retaking territories controlled by ISIS. In October 2015, Iraqi forces and their allies recaptured most of the countrys largest oil refinery in Baiji, a strategic city between Baghdad and Mosul. In November 2015, Kurdish forces took control of towns and sections of highway around Sinjar, between Mosul and the border with Syria. In December 2015, the Iraqi forces and their allies launched a major offensive to retake control of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

ISIS attacks boosted the number of internally displaced persons  estimated at 4 million people at end-June 2015 (almost one sixth of the entire population). Close to 10 million Iraqis (almost one third of the population) including 250,000 Syrian refugees needed humanitarian assistance.

A UN report released 19 January 2016 detailed the severe and extensive impact on civilians of the ongoing conflict in Iraq. The report was compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). At least 18,802 civilians were killed and another 36,245 were wounded between 01 January 2014 and 31 October 2015. Another 3.2 million people have been internally displaced since January 2014, including more than a million children of school age.

Of the total number of casualties, at least 3,855 civilians were killed and 7,056 wounded between 1 May and 31 October last year  the period covered by the report, although the actual figures could be much higher than those documented. About half of these deaths took place in Baghdad.

ISIL killed and abducted scores of civilians, often in a targeted manner. Victims include those perceived to be opposed to ISIL ideology and rule; persons affiliated with the Government, such as former Iraqi security forces (ISF), police officers, former public officials and electoral workers; professionals, such as doctors and lawyers; journalists; and tribal and religious leaders. Others have been abducted and/or killed on the pretext of aiding or providing information to Government security forces. Many have been subjected to adjudication by ISIL self-appointed courts which, in addition to ordering the murder of countless people, have imposed grim punishments such as stoning and amputations.

The report detailed numerous examples of killings by ISIL in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings. There were also reports of the murder of child soldiers who fled fighting on the frontlines in Anbar. Information received and verified suggests that between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted by ISIL for religious education and military training.

The United Nations said 02 January 2017 that terrorism and other acts of violence in Iraq killed at least 6,878 civilians and wounded another 12,388 in 2016. But the casualty figures may actually be higher because they do not include civilians who were killed or injured in Iraq's western Anbar province during the months of May, July, August and December. The numbers "have to be considered as the absolute minimum," according to the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The U.N. said civilian casualty figures for December are lower compared to previous months, despite noticing an increase in terrorist bombings toward the end of the month that targeted civilians. "There is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh (an Arabic acronym for Islamic State) to divert attention from their losses in (the Iraqi city) of Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price," said Jan Kubis, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Iraq.

UNAMI reported that 7,512 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2015.

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Lebanon

(Civil War 1975-1991)

Non-Lebanese military and paramilitary forces retain significant influence over much of the country. Palestinian groups hostile to both the Lebanese government and the US operate largely autonomously inside refugee camps in different areas of the country. Intra communal violence within the camps has resulted in violent incidents such as shootings and explosions.

The population of Lebanon comprises Christians and Muslims. No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over confessional (religious) balance. The US Government estimate is that more than half of the resident population is Muslim (Shi'a, Sunni and Druze), and the rest is Christian (predominantly Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, and Armenian). Shi'a Muslims make up the single largest sect. Claims since the early 1970s by Muslims that they are in the majority contributed to tensions preceding the 1975-76 civil strife and have been the basis of demands for a more powerful Muslim voice in the government.

There are over 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and thousands of stateless undocumented persons resident in the country (mostly Kurds and Syrians). Palestinians and stateless persons are not accorded the legal rights enjoyed by the rest of the population.

With no official figures available, it is estimated that 600,000-900,000 persons fled the country during the initial years of civil strife (1975-76). Although some returned, continuing conflict through 1990 sparked further waves of emigration, casting even more doubt on population figures. As much as 7% of the population was killed during the civil war between 1975 and 1990. Approximately 17,000-20,000 people are still "missing" or unaccounted for from the civil war period.

Background

Lebanon's history from independence has been marked by periods of political turmoil interspersed with prosperity built on Beirut's position as a regional center for finance and trade. In 1958, during the last months of President Camille Chamoun's term, an insurrection broke out, and U.S. forces were briefly dispatched to Lebanon in response to an appeal by the government. During the 1960s, Lebanon enjoyed a period of relative calm and Beirut-focused tourism and banking sector-driven prosperity. Other areas of the country, however, notably the South, North, and Bekaa Valley, remained poor in comparison.

In the early 1970s, difficulties arose over the presence of Palestinian refugees, many of whom arrived after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and "Black September" 1970 hostilities in Jordan. Among the latter were Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Coupled with the Palestinian problem, Muslim and Christian differences grew more intense.

Beginning of the Civil War--1975-81

The spark that ignited the civil war in Lebanon occurred in Beirut on April 13, 1975, when gunmen killed four Phalangists during an attempt on Pierre Jumayyil's life. Perhaps believing the assassins to have been Palestinian, the Phalangists retaliated later that day by attacking a bus carrying Palestinian passengers across a Christian neighborhood, killing about twenty-six of the occupants. The next day fighting erupted in earnest, with Phalangists pitted against Palestinian militiamen (thought by some observers to be from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). The confessional layout of Beirut's various quarters facilitated random killing. Most Beirutis stayed inside their homes during these early days of battle, and few imagined that the street fighting they were witnessing was the beginning of a war that was to devastate their city and divide the country.

Despite the urgent need to control the fighting, the political machinery of the government became paralyzed over the next few months. The inadequacies of the political system, which the 1943 National Pact had only papered over temporarily, reappeared more clearly than ever. For many observers, at the bottom of the conflict was the issue of confessionalism out of balance--of a minority, specifically the Maronites, refusing to share power and economic opportunity with the Muslim majority.

The government could not act effectively because leaders were unable to agree on whether or not to use the army to stop the bloodletting. When Jumblatt and his leftist supporters tried to isolate the Phalangists politically, other Christian sects rallied to Jumayyil's camp, creating a further rift. Consequently, in May Prime Minister Rashid as Sulh and his cabinet resigned, and a new government was formed under Rashid Karami. Although there were many calls for his resignation, President Franjiyah steadfastly retained his office. As various other groups took sides, the fighting spread to other areas of the country, forcing residents in towns with mixed sectarian populations to seek safety in regions where their sect was dominant. Even so, the militias became embroiled in a pattern of attack followed by retaliation, including acts against uninvolved civilians.

Although the two warring factions were often characterized as Christian versus Muslim, their individual composition was far more complex. Those in favor of maintaining the status quo came to be known as the Lebanese Front. The groups included primarily the Maronite militias of the Jumayyil, Shamun, and Franjiyah clans, often led by the sons of zuama. Also in this camp were various militias of Maronite religious orders. The side seeking change, usually referred to as the Lebanese National Movement, was far less cohesive and organized. For the most part it was led by Kamal Jumblatt and included a variety of militias from leftist organizations and guerrillas from rejectionist Palestinian (nonmainstream PLO) organizations.

By the end of 1975, no side held a decisive military advantage, but it was generally acknowledged that the Lebanese Front had done less well than expected against the disorganized Lebanese National Movement. The political hierarchy, composed of the old zuama and politicians, still was incapable of maintaining peace, except for occasional, short-lived cease-fires. Reform was discussed, but little headway was made toward any significant improvements. Syria, which was deeply concerned about the flow of events in Lebanon, also proved powerless to enforce calm through diplomatic means. And, most ominous of all, the Lebanese Army, which generally had stayed out of the strife, began to show signs of factionalizing and threatened to bring its heavy weaponry to bear on the conflict.

Syrian diplomatic involvement grew during 1976, but it had little success in restoring order in the first half of the year. In January it organized a cease-fire and set up the High Military Committee, through which it negotiated with all sides. These negotiations, however, were complicated by other events, especially Lebanese Front-Palestinian confrontations. That month the Lebanese Front began a siege of Tall Zatar, a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp in East Beirut; the Lebanese Front also overran and leveled Karantina, a Muslim quarter in East Beirut. These actions finally brought the main forces of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), into the battle. Together, the PLA and the Lebanese National Movement took the town of Ad Damur, a Shamun stronghold about seventeen kilometers south of Beirut.

In spite of these setbacks, through Syria's good offices, compromises were achieved. On February 14, 1976, in what was considered a political breakthrough, Syria helped negotiate a seventeen-point reform program known as the Constitutional Document. Yet by March this progress was derailed by the disintegration of the Lebanese Army. In that month dissident Muslim troops, led by Lieutenant Ahmad Khatib, mutinied, creating the Lebanese Arab Army. Joining the Lebanese National Movement, they made significant penetrations into Christian-held Beirut and launched an attack on the presidential palace, forcing Franjiyah to flee to Mount Lebanon. Continuing its search for a domestic political settlement to the war, in May the Chamber of Deputies elected Ilyas Sarkis to take over as president when Franjiyah's term expired in September. But Sarkis had strong backing from Syria and, as a consequence, was unacceptable to Jumblatt, who was known to be antipathetic to Syrian president Hafiz al Assad and who insisted on a "military solution." Accordingly, the Lebanese National Movement successfully pressed assaults on Mount Lebanon and other Christian-controlled areas.

As Lebanese Front fortunes declined, two outcomes seemed likely: the establishment in Mount Lebanon of an independent Christian state, viewed as a "second Israel" by some; or, if the Lebanese National Movement won the war, the creation of a radical, hostile state on Syria's western border. Neither of these possibilities was viewed as acceptable to Assad. To prevent either scenario, at the end of May 1976 Syria intervened militarily against the Lebanese National Movement, hoping to end the fighting swiftly. This decision, however, proved ill conceived, as Syrian forces met heavy resistance and suffered many casualties. Moreover, by entering the conflict on the Christian side Syria provoked outrage from much of the Arab world. Despite, or perhaps as a result of, these military and diplomatic failures, in late July Syria decided to quell the resistance. A drive was launched against Lebanese National Movement strongholds that was far more successful than earlier battles; within two weeks the opposition was almost subdued. Rather than crush the resistance altogether, at this time Syria chose to participate in an Arab peace conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 16, 1976.

The Riyadh Conference, followed by an Arab League meeting in Cairo also in October 1976, formally ended the Lebanese Civil War; although the underlying causes were in no way eliminated, the fullscale warfare stopped. Syria's presence in Lebanon was legitimated by the establishment of the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) by the Arab League in October 1976. In January 1977 the ADF consisted of 30,000 men, of whom 27,000 were Syrian. The remainder were token contingents from Saudi Arabia, the small Persian Gulf states, and Sudan; Libya had withdrawn its small force in late 1976. Because of his difficulties in reforming the Lebanese Army, President Sarkis, the ADF's nominal commander, requested renewal of the ADF's mandate a number of times.

Thus, after more than one and one-half years of devastation, relative calm returned to Lebanon. Although the exact cost of the war will never be known, deaths may have approached 44,000, with about 180,000 wounded; many thousands of others were displaced or left homeless, or had migrated. Much of the once-magnificent city of Beirut was reduced to rubble and the town divided into Muslim and Christian sectors, separated by the so-called Green Line.

In 1982 Lebanon began to rebuild their armed forces with assistance from the United Staes. In 1988, these new modern forces gave General Aoun, the interim prime minister, the will to declare a war of liberation against the Syrians who were still occupying the country. However, within two years General Aoun was defeated and exiled to France. Syria maintained its presence while also rebuilding the Lebanese Armed Forces, which were devastated by the brief war.>

U.S. Intervention--1982-84

An interim cease-fire brokered by the U.S. in 1981 among Syria, the PLO, and Israel was respected for almost a year. Several incidents, including PLO rocket attacks on northern Israel, as well as an assassination attempt on the Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom, led to the June 6, 1982 Israeli ground attack into Lebanon to remove PLO forces. Operation "Peace for Galilee" aimed at establishing a deeper security zone and pushing Syrian troops out of Lebanon, with a view toward paving the way for an Israeli-Lebanese peace agreement. With these aims in mind, Israeli forces drove 25 miles into Lebanon, moving into East Beirut with the support of Maronite Christian leaders and militia.

In August 1982, U.S. mediation resulted in the evacuation of Syrian troops and PLO fighters from Beirut. The agreement also provided for the deployment of a multinational force composed of U.S. Marines along with French and Italian units. A new President, Bashir Gemayel, was elected with acknowledged Israeli backing. On September 14, however, he was assassinated. The next day, Israeli troops crossed into West Beirut to secure Muslim militia strongholds and stood aside as Lebanese Christian militias massacred almost 800 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Then-Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon was held indirectly responsible for the massacre by the Kahane Commission and later resigned. With U.S. backing, Amin Gemayel, chosen by the Lebanese parliament to succeed his brother as President, focused anew on securing the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces. The multinational force returned.

On May 17, 1983, Lebanon, Israel, and the United States signed an agreement on Israeli withdrawal that was conditioned on the departure of Syrian troops. Syria opposed the agreement and declined to discuss the withdrawal of its troops, effectively stalemating further progress. In August 1983, Israel withdrew from the Shuf (southeast of Beirut), thus removing the buffer between the Druze and the Christian militias and triggering another round of brutal fighting. By September, the Druze had gained control over most of the Shuf, and Israeli forces had pulled out from all but the southern security zone, where they remained until May 2000. The virtual collapse of the Lebanese Army in February 1984, following the defection of many Muslim and Druze units to militias, was a major blow to the government. With the U.S. Marines looking ready to withdraw, Syria and Muslim groups stepped up pressure on Gemayal. On March 5, 1984 the Lebanese Government canceled the May 17 agreement; the Marines departed a few weeks later.

This period of chaos witnessed the beginning of terrorist attacks launched against U.S. and Western interests. These included the April 18, 1983 suicide attack at the U.S. Embassy in West Beirut (63 dead), the bombing of the headquarters of U.S. and French forces on October 23, 1983 (298 dead), the assassination of American University of Beirut President Malcolm Kerr on January 18, 1984, and the bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut on September 20, 1984 (9 dead).

It also saw the rise of radicalism among a small number of Lebanese Muslim factions who believed that the successive Israeli and U.S. interventions in Lebanon were serving primarily Christian interests. It was from these factions that Hizballah emerged from a loose coalition of Shi'a groups. Hizballah employed terrorist tactics and was supported by Syria and Iran.

Worsening Conflict and Political Crisis--1985-89

Between 1985 and 1989, factional conflict worsened as various efforts at national reconciliation failed. Heavy fighting took place in the "War of the Camps" in 1985 and 1986 as the Shi'a Muslim Amal militia sought to rout the Palestinians from Lebanese strongholds. The Amal movement had been organized in mid-1975, at the beginning of the civil war, to confront what were seen as Israeli plans to displace the Lebanese population with Palestinians. (Its charismatic founder Imam Musa Sadr disappeared in Libya 3 years later. Its current leader, Nabih Berri, is the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.) The combat returned to Beirut in 1987, with Palestinians, leftists, and Druze fighters allied against Amal, eventually drawing further Syrian intervention. Violent confrontation flared up again in Beirut in 1988 between Amal and Hizballah.

Meanwhile, on the political front, Prime Minister Rashid Karami, head of a government of national unity set up after the failed peace efforts of 1984, was assassinated on June 1, 1987. President Gemayel's term of office expired in September 1988. Before stepping down, he appointed another Maronite Christian, Lebanese Armed Forces Commanding General Michel Aoun, as acting Prime Minister, contravening Lebanon's unwritten "National Pact," which required the prime minister to be Sunni Muslim. Muslim groups rejected the move and pledged support to Salim al-Hoss, a Sunni who had succeeded Karami. Lebanon was thus divided between a Christian government in East Beirut and a Muslim government in West Beirut, with no president.

In February 1989 Aoun attacked the rival Lebanese Forces militia. By March he turned his attention to other militias, launching what he termed a "War of Liberation" against the Syrians and their Lebanese militia allies. In the months that followed, Aoun rejected both the agreement that ultimately ended the civil war and the election of another Christian leader as president. A Lebanese-Syrian military operation in October 1990 forced him to take cover in the French Embassy in Beirut and later into a 15-year exile in Paris. After Syrian troop withdrawal, Aoun returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005 and won a seat in the 2005 parliamentary elections. He is now the leader of the largest opposition bloc in parliament.

End of the Civil War--1989-91

The Ta'if Agreement of 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the war. In January of that year, a committee appointed by the Arab League, chaired by Kuwait and including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco, had begun to formulate solutions to the conflict, leading to a meeting of Lebanese parliamentarians in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, where they agreed to the national reconciliation accord in October. Returning to Lebanon, they ratified the agreement on November 4 and elected Rene Moawad as President the following day. Moawad was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut on November 22 as his motorcade returned from Lebanese Independence Day ceremonies. Elias Hrawi, who remained in office until 1998, succeeded him.

In August 1990, parliament and the new President agreed on constitutional amendments embodying some of the political reforms envisioned at Ta'if. The Chamber of Deputies expanded to 128 seats and was divided equally between Christians and Muslims (with Druze counted as Muslims). In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that pardoned all political crimes prior to its enactment. The amnesty was not extended to crimes perpetrated against foreign diplomats or certain crimes referred by the cabinet to the Higher Judicial Council. In May 1991, the militias (with the important exception of Hizballah) were dissolved, and the Lebanese Armed Forces began to slowly rebuild itself as Lebanon's only major nonsectarian institution.

In all, it is estimated that more than 100,000 were killed, and another 100,000 left handicapped, during Lebanon's 16-year civil war. Up to one-fifth of the pre-war resident population, or about 900,000 people, were displaced from their homes, of whom perhaps a quarter of a million emigrated permanently. The last of the Western hostages taken during the mid-1980s were released in May 1992.





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Somalia Civil War

A frail UN-backed government is fighting the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab Islamist insurgency. The fight is hampered by the Government's inability to control its national security forces, who are largely recruited from clan militias and put through training by other nations.

There was no national government in Somalia for nearly two decades. Much of the country has been effectgively governed by local authorities, in Somaliland and Puntland, but these entities were not recognized as states by the international community. There is a severe lack of capacity in every part of the country to adequately address problems. While parts of the north have been relatively peaceful, including much of the self-declared "Republic of Somaliland," interclan and inter-factional fighting have flared up with little warning, and kidnapping, murder and other threats to foreigners occur unpredictably in many regions. Since 1991, an estimated 350,000 to 1,000,000 Somalis had died because of the conflict.

The Somali Republic gained independence on 1 July 1960. Somalia was formed by the union of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland, while French Somaliland became Djibouti. A socialist state was established following a coup led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre. Rebel forces ousted the Barre regime in 1991, but turmoil, factional fighting, and anarchy ensued. The Somali National Movement (SNM) gained control of the north, while in the capital of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, the United Somali Congress achieved control. Somalia had been without a stable central government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre fled the country in 1991.

The collapse of Somalia's international relations system, i.e. self-serving embassies that have no defined national external policy to support. Their remaining functions are renewal of Somalia passports and issuing new fake travel documents in addition to begging for scholarship to their own clan/sub-clan children, etc. The seat of Somali capital, i.e. Mogadishu, was in the hands of warlords and wrecked by clans claiming to the city as a property of their own tribe. This kept making the restoration of Somali all the more difficult because there was no capital equal to all Somalis. Somalia disintegrated into a number of poorly defined tribal territories, i.e. Puntland, Somaliland, Jubaland, Rahaweynland, Marihanland, etc., most of which had little capacity to provide bare minimum services to their own constituencies with the exception of ego-boosting clan identity. The intention of the formation of these territories were not based on ideology other than clan supremacy.

From the fall of Siad Barres regime to the present day, events have flowed through several distinctive phases.

The period 1991-1992 was marked by the most intense conflict, when the different clan factions fought for control of land and resources in southern Somalia. This resulted in the devastation of the inter-riverine areas, consequently causing famine and the disruption of farming and livestock production. Increasing numbers of refugees left the country for neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia at that time: the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) increased dramatically. The 1991 formation of independent Somaliland in the northwest created an enclave of reconstruction and relative peace. The period 1992-1995 was centered on UN and US interventions. This phase was illuminated by localized conflicts, specifically around Mogadishu. Fighting among rival faction leaders in the south resulted in the killing, dislocation, and starvation of thousands of Somalis, and led the United Nations to intervene militarily. In 1992, responding to the political chaos and humanitarian disaster in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched peacekeeping operations to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to the Somali people. By March 1993, the potential for mass starvation in Somalia had been overcome, but the security situation remained fragile. The humanitarian objectives of the interventions were clouded by the UNs ambiguous goals and rules of engagement. The UNs role in nation building became a rallying point for united Somali opposition. On 03 October 1993, US troops received significant causalities (19 dead over 80 others wounded) in a battle with Somali gunmen. When the United States and the UN withdrew their forces from Somalia, in 1994 and 1995 respectively, after suffering significant casualties, order still had not been restored. Somalis continued to flee the country as internal displacement became routine/common in particular regions of the country. The period 1995-2000 was the post-intervention phase, which witnessed the emergence of regional administrations and the continued dissolution of the Somali state. Conflict between rival warlords and their factions continued throughout the 1990s. No stable government emerged to take control of the country. The UN assisted Somalia somewhat with food aid, but did not send peacekeeping troops into the country. In the late 1990s, relative calm began to emerge and economic development accelerated somewhat. The country was by no means stable, but it was improving. As conflict continued in different regions of the country, internal displacement and steady refugee flows increased. Puntland in the northeast declared itself a regional administration in 1998. Although not popularly recognized as an autonomous region, Jubaland declared itself autonomous in 1998. A transitional government emerged in 2000, but soon lost power. The period 2000-2006 began in with the establishment of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Arta, Djibouti, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Key warlords' opposition to the legitimacy of the TNG resulted in conflict and population displacement in particular areas in the south. By contrast, the process of reconstruction continued in Somaliland and Puntland. In January 2004, 2 dozen or so warlords reached a power-sharing agreement after talks in Kenya. This agreement called for a 275-member parliament. The TNG was succeeded by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), formed in October 2004 after two years of peace and a reconciliation conference held under the auspices of IGAD in Kenya. This Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the 14th attempt at a government since 1991. Its head, Abdullah Yusuf, originally called for African peacekeepers to restore order within Somalia, but many Somalis feared invasion, especially by nearby Ethiopia. In this phase, the Islamic courts emerged. The period 2006-2011 was marked by the December 2006 intervention by Ethiopian troops, which by January 2007 had effectively dispersed the Islamic courts. In its place, the militant wing al-Shabaab continued to fight. against the TFG and foreign forces, and by 2008 it had regained control of much of southern Somalia, the territory held by the Islamic courts in 2006. Repeating the pattern of the Ethiopian intervention, in October 2011, at the invitation of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, the Kenyan Government launched Operation Protect the Country against the al-Shabaab, which retained control of parts of southern Somalia, though the TNG was installed in Mogadishu. Kenyan troops working with the African Union have battled al-Shabab inside Somalia since October 2011.

Somaliland and Puntland, two regions in the north, broke away from the country and set up regional, semi-autonomous governments. They were not internationally recognized. Unlike Somaliland, however, which has opted to reassert its independence, Puntlands constitution simultaneously supports the notion of a federal Somalia and asserts the regions right to negotiate the terms of union with any eventual national government. Other less developed political entities are also emerging out of processes currently at work elsewhere among the Somali. In the central regions of Galguduud and Mudug, for example, the local residents set up several years ago something they call the Galmudug State, complete with its own website. In 2009, they elected a veteran of the old Somali military, Colonel Mohamed Ahmed Alin, to a three-year term as the second president of what described itself as a secular, decentralized state. An analogous process was taking place in Jubaland along the frontier with Kenya.

In April 2011, it was announced that a new autonomous authority, Azania, had been inaugurated with the TFGs own resigned defense minister, Mohamed Abdi Mohamed (Gandhi), as its first president. Meanwhile, another self-declared administration, Himan Iyo Heeb, originally established in 2008 by Habar Gidir clansmen in central Somalia, north of Mogadishu, had apparently become active again. There were similar stirrings among the Hawiye in the Benadir region around Mogadishu and among the Digil/Rahanweyn clans farther south.

By September 2011, more than 20 separate regional governing authorities had developed across Somalia in addition to Puntland and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland (which maintains a separate regional governing authority) - including Southwestern Somalia, Ayn, Somalia, Maakhir, Northland State, Madar, and Somal. Some of the authorities engaged in armed conflict with each other.

After the attacks of 11 September 2001, the United States gradually began to take a more active role in Somalia's affairs, fearing that the country had become a haven for terrorists. The United States will strengthen engagement with the governments of Puntland and Somaliland in Somalia as part of a two-track policy aimed at curbing the growth of terrorist extremism, but also to support the Transitional Federal Government, according to Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson. At a briefing 24 September 2010 in New York, Carson said the two-track policy supports the Djibouti peace process, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the government of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, president of Somalia. Carson, who is the assistant secretary for African affairs, told reporters that engagement with Puntland and Somaliland is part of the second track.

We hope to be able to have more American diplomats and aid workers going into those countries on an ad hoc basis to meet with government officials to see how we can help them improve their capacity to provide services to their people, seeing whether there are development assistance projects that we can work with them on, Carson said. We think that both of these parts of Somalia have been zones of relative political and civil stability, and we think they will, in fact, be a bulwark against extremism and radicalism that might emerge from the South.

Carson said that greater engagement means meeting periodically with government officials from Puntland and Somaliland, discussing a range of development issues that include health, education, agriculture and water projects. But Carson said the United States will follow the African Union position and recognize only a single Somali state.

The United Nations Security Council voted 06 March 2013 to lift a 21-year ban on the sale of arms to Somalia, a move that had some of Somalias autonomous regions like Somaliland, Puntland, and others worried. The British-led UN resolution put an end to an arms embargo that had been imposed on the country since 1992 in the aftermath of the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991. The ban was originally intended to quell violence in a country that had little semblance of central governance.

However, with tangible gains made in security and development, the international community was now in broad agreement that the arms ban should be lifted to allow weapons in to help the Somali army improve its monitoring capabilities and a drawdown of international peacekeepers. The UN resolution would allow sales of such weapons as automatic assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but leaves in place a ban on surface-to-air missiles, large-caliber guns, howitzers, cannons and mortars as well as anti-tank guided weapons, mines and night vision weapon sights.

While the end of the arms embargo may be good news for Mogadishu, Somalias autonomous breakaway regions  Puntland, Somaliland, Baioda, and Jubaland  worried that the new development will threaten their hard-won security. Although these regions had their own armies, however nascent, they worried that a weak Mogadishu will be unable to effectively monitor and control the spread of newfound weapons. These regions are not alone: so too have rights groups like Amnesty International called the weapons ban removal premature.

The resolution also extended for one year the African Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, which had been helping government forces stabilize the country and fight al-Qaida-linked militants.

A top U.N. official said up to 3,000 African Union soldiers had been killed in Somalia over the past few years fighting the Islamist insurgency. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson gave the death toll at a news conference 09 May 2013 at UN headquarters. Eliasson said Uganda and Burundi, which supplied most of the troops for the AU force, "have paid a tremendous price." A spokesman for the force, Ali Aden Hamoud, says he cannot confirm or deny the death toll. "That responsibility belongs to each one of those contingents, or troop-contributing countries," he said. Over the previous two years, AU troops, working with Somali and Ethiopian forces, forced militant group al-Shabab out of southern Somali towns and cities they once controlled. The al-Shabab threat receded but still existed, and that the AU force, known as AMISOM, still played a crucial role in Somalia.

A United Nations peacekeeping mission in Somalia would be a high-risk undertaking, considering the threats posed by Al-Shabaab militants and despite advances made by the African Union Mission in the country (AMISOM), a senior UN official told the Security Council 16 July 2015. Progress would not have been possible without the continuing sacrifices of AMISOM troops and the Somali National Army. Their heroism deserves our collective tribute, said Edmond Mulet, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, attributing the significant gains made against Al Shabaab to a surge of AMISOM military personnel and to the logistical support package for the Somali National Army. While improving AMISOMs efficiency and effectiveness, the surge in uniformed personnel should be maintained until the end of 2016, as recommended by the Secretary-General, he said, welcoming the African Union Peace and Security Councils decision to reconfigure the Mission within the authorized ceiling.

Most government institutions continued in 2015 to lack basic capacities to implement their mandates, including human resources, guiding policies and infrastructure. Conflict during 2015 involving the government, militias, AMISOM, and al-Shabaab resulted in the death and injury of civilians and the displacement of many others. Clan-based political violence in the Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle Regions involved revenge killings and attacks on civilian settlements. Clashes in the Hiraan, Galguduud, and Gedo Regions also resulted in deaths. Somaliland used military force to suppress supporters of the self-declared Khatumo State.

Conflict between Biimaal and Habar Gedir militias in the Lower Shabelle Region continued, although reports of abductions and killings decreased. Local civil society organizations continued to report that rape occurred in the context of fighting in Lower Shabelle. The ad hoc official commissions that the government established in 2014 to investigate alleged abuses by federal military forces and allied militias in the Lower Shabelle Region did not produce any reports.

Clashes throughout the south and central regions resulted in deaths and displacement. For example, on 22 January 2015, clashes between Dir and Hawadle clan militias over land in the towns of Burdhinle and Hada-Ogle in the Hiraan Region resulted in at least 23 deaths and numerous injuries.

Clan fighting revolving around the state formation process resulted in numerous deaths. ASWJ militias and federal forces skirmished throughout the year, causing internal displacement of persons. For example, on 10 February 2015, the ASWJ attacked Somali National Army (SNA) forces in Guriel, Galguduud Region. According to local sources, fighting killed at least three civilians and injured many more.

Al-Shabaab continued to kill civilians. This included politically motivated killings that targeted civilians affiliated with the government and attacks on humanitarian NGO employees, UN staff, and diplomatic missions. Al-Shabaab often used suicide attacks, mortar attacks, and improvised explosive devices. It also killed prominent peace activists, community leaders, clan elders, and their family members for their roles in peace building, and it beheaded persons accused of spying for and collaborating with Somali national forces and affiliated militias. There were numerous reported al-Shabaab attacks, including the 20 February 2015 vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack on the Central Hotel in Mogadishu that killed approximately 25 persons, including government officials.

The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and have been steadily losing territory since then to the combined forces of AU peacekeepers and Somali security forces. But al Shabaab retained the capacity to mount large, complex bomb attacks. Since 2014, the number of civilians killed by insurgent bombings has steadily climbed as al Shabaab increases the size of its bombs.

Al-Shabab said it killed up to 100 Kenyan soldiers in its attack January 15, 2016 on an African Union base in the Somali town of El-Adde. There was no independent confirmation of the claim and Kenyan officials had not released any casualty figures. Kenyan troops retook control of El-Adde without a fight after al-Shabab members slipped away into rural areas. Most residents of the small town fled, fearing more attacks.

Since the election of the countrys Somali-American president in February 2017, the government has announced a number of military offensives against al-Shabab, Africas deadliest Islamic extremist group, only to end them weeks later with no explanation. Experts believe that has given the extremists breathing space and emboldened them in their guerrilla attacks.

The US stepped up military involvement in the long-fractured Horn of Africa nation since Donald Trump approved expanded operations against the group early in 2017. The US had carried out at least 19 drone strikes in Somalia from January 2017 to October 2017. The United States had about 400 troops in Somalia. In April 2017, the US announced it was sending dozens of regular troops to Somalia in the largest such deployment to the country in roughly two decades.

The death toll from the 14 October 2017 truck bombing in Somalia's capital is over 300. The bomb attacks were the deadliest since Islamist militant group al Shabaab began an insurgency in 2007.

Somali intelligence officials said the truck bombing in Mogadishu was meant to target the citys heavily fortified international airport where many countries have their embassies. The massive bomb, which security officials said weighed between 600 kilograms and 800 kilograms (1,300 pounds and 1,700 pounds), instead detonated in a crowded street after soldiers opened fire and flattened one of the trucks tires.

The United States was expected to play a supporting role in the new offensive that President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was set to launch. Somalias army spokesman Capt. Abdullahi Iman said the offensive involving thousands of troops will try to push al-Shabab fighters out of their strongholds in the Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions where many deadly attacks on Somalias capital, Mogadishu, and on Somali and African Union bases have been launched.





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South China Sea

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) arrived at a single draft negotiating text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on 02 August 2018. Wang made the remarks at the China-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting. The draft text will serve as the basis of future COC negotiations. It is another significant progress on the negotiations of COC, Wang noted. "I believe that the negotiations on COC can be speeded up if we exclude external interference," Wang said [aka the USA]. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan said ASEAN member states and China have arrived at a single draft negotiating text of COC which will be a living document and the basis of future COC negotiations. "We also agreed on the key modalities for future rounds of COC negotiations," the Singaporean foreign minister added.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed 18 May 2017 to a framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, a development that could ease tensions in the disputed waters. ASEAN and China agreed to the framework that establishes guidelines for a final agreement. The terms were reached at a meeting in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

A draft of the framework describes the projected agreement as "a set of norms to guide the conduct of parties and promote maritime cooperation in the South China Sea," adding it is "not an instrument to settle territorial disputes."

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on 12 July 2016 ruled that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to islands in the South China Sea and had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights. "The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration said. The nine-dash refers to a demarcation line on a 1947 map of the sea, which is rich in energy, mineral and fishing resources.

The tribunal also found China had violated the Philippines sovereign rights. Having found that certain areas are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, the Tribunal found that China had violated the Philippines sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by (a) interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, (b) constructing artificial islands and (c) failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone. In a unanimous, hard-hitting ruling, the Hague tribunal maintained that the disputed Spratly islands "cannot generate maritime zones collectively as unit" as claimed by China.

There are a few basic facts about China's claims in the South China Sea that are central to understanding the dispute. China has declared the South China Sea to be a "core interest" worth fighting for, along with Taiwan and Tibet, but it only discovered this fact in 2010.

There are three separate and distinct conflicts in the South China Sea, a fact that is normally confabulated in news coverage:

There are dozens and dozens of islands in the South China Sea, subject to conflicting claims by various countries [think of the scene in Braveheart "These Documents Were Lies When You Wrote Them!"]. The United States takes no position in such third party disputes. China claims the entire South China Sea, via the infamous "Nine Dash Line" map. The United States says this claim is silly, since under international law maritime claims must be based on pieces of ground [coasts, rocks, etc], and cannot be based on simple lines on a map [actually, there are several such maps, and the lines do not line up]. The United States conducts Freedom of Navigation operations to assert US claims. China finds such operations annoying. China only discovered this ownership in 1949. China's claim to the entire South China Sea is unique in maritime law, and contravenes the fundamental principle of the Law of the Sea that requires maritime claims to be based on land features, not arbitrary lines on the water on a map. There is no basis for a "split the difference" compromise. China has dredged coral and sand to form a handful of artificial islands which it is using as unsinkable aircraft carriers. Shina appears to assert that this artificial ojects have territorial waters. These claims violate a fundamental principle of maritime law that such artificial creations cannot acquire territorial waters. Arguing in the alternative, China might claim that since the entire South China Sea constitutes internal waters, the territorial water around the artificial islands is simply an extention of that claim.

Despite many Chinese diplomatic assurances to the contrary, Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea is an attempt to re-establish traditional Chinese hegemony in the region. China's strategy is taking concrete actions to solidify its claims in the South China Sea, and Chinese officials have underscored such perception.

China has asserted its claims for the South China Sea's rich mineral, oil and fishing grounds by increasing patrols and escorts for its fishing fleets. The ships excursions regularly raise regional tensions. ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Brunei in April 2013 agreed to pursue dialogue with China on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. ASEAN wants a legally binding agreement to discourage such aggressive moves. It would replace a ten-year pledge by the claimants not to cause conflict, known as the Declaration of Conduct.

In February 2014 the United States for the first time explicitly rejected the U-shaped, nine-dash line that China uses to assert sovereignty over nearly the whole South China Sea, experts say, strengthening the position of rival claimants and setting the stage for what could be an international legal showdown with Beijing. Washington had always said that it takes no position on competing territorial claims in the South China Sea among China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei and opposes any use of force to resolve such issues.

The international community, he said, would welcome China to clarify or adjust its nine-dash line claim to bring it in accordance with the international law of the sea. "I think it is imperative that we be clear about what we mean when the United States says that we take no position on competing claims to sovereignty over disputed land features" in the region, Russel said.

Unlike other countries, Beijing's claim to up to about 90 percent of the South China Sea is not based on claims to particular islands or other features but on a historical map China officially submitted to the United Nations in 2009. The map contains a nine-dash line forming a U-shape down the east coast of Vietnam to just north of Indonesia and then continuing northwards up the west coast of the Philippines. The nine-dash line has been considered by many experts as incompatible with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which rejects historically based claims.





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Sudan Civil War

At a ceremony in the South Sudanese capital Juba, Sudan's government and rebel groups on 03 October 2020 inked a landmark peace deal aimed at ending decades of war in which hundreds of thousands died. "Today we have reached a peace agreement. We are happy. We have finished the mission," Tut Gatluak, head of the South Sudanese mediating team said shortly before the signing took place. Guarantors of the deal from Chad, Qatar, Egypt, the African Union, European Union and United Nations also put their names to the agreement. Sudanese paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- best known by his nickname "Hemeti" -- signed the deal on behalf of Khartoum.

A representative of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) and others from the groups making up the coalition, also signed. The SRF comprises rebel groups from the war-ravaged western Darfur region, as well as the southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Two other well-established rebel groups did not sign, reflecting the challenges still facing the peace process.

The peace agreement covers a number of tricky issues, from land ownership, reparations and compensation, to wealth and power sharing and the return of refugees and internally displaced people. Under the deal, SRF fighters are to be slowly incorporated into joint units with government security forces.

In June 2016, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declared a unilateral four-month truce in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions. In June 2016, Bashir declared a unilateral four-month truce in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions. The UN Secretary-General welcomes the signing of the Roadmap Agreement for Ending the Conflicts in Sudan by the Sudanese opposition groups on 8 August 2016. The agreement was proposed by the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and was signed by the Government of Sudan on 21 March 2016.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on 10 October 2016 extended the ceasefire unilaterally declared in three regions of the country where tens of thousands had been killed in fighting between government forces and rebels have killed. He told the concluding session of Sudans national dialogue conference in Khartoum that I declare the extension of ceasefire until the end of the current year in all conflict areas. Al-Bashir, who was handed the national document of the dialogue, which was approved by the conference, vowed to implement all the recommendations upon which the participants have agreed. He said he would consult with all political forces in the country to form a mechanism to implement the national document and build a strategy to reform state institutions. The presidents of Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and Chad attended the dialogues closing session.

Following the formation of the new Government of the Sudan, in June 2015, the ruling National Congress Party maintained its position that the national dialogue process remained national in character and rejected the holding of a pre -dialogue meeting under the auspices of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel. The major opposition political parties and armed movements in the Sudan continued to call for such a meeting to determine the format of the dialogue process and establish the necessary preconditions for their participation, particularly with respect to the security of their members.

On 10 October 2015, the President of the Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, opened the National Dialogue Conference in Khartoum, nearly two years after having first announced his initiative to resolve the conflicts and political crises in Sudan. Even though major opposition parties, armed movements and civil society boycotted the process, the dialogue was attended by 112 political parties and 30 armed movements, mainly splinter factions of the major movements. Specialized committees on peace and unity, the economy, freedoms and basic rights, issues of identity, foreign relations and issues of governance and overall implementation were formed as part of the dialogue.

By late February 2016, it was reported that consensus within the committees had been reached on several issues, including Sudanese identity and guidelines for the constitutional review process. On the issue of transitional arrangements, most of the non-National Congress Party participants reportedly recommended a four-year national reconciliation government to be established within three months of the endorsement of the recommendations of the National Dialogue Conference. The process, which was originally scheduled to conclude on 10 January 2016, has been extended twice so as to allow the committees to finalize their discussions and convince key opposition groups and armed movements to join the process. Having concluded their work, on 09 May 2016, the committees announced their readiness to present their reports to the President and to discuss arrangements for the General Conference of the National Dialogue to approve their recommendations.

However, major political parties and armed movements refused to participate in the conference, including the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector and major Darfur armed movements. Darfur armed groups and the SPLM/northern sector insisted that a preparatory conference should be held according to decisions of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council.

Sudan had two distinct major cultures -- Arab and Black African -- with hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups, which makes effective collaboration among them a major problem. The northern states cover most of the Sudan and include most of the urban centers. Most of the 22 million Sudanese who live in this region are Arabic speaking Muslims, though the majority also use a traditional non-Arabic mother tongue (i.e., Nubian, Beja, Fur, Nuban, Ingessana, etc.).

Among these are several distinct tribal groups; the Kababish of northern Kordofan, a camel-raising people; the Ja'alin and Shaigiyya groups of settled tribes along the rivers; the seminomadic Baggara of Kordofan and Darfur; the Hamitic Beja in the Red Sea area and Nubians of the northern Nile areas, some of whom have been resettled on the Atbara River; and the Negroid Nuba of southern Kordofan and Fur in the western reaches of the country.

The southern region, which eventually achieved independence as South Sudan, has a population of around 6 million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. This region had been negatively affected by war for all but 10 years of the independence period (1956), resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructure development, and major destruction and displacement. More than 2 million people died, and more than 4 million were internally displaced or become refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts. Here the Sudanese practice mainly indigenous traditional beliefs, although Christian missionaries have converted some. The south also contains many tribal groups and uses many more languages than in the north. The Dinka (pop. est. more than 1 million) is the largest of the many Black African tribes of the Sudan. Along with the Shilluk and the Nuer, they are among the Nilotic tribes. The Azande, Bor, and Jo Luo are "Sudanic" tribes in the west, and the Acholi and Lotuhu live in the extreme south, extending into Uganda.

Sudan was a collection of small, independent kingdoms and principalities from the beginning of the Christian era until 1820-21, when Egypt conquered and unified the northern portion of the country. Historically, the pestilential swamps of the Suud discouraged expansion into the deeper south of the country. Although Egypt claimed all of the present Sudan during most of the 19th century, it was unable to establish effective control over southern Sudan, which remained an area of fragmented tribes subject to frequent attacks by slave raiders.

There is little documentation for the history of the southern Sudanese provinces until the introduction of the Turkiyah in the north in the early 1820s and the subsequent extension of slave raiding into the south. Information about their peoples before that time is based largely on oral history. According to these traditions, the Nilotic peoples -- the Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk, and others -- first entered southern Sudan sometime before the tenth century. During the period from the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century, tribal migrations, largely from the area of Bahr al Ghazal, brought these peoples to their modern locations.

Some, like the Shilluk, developed a centralized monarchical tradition that enabled them to preserve their tribal integrity in the face of external pressures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The non-Nilotic Azande people, who entered southern Sudan in the sixteenth century, established the region's largest state. In the eighteenth century, the militaristic Avungara people entered and quickly imposed their authority over the poorly organized and weaker Azande. Avungara power remained largely unchallenged until the arrival of the British at the end of the nineteenth century. Geographic barriers protected the southerners from Islam's advance, enabling them to retain their social and cultural heritage and their political and religious institutions. During the nineteenth century, the slave trade brought southerners into closer contact with Sudanese Arabs and resulted in a deep hatred for the northerners.

Until its gradual suppression in the 1860s, the slave trade was the most profitable undertaking in Sudan and was the focus of Egyptian interests in the country. The government encouraged economic development through state monopolies that had exported slaves, ivory, and gum arabic. In some areas, tribal land, which had been held in common, became the private property of the shaykhs and was sometimes sold to buyers outside the tribe.

Slavery had been an institution of Sudanese life throughout history, but southern Sudan, where slavery flourished particularly, was originally considered an area beyond Cairo's control. Because Sudan had access to Middle East slave markets, the slave trade in the south intensified in the nineteenth century and continued after the British had suppressed slavery in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Annual raids resulted in the capture of countless thousands of southern Sudanese, and the destruction of the region's stability and economy. The horrors associated with the slave trade generated European interest in Sudan.

In 1881, a religious leader named Muhammad ibn Abdalla proclaimed himself the Mahdi, or the "expected one," and began a religious crusade to unify the tribes in western and central Sudan. His followers took on the name "Ansars" (the followers) which they continue to use today and are associated with the single largest political grouping, the Umma Party, led by the descendant of the Mahdi, Sadiq al Mahdi. Taking advantage of conditions resulting from Ottoman-Egyptian exploitation and maladministration, the Mahdi led a nationalist revolt culminating in the fall of Khartoum in 1885. The Mahdi died shortly thereafter, but his state survived until overwhelmed by an Ango-Egyptian force under Lord Kitchener in 1898. Sudan was proclaimed a condominium in 1899 under British-Egyptian administration. While maintaining the appearance of joint administration, the British Empire formulated policies, and supplied most of the top administrators.

The civil war in Sudans displaced more than 4 million southerners. Some fled into southern cities, such as Juba; others trekked as far north as Khartoum and even into Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, and other neighboring countries. These people were unable to grow food or earn money to feed themselves, and malnutrition and starvation became widespread. The lack of investment in the south resulted as well in what international humanitarian organizations call a "lost generation" who lack educational opportunities, access to basic health care services, and little prospects for productive employment in the small and weak economies of the south or the north.

The SPLA, and its NDA allies received political, military and logistical support primarily from Ethiopia, Uganda and Eritrea. These states were firmly behind efforts to overthrow the Sudan Government and install in its place Sudanese opposition groups, operating under the umbrella of a coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). From the outset, the SPLA had the support of the Government of Ethiopia. Uganda provided the SPLA with access to arms and permission to train its forces within its territory. Eritrea allowed the SAF to use its territory for training, and supports its activities. They received indirect support from the United States. The US allocated $20 million in "non-lethal" military assistance to SPLA supporters (Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia) in February 1998 for defense against opposition groups in their countries backed by Sudan. Sudan has long accused Eritrea, which has a hostile relationship with Khartoum, of providing training facilities and arms to the SPLA in the south, to rebel forces in Darfur, and another rebel group called Beja Congress in the east.





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Estimates of deaths in the Libyan Civil War vary, with figures from 2,500 to 25,000 given between 02 March 2011 and 01 October 2011. As of April 2016 a further total of about 4,750 had been killed. [libyabodycount] In January 2016 the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) reported that 470,000 deaths had been caused by the conflict in Syria, either directly or indirectly. This represents a dramatic increase from the total of 250,000 fatalities attributed to the UN in news reports in recent years. But the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stopped updating the death toll from Syrias civil war in January 2014. The UN special envoy for Syria estimated 23 April 2016 that 400,000 people had been killed throughout the past five years of civil war. Staffan de Mistura's estimate, which far exceeds those given by UN in the past, is not an official number. "We had 250,000 as a figure two years ago," he said. "Well, two years ago was two years ago." The UN no longer keeps track of the death toll due to the inaccessibility of many areas and the complications of navigating conflicting statistics. At least 350,209 people have been killed in Syrias 10-year war between March 2011 to March 2021, the United Nations human rights office said 24 September 2021, calling the tally an undercount as it released its first report since 2014 on the conflicts death toll. The figure included civilians and fighters and was based on strict methodology requiring the full name of the deceased, as well as an established date and location of death, the office said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 500,000 people have been killed in the war and that it was examining a further 200,000 cases. The United States and NATO allies bombed Libya,

but did not bomb Syria.

Syrian "refugees should stay where the hell they are... No one has worked harder for the human condition than I have, but theyre not part of the human condition..."

Jerry Lewis

29 December 2015



Syria Revolution

After five years of struggle, the civil war in Syria increasinlgy resembles the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s, the bloody struggle that provided a preview of the larger war the came in 1939. In Spain, Fascist forces were backed by Italy and Germany, pitted against leftist forces, some backed by the Soviet Union. The anti-fascist forces were divided into Stalinist, Trotskyite and Anarchist factions, which battled each other as well as the fascists. In Syria, Shia Iran is backing the Alawite [quasi co-religionist] Assad regime, while Sunni monarchies - Saudi Arabia and Qatar - backed some opposition militias. The situation is far more complex, but this framework is a good place to start.

Five long years passed since the war in Syria started. The toll that this conflict had taken on the Syrian people goes far beyond anything that we could have imagined when the uprising began in 2011. As violence escalated year after year, so did the seemingly endless number of innocent men, women and children whose lives were lost to the conflict. The survivors of this brutal war are the maimed, the displaced, the women and girls who endured sexual violence. No corner of the country had been left unscathed. Destruction, rubble and chaos have replaced homes, schools, hospitals and historical monuments. Go where they may, Syrians find no place to shelter.

There were more than five million Syrian refugees. The majority are in neighbouring countries but with rapidly growing numbers in other parts of the world, including almost one million in Europe. For many, as Pope Francis memorably stated, it is a journey laden with terrible injustices. It is imperative that host countries find the will and the means to deal adequately with the refugee crisis in a way that guarantees humane treatment and protection rather than reducing people to mere numbers.

The efforts of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria and the International Syria Support Group resulted in a cessation of hostilities in March 2016. This led to a significant decrease of armed violence incidents in areas where the cessation of hostilities applies. For the first time since the war started, civilians in large parts of the country feel a return to normalcy in their daily lives.

The US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia had shared goals in Syria, as all three wanted the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad to be toppled by rebel forces. On other issues they differ. For example, the US supported Kurdish forces in Syria who scored significant military victories against IS, but Turkey considered them terrorists and is targeting them with airstrikes.

The US sought to rein in its allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia from military action in Syria if a ceasefire failed. Despite mounting regional frustration over Washingtons passive stance on the five-year-old conflict, the Obama administration and other western powers are worried that direct military interventions could lead to an escalation of the conflict and a dangerous clash with Russia.

Washington could perhaps get away with cutting its losses by fudging some kind of apparent face-saving compromise with Russia over Syria. Even though Russia and Syria will have emerged vindicated and victorious. But anything short of regime change is an unacceptable defeat for Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Russia, which supported the government of Bashar Assad, saw it as the only regional force capable of defeating IS on the ground, warned against a ground intervention, which, Moscow believed, would only serve to prolong the war in Syria. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military forces to intervene in Syria, one thing cannot be in doubt. Russia had drawn a red line on the American regime-change project in the Middle East.

The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the Saudi-backed alliance of Syrian opposition groups, said on 04 March 2016 that the "current conditions" of a ceasefire do not allow for peace talks to move forward. "During the ceasefire, there were 90 airstrikes against 50 regions controlled by the moderate opposition," noted Riad Hijab, coordinator of the HCN, during a press conference following talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "Current conditions in the country are not ripe for a resumption of negotiations," said Hijab. "No aid has entered the besieged areas and detainees have not been released."

Anti-Assad rebel commanders estimated that 80 percent of the ground forces the Assad regime deployed since the Russian bombing campaign was launched in September 2015 did not consist of Syrians but were made up of Hezbollah and Iranian fighters along with Shiite volunteers from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency said 29 July 2016 that he was not optimistic about the future of Syria remaining one country. John Brennan's comments are a rare public acknowledgement by a senior US official that Syria may not survive a five-year civil war in its current state. "I don't know whether or not Syria can be put back together again," he said at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. "Theres been so much blood spilled, I dont know if were going to be able to get back to [a unified Syria] in my life time."

In November 2017, the Syrian Army and its allies launched a major offensive that liberated the city of Al-Bukamal from Daesh terrorists. After advancing towards the city from three fronts, pro-government troops, aided by Russian airpower, stormed Al-Bukamal, and continued to advance in the oil-rich province. Although foreign combatants constitute a minority of Syria's coalition of pro-government forces, they were present in large numbers during this particular operation, mainly because the city is situated close to the Syria-Iraq border. Troops from the 4th Armored Division, Republican Guard, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were active in this front, in addition to militiamen from numerous Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs.)

With Daesh's defeat, pro-government forces will soon turn their attention and resources to Islamist militant groups in other parts of Syria, such as the north-western province of Idlib, which shares a border with Turkey. Ali Velayati, a top aide and foreign policy advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader recently warned that Idlib province would soon be cleared of terrorists. Furthermore, pro-government forces have been deploying reinforcements to northern Syria, in preparation of a large-scale offensive in Hama and Idlib.





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Tiran and Sanafir Islands

Egypt's constitutional court on 03 March 2018 voided contradictory lower court rulings on the controversial transfer of two islands to Saudi Arabia, state media reported. The ruling on the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands in the Red Sea, which sparked protests in Egypt, effectively ends legal challenges to the deal, already ratified by the government. The ruling came a day before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Egypt for a two-day visit, the first leg of a foreign tour.

Thousands in the Egyptian capital Cairo protested President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia. Sisis government announced the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir would be demarcated as being in Saudi waters. The move seemed to have hurt many Egyptians national pride. Saudi Arabia insists it transferred the islands temporarily to Egypt in 1950 to ward off a possible Israeli attack. Israel eventually did occupy the islands after the Suez War of 1956. It returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982, in accordance with the 1978 Camp David agreements.

A bridge over the Sea that separates Egypt and Saudi Arabia is to be established, Saudi's King Salman said in Cairo on 08 April 2016 in a press conference with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. This bridge will give teh Saudi military direct access to Egypt, in the event of further unrest in that country.

Eilat is Israels only port in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, while Aqaba is Jordans sole outlet there. According to the United States perception, precedents pointed to Aqaba as an international waterway; the United States could not make an exception in Aqaba just because of the Israeli situation.

The Egyptian cabinet announced in a statement on 09 April 2016 that the joint Egyptian-Saudi technical maritime border drawing had determined that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Red Sea fall within regional Saudi maritime waters. The statement said that the determination that the two islands fall within Saudi regional waters is the culmination of a six-year process of studies and eleven rounds of negotiations between the two sides. The cabinet added that the maritime border agreement with Saudi Arabia allows Egypt to use shared Red Sea waters for excavation of natural resources, which would benefit the Egyptian economy.

The agreement has been the subject of public debate since April 2016, when the Egyptian media announced that it had been approved by the government. A group of Egyptian lawyers, as plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit that same month before the State Council Administrative Court (a first instance court) challenging the legality of the agreement. In June 2016, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs by abolishing the agreement and ordered the Egyptian state to continue to exercise all acts of sovereignty over the two islands.

On December 29, 2016, the Council of Ministers of Egypt approved a maritime demarcation agreement between the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. According to the agreement, Saudi Arabia will assume control over two islands in the Red Sea that have been under the control of Egypt. Following its approval of the agreement, the Council of Ministers referred it to the Parliament for further debate. In a "final verdict", on 16 January 2017 the High Administrative Court ruled against government agreement to hand over Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. But Abu Shoqa, the head of parliament committee of legislation and constitutional affairs said Article 151 of constitution gives parliament the final say on the Red Sea island agreement. Alaa Abdel-Moneim, a leading member of the legislative and constitutional affairs committee, said the government still had the right to appeal the ruling before the Supreme Constitutional Court. "They could resort to the Constitutional Court to decide whether article 151 of the constitution applies to this deal," said Abdel Moneim.

Background

Finnish explorer Georg August Wallin, who visited Sinai twice in the 19th century, wrote that the local tribes of Sinai used to stay at Tarin Island. Naom Pasha Shokier's book 'The Old and Modern History of Sinai,' which was published in 1916, identified the two islands as part of Sinai. Shokeir, a Lebanese-Egyptian army officer and geographer in the early 20th century, was part of the Egyptian delegation negotiating with the Ottoman Empire over the Taba crisis in 1906.

In 1937 the Egyptian government had a map that recognised both Tiran and Sanafir islands as part of the Egyptian territories, using the same colour scheme used for Sinai. according to that map the Egyptian government took the decision to send troops to both islands in January 1950. In February 1950 the Egyptian finance ministry issued an internal memo stating the island was Egyptian.

Former Egyptian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and member of the Egyptian peace talks with Israel El-Siyad El-Masry said that in 1950, when the Egyptian troops were stationed in both islands, the Saudi King Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud sent a telegram to King Farouk of Egypt endorsing the Egyptian decision to station troops in the "Saudi" Sanafir to protect the nation.

In a 1950 aide-memoire, the Egyptian Government stated that it occupied the Islands of Tiran and Sanafir as a preventive measure against eventual attack, that the action was not taken to prevent innocent travel between the islands and the Egyptian coast of Sinai, and that the passage would remain free as in the past.

Saudi Arabia claimed Egyptian-administered islands of Tiran and Sanafir. A note from the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry, dated 31 March 1957 but delivered to the Embassy in Jidda on April 8. The note, which was considered an official Saudi statement on the status of the Gulf of Aqaba, asserted Saudi Arabian sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, and described the Gulf as closed to international navigation, as the waters at the entrance constituted Saudi Arabian territorial waters. The note also maintained that any attempt to declare the straits to have an international status would be an act in derogation of Saudi sovereignty and a threat to Saudi Arabias territorial integrity.

On 17 May 1967 President Nasser issued a decision to close the Straits of Tiran and Sanafir in the face of Israeli navigation. When Egypt blocked the Strait of Tiran, the move prompted Israel to launch a Middle East war. In its 1979 peace deal with Israel, Cairo promised to respect freedom of shipping in Aqaba and Eilat, a commitment that Saudi Arabia says it will uphold when it takes over the islands.

The Saudis were concerned by what they regard as Israels expansionist designs, citing Israels refusal to evacuate Tiran Island as proof of Israeli aggressive intentions. After controlling the Tiran Strait and being allowed to pass through the Suez Canal, Israel's main problem regarding the Red Sea normally lay in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

A confidential letter sent in 1990 by Egypt's foreign minister Esmat Abdel-Magid to late minister Atef Sadik, read that Saudi Arabia confidentially demanded twice, in 1988 and 1989, to take over the two islands that Egypt "occupied" in 1950. The letter added that according to the research conducted by the ministry, the two islands were determined to be outside Egyptian territory and accordingly they should return to Saudi Arabia.

Despite the fact that Egypt had agreed at some point in history to a Saudi request to oversee and protect the Islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the islands remained all along under Saudi sovereignty. The lengthy period of Egyptian guardianship over the two islands gave some people the wrong impression that the Islands were Egyptian.

Dozens of Egyptian public figures, including Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi and leftist lawyer Khaled Ali, issued a statement on Tuesday rejecting the recent Saudi-Egyptian deal which leaves the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir within Saudi regional waters. "The two islands are considered an Egyptian property and the constitution, which was approved by Egyptians, prevents any authority from ceding any parts of Egyptian territory," the statement read.

While Article 151 of the Egyptian constitution prohibits the signing of any deals that forfeit national territory and mandates referendums in specific cases involving territorial sovereignty, it does not, however, stipulate that a referendum is required for the redrawing of maritime borders, as is the case in the Egyptian-Saudi agreement.

Some 400 people were arrested, dozens were sentenced to prison, protesting the transfer. However, later an appeals court in Cairo overturned this ruling and the protesters were released.

Egypt's Administrative Court on 21 June 2016 rejected the governments decision to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. While the verdict is not final, it could deal a blow to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi's government. Critics argue the islands will be given to Saudi Arabia as a payoff, something the government has denied. The government said it would appeal the court's verdict. "The government is studying the reasons for the ruling and will ... challenge it at the higher administrative court of the State Council and request that ... it be cancelled," Magdy al-Agaty, minister of legal and parliamentary affairs, said.

A group of Egyptian rights lawyers filed the lawsuit with Egypts Administrative Court at the State Council arguing that President Sisi, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Al had wrongfully relinquished Egypts rights over the two islands. Led by Khaled Ali, a lawyer and former presidential hopeful, they argued the border demarcation agreement was illegal, citing article 151 of the Egyptian constitution, which states that all matters regarding the drawing of Egypts borders must be reviewed by the parliament.

The Egyptian constitution also states that a national referendum is required before any changes to the states borders can be finalised. One of the lawyers who co-filed the lawsuit, Malek Adly, has been detained since late April over under of spreading false rumors and inciting protests against the agreement, AhramOnline reported.

Description

Ras Mohamed, Tiran and Sanafir Islands (2740'N, 3415'E) are positions commanding the Straits of Tiran, the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. One of seven declared natural protectorates established in 1983 (Decree 1068) at the extreme southern extension of South Sinai in the Red Sea. The Strait of Tiran (2800'N., 3427'E.) is obstructed by a chain of reefs. These reefs, with several large drying boulders on them, are awash at LW during the summer.

Ras Mohamed is a peninsula of raised petrified coral reef that has cracked and filled with sea water. It features a sea water channel with tropical formation of mangrove trees and shrubs; an inland salt water pool; a series of volcanic cracks filled with sea water and populated by rare and interesting plants and animals, especially crustaceans; a canyon with the ruins of a Roman citadel, surrounded by a multitude of coral reefs and colorful reef fish.

Tiran Island is the largest island at the opening of the Gulf of Aqaba. Sandy beaches, which provide nesting grounds for marine turtles, are nearly completely fringed with coral reefs. Ospreys, spoonbills and the rare sooty falcon are among other birds species which breed on the island, which rises up to the 509 meter peak at Gebel Tiran. Sanafir Island lying to the east of Tiran is smaller, lower in elevation and completely surrounded by coral reefs.

Jazirat Tiran (2756'N., 3433'E.), rising to a height of 524m close within its SW point, has a sloping sandy beach along its E side for a distance of about 2.5 miles NW from Champlain Point (2755'N., 3437'E.). The remainder of the island is a low sandy plain, with some hills in places. Several well defined coral rocks lie close offshore on the coastal reef within 0.8 mile farther N. A coral reef, with a least depth of 0.3m, lies about 1 mile E of Champlain Point, and several detached shoals, with depths of 2.7 to 8.8m, lie within 2 miles of this point.

The NW coast of Jazirat Tiran between Chisholm Point, about 2 miles WNW of the above 524m peak, and Johnson Point, the NW extremity of the island, is fringed by reefs and backed by low, undercut, coral cliffs. Two conspicuous hills, 94m and 47m high, lie about 0.5 mile apart, about midway between these two points. Johnson Point, consisting of sand and dead coral, is low and flat. Two small sandy beaches S of Johnson Point are conspicuous when seen from S and generally afford good landing.

Anchorage can be taken about 0.3 mile offshore, in 22m, sand and coral, good holding ground, with a conspicuous hump, about 1 mile WSW of Champlain Point, bearing 342, and the S edge of Jazirat Tiran bearing 268. Anchorage can be taken off the E side of Jazirat Tiran. Care should be taken to avoid the reefs and rocks between Jazirat Tiran and Jazirat Sanafir. Approaching through the channel between Champlain Point and the coral reef E is not recommended during N winds.

In August many years ago, a vessel anchoring off Champlain Point experienced a N gale, which came up suddenly at night. These gales are reported to occur frequently during the night in this locality. It was reported in December, many years ago, that the tidal currents in the passage E of Jazirat Tiran set N during the rising tide and S during the falling tide.

Jazirat Sanafir (2756'N., 3443'E.) lies about 2 miles E of Jazirat Tiran. Numerous broken peaked limestone hills rise on the E part of the island, with the highest being near the SE extremity of the island.

From the Yemeni boundary northward, the Red Sea coast is fringed virtually continuously with "islands" and "shoals" as far as the Gulf of Aqaba. U.S. charts show many of the shoals to contain "rocks awash" or "sunken rocks" which might qualify, with the lower Saudi datum, as "islands." In the Strait of Tiran, the Saudi islands of Tiran and Sanafir are within 12 nautical miles of the coast and each other (as well as other adjacent islands). Straight baselines could presumably be drawn about them. In contrast, the Gulf of Aqaba is virtually without islands.

The Tiran Area extends from the mainland coast north of Duba to the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, and is noted for the wide variety of different biotopes and reef types, forming unique reef complexes with high zoogeographic significance. These reef complexes support a high species diversity including Red Sea endemic corals, presently undescribed coral species and species with restricted distributions otherwise rare or absent in the Red Sea.

Island fringing reefs are commonly developed in the Tiran area and from Duba - Al-Wajh Bank - Umluj. Reticulate patch reefs (labyrinths / mazes, composed of interconnected networks of reef matrix separated by sand, and forming intricate reticulate patterns, are particularly well developed in shallow waters (< 10 m depth) of the Tiran area and southern Al-Wajh Bank. Pinnacles (individual corals and coral bommies surrounded by sand) are present in shallow waters (< 10 m depth), particularly in the Al-Wajh Bank and Tiran areas.

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Great Wall of Mexico

US-Mexico Border Fence /



Secure Fence

Donald Trump

The U.S. Defense Department asked Congress to reprogram more than $3.8 billion from FY2021 funding for the National Guard and weapons programs to pay for a wall on the border with Mexico, setting another possible confrontation with Democrats. Three years after arriving at the presidency, Donald Trump is keeping his central promise of building a wall on the southern border of the nation and heads his campaign for a second term with the same motto. Democratic aides said $1.5 billion would come from the National Guard, and the rest from funds for procurement, including the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet program, Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft, Boeing Co P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and shipbuilding. Congressional Democrats called the request dangerous and misguided.

The president and his administration announced plans in September 2019 to build between 450 and 500 miles (725 and 800 kilometers) of wall along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,220-kilometer) border by the end of 2020. In some sections, a 30-foot-high wall will replace sections of Normandy barriers and post-n-beam fencing that by design only stop vehicles. Defense Department officials said 04 September 2019 that 127 military construction projects in both the United States and overseas will be deferred to free $3.6 billion for construction or augmentation of barriers along 175 miles of the southern US border.

President Donald Trump announced on 15 Feburary 2019 he would declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for his promised US-Mexico border wall bypassing Congress, a move Democrats vowed to challenge as unconstitutional. "I'm going to be signing a national emergency," Trump said from the Rose Garden of the White House. "We have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people and it's unacceptable," he said. The president said he would sign the authorising paperwork later in the day in the Oval Office, freeing Trump to seek to redirect billions of dollars of federal funds. The emergency declaration enabled the activation of any of hundreds of dormant powers, which can permit the White House to declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, expand the military, seize property and restrict trade, communications and financial transactions.

This reprogramming decision was made after President Trump had repeatedly sought appropriations from Congress for the construction of a border barrier. Although Congress provided some funding for those purposes, it consistently refused to pass any measures that met the Presidents desired funding level, creating a standoff that led to a 35-day partial government shutdown. The President signed the budget legislation that ended the shutdown, but he then declared a national emergency and pursued other means to get additional funding for border barrier construction beyond what Congress had appropriated.

Trump declared a National Emergency to use section 2808 of title 10, United States Code to bypass congressional intent and divert military construction funding from previously approved national security projects to fund a border wall. Congress chose not to fund this wall in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 1166). There was bipartisan opposition to the action taken by the President, as both the House and Senate voted to disapprove the Presidents emergency declaration. The House and Senate adopted a joint resolution terminating the Presidents declaration of a national emergency pursuant to Congresss authority under 50 U.S.C.  1622(a)(1). H.R.J. Res. 46, 116th Cong. (2019). The President vetoed the joint resolution.

The requirements of section 8005 were not met because the need for which the funds were reprogrammed was not unforeseen, and it was an item for which funds were previously denied by Congress. The use of those funds violated constitutional requirements that the Executive Branch not spend money absent any appropriation from Congress. But on 27 July 2019 a Supreme Court ruling allowed the President to start taking funds from the military to build his ineffective border wall while litigation continued.

The administration asked for $1.6 billion for 2018 to build or replace 74 miles (120 kilometers) of barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and San Diego and planned to request another $1.6 billion for 2019. A proposal by Customs and Border Protection called for spending $18 billion over 10 years to extend barriers to cover nearly half the border. The agency proposed 316 miles (505 kilometers) of additional barrier by September 2027, bringing total coverage to 970 miles (1,552 kilometers). It also sought 407 miles (651 kilometers) of replacement or secondary fencing.

The U.S. House of Representatives closed its summer session 28 July 2017 with a key legislative accomplishment that included a gift for President Donald Trump. House Republicans included a $1.6 billion request to build part of Trumps promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in a mini-bus package of bills. We must be vigilant in protecting our homeland. Thats our priority. This legislation funds the most critical functions of government. It secures our borders by providing funding for a wall on our southern border, House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement hailing the passage of border wall funding.

The project is months behind schedule. CBP officials said the winners would be announced in November 2017.

Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One 13 July 2017 that his previous remark about placing solar panels on his proposed border wall with Mexico was no joke. "We have major companies looking at that," Trump said. "Look, there's no better place for solar than the Mexico border  the Southern border. And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actually look good." Because of the presence of natural barriers, Trump said, the solar wall would need to span only 700 to 900 miles (1,125 to 1,450 kilometers) to be effective in halting illegal migration.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that only 700 to 900 miles of wall may be needed. About 650 miles of the 2,000-mile long border already has some type of physical barrier. The remaining miles will be guarded by topography, the president said. You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you dont really have people crossing, he said. He also opined that the wall should be see-through, ie, a fence, not a wall. Border patrol agents needed to be able to spot threats on the other side and avoid any large sacks of drugs thrown over the top.

Executive Order 13767 directed the Government to build a border wall with Mexico. The entire U.S.-Mexico border covers 3,200 kilometers, over a variety of terrain, from California, through Arizona and New Mexico and ending in southern Texas. More than 1,100 kilometers of that stretch already is fenced, but nowhere is the barrier as massive as the wall described in the new plan.

On March 17, 2017 the US Customs and Border Protection released two Requests for Proposal to award multiple contracts and initial task orders for the design and construction of wall prototypes. The Presidential Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, states that the Secretary shall take steps to immediately plan, design and construct a physical wall along the southern border, using appropriate materials and technology to most effectively achieve complete operational control of the southern border.

The US government planned to start awarding preliminary contracts by April 2017 for construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border, to fulfill one of President Donald Trumps principal campaign promises. US Customs and Border Protection said it will accept "concept papers" for the walls design and choose the best ones by 20 March 2017. The agency will then ask vendors for construction cost estimates and, after reviewing their bids, begin granting contracts by mid-April  a remarkably quick schedule for a government construction project.

Trump said the wall will cost $12 billion, while Republican leaders in Congress have pegged its cost 20 percent higher than that. An internal Homeland Security report forecast the total cost could be as much as $21.6 billion.

The situation reached an impasse in December 2018. During negotiations with Congress over an appropriations bill to fund various parts of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, the President announced his unequivocal position that any measure that funds the government must include border security. He declared that he would not sign any funding bill that did not allocate substantial funding for a physical barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border. But the President made clear that he still intended to build a border barrier, with or without funding from Congress.

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Hwasong-13

Trying to make sense of the relationship between missile hardware and designations in nearly hopeless. Hans M. Kristensen & Robert S. Norris noted in January 2018 that "during a 2015 parade, a new missile that appeared similar to the Hwasong-13  transported on the same launcher, but shorter, and with a new payload section  was initially misidentified as the KN-14, or a KN-13 Mod 2. For examples of initial misidentifications see: Gertz (2016 Gertz, B. 2016. Pentagon Confirms New North Korean ICBM . The Washington Free Beacon, March 31 and Fischer (2015 Fischer, Jr., R. D. 2015. North Korea Unveils New Version of the KN-08 ICBM . Janes Defence, October 13.). The 2017 NASIC report instead identified the new missile as the Hwasong-14. The new missile, with the US designation KN-20, is a two-stage, liquid-fuel ICBM carried on an eight-axle road-mobile TEL."

KN-08:

The semi-mobile Limited Range ICBM

No-dong-C

By C. P. Vick, 2012-2015

Senior Technical & Space Policy Analyst

KN-08 Block-II Continuation now known as the KN-14

The KN-08 has been revised to the KN-14 lengthen the first stage with its two main engine nozzle and four steering Verniers now confirmed from imagery from the displays. The second stage has been greatly extended eliminating the Block-I third stage configuration. The warhead is greatly reduced in length and overall dimensions suggesting considerable nuclear device mass and size reduction. The entire design reminds of the former Soviet Unions UR-100/SS-11 mods in both range performance and design approach. By eliminating the KN-08 Iranian based design third stage revising the stages arrangement length as well as the payload has enhanced the overall performance suggest that this limited range ICBM prototype is much closer to becoming operational versus the previous Block-I design with its many revisions observed. It suggests that the Block-1 was merely a R&D model that has now been supplanted by the KN-08 Block-II, now called KN-14 LRICBM. It certainly reflects why the flight test of this system has been delayed to accommodate the upgraded design systems development for completion with in this Five Year Plan 2016-2021.



Introduction

Circumstantial evidence had been building up for some years that had begun to suggest to US and South Korean intelligence that North Korea was attempting to develop a semi-mobile ICBM. This information though thin was initially suggested in public speech in a Singapore conference and on a trip to China to the press pool by then U. S. Defense Secretary, Dr. Robert M. Gates followed later by Admiral Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, before the House Armed Services Committee . (20, 21) On March 12, 2013 DNI the honorable James R. Clapper stated before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the ..."last April it displayed what appears to be a rogue mobile intercontinental ballistic missile. We believe North Korea has already taken initial steps towards fielding this system, although it remains untested. "

KN-08 Block-II October 2015 Display

KN-08 Block-II

The KN-08 has been revised to lengthen the first stage with its single nozzle and steering Verniers now confirmed from imagery from the parade display. The second stage has been greatly extended eliminating the Block-I third stage configuration. The warhead is greatly reduced in length and overall dimensions suggesting considerable nuclear device mass and size reduction. The entire design reminds of the former Soviet Unions UR-100/SS-11 mods in both range performance and design approach. By eliminating the KN-08 third stage revising the stages arrangement length as well as the payload has enhanced the overall performance suggest that this limited range ICBM prototype is much closer to becoming operational versus the previous Block-I design with its many revisions observed. It suggests that the Block-1 was merely a R & D model that has now been supplanted by the KN-08 Block-II, LRICBM. It certainly reflects why the flight test of this system has been delayed to accommodate the upgraded design for completion with in this Five Year Plan.

Adm. Bill Gortney, the head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, during his Senate confirmation hearing in July, 2014, said he believes North Korea has an operational road-mobile missile that could carry nuclear weapons to the U.S. and We assess that its operational today, and so we practice to go against that. Further Its the relocatable target set that really impedes our ability to find, fix and finish the threat, a problem which is compounded by the fact that the U.S. military does not have persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets over North Korea, and Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the [U.S.] homeland.

The North Korean, Hwasong-13, NK-08, LR-ICBM [No-Dong-C] developed from the Acad. V. P. Makeyev OKB derivation of the Soviet SS-N-6 the DPRK, No-dong-B and the Soviet RSM-40 tankage and structures SLBM modified design, the RSM-50 and RSM-54 SLBM's engines for this land based semi-mobile ICBM presently in its research and development phase.

Intelligence Find Confirmed:

The Makeyev OKB ( SKB-385 )in the form of the new version of the KN-08. The New KN-08 is literally a stretched version of the R-29 / SS-N-8, Sawfly, RSM-40 Vysota utilizing a No-dong-B/NK-07/NK-11warhead inside the top tank of the second stage with its highly refined nose maneuvering post boost package and guidance system. This is final proof positive that the total missile program of the DPRK is founded on the Makeyev SKB-385 direct personnel and technology transfer thatr has been suspected fot years. Now there can be no doubt about that fact as exemplified in the hardware displayed recently.

Pending Experimental Flight Test Regime

The recent news according to the Yonhap News Agency of February 17, 2013 from South Korean multiple government, officials not for attribution on intelligence collected is that North Korea the DPRK has successfully test fired the KN-08/No-dong-C prototype missiles critical first & second stage engines in static test firings. It was carried out on the Pongdong-ni, or Dongchong-ri or Tongch'ang-dong, Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province static test firing center. This was not carried out on the Musudan-ri, Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground infrastructure in Hwadae County, in North Hamgyong Province R & D static test center previously used in earlier partially successful test firings as noted below. This testing was carried out during February 11, 2013 shortly before the DPRK carried out its third or fourth nuclear test on February 12, 2013. (88, 89, 90, 91)

This kind of ground testing based on typical past DPRK practices is probably a prelude to the experimental flight test to follow in the next 3-6 months or within one year of the test firings of the flight test engines. This fits within the DPRK mid Five Year Plan cycle when the test flights are expected. Once the engines are cleaned up from being disassembled and reassembled with new seals for flight they would be installed into the operational experiment flight test vehicle that is then shipped to the mobile range test site for its flight demonstration.

Also

Then Secretary of Defense, Leon E. Panetta expressed concerns about the perceived early DPRK country wide dispersal deployment of the KN-08 / No-dong-C semi-mobile ICBMs which is entirely explainable as noted below under the Purpose of Six or more Ground Test Models of the KN-08s [No-dong-C]. (92).

Although there have been suggestions post these event that in late March early April 2013 the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province static test firing center had been used for the Unha-9 first stage engine cluster testing there remains unsubstantiated with no confirming evidence for this information coming from South Korean intelligence sources and methods. (93)

July 23, 2013 Observations: NK-SL-X, & Hwasong-13

It should be carefully noted that the roads, bridges, port and railroad infrastructure efforts for the NK-SL-X, medium lift booster have yet to be completed on the regional access to the Tonghae Satellite launching grounds. Until that is done the heavy weight equipment and the prefabricated components for the launch infrastructure cannot be brought on site much less be completed. Since the booster is still undergoing R&D for its final design requirement that directly impact the launch infrastructure requirements certainly defines the delays reasoning. This in fact was the case much earlier in the launch infrastructure development slowdown. It would not be expect that although we have seen the core booster ground test vehicle at the factory they are a good 1.5 Five Years Plans from a requirement for that facility .DPRP State Planning requires that kind of lead time effort. Additionally the Sohae facility can accommodate the large medium lift NK-SL-X booster core flight test booster in addition to handling the Unha-3, Unha-9 booster as it presently exists with few modifications. More recently there have been suggestions that the Sohae static test center was utilized to test fire the Unha-9 booster longer duration burn first stage engines. However there is no South Korean Intelligence sources and methods confirmation of this suggestion. They could only have been related to the Hwasong-13, KN-08 first & second stage engines ongoing testing.

Indeed to the contrary around February 11-16, 2013 the South Korean sources and methods did indeed confirm that the facility had been used for a series of test firings of the Hwasong-13, KN-08 first & second stage engines since the third upper stage engine is perfected and operational. Previous Static test firings of the KN-08 first & second stage engines had not gone so well with several failures. Those issues have apparently been addressed successfully. This analysis leaves the Unha-9 static test firings testing in serious doubt in my mind but until more information is forth coming we can only make these observations. It is equally interesting to note that the so called second launch pad on the Sohae launch infrastructure has no pad or launch gantry umbilical tower available making it ideal for the pending test launch of the Hwasong-13, KN-08 semi-mobile limited range ICBM from that site.

Background Information

The South Korea, Ministry of Defense says the Hwasong-13, KN-08 has a range of 5.000-6,000 kilometers rounded off {4,987.90 - 5,985.48 kilometers} essentially matching the TD-2 performance of 6,000  6,700 kilometers. However this all new storable highly toxic liquid fuel three stage Limited Range ICBM has the added advantage of being semi-mobile for pre-surveyed GPS supported launch sites instead of the open soft site for the DPRK space booster efforts. Initial views were that it was a solid propellant Limited Range ICBM but when the detailed close up imagery followed it revealing too many recognizable Makeyev, OKB, ports, vents and access hatches to be a solid propellant missile. Typically road semi-mobile missiles are based on solid propellants that make them hard to track and easier to hide but quickly to launch with almost no warning. It takes hours to prepare liquid propellant versions of semi-mobile ICBMs which is why the missile will probably be deployed in cave tunnel garrisons or other hardened sheltered sites.

Unexplained, Makeyev OKB Heritage Implication of Continued DPRK Developments

The KN-08 has a V. P. Makeyev OKB, technology heritage design wise but must be presumed to reflect a very real modernized strategic ballistic missile system that is in the advanced stages of development that is intended to match to the extent possible the Taepo-dong-2 space booster capability. In the long run the Taepo-dong-2 has outlived its strategic usefulness if it ever was intended for that purpose because only open soft sites have been built for it. There can be no further doubt about the ongoing Makeyev OKB liquid propellant RSM-25/RSM-40 vehicle, RSM-54/RSM-50 engines, SLBMs technology transfer to North Korea based on the entire previous systems heritage. That heritage goes back to the Scud-B through Taepo-dong-2 technology, and personnel, technology transfer that took place in the Gorbachev era. It strongly suggests that the Makeyev personnel remaining are still working on DPRK missile systems. It is interesting to note they are still having trouble developing space boosters which is not their experience base but they have been highly successful developing ballistic missiles. This Hwasong-13, KN-08 missile provokes and begs the question, Is the missile technology transfer continuing from rogue Makeyev, OKB personnel and Rocket Engine OKB's associated with the RSM-50 and RSM-54 SLBM's engines within the Russian Federation?

The North Korean and Iranian missile heritage family as developed from the Acad. V. P. Makeyev OKB missile systems technology transfer.

We now have a consistent Acad. V. P. Makeyev, OKB launch vehicle and Acad. A. MIsayevOKB -2 propulsion design heritage for the following systems that have flown in flight test except for the latest last two in research and development: They are as follows:

Acad. V. P. Makeyev OKB DPRK Heritage Missile Systems:

Name Type Designations, Missions, S/F

KN-03? Scud-B TBM Success KN-04? Scud-C TBM Hwasong-5 Success KN-05? Scud-ER TBM Hwasong-6 Success KN-07? No dong-A MRBM Success KN-07? No dong-B IRBM Success Cancelled Taepo dong-1 Space booster Unha-1 Failure Taepo dong-2, R & D Space booster Unha-2, 3, 4 Failures/5 success ? NK-SD-SL-X-?, R & D Dedicated Space Booster Geostationary/Manned L.V. KN-08 No-dong-C, R & D LRICBM to replace TD-2 Hwasong-13 [No-dong-C (cpv)]

TBM-Tactical Ballistic missile, MRBM-Medium Range Ballistic Missile, IRBM- Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, LRICBM  Limited Range Inter-continental Ballistic Missile

Yes Iran has the solid motor technology demonstrated but has it been transferred to the DPRK at this writing is not proven in spite of the level of cooperation in missile & nuclear weapons well documented and demonstrated. Iranian solid propellant missile developments and expectations as it is understood at this writing. It is believed that Iran is reworking Ashura with Sejjil proven technology but it is a delicate program with several dramatic failures experienced so far both on the ground and in flight. For the present the Sejjil has replaced Ashura. Iran is believed to be working on a solid propellant ICBM based on the extension of the Sejjil & Ashura missile systems. But is the DPRK getting that solid motor technology? There is no known public open sources evidence to suggest that.

Iran's Solid motor propulsion family developments

The North Korean and Iranian family of liquid propellant missile developments

Comparisons North Korean (DPRK) and Iranian ballistic missiles & Space boosters through 2013

The critical point is No-dong-B:

Iran and DPRK have the advanced closed cycle propulsion system placed inside their propellant tanks of the No-dong-B that was flight tested on January 17, 2006 out of Iran for both the DPRK and Iran traveling some 3,218 km of its known potential 3,861 km range demonstrated then during one of the DPRKs moratoriums. In that respect this is both confirmed by the Israeli Intelligence sources & methods but especially the U. S. Ballistic Defense Agency officials in speech.

The North Korean and Iranian No-dong-B missile system derived from the Acad. V. P. Makeyev OKB SS-N-6 missile systems technology transfer to the DPRK.

The North Korean No-dong-B missile transporter erector launcher TEL system as deployed in the DPRK.

The critical point is No-dong-B:

Finally on January 29, 2007 the US government acknowledged for the first time the existence of several new Iranian and North Korean missiles under development through a speech by the deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency of the Pentagon Army Brig. General Patrick OReilly before the George C Marshall Institute. In that speech he described the Iranian two stage Ghadr-110 solid propellant missile with a range of (1,324 miles) 1,995.16 or close to 2,000 kilometers. It has been known that the Iranians are working on the Ghadr-101 as well as the Ghadr-110 solid propellant missiles. The Ghadr-101 solid motor development was completed in 2005. He also described the two stage Taepo-dong-2b as having a range of (6,200 Miles) 9,975.8 kilometers and the three stage version with a range of (9,300 miles) 14,963.7 kilometers with a 250 kg warhead. He went further in his slides presentation to show that the No-dong-B has a demonstrated range of 2,000 miles or 3,218 kilometers (3,000 kilometers) when it is capable of flying (2,485 miles) or 4,000 kilometers. (24) The No-dong-B was described as a qualitative improvement in the performance from earlier North Korean missile systems. The Iranian Ghadr-101, 110, 110A will in fact also provides Iran with an ASAT capability besides its operational MRBM and IRBM capability. (23)

Today we know the maximum potential range of No-dong-B is 3,861 km not 4,000 km {But where did that come from in-country vertical probe flight testing?} though 3,218 km has been demonstrated successfully. It utilizes throughout a fuel of Unsymmetrical Dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) while its oxidizer is a derivation of (Inhibited Red Fuming nitric Acid (IRFNA) & N204 = AK-27P) in its single stage. (29)

Advent of the KN-08 LRICBM development progress

Leaked Department of State Classified Cables Excerpts Confirm Rumors of Two New Missile Systems in Development in the DPRK while continuing the development of the Taepo-dong-2

Keeping an eye on two circumstantial developments in North Korea (DPRK) missilery Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, noted on December 5, 2011 the known passages from classified Department of State cables from the web site WikiLeaks. It reviews and confirms the KN-08 Semi-mobile LR-ICBM development. (20) The cables also indicates the two different systems at issue one a semi-mobile Limited Range-ICBM and one a large space booster potential super full range ICBM the mission of which was not at the time fully understood when written. (20)

February 2010 cable:  One is using the Taepodong-2, with a range of up to 9,300 miles, (14,963.70 kilometers) as its main strategic missile. A second way is to further develop the ranges of existing missiles like the Musudan, [No-dong-B, Mirim cpv] and last is to use the very large launch facility that is being constructed on the west coast of North Korea to launch a very large missile, the cable said. (20)

And

Oct. 6, 2009, cable on North Koreas missile program said the Musudan intermediate-range missile is based on Russias SS-N-6/(RSM-25) submarine-launched ballistic missile that has a range of up to 2,400 miles. That is 3,861.60 kilometers. (20)

Several quotes from a public speech in a Singapore conference and on a trip to China to the press pool by then Defense of Secretary, Dr. Robert M. Gates followed later by Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, before the House Armed Services Committee shows that two different systems had evolved over the previous DPRK, Five Year Plan, a Semi-Mobile LR-ICBM and the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province infrastructure growth potential pad and gantry umbilical tower for medium heavy lift space booster (20, 21)

Officials familiar with the intelligence said government analysts believe the missile could be a variant of North Korea's new Musudan intermediate-range missile,. (20) [I.E.: No-dong-B, Mirim cpv]

and

After a speech in Singapore, Mr. Gates said, "With the continued development of long-range missiles and potentially a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and their continuing development of nuclear weapons, ... North Korea is in the process of becoming a direct threat to the United States." (20)

and

"Mr. Gates first told reporters Jan. 11, (2011) during a visit to China that North Korea's progress in building intercontinental ballistic missiles was turning the Pyongyang regime into a "direct threat to the United States." (20)

and

"Pressed for details, he said, "I don't think it's an immediate threat, no. But on the other hand, I don't think it's a five-year threat." (20)

"Let me be precise," he added. "I think that North Korea will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile within that time frame, not that they will have huge numbers or anything like that, but I believe they will have a very limited capability." (20)

and

"The Daily Beast quoted Mr. Gates in June (2011) saying, "They are developing a road-mobile ICBM. I never would have dreamed they would go to a road-mobile before testing a static ICBM. It's a huge problem. As we've found out in a lot of places, finding mobile missiles is very tough."(20) [I.E.: Possible Irans GPS, experience with liquid propellant semi-mobile ballistic missiles may have helped with perfecting the technology cpv]

And

There is development within North Korea of a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system that weve observed, Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on Friday. (21)

We have not observed it being tested yet, to my knowledge. We are watching the development very closely. (21)

The question to ask of U. S. intelligence and DoD has it been flight tested vertically like a sounding rocket inside the DPRK or Iran and or what have they not told us? The same question especially applies to the South Korean officials of the Minister of Defense and executive branch? Leaked Department of State classified cables excerpts confirm rumors of two new missile systems in development in the DPRK

As of March 2012 no LR-ICBM has been launched according to A dm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, but it has undergone dynamic and static test firing leading to future flight tests in-country with in this five year plan.

DPRK Parade April 15, 2012, the First Public Appearance of the KN-08 LRICBM

The April 15, 2012, the first public appearance of the KN-08 LR-ICBM were merely six KN-08 inert mock-ups for parade display just as the Soviets put on display in Moscow Square twice yearly during the Cold War that were incomplete in their full systems details as displayed. The primary example of what the Soviet did that is very document able is the SS-9, ICBM display with the structural under lying stringers of the warhead clearly visible on its mock-up metal skin. Whether the KN-08 750-800-1,000 kilogram warhead design displayed with its underlying stringers reflects the actual design intended is unknown. The displayed Soviet Parade missile model of the SS-9 models did not show the operational re-entry vehicle design. Yet the real operational SS-9 Scarp ICBM was a very real deployed strategic ballistic missile system. That ICBM today is known as the Commercial Tsyklon space booster of the Ukraine. It has external vernier engine mounting not shown in the parade versions. FOBS/Scrag is another example of the prototype missiles being paraded that was never put into production for deployment. See the following illustrations: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/gr-1-pics.htm

No nation displays fully fueled Ballistic missile much less solid propellant missiles. Never live armed weapons fully fueled. Those same structural underlying stringers are visible on the dummy warhead of the KN-08 in addition to the poor weld lines not ground down. The regiment of six semi-mobile missiles serves multiple purposes for design development, production, ground testing and DPRK, Strategic Rocket Forces training in logistic for operations to come.

Purpose of Six or more Ground Test Models of the KN-08s [No-dong-C]:

This usually entails utilizing some 10-20 models total in a standard hardware R&D operation:

1. Strategic Rocket Forces logistic brigade training for early field deployment demonstration ring out operations if not to firmly decide the best deployment strategy,

2. Ground Systems testing, fueling, de fueling operations,

3. Manufacturing demonstration with variation in the design considerations,

4. Dynamic testing models which involves several models some of which are destroyed during those stress loads operations,

5. Stage Static Test models two of which have already failed and must be replaced with better refined designs test vehicles based on the failures knowledge gained,

6. Overall Systems integration test development model

They were therefore not fakes but early field deployment models following the Soviet practices they were taught. Thus the parade displayed model designs details differences observed. They also serve both as a DPRK Maskirovka operation as well as reflecting a very real system that is in the advanced stages of development that will match the Taepo-dong-2 booster capability as a strategic system. The KN-08, LR-ICBM is a real vehicle seen by DoD, intelligence assets and discussed by former Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert M. Gates as noted above. (20, 21, 22)

KN-08 Engine, Stage Systems & Dynamic Testing of Flight Hardware

The KN-08 boosters stage engines combination have been static test fired four times over sixteen weeks during 2011 and early 2012 at the static test firing and dynamic test facilities located on the Musudan-ri, (Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground infrastructure in Hwadae County, in North Hamgyong Province. (75, 75A)

It was reported on the 24 hour news channel, YTN TV of Seoul, South Korea quoted an intelligence source as saying the communist state carried out four tests over 16 weeks until early this year to develop an inter-continental missile at a test facility at Musudan-ri on the northeastern coast. And that The tests were aimed at improving engines and propellant fuel for the missile, code-named KN-08, the source said. (75, 75A)

It went on further to say as stated by South Koreas Yonhap News Agency and the YTN TV later citing military sources and analyst as saying the rocket is a new long-range missile. Presumed to be a ballistic missile with a range of to 6,000 kilometers rounded off (3,700 miles) This identifies the KN-08 as a limited range ICBM. (75) It is further indicated by Chosun Ilbo that the four, stage engine combination static test firings had at least one or two failure bringing into question whether the test series was successful according to the South Korean military sources. (80,80A, 87)

Recent firings as noted above would seen to indicate that the engine test have resolved the issue previously encountered. (88, 89, 90, 91)

The KN-08 Details as Presently Understood:

The KN-08 as understood today is about 18.7 to 19.0 meter long with the first two stages bodies about 1.8 meters in diameter. Its first stage features a base skirt transitioning from the 1.8 meter body diameter to the skirt 2 meter base diameter. This does not include the four steering vernier's inside the the 2 meter of the base skirt diameter. Its second stage utilizes the main thrust chamber immersed in the top of the first stage. The third stage is 1.3-1.35 meters in diameter and may utilize two or four vernier's on their own separate turbo-machinery derived from the No-dong-B vernier engine. These KN-08 engine, stage systems & dynamic testing of flight hardware were focused on improving the closed cycle propulsion performance of the engines before flight test of the KN-08 commence within this 2011-2015 Five Year Plan soon. The Hwasong-13 first and second stages are an apparent modification of the Soviet era Makeyev OKB RSM-40, Vysota, SS-N-8 SLBM with revision for the tankage and third stage requirements built to the required manufacturing technological level of the DPRK industry capability. KN-08 first stage utilizes improved propellant tank immersed closed cycle propulsion higher performance engine of 50,985.81 kilograms force thrust based on the RSM-54 Shtil R-29M SS-N-23 1st stage engine and the, RSM-50/SS-N-18 Volna 2nd. stage engine, SLBM's propulsion systems technology. Separate from the other vernier engine system the four vernier's on each stage operate based on a separate open cycle turbo-machinery system. The applicable propulsion systems being utilized for the KN-08 will be applied to the NK-SL-X dedicated geostationary space boosters development program. It utilizes throughout a fuel of Unsymmetrical Dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) while its oxidizer is a derivation of (73% Inhibited Red Fuming nitric Acid (IRFNA) & 27% N204 = AK-27S) in all stages. (29, 82)

July 27, 2013 Observations: Hwasong-13 Ground Test Semi-mobile R&D, ICBM Prototypes Missile

On July 27, 2013 the DPRK had its 60th anniversary military parade to commemorate the Korean War in which there were only four Hwasong-13, KN-08's displayed in images and video from the event not six as had previously been observed. Those four missiles were much more complete reflecting the maturity of the ground test semi-mobile R&D, ICBM prototypes missile program right down to the white and red DPRK Strategic Rocket Forces standard paint job. During parade practice the KN-08's sported their camouflage netting covering over the missile through out the full length of the TEL.

Observation by some to the affect that the display missiles were fakes was truly a disservice to the public on the Hwasong-13 as if to fill some agenda believing their own lies that was not based in reality. They were anything but that as they were all to real ground test semi-mobile R&D, ICBM prototypes very close to flight testing configuration as previously noted. There were several better imaged access hatches in the inter stage areas between the first, second and third stage. Typical DPRK riveted non un-body welding construction in the inter stage areas was also observed. Staging translation rocket sets angled at the Center of gravity of the second and third stage and payload for separation from the fire in the hole ignition into the top of the first stage for the second stage engine and propellant injection/vent ports were added to the second stage. The displayed four-conic nose cone was much smoother looking than the previous metal shells appearance with a more rounded nose. Never are operational warheads displayed though they closely resemble the actual flight hardware. The First stage retro rockets remained at the staging center of gravity position for that stages propellant depletion to facilitate the proper staging separation alignment while the second stage ignition start up takes place. The stages separation planes are also clearly identifiable. The first stage steering verniers aligned with the retro rockets are off set from the four pad support hold down explosive bolts set ups.

The North Korean NK-08, Hwasong-13, LR-ICBM [No-Dong-C] developed from the Acad. V. P. Makeyev OKB derivation of the SS-N-6 the DPRK No-dong-B and the Soviet RSM-40 tankage and structures SLBM modified design, the RSM-50 and RSM-54 SLBM's engines for this land based semi-mobile ICBM presently in its research and development phase.

Serious Reality Questions on the Semi-mobile ICBM Viability.

Realistically these are large rocket systems of a semi-mobile designs on the order of 21 meter long and as wide as a railroad car requiring considerable support personnel and mobile fueling vehicles and mobile ground support systems in addition to hours of preparation on pre-surveyed sites. They may be deployed in coffin, silo or more likely than not  cave/underground tunnel which the DPRK is famous for based military garrison sites much like China has done in the past. This vehicle would require an entourage of many support vehicles including multiple propellant tankers trucks for the individual stage propellants as well as power generator and command and control vehicles. In both cases the Taep'o-dong-2 which has failed in three launches in 2006, 2009 and 2012 and KN-08/No-dong-C if launched at some world target would have well over repeating well over half of the vehicle fail to reach their targets. To date both missiles have had no successful demonstration flight tests ranging over 6,000-6,700 kilometers.

TEL Transporter Erector Launcher Revealed:

The North Korean NK-08, Block-1, LR-ICBM [No-Dong-C] transporter erector launcher the tractor and it carriage system was provided by the the PRC China manufacturer.

Serious Reality Questions on the Semi-mobile ICBM Viability

The April 15, 2012, Pyongyang, DPRK, military parade display of the first public appearance of the KN-08 LRICBM with it large Chinese 9 th Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation [CASIC] known as the Hubei Sanjiand Space Wanshan Special Vehicles Co., Inc., factory for heavy transporter short cab model of the tractor WS51200 also called WS2600 super heavy-duty offroad chassis was quite a controversial public surprise. It utilizes a total of eight axles with 16 wheels 1.6 meters in diameter with six wheel steering up front and stretches a total of 20.11 meters and a width and height of 3.35 meters without the DPRK added related equipment bays, erector and pad for the KN-08 ballistic missile. That would extend its length to 21 meters and a loaded capacity of up to 122 metric tonnes at a cost of 30 million Yuan for six vehicles. (81)

On or about October 19, 2010 the DPRK probable front company Rimmok General Trading purchase six and or possibly eight with spare parts of these tractors transporters under the civil pretenses for  carrying timber operational use according to the Chinese company possibly through a third party country which remains an unanswered question. (81, 83, 84, 85, 86.) It is known that these tractors have been used to transport Chinese DF-31 ICBMs. (86) Although the April 15, 2012 Pyongyang, DPRK, military parade only displayed six of these TEL vehicles it is believed to have only initially received two or four of the tractor transporters vehicles earlier in 2011.

Subsequently a second shipment delivered four additional vehicles that were shipped from Shanghai, China, on the Cambodian-flagged cargo ship, Harmony Wish, on August 1, 2011 for a three day journey to the port of Nampo, DPRK where the four transporters were delivered in early August. The Cambodian registered cargo vessel then later on journeyed to Osaka, Japan during October 2011 where upon based on intelligence satellite tracking imagery of the ships activities the Japanese Coast Guard did a thorough inspection of the vessel and its record books for its detailed documentation on the cargo delivered to the DPRK. Therein they discovered that the Harmony Wish, Cambodian registered ship had delivered the four additional military vehicles transporters from the Chinese 9 th Academy of the China, Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation [CASIC] known as the [Wuhan Sanjiang Import Export Co.], Hubei Sanjiand Space Wanshan Special Vehicles Co., Inc., factory. They were the heavy transporter short cab model of the tractor WS51200 also called WS2600 super heavy-duty offroad chassis Subsequently Japanese Coast Guard officials shared this information with Japanese Intelligence that in turn shared it with the Republic of South Korea and the United States. This was a probable a difficult to prove technical violation of the U. N Security Council Resolution 1718 on the part of China though they say that they did not violate the resolution intent or Chinese law. (83, 84, 85, 86.)

Conclusions:

The KN-08, Hwasong-13 Semi-Mobile, Limited Range-ICBM system had evolved over the previous five year plan that is a very real R & D vehicle seen by DoD intelligence assets and discussed by former Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert M. Gates. It is in the advanced stage of development heading to flight testing. Through this writing no LR-ICBM has been flown but it has undergone Research & Development, dynamic and static test firing leading to future flight tests within this Five Year Plan

References:

20. Gertz, Bill, North Korea making missile able to hit U.S. The Washington Times, Dec. 5, 2011. P. 1-4, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/5/north-korea-making-missile-able-to-hit-us/?page=all

21. Gertz, Bill, Inside The Ring: North Koreas ICBM, The Washington Times, March 7, 2012, p. 1, http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/7/inside-the-ring-north-koreas-icbm/

23. http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070130-122437-6559r.htm, Gertz, Bill, How the axis seeks the killer missile, The Washington Times, January 30, 2007, p. ?

29. Champion, Gilles, Japan deploys missile batteries as North Korea prepares to launch long-range rocket, National Post, AFP, April 8, 2012 pp. 1-3

75. N. Korea test long-range missile: report, From AFP, Seoul, South Korea, reporting on the 24 hour news channel, YTN-TV report on the testing of the DPRK, KN-08, limited range ICBM that was also

75A. Also reported by Yonhap news agency, April 14, 2012, P. 1.

80. N. Korea Shows Off Weapons at Military Parade, The Chosun Ilbo, englishnews@chosun.com/ , April 15-6, 2012, pp. 1-2. Between late last year and February this year, the North conducted four tests of a new booster at its research center in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyong Province. But the South Korean military believe they failed, with one resulting in an explosion.

80A. An earlier YTN broadcast, aired before the parade, called the new missile by the name KN-08. That report is summarized in English by AFP ( http://www.channelnewsasisa.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1195153/1/.html).

81. http://i.imgur.com/sfNCh.jpg , http://pollack.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/3932/north-koreas-icbm-unveiled, http://bemil.chosun.com/nbrd/bbs/view.html?b_bbs_id=10040&pn=1&num=66890 , these are some of the various Chinese 9 th Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation [CASIC] known as the Hubei Sanjiand Space Wanshan Special Vehicles Co., Inc., truck factory heavy transporter short cab model of the tractor data sheet.

82. http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1/Diverse/KN-08/index.htm

83. China exported military vehicles to North Korea, [according to Asahi Shimbun, newspaper reported] The Yomiuri Shimbun, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/T120613005610.htm ,June 14, 2012Ps 1-2.

84. Reports: NKorea missile launcher came from China, By Eric Talmadge, associated Press, Tokyo, http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9VCDE500.htm, June 13, 2012. P. 1

85. US kept quiet over Chinese UN breach on North Korea, The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9328275/US-kept-quiet-over-Chinese-UN-breach-on-North-Korea.html ,June 13, 2012, p. 1-2

86. US says raised concerns to China on N.Korea missiles, By Shaun Tandon (AFP), WASHINGTON, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g9W1qOQGp2FRYgIhdoAfHBo2CjMA?docId=CNG.f9b83f7af587b4f26b03db1f1079c3ed.351, June 13, 2012, p.1-2

87. Isolated North Korea says its rockets can hit U. S mainland, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/assets/?, Oct. 9, 2012, p.1. Quote "....., but two recent rocket tests both failed."

88. N. Korea tested long-range missile engine before nuke blast soiurces, Yonhap News Agency, Seoul, South Korea, February 19, 2013 p. 1-2.

89 .WAFF, World's Wrmed Forces Forum, NOKO tests engine for 5,000 km range rocket, February 17, 2012, p. 1.

90. Source: North Korea tested ICBM engine before nuke test, by Akihiko Kaise, Correspondent, AJW, Asahi Shimbo, Seoul, South Korea, February 18, 2013 p.1.

91. N. Korea Tests New Missile Engine Before Nuke Test, The Chosun Ilbo, February 18, 2013, p. 2.

92. Movement of Missiles by North Korea Worries U. S. , by Thom Shanker, and David E. Sanger, The New Youk Times,January 17, 2013, p. 1, 2.

93. New Long-range Rocket Engine Tests at North Korean Launch Facility: Development Continues, by Nick Hansen, http://38north.org posted July 10, 2013, pp. 1-5.
Stephan Rice, quality insurance inspector, shows off how Weldall employees use iPads to a group of Horning Middle School students Friday.Lauren Anderson/Freeman Staff
Each year the family of Abria Rayon Stone awards the Abria Rayon Stone Memorial Scholarship to criminal justice students at the Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center.

This scholarship is given in honor and memory of Abria Stone who was a senior in the criminal justice program at the Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center and was killed in an auto accident on Dec. 14, 2010. She had hopes of pursuing a career in the criminal justice field. Abrias grandmother, Diane Stone, presented this years scholarships to the chosen applicants.

This years recipients of the Abria Rayon Stone Scholarship were Jessica Smith of Tunstall High School and Kristen White of Gretna High School. Both students are graduates of the Pittsylvania County Career and Technical Centers criminal justice class of 2016. Both students received a $500 scholarship to be used for college expenses and both plan to attend Danville Community College in the fall.

The criminal justice class at PCTC, instructed by Toni Morris, is a two year program for 11th and 12th grade students who are interested in pursuing a career in the criminal justice field. Students explore a variety of careers with in criminal justice and have the opportunity to directly shadow a criminal pustice professional as part of a career exploration program.
Two Danville students  Trystan Wiggins of Galileo Magnet High School and Lily Hungarland of George Washington High School  have been awarded $1,000 scholarships funded by the Comcast Foundation.

Comcast recently announced it awarded $75,000 in scholarships for the 2016-17 school year to 66 Virginia high school students as part of its annual Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program.

The program, funded by the Comcast Foundation, recognizes students who strive to achieve their potential, who are catalysts for positive change in their communities, who are involved in their schools, and who serve as models for their fellow students.
At the final meeting of the year, Pittsylvania County Retired Teachers Association presented two scholarships in the amount of $500 to Samantha Davis of Tunstall High School and Casey Sparks of Dan River High School.

Both recipients plan to continue their education in preparation for careers as professional educators. Jennifer Coleman, a former scholarship award winner, spoke briefly to the group. A graduate of merit plaque was on display noting the sponsorship for Makayla Dalton of Chatham High School for 2016.

In service of remembrance, 34 former employees of Pittsylvania County Schools who have died during the year were memorialized with a poem, the lighting of a candle and the reading of their names. Four were members of association.

Member volunteerism was recognized with a token of appreciation as names and the amount of volunteer hours were read before the group. Thirty-three members reported 4,970 hours of volunteer work in school, church and community organizations since last May.

During a business session, the treasurer reported 38 Virginia Retired Teachers Assocation members, 44 District members and 52 PCRTA members for the year. Membership dues of $30 are now being accepted for 2016-17 by Doris Bolton and scholarship donations are welcome at any time. A written legislation and VRTA Delegate Assembly report was distributed and it was noted that the Oct. 3-4 VRTA Fall Conference will be held in Midlothian.

President Becky Smith announced the District E luncheon meeting is scheduled for June 22 at Ernies in South Boston at 11:30 a.m. Reservation forms are available to be sent to Pam Burgess by June 15. Information was given concerning a teacher story-telling project in which VRTA President Phyllis Eastridge would like retirees to be involved. An example was read and members were encouraged to think about a story that they might contribute with the possibility of publication of the stories collected. Smith was presented with an appreciation gift for her service as president for 2014-2016.

Officers for 2016-18 were installed by Bobbi Hudson, President of VRTA District E. Newly installed president Mable Scott received the presidents gavel from Smith and concluded the meeting with a challenge for retired teachers to continue to give and be involved in the community as they have been for so many years.

The United Methodist Women of Concord United Methodist Church prepared and served a meal prior to the meeting. Their pastor and his young son gave the invocation and grace following the welcome by Iris Dance. A variety of door prizes were provided by Marcia Meyer.
Most people know it takes a long time to become a fully-certified medical doctor  but Danville Regional Medical Centers growing graduate medical education program is giving people in the region a chance to watch young men and women go through some of the steps necessary to reach that goal.

Once done with four years of college, another four years at a medical school is necessary to earn the title doctor. The first two years are spent in classrooms, but the second two years are spent working with doctors and at hospitals.

This is where one aspect of DRMCs graduate medical education program kicks in, giving medical students the opportunity to gain experience in a variety of medical fields as they rotate through various departments, mentored by doctors who specialize in the different medical fields.

This is so they will be well rounded no matter the field they choose [to specialize in], said Dr. Amber Fedin. A doctor of osteopathic medicine at DRMC, Fedin heads the internal medicine program and is currently the interim director of the hospitals graduate medical education program.

Once the students graduate from medical school, they are doctors and can practice medicine in some states, though, Fedin said, many states require some further education, even if it is a one-year internship instead of board certification in their chosen specialty.

Fedin also said many hospitals  such as DRMC  require physicians to be certified by medical boards that monitor different medical specialties. That board certification process requires doctors to spend two to three years in a residency program.

Without board certification, their scope of practice is more limited, Fedin said.

Different teaching hospitals offer residencies in various medical fields; DRMC currently offers residencies in internal medicine and family medicine.

Fedin said the first year of the program is an internship, with the following two years being the actual residency.

Dr. Kimberly Bird  a pulmonary critical care doctor at the hospital and who will take over directing the internal medicine residency program effective July 1  said the program offers doctors on the job training.

Bird said she is one of three doctors who run the intensive care unit, which operates around clock, seven days a week, with a doctor in charge. Since the three of them cannot be there constantly, the residency program allows there to be a doctor available at all times.

Theres always a doctor there to take care of the patients, Bird said. Most community-based hospitals cant do that  its a huge advantage for the community.

To date, Fedin said, the residency program has had a 100-percent pass rate for its participants and seven of the residents chose to stay in Danville to continue their careers.

Dr. Tiffany Postell is wrapping up her second year in the internal medicine residency program and is considering staying in the Dan River Region. Postell said she is from Alabama and would like to stay in the Southeast, and is comfortable in the area she has chosen to live in Pittsylvania County.

A lot of the residents live downtown in the lofts, Postell said, then smiled. Im just different.

While the internal medicine residency program gives doctors plenty of time in the hospital, they also care for patients at the Internal Medicine Continuity Center.

Postell said that allows her to care for the same patients and follow their progress.

We take care of them the entire three years, the whole time were here, Postell said.

Dr. Yi Ding is in a transitional program, finishing up a year of internship that he will follow with one more year of training before going to a residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation, treating patients with chronic injuries, athletes, stroke patients and others who need long-term physical rehabilitation.

Its referred to as a gap year  hes been accepted into a residency program at Eastern Virginia Medical School in his chosen field, but there is a waiting list and he is scheduled to begin about a year from now.

His specialty is very competitive, Fedin said.

Even when their education is done and they are ready to go into practice, there are still hurdles  some of them financial.

Bird said she was 32 years old when she finished medical school and was able to start earning any kind of salary.

The perception that all doctors are rich is a fallacy, she said  most get out of medical school and have to pay back debts from their college loan.

And the education doesnt stop  doctors are required to get a certain amount of training every year to maintain their board certifications.

Its a field of service; most of us go into it to serve the community, Bird said.

In addition to the medical school student program  which just added about 20 students per year through an agreement with Liberty University  and resident physician program, which adds about 80 doctors or doctors in training to the hospital, DRMC also partners with James Madison University and Elon University to train physician assistant students, and with Averett University to train baccalaureate nursing students.

Its remarkable to have an academic program like this at a community-based hospital, Fedin said.
SHARE Joe Gilgun as Cassidy in "Preacher." (Lewis Jacobs/Sony Pictures Televsion/AMC/TNS)

By Meredith Woerner Los Angeles Times (Tns)

If you ever need to find actor Joe Gilgun on the New Mexico set of AMC's new supernatural western "Preacher," just follow the trail of blood.

"(I'm) constantly covered in blood," the tatted Englishman playing an Irish vampire exclaims with a kind of mischievous glee. "There are hand prints everywhere, on the doors. My trailer was like a kill room."

A distressing statement. Yet declared with Gilgun's disarmingly captivating rapid-fire cadence, it's as if he's daring you to be entertained by the uncomfortable imagery. And that's "Preacher" in a nutshell. The new drama series airing Sunday nights on AMC relishes in the absurd and obscene. And if you can't help but crack a smile, blame Gilgun's cheeky delivery.

It helps that the actor has been cast in a role he seems born to play. Think Billy Idol if he were a blood-thirsty vampire but one blessedly free of the usually requisite vampire fangs. Gilgun, of course, finds the fun in all the other vampire perks, specifically getting ridiculously doused in gore.

"Blood and my character are like peas and carrots," Gilgun says. "I'll have to put the outfit on that I had the night before, and that was covered in cold, sticky (fake blood). It's just like being covered in actual blood only it doesn't smell of iron. It's like minty."

Adapted from the hyper-violent, 1990s comics created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, "Preacher" took almost a decade to get made. Thanks to the nonstop persistence of Hollywood comedy darlings Evan Goldberg (writer of "Pineapple Express") and actor Seth Rogen, "Preacher" was eventually delivered into the hands of writer-producer Sam Catlin of "Breaking Bad" fame. Together the trio finally christened "Preacher" with a pilot that crams humor, action and a pondering of the meaning of existence into a single hour of television.

Set in the no-horse town of Annville, Texas, the series follows the prodigal son turned village preacher Jessie Custer (Dominic Cooper) as he attempts to guide his meager flock into salvation. Jessie must head toward the light while avoiding job propositions from his ex-crime partner (and ex-girlfriend) Tulip (Ruth Negga) and the high jinks of one marooned vampire named Cassidy (Gilgun). Because of divine intervention (or pure happenstance), the preacher, the con and the vampire become entangled in a holy war.

Even the premise sounds like the start of a joke that lands with a biblical apocalypse twist. And AMC is hoping that the Frankensteined mashup of styles will keep the series unique.

"It's so genre hopping," executive producer Catlin says. "It can be a serious drama about the meaning of life, it can be a silly Monty Python-esque comedy, it can be a crazy-violent (Quentin) Tarantino (film). It's a western. It has a lot of different tones to it that I haven't seen before on TV."

So how did "Preacher" find the balance between the silly and the serious? "There's different treatments of violence," Catlin explains. "On 'Breaking Bad'  if someone got punched on the nose, they would have a bloody nose. In a lot of ways, the violence in that show would hit harder than the violence we have on 'Preacher.' This is a world that has lost its moorings. It's an embellishment of the violent American frontier spirit."

Even Tulip, who in the comics at first is seen as "slightly timid," and as Negga puts it, "quite fragile," comes on strong in the AMC series. "When you first meet her," Negga says of Tulip's TV introduction, "it's during this fight scene. We wanted to make immediate impact for the audience. And an immediate emotional connection."

"She's got a real problem with her temperament," Catlin says. "I'm very excited about it. You don't see angry women on TV very much."

But even with the blood and rage, "Preacher's" creators do have some limits.

"I originally scripted her as biting off the guy's nose," Catlin says of Tulip's first fight scene. "And Seth and Evan said, 'No, no, no, we did that before. It was too disgusting. It has to be an ear.' Because for some reason the ear is less disturbing than the nose. And I think they were right."

While the first episode of "Preacher" has three impressively choreographed fight scenes, Gilgun warns that things will cool off a bit.

"We can't have enormous amounts of blood, terrible gore, every episode," Gilgun says. "There's nothing to look forward to in that sense. It's like a spliff, like having a joint. If you smoke it all day long, endlessly, it's just something you do. It's not a treat anymore, is it?"

Gilgun applies the same dissection to pry open the mind of his 119-year-old character. "I know he's funny, but he's constantly being shot," Gilgun says. "It's agony. It's the same pain as it is for a normal human being, (but) he's got used to being shot. He's got used to pulling bullets out. You think about it, get rid of the comical aspects of it, he's a really sad man."

Instead of living the "Interview with a Vampire" life of lace and luxury, Cassidy is broke and spends most of his time drinking away the minutes on his endless clock. We will witness the character struggle with the reality of his own absurd existence.

Will the genre splicing win over the modern-day TV audience? Will folks fall for the Irish vampire with great banter but a deeply twisted past? No one can say for sure, not even Catlin, who confesses that he may be looking for a job in a couple of months. But he does know that "Preacher" comes in strong. And with today's television audiences, there's really no other way you can introduce an idea this intricate. You gotta go big.

"There's just been so much great, innovative television in the last 10 years that sort of the paved the way: 'The Sopranos,' 'The Wire,' 'Mad Men,' 'Breaking Bad.'" Catlin says. "People took really big swings on those shows, and they paid off. Now audiences expect big swings. Audiences are so much more sophisticated and so much more  cynical is too pejorative a word, but they've seen a lot of great stuff. So it takes a lot to surprise them. I think AMC and Sony know that 'Preacher' is nothing if not a big swing."

And if "Preacher" can make folks wince when a ridiculous vampire takes a bullet, perhaps it has a prayer of a chance with today's audience.
Sanjoria Sydnor, 35, right, of Moline Acres, speaks during an I AM: Breastfeeding support group meeting at the Ferguson Public Library on May 24, 2016 in Ferguson, Mo. At left is Denecia Billups-Harrell, 33, of Ferguson, with her 1-year-old daughter, Nubia. (Michael Thomas/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

SHARE Kenia Mahdi, 28, of St. Louis, nurses her 5-month old daughter, Ruqayyah, during an I AM: Breastfeeding support group meeting at the Ferguson Public Library on May 24, 2016 in Ferguson, Mo. (Michael Thomas/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

By Blythe Bernhard St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Tns)

FERGUSON, Mo.  Breastfeeding is the natural way to feed a baby, but it doesn't come naturally to all women. Support from other new mothers is proven to boost breastfeeding success.

The I AM: Breastfeeding support group was launched last year to help underserved women meet their breastfeeding goals. The group also offers home and hospital visits, phone advice and lactation counselors on call.

"It can be trying in the beginning, so it's nice to have a place where you know there's someone to help you through it," said Alechia Abioye, 28, who attends the support group with her 1-year-old daughter Elaina and husband Taiwo.

The group's services are not limited to African-American families, but a key goal is raising the breastfeeding rates in the black community. About 66 percent of African-American mothers breastfeed their babies, compared with about 83 percent of Hispanic, Asian and white mothers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I really wish we would get back to listening to our bodies and knowing what to do, and breastfeeding is the start to that. It increases your intuition," said group leader and lactation educator Denecia Harrell.

Improving breastfeeding rates is a primary goal of the CDC's 2020 Healthy People campaign. Breastfeeding has been linked to lower rates of asthma, eczema, diabetes and obesity in children. Breastfed babies also have a much lower risk of developing intestinal and respiratory infections that can lead to serious complications and hospitalizations.

Increasing breastfeeding can lower the rates of infant mortality. Black babies in the U.S. have the highest rate of mortality of any race, with 11 deaths in the first year for every 1,000 births.

The link between breastfeeding and fewer infant deaths is partly due to the reduced risk of illness. Breastfeeding also cuts a baby's risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in half, in part because breastfed babies don't sleep as soundly.

Premature babies gain additional benefits from breast milk, including a much lower risk of a life-threatening disease called necrotizing enterocolitis. In Missouri, more than 14 percent of black infants are born prematurely compared with 9 percent of white infants.

There are health benefits for the mother as well. Immediately after birth, breastfeeding reduces blood loss and helps the uterus shrink more quickly. Breastfeeding mothers have a lower risk of developing postpartum depression and breast and ovarian cancers. Beyond the health benefits, breastfeeding can save up to $2,000 in formula costs in the baby's first year.

There are cultural and economic reasons for the lower rates of breastfeeding among African-American mothers. Historically, slaves who had given birth were forced to breastfeed their masters' children, often at the expense of their own children's health. After slavery was abolished, many black women continued to work as wet nurses, as described in the book "The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation."

When formula became widely available in the 1950s, its use was viewed by some black women as an act of independence and a status symbol. Formula companies took advantage of that viewpoint by targeting their advertising to the black community.

The U.S. medical system may further reinforce the racial disparities. Practices that support breastfeeding, including keeping mothers and babies together and limiting the use of formula, are less common in hospitals in neighborhoods with higher percentages of black residents, according to a 2014 federal report.

While breastfeeding rates are on the rise, many new black mothers cannot rely on their mothers, aunts or grandmothers for advice because they did not breastfeed. Most hospitals offer breastfeeding support groups, but they can be intimidating for women of color or those with lower incomes who don't have the latest in trendy baby gear.

"You feel most comfortable, you feel at home when you're with people that you can identify with," Harrell said.

The I AM: Breastfeeding support group meets every fourth Tuesday evening at the Ferguson Public Library. Each meeting starts with dinner and an ice-breaker. Then the free-flowing discussion turns to a topic on childbirth or parenting. The group, which is moving toward nonprofit status, was launched with help from a grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. It is affiliated with the Community Birth and Wellness Center in Ferguson, which offers midwife and doula services, childbirth classes as well as breastfeeding support.

Husbands, older children, grandparents and other friends and family members are all welcome at the meetings as part of the breastfeeding mothers' support system. Pregnant women are invited to learn more about initiating breastfeeding. Mothers of toddlers can discuss the weaning process. Anyone in between can find someone else who has been there.

"It's nice to know that women are going through the same trouble you're going through," Harrell said. "It gives you encouragement and strength."
Eliot Bailey, 11, from Ferguson, colors on an enlarged cover of "Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages" as author Carol Swartout Klein addresses a group of children about the book at the Ferguson library on Friday, May 26, 2016. The 52-page coloring book features artwork based on the paintings created by the community on plywood boards on windows of business in Ferguson during the riots of 2014. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

SHARE The cover of "Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages" that features artwork based on the paintings created by the community on plywood boards on windows of businesses in Ferguson during the riots of 2014. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS) Dorris Henderson colors a page as author Carol Swartout Klein talks her new book "Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages" as she addresses a group of children at the Ferguson library on Friday, May 26, 2016. The 52-page coloring book features artwork based on the paintings created by the community on plywood boards on windows of business in Ferguson during the riots of 2014. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS) Author Carol Swartout Klein talks about one of the coloring pages in her new book "Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages" as she addresses a group of children at the Ferguson library on Friday, May 26, 2016. The 52-page coloring book features artwork based on the paintings created by the community on plywood boards on windows of business in Ferguson during the riots of 2014. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

By Jane Henderson St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Tns)

FERGUSON, Mo.  When children contemplate the image of a black hand and a white hand grasped in the shape of an arch, they interpret it in different ways.

The arch, the uber-symbol of St. Louis, has roots like a tree. Those roots, children say, show that St. Louisans can grow together, are rooted here or can grow in new ways.

"These are pretty profound thoughts," says Carol Swartout Klein, who talks to students about the illustration.

But the artist, who had painted the image on a board protecting a U.S. Post Office from violence during the protests after the shooting in 2014 of Michael Brown, had a slightly different intent.

Ana Bonfilla's "Black and White Arch" indicated St. Louis was kind of "uprooted in that moment  and we are going to have to uproot ourselves in order to come together and make a better future."

Bonfilla's explanation is part of a new coloring book, "Painting for Peace," which Klein put together with artist Robert O'Neil.

The pair have transformed the street art from protests into a coloring book for all ages, so children and adults can contemplate and interpret the pictures themselves. Along the way, the coloring may also "create a positive intention" for people or the community, the book says. Included in the stapled book are bookmarks that can be colored, cut out and given as gifts; and inspirational quotes such as "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that," from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Klein, who grew up in Ferguson (graduating from McCluer High School in 1975), says profits from the coloring book will go to initiatives in art, education and youth in the north St. Louis County area. The coloring book follows last year's picture book, "Painting for Peace in Ferguson," which paired color photos of the Ferguson and South Grand Avenue artwork and artists with verses about working together.

More than $3,000 from sales of that book have been given out in grants, and about 600 copies of the book were given to the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Klein says. Profits from sales of both books are being managed by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation.

When Klein and the picture book represented Missouri last fall at the National Book Festival, copies sold out almost immediately because the Washington-based bookseller had ordered only 50 books.

She hopes for better national response with the trendy coloring book, which includes artwork as difficult as a detailed mandala and as simple as a connect-the-dots page. One image is of Ferguson Hardware's windows.

Veronica Delgado, one of several artists who painted them, wrote in her journal: "I had come to bring some positivity and care to this little town, yet it was the town making me feel cared for by their unwavering thanks."

Her words, reprinted in the coloring book, end with: "What I realized is that not all of social justice work includes overly insulting the status quo in anger like I previously thought. It involves care, compassion, and empathy as well."

Klein, who now lives in Clayton, Mo., jokes that she has spent so many hours creating and talking about the "Painting for Peace" books that "my husband thinks I'm slightly crazy."

But as other organizations and people do "the hard work of change" in response to the Brown shooting and protests, she hopes her books are like "the wind beneath their sails."

"The primary goal is really to spread a positive message of how communities can come together and support each other  and by doing so become stronger as a result," she said.

The 52-page coloring book, published by the local Treehouse Publishing Group, is $9.99.
Walking past the Tom Green County Courthouse Annex near the flowers and flags this Memorial Day week, I stopped to silently remember the crew of the Abbot 27.

"In memory of the Crew of Abbot 27 B36J No. 52-2818 who perished on 24 May 1955 near Sterling City, Texas," the monument near the sidewalk reads.

Crew members were assigned to the 40th Bomb Squadron (heavy) Sixth Bomb Bombardment Wing, Walker AFB, Roswell, N.M.

The marker was etched with the names of the plane's crew members, and was erected in fall 2007, a gift from veterans of the 40th and 24th Bombardment Squadrons.

Although the crash took place near Sterling City, the marker was placed in San Angelo so that more people might have a chance to see it.

The simple gray marker next to the Tom Green County Courthouse Annex is a silent reminder of what happened on that awful night.

Charlie and Charlene Davis were at their ranch home when the 10-engine bomber, one of the world's biggest warplanes at the time, crashed nearby during a fierce storm.

Charlie called the sheriff, then raced a half-mile to the scene of the crash with two ranch hands.

"I had no idea what was happening. I thought the world was coming to an end," Charlie told Standard-Times columnist Perry Flippin in 2005, at the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.

The front half of the plane was consumed in intense flames.

The back half, which didn't burn, contained the bodies of seven dead crewmen, still strapped into their bunks.

None of the crew survived.

"You can't imagine how that crash scared us," Charlie had said.

"We were just a couple of punk kids, living 35 miles out in the country with a phone that didn't work half the time.

"That crash scared us half to death."

Not long after the crash, military personnel showed up, he said.

Rumor had it that an atomic bomb was aboard.

The military wouldn't allow the bodies to be removed from the plane until the device was taken away, he said.

The crash site at the ranch has long since been reclaimed by the pasture.

And words carved into the marker provide a fitting epitaph for the 15 who died.

It reads: "May our comrades rest in peace, comforted by the knowledge that their service and sacrifice helped ensure the continued freedom and liberty of the nation and the free world."

The monument is on the west side of the Tom Green Count Courthouse Annex, which is due west of the courthouse, at 124 W. Beauregard Ave.

Rick Smith is a local news and community affairs columnist. Contact him at 325-659-8248 or rick.smith@gosanangelo.com.
Photos by European Pressphoto Association and Associated Press Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are locked in a tight race for the California primary that is set for Tuesday. Sanders' Latino advisers have been vocally critical of President Barack Obama and his party's record on immigration. Clinton has drawn criticism from Sanders' advisers, because of her support of Obama.

SHARE Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets with people at an event at the Culinary Arts Institute, Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Sylmar, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Deportations under Obama upset groups

By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Federal agents came for Erika Andiolas mother in 2013.

A well-known immigrant rights activist in Arizona, Andiola was able to stop her mothers deportation after mounting a public campaign. But nearly having her mother kicked out of the country by the administration of a Democratic president eroded any allegiance the young activist felt to the Democratic Party.

Today, Andiola is part of a group of Latino advisers to Bernie Sanders who are vocally critical of President Barack Obama and his partys record on immigration. She and other Sanders supporters frequently mention the record number of deportations carried out under Obamas watch and at times have called on Latinos not to vote for certain Democrats who they believe have blocked efforts to limit deportations.

Their prominence in Sanders campaign underscores how much the race between the Vermont senator and Hillary Clinton has become entangled in another fight  a long-running battle between Obama and his partys left wing over immigration enforcement.

Clinton has tied herself closely to the president, who has solid approval ratings among Democrats. That has paid important electoral dividends, particularly in solidifying the support of black voters. But just as she has gathered many of Obamas friends, the former secretary of state has also inherited his opponents.

Sanders and Clinton have offered largely similar proposals. Both have pledged to go further than Obama in curtailing deportations of immigrants in the country illegally. Both have turned to immigrant activists, some of whom came to the country illegally, to help design their platforms on the issue.

But their supporters have engaged in fierce battles that often seem to have less to do with the candidates themselves than with the existing administration.

The impact can be seen among Latino voters, many of whom view immigration as a top issue. A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of California voters found a generational divide in the Latino vote, with Sanders beating Clinton 58 percent to 31 percent among Latino voters younger than 50 in advance of the states primary on Tuesday. Among older Latinos, Clinton led 69 percent to 16 percent.

Obama has spoken frequently about the need for a comprehensive immigration bill that would allow most of the 11 million people in the country without permission to stay. Yet he chose not to push such legislation during his first term in office, not even during his first two years, when Democrats controlled of both chambers of Congress.

In his second term, a comprehensive bill passed the Senate with a bipartisan coalition, but then died in the Republican-controlled House.

While Obama has given work permits and deportation deferrals to some immigrants with long-standing ties to the U.S., he has also overseen the deportation of more than 2.5 million people in the country illegally.

Some Latino activists see that as a betrayal.

If were talking about parties being hard on Latinos, lets talk about the Democrats, not just the Republicans, Andiola, a Sanders spokeswoman, said at a heated forum on immigration at UCLA this week.

Andiola, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico illegally at age 11, and who won a temporary work permit under Obamas deportation deferral program, blamed Democrats for looking the other way while Obama presided over a record number of deportations.

We have Democrats that keep covering him up, Andiola said, adding that she views Clinton as part of that Democratic establishment.

Dolores Huerta, the veteran labor and immigrant rights leader and a Clinton supporter, fought back. She defended the Democratic Party as being at the forefront of supporting the rights of Latino citizens and immigrants.

U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., the highest-ranking Latino in the House Democratic leadership and also a Clinton backer, said intense criticism by some Sanders backers overlooked the fact that Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to pass legislation that allows immigrants in the country illegally to stay.

Thats the case Democratic leaders have been making for years in their effort to portray their party as the only one friendly to Latinos.

The rise of Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee appears to have helped that effort. Polls show that Latino voters overwhelming identify as Democrats and oppose Trumps comments disparaging Mexicans and calling for mass deportations.

But some of Sanders advisers have been outspoken against the argument that Latinos should back Democrats because Republicans would be worse.

Arturo Carmona, national deputy political director for Sanders, once wrote that Latino political power must begin and end with the independence of the Latino vote.

In a Time magazine op-ed in 2014, when he was director of Presente.org, an online network of Latinos, Carmona described Latino affiliation with the Democratic Party as an abusive relationship. He asked Latinos not to vote for four Democratic members of Congress who he believed had urged Obama not to expand his deportation deferral program until after the 2014 midterm elections.

Chris Newman, an attorney who has advised the Sanders campaign on immigration policy, said he believed that some within the Democratic Party have been intentionally duplicitous on immigration precisely to make it an election issue as opposed to a policy accomplishment.

There has never been a political incentive for the Democrats to win on immigration reform as long as they can continue to blame Republicans for inaction, he said.

Those arguments fit well with the anti-establishment ethos of the Sanders campaign. But such comments draw objections from Clintons backers.

I dont believe its fair, said Jose Parra, a political consultant who specializes in the Latino vote. Andiola and another member of the Sanders campaign staff, Cesar Vargas, wouldnt be eligible to work if it hadnt been for Obamas deportation deferral program, Parra said.

Many of the people who are backing Sanders right now benefited from that, and it wouldnt have happened except for a Democratic president and other leaders, he said.

Parra also questioned Sanders record on immigration, including the Vermont senators opposition to a 2007 immigration reform bill  legislation that Clinton supported. At the time, Sanders warned that among other problems, the bill would drive down wages for low-income workers, an argument put forth by labor unions at the time.

Clintons record on immigration has also been critiqued by supporters of Sanders. They have objected to her opposition during her last presidential campaign to a bill in her home state, New York, that would have given drivers licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.

Despite mixed records on the issue, Sanders and Clinton have both staked out stances on immigration in the primary that are well to the left of anything the Obama administration has advocated.

Theyre actually competing to see who has the most progressive immigration policy and more refined policy platform. And that is a beautiful thing, said Angelica Salas, who leads the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles.

Sanders has called for a special protection known as Temporary Protected Status to be given to all immigrants entering the country illegally from violence-ridden Central America. He has called for an end to privately run immigrant detention centers.

Clinton also has advocated ending privately run detention centers. When the Obama administration announced a new round of raids aimed at deporting young Central Americans whose petitions for asylum have been denied, both candidates spoke out against the plan.

Their similarities on the issue have led many to call for party unity, especially given the fierce general election that looms ahead.

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, director of the North American Integration and Development Center and an associate professor at UCLA, asked panelists at this weeks immigration conference to focus on what the candidates have in common on immigration, rather than their differences.

Even though it seems to be a hard-fought battle, he said, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders arent that far apart.
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WASHINGTON  On June 21, Donald Trump will meet with nearly 500 prominent evangelicals who are trying to get more comfortable with the idea of supporting a decidedly secular candidate. The organizers are leading lights of the Christian right, including the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, radio host James Dobson and the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Ronnie Floyd.

These leaders describe the event as a listening session. The Trump campaign, and just about everyone else, will regard it as an en masse endorsement. The proposed deal is not subtly put. In exchange for their support, Trump is offering to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices and to lift restrictions on the political activities of tax-exempt institutions. "We're going to take care of you," Trump recently told an evangelical audience.

This is a particularly clear presentation of a long-term temptation (as old as the third temptation of Christ). The emperor, or king, or president offers to further the mission of the church. The church, in turn, provides legitimacy to power.

In the current case, support for Trump is presented as pragmatism. So let's be clear about what is gained and what is lost.

Religious conservatives gain a better shot at a conservative Supreme Court nominee. This is not even close to a sure bet. A political candidate who claims to be anti-abortion but supported partial-birth abortion as late as 1999 has convictions charitably described as fluid. But Trump is more likely to make a conservative selection than is Hillary Clinton.

So what is lost? Support for Trump involves a massive, disorienting shift, especially given the reputation of the religious right.

It is, well, unexpected for evangelicals to endorse a political figure who has engaged in creepy sex talk on the radio, boasted about his extramarital affairs, made a fortune from gambling and bragged about his endowment on national television.

But the tension runs much deeper. Evangelicals are not merely choosing a certain political outcome. They are determining their public character  the way they are viewed by others, and, ultimately, the way they view themselves.

They are identifying with a man who has fed ethnic tension for political gain; who has proposed systemic religious discrimination; who has dramatically undermined the democratic values of civility and tolerance; who has advocated war crimes, including killing the families of terrorists; who holds a highly sexualized view of power as dominance, rather than seeing power as an instrument to advance moral ends.

In legitimizing the presumptive Republican nominee, evangelicals are not merely accepting who he is; they are changing who they are. Trumpism, at its root, involves contempt for, and fear of, outsiders  refugees, undesirable migrants, Muslims etc. By associating with this movement, evangelicals will bear, if not the mark of Cain, at least the mark of Trump.

Over the Christian church's two-millennia existence, there have been a variety of attempts to define a distinctly Christian approach to the messy business of politics. Over the last few decades, the most serious and successful effort has been made by Catholics (who have their own disturbing history of blessing strongmen).

Catholic leaders have constructed a model of social engagement that places the needs of the weak and vulnerable at its center. The justice of a society is judged by its treatment of the powerless, the dispossessed, the exile.

Evangelicals, sadly, have no such broadly held framework. So Trump's supporters are attempting to devise their own guidelines on the theological fly. "We don't need a spiritual giant in the White House," says Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress. "We need a strong leader." There is also, he argues, the "electability factor" in beating Clinton.

What is specifically Christian about this argument for an electable strongman? It could easily be made by any third-rate political operative. It is presented as political realism, by people who know almost nothing of politics. Have they factored in the global depression that might result from Trump's trade war? Or the military challenges that might be invited by weakening traditional alliances and security arrangements?

Presumably, evangelical leaders know more about moral and spiritual principles. But here they are often silent. Instead, many are preaching a type of utilitarianism  a distasteful offering of incense to the emperor for the sake of the greater good.

But in lowering the sights of Christian political involvement, they are no longer serving a faith where "justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." They are dishonoring that ideal before a watching nation.

To everything there is a season. This is the time for principled dissent.

Michael Gerson is a Washington Post columnist. Contact him at michaelgerson@washpost.com.
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The following editorial appeared in USA TODAY:

You'd think if there's one thing Congress could reach rapid bipartisan agreement on, it's money to fight Zika.

But no, not this Congress. Members fled Washington last week for their Memorial Day break without approving funding to fight the mosquito-borne virus, even as Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that "speed is critical. A day, a week, a month can make all of the difference."

Is it any wonder that 78 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Congress handles its job?

The Senate has made the urgent public health request part of a huge transportation spending measure with a change, long sought by the trucking industry, that would weaken truck-driver rest rules. House Republicans are linking Zika funding to a measure easing the rules on pesticide spraying.

Neither body is willing to approve the full amount scientists and public health experts say is needed. The Senate would provide two-thirds of the administration's $1.9 billion request, the House just one-third.

Since Zika shot to worldwide attention, the disease has spread explosively in South America and has hit Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, where more than 930 cases have been reported. As of last week, there were 591 cases in the continental USA, most acquired through travel and a few that were sexually transmitted.

While most people with the virus won't even know it, there is a terrible danger: A fetus infected with the Zika virus in the first trimester has up to a 13 percent risk of developing devastating birth defects.

As warmer weather makes mosquitoes more active in America, more people are in danger. Yet, Congress dawdles.

The amount the House approved, $622 million, would raid programs meant to battle the Ebola outbreak, even though continued U.S. spending is needed to produce a vaccine, prepare regional centers to respond, and keep this deadly infection at bay in poor, vulnerable African countries.

Congress' propensity to rush from crisis to crisis, and its inconsistent spending on public health, make each new disease an emergency. For example, spending for local surveillance of mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile virus, was slashed 60 percent from 2004 to 2012. Now Zika puts pressure on overburdened localities.

The Senate's bipartisan compromise on $1.1 billion  not taken from Ebola  would be a start, but only if Congress could actually approve the money. Instead, both chambers refuse to vote on Zika funding by itself. They have forced it to hitch a ride on huge spending measures containing controversial issues.

Most cynically, House Republicans revived a 2011 measure that would allow more pesticide spraying near certain bodies of water. The Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act was renamed and passed as the Zika Vector Control Act.

Perhaps more spraying is a piece of the puzzle, but if you listen to experts such as Umair Shah, the head of Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services, "we cannot spray our way out of this." Trapping and testing mosquitoes to find those carrying Zika, eliminating breeding grounds, and educating the public are the keys to control.

House Republicans have expressed one important concern, that Zika spending be offset by other savings to avoid driving up the deficit. They've chosen to take money from Ebola. But how about this alternative? Eliminate the "carried interest" tax break that benefits certain wealthy investment managers.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, getting rid of this giveaway would generate $17.4 billion in revenue over 10 years, or $1.7 billion on average per year  which happens to be just about what the administration says is needed to help swat away the Zika virus.
General Motors and its joint ventures delivered a May record 295,282 vehicles in China, up 16.9% on an annual basis. Its Buick, Cadillac and Baojun brands, and SUV lineup reached all-time highs for deliveries as well in May.

such as the Buick Excelle GT.

Cadillac deliveries in May rose 30% from a year earlier to 8,568 units. Demand for both the XTS and ATS-L luxury sedans topped 2,400 units. The XT5 luxury crossover had deliveries of 1,449 units in its first full month on the market.

Buick deliveries were up 61% year over year to 100,864 units. Demand for the Excelle family nearly doubled from the previous May to 47,332 units. The brand also saw growth in demand for its SUVs and MPVs to 30,954 units, which was up 24% from a year earlier.

Baojun delivered 43,515 vehicles in China last month, a gain of 80% year over year. It was once again led by the popular Baojun 730 MPV and Baojun 560 SUV.

Chevrolet deliveries were down 24% year over year in May to 38,114 units. Deliveries of its new flagship sedan, the Malibu XL, increased 37% from the previous month. It will be joined in the Chevrolet lineup by additional models within the next few months.

Wuling deliveries topped 104,170 units, a modest 5% decline from the previous May, despite continued weak demand in the mini-commercial vehicle segment.

In the first five months of 2016, GM and its joint ventures deliveries increased 4.3% year over year to another record high for the period of 1,536,913 units.
Leaders in the N.C. Senate last week released, and the full Senate passed, a budget that seeks to expand the Opportunity Scholarship Program over the next decade. I applaud this bold and timely measure because it would meet parental demand.

More than 22,000 applications have flooded into the program from North Carolina families in just three years  proof positive of the growing need for educational choice. This program, which provides scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools, is empowering parents to select the school that best meets their childrens needs.

Hows it working out? Fayetteville mother Tanya Johnston, whose daughter receives an Opportunity Scholarship, says, Im one happy parent who would stand before anyone and testify that these changes have encouraged and positively affected my daughter, Joy, for the better.

Kim Paylor of Raleigh says, This school year, utilizing the Opportunity Scholarship, my son is making solid academic gains. And due to the schools no tolerance towards bullying,  he can finally be free to be the best he can be.

Such parental affirmations, and many others I have heard, are heartening and embolden us to act. Families have submitted nearly 8,100 new student applications for 2016-17, including more than 3,000 renewals. However, current funding allows just 6,200 scholarships. Without intervention, funding wont keep pace with demand. In response, the Senate budgets 10-year expansion targets anticipated need by funding 2,000 additional scholarships annually. As a result, the program could serve 33,750 low-income children through nearly $145 million in funding by 2027-28.

Yet opposition persists. Opponents argue expansion will harm public schools. This is untrue. The Senate budget rightly addresses the primary role of public schools in educating students and provides historic pay increases for teachers. Even more critical resources should be directed to public schools in coming years. Public schools educate most  nearly 1.5 million  K-12 students statewide, including my two daughters. Still, I believe that the importance of public schools role in education doesnt negate the need for complementary options.

Some say the beneficiaries of Opportunity Scholarships  poor children  are better served solely by public schools. The evidence indicates otherwise.

Just 42 percent of economically disadvantaged children attending our public schools are proficient on state end-of-grade tests. Almost all schools earning an F on state report cards are high-poverty schools. How do low-income families feel about these odds? Of those fortunate enough to receive an Opportunity Scholarship, 90 percent choose to renew.

Opponents also stoke fear about unaccountable private schools, implying uniformity through state tests alone ensures a system of good schools. Paradoxically, the school leaders who raise this argument to fault the Opportunity Scholarship Program pressure our state to modify or remove some of these same accountability standards for public schools.

Certainly outside metrics are necessary, and private schools participating in the scholarship program must adhere to testing and reporting requirements. However, their requirements are not the same as those of traditional public schools, nor should they be. Spurious logic about uniformity also has been used, almost verbatim, to argue against public charter schools. Yet tens of thousands of students populate charter school wait lists, and many school districts are now advocating for a more charter-like approach  less regulation, more creativity in curricular determinations and greater flexibility regarding teacher certification standards.

We must face reality: Our K-12 system does not educate poor, mostly minority, students well. Could it be that the 400-plus private schools participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program might have something to teach students  and us  about innovative approaches to educating poor children?

Thousands of low-income families, for whom doors of opportunity already have opened, surely think so. But outside, more, like La Toya Allen of Charlotte, are waiting.

I want to do all I can so that (my son) wont become another statistic, she says.

For him and many others, the door of opportunity neednt be half-closed. Now is the time for North Carolina to open it wide.
Attorneys for Michael Skakel are not expecting a decision soon from the highest court in Connecticut on whether he received an adequate legal defense when he was convicted in 2002 of killing Martha Moxley in Greenwich.

The decision by the state Supreme Court, which heard arguments in February, still could take months, said attorney Stephan Seeger.

Skakel is accused of murdering his neighbor Moxley in 1975, when both were 15 years old.

The justices in Hartford are reviewing the lengthy and complicated case, looking at the 2002 trial and how it was conducted.

There were some fairly beefy briefs, and of course, its a large case. I expect the court will take some time before it responds. It wouldnt surprise me if it came at the end of the year, sometime in that time frame, said Seeger.

High court decisions are not scheduled.

There is no time frame for when the Supreme Court will release a ruling, said to Judicial Department spokeswoman Rhonda Stearley-Hebert.

Skakel was behind bars until a judge in 2013 reversed his murder conviction. Judge Thomas Bishop ruled that poor judgment, distractions and mistakes by Skakel's defense lawyer, Michael Sherman, cost him a fair trial. State prosecutors in February argued in Hartford that was not the case.

Were waiting. And we prepare as much as we can for the trial, said Seeger.

If the Supreme Court justices uphold Judge Bishops ruling, the state can pursue another murder trial against Skakel.

We anticipate being in court in the near future, following up on some motions, in advance of that trial, said Seeger. We certainly are going to follow up on the return of taped evidence.

The lawyer has filed a motion for the return of tapes and other personal effects seized from a writer working with Skakel on a memoir. He also has filed a motion to prevent the tapes from being used again as evidence.

Seeger said the prosecution gained possession of the tapes for the original trial by unlawful methods.

In anticipation of a trial, were leaving no stone unturned, Seeger said.

Robert.Marchant@scni.com
The past few days were pretty busy - we were bombarded with announcements. Asus definitely managed to stand out, thanks to its new ZenFone3 lineup - the new family already has a basic, Delux and Ultra model on offer. Naturally, in traditional Asus fashion, we expect a lot more Zenfone 3 variants and modifications down the road and word is already out of a possible Snapdragon 823 powered Delux model, said to hit Asia in August.

Continuing down the list of announced handsets, we find the ZUK Z2. An ISOCELL camera, Snapdragon 820 SoC and 4GB of RAM sound almost too good to be true for $275.

Sony introduced a mid-range offer of its own - the Xperia E5 was unveiled with a MTK6735, 5-inch 720p display, 1.5GB of RAM and an asking price of 199.

LG also has a pair of newcomers, the LG X Power and X Style. The HTC One M9+ Prime Camera Edition is now a thing and so is the YU Yunicorn.

In other news, everybody is still pondering over the next Samsung Galaxy Note device, with rumors now hinting at the possibility of a dual-camera setup, like the one allegedly heading to the iPhone 7 Plus or Pro edition. The OnePlus 3 has also been the focal point of many heated discussions now that the Chinese OEM announced that it is officially ditching the invite system and gave fans something to look forward to with a June 14 launch date. We also can't fail to mention Xiaomi's highlights form the week. The Mi Band 2 is now official so is the MIUI 8.



ZUK Z2 brings great power and battery, ISOCELL camera too The sequel runs Marshmallow on a Snapdragon 820. The main camera has a 13MP ISOCELL with relatively large pixels.





OnePlus ditches invites for the OnePlus 3 The specs we know so far include a 5.5-inch AMOLED 1080p screen and a Snapdragon 820 chipset with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM.





Asus ZenBook 3 is a serious threat to the MacBook with a 11.9mm thin body The hardware is packed in an 11.9mm aerospace-grade aluminum alloy chassis, which weighs just 910 grams. With a 12.5" 1080p screen, the ZenBook 3 is the company's highest screen-to-body ratio of its l...





A 4.3" Xiaomi mini spotted in the wild, allegedly with S820 chipset There may be a new super mini on the horizon to fill the shoes of the Xperia Z Compact.





Sony launches Xperia X and Xperia XA in India The Xperia X is priced at INR 48,990 ($729), while the Xperia XA costs INR 20,990 ($312).





Intel announces the 10-core i7-6950X Extreme Edition CPU Intel announced today at Computex its first 10-core CPU. The Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition runs at 3GHz, but can boost up to 3.5GHz and has 25MB of cache. The boost is controlled by the company's new ...





Windows 10-powered Alcatel Idol4 Pro receives wifi certification It's rumored spec-sheet currently reads SD820 SoC, 6-inch full HD display, 20MP rear camera, and 64GB storage.





The Samsung Galaxy Note7 edge might feature a dual-camera setup Industry sources claim the hardware is already in development and will amke its debut on the phablet.





OP3 arriving on June 15, OnePlus confirms The device will be available for purchase the very next day (i.e., June 16).






Haiti - FLASH : Presidential Elections on October 9





While in Haiti everyone expects the publication of the electoral timetable and wants to know if the Presidential elections will be repeated or not, the Dominican President in Havana seems to have the scoop on answers to these questions. Indeedon the sidelines of 7th Summit of Heads of State and / or Government of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) to Havana (Cuba) Jocelerme Privert who attended the Summit has gladly answered questions from his Dominican counterpart.



About the elections he responded him that the first round of presidential elections "[...] should take place on October 9" according to the information he holds adding "From the date of publication of the electoral calendar, CEP needs 90 to 120 days to organize elections."



Asked by the Dominican President who wanted to know if the two presidential candidates had accepted the recommendations of the Commission to resume the election? President Privert told Danilo Medina, that Jude Celestin can not say no, having himself asked for this Commission, for Jovenel Moise, he said he had information that suggest the PHTK accepted the resumption of the presidential...



On issues of commercial order between the two countries, Privert told his counterpart the forthcoming resumption of bilateral talks. Moreover President Privert have also confirmed to President Medina he will be present at the inauguration ceremony on 16 August, obviously having no doubt that he will always be President a.i. of Haiti, as the debate about the post June 14 are ongoing in Haiti and divide elected in both Houses of Parliament.



Also Saturday Haiti, in Kinam hotel, the 9 members of the Provisional Electoral Council met with representatives of major political parties to which they confirmed that it was ready to publish an electoral calendar [probably Monday], in which the Presidential elections would be held on 9 October. If a candidate does not receive a majority of votes in the first round, a second round will be held January 8, 2017 and the final election results will be published January 30, 2017.



TB/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/06/05 | Source

AirAsia is raising eyebrows by proposing to select Korean flight attendants through an online poll.

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The Malaysian low-cost carrier on Monday said applicants should submit an audition video with a one-minute introduction and demonstration of an inflight announcement, which will then be posted online for people to vote on.

The bizarre move has been criticized for objectifying aspiring flight attendants, who are overwhelmingly women.

But an airline spokesman said the company is trying a different way of hiring and added that applicants' qualifications and abilities will be evaluated at the final stage.
Published on 2016/06/05 | Source

China has eased some tough restrictions on imports of Korean food that aimed to protect domestic industries.

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That means Korean companies will find it easier to sell processed foods like cookies and samgyetang or chicken soup with ginseng from next month.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, officials from the two countries met in Beijing on May 25, and the Chinese government decided to ease microbiological standards for Korean confectionery.

China applies stringent guidelines for imports: the legal maximum is less than 750 CFU/g in case of cookies without fillings and 2,000 CFU/g for cookies with fillings like sweet red beans or chocolate.

But under the new guideline that has been raised to 10,000 CFU/g based on five random samples.

"Cookie makers have complained about the difficulty of expanding exports to China due to China's stringent standards despite the negligible chance of proliferation of microorganisms, so we've been trying since 2009 to persuade China to rationalize standards", a ministry official here said.

Meanwhile, the government is expected to approve exports of a first batch of samgyetang to China in June after the two countries finished talks on sanitation and quarantine.

Since a bilateral summit in October last year, Seoul has encouraged exporters to register with the Chinese government and take advantage of demand spawned by popular Korean soap operas there.
By William Schwartz | Published on 2016/06/04

The reunion between Jun and Seo-ri is pretty prickly, as usual because "Mirror of the Witch" insists on restarting the plot from scratch for no reason. Fortunately in this case the dynamic is fairly interesting. We see clearly that Seo-ri and especially Yo-gwang (played by Lee Yi-kyung) are just about completely out of patience, and only bothered to save Jun's life in the first place because they are that desperate for useful information.

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While bad information management has been the big frustrating point of "Mirror of the Witch" to date, it's actually fairly well utilized here in story. Take King Seonjo. He's not really cut out to be king- the guy is only at the bare minimum competence level. But the situation is only made worse by the fact that other characters won't give him the full story on what's going on, forcing King Seonjo to make important decisions on very slight information. It's actually a pretty apt analogy to King Seonjo's more famous leadership failures during the Japanese Invasion.

Other characters also benefit a fair bit from being out of the loop. Heo-ok is, for now, less a serious villain and more just a cog in a very inefficient bureaucratic machine that is very bad at solving problems. Detective Heo-ok obviously has no idea how to properly interrogate a suspect. Here's a hint- if you want actual useful information, positive bargaining tends to be a better strategy than just making threats at random.

This also does a lot to emphasize Hong-joo's rule as the true villain and how, once again, her main useful ability is persuasive arguments rather than magic persay. I'd like to mention, by the way, that her squad of female goons is pretty cool. South Korea is probably one of the best countries to work as a stuntwoman in general, because it seems like every other historical drama has at least one all-woman army.

So overall "Mirror of the Witch" is back to the good stuff- more emphasis on character flaws, less on convoluted plots. The production values are pretty decent overall too. Take a gander at Yeon-hee's hideaway and observe just how cool it looks. I wonder where that set is located, and if it involves a real tree. Other more humorous elements are also quite well-done. The brief obsession over Yoon Si-yoon's bare chest may feel completely out of place, but it has just barely enough relevance to still be pretty funny.

Review by William Schwartz

"Mirror of the Witch" is directed by Jo Hyeon-tak, written by Yang Hyeok-moon and features Yoon Si-yoon, Kim Sae-ron, Lee Sung-jae, Yum Jung-ah, Kwak Si-yang and Jang Hee-jin.

Watch on Viki
Published on 2016/06/05 | Source

Land prices grew at the fastest clip in eight years this year with 5.08 percent.

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Land prices on the southern resort island of Jeju surged 27.77 percent thanks mainly to explosive demand from Chinese investors.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday said official land prices nationwide rose 5.08 percent on average as of Jan. 1. Total real estate value stood at W4,510 trillion, up more than W234 trillion compared to 2015 (US$1=W1,192)

The Nature Republic cosmetics store in Myeong-dong remains Seoul's most expensive piece of real estate for the 13th year with 1 pyeong or 3.3 sq.m valued at W274 million, more than double the price in 2004.

The Dongbu Centreville apartment in Daechi-dong, Gangnam is the most expensive piece of residential real estate at W42.7 million per 3.3 sq.m.
Published on 2016/06/05 | Source

June Kang, perhaps best known as the wife of actor Choi Min-soo, will be the mistress of ceremonies at a British Embassy party on Saturday celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday.

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The British community in Korea celebrates the queen's birthday every year, but the event this year is the biggest so far with 400 invited guests, double the number of previous years.

Kang told the Chosun Ilbo that she was asked to host the event through contacts built up during her 12 years as the PR representative for an international school in Seoul which is a member of the British Chamber of Commerce here.

Kang declared herself honored to be given the chance because she is a citizen of Canada, whose head of state is the queen.

Kang will compere the event with Gordon Dudley of Research Direct International, introducing U.K. Ambassador Charles Hays and other guests.

Kang competed in the 1993 Miss Korea pageant and married actor Choi Min-soo in 1994. She is a director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
Published on 2016/06/05 | Source

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is considering a ban on sales of highly alcohol drinks in parks along the Han River, it said Tuesday. The move is part of the city government's drive to curb alcohol consumption.

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According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, monthly alcohol consumption rose from 62.1 percent in 2014 to 63.6 percent last year.

And high-risk alcohol consumption rose from 16.5 to 17.6 percent over the same period.

The consumption rate is the proportion of people who drank alcohol more than once a month over the past year, while the high-risk rate refers to people who drink more than seven shots of soju in one sitting for men and more than five shots for women.

The city wants to ban drinks with more than 17 percent alcohol content from kiosks in the Han River parks.

It is also considering a ban on sales of all alcoholic drinks in all metropolitan parks, but skeptics point out that it will have trouble stopping people from bringing them in from outside.
Published on 2016/06/04 | Source

Added the upcoming Korean drama "The Legend of the Blue Sea"'s page to HanCinema database

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"The Legend of the Blue Sea" (2016)

Directed by Jin Hyeok

Written by Park Ji-eun

Network : SBS

With Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Min-ho,...

Wed, Thu 22:00

Synopsis

'The Legend of the Blue Sea' is a fantasy romance drama that borrowed motifs from a mermaid story found in a book called 'Eaou Yadam', a collection of folk tales. According to the folk tale, Kim Dam-ryung, a magistrate in Hyupgok, released a mermaid caught by a fisherman back to the sea. The drama will tell the story about the magistrate and the mermaid.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/11
County GOP central committee chairman to leave after Election Day

Jerry DeWolf, Washington County GOP Central Committee chairman, says he's leaving the group after the election to spend more time with family.
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Chinas One Belt, One Road (OBOR), which was first proposed in September 2013, and combines the twin initiatives of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is a grand concept that envisions China girdling the globe. Essentially, it is a plan for a China-built land and sea transportation artery to link production centres in China with markets and natural resource centres around the world. At the same time it will harness Chinas massive, but hitherto idle, economic, manpower and technological reserves and get much-needed returns on investment. The initiative blends geopolitical and diplomatic objectives and has a strong domestic agenda. The latter was highlighted when an official of Chinas Ministry of Commerce told Caijing magazine in May 2014 that the new 30 years will put todays China on the threshold of a third era comparable to those begun by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Read | From China to Pakistan: A well-thought-out 3,000km lifeline

The approximately $1.4 trillion project potentially covers 55% of the world GNP, 70% of the global population, and 75% of the earths known energy reserves. China also claims to be willing to make a huge financial commitment in infrastructure financing and, though some multilateral and bilateral pledges may overlap, it is still estimated to exceed US $300 billion. The initiative has the potential to bend borders and alter geostrategic dynamics and the status quo in Chinas extended neighbourhood. Its completion is planned to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China in 2049.

Read | Sino-Pak corridor through PoK in focus during Gen Sharifs China visit

The OBORs most publicised segment is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which directly impacts India and was announced by President Xi Jinping in Islamabad in April 2015 and is valued by Pakistani analysts at $46 billion. Another section was operationalised in May 2015 when Xi committed $15.7 billion in Belarus and concluded other agreements during visits to Kazakhstan and Russia. The CPEC is an example of the diplomatic and military support that China plans for OBOR. With the CPEC, Beijing overtly supported Pakistans territorial claims and dispelled the ambiguity it had maintained for over six decades on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The recent restructuring of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) similarly anticipated the need to protect Chinas overseas assets and the PLAs new West Zones tasks will include safeguarding Chinese investments and projects abroad, including the CPEC. China has additionally indicated it is establishing a Division-strength private army for deployment in the CPEC.

The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor is also part of OBOR and Beijing is pressuring India to sign on to this too. Opening the BCIM would, however, mean that Chinese goods will flood Indias northeast where poor connectivity presently makes access difficult for Indian products and people. There is the additional risk of thousands of Chinese illegally settling in Indias sparsely populated north-eastern states, as they have in other countries.

Read | India must join Chinas Silk Route initiative

The disbursal of large sums as loans and aid for countries participating in OBOR will enhance Chinas economic influence and the financial power it exercises through trading relationships. International financial institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), BRICS New Development Bank, Silk Road Fund, a Chinese Investment Corporation-backed fund, and a SCO Development Bank, are getting involved with OBOR. Private investors and lenders have expressed interest and at least 20 European countries are in talks with China.

Meanwhile, Chinas cash-rich State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) are ready to participate. Official Chinese reports disclose that more than 80 SoEs had established branches in countries and regions participating in OBOR by the end of 2014 and over 30 had overseas legal risk prevention plans. Separately, on March 14, 2016, Chinas State Administration of Taxation announced that tax treaties with countries along the Belt and Road will save financial institutions in China almost $1.5 billion in taxes.

Read | India should consider the right road for Asian economies

Major difficulties, however, confront OBOR. Jia Qingguo, member of the CPPCC Standing Committee and Dean of the University of International relations at Beijing University, sounded a note of caution in March 2015 and pointed to the problems of harsh terrain, political instability, and geopolitical threats. Saying Russia is wary of Chinas rise, he cautioned China against appearing to challenge Russias position in Central Asia. Other Chinese academics and strategic analysts have observed that India, US, Russia, and Japan are all important players in OBOR countries and the region and could block Chinas plans. Among the major security challenges for China will be: protection of 81,000 kilometres of high-speed railway that China proposes to build through 65 countries; inclusion in OBOR of the Central Asian Republics and Turkey which will help Islamic extremist groups to assist Uyghurs in Xinjiang; and safeguarding the CPECs 51 projects in Baluchistan  among the worlds most vulnerable and domestic insurgency-ridden territories. These cast serious doubts about the viability of the OBOR.

Jayadeva Ranade is president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy

The views expressed are personal
Across the West, politicians are increasingly extolling the virtues of probity. Many have set a personal example  Uruguays former president Jose Mujica (the poorest President in the world) refused to move into the State-provided luxurious post-presidential house, while donating 90% of his salary to charity. US Senator Richard Shelby returned around $1.2m (40% of his office funds) during 2011-2013, while attending 1,681 town halls and maintaining a 23-member staff team. Even the US Senate, blighted by skewed campaign financing, has sought office fund savings worth $63m across cross-party lines (Republicans returned 11.7%, the Democrats 8.3%).

Institutional checks have also grown. The Swiss government meanwhile has posted a budget surplus of 2.3 billion francs, courtesy a 2001 debt brake reform that forces the government to ensure that spending grows slower than revenue trend-line growth. Tony Abbot, Australias former prime minister, reined in government travel costs by introducing a rule that ministers would sign off on all civil servant expenses over 11,000 (any expenses above 28,000 would be signed off by the prime minister himself). The prime minister and his family also travelled economy on a gruelling 24-hour Sydney to Paris flight. Icelands President resigned on news of having a Panama offshore account. A culture of austerity is spreading.

Institutional action against systemic corruption has also begun. Corruption investigations are breaching institutional impunity  Petrobras reported $2bn scam in bribes, kickbacks and money laundering, led to an impeachment process on Brazils President Dilma Rousseff herself. Guatamelas President was jailed for reportedly taking bribes, while India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines saw governments reaching an absolute majority on anti-corruption manifestos. Romania has been prosecuting more than 1,250 people, including 16 members of parliament, five ministers and a former prime minister on corruption charges. The questioning of Malaysias Prime Minister on the 1MBD scandal ($700m making its way to his personal account), along with Chinas corruption crackdown (netting 300,000 public officials in 2015) reflect a world cracking down on grand corruption networks.

Meanwhile, Indias political class continues to aggrandise. Along with a monthly salary of 1.4 lakh (18 times the average per capita income), MPs get a host of benefits (subsidised food, furniture, cleaning services, etc). The share of crorepati MPs increased to 442 in 2014, up from 300 in 2009 while 45,000 police protect them and other VIPs and conduct non-policing duties. Few conditions of service prevail  the US requires members of Congress to not earn more than 15% of their Congressional salary from outside sources.

Institutional reform has often been stymied. The Supreme Court struck down the Single Directive enabling the CBI to avoid seeking prior state permission in preliminary corruption enquiries. Cross-parliamentary consensus ensured that it was instead reinstated. The Penal Code (1860) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (1895) continue to prevent prosecution of ministers. An amendment of the Representation of People Act (1951) is long overdue  it allows for special treatment of MP/MLAs. Fast-track courts need to be established to ensure that criminal cases against public representatives are resolved as soon as possible.

Salaries require rationalisation  we should pay public representatives enough to incentivise productivity and deter corruption while indexing to the highest-paid bureaucrats as in France and Japan. We need to avoid conflict of interest situations (Mexico even disbars ministers from holding office bearer posts in a political party). Salary increments ought to be decided by a nonpartisan judicial body, with no MP overlap. BR Ambedkars proposed four-point system holds increasing relevance, seeking asset disclosure upon end of term, and facing questioning and penalties for any unjustified increases.

Every politician, austere or extravagant, wants to be re-elected. With electoral expenses increasing (election spends are grossly underreported by 4-6 times), financing election campaigns has become a permanent Augean exercise. Rich Lok Sabha candidates typically win  33% of those with assets greater than 5 crore won in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections; only 0.44% of those with assets less than

10 lakh did so.

An amendment of the Representation of People Act (1951) and the Conduct of Election Rules (1961) needs to be considered. Moving towards grassroots funding, led by small-sum donors, in conjunction with intra-party democracy and transparency is needed to break up the contractor-politician nexus. Public funding of elections, along with an increase in corporate donation limits, could lead to more legal campaign financing.

Much remains to be done. Poor countries lose $1 trillion a year to self-aggrandising and corruption (Transparency International, 2015). While the human cost of such political perks remains huge, leaders and representatives continue to live luxurious lives. We need to tackle the underlying causes by reducing tolerance for political kickbacks, extravagance and open corruption. Every little bit helps.

Varun Gandhi is BJP national general secretary and a Lok Sabha MP

The views expressed are personal
The events in Mathura on Friday, during which two policemen and 22 protesters were killed (at the time of going to press), have proved once again that references to the badlands of Uttar Pradesh are often quite justified. This time the deaths were because of a fallout of encroachment on government land by people believed to be members of a religious organisation called the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharak Kranti Satyagrahi, which claims that it follows the teachings of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The encroachers, when threatened with eviction in response to a court order, fired on the police, who had to retaliate. The incidents look eerily similar to those of Saharanpur in 2014, when a plot of land was supposed to be the reason for dispute between two communities. The saving grace then had been that the administration was quick to act and was able to minimise the casualties. But this time it was not able to gauge the possibilities of a flare-up such as this.

That the local administration is most definitely to blame for events of this kind cannot be over-stressed. In fact according to preliminary reports even UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has admitted to the fact that the administration could not guess that events would go out if hand in this manner. For example, it may be asked how the encroachers were able to acquire and accumulate arms. Second, the fact that they could muster enough courage to fire on the police gives rise to the suspicion that they have some kind of political backing, which gets woven into a pattern of illegalities. Third, why did the group think it appropriate to invoke the name of Subhas Chandra Bose? Obviously it thought this was a suitable name for it to be in step with the mood and temper of the times, when there is an attempt by the ruling dispensation to pull down some outstanding nationalist figures and replace them with some others.

All said and done, the short point is that the administration, as in many other cases, had been caught flat-footed. The problem of encroachment is widespread across India, not just in UP. In the capital, there have been several instances of people encroaching on public spaces, often building temples or other houses of worship and then using that as a figleaf to justify land-grabbing. At the first sign of such violations, the authorities are duty-bound to act and evict those engaged in such activities. It was not done in the UP case with fatal consequences.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Universitys Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) has received over 20,000 applications for its two flagship courses - BTech (information technology & mathematical innovation) and BA (Hons) humanities and social sciences. The admission to these courses is being held through an entrance test.

The centre received around 800 applications for both the courses last year. There are 40 seats in each course. This year, for the first time, the CIC invited applications from all over India. Earlier, it only accepted applications from students already registered with DU.

We invited applications from across India and there has been a tremendous response. For our two flagship courses, we received 20,796 applications this year. For the six undergraduate courses, we received 70,128 applications, said CIC director MM Chaturvedi.

Till last year, to get admission to the centre, students had to be first admitted to any of the DU colleges. Then they could apply to the CIC. Admission was held on the basis of an entrance test and interview.

Chaturvedi said this year any student, who has passed Class XII, could apply and sit for the entrance test. He will be given admission on the performance merit. This has made many more students apply for the courses directly, he said.

The CIC has also received seven applications from transgender students who have applied in other category. The entrance test for undergraduate courses will be conducted between June 20 and 23 at seven cities across the country. Admission will be over by July 18.

The CIC was established in 2011 and is known for its innovative course design. It is a centre which practices meta college and meta university concept. It is a concept wherein students can pursue a course between universities that are collaborating with each other.

The centre also offers postgraduate course in Msc in Mathematics Education. This course is organised under the meta university concept in collaboration with Jamia Millia Islamia.

The centre has also received 1,31,714 applications for postgraduate courses and 12,614 applications for MPhil and PhD courses.

The CIC is a unique and futuristic centre that allows students to study and understand the problems of the world, said Chaturvedi.
NEW DELHI: Twenty-four Delhi University colleges will help applicants fill online registration forms. They will let the applicants use their computers and access internet on campus.

The colleges would also set up help desks and depute volunteers and staff to help applicants, a DU official said.

At Atma Ram Santan Dharma College, there are 40 computers with inter net access. Three persons will help the students fill the online form. Counsellors will also be available from 9am to 5pm.

At Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, four persons will assist the students with the registration. It has 15 computers. There is also a helpdesk with 30 volunteers guiding the applicants.

Hindu College will also set up a help desk. There will be 20 computers with internet access and two scanners. A lab attendant will help the applicants.

Meanwhile, the university received 1,38,915 applications on Saturday, the fourth day of admission. There are 57,455 paid applications, out of which male applicants are 28,245 and female 29,208, said the university.

T he online registration started on June 1 and will continue till June 19. The first cutoff list will be out on June 27. Based on this list, the students can take admission till June 30. The second cutoff list will be out on July 1. This year the university is releasing only five cutoff lists.

The registration fee is Rs 100 for unreserved and OBC categories and Rs 50 for SC/ST/ PwD (person with disabilities).
NEW DELHI: An armed man allegedly opened fire at a Delhi Police constable near the police headquarters in central Delhi near ITO, after he tried to flag down two bike-borne men around 1pm.

The constable, Bhiwa Ram, posted at Daryaganj police station, was shot in the hand. However, he managed to nab the man riding pillion, while the biker escaped.

The police said Manoj Mishra (24) had over 40 cases of robbery and snatching registered against him. Mishra was reportedly heading towards ITO from Geeta Colony, with his associate, to target a businessman when they were flagged down. The duo was not aware that the team from Daryaganj police station had laid a trap to apprehend him.

As their bike was spotted, constable Bhiwa Ram, who was in plain clothes, signalled them to stop. After they realised that he was a policeman, the rider took a U-turn in a bid to escape. But Bhiwa Ram held the bike from behind. Mishra, who was riding pillion, then shot at him with his pistol.

Two rounds were fired and one bullet hit Ram in his right hand. He, however, did not let go of the bike and caught Mishra by the collar. He dragged him off the two-wheeler.

By then, other armed policemen arrived. The rider managed to flee. Our team did not open fire as it was a crowded area and the bullet could have hit a passerby. Ram was then rushed to LNJP hospital, a senior police officer said.

Sources said the gang had been operating in Karol Bagh, Paharganj, Daryaganj, and Ajmeri Gate. Raids were conducted and their locations traced. But the police couldnt nab them as they were changing their locations often. Mishra has been involved in over 40 cases of robbery.
NEW DELHI: A 25-year-old man bludgeoned his wife to death by smashing her head against the wall and had sex with the corpse before falling asleep beside it, the Delhi Police said Saturday.

Pradeep Sharma, an e-rickshaw driver, was arrested on Friday and confessed to killing his wife Monica in a fit of rage and under the influence of alcohol at their home in west Delhis Nihal Vihar on May 30, police said. The couple fought frequently over money and Sharma also suspected Monica of being unfaithful.

They argued for the last time that night over getting an eviction notice for being late on their rent payment. A police source said a heavily-drunk Sharma smashed Monicas face with a brick and slammed her head against the wall repeatedly till she passed out. After she died, he wiped her bloodied face clean with a wet cloth and had sex with the body before crashing out.

When he woke up the next morning, he realised he had killed his wife, the source said.

DCP (west) Pushpendra Kumar said, He took away her mobile phone and other articles which could help identify them. He even informed his father he had killed his wife and then switched off his phone.

The police were informed of the murder by the landlord. Teams were formed and raids conducted in Pradeeps village in Bulandshar, Uttar Pradesh, but he could not be traced.

We then received information that Pradeep was hiding near Nangloi railway station and planned to take a train to UP. Teams were deployed at Nangloi, Shakur Basti, Old and New Delhi railway stations for two days round-the-clock till he was arrested, DCP Kumar said.

During questioning, Sharma told the police the fighting started within three months of marriage as he made little money and the couple, struggling to make rent, had to frequently move houses.

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NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisations (WHO) list of the worlds most polluted cities brought cheer to Delhi.

The Capital lost the most polluted tag. But even a cursory look at the data revealed that Indian cities located north of the Vindhyas  not far from Delhi  were the most polluted and this is where the fight to make the air cleaner should begin.

The WHO data said of the 20 most polluted places in the world (out of the 3,000 included), 10 are in India. Delhi is at number 11 and Gwalior and Allahabad are at number 2 and 3, respectively.

The inference is clear: People living in the countrys upcoming towns and cities are bearing the brunt of the countrys lackadaisical attitude in cleaning the air.

What the WHO says about Indias tier-two cities is something the countrys pollution watchdog, the Central Pollution Control Boards data has been observing for the last 15 years.

The boards data showed air pollution in smaller cities such as Gwalior, Allahabad, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Ludhiana and Bhopal has been rising at a much faster pace than in the big metros.

The ranking shows Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of polluted cities followed by Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Environment experts say the focus on Delhis pollution failed to raise similar issues in other towns. Delhi has better air quality monitoring and better fuel quality standards than other cities.

The green brigade is now waiting for Delhi and other big cities to adopt Bharat Stage VI fuel  which will be a big push in the fight against pollution.

Currently, Delhi and 32 other big cities have the BS IV norm. The rest of the country is still following the BS III norm.

Reliance on private transport in tier-two cities is increasing because of struggling public transportation.

These upcoming cities are a public transport nightmare, said Sunita Narain, director general of the Delhi-based air pollution advocacy g roup, the Centre for Science and Environment.

These cities need to be made smart with relation to public transport and health, she said.

Others have been stressing the need for a coordinated effort in the entire region to fight pollution.

There is an urgent need of coordinated inter-agency efforts to address air pollution at national and regional levels. That a whole region is suffering from the problem has been reinforced by the findings of various research bodies, including IIT Kanpur, the WHO and the governments own Central Pollution Control Board, said Greenpeace India campaigner, Sunil Dahiya.

Pollution does not recognise political boundaries, with polluted air travelling across long distances. Air pollution is a national crisis, and demands a concerted national action plan in response, he said.

According to him, the rise of fossil fuel consumption in India and unclean industry has contributed to an increase in air pollution levels.

The significant increase in secondary particles such as SO2 and NOx in particular are contributing to the overall pollution, he said.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government asked all hospitals performing organ transplantations to follow the transplant Act in letter and spirit a day after Delhi police unearthed a kidney racket at Apollo.

The Directorate General of Health Services, Delhi, on Saturday uploaded the Directive on its website that said the transplant Act paved the way for promoting organ transplantation for therapeutic purposes in India.

The basic premise behind the act and the rules has been to ensure that donation of organs (especially from a living donor) is purely for altruistic reasons, out of love and affection and it is free from any financial transaction or in lieu of its assurance in future in any manner between recipient and donor And there is no pressure or/coercion of any kind on the donor.

The directive said all hospitals in Delhi where organ transplantation is performed must follow the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act and the Rules.
NEW DELHI: Now students visiting the website of Indraprastha College for Women will have the option of reading the information in both Hindi and English. The college has launched a website in Hindi.

The colleges Hindi/bilingual website has been launched. It can be accessed at www.hindi. ipcollege.ac.in and also from the link on homepage at www.ipcollege.ac.in, said principal Babli Moitra Saraf.

On Saturday, the college organised Open House session for over two hours. It was attended by almost 250 aspirants.

IP College for Women was established in 1924 and is the oldest womens college in Delhi University. It is the only college to institute a UG research grant for innovative and original projects.

The college also has four Research and Learning Resource Centers. The college will start two new courses, B.A. (Hons) Sociology and B.A. (Hons) Geography, from the upcoming academic session in July, subject to clearance from the UGC, Saraf said.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Saturday said the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) decision to treat the minor who ran over 33-year-old Siddharth Sharma with his fathers Mercedes car as an adult will set the right precedent.

In an eight-page plea drafted by the prosecution on behalf of Delhi Police, the JJB was urged to try the minor as an adult. The investigators said the juvenile had the ability to understand the consequences of the offence and that he was allegedly a habitual offender.

The police believed the minor should be tried under sections of culpable homicide and abetment as he had been driving the car for the past three years and had been previously warned against rash and negligent driving.

According to the police, the juvenile allegedly had a history of traffic violations that his father was aware of. He had been issued challans three times for traffic violations.

The boy was allegedly involved in an accident on February 16 this year in Maurice Nagar where he settled the matter. He was too driving a Mercedes and was allegedly not carrying any license or RC. To avoid prosecution, he gave out a false name to the police later.

The police said it was important to bring to the boards notice he was not just any other innocent juvenile. The police said they drafted the application after consulting a team of lawyers to put forth the right picture.

No one should be allowed to play with the law like this. The minor had regularly been going to his school and back home in his car, a police source said.

The investigators said since he was only four days short of turning 18, he should not be given the benefit of being a juvenile. The purpose of the Juvenile Justice Act is to protect juveniles in conflict with law, who are innocent and not mature enough. In this case he is mentally capable of understanding the consequences of his act, a police officer said.

DCP, North, Madhur Verma said the police had to ensure that the suspects in such cases did not receive any leniency. The act committed by him comes under the category of heinous offences. Since he has been a habitual offender he is liable to be treated as an adult. The board took the right decision.

The minor, the application mentioned, was a habitual smoker. The police also said that his family owned five premium cars of which an Audi Q7, Mercedes and Porsche had been involved in accidents earlier.

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MUMBAI: Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse resigned on Saturday over charges of corruption in a land deal and alleged underworld links  the first prominent BJP leader to step down in such circumstances since the NDA came to power at the Centre in 2014 on a promise of clean governance.

The resignation came two days after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in Delhi to discuss the issue.

The decision came directly from the top with the PM taking a view that such serious charges cannot be ignored. It reflected badly on him and the central government. The state party unit had no role in this, said a state BJP minister on condition of anonymity.

With the BJP leadership wary that Khadses continuation would be seen as a lowering of its resolve to root out corruption, the party adopted a two-pronged strategy to tackle the controversy  asking the minister to resign but backing him publicly to ensure it does not end up losing a powerful OBC leader in the state.

The partys national joint general secretary V Satish informed Khadse, 63, of the decision on Saturday morning. He was, however, allowed to make the announcement and have his say as a face-saving measure.

Sources said Khadse was also promised a comeback if he emerged clean in the probe  Fadnavis announced one by a retired high court judge.

Khadse, considered the de-facto number two in the state government, is accused of buying a three-acre plot in Pune owned by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation from the original owner, who is in a legal dispute with the government body over the land acquisition.

The purchase  in the name of the ministers wife and son-in-law  was made for Rs3.75 crore while the land is reportedly worth Rs60-90 crore in compensation

under the new land acquisition law now.

Other controversies made his case weak  Khadses aide was arrested in May for seeking a bribe in a land allotment case, and there were allegations of calls made from fugitive don Dawood Ibrahims residence in Karachi to the ministers mobile number.

The Congress-led opposition had pounced on the scandals to highlight what it called large-scale corruption in BJP-ruled states. BJP

ally Shiv Sena, too, had demanded Khadses ouster from the cabinet.

The BJP has faced charges of corruption and irregularities against senior leaders earlier. But it rejected all demands for the resignation of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje in the Lalit Modi controversy and of MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam.

In the case of Khadse, party sources said, the allegations were far more personal and it was becoming difficult to defend him.

Announcing his resignation at a press conference, a defiant Khadse claimed to be the victim of a media trial and accused the opposition of levelling charges without proof, while vowing to clear his name. He said the documents purportedly proving the corruption charges against him were forged.

Several senior party colleagues stood by him in a show of unity while state BJP president Raosaheb Danve said the allegations were aimed at defaming the BJP and Khadse.

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LUCKNOW: The alleged mastermind of the violence in Mathura died after his hut caught fire in the rioting that followed a police anti-encroachment drive against members of his cult, police said on Saturday.

Uttar Pradesh director general of police Javeed Ahmed said Rambriksh Yadavs associates identified him among the 11-odd charred bodies lying in Mathuras Jawahar Bagh as the death toll in the incident rose to 27 people.

Some of the dead in the Mathura operation identified. Rambriksh Yadavs body

identified by associates. Family intimated for final confirmation, Ahmed said.

Yadav, seen in photos as a small, graying man dressed in kurta and dhoti, headed the self-styled revolutionary group Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah.

Members of the little-known armed sect called themselves followers of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and campaigned for a bizarre set of demands, including scrapping elections and the Indian currency.

They squatted in Jawahar Bagh for over two years, building a self-sustained unit inside the 280-acre government park, growing vegetables

and even devising their own justice system.

Police descended on the encroachers late on Thursday after a court ordered their removal. But the squatters who had sophisticated arms with them  allegedly

opened fire on the force and killed two senior police officers, including the city superintendent of police.

This triggered clashes and rioting inside the park that left 27 people dead. The incident also sparked a political war-of-words with opposition BJP and Bahujan Samaj Party blaming the ruling Samajwadi Party for the incident.

Mathura superintendent of police (rural) Arun Kumar Singh said Yadavs body was charred beyond recognition and identified on the basis of physical appearance and remnants.

We have called the family members of Yadav to Mathura for a final confirmation. The police will also go for a DNA test of the body to make a final confirmation, he said.

Police said in the rioting, Yadavs hut caught fire due to a cylinder blast, killing all 11 people hiding inside, including the alleged mastermind.

Another 22 unidentified dead bodies believed to be of the squatters are in the mortuary because no family member has turned up to claim them 48 hours after the violence.

Our first priority was to find out whether Rambriksh Yadav died in the clash or escaped. Now that his death has been confirmed, we have started the exercise to establish the identity of the remaining bodies, said a police officer.

We will take assistance of the members of the organisation to identify the remaining dead bodies as well.

Meanwhile, forensic and bomb disposal squads began searching for clues and collected samples for tests from Jawahar Bagh on Saturday morning.
NEW DELHI: The decision of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to try the minor accused in the Mercedes hit-and-run case in north Delhis Civil Lines as an adult has evoked a slew of contrasting opinions from experts.

Some hailed it as a right decision and a detriment for unruly minors but others feel the incident was not a heinous one and that the accused should have been given the benefit of being a minor on the day of the incident.

Justice SN Dhingra, a retired Delhi high court judge, told HT that the April 4 even was not an accident.

This is not an accident. If a person knows that his or her action is dangerous and likely to cause death, then it attracts charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he said.

Since he was a minor, he was not supposed to be driving the car. There was a likelihood of an untoward incident taking place and that is exactly what happened, Justice Dhingra added.

Nidhesh Gupta, senior advocate at Supreme Court, had a different view. He said: A heinous crime is commonly understood as one involving rape, murder, etc. where the punishment is seven years and can go up to life imprisonment or even the death sentence.

An offence under Section 304 cannot be regarded as a heinous crime. If such an offence is treated as heinous crime, then virtually every offence under IPC will be treated as a heinous one, Gupta said.

He added: The protection available to a juvenile under the JJ Act will be rendered illusory and the act itself will become virtually redundant.

However, Sumeet Pushkarna, former Central government counsel, said it was the right verdict since it was a case where people who had full knowledge of law committed to do unlawful things.

The spirit of the enactment has to be seen here. A detriment has to be sent to parents as well as children, because they are going with a premeditated intent and knowledge that they are underage and still doing unlawful things, Pushkarna said.

Advocate Meera Bhatia also agreed with the verdict saying that the JJB had given the right decision. Anyway, it is not yet the final order. No harm in treating him as an adult, she said.

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NEW DELHI: A day after Delhi Police blew the lid off a kidney trade racket at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, arresting two of its secretarial staff and three touts, five teams have been sent to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kolkata to carry out raids.

The police on Saturday served notice to Apollo, asking it to provide documents related to kidney transplants done in the last one year. Police suspect the involvement of two more staffers, including doctors, in the racket.

Apollo had on Friday said the hospital had been a victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients.

The cops visited the house of one recipient in Ghaziabad who was operated upon earlier this year but he was not found at home. He had reportedly taken help from this gang.

During questioning, Aditya Singh and Shailesh Saxena, aides to a senior nephrologist and three middle men arrested in the kidney racket, have named three more people stationed in Delhi and several others in different states, who are involved in the racket.

Aseem Sikdar, Satya Prakash and Devashish Moulik -- the three middlemen -- were arrested on Friday.

We have identified more touts who are said to be involved in the racket. We have accessed their call detail records and put their phones on surveillance. We have contacted hospitals where they are said to be operating. We hope to trace them soon. More arrests are likely, a senior police officer said.

The police sought technical assistance to study the electronic records that were seized on Thursday night. The documents and records have details of all the donors and recipients admitted to the hospital for kidney transplants. Till now the police have only identified five cases in which the kidney transplants were done based on forged documents. But they suspect more of such transplants were done in Apollo.

The gang had been operating here for over six months so we suspect that many more cases will come to fore during the investigation. We are studying all documents, a senior police officer said.

Senior doctors and other staff of Apollo hospital will soon be called in for questioning, sources said. We will question the doctors on the panel of the hospitals internal authorisation committee who give the clearances for the transplant after checking all documents, a source said.

On Friday,police arrested five persons for allegedly luring needy people with money in exchange for their kidneys.

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PATNA: Bihar cancelled the results of the topper and third rank holder of the state Class 12 examinations and scrapped the recognition of a college as authorities ordered a judicial probe into alleged academic irregularities on Saturday.

The Bihar state examination board (BSEB) said the two science stream studentsfirst ranker Saurav Shresth and third place holder Rahul Kumar  didnt perform well in a re-test ordered after television interviews of the toppers indicated they had little knowledge of the subjects they had supposedly aced.

Arts stream topper Ruby Ray who sparked the controversy by claiming she was taught cooking in her political science classes  didnt appear for the re-test citing ill health. The board threatened to scrap her result if she doesnt appear for the re-test by June 11.

BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Singh said the board struck down the recognition of Vaishalis VR College, where both Ray and Shresth were enrolled. The board also ordered an inquiry under a retired high court judge into alleged irregularities, cautioning that more colleges could face action. Officials also said merit lists in all streams will be re-examined.

But the board decided to not re-evaluate the marking on the original answer sheets as it is not allowed to do so by law. Besides, authorities said they did not get reports of malpractice from the examination centres the toppers appeared from.

The controversy is a major embarrassment for the Bihar government and puts the spotlight on Bihars failing education system that is riddled with spurious colleges and examination rackets. Activists say colleges fix exam and evaluation centres and even hand out tailor-made answer books that ensure high scores.
NEW DELHI: Two cheats have been arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in a 25-year-old case of theft and cheating.

Rohtas Kanwar, 55, and Hari Narayan, 53, were apprehended recently by a team of Crime Branch, from Rajiv Chowk Metro station, said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner (Crime) of police.

The have been arrested in a 25-year-old case of theft-cum-cheating in which they allegedly stole bank cheque from the office of a travel agent and encashed it, added the officer.

They have been convicted in two other cases, one of which was also investigated by the CBI.

The first case involved stealing Kisan Vikas Patra(KVP) worth crores from a train.

The duo along with their associates were involved in a case of theft of Kisan Vikas Patra worth crores of rupees, being transported to treasury, from a train in 1999. They also managed to encash the KVPs to the tune of Rs 1.50 crore, the officer said.
Those who question the governments policies are targeted. It is a pattern, said lawyer Indira Jaising after her NGO  Lawyers Collective  was barred from receiving foreign funds for six months and its licence suspended for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by the government last week. Ms Jaising is not the only one who thinks that the government is using the FCRA as a tool to silence dissenting voices; there are many others. In this case and several earlier cases  Greenpeace being a well-known one  the governments timing of issuing strictures and its targets have been injudicious, to say the least. In the case of Greenpeace, the NGOs employee was going to Britain to speak on tribal rights and mining; and in the Jaising case, she had just returned from a release function of a book on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The timing and choice of targets have led to the criticism that the Centre cannot stomach dissent. While no one holds any brief for corrupt NGOs, in both these cases, the motives are less than benign.

Read | Indira Jaisings NGO Lawyers Collective suspended for 6 months

In fact, the Centres run-in with foreign-funded NGOs started in 2014. Last year, it proposed new rules that would require banks to report every transaction made by these organisations within 48 hours. Additionally, the NGOs will have to pledge that the money wont be used for activities that go against national, public, security, strategic, scientific or economic interests  with the government retaining the right to interpret what these are.

Read | Modi government tightens grip on NGOs with recast rules

Last week, Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Parliamentary Affairs Venkaiah Naidu wrote a piece in a national daily describing what kind of activism the government will accept from NGOs. Saying that the government respects dissent and freedom of speech and expression but they are not absolute and are subject to reasonable restrictions, the minister said that NGOs must practise evidence-based advocacy. The minister, more than anyone else, knows that in many cases, especially when it comes to the rights of the people, evidence-based advocacy is not always possible. In Bastar, getting people to speak against the high-handedness of the security forces and government can be a challenge. Should NGOs not raise issues because there is no evidence, at least the type the government wants.

Read | NGOs vs government

The Centre must realise that raising uncomfortable questions has its value. Moreover, NGOs can work as an extension of the government and help it in implementing social schemes effectively. Looking at them as adversaries will only lead to more tension and criticism.
College freshers in Bhopal will now have to stop being upbeat about parties thrown to welcome them as the Madhya Pradesh higher education department has recently released guidelines barring freshers parties at hotels or anywhere outside premises of the college campus.

The guidelines have been framed keeping in mind increasing instances of senior students luring juniors with alcohol and other drugs at such parties. MP minister of state for education Deepak Joshi said,  Two years ago, a murder took place at a freshers party and we can see how students addiction is increasing crime rate in the state. Thus, we have said that if at all there is a freshers party, then the principal or a head faculty will have to give an undertaking to the administration.

Students termed the governments move a setback to the purpose of interaction among students for which colleges organise freshers parties.

Freshers party is actually an ice-breaking session with juniors and we need a change from the campus also. Students wont open up in the presence of faculty or directors. The new guidelines are dampening our excitement, said Shatakshi Srivas, an engineering student.

Another student named Yash Sahu said, The very purpose of freshers party is to welcome newcomers in a friendly atmosphere. We do not use alcohol and drugs to befriend our juniors.

Terming the guideline as baseless, Congress spokesperson Deepti Singh said, If the government has to curtail addiction and alcohol consumption amongst college students, then why arent they banning liquor in the state? If addictive substances are available, how can the ruling party ensure that students wont consume it either before or after the party or on any other occasion?
Shark conservationists have attacked actor Blake Lively for her role in the upcoming Hollywood flick, The Shallows. The 28-year-old portrays a surfer fighting for her life after being attacked by a great white shark in the upcoming horror-thriller. Valerie Faye, the writer of a new online petition, believes the film poses a great danger for the sea creatures, reported CNN.

Her petition, which has already garnered over 21,000 signatures, reads, In reality, we pose a greater danger to sharks than they do to us. Blake Lively is responsible for perpetuating the false belief that sharks should be hunted and not helped. According to National Geographic, for every human killed by a shark, humans kill approximately two million sharks!

Read: Blake Livelys LA face, Oakland booty post gets social media worked up

Read: Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds choose an unlikely name for daughter

Watch the trailer of The Shallows here:
After Delhis odd-even experiment, a town in Arunachal Pradesh has fixed the seventh of every month as a vehicle-free day in a bid to breathe easier.

But the Lohit district administration has restricted its walk or cycle order to government officials of district headquarters Tezu. It hopes to set an example for the 50,000 people of the town to follow.

Urban Arunachal Pradesh, though sparsely populated, suffers from vehicular congestion. Traffic snarls, sometimes up to five hours long, are usual in twin capitals Itanagar and Naharlagun.

We did not want to be seen as enforcers. It is always better to set the benchmark for the general people to follow for the cause of the environment and personal health, Lohit deputy commissioner Danish Ashraf told HT from Tezu on Sunday.

The order was issued on Friday but announced on World Environment Day.

I have requested all government officers and employees to observe the vehicle-free day on Tuesday (June 7) and the seventh of every month thereafter. We hope to increase the number of such days per month, Ashraf said.

Apart from ensuring cleaner air, the vehicle-free day is also expected to cut down on government expenditure on fuel.

The no-vehicle day has been relaxed for employees, particular for women, with health issues. Emergency duty has also been exempted.

The circular also does not apply to magistrates and police personnel, but their personal choice of using bicycles will be appreciated, Ashraf said.

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Reacting to the expose of toppers of 10+2 examinations conducted by Bihar School Examination Board, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said no one will be spared and action would be taken after fixing responsibility in the matter.

No one will be spared. Such an incident has happened and steps would be taken to ensure that there should not be any scope for such things in future. A thorough probe would be conducted into the incident. Whether or not any criminality is involved would also be probed, he said.

Last year, photographs of students using unfair means in matriculation examination appeared. We took stern action. This year, we successfully checked cheating in matriculation examination. Education department is looking into the matter (10+2 toppers). I will also keep a tab on it, Kumar told reporters here.

The BSEB on Saturday cancelled the result of science topper and another rank holder after a retest of 13 toppers of Arts and Science streams.

Rest 11 toppers who had appeared for the retest and interview before an expert team have been found excellent and given clean chit, the Board Chairman had said.

Kumar, also the national president of JD(U) was replying to reporters queries at the launch of partys membership campaign.
Seventeen people died and over 30 were injured when a luxury bus veered off into a ditch after colliding with two stationary cars on the Pune-Mumbai corridor expressway early on Sunday morning.

The bus was travelling from Satara to Mumbai when it rammed into a Swift DZire and Toyota Innova that had stopped to the side of the road, near Shedung in Raigad, at around 5 am. The DZire car had been punctured and the driver of the Innova had stopped to help change the tyre when the accident took place.

The DZire car was completely crashed from the rear. (Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo)

Thrown off course, the bus fell into a 20 foot ditch to the left of the highway.

(Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo)

The injured were immediately rushed to the MGM hospital in Panvel.

Police, who were ensuring first aid had been administered, said their first priority was to take people to hospital after which they will begin investigations.

Injured were being treated at the MGM hospital Kamothe at Panvel in Navi Mumbai. (Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo)

The death toll is also expected to rise as there were several grievously injured among those rushed to the hospital, police added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Residents of Bishada village in Dadri on Sunday met the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP to press their demand for registration of an FIR against Mohammad Akhlaqs family for alleged cow slaughter, following which he ordered a probe into the charge.

SSP Dharmendra Yadav said a case will be registered against the family only if the charge that the meat found in Akhlaqs home was beef was found to be true.

Its a very sensitive matter. The Circle Officer, Dadri, will head a probe into the charges, he said.

After the meeting with Yadav, Sanjay Rana, father of Vishal Rana, an accused in the 2015 lynching case threatened that a maha panchayat will be held in the village on Monday, as police have failed to register an FIR against Akhlaqs family.

A complaint was filed with police after the forensic report said the meat in the freezer at Akhlaqs house was beef. No FIR has been filed yet in this regard, he said.

The villagers have decided to hold a maha panchayat tomorrow as police have failed to register an FIR based on our complaint. Residents of Satha Chaurasi village will also attend it, he claimed.

He said that an eight-member delegation from the village had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday, who assured them he would speak to the Uttar Pradesh government in this regard.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had earlier this week questioned the authenticity of the forensic report and said there was nothing objectionable in his house. Every eye is on this matter. Everyone wants that the victims family should get justice as murder had taken place.

VHP leader Surindera Jain visited the village on Saturday and claimed that the accused had been falsely implicated.

VHP activists also staged a protest at the Collectorate demanding that the FIR be registered against Akhlaqs family and the financial help given to them be withdrawn.

Meanwhile, more police personnel have been deployed in the village.
Striking the goal that saw Tahiti through to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup is one of the most memorable moments of Steevy Chong Hue's life.The then 22-year-old sent French Polynesia into raptures when he struck in the tenth minute of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup against New Caledonia.It was a lead Tahiti held until the final whistle sending them into the history books as the first nation outside New Zealand or former OFC members Australia, to be crowned Oceania champions.Four years later Tahiti are once again faced with the prospect of needing a win against New Caledonia to continue their OFC Nations Cup journey, giving Chong Hue a chance to reflect on that single moment of triumph four years ago in Honiara."When I think back it gives me a certain sense of pride," he says."Pride for the country and for our respective families because we made a lot of sacrifices to get there and it paid off."There is a long held rivalry between the two Francophone nations and Chong Hue has no doubt that will be in evidence again tonight."Between New Caledonia and Tahiti it's always a heated match," the striker says."Both sides always want to win and it gives the match a certain edge."I think it will be the same tonight - a lot of contact, very physical, a duel."Tahiti meet New Caledonia in the final Group A match of the OFC Nations Cup at 7pm (local) tonight at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
First it was Bisada. Now it is Mathura.

With Uttar Pradesh inching towards the 2017 assembly election, political winds are blowing the dust from the storm in Mathura across the state as parties attempt to gain traction from the violence that killed 27 people.

Within two days of the clashes at Jawahar Bagh park, politicians  both big and small  have come out with their two cents, giving the Bisada beef lynching controversy a rest.

Read | Bisada tense, villagers cry foul over media, political bias

Since a man was lynched in Bisada in October 2015 by villagers who suspected that he had slaughtered a cow and consumed its meat, the issue of beef, secularity and tolerance have been hot-button topics. Political parties have rallied both for and against the issue, polarising the consensus between caste and religion.

Read | Dadri lynching: 6 months on, memories linger but no Muslims left village

But on June 2, more than a 100 people were hurt in Mathura when police attempted to evict around 3,000 people from Jawar Bagh park. The park had been encroached upon in the past two years. Among the dead were also two police officers.

Read | Mathura clashes: Death toll climbs to 24, NBW issued against mastermind

Like moths to a flame, politicians moved their attention away from the beef controversy. For now.

While Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded that chief minister Akhilesh Yadav resign, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah called for public works department minister, Shivpal Singh Yadav, to resign.

Speaking from Kanpur, Shah attacked the Samajwadi Party (SP)-led government, calling it an utter failure in matters of law and order.

Two police officers are murdered so brazenly; this is the law and order in Uttar Pradesh, he said as he launched the BJPs mission 2017 in Rooma and interacted with 15,000 booth level workers from 22 districts.

Stating that UP had the worst law and order situation among all states, Shah further said the SP government had lost its moral right to stay in power.

A top minister in Lucknow was telling the police officers not to open fire at the encroachers, Shah told the crowd.

Read | Samajwadi Party govt comes under fire after Mathura clashes

Demanding that SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav ask his brother and minister Shivpal to resign immediately, Shah insinuated that Shivpal allegedly pressured police not to act against the squatters.

Netaji (Mulayam Singh) should get Shivpals resignation immediately, he said.

Responding to Shah, Shivpal challenged the BJP president to prove the allegations, countering that Shah was responsible for mass killings in Gujarat. His statement is misinformation and brazenly misleading. It does not suit a person occupying a partys national president position to make such baseless allegation only for political motives. If he has any evidence (against me) then he must make them public or seek apology publicly for defamatory statements, the minister said.

Read | Mathura clashes: Lessons that are never learnt

Among those who took a swipe at the government was Mayawati, who, after calling for Akhilesh Yadav to step down as chief minister, criticised him for his priorities.

Instead of going to Bundelkhand, he should have had visited Mathura, Mayawati said on Saturday. Akhilesh had visited Charkhari Bundelkhand earlier in the day.

Akhilesh though did not lose the opportunity to retaliate, attacking opposition parties for doing dikhave ki rajneeti (politics for the sake of showing off).

The SP doesnt believe in this dikhave ki rajneeti, these parties certainly do. We believe in helping There are other issues for you to play politics on, dont play on this one, he said while at Charkhari.

Joining the fray, Union minister of state for tourism, Dr Mahesh Sharma, also pushed for the resignation of the state government on Saturday. Jawahar Bagh incident further exposes poor law and order across the state. State Intelligence and security agencies badly failed in assessing the situation.

The BJP, however, faced its own challenges in the matter through its Mathura MP, Hema Malini.

The actor-turned-politician came under fire for tweeting about her movie after the violence broke out.

Read | Day after Twitter gaffe, Mathura MP Hema Malini stopped at clash site

SP Rajya Sabha member, Naresh Agrawal cited the tweets when he claimed Malini had nothing to do with Mathura people.

She, however, held a dharna in Mathura after she reached the city on Saturday.

I was in Mathura for 10 days I had left Mathura only a day before the incident. When I learnt about the incident, I cancelled all my engagements and reached Mathura. I met the injured and hospitalised policemen and went to the house of martyr superintendent of police (city) to console his family, Malini stated.

She further pointed out that MLAs from Mathura had remained silent when they could have raised the Jawahar Bagh issue in the state assembly.

It is funny to blame me for inaction, she said.

However, the national spokesperson for the Aam Admi Party (AAP), Sanjay Singh, also attacked BJP leader, stating that Malini should resign from parliament and devote herself to acting instead. Singh was in Mathura to meet the family of the deceased police officials.

Read | Violent ideology, bizarre demands: Secretive world of the Mathura cult

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Even as India is on an all out push to become a member in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), sources said its strategy seems to first bag a membership of the other export control regime, Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Getting entry into one club will make the process easier for India to get a membership of other export control groupings.

The ongoing five-nation visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi includes three NSG countries  US, Switzerland and Mexico. The NSG is a group of 48 countries with an objective of nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that can be used for developing nuclear weapons.

Many countries in the grouping see Non-Proliferation Treaty, which India is not a signatory to, as a cornerstone of their policies on export controls. Some of these countries include New Zealand, Austria, Ireland and Mexico, sources said.

Chinese opposition to Indias membership into the club has a definite Pakistan angle to it. Days after India made a formal application to be a part of the club, Pakistan too followed suit.

India expects the US to garner support of other countries to push Indian bid to the NSG.

The merits of our joining NSG derive from the fact that we have a substantial expansion of our nuclear energy segment ahead of us. The fact is that as the industry grows, we will ourselves become a serious nuclear exporter and it is also a fact that our record in this has been very good, foreign secretary S Jaishanksar said while briefing the media on PMs visit on Friday.

For India, it will be comparatively easy to get entry into the MTCR  an elite club of 34 countries that controls trade in missile and space technology.

Against the backdrop of the tussle between India and Italy over marines who had shot dead two fishermen off Kerala coast, Rome opposed Indias entry into MTCR. With the marine issue no longer a matter of contention, Indian officials are hopeful of Italian support for Indias bid to MTCR.

A membership in such clubs will help India get access to technology and will be able to export its own technology to other member countries in the relevant fields.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met business leaders in Qatar and invited them to invest in India by saying the country is a land of opportunities and its 800 million youth is the nations strength.

Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders, ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Swarup quoted Modi as saying, India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity, in a tweet on Sunday morning.

Qatars minister of trade and economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India, Swarup said in another tweet.

Indias projects like smart cities, metros, urban waste management are carried out to improve quality of life in the country, PM Modi said in the meeting.

PM Modi identified agro-processing, railways and solar energy as some promising areas for Qatari investment.

Modi will hold talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later in the day.

He addressed Indian workers at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night.

The Prime Minister reached Qatari capital Doha from Afghanistan on Saturday night where he was received by the countrys Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

(with IANS inputs)
India is widely expected to be the 35th member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week, a move that will boost the countrys efforts to export and import missile technology subject to non-proliferation rules from friendly nations.

If made partner in the regime, a precursor to being admitted into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India will also be able to further its quest for clean nuclear energy.

The Obama administration has strongly backed Indias membership bid  India had applied for it last year  and three other export control regime, viz., Australia Group, NSG and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

We expect the membership of MTCR to be announced on June 7 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Washington. India has been a unilateral adherent of MTCR since 2008 and have more than fulfilled all our commitments including signing of Hague missile code, said a top Modi government official to Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity. The Hague Code of Conduct is considered to be complementary to the MTCR.



Officials of the ministry of external affairs, however, continue to play their cards close to their chest.

Read | India bids for Nuclear Suppliers Group entry via MTCR membership

Though tight-lipped, they said Indias entry into the multi-lateral regime will be completed this summer since the MTCRs Reinforced Point of Contact meeting this April went as per Indian plans.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team of advisors have made a relentless push for entry by constantly engaging the principals, President Pranab Mukherjee also added his weight to the effort by apparently reminding President Xi Jinping in Beijing last month that India has historically never opposed Chinas entry into any multilateral fora including the UN Security Council.

Foreign secretary S Jaishankar, who accompanied the Mukherjee, also told his Chinese counterpart that India needs a defined path to a membership in NSG to plan for its future nuclear power needs.

China, which is part of the 48-member NSG, is yet to be made member of MTCR.

Established in April 1987, the regime is a consensus body which includes most of the worlds key missile manufacturers, and aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks.

For India, the membership will also help add capabilities to its high altitude, long range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with or without armed payload.

Although India is looking towards PM Modis diplomacy and US President Barack Obamas heavy lifting for a push in the NSG at the June 9 plenary meeting in Vienna, American diplomats and corporate czars are very bullish on New Delhis membership into MTCR and NSG.

India application for NSG was submitted on May 12, 2016.

While in Washington, both Modi and Obama will also finalise discussions on the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Agreement (LEMOA), that allows two countries to share each others naval facilities. The document, though, will be signed by the respective defence ministers.

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The agitation call in demand for quota by the Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti received a poor response in Haryanas northern districts of Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Kaithal on Sunday.

Members of the pro-quota organisation held dharnas (sit-ins) in Jainpur Jattan village of Kurukshetra district, Matloda of Panipat district, Balla of Karnal district and Khichana Kuyi of Kaithal district, but these were small gathering amid heavy police presence.

No protest was reported in the Yamunanagar district.

We will protest peacefully and the agitation is indefinite, now it is up to the government to end the agitation by accepting our demands, said Baldev Rathee, a protester at Jainpur Jattan village of Kurukshetra district.

Read | Jat quota protests resume: Roads not blocked but Haryana on high alert

Despite the cold response, the Jats said the protest will continue peacefully until the government relents and accepts their demands  including reservation in government jobs and educational institutes, withdrawal of cases against those booked for violence during the first round of protests in February, compensation and jobs for kin of those killed during the agitation, and withdrawal of sedition charges against Jat leaders.

The protests in February witnessed widespread violence and destruction of property amounting to crores. Following the protests and allegations of mishandling the situation, the Haryana government introduced a Bill to grant reservation to the Jats along with Jat Sikhs, Tyagis, Rors, Bishnois and Muslim Jats. However, the high court stayed the Bill, infuriating the Jat community, which has questioned the states intentions.

This time around, the government made preparations to deal with the agitators if violence erupts, and Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code was imposed in almost all districts. Section 144 bans gathering of five or more people at any place and carrying sticks, axe, sword, knife or any other sharp-edged weapons. In addition, 55 paramilitary forces have been deployed across the state, additional chief secretary home Ram Niwas told ANI.

Jat protestors, however, have assured authorities that the agitation will be peaceful, and rail and road traffic will not be disrupted. Furthermore, a record of people joining the agitation is being maintained by the protestors to prevent anti-social elements from hijacking the movement.

As per reports, only 40-50 people have joined the sit-ins in Kaithal and Panipat districts, and district authorities are persuading them to end call it off by evening.

(With inputs from agencies)
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stayed away from a rally addressed by BJP president Amit Shah in Pune on Sunday, spurring speculations that he was deliberately avoiding public appearances in the aftermath of revenue minister Eknath Khadses resignation.

Khadse had resigned on Saturday over charges of corruption in a Pune land deal and alleged phone calls to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The event  a youth rally organised to promote the Narendra Modi governments skill development scheme  was planned over two months ago, and Fadnavis had confirmed his attendance back then.

According to sources, the party feared that the chief ministers presence would have shifted the focus of the function from the Centres welfare measures. Besides, a public appearance like this would have given the media an opportunity to grill him over the Khadse controversy.

Reports from the BJP camp suggested that the revenue minister was asked to resign a day before the Pune rally to prevent embarrassment to the party leadership.

The organisers reportedly made seating arrangements for Fadnavis and other ministers, which had to be changed at the last moment. The chief minister, instead, went for a tour to Yavatmal in the Vidarbha region  where he spent about half a day.

Shah, for his part, refrained from commenting on the political situation in Maharashtra or Khadses resignation. Instead, he apprised the youth of various schemes launched by Modi government to fight unemployment.

Maharashtra party president Raosaheb Danve, who also spoke at the event, compared the performance of the Modi government with that of the previous UPA government.

Girish Bapat was the only state minister to attend the function.

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The Medical Council of India (MCI) wants the Supreme Court to modify its order on the constitution of a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha to oversee how the regulator of medical profession and education functions.

In its application, the regulator said the Supreme Court order is based on a perception that MCI is corrupt. Voicing its strong reservations against the reasons the top court cited to appoint the panel, the MCI said vested interests have orchestrated a well-designed propaganda against the council to render it weak and toothless.

According to the MCI, the vested interests are none other than private colleges who fail to secure recognition in view of gross deficiencies in faculty, clinical material and other physical facilities.

As a medical regulator, MCI has to inspect all colleges  government and private  every year to ensure institutions maintain minimum standards prescribed by the council. Extension of recognition is given on the basis of the inspection that has to be done in a time-bound manner.

On May 3, a five-judge bench headed by Justice AR Dave had constituted the Justice Lodha committee. The direction came while the court upheld Madhya Pradesh government law that made it mandatory for private colleges to admit students through a state-conducted exam.

The MCI was repeatedly found short of fulfilling its mandated responsibilities medical graduates lacked competence in performing basic healthcare tasks. Instances of unethical practices continued to grow. The MCI was not able to spearhead any serious reforms in medical education, it said, quoting a parliamentary committee report.

But, MCI contested the courts opinion. Lobbies with ulterior motives and interest have done everything possible in their attempts to malign the name of the MCI and are further attempting to ensure that instead of getting appreciated for humongous tasks being performed by the MCI year after year  with complete sincerity, transparency and objectivity, the MCI has been finding itself at the receiving end on account of malicious propaganda against it, it stated in the application.

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Forget cops chasing criminals to stop crime. Policemen at Nainpur police station of the tribal-dominated Mandla district have turned graziers to satiate the hunger of the 100-plus cows seized in the past week from alleged cattle smugglers.

While 45 animals were seized from two cattle smugglers on Sunday, police seized two trucks stuffed with 60 bovines on Thursday and arrested four alleged smugglers. With no space available for seized cattle at existing cowsheds, we kept the animals under round-the-clock vigil of our staff for at least three days, before we found suitable cowsheds, said Nainpur police station in-charge Sudip Soni.

The cow shelter only has space for 15-20 heads of cattle, which forced us to keep the 60 seized animals in the open ground under continued vigil and graze them in dry grassland in the morning, Soni added.

All six cattle smuggling suspects arrested in the last six days hail from Pindrai village, notorious for smuggling cattle for slaughter to Maharashtra.

The opposition Congress mocked the incident as an attempt to gain publicity. Police catches some smugglers but after attacting media glare, they return the seized cattle to the offenders on the pretext that they have produced documents, alleged Mandla Congress district president Sanjay Parihar.
Three-tier security has been put in place in Amritsar and elaborate security arrangements have been made in several other parts of Punjab ahead of the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar on Monday.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar on Sunday appealed to all sections to exercise restraint and observe the anniversary peacefully.

Nearly 8,000 police personnel, besides six companies of paramilitary forces, have been camping in Amritsar for a week now, deployed at 200-odd checkpoints.

We have made sufficient deployment of security forces in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala, a senior Punjab police official told PTI on Sunday.

As many as 15 companies of paramilitary forces including ITBP, CRPF, RAF, besides police personnel in strength, have been deployed.

Six Companies of paramilitary forces have been placed at Amritsar while rest will be deployed in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala, he said.

As part of a statewide police crackdown on radical Sikhs, police has already rounded up activists of SAD (Amritsar) and Damdami Taksal from several places to avoid any trouble.

Several activists have also gone underground in the wake of the preventive arrests, official sources said.

Three-tier security has been put in place in Amritsar to prevent any trouble on the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar on Monday, June 6, 2016. (Sameer Sehgal / HT Photo )

Sikh radicals gathering every year at the Akal Takht to remember the 1984 military raid on the shrine to flush out militants had clashed with the SGPC Task Force in 2014 and 2015. On June 6 last year, five youths were injured in a clash inside the Golden Temple .

This year, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has doubled the strength of its task force and installed more security cameras inside the shrine.

We are confident about the citys security plan and banking upon the border range police to keep an eye on the rural segments, said police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal. Police are deployed both inside and outside the shrine, besides markets and entry points.

Other than screening and profiling potential troublemakers, well have a secret network for inputs. We will not allow anyone to force closure of shops, said the police commissioner. During Genocide Remembrance March on June 3, Sikh radical organisation Dal Khlasa had called for a shutdown in Amritsar on Monday.

Media allowed inside Golden Temple

Meanwhile, taking a u-turn, the SGPC decided to allow media coverage in the Golden Temple premises on Monday.

We are allowing the media with the humble request that they should maintain the sanctity of the Golden Temple, since certain media people some time create interruption in SGPC programmes. We always require media coverage and support, SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh said on Sunday.

In a letter to the Police Commissioner and the district Public Relation Officer, Singh had on Saturday sought police help to keep the media away from the periphery of the Golden Temple on June 6 when the anniversary of Operation Star is to be observed.

He had alleged that media always interfered in SGPC programmes, hence coverage by electronic media as well as photo journalists wont be allowed as it may hurt the sentiments of Sikh devotees.

On June, 1984, over 1,000 lives were claimed during Operation Bluestar, the raid on Sikhs holiest shrine Golden Temple to cow down extremists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. Bhindrawale and his associates were killed in the operation.

(With inputs from PTI)
Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure and make the party battle-ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.

Ramesh also said it was high time the Congress changed in keeping with a changing India as our communication strategy is not very effective and we need an aggressive outreach following successive poll debacles.

Challenges are very heavy but there is no room for despondency. Those who are writing off the Congress party are writing its premature obituary, the former minister told PTI, an apparent reference to Modis repeated calls for a Congress-mukt Bharat (Congress-free India) .

Making a strong pitch for Rahuls leadership, Ramesh said uncertainty does not help. He said the challenges facing the Congress were similar to those that confronted Sonia Gandhi when she took over as the party chief in March 1998.

Ramesh said the Congress vice-president had a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into position very soon. He is de facto, but he should become de jure.

Read | Congress rejig on the cards? Buzz over Rahul Gandhis elevation, but no date yet

The Congress presidentship had its institutional importance and Rahul should take charge as soon as possible, Ramesh said.

He has got a clear concept of strategy. He knows people he wants to bring. One thing should be clear that when Rahul Gandhi takes over, a team takes over. When? That is the big question, he said.

He recalled that when Sonia took over, the Congress was in power in only two states. Digvijaya Singh was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and Giridhar Gamang of Orissa (now Odisha). But, at that time the Congress had 140 members in the Lok Sabha.

Read | Rahul Gandhi as Cong chief? 5 challenges he will face in the hot seat

For the first time, the party was very weak in the Lok Sabha, had reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha and was in power in very few states, the former minister said. It is a difficult situation, he said.

The former environment ministers comments come at a time when opinion appears to be divided within the party over the timing of Rahul taking over the party top job.

Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh recently made a case for the change, saying Sonia was approaching 70 and Rahul could get into her shoes if she was feeling tired.

Senior leader Ambika Soni, however, said Sonia was working tirelessly and should continue -- a view shared by another party leader Kamal Nath.
Vowing to root out corruption in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he has faced problems by depriving the sweets of many and saved over Rs 36,000 crore annually by stopping leakage and theft in government schemes.

Addressing the Indian diaspora at the end of his two-day visit to Qatar, Modi said, We have only cleaned up the surface (on corruption) and a detailed clean-up remains.

We have stopped the sweets of many and in doing so, I have also faced problems. But I get the strength to face these problems from the love received from 125 crore Indians, he said, likening criticism of the governments action to a child getting angry on being deprived of a sweet by his mother.

Modi, who was repeatedly cheered by the Indian community members, said efforts to ensure financial transparency, discipline and efficiency have started yielding good results.

Can you imagine? We have saved Rs 36,000 crore per year by stopping leakage and theft in various government schemes, he said.

Modi said 1.62 crore fake ration cards have been detected and saved crores through subsidised wheat, rice, kerosene and LPG.

Corruption has made our country hollow, eating into its vitals like termite, he said.

Read: India and Qatar ink 7 agreements; to share intel on hawala, terror financing

In a veiled attack on the earlier Congress regimes, Modi said: Today across the world, Indias image has been enhanced and the country is being viewed respectably. Everyone is being attracted to India. You would have noticed the change when people from other countries meet Indians.

The Prime Minister said that despite India facing drought for two consecutive years, it has achieved 7.9 per cent GDP in the last quarter of the fiscal gone by.

Worlds economy is in doldrums and the best of the countries are also facing an economic downturn.

(But) India is moving ahead at a fast pace despite a lot of difficulties, he said, adding that all the credit rating agencies, World Bank and the IMF were unanimous in recognising India as the worlds fastest growing economy.

Despite the problems, the 7.9% growth is testimony to the fact that the country is moving fast, he said.

Modi added: Even when you go to faraway Mongolia, an Indian there also feels that times have changed (in India).

Read | India is land of opportunities, take advantage of it: Modi in Qatar

Noting that India-Qatar relations were growing, with the Indians settled here contributing significantly, he said: When rulers of any country praise Indians, you can imagine how my chest swells with pride.

After the 14th Finance Commission, the situation was reversed with 65 per cent of the countrys revenue going to states and the Centre having to do with only 35 per cent, he said.

In his 25-minute speech, the Prime Minister also made a reference to the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for the retired defence personnel which had been pending for over four decades.

The economic burden may have been big but this cannot be less than the prestige of soldiers dying for the country, he said.

Read: Will take up problems faced by Indian workers in Qatar: PM Modi
The BJP alleged on Sunday that the Uttar Pradesh government was removing vital proof from the violence-hit Jawahar Bagh in Mathura after a party delegation was barred from entering the park where clashes broke out last week.

Authorities stopped Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti outside Jawahar Bagh, prompting the Hindu leader to allege that the Samajwadi Party was complicit in the violence.

The way our delegation was stopped indicates that the administration had the intention to remove the evidences that might have gone against them, said Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal.

But police said they barred entry to the park due to a search operation to weed out possible land mines and explosives, adding that they found a bomb making unit inside the premises. We found 5 kg of potassium, 3kg of gun powder and 1 kg of potash besides electronic plates and iron pellets used in country-made bombs, said Mathura SSP Rakesh Singh. Security forces clashed with squatters who were illegally occupying the park for over two years and the ensuing rioting left many dead.

The encroachers belonged to Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah, a self-styled revolutionary sect whose members called themselves followers of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. With less than a year to go for the state polls, the violence is an embarrassment for the SP administration and ammunition in the hands of opposition parties such as the BJP, which accused the state government of shielding the criminals.

The saffron party accuses senior UP minister Shivpal Yadav of providing cover to the squatters, who allegedly were provided ration, electricity and allowed to set up shops and grow vegetables.

The state government is to blame as the local administration apprised the government that all was not well in Jawahar Bagh, said Agarwal. Jyoti echoed this view, saying the state government took no steps to remove the illegal occupants and didnt provide enough force to the police, resulting in the deaths. Agarwal said, The commissioner comes under the state government and with the state government to blame, one cannot expect a fair probe under the commissioner.

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After the sweltering heat of the past few days, Delhi can look forward to a cooler week ahead with the Met department predicting thunderstorms and rain.

A dust storm or thunderstorm on Monday evening could set the stage for showers on Tuesday and Wednesday and marginally lower temperatures, the weatherman said on Sunday.

The day saw the mercury touch 42.6C, two notches above normal, while the minimum temperature was 30.6C, three above the average. With the humidity hovering between 45% and 85%, the day was clammy and uncomfortable.

The maximum will be around 42C on Monday and 40C on Tuesday but the rain and thunderstorm could bring the minimum down to 29C, said the forecast. The weekend is also set to be pleasant with rain on Saturday, bringing temperatures down further to 38C (maximum) and 27C (minimum).

Overnight rain last Sunday (May 29) had cooled down the city, bringing the maximum temperature down to 36.7C, four below normal. But the relief had been short-lived.

Read: Heat back, Capital scorches at 42.7 degrees

Its been a cruel summer for Delhi  and the rest of north India  with the Met last month issuing a red alert amid warnings of an intense heat wave. The Palam weather station, usually the hottest part of the city, had recorded a high of 47C in May.

As the Capital waits for cooling showers, Kerala is ready to welcome the monsoon with the Met saying on Sunday that conditions were favourable for its onset over the next two to three days, reported IANS.

The southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala around June 1 before advancing northwards, covering the entire country around July 15. It usually arrives in Delhi on June 29.
The resignation of revenue minister Eknath Khadse over corruption allegations on Saturday exposed the ruling BJP in Maharashtra to anti-OBC slur and internal rivalries.

The partys senior-most leader and minister with nearly nine portfolios lost his job to a land scam that benefitted his family. Ironically, as the leader of the Opposition from 2009 to 2014, he exposed several land scams, particularly against the states NCP leaders. With the ouster of Khadse, an OBC leader mentored by the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, the BJP lost on one of its few mass-based leaders and backward-class face from northern Maharashtra.

The party stands open to accusation of being anti-backward class. This is one accusation the BJP could do without as the state is ruled by a Brahmin chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, and the RSSs so-called upper-caste legacy often comes to notice.

After the death of Munde, Khadse had indirectly inherited the mantle of the partys OBC face even though Mundes daughter, Pankaja, is in politics. The party will have to do damage control as his ouster will not go down well in his community and give the Opposition a stick to hit the party as being Brahmanical or anti-OBC, a senior party leader said.

We can tackle this but yes there are political implications even if one claims that caste doesnt matter when it comes to corruption. The Congress already seized the opportunity. Senior party leader Narayan Rane took the lead in alleging that Khadses dismissal was against the bahujan samaj.

Read: Defiant Khadse vows to quit politics if charges are proved

The BJPs state unit is battling a perception of anti-Dalit and with the ouster of Khadse, who has nearly 10 to 12 legislators in his camp, there are fears that resentment and intra-party rivalries are set to grow.

The biggest worry comes from media trials, which could increase as some senior ministers, including Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawde, are facing allegations of impropriety and corruption. Now, that media has tasted blood it is going to be difficult for us. With Khadses ouster, media trials will get stronger and we have seen what happened to the Congress during its tenure, a party functionary said.

Senior ministers put up a brave face, though. Northern Maharashtra legislators were cautioned against public protests or anti-party displays.

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A country in damage control is not a pretty sight. The debate in India about recent attacks on Africans shows up both our governments failings and the countrys cultural anxieties at once. It betrays social assumptions about colour, reveals the mental maps of hierarchy that we instinctively operate with and the instrumentalist frame through which Indians view Africa. Looking at the way the NDA government has handled the situation so far, it also underlines the role leaders can play in nurturing public attitudes  a sphere where Indias post-colonial past has much to teach us.

There are a few things we learned about India following the recent attacks. There is a now a greater consensus, even among scholars who are usually reluctant to draw dramatic conclusions, that a significant proportion of Indians do sport racist attitudes. The lived experience of Africans provides ample witness: from being called demeaning names, to being explicitly told they are not wanted, to a refusal to sit alongside them in public transport, Africans endure hostility and outright disregard on a daily basis in India.

Read: Six Africans attacked in Delhi

Sociologist Dipankar Gupta said this week that part of this stemmed from us identifying with Europeans, assuming that we are Aryans while being troubled about having a skin colour that is somewhere between white, black and oriental. Attitudes to Africans also arguably draws on a cultural instinct of conflating dark skin with low caste status and when you have commercial advertisements on TV usually representing the idiot in narratives as being dark or fat or both, it is easy to see why Indians dont display the ingratiating curiosity about black people the way they do about white tourists. Indian men are known to walk up to white women at tourist spots and demand selfies with them; its anybody guess if black women are similarly asked. Cultural products reinforce these attitudes. The popular animated comic series Chhota Bheem, for instance, has a fair-skinned, cherubic hero who is pitted against a fat, dark-skinned kid named Kalia who is described as being jealous of Bheem and tries to land him in trouble.

Politics of Colour

Political leaders want to paper over these trends. BJP representatives, keen on mounting a civilisational defence, angrily insist on TV that racism is not a motivation in the attacks; minister VK Singh dismisses the attacks as a minor scuffle and blamed the media. The more level-headed external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was more alert to the implications and exhorted Indians to openly express their love for Africans. This approach stems from the fact that India stands to lose a lot if loses goodwill in Africa. Indias trade with the continent is worth about $72 billion, it gets about 24 percent of its crude oil requirements from Africa, a lot of Indian private companies are invested there in sectors including agriculture, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, telecommunications and engineering goods. India also casts a wary eye at Chinas ambitions in Africa; its trade with the continent was worth $198.5 billion in 2012, nearly twice as that of the US at $99.8 billion.

Past Bonhomie

With around 40,000 Africans studying and working here, India can hardly afford the perception that it is a racist country. Changing Indian public attitudes to Africans ought to therefore be the Modi governments top priority. Two approaches may be in order: One is to grasp how India got close to Africa in the first place. A large part of the credit goes to Jawaharlal Nehru, even though PM Narendra Modi made it a point not to mention him in the India-Africa Forum Summit speech last year (even as seven African envoys specifically praised Indias first prime minister). By consistently championing national liberation struggles, anti-apartheid movements and Afro-Asian solidarity in the heyday Non-Aligned Movement, Nehru socialised Indians to African leaders and their causes while setting the stage for India to emerge as a reliable and economical source of training, expertise and technology for developing African nations. Ajay Kumar Dubey, an academic at JNU, reminds us that Nehru, among other things, rejected requests for a meeting with Benito Mussolini after Italy invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Between 1946 and 1962 the UN General Assembly passed 26 resolutions against racial discrimination in Africa which were activated by India. So much so that in 1976 a special session of the UN Committee against Apartheid was to pay a special tribute to India for its consistent cooperation. It is that kind of activism that helped shape the extensive cooperation that India has now where African students, government officials and professionals get Indian training and technical assistance while New Delhi is able to coordinate positions with African nations in multilateral forums.

Read: How can we tolerate, asks President Pranab Mukherjee

Likewise, the Modi government ought to seek out opportunities where African concerns are advanced internationally, which can add to Indias credibility in the continent and challenge racial biases at home. And Indias public understanding of Africa needs to change quickly; its representation has to move beyond scenery, wildlife and exotic tribes which is what we get from private television programming. Africa has 54 countries; the Indian government has to take it upon itself to acquaint audiences with a textured, changing, and fast-growing continent, through films, documentary, intellectual exchanges and art forms. This is one cultural project that Indian liberals and conservatives can both agree on.

Lastly, this project can only succeed if there is a genuine embrace of diversity in India. A party or a government that defines national and personal identity in narrow, exclusive terms, has a habit of stigmatising minorities and does not countenance individual choices is not in a position to substantively embrace another diverse continent like Africa. Diplomacy may be a transactional art but few would argue against authenticity as a building block of soft power. Failing to do so is to let ties run on the energy of events and summitry, which can only go so far. Really repairing ties with Africa (and diplomatically thriving in an interdependent world) may depend on fixing Indias soul.

Read more | Africans in India share their experiences

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MUMBAI: In a swift decision that came from the BJPs top leadership in New Delhi, Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse was asked to step down from the state cabinet on Saturday owing to serious graft charges against him. Khadse, one of the senior most leaders in the state and an aspirant to chief ministers post, is the first prominent BJP leader to resign over corruption charges since Prime Minister Narendra Modis government was sworn in, largely on an anti-graft poll plank, in 2014.

Sources said the BJPs national joint general secretary V Satish informed Khadse of the party leaderships decision on Saturday morning, leaving the so far defiant leader with no option but to quit. Ironically, the OBC leader, who was also the leader of opposition from 2009 to 2014, had led the corruption crusade against the Congress-NCP government.

The party, however, allowed Khadse to make the resignation announcement at a press conference as a face-saving measure. Sources said he was promised a comeback if he gets a clean chit in the probe. But, a second innings for Khadse seems difficult. Meanwhile, CM Devendra Fadnavis announced a probe by a retired high court judge into all the allegations against Khadse.

The senior ministers ouster came within a month of the first corruption allegation against him in May, when his alleged personal aide, Gajanan Patil, was caught by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) demanding Rs30-crore bribe. Since then, the minister has battled several allegations, but the controversial land deal in Bhosari (Pune), which directly benefitted his family, cost Khadse his job.

The decision came directly from the top, with the PM taking a view that such serious charges cant be ignored. It reflected badly on him and the central government. The state party unit had no role to play in this [decision]. The controversial land deal allegation, which points to conflict of interest and personal profiteering, went against him [Khadse]. The decision is clearly a signal to all that such charges of graft will not be taken lightly, said a party minister, on condition of anonymity.

Sources said the land scam allegation weakened BJPs aggressive stance against the Congress, specifically the Gandhis, and that irked party president Amit Shah and Modi. Khadses steady defiance in the face of the serious charges also did not go down too well with the leadership.

The decision came two days after Fadnavis submitted a report to Modi on the land deal in Bhosari, where Khadses family bought a 3-acre land reserved for industrial use and to be acquired by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) at a throwaway price of Rs3.75 crore.

Sources said the report offered no cover up for the revenue minister, with the industries department clearly terming the land allotment as irregular. The Shiv Sena, BJPs ally in the government and in-charge of the industries department, made its position against Khadse clear with industries minister Subhash Desai announcing that the land belonged to his department and the allotment had been irregular. Post the resignation, Sena MP Sanjay Raut termed the move as inevitable.

Senior party ministers Vinod Tawde, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil and state party president Raosaheb Danve were present along with Khadse at the press conference, to present a united leadership picture. All the allegations made against Khadse are false and baseless. There is no proof to prove the charges. We believe it is a conspiracy to defame the BJP and one of its senior leaders. Khadse has decided to stay away from the government until the inquiry into the allegations is completed, said Danve.

However, behind the scenes, legislators, especially from the Khadse camp, were cautioned to align themselves with the decision.

Hours after the press conference, where Khadse claimed to be a victim of media trial and a conspiracy to malign him, Fadnavis tweeted: Received resignation from Eknath Khadse ji, I have accepted it and sent it to the governor. Khadseji has demanded an inquiry into allegations against him. A retired high court judge will be appointed to conduct inquiry.

Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao accepted Khadses resignation on the chief ministers recommendation, said a Raj Bhavan communication.

While the BJP saved face by cutting Khadse loose, his resignation is likely to make the party more vulnerable to similar allegations, with a section of the party strongly feeling that the media trial won. Fadnavis, who has emerged stronger by showing his biggest rival within the party the door, now faces the challenge of keeping his cabinet together and unscathed from similar graft charges. The CM, who for now will handle all portfolios that were with Khadse, will also have to ensure that his party doesnt suffer from anti-OBC allegations post Khadses dismissal.

Earlier, his senior ministers and rivals, including Pankaja Munde and Tawde, have faced allegations of impropriety and wrongdoing.

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The results of the secondary school certificate (SSC) examination for 2015-16 will be declared at 1pm on Monday, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced, putting an end to rumours on the tentative dates doing the rounds of social media sites.

More than 17.27 lakh students from across the state, including 3.74 lakh from the Mumbai division, took the exam this year.

Students will be able to access the results at www.mahresult.nic.in. The mark sheets will be distributed in schools on June 15. This year, students will be able to apply for verification of marks immediately after the results, from June 7 to June 27. Students can also get a photocopy of the answer sheets at a minimum fee and then submit it for re-evaluation.

The SSC exams this year offered more concessions to students, with extra facilities for special students and multiple sections for science. To reduce the examination stress, the board split science subject into two sections, so it becomes easy for students to revise. Students with special needs were allowed to use adult writers, if they were unable to find writers younger to them. Students were also given 10 minutes extra to read the question paper before they start writing.

The re-exams will be conducted in July, the dates for the exams are yet to be announced.

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A day after the ouster of one of its seniormost ministers, Eknath Khadse, the BJP adopted a cautious stance in a bid to draw the curtains on the resignation drama and avoid any political fallout from it.

Party president Amit Shah, who was in Pune for a function skipped making any reference to Khadses ouster, even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave the Pune event a miss to attend a programme at Yavatmal, apparently to deflect attention from the issue.

At his erstwhile official residence, Ramtek in Malabar Hill, Khadse spent the day meeting a steady stream of supporters from his home turf in Jalgaon, even as he shunned meeting the media.

I have made my position clear at the press conference on Saturday, I have nothing more to say to the media. Everything has already been said and done by the media, Khadse told HT.

Behind the scenes, however, sources said that legislators from the Khadse camp had been told by the state leadership to fall in line. North Maharashtra, Khadses home turf, is also likely to get an additional portfolio in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle to placate legislators from the region.

There had been discontent with Khadses style of functioning and his style of grabbing all important positions for his family members and hence party does not expect major internal strife over the resignation even on his home turf, said a senior BJP leader.

On Sunday, the only visible sign of discontent if any were reports of 14 corporators from the Jalgaon civic body offering their resignations to protest against Khadse ouster.

But, in the long run, putting aside the Khadse episode is easier said than done for the state party unit. For starters, he was one of the few ministers in the Fadnavis cabinet with prior administrative, political and legislature experience.

The biggest challenge for the CM, who has clearly gained ground by Khadses dismissal, is to ensure that his team performs even as it steers clear of controversies and graft charges. But, barring a couple of ministers, there is no one with administrative experience. Even finding the right person for a portfolio like revenue is tough for the party, admitted a BJP state minister.

Khadses ouster puts finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in the number 2 position in the state cabinet and the party. He along with co-operation minister Chandrakant Patil and water resources minister Girish Mahajan are being considered for the revenue minister portfolio. There are eight other portfolios up for grabs with Khadses resignation including agriculture.

While Fadnavis may prefer Mahajan for the job, the central party leadership may chose Mungantiwar or Patil for this important portfolio. It is said that Mungantiwar is not too keen on the job even as Mahajan is not considered up to mark for this responsibility and Patil lacks experience.

For now, all eyes in the party are on the upcoming cabinet reshuffle slated this month. The reshuffle will give an indication of whether Chief Minister has a free hand in selecting his team and has indeed cemented his position in Maharashtra or whether the central leadership has tightened its hold on the state.

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Who will succeed Eknath Khadse, BJPs troubleshooter who also managed 10 portfolios? For chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP leadership, it will be a tight rope walk. Their biggest challenge will be to get at least a couple of leaders, who match Khadses ability to handle administration work and play Mr Fixit.

Fadnavis options seem limited. He is likely to choose between senior ministers Chandrakant Patil and Girish Mahajan to handle the revenue department along with their own portfolios. Patil is believed to be very close to party chief Amit Shah, while Mahajan is Khadses bete noire.

The party may now change its earlier stance and induct more cabinet ministers than ministers of state to ensure no incumbent minister is overburdened with numerous portfolios; much like Khadse was, sources said.

Besides senior party leader and former leader of opposition in the legislative council Pandurang Phundkar, Chainsukh Sancheti, Haribhau Jawale may be inducted as the new cabinet ministers, while minister of state for home Ram Shinde, who belongs to the Dhangar (shepherd) community, is likely to be elevated.

Finance minister and senior party leader Sudhir Mungantiwar has refused to take on the home or revenue departments. Fadnavis has kept all the 10 departments with him for now and is unlikely to do away with the home department, sources said. Besides finding suitable names to head the departments, the party will have to strike a regional and caste balance. The party is facing the challenge of being called anti-OBC after Khadses ouster and will have to accommodate leaders from backward classes. Western Vidarbha may get representation in the cabinet to pacify rising unrest in the region, said a party functionary.

A meeting between Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is likely this week. Of the 10 seats, three will go to the ministers of state from smaller allies (RPI, Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha and Shiv Sangram), two will go to the Sena, while five will be kept by the BJP, sources said. The five- or six-term MLAs are already senior ministers. We have identified MLAs that are three to four terms old and will be inducted, but only if they meet the regional equations. For instance, Raj Purohit and Mangalprabhat Lodha are senior MLAs, but cannot be inducted as the Mumbai quota has been filled, said a senior minister, on condition of anonymity.

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Rapper Kanye West premiered a still-untitled first single from his upcoming album Cruel Winter when he made a surprise appearance on Los Angeles radio. The brooding, synth-heavy track, which debuted on Big Boy in the Morning, features an all-star array of guests on the track, including 2 Chainz, Migos Quavo, Big Sean, Travis Scott, Desiigner, Yo Gotti and the freshly sprung Gucci Mane, reported Rolling Stone magazine.

Read: Kanye Wests TLOP is interesting and full of feeling

Read: Kanye West says he was raised to make a difference

West, 38, said the track will undergo more mixing before its official release. The rapper also revealed during the interview that Cruel Winter will feature a 15-minute version of Desiigners Panda that includes a verse from every rapper on the G O O D roster. West has long been teasing Cruel Winter, the follow-up to the G O O D Music cliques Cruel Summer.
ROHTAK: Defying prohibitory orders issued by the Rohtak district administration, Jat community members pitched tents at Jasiya village for over 15,000 people expected to participate in a protest called by the Akhil Bhartiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS) from Sunday.

The authorities had told the agitators to restrict their protests to a ground in Sector 6 of the district.

Rohtak deputy commissioner Atul Kumar said this move amounted to a violation of directives issued under Section 144 of the CrPC, and notices have been served to many of them.

If they still go ahead with their protest tomorrow, we will lodge cases and take action taken them, Kumar said.

The protesters, however, said the movement would be peaceful as long as police personnel maintain their distance. If they try to touch us, they will have to bear the consequences, said Joginder Pehelwan, one of the agitators leading the dharna at Jasiya village  which falls on National Highway-71A (Bawal -Jhajjar-Rohtak-Jind-Jalandhar).

He said arrangements have been made to ensure that the people camping at the village were not inconvenienced. Twelve cooks have been employed to make three meals a day for 20,000 people. They cook halwa, poori and subzi for us. We all are pitching in to ensure that everyone has a comfortable stay..., Pehelwan said.

Rohtak police have called in three additional paramilitary companies to make up for a shortfall of 2,000 personnel. Three companies of the CISF, two of the RAF, and one of the BSF have been deployed at various places across the city.

Meanwhile, the Sonepat district administration has blocked Internet data services across the region to prevent misuse of social media platforms by protesters. Deputy commissioner KM Pandurang issued orders prohibiting liquor sale in the district from June 4 to 5, and asked owners of heavy duty equipment such as earth movers to station them in police station premises for the duration of the agitation.

Earlier this year, eight districts of Haryana were hit by largescale violence after members of the Jat community took out protests demanding reservations.

Denouncing the arrests made by the police in cases related to the February stir, ABJASS national president Yashpal Malik called for new protests across Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh from June 5. More agitators joined the movement after the Punjab and Haryana HC stayed the reservations granted by the government to the Jat community. Another group, the Jat Ekta Manch, also announced a jail bharo andolan from Sunday.

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SRINAGAR: Striking for the second time in less than 24 hours in south Kashmir, militants on Saturday killed two police personnel in poll-bound Anantnag from where CM Mehbooba Mufti is contesting.

In a targeted action against security personnel, militants opened fire at a police party at the main bus stand in Anantnag, injuring assistant sub-inspector Bashir Ahmad and constable Reyaz Ahmad. Both succumbed to their injuries. The attack comes less than 24 hours after militants of banned Hizbul Mujahideen ambushed a BSF convoy in neighbouring Goriwan area at Bijbehara, killing three of its personnel.

Saturdays attack in Anantnag is seen as an attempt by militants to scare the voters as Mehbooba is seeking her election to the state assembly from here. Elections to the seat are now scheduled to be held on June 22.

Opposition National Conference hit out at the PDP-BJP government, saying, Instead of making tall claims of improved ground situation on papers, the state government should do something concrete on ground and ensure safety and security of people.

Party spokesperson Junaid Mattu said with elections round the corner in the assembly, tourist season and forthcoming Amarnath Yatra one expects that security should be at its best. But every now and then, loopholes within the security establishment stand exposed.
HERAT (AFGHANISTAN): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani inaugurated a $290-million hydroelectric dam built with Indian aid in the Afghan city of Herat on Saturday, the latest reflection of the strengthening ties between the two countries.

India has provided more than $2 billion as aid to Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001. The inauguration of the Salma dam, also known as the Afghanistan-India friendship dam, came just five months after Modi inaugurated the new $90-million Afghan parliament built by India in Kabul.

Modi and Ghani jointly pressed a button to start the dams three turbines as engineers released balloons in celebration. With the inauguration of the AfghanistanIndia friendship dam, the first such large Indian-funded project is completed, Ghani said. We hope this will lead to the development of many such projects.

Modi said, Afghans and Indians dreamt of this project in the 1970s. Today, the brave Afghan people are sending a message that the forces of destruction, death, denial and domination shall not prevail.

Ties between India and Afghanistan have grown stronger at a time when Kabul has indicated it will not depend on Islamabad for bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table. Following a devastating suicide attack in Kabul in April that killed 64 people, Ghani called on Pakistan to take military action against the Taliban.

Modi said in his speech that Indias investment in Chabahar will give Afghanistan a new route to the world and a new path to prosperity. He added, The fruits of our friendship are not confined to Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar and Herat. They will never be. Our cooperation will extend to every part of Afghanistan.

Modi also thanked Afghans for putting themselves in the line of fire to protect Indian interests in the face of attacks.

PM GETS AFGHANISTANS TOP CIVILIAN HONOUR

PM Narendra Modi was conferred the Amir Amanullah Khan Award, the countrys highest civilian honour, by Ghani after the inauguration of the dam.
Of all of the Messiahs gimmicks, the one that has caught our everyday attention the most is the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Clean our beloved India, says he, Supreme Leader of the Satvik Republic. Who will do it, saheb? Everyone must fight this war on garbage, he declares. Thats the patriotic thing to do too, we understand. So, we diligently keep toffee wrappers in our pockets until we find a waste-bin. We tell others not to litter too, of course. We are good soldiers.

Jitender, in that sense, was one of the frontline combatants. Jitender, who? Shame on you for asking! He was the sewerman who died last month of poisonous gases from a gutter that he was cleaning in that aberration called Hallomajra in the City Already-Beautiful, Chandigarh. He died a valiant death. A true martyr, I say. Its only a matter of detail that he lacked the equipment to fight the good fight. He did not care for his safety, so the authorities let this brave man go ahead anyway.

He was not the first such son of the soil. Before him, the roll of honour has names of Ashraf, Dhan Singh and Prem Pal, who died of suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Sector 47 in May last year. And before them there was Satbir, who died of the same reason in the August of 2014, sadly just two months before He Who Will Make India Great Again formally gave us the Clean India Mission, a life goal, on the birth anniversary of He Who (Allegedly) Gave Us Independence.

Read: Sewermans death has UT admn, contractor throwing up muck

The Fantastic Fuehrer, however, does not believe in cosmetic change alone. That is why the physical appearance of the sanitation workers remains the way it has been for centuries. It is important in essence, and in reality, that the workers look no different from the usual citizens. A uniform, gas mask, protective jacket, and proper tools will make them stand out; and everyone else will think Swachh Bharat is only those guys duty. In a democracy, that is just not done. Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, collective development, is our motto.

Take the case of Chandigarh. How can only 2,700-odd sweepers clean all corners of the city? You cannot always put up bamboo facades to cover up the muck, as was done for Hallomajra when the French President had come to meet the Messiah. Of these sweepers, nearly half are under private contractors, not government employees. There are just 73 technically-trained sanitation employees, including 53 sewer men. Those on contract are supposed to get a minimum of Rs 8,554 a month as per rules, while the government-employed get a starting pay of around Rs 15,000. Some have been on contract for decades, awaiting regular jobs. Bravery, usually, does not come at such a price. The government understands that, after every death; and commendably announces money as compensation for life. That has gone up from Rs 2 lakh per fatality, to Rs 10 lakh now, as in the case of Shaheed Jitender.

Mayor Arun Sood also ordered that until and unless all the safety gear is available, no person will be asked to go down the hole to clean it.

A deadline of June 30 has been set to procure the equipment. By September 30, the MC plans to mechanise the cleaning of the sewers so that it is not done manually. Also, if a sewer has to be cleaned manually in any emergency, a junior engineer (JE) will be there throughout, for supervision, the mayor was quoted as saying. When Jitender died, there was reportedly an executive engineer (XEN) of the MC present there; but he fled. I am sure he had some other place to clean. Swachh Bharat is bigger than individuals, weve been told.

Some people just dont get it, man. An anti-national element on Facebook described Jitender as a casualty of the high-decibel, headline-grabbing war that politics has been reduced to. He is so wrong. What do such people want? That Emperor Modi should come and declare Jitender a martyr, formally. He would have done it, you never know. But wheres the time? He is busy cleaning India.

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Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president and Lok Sabha member from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh has sought international flight operations at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport.

The PPCC chief led a delegation of party leaders on Friday to meet Union aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in New Delhi and also submitted a memorandum to him.

Besides Captain, the delegation comprised state legislators Sukhwinder Singh and Navtej Singh Cheema and Tarn Taran district president Sukhpal Singh Bhullar.

The PPCC president told the minister the Amritsar airport serves tourists and devotees from all over the world. The geographical location of this airport is such that it is beneficial for all passengers from the region who wish to fly to European, American and Middle-Eastern sectors as all flights from Delhi towards these sectors fly over the Amritsar airspace and take 40 minutes to cover the distance, he said.

Captain suggested to the minister that negotiations should be initiated with airlines to start direct flight operations from Amritsar to Toronto, Birmingham, London, Singapore, Bangkok, Perth, Melbourne and other prominent cities, so that passengers face no inconvenience.

The Amristar MP told the minister that the city airport is well-equipped with modern equipment, including CAT-II instrument landing system that will soon be upgraded to CATIII system, which will facilitate flight operations in visibility up to 50 metre.

The Amritsar airport is capable to handle operations of aircrafts up to type B-747. Fourteen aircrafts can be simultaneously parked at 14 bays in addition to one Cargo apron. Out of these parking bays, two are provided with the facility of aerobridge and two more aerobridges are going to be installed very soon, he added.

Captain highlighted the number of non-resident Indians (NRIs) travelling to the region besides the high potential of religious tourism. More than 40% passengers travelling from Delhi to American and European sectors belong to Punjab. These passengers have to catch flights from the Delhi airport, for which they have to travel by different modes from Punjab to Delhi, which consumes around 10 hours, he said.

Amarinder Singh said surveys have been conducted in which frequent fliers from Punjab to other countries have discussed difficulties they face in managing time and resources while catching flights from the Delhi airport.

Moreover, due to no direct flights to Toronto and Birmingham, world-class cargo facility at the airport is also being underutilised, said the parliamentarian.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singhs son Raninder Singh in connection with a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case.

In the summons issued by ED assistant director Ajai Singh, Raninder has been asked to appear before the agency on June 16 to explain the alleged movement of funds to Switzerland and creation of a trust and a few subsidiaries in British Virgin Islands.

The ED has initiated action following a complaint by the income tax department which claims that Raninder lied under oath to the department about trusts allegedly owned by him in British Virgin Islands.

The income tax department had found that Raninder was the settler (donor) of the Jacaranda Trust, UK, and owner of business entities Mulwala Holdings Limited, Limerlock International Limited, Chillingham Holdings Limited and Allworth Venture Holdings Limited.

The authorities in the British Virgin Islands informed the department that the business entities were holding substantial financial assets, including bank accounts in HSBC, Geneva, and properties in the UK and Dubai.

The authorities provided the IT department with a copy of the trust deed which showed that the settlement was made on July 22, 2005, in British Virgin Islands between Raninder and HSBC Trust Company Limited. Raninder acted as a trustee.

Press Trust of India quoted Raninder saying that he had nothing to hide and was willing to cooperate on the issue. This was already being looked into by the income tax authorities. We have nothing to hide and we will fully cooperate with the enforcement directorate, he said.

In March, Ludhianas chief judicial magistrate Ranjeev Kumar had issued a notice to Raninder for lying to the income tax department about his foreign bank accounts. Acting on a criminal complaint by income tax deputy director (investigation) Amit Dua against Raninder for giving false information, the Ludhiana court asked him to file a reply on July 26, the next date of hearing.

The income tax department had found that the former chief ministers son was a direct beneficiary of assets maintained and controlled through foreign business entities.

When the department confronted Raninder with this information last year, he denied having any foreign bank accounts. Later, the department filed a complaint against Raninder under Sections 181 (false statement on oath) and 177 (furnishing false information) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 277 (false statement in verification) of the Income Tax Act.
Ting- ting, ting- ting,... its the alarm, telling you to wake up, get up, and get going. Come 6am and I am in a group practice for International Yoga Day coming up on June 21. I do my asanas and pranayama as a cool breeze fans my sweating brow. Bhramri pranayama is my favourite; the vibration it causes within makes me feel in resonance with the cosmic energy.

AMAZING IDEA, PM

The Prime Minister is going to be in town for this global event. Chandigarh is gearing up for it and the enormity of it overawes me. Yoga Day is going to be celebrated in a lot many places in India with participation running into thousands. People in 192 countries participated last year. The number is bound to get bigger. What an amazing idea! Emotive, all-embracing! What an execution! I have travelled the world; not in my living memory has there been a Prime Minister anywhere who has cared about the small issue of the physical and mental well-being of people. We have MNCs that spend a fortune to buy health insurance for their employees but does any company emphasise on healthy living actually? Does any head of organisation teach its workers about good breathing?

ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE

My mind wanders off to a time when I had learnt Jyoti Meditation, in which one is taught to visualise the pure flame in the mid-brow. Imagine that the light moves to each limb of the body to purify, strengthen, and illumine it. Visualise that the radiance spreads to the room and everyone in it, to family, friends, locality, the city, the entire country, and then all other countries, the entire globe, the worlds beyond, the entire cosmos. This what it means to spread goodness, positive vibes, pure love  Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu in its true form.

Isnt the mission to promote Yoga to people all over the world not an endeavour towards Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu? Havent we heard Pehla sukh, nirogi kaya (when you count your blessings, count good health at number one)? Doing yoga isnt the PMs job but this PM knows the big importance of small things. How can one enjoy wealth and prosperity with a diseased (not at ease) body? Most of us value good health only after losing it. Yoga Day is a golden opportunity to introspect if we are healthy and laying a good foundation of a healthy old age.

Our ultimate goal is union with the Lord. Yoga teaches us the process of reaching the ultimate through eight steps or limbs  yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. To quote from Modis speech at the United Nations: Yoga is a philosophy of disciplined meditation that transforms the spirit to make us a better person in thought, action, knowledge, and devotion. Strangely, some people view yoga as disguised propagation of the Hindu religion. The word religion itself is derived from Latin term re-ligo, which means to re-connect  with what else but our inner self. Yoga is a process of union with the inner self and the supreme soul. We now have a PM keen to expose us to this ancient wisdom, taking the message far and wide. And the world is standing up and taking notice. Yoga day is not about Modification but passionate call for being a true yogi. Stand up Mr Prime Minister, take a bow, Modi just achieved yogification.

priya@tandonindia.com

(The author is a Chandigarh-based writer on spiritual issues)
A fountainhead of Sikh fundamentalism and once the nerve centre of anti-government extremism under the fiery Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Damdami Taksal has gradually embraced moderate moorings, shifting focus to religious education and preaching. Ironically, the venerable seminary is now under fire from the radical fringe for its proximity to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Damdami Taksals stamp on the recent murderous attack on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale has brought the spotlight on the seminary yet again.

Association with violence is not new to the Taksal, headquartered at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Prakash at Chowk Mehta, about 40km from Amritsar. For almost 30 years since Operation Bluestar shifted the wheels of Punjab history, the 300-year-old Sikh seminary that was at the epicentre of militancy seemed to have been caught in a time warp.

In the past couple of years, it has made a concerted effort to recreate itself from the rubble and project itself as not just the custodian of the legacy of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, its 14th head, and Guru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh guru, but also the keeper of the purest form of Sikhism, wedded to modernity.

Read: Bluestar Anniversary: Sikh radicals detained, SGPC bans media at Golden Temple

OF BHINDRANWALES LEGACY, AND POWER POLITICS

Beyond the school that it is, the Damdami Taksal is a religio-political institution that first shot into limelight in the recent past when Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale took over as its 14th head in 1977. He converted it into a fountainhead of fundamentalism and his followers into bands of militants seeking Khalistan. Majority of the 219 people killed fighting the army in Operation Bluestar were Taksal activists. Even today, Bhindranwale is everywhere in the Taksal, in life-size boards, pictures.

Even today, Bhindranwale is everywhere in the Taksal, in life-size boards, pictures. (Gurpreet Singh/Hindustan Times)

The Taksal continues to wield sway on Sikh minds, particularly those connected with the turmoil of the 1980s. The shaheedi samagam (martyrdom commemoration) on June 6, the anniversary of Bluestar, is undoubtedly the most important function the Taksal holds every year.

Even post-Bluestar, the Taksal emerged as a breeding ground for militants. At one time, it eclipsed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), whose authority was undermined by hardliners; and called the shots in Sikh religious affairs. It lost its primacy when terrorism was stamped out and moderate Akalis gained prominence in the 1990s. Taksal has since mellowed down.

Today, among Panthic bodies outside the fold of mainstream Akalis and the SGPC, the Taksal remains a prime player. The moderate Akalis led by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal keep it on their right side.

Ahead of the 2012 polls, Badal acquiesced to the Taksals long-time pressure to build a memorial to Op Bluestar and Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple. Dhumma paid back by supporting the Akalis. Even after the recent sacrilege incidents when the SAD faced the heat, and anti-Badal radicals called a Sarbat Khalsa (congregation), the Badals won over Dhumma who kept a distance from their show. No wonder, the government has been fighting shy of pinning the Dhadrianwale episode on the Taksal. It has ruled out a CBI probe and tasked the SGPC with brokering peace.

The wheel has come full circle for the Taksal since 1984, when it was the most radical of Sikh outfits. Paradoxically enough, the Taksal today is facing the ire of other Panthic bodies for allying with the moderate Akalis.

Read | No course left but stir, says Dhadrianwale; Dhumma calls Panthic bodies

ITS IN THE LANGUAGE

Three decades ago, English was ordered to be shunned. (Gurpreet Singh/HT Photo)

At the height of militancy three decades ago, when the three-century-old Damdami Taksal, then led by Bhindranwale, virtually called the shots in Punjab, English was ordered to be shunned. All instruction boards and posters, even those at schools and colleges, were ordered to have only Punjabi in Gurmukhi script, and be only in black and white or in the colours of Sikhism, blue and saffron.

Cut to now, the colour code stays within the seminarys four walls, and it is obvious that the world has come to touch the Taksal. Freshly painted in blue, the room numbers stand out: Roman numerals, not the Gurmukhi script one expects on the walls of the ultra-puritan Sikh seminary. A large, saffron board explains the history of the place in precise English. Walking by one of the many classrooms on the eight-acre campus, one hears a teacher reading from a book of the English language to pupils.

The aura is strangely low-key, and thus captivating. Tall, strapping Sikhs immaculately dressed in a fitting chola (knee-length gown), complete with a long stole resting around their necks, white or blue, with their pagri (turban) tied in the typical Taksali way; the Gurmukhi pagri, as its called. Everyone is baptised and the kirpan (sword) hangs across the shoulder with a neat gatra (carrier belt). Not a hair out of place. Sitting on chairs, the young men, no women, are totally unlike any other youngsters; they are pursuing a bachelors degree from a college affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Read: Operation Bluestar anniv: CCTV cameras keep vigil in Amritsar

DEGREE ON OFFER

Three years ago, the Taksal started a professional degree course in gurmat sanchar (spread of the Gurus word), and the first batch just finished its exams. The course was started as it gives Taksal students a valid graduate degree and they learn English as a compulsory subject. The Gurus word has to travel across seas too.

Students from all age groups attending the classical sangeet gurmat classes at Damdami Taksal campus on Saturday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT Photo)

English is needed everywhere in the world. Our certificate, and now this degree, is the most coveted among gurdwaras that are looking for men who can recite (santhya) the Guru Granth Sahib the right way, and do the katha (story-telling) and vyakhya (interpretation) properly. No one in Punjab teaches these three things better than we do, says Jiwa Singh, in-charge of the Taksals educational institutions.

OTHER PROGRAMMES

Apart from the professional degree course that has 60 students, there are two other learning programmes being run by the Taksal with over 200 students. The open school can be attended by anyone, of any age. But once you are here, you have to be a Sikh and abide by the Rehat Maryada (code of conduct), explains Jiwa Singh. We get children who are barely five years old too. Poor parents leave them here; or those who are orphans are left here by the villagers. There is no bar of age or religion for anyone to enter this place.

Students in a school hostel room run by Damdami Taksal, Chowk Metha, 50 km away from Amritsar. (Gurpreet Singh/HT Photo)

The School of Gurmat Sanchar takes in students who have completed Class 10 or 12, and they are taught the same way.

Depending on the level they have attained, students get the gutka, pothi or sainchi  various texts that are excerpted from Guru Granth Sahib or carry gurbani as such  and they sit on long wooden beds to recite it aloud. Every student starts with the learning of the Gurmukhi alphabet. Our kaida (booklet of the alphabet)  as also the other religious books  are printed by the Taksal, and include the toughest of sounds that the students have to learn to read properly. The printing of the other books is also done differently  several words are joined together so that the student is not able to look up while reading the text. It improves concentration, explains Bhai Gursewak Singh, a prominent sevak (volunteer/worker).

It can take up to two years just to learn the basics. The total course can take up to five years. Once the student is ready, he is given a certificate by the Taksal. This can get you a job in gurdwaras anywhere. We get queries almost every day from embassies of various countries to verify the certificates so that visas can be issued to work in Sikh shrines, he adds.

STRICT REGIMEN

The regimen is not just about the number of years. It is every day. Wake up by 4am, take a bath, and say the first set of prayers. After breakfast, classes begin at 8.30 am and continue for two hours. There is a break till 2pm for the open school students before a next set of classes. But those pursuing the degree have only a short break before regular college classes begin. These are followed by the evening classes, and then practice of gatka, the Sikh martial art of war.

All students have to work on campus, help in the kitchen, clean the rooms, wash clothes; there are no servants. Serving food in the langar (community meal), cleaning utensils, such acts keep the mind humble (mann neeva) and open to knowledge, adds Jiwa Singh. There are no air-conditioners, only fans. The beds are hard and, other than the strictness imposed by the teachers, students are bound by the Maryada. No one can speak loud, or crack jokes. No popular music.

Students are not allowed to keep mobile phones but they do smuggle them in, smiles Jiwa Singh. Almost half the students leave the course midway, unable to bear the regimen.

About the guns and swords that the Taksal activists carry prominently, Jiwa Singh said there are no weapons kept inside the Taksal anymore: All the guns with Taksal activists are licensed. In any case, weapons these days hardly need any special training.

There are also parents who come with their girls wanting to join the Taksal. But for the time being, the Taksal says it has no infrastructure to accommodate them. We will have to a build a separate campus for them. The students and sewaks who are married also live in quarters outside the campus, explains Jiwa Singh.

GOING ONLINE

In another sign of change, the Taksal has two Facebook pages; and one of its head Harnam Singh Dhumma. Several other FB pages in the name of the Taksal are being run in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The authorities post messages and daily events on these pages as also videos of katha (discourse) by its sevaks. A host of websites claim to be Taksals official portal, but the Taksal is now working on restricting the use of its name to their official website being run from Chowk Mehta.

SET-UP AND THE LAST WORD

The Taksal works with a sense of purpose, laid down and interpreted by the head, explains Gursewak Singh. Current head Dhumma is credited with giving the Taksal a renewed sense of relevance by blending in modernity without compromising on its basic foundation.

The day-to-day management is carried out by a set of prominent sevadars. Seniority is established by your work and study. There is no other criterion, not even age, he adds.

The primary source of income is donation from the sangat (followers). There are 100 acres of farm land cultivated by the Taksal, which also runs a charitable hospital and a CBSE-affiliated private school and a college. This school and the college are run on a no-profit, no-loss basis; and are just like other schools and colleges. Students of all religions can study there and anyone can come into the 30-bed hospital which offers several specialised services, says Gursewak Singh. There is a growing feeling that Taksal gets a whole lot of money from abroad; but thats not true. There are donations which come in from other countries, but the seminary mainly runs on donations given by the sangat in Punjab, he insists.

WHERE YOU GET BAPTISED

Other than the religious education, Taksals primary function is to distribute amrit (holy nectar) and baptise Sikhs. We do it every Sunday and also on sankrant (first day of every lunar month). Other than these days, if a group of persons comes in on any other day, we do it especially for them. We also do amrit sanchar at our other centres in Punjab. Taksal has branches in California and Las Vegas in the US.

Yes, Las Vegas, the city globally known for its gambling and partying culture. In the midst of all the activities that the place is known for, we have managed to bring in a shade of purity, says Taksal head Dhumma.

A student cleaning utensils at the campus. (Gurpreet Singh/HT Photo)

STRICT TENETS

Damdami Taksal practises a rehat maryada (Sikh code of conduct) stricter than the one prescribed by the SGPC. Tenets include:

O Colour-defined dress code: black, white, blue and saffron

O Langar cooked, eaten in iron utensils

O Pure vegetarianism; even utensils cleaned with soil (pic on right), as soap has animal fat

O No intoxicant to be consumed

O The kada (bracelet) worn by the seminarys inmates and followers, has to be of sarb-loh (iron), not steel

O Taksal also recognises and respects Dasam Granth, which they believe was penned by Guru Gobind Singh

VIOLENT LEGACY

1978: Nirankari sect followers and Akhand Kirtani jatha clash, leaving 13 dead

1983: Bhindranwale moves into Akal Takht, fortifies Golden Temple complex

1984: Op Bluestar and death of Bhindranwale

1984: Thakur Singh takes over

2005: Harnam Singh Dhumma takes over as 16th head

2014: Op Bluestar Memorial built by Taksal in Golden Temple complex

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A day after city MP Kirron Kher shot off a communique to Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari seeking measures to put a check on traffic congestion at the Tribune Chowk, the minister announced that he has given his nod to the proposal and a consultant will be appointed to check the feasibility of a flyover and an underpass.

Interacting with the media at the airport en-route to his two day tour to Himachal Pradesh, the minister said, I received the representation from the MP to come up with a technical solution for the increasing traffic chaos at Tribune Chowk. The demand we have in principle, and I said yes to the proposal and the UT administration has been informed about it. We will appoint a consultant to study the problem and suggest a solution as to what is required, an underpass or a flyover.

He added the traffic is a big issue in the metro cities and recently a scientific study was conducted in Delhi to understand the flow of traffic and identify the spots where there are regular bottlenecks. A software is also being prepared to work on the identification of accident-prone black spots, the minister said. The same project will be implemented in Chandigarh for identifying black spots and traffic jam prone areas in the city.

The Tribune Chowk witnesses traffic jams lasting for over an hour on most days.
Three-tier security is in place to prevent trouble on the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar on Monday. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is guarding against violence at the Golden Temple.

Nearly 8,000 police personnel, besides six companies of paramilitary forces, have been camping in Amritsar for a week now, deployed at 200-odd checkpoints. Cops in civvies are both inside the Sikh shrine and outside the old walled city. The market circle around the Golden Temple is sealed.

The Sikh radicals gathering every year at the Akal Takht to remember the 1984 military raid on the shrine to flush out militants have clashed with the SGPC Task Force in both 2014 and 2015. This year, the SGPC has doubled the strength of its task force and installed more security cameras inside the shrine.

Not only the highways entering the city are under tight security but also police have detained various hardliners to prevent any forced shutdown on Monday. We are confident about the citys security plan and banking upon the border range police to keep an eye on the rural segments, said police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal. Police are deployed both inside and outside the shrine, besides markets and entry points. Regular cops man 120 checkpoints, while the border range police another 50.

Other than screening and profiling potential troublemakers, well have a secret network for inputs. We will not allow anyone to force shops close, said the police commissioner. During Genocide Remembrance March on June 3, Sikh radical organisation Dal Khlasa had called for a shutdown in Amritsar on Monday.

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Patients were at the receiving end as the outdoor patient department services of Rajindra Hospital remained paralysed for the second day on Saturday as the protest of nurses and ancillary staff entered into fourth day. Efforts of the hospital and medical college authorities to woo the staff failed. The protesters said that if their demands were not met, they will lock all four main gates of the hospital on Monday.

On the fourth day of the strike, Rajindra Hospital turned into a police camp. Contract nurses and ancillary staff raised slogans against the state government and locked the operating theatres. Only the emergency and gynaecology departments were allowed to function on Saturday.

Nurses and Ancillary Staff Union president Karamjit Kaur said, During the meetings, the authorities tried to convince us to get the issue resolved within a couple of weeks, but we refused their proposal as we want a written assurance from the state government.

Today we locked only operating theatres and OPD services, but, from Monday, we will close all gates of the hospital and will not allow the emergency and labour rooms to function. We have got support from post-graduate doctors and staff nurses. We only want regular jobs, which, if the state government wants, can be done in minutes, she said.

I got injured as bullet pierced through my leg and a surgery was scheduled for Saturday. Now, I have been asked to come on Monday or Wednesday, said, Amrik Singh, a patient who was admitted four days ago.

Meanwhile, the authorities of Rajindra Hospital held three meetings with the paramedical staff, but failed to resolve the issue. We appealed to them not to close the OPD and operating theatres on humanitarian ground and offered two or three alternatives, but they were not ready to call off strike. We will try to provide OPD and OT services on Monday, said, medical superintendent, Bhupinder Singh Brar.
Doing a U-turn in the less than 24 hours, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has now allowed the media to enter the Golden Temple on Monday to cover the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar.

On Saturday, it had barred the media from the holiest Sikh shrine. Huge criticism left it with no option but to revoke the decision and let police and the district administration know about it.

In a statement issue on Saturday here, it said the SGPC had ordered the media embargo because it feared that images and reports from inside the shrine might hurt Sikh sentiments. In the ban orders, SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh had written that sangat (Sikh public) in big numbers was expected at the shrine on June 6 and reporters, photographers and television crews might provoke them.
The much-talked about filmmaker Raam Reddy, who has directed Kannada film Thithi, has expressed a desire to work with Bollywood actors Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Raam, who has directed non-actors for his critically acclaimed movie, says hed love to work with the two Bollywood actors if it suits the vision of any of his future films.

His film Thithi has fetched him a rare renown and critics have hailed this Kannada film -- about three generations of men reacting to the death of their 101-year-old patriarch -- as a unique experience.

Excerpts:

A remarkable achievement like Thithi happens once in a while. Did you expect the film to make such an impact?

Never once while making the film did we expect it to receive such widespread acclaim as well as audience acceptance and appreciation. Making the film itself was such a tremendous challenge that all our focus was on managing to just complete the film to our satisfaction. We always intended to make a warm film that was realistic and observational, but at the same time cinematic with a humour that was particular to the world we were trying to create. I believe it is this playfulness that is at the core of the films national and international success.

Read: Indebted to Anurag Kashyap for his support for Thithi, says Raam Reddy

Watch Thithis trailer here:

How difficult was it for you to gather the funds for the project?

I am lucky in this way because the primary production company that backed the film, Prspctvs Productions, was a production house started by my father, Pratap Reddy and myself. The film was fulfilled by funding from Prsptctvs, and later from the support of Sunmin Park and J Ethan Park, veteran Hollywood producers from Maxmedia based in California.

Youve received tremendous support and attention in Mumbai. How did that happen and do you think that support bolstered lifespan of Thithi?

Absolutely. I am overwhelmed by the support for Thithi from industry leaders in Mumbai. Key supporters have been Anurag Kashyap, who was one of the first people in all of India to see Thithi. We met at the Locarno Film Festival, and since then, he has been a wonderful champion for the film. I also had the immense honour of sharing the film with Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao about 10 days before the release. Also, an unforgettable moment in this journey is when Aamir Khan wrote five overwhelming tweets about Thithi; an honour that is hard to describe in words for a first-time filmmaker like myself.

Read: Thithi review | A pithy and pungent satire on poverty

Raam Reddy says he has learnt the language of filmmaking mostly from watching the world cinema of masters like Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-Wai and Emir Kusturica.

Who are the filmmakers you admire?

I admire so many filmmakers that it is hard to list a few. I learnt the language of filmmaking mostly from watching the world cinema of masters like Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-Wai and Emir Kusturica. At the moment, I have great admiration for many filmmakers from my generation such as Gabriel Mascaro, Emin Alper and Chaitanya Tamhane. I also have immense admiration for David Simon, the creator of the television show The Wire.

Thithi features actors who dont act. How did you get such natural non-performances from the entire cast?

All our filmmaking techniques were geared towards aiding performance. Eregowdas (writer and casting director) relationship with the people and the place was key in creating a comfortable and familial environment. As a crew, we were extremely flexible and had to be highly reactive. We often did a lot of takes, and re-shot scenes some times.

In my treatment of film, I decided to eliminate blocking to help the non-professionals be more focussed on their body language and delivery rather than physical positioning. Therefore, when an actor moved, the camera moved with them at the same speed. Then there were a lot of direction techniques that were tailor-made for each actor depending on Eregowda and my reading of their personalities.

Patriarchy and property paranoia are predominant in your plot. Do you see rural India as being governed by these two aspects?

Governed is a strong word, but I do think they play a significant role in the rural social milieu. That is something we experienced first-hand while we were in our creative exploration period. All said and done, we did not attempt to make any political statements through the film; the core of the storytelling for me was to compare three generations of characters, two who are materialistically driven, and one who has transcended materialism. This for me is the spiritual core of the narrative, and the primary intention.

Read: A National Award is a dream come true, says Thithi director

Thithi director Raam Reddy says they always intended to make a warm film that was realistic and observational.

How easy or difficult was it for you to shoot on location in such a village where basic amenities were not available?

We had a wonderful local productions team lead by Eregowda who looked after the entire crew and cast extremely well. The food on set was made with so much love, and everyone found a family within the community that made the film. We had collaborators from Holland, US, Mumbai, Kerala and many other parts but boundaries were quickly dissolved.

We did have to heat our hot water for baths in big metal pots and we managed with make-shift toilets, but it felt very natural for all of us -- perhaps it was beautiful surroundings and clean air -- and wasnt a struggle at all.

Do you think the language (Kannada) limits your vision in any way?

No, not at all. I love the particular dialect that the film has been made in. It has a musicality that is particular and nice to listen to. Also, with maintaining authenticity being the keystone of our process, the choice of the place was key to the quality of the final product, which in turn is reason for widespread recognition.

Would you like to work with Bollywood stars?

Casting for me always comes second to the intention and story of the film. I would love to work with any actor who would fit my vision for the film, whether they are a star or not. I think that is the key to making organic and meaningful films. Having said that, there are many amazing Indian actors such as Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui whose work I admire and I would love to work with.

Which are the Indian films lately that according to you take our cinema forward the way Thithi does?

Films like Court and Masaan are great examples of amazing debut films by Indian filmmakers that have made a mark on the international level. Also, both these films use realism as a stylistic choice, and this is something that resonates with me personally.

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Being famous comes with a lot of perks, but it has its own drawbacks, too. And one of the most successful Indian comedians Kapil Sharma is learning this first hand. From getting into legal spat with the channel that aired his last show Comedy Nights with Kapil to getting panned for making fun of nurses on his current show, The Kapil Sharma Show, he seems to be battling a new controversy every other week. However, he takes a practical view of things. I dont think you can avoid it (controversies). For instance, in the nurses case, I was talking about characters, not the community. Rochelle Rao is an artist and she doesnt know how to speak Hindi, toh thoda mazaak kar liya, flirt kar liya. Its all about that particular character. Iska yeh matlab nai ki main uss community ko attack kar raha hoon. Kiku Sharda also plays a nurse and I always fight with him. That is also a character. My family doctor says that unka sara staff humara show enjoy karta hai. So we get a lot of appreciation too, says the 35-year-old.

Read: Nurses turn down Sony TVs clarification on Kapil Sharmas comedy show

If there is anything Kapil feels jittery about, it is the live performances even today! I still get nervous... and that is also a good thing, as that boosts me to do better. Live shows are scary. When we go to different places, we feel that all these people are here, will we be able to entertain them! However, once we start performing and we see the love from the audience, all nervousness goes away... the audience becomes your family. For them, you are not someone new and they love to see you perform and you end up performing without realising for how long you have been onstage, says Kapil, who has stood up to quite a few challenges, including starting a new show.

I was positive about my new show, but I knew that I was leaving a big show and starting again. I was worried. But my team is very good and have supported me through this entire process. Inti jaldi ek show khadha karna is not easy. I knew there were a lot of expectations from me. To create magic was challenging. TV border ki tarah hai, aap border pe khade ho, dhyaan chooka and goli lag sakti hai, he says.

Read: The Kapil Sharma Show objectified nurses and its no laughing matter

However, even then, he worried more about giving audience the best content and not about TRP ratings. Ratings matter, but I dont get so bothered by them. Kaafi rural areas ratings mei included hi nahi ho paatey... I remember once, I had gone to one such place to shoot and I felt no one would come to watch us shoot. But so many people surrounded us that we couldnt shoot at all. The reach of TV is amazing, he says, adding that the in his journey it is the love of fans that has kept him going, right from his television debut with The Great Indian Laughter Challenge in 2008.

I remember, once I had gone to a remote place to shoot, and I felt no one would come to watch us shoot. But so many people surrounded us that we couldnt shoot at all.

My journey has been great. I have always got to learn so much, even from my work in the past. Of course, kaam mein maturity aayi hai and bahut seekha hai. I notice some of the things were kiddish or the mistakes I made.. Jis level pe jitna bhi kaam kiya hai, logon ne bahut appreciate kiya hai. Mujhe lagta hai ki aapka kaam apko inspire karta hai to do better. Agar mein apna kaam dekhon, 2007 ke acts dekhoon, 2004 mein radio pe perform bhi karta tha if I see all that, at that time also I got a lot of love from the audience, he says.

The bigger you are, you need to become more responsible. You need to see that no one gets hurt with what you say or do, he adds.

The other side

I love listing to music, so I do that when I am not working. I am also working on my film along with my show, so I sit with the team in my free time and we work on the script. I am also producing a Punjabi film, so I spend time with the team as well. Usually I dont get much time from my show, but whenever I do, I call them over and we work till late in the night.

Family support

My sister is my loyal fan and critic. She says that aaj tumhara gag acha nai tha. Aur achha ho sakta hai. Its important to have people around you who will tell how you are performing and I am glad that I have these people around me. My team is also very important to me. We are so clear and open with each other. We dont shy away from insulting each other and saying that this is not working. Koi bhi artist isko dil pe nahi leta.

The work-personal life balance

I have not been able to balance this as yet. I am not able to go to Amritsar, but I try to get my mother to Mumbai. Once a year, my sister also comes to Mumbai with her children. Thoda toh suffer karna hota hai. In films, its easier to take your families on the sets, but here its tough to manage your time. I feel that this is my time to work. But when I get time, I call them to Mumbai or go out somewhere. In between, I had gone to London for a charity show and I took my mother along. My relatives stay there and I thought she will be able to meet them plus I will be able to spend time to everyone.

The actor tries to balance work and personal life but accepts that he has failed to do it well. He is unable to fly to his hometown Amritsar, but manages to bring his mother to Mumbai a lot of times. (Hindustan Times)

Confessions

There is nothing much that I have to tell my fans about me. They know everything that there is to know.

Kapil says his fans know everything about him. (Sameer Sehgal/ht)

What success means

I feel that being an artist, I have got so much love and fame. I think of success as extending my family. Generally aapko bas ghar ke log and rishtedaar jante hai, but jab aap sheher mein niklo, log aapko pyaar se milte hain. If people meet any film star, they ask for a picture, they never ask me, they just hold me. They feel yeh toh humara hi aadmi hai. I love that. Sara Hindustan humara ghar ho gaya hai. Agar raat ko gaadi kharab ho jaye toh hum kisi ke bhi ghar jaake kha sakte hain.

Actor and comedian Kapil Sharma clicks a selfie with his fans. (Facebook)
The Arctic region may be free of sea ice for the first time in more than 100,000 years, according to an expert from the University of Cambridge.

The claim is based on provisional satellite data of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre that reportedly shows there was just over 11.1 million square kilometres of sea ice in the region on June 1 this year  a significant decrease from the average for the last 30 years  12.7 million square kilometres.

Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge, told The Independent online: My prediction remains that the Arctic ice may well disappear, that is, have an area of less than one million square kilometres for September of this year.

Even if the ice doesnt completely disappear, it is very likely that this will be a record low year. Im convinced it will be less than 3.4 million square kilometres (the current record low).

I think theres a reasonable chance it could get down to a million this year and if it doesnt do it this year, it will do it next year. Ice free means the central part of the Arctic and the North Pole is ice free, he said.

It is believed the Arctic was last clear of ice about 100,000 to 120,000 years ago, the news website reported.

Rapid warming of the polar region has been linked to extreme weather events such as bomb cyclones, flooding in the UK and out-of-season tornadoes in the United States.

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Britains loneliest dog, who has been living in an animal shelter for six years and has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, has landed a role in the new Transformers movie.

Freya, the Staffordshire bull terrier, was dubbed Britains loneliest dog after spending almost her entire life living in animal shelters, watching more than 50 of her kennel mates be re-homed during her time at the centre.

Freya was spotted on Facebook by animal loving Hollywood movie director Michael Bay, who decided to cast her in the fifth instalment of the blockbuster Transformers series.

Bay, 51, said that if the role did not find the dog a home, he would keep her, The Mirror reported.

We are thrilled at the opportunity of a movie deal for Freya and at such interest and support from a major film director who is also a dedicated animal advocate, a spokesperson for Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, where Freya is currently lodged, said.

Freya is a beautiful dog with a beautiful personality, and that will shine through to the right person, said Debbie Hughes, fundraiser at the shelter.
Indian-American professor Ajit Mal praised his colleague Christopher Lynchs quick thinking that kept the 38-year-old UCLA gunman Mainak Sarkar from escaping professor William Klugs office and potentially shooting more people.

Mal was on his way to teach an engineering class in University of Californias LA campus when IIT-Kharagpur alumnus Sarkar shot and killed 39-year-old professor Klug, who was accused by the shooter for stealing his computer code.



After hearing odd sounds from Klugs office, both Lynch and Mal rushed towards the professors room. At that time, neither of them, both professors of mechanical and aerospace engineering, knew that Klug was shot.



However, Lynch figured out that something was amiss as he was sure that Klug would never take his own life. Assuming that a shooter was inside the Klugs office, he held the door shut from outside.

If he had stepped out. Wed all be in trouble, Lynch said as he knew that more than a dozen faculty and staff members were on the floor at the time.

After that Lynch heard a third shot inside followed by eerie silence. Lynch assumed the shooter had killed himself.



Within minutes, the professors said, police converged and cleared out the floor. Lynch gave the door key to police without looking inside and left.

Besides holding the door shut, Mal said, Lynch also shouted at him and other colleagues to return to their offices and close their doors, thereby saving lives.

If he had come out with a loaded gun, I dont think Id be alive, Mal told Los Angeles Times. Chris Lynchs presence of mind and quick action saved us.

Mal said Sarkar was quiet and reserved and would not even greet him when the two men passed each other, which the professor found somewhat odd since both hailed from West Bengal and spoke the same language.

He also said it was likely that Klug never knew of Sarkars animosity towards him. If he had, Mal said, Klug would probably have had a discussion with him. The two professors were said to be close as Mal had headed the committee which hired Klug in 2003.

This whole thing is so incredible and bizarre because Bill is the least likely to have some conflict with students. He was so very caring, Mal said.

Read | Professor killed by Indian student in UCLA was developing virtual heart

Read | IIT alumnus, disgruntled student: Who is UCLA gunman Mainak Sarkar

(with PTI inputs)
At least 18 Indian fishermen will be freed on Monday by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture, an official said.

A spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation told The Nation on Saturday that the fishermen would arrive in Lahore from the port city of Karachi.

The fishermen will be taken to Wagah border by a special bus from Lahore railway station, he said.

Another official said India must reciprocate the gesture and release the Pakistani fishermen lodged in Indian jails.

Fishermen are frequently arrested by both India and Pakistans maritime security for entering each others waters.
The Philippine president-elect has encouraged the public to help him in his war against crime, urging citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers who resist arrest and fight back in their neighborhoods.

In a nationally televised speech late Saturday, Rodrigo Duterte told a huge crowd in the southern city of Davao that Filipinos who help him battle crime will be rewarded.

Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun  you have my support, Duterte said, warning of an extensive illegal drug trade that involves even the countrys police.

If a drug dealer resists arrest or refuses to be brought to a police station and threatens a citizen with a gun or a knife, you can kill him, Duterte said. Shoot him and Ill give you a medal.

The 71-year-old Duterte won the May 9 presidential election on a bold promise to end crime and corruption within six months of the start of his presidency. That vow resonated among crime-weary Filipinos, though police officials considered it campaign rhetoric that was impossible to accomplish.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm that his anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations.

Duterte, a longtime Davao mayor, has been suspected of playing a role in many killings of suspected criminals in his city by motorcycle-riding assassins known as the Davao death squads, but human rights watchdogs say he has not been criminally charged because nobody has dared to testify against him in court

In his speech on Saturday, Duterte asked three police generals based in the main national police camp in the capital to resign for involvement in crimes that he did not specify. He threatened to humiliate them in public if they did not quit and said he would order a review of dismissed criminal cases of active policemen, suggesting some may have bribed their way back onto the force.

They go back again crucifying the Filipino, he said. I wont agree to that.

If youre still into drugs, I will kill you, dont take this as a joke. Im not trying to make you laugh, son of a bitch, I will really kill you, Duterte said to loud jeers and applause.

The foul-mouthed former government prosecutor said crimes were committed by law enforcers because of extreme greed and extreme need. He said that he would provide a small amount to an officer who was tempted because his wife has cancer or a mother died, but that those who would break the law because of extreme greed will also be dealt with by me. Ill have you killed.

Duterte, who starts his six-year presidential term on June 30, repeated a plan to offer huge bounties to those who can turn in drug lords, dead or alive.

While it remains to be seen what will happen to his threats when he takes office, some policemen have heeded his call for a tougher anti-crime approach.

In suburban Las Pinas city in the Manila metropolis, police have apprehended more than 100 minors who defied a night curfew, and men who were either having drinking sprees in public or roaming around shirtless in violation of a local ordinance. The crackdown was dubbed Oplan Rody  after Dutertes nickname  or Rid the Streets of Drinkers and Youth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US this week will focus on enhancing Indo-US security and diplomatic cooperation and offers a chance to reflect on how much the strategic partnership has grown during eight years of Obama administration, the State Department has said.

We look forward to Prime Minister Modis visit next week, which will include both a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with President (Barack) Obama and a lunch at the White House, a State Department spokesman told PTI.

Since 2014, there have been six meetings and countless phone calls between Obama and Modi, and this visit reflects the significance that the two leaders place on the natural alliance between the two largest democratic countries of the world, the spokesperson said.

According to the official, the discussions will focus on advancing the ambitious climate change and clean energy agenda, further enhancing security and diplomatic cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region, as well as supporting sustainable economic growth and prosperity in both the countries.

Modis visit to Washington offers a chance to reflect on how much the strategic partnership between the US and India has grown over the course of this Administration  following through on President Obamas goal to establish a defining relationship for the 21st Century that will directly benefit our almost 1.6 billion citizens and increase cooperation to sustain and strengthen the global rules-based order both countries care deeply about, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Alyssa Ayres, who served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia from 2010 to 2013, said: This visit appears designed to lock in further progress in important areas of US-India cooperation -- defence, climate/clean energy, homeland security, potentially cyber -- as a way to keep momentum going through the transition into a new US administration.

Currently a Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ayres hopes that Obama could endorse Indias candidacy in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping as a means of signalling that the US wants to support Indias economic growth and seeks a collaborative way to do so.

I would anticipate seeing in particular the much-heralded logistics exchange agreement at last announced as a signal that strategic ties will slowly and purposefully continue to grow.

As for status of the relationship, this visit reinforces the onward and upward progress that has continued across three US and three Indian administrations, and looks poised to do so in the years ahead, Ayres said.
Unidentified assailants stabbed and shot dead the wife of a police officer, and hacked to death a Christian grocer in two separate attacks in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Mahmuda Khanam, wife of Babul Akter, a superintendent of police who had acted against radical Islamists, died on the spot in south-eastern city of Chittagong after three attackers hit her when she was waiting along with her son for the school bus near her home.

The young boy was separated by the assailants while his mother was killed.

The grocer, Sunil Gomes, was attacked inside his shop in the northwestern district of Natore, said Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of the local police station at Barhaigram subdistrict .



Neighbours and family members rushed to the shop, which is near his home, and found him in a pool of blood. Doctors at a local hospital later declared him dead, Islam said.

Akters colleagues are not ruling out involvement of suspected Islamist militants in his wifes killing, as he had led many raids against radical groups and helped recover arms and ammunition from their dens, which could have infuriated such groups, especially the banned Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB).

We have started our investigation and as part of that, we are collecting CCTV footage from nearby buildings and streets to find out the attackers, Paritosh Ghosh, a senior police official at Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told reporters.

Ghosh said Akter had also acted very boldly against drug peddlers in the region, which is thought to be used as a route for drug trafficking in Bangladesh. Chittagong city has the countrys largest seaport.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings so far. Many of the previous attacks on atheist bloggers, online activists, gay rights advocates and minority groups were claimed by groups reportedly tied to the Islamic State or Al Qaeda on the Indian Sub-continent (AQIS).



Minority groups in the Muslim-majority country say members of their communities and religious leaders received threats from suspected Islamist groups in Dhaka and outside.

Iqbal Bahar, commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told reporters that they would not let any stones unturned and were looking at all possible angles to find the killers.

Police said the second incident took place within hours of the killing of Khanam.
Swiss voters were on course Sunday to flatly reject a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income, no work required, initial results and projections showed.

National projections showed 78% of voters had opposed the initiative, according to numbers provided by the gfs.bern polling institute to public broadcaster RTS an hour after polls closed at noon (1000 GMT).

Most Swiss vote in advance by post, so a large majority of ballots had already been counted, and gfs.bern put the margin of error at just plus/minus three percent.

In a global first, the Swiss were asked whether they wanted all citizens, along with foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years, to receive an unconditional basic income, or UBI.

Supporters say providing such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are increasingly hard to come by.

The group behind the initiative has suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,500/2,300 euros) a month to each adult -- considerably less than most workers earn -- and 625 francs for each child.

But the idea was controversial from the start, with the government and nearly all political parties urging voters to reject the scheme.

Marxist dream

Andreas Ladner, a political scientist at Lausanne University, told RTS the Swiss were realistic in their assessment of the UBI plan.

Accepting that people can be paid without having to work would have been a very big step for the industrious Swiss, he said.

Critics have slammed the initiative as a Marxist dream, warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, causing economic chaos.

Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.

That argument likely hit home with the Swiss who have previously turned up their nose at initiatives that would have ushered in a minimum wage and increased paid holidays from a minimum four to six weeks, fearing they would hurt competitiveness.

But supporters of the UBI initiative were not cowed by the resounding defeat, insisting that their main objective had been to get people talking about the idea.

We are very happy, Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told the ATS news agency.

Supporters threw a party in Lausanne to celebrate the 22% of votes they had garnered, according to the gfs.bern projection.

Europe-wide debate

One out of five people voted for the unconditional basic income, so that is a success in itself, Sergio Rossi, an economics professor and backer of the initiative, told ATS.

The idea of a basic income has been bouncing around in more radical circles for centuries, but it has recently entered mainstream thinking.

Concrete projects to introduce some variation of the UBI, albeit at a lower level than what is being discussed in Switzerland, are underway in a range of countries, including in Finland and the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Sundays referendum came after reformers mustered more than the 100,000 signatures required to hold a popular vote, a feature of the Swiss system of direct democracy.

While the UBI initiative was clobbered, several other contentious issues put to the vote Sunday sailed through.

The projections showed 66 percent of voters embracing a government push to speed up the countrys asylum process.

The aim is for most cases to be handled within 140 days or less, compared to an average of around 400 days at the moment.

The projections also showed 61 percent of voters embracing a call to allow genetic testing of embryos before they are inserted in the uterus in cases of in vitro fertilisation where either parent carries a serious hereditary disease.

No screening would be permitted for elements like gender, hair and eye colours, but that has not stopped opponents from dubbing the initiative the eugenics law.
A top Syrian Kurdish commander died Sunday, several days after sustaining injuries during a US-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State group from its de-facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.

Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, was hit by IS sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, an Islamic State group stronghold that controls the supply route between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the Kurdish website Rudaw said. He was evacuated by U.S. forces to a hospital in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, where he died.

The commander fought against IS militants in Kobani in early 2015, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. Those battles, the first major setback to the IS advance in northern Syria, were seen as instrumental to securing U.S. support for Kurdish forces in the countrys multi-layered conflict.

The SDF are now advancing on Manbij, 155 kilometers to the northwest of Raqqa, as Syrian government forces backed by Iranian, Lebanese and Russian firepower, advance on the IS capital from the south. It is unclear whether the twin offensives were coordinated.

Government and Russian airstrikes have meanwhile killed more than a dozen people in opposition-held parts of Aleppo, once Syrias largest city and former commercial capital, activists said.

The strikes followed a day of intense rebel bombardment on government-held areas in the city, killing at least two dozen people.

The Civil Defense, a first responder group that operates in rebel-held areas, reported 50 airstrikes in Aleppo on Sunday. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said the strikes killed at least 13 people. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at 23.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said rebel fire on government-held areas killed 24 civilians in Aleppo on Saturday.

Aleppo has been divided between government and opposition control since 2012.
In 1860 Tennessees Hickman County was a quiet, sleepy backwater, where, according to one resident, patient old farmers were drowsily plodding along, eating possom and pumpkin pie. Little disturbed the monotony, as residents lost nothing nor made much, and the most fruitful crops were of children and dogs. The only semblance of discord among county residents was exhibited by zealous Baptist and Methodist preachers who fought over the souls of their neighbors.

At first, the secession crisis confused folks in Hickman County. Very few residents owned slaves, so they did not understand the frenzied rhetoric of hotheaded Southern politicians. There seemed to be no reason to dismantle the country that their forefathers had fought so hard to establish. But when Tennessee seceded from the Union, most county residents actively supported the Confederate States of America. Hundreds of young men formed military companies and marched off to protect their homes from Yankees, much like Colonials had defended their homes during the Revolutionary War.

Federal troops invaded the state and occupied Nashville early in 1862 and controlled the city for the duration of the war. The establishment of that Yankee stronghold only 40 miles northeast of Hickman County encouraged some loyal Tennessee citizens to join Federal regiments and to oppose the Southern war effort.

Patriotism may not have been the prime motivation for some of the Yankee sympathizers, however. At least one Confederate soldier was frank enough to point out that the war offered a glorious opportunity to ride off their neighbors horse, or burn down his house, or gather up what few things about the houses they could use and carry them off.

It did not take long for neighbors to turn against one another with a vengeance. Caleb McGraw had been suspected of spying on his fellow citizens and informing Federal authorities when Confederate soldiers came home on furlough in 1862. One night some neighbors came by and took McGraw to Duck River, opposite the mouth of Short Creek, where he was told to choose between taking the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America or drowning.

When McGraw refused to take the oath, his captors tied a large rock around his neck, rowed out into the river and again asked him to swear his allegiance. Upon his second refusal, his neighbors promptly pitched the suspected spy into a watery grave.

By 1863, Yankee raiding parties often overran middle Tennessee. To counter the invaders, citizens joined two companies of independent Southern scouts that patrolled Hickman County. Captain David Miller commanded a company that generally operated north of Duck River, while Captain Albert Henon Cross led a similar band of scouts, or bushwhackers, in the southern portion of the county. Albert was the son of Nathaniel Cross, a teacher from Nashville whose wealth allowed the family to employ two Irish servants. When Nashville fell into Union hands, Albert and his older brother, Brownlee, left their affluent home, settled in Hickman County and started to skirmish with roving Federal patrols.

Captain Cross quickly organized some local residents and refugees from other regions into a ragtag company of bushwhackers. The men were described as good, bad, and indifferent. Cross officers included Dr. James W. McLaughlin of Maryland, first lieutenant; brother Brownlee, second lieutenant; and Duval McNairy of Davidson County, third lieutenant. Federal cavalry patrols often scouted through Hickman County searching for those four elusive ringleaders, who always managed to escape, often after performing some audacious act. The daring deeds made the people almost forget the questionable acts of some of the bushwhackers.

By 1864 Federal troops occupied Centerville, using the town as a Union outpost and base of operations in Hickman County, the scene of considerable conflict that year. The courthouse had been converted to a fortress, impervious to small arms, so Captain Cross and his band burned the building to prevent its further use by the Federals. Captain John W. Taylor, Company F, 2nd (Union) Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Perry County Jayhawkers), responded by burning the business portion of the village, along with many private homes. According to one resident, They left the town in ruins, a smoking mass of coals and ashes over which Desolation reigned supreme. Federals duplicated that outrage at Vernon, leaving nothing to rebuild.

In July 1864 the Perry County Jayhawkers scouted toward Pinewood, insulting and abusing citizens along the way. At one point, they encountered Lafayette Turbeville, one of Cross men, stole his knife, hat and tobacco, beat him severely and forced him to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. Captain Cross promptly assembled a squad that night and ambushed the Yankees on their way back from Pinewood, killing and wounding 11 without loss to the guerrillas. During another scout that year, the Jayhawkers captured two soldiers from the 1st (Confederate) Tennessee Cavalry and murdered the pair. They later crashed a dancing party on Cane Creek and killed another man there. Riding down the creek, the Federals clubbed a man to death with their pistols and rode off toward Linden, killing one more prisoner along the way.

The deaths of two young men named Pointer and Buford illustrate how the opposing factions reacted to events during the internecine madness. Lieutenant Jordan W. Creasy, Company E, 12th (Union) Tennessee Cavalry, was described as being proficient in the burning of houses, the robbing of defenseless homes, and the insulting of unprotected women. He was also responsible for what was termed by one local authority as the most cowardly and brutal murder in the history of the county. According to the Southern account, Pointer and Buford had stopped for breakfast at a residence near the mouth of Lick Creek, when the house was surrounded by 50 troops under Lieutenant Creasy. Trapped inside a bedroom that offered no escape, the cornered fugitives gave the Masonic sign of distress and cried out, We surrender! Ignoring their pleas, Creasy stepped into the doorway and fired away until both men lay dead on the floor.

The Federal version of this affair differed greatly. According to Captain Russ B. Davis, 10th (Union) Tennessee Cavalry, Creasy and 25 soldiers pursued the two men oer hill and dale until finally he was upon them. Pointer and Buford were concealed in a house of ill-fame, situated in a most secluded spot when the lieutenant arrived. Fearing they might escape, Creasy dashed upon them alone and shot them both before any of his party were on the spot. A search disclosed four army pistols. Captain Davis praised his subordinate in the official report of this incident, writing, Much credit is due Lieutenant Creasy for his gallantry in this single contest. Davis concluded his report with the remark, Perfect order was kept throughout the entire march, and the rights of law-abiding citizens respected by my entire party.

Murder and midnight justice became so commonplace in Hickman County that normally heinous crimes went virtually unnoticed. In 1864, about two miles west of Vernon, David Seymour and Howell Luten were killed in their beds by an assailant wielding an ax. The murderer was never caught, and amid the stirring events of that year, the crime was soon almost forgotten.

By this stage of the war, Hickman County was a desolate place. Blackened chimneys marked where homes had once stood. Stables, barns and smokehouses were empty. Farm implements had vanished. Fertile land grew only thorns and briers. Menfolk lay buried in graves on battlefields across the South. Hickmans Confederate residents hated the Federal invaders who had brought this desolation into their quiet community, and looked to their guerrilla neighbors to protect them from any further depredations.

Unaware of Hickman County residents intense hatred of the Yankees, Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Coopers brigade of Union infantry left Johnsonville on November 24 and marched toward Centerville on the Reynoldsburg road. Rainy weather quickly turned the roads into what were described as lines of mud, without a bottom. Despite the mire, Coopers men marched about 16 miles on the 25th and 20 miles on the 26th. They forded several streams along the route, including Piney Creek, near which the soldiers camped that night.

Captain Cross hastily called his company together to counter this threat. He crossed to the north bank of Duck River and probed General Coopers picket line in the early morning of November 27. After exchanging a few shots, Cross withdrew his men and waited for daylight. In the morning Cooper advanced another seven miles to Centerville, where he detached the 130th Indiana and 99th Ohio to guard the fords on Duck River, then marched on another 15 miles with the balance of his brigade. Cooper reported, I found the country infested with guerrillas, who hung upon my flanks and advance and rear guard. Cross wisely waited until the Federal column had left the open valley and moved onto the wooded ridges. Then he would fire and retreat, only to appear a few minutes later in an attack on the flank or the rear. Brownlee Cross was wounded during one of those hit-and-run attacks.

Despite the menace posed by guerrillas, many Union soldiers failed to keep up with their brigade. The Yankee stragglers were easy targets for mounted bushwhackers. Private Ethelbert Crouse, Company F, 130th Indiana, left the column on the 26th to get a drink of water and could not catch up with the regiment that night. He soon fell in with five other soldiers from his company, Isaac Caston, Lewis Hendry, Joseph King, Adam Hoombaugh and Lemuel Grandstaff, and they all slept together that night in an outbuilding. Crouse later related what happened the following day:

We were out of rations, having eaten the last the day before. We could not forage, for we had been told that there were guerrillas in that locality, and we found it to be so, all too soon. We looked for turnip patches along the road, but did not enter a house.

It must have been about nine or ten oclock of the forenoon of the second day, Sunday, November 27, 1864, that we found the guerrillas were in pursuit of us. We started to run and ran until about eleven oclock, and were within a quarter of a mile of our rear guards, when they attacked us. Our guns were loaded, but would not go off, the ammunition being wet. Finding our guns were of no use, we threw them away, and again started to run; but the first thing I knew I was surrounded by nine or ten of the villains. They were dressed in citizens clothes and were armed with shot-guns, rifles, carbines, muskets, and revolvers. After giving them my pocket-book (I had no weapons), they told me not to be scared, for they intended to parole me and send me home.

The guerrillas captured all of Crouses party except 19-year-old Joseph King, who escaped into a ravine and then ran out into an open field where a planter and several slaves were at work. The planter drew his pistol, halted the fugitive and asked the Yankee who he was and where he was going. King blurted out an answer, whereupon the planter shot him dead as his captive friends watched helplessly.

Stunned by the coldblooded murder of their friend, Crouse, Caston, Hendry, Hoombaugh and Grandstaff were trotted back to the west some 10 miles. They traveled across fields and through woods, their mounted captors evidently avoiding roadways that might contain Union cavalrymen. Cross men told the Yankees not to be frightened, as they would soon be paroled and sent home. After fording Piney Creek, the guerrillas herded their captives down into a deep ravine in the midst of a pine forest.

By this time another squad of prisoners had joined the first group. Sergeant Oliver H. Blanchard, Company E, 25th Michigan, described how they had been captured:

November 26, I was unable to keep up with the regiment and in company with several others, fell some distance to the rear. The next day, Sunday, we crossed Piney Creek in the forenoon. I was in company with Moses Buck, Co. B, William Dewey, Co. D, Corp. George Westover, Co. G, Sergt. Otto Boote, Co. I, and a man from the 99th Ohio [William Haney, Company K]. When about a quarter of a mile from the creek, twenty-five or thirty guerrillas suddenly dashed upon us from behind in the road. They fired upon us and demanded our surrender.

No one was hit by the firing. Blanchard had a watch and two pocketbooks, one that contained $3 and one holding $40. When the bushwhackers asked for his valuables, he craftily turned over the watch and the pocketbook with $3 inside, keeping the balance of his money concealed.

Other guerrillas had captured eight more men from the 130th Indiana: Irvin Baker and Christopher Mainess, Company A; Albert Brown, James L. Buchanan, John Welch and Robert Hill, Company D; and William Cates and Leander Reynolds, Company G. This last group brought the total number of Yankee prisoners to 20, now reduced to 19 by the murder of King. Although slightly wounded in the side, Lieutenant Brownlee Cross commanded the Tennesseans, who had assembled their prisoners in the ravine.

The weather had turned dark and stormy by the time two old civilians rode up, chuckled at the collection of blue-coated youngsters (most were still teenagers) and said, You have got some of the Yankee sons of bitches, we see; we suppose you know what to do with them. The guerrillas said they did, counted off their captives and divided them into small squads of four men each. The Tennesseans then marched one squad over a hill and into a smaller ravine, where they ordered the prisoners to halt and turn around.

Sergeant Blanchard, who was one of this group, caught the meaning of those orders and cried out, For Gods sake, dont shoot us so! He had scarcely uttered his plea when the killers opened fire. One bullet tore through Blanchards memorandum book, entered the right side of his chest, glanced off some ribs and lodged near his spine. A second bullet shattered the top button of his coat and lodged in his left breast. The sergeant collapsed into unconsciousness. His three comrades died instantly.

The remaining prisoners heard these shots and grew alarmed. Caston confessed aloud that he was beginning to feel uneasy, and one Southerner remarked that he had good reason to feel that way. Caston responded, You took those men out to shoot them? His captor laughed and said, We did and we intend to serve you the same way.

The guerrillas started to march away a second squad of Yankees, this one composed of Crouse, Grandstaff, Hendry and another man they did not know. The stranger made a break for freedom, but he was struck down by seven bullets. There seemed to be no escape from the determined butchers. Caston, a cousin of Hendry, replaced the murdered runaway.Private Crouse explained what happened to his squad when it reached the killing ravine:

Imagine, if you can, how we felt then! We offered to do anything for them; we prayed and begged of them to spare our lives; but all in vain. We might as well have prayed to blocks of wood or stone. They laughed at us and mocked us in our woe and misery, and told us we ought to have thought of the probability of getting into just such trouble before we left our homes. One young man did most of the shooting; he was a young fellow about seventeen years old, and he did his work as cheerfully as a butcher would in shooting a lot of hogs. He used a navy revolver. We stood by a tree, surrounded by the bodies of those already dead, while he loaded the weapon. Night was just falling. The day was rainy and cold. When he was ready, he ordered us to turn our backs. Three of us obeyed, but Caston said he had humbled himself to them all he was going to; then one of the villains behind shot him.

The young executioner shot Hendry. Then came my turn. I had often wondered, when reading of military executions, of hangings, of death by the guillotine, how the condemned felt when they knew that only a moment intervened between them and eternity. How I felt is beyond my power of telling. Suffice it to say, however, that it came to me very forcibly that I had done my utmost duty to my country as a soldier. Yet above all things was the thought of home and mother. I would have prayed, but no time was given for that. I immediately repeated a stanza from an old, familiar song, which all soldiers know. The chorus runs: Farewell, mother, you may never press me to your heart again, But youll not forget me, mother, if Im numbered with the slain.

And yet there was a feeling, a faint hope, that I might escape through some defect in the aim of the executioner. I prepared myself for the fatal shot by leaning slightly forward, crossing my hands upon my breast, and closing my eyes. The weapon snapped five times before it went off. When it did so, the ball passed through my left ear, grazing my skull and rendering me numb and senseless.

Grandstaff stood to Crouses left and remembered that his friend never flinched before he pitched forward onto his face. Grandstaff was next. The executioners bullet struck his skull above the left ear and passed under the skin until it lodged above his left eye. He fell to the ground but remained conscious long enough to hear the guerrillas shoot everyone in a third squad. He knew none of the last bunch except for Hoombaugh, a mere boy of about 14 or 15, who he later recalled begged pitifully until he was killed. The remaining Yankees were brought forward in turn until all 19 defenseless prisoners had been deliberately slaughtered by the bushwackers.

After murdering their captives, Brownlee Cross men began to rob the bodies, rifling the pockets for valuables and removing serviceable clothing. Someone began to cut the buttons from Grandstaffs coat, but another man stopped him because he wanted the garment. They took the coat, then removed his shoes. But when someone tried to take Grandstaffs suspenders, one of the killers suddenly manifested a surprising sense of moral probity and declared that it would not be right to do so. Another guerrilla pointed out that it was not so bad as they had been doing, as they had been killing them. Finishing with Grandstaff, they rolled his body into a gully.

Sergeant Blanchard regained his senses as the murderers searched his body for plunder. He remembered: I soon came to myself and found the guerrillas cutting the buttons from my coat and searching my pockets, but as I laid on my left side, they did not find my pocketbook containing forty dollars. They took my boots, pants and hat, and left an old pair of shoes. One of those standing over the sergeant discovered that he was still alive and said, John, this damned rascal aint dead; hes playing off. John was out of ammunition, so he replied, Damn him, hes shot clean through; hes dead enough. They then walked away, leaving Blanchard to die.

One guerrilla turned Crouse over and cut off his coat buttons. While searching the body, he discovered a heartbeat and uttered an oath. Standing over the wounded Yankee, the killer pulled his pistol to finish the job. Hearing the gun cock, Crouse opened his eyes and found himself staring into the muzzle. He recalled: When the revolver went off I closed my eyes, stretched my hands out, and quivered my fingers. He said, with an oath: Now he is dead! See him clench his hands! Another said: His brains flew in my face! I knew that was not true, but refrained from telling him so, for very prudent reasons. The murderers rolled Crouse, now seriously wounded in the throat, into the gully with Grandstaff. After a while, Crouse raised his head, but Grandstaff whispered to lie still, since the killers remained close by. The two friends told one another of their injuries, then waited for total darkness.

After the guerrillas had gone, Crouse and Grandstaff managed to get up and climb out of the gully, grabbing onto bushes and branches for support. Grandstaff later recalled their situation:

We were in a large pine forest in country where we did not know a single landmark and could not tell east from west. Our only thought was to get away from that bloody ground. There was no light of moon or star to guide us. The shadows of the pines were impenetrable. A heavy sleet was falling. My companion thought it unwise to follow the path we had come over, even if we could have done so. All we could do was to choose the general direction in which our command lay, as nearly as we could determine it. That we were guided by a Higher Power than our own I have never doubted.

The two wounded soldiers limped along barefoot for about a mile before Grandstaff weakened and decided he could not go on, saying he had but one death to die. Crouse instilled some hope in his friend and they started again, walking in small streambeds to throw off bloodhounds should they be pursued.

Reaching Piney Creek, they trudged along looking for a spot to cross the rain-swollen stream. They finally selected a place and got over, although Crouse had to rescue his partner after the current swept him off his feet. Grandstaff, now completely exhausted, had trouble ascending the steep bank, so Crouse pushed from behind with his head. They rested a few minutes at the top of the slope, then plodded on through the storm until they reached the Reynoldsburg road, near the spot where they had been captured. After following the road for a while, Grandstaff thought he saw lights and heard noises, but Crouse pooh-poohed his comrade and urged him on.

They had not gone more than 15 feet when three shots rang out so close that some of the powder burned Crouses face. The two men turned and ran as fast as their bloody feet could carry them. Crouse hurdled a fence, ran down a hill into a field of weeds and burs and hid. After all the noise from a half-hearted pursuit had died away, he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. He was aroused before daylight by a bugle blowing reveille, and he hobbled toward the sound, picking his way carefully since Union pickets would undoubtedly be jumpy in the darkness. He soon encountered a picket, which prompted the following conversation:

Who comes there?

A friend without the countersign.

How did you come there?

I was captured yesterday by guerrillas and have been shot twice.

Where do you belong?

Company F, 130th Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, Colonel C.S. Parish, Third Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps.

We belong to that. Advance, friend, with your hands up.

Crouse came forward, but could not get over a fence until someone came to help him. After learning that he and Grandstaff had been fired on by nervous pickets from this very post, Crouse asked the pickets to look for his friend and limped a mile to his regiments camp. There the surgeon examined him and dressed his wounds, although the physician told Crouses captain that he would not live more than a few hours. Robert G. Rogers, a relative of the injured man, attended to Crouse, who looked more like a dead man than a live one, he said. He went to a nearby house and got some milk and corn meal, mixed them together into a gruel and fed the desperately wounded soldier.

Meanwhile, grandstaff had gone another direction in the darkness. He dropped to his knees and crawled up a hill where he chanced upon a tree that was hollow at its base. The exhausted soldier curled up inside and went to sleep. He, too, was awakened by the bugle blowing reveille. Waiting until after dawn, Grandstaff walked to the top of a hill and saw the Federal camp, admitting later, I assure you I never saw anything before or since that gave me so much joy. He started for his company, but a teamster told him that the 130th Indiana had already marched off. Grandstaff remained with the wagon train for two days, then stayed with his regiment until it reached Clarksville, Tenn., where he and Crouse were admitted to the hospital ship R.C. Wood, reunited. The two friends remained aboard together until March 1865, when Crouse rejoined his regiment. Grandstaff was discharged the following month after a bout of typhoid fever.

Unknown to either Crouse or Grandstaff, Sergeant Blanchard had also survived the slaughter. The Michigan man explained how he had managed to get away:

I lay there until the next morning. Before daylight I crawled down where William Dewey, Co. D, was and lay there until daylight. With the help of a stick I got up, but hearing someone talking, I lay down on Deweys arm. Two men came along and searched around for some time. I did not dare to speak for fear they would shoot me and they did not discover that I was alive. The persons proved to be Mr. Hammond and his son. After they had gone, I got out of the ravine and crawled into another, then up a sidehill and into the top of a fallen chestnut tree. I was not hungry, but suffered intensely from thirst. The roof of my mouth became dry and parched from thirst and I was in constant pain from my wounds. While I lay there, I saw several citizens come and bury my companions.

That night Blanchard, wearing Moses Bucks hat with a bloody bullet hole in it, moved into a field overgrown with weeds and stayed there most of the next day, until he was discovered by a man working in a cotton field. The wounded soldier was taken to the home of Joseph Hassell, where he remained until December 6. Everyone seemed very kind, but he soon learned that the bushwhackers intended to wait until Christmas, when they were going to kill me, amid great carnival.

Unwilling to passively submit to such a fate, Blanchard paid a black man to take him to Centerville, where he met James Carr, who let him ride a horse to within 14 miles of Columbia. He stayed with Andrew Crawford, a Union man, for a week, then moved eight more miles to the home of Daniel McKenon, whose sons finally escorted Blanchard into the Federal lines on December 27.

The sergeant was admitted to a hospital in Columbia, where he was visited by officers who heard his terrible story. Lieutenant B.F. Travis remembered:

He seemed very much elated at his convalescence and thought it a joke that a funeral had been held to his memory at home. This, he concluded, would have to be cancelled when he should return home. But the poor fellows expectations were not to be realized. The time for the second and real funeral soon came. Not long afterward, he sickened with the smallpox and died on January 23d.

Blanchard was buried in the Nashville National Cemetery, but fortunately his story of the murders was written down by Lieutenant L.C. Hill, who considered the sergeants statement to be a pretty full exposure of the devilish brutality of the guerrilla mode of warfare. Blanchards narrative, combined with those of Crouse and Grandstaff, now furnishes a damning indictment of Lieutenant Brownlee Cross and the men of Captain Albert Cross guerrilla band.

Despite their heinous deeds, a combination of circumstances guaranteed that there would be no justice for the killers. Soldiers from General Coopers brigade would undoubtedly have sought retribution, but they marched 15 miles beyond Centerville on the day after the murders, taking them too far from the bloody scene to avenge their comrades. The brigade never returned to Hickman County. Quick burial of the bodies in a desolate ravine ensured that evidence of the murders had been effectively hidden from future investigators. There is no record to indicate that any Federal authorities sought to bring the guilty parties to trial for these barbarous killings. In fact, other than Brownlee Cross and John and Green Hammonds, the other participants were never identified. Unfortunately, the battles of Franklin and Nashville followed so quickly after the murders, that the deaths of 17 victims seemed to pale by comparison and they were quickly forgotten.

Ethelbert Crouse and Lemuel Grandstaff remained devoted friends, and the memory of their experiences on that terrible night in 1864 never faded. Forty years later, they told their story to W. Henry Sheak, who published it in McClures magazine under the title Out of the Jaws of Death.

Sheak concluded his article with the statement, In their declining years they meet and hold a reunion annually on the 27th of November. Their last reunion was held in 1913.

Lemuel Grandstaff died on March 21, 1914, and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Decatur, Ind. Ethelbert Crouse, who lived until June 15, 1931, was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery in Antwerp, Ohio.

By some quirk of fate, those two men had lived through what Sheak called one of the most wonderful experiences in all human history. Perhaps it was the rainy darkness, perhaps it was carelessness of their executioners, perhaps it was divine intervention, but these two friends survived to tell the world their story of murder in the Tennessee woods.

This article was written by Alan D. Gaff and originally appeared in the December 2004 issue of Civil War Times magazine.

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Facts, information and articles about Battle Of Gaines Mill, a Civil War Battle of the American Civil War

In November 1861, Union Major General George B. McClellan was called upon to lend his prestige and organizational talents to the task of commanding the Army of the Potomac, the grand army raised to suppress the Southern rebellion. Over the next few months he organized and trained that army and molded it into the form it would maintain until wars end in 1865. Ninety-day volunteers were replaced with three-year men, regular units were added as they came East, and brigades and divisions with their own artillery were organized, as were cavalry units. Technical services such as medical, signal and quartermaster units also began to function, and the whole was trained and exercised while defending Washington, D.C. Men from all the states, as well as the farflung Regulars, concentrated around the capital, drilling in larger and larger units.

The Regulars needed the drill as much as the volunteersthey had been scattered in company-size garrisons for years, chasing Indians. Only one post in the whole United States was garrisoned by all three armsinfantry, artillery and cavalryprior to the Civil War, and the Regulars had not faced a European-style enemy since 1848.

The Regulars evolution mirrored that of the volunteers. The first battalion of infantry and cavalry to come East became a Provost Brigade, separated into a nine-regiment Infantry Reserve Brigade and a three-regiment Cavalry Reserve Brigade. The artillery went into a multiple-brigade Artillery Reserve. By early 1862 the 1st and 2nd brigades, Reserve Division, contained nine exclusively Regular regiments, while the cavalry reserve contained three regiments of U.S. Cavalry. Each division in the Army had a Regular battery brigaded with two or three volunteer batteries, and the Artillery Reserve contained a Regular Horse Brigade (four batteries), a Regular Light Brigade (six batteries), and a fifth Volunteer Brigade with two U.S. batteries. The designation Reserve marked the Regulars as the dependable backbone of the Army.

What was the character of these Regulars? Essentially there were two types of Regulars in two types of organizations. One kind of Regular was the veteran of some years service, commanded by West Pointers and commissioned former soldiers. Of the officers who survived the first battle to write reports, nearly all were West Pointers, although the eventual commander of the 2nd Regular Brigade, Major C.S. Lovell, had enlisted in 1831 and been commissioned in 1838. Captain T. Hendrickson, commanding the 6th Infantry, had enlisted in 1819 and was appointed from the ranks in 1838. They possessed all the qualities that make good soldiers: training, discipline and morale. Large portions of their days before the war had been spent in drills and other duties that promoted teamwork and obedience to superiors. Coupled with life governed by Army regulations and the Articles of War, their environment was one of purposeful subordination of the individual. They were inured to hardship and were grouped in the regiments of the Old Army.

The second type of Regular was the recruit assigned to an older regiment or to a regiment of the so-called New Army. They were typical Americans, enthusiastic individuals with no military experience. Their main advantages were the men who led themthe experienced cadres of officers and noncommissioned officers transferred from the Old Armyand their desire to equal or exceed the reputation of the older regiments.

In the infantry arm of the Union Army, soldiers drew on their prewar and early war experiences to help develop effective tactics. As a defensive or delaying tactic, infantry would use cover and concealment to shield itself from an enemy moving toward them. The soldiers would then spring up, firing muskets, shouting and thrusting bayonets to halt the enemy and either drive him away or trap him in the open, exposing him to protracted fire at close range.

Artillerists aided the infantry by massing on important terrain and seeking to place enfilading fire on the advancing enemy. Their main effect was at close range, using canister or spherical case shot. Artillery, like the bayonet and the prearranged shouting, was often an effective psychological weapon, too. Frequently its mere presence would alter enemy plans. The tradition and reputation of the U.S. artillery, as well as the organizing skills of artillery chiefs William Barry and Henry Hunt, made the Federal artillery exceptionally powerful.

Undoubtedly the cavalry was the most glamorous arm. But were mounted regiments to function as light dragoons or heavy cavalry? Should they rely on mobility and firepower, or mobility and shock? Answers to these questions would come soon. At Gaines Mill, the three arms of Regulars would demonstrate their capabilities against Robert E. Lees Confederate forces.

Having created an army of 100,000 men, McClellan began to feel pressure to use it. After all, to re-establish its sovereignty the Federal government would have to regain Southern territory. The enormous public expense of raising the army also had to be justified. McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln finally agreed, after a lengthy debate, on a movement from Fort Monroe, up the York-James River peninsula to capture the Confederate capital, Richmond. It is indispensable to you that you strike a blow, Lincoln told the reluctant general. You must act.

Lincoln was adamant that corps be added to the chain of command, an evolutionary step that McClellan was not ready to take. On March 3, 1862, Lincoln presented him with a corps structure and commanders, including one, V Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, a politician turned general. Little Mac was aghast, but he was given a golden opportunity to remedy the situation. He had been ordered to leave garrison and mobile troops to defend Washington from a Rebel thrust via the Shenandoah Valley while he moved south. Left behind were Maj. Gen. Irwin McDowells I Corps and, not coincidentally, Banks V Corps.

The Army of the Potomac moved up the Virginia Peninsula from April 4 to May 27, besieging Yorktown, fighting a battle at Williamsburg and establishing a base at White House on the Pamunkey, a tributary -of the York. Although confronted by only small Confederate forces commanded by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, McClellans green intelligence sources somehow convinced him that he was outnumbered. He constantly called for reinforcements and moved slowly, allowing the Confederates to shorten their lines and reinforce Johnston. Although McClellan had been promised that McDowells forces would operate with his army, the activities of Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley had so alarmed Washington that the release of I Corps was not forthcoming. McClellan, now near Richmond, was forced to split his army, leaving three corps north of the Chickahominy River, which runs southeast across the peninsula, to await McDowell and protect White House. Meanwhile, two corps were moved south of the river to confront Richmond.

During the operations, Brig. Gen. Fitz-John Porter, as division commander, had justified McClellans personal confidence, and on May 18 he assumed command of the Provisional V Corps, containing the two brigades of Regular infantry. On May 20, Porter received command of the artillery reserve of the army, in addition to the guns already in his divisions.

On May 31, Johnston attacked to destroy the two Federal corps south of the river at Fair Oaks. His inexperienced subordinates bungled the converging attack, however, and Johnston himself was wounded and replaced by General Robert E. Lee. Lee knew McClellan well. He correctly predicted to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, McClellan will make this a battle of posts.

After Fair Oaks, McClellan was indeed determined to besiege Richmond. He spent the interval building siege works and conducting local attacks to force Lee into Richmond. Gradually, he moved all his forces south of the Chickahominy, except Porters. However, on June 11, Brig. Gen. G.A. McCalls division of McDowells corps arrived at White House and was assigned to Porter. Also on the 11 th, McClellan moved his headquarters south of the river, leaving Porter on the north bank near Mechanicsville, controlling his own divisions, those of Brig. Gens. George W. Morell and George A. Sykes, McCalls division and all the cavalry not assigned to divisions or army headquarters. Porter now controlled three of the four mounted regiments in the Army of the Potomac, 18 Regular batteries and nine Regular infantry regiments. The cavalry screened his front between Meadow Bridge and the Pamunkey River. Porters mission was to await the ephemeral McDowell and prevent a thrust by the Confederates to White House.

On June 10, Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas Jackson had begun moving from the Shenandoah Valley to Richmond. Lee conceived a ruse in front of the city while his force, joined by Jackson, attacked and destroyed the exposed V Corps. A reconnaissance by Confederate cavalry (Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuarts celebrated Ride Around McClellan), however, may have tipped Lees hand to McClellan. The Union commander suddenly decided to change his base from White House to the James. His friend Porter and the reinforced V Corps were all that stood between the Rebels and the reorganizing Army of the Potomac,

While McClellan hesitated, convinced that he was dangerously outnumbered, his audacious Southern counterpart continued fine-tuning his own plan of attack. Richmond, Lee told his subordinates, could not be defended against a prolonged enemy siege; it was necessary to go on the offensive. The Union left, South of the Chickahominy, was too strong for a frontal assault, but a turning movement against the weaker of the enemys two wingsPortersmight welt succeed. Lee intended to attack with Stonewall Jacksons vaunted foot cavalry, which had proven itself in the just-concluded Valley campaign. While Jackson descended from the valley to fall on the Union right flank and rear, the divisions of Confederate Generals D.H. Hill, A.P. Hill and James Longstreet would begin a frontal attack designed to sweep the Yankees southward. With speed and luck, McClellans over-extended army could be trapped between the swiftly closing Confederate pinchers.

The same night that Lee was meeting with his generals, McClellan was having something in the nature of a visiona gloomy one, at that. Writing to his wife, he admitted: I have a kind of presentiment that tomorrow will bring forth something-what, I do not know. We will see when the time comes.

After a Confederate deserter disclosed to McClellan the frightening news that Jackson was coming down from the Shenandoah Valley to strike the Union rear, McClellan decided to conduct a reconnaissance-in-force to feel out the Southern defenses east of Richmond.

On June 25, the Union Army advanced on the city at Oak Grove, and the next day Lee attacked Porter with 35,000 men at Mechanicsville. Despite Lees ability and daring, his amateur generals were very roughly handled by the V Corps, losing 1,350 men to the Federals 361. Operations moving the Union Army base continued, however. Freight carriers began leaving White House, while immovable stores were destroyed. Engineers from headquarters, escorted by the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, began a reconnaissance of routes to the James. Other engineers selected a new defensive position for Porter between Cold Harbor and the Chickahominy. At 3 a.m. on Friday, June 27, V Corps was ordered to occupy the new position. Porter disposed his forces on high ground 2,000 yards north of the Chickahominy River. Morells 1st Division was placed on the left. To his rear as a reserve was McCalls 3rd Division. The flank was bordered by Boatswains Swamp, and the terrain in front was open and rolling to Gaines House, some 1,000 yards away. On Morells right was a ravine, the boundary between his division and that of Brig. Gen. George A. Sykes.

Sykes disposed his brigades, Colonel G.K. Warrens 3rd Brigade and Colonel Robert C. Old Buck Buchanans 1st Brigade, from left to right. To their rear Colonel William Chapmans 2nd Brigade was posted at McGehees House and at Watts House. In Sykes line were the artillery batteries of Captain John Edwards, Captain S.H. Weed, Captain John C. Tidball and Lieutenant H.W. Kingsbury. To Sykes left and front a cornfield extended 400 yards. From his position on Sykes right, Tidball controlled a slope to the marsh fringed with trees and bushes. A thousand yards to the front was a growth of young pines. In an open field to his left was the 3rd Infantry, within 200 yards of a pine forest. Captain Henry Deharts Regular artillerists of McCalls division would support Morells line. Porter had sent a portion of the cavalry under Brig. Gen. George Stoneman to White House to cover the base, but he retained the command of Brig. Gen. Phillip St. George Cookefive companies of the 5th U.S., four companies of the 1st U.S., two companies of the 4th U.S. and one company of the 6th U.S. (Cooke, ironically, was J.E.B. Stuarts father-in-law.)

Troops were still coming in from Mechanicsville. Captain James Robertson and his gunners had been shepherding them and firing at Rebels from William Gaines peach orchard since dawn. He retired on line to Hogans House, then changed direction and set up near Gaines House. As the last Union troops passed, Robertson moved east, reporting to Adams House and then moving to the extreme left of Morell to watch the Chickahominy River bottomlands. Tidball, another Regular, had a similar mission. He was delayed about one hour rounding up stragglers and wagons, but was in action with his guns soon enough.

Around noon Union pickets on Powhite Creek, on Porters western flank, made contact with the Rebel advance guard moving toward the Union position. As the Federals scuttled back to their own position, the advancing Confederates were met by musketry and cannon fire from Morell, sending them to the ground. Morell knew the Rebel attackers would have to cross the swampy terrain and climb the 30-foot banks of Boatswains Swamp. Around 1 p.m. the pickets to Warrens front were driven in, but Weed, opening fire at 1,000 yards, drove off the probing Confederates.

By 2 p.m. the ball had fairly opened, as the Confederates attacked in force and lapped against the defenses of Morell and Warren. The seven-hour fight for the life of the Army of the Potomac had begun. Confederate attacks were not coordinated, however, as Lees plan was subject to the fortunes of wara prepared enemy, faulty communication and the surprisingly tardy and petulant Jackson, who had failed to reach Mechanicsville in time for the battle.

As Confederate infantry concentrated on the field, action swung around to Buchanans front. His troops were able to enfilade the Rebels attacking Warren and to counterattack Maj. Gen. D.H. Hills troops, which were attacking his front. Between 2 and 4 p.m. the 14th Infantry, under Captain John D. OConnell, moved into the cornfield to their front and cleared it of enemy skirmishers. On their right, Major Henry B. Clitz, 12th Infantry, provided support to Edwards artillery, then formed line and counterattacked to the left to aid Warren. The steady pace and controlled fire of his Regulars effectively disrupted the Rebels. The 4th Infantry, also supporting artillery on the extreme right, repulsed the first of three charges staged by Hills men.

Mounting pressure on Warren caused men of the 2nd Brigade, now commanded by Major Charles S. Lovell, to move to his assistance. The 6th U.S. Regiment moved down the hill to Warrens left and added their fire to that of the 2nd. The 10th and 17th infantries, under Major G.L. Anderson, moved to Warrens right. Lieutenant John S. Poland, senior survivor of the 2nd Infantry, would recall that two privates, Peter Burns and William Shute, under sentence of courtmartial, redeemed their reputations. Perhaps they were in the party of 70 men, surrounded by Confederates, who cut their way back to friendly lines. The firing took such a toll of officers that first sergeants assumed command of companies A, D and K of the 2nd Infantry.

By 3:30 the Rebels had mounted one more attack on Buchanan. A counterattack was launched at the double-quick by the 12th and 14th regiments. Protecting the right flank of the attack was the senior regiment in the U.S. Army, the 3rd Infantry. Reputation and bravery, however, could not prevent casualties. Major Nathan B. Rossell, the commanding officer, was killed, and Sergeant William Hessian was forced to command Company G.

A withering fire caught the 12th and 14th and cut them to ribbons. The two regiments of the New Army, in their first battle, suffered a total of 452 casualties. So anxious to win a reputation were the soldiers of these regiments that Quartermaster Sergeant G.C. Williams of the 14th left the safety of the trains to fight alongside his comrades. Four companies of the 3rd Infantry changed front in a dramatic, successful effort to extricate the new regiments, the older regiment saving the new. The decimated 12th Infantry passed through Lieutenant Kingsburys battery on their way in. Kingbury recalled, They were disordered but walking, Captain Reed, Lieutenant Hecksher and the standard rallying them about 150 yards to the rear. Moline crosses on the regimental coat of arms still bear witness to the 12ths first bloody fight.

Porter, knowing that he was outnumbered and feeling the increased tempo of the fight, called for reinforcements. Around 4 p.m. the VI Corps division of Brig. Gen. Henry Slocum came on the field. His 2nd Brigade, under Colonel Joseph W. Bartlett, reinforced Sykes weary Regulars. As afternoon turned to evening, a lull settled over the battlefield. Ammunition was replenished, the wounded were collected, and between details and perhaps a hasty meal the soldiers cleaned their fouled weapons. Bandsmen and hospital stewards carried the wounded to hospitals that were established at Adams and McGehees houses. Head counts revealed many officers wounded or missing. Major Clitz of the 12th was in the hospital and where was Captain Lay? Delozier Davidson of the 4th had been captured. Three other officers had deserted, and one was under arrest for drunkenness.

Porter was still optimistic. His troops had fought hard and they were not whipped. He felt that he could hold out until dark and then, under its Cloak, complete his mission by crossing the Chickahominy to rejoin the main army. He, like many others, was still looking ahead to the capture of Richmond. Far to the left, Cookes cavalry took up position near the Adams House, behind Deharts and Coopers volunteer gunners.

The lull was due to Confederate reorganization and preparation. To quote Jacksons grudging praise, Porter didnt drive worth a cent. The Rebels would be forced to use numbers to overcome the phlegmatic Federals. This affair must hang in suspense no longer, said Jackson. Sweep the field with the bayonet! About 6:30 the Confederates began attacking across the front. The onslaught was repulsed, but the Southerners came on again. Despite the earlier respite, the Union defense began to show signs of collapse. Ammunition was running low, and the effects of exertion and climate began to tell on the Yankees. Sykes and his men withdrew to a second line on a ridge to their rear. The 12th Infantry stood fast as the rest of the brigade moved back, volleyed the enemy at 50 yards, and assumed the new position.

By 7 p.m., Lovell on the right and Captain James Robertson on the left saw signs of weakness in the Union line. Rather than withdrawing under cover of darkness, the seemingly indefatigable V Corps gave ground, left to right, to the audacious Rebels. As Morell and McCall yielded to Confederates under Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, Federal reserve artillery fired over the heads of the retreating Federals in a desperate effort to halt the onrushing Rebels. The 11th Infantry, led by Major Delancey Floyd-Jones, continued to volley to cover the artillery, as did the 2nd.

To the staccato of the musketry and the roar of cannon were added the thunder of hooves and the blare of bugles as Cookes forlorn hope, Captain C.J. Whitings 5th Cavalry, rode through the Federals and into the maelstrom of Confederate rifle fire. The brave attack failed, but the smoke the horsemen raised to their front effectively shielded the Federals, and the left flank of the V Corps moved down to the Chickahominy.

The right held on until night approached, but the outcome was the same, save for the guns. To Sykes rear had appeared the famous Irish Brigade and Brig. Gen. W.H. Frenchs brigade, 1st Division, 11 Corps. The Regulars rallied on them as Weed, Tidball and Kingsbury moved their guns away from the Rebels. The 4th Infantry moved by their left flank, interposed themselves between the Confederates and the guns and moved off the field carrying their wounded.

The 4th moved only a short distance, however. Fatigue, darkness and poor communication caused the victorious Confederates to halt in the Union position they had carried. By 9:30 p.m. fighting had died down. Porter safely withdrew across the Chickahominy early on the morning of June 28. The cavalry crossed the river and destroyed the bridges around 2 a.m., but the Union forces suffered the same problems as the Rebels. The 4th Infantry bivouacked north of the Chickahominy and expected to counterattack the next day. A courier sent to them with withdrawal and consolidation orders apparently was killed en route. Captain Joseph B. Collins, senior surviving officer, discovered their plight around 4 a.m. He moved his regiment to Alexanders Bridge, made some hasty repairs and crossed over, safe to fight another day.

Nine hundred eighty Regulars had sacrificed themselves that day to save the army. The regiments of the Old Army had lived up to their reputation, and those of the New Army had laid a solid foundation for theirs. The V Corps inflicted thousands of casualties on the Confederates. It escaped and rejoined the main army to wreak further havoc on the Army of Northern Virginia at Malvern Hill. During the next 13 months, Lees bold maneuvers would frequently dismay his opposition but would also destroy his own army in the process. His force suffered tens of thousands of casualties and did not have replacements for the lost men. Lee often outgeneraled but never conquered the indomitable Army of the Potomac and the men on the right of the line, the U.S. Army Regulars.

This article was written by Retired U.S. Army Major James B. Ronan and originally appeared in the January 2001 issue of Americas Civil War magazine.

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On a very warm morning in the summer of 1965, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I was 18 years old, fresh out of high school and bored, really bored. I also felt useless. My future? I didnt have a clue. Living in San Jose, California, my buddy Ron and I would drive over the hill to Santa Cruz almost every day. We were jobless and usually so broke we had to scrounge for old soda bottles to turn in for the deposit and then buy gas with the change we got. We were pretty proficient at rationing our gas; wed get to the summit of the mountains, turn off the ignition and coast down most of the far side to the Pacific Ocean. Wed have to fire up again as we crested the slight rise near Santas Village in Scotts Valley, but we could get to Santa Cruz and back on three gallons of regular. More than once we ran out of gas on my street coming home, and had to push my 51 Ford the last few yards into my driveway.

With little else to do that summer, Id often go downtown to see all the movies that were showing. Starting at Williams Street at the Studio, Id watch my way down to the Crest Theater, at the St. James end of 1st Street. The Marine Corps recruiter was located upstairs on the second floor of the Liberty Building on North 1st Street, next door to the Crest. A life-sized cardboard cutout of a stern-faced Marine in dress blues stared down through the glass door from the top of the stairs, beckoning to young men like me who were looking for a future. I doubt if that cardboard Marine influenced me all that much, but at least I knew where the recruiter was when I went looking. And so one afternoon, after watching an endless stream of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello beach movies, I climbed those stairs and asked to be in the Marine Corps. (Yes, I had lost my mind.)

Before 1965, Id never even heard of Vietnam. By the summer of 1966, I was fighting in a war in Vietnam.

My first rifle company, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines was rather instrumental in the grand scheme of things in July 1966, being the Battalion Landing Team destined to be knee deep in Operation Hastings at the DMZ. In October 1966, I transferred farther south to Charlie 1/5 to 60mm mortars, where we were always in the middle of the excitement. Firefights, heat, thirst, leeches, rain, heat, immersion foot, mosquitoes, thirst, heat, ambushes, heat and always, always, thirst. I was certainly no longer bored.

Between operations, back around Hill 54 north of Chu Lai, just about everybody had to go on regular daytime patrols. The rifle companies did all the nighttime ambush stuff outside of our wire, and they were responsible for listening posts and outposts at night. But even a sorry-assed mortarman (thats me) occasionally had to go out on routine patrols around our hill. Simple enough. In the morning somebody assigned guys to the daily patrols. Times varied, but we typically had patrols out all day. Sometimes Id get a morning patrol, sometimes the later patrol, which was a bit worse because of the heat. It needed to be done, but considering how well secured we felt our area of responsibility was, it got to be little more than a mundane daily routine.

Wed muster at the command post at the appointed time loaded down with our weapons, cartridge belts, two full canteens and soft covers. Usually there were eight or 10 of us. One of us would always be packing a radio. Our patrols were in predesignated areas, and wed go out a couple of clicks, rarely more than three, patrol the area for an hour or two, then return to the hill. The Hill 54 area was pretty flat so the walking was easynot like the east, Cigar Island and the like, where you had to be on your toes every second. We kept our separation, quietly moving ahead, always looking around for something suspicious.

That was the routine we followedmost of the time. But one spring day, somebody had other ideas. We knew our area was secure and wed all been on working parties that morning filling and humping sandbags, and now here we were on what seemed to be a somewhat worthless patrol. As we prepared to go outside the wire, somebody quietly suggested we go out the two clicks and then find ourselves a nice shady spot, set up a radio watch and get some much-needed shut-eye. That sure made sense to me, barely concerning myself with our responsibility, or lack of it.

It was a gorgeous sunny dayhot, as always. We patrolled out a couple of clicks, passing a water buffalo or two while carefully avoiding any hooches or villages. We then swung around toward a hedgerow of sorts where some trees hid a depression full of dry leaves and stuff. The perfect spot, we all agreed. We carefully formed a perimeter, arranging ourselves so we could see out through the foliage.

Tucked in the shade, hidden from everything and everybody, we settled in to relax. A couple guys dozed off in no time. I felt a bit uneasy, however. Not because of dangerthere wasnt anybody around for a mile at leastbut because I knew what we were doing was wrong. Not wrong enough, however, to keep me from lying back and swigging the last of a canteen of Kool-Aid water (Loudmouth Lemon!). Lying there with no sound but the hiss of the radio got me just about ready to doze off.

Then without warning, what sounded very much like a buffalo came charging through the brush to my right! Everybody sat up quickly, rifles swinging around at the ready, prepared to blast away at anything and anybody! Seconds later I was astonished to see a little Vietnamese kid walk right into the middle of our secure, shady nestand just stand there with a big grin on his face. In that instant, as I struggled to process what was going on, the kid yells out, You want Coca-Cola?

What!? What did he say? Whats a kid doing here? How did he find us? Are we fucked up or what, that a kid can just walk on in without us knowing? This is embarrassing. All of these thoughts raced through my mind in that moment. This situation was rather disconcerting to us all, but back then I didnt know the word disconcerting so I used the only terms I knew to cover the situation: Jeeesus H. Keeriist! What the hell?!! The kid was selling Coca-Cola! Ice cold Coca-Cola! This little half-pint was hauling around one of those big woven straw bags, filled with rice husks to keep the big chunk of ice from melting too quickly, and under the layer of husks were about a half-dozen big bottles of Coke.

He looked to be about 10 years old, weighing in at about 50 pounds soaking wet, clad in light shorts, T-shirt and thin sandals. This situation wasnt covered in our training. Again, I started wondering and thinking: I dont have any money. I dont think anybody has any money. I want one of those Cokes! Hes only a little fella. Ill just take the Cokes. Here again not one word of this had passed my lips when one of the guys muttered, Ive got money. Problem solved, and a hell of a load off my mind. We bought everything he had. Ice cold Cokes. Geez, were they good! Only while we were sitting back and sweating out the Cokes did it occur to us: The nerve of that kid! He didnt even seem remotely intimidated by our capacity as trained killers. He was treating us as little more than customers! How insulting was that!?

Im thinking the reason why I remember this incident so well is because of how stupid we were. There we were, the baddest of the bad, professional killers out on a combat patrol, in control of the entire world around us. But it only took a 10-year-old kid to remind us that we were really just a bunch of silly knuckleheads. Thirsty silly knuckleheads. And, Im thinking, that kid is probably a millionaire todaysomewhere.

Marine Joe Holt rotated home from Vietnam in April 1967 and concluded his four-year tour as a seagoing Marine serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

This story was originally published in the April 2010 issue of Vietnam magazine.
Depending on where your fancies lie, the word pirate is either a verb or a noun. Pirate the verb has proliferated, thanks to the dynamic duo of the Internet and illegally copied digital files of music and movies. Pirate the noun has enjoyed a recent resurgence thanks to the Pirates of Caribbean movies and International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19.

As referents to persons, places, or things, nouns give us rich pictures. In the case of pirate, we see the Jolly Roger, black boots, and one-armed, one-eyed scallywags taking a swig off a bottle of rum before belching out, Yo ho ho! and launching into an R-rated sea chanty.

But the term female pirate does not fit into this comically fun stereotype. Female pirates, from the 3rd century BC to Elizabethan England, roamed the seas as rulers, marauders, and entrepreneurs. Although hailing and sailing from different cultures, the Jane Sparrows featured below made a different kind of splash into the annals of history.*

Teuta, Queen of Illyria, Took to the Seas in 232 B.C.

The Greek historian Polybius tells us that Teuta rose to power when her husband died. She immediately declared nautical war on the rest of the world, advising her minions to steal from anyone floating nearby. Because her fleet consisted of small, fast ships called lembi, sailors under her command attacked and raided coastal settlements along the Adriatic. In response, quaint and prosperous seaside towns moved inland, leaving the coasts in Illyrian hands.

Not content to just sit on the throne, Teuta often joined these looting expeditions. Within four years, an agitated Rome brought her marauding habits under control, and Teuta disbanded her fleet.

Alfhild of the Valkyries, Denmark, Born in the middle of 9th century

Separating myth from fact, especially when discussing the Vikings, is some task. The Vikings, who were not too worried about literacy, passed on their history orally through heroic tales of great warriors and seafarers. Case in point: Hundreds of years after she was born to King Siward of the Goths, the legend of the Valkyrie Alfhild was preserved by the twelfth century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus.

Legend tells us that, like Eleanor of Aquitaine taking a group of women with her to the Crusades, Alfhild surrounded herself with a female entourage when she took to the seas instead of marrying the worthy Prince Alf.

Chastity intact, Alfhild donned her chain mail, took up her sword, and topped off her 9th century fashion statement with a horned helmet. To any passing longboat, Hagars, not Helgas, appeared to be rowing that longboat.

Alf and Alfhild meet again at sea, on Alfhilds final voyage as a Valkyrie. Alfhilds days of raiding were over, and her days as Alfs wife began.

Grania na Maille (Grace OMalley), Ireland, Born in 1530

Unlike Alfhild, the documented facts regarding this Irish queen abound. She was born into a politically strong seafaring family and married into a warrior family. After avenging her first husbands death, OMalley retreated, with recruits from her late husbands clan, to her fathers land.

Then, she took to the seas, pirating along the trade routes between Scotland and England and the Continent. Her superior knowledge of the nooks and crannies along Irelands west coast meant she could hide from the pursuing, angry robbed.

Like the modern-day pirates from Somalia, OMalley was able to capitalize on the lack of opportunities in Elizabethan Ireland for her recruiting. Hence, OMalleys followers included the destitute, the savage, and the fiercely loyal. Members of her crews were not only getting rich, they were also sticking it to the man  in this case, England.

As the man began cracking down on her piratical activities in the 1580s and 1590s, OMalley did what any brazen Irish mother would do  she went to the (wo)man herself, Queen Elizabeth, to secure lands for her sons and ask for a pension for herself. Via letter, OMalley promised in return to fight, with all her might, for her former enemy.

Guess what? The English sister granted the Irish sister her requests. And the Irish sister complied. Well, at least for a few years.

* The biographical sketches of each of these female pirates have been culled from Joan Druetts She Captains (Simon & Schuster, 2000).




HWANG KEUM-JU, A KOREAN GIRL, was 18 when she was drafted by the Japanese to work in a factory. Trucked off to Manchuria, she was billeted in a freezing barrack and assigned a Japanese name. The day after her arrival, an officer ordered her into a small room and told her to do as he said or be killed. He then ordered her to remove her clothes.

It was like a bolt from the sky, she later said. My long braid clearly showed I was a virgin.I told him no. When she continued to resist, he ripped and cut her clothes off. She fainted, only to wake up in a pool of blood. That was just the beginning of the horrors she would experience as a sex slave for Japanese troops.

War creates strange euphemisms, but one of the most twisted has to be comfort women. These womenan estimated 50,000 to 200,000were held as slaves to sexually service Japanese soldiers in the 19371945 Sino-Japanese War and World War II. For almost 50 years afterward, their story was virtually unknown. Even now the tragedy of the comfort women is shrouded in controversy, particularly over what these women are owed for their suffering. Promised legitimate work, they left behind lives of hardship and took a chance for a better future. Despite their terrible wartime experiences, several not only survived the war but overcame their deep emotional scars and found the courage to tell their stories.

THE VAST MAJORITY of comfort women were uneducated rural Koreans between 14 and 18 years old, whose poverty and circumstances left them vulnerable to exploitation. Throughout the womens short lives, the Japanese had been their colonial overlords and the yangban, the Korean gentryand for that matter, any man in that patriarchal societytheir superiors. The future held little more than destitution. So when men showed up in their villages offering good work in Japanese factories or front-line hospitals, along with a chance to learn and lead a better life, the more courageous girls signed on.

Their recruiters became captors, shipping the girls off to far-away places in Japanese-held territory. They were confused by their rough treatment and neglect, but most seemed to believe theyd be given the work promiseduntil the appalling reality became clear: They were soon placed hard up against the front lines to provide comfort to young Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

Like all men in war, the Japanese soldiers lived with the specter of death. Though not excusing their abuse of the girls, Korean writer Kim Il Myon explains it this way: To soldiers in the frontline, ever surrounded by the sound of guns, wrapped in smoke stinking of death and not knowing when death would comea visit to a comfort station was no doubt the only form of reliefthe only kind of individual act in which one was liberated.

But that liberation cost these women their dignity, their sense of self, and much more. Many attempted suicide or escape, with some succeeding. The remaining tens of thousands could never predict what fresh horror lay ahead. They lived with the same smoke and gunfire and bombings that the men did, but they also suffered humiliation, infection, pregnancy, and disease. The standard treatment for syphilis was a shot of the dread No. 606, or Salvarsan, an arsenic-based drug that could cause infertilityif all the other abuse had failed to.

The men were ordered to wear condoms but some refused; with death a daily companion, why bother? The women were virtually powerless to enforce the rule, though they tried. When condoms were in short supply, they saved used ones, washed them, and redistributed them, an almost useless precaution.

IRONICALLY, FEAR OF VENEREAL DISEASE and the desire to maintain order compelled the Imperial military to establish the first comfort stations, after the 1932 invasion of Shanghai. Widespread rape by their occupying forces had angered the locals and made them hard to control. And brothels were risky: Spies would likely abound among prostitutes, and VD weakened the fighting force and might spread through Japan after the war.

By the end of World War II, the Japanese military had comfort stations in all their occupied territories, manned by women abducted or recruited under false pretenses. Some were prepubescent.

The womens living arrangements varied, depending on who ran their station and the soldiers who came through. Most worked in cubicles that had curtains for doors and were just big enough for two people to lie down. One woman in a Taiwan station reported that on Saturdays, so many soldiers came that the ends of the queues were sometimes invisible.Each woman had to serve 20 to 30 soldiers a day. We were already very weak, but going without good food and being forced to serve so many men left some of us half dead.

Officially, the women were to receive part of what soldiers paid, but that too varied. Regardless, the cost of clothes and toiletries came out of their meager earnings. Indeed, the women were treated as prisoners. They were rarely allowed out of their stations, and then only under guard. Sometimes a crazed or drunk soldier beat or tortured them, even hacking off a breast or burning their genitals.

In the best circumstances, officers took comfort women as mistresses and treated them far more humanely. In rare cases, a kind of affection developed, either between a couple or among a group of soldiers and the women in a particular station.

As scholar and activist Yun Chung-Ok explains, Even amid such a terrible life, Korean comfort women and young airmen, at a time when a mission meant death, seem to have experienced something like a raw encounter between fellow human beings.

Nonetheless, all the women were permanently woundedphysically, emotionally, and spiritually. At wars end, many were abandoned. They simply woke one day to find that the Japanese had deserted their stations. In some cases when the soldiers did not leave, the women and troops were expected to commit suicide, an expression of loyalty to the emperor.

But thousands persevered, somehow making their way to safety, usually on their own, sometimes via Allied or Japanese transport. Even those journeys were fraught. Several transport ships were torpedoed, and the women who made it back to Korea had to endure another war there five years later.

MOST OF THE SURVIVORS lived as virtual ghosts, haunted and humiliated by their ordeal, too ashamed to speak of it in a society where female chastity was prized. It was not until the early 1990s that the tragedy came to light. Several womens groups and scholars pursued the issue of wartime sex slaves, and in 1991 former comfort women sued the Japanese government.

Kim Haksun, who was one of the first to reveal her story, echoed the sentiments of many of the women who have since spoken out: Why havent I been able to lead a normal life, free from shame, like other people? I feel I could tear apart, limb by limb, those who took away my innocence and made me as I am. Yet how can I appease my bitterness? Now I dont want to disturb my memories further. Once I am dead and gone, I wonder whether the Korean or Japanese governments will pay any attention to the miserable life of a woman like me.

The lawsuits have yet to be resolved: the Japanese government has vacillated over the past decade, sometimes apologizing for the comfort stations and other times claiming they were brothels run by private agents and that the women were either prostitutes or volunteers.

The controversy continues to smolder, even in the United States. This past spring, two separate Japanese delegations visited the town of Palisades Park, New Jersey, where Korean Americans, who compose more than half the population there, had erected a small plaque in 2010 to the comfort women. Uncomfortable with the plaques wording, the Japanese wanted it removed. Their request was denied, and the memorial still quietly proclaims: In honor of the more than 200,000 women and girls who were abducted by the Armed Forces of the government of Imperial Japan 1930s1945. Known as comfort women, they endured human rights violations that no peoples should leave unrecognized. Let us never forget the horrors of crimes against humanity.

K. M. Kostyal, formerly a senior editor for National Geographic books and the magazine, writes frequently about history.
The Search for Truth in The Searchers

Hollywood Westerns didnt get everything wrong

The Searchers, a 1956 Western epic directed by John Ford, was based on a novel by Alan Le May, whose story was inspired by actual events detailed in Gregory Michnos The Search for the Captives of Elm Creek in this issue. Last year Western Writers of America voted The Searchers the No. 1 Western of all time. Paul Hutton, WWA executive director, called the film a dark and brooding commentary on the stain of American racism in which John Waynes Ethan Edwards is a man driven by deathless hate and perverse racism to find and kill the lost child taken from his family by the Comanches. In the recent World History Group special issue 100 Greatest Westerns, the movie ranks No. 7, and reviewer Dennis Showalter comments, Ethans obsessive racism, amplified by its overt sexual dimension, makes him at best an uncomfortable character, much less a hero. As emotionally complex as the story is, it could have gone clear off the radar screen for 1950s complexity had Ethan been played by someone more closely resembling the historic Elm Creek Raid searcher who served as the model for Waynes character. That historic searcher, Britt Johnson, was a black man.

Johnsons tale is hard to document, leading a few historians to dismiss it as legend, says Texas author Scott Zesch, who is researching the man who was still technically a slave (though he acted as a ranch foreman for his white owner, Moses Johnson) when Comanche and Kiowa raiders killed his son Jim and captured his wife, Mary, and two of their other children. Zesch has found several eyewitness accounts about this black Texan who searched not only for his immediate family members but also for other captives (mixed race and white). Britt wished only the best for the captives he sought, which would make him more heroicif not any less obsessedthan the fictional Ethan. After Kiowa raiders killed Johnson in 1871, an obituary described him as noble hearted and a stranger to fear.

Perhaps it would have been too much to expect John Ford, best known for his cavalry trilogy (Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Bravo) to cast a black man as the lead in The Searchers, though just four years later, Ford directed Sergeant Rutledge. Unsung black actor Woody Strode played the title character, a 9th Cavalry buffalo soldier accused of raping and killing a white woman. (That same year, 1960, Strode played the gladiator Draba in Spartacus.) At one point in The Searchers, several white women rescued from Indian captivity are shown to be half crazy. Ethan comments, They were whiteonce. Had it been Strode instead of Wayne playing Fords man on a mission, that line might have needed some adjusting, but either way the movie reflects a historical truthPlains Indians often treated women captives harshly.

Hollywood Westerns, like John Ford himself, have usually shortchanged the perspective of native people looking East, but they cannot all be labeled racist anymore than they can all be called historic hogwash. In Circle the Wagons: Attacks on Wagon Trains in History and Hollywood Films, author Michno argues: In depicting the western migration, early Hollywood is the winner. During the first half-century, Hollywood nailed the concept. Later, he adds, Hollywood created white villains more loathsome than any movie Indian had ever been. Michno then reminds us about some frontier realities: Indians attacked wagon trains of any size; they killed people, sometimes mercilessly; wagon trains circled up for defense; Indians circled around wagon trains; and the Army did come to the rescue. Not always, of course. But todays Westerns, he stresses, should not necessarily be viewed as more accurate just because they express cynicism toward the optimistic notion of hardworking settlers and pale-faced men with guns winning the West. No doubt there were racists in the Old West who werent so different from Ethan Edwards, but its too easy to forget that he is not representative of all Westerners; that there were also men of the West as unlike him, yet as similar to him, as Britt Johnson.

Gregory Lalire
What if you found out your ancestors fought on the wrong side?

Thomas Thompsons son William remembered exactly when he saw the Union soldiers: 10 a.m. on a sweltering July 13, 1864. They were with General Stonemans cavalry, and when one of them saw the two boys by the house he rode right over. Wheres the horse? he asked abruptly, and William, the elder, pointed toward the pasture.

The soldiers scattered. One man found a halter and headed for the horse; another corralled the cow. The others searched the barn and the house. When they left, they took virtually everything the family had: 240 dozen bundles of oats, 80 bushels of corn, 250 pounds of bacon and 280 pounds of flour, all the livestock. They were under orders, they said; no exceptions. Not even for Union men.

Wait a minute, I thought. Union men?

The ornate penmanship was hard to read, especially on microfiche. I double-checked the date: March 11, 1872. Place: Randolph County, Ala. Plaintiff: Thomas Thompsonmy great-great-great-grandfather. And there were his words, dutifully recorded by that anonymous stenographer: I always was, am now, and expect to be while I live, a Union man.

I felt like Id just been told by some Antiques Road Show expert that Id been hanging my heirloom family painting upside down. My family, anti-Confederates?

Well. This could explain a lot.

I am a Southerner. I grew up south of Atlanta, within a stones throw of the farm that was raided that day in 1864. My familys roots go so deep in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee that, until my generation, foreign travel to most of us meant crossing the county line. Were plain vanilla Scots-Irishthe predominant gene pool of the Caucasian Deep Southand in five generations, none of us has made the history books or the Forbes 100. We had no family legends about how Aunt Minnie hid the silver from those Yankee sons of bitches, in part because back then we didnt own any silveror land, for that matter: Thomas Thompson was a tenant farmer.

Southerners tend to have a more than passing interest in the Civil War, for good reason. We are the only Americans who have ever had a war fought on our own soil, and we are the only Americans whose civilian population was explicitly targeted by the invading army. These things leave scars. Southerners know what the Serbs and the Croats, the Palestinians and the Israelis, the Shiites and the Sunnis also know: in historical terms, 135 years is nothing.

But what, exactly, did being a Southerner mean to me? On my office wall, I keep a copy of a story from the satirical newspaper The Onion, with a picture of three beer-swilling rednecks on the front porch of a shack; they look like they have never bestirred themselves in their lives except maybe to take a piss. The headline reads: South Postpones Rising Again for Yet Another Year. I show it to fellow Southerners, and it cracks us up. But our laughter has an edge. There are the unflattering stereotypes; theres the headline, which transforms collective memory of a tragic past into an object of fun. Its complicated, being Southern.

Partly, this is because our identity is based largely on a fairy tale. Remember Sir Walter Scott? (I tried reading Ivanhoe once; it was like drinking congealed molasses.) Scotts novels were insanely popular in the early 19th century, especially in the South. It was an insular, agrarian region left relatively untouched by the Industrial Revolution, yet under increasing attack for its dependence on slavery. White Southerners of that era must have felt as if their whole way of life was being threatened, which it was. In Sir Walters depiction of an aristocratic society from another time, the home of the peculiar institution found echoes of its defense of the Southern way of life. And the bravado in those tales, with their noble maidens and hot-headed cavaliers fighting duels to defend their honor, so utterly captured the Southern imagination that Mark Twain, writing in 1882, stopped just short of holding Sir Walter personally to blame for the Civil War.

It was Sir Walter that made every gentleman in the South a Major or a Colonel, or a General or a Judge, before the war; and it was he, also, that made these gentlemen value these bogus decorations, he groused in Life on the Mississippiand if you think this observation completely out of date, ask yourself: how did Colonel Sanders get to be a colonel?

No white Southerner of my generation escaped exposure to this myth. I got the full dose in 1964, when I was nine, when my parents took us to see Gone With the Wind. It was playing at the Lowes Grand Theater, a gilt-edged movie palace on Atlantas Peachtree Street, and oh, Lawdy. The treacly passions of Scarlett and Rhett, the fabulous hoop skirts, the marble plantation halls, the whole lost-Eden aurait was utter catnip to me, as it had been to a generation before me (white girls, that is; I dont imagine it held many charms for African Americans). Even then, I think I smelled something phony, but it was just so pretty.

Growing up white and Southern meant not just tolerating that kind of cognitive dissonance, but cultivating it. Only in the South, I maintain, would you find a monument dedicated to a fort that has the proud distinction of being the last Confederate fort captured by the Union (emphasis mine). This would be Fort Tyler, near West Point, Ga., which fell into Union hands during mop-up operations four months after Sherman reached Savannah. Can you imagine the monuments the South would have built if it had won?

I was not good at tolerating cognitive dissonance. If you grow up being told, The war was about States Rights, not slavery, you can either erase the existence of several million black people from your mind or you can quietly go a little batty. I couldnt do the first and I didnt want to do the second; rejecting the party line altogether was the only option left, but nice Southern girls do not readily embrace heresy. What to do? Then there was the fact that my family had no stories. I have never met a native Southerner who did not know something about his familys war historywhat regiment great-great-grandpappy was in, or how great-aunt Ethel brained a Yankee with an iron poker. The authenticity of these stories wasnt the issue; it was just that there were always stories. Except for my family, which had none.

Little did I know.

About 10 years ago, a third cousin, Corley Thompson, told me he was working on a history of the Thompson family. I thought, Youd be better off writing a history of toenail clippingsbut when my copy arrived, I opened it eagerly. After making sure my husbands and daughters names were spelled right (they were), I got around to the first chapter. It began with the birth of our common ancestor, Thomas Thompson, in 1829, on a farm in the area of Georgia where Henry, Fayette and Clayton counties now meet. Thomas father, Flanders Thompson Jr., was born in South Carolina in 1800, and had fought in the Indian Wars; his grandfather, Flanders Thompson Sr., had fought in the Revolutionary War in the Virginia Continental Line (which wintered at Valley Forge). In 1848, when he was 19, Thomas Thompson married Mary Samantha Abercrombie, who would become a noted midwife.

Corley got his information about our ancestors experiences in the Civil War from the files of something Id never heard of: the Southern Claims Commission, organized after the war to hear claims for damages suffered by Southerners who could prove their loyalty to the Union. Thomas Thompson told the SCC that he enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 only in the face of threats from local secessionists. He was sent to Manassas sometime in the fall of 1861, after the first battle there. By January 1862, without seeing combat, he got a medical discharge and returned to Georgia. Whatever his ailment was, it was not enough to keep the conscript office away. In all, he told the SCC, he was drafted four times, deserting each time. At one point, he and seven other men attempted to cross the lines and join the Union Army. Instead, they were hunted down by dogs and taken to Charleston, S.C., to face a court-martial. They won release after authorities determined that they had deserted from the state militia, and didnt fall under Army jurisdiction. After that, he fled to a cousins home in Randolph County, Ala., which was home to a number of Union loyalists.

My cousin took this dramatic testimony with a grain of salt. His theory was that our ancestor was taking liberties with the facts to wheedle some money out of the government. Somehow, to me, that didnt make sense. If this was a scam, it was an incredibly elaborate one (240 dozen bundles of oats, 80 bushels of corn), pursued at a time when the federal government was hardly scattering largesse across the South. Surely a hard-working farmer had better things to do. Abolitionist sentiment? No evidence of that. Pacifist? Unlikely: a Georgia tenant farmer, son and grandson of veterans? And pacifism didnt explain why he had tried to defect, assuming he hadnt lied about that part.

Pro-Union sentiment? That didnt fit with anything Id read up to then about the Civil War, which depicted pro-Union Southerners as either border state residents or mountain folk who saw no reason to fight for rich slave-owners. But Georgia is the Deep South by anybodys definition, and the area just south of Atlanta was a Piedmont region of small farmsnot plantation country, but home to plenty of slaves. As for class resentment, that was easily trumped by racism. As long as there were slaves, poor farmers and rich planters alike belonged to the same arbitrary aristocracy of skin color.

So maybe hed just been a coward. That, at least, would explain why we had no heroic family legends. But the more I thought about it, the more things just didnt add up. Why had Thomas Thompson so adamantly refused to fight?

My search for answers got put on the back burner. For the next few years I was busy working on a book, keeping track of two little girls and making frequent trips from my home in Maryland to Georgia, where my mother was dying of heart disease. In the summer of 2005, with my book finally off to the publisher, I started a project that had been on my list for years: finding my mothers father.

Everyone called my mother Ruth. Few people knew that this was her middle name, or that her first name was Enley. She was named for the father she had always longed to know, but who had disappeared shortly after her birth. Thanks to the Internet, a search that might have taken her years took me only weeks. Ill never know for certain, but I found a man who had the right name, was born at the right time and place, had also died of a heart ailment and who (to me, anyway) looked like my mother. A few months before she died, I was able to put his picture into her hands. It was the first time she had seen his face.

When my mother died, her aching need to find the missing pieces of her past somehow got passed on to me. Part of my grief was the realization of how much of my life had gone with herthe dates of certain events, her chowchow recipe, the names of distant relatives. My father had died in 1981. The house where I had grown up was gone. The grove of century-old red oak trees that had towered over that house had been bulldozed to create an industrial park. Life had taken me out of the South, and I would probably never return. And yet: I always was, am now, and expect to be while I live, a Southerner. I wanted my daughters to know who and where they came from.

One day about that time, I found a new book on Amazon.com: Loyalty and Loss: Alabamas Unionists in the Civil War and Reconstruction, by Margaret Storey. A look inside revealed a bunch of tables with titles such as Distribution of Wealth Among Allowed SCC Claimants, White, Hill Country Subregion, Ala., 1860. I put off buying it, fearful of spending $43 on an academic tome that would bore me cross-eyed, but finally I caved in. It was fascinating.

Storey, an assistant professor of history at DePaul University in Chicago, is a friendly woman with a ready laugh, as I discovered when I called her. We quickly established our regional connections, as Southerners do: Shes from Chattanooga, where my cousins live, and finished her doctoral thesis at Emory University, my alma mater. Her thesis, drawn from her study of more than 400 Alabama families whose cases were heard in the 1870s by the SCC, was a striking addition to the conventional wisdom. She did not take issue with existing explanations, but to her there was another rationale for Union loyalty among Southerners that was equally important: patriotism. Her research revealed a picture of pro-Union Southerners as people who felt loyalty to a nation and a Constitution their fathers had fought for in the War of 1812 and which their grandfathers had fought for in the American Revolution. As one claimant put it, I loved my government, and I was not in favor of no other one.

Many of the people spoke of their pride in their families military traditions (the South has sent more sons and daughters into the military per capita than any other part of the country). Theirs was a deeply conservative ideology, Storey maintained, rooted in concepts of honor, filial obedience and personal integrityvalues that were not unique to the South, certainly, but especially prized in an agrarian society where family roots ran deep, and where a persons politics was considered inseparable from his personal morality. As one Mississippi woman put it in a letter: If [a man] will cecede from the government that has always sustained his Rights he would cecede from his family.

Unionist sentiment was not uncommon in the South before the war, but after the war began anyone who was still a Unionist became a pariah. Unionist men of draft age often spent months hiding from the local conscript office, especially after the Confederacy instituted a draft in April 1862; others were drafted and deserted. Others fought for the Union. Their families endured harassment, ostracism, arson, death threats and, after the war, Ku Klux Klan raids.

It was that dogged adherence to an unpopular viewpoint in the face of withering opposition that Storey found the most amazing. It was not a rational thing to do, she said when we spoke. Their interests were not served by their choices at all. Something far more intangible and profound was at work.I think that these folks were really brave people, and that sometimes you have to be a little crazy to be that brave. Here, at last, was an explanation that might make sense. The SCC records were at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., only about 20 miles from my home; it was time for me to read the file myself.

It consisted of Thomas Thompsons statement as well as testimony from two of his sonsWilliam, by then 22, and James, 20, as well as two neighbors. At times, a vivid sentence leaped from the page in a way that made me feel Id been therelike this, from James testimony: The soldiers said nothing, just asked where the horse and the cow were. They went to the pasture and put a halter on the horse and led him off.

Vivid, all right, but was it true? One way to get a feel for a storys believability is to check the details. If the little pieces fit, chances are the big ones fit too. In his testimony, James had mentioned Stonemans men and a little skirmish fought a few days earlier near Campbellton, less than 10 miles away. I decided to check that out.

Stoneman, of course, was Union cavalry General George Stoneman (mentioned in the song The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down), who served under Sherman in the Georgia campaign. But then I ran into an apparent inconsistency. I assumed the raid had happened after Atlanta fell, as Shermans army fanned out south of the city. But on July 13, Sherman was still north of Atlanta, on the other side of the Chattahoochee River from my ancestors farm and at least 25 miles away. Was the date wrong? And if so, what else was?

Unexpectedly, Uncle Billy came to my rescue. Shermans memoirs are brilliantly written and vividly detailed; thanks to them, for instance, we know that it rained 19 days in north Georgia that June, then turned intensely hot. Shermans notes on the Atlanta campaign included a note on July 5 that he had sent Stoneman down to the Chattahoochee on his right to create a diversion by pretending to be looking for a place to cross the river. Then, on July 13, Sherman wrote, Stoneman had been sent down to Campbellton, with orders to cross over and threaten the railroad below Atlanta (italics mine).

Thomas Thompsons testimony, meanwhile, fit the pattern of the cases Storey found: Every time I was home, I was threatened more or less. In 1864, one Lt. Benfield and three others told my wife that if they ever got hold of me, they would hang or shoot me, because they believed I was going to the Yankees.My feelings were for the Union entirely, and my language for the Union too.

Yet Thompsons claim before the SCC was denied. The grounds: his brief time in the Confederate Army in late 1861a service, the judge wrote, which was in no way compulsory. This was technically true, since there was no draft before April 1862.

Perhaps my ancestor thought a perfunctory appearance and a medical discharge (bogus ones werent hard to get) would keep the draft board away. The denial of his claim on a technicality also fit Storeys findings. After the war, she wrote, a reconciliation-minded President Andrew Johnson quickly pardoned many Confederates and appointed them to state offices, where they were happy to use their power against the Unionists they despised.

Not long ago, my husband and I took our daughters to Harpers Ferry. We were looking at some exhibits when I became aware of a feelingrather, the absence of a feeling. Before, Id seen Civil War history with a kind of double vision: Id felt loyalty to the region, distaste for the Dixie swagger that seemed to accompany any identification with it. Now, I realized, that double vision was gone; learning about my familys history had helped me ditch a lot of baggage. Now I simply felt affection for the region I call home, a bond made all the more poignant because of the tragedy that region has borne.

When I told Storey this, she laughed. With my students now, I try to inculcate that kind of double vision in them. I ask them, If youre so willing to say the North was right, would you have fought then? How many things do you feel strongly about now that youre willing to sacrifice something for? They tend to regard their history of the Civil War as a kind of inherited virtue.

I could understand that. Its easy to say that Thomas Thompson and his fellow Unionists were right, that our nation was better off undivided. I took some pride in that, until I realized the ridiculousness of taking credit for somebody elses actions. Courage, though, you can admire, and I admired his. Imagine facing winter with five kids to feed and an empty barn, surrounded by neighbors who despise you. Was he principled, or just crazy? How could he have known he was right?

Storey has thought about that, and her answer is: He didnt. Nobody can. If history teaches anything, its that people do not understand fully what theyre experiencing as they are experiencing it, she said. The best we can do is to understand the way human beings live with contradiction, and attempt to organize themselves so that they can be sane in the face of what is essentially a pretty divisive human nature.

That, I think, is what he did: He stayed sane. Corleys book has one picture of Thomas Thompson, a late-19th-century photograph of him and his wife. People in pictures of that era usually look grim, but Mary Samantha looks downright weather-beaten. Clearly, she had known hard times. Her husband, however, looks good-natured. If I didnt know better, Id say theres actually a hint of a smile there. He looks like a man who, when he went to bed at night, had no trouble getting to sleep.

To find out how to search Southern Claims Commission records, see Resources, P. 71, of the June 2008 edition of Civil War Times.
By Scott Hosier

With Robert E. Lees wily Confederates waiting somewhere in the vicinity of Antietam Creek, Union General George McClellan ordered I Corps commander Joseph Hooker to advance and turn the Rebel flank. But McClellan, for once, was too quick to move, and Hooker soon found himself in an unexpectedly vicious fight.

After the Battle of South Mountain, Maryland, on September 14, 1862, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia retired to the hills overlooking Antietam Creek. There, with his back to the Potomac River, Robert E. Lee planned to gather his widely scattered divisions and strike back at Major General George B. McClellans Army of the Potomac. Lee had originally planned to push his invasion farther into Northern territory, but the inexplicable loss of his battle plan, contained in Order 191, had forced him to cut short his campaign. Yet Lee still remained optimistic. He had full confidence in his men and officers. He wanted one more chance to bring his combined army together and make another stand on Maryland soil, convinced that such a blow would inspire the South, demoralize the North and bring vacillating Europeans into the Confederate camp. Lee waited for McClellan to make the next move.

McClellan, in his usual methodical manner, pursued his nemesis at a respectful distance. He felt leery about pushing Lee too hard and constantly demanded more reinforcements from Washington. Through faulty intelligence and his own misjudgment, McClellan believed that Lees army outnumbered his own, when in actuality McClellan outnumbered Lee almost 2-to-1. Only when McClellan felt he had a proper reserve force would he consider bringing on another general engagement with the ever dangerous Lee.

It was not until two days after the Battle of South Mountain that McClellan again felt confident enough to take on Lee. He blamed the long delay on the fog and his own uncertainty concerning the enemys strength. After extensive personal reconnaissance of Lees 4-mile-long defensive line west of Antietam Creek during the morning and early afternoon of the 16th, McClellan finally decided to throw the weight of his army across the creek to the north of Lees position and strike the Confederate left flank.

At roughly 2 p.m. on September 16, McClellan ordered Maj. Gen. Joseph Fighting Joe Hooker to cross the creek with his I Corps to attack and, if possible, turn the enemys left flank. Their objective was to gain the divide between the Potomac River and Antietam Creek. Once there, they were to incline to the left, following the high ground, and anchor themselves on the left flank of the Rebel army.

I Corps had been encamped between the forks of Big and Little Antietam creeks since the night of the 15th, and the veteran troops had been marching and fighting since the start of the Peninsula campaign five months earlier. On the morning of the 16th, they received their daily ration of sugar, coffee and a few pieces of hardtack and spent the day lounging in the vicinity of the Corse house and Pry mill. For hundreds of soldiers in the I Corps, those would be the last rations they would receive.

At approximately 4 p.m., Hooker finally began to move his corps across the Hitt Bridge, known to the soldiers as the Upper Bridge, over Antietam Creek. The divisions of Brig. Gen. George G. Meade and James B. Ricketts crossed over the stone bridge while Brig. Gen. Abner Doubledays division crossed downstream at the nearby Pry mill ford.

As soon as the I Corps got underway, Hooker rode back to the Pry house, where McClellan had established his headquarters, to obtain further orders. The prominent house provided a tremendous view overlooking the creek and the distant fields beyond the opposite bank. While there, Hooker was informed by McClellan that he was at liberty to call upon reinforcements if he should need them, and that upon their arrival they would be placed under Hookers direct command. With this promise in mind, Hooker returned to his marching troops.

At the bridge the Federal vanguard, consisting of Meades division, had crossed to the west bank and proceeded for roughly a mile down the Williamsport Road. There, the troops turned off the road and moved cross-country through fields and wood lots to their left; the direction of the march was perpendicular to the creek. Their objective was to find the Hagerstown Pike and the Confederate left flank. Soon after filing off the road, the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, a headquarters detachment screening in advance, reported having been fired upon by Rebel pickets.

The 3rd Pennsylvania, with Hooker at the head, had crossed earlier at the ford in advance of the infantry column. Upon reaching the opposite bank, a squadron consisting of Companies C and I was ordered directly west to determine the enemys position. Guided by a local farmer, the squadron, under the command of Captain Edward S. Jones, began moving down the M. Miller farm lane in columns of two. Since the afternoon had already passed and the sun was quickly setting, Hooker called out after Jones: Double up those dragoons! Theres a damned sight to do, and damned little time to do it in!

Jones squadron had not gone far before it saw Confederate videttes rapidly withdrawing to the rear. As soon as Jones saw the Rebels disappear into the East Woods, he halted his advance. He fully appreciated the need for coordination and wanted the column on his right to get into position before bringing on an engagement. Jones troopers, standing mounted in the open, soon became conspicuous targets for enemy sharpshooters hiding in the East Woods. An annoyed Sergeant Thompson Miller ordered Private John McCoubrie, a noted regimental marksman, to dismount and try to pick off the troublesome sharpshooters. Four other men also dismounted, and when a particularly pesky Confederate stepped out from behind a tree for another shot, the Federals unleashed a volley and cut him down.

Hooker, accompanied by his staff, soon approached the halted squadron and after a few minutes gave the order to resume the advance. The troopers spurred their horses and charged at a gallop, driving the Rebel pickets deeper into the East Woods. The Federals dashed after the fleeing Rebels until they suddenly came face to face with an enemy battery that cut loose a load of canister at a range of only 30 feet. Miraculously, not a single man was hurt, and only one horse was wounded. Finding the woods full of Confederates and the recently acquired position unsuitable for cavalry, the troopers rapidly fell back to safety.

The Confederates had not remained idle while the Federals began their flanking movement. Major General J.E.B. Stuarts cavalry had been stationed on the armys far left to watch for Federal activity. Confederate videttes posted near the Hitt Bridge had instantly spotted the crossing and reported it to General Lee. Lee had immediately responded by ordering Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood to move his division to the left and meet the newly perceived threat.

Hoods division, consisting of two bri-gades, had been resting in the fields near Dunker church when the order was given to fall in. They immediately advanced to their left and formed a line. The divisions left rested on the Hagerstown Pike and extended east along the south edge of D.R. Millers cornfield for a few hundred yards into a wood lot, which later became known as the East Woods. Hood wrote of his men, They were in high spirits and defiant, even after great fatigue and hunger. Like Hookers I Corps, the troops had been almost constantly on the move since June. The division was sorely in need of shoes, clothing and food; they had been issued no meat for several days and little or no bread. Instead, these battle-hardened veterans had been forced to subsist on green corn and green apples since nearly the beginning of the campaign.

While Hoods division was advancing to its new position, the men suddenly found themselves exposed to Federal artillery. The 20-pounder Parrott guns began firing across the creek from a ridge next to the Pry house. The heavy, long-range fire was only slightly effective, but it was terrifying. Lieutenant Colonel P.A. Work of the 1st Texas remembered: The enemies shells passed over and above us from 20 to 50 feet. The lighted fuses as plainly visible as the glow worms light. A private and a lieutenant in the 4th Texas were severely wounded by the fire. Colonel W.T. Wofford, commanding the famed Texas Brigade, wrote: We formed a line of battle and moved up to a corn-field in our front and awaited the advance of the enemy. Who had by this time opened on us a brisk fire of shot and shell from some pieces of artillery whichwounded one officer and some dozen men.

One 1st Texas sergeant recalled an incident that occurred while his regiment was going into line: Jeff Bowman stole away from the company and secreted himself in the upper story of a building near where the Yanks were crossing the creek and at about one hundred and fifty yards from them. From a window in the house he could see them distinctly and could not resist the temptation to shoot. He fired about sixty shots at them before they located him and dislodged him. They trained a piece of artillery on the house and when the first shot passed through it Jeff skeddadled back to camp. It is highly probable that Jeff did effective work in that little battle staged all by himself.

Around the time the Federals were in transit across the creek, the 4th Texas Infantry, commanded by Captain W.H. Martin, was ordered forward as skirmishers for the brigade. The Texans advanced nearly a half mile to the front of the Confederate line. There they took up an excellent position along the fence line on the northeastern face of the East Woods. To their front was a clear field of fire. From there they would await the menacing enemy advance.

The remainder of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, minus Jones squadron, had remained in front of the infantry column marching up the Williamsport Road. Upon reaching the Smoketown Road, the cavalry turned off, heading to the south. As soon as the Federals had turned off the Williamsport Road, Hooker personally directed the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry to advance as skirmishers to a section of woods that lay to the left of the division front.

The regiment was led by Colonel Hugh W. McNeil, a capable volunteer officer with three fights under his belt. McNeil, who was dismounted, walked over to Lieutenant William E. Miller, commanding Company H of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, and asked him where he was going. Miller replied that he had been ordered to find the enemy. McNeil asked if he would like some company.

The 13th Pennsylvania was not chosen simply by chance. Most of the regiments members had been lumberjacks when the war started. They were nearly all over 6 feet tall and, being backwoodsmen, were considered better than average marksmen. The regiment was also distinctive for two other reasons. First, it was the original Bucktail Regiment of the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles. They were also nicknamed the Wildcats for their tenacity in battle. Second, the regiment was armed with Sharps breechloading rifles. Hooker had complete confidence in their reputation and fighting ability, and for this reason he gave them the honor of leading his corps in battle.

The skirmish line was a familiar position for the Bucktails, who had performed this perilous duty on several previous battlefields. They deployed behind the cover of a thin woods in the steadily increasing darkness. If a fight was to take place, it would have to be soon. The 13th would begin its advance with 237 men.

Eight companies of the 3rd Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry were also deployed as skirmishers and sent toward the stand of woods (the North Woods) on the division right. The main column remained massed in battalions in the division front, ready to resist the Confederate cavalry that was still visible on the flank and in front of the command.

During the Federal deployment, Rebel artillery had begun firing. Augustus T. Cross, an officer serving on the staff of Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour in Meades division, was killed by the fire. Federal artillery was ordered over the open ground in front of the massed division and positioned on a high ridge. The Union gunners immediately began to reply to the enemy artillery and attempted to suppress its unrelenting fire.

After their initial deployment, the four Bucktail companies began advancing to the southwest. Two companies were sent out on each side of the Smoketown Road while a cavalry screen remained in advance of the infantry skirmishers. The other six Bucktail companies remained in reserve and followed within supporting distance.

The skirmishers proceeded steadily but cautiously for roughly three-quarters of a mile before they met the Confederate skirmish line. Everything had remained relatively quiet until the Federals reached the Line farm lane. From there they could see the Confederates far to their front, positioned behind a fence in front of the East Woods. In front of the Rebels was a plowed field with only shallow furrows to provide cover. The main body of Confederates had remained in the cornfield and were presently masked from Union view by the trees. Around 6 p.m., the Federals made their first contact with the Confederate pickets.

As soon as the Federals came into the Confederates range, the Southerners opened a raking fire, which the Bucktails promptly returned. The reserve companies were immediately called up to add their weight to the attack, and an extended line of battle was formed. The cavalry screen immediately fell back under the intense fire and allowed the infantry to take up the fight. Two Confederate batteries entered the rapidly growing fray. One, posted on the left of the Bucktails, began firing shot and shell. The other, stationed on their right, fired canister. For those caught in the skirmish, there was nothing gradual about the clash. The Bucktails regimental historian wrote, Its momentum was more sudden and vicious than anything they had seen before.

The Bucktails, stuck in an exposed position, instantly began catching the withering fire coming out of the woods. They stood resolutely under the hail of destruction for nearly 15 minutes, the fire never slackening. Then Colonel McNeil gave the ominous order to charge and drive the enemy from the woods. McNeil gallantly placed himself at the front and center of the regiment and led them across the plowed field. With no cover to protect them, the men advanced in full view of both forces, Confederate fire creating gaps at every step.

The gallant Bucktails advanced to within 75 yards of their goal before throwing themselves to the ground. The Rebel fire had become so murderous that the regiment could no longer advance in textbook fashion. Had the regiment been armed with conventional muzzleloaders, all hope would have been lost. Instead, the men were fortunate enough to have the option of lying flat on their stomachs to fire and reload their breechloaders. They would only have to rise off the ground to return fire. In this manner, the Bucktails managed to reply with a steady rate of fire that assured their survival.

In spurts, the Pennsylvanians began to rise and advance a few furrows at a time, only to drop back down to the earth. Soon the Bucktails were only a few rods from the Confederate-held fence line. A few paces from the woods, Colonel McNeil sprang up, crying, Forward, Bucktails, forward! As he spoke, he was hit by a Minie bullet in the chest and instantly fell dead. A mad fury seemed to grip the Bucktails at the sight of their fallen colonel, and they rose up en masse, although greatly outnumbered, and drove the Rebels from the fence line. From tree to tree in the smoky woods, the men battled like furies, driving before them the traitors who had killed their beloved colonel. Along with the loss of McNeil, the regiment lost 29 killed and 65 wounded during the charge.

The men in the 4th Texas stationed behind the fence recalled the scene much differently. They remembered that after becoming hotly engaged with the Bucktails, they had firmly held their ground without giving an inch. It was not until they had expended all their cartridges that they reluctantly fell back 900 yards into the cornfield. Either way, the woods were now at least temporarily under Federal control.

Just as the 4th Texas was leaving the woods, the 5th Texas, commanded by Captain Ike Turner, which had originally been stationed on the right of the brigade, was ordered to advance to the 4ths relief. The 4th, as it fell back, passed to the right of the 5th and formed on its flank. Quickly the troops charged into the woods and ran right into the advancing Bucktails. Turner gave the order to commence firing, and a volley poured forth from the Confederate muskets. The Southerners managed to stop the Federal advance and force it back to the eastern edge of the trees. The Texans lost only one man in the process. Again the Confederates had gained a temporary hold on the woods, as more Federals moved up to support the Bucktails. Not until 8 p.m. was the Texas Brigade forced to retire, having expended most of its cartridges.

The 18th Georgia, commanded by Lt. Col. S.Z. Ruff, had advanced to the left of the 5th Texas. Through the cornfield and into the East Woods the soldiers steadily tromped, their advance helping to drive Seymours Federals through the trees. In the process, they captured some members of the 1st and 3rd Pennsylvania reserves. Among the prisoners were some unfortunate drummer boys whose drums were happily confiscated by Rebel musicians, who had lost their own drums at Manassas.

As darkness descended upon the field, Colonel Evander M. Laws brigade, which consisted of the 4th Alabama, 2nd Mississippi, 11th Mississippi and 6th North Carolina, had also advanced from the fields in front of Dunker church to positions south of the East Woods on either side of the Smoketown Road. From there they supported the skirmish line of Woffords brigade. During this advance, Colonel Phillip F. Liddell of the 11th Mississippi infantry was mortally wounded. Lieutenant General James Longstreet would later describe Liddell as an officer of great merit, modesty, and promise. Near Laws brigade, Confederate artillery added their weight by shelling the Federal positions north and east of the East Woods.

In the Federal rear, Seymour, seeing that his skirmishers had seized the fence line and disappeared into the woods beyond, ordered forward the rest of his brigade. The men in the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th Pennsylvania reserves moved promptly and with great spirit. They passed the Bucktails chaplain, W.H.D. Hatton, who had stayed behind with Colonel McNeils body and covered it with a blanket. The chaplain had also been left to watch over three captured Confederate soldiers. He would remain there, performing his solemn duty, until the next morning.

Seymours troops were soon closely engaged with the Texas Brigade and with the Rebel artillery positioned in the cornfield beyond the woods. Their timely arrival, however, assured a lasting Federal foothold in the woods.

To the right of Seymour, Meades two other brigades, commanded by Colonel Albert Magilton and Lt. Col. Robert Anderson, formed into battle line. Meade then ordered them forward into the woods to support the embattled Seymour. Captain Dunbar Ransoms 5th U.S. Artillery Battery was moved to the front of the infantry at the western edge of the woods.

From there the gunners opened a destructive enfilading fire on the Confederate batteries and infantry that had remained in the cornfield. This fire quickly forced the Southern batteries to switch positions to meet the new and unexpected threat. From their new positions, the Confederate gunners commenced to shell the woods and the ridge the Yankee artillery occupied behind it.

Captain William Poagues Rockbridge Artillery battery was one of the recipients of the unwelcome Federal fire. It had been positioned earlier in the day by Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson himself and was now located on the extreme left of the Confederate line, west of the Hagerstown Pike on a knoll in front of Brig. Gen. David Jones division. Poagues artillerymen had barely unlimbered their three guns, two 10-pounder Parrotts and one bronze Napoleon, when they were ordered to silence an enemy battery that was firing at them from roughly 600 yards to the north. They began exchanging shots with Federal artillery in positions south and southwest of Millers farm. Poague recalled: He could not get our range somehow, and overshot us. His shells were easily traced by the burning fuses from the time they left the mouth of the guns. He claimed to have silenced the Federal battery after 20 minutes of spirited firing.

Wofford, commanding the Texas Brigade, did not feel as sanguine about his artillery support. I feel it due to truth to state that the enemy were informed of our position by the firing of a half dozen shots from a little battery of ours on the left of the brigade, which hastily beat a retreat as soon as their guns opened upon us, he later reported.

During the cannonade, Poagues battery received a couple of unexpected visitors. The first, a newly commissioned young lieutenant, spurred his horse around among the guns, calling out, Let em have it! A few minutes later another visitor to the battery brought a few chuckles. A man of unusual large size, with sword dangling at his side, came bounding from our right at a full run, Poague noted. A large log a few steps in our rear was his goal as a place of safety, and over it he leaped and was instantly concealed behind it. He had scant time to adjust himself before the log was struck a crashing blow by a single solid shot. He reappeared as part of the upheaval; but, regaining his feet, broke for the woods with the speed of a quarterhorse, and with a greater confidence in distance than in logs.

To the south, near Dunker church, Confederate artillery commander Colonel J.B. Walton ordered Captain John Reillys battery to participate in the shelling of the woods. Reilly fired until his rifled ammunition was exhausted. Since he could only fire into and over the East Woods, his shots had no perceptible results. As a result of the fire, Reillys men drew heavy Federal fire upon themselves. For the Confederate gunners in Captain W.R. Bachmans battery nearby, it was an extremely frustrating situation because they had orders not to return fire. The Federal artillery was also busy shelling the artillery south of the East Woods and soon forced those Rebel batteries to retire to a safer locale.

During the firing, Hooker could be seen everywhere along the front lines and was busy posting artillery and supervising the movements of his infantry. His habit of being close to the firing line would cost him the next day.

The I Corps itself had not advanced very far before McClellan and his staff, hearing the crescendo of battle, joined Hooker west of Antietam Creek. McClellan wanted to see firsthand how the advance was progressing. Hooker told McClellan his corps was small, only 12,000 men, and if McClellan intended to have him attack the whole Rebel army, he would need immediate reinforcements. Hooker concluded by stating that if such reinforcements were not forwarded promptly, or if another attack was not made on the enemys right, the Rebels would eat him up.

Luckily for all those involved, the sun had already set and darkness had covered the battlefield. At 9 p.m. a light rain began to drizzle down, soaking the exhausted men on both sides. The firing, which had risen so quickly, just as quickly withered away. Hooker would have to wait for morning to renew the fightingthe pitch-black night gave him no other choice. The general was heard to mutter, If they had let us start earlier, we might have finished tonight.

The stillness was broken only by desultory small-arms fire and an occasional artillery round. The two forces were ordered to sleep on their arms, within a few yards of each other. Seymour informed Hooker that his men were sleeping feet to feet with the Rebels. Sporadic firing continued in the darkness, but the main fighting for the day was over.

Not until midnight did Hooker get the reinforcements he had been promised earlier in the day. Major General Joseph Mansfield, commanding the Federal XII Corps, arrived over the same ford and bridge that Hooker had crossed eight hours earlier. Mansfield bivouacked a mile to the rear of Hookers command on the farm of Joseph Poffenberger. There was no doubt that the fighting would resume as soon as it became light enough to distinguish friend from foe.

Most of the men realized they would not be issued any food that night and would be lucky if they could grab a few hours of rest. Only darkness separated them from another day of fierce fighting. Throughout the night, nervous pickets maintained an unusually sharp fight in the tension-filled darkness, as both sides realized the magnitude of what the morrow held in store. The picket fire on Seymours front became so intense that Hooker himself rode out from his headquarters in the Miller barn to check the reason for the clatter. Only the dead were allowed any rest that night.

The casualties inflicted during the brief skirmish were never reported by either side. So many field officers in Hoods division were wiped out by the fighting on the 17th that few reports were ever made. Most officers who survived both days engagements lumped the battle casualties together. The count was close to 100 on each side.

But casualties alone do not make a battle significant. Longstreet wrote, The sharp skirmish that ensued was one of the marked preliminaries of the great battle, but the Federals gained nothing by it except an advanced position which was of little benefit and disclosed their purpose. There is the keyMcClellan had tipped his hand as to his intentions and thrown away any chance of surprise. Because of that premature disclosure, Lee felt confident enough to shift the majority of Jacksons command and some of Longstreets to the north end of his line. When Hooker attacked more aggressively on the morning of the 17th, he met not an exposed Confederate flank but a glistening array of bayonets and stacked artillery. Instead of driving Lee into the Potomac as McClellan had planned, the day would end in a bloody stalemate. The skirmish deemed too unimportant to mention in official reports had, ironically, assured that the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia would survive to fight another day.

First-time contributor Scott Hosier is a freelance writer in Winona, Minn. For further reading, see: Landscape Turned Red, by Stephen W. Sears; or Antietam: The Soldiers Battle, by John M. Priest.[ Top | Cover Page ]
Article About The Death Of Stonewall Jackson, a confederate Civil War General

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Bob Graham, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, as depicted by Bob Graham.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Lieutenant General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson are well known. Following perhaps his greatest performance, leading a brilliant flanking maneuver against Union Major General Joseph Hooker at Chancellorsville, he was mistakenly shot by his own troops while scouting ahead of their lines after dark. Jackson sustained severe wounds to the left arm and minor wounds to the right hand. The most reliable medical information concerning Jacksons final days can be found in the detailed accounts of Dr. Hunter McGuire, Jacksons medical director.

McGuire was 27 years old at Chancellorsville. He had graduated from Winchester Medical Academy at the age of 20. When McGuire first presented himself to Jackson in 1861, Jackson merely stared back at him and dismissed him from his quarters. Several days passed before McGuire received orders appointing him a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Later, when McGuire and Jackson were better acquainted, the physician asked the general why his appointment had been delayed. Jackson answered, You looked so young, I sent to Richmond to see if there was some mistake.

After Jackson was wounded at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, he was supported by two aides for a short distance before being placed on a litter and carried away. One of the litter-bearers was shot and went down, causing the general to be thrown to the ground. Jackson was placed back on the litter and carried a few hundred yards farther, to an ambulance McGuire had located. The doctor knelt down to examine Jackson and said, I hope you are not badly hurt, General.

I am badly injured, Jackson told McGuire. I fear I am dying. I am glad you have come. I think the wound in my shoulder is still bleeding.

McGuire observed that Jacksons clothes were saturated with blood and saw that the wound in his left arm was indeed still bleeding. The doctor applied compression on an artery and readjusted the bandage, which had slipped off the wound. McGuire noted that Jacksons hands were cold, his skin clammy and his face and lips paleall classic signs of hemorrhagic shock. Jackson for his part refused to admit any discomfort; nevertheless, he was given morphine and whiskey before being transported to a nearby field hospital.

Once at the hospital, McGuire determined that amputation of the left arm was necessary. When he informed Jackson, the general replied, Yes, certainly, Dr. McGuire, do for me whatever you think best. McGuire then administered chloroform, and Jackson murmured, What an infinite blessing, as he slipped into unconsciousness.

McGuire first extracted a round ball that had lodged under the skin at the back of Jacksons right hand after entering through the palm and fracturing two bones. The left arm was then amputated, about two inches below the shoulder, very rapidly, and with slight loss of blood, the ordinary circular operation having been made, McGuire reported.

There were two wounds in his arm, the surgeon continued. The first and most serious was about three inches below the shoulder-joint, the ball dividing the main artery and fracturing the bone. The second was several inches in length; a ball having entered the outside of the forearm, an inch below the elbow, came out upon the opposite side just about the wrist. Throughout the whole of the operation, and until all the dressings were applied, he continued insensible.

Jackson tolerated the surgery well despite the hemorrhagic shock, and at about 3:30 a.m., Major Sandy Pendleton arrived to obtain orders for Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, who had succeeded Jackson in command. Jackson greeted Major Pendle-ton warmly, saying: Well, major, I am glad to see you. I thought you were killed. Pendleton briefly explained the situation and asked for instructions, but Jackson could only respond, I dont know, I cant tell; say to General Stuart he must do what he thinks best. Then he slept for several hours.

The next morning, an aide read a note from General Robert E. Lee. I have just received your note, informing me that you were wounded, Lee wrote. Could I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the good of the country, to have been disabled in your stead. I congratulate you upon the victory, which is due to your skill and energy. The pious Jackson responded modestly, General Lee should give the praise to God.

The following day, Lee ordered McGuire to move Jackson to Guineys Station, fearing that nearby Federal troops might capture him. Jackson was not worried, however. If the enemy does come, he told McGuire, I am not afraid of them; I have always been kind to their wounded, and I am sure they will be kind to me. The patient tolerated the transfer well. Later in the day, however, he became nauseated and asked that a wet towel be placed on his abdomen. Upon arriving at the house where he would convalesce, he felt well enough to take bread and tea.

The house already held other wounded Confederates, including several soldiers who were suffering from erysipelas, a highly contagious skin disease. McGuire would not allow Jackson to be exposed to the infected men and instead moved his patient to a small separate building on the grounds that had been used as an office. The general slept well the night of his arrival and, awakening early the next morning, ate heartily and was cheerful.

McGuire dressed Jacksons wounds and found them to be healing well, without any signs of infection. Jackson seemed satisfied with his progress and inquired about how long it would be before he could return to the field. Around 1 oclock the next morning, Jackson again became nauseated and asked a servant to apply a wet compress. He refused to allow the exhausted McGuire (who had not slept for nearly three days) to be disturbed.

When the doctor did awaken, he discovered to his dismay that Jackson was suffering from pleuropneumonia on the right side. McGuire attributed it to the fall Jackson had taken from the litter while he was being carried from the battlefield. Contusion of the lung, with extravasation of blood in his chest, was probably produced by the fall referred to, and shock and loss of blood prevented any ill effects until reaction had been established, and then inflammation ensued, McGuire reported.

That night Jackson rallied somewhat. His wife had arrived earlier in the day. She was a devoted wife and earnest Christian, and endeared us all to her by her great kindness and gentleness, wrote McGuire. The Generals joy at the presence of his wife and child was very great, and for him unusually demonstrative. Noticing the sadness of his wife, he said to her tenderly: I know you would gladly give your life for me, but I am perfectly resigned. Do not be sad. I hope I may yet recover. Pray for me, but always remember in your prayers to use the petition, Thy will be done.

The next day, McGuire dressed Jacksons wounds again, noting that they were continuing to heal. The pain in Jacksons side had diminished, but he was now breathing with difficulty and complaining of exhaustion. McGuire consulted with several other doctors, and all that human skill could devise was done to stay the hand of death. However, Jackson was growing weaker by the hour.

When his child was brought to him [the next day] he played with it for some time, frequently caressing it and calling it his little comforter, McGuire observed. At one time he raised his wounded hand above his head and closing his eyes, was for some moments silently engaged in prayer. He said to me: I see from the number of physicians that you think my condition dangerous, but I thank God, if it is His will, that I am ready to go.

At about daybreak on Sunday, May 10, Mrs. Jackson told her husband that his recovery was very doubtful and that he should prepare for the worst. Jackson was silent for a moment, then said, It will be infinite gain to be translated to Heaven. He advised his wife to return to her fathers home, adding, You have a kind and good father, but there is no one so kind and good as your Heavenly Father. He requested to be buried at Lexington, Va.

Jackson became increasingly exhausted, and at 11 a.m. his wife knelt beside his bed and told him that before the sun went down he would be with his savior. Jackson replied, Oh, no; you are frightened, my child; death is not so near; I may yet get well. Mrs. Jackson collapsed weeping on the bed, telling him that the doctors had said there was no hope. After a moments pause, he asked to see McGuire.

Doctor, Anna informs me that you have told her that I am to die today; is it so? he asked. McGuire admitted the hopelessness of the situation. Jackson turned his eyes toward the ceiling and gazed for a moment or two in deep thought, then replied, Very good, very good, it is all right.

When Pendleton came into the sickroom at 1 oclock that afternoon, Jackson asked who had preached at headquarters that day. Pendleton told him the entire army was praying for his recovery. Jackson replied, Thank God, they are very kind. He added: It is the Lords Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday.

Jacksons mind began to wander, McGuire observed, and he frequently gave orders as though still on the battlefield. Then the scene shifted and he was at the mess-table, in conversation with members of his staff; now with his wife and child; now at prayers with his military family. McGuire offered him some brandy and water, but Jackson declined, saying, It will only delay my departure, and do no good; I want to preserve my mind, if possible, to the last. Told that he had at most two hours to live, he answered, feebly but firmly, Very good, it is all right.

A few moments before he died, Jackson cried out in delirium: Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks The sentence was left unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, McGuire noted, and he cried quietly and with an expression as if of relief, Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees; and then, without pain or the least struggle, his spirit passed from earth to the God who gave it.

Editors note: The author, himself a physician, believes that Jackson died of a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot to the lung, not pneumonia as McGuire had diagnosed.

This article was written by Joe D. Haines, Jr. and published in Americas Civil War magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today!
In Country: Remembering the Vietnam War, edited by John Prados, Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2011

If Consumer Reports published a guide to authors of Vietnam War books, in the column rating Sentimentality, John Prados would likely get a below averagejust what youd expect (and want) from one of the foremost Vietnam War historians and clear-eyed national security analysts. A senior fellow at the National Security Archive, Prados output has included two books that were nominated for Pulitzer PrizesVietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975 and Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of U.S. Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II.

So, when at the urging of editor Ivan R. Dee, Prados began to consider a project to tell the story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of the men on the jungle floor rather than those in the halls of the Pentagon, Langley or the White House, youd expect a measured, thorough analysis of how best to do it. And youd get it. Prados, who is, in his spare time, a leading (OK, rock star) designer of military strategy board games, concisely lays out for his In Country readers the alternatives he could have taken and the thought process involved in developing his strategy for the book, which he says: Is the ground truththe reality of the strategies playing out, not being made. The voices are those of people facing agonizing necessity, often choices to be made in a split second.

There is, as the author outlines, a very well-ordered rationale for the organization of the anthology of observations, which have been carefully culled from dozens of previously published works ranging from biographies, memoirs, oral histories, poetry, magazine articles (including a number from Vietnam) and official cables and documents. As the author notes, when two Vietnam vets meet, their first queries to each other are who were you with, where and when. With that in mind, the book is generally arranged to correspond along regional lines familiar to those who were in Vietnam.

Prados explains that he kept to a very minimum the number of accounts by historians, journalists, civilians and senior military leaders so that the grunts-eye view stays in focus. Most of the individual excerpts in the anthology are very short. A brief introduction to each by the author sets them up and, in some cases, a brief postscript follows. Each entry is fully cited in the books appendix.

Regardless of any intricate organizing principles, readers can just let the book fall open anywhere and start reading. One after another, indelible images or revealing insights emerge. For example, Lieutenant Wynn Goldsmiths April 6, 1968, unforgettable account of how the news of Martin Luther Kings assassination affected the sailors on his river patrol boat speaks volumes about the collision of racism and comradeship that was born in the crucible of combat.

A 1966 entry from Lt. Col. David Hackworth explains the origins and dangers of the base camp mentality in a frontless war: When wed originally gone to Phan Rang, the position was almost Charlie-free. But the longer we stayed, the more interest the enemy took in the place. By the time I left, they were regularly blowing up vehicles, lobbing an occasional mortar shell, and doing selective sniping. So, almost by design, the base camp invited enemy activity, and then drained the fighting strength of a unit in the effort to counter it.

And none other than Colin Powell, in 1963 a young adviser to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) at Camp A Shau, paints an almost pungent picture of slogging in the muggy triple-canopy jungle on an endless obstacle course, as we tried to make contact with the Viet Cong.We moved through a cloud of insects. Worse were the leeches. I never understood how they managed to get through our clothing, under our web belts and onto our chests, through our bloused pants and onto our legs, biting the flesh and bloating themselves with our blood.

Long a master at telling the big story, and the story behind the big story, of Vietnam, Prados has brought together in this anthology more than a hundred disparate voices of men and womenAmerican and Vietnamesedistilling from their individual stories essential bits of the warriors reality to compose a stunningly vivid portrait of the Vietnam War.

Roger L. Vance
If Patrick Ferguson had taken aim and fired at the officer who turned his back and rode away, there is no telling how the American Revolution would have turned out.

On September 11, 1777, an army of 12,500 British troops who had recently landed at the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay marched through Pennsylvania toward the patriot capital of Philadelphia. Covering their flank, a detachment of green-clad British marksmen hid in the woods along Brandywine Creek, near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and kept a lookout for American forces led by General George Washington. Suddenly a cavalry officer dressed in the flamboyant uniform of a European hussar rode into view, followed by a senior American officer wearing a high-cocked hat.

Captain Patrick Ferguson, a 33-year-old Scotsman reputed to be the finest shot in the British army, commanded the British marksmen, who were equipped with fast-firing, breech-loading rifles of Fergusons own design. He whispered to three of his best riflemen to creep forward and pick off the unsuspecting officers. But before the men were in place, he felt disgust at the idea of such an ambush, and ordered them not to fire. He shouted to the American officer, who was riding a bay horse. The American looked his way for a moment, and turned to ride on. Ferguson called again, this time leveling his rifle toward the officer. The American glanced back before slowly cantering away.

A day later, after he had been seriously wounded himself, Ferguson learned that the American officer he let ride off was most likely General George Washington. I could have lodged half a dozen balls in or about him, before he was out of my reach, Ferguson recalled, but it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his dutyso I let him alone.

If Ferguson had taken aim and fired at the officer who turned his back and rode away, there is no telling how the American Revolution would have turned out. Washington lost the Battle of Brandywine and then the city of Philadelphia, but lived on to win the war. A century later, American historian Lyman C. Draper wrote: How slight, oftentimes, are the incidents whichseem to give direction to the most momentous concerns of the human race. This singular impulse of Ferguson illustrates, in a forcible manner, the over-ruling hand of Providence in directing the operation of a mans mind when he himself is least of all aware of it.

See also: The Patriot the Refused to Sign the Declaration of Independence

Generations have honored the name of Washington, but few remember the chivalrous officer who held his fire and let the general ride on into history. The Scotsman deserved fame for what he did in the rest of his short but full life; he was a brave but unconventional professional soldier, eager for battle from adolescence to the day he died. As Draper would write, No man, perhaps, of his rank and years, ever attained more military distinction in his day than Patrick Ferguson. Many months after Brandywine, when the Revolutionary War turned south, it also turned to partisan combat, especially in the thinly settled country back of the Atlantic coast. There Ferguson rode into a darker chapter of history in a battlefield finale that was anything but glorious.

Ferguson was a son of the Scottish Enlightenment, born in 1744 to an eminent judge near Aberdeen, who bought a commission for him before his 15th birthday as a cornet (junior lieutenant) in the Royal North British Dragoons. He proved himself under fire in Flanders and Germany during the Seven Years War, but sustained injuries that derailed his military career for nearly six years. Although one leg was still lame, in 1768 he returned to service as a captain in the 70th Foot, a regiment assigned to put down slave uprisings in the West Indies. That meant disorganized, small-unit warfare, experience that Ferguson would draw on near the end of his life. After the tropical islands, he was sent in the early 1770s to the garrison of Halifax, Nova Scotia, quiet duty that soon bored him, and he returned to Britain as disputes heightened between the American colonies and the mother country.

See also: Colonial Cryptographers Helped Patriots Win the Revolution

Word of the vaunted marksmanship of American hunters and soldiers, and the accuracy of their long rifles, spread across the pond. So Ferguson devoted himself to producing a weapon that would enable British troops to outshoot those potential rebels. The standard Brown Bess musket issued to soldiers of the Crown was a long, heavy, inaccurate, smooth-bore flintlock muzzle-loader, and using it involved a series of elaborate steps that entailed remaining upright and exposed to enemy fire. Ferguson wanted a weapon that was safer, faster and more deadly. Starting with a model devised by Isaac de la Chaumette, a Frenchman living in England, he perfected the first practical breech-loading rifle in the history of warfare.

Fergusons rifle did away with awkward manipulation of the ramrod, the exercise that brought on so many casualties among troops using the Brown Bess. The key to its success was a screw-type breech lock, operated by simply rotating the trigger guard. It could be loaded safely and quickly in four steps: Turn the guard to open the breech; lean the muzzle forward; drop the ball, then the powder charge into the chamber; and turn the guard to close the breech. A rifled barrel made the weapon vastly more accurate. As a bonus, the Ferguson weighed only 7 1/2 pounds, nearly 3 pounds less than the Brown Bess.

Practicing with his new breech-loading rifle, Captain Ferguson became so adept that he almost exceeded the bounds of credibility, winning renown as the best shot in the British army. He could get off seven aimed rounds in a minute, more than twice the average soldiers rate with a muzzle-loader. Typically, the army bureaucracy was skeptical of any improvement in weaponry that might require new thinking and more money. To convince his seniors, in June 1776 Ferguson demonstrated his rifle to a party of lords and generals at Woolwich, site of the Royal Military Academy, across the Thames from London.

Though lashed by high winds and drenched by heavy rain, Ferguson fired a series of rounds at different distances, some at six a minute. He got off four shots a minute while advancing at 4 miles an hour. He poured a bottle of water into the weapon, thoroughly wetting his powder, then got off another shot within 30 seconds, without extracting the ball. Finally he lay on his back and hit the bulls eye. In the entire performance, he missed his targets only three times. The skeptical officials were so impressed that they told King George III, who witnessed another such exhibition and promptly awarded Ferguson a patent for his efficient new rifle.

His Majesty, his generals and Ferguson were eager to rush this formidable weapon into the field against the rebels, but those were the days before mass production. The rifle would not equip an army, or even a full regiment, in time to matter in America. Ferguson was given command of a single company, only 100 men, whom he diligently trained to become expert with his rifle. Sent to America, he recruited more marksmen from different regiments in General William Howes army. Their first serious combat was at Brandywine Creek.

The day after Ferguson passed up the chance to shoot the stately American officer with the high cocked hat, a patriot ball shattered his right elbow. A surgeon who had attended wounded American officers told Ferguson that General Washington had been out just before the battle with light troops, escorted only by a French officer in hussar dress, and wearing exactly the uniform Ferguson had seen across his rifle sights. The surgeons revelation prompted Ferguson to reflect on his decision not to fire; he was unsure what he would have done if he had recognized that Washington was his target. I am not sorry that I did not know at the time who it was, he wrote.

Some doubting scholars have maintained that the near-victim of Fergusons marksmanship could not have been Washington. They asserted that no commanding general would have been riding without armed escort so close to the enemy. But later researchers found a letter from Washingtons headquarters to Congress confirming that His Excellency was out reconnoitering and busily engaged. And the Polish hero Count Casimir Pulaski, recently arrived from France, did in fact dress as a hussar, and he was with Washington as an aide de camp until being sent into action later on that crucial day. The novelist James Fenimore Cooper would write that his father-in-law, serving with Ferguson, believed the near-victim was Pulaski, rather than Washington. But Coopers account had dates and other details wrong. Apparently the evidence will never be conclusive, but it leans strongly toward Washington, who was the only ranking American officer in the vicinity.

For months after Brandywine, Ferguson managed to fend off surgeons who wanted to amputate his shattered right arm. But the arm was useless thereafter, so he laboriously taught himself to wield sword, pistol and pen with his left hand. While he was out of action, his sharpshooters scattered into other units, but rejoined him after he recovered. Early in October 1778, General Henry Clinton, who had replaced General Howe, dispatched the Scottish captain on a commando raid against one of the hideouts from which American privateers were harassing and capturing British ships.

With 400 men aboard eight or 10 vessels, Ferguson sailed from New York to strike at Little Egg Harbor, on the New Jersey coast just above modern Atlantic City. They destroyed 10 vessels, wrecked warehouses and shipyards, and burned the homes of known patriots. Days later, Ferguson heard from deserters that Pulaskis Legion, sent by Washington to catch him, was camped 11 miles away. In the deep of night, he took 250 troops in rowboats to surprise the Americans. They bayoneted and killed 50, capturing only five, before Pulaski arrived with his dragoons and drove the attackers away. The Americans would complain that their men were massacred. It being a night attack, little quarter could of course be given, Ferguson reported; only two of his own troops were killed, three wounded and one missing.

The nature of the war was rapidly changing. Chivalry and ferocity were in serious contention on both sides, and within Patrick Ferguson.

After a series of successful missions along the coast and up the Hudson Valley, in late 1779 Ferguson was at last promoted to major, in the 71st Highlanders. Then, when General Clinton mounted an all-out offensive to crush resistance in the rebellious South, he temporarily boosted Ferguson to lieutenant colonel, leading an independent force of 500 rangers. Skirmishing ahead of the army between Savannah and Charleston, he accidentally collided with a friendly force and in the darkness, a British bayonet sliced through his good left arm. Undaunted, for three weeks he rode with his reins in his teeth.

Charleston fell to the British in May 1780 after three months of siege operations, during which Fergusons Rangers struck inland to cut off American lines of supply. From Charleston, General Charles Cornwallis intended to subdue the backcountry and then sweep north through the Carolinas and Virginia. The British strategists believed that the backcountry was full of loyalists, and Cornwallis sent Ferguson and the arrogant, merciless cavalryman Banastre Tarleton into the hills to recruit them. This brought on a series of bloody clashes, American Tories vs. American patriots, often family against family. It was a civil war, wrote the historian Christopher Ward, and it was marked by bitterness, violence, and malevolence such as only civil wars can engender.

Ferguson tried first to make friends, to convince these rustics that he came not to make war on women and children, but to relieve their distresses. That summer, he succeeded in collecting and drilling several thousand loyalists. But when soft words did not work, he resorted to the sword, even the hangmans noose. As word of his mens plundering spread, local and state militia leaders raised regiments of vengeful partisans, including over-mountain men from beyond the Blue Ridge, skilled at shooting squirrels and fighting Indians.

Ferguson was operating out of touch, beyond Cornwallis western flank, while the main British army marched north. His reputation spread among the backwoodsmen as they gathered in the mountains. Though slim and scholarly in appearance, in combat he was inspirational. He wore over his uniform a bold black-and-white plaid duster to be seen by his troops, and signaled them with a silver whistle to be heard in the chaos of battle.

But Fergusons zealotry carried him into a mistake that made sure there would be no mercy if he ever fell into patriot hands. As the backwoodsmen gathered in the hills, he sent a prisoner with a message to their commander. He told them to desist from their opposition to the British arms, or else he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword. This arrogance further infuriated the patriots, who vowed to hunt him down.

Cornwallis captured the village of Charlotte, N.C., in late September 1780, and waited there for Ferguson to rejoin him. Pulling back with the patriots hard behind, Ferguson decided to turn and fight on Kings Mountain, which rose to 1,700 feet near the North-South Carolina border, 35 miles west of Charlotte. On a plateau bounded by rocky slopes, he deployed just over 1,000 troops. He was the only British soldier among themall the rest were either Tory militia or regularized Americans. They waited for reinforcements that would never come.

More than 1,500 lean, angry patriots from the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee converged on Kings Mountain. As they spread around Fergusons position, Virginias Colonel William Campbell told them not to wait for orders to attack: Let each man be his own officer. If in the woods, shelter yourselves and give them Indian play! His men clambered up the rocky steep, slipping through the brush to sight the Tories. A neighborhood youth had told them about the officer wearing a black-and-white duster, and they knew who it was.

Campbell spotted Fergusons men through the autumn woods. There they are! he shouted. Shout like hell and fight like devils! The backwoodsmen under his command sent a high, primordial war cry keening over the mountainsidea sound that would return to history as the Rebel Yell.

Strangely, as if the two sides were lined up across an open field, Ferguson ordered a bayonet charge. As his Tories rushed and then fell back, well-aimed rifle fire picked them off. The patriots closed in from all sides.

Ferguson galloped here, then there, blowing his silver whistle to inspire his troops. A few white flags appeared; furious, he cut them down. Then he realized he was being overrun and, according to the patriots, tried to ride through their lines to escape. A mountain sharpshooter named Robert Young recalled that he saw that conspicuous black-and-white shirt and said to himself, Ill try and see what Sweet-Lips can do. Taking aim with his pet rifle, he fired; a volley of shots knocked the brave but grievously errant Scot from his horse.

With Ferguson down, his second in command tried and failed to rally the Tories. Despite a flurry of white flags, the patriot officers were slow to stop the slaughter. Ferguson was hit by eight or more balls, at least one through the head. His force lost 157 killed, 163 badly wounded and 698 prisoners. Only 28 patriots were killed, and 64 wounded. It was the biggest clash between brother Americans before First Bull Run in Virginia in 1861, and it boosted morale up and down the young republic.

The victorious patriots buried the bodies of the fallen in two shallow pits. Tarleton later asserted that the mountaineers used every insult and indignity towards the dead body of Ferguson, and one of his officers said, While they buried all the other bodies, they stripped Fergusons of its clothes and left it naked on the field of battle. Another account says it was wrapped in a raw beef hide and buried. Patriot soldiers reported that Fergusons favorite camp follower, a young woman nicknamed Virginia Sal, was killed while tending the wounded and lay beside him in death. According to Draper, The wolves of the surrounding country were soon attracted to the spotfor several weeks they revelled upon the carcasses of the slain.Long after the war, it is said, that Kings Mountain was the favorite resort of the wolf-hunter.

It took more than six weeks for news of Fergusons defeat at Kings Mountain to reach George Washington at his headquarters in New Jersey. Washingtons papers do not disclose whether he ever learned of the twist of fate by which the fiery Scotsman held his fire and let the American in the high cocked hat canter away, eventually to save the young nation.

Washington journalist Ernest B. Pat Furgurson, a former correspondent and columnist for the Baltimore Sun, is the author of Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War.
In early 1942, World War II was not going well for the Allies. France had fallen. Britain was still staggering from the Blitz. Japanese forces had crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, attacked the Philippines and Guam, and were seizing territory in the south and central Pacific in assaults that included sinking British battleship Prince of Wales and battle cruiser Repulse off Malaya. Germany armies had advance deep into the Soviet Union. Hitlers submarines were wreaking havoc on convoys leaving the United States for Russian ports.

Training Day: Navajos from the 1st Marine Division were pivotal to the war effort in the Pacific Theater. (U.S. Marine Corps) (U.S. Marine Corps)

In wartime, secure communications are crucial, but for the U.S. armed forces, securing messages become a bewildering problem. Japanese cryptographers, many of them educated in the United States and fluent in standard and colloquial English, were amazingly adept at breaking codes. Enemy forces often knew about American battle plans in advance, and no defense against Japanese codebreaking had materialized. Military communications were made available to the enemy like sand sifting through a sieve, an analyst said.

An unlikely answer came from an unlikely source. Philip Johnston, a civil engineer who lived in Los Angeles, was the child of missionaries who had raised their son on the Navajo Reservation, which stretches across New Mexico and Arizona. Born in Kansas in 1892, Johnson had grown up speaking Navajo. In that language, unique to reservation dwellers and rarely used elsewhere, inflection determines a words meaning. Depending on pronunciation, a Navajo word can have four distinct meanings. Navajo verb forms are especially complex. Outsiders generally find the language incomprehensible and have likened hearing it spoken to listening to the rumble of a freight train, the gurgling of a partially blocked drain, and the flushing of an old-fashioned commode. In 1942, there was no Navajo alphabet. The language did not exist in written form. At government boarding schools to which Indian children were sent, teachers and administrators often forbade their charges to speak Navajo or any other Indian language, demanding that they speak only English.

At 50, Johnson, who had served in France with the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, was too old to fight in World War II, but he still wanted to serve. Reading an article about military security, he had an idea: base a secret code on Navajo. He thought through his concept and in February 1942 visited U.S. Marine Corps Camp Elliott near San Diego. At a meeting with Signal Corp Communications Officer Lieutenant Colonel James E. Jones, Johnston described how a code based on Navajo would thwart enemy codebreakers. Jones was skeptical but Johnston persuaded him to test the premise.

Back in Los Angeles, Johnston recruited four bilingual Navajos. He and they traveled on February 28 to Camp Elliott for a demonstration before Marine staff officers. Two Navajos were given a typical military field order and assigned to a room from which they were to transmit the message in Navajo to their companions several rooms away. Retranslated into English, the Navajo message accurately recapitulated the order as given, amazing the Marine observers.

Impressed, Camp Elliott commander Major General Clayton Vogel asked Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC, to authorize the immediate recruitment of 200 young, well-educated Navajos as Marine communications specialists. Headquarters authorized 30, reasoning that to be enough to prove Johnstons theory.

Off to Battle: Many of the Navajos recruited for the program had never left their reservations in the American Southwest, but soon found themselves headed across the Pacific Ocean to fight a war. (U.S. Marine Corps) (U.S. Marine Corps #129851)

By April, Marine personnel were on the Navajo Reservation recruiting volunteers from Indian agency schools at Fort Wingate and Shiprock, New Mexico, and Fort Defiance, Arizona. Besides fluency in Navajo and English, candidates had to demonstrate that they were physically fit to serve as messengers in combat. Recruiters told volunteers only that they would be specialists serving at home and overseas. Officially, Marine recruits had to be between 16 and 35 years of age. Birth records were not usually kept on the reservation; some underage volunteers lied about when they were born, as did 36-year-old Fort Defiance resident Carl Gorman. Few volunteers had ever left the reservation. Many had never ridden on a bus or train. Several recruits families insisted that their sons participate in a religious ceremony to pray for a safe return before departing for basic training at San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Officially the 382nd Platoon, U.S. Marine Corps, at boot camp, the group was referred to as The Navajo School.

Military disciplineobeying orders, marching in cadence, and keeping ones quarters scrupulously clean, in Marine parlance squared awaywas another new and sometime difficult experience, but nearly all the reservation recruits adjusted. Following basic training, the Navajos moved to Camp Pendleton at Oceanside, California. During a dress parade on a hot day, several white Marines passed out; the Navajos remained erect in formation and at attention during the personal inspection that followed. Theyre a typical Marine outfit of budding specialists, the publication Marine Corps Chevron reported. They gripe about the things that all Marines gripe aboutliberty, chow and the San Diego weather.

The Navajos were assigned to devise a code in their language that would baffle enemy listeners. Code words had to be short and easily learned and recalled. The men developed a two-part code. A 26-letter phonetic alphabet used Navajo names for 18 animals or birds, plus the words ice (the letter I), nut (N), quiver (Q), Ute (U), victor (V), cross (X), yucca (Y), and zinc (Z). The second part was a 211-word English vocabulary with Navajo synonyms. Conventional Marine Corps codes involved lengthy encoding and deciphering procedures using sophisticated electronic equipment. The Navajo code, relying on the senders and the receivers brains, mouths, and ears, was much faster. In training and in combat, code-talkers proficiency erased official distrust.

One volunteer dropped out. Several remained in California to train the next group. Two became recruiters. The rest reported to Guadalcanal in August 1942, assigned to the First Marine Division, commanded by Major General Alexander Vandegrift, who soon was asking headquarters for 83 more Navajo just to handle encoding and decoding for his division. A second group of volunteers went through boot camp, then was assigned to the code-talker program at Camp Pendleton, which by August 1943 had trained nearly 200 Navajo and whose administrator was Staff Sergeant Philip Johnston.

In jungle combat, stamina, Spartan habits, ingenuity, scouting and tracking skill, and utter disregard for hardship stood the Navajo in good stead. At first assigned mainly at the company-battalion level, code-talkers became virtually indispensable. Often, especially when a Marine regiment was fighting alongside an Army unit, white soldiers mistook the Navajo for the enemy, nearly costing several code-talkers their lives. Sometimes GIs captured and interrogated Navajo. Code-talker William McCabe, waiting on a Guadalcanal beach for his ship, joined a chow line. I got lost among the big chow dump, he recalled, All of a sudden I heard somebody say, Halt, and I kept walking. Hey, you! Halt, or Im gonna shoot!. . . . [T]here was a big rifle all cocked and ready to shoot. Im just from my outfit, I was coming here to get something to eat. And he said, I think youre a Jap. Just come with me. After that incident, a white fellow Marine accompanied McCabe at all times.

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On the eve of the First Marine Divisions departure for Okinawa, expected to be the bloodiest landing yet, the Navajo performed a sacred dance invoking their deities blessings and protection for themselves and other Americans. They prayed that their enemies prove weak. Some white personnel scoffed from the sidelines, but when war correspondent Ernie Pyle reported the story, he observed that the Okinawa landings had gone easier than had been anticipated, a point he said Navajo Marines were quick to point out to skeptics. When Japanese resistance inland almost halted the American advance, a white Marine asked his foxhole mate, a Navajo, what he thought of his prayers now. This is completely different, the Navajo said. We only prayed for help during the landings.

Eyes On Target: A Navajo code talker tracks enemy movements at Saipan. (National Archives) (National Archives)

Code talkers served with all six Marine divisions in the Pacific and with Marine Raider and parachute units, earning lavish praise for their performance in the Solomons and the Marianas and on Peleliu and Iwo Jima. Of Iwo Jima, Fifth Marine Division Signal Officer Major Howard Conner said, The entire operation was directed by Navajo code. . . . During the two days that followed the initial landings I had six Navajo radio nets working around the clock. . . . They sent and received over 800 messages without an error. Were it not for the Navajo Code Talkers, the Marines never would have taken Iwo Jima.

Navajo School graduated 421 code talkers assigned mostly to combat units overseas. Following Japans surrender, several volunteered for occupation duty. Others were sent to Marine units in China. Code talker Willson Price stayed a Marine for 30 years, retiring in 1972.

Most code talkers came home to family reunions and purification rites, traditional dances, and curing ceremonies, coupled with maternal prayers of thanks for sons safe return. These rites originated to protect returning Navajo from harmful influences they might have encountered or duties they had to to perform while away.

Few former code-talkers displayed evidence of serious psychological problems or combat fatigue, but reservation life nonetheless proved difficult. The men missed the excitement, the challenges, and especially the privileges of wartime service. Some re-enrolled in high school, others attended college on the G.I. Bill. Teddy Draper, Sr., who volunteered for occupation duty, became so fluent in Japanese that he served as an interpreter. When I was going to boarding school [before the war], the U.S. government told us not to speak Navajo, but during the war, they wanted us to speak it! Draper said. In combat, he thought, If I can get back to the reservation safely, I want to become a Navajo language teacher and educate young Navajos.

Draper did return to the reservation and become a teacher, but his experience was an exception. On the reservation, jobs were nonexistent. The G.I. Bill provided money for home loans to veterans, but many banks refused Navajo veterans loans because Navajo families held reservation land parcels in trust and had no proof of title. Despite this shameful treatment, one former code-talker said, Weve faced difficult situations before, and tough trails have never defeated us! Somehow the Navajos survived.

In June 1969, the Fourth Marine Division honored its Navajo members at the units annual reunion in Chicago, presenting 20 former code-talkers with medallions honoring each mans wartime exploits. A few veteran code talkers still take part in holiday parades, often riding in convertibles. The Navajo Nation has chosen several to serve as chairman and vice-chairman, the tribes top executive positions, and others have served on the Tribal Council. The Navajo Code Talkers Association meets regularly at Window Rock, Arizona, the Navajo Nation capital.

In December 1971, President Richard M. Nixon presented the code talkers with a certificate of appreciation for the patriotism, resourcefulness, and courage they brought to bear in giving the Marine Corps its only unbreakable means of battlefield communication, saving thousands of American lives and perplexing the enemy to the very end. After the war, a former Japanese general acknowledged that Navajo transmissions had befuddled Japans most highly skilled cryptographers. An interviewer informed him that the troublesome code had been based on a Native American language. Thank you, the general said. That is a puzzle I thought would never be solved.
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It's another scorcher of a day in Dublin, which is both good and bad news, depending on your perspective. It's definitely a bad afternoon to be a DJ. Forbidden Fruit is totally sold out, but the sunshine means that the tents prove less attractive then the great outdoors. A shame because the likes of Freddie Gibbs, 4Wrd Grad, etc., are so good.

This reviewer's day began with a public interview with comedian Joe Rooney in the Hot Press Speakeasy. He was absolutely brilliant, with his Christy-Moore-does-Nirvana routine and the brilliance of "Kurt Cobain is in there making a heroin Irish stew."

An amble around the grounds of the Royal Kilmainham Hospital in the early hours of the day proved illuminating. Voxx on the Lighthouse Stage, EVE Djs on the Undergrowth Stage, Cian O'Connell in the Bulmers Lounge... all were great. The Comedy Tent was awesome, and also a respite from the heat for many. Later, the likes of Paul Marsh, Colin Chadwick and Jim Elliot shone.
We're down a Forbidden Fruit 2016 for the final day of the festivities. Stop by the Hot Press Speakeasy to see our guests and live performances.

Look no further for everything you need to know about the final day of Forbidden Fruit 2016.

It's another beautiful day down here in Kilmainham with scorching temperatures and the hottest acts to match.

Stand out acts from today's line up include George Fitzgerald, Tiga and Maya Jane Coles to name just a few.

Alison Spittle stopped by the Speakeasy tent for a chat with Colm O' Regan earlier this afternoon before dashing off for her set on the comedy stage at 3:30pm. We've got Andruit and Ebay spinning the decks with their DJ set. We'll also have beatboxers Amaron and Magic and comedian Patrick McDonnell in later on.

On the main stage is Klingande, Flume and last but not least Underworld will be keeping the crowds jumping until the very end.

We'll also have former Underworld member Darren Emerson in the Speakeasy for an interview at 7:00pm.

Keep and eye on hotpress.com for the latest news, live reviews and more updates throughout the day.
Fresh off the back of her appearance at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs festival the comic stopped by the Speakeasy for a chat.

Comedian Alison Spittle has spoken about the events that inspired the material for her newest stand up show, Alison Spittle Discovers Hawaii. She described the material as "big topics that affect me".

Spittle talked about her recent mental health experiences as a result of a number of home break ins she experienced while living in Dublin. She also described dealing with an inappropriate heckler at last year's Forbidden Fruit comedy stage.

Spittle went on to discuss her plans for the future with Hot Press's Colm O' Regan. Her short film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Naggin will debut on Sky Arts in June. The short tells an adventure story focused on a hen night. Spittle will also be doing a slot at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
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Robert Wheless is sentimental about his latest venture: an 818-unit self-storage development on a 3.75-acre tract in Cinco Ranch.

Wheless' family is one of the five original partners of the ranch. He says the site is the final tract out of five commercial reserves set aside by his brother, Bill Wheless, when he brokered the sale of 5,200 acres for a massive residential development in 1984.

As his summer job in the 1960s, Wheless drove cattle to different pastures on the land on horseback.

The cows and the rice fields are long gone. Cinco Ranch has grown to 8,100 acres with nearly 15,000 households with plenty of stuff to store.

Wheless and his business partner Joel DeSpain will develop the northeast corner of the Westpark Toll Road and Mason Road with three buildings. HFF arranged joint venture equity from Dallas-based Crow Holdings Capital-Real Estate for the $10 million project. The partners are developing a project in Spring too.

Wheless spoke with the Chronicle about the business of belongings.

Q: Why is self-storage so appealing?

A:It's a product type that has a very high return. There's a need as families downsize. The millennial generation still has purchasing power, but they don't typically choose to live in large square footage residences or apartments.

Q: What are the rents?

A: Our rents typically average $1.30 per square foot to $1.40 per square foot.

Q: How do you select sites?

A: We are looking in areas where household incomes are approaching $100,000. Typically, they have purchasing power, and they have storage needs as a result of that. We want to identify a site that is no farther distance than 3 miles.

Q: Why aren't people willing to drive farther to save money?

A: Oftentimes, men and women will visit their facility either to exchange an item or place an item in storage after hours. They want it to be lit, and they want it to be close. Around the Texas Medical Center, there are locations where you have pharmaceutical reps. They want to meet clients at the facility, and they want conference facilities.

Q: What's the competition like for new self-storage developers?

A: We're working with CubeSmart, which is one of the top four operators in the country. We've found that their technical expertise is very sophis-ticated. That abbreviates the time it takes to fill our facility.

Q: How long does it take to fill?

A: It can take anywhere from a year and a half to three years.

Q: What's the typical term?

A: Anywhere from three to seven months. We find also that people will just postpone departure. They don't want to spend their weekend cleaning out their space.
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Costume designer Roberta Guidi di Bagno scrunched her eyes to get a better look at the nearly finished medieval-style jacket on a standing form in Houston Ballet's wardrobe studio.

She wanted to see a detail on the peplum waistline as it might be viewed from the Brown Theater seats.

The midnight-blue velvet jacket, for Stanton Welch's new production of "Giselle," which premieres Thursday at Wortham Theater, had contrasting insets that taper to a V, with shiny trim down the lengths of its arms. Draper Serge Ovechko was pinning on a braid of silver and midnight-blue threads that couldn't have been more than a quarter-inch wide.

"Serge, could you take the right side off?" Guidi di Bagno asked.

The costume will be worn in Act 2 by a remorseful Prince Albrecht as he visits the grave of the peasant girl who has died because he broke her heart.

"These details are so important because in that scene he has to be pure love and not be too decorated. The image should be somewhat sharp and essential," Guidi di Bagno said. "That little edge could be too much because it might cut his figure, and not only physically. It might cut the drama. Can you imagine that a trim would cut the drama?"

With every costume, every set piece and every step of this "Giselle," Welch aims to make the 175-year-old ballet more appealing to a 21st-century audience. Mostly, that's about making the action more logical and lively.

More Information Giselle When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Saturday; 2 p.m. June 12; additional performances through June 19 Where: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Tickets: $20-$197; 713-227-2787, houstonballet.org See More Collapse

Though Welch wants to keep the purity of the classic "Giselle" choreography, which has a very specific style handed down from Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli, he wants to make other parts of the story more cohesive, so viewers don't have to read a synopsis to know what's happening.

His Prince Albrecht has a reason to visit the village and meet Giselle, for example - her mother is his seamstress. And the ghostly Wilis won't just appear out of nowhere in Act 2; they'll be foreshadowed in Act 1, glimpsed through the windows of the village houses.

Welch also has amped up the dancing for the company's men and court characters who traditionally stand around in heavy costumes, making gestures.

"We tell a story with steps better than with mime," Welch said.

This new choreography won't look radically different from the ballet's untouchable original dances - including famous solos and pas de deux for Giselle and Albrecht and the corps action of Act 2's Wilis. His additions will be faithful to the Romantic batterie style - "all that fast stuff that is part of 'Giselle,' " along with the rounded lines and the gentle port de bras, he said.

With music director and conductor Ermanno Florio, Welch also hopes to imbue the whole ballet with a sublime mood that respects the intentions of composer Adolphe Adam. They have restored parts of Adam's original score that often are omitted. Florio said the new orchestration will be more delicate and refined, with "a much more subtle sound."

Legacy and structure

Welch calls "Giselle" a "gateway ballet" because it is often the first romantic classic many people see. It also is one of the oldest.

"Giselle" has been a hit since 1841, when the first production premiered in Paris. Romantic-era artists, and their audiences, were obsessed with supernatural themes. Ballerinas who seemed to hover above the stage in newfangled pointe shoes and gossamer skirts provided a perfect medium for ghostly storytelling.

The famously ethereal Marie Taglioni caused a sensation in "La Sylphide" nearly a decade before "Giselle." But Adam's ballet - which introduced a new star, Carlotta Grisi - was the first full-on "ballet-fantastique," a spectacle that helped dance break away from its dependence on opera.

"Giselle" unfolds in two acts - one about betrayal, the other about redemption.

In Act 1, Albrecht, who is already engaged to a noblewoman, disguises himself to woo the innocent village girl Giselle. Hilarion, the jealous village gamekeeper, loves her, too. When Albrecht's fiancee and other nobles out on a hunting party come searching for the prince, Hilarion exposes the lie. Giselle, distraught, goes mad and dies in her mother's arms.

In Act 2, she is a spirit among the Wilis, an army of betrayed brides who have died before their weddings and seek revenge at night by dancing men to death in the woods. Hilarion doesn't survive, and Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, orders Giselle to destroy Albrecht next. But the sweet spirit, seeing her lover's sadness, forgives him and sees him through to dawn, when the Wilis vanish.

It's no crazier than your average contemporary vampire story.

'Giselle's' place

Welch has thought about doing a major reboot of "Giselle" for years.

He committed to it two years ago after he hired the delicate ballerina Yuriko Kajiya away from American Ballet Theatre in New York. When he saw her perform "Giselle" there, he was especially smitten by the quality of "stillness" she brought to the dances of Act 2, along with her amazing sense of balance and her ability to move seamlessly from position to position.

Other principal dancers also will perform the role in alternate casts, bringing different qualities to it.

"Giselle" has a special place in the company's history. It was the first full-length classic Houston Ballet Foundation staged, in 1967, when they imported superstar Carla Fracci, a legendary Giselle, and the Danish star Erik Bruhn, to lead a production with student dancers from the fledgling Houston Ballet Academy and other area schools. Houston Ballet debuted two years later, with 16 professional dancers.

Welch has restaged "Giselle" twice during his 13-year tenure at Houston Ballet, first enlisting the British choreographer Maina Gielgud to give it her imprint, then later asking the Russian Ai-Gul Gaisina to lend it a different magic. But those productions used a traditional orchestration and designs by Peter Wright that were created 30 years ago, when the company performed at Jones Hall.

This time, Welch wanted a "Giselle" production more suited to the Brown Theater's dimensions and with more room for dancing.

Minding the details

Guidi di Bagno, who also designed the sets and costumes for Welch's recent "Romeo and Juliet," works for ballet and opera companies around the world. She created a more traditional "Giselle" some years ago for Germany's Semperoper Dresden.

"The challenge is always to do something different, and, of course, the choreographer has a word in it. Especially our choreographer. I like working with Stanton because he wants to give meaning to it and tell the story in a way people can understand," she said.

Guidi di Bagno always starts a project with the fabrics.

On a recent day, most of the "Giselle" costumes were hanging on rolling racks, looking like a sea of earthy, filmy color across the big room where sewers, cutters and drapers were busy at every worktable.

An ultra-thin leather with a floral print in orange, green and gold - the fabric from which Guidi di Bagno built the bodice of Giselle's Act 1 dress - inspired the whole ballet's palette.

"I thought the colors were perfect. It gives you the world. It's happy. This is what she should be in Act 1," the designer said.

She used a similar, tooled-looking leather for the "Romeo and Juliet" costumes. It made sense again for "Giselle" because the story involves a hunting party, she said, with an outdoorsy sensibility that the dancers can feel, even if the audience can't discern it.

"They're not just sitting in a ballroom. I thought the leather would add a bit of body, too."

Giselle's costume, like the dresses of the other peasants, has a flowing organdy skirt in the style known as a Romantic tutu. Each one is slightly different, dyed in watercolor to achieve a subtle, vertical ombre effect - yet the tutu design links them visually to the Wilis, whose long white tutus help to create one of ballet's most cherished visions.

The longer, layered court gowns have a more tapered shape but will still drift around moving legs, thanks to custom-designed fabric Guidi di Bagno had woven in Italy and embroidered in France. Her set designs - including a lenslike canopy of trees painted on Contra, a transparent, sculptural fabric from Germany - convey the same level of artistry.

"So many things you might think you don't see, you do. You perceive them," Guidi di Bagno said.

She was liking the subtle but still-there horizontal effect of the braid trim on Albrecht's elegant jacket. She decided she would probably keep it.
On July 3, 1997, the Cy-Fair Fire Department got a call about a home birth. Chris Mancuso and his crew drove to the northwest Houston home, expecting a normal childbirth.

It was not. When Mancuso arrived, they found a tiny infant about three months premature. The baby was blue and not breathing.

Mancuso resuscitated him, and nearly 19 years later, the boy - named Chris in honor of Mancuso - is blind but otherwise healthy. For the first time in more than 10 years, Mancuso reunited with his namesake Saturday to celebrate an important milestone: graduation with honors from Langham Creek High School.

"He brought me into this world, and I'm still here - for I don't know exactly what, but I'm here," Chris Wright said. "That is fantastic."

It amazes Mancuso that Chris survived at all. He said that medical advancements have come so far in the last decade that the treatments given to Chris, who at birth could fit in two palms, are nearly obsolete. And usually, Mancuso said, babies born that early suffer severe developmental delays. Many are sickly and completely dependent on the parents throughout their lives.

They often never learn to care for themselves or overcome learning obstacles like Chris has done.

"He's a regular healthy kid. That's unusual,' Mancuso said. "It just doesn't happen. It doesn't."

But Chris's unexpected entrance into life wasn't without struggle. Early on, several procedures attempted to salvage his eyesight. They failed, and at 3, Chris had to learn to walk with a cane. Then, he had to read braille. At school, he learned addition and grammar, then algebra and history, without being able to see the whiteboards, computer screens or his teachers' faces.

He got frustrated. Sometimes his text-to-speech software wouldn't read enough of a website to help him understand. Everyday objects were mysteries - he struggled especially with cans, he said, because the paper labels all feel the same. He can never tell what's inside.

And although he excelled in writing and English, he found math difficult. He had to learn to perform complex equations in his head, and understanding graphs was difficult. But he didn't give up.

"I used to hate being blind," Chris said. "Eventually, I just learned that this is how it's going to be. I can either sit around and moan and complain. Or I can actually try to do something."

The day before his reunion with Mancuso, Chris attended the Langham Creek High graduation ceremony. Chris doesn't describe himself as very social person, but the crowd erupted into cheers for him as he walked the stage.

His mother, Nancy Wright, said this moment proved to everyone in the room what she and her husband had known since Chris's birth - that blindness did not equate failure.

"People realized that his disability was not going to affect him," Nancy said.

Chris isn't interested in attending college right now.

Instead, he hopes to get a job working for a company that has enabled him to learn and interact with the world in revolutionary ways: Apple.

Chris hopes to become a so-called Apple genius. In that position, he would help customers troubleshoot devices and work through problems. He would be able to give people the same efficiency on their phones and laptops that the company has given him.

"Apple provides features for all types of disabilities," Chris said. "I admire that. It has changed the way I think about computing in general. I can do up to almost any device created by that company. It's a satisfying thing - it's like, it works! It really works!"

On Saturday evening in the same neighborhood where Mancuso helped Chris to take his first breaths, the younger Chris stood in a bright red graduation gown, clinging to the older man's elbow. The family quickly gathered, and everyone began to excitedly question Chris about his future.

And while Mancuso could tell that his presence meant a lot to the family, he knew the day was not about him. He doesn't take credit for anything Chris has done or will do. He may have played a small role, he said, but the rest of the work has all been that of a young man unwilling to give up.

"We just started him off," Mancuso said. "Where he went from there was pretty much on him being a strong person."
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Every weekday morning, Juan Escobar sees a subtle transformation happen right before his eyes. His children change from sleep-deprived teenagers into students who look more energetic and ready to tackle the day ahead, once they've donned their private-school uniforms.

"When they're in uniform they act different, their self-esteem goes up," said Escobar, a former truck driver for Coca-Cola. He and his wife Fatima own a small business in southeast Houston that sells handmade Mexican crafts. "They behave well, and I love that."

Escobar's three youngest children - Kylie, 18, Jennifer, 17, and Michael, 16 - all attend Catholic high school Cristo Rey Jesuit in southeast Houston. Escobar's older sons, Arnold, 26, and Luis, 25, both graduated from Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena.

At Cristo Rey, students participate in a work-study program, spending one day a week working an entry-level job at a company in Houston. The salary from that job helps offset their private school tuition. Families pay tuition between $300 and $3,000 per year, depending on household income, according to school officials.

Financial aid available

Private schools such as Cristo Rey, the boarding school Chinquapin Preparatory or Yellowstone Academy have student bodies primarily from lower-income families. Other Houston-area private schools, even those with five-digit annual tuition, offer thousands of dollars in scholarships and financial aid. For eager parents and students hoping to gain access to these potential money pots, start early. That means checking out open houses, finalizing potential schools, completing applications and submitting paperwork on time.

"It's very unique campus to campus," said Rachael Dempsey, marketing and communications manager with Families Empowered, a nonprofit that promotes school choice.

With more than 300 private schools in the Houston area, she recommends parents quickly identify the schools they are most interested in and then go through the steps to submit a complete application. School visits and research should be done in the fall before application and financial aid deadlines, which are typically in December. Several schools host information sessions in the spring for families looking to get a head start.

While available aid varies from school to school, many follow a similar formula. Families often complete an online application through a third-party website that determines family income and eligibililty. From our sampling of private schools throughout Houston, most aid appears to be need-based, dependent on family income, with some schools offering merit-based scholarships. Aid is typically decided in the spring, and families often have to reapply every year.

Experts say even at parochial school and prep schools, there is scholarship money or assistance programs.

For example, St. Thomas High School in Memorial offers both merit- and need-based aid, with tuition assistance ranging from $1,000 to $13,200. As much as 33 percent of the student body receives some form of aid, admissions director Taffy Dausin said. Annual tuition is $16,500.

Twenty percent of students at Episcopal High School in Bellaire qualify for financial aid, ranging from $10,000 to the full cost of annual tuition.

At Awty International in Spring Branch, roughly 7 percent of students receive need-based assistance, with the average award amount at $12,400. Annual tuition ranges between $16,185 and $23,029.

Even among parochial schools, differences abound. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston implemented a new sliding scale for 11 of its "inner core" schools, including Assumption Catholic School, St. Christopher and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. If a family has an adjusted gross annual income of less than $60,000, tuition for one child will be $3,000 a year. For families with an income above $90,000, tuition is $6,000.

For the upcoming school year, Julie Vogel, superintendent of Catholic schools the archdiocese, estimates 75 percent of families at inner core schools will pay between $3,000 and $4,000 per year, or about $300 per month. Before the new sliding scale model, average tuition stood around $5,000.

Spots are still available for the 2016-17 school year at certain campuses, Vogel said. Those interested in a Catholic school campus should set up interviews quickly, she said.

Don't be shy

Parents who have already navigated the application process say first-timers should not be shy if they have questions. Angela Rizzo-Carrasco, a mother of three, said she regularly asked people at the school for clarification when her sons applied to Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School in southwest Houston.

"If you have questions, go to the school, don't call or send an email," she said. "They're more than happy to help you."

Two of her sons attended Strake Jesuit after attending KIPP Academy through eighth grade. Soon, she'll be back on a familiar path, visiting schools and completing applications for a third time with her youngest son, Felipe. Nicholas, the oldest, graduated from Strake in 2009, where he played water polo for all four years. Her second child, Italo, graduates this year and followed in his brother's footsteps.

Prior to Nicholas attending Strake, Rizzo-Carrasco wasn't at all familiar with the private-school route.

"I had no idea about private school, literally no idea that we could even apply," Rizzo-Carrasco said. She said the staffs at KIPP and Strake helped her understand the detailed application process and its deadlines. Now, she's glad her sons had that experience.

For the Escobar family, the education and the work-study program at Cristo Rey has enabled the children to get a private-school education and on-the-job experience. Kylie, a senior, graduates this year and plans to attend the University of Alabama in the fall, where she will pursue an engineering major. After that, there will be two more Escobars left at Cristo Rey.

"I only have five children. I promise, no more," Escobar said, as his wife Fatima looked at him quizzically.
Bellaire High School student Mojdeh Yadollahikhales wanted to go to college but like many high school students, she didn't know how to prepare. The application process was literally foreign to her, since she moved to the United States less than three years ago. Like many first-generation college students from low-income families, she also didn't have the guidance at home to get started.

The elements of college readiness comprise a long list: Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes and tests; SAT or ACT college-entrance exams; clubs and extracurricular activities; applications and essays; and applying for scholarships and financial aid. Houston-area school districts have increasingly focused on preparing students for college, as more and more jobs require higher education degrees.

Rick Cruz, director of college readiness for the Houston Independent School District, said students should graduate high school prepared to enroll in a four-year college and complete the first year without taking remedial classes. That's just the starting point, though.

"Our ultimate goal is to make sure that we're not just getting more kids into college, but that they're persisting and ultimately graduating," Cruz said.

Difficult journey

Mojdeh was an unusual case for HISD. Back in Iran, her parents both earned advanced degrees, but they knew their country's increasingly conservative regime would limit opportunities for young women like their two daughters. So when her family won the State Department's green-card lottery in 2013, they moved to the United States. Their degrees were worth little here. Her father found work in a restaurant; her mother, a doctor back home, is trying to learn English so she can get a license to practice medicine here.

Her family's educational background makes Mojdeh different from most first-generation American college students, but her limited financial resources and knowledge about the U.S. application process made her journey similar to those of many students who were born and raised here.

When Mojdeh started classes late in 2013 as a sophomore at Bellaire, her Iranian high school credits didn't transfer. She spoke decent English - much of it learned by singing along to American pop music - but she had never heard of AP classes, which help students prepare for the rigors of college coursework and gain college acceptance. In early 2014, she heard a school announcement: Registration forms were due for AP classes. She asked her friends: "What are those?"

She signed up for four AP courses in her junior year and took seven as a senior. She loved two disparate AP classes, physics and English literature.

Area school districts have sought to boost participation rates in AP classes like those Mojdeh took. Spring, for example, this year began requiring students to sit for the AP exam for AP classes they take, chief academic officer Lupita Hinojosa said.

Doing well on AP tests help can students get accepted to colleges and get immediate college credits toward graduation, but exam fees can add up to hundreds of dollars. That's why some districts, including Spring and Houston, cover all AP exam fees with a combination of state and district subsidies.

"We don't want financial resources to be a barrier," Hinojosa said. "For us, it's leveling the playing field."

Conroe school district officials said their district will cover AP test fees for low-income students. "We don't allow a financial situation to cause a student to change academic course in any way," Deputy Superintendent Curtis Null said. Though Conroe does not pay for the SAT or ACT, Null said fee waivers are available directly from the testing organizations.

In the spring of Mojdeh's junior year, she took the SAT during a school day in a special districtwide session arranged and paid for by HISD. That arrangement eliminated expenses and transportation issues that keep students from taking the entrance exam required by selective colleges, which have higher retention and graduation rates, said Donald Kamentz, former managing director of college initiatives at YES Prep charter schools in Houston.

Counseling advised

HISD's in-school SAT offering made the test accessible to all 10,000 or so of the district's juniors, saving families the fee of at least $50. Similarly, Klein pays for a school-day ACT, said Beth Gilleland, instructional officer for guidance and counseling. The goal is to eliminate barriers that keep students from applying to and enrolling in selective four-year colleges.

Of course, the SAT and ACT alone do not prepare students for higher education. Cruz of HISD said high-quality college counseling is another necessity because the college application process has grown byzantine, with a thicket of different deadlines, essay and recommendation requirements, and financial-aid possibilities.

Conroe school officials agreed on the importance of counseling. They cited their district's relatively low ratio of 300 students per high school guidance counselor. Those college counselors are often well-known and appreciated. They get some of the loudest cheers at graduations, Null said.

HISD recently faced a different reality. Across kindergarten through grade 12, Cruz said, the district's student-to-counselor ratio was 1,800 to 1. Guidance counselors already had enough on their plates and often lacked time to give individualized attention to seniors, he said. Last year, with a $3 million matching grant from the Houston Endowment, HISD hired 28 so-called college success counselors. They serve the district's 45 high schools and focus specifically on college applications and financial aid guidance.

A rude shock

One of those new counselors is Claudia Valbuena, who worked with Mojdeh at Bellaire High School. Before this year, Valbuena said, there was just one college counselor for all 900 of Bellaire's seniors, nearly half of whom come from low-income families like Mojdeh's that often lack college preparation knowledge.

For example, it was not until midway through Mojdeh's junior year that she first heard about the essays required to get into college - a rude shock for a non-native English speaker. She started going to college information nights offered at her school, where she didn't even know what questions to ask. "It was awkward," she recalled.

Before the school year started, Valbuena was given a list of 231 students who were, as Cruz put it, "on the bubble" - low-income students with B averages and decent SAT scores. They could gain admittance and succeed in college with a little "extra TLC," Valbuena said.

Conroe ISD also uses data analytics to pinpoint students who score well in their classes but are not pursuing advanced coursework. Using results from state's standardized tests and the eighth-grade version of the preliminary SAT, counselors encourage high-achieving students to take AP and other courses that will better prepare them for college.

Today, Null said, rigorous academics are no longer limited to a select group of students who are designated as college-bound. "It's not either or anymore," he said of advanced coursework.

After the first year of HISD's additional college counselors, Valbuena called the results "phenomenal."

As of early May, about 80 percent of the district's seniors had submitted at least one college application, Cruz said. Last year, that number was 59 percent, a jump of about 2,000 students in the first year of the counseling push.

Significantly more students also had completed the free FAFSA form for federal student financial aid, which Cruz said suggests a serious intent to start college. And this year, about 75 percent of all applications from HISD high school students went to selective colleges, where Kamentz said students are more likely to stay in college and graduate.

"I'm quite confident this is the most comprehensive and probably the most impactful college-advising initiative in any urban school district in the country," Cruz said. And it's not just helping low-income schools, he said; all HISD high schools have seen a significant increase in college applicants.

Getting an early start

Kamentz generally praised HISD's recent college readiness efforts, many of which he said were modeled after practices developed in area charter schools like YES Prep and KIPP.

"The numbers clearly speak that they're doing more," he said. "They're modeling what's possible for the seventh-largest school district in the country."

College readiness doesn't happen just in high school. Some districts try to sow the seeds well before 12th grade. Klein developed a curriculum that starts as early as first grade with simple presentations meant to expose kids to the idea of college. In middle school, students learn a bit more each year about AP classes and what it takes to get accepted to college.

Hinojosa of Spring agreed that college readiness must start early. In her district, she pointed to gifted programs in elementary school and pre-AP classes in middle school. Especially for students whose parents do not have higher education, Kamentz said, "demystifying the college experience" is crucial from an early age.

In the fall, Mojdeh will start classes at Columbia University in New York, where she had dreamed of going. When asked about her fears enrolling in college, she had trouble naming one. "I'm actually ready to face it all," she said.
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Thunderstorms pounded the Baytown area Saturday and brought as much as 3 inches of rain to Brazoria County as the Brazos River continued its slow but relentless climb out of its banks into populated areas, delaying recovery even longer for thousands of residents.

"As it continues to rain, it adds to our situation," said Sharon Trower, Brazoria County emergency management spokeswoman. "Once it rains there is nowhere for the water to go."

The ground was already saturated when thunderstorms began dumping rain on the county Saturday. As disaster crept slowly across the county, the number of families affected has swollen from hundreds to more than 2,0000, Trower said.

An emergency shelter in Angleton had 124 registered evacuees, more than double the number registered Friday. The shelter is nearing its 140 capacity, and the county is considering opening a second site, she said.

Officials are monitoring the steady rise but are unable to predict exactly which communities will be affected or when, but the area could be as large as 200 square miles, officials said.

The Brazos rose to major flood stage of 51.3 feet Tuesday and has been rising every day since. Forecasters have pushed back the date of the flood crest several times, with the most recent now expected at 52.8 feet at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Brazoria County officials issued a mandatory evacuation Saturday for Longhorn Estates and County Road 28.

This follows orders for the area north of County Road 30S to Texas 1462 and the City of Holiday Lakes.

The river is at its highest level since it crested at 52 feet in 1965.

Farther north, hundreds of residents of small-town Simonton in Fort Bend County have spent the past week under mandatory evacuation orders near the slowly receding Brazos.

Some residents have snuck back to survey the damage, finding water several feet high, flooring and furniture ruined. Volunteers have brought food to pets left behind, but area shelters were too packed to accommodate the furry friends.

Wandering donkeys, horses and other livestock have been rescued, but one resident told city officials during a town-hall meeting Saturday that people need help removing stacked-up dead animals.

Simonton Mayor Louis Boudreaux said he was unsure when he would lift the evacuation. Roads, some still flooded, need to be checked for safety, and power lines also must be assessed.

"We don't know what we're going to do. It's just a total disaster," said Andrew Smith, 33, who caught a ride in a sheriff's office Humvee to check on his newly renovated Valley Lodge home. Brown water covered the floors. A bed had collapsed. His 5-year-old son's toys were destroyed.

Smith said he's been bouncing between a hotel and a friend's place for the week, trying not to worry about his lack of flood insurance.

A lifelong resident of Simonton, he pledged to rebuild.

U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, a Republican who represents the area, told residents at the town hall that Simonton should receive a federal disaster declaration after the state submits paperwork next week. Then, FEMA should be able to help with reimbursements and the long recovery.

City and county officials urged residents to get tetanus shots, disinfect their wells, drink bottled water and beware of critters.

"It's been an emotional ride for sure," said Mark Wade, who was among the 225 or some homes in the Valley Lodge subdivision forced to evacuate last week. "I'm kind of a stay-busy person. I want to get back and start doing."

The rising Brazos also forced the evacuation of 1,700 prisoners from the Ramsey Unit state prison near Rosharon on Saturday, as well as the relocation of at least 100 vehicles from the nearby Texas Department of Criminal Justice's distribution center.

The prisoners will be sent to East Texas prisons in buses along with staff assisting in the evacuation, department spokesman Jason Clark said in a news release.

Water was also threatening a TDCJ distribution center in the area, which relocated at least 25 semi-tractors and an unspecified number of pickups, tow trucks and other vehicles to Sugar Land, said Ismael Gonzales, inventory control manager.

"It's rising pretty fast," Gonzales said about the threat to the distribution center.

Part of the region spent Saturday under a flash flood warning, including eastern Harris County, western Chambers County and southern Liberty County. Storms lingered over Interstate 10 between Baytown and Mont Belvieu, pounding the area with 9 inches of rain.

The forecast for the region seems familiar.

"Wet. Is that a surprise?" said Josh Lichter, a meteorologist with the Houston-Galveston office of the National Weather Service. "I think most of the people here know what that can do - localized flooding, especially since the grounds are already saturated."

The chance of rain Sunday is slightly lower, around 40 percent to 50 percent, with dryer air moving into the area.

"If we can hang on for a couple more days," Lichter said, "next week is looking better."
Donald Trump, whose campaign for president has crashed through one barrier after another, has again moved his candidacy into highly questionable territory, threatening to stir more racial animosity in an already divided country and putting at risk his party's relationship with the nation's fastest-growing minority group.

Over the past week, Trump has repeatedly cited the Mexican heritage of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a lawsuit brought by former students of Trump University alleging fraud against the institution. Trump accused Curiel of a conflict of interest in hearing the case because, according to his reasoning, the judge's Mexican heritage puts him at odds with Trump's proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

When challenged to explain why he thought the judge was biased, Trump said, among other things, "He's a Mexican."

Curiel is an American, born in 1953 in Indiana to parents who were Mexican immigrants. The judge has not publicly expressed an opinion about Trump's proposed wall.

'Completely unacceptable'

More Information Clinton praises Reagan, BushesOXNARD, Calif.- -It's rare for a Democratic presidential candidate to rally the base by praising the Republicans who have held the White House in recent decades. But Hillary Clinton did just that on Saturday as she argued that Donald Trump is unqualified to hold the office. Clinton noted that she had met Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as Barack Obama, for whom she served as secretary of State. "They were of different political parties, we know that, and I sure didn't agree with everything they did," she said of the Republicans to hundreds of cheering supporters "I will tell you this, they all carried themselves, presented themselves, as men who understand the seriousness and responsibility of the job. They each, with their own backgrounds and experiences, came to the office of the presidency and to the duties of commander in chief with a sense of awe and honor." Trump fails to meet this standard, she said, pointing to his recent attacks on a federal judge as another example of his divisiveness. Los Angeles Times See More Collapse

Politicians and others across the ideological spectrum have rebuked Trump in the past for "dog whistle" politics, or worse. In this case, the condemnations have been swift and cutting, as Republican leaders scramble to protect their party against charges that their presumptive presidential nominee is engaging in a racist attack against a sitting judge.

"I don't know what Trump's reasoning was, and I don't care," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been supportive of Trump, said in an email. "His description of the judge in terms of his parentage is completely unacceptable."

Throughout the campaign, Trump has seemed immune to the typical effects of this kind of rhetoric and behavior. He has repeatedly survived, even thrived, after making controversial statements, whether attacking former President George W. Bush as a liar who took the country to war in Iraq under false pretenses or claiming that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a prisoner in the Vietnam War who was tortured repeatedly, was not a hero because he had been shot down and captured.

Those are just two of a number of instances in which Trump has insulted politicians, private citizens or entire groups of people. Based on the record, it is premature to draw conclusions about how his attacks on Curiel will affect Trump politically. But they have prompted deepening concern among others in the Republican Party that he is pursuing a strategy - if it actually is a strategy - with worrisome longer-term consequences for the country and the GOP.

The 2016 presidential campaign is playing out against a backdrop of heightened racial, ethnic and cultural tensions. Violence at Trump rallies, which flared again Thursday in San Jose, Calif., has sometimes pitted angry anti-Trump demonstrators, many of them Hispanics, against the candidate's equally passionate, predominantly white supporters. At one time or another, each side has been responsible for inciting the violence that ensued.

One issue that has inflamed the national debate is police shootings of unarmed African- Americans and the relationship between police departments and the black community. Another is the question of how the country should deal with threats of domestic terrorism from Islamic radicals and whether there should be new restrictions on those seeking entry into the United States from countries in the Middle East.

Anger and rhetoric

Trump's candidacy has been fueled by anger over illegal immigration and by rhetoric that began with the opening days of his candidacy, when he said many of those coming to the United States from Mexico illegally were "rapists,  murderers" and criminals. Later, after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., Trump called for a ban on all Muslims seeking to enter the country until the federal government could put in place a more effective screening system.

In this latest instance, Trump vehemently denied a charge from Hillary Clinton that he had launched a racist attack against the judge. But his behavior was enough to prompt some of the most prominent members of his party to call him out.

On Friday, one day after announcing his support for Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., denounced the New York billionaire during an interview with WISN radio in Wisconsin. He said Trump's accusations against the judge had come "completely out of left field," adding, "It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that."
FARGO, N.D. - Jane Kangas has the most valuable nostrils in North Dakota.

The environmental scientist's state-certified nose gives her the ability to decipher whether a landfill is meeting standards for odor control - needing just a whiff or two to determine whether it has reached peak reek. Her verification: a device that records the level of odor.

Kangas conducts odor inspections for 25 landfills in eastern North Dakota.

"My job is very interesting because we talk to the public on a daily basis," said Kangas, who inspects the Fargo landfill at least once a week.

To make sure her olfactory senses stay sharp - "The older I get, the tougher it gets," said the 21-year veteran of the health department - she is required to annually attend odor school, where she is tested on a variety of scents.

The tool Kangas uses is called the Nasal Ranger, which looks like a radar gun with a nasal mask on one end. It is used to test everything from landfill smells to second-hand marijuana smoke in Colorado.

The Nasal Ranger measures aromas in odor concentration units, which essentially is the odor compared to clean air. Anything over seven units is a violation according to North Dakota law.
Gun violence

Regarding "Sunday rampage" (Page A20, Wednesday), when do we stand up and say enough to all of the gun violence in our country? When do we hold the gun manufacturers - Strum, Ruger & Co.; Remington Arms; Smith & Wesson; Glock; Sig Sauer; O.F. Mossberg & Sons; Savage Arms; Springfield Armory; Beretta, and Taurus International - responsible for our gun violence?

Countless proposed laws will stall out in Congress on any gun control legislation bowing down to the gun lobby, National Rifle Association and the gun companies.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, 69 people were victims of gun violence in Chicago ("69 shot, 6 fatally, in bloody Chicago weekend," Page A11, Wednesday). At least two people in Houston are dead from gun violence, and on Wednesday two people are dead from guns at UCLA.

Gun violence affects our health just as the opiate drug problem does. We are quickly addressing the opiate drug problem in our society but not the gun problems that yield medical problems, too.

Nena Cokinos Marshall, Houston

A-OK with secrecy

Regarding "Light on City Hall" (Page A18, Friday), I'm perplexed over why the editorial board is excoriating Mayor Turner for not releasing an early, long list of all those who have expressed an interest in the HPD police chief position. What the mayor is doing is best practice when it comes to filling high-level positions.

Many well-qualified candidates will choose not to apply if they are told that their interest will be widely reported out of concern that such interest, once known, could negatively affect them in their current positions.

Once the mayor gets to a short list of three to five finalists, then the rules change with those remaining candidates understanding that their names must now be made public.

The degree of openness that the editorial board is demanding here will actually lessen the likelihood of Houston ending up with an A-list new police chief. I, for one, am fully supportive of the mayor here.

David Bradley, Spring

Dark web activity

Regarding "Defendant challenges FBI's child porn sting" (Page A1, Thursday), I'm usually all for curtailing our government's gathering of information or searches without a warrant, but this FBI case seems different from others.

The defendant, accused of sharing and owning child porn, wasn't just minding his own business when the feds tempted him to download the pictures to his computer.

The site he visited, was actively sought out by him to anonymously view, share and save child porn.

Bob Gayle, Houston

Confronting mental illness

Regarding "The Woodlands continues wrestling with rise of suicide cases and mental health issues" (HoustonChronicle.com, Tuesday), great article. I agree that "our bubble" is not always what we want or think it is.

Mental illness and depression are real and we do need to bring more awareness. I pray for this family and all of those touched by this tragedy.

Leann Wright, posted on HoustonChronicle.com
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Justin Trudeau became the first prime minister in a decade to crack jokes at the Press Gallery dinner  but it was his wife who ran away with his part of the show.

The annual event is a good-natured mingling of journalists who cover Parliament, and politicians and government officials. Self-effacing speeches by party leaders are usually the highlight of the evening. And the Trudeaus went beyond all expectations on Saturday night.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife joke around at the press gallery dinner on Saturday. (Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

After a few jokes, the prime minister brought Sophie Gregoire Trudeau to the stage at the Canadian Museum of History: "I want to ask you to join me to welcome the mother of my oh-so-convenient and effective props, my children."

The prime minister than asked, "What are you wearing tonight, Sophie? We all want to know."

"Oh thank you so much for asking," Gregoire Trudeau gushed in jest, and then listed the Canadian designers she was wearing.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the annual Press Gallery Dinner on Saturday night. (Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

"When I thought of the opportunity that I was going to have here on stage in front of all of you tonight, I thought, it's the best chance I have to express myself in song. And you were so kind to me the last time I sang," she said, referring to the public scrutiny after she burst into song at a news conference in January.

"In order to do this, I need a pianist, a cellist, a violinist, because I need a team. I need to feel supported," Gregoire Trudeau declared to laughter.

That reference was to the backlash she faced after saying she needed more staff to handle the flood of requests for her to speak at public events and support various charities and organizations.

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Then she broke out into a blues number. (Watch the segment above.)

PM Trudeau & Sophie performing together. Yup, that happened #gala150pic.twitter.com/VKj46CHFAF  Richard Madan (@RichardMadan) June 5, 2016

"Forget about his selfies," sang Gregoire Trudeau, as her husband provided musical accompaniment. "It's all about me!"

And that wasn't all.

Gregoire Trudeau, who is a yoga instructor, then manoeuvred into a difficult pose  a nod to a viral photo of the prime minister mastering a similar position.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau watches his wife in a yoga pose on stage at the Press Gallery dinner. (Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

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"You should be doing more of this, then you'd be hitting less people, right?" she said to her husband, fresh off Elbowgate.

"And this is really good for anger management. Tom, you wanna try it?" Gregoire Trudeau said to NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who has a reputation for having quite a temper.

The Trudeaus ended the segment by re-creating a pose from their photo shoot with Vogue magazine:

(Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Well, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau just killed it at #gala150. That was smart, brave and hilarious.  Mackenzie Scrimshaw (@MkScrimshaw) June 5, 2016

The event, referred to some insiders as "nerd prom," also celebrated the press gallery's 150th anniversary.

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Stephen Harper gave memorable roasts at the dinner during his time as Opposition leader but he stopped appearing at the functions when he became prime minister.

Here is Trudeau's full address at the dinner:
At a roast of journalists and politicians, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair declared he gave "zero f*cks" and then proceeded to drop several of them in a memorable speech.

He and other party leaders spoke at this year's parliamentary press gallery dinner which celebrated the group's 150th anniversary on Saturday night.

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NDP Leader Tom Mulcair drops the microphone at the end of his press gallery dinner speech. (Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

The event is a night of self-effacing speeches and jabs at media and politicians alike, and Mulcair told everyone how he really felt. (Watch Mulcair's full speech above.)

"It's great to be here at the press gallery dinner and you know why? Because unlike every other person here tonight, I give zero f*cks," Mulcair said. He was voted out as leader of his party at their recent convention in Edmonton but is staying on until a new one is chosen.

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"Any ... pollsters here tonight? Go f*ck yourselves," he said in front of the crowd at the Canadian Museum of History across the river from Parliament Hill.

Mulcair also took aim at various media outlets, reporters and other politicians before ending his segment with a literal mic drop, declaring, "Mulcair out."

Not to be outdone, Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose had some quality zingers of her own  many of them at the expense of former prime minister Stephen Harper.

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"Stephen Harper actually loved humanity," she quipped. "It was just people that he couldn't stand."

In offering up suggestions for new slogans for the current Conservatives, Ambrose suggested: "The bad man is gone."

Harper never attended the press gallery dinner while serving as prime minister, but gave some sharp roasts as Opposition leader.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried out his comedic talent on Saturday night, but his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, stole the show from him. She sang a blues number and even demonstrated a yoga pose that would be helpful for politicians.

Press Gallery Dinner 2016 See Gallery

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One of the most parroted reasons for the UK to remain in the EU is the fact that so many migrants work for the NHS and that our health service would collapse without them. This argument is utterly misguided. NHS staff shortages are being manufactured as a result of our EU membership, which hampers the ability of the NHS to recruit properly.

EU Immigration Leads the UK Government to Cut Immigration From the Rest of the World

We often hear how EU immigration is roughly equal to immigration from the rest of the world. What very few people talk about is that most of the migrants from the rest of the world are students. According to the Migration Observatory, of the 275,000 migrants who came to the UK from non-EU countries in 2012, 59% were students. Only 17% came to work. This is largely because, in an effort to control immigration, the government has imposed strict caps on the number of non-EU workers who can come to the UK. This cap is harming British industry, which is prevented from recruiting the best and brightest from around the world, but it is particularly damaging to the NHS.

The EU Does not Supply the NHS with Most of its Foreign Workers

One of the essential skills any medical practitioner needs is the ability to speak the patient's language. Doctors from the Commonwealth typically have English as a second-language, but this is not always the case across the EU. This can be seen in the figures. The latest numbers from the General Medical Council show that of 273,761 doctors registered in the UK, 63.3% trained and qualified in the UK, 25.7% trained and qualified in non-EU countries, and only 11% trained and qualified in EU countries.

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Here is a chart of the top 5 countries of qualification:

The Cap on Non-EU Workers Prevents the NHS From Recruiting Nurses

This statement is taken directly from the government's Migration Advisory Committee Review of Nursing which was published in March 2016:

"Nursing was the occupation most severely affected by the monthly limit being reached, with over 2,700 nursing applications refused as a result."

The monthly limit is the cap on non-EU workers imposed by the government in an attempt to be seen to be doing something about immigration. The government currently has an annual cap of 20,700 places under the Tier 2 immigration route, and that cap is divided into monthly limits. According to the government's own committee, last year this country turned away more than 2,700 non-EU nurses who wanted to settle in the UK, and had job offers, because the monthly non-EU immigration limit had been reached.

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When we have recruited nurses from outside the UK, they have tended to come from non-EU countries. According to the Migration Advisory Committee, 86% of nurses currently working in the UK trained here, 10% trained in non-EU countries and only 4% trained in the EU. We are turning away thousands of nurses who have job offers, who are properly qualified, and who speak English. We are rejecting people from countries that have traditionally helped meet the NHS's needs, in order to comply with a non-EU immigration cap.

The Migration Advisory Committee says:

"Because of the immigration cap for all skilled workers, health sector employers have experienced difficulty in accessing the migrant nurses they say they need."

The UK's Current Immigration Policy is a Betrayal

The government is turning away nurses because they are not from the EU. Many of them are from countries that the UK once colonised. Not only is their rejection a betrayal of the UK's historic relationship with the Commonwealth, it is a betrayal of the British people. We don't care about the colour of a person's skin, or where they were born, we just want our NHS to be properly resourced. Nursing is on the Shortage Occupation List, which is a government list of occupations where there is a recognised national shortage. The fact that our misguided immigration policy leads us to turn away nurses we need is nothing short of a scandal.

These are highly skilled individuals who want to make a clear contribution to Britain in a profession where there is a recognised shortage, and they are being rejected in favour of EU citizens who are entitled to come to the UK regardless of their skills, profession, or the contribution they make.

Leaving the EU Will Improve the NHS's Ability to Recruit

Relieved from the pressure of approximately 300,000 EU immigrants per year, the government can adopt sensible immigration policies based on our national need. Immigration is essential to the UK's future, but instead of a free-for-all for EU citizens, and a miserly cap for the rest of the world, the UK can recruit the best and brightest, and people with the right mix of skills from all over the world. And hopefully we will never again be in a position where we are turning down thousands of able nurses when our NHS desperately needs them.

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And next time you hear David Cameron talk about how essential migrants are to the NHS and try to use that as an excuse to keep us in the EU, just remember that, according to his own advisory committee, his government turned away 2,700 non-EU nurses last year.
At the beginning of last year the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond assured the House of Commons that the small but strategically significant Gulf state of Bahrain, though racked by several years' of rolling social unrest and subject to wave after wave of arrests and unfair trials, was "a country which is travelling in the right direction."

It was making "significant reform", he said. Indeed, a new 15 million Royal Naval base, announced a month earlier, was apparently an important feature in this rosier picture. With British "Type 45 destroyer" warships and aircraft carriers set to be stationed at the new base, it was all part of the "expansion of Britain's footprint" in the Gulf and "just one example of a growing partnership with Gulf partners to tackle shared strategic and regional threats."

Reform, well-directed movement, partnership - this is a familiar vocabulary on Bahrain from Mr Hammond. Earlier this week he was back in Manama and was similarly upbeat. Having met the king, Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Hammond felt able to tweet "Welcome commitment to continuing reforms."

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More reforms. Except ... well, on the very same day that Mr Hammond was praising all these Bahraini reforms a court in Manama was jailing Sheikh 'Ali Salman, the leader of the country's main opposition party. He got nine years, with an earlier four-year jail sentence supplemented by a further half-decade by the Court of Appeal. Salman's supposed offence had been to "publicly insult" the country's Interior Ministry and "publicly incite others to disobey the law" (in reality he'd merely criticised the government in his speeches). His trial was unfair and he now languishes in jail alongside others from Bahrain's chopped-down opposition parties, themselves just a fraction of the country's ever-growing band of prisoners of conscience.

True, Mr Hammond did tweet about the unfortunate Sheikh 'Ali Salman, but even here the Foreign Secretary found a positive angle: "Raised Sheikh Ali Salman sentence in #Bahrain today. Understand there is a further stage in the legal process - will follow case closely." A further stage - all could still be well. (Incidentally, since when did ministers start thinking that dashing of a few tweets like this was in any way a sufficient public response to significant matters such as these?).

Anyway, either our Foreign Secretary is the eternal optimist or there's something going on here. It all looks like a well-established pattern: scripted ("commitment to continuing reforms"), and even boosted by hands-on British lobbying (British officials have, according to BuzzFeed News and others, personally pressed United Nations experts to accept that things in Bahrain are better than commonly assumed). On the other side, Bahrain of course has been doing its own lobbying and politicking. It's well known for its heavy spending on public relations advice (of questionable quality) from big-name PR companies, and even the flashy Bahrain Grand Prix has been co-opted into the country's - failing - efforts to polish up its heavily-tarnished image.

But like those chunky F1 racing tyres, it's all spin. In reality the Bahraini authorities are pursuing something close to a judicial vendetta against critics of the government. Scores of people have been jailed (many for lengthy periods) after unfair, politically-motivated trials, and some of the most prominent critics have faced overlapping criminal cases, being shuttled back into court to face new charges as soon as they've finished an earlier jail term. Meanwhile, protests are totally banned in Manama, political gatherings outside the capital are often met with police tear gas and beatings, and many of those arrested by the security forces reporting being tortured, including in the country's notorious Jaw Prison.

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Bahrain's authorities are acting as if they want to rid themselves of any and all opposition. More than 200 people have also had their nationality stripped, leaving some of them state-less, while the well-known government critic Nabeel Rajab is subject to a travel ban after getting out of jail last year.

Mr Rajab's case is doubly interesting. He's still facing a further prison sentence (of up to ten years) for "insulting a statutory body" and "disseminating false rumours in time of war." The latter relates to his criticism of Bahrain's involvement in the incredibly destructive conflict in Yemen. Bahrain is part of the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition waging a reckless and highly indiscriminate bombing campaign in Yemen, and thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed and injured. Indeed one of the purposes of Philip Hammond's recent visit to Bahrain and other Gulf countries was to discuss the Yemen conflict (he went to Saudi Arabia as well).

With thousands of civilians dead or maimed from a barrage of Saudi coalition bombs, Mr Hammond might perhaps have had something to say about this as part of his Gulf tour, and indeed he did. Sort of:

"The crisis in Yemen will be high on my agenda during discussions in the Gulf. Allowing the state to collapse is simply not an option. Britain is continuing to work together with all parties to support a comprehensive political solution to the conflict."

Just days after Amnesty revealed that the Saudi military coalition in Yemen had been using British-made cluster munitions (a fact that Mr Hammond and other ministers have sought to dispute, including with erroneous accounts of whether Saudi Arabia has used cluster bombs made by any country), you could say that this is the Foreign Secretary once again rather desperately accentuating the positive.

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As I say, when it comes to the Gulf and failing to notice Britain's "partner" countries carrying out systematic human rights abuse, Mr Hammond does a lot of this kind of thing.

On Saudi Arabia he's constantly seeking (and apparently accepting) "assurances" that nothing is amiss in Yemen. On Bahrain he's not only swallowing the Bahraini authorities' spin, he and other UK officials are adding to it.
It doesn't matter where you come from. All that matters is where you're going. Brian Tracy

Ed (not his real name) is a typical 19 year old, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, his way of looking at you askance betraying his lack of self-confidence. He clearly finds it hard to talk about his past, and shares the details sketchily.

"I completed high school but got kicked out of college because I started getting into trouble and had some personal problems going on in my life I didn't know how to deal with. I even ended up in jail at some point."

Ed is one of six participants in a programme being run in Luton by PRACTivate, working with young adults who have had experience of gang membership, drug dealing or social exclusion.

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"I had to really reassess and think about what I want in life," he says.

Like Ed, many young people in Britain fall in with gangs to fit in within a society that otherwise writes them off. There, hard work and thinking on their feet gains them respect, power and money, even if it means working in criminal businesses like dealing drugs. Gang members know these situations are dangerous and socially unacceptable, but the alternative seems worse.

"Some of these kids have been 'company men' since they were eight years old," says Leslie Alfin, an energetic American who founded PRACTivate. "They know about sales and marketing, finance and customer relationships - it's just that they don't call it that."

Leslie was determined to find an alternative to 'gang enterprise' on the one hand or low wage, low skill employment on the other. After all, how many of these kids are likely to choose legitimate work if all that is on offer are options that leave them feeling unrecognised, disrespected and without future prospects?

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"I founded PRACTivate to provide real opportunity to these young adults - the best, the smartest, and the most resilient of them, who are ready to transform their lives.

"We acknowledge the valuable business experience they've gained in their previous 'careers' on the street, helping them with the cultural change required in order for them to work in legitimate enterprises, enable them to contribute to their community and society through social enterprise."

PRACTivate's programme has two stages. First, participants go through a 12 week 360 degree management bootcamp, mentoring them to transfer their skills to live projects, becoming familiar with the language and practices of legitimate businesses and learning new skills and technology. The bootcamp includes customer service, operations and strategy and planning for the business.

"I love to witness the transformation first hand. The candidates go from initial doubts to light bulb moments, from first discoveries of how much they already know to the sense of achievement in getting things done. We watch them as confidence grows and the vision of their futures change dramatically," Leslie enthuses.

Ed concurs.

"Together with self-change, the 360 degree Management and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp has helped me channel my energy and knowledge towards something productive and also gave me the key to not only have but successfully running a business."

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But PRACTivate's programme is not just another training course that raises confidence and then leaves participants to fend for themselves. The second stage is for the candidates to start up and manage a real business.

"We've been running the 360 degree in Luton for eight weeks," Leslie tells me, "and in one month the candidates will be launching Mocksies - Soft Drinks for Tough Customers. This is a social enterprise franchise, selling non-alcoholic mocktails and fizzy milkshakes. We use natural, organic and locally sourced ingredients wherever possible.

"The challenge to launch Mocksies Luton has been enthusiastically embraced by these young people," says Leslie. "At the end of the day, they just want to be heard - like all young adults. All they are asking for is a chance for some hope and to show the world how they can gain financial self-sufficiency and contribute as productive community members."

Sarita, 22, has been homeless and got involved with the 'wrong crowd', but has found a passion for business management as a result of the Bootcamp.

"I am finding new strengths I didn't know I had thanks to this project," she enthuses. "I will take everything I have learnt and experienced and carry them with me on my way to success!"

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Ultimately, replacing 'employment' in gang enterprise with employment in social enterprise reaches beyond those who directly participate in the programme. This is about transforming the opportunities available to young people in the local economy, so gangs no longer offer the most attractive option, turning a vicious circle into a virtuous one.

Running Mocksies, then, is just the first step. But without this first step there can be no others, so the launch team has identified three festivals that will help to establish Mocksies' local presence and kickstart a social economy in Luton.

PRACTivate has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the 2500 needed to fund equipment, advertising and stock to launch Mocksies in Luton. Click here for details.
On 7 June 1866 Millicent Fawcett presented the first Suffrage petition to Parliament. One hundred and fifty years later there are still 140% more men than women in the House of Commons. This is a historic injustice and a democratic deficit.

Why, in 2016, is the "Mother of Parliaments" still so full of men?

50:50 Parliament is a contemporary petition asking all the party leaders for solutions to right this wrong. The disparity in the Commons is bad but the House of Lords is even worse: the name says it all. If Parliament is inaccessible to the majority that are women it must be inaccessible to many others. It needs sorting!

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Women have been knocking on the door at Westminster forever. 50:50 knows of women of all political persuasions who have repeatedly applied to be candidates and been turned down, one more than 15 times in spite of her years of political campaigning experience. She is not alone in her persistent quest for political participation. Why are experienced women not selected as candidates and why are women candidates not given winnable seats?

The Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 affirmed "the equal rights of men and women"; however, UK politics is still far from being fully representative. The lack of women at Westminster matters because, as Professor Ngaire Woods from Oxford University has said, "We know that when women are in parliament...it builds more resilient, responsive, better informed institutions." The evidence is overwhelming. Parliament should draw from the widest possible pool of talent, including the UK's 32 million women.

MPs are our representatives. They need to be able to empathise and communicate. Women can do this. Women have a wealth of experience and skills. They make a massive contribution to society with both their paid and unpaid work. The ONS valued the unpaid household economy at 1trillion in 2014. This is equivalent to approximately 56.1% of UK GDP. Unpaid childcare provided by households (not included in measures of the paid economy) was valued at 321billion in 2014, emphasising the scale of some of these unpaid activities, many of them carried out by women. Women account for 82% of paid professional carers. They are 50% of university graduates and 60% of law graduates. Women merit fair inclusion in Parliament, without them legislation is not fully informed.

Representation shapes the policies and policies affect women. As President Obama pointed out recently, when asked why there was tax on tampons he replied "because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed". This example is the tip of the iceberg; most laws are passed with little input from women, it is still mainly men that debate and draft them.

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On the basis of the progression over the last 10 elections it will take until 2050 for there to be a gender balanced Parliament.

The lives of men and women are changing. When it comes to running the country and planning the future of society, women's experience is as relevant and useful as men's.

The vitriolic abuse that women can receive for voicing opinions is appalling. It is great to see the launch of the cross-party #ReclaimtheInternet campaign but some of the derisive responses on social media were telling. We cannot let Twitter trolls gag women, hamper free speech and in so doing undermine debate and democracy. Women must continue to speak up and be encouraged to engage. Their experience and opinions are valuable. It is imperative in a 'liberal democracy' that we have frank discussion, respect and democratic resolutions, only then can we make peaceful progress.

50:50 Parliament is an inclusive campaign, people of all genders from across the UK have signed up. The 50:50 Parliament Petition is like a referendum on gender equality. If you agree that Parliament should be more inclusive of women and that we should aim for better gender balance at Westminster then say so. Sign and share the 50:50 Parliament Petition at change.org/5050Parliament. Go one step further in supporting the campaign by becoming a 50:50 Parliament Ambassador.

One hundred and fifty years after the first Suffrage Petition the campaign for political equality continues!

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#5050Parliament

#BestofBoth #OneWayorAnother #SoonerRatherThanLater
Tristram Kenton

I feel humbled in the theatre very regularly because I think it is like a church for people who want to spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about their feelings. But Minefield at the Royal Court humbled me in a way that is far more profound than just me being a soppy, introspective twat.

Because there are layers of meaning to this show that go beyond the words and the sounds and the images, but mean that they very act of it existing and being made is seismic.

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Lola Arias has brought together real British and Argentinian veterans from the Falklands War, and created a piece that not only bears witness to their devastating experiences of a bloody, nasty, and contentious war, but enables us to see healing happen before our very eyes.

It's a pretty life-affirming piece of story-telling, which has been created as a part of Lift Festival, a month of boundary-pushing performance art. Arias uses video and music to help the men tell their stories, bringing in old pictures, speeches from Thatcher, and a drum-kit that takes a serious bashing.

But for how neat and compellingly watchable the whole thing is, the fact that the men stand united on these stages before us is the thing that genuinely made me think that there should be a new saying called 'Make Theatre Not War'.

Spoken in both Spanish and English, one of the first things the men talk about is how the syntax of war breaks down every language barrier. Although they were once enemies, the men are forever bound together by their time fighting in the Falklands, an island which is now 'a living museum for the war'.

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Some of the things they speak about are hard to listen to - even harder to think that they could live through them and stand on a stage telling a room full of people about them. One man used his blanket to carry the body parts of his fellow soldiers, who had just been blown up by a mine. It was the only blanket he had, so he then continued to use it for the rest of the war. Another speaks of escaping from the Belgrano after it was hit and lying on a packed lifeboat for almost two days before being found; the anger that this callous attack still induces is palpable in the room.

One veteran says that he was asked to sign an affidavit when he arrived back to Argentina, demanding he wouldn't speak about what had happened. So the act of story-telling here not only becomes one of defiance, but a bold determination to confront the memories they had left behind.

At times it is too difficult. They comment frequently on the rehearsal process and the things they felt on travelling back to their memories of war; one scene felt too raw, too upsetting for them to perform. But the act of reflection is what has allowed them to reconnect with themselves and the world around them - one veteran became a psychologist after he came home with PTSD; another went through eight years of substance abuse before therapy helped him to confront the darkness the war had brought into his life.

One thing that British veteran Lou Amour said stuck in my head. Filmed as a 27-year-old man for a documentary, he spoke of holding a dying Argentinian soldier in his arms. It turned out he spoke English, and they started to talk about his memories of the country. "I wish he'd never spoken English," he said, and broke down into tears.

What a horrible thing; to be able to understand someone that you have been asked to kill. There lies the key to this extraordinary work: Minefield shows the potency of connection. The power of looking a man in the eye that you have been sent to kill, and realizing that you are both human beings, and that you could stand side by side instead.

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Minefield is at the Royal Court until 11 June
Dan Kitwood via Getty Images

Thursday 23 June 2016 is going to be an historic day - the day the United Kingdom has its referendum on staying in European Union. It will be the most important vote on the future of our country that we are likely to have in our lifetimes. It's a one-off vote. There's no re-doing it if we change our minds. We're all going to have to live with the result, but the younger you are, the more there is at stake.

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You'd have to have been living in a cave for the last few months to have entirely missed the debate so far, but the good news is that if you're not yet on the electoral register to vote in the referendum there's still time - just. You're cutting it fine, but there are still a few hours left to register. Just go to gov.uk/register-to-vote to get it sorted by the 7 June deadline.

Talking to young people up and down the country over the last few weeks I've been struck by the number saying they just want to make sure they get the facts and 'get it right'. They're right to be taking this seriously. The outcome of this referendum will shape Britain's future in the 21st Century.

Like millions of other people in the UK, I've never had the chance to vote on this before. I was too young to vote in the last EU referendum in 1975. There are pros and cons whichever direction we take. My view, on balance, is that we are better off staying in the EU. The EU isn't perfect, but for me it boils down to opportunity and influence. Opportunity, because by staying in we keep access for our businesses to the level playing field that is the European single market of 500m people, worth 500bn, with all the jobs and opportunities for young people in Britain that come from that. It also means, critically, that we keep our place at the table where the regulations for this massive market are being set.

It's about influence because if you believe Britain's voice counts, as I do, then let's keep it around the EU table. Decisions by the EU will affect us whether we're in it or not, so let's not leave it to others to decide, when we can be part of those decisions ourselves. You don't get to decide the rules of a club by being outside it. So let's stay in.

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And walking away from the EU goes against the grain of what I think our great country stands for. It goes against Britain's history of shaping what happens on our continent and around the world by being involved in it, not apart from it. We're the country out there fixing things, not one that retreats into our shell. It's never been more important for us to work as partners with other countries to tackle the big global challenges that we face, challenges like conflict, disease, climate change and mass migration. Those issues will be there whether or not we're in the EU but, above all, it's in our interests that there's a smart EU response to them on our doorstep because they affect us, like it or not. As those challenges unfold, staying in the EU is how future generations will be able to make the UK's voice count.

You don't have to take my word for it. Wherever you look in our society we've seen the top people in their field say clearly they are in favour of staying in the EU - the leaders of all the major political parties, trades unions and business organisations, as well as economists, scientists, environmentalists, academics, people in the military and security services, farmers, health workers, actors and artists - the list goes on. Even our international allies like President Obama are advising that we are better off remaining in the EU.

Though I've just set out the positive case for Britain staying in the EU, a lot has been said about 'scaremongering' in this campaign. I don't agree that setting out risks on job losses is scaremongering. It's about responsibly setting out the issues so that people have the full facts about how they might be affected. When your analysis, and that of numerous other experts, says that taking a certain course of action is very likely to lead to certain outcomes - in this case leaving the EU putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk, higher prices, and a blow to the UK's economic prospects - I think you have a responsibility to let the public know before they cast their votes.

It's the people on the lowest incomes who suffer most when the economy takes a hit. I know from my own childhood growing up in Rotherham in the 1980s, when my father was made redundant from British Steel, what that is like. Some people who want us to leave the EU think this is a price worth paying. From my personal experience, I completely disagree. It's simply not good enough to ask the nation to take this leap into the dark, to take this massive gamble costing UK jobs and damaging the nation's finances. We deserve a better, more certain future.

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I want to see a Britain that is stronger, safer and better off, by being inside the EU. A country that continues to play a unique role in shaping our continent's future for the better, just as we have done in the past. A country smart enough to make sure our great companies can compete and succeed by having us stay in the world's largest trading block, the EU single market. And a Britain that has decided that our next generation's voice will be heard around the table alongside our neighbours when the big issues that affect us all are debated and decided.

This referendum gives us one vote each. But young people's stake in Britain's future is bigger than anyone's. I'd like Britain to stay in the EU, but whatever your own view, make sure it gets counted on 23 June.
Immigration has dominated arguments over the EU and is constantly being pushed by the Leave campaign. Despite the IN campaign focusing primarily on economic arguments, David Cameron, de-facto leader, has attempted to address 'Out' concerns over immigration. He has done this by lying to the British public on a number of thigs. To be clear, free movement which comes with our EU membership means that there is nothing that can be done to prevent legal migration to the UK from the EU - just as Britons are able to travel and live in EU countries under the same regulations. However, immigration from outside the EU is under the control of the British government (in theory) and yet the number of migrants coming to Britain from these countries is almost twice the target Cameron set himself for total net migration. Instead of insisting that 'we can control immigration inside the EU' (BBC), the Prime Minister needs to stop lying to us and be clear on what the government can and will actually do to reduce immigration (as the Conservatives were elected on a platform promising to reduce net migration to the 'tens of thousands').

It is the aim of the government to reduce net migration - a response to the concerns held by the British public who, according to recent polls, see immigration as their 'biggest worry' - ahead of the NHS (Telegraph/ Ipsos Mori). In fact, during the Sky Q&A, on the 2nd June, he stated that immigration could be cut to below 100,000 (as previously promised) with the UK in the EU. But the ways he has set out that this can be achieved are very vague and not proven to drastically reduce immigration whatsoever. For example, removing unemployment benefit and reducing 'full' access to the welfare system for those who have worked under four years are not exactly striking measures which put off the majority of immigrants who come to the UK to work (realistically, these are the people that we would have to simply turn away if we were to reduce immigration to the 'tens of thousands'; of course this is not possible in the EU).

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Cameron's biggest argument that net migration can be reduced in the EU is that it has previously been 'neutral' due to the emigration of people in the UK. This is, in theory, true. Just unlikely to happen anytime soon. As the government keeps reminding us, the UK is the fastest growing 'major economy'. Our unemployment rate is also 4% less that the EU average (8.9% to 5%; Source). If wealth and jobs are being created at a faster rate in the UK than the majority of the EU, then why on earth would emigration to EU countries from the UK increase? Especially if we consider the impact the slow recovery of countries such as Spain and Portugal and the complete collapse and non-recovery of Greece is having on expat Brits living abroad on the continent (many have returned to the UK; Telegraph).

It's clear that Cameron has no coherent strategy which would enable him to fulfil his promise of reducing immigration from the EU. He is lying to the general public by saying it is possible when it so blatantly is not.

However, our Prime Minister has more questions to answer. As well as being unsuccessful in reducing immigration from the EU (an impossible task when free movement is in place), he has also been unsuccessful in reducing immigration from outside the EU (which is entirely under the control of the British government). Net migration from non-EU countries was 188,000 according to most recent figures. Reducing this with quotas and changes to the system is entirely possible. So why has the government, elected on the promise of reducing immigration, not done anything to reduce it where they can? Not only is Cameron lying about the ability of the UK to reduce immigration while we're in the EU but he has lied about reducing immigration altogether. Either the government couldn't be bothered or doesn't see it as a priority - strange considering, as I mentioned earlier, immigration is the number one concern of the British public.

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The Blog Sunday Roundup

This week the nation looked on, horrified, as a silverback gorilla threatened a captive who looked unable to escape. I'm talking, of course, about Donald Trump, who is turning out to be every bit as dangerous and unstable as predicted. After he continued to attack the judge in the Trump University lawsuit, the judge unsealed documents showing how staffers were encouraged to prey on the vulnerable. "It was really a fraud," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, "from beginning to end." And in that way, a true reflection of its namesake. But perhaps it sealed the deal for Speaker Paul Ryan, who, after hesitating, endorsed Trump, showing his principles to be worth as much as a Trump U real estate class. Rising to the occasion were Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who declined to endorse Trump, and former CIA and NSA chief Michael Hayden, who described Trump's rhetoric as "feeding" ISIS's recruitment videos. And you don't have to be a genius to see Trump for who he is, but it doesn't hurt. He's "a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator," said Stephen Hawking. Nothing theoretical about that.
Where does the soul of our city reside?

Amid all the pressures and all the change in our neighborhoods, what do we--what can we--protect?

For me, it's a simple answer. The soul of our city is in the people.

It's in the people who stayed and fought when their neighborhoods were afflicted by violence, drugs and neglect. They succeeded, kept the flame of community burning, and their success has made New York what it is.

I see that soul in the overflowing congregation when I visit Pastor Michael Walrond's First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem a Sunday morning, where the older generation and a younger one celebrate and commune together, and are writing the next great chapter of their storied neighborhood.

The sentiment in last Sunday's "The End of Black Harlem" piece in the New York Times contends that the future for longtime residents is bleak, that their days calling Harlem home are numbered. The author sees new buildings going up, and cherished institutions closing their doors, and predicts the fight is lost.

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It's not. The fight of our time is just beginning.

We are asserting a new vision for our neighborhoods that turns on its head the old mindset that we cannot have communities that are safe, successful and--at the same time--affordable. We aren't nibbling at the edges--this is a major shift in how the City of New York operates, and what it means when we put government on the side of working people.

We're delivering on a scale that will change our city, and focusing where it matters most: keeping housing affordable. Nearly 90,000 people in Central Harlem alone call our public housing and rent-stabilized apartments home. They 're working parents and retirees, families on public assistance and those reaching up to the middle class, and longtime residents that have built a good life on modest means.

It's in protecting these people that we protect the soul of our neighborhoods. These families ARE Harlem. They're the same people who helped bring Harlem back, and we have made it our mission to put government on their side for a change.

Just ask the tenants at Riverton Houses, which have stood for generations as a symbol of Harlem's middle class, the place for African-American families who had 'made it.' A decade ago, it fell victim to predatory owners. Residents were left to fend for themselves as they fought to keep their homes. We intervened decisively last year, locking in a 30-year affordability guarantee with a new owner. In one action, we kept 2,500 people in affordable housing in Harlem, with the security to raise a family and live in dignity.

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In another sweeping action this winter, we launched a complete rehabilitation of 30 buildings across Harlem--giving 1,000 people new kitchens, new floors and new bathrooms. They now have a 35-year guarantee setting their rent at 30 percent of their income, so even those of the least means will be able to afford the necessities of life: childcare, insurance, groceries and maybe even save a little each month to get ahead.

And this past year, more than 60,000 people who live in rent-stabilized apartments in Central Harlem got the first rent freeze in history.

We put in place a new mandatory affordable housing requirement--the toughest in the nation. Whenever a developer tries to build bigger than the surrounding neighborhood, they have to provide affordable housing in return--so we can ensure new development delivers for the community.

And we've invested in protecting our original affordable housing: NYCHA. More than 27,000 people call public housing home in Central Harlem. For years, the Housing Authority has drifted closer and closer to bankruptcy, falling behind on maintenance and subjecting tenants to ever-worsening living conditions. We're turning it around, with hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments, fixing everything from leaking roofs at Carver Houses to elevators at Rangel Houses.

And it goes beyond just housing. We're strengthening the fabric of communities.

When I look at Harlem today, I see a community that's changing, but one where the City is taking new steps to embrace and strengthen its longtime residents.

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I see a neighborhood with twice as many children enrolled in free, full-day Pre-K so they can build a foundation for school, and so their parents can work.

I see a community where graduation rates are up, and where four-times more middle school kids are now enrolled in free after-school programs spanning everything from prize-winning drum lines to composing poetry.

I see our major expansion of the Mt. Morris Historic District, protecting Harlem's unique row houses for the ages.

I see the Studio Museum, which has been a pillar of black culture since the 1960s, growing into a beautiful new building on 125th Street with City support, where it will anchor the cultural life of Harlem for a new generation.

This is how we're protecting Harlem's heritage, honoring its people and securing its future.

Change is a constant in our growing city. But it's not the yardstick for whether the people are winning or losing.

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Fairness is my measure.

And it's what our administration is fighting for in Harlem and beyond.
Cognitive dissonance is described as the mental discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas or values at the same time. It's analogous to the gender dysphoria suffered by many trans persons when their innate biological sense of self doesn't match the gender they were assigned at birth and in which they were raised. I believe it can also be extended to larger population groups, which, in an age of growing extremism on both the right and left, feel forced to hold two (or more) seemingly contradictory ideological beliefs about different aspects of society. The cognitive dysphoria is created by the extremists, on both the right and left, for political purposes; there is no inherent reason there should be a problem in the first place, as the ideas are often independent concepts. When you define your terms clearly the problems dissolve.

Exhibit A is the issue of pinkwashing, or pinklying, about which I've written extensively this year. Israel's Pride Week this year has, once more, enabled the concept to flourish. I participated in the recently concluded historic Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) LGBTQ mission to Israel, successfully led by Stuart Kurlander. The first such mission in eleven years, and the largest ever, the journey was filled with events to match its historic nature. We were invited to meet President Rivlin, at his residence in Jerusalem, and U.S. Ambassador Shapiro at his in Herziliya. The visit was covered by major Israeli media, from Haaretz to the Times of Israel. We visited projects supported by the JFNA, from the Kadoorie Agricultural High School in the Galilee; NGT3, the only tech incubator in the country which includes Israeli Palestinians, in Nazareth; Yevulim Ecological Farm, an agricultural school for the developmentally delayed, in Hod haSharon; and visits with Palestinians, such as Ali Abu Awaad of Shorashim, and excursions highlighting the security situation - within Israel proper, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the surrounding battlefields.

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Those stops were interspersed with visits to the local LGBTQ community, including the LGBTQ Jerusalem Open House, and the LGBTQ community center in Gan Meir in Tel-Aviv, home to many gay and trans organizations in the region, including IGY, Israel Gay Youth; Ma'avarim, the trans political group; and Gila, the trans social outreach group. We also visited Beit D'ror in Tel-Aviv which houses primarily homeless trans persons, and is mostly government funded. Early in the week some of us spent Thursday evening in Zion Square in Jerusalem, participating in the weekly "Meeting Place" initiative led by Sarah Weil where the local LGBT population meets to remember Sarah Banki, who was murdered during last year's Pride parade, build community, and meet with those opposed to equality, face-to-face.

I would also like to note that while the gay community in Israel politically supports the trans community, it is the trans community, with very little money, that takes care of its own. They work ceaselessly and selflessly with little financial support, and deal with their own problems of intersectionality, sex work, domestic abuse, housing, bureaucracy, and providing therapy and social work within some very challenging situations. Remarkably, the prevalence of HIV in the trans population mirrors that in the general population, unlike in the U.S.

This mission was not a political mission -- the mission was composed of modern orthodox and secular, left-wing, right-wing and center, Jews and non-Jews. The only commonality was LGBTQ identity (I was the only openly trans person), which leads me to an important point -- it is that commonality that can, and often does, function as a bridge across the diverse spectrum of Israeli ethnicities and identities. It might seem very strange, and it certainly feels strange on occasion, that sexual minorities can be a bridge among highly different cultures. But when you are a gay Palestinian in Ramallah or a trans haredi (ultra-orthodox) in Jerusalem, you find that it is your sexual minority status and experienced oppression that brings you together and then allows mutual respect to grow. That is the positive side of community, or kehila. Its negative manifestation was most visible in opposition to LGBT Pride in Jerusalem in 2005, when the leaders of Jerusalem's religious communities -- Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Muslim and Jewish -- all united in their hatred for their LGBT children. The universe works in mysterious ways.

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Those inadvertent but necessary gatherings of people from the various tribes of modern Israel (secular, nationalist religious, ultra-orthodox, and Arab) occur, and on a regular basis, but they are not broadcast, even to the Israeli public. The public sees what the media, and at times, the government, wants it to see. For instance, during the Pride parade along the beach there were many visible outposts of Israeli national police (highly diverse ethnically themselves). There had been threats of ultra-orthodox terrorism, which the police took seriously after the murder of Shira Banki at Jerusalem Pride last year, along with the usual precautions against Palestinian terrorism. One of my trans colleagues remarked on how pleasant it all seemed to everyone, yet she knew that this was the only day of the year when the police treats the trans community with respect. That's not hard for me to believe, because the police can be particularly harsh to trans persons in the States, too, particularly those who live and work on the streets, but you wouldn't know that to be true during the party atmosphere of Pride.

This brings me back to the larger issue of pinkwashing, which impacts the LGBT community in Israel as well as creating divisions within it in the States. Along the parade route on Bograshov Street was hung a pink sign from a roof which was written in the three official languages of Israel. The top line said: "Pinkwash Parade." The Hebrew line said: "We want rights, not parties." The Arabic line said: "There is no Pride in occupation."

I find it striking that both the slogans in Hebrew and Arabic were far more accurate that the broad overgeneralization of pinkwashing in the English language, which was far more consistent with its use by the pro-BDS LGBTQ community in the U.S. than that used by the local community. To the simpleminded extremists in the U.S. any LGBT contact with Israel, be it with family, friends, the Israeli LGBT community, or efforts to partner with those most in need, is defined as pinkwashing and deserves condemnation. The Hebrew slogan made clear how absurd that really is - the local community condemned the government's use of tax dollars to fund a jet with rainbow colors to bring gay folks to Pride, while grossly underfunding the community on a daily basis. The locals take pride in Pride, and the progress they've made with so little, and the progress they hope to make with the support of the American LGBT community and the JFNA. For them, the two concepts -- support of the community along with opposition to government misuse of the community for propaganda purposes - causes no cognitive dissonance.

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I have had no problem opposing the occupation and publicly saying so, be it at the Ambassador's home, on the mission, or in the Israeli media. As a matter of fact, an Israeli trans colleague boycotted the Pride celebration with the Ambassador in solidarity with Aswat, the Israeli Palestinian lesbian group - even though she understands that the U.S. government is not involved in pinkwashing nor, for that matter, supporting the Netanyahu government's actions in the territories. Yet, for her, at that moment, the solidarity with the Palestinians was the more important gesture. I, on the other hand, attended the celebration to make my point in favor of the two-state solution and an Israeli-Palestinian divorce, and to do it my way. There are many facets to these issues, and oversimplification does not serve the peace and human rights camps.

Similarly, the Arabic slogan made a very simple and clear point - there is no Pride in Occupation. Many Israelis believe that, and work for that during their lives. Their lives are complicated, just like those of LGBT Americans, who aren't fighting injustice from the moment they arise to the time they fall asleep, either. A little nuance and sensitivity goes a long way. As I've said before to the U.S. community enamored of the pinkwashing sloganeering, "We are not your enemies."

The JFNA raises many hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support Jewish communities at home and abroad, and disburses even more. After supporting the American Jewish community, a sizable portion goes to Jewish communities in Israel. They are doing some wonderful work, but at this time I am not contributing through the Federation because a core portion of the financial support goes through the Jewish Agency, headed by Natan Sharansky, and some of that money, I am told, is channeled, surreptitiously, to the settlements. That's where I draw my line. Still, I give directly to trans and LGBT groups in Israel, as well as the New Israel Fund which supports social justice throughout the country and the occupied territories.

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Lab technician Mathias Semba (L), 27, organizes blood samples at the Tengani health center in the Nsanje district of southern Malawi on November 25, 2014 before sending them to Thyolo where they will be tested a a viral load lab. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there were some 35 million people around the world living with HIV by the end of 2013, with some 2.1 million new infections during the course of that year. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region, with almost 70 percent of new infections. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI / AFP / MARCO LONGARI (Photo credit should read MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)

When the United Nations convenes this week for its High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, the corridors will be buzzing with talk of "the end of AIDS." UNAIDS tells us that it will happen provided key testing and treatment targets, including doubling the number of people on antiretroviral treatment, are achieved within four years. UNAIDS and major funders have determined that a "fast-track" strategy -- focusing on a subset of countries with highest transmission -- is the best way to reach these goals. While a renewed ambition to quickly curtail one of the deadliest pandemics in history is laudable, the global health community risks significant treatment gaps and continued HIV transmission if the focus is only on highest transmission countries.

The global health community simply cannot afford to ignore the HIV epidemic in Western and Central Africa (WCA), where five million, or a third, of the 15 million people who should be started on antiretrovirals in the next four years currently live. WCA countries account for one in five new HIV infections worldwide and a third of the 1.2 million AIDS-related deaths a year. The reason: only one in four people who need antiretroviral treatment have access to it.

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The strategy to end AIDS should aim to roll out antiretrovirals to all, particularly where treatment gaps are the largest. However, UNAIDS, PEPFAR, the Global Fund and others aim to instead sharpen their focus on so-called "hot spots," high prevalence areas or most-at-risk groups. The alignment of these strategies may lead to rationing of lifesaving interventions, meaning that the global goals cannot be achieved because it leaves the virus' deadly spree unchecked, outdoing progress elsewhere. Populations wrongly perceived to be of marginal interest for epidemic control cannot once again be left behind. We know that treatment saves live AND prevents new infections, and that expanded access to ARVs is the best way to bring the epidemic under control. This is most dramatically illustrated by a chilling statistic from this region: each year 45 percent of all infants infected around birth are from WCA. These new infections are almost completely preventable when mothers have access to antiretrovirals during pregnancy and soon after birth.

Despite these glaring needs, WCA remains out of focus internationally, mostly because of its relatively low average prevalence of 2.3 percent (still three times the global average), and dearth of alternative actors that can provide the full package of HIV prevention and treatment interventions. Countries with lower prevalence or smaller populations do not score high on the priority list and, as a result, suffer disproportionately from HIV/AIDS. In 2004, when antiretroviral started to become accessible in the most affected regions in the South and East of Africa, 25 percent of HIV-related deaths were occurring in West and Central Africa. Twelve years later, as the ART programs in high prevalence countries have dramatically expanded, mortality there has dropped. Not so in WCA, which now accounts for 36 percent of all HIV-related deaths on the continent. It is difficult to foresee a reversal of this trend without strong action taken in these regions left behind.

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Doctors Without Borders witnesses daily the human toll of the continued neglect of people living with HIV in the region. In our specialized AIDS hospital in Kinshasa, patients are admitted in advanced stages of AIDS that have become relatively rare since the mid-2000s even in the most affected countries. One in four of our Kinshasa patients are so severely ill from AIDS that they cannot be saved. In the Central African Republic, where HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death amongst adults, MSF-supported hospitals see very high number of AIDS patients, a situation reminiscent of the nineties in other countries. In these hospitals one in four in-patients suffer from AIDS-related illnesses and over four in five of all deaths are due to HIV/AIDS.

Let's be frank: the challenge of scaling up antiretroviral treatment in WCA is huge. But the challenge was no less huge 16 years ago, when the world decided to mobilize to make access to ARVs a reality for all. Through the creation of PEPFAR and the Global Fund a chance at life on ART was created for people living with HIV in countries most affected by AIDS. This decision broke the deadly circle of HIV deaths and suffering and brought most high prevalence countries closer to the "tipping point" for epidemic control, where the number of people initiated on antiretroviral surpassed the number of new infections. This point is still far off in WCA. Leaving things at the current status quo would be a strategic mistake. The stated goal of curtailing the pandemic worldwide would fail.

What allowed success in many of the most affected countries was the embrace of major changes in strategies and models of care, such as task shifting, strict no-payment policies for patients, patient literacy and autonomy, de-medicalized and community based ARV refills and a key role for patient associations and civil society organizations in stigma reduction, service delivery, advocacy and outcome monitoring. Unfortunately, many of the lessons learned remain largely unapplied in WCA today, with some pilot experiences in the region as positive but lonely exceptions.
This piece was written by Natasha Megie-Maddrey and originally ran at the blog Good School Hunting

I have four children and as with all children, their needs are not the same. They need different things at home and the same is true in school. As a charter mom of a child with autism, it is very upsetting to hear the local media and others repeatedly make the false claim that charter schools don't take kids with special needs. Each time they say that, they deny and even work to erase the story of my son, Elijah.

The Story

When Elijah was born he was a very happy baby. The toddler years flew by, and before I knew it, he was in Kindergarten. Elijah loved going to school. He made friends very easily. But his Kindergarten teacher worried that he was falling behind and suggested that he be evaluated to see what may be going on.

The evaluation determined that Elijah had Pervasive Development Disorder or PDD, a condition that falls on the Autism Spectrum. They offered to develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for him. I had no idea what they were even talking about since this was all new to me but it sounded like extra help for my son, so I agreed.

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By the end of second grade he was still struggling with reading. They suggested at this point that my son be moved into a separate or "self-contained" classroom. I agreed to allow it but I promised Elijah that it would only be for one year. He hated the new classroom, especially because he was in there with kids in grades 3-5; he was younger than most of the kids in room with him all day long. The new classroom assignment also required him to take separate transportation, and he hated that as well; he cried everyday.

When I met with the IEP team at the end of third grade, they wanted to keep him in that same separate classroom; I told them I was keeping my promise to my son, and he would go back to a regular classroom. They were shocked that I was no longer willing to follow their recommendation. He spent his fourth grade year in a "regular" classroom with extra supports both in and out of the classroom.

A New Beginning

The next fall, everything changed.

He started fifth grade at KIPP Academy in Lynn, Massachusetts. KIPP starts the school year before summer is over and also has longer school days than our neighborhood school. I was comforted to know that 15 percent of the students there require special education services so at least Elijah wasn't alone in his need for extra supports. The very first thing they did at KIPP was to test his reading level. According to the results, my Elijah was at a first grade reading level.

That's right. My fifth grade son was reading at a first grade level.

Needless to say, this news was shocking and upsetting. I knew he was behind, but I had no idea he was four grade levels behind. How did he make it all the way to 5th grade? I felt like a failure as a mom, and I blamed myself. But where did the fault really lie?

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No one at his prior school had ever suggested that he repeat a grade. Instead, they kept pushing him along through the grades even though he wasn't even close to ready to move on. And how had no one diagnosed this huge reading deficiency? How did I, as his mother, have no idea that he had not progressed beyond a first grader even though he was now in 5th grade.

The teachers at KIPP really embraced Elijah. They made sure that his IEP was followed. His reading specialists called me at least once a week to let me know how my son was doing and to tell me what I could do to help him. 5th grade was a struggle. I had to sit with my son and go over his homework with him for hours every single day. But I wasn't alone, while I was working with him at home , I could always call his teachers up until 9pm if I needed help. If they didn't answer right away, they always called back.

There were many days where my son complained about having to go to school for 10 hours and then having to do 3 hours of homework. But the teachers at KIPP rallied around my son, and made sure he got whatever he needed. He had a learning specialist, a math specialist, a reading specialist, and a school adjustment counselor. Everyone was so helpful and no matter how many times Elijah said he hated it or made things difficult, they never gave up on him.

I often received daily emails from his teachers just to let me know what kind of day he had. Even though it may seem like a small thing it made a huge difference because I really felt like we were working together as a team to help Elijah succeed.

Elijah is now in the 7th grade and the struggle continues. but he continues to give it his "all" every day. I am so proud of him. He is not reading at grade level yet, but he is a lot closer to where he should be now that he is at KIPP, and for that I am eternally grateful.

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Military and their families are different. Last month, I attended an American Veterans Committee event with the World Veterans Federation. Full disclosure, I am a senior advisor to AVC. Mr. Dan Viggo Bergtun, President of the federation, briefly addressed the gathering. President Viggo Bergtun's remarks were a powerful reminder of what military veterans hold in common.

"Nearly every military veteran sacrificed for a country, belief or cause." Mister Bergtun pointed out. My varied military career provided the opportunity to break bread with, and in some cases, live with, foreign military and their families. We held more in common than what divided us. A greater purpose drove our lives. This sense of dedication seems to be generally alien to many Americans.

Veterans realize that it is not all about them and that they cannot do it all on their own. Surviving in a war zone means that you are strong, supported and lucky. When a large segment of the US public embraces an individualism that undermines efforts to build a better nation and society, some veterans can lose their way.

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The old recruiting slogan 'An Army of One' was a running joke and punchline. You are only as good as the person beside you and the people behind you. You would give your life if necessary to protect others. On 9/11 many questioned that unarmed fighter aircraft could be ordered to ram an airliner heading for Washington. Fighter intercept training covered just such a last ditch maneuver to prevent enemy aircraft from reaching a target. The vast majority of fliers would have executed the order. Most Americans were astonished and many horrified at that reality.

Now, compare that willingness to work and to sacrifice together with a private sector that often denigrates attention to any goals other than profit. The vulture capitalists and quick buck artists that pillage solid companies loading them with debt and taking the cash often leave behind crushed workers and towns. The vultures would call those companies, workers and towns losers, just as they do Trump investors. The majority of Americans would never behave this way but cheap buck artists like Romney, Trump and Toomey most certainly do, often receiving high praise; unless, it is your job, town or business.

Our long standing American values are epitomized in the best of our public servants from military to emergency responders to teachers and healthcare professionals. Denigration of public service and servants leads to a culture of selfishness and destruction. Is a lack of required public service tearing us apart? What made this nation great was not our private sector. Many nations had thriving private sectors but what set this nation apart was recognition that we need our brightest and most capable leaders in education, public service and government as well as business and trade.

Two Gold Star Mothers understand the disease infecting many Americans and for which Trump is a poster child. In referring to Trump's recent veterans skirmish, Michelle DeFord, Gold Star mother, VoteVets.org supporter, said; "Mr. Trump hasn't the slightest notion of what the word sacrifice means. His grandiose gestures about giving money to our vets is purely for the benefit of the media." Karen Meredith, Gold Star mother, Military Families Liaison, VoteVets.org, said:

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"As a Gold Star Mother, I listened in horror, as he said that he 'liked people who weren't captured' in war, as if they were losers for not completing their mission and coming back. I thought of my son, Ken, who lost his life in service to America, and couldn't even imagine what Mr. Trump really thinks about him, and all those who didn't come back alive."



Perhaps the difficulties many veterans encounter in PTSD counseling is partly explained in Matthew B. Crawford's New York Times review of Sebastian Junger's new book, Tribe.

"...Post-traumatic stress disorder is a medical term for a cultural problem: the basic impossibility of digesting the experience of combat as an isolated individual among other isolated individuals, each devoted to pursuing his or her private interests. There is no tribe. To risk one's life for the common good is to declare oneself outside this cultural logic of acquisitive individualism; the veteran is an outsider to us by definition, and no amount of yellow ribbons can change that fact...."


Irene Michaels, Arny Granat, Kay Rose, Richard Rose

Photo Courtesy of Irene Michaels

In I On Exceptional Living I have discussed a supermodel, Beverly Johnson, to a suburban-supermom, Vicki Reece, and now I am happy to continue the series with more special individuals whose lives are leaving a mark on the world in a variety of ways - this time some special Chicagoans will be highlighted. The following six people are especially deserving of recognition for their achievements in the Windy City and beyond, and I'm excited to share a snippet of their stories with my readers. And perhaps we can expand in the future

Kay Rose

Kay Rose has spent a lifetime excelling in the world of fashion. As a St. John's specialist at Chicago's Saks Fifth Avenue, she turned a small boutique section into one of the most profitable departments in the entire country. Featured multiple times in Chicago Magazine, Kay is one of the faces of Chicago fashion. Her current venture, the Kay Rose Collection, brings fashionable accessories to customers of great taste. With this business, Kay will no doubt continue to be a vital part of the Chicago fashion world. Check out all of her designs at The Kay Rose Collection.

Alex Pissios

As the President of Cinespace Chicago Film Studio Alex Pissios has been at the center of Chicago's revitalized film and television industry. Cinespace converts old factories into soundstages, and Pissios' studio occupies 1.45 million sq. ft. of what use to be the old Ryerson Steel Company, a former steel-processing plant on the Southwest Side. Pissios' work has been instrumental in drawing filming of such hit shows as "Chicago Fire" and blockbuster films like "Transformers" to Chicago, prompting hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of investment into the Windy City. Pissios also leads the Cinecares Foundation which was was founded in 2014 to fulfill the legacy left behind by the founder of Cinespace, Nikolaos Mirkopoulos, and has led remarkable initiatives for both improving education and supporting community-based arts programs. Pissios truly is succeeding in his effort to enrich Chicago, in more ways than one.

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Stanley Paul

For more than 30 years, Stanley Paul has been a Chicago institution, and perhaps one of the best-know bandleaders in America. As head of the eponymous Stanley Paul Orchestra, he continues to be a fixture of the city's social scene. Whether a wedding or a gala ball, the Stanley Paul Orchestra can be counted on to provide the finest music playing around. Stanley Paul himself has overseen the band's growth and the develop of an astonishingly broad repertoire ranging from the classics to the contemporary. A true Chicago legend, we look forward to his gracing city ballrooms for years to come.



Contessa and Irene Michaels -- Photo courtesy of Irene Michaels



Contessa Helena Bottega

Contessa Helena Bottega is undoubtedly one of the finest fashionistas in world. Her boutique in Chicago's Gold Coast is a one-stop shop for all of the finest designers and most fabulous clothes you can find today. It was at the Contessa's boutique that I found my own wonderful wedding dress, the bridal couture section is absolutely DIVINE, so I have a deep personal affection for the place. In addition to her fabulous sense of style, Contessa Helena showcases an eclectic mix of classic and exotic fashions by designers like Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine, Rocco Barocco and Morgan de Toi, to name just a few.



Joseph Ahern

Joseph Ahern is one of the titans of Chicago television. As the chief of ABC 7 from 1985 to 1997, and of CBS 2 from 2002 to 2008, Ahern has shaped Chicagoans' TV-watching experience for decades. He has left a mark that stretches far beyond local television however, as he helped accelerate the career of one of Chicago's finest when he supported the launch of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" while at ABC 7. Ahern continues to give back to the community, currently serving as CEO of the 100 Club of Chicago, which helps support the families of first responders who have fallen in the line of duty. Ahern's work for the people of Chicago makes him deserving of special recognition.

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Richard Melman

One of Chicago's great restaurateurs, Richard Melman has been at the center of some of the city's great culinary landmarks, including Wildfire Grill, Shaw's Crab House, and Big Bowl. Melman's Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises has grown to include more than 100 venues. Not bad for a kid who used to sell ice cream and peanuts on Chicago's beaches! Despite his vast culinary empire, Melman's life still revolves around his family, his wife of 40 years and three children. Truly, he is a great Chicagoan.

I am so excited to highlight the exceptional lives of some of my Chicago friends...Frank Sinatra said it best "Chicago...it's my kinda town"...and the people in it are so exceptional I could not wait to tell the rest of the world about 'em...
SAN DIEGO, CA - JUNE 02: Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California. With less than one week to go before the California presidential primary, Hillary Clinton delivered a major national security address as she campaigns in Southern California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton's recent foreign policy speech was an attack on Donald Trump but was also a reminder that Clinton is a deeply flawed and worrisome candidate. Her record as Secretary of State was one of the worst in modern U.S. history; her policies have enmeshed America in new Middle East wars, rising terrorism and even a new Cold War with Russia. Of the three leading candidates, only Bernie Sanders has the sound judgment to avoid further war and to cooperate with the rest of the world.

Clinton is intoxicated with American power. She has favored one war of choice after the next: bombing Belgrade (1999); invading Iraq (2003); toppling Qaddafi (2011); funding Jihadists in Syria (2011 till now). The result has been one bloodbath after another, with open wounds until today fostering ISIS, terrorism, and mass refugee flows.

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In her speech, Clinton engaged in her own Trump-like grandiose fear mongering: "[I]f America doesn't lead, we leave a vacuum -- and that will either cause chaos, or other countries will rush in to fill the void. Then they'll be the ones making the decisions about your lives and jobs and safety -- and trust me, the choices they make will not be to our benefit."

This kind of arrogance -- that America and America alone must run the world -- has led straight to overstretch: perpetual wars that cannot be won, and unending and escalating confrontations with Russia, China, Iran and others that make the world more dangerous. It doesn't seem to dawn on Clinton that in today's world, we need cooperation, not endless bravado.

Clinton professed her belief "with all my heart that America is an exceptional country -- that we're still, in Lincoln's words, the last, best hope of earth." Yet surely President Lincoln was speaking in moral terms, not in Clinton's militaristic terms. Lincoln did not mean that the last best hope of earth should send NATO bombers into Libya, the CIA into Syria, and Special Ops forces into countless other countries. Surely Lincoln would have been more prudent than to push NATO expansion to Russia's very doorstep in Ukraine and Georgia, thereby triggering a violent response from Russia and a new Cold War.

Clinton lacks all self-awareness of how poorly she performed as Secretary of State. She trumpets her "successes" as follows:

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Unlike [Trump], I have some experience with the tough calls and the hard work of statecraft. I wrestled with the Chinese over a climate deal in Copenhagen, brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, negotiated the reduction of nuclear weapons with Russia, twisted arms to bring the world together in global sanctions against Iran, and stood up for the rights of women, religious minorities and LGBT people around the world.

Pure braggadocio. While Clinton "wrestled with China" over a climate deal, she failed to achieve one. While she "brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas," she failed to head off the disastrous Gaza War in the first place. While she "negotiated the reduction of nuclear weapons with Russia," she championed a remarkably confrontational approach with Russia based on NATO expansion to Ukraine and Georgia and a new nuclear arms race that will cost American taxpayers more than $355 billion over a decade. While she claims to have "stood up for the rights of women [and] religious minorities," her Syrian adventurism left Syria devastated, displaced 10 million people, and destroyed the religious minority communities she claimed to defend.

Clinton declared that she has a plan to defeat ISIS, but ISIS wouldn't even exist were it not for Clinton's "regime change" policy in Syria. ISIS emerged as a result of the US policy to partner with Saudi Arabia to topple Syria's Bashar al-Assad. This mistaken policy created the chaos in which ISIS gained ground and weaponry, including US weaponry that was diverted from American-backed jihadists.

Clinton rightly accused Trump of being unpredictable, yet Clinton is dangerously predictable. She is always trying to prove how tough she is, how tough America is, how exceptional is America's power. Trump is unqualified to be President because he lacks both the necessary experience and good judgment. Clinton, by contrast, has the extensive experience that proves that she too lacks the good judgment to be President.

Bernie Sanders, by contrast, not only offers a vastly better economic program than Clinton, but also a foreign policy based on wisdom, decency, and especially restraint. As a result, the American people trust Sanders rather than Clinton. She wins the closed primaries while he wins the open ones, that is, primaries that include the independent voters who will decide the November elections.

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What's the worst, most damaging thing you can say about Donald Trump. That he's weak on foreign policy? A bully? A bigot? Not as wealthy as he says? Not a great businessman?

No. Despite all those being accurate descriptions, those have all already been tried, with almost no success.

The worst, most damaging thing you can say about him is this: He's not very interesting. He's a bore.

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Calling him that is the one thing he won't be able to stand, since the constant spotlight is his addiction.

But he is a bore. Of the crashing variety. This is heretical I know. There seems to be nearly universal agreement that even if one detests Trump, it has to be said he is a great entertainer.

Sorry. He isn't. He is bumbling. He isn't very bright (yes, I know he tells us about his great brain every day). He says the same thing over and over. He never changes his style -- it is always abrasive and in your face.

He always adds his irritating little tag lines ("Candidate so and so is a lightweight, THAT I CAN TELL YOU.") Those "that I can tell you" add-ons are almost a nervous tic for him (as well as providing conclusive evidence that he and the made up publicist from the 80s "John Miller" are one in the same, as they used that same phrase.

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I know it is ironclad accepted conventional wisdom that Donald is a great showman. Maybe he was once, before he began his run for commander in chief.

But now, he is a tired cliche of insults and egomania. And he is boring.

Like the drunk at the end of the bar, he's amusing -- for awhile. He shouts out insulting nicknames to his barmates -- "Hey dummy! Hey ugly! Hey little Marco!"

At first we laugh. But very soon, we turn to each other and say, "That's all he's got," and we move to another part of the bar.

It's always interesting to see what emerges as the unassailable quality of a candidate. Hillary may be secretive and a little paranoid, but she sure is smart. George W. Bush may not be that bright and lacks foreign policy experience, but he sure is likable. Donald Trump may be a racist and misogynist, but he is a great showman.

Nope. He isn't a great showman. He's a crashing bore.

I had the privilege, if that's the word, to watch Chris Christie up close for awhile. The rap on him was, well, he's rude and a bully, but he sure knows how to work the crowds. And that became the "book" on Christie. He knew how to work the crowds.

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Except he didn't. If you watched "the crowds" when Christie held town hall meetings or wandered out to meet voters, as I did dozens of times, the crowds were as much unimpressed with him as they were charmed. But the label stuck, and as Christie wandered around New Hampshire early this primary season, commentators spoke that it was a perfect state for him because he could practice "retail politics" and, yes. charm the voters.

If commentators think a bit more than they have and begin to question the premise that, no matter what other vile qualities Trump has, he is a great entertainer, there might be a real shift in how voters perceive the overblown court jester from 5th Avenue.

What makes someone who can't think on his feet except to hurl personal insults a "great entertainer"? Who is this "great showman" who can't stop talking about himself and whose press conferences are endless? Because he brings his own brand of steaks to a press conference, that's showmanship? Really?

I concede I am in a minority. Although I find the guy dangerous and stupid and unable to show interest in anything beyond himself, I also think he is flat out dull. When the stand-up comic never changes his material, we lose interest. If Arnold Schwarzenegger played the same role over and over ... okay, bad example.

Trump is a repetitive bore. We can only hope the media catch on to this and point it out before the election (unlikely since they benefit from his shopworn routine) and that his followers realize he is just a dreary cartoon (even more unlikely.)

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But once we begin to call Trump boring and dull, he won't be able to stand it. It will be the one thing that will rattle him. And remember, on one of his insult tears against Barack Obama, Trump said that in business, rattling someone is a good thing.

If we can rattle Trump by pointing put his dullness, it will be a very good thing.
Jared Sapolsky is a member of Tribe, a group that empowers young Jews to build community in the the great New York area. Below are his reflections on his first trip to Kosovo for the Interfaith Kosovo conference this past week.

I spent the last ten days traveling through Europe. Although my group managed to spend time in six different countries, our trip came about because of an invitation to the annual Interfaith Kosovo conference, which has been nurtured by Kosovo's government. In short, it was incredible.

As Americans, we sometimes judge prematurely, without the fuller set of facts. Worse, we use a tone that suggests our opinions are interchangeable with the facts. In the days leading up to this trip, the New York Times ran a front page article that highlighted the influence that Persian Gulf countries had in Kosovo, and a tiny section of society that had actually joined extremist groups abroad. After reluctantly reading the piece, I decided to pay it no mind and see for myself.

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Sitting here on a plane over the Atlantic, on my way home to New York, my favorite memories of the trip are not from Dubrovnik and they are not from Vienna. The parts of these past 10 days that will undoubtedly stay with me forever are those from Pristina, Kosovo's capital. I still can't believe that Acting Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi came to personally welcome our group before the start of the conference and continued to acknowledge us in the hallways and seek our opinions. I can't believe that his staff made us feel so at home and that we got to meet not one, but two Nobel Prize winners. I can't believe that a majority-Muslim country has so embraced Americans and Jews -- and that I felt comfortable publicly sharing and talking about my identity with all whom I met.

From the moment we arrived in Kosovo, we were greeted by the Foreign Ministry officials who booked our travel as if we were long last family members. There was an immediate friendship between Tribe members and Interfaith Kosovo conference participants from around the world. It wasn't for show and translated quickly into long evenings of revelry and deep conversation. Because of the natural bond between Interfaith Kosovo's leaders and our own, Tribe saw aspects of Kosovo that we could not have otherwise.

To my surprise, no matter where the participants lived, from Finland to the United Arab Emirates, everyone I spoke to had glowing, firsthand experiences about Israel and Jewish hospitality to share. They genuinely understood Jewish culture and history -- and made me want to learn more about Kosovo, the Balkans, and Albanian history.

I left the conference with my eyes newly opened and with renewed hope for the future. I also came away more puzzled than ever about the negative press Kosovo had received recently. Why should Kosovo be criticized so disproportionately, when it is such a staunch supporter of America? In a time where we a seeking out Muslim allies, a friend during gloomy times, here is a country with a population that is 80% Muslim that genuinely and overwhelmingly loves us. There is a statue of Bill Clinton standing in the center of town! Kosovo has its own Holocaust memorial outside of the parliament building, despite a tiny Jewish population. I found that far more English was spoken in Pristina than in Vienna. In its fifth year, the Interfaith Conference in Kosovo had its largest turnout yet (nearly 300 people!), making it among the most important interfaith conferences in the world.

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Kosovo is so far ahead of so many other countries and a natural majority-Muslim ally to the United States. It has a young population, whose average age is 28, and a bright future ahead. We tend to judge our friends more harshly than our enemies. We would be better served giving others the benefit of the doubt.

There's nothing like being part of a Jewish group, with a rabbi who seems to be known by half the people there, in a country on the other side of the world that feels like it's close to home.
Turning numbers and data into scoops. Helsinki journalists have been doing it for years and serve as good examples for media worldwide.

"We do a lot of scraping with bots," said Tuomas Peltomaki from the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. "All media houses in Finland have software to help citizens vote in the elections."



Helsingin Sanomat's Tuomas Peltomaki on paper's use of data journalism

(Abu-Fadil)

He explained that politicians fill forms on policy issues, the public does the same, and the data can be used to analyze decisions on voting.

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It's one of countless ways journalists in Finland capitalize on the country's open data ecosystem.

Everyone can access the city's public data, including foreigners (provided they understand Finnish), unless the information relates to national security or may violate people's privacy.

"I figure out ways to do stories through visualizations and interactive content to simplify data sets," said Peltomaki, who also codes, but admits that data journalism is getting expensive to produce.

He uses a super Mac, codes with Python, cleans up data with Open Refine, relies on Dropbox for archiving, and for visualizations works on Java Script.



Journalists use open data at Helsingin Sanomat (Abu-Fadil)



"Politicians don't complain about data sharing," he said. "It's democracy at work."

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Peltomaki's presentation was part of a workshop I attended at Helsinki Public Library #10 on open data and transparency and how journalists can turn data sets into meaningful stories.

The city of Helsinki and private Finnish institutions make voluminous amounts of information readily and freely available to the public.

One's own data can also be mined and used, legally and illegally, through hacks, sloppy trails, and other means, participants were reminded.



Screen shot of TIME's "Your Data For Sale" cover

By combining large data sets from different sources, journalists can prove certain policies don't serve their purpose or are outright wrong.

The city of Helsinki initiated its open data policy in 2009 and followed it with an open data service, Helsinki Region Infoshare.

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Information on meetings, agendas, and decisions is available via the electronic decision making system Open Ahjo.

Libraries, whose role is to guarantee access to information, are the crown jewels of Helsinki's public services, and Number 10 is an experimental facility that's the most visited in the capital, where visitors learn by doing.

"Only 25% of this library's users borrow books, while 75% need other services," said Kari Lamsa, the director. "We have music studios, editing rooms, facilities to publish media; anyone can use the library for office space."

Every day the award-winning library services some 2,000 visitors and hosts one or two events like cultural exhibitions or dialogues, thanks to a Finnish policy that taxpayer-subsidized libraries, museums, and adult education are worthwhile.

Library services are free at Number 10, but it costs 1 Euro ($1.14) to use the restroom.



Screen shot of WPFD 2016 logo

The workshop was a side event during UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day 2016 (WPFD) conference that focused on access to information.

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There's been open data in Finland since the start of the Internet. Today it's mostly machine-readable.

This year's WPFD coincided with the 250th anniversary of the world's first Freedom of Information Law in Sweden and Finland. Finland was part of Sweden at the time.



Access to information is 250 years old in Finland (Abu-Fadil)

The "Freedom of the Press Act 1776" passed by Sweden's parliament abolished preventive censorship and made political debate - including criticism of the country's rulers - permissible. But religious texts remained subject to prior censorship.

The Act, courtesy of parliament member Anders Chydenius, stipulated that administrative and judiciary documents, as a rule, were public and that citizens had the right to access them.

But digital data can be confusing to the uninitiated, hence the need for good interpreters in the media who can turn facts into digestible morsels on society, government operations, and more.

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According to Tanja Lahti, project manager for the city of Helsinki, all data sets are open via Creative Commons and available as Excel files and open apps interfaces. The city has its own open data census.



Tanja Lahti says Finland is a leading country in open data (Abu-Fadil)



"Procurements are very useful for journalists to see where taxpayers' money is spent," she explained, adding that startups are provided with free raw materials. "The city of Helsinki gets lots of feedback about infrastructure."

The city publishes procurement data itemized by types of spending and providers of products and services.

In addition to improving transparency, Helsinki's open data policy boosts innovation of services and creates new business opportunities. Developers can freely use open data to create new applications to benefit the public.

Other data sources include land use, construction, social and health care, population, energy, public transport, parking, air quality, housing, day care and education.

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"Part of our job is to tailor this data into various analyses and other information products to be utilized by the city management, residents or virtually anyone else," Timo Cantell, director at City of Helsinki Urban Facts told the Helsinki Quarterly.



Timo Cantell, director at City of Helsinki Urban Facts (Abu-Fadil)

Cantell, also editor-in-chief of Kvartti, a quarterly journal providing current research findings, comparative urban knowledge and statistical data about Helsinki, said his organization monitors various phenomena, collects, stores, and analyzes information.

"Helsinki is one of the leading cities in data-driven management," he added.

Non-profit association Open Knowledge Finland, a hub promoting such use, is also on hand to help people and journalists take the time to work on apps and have data come to life.



Smart city mantra in Helsinki (Abu-Fadil)

Apps for Finland competitions challenge students and businesses to use open data to develop applications.
The U.S. and one of its principal allies, OAS (Organization of American States) Secretary General Luis Almagro, suffered an unambiguous defeat this week at the OAS, when Almagro's attempt to use the hemispheric organization against Venezuela was rejected unanimously by the hemisphere. Almagro had used -- a number of governments thought "abused" -- his authority as Secretary General to convene the Permanent Council of the OAS in order to invoke the "Democratic Charter" of the OAS against Venezuela. The Charter allows the OAS to intervene when there is an "unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state."

With the exception of the right-wing government of Paraguay -- itself installed in a 2012 coup that the U.S. used the OAS to help consolidate -- there were no takers. The Permanent Council instead issued a statement that had, in sharp contrast to Almagro's efforts, a friendly tone; it included "support for the initiative of the former presidents of Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Panama to reopen an effective dialogue between the government and the opposition." The international media was gracious enough not to notice that Almagro had suffered a crushing defeat.

Almagro and President Maduro of Venezuela had exchanged some harsh words, with Almagro saying to Maduro that "You, Nicolas Maduro, betray the political ethics with your lies," and "You betray your people."

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But more importantly, since it has evaporated down the U.S. media's "memory hole," Almagro was part of a vigorous international campaign to de-legitmize the congressional elections in Venezuela last December. Whatever one thinks of Almagro or his motives, it is important to recall that he turned out to be objectively very wrong about those elections. He had insisted that without observers from the OAS (who have a sketchy track record in elections where the U.S. has an interest), the government would cheat; but in fact, the opposition won a large majority and there was no argument about the vote tally.

Needless to say, it is pretty obvious that Almagro's current effort, like the last one, is a purely political offensive against Venezuela; it has nothing to do with democracy within the country. The deep irony of ignoring Brazil's unfolding coup d'etat, which really is an "unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order," was undoubtedly impressive to member governments. But really the effort to invoke the Democratic Charter against Venezuela's democratically elected government never had a chance in 21st century Latin America; it was just a public relations stunt to support the Venezuelan opposition's (and US) current efforts at regime change in Venezuela.

To his credit, Almagro on April 15 wrote a well-argued letter denouncing the impeachment process underway in Brazil. Since then, there have been leaked conversations supporting Dilma's position that right-wing Brazilian politicians, collaborating with the Brazilian media and judiciary, had launched the impeachment in order to protect themselves from the corruption investigation launched by Dilma's government. Two ministers of the interim government have resigned in the face of this new evidence, and the interim government has suffered a considerable loss in international credibility. At this point it is not clear if they will even get the two-thirds majority that they need in the Brazilian Senate in order to oust the elected president.
SANTA BARBARA, CA - JUNE 04: Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during a conversation with women and families at Jill's Place on June 4, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California. With less than one week to go before the California presidential primary, Hillary Clinton is campaigning througout California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

As Bernie Sanders has continued to win primaries and caucuses, many hard-core Hillary Clinton supporters have called on him to quit the race, arguing that his campaigning, featuring huge rallies of enthusiastic supporters, is somehow hurting Democrats' chances of defeating Donald Trump. Hard core Sanders activists don't care. They think he can still win -- and they think he has a better chance of beating Trump. And they resent what they hear as hectoring from Hillary supporters denigrating the amazing movement the Sanders campaign has inspired.

Secretary Clinton asserts she has already won. But even if she is correct, a big vote for Bernie in the upcoming final primaries could help her and Democrats win the general election against Trump.

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Hillary Clinton and top people in her campaign have taken a more sophisticated approach than some of her loyalists. While carefully stating Bernie has a perfect right to continue in the primaries that remain, they assert that it is mathematically impossible for Bernie to win. As Clinton told CNN's Chris Cuomo on May 19, "I will be the nominee for my party, Chris. That's already done. There's no way I won't be."

She is probably right. Even Sen. Sanders admits he faces "an uphill climb" to win the nomination. In fact, some media organizations may start declaring her the winner before June 7 - on the basis of delegates won in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico or even based on interviews with the infamous super-delegates. But even as voters in the final primaries start to read the handwriting on the wall - a whole new group of progressive voters come in to play. These are the many Democrats who really like Bernie's message and agenda for economic change, but who worry that he would not be a strong candidate for the general election. Hillary's emphatic argument that she has the nomination sewn up suddenly liberates these people to vote for Bernie's economic message.

Sending Bernie (and his delegates) to Philadelphia to write a platform that can help beat Trump

Big wins by Sanders in the June 7 contests -- in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and the big enchilada in California -- will give him the maximum momentum (and number of delegates) to go into the Democratic Convention with the ability to shape the party rules to make the nominating system more democratic, begin to reform the Democratic party -- and write a party platform that can help Hillary to defeat Trump in November.

While some warn that a platform written by Sanders delegates would be too radical, the country is in a radical mood. And the ideas Bernie has built his campaign around are hugely popular with the kind of voters Democrats (and Hillary Clinton) need to attract in the general election -- young people, union members and working-class voters, African-Americans, Latinos, and women. Poll after poll (and election after election) throughout the primary season have demonstrated huge support for the issues Sanders has been talking about: reversing economic inequality, big investments in infrastructure and green jobs, the need for a new trade policy, Medicare for all, an end to mass incarceration, and his promise to break up the big banks, for example. These are the messages Democrats and Hillary Clinton will need to win the support of Sanders supporters - and the millions of independent and working class voters -- they need in order to prevail in November.

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Here are a few planks of Bernie's platform that would help Hillary do battle with Trump.

Opposing Bad Trade Deals: Trump has rallied rust belt voters against bad trade deals -- from NAFTA to the Korean Free Trade Pact to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) - all supported by Democratic presidents. Thanks to the pressure from the Sanders campaign, Hillary Clinton has switched her position and come out against the TPP - while vowing to re-negotiate past trade deals. But Trump has a huge opportunity to embarrass Clinton. Imagine: sometime soon, Trump speaks to a national audience (or sends a tweet):

"Hillary claims she opposes TPP. But immediately after the election Barack Obama will try to pass TPP in a Lame Duck session of Congress. A planned betrayal."

And unlike most of Trump's bombastic assertions, this one would be true. If Sanders and his convention delegates (supported by some Clinton supporters) are able to pass a trade resolution, it should read something like this:

"The Democratic Party not only opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we call on President Obama to abandon his plan to seek a vote on TPP in a Lame Duck session of Congress. And we call on all Democrats to oppose such a Lame Duck vote."

Hillary Clinton could insulate herself from Trump's attacks -- and make herself a leader in the fight against bad trade policy making a campaign speech tomorrow urging President Obama to give up on his Lame Duck strategy to pass TPP, but so far she pretends not to know about Obama's plans for a vote on the trade deal she opposes -- even though Obama has repeated them over and over on his recent trip to Vietnam and Japan. So a Sanders-sponsored trade platform plank would hugely help candidate Clinton to do battle with candidate Trump. And rejection of such a plank would hurt Hillary and all Democrats.

Social Security: Donald Trump has come out strongly against cutting Social Security and Medicare -- defying Republican orthodoxy -- at least during the buildup to the election. But once again President Obama's past support for Social Security benefit cuts is hurting her and all Democrats. Although Clinton has rejected these benefit cuts, she has not responded to the movement inside the Democratic party, led by Senators Warren and Sanders, calling for increased benefits for all retirees -- paying for this expansion by raising the cap that limit paying FICA taxes on incomes over $110,100. If Democrats follow Sanders and call for higher Social Security benefits for all, it would "trump" Donald Trump's loud opposition to benefit cuts. And it would help Clinton win the votes of seniors and younger people without pensions who know they will depend on Social Security for their retirement when the time comes.

A Popular Platform to Beat Donald Trump - And Rebuild America

Bernie Sanders has said publicly that, whether he wins the nomination or not, his campaign will go to Philadelphia "with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform." Recent reports indicate Sanders may seek planks on issues that have been gaining him support: a carbon tax and public investment in green energy to address the planetary crisis of climate change and create jobs, support for a $15 minimum wage, universal health care, breaking up big banks, and tuition-free college.

Well before he announced his candidacy, in January 2015, Sanders published an Economic Agenda for America which outlined most of the issues that have fueled the massive popularity of his campaign around the country. He will certainly take many of these issues to the platform committee. But Hillary and her advisers give every indication that they will be flexible and accommodating, not seeking a fight, but instead hoping to show Bernie's supporters that Democrats are united, not only to defeat Trump, but to make big change.

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So the Democratic platform will be important this year for a number of reasons:

If Bernie manages to win the nomination, it will be his manifesto to voters.

But if Hillary is the nominee, the Democrats can treat the platform as a unity document - a way of showing Sanders supporters they have had a hand in shaping the message the party will take to the voters.

And, if the process produces a strong platform, it will help Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders take on and defeat Donald Trump, the dangerous Republican nominee whose election would be a disaster for the economic and social justice in America for the next four years.

Of course the platform has rarely meant much to the winning party.

OK, I can see the comments from some Sanders supporters already. So let me answer some of them.

This article assumes Bernie will likely lose the nomination -- but it argues that people should vote for him anyway. If Bernie wins, we are all delighted, and all bets are off.

But Sanders supporters (and I am one) must face the fact that Hillary will almost certainly win the nomination under the rules Democrats are playing under. If she wins, all Sanders supporters need to quickly get over it and make some fast decisions.

1. The Never Hillary group must decide, do you really want four years of Trump? Because that's what we get if you don't vote for Hillary and (ouch) if we don't work to get others to vote for her. As we all know, if she is the nominee, she is going to need all the help and enthusiasm progressives can muster.

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2. Yes, the platform has rarely meant much to either party. An Obama adviser recently said they never looked at the thing after he won. But there have been times when the Democratic platform has meant something: In 1948 the civil rights plank in the Democratic platform became one important step in the way-too-slow process of forcing the party to side with people of color and not with the segregationists who were violating their rights. And in 1968, Hubert Humphrey's failure to call for an end to the war in Vietnam caused way too many progressives to abandon the Democrats - and that led to years more of the killing fields -- and gave Nixon the platform to continue to divide the country.

3. And, no, even the best possible version of the Democratic platform that will be made public in Philadelphia will not be as good as the program Bernie Sanders ran on in 2015 and 2016. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, the platform may help us rally together and defeat Donald Trump - and maybe even help us win back the Senate and at least make major gains in the House. But after the election, we will have to find serious ways to build the populist progressive movement that Bernie Sander's candidacy helped to energize. That movement will have its own platform - and we will use it to rally Americans for the political revolution we all joined together to fight for in the historic 2016 presidential election.
South Africa has a wide range of oceanographic conditions around the coast. As a result, there is a diversity of cetacean species. These are large-bodied, fast-moving top predators like dolphins and whales. Globally, at least a quarter of these species are listed as endangered. Understanding how these species move and live is crucial to understanding their ecological relationships with the environment.

The E3C - Effect of Climate Change on Cetaceans - project looks at the impact climate change has on these species. The Conversation Africa's energy and environment editor Ozayr Patel spoke to Dr Simon Elwen, a researcher with South Africa's University of Pretoria working on the project.

Globally, at least a quarter of whale and dolphin species have been listed as endangered. What are the main reasons?

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Many of the large whale species and populations that were subjected to commercial whaling have been very slow to recover, notably the Antarctic blue whale and the North Atlantic right whale. But the majority of large whale populations have been increasing slowly over the past few decades. Species are gradually leaving the threatened lists, thanks to wide-ranging international conservation efforts. The most important of these is the end of whaling, showing that stopping directed take - in other words "not killing animals" - is one of the most effective conservation strategies.

But the bad news is that many dolphin and porpoise populations are the ones now facing extirpation. The Maui's dolphin of New Zealand and the vaquita of the gulf of California are both critically endangered. The baiji, the Chinese river dolphin, has already been declared extinct due almost entirely to habitat loss in the Yangtze River in China.

What is the state of dolphin species around Africa's coasts? What threats do they face?

In southern Africa most dolphin populations are thought to be fairly healthy. There are five species that are regularly seen from shore, including the Heaviside's and dusky dolphin on the west coast and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose and Indian Ocean humpback dolphin, which are found to the east of Cape Point in Cape Town. There are several other species that inhabit the shelf and offshore waters, with the common dolphin being one of the few of these regularly seen close to shore, especially along the south-eastern part of the continent. The only species that is currently thought to be of concern is the humpback dolphin, Sousa plumbea.

The humpback dolphin lives along the southern Cape coast and off northern KwaZulu-Natal province. This entire population in South Africa likely numbers less than 1,000 individuals and lives extremely close to shore, where it regularly encounters humans. This results in things like boat traffic, pollution, habitat loss and prey depletion having an impact on these species.

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Why are dolphins, in particular, important in the ocean's ecosystem?

Dolphins and whales are large, highly mobile top predators. They can eat a lot of food and respond quickly to changes in the environment by moving large distances, depending on the species. As large predators, they can have a top-down role in ecosystems, suppressing the numbers of prey animals. What this means is that sometimes species near the bottom of the food chain, like sardine or anchovy, can increase when medium-level predators are removed by top predators such as seals, sharks and dolphins, a result shown in a number of ecosystems globally.

Simon Elwen

What is unique about the South African coast that makes it so diverse?

South Africa's marine life at all trophic levels is remarkably diverse, thanks largely to the diversity of habitats available around the coast. It ranges from tropical at the Mozambique border, to temperate along the south coast and cool-temperate along the west coast.

From a mammal point of view, the cold waters of the Benguela ecosystem along the west coast provide a link to sub-Antarctic environments, so some species that are usually only found south of 40 degrees of latitude also occur in the Benguela, like southern right whale dolphins and pygmy right whales.

Commercial fishing practices, gill nets and pollution are viewed as the most serious challenge to dolphins. Are these serious problems in African and South African waters?

To the best of my knowledge, bycatch - the unintentional catching of a species - is thankfully not a major problem in South Africa. There is no gill netting in South Africa. Coastal net fisheries are scarce and most of the large-scale commercial fishing activities in South Africa occur in deeper waters than most of our coastal dolphin species occur.

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But entanglement in lobster and octopus trap lines is an increasing concern for large whales in coastal waters. Recent data on organic pollutants in dolphins from the east coast suggests that DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls are still a concern, especially for coastal dolphin species like the humpback and bottlenose.

What effect is climate change having on dolphins?

Essentially, assuming no other changes in the ecosystem - which is somewhat naive - we expect a general pole-ward shift in the distribution ranges of most cetacean species. This isn't likely to be a major problem for animals that move large distances in the relatively uniform and connected environment of the open ocean. But it will potentially have major impacts on some coastal species, especially those that live in habitats that are "dead ends" in this respect (like the southern coast of Africa).

Along the South African coast, several dolphin species live in the Benguela, which is currently thought to be cooling - against the general trend of climate change - due to increased winds and upwelling of cold water. Right now we don't really know how adaptable these animals are to massive changes in temperature in either direction, should they occur.

What other major conservation tactics are used to help dolphins survive and thrive?

1) Don't kill them! In any form, including entanglement or bycatch, hunting or pollutants.

2) Stop polluting the oceans - including noise, plastics and organic pollutants.

3) Stop harassing them - obey the laws and use responsible tour operators.

4) Don't steal their food - eat sustainably caught fish

You have started a project involving citizen scientists. Why have you taken this route?

Citizen science projects have been extremely successful both locally and internationally. Modern communication methods like mobile phones and the internet allow scientists to rapidly communicate with thousands of interested and knowledgeable observers to increase the number of eyes and ears available to collect data. We can't be everywhere, and our boat surveys and acoustic methods are limited in the amount of area or time they can cover, so we are trying to take advantage of the large number of keen whale and dolphin watchers around our Cape Town's coasts to report sightings to us.

Remarkably, the area around Cape Town itself has been quite poorly studied by cetacean scientists in the past. So citizen science offers us a potentially powerful route to massively increase the number of data points of dolphin and whale sightings around the area.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images MATHURA, INDIA - JUNE 2: A file photo of Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi, who died after clashes between police and encroachers, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, who were being evicted from Jawaharbagh on June 2, 2016 in Mathura, India. 21 people including two senior police officers died in violence that erupted during a police drive to evict about 3,000 people who had encroached into the Jawahar Bagh park. The squatters belonged to Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi group and claimed to be true followers of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose have illegally occupied public land from last two years. A cache of arms and several spent bullets of AK-47 assault rifles were seized by police from the site of the deadly clashes. (Photo by Mohd Zakir/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

SAMBHAL, Uttar Pradesh -- BJP workers have been booked for holding an unlawful protest in connection with the Mathura incident.

"An FIR has been registered against over 50 BJP workers on a compliant of Samajwadi Party leader in Sambhal Mahmood Akhtar for gathering unlawfully to protest at Malviya Chowk yesterday," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kamlesh Dixit said.

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During the protest, they had burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and raised anti-government slogans charging it with being responsible for the Mathura incident, Dixit said.

The FIR was registered yesterday under section IPC 143 (unlawful assembly), he said.

A probe is on in the matter, he said.
Jim Young / Reuters A student aims at a target in the Youth Handgun Safety Class at GAT Guns in East Dundee, Illinois, April 21, 2015. The class is geared toward children aged 7 to 14 to teach them firearms safety and how to properly fire a handgun. Picture taken April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

The illegal occupants of Jawahar Bagh, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh used to give arms training to their children, a senior police officer has claimed. They reportedly belong to the sect Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi.

"Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms," officer DC Mishra told AFP on Saturday.

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PTI reported that the encroachers had set up their own system of administration by establishing 'courts' and 'jail barracks', and had their own ways of punishment and reprimand.

"They had established a township, food items were provided... They also started running a government. They started giving punishment to people and torturing them. They set up courts, jail barracks and also set up pravachan centres and takhts," IG Agra Zone, Durga Charan Mishra said.

About 3,000 followers of the sect had clashed with police, after they encroached on 260 acres of government land. After cops tried evicting the encroachers last week, 24 people, including an SP and SHO, were killed in the violence that followed.

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One of the nine children, who were living in the illegal colony, told NDTV: "They were talking about a fight. They were abusing the administration and were saying that Jawahar Bagh will never be vacated."

Another child, who was brought to Jawahar Bagh by one of his relatives, said that Ram Vriksh Yadav had promised them that he would 'free' India. He had also promised them gold coins  the 'only currency that would work in the country in future'.

According to Commissioner Agra Division Pradeep Bhatnagar, the cult's aim was to take people towards religious extremism or religious terrorism.

"They were planning to start their own currency. They did not want to follow the Constitution or law of the country. They said they would not talk to officials and did not recognise their authority," he added.

District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar said the plan for the eviction of encroachers from Jawahar Bagh was advanced after they attacked a recce party lead by SP city Mukul Dwivedi.

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The sect, which claimed to be followers of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, had been making strange demands like removal of the President and the Prime Minister and discontinuation of the Indian currency.

(With agency inputs)

Also See On HuffPost:
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 25: Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in conversatio with Prime Minister Narendra Modi prior to a meeting on March 25, 2015 in New Delhi, India. India and Qatar inked six agreements, including one on transfer of sentenced prisoners. Around 600,000 Indian nationals work in Qatar, comprising the largest expatriate community in Qatar. (Photo by Ajay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met business leaders in Qatar on Sunday, urging them to invest in India as it is a "land of opportunity".

"India is a land of opportunity," he told Qatari business leaders in a roundtable conference in Doha. "I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity."

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He identified agro-processing, railways and solar energy as "very promising areas" for Qatari investment.

PM Narendra Modi at round table interaction with Qatar business leaders in Doha #ModiInQatarpic.twitter.com/FYuIgbeSTY  ANI (@ANI_news) June 5, 2016

Modi, who is the first Indian PM to visit four countries in the Gulf within the space of one year, is intent on deepening business ties with the region. According to the external affairs ministry, India's trade with the region is $112 billion, and its bilateral trade with Qatar is $10 billion. Qatar is also India's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier, providing 65 percent of India's LNG requirements. About 6,30,000 Indians live in Qatar. Modi hopes to make Qatar "an important economic partner", according to the MEA.

On Sunday, Modi promised to address bottlenecks for business investment identified by the Qatari business leaders. He said that infrastructure expansion, their upgradation, and manufacturing are all his priorities.

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"India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength," he said.

Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders pic.twitter.com/DOhpXGn8ZE  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

He said that India's projects for building 'smart cities', metros, urban waste management are geared towards upgrading quality of life of people.
Hutchinson firefighters responded to five fire calls over the weekend

Area was under extreme fire risk due to high winds and drough condtions, but all the fires were quickly contained
Imperial Valley News Center

9 charged in multi-state dog fighting network

Newark, New Jersey - Six New Jersey residents were among nine individuals charged in four states for their alleged roles in a dog-fighting network, spanning from New Mexico to New Jersey. The charges stem from a probe by multiple agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The federal Animal Welfare Act makes it a felony punishable by up to five years in prison to fight dogs or to possess, train, sell, buy, deliver, receive or transport dogs intended for use in dog fighting.

This barbaric behavior cannot and will not be tolerated here in New Jersey or any state for that matter. HSI will continue our robust effort to ensure no dog or animal is ever placed in this type of criminal network, said HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge in Terence S. Opiola.

Three criminal complaints charge residents of New Jersey and out-of-state residents for their alleged involvement in a multi-state dog fighting network. The charges include alleged criminal acts related to transporting, delivering, buying, selling, receiving and possessing pit bull-type dogs for dog fighting ventures and conspiring to commit these acts in New Jersey and elsewhere throughout the United States.

From October 2015 through the present, the defendants and their associates participated in dog-fighting ventures in which pit bull-type dogs were set up for matches to maul and attack each other and fight  often until one or both dogs die  and facilitated these ventures by transporting and delivering dogs between dog fighters in various states. The federal undercover investigation revealed that the defendants discussed graphic accounts of prior dog fights they and their associates staged and furthered their dog-fighting ventures through the exchange of information concerning dog-fighting bloodlines, training methods, fighting techniques and the market for buying and selling dogs.

Federal agents found and reviewed evidence of the dog-fighting ventures on some of the defendants properties. This included scarred dogs and dogs stacked in crates; dog fighting paraphernalia, such as dog treadmills, flirt poles used to build jaw strength and increase aggression and animal pelts. Also found and seen were surgical instruments, syringes and other tools used to mend dogs in lieu of seeking veterinary attention.

This case is part of Operation Grand Champion, a coordinated effort across numerous federal judicial districts to combat organized dog fighting. The phrase Grand Champion is used by dog fighters to refer to a dog with more than five dog-fighting victories.

Dog fighting is truly an organized criminal activity, as well as a deplorable trade in the suffering of animals, said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. This case marks the beginning of a coordinated effort at the Department of Justice to meet organized dog fighting head-on with a strategic, aggressive federal response.

Operation Grand Champion is a continuing investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William G. Squires; HSI and the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher, in coordination with the Department of Justice.

The Humane Society of the United States is assisting with the care of the dogs seized by federal law enforcement.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, each defendant faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count of animal fighting charges.
Mexican murder suspect captured in Modesto deported by ICE to face charges

San Ysidro, California - A Mexican national captured recently in Modesto, who is wanted for a fatal shooting in his native country more than a decade ago, was turned over to Mexican law enforcement officials by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Wednesday at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego.

Marco Antonio Rojas-Lobato, 35, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney Generals Office. An arrest warrant issued in August 2002 by a judge in Mexico City charges Rojas with murder.

According to the Mexican warrant, on May 19, 2002, Rojas allegedly shot a man at a dance in the Mexico City area after the victim began arguing with another man who was accosting his wife. The warrant alleges Rojas intervened in the dispute and he and the victim exchanged words. Mexican authorities say Rojas hurled a bottle of beer at the victim, then pulled out a gun and shot him once, killing him instantly.

Acting on information provided by Interpol, ERO officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked the murder suspect to a residence on Modestos east side where he was taken into custody March 31 on administrative immigration violations. An immigration judge subsequently determined Rojas had no legal basis to remain in the U.S., paving the way for Wednesdays repatriation.

This fugitive likely believed that, after all this time, hed succeeded in eluding justice, said Michael Vaughn, assistant field office director for ERO Sacramento. But he clearly didnt realize the level of ongoing international cooperation to locate and capture foreign criminal fugitives. As this case makes clear, justice may be delayed, but were using every tool at our disposal to ensure it wont be denied.

The Commander of the U.S. Marshals-led Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force applauded the efforts of all the participating agencies for their continued cooperation.

The arrest of Marco Antonio Rojas-Lobato was a textbook example of the benefits of the international law enforcement community, the judicial system, and governments working together, said Chief Inspector Bert Tapia. What you may not realize is the significance of the law enforcement partnerships that led to the successful conclusion of this case. Officers from ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service, Interpol, and Mexicos federal agents all worked relentlessly and cohesively to ensure this arrest would occur smoothly and without incident.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 1,150 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Operations, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the United States.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the toll-free ICE tip line at 1 (866) 347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICEs online tip form.

ERO coordinates the removal of criminals, foreign fugitives and others ordered deported. In fiscal year 2015, ERO removed 315,943 individuals from the United States. ICE is focused on smart and effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes its resources based on those who pose the biggest threat to national security, border security and public safety. ICEs civil enforcement efforts are based on priorities set by the Secretary of Homeland Security in November 2014.
Top Ten Fugitive Philip Patrick Policarpio Apprehended

San Ysidro, California - FBI Top Ten Fugitive Philip Patrick Policarpio, who was wanted by the LAPD for the alleged murder of his pregnant girlfriend, and federally, for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution, was apprehended Sunday by agents with the U.S. Customs Border Protection.

Policarpio was taken into custody at the San Ysidro Port of Entry as he was crossing into the United States from Tijuana. Policarpio was on U.S. soil at the time of his arrest.

Additional information will be provided by the FBI and partners Tuesday morning.
Police Department Detective Pleads Guilty to Bribery, Drug Trafficking, and Filing a False Tax Return

Fresno, California - Damacio Diaz, 44, of McFarland, formerly a detective with the Bakersfield Police Department, pled guilty Tuesday to bribery, possession and attempted possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and making and subscribing a false income tax return, Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between April 2012 and February 2015, while employed as a police officer with the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD), Diaz handled a criminal informant who was involved in the large-scale sale and distribution of methamphetamine. Diaz continued to operate the informant even though he was fully aware of the informants ongoing criminal activity. During this time, Diaz received bribes from the informant in return for intelligence on law enforcement activities as well as protection from investigation and arrest.

In addition to accepting illegal bribes, Diaz also engaged in drug trafficking while with the BPD. On September 20, 2012, while on duty, Diaz stopped a vehicle operated by two individuals from Yakima, Washington and used a BPD dog handler and police dog to search the vehicle. The search uncovered an ice chest containing approximately 10 pounds of methamphetamine divided into multiple bags. The BPD dog handler did not seize any of the drugs from the vehicle, but turned the scene over to Diaz and his partner to secure the methamphetamine and oversee the investigation of the incident. A week later, Diaz booked approximately one pound of methamphetamine from the vehicle stop into evidence. Diaz and his partner maintained possession of the remaining nine pounds of methamphetamine, and they ultimately sold it for their own personal gain.

According to the plea agreement, Diaz also filed a joint income tax return for the calendar year 2012 that falsely reported total income of $168,485 and did not include additional income of at least $97,900.

Acting U.S. Attorney Talbert stated: The defendant attempted to take advantage of the trust placed in law enforcement officers for his personal gain. Law enforcement officers who accept bribes put the public and other law enforcement officers in danger. We appreciate the full cooperation of the Bakersfield Police Department and Chief Williamson, as well as our federal partners, in the investigation of this case.

Law enforcement officers who abuse their authority for personal gain betray the community they have been sworn to protect, stated DEA Special Agent in Charge John J. Martin. DEA is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to hold those accountable who participate in criminal activity that tarnishes the badge.

When individuals working in an official capacity violate the trust of their communities by abusing that power, they undermine the hard work of the entire law enforcement community, said Michael T. Batdorf, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. In exchange for cash, Detective Damacio Diaz agreed to tip-off and protect a known drug dealer. IRS CI followed the funds in his accounts and determined how much of the illegal proceeds did not make it to his tax returns. IRS-CI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who attempt to illegally profit from their trusted positions are brought to justice.

The public rightfully expects every law enforcement officer to obey all laws they are sworn to enforce. Damacio Diazs illegal activities were in conflict with public safety, the law, and the safety of his fellow officers, said Special Agent in Charge Monica M. Miller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Sacramento field office. Such illegal and dangerous activity is not tolerableespecially when committed by an officer sworn to protect and service his communityand the FBI will continue to work with its partners to ensure any officer who engages in illegal activities and damages public trust in law enforcement faces justice.

Diaz has also agreed to the forfeiture of $128,000, which constitutes property which was derived from, or is traceable to the proceeds obtained directly or indirectly from the commission of his criminal conduct. This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and the Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian K. Delaney and Angela Scott are prosecuting the case.

Diaz is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill on September 26, 2016. Diaz faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
Former Caltrans Employee Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison for Bid Rigging and Contracting Fraud

Sacramento, California - Clint Gregory, 53, of Sacramento, was sentenced Thursday by United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to six and a half years in prison for a mail fraud scheme involving bid rigging in connection with contracts issued by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Gregory worked for Caltrans in Stockton as a Senior Transportation Engineer Supervisor. Over a five-year period, Gregory received cash, a Persian rug, a cellphone, and other gifts in exchange for awarding Caltrans contracts to a primary corporate contractor. Gregory and others also arranged for third-party companies to submit straw bids for contracts for which the primary contractor was also competing, permitting Gregory to award the contracts to either a straw bidder or the primary contractor and create the illusion of true competition. The straw companies, who performed no work, were paid a commission for their assistance, and this arrangement was not disclosed to Caltrans. As a result of the fraud, Caltrans incurred a loss of more than $1.2 million.

According to Gregorys guilty plea, he used his authority at Caltrans to approve fraudulent invoices submitted by the primary contractor and others. As a result, the primary contractor and the straw-bidder companies received payment for work that was never performed. He also requested that the primary contractor provide him with a fictitious invoice to conceal an unlawful purchase he made for parts for his personal airplane.

In imposing sentence, the Court found that Gregory had obstructed justice by making false statements to law enforcement about specific purported bribe payments made to accounts he had set up in the name of shell companies. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for July 21, 2016.

This case was the product of an investigation by the FBI and the San Joaquin County District Attorneys Office. Caltrans assisted with the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Philip A. Ferrari, Michele M. Beckwith, and Andre M. Espinosa prosecuted the case.
JSG Capital Investments Officers Charged With Wire Fraud

San Diego, California - On May 24, 2016, a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted both Jaswant Singh Gill, also known as Jason Gill, the Chief Executive Officer of JSG Capital Investments LLC in San Diego (JSG Capital), and Javier Carlos Rios, the Strategic Relationship Manager at JSG Capital, with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Brian Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.

According to the indictment, Gill, 48, of San Diego, California, and Rios, 33, of National City, California, are alleged to have made false and misleading representations and promises to investors in JSG Capital, including, but not limited to, promises to purchase so-called pre-IPO shares of private companies like Uber Technologies and Airbnb using investor funds. In fact, Gill and Rios are alleged to have fraudulently diverted and stolen investor funds for their own personal use and benefit by, among other things, converting investor funds into cash, transferring investor funds to their own personal bank accounts, and using investor funds for personal expenses like rent, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, and retail shopping. Gill and Rios allegedly concealed their fraud by paying earlier investors interest payments or so-called lulling payments using more recent investor funds in a manner that was consistent with a classic Ponzi scheme. In this manner, Gill and Rios raised in excess of $9.3 million in investor funds and are alleged to have fraudulently diverted and stolen in excess of $5.5 million.

Gill was arrested on May 27, 2016 by the FBI in Nashville, Tennessee, and will make his initial appearance today in federal court in the Middle District of Tennessee. Rios was arrested on May 25, 2016 by the FBI in San Diego, Calif., and will also make his initial appearance today in federal court in the Southern District of California. The United States Attorneys Office anticipates that both cases will be moved to San Francisco for an appearance in federal court in Northern District of California on a date that remains to be scheduled. The case has been assigned to the Honorable William H. Orrick, U.S. District Court Judge.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This indictment charged both defendants with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1349, and one count of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1343. If convicted, the defendants face, on each count, a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison; a fine of $250,000 (or twice the gain or loss, whichever is greater); asset forfeiture and restitution, if appropriate, in amounts to be determined by the court; and other penalties. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C.  3553.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam A. Reeves is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Daniel Charlier-Smith and Legal Assistant Bridget Kilkenny. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI. The San Francisco Regional Office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission provided assistance during the investigation.
Yellow Fever Outbreak Concerns

Rochester, Minnesota - The ongoing outbreak of yellow fever in Angola has global public health officials closely monitoring the situation. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) updated its rapid risk assessment due to concerns of potential international spread of the mosquito-borne disease. The ECDC says, Currently, all regions in Angola should be considered as areas at high risk of transmission of yellow fever. The yellow fever outbreak in Uganda is unrelated to the outbreak in Angola."

Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist Dr. Pritish Tosh says yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever that is spread by infected mosquitos. Unlike other hemorrhagic diseases such as Ebola and Marburg, yellow fever cannot be spread person-to-person. Dr. Tosh says yellow fever can be prevented with a highly effective vaccine; however, there are risks involved.

"There are some reactions from the live vaccine that are rarely, but potentially life-threatening. Its not a vaccine we recommend for everyone across the board. You have to weigh your risks and benefits. If you are going to an area that is known to be endemic with yellow fever, and if you are at high risk of being bitten by a mosquito, then the risk of the vaccine is much lower than risk of infection. Yellow fever infection is often very serious and potentially fatal."

Dr. Tosh adds, "It is important for those who are contemplating going to one of these endemic areas of yellow fever to consult with a travel medicine expert to discuss the risk of vaccine."
NASA Satellite Finds Unreported Sources of Toxic Air Pollution

Washington, DC - Using a new satellite-based method, scientists at NASA, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and two universities have located 39 unreported and major human-made sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions.

A known health hazard and contributor to acid rain, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of six air pollutants regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Current, sulfur dioxide monitoring activities include the use of emission inventories that are derived from ground-based measurements and factors, such as fuel usage. The inventories are used to evaluate regulatory policies for air quality improvements and to anticipate future emission scenarios that may occur with economic and population growth.

But, to develop comprehensive and accurate inventories, industries, government agencies and scientists first must know the location of pollution sources.

"We now have an independent measurement of these emission sources that does not rely on what was known or thought known," said Chris McLinden, an atmospheric scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada in Toronto and lead author of the study published this week in Nature Geosciences. "When you look at a satellite picture of sulfur dioxide, you end up with it appearing as hotspots  bulls-eyes, in effect -- which makes the estimates of emissions easier."

The 39 unreported emission sources, found in the analysis of satellite data from 2005 to 2014, are clusters of coal-burning power plants, smelters, oil and gas operations found notably in the Middle East, but also in Mexico and parts of Russia. In addition, reported emissions from known sources in these regions were -- in some cases -- two to three times lower than satellite-based estimates.

Altogether, the unreported and underreported sources account for about 12 percent of all human-made emissions of sulfur dioxide  a discrepancy that can have a large impact on regional air quality, said McLinden.

The research team also located 75 natural sources of sulfur dioxide -- non-erupting volcanoes slowly leaking the toxic gas throughout the year. While not necessarily unknown, many volcanoes are in remote locations and not monitored, so this satellite-based data set is the first to provide regular annual information on these passive volcanic emissions.

Quantifying the sulfur dioxide bulls-eyes is a two-step process that would not have been possible without two innovations in working with the satellite data, said co-author Nickolay Krotkov, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

First was an improvement in the computer processing that transforms raw satellite observations from the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard NASA's Aura spacecraft into precise estimates of sulfur dioxide concentrations. Krotkov and his team now are able to more accurately detect smaller sulfur dioxide concentrations, including those emitted by human-made sources such as oil-related activities and medium-size power plants.

Being able to detect smaller concentrations led to the second innovation. McLinden and his colleagues used a new computer program to more precisely detect sulfur dioxide that had been dispersed and diluted by winds. They then used accurate estimates of wind strength and direction derived from a satellite data-driven model to trace the pollutant back to the location of the source, and also to estimate how much sulfur dioxide was emitted from the smoke stack.

"The unique advantage of satellite data is spatial coverage," said Bryan Duncan, an atmospheric scientist at Goddard. "This paper is the perfect demonstration of how new and improved satellite datasets, coupled with new and improved data analysis techniques, allow us to identify even smaller pollutant sources and to quantify these emissions over the globe."

The University of Maryland, College Park, and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, contributed to this study.

For more information about, and access to, NASA's air quality data, visit:

http://so2.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA Earth science research, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth
Border Patrol agents remove seven illegal aliens including three children from hot car trunks

Nogales, Arizona - Agents assigned to the Nogales Border Patrol Station working at the Interstate 19 checkpoint thwarted two smuggling attempts 45 minutes apart last night, which lead to the arrest of seven undocumented aliens hidden in car trunks.

At 5:45 p.m., agents referred a white four-door sedan for a secondary inspection. Agents discovered three individuals concealed in the trunk after the driver consented to a vehicle search. The subjects, all identified as Mexican nationals including a 16-year-old juvenile, were taken into custody. The driver, a United States citizen, was arrested and is pending criminal charges.

Agents referred a white Pontiac sedan for a secondary inspection less than an hour later. A search of the vehicle revealed four undocumented aliens from Guatemala, including two under the age of 14, hiding in the trunk. The subjects were taken into custody and the driver of the vehicle was arrested.

Both vehicles did not have emergency releases inside their trunks and lacked ventilation. The inside temperature of closed trunks can get in excess of 125 degrees Fahrenheit with temperatures reaching triple digits during Arizonas summer months.

Chief Patrol Agent Paul Beeson said Tucson Sector has more than 230 EMTs who are trained to provide lifesaving treatment, and agents are well aware of the risks due to heat related illnesses.

This is another example of the callous disregard for life indicative of criminal organizations, he said. If not for the actions of these Border Patrol agents, seven people including three children could have easily lost their lives at the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.
Secretary Johnson Swears in New Members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council

Washington, DC - Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson today met with the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) where he discussed a range of homeland security-related issues and swore in the two newest members to the HSAC, John F. Kelly and Karen P. Tandy.

Secretary Johnson made the following remarks during todays session:

I welcome the new members to the advisory committee and hope they get to see the great work of our employees, and I thank all the HSAC members for their continued service to the country and to the Department.

As I look around this table I really do have to marvel at the spectacular and diverse group of talent we have at this table of great Americans. We have a range of experience and background from former Members of Congress, former 4-star members of the military, very distinguished prominent members of the private sector and former DHS officials. I look at the people here and have a lot of faith and confidence in the future direction of this committee.

The HSAC is a federal advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that provides the Secretary of Homeland Security with independent, informed recommendations and advice on a variety of homeland security issues. The HSAC is comprised of national policy makers, representatives from state, local, and tribal governments, emergency and first responder communities, academia and the private sector.

For more information about HSAC, visit www.dhs.gov/hsac.

John F. Kelly and Karen P. Tandy were sworn in today to serve on the HSAC:

General John F. Kelly served as the Commander, U.S. Southern Command from November 2012 to January 2016. General Kelly was responsible for all Department of Defense security cooperation in the 45 nations and territories of Central and South American and the Caribbean Sea, an area of 16 million square miles. General Kelly came to the United States Southern Command from his previous position as the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from March 2011 to October 2012. General Kelly commanded Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North from October 2009 to March 2011. From 2002 to 2004, he served as the Assistant Division Commander in Iraq with the Second Marine Division. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1970 and was discharged as a sergeant in 1972. Following graduation in 1976 from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a B.A. in History & Government, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. In 1984, General Kelly graduated with an M.A. from Georgetown University in National Security Affairs. In 1995, he graduated with an M.S. in Strategic Studies from the National Defense University in Washington, DC.

Karen P. Tandy served as the Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from July 2003 to November 2007. During her tenure, the DEA saw unprecedented improvements in its performance and accountability standards. Ms. Tandy is also a former Associate Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice (DOJ), where she was responsible for developing national drug enforcement policy and strategies. Ms. Tandy held a variety of positions in the Criminal Division at DOJ and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Western District of Washington. In 2007, Ms. Tandy became the Senior Vice President of International Government Affairs for Motorola Solutions Inc., where she worked as Motorolas top public policy spokesperson. In that role, she oversaw Motorolas country management, governance, and compliance issues in over 70 countries, and worked on telecommunications policy and trade regulation issues. Ms. Tandy has a B.S. in Education and a J.D. from Texas Tech University. Ms. Tandy is licensed to practice law in Texas and Virginia.
4th Annual U.S.-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference

Washington, DC - The Government of the United States and the Government of Pakistan convened the fourth annual U.S.-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference on June 2-3 in New York City. Hundreds of U.S. and Pakistani business leaders joined government officials to explore commercial opportunities and expand business-to-business linkages. The 2016 conference, the first to be held in the United States, built upon President Barack Obamas and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs October 2015 commitment to expand bilateral trade and investment.

Pakistani Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews led the two countries delegations. The senior officials noted their optimism for the U.S.-Pakistan partnership, reiterating that economic cooperation and strong commercial ties are essential. Featured as the conferences corporate keynote speaker, General Electric Vice Chairman John Rice addressed the business and investment climate in Pakistan.

Throughout the conference, government and private sector representatives discussed trade and investment opportunities with a particular focus on fashion apparel, health care, information communication technology, agriculture, and womens economic empowerment. Panelists shared their perspectives on trade and investment opportunities, doing better business in Pakistan through increased familiarity with regulations, and ways to increase gender diversity in employment.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Womens Issues Cathy Russell and Pakistani Ministry of Commerce Additional Secretary Robina Ather announced a joint action plan which outlines concrete steps to advance womens economic participation and entrepreneurship. Under the plan, Pakistan will organize its first Women in the Economy Forum and its first nationwide Take Your Daughter to Work Day to raise awareness of and increase career opportunities for women.

Other conference speakers included Fred Hochberg, Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States; Jalil Jilani, Pakistani Ambassador to the United States; Richard Olson, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; Donald Larry Sampler, Assistant to the Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs; Naheed Memon, Sindh Board of Investment Chairperson; and Ziad Haider, U.S. State Departments Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs.

A networking reception hosted by the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council on June 2 highlighted the April 2016 launch of the Pakistan Private Investment Initiative and facilitated additional business linkages among conference participants. The Pakistan Private Investment Initiative is a partnership between USAID and three private equity fund managers to invest over $150 million in capital to help Pakistani businesses grow and create jobs.
UK Train Passenger Praised for Refusing to Give Up Her First Class Seat to Old Woman
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New Yorks Governors Ball has been canceled on its third and final day due to inclement weather.

The festivals organizers announced the decision on Sunday due to the likelihood of lightning on Randalls Island. The safety of fans, artists and crew always comes first, Governors Ball said in a statement. We are just as devastated as you.

Earlier on Sunday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasios office issued a weather advisory warning of possible hail, damaging wind gusts and flooding across the city

Kanye West, Bat for Lashes, Death Cab for Cutie, Gary Clark Jr, Two Door Cinema Club, Chvrches and surprise guest Prophets of Rage were among the list of artists canceled on Sunday, without question the festivals strongest schedule.

Vince Staples and Joey Bada$$ were also canceled on Sunday, marking their second axed performances during the festival. Both rappers were scheduled to perform during the fest's After Dark series but were shut down following a fatal shooting at a recent TI concert at Irving Plaza.

Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Show all 13 1 /13 Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Alana Haim at Governors Ball 2016. Gabby Fellows/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 HAIM performs at Governors Ball 2016. Gabby Fellows/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-10.jpg Miguel performs at GovsBall 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-15.jpg Against Me! performs at GovsBall 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-2.jpg Action Bronson performs at Governors Ball 2016. Gabby Fellows/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-7.jpg Action Bronson performs at Governors Ball 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-4.jpg Years & Years performs at Governors Ball 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-3.jpg Years & Years performs at Governors Ball 2016. Gabby Fellows/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-6.jpg Of Monsters and Men performs at Governors Ball 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-1.jpg Of Monsters and Men performs at Governors Ball 2016. Gabby Fellows/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-9.jpg Of Monsters and Men performs at Governors Ball 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-8.jpg A mad fly Statue of Liberty wears her sunglasses at night. Jordan Uhl/The Independent Best photos from Governors Ball 2016 Govsball-5.jpg People sit at Governors Ball 2016. Jordan Uhl/The Independent

Organizers promised full refunds to those who purchased tickets within 21 days or less.

All customers who purchased a Sunday ticket and Sunday transportation ticket through the Governors Ball ticketing page will receive a refund, the festival said in a statement.

However, some artists have already begun rescheduling their shows across the city.

Prophets of Rage will now perform at Warsaw in Brooklyn at 830pm, Courtney Barnet is throwing a free show at Rough Trade and Two Door Cinema Club is rescheduled at Music Hall of Williamsburg at 8pm.
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Christian fundamentalist schools are teaching children creationism is fact, that gay people are unnatural and that girls must submit to men, according to a series of claims.

Former pupils and whistle-blowers have told The Independent that the schools, which originated in the US but are now dotted around the UK and registered as independent or private schools, teach children at isolated desks separated by dividers from other students. It is thought more than a thousand children are being taught at dozens of schools, although little is known about them.

No one outside the schools knows about what happens inside them, thats why theyve been able to go on like this for so long," a former pupil said.

Recommended Read more It is time to blow the whistle on the faith schools that fail children

More than a decade after leaving, she says she is now horrified at the education she received.

Called Accelerated Christian Education schools (ACE), the schools originate from an education system developed in southern Baptist states in the US which has developed off-shoots around the world including in Britain. Between 20 and 60 pupils aged between four and 18 attend each one.

The Independent can reveal a number of serious concerns have been raised about the schools, including allegations that children are given no formal educational qualifications beyond "Christian certificates", thereby failing to equip them for opportunities and employment beyond the Church.

Former pupils claim a key aspect of the schools ethos comes from a belief in individualistic self-salvation, whereby people must actively accept God's salvation to enter heaven.

By extension, it is believed that children must teach themselves in order to get closer to God. Children are therefore expected to spend the first half of each school day teaching themselves by reading textbooks in silence, while facing the classroom walls in specially designed booths, which mean they cannot see children around them or interact with them. In the second half of the school day, children are taught in groups.

A rare photo inside an Accelerated Christian Education school, from the 1980s. Former pupils say the same classroom format is still used in the UK today

Dr Matthew Pocock, who attended an ACE school in Witney, Oxfordshire, as a child, told The Independent: We sat at our desks which were arranged around the outside of the room, with boards that slid in called dividers that sectioned us off from the pupil either side. We were not allowed to talk or interact with each other.

To interact with staff, we had two flags. We would raise one flag for run-of-the-mill queries like asking for help with a question or a toilet break, and other one to signal that we were ready to take a test or needed input from the class teacher. If we put our flags up too often we would be told off.

Photos inside the schools are rare but one former pupil showed The Independent photos of classroom booths in a Canadian school in the 1980s that are reportedly the same kind used in the UK schools still today.

 Christian Fundamentalists: Ignorance Is Bliss

Former pupils say this self-teaching format resulted in poor education standards, with pupils who have learning difficulties such as dyslexia often particularly struggling. A number said they felt socially isolated by the segregated booths and failed to develop social skills by interacting with peers.

One former pupil said: By the time I left the school, I hadnt really learnt anything that was of any relevance. I was taught facts and figures from reading the books, but there was no social learning in terms of interaction.

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The textbooks used by the schools have also been criticised for providing allegedly inappropriate material. A number of textbooks seen by The Independent and which are reportedly used in schools appear to include worrying content about gay people, womens rights and also appear to teach creationism as fact.

One textbook says: Homosexual, adjective: having unnatural sexual feelings towards one of the same sex Homosexual activity is another of mans corruptions of Gods plan.

Accelerated Christian Education textbook which former pupils say are used in the schools (Accelerated Christian Education textbook)

The Bible records that God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexual activity. Some people mistakenly believe that an individual is born a homosexual and his attraction to those of the same sex is normal.

Textbooks say of the role of women and girls and society: God has given both the husband and the wife certain areas of responsibility in the home. The husband is to be the leader of the home, loving his wife even as Christ loved the church The wife is to obey, respect and submit to the leadership of her husband, serving as a helper to him She is available all times day or night.

A section titled Testimony of a Homemaker in one textbook reads: God desires for me to submit to my husband, train up my children, see that my house is properly supplied, pray without ceasing, teach other women to love their husbands and children, and be discreet, pure and a keeper of my home.

(A passage from an Accelerated Christian Education textbook about the role of a 'homemaker' (A passage from an Accelerated Christian Education textbook about the role of a 'homemaker')

Former pupil Cheryl Povey who attended an ACE school in Bath, said: I came across a lot of sexism. I remember as a girl finding it quite shocking. We were taught that if youre a woman, you should be subservient to men; your husband, your pastor and other male figures.

There was a strong culture of men being revered and women being dangerously sexual and having to cover up. It made me self-conscious of being a woman.

Dr Pocock said attitudes towards women and ethnic minorities in the ACE curriculum also worried him. He said: It taught me men were superior to, and should be in charge of, weak women, that the various different ethnic and social groups were ordained by God to have different roles and positions.

Another textbook warns that anyone who has sex outside marriage "will someday face God's judgement".

An Accelerated Christian Education textbook reportedly used in UK schools (An Accelerated Christian Education textbook reportedly used in UK schools)

Other textbooks seen by The Independent, and which the former pupils claim were widely used as part of the curriculum during their time at ACE schools, appear to state creationism as fact and describe evolution as absurd.

One biology textbook states: Although mans characteristics are unique, evolutionists still insist that man descended from apes. Even from a strictly scientific standpoint, the theory of evolution is absurd.

"Even from a scientific standpoint, the theory of evolution is absurd" (Image from Accelerated Christian Education textbook)

From as little as a tooth, evolutionists have fabricated entire groups of transitional fossils that bridge the gap between men and apes!.. Evolutionists, who refuse to believe the simple truth of Gods divine Creation, will continue to struggle and search in vain for answers to the question of mans origin unless they turn to Gods Word, the Bible.

(Image from Accelerated Christian Education textbook (Image from Accelerated Christian Education textbook)

Another textbook states as scientific fact that the sun is six thousand years old and the world was created in six days.

Former pupil Peter* (name changed to protect identity) said: A huge amount of time and effort was given over to arguing against evolution and for creation, its a fundamental building block of the curriculum. The curriculum is stuck in the past like the rest of the fundamentalist southern Baptist churches it was born out of.

Textbooks seen by The Independent depict biblical passages and advice among science and maths worksheets (Image from Accelerated Christian Education textbook)

Another concern raised about the schools is that the children are allegedly not entered for formal education qualifications such as GCSEs or A-levels.

Former pupils say they are instead taught towards an ICCE- an International Certificate of Christian Education. The ICCE is not an officially recognised qualification meaning those who hold it can struggle to find employment or to be accepted into higher education such as university. Former pupilssay this disadvantages children and deprives them of opportunities later, unless they retrain as adults to gain additional, mainstream qualifications as well as the ICCE.

Jonny Scaramanga is a writer and campaigner who has extensively researched the ACE school system. He is a former pupil of an ACE school in England and recently completed a PHD thesis about ACE at the UCL Institute of Education, which included analysis of the ACE textbooks illustrated throughout this article.

He told The Independent: I have read numerous Ofsted reports in the course of my research, and the issues most commonly raised by former ACE students are almost never mentioned, let alone satisfactorily addressed. In allowing ACE schools' failings to go unchecked for decades, the government has failed in its duty of care to students in ACE schools. In future, inspectors should be specially briefed on the issues frequently found in ACE schools.

He added that he is concerned by the 'Christian certificates' children sit instead of official qualifications, telling The Independent: Since 2014, the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld three complaints against ACE schools for exaggerating the acceptability of the certificates [International Certificate of Christian Education] they offer. I have met numerous former ACE students who have had to return to college as adults to gain qualifications that they would have earned as a matter of course in mainstream schools. All English secondary schools should be required by law to prepare and enter students for qualifications recognised by Ofqual, the exam watchdog.

When The Independent contacted forty UK universities to ask whether they have or would accept pupils on the basis of ICCE awards, none of them said they officially accept the qualification other than in exceptional circumstances or if a student had other additional qualifications such as GCSEs or A levels to support their application.

Despite this, the qualification is listed in UCAS' online publication 'UK qualifications for entry to university or college in 2015' and given the following description: ICCE Advanced Certificate is accepted by many universities for undergraduate entry. A UK NAIRC assessment in 2011 carried out in both school and homeschool environments stated that the General Certificate can be considered comparable to Cambridge International Examinations O levels and the Advanced Certificate can be considered comparable to the CIE A level.

When asked by The Independent why the qualification was included in the publication despite not being recognised by Ofqual and universities denying they accept it, a spokesperson for UCAS said the publication was not intended to give approval to any qualifications it included. They added that the description in UCAS' brochure had not been written by UCAS staff but by ICCE staff.

Although state schools in the UK must follow a standardised curriculum, the same regulation does not apply to private schools, which ACE schools are registered as. When contacted by The Independent, Christian Education Europe, which runs ACE schools in the UK, would not confirm or deny if the textbooks illustrated here are used or respond to allegations from former pupils about the content of the curriculum they say they received. A spokesperson says the schools meet all Department for Education guidelines and their curriculum is broad, fair and balanced.

In response to the issues raised, a Christian Education Europe spokesperson said: All the schools we serve are inspected by the government inspectorate, Ofsted, and we prepare them to meet the criteria laid down by the Common Inspection Framework. It is a Government requirement that all schools have a child protection policy and designated child protection or safeguarding officer, staff DBS checks and receive child protection training. We satisfy these arrangements and many more besides.

All the schools provide Citizenship on the timetable and we embrace British values as part of the school culture. Life with students is experienced beyond the textbook and carried into an understanding that is suitable for modern day Britain.

They also referred The Independent to a document on their website regarding sex and relationship education which states: Our Sex and Relationship Education concerns lifelong learning of physical, moral and emotional development. It is about the understanding of the importance of marriage for family life, stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care. It is also about the teaching of sex, sexuality, and sexual health. We will not promote sexual orientation or sexual activity, as this would be inappropriate teaching. Whilst we understand that the Government has redefined marriage, we will actively promote exclusive heterosexual marriage and celibate singleness as Gods gift and design; and as such the best way toward human happiness and fulfilment, but will discourage intolerance.

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: The Department for Education is the registration authority for all independent schools. It has laid down a set of standards that independent schools, including faith schools, are required to meet. Ofsted inspects these schools against these standards, at the request of the DfE. Schools must comply with the standards in order to continue as a registered independent school.

Independent schools are not required to follow the national curriculum, but they are required to teach a curriculum that encourages respect for other people.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: All schools must promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect for different faiths and beliefs. This is a vital part of providing educational excellence everywhere. They must also encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Equality Act.

ACE schools, like all other independent schools, are inspected against the new, tougher Independent School Standards, and where there are concerns a school is failing to meet these standards we will not hesitate to take action.
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A top surgeon has revealed how the Queen comforted him as he tried to speak about his traumatic experiences while working in warzones - by bringing out her corgis.

David Nott, consultant who volunteers with Medecins Sans Frontieres and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was having lunch at Buckingham Palace in 2014 ten days after returning from Aleppo in Syria where he had treated war victims.

The vascular and war surgeon found himself struggling to open up to the Queen about his experiences in warzones, where he was working in hospitals that were being shelled and treating adult and children with severe injuries.

I didnt know what to say to her. It wasnt that I didnt want to speak to her. I just couldnt. I could not say anything, Nott told BBC Radio 4s Desert Island Discs.

She picked all this up. She said shall I help you. I thought how on earth could the Queen help me?

All of a sudden the courtiers brought the corgis and the corgis went underneath the table. She went to one of the courtiers and she said Can we open up that please? and so she opened up this lid and there were a load of biscuits.

The Queen with her corgis in 2002 (AFP/Getty Images)

And so she got one of the biscuits and she broke it in two and said Okay, why dont we feed the dogs?. And so for 20 minutes the Queen and I  during this lunch  just fed the dogs.

Nott said the Queens humanity was unbelievable and the dogs were therapeutic.

For more than two decades, Dr Nott - a consultant surgeon at Royal Marsden, St Mary's and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals in London - has given up several months every year to volunteer in war zones and amid major humanitarian crises.

The hospital was being blown, everything around me had been shelled and I was coping with children that were really badly damaged, he explained during the interview.

She mustve detected something significant because I didnt know what to say to her.
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Michael Fox has paid a touching tribute to Muhammad Ali, praising the late boxer for his work fighting against Parkinsons Disease.

The Canadian-American actor, writer and activist described Ali as a great person and hailed his character before expressing how privileged he feels to have worked with the three-time heavyweight champion on a common cause.

Before I was diagnosed with Parkinsons I admired him. I admired his poise, his class, his style, his stoicism, his belief in what he felt was right and his willingness to accept the consequences of standing up for that," Fox told the BBC.

All of that was just impressive. And then to have actually met him and joined with him in a common cause and a common fight I mean who else would you want in your corner?

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease in the early 1990s, nearly a decade after Alis diagnosis in 1984.

When Fox announced his condition publicly in 1998, he and Ali joined forces to spread awareness about the critical need to fund research for a cure. They made a joint appearance before Congress to push the case in 2002.

As part of the campaign, the pair made a series of short videos to raise awareness of the disease and encourage the public to make donations to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease, a nonprofit organisation founded by Fox in 2000.

The foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through an aggressively funded research agenda.

On the day of Alis death, Fox tweeted: Ali, the G-O-A-T. A giant, an inspiration, a man of peace, a warrior for the cure. Thank you.

Ali died on Friday night in Arizona after suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by the fact that he had Parkinson's disease.
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A large road tunnel in London was closed because a man was jogging through it.

Police were called at 2:46am on Sunday after the dark-haired man was spotted on CCTV cameras in the northbound lane of Blackwall Tunnel in East London.

The tunnel, which is managed by Transport for London, reopened 10 minutes later and no arrests were made.

CCTV footage shows a man in a light-coloured shirt and what looks like jeans, jogging through the left-hend side of the tunnel carrying a dark jacket.

It comes after the tunnel closed for 20 hours on 24 May after a mobile crane spilled fuel in it, which led to five-mile queues and severe delays.

The tunnel is a key link between the north and south sides of the river.

Pedestrians have been banned from using the tunnel since 1969. There are foot tunnels nearby designed for pedestrians and cyclists to make the crossing.
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Several people have been rushed to hospital after gangs reportedly turn a Glaswegian suburb into a "war zone".

Witnesses reported seeing a towering fire, a boy "covered in blood" and two vans burnt out in the street in Frankfield Road in the Cardowan area of the city on Sunday afternoon

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed they had transported "several patients" to hospital.

Reports on social media suggest as many as five people have been stabbed.

Officers were called to the scene at around 1:30pm and a spokesman said the disorder was "more likely to be rival gangs fighting" than terrorism.

It is understood the incident was the result of an altercation between groups of males.

Frank Kerr, a crane operator form the area, said: "I saw a boy sitting in a paramedic's van. He was covered in blood, but I didn't see what happened to him.

"It's very rare for this neck of the woods.

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Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. 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"There was a fire at the end of the street, and I heard tyres blowing up. There were police, fire brigade, ambulances, tow trucks, you name it, everything was here."

The 59-year-old said he did not know if anyone had been shot as he had only witness the aftermath of the incident saying he "didn't hear any gunshots, just tyres blowing up with the heat".

An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said he saw two vans on fire with flames "as high as a house".

He said: "I was washing my car and I saw high flames and smoke, then the fire brigade came".

Police said inquiries were still at an early stage and they would not cause or nature of the victims injuries.

Additional reporting by PA
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Major UK supermarkets are selling British wine made out of imported grapes from elsewhere in Europe, prompting concerns about the reputation of wine grown in England.

Tesco, Asda and Lidl are among those selling wines made from cheap grapes grown and pressed abroad and labelling them as British produce.

The practice is legal and widespread in the 240 million discount wine industry, and cheap wine brands have become increasingly popular in recent years.

However, British wine producers are concerned that selling cheap wine made from imported grapes and labelling it as British is disingenuous and will leave customers believing that wine grown and produced in the UK is of an inferior quality, which could threaten their businesses both in Britain and abroad.

Although wine made from imported grapes is fermented in the UK, it is not made from the grapes that are grown in British vineyards. Because it is often not made clear on the bottles that the grapes are imported, British wine producers are concerned that customers could be led to believe that British-grown grapes are generally of a low quality.

The key to exporting our increasingly popular English wines around the world is quality control, Richard Balfour-Lynn, owner of English wine company Hush Heath, told the Sunday Telegraph.

He said that discounted wine being labelled as British may be misleading: It suggests to the consumer that their bottle of low-cost wine is grown and processed here.

Mr Balfour-Lynn said that if the reputation of British wine was threatened, it may affect sales abroad if foreign customers are unable to tell the difference between British-grown wine and the cheaper variety.

The danger going forward is that foreign buyers will not be able to distinguish between our high-quality produce and the imported stuff.

If they are put off by it that hampers our efforts to build a reputation abroad.

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A spokesperson from Lidl said: To make it very clear, British wines in our stores are not labelled as English wines as the two have different meanings.

We allow our customers to make informed decisions and everything that we sell in our stores has very clear labelling.

Though EU laws mean that only wine grown in England can be labelled English, and similarly with Welsh wine, the same is not true of the word British, which can be used to label wine that was produced or bottled, but not necessarily grown, in the UK.

Most supermarkets claim that wine from brands such as Three Mills and Silver May Point is British. Their websites states the wine is produced from imported grape juice.
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Christian converts seeking asylum in the UK are having their claims assessed on the basis of their ability to recite Bible trivia, MPs have warned.

The all-party parliamentary group on international religious freedom said asylum claims being made by Christians were being dealt with unfairly by officials.

They blamed a "lack of understanding of religion and belief" for the wrong people being rejected and said some people could be deported when they were at genuine risk of persecution.

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One Iranian asylum seeker  who had converted to Christianity  had his claim rejected following his asylum interview.

"One question they asked me was very strange: what colour was the cover of the Bible," he told the BBC.

"I knew there were different colours. The one I had was red. They asked me questions I was not able to answer  for example, what are the Ten Commandments. I could not name them all from memory."

Baroness Berridge, who lead the all-party group's inquiry, said that non-Christians could learn such Bible trivia while genuine converts might be rejected.

"The problem with those questions is that if you are not genuine you can learn the answers, and if you are genuine, you may not know the answers," she said. "When the system did move on to ask about the lived reality of people's faith, we then found that caseworkers, who are making decisions which can be life or death for people, were not properly supported and trained properly."

 Asylum seekers in UK struggle to build new lives

There are no official figures on asylum claims on religious grounds but evidence suggests the majority are former Muslims who have turned to Christianity. The number of such claims has risen in recent years.

Rev Mark Miller, who has a congregation of Iranian converts in Stockton-on-Tees, has advised the Home Office on how to handle such claims. Many of his congregation will have first experienced the faith in secret meetings in private homes.

"The asylum assessors have a real challenge on their hands," he said. "If you've come to faith in an underground house church, where you've been able to borrow a New Testament for a week and have encountered the risen Lord Jesus, you're not going to know when the date of Pentecost is.

"They should be trying to understand the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge," he says.

"They should be asking questions that help them to understand why someone has left behind the faith of their upbringing and the faith of their family."

The Home Office said it would assess the parliamentary groups report. It said guidance to assessors is regularly reviewed to take into account the views of religious groups.
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Ramadan has begun and Muslims around the world will abstain from eating and drinking during daylight for a month  and a certain British soft drink will play a major role.

While most of the food and drink traditionally consumed by Muslims when they break the fast is homemade or natural  such as spicy vegetables, paneer fritters and dates  Vimto is the slightly less conventional refreshment that is often brought to the table during Iftar.

The lurid purple drink, first manufactured in Manchester in 1908 and made from grape, blackcurrant and raspberry flavouring (and a lot of sugar), sees its sales go through the roof in Gulf states during Ramadan, with 31 million bottles sold in 2011 alone.

It is thought the large quantity of sugar and the strong flavour is key to its popularity.

Manchester imam, Asad Zaman, told Kevin Bocquet on Radio 4s Sunday programme: One of the reasons it is so popular in the Middle East is because they have quite a sweet tooth.

After a day of fasting your stomach has collapsed and your body is really low on energy. Anything sweet is a quick fix in terms of energising your body. Of course there are other things like dates which are recommended.

Mr Zaman said Vimto is a good alternative to caffeine drinks but added that water is the best liquid for Muslims observing Ramadan to consume when they break their fast.

It is important to avoid anything caffeine based as it will dehydrate your body more quickly because you will go to the loo more frequently and you need to maintain that water for as long as possible. Water is perhaps the best thing to drink, he said.

The Vimto sold in the Gulf states is thought to be even higher in sugar levels than that sold in Western countries.

In pictures: Ramadan around the world Show all 27 1 /27 In pictures: Ramadan around the world In pictures: Ramadan around the world In pictures: Ramadan around the world In pictures: Ramadan around the world Russia Russian Muslims pray outside the central mosque in Moscow, during celebrations of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Turkey Turkish Muslims offer Eid al Fitr prayers as they mark the first day of the Eid al-Fitr at Fatih Sultan Mosque in Istanbul Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Syria A Syrian Dervish dances as part of a traditional event organised by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism under the title 'Music and Dervishes' in the old city of Damascus EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Bosnia and Herzegovina A Bosnian Muslim man, wearing a traditional Bosnian outfit, fires a canon from a vantage point overlooking Sarajevo to mark the end of daily fasting on the final day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Pakistan A general view of an illuminated Mosque as Muslims pray during the 27th night of Ramadan, in Peshawar EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Pakistan Muslim women offer prayer of the Jumat-ul-wida, the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in Lahore AP In pictures: Ramadan around the world India Muslims offer prayers on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Dargah Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Rex Features In pictures: Ramadan around the world Saudi Arabia The Prophet Mohammed Mosque in the holy city of Medina, during Ramadan EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Malaysia A Malaysian swings around fireworks to celebrate the last day of the Muslims' Holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur In pictures: Ramadan around the world Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Muslims pray during the Eid al-Fitr Muslim celebration marking the end of Ramadan in Bishkek EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Ivory Coast People pray during the Laylat Al Qadr prayers on the 27th day of the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan in the front of the Aghin mosque in Abidjan AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Syria Syrians shop for traditional sweets in Kafr Batna in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, ahead of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Israel A Palestinian woman prays on the third Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City REUTERS In pictures: Ramadan around the world Iran Iranian Shiite Muslims pray at the graves of soldiers who were killed during 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, just outside Tehran, Iran AP In pictures: Ramadan around the world Israel A Palestinian man pours water on Muslim worshippers' heads to cool off in the heat, as others pray outside the Dome of the Rock at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the last Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Afghanistan Afghan women wait to receive food ration during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Herat EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Pakistan A Pakistani Muslim reads the holy Koran as he observes Itikaf at a Mosque, in Peshawar EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world India Kashmiri Muslim women offer prayers as the head priest (not pictured) displays a holy relic believed to be hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammed, during special prayers to observe the Martyr Day of Hazrat Ali, cousin of Prophet Mohammed, on the 21st day of Ramadan, at the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world India Indian Muslims sit with bowls of porridge(Nombu kanji)as they prepare to break the fast with the Iftar meal during the Islamic month of Ramadan at The Wallajah Big Mosque in Chennai AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ramadan around the world Lebanon Spectators watch fireworks as a giant Fanous, or Ramadan lantern, is switched on four days before the start of Ramadan month in front of Mohamed al-Amine Mosque in downtown Beirut EPA In pictures: Ramadan around the world Lebanon Lebanese children perform during activities celebrating the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in downtown Beirut AP In pictures: Ramadan around the world Palestine Palestinian men drink tea on the promenade of Gaza beach Getty In pictures: Ramadan around the world Indonesia Members of Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest Muslim organisation in Indonesia, hold a mass prayer session to welcome in Ramadan in Jakarta AFP/Getty In pictures: Ramadan around the world Iraq Iraqis shop for food in a preparation for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Baghdad AP In pictures: Ramadan around the world Indonesia Foods is seen during 'Unggah-unggahan' ceremony to welcome in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Pekuncen village Getty

Salman Farsi, Media & Communications Officer at East London Mosque, told the BBC: The recipe is probably made a bit stronger and sweeter for the Arab markets.

They do particularly like their drinks to be bursting with sugar and flavour.

For the worlds more than 1.6 billion Muslims, Ramadan marks a period of fasting from sunrise until sunet (including abstaining from both water and food), prayer and alms giving.

Fasting, alms giving and prayers are all part of the five pillars of the Islamic faith.

This article has been updated. It was originally published in June 2016.
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Tony Blairs former spin doctor Alastair Campbell is reportedly set to escape serious criticism by the Chilcot inquiry into the 2003 Iraq war.

Despite Mr Campbell having a role in the creation of the infamous dodgy dossier, the flak, it has been claimed, will fall on the former Prime Minister and intelligence officials in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. The dossier, based on faulty intelligence, claimed that dictator Saddam Hussein had the capabilities to hit British targets in Cyprus in 45 minutes.

Unlike Mr Blair and others, it is reported that Mr Campbell has not received a letter from the Chilcot inquiry outlining where he will be censured. Under the Maxwellisation process, those facing serious criticism from such a report are given a period of time to respond to its conclusions before publication.

Recommended Read more Blair hints he could reject Chilcot Inquiry findings

According to The Sunday Times, friends of the former spin doctor who worked alongside Mr Blair for 10 years, described the report as the Campbell whitewash.

A former minister, who has discussed the findings with members of the inquirys panel, added: Campbell has not had a letter. He is in the clear.

He was in some ways a bit player in this. Those who were directly responsible were the heads of the agencies who allowed him to sex up the dodgy dossier and of course the prime minister for whom he was working.

Press officers are not supposed to be key policymakers, even though they sometimes are.

Speaking last week, the former Prime Minister hinted he could reject the findings of the Chilcot inquiry if it attempts to dispute his position in the build-up to the Iraq war.

 Blair hints he could reject the findings of the Chilcot inquiry

Mr Blair, who said he hasnt seen a copy of the report, added that he looks forward to participating in a debate about its findings. Make no mistake about that, Mr Blair said.

He will come out all guns blazing. But Iraq has affected him a lot. It has made him into a defensive, awkward, self-conscious individual who feels destabilised by it, a source added to the Sunday Times.

Asked on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show whether he would accept Chilcots report, the former Labour leader responded: Well, its hard to say that when I havent seen it. Well, of course, you dont see the report until it comes out so lets wait for that point but I think when you go back and look at what was said I dont think anyone can seriously dispute I was making it clear what my position was.

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By the way, the thing that will be important when it does happen is that we then have then a full debate and I look forward to participating in that. Make no mistake about that. It is really important we do debate these issues because weve got huge problems lets debate about the what is the right policy to deal with these days.

It comes after an anonymous source last week briefed the Sunday Times and claimed that Mr Blair and other former government officials will be savaged in an absolutely brutal verdict on the failings of the occupation. The source added that Mr Blair wont be let off the hook over claims he offered military assistance to the former American President George W Bush, a year before the invasion of Iraq.

Mr Campbell told the Sunday Times: I said after I gave evidence to Chilcot that I would say nothing about the inquiry until its report was published.
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Sir John Major has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson and Michael Gove accusing them of running a squalid and depressing campaign that was intent on misleading the British people.

In a remarkable interview, Sir John rubbished leave campaign claims that pulling out of the EU would allow Britain to spend more money on the NHS pointing out the Mr Gove and Mr Johnson had both advocating charging for services in the past.

"Michael Gove wanted to privatise it, Boris wanted to charge people for using it and Iain Duncan Smith wanted a social insurance system," he said.

"The NHS is about as safe with them as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python."

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He also ridiculed Vote Leaves claim that Turkey could join the EU as an utterly false suggestion and accused those behind it of misleading people to an extraordinary extent.

Boris Johnson as one of the leaders of the campaign "has the power to stop it", he added.

On the economy and what would happen if we actually left, the Leave campaign have said absolutely nothing to the British people and what they have said about leaving is fundamentally dishonest and it's dishonest about the cost of Europe," Sir John told the Marr show.

"And on the subject that they have veered towards, having lost the economic argument, of immigration, I think their campaign is verging on the squalid."

He added: "I am angry at the way the British people are being misled, this is much more important than a general election, this is going to affect people, their livelihoods, their future, for a very long time to come and if they are given honest straightforward facts and they decide to leave, then that is the decision the British people take.

"But if they decide to leave on the basis of inaccurate information, inaccurate information known to be inaccurate, then I regard that as deceitful."

Describing Mr Johnson as a engaging court jester Mr Major suggested his true motivation was largely driven by personal ambition  but warned him that he will not have the loyalty of the party he divided if he becomes the next leader of the Tory Party.

Mr Johnson dismissed the criticisms, insisting it was "not true" the Leave's claims about Britain sending 350 million a week to Brussels was "fictitious" or the campaign was "squalid".

Asked if he believed the attacks against him were part of a plot to "take him out", Mr Johnson said: "Whether it is or not, I'm rather with John McDonnell this morning who says that there is too much of this blue on blue action and what he wants to hear is the arguments and that's where I am."

21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Show all 21 1 /21 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Portugal drinks more wine than France Tindo - Fotolia 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Young Italians, by some distance, are the most likely to live at home with their parents 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Britain is on course to overtake Germany as Europes most populated country 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Greek workers work the longest hours in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Estonia has, per capita, more drug-related deaths than anyone else 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The fastest download speeds are to be found in Romania 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Slovenia, Malta and Poland have the smallest gender pay gaps 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe France hates its leader more than other European countries 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Eastern and Western Europe are very divided on the issue of gay marriage 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany has the most millionaires 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone likes Christmas, apart from France 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany accepts by far the most asylum applications 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The UK and France have some of the most positive views of Muslim people 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Europe's largest Muslim population is in Germany 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Danes are the most trusting Europeans, and Cypriots the least 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Finland has the worst economy in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Italy has cut back its military spending more than any other major European Nato member 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone is sad about the refugee crisis 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe People in Spain are also the most likely to live in flats (Brits are most likely to live in houses) 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Spain is the most likely to feel neighbourly 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Luxembourg is home to the highest proportion of foreign nationals

He also said it was absolute nonsense he was backing Brexit out of personal leadership ambitions.

"Obviously there is going to be a temptation by one side or the other to try to turn it into a personality-driven conversation. My view about the EU has changed but that is because the EU has changed out of all recognition."

The Tory former leadership contender David Davis said the attack was a "very bad idea". He told BBC One's Sunday Politics: "I guess he was trying to reduce the credibility of the Leave campaign's claims."

"It was a pretty harsh attack and I don't think very wise. One of the problems, both sides of this campaign has been they have been too personalised. I don't think it gains anything."
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Labour had been urged to sack Damian McBride, Gordon Browns controversial former spin doctor, over allegations that he has been secretly helping the Leave campaign.

Mr McBride, who now works for shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry, accidentally posted a private message on Twitter that appeared to show him advising Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove.

The spin doctor, who was sacked by Mr Brown, posted the message which read: V good! BTW, I'll email you another VAT-related idea this evening. Just in case there's a day/interview where MG is looking for a new line.

The tweet has led to suspicions that it was Mr McBride who was behind an announcement by Vote Leave last week that Brexit would allow the Government to cut the rate of VAT on fuel in order to reduce energy bills.

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Nick Herbert, the head of the Conservative Remain campaign, has now written to both Mr Gove and Ms Thornberry demanding they explain what role Mr McBride was playing in the Leave campaign.

Are you able to clarify precisely what contact Vote Leave staff have had with Damian McBride since your campaign launched? Mr Herbert wrote to Mr Gove. I feel sure that, given Damian McBrides history of personal smears and underhand tactics against Conservative Party MPs, you would want to disassociate yourself and your campaign from him.

In his letter to Ms Thornberry, he wrote: You and I disagree on many things, but we are united in our support for Britain remaining in the European Union.

I am sure that you will be abhorred by any suggestion that Damian McBride is advising Vote Leave whilst in your employment. As the official Labour Party policy is to remain in the EU, Damian McBride should of course respect that. I ask that you urgently investigate this matter and immediately terminate his employment if any wrongdoing is found.

Mr McBride is thought to have been consulted because he is a VAT expert. He has not announced his support for the Leave campaign and as a senior advisor to Mr Corbyn's team would be expected to back remain or stay neutral on the issue.

Vote Leave said reports that Mr McBride is advising it on policy were completely untrue.

Mr McBride did not respond to The Independents request for a comment.
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Boris Johnson has distanced himself from controversial comments likening Adolf Hitlers aims to those of the European Union by passing blame on to newspaper headline writers.

The former London Mayor said in May that the EU was an attempt to recreate the Roman Empires united Europe. Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically, he said.

The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods, he added.

The incendiary comments sparked an immediate backlash and Donald Tusk, the European Council President, said Mr Johnson had crossed the boundaries when he made a dangerous comparison between Brussels and Adolf Hitler.

But when asked on BBCs Andrew Marr Show whether it was abominable to make the comparison between the Nazi dictator and the European Union, Mr Johnson responded: I dont write the headlines.

He added: The key point I would make is that there is something worryingly antidemocratic about the EU as it currently is set up. I do think it should concern everybody in this country that 60 per cent of our laws now come from Brussels.

Since the Lisbon Treaty we have been out-voted more and more often. There are fundamental ways now that we cannot control our lives.

Appearing before Mr Johnson, the former Prime Minister Sir John Major launched an assault on the squalid Brexit campaign being run by the former London Mayor and Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

 John Major accuses Vote Leave of running a 'squalid' and 'deceitful' campaign

Sir Major attacked its "deceitful" claims and accused Brexit backers of "misleading" the public. Taking aim at Mr Johnson, the former Conservative leader said the court jester would not have the loyalty of Conservative MPs if he becomes party leader.

Mr Johnson failed to reject a Vote Leave poster claiming that David Cameron cannot be trusted on immigration, saying it was frustrating that the Government had failed to meet its pledge to reduce migration to the tens of thousands.

The Prime Minister didn't get a sausage from his renegotiations on Britain's relationship with Brussels, he added. Mr Johnson, who has Turkish heritage, also defended the Leave campaign's claims about Turkey's future membership of the EU.

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.

"Frankly, I don't mind whether Turkey joins the EU, provided the UK leaves the EU," he added.

Pressed on his previous support for Turkish accession, he insisted "that was back in the days when some of us thought that widening the EU would not mean this federalising, centralising, deepening process that we have seen".

"The EU has changed out of all recognition since people like me first started advocating Turkish membership," he added.
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John McDonnell is looking into the feasibility of a universal basic income (UBI) for all citizens as part of Labours alternative to the Chancellor's austerity model.

In the clearest indication yet that the party is seriously considering the radical policy, which provides every citizen with a flat-rate income, the Shadow Chancellor will on Monday evening appear at the launch of a report on UBI from the left-wing campaign group Compass.

A source close to the Shadow Chancellor told The Independent: "The concept of a UBI is one among many ideas that has been put to the party in our wider policy review over recent months.

"It is not official Labour party policy or a commitment towards becoming policy.

"It's just an acknowledgement that there's clearly a policy discussion on this matter taking place in think tanks and among academic circles outside the party and we are following the debate as it unfolds."

It comes as Switzerland voted by an overwhelming majority to reject proposals for a universal basic income, according to projects based on a partial count of the vote. Had it passed, anyone legally residing in Switzerland would have received suggested basic income of 2,500 Swiss Francs (1,755) every month whether they worked or not.

The new report, Universal Basic Income: An idea whose time has come?, adds: Central to the case for a UBI is the way it would help prepare us for a world in which the new technological revolution, driven by artificial intelligence and robotics, will, over time, transform the nature of work and the type and number of jobs.

A UBI offers a powerful way of protecting all citizens from the great winds of change to be ushered in by the fourth industrial age, and of sharing the potentially massive productivity gains that it will bring.

Such a policy, according to the economists who authored the report, would pay a tax free, unconditional and non-contributory basic weekly income to every individual as of right, irrespective of how much they earned or their work status. It would also aim to replace, in part, the existing welfare system and involve a profound revolution in the way income support is organised.

In February Mr McDonnell said he was considering universal basic income as part of Labours new economic policy. It's an idea we want to look at. Child benefit was a form of basic income so it's not something that I would rule out, he said during a talk at the London School of Economics.

 Switzerland: World's biggest poster unfurled in Geneva supporting basic income

In what he called a progress report on Labours economic policy, McDonnell said that economists were close to consensus that the Conservative Partys austerity policies had failed.

Austerity is a political choice and it's politically easy because it benefits the elite. It's a short term choice, he said.

In January, Caroline Lucas MP called on the Government to commission research into the idea of paying all citizens a flat, unconditional income, which would likely come in place of existing social security measures like means tested benefits.

The basic income offers genuine social security to everyone and sweeps away most of the bureaucracy of the current welfare system, Lucas said.
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Donald Trump continued making incendiary comments about race on Friday, saying in an interview that an American-born federal judges judgment is clouded because "he' a Mexican" and singling out an African American man attending one of his rallies, calling him "my African American".

In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, broadcast on Friday, Mr Trump doubled down on his racially charged accusations against US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is handling two class-action lawsuits against Trump University in San Diego.

Judge Curiel was born in Indiana but his parents are from Mexico, which Mr Trump has repeatedly said prevents the judge from making unbiased decisions.

"If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?" Tapper asked, according to a clip on CNN's website.

"No," Trump responded. "I don't think so at all."

"No?" Tapper said.

"No, hes proud of his heritage, Trump said. I respect him for that.

"But you're saying he can't do his job because of it, Tapper said.

"Look, he's proud of his heritage, OK?" Mr Trump said. "I'm building a wall. Now, I think I'm going to do very well with Hispanics."

Tapper cut in: He's a legal citizen.

Mr Trump explained that he will win the votes of Hispanics during the general election because he's going to create jobs.

"But we're building a wall," Mr Trump said. "He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico."

Mr Trump continued: "The answer is: He is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can't even believe. This case should have ended years ago on summary judgement. The best lawyers  I have spoken to so many lawyers, they said: This is not a case. This is a case that should have ended. This judge is giving us unfair rulings. Now, I say: Why? Well, I'm building a wall, okay? And it's a wall between Mexico, not another country."

"But he's not from Mexico," Tapper said. "He's from Indiana."

"He's of Mexican heritage," Mr Trump said, "and he's very proud of it."

In pictures: US Elections 2016 Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: US Elections 2016 In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters after rival candidate Hillary Clinton was projected as the winner in the Nevada Democratic caucuses Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes photos with workers at her campaign office in Des Moines, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, second from left, prays before lunch with supporters at Drake Diner in Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor. Martin O'Malley, speaks during a campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks, as his wife Jane OMeara Sanders looks on, at a campaign event at Iowa State University Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at a campaign event at Fireside Pub and Steak House in Manchester, Iowa. Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum visiting supporters at a house party in West Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Ted Cruz campaigns at Greene County Community Centre in Jefferson, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Senator Rand Paul speaks during a Caucus rally at his Des Moines headquarters in Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa AFP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin introducing the arrival of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 A portrait of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders at his campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Campaign badges on sale ahead of a Trump rally at the Ramada Waterloo Hotel and Convention Centre in Waterloo, Iowa Getty

Later in the day at a campaign rally in an airplane hangar in northern California, Mr Trump commented on the "thugs" who protested at his rally the night before in San Jose, attacking several of his supporters, and began to fondly tell the story of an African American supporter who punched a protester. He then paused mid-sentence to single out a black man in the audience before him.

"Oh, look at my African American over here  look at him," Trump said as he pointed. Are you the greatest? Do you know what I'm talking about?

He then resumed telling the story about the other black man at a different rally: Okay, so we have an African American guy at one of the rallies a month ago. And he's sitting there, behaving. And we had protesters inside the arena and they were dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. OK?

Mr Trump said that his crowd booed these protesters and their costumes started falling apart.

"This African American gets up and, man, he slugged these guys, Mr Trump said, as the crowd cheered. He slugged 'em... So when the African American cold-cocked this guy, this guy never knew what happened. Everybody thought the African American was against me and it was the opposite. He was like this great guy, military guy."

Mr Trump said that the "sleazy people" in media tried to make it look like "the white guy was on my side" when really it was the African American guy who supported him.

And just as Mr Trump pledged earlier in the day to win over Hispanic voters with the promise of jobs, he vowed to do the same for black voters.

"We have tremendous African American support," Mr Trump said. "The reason is: I'm going to bring jobs back to our country. We're going to bring jobs back."

 Washington Post
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On television and on the stump, at debates and in speeches, Donald Trump is reminding the American people that they are going to die.

The reminders arent explicit, and they probably arent part of an intentional strategy. All the same, much of Trumps rhetoric could have the effect of bringing his viewers omnipresent fear of death closer to their conscious minds, according to Sheldon Solomon, a psychologist at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

That includes his emphasis on terrorism, unsurprisingly, but also his preoccupation with immigration. This focus might be helping Trump, since Solomons recent research shows that people who are thinking about death are more likely to say they support him. Study subjects who were prompted to talk about their own death later rated their support for Trump 1.66 points higher on a five-point scale than those who were prompted to talk about pain generally.

Im not suggesting that any of this is calculated, but almost everything that he does is demonstrably effective for raising these non-conscious, existential concerns that in turn make his kind of candidacy all the more alluring, Solomon said.

Solomon is part of a group of researchers that has spent decades investigating the connections between death and a broad variety of human beliefs and behavior. Their inspiration has been the work of Ernest Becker, an anthropologist who argued that the fear of death was a kind of fundamental principle in explaining human psychology. Becker won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1973 book The Denial of Death, but he was shunned in the academic community for what his peers saw as a lack of rigor.

It was existential, psychodynamic, philosophical speculation for which there was no empirical proof, Solomon said. He and his colleagues have tried to supply that proof through experimentation.

Their research is still preliminary and controversial, and they havent worked out a complete theory, but they have discovered a number of startling facts about how people think about death.

 10 of the scariest things Donald Trump has ever said

For example, Solomon and Florette Cohen of the City University of New York, College of Staten Island recently found evidence that asking people to think about immigrants also gets them thinking about death.

Solomon and Cohen asked a small group of volunteers at the College of Staten Island to respond to one of three prompts. One group was asked to write down what they thought would happen, in as much detail as possible, if immigrants moved into their neighborhoods, and what emotions they would feel. The other two groups were asked to answer the same questions, but about their own deaths and about feeling intense pain instead of about immigration.

Then the two researchers gave the participants a set of words with letters missing and asked them to fill in the blanks to get an idea of what the participants were thinking about. Shown C O F F _ _, for example, many people might write COFFEE, especially students in college. If they were thinking about death, however, they might write COFFIN instead.

In pictures: US Elections 2016 Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: US Elections 2016 In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters after rival candidate Hillary Clinton was projected as the winner in the Nevada Democratic caucuses Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes photos with workers at her campaign office in Des Moines, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, second from left, prays before lunch with supporters at Drake Diner in Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor. Martin O'Malley, speaks during a campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks, as his wife Jane OMeara Sanders looks on, at a campaign event at Iowa State University Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at a campaign event at Fireside Pub and Steak House in Manchester, Iowa. Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum visiting supporters at a house party in West Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Ted Cruz campaigns at Greene County Community Centre in Jefferson, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Senator Rand Paul speaks during a Caucus rally at his Des Moines headquarters in Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa AFP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin introducing the arrival of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 A portrait of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders at his campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Campaign badges on sale ahead of a Trump rally at the Ramada Waterloo Hotel and Convention Centre in Waterloo, Iowa Getty

The participants who had been asked to think about immigration had death on their minds, too  almost to the same extent as those who had been asked to think about death explicitly.

Assigned scores from zero to one based on how many words related to death they produced, those who had been asked to think about immigration scored 0.92 on average, while those who had been asked to think about death scored 0.96. Those asked to think about pain scored just 0.19. There was no evidence that the effect was greater for conservative participants in the study.

Solomon said he hopes to replicate the study, which was completed with a small group of a few dozen students at the College of Staten Island.

Yet the results accord with those of similar studies that suggest people interpret challenges to their culture as threats to their very existence. A different group of researchers found that after a group of Canadians read an article in which Canadian cultural tropes were mocked, they were thinking about death, too.

The pattern extends to religious beliefs. Another study found a comparable effect in atheists confronted with arguments in favor of intelligent design, and a third concluded that pointing out logical inconsistencies in the Bible made thoughts of death also more accessible to fundamentalist Christians.

For Solomon, the research suggests that when people create meaning in their lives  whether through religion, nationality or staying at home with a 30-pack of beer and spraying some Cheez Whiz on a cracker, in Solomons words  they are protecting themselves from their constant awareness of death. He and his colleagues have argued that the same is true of clothing and grooming, and that humans conceal their nature as animals from themselves to avoid thinking about their mortality.

Solomon and his colleagues also have found that thinking about death makes charismatic, resolute leaders more appealing. They showed that to be true during President George W. Bushs successful campaign for reelection against John F. Kerry, now the secretary of state, in 2004, and Solomons new research with Cohen has produced similar results for Trump.

They rated participants support for Trump on a scale out of five points based on their answers to several questions. The average rating for those who had been reminded of their mortality was 3.8 points, but it was just 2.2 points for those who had been asked to think about pain.

Solomon said these results suggest that the fear of death is one of several interrelated psychological concepts that could help explain why Trump has been so successful, including authoritarianism, an aversion to uncertainty and racial prejudice.

"It sure seems like an existentially shaky historical moment where it has become increasingly difficult for the average American to perceive that they have any basis for either meaning or self-worth, Solomon said. It is a factor, and in a very close election, it could matter."

Copyright: Washington Post
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Bernie Sanders is using Drake and the Arctic Monkeys in an attempt to attract young voters in next week's California primary.

Hillary Clinton is poised to win the race to become the Democrat presidential candidate.

But Mr Sanders has urged media outlets not to call the race just yet, vowing the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention regardless of the outcome of the primaries.

Sanders has far more supporters under the age of 30 than Ms Clinton and Donald Trump combined, having earned an estimated 1.5 million votes from young people in the 2016 presidential primaries and caucuses, more than twice as many as Ms Clinton.

In an attempt to win over the younger generation of Democrats, the Sanders campaign is using a special kind of paid advertisement on Twitter  the first time the tool has been used in a US election, Buzzfeed News reports.

Using a tool which Twitter calls a conversational ad, some specifically targeted users will be given the option to click a button which will produce a fully-formed tweet, written by the Sanders campaign. They can then send this tweet out to their followers, reminding them to vote Sanders.

Whats smart about conversational ads is the way that they are targeted to reach certain people. The majority of users will not see the advert  they will not be given the option to press the button and send out the automatic tweet.

The only people that will see the advert are people living in California who are similar to followers of modern music and fashion accounts, including Drake, The Arctic Monkeys, Marie Claire Creative Director and Project Runway judge Nina Garcia and Broadway actress Tavi Gevinson. This is an attempt to specifically target young, Californian voters.

The advert will also filter out users who are on an excluded list because they are likely to be registered Republican, not Democrat, and therefore cannot vote for Sanders  these people will not see the advert, even if they fall into the criteria.

Recent poll data from the LA Times shows Mr Sanders to be leading in California by just one point  out of 1,500 registered voters, 44 per cent backed Mr Sanders, with 43 per cent supporting Ms Clinton.

California will vote on 7 June.
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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said it is absolutely possible that a Muslim judge would be biased against him in the courtroom as a result of his plan to temporarily ban all Muslim visitors to the United States.

In an interview with CBS Newss Face the Nation, Mr Trump continued to argue that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a federal fraud case against the property moguls now-defunct Trump University, had treated him unfairly due to his Mexican heritage.

Mr Trump has vowed repeatedly to build a wall on the US-Mexican border to keep out rapists and drug traffickers. Judge Curiel is a US citizen, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents. Asked whether he believed a Muslim judge would also treat him unfairly, Mr Trump replied: Its possible, yes. That would be possible, absolutely.

Mr Trumps argument seems to be that judges with certain backgrounds  ethnic, religious or otherwise  would be biased against him on the basis of his policies and pronouncements. Given the billionaires apparent hostility to a wide range of nationalities and demographic groups, the list of judges incapable of satisfying his standards for impartiality could be long.

In May, the Trump campaign produced a list of 11 people who could be nominated to the US Supreme Court under a Trump administration. All 11 were white.

Judge Curiel last week unsealed documents detailing the aggressive sales playbook used to entice potential students to Trump University. Ive had terrible rulings forever, Trump told Face the Nation. I say hes got bias. I want to build a wall. Im going to build a wall.

Host John Dickerson then asked Mr Trump if he believed in the American tradition of not judging people based on their background. Im not talking about tradition. Im talking about common sense, okay? Mr Trump responded.

Several top Republicans have distanced themselves from Mr Trumps claims about Judge Curiel in recent days. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he couldnt disagree more with Mr Trump, while Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich  who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Mr Trump  said the comments were inexcusable.

Both men have endorsed Mr Trump for President.
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In 1964, it was California that tipped the Republican presidential nomination into the hands of iconoclastic conservative Barry Goldwater. In 1972, the Golden State secured the Democratic nomination for Senator George McGovern, a staunch critic of the Vietnam War. Both went on to lose in landslide general elections  but hey, you cant blame California for that.

For the past several decades, however, the most populous state in the union  also home to its largest haul of electoral delegates  has carried surprisingly little weight when it comes to presidential primaries. The California contest tends to be held at the tail end of primary season, by which time most presumptive nominees are already picking out their convention suits.

Earlier this year, it seemed as if Californias 7 June vote might turn into a doomed final stand for the GOPs #NeverTrump faction. But with his party rivals all humiliated, assimilated or marginalised, Donald Trumps only remaining opposition in California is on the streets, where protesters have come out in large numbers to disrupt his rallies, sometimes violently.

Recommended Read more Hillary Clinton is on the attack

Yet the state has become unexpectedly significant for Democrats, even if that significance is more symbolic than mathematic. This week, the partys nearly nominee, Hillary Clinton, launched a precision attack on Mr Trump, describing his foreign policy platform  if he could be said to have such a thing  as little more than bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.

Already mid-pivot to the general election, Ms Clinton delivered the most effective speech of her campaign on a stage in San Diego arrayed with a total of 19 US flags, a not-so-subliminally presidential backdrop. But as she begins prosecuting the case against Mr Trump, there remains another major obstacle between Ms Clinton and the Oval Office: Bernie Sanders.

Now just a few dozen delegates shy of the necessary 2,383 (including the partys controversial super-delegates), Ms Clinton is expected to clinch the Democratic nomination early on Tuesday evening with a comfortable victory in New Jersey, where she leads the polls by more than 15 points. There are also votes that day in delegate-lite Montana, New Mexico and the Dakotas.

But Mr Sanders is hot on her heels in California, where his revolutionary message appears to have resonated more deeply with many voters than Ms Clintons familiar pragmatism. A series of recent polls put the two candidates neck and neck in a state that once looked like an easy win for the former Secretary of State.

Californias 546 Democratic delegates are distributed proportionately, meaning that even if Mr Sanders does pull off a marginal victory, it will do little to change the balance of the race. But it would sap the Clinton campaigns morale and may give the Vermont Senator sufficient motivation to make his case to the partys convention in Philadelphia in July.

Mr Sanders has promised to back the eventual nominee, but, as he and his supporters never hesitate to point out, that nominee could still technically be Mr Sanders. Yes, Ms Clinton has won more states, more votes and more delegates, but if he were to trounce her in all six states on Tuesday, and then flip several hundred of her super-delegates? Well, you never know.

Speaking in Los Angeles on Saturday, Mr Sanders suggested he would contest the partys convention in July, regardless of the results of the remaining primary races. Decrying the nominating system as totally absurd, the Vermont Senator vowed: The Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention.

The Clinton campaign is rattled by the large number of newly registered independent voters in California, a group that has come out in force for Mr Sanders elsewhere, and which is permitted to vote in the states open Democratic primary. Californias total voter registration is now almost 18m, the most ever registered ahead of a primary election.

More than anywhere, the Latino vote is a major factor here. Latinos now make up a larger share of the states population than non-Hispanic whites, and in 2008 Ms Clinton rode their support to a primary triumph over Barack Obama. But this year, young Latinos  just like young people of every other demographic  are flocking to Mr Sanders in droves.

Californias Latino bloc is also proving problematic for Mr Trump, whose anti-Mexican race-baiting has inflamed passions in this multicultural border state. No state in America has suffered worse from open borders than California, he told supporters at a rally in Anaheim in April. Outside the event, anti-Trump protesters threw rocks and vandalised police vehicles.

On Thursday, protesters again clashed with supporters at a Trump rally in San Jose. The level of animosity the blowhard billionaire inspires here is historic: the same USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll that puts the two Democratic hopefuls in a virtual dead heat in California also shows Ms Clinton beating Mr Trump by more than 25 points at Novembers general election, a colossal margin even in such a deep blue state.

The Clinton campaign has pulled out all the stops in California, where the former Secretary of State and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are expected to host 30 events in the five days leading up to Tuesdays primary. But Mr Sanders has been camped out here for a month, holding large rallies up and down the state, which his campaign estimates will see him speak directly to almost a quarter of a million Californians before 7 June.

I wonder why Secretary Clinton and her husband Bill are back in California, he joked to reporters this week, after the Clintons decided to forgo a days campaigning in New Jersey to return to the west coast. I though we had lost it but I guess Secretary Clinton maybe is looking at some polling that would suggest otherwise.

This being California, both candidates have been accompanied on the campaign trail by a cohort of celebrity surrogates. On Friday Ms Clinton was joined by actresses including Debra Messing, Elizabeth Banks, and Sally Field at an event in Culver City, where she pledged to help tear down Hollywoods gender barriers. Were going to break the celluloid ceiling, she said.

In Mr Sanderss corner are actresses Susan Sarandon, Rosario Dawson and Shailene Woodley, not to mention 90-year-old Dick Van Dyke, all of whom have campaigned on behalf of the Vermont Senator in California. Ms Sarandon, who recently fought a Twitter flame war with Ms Messing over the merits of their respective candidates, said in a Friday interview with The Young Turks that she believed Ms Clinton was more dangerous than Donald Trump.

In Silicon Valley, the states other great cultural power-base, Mr Sanders may have a hold over Bay Area millennials, but Ms Clinton appears to be more popular among the tech industrys executive class. People in the internet and electronics sectors have donated significantly more to her campaign than to any other candidate, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Paypal co-founder and tech investor Peter Thiel will act as a pledged delegate for Mr Trump at the Republican convention in Cleveland next month, but that makes him an outlier. At the annual Code Conference in LA this week, Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos slammed Mr Trump for working to freeze or chill the media that are examining him.

Apparently the San Diego Union Tribune agreed with Mr Bezos, and on Thursday endorsed not Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, but Ronald Reagan. The Republican-leaning newspaper advised its readers to write in the late President Reagans name on their ballots, rather than vote for the crackpot reality TV star, whom it said was unfit to lead the free world.

The weeks most important endorsement, however, came from Sacramento. Back in 1992, former California Governor Jerry Brown was a populist insurgent not entirely unlike Mr Sanders, who lost a bruising presidential primary to Bill Clinton. Today Mr Brown is again the Governor of the Golden State, and on Tuesday he published an open letter to fellow Democrats, urging them to fall in behind Ms Clinton. Trumps candidacy is dangerous, he wrote, adding that this is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other."
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A British ex-serviceman abandoned his attempt to reach the peak of Mount Everest to save a fellow climber who had run out of oxygen.

Leslie Binns from Rotherham,South Yorkshire was 500m from the summit when he came across Indian climber Sunita Hazra, who was sliding down the mountain.

Mr Binns served in the military for 13 years including tours in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He lost his left eye after an explosion in Afghanistan.

The 42-year-old, who now works as a private security guard at oil fields in Iraq, said he was "immensely proud to save a life but wished he had been able to save another climber who died during their descent.

He first noticed something was wrong on the approach to the "the balcony" area of the ascent where people tend to leave spare oxygen bottles.

Mr Binns told the BBC:"I noticed someone sliding down the fixed climbing lines towards me.

"All I could hear were the screams of terror as the person gained momentum. I braced myself to try and stop whoever it was, and managed to do so.

"At this time I didn't know that this was Sunita Hazra. I helped her upright and looked at her oxygen regulator. It was registering empty."

After helping Ms Hazra to recover, she continued her descent but collapsed after 20 metres.

Although he was 500m from reaching the peak, he decided to end his bid and with his sherpa help Ms Hazra get down safely.

Mr Binns said: "I climbed down to her and called my Sherpa. I told him we are not going up and we would give Sunita my spare oxygen bottle and take her down."

During their descent, the three came across another climber who was also struggling. After helping this second struggling climber, Mr Binns fell into waist-deep crevasses "no less than five times".

Unable to help this second struggling climber any further, the three finally reached their camp.

60th anniversary: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest  but not the last Show all 3 1 /3 60th anniversary: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest  but not the last 60th anniversary: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest  but not the last web-everest-1-reuters.jpg Reuters 60th anniversary: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest  but not the last web-everest-3-getty.jpg Getty Images 60th anniversary: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest  but not the last web-everest-2-ap.jpg AP

He said: "I gave Sunita my sleeping bag in my tent. We then tried our best to get her warm by patting and rubbing her. She was suffering from hypothermia and her right hand was badly frost-bitten.

"I then remembered we had a flask of ginger tea. I used this to try and re-warm Sunita's hand.

"I dried it off and told her to keep it in her fleece pocket which would keep it warm."

Mr Binns said he could hear the other climber in the distance but was too exhausted to go back out, adding: "I truly regret not being able to do anything more for him.

"But I had nothing left in me that night and I tried my level best to rescue him, but he could not be moved. No summit is worth a life.

"I am immensely proud that I helped Sunita. I just wish I could have done more."

 Everest on speed: UK guide promises summit in 42 days

When he carried on his descent the next day, he came across the climber's body which he belives sherpas have since taken down.

Ms Hazra was treated in hopsital and was discharged on Wednesday.

Her brother Kingshuk Chatterjee said Mr Binns is "the reason why she is still alive now, he is a very brave man."
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A diver has been killed by a shark that eyewitnesses have described as being at least five-and-a-half metres long in the second fatal attack to hit Australia in less than a week.

Western Australia state police say the 60-year-old woman was diving with a man at a popular spot in the northern Perth suburb of Mindarie on Sunday when the shark attacked.

The man reportedly said he felt something go past him but he didn't feel the shark at that stage. Three nearby fisherman then managed to position their boat between the man and the shark, but it was too late for the woman who was then attacked.

It is not known what species of shark was involved.

Police Inspector Danny Mulligan said the woman's dive partner managed to pull her out of the water after she was attacked, but her injuries proved fatal.

"The other boat that was in the water was five-and a half metres long", Police Inspector Mulligan said. "And they say that the shark was longer than their boat.

The woman was the second person killed by a shark in Western Australia in less than a week.

 Australia: Shark attacks 29 y/o surfer south of Perth

On Tuesday, a surfer's leg was bitten off by a shark about 60 miles south of where the woman was attacked. The surfer, Ben Gerring, later died of his injuries.

The brother of 29-year-old Mr Gerring thanked the "heroes" who took him to shore after the attack, and the staff at Royal Perth Hospital, where he died on Friday night.

Rick Gerring said the hospital's care had given the family three days with Ben.

"Obviously we were always hoping for the best outcome, it was always at the back of our minds that this could happen, but they gave us that time to say our goodbyes," he told ABC News.

In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Diver filming alongside a Great White shark to capture the subtle signals of the secret shark language, in Guadalupe, Mexico Morne Hardenberg/Atlantic Edge Films/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Great White Sharks stalk fur seals in the murky water and use the low angle of the sun at dawn and dusk to conceal themselves Morne Hardenberg/Atlantic Edge Films/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Port Jackson Sharks are ancient creatures from a group older than the dinosaurs. Their strange teeth are for crushing shellfish and sea urchins Justin Gilligan/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Tens of Thousands of Mobula Rays gather together in the sea off Mexico Carlos Aguilera/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Giant Manta Rays can be up to 7 metres across and travel the oceans feeding on plankton Erick Higuera/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Great White Sharks gather together off the tiny pacific island of Guadalupe and use body language to communicate with each other Morne Hardenberg/Atlantic Edge Films/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Great White Sharks in South Africa feed on fur seals and have evolved extraordinary abilities to find their prey Morne Hardenberg/Atlantic Edge Films/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Hundreds of Oceanic Blacktip sharks gather together to attack a shoal of anchovy off the coast of South Africa Morne Hardenberg/Atlantic Edge Films/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Mobula Ray leap high out of the water, sometimes even doing back flips and somersaults. It is thought the loud belly flop sounds they make help in courtship Carlos Aguilera/BBC In pictures: 'Shark', BBC's pioneering new wildlife series Shark Ragged Tooth Sharks live in and around shipwrecks off the coast of North Carolina Mike Gerken/Evolution Underwater Imaging/BBC

Mr Gerring was attacked while paddling his surfboard at Falcon Beach in his home town of Mandurah, south of Perth.

Fellow surfers paddled to him to take him to shore, witnesses said.

An inspection of his damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible. The Fisheries Department trapped and killed a large shark on Wednesday afternoon but did not know if it was the same shark that attacked Mr Gerring.

Area beaches have reopened, but the department warned people to be extra cautious in the water.

PA
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A bus carrying Czech tourists has come under gun fire, injuring six passengers, as it travelled through south-eastern France.

Alex Perrin, prosecutor of Valence, said the bus was hit on Friday night as it travelled along the A7 on its way home from a trip to Spain.

Six of the passengers, which included school children, were slightly injured after being hit by flying glass and one person was seriously hurt.

Mr Perrin told BFM-TV that a first shot hit the front window and a second hit the rear window, shattering both.

There have been no arrests or claims of responsibility.

Mr Perrin said "one could think that this bus ... was no more a target than any other."

PA
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Switzerland has voted by an overwhelming majority to reject proposals for a universal basic income..

Around 78 per cent of voters have rejected the policy, according to projections from the national broadcaster SRF1.

Had it passed, anyone legally residing in Switzerland would have received suggested basic income of 2,500SFr (1,755) every month whether they worked or not.

Supporters of the basic income had said that half the work done in Switzerland is unpaid, such as housework and care in the community.

They stated that such income would help this work become "more valued".

Critics attacked the concept as there was no plan of how to fund the costly policy, something supporters said was the responsibility of the Swiss parliament.

Indeed, no parliamentary party came out in favour of the policy.

One of the key issues in the referendum had been the view put forward by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) that the new policy would cause wide-scale immigration due to Switzerland's agreement to the free movement of people with all 28 EU member states.

 Switzerland: World's biggest poster unfurled in Geneva supporting basic income

SVP spokeswoman Luis Stamm told the BBC: "Theoretically, if Switzerland were an island [basic income] would be possible.

"You could cut down on existing social payments and instead pay a certain amount of money to every individual.

"But with open borders it's a total impossibility. If you would offer every individual a Swiss amount of money you would have billions of people who would try to move into Switzerland."

The basic income was voted alongside four other issues including speeding up the countrys asylum process which was projected to receive 66 per cent in favour.

For an issue to be put to referendum, a petition must raise at least 100,000 signatures.

The Dutch city of Utrecht is planning a two-year experiment with a similar plan, handing money to residents who already receive welfare benefits.
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Polls have now opened in Switzerland for the world's first referendum on the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI).

If passed, every adult legally resident in Switzerland will receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss Francs (1,755) a month whether they work or not.

Supporters for the Yes vote have dressed up as robots to highlight the increased use of technology in factories, retail and finance has replaced human employees with machines which do not require incomes.

Speaking as hundreds of "robots" danced on the streets of Zurich, campaigner Che Wagner said: "The robots are saying 'we don't want to grab your work and make you suffer

"We want to make you free, that's why they want a basic income for us humans.

"In Switzerland for example, over half of all work that is done is unpaid - in the home, care, in the communities - so, that work would be more valued with a basic income."

Universal basic income is not a a 21st century idea, Sir Thomas More made an argument for it in his 1516 work "Utopia".

Those supporting universal basic income have not provided a way of funding the universal basic income, saying it would be the job of the Swiss parliament to find the money.

Very few politicians have supported the UBI with no parliamentary party coming out in favour of it.

 Switzerland: World's biggest poster unfurled in Geneva supporting basic income

Instead of the question of cost, politicians have highlighted their concerns that the UBI will encourage "a lack of initiative and personal responsibility" with young people not feeling a need to find work.

A key argument believed to be swaying voters had been put forward by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) that the UBI will cause widescale immigration due to Switzerland's agreement to the free movement of people with all 28 EU member states.

SVP spokeswoman Luis Stamm told the BBC: "Theoretically if Switzerland were an island [basic income] would be possible.

"You could cut down on existing social payments and instead pay a certain amount of money to every individual.

"But with open borders it's a total impossibility. If you would offer every individual a Swiss amount of money you would have billions of people who would try to move into Switzerland."

According to the latest opinion polls, Switzerland is expected to reject basic income.
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At least four children have drowned trying to escape the Isis-held city of Fallujah as the Iraqi army said it was poised to enter the centre of the jihadist group's stronghold.

Soldiers have secured a neighbourhood to the south of the city and are preparing for an assault, a general in the Iraqi government forces told reporters.

But with up to 60,000 civilians trapped between the jihadists and the elite special forces at the forefront of the Iraqi operation, those still inside Fallujah are becoming increasingly desperate.

It is difficult to verify the exact numbers of those drowned in their attempts to escape across the Euphrates, which runs adjacent to the west of the city, but the UNHCR has confirmed that several people have died in their attempt to escape.

Heading to safe haven during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Isis (AP)

Up to 60,000 civilians were feared trapped in Fallujah at the start of the Iraqi operation (AP)

Hospital sources said 18 bodies were recovered from the river over the weekend (AP)

Shakir al Essawi, head of the local provincial council, said hundreds of families were attempting the crossing and the bodies of two children, a woman and an older man had been recovered from the water.

Doctors at the al-Amariya Hospital, west of Baghdad, told The New Arab the death toll was as high as 18, including seven children and three women.

Inside Isis secret tunnels Show all 7 1 /7 Inside Isis secret tunnels Inside Isis secret tunnels Network of underground tunnels was discovered by Kurdish forces after they regained the town of Sinjar in Iraq Inside Isis secret tunnels A member of the Peshmerga forces inspects a tunnel used by Isis militants in the town of Sinjar, Iraq Reuters Inside Isis secret tunnels An entrance to the tunnel used by Islamic State militants is seen in the town of Sinjar, Iraq Inside Isis secret tunnels The secret tunnels allowed militants to freely move underground Inside Isis secret tunnels The tunnels appear to be wired with electricity Inside Isis secret tunnels Some of the tunnels are 30 feet deep Inside Isis secret tunnels Concerns remain that parts of the tunnels are rigged with explosives

They tried to escape from death but were swallowed up by the river, Dr Mohammad al-Isawi said.

Dramatic pictures showed families, old and young, fleeing across the broad river with whatever possessions they could carry.

 Iraqi army advances in Fallujah while ISIL launches suicide attacks

Mr Essawi said: They are using empty refrigerators, wooden cupboards and kerosene barrels as makeshift boats to cross the river.

It's totally unsafe and this is why innocent people are drowning.

It is two weeks after Iraq launched its operation to recapture Fallujah, one of the last Isis strongholds in the country and second in size only to Mosul.

Lieutenant General Abdel Wahab al-Saadi said on Sunday that his forces had secured the largely agricultural southern neighbourhood of Naymiyah, under cover of US-led coalition air strikes.

The operation was announced in May, more than two years after Fallujah fell to Isis in a crushing defeat for the government.

Now well-embedded in the city, Isis has built tunnels and laid booby-traps and mines to make up for their disadvantage in terms of numbers.

The militants have also told civilians they will be killed if they try to flee or display white flags on their houses, as instructed by the Iraqi government.
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A businessman in the United Arab Emirates has paid almost 3.4 million for a licence plate bearing just the number 1.

My ambition is always to be number 1, said Arif Ahmad al-Zarouni, the businessman who emerged triumphant from the auction hall in Sharjah, the third-largest emirate of the UAE.

Authorised by the police, sales of distinguished licence plates have become an increasingly lucrative business.

Other popular numbers sold on Saturday night included 12, 22, 50, 100, 333, 777, 1000, 2016, 2020 and 99999, according to Gulf News.

But it was the number 1 which attracted the most attention, and bidding quickly rose from its reserve of AED1 million to its final price of AED18 million (3.37 million).

Mr Zarouni, who said the licence plate was for his personal use, said he was only interested in the final lot.

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. 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I attended the licence plate auction only to win Number 1, he said. I have no plan to win other numbers.

Each of the seven emirates of the UAE has its own licence plate system, meaning there are seven opportunities to be Number 1 across the federation.

And while the price paid by Mr Zarouni may seem large, it isnt the record spent on a licence plate in the UAE.

That dubious honour goes to the then-25-year-old businessman Saeed al-Khouri, who paid a staggering AED52.2 million (9.8 million) for the number 1 plate in Abu Dhabi in 2008. Officials said the money from that auction would go towards founding a hospital for road traffic accident victims.
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A top Syrian Kurdish commander has died, several days after sustaining injuries during a US-backed campaign to unseat Isis from its Raqqa stronghold.

Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was hit by sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, an Isis-controlled area which is key to the supply route between the Turkish border and Raqqa.

He was evacuated by US forces to a hospital in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, where he died.

Recommended Read more Raqqa citizens tell of Isis indoctrinating teenagers to fight and die

His death has been honoured by Kurdish supporters, with many sharing the contents of a letter he wrote to his daughter in which he said it was his duty to defend, work and fight Isis to protect her future.

The commander fought against militants in Kobani in early 2015, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Those battles, the first major setback to the IS advance in northern Syria, were seen as instrumental in securing US support for Kurdish forces in the country's multi-layered conflict.

The SDF are now advancing on Manbij, 72 miles to the north-west of Raqqa, as Syrian government forces backed by Iranian, Lebanese and Russian firepower, advance on the capital of the so-called Islamic State from the south. It is unclear whether the twin offensives were coordinated.

Pro-government forces reached within 25 miles of the Tabqa Air Base, to the west of Raqqa, according to the Observatory. Isis militants captured the base from the government in 2014, killing scores of captured soldiers.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

The media arm of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces, said the Syrian army took a small village 31 miles to the south-west of Tabqa air base.

The twin offensive on IS-strongholds in Syria coincides with a military operation in neighbouring Iraq on Fallujah, one of the most important cities still held by the militant group.

 Syrian army 'crosses into Raqqa province'

Government and Russian airstrikes meanwhile killed at least 23 people in opposition-held parts of Aleppo, once Syria's largest city and former commercial capital, activists said, and killed or wounded dozens more in Idlib, a rebel-held city in the country's north-west.

The Civil Defence, a first responder group that operates in rebel-held areas, reported 50 airstrikes in Aleppo on Sunday.

The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said the strikes killed at least 30 people. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at 23.

Activists reported that a war plane had crashed south of Aleppo. It was not immediately clear whether the plane had malfunctioned or had been shot down.

The Local Coordination Committees network said rebels shot the plane down near Khalasa, where a coalition of opposition fighters and al-Qaida-linked insurgents have eroded government control over the past two months.

Aleppo has been divided between government and opposition control since 2012.

AP
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It was possibly the one regret he took to the grave, the one thing that not even The Greatest could change.

In May 1964, Muhammad Ali had a chance meeting in Ghana, with his former friend and mentor Malcolm X. And he turned his back on him.

Turning my back on Malcolm, wrote Ali in his 2004 autobiography The Soul of a Butterfly, was one of the mistakes that I regret most in my life.

I wish Id been able to tell Malcolm I was sorry, that he was right about so many things. But he was killed before I got the chance.

On February 21 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated as he gave a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.

There would be no reconciliation between the boxer and the man who recruited him into the Nation of Islam, who was beside him on the day the newly crowned 22-year-old heavyweight champion of the world announced that he had rejected Cassius Clay as his slave name.

By February 1964, when Ali announced his name change the day after becoming world champion, Malcolm X was growing increasingly disillusioned with Elijah Muhammad, the prophet leader of the black separatist Nation of Islam movement.

 Muhammad Ali - 'I don't have white friends, they're associates'

Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X insisted, was in fact so ignorant of Islam that he didnt know the prayer ritual. And when he claimed that Muhammad was a hypocritical womaniser who had fathered children through affairs with his secretaries, Malcolm X was frozen out of the Nation of Islam.

He wanted Ali to come with him. But the young champion was to disappoint him.

Malcolm and I were so close and had been through so much, wrote Ali in his autobiography, But there were many things for me to consider.

Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237443.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237444.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237445.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237446.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237448.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237449.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237451.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237456.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237464.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237465.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237466.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237468.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures muhammad-ali-malcolm-x.jpg Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237469.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237470.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures muhammad-ali-daughters.jpg Evening Standard/Getty Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237473.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures 237477.bin Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures muhammad-ali-afghanistan.jpg Getty Images Muhammad Ali: A life in pictures muhammed-ali-2016.jpg Getty Images

Elijah Muhammad, he said, had conferred the name Muhammad Ali on him in March 1964.

I felt that he had set me free! the boxer recalled in 2004. I was proud of my name and dedicated to the Nation of Islam as Elijah presented it. At that point in my journey, I just wasnt ready to question his teaching.

Instead, Ali decided, in line with Nation of Islam politics, to see Africa and meet my brothers and sisters.

But he arrived in Ghana just as Malcolm X was visiting, on his slow return from a pilgrimage to Mecca. They bumped into each other outside the Ambassador Hotel in the capital Accra.

He was wearing the traditional Muslim white robes, wrote Ali, Further signifying his break with Elijah Muhammad. He walked with a cane that looked like a prophets stick and he wore a beard. I thought hed gone too far.

When he came up to greet me I turned away, making our break public.

 Muhammad Ali in his own words

According to the account retold by Johnny Smith, co-author of Blood Brothers, a book chronicling the friendship and its breakdown, Malcolm Xs eager call of Brother Muhammad! was met with Alis stony-faced rejoinder: Brother Malcolm, you shouldn't have crossed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

It was only years after Malcolm X was assassinated that Ali came to see him as a visionary, ahead of us all.

Elijah Muhammads death in 1975 paved the way for his son Wallace D Muhammad to bring the Nation of Islam, and Ali, into the fold of mainstream Sunni Islam.

By 2004 Ali could write that Elijah Muhammad, who had taught him to see white Americans as blue-eyed devils , had accomplished much in terms of black racial pride but that Malcolm was the first to discover the truth, that colour doesnt make a man a devil. It is the heart, soul and mind that define a person.

Malcolm X was a great thinker and an even greater friend, wrote Ali. I might never have become a Muslim if it hadnt been for Malcolm. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have turned my back on him.
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Every year, Transparency International, the global anticorruption coalition, releases its Corruption Perceptions Index, a survey into the countries people perceive as the most corrupt on earth.

As Transparency International notes, there is no hard and fast way to assess absolute levels of corruption in countries or territories on the basis of hard empirical data. This is basically because, by its very nature, corruption is usually hidden from the public.

But it creates a ranking based on several other corruption studies, and gives 168 countries a ranking out of 100, where 100 is the least corrupt and 0 is most corrupt. This helps to give a pretty good idea of where in the world is most corrupt.

The countries seen as most corrupt tend to be in Africa and the Middle East, in societies with weak legal and governmental systems and widespread poverty. For example, Somalia tops this year's list, with North Korea and Afghanistan close behind.

Business Insider decided to take a look at the wealthy, democratic nations where corruption is most rife. To do so, we looked at the positions of countries within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and then picked out those with the highest levels of perceived corruption.

18) Ireland  Scoring 75 points overall, Ireland was one of the less corrupt countries worldwide. However a 2015 documentary from TV network RTE showed that politicians at all levels in the country had incorrectly declared their interests, with certain councillors had seeking cash payments in return for their services.

17) Japan  While Japan is relatively uncorrupt by global standards, GAN Integrity's anticorruption portal note that there is a traditional practice (known as amakudari) of assigning retired government officials to top positions within Japanese companies, even if they do not have the proper experience.

16) Chile  Despite being one of the most corrupt countries in the OECD, Chile is one of the least corrupt in Latin America, where countries like Brazil, Venezuela, and Paraguay are riddled with bribery and fraud. Overall, Chile scored 70 points, three fewer than in last year's index, meaning it has become slightly more corrupt in the past 12 months.

15) Estonia  In 2012, Estonia's president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, helped implement an anticorruption act to increase transparency in the public sector. It has helped improve its Corruption Index score grow from 69 to 70.

14) France  France has become slightly less corrupt in the past year, gaining a single point and scoring 70 out of 100, and corruption is not massively widespread. GAN notes that The Penal Code criminalises active and passive bribery and bribery of national and foreign officials.

13) Portugal  In an Ernst & Young survey in June 2015, 83% of Portuguese citizens said that corruption and bribery are widespread in the country, and in 2014, former Prime Minister Jose Socrates was detained on suspicion of tax fraud and money laundering. Portugal scored 63 points in the Transparency Index.

12) Poland  Scoring 62 points in the Index, Poland just misses out on being one of the 10 most corrupt OECD nations.

According to GAN Integrity: Political corruption constitutes a challenge to fair business as politicians use their positions to gain benefits, and practices of nepotism and cronyism are widespread.

11) Israel  The OECD's poorest nation is also one of its most corrupt, scoring 61 out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index. In May 2015, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted of illegally taking more than $150,000 from an American tycoon.

10) Slovenia  There have been several high-profile corruption scandals in Slovenia in recent years. For example, in 2013 and 2014, there were mass protests against Prime Minister Janez Jansa and opposition leader Zoran Jankovic because they had been accused of failing to properly declare their personal assets.

9) Spain  Before his recent reelection, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy was accused of corruption by prominent opposition figures, and just this week a new scandal hit the ruling Popular Party, when 24 people were arrested over bribery allegations. Overall, Spain gained 58 points from Transparency International.

8) Czech Republic  In the most recent Corruption Perceptions Index, the Czech Republic gained 56 points, up from 51 in last year's survey. The score seems to reflect the end of a major political corruption scandal, which in 2013 led to then prime minister Petr Necas being forced to resign.

7) South Korea  Corruption was a big issue in South Korea in 2015, with Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo forced to resign in April after being accused of taking bribes in the suicide note of a prominent businessman. South Korea scored 56 out of 100 on the corruption index.

6) Hungary  Falling from 54 points in last year's survey to 51 now, Hungary has become more corrupt. The practice of giving doctors and surgeons a small bribe is widespread in the country, with one survey saying that 92% of Hungarians think it is an appropriate thing to do.

5) Slovakia  Also scoring 51 out of 100, Slovakia is up there with the most corrupt countries in Europe. In recent years, the so-called Gorilla Scandal  where politicians, officials, and business executives were accused of taking and giving bribes to secure contracts  has been high on Slovakia's political agenda.

4) Greece  Corruption in Greece has fallen since last year's survey, with the country scoring 46 points compared to 43 last time. The practice of fakelaki, a colloquial term for bribes given to get better service, is allegedly widespread in the country.

3) Italy  Corruption in the Eurozone's third-biggest economy is often associated with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has been accused of corruption numerous times, was convicted of tax fraud in 2013, and was found guilty of bribing a senator in 2015. Italy scored 44 points in the Corruption Perceptions Index.

2) Turkey  Turkey ranks as the most corrupt country within Europe, scoring 42 points out of 100. In 2013, the country was rocked by a massive scandal involving the director of a state-owned bank, and many senior business people allegedly taking part in bribery, fraud, smuggling and money laundering.

1) Mexico  By far the OECD's most corrupt country is Mexico, scoring just 35 points. This is perhaps unsurprising given that Mexico is at the heart of the trade to bring drugs from Latin America into the US. Notorious drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has managed to escape prison twice, helped by giving huge bribes to prison officials.

Read more:

 13 useful life hacks you can learn in a minute

 Why Microsoft's chatbot turned into a racist

 Everyone is worried that the China bubble will pop

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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Scientists have long speculated that the ancient Egyptians used metal from meteorites to make iron objects.

Now an analysis of a dagger found in Tutankhamuns tomb has provided strong evidence that this was the case  and that the Egyptians knew the iron had come from the sky. But why did they use such an unusual source for the metal when theres plenty of iron here on Earth?

Until recently, we didnt think that the ancient Egyptians were particularly good at producing iron objects until late in their history, around 500BC. Theres no archaeological evidence for significant iron working anywhere in the Nile Valley. Even the large amounts of iron-rich smelting waste products found in the Delta region could actually have been produced by attempts to make copper. When Tutankhamun died  800 years earlier  iron was a rarer material than gold.

Discoveries that change the way you see the world Show all 30 1 /30 Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discoveries that change the way you see the world Million-year-old human footprints discovered Million-year-old human footprints have been discovered on the beach as Happisburgh, Norfolk Discoveries that change the way you see the world The world's oldest face Scientists discovered the worlds oldest face, which belongs to this 419 million-year-old fish - an ancient sea predator that might also re-write the history of our evolution from the seas Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discovery of the ancient forest Ancient forest revealed by storms. The recent huge storms and gale force winds that have battered the coast of West Wales have stripped away much of the sand from stretches of the beach between Borth and Ynyslas. The disappearing sands have revealed ancients forests, with the remains of oak trees dating back to the Bronze Age, 6,000 years ago. The ancient remains are said by some to be the origins of the legend of Cantrer Gwealod , a mythical kingdom now submerged under the waters pif Cardigan Bay Discoveries that change the way you see the world Bowhead whale genome, linked to cancer resistance, DNA damage repair and increased longevity, mapped by scientists In a UK-based study, scientists working together with scientists in Alaska, Denmark, Ireland, Spain and South Korea successfully mapped the genome of the bowhead whale - the longest-living mammal - identifying a number of genes that are linked to cancer resistance, DNA damage repair and increased longevity PA Discoveries that change the way you see the world Researchers develop 'imaginary meal' pill An 'imaginary meal' pill called fexaramine has been developed by researchers at the Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory Discoveries that change the way you see the world Scientists prolong lifespan of flies Scientists at the Institute of Cell Biology, in Switzerland, have successfully managed to prolong the lifespan of flies, activating a gene that destroys unhealthy cell Discoveries that change the way you see the world Green tea can help cure oral cancer Green tea can help kill off cancerous cells, say researchers Discoveries that change the way you see the world Mars once had a large ocean covering a large portion of its northern hemisphere Almost half of the northern hemisphere of Mars was once covered by a large ocean that held 20 million cubic kilometres of water: more than the Artic Ocean Discoveries that change the way you see the world Offices playing natural sounds can boost worker moods and improve cognitive abilities Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute learned that offices which play natural sounds such as ocean waves, trees and bird calls can boost the moods of workers and improve their cognitive abilities, as well as providing privacy (by masking speech) Discoveries that change the way you see the world Impact glass may exist on Mars Brown University researchers found that spectral signals indicate the existence of impact glass on the surface of Mars, with specific deposits conserved in craters Discoveries that change the way you see the world Fathers experience weight gain Fathers have been found to experience weight gain and a rise in their body mass index (BMI), according to a research conducted by Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine. 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The most common natural source of metal iron on Earth is iron ores  rocks that contain iron chemically bonded to other elements. These need to be processed by heating them with other materials (smelting) to extract a low-quality form of iron, which is then beaten with hammers to remove impurities. This requires considerable know-how, effort and tools that we have no evidence for in ancient Egypt.

There were abundant supplies of iron ore in both Egypt and the Sinai peninsula and textual sources indicate that Egyptians were aware of the metal from early in their history. But the ore was mostly used to create pigments for art and make up. One explanation for this may be that the readily accessible iron ores were of poor quality so couldnt be worked into more useful metal.

Interstellar source

But iron doesnt just come from iron ore. There is evidence that numerous prehistoric societies worldwide which did not have access to ores or knowledge of smelting made use of metallic iron found in occasional meteorites. This precious gift from nature still required shaping into a useful form, often resulting in very basic iron objects, such as small thin metal pieces that could be used as blades or bent into shapes.

If ancient Egyptians knew that iron could be found in meteorites that came from the sky  the place of the gods  it may have been symbolically important to them. As a result, they could have seen all iron as a divine material that wasnt appropriate to work into a practical, everyday form and that should be reserved only for high-status people.

Meteorites may have even played a more direct role in state religion. For example, the Benben stone worshipped in the sun temple of the god Ra at Heliopolis is thought to have possibly been a meteorite. The word benben is derived from the verb weben, meaning to shine.

Diane Johnson/The Manchester Museum , Author provided

The ancient language also offers clues as to how how iron was perceived by Egyptians  and that they knew meteorites were a source of the metal. The earliest hieroglyphic word for iron was greatly debated by translators, who frequently confused the words for copper and iron. The word bi-A was eventually translated as iron, but could easily have referred a range of hard, dense, iron-like materials.

The word was used in many texts including the funerary Pyramid Texts, early religious writings dating from approximately 2375BC but likely to have been composed far earlier, carved on the internal walls of some pyramids. These textual references to iron connect it with aspects of the sky and with the bones of the dead king who will live for ever as an undying star in the sky.

From the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (approximately 1295BC) a new hieroglyphic word for iron appeared: bi-A-n-pt, which literally translates as iron from the sky. Why this new word appears in this exact form at this time is unknown but it was later applied to all metallic iron. An obvious explanation for the sudden emergence of the word would be a major impact event or large shower of meteorites.

This would have been witnessed by much of the ancient Egyptian population, leaving little uncertainty as to where exactly the mysterious iron came from. One possible candidate event is the Gebel Kamil meteorite impact in southern Egypt. Although its exact date remains unknown, based upon nearby archaeology we know it occurred within the past 5,000 years.

Ritual significance

Iron is also connected to ritual artefacts such as those used in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, a ritual performed at the entrance of a tomb designed to transform the mummy into a latent being with the potential for life. Later texts, including temple inventories, that reference the equipment used in this ceremony refer to the iron blades used as the two stars. It may be that iron was allowed an important role in this ceremony because of the association of iron with meteorites, powerful natural phenomena whose own inherent power might increase the potency of the ritual.

We also know that iron dagger blades were important enough to be mentioned in diplomatic correspondence. The best-known example is a letter from King Tushratta of Mitanni (today in northern Iraq and Syria) detailing a dowry of his daughter who was to be sent as a bride to Tutankhamuns grandfather, King Amenhotep III. This letter intriguingly refers to a dagger blade of habalkinu, a poorly documented word derived from the ancient Hittite language that some linguists have translated as steel.

Only further detailed analysis of the chemistry and microstructure of other artefacts will reveal if meteorites were a common source of the iron that the ancient Egyptians produced. We also need to determine when where and how the smelting of terrestrial iron ores started in Egypt to further guide us in our knowledge on the origins, evolution and specific techniques of ancient Egyptian metalworking technology. By combining this with our knowledge of the cultural importance of iron, we can start to develop a realistic understanding of the true value of this metal in ancient Egypt.

Diane Johnson, Post Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Ask most forecasters which countries will own the 21st century and they will point to the likes of China, India, Russia and Brazil. Fewer will mention Nigeria, and yet it could plausibly be argued that this African powerhouse has the most potential of all.

As the continents biggest economy, with a population expected to surpass that of the US by 2050, and vast natural resources in possession of a government system that has shown signs of democracy, the future ought to belong to this emerging giant. And yet on the evidence of the past few months, the promise of Nigeria looks ever more likely to be a promise denied.

A new militant group called the Niger Delta Avengers has reduced the countrys output to its lowest in more than two decades. The group, which is based in the region where more than half of Nigerias oil is produced, says it wants a much greater share of oil revenues and more control of the resources from this wealthy region. To that end, it has used armed takeovers, kidnappings and aggressive, large-scale vandalism to damage the flow and output of the most important commodity the country has (after its people). Crude oil accounts for around two-thirds of state revenues and 90 per cent of hard currency earnings. That is why the precipitate drop in production, from around 2.2 million barrels a day to a mere 1.4 million, has been so calamitous.

This collapse in oil has had a devastating effect on Nigerias economy, which is heavily reliant on crude. Foreign reserves have fallen by nearly $3bn (2bn) in the past year alone; and foreign exchange inflows to the central bank are down nearly 50 per cent year on year. But of course the international market in oil is as much of a problem for Nigeria as local factors: with shale reserves opening up in the US because of new fracking techniques, major oil producers such as Nigeria wont see a dramatic recovery in the oil price any time soon.

The countrys economy is also stumbling because of policy failures by the government of Muhammadu Buhari. Currency policies and import controls he enacted have led to capital flight and stalling investment. The President was elected on a tough, anti-corruption ticket, and seen as a counterpoint to the lackadaisical approach adopted by his misnamed predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan. Mr Buharis assault on corruption seems genuine, but his economic stewardship has so far been woeful, even for allowing the dastardly hand he has been given. In the first quarter of this year, Nigeria contracted by 0.36 per cent. In the decade to 2014, it grew at an average seven per cent. For the 174 million people of this country, that slowdown is appalling.

Moreover, the economic crunch is just one of the problems facing Mr Buhari. Despite the recent discovery of one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped two years ago, the battle against the Islamist insurgency of Boko Haram is not being won. These vile militants have been forced to make some strategic retreats, relinquishing territory they previously owned; but they are still rampant, and exercise control over vast swathes of the country and its neighbours.

Mr Buharis style of leadership, seen by even some of his allies as excessively secretive, means he is losing the political capital that his initial mandate provided. He desperately needs the support not just of his government, but of the people of this vast country  itself divided between a largely Islamic north and mainly Christian south  if he is to hold it together, restore the economy to growth, a defeat the militants who want to impose sharia over much of Africa. As things stand, the President is fighting a losing battle.
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Switzerland rejected a plan to introduce a basic income this weekend, in a move that surprised few but disappointed many. More than 100,000 people, after all, had signed a petition demanding a referendum on the controversial economic idea, which calls for adults to be paid an unconditional monthly income, whether they work or not.

Advocates of the universal basic income argued that as much as 50 per cent of the work done in Switzerland  and, indeed, globally  is unpaid, such as care work, child-rearing and community projects, despite being absolutely vital for society. Many hoped that the introduction of a flat state benefit would encourage more creativity and philanthropy, as well as change social perceptions of caring for older people or children. For too long, pro-basic income campaigners argued, 24-hour commitment to raising a child or keeping an elderly relative alive  a job that is as unrelenting and difficult as it is rewarding  has been dismissed as not really work because of a lack of financial recognition. Those behind the campaign suggested a monthly income of 2,500SFr (1,755) for adults and 625SFr per child would be appropriate, based on the cost of living in the country.

It is true that we often dismiss and devalue work done outside traditional work environments, even as that work takes a very real toll on the people who do it. Weve seen this emotional labour feature in feminist debate in particular, as statistics are released time and time again that show women are doing a disproportionately high amount of work in the home (taking responsibility for school runs, housework, looking after ageing parents and organising holidays, for instance) even when their working hours are the same as those of their male partners. A universal basic income could help to challenge perceptions of emotional labour, and to reframe it as real work, hopefully resulting in increased gender equality.

Nevertheless, it was clear that Switzerland would not vote to reform its welfare system so radically. Few politicians spoke out in favour of it before the vote, and many commentators dismissed it as a flash-in-the-pan moment of socialist campaigning fervour afterwards. Politicians were also quick to point out that a universal basic income in one country with relatively high levels of immigration would open Switzerland up to welfare tourism, and therefore would never become a realistic prospect.

However, it could pay, literally, not to be so hasty. With the Canadian province of Ontario reportedly planning to trial the system soon, as well as Finland and the Dutch city of Utrecht, its clear that European and North American populations  and their governments  are taking the prospect seriously. There is serious political ambition to shake up our financial systems and our working environments  unsurprising, really, when we consider how massively those environments have changed in the past 20 years with myriad technological innovations and their effects. This was clearly not Switzerlands time, but international trends suggest it would be naive to conclude that it will never be.
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What strikes me most about the EU debate is the extent to which Brexit supporters seek to redirect blame onto the EU for what is in so many respects our own government and country's failures over many decades.

Failure to build sufficient homes.

Failure to invest in adequate National Health services.

Failure to invest in education and new schools.

Failure to invest in public services.

If we had vastly more investment in what matters then surely so many would not be falling over one another to condemn immigration for all our woes and problems.

Europe in the end is about us becoming European citizens, not raving nationalists. And that means working on all we have in common, starting with human rights.

Together as Europeans it is surely blindingly clear we have far more collective world power than any one of our countries on its own.

And as far as democracy goes I think we need to take stock: the UK is surely most undemocratic country in the whole of the EU, with 800 totally unelected members in the House of Lords.

So my vote is 100 per cent yes for a democratic Europe. Not for hyped-up nationalism and so called "sovereignty" in a country where an elitist 5 per cent of population still owns 90 per cent of land and estates.

Jeff Williams, Poole

Harold Wilson promised us EU reforms in 1975 if we only voted to stay in the predecessor to the EU. These never happened. After 41 years it is clear that if we vote to 'remain', all of these reforms will finally take place. No, honest guv.

Fool me once ...

June Warner, Kirk Deighton

The Leave group insists that the NHS is clogged up by EU migrants.

If we leave, it seems probable that up to a million British pensioners will be forced to abandon their current homes in Spain, France and so on, and return to live in the UK.

Which is more likely to be a burden on the NHS: healthy, working-age Europeans or elderly Brits, wrenched from their homes in the sun?

Richard Francis, France

While this time the issue should be sovereignty, given that Europe has become a political union, the Governments favoured ground in the referendum campaign is economics.

I dont see it. The UK pays over 5bn net a year  disregarding money spent where Brussels chooses and a grace-and-favour rebate. But it gets the same putative trade advantages as other states who take the money that we and a few others are obliged to give.

If we leave, as I believe we should, we will regain control lost over our own affairs, the ability to decide to how to protect our environment (by, for example, limiting fishing in our waters), freedom to trade with the rest of the world  and our money back. A quadruple whammy.

Peter Cresswell, Ilfracombe

Thanks to warring Tory schoolboys, the EU referendum has now been reduced to a pillow fight between John Major in his underpants and Boris Johnson with his pyjama bottoms all around his ankles. The upshot of these Conservative dorm antics is that the future of our country has been reduced to a childish farce.

As Boris, Cameron and all the warring Old Etonians and their ragged followers know, there is only one solution to this public school chaos. Invite Matron to knock the boys' heads together with a cold shower and early to bed. Feathers on floor, broom-in-hand, enter Eton Dame-in-waiting, Theresa May. Perhaps she can sort this all out.

Anthony Rodriguez, Middlesex

More sympathy for the chaos of parenting, please

How easy it is for Grace Dent, as a non-parent, to judge those in the news! Being childless doesn't make her 'archly level-headed' about children, it makes her completely ignorant about how life is sometimes with small people in it.

I'm sure anyone, childless or not, would agree that we all should judge those parents who wilfully mistreat, abuse or neglect their children, but to judge a parent who loses sight of their four year old for a moment (they can disappear in a micro-second, I speak from experience) is a waste of her time and writing talent. Michelle Gregg, who lost sight of her child momentarily and has been completely vilified for doing so, was not responsible for the death of Harambe the gorilla/ Those in charge of the zoo are ultimately responsible for both the wellbeing of their animals and the people who visit, and it is they who should be judged.

How did that little boy get into the gorilla enclosure? It should have been made completely impossible! By making it not so, those in charge at the zoo endangered the lives of both Harambe and the child, with tragic consequences for a beautiful, innocent animal that was under their care.

One more thing, Grace - 'stunning, top class' parenting doesn't exist. It's just loving your children and surviving their wonderful chaos.

Lucy Dunne, Liverpool

Ali was a model Muslim

The sad demise of Muhammad Ali is a tragedy. He was a legendary, invigorating, mythical and inspirational figure. But more than that, he was one of the fiercest advocates for the Islamic faith.

Who could imagine that a pious and devoted Muslim would manage to unite the world in death and life, and remains a marching figure for respect, unity, understanding, racial equality, religious harmony, human dignity and freedom?

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2
Gardai said one man was killed

A man has died after a car went into a ditch in Co Limerick.

The single vehicle accident happened at 4.15am near the village of Cappamore.

Gardai said the man killed was aged in his late teens or early 20s. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second man in the same car was taken to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.

Garda forensic collision investigators have begun an examination of the crash site.
A private investor paid 2.6m for this Bank of Ireland branch in Fairview in north Dublin

A UK based private investor has bought a Bank of Ireland branch in Dublin 3 for more than 2.6m.

Agents Knight Frank said the buyer paid some 500,000 above the 2.1m asking price.

The fully let commercial investment property is approximately 570 sq m (6,134 sq ft) and Knight Frank believe the new owner "will benefit from a net initial yield in the order of 7.2pc when standard acquisition costs of 4.46pc are accounted for".

The entire property is let to Bank of Ireland on a 25 year full repairing lease from December 2006 at a current rent of 195,648 per annum. The lease, which provides for upward only rent reviews, has a tenant break option after 15 years.

The building is located on what Knight Frank describe as "an established commercial parade fronting onto one of the main arterial routes into Dublin City Centre" in Fairview.

The ground floor, which extends to approximately 229 sq m, has been recently upgraded by Bank of Ireland and comprises a banking hall with ancillary open plan and partitioned administration offices. Staff facilities and additional business consultancy offices and meeting rooms are on the upper floors. There is also an eight person capacity lift servicing all floors.

The internal specification includes a combination of suspended and plastered ceilings and a series of individual wall mounted air conditioning units throughout the property. Heating is provided by a gas fired boiler and perimeter radiators.

The property benefits from a rear enclosed yard with two concertina style vehicular gates accessed

via a side and rear laneway and there is street pay and display parking immediately to the front of the building.

The principal uses in the area include retail, bars and restaurants with adjoining occupiers such as Four Star Pizza, Spar, Costello Pharmacy and Early & Baldwin Solicitors.
PTSB only allowed an exemption on 11pc of mortgages it approved in 2015, even though it could have allowed exemptions on 15pc mortgages issued. So why didn't it? Photo: Steve Humphreys

The Central Bank's caps on mortgage lending has to be seen in a fresh light after it emerged that Permanent TSB did not use the exemption to the rules last year in as many mortgages as it could have. Under the rules, first-time buyers must have a 10pc deposit on the first 220,000 they borrow and a 20pc deposit on the rest. Other borrowers must have the full 20pc deposit.

However, the Central Bank restrictions do not have to apply in 15pc of the total amount given out in mortgages in any calendar year. So it was particularly surprising when a Dail question from Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty showed that PTSB had only allowed an exemption on 11pc of its 2015 mortgages. The difference was about 18m in mortgages that it could have awarded outside of the cap.

So why didn't it?

It could be trying to manage its exemption cases throughout the year and miscalculated how many of them to award. But it missed by 4pc - quite an amount.

The figure suggests that PTSB may not be willing to lend out as much money for mortgages as people might have thought. If that is the case, then the banks are holding back mortgage lending more than the Central Bank rules.

The rules are being blamed for wrecking the mortgage and housing market by some people - and even Minister for Finance Michael Noonan was in favour of having them reviewed, with a view to easing up on them.

The problem here is that Bank of Ireland and AIB would not release a similar breakdown of their figures. At least PTSB provided the information, which is very significant in trying to understand what is really going on in the mortgage market.

If we assume that the PTSB figures were not just a blip, and the bank (whose primary business is mortgage lending) was not alone in its approach, then the whole debate about these caps needs to change.

The debate should be about the banks and not the Central Bank lending rules.

You have to go back to why the rules were introduced in the first place. House prices, especially in Dublin, were rising at an alarming rate. There was evidence that the banks were beginning to loosen up on their very restrictive post-crash lending criteria. The Central Bank decided to intervene.

As recently as March of this year, the Central Bank said that commercial banks and mortgage brokers are unable to uphold "prudent" credit standards.

In other words, if left alone, they won't always act responsibly - a 62bn lesson we have all been forced to learn.

The question is: why would the banks apply even tighter mortgage criteria across a full-year's lending than they are obliged to do? It could mean they are choosing to be ultra-cautious.

Yet banks were not big fans of the mortgage caps being introduced at all. Ulster Bank for example, wanted a 90pc loan-to-value (LTV) to apply on loans up to 500,000 and 80pc above that.

When the new LTV rules were being introduced, KBC Bank didn't believe they were the way to go, while Ulster Bank added: "The proposed limitations on lending will, in our view, put this recovery at risk and will serve to undermine the overall shared objective of ensuring a fully functioning mortgage market."

It is more than surprising to see a bank like PTSB not take up its full quota of exemptions to the rules. Mortgage figures for April this year show a sizeable spike in approvals that month, after a lacklustre opening three months of the year.

Perhaps banks are trying to manage the number of exemptions they let through, haven't fully mastered it and are then pushing through lots of mortgages in one go?

We need to know what is really going on in the mortgage market. It is impossible to have a meaningful debate about the merits, pitfalls and impact of the Central Bank rules without a breakdown of mortgage figures similar to that provided by PTSB.

The other banks should follow suit.

Basic questions remain unanswered in rural broadband plan

The debate about providing adequate broadband services to rural Ireland is still heavily focused on how quickly it can be delivered. But it emerged last week (through Minister for Communications Denis Naughten) that fundamental questions about who should own this new broadband network have yet to be answered.

Companies pitching for the State rural broadband contract include Eir, Siro (ESB/Vodafone joint venture) and Enet. They have indicated that it could be provided more quickly than the targeted seven years.

But at what price?

Denis Naughten said during the week that questions still remain about whether any new network infrastructure part-funded by the State would revert to State ownership.

The private companies could build it and avail of a 300m State contribution. But unless rural homes are charged a fortune per month, the state intervention will have to involve an ongoing subsidy.

The State's problem here is the old Eircom flotation. Back in 1999 it sold off the company and the telecoms infrastructure along with it. Officials and ministers do not want to subsidise a private company to build and run a piece of infrastructure that would remain privately owned.

I remember attending telecoms conferences 13 years ago where these issues were discussed and posed as a conundrum that would have to be resolved at government level. Who will pay to build broadband infrastructure in uneconomic areas? And who will then own the infrastructure?

Yet, in 2016 these fundamental questions have not yet been answered. It appears that pricing, subsidy and ownership go to the heart of the continued delays in running the tender process.

Private companies could build it in three years they say, but they would probably want to own it. At this stage, close to one million people around the country who don't have proper broadband at all, don't care who builds it. They just want the problem solved.

Surely it is time to look at more innovative funding solutions to fast track this process?

There is still several billion euro of State money in the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) looking for a home.

The fund has two basic investment criteria; its investments must aim to be profitable and must have an economic benefit too. One of its biggest investments to date was Irish Water.

Investing a billion in rural broadband would be economically beneficial but would not be "bottom line profitable".

But what if ISIF was to take a stake in the wider ESB Group? The fresh capital could fund the rollout of rural broadband, while ISIF would get a dividend from the profits of ESB itself. It would be a commercial decision with a wider economic benefit.

It might be seen as a huge advantage to ESB over other private sector operators vying for rural broadband.

However, ownership of the network could at least remain in a State-owned company in a fully regulated telecommunications sector.

Alternatively, ISIF could take a stake in whatever entity wins the tender.

Either way, the glacial pace of rural broadband development needs to quicken.
Cardinal Capital Group is preparing to launch a new property finance fund after faster-than-expected drawdowns from its existing 300m fund, the Sunday Independent understands.

The American billionaire Wilbur Ross is an investor in the existing fund, the largest of its kind in Ireland.

A new fund would be a significant boon for the Irish property sector.

Paul Corry, who manages the existing fund, refused to be drawn on the future plans.

He said: "The demand for alternative finance from both property developers and investors alike has been much greater than the general market expected, although matching our initial expectations.

"Our first fund is well ahead of target and we intend to continue to grow with the Irish real-estate market opportunities."

Corry said he expected the current fund to be committed by the end of this calendar year and that his pipeline was "particularly strong at the moment", adding: "We're probably two years ahead of schedule in terms of the drawdown trajectory that we would have predicted."

The fund provides mezzanine finance to property players and is active across a wide range of deals: site acquisition, construction funding, investment and refinancing.

Johnny Ronan and ex-Leinster rugby player Paul Hennebry have reportedly made deals with the fund.

Cardinal was set up by Irishmen Nigel McDermott and Nick Corcoran.

McDermott was a founding director of Dermot Desmond's International Investment & Underwriting.
Developers whose loans were transferred to Nama will seek the book of evidence used in the criminal prosecution of former Nama official Enda Farrell amid concerns that the agency's entire portfolio, containing sensitive details about all its debtors, was leaked.

The Sunday Independent has learned that a number of borrowers will seek disclosure of the book of evidence and any reports into data breaches at the toxic loans agency in a bid to ascertain whether details of their loans were leaked.

Last month Farrell was given a two-year suspended prison sentence for disclosing confidential information.

His early indication of a guilty plea meant a lengthy, costly and technical trial was avoided. However, it also meant that details of the investigation and any reports were not fully aired in court.

Dublin's Circuit Criminal Court heard that Farrell, who pleaded guilty to eight charges, had access to large amounts of confidential information with potential commercial value.

Now some developers contemplating legal action against Nama want to see the book of evidence in Farrell's trial to ascertain if their loans were affected.

The information included lists of properties that had been taken into Nama and valuations placed on them in November 2009.

The properties included those linked to developer Paddy McKillen, the O'Flynn Group's Tiger Developments, Harcourt Doherty Group, and the Cosgrave Development Group.

Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry has said he fears that the entire Nama portfolio was leaked after discussions with a confidential source who is not a Nama client.

MacSharry said answers to parliamentary questions in the Dail by Finance Minister Michael Noonan do not alleviate his fear that the portfolio was leaked. "My primary concern is that there was information available to the market which undermined the State and ultimately the taxpayers' potential to maximise the return after eight years of painful sacrifice," he said.

Noonan told the Dail that "information on the number of debtors potentially affected by the unauthorised disclosures is held by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation".

"I am advised that the information collated during that investigation and the results of the searches are solely within the remit of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and Nama is not privy to the information," he added.

Nama said it would not add to the minister's responses.

At Farrell's sentence hearing, the Circuit Criminal court heard it was not part of the prosecution case that Farrell had benefited financially from what he had done.

Although the information was potentially commercially sensitive, the court heard it was not part of the case that any transaction was compromised by the disclosures.
Fianna Fail Leader Micheal Martin: 'To say that theres nothing to inquire into here, thats not tenable and thats not acceptable. It was never acceptable' Photo:RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is now under unprecedented pressure to establish a formal inquiry into Nama's sale of its Northern Ireland loan book, with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin describing the Government's refusal to act on the matter as "not tenable".

"The Government's position, and the position of the last government, is not tenable in my view. To say that there's nothing to inquire into here, that's not tenable and that's not acceptable. It was never acceptable," Mr Martin told the Sunday Independent.

The Fianna Fail leader - whose support the Taoiseach and Fine Gael are dependent upon to stay in power - was speaking following the arrest last week of two men in Co Down by officers from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA detained the two men last Tuesday as part of its ongoing probe into Project Eagle, a deal which saw US private equity giant Cerberus snap up Nama's Northern loan book for 1.6bn. Both individuals were questioned and bailed the following day.

While Mr Martin cautioned that any inquiry established by the Government would have to be conducted in a manner that didn't jeopardise criminal investigations in the North or elsewhere, his intervention will serve to heap pressure on the Taoiseach to act decisively on the matter.

Any move to initiate an inquiry on this side of the Border would invariably be seen as yet another indication of the shift in the balance of power within Dail Eireann from the Government to the Opposition benches. It would also represent a dramatic volte-face for the Taoiseach personally.

Only last Tuesday, Mr Kenny flatly rejected a demand from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to establish a commission of investigation into Project Eagle, saying: "No, I will not. There has not been any allegation of wrongdoing against Nama."

Mr Kenny added that while he assumed the two people who had been arrested in the North had "been arrested for good reason", Nama had been "completely in compliance with the law and the conditions it was set up under".

Referring to the examination of the Project Eagle deal, which had taken place in Dublin, he said: "The [Finance] Minister has made a full statement already and there has been quite a deal of discussion at the various Oireachtas committees on the question on Nama. Nama personnel at the highest level have responded and given much time on different occasions to discuss these matters."

Asked for his view in relation to the Taoiseach's position, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: "As far as I'm concerned it can't be left as it is, and I don't buy the argument that no inquiry should take place on this side of the Border. The Dublin government has to be far more proactive on this issue."

The circumstances surrounding Cerberus's acquisition of Nama's Northern Ireland portfolio remain the subject of investigation by both the UK's National Crime Agency and the US Securities and Exchange Commission as well as a parliamentary inquiry in Northern Ireland.

All parties involved in the 2014 deal deny any wrongdoing. Cerberus won the auction by offering Stg1.241bn for loans linked to the Northern Ireland properties. The reserve price was Stg1.24bn.
Almost 26,500 young people line up in dole queues each week, with more than 16,000 in long term unemployment. Picture: Mark Condren

Almost 26,500 young people line up in dole queues each week, with more than 16,000 in long term unemployment, the Sunday Independent can reveal.

New figures, obtained by the National Youth Council of Ireland, also show that 5,406 young people have been on the live register for three years or more.

Although the latest CSO statistics show that overall unemployment has fallen to a new post-crash low of almost 7.8pc, the stagnant state of national youth unemployment continues to be the most enduring legacy of the financial crash.

James Doorley, deputy director of the National Youth Council of Ireland says all evidence indicates that the longer a young person is unemployed the more difficult it is to get back in the labour force and the greater the long term consequences.

"We are very concerned at the high rate of youth unemployment given the fact that 66pc of young people in receipt of payments are on just 100 a week," he said.

"We know from our previous studies that this causes economic hardship and contributes to other problems such as homelessness," he said.

Although the NYCI - a representative body for national voluntary youth work organisations nationwide - welcomes the overall trend in the last 12 months with 9,405 fewer young people on the live register compared to May 2015, the amount of young people spending the best years of early working life in dole queues remains a serious concern.

Today, more than 9,200 young people under the age of 26 are in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance, Jobseeker's Benefit or are signing for credits in the capital.

Almost 5,500 young people are seeking welfare in Cork, while 2,142 are signing on in Donegal, Tommy Broughan, Independent TD for Dublin Bay North, was told in response to a question in the Dail. An estimated 1,900 youths are on the dole in both Tipperary and Wexford.

In the midland region, more than 1,000 young people are signing on in Westmeath and the Faithful county of Offaly.

The NYCI is calling on the Government to begin to restore the welfare rate for those under 26.

Currently 7,155 young people are on the full rate of 188 a week, while 4,623 are claiming 144 a week.

In January 2014 the last government published the National Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan - to ensure that any young person on the live register for four months or more would be guaranteed an education, training and work experience opportunity.

However, the NYCI says figures for 2014 and preliminary figures for 2015 indicate that in both years the then government "failed to deliver" on its target of 28,350 training and work experience places.

"It is disappointing that two and a half years later we have over 26,000 young people on the live register for six months or more. We are calling on the incoming Government to reboot the Youth Guarantee to reduce the number of young people remaining on the live register for such long periods," said Mr Doorley.

Last week, Leo Varadkar, Minister for Social Protection said the overall number in long term unemployment remained a concern.
A powerful committee set up by the Dail after the election to address the housing and homeless crisis is demanding that new Central Bank mortgage lending rules for first-time buyers be "urgently reviewed" as part of a series of recommendations aimed at kick-starting the building industry and tackling the level of homelessness.

In a first draft report, which has been seen by the Sunday Independent, the Oireachtas 'special committee' has said that the Central Bank must "without delay" review the new rules which were introduced last year to control the level of lending in the housing market.

The report also contains a recommendation that the VAT rate on construction costs be reduced by 4.5pc, on a trial basis, to encourage the immediate building of houses.

The report summarises the evidence received and heard by the committee to date. It runs to 196 pages and outlines policy objectives and recommendations on social housing, the private rental sector, private housing, mortgage distress, housing financing, Nama, homelessness, social inclusion and special housing needs. It also highlights legal issues.

The committee held its first meeting on April 20 and circulated a draft report to members last Friday. The report will be discussed by the committee at a meeting this Tuesday, but the first draft report indicates that TDs have the controversial Central Bank mortgage rules in their sights.

Under the rules, non-first-time buyers are subject to a limit of 80pc loan-to-value (LTV) for mortgages on principal dwelling houses; for first-time buyers of properties valued up to 220,000 a maximum LTV of 90 per cent applies; for first-time buyers of properties over 220,000 a 90pc limit applies on the first 220,000 and an 80pc limit applies on any excess value over this amount.

As a result of the new Central Bank rules, many first-time buyers, including couples with young families, are not in a position to raise the deposit required to buy a house.

But by reducing the size of mortgages people can take out, the Central Bank has successfully stabilised the price of land.

The Central Bank is currently reviewing the rules but has indicated that it would require compelling evidence for it to alter them in any major way. The outcome is due in November.

However, in relation to the new mortgage lending rules, the report states: "The Committee believes this is something that must be reviewed urgently by the Central Bank, and the Committee recommends that this is done without delay."

It says that restrictions should continue to apply to buy-to-let properties, but that incentives on mortgage and tax relief should be examined to encourage landlords to release accommodation to rent.

The report's other significant recommendation relates to the issue of construction costs. The committee recommends that the rate of VAT be reduced by 4.5pc on a trial basis, in order to encourage the immediate building of houses.Alternatively, the rate should remain at 13.5pc, provided the 4.5pc difference is ring-fenced for social housing projects and a possible National Building Programme.

In its recent report on House Building Costs, the Society of Chartered Surveyors estimated the level of VAT on a newly-built, three-bedroomed home as being over 39,000. A VAT reduction of 4.5pc would result in a saving of approximately 13,000. The committee was told that the reduction in VAT on the tourism sector resulted in a boost in revenue for the industry.

Based on the possible savings in house prices as well, the committee "is more inclined to recommend the reduction of the rate in VAT from 13.5pc to 9pc, albeit on the trial basis so that it would incentivise building".

The committee further recommends that funding be obtained from the Housing Finance Agency to build houses. It also says a series of grants should be made available to encourage the renovation of properties in urban centres so they may be used as residential accommodation.

It also recommends that the Government "examines and utilises" all off-balance sheet options for the additional development of houses, and says consideration should be given to whether this should operate through approved housing bodies or whether the State acts as guarantor.

The Irish League of Credit Unions has the capacity to make funds available at 3.5pc, with the main obstacle being Central Bank rules. The Committee was also told of finance available from the European Investment Bank at 2pc, via the Housing Finance Agency.

The committee recommends that a series of grants be made available to encourage the renovation of properties in urban centres so they can be used as residential accommodation. The expansion of the Living City Initiative to include landlord-owned residential property, and urban centres outside of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny and Waterford, is also recommended.

The committee states that the Single Stage approval process for social housing should be "extended to a higher threshold" to accommodate demand - and a review of this process should examine why local authorities "do not appear to be engaging" in this process.

The committee recommends that acquisition costs be alleviated through the making available of serviced land for social housing use. "The Public Private Partnership may serve as a particularly useful vehicle in this context," the draft report states.

It emphasises the need for a National Building Programme and consideration of how this may be structured, whether through the local authorities, Nama or the approved housing bodies. It recommends that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, in conjunction with local authorities, approved housing bodies and Nama, leads a housing programme that focuses on building housing, with a "streamlined administrative process".
It is understood that Dropbox did not accede to a request for voluntary disclosure

File-hosting service Dropbox is the latest US tech giant facing the prospect of an order from an Irish court to disclose or delete material in its possession.

Digicel chairman Denis O'Brien has made an application for third-party discovery against the cloud storage firm in connection with his defamation action against PR firm Red Flag.

Dropbox declined to comment on the matter. However, it is understood it did not accede to a request for voluntary disclosure, prompting an application to the High Court seeking discovery of the owner of a Dropbox account.

Next month the High Court will hear the Dropbox application as part of O'Brien's efforts to compel Red Flag to disclose certain information in advance of his defamation action against the firm.

Tech and telco companies are increasingly being asked to co-operate with civil and criminal inquiries.

Microsoft was recently at the centre of a similar dispute after a US court ordered it to give emails held on Irish servers to American prosecutors.

Earlier this year Facebook was asked to remove a page created by supporters of businessman Sean Quinn Snr over allegedly defamatory postings.Facebook resisted, telling the High Court that asking Facebook to remove a page was like seeking an injunction against a brick wall holding up an advertising poster.

Quinn supporters eventually agreed to take the page down after being asked to do so by the businessman.

According to annual transparency reports from online giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft, Irish authorities submit hundreds of requests every year, seeking information about account holders.

The requests meet with varying levels of success. For example, in its last transparency report, Google revealed that only 14pc of requests by Irish authorities resulted in some data being given up.
The European Union executive has thrown its weight behind the "sharing economy", saying governments should only ban services such as the ride-hailing app Uber and Airbnb as a last resort.

In new guidelines intended to foster the development of internet-based services in Europe, the European Commission said any restrictions on such businesses by EU member states should be proportionate to the public interest at stake, such as public safety or social policy.

Although not legally binding, the guidelines are an attempt to set a Europe-wide approach to the fast-growing sector, instead of the patchwork response that has been adopted by European cities so far.

Some cities have responded with curbs and bans on companies like Uber and the home-sharing site Airbnb, which challenge traditional industries, such as taxi services and hotels, and have drawn complaints of unfair competition.

"Absolute bans and quantitative restrictions should only be used as a measure of last resort," the Commission said in a statement.

The guidelines were welcomed by Airbnb, which called them "a valuable tool to ensure a clear, stable and consistent regulatory environment for sharing economy users across Europe".

The Commission said it would use the guidelines to ensure that any national legislation does not violate the EU treaties - a veiled threat to any government seeking to impose overly restrictive measures on the sharing economy.

The Commission is assessing complaints from Uber against France, Germany and Spain.

"Limiting the possibility for new transport operators to use new technologies, such as geo-localisation services, is one clear example of bad practices," said EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc.

"Some restrictions could run contrary to EU law and the Commission might have to take action."

The Commission also wants to foster European sharing-economy start-ups. Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen said the sector could produce Europe's next unicorn, or start-up company valued at more than $1bn.

"Our role is to encourage a regulatory environment that allows new business models to develop, while protecting consumers and ensuring fair taxation and employment conditions," he said.

US firms Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, and Uber, launched a year later, have faced regulatory battles around the world.

Uber said the guidelines were an encouraging sign.

"The European Commission has made it clear that EU laws protect collaborative-economy services against undue restrictions and member states should review regulations that undermine the development of such services," said Gareth Mead, Uber spokesman.

Uber is effectively barred from rolling out its full suite of services to the Irish market because laws here prevent private cars offering lifts for money.

"We think Ireland is a perfect market for Uber," said country manager Kieran Harte. "It would significantly reduce costs for users, address traffic issues in cities and reduce the country's carbon footprint.

"It is not the case that Uber would take large chunks of business from Irish taxi drivers. Taxis will still be what you hail on the street, taxis will still be found at ranks.

"Uber will connect communities, places where taxis don't always go, taking you that last step home from the suburban train station, for example. The idea is so simple and powerful that we are confident it will progress in Ireland."

It has appealed to the National Transport Authority and Department of Transport for a relaxation of the rules and has sought a temporary repeal in Limerick so that it can attempt a pilot run of its ride-sharing model in the city.

However, there appears to be little will to change the current system.

Briefing documents prepared for new Transport Minister Shane Ross reportedly showed "strong official resistance to facilitating the arrival of most Uber services".

Any legislative moves to accommodate Uber in Ireland would be fiercely opposed by the country's taxi drivers, as well as rival app Hailo, which relies heavily on a regulated taxi market.

Taxi drivers have staged high-profile protests against Uber in many European countries.

Last year, French prosecutors raided Uber's Paris offices in a showdown over whether the company was violating a law to curtail online taxi services.

Regardless of regulatory challenges and protests, Uber is growing fast. It has raised $11bn in funding as it spends heavily to expand globally and battle well-funded rivals, such as Lyft and China's Didi (which Apple is backing).

The ride-hailing company's latest infusion of cash - a record $3.5bn from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund last week - means chief executive officer Travis Kalanick has the finances to continue avoiding a listing of his company any time soon. "I'm going to make sure that it happens as late as possible," he told CNBC earlier this year.

It's unclear how long the Saudi money will last Uber, however. Over the first three quarters of 2015, it was reported to have lost $1.7bn on $1.2bn in revenue.

In February this year, Kalanick said at a conference in Vancouver the company was spending more than $1bn annually in China alone to avoid losing market share - a figure previously reported to have been written in a letter to investors in 2015.

The money from Saudi Arabia is a new wrinkle in the shifting way the world's largest technology start-ups are being funded.

The $3.5bn raised by Uber last week is far larger than what most companies are able raise when they hold public offerings. Twitter netted $1.82bn during its 2013 IPO and First Data raised $2.56bn in the largest technology IPO of the past 12 months.

In 2004, Google raised $1.67bn during its stock-market debut.

Other start-ups are also remaining private longer. Snapchat (which now has more daily users than Twitter) raised $1.8bn in its most recent round and the corporate messaging start-up Slack Technologies raised $200m.

Meanwhile, Uber's biggest rivals have been stocking up. Apple invested $1bn in Didi last month (Didi is working to close a total $3.5bn soon), General Motors backed Lyft in January and Volkswagen pledged $300m to Israel-based ride-hailing company Gett last month.

There is a seemingly endless roster of investors anxious to buy into Kalanick's vision for upending the transportation sector.

"Uber is in a class by itself," said Anand Sanwal, co-founder of CB Insights, a firm that tracks start-up investment.

"There is insatiable appetite for Uber stock," he said, referring to the company's ability to continually raise large amounts of money.

There are competing schools of thought on the subject of holding an IPO. Proponents of going public argue that the added scrutiny of the public markets gives a company more discipline, while rewarding employees and early investors.

An IPO also brings in money to invest in acquisitions and expansion.

Yet entrepreneurs who want to remain private contend that it gives their company more leeway to grow without the unpredictable demands of managing a roster of new shareholders.

"There's a lot you can do in the private markets, where you're not subject to quarterly earnings releases and all that good stuff," said CB Insights' Sanwal.

The sluggish performance of several technology stocks has made going public even less appetising.

Twitter is down more than 40pc since going public, while file-storage company Box Inc is down more than 17pc since its 2015 debut.

While Uber has demonstrated growth over the past several years, many other start-ups don't have strong enough business models to go public, said Sanwal.

The fewer than 40 corporate listings this year in the US is the slowest since 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

At some point, Sanwal said, Uber will have to join the ranks of public companies in order to reward investors who have been funding its costly expansion.

"Going public is the only route for them, but they don't seem to be any rush to," he said.

"It doesn't seem like management is under any pressure to."
Airlines want one global deal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from air travel despite higher costs, in order to avoid a patchwork of regulation that would be harder to manage, an executive of the International Air Transport Association trade group said on Friday.

The market-based plan must win the support of the United Nations aviation agency's 191 member countries at a fall assembly, or risk the European Union's imposing its own emissions trading scheme on international airlines.

At its annual meeting last week in Dublin, the trade group said the deal led by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, or ICAO, should be the only agreement to reduce emissions from international aviation.

"It's really a top priority," said IATA corporate secretary Paul Steele. "It's dominated discussions here in our board meetings."

Steele expressed optimism that a deal would be reached at Montreal-based ICAO. The plan would allow airlines to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits from designated environmental projects.

Airlines recognise that the deal would add costs. For example, the cost of fuel on an A380 flight from London to Beijing would be 40,000, and a carbon offset at the highest price would be 10pc of that, Steele said.

"The industry hates costs," Steele said. "But this is a cost we believe needs to be built into system, and with that level and with a carbon offset scheme, we think it's the right way to go."

Countries remain divided over the proposed agreement on issues like the large number of exempted states. According to early drafts, at least a third of emissions from air travel would not have to be offset.

To help bridge the divide, Singapore recently proposed a pilot phase before the start of the global agreement, two sources familiar with the talks said.

IATA has said any pilot period should not delay the planned agreement's 2021 start date.

Steele said airlines wanted as much of the industry as possible to be involved in the program from the start.

Ahead of the fall assembly, ICAO's president and some countries will hold late August meetings before presenting a new draft to the governing council, the sources said.

Aviation was excluded from the landmark climate accord in Paris in December, when countries agreed to limit the rise in global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
French luxury group Kering's flagship Gucci brand has seen strong sales growth since March and expects to be able to grow more than twice as fast as the wider luxury market over the medium term, the company said.

"In March, we saw very strong growth in products sold at their full price, including handbags, and this trend has increased in April and May," said new Gucci CEO Marco Bizarri in London last week.

Bizarri, the former head of handbag maker Bottega Veneta, was put in charge of Gucci in early 2015 and pushed through a style overhaul under designer Alessandro Michele, which has ended two years of falling sales.

Gucci believes that over the medium term its new image will allow it to grow more than twice as fast as the luxury market, which Bain & Co expects will grow by 2pc to 3pc.

In slides released on Friday, Gucci also said it was targeting 6bn in sales over the long term, compared with 3.89bn last year.

Bizarri said sales in renovated stores had seen double-digit growth since March. He said demand growth was very strong in Europe, the US and China and sales in its Paris stores were up 10pc since January, despite the November attacks that scared off some tourists.

Sales of handbags at full price are up 7pc since January, ready-to-wear sales are up 66pc and shoes sales are up 46pc, according to figures released at an investor day on Friday.

Bizarri said that Gucci wants to attract new clients, notably the fickle and ultra-connected 'millennials', and has broadened its range with entry-level leather goods, jewellery and scarves.
Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have made plenty of good business decisions over the years. Placing millions of dollars with Ponzi-scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff may have been one of them.

Koch Industries invested an unknown sum with the conman's now-defunct securities firm years ago and walked away with $21.5m in profits before Madoff's arrest in 2008.

But since 2012 the company run by the conservative-activist brothers, who are today worth a combined $109bn, has refused legal demands to return the money.

Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Madoff's firm, contends in a suit that the cash is fraudulent proceeds of the scam and should be shared among the thousands of victims.

Koch Industries, and dozens of other early investors named in 87 other lawsuits, argue the company can keep the profits because the money was sent overseas and is beyond US jurisdiction. At stake: a total of $2bn.

The battle is coming to a head in Manhattan bankruptcy court, where Judge Stuart Bernstein could rule within weeks on a key issue affecting Picard's suit. The defendants claimed a victory in 2014 when US District Judge Jed Rakoff said that money transferred overseas is generally out of Picard's reach.

In the Koch case, the $21.5m was sent in 2005 to a fund based in the British Virgin Islands, and then to a Koch entity in Britain.

Picard isn't accusing Koch and the other defendants of wrongdoing.

As in his many prior suits to recover cash, he contends the returns aren't legitimate because Madoff used money from new investors to cover the fake profits of older ones.
Carla Lane, who died last Tuesday aged 87, created The Liver Birds, Butterflies and Bread, classic television sitcoms that crowned her the most successful woman writer in British television comedy. She was also a prominent, if eccentric, campaigner for animal rights.

No television writer became more accomplished at lightly rueful reflections on the cliches of English middle-class family life, although it was Carla Lane's excursion into the netherworld of Liverpool scallywags in Bread (1987-91) that marked her out as a true original.

Having flaunted 1960s popular Liverpool culture in The Liver Birds, she became the first woman to mine television comedy from sexual and personal relationships through a gallery of expertly etched contemporary characters, developed against a backdrop of social issues such as divorce, adultery and, in one of her later works, alcoholism.

Unemployment was the underlying theme to Bread, which excited mixed feelings in Carla Lane's native city with its stereotypical depictions of a sprawling family of streetwise, dole-fiddling, scrounging Scousers. Never one to rely on straightforward wisecracks, Carla Lane infused her scripts with the humour created by sharply drawn characters and narratives that were more realistic than the typical bland sitcom of the 1950s and 1960s.

Although not an instant success, within little more than a year Bread had climbed to the top of the ratings. Freighted with humorous observation and nifty phrase-making, Carla Lane's scripts drew an unflinching but affectionate portrait of the Boswells (a smarter and more endearing television clan than the cartoon Simpsons, which they partly resembled), to become "as deeply a part of British TV culture as the denizens of Coronation Street".

What kept the series on the boil was Carla Lane's rich infusion of folksy philosophy and the way the family invariably returned (after often extravagantly aberrant detours) to the values of its redoubtable matriarchal heroine, Nellie Boswell (played by Jean Boht). With more than 11 million viewers, Bread was only trumped in the ratings by EastEnders and Neighbours.

Some, however, considered the bittersweet Butterflies (1978-83), with its subversive theme of unfulfilled, adulterous yearnings, to be Carla Lane's most successful series. She managed to maintain an upbeat mood while exploring overwhelming marital boredom and frustration, as her middle-class heroine Ria (Wendy Craig) contemplates an affair. In 1979, when the format was sold to American television, Carla Lane flew to Los Angeles to work on the script, but was gravely disappointed with the pilot and a series was never made.

In Solo (1981-82), Felicity Kendal was cast against type, after her submissive character in The Good Life, to portray a woman seeking a more assertive role as a successful singleton, a quest that Carla Lane handled with a characteristically light touch.

But amid the triumphs, there were duds. No Strings (1974), starring Rita Tushingham and Keith Barron, commissioned as a series on the strength of a promising pilot for Comedy Playhouse, guttered after six episodes.

The Mistress (1985), again starring Felicity Kendal in the title role, also disappointed, amounting, in the opinion of the Daily Telegraph's Richard Last, to "a waste of two outstanding talents".

In the same year, Carla Lane's excursion into darker comedy territory, in I Woke Up One Morning (1985), depicted a group of recovering alcoholics drying out in hospital, a scenario beyond the ken of a teetotal writer, and the show was pulled after two short series.

In Screaming (1992), a trio of angst-ridden women of a certain age determined to do without men, while each remained secretly in love with the same one. Critics objected to Carla Lane's overt, old-fashioned feminism and after a tabloid mauling, she declined to write a second series.

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Since 1965, Carla Lane had been not only a vegetarian but a vociferous campaigner for animal rights. "I can't understand why people kill and eat animals," she insisted.

In 1990, she formed an animal trust, Animal Line, with her friend Linda McCartney and the Liverpool-born actress Rita Tushingham. "Basically, I'm a loony," she declared, "but it's the best way to be with all the horrible things going on in the world."

Carla Lane was born Romana Barrack on August 5, 1928, the daughter of DeVinci Barrack, a 19-year-old Italian engineer in the Merchant Navy.

She started writing as a child, winning her first award for a school poem published in the Liverpool Echo when she was seven. After an unhappy spell at a Liverpool convent, she left school aged 14 and was working as a nurse when she married three years later.

While bringing up her two young sons, she wrote short stories for local newspapers and radio scripts, and joined a writer's workshop in Liverpool, where she met Myra Taylor.

With her new friend, Carla Lane wrote a series of bizarre comic sketches Up, Down, All Around, and sent it to the BBC's head of comedy, Michael Mills.

"Give me something I can understand," he replied. "Or not totally beyond my imagination." Mills had discerned a hidden comic talent.

The two Liverpool housewives came up with The Liver Birds, about two single Liverpudlian girls, Beryl and Sandra, sharing a flat. After a pilot was floated in the Comedy Playhouse strand in April 1969, a series of four (in black and white) debuted the following July, a week after the first Moon landing. Reaction was muted. A disappointed Mills declined a second series and Carla Lane's agents wrote to say that they did not feel she had any potential as a writer.

Her response was to lock herself in her room and write, unaided and unedited, a single episode of The Liver Birds. In it, Beryl (Polly James) wanted to spend the night with a man, and Sandra (Pauline Collins, later to be replaced by Nerys Hughes) was appalled. Carla Lane sent it to Mills, who replied with a handwritten note: "Six more. By yesterday. Love, Michael."

Carla Lane had tapped into the zeitgeist. "This was a breakthrough period for young, single women following centuries of repression," noted the television writer Mark Lewisohn. "They had independence, both sexual and financial, and the opportunity to live life as they wanted it and Carla Lane's scripts reflected this admirably, as well as sketching the uncertainties and philosophies of being single when everyone else seemed to be married."

Already, her ability to conjure "laughs out of pathos" and life's "little tragedies", as she called them, was becoming apparent. From series three, in 1972, Carla Lane and Myra Taylor wrote unencumbered by script editors, but Taylor left the writing partnership shortly afterwards, leaving Carla Lane in sole charge. In all, The Liver Birds ran for 87 episodes, including a revival in 1996.

In 1988, the year in which Bread topped the Christmas ratings, Carla Lane bought the Grade II Zoffany House on the Thames at Strand-on-the-Green, once occupied by the portrait artist John Zoffany, for 675,000.

In 1991, she bought the tiny inhabited island of St Tudwal's East, off Abersoch on the north Wales coast, to rescue its starving wildlife, mainly deer, and built a stone circle there to commemorate the animals which had not survived winter food shortages. At around the same time, she moved from London to establish a menagerie at a 50-room Elizabethan manor house in Sussex.

An unexpected tax demand in 1993 coincided with the launch of Luv, a sitcom she had written about a wealthy, middle-aged Liverpudlian couple whose marriage has failed, but it was a feeble effort for a writer with such an impressive track record. Nor did Searching, her 1995 series for ITV, succeed in restoring her early reputation.

Latterly, she returned to live with her family in Liverpool, wistfully recalling "my rich days" and reflecting on her reversal of fortune.

Although she considered a way with words to be her only gift, she was ashamed to admit that she had never read a book from beginning to end.

Appointed OBE in 1989, she returned the insignia in 2002 in protest at the CBE awarded to Brian Cass, head of Huntingdon Life Sciences, which runs laboratories where drugs are tested on animals. She received a handwritten note from Tony Blair, saying she could have it back at any time she cared to ask. She never did.

Obsessively opaque about her real age, she invariably rolled forward her birth date by as much as nine years.

Carla Lane married Eric Hollins, a naval architect, when she was 17. The couple divorced in 1981 and she is survived by two sons of the marriage.

 Telegraph

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A nine-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital after he fell off his bike in a collision with a car.

The accident happened just before 7pm in the townland of Rathgormack, Co Waterford near the Comeragh mountains around two miles south of Carrick on Suir.

The boy sustained a head injury in the accident and, although he remained conscious, the HSE ambulance service requested the assistance of the coastguard to transfer him to hospital as a precaution.

Rescue helicopter 117 based at Waterford was tasked to carry out the transfer to Cork University Hospital and the boy was airlifted along with his mother who was not injured in the incident.
A woman of no major wealth, her name is now infamous with the tale of how she was buried alive.

The 1700s was a time of a "terrible famine", according to local historian Jim Conway.

He told Independent.ie how Margorie reportedly took ill, before she was pronounced dead.

Grave robbers were quick to visit her grave in the Shankill Graveyard, but got more than a shock when she woke up during the robbery.

She reportedly walked home and lived to an old age, even going on to have more children.

"Margorie McCall was reputed to have lived once but buried twice, as it says on her grave stone," Mr Conway said.

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"This is the grave I have been asked many questions about, as there are a lot of people who are sceptical about the truth  whether the story is myth or not.

"I believe the story to be true based on my research."

Mr Conway described how Margorie was woken from her fever-heavy slumber.

"Shortly after she was buried the grave robbers came to retrieve the ring," he said.

"They dug up the grave and tried to get the ring from her finger. It was during the process of cutting her finger, she drew blood and then she awoke  while the robbers fled.

"She was reported to live in Church Place, Lurgan and returned home with a knock at the door. Her husband is opened the door to find Margorie standing in front of him," he continued.

"Legend goes that Margorie went on to have more children before dying in her old age and buried in the same spot."

"Her headstone now reads Margorie McCall  Lived Once, Buried Twice".

Parish records held in the Public Records Office (PRONI) record the deaths of nine Marjorie McCalls in Lurgan, three of whom were married to a John McCall.

No record is held of the death in 1705 of a Marjorie McCall married to a John McCall, but Mr Conway explained how the records collapsed at that time due to a famine.

Watch the video as Jim Conway tells the story.
The Irish tourist stabbed to death in Turkey was the very well-known amateur musical director John Donnelly who had close associations with Wexford Light Opera and many other musical societies.

Mr Donnelly (64), a bachelor who lived most of his life in Dublin and worked for the Customs Service before retiring some years ago, was found dead from what Turkish people say was a single stab wound to his back at an apartment in the resort town of Bodrum.

Neighbours described Mr Donnelly as a quiet man who had arrived three weeks earlier to stay in the rented apartment at Ney Tevfik Street. He was staying on his own.

Police were studying CCTV images which, they said, showed two men leaving Mr Donnelly's apartment building during the night. The alarm was raised by neighbours who found a bloodied knife lying outside the building.

In a statement, Turkish police said Mr Donnelly was lying naked on the floor of his apartment when found on Friday morning. He had a single stab wound, they added.

Mr Donnelly was a long-time and prominent member of the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) and its president, Mr Colm Moules, yesterday paid tribute, saying he was "a lovely, lovely man".

Mr Moules said: "John was really admired and loved for his work, particularly with Wexford Light Opera, and many other societies that he helped. People who worked with John said they would often not see eye to eye, but they would all admit that his eye for creativity and direction was superb, and he always brought something extra to productions."

Mr Moules added: "He was great at encouraging people and everyone agrees that he had that ability to see the bigger picture and lift people's work.

"He had great relationships with people all round the country. He had a great sharp wit as well. It's fair to say he will be missed by friends from the four corners of Ireland.

"He was held in high esteem, particularly for his work with Wexford Light Opera. He had a fantastic way of working and he was always encouraging young people."

Friends in Dublin said Mr Donnelly had been in a relationship for a number of years but in recent times had been on his own. He retired from his Customs job several years ago.

The police in Bodrum were quoted as saying they hope to make arrests and are expected to issue images from the CCTV outside the apartment building which shows two men leaving the night Mr Donnelly was stabbed.

There was no indication of any Islamist involvement. The police also said Mr Donnelly's apartment had been ransacked and robbery was a possible motive.
The man who has been missing from St James' Hospital in Dublin since Saturday morning has been found.

Mr John Shanley (44) was last seen at the Dublin 8 hospital at 10am on Saturday morning.

Gardai at Kilmainham Garda Station in Dublin launched a public appeal seeking assistance in tracing the whereabouts of Mr Shanley.

However, he has now been located safe and well, according to a garda spokesperson.

Members of the public and media have been thanked for their assistance in the search.
A man in his forties has been killed in a paragliding accident.

The incident occurred near the Gormanston army camp in Meath at approximately 6pm on Saturday evening.

The man crash-landed at Benn Head, which is close to the barracks.

The man was flying with an engine-powered glider and crash-landed in a few feet of water, according to the Irish Coastguard.

"In spite of the efforts from ourselves, the Gardai, Fire service, ambulance service and members of the public, the male died a short while later," a Coastguard spokesperson said.

"Our sincere condolences to his family and friends."

An air accident investigation has been launched into the incident.
LIMBO: There is currently no legal definition of an au pair. Picture posed

Au pairs would have to work no more than 30 hours a week in return for lodging and pocket money under new legislation being put before the Dail by Fianna Fail in the coming weeks.

The proposed legislation would for the first time legally define the role of more than 20,000 au pairs working in Ireland and establish a cultural exchange programme to allow Irish families hire workers from abroad.

It would also lead to the establishment of an oversight body which would accredit au pair agencies and hear complaints from those working for Irish families.

The bill was drafted in reaction to a recent Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) tribunal which ruled that a live-in Spanish au pair should be paid at least the minimum wage. The host family was forced to pay the young woman more than 9,000 in back pay after the commission found they were in breach of employment law.

The ruling in March sent shock waves through the au pair sector and led to fears among thousands of families that they will be forced to let au pairs go because they cannot afford to pay them the minimum wage.

There is currently no legal definition of an au pair or nanny in Irish legislation, which lead to the WRC ruling that au pairs should be treated as domestic workers in the eyes of the law. This meant the relationship between au pairs and their host families were seen in the same context as that of an employee and employer.

Under Fianna Fail's new bill, drafted by Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte, au pairs would be hired by families as apart of a cultural and education exchange programme.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Ms Rabbitte said there are thousands of families around the country in "limbo" due to the WRC ruling.

"People are sitting back and they are wondering how it is going to fare out. It is at the back of people's minds at the moment," she said.

The Au Pair Placement Bill 2016 states that those hired under the scheme would have to work no more than 30 hours a week, or seven hours a day, in exchange for "hospitality, lodging and pocket money".

An au pair placement with a family would be no longer than one year in duration, but this could be renewed at the end of a contract.

The bill states that au pairs would be required to do "light house work" as part of the exchange programme, and this could include child-minding, domestic chores and other household duties.

Details of what would constitute household duties will be decided by an Au Pair Accreditation Council.

The bill is also aimed at cracking down on the "less regulated elements" of the au pair agency sector.

If the legislation is enacted, au pairs could only be hired through accredited au pair agencies.

The host family and au pair would also have to adhere to strict contractual guidelines agreed with a regulated agency.

The Au Pair Accreditation Council will also carry out inspections and rule on disputes between au pairs and their host families, or between families and au pair agencies.

Penalties for breaching the new rules would be drafted by the council.

"As a mother myself, if I was to let my girls go off and be au pairs across Europe, I would like to think there is a minimum standard requirement," Ms Rabbitte said.

Research by the Migrants Rights Council of Ireland (MRCI) found around 60pc of au pairs receive less than 120 a week in payment, while almost a third work between eight to 10 hours a day for their host family, and 30pc are expected to work when they are sick.

The research also showed 80pc of au pairs working in Ireland have no written contract.

The MRCI supported the Spanish au pair who took the successful legal action against her host family, and the agency is unlikely to be supportive of the Fianna Fail legislation.
Four beaches along the north of Dublin have been closed due to disastrous levels of pollution.

Fingal Mayor David OConnor said that theres a major problem with sewage pumps in the area which has led to the closure of the beaches.

Beaches in Rush, Balbriggan, Skerries and Loughshinny have been closed for 72 hours as water quality deteriorated due to suspected sewage discharge from waste water treatment.

Garry OBrien from the Environment Department of Fingal County Council issued a warning to local councillors about the beach closures.

Pumps at the foul sewer pumping station at Hampton Cove Balbriggan failed on Saturday June 4 and the pump station has been on overflow for a period of time. This action is being taken to ensure we are not compromising the human health of bathers, he said.

He also said that after routine inspections at Loughshinny Beach and Rush North Beach they were closed as a significant amount of deleterious matter including rags, sanitary towels etc washed up on both beaches.

Its a major bummer for the beaches to be closed on a bank holiday, Cllr OConnor told independent.ie.

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Local Councillor JP Browne said that the sewerage problems have been affecting the north of the county for some time.

Almost 70pc of raw sewage in Rush is pumped into the ocean, he said.

Fingal County Council and Irish Water are working together to solve the problem.

He said that works are expected to be completed by 2018 and that options include connecting the Rush sewage station to the one in Donabate or increasing the sewage capacity at Rush.

He said its a real shame for the beaches to be closed during the bank holiday.

I was at the south strand beach in Skerries yesterday with my six-year-old daughter and the beach was packed.

He said the pollution wasnt visible but warned that there are high levels of bacteria in the water.

This year Portrane beach lost its Blue Flag and Skerries lost its flag the year before. The Blue Flag is awarded in recognition of high standards at Irish beaches and marina.

Its very disappointing and will have a huge affect on Fingals tourism. The Skerries beach was internationally recognised. The pollution is a black mark against us.

He said theres no doubt that the Skerries water festival and the Rush Harbour festival will be affected by the pollution.
Fly-tippers who dumped asbestos among eight tonnes of rubbish metres from a school have been branded "diabolical".

West Belfast DUP councillor Frank McCoubrey said the perpetrators had no regard for people's safety - particularly the children who attend Glenwood Primary and those who live in the local area.

A passer-by raised the alarm after spotting the cancer-causing substance lurking among rubbish on a patch of wasteland used as a playground on Lanark Way, off the Shankill Road.

It was illegally dumped amid rubble including builders' rubbish, old fridges, household waste and refuse that was to be used to build a bonfire.

Specialist workers removed the asbestos over two days.

Councillor McCoubrey said children often played on or next to the wasteland and also raised concerns that youngsters may have come into contact with the hazardous material.

He added it could have been "disastrous" if the waste had been set on fire because it would have released toxic fumes people could have inhaled or that could have wafted into homes, affecting entire families.

"Residents here are just disgusted," councillor McCoubrey told the Belfast Telegraph.

"It's diabolical that those responsible have put children's lives at risk by dumping here to avoid paying to dump it properly.

"A passer-by reported it to me, and then health and safety experts from Belfast City Council and the Housing Executive came straight out.

"Tests proved that it was definitely asbestos, so a specialist company had to be brought in at a cost of thousands to ratepayers to have it properly removed.

"It's a disgrace and has put a real dampener on the area."

The councillor revealed workers had found documentation linking the fly-tipping to a north Belfast contractor, who could now face prosecution.

"Those who were looking after the bonfire thought that it (the asbestos) had been dumped alongside wood that was to be burnt for the fire, and they were very helpful on giving information to help identify the culprits, including the vehicle that they were driving.

"Residents were put at risk and everybody is disgusted at those who have dumped it, so they have been very helpful.

"The authorities, including the PSNI and the Housing Executive were excellent in getting it sorted quickly.

"There were a number of letters found amongst the asbestos, so now the PSNI has leads and has linked it to a company.

"Hopefully, they will be prosecuted and others will get the message that fly-tipping will not be tolerated."
Gardai have arrested a man and a woman following the discovery of a man who was shot dead in a remote laneway in south county Dublin.

The two, both aged in their mid-twenties, were arrested this evening and are being held at Tallaght and Rathfarnham Garda Stations.

The victim, aged in his thirties and from the Dublin area, was "known to gardai" for his involvement in criminality.

The grim discovery was made by a passerby this morning who initially believed that the man was the victim of a road traffic accident.

However when Gardai arrived at the scene in Co Dublin it was discovered that he had been shot.

They said they believe that he was shot multiple times at the location where he was found.

Expand Close The entrance to Hills Lane in Crooksling where the body of a man was discovered Credit: Damien Eagers / Facebook

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It is understood he suffered gunshot wounds to his head and upper body.

No weapon has been found at this stage but sources say that bullet casings were discovered close to the body.

"The identity of the deceased man has been confirmed and we are in the process of notifying his family," Superintendent Peter Duff at Tallaght Garda Station said.

"We believe that a number of gunshots were discharged at Hills Lane Crooksling.

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"Consequently I am appealing for anyone who was in the Hills Lane or Crooksling areas between the hours of 9pm last night, Saturday 4th June to 9am this morning, Sunday 5th June, or who may have heard gunshots in this area, to contact Tallaght Garda station on 01 666 6000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111."

Gardai in Tallaght say there is no indication that the killing of the man is linked to the recent spate of killings in the capital.

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A full investigation team has been assembled which includes assistance from the Garda National Units, and a Senior Investigating Officer has been appointed.

The man's body was discovered in a rural laneway, with just a handful of houses located close by.

The scene at Hills Lane, Crooksling, south of Saggart and Tallaght in south county Dublin is currently sealed off.

Dr Michael Curtis and a full Garda Technical Bureau team have attended the scene which is currently undergoing a full technical examination. A post-mortem will be carried out in the morning.

The two arrested are currently detained under Section 30, Offences Against the State Act, 1939.

Sinn Fein councillor Dermot Richardson said local residents were "shocked" to learn of last night's shooting.

"It's a very quiet area and people are shocked that this could have happened there," he said.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the Hills Lane or Crooksling areas, or who may have noticed anything unusual last night or early this morning, to contact them at Tallaght Garda station on 01 666 6000.

There have already been more gun homicides to date in 2016 as there were in all of 2015.

A total of eight people were shot dead last year. Already 10 people have been gunned down in 2016, just over five months into the year.

The previous were:

January 16: Kenneth O'Brien was shot and his remains dumped in the Grand Canal

February 5: David Byrne killed at the Regency Hotel, Whitehall, Dublin

February 8: Eddie Hutch Snr shot dead at his home on Portland Row, Dublin

February 29: Vincent 'Vinny' Ryan gunned down on McKee Road, Finglas

March 23: Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan shot dead outside his home in Ratoath, Co Meath

April 14: Martin O'Rourke killed on Sheriff St, Dublin 1

April 25: Michael Barr shot dead at the Sunset House bar, Dublin 1

April 25: Tom Farnan, murdered at his home on Kilcronan Close, Clondalkin

May 24: Gareth Hutch, killed near his home on Cumberland Street North, Dublin 1

Independent.ie recently revealed that the gun homicide rate in the Republic of Ireland was almost six times that of England/Wales.
The Cymbal Chandelier was developed with the architect and drummer Greg Tisdall. Made from copper, it bounces a warm light around any room. Prices from 350-795; shanehollanddesign.com

Aside from the odd mantlepiece or side table addition, having a home play host to sculpture is a rarity.

For most, the space simply isn't there to indulge it. Functional pieces with a sculptural feel are the ideal work around. From abstract furniture to pendant lighting and even kitchen utensils, there is a myriad of ways to express your personality through artistic interiors.

Shane Holland Design in Co Meath are known for their sculptural work across lighting and furniture, as well as public works. Look up as you pass through The Loop in Dublin Airport's Terminal 1 and you can't miss their sweeping copper swirl installation for the Irish Whiskey Collection. Meanwhile, in Galway, they've just completed a piece for the new Marconi/Alcock & Brown Centre near Clifden.

Demand for sculptural pieces is rising among residential clients too. "These are mainly feature pieces in the double-height areas, like stairwells," Shane explains. "We've also done some wall pieces with integrating lighting, such as the Porpoise Hibernicus, which uses a Porpoise skeleton found on a kayak trip off Skerries."

His team vary their use of materials. Primarily, they work with copper, followed by stainless steel and composite aluminium on interior pieces, while for exteriors, weathering or COR-TEN steel is key. At the House 2016 interiors event in the RDS last month, their salmon leaping installation above the bar caused a stir; however, more accessible pieces also drew attention.

"Our stand was a great opportunity to get back exhibiting into the residential interiors market. The show was very positive for us and we had a great reaction to some of our new Cymbals and the new 'Fractal' Rurays desk light," Shane says.

The Cymbal projects a warm and welcoming light. It is minimalistic when hung solo, but creates a sense of grandeur when grouped together. The latter won the International Design Excellance Awards for product design in 2011 and is based on the heard, but not seen, legendary Tonn Ruraigh wave in Co Down. It's striking, sculptural and very accessible.

There is plenty to admire at home and overseas too.

"Internationally, I like the scale and ambition of Gerry Judah's huge works for some of the big car companies, such as Porsche and Mazda," Shane says. "I also think Joseph Walsh is a superb Irish designer incorporating sculpture into his field of furniture."

Although Shane cites world-leading examples with a sculptural aesthetic, it's not always a case of go big or go home.

Fans of this style can really vary the scale of embellishment, from grand chandeliers to single furniture pieces and simple accessories.

Vase, 30

The Firande vase is inspired by ancient Egypt. Each is handmade, so no two are exactly the same; ikea.ie

Speakers, 79,995 a pair

A serious investment, these BeoLab 90 have to be heard to be believed; bang-olufsen.com

Lemon Squeezer, 62

Philippe Starck once said that the Alessi Juicy Salif is not just to squeeze lemons, but to start conversations; brownthomas.com

Lamp, price on request

This piece is carved from solid ash with the shade made from spalted beech. shanetubridfurniture.ie

Table, 400

The Ding table slots together without any screws or tools to create a sculptural knot; normann-copenhagen.com

Amanda Kavanagh is editor of Image Interiors & Living magazine
Fancy travelling the world on a tax-free salary? We asked a high-flying Irish flight attendant exactly what's involved.

Roma Armstrong (31) is the picture of old-school, airline glamour.

Sitting in the drawing room of Dublin's Merrion Hotel, in full Emirates regalia, she turns heads - from businessmen passing by to the little girl at the next table.

So how did this farmer's daughter from Ballina, Co. Mayo, get to travel the world and live a sky-high lifestyle on a tax-free salary?

With an Emirates Open Day scheduled in Dublin's Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place for Saturday, June 25, we asked Roma what it's really like to be a flight attendant, and what it takes to come through the airline's recruitment process.

How did you become a flight attendant?

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Roma Armstrong (right), with her Emirates colleagues.

Im from Mayo, just outside Ballina - a farmers daughter from the west of Ireland! I used to work for Ulster Bank as a Savings & Investment Advisor, but myself and two friends took a redundancy package to go travelling.

I always wanted to travel, thats the whole reason I left Ireland. I worked for a year in Australia, and one day I saw a sign saying: Why work on the ground when you can work 40,000 feet in the air? So I went along to an Open Day with my CV.

My plan was to stay for a year. That was three-and-a-half years ago!

What's a typical month in your job?

We get our schedules once a month, and we fly on average between 80 and 100 hours in a month. Thats pretty good. This time, my destinations have included Vienna, Milan, New York, Sydney and Auckland, where I plan to take a few days off.

Every month we get our rosters, but we can bid on or request various routes. Emirates employs around 23,000 cabin crew, but they do their best to accommodate us.

You can also swap rosters with your colleagues. So if you have Dublin and I have Vienna, we can swap, and everyones happy.

We need a minimum of two days off in every seven. After a long-haul flight you need a minimum of two days rest back in Dubai. I like longer flights, because you get your hours done, you get to see the destination, you come back and have time off.

Basically I signed up to travel the world. But the world is a big place!

What perks and benefits are involved?

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We earn a tax-free salary. Emirates pays for our training, uniforms and even our bills in Dubai. To be honest, I live in a bubble. Ill get a shock if I go back to the real world!

Its not a job; its a lifestyle for us. There is a beautiful apartment thats included in the job. I live five minutes from Dubai Mall! I also go on holidays every month. Thats not flying. Thats not layovers. Thats separate. Thats annual leave and days off.

Emirates cabin crew get discounted flights - we pay 10pc of the fare. Thats not just for us, its for our families as well. You can nominate people for discounted tickets anywhere in the world. You can literally follow your passion anywhere.

In Dubai, Emirates cabin crew have discount cards, so we get reductions in Dubai Mall and various water parks, gyms and attractions. We can go free to night clubs like Armani, Cavalli, Movida. Dubai has some of the best nightlife in the world.

NB: Emirates also provides airport transfers, health insurance, a government pension scheme and an end of service gratuity, among other benefits.

How can I apply for a job?

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Whatsapp Emirates Boeing 777-300, serving the Dublin to Dubai route.

You can apply online, but we also have Open Days, so bring your CV. The recruitment consultants will tell you all about the airline, Dubai, the change, whats expected of you. After that, you may get invited to a one-to-one interview.*

Interview day is almost like a knockout stage. Of all the people who apply, they choose about 5pc, or one in 20. They select a certain type of person.

*For more on careers with Emirates, see emiratesgroupcareers.com.

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What are the job requirements?

Emirates lists Cabin Crew requirements on its website as:

At least 21 years of age at the time of joining

Arm reach of 212cm while standing on tiptoes

Minimum height of 160cm

High school graduate (Grade 12)

Fluency in English (Written and Spoken)

No visible tattoos while in Emirates Cabin Crew uniform (cosmetic and bandage coverings not permitted)

Physically fit to meet the Emirates Cabin Crew requirements

The airline also requires a positive attitude, 'empathy for others', a strong cultural awareness and the ability to adapt to new people and environments.

"Its very personality based," Roma says. "We all have something in common  I guess its an attitude. You need to be culturally aware, because we fly to 120 destinations, we meet people from all walks of life. You need to be open-minded and positive too.

"Irish people are loved all over the world. We are caring, kind, the way we deal with people  Emirates as a company loves Irish people. We have over 500 Irish staff at the moment. They see us as being genuine, a hospitable country."

Do looks matter in selection?

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Were more than just a pretty face. Whats your definition of a pretty face, after all? It could mean something different to different nationalities.

Youd be surprised. Our crew come from all walks of life. Every profession you could think of is represented on board. We're from 130 countries, and some of our backgrounds would wow you. Were not just there smiling and stereotyping.

Our image is our brand, especially our uniform and the way we wear it. I wear it with pride. We come from different places, our skin colours are different, but our uniforms blend us as one. Thats how you identify us.

Of course, you need to be fit to do this job. You need to take care of yourself. I go to the gym, I like to run. Its an active job and you need to be healthy.

Are there male cabin crew?

I would say the split is probably 70-30. We have a lot of Irish men that work for us who have met their wives on their travels! Its the same application process for both.

What does training involve?

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We have a five-week intensive training programme, where we cover everything from medical and safety to image, uniform and grooming standards.

Training starts with an induction day in Dubai, where they talk about the city, the contrast with your home country and an Arabic, Muslim country. I didnt know a lot of that before I arrived, so I found it really helpful.

The five weeks are very full-on. You have Friday and Saturday off, but there are long days, with a lot of information. It's good training. If you need it, it kicks in. Were even trained to deliver babies. Whatever can happen in the sky, were trained for it.

Once you qualify, there are regular exams once a year to renew your flying license, and they have high pass marks too. You need to study, and theres always new information coming. You have briefings before every flight to refresh your knowledge, too.

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How long is the career?

I fly with some crew who have been there 14 or 15 years.

The good thing about Emirates is that your career can progress. You can fly as cabin crew, you could become a trainer, you could go into recruitment, have an office job in our HQ in Dubai, or even move to another country and work there through the airport.

You get options. It doesnt have to change when you get married or have children, either. Family life has a big emphasis in Dubai. You are also guaranteed your job. The security is a big thing - the first contract is for three years.

Whats it like to live in Dubai?

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As crew, we call Dubai the capital of the world. Everything is there. Its so modern, so cosmopolitan; there are so many ex-pats there now and the Irish community is strong. We have GAA teams, and a huge Irish society.

Sure, It can get very hot  the hottest period lasts about eight weeks. The first year, I found it tough. But it got easier. Now its fine. I walk to my gym, do my running. Now, Id have a Dubai summer over an Irish winter any day of the week!

Its different coming from the West, of course, and I wasnt very educated about Islam until I went to Dubai. You can be afraid of something you don't know, but learning about it was amazing. I have a lot of Arabic and Muslim friends.

That said, Dubai isnt as strict as other Muslim countries. We are visitors, and we have to respect their rules. But also they respect that we live and work there. They look after us.

For us, Dubai is our home. We have Sunday lunch. We cook for each other. We go for a run, to the beach, or for coffee together. There are a lot of places we might know about that tourists dont, because it has become our home.

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What's the hardest thing about the job?

Thats a good question. Probably not being able to go to events at home that you would like to. My nephew got Christened recently. I would love to have been there, but I wasnt able to. You could be the other side of the world.

That said, when I lived in Australia, I missed everything. Now, I can get back for Christmas, weddings, a whole lot more. We do two flights a day into Dublin and with a 24-hour layover youd be surprised what you can do. If I have days off in Dubai, I can always just jump on a flight and come home.

Home is where my heart is, and sometimes, people are surprised to hear I live in Dubai. But youre always at home! they say, and its true!

What's it really like working on a plane?

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Our Emirates planes are huge. I once wore a stepper to count my steps, and I think I walked something like 4.5km in a flight! Youre always doing something.

But well also sit down together, have lunch or a coffee or a chat when people are sleeping. I dont ever feel claustrophobic. Its our office! I came back from Milan recently, and I was sitting in my jump seat looking out the window. I could see all the city lights below and the stars were getting closer. Its a nice place to be.

Our longest flight is 17.5 hours to Auckland. On long-hauls, we work the whole flight, but there is a rest strategy and full beds in special crew rest compartments, complete with crew pyjamas and movies! You can sleep for 4-5 hours, depending.

Ive also met some of the most incredible people on board. Were not robots. Emirates hires and recruits for our personalities. People could travel with us to the most amazing event in their life, or the saddest. We are there for them.

Give an example? We had this 92-year-old Irish woman coming from Singapore recently. She had been in Melbourne to see her great-granddaughter. It was her first time out of Ireland, at 92! She even had to get her first passport.

"You know, I have so many regrets in life," she said. "But the one I have now is that I didnt do this years ago. I didnt know that its like a hotel in the sky!"

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My Week: Conor McGregor*

Monday: I wake up. Although, of course, I have not actually been asleep. No, no, my friend. Not in the way that other, mere mortal people sleep. Instead I have trained myself to metaphysicise; I have transmorgorified, I have metamorphisitised, I have fundamentally reimagined a way of resting my body, so that I am consciously wrestling with the inner movements of my muscles, even as my body believes it is sleeping. And while I do dat, my amigo, I am also full of the most beautiful feelings and emotions. My woman, my girl, the future first Lady of Ireland and myself, did go and promenade the town last night, with a pint of Guinness and my very good friend and training partner, Artem "The Russian Hammer" Lobov.
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Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis

Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term  the next six months or a year; the medium-term  the next four or five years; and the long-term  the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts.
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Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
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Eoghan Harris Opinion Misery media fails to give due credit to the Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheal Martin must drive his advisers mad. Unlike Leo Varadkar or Donald Trump, he never bigs up success stories such as the effect of Level 3 Plus on Covid or his visionary Shared Island project. Last Friday, Tony Holohan and RTE cheerleaders seemed to imply Level 5 was responsible for the improved Covid situation. Not so.
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New hospital for a tenner may come at too high a price

The Taoiseach is under a lot of pressure  the kind of pressure that leads to costly mistakes. It perhaps explains why he has been saying things that are not quite true. Micheal Martin is in a tight political corner. From all sides hes being told he has to get the contract signed for the new National Maternity Hospital.
Not for nothing was Barbara Bush known as 'The Enforcer'

Barbara Bush, tougher than her husband and known to her family as 'The Enforcer', is probably the most popular of all ex-US first ladies of recent times. Jackie Kennedy is remembered across the globe for elegance and tragedy, but she was not loved. Rosalynn Carter worked hard and was a noted campaigner on issues of mental health, but she has suffered in retrospect because of her bitterness at his defeat by Ronald Reagan, who is widely perceived to have been as great a success as Carter was a failure. The brittle Nancy Reagan was an essential support to her husband, but was thought to care little for anyone else. Hillary Clinton was loathed by those who thought her a careerist. The likeable Laura Bush did a lot of useful work but lacked her mother-in-law's commanding personality. And although Michelle Obama had rock-star status, that has diminished as she and her husband embrace luxury and celebrity. Betty Ford is probably the closest rival, having been far more effective and formidable than her husband Gerald, the 38th president, and still having a posthumous reputation for her prowess as a campaigner on addiction, not least because so many of the famous troop to the Betty Ford Clinic.
The French architect Le Corbusier thought that crowded cities were bad for people. He tried to refashion them and create new urban designs with a building style that became known as Brutalism. He thought he could change how cities worked.

As an experiment in urban planning, it failed. Many of the attempts at redesigning cities have been knocked down or those living in them wish they would be.

It shouldn't surprise us. Most attempts at fundamental reform fail. They either fail to get off the ground or, if implemented, they fail to achieve what they were meant to.

The new Minister for Health, Simon Harris, last week announced the formation of a new Oireachtas committee into health. Its remit will be to find a "singular vision for the health service over the next 10 years".

He should have said 20 or even 50, because that's how long radical reforms take. Even pretty simple issues, like building a new children's hospital, seem to take an inordinate amount of time.

The need for the Oireachtas committee is based on the assumption that ministers come and go and that their changing agendas mean that no reform is ever fully enacted.

By forming a consensus across parties, that plan will be progressed, regardless of any change of government.

Is that assumption valid?

The last government did not implement its singular vision of a Dutch-style health system mainly because it was too bold a plan. If we baulked at water charges, we were hardly going to look kindly on mandatory health insurance.

Leo Varadkar recognised this and scaled down expectations. The cynic in me might suggest that Simon Harris is going further, he is handing over responsibility to others.

By asking others to agree the long-term vision for the health service, Harris recognises that he cannot deliver radical change and that reforming the health service will take decades, rather than years. He also recognises the politics of the situation. He won't be able to push through radical reform without the approval of Opposition parties.

It's especially important because this is the issue that more voters cited as the one determining their vote. Removing it as a political issue can only help Fine Gael. Harris's actions are good politics.

To be fair to Harris, he has asked that the committee reports back to the Oireachtas within six months. Even on a pessimistic view of the current Government's durability, that will require Harris to do something.

But we know what it will say. There is already a consensus that we should have a single-tier health system, which delivers treatment based on clinical need, not means.

The trouble starts when you try to agree how to deliver that. This is where politics comes in. Essentially, the committee will be asked to consider two models: Beveridge and Bismarck.

The Beveridge model, named after the architect of the British NHS, is one in which the funding and delivery of healthcare are all within one organisation, such as the NHS. It's thought to fail, except in small population countries, because the organisation is simply too big to manage. The Bismarck model is based on (not necessarily private) health insurance, in which funding and delivery are independent. You tend to see (not necessarily private) hospitals compete with each other. Unlike in the Beveridge system, a single policy mistake isn't automatically repeated across the whole system.

The Beveridge system also becomes too expensive to administer. Money gets spent on management, not on patients.

We should know from our own experience that money doesn't correlate with outcomes. Ireland trebled its spending on health during the boom, but few made claims about an improving service.

Even if a committee agrees on a roadmap to reform healthcare, there's no guarantee that other interested parties will play ball. The church, which controls many hospitals, and health professionals - nurses and doctors - have shown themselves able to block even modest changes.

Harris should be sceptical of big structural reforms. Remember that the last big reform in health was the formation of the HSE, something that the current Programme for Government is committed to dismantling.

Nor should we carelessly buy into the idea that the health system is as terrible as we are continually told. There is a problem with waiting lists, but according to the Euro Health Consumer Index, Ireland performs well on the things that matter: patient outcomes. The rising life expectancy shows Ireland is also very good on preventing illness. The Healthy Ireland initiative has been a singular success.

The committee and the new minister should recognise that small-scale reforms often work best. The State's cancer strategy, including initiatives like Breast Check, has worked well. The National Treatment Purchase Fund succeeded, albeit at some cost, in reducing waiting times for a number of standard procedures.

Simon Harris won't just want to get out of the Department of Health politically alive. Despite James Reilly's experiences and Brian Cowen's now infamous moniker, Hawkins House is not 'Angola'. Harris is smart and ambitious. He'll want to have something to show for his time there.

Charles Haughey recognised that as a minister you would want to try at least one innovative idea in each department. It can make your name. Haughey produced a litany of small measures, such as the free travel pass and the artists' tax exemption, that had a big impact (not least on his reputation). Mary Harney dined out on the smokeless coal ban for years.

Harris should pick something manageable. If it were to change the way GPs are structured and introduce a proper primary care system, that would certainly be enough to build his reputation.

Anything bigger might end in failure, or worse he might be the architect of something that we want to tear down 20 years later.
Johnny Depp's estranged wife Amber Heard appears to have a bruised eye and cut lip in new pictures in People magazine she claims were the result of his abuse.

Johnny Depp and his wife Amber Heard, who are divorcing after 15 months of marriage

Johnny Depp's estranged wife Amber Heard appears to have a bruised eye and cut lip in new pictures she claims were the result of his abuse.

The actress says she "truly feared for her life" during an incident in December 2015, according to her court filing accusing Depp of domestic violence.

Heard, who has filed for divorce after 15 months of marriage, has been granted a temporary restraining order against the Hollywood star.

In her application for the order, she claims Depp was verbally and physically abusive to her for the "entirety" of their four-year-relationship.

Depp has not responded to the photographs - which appear in the new issue of People magazine - or the allegations, but his divorce lawyer Laura Wasser said in court documents that Heard is "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse".

Heard has already claimed that Depp argued with her on April 21 after showing up at the end of her 30th birthday party "inebriated and high", grabbed her by the hair and "violently shoved me to the floor".

She also said he threw a mobile phone at her, "striking my cheek and eye with great force" during an altercation on May 21 - when he "began obsessing about something that was untrue".

Los Angeles police have said they responded to that incident, but found no evidence of a crime.

Heard's lawyers said she did not initially give a statement to police because she was trying to protect her privacy and Depp's reputation career.

The new issue of People will be on American newstands on Friday.
Women direct men better than men themselves, Sir Ben Kingsley has said.

The Hollywood star said that his experience of women directors is that they have been better than their male colleagues at helping actors to portray men's vulnerability.

Speaking to The Observer, he praised his latest collaborator, Spanish director Isabel Coixet, as having a "lens" to see things male directors "might be in denial about".

Despite having only worked with four women directors in his long film career, Sir Ben said there were few male directors who could capture this sensitivity.

He said: "I do feel that it is through the prism, the lens, the perspective of the female eye - the loving female eye - that a man is almost given permission to be vulnerable.

"I'm sorry to say that I've only worked with possibly four female directors. If you look at my CV, I've done a lot of movies, so that's a terrible imbalance.

"The ladies I have worked with have an extraordinary ability to put (male vulnerability) on screen.

"There's only one male director - possibly two - who really gets this and understands its value as a currency, as a character trait, as something that has its place in our humanity and must always have."

The veteran actor said his finest hour with the Royal Shakespeare Company was his performance as Hamlet - which was also directed by a woman.

In May a report commissioned by Directors UK found that just 13.6% of working film directors in the UK are women.

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Sir Ben called for the film industry to make "broader choices" and said he no longer wanted to see women held back.

He was speaking ahead of the release of his latest film, Learning To Drive, which is by three women: Coixet in the director's chair, producer Dana Friedman and writer Sarah Kernochan.
President Higgins sent his condolences to the people of Western Sahara this week following the death of the disputed territorys leader-in-exile risking a souring of relations between Ireland and Morocco.

Revolutionary leader Mohammed Abdelaziz was the leader of the Polisario Front and the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) which has its base in the harsh Tindouf refugee camps in the desert sands of Algeria.

The Polisario Front is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the Western Sahara.

In October 2012 the Moroccan Ambassador to Ireland was temporarily withdrawn after President Higgins became the first European Head of State to meet with Mr. Abdelaziz.

Officials from the Department for Foreign Affairs were keen to the point out that the meeting was not an official recognition of the SADR state but rather that Mr. Abdelaziz represented the native people of Western Sahara.

It was a major coup for the Western Saharan Independence Movement.

Morocco, which fought a 16-year-war against the Polisario Front for effective control of the desert nation, do not recognise Western Sahara as a country in its own right and claim its their Southern Province.

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In his message to the people of Western Sahara, most of whom are nomadic or decedents of nomads, President Higgins said: I met the late Secretary General (Mr Abdelaziz) both in Africa and in Ireland. Ireland has been among those countries which have provided personnel to the United Nations peace-keeping forces in Western Sahara. On behalf of the people of Ireland, I offer my condolences to Mr. Abdelaziz's family, to the Polisario Front and the people of Western Sahara, as they mourn his untimely loss. I remain supportive of all those who are seeking to achieve peace in the region.

In 1991 a UN-brokered ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front was reached on condition that a referendum be held to allow Western Saharans self-determination. But that vote has never taken place despite President Abdelaziz pleading with the United Nations to stay true to its promise.

MINURSO  A U.N Pease-keeping force has been deployed since 1991 and currently includes three Irish Defence forces personnel.

In March Morocco expelled UN staff after Ban Ki-Moon used the word Occupation to describe their actions in Western Sahara.

And now tensions in the region are high as the Polisario Front prepare to elect a successor to Abdelaziz who ruled for 40-years. While his policies brought a partial peace to the region frustrated youths among the 90,000 refugees in the Tindouf camps believe a return to war might be the only way to progress their cause.

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Irish oil and gas exploration company San Leon Energy, of which Oisin Fanning is Executive Chairman and former government Minister Conor Lenihan a board member, has been the target of a campaign by the Saharawi people in recent years. They believe San Leon, which has been drilling in Western Sahara, are exploiting the natural resources of their occupied country.

But Fanning told the Irish Independent last year: San Leon refutes any implication that the company is somehow acting as a rogue actor. We are not the first western company to operate in the Southern Provinces (of Morocco). San Leon is proud to act in unison with other major oil and gas companies in the region.

By Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said: Any exploration and exploitation activities that proceed in disregard of the interests of the people of Western Sahara would be in violation of the principles of international law.

A small number of Western Saharans live in Ireland today. This week they too called for a referendum on self-determination for their fellow countrymen and women as they mourn the passing of their former leader.
A diver has been killed by a large shark off the west Australian coast in the country's second fatal attack in less than a week.

Western Australia state police say the 60-year-old woman was diving with a man at a popular spot in the northern Perth suburb of Mindarie on Sunday when the shark attacked.

Police Inspector Danny Mulligan said the woman's dive partner managed to pull her out of the water after she was attacked, but her injuries proved fatal.

The woman was the second person killed by a shark in Western Australia in less than a week.

On Tuesday, a surfer's leg was bitten off by a shark about 60 miles south of where the woman was attacked. The surfer, Ben Gerring, later died of his injuries.

The brother of 29-year-old Mr Gerring thanked the "heroes" who took him to shore after the attack, and the staff at Royal Perth Hospital, where he died on Friday night.

Rick Gerring said the hospital's care had given the family three days with Ben.

"Obviously we were always hoping for the best outcome, it was always at the back of our minds that this could happen, but they gave us that time to say our goodbyes," he told ABC News.

Mr Gerring was attacked while paddling his surfboard at Falcon Beach in his home town of Mandurah, south of Perth.

Fellow surfers paddled to him to take him to shore, witnesses said.

An inspection of his damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible. The Fisheries Department trapped and killed a large shark on Wednesday afternoon but did not know if it was the same shark that attacked Mr Gerring.

Area beaches have reopened, but the department warned people to be extra cautious in the water.
Christians in Nigeria's mainly-Muslim north have demanded more protection after a woman was stabbed to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Two suspects have been arrested over Thursday's killing of middle-aged trader Bridget Abihime in Kano, Nigeria's national police chief Solomon Arase said.

Ms Abihime allegedly said the Prophet Mohammed was not important.

The northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria said police were not doing enough to protect Christians and warned of a "looming religious crisis". In the past, such attacks have led to retaliation and sectarian violence.

"This barbarism must stop now," said association spokesman the Rev John Hayab. He accused police of trying to cover up the killing and demanded all those involved in Ms Abihime's death be arrested and prosecuted.

Mr Arase promised swift justice and called on community leaders to help in "dousing the tensions". He said all security agencies were being deployed to prevent the incident from "degenerating into a major security threat".

Nigeria's 170 million people are divided almost equally between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims predominantly in the north.

They interact peacefully for the most part, but tensions are high in the north and especially the north east, where Boko Haram's near seven-year-old Islamic uprising has killed about 20,000 people and suicide bombings keep people in fear.

Kano has suffered several such attacks.
US secretary of state John Kerry has warned that China would be committing a provocative and destabilising act if it establishes an air defence zone in the South China Sea.

Mr Kerry, speaking during a visit to Mongolia, said doing so would raise tensions between China and other Asian countries and call into question China's commitment to resolving disputes over islands and maritime claims diplomatically.

He said the US did not take sides on competing claims and no country should move unilaterally to militarise the resource-rich region.

Meanwhile he hailed Mongolia as an "oasis of democracy", n oting its difficult geographical location between undemocratic China and increasingly authoritarian Russia, and welcomed its parliamentary elections next month.

Mongolia, which has been democratic for 25 years, wants to safeguard its sovereignty and has reached out to Washington as part of its "third neighbour" policy.

The US is reciprocating interest at a time it also is cultivating closer ties with south-east Asian nations threatened by China's rise.

Mr Kerry's brief stop in the homeland of Genghis Khan, famous for its traditional ger dwellings, comes before he travels to Beijing for annual US-China strategic and economic talks.
The prime minister of Libya's UN-backed government said in comments published on Sunday that "total victory" against the Islamic State group in its main Libyan stronghold is near, as forces close in on the coastal city of Sirte.

Fayez al-Serraj told France's Le Journal Du Dimanche newspaper that his government needed international intelligence and technical assistance, but "not air strikes".

The comments came a day after a spokesman for forces allied with his government said they captured a military base about 20 miles south west of Sirte.

The spokesman, Brigadier General Mohammed al-Gosry, said "we are officially in Sirte and only days away from controlling the centre of the city".

"This total victory against IS in Sirte is near. We will be able to also take control of all these zones it has occupied. We also hope that this war against terrorism can unite Libya. But it will be long. And the international community knows it," Mr al-Serraj told the French newspaper.

According to Ziad Hadia, the Sirte representative in the parliament based in eastern Libya, more than 2,000 IS fighters are thought to be based in the city. Foreign fighters, mostly from Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africans, account for more than 85% of the fighters, he added.
Boys help their injured friend after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Fardous district, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

A civil defence member removes debris while looking for survivors using an excavator after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

People salvage goods from an aid convoy that was damaged during an airstrike in the rebel held area of al-Sakhour district of Aleppo, Syria June 4, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

People salvage goods from an aid convoy that was damaged during an airstrike in the rebel held area of al-Sakhour district of Aleppo, Syria June 4, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

People salvage goods from an aid convoy that was damaged during an airstrike in the rebel held area of al-Sakhour district of Aleppo, Syria June 4, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

Destruction as Syrian and Russian aircraft 'step up bombing' of Aleppo Close

Nearly 50 air strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government aircraft, residents and a monitoring group said.

The group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said an unidentified war plane had crashed in countryside south of Aleppo, in an area where Islamist rebel fighters are battling the Syrian army and Iranian-backed forces. It had no information on what caused the crash.

A civil defence worker said at least 32 people were killed in the rebel-held parts of the city during the air strikes, with 18 bodies pulled from flattened buildings in the Qatrji neighbourhood, the worst hit.

The monitor said dozens of barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel- were dropped by helicopter on densely populated districts.

Expand Close Smoke rises after airstrikes on Aleppo's rebel held neighbourhoods, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail / Facebook

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Whatsapp Smoke rises after airstrikes on Aleppo's rebel held neighbourhoods, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

"This week-long campaign of bombing is very intense and day by day it's getting worse ... it is the worst we have seen in a while," said Bebars Mishal, a civil defence official in rebel-held Aleppo.

For their part, rebels hit government-held areas of Aleppo in what Syrian media said was an escalation of mortar attacks on the western districts.

State media said attacks on Sunday on Hamadaniyah, Midan and other neighbourhoods by insurgents killed at least 20 people, in the second day of intense shelling of government-held areas. The death toll over the whole weekend was at least 44.

Aleppo, the country's largest city before the war, has been divided for years between rebel and government-held zones.

Expand Close A civil defence member removes debris while looking for survivors using an excavator after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail / Facebook

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Whatsapp A civil defence member removes debris while looking for survivors using an excavator after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

Full control of Aleppo would be a huge prize for President Bashar al-Assad. Russia's military intervention since September has helped to bolster Assad's government.

Syria issued a toughly worded statement denouncing Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, holding them responsible for the latest surge in rebel attacks and accusing them of wrecking any effort to reach a U.N.-backed political settlement.

Damascus says that along with several major Western countries, those regional countries finance and train Islamist rebels seeking to topple Assad's government.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, meanwhile, residents said Syrian and Russian jets bombed the rebel-held provincial capital, setting fire to a bustling market in the heart of the city. More than 30 people were injured, at least three killed and dozens were unaccounted for, according to an activist contacted in the city.

Expand Close Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail / Facebook

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Whatsapp Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

The Idlib strikes came just days after some of the heaviest raids on residential areas for months, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens on May 31. Idlib has been a relative haven for thousands of displaced Syrians.

The air raids in Aleppo on Sunday came in the wake of strikes on civilian areas on Friday that residents said were the most intense in over a month.

The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian government raids had targeted the main Castello road that leads into rebel-held Aleppo as part of a campaign to complete the encirclement of the city's insurgent-dominated areas.

A Russian defence ministry statement on Sunday accused militant Syrian Islamist groups of firing mortars on the mainly Kurdish-populated Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood in Aleppo that overlooks the Castello road.

Expand Close Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail / Facebook

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Whatsapp Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

The monitor said 13 people, including six children, were killed on Saturday in the Kurdish-run area by insurgents' mortars.

Rebels accuse the powerful Kurdish YPG of working with the Syrian army to cut the main artery by intensifying their ground attacks on the highway.

The Russians had on Saturday accused militants from radical Islamic groups of bringing at least 1,000 fighters into an area in the southern Aleppo countryside.

The militants have consolidated gains since Friday in the area around the strategic town of Khan Touman, rebels say.

The Nusra Front spearheaded an attack on Khan Touman last month, delivering one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters supporting Syrian government forces..

Rebels say Russian jets on Sunday pounded insurgent positions in the area to prevent them from advancing towards the nearby town of Hader, which rebels say is a stronghold of Iranian-backed militias.

Expand Close Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail / Facebook

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Whatsapp Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held al-Hallak neighbourhood, Syria June 2, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

Also U.S.-backed forces on Sunday engaged with Islamic State fighters in an offensive that began last Tuesday against IS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area where they continued to seize more villages, according to Kurdish sources and the monitor. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
A push by Syrian troops leaves extremists fighting fierce battles on four fronts in Syria and Iraq

Syrian troops reached the edge of the northern province of Raqqa on Saturday, home to the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's self-styled caliphate.

The Syrians' push leaves the extremists fighting fierce battles on four fronts in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

IS, which controls large swathes of territory in both countries, is fighting Syrian troops, US-backed fighters and opposition militants in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces on their stronghold of Fallujah.

The Syrian government has had no presence in Raqqa since August 2014, when IS captured the Tabqa air base and killed scores of government soldiers. The provincial capital, Raqqa, became the militants' first city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops reached the "administrative border" of Raqqa province under the cover of Russian air strikes.

It said that during three days of fighting 26 IS fighters and nine troops and pro-government gunmen were killed.

The media arm of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces, said Syrian troops reached the border of Raqqa province after advancing about 6km (four miles) on Saturday afternoon.

The front line is around 80km (50 miles) from the city of Raqqa.

Syrian troops began their advance toward the province on Wednesday, the same day that US-backed forces launched an attack on the IS-stronghold of Manbij, some 115km (72 miles) to the north west of Raqqa. It is unclear if the attacks were coordinated.

The US-backed predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces advanced closer to Manbij, which lies on a key supply route linking the Turkish border to the city of Raqqa, on Saturday.

The observatory said SDF fighters captured 34 villages near Manbij. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the fighting is now concentrated on the south of the town.

IS fighters are also engaged in fierce battles for the rebel-held stronghold of Marea, a town some 70km west of Manbij. IS surrounded Marea on three sides but has failed to capture the city, which is under control of rebels and fighters from the al Qaida affiliated Nusra Front.

"The fighting is very intense on three fronts in Marea," said opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby.

While battles rage in Raqqa province, Manbij and Marea, IS fighters are coming under fire in their Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah. Iraqi forces launched their offensive on the city almost two weeks ago, and say they have reached the edge of town.

On the city's northern edge, Iraq's military issued a statement announcing that IS had been pushed out of the neighbourhood of Saqlawiya on Saturday. The statement also said an Iraqi flag was raised above the area.

However, the main push into the city centre has been slow. Heavy IS counter-attacks and concerns for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside the city slowed Iraq's elite counter-terrorism troops, who are leading the push, according to Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi.

Meanwhile, violence in and around the contested northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and once commercial centre, claimed more lives.

The city has been the scene of fierce fighting, even during a truce brokered by the US and Russia that went into effect in late February and collapsed weeks later.

The Russian military's Reconciliation Centre in Syria said the Nusra Front heavily shelled several government-held neighbourhoods of the city.

The shelling of government-held parts of contested Aleppo killed 22 and wounded 23 people, while opposition activists said dozens were killed or wounded in rebel-held neighbourhoods.

Intense fighting also took place south of Aleppo, where insurgents led by the Nusra Front attacked the Syrian army position near the Khan Touman area, reportedly to reduce pressure on the city.
The Taliban have increasingly targeted the judiciary since the government executed six convicted insurgents last month

Taliban gunmen have stormed a court building in eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people, including a newly-appointed chief prosecutor.

The killings on Sunday were the latest in a series of insurgent attacks on judicial employees.

The attack began as the prosecutor, Akram Nejat, was addressing a ceremony to introduce him in his new position, said Nesar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai, deputy police chief of Logar province.

A statement from the interior ministry said 21 others, including six police officers, were wounded in the attack on the court in Puli Alim, the provincial capital.

The three attackers were shot dead by Afghan security forces, the statement said.

The Taliban have increasingly targeted the judiciary since the government executed six convicted insurgents last month. The executions signalled a tougher approach to the Taliban after two years of failed government efforts to revive peace talks.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack.

In a statement, it said that one of those killed was a junior prosecutor and that three judges were among the wounded. In the statement, the head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom, said he urged "authorities to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions".

"Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted," he said.

In the capital, Kabul, an Afghan MP was killed in a roadside bombing late Sunday, said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

Sher Wali Wardak was an MP from Kabul, whose brother Farooq Wardak was a former education minister.

Another 11 people were wounded in the attack, which took place near Wardak's house, Sediqqi said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast in Kabul. Taliban insurgents have been increasing their attacks on security forces and government officials across the country.
Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) is renowned for strong views on the role of women

Turkey's president said work is no reason for women to decline motherhood.

Speaking on Sunday at a women's association in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "a woman who abstains from motherhood saying 'I am working' means she is in fact rejecting motherhood".

Mr Erdogan, quoted by the state-run Anadolu Agency, said: "I absolutely don't accept making (a woman's) business life an alternative to motherhood."

Earlier this week, he spoke out against birth control saying it was incompatible with Muslim traditions.

Mr Erdogan, a devout Muslim, often courts controversy with divisive public comments.

He has previously angered women's groups by stating that women are not equal to men and by urging women to bear at least three children.

The Turkish leader has also raised eyebrows by attempting to outlaw abortion and adultery.
West African leaders have discussed setting up an anti-terror force to combat extremists

West African leaders have discussed setting up a force to combat extremists and will send an observation mission to Gambia before elections.

The decisions were announced after about a dozen heads of state, including presidents from Ivory Coast, Niger and Mali, met in Dakar, Senegal, for the 49th session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

"We must constantly reconcile the free movement of people and goods with security measures," said new president of the body Marcel Alain de Souza of Benin, at the opening of the day-long summit.

"The multiplication of the number of zones of terrorism in our space obliges us to share information on all activities and to co-ordinate and mobilise our resources."

The member states discussed the creation of a regional force, he said later, without giving further details.

The threat of extremism in the region has increased following major attacks by al Qaida-linked militants in Mali, Burkina Faso and in Ivory Coast.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram, which has declared its support for the Islamic State group, continues to carry out attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Senegalese president Macky Sall, the outgoing chairman, said resources must be combined.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was chosen to replace Mr Sall.

Ecowas also agreed to send a technical mission to Gambia ahead of December elections, calling for a free and credible vote and dialogue with the opposition.

"The conference urges the security forces to avoid excessive use of force against citizens," the leaders said.

Gambian activists and politicians have called on Ecowas to take action against Gambia for its recent brutal crackdown on rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Dozens of people, including opposition leaders, have been arrested during recent demonstrations and one leader died from torture while in detention, according to human rights group Amnesty International.
SC superintendent race: business donors, teacher's movement, fate of public schools

Millions have flowed into SC's superintendent race where a teachers' movement is up against a network of politicians and business owners
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Adani Group may withdraw from the proposed $16 billion mining project in the Galilee basin of Queensland, according to reports.

Report says that Adani is battling multiple legal challenges from green groups opposed to $10-bn Carmichael mine, rail and port project.

The Australian reported that the company's founder and chairman, Gautam Adani had told the company may abandon the project because of long delays due to legal challenges.

"You can't continue just holding. I have been really disappointed that things have got too delayed," Adani reportedly told The Australian.
Ever since the NDA government took charge of the office, mutual funds have been on a net buying spree in equities, and Bank, Software and Pharma shares have attracted maximum deployment for the mutual funds in last two year.Despite mounting NPAs taking a massive toll on the Indian banking sector, MFs still seem bullish on bank stocks. It is pertinent to note that since May-14, not all bank stocks offer impressive returns on investment (RoI). Barring some private sector banks, banking shares have disappointed the investors big time.The MFs have been deploying more than Rs.50,000 crore in bank stocks every months. Similarly, the robust business of drug makers in India and overseas has helped the pharma stocks to gain fund managers attention. The MFs total deployment in pharma stocks was Rs.15,027 crore in May 2014, which has seen constant jump over the period and in April 2016 it had reached to Rs.32,820 crore, shows the latest Sebi data.In addition, weakening Indian rupee has emerged as the prime factor for the Indian software services providers during last two years, which as encouraged fund managers to park capital funding in software stocks that offer impressive return in last two year. On a monthly basis, MFs have been increasing their deployment in software stocks. For April 2016, MFs deployment in software stocks touched Rs.40,194 crore.Fund managers are of the view that until now banks were not exposed to such a worst scenario on NPA front and bank stocks have, at regular intervals, offered substantially higher returns. Despite the industry facing headwinds at present, the current stock valuation of many banks make them a good buy. Data shows that private sector banks have outpaced their public sector peers when it comes to offer higher returns. During past two years, Yes Bank offers highest return of 93% among the banking stocks, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank (70%), Axis Bank (54%), HDFC Bank (46%).The outlook of banking stocks will much depend on the upcoming RBI monetary policy and how banks in association with the government take proactive measures to reduce the burden on their books.According to fund managers, the sharp fall in the value of Indian rupee against the greenback has been a blessing in disguised for the Indian IT giants like Infosys, Wipro and TCS. Their profitability in past two years clearly reflects in the positive return they offer. More than impressive returns, software stocks have been offering timely opportunities for portfolio management. During last two year, software stocks have supremely outperformed benchmark indices. Shares of Tata Elxsi have grown 270%, followed by Infosys (59%), Hexaware Tech (56%), Mphasis (45%), TCS (22%), Tech Mahindra 21%, among others.With IT majors increasing their revenue guidelines for FY17, the software stocks are in a state of optimism. However, the US Federal Reserves move in the forthcoming policy meet will play a key role for Indian IT companies generating significant portion of their total revenues from the US. Moreover, the results of US presidential elections, too, will be watched out for.India is considered as the local pharmacy for the world and the countrys leading drug makers have been found on a receiving end mainly due to USFDAs harsh scrutiny regarding the quality issues of Indian drugs. Despite the Indian pharma industry being at loggerheads since last 8-9 months, the pharma stocks offer humongous return, in the long term (i.e. two years). Dishman Pharma offers 252% return in last two years; while Natco Pharma, Suven Life Sciences, Alembic Pharma and Jubilant Life Sciences have more than doubled during the review period.As the US accounts for a larger revenue share for the Indian drug makers, the good health of US economy is very important for the Indian pharma sector. However, analysts opine that the slowing US economy is expected to hurt the Indian companies revenue from the US.
Mylan N.V. and Biocon Ltd announced the presentation of data from the HERITAGE study at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, June 3-7. The study confirmed the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of MYL-1401O, the proposed biosimilar trastuzumab co-developed by Biocon and Mylan, in comparison to branded trastuzumab.

As one of the first companies in the industry to successfully complete a confirmatory efficacy and safety study comparing a proposed biosimilar to a branded cancer drug, this is a significant milestone for Mylan's biosimilar program, Mylan President Rajiv Malik said. aThere is an urgent, unmet need for more affordable versions of biologic products and through our collaboration with Biocon we are well-positioned to be at the forefront to help deliver these complex products to patients around the world. We are pleased that ASCO has recognized the importance of biosimilars in advancing cancer care and the significant role they will play in providing patients greater access to affordable treatment.



Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon, added: The positive outcomes of the global Phase 3 clinical study with our proposed biosimilar trastuzumab for HER2-positive breast cancer patients are a significant milestone in our joint biosimilars development program with Mylan. The trial will enable regulatory filings of our product in the developed markets. Biocon remains committed to develop affordable biologics and these study results will help us in enhancing access for cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare systems across the globe.

Worldwide, nearly 2 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, making it the second most common cancer in the world. HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer that tests positive for the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which promotes cancer cell growth. Approximately 20% to 30% of primary breast cancers are HER2-positive.

Trastuzumab is indicated for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. It is also indicated for adjuvant treatment of HER2 overexpressing breast cancer and metastatic gastric cancer. It is a targeted therapy that interferes with the HER2 protein and impedes cancer cell growth.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Conference on Economic Development (ACED) opened in Hong Kong, China today. The inaugural event brings together experts and researchers to examine the role that foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in driving inclusive economic growth and regional integration.ACED is sponsored by ADBs Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD) in collaboration with one of Asias leading research centersthe University of Hong Kong. ACED will be held regularly to exchange knowledge, expertise, and ideas on development issues. Some 30 researchers are taking part in the 2-day conference, with keynote lectures from Professor Wolfgang Keller of the University of Colorado Boulder and Professor Stephen Yeaple of Pennsylvania State University.Openness to foreign direct investment helps developing countries create jobs and promote growth in many ways, and allows economies to better link to global value chains," said ADB Chief Economist Shang-Jin Wei. The first ACED conference is looking at how FDI can play an even bigger role in creating benefits for developing countries and driving regional and global economic integration.The conference will also discuss the recent rise in outward foreign direct investment from emerging economies, especially in Asia. In 2014, FDI outflows from Asia surpassed inflows for the first time in over 20 years. The region now invests more abroad than any other region, accounting for almost a third of the global total FDI. Asian multinationals are among the worlds largest investors, with those from Hong Kong, China investing $143 billion overseas in 2014making it the second largest investor after the United States.Foreign direct investment is also the focus of this years Asian Economic Integration Report, due for release in December 2016.ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced that as a part of its manufacturing consolidation in the US, one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has entered into an agreement with Frontida BioPharm, Inc. (Frontida) for divestment of its two oral solid dosage manufacturing facilities located at Philadelphia, PA, and Aurora, IL both in the US, along with 15 related pharmaceutical products.

In connection with the transaction, Frontida has agreed to continue manufacturing certain products for Sun Pharma at these facilities on a contract basis for a predetermined period. It has also agreed to offer employment to all production, quality and administrative personnel at the sites. During the divestment process, Sun Pharma was cognizant about ensuring the continued supply of quality products to patientsand protecting the interests of its employees working in these units.

The impact of this development on Sun Pharmas consolidated financials and operations is not material.
She is one of the most renowned faces in Hollywood, but there is more to Angelina Jolie than just her good looks and superb acting skills. Every now and then, we hear about her commendable philanthropic work. Not only did she break stereotypes by adopting three kids, but she has been actively working with 27 organizations around the globe.

jezebel.com

While a lot has been said and written about her Hollywood projects, we decided to dig deeper into the history of her charitable work and find out how she is making use of her celebrity status to make the world a better place.

Recently, Angelina Jolie posed for a striking portrait for National Geographic to draw attention to the urgent need to protect bees on the occasion of World Bee Day. This was also a move to bring to light the UNESCO-Guerlain program that trains women as beekeeper-entrepreneurs and protectors of native bee habitats around the world.



To shoot for the magazine cover she sat peacefully with bees on her for 18 long minutes.

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According to National Geographic, Jolie was recently named godmother for Women for Bees, a five-year program launched by UNESCO. The initiative aims at building 2,500 beehives and restock 125 million bees by 2025 while training and supporting 50 women beekeepers. Talking about the initiative, the 45-year-old actor said, With so much we are worried about around the world, this (bee conservation) is one issue that we can manage. We can certainly all step in and do our part.

It's time to start from the very beginning, i.e., from the year 2001, when it all started. Check it out.

UNHCR

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UNHCR stands for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It is a United Nations organisation aimed at helping refugees around the world. This is the organisation that Angelina invests the largest amount of her time in.

Her tryst with UNHCR goes way back in 2001. She linked up with this particular organisation after filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in Cambodia. Ever since, she has travelled to more than 30 countries as a goodwill ambassador over the last 15 years, to help the refugees and displaced people.

Her UNHCR missions allowed her to help people from all walks of life. In a quest to help the refugees, she has visited many war-stricken countries like Syria, Iraq and others like Sierra Leone, Jordan, Thailand, Haiti, Kenya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Egypt, Costa Rica, Chad.

Receiving the first-ever Citizen Of The World award

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In the year 2003, Jolie received the first-ever Citizen of the World Award from the United Nations Correspondents Association for her contributions to helping refugees.

She then went on to receive Global Humanitarian Award from the United Nations Association of the USA for her work with UNHCR in the year 2005.

It did not just stop at the awards, she also received Cambodian citizenship from Cambodias King Norodom Sihamoni for her conservation work in the country.

From Goodwill Ambassador to a diplomat

cbsnews.com

Considering her amazing contribution, the UNHCR , in 2010, promoted Angelina from a Goodwill Ambassador to a diplomat. She is now a special envoy that represents the UN Refugee Agency to other diplomats, governments, and officials around the world!

Standing up against Sexual Violence In Armed Conflict

A couple of years ago, she used her diplomatic status to up her political activism and spoke out against sexual violence in armed conflict.

Talking about this cause, she said, I understand there are many things that it is difficult for the Security Council to agree on, but sexual violence in conflict should not be one of them. That it is a crime to rape young children is not something anyone in this room would not be able to agree on.

Jolie-Pitt Foundation

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Angelina along with husband Brad Pitt established the Jolie Pitt Foundation in 2006 to expand their philanthropic work around the globe. They kicked off their foundation by donating $1 million to Doctors Without Borders and Global Action for Children.

In fact, during her first pregnancy in 2006 with Shiloh Nouvel, Angelina gave People magazine exclusive rights to publish the first picture of her with a baby bump in exchange for a $500,000 donation to the charities she and Brad supported!

Council On Foreign Relations

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Angelina became a member of the CFR in the year 2007. After joining CFR, she funded many special reports, including the Intervention to Stop Mass Atrocities and Genocide.

Followed by several visits to Haiti, she then teamed up with the CFR and established the Jolie Legal Fellows Program in 2010 to enhance government capacity around the legal system.

Afghanistan Relief Organisation

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This particular organisation was started in the USA in 1998. The aim of the organisation is to provide food, medicine, hygiene supplies and relief supplies to Afghan citizens. It also provides free education to more than 800 children and adult students.

Jolie teamed up with fellow celebrities in 2007 for AROs Afghan Kites Project. Jolie signed a kite to auction off to raise funds.

Alliance For The Lost Boys Of Sudan

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She is also the primary supporter for the Alliance for the Lost Boys, which provides medical coverage along with education and school supplies for the Lost Boys of Sudan and their families.

Apart from these she also supports the following charities and foundations:

Cancer Schmancer Movement, Care to Learn, Cinema For Peace, Clinton Global Initiative, Daniel Pearl Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Kids in Need of Defense, Peace One Day, SOS Children's Villages, UNICEF, Women in the World Foundation, Yele Haiti Foundation etc.

Alliance With London School Of Economics

According to confirmed reports by BBC, Angelina is now all set to join the London School of Economics (LSE) as a visiting professor on a new masters course on women, peace and security!

telegraph.co.uk

With the kind of work that she has been doing, Angelina Jolie represents the modern woman. Keep doing the work that you do Angelina, and one day the world will surely become a better place!








Climate Change is an important issue which needs to be addressed not just on World Environment Day, but on daily basis. It's saddening to see once dense forest now struggling to exist, just because we humans destroyed it for our selfish motives. NASAs before and after images of these glaciers show us how vast the difference is between the once scenic glaciers and rivers, which now are losing its charm due to our carelessness.

1. Matterhorn Mountain in the Alps, on the border between Switzerland and Italy. August, 1960  August, 2005

Image Credit: NASA

Once covered heavily with snow, Matterhorn mountain now has less snow as compared to 45 years ago.

2. Pedersen Glacier, Alaska. Summer, 1917  summer, 2005

Image Credit: NASA

Snow is replaced by vegetation at Pedersen Glacier, Alaska.

3. Forests in Rondonia, Brazil. June, 1975  August, 2009

Image Credit: NASA

Due to deforestation, Rondonia forest in Brazil is a belt of rapidly disappearing tropical forest.

4. Muir Glacier, Alaska. August, 1941  August, 2004

Image Credit: NASA

You can see the lack of floating ice and the abundant vegetation on the Muir Glacier

5. Powell Lake, Arizona and Utah. March, 1999  May, 2014

Image Credit: NASA

The once free-flowing Powell lake is now diminishing from the map view.

6. McCarty Glacier, Alaska. July, 1909  August, 2004

Image Credit: NASA

McCarty Glacier is no more a glacier as there is no sign of snow around the region.

7. Aral Sea, Central Asia. August, 2000  August, 2014

Image Credit: NASA

You can see a drastic change here. A massive area of the green has disappeared from the Aral region and now is left barren.

8. Qori Kalis Glacier, Peru. July, 1978  July, 2011

Image Credit: NASA

The Qori Kalis Glacier has retreated by almost 50%

9. Mar Chiquita Lake, Argentina. July, 1998.  September, 2011

Image Credit: NASA

It was due to drought situation in Argentina which led to Mar Chiquita lake dry-up.

10. Bear Glacier, Alaska. July, 1909  August, 2005

Image Credit: NASA

One of the most scenic Alaskan glacier has lost its charm due to massive meltdown of snow.
Two Indian-origin women have featured on the Forbes' annual list of America's 60 wealthiest and most successful self-made women entrepreneurs who have" crashed ceilings through invention and innovation".

India-born Neerja Sethi, who co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel with her husband Bharat Desai, is ranked 16th on 'America's Richest Self -made Women' list while president and CEO of Arista Networks Jayshree Ullal (55) is ranked 30th.

According to Forbes, the richest self-made woman in America is Diane Hendricks, the owner of ABC Supply, the largest wholesale distributor of roofing and siding in the country. Hendricks is now worth $4.9 billion, $1.2 billion more than last year when she was ranked second.

ET

The second annual tally of America's wealthiest, most successful self-made women includes 60 trailblazers  10 more than last year. Sethi (61) has a net worth of $1.1 billion. Her company employs more than 25,000 people and boasts a recent market cap of $3.6 billion.

She is currently the vice president of corporate affairs, a role she has had since the company's inception. She also sits on the board of directors alongside her husband, who remains the chairman.

Born in London, raised in New Delhi, Ullal has a net worth of $470 million. She became president and CEO of Arista Networks in 2008, when it had no revenues and fewer than 50 employees. The company reported $838 million in revenue in 2015, after going public in June 2014. "She took slightly more than an engineering team doing some good technology and turned it into the thriving network switch company it is today," says Arista co-founder David Cheriton .

TOI
Film director and Bollywood superstar Aamir Khans wife Kiran Rao has filed a complaint with the cyber crime police department after she found out that someone had opened a fake account in her name. The person was also chatting with Kirans family members and friends.

Indianexpress

The cyber crime police station at Bandra-Kurla complex on Saturday registered a first information report (FIR) against an unknown person for cheating by impersonation and identity theft.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) K M M Prasanna has confirmed the report but he chose not to reveal any details, calling it a "sensitive matter". Even Kiran Rao hasnt responded to any texts and calls that were sent to her team.

Sources claimed that Kiran had submitted a written application to the cyber police, complaining that it was after some of her friends told her about a series of chats on Facebook and she had no clue about any of the chats. It was after Kiran herself visited the fake profile and found that somebody had uploaded her picture as her profile photo and impersonated as Kiran Rao.

Haribhoomi

A police officer told media, After going through her application, we have registered an offence and have started the investigation.

Indian Police Service officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh said excessive fascination towards glamour leads to more attraction of readers. In a media statement, he added:

"The impersonator can be easily identified by the police from his IP address and apprehended. However, if the impersonator does mischief from outside India, it is nearly impossible to catch him and put him to trial under the provisions of the Information Technology Act or for cheating... However the actor can, in addition, file a case of civil damages against the impersonator."

Mumbai police might block the account by approaching the authorities of the social networking site.

(With agency inputs)
When Pradeep Sharma married the woman he loved, he promised to keep her happy forever. But within months, all that was left was insecurity, distrust and regret. The marriage finally ended in the most horrific manner. On Monday, an inebriated Sharma murdered his 23-year-old wife Monika, sexually violated her body and then slept beside it till late in the morning. It took five days for the police to nab the 25-year-old murderer on Saturday.

TOI

It was love at first sight when Sharma saw Monika at his brother's wedding last year. Sharma, unemployed and considered the "bad boy" of his locality, swore to reform and find a job in order to marry her. The couple initially lived in Bulandshehr in Uttar Pradesh, but shifted to Nihal Vihar in Delhi six months ago.

As promised, Sharma began driving an e-rickshaw, but his meagre takings could not take care of the house rent, groceries and other expenses. The couple began having frequent brawls over finances. They were even evicted from two houses for their constant quarrels.

hindustantimes

On May 29, the couple had another nasty fight, after which the landlord asked them to vacate the house in a day or two.

"Fed up, I decided to get rid of my wife," Sharma told the police. "I bought liquor and asked Monika to share it with me. I explained to her that we should learn to manage with my current earnings and that I would soon find a better paying job. However, she went on and on about how I had ruined her life. I picked up a brick and hit her on the face three times. She began to bleed profusely and started screaming for help."

Alarmed that neighbours would hear her, Sharma banged her head on the wall, stopping only when she stopped breathing. He took the body to the bathroom and bathed it, after which he carried the nude body to the bed. "I made love to her for the last time and apologised to her. I passed out beside her and only woke up around 10am the next morning," Sharma told the cops.

In a panic, he switched off his phone and left home taking away Monika's phone and some articles that could identify her. The police received a call about the murder around noon May 30 and registered an FIR.

"A special team led by ACP Anand Sagar and inspectors S S Rathee and Sharat Chander conducted several raids while others kept watch at railway stations," said Depender Pathak, JCP (Southwest). "After the police were tipped off that Sharma was hiding near Nangloi station, we arrested him on Saturday."
PTI

For all those looking to travel to the US here's some really good news. Indian travellers will now be able to get quick and hassle free clearances at American airports. India and the US have signed an MoU to facilitate hassle-free entry of Indians into America at selected airports by providing speedy security clearances for pre-approved, low-risk travellers from the country. India is only the ninth country with which the US has entered into this International Expedited Traveller Initiative (also known as the Global Entry Programme), reflective of the growing relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

1. While Doing A Census Of Tigers, Forest Officials Find Five New Leopards Instead!

flickr.com

Wildlife enthusiasts have some reason to cheer. Though the recent tiger census in Jeypore forest division drew a blank, the team spotted at least five leopards, a jump of four since the last headcount in 2013-14. The six-day census began on February 5 and 318 employees of the forest department participated in it. According to forest officials, two leopards were spotted near Bichalkota under Jeypore forest range and three more at Boipariguda forest range.

2. Two Indian Origin Women Are Among America's 60 Wealthiest Self Made Women!

indiatimes

Two Indian-origin women have featured on the Forbes' annual list of America's 60 wealthiest and most successful self-made women entrepreneurs who have "crashed ceilings through invention and innovation". India-born Neerja Sethi, who co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel with her husband Bharat Desai, is ranked 16th on 'America's Richest Self -made Women' list while president and CEO of Arista Networks Jayshree Ullal (55) is ranked 30th.

3. 9 New Initiatives By Indian Railways That Are Making Travelling By Train A Pleasure

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Suresh Prabhu is giving the Railways a brand new makeover that promises to make train travel for Indians more pleasing and less painful. Pushing Railways' revenue is Prabhu's biggest prerogative now as the minister steps up his efforts to pull the public transporter out from what he calls an 'ICU'. For the everyday passenger, here's a glimpse of what all they can expect from the railways in the days to come.

4. Chile's Making So Much Solar Energy They're Giving It Away For Free!

Javo Alfaro. FLICKR 8

Chile's solar investment has borne fruit - and how! According to a recent report, the country is now generating more electricity from the sun than it can use, and spot prices on solar electricity dropped to 0 for 113 days of the year through April. This meant that the city might soon have to give away days of free solar power, even if it doesn't bode well for investors and owners of solar power plants.

5. Bihar's Prodigal Science Student Skips Retest Claiming Depression, But 3 Other Class XII Toppers Flunked!

After a video of the Bihar school topper arts topper Ruby Ray's called political science 'prodigal science' being absolutely clueless about their subjects went viral, the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) asked 14 class XII toppers to appear for a retest. 3 flunked, and their results were cancelled, 11 toppers who cleared the retest got a clean chit, while the Bihar 'Prodigal Scientist' skipped the test, claiming she was depressed! Ray had scored a 91 out of 100 in political science, and a 444/500 overall score - she didn't even know the maximum marks. "It is 600," she said after a family member prodded her while talking to a TV channel on Monday.
For all those looking to travel to the US here's some really good news. Indian travellers will now be able to get quick and hassle free clearances at American airports.

India and the US have signed an MoU to facilitate hassle-free entry of Indians into America at selected airports by providing speedy security clearances for pre-approved, low-risk travellers from the country.

PTI

India is only the ninth country with which the US has entered into this International Expedited Traveller Initiative (also known as the Global Entry Programme), reflective of the growing relationship between the two largest democracies of the world.

The move would take a few months to implement and will provide speedy security clearances for pre-approved, low-risk Indian travellers upon arrival in US at selected airports.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh and Kevin K McAleenan, deputy commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection.

AP

"After joint scrutiny and clearance by both countries, the approved Indian travellers will be extended the facility of expedited entry into the United States through automatic kiosks at select airports," a statement said, adding, the procedures are expected to be completed in the coming months.

"Expedited entry for the Indian travellers under this programme at the US airports will enable further easing of travel environment, and will have positive impact on all kinds of people-to-people exchange between our two countries," Arun K Singh said at the MoU signing ceremony.

He said strengthening people-to-people ties between the two countries has been at the very core of Prime Minister's vision of India's bilateral relationship with the US.

"In the last two years, several initiatives have been taken by the Government of India for easing travel from the United States to India, which includes issuance of long term visas and introduction of electronic-tourist visas for US citizens."





bccl

Singh said:

"India's entry into Global Entry Programme will further ease travel between our two countries and strengthen people-to-people ties."

The US is home to more than three million Indian-origin people who continue to maintain deep-rooted links with India, he said.

"We see that more than a million of our citizens, from all walks of life - professionals, businesspersons, tourists and students - are travelling in both directions every year. This initiative will bring direct benefit to these travellers," he added.

Currently, Global Entry Programme is available at more than 40 US airports and 12 pre-clearance locations. More than 1.8 million people are enrolled in Global Entry and approximately 50,000 new applications for the programme are filed every month.
Norway's parliament has pledged that the country's public procurement policy will become deforestation-free, after Members of Parliament recommended regulations to ensure that public works did "not contribute to deforestation of the rainforest".

bichologo_errante_flickr

Credit goes to pro-sustainability campaigning and lobbying by the Rainforest Foundation.

Nils Hermann Ranum, the head of Policy and Campaign at Rainforest Foundation Norway, told the media about the milestone decision: This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest. Over the last few years, a number of companies have committed to cease the procurement of goods that can be linked to destruction of the rainforest. Until now, this has not been matched by similar commitments from governments. Thus, it is highly positive that the Norwegian state is now following suit and making the same demands when it comes to public procurements.

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Norway has recently donated $150 million through 2020 to fight halt deforestation in Libya and funded efforts to fight illegal logging.

Just heard that Norway will ban new sales of fuel cars in 2025. What an amazingly awesome country. You guys rock!! pic.twitter.com/uAXuBkDYuR  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2016

The nation is also set to ban all fossil fuel-based cars by 2025, cementing its upcoming status as one of the ecologically progressive countries on the planet, the Independent reported. The nation's electricity grid is powered by a substantial amount of hydropower renewable energy, and it plans to triple wind power by 2020. However, critics have pointed out that Norway is also the 10th biggest exporter of oil in the world - it is not clear how it will pivot from this dependence on massive oil export revenue.
Odisha has become the first Indian state to give transgenders social welfare benefits, including a pension, housing and food grains. These are benefits usually given to the most impoverished - and also usually during election season.

reuters.com

Niten Chandra, principal secretary of Odisha's Department of Social Security, spoke about the move's relevance to bring the transgender community at par with the benefits given to those living below the poverty line:

"Most transgender people are in a very bad condition because of social exclusion. For example, they very often do not get employment easily,"

There are no official figures, but activists say there are hundreds of thousands of transgender people in India, many of whom face ostracism and discrimination, as well as verbal, physical and sexual abuse. A lack of access to education and employment opportunities has meant many male-to-female transgender people - also known as "hijras" - end up forced into sex work or moving around in organised groups, begging or demanding money.

"The government had a consultation with transgender people in April, and they had raised their problems and issues. On that basis, we are now taking many decisions to help them - giving them the Below Poverty Line status is one of them."

In a landmark judgment in April 2014, India's Supreme Court recognised transgender as a legal third gender and called on the government to ensure their equal treatment. The court recognised the community as a marginalised group and directed authorities to implement policies to improve their socio-economic status.

Chandra said Odisha's transgender population was unofficially estimated at 40,000, but added a survey would be conducted soon to get a more accurate figure. Members of the transgender community will be given Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards that will allow them to access benefits under various government welfare programmes. This includes schemes that provide free housing, 100 days of paid work annually, pensions and loans to start up their own businesses. They would also be entitled 5 kg of food grains every month under India's National Food Security Act.

Transgender rights groups welcomed Odisha's new policy and called for its effective implementation.

"We are thankful to the government. This is a welcome step. At least now the government has started recognising our problems," said Meera Parida, chairperson of All Odisha Third Gender Welfare Trust.
Made In America

How The US Dominates The World Arms Trade

By JP Sottile

June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " AntiMedia " - Who says nothing is made in the USA anymore?

Certainly not the well-heeled denizens of the State Departments diplomatic corps. And they should know. Thats because theyre stationed on the frontlines of the ongoing battle to preserve Uncle Sams dominant market share of the global weapons trade. Luckily for the Military-Industrial Complex, it turns out that Made In the USA inspires a lot of brand loyalty, even if actual loyalty is often a harder sell (paging Saudi Arabia). To wit, not only was America the worlds leading arms dealer in 2014 with $36.2 billion in sales, but it topped that 35% surge in sales over 2013 with yet another profitable spike to $46.6 billion in 2015.

As Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) determined in its recent report on the global arms trade, the United States maintains a commanding 33% share of total arms exports and is the worlds top seller for five years running. And its customer base includes at least 96 countries, which is nearly half of the worlds nations. A robust 40% of those exports end up in the Middle East. Perhaps thats why the State Department is so darn bullish on the prospects of Uncle Sams booming business of selling things that go boom!

Thats the takeaway from a recent report in Defense News highlighting the marketing push by Commercial Officers stationed at the US embassy in Jordan. They worked the crowd at the kingdoms eleventh bi-annual Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX). Like many of the nearly 100 military-themed trade shows held around the world this year alone, SOFEX offered the profiteers of doom an opportunity to display their merchandise and to cut deals with bellicose browsers ready to pull the trigger on a deadly impulse buy. Some of the bigger, glitzy trade shows  like the International Defence Exposition and Conference (IDEX) held yearly in Abu Dhabi  are full-on one-stop-shopping destinations for the up-and-coming military power on the move, the newly-minted pro-Western junta eager to armor-up, and the forward-thinking Coalition Partner looking for the latest in kinetic warfare.

If nothing else, trade shows offer defense contractors a chance to give out promotional tchotchkes to potential future customers who might be swayed to double-back by a branded camouflage carryall or a Digi Camo Military Bert Stress Reliever. No doubt its a tedious affair, but the presenters toiling behind the displays are not alone on the battlefield of commerce. That certainly was the case at SOFEX, where the U.S. Embassy deployed Senior Commercial Officer Geoffrey Bogart and Regional Safety and Security chief Cherine Maher to act as sale-force multipliers for Americas military moneymakers. As Jen Judson detailed, Bogart and Maher tracked down sales leads throughout a region gripped by chaos since America wantonly destroyed a bystander nation under false pretenses (a.k.a. Iraq). Here are Judsons highlights from Bogart and Mahers magical misery tour of the profitable market forces currently shaping Americas recently reshaped Middle East:

JORDAN: We are very high on the safety and security market in Jordan, Geoffrey Bogart, a commercial officer at the US Embassy said. Bogart said there is an abundance of market prospects for US companies to do business in Jordan, including in border security, cyber security, command and control centers, telecommunications equipment, military vehicles, artillery, tactical equipment, bomb and metal detectors, and closed circuit television (CCTV) and access control.

EGYPT: Egypt is facing a lot of challenges especially in terms of border control and whether its from the West or the East or the North or the South, so the main project that is going on is border and perimeter control, Maher said, which means the country really wants bomb detection, jammers and improvised explosive device diffusers.

LIBYA: The current instability in Libya has led to challenges for US firms, according to Maher; however, US companies products are in high demand there. The trick is how to enter the market, who to sell to, and making sure of export license, she said, adding some products that had been permitted to be sold to Libya now have restrictions.

TUNISIA: There is continuous growth in Tunisias defense market, Maher said. Tunisia plussed up its security forces budget in 2016 due to growing terrorist threats in the region. The country wants to build up its force capacity to deter regional threats, strengthen defensive capabilities and support counterterrorism operations.

LEBANON: Lebanon is interested in border security; however, its particularly interested in securing public buildings and providing for civilian protection due to ongoing insecurity in some towns and cities near Beirut, Maher said.

IRAQ: Maher said Iraq has a particularly dynamic market valued in 2014 at about $7.6 billion, which is about 3.44 percent of its GDP. With the ongoing war against the Islamic State group, it is anticipated that Iraq will soon spend around $19 billion, which would make up about 18 to 20 percent of its GDP. Like all the other countries in the region, Iraq is investing heavily in safety and security equipment, and also wants personal protective gear and security systems for residential and commercial buildings, according to Maher.

A dynamic market is right  that is, if youre General Dynamics. Or Lockheed Martin. Or Boeing. Or any of the big six defense contractors who together took home $90.29 billion of the over $175 billion worth of taxpayer dollars doled out last year to the top 100 military contractors. Not coincidentally, seven of the top eight U.S. Government contractors are defense companies, with only health care services provider McKesson making it past a phalanx of defense wheelers and dealers.

Its a rarified world greased last year by $127.39 million of lobbying largesse and another $32.66 million spent so far this year, according to OpenSecrets.org. Of course, lobbying offers a great bang for the buck when it comes to stoking sales. A MapLight analysis earlier this year found that major U.S. government contractors have received $1,171 in taxpayer money for every $1 invested in lobbying and political action committee contributions during the last decade.

Now thats some serious ROI!

Still, nothing quite compares to the breeder reactor effect that comes from using expensive military hardware to destroy regimes in a never-ending global war against a tactic. Regime change touched off civil war in Iraq. That spread to Syria which, in turn, sent over 660,000 refugees into Jordan and over one million refugees into Lebanon  all of which explains why Bogart and Maher are so bullish on the sale of security-related products to those two nations and why the entire region is in the midst of a military buying spree.

Then there is the chaotic aftermath of regime change in Libya, which threatens to spill over to two more booming markets  Tunisia and Egypt. Of course, Egypt had its own U.S.-endorsed internal regime change at the hands of a loyal customer and longtime recipient of American aid the Egyptian military. It was really a coup, but U.S. law wouldve prevented selling Egypts military junta tear gas canisters marked Made In USA (among other things) if it was officially a coup detat, so the Obama Administration simply didnt call it a coup.

Now, according to Ms. Maher, Egypts military is in the market for yet more military hardware that, according to a new GAO report detailed by The Intercept, is not being properly or legally vetted by the State Department. Those purchases are easily funded by the $6.4 billion in U.S. aid since the coup in 2011. And (go figure) Egypts wishlist is justified, in part, by the sudden need to ward off interlopers from regime-changed Libya, which, according to the aforementioned Ms. Maher, is still a red-hot market for U.S. arms dealers  if they can get the export licenses.

And so the dynamic market churns onward  with tax dollars paying the salaries of State Department Commercial Officers who work for the heavily-subsidized U.S. defense industry as salespeople in overseas markets destabilized by taxpayer-funded wars fought by taxpayer-supported American soldiers armed with weaponry purchased from that self-same defense industry with  you guessed it  more tax dollars.

The diplomats in the State Department act as important go-betweens in the process, helping customers navigate the military-industrial complexities of end-user certificates, export licenses, and human rights restrictions so they can spend taxpayer-funded U.S. aid that invariably ends up back in the coffers of Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon, and so on.

Once the money makes it back home to the defense industry, those companies invest some of their windfalls into lobbying, into SuperPACS, into both political parties, and directly into campaigns of the Congressional cronies who dutifully rubberstamp the defense budget that enriches the defense industry. So far this year, theyve poured over $17 million into those efforts and, in turn, theyve provided the fuel to run the dynamic perpetual machine in which the State Department is a vital cog.
Israel: The Keepers Of The Gate



The Day of the Rhinos



By Uri Avnery June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - I recently mentioned the German word Gleichschaltung  one of the most typical words in the Nazi vocabulary. "Gleich" means "the same", and "Schaltung" means "wiring". The long German word means that everything in the state is wired up the same way  the Nazi way. This was an essential part of the Nazi transformation of Germany. But it did not happen in any dramatic way. The replacement of people was slow, almost imperceptible. In the end, all important positions in the country were manned by Nazi functionaries. We are now witnessing something like this in Israel. We are already well into the middle of the process. Position after position is taken over by the far-far right, which is ruling Israel now. Slowly. Very, very slowly. IT STARTED right after last year's election. Binyamin Netanyahu was able to form a coalition of the far right, though only with a slim majority. As has so often happened in the annals of fascism, he needed one "center" party for that. He found it in the form of Moshe Kahlon's faction. Kahlon, an ex-Likud man, was popular because he promised cheaper housing. Instead, housing prices have continued to rise. (Kahlon is the Smiling Man. He is very likeable. One columnist compared him to the Cheshire cat, the cat that disappeared and left only a smile behind. "Not a cat with a smile," as Alice said, "but a smile with a cat". But he is the cat that keeps the far right in power, even now.) The new government included an assortment of incredible appointments. The most outrageous new minister is Miri Regev, a primitive woman known for her proud vulgarity, who is now Minister of Culture. Well, I suppose even vulgarity has a right to be represented. Ms Regev is now in charge of the allocation of government funds to theaters, literature, ballet, opera and such. She has already made it clear that they had better toe the government line, if they want to be funded. Her nearest competitor is the new Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked (literally: the Almond Gazelle.) Her proclaimed aim is the subjection of the Supreme Court, the pride of Israel. Though quite timid by now, the court sometimes objects to oppressive new laws. So Ms Almond wants to stuff it with new "conservative" judges. The most dangerous of the bunch is the Minister of Education  Naftali Bennett, one of the most extreme nationalist-religious politicians. Israel has three religious education systems. The sole "secular" system has already been steadily reduced throughout the years by earlier ministers. Putting Bennett, defined by many as a religious fascist, in charge of education means putting the fox in charge of the poultry house. All these ministers, as well as the others of the same ilk, are now busy replacing the senior officials with persons of their convictions, a steady and extremely dangerous process. THEN THERE are the keepers of the gate. One of the most important persons in Israel bears the title "Legal Counselor to the Government". He is the highest legal official, superior to the Attorney General and independent of the Minister of Justice. His advice is legally binding, subject only to the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has several personal legal problems. He and his family have traveled around the world on other people's money while in office. This and other affairs have been held up in the legal pipeline for many years, by the decision of the "Advisor". The last legal advisor, an inoffensive former judge appointed to this office by Netanyahu, has just been replaced by Netanyahu with  surprise, surprise  the government secretary, Avichai Mandelblit, a kippa-wearing lawyer who is as close to Netanyahu as can be. To make quite sure, the State Comptroller, another very powerful official in Israel, was chosen by the Knesset majority according to the wishes of Netanyahu. Yosef Shapiro is also a former judge. Why these two positions are crucial to Netanyahu is being illustrated now. The entire country is fascinated by several court cases in which employees at the Prime Minister's official residence testified that Sarah Netanyahu is an unbearable, shouting, hysterical shrew, who also pays her private expenses from the official purse. To complete this circle, there is the new commander of the police. For years the police high command has been sinking into a morass of sexual scandals, in addition to bribery. One officer has committed suicide, several others have been kicked out. What better solution than to bring in an outsider, a high Shin Bet (secret service) officer? Brilliant idea, but now it transpires that the police has sunken even further into the morass. In several cases policemen have brutally and publicly beaten civilians, both Arabs and Jews, for no obvious reason, and received the full backing of Roni Alsheikh, their new supreme commander. THE ISRAELI media are decried by the right-wing as "leftist", a bulwark of the "old elite", which the rightists have sworn to replace. Alas, this description is quite wrong. Of the two major newspapers, one, Israel Hayom ("Israel Today") belongs to Netanyahu. Or, to put it precisely, to Sheldon Adelson, an American casino mogul, who is the abject voluntary slave and generous patron of "Bibi". The paper, whose sole object is to serve Netanyahu personally, is distributed in huge quantities gratis. The other mass-circulation paper, Yediot Aharonot ("Latest News"), is trying to compete by being even more right-wing. The only other important daily paper, Haaretz ("The Country"), which is critical of Netanyahu, is far smaller, and in constant economic danger. Israel's three TV channels are an intellectual desert. Except for the news and a tiny number of quality programs, they are empty of content, devoted mainly to "reality" programs, which have nothing to do with reality. Who is in charge? Why, of course the Minister of the Media. And who is that? Again surprise, surprise. No other than a person by the name of Binyamin Netanyahu. Under Israeli law, as Prime Minister he can keep to himself as many portfolios as his heart desires. This currently means several of them, including the Foreign Office and the Media. For months now, all media people have been finding it difficult to sleep at night. All three TV channels need government support. Some courageous TV personalities still dare to criticize the government openly, and even sharply, but their number is steadily dwindling. When I was on TV this week and told my interviewer that in a year's time he and his colleagues will probably be out of their jobs, he laughed nervously and asked: "What, a whole year?" Many TV journalists have already become rhinos (the Israeli nickname for people who have succumbed to the government, because they need thick skins). The process of rhinossification is steadily going on. AND NOW comes the coup de grace, in the form of Avigdor Ivett Lieberman. Lieberman is a frightening person. In his presence, even a Donald Trump would shrink. An immigrant from Soviet Moldova, a former bar bouncer and later close aide to Netanyahu, he is now the most extreme rightist politician on stage. He has proposed the bombing of the Aswan dam in Egypt (which would kill many millions of people). That was one of his more moderate ideas. He has criticized the army as too timid, and called Netanyahu (not so long ago) a cheat, a coward and a charlatan. Lieberman ("Nice Man" in German) is very shrewd. It can be assumed that for some months, at least, he will be exceedingly forthcoming, peace-loving and liberal. Already, this week, both he and Netanyahu have declared themselves fervent adherents of the "Two States for Two Peoples" solution. That's like Benito Mussolini declaring himself in 1939 a devoted pacifist. The looming confrontation between the Minister of Defense and the General staff of the army looks like becoming a momentous event. The clash between an irresistible force and an immovable object. The Israel Defense Forces", which includes the navy and air force, is an almost autonomous institution. Its official Supreme Commander is the government in toto, acting through the Minister of Defense. It is an obedient army. Only rarely has it openly defied the government. One such case was in 1967, when the Prime Minister, Levy Eshkol, hesitated in face of the growing Egyptian military threat in the Sinai peninsula. A group of generals threatened him with collective resignation if he did not give the order to attack. He capitulated. In face of a unified opposition of the army command, the minister is almost powerless. But he is in charge of a huge budget, by far the largest in Israel. He has a dominant influence over the appointment of the army's commander ("Chief of Staff") and superior officers. Even worse, the army's lower officers corps and rank-and-file has been educated by the nationalist school system. Most of them may by now be closer to Lieberman than to the Chief of Staff. This was put to the test by the recent case of Elor Azariya, the soldier who shot and killed a severely wounded Palestinian lying on the ground. Many soldiers declared Azariya a national hero. Azariya is now standing trial in a military court for manslaughter. The army high command has been obdurate in face of rightist opposition. And lo and behold, who pushed his considerable bulk into the overcrowded courtroom? Avigdor Lieberman. He came to express his support for the soldier. Even Netanyahu bowed to pressure and called the soldier's father to express his support. (When we saw the killer in court on TV, we were surprised to see a mere boy, who looked bewildered and disoriented, with his mother sitting behind him and stroking his head. Woe to the state which puts a deadly weapon into the hands of such a primitive, immature boy!) So here we are now: the government undermines the army and the peace camp puts its trust in the high command. Some may well be praying fervently to a God they don't believe in for a military coup they would not really approve of.
U.S. Gives Saudis a Big Pass on Indiscriminate Killing of Civilians in Yemen By Alex Emmons



June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Intercept " - Secretary of State John Kerry this week waved off concerns about U.S.-supported Saudi-coalition airstrikes in Yemen that have indiscriminately bombed civilians and rescuers, and instead blamed the Shiite Houthi rebels for the bulk of the civilian casualties. There have been a lot of civilian casualties, and clearly, civilian casualties are a concern, Kerry told MSNBCs Chris Hayes. I think the Saudis have expressed in the last weeks their desire to make certain that theyre acting responsibly, and not endangering civilians. Kerry instead faulted the Shiite Houthis, who are on the receiving end of the airstrikes, saying they have a pretty good, practiced way of putting civilians into danger. According to a report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 60 percent of the more than 3,200 people killed and 5,700 wounded in the conflict through September 2015 were killed in coalition airstrikes. The Saudi coalition has also intentionally targeted civilian areas, destroying hospitals, schools, factories, markets, and homes. The Saudi coalition announced last week that they have fully complied with internationallaw, and that coalition forces have a robust process to ensure all targets are genuinely military. The announcement also promised that avoidable collateral damage will be referred to an internal accident investigation team, and that compensation for the victims is pledged. But the only public investigation Saudi Arabia has conducted on its military took place in October, after Saudi Arabia bombed an MSF (Doctors without Borders) hospital in Yemen. The kingdoms ambassador to the U.N. admitted that the strike was a mistake, but blamed the incident on MSF providing incorrect coordinates. In January, coalition aircraft fired a rocket at another MSF-supported facility, in Saada, near Yemens border with Saudi Arabia, killing six people. MSF personnel could not confirm identity of the attackers, but said that planes were seen flying over the facility at the time. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has tried to dismiss and discredit the work of human rights monitors on the ground in Yemen. In an interview with NPRs Mary Louise Kelly last month, the spokesman for the Saudi coalition asserted that there is no team from Human Rights Watch on the ground. We hope that Human Rights Watch and the other NGOs come to the coalition and ask permission and we will send them down to investigate. Belkis Wille, Human Rights Watchs Yemen and Kuwait researcher, has made four trips to Yemen for Human Rights Watch since the beginning of the campaign. She posted a video in response, showing her standing in the remains of a destroyed market in Matstaba, in Northern Yemen: Human rights groups have documented repeated uses in Yemen of cluster bombs: shell casings that, when they open, scatter thousands of miniature explosives over a huge area. Some of the bomblets invariably fail to detonate on impact, leaving mine-like explosives that kill civilians and destroy farmland long after a conflict ends. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied using cluster bombs, but in January, for example, one 13-year-old boy from Nouga, a small village 20 miles from the Saudi border in Yemen, discovered cluster bomblets near the village spring, according to an interview with Amnesty International. The boy said that that the miniature explosives were green, and shaped like a small ball you could play with. When the boy picked one up and threw it out of the way, it exploded. He was hospitalized for two months. The U.N. adopted a treaty banning cluster bombs in 2008, which 119 nations have signed. Last week, The Intercept asked State Department spokesman Mark Toner at a press briefing whether the Saudis should stop using cluster bombs. He replied Id have to refer you to the Saudis to speak to the types of strikes that they did carry out in Yemen. But while refusing to publicly condemn Saudi Arabia for using cluster weapons, the White House quietly blocked a transfer of U.S.-made CBU-105 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia last week. Alex Emmons is a reporter covering national security, foreign affairs, human rights, and politics. Prior to joining The Intercept , he worked for Amnesty International and the ACLU on their campaigns against targeted killing, mass surveillance, and Guantanamo Bay.
Are Israel And Jabhat al-Nusra Coordinating Attacks In Syria? By Khaled Atallah



June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " al-Monitor " - QUNEITRA, Syria  Since the start of the Syrian crisis, the Syrian regime has routinely accused Israel of playing a hidden role, from Qusair in the Homs countryside in May 2013 to the emergence and advances of the southern front in September 2014. UN reports published in December appear to vindicate the regimes arguments that Israel is involved with the southern rebels. According to a UN report covering the period from March to May 2014, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) detected contact between rebels and the Israeli army across the Golan cease-fire line, particularly during fierce clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels. The report also confirmed that the UN forces spotted rebels transporting 89 wounded across the cease-fire line into the Israeli occupied zone, where they were handed over 19 people who had received medical treatment in addition to two dead. The UN forces also noted that the Israeli army delivered two boxes to rebels on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Communications increased between rebels and the Israeli army before the eruption of the southern front in Daraa and Quneitra in September, according to Quneitra opposition activist Mohammad Qasim, a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the subject. Qasim, who was active in a support capacity to the rebels during the September offensive, told Al-Monitor via Skype, The battle to capture Quneitra on Sept. 27 was preceded by coordination and communications between Abu Dardaa, a leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Israeli army to pave the way for the attack. And according to an FSA commander who partly participated in this battle, the Israeli army provided Abu Dardaa with maps of the border area and the Syrian armys strategic posts in the southern area. The rebels battle, led by al-Qaedas affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, to control the Quneitra crossing took place in coordination with the Israeli army through Abu Dardaa, according to Qasim. He added, During the clashes, the Israelis heavily bombarded many of the regimes posts, shot down a warplane that was trying to impede the progress of the fighters and targeted other aircraft. The media reported that on Sept. 23, Israel downed a MiG-21 Syrian military aircraft over the occupied Golan Heights during the intensification of fighting between rebel fighters led by Jabhat al-Nusra and the Syrian army. Prior to this battle, Israel provided rebel fighters with communication devices and medical equipment, according to Qasim. He also said that the devices have improved communication among rebel fighters, while the medical assistance helped equip four new makeshift hospitals in Syrias south and southwest. Qasim added that Israel allowed the establishment of a small Syrian refugee camp on the border in the occupied Golan Heights, saying, The camp hosts dozens of Syrian families, which was confirmed by UN reports, and Israel is providing it with the necessary humanitarian assistance. Rebel fighters  who frequently go to the Israeli zone , some of whom have crossed the border more than three times a day  go to [this camp]. On the transfer of Syrian wounded to the occupied Golan Heights, Qasim explained, Any fighter or civilian with severe injuries who cannot be treated in our hospitals on the ground are immediately transferred to the Israeli part of the occupied Golan, and there, he will be transferred in a civilian ambulance accompanied by an Israeli army patrol to a hospital for treatment. Later on, the Israeli army will be contacted by the rebels to learn about the situation of the wounded there. The Syrian army in the area has also taken note of Israels assistance to rebels. The forces of Gen. Rami al-Hasan are stationed at the entrances of the town of Madinat al-Baath in Quneitra governorate. Armored vehicles, tanks and dozens of checkpoints are scattered around the city, which lies adjacent to rebel-controlled areas. The first outcomes of the cooperation between the Israeli army and the gunmen took place in Quneitra, when they took control over the border crossing. Back then, Israel supported gunmen by providing them with cover under the pretext of shooting back, hindering any attempts by the Syrian air force to intervene and bringing down one of our planes. It has also provided gunmen with the necessary equipment to face the fortifications of the Syrian army. Hasan added, Israel wants to exert control over the entire Golan, and contributed significantly to the intimidation of UN observers to push them to withdraw from most of their positions. On Oct. 4, rebel fighters and Jabhat al-Nusra captured Tal al-Hara in the northwest Daraa countryside, which is adjacent to the countryside of Quneitra. This significant victory could not have happened without Israeli support, according to Daraa opposition activist Ghazwan al-Hourani, also a pseudonym, who witnessed communication between Jabhat al-Nusra and Israel. Israeli support in the battle of Tal al-Hara was at a high level, and the Israeli army was the mastermind of this battle in terms of plans, tactics and follow-up. The communication devices released precise instructions in Arabic about what should be done by the fighters, moment by moment, he told Al-Monitor. Dozens of monitoring, broadcast and jamming devices as well as sophisticated radar equipment were found in the regime communication center in Tal al-Hara, according to Hourani, who added that the papers, maps and portable devices in the center were placed in closed box trucks and moved to an unknown destination by Jabhat al-Nusra. The aerial reconnaissance station in Tal al-Hara, the last government reconnaissance center operating in southern Syria, was bombed by Israeli warplanes on Sept. 5, a month before the rebels captured it on Oct. 7. This cannot be considered a coincidence, according to Hasan. What pushed Israel to raid Tal al-Hara and to later order the gunmen to attack it was that this radar station was upgraded in 2012-2013 and again in early 2014 with new technology to expand the stations sensing scope to the south of occupied Palestine, northern Saudi Arabia and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, which the Syrian Ministry of Defense worked on in cooperation with its Russian counterpart. Israel wants to prevent the Syrian army from monitoring its movements in the occupied Golan, and to stop any attempts to intercept its aircrafts, he said. The general said that Israel is not only supporting the rebels militarily and logistically and treating their wounds, but is also training them in the occupied Golan. We have delivered a complaint about this [training] camp to the head of UNDOF, and we threatened to target it. Yet the observers have not responded and the camp is still there. Qasim and Hourani were nervous about discussing this sensitive subject with Al-Monitor. Their interrupted talk, trembling voices and sudden breaks in communication whenever someone approached them underline the danger they face if they were found out to have revealed such details. They are in the same boat as many opposition activists working with rebel groups, who consider any cooperation with Israel a betrayal of the revolutions objectives. This coordination is a betrayal. There are thousands of people who died, and they did not die for dozens of people to conspire with the enemy, Qasim said, adding, We started the revolution and we will end it without anyones help, especially not those who killed and continue to kill, who displaced and continue to displace thousands of people on a daily basis in Palestine while occupying part of our country." Translator - Joelle El-Khoury See Also US Asks Russia to Not Attack al-Qaida In Syria ; Russia's foreign minister said Washington has asked Moscow not to target the al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, but the U.S. insisted Friday that it only wants Russia to carefully select it targets to avoid hitting civilians and legitimate opposition groups.
What Americans Abroad Know about Bernie Sanders and You Should Know Too

By Susan Neiman

June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " LA Times" - As the prospect of Donald Trump in the White House moves from ludicrous to terrifying, its time to reconsider the electability question. Despite polls suggesting that Hillary Clinton is more likely to lose the general election than Bernie Sanders, her supporters routinely argue that Sanders program is too radically utopian to have a chance. Often a note of condescension is injected: Young people support Sanders because they want free stuff. Once his proposals are seriously considered, its argued, any adult will reject them out of hand.

Although countless analyses have been devoted to the demographics each candidate needs to win, one demographic has not been part of the national conversation. Sanders won the first global Democratic Party primary by a landslide  69% of the vote  that the media hardly noted and never analyzed. Democrats Abroad, the overseas arm of the Democratic Party, organized the election, which took place in March, to represent citizens who live outside the U.S., a group the Democratic National Committee considers the 51st state.

Expatriate Democrats could choose to send primary election absentee ballots back to their home states, or they could participate in the global primary, which will send 21 delegates to the party convention in July. Ballots could be cast by fax, email or snail mail in the global primary, or at one of 104 polling places that were organized in cities from Lima to London. (Since I was traveling at the time, I faxed my ballot, but my daughter sent me a festive photo showing her feeling the Bern in Berlin.)

Of the 8 million Americans who live abroad, 34,700 participated in the global Democratic primary. Although the sampling is not huge, its considerably larger than that used for polls that play crucial roles in the electoral process. While we are wondering what drives young Latinas or older white men to support this or that candidate, we ought to consider why 69% of Democratic voters who live in 40 countries preferred Bernie Sanders.

The answer is quite simple: The Sanders proposals that may strike Americans who have never lived in other countries as impractical and outlandish are simply common sense elsewhere  especially in Canada and Western Europe, where the majority of Democrats Abroad voters live. Universal healthcare? The U.S. is the only developed country that lacks it. Family leave? While it is nice that San Francisco just mandated six weeks of paid leave for new parents, Germany mandates 14 months  16 if both parents share the time spent at home. Free college tuition? Britain recently tripled its college tuition fees, though its still the case that a year at Oxford will cost you a fraction of a year at a middling American college. In the rest of Europe, free tuition, and interest-free loans for living expenses, are the rule.

[For Germans], healthcare, education, publicly sponsored arts and labor regulations ... are considered to be rights, not favors.

Early in the campaign, Sanders made a rhetorical mistake by appealing to Scandinavia as a model for realizing his proposals. We are not Denmark, was Clintons withering reply. His choice of such a small country seemed only to underline the impracticality of his proposals for the United States. Why didnt he name a major player on the world stage?

The obvious choice would be Germany, the worlds fourth-largest economy, which manages to provide its 80 million citizens benefits unheard of in the U.S. Importantly, the word benefit isnt used for these programs. Healthcare, education, publicly sponsored arts and labor regulations that include family leave and long vacations are considered to be rights, not favors.

If you want to understand the difference between our two countries, just try to explain the concept of sick leave to a German. But what happens to people who are sick for longer than the allotted time? she will ask you, aghast that Americans find the German system equally incredible: If youre sick for more than three days, a note from the doctor will be sent to your employer, who cannot legally withhold your salary. Like any system, this one is occasionally abused, but not even Germanys most business-friendly political party would consider amending it.

The Germany of World War II plays a major role in American consciousness. Basic  often simplistic  knowledge of the Holocaust is offered in schools at all levels and assumed in popular culture. Knowledge of the last 70 years of German history, however, and the ways in which Germans have worked hard to confront their past, is woefully lacking. German to many still means Nazi, making it hard for Americans to look at Germany as a model of anything.

But Germany is a model worth emulating: Its economy remains one of the strongest to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. It has managed to preserve much of its manufacturing base in the process of becoming a dominant player in a globalized world. It is a major industrial exporter. Its success has gone hand in hand with laws and practices that American workers, blue collar or white, would be grateful for.

Real knowledge of daily working life abroad has shown expats that the revolution Sanders proposes for the United States could be just a matter of course. Voters at home should take heed.

Susan Neiman is the director of the Einstein Forum in Germany, where she has lived since 2000, and the author, most recently, of Why Grow Up?
Whos the Fascist?



The U.S. public loves fascists; they elect them, constantly. Donald Trump, who says he would raise the minimum wage and stop the endless efforts at regime change, is called a fascist by some. But Hillary Clinton is happy to bomb Libya or Syria or any other country, and played a major role in mass Black incarceration. Barack Obama is the war-maker and deporter-in-chief. All of the major party candidates fit the F word description in some way.



By Margaret Kimberley June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " BAR " - Donald Trump is the ill spoken, boorish, graceless version of every American president in modern history. He differs from them only in his unconcealed appeals to white nationalism. But Democrats arent much better. They pretend to work on behalf of human, civil and economic rights but those claims are lies. They are meant to hide their partnerships with corporate America, very wealthy individuals and the worldwide imperialist project. If Trump is a fascist then he will fit in nicely with the pantheon of horrific men we are told to respect and venerate. Barack Obama charges and convicts whistle blowers with the little used espionage act from the era of Woodrow Wilson. He claims and has exercised an invented right to kill Americans. His predecessor invaded and occupied Iraq but he continues the dirty deed there and in Afghanistan. He tries to fool the public by assassinating al Qaeda number two, over and over again. Al Qaeda certainly doesnt lack for plan B staffers. Bush the younger cut tax rates for rich people but Obama didnt change that. Under the guise of compromising with intransigent Republicans he did the same thing. When he and the Democrats controlled Congress in 2009 and 2010 they raised the minimum wage a paltry 70 cents. Conversely, Donald Trump says he would raise the minimum wage and says he would stop the endless efforts at regime change. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders have questioned that fundamental premise of American foreign policy. Hillary Clinton has already proven herself to be particularly blood thirsty. She is happy to bomb Libya or Syria or any other country. Her so-called expertise amounts to nothing more than an expansion of state sponsored terror committed by the United States. It is a Democratic president who brought back a cold war against Russia and recklessly brought troops to the edge of that countrys borders. Trump says he wouldnt cut Social Security while Barack Obama famously declared that he and his 2012 Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, agreed on the need to cut this program that was once called the third rail of politics. Every president since the 1980s has grown the horrific mass incarceration industry. Using wars on drugs as a pretext they have locked up 2 million people, half of whom are black. No one comes into office with any intention of undoing Americas leadership as the worlds worst jailer. American history teaches black people to be, at the very least, wary of public officials who are beloved by red necks as much as Trump is. When Trump speaks of preventing Muslim immigration or deporting all of the estimated 11 million undocumented people in this country he is making inherently racist appeals. That is why he is protested and rightly so. But the protesters have already missed the mark by giving a pass to equally questionable policy actions and statements coming from Democrats. It is a Democratic president who brought back a cold war against Russia and recklessly brought troops to the edge of that countrys borders. This scenario was unheard of during the worst days of the cold war and now risks nuclear confrontation. That is because George W. Bush unilaterally abrogated the missile defense treaty with Russia. Perhaps he can be called a fascist also. The trade deals passed by American presidents with congressional connivance grow worse. There is no longer any pretense that their goal is to help corporations maximize profits and minimize everyone elses rights. Not even members of Congress were allowed access to the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership legislation. If a politician has the right establishment credentials and knows how to give prepared speeches he or she can get away with committing any outrage. If Trump is protested, Obama ought to be as well. He is spending his last year in office on an imperialism tour. He goes to Hiroshima for photo opportunities with atomic bomb survivors while building more nuclear warheads than any other president. He tells endless lies about Russian aggression but he is the provocative head of state. Trump should be disliked by Latinos and everyone else when he says that Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers. But Obama is the deporter in chief, sending a record number of Latino immigrants out of the country with dubious rationales, devastating them and their families. Apparently all of the major party candidates fit the F word description in some way. Trumps bombast and ignorance make him the easiest to pick out of the crowd but appearances are deceiving. It seems that if a politician has the right establishment credentials and knows how to give prepared speeches he or she can get away with committing any outrage. In just the last 40 years American presidents or their allied partners in crime have killed people in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Congo, Somalia, Haiti, Grenada, Gaza, Kosovo, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Yemen. What do they have to do to be called fascists? Showing bad manners seems to be the only thing that sets off expressions of outrage among Americans. There is already fascism in the White House, the Justice Department, the State Department and Congress. The only question is who will be the next person to keep that sick machinery running. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
U.S. Expands Secret Wars In Africa

By Justin Yun

June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Chimes " - The secret expansion of U.S. military bases and special operations in Africa has initiated a new and lightweight style of warfare and welcomes the next phase of American military imperialism. Unlike the highly publicized U.S. military pivot to Asia, the proliferation of drones, special ops, mercenary spies, classified bases, proxy fighters and cyber warfare constitute what the journalist Nick Turse calls a new light-footprint Obama doctrine that seems to be making war an ever more attractive and seemingly easy option.

a new style of fighting

On any day, elite U.S. forces conduct covert missions in an estimated 70 to 90 countries. According to Turse, special forces have been sent to an unprecedented 147 countries  75 percent of the worlds nations last year alone. This is a 145 percent increase from the rate of operations conducted under the Bush administration.

Wars conventionally fought by large infantry forces and full-scale invasions of foreign countries have made way for a new style of fighting  one that has become increasingly dependent on special forces, drones and private defense contractors. Because of the confidential nature of special ops, the Pentagon can essentially keep foreign military involvement secret from the American public. The U.S. has always had troops in Africa since the Cold War but the rate of its expansion dangerously indicates a lack of public accountability.

A naive claim

The shadow wars in Africa are now fought by members of the U.S. Special Operations Command and JSOC  a clandestine organization that carries out kill/capture missions. JSOC has been called an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine by counterinsurgency advisor John Nagl and many have described it as the presidents private assassination squad. The group reports directly to the White House. It is the militarys secret military.

The notion the U.S. would someday pull its troops out of the Middle East is a rather naive claim considering the fact we have nothing short of a permanent war economy. From main operating bases that house thousands of soldiers to single airstrips used by the C.I.A. to taxi their blacked-out turboprops, the U.S. continues to maintain over 800 to 1,000 bases around the world  making us the most expansive military empire in history. Nobody really knows the exact figure  not even the military experts. The late scholar Chalmers Johnson wrote in his book, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic on how the Pentagon and an uncontrollable military-industrial complex have turned the U.S. into a new kind of military empire  a consumerist Sparta. Chalmers declares, Another crucial characteristic that distinguished the American empire from empires of the past is that bases are not needed to fight wars but are instead pure manifestations of militarism and imperialism.

G lobal instability

Military expansion does not make us safe since it cultivates global instability. The uncontrollable growth into Africa has resulted in the funding and training of proxy armies with atrocious human-rights records and has attracted mercenaries such as Erik Prince  founder of the infamous Blackwater private army hired by the D.O.D to provide security to high-level diplomats during the Iraq war.
Anglo-America: Regression and Reversion in the Modern World

By James Petras

June 04, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - What does it mean when the US and British financial systems launder hundreds of billions of dollars of illicit funds stolen by world leaders while their governments turn a blind eye, and yet the very same Anglo-American officials investigate, prosecute, fine and arrest officials from rival governments, rival banks and political leaders for corruption?

What does it mean when the US government expands a world-wide network of nuclear missiles on bases stretching from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Gulf States to Japan, surrounding Russia, Iran and China, while the very same US and NATO officials investigate and condemn rival defense officials from Russia, China and Iran, as military threats to peace and stability?

What does it mean when Anglo-American economic officials devote decades to raising the age of retirement, reducing working and middle class household income, cutting workers compensation, expanding part-time work, setting the stage for mass layoffs slashing unemployment and health benefits and reducing social spending by the hundreds of billions of dollars and then turn around and investigate and threaten rival countries, like China and Argentina with loss of markets, investment and employment for not doing the same thing ?

The meaning of Anglo-Americas long-term, large-scale structural regression is clearly evident across the world. From Europe to Latin America and from Asia to Africa, socio-economic and politico-military agendas have been reversed.

Since the end of the Second World War there had been incremental gains in labor rights, stable employment, poverty reduction and working conditions.

Recently, these have all been reversed: Longer working days and weeks with reduced salaries and benefits; unstable temporary work replaces stable employment; employer-funded pensions are eliminated and replaced by multi-billion dollar corporate tax cuts and off-shore tax evasion.

Systematic structural swindles by the leading financial institutions have forced employees to delay retirement for years in order to self-finance their own meager pensions, some expecting to die at the job.

Capitalist regression has been implemented by arbitrary state dictates and authoritarian decrees, erasing any pretense of democratic procedures and constitutional laws.

The regressive and retrograde leader-states from the imperial centers impose their conditions on follower regimes like Mexico and Russia forcing them to reverse their legacy of social progress while blackmailing these regimes oligarchs with the loss of lucrative markets, access to tax and money-laundering havens and impunity for their crimes and swindles.

Anglo-America: Historic Reversion

For the past three decades, the US and Great Britain have led the global drive to undermine labors advances. First, the economic structure sustaining labor organizations were dismantled and fragmented. Then organized labor was decimated, co-opted and corporatized.

Capital proceeded to reverse labor and social welfare legislation and lower wages, in order to impose longer workdays and destabilize employment.

The mass media re-packaged the regression cycle as economic reform, a euphemism, which disguised the re-concentration of power, wealth and income over the last three decades.

The growth of inequality and the concentration of wealth and assets to the 1% became the standard for the Anglo-American era. However, class organization and the vicissitudes of class struggles continued to constrain efforts to impose unchallenged Anglo-American capitalist rulership throughout the world.

The first decisive blow against social reform resulted from the systematic Anglo-American breakdown of the former USSR and allied nations of the Warsaw Pact in East Europe. This was followed by the endogenous dissolution of Communist Party rule in China, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Balkan states and their conversion into capitalist satellites. Social welfare, full employment, public pensions and health systems were shredded; labor lost all its rights except one - the right to emigrate to the West as cheap labor.

From Russia to Latvia and Poland to Bulgaria and Romania, there were massive layoffs, plant closures and the total dissolution of social security networks driven by the Anglo-America neo-liberal onslaught. The Atlantic Alliance brought their new Eastern satellites to social submission.

Until the second decade of the 21st century, Western Europes centers for the defense of the progressive social agenda were in France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal. The social agenda in Latin America and China faced the Anglo-America offensive even earlier.

France: The Strategic Key to Anglo-American Social Regression

France has been the center where the Anglo-American regressive attack on socio-economic policy and Southern Europes resistance has been playing out.

By 2015 the regressive alliance had overturned all progressive social policy in the former communist bloc countries. Their alliance with Germanys finance sector give them tight control of the EU and they successfully decimated the progressive social programs and labor legislation in Greece, Spain and Portugal.

France became the centerpiece for Western capitalisms drive to incorporate Italy into the regressive orbit. The conquest of France and Italy would completely reverse 70 years of incremental labor gains after the defeat of fascist capitalism.

The assault on Frances progressive social agenda is spearheaded by the retro-Socialist President Francois Holland and his troika of authoritarian hyper-capitalist ministers: Financial Minister Michel Sapin, Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron.

The strategy of relying on a nominal socialist to destroy the social welfare state is a classic Trojan Horse operation. Hollandes virulent anti-labor policy is implemented by decree under a joint plan developed in association with Frances leading industrialists.

The imposition of the regressive policy in France began in stages. It first established the retrograde political leadership with Valls, a notorious authoritarian police-state official willing to over-ride any democratic niceties. The Economy Minister, Emanuel Macron, a millionaire investment banker, is a direct associate of the financial elite, with no qualms in slashing labor programs. The Finance Minister Michel Sapin, a long-time accomplice of the French bureaucratic-capitalist elite, is prepared to slash pensions and public services while reducing job security in order to lower the cost of labor to capital.

Once the Hollande and his troika took control of the centers of political power, (and after militarizing French society in response to the terrorist attacks), the regime launched its anti-labor offensive to shred the progressive social agenda. Its first target was its most formidable - the mass of the French working class.

Declaring anti-ISIS martial law powers, Hollande adopted an outright authoritarian strategy, bypassing the elected French Parliament in the legislature and imposed rule by decree with the announcement of a highly regressive labor law against the French people.

The dictatorial labor decree was a first step to weaken organized labors capacity to protect wages and job security in order to give a powerful impetus to employer control over the French labor force.

Once Hollandes labor decree established capitalist supremacy, his Troika would be in a decisive position to reverse seventy of incremental social advances.

The joint Hollande-Troika-capitalist bloc emasculated the legislature, leaving a weak, bleating chorus of so-called left Socialists to bemoan their political impotence. Then an entirely new business anti-labor code was rolled out, which included the right of bosses to hire and fire workers at will, extend the workday , lengthen the work week, undermine labors bargaining power and restrain strikes and job actions. This would open the way for a wave of irregular and contingent jobs for new workers . . . Using the pretext of terrorist attacks, the French capitalist class had begun to rule by decree to further expand and deepen their long planned assault on labor.

Hollandes troika and Frances capitalists are lowering corporate taxes and employer contribution to social payments. Regulations that restrained the concentration of elite power were eliminated.

With curfews and anti-terrorist militarized police in the streets, French business elite could now freely begin to to imitate the Anglo-American capitalist elite and impose an iron-fisted New Order.

Without labor constraints on French capital, the bosses are is free to relocate factories and investments any and everywhere, under the most favorable wage, tax, employment and environmental conditions.

No longer required to invest in French industry, the business elite can transfer capital from industry to financial sectors, allowing hundreds of billions of euros to be laundered in off shore tax havens.

The Hollande troika will now also establish its own version of Security and Exchange investigators to prosecute and fine its rival Anglo-American financial swindlers, just as the Anglo-Americans pursue their French competitors today.

The Hollande regimes regressive social agenda has opened the door for an even more extreme Presidential prototype to follow and Alain Juppe is waiting.

The rabid Republican Party presidential candidate, Alain Juppe, promises to go whole hog in utterly destroying the French welfare state, as it has existed since the fall of fascism. If elected president, Juppe promised to slash 100 billion euros from the budget - double the amount that the Hollande regime currently seeks to cut. Juppe has pledged to eliminate 250,000 civil service jobs in all vital social sectors; to delay the retirement age from 62 to 65; eliminate the 35-hour workweek; facilitate worker layoffs and decimate unemployment benefits. Finally, Juppe has promised French capital that he would implement their entire business agenda, cut taxes for business and bankers and eliminate the tax on inheritance implemented nearly four decades ago.

In other words, the Hollande regimes assault on labor and embrace of business has opened the door for the rise of the extreme right. Moreover, Hollande has manipulated the incidents of Islamist terrorism to assume arbitrary decree powers wiping out any pretense of a democratic government. The terrorist incidents are arguably related to Hollandes colonialist embrace of the regime change assaults against the secular nationalist governments of Libya and Syria and his policy of sending (or tolerating the recruitment of) marginalized French youth of North African ancestry to fight in the ensuing civil wars. This has further strengthened the rise of the extreme right in France.

As the Socialist and Republicans compete for dictatorial powers to serve business regressive agenda, the nationalist, protectionist and social reformist policies of the National Front are emerging as the populist alternative in the coming presidential race. Anti-fascist rhetoric has worn thin and important sectors of the working class will turn to the National Front in defense of their jobs and social legislation. The anti-immigration rhetoric of the National Front is now part of the political vocabulary of the Republicans as well as Prime Minister Valls.

The only alternative to a power grab by the French hard right is a mass general strike and sustained street battles in order to resist the reaction by decree.

As throughout history, popular struggles in France begin in the streets - among the trade unions and young workers angrily facing low wages, austerity and the grim prospect of permanently temporary jobs.

The outcome of the intensifying French labor-capital conflict will have a decisive impact on the future of labor throughout Europe, especially among all Left unionists.

Latin America: The Labor-Capital Showdown

Beyond Europe, the Anglo-American onslaught against labor and the working class resonates most directly in Latin America and to a lesser extent in Asia and Africa.

The first country to fall victim to capitals attack was Mexico with the implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). By the early 1990s NAFTA had demolished the independent Mexican trade unions, crippled social legislation, eliminated subsidies to small corn farmers, forced peasants into debt, reduced minimum wage, doubled poverty levels and turned the majority of the labor force into landless, indebted, casual workers. On the other hand, NAFTA has been a bottomless source of wealth as capitalists accumulate double and triple digit profits and absolute power to hire and fire employees. Mexicos government, under Anglo-American capital, has allowed the illicit transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars of Mexican assets to US, English and other overseas banks, which have become immense money-laundering operations. The proximity of Mexican drug cartels to the US banks has facilitated the extension of their networks into the US market. The horrific expansion of drug cartel death squads, linked to Mexicos political leaders, dates from the 1990s and the signing of NAFTA. This bloody nexus has consolidated neoliberal political power in Mexico and weakened the possibility of a viable mass electoral alternative.

Anglo-American dominance in Latin America in the 1990s led to an entire panoply of regressive policies: privatizing and denationalizing the most lucrative natural and state resources, banks and industries; reducing wages and social spending for labor while increasing the concentration of capital. By 2001 however the Anglo-American edifice collapsed throughout South America with the demise of its neo-liberal political leadership.

From Venezuela in 1999, to Argentina in 2002, Brazil 2003, Bolivia 2006 and Ecuador 2007, left and center-left parties capitalized on their mass support and were elected into power. They took advantage of global economic conditions with the rising commodity prices, booming Chinese markets and new regional alliances to fund a variety of progressive social agendas, including increased social expenditures, guaranteed pensions, family allowances, minimum wages, wage increases for public sector and expanded labor rights.

The Anglo-American power elite was in retreat and isolated, but it was far from defeated. They retrenched and prepared to re-mobilize their strategic business, banking and political allies when the opportunity arose. They counter-attacked when global and regional conditions turned unfavorable to the social regimes.

The assault on Latin America was preceded by the Anglo-American neo-liberal take-over of Northern Europe from the 1990s to the first decade of the 21st century. This was followed by the sweep and grab of the Balkans and Southern Europe. The combined Anglo-American-EU-NATO offensive now seeks to reverse the last social-welfare regimes in Europe: France and Italy with the help of President Hollande and Prime Minister Renzi.

Simultaneously the Anglo-American offensive has been launched throughout Latin America. Their goal is to recover the imperial prerogatives, political power and economic privileges lost during the previous decade. The primary Euro-American target is the golden triangle, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. These countries constitute a global center of immense oil and agro-mineral wealth.

The Argentine neo-liberal restoration took off in December 2015 with the election of far-right President Mauricio Macri. His junta wasted no time in stripping the state of its social legislation, dismantling job security through large-scale layoffs and assuming authoritarian rule by decree to devalue Argentinas currency by 40% and to eliminate state subsidies and raising the price for gas, electricity, transport, and water between 300 and 800 %.

The regressive offensive was in full force. Next, Brazils twice elected President Dilma Rousseff was impeached and essentially overthrown by a bizarre legislative right-wing coup-detat, designed to reverse a generation of progressive regulatory, labor and employment legislation. It was also secretly designed to halt corruption investigations against many right-wing politicians.

Venezuela is next. It will be the scene of a full-scale-elite coup-detat with imperial backing, to overthrow the government of President Maduro and end decades of progressive social advances under the Chavista governments.

While in France and Italy, the great social reversal is being implemented by internal enemies from the progressive political parties (Trojan Horses), in Latin America the reversal is led by openly hostile class enemies who depend on the arbitrary exercise of executive power. The drive to put a definitive end to the welfare state in Europe and Latin America is marked by the use of dictatorial decrees, (in the style of Mussolini in the 1920s) as exercised by Argentinas elected President Marci in January 2016 and Brazils Interim (Coup) President Temer in April 2016. Meanwhile capitalist lockouts, hoarding and sabotage are being used to crush Venezuelas elected government.

This epochal confrontation has spread across Africa and Asia. Chinas capitalist offensive has seen a four-fold increase in the number of new billionaires in less than a decade, at the expense of hundreds of millions of workers stripped of their rights and social programs.

South Africa, under the ANC government, turned its back on social gains promised by the liberation struggle and has imposed regressive social legislation and repressive anti-labor decrees. A corrupt class of black and white billionaires now rule by guns and clubs over the black working class.

In Africa and the Middle East, the social welfare states of the nationalist regimes in Iraq and Libya have been completely shredded through imperialist military intervention and civil war. Their once advanced societies have been thrown back into ethno-tribal warfare with no remaining modern social institutions in those two blighted, resource-rich nations.

Wither the Class Struggle: Historical Reversal and Class Revolt?

The Anglo-American offensive to reverse decades of social advance has captured most of Europe. They have incorporated or coopted the Social Democratic parties and are moving swiftly toward dismantling the decade-long center-left welfare states in Latin America.

In Africa, the centerpiece of Anglo-Americanization is South Africa, the continents most advanced bastion of international capitalism.

In Asia, China, the second most important capitalist economy in the world, has been leading the struggle to overturn the social agenda of the revolutionary past.

Large-scale, prolonged class resistance in several decisive centers is emerging to confront this Anglo-American process of reversion. The class confrontation however takes specific characteristics in each country.

In France, the major protagonists of street fighting and marches are young unemployed or casual workers, members of the strategic transport and oil unions and student-workers facing a bleak future of marginal employment and a shredded social safety net.

Trade unions and farmers association have joined the street struggles on numerous occasions, possibly in preparation for a general strike.

In Latin America, the center of the class struggle is Argentina. Power-mad President Macri immediately imposed regressive policies against all sectors of the working class. His actions managed to unite the four major trade union confederations, multiple retirees associations and small businesspeople bankrupted by exorbitant charges on gas and electrical use and regional neighborhood federations. The widespread growth of job actions among public sector employees points to a general strike.

The regressive assault on long-term social legislation in Brazil immediately followed the thinly disguised capitalist coup. The ousting of President Rousseff has provoked street demonstrations, led by the huge rural landless workers movement (MST), the confederation of industrial and service workers (CUT), social movements of the homeless workers and the recipients of Lulas poverty programs. New revelations, based on taped conversations among the coup plotters reveal their plans to oust the incumbent President Rousseff in order to derail official investigations into their own corruption scandals. This has enraged the general public.

With the initial take-over, the Brazilian political-financial elite has prepared to launch its full-scale reversal of pensions and employment laws and wage guarantees. The pro-business leadership plans to slash corporate and wealth taxes and to appoint business executives to all leading ministries. The deep corruption scandal and the mass demonstrations suggest the rightwing power grab may not survive.

The regressive offensive in Venezuela has severely crippled the national economy and deeply eroded living standards of the vast majority of the working class. The rightist Congress, backed by the US and allied with international mass media, industry and multinational banks, are trying to force the resignation of Socialist President Maduro.

Maduro has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the armed forces. He called on the military and popular militia to defend the constitutional order and has threatened to mobilize the workers to take control of the means of production. Still, the leftist government vacillates over arming the militias and workers. A wide gap remains before the word and the deed.

In the meantime Venezuelas right wing and left-wing mass mobilizations face each other in the streets seething with class hatred and waiting to engage in a decisive confrontation. The military thus far remains constitutionalist and on the side of the elected president.

In South Africa, the corrupt pro-business ANC led by President Zuma murdered dozens of striking mine workers. It has impoverished millions of shantytown residents, while increasing the wealth and power of the black-white elite. On April 30, 2016, 1.1.million South African activists, including civil society and community organizations and trade unions covering the mining, manufacturing and service sectors have organized to form a new confederation linked with informal, unemployed and poor workers. The South African Workers Summit replaces the moribund and corrupt labor confederation, COSATU, the labor desk for the neo-liberal ANC regime. The new confederation will co-ordinate mass struggles and reclaim social programs as a central part of the anti-capitalist revolution.

In China, the growth and consolidation of the worlds second largest concentration of billionaires has led to the proliferation of large-scale industrial workers strikes, walkouts and confrontations with factory bosses, company unions and government officials. China is becoming the epicenter of Asias working class struggles. Chinese workers have forced the government to investigate and jail over 200,000 corrupt officials, high and low, and to concede substantial wage increases and social compensation to factory workers. Fearing more social upheaval, Chinas billionaires and multi-millionaires have transferred hundreds of billions of dollars of stolen assets abroad in a buying spree of high-end property in the safe Anglo-American heartland of world reaction.

The continued advance of working class struggles against the public and private oligarchs has forced the Chinese Prime Minister to reform elite privileges and prosecute large-scale banking swindles and illegal seizure of farmland. Especially important, millions of workers have successfully secured double-digit wage increases and the right to legally live in urban/industrial and construction centers.

As it gains momentum, class struggle in China can become the centerpiece for a wider Asian social transformation and a great leap forward to socialist values.

Conclusion

The Anglo-American drive to establish a global regressive social order has pushed billions of workers on five continents into destitution, insecurity and lifelong exploitation. The capitalist world rules by fiat and violence, declaring that social regression and worker repression are the wave of the future. For the elite, the proper order of the universe is being restored!

In response, new working class organizations have emerged and engage directly to defend their historic social advances and economic rights.
An 11-year-old boy created chaos on Friday, June 3 when he drove his mothers Honda Civic straight into a telecommunication shop in Taman Vistana Indah, Malaysia. It is learnt that the boys mother had gone to a nearby spa.

In the car were the boy and his 12-year-old cousin, both seated in front. It was understood that the woman had left the boy instructions start the engine. However, instead of just turning on the engine, he inadvertently rammed the car into a shop in front. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The shop owner, Md Shaifon Nizam Ahmad, 35, who was away during the incident said that he was told by his employee about the incident around 3.30pm .

Several of our facilities and accessories were damaged. But whats important is that no one was injured, including the two boys. Shaifon believes that the mishap could end up costing him RM20,000 in repairs.

Source: New Straits Times
The South-South Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed the current attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta region on the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party said the attacks are sponsored to derail President Muhammadu Buharis government.

In a communique, party leaders from the five states in the SouthSouth at a Stakeholders meeting in Benin City, weekend also noted that it is erroneous for agitators for the state of Biafra to categorize any part of the South-South as part of constituency, saying the Niger Delta is not, cannot, and will never be part of Biafra.

The Zone commends the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on his performance in his first year in office, support his fight against corruption and his effort to restructure the countrys dwindling economy and building a viable Nigeria.

The Zone acknowledges the commendable performance of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the delivery of infrastructure and other dividends of governance to the good people of Edo State.

The Zone notes the upsurge of the renewed militancy in the area, in the name of The Avengers and condemns its activities in its entirety. The Zone does not believe that their nefarious activities are driven by any patriotic fervor, rather we have cause to believe that they are instigated by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to derail President Buharis government in order to avoid the long arm of the law on their criminal activities while in government.

The Zone notes the present agitation for the State of Biafra and the inclusion of the Niger Delta in the map of the constituency representing the Biafra State.

The Zone states unequivocally that Niger Delta is not, cannot, will never be and can never be part of Biafra, the group said.
The Nigerian Army has dismissed allegations of looting by Soldiers in Gbaramatu kingdom where there has been heavy military presence in recent weeks as attacks on oil installations increased in the Niger Delta.

In a statement by a spokesman for the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sani Usman, the Army described the allegations as sheer blackmail by some mischief makers to tarnish the image of the Nigerian Army, as Nigerian soldiers do not loot.

According to the statement, the Army felt pained that such unfounded allegation would be published, explaining that all the items recovered on May 28 and June 1, which include weapons and dynamites, were properly documented and publicly displayed.

The statement further said that the soldiers are thorough-bred professionals guided by rules of engagement and code of conduct and would never loot.
The defection of the member representing Ukum/Logo/Katsina-Ala federal constituency in Benue State, Emmanuel Udende, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress, APC, has been hailed by youths in the state as a giant step in the right direction.

Rep. Udende, who is deputy chairman of the House Committee on Police Affairs, last Wednesday in a letter read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara during plenary, announced his decision to quit the umbrella party, citing the ongoing leadership tussle in the PDP as reason for his defection to the APC.

He was not alone as the member representing Anambra-East/West Federal Constituency in Anambra State, Tony Nwoye, also dumped the PDP for APC same day.

Hailing Udendes move, the youths under the aegis of APC Youth Agenda (AYA), noted that the lawmaker had always advocated and practiced the unique brand of progressive, forward looking and grassroots oriented politics that the APC is well known for.

The AYA in a communique signed by its publicity secretary, Comrade Tor Uja on Saturday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, stressed that the lawmakers unequivocal rejection of the parochial, corrupt and oppressive policies of the PDP has placed him unwaveringly on the side of the people of his constituency.

It further applauded the dynamic and people oriented leadership style of Udende, a former commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs in the state and a two-term member of the lower legislative chamber, noting the numerous constituency projects and welfare schemes he has initiated to provide succour for the teeming youths, women, farmers and the physically challenged members of society.

We sincerely urge him to continue in his progressive and compassionate activities and endeavours while pledging unflinching support for his future political aspirations in the present and upcoming dispensations, the AYA said.
As Muslims look forward to the month of Ramadan, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has called for vigilance due to what it said was Boko Harams plan to carry out bomb attacks during the period.

The Director of Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, who made the call in a statement yesterday, said information available to the Nigerian military indicate that there plans by insurgents to use the Ramadan period, which usually attracts gathering of large number of persons, to carry out large scale bombings.

Against this background, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) wishes to once again advice the general public to be watchful of strange persons and objects in their localities, he said.

Mr. Abubakar, a Brigadier General, urged vigilance especially around places of worship and to promptly report same to security agencies.

This is to also advice that adequate security and surveillance be evolved by respective places of worship to forestall any unwholesome act by some unscrupulous elements.

While urging law abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses, the Defence spokesman assured that efforts are being made to eliminate the remnants of the terrorists from their hideouts as well as address other security challenges in the country.
The Defence headquarters has alerted Nigerians particularly Muslims that Boko Haram terrorists have concluded plans to bomb places of worship during Ramadan.

Information available to this Headquarters indicated plans by terrorists to use the Ramadan periods which usually attracts gathering of large number of persons during morning and evening worships and prayers to carryout large scale bombings, a statement at the weekend, signed by the Director of Defence Information, Brig-General Rabe Abubakar said.

The DHQ, therefore, warned Nigerians to be vigilant and report suspicious movements to security agencies around the country.

Boko Haram attacks have reduced in recent times as the military has succeeded in decimating the terrorist,also invading their stronghold in the Sambisa forest. But the terrorists have found ways of executing isolated attacks around the north east. With the expected gathering of Muslim faithful in large numbers for prayers during the Ramadan, the terrorists now have more easy targets they are likely to try to take advantage of.

More than 15000 people have been killed by the Boko Haram group since it began its violent campaign in 2009.
A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain and former Governor of Imo State, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, has described the recent killings involving persons of Igbo extraction in different parts of the country as a futile attempt at suppressing the Igbo spirit, which he said is indomitable.

The former governor said no matter how hard the killers, who he labeled enemies of Nigeria try, they will never succeed in pushing the Igbo nation into taking actions that may be deemed unwise.

Particularly irked by the killing of unarmed members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, last week by security agencies in Asaba, Delta State during a procession to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the defunct Biafra Republic by late warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and the recent murder of an Igbo trader in Kano State for alleged blasphemy, Mr. Ohakim lamented the unprecedented rate of injustice, intimidation and marginalisation of the Igbo people by a section of people who are actually the enemies of Nigeria, rather than the enemies of Ndi Igbo.

According to him: Those who have made it a duty to provoke the Igbos into violence are the real enemies of Nigeria, because no one who loves Nigeria will want to provoke the most industrious, progressive, creative and most patriotic ethnic group in the country. Those who love Nigeria are the ones who will promote peace and unity of the country.

The Igbos will continue to prosper, we shall continue to win and we shall not be intimidated. That Chike who is in the most remote part of Kano State; Ifeanyi in Jigawa or Emeka in Osun State, is there, not because he does not have a home to go to, but because he is a patriotic Nigerian who wishes to contribute his quota to the development of all parts of Nigeria.
Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufai, Sunday said the renovation of 4,000 primary schools across the state would gulp N60 billion.

Speaking at the 50th anniversary of Nuhu Baturen Makaranta Primary School at Anguwan Kahu, Samaru in Zaria-City, Kaduna State, the governor said the government had so far spent N6 billion in renovating some selected 400 primary schools in the state.

He also said that the state government was considering the possibility of converting all primary schools in the state into storey buildings so as to accommodate more pupils.

The Emir of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris, while speaking at the event described the efforts of the state government toward revitalising the lost glory of education as a gigantic step in the right direction.

He called on the people of the state to support the efforts of the present administration at all levels to enable it to deliver dividends of democracy to all.
Senators have for long been criticized and accused of embezzling funds meant for their constituencies. However, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa(PDP-Abia North) says the criticisms have been unfair and the accusations unjust, because money appropriated for constituency projects does not go to parliamentarians.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, the senators said that lawmakers only choose the site of the projects, while the relevant ministries handle the contracts and execution.

However, he explained that lawmakers in the 4th and 5th assembly demanded for constituency projects in order to address the infrastructural deficits they identified in their constituencies.

Ohuabunwa said constituency projects came about because there was serious decay in infrastructure in the constituencies; hence the constituents were not interested in how many bills and motions the lawmakers sponsored.

What have you done to positively impact their lives in terms of infrastructure; alleviation of poverty, skill acquisition among others; so we came up with the idea of constituency project?

That was what led to the agitation for constituency projects; it was not easy; but eventually the president saw the need and we started it on three sectors then-power, health and waterrural electrification, primary healthcare and provision of boreholes.

When appropriations for constituency projects are made, lawmakers will be given options among the three sectors; you choose and allocate-that is the community or local government where you want the project sited; after that, your job ends.

As regards the award, payment and the execution, it goes to the relevant ministry, if it is power; it goes to the ministry of power; if it is water, ministry of water, health, ministry of health.

There is a misrepresentation that parliamentarians receive money for constituency projects; no, government does not operate that way and it is not possible.

What you can do is to determine the budget and the location, he explained.

Ohuabunwas constituency will not be able to fully benefit in constituency projects this year as he was not present at the National Assembly during the consideration of the 2016 budget. His election had been nullified by the Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, which ordered a re-run which he won.

The lawmaker said that his absence affected projects he would have attracted to his constituency.
A Nigerian man and a Thai woman have been arrested after 8.5kg of crystal methamphetamine or ice were found stuffed into new handbags imported from China.

24-year-old Nigerian national John Anike Chinedu & Sawaros Nathawil, 34, were arrested separately in Samut Prakan and Bangkok.

John was arrested on Friday, June 3 while Sawaros on Thursday . Both were taken for a media briefing at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau headquarters on Saturday.

A total of 8.5kg of crystal methamphetamine hidden in 35 womens fashion handbags were seized from them.

Ms Sawaros was apprehended when she showed up to receive three parcels at a car park of a condominium building on Srinakarin Road in tambon Samrong Nua of Muang district in Samut Prakan on Thursday . The parcels contained the 35 new handbags, stuffed with drugs, said Pol Lt Gen Rewat Klinkesorn, NSB commissioner.

Her arrest came after the NSB received information from Chinese authorities in Guangzhou that they had arrested an African drug trafficking gang and seized an invoice detailing goods sent from Guanzhou to Thailand by the suspects, said Pol Lt Gen Rewat.

When the woman arrived to receive the parcels, officers asked to search them and found the drugs hidden in the linings, said the NSB chief. Authorities then extended the investigation that led to the arrest of the Nigerian suspect at a rented room in Lat Krabang on Friday . A pack of crystal meth was found stuffed in a handbag found in his room. Several handbags similar to those found in the seized parcels were also found in his room. However, those handbags had earlier been slashed.

Pol Lt Gen Rewat said he believed the two suspects might be network members of the Nigerian gang caught in China. The seized drugs were destined for sale in Bangkok and Pattaya, particularly among wealthy drug addicts, he added.

The duo have been charged with colluding in smuggling drugs into the country with intent to sell. They were held in police custody for legal action.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has appealed to the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, to pay striking workers their dues.

The NLC president, in an open letter to the governor, highlighted the four major reasons for which civil servants in Ekiti, embarked on indefinite strike last week. They include non-payment of five months salaries and pensions, non-implementation of promotion for workers, controversy of workers verification, and refusal of the state government to disclose its internal revenue.

According to Wabba, the NLC was not unconcerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the polity.

In our view, however, this does not constitute an acceptable rationale for owing workers and pensioners for so long, he said.

Gov. Fayoses plea to the workers to call off the strike fell on deaf ears just as he said there was nothing he could do to raise money to meet the workers demands.

Full text of the NLC presidents letter to the Ekiti governor below.

REQUEST FOR INTERVENTION

I convey to you the compliments of the Nigeria Labour Congress as well request your personal intervention in the strike action by workers in Ekiti State.

The issues that led to this strike action are well known to you and include the following:

 Non-payment of five months salary arrears and pensions;

 Non-implementation of promotion report since 2014;

 Issues around staff verification exercise in 2015; and

 Refusal of government disclose the actual monthly IGR.

Your Excellency, we are not unconcerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the polity. In our view, however, this does not constitute an acceptable rationale for owing workers and pensioners for so long. A labourer, the Holy Books tell us, deserves his wages. Stripped of his wages, he is reduced to a slave without rights or privileges.

In the instant case, the workers and pensioners in the State have been pulverised into submission due to the default in the payment of their salaries and pensions to the extent that they are unable to perform their obligations to God, Man and the State.

We believe this painful situation could be minimised, if not entirely reduced, if government gives consideration to managing the cost of governance, raising the IGR profile and appropriately applying the bail-out funds given by the Federal Government.

Your Excellency, we urge you to bring this strike action speedily to an end by commencing the process of payment and establishing a platform for dialogue at which the leadership of the workers at the state level could be availed of what accrues to the coffers of the state monthly.

We are prepared to sit with you and our members to broker the necessary peace in the interest of industrial harmony and general well-being of the state.

While we await your intervention, please accept the assurances of our highest esteem.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has followed up his open letter to Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State with another to his Ondo State counterpart, Olusegun Mimiko, urging him to put the necessary machinery in place for the payment of salaries and pensions of striking workers in the state.

Workers in Ondo State embarked on strike last Wednesday to protest non-payment of five months salaries and pensions.

A meeting between the governor and leaders of the organised labour in the state on Thursday ended in a deadlock as both sides failed to reach a compromise.

Wading into the issue, the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in a June 5 letter, pleaded with Gov. Mimiko to personally intervene in the payment due to the striking workers.

Just like the letter he wrote to Fayose, Mr. Wabba told the Ondo governor that the NLC was not unaware of the present socio-economic challenges confronting the country.

However, in our estimation, this should not be an acceptable reason for not paying five months salaries and pensions at the level of the state, and four months salaries and pensions at the level of local government and teachers, the letter read.

Sir, you do not need a lecture from anyone, to know that non-payment of salaries and pensions for months on end, constitutes a crime against the workers, pensioners and their families whose lives and obligation to Man and God and their sense of self-worth have been put in jeopardy.

As one with activist background and one with whom we have had collaboration, these issues are clear and self-evident, and therefore need no belabouring, the NLC president said.

The union also informed Mr. Mimiko that at this critical time there were limited choices, which would include taking a critical look at government expenditure especially in the areas of political appointments, patronage and allied costs.

We similarly call for the renewed drive in the internally-generated revenue. We have reason to believe that when these initiatives are complimented by the bail-out funds released by the Federal Government, the twin issues of salaries and pensions will not be such a burden, the labour leader suggested.

As we noted in our letter to you on the 40th anniversary celebration of Ondo State, you have left a legacy. We urge you to do all that is necessary to sustain this legacy.

Accordingly, we will not relent in urging you to put in motion the necessary logistics for the commencement of the payment of these salaries and pensions.
The new militant group bombing oil and gas installations, the Niger Delta Avengers, is being sponsored by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has alleged.

The APC, South South zonal chapter, which made the allegation at the end of a meeting held in Benin City, Edo State at the weekend, condemned the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta region, saying the main objective of the Avengers was to frustrate and derail President Muhammadu Buharis administration.

The zone is cocksure that the nefarious and ruinous activities of the Avengers are not driven by any patriotic and altruistic impulse, the APC said in a communique issued at the end of the meeting.

We have compelling reasons to strongly assert that these activities are sponsored and instigated by the opposition PDP to derail and frustrate the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari because of its determination to fight against corruption, stabilise and put our country on the path of sustainable development.

The communique, signed by the APC National Vice-Chairman South South, Prince Hilliard Eta, and the Zonal Secretary, Steven Ezekwem, also faulted the inclusion of the Niger Delta region in the imaginary State of Biafra.

The party, which described the inclusion as dubious, said, Niger Delta is not, cannot and will never be part of Biafra.

The party also commended President Buhari and the APC-led federal government for the courage to commence the clean-up of Ogoniland and other parts of Niger Delta.

The South South APC further called on the federal government to reconstitute the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to reflect and accommodate all the constituent states of the region, as well as carry along the party leaders from the zone in appointments into federal boards and other executive positions.
Please my pipo, lets pray for our dear brother Sadiq who had an accident this afternoon along kubwa express way in Abuja. After receiving the saddest news, I rushed to the hospital @ d kubwa general hospital to see him.
The Presidency yesterday denied an exclusive report by an online news medium that President Muhammadu Buhari was ill and receiving treatment at the Presidential Villa, Abuja for an ear infection.

According to the report, Mr. Buhari was suffering from Meniere Disease in his left ear, which it claimed had impaired the presidents hearing in recent times and if there was no improvement in the treatment he is currently receiving, will seek medical solution abroad.

The report, which attributed the disease to old age, also linked it to the presidents recent decisions to cancel scheduled trips to Lagos, Cross River, Rivers and Senegal.

The report by the online news medium, further coincided with a claim by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that Buhari was seriously ill and may be flown abroad for treatment any moment although recent photos of the president taken at the State House Abuja, seemed to put that speculation to rest.

Reacting to the latest report, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, dismissed Buharis reported ill-health as false, insisting that his boss was fine and discharging his duties as President of Nigeria.

It is not true. It is the imagination of the writer. The President is fine and has been performing his duties, Adesina said.
Muslims in the country have been called upon to look out for the new moon of Ramadan today, Sunday, June 5.

The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Alhaji Muhammadu Saad Abubakar, made the call in a statement signed by Secretary-General of the NSCIA, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.

Ramadan is the holy month in the Islamic calendar in which Muslims the world over observe a month-long fasting  one of the pillars of Islam.

It is also a period during which Muslims are expected to uphold the virtues and teachings of Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W) through increased moral acts, sacrifice and dedication as well as zakat (charity) to the poor and needy in society.

Oloyede, in the statement, said The NMSC had advised the President General that the crescent of Ramadan should be searched for on Sunday, June 5, 2016 equivalent to 29th Shaban 1437 AH. If the crescent is actually sighted by informed persons on Sunday night and His Eminence is so advised by the experts, he would declare Monday, June 6, 2016 as the first day of Ramadan. If, however, the crescent is not sighted on the night of Sunday, Tuesday, 7th June, 2016 automatically becomes the first of Ramadan, 1437 AH.

He, therefore, enjoined Muslims across the country to be on the lookout, adding that in addition to established and traditional Islamic leaders in each locality, members of the NMSC can be contacted for information and clarification.
The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that N300 million cash was stolen from his country home in Ilorin, Kwara State.

In a statement issued by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu on Sunday, Mr. Saraki said burglars broke into an administrative quarters in his home two weeks ago and carted away N12 million.

He, however, said the incident had been reported to the police.

An online news medium yesterday reported that aides of the former Kwara State Governor were responsible for the theft of the money, which it claimed were ferried to Sarakis house in hard currency by the state government.

While exonerating aides of the Senate president from the criminal act, Mr. Olaniyonu said the perpetrators were yet to be identified even as he stressed that the money was not public funds.

The media aide was however, silent on the reason behind Mr. Sarakis decision to keep such large amount of cash in his house at a time he is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja for alleged false asset declaration.

Read Mr. Olaniyonus full statement on the incident below:

SaharaReporters Story Full of Falsehood and Exaggeration

The report yesterday by SaharaReporters about a burglary in the Ilorin home of Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki contained series of falsehood and at best an exaggeration of an incident which happened two weeks ago in which N12 million was stolen by some unknown persons inside the Administrative Office located next door to the house.

In a statement, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity stated that the unknown persons broke into the safe in the Administrative Office and stole the N12 million. The incident had since been reported to the police and the Kwara State Police command are investigating the matter with a view to nail the culprits.

There is therefore no truth in the claim by SaharaReporters that the money ran into hundreds of millions, that it was in foreign currency or that the incident happened in Dr. Sarakis room. The amount was simply in Naira. Also, the money has nothing to do with Kwara State Government.

For the umpteenth time, we need to reiterate the fact that SaharaReporters fixation that any money spent by Saraki or that is in his possession is from Kwara State Government is unfounded, unwarranted, lacks any basis and irresponsible.

We wonder whether Saraki was such a poor man before 2003 when he was elected Governor that he could no longer own any money without SaharaReporters attributing the source to the State Government.

In its usual unethical and disgraceful haste to assassinate the Character of the Senate President, SaharaReporters ignored the simple professional practice for it to contact the Police to find out the facts of the incident. It merely created its own usually fictional story and published it. This is an online publication that cares not about its credibility or the journalism credo that facts are sacred and opinion is free.

We call on all members of the public to ignore all the claims in the story. Dr. Saraki will allow the police to do their work and unravel the person or persons behind this theft in the Administrative Office, he stated.
The Nigerian Army yesterday said troops on Operation Lafiya Dole in the North-east, killed 19 Boko Haram members including an Ameer at Chukungudu, Borno State.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, said the insurgents, including the Ameer, were killed when troops of 22 Brigade Garrison and 153 Task Force Battalion of 7 Division and 8 Task Force Division as well as Nigeria Air Force Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) and some Civilian JTF, carefully planned and launched a deliberate attack on Boko Haram stronghold and camp at Chukungudu on Friday, May 3.

According to the Army spokesman, the troops had while advancing the location, encountered Boko Haram ambush positions at Muskari, Gilam and Hausasi before descending on their main objective at Chukungudu.

It was during the encounter at the camp, Mr. Usman, a colonel, said the troops killed 19 Boko Haram terrorists including their leader in the area called Ameer Abubakar Gana.

Gana, according to sources with knowledge of the workings of Boko Haram, was a highly feared terrorist leader due to his notoriety for slaughtering his victims. His rise to the position of Ameer, a status he reportedly attained a long time ago, was as a result of the high number of killings under his belt.

He was also said to be one of the few high ranking members of the sect that had direct communication with Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.

His death, is therefore, considered a huge blow for the terrorists and a major victory for the war against insurgency.

In a mop up exercise, the troops discovered and destroyed Boko Harams Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) making factory, and successfully detonated four primed IEDs.

They (troops) also recovered two anti-aircraft guns, 1 AK-47 rifle, a pistol, 1 Rocket Propelled Gun (RPG) bomb, one AK-47 magazine, 267 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) metal links ammunition and 23 rounds of 12.7mm belt ammunition.

Other recovered items include a canter truck, one gun truck, one Land Rover and a Toyota Hilux.

Col. Usman added: Two soldiers suffered gunshot wounds as a result of enemy action. However, it is gratifying to state that both of them are very stable and responding to treatment at the Field Ambulance.
The Presidency has said that no minister is bigger than the legislature.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, who made the assertion at the weekend in Abuja, said that all ministers and heads of agencies were subject to the authority of the National Assembly as stipulated in the Constitution.

In a chat with newsmen, Mr. Enang stressed that if such situations where some minsters considered themselves bigger than the legislature existed in the past, past, it is not so under the current administration.

Under the past administration, some influential ministers either shunned invitations to appear before National Assembly committees or when they did finally show up, expressed their displeasure at being summoned at will by the lawmakers, claiming it was a distraction.

A classic example under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan was when the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, pointedly told the National Assembly that neither it nor any of its various committees could summon her and the agencies under her, to produce unpublished documents and other records without a prior consent of the president.

The then petroleum minister stated these in a suit she filed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, against the National Assembly to stall the investigation of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on the allegation that Mrs. Alison-Madueke spent N10billion of tax payers money on private jet charter.

The former president was widely believed to have tacitly endorsed his ministers position at the time as he never gave the so-called approval for Alison-Madueke to appear before the committee.

However, Mr. Enang, who was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business during the 7th National Assembly, said that current Executive led by Buhari had enjoyed very cordial relationship with the Legislature in the last one year as evidenced in the appearance of ministers before the National Assembly.

This is one government where there has been straight and very free, cordial and exemplary working relationship between the executive and the legislature.

I am sure that in previous times, you did hear of invitations to ministers or to some persons who considered themselves prime ministers or some serious ministers who would not ordinarily appear before the legislature.

But under President Muhammmadu Buharis administration, under the change administration of APC, all ministers and all persons are subject to the authorities of the legislature within the limits of the Constitution.

This is one other aspect where we can score that we have done well in the maintenance of executive-legislative relationship, he said.

The presidential aide added that the healthy relationship between both arms of government was further demonstrated by the attention which the president gave to Bills originated and passed by the legislature.

He cited the example of the Bill seeking to increase the number of Federal Capital Territory High Court Judges from 37 to 75, which was passed by the legislature on Tuesday and was assented to on the same day by the president.

This is one of the Bills that was not originated by the president but sponsored by legislators, and being a members bill, the president did not have any reservation towards it.

This shows that the president does not believe that only bills that come from him are the only ones that he assents to; this shows that the president respects the legislature.

He respects the wisdom of the legislature and works in accord with the legislature, he stated.

Mr. Enang also said that as the presidents aide, he had enjoyed good communication with the legislature especially the Senate, and had fostered same between both arms, explaining that there has been no problem with correspondence between both sides.
Civil servants in Ekiti State on Sunday told Governor Ayo Fayose that what they want is money to alleviate their poverty, not the solidarity strike he declared on Friday in recognition of the plight of the striking workers.

Mr. Fayose had in a statewide broadcast on Friday, declared that he would also embark on strike to demonstrate his concern for the workers, who had since 13 days ago, commenced an indefinite strike over unpaid five months salary arrears.

The governor, who appealed to the striking workers to bear with the state over its inability to fulfil its financial obligation to them, blamed the development on dwindling federal allocation and harsh economic condition in the country

He said: Now that I share from your pains, I have also placed myself on indefinite strike in solidarity with you and I shall be waiting here for you until you call off.

But organized labour on Sunday while appreciating the governor for declaring solidarity strike, however, stressed that what the workers need is payment of at least three months salaries to actually authenticate the sincerity of the self-imposed strike declared by Fayose.

Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in the state Comrade Odunayo Adesoye, who spoke with journalists in Ado-Ekiti the state capital, noted that the level of poverty among the civil servants has become burdensome and unbearable to the extent that they (workers) have resorted to begging to keep body and soul together.

We appreciate the governor for sharing from our pains and anguish. But the workers will appreciate and commend him the more if he can pay at least two or three months salaries out of five months owed.

Our situation has gone beyond the governor declaring mere solidarity strike. We need more of actions now than talks because our situation is gradually becoming hopeless.

Some of us have the intention of going to work, but no money to pay for transport fare. Some of us could not take two meals a day. Some could not cook soup with ordinary fish, so our situation has gone beyond what anyone could trivialize, Adesoye said.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has explained that constituency projects are the only way through which Nigerian lawmakers can attract federal presence to their constituencies.

The Speaker said without constituency projects, majority of Nigerias 360 federal constituencies and 109 senatorial districts would not be able to boast of any federal project due to what he termed lopsided nature of project allocation in the budget.

The 2016 budget for instance, contains N100 billion appropriated for constituency projects.

The projects were initiated in 2004 by the federal government to foster cordial relationship between the Executive and Legislature.

The projects get appropriations under the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, after recommendations by the lawmakers.

As at 2014, a total sum of N900 billion has so far been appropriated for constituency projects amid allegations of non-execution of projects by cross-section of Nigerians after the lawmakers might have collected the contract sums from the MDAs and awarded same to companies in which they have interests.

Speaking on Saturday in Billiri town, Gombe State at the empowerment programme organised by the member representing Balanga/Billiri federal constituency, Ali Isa, Mr. Dogara defended constituency projects, saying it was the only way through which fairness in governance can be achieved.

The Speaker opined that although it is not the responsibility of lawmakers to provide some of the things people request from them, it is in the realisation of the fact that conditions are hard for the people, and because service to humanity is at the centre of the representation that we do.

He also said but for the instrumentality of the zonal intervention that lawmakers have in the federal budget, it would have been absolutely difficult, if not impossible, for the Honourable members to provide the things they do and even train some of their constituents.

The only way through which we can maintain fairness in governance, fairness across the length and breadth of this country is by patronizing federal constituencies, when you patronize federal constituencies you have touched every nook and corner of Nigeria and that is why we will continue as leaders to ensure that we have programmes in governance that touches directly on constituencies of this country, Speaker Dogara added.

Our correspondent reports that the Speakers comments came on the heels of a bill sponsored by Hon. Solomon Adaelu (Abia/PDP) seeking the statutory provision of 2.5 per cent of annual budgets for constituency development projects, which scaled second reading in the lower legislative chamber last week.
The Federal Government said, yesterday, it had made cash recoveries totaling N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; 3,508,355.46 and 11, 250, from looters of public treasury, from May 29, 2015 to May 25, 2016. However, the promise to release the names of the looters may not be fulfilled.

A top Presidency source, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard said the administration was happy to have recovered as much as $9 billion without going to court. He said that a number of people still willing to return could be dissuaded by the publication of the names.

This thing is ongoing and one of the reasons why we did not release the names was that without going to court we were able to retrieve all that amount of money. If you release names, other people who want to do voluntary returns will not do so. What we need is the money and not the names, he said.

Secondly, many of those who returned the money are not necessarily guilty. For instance, if my party gave me money to go and campaign in an election, how am I to know that that money was from an illicit source?

For instance if money is given to a newspaper for publication, you cannot criminalise the newspaper because it did not know where the money came from. If the newspaper returns the money would it be fair to publicise the name of the newspaper.

If you listen to the mob you will just end up in the ditch. The practical thing is that we want more money to come in. And we dont even know what are the terms of the agreement by which anybody returned money.

So, for those who are saying that we ought to release the names, they got it completely wrong; it would be counterproductive. In fact, some people could go to court suing us for defamation and libel and then the whole essence would be lost and all people would be talking would be about the court cases. That is not what Nigeria needs now. What Nigeria needs now is to be focused and we believe we have taken the right step in letting Nigerians know how much has been recovered, $9 billion without going to court, the Vanguard source said.
Ownership of private jets among Nigerias elite Men of God is no longer news but when one of such preachers turn down a gift of a private jet, it qualifies as news item.

This report centers around the General Overseer of Auchi-based Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman, who disclosed in an interview published on Sunday that he recently rejected a private jet given to him as a gift by a businessman.

The controversial cleric, who did not disclose the identity of the businessman, said he accepted the gift, but had to politely turn it down after he discovered the source of the givers wealth was not sincere.

Apostle Suleman, who just ended the Johannesburg, South Africa, version of the Restoration Conference 2016 and will be moving to Kigali, the Rwandan capital later this month, also faulted those criticizing clerics with private jets, saying it is not a crime to own one as long as it aids in spreading the gospel across the world faster.

His words: It is no crime for a man of God to have a private jet, if it is meant to reach the world faster in spreading Gods mission.

In response to a question that he has joined the league of pastors with private jets, Suleman said I dont have one yet. The truth is that, I was given a private plane as a gift about one month ago. But God told me that the giver was not pure. So I rejected it. You may have seen the pictures of the jet on the internet. In fact, I collected it. But when I prayed over it and found out that the source of the givers wealth wasnt sincere, I politely turned it down.
The recently appointed Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu, has urged members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and other pro-Biafra agitators to put an end to their agitations and support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The VON boss, who made the call in his hometown of Eke, Udo local Government Area of Enugu State during the Egwu Abia Festival yesterday, pointed out that the Buhari administration will soon commence work on the 2nd Niger Bridge, Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt expressways, among others, which he said were captured in the 2016 budget.

Okechukwu reiterated his appeal to the pro-Biafra groups, saying their agitation was not in the overall interest of Ndigbo.

Giving reasons for his call on IPOB, MASSOB and other pro-Biafra groups to drop their agitation, the All Progressives Congress chieftain noted that Igbos are not only doing well in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, but have the high chance to produce the president in 2023.

While acknowledging that the constitution of the governing APC does not have provision for rotation or zoning, Mr. Okechukwu said convention gives Ndigbo a good chance if they support President Buhari till 2023.

He said: If Ndigbo collectively support the Buhari administration, we stand to gain as most of the dilapidated roads, 2nd Niger Bridge, Enugu Coal will be fixed. I therefore plead with the boys agitating for Biafra to consider the overall interest of Ndigbo who are doing relatively well in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Therefore, if we support Buhari, nothing will stop us from harvesting the moral weight of zoning convention, since equity and justice is on our side. For our brothers of the South  West and South South have had their turns since our return to democracy in 1999, Okechukwu said.
Pandemonium struck in Wambai area of Kano State on Thursday after angry Muslims youths allegedly beheaded a female trader over allegations that she blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.



DAILY POST recalls that this is coming barely a week after an outbreak of religious violence and the purported killing of a Christian over alleged blasphemous comments about Prophet Mohammed in Niger State.

The Public Relations Officer, PRO, of the Kano Police Command, DSP Musa Magaji, who confirmed the incident reportedly said the victim, who was said to be of Igbo extraction, was accused of blasphemy during a religious argument at Wambai market.

The unnamed woman, who sells plastics at the local market, was in the company of her husband when she was murdered; but for the timely intervention of the police, he would have been lynched.

She was said to have blasphemed Prophet Mohammed, which did not go down well with the mob.

The PPRO said at about 4:30 pm on Thursday, there was a disagreement between the murdered woman and some traders bordering on religion when irate mob pounced on her and killed her over some comments.

Source: Dailypost
According to THEWILL, President Muhammadu Buhari pointedly told a former Governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that he is not the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the latter is widely upheld.

The online platform gathered that Buhari made this clarification last Monday while hosting APC chieftains and members of the National Assembly to a dinner where the Senate President, Bukola Saraki in observing protocol during a remark addressed the former Lagos governor as the National Leader of APC

A Senator who was at the event confided with our correspondence that Buhari, who spoke shortly after Saraki, said; Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, even though the Senate President addressed you as the National Leader of APC, you are not the national leader of the party. You are one of the national leaders of the APC.

The source continued that; when Buhari told Tinubu that he was not the national leader of the APC several APC members from the South-West roared in protest but the President didnt care He was blunt and firm in his address.

In the build up to the 2015 general elections, owing to what political analysts believe is the role Tinubu played in the formation of the party, the former governor was being addressed as the National Leader of the APC.

He however retained the title after the election to the dissatisfaction of some bigwigs in the ruling party.
Ive written many times about the appeal and advantages of index funds. From low cost to full transparency, index funds  even more modern, non-cap-weighted versions of them  will rarely disappoint. They execute on a predetermined methodology. But just like the bias against robo-advisers, sometimes institutional and retail investors want an actual person behind the curtain  especially in volatile years, as is 2016.

I got a chance one afternoon to talk to some of the best active managers as part of Institutional Investors annual U.S. Investment Management Awards, which honor the best firms in 30-odd equity, bond and alternative categories. For the past few years, weve produced a video series to get at the heart of these investors stories and the personal experiences that inform their approaches. This years interviewees didnt disappoint. The best active management  and why it still works  relies on people, their human judgment, their backstories and the lessons they have drawn from their good and bad experiences. An active manager is the sum of many parts. He or she may have a process, but it has personality and character beyond the models and if-then scenarios.

When youve scheduled six videos to be filmed back to back in half-hour increments, its never a good sign when your first interviewee is 15 minutes late. Nonetheless, I immediately forgive Bob DiMella, co-head of MacKay Shieldss Municipal Managers, when the disheveled investor tells me it took 20 minutes to go four blocks in a New York taxi to reach the Mandarin Oriental, just off Columbus Circle, at the southwestern corner of Central Park.

Ive tormented myself many times in New York traffic, doing the mental calculus to determine whether it would be faster to jump out of the car and try to run to my destination or stay in the cab. (Unfortunately, I would say I get out of the taxi a good 80 percent of the time, and likely arrive at my destination far later than if I had stayed for the ride.)

Although our video director, Diana Panfil, thinks we might be able to squeeze DiMellas conversation with me into the remaining 15 minutes if we steal five from our next subject  apologies, Rick Rieder  I really want as much time as possible with him. He co-founded the firm with John Loffredo in 2007 before MacKay Shields bought it two years later. Both worked at BlackRock (Rieders firm) before that. Municipal Managers is an active management firm in a segment that has historically been dominated by individuals who plan to buy and hold the bonds forever. DiMella and Loffredo are the guys who sold all of their Puerto Rico bonds by April 2012, long before they were trading at substantial discounts. I want to hear that and other stories about the huge changes in the once-staid municipal bond world in full. After a little schedule shuffling, I get Bob to agree to come back at the end, when we would tack on overtime pay for the video crew and I would get to talk with DiMella a little longer. (Though youll have to wait for the video to find out more, I love that DiMella still keeps the key to the front door of the asset manager he co-founded almost ten years ago.)

Rieder, whose firm BlackRock won in the Unconstrained Bond category, is next on the roster. Though Ive talked to him many times about his Strategic Income Opportunities Fund  once for one of my favorite stories, an-depth 2014 piece called A Brave New World for Bond Investors  Ive never met him in person. Rieder, CIO of global fixed income, whose voice over the phone belies his baby face, runs a fund that isnt tied to popular benchmarks like the Barclays U.S. aggregate bond index, invests globally and switches it up among different securities to provide diversification and yield. It was BlackRocks answer to the huge changes taking place in the bond markets after the global financial crisis. Im eager to talk to Rieder about the personal experiences that have shaped his investment thinking, and how he prevents himself from falling into traps that seem to befall even the most sophisticated stock and bond pickers.

Rieder says its his ability to cut his losses. You may be right on a situation, but markets may not think youre right at that point in time. So you need to reevaluate, and maybe youre supposed to put it to the side, get out of it and come back to it at a later date, he says. Rieder also highlights the odd conundrum in asset management. In school, were taught that we should get it right 95 percent of the time. But in markets, Rieder concedes that he had to get used to being right in 65 to 70 percent of cases. Its what I wrote in my 2013 article, Is Alpha Dead? Beating the Market Has Become Nearly Impossible: The markets attract increasingly brilliant people who have developed all sorts of ingenious ways to get an edge on their rivals. Rieder says, In markets, people have a tremendous amount of acumen. You just cant beat them all the time.

There is a way to beat the clock, however: To be not just on time, but early. Thats exactly what Mike Roos, who runs communications for Artisan Partners in Milwaukee, did in true Midwestern form. Roos and I became fast friends once he learned I grew up one state over, in suburban Minneapolis. With a smile on his face, he is quick to point out that he had gotten Matt Kamm, a portfolio manager on Artisans growth team, to the Mandarin well in advance of our 4:30 p.m. appointment. Alas, at that point I knew we were thoroughly behind.

Kamm, with big glasses and heavy sideburns, brings a different perspective to his job of stock picking. Before going into investment management, Kamm, the son of a doctor, studied public policy at Duke and went into hospital administration, including a stint at NYUs Langone Medical Center. In 2003 he joined Artisan as a health care analyst. Although Kamm says Artisan looks for people with an outside perspective, he admits he wants people on his team who are early enough in their careers that they havent picked up someone elses investment process. Echoing Rieder, Kamm says he cant be right all the time, but our process helps reduce the severity of our mistakes.

The markets have indeed attracted accomplished people. Next up is Gideon Berger, head of risk management and technology for the hedge fund solutions group at Blackstone Group, winner of the Funds of Hedge Funds category. Berger, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU, was a card counter when he was an undergrad at Vassar College. Among other things, it helped him buy beer, he says.

Berger says investment managers are like baseball teams: They all do the same thing, have the same number of players and want to win the World Series. At the end of the season, though, one will be in first place, one in last. The wins come from the disciplined execution of the game. What comes to mind, though, is those ubiquitous interviews with professional ballplayers after a game, asking why a team lost. I just didnt locate my pitches well, says one, or I didnt execute on the fundamentals well enough, says another.

With his enviable background, I expect him to talk about an investment edge coming from intellect or smarts. Instead, he says there are so many smart people, and he tells the story of a summer intern at his firm from Harvard Business School who made a great presentation on an investment idea after just one month of learning about Blackstones process. Although Berger was impressed, he notes that these skills must be commoditized if someone can do them after a year in business school. So what can you do to differentiate yourself? he asks. Hard work. We talk a lot about Masters of the Universe, but what we dont see is all the work that goes into it. I think its that simple: Do the work, do it every day, set high expectations, and pay close attention to every detail. Maybe it really can be about the meticulous execution of the same game. Perhaps the ballplayer just wasnt working hard enough when his team lost.

Its been a long day in a crowded suite at the Mandarin, but Gilbert Garcia of Garcia Hamilton & Associates in Houston is on fire, making everybody laugh and ready to talk. Garcia, whose firm has won in the Intermediate-Term Fixed Income category, got his start on Wall Street in the early 1980s when an organization called Sponsors for Educational Opportunity helped him get a job on the trading floor of Salomon Brothers. He echoes Berger in that he learned hard work, to be early, be prepared, dress well and sit in the front row. For him, though, he made one big mistake, and hes never let go of the lesson. In the late 1990s, he purchased Yankee bonds without understanding currency or geopolitical risks. With the Asian financial crisis in 1997, he realized he had gotten caught in the mania. From that moment on, weve avoided the hype, he says in his signature voice.

Though David Booth, co-founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Gilbert Garcia both had modest backgrounds, the two couldnt be more different. As I say goodbye to Gilbert, a Texan, with his booming voice and repartee with the video crew, I welcome Lifetime Achievement winner Booth, whose firm nurtured and built a business around Efficient Market theory. He is not a booming Texan  even though Dimensional is headquartered there. Perhaps that reflects his upbringing in Kansas. Needless to say, Im excited to talk to Booth, whose firm became the birthplace of strategic beta.

True to form, Booth is a beta guy: unexcitable but intellectual. Booth and I talk about a range of issues, including politics. I laugh when he tells me that the active-passive debate is now a whole lot less emotional than it was 45 years ago. Active and passive can coexist, he says. Unlike Congress, he throws in. What has changed, Booth says, is that a couple decades ago, institutional investors assumed they could find managers who could consistently beat the market. Now there is a lot of doubt they can do that. Nonetheless, the managers themselves are undeterred.

Yep, I just talked to them.

Follow Julie Segal on Twitter at @julie_segal. Visit our Video Center on June 15 to watch the first video in our 2016 Money Masters series.
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The fatal love affair between the legendary Irish poet, wit and dramatist Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred (Bosie) Douglas still captivates each new age. It's apparent now that their names will be forever linked, which Wilde anticipated and in despite of himself ensured.

In The Judas Kiss, now playing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, playwright David Hare has come to some rather stark conclusions about the flaxen haired object of Wilde's fascination.

For a man who delighted in frivolity and fun, there is something otherworldly and even saintly about the way Wilde submits himself so nakedly to love. As Wilde's writing and Hare's play make clear, it's the only thing the Irishman holds absolutely sacred, because for him it is the highest form of beauty, and so a thing to be treated with genuine reverence.

The everyday world is shrouded. We see it dimly. Only when we love do we see the true person, Hare's Wilde says. Love is not the illusion. Life is.

Actor Rupert Everett, 57, plays Wilde the way the English tend to see him and as Hare has written him, as a great man of letters brought low by offstage prejudice and hypocrisy. We are given moments of wit and flashes of intellectual brilliance and the chalk outline of the fierce little human tragedy in which Wilde played.

But Everett's Wilde occasionally hews closer to Dorian Gray than Oscar, partly as a result of the script and partly as the result of his own Oxbridge hauteur, in which not the faintest glimmer of Wilde's Irish heritage can be found.

Each generation seems to have its own Oscar, and so apparently does each country and playwright. For some he's the incendiary Irish dramatist eviscerating the high Victorians in the wisest and wittiest English heard for hundreds of years.

But for others he's a tragic figure, an unlikely Prometheus who rises high and then after an all too brief moment of glory falls low, stripped by scandal of his reputation and accompaniments.

Hare's play clearly tends in the latter direction, and he clearly wants to understand something fundamental about his subject. Why did Wilde stay in London on the eve of his arrest when the British establishment, the police and courts, even some of the press, clearly wanted him to take his licks and flee to the continent where the scandal of being openly gay was not quite a career killing offense?

What made Wilde decide to face them all down and go to trial in 1895, when he was just another powerless Irishman facing the British judicial system? Why brazen it out when he knew and they knew there was no possibility of mercy?

The Judas Kiss goes a long way toward answering these questions, which can be summarized simply: for love. It's an impulse that mystifies the British but makes perfect sense to Celtic -- and Wilde might say, artistic -- temperaments.

Wilde, Hare reminds us, loves Douglas with an un-ironic, near to religious adoration that means he will risk who he is, what he has achieved, his literary reputation and even his life and freedom in pursuit of that love.

That Douglas, the whey-faced scion of an insane family, neither appreciates nor fully reciprocates what is being done in his honor is made plain very quickly. Hare skewers the young aristocrat (played by a pitch perfect Charles Rowe) by revealing his cynicism, his calculation, and his inability to show compassion without first being asked.

The asymmetry, this dance between the adored and the indifferent, makes The Judas Kiss a near forensic examination of the illusions we create and the reality that destroys them. It also makes the play very sad, but then Wilde's fate and the loss to world culture were both inestimable and profoundly sad.

It's a mysterious thing to love with Wilde's abandon, to submit to every arrow, to overlook irony, to walk though fire. But Hare shows us that when given the choice between following his heart or living an unauthentic life, a choice Wilde faced repeatedly, he chooses love, even when it will lead to a jail cell or crushing poverty.

Hare wants to understand his elusive subject and Everett wants to capture Wilde's essence, but when both come face to face with the transcendent impulse that guides that last years of his life they are struck silent. It's strange to love like that in an age like ours.

The Judas Kiss plays through June 13 at BAM. For tickets visit www.bam.org.
If Pearse was the soul of the Rising, wrote Joe Good in 'Enchanted by Dreams,' James Connolly was its heart.

Connolly was born in Edinburgh on June 5, 1868, to Irish parents. He grew up in the slums and his hardscrabble beginnings turned him into a fervent socialist. After working in Scotland and a stint in the British Army, in 1896 he came to Dublin to work for the Dublin Socialist Society. It was his first time in Dublin and he was immediately dismayed that the Dublin working class did not have the same fire in their bellies that he had. So, as he had a family to support, he moved to America in 1903.

Seven years later he returned to Ireland to head up the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in Belfast. After the disastrous general strike of 1913 and Jim Larkins departure for America Connolly came to Dublin to head up the local ITGWUand its Citizen Army.

The Citizen Army became his obsession. Although only 220 in strength, he drilled them until they became, in his words, a real revolutionary army.

The boys at the Irish Volunteers kept a wary eye on Connolly and his army. They were drawing up plans for a Rising and were afraid that Connolly might preempt them. In January 1916 they decided to kidnap him. For three days he was briefed by members of the Military Council of the IRBmen like Clarke, MacDiarmada and Plunkett. At first Connolly was very angry, but as details of the planned Rising were made known to him he became an enthusiastic supporter.

On Easter Monday he was named Vice-President of the Provisional Government and Commandant-General in the Army of the Irish Republic. He marched at the head of his Citizen Army to the GPO and, finding his inner-Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill, commanded his troops: Left turn. CHARGE! After Pearse read the Proclamation Connolly exclaimed, Thanks be to God, Pearse, that we have lived to see this day.

Pearse may have been the titular Commander-in-Chief, but Connolly was calling the military shots from the GPO. He was fearless, venturing out into the streets to direct his men. It was on one of these sorties to Liffey Street, far away from the GPO near the Hapenny Bridge, that he was seriously wounded in the leg. He made his way back to the GPO and helped plan the evacuation to Moore Street. After the surrender he was removed to Dublin Castle for treatment for his wound which had developed gangrene.

His condition was such that his trial was held at Dublin Castle. After he was found guilty and condemned to death he made this statement:

We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire and to establish an Irish Republic. We believe that the call we thus issued to the people of Ireland was a nobler call in a holier cause that [sic] any call issued to them during this war having any connection with the war.

"We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavoring to win for Ireland their national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case the cause of Irish freedom is safe. Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence in any one generation of even a respectable minority of Ireland ready to die to affirm that truth make sure Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.

"I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irishmen and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were equally ready to affirm that truth and seal it with their lives if necessary.

His last hours were spent with his wife Lillie and daughter Nora. My mother and I . . . were driven to Dublin Castle, Nora said. On entering we were directed to a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs were six soldiers with fixed bayonets, and on the floor about a dozen more were lying on mattresses.

We passed through the soldiers and entered an enclave where there were two soldiers with fixed bayonets. They stood aside to let us enter the door. When we entered my father was lying in the bed with his head turned to the door.

Well, said Connolly to his wife, I suppose you know what this means.

Lillie responded, Not that James, not that.

Nora continued: My father said, Yes, for the first time I dropped off to sleep. And they wakened me to tell me that I was to be shot at dawn. 

Lillie said, Your life, James, your beautiful life.

Well, Lillie, he answered, hasnt it been a full life, and isnt this a good end?

Nora informed him of the executions of Pearse, MacDonagh and the others. He was silent for a while. I think he thought that he was the first to be executed. Then he said, Well, I am glad that I am going with them. 

He was removed to Kilmainham. There, Father Aloysius asked him to forgive the men of the firing squad. I do, Father, said Connolly. I respect every man who does his duty.

It is at this time that Connolly went from martyr to legend. Because his wounds were so severe he could not stand, so they tied him to the chair. Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan and nephew of Peadar Kearney, who wrote the Irish National Anthem, Amhran na bhFiann) remembered Connolly in his popular ballad, The Patriot Game.

"They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair,

His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare.

His fine body twisted, all battered and lame

They soon made me part of the patriot game."

But it may have been much more gruesome than that. The Sacristan to the Parish of St. James had this description of the execution: In giving a description of James Connollys execution Father McCarthy told me that the prisoner, who was in a bad condition, elected to stand like the rest but failed. He was then tied to a chair but slumped so much that he overbalanced. Finally, he was strapped to a stretcher and placed in a reclining position against the wallThe sight left an indelible impression on Father McCarthy.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to Connolly came from one of his the officers in the GPO during Easter Week, a young Cork rebel named Michael Collins: Of Pearse and Connolly I admire the latter the most. Connolly was a realist, Pearse the direct opposite. There was an air of earthy directness from Connolly. It impressed me. I would have followed him through hell had such action been necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dermot McEvoy is the author of the "The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany" (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. Follow him at www.dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook here.
A woman has been killed in an apparent shark attack off western Australia.

Her death follows that of a 29-year-old surfer this weekend after he was bitten three days before.

The woman - who was a diver in her 60s - suffered injuries "consistent with a shark attack", police said.

She was diving off Perth when the attack happened.

Western Australia police inspector Danny Mulligan said the latest incident took place on Sunday morning at Mindarie between One and Three-Mile Reefs, off the city of Perth.

A 43-year-old man who was diving with the woman, who has not been named, told police he felt something go past him and when he surfaced he saw a "commotion in the water".

Surf Lifesaving Western Australia had tweeted about a shark seen about a kilometre offshore at Mindarie 20 minutes before the apparent attack.

Public report 4.5m white shark sighted 13:33hrs 05/06, Mindarie Beach, Perth Metro 300m offshore , 300-400m off Mindarie Marina .  Surf Life Saving WA (@SLSWA) June 5, 2016

Meanwhile, a surfer whose leg was bitten off by a shark in western Australia has died from his injuries.

The brother of 29-year-old Ben Gerring thanked the "heroes" who brought him to shore after the attack and the staff at Royal Perth Hospital, where he died on Friday night.

Rick Gerring said the hospital's care had given the family three days with Ben.

"Obviously we were always hoping for the best outcome, it was always at the back of our minds that this could happen, but they gave us that time to say our goodbyes," he told ABC News.

Mr Gerring was attacked on Tuesday afternoon while paddling his surfboard at Falcon Beach in his home town of Mandurah, south of Perth.

Fellow surfers paddled to him to bring him to shore, witnesses said.

An inspection of his damaged surfboard showed a white shark was responsible. The Fisheries Department trapped and killed a large shark on Wednesday afternoon but did not know if it was the same shark that attacked Mr Gerring.

Area beaches have reopened, but the department warned people to be extra cautious in the water.
Louth may be Irelands smallest county but theres nothing insignificant about the talent it has produced.

Born in Dundalk, a family of four siblings, known as The Corrs, has helped put their home town on the musical map.

The story of The Corrs began in 1991 when sisters, Sharon, Andrea and Caroline along with their brother Jim, pooled their talent and formed a band.

But for Sharon, then 21, the musical odyssey had begun much earlier.

I had a couple of violin lessons when I was six years old but even before then, probably as young as four, I was already drawn to the instrument.

"I soon discovered that I could apply reading the notes to the piano which, to me has the most beautiful sound. I loved it so much, I taught myself to play.

"Over the years, when writing Ive more or less used piano.

The fact that she wrote two of her songs So Young and Radio on guitar, might suggest shes also a talented guitarist.

Sharon is quick to dispel the myth.

Contrary to whats been said, I dont actually play guitar.

"I know a few chords and managed to write the songs but in all honesty, you do not want to hear me play guitar!

Growing up in Dundalk, Sharon attended Dun Lughaidh Convent School, where she gave her first theatrical performance.

Apart from music, I loved English. Theyre still my favourite subjects today. I can remember my English teacher, Mr Murray.

"He was a wonderful man and incredibly passionate about his subject. His enthusiasm was infectious and it infused me.

"I learned about Macbeth and Hamlet through role-playing in class. I actually played the part of Lady Macbeth. What a treacherous woman.

As a teenager, Sharons flair as a musician was obvious but, it could be argued, her taste in decor was limited.

Sharon is loving The Corrs reunion and looks forward to their Live At The Marquee gig in Cork on Thursday.

My bedroom walls were plastered with posters of Paul Young. I thought I was very cool but my sisters teased me mercilessly.

"Later I began listening to artists who, at the time were experimenting and taking recording sonically in a new direction.

"The Police were favourites of mine. In particular, Stewart Copeland on drums just blew my mind.

"He was quite the innovator, both sonically and rhythmically. Even today, I love listening to The Police.

Back then, no-one could have imagined what the future had in store.

Within a few years of forming their band, The Corrs unique sound, a blend of rock pop and traditional Irish themes, found its niche.

Soon, instead of performing in a classroom, Sharon, together with her siblings, was on the international stage, playing to packed arenas.

As their fame grew, it was posters of The Corrs that decorated the bedroom walls of many teenage fans.

As a writer, Sharon finds inspiration everywhere. Sometimes, the most beautiful and powerful songs are born from tragedy.

When her mother passed away in 1999, Sharons life was never the same.

But at Christmastime, when thoughts return to childhood and Christmases past, the pain of loss has an added sting.

For Sharon, it was only natural that such deep emotion should find expression in song.

This song (Christmas Night) is a very raw and emotional one for me. I love and miss her very much. I think of her all the time.

Since its inception, the success of The Corrs is well documented.

Their musical talent as well as their work for charity won them royal recognition and, in 2005 they were awarded an honorary MBE. In the same year, the band decided to take time out.

The event not only marked a new chapter in Sharons career but led to what she has described as the biggest achievement of her life.

Married to Belfast barrister, Gavin Bonnar, Sharon joined the ranks of motherhood when she gave birth to their first child, Cathal Robert Gerard, in 2006.

His sister Flori Jean Elizabeth, followed a year later.

As a mum, she revels in the role and is delighted that her children appear to have inherited The Corrs ear for music.

At the minute, they love playing piano and singing. But I simply want them to feel the passion and enjoy the music.

"If they make a career out of it, Id be happy. Although itll be their choice. All I want is their happiness. For me, thats paramount.

Combining motherhood with the demands of her career cant be easy. Fortunately, Sharon has found a way to relax.

I find writing is a great way to ease the stresses and strains. Having a good lie-in also helps.

"Then again, its hard to beat the therapeutic value of a nice glass of red wine! Yummy!

Now in her 40s and despite the toll of childbirth, she looks trim and enviably slender. So whats her secret?

I try to exercise a few days every week. Yoga and running are great not just for physical fitness but for emotional energy too.

"The release of endorphins give an incredible feeling that keeps me upbeat and positive. I eat well and try to be moderate. But, like everyone else, I dont always stick to the plan!

In a world obsessed with youth and beauty, Sharon understands how many women feel pressured to conform.

Compared to our foremothers, modern women in the western world might have a lot more options. Yet, theres still this added pressure to excel at everything.

"As well as holding down a successful career, were expected to be the perfect mother, great artist, to look fabulous and be eternally young. Who set the rules?

Im being sarcastic of course, nevertheless, the pressure is immense and totally unfair. I appreciate the advantages that contemporary life has to offer.

"But while I love having a long and successful career and a great family life, it wasnt handed to me. My brother, sisters and I have worked hard for everything.

Would Sharon consider herself as a feminist?

I am a feminist in that Im pro-woman, not anti-man. Theres a big difference between the two.

Theres been a lot of milestones since The Corrs first got together. In the past decade, each has taken the time to grow as individuals.

As well as enjoying her family, Sharon has had the satisfaction of establishing a career as a solo artist.

Equally, the siblings have had their fair share of heartache, especially at the loss of their father in 2015.

Now, as they demonstrated at the Radio 2 concert, Live in Hyde Park in September last year, The Corrs are well and truly back.

Wow, being back, performing with my brother and sisters is a beautiful experience, its a real privilege.

"The audience at the Hyde Park concert showed so much love and appreciation, singing along to old favourites.

"At times it was overwhelming. We were all touched and quite teary. We were truly grateful.

The Hyde Park event was also a bit of a revelation for Sharons kids.

They didnt really know about The Corrs fame until then. It was great to see them on their feet and dancing the night away.

Performing for the people at home is always special and, like her siblings, Sharon is looking forward to Thursday when The Corrs will be playing Live at The Marquee in Cork

No doubt their fans will appreciate the bands latest album, White Light.

The third track, the song that gave the album its title, was written by Andrea after shed watched the documentary about Amy Winehouse.

The White Light can have a literal or spiritual interpretation.

The former is about individuals who have to cope with the anxiety and stress of performing under the spotlight. Sadly some dont survive the experience.

This album is very emotionally charged. But the songs are beautiful with a lot of honesty.

At home, Sharon likes to relax over dinner with Gavin and their children.

Shes particularly partial to Thai green curry. Like the rest of us, shed had her share of the bad times, but shes also had a lot of happiness.

As you get older, you learn not to worry so much. The things that once seemed so important now appear trivial.

Its been almost a decade since The Corrs hit the pause button. Now, as it says in the song from Sharons album, The Same Sun, they have finally come full circle.

The Corrs play Live At The Marquee on Thursday
By ,

Cincinnati  Kroger Co. has big expansion plans in 2016.

How big?

It's spending more than $4 billion to open new stores, expand or renovate old supermarkets and upgrade technology and logistics to support them.

If the company's plans were in $100 bills, the Cincinnati-based retailer would be spending almost 41 tons of money.

"It's a big number, there's no question," said Terry Kelly, principal at Bartlett & Co., a Cincinnati-based investment firm. "But let's face it, it's also necessary. Stores wear out and look old. It's one of the keys to their success: They've been good investors in their own business."

Kroger officials say it's all part of a long-range plan to keep increasing the investment in their stores. The spending is becoming particularly noticeable because Kroger's operations have become so large. It's now the world's third-largest retailer (behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Corp.) with nearly $110 billion in sales.

By virtue of its 2015 purchase of Milwaukee-based Roundy's Inc., Kroger has about a third of the grocery market in Wisconsin and about 40% of the market in Milwaukee.

Kroger, the nation's largest supermarket chain, has upped its capital expenditure budget this spring by 24% to 33%, to between $4.1 billion and $4.4 billion. The projections don't include possible acquisitions, so costs will be even more if Kroger makes an another deal.

At the time of the Roundy's acquisition, Kroger executives, without mentioning a specific timetable, said they planned to aggressively invest in the Pick 'n Save banner in Wisconsin and the Mariano's banner in northern Illinois.

"We have committed to increase our capital spending throughout all of our Wisconsin banners," James Hyland, vice president of corporate communications for Roundy's, said in an email. "While we don't publicly disclose our spending plans, over time our customers will notice changes in merchandising, pricing and store aesthetics. These changes reflect the exciting investments and improvements we are making in our business to better serve our customers and employees across all of Wisconsin for the long-term."

In the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky/Dayton market alone, Kroger is spending $200 million on new and expanded stores  including three new jumbo Kroger Marketplace stores in Dent, Colerain Township and Fairborn that will begin construction this year and open in 2017.

Kroger is spending 70% of the money on its national store base.

The heavy investment in its stores comes as investors have cooled on the entire retail sector. Companies ranging from Target to Macy's and even Kroger itself have reported slower sales this spring that disappointed Wall Street.

Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen in his annual letter to shareholders this month said adding or expanding stores within the company's 35-state footprint was critical to its continued success.

"These are markets where we already operate, yet offer a significant opportunity to grow the business," McMullen wrote, noting that 8.5 million shoppers visit a Kroger every day.

In addition to Cincinnati, Kroger has announced spending plans in targeted markets around the country. In April, it said it would spend $250 million in the Nashville market; Kroger's Fry's subsidiary is planning a $260 million investment in Phoenix; company officials announced a $465 million investment in Indianapolis last summer; and Kroger officials disclosed last year they're spending $1.2 billion over the next three years in Dallas and Houston.

Leon Loewenstine, managing director at RiverPoint Capital Management in Cincinnati, said Kroger can maintain and build on its momentum by increasing its store presence in its existing markets.

"If you're not always trying to pick up that extra customer, you run the risk of losing them," Loewenstine said. "It's keep growing or die. If you don't continue to add share, a competitor could begin to nibble away at your business."

In his letter to shareholders, McMullen said his industry puts too much emphasis on splashy tech innovations and corporate takeovers at the expense of sustained nuts-and-bolts investment in stores.

Kroger spends heavily on stores because it prefers to own, not lease stores. That eventually lowers operating costs and gives the company flexibility to make improvements.

McMullen told analysts last fall that Kroger could double its $110 billion in annual sales if it could increase its market share in existing markets. He said the company was focusing on increasing growth and profitability by amassing market share in regions where it already does business.

Kroger controls 14% to 45% of retail food sales in its 10 most lucrative markets, according to industry tracker Chain Store Guide.

Executives at Kroger are tight-lipped about precise details of its spending plans. However, they say their fill-in strategy includes helping newly acquired subsidiaries, Roundy's and North Carolina-based Harris Teeter, to execute  and accelerate  their previous expansion plans.

Joe Taschler of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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A wrong-way drive on a Milwaukee street ended in the arrest Saturday morning of a 33-year-old man, accused of his fifth drunken-driving offense.

Elliott Glapa, of Milwaukee, refused to say where he had been drinking but admitted to having four vodka drinks, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said. If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison.

Glapa was one of two five-time drunken driving offenders and among 11 arrested over the weekend in patrols by the sheriff's office.
Public defender Alejandro Lockwood is back on the job after a tactical squad police raid at his home, and his arrest at gunpoint, was resolved with tickets and a $50 fine. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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A well-known Milwaukee public defender is back on the job after a tactical squad police raid at his home, and his arrest at gunpoint, were resolved with tickets and a $50 fine.

Alejandro "Alex" Lockwood said he is relieved the matter is over, and for the support and confidence he was shown by his employer, the State Public Defender.

He said the whole experience was devastating and overkill by police, who he believes acted on a tip from a would-be informant with little track record of veracity.

Caledonia police arrested Lockwood, 52, at his home while serving a search warrant Feb. 5. His wife and two small children, as well as an adult daughter and her boyfriend, were all present in the home.

Police found marijuana and paraphernalia in his wife's bedroom, some marijuana and paraphernalia in Lockwood's car  which his attorney said was used by others  and paraphernalia in the basement where the adult daughter and her boyfriend stayed.

Racine County prosecutors declined to bring felony charges of keeping a drug house sought by Caledonia police, but did charge Lockwood and his adult daughter with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

In April, Lockwood pleaded no contest to noncriminal citations for possession of marijuana and of paraphernalia. He also was ordered to pay court costs in addition to two $25 fines, for a total of $460.

Lockwood told police he worked long hours at his job and did not know of any drug use in the home.

His daughter, 23, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana and could have her record expunged if she completes all aspects of her sentence, which included spending three days in jail and providing a DNA sample.

Her boyfriend also pleaded guilty to possession. He was fined $200, also was ordered to provide a DNA sample and also is eligible to have the case expunged from his record.

After his arrest, Lockwood took accumulated vacation time to address his situation and his cases were handled by other lawyers in the office.

"If an SPD attorney faces a criminal charge, the agency must be mindful of applicable Supreme Court rules, as well as the potential effect of the charge on the attorney's ability to focus on his or her clients," said Randy Kraft, a spokesman for the State Public Defender.

"Alex's case was resolved with two forfeitures. As a result, he has returned to his duties in the Milwaukee trial office," Kraft said. "Alex is a valued member of the agency, an experienced attorney, and an expert on the immigration consequences of Wisconsin criminal cases."
Karen Taschler is seen in an undated family photo with her husband, Joe Taschler, and their two sons, Charlie and Jack. Credit: Family photo

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"Yes, it's me, still here," Karen Taschler wrote in a final online message on Wednesday.

Taschler, 52, who died early Saturday, had been chronicling her battle with cancer on the website CaringBridge.org since 2009.

"I thought, for old time's sake, I'd write a late night post. ... I wasn't sure I was gonna post anymore on CB, now that I'm 'in Hospice.' I can't begin to tell you how weird it feels to BE in hospice. Me? Needing to prepare to die? I'm too young, I still look 'a little' too good."

Taschler, of Germantown, died at AngelsGrace Hospice in Oconomowoc.

In November 2009, she had surgery to remove a cantaloupe-sized tumor and was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. She was given a 20% chance of living five years.

"She made it almost seven," said her husband, Joe, a business reporter and editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "She never gave cancer an inch. She fought all the way to her last breath."

Karen studied nursing at Marquette University and practiced neonatal intensive care nursing in Texas. When she returned to Wisconsin, she worked as a triage nurse  conversant in both English and Spanish  at a family practice clinic affiliated with Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

Joe, 50, also went to Marquette. He moved to Kansas for work, and the two didn't meet until they both returned to Milwaukee. Joe was having a beer with a colleague at the Harp Irish Pub downtown and, literally, bumped into Karen. "It was love at first sight," he said. "I know that's a cliche, but it's the truth."

They married in 2003 and have two boys, Charlie, 11, and Jack, 10.

On CaringBridge, Karen posted pictures of herself  always smiling  in various states of treatment, holding up her fingers for the progression in treatment she was on. Sometimes when she was too sick to provide updates, Joe or others provided the details on the surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and the ebb and flow of cancer cells.

There were hundreds of entries: Karen often assessed her regimens, rashes, hair loss, nausea and fatigue with the detachment of a clinician. But she was also poignant, funny, hopeful and at times bitter about her predicament. As of Sunday morning, Karen's site had more than 61,000 visitors.

"She was very open with her cancer," said a friend, Lauren Nelson, also of Germantown, who helped raise more than $23,000 to send the Taschler family to Florida in January. "She would thank people for asking. She seemed to appreciate it when people would ask."

In late January 2015, she posted a message that more cancer had been discovered.

"As perhaps you can imagine, this sucks on so many levels. Losing my kick ass hair for the 3rd time (please don't tell me it will grow back), probably no Spring Break trip to Arizona, unpleasant chemo side effects, the disruption in our family life, just to name a few. Regardless, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, I will survive this unexpected 'bump' in the road. I've got a great track record of doing so."

The visit to Florida was the family's last big trip together. Last year, Nelson, and Jennifer Peterson, another friend from Germantown, were having coffee after school  their boys are all the same age  and Karen told them she wanted to take her sons somewhere but just needed help with the planning. Her friends jumped into action, hoping to raise $5,000. "We did $5,000 in a day," Peterson said.

They visited Universal Studios' "Harry Potter" theme park in Orlando and then traveled to St. Petersburg to fish on a charter boat.

"Every time we cast a line in the water, we caught one," Joe said.

The fishing was for Joe and the boys. "Karen wanted to walk barefoot on the beach," Joe said. "She was at peace there. Clearly that experience prolonged her life."

In her last message, Karen briefed her friends on her condition, saying she hoped for a small rally.

"I'm not telling you all, all of this so you can feel sad for me," she said. "But so you can continue to walk this journey with me and my family. The boys have been told I'm going to die, but that we just don't know when.

"They have been incredibly sad, but they've been such little men through it all. My hope is that they are learning some lessons that will serve them well in this life.

"Okay, I'm literally falling asleep here, so it's goodbye for now...

"love,

"Karen."

Funeral arrangements are pending.In addition to her husband and children, survivors include parents Jim and Kathy Pinter of Chippewa Falls; brothers Bill Pinter of Mount Prospect, Ill., and Bob Pinter of Denver, and sister Kathyrn Ebert of Brookfield.
Doyle McManus: Throwing allegations at Hillary Clinton, even indiscriminately, helps reinforce the label Donald Trump is trying to pin on the presumptive Democratic nominee: Crooked Hillary. Credit: Associated Press

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Whitewater? Vince Foster? Juanita Broaddrick? Donald Trump appears to have tumbled into a time warp. He wants to revive the Arkansas scandals of the 1990s, when many Republicans thought impeaching then-President Bill Clinton was a sure path to victory. (It wasn't.) Trump has turned an old political bromide on its head. For the moment, his campaign isn't about the future; it's about the past.

In interviews, speeches and a campaign video, Trump has cited the often-lurid controversies of the Bill Clinton administration as a reason voters shouldn't put Hillary Clinton in the White House.

Clinton "was the biggest abuser of women, as a politician, in the history of our country," Trump said in one interview.

"Hillary was an enabler," he added.

"Whether it's Whitewater or whether it's Vince or whether it's Benghazi, it's always a mess with Hillary."

(For younger readers, Whitewater was a land deal in Arkansas in which Bill and Hillary Clinton were investors; one of their partners was convicted of fraud in 1997, but the Clintons were not found at fault. Vince Foster was a law partner of Hillary Clinton who killed himself in 1993; conspiracy theorists, including Trump, suggest  without evidence  that he might have been murdered. Juanita Broaddrick is an Arkansas woman who says Bill Clinton raped her in 1978; Clinton's lawyer has denied the allegation, which Broaddrick did not report to police at the time. And yes, Congress impeached then-President Clinton; in 1999, the Senate held a monthlong trial and acquitted him.)

Trump's resurrection of tales from the Clinton crypt may seem bizarre. After all, Bill Clinton has been one of the more admired politicians in America since his presidency ended in an economic boom 15 years ago. He's far more popular than either Trump or his wife.

Other Republican politicians have been scratching their heads.

"It's something I might not have done," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led the impeachment effort in 1998, told The Washington Post. "But he operates on such a different model that I'd be very cautious about rendering judgment."

Trump claims he's raking up ancient muck because he thinks he has been forced to. "It's only retribution for what (Hillary Clinton) said," he told CNN. "She is playing the woman's card to the hilt."

But as often with Trump, there's an element of strategy at work here, too.

Throwing allegations at Clinton, even indiscriminately, helps reinforce the label he's trying to pin on the presumptive Democratic nominee: "Crooked Hillary."

If Trump can get the media and voters to focus on Clinton's problems, real or imaginary, that helps counter her negative messages about him  his past statements about women or his refusal to release his tax returns. Reviving old controversies also gets in the way of Democrats' portrayal of the 1990s as a golden age.

"If this becomes a race about which one would be the worse president, that's to Trump's advantage," GOP strategist David Winston told me. "It puts him on an equal footing with Clinton."

Clinton advisers, for their part, think Trump is "trolling"  trying to provoke Bill or Hillary Clinton into losing their tempers and responding in kind, thereby turning this sideshow into the main event.

"Any response would make it into a huge story," one Clinton adviser told me.

Fully cognizant of that fact, Hillary Clinton and her husband have stolidly refused to directly counter Trump's nastiest charges ("predator," "enabler"). There's probably been plenty of lip-biting in the Clinton household these days.

When the Clintons do attack Trump, they focus mostly on what they call his "dangerous and divisive" statements and his proposals. They say he's "an unqualified loose cannon" but leave his marital history  which includes past charges of adultery and spousal rape  off the table. And in this election, that qualifies as the high road.

Clinton already has been talking at length  sometimes great length  about the policies she proposes to make the country better. The problem is, those speeches haven't earned her much live coverage on cable television.

But I'll boldly offer a scrap of good news: The scandals of the 1990s won't remain a novelty forever. They're already old  and pretty soon, they're going to seem old again. One of these days, possibly on a debate stage, even Trump will have to talk at length about policies and programs  about the economy and health care and foreign policy.

Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Readers may send him email at doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com
Construction work continues on the ramp from northbound U.S. 45 to 95th St. between W. Blue Mound Road and W. Wisconsin Ave. in 2012 as part of the reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange. Credit: Mark Hoffman

Last week, Gov. Scott Walker declared that he was flatly opposed to any increase in taxes or fees to pay for the state's highways without corresponding cuts in other parts of the state budget. OK, but then how does Wisconsin pay for its transportation challenges, especially in rebuilding and maintaining the networks that are vital to the state's economy?

I wrote about the scope of the transportation challenge in my last column after moderating a panel discussion as part of the "Just Fix It" campaign being pushed by the Transportation Development Association, a statewide alliance of 400 transportation stakeholders.

As I noted in that column, there's a serious challenge out there. In a nutshell: Roads and bridges around the country are deteriorating because many of them are reaching the end of their useful lives. Given other urgent issues and a reluctance to raise taxes, maintenance issues tend to get a low priority from governments. Gas taxes  the traditional way of paying for roads  are no longer viable because a) they're not being increased (in Wisconsin, not in 10 years) and b) because more fuel-efficient vehicles use less gas, which is great for drivers but not so great for providing revenue for roads.

Reports by TRIP, a national transportation research group, and a 2013 state commission make compelling arguments for the need to find new answers. TRIP reported that, statewide, 42% of major roads are in mediocre to poor condition; in Milwaukee, it's 56%; in Madison, 68%. More than 2,000 (14%) of the state's bridges are in need of repair or modernization.

So what options are out there?

Well, the Legislature could raise the gas tax by, say, a nickel. The upside is that highway users  including those from out of state  will pay more for the roads they use, surely a fair thing. The down side is that legislators (and clearly the governor) generally don't have the stomach for raising the tax. There's also the problem that people with, say, electric or hybrid vehicles won't be paying as much for roads as those of us with regular gasoline engines, which doesn't strike me as particularly fair.

The state could raise registration fees. It could raise them generally or raise them for heavier vehicles that produce more wear and tear on the highways or for more expensive vehicles. Again, some politicians will refuse to do that even if Wisconsin's fees are lower than those of some other states. That fee also won't capture any revenue from tourists on their way to the Dells or Eagle River.

The state could consider tolling, a suggestion that's been made by politicians as diverse as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and former County Supervisor Patricia Jursik. But you need federal permission for that. And my guess is the public  happy with what it considers, wrongly, as free roads  may rise up in arms. Plus, tolling hasn't eliminated the transportation funding challenge in other states.

I think a vehicle miles traveled system makes some sense. Keep track of the miles you travel via a computer chip and pay a tax on that. Such systems are still in the experimental stage in Oregon and some cities so the jury is still out on how well they would work. And as one of my panelists noted, such systems raise issues of privacy and big government knowing how much you've traveled and perhaps even where.

I also think a well-developed and sustainable mass transit system and regional transportation districts need to be part of the answer.

That hardly exhausts the options, but clearly, there are no easy fixes, and each solution has its own problems. A combination of options may work but working out the elements won't be easy.

Walker's answer would delay some projects, and that makes sense in some cases. I also get the don't-raise-taxes mantra. But then what's the answer for the crumbling roads and potholes and deteriorating bridges all around us? Wisconsin citizens and the Wisconsin economy deserve to know.

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen is the Journal Sentinel's associate editorial page editor. Email: efranzen@jrn.com; Twitter: @efranzen1
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Background checks needed

Wisconsin citizens joined millions of Americans in brilliant orange June 2 to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day. It behooves us to turn our thoughts into action. Grill candidates: What will they do to prevent gun violence?

Senate candidate Russ Feingold told us he supports universal background checks for all gun purchasers. Sen. Ron Johnson opposed background checks. He skipped a 2013 vote saying he would have opposed it. In an interview, Johnson supported background checks for the "vast majority" of gun sales. He avoided saying what that means. Would he support checks at gun shows? Internet sales? Parking-lot transactions? Voters deserve to know.

When each year 30,000 Americans, including 400 in Wisconsin, die in gun violence, preventing such deaths should be near the top of candidates' to-do list. Doing nothing abdicates their responsibility, and we are right to demand better.

No single solution would prevent all gun deaths, but background checks have support from 80% to 90% of Wisconsin citizens, including gun owners, hunters and National Rifle Association members. The NRA does the bidding of gun manufacturers who profit from gun sales and bankroll NRA lobbying. The NRA is not representing law-abiding gun owners who would accept background checks as a small price to pay for the potential of reducing the horrific tide of gun deaths.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the Heller decision that upheld the constitutional right to bear arms, added that "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on long standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill."

Maynard Schneider

Madison



Replace parties

How amazing that we are compelled to believe our vote counts for a person who none of us has anything in common with.

It would be satisfying to have someone answer real-world questions such as why we click it or get a ticket, but motorcycle riders don't need helmets? Why does an attorney get $2 million while 5,000 people each get a free sub for discovering that their footlong is only 11 inches? I guess if you can get people to believe you live better by shopping at Walmart or you can buy a diamond even with bad credit, then go for it. We need to look to ourselves to make things better.

My solution is to end the Democrat vs. Republican platforms and replace them with three candidates  one for the poor, one for the middle class and one for the rich. If nothing else, at least some of the rhetoric will be something I can relate to.

Jeff Otto

Milwaukee



Clinton and the little guy

On Nov. 2, 1982, Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas at a salary of $35,000 per year, four years after he and Hillary were involved in a shabby real estate deal with James and Susan McDougal's Whitewater Development Corp.

Today, 34 years later, both Bill and Hillary are worth millions. Hillary says she is still fighting for the little guy. The ruling class is embracing the American dream; how is the little guy doing?

Is it any wonder the ruling class doesn't want Donald Trump to end the gravy train? The train is overflowing with passengers who want to live the good life at the expense of everyone else.

Miles Dake

Waukesha

Please email your letters to jsedit@jrn.com, or mail them to Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, P.O. Box 371, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0371.
The FBI is leading the probe of Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, the states juvenile prisons that share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. Agents are looking into prisoner abuse, child neglect, excessive use of pepper spray, the destruction of public records and other crimes. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Madison  State corrections officials have fallen six months behind in publishing an annual report on attacks on officers, and Wisconsin's youth prisons have yet to implement a centralized database tracking assaults, fights and other incidents.

At the juvenile facilities, officials store paper copies of reports in inmates' files, making it difficult to identify the extent of problems at the two institutions now under criminal investigation.

The FBI is leading the probe of Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, the state's juvenile prisons that share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. Agents are looking into prisoner abuse, child neglect, excessive use of pepper spray, the destruction of public records and other crimes.

In 2012, then-Corrections Secretary Gary Hamblin said assaults against officers in Wisconsin's prisons appeared to be spiking, but inconsistent record keeping made it impossible to know for sure. He ordered changes to how staff assaults were tracked so officials could more effectively curb them.

A year later, in December 2013, the Department of Corrections released its first comprehensive review of assaults on staff. It followed it up in early 2015 with a second annual report.

But six months into 2016, the third report has yet to be published. Department spokesman Tristan Cook didn't explain why the report hasn't been released, but said it would be "as soon as it is ready."

The last report found there had been 16 staff assaults at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake over the course of a year.

"That's so far off it's just a joke," one Lincoln Hills worker said when told of the figure.

"The number of assaults is grossly underreported," said Troy Bauch, who represents Lincoln Hills workers for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Cook did not say whether the department stood by its report that found there were 16 assaults on staff at Lincoln Hills from July 2013 to June 2014. He said officials have taken recent steps to assist Lincoln Hills staff in monitoring incidents at the institution, such as providing workers with body cameras, implementing a new inmate complaint process and giving workers additional training.

Since 2011, the Department of Corrections has logged incidents at adult prisons electronically. That allows them to conduct searches, identify trends and track how individual episodes are handled.

But that's not the case for the juvenile facilities. There, reports are simply kept on paper, Cook said.

The department plans to roll out an electronic system by the end of the year for tracking incidents at the juvenile prisons that will mirror the one used for adult prisons, Cook said. It will cost about $800,000.

In the meantime, prison officials are holding regular meetings to stay on top of security issues at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, he said.

Former corrections chief Walter Dickey said maintaining data in a way that allows for easy analysis is critical when it comes to improving safety in facilities like Lincoln Hills.

"Figuring out whether you've got a problem with a staff member, a lack of staff member, whether (an area) is understaffed, whether there are times of day that are particularly problematic  in order to answer those questions, having the data in a form that allows you to see those answers is important," said Dickey.

From 1983 to 1987, Dickey was in charge of what was then called the Division of Corrections under Democratic Gov. Tony Earl. Now retired, Dickey was a longtime professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who focused on criminal justice issues.

"Sophisticated staff members will often think that they know where the facility's vulnerabilities are," but analyzing hard data often tells a different story, Dickey said.

"Until you see the hard patterns in the data, you don't really know," he said.

The Department of Corrections' response to one open records request from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel underscores how a paper-based system makes it difficult to identify the extent of problems at the youth facility.

The news organization requested copies of reports of fights at the youth prisons for 2014 and 2015. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joy Staab declined to provide the records in January because she said it would be too burdensome on the agency to find those reports.

To identify instances of those fights, staff would have to search each individual's file, Staab wrote in a memo denying the request.

Providing the records would be so cumbersome that "the normal functioning of Lincoln Hills School over a significant period of time would be impaired, justifying the denial of this request," she wrote.

Last month, the department said it would be willing to provide the records, but only if the Journal Sentinel paid more than $1,100 to cover staff time needed to locate the records. The newspaper has asked the department to explain why it estimates officials would need approximately 50 hours of staff time to find the records on fights.

About 50 state agents and attorneys raided Lincoln Hills in December to gather documents and videos and interview inmates and staff as part of their probe. State investigators launched the probe in January 2015 and turned it over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this year.

Recently released emails show just how extensive their seizure of evidence was.

On Dec. 2, Lincoln Hills' security director at the time, Rick Peterson, wrote to his colleagues to tell them that a digital forensic examiner from the state Division of Criminal Investigation, Larry Slessert, would be visiting the institution the next day to copy videos from the facility's cameras.

"Mr. Slessert described it as 'an enormous amount of video,'" Peterson wrote, according to a copy of the email released under the public records law.

That prompted this response from Wendy Peterson, who was deputy superintendent at the time: "What is this all about?!?"

Wendy Peterson has since been promoted to superintendent. She and Rick Peterson are not related.

Wendy Peterson wasn't the only person out of the loop on an issue leading up to the raid.

On Dec. 2, Lincoln Hills leaders were notified officials from the adult prison system would be involved in transferring an inmate between housing units at the youth prison.

"What in world is going (on)?" Lincoln Hills' superintendent at the time, John Ourada, wrote to top corrections officials. "We could have easily moved this youth to another Living Unit without involving (the Division of Adult Institutions)."

His boss, Paul Westerhaus, the next day responded: "FYI  not sure what this is about."

Hours later, Westerhaus and Ourada abruptly retired.

The Dec. 5 raid was triggered by an incident that occurred a week earlier in which a staff member pushed a juvenile into his cell and slammed the metal door. The juvenile's foot was caught in the door and his toes were mangled.

The emails do not make clear if the juvenile being transferred was the same one who had his foot caught in the door. But sources said officials from two adult prisons, Stanley Correctional Institution and Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility, were brought in soon after the incident to monitor the juvenile 24 hours a day for about a week.
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A motorcycle rider is clinging to life after suffering severe injuries in a crash with a vehicle early Sunday morning in Dane County.

The motorcyclist was traveling northbound Highway 51 in the town of Burke when the rider collided with the vehicle, which was heading north in the same lane, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said.

Speed and alcohol appeared to be involved in the crash, the sheriff's office said. The motorcyclist, whose name has not been released, was taken to University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.
Dozens of parachutists in World War II paratrooper replica uniforms and gear fill the skies near Ste. Mere-Eglise on Sunday, one day before the 72nd anniversary of the start of the D-Day invasion. Credit: Meg Jones

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Ste. Mere-Eglise, France  The first thing Ralph Ticcioni noticed was the faces of the paratroopers.

Sitting in two rows on the floor of the C-47 on Saturday afternoon, the men clad in World War II replica uniforms looked up at Ticcioni, an original paratrooper.

Seventy-two years ago Ticcioni had looked at the soldiers sitting across from him, who all wore on their shoulders the double-A, red-and-blue patch of the 82nd Airborne, as they flew across the English Channel on a C-47 on the short journey to Normandy. Their eyes betrayed their anxiety as flak exploded around them, the fear of the unknown etched on their faces.

Not so on Saturday in the same skies over Ste. Mere-Eglise as members of the Round Canopy Parachute Team jumped out of two C-47s painted in the D-Day invasion markings to re-create, in a small way, the June 6, 1944, assault on Normandy.

"Looking at the expressions on their faces, they're so calm," said Ticcioni, who was invited to fly with the team members and watch them jump.

Sitting on the floor next to Ticcioni's seat, Peder Ek smiled and looked up at the D-Day veteran.

"I can't even tell you how excited I am to meet you," said Ek, a Swede. "It's an honor."

There was something Ek wanted to know  "you must have been terrified?"

Ticcioni nodded. Yes, he was.

The 93-year-old New Berlin man survived the war, though some of his buddies died in combat and others were wounded. He didn't return to France until last week, when the residents of Ste. Mere-Eglise, the village near where Ticcioni landed as part of the D-Day invasion, arranged for him to come and participate in a weeklong commemoration. He has been treated as a hero.

One day before the anniversary of the invasion, Ticcioni spent Sunday near La Fiere Bridge near Ste. Mere-Eglise watching hundreds of parachutists land in farm fields in a massive recreation of the 82nd and 101st Airborne landings. The event drew thousands of visitors, who picnicked, listened to Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters music piped through loudspeakers, and lined the narrow road and bridge to watch both World War II re-enactors and military members of several nations, including America's 82nd Airborne Division.

During D-Day, this area was a submerged swamp, and La Fiere Bridge was one of two main access points to Cherbourg, the only deep-water port in the area. The bridge was deemed critical, and American troops were sent to take control of the bridge and defend it at all costs. They did.

"Three hundred and sixty paratroopers saved our lives," said Maurice Renaud, the son of Ste. Mere-Eglise's mayor during the D-Day invasion. "If the Germans had succeeded I wouldn't be here today. They would have burned down the town, which they did in other places. And my father being the mayor would have been the first to die."

Renaud's parents organized the first D-Day commemoration, in June 1945, just one month after the war in Europe ended, and invited Gen. James Gavin, the leader of the 82nd Airborne. Every year since then U.S. war veterans have come to this community, and grateful villagers welcome them with a love and affection that would surprise many Americans.

"They are our family," said Renaud, president of Friends of American Veterans, which paid for Ticcioni's visit.

On Sunday, Ticcioni received the French Legion of Honour medal in a solemn ceremony along with two other recipients  Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's granddaughter Susan Eisenhower and four-star Gen. John Nicholson. Ticcioni didn't know he was receiving the prestigious honor until his name was called.

"I'm overwhelmed. Completely surprised. I had no idea," Ticcioni said.

Ticcioni is a humble man who speaks quietly about his World War II experiences. As he has toured Normandy, visiting museums, the American Cemetery and the invasion beaches and taken part in ceremonies, the war stories have tumbled out.

About the buddy whose foot was blown off when he stepped on a land mine in an area the unit had walked through the previous night without incident. Of hearing the unmistakable whine of a Messerschmitt and diving into a culvert, his helmet flying off his head, seconds before bullets strafed the ground he had walked. Of giving a pretty Belgian barmaid the St. Christopher medal his mom gave him before he left for war.

And recounting what it was like to stand up in a plane while loaded down with gear, checking the static line of the man in front of him while the man behind him checked his. Then seeing the light inside the C-47 change to green and stepping into the void as the static line yanked open his parachute.

Ticcioni watched the World War II re-enactors in the C-47 do the same thing, though without the flak, without carbines attached to their uniforms or grenades stuffed in pockets and with GoPro cameras strapped to their helmets.

Tom McMullan, a Pennsylvania man who served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne, came last year to perform with the Round Canopy Parachute Team and enjoyed it so much he returned this year. As Ticcioni watched the team stretch before the jump, McMullan greeted the veteran.

"It means a lot to me to honor them. They were kids when they were here. When we can meet them and hug them, it's special. I want them to know they're not forgotten," said an emotional McMullan.

When a member of Round Canopy Parachute Team read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article in February about Ticcioni's upcoming visit to Normandy, he extended the invitation to ride in the plane during one of the jumps. The Round Canopy Parachute Team numbers 450 members from 24 nations, and about 90% are military veterans, team president Hubert Achten said.

"We do this to honor those veterans who jumped for our freedom, those who fought for the democracy we still enjoy today," Achten said.

"Boy, is this something," Ticcioni said, after the parachutists jumped out at 1,200 feet and the C-47 turned back to an airport near Cherbourg. "It brings back memories. Will you do me a favor? Pinch me."

After taxiing to a stop at the airport, Ticcioni slowly climbed down the ladder and walked underneath the wing as the next group of World War II re-enactors lined up to board the plane. As Ticcioni walked by, they saluted.
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By Jon Queally, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org |  

Said one energized supporter: California loves a comeback story.

Nearly 6,000 North Coast residents cheered Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders in Cloverdale on Friday as the Vermont senator promised to revolutionize American politics, the U.S. economy and society at large. (Photo: Kent Porter/Press Democracy)

With national anticipation growing ahead of five upcoming Democratic primaries on Tuesday and with so much hinging on the outcome in California, the Bernie Sanders campaign received encouraging news late Friday as the California secretary of states office reported soaring registrations of new voters, especially for Democrats.

If theres a large voter turnout, we will win. If there is a very large voter turnout, we will win with a big margin. Sen. Bernie Sanders

The report showed that with nearly 18 million voters now registered in the state, California now has the highest ever total statewide voter registration heading into a primary election with more than 72 percent of eligible residents ready to vote on Tuesday.

In the 45 days leading up to the voter registration deadline, there was a huge surge in voter registrationtotal statewide voter registration increased by nearly 650,000, said Secretary of State Alex Padilla in a statement. Part of this surge was fueled through social media, as Facebook sent a reminder to all California users to register to vote. It is clear that Californians are engaged and excited about this election. Now the next step is to turn out and vote!

During the last month and a half, Democratic Party, Republican Party, and No Party Preference voter registration all increased, but it was the registrations for the Democratic Party, with more than 490,000 new people adding themselves to the roles, that accounted for more than 75 percent of the total growth.

Though No Party Preference (NPP) voters in California are essentially independents and are allowed to vote in Californias partially open primaries on the Democratic side, some controversy was brewing on Saturday after a volunteer poll worker in the state posted a video detailing how she was told during a recent training session that NPP voters should only be given provisional ballots if they show up to vote Democrat on Tuesday. With Sanders consistently drawing such voters, it was particularly alarming for his supporters to learn that those given provisional ballotswhich are routinely not counted on election daycould have their votes largely discounted.

[ DC Rutledge: NPP California voter suppression ]

Throughout his campaign against rival Hillary Clinton, Sanders has repeatedly said that one of the keys to his success has been the energy he has created among new voters and independents. California is now on the verge of being the ultimate test of that theory.

If theres a large voter turnout, we will win. If there is a very large voter turnout, we will win with a big margin, Sanders told supporers at a rally in the northern town of Cloverdale on Friday. But lets be honest. If theres a low voter turnout, we will lose. Thats just the facts. Im asking all of you to do everything you can. . . .

With recent polls showing that Sanders has reduced Clintons once enormous lead to a virtual tie in the state, the campaign and its supporters have plenty of reasons to believe an upset is within reach.

Our task this weekend is simple, the campaign tweeted on Saturday: Call every single Bernie supporter we can and make sure they have a plan to vote.

Via Commondreams.org

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

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KSBW Action News 8: Sanders, Clinton, Trump make final push before California primary
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TeleSur |  

The Russian foreign minister said his Washington counterpart asked Moscow not to target the extremist groups out of fear of hitting moderate rebels.

The United States has asked Russia not to target al-Qaidas affiliate in Syria the Nusra Front arguing that airstrikes by Moscow could also hit other rebel groups, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview published Saturday.

They [the U.S.] are telling us not to hit it [al-Nusra Front], because there are also normal opposition groups [on those territories], Lavrov said in an interview with local Russian media that was published on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website according to Russia Today website.

The Russian top diplomat also stressed that such opposition groups should leave terrorist positions, adding that we have long agreed on that.

He said that while Humanitarian assistance was urgently needed, fighting against terrorism in Syria conducted by the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front must be one of the top priorities for his all those involved in the conflict.

It is important to provide humanitarian access to the settlements blocked by one side or another, to secure the ceasefire and to prevent its violation, as well as to launch the political process but, as important as these goals are, terrorism is our common threat, and there should be no doubt about that, he said.

He further warned that the Nusra Front group has been trying to merge without opposition groups on the ground in order to gain legitimacy and protection from U.S. and Russian strikes.

The news comes amid reports that the Syrian army has entered the Raqqa province in one of its major offensive against the ISlamic State group since it retook Palmyra from the extremist group in April.

The Syrian troops have been carrying out major ground operations with the help of Russian airstrikes, inflicting significant damage on the Islamic State group and reducing its territory.

The five-year Syrian conflict has claimed the lives of more than 275,000 people while sending millions of Syrians fleeing to other countries.

Via TeleSur

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RT: Lavrov: West asking Moscow not to bomb positions of al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda branch in Syria
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By Kristine Beckerle, Finberg Fellow | ( Human Rights Watch) |  

Every year, the United Nations secretary-general releases a list of shame of government forces and armed groups that have committed grave violations against children during armed conflict. This year, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen was listed for the first time, identified as being responsible for killing and maiming children in Yemen and for attacks on schools and hospitals.

There was a six-fold increase in the killing and maiming of children in Yemen during 2015, with at least 785 children killed and 1,168 injured, according to the secretary-generals report. The Saudi-led coalition was responsible for 60 percent of these child deaths and injuries.

The UN recorded 101 attacks on schools and hospitals in Yemen, double the number of attacks recorded in 2014. The Saudi-led coalition was responsible for nearly half of these attacks. Almost all caused the partial or complete destruction of facilities.

The alarming trends have continued into 2016, the secretary-general found. He was shocked by the scale of violations. Rightly so.

Since the Saudi-led coalition began its military campaign in Yemen in March 2015, Human Rights Watch has documented 43 airstrikes that have killed close to 200 children, and multiple airstrikes that struck or damaged schools or hospitals, including a school for the blind. In one particularly deadly incident in March 2016, Human Rights Watch found that two US-supplied bombs were used in a strike on a market in the village of Mastaba that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children.

Of course, the Saudi-led coalition is not alone in committing grave abuses against children in Yemen. The Houthis, government forces, pro-government militias, and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were also included on the secretary-generals list of shame, as they had been in previous years.

Human Rights Watch has documented repeated violations against children by multiple parties to the conflict, including the Houthis endangering schools by using them for military purposes and using child soldiers. The UN report found that 72 percent of 762 verified cases of child recruitment were attributable to the Houthis, with an overall five-fold increase in recruitment of children and a shift towards forced or involuntary recruitment.

The conflict in Yemen has taken a devastating toll on the countrys children. In order to help end these grave violations, the international community should take immediate action, including suspending arms sales to Saudi Arabia and forming an international mechanism to investigate violations by all sides.

In his report, the secretary-general said accountability is a shared responsibility. The time to shoulder that responsibility is now.

Via Human Rights Watch



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RT: UN blacklists Saudi-led coalition for killing & maiming children in Yemen
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Syrian troops, aided by a Homs-based pro-government militia the Falcons of the Desert and under the cover of Russian air support, entered al-Raqqa Province from Hama for the first time in two years on Saturday. The southern half of al-Raqqa province is one of two major strongholds left to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), the other one being Mosul in northern Iraq. Mosul is much bigger and more important, but al-Raqqa has symbolic importance to Daesh, since it is where the terrorist organization first established itself as a state ruling territory. The territory also figures in Daeshs weird theories about the Judgment Day.

The Arabic press is saying that the regime seeks to retake the town of Tabqa, which has a major air base that the Syrian military lost to Daesh in June of 2014.

The Baath government of Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, has been seen by some observers as reluctant to spend a lot of energy on fighting Daesh. It only has some eastern and northern territory and is not very dangerous to the regime at the moment. The existence of the brutal terrorist organization is a propaganda coup for al-Assad, since he argues that Western governments have a choice of supporting him or supporting ISIL. Since the latter blew up Paris, whereas al-Assad has only tortured and massacred his own people, he may be winning that argument in some European capitals.

Al-Assad and the Russians may fear, however, allowing the US-backed YPG Kurdish fighters to take all of al-Raqqa. The US calls the YPG the Syrian Democratic Forces and has tried to give it some American-trained Arab allies, but the SDF is nevertheless mainly leftist Kurds. The US has encouraged the SDF to move on al-Raqqa city, the capital of the province, and wipe out Daesh from it. If that happened, all of al-Raqqa province might fall to the Kurds and other American allies, and the Syrian government is probably trying to complicate that outcome by putting down its own markers in post-Daesh al-Raqqa.

While the Muslim-Brotherhood-linked Arab press is arguing that the US and Damascus/Russia are coordinating their campaigns against Daesh, I think it is likely the other way around. The announced US intent to have its local allies, the Kurds, take the provincial capital raises the prospect that the Syrian government will be excluded from the province as the country heads into a post-conflict stage. Damascus is putting down a marker on part of al-Raqqa for itself, and that air base would be a useful point from which to monitor the province.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Ruptly: Syria: Army enter Raqqa province in offensive to liberate IS-held Raqqa
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Friday asked [petition, PDF] a federal appeals court to vacate sanctions imposedd by a district judge. The sanctions are apart of an ongoing immigration debate where 26 states sued [text, PDF] over the presidents Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) [materials, PDF] immigration policy. The sanctions [JURIST report], which require any DOJ lawyer appearing in court in any of the 26 states undergo a mandatory ethics class. The DOJ stated in its petition:

the district court reached far beyond its authority here and dictated the scope and content of ethical and professional responsibility training for thousands of attorneys if they appear in any federal or state court in the 26 plaintiff States. These extraordinary measures imposed by the district court transgress the constitutional separation of powers and usurp the Attorney Generals statutory authority to manage the Department and set policy for ethics training and enforcement and to determine which attorneys may represent the United States in litigation throughout the nation.

Earlier this week the DOJ formally objected [JURIST report] to the federal judges order requiring DOJ lawyers to attend ethics classes.

The case at issue, United States v. Texas, has been taken up [JURIST report] by the US Supreme Court. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the injunction against the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) [materials, PDF] policy last May, a month after Hanen declined to lift [JURIST reports] the stay he imposed in February. In March of last year the DOJ urged [JURIST report] the Fifth Circuit to reverse the injunction blocking the presidents immigration executive action. In November 2014 Obama announced two new immigration programs [text], purportedly under his executive authority as president. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the DAPA would lift the threat of deportation for about 4.7 million undocumented residents by allowing immigrants that have been in the US for more than five years or have children who are citizens to register and pass a criminal background check in order to stay in the country.
[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Saturday began the trial of a journalist union leader as well as two board members who were charged with spreading false news and harboring wanted reporters. About a month prior, Union leader Yahya Qalash denounced [AP report] authorities for the arrest of two protesting journalists who sought refuge in the unions headquarters. Though Qalash initially called for the interior ministers resignation and a presidential apology, he withdrew his comments later to defuse tensions. Amnesty International [advocacy website] has publicly opposed the trial, accusing the government of cracking down on the freedom of expression and creating a state of fear. The defendants have requested postponement and will continue the hearing later this month.

Egypt [BBC profile] has been internationally scrutinized in recent months over allegations of human rights infringements and free speech violations. Last month more than 100 Egyptian demonstrators were convicted [JURIST report] for peacefully assembling without a permit. Three UN rights experts recently urged [JURIST report] the Egyptian government to end its oppressive response towards human rights advocates in the country. In early May an Egyptian court sentenced [JURIST report] six people, including three journalists, to death for allegedly leaking state secrets to Qatar. Last month Egypts Court of Cassation overturned the five-year prison sentences of 35 Al-Azhar students, ordering a retrial [JURIST report]. Earlier in April three UN human rights experts urged Egypt to cease its cease [JURIST report] its ongoing crackdown on humans rights defenders and organizations.
US President Barack Obama [official website] on Friday commuted [press release] the sentences of 42 inmates convicted of drug offenses as part of his ongoing efforts toward criminal justice reform [materials]. The 42 inmates [press release] received the commutation and a remittance of fines for some because they were believed to have earned a second chance and paid their debt to society. The men and women were convicted of various drug related charges where their sentences ranged from months to life in prison for their non-violent acts. The commutations are scheduled to go into effect beginning on October 1, 2016, throughout June 2018. The president has now commuted the sentences of 348 individuals incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses.

Obama has recently been striving to reform the harsh sentences for non-violent drug offenders. In March Obama commuted [JURIST report] the sentences of 61 federal drug offenders in an effort to reform the sentencing of non-violent criminals. Former Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff indicated [JURIST report] that the pardon system is broken in her resignation letter that was obtained by USA Today the same month after a Freedom of Information Act request. Last July Obama commuted the sentences [JURIST report] of 46 drug offenders in what he said was part of an effort by his administration to remedy the unfairness of the criminal justice system
[JURIST] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro [official profile, in Spanish] on Friday filed a complaint in the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (STJ) accusing National Assembly [official website, in Spanish] opposition leaders of partaking in international relations contrary to constitutional law. Assembly leaders previously reached [Reuters report] out to the Organization of American States (OAS) [official website] to help resolve current political and economic issues. Maduro stated that the National Assembly usurped his exclusive presidential duties by engaging in foreign affairs. Maduro further expressed [Panam Post report] his hope that bringing the matter to court will publicize the National Assemblys treason. The lawsuit has raised national concerns that Maduro may intend to eventually dissolve the National Assemblys opposition majority.

There has been considerable legislative tension between the pro-government STJ and the opposition-majority National Assembly of Venezuela following the December election. In April the STJ rejected an attempt [JURIST report] by the National Assembly to shorten Maduros term from six years to four. The assembly approved new new referendum rules [JURIST report] to speed up the process of requesting recall referendums. In March the STJ ruled that the National Assembly may not review the appointment of 13 justices [JURIST report] to the high court by the Socialist Party. The 13 justices were sworn in on December 23, immediately prior to the exit of prior Socialist Party majority. In February the court upheld Maduros economic emergency decree [JURIST report] as legal and valid despite a rejection by the national assembly. The decree allowed the president to control the budget, companies and the currency. In January the STJ ruled that all decisions from the opposition-led assembly would be void [JURIST report] until three opposition lawmakers were removed from their seats. The courts decision came days after the assembly swore in elected lawmakers that were temporarily barred by the court [JURIST reports]. The ruling had suspended four elected lawmakers for their involvement in alleged election fraud last December [JURIST report].
KEARNEY - Police aren't sure whether an alleged drug dealer from rural Pleasanton still is in the Kearney area or not, but they are sure they'll find him.

"He'll turn up. He's in NCIC. He's got a history of consuming alcohol and driving and then meeting police," said Dennis Leonard, a lieutenant with the Nebraska State Patrol.

Robert Henry Hainsworth, 47, is charged in a Buffalo County warrant with distribution of coke, distribution of meth, distribution of pot, being a felon in possession of a firearm, using explosives to commit a felony, and being in possession of a stolen firearm and of a destructive device.

When prosecutors issue a warrant, that information is placed into a National Crime Information Center data bank that is accessible to law enforcement personnel throughout the country. So, if any law enforcement officer has contact with Hainsworth or any other wanted person, they are aware the person is wanted on other offenses.

The State Patrol SWAT team served a search warrant on Hainsworth's rented home Wednesday at 26215 Grand Island Road, 4 miles south of Pleasanton. Hainsworth was not home and still is wanted.

Confiscated during the search were 33 marijuana plants, grow lights, scales; 6 pounds of processed pot; 18 rifles and shotguns, including a Bushmaster AR-15 .223 assault rifle; 2 ounces of meth; 3 ounces of coke; 350 various prescription pills; a single small explosive; and $8,741 in cash.

A citizen tip led police to Hainsworth, who has been under investigation for several months.

Also recovered was extensive wireless video surveillance equipment. The assault rifle had been reported stolen from a Grand Island residence. Hainsworth had been living at the farm for less than six months.

Hainsworth's vehicle was recovered in Kearney Saturday, and Leonard said his new means of travel are unknown.

Anyone with information about Hainsworth's whereabouts is asked to contact the State Patrol at 308-385-6000, the Kearney Police Department at 308-237-2104, the Buffalo County Sheriff's Office at 308-236-8555 or Crimestoppers at 308-237-3424.

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In this Friday, June 3, 2016 photo, Weldon Angelos, right, holds his son Anthoney in Sandy, Utah. Weldon Angelos, a Utah music producer who was ordered to 55 years behind bars for bringing guns to marijuana deals has been set free, after 12 years in prison and national outcry over the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that forced a federal judge to impose the lengthy term. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) DESERET NEWS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
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Prescription opioid abuse is on the political radar. Painkillers are a recognized cause of thousands of deaths a year. But what to do about it?

A FDA panel recently recommended mandatory training for physicians who prescribe opioids. Congress passed a bill calling for more education, presumably physicians as a prime target. Weve actually been down this road before, but possibly not how you think.

The politicians and pundits used to complain that pain was undertreated. An article was published in William Mitchell Law Review in 2000 with a subsection labeled The Cultivation of Ignorance. In it, the authors wrote,  the answer to the obvious question of why caregivers fail to provide adequate pain relief to patients in so many instances when it is in their power to do so, is  physicians are poorly trained to manage pain properly. They rely on drugs  prescribe too small doses, and often wait for pain before they do something.

Others chimed in. There was an epidemic of chronic pain. One family in three includes a victim of persistent pain. Medical licensing boards [should] be disciplining physicians who fail to develop and maintain competence in pain management. Eric Cassell, MD asserted in a widely quoted book that,  the response of the medical profession [to pain] has generally been too little and too late.

Physicians pushed back. They believed that in some circumstances the risks of pain relief with opioid analgesics often outweigh the risks. They named those risks as premature death, drug addiction, respiratory depression, and compromised mental status.

But the pain treatment zealots did not give up. They convinced health care system bureaucrats to force the issue. The VA system spearheaded the campaign to make pain the fifth vital sign, meaning that it had to be assessed at every patient encounter. The Federation of State Medical Boards encouraged physicians to feel comfortable writing for larger narcotic doses. The Joint Commission published opinions that physicians have inaccurate and exaggerated concerns about addiction, tolerance and risk of death.

Then the patient satisfaction obsession kicked in. Doctors who declined to write for narcotics for patients were given bad reviews on patient satisfaction surveys . Hospital administrators then jumped into the fray, pressuring physicians to write more narcotic prescriptions so the hospital patient satisfaction scores would improve.

And so now the number of deaths attributed to prescription painkillers is 14,000 per year, which has quadrupled from 1999. Looking back, it turns out that some of the leading proponents of the pain pill pushing movement were heavily sponsored by the drug industry .

The only deficit education fixes is ignorance, and perhaps as a side effect, attitudes. Clearly we need more education in this country.

We need education for politicians, bureaucrats, and pundits that caring for complex patients with complaints of pain is complex and defies simplistic regulatory solutions. They need to be educated that there is no test to measure pain, and there is no drug that is completely safe. They need to be educated that sometimes doctors have a greater purpose and calling than to appease a patient demanding narcotics inappropriately. Physicians have difficult risk/benefit discussions with patients every day, and sometimes those risk/benefit discussions include telling patients things they dont want to hear.

With families of people who died of prescription narcotic overdoses testifying that something must be done, does anyone think that the Congressional or regulatory action plan will be for those politicians to commit to educating themselves on the unmeasurable complexities of patient care?

I doubt it too.

Richard Young is a family physician who blogs at American Health Scare.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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By Barbara McMichael

Touring the West with Leaping Lena 1925  W.C. Clark, ed. David Dary

University of Oklahoma Press  300 pp.  $19.95

Narrating the Landscape  Matthew N. Johnston

University of Oklahoma Press  248 pp.  $34.95

Summer is road trip season! What's on the TripTik for you? To whet your appetite for this brand of adventure, I recommend the thoroughly agreeable new travelogue "Touring the West with Leaping Lena, 1925."

In June 1925, newspaper editor Willie Chester Clark, his wife, Nevada, and their 30-year-old daughter, Florence, departed from their home in West Virginia to undertake a four-month circuit of the country in a brand-new Chevrolet.

Clark outfits the rig with a heavy front bumper, a grub box, a luggage carrier and a "melodious horn." He dubs the automobile "Leaping Lena"  an oft-used nickname for cars at that time, although throughout the journey he uses male pronouns when referring to the vehicle.

As this plucky family sallies forth across the continent, Clark keeps an account detailing road conditions, accommodations, the attractions they visit, the people they meet, the expenses they incur, the crops they pass by and the miles they cover in each daily "leap." He pounds this report out every night while sitting on a camp stool in front of the car, using the car's reinforced bumper as a makeshift desk for his typewriter.

It turns out that the Clarks have roots in the Pacific Northwest  Clark had homesteaded there a quarter-century earlier, and he and Nevada were married in Spokane. They have plenty of relatives to visit and respects to pay when they go through Idaho, Oregon and Washington. In Tacoma, they stay for some time with family while making forays all about Puget Sound  attending a parade in Seattle, climbing to the summit of Mt. Rainier and picnicking at Point Defiance.

Having experienced dozens of flat tires by this point in the journey, Clark has abundant praise for the roads of this region  commenting enthusiastically on the Pacific Highway ("than which there is no better") and the Columbia River Highway ("in a class by itself as a scenic route").

Editor David Dary's footnotes help illuminate the Clarks' story, and there's a nice selection of vintage photos that will help readers picture the conditions of cross-country travel back in the day.

"Touring the West with Leaping Lena 1925" was published by University of Oklahoma Press. I'd like to give quick mention to another work from the same publisher.

"Narrating the Landscape" goes back a bit further in time to focus on how America's westward expansion in the 19th century was influenced by new forms of print publications.

Matthew N. Johnston, an art history professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, contrasts traditional artistic expression  portraits, landscapes, and the like  with a new wave of print communications that reflected a faster, industrializing way of life.

Johnston's presentation may be too esoteric for some readers, and some of the reproductions of paintings are too small to appreciate the details he references in his critique, but this is fascinating material.
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By Mary Earl

Certain factors in viticulture produce intensely flavored grapes with balanced sugars and acids. And that can only happen in the vineyard.

Washington's average 16 hours per day of summer sunlight, cool nights, hills and slopes, rainfall totals and alluvial soils produce some of the best growing conditions for vinifera grapes.

Each microclimate has its own geology, soil, temperature fluctuations and sunlight intensity. That's what makes each American Viticultural Area (AVA) unique.

There are 14 Washington State AVAs, defined by the United States Treasury Department's Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau.

The first to be recognized was Yakima Valley in 1983. In 1984, Columbia Valley and Walla Walla Valley joined the club. Eleven years later, our very own unique Puget Sound joined the ranks.

The turn of the century brought Red Mountain into the fold, followed by Columbia Gorge (2004), Horse Heaven Hills (2005), Rattlesnake Hills and Wahluke Slope (2006) and Snipes Mountain (2009). Naches Heights and Ancient Lakes were added in 2011 and 2012 respectively. This year Lewis-Clark Valley was added to the state's AVAs  the first shared with Idaho.

Grapes were first planted in the Horse Heaven Hills by Don and Linda Mercer in 1972. Horse Heaven Hills (or H3, as some refer to it), is around 570,000 acres, of which about 10,130 acres are planted to grapes. Today, it represents 25 percent of Washington's total grape production.

H3 rises up from 300 feet at the Columbia River to about 1,800 feet on the border of the Yakima Valley AVA. The AVA's steep south-facing slopes are perfect vineyard locations and provide well-drained, sandy loam soil.

The sandy soils and dry, windy conditions of the Horse Heaven Hills have stressed the vineyards enough to produce those intensely flavored grapes.

Look for these older and more established vineyards: Alder Ridge, Andrews Horse Heaven Vineyard, Canoe Ridge, Champoux Vineyards, Columbia Crest, Destiny Ridge, McKinley Springs, Mercer Canyon and Wallula Gap Vineyard.

Destiny Ridge, just 800 feet up from the Columbia River, is a pretty breezy place for grape vines; the winds that blow are what make this part of the Horse Heaven Hills appellation distinct. The best part of the constant wind is the inhospitable habitat for vineyard disease and pests. And much like the mistral winds of southern France, the vines are stressed and would dry out were it not for drip irrigation.

Destiny Ridge Vineyard also benefits from its proximity to the Columbia River. It's rare to find temperature extremes close to a big body of water. It's because of the modifying effects of the mighty Columbia rolling on (Woody Guthrie's immortal words) and the land sloping toward the river, which pushes cold air away from the vineyards. Farther north away from the water, vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills have had killing frosts.

Overlooking the mighty Columbia River is Alexandria Nicole Cellars. Owners Jarrod and Ali Boyle planted the first vines at Destiny Ridge in 1998 while Jarrod was working with Wade Wolfe at Hogue Cellars. The plan was to use the fruit from their Destiny Ridge Vineyard to produce small case lots for other wineries. And that worked for about six years until the vines came into full production with such fruit intensity, the seeds of another new winery were planted.

Alexandria Nicole Cellars' (ANC) first vintage from the 367-acre estate was in 2004. Ten years later, the 2014 Shepherds Mark, their signature white, is a blend of 60 percent roussanne, 20 percent marianne and 20 percent viognier. And it's a medal-winning wine that's striking in color with fresh floral notes, a rich mouth feel and juicy flavors of Asian pear, citrus and crisp apple.

Why Shepherds Mark? Well, in the early 1900s, sheepherders left their mark on the Horse Heaven Hills in the form of rock monuments. These monuments  some still stand along the ridge line of Destiny Ridge Estate Vineyard  were used for identification, way-finding, recreational pastime, artistic expression, or to simply leave one's mark on the world.

Other ANC wines currently available are the medal winning 2012 Gravity merlot. The blend of 92 percent merlot, 4 percent cabernet Franc, 2 percent malbec, and 2 percent carmenere was aged 22 months in new and 1-year-old French oak barrels.

The 2013 Jet Black Syrah is another medal-winning wine. This 100 percent syrah was whole-berry fermented and then aged in new and 1-year-old French oak barrels. Prepared to be awed!

If you would like to tour and taste the wines and wineries of Horse Heaven Hills, mark your calendars for Saturday, July 16, to experience the Horse Heaven Hills Trail Drive. You'll meet the growers and vintners behind some of Washington's most highly rated wines.

During this is a self-guided tour, you'll visit with grape growers and winemakers, enjoy beautiful vistas and sample some excellent wines. There will be music and wine tasting at the BBQ at Crow Butte Park. This annual fundraiser raises money for scholarships in viticulture and oenology.
Researchers undertake the examination of a carcass of a humpback whale that was discovered dead in Sinclair Inlet on Wednesday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / CASCADIA RESEARCH COLLECTIVE)

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By Rachel Seymour of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  The death of a humpback whale found under a Navy dock Wednesday in Bremerton has stumped researchers.

The whale's death is somewhat puzzling, said John Calambokidis, biologist with Cascadia Research Collective.

An examination on Saturday showed the whale had been eating recently, although there were "some indications of nutritional stress," according to a press release on Cascadia's website. That stress could be related to the time of year, because humpback whales generally fast most of the winter.

Researchers are hoping additional testing and reports from potential witnesses will provide answers.

Calambokidis said finding the dead whale was a "bit of a rare occurrence" because more gray whales tend to be found stranded than humpbacks. A gray whale was found dead earlier this year under Colman Dock in Seattle.

In the past few years, humpback whales have been returning in larger numbers to the Salish Sea, including Puget Sound. The resurgence of the whales mean strandings are more common.

"At this point it's not raising an alarm for us," Calambokidis said.

Those assisting Cascadia with the examination were the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Navy, and Marine Science and Technology Center (MaST).
SHARE Olympic College library faculty member Dianne Carey looks at some of the rare books in the George Martin room at the Haselwood Library on the Bremerton campus. Martin was the founder of the OC mountaineering class. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) Items in the George Martin collection in the Haselwood Library. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) A photo from the George Martin collection in the Haselwood Library (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / OC GEORGE MARTIN COLLECTION)

By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun

George Martin was a college administrator who believed a day in the wilderness could do more for students than several weeks in the classroom.

"Two weeks living close to nature has more value to our students, and especially the teachers, than several quarters of classroom and lecture work," he wrote of the pioneering outdoor education programs he launched at Olympic College nearly 70 years ago. "Our results," he added, "speak for themselves."

The undated letter  probably written in 1955  is among hundreds of articles, letters, photos and other documents that have long sat jumbled in a little library room dedicated to Martin's memory.

Now, thanks to a OC librarian who shares Martin's love for the outdoors, the "George Martin Collection" is getting the care and attention his students, colleagues and many admirers thought it deserved when it was established in 1966.

"Look at all of these  it's a treasure trove," librarian Dianne Carey said, laying out old letters from Washington Gov. Albert Rosellini, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. They and dozens of others helped establish the collection, which includes hundreds of mountaineering and outdoor education books. A few of Martin's fans  like Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Everest  chipped in favorite titles. Whittaker's signed copies of "Americans on Everest" and "The Craft of Climbing" are still on the collection's shelves.

Carey and other library staff have recently spent hundreds of hours organizing and cataloging the collection. There are heaps of black and white photos taken during class trips in the Olympic Mountains, camp food menus, journal entries, hand-drawn maps and many magazine articles about and by Martin.

Student library workers are scanning and digitizing most of the items to create a virtual version of the collection that will be searchable and more widely accessible.

Martin was the founder of what's considered the country's first and longest-running college mountaineering course. He sent generations of students into the wild to get blistered, rain-soaked and mosquito-bitten. They learned to safely scale mountains, patch up injuries, build snow caves, and practice what Martin liked to call "camp craft." Many students say the biggest takeaway was a lifelong love for the Northwest's forests and mountains.

Martin wasn't a teacher or even the mountaineering program's main instructor. He was OC's longtime registrar, a job that had him tracking and organizing the community college's student records. On the weekends, he was a climber and a key figure in the community of wool-clad mountaineers who braved the Olympics and Cascades in the 1940s.

In 1948, one of their youngest  17-year-old Bob Thorson of Bremerton  fell 40 feet while scaling the Brothers in the Olympics.

Bremerton climbers rallied to save the dying Thorson, but the rescue was botched from a lack of equipment and the inexperience of volunteers.

"That had an impact on George Martin," Carey said. "He thought that might have turned out differently if people were properly trained in mountaineering and rescue techniques."

Martin persuaded the OC administration to let him start a mountaineering course in 1950. It grew into a larger outdoor education program, with PE credits for ski mountaineering, rock climbing, outdoor leadership and wilderness survival.

Martin left much of the teaching to others, but he was usually at the lead for OC's annual two-week trek across the Olympics.

Carey, a hiker and longtime member of the Mountaineers' Kitsap branch, never went on the trip but she can describe the route in detail.

"And he'd have all these visiting instructors along, talking about botany, geology, meteorology  I would have loved to have taken it," she said.

The mountaineering course sometimes swelled to 75 students and had a lengthy wait list.

Martin was the subject of several articles, and he became a sought-after writer about the burgeoning field of outdoor education, penning articles for Popular Mechanics, academic health journals and parenting magazines.

He and some of his former students founded Olympic Mountain Rescue in 1957. The all-volunteer nonprofit group is still active, leading dozens of rescues each year in some of the toughest terrain in the Olympics and Cascades. OMR is hosting the national conference of mountain rescue organizations in Port Angles next week.

Martin's outdoor programs haven't held up as well. Enrollment began to decline after OC eliminated PE requirements for graduation about 15 years ago. The mountaineering course has recently struggled to draw enough students, and many drop out after the first field trip  a map and compass lesson on Green Mountain. The class was canceled this year, partly a result of the health problems of longtime instructor Brad Albro. Finding replacement and assistant instructors has been difficult, and it's unclear whether the class will be revived again.

For Roger Beckett, the class was a life-changer. Since completing basic mountaineering in 1966, Beckett has been a die-hard climber and OMR volunteer. He now coordinates its rescues.

Beckett says Martin had a friendly self-assuredness that made students feel comfortable in the less-than-comfortable situations he put them in.

"He was soft-spoken, easygoing," Beckett said. "He just endeared himself to everybody he met."

Most students didn't become peak baggers like Beckett, but the lessons had long-lasting value.

Sharon Blomlie, who took the class some 40 years ago, credits it for boosting her confidence and for keeping her moving in her later years.

"The OC mountaineering class should be a standard  such as kindergarten is a standard first prep class for children to prepare for school," she said. "The mountaineering class should serve to ready people for life and living to the max. In my opinion, the only people who don't need the class are those who never leave a chair."

Carey thinks the values Martin promoted  self-reliance, physical activity, safe outdoor recreation, respect for nature  are worth preserving.

"We want to keep that legacy alive," she said.

SEE THE COLLECTION

Several documents and photos from the George Martin Collection are available on the Olympic College library's website, libguides.olympic.edu/index. The George Martin Collection is housed in the basement of OC's Haselwood Library, 1600 Chester Ave., Bremerton.
The Economist says we need to fight back against three threats to free speech. They are:

Free speech is under attack in three ways. First, repression by governments has increased. Several countries have reimposed cold-war controls or introduced new ones. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia enjoyed a free-for-all of vigorous debate. Under Vladimir Putin, the muzzle has tightened again. All the main television-news outlets are now controlled by the state or by Mr Putins cronies. Journalists who ask awkward questions are no longer likely to be sent to labour camps, but several have been murdered.

Sadly many countries do not have free speech or free media.

Second, a worrying number of non-state actors are enforcing censorship by assassination. Reporters in Mexico who investigate crime or corruption are often murdered, and sometimes tortured first. Jihadists slaughter those they think have insulted their faith. When authors and artists say anything that might be deemed disrespectful of Islam, they take risks. Secular bloggers in Bangladesh are hacked to death in the street (see article); French cartoonists are gunned down in their offices. The jihadists hurt Muslims more than any others, not least by making it harder for them to have an honest discussion about how to organise their societies.

This is a growing threat and leads to a lot of self-censorship. A newspaper should treat a cartoon of Mohammed in the same way as a cartoon of Jesus. But we know that only one of these would result in death threats, so newspapers self-censor.

Third, the idea has spread that people and groups have a right not to be offended. This may sound innocuous. Politeness is a virtue, after all. But if I have a right not to be offended, that means someone must police what you say about me, or about the things I hold dear, such as my ethnic group, religion, or even political beliefs. Since offence is subjective, the power to police it is both vast and arbitrary. Nevertheless, many students in America and Europe believe that someone should exercise it. Some retreat into the absolutism of identity politics, arguing that men have no right to speak about feminism nor whites to speak about slavery. Others have blocked thoughtful, well-known speakers, such as Condoleezza Rice and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, from being heard on campus (see article).

Im glad they included this, as it is a huge and growing issue, especially on campuses.

The threat to free speech on Western campuses is very different from that faced by atheists in Afghanistan or democrats in China. But when progressive thinkers agree that offensive words should be censored, it helps authoritarian regimes to justify their own much harsher restrictions and intolerant religious groups their violence.

And they do.

Blasphemy laws are an anachronism. A religion should be open to debate. Laws against hate speech are unworkably subjective and widely abused. Banning words or arguments which one group finds offensive does not lead to social harmony. On the contrary, it gives everyone an incentive to take offencea fact that opportunistic politicians with ethnic-based support are quick to exploit. Incitement to violence should be banned. However, it should be narrowly defined as instances when the speaker intends to goad those who agree with him to commit violence, and when his words are likely to have an immediate effect. Shouting Lets kill the Jews to an angry mob outside a synagogue qualifies. Drunkenly posting I wish all the Jews were dead on an obscure Facebook page probably does not.

Very good examples. The response to the latter should be exposure and criticism, not criminal prosecution.

However, any public college, and any college that aspires to help students grow intellectually, should aim to expose them to challenging ideas. The world outside campus will often offend them; they must learn to fight back using peaceful protests, rhetoric and reason. These are good rules for everyone. Never try to silence views with which you disagree. Answer objectionable speech with more speech. Win the argument without resorting to force. And grow a tougher hide.

Hear hear.

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photos by ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL Rala store owner Nanci Solomon, center, poses for a photo with David Harman, Native Maps creator, and Joy O'Shell, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center outreach director, inside Rala on Wednesday. Knoxville is one of 13 cities around the country involved in Etsy's "Maker City" initiative.

SHARE Store owner Nanci Solomon arranges local artists and craftspeople's work on a shelf at Rala on Wednesday. Knoxville is one of 13 cities around the country involved in Etsy's "Maker City" initiative. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) Fabric magnets made by local crafts artists are displayed on a shelf at Rala. Shop owner Nancy Solomon was at the Etsy summit. Jewelry made by local craft artists hang on a rack at Rala. Knoxville is one of 13 cities around the country involved in Etsy's "Maker City" initiative. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) Locally produced artwork is displayed on a shelf at Rala.

By Ali James of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville is becoming an official "Etsy Maker City."

Etsy, a popular online marketplace where artists and craftspeople sell the unique goods they make, recently launched a program called Etsy Maker Cities to explore opportunities for local governments to help micro-entrepreneurs in their communities to start and grow their creative businesses. It officially kicked off with an Etsy Maker Cities Summit on May 12-13 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Nanci Solomon, owner of Rala, a downtown Knoxville store that sells curated goods from regional and local artisans, first heard about the summit when Etsy Wholesale division representatives visited Knoxville in April.

"We have worked with them via email for years until they came to visit the store, looked around Knoxville and met a couple of the local makers we carry at Rala," Solomon said. "They said it (the summit) might be something we could be interested in."

Solomon formed a team with Joy O'Shell, outreach director of the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, and David Harman, creator of Native Maps, a local company that produces artistic wall maps of select U.S. cities.

After filling out a "pretty extensive application," Solomon was surprised that her team was just one of 17 groups chosen to attend out of hundreds of applications from makers, mayors, manufacturers and mom-and-pop shops from 126 cities across 41 states and Canadian provinces.

Appalachia's proud tradition

"It was an extremely great honor to be chosen," she said. "There were quite a few from the South. We were extremely proud of that. We don't know if we're becoming a new area for makers, but as David pointed out at the summit, Appalachia has a deep tradition of crafting and making."

To become an Etsy Maker City, Etsy community members and leaders from a city had to apply, attend the Maker City Summit, and execute their project plan together. The specifics of each project plan were determined by the participants at the summit, but all plans had to focus on building stronger economies that empower creative micro-entrepreneurs.

"One of the first things we did, with four or five of us to a table, was ask ourselves, 'What is the ideal maker city to you,'" Solomon said. "We collected ideas, and then after 20 minutes we played musical tables for the first half of the first day. You met people and government officials from all over the country, store owners and artists, and later in the day we consolidated the different ideas of emerging trends."

Later, teams listened to a panel of speakers including government employees who had been involved in the redevelopment of Brooklyn as a maker mecca.

On the second day, the attendees broke off into city-specic "Action Teams," and dreamed up achievable initiatives to bring home to their communities and implement together throughout the year.

"Along with an Etsy representative, we mapped out a 30-, 60- and 90-day plan, but we felt like before we could say specifically, we thought we would have a summit in Knoxville," Solomon said. "Not just the city, but the outer-lying areas, to discuss what can we do to make Knoxville a great maker city."

MAKERS WANT TO GROW, NEED HELP

Over the past six years, Solomon has seen many makers wanting to take their businesses to the next level.

"There seems to be a missing link," she said. "They're not at the level of mass production and are unable to meet a big minimum order. If you don't go that step further, you continue to make it yourself. They can continue to grow, but they need help."

Talking to local and state governments about attracting smaller manufacturers, not just the big ones, and not just the tech ones, might help solve the problem, Solomon said.

"The event was great; for me it was a great opportunity to take a step back and think about how I relate to my city, (and) to understand that there are probably hundreds of people in my shoes across my city," Harman said.

As a small-business owner, Harman said, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks.

"With a little bit of self-advocating, one phone call or an email to your local government can go a long way," he said. "They need to hear from small businesses to learn how to serve them best."

Harman said the Knoxville group learned much from the Memphis team, who had a third-party data research group attend with them.

"(They) said instead of saying this is how much revenue micro businesses bring in, we should say how many employees or people we have, say we have 300 sole proprietors," Harman said. "The city would go way out of their way to have a business that has 300 employees come to the city.

"We need to create a great connection between small businesses," he said. "Formal or social, we all benefit from a sense of community and making a greater effort to connect."

One of the key topics discussed at the summit was redefining manufacturing, according to the team.

"There's a greater need for small-batch manufacturing," Harman said. "Lots of manufacturing ability is waiting to be reinvigorated, brought back to life on a small-batch scale. Connecting people to meet each other's needs in that way is a huge opportunity in Knoxville."

ETSY'S MOTIVE ALTRUISTIC

He said it was interesting to see how little Etsy has to gain in the short term from this process.

"They're just trying to make cities a better place for makers," he said. "They were there to make sense of where their makers and brick-and-mortar stores are, and see how we could all help each other. (It was) so inspiring to see a large business do that."

The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center was starting to do something similar "to bring government folks and creative types together in a happy-hour series," O'Shell said. "(The goal was) getting those interested in the creative industries into the same room, ideally over local wine."

KEC is a nonprofit, mentor-driven business accelerator in Market Square that serves as a resource for entrepreneurs or anyone looking to start or grow a business here.

O'Shell attended the summit with the blessing of the Knoxville's mayor's office.

"They were very supportive; I was their proxy," she said. "But in my day-to-day role in KEC, I serve a 16-county radius, and all of the knowledge that we learned is completely transferable to those rural activities, too."

O'Shell said that rural areas are even more focused on manufacturing.

"They have fantastic industrial parks and small downtowns they are looking to revitalize, and Etsy provides the framework that would work in a small city or downtown," she said. "Helping creative businesses see themselves more as manufacturers and not just artists ... was one of the biggest takeaways.

'THEY WANT TO COME OUT OF THE HOUSE'

"Etsy was historically very crafty, and so they're moving away from crafty to makers," O'Shell said. "They're still making things, but changing the words to describe what you do, so it's more universal, to get the attention of local government and business leaders."

She said the hope is that "we can make the process easier for people to come out of the shadows."

"The Knoxville Chamber is going to tap into that," O'Shell said. "There were a lot of people who couldn't figure out how to get a business license; (and) people (who) are looking for shared spaces and co-working processes. The community is telling us that they want to come out of the house."

To learn more about the coming Knoxville Maker City Summit, contact the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center at joy@knoxec.net or Rala at shoprala@gmail.com.
A test train drives close to the northern gate of the Gotthard Base Tunnel near Erstfeld, Switzerland. Just like Hannibal in ancient times, Swiss engineers have conquered the Alps burrowing the world's longest railway tunnel to ease trade and congestion in European trade and travel. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone via AP)

SHARE Artists perform during the opening show directed by German director Volker Hesse, on the opening day of the Gotthard rail tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world, at the fairground Rynaecht at the northern portal in Erstfeld, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. The construction of the 57 kilometer long tunnel began in 1999, the breakthrough was in 2010. (Alexandra Wey/Keystone via AP)

By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press

GENEVA  Just like Hannibal in ancient times, Swiss engineers have conquered the Alps.

More than 2,200 years after the commander from the ancient North African civilization of Carthage led his army of elephants and troops over Europe's highest mountain chain, the Swiss have completed another gargantuan task: Burrowing the world's longest railway tunnel under the Swiss Alps to improve European trade and travel.

European dignitaries on Wednesday inaugurated the 35.4-mile Gotthard Railway Tunnel, a major engineering achievement deep under the Alps' snow-capped peaks. It took 17 years to build at a cost of 12.2 billion Swiss francs ($12 billion)  but workers kept to a key Swiss tradition and brought the massive project in on time and on budget.

Many tunnels crisscross the Swiss Alps. The Gotthard Pass itself already has two  the first, also for trains, was built in 1882. But the Gotthard base tunnel is a record-setter eclipsing Japan's 53.8-kilometer (33.4-mile) Seikan Tunnel as the world's longest  and it also bores deeper than any other tunnel, running about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) underground at its maximum depth.

The tube bores through the Gotthard massif that includes the 2,500-meter (8,200-foot) Piz Vatgira on the way to Italy. It is part of a broader, multi-tunnel project to shift the haulage of goods from roads to rails amid concerns that heavy trucks are destroying Switzerland's pristine Alpine landscape.

The tunnel's impact will be felt across Europe for decades.

The thoroughfare aims to cut travel times, ease roadway traffic and reduce the air pollution spewed from trucks traveling between Europe's north and south. Set to open for commercial service in December, the two-way tunnel can handle up to 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains per day.

Swiss planners have dreamt of such a tunnel for decades, and Gotthard's 17 years of construction don't include the many years spent to scope out suitable paths.

Switzerland pulled out all the stops for Wednesday's inauguration. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Francois Hollande of France and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi all came to southern Switzerland for an upbeat, glitzy celebration featuring musical bands, dancers and even a theme song for the tunnel.

Under purple neon lights, performers dressed in orange miners' suits and protective helmets danced atop a moving rail car, while others in skimpy outfits feigned wrestling and trapeze artists hung from chains or ropes.

The tunnel runs between the German-speaking Swiss town of Erstfeld in the north to the Italian-speaking town of Bodio in the south, cutting through central Switzerland. The tunnel journey takes about 20 minutes for passenger trains.

Split-screen TV images Wednesday showed two trains in opposite directions entering and leaving the tunnel entrances nearly simultaneously.

The project, funded in part by Swiss taxpayers and fees on trucks, received financial support and industrial know-how from around the European Union. Although Switzerland isn't one of the bloc's 28 members, the EU railway network gets a big boost from this shortcut through the Alps, notably on the route from Germany to Italy.

"The new tunnel fits into the European railway freight corridor, which links Rotterdam and Genoa"  key ports in the Netherlands and Italy, said Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann. "Aside from saving time, more merchandise can be carried through the Alps."

A test run by the EU leaders on Wednesday turned into a sort of mini-summit beneath real Alpine summits: Merkel, Renzi, Hollande and Schneider-Ammann sat face-to-face for a ride in first class through the tunnel. A band played Rossini's "William Tell Overture" after they arrived.

Merkel said it was a "wonderful feeling" to be on the train. Though "more than 2,000 meters of rocks" were above, she said she felt a "feeling of security, because I believe in the security of the Swiss civil engineers."

She congratulated the punctual Swiss and noted how costs were kept within targets.

"That's something Germany still needs to strive for," she added

Hollande, host of the U.N. climate change summit held in Paris last year, pointed to the tunnel's environmental benefits.

"You have created a great European infrastructure," Hollande said at the tunnel's southern exit. "It will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, redirect traffic from the road to rail and move passengers and goods faster."

He also used the chance to remind Britons of the unity that the tunnel under the English Channel has brought between Britain and the continent  comments that came just weeks before Britons vote June 23 on whether to stay in the EU or leave.

"More than 20 years ago, a construction was completed between France and the United Kingdom: The Channel Tunnel," Hollande said. "Since then, we are united like never before, and I hope the British remember that when the time comes."

Renzi echoed that connective symbolism, despite the current discord in the EU over how to best handle a surge of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

"At a time when some are thinking about building walls ... today Switzerland gives us a beautiful signal about building a tunnel, connecting, and making chances for meeting," Renzi said.

Swiss forces took no chances with security for the inauguration. Almost 2,000 additional Swiss troops were called, helicopters buzzed overhead and air space restrictions were put over the tunnel area.
Alan Ashworth and "Wildcat" Bert Emmerson on Mt. Katahdin on June 18, 2015. (Photo by Camille "Phlatlander" Wray)

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SUN AND WIND

Ijams Nature Center is celebrating creativity with a windchime and suncatcher class at 6 p.m. Tuesday June 7. Recommended for adults, the class will show participants how to create your own windchime or suncatcher from recycled materials. Keys, old jewelry, scrap metal and more will be transformed into new and exciting pieces that you can hang outside in the sun all summer long. Each participant will leave with a completed project. The fee for this workshop is $20, all supplies are included. Call 865-577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

TRAIL TALES

Bert Emmerson, who served as the 2015 Appalachian Trail chaplain, will share tales from the Trail at a free program at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, sponsored by the Harvey Broome Group of the Sierra Club. It will be held at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike.

Emmerson is a master storyteller. He started taking long hikes in the Smokies and met Appalachain Trail thru-hikers over the years. In 2003 he decided to try a thru-hike himself. By 2008 he completed the triple crown of long distance hiking; he was the 80th person to thru-hike not only the Appalachian Trail but also the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. He works at the Little River Trading Company in Maryville where he helps out beginners as well as advanced hikers with his experience.

The program is free and open to the public.

IT'S A WRAP

The 54th annual Lenoir City Arts and Crafts Festival concludes today at Lenoir City Park beside Fort Loudoun Lake. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 200 crafters will sell their wares, ranging from ceramics and glassware to metal work and jewelry. A wide array of fast food and home baked delicacies will be available. All funds raised by this event are donated throughout Loudon County and surrounding communities to benefit local organizations and charities.

FATHER-SON CONCERT

World-renowned bassist Edgar Meyer and his son, violinist George Meyer, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at the First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge.

In demand as both a performer and a composer, Oak Ridge native Edgar Meyer has been hailed by The New Yorker as "the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument."

Seating is limited for this concert; advance ticket purchases are recommended. General admission is $25. Student tickets are available for $5 with a valid student ID. Tickets are available online at www.ORCMA.org or by calling 865-483-5569.

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I consider myself a common sense guy blessed with reasonable intelligence.

I earned a college degree. I know how to arrange thoughts and convey them in written form.

I can read maps to navigate quiet woodlands and busy streets. Well, most of the time.

To be clear: An engineer I'm not. My brain isn't wired on that kind of circuit  and this alleged "deficiency" doesn't bother me one iota.

I can't explain much beyond the basics of internal combustion, yet have successfully operated cars, trucks, motorized watercraft and lawn equipment for more than half a century.

So what if I don't know exactly how a 60-horse outboard runs? As long as it pushes me from Concord Park to Fort Loudoun Dam and back, everything's fine.

Same with mechanized flight. I barely grasp the connection between propulsion and lift but still have logged untold thousands of passenger air miles. Gazing down on the Rockies, the Alps, Japan, the British Isles, New England or the Gulf of Mexico, I've never lost a minute wondering how the view was made possible.

For that matter, I couldn't care less about mojo inside the devices I use on a daily basis  microwave, coffee maker, central air, TV, refrigerator, even the keyboard my fingers are striking right now. They work; I'm happy.

So please explain why the notion of "3-D printing" bugs me to no end?

Every time I read how a functional automobile, full-sized house, even replaceable organs for the human body can be produced on one of these gizmos, I want to slap my forehead and holler, "What-tha?! Huh?!"

Save your complicated, formulated, precision expertise. Lord knows I've tried. Through the wonders of the internet (something else I don't understand), I've perused a gazillion digitized examples. The concept still escapes. And this irks the bejabbers out of me.

How can the dimensions of a fuel pump, a china cabinet or a small intestine be fed into some magic box, a few buttons get pushed and a spanking-new, interchangeable copy pops out the other end?

That barely scans the horizon. They say it's possible to replicate a working handgun via 3-D printing, which oughta build .44 Magnum nightmares for cops and civilians alike.

Oh, well. Such are the many frustrations of a baby boom geezer.

But who knows? Maybe I can quit worrying about air and water pollution, climate change, mountaintop mining and other environmental sores. Just push some buttons and crank out a fresh, unblemished planet Earth.

Say! There's a plan I'd love, even if the process remained a mystery forever.

Dibs on that cheap new stretch of Naples beach. Go make one of your own.
The colors are presented as the Tennessee Wind Symphony, led by Ric Best, plays the national anthem during the Remote Area Medical commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE World War II veteran Charlie Brakebill returns the salute of Navy Sea Cadet Kathryn Fellhoelter during the Remote Area Medical commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport. Brakebill, a retired University of Tennessee vice president, wrote about his war experiences in the book, "A Piano Love Affair." (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Lt. Col. David Presley of the Tennessee State Guard waits to give the invocation during the Remote Area Medical commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) World War II veteran Louise Owens listens to the invocation during the Remote Area Medical commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport. Owens is among a group from the Ben Atchley State Veterans Home who were honored during the program. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Connor Emmons, with his mother, Jennifer, checks out a display of Vietnam War memorabilia during the Remote Area Medical commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Knoxville Downtown Island Airport. In the background are Dennis Ford, left, and RAM staff member Cody Lawson, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Related Photos Remote Area Medical commemorates the 72nd anniversary of D-Day

By John Shearer of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Debbie Eslinger's father never talked about his World War II service.

Memories of him came to mind Saturday as Eslinger and her daughter, Melissa Burroughs, watched Remote Area Medical's annual "Salute to Service" commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy and wrested Western Europe from Nazi control.

Only after Hubert Loveday's death in later years did they find out more details of his service through military transcripts and records.

"My grandfather was on the European front and in some of the biggest campaigns," Burroughs said as they gathered at Knoxville's Downtown Island Airport with her niece, Savannah Lively. "He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and received commendations for that."

While it was typical for members of that generation not to talk about themselves, on Saturday plenty of others besides just Burroughs and Eslinger talked about them. RAM's event, held a day ahead of Monday's anniversary of the invasion, offered a history lesson together with a patriotic smorgasbord of singing, instrument playing, recognition ceremonies and speeches.

"Those brave young men and women changed forever the destiny of the world," RAM founder Stan Brock, the former television star of "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom," told the crowd of about 200-300 people.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, whose father, Charles Burchett Sr., served as a Marine during World War II, said the troops who fought in such battles as D-Day should be placed on pedestals. Instead, athletes or politicians or other celebrities often are, he said.

"All my heroes wore dog tags," Burchett said. "I'm afraid today as a society we've lost touch with that."

Receiving special recognition during the roughly 90-minute program were the 15 or so World War II veterans who were introduced and presented special hats, as were several Vietnam veterans. The latter received special pins commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Southeast Asian war.

The event, held at RAM's vintage hangar against the backdrop of the nonprofit group's DC-3 airplane that was used at D-Day, also offered an old-fashioned touch in the form of the music offered. Performing patriotic and sentimental World War II-era songs were the Tennessee Wind Symphony, the Smokyland Sound Barbershop Chorus and bagpiper Vince Ayub of the Knoxville Pipes and Drums.

The event also included a 21-rifle salute and an aircraft flyover.

Eslinger, whose husband, David, served in Germany during the Vietnam era, called it a great event.

"The younger generation needs to know the young men and women who served our country," she said.
SHARE State Sen. Ken Yager

By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  State Sen. Ken Yager has formally protested a federal agency's move to let doctors issue prescriptions to more patients for the use of a drug designed to treat opioid addiction, contending the move opens the door to substituting abuse of one drug for another.

The Kingston Republican, who chairs the Senate State and Local Government Committee, said in a news release last week that he has filed formal comments with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration opposing the rule proposed by the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration.

The rule deals with buprenorphine, a substitute opioid used to treat opioid addiction, mostly marketed under the name Suboxone. Under current rules, an individual doctor can prescribe the medication to no more than 100 patients in a year. The proposed change would allow up to 200 patients per year.

"This proposal is an important step to increasing access to evidence-based treatment to help more people get the treatment necessary for their recovery and is critical in our comprehensive approach to addressing the serious opioid epidemic facing our nation," HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a March 29 news release announcing the revised rule.

According to a New York Times article, buprenorphine is a "blockbuster drug most people have never heard of" that has surpassed $1.5 billion in U.S. sales as a means of combating an explosion in the illegal use of other opioid drugs. Buprenorphine has been acclaimed both for successful treatment and criticized for failures while becoming "a street and prison drug bedeviling local authorities."

Yager was sponsor of a bill approved by the Legislature earlier this year that puts Suboxone clinics in Tennessee under regulatory supervision of the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. His release says "the action by the Obama administration would aggravate the current problem of Suboxone misuse in Tennessee and allow unscrupulous doctors who pander to the trade to threaten public safety."

"Unscrupulous medical doctors are pandering to this trade, resulting in large numbers of addicts loitering around the offices (of the clinics) and making a general nuisance and threat to public safety. Local law enforcement is unable to do anything because current federal regulations protect the doctor, the office, and the clientele," Yager said.

"Liberalizing the current rules would aggravate the current problem. In light of the problems with growing opioid addiction and the troubling issues associated with use of Suboxone, the federal government should reconsider its lax enabling of the use of Suboxone in treating people with opiate addiction rather than changing the rules to allow doctors to expand the clientele."

By requiring licensing of the state clinics, Yager said his proposed law "attempts to root out these bad actors so opiate abusers do not utilize Suboxone to continue their life of addiction" and "helps to ensure that these centers are using a multi-disciplinary approach in aiding patients to overcome their addiction and become productive members of society."
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I rarely give a shout out to the Tennessee General Assembly, but I did not want the previous session to pass without my thanks for a job well done on one issue. In March the News Sentinel reported the Tennessee Senate Education Committee rejected a bill that would have authorized the popular election of school superintendents in Tennessee public school districts.

Sanity prevailed.

The students of Tennessee deserve the best educational professionals available to lead their districts. They do not deserve an endless carousel of local elites who are beholden to everyone who helped them rise through the ranks and who now, due to having to run in a campaign, are beholden to even more people who might expect a payback in return for support.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett was quoted in the article as saying he agrees with sponsor state Sen. Frank Niceley's description of people who are for appointed superintendents as "urban elitists." This is an odd statement coming from someone who fits the very definition of one of our local elites. Since he obviously prefers the position be an elected one, one can infer he prefers no "outsiders" for these positions. The open offices would have to be campaigned for by local people who are able to run in elections. These people would not appear out of thin air  they would also be part of the "local elite."

Just because things remain "local" does not take the elitism out of the equation. Make no mistake  local politics is just a different level of elitism.

Why shouldn't these positions be open to all qualified people? A person coming in with an unprejudiced eye is able to make recommendations that a local person, with much baggage, never could.

Don't the students of Tennessee deserve the best? An endless parade of local bubbas and bubba-ettes in these positions is a recipe for stagnation. It is also a recipe for payback jobs in the school systems. Also, just because the position is an appointed one in no way precludes those doing the appointing of finding a well-qualified local candidate.

Additionally, the absolute waste of time and money on campaigns for these positions is spared. The endless campaigning required for successive re-election is also spared.

Tennessee's students deserve the best qualified candidates for school district leadership. Educating students for the global economy they will enter is far too important to be hindered by parochial and insular mindsets that are not open to new ideas. Contrary to the belief of some, doing the same things with the same people over and over is not helpful when the world is changing. Local people, though they may possess a lot of "familiarity" of situations, can become impediments to progress. Elected school boards, imbued with the responsibility of finding excellence to helm their districts, should confidently search for the best candidates available.

Thank you, Tennessee senators who voted against this bill. Your votes were a job well done for the school children of Tennessee.

Mary C. Lancaster lives in Knoxville.
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Recent changes to Department of Defense policy have opened up all specialties in the military to all qualified personnel. This has also caused Congress to consider requiring all Americans to register for the Selective Service (the military draft). Although the draft is a distant memory, lately I've started to believe that everyone should spend some time in the military, for the following reasons:

n It would help us all understand our country better.

Only around 1.4 million Americans (0.4 percent) are currently on active duty, and the Veterans Administration estimates that in 2014 there were around 22 million veterans, for a total of less than 8 percent of the population. Required military service would allow everyone to have a view of how the government works  the good, the bad and the ugly. People would obviously not have identical experiences, but each experience would serve as a lens to understanding the use of military force for the rest of our lives. An informed citizenry with an understanding of the strengths and limitations of our military would be an enormous asset to our nation.

n It would enhance accountability for our use of military force.

We tend to discuss accountability in the crucial terms of either lives lost or dollars spent. There are additional measures of accountability, however. Every bomb dropped or bullet fired in anger comes not only from the president, a general or a soldier, but from the entire United States of America. More widespread military service might force more of us to come to grips with the awesome responsibility that accompanies our enormous power after seeing and experiencing the effects of using that power.

n It would give us all skin in the game.

Every right we have is guaranteed only by our power to maintain those rights. It's intuitively fair that everyone put personal effort into maintaining them.

n It's a great opportunity to create or expand a personal network.

Another real and immediate benefit of military service is the opportunity to meet mentors and build networks that would otherwise not be available. Need a letter of recommendation for your college application? Now you know people who have seen you overcome difficult challenges and show real leadership. If someone finishes high school and knows exactly what they want to do with their lives, great. If not, then they'll get a chance to see some options.

n It would help our youth transition to adulthood.

I read and hear constant complaints about soft, coddled American millennials with rooms full of participation trophies and helicopter parents smoothing their paths for them. Though I strongly disagree with this stereotype, even a brief stint of military service  just the completion of basic training, or "boot camp," for example  would help prepare young people to better face the challenges of adulthood. They would have to learn to stand up for themselves, to work with others and to persevere in the face of adversity. They would learn discipline, responsibility and teamwork that will serve them well throughout life and benefit our nation as a whole when these young adults enter the workforce.

n It would help unify us as a nation.

We all feel the effects of increasing polarization in public life. Politics have become more nasty and personal, and with another election cycle always around the corner, this nastiness has seeped into the nation at large. Requiring everyone to fulfill military service would force everyone to at least meet and work with people from different backgrounds and with different viewpoints, and they might even become friends. It's a lot more difficult to be nasty and personal when there's a friend's face attached to a disagreeing perspective. First-hand experience would also serve as a check on extremism in both the right and left wings of American politics as people come to understand that the military is neither the source of nor the solution to most of our problems.

OK, so universal military service probably isn't going to happen in the foreseeable future. But it's an interesting idea.

Joshua Aisen is an officer in the U.S. Navy and 1999 graduate of William Blount High School. He recently completed his master's degree at Harvard University. The views in this column are his personal opinions and do not represent the U.S. Navy or Department of Defense.
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It's now all but certain that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be the major party candidates in the November presidential election  an astonishing feat, since polls suggest neither candidate is all that well-liked by voters.

As a result, there's talk that this may be the year a third-party candidate could break through  from the Libertarian Party, say, or possibly an independent run backed by Bill Kristol, the longtime Republican and editor of the conservative Weekly Standard.

Could it really happen? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.

JOEL MATHIS

Certain fans of "The Simpsons"  middle-aged folks who grew up with the show during its early 1990s heyday  will remember a classic election-oriented episode in which Homer Simpson unmasks the two presidential candidates, a Democrat and a Republican, to be hideous space reptiles in disguise.

The revelation means little: "It's true!" one of the aliens announces. "But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system! You have to vote for one of us!"

A citizen in the crowd pipes up: "Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate!"

"Go ahead! Throw your vote away!" the alien replies, laughing maniacally.

Sad to say, the alien was correct in his assessment of our politics.

Despise Donald? Hate Hillary? It's absolutely your right to vote for a candidate who makes a better appeal to your sensibilities. The Libertarians and the Green Party, among others, are always out there seeking your vote  and Never Trump Republicans may offer their own alternative candidate this year. Just don't expect any of them to win, or even come close  not even in this extraordinary political year.

Maybe it's time to change the rules.

The best option? A wholesale turn to instant runoff voting, a system in which a voter ranks candidates in order of preference. If a candidate captures more than half the first-preference votes, he or she wins, and the election is over. Otherwise, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and the ballots are retabulated. If your first-choice candidate was eliminated, your second-choice preference will get the vote instead. Repeat the process until one candidate gains a clear majority.

It's slightly complicated but also a bit brilliant. It lets voters demonstrate their preferences without worrying that they are, in fact, throwing their votes away. Want to vote for the Libertarian candidate? Go ahead. If he's eliminated, your support can immediately and automatically shift to a candidate who has a better chance of winning.

It seems increasingly clear that this election will provide satisfaction to few voters. But it's also clear the system isn't necessarily designed to provide that satisfaction. Want to make a change? Start with the rules that discourage third-party votes in the first place.

BEN BOYCHUK

Americans love third-party outsiders, mavericks and independents. Just ask former presidents Eugene V. Debs, George Wallace, John Anderson, Ross Perot and Ralph Nader  as soon as you find your way into the weird parallel universe where those guys were elected.

In our world, the enthusiasm for third-party presidential candidates never quite translates into electoral majorities. Historically, third-party candidates don't win presidential elections; they spoil them. More often than not, they don't even crack double digits in the popular vote.

Perot was an exceptional case in 1992. The Texas multimillionaire ran a campaign similar to Trump's, focusing on the economy and the ill effects of free trade. He was even the front-runner for a time, until a series of bizarre missteps drove him from the race in July.

For a few months, anyway. Perot re-entered the contest in October and ended up winning just under 19 percent of the popular vote  nowhere near enough to win, obviously, but enough to deny Republican President George H.W. Bush a second term.

What makes a third party more appealing than appalling this time is the dismal popularity of the parties' presumptive nominees. More than half of voters say they dislike Clinton and Trump  and "dislike" is putting it charitably. Many voters hate them in the worst way. That's unprecedented.

Yet, once again, most of those same voters appear unenthusiastic or simply uninterested in the meager alternatives on offer. The Libertarian ticket might break 10 percent this year.

A new Quinnipiac University poll found that Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump among registered voters, 45 percent to 41 percent. When third-party candidates are added to the mix, however, Clinton's lead contracts to 40 percent over Trump's 38 percent. Big whoop. (Bear in mind, polls of registered voters aren't nearly as predictive as polls of likely voters who have a track record of showing up on Election Day.)

But as useful as history can be, it really hasn't been much of a guide this year, has it? Trump's campaign was never supposed to survive 2015. He was never supposed to win the Republican nomination. And he has no chance whatsoever of beating Clinton in November. Right?

Right?!

Ben Boychuk (bboychuk@city-journal.org) is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Joel Mathis (joelmmathis@gmail.com) is associate editor for Philadelphia Magazine.
Kim Tae-kyung, second from left, vice president of Cheil General Hospital, poses with Al Garhoud Hospital CEO Ahmed Ghanem, second from right, after signing an agreement in Dubai, June 1. Under the accord, Cheil will establish and operate an infertility treatment center at Al Garhoud Hospital, the first Korean medical institution to do so in the Middle East. / Courtesy of Cheil General Hospital



By Lee Hyo-sik

Cheil General Hospital will set up and operate an infertility treatment center in Dubai by the end of this year, the first Korean medical institution to do so.

The hospital, which deals mostly with women's health issues, will manage the construction of the facility and send its medical personnel and other staff to run it.

Kim Tae-kyung, vice president of Cheil General Hospital, and other company officials visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early this month to conclude an agreement with Al Garhoud Hospital in Dubai, one of the largest medical institutions in the Middle Eastern nation.

On June 1, Kim signed the contract with Ahmed Ghanem, CEO of the hospital, to establish the infertility treatment center there.

Under the agreement, Cheil will oversee the construction of the center and establish an operating system. Dozens of medical staff and researchers specializing in infertility treatment will also go to Al Garhoud Hospital, which has been providing world-class medical services since its foundation in 2012.

"The latest agreement shows that we are one of the world's leading women's health care providers," Kim said. "We expect to create a great deal of synergy with Al Garhoud Hospital when we start operating the treatment center. We will expand cooperation with our UAE counterpart to other areas of women's health to provide more comprehensive medical services to patients there."

Kim said Cheil will continue to work hard to expand its presence in the Middle East. "We will seek more opportunities to share our advanced know-how and expertise with other nations."

Several local hospitals have set up medical facilities in the UAE over the past few years but Cheil is the first to open a gynecological treatment center there.

Cheil, founded in 1963, is Korea's first medical institution dedicated to women. Operating 16 departments and 32 specialized clinics, it is comprised of the main hospital building, an ambulatory center, an infertility center, a medical exam center for women, a breast cancer center, as well as a gynecological endoscopic surgery center.
Coupang employees are about to load parcels onto a delivery truck at a company warehouse outside Seoul. Korea's leading e-commerce firm said it operates its own delivery system, Rocket Delivery, to get products to customers quickly and safely. / Courtesy of Coupang



By Lee Hyo-sik

A group of logistics firms have filed a lawsuit against Coupang, arguing that it violates the country's Transport Service Act by operating its own delivery system without a license.

However, Korea's leading e-commerce site has said the company has not broken any laws because it does not charge for delivery.

The Korea Interland Logistics Association (KILA), which represents the interests of 16 logistics firms, said Thursday that it filed a suit the day before against Coupang with the Seoul Central District Court. The association claimed the e-commerce operator violated the act by operating a delivery system without obtaining a license from the government.

"Logistics companies have suffered hundreds of billions of won in lost sales because of Coupang's Rocket Delivery," a KILA official said. "Through the latest lawsuit, we will let the public know that the company engages in an illegal business practice, which has compromised fair market competition."

Coupang delivers parcels costing more than 9,800 won through its delivery service, Rocket Delivery, free of charge. The company says Rocket Delivery does not violate the Transport Service Act, adding it doesn't need a license because it does not charge for delivery.

However, logistics firms argue that, regardless of whether it charges delivery fees or not, Coupang must have a license from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport if it wants to offer parcel delivery service.

KILA's latest lawsuit came after a series of failed attempts to stop Coupang from operating Rocket Delivery. It previously filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court, demanding the e-commerce site be ordered to suspend its own delivery service. But the court dismissed the KILA petition.

The association also filed petitions with multiple district prosecutors' offices across the country, which all disregarded its complaints.

The transport ministry also ruled that Rocket Delivery does not breach the relevant law.

"We just don't understand why logistics firms filed the lawsuit even though they don't have a chance of winning," a Coupang spokesman said. "The judiciary, law enforcement and the transport ministry have all recognized the legitimacy of Rocket Delivery. We will settle the issue once and for all through this lawsuit."

The spokesman said the company introduced Rocket Delivery to deliver goods to customers across the country in a faster and safer manner, adding that it has greatly boosted customer satisfaction and it will continue to expand its delivery service.

Currently, Coupang has about 3,500 delivery workers in the field, and 6,000 more at its logistics and customer service centers. It also runs 14 warehouses.

The company plans to increase its delivery staff to 40,000 and operate 21 warehouses across the country by 2017.
President Park Geun-hye sits in the driver seat of a Tucson ix35 fuel cell electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) during her visit to the French gas company Air Liquide's research center in Grenoble, France, Saturday. The SUV is used as a taxi by French startup electric taxi company STEP. / Yonhap



By Jhoo Dong-chan

Hyundai Motor has agreed to work with global industrial gas company Air Liquide on strengthening cooperation to increase sales of fuel-cell electric vehicles and expand hydrogen infrastructure for the global market.

Air Liquide is considered to have the world's top expertise in hydrogen production and hydrogen plant construction and operation. Hyundai, the world's fifth-largest automaker, feels strongly that it will continue leading the next generation eco-friendly auto market not only with electric vehicles (EVs) but with fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

According to a Hyundai Motor official, Sunday, Hyundai Motor President Chung Jin-haeng, and head of Hyundai's Eco Technology Center, Senior Vice President Lee Ki-sang, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Air Liquide Chairman Benoit Potier and President Pierre-Etienne Franc at Air Liquide's research center in Grenoble, France, Saturday.

"We expect significant synergy from the partnership with Air Liquide, which is globally competitive in hydrogen energy, while we have top-notch technology demonstrated by the world's first commercial production of fuel-cell electric vehicles," a Hyundai official said.

"We will continue to contribute to the wider use of fuel-cell electric vehicles globally.''

Under the deal, the two companies agreed to strengthen cooperation to invigorate the fuel-cell electric vehicle market, utilizing hydrogen as clean renewable energy and developing business models related to hydrogen refueling stations.

Air Liquide has partnered Korea's largest automaker for a long time and installed the nation's first international-standard hydrogen refueling station at Hyundai Motor Group's Environmental Technology Laboratory earlier this year.

Hyundai Motor is also taking part in the hydrogen electric taxi project, Hydrogen Powered Electric (HYPE), in Paris. The automaker has provided five Tucson FCEVs to STEP, the French start-up electric vehicle taxi company. Air Liquide is building hydrogen infrastructure in Paris, including hydrogen refueling stations.

Fuel-cell vehicles are considered the future of eco-friendly vehicles, surpassing hybrids and electric vehicles because they are 100 percent pollution free, emitting only water.

Hyundai Motor started developing hydrogen electric vehicles in 1998 and introduced the world's first commercial fuel-cell electric vehicle in 2013.

The Tucson FCEV has a 100-kilowatt fuel-cell stack, 100-kilowatt electric motor, 24-kilowatt high-voltage battery and a hydrogen storage tank (700 bars). The Tucson FCEV can reach 100 kilometers per hour in 12.5 seconds, which compares favorably with vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. With a single charge of only three to 10 minutes, the Tucson FCEV can be driven up to 415 kilometers.

Its power train has been recognized for its advanced technology and was selected as one of the world's 10 best engines in 2015, a first for a fuel-cell electric vehicle.
By Yoon Ja-young



The government is seeking ways to boost carbon emissions rights trading, which is failing to take root in the country.



The Ministry of Strategy and Finance established the Climate Economy Division within the Future and Social Policy Bureau last week, which will be supporting the government's climate change schemes.



Its major task is to increase carbon trading, setting up and coordinating plans on emissions quotas, as well as controlling the emissions rights market. It will have government officials from the finance ministry and the environment ministry.



"The reorganization is expected to invigorate the emissions rights trading market as well as help with the strategic distribution of resources in the mid-to-long term perspective," a spokesperson for the finance ministry said.



The move also reflects a paradigm shift, in which carbon trading is seen by the government as an incentive, not a regulation on businesses that only aims at environmental protection.



Korea adopted carbon trading in January last year, as part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent by 2030 from business-as-usual levels. For this, the environment ministry notified 525 businesses of their quotas for the three years between 2015 and 2017. If they use their quotas in that period, they should purchase emissions rights on the carbon trading market. If they fail to purchase the rights, they will be penalized as much as three times the market price. Businesses that succeed in curbing their carbon dioxide emissions can sell their surplus quotas on the market.



But the new scheme has had a bumpy start. Businesses complained about the quotas from the beginning and dozens of them, including Hyundai Steel, have issued lawsuits. Even businesses that emit less than their quota are reluctant to sell leftover emissions rights, saying they are preparing for a future shortage.



This contrasts with what the European Union went through. According to the Hyundai Research Institute, the EU saw the price of emissions rights plunge in the beginning because it allocated excessive quotas. "The carbon emissions trading market also contracted rapidly due to the global financial crisis," said Lee Hae-jeong, a senior researcher at the institute.



Because there is far more demand than supply in the Korean market, there have not been many transactions. According to the Korea Exchange, the country's bourse operator that is in charge of the emissions rights market, trading has totaled only 3.4 million tons, which is less than 1 percent of the 543.2 million tons allocated by the government.



Some experts say the government should ban businesses from rolling over their leftover quotas to the next year to force a sale now.



The Hyundai Research Institute said the EU had successfully decoupled economic growth and gas emissions. While gross domestic product increased 45 percent between 1990 and 2012, gas emissions were slashed by 19 percent.



But Lee also said the risks of carbon leakage linger. "It means individual businesses can move their production facilities overseas upon rising production costs following strengthened regulations on greenhouse gases," she said. "There should be measures to prevent carbon-intensive manufacturers, such as petrochemical and steels, from moving abroad."




Character artist Park Se-jin's watercolor work "Gravity" / Courtesy of the artist



By Baek Byung-yeul

When thinking of a character artist, most people would imagine someone drawing characters for animated movies or video games. But things are different with character artist Park Se-jin.

Instead of meeting the specific needs of a client, Park does exactly the opposite  using his signature character "PARAKID," the artist, 30, shares his view of the world at art galleries and lets his character be featured in products such as paper toys, postcards and clothes.

The artist, whose pen name is 08AM, recently signed a contract with the United States-based clothing store 2Sable and is waiting for T-shirts featuring PARAKID to be released.

In sharing his thoughts about being a character artist, Park said "self-satisfaction" is a driving force that pushes him to keep drawing.

"My definition of a character artist is different from a character designer," said Park at his colleague's atelier in Seodaemun, Seoul, on May 24. "I would like to say a character artist is expressing his or her own view of the world using a specific character.





Character artist Park Se-jin



"I am self-satisfied when more people enjoy my work and this is why I am trying to make one thing and another with my characters on the product. I am hoping that these attempts will help more people get acquainted and take an interest in my works."

When explaining the origin of PARAKID, an imaginary creature of himself, he confesses he suffered paranoia when in high school.

"Frankly, I was distrustful when I was a high school student. I don't know why, but I didn't believe what I was seeing and hearing at that time. Like the film The Truman Show, I thought everything looked like it could be some kind of huge movie set," Park said, adding he got rid of the symptoms "right after I began learning painting," when he was a high school sophomore.

He said he became absorbed in painting and that consequently made him study visual design at university.

"After graduating university, I decided to make drawings for a living and I began expressing myself as the smoke that can both vanish without trace or embody everything I'd expect to be," he said. "That was the beginning of PARAKID."

Since then, Park has expressed the pleasures and tribulations of his life through the versatile PARAKID. "When I first created it, PARAKID didn't have arms and legs. It has evolved over time."

Explaining his painting method, Park said he has tried every kind and prefers to choose the one that corresponds to the purpose of the painting.

"Though I mostly prefer to draw in watercolor, I don't have any fear in choosing the method of painting," Park said. "I can make drawings in watercolor, oil paints, acrylic paints, sculpture and digital."

Park said he usually works in digital when collaborating with companies.

"Working in a digital environment is essential when I have to correspond with the needs of my clients," he said.





Park Se-jin's "Evolution" shows how his signature character "PARAKID" evolved in the artist's imagination.

/ Courtesy of the artist



Communicating via SNS

Park said he mostly communicates with his fans and gets inspired from his colleagues through social network services (SNS).

Through his SNS accounts, he shares his artworks, unveils his everyday life and even receives inquiries.

"For me, social media is a great tool to let more people know about me and my works," he said. "I am also running my own webpage (www.08am.net) in order to display my artworks and introduce who I am and what I have done.

"I am like a one-person business. My head belongs to the business department, my arm is to make drawings and my foot is for sales. It may sound a bit lame to say this, but this is a survival strategy of a lesser-known artist."

Park has been busy preparing for an exhibition in September.

"I will have an exhibition displaying my previous and new works around autumn," he said. "I set up a goal to work on 20 paintings this year to present more of a developed world of PARAKID."
By Kim Rahn

Millennium Seoul Hilton is presenting two promotions featuring the cuisines of Venice and Singapore.

Il Ponte, the Italian restaurant, will host a gala dinner with a "Venetian Night" theme at 6:30 p.m. on June 17. It will start with a cocktail reception featuring prosecco, wine and wine spritzers, along with snacks including mini pizza, beef carpaccio and tomato and crab bruschetta.

Dinner will follow, with appetizers including prawn cocktail, tomato and mozzarella skewers, Caesar salad and seared tuna loin with pepper-spiced crust. Diners will be then served Burrida seafood soup, truffle pasta with prawns and mussels, and beef tenderloin Rossini with porcini mushroom sauce. They will enjoy a dessert buffet including tiramisu, panna cotta, Venetian apple pie and baked meringue ice-cream, along with coffee or tea.

The dinner is priced at 200,000 won, including tax and service charge. For more information, call (02) 317-3270.

The hotel's international buffet and all-day dining restaurant, Cafe 395, has two guest chefs from the Orchard Hotel in Singapore from June 9 to 18.

The chefs will introduce Hokkien-style dishes, one of China's eight major cuisines. Early Chinese immigrants from Fujian Province moved to Singapore and Malaysia and their cooking traditions were merged into the Hokkien style.

Some of the menus will include black pepper crab, chilli crab, Katong laksa, bak kut teh, assorted satay and rojak. The buffet is priced at 91,000 won. For more information, call (02) 317-3062.
By Lee Kyung-min



The police plan to hospitalize "potentially dangerous" mentally-ill people is gaining more attention following a recent series of crimes committed by them.



Although police say preventing similar crimes would be best achieved by separating such people from society, psychiatrists argue that it only stigmatizes the vulnerable who require treatment, and violates their human rights.



The measure came about a week after a man with schizophrenia stabbed a woman to death in the restroom of a bar near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul on May 16.



While controversy was erupting over the police announcement, similar incidents took place. Kim Hag-bong, a 61-year-old who was on medication for schizophrenia, stabbed a woman to death on Mount Surak in Seoul on May 29. He had only been released from prison four months earlier after serving 15 years for robbery and murder, before which he had been treated on five occasions at psychiatric facilities.



On May 25, a 51-year-old mentally-ill man in Busan attacked two people with a wooden stick without any apparent reason.



Police said they would actively carry out an "administrative hospitalization" system, under which they can have mentally-ill people, who are deemed likely to harm others, hospitalized with the approval of local authorities.



But the measure is causing concern about violating their human rights. The National Human Rights Commission warned against possible prejudice against the mentally-ill.



Experts also say the actual number of crimes committed by those people is very small.



"According to police, out of the total of 913 murders in 2014, only 0.5 percent were committed by the mentally-ill," an official from the Korea Health Promotion Foundation said.



Causing groundless fear against them or segregating them from society discourages them from seeking treatment, according to the official.



"For those who are vulnerable, leading healthy lives is possible only with society's support and encouragement. I hope that society can properly address the human rights of the mentally-ill," he said.




By Kim Bo-eun



"English villages" across the nation, which were popular in the mid-2000s as venues for English language immersion camps for students, are now facing closure due to a lack of demand.



Several of the villages have already closed after snowballing operating losses and other debt-ridden ones are transforming themselves into more diversified training facilities.



The English villages in Paju and Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi Province signed deals with the Ministry of Education and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity last month to change into training institutes.



The nation's first English village in Ansan, also in Gyeonggi Province, closed in December 2012 due to deficits.



With the Gyeonggi Provincial Government initiating the boom in 2004, local governments established the villages to help parents save money they had been spending on overseas language programs for their children.



The exotically-decorated villages became hugely popular, with dozens more being set up nationwide. At their peak, there were 10 facilities in Gyeonggi Province alone and 50 facilities around the country.



However, their popularity soon faded, with doubts about the effectiveness of English learning at the villages where students stay only for several days or weeks.



Gyeonggi Province invested 170 billion won into building the first three facilities in Ansan, Paju and Yangpyeong, but the Paju village alone has a 20 billion won deficit.



Critics say local governments wasted taxpayers' money as the facilities were built without a long-term outlook for demand.



A 2012 report from the National Assembly shows 10 of 22 villages run by local governments had deficits, with several being sustained by support funds.



In April, three English villages in Seoul were found to be earning money by offering lessons for English proficiency tests such as TOEIC and renting the facilities for non-educational events, which was in violation of regulations.The operators of the facilities said they did so to make up for growing deficits.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government had put some 80 billion won into building the facilities and had handed over operations to private entities, but is now looking to change them into non-specific training institutes.



In Daejeon, a district office opened an English village in 2008 and had a private company run it on commission, but the company quit in 2014 due to losses. After failing to find a successor the district office put the site up for sale, but has yet to find a buyer.




By Jun Ji-hye

Seoul's nuclear envoy Kim Hong-kyun will visit Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday to meet his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei for talks on the North Korean nuclear program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday.

Kim's planned visit comes only days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's special envoy, Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of the North's ruling Workers' Party, wrapped up his three-day visit to the country's traditional ally last week.

Seoul's nuclear envoy is expected to seek direct feedback on the Chinese government's talks with Ri.












South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, left, meets with China's Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 15th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-la Dialogue, or IISS, Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Saturday. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye

China repeated its opposition to the possible deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on the Korean Peninsula, Sunday, claiming that it would destabilize the Asia-Pacific region.

"China is opposed to the ongoing U.S. moves to deploy the THAAD system in South Korea," said Adm. Sun Jianguo, China's deputy chief of general staff, at a session of the Asia Security Summit, known also as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore. "This will erode the security of the region."

The summit, which kicked off Friday for a three-day run, is an annual gathering of defense officials in the Asia-Pacific region.

"As a soldier myself, I am well aware of the meaning of the deployment," the admiral said in his capacity as China's top representative to the annual security forum. "Deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula is an excessive measure that by far exceeds current U.S. defense capabilities."

A day earlier, Sun also expressed his country's opposition to the deployment of the missile defense system on the peninsula during a bilateral meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo on the sidelines of the summit. He said it would infringe on China's strategic interests, exposing the deepening bilateral row over the issue once again.

In response, Minister Han said, "China is overestimating THAAD. The discussion on deployment originated in a move to defend against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."












Foreign minister visits Cuba for 1st time



By Jun Ji-hye, Joint press corps



Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se expressed South Korea's willingness to improve bilateral ties with Cuba upon his arrival in the Caribbean state to attend a regional summit, Saturday.

The betterment of bilateral relations is expected to help Seoul increase pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Cuba has no formal diplomatic relations with South Korea, while having maintained close relations with the North.

"The government has made silent but various efforts to improve ties with Cuba," Yun told Korean reporters at a hotel in Havana. "My visit symbolizes such efforts. I believe this visit will be an important milestone."

Yun also said he expects Seoul and Havana to "have a good result" and "reach a goal" at some point by gradually building up mutual trust.

The remark was construed as referring to the two countries establishing formal diplomatic ties.

Yun is the nation's first top diplomat to visit Cuba.
Belongings of the minor opposition Justice Party are stacked in front of an office previously used by the ruling Saenuri Party at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sunday. As the ruling party won only 122 seats in the 20th Assembly, down from 152 four years ago, the number of offices used by the party has been reduced and handed over to other parties. / Yonhap



By Kim Hyo-jin



Rival parties are expected to miss the legal deadline to form the 20th National Assembly amid stalled negotiations over how they will form the new parliament, party officials said, Sunday.



After its opening last week, the 20th National Assembly's first extraordinary session is scheduled to begin Tuesday, in which a new speaker may be elected. However, the ruling and the opposition parties have stopped discussions about which party will produce the new National Assembly speaker and who will lead 18 parliamentary committees.



The floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minor opposition People's Party agreed Sunday to resume the talks today since they last met, May 31.



Last month, they set the timetable to name the Assembly speaker and deputies by Tuesday and committee heads by Thursday.



The ruling Saenuri Party blamed the opposition parties for the dormant talks, taking issue with their pushing for a free vote for the speaker instead of sticking to a prior agreement.



"They colluded with each other to carry out a free vote given that the opposition outnumbers the ruling party," Saenuri vice floor leader Rep. Kim Do-eup said.



Kim said the ruling party cannot engage in the negotiations until the opposition parties apologize for threatening the ruling party with a free vote.



The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minor opposition People's Party argued on May 31 that they could leave the matter in the hands of individual assemblymen, putting pressure on the Saenuri Party to actively engage in negotiations.



The Assembly speaker is likely to be an opposition lawmaker if the choice comes down to a vote. The MPK and the People's Party hold 123 and 38 seats, respectively, while the Saenuri Party holds 122 seats.



Kim also insisted that the MPK's suggestion to assign a member of the Saenuri party to be head of the Judiciary Committee is not viewed as a "major concession" as argued by the opposition parties.



"It's hardly viewed as a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations while they still demand that they take the National Assembly post and the head posts of the steering, state affairs, and finance committees," he said.



However, the MPK blamed the Sanenuri Party for taking a rigid attitude, and again raised the suspicion that the presidential office has been pulling strings behind the scenes.



"The Saenuri Party shouldn't forget that its counterpart is us not Cheong Wa Dae," Gi Dong-min, the party spokesman said. "I hope the ruling party comes to the negotiating table rather than remain hiding behind the accusations it has made about the opposition."



The MPK is insisting that President Park Geun-hye is meddling in the parliamentary discussions. The ruling party shifted its stance last week from yielding the post of the speaker to the MPK, arguing that it is customary for the ruling party to hold the post.
By Kim Hyo-jin



President Park Geun-hye returned to Seoul, Sunday, following a 12-day trip to Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and France, raising expectations that she will now push her legislative agenda, including labor reform.



Her visit to the four countries was an attempt to improve economic cooperation and raise support for international sanctions against North Korea.



Park is expected to devise follow-up measures while pushing reforms in the labor sector and deregulation of services, according to officials.



The ruling Saenuri Party earlier proposed a bill to increase the number of the jobs for young people  its first in the 20th Assembly  and vowed to ease regulations in the services sector and push labor reform, backing Park's key economic agenda.



Attention is focused over how the President will avoid a collision with the opposition bloc after she vetoed an Assembly hearings bill, May 27.



While the opposition criticized Park for disregarding the spirit of cooperative politics, more tension was added to the already icy relations after the main opposition Minjoo Party (MPK) blamed the presidential office for the deadlock in parliamentary negotiations over how to form the 20th National Assembly committees.



The MPK raised suspicions that the ruling Saenuri Party was uncompromising because of the influence of the presidential office following a breakdown in the talks.



Park is expected to shift public attention to economic-related issues while putting pressure on the National Assembly to become a "functioning legislature."



"Of many pending state affairs, economic issues and those related to the livelihood of citizens will be priorities," an official said.



During the overseas trip, Seoul struck dozens of deals aimed at creating business opportunities with African nations in infrastructure development, energy, and information and communications technology.



In addition, she also observed the signings of more than 20 memoranda of understanding with France that will promote technological cooperation in areas such as autonomous and electric vehicles, and renewable energy.




President Park Geun-hye arrived in Seoul on Sunday after her swing through Africa and France meant to boost economic cooperation and win broad support to sanction North Korea for its nuclear weapons program.



The trip illustrated South Korea's efforts to tap into business opportunities on the African continent that has huge growth potential as well as to further strengthen existing economic ties with Paris.



Asia's fourth largest economy signed dozens of initial deals with Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya in such sectors as infrastructure development, energy, science, information and communications technology, a move that Seoul says will help local companies make inroads into Africa.



South Korea and France also signed more than 20 memorandums of understanding that outline, among other things, expanding technological cooperation in areas like autonomous vehicles, charging stations for electric vehicles and renewable energy.



"I am confident that South Korea's future-oriented partnership with the three African countries and France could serve as important momentum for an economic takeoff and to fuel exports," An Chong-bum, senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, told reporters as the president wrapped up her trip.



He also called on the new parliament to take relevant measures to ensure South Korean companies' efforts to make inroads into foreign markets will not be in vain and instead gain traction.



Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are pushing to modernize their infrastructure as they are seeking to learn from the South Korean model of economic development.



South Korea has become a donor country from a key recipient of U.N. aid in half a century, a transformation that has inspired many developing nations to emulate the Northeast Asian country. In particular, many have launched their own version of the "Saemaeul Movement," or new community movement.



The rural development program, initiated by Park's father, then-President Park Chung-hee in the 1970s, is credited with helping modernize the then-rural South Korean economy.



South Korea has launched its aid program for Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya in the latest sign of its commitment to boosting its new development cooperation with Africa.



The "Korea Aid" program is designed to provide mobile health care and nutritional support to local people in medically underserved regions by using 10 vehicles, including ambulances. The program also allows local people to experience South Korean culture.



Park has also secured African support against North Korea's nuclear program.



Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that his country will cut off security and military cooperation with North Korea. The announcement came as a surprise, given Museveni's longstanding relations with North Korea.



The longtime leader visited Pyongyang three times and met with North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung, the late grandfather of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.



North Korea is under the toughest U.N. sanctions ever over its fourth nuclear test and its long-range rocket launch earlier this year.



On Friday, Park met with her French counterpart, Francois Hollande, and they pledged to take additional steps against North Korea, if necessary, in the latest move to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program.



Hollande said France will make an all out effort to deter North Korea's provocations, saying that France will always support South Korea and stand by its partner. (Yonhap)




South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se arrived in Cuba Saturday on a visit symbolic of Seoul's push to build ties with the Caribbean state with which it has no diplomatic relations.

Yun's two-day trip to Havana comes as South Korea has been forging stronger ties with countries that have traditionally had close ties with North Korea, such as Uganda and Iran.

Cuba formally recognized South Korea in 1949, shortly after its independence from Japanese colonial rule, but their bilateral relations have effectively been cut off since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959 and forged an alliance with the North.

Yun is the first South Korean foreign minister to visit the Caribbean state. So far, he is scheduled to attend a summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and hold meetings with some of his counterparts from the participating nations.

"Until now, especially under the Park Geun-hye administration, South Korea and Cuba have made various efforts to improve relations, albeit quietly," Yun told South Korean reporters in Havana. "My visit itself symbolizes that and I expect it to become another important milestone."












Kim Hong-kyun, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, will visit Beijing on June 8-9 for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.

Kim's planned visit comes only several days after a North Korean delegation led by Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee, completed its three-day Chinese visit last Thursday.

The South Korean nuclear envoy is expected to seek direct feedback on the Chinese government's talks with Ri.

"In the upcoming talks, South Korea and China will exchange views on the Korean Peninsula situation after the North's seventh party congress, thorough implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolution against North Korea, deterrence of the North's additional provocations, and the overall bilateral cooperative measures about the nuclear issues concerning North Korea," a ministry official said.

Prior to the Beijing visit, Kim will meet with Alain Le Roy, the secretary general of the European External Action Service of the European Union, in Brussels on June 6-7.

In Brussels, Kim and Roy will discuss Korea-EU cooperative measures on North Korean sanctions and the EU's independent measures against the communist country, according to the South Korean foreign ministry. (Yonhap)
Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul Hernandez, fifth from left in back row, poses with diplomats and their families from 13 embassies during Honda Bay tour on May 27. / Courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul



Philippine envoy aims to promote exotic islands annual

By Rachel Lee

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, the Philippines  Adventures in crystal-clear waters, stunning beaches and the freshest local foods are only three of the many facets that make Palawan an ideal getaway for those who need to release themselves from the daily grind.

Palawan, about 586 kilometers southwest of the Philippine capital, is the country's largest island province, with 1,780 islands.

To promote this beautiful island, Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul Hernandez invited Korean media and foreign diplomats and their families for a tour from May 25 and 29. A total of 13 embassies participated in the tour.

The Philippine Embassy in Seoul, the Philippine Department of Tourism Office (PDOT) in Korea and the Tourism Promotions Board organized the trip with Smart Premium Philippine Airlines and travel agency Onfill.

"My objective is to bring ambassadors and diplomats to the Philippines to show them personally our beautiful country, its pristine beaches, delicious food including an abundance of seafood and tropical fruits, friendly and generous people and a taste of our rich culture and history," Hernandez said.





Diplomats and their families are on the way to take a boat to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River on May 26. / Courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul



The ambassador added that he aims to make the tour not only for diplomats but also for businessmen.

"Korean businessmen will get a deeper understanding of the business climate of my country and the opportunities for trade and investments for them," he said.

This is the second tour. Last year, participants travelled to Cebu and Bohol.

According to the tourism board, Korea is one of the important markets for the Philippines tourism industry. Seoul was the biggest spending market with 4.7 billion (120 billion won) pesos during the first nine months of last year, followed by the United States and Japan.

Palawan's capital, Puerto Princesa, alone, had 19,502 Korean tourists last year.

"Through this tour, we wanted to raise awareness of Palawan, which is relatively less known in Korea," PDOT Tourism Director and Attache Maricon Basco-Ebron said.

Getting there is not difficult  it takes about three and a half hours to fly from Seoul to Manila. And the average flight time to Puerto Princesa City is around an hour and 15 minutes.





Puerto Princesa Subterranean River / Courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul



Puerto Princesa Subterranean River

The 8.2-kilometer underground river, in Puerto Princesa Subterranean National Park, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been named one of the world's New Seven Wonders of Nature. It is in the south-western part of the Philippine Archipelago, on the mid-western coast of Palawan, about 76 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa.

It is the longest underground river in Asia and the second-longest in the world.

The river finds its way underneath a mountain range, through the St. Paul Underground River Cave, and goes out into the South China Sea. More than 800 plant species, including around 300 trees, 195 birds, 30 mammals and eight bat species reside there, according to the tourism office.

The river is accessible by boat up to 4.2 kilometers, but tourists are only allowed to go 1.2 kilometers on guided boat tours through the cave system that features stalactites and stalagmites. No lights are set up, except for one on the tour boat.

As the boat passed through the cave, there was absolute silence among the visitors who found eye-catching rock formations as well as thousands of bats hanging above them in the total darkness.

"It was peaceful and comfortable while touring the underground river and sitting on the boat imagining the natural beauty," Omani Ambassador Mohamed Salim Alharthy told The Korea Times. "I had a feeling of tranquility and harmony while water was dripping from the cave, the sound of the waves created by the boat and the biodiversity of nature in the cave, with various shapes of rock formations and structure."

Island-hopping & undersea adventures

Palawan is home to some amazing locations for island-hopping, snorkeling and diving. At Honda Bay, on the mid-eastern coast, visitors can hop onto a boat to go to nearby islands including Luli, Panden and Cowrie, all of which boast crystal emerald-blue waters and white-sand beaches.

The small islands are less commercial and crowded; an escape valve for those who need proper relaxation.

With a tempting piece bread in hand, tourists go underwater to feed the fish and get close to other sea animals.

The day does not end with water activities. Next there are great dishes of local food and relaxing massages. What's more, South Sea pearls are available in an assortment of sizes, at reasonable prices, from souvenir shops.

"The experience of fish feeding was unforgettable," Yuliia Saveliena, second secretary at the Ukraine Embassy, said. "It is one thing when you feed them in an aquarium and absolutely another when you swim in the sea with them. You feel part of nature."

Turkish Ambassador to Korea Arslan Hakan Okcal said: "Palawan is a wonderful place with so many marvels to offer visitors. It must remain a protected island, with its rich habitat of special fauna and flora, together with its natural beauty. The locals' welcoming culture to foreigners is an asset."



For more information, visit www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com.
The number of North Korean defectors arriving in South Korea has rebounded this year after showing a steady decline under the rule of the North's incumbent leader, government data said Sunday.



A total of 590 defectors from the North came to South Korea in the first five months of this year, posting a 16 percent hike from the same period last year, according to the data obtained from the Ministry of Unification in Seoul.



It is the first time that the arrival of North Korean defectors has increased at such a noticeable pace since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rose to power in late 2011.



In 2009, the number of North Korean defectors to the South was as high as 2,914. Then the number gradually fell since Kim's inauguration, largely due to the North's economic recovery and brutal retaliation against the defectors.



According to the ministry data, the number of defectors fell to 2,706 in 2011, 1,502 in 2012, 1,514 in 2013 and 1,397 in 2014. In 2015, the number shrank to 1,276.



Ministry officials forecast that, at the current pace, the annual number of defectors will reach about 1,500 this year.



By September or October, the cumulative number is expected to top 30,000, with a total of 29,380 defectors residing in the South as of the end of May, they said, counting international sanctions on the North for its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year as one of the reasons for the spike in defections.



On April 7, 13 North Korean employees of a North Korean restaurant in Ningbo, China, defected to South Korea.



North Korea watchers also note that North Korean people's complaint has also risen after the Pyongyang regime hosted a series of expensive and labor-intensive public events, such as the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Workers' Party of Korea in October 2015 and the party's seventh congress in May 2016. (Yonhap)




By Stephen Costello

What should Koreans take from the current campaigns for president in the US? Perhaps more helpfully, how can they avoid the easy and distracting points that are repeatedly made, and find instead the points that are relevant to their lives and Korea's future?

This is hard. There's a great deal of noise. But it can be done. Let's try.

Donald Trump may manage to trick even larger numbers of voters into thinking that his version of Republican policy is better than past Republicans, but that's doubtful. He will most likely lose to Hillary Clinton. Big time, as Dick Cheney once said. For Koreans, it is more important to note the implosion of the Republican Party, the lack of a Democratic Party foreign policy, and the implications of this for US policy toward northeast Asia.

It's revealing that many Republican leaders, and in particular foreign policy professionals, say they are shocked, SHOCKED, at the reckless, unilateral and counterproductive plans of Mr. Trump. Someone should ask them if they were shocked at the worldviews and actions of George W. Bush. Oops, many of them were members of that administration. Were they shocked at the plans of the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan campaign? Or those of the John McCain/Sarah Palin campaign?Somehow they were OK with those plans. On Thursday Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Mr. Trump, insuring that the party will go down together.So the drama of Donald Trump is the story of the self-destruction of the Republican Party, ongoing for at least 35 years.

Part of that party's worldview has been an objection to diplomacy and deal-making. A Republican president overturned the Agreed Framework of 1994, which had stopped North Korea's nuclear production and its missile development and exports. Now the DPRK has a nuclear arsenal and multiple missiles. Republicans are opposed to the P5+1 deal capping and rolling back Iran's nuclear program. They are opposed to the US diplomatic opening to Cuba.They can be expected to oppose any future diplomacy with North Korea, regardless of potential arms reduction, denuclearization or humanitarian relief.

Democrats, too have opposed some of these initiatives. In particular the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez, opposed the Iran and Cuba deals. New York Senator Chuck Schumer opposed the Iran deal. Although some Democrats still remember what an effective foreign policy looks like, many do not. Looking from Korea then, no one should count on Democrats, either, to support serious denuclearization, diplomacy and arms reduction in the Korean neighborhood.

Which brings us to Hiroshima, Japan, and President Obama's visit to Peace Park. Good words were said. Soothed feelings and uplifted spirits are important. But the unstated messages were just too loud and clear to be forgotten. Obama may not have noticed how his visit played into specific political, religious and ideological narratives advanced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But many did. Dreux Richard wrote on the New York Times OpEd page last week that Obama's visit may "help remilitarize the world's wealthiest, most populous pacifist country." His article was titled "Why Obama is Shinzo Abe's Enabler." And Mr. Dreux is not alone. Most observations of how President Obama's visit will be used are less concerned with Japan's return to militarism, and more concerned with the health of its democracy and the loss of its pacifist role.

Two other glaring contributions to the expansion of nuclear weaponry serve to complicate and undercut many of the aspirational words said in Hiroshima. One is Obama's embrace of an upgrade of all US nuclear weapons, assuming no reduction in numbers, and costing $50 billion per year for at least ten years. The other is the apparent decision, taken before he entered the White House in January 2009, to ignore the achievements of previous US and Korean policies and instead attempt to pressure and coerce North Korea to surrender or collapse. The result of embracing the counterproductive policies of the Bush group has been North Korea's production and testing of multiple nuclear weapons on Obama's watch. Both were clear decisions where alternatives were available. Neither choice was forced. It's hard to reconcile them with abstract hopes for weapons reduction.

For Koreans, the narrative of the US president's willful support for a leader who revises history, moves to control textbooks, stifles the press, and rolls back democracy resonates also. There is no Hiroshima here, but visits, words and actions have a similar impact on the domestic audience. In Korea, US support since 2001 for coercion over diplomacy, and its eagerness to exaggerate the North Korean threat, have placed it squarely on one side of the political/social divides that linger since the Korean War.

Bill Clinton (1992-2000) and Kim Dae Jung (1998-2003) both made mistakes. But they found common cause on North Korea and nonproliferation issues. The lessons of their policies become more relevant with each passing day, but they are long gone from power. Since then, the US and ROK have had Bush, Lee, Obama and Park. They share key aspects of their approach to North and South Korea, so let's call them BLOP. There is no indication that Hillary Clinton would change this ongoing dynamic. Two of her top advisors, Jake Sullivan and Wendy Sherman, recently confirmed this. The BLOP approach would most likely continue if she is elected.

What do we really want to know from Ms. Clinton? Well, what has she learned about the Korea challenge from Bill Clinton's efforts during 1992-2000? What has she learned from Bush's disastrous destruction of Bill's work, and his helping to create a nuclear state where none existed before? What has she learned from Obama's embrace of, and doubling-down on, the Bush view of Korea?

How does she see the Korea issue's impact on the US relationship with China? How about their impact on nuclear non-proliferation on the Peninsula, the region or the globe? What would it mean if serious talks and discussions began between the US and DPRK, or between South and North? What are the most important impacts on the Korea issues from the Iran-P5+1 Agreement? Surely she can do better on this question than former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman recently did at CSIS.

The bottom line seems to be this: The US is unlikely to help South Korea return to productive interaction with North Korea. Although the most destructive policies of George W. Bush have ended, they have been replaced in northeast Asia with abandonment of, and even opposition to, effective denuclearization toward the DPRK, support for anti-democratic domestic forces, and an expectation of submission to a US exaggerated-threat approach.

In this environment, If the next South Korean leader develops sound plans and takes responsibility for guiding new initiatives, he or she should be able to drag the US along to participate, but only with a great deal of preparation and help. A learn-on-the-job presidency should not be an option for Korea in 2017.

Obama seems not to have appreciated how central to global and regional denuclearization the North Korean challenge is. Nor has its impact on the viability of the legal nonproliferation framework moved him to act. The China-centric and sanctions-centric approaches so far signaled by Hillary Clinton's advisors should cause great concern in northeast Asia.Her speech Thursday in San Diego only increased such worries. Will the next South Korean leaders know how to face this challenge and turn it to Korea's  and America's advantage, or will they follow disastrous policies into the worst Korean crisis in a generation?

Stephen Costello is a producer of AsiaEast, a web and broadcast-based policy roundtable focused on security, development and politics in Northeast Asia. He writes from Washington, D.C. He can be reached at scost55@gmail.com.
Han Sung-pil's "Harmonious Havana," a massive image of a stone pagoda in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, was installed on the building of Editora Abril during the 12th Havana Biennale in May.

/ Courtesy of Han Sung-pil





By Kang Hyun-kyung

DMZ, Gyeonggi Province  Visual artist Han Sungpil believes in the power of art in easing diplomatic tensions. He says artists can play a role in breaking stalemates in international affairs that even influential politicians and seasoned diplomats fail to solve.

Han, 43, came to such a realization after his massive image of a stone pagoda in the southeastern city of Gyeongju was installed on the building of Editora Abril during the 12th Havana Biennale in May and drew critical acclaim from the Cuban media and people.

Cuba's state-controlled media, Granma, ran a story on Han, featuring the image of his 30-by-28-meter installation on its front page on May 23. It was the first time that a South Korean story made the headline of the Cuban media.

Some foreign policy watchers said the ability of Han's artwork to capture the hearts and minds of Cubans is comparable to the effect of ping-pong in the namesake diplomacy in 1971 that helped thaw the icy U.S.-China relations.

Han said he was thrilled to receive such positive feedback from the Cubans.

"After receiving an invitation from the Biennale's organizing committee, I thought deeply about what to present there because it was my first time to join an event held in Cuba," he told The Korea Times during a recent interview in Yeoncheon, on the border of South and North Korea.





Han Sung-pil at the spectacular columnar jointing cliff that stretches across Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday / Courtesy of Kim Choung-hyun



He is now working on another installation project near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the county.

"I came up with the idea of a giant image of the national treasure because I wanted to show the Cuban public an inspiring cultural project that can ignite their curiosity in Korean culture," he said.

Cubans already have some idea of Korea from the Korean dramas and K-pop concerts they watch. But Han is skeptical about the impact of such cultural products on Cubans' understanding of "the real Korea."

He said he chose the stone pagoda, which was built in 682 during the Unified Silla Kingdom, to symbolize Korea's cultural power and promote peace and harmony amid today's foreign policy challenges.

King Sinmun directed the pagoda project, which was intended to declare the kingdom's willingness to live in peace with its neighbors, which frequently invaded the peninsula.

South Korea has yet to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. Since the rapprochement of the United States and Cuba this year following a series of mutual conciliatory gestures, including a prisoner swap, South Korea has also taken measures to establish relations with the Caribbean country.

There are, however, hurdles to that diplomatic goal.

Cuba has been a close ally of North Korea since Fidel Castro and the late Kim Il-sung formed a bond while they were still in power. Castro visited North Korea in 1986. But there was no reciprocal visit from the North Korean leader, reportedly because he hated flying.

Cuba's close ties with North Korea were again confirmed in 2013 when the Panamanian authorities seized a North Korean ship carrying Soviet-era weapons and fighter jets from Cuba. The ship was released months after the payment of a $700,000 fine to the Panama Canal Authority.












Joo Choun-ki, ophthalmologist at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, talks with local medical workers during his volunteer work at a hospital in Haiti in May, 2014. During his four-day visit, he performed surgery on six patients with a visual impairment. / Courtesy of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital



Renowned ophthalmologist tells how cardinal's death altered his life

By Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chul

Everyone dies, whether rich or poor, famous or unknown. When Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan died in 2009, this simple fact of life hit ophthalmologist Joo Choun-ki like never before.

Joo immediately transplanted the late cardinal's corneas into two recipients at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, in accordance with the cardinal's will. Kim was one of the most respected spiritual leaders in Korea.

"A rosary on his wrist and his two corneas were all he left behind," Joo said in an interview. "To me, his death was a powerful message that made me think about what I should fill the remainder of my life with. Since then, I have tried to focus on doing things that really matter."

Kim often told him that he should become a doctor who can brighten the world. "I pondered his words more after his death," Joo said.

Later that year, Joo went to Kenya to help children with cataracts, a clouding of the usually clear lens of the eye. Volunteer work used to be somewhere near the bottom of his post-retirement to-do list, but over the past few years, it has increasingly become an important part of his life.

His experience in the African country was  literally and figuratively  eye-opening both for the children and himself. He saw many children who lost their sight because of preventable causes and who remained untreated owing to lack of access to proper medical help.

"Children lived in dust-filled shelters without a chimney, and people made a fire inside the shelters. It was no surprise that cataracts were much more common in the country," he said.

Thanks to his efforts at Kericho Hospital, 18 children regained their vision. Treating them was tough; there were few sanitary places, proper anesthetic and other medical equipment, and not to mention, electricity.

But when Joo saw the surprise and smile on the children's faces and their mothers' sincere gratitude, he realized that everything was worthwhile.

Cataracts are some of the eye diseases he has studied throughout his career. Cataracts are the most common eye diseases among people 65 years or older in many developed nations. A cataract occurs when protein builds up in the eye's lens, making it cloudy and preventing light from passing effectively through the lens.

Although aging is the biggest cause of the disease, in developing countries, many cases are attributed to eye infections brought about by the environment. Cataracts are responsible for 51 percent of world blindness. But many people remain blind due to a lack of medical access.

He pursued excellence all his life and grew into one of the most renowned ophthalmologists in Korea. Now Joo said he wants to be a good doctor rather than an excellent one.





Joo speaks during an interview with The Korea Times. / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho



His volunteer work in Kenya prompted him to make this belief his new motto, but he also knew that living up to the motto would be hard, especially as he had little free time and was until then success-oriented. To remind himself of what kind of life he wanted to live, Joo wrote a book, "Let Me Show You the World," which was published in 2011.

"No human being is free of worldly desires. This book is not an autobiography. Rather, it is an expression of my will to live a life for others than myself," he wrote in the book.

After Kenya, Joo continued his volunteer work in China (2011) and Haiti (2013). This year, he plans to go to Nepal.

Life as a battle

Joo was born in 1956. His parents reached only elementary school and wanted their children to get more education than they did. He took their wishes as a challenge.

He did well in class. But he always thought he did less than what he could and should have.

From time to time, he dreamed about becoming a taxi driver because he thought a driver's life "looked free and his work schedule appeared to be flexible." But of course, he never said this dream to anyone.

As a high school student, Joo didn't plan to go to the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine; he wanted to study engineering, but his parents wanted him to become a doctor.

His passion for medicine started to grow after meeting good teachers who truly believed in his potential. They put their faith in him, and he did not want to disappoint them.

Joo graduated sixth in his class, but he was not accepted at the school's department of ophthalmology, which he wanted to specialize in. Cronyism was rampant in many parts of Korea at that time. It took more than just good grade to be "chosen" by a department's chief professor, and he just didn't have the required connections.

The opportunity finally came three years after finishing his military service. Thinking that he was already a step behind his peers, he pushed himself harder. For six months of his training, Joo deliberately used his left hand a lot, thinking that ambidexterity would be an advantage.







Yet life continued to throw him more curveballs. He could not pursue his master's degree in ophthalmology as he wished; instead, he had to study biochemistry. But doing so turned out to be the best thing that happened to him, as it gave him the opportunity to study under Professor Shim Bong-seok, one of the most renowned Korean experts in the field, Joo said.

"The two-year training was so hard, but the knowledge I gained from him later helped me grow beyond being a clinical doctor. It was especially helpful when I studied the immunology of corneal transplantation at Washington University in St. Louis under Jay S. Pepose," he said.

After completing his studies in the United States, where for two years he trained in corneal transplantation with more than 700 mice and published three papers in international journals, Joo returned to Korea and became one of the very few Korean ophthalmologists who had both clinical and research expertise.

Many were surprised when he won a government grant for corneal endothelial cell research in 1994; it was very rare for clinical eye doctors to win government research grants. From there, his career took off. As the chief ophthalmologist at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, he helped the hospital cement its position as the best medical institution for eye diseases in Korea. About 20 percent of the country's corneal transplants are performed in the hospital alone.

Meanwhile, he has published more than 100 papers in international journals, and has performed eye surgery eight to 10 times almost every day over the past 20 years. He is a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, the nation's most renowned science and technology think-tank. He has also served as the dean of his alma mater, the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, since 2013.

"I'm already 60 years old now. From now on, I want to do things that really matter and give me joy. Life is too short to sacrifice for things that I might not get," he said.
By Nam Sang-so

When the modern country of Democratic Republic of the Congo was Republic of Zaire (Oct. 1991- May 1997) I was invited by the presidential office of the then President Mobutu Sese Seko to conduct a feasibility study for constructions of plywood factory along the Congo River, 12 regional hospitals and a tourist hotel in Kinshasa. It was a political project.

I first visited the investment financier's office in Brussels. The office had no sign board. A tall handsome man with greying hair introduced himself Monsieur Duval greeted me in his office decorated with dark mahogany panels, joined by two impeccably dressed men. They were merchant bankers specializing in venture investments in African countries looking for a windfall by controlling the politics of the politically unstable countries.

The situation was similar to the adventure film "The Wild Geese" which was about a group of mercenaries fighting in Africa, starred by Richard Burton, Roger Moor and Stewart Granger who played as ruthless investor. He betrays his promise to pay a big money to Colonel Faulkner (Richard Burton) to rescue an imprisoned leader of the central African country. The novel was based upon the story about Moise Tshombe who was a Congolese politician of Zaire.

I was involved in the proposed project as Korean construction companies wanted to establish their advance base in African continent and our government wanted to establish a friendly tie with President Mobutu who then favored North Korea over the South.

Monsieur Duval briefed me about his plots and displayed his favoritism in Korean contractors and encouraged me saying that since the country is vast and land transportations are primitive, he'd exclusively allow me to fly a private Cessna propeller plane for the engineering and supervision of his investments. "You will be met by a presidential protocol at N'djili airport in Kinshasa and security protection will be provided," he said. Upon arrival by a Swiss Air at the Zaire airport I was met by four huge security officers with gun holster on their chests. I thought may be Duval wasn't like the ruthless merchant banker in the Wild Geese movie.

The next day in the lobby of the Continental Hotel, Kinshasa, I heard Korean," Comrade, welcome to Zaire!" in a clear Northern accent. When the apparent two North Korean agents attempted to introduce themselves, two girls out of nowhere jumped in among us and shouted at them," Move out!" in French flashing their identities. They were police officers who wore very tight black mini-skirts in high hills carrying gun each in their handbags and told me that they are my bodyguards. Later I found that the primary purpose of my beautiful security girls were to prevent me from associating with Mobutu's revels known as Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL).

Then, one night three warriors of the ADFL visited me and said rather courteously in French that I should deal with them as they would take over the presidential office soon. Mobutu died in Morocco on his exile in 1997, succeeded by the very rebel leader of ADFL Laurent-Desire Kabila who was later shot by his bodyguard.

I reported my field investigation including the ADFL's threats to Duval who shelved his Zaire projects just like the greedy banker did in the movie. And I've lost my chance of flying in the equatorial African sky in a Cessna with the red and blue round taekeuk marks on the fuselage.

Our government, however, succeeded to invite Mobutu to Seoul while he was in office.

The writer is a retired architect. His email address is sangsonam@gmail.com.
By Tong Kim

As tensions continue on the Korean peninsula, and while there is no prospect of a breakthrough to the worsening confrontation between Seoul and Pyongyang, the whole issue of North Korea  including its nuclear and missile programs  is getting out of control for South Korea, becoming an issue of strategic competition between Beijing and Washington.

Seoul has rejected Pyongyang's repeated proposals for holding inter-Korean military talks, which was suggested by Kim Jong-un during the 7th party congress of the Korean Workers Party and was followed up by the ministry of armed forces under the DPRK's national defense commission.

Seoul determined that it was the time to focus on sanctions, not talks, suspecting that the proposal was a scheme to loosen up the unity of the international community regarding the sanctions levied on Pyongyang, and to divide the South Korean public. The South insists inter-Korean talks are meaningless, unless it deals with denuclearization.

In the meantime, the North Korean issue is slipping out of the hands of South Korea. It appears that Seoul is losing the challenge and the opportunity to improve the security environment and to influence changes in the North that it wants to see happen.

More bilateral sanctions followed the toughest ever UN Security Council Resolution 2270 against the DPRK. South Korea, Japan, the EU, and the United States have imposed bilateral sanctions. China says it will fully implement the UN sanctions with the hope that the North return to the negotiation table. Washington is appreciative of Beijing's co-authorship of and its commitment to the UN sanctions.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel confirmed, at a news conference on a preview of the 8th SED (Strategic and Economic Dialogue) with China for June 5 to 7 in Beijing, that the goal of the 2270 is "not to bring North Korea to its knees but to its senses" and "to look for a North Korean agreement to negotiate the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

On June 1, the U.S. Treasury Department designated North Korea as a "primary money laundering concern" under the U.S. Patriot Act in an effort to cut off Pyongyang's access to all international financial institutions, which would block North Korea's trade. The Treasury's action was announced amid the alleged reports that Pyongyang absconded with tens of millions of dollars by hacking the central bank of Bangladesh.

The latest U.S. sanction was already mandated by the UN resolution. The difference is that the new U.S. sanction can punish a third country's financial institutions if it is involved in transactions with a North Korean bank or an entity. Most likely targets are Chinese banks doing business with North Korea that may or may not be legitimate under the UN sanctions.

The Wall Street Journal has reported the new Treasury Department sanction raises "direct economic conflict with China." It could be a major contentious issue at the next round of the SED, where isolation of North Korea will be a major topic.

Against the pressure of condemnation and sanctions from the international community, North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile technology. Experts believe the North is ready to conduct a fifth nuclear test to demonstrate its perfection of a hydrogen bomb. In January, the North Koreans claimed a successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb, but Western scientists saw it only as "a boosted atomic bomb test".

The North keeps conducting tests of short and intermediate range missiles, including Musudan missiles from mobile launches with a maximum range of 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers. All four tests of the Musudan missile so far this year have failed. However, these failures suggest that they will not give up the effort to improve their nuclear delivery systems.

To complicate the situation, Chinese President Xi Jinping, a few days before the convening of the latest SED, welcomed a high ranking North Korean delegation headed by Ri Su-yong, a vice chairman of the Korean Workers Party, and stressed the importance of traditional friendly cooperation between the two socialist states. Xi also wished for "the DPRK's greater success in endeavors for the economy and standards of living."

In line with Beijing's consistent policy on the Korean peninsula, the Xinhua news agency reported, Xi "called for all relevant sides to stay calm, exercise restraint, and enhance communication and dialogue to safeguard regional peace and stability." This is interpreted as a message for the North to stop further provocations and for the U.S. and the South to slow down joint military drills.

It is of significant nuance that Xi met with Ri's delegation after the latter conveyed a clear message to the chairman of international relations of the Chinese Communist Party that Pyongyang would uphold its renewed policy of parallel development of nuclear weapons and the economy. However, it is unlikely that Kim Jong-un's "personal verbal message" to Xi discussed Pyongyang's parallel direction of nuclear and economic development.

An upside to the situation: Pyongyang keeps saying it would behave as a responsible nuclear weapon's state to contribute to non-proliferation, it would not use nuclear weapons first, and it would safeguard the safety of its nuclear program. It is better to hear them talk about dialogue with the South to avoid an accidental war than hearing their belligerent rhetoric of threats to wage a preemptive nuclear strike against the South and the United States.

Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo are very much on the same page on North Korea, with President Obama stressing at the recent G-7 meeting a stronger allied deterrent against North Korean nuclear threats and the nuclear envoys  from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea  calling for more sanctions for Pyongyang's failed missile tests.

The problem is that nobody knows for sure what it would take to resolve the North Korean issue that has gone out of control. A collapse of North Korea is unlikely in the near term; there is no assurance that the North would succumb to the pressure of sanctions; and the U.S. rebalance to Asia tends to drive China towards protecting North Korea rather than punishing it. What's your take?

Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies. He can be contacted at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.
Britons will decide whether to stay in or leave the European Union on June 23. The "in" side and "out" side appear neck and neck in polls but the result may as well go the path of the 2014 independence vote for Scotland. Scots decided convincingly to stay in the union.



"Stay" campaigners appear to be having the upper hand, mainly using the fear factor that Britain is better in than out because, if out, it would mean a big loss of the clout it now enjoys as part of one of the world's biggest markets and the uncertainties of getting out would wreak havoc on itself and the world. Britons may vote to "stay" as part of what they see as their civil duty as the union's subjects and as citizens of the world. Don't. Here are three reasons.



First, a look back at history shows the British Empire reached its peak as it fought the Continental Blockade of Napoleon in the early 19th century. It countered the Napoleonic lack of imagination with its own naval blockade, beefing itself up with its free spirit of commanding the oceans to the New World in America. The result was the eventual collapse of France's continental control, giving rise to Britain as the world power. Brits have had their time in history and they should seek another period of glory. Succumbing to their instinct to stay in the old cozy cocoon called the EU means giving up such a chance.



Second, Britain has been the leader, not the follower. Europe is now under the control, de facto, of a unified Germany, which has the biggest economy and is located smack in the center of the continent. Greece has turned into an unsolvable problem because of the reluctance of Berlin, the biggest creditor, to write off Athens' debts in favor of the extreme austerity it has forced on the Greeks. Then, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has helped stoke a refugee crisis because of her benevolent but unadvised decision. Inside, Britain's words of wisdom fell on deaf ears in the din of German domination.



Finally, there are times to gather and break up. The EU appears to have reached the limit of its usefulness, as shown in the case of Greece or its failure to deal with Russia. The central control from Brussels replicates the waning days of old papal control. Procrastination can only be counterproductive, so making changes fast is sure to be a better deal than that. True, there are worries of chaos not just in Europe but on a global scale but it may be that we need this chaos in this cul-de-sac of the world economy we are all stuck with for now. Perhaps this will be the start of Joseph Schumpeter's "creative destruction." Britain's exit may serve as the trigger.




Meeting to violate UN rules unless it helps disarm NK



Following a high-level North Korean delegation's visit to Beijing, it is cautiously speculated that a summit is next on the cards. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Pyongyang's envoy Ri Su-yong of the importance of the two countries' friendship despite the North's nuclear and missile development that embarrassed its only benefactor, raising the possibility that the two were ready to mend ties.



Xi should remember two things as he deals with the North and especially when it comes to a meeting with Kim Jong-un.



First, it would violate the spirit, if not the letter, of existing sanctions imposed by the United Nations on the North after its fourth nuclear test and long-range missile launch. U.N. Resolution No. 2270 calls for all member states to implement punitive measures as stipulated with the goal of having Pyongyang give up its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. It was approved by all the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council. As one of the five, China, which accounts for 90 percent of the North's trade, promised to abide by it.



The Xi-Kim summit could definitely ease the pressure applied on the North, now being tightened by the U.S. designation of it as a state of "primary money-laundering concern." This is expected to have a bigger effect than the freeze of $25 million deposited in the Banco Delta Asia that forced Pyongyang to come back to the negotiating table. Russia, the North's former supporter, and even Uganda, its staunch ally, have now joined the U.N. effort



If this global effort to disarm the North wobbles, Xi should be held responsible. He should say goodbye to his dream of making his country a global leader. A leader requires respect from other nations and the first step to gaining this is to keep his word. Twice before, China put its ties with the North ahead of its obligations as a superpower. After the North's nuclear test in 2009, Hu Jintao, Xi's predecessor, sent his top lieutenant there, ironically as part of a charm offensive. Then, in 2013, Xi received Choe Ryong-hae, now vice chairman of the North's Central Military Commission, headed by Kim, and made up with its client state, making the sanctions ineffective.



Already, key state holders including South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are casting suspicion on what transpired during the Xi-Ri meeting. This alone could create mistrust between China and the rest of the world, throwing a spanner into the ongoing effort to separate Pyongyang from its WMDs.



Of course, there is no rule without an exception.



If a Xi-Kim meeting produces tangible results toward the North's denuclearization, then it could be given the go-ahead. The conditions may be met if the North declares an indefinite and verifiable moratorium on its nuclear programs. This moratorium should not be a kind that Pyongyang can switch on or off at will, but rather one that can be made permanent.



Although it is hidden under strong rhetoric, the international community doesn't want to see the North implode at the risk of a refugee or nuclear crisis. It may throw a lifeline to the North, if it is willing to have a serious talks that can lead to it give up its nuclear weapons. If Xi is confident about this, he may try to talk directly to the young dictator; but at his own peril. The Bible says, "Where there is a will, there is a way. "Xi, a supposed atheist, may try to find out whether that is true.




By Donald Kirk

WASHINGTON  The hype surrounding President Obama's visit to Cuba quickly gave way to fear and loathing as the world absorbed the news of the slaughter perpetrated in Brussels, for which ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, immediately claimed "credit."

No sooner were we treated to live coverage of Obama building ties with Cuba than images of bloodshed, terror and panic filled TV and computer screens. The news from both Havana and Brussels had to resonate in Korea for obvious reasons.

The success of opening ties between the U.S. and Cuba might seem superficially to set a precedent for the U.S. forming diplomatic relations with North Korea. Certainly advocates of negotiations on a "peace treaty" with North Korea see reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba as one step on the way to achieving that goal.

The comparison is all the more tempting considering that Cuba has been one of North Korea's greatest friends. North Korean leaders might squirm under constant pressure from China, but they could always count on Cuba for unqualified words of undying fraternal friendship.

Like so many comparisons between the standoff on the Korean peninsula and confrontations elsewhere, however, this one soon falls apart. Repression in Cuba, no doubt harsh, was never nearly so bad as in North Korea.

More than 120,000 Cubans made it in the Mariel boatlift in 1980 when, for a brief period, Fidel Castro said they were free to leave. Yes, like North Koreans fleeing to China in hopes of getting to South Korea, Cubans have taken terrific risks fleeing on flimsy boats to Florida. None, however, faced torture and execution if forced to turn back, and the U.S., unlike China, has never had a policy of hunting down and "repatriating" those who navigated their way to freedom.












By Yoon Sung-won



LG Electronics said Sunday it demonstrated high-quality broadcasting technologies using its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions in collaboration with a French state-run broadcaster last week.



The electronics maker said the demonstration, at the headquarters of France Televisions, has shown that its Ultra OLED televisions can display high dynamic range (HDR) pictures not only through satellite broadcasting but also on terrestrial channels.



"We plan to adopt more diverse HDR standards for our OLED televisions, aiming at boosting our presence in the super high-quality broadcasting market in Europe," LG Electronics said.



During last week's test broadcast, LG Electronics and France Televisions used an HDR standard called "Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG)."



Basically, viewers who do not have a television compatible with the HDR function cannot watch HDR broadcasts. This has made broadcasters transmit both ordinary and HDR versions of each program simultaneously. But with the HLG standard, viewers with a non-HDR television can receive the signal even when broadcasters send only the HDR signals, allowing the broadcasters to use frequencies more efficiently, LG Electronics said.



The HLG technology was chosen last year as the standard for satellite HDR broadcasts in Japan and has been considered a likely candidate for Europe's terrestrial HDR broadcast standard.



Besides HLG, LG Electronics said its Ultra OLED televisions support other HDR standards such as HDR 10 and Dolby Vision.




A Kakao employee walks past its corporate logo at its office in Pangyo, Gyeoggi Province. The company faces an investigation by government agencies over exposing online links its mobile messenger users have shared on the Kakao Talk chatting platform. / Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung

Kakao, the operator of the nation's leading mobile messenger Kakao Talk, is facing a probe for collecting online links of its users which they personally shared on the mobile chat platform.

The controversy erupted last week when a civic group urged watchdogs to investigate why the firm exposed information on its portal site, Daum, without receiving approval from users.

Following the incident, Kakao issued a statement that read: "We apologize for causing trouble to our users."

The company, however, won't be free from a government probe, with the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) hinting Friday that it would begin an in-depth investigation.

"We need internal discussions about whether the company violated the nation's Information Communications Network Act, as Kakao claimed that the exposed URLs did not contain any users' personal information," KCC Vice Chairman Kim Jae-hong said in a meeting with reporters.

"We will examine the issue in detail, after the KCC Chairman Choi Sung-joon returns from a business trip next week," he said.

Kakao deleted all the shared URLs following the incident. But the company remained firm that its actions were not illegal, as the information only included online links without details about "who the users were and how they shared the links."



A Kakao spokesman said, "Our data management system disallows URLs with personal information to be exposed on the portal site."



He stressed that the exposed URLs do not contain any personal information which other portals _ including Google and Naver _ can also expose.

The KCC executive remained careful about whether or not the firm violated the law.

Kim said it may take some time to determine whether the company infringed on a provision that prevents any companies from leaking users' personal information to third parties. He said the watchdog would investigate whether the company leaked any personal information involved with the exposed URLs.

Kakao exposed URLs, which its users shared on KakaoTalk, with its portal site Daum since January in what the company says was a move to improve the quality of Daum's search results.

But it drew a backlash from users as some of the exposed websites contained private information.

Amid mounting controversy, the company acknowledged that the firm did not "take into serious account" that some websites were not intended to be open to the public.

"Our decision was wrong, so we stopped sharing the URLs with our portal service."

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning also said it would consider taking regulatory measures after hearing an explanation from Kakao.

Under the current law, the MSIP can impose up to a 150 million won ($126,400) fine on those who intercept private messages without approval from the concerned parties. The MSIP is investigating whether the URL leakage can be seen as an "interception of private messages."
By Lee min-hyung





Calls are mounting on the government to stop wasting taxpayers' money on carrying out "unnecessary" and "ineffective," overseas public relations exercises.

This comes amid rising public discontent over high-ranking government officials' frequent "business trips" overseas, ostensibly on official business.

Government agencies release copious of media releases after the business trips, most of which highlight memorandums of understanding (MoU) they have signed for economic and political cooperation.

But the public expressed rage over the non-legally binding agreements, urging the government to allocate budgets on generating some tangible results, rather than covering expenses for forging such vague relationships.

For example, Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairman Choi Sung-joon took two business trips during the past month-and-a-half to visit communication officials and experts overseas, including officials at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States.

In April, the KCC issued a statement that the agency forged ties with the U.S. regulator in the broadcasting and telecom sectors.

On his trip, expectations were high that the KCC chief would discuss the controversial proposed takeover of CJ HelloVision (CJH) by SK Telecom, which critics said would help the government speed up its delayed decision over the case.

But the case still remains in limbo, with relevant government agencies  the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and the Fair Trade Commission (FTC)  clashing and complaining about each other over the delayed process.

The merger is one of the most pending issues in the telecom and broadcasting industry. Due to the graveness of the issue, the relevant agencies hinted that their screening process requires more time.

Choi previously said on his trip, he would comprehensively review decisions made by the U.S. regulator, and take them into a careful account before approving or disapproving of the proposed takeover. But the agency never revealed in detail how the visit is affecting the review process, further clouding the sincerity of his business trip.

Last week, he also took a three-day business trip to Germany and France to visit officials and experts there, in what the agency said was a move to enhance mutual exchanges in broadcasting and telecom policies with the two countries.

The watchdog said in a statement that the visit was part of the government's efforts to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Korea and France establishing diplomatic ties.

Questions, however, remain about whether the visit was necessary at a critical time when the agency needs to make all-out efforts to settle the high-profile merger.

President Park also took the 10-day state visit to France and to three African countries beginning May 25. But her business trips have only drawn chilly responses from the public, as many claim they are filled with "vain discussions" having little or nothing to do with settling pending economic and social issues.

To halt such controversies, the government should unveil the specific purposes of officials' overseas trips and make public the achievements they make on these visits.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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A brush fire started by a car accident this afternoon is burning right up to homes in Calabasas, close to the area of Old Topanga Road and Mulholland Highway. It's an out of control situation. KNBC-4 and KABC-7 have dropped programming and gone on the air live.

Some neighborhoods in Calabasas have been asked to evacuate. Agoura High Schools is open for evacuees. Large animals are being accepted at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

KABC live stream.

8:20 p.m. update: Channel 7 switched at 8 o'clock to ABC's "20/20" special episode on Muhammad Ali. KNBC-4 remains on the air live at the fire in Calabasas, and KCAL-9 began its regular news at 8 p.m.
Fifteen years after blackouts rolled through some California neighborhoods, utility customers are still feeling the effects of post-energy-crisis regulatory changes that pushed the risk of costly projects from utility investors to ratepayers.

This little-noticed change in how utility rates are set has had profound repercussions for utility customers, leaving them on the hook for billions of dollars even when projects fail.

Southern California Edison spent $680 million to replace steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant. The generators proved faulty, leaking a small amount of radiation. Current cost to ratepayers for the botched project and plant closure: $3.3 billion.

Edison collected $31.9 million for an upgrade at the Mohave Generating Station, which closed at the end of 2005 after the Nevada coal-burning facility was found in violation of the Clean Air Act. Total customer bill for upgrade and closure: $122 million.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. scrapped a plan to build a 1,000-mile transmission line to Canada after partners PacifiCorp and others pulled out. Edison abandoned a separate line in Arizona after failing to get a permit. Total cost to ratepayers for the projects, which were dropped in 2011: $20 million.

Now, in the aftermath of a natural gas leak near Porter Ranch, Southern California Gas Co. customers might be required to pay for in-progress upgrades to the Aliso Canyon natural gas field even if the facility never reopens. Potential cost: $200 million or more.

Shifting the costs of bad bets and stupid bets is akin to stealing, said Loretta Lynch, an outspoken former president of the California Public Utilities Commission. Putting the risk on consumers, she said, has allowed the utilities to spend like drunken sailors.

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Before the 2001 blackouts, a decades-old regulatory policy known as used and useful meant that customers wouldnt bear financial responsibility for new utility projects until they were benefiting from them. Regulators vetted completed projects before utilities could collect money from customers to ensure that the investments in power plants, transmission lines and other projects were needed and being used.

Then in 2002, state lawmakers tweaked the language to remove that historic accountability to protect utilities financial health. As a result, the companies could collect money from customers with only a cursory preliminary review.

Roderick Wright was a Democratic assemblyman from Los Angeles when he wrote the legislation that changed regulatory policy. Wright said he was motivated by the states energy crisis, when electricity prices soared through a combination of power shortages and market manipulation, pushing Edison and PG&E into technical insolvency and making them unable to borrow money to build capital projects.

The law tells utilities and Wall Street, If you make this investment, Southern California Gas Co. or Edison, we will make sure you get your money back, Wright said in a recent interview. It put some level of certainty back into the marketplace so that they were creditworthy.

New projects are a way for utilities to bolster their revenue because they collect as much as 11% of a projects cost. Thats the states way of ensuring vital services such as electricity and natural gas are available when customers need them.

They have to keep feeding the beast to make their profit, said Lynch, the former utility commissioner.

The changes in the law contributed to a building boom. Over time, however, the altered approach has led to weaker consumer protection, said San Diego lawyer Michael Aguirre, a longtime critic of the utilities and how they charge their customers.

Now, there is little accountability  even when projects fail, Aguirre said.

Whatever the utilities want, the CPUC will make sure they will get from the ratepayers, said Aguirre, a former San Diego city attorney. Its resulting in billions of dollars in cost for what is not used or useful to utility customers.

PUC Commissioner Mike Florio raised concern about abandoning the used and useful principle in an April 2013 vote that gave deference to a utility over ratepayers in a dispute over a San Clemente water project.

The basic reasoning behind the used and useful principle is that ratepayers should only pay for [a] utility plant that is actually benefiting them, Florio wrote in his dissent.

In a recent interview, Florio said determining how costs are divvied between ratepayers and shareholders is a complex decision shaped by politics, regulators and the energy issues of the day.

PUC President Michael Picker, who joined the agency two years ago, said that determining who pays  especially when projects go wrong  is a balancing act.

You have to kind of decide it on the facts, said Picker, adding that because of his limited tenure he doesnt know all the history. I will confess that I tend to rely on staff legal analysis.

State and federal policies are designed to look at the big picture, said Maureen Brown, an Edison spokeswoman, adding that customers have long shouldered various costs of developing, maintaining and shuttering parts of the electric grid.

Shutdown and decommissioning costs, Brown said, are a necessary component of generating plant operations and appropriately paid for in rates by customers who benefited from the plants generation prior to shut-down.

But what about when a project never materializes, a plant closes prematurely or an existing facility fails to meet standards?

Thats where utilities across the country have learned to hedge their bets.

States including Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have passed legislation to allow utilities to charge their customers in advance for projects. Supporters of the policy said paying as the utility incurred expenses would save consumers money in the long run by reducing their finance charges  essentially using customers pocketbooks as collateral on their loans.

But for consumers, the practice has yielded financially disastrous consequences.

In Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy was able to charge its customers in advance for upgrades at an existing nuclear plant and for a proposed nuclear facility. Both projects failed, forcing the 2013 permanent closure of the Crystal River nuclear plant 70 miles north of Tampa, Fla., and costing Florida ratepayers more than $3 billion.

Californias similar practice has been too costly for utility ratepayers, said Matthew Freedman, an attorney for the Utility Reform Network, an advocacy organization that represents consumers before the commission.

We are frustrated with the historic treatment of utility investments in facilities that prematurely shut down, Freedman said. The Legislature should modify state law to require that utility shareholders assume their fair share of risks.

Without that consumer protection, utilities are allowed to retain whatever money they can when there are problems.

Edison kept the $680 million it was given preapproval to collect for San Onofres failed steam generators in 2010 and 2011, said Terrie Prosper, a commission spokeswoman, as the plant was used and useful at that time.

But the projects usefulness didnt last long: Even after the generators proved faulty, no reviews were conducted into what went wrong. The commission ultimately approved a deal, which is now being reexamined, that forced ratepayers to shoulder $3.3 billion for closing the plant and purchasing replacement power; shareholders absorbed $1.4 billion of the costs.

Aguirre and Lynch fear the PUC may follow a similar path with Aliso Canyon if it closes prematurely.

Just as with the San Onofre nuclear plant, the commission approved the nearly $201-million upgrade to replace old compressors at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility with no intention of an after-the-fact review  unless the costs exceeded projections.

By the end of 2015, the commission said, Southern California Gas had spent $162 million on the upgrade.

With nearly $201 million on the line, the stakes are high to return Aliso Canyon to service.

State leaders continue to weigh the future of the plant and energy agencies recently warned of the potential for blackouts without the facilitys natural gas. The utility says it has not determined the cost of closing the storage facility.

Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) has said that two-thirds of the Porter Ranch residents want to see Aliso Canyon closed for good. PUC chief Picker said he is working to keep the gas field open to ensure electricity and natural gas reliability.

Melissa Bailey, a spokeswoman for Sempra Energy, the parent company of Southern California Gas, said no money for the upgrade has been collected from the utilitys customers to date.

The project must be deemed used and useful for utility service prior to requesting authorization in rates, Bailey said.

But Lynch said thats just semantics: Based on the commissions approval, Southern California Gas arguably can start collecting the $200.9 million whenever it wants.

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ivan.penn@latimes.com

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When it was first overrun by the rebels in 2013, the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa became the symbol of the revolution against the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Nine months later, it emerged as the de-facto capital of Islamic State, the springboard from which the group would launch its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Now it has become the central prize in a race between the Russian-backed Syrian government and a U.S.-supported Syrian Kurdish-dominated militia known as the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF). Both sides  with the support of their international backers in the U.S. and Russia -- are vying for the legitimacy that comes with destroying Islamic State.

For the SDF, it could make Raqqa another addition to its presumptive Kurdish state on Syrian soil. A Syrian army victory, on the other hand, would force Western powers to rethink the pariah status of Syrian President Bashar Assads government.

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The two Raqqa offensives, running in parallel and backed by competing international players, represent the often contradictory intersections of loyalties that have arisen during the five-year Syrian crisis, which has ravaged the country, killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

Islamic State first seized control of Raqqa in January 2014, routing other rebel groups with which it had once shared the city. Its power consolidated, the groups jihadists made the city into a byword for the reign of terror it imposed on those who fall into its hands. Severed heads appear with gruesome regularity on the fences of the citys once vibrant central squares. Lashings and amputations became the punishment for violations of the jihadists strict version of Islamic law. Minorities were reported to have either fled or, if their religion was deemed acceptable by Islamic State, remained after paying exorbitant protection taxes.

Syrian army units pressed their offensive Sunday on the Islamic State-held province of Raqqa, officials and a monitoring group said, in a bid to retake the provincial capital of the same name. Syrian pro-government reporters uploaded videos and pictures on social media purporting to show the Desert Eagles, a special forces division of the Syrian army, securing control of areas east of the town of Ithriyah, a government-controlled town 80 miles southwest of Raqqa city, after what was said to be crushing battles with Islamic State jihadists.

A journalist embedded with the Desert Eagles, Eyad al-Hosain, reported on Sunday the troops had advanced 28 miles on the strategic highway connecting Ithriyah to Raqqa since the operations beginning. He also posted a picture of a crudely armored pickup truck laden with what was said to be at least 10 explosive canisters. Syrian state news operator SANA said that the operation, which had begun on Friday, was proceeding successfully and had taken a total of 28 miles of territory from the group.

The SDF, an umbrella group comprising several thousand Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, also has Raqqa in its sights. Two weeks ago, the militia stormed through a number of Islamic State-held villages and towns to get within 30 miles of the embattled city. It has the warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition providing air support, and special forces operators are embedded with the groups Kurdish fighters on the ground.

With the threat of SDF coming in from the north and the army approaching from the southwest, families of Islamic State fighters had already begun moving to safer areas of the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group with a network of activists on the ground.

On the Syrian governments side, Russian airstrikes proved instrumental in the armys latest advance into Raqqa, while Russian advisors and commandos have provided logistical assistance to ground troops. Russia has been a vital ally in Assads fight to push back rebel forces. Russian warplanes have deployed to the country since September, while Russian advisors and special forces units have also provided training and support to Syrian pro-government forces.

According to the Observatory, the government is attempting to reach the Euphrates river so as to cut off the highway connecting Raqqa to Aleppo province, as well as seize control of the nearby airbase of Tabqa.

Located 27 miles west of Raqqa, Tabqa was taken by Islamic State in August 2014 after an 18-day offensive that culminated in the Syrian armys retreat, even as hundreds of soldiers were captured and eventually massacred by the extremist group. It is also home to the Tabqa dam, Syrias largest, which provides both water and electricity for many areas in northern parts of the country.

The campaign comes on the heels of other campaigns on Islamic State territories: To the east, across the border in neighboring Iraq, government forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition are poised to rout the group from Fallouja. To the west, the SDF are closing in on Manbij, an Islamic State-held pocket that serves as a supply route between Turkey and Syria.

Yet both attacking forces have little in common beyond a shared enmity against the Islamic State. Many on the government side suspect the Kurds intend to annex Raqqa.

The international overseers of the campaigns are also at odds with each other: The U.S has been reluctant to offer even indirect support to any attack that works in the interest of the Syrian government, while the Russians insist that the Syrian army is the only force capable of removing Islamic State from Syria. A Syrian army victory in Raqqa is also seen as an important step toward reasserting Assads rule over the country.

The operation is a large stake in the heart of those who are after secessionist projects, said Eyad al-Hosein, a pro-government journalist, in a Facebook post marking the start of the armys campaign, making a veiled reference to Kurdish calls for a self-governing canton.

It is the final answer to the argument on [dividing Syria].

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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump jabbed at one another in separate TV appearances Sunday as she accused him of bizarre rants and outright lies, and described him as temperamentally unfit for the White House.

Trump, in turn, said Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of State was a criminal situation and if elected president, he will instruct the attorney general to look into it.

Shes guilty as hell, Trump said on CBS Face the Nation. Shes also guilty of stupidity.

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They sparred aggressively from a safe distance, speaking in separate pre-taped interviews on Sunday talk shows to score points before Tuesdays primaries in delegate-rich California and other states.

Clinton largely focused her fire on Trump and the fall campaign rather than on her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders. Although the California race remains tight, Clinton is widely expected to win enough delegates on Tuesday to claim the nomination.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

The Democratic front runner condemned Trumps very vicious public attack against the federal judge who is overseeing a lawsuit that claims students were defrauded by Trump University.

Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, has said U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, cannot be impartial because his parents are from Mexico and Trump has pledged to build a wall on the southern border to block illegal immigration.

Judge Curiel is as American as I am and certainly as American as Donald Trump is, Clinton countered on ABCs This Week.

Trump repeated his complaints about the San Diego-based judge, ignoring prominent Republicans who say attacks on the judges Mexican heritage are inappropriate.

Trump said Curiel had shown bias and treated him in a very hostile manner and that his side should have won a summary judgment in the case years ago.

Curiel recently approved the release of documents in the case that suggest the now-defunct for-profit real estate school exploited poor and elderly students.

Clinton, speaking on ABCs This Week, was asked if she accepted a State Department Inspector Generals report that concluded she had violated department rules by relying on a personal email account while she served as secretary of State during President Obamas first term.

She reiterated her long-standing answer that she had made a mistake and if she had to do it over again, she wouldnt have used a private email account. She also repeated her assertion that at the time, the rules werent clear.

The FBI is investigating the emails to determine if classified information was compromised. Clinton has not been charged with a crime, and no evidence suggests a grand jury has been convened to consider potential charges.

Clinton was asked about Trumps statement that he would have the U.S. attorney general examine her practice since, in his words, everybody knows shes guilty.

Typical Trumpism, Clinton said. What Trump is doing is trying to divert attention from the very serious fraud charges against Trump University.

Clinton said the FBI has not asked to interview her about the emails although agents have met with several of her senior aides. She said she would like be interviewed soon and get this matterbehind us.

Asked on CNNs State of the Union about violence at several Trump campaign events, Trump blamed thugs and paid agitators who burn U.S. flags.

But Clinton said Trump had created an environment in which it seemed acceptable for a major presidential candidate to incite violence at his rallies, and people opposed to his campaign him were responding in kind.

It should all stop, she said.

Sanders appeared on State of the Union and challenged the family-run Clinton Foundations acceptance of large foreign contributions, including from Saudi Arabia, while she was secretary of State.

Sanders said he had a problem with the foundation accepting money from countries that lack democratic rights and civil liberties and dont respect womens rights or gay rights.

Talking about the California primary, Sanders said if working people and young people turned out and turnout is large we have a chance to win big.

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The main thoroughfare running through Porter Ranch is peppered with campaign signs for county supervisor hopeful Mitch Englander. Thirty miles away in South Pasadena, 61-year-old Carmen Trevino has put up 20 signs for Englanders rival, Kathryn Barger, and is waiting for more to arrive.

In Lake Los Angeles, an unincorporated community in the desert on the northeastern edge of Los Angeles County, there are no campaign signs.

Roxanne Arias and Lynda Maldonado, who stopped off at the hardware store to pick up a kiddie pool for Arias grandson, said that although both of them sit on the Town Council, they havent been following the race.

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They havent seen any candidates coming out to campaign in the rural outskirts of the Antelope Valley, and dont remember the last time the current supervisor came to a Town Council meeting instead of sending a field deputy.

Wed like to see them come out here and see how we live, Arias said.

With the primary election just days away, no clear front-runner has emerged in the crowded race for the seat being vacated by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. He is being pushed out by term limits after 36 years on the powerful county Board of Supervisors and is now running for the state Senate seat being vacated by Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge).

Antonovichs exit marks the end of an era in a district where a courthouse and a regional park bear his name and many voters cant remember a time before he was their county representative.

If you look at the platforms of each one of these candidates, theyre ... consistently all very moderate, if not just center-left.  Political consultant Luis Alvarado, on the Republicans seeking to replace Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich

His departure -- along with that of Supervisor Don Knabe, the only other Republican on the officially nonpartisan five-member board -- also marks a turning point for the political landscape of county government.

Antonovichs seat appears likely to stay in Republican hands. The five Republican candidates have raised the most money and are deemed by political observers the most likely to advance.

They are: Barger, Antonovichs longtime chief of staff, who has his endorsement; Englander, a Los Angeles city councilman; prosecutor Elan Carr; State Sen. Bob Huff; and former Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian. The three Democrats running -- Darrell Park, Raj Pal Kahlon and Billy Malone -- have raised little money, although Park has the endorsement of the county Democratic Party.

In Knabes south-county district, where registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 21 percentage points, there is a strong possibility that the seat will shift to a Democrat.

U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro), a former Los Angeles City Council member and daughter of former county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, and Knabe aide Steve Napolitano, a Republican who is supported by Knabe and Antonovich, are vying for that spot, along with Whittier school board member Ralph Pacheco, a Democrat.

Antonovich has been the most conservative member of the board. He fought to have a cross placed on the county seal, periodically sends out news releases decrying county money spent on services to illegal aliens, and sometimes refers to the American Civil Liberties Union as the American Criminal Liberties Union.

Although his district remains the most conservative in the county, it has moved to the left and become more diverse since he took office in 1980.

The Latino and Asian populations of the district have grown substantially and the African American population more modestly, while the number of white residents has shrunk. Registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans, 41% to 30%. An additional 24% declined to state a party preference.

The Republicans running to replace Antonovich have mostly taken a centrist tack in an attempt to appeal to voters across party lines.

Luis Alvarado, a political consultant who works with Republican candidates, said the candidates would be almost unrecognizable as Republicans anywhere outside of Los Angeles County.

If you look at the platforms of each one of these candidates, theyre, I would say, consistently all very moderate, if not just center-left, he said.

Barger has lined up endorsements and substantial spending from the powerful L.A. County Federation of Labor and other unions that typically support Democrats. Englander has courted environmental groups, playing up his involvement in the response to the major leak at the Aliso Canyon gas facility that prompted thousands of families to flee Porter Ranch. He won the endorsement of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters.

Carr has played up his tough-on-crime credentials as a gang prosecutor and Iraq war veteran, but has also touted his role in setting up community courts for people with mental health and substance abuse issues.

And Najarian was the only one of the five Republicans to voice opposition to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in response to a question at a recent forum hosted by public radio station KPCC. I am strongly opposed to many, many and much of the platform of Donald Trump and unless he changes that I will not be voting for him, he said.

Huff, the former state Senate Republican leader, has carved out a stance to the right of the others.

At a recent forum in Pasadena hosted by a coalition of progressive groups, the candidates were asked about their stance on cooperation between county jails and federal immigration authorities.

Carr and Barger decried the lack of federal immigration reform, with Carr calling it a disgrace and Barger saying, It kills me that [the federal government] will reimburse us for people held in jails but not for basic healthcare for people who are here.

Englander, a reserve Los Angeles police officer, added that the policies have created mistrust between communities and law enforcement and said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made a terrible mistake in what theyve done. Najarian called past policies under which the jails would hold people past the end of their sentences in order to turn them over to immigration authorities unconstitutional.

The ironic thing is many of them left their oppressive governments to come to the United States to seek freedom, he said.

Only Huff took a hard-line stance.

Im not the guy up here on this dais thats going to throw ICE out of L.A. so if thats what youre looking for, vote for one of the others, he said.

Apart from the political dynamics of the district, the candidates must court voters in vastly different geographical and cultural areas in the sprawling district that includes the Antelope Valley and parts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

The 5th District is a very complicated district, said Zev Yaroslavsky, a retired longtime Los Angeles County supervisor who is now director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs. Its really three different districts.

Englander and Barger have both sought to shore up support in the San Fernando Valley by claiming credit for the response to the Porter Ranch gas leak. Najarian has a base in the Armenian ethnic community of Glendale. Huff has built up support in the Asian communities of the San Gabriel Valley with the help of his Taiwanese wife, Mei Mei -- as did Antonovich, whose wife is a former actress from China.

Englander and Barger have led the pack in fundraising. Both candidates have raised more than $1 million in their own campaign accounts and have also gotten a substantial boost from outside groups. An independent expenditure committee supporting Englander has raised more than $300,000 from construction trade unions, developers and others; while the unions representing county sheriffs deputies and firefighters have pumped $1.2 million into a committee supporting Bargers bid.

Alan Clayton, a political consultant who has tangled with the Board of Supervisors over redistricting and efforts to create another Latino seat on the board, predicted that Bargers political and financial support from the labor federation will help boost her to victory, as it did for sitting Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl.

The unions are going to go with somebody and theyve decided that shes acceptable to them, said Clayton, who added that despite past disagreements with her boss, he is supporting Barger. The [Federation of Labors] not going to want to lose a race.

He predicted the second spot in the runoff will go to Englander or Najarian.

Yaroslavsky, who is backing Najarian because of their past work together on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the race is really wide open, adding, A lot of it will depend on who turns out.

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abby.sewell@latimes.com

Twitter: @sewella

UPDATES:

8:59 p.m.: This article was updated with more recent information on the amount of money that unions representing county sheriffs deputies and firefighters have pumped into a committee supporting Kathryn Bargers bid.

This article was first posted at 4 a.m.
Authorities are searching for the driver involved in a hit-and-run crash in Arleta early Saturday that resulted in the death of a 29-year-old motorcyclist.

Steven Joseph Vega of Sylmar was ejected from his Suzuki motorcycle while traveling eastbound on Devonshire Street onto Arleta Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. when a vehicle struck him, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The driver of the other vehicle fled, and authorities have no description of the motorist.

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A reward of up to $50,000 is available to those who provide information leading to the motorists identification, apprehension and conviction.

Anyone with information about this incident is requested to call the Valley Traffic Division at (818) 644-8037 or (818) 644-8033.

After hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to (877) LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

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garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @gtherolf
Since the fall of 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel has quietly presided over hundreds of cases from a spacious wood-paneled courtroom on the second floor of the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego, drawing little attention outside the tightknit federal legal community.

Its a building that Curiel is familiar with, from his 13-year-long tenure as a narcotics prosecutor with the U.S. attorneys office in San Diego, eventually rising to chief of the unit.

There, from 1989 to 2002, he built a reputation as a tough, effective lawyer in charge of a special task force charged with dismantling the Arellano-Felix drug cartel  an assignment that earned him round-the-clock protection from the U.S. marshals service for a year while under a death threat from the cartel.

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Now, Curiel finds himself facing a different kind of threat.

The bespectacled, soft-spoken judge has been the target of repeated verbal assaults on his ethnic background, competence and fairness from Donald J. Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president.

In a campaign appearance in San Diego on May 27, the candidate went on at length about two federal lawsuits filed against him and his real estate investing program. He said Curiel, who is presiding over those two class-action suits, was a hater and referred to the Indiana-born judge as a Mexican.

They ought to look into Judge Curiel, he said.

The attacks continued this past week, with Trump telling the Wall Street Journal that Curiels ethnic heritage  his parents were Mexican immigrants  made him biased.

Trump also criticized Curiels membership in La Raza Lawyers Assn., apparently confusing the professional organization with an activist group that goes by a similar name.

A centerpiece of Trumps campaign has been his vow to build a wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico and to deport immigrants here illegally. Trump contends that Curiel, given his ethnic background, has a built-in conflict of interest because of Trumps advocacy of the border wall and deportations.

Those attacks on Curiel have stunned legal observers, who say they threaten the independence of the judiciary, and outraged those who know Curiel in both in his previous career as a federal prosecutor and in his work as a judge in state courts in San Diego and the federal court.

Its offensive, said Gregory Vega, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego and longtime friend of Curiel. We havent talked about this, because he doesnt talk about his cases. But Im angry.

But, he said, Curiel probably isnt.

The judge isnt commenting on the Trump controversy, his office said Friday, citing judicial rules that prohibit judges speaking about cases pending in front of them.

Its true that most lawyers are reluctant to criticize a sitting judge in public, concerned about offending that judge, or other judges. Even given that, opinions on Curiel from a cross-section of lawyers consistently point to an even demeanor, mild temperament and intelligence.

San Diego lawyer Candace Carroll headed a screening committee for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that reviewed and recommended applicants for federal judges, and which reviewed Curiel in 2011. The committee casts a wide net and interviews scores of people, she said.

If youre a jerk, opposing counsel will know that and tell the committee about it, she said. If youre arrogant, well hear arrogant over and over again. He was very highly recommended. No one could say a bad thing about him.

Curiel is presiding over two class-action lawsuits filed against Trump over his now-defunct Trump University real estate seminars, for which some people paid up to $35,000.

One suit covers people who paid for Trump courses in Florida, California and New York. That case was filed in 2010, and is set for trial in November. Trump is expected to testify. The second suit, filed in 2013, is a civil racketeering allegation that covers all in the country who took a Trump University course.

The suits contend that attendees were duped into believing they would learn Trumps real estate secrets from his handpicked instructors, at a university comparable to a top business school.

Instead, the suits say, the seminars were taught by unqualified instructors and were designed to extract as much money from attendees as possible, urging them to max out credit cards and using high-pressure sales tactics that emphasized up-selling attendees to get them to buy more expensive course offerings.

Trump and his legal team have said the claims are bogus, and that the vast majority of attendees were satisfied with the seminars.

Curiel is the third judge who has presided over the 2010 suit. He inherited it in early 2013, just a few months after he was sworn in to the federal bench.

At that time, the court record shows, Trump didnt object to Curiel being assigned and didnt ask him to recuse himself, a rare move in federal courts but not unheard of. In fact, a review of the nearly 700 docket entries lodged so far in both cases show no formal motion that questioned his impartiality or fairness.

Trump nonetheless has been critical on the campaign trail and has said the case should have been thrown out long ago. Trump University hasnt accepted any new students since 2010, but this week  in the wake of Curiel unsealing hundreds of pages of records, many of which paint an unflattering picture of the business and how it was run  Trump said he would reopen it after he wins the suit.

Curiel worked as a federal prosecutor in San Diego from 1989 to 2002. For five years, from 1996 on, he was the coordinator of the Arellano-Felix task force, staffed with four other prosecutors and two dozen federal agents. It was during that time that investigators were told by an informant that Benjamin Arellano Felix had approved a hit, or murder contract, on Curiel, according to Vega. For a year, Curiel lived under guard. He was moved from his home to a Navy base in San Diego, then for a time assigned to San Francisco and Washington until the threat abated, Vega said.

Curiel played a major role in a crucial step in the campaign against the Arellanos when he worked to get top cartel lieutenant Arturo Kitty Paez Martinez extradited from Mexico in 2001. It was the first time that a Mexican citizen had been extradited to face charges here  a precedent that cleared the way for the continuing extradition of drug figures in the 15 years since.

It was an absolutely critical moment, said Nathan Jones, an expert on drug policy who has studied the Arellano Felix cartel extensively. Hes one of the first major traffickers they get, and he ended up giving a window into the whole organization.

Paezs information eventually became a 104-page affidavit that was used in extradition requests for other drug leaders, including the Arellanos, in the following years.

He broke open the case for them, Jones said.

In 2002, Curiel moved to the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles, again prosecuting major narcotics cases. He was appointed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the San Diego County Superior Court in 2006.

There, the former drug prosecutor got a new assignment  working for three years in family court. In an average week, he dealt with some 100 cases involving child support, alimony and who gets the silverware.

Family law attorney Laura Miller appeared before Curiel several times. She said at first the family law bar was concerned that an inexperienced judge was assigned to the often contentious court. Curiel quickly put that to rest.

She said he was composed and calm at even the most charged hearings.

He really understood the importance and significance of making rulings that had a direct effect on peoples children, or their finances, she said. He was extraordinarily fair.

In November 2011 Curiel  a Democrat  was nominated to a seat on the San Diego federal bench by President Obama, then was confirmed by the full Senate the following August.

Some criminal defense lawyers carefully watched how the former drug prosecutor would adapt to his new, more powerful assignment in the same courthouse where he had pursued drug traffickers.

When he got appointed, there was some trepidation about a career prosecutor who had himself been threatened by the cartel, said San Diego criminal defense attorney Jeremy Warren. But as it turns out, hes been a fair, open-minded and independent judge whos a pleasure to appear in front of.

Trump has also attacked Curiel by saying the judge cant be fair because he is a former colleague of Jason Forge, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, who worked in the same U.S. attorneys office as Curiel. Forge told The Wall Street Journal that while he crossed paths with Curiel in the office a decade ago, there is no conflict.

Curiel is married to a federal probation official and has one child. He is also a board member of the Urban Discovery Academy, a charter school in East Village in downtown San Diego.

Vega and Curiel have known each other since ninth grade. Both men come from East Chicago, Ind. They were born on the same day, in the same year, and in the same hospital there.

Though they took different paths, both ended up in the U.S. attorneys office here. Vega said his longtime friend wont let the Trump attacks affect him.

I honestly dont think its bothering him, he said. Hes going to do his job, stay focused and not let this have any impact at all.

Moran writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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A judge in Wake County, N.C., on Friday found a Florida woman guilty of animal cruelty for wrapping duct tape around her dogs muzzle.

A photo of the dog posted to Facebook by Katharine Lemanksy unleashed a viral reaction that ended with two Cary, N.C., police officers charging her with being cruel to the dog. The officers testified that the dog, named Brown, was otherwise well cared for so they did not remove it from the Cary home where the incident occurred.

Before issuing her decision and sentencing Lemansky to 12 months of supervised probation, District Judge Jackie Brewer said: This is one of those cases where a pictures worth a thousand words.

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The two Cary officers, Rachel Williams and Shelly Smith, testified that though many things had impressed them about Lemanskys care of the dog and its littermate and a pet cat, the photo in their opinion showed tape wrapped so tightly that there was swelling around the edges.

The caption attached to the photo was: This is what happens when you dont shut up!!!

The image, which was removed from Lemanskys Facebook page amid the outcry, whipped up a storm of negative comments and people seeking justice for the dog. It was shared more than 300,000 times.

Soon after the photo went up, another post appeared on the page: Dont panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasnt barked since  POINT MADE!!!

Lemansky, who came up from Florida for the trial, announced immediate plans to appeal the verdict.

The incident occurred in November in the garage of a Cary house that Lemansky and a male friend were visiting on their way south to Florida.

Lemansky, 45, told Cary animal cruelty investigators that she had taken the photo as a joke that was meant only for her son. She said she posted it to the wrong site and received so many negative responses that the volume of social media notification messages coming into her phone kept her from using it for a while.

Lemansky told the officers she left the tape on for 15 to 20 seconds, and had done so because Brown was barking.

The officers acknowledged that they found no signs of hair loss or injury to Brown when they investigated the incident. They also noted that Brown did not seem to be afraid of Lemansky.

Lemansky had the veterinarian records for her pets with her, and Williams and Smith testified in the hour-long hearing Friday afternoon that they thought that was unusual but admirable.

The defense argued that prosecutor Alex Pulley, an assistant Wake County district attorney, had not proved that Brown suffered pain.

Of course the dog cannot be here and tell you it felt pain, Pulley told the judge in his closing statement. Pulley argued that Lemansky wrapped the tape around the dogs muzzle to punish it, and by doing so, put it in a position where it could not eat or drink.

She did this, your honor, for no other reason but to punish, he said.

Anne Blythe is a reporter for The News & Observer.

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A Memphis police officer who was struck by the fleeing vehicle of a man suspected in a downtown shooting died Saturday night, police said.

Officer Verdell Smith, 46, was pronounced dead from his injuries at 10:45 p.m. Saturday, Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings said at a news conference.

Police said three were injured in the shooting. Two people were taken to the hospital in critical condition after being shot by the suspect on North Main about 10 p.m. Saturday. They say the suspect then ran to Bass Pro Pyramid and shot a male employee. The condition of that victim was not immediately available.

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Police said the suspect then fled in a vehicle and later struck Smith. The unidentified suspect is in custody and is expected to face charges.

Rallins said Smith was an 18-year police veteran who is survived by a father, fiance, son and two daughters.

Hes a mans man and he was an officers officer. He was definitely a great father, Rallings said. Like I said, he loved his son  always talked about him, always had him with him. I think his son is taking it really, really hard. He had two daughters as well.

Rallings said the Memphis department will never be the same.
Environmental crews worked Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire, but officials said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife.

Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed Friday near Mosier, Ore., about 70 miles east of Portland. Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2 a.m. Saturday.

No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine.

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I want to apologize to the community, Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said at a news conference, adding that the company would pick up the tab for the response costs. This is the type of accident we work to prevent every day.

The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail, especially through populated areas or along a river thats a hub of recreation and commerce. The tank cars were carrying especially volatile crude from the northern Plains Bakken region, which has a higher gas content and vapor pressure than other types of oil.

More than 100 people rallied and marched in nearby Hood River, Ore., on Saturday to call for a halt to the practice. Emily Reed, the City Council president in Mosier, joined them.

In a telephone interview, Reed said her son was evacuated from school because of the derailment. Her husband, a firefighter, was a first responder. The family evacuated their house, and her father was unable to ship the first crop from his small cherry orchard.

Ive just listed four major risks that I have, and I dont see the benefit Im getting in exchange for this risk, Reed said. There is no safe way for these fossil-fuel trains to come through our town, and Id like to see them stopped until there are standards and we know its safe.

This isnt a one-off, Reed said. Its happening in my town, but next time itll be somebody elses town.

At first light Saturday, crews noticed a light sheen in the Columbia at the mouth of Rock Creek. Responders deployed about 1,000 feet of boom to contain it. It wasnt clear how much oil had spilled from the train.

By Saturday afternoon, three of the cars had been re-railed. Crews had been waiting for the cars to cool before transferring the oil into tank trucks.

Union Pacific officials said Saturday the company had inspected the section of track where the derailment occurred at least six times since March 21. It was most recently checked Tuesday, and within the last month the company had checked for imperfections and inspected the ground along the track.

To get to refineries on the East and West coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, oil trains move through more than 400 counties, including major metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia; Seattle; Chicago; Newark, N.J.; and dozens of other cities, according to railroad disclosures filed with regulators.

Including Fridays incident, at least 26 oil trains have been involved in major fires or derailments during the last decade in the U.S. and Canada, according to an Associated Press analysis of accident records from the two countries.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

The worst was a 2013 derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Damage from that accident has been estimated to be at least $1.2 billion.

At least 12 of the oil trains that derailed over the last decade were carrying crude from the Bakken region. Of those, eight resulted in fires.

Since last spring, North Dakota regulators have required companies to treat oil before its shipped by rail to make it less combustible.

Reducing the explosiveness of the crude moved by rail was not supposed to be a cure-all to prevent accidents. Department of Transportation rules imposed last year require companies to use stronger tank cars that are better able to withstand derailments.

The tank cars that derailed in Oregon were newer-model CPC-1232s, said Union Pacific spokesman Justin Jacobs.

Critics say the upgraded models still arent safe enough to transport volatile Bakken oil.

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It wasnt until the state police and the DEA were sitting in my primary care office that I finally stopped denying that I was hopelessly addicted to prescription opiates. The DEA agent said, Doc, cut the crap, we know youve been writing bad scrips. The windows in my office didnt open, otherwise I might have jumped out and fled. As it was, I was charged with three felony counts of fraudulent prescribing.

Physicians are invested with awesome responsibility and trust. We are thought of as invulnerable, as miracle workers, and were told, Heal thyself. Were no better at that than the rest of you and in some ways, were far worse.

Our problems show up in a long list of troubling statistics, and chief among them is the one that applied to me: Doctors are prone to drug and alcohol abuse. Its estimated that rates of addiction among the general population run from 8% to 10%; among physicians, the rates start at 10% and rise to 15%. What appears to account for the difference is physician distress, and in the case of drug abuse, plentiful access.

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Much has been written about the epidemic of physician burnout, depression and anxiety. Doctors are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as the general population. As many as one-sixth of primary care doctors leave medicine mid-career, an unfathomable waste given the doctor primary-care shortages in the U.S. Practicing medicine has never been easy, and now doctors work faster and longer, with less reward, spending as much time battling insurance companies and maintaining electronic medical records as treating patients. Many physicians say that if they could start over, they wouldnt choose to become doctors.

Humans in distress have always reached for relief close at hand. In the case of doctors, thats often prescription medicine. A 2013 study in the Journal of Addiction Medicine revealed that 69% of doctors abused prescription medicine to relieve stress and physical or emotional pain. Given how immediately, though superficially and transiently, these pills work, the temptation to use them again and again may become overwhelming. Given how addictive they are, thats like trying to put out a fire by dumping gasoline on it.

My access to prescription medications was virtually unlimited. Drug companies send doctors free samples. Patients bring in their unused painkillers for disposal. Colleagues freely write a scrip or two as a professional courtesy. And I foolishly made illegal use of my own prescription pad.

When doctors abuse drugs and alcohol, they must be met with compassion and care.

As a doctor slips into the clutches of addiction, he or she only rarely seeks help. Though state medical boards, which are made up of doctors for the most part, should be enlightened enough to treat addiction as a disease, they often handle it more like a crime. Addicted physicians face colossal stigma and the very real possibility they will lose their license if they come forward. Knowing this, troubled doctors tend to stay in the shadows until disaster strikes: a DUI, showing up high in the operating room, or in my case, getting charged with a serious crime.

In most of the country, including Massachusetts, where I practice, the state medical society operates a Physician Health Service. The service cooperates with the medical board and offers resources for distressed doctors. Unfortunately, even if you sign up with such a service voluntarily, there is no assurance that agreeing to treatment and monitoring will forestall board punishments.

By the time I made use of the Massachusetts Physician Health Service, I was serving two years of supervised court probation (my three felony charges were eventually dismissed). I had been dragged, disgraced, in front of the state board where I was interrogated for hours by a hostile, aggressive attorney. I lost my medical license. My marriage ended. I was out of work for almost four years. I finally retrieved my career and my life by dedicating myself to the health services rigorous program of counseling, drug testing and workplace monitoring. It lasted for five years.

Ive been in recovery since 2007. After I regained my medical license, I was asked to join the Physician Health Service as an associate director, helping other addicted doctors. As it turns out, physicians, once they get help, often excel at rehab. According to health service studies, we succeed at rates of 70% to 80%, which for addiction is astronomically high.

My experience on both sides of doctor rehab has taught me that an oversight system that defaults to sanctions and punishment keeps addicted doctors from getting treatment, which is the worst-case scenario for them and their patients. When doctors abuse drugs and alcohol, they must be met with compassion and care. Instead of reflexively revoking or suspending licenses, state medical boards can usually ensure patient safety by keeping doctors at work under careful monitoring. Ive seen the recovery process return better doctors to productive practice, strengthening the qualities most people want in a caregiver  humility, empathy and patience.

Society has begun to shift from viewing addiction as a moral failing that deserves punishment to understanding it as a disease that can be successfully treated. Thats no less true for physicians than for everyone else.

Peter Grinspoon is a primary care physician in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction.

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Barring a miracle, Bernie Sanders still isnt going to win the Democratic nomination  even if he wins the California primary. But that doesnt mean Tuesdays election is meaningless. The result in California will play a big part in determining how long Sanders stays in the race and remains a thorn in Hillary Clintons side.

If youve been paying attention, you already know that Sanders faces a pitiless, insuperable obstacle: arithmetic. Clinton holds a big lead in pledged delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses. To overtake her, Sanders needs to score at least 75% in the remaining eight contests  and thats not going to happen.

That brings us to Sanders Plan B: superdelegates.

If Sanders wins in California, hell be emboldened to stay in the race... If [not] though, his claim as a contender will quickly evaporate.

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For months, the Vermont senator complained that its undemocratic and unfair to reserve 712 convention votes for politicians and party leaders.

But after California, those superdelegates will be the only substantial pool of votes up for grabs  Sanders only path to the nomination. The senator says he plans to stay in the race long enough to woo them.

His campaign already has a small superdelegate team working the phones from Burlington, Vt., and hes lined up two dozen surrogates  from Ben & Jerry, the ice cream makers, to actresses Rosario Dawson and Susan Sarandon  to wheedle state party chairmen and legislators across the line.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Leaving aside the hypocrisy of relying on undemocratic votes, that strategy isnt likely to work. To win, Sanders would need to persuade roughly 200 superdelegates who are already committed to Clinton to switch sides. Nothing like that has ever happened before.

This is where California voters will send an important message.

If Sanders wins in California, hell be emboldened to stay in the race long enough to give his superdelegate strategy a try. It will look quixotic, but he can argue that by winning in the nations biggest state, he will have earned one more chance.

If Sanders loses in California, though, his claim as a contender will quickly evaporate. He might be able to justify lingering until the last primary in Washington, D.C., on June 14. But hell face a barrage of pleas from other Democrats  leaders such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Vice President Joe Biden, both of whom Sanders counts as friends  to acknowledge that hes lost and throw his support to Clinton.

In 2008, Clinton didnt concede the nomination to Barack Obama until four days after the last primary. That gives us until June 18 or so to decide, a Sanders advisor told me last week. (He insisted on anonymity to discuss hypothetical future events instead of merely expressing confidence in total victory.)

Besides, he added, the candidate and his supporters will need breathing space  time to face up to the end of their campaign and grieve.

He cant simply snap his fingers and tell his supporters: Now were for Hillary, the advisor said.

Even then, Sanders crusade wont be completely over  because his campaign was never solely about winning the nomination.

His top priority all along has been laying the foundation for what he calls a political revolution by rallying progressives and pushing the Democratic Party to the left.

He has a wish list for the party platform: a $15 minimum wage (Clinton supports $12), opposition to a proposed trade pact with Asia (Clinton initially supported it, but now says she wants changes), a strong plank on campaign finance reform.

He has personnel demands, too; he wants Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) removed as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) removed as co-chairman of the conventions Rules Committee.

Ironically enough, he wants the rules changed to abolish superdelegates.

And he wants to use next months convention in Philadelphia as a vehicle for changing the face of the party  even though that may mean some noisy floor fights.

I think if they make the right choice and open the doors to working-class people and young people and create the kind of dynamism that the Democratic Party needs, its going to be messy, Sanders said last month. Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle but that is where the Democratic Party should go.

Were going to have 2,000 Sanders people inside that room, the advisor added. These people have been in fights with the political establishment for a long time. Theres a natural inclination on our side to go to battle.

So whatever happens in California, there will still be a fundamental divide between the Clinton camp and the Sanderistas. Clinton and her supporters want party unity as they prepare for the fall campaign, and they want Sanders to fall in line. But the Vermont senator, who declared himself a Democrat only last year, will continue to demand fundamental change, even if it comes at the expense of unity. That battle will continue long after this weeks votes are counted.

doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

Twitter: @DoyleMcManus

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The race to replace Democratic Rep. Janice Hahn morphed from a likely snoozer into a clash between an environmentalist Latina and a powerful member of the states legislative black caucus. It is fraught with accusations of ethical misdeeds and carpetbagging.

There are 10 candidates on Tuesdays ballot, but it looks like the contest will come down to two very different Democrats: state Sen. Isadore Hall III (D-Compton) and Nanette Barragan, an attorney and former member of the Hermosa Beach City Council. And it will continue past the primary should they, as expected, be the top-two finishers who will face each other in the general election. The 44th Congressional District is strongly Democratic.

Hall has a long history in the district, having served on the Compton school board and later the city council before moving up to the state Assembly. He won a special election in 2014 to replace state Sen. Rodrick Wright, who resigned after being convicted of lying about where he lived to run for office.

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Just three months after Hall took over Wrights seat, he entered the race to replace Hahn in Congress. At first he was the shoe-in, carrying a slew of endorsements from state Democrats, including the congresswoman, who is running for county supervisor.

But Barragan has mounted a sharp primary campaign in part by hitting Hall for his ties with special interests in the oil, alcohol, and tobacco industries. And she has caught up to Halls early fundraising lead to make the race competitive.

She has been rewarded with support of several Latino members of Congress as well as the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and Emilys List, the national group that backs female candidates.

Hall and Barragan are the only ones in the race who have spent significant money on get-out-the-vote efforts.

Other candidates have mounted underfunded campaigns, but only two others bothered to pay for candidate statements on the sample ballot: Democrat Marcus Musante, a criminal defense attorney and former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, and county maintenance worker Morris F. Griffin.

The southern end of the district begins at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro and carves a thin path north through the refinery-clogged Wilmington neighborhood before spreading out to include the cities of Carson, Compton and Lynwood south of downtown Los Angeles.

Latinos make up 48% of the districts voters and African Americans account for another 25%, according to an analysis of voter registration data by the firm Political Data, Inc.

Several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have lined up behind Barragan. Local supporters include Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Whittier) and Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus fundraising arm. Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro and Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a darling of the left, also are backing her candidacy.

Barragan grew up in Carson, the youngest child of Mexican immigrants. She graduated from UCLA and USCs Gould School of Law before beginning a career as a litigation attorney.

She got her start in politics outside of this congressional district in 2013, when she was elected to the Hermosa Beach City Council. Barragan made a name for herself in the beach town by helping block a local ballot measure that would have overturned the citys ban on oil drilling and pushing through a plastic bag ban.

Congressional candidates dont have to live in the districts they seek to represent, but Barragan resigned her seat on the council to move back to the district and run  a move that has been a main point of attack from Halls camp.

Halls campaign tried to paint Barragan as an outsider last fall in a web video that has since been taken down. It highlights a comment Barragan made while running for the Hermosa Beach council three years ago where she talks about her dream of buying a home in Hermosa.

At the time, Hall campaign consultant Dave Jacobson pointedly said the senator had never left his community.

Barragan still has sisters who live in the district and says she is up front with voters about the places she has lived. It is something I havent run from, she said.

Barragan has found local supporters, including Henry Gonzalez, the well-known former mayor of South Gate. He said he has hosted two packed meetings for Barragan at his home and that she is getting voters excited, especially Latinos.

I think we are underrepresented all over, he said.

Gonzalez stopped short of saying the 68% Latino district needs to be represented by a Latino in Washington. But he said if the district was majority African American with a Latino running, the Latino would not stand a chance.

I look at it from the standpoint: if it was reverse theyd be hollering and rightly so, he said.

Hall has run two television ads focused on his upbringing on the rough streets of Compton and his 15-year career in local politics.

One of them features Hahn and Hall walking together around the port as Hahn makes a not so subtle swipe against Barragan. The congresswoman says unlike other candidates who come and go, Hall is a trustworthy candidate from the community.

Halls years coming up through the Los Angeles County political machine have paid off. He also is backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Then Assemblyman Isadore Hall III (D-Compton), center, speaks with GOP Assembly members Diane Harkey of Dana Point, left, and Shannon Grove of Bakersfield on the Assembly floor in April 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press )

Barragans campaign has attempted to turn Halls long political career into a liability.

Her campaign launched a Twitter account and website dubbed Isadores Hall of Shame dedicated to picking at the senators record, including highlighting his voting record on a plastic bag ban and oil drilling along the coast.

The site also includes news reports about his previous campaign spending on cigars, luxury concert seats and paid-for trips to the Kentucky Derby and Hawaii.

Hall defends his record on the environment, pointing to his support of last years landmark effort to combat climate change, SB 350. He voted with the California League of Conservation Voters 92% of the time last year and 80% over his career in Sacramento.

I dont think anyone else in this race has a record to point to, he said.

Barragans campaign has called on Halls campaign to return thousands of dollars in donations from Chula Vista casino owner Harvey Souza, who was charged in a federal money laundering case in 2015.

Halls camp responded by pointing out that Barragan accepted $1,000 from one of the owners of a Huntington Park tow truck company who had been investigated for bribing an elected official. (The donation was refunded in January, and prosecutors dropped the charge against Jimmy Sandhu in February.) Hall has not reported returning Souzas contributions.

The back-and-forth accusations have stepped up as the primary nears.

Barragans camp this week accused Hall of violating federal election law, charging his campaign had spent general election funds for the primary. Halls campaign reported having just $39,000 left in the bank last week even though it reported raising about $126,000 earmarked specifically for the general election that cannot legally be used until then, according to figures analyzed by the nonpartisan California Target Book.

Mac Zilber, a Hall consultant, said the campaign had already made some expenditures toward the general election but failed to report them correctly to the Federal Election Commission.

Sorting out campaign finance claims >>

Two independent elections lawyers who spoke to The Times about Halls spending said the move is legal as long as Halls campaign amends the reports and proves it did in fact spend the money on general election expenses.

In another dust-up, the African American-owned Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper recently wrote an editorial calling a mailer sent out by Barragans campaign disgraceful and lewd. The editorial charges that the mail artificially darkens the Senators skin tone by putting the photo in black and white.

Michael Trujillo, Barragans campaign manager, said the mailer had nothing to do with race.

javier.panzar@latimes.com

Twitter: jpanzar

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Updates on California politics
State Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris campaigns across Southern California

With just days left before polls close, campaigns across the state are knocking on doors, calling supporters and doing whatever they can to get out the vote.

On Saturday, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris stopped by a half-dozen family owned businesses in Southern California to remind patrons to vote.

The day started with a breakfast-time stop at Roscoes House of Chicken and Waffles near Los Angeles International Airport. Customers paused to chat with Harris or take a photo.

Start-up manager Michael Tuso, 27, of Playa del Rey, leapt from his meal when Harris neared his table. Hes already voted for her, but wanted a photo and a chance to talk to a woman he thinks should run for president one day. He said he was eager to vote for her in the Senate race.

Shes a pragmatic, solutions-based person, he said. Ive known about her for a long time, and was kind of hoping shed jump into the race.

Tuso said he, like Harris, backed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president.

I strongly support powerful female voices leading the country, he said.

The chicken-and-waffles chain is becoming a popular stop for politicians. President Obama made a suprise stop in 2011. Harris opponent, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange), will stop at Roscoes in Inglewood tomorrow morning as she works to get out the vote for her campaign.

.@KamalaHarris gets a tour of the San Pedro Fish Market. It smells so good in here. pic.twitter.com/wM7mQVia49  Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) June 4, 2016

At the San Pedro Fish Market, Harris got a tour of the raw fish for sale before making her way to the sun-baked patio to talk with families tucking into platters of crab, squid and oysters. More than a few tables of people were drinking from hollowed out pineapples.

A family of 20 or so crowded together with Harris and yelled Warriors! as photographers snapped away. Harris volunteers arranged for lunch and broke out a deck of playing cards as she moved from table to table.

After Harris cooed over the infant she was holding, Krystle Green, 29, of Ontario said in an interview that she plans to vote for Harris on Tuesday.

She seems very personable and like she actually wants to do something, she said.

Green said shes leaning toward Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the presidential race.

Honestly, my opinion right now is anythings better than Trump, she said.

Harris lunch of calamari, shrimp and scallops under a Tecate banner fluttering in the light breeze was put on hold repeatedly as people stopped by the table.

At Lolas Mexican Cuisine in Long Beach, Harris had barely stepped off her campaign bus when Marie Deary, 48, of Long Beach came running up, yelling to her niece, Bring the phone, bring the phone. Its Kamala Harris!

Deary said she likes that Harris worked to hold banks accountable after the housing crash and tried to keep Californians in their homes. Dearys been a supporter since Harris first attorney general race in 2010.

Inside Lolas, the crush of staff and local politicians that followed Harris from table to table kept Barry Cox, 41, of Long Beach from being leaving, so he ordered a drink.

Cox said he was impressed with Harris record, though he doesnt like her stance on gun control.

Im proud of her accomplishments, she believes in what shes doing, shes moved by her convictions and I like that. Shes broke ground as a woman, as a black woman at that, or a woman of mixed heritage, Cox said.

Hes leaning toward supporting Republican businessman Donald Trump in the presidential race, saying he was disappointed in Clintons time as secretary of state.

Nonetheless, he said he hasnt had time to study the candidates and doesnt plan to vote.

Im not as educated as Id like to be. When it comes to the presidential race, Im a little bit more knowledgeable. In California though, I wont waste my vote. California always goes to Democrats, Cox said.

Love this beautiful Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate cake from @portos in Downey! #gotv pic.twitter.com/AMbeQ7W8PF  Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 4, 2016

Harris weaved through the bustling crowd at Portos Bakery in Downey and got a quick tour of the kitchen  and a cake theyd made with her campaigns logo.

Harris said in an interview it was important to her to stop in at family-owned businesses so close to the election.

Thats always important to me. Truly our small businesses are really a part of the economic engine of our state and I think that they need to be seen and highlighted more, she said.

As she left the restaurant to head to a walk along the Los Angeles River with supporters, she prodded patrons to remember to vote.

Jonathan Saavedra, 31, of Whittier said he plans to vote for her Tuesday because he like Harris experience as attorney general. Hes also leaning toward backing Clinton because of her experience.

She seems like a tough politician and she knows what shes doing, Saavedra said of Harris. Shes going to get the job done and is a good successor to Barbara Boxer.
More than 100 art exhibitors, local artists and professional animators will congregate on San Fernando Boulevard this weekend for the annual Downtown Burbank Arts Festival.

San Fernando will be closed to traffic between Magnolia Boulevard and Angeleno Avenue to make room for paintings, sculptures and other pieces so event-goers can stroll the street, interact with artists and talk about their creations.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>

The free event was started less than a decade ago as a way to get more people to visit the downtown area and support local businesses, said Mary Hamzoian, economic development manager for the city.

Its a very fun and cool event, she said. It brings in a few thousand people each day.

The art pieces are not just limited to sculptures, sidewalk chalk art and paintings; there will also be photographers, home jewelers and woodworkers displaying their work.

A component that has been featured at the festival the past three years is a block dedicated to Burbank-based Creative Talent Network, which is bringing about 65 of its members who have worked on notable projects such as Treasure Planet, The Lion King, The Simpsons and Enchanted and give them a chance to showcase their personal artwork and animation.

It is an opportunity for the artist to meet up with the general public directly, said Tina Price, who worked for Disney for 23 years and founded the Creative Talent Network.

Animators typically are not seen outdoors, she said. They are huddled in cubicles or offices, which are typically dark, so its a nice opportunity for them to get out and into the sun and showcase their independent work.

Price added that many student artists flock to the animation area of the festival to get a chance to talk with animators and receive feedback on their work.

The Creative Talent Network will also host a Doodle Run, where people will have to go to different artists, ask for a small drawing from them and return with a completed sheet for a chance to win various prizes. Participants will also be able to take the doodles home.

Price, who has been in the animation industry for over 30 years, said that Burbank is the animation capital of the world. There [are] more animation studios in a 10-mile radius than anywhere else in the world.

She added, To be a member of that community and to be able to connect with the city of Burbank in that way is great. Burbank is really an epicenter for the best animators in the world.

The festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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The Burbank chapter of the mother-daughter nonprofit National Charity League hosts a fashion show each year to honor its members who have completed their required service hours.

The girls usually seek help from clothing vendors to model their outfits during the event, but in recent years, there have been fewer and fewer businesses willing to donate clothing.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>

When Burbank High School junior and chapter member Danielle Boyce, 16, heard this, she took it upon herself to take on the project of making 12 custom, handmade dresses for the Ticktockers  the daughter members of the nonprofit  for this years fashion show, which will be held Saturday at the Los Angeles Marriott next to Bob Hope Airport.

Ive always sewn, and Ive always wanted to have a big project to do, she said. Ive tried to make my own collection like three times, but I always just lost inspiration. But when you have people that youre actually making the dresses for, its really inspiring, and I want to make something fun for them. 

As an aspiring fashion designer, Danielle Boyce said she needed more conventional dresses in her portfolio. (Roger Wilson / Staff Photographer)

Danielle has been working on the dresses since late February and she said that she has enjoyed working with the other girls to get their interpretation of this years fashion show theme  little black dress.

Theres some girls who have a romper, a long jumpsuit, one that wants her dress more glittery and another whose style is more tomboyish, she said. Its really fun because everyone is very different in our class, and we get to celebrate that.

Despite having to make a dozen dresses in about two months without using a premade template for any of the pieces, Danielle said there have been only minor setbacks during the development of the dresses.

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The girls who Danielle is working with recognized that she was taking on a big task, so they sent her photos of the dress styles they thought would be easy for Danielle to make. But she took it upon herself to work with each girl to give their dress its own unique style.

As I was sketching the dresses, I would suggest really cool fabric we could use [for] a different sleeve, she said. So they all started with a main design and then from there. We just collaborated.

Every year, the local chapters of the National Charity League celebrate their junior and senior high school members for completing their required service hours for the year. The fashion show is a way for the girls to show poise in the community, said Danielles mother, Olivia.

Olivia Boyce said that she was not surprised when she found out her daughter would be making 12 dresses for this years event. A few years ago, Danielle made a dress entirely out of Arizona and Snapple bottle wrappers and another year she made a dress using VHS tape.

As an aspiring fashion designer, Danielle Boyce said she needed more conventional dresses in her portfolio. So last year, she made a few homecoming dresses for her friends and, a few months ago, she finished making prom dresses for both herself and a friend.

So Ive really been working on 14 dresses for the past couple of months, she said with a laugh.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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Over a dozen horses will be dancing, prancing and galloping around the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank for a local nonprofits biggest fundraiser for the year.

From Thursday to Sunday, the nonprofit Fiesta of the Spanish Horse will hold its annual festival that raises money for cancer research. This years donation recipient will be Kure It Cancer Research, based in Irvine.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>

Some of the past beneficiaries have been the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

Helping other people and watching the kids smile when they see the trick riders or see these gorgeous horses makes it all worthwhile, said Joanne Asman, event coordinator for the event. And if we help one person find a cure for cancer, then what weve done is worthwhile.

Various breeds of Spanish horses  including Andalusian, Lusitano and Peruvian Paso will be at the event participating in various competitions and performances put on during the four-day event.

Asmans horse, named Traveler, who is the mascot for USC, will also be in attendance and will be available for photo opportunities. Traveler, who has been the mascot for the Trojans for the past 14 years, will be celebrating his 25th birthday this weekend, Asman said.

The organization was created in 1998 after Asman discovered a friends husband had cancer. A fundraiser was established to donate money to various cancer research programs.

Spanish horses are spotlighted during the event because her friends husband, who has since passed away, was one of the largest breeders of Andalusian horses, she said.

They are just the most magnificent show-off horses that there are, she said. Their beauty is beyond compare.

Saturdays festivities, dubbed the Mane Event, will feature a horse play, where all of the actors are horses, Asman said.

Its like a Broadway show, she said. Well have music and dancers.

General admission tickets cost $15, while tickets for seniors 65 and older and children 5 to 12 years old cost $10. Children 4 and younger are admitted for free.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit fiestacharityshow.com or call (818) 842-8444.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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Members of 17 Burbank churches, mosques and synagogues gathered at St. Judes Anglican Church Tuesday night to remember those who lost their lives during the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and any other atrocity that has occurred around the world.

During the gathering, candles were lit during a Days of Remembrance commemoration  six candles for the six million Jews who were killed during World War II and one candle for the 1.5 million Armenians who died during the Armenian Genocide and other tragic events in history.

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Its extremely important for everyone to come together, said Mike Chapman, president of the Burbank Human Relations Council, which was one of the sponsors of the event. Its always been an ecumenical presentation.

Lawrence Bush, editor of Jewish Currents magazine in New York, spoke during the commemoration, and talked about the armed Jewish resistance to Nazism and how those efforts should not be lost in history.

Bush also explained that many of those who fought against Nazism were young individuals who were more concerned about the masses than themselves. He said he would like to see that kind of mentality brought back.

We live in a highly individualistic society, he said. Its really important to cultivate the we and not just the I.

Hilda Fogelson lights a candle to commorate those killed in the Holocaust at the Days of Remembrance ceremony at St. Judes Angelican Church in Burbank on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

Various churches and synagogues have participated in the past in the annual commemoration, which is in its 32nd year. However, it was the first year that members from a local mosque took part.

Khabab Salama, a volunteer at the Burbank Islamic Center, said he and other mosque members were moved by the sentiment of the event and were excited to attend.

This is a very important social issue that we, as a community, take very heavily, he said. Its not something that should be neglected.

Like Chapman, Salama said he hopes the ceremonies start a dialogue with all faiths to work on understanding one another rather than being in conflict.

I hope that we can start talking to each other in a very civil and peaceful manner to try and understand our differences instead of focusing [on] and fighting about our differences, Salama said.

Before holding the ceremony at St. Judes, Chapman was joined by Holocaust survivors and the children of survivors at a Burbank City Council meeting, where they also lit the candles.

This interfaith unity is quite unique and yet is so important to people everywhere in this country and around the world, said David Meyerhof, coordinator of the Days of Remembrance event and a second-generation Holocaust survivor, during the meeting.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
At the 35th annual Burbank on Parade this past Saturday, heroes were celebrated and neighbors connected as the event expanded to an all-day celebration.

The parades theme was Our Heroes, which included several grand marshals: Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Robert Friend, the Burbank Fire Department, the Burbank Police Department, eight retired Burbank Unified School District teachers, veterinarian Martin Small, actor Kevin Hobson and Sister Regina Palamera of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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The event started at 7:30 a.m. with the Burbank Fun Run/Walk and CicLABurbank bicycle ride, followed by the mile-long parade down Olive Avenue from Keystone to Lomita streets and concluded with a newly introduced post-parade festival that included live music, a diverse selection of food trucks and a car show.

Organizers estimated approximately 10,000 people attended.

1 / 16 The Burbank Burroughs All City band performs at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Avenue, in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 2 / 16 The Burbank-Burroughs All City band performs at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 16 A Back to the Future movie DeLorean car along with other movie cars came out to play at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 16 The Ballet Folklorico Azteca performs at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 16 Local students held the official sign for the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 16 Riding in a Batmobile replica, Congressman Adam Schiff waves to the crowds at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 7 / 16 The one and only Ronald McDonald waves at the crowds at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 8 / 16 Gunfighters for Hire gave a show at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 9 / 16 Burbank Girl Scouts walked holding signs with images of their heroes at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 10 / 16 The Burroughs High School photo students outgun the photographer during the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 11 / 16 Congressman Adam Schiff, left, and police chief Scott LaChasse pose in front of a Batmobile replica before the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 12 / 16 A student from Golden State Gymnastics does a handstand at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 13 / 16 Children from the local Salvation Army marched at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 14 / 16 A clown shows off her Bee collection at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 15 / 16 The Bob Hope Airport brought out their big fire dept. guns for the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 16 / 16 A rider with the Burbank Wranglers is all smiles as she particiaptes in the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Ave., in Burbank on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Overall, it just flowed, said Joanne Miller, parade chairwoman, who noted the parade committee has only 12 people. Shes been involved with the parade for 30 years.

Burbank on Parade originally began in 1945 as an annual event to celebrate the end of World War II, but it lasted for only 12 years. Then, in 1981, a group of Burbank residents who enjoyed the previous spring parade and festival decided to bring it back with different themes each year.

As in parades past, the marching bands on Saturday were well received. Miller said. The Reseda High School NJROTC took first place among the participating high schools.

Resident June Testa sat with family at the intersection of Olive and Myers Street, and said her neighbors were saying they saw more people at this years parade than ever before.

Once the parade ended at George Izay Park, dozens of food trucks formed a circle near Virginia Avenue. The band Paper Rain, which regularly plays at the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank, jammed out on the stage set up on Olive in front of the park.

Vietnam War veteran and lifelong Burbank resident Mark Osbourne sat on a lawn chair in the park watching the car show with his new friend, Joe Trejo of Burbank, who was attending the parade and festival for the first time. He was showing off his 1968 Chevy Camaro Supersport, while Osbourne had his 1928 Ford Roadster on display.

Its great, Trejo said. Ive been enjoying it. The food was good.

Osbourne, a Burroughs graduate whose children and grandchildren have attended schools in Burbank Unified, said he comes to the parade to see his neighbors.

I see more people I went to school with than anywhere else, he said.

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Matt Sanderson is a freelance writer.

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The Christoffersen family of Burbank had a lot to be thankful for on Memorial Day during a ceremony in McCambridge Park.

Sons Ryan and Yuri were honored as part of the city of Burbanks Military Service Recognition program, which honors local military personnel with individual banners that hang along Third Street and are given to the service members after they end their time in the military.

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Ryan Christoffersen was presented with his banner during the ceremony held at the war memorial in the park. He was an airman in the U.S. Navy for a year.

His mother, Karen, recalled driving down Third Street and seeing her sons banner. I salute it every time, she said.

Yuri Christoffersen  who was in the U.S. Army for 12 years, stationed most recently at Pearl Harbor  was also honored as part of the program. However, he couldnt make the local ceremony because he is still in Hawaii.

Hopefully, there are more people, like me, who come home, Ryan Christoffersen said after the ceremony. They did their service and its time for them to get back into society to do more service.

Kevin Christoffersen, another brother, was in the Army for three years until 2010.

Three brothers serving our country, returning [home] safely, said Mayor Jess Talamantes during the ceremony.

Military service isnt limited to just the Christoffersen brothers. Their father, John, is a Navy veteran, and Karen Christoffersens late father was a Marine veteran.

Others with local ties who were honored as part of the banner program this year, but could not make the ceremony, were Adam Baumgarten, Evan Bryant, Carlos Delgado, Robert Hagstrom, Richard Perez and Ryan Welker.

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said those serving in the military in countries such as Iraq and Syria face dangers daily.

In fact, when you look at the casualties weve suffered since the posting of our troops in Iraq, weve lost 16 service members since little more a year and a half ago, he said. Three of them have been combat related, and 13 of them have been non-combat related because of the inherent risk, the inherent danger while serving in a place like Iraq.

The ceremony started with a flyover by the Condor Squadron and the Armed Forces Medley performed by the Burbank Community Band. Also, members of the Crescenta Valley High School Air Force Junior ROTC Honor Guard gave the Presentation of Colors and POW/MIA Table Ceremony, the national anthem was sung by Anna Brown from Burroughs High School and God Bless America was sung by Pat Walmisley, a member of the Burbank Veterans Committee.

Later, local Scouts and residents placed roses on the memorial as the names of local fallen military personnel from World War I to the current War on Terrorism were read.

A highlight of the ceremony was a flag salute by Jimmy Weldon, who will be 93 years old in September. Speaking as though he was the flag, he spoke of how Old Glory has persevered over the decades.

I was carried through the halls of Montezumo on to the shores of Tripoli by the United States Marine Corps. I stayed with the boys until it was over over there, he said.

Mickey DePalo, chair of the Burbank Veterans Committee, said the end of a persons military service shouldnt mean the end of serving others.

A lot of my fellow men and women veterans out there, as a way of remembering all the veterans that have paid the ultimate sacrifice, I encourage all of you to get involved in your community, to volunteer, to give that great example of were veterans, were home and we want to continue to serve. he said.

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Mark Kellam, mark.kellam@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAMarkKellam
The Burbank Librarys annual Trivia Challenge fundraiser was once one of the most popular community events in the city and literacy librarian Jennifer Dance is looking to continue its legacy.

This years event will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Ritz Banquet Hall in St. Leons Cathedral, 3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd., to raise money for the librarys literacy program, which provides free one-on-one tutoring for adults 18 years old and older who read or write below an eighth-grade level.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are available for $30 at the door.

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Those in attendance will get to watch 12 teams made up of representatives from local businesses and philanthropic groups  Disney, Warner Bros. and the Rotary Club, to name a few  duke it out mentally to see who knows more than the other.

Dance, who took over the event in 2014 and is in charge of coming up with the trivia questions, said she wanted to ask the teams who produced the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls until 1989.

I had ColecoVision and Cabbage Patch dolls when I was a kid, and I thought we should include that question, but I found out that [the trivia] is not all about me, Dance said, laughing. I took that question out because, just because I know the answer to that question, doesnt mean anyone else is going to know the answer.

The popularity of the event, hosted by the Friends of the Burbank Public Library, stumbled in 2013 when organizers decided to change the competitions format from a trivia contest to a spelling bee.

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Nobody wanted to go and do that, Dance said. It was a little bit of a flop.

So, in 2014, Dance brought the Trivia Challenge back and raised about $4,000.

However, the competition was held in the fall that year rather that the spring, when it usually was held, to coincide with the California library system celebrating its 30th anniversary of library literacy.

Aware of the other community fundraisers during the fall, Dance opted to move the event back to the spring, but canceled the 2015 competition because she did not want to ask for money from the community twice within a short amount of time.

But now, were back at it, she said.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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Eleven apartment units are far from enough housing to solve the homelessness issue in Burbank. However, it is enough to give 11 people another chance in life.

The nonprofit Burbank Housing Corp. recently hosted a grand opening for the Burbank Veteran Bungalows, an 11-unit rehabilitated apartment complex between West Verdugo and West Angeles avenues developed to help homeless veterans in the area.

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For Bruce Waite, the refurbished apartment was a place where he could sort out his life and get back on track.

Waite, 60, a U.S. Army veteran, was living in a three-bedroom house with a large swimming pool in North Hills, but he lost everything in 2014.

He suffered a massive heart attack, during which his heart stopped six times. Waite was left with medical bills that he could not pay for and found himself living where he never thought he would.

Financially, things went wrong. I was out on the streets and sleeping in my truck, he said.

The goal of the bungalows is to have the veterans establish themselves financially to the point where they can move into mainstream housing and allow other veterans to make use of the units, said Judith Arandes, executive director for the Burbank Housing Corp. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Waite bounced around among various housing facilities and was finally referred to New Directions for Veterans Inc., a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that assists veterans with housing and social service needs as well as job training.

At the beginning of this year, Waites case worker told him about the refurbished bungalows in Burbank, which was ideal for him because he could stay in the San Fernando Valley and visit his 30-year-old son with special needs who lives in North Hills.

On Feb. 1, Waite moved into the fully furnished apartment, where he can start anew.

This is a wake-up call for me, he said. I survived that heart attack for a reason. Im to start doing more  volunteering, helping, anything I can do.

The housing project was approved by the city in 2013, and took about two and a half years and more than $3 million to complete. It was funded by donations, loans and more than $1.5 million in city funds, said Judith Arandes, executive director for the Burbank Housing Corp., which manages the apartments.

Cities are, by and large, understanding that its their responsibility to come up with these housing solutions for homeless people, especially for homeless veterans.  Judith Arandes, executive director for the Burbank Housing Corp.

New Directions will provide any social services the residents of the apartments need to get their lives together.

When we saw them, we thought they would be perfect for veteran housing, which we had been talking about for a long time because theres such a huge need, Arandes said.

The apartments are permanent housing for veterans, allowing them to live in their units for as long as they want as long as they can pay their rent.

The rent can be as low as $25 or as high as $600, depending on the circumstance of the veterans financial situation, Arandes said.

However, the goal of the bungalows is to have the veterans establish themselves financially to the point where they can move into mainstream housing and allow other veterans to make use of the units, Arandes said.

So more than 11 people can actually get the benefit of the services over time, she said.

Arandes said more cities are realizing that they should rely less on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide housing and services to veterans if they want to see change.

Cities are, by and large, understanding that its their responsibility to come up with these housing solutions for homeless people, especially for homeless veterans, she said.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Burbank High principal Mike Bertram spoke highly of the graduating seniors who have collectively accumulated 25,000 hours of community service as the 600 graduates prepared to receive their diplomas Friday night at the Starlight Bowl.

This is a remarkable class, he said of the Bulldogs. You all most certainly left your paw prints at Burbank High School.

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Student speaker Grace Tarandek encouraged her classmates to strive for selflessness.

We must remember to stay aware of what is happening globally and to not turn a blind eye to injustices happening around us, she said. Stand up for what you believe in and dont turn your back on something you are fearful of.

1 / 24 Valedictorian Daniel Ragheb smiles near the conclusion of his speech at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 2 / 24 Graduating senior Arman Margaryan holds up his diploma to show it off to his family at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 3 / 24 Katelynn Mayfield, 18, holds up her diploma to show it off to her family at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 4 / 24 Burbank High School Principal Michael Bertram shakes the hand of a graduate at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 5 / 24 Graduating seniors march in two rows into the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 6 / 24 A graduating senior salutes a family member at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 7 / 24 Graduating senior Brandon Han makes his way up steep stairs, then a steep incline, to his seat at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 8 / 24 The Starlight Bowl is filled to capactity for the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 9 / 24 Olivia Bodner sings the lead with the In Sync Choir singing Stand Up and Make a Chang at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 10 / 24 Valedictorian Daniel Ragheb applauds his fellow graduates during his speech at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 11 / 24 Graduating senior and valedictorian Daniel Ragheb smiles with his diploma cover at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 12 / 24 Dalia Farazdaghi points to family in the audience as she gets in line to receive her dipoma cover at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 13 / 24 Burbank High School Principal Michael Bertram smiles as he starts his welcome address at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 14 / 24 Burbank High School Principal Michael Bertram, who claims he never wears red, holds up a red folder to prove the graduation attire he is wearing is cardinal, and not red, at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 15 / 24 One of 30 security guards talks on his radio in the middle of the crowd during the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. Security was very high at the venue, including several Burbank police and fireman. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 16 / 24 Senior speaker Grace Tarandek at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 17 / 24 The graduates, rather than wait at the top of the grassy area inside the Bowl, they gathered in a grassy area outside in front at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 18 / 24 A mass of graduating seniors file into the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 19 / 24 A sea of blue caps at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 20 / 24 Parents with cell phones and cameras try and get a photo of the In Sync Choir performing at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 21 / 24 Student speaker Noa Drake at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 22 / 24 A parent salutes her graduate at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 23 / 24 Students smile and laugh with the speech by valedictorian Daniel Ragheb at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) 24 / 24 Graduating senior Henry Saroyan looks back to family during a moment to acknowledge family members for their contributions at the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Burbank High School at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank on Friday, May 27, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

Fellow student speaker Noa Drake said students should graduate with a clear heart.

My one hope for the class of 2016 is that once you leave this stage, you leave without any regrets of your time here, she said.

For graduate Kristine Zakarian, who will begin college at Cal State Northridge in the fall, graduating from Burbank High signified a huge honor, she said before the ceremony.

Its been a great experience, she said. Graduating today is bittersweet. Its really sad because when you think about it, youre not going to see most of these people ever again.

For Jacqueline Avedisian, who will begin her studies at a community college and study biology, said her time at Burbank High has shaped her in a positive way.

Ive learned a lot about myself and those around me. Theyve made it a very memorable experience. Aside from having amazing teachers that have taught me a lot, being involved in my clubs such as Armenian Club, Hope Club, being in the academy of finance, have all accumulated to who I am today and Im very grateful for that. High school has created the person that I am now.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
Burbank City Council members said they believe community development staff have been making headway in their efforts to craft clearer guidelines and design rules for single-family homes being built or renovated around the city.

Council members directed city staff during a council meeting on May 17 to continue looking into keeping some sections of a temporary ordinance passed in March 2015  such as frontyard setbacks and changing how floor-area ratios are calculated  and modifying other aspects, such as finding different ways to address sideyard setbacks and how second-story setbacks are determined.

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The building restriction, known as the Interim Development Control Ordinance, is effective through March 2017 and was passed by the City Council after numerous residents expressed concerns about overly-large homes being built in Burbank.

Should council members approve of the rules included in the ordinance, city staff would come back to them and present those changes as amendments to the citys zoning code. Council members could also direct community development staff to create design guidelines that developers should follow when building a new home or doing a full tear-down makeover.

The city and architectural consultants have been working with residents to determine what kinds of homes or characteristics of homes they would like to see in their neighborhoods.

That was part of the biggest complaint, that we werent taking care of the very precious neighborhoods with all of these remodels or tear-downs.  Burbank City Councilman Bob Frutos

Several community workshops and walk-shops  where residents and Planning Board members toured different neighborhoods to get a sense of the types of houses they liked  were organized to gather feedback to better draw up housing-design guidelines.

I went on two of the walks, and folks really get into it, Vice Mayor Will Rogers said.

While most of the council members agreed with a majority of the suggestions city staff offered, there was one that required additional information.

Community development staff suggested that additional zoning code-options be adopted on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis to establish guidelines for specific areas around the city.

Certain neighborhoods have a very unique character, Councilman Bob Frutos said. That was part of the biggest complaint, that we werent taking care of the very precious neighborhoods with all of these remodels or tear-downs. I want to respect the peoples wishes with that, so Id like to see that [option] come back.

While having specific guidelines per neighborhood could result in more compatible houses in a given area, Rogers said he was concerned about how the city would implement such a process.

I am skeptical, and it looks like an awful lot of work, Rogers said, adding that he would like more details about the process to better understand how it works.

Mayor Jess Talamantes was also concerned about having different guidelines for various neighborhoods and how the city would define what constitutes as a neighborhood.

Carol Barrett, the citys assistant director of community development, told council members that she has worked in a city where neighborhoods were determined by groups of homes that had neighborhood associations. However, with that guideline, she saw one neighborhood that had only two houses.

They registered as their very own neighborhood association. So clearly, it has to be large enough, a territory [or] a geography, that makes sense to the community and to the city, she said, adding that with the association guideline, development standards could vary block by block.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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Evenly spaced-out trees, numerous vines and possibly having bicycle lanes are some of the ideas Burbank residents had for a landscaping project near homes on Leland Way.

About a year ago, Caltrans installed a sound wall on Leland next to the Golden State (5) Freeway as part of a widening project. For the past several months, Burbank city staff members have been working with residents who live next to the barrier to come up with a way to beautify it.

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Using some of the funds that we received from Caltrans, were making up for some of the impacts of the freeway construction and were going to be providing lots of landscaping and doing some restriping improvements and changes to Leland Way itself to make it a more welcoming environment for the residents here, said Janna Smith, an associate planner for Burbank and the manager of the project. Since the sound wall is closer and taller, we want to improve their view out their frontyards and make it a much more comfortable place.

After meeting with residents in March, Smith said that city staff is leaning toward turning Leland into a one-way street, with traffic traveling toward San Fernando Boulevard. That would give the city a street width of about 37 feet to use.

However, 7 feet needs to be dedicated to street parking and 20 feet for vehicles to drive on.

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It would then give city planners about 10 feet of space to use for landscaping, where they hope to plant trees and bushes to give the space in front of the wall a more appealing look.

Many residents like the idea of having flora against the sound wall, but resident Caroline Solberg suggested that some kind of bicycle pathway be added for those in the neighborhood to use.

Engineers from Stantec, a consultant hired by the city to work on the landscaping project, suggested that 10 feet of the road width should be striped with white lines so that in the event of an emergency, public safety vehicles can drive on them.

The bike lane will be a place where children can ride bikes and roller skate without feeling that theyre doing in the roadway where the cars are supposed to be driving, Solberg said. Because when they go out in the street, they have to get out of the way of the cars. If theyre in a bike lane, cars have to watch out for them. There are a lot of young children in this neighborhood and there are no sidewalks here.

The project is still in its infancy and city staff members plan to meet with residents again before submitting their project to the City Council sometime by the end of the year.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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The Human Rights Campaign is calling for an apology from a Georgia congressman after the GOP lawmaker read Bible passages condemning homosexuality during a Republican policy meeting.

One passage Rep. Rick W. Allen from Georgias 12th District read was Romans 1:18-32, which mentions a list of reprobate acts including men who burn with lust for one another. The verse goes on to say that such people and those who support them are worthy of death.

MORE: Read previous In Theory discussions>>

Several fellow Republicans walked out during Allens statements.

The Human Rights Campaigns political affairs spokesperson JoDee Winterhof said Republican leaders must make clear that they will not tolerate lawmakers who sow hatred and violence against LGBT people.

Q: What are your thoughts on Rep. Allens actions?

Wait, did you just say that the Bible was being read at a major political partys policy meeting? That right there is Problem No. 1. I dont care what passage they were reading; the Bible should never be part of an official political meeting of any kind. Our politicians represent all Americans, not just the religious ones, nor just the Christians, and certainly not just the conservative Christians.

Problem No. 2 is, of course, the passage itself. As are all the clobber passages about homosexual actions, this one is specific to a particular historical context. It is not  not!  about homosexual orientation, or loving and committed homosexual relationships. Romans addresses married men, who go off to the Roman baths and consort with male cultic prostitutes; its a condemnation of adultery, prostitution, and cultic sexual practices, not of homosexuality itself.

The clobber passages from the Hebrew scriptures also stem from historical context. In early days, the cultural mindset of Israel regarded sperm, seed, as a national commodity. As the tiny land of Israel kept facing genocide at the alternating hands of the three large, invading empires surrounding it, every single person, every life, meant the survival of the people in general. Any gratuitous spilling of seed was condemned, as dangerous to the peoples future  not just homosexual sex, but also heterosexual oral sex, coitus interruptus and masturbation. People who masturbate are also worthy of stoning  would anyone like to cast that first stone, being blameless yourself?

And Problem No. 3, as often is pointed out, is taking some passages of the Bible literally, and not others. If youre going to take the condemnation of homosexual activity literally, you must also take literally the severe prohibition (and death sentence) for those who eat seafood, wear polyester (mixed linens) or like cheeseburgers (which combine the milk of an animal with its blood).

So, Rep. Allen, if youve worn polyester lately (which I suspect you have), or eaten some lobster; if youve enjoyed anything but procreational sex with your wife, or eaten a cheeseburger at Dennys, then guess what? You stand shoulder to shoulder with those reprobate homosexuals, in front of the gang of righteous people carrying stones.

Think about it, sir.

The Rev. Amy Pringle

St. Georges Episcopal Church

La Canada Flintridge

--

Rep. Allens words offend me not only as a man of faith, but as an American. To stand up in a place of elected officials and spout such anger and venom goes against my understanding of the quote attributed to Voltaire, I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

What has happened to our idea of America as the tossed salad? Where each person has the right to bring his own flavor to the mix? Have we returned to the melting pot idea where all groups and even persons must give up their uniqueness for the Proper American label?

I think not. Further, scripture supports me. Deuteronomy 4:6 says You will love the Lord your God, with all your heart (physically), your soul (spiritually) and with all your strength (uniquely) and these words which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart (consistently).

Each of us must learn to love God and each other, either physically, or spiritually or both but, most of all, consistently with uniqueness.

Rabbi Mark Sobel

Temple Beth Emet

Burbank

--

The Republican congressman cannot apologize for reading the Bible. I mean, he can, but hed be a fool, and may I say shame on those fellow Republicans who walked out during Allens statements.

Look, the Bible was read not to instigate lynching squads for gays, but to inform the moral reality of the discussion. The biblical passage itself does not demand immediate capital punishment for those mentioned, and those mentioned are more than just homosexually lustful men, it includes the same sort of women, and also earth worshippers, idolaters, atheists, murderers, the greedy, gossips, slanderers, the loveless, merciless and faithless.

All of those listed are worthy of death, as all sin is worthy of the same. And as Christ died because of our sin, so the debt of all repentant sinners is paid through him. The point of the biblical passage is to convey that all such things are immoral rather than cause for celebration or promotion, despite the published agenda of the Human Rights Campaign.

No kidding they want an apology, because that would be granting that they are more righteous than the God who authored Romans 1:18-32. Im sure theyre taking it personally, as the passage ends not with just denouncing sins, but also people who approve of those who practice them. Reading the biblical passage simply put the issue into divine perspective, rather than leaving it up to personal speculation, popular opinion or the LGBT agenda.

Now how do you decide moral issues? By voting on them? By having certain feelings about them? By declaring whatever you approve a moral good? Thats one way of doing it, or you could consult the omnipotent creator and embrace his opinion on a matter.

Our society has many ills, and many things that are bad we legalize, but that doesnt make them right or good, it only means that we are getting comfortable with our sins. And while the whole world is awash in transgression, God gives no sanction for hatred and violence toward anyone.

That doesnt mean we must approve of every lifestyle, accept supposedly born predilections or bend over backwards to help facilitate errant subcultures. As people, as citizens, as creatures made in the image of God, even as those whose practices are condemned in that Bible passage, they all deserve equal protections and rights in America, but not special rights that trump those of their God-fearing neighbors.

They should not be bullied or hated, but neither should they bully or be hateful in return with those of contrary commitment.

Rev. Bryan A. Griem

Tujunga

--

Who knows how Rep. Allen goes over among Republicans of Georgia  that is not something I enjoy contemplating  but I know such outbursts drift westward and help explain why our states GOP registration has dropped down close to 25%.

In order to produce this little hate-nugget, Allen had to stray far afield from Christianitys central messages of loving ones neighbor, doing to others as you would have done to you and welcoming the stranger.

Allens vitriol is alienating not only to the LGBT community and its supporters but also to atheists, as well as to a good number of believers, who want government proceedings to be entirely free of religion.

Prayers and statements invoking God and Jesus at official city meetings and at other local public events makes me marvel at the narrow-mindedness that leads these speakers, no matter how well-intended they may be, to assume that their spiritual choice is OK to impose on a secular occasion. Righteous dude though Jesus was, many religious people (theist or not) arent his followers, not to mention those of us who dont believe in the supernatural at all. Allowing this spiritual exclusion of so many residents from our polity is just not right.

Roberta Medford

Atheist

Montrose
A Costa Mesa police detective testified Tuesday that he believes the fiancee of convicted murderer Daniel Wozniak helped plot the slaying of a 23-year-old woman in an attempt to cover up her husband-to-bes killing of their neighbor.

The detectives testimony came as defense attorneys for Wozniak, a 31-year-old community theater actor from Costa Mesa, tried to shift focus to Wozniaks fiancee, Rachel Buffett, in an attempt to spare Wozniak the death penalty.

A jury convicted Wozniak last month in the slayings of 26-year-old Army veteran Sam Herr and his friend Juri Julie Kibuishi in May 2010.

Now jurors must decide whether Wozniak deserves a death sentence or life in prison without parole.

During Wozniaks trial, prosecutors said he killed Herr so he could raid Herrs bank account and steal thousands of dollars Herr had saved from his military service in Afghanistan. Wozniak intended to use the money to fund his and Buffetts rent and upcoming wedding, prosecutors said.

The evening after killing Herr, prosecutors said, Wozniak used Herrs phone to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment, where he shot her twice in the head, ripped off her jeans and staged her body to look as though Herr had sexually assaulted her and fled.

Wozniak then tried to hide Herrs body by dismembering it and dumping pieces in a Long Beach park, prosecutor Matt Murphy said.

Police arrested Wozniak at his bachelor party days after the killings, after ATM withdrawals from Herrs bank account led them to him.

On Monday, family members of the victims gave emotional testimony about the loved ones who had been ripped from them.

On Tuesday, Wozniaks public defenders began presenting their case to jurors, hoping to sway them toward the lesser punishment.

Most of the defense questions for witnesses focused on Buffett, whom an ex-boyfriend and an acquaintance described as manipulative and calculating.

One woman testified that she went to police after learning of Herr and Kibuishis deaths to make sure detectives knew about a conversation she had with Buffett in which Buffet mentioned she would be willing to kill someone if she knew shed get away with it.

Public defender Scott Sanders concluded Tuesdays testimony by calling Det. Jose Morales to the stand to quiz him on any involvement Buffett may have had in the murders.

Buffett hasnt been charged with either killing, but she is facing a count of accessory after the fact on allegations of lying to police during interviews, Morales said. Buffett has pleaded not guilty and denied any prior knowledge of the crimes.

Sanders pressed Morales by reading from a report the detective had prepared years earlier saying he believed Wozniak told Buffett that he had killed Herr. Morales wrote that he thought the two discussed a plan to kill Kibuishi in an attempt to cover Wozniaks tracks.

I believe there was more involvement on her part than what we can prove, Morales said after Sanders quoted from the report.

Morales said Buffett repeatedly lied to investigators and at times seemed to be trying  and failing  to cry in front of them.

In Murphys push for the death penalty, he has questioned how any involvement Buffett may have had in the crime would mitigate Wozniaks responsibility.

Is there anything ... that indicated to you that Rachel was involved in the planning of this murder? Murphy asked Morales on Tuesday.

No evidence whatsoever, Morales said.

In interviews with police after his arrest, Wozniak took sole responsibility for the killings. He confessed to detectives on video after calling Buffett from a jailhouse phone.

During the recorded phone conversation, Buffett told Wozniak that she planned to inform police about evidence that Wozniaks brother had mentioned in passing. Prosecutors said the evidence included the murder weapon Wozniak had given to his older brother Tim to hide or burn.

Tim Wozniak also has pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact.

This is ridiculous, and I have to go tell detectives the truth, Buffett said in a recording played for jurors last month.

*

Family members tell of their anguish

On Monday, as prosecutors began presenting their case for the death penalty, Herrs father, Steve, and members of Kibuishis family took the stand to describe how the killings changed their lives.

Steve Herr said he never wants to forget the image of his sons dismembered body, which was stitched together at a mortuary.

One of the hands was missing, Herr said, and the head was wrapped to hide the fact that it was only an unrecognizable skull.

Animals got to my sons body parts in El Dorado park, Herr said. They found him. They ate his flesh off him.

Herr testified that he clings to this mental picture because he doesnt want to forget the evil of the man convicted of killing his son.

In my mind, I see him [Wozniak] whacking away at my sons head. I see him sawing my sons arm off, Herr said. I have trouble sleeping at night because if I turn the TV off, thats what I focus on.

Hours before Kibuishis death, she was eating Thai food with her older brother Taka, who described the evening to jurors Monday.

After dinner, he said, he asked her to be a bridesmaid in his wedding planned for the following year. He gave her a tiara to wear in the ceremony.

According to Taka Kibuishi, his sister left around midnight for Herrs apartment, where she thought Herr had asked her to stop by because he needed someone to talk to. But the text messages she had been receiving were actually from Wozniak, Murphy said.

What goes through my head is I had so many chances to try to stop her, Taka Kibuishi said before lashing out at Wozniak, calling him a disgusting monster who used his sister as a decoy.

And then you disrespect her by pulling her pants off, he said before reining in the emotion in his voice.

We lost Julie and Sam for something so simple, Taka Kibuishi said, referring to the plot to steal Herrs money. Its pathetic. Its disgusting.
An incident originating from offshore reportedly caused a strong odor to permeate throughout the Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach region, officials said Thursday.

A Newport Fire Department spokeswoman said officials do not believe it came from an onshore natural gas line, but rather most likely some kind of drilling apparatus, I believe.

Newport police issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the odor did not pose a public safety threat. The smell reportedly had dissipated by 6:30 p.m.

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Strange smells coming off the Pacific have happened before, Costa Mesa Fire Department Capt. Chris Coates said.

Coates said Southern California Gas Co. and the South Coast Air Quality Management District were notified of the situation and investigated.

A SoCal Gas spokesman said the utility was notified by Newport police that the smell was coming from offshore.

Occasionally, odors of unknown origin get trapped in the marine layer, Coates said, which then carries it several miles inland where it drops down and thats when people start smelling it.

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It could just be one of those things that happens occasionally, and weve dealt with it in the past, he added. Normally its not this strong or lasts this long.

Many Newport-Mesa residents took to social media to air their concerns, with reports of strange smells coming from West Newport clear north to South Coast Metro.

Costa Mesa resident Tom Carroll said he first sensed something was wrong about 3:30 p.m. when he was at an apartment near Monrovia Avenue and West 19th Street. At first he thought it was propane, so he checked the barbecue.

When got home to his Lower Birds house a few hours later, the smell persisted. Carroll immediately thought of the health and safety of his newborn niece and what happened up north in Porter Ranch.

This is my first niece, he said. I cant help but think of everything that happened in Porter Ranch, all those people getting headaches, nosebleeds.

--

Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com

Twitter: @LukeMMoney

Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint

--

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When Irvine resident Lori Cohen submitted a story about what IHOP meant to her, it was unusual for her to contact any company. But she hoped to win a $25 gift card.

Instead, the International House of Pancakes put her in a national commercial.

In the 30-second, reality-TV-style spot, Cohen is sitting at an IHOP when her three children  Jordan, 24, Dylan, 22, and Allie, 20  suddenly come in. It was a complete shock for Cohen and, having not been together in many months, an emotional reconnection for all.

That commercial is all very, very real, she said in an interview. Thats whats so special about it. It really was so meaningful for me to have them all there.

Before moving to Irvine two years ago, Cohen raised her three children in Scottsdale, Ariz. With everyones busy schedules, traditional meal times at home were rare. But they did manage to regularly meet in a 24-hour Scottsdale IHOP, which Cohen described as an extension of our family room.

In her letter to IHOP, she said the times there allowed her to feel the wonder of a mom watching her kids laugh, eat and have a great time together, and although there were cell phones, there was no TV on in the background to compete with for attention! But, we still had that warm sitting in the family room feeling.

Allie now lives on her own in Orange County and doesnt get to see her mother much while shes busy studying at Chapman University. Dylan lives in Arizona and works in the banking industry. Jordan is in Buffalo, N.Y., working as a chemical engineer.

IHOP brought all of them to a Los Angeles-area IHOP, where the commercial was filmed in June. Before the cameras rolled, Cohen had been coaxed into the restaurant, thinking she was going to be asked more questions.

The surprise worked.

I heard Allies voice say, Hi, Mom, Cohen said. Thats on the commercial and its 100% authentic. Then I turned into a quivering, sobbing blob.

The spot, made by the West Hollywood-based advertising firm Dailey, airs through November. It promotes IHOPs new Fruit n Streusel Crepes, which the family ate while chatting and being filmed.

Cohen still feels emotional about the day her family was reunited.

It was an amazing day in my life, she said.

And the answer is yes: Cohen enjoys her local IHOP. She frequents the one on University Drive, near her house, in the Parkview Center.
An Orange County jury Wednesday convicted a Costa Mesa community theater actor of a gruesome double murder that included beheading his neighbor and trying to cover up the crime by killing the mans friend and staging her body to look as if shed been sexually assaulted.

Daniel Wozniak, 31, hoped to use his magical acting powers to trick the dumb police, prosecutor Matt Murphy told jurors during his closing argument Wednesday morning.

But when detectives grilled Wozniak and the unemployed actor learned police would soon discover the handgun he used in both killings, Wozniak confessed, Murphy said.

The plan has now crashed into the rocks of reality, he told jurors, who deliberated for only a few hours before returning guilty verdicts on two counts of murder.

After waiting more than five years for the case to begin last week, some family members of Wozniaks victims said they were relieved at the decision.

Weve gotten today what weve always known, one victims father, Steve Herr, said, adding later, It was a foregone conclusion he was guilty of murder.

Wozniak shot 26-year-old Sam Herr twice in the head on May 21, 2010 in a Los Alamitos theater where Wozniak performed.

He then used Herrs phone to lure 23-year-old Juri Julie Kibuishi to Herrs apartment in Costa Mesa where he shot her, placed her body on Herrs bed and ripped away her pants.

Hoping police would think Herr raped Kibuishi and fled, Wozniak then used a saw and hatchet to dismember Herrs body and tossed the head, hands and a tattooed forearm in a Long Beach park, according to prosecutors.

After Herrs father discovered Kibuishis body, police began looking for Herr, but withdrawals from Herrs bank account led detectives to Wozniak.

Prosecutors believe Wozniak was desperate for money to fund his upcoming wedding, cover rent and pay off debts.

They said he targeted Herr because the veteran had $62,000 saved up from his service in Afghanistan.

That is, for someone like Daniel Wozniak, very tempting, Murphy said.

Earlier this week, jurors watched videos of Wozniaks interviews with police, who arrested Wozniak at his bachelor party days after the slayings.

In the recordings, Wozniak originally denies any involvement in Kibuishis killing, saying he only had Herrs ATM card as part of a fraud scam he claimed the two were running.

If lying was an Olympic sport, that is a gold medalist, Murphy said, motioning toward Wozniak.

But Wozniak slipped, according to Murphy, and mentioned details about the crime scene, revealing to detectives that hed been there at some point.

OK, I saw the goddamn body, is that what you want to hear? the recording shows Wozniak telling them.

He then claimed Herr killed Kibuishi in a drug-fueled rage and hired him to cover up the crime.

That story didnt last long, according to Murphy.

When Wozniak called his fiancee, Rachel Buffet, from the Costa Mesa jail, she tried to interrupt the conversation by saying she needs to tell detectives about evidence she heard Wozniaks older brother mention, according to a recording of the call.

Murphy said that evidence included the murder weapon, shell casings and the clothes Wozniak wore during Herrs slaying.

Wozniak later admitted he gave the items to his brother to hide or burn, according to the recorded interviews.

Now Im really dead, Wozniak tells Buffet, during the phone call.

Baby, youre already dead, she replies.

Immediately after that conversation, Wozniak asked a jailer to fetch the detectives and quickly confessed to the killings, according to prosecutors.

Buffet and Wozniaks brother, Tim, have both pleaded not guilty to charges of accessory to murder after the fact.

Wozniaks lawyers did little to dispute the prosecutions case during their relatively brief closing argument Wednesday.

Public defender Tracy LeSage foreshadowed the next step in the trial.

Everything is more complicated than it is, she said. Nothing is cut and dry.

The proceedings will now move on to the penalty phase where the prosecution will make its case to jurors that Wozniak deserves to be put to death.

Murphy told jurors he plans to have family members finally take the stand to describe the aftermath of the brutal slayings.

Personally for me, its not over yet because we know the hard part is still coming, Herrs aunt Miriam Nortman said outside the courtroom.

Sentenced to death, thats what we want to hear, her husband Mike Nortman said, completing the thought.
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is partnering with Project Hope Alliance to offer support to homeless students, and students living in group homes or struggling with substance abuse and other traumatic circumstances.

The district will introduce the Promotor Pathway intervention model as a pilot program on Jan. 4 at Newport Harbor High School four days a week until the end of the school year.

The program will have two case managers, or promotores, available to 50 students attending the Newport Beach school. They will offer any needed support until the students reach age 24.

The goal is for the promotores to stay with the students until that age in order to support their educational, employment and healthy living goals, the districts Mental Health and Outreach Services coordinator Melissa Hurd said. By doing this, they maintain a consistent relationship with them starting from their high school career all the way until they enter the work environment.

In addition to connecting the students with services, the case managers will also make themselves available to their students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Project Hope Alliance Director of Programs Nicole Delaney.

These are intensive case managers and mentors to the students who will also be accessible by cell phone, Delaney said. Theyre really there for whatever the students need assistance with, even if its just an ear to listen that they need.

Around 32,000 youth in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade experience homelessness in the county, according to the Orange County Department of Education.

In the 2013-14 school year, the department recorded 205 homeless students enrolled in Newport-Mesa. The most recent statistics were not available Wednesday.

The district considers any student who lacks a fixed and adequate nighttime residence as homeless.

Being a homeless child in an affluent community does bring extra layers of shame, Delaney said. It makes you glaringly more aware that you are in more need. Thats why were excited about this partnership and that the [Newport-Mesa] staff was really open to addressing this need.

Case workers for the program are found through Project Hope Alliance, a Costa Mesa nonprofit dedicated to providing programs and opportunities for homeless youth in K-12 grades to keep them in schools.

As a homeless student who attended NMUSD and a parent of two children currently at NMUSD, I am extremely honored to bring this program to the district, Project Hope Alliance CEO Jennifer Friend said in a statement.

Promotor Pathway was founded by the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, D.C., seven years ago.

After Friend met with the centers CEO in June through the Clinton Global Initiative, a group that connects global leaders with one another, the two discussed the possibility of Project Hope Alliance using the program. Both agreed Promotor Pathway would be a good fit for the Costa Mesa nonprofit.

Promotor Pathway has already been implemented in school sites throughout Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Oregon. Newport-Mesa is the first California school district to utilize the intervention model.

Promotores met with Newport Harbor staff last week and are currently in the process of reaching out to families to discuss their services.

Hurd said the district will follow the pilot program and consider expanding it to other schools in the future. Project Hope Alliance hopes to expand the program to schools statewide.
An estimated 55,000 people made their way to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday for the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk, one of the biggest such events in the country, according to organizers.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and this years local event fell on World Autism Awareness Day.

The walk had a special significance for Glendale resident Phillip Hain and his family. Hains son, Andrew, has autism and the Hains started the first such walk at Dodger Stadium in 2003.

1 / 12 Team Super Saiyan Jacob participated along with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 2 / 12 Alex Gonzalez of Little Rock, Calif., and his daughter Maryory Gonzalez walked with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 12 Isaiah Mata, 14, second from right, held by his mother Melissa Mata, of Rancho Cucamonga, and his team participated along with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 12 Vivianna Velazquez, 16 from Gardena, center, along with her team Vivianna 48, participated along with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 12 Some members of the Keiser High School band came to support their fellow band member Samuel Murillo, 18 and a senior, center, as he participated along with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 12 Many carried signs of support like this one at the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 7 / 12 The band Flashback Heart Attack performed for the crowd at the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 8 / 12 Hand prints cover a banner at the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 9 / 12 Members of the Cal State Northridge sorority Alpha Xi Delta cheered those participating in the annual Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 10 / 12 Team Superheroes members Linda Berry, left, and Tom Johansen, right, both from Folsom, Calif., participated along with hundreds of others in the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 11 / 12 Left to right, event manager Sasha Spalding, television personality from Univision Gabriela Teissier, KABC-7s Philip Palmer and Univisions community empowerment coordinator Edgar Rodriguez, at the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 12 / 12 Alternative rock musician John Easdale of Dramarama sang Anything, Anything with the band Flashback Heart Attack, at the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, April 2, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Phillip Hain went from being a volunteer with Autism Speaks to becoming a staff member, serving as executive director of the Southern California chapter before his current position leading national outreach efforts.

Going from an attendance of about 1,400 people the first year to the tens of thousands of participants at this years event has been rewarding and fulfilling, Phillip Hain said.

Its just amazing to see the growth in the event and the families (attending) that really need the information and the services and the resources for their kids, he said.

The more money we raise, the more likely well be to get the word out about autism awareness, said Andrew Hain, a graduate of Clark Magnet High School who is currently in what he hopes to be his last semester studying broadcasting at Glendale Community College, with aspirations of becoming a game show host.

Phillip Hain said the rate of autism when Andrew was diagnosed was about one in 500, while today one in 68 children will be diagnosed.

When kids are still being diagnosed, we know the need is still out there for more information, for more resources and for research, Phillip Hain said. As our kids become adults, they need housing, they need jobs and they need community support. So the need never stops.

While it may seem that the general public is aware of autism, Phillip Hain said there is still a need to build empathy and understanding about the complex disorder.

When you have kids who are being teased or bullied or mocked, its obvious that there are a lot of people out in the community that dont understand or accept or really get the fact that our kids need empathy, they need support and they need services and theyre not there to be made fun of, he said.

On Saturday, walkers took their mark at 9 a.m., many sporting matching team shirts in support of a person diagnosed with autism or on its spectrum. They made their way around the Rose Bowl stadium for either the 1 1/2 -mile walk or a 5K.

Los Angeles residents Aida and Norm Williams finished their initial lap with their goddaughter, Jordan, while their 4-month-old daughter Zuriya rode comfortably in a stroller.

Were debating another [lap], Norm Williams said. I dont know how our hamstrings are going to hold up.

On their shirts were the words Team Yamelin, in honor of the daughter of a family friend who they were walking for.

It seems like theres more people here than there were last year so we look forward to it every year, Norm Williams said.

For Angela Geiger, president and chief executive of Autism Speaks, this years walk was a moment of joy for the autism community.

The thing that makes me most proud of this walk is hearing families talk about what a safe place it is and how they can find other families like them and learn from each other and celebrate with each other, she said.

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The goal of the Los Angeles-area walk is to raise $1.95 million for the year. Four months in, about $1.3 million has been raised.

Jon Merager, a La Canada Flintridge resident and a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, said the walk is important to families dealing with autism, many of whom can feel isolated with their day-to-day routines and personal struggles.

This specific event brings so many like-minded families and individuals together, he said. Its a motivating and encouraging vibe to finally be around so many people going through the same thing.

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During the event, Merager was managing more than 80 fellow U.S. Forest Service members from Angeles National Forest, including Smokey Bear, who also took part in the walk.

Meragers wife, Starlyn, and 7-year-old son, Severin, found him after some time on the track.

I almost ran out of energy, but I didnt. said Severin, who has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

Starlyn Merager said her son was a little tired at first, but quickly got into the spirit of the event.

He took off like a lightning bolt, and we had to keep up with him, she said with a smile.

The Meragers said Severin is high-functioning, but has some sensory-processing issues.

Starlyn Merager said it can get tiresome constantly explaining some of her sons behaviors to his classmates at Paradise Canyon Elementary School and their parents. Shes hoping next year shell be able to let the whole class know what Severin is dealing with to make it a better year for everyone.

After initially being worried if Severin could handle the crowds, she said the walk was a good experience for the family and for families like theirs.

Well keep coming, she said.

--

Ryan Fonseca, ryan.fonseca@latimes.com

Twitter: @RyFons

--

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Authorities dismantled an elaborate butane honey oil lab and arrested two brothers, both known gang members, during an AB 109 compliance check at a North Hollywood home, police said.

Armenian Power gang members Hakop Nagapetian, 25, who was on probation for a weapon case, and Berg Nagapetian, 23, were arrested last week on suspicion of weapon and drug-manufacturing violations, according to Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot. Both reportedly have ties to Glendale and Burbank.

During the compliance check, police reportedly seized a sawed-off shotgun, a handgun, high-capacity magazines, several pounds of marijuana, more than 130 bottles of butane fuel and cooking products, a significant amount of concentrated cannabis and a ledger book with $21,000 in cash.

In two safes found in bedroom closets, officers recovered more than 800 rounds of ammunition, and in the backyard, police discovered two AR-15 lower receivers being manufactured with a drill press, Lightfoot said.

Los Angeles County hazardous materials and toxic waste teams, along with the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, responded to the home, located in the 12000 block of Gilmore Street, to dismantle the honey oil lab, Lightfoot said.

During the investigation, police discovered that the brothers were allegedly storing additional weapons at a relatives Los Angeles home. After obtaining a search warrant, police seized multiple high-power rifles, two unregistered handguns and one sawed-off shotgun.

The case remains under investigation.

Berg Nagapetian was released from custody after posting bail, while Hakop Nagapetian is being held without bail.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek
Election Day is Tuesday, with one key ballot measure in Glendale and three locally decided seats up for grabs in the state Assembly, state Senate and on the County Board of Supervisors.

Heres a quick look at the ballot:

State Assembly

The race to succeed Assemblyman Mike Gatto in the 43rd District will come to a head, and the two favorites in the race hail from Glendale City Hall.

Councilwoman Laura Friedman and City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian  both Democrats  are vying for the seat.

One of Friedmans key issues is combating the effects of climate change and mandating increased uses of clean energy and more environmentally friendly methods of transportation. She wants to establish a small business initiative to help start-ups.

In addition to serving two terms on the Glendale City Council, she spent six years on the Metropolitan Water Districts board.

Kassakhian was first elected as city clerk in 2005 and has twice been reelected.

He wants to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 and reduce overhead costs at community colleges in order to make tuition free.

Also in the race are Democrat Andrew Blumenfeld, a former La Canada Unified school board president; Democrat Dennis Bullock, dean of students at Providence High School in Burbank; retired Army Gen. Mark MacCarley, a Republican; nonprofit executive Rajiv Dalal, a Democrat; businesswoman Alexendra Bustamante, a Republican; and Aaron Cervantes of the American Independent Party.

Measure N

Measure N could eliminate the long-standing utility users tax, which plays a key role in funding city services.

City Manager Scott Ochoa has said eliminating the 7% tax on gas, water and electricity bills would slice $17.5 million from the city budget, necessitating the layoffs of police officers and firefighters and potentially triggering library closures.

But supporters of Measure N say the city overspends on overtime and other expenses, and its time to reform City Hall.

Board of Supervisors

Five candidates are looking to succeed termed-out County Supervisor Mike Antonovich in the 5th District.

Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian is making a bid, as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents the 12th District in the northwestern San Fernando Valley.

State Sen. Bob Huff (R-San Dimas) is eyeing the seat as well as Antonovichs chief deputy adviser Kathryn Barger and L.A. Deputy District Atty. Elan Carr.

State Senate

Antonovich, a Republican, is looking to replace state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge), who is termed out.

Hell be going up against Democrat Anthony Portantino, who served in the Assemblys 44th District through 2012.

Also running are urban planning adviser Katherine Perez-Estolano, business owner Chris Chahinian and businessman Teddy Choi. All three are Democrats.

--

Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com

Twitter: @ArinMikailian
Dharamani Kale emerged from the manhole, sewage clinging to his body. Next to him, Sona Bai gathered filth in a small round basket and carried it on her head to the end of the street. The unpleasant process had started at dawn and would continue for at least 12 hours.

This is how sewers are cleaned in most Indian cities, including Mumbai, the nations booming financial capital: Workers use metal scrapers, brooms or their bare hands to clear drainage and sanitation lines twice a year, before and after the annual monsoon rains.

In gutters, workers who earn about $5 a day stand in the waste, which reaches chest high, and use long wooden sticks to clear jams. In some areas, workers crawl through the sewage, wearing no protective gear.

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Mumbais skyline is rising by the day, but the growth has come on the beleaguered backs of workers like these. Manual scavenging, as their work is known, was ruled illegal last year, but private contractors hired by the municipal government continue to employ them. Hundreds reportedly die from the work each year.

Many scavengers say they have no alternative.

I have never been to school. But I want my kids to be educated. Therefore, I have to do various small jobs and this is one of them, said Kale, a man in his mid-40s with wrinkles on his hands and face, who cannot read or write. Nobody has ever told me that this is banned.

Kales co-worker, Manu Pawar, described the humiliating experience of entering a manhole.

Filth and human excrement are a given, but sometimes we come across a dead dog or a dead rat as well, he said. Broken bottles lurk in the pitch-black sewer system too, he said, pointing at his leg, which was covered with scars and cuts.

Although sewage cleanup has become mechanized in some areas, government figures suggest that 770,000 people either work as sewage cleaners or are supported by them.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences, an educational and research organization, found that 80% of the workers die before age 60 because of work-related health problems. In Mumbai, an average of 20 sewer workers die each month from accidents, suffocation or exposure to toxic gases, the study found.

More than 95% of sewer workers are members of Indias lowest social class, the Dalits, once known as untouchables, according to the governments figures. Labor activist Milind Ranade said the jobs still exist because of widespread apathy toward Dalits, who remain severely marginalized despite efforts to end caste-based discrimination.

Had an upper-caste [person] been entering the sewage system, we would have seen an uproar. But if a lower-caste worker dies, who cares? Ranade said.

Activists say the government has not enforced a 2013 law that made it illegal to employ such workers. However, the law itself is contradictory because it also specifies tests that should be conducted before workers enter manholes, reflecting the difficulty of outlawing a job that employs so many Indians who would lack alternative work.

Indias new prime minister, Narendra Modi, promised to emancipate the poor and promote economic development, but advocates say that getting rid of jobs such as manual scavenging is not immediately practical. In 2007, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched an effort to place sewer cleaners in other jobs; last year, it reported that 78,941 of the workers had been given assistance, a fraction of the total workforce.

Implementation of labor laws is generally poor in India, said Mihir Desai, former director of the India Center for Human Rights and Law, a nonprofit organization. Passing laws allows the Indian government to argue that it is in line with international standards, but politicians are less interested in ensuring that standards are enforced, he said.

The law, for which Indias high court set guidelines, applies nationwide. One of its manhole tests is simple: A candle is placed inside, and if oxygen levels are too low, the flame goes out. If there are toxic gases, the candle explodes. Assuming the situation is safe, workers must be fitted with harnesses before descending into manholes, which are as deep as 20 feet.

Kale, who said he doesnt know his age, has been a manual scavenger since he was a youngster. He said hes never seen tests carried out or even a first-aid kit at a work site. Standing on a narrow street lined by covered gutters, wearing a tank top and a dirty handkerchief around his right palm, Kale said that if he asks for gloves, his boss ridicules him.

Boss wants us to get the job done at any cost, Kale said. The boss was away from the work site, they said, and could not be reached for comment.

They have not even offered us a cup of tea, said Sona Bai, his co-worker, a middle-aged woman wearing a sari. If any suffer a workplace injury, getting the hospital bills covered is a long shot, she said.

The $5 wage for a 12-hour day is modest, even by the standards of Indias lower classes. But despite the dangers and the pay, few express second thoughts.

We are illiterate and there is not much we can do to earn our bread, Kale said. Even though we suffer from health problems and hear stories of workers dying in manholes, we cannot do anything other than carry on with our work. We have no choice.

Parth M.N. is a special correspondent.
Hundreds of Boko Haram extremists attacked a military post in Niger near the countrys border with Nigeria, killing at least 32 soldiers, Nigers defense ministry said Saturday.

The attack in Bosso on Friday left 30 Niger soldiers and two soldiers from Nigeria dead, the ministry said in a statement, adding that at least 67 other soldiers were wounded.

They burned houses, looted food stores and shops and burned the military post before fleeing with weapons and ammunition, said Adam Boukarna, a deputy in Bosso.

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Residents left Bosso during the attacks and headed to Toumour, about 19 miles to the west, he said.

The military launched a counterattack Saturday using air and land forces, pushing the militants out of Bosso and inflicting heavy casualties, the ministry said without giving further details.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 35 soldiers were killed, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online postings by Islamist militants. The Nigeria-based militants pledged support for Islamic State last year.

Niger contributes to a multinational force set up to fight Boko Haram in the region, where attacks have killed at least 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.

Dozens gathered Saturday in Nigers capital, Niamey, to march against the militant group, which has launched several attacks in Niger in recent weeks.

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The Philippine president-elect has encouraged the public to help him in his war against crime, urging citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers who resist arrest and fight back in their neighborhoods.

In a nationally televised speech late Saturday, Rodrigo Duterte told a huge crowd in the southern city of Davao that Filipinos who help him battle crime will be rewarded.

Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun  you have my support, Duterte said, warning of an extensive illegal drug trade that involves even the countrys police.

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If a drug dealer resists arrest or refuses to be brought to a police station and threatens a citizen with a gun or a knife, you can kill him, Duterte said. Shoot him and Ill give you a medal.

If youre still into drugs, I will kill you, dont take this as a joke.  President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

The 71-year-old Duterte won the May 9 presidential election on a bold promise to end crime and corruption within six months of the start of his presidency. That vow resonated among crime-weary Filipinos, though police officials considered it campaign rhetoric that was impossible to accomplish.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm that his anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations.

Duterte, a longtime Davao mayor, has been suspected of playing a role in many killings of suspected criminals in his city by motorcycle-riding assassins known as the Davao death squads, but human rights watchdogs say he has not been criminally charged because nobody has dared to testify against him in court

In his speech on Saturday, Duterte asked three police generals based in the main national police camp in the capital to resign for involvement in crimes that he did not specify. He threatened to humiliate them in public if they did not quit and said he would order a review of dismissed criminal cases of active policemen, suggesting some may have bribed their way back onto the force.

They go back again crucifying the Filipino, he said. I wont agree to that.

If youre still into drugs, I will kill you, dont take this as a joke. Im not trying to make you laugh, son of a bitch, I will really kill you, Duterte said to loud jeers and applause.

The foul-mouthed former government prosecutor said crimes were committed by law enforcers because of extreme greed and extreme need. He said that he would provide a small amount to an officer who was tempted because his wife has cancer or a mother died, but that those who would break the law because of extreme greed will also be dealt with by me. Ill have you killed.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Duterte, who starts his six-year presidential term on June 30, repeated a plan to offer huge bounties to those who can turn in drug lords, dead or alive.

Though it remains to be seen what will happen with Dutertes threats when he takes office, some policemen have heeded his call for a tougher anti-crime approach.

In suburban Las Pinas city in the Manila metropolis, police have apprehended more than 100 minors who defied a night curfew and men who were either having drinking sprees in public or roaming around shirtless in violation of a local ordinance. The crackdown was dubbed Oplan Rody  after Dutertes nickname  or Rid the Streets of Drinkers and Youth.

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New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez may be planning to meet with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump just days after insisting she wouldn't be bullied into voicing her support for him.

Reps for Martinez recently revealed she hopes to soon chat with Trump, presumably in hopes of determining if the two might be able to work together for the benefit for the party.

"Governor Martinez is encouraged by Mr. Trump's commitment to protect New Mexico's labs and bases, which are not only important to our state but also our national defense," Martinez's press secretary Mike Lonergan said in an email.

Martinez Insists She's Putting State First

The statement added, "The Governor hopes to visit with Mr. Trump in the near future to discuss this issue and others that affect New Mexicans. As she has said, this has never been about her -- it's about the issues that impact New Mexico."

Meanwhile, Trump recently admitted that he would like to have the endorsement of the country's first female Hispanic governor, despite just days before ripping her over "not doing her job.

"I'd like to have it," he said. "I respect her. I have always liked her."

Trump's new-found tone and message where Martinez is concerned id in stark contrast to the stance he took against her during a recent campaign stop in her home state.

Trump as New Mexico's Governor

Back then, the boisterous and unrepentant GOP candidate blistered her as inept.

"She's got to do better," he said during his tour of Albuquerque on May 24. "Maybe I'll run for governor of New Mexico. I'll get this place going. She's not doing the job. We've got to get her moving. Come on: Let's go, governor."

Martinez has previously taken Trump to task over his hardline stance on immigration, which includes a vow to deport millions of immigrants and to build a wall along the Mexican border to further keep immigrants out.
Aston Martin files DBZ trademark; new model in the works?

Jun 4, 2016, 5:01pm ET

The DBZ could be the next model in the company\'s rapid expansion plans.

Aston Martin may have a new model in the works, according to trademark applications in Europe.

According to AutoGuide, the name attached to trademark filing is DBZ. The application says the name is be used on "passenger cars; racing cars; car bodies." Beyond that, there are no clues as to what this model could be, but that has not stopped speculation. After all, Aston Martin has announced aggressive expansion plans that the company is calling "Second Century."

Those plans include a new crossover called the DBX, to be built at a new factory in Wales, a new generation of every model currently in its lineup, as well as two entirely new models yet to be unnamed.

Could it be a production version of the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Concept? Just last month at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este at Lake Como in Italy, the company unveiled a new GT penned by the famed Italian design house. It was the fifth Aston to wear Zagato-styled sheetmetal.

In addition to a makeover of the entire lineup by 2020, Aston Martin also plans to launch Lagona, a luxury marque targeted primarily at the ultra-wealthy. It will launch in the Middle East first with a 200-unit car called the Taraf, before expanding globally with a second model.
After a two-year search, Bethlehem officials think they have found the perfect home for the city police department's Mounted Unit.

The nonprofit Friends of the Bethlehem Police Mounted Unit have signed a lease for a 10-acre spot off Langhorne Avenue, near the Holy Saviour Cemetery on Linden Street, said Tom Tenges, president of the group's board of directors.

The land is owned by the Diocese of Allentown.

The police department's four horses -- Grey, Asa, George and Pharoah -- have lived at the historic Burnside Plantation since the unit relaunched in 2009. But officials said the historic barn can't provide the climate-controlled space needed for the team and its supplies, so officials began lot-hunting.

The announcement comes after city officials indicated in March they were considering 5.1 acres north of the city's compost center at Eaton Avenue and Schoenersville Road. Before that, plans to build a stable on Bethlehem's favorite sledding hill were abandoned amid public outcry.

Police Chief Mark DiLuzio could not be reached for comment Sunday afternoon about the new site.

Tenges said the Langhorne Avenue site has everything the horses need, especially space; it's twice the size of any of the other parcels up for consideration. The 10 acres are farmland, and the farmer just planted grazing grass for the new four-legged tenants.

"It's level land surrounded by a farmer's fields, which add a nice buffer to the neighborhood," Tenges said.

The group plans to build a new three-story barn and training ring; hopes are to have the horses move by late July or early August.

"That's my goal," Tenges said of the timeline, adding that plans are to not move the horses until the barn is finished.

The site is already zoned to allow a barn, so the nonprofit organization only needs to work on getting the building permits, Tenges said. Organizers have also met with neighbors at an information session, and "they all were very positive about it," he said.

The nonprofit friends group is starting a capital campaign next week to raise $470,000 for the barn, a training ring and maintenance. No tax dollars will be spent for the project, Tenges said.

Plans for the barn include making it large enough to house visiting police units, including the Lancaster police horses that help Bethlehem's unit during Musikfest, Tenges said.

The group also plans for some summer programs for kids at the new home, in cooperation with city's parks department.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Jury selection is slated to begin Monday for a man's trial in the stabbing death of a co-worker during an argument at a suburban Philadelphia meat rendering plant last year.

Peter Jok Atem

Thirty-three-year-old Peter Atem of Lansdale is charged with first- and third-degree murder in the February 2015 slaying of 25-year-old Danny Vazquez at the MOPAC Rendering Plant in Franconia Township, Montgomery County.

Authorities said the stabbing occurred the day after the victim yanked a chair out from under the defendant as a prank.

Defense attorney Benjamin Cooper has called the events a fight that "got beyond what it should have."

A witness reported seeing Atem choking Vazquez while Vazquez was on the floor, prosecutors previously said; Vazquez escaped and returned to work. A short time later, the witness heard screaming and saw Atem stabbing Vazquez, prosecutors said.

The judge earlier denied a defense request to bar prosecutors from using Atem's statements to detectives. Prosecutors have announced that they won't seek the death penalty if Atem is convicted of first-degree murder.
A burned man remained hospitalized Sunday following a house explosion in Phillipsburg as authorities prepared to investigate the cause of the duplex blast.

Three people were injured in the Saturday explosion that originated at the duplex at 74-76 Filmore St., including one man who was burned over 50 percent of his body.

The two others were treated for cuts and scrapes at a local hospital and released Saturday night, town Fire Chief Richard Hay said. Officials have not released the identities of the people injured.

Hay said two residents in the duplex's other half were home at the time of the blast, and were able to get out of their house safely with their pets.

"Yesterday was the situation of getting the area under control. Now we're in the investigation stage" to determine what caused the blast, Hay said Sunday morning at the scene.

Town crews remained near Summit Avenue overnight, but Hay said they stopped working while awaiting an investigative team from Elizabethtown Gas' parent company, AGL Resources. Electric and gas to the block was cut off, but some service was returned to the neighborhood.

AGL's experts from Georgia were flying to New Jersey on Sunday, and would work closely with the town's police department to "determine if it was criminal or accidental," said Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis.

For now, the block is considered a crime scene, the mayor said.

Duane Bourne, spokesman for Elizabethtown Gas, said the company is aware of the incident and is currently assisting first responders with their investigation.

Police and neighbors reported smelling natural gas after the explosion, but authorities have stopped short of saying gas caused or contributed to it.

Sunday afternoon's forecast storms were creating a headache for officials. Any rain or wind, "could delay everything," Ellis said.

Barriers and police tape closed off surrounding streets and some alleys; Hay said it will be that way for days. Aerial photos showed a debris-strewn scene and the top half of the duplex in splinters.

The surrounding homes were evacuated following the blast, but some of the residents were allowed to return home Saturday night, including people who live directly across the street.

A backhoe was parked down the block Sunday, but officials said any demolition won't begin until the investigation is complete.

On Sunday morning, residents walked to the scene or drove by, gawking at the pile of timber and debris in the street. Ellis was talking to people at the barriers, giving out what information he could.

"We're trying to keep the neighborhood as best informed as we can," he said.

A GoFundMe campaign was begun by one of the neighbors, who said their home's ceiling collapsed on them and their windows blew out in the blast.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Yesterday, Nick Clegg made a keynote speech at the National Liberal Club outlining the reasons Britain should stay in the EU. He tore the Leave campaign apart for its false figures and assertions. One widely quoted line is that Boris Johnson is Trump with a thesaurus. But thats not all he said. He was very clear that the EU, including the single market, had had British influence at its heart. Its not something that was imposed on us. We helped create it  and its been good for us.

If being part of the EU was such a drag on our prospects, as the Brexiteers claim, how come we have achieved all this whilst being part of the European Community and the EU for the last 41 years?

our businesses lead the world in everything from computer games to wind power.

our universities are among the very best on the planet;

our capital is one of the worlds most popular destinations;

We are one of the worlds most powerful economies;

And in the modern era, being in the European Union has also helped us to flourish. Britain today is a major world power.

Nick Clegg:"Europe gives us the strength in numbers that we need to fight the global challenges we face" #INtogether pic.twitter.com/6gb3n04MCr

Going it alone would mean we are trying to compete in that landscape with the much smaller clout of 60-odd million people.

That clout allows us to go toe to toe with the Americans, the Chinese, the Indians, the Russians and everybody else on the global stage.

In the EU we are part of a single market with the enormous clout that 500 million consumers gives us.

All over the world countries are responding to the challenges of a globalised economy by coming together to form trading blocs  from Nafta to Asean, from Mercosur to the Pacific Alliance.

The European Union gives us the strength in numbers that we need to meet those challenges.

The 21st century world is one of profound global challenges: climate change, extremism, mass migration, the globalised economy.

He argues that we need the safety in numbers that the EU provides to cope with the challenges of the 21st century:

Heres the speech in full:

As a pro-European, Im sure it wont come as any surprise to you that there are many things I dont like about the Brexit campaign:

There are the exaggerations, half-truths and downright falsehoods

like their spurious claims of how much Britain pays to the European Union, or the scaremongering over Turkish accession.

Theres the ridiculous, over-the-top vilification of anyone who has the temerity to disagree with them.

When President Obama speaks out it is because he is part-Kenyan.

When Christine Lagarde does she is bullying the British people on George Osbornes orders.

When Mark Carney does he should be sacked.

Theres the naked self-promotion by those who see this as a dress rehearsal for the next Conservative leadership election.

Theres the almost comic inability to agree among themselves what sort of future beckons for the United Kingdom after we leave Europe.

Will we be like Canada or Norway, Switzerland or Albania?

And then theres the extraordinary rewriting of history.

Recently we have had Priti Patel claiming that the suffragettes were fighting for the same cause as the Brexiteers

something that earned her a sharp rebuke from none other than Emmeline Pankhursts great-granddaughter.

Similarly, Winston Churchills grandson Sir Nicholas Soames had to tell Boris Johnson that he was totally wrong to invoke his grandfathers memory to attack President Obama.

Worst of all, Boris Johnson even resorted to citing Hitler as an argument for leaving the EU.

I dont know what it is about City Hall that makes these ex-Mayors of London so keen to bring up Hitler, but it does make you worry a little for Sadiq Khan.

Perhaps Boris has looked across the Atlantic at the Republican presidential frontrunner and decided that with enough bluster and bravado he can get away with ignoring the facts and saying whatever he wants.

But this debate is too important for it to be decided by Boris acting like Trump with a thesaurus.

Worst of all  worse even than their shameless rewriting of history  is the Brexit campaigns careless elitism.

Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage and the rest might be happy to treat this campaign as if they were in an Oxford debating society, using every trick in the book to try and distract and distort their way to victory.

But it is not their livelihoods that are at stake.

In fact, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are probably the only people who think their job prospects might actually improve if we leave Europe.

Yet, if they get their way, it is millions of ordinary people who will pay the price. Just look at what is at risk:

Jobs  of course exactly how many jobs are at risk is subject to claim and counter-claim, but with more than 3 million British jobs linked to our trade in Europe it is beyond doubt that many peoples jobs across the country are on the line..

Household incomes are at risk  the Treasury has said leaving the single market will cost families 4,300 each.

Even if you think the real figure may end up being lower, that still represents a huge hit to the household budgets of millions of ordinary people across the UK.

Investment is at risk  just ask the hundreds of companies of all shapes and sizes that have lined up to warn against Brexit

especially those major international investors, from car manufacturers to global banks, who put their money into the UK precisely because we can export effortlessly to the rest of Europe.

Growth in our economy is at risk  so says everyone from the IMF and the World Bank to the Bank of England and the OECD

which means lower tax revenues, which means less money available to be spent on our schools and hospitals.

There have been warnings of untold damage to our universities, massive uncertainty for British farmers and even for our thriving creative industries.

There will be fewer opportunities for young people to study and work in Europe.

There will be fewer opportunities for British pensioners to retire to the sun.

No one  not a single authoritative economist or institution  thinks the result of Brexit will be better than what we have now, and the vast majority believe it will make us poorer and economically more insecure.

So, Brexiteers are happy to risk mass economic hardship in pursuit of an outcome they cant even describe or agree upon, whose consequences they will all be shielded from themselves.

Yet they have the nerve to describe themselves as anti-elitist.

They are the real, careless elitists of this referendum campaign.

And they justify this gamble with the future of our nation by rewriting history, claiming that the UK has somehow been a victim of European history rather than a prime mover, a key author, of European history and of the modern EU.

It was a Brit  Lord Cockfield  who was the chief architect of the Single Market, which was supported and signed into law by Margaret Thatcher in what remains, by some distance, the greatest ever pooling of sovereignty by a British government.

It was us who pushed for the expansion of the European Union into Central and Eastern Europe, balancing the dominant influence of the French and Germans.

And it was us, Britain, that led so many of the efforts to improve cross-border policing and judicial co-operation across the continent, exporting our expertise and ensuring that our standards for law enforcement are enshrined in European institutions.

We are also one of the most assertive states in the EU and get our way nine times out of 10 in the Council of Ministers.

English is even the default language of EU institutions  much to the chagrin of the French.

And when European Union countries wanted big things that we did not want to be a part of, we have stayed out of it.

Thats why we are not members of the Eurozone and its why we are not members of the borderless Schengen area.

By exercising our influence in Europe we have shaped it to our own ends, we have bent it to Britains will, and when we have wanted to take a step back we have been able to do so.

Our historic relationship with Europe

In fact, our relationship with the European Union is very much in keeping with our relationship with our European neighbours going back centuries.

From the Spanish Succession and Seven Years War right through to the World Wars of the Twentieth Century  Britain has long used its influence in Europe to ensure that no one power dominates on the continent.

If the French or the Germans got the upper hand, Britain would intervene to keep the balance of power.

The history of Britain has been intimately linked with our continental neighbours since Roman times.

We have had Danish kings, Norman-French kings, one Dutch King and a succession of German kings.

We have been allied with the Dutch against the French and the Spanish, with the Spanish and the Prussians against the French, and with the French against the Germans.

Britain became an imperial and global power in competition, first with Spain, next with the Netherlands, and then with France.

We have been a cosmopolitan nation for centuries  long before modern trends of mass migration.

No doubt the Libyan auxiliaries who guarded Hadrians Wall intermingled with native Britons.

Retired legionaries from across the Roman Empire settled in Britain.

Viking settlements shaped many of our place-names, Norman settlers shaped our language.

Huguenot refugees colonised East London  among them the ancestors of Nigel Farage.

Germans migrated to England during our industrial revolution.

Russian and Polish Jews fleeing Tsarist persecution transformed first our clothes manufacturers and then our retail trade.

Enterprising Brits also flowed the other way.

There were Scots Generals in both the French and Russian armies.

Donetsk, now caught up in the troubles of eastern Ukraine, was originally called Yusovska, after the Welshman  John Hughes  who set up the first iron smelter there.

And the modern British values we now cherish were developed alongside European values.

The English Reformation was closely linked to reforming ideas in the Netherlands; the Scottish Reformation to preachers in Geneva.

The 18th century Scottish Enlightenment interacted with the French Enlightenment; David Hume and Adam Smith both spent time in Paris.

The growth of scientific and technical education in the 19th century drew heavily on the German model.

And in the modern era, being in the European Union has also helped us to flourish. Britain today is a major world power.

We are one of the worlds most powerful economies;

we are a cultural powerhouse;

our capital is one of the worlds most popular destinations;

our universities are among the very best on the planet;

our businesses lead the world in everything from computer games to wind power.

If being part of the EU was such a drag on our prospects, as the Brexiteers claim, how come we have achieved all this whilst being part of the European Community and the EU for the last 41 years?

If you listen to the mix of sepia-tinged nostalgia and warped history from the Brexit campaigners you could be forgiven for thinking the EU itself was responsible for the end of empire, as if it was the fault of Brussels that Britain lost its colonies;

or that we have become some puny weakling, subservient to the French and the Germans and reliant on scraps from their table.

The truth, of course, is completely different: Being in Europe has not held us back, it has thrust us forward.

And if we want to remain as world leaders, I believe it is vital that we remain at the heart of Europes decision-making. That way we can continue to shape our own destiny and influence the world around us.

The 21st century world is one of profound global challenges: climate change, extremism, mass migration, the globalised economy.

The European Union gives us the strength in numbers that we need to meet those challenges.

All over the world countries are responding to the challenges of a globalised economy by coming together to form trading blocs  from Nafta to Asean, from Mercosur to the Pacific Alliance.

In the EU we are part of a single market with the enormous clout that 500 million consumers gives us.

That clout allows us to go toe to toe with the Americans, the Chinese, the Indians, the Russians and everybody else on the global stage.

Going it alone would mean we are trying to compete in that landscape with the much smaller clout of 60-odd million people.

We would still carry weight, but it would be nothing like the influence we can exercise as part of a vast 500 million strong marketplace.

And while the Commonwealth is a club of friendly nations of which we should be proud, lets not pretend its something it is not: it is not and will never be a trading bloc to rival the biggest single market in the world on our doorstep.

Our membership of the EU is about safety in numbers.

The fact is we are stronger together and weaker apart.

Just as that was true to say in 2014 when Scotlands place in the United Kingdom was at stake, it is just as true today for our membership of the European Union.

And that really is, in a nutshell, the central reason why I believe it is better for my children to grow up in a Britain that is an active member of the European Union.

Safety in numbers.

We live in an uncertain and fast-changing world.

We are better placed to face the challenges and shape that world if we stand together than if we go it alone.

Ambitions for Britain in Europe

The crowning tragedy of the Leave campaigners careless elitism is that they want to deprive future generations of the capacity, the power, to shape the world around them.

Instead of engaging with our neighbours and working together to meet the challenges of the 21st century, they would rather our children and grandchildren are left as little more than onlookers, watching passively as events unfold around us.

Europe is what it is because Britain has helped to shape it  and by exercising leadership in Europe we can continue to shape it in the years and decades ahead.

During the referendum debate, the Remain campaign has, rightly, emphasised the reasons why we should not leave; but it has not spelled out as clearly what the purpose of remaining would be.

For Remain, it will not only be important to defeat Brexit on June 23rd, but also establish a mandate to exercise British leadership actively after the vote.

And that requires a clear statement of what Britains ambitions in Europe are.

In my view, we should be looking to lead Europe in three areas in the years ahead: economic reform; security; and the environment.

On economic reform, we need to build on the huge success of the single market.

Modern trade is about much more than just selling goods to each other.

We need to take the principles that have made the single market so successful and apply them to the many other areas where British and European companies do business with each other.

That means completing the single market in services, energy and digital.

To give you an idea of what that means in practice, a British exporter of goods can trade freely into any EU country, with the same rules applying across the board.

However, a British law firm cannot currently sell its services in other European countries without clawing through different regulations and professional standards in each one.

Likewise, a British tech firm might operate in the borderless online world, yet it faces different rules in every one of the 28 states in the EU where people might want to buy their products and services.

Completing the single market in these areas will allow British companies to compete on a level playing field in all 28 countries of the European Union  and estimates suggest completing the single market could be worth as much as an extra 7% of UK GDP.

But economic reform also means maintaining our influence as the Eurozone is reformed.

The fact is, Europe is changing, whether we like it or not. The deep economic tensions in the Eurozone must be  and I believe will be  resolved.

It is clear that the Eurozone core will need to tighten further: rules governing greater fiscal discipline will be demanded by the strongest members and the weaker economies will expect sustained Eurozone support in return.

Eurozone countries will also need to face up to the fact that they will have to find a way of either sharing the burden of debt or changing the way money is transferred between stronger and weaker countries.

You cannot have a monetary union in which one country saves, exports and invests and another spends, borrows and consumes without some mechanism to make it all add up.

However these issues are resolved, Britain, by definition, will not be a part of these single currency arrangements. But that does not mean we do not have a vital national interest in them.

However the chips fall there will be big implications for the single market as a whole  and we need to make sure that the EU that emerges at the other end continues to serve all of its members, not just those in the Eurozone.

On security, European leaders need to raise their sights in order to tackle a huge crisis brewing on our doorstep: the Mediterranean is now a region in acute distress.

The Med may be the crucible of European civilization, but it is now the source of many of the ideological, economic and social problems that our continent faces:

from extremism and political turmoil across the water in North Africa and the Middle East, to the refugee camps on Greek islands and the economic hardship in southern Europe.

But we have risen to huge challenges before.

At the end of the Cold War, a vast and overwhelmingly successful international effort was assembled to provide billions of pounds of economic support

create new institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London

and support fledgling democracies in a string of countries left traumatised by decades of Soviet rule.

Europe desperately needs to rediscover a similar ambition towards the Mediterranean.

We need to treat this crisis as serious and urgent and we need to think and act big in order to solve it.

In short, we need a Marshall Plan for the Med.

If we do not make a concerted effort to bring political and economic stability across Europes southern flank then we will all pay the consequences in years to come.

It will take a decade or more of determined, consistent leadership to pull the Mediterranean back from the brink, and it will cost money, but it is in all of our interests that we make the necessary effort to keep our European hemisphere as stable and safe as possible.

And then there is the environment.

As we have seen in relation to the security threats, we live in a world where the big problems we have to grapple with are no longer neatly contained by national borders.

And this is especially true for the biggest existential threat of all: climate change.

But I am cautiously optimistic, because when we work together across borders, we can find solutions.

Take the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic for example, which caused so much panic in the 1980s.

Now, thanks to the Montreal Protocol signed by 24 countries in 1987 to restrict the use of CFCs in aerosol sprays, the hole is actually getting smaller.

Scientists now reckon that if the Montreal deal had never been implemented, the hole would have grown by 40 percent by 2013. Instead, it is expected to heal completely by 2050.

And only last year we saw 195 counties sign a breakthrough international deal in Paris to limit carbon emissions so that global temperatures dont exceed 2% above pre-industrial levels.

So when we face a daunting challenge like the re-engineering of our economy to reduce and do away with carbon, we have to work with others.

Collectively, the EU has the money, the organisational clout and the scientific and engineering expertise to put us at the forefront of the low-carbon revolution.

This is an area where Britain has shown real leadership and we must continue to do so

whether it is reforming the failing Emissions Trading System in order to boost investment in low carbon technologies;

or pushing to make electric cars and other low carbon vehicles the norm on Europes crowded roads;

or improving energy efficiency standards for household appliances;

or providing financing for the research and development that will lead to the next wave of scientific and technological breakthroughs.

To be ambitious for Britain we must be ambitious for Europe too.

Together we can meet the big challenges that face us and the many more that will test us in the years to come. Alone we are less equipped to do so.

By leading in Europe Britain can remain one of the worlds strongest economies and most influential nations.

Remain is the patriotic option

If you believed everything the Brexiteers said, however, you would think Britain was some weakling, forever being pushed around by dastardly foreigners.

But it isnt. We are not a bulldog in a muzzle, unable to bark.

We are the worlds fifth-largest economy.

We sit at the top table of world affairs, from the G8 to Nato and the UN Security Council.

Our companies lead the world in a range of industries and our cultural impact is felt in every corner of the globe.

It is no coincidence that we are both world leaders and leading members of the European Union.

When Boris Johnson and the false patriots in the Brexit campaign rewrite history to their own ends they are doing Britain down.

They may cloak themselves in the language and imagery of patriotism, but it is a means to deeply unpatriotic ends.

Isolationism is not British.

Turning our backs on our neighbours and allies is not British.

Wilfully diminishing our influence in the world is not British.

There is nothing patriotic about deliberately creating economic insecurity and risking the jobs and livelihoods of your fellow citizens in pursuit of your own ideological agenda.

We have always been a proud, outward-looking, internationalist nation.

That is why remaining in Europe is the patriotic option.

Remaining an open, dynamic country is the patriotic option.

Showing leadership in Europe to make our economy more prosperous, our country and our continent more secure and our planet more sustainable is the patriotic option.

Britain is at its best when it shows leadership in the world.

By leading in the European Union we can shape Europe over the next four decades the way we have shaped it in the last four decades.

A vote to remain on June 23rd is not simply a vote for the status quo  it is a vote to keep Britain at the forefront of world events, leading rather than following, shaping our own future and controlling our own destiny.
Any contract signed with the China Rail Group CR3 will tarnish Scotlands human rights record. So says Willie Rennie following the refusal of the First Minister to rule out such a contract with the controversial company.

Watch their exchange at First Ministers Questions here:

Nicolas bad-tempered response shows her defensiveness on this issue.

This week saw revelations in response to Parliamentary Questions by Willie and Freedom of Information requests that government officials tried on multiple occasions to remove reference to the China Railway Group from documents around the Memorandum of Understanding but the First Minister still signed the final agreement with them.

The FOI releases include a letter from the First Minister expressing delight that the specific projects presented had been well-received by the Chinese investors. This contradicts the Governments assertion that specific projects were not on the table.

Answers to PQs from Willie show that the Scottish Government had not made any checks to find out that the China Railway Group had been blacklisted by the Norwegian state pension fund, or investigate the human rights concerns expressed by Amnesty International about their work in Africa.

And to compound the ill-advisedness of this process, apparently Brian Souter, SNP donor and campaigner against LGBT rights, had been mentioned as a potential investor.

It has now emerged that Sir Brian Souter, a high-profile SNP supporter and donor, was discussed as a possible investor in a deal potentially worth over 10bn from an early stage.

Willie says that the First Minister needs to decide whether to drop China Rail Group CR3 or drop Scottish values on human rights.

I was astonished that the SNP Government hadnt even carried a basic google search on the China Rail Group CR3 before the First Minister signed an agreement with them. But I was disgusted that when she was made aware of the problems with this company that she refused to shred the document. Either she is too proud that to admit she got this wrong or she is seriously considering using them. If any Scottish Government contracts are awarded to the China Rail Group CR3 it will cause immense damage to Scotlands human rights record. Something is wrong if Scotland so glibly disregards the views of Amnesty International and the Norwegian Oil Fund on human rights and corruption. It matters that there are serious allegations that this company evicted hundreds of people from their homes in Africa. It also matters that it has been blacklisted because of the risk of gross corruption. The FM has to decide. Will she drop the Chinese company or will she drop Scottish values on human rights. She cant have both. The Scottish Government must sever its links with the China Rail Group CR3.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Banks arent the only mailers to use tags to send mail: Dollar-Sign Stamps

May 3, 2021, 12 AM

This bright yellow tag, shown front (top) and back, was used to send live plants in April 1976 from a nursery in Sagamore, Pa., to the recipient in Cleveland, Ohio. The C.O.D. (cash on delivery) handstamp on the front verifies that the recipient was req

A $2 Warren G. Harding Presidential-series stamp pays most of the $2.40 postage on this registered bank tag sent between two Vermont banks in May 1946. Similar tags bearing dollar-denominated Presidential and Liberty definitives are not difficult to find.

The written information on this tag (bottom) shows that it was used to mail 100 muskrat pelts from Alaska to the Seattle Fur Exchange in 1945. Three Presidential definitive stamps, including a $1 Woodrow Wilson, paid the required $1.75 postage and insuran

By Charles Snee

For most ordinary mail  letters and parcels of typical size  stamps are simply affixed to the item itself.

But what about a sack full of seeds or a box containing live plants? For these and other out-of-the-ordinary mailings, stamps often were affixed to a tag that was then tied to the item being mailed.

Of the myriad mailing tags out there, the most common is the registered bank tag.

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Use of registry service provided the highest level of accountability along the bags mail route. Each time the bag changed hands, it had to be signed for.

Ken Lawrence, noted postal historian and Linns Spotlight on Philately columnist, shared some insights about bank tags.

They can be tricky, he told me.

When banks returned currency (for destruction/replacement) to the Treasury (Federal Reserve), registry was free, Lawrence explained.

Postal history collectors are often flummoxed when they try to rate these tags. Interbank mailings probably consisted of other securities, such as bearer bonds, more frequently than money.

Most of the bank tags Ive encountered over the years were used when the Presidential and Liberty definitive series were current, a period of about 40 years.

Illustrated here, front (left) and back, is an example of a registered tag for a 1946 transfer mailing between two banks in Vermont. Most of the $2.40 in postage, affixed to the back of the tag, was paid with a corner-margin single of the $2 Presidential definitive picturing Warren G. Harding (Scott 833).

Among the Presidential series stamps, the $2 Harding is among the more difficult to find used on a contemporaneous cover. An on-cover use in combination with other stamps is valued at $300 in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers.

A registered bank tag bearing a $2 Harding, valued at $25 in the Scott U.S. Specialized catalog, is a more affordable alternative.

Now lets take a look at a couple of tags used to send more unusual items.

First up is the partial tag shown here.

Large red lettering on the front (left) announces the recipient: The Seattle Fur Exchange in Seattle, Wash., which, as stated on the tag, held raw fur auctions.

Far more interesting is the back, which details the contents: 100 muskrat pelts.

A $1 Woodrow Wilson Presidential stamp (Scott 832) combines with a 50 William Howard Taft (831) and a 25 William McKinley to pay the $1.75 postage and insurance.

Because the tag is torn at left, the return address is incomplete. Fortunately, the two June 12, 1945, postmarks tying the stamps to the tag clearly show the pelts were mailed from Mountain Village, Alaska.

For eye appeal, its hard to beat the bright yellow tag illustrated here.

The front (left) shows that it was used to mail live plants from a plant nursery in Sagamore, Pa., to the recipient in Cleveland.

Warnings on the tag proclaim the fragile nature of the contents: Rush  Live Plants  Perishable and Keep From Heat or Cold.

Handstamps in red indicate the plants were sent with special handling, and that cash on delivery (C.O.D. on the tag) in the amount of $2.65 was due: $2.40 to the sender and a money order (M.O.) fee of 25.

On the back of the tag (right), two $1 Eugene ONeill stamps (Scott 1294) and a 40 Thomas Paine (1292) account for the $2.40 that was due the nursery for the postage needed to send the plants.

Although indistinct, enough letters in the two April 12, 1976, postmarks are visible to show that the three stamps were canceled in Sagamore. The 25 fee was paid by the recipient at the time of delivery because he used a money order to pay for the postage.

I welcome your stories about dollar-denominated U.S. postage stamps and postal history. Write to Dollar-Sign Stamps, Box 4129, Sidney, OH 45365-4129; or send an email to csnee@amosmedia.com.

Read more about dollar-denominated stamps:

1978 $2 Americana pictures kerosene table lamp: Dollar-Sign Stamps

$1 Americana offers errors, interesting postal history: Dollar-Sign Stamps

Cover with seven $5 Calvin Coolidge stamps sells for $1,051
Jun 5, 2016, 10 AM

An experienced collector of Pearl Harbor postal history paid $1,750 in an online auction for this cover sent less than two months before the Japanese attack. The sender, stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma, was killed in action during the attack Dec. 7, 194

Navy Petty Officer Porter Rich wrote a tender, loving letter to his wife, Margaret, Oct. 12, 1941. Rich, who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor less than two months later, sent the letter the next day from the USS Oklahoma, where he was stationed. Shown i

By Charles Snee

Porter Rich, a petty officer in the United States Navy assigned to the USS Oklahoma, was killed in action at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941.

Slightly less than two months before that fateful morning, Rich penned a loving, tender letter to his wife Margaret. It might be the last letter he wrote to her before his death.

Both the letter and the envelope that carried it survived and eventually found their way into the stock of military postal historian and dealer Kurt Stauffer, who sold them on eBay Jan. 2 for $1,750.

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Pictured nearby is the cover, postmarked Oct. 13, 1941, aboard the Oklahoma, which was stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time. Note the T.H. in the last line of Richs return address, which stands for Territory of Hawaii.

Slightly less than 18 years later, Hawaii would enter the Union Aug. 21, 1959, as the 50th state.

Rich used USS Oklahoma stationery, as can be seen by the print of the battleship at the top of the page.

Although the cover has a connection to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I was surprised at the final realization. So I reached out to Stauffer for some additional insights.

He told me that he acquired the cover and a few others from a San Diego antique dealer.

He knows of my interest in Pearl Harbor postal history and offered them to me, Stauffer said.

When the auction closed, Stauffer also was surprised at the result.

I had sold a couple of covers from the same correspondence a year ago for between $200-$300 each, but this one took me off guard, he recalled.

There was a tremendous amount of interest in it. The cover was dated closer to the attack than the others I had sold, which added to the interest.

The ships letterhead on the stationery was also one of the reasons it piqued bidders interest. There were 35 total bids, with four bidders each bidding over $1,000.

Another factor that likely pushed up the final realization, according to Stauffer, was recent news coverage of attempts to identify the remains of those stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma who were killed during the attack.

For many years, the general public only seemed to know about the USS Arizona. With the recent events surrounding the identification of the remains of the unknowns, I think people are more aware of the history of the Oklahoma, and the bidding reflected it, Stauffer said.

Stauffers observations confirm yet again that knowledgeable collectors seek items for their collections that tell a fascinating story.

And he knows of what he speaks: He is a seasoned collector himself, with interests in Pearl Harbor postal history, prisoner of war mail, and postal history associated with the Sept. 2, 1945, surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay.

To provide additional perspective, Stauffer helped me contact Jeff Omdahl of California, a collector of Pearl Harbor postal history who was the winning bidder on the USS Oklahoma cover.

Omdahl grew up in Hawaii for almost 10 years and initially collected Hawaii Numeral stamps and postal history.

After selling that collection, Omdahl set his sights on collecting covers from the ships at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. To make the pursuit worthwhile, he focused on covers bearing the work of famed cachetmaker Walter G. Crosby.

This is proving to be more difficult than I thought but I am enjoying the chase, Omdahl said.

I was impressed as a youth about the story of Pearl Harbor, and my father would take us to the [USS Arizona] memorial as kids. Since I had collected Hawaiian material for so long it was only natural to move into postal history as well.

When Omdahl first saw the USS Oklahoma cover on eBay, he realized that he already had two letters from the same correspondence. Intrigued, he started to do some research.

What caught my attention was this letter was now addressed to Mrs. Porter Rich and the previous two letters were addressed to Miss Margaret Lehmkuhl, Omdahl explained.

After putting the pieces together and reading Porters profile, I realized that Margaret had gone through her divorce as outlined in the Jan. 18 letter, and sometime between the end of January and September 1941 they got married and went on their honeymoon.

My guess is Margaret never saw her new husband again after his return to his ship in September because he was killed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

I will be on the lookout for any correspondence that might have occurred between Porter and his new bride from September until his death on Dec. 7.

Given this historical backdrop, Omdahl was prepared to pay more to secure the cover for his collection because it tied my two previous letters together and gave me a very small window into a life so long ago.

The letter from Rich to his wife, datelined Oct. 12, 1941, is suffused with the joy and love of a young couple embarking on a new life together.

Illustrated here is the first page of the letter.

Dearest Darling, Rich begins.

I received your letter of Oct. 3 in which you enclosed the [advertisements] of houses for sale. And you say you think maybe Carolleigh may be too far along to travel by Feb. or March; and maybe you ought to stay in the states and try to save money to buy a home.

Carolleigh apparently is the name of their unborn child. Its probably a combination of Carol and Leigh because they wouldnt have known the sex of the child ahead of time.

He goes on to discuss his schedule and that of the Oklahoma, which was due for an overhaul in May 1942.

He concludes his four-page missive by telling Margaret that hes written about all I can think of except to tell you how much I love you, adore you, miss you and cherish you.

He signs off with: Your Loving Husband Porter.

What a life they might have had, had events gone differently on that fateful Sunday morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

For his part, Omdahl plans to build on his Pearl Harbor postal history, with an eye on exhibiting in the future.

This USS Oklahoma cover, perhaps the last that Porter Rich sent, would no doubt be a highlight of Omdahls exhibit.

Learn more about World War II postal history:

International airmail covers recall the Day of Infamy

'Day of Infamy' mail reminds Americans of Pearl Harbor

American armed forces airmail during World War II: Part 1, 1941-43
Jun 5, 2016, 5 AM

The type A rim, with frame break between the G and U, is shown on the 8 black on green.

The 8 black on green shows rim type C, with the first I of BRITISH leaning to the right.

Rim type D, with frame break above to the right of G, is featured on the 12 black on blue.

By Sergio Sismondo

During his third trip, in 1498, Christopher Columbus noted the shoreline of the Guianas and related his observations. It is doubtful that he went ashore, because in his words, the shoreline was a forbidding swamp. Nothing much happened for a century. Then, in 1580 an expedition of Dutch explorers arrived, and founded the settlements of Essequibo and Demerara.

Soon after, Sir Walter Raleigh was released from the Tower in order to lead an expedition. The adventure was motivated because one key word was spoken: gold. Someone, who had ventured into the interior, said there was gold there. It was rumored the natives of the area, named the Surinen, painted their bodies with gold powder.

In fact, the presumption of freely available gold was so great that, for a time, every interested party in Europe thought El Dorado would be found at the head of one of the three great rivers that cross this wondrous land from south to north: Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. Raleighs expedition led to nothing other than disaster: the demise of his fleet, death of his son, and his own death sentence upon his return to England.

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The Dutch were able to defend their gains against the aggressors, and quickly formed a colonial outpost after their victory. French and other Dutch settlers arrived during the 17th century and founded settlements in the eastern regions, now being French Guiana and Suriname.

In 1796, an expedition from Britain headed by Major-General Whyte defeated the settlers and took power over the previously Dutch towns. But that did not last long. By the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802 the entire area was restituted to the Dutch. However, scarcely had a year passed when the British mounted another expedition and again routed the Dutch settlers.

The demise of Bonaparte in 1812 upended all relations between European powers. The Dutch Crown had bet on the wrong horse. Consequently, in the peace that followed, the Netherlands lost all rights to the western section of Guiana, and never again attempted to regain any part of it. The British at first founded two colonies, Demerara and Essequibo; and a third, Berbice, followed soon. In 1831, the Crown Colony of British Guiana was founded. It was comprised of the three former colonies, now united under one authority. The bill was given royal assent, and a governor promptly embarked for the remote new colony. His name was John Scott.

The economy of the colony progressed steadily. El Dorado was never found, but the gold business developed and is still today an important contributor to the product of the country. In the early colonial days, the most successful plantations were of coffee and cotton. Farms grew, settlements multiplied and expanded. Slaves labored and, after 1807, began their emancipation. They then settled in the colony. Many went to towns and established useful cooperatives.

Later, for the landlords, the crop of choice became sugar cane. Plantation labor was brought from East India in several waves. Some workers stayed five years and then returned home. Others, probably the majority, remained and established roots in the colony.

For some time, the sugar business grew and was the main product of the colony. But monoculture brought hardship to the colony when the world glut of sugar depressed prices and rendered the industry unprofitable. Since 1850 and up to the time of independence, the fortunes of the colony have been largely determined by the international price of sugar.

Communications in British Guiana, between the three parts of the colony, or for that matter between any two distant points, were difficult from the beginning and continued to present obstacles for a long time thereafter. Demographic and economic growth could take place along the shores of the great rivers but hardly at all in the space between the rivers.

With the growth of plantations, gradually the population expanded inland, and transportation between emerging villages and towns was in large part riverine. Near the mouths of the major rivers emerged two notable cities.

The capital city is Georgetown, earlier Demerara, on the eastern side of the mouth of the Demerara River. Berbice, now renamed New Amsterdam, was founded on the eastern bank of the river of the same name. Even later, when railways began to be built, the rivers were considered to be unbridgeable, and mailbags were ferried for long distances between fragmented railway lines.

Postal matters were complicated. The British Post Office administered post offices in colonies, appointed postmasters, made decisions for them, collected the revenues and paid expenses, including salaries, commissions and honoraria. In the case of British Guiana, the British Post Office appointed packet agents for Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice. At first there was only one office, located in the capital. Later a sub-postmaster was appointed for Berbice.

Needless to say, the day-to-day decisions and organizational matters of the post office had to be handled locally. The authority arrangements between the British Post Office in London and the postmasters in the colony are not clear. The governor also had a say in administrative, contractual and other legal matters, and justices would help when needed.

Fortunately for the development of the British Guiana postal system there was an energetic individual in the colony named Edward Thomas Evans Dalton, who, being appointed postmaster of Demerara, was in effect the chief of all matters postal in the colony.

Dalton appears in the minutes of government mostly for his lack of timeliness in making payments to the Exchequer in London, for being in arrears repeatedly, sometimes for large sums, and also for his capacity to make good when pressed. He was generally liked and was held in high regard by the governor, by the governor general, and certainly by the business community in Demerara. He was a daring man.

In January 1846, Dalton initiated a service of mail between Georgetown and Essequibo. Given the isolation factor, it was a necessary development. When the General Post Office in London found out about the new scheme, they declared it to be entirely illegal and ordered that it be terminated at once. This is an example of the friction the system engendered: the London organization requiring revenue and prompt payment, and the colonial office trying to deliver necessary services to the population. Sometimes it turned out the two bodies were working against each other.

Fortunately, all this came to a close. There had been motions proposed for the discontinuation of the GPOs authority over colonial post offices in the Caribbean area, and for the transfer of authority and responsibility to the colonial governments. Dalton was again involved.

In January 1850, the British Guiana colonial administration petitioned the GPO for permission to operate a local postal system, in accordance with their own understanding of the communitys requirements. Following local traditions and Daltons temperament, the system was put in full effect three months before it was authorized.

Dalton assured his place in history by the outstanding role he played in the creation of the first postage stamps of a British possession in the Americas  after Brazil and the United States, and before the colonies of British North America.

His proposals were a true postal reform. New postage rates were put forth: 4 for single-weight letters to nearby towns, 8 for further destinations, and 12 for letters to towns beyond one of the major rivers. Prepayment of postage was made compulsory. Newspapers would be delivered without charge.

The Combined Court voted to appropriate $2,400 to fund the experiment. The governor agreed to such provisions as had been proposed. On July 1, 1850, this system, quite elaborate, which coordinated the timing of pedestrian, horseback, rail and water routes, went into full effect. Postage stamps of denominations 4, 8 and 12 were created for the purpose of postage prepayment, and they were printed at the Royal Gazette, Georgetown.

Their method of production was ingenious, if somewhat primitive. In addition to Georgetown, there were 20 active post offices in the colony and each received a shipment of the issued stamps. Because they have much similarity to the round labels that typically are at the ends of thread spools, these stamps became widely known as Cottonreels.

On March 1, 1851, the always dynamic Dalton inaugurated a complementary service. He determined that merchants in Georgetown would be ready to pay 2 if daily newspapers could be delivered to their respective offices and stores on the main streets of the city. For this project, a further issue of stamps denominated 2 was made at the Gazette. The presumed demand for the 2 service did not materialize, and that aspect of the scheme was abandoned soon thereafter.

The stamps were roughly circular bounded by a single ring, and following the ring inside are the words BRITISH GUIANA in serifed capitals. In the center of the stamp is the denomination in smaller lettering, followed by the word cents in tiny italic lettering. The stamps were initialed in manuscript to prevent forgery. The initials correspond to the various employees of the post office, the least rare being E.T.E.D. for the assistant postmaster, cum postmaster, and the rarest being that of a letter carrier, H.A. Killikelly. A few examples of Cottonreels also exist without manuscript initials.

Four different devices were made to print the stamps; apparently the denominations were changed as needed, while the four round frames were in continuous use for all denominations. This method of production led to the interesting fact that four different stamps can be found for each denomination. In the pictures in this article we can see the four types of Cottonreels:

4 black on orange, rim type B (with frame break above the T of BRITISH)

8 black on green, rim type A (with frame break in frame between G and U)

8 black on green, rim type C (with first I of BRITISH leaning to the right)

12 black on blue, rim type D (with frame break above to the right of G)

All Cottonreels are rare stamps. But among them the 2 stamps are great world-class rarities. Only 10 examples are recorded, and of them four are in two pairs. This gives us a hint about the failure of the program introduced to deliver newspapers in Georgetown. In fact, the two pairs have come to us used on parts of envelopes, paying the less rare 4 rate. We have no known example of a 2 stamp, which was printed on rose-colored paper, paying the correct 2 newspaper delivery postage.

Perhaps one will be found in the future. That would make a great addition to the philately of British Guiana and a tangible tribute to the endeavors and creativity of Edward Thomas Evans Dalton.

All images are from the philatelic archive of Liane and Sergio Sismondo.

Learn more about classic stamps:

Bavarias first stamp surprised post office patrons: Unveiling Classic Stamps

Postal reform in France met with intense opposition: Unveiling Classic Stamps

Identifying Belgiums first stamp issue: the Epaulettes of 1849
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Columnists Press Releases
ISTANBUL, 24 May 2016. With record numbers of people requiring life-saving assistance and funding drastically short of meeting those needs, leaders today concluded the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul endorsing five responsibilities to improve aid delivery, support refugees, uphold international law, increase financing and prevent the crises generating the largest migration flows in 70 years.

This unique Summit has set us on a new course, Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON said in closing remarks. It is not an end point, but a turning point.

Governments, people affected by crisis, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and the United Nations had come together to support the Agenda for Humanity and its five core responsibilities. Implementing this Agenda is a necessity if we are to enable people to live in dignity and prosperity, he declared.

Indeed, he said, humanitarian and development partners had agreed on a new way of working to reduce the need for humanitarian action, while aid agencies and donor Governments had committed to a Grand Bargain that placed resources in the hands of those who needed them. Governments had committed to do more to prevent conflict, uphold international law and live up to the promise of the United Nations Charter.

Mr. Ban said he would report to the General Assembly in September on the Summits achievements and propose ways to advance the commitments. To be sure, the people enduring conflict today and those working to alleviate their suffering were the true humanitarian heroes. The World Humanitarian Summit must deliver for you, he said.

The two-day Summit brought together 55 Heads of State and Government and other officials from 173 countries. Hundreds of representatives from the private sector and thousands from civil society also attended, marking a diverse range of actors discussing new ways to alleviate suffering, including by addressing the social, economic and other inequities that could ignite simmering tensions into violent conflict.

In addition, the Summit featured seven high-level leaders round table discussions in which Heads of State and Government and representatives of civil society, the private sector, philanthropy and the United Nations announced commitments to improve humanitarian responses.

Fifteen special sessions were held, in which participants outlined individual pledges to help those affected by disasters and conflict. Seven of the special sessions were held today, covering themes of humanitarian principles, protection of journalists, humanitarian intervention, young people, business, risk analysis and efforts to place people at the centre of humanitarian action. Speakers announced commitments to better engage a range of stakeholders in the search for pragmatic solutions to complex dilemmas. The eight special sessions held on Monday, 23 May, covered religious engagement, migrants, persons with disabilities, education, Islamic social finance, global health, regional action, and a global alliance for urban crises.

The plenary sessions, which was held alongside the other events, closed with an interactive panel moderated by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and featuring discussion with Maria Veronica Bastias, Regional Coordinator for the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction; Butch Meily, President of the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation; Francoise Sivignon, President of Medecins du Monde; and Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey.

The Summits closing ceremony featured performances by the Kenya State House Girls Performance Group, Syrian Boys Choir and the Adiyaman Temporary Housing Facility Performance Group, as well as Yvonne Chaka Chaka, United Nations Millennium Development Goals Envoy for Africa. A video of Summit highlights was also shown.





The Special Session on Protecting Journalists and Promoting Independent Reporting in Crisis Situations was moderated by Karen Allen, Foreign Correspondent for BBC News.

Panellists were :

Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO);

Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders;

Zaina Erhaim, freelance journalist in Syria;

Tanit Koch, Editor in Chief of Bild;

Habibou Bangre, freelance journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;

Bryn Mooser, Co-Founder of RYOT, United States;

Babita Basnet, President of Media Advocacy Group, Nepal;

and Mazen Hayek, Spokesperson of the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation.

Discussions centred on the conditions in which reporters worked and the dangers they faced, whether being targeted for or prevented from doing their jobs. In crises and conflict situations, some faced dangerous consequences, from imprisonment to being killed, speakers said.

Ms. ERHAIM said that as a female Syrian journalist, she could not enter areas controlled by the Government or by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), leaving her with a choice of going to rebel-held areas or illegally leaving the country. Outside Syria, she said, she was treated as a terrorist at foreign airports. Further, some non-governmental organizations were using Syrian female journalists to further their own agenda. Among several recommendations, she suggested that the Government of Turkey could open borders to Syrian journalists.

Mr. DELOIRE provided several examples of the negative impact of restricted press freedom, saying that if journalists could do their jobs in Ethiopia, fewer Ethiopians would be fleeing that country. Similar situations existed in Egypt, Turkey and other countries where journalists were stopped from reporting stories or jailed for doing so. To address those shortfalls, a concrete mechanism must be established, such as a Special Representative of the Secretary-General to oblige countries to fulfil their commitments to guarding press freedoms, he said.

Ms. BOKOVA said freedom of expression and of information were human rights that were essential for dignity, rule of law and good governance, and the free flow of ideas and information saved lives before, during and after crises. To address pressing concerns, UNESCO was leading the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity to create safe environments for their important work. However, progress had been made  the General Assembly, Security Council and Human Rights Council had adopted a total of eight related resolutions in recent years. Further, countries, including Pakistan and South Sudan, had taken steps to protect journalists.

A representative of Afghanistan said her Government had adopted several media-related laws alongside regulations guaranteeing freedom of expression and commissions covering several forms of media.

Over the past year, more than 1,000 journalists had been registered, including female reporters; however, targeted violence against journalists persisted.

Representatives of Spain, France and Turkey also participated.

Jeannot Ramambazafy for www.madagate.org

Source : un.org
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The U.S. Coast Guard continues to monitor and respond as the motor vessel Roger Blough is safely anchored in Waiska Bay, Saturday afternoon, after the vessel ran aground May 27 on Gros Cap Reef in Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior.



The vessel made way under its own power to Waiska Bay where it will be further evaluated for repairs and its remaining cargo transferred to other vessels.



Lightering operations ended early Saturday morning and the vessel was refloated at 10:45 a.m.



The Philip R. Clarke arrived on scene with the Blough Thursday afternoon, and lightering operations started Friday at 5:45 a.m.

Plans continue to progress to lighter the Bloughs iron ore and conduct detailed damage assessments through the combined efforts of Canadian partners, company representatives and the U.S. Coast Guard.



The Waiska Bay anchorage area is closed to all vessels not part of the operation.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided assistance for lightering operations and will ensure the Birch Point Range channel is safe for navigation.



An overflight is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.




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APM Terminals has graduated another 19 competitively selected managers from across the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network from the MAGNUM accelerated leadership training program at a formal ceremony in The Hague. Members of this years class represented 16 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Divided into four modules, specific training segments took place in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Brazil, and a combined session split between Ghana and India. Participants also took part in specific year-long projects designed to enhance leadership skills and address company management goals.



We are fortunate to have such talent across our portfolio. Our global, diverse workforce is clearly our competitive advantage. These new MAGNUM graduates will help ensure our leadership development pipeline is geared to the future growth of the company, stated APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer, who attended the graduation ceremony and spoke along with the companys senior leadership team.



The results of the project teams efforts include new programs now being implemented as company policy across the portfolio. One team helped to create the new Trucker Safety Program which will reduce the risk of accidents through new procedures governing the times and places that external truck drivers are permitted to leave their truck cabs while inside a terminal. This program will now be put into effect in all APM Terminals facilities by the end of 2016. Other teams examined collaboration in the selection of port investment projects; the enhancement and expansion of Inland Services operations in Brazil; terminal safety in Monrovia, Liberia; and business development in Vietnam.



It is such a great pleasure to see our MAGNUM team graduate after 18 months of very intensive leadership development. Their talent, passion and energy in their business projects brought fresh perspectives to important issues port operators now confront in an increasingly competitive environment. The future of the industry is in good hands, added APM Terminals Global Head of Talent Management, Peter Jakobsen.



Marliz Marie Bermudez, Commercial Manager for APM Terminals Mexico and a recent MAGNUM graduate said The program changes you as a person. It gives you a strategic mindset and a focus on resilience. You learn new ways to approach business challenges and life situations  and it shows you the impact of collaborative leadership.
Cpl. Joshua Bettis, an outbound clerk in distribution management office at Henderson Hall became interested in the military after watching the movie Saving Private Ryan when he was around the age of 12. He was particularly captivated by the opening scenes showing the massive invasion of United States troops on the beaches of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.



I would watch the opening scene over and over again, said Bettis, a Jacksonville, Illinois native.



One day when visiting his great-grandfather, Bettis talked about how much he enjoyed the movie and had also started reading military history by Stephen Ambrose. His great-grandfather mentioned that his brother in-law was a soldier in World War II who was killed in the invasion of D-Day.



I was shocked to find out I had somebody who was there, killed in the invasion and buried in Normandy, said Bettis. No one had talked about him as time went on and the subject was only brought up after watching the movie.



Bettis started researching and talked with his great-grandfather, learning his relatives name was Alfred H. Carlton, and according to Bettis, no one had ever visited his grave at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, France.



Papers and letters about Bettis great-great-uncle were kept by his family and passed down to his mother who gave them to Bettis. The papers included a letter sent during July 1944 to inform his family Carlton was critically wounded. Then a letter came in September 1944 from the War Departments adjacent general informing Carltons next of kin of his death on June 7, 1944.



It was really surreal to me holding something his mother held when she found out that her son had been killed, said Bettis. I can only imagine how she must have felt. It was like holding a piece of history.



Bettis serves as the vice president of the Headquarters and Service Battalion, Headquarters Marine Corps, Henderson Hall Single Marine Program. During a meeting, the idea of Marines from the battalion going on a professional military education trip to Belleau, France was mentioned, initially Bettis didnt know the trip would include Normandy.



My great-grandfather had told me if I ever had the chance to make it there, I should take the opportunity, said Bettis. When this trip came up, I felt my time had come.



The trip took place May 23-27, 2016 with more than 70 Marines in attendance. On the third day, the Marines visited landing sights of the D-Day invasion and the Normandy American Cemetery.



Cpl. Bettis talked to me after formation to see if he could visit his family members grave, said Master Sgt. Scott Hart, administration chief at Plans, Policy, and Operations and the staff noncommissioned officer in-charge of the PME trip. I spoke with the guide for our trip, Mr. Ray Shearer, and he contacted the cemetery staff.



At the cemetery, Bettis was escorted by the cemetery staff to his relatives gravesite.



Visiting the grave was unreal; it didnt feel real, said Bettis. It was unreal to be there in person and gave me a sense of closure even though I never knew this gentleman. Its like my familys blood is on that beach.



At the request of his mother, Bettis placed the only photo of Alfred Carlton on the grave and knelt touching the white Lasa marble Latin cross. The cross reads Alfred H. Carlton PFC 116 INF 29 DIV Illinois June 7, 1944.



The cemetery personnel provided new information to Bettis. He learned Carlton was likely in the first wave and wounded in action on the beach. The cemetery also provided a summary of action that provided information about Carltons awards and additional research information to possibly access more records, Carltons Purple Heart citation and locate his Purple Heart Medal.



The cemetery personnel were able to paint a clearer picture, said Bettis. All the paperwork I had reflected he was a private, but he was a private first class.



The cemetery also gave Bettis two flags, which were flown on Carltons grave on Memorial Day to keep. Bettis provided the papers and letters to the cemetery to scan for their records, so they can tell the story of Carlton to visitors.



Before Carlton went to initial training for the Army he had taken out a life insurance policy. After his death, Carltons family filed for the claim, which saved the familys farm in Roodhouse, Illinois and preserved the family legacy.



My family was very poor, no electricity in their home and barely had money to put food on the table, said Bettis. They were basically going under because of the great depression, and they couldnt afford to bring my great-great-uncles body back. My family thought he should be buried with his friends.



Through his sacrifice, I feel that he saved our family, so in a lot of ways I credit my existence to his sacrifice.



Bettis says he wants to continue to find information and pass it on to future generations.



I couldnt have done this alone, said Bettis. It was the staff noncommissioned officers that made this happen and the personnel at the cemetery as well. My family is going to be ecstatic and thrilled with all the information I come back with.



More Media
U.S. Conservatives will align with Hillary Clinton to Stage Global War

A political commentator predicted that the year 2016 would see the break-up of each political party. The entire GOP would shrink as a national party becoming one confined to rural areas; the Democrats would split between the pro-Wall Street, pro-military interventionist wing of Hillary Clinton; and the Bernie Sanders wing rejoining the legacy of F.D.R., the New Deal and Great Society, which gradually weakened since Bill Clinton.

With Hillary Clintons recent verbal assaults on Donald Trump and the exuberant praise of her by conservatives, the GOP might have its secret stealth candidate who wont be appearing at the GOP convention in Cleveland, but might take enough Republican votes away from Trump in November to help defeat him. Her name is Hillary.

On June 3, Reuters reported U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump's foreign policy platform as dangerously incoherent ... casting her Republican rival as both a frightening and laughable figure.

Speaking ahead of the June 7 California primary, Clinton said Trumps ideas are not just different, but dangerous, a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.

Washington Post conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin exalted the speech as the best speech of her campaign, if not her career.

Fox News writer Judith Miller advised If you are looking for a presidential candidate who favors conservative foreign policy prescriptions and such traditional Republican positions as promoting free trade, strong alliances, and the selective but robust projection of American force abroad, look no further than the presumptive presidential nominee  Hillary Clinton.

The arch-conservative National Review called her a defender of the legacy of Ronald Reagan; furthermore, if Hillary runs like this she will win big, chimed the magazine.

In an op-ed for the L.A. Times, Max Boot, a Republican hard-line war hawk and self-declared American imperialist, wrote Clinton would be far preferable to Trump. He said, Reagans Republican Party is dead. The Tea Party wounded it, and Trump killed it.

The New York Times called her the last true hawk left in the race, acknowledging that neither Donald J. Trump nor Senator Ted Cruz of Texas have demonstrated anywhere near the appetite for military engagement abroad that Clinton has. Her foreign-policy instincts are bred in the bone, based on a textbook view of American exceptionalism.

Contrasting Trump with herself, Clinton outlined their two different versions of America; one which believes America is weak and in decline (Trumpism) and the other which is based on ... well, based on Hillary Clintons exceptional and indispensable America she presided over as Secretary of State.

Because she assassinated Osama bin Laden her approach is serious, she said. Shudders! This alone is enough to scare Empires chief antagonists Russia and China, not to mention Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen and every other mid-east and north African country that awaits more drone strikes and more collateral damage (the killing of innocent non-combatants) to keep America safe and safer still for Wall Street, Big Oil and U.S. multinationals while escalating the profits of Boeing and Lockheed Martin to boot.

Alpha-female Clinton claims Trump praises dictators like Vladimir Putin. The president of Russia is well aware that Hillary and Victoria Nuland of her State Department were the primary catalysts for engineering the bloody coup and regime change of Ukraines democratically elected government in 2014 in order to bring Ukraine ... democracy.

Putin, it seems, will take his chances with Trumps foreign policy that promises some degree of rapprochement given that the Big Lie that all Americans have consumed and believe about Russian aggression will escalate under Clinton to justify NATO  that now encircles Russia with heavy arms, nuclear missiles and troops  advancing across Russian borders on Clinton orders.

The second Big Lie, about China, used to justify Mr. Obamas pivot to Asia and the ongoing militarization of southeast Asian nations with U.S.-made weaponry will, of course, need a Max Boot imperialist like Mrs. Clinton to keep Empire empire. Ignore islet disputes between Japan and China; ignore the civil war between Kiev and Donbass; these are proxy wars inching into pre-wars between U.S. and Russia and China.

As Pope Francis said less than two years ago, we are already fighting WWIII, piecemeal.

Former AP and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry wrote, If the U.S. election comes down to Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump, the American people will have to decide between two candidates who could risk the future of the planet, albeit for very different reasons.

Clintons neoconservative interpretation of whats happening in Eastern Europe is so upside-down and inside-out that it could ultimately become the flashpoint for a nuclear war between Russia and the West, he admonished.

What the military-industrial-complex and Wall Street like most is Empire as well as a pre-selected cadre of interventionists called neocons that sustain and expand it.

Hillary is one of their best.

 2016 Michael T. Bucci.

(Michael T. Bucci is a retired public relations executive currently living in New England. He has authored nine books on practical spirituality collectively titled The Cerithous Material.)

Notes:

Clinton attacks Trump's foreign policy as a threat to U.S. safety. Amanda Becker. Reuters. June 3, 2016.

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN0YO09Q

Conservatives Praise Clintons Powerful Foreign Policy Speech Excoriating Trump. Cydney Hargis. Media Matters. June 3, 2016.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/06/03/conservatives-praise-clinton-s-powerful-foreign-policy-speech-excoriating-trump/210708

Hard-line right-wing war hawk Max Boot applauds Hillary Clinton in op-ed. Ben Norton. Salon. May 9, 2016.

Hillary Clintons best speech to date. Jennifer Rubin. Washington Post. June 3, 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/06/03/hillarys-best-speech-to-date/

On foreign policy, Hillary Clinton leans more to the right than Donald Trump. Judith Miller, Douglas E. Schoen. Fox News. June 3, 2016.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/06/03/on-foreign-policy-hillary-clinton-leans-more-to-right-than-donald-trump.html

A hawkish Mrs. Clinton blasts Trump. Noah Rothman. National Review. June 3, 2016.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436172/hillary-clinton-foreign-policy-anti-trump-speech

Hard-line right-wing war hawk Max Boot applauds Hillary Clinton in op-ed. Ben Norton. Salon. May 9, 2016.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/hard_line_right_wing_war_hawk_max_boot_applauds_hillary_clinton_in_op_ed/

How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk. Mark Landler. New York Times Magazine. April 21, 2016.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?_r=0

Pope Francis warns on 'piecemeal World War III'. BBC News. September 13, 2014.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29190890

The Bigger Nuclear Risk: Trump or Clinton?. Robert Parry. Consortium News. June 2, 2016.

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/06/02/the-bigger-nuclear-risk-trump-or-clinton/

(c) 2016 Michael T Bucci. All Rights reserved.

Michael T Bucci is a retired public relations executive currently living in New England. He has authored nine books on practical spirituality collectively titled The Cerithous Material.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




A Boston defense attorney who authorities said tampered with a hate crime case pleaded guilty to a charge of disrupting a state court proceeding in Middlesex Superior Court Friday.

Timothy R. Flaherty, 51, of Cambridge, was indicted in May 2015 on a federal witness tampering charge, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in state court under an agreement with state and federal prosecutors.

The plea and conviction resolved the federal charges.

Flaherty will be placed on probation for one year and cannot practice law during that time, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. Flaherty will have to submit to any discipline by the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.

Flaherty, a criminal defense attorney who is the son of former Massachusetts House Speaker Charles Flaherty, was retained to represent a client in Cambridge District Court who was accused of civil rights charges.

The man was accused of assaulted another man and yelling anti-Muslim slurs at the victim.

"Shortly after Flaherty's client was arraigned in state court, Flaherty contacted the victim of the case and offered him cash in exchange for informing state authorities that the victim was too busy to pursue the case and no longer wanted to assist in the prosecution of Flaherty's client," the news release said.

Flaherty, according to authorities, met with the victim on Dec. 24, 2014 and gave him an envelope with $2,500 in cash.

"He instructed the victim to ignore contact from law enforcement authorities and in the event he received a subpoena to appear, he was to immediately call Flaherty," authorities said.

In March of 2015, Flaherty pressed for a trial date and asked the state court prosecutor if the victim in the case had been contacted.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said in May 2015, the victim told Flaherty he received a letter from the district attorney's office.

Flaherty, according to authorities told the victim to respond, "I have no interest in this. I'd have to come to court, I really don't want anything to do with it. Um, you know the guy had a bad day and I'm just not going to testify ...."

Flaherty also told the victim, "...they won't press you, they won't subpoena you, if they try to, just duck it...."

The victim informed Flaherty that a woman from U.S. Attorney's Office wanted to discuss an indictment, but Flaherty told the victim to "blow her off" and said not to call her back.
BOSTON -- Detectives are investigating the fatal shooting a man who was found shot in Dorchester Saturday night.

Boston Police were called to the area of 8 York St. in Dorchester around 11:15 p.m. and found a man in his 30s suffering from a gunshot wound. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released.

Detectives continue to investigate the city's 12th homicide of 2016. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told the Boston Herald that the victim was shot in the chest.

He told the newspaper that witnesses were being interviewed.

Anyone with information is asked to call Boston Police Homicide Detectives at (617) 343-4470.
Canton robbery

(Canton Police | Twitter)

CANTON -- The clerk of a Turnpike Street convenience store in Canton was handcuffed as two men stole cash from the store Saturday afternoon. Police released video of the robbery Sunday hoping to find the suspects.

Canton Police said the clerk at Andalus Variety Mart, located at 1036 Turnpike St., called police around 1:30 p.m. and said the store had been robbed by two men. One robber had a gun, according to police.

Detectives seeking information regarding armed robbery at Andalus Variety yest. If you have info call (781) 828-1212 pic.twitter.com/N6IucCXxuO  Canton Police (@CantonMAPolice) June 5, 2016

"During the course of the robbery, the clerk was handcuffed by the suspects," police said in a news release. "Despite being handcuffed the clerk was able to get to a phone and dial 911 after the suspects fled the store."

Police had limited information on the suspects. They were described as one light-skinned male and one dark-skinned male wearing dark-colored pants and dark sweatshirts.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Canton Police at (781) 828-1212.
B3-Gun.jpg

Massachusetts State Police released this image of a 9mm Sig Sauer P228 firearm found loaded with 3 rounds of ammunition in the magazine inside a vehicle at a sobriety checkpoint early Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Springfield.

(Massachusetts State Police)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A Connecticut man was arrested Saturday in Springfield for possessing a large-capacity firearm, Massachusetts State Police said.

Troopers stopped a vehicle driven by Dominic Cauley, 22, of Hartford at about 2 a.m. at a sobriety checkpoint.

A search of the vehicle turned up a 9mm Sig Sauer firearm loaded with three rounds of ammunition, police said.

Cauley does not have a license to carry a firearm in Massachusetts, police said.

Cauley faces several charges, including possession of a large-capacity firearm, carrying ammunition with a firearm, intoxicated while carrying a firearm, and receiving stolen property over $250.

He's being held at the Hampshire County jail in Northampton pending his arraignment.

It's unclear whether Cauley has a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
vehicles.two.jpg

(FILE PHOTOS)

HOLYOKE -- Reviews of spending plans for the Fire and Police departments led city councilors this week to paraphrase Chief Brody from "Jaws": "You're gonna need a bigger budget."

But the City Council was left with only commenting, and warning: The city charter authorizes the legislative body to review and cut, but not add to, the proposed budget.

The City Council has been holding hearings on departments' budgets in reviewing the $126.2 million spending plan that Mayor Alex B. Morse has submitted to run the city in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Morse's proposal is less than 1 percent higher than the $125.5 million budget with which the city began the fiscal year on July 1, 2015.

Topics discussed in the hearings on the fire and police budgets on Wednesday at City Hall included the need for more firefighters and police officers, overtime, "brownouts," how busy the opioid-addiction crisis has kept police, panhandling and needle exchange.

The Fire Department budget is $8,685,489, which is about $400,000 higher than the current budget because funding is needed to replace a federal grant that expired.

The Police Department budget is $12,264,882, which Morse said is about the same as the current budget.

Morse said his proposed budget maintains services taxpayers depend on while recognizing the need to limit spending.

Roy Scheider as Chief Martin Brody in 1975 movie "Jaws."

But after hearing from fire and police officials, councilors said the departments will need more money.

"I've seen a lot of cuts that the mayor made and it just doesn't seem like it's going to work," Councilor at Large Peter R. Tallman said.

"We're looking at a proposed budget that's really 'pie-in the sky,'" Councilor at Large Michael J. Sullivan said. "It's not going to hold up."

Fire Department

Fire Chief John A. Pond told councilors the proposed budget funds 78 firefighters, though the optimum would be 88.

The proposed staffing is two firefighters and one lieutenant less than the current-year's budget, he said.

Brownouts

One of the effects of operating with 78 firefighters instead of more, and of simultaneously trying to limit spending on overtime, is that trucks occasionally must be removed from service in a step known as a "brownout," Pond said. Brownouts occur when firefighting staffing is thin as firefighters are out because of vacations, illness or other reasons.

Each truck has a minimum of three firefighters. If individual is out, the truck is shut down for that shift and the other two firefighters are temporarily reassigned, to avoid calling in off-duty firefighters and ballooning overtime costs.

The proposed Fire Department budget includes $350,000 for overtime. The City Council approved $400,000 for Fire Department overtime in the budget approved for the current fiscal year.

But Pond said the department is on track to spend $600,000 on overtime this fiscal year, even with the brownouts, and he envisions about the same for the next fiscal year.

"At some point in time, I'm sure I'll be back requesting more overtime money," Pond said.

Pond said he enforces the policy but is not a fan of brownouts. The fewer fire trucks that are available per shift, the less coverage is provided throughout the city, especially if more than one fire occurred at once, he said.

"So we're kind of rolling the dice by browning that out. It is saving money. But the city is taking a chance," Pond said.

Councilor at Large Diosdado Lopez asked how long the brownouts would last. Pond said his understanding was that would be for as long as the city budget remains tight.

Ward 2 Councilor Nelson R. Roman said the need to increase the Fire Department overtime account shows again Morse's budget isn't balanced, and the council should take a step by freeing up money elsewhere in the budget.

"And we need to revisit this and make cuts in other places," Roman said. "I'm going to say again, the budget is not balanced. This is a travesty and this is no disrespect to you, chief."

Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan agreed and said he believes that brownouts are opposed by the public, Pond and the Fire Commission. The commission is a three-member board appointed by the mayor that sets policy in the department and approves hiring and discipline of employees, including the chief.

"At this point in time it's a money-saving tool," Pond said.

Commission Chairman Chistopher Hopewell said the chief and the commission are trying to reduce spending while avoiding jeopardizing lives of firefighters and the public.

"So we're trying to walk a very fine line," Hopewell said.

Some may think the outcome has been a "travesty," but officials are trying to make the best decisions, he said.

But brownouts of fire trucks are like removing police cruisers from the streets, Bresnahan said.

"Tommy the taxpayer, he doesn't want a brownout," he said.

Engine 2 out of Fire Department headquarters at 600 High St. is the truck that usually is shut down in a brownout. Engine 2 covers the Elmwood and South Holyoke neighborhoods.

Engine 2 was browned out 166 times in 2015 and more than 50 times so far in 2016, Pond said.

Officials need to figure out how to provide an additional $250,000 to pay firefighter overtime and avoid brownouts, Councilor at Large Howard B. Greaney Jr. said.

"I think that's the most important issue here tonight," Greaney said.



Police Department

Acting Police Chief Denise Duguay, Capt. Matthew F. Moriarty and Sgt. John P. Hart represented the Police Department in the budget hearing. Police Chief James M. Neiswanger is attending FBI training in Virginia.

Duguay submitted a chart to councilors that she said showed the connection between the size of the police budget and crime.

As the department's budget decreased 9 percent between 2008 and 2010, from $12 million to $10.9 million, reported crimes increased by 4.5 percent, from 6,866 to 7,176, according to the chart.

As the department's budget increased 12.8 percent between 2010 and 2015, from $10.9 million to $12.3 million, reported crimes decreased by 25.7 percent, from 7,176 to 5,329, according to the chart.

Overtime

Duguay said the Police Department could do its job even better with more officers, but only 90 officers are funded in the proposed budget while 98 were requested.

"If we don't have enough officers, then we have to pay officers overtime. I know that's a hot topic, but I'm just putting that out there," Duguay said.

Morse would fund police overtime in the proposed budget at $450,000, though Neiswanger requested $600,000.

Requiring that officers work overtime to ensure shifts are staffed exerts a toll on such officers as it continually separates them from their families, Duguay said.

"And that's bad for morale," Duguay said.

"One of the big things we need is people," Moriarty said.

Drug cases

Jourdain said the Police Department deserves praise for the amount of time required dealing with opioid, which has been mostly heroin, and other drug-related crimes.

"I know you guys are doing a fantastic job, but sometimes I've got to believe it feels like you're shoveling sand against the tide," Jourdain said.

Duguay distributed a sheet about drug-overdose calls. So far in 2016, police have had 84 heroin-related-overdose calls resulting in four fatalities.

In all of 2015, there were 83 heroin-related-overdose calls with 12 fatalities.

In 2014, there were 42 heroin-related-overdose calls with 11 fatalities.

What Holyoke deals with in the opioid problems reflects the national epidemic, Duguay said.

"Holyoke is no diffferent from the rest of the country," in that such a problem exists here, she said.

The difference is Holyoke police are so busy with drug cases in comparison to other Massachusetts cities, she said.

In 2015, only police in Boston, with a population of nearly 656,000, which is over 16 times larger than Holyoke's 40,000, had more drug-related cases than Holyoke's in 2015. Boston had 9,784 drug cases and Holyoke 755, Duguay said.

Springfield police had 581 drug-related cases and Chicopee police 83 in 2015, she said.

Also in 2015, Boston police had 1,252 heroin cases, Holyoke 230, Springfield 93 and Chicopee, 20, she said.

Crime down

Overall, reported crimes dropped 34 percent between 2001 and 2015, from 8,070 to 5,329.

"To what do you attribute that?" Jourdain said.

Crime nationally is down and part of that is because the population is aging, Duguay said.

Also, while there has been a reduction in vehicle thefts thanks to better security systems, car-jacking incidents have increased, as have cases of identity theft, she said.

"There's a lot of variables," Duguay said.

Greaney asked if the majority of crimes are related to drugs.

A large number of crimes are related to drugs, Duguay said.

Roman, the Ward 2 councilor, asked what resources police need to improve neighborhood-specific services.

"There's a number of things but, unfortunately, it costs money," Duguay said. "Most beneficial to a neighborhood is community policing. It's the old beat officer back on the street, having those conversations with people ... "

Officers can relate to people in such contact differently than from cruisers, she said, but "the biggest problem with community policing it it's expensive."

Moriarty told about a case of an officer spending two hours talking to someone and resolving a problem. But such a commitment of time can't be done with a cruiser with the rest of the city needing coverage, as well, he said.

Cuts have been made to the department's code enforcement, traffic and an officer devoted to cases involving elderly people, along with community policing, Duguay said.

Panhandling

Jourdain asked whether police get a lot of complaints about panhandlers such as those with cardboard signs at intersections.

Duguay said police in other communities have said that some panhandlers travel from community to community. Unless their behavior rises to the level of disturbing the peace, what panhandlers are doing is not a punishable offense, she said.

"It's a balancing act. You want to balance the rights of the individuals and the rights of society," Duguay said.

Adopting an ordinance to address pandhandling is an option, she said. Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Linda L. Vacon said councilors are considering that.

Hart said police also work with the state Department of Mental Health to try to get pandhandlers help.

Needle exchange

Councilor Michael J. Sullivan asked whether the needle exchange program here attracts more people who commit crimes.

"Are you asking for a personal opinion?" Duguay said.

"I'm asking you for a professional opinion," Sullivan said.

Duguay paused. Greaney said perhaps such a discussion would be better held in a different venue, which he failed to specify.

"I know I'm asking a tough question, with respect to other councilors," said Sullivan, but police are the ones on the streets so they would know the effects of having a needle exchange program here.

Duguay said having a needle exchange program in a community probably is similar in many ways to a community having a marijuana dispensary, without elaborating.

Hart said it was difficult to point to only needle exchange or any one factor in assessing what causes crime. Does the bus station bring in people from out of town, does the train station bring in people, he asked.

Tapestry Health has operated a needle exchange program at 15-A Main St. since August 2012, but it could be shutting down. Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason on March 14 issued an order that the program cease operations because it was improperly established without a City Council vote.

As part of his March 12 ruling, Mason also issued a 120-day stay. During the stay, the needle exchange program can continue to operate while the City Council considers the merits of the program, one of only five in the state.

If the City Council, as is likely, fails to take a vote to permit the needle exchange program to operate, the program would shut down, under Mason's order.

But Tapestry lawyers are fighting the shut-down order.

Supporters such as the mayor said needle exchange is a vital program for public health in a city beset with drug use. In needle exchange, intravenous drug users visit an office and hand over used injection-drug needles and get clean ones in return. Doctors and other specialists say isolating the used needles is vital because the sharing of infected needles is largely to blame for spreading diseases for which there are no cures like HIV-AIDS and hepatitis C.

A related benefit is intravenous drug users in such visits can get exposed to safety warnings and counseling referrals they otherwise might never get, supporters say.

Opponents say that it doesn't make sense to give needles to addicts and trust that they will avoid sharing them, and that doing so brands the city as a drug haven.
Massachusetts State Police cruiser

(Don Treeger / The Republican file)

CHELMSFORD - One woman was killed and at least three others were seriously injured in a roll-over crash on Route 3 early Sunday morning.

A 34-year-old woman, who was driving one of the cars, was taken to Lahey Hospital, in Burlington, where she died. Police have not released her name until all her relatives can be notified, Massachusetts State Police officials said.

Two of her passengers were also badly injured. A woman from Westmoreland, New Hampshire, whose age is not available, is in critical condition at Lahey Hospital and a 27-year-old female is being treated at Tufts Medical Center in Boston with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

A third passenger in the car, a 31-year-old man from Keene, New Hampshire, was taken to Lowell General Hospital. He suffered minor injuries, police said.

The driver of the other car, a 45-year-old man from Nashua, New Hampshire, was brought to Tufts Medical Center by ambulance with serious but non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Police did not release the names of any of the five victims.

The accident happened at about 1:30 a.m. when a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer, with four people in it, was heading north in the right travel lane was struck behind by a 2008 Jeep Liberty. The two cars were traveling in the same lane.

"The force from the impact caused the Mercury to roll over, ejecting the driver and two of the passengers," police said.

Route 3 north, near the intersection of Interstate 495, was closed for more than four hours to aid the victims, clear the road and conduct the investigation, police said.

This crash remains under investigation with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, and Middlesex County State Police Detectives. No charges have been filed at this time, police said.

Chelmsford Fire and Police departments, Trinity Ambulance and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation assisted at the scene, police said.
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Westover officials conduct searches of all commercial vehicles entering the gate.

(Republican file)

CHICOPEE - Security forces at Westover Air Reserve Base discovered a small amount of heroin in a commercial vehicle during a routine inspection on Thursday.

The truck driver, Adam Willis, of New Hampshire, was turned over to the Massachusetts State Police who arrested the man. Criminal charges are pending based on an investigation, said Lt. Col James G. Bishop, chief of Public Information at the base.

Willis was delivering periodicals to the Base Exchange. The search was conducted as he was driving onto the base so he never entered Westover, he said.

He was driving a truck registered to Hudson Distribution, Ltd. The vehicle was impounded by State Police, Bishop said.

Security forces inspect all commercial vehicles before they drive into Westover, which is a nationwide practice at all military bases, he said.

Other drugs and drug paraphernalia have been intercepted in prior inspections, but this is the first time in recent history that heroin has been found and seized, according to the senior Security Forces official.
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Hector Guzman

(Holyoke Police photo)

HOLYOKE - Police arrested a man, who they say is a known member of the Bloods gang, after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers who were chasing him.

Hector E. Guzman, of 912 Dwight St., was arrested at about 10:52 p.m., Saturday, on a variety of charges including possession of a firearm without a license to carry, possession of ammunition without an FID card, possession of a loaded firearm, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a dangerous weapon and possession of a large capacity feeding device, Police Lt. James Albert said.

This is the second time in less than two weeks Guzman has been arrested on charges of carrying a dangerous weapon and carrying ammunition without a FID card. On May 26 Chicopee Police arrested him for carrying an electric stun gun and other charges.

Armed with a warrant to arrest Guzman for domestic assault and battery, Holyoke Officer Michael Everett, Narcotics Det. Liam Glasheen and Narcotics Sgt. Daniel Reardon went to 86 Leary Drive to apprehend the 19-year-old.

Police spotted Guzman, who is also known by the nickname Fingo, outside the address. The suspect spotted police and tried to run from them.

During the pursuit through the Beaudoin Village housing complex, Guzman allegedly turned and pointed a gun at police. Just before they apprehended him, officers saw him throw the gun to the ground, Albert said.

"The officers showed tremendous restraint in the face of deadly force used against them as they did not fire at Guzman. The officers advised that they were aware that this is a public housing complex and many children and families were outside and it was too dangerous to use their firearms," Albert said.

After handcuffing Guzman, police recovered a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun that was fully loaded. Police also recovered a "Pro Mag" high capacity magazine with nine rounds of ammunition, Albert said.

After the arrest, police received the support of the residents of the complex, he said.

"When he was handcuffed many of the residents cheered the actions of those officers," Albert said.

Guzman is scheduled to be arraigned in Holyoke District Court on Monday morning, he said.

Nine days ago, Chicopee police arrested Guzman on charges of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of ammunition without an FID card and carrying a dangerous weapon.

In that arrest, which happened in the area of 22 Crescent Drive, police responded to complaints about juveniles arguing over marijuana. When they arrived they found people outside a vehicle arguing with Guzman, who was behind the wheel of a car, said Michael Wilk, public information officer for Chicopee Police.

Police discovered two .22-caliber rounds on the ground near the car. When they searched the vehicle they found discovered additional .22-caliber rounds and a magazine, four bundles of heroin and a pocket-sized electric stun gun under driver's seat, Wilk said.
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Christopher Keefe, West Springfield's former principal assessor, is suing the town for wrongful termination after being fired by former Mayor Gregory Neffinger in February 2012. Keefe, right, is seeking monetary damages in the case, which is currently on trial in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield.

(MassLive File Photo of Neffinger / submitted photo of Keefe)

SPRINGFIELD -- Opening statements were made Friday in the civil trial of former West Springfield Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger, who is accused of wrongfully firing Christopher Keefe and throwing a tantrum after the town employee refused to break the law, according to testimony in the case, which is scheduled to resume Monday in Hampden Superior Court.

The defendant in the wrongful termination lawsuit is the Town of West Springfield, which Neffinger ran from January 2012 to January 2014. The town and ex-mayor are being defended by attorney Patricia M. Rapinchuk, and Keefe's lawyer is Tani E. Sapirstein.

The 2012 complaint alleges that Keefe, West Springfield's principal assessor from July 2009 to February 2012, was fired by the one-term mayor because Keefe followed state laws requiring nonprofit social clubs to pay property taxes and refused to consider tax abatements for clubs that failed to pay third-quarter property tax bills.

The case hinges on whether or not Neffinger wrongfully fired Keefe, an at-will employee who served at the mayor's pleasure and claims he was cheated out of a public pension, and the legalities of offering abatements to nonprofits that are not charities. An abatement is a reduction in property value that reduces the taxes on that property.

An assessor's job is to determine the fair market value of property so the tax burden can be fairly and equitably distributed. The amount of taxes a property owner must pay is based on the tax rate applied to the property's assessed value. The idea behind tax exemptions is that charitable organizations that provide a public service or substantially reduce the government's burden should get a break. Standards from property-tax exemptions are set by individual states, while the federal exemption excludes charities from paying taxes on income.

Sapirstein, in her opening remarks, said the state Department of Revenue, or DOR, issued tax guidelines for charitable and religious organizations in January 2011. Keefe issued notices to four West Springfield social clubs, none of which had paid property taxes or qualified as public charities that benefit the public at large, according to the attorney.

In February 2012, Keefe and Kathleen Cooley, a member of the West Springfield Board of Assessors at the time, met with Neffinger and told him that the Tatham Memorial Club, Dante Club, Elks Club and Verdi Club had not paid their property taxes and were not eligible for abatements. Neffinger, who was only mayor for about a month at that point, ordered Keefe and Cooley to find a way around the DOR directive, according to Sapirstein.

"The law was just words," Sapirstein told the jury, attributing that line to Neffinger.

Keefe and Cooley dug in their heals, refusing to follow Neffinger's orders and requesting guidance from DOR. The day after the meeting with Neffinger, Keefe was fired and given a no-trespassing order. A West Springfield police officer escorted him from the town office building on Central Street, Sapirstein said.

Keefe treated all West Springfield taxpayers fairly and equally in compliance with the law, Sapirstein said, but Neffinger wanted the assessor "to circumvent the law" - something Keef was unwilling to do.

Cooley was ousted from her position on the Board of Assessors for an alleged Open Meeting Law violation, according to Neffinger, who announced her dismissal at a February 2012 press conference. Cooley learned of her dismissal "from the news media," Sapirstein said.

In her opening statement to the jury, Rapinchuk asked the panel "to keep an open mind" throughout the trial and to remember that Neffinger had never held public office before being elected mayor. "So, essentially, he was brand new to managing a town," she said. Neffinger's campaign focused on fiscal responsibility and no new taxes, and "he took steps to try to educate himself," Rapinchuk said, including meeting with Keefe and other department heads.

Keefe was an at-will employee, meaning Neffinger could replace him with anyone he wanted. After Neffinger met with Keefe, the mayor felt the assessor was not forthcoming and did not answer his questions, according to Rapinchuk. As a result, she said, Neffinger formed a negative impression of Keefe. "He found him to be evasive. He did not get a good feeling about this person being a member of his team," Rapinchuk said.

She claimed Keefe told people that Neffinger was going to fire him before he had even met the new mayor, and that Keefe had begun looking for a new job prior to Neffinger taking office on Jan. 6, 2012.

On the issue of social clubs, Neffinger wanted the nonprofits "to get a fair shake," Rapinchuk said. Neffinger believed the assessor's office had some leeway to help nonprofit social clubs remain viable, including the ability to offer abatements based on the percentage of charitable work they do, Rapinchuk said.

When Keefe told the mayor the clubs were ineligible for abatements because they had not paid their taxes, Neffinger left the meeting feeling that Keefe was not the right man for the principal assessor's job, the lawyer said. The assessor who was hired to replace Keefe disagreed with his interpretation of the law and granted partial abatements to all four social clubs, Rapinchuk said.

Keefe took the stand and provided the jury with a brief overview of his work history. The 49-year-old Westfield resident graduated from UMass Amherst in 1988 with a degree in business administration. Prior to landing the West Springfield job, he had worked for the Department of Revenue for over six years. He left the state agency ahead of potential staff cuts, he said, and applied for the assessor's job in West Springfield.

"I was looking for job security when I applied for that job," he testified Friday.

According to Keefe, nonprofit groups are exempt from taxes only if they are charitable organizations. The state's position is that social clubs are not exempt from property taxes unless they can prove they are charities, Keefe said. That depends on a club's mission and financial statements and the actual use of the property in question, he said.

"I was stuck in the middle," he said, referring to his option to either follow DOR guidelines or Neffinger's orders.

Under questioning from Sapirstein, Keefe said Neffinger got extremely angry with him and Cooley during a February 2012 meeting. During his mayoral campaign, Neffinger had promised social clubs they would not have to pay property taxes, Keefe testified, and the mayor wanted Keefe to figure out a way around the DOR directive.

"Half the taxpayers in town are idiots," Keefe said, citing words allegedly spoken by Neffinger, who scolded him for not "talking down" to taxpayers. "Mayor Neffinger said he wanted us to circumvent the law. I was stunned. I really didn't have a response to that," Keefe said.

The next day, Feb. 8, 2012, Keefe got a phone call from his immediate supervisor, who told him to come to her office with his key. When he entered the office, he was met by his supervisor, a police captain, and a town human resources official, he said. Keefe was given a dismissal notice and a no-trespassing order barring him from the J. Edward Christian Municipal Office Building for one year. He was then escorted off town property by the officer, he said.

To date, Keefe said, he has not received a formal explanation for his termination. His personnel file does not reflect any negative job reviews or other documents suggesting he was anything other than an employee in good standing with the Town of West Springfield, he said.

Keefe said he applied for six public-sector jobs, including a position with DOR, his former employer, but had no luck. After being unemployed for about six months, he was hired by a private real estate appraisal company, where he currently earns around $85,000 a year - roughly $13,000 more than his annual salary in West Springfield.

Before his dismissal from the town job, Keefe said, he was about 20 months away from being vested in the state's public pension system. "You need 10 years to be vested," he said, adding that assets from public jobs can be transferred between municipalities, counties and the state. By the time of his firing, Keefe had worked as a public-sector employee for more than eight years.

By Keefe's own calculations, based on a formula used by the Massachusetts Treasurer's Office, he would have been entitled to a public pension of around $192,000, which includes the four years since he was terminated in 2012. Among the relief he is seeking in the lawsuit is compensatory damages for lost income, emotional distress and front pay. Front pay is compensation for future wages if the successful plaintiff does not find a comparable position.

During her cross-examination of Keefe, Rapinchuk pointed out that Keefe was not a contract employee and there was no guarantee he would have continued working as the town's principal assessor for another four years, which Keefe included in his overall pension calculation. Rapinchuk said Keefe was asking a jury to award him money even for the years that he did not work for West Springfield, years in which he was not paying into a public retirement plan.

Rapinchuk also noted that there have been two mayors in West Springfield since Neffinger left office, and either of them could have terminated Keefe, an at-will employee.

The attorney asked Keefe if the statutes governing an assessor's duties were open to interpretation. Keefe agreed the rules could be interpreted differently. Rapinchuk then cited an instance in which Keefe denied an abatement request from a group of nuns. In that case, the state Appellate Tax Board overruled Keefe's decision, according to the attorney.

"I'm not familiar with what they do on the premises," Keefe said, by way of explaining his decision to deny the nuns' abatement.

Property taxpayers seeking abatements must first approach their local board of assessors for a hearing. If they are unhappy with the outcome of that hearing, they can take their case to the Appellate Tax Board for further review.

Cooley, Keefe's former colleague on the Board of Assessors, also took the stand Friday, facing questions from both Sapirstein and Rapinchuk. The lifelong West Springfield resident and former longtime member of the town's Finance Committee revisited the contentious meeting with Neffinger on Feb. 7, 2012 - a meeting that quickly devolved, she said.

"It was screaming, and he swore at me," Cooley said of the mayor. Neffinger berated her and Keefe for about 10 minutes, she claimed, and all because they refused to bend the rules for the mayor. "I told him I wasn't going to break the law," Cooley said. "He promised (the social clubs) that they wouldn't have to pay taxes. They hadn't paid taxes, so they weren't entitled to an abatement."

Cooley said the social clubs had to prove how much they gave to charities in order qualify for any sort of tax exemption. "They need to come up with a rate that they actually give to the community, but none of that was given to us," she said.

Under cross-examination from Rapinchuk, Cooley confirmed that she was a Democrat and a member of the town's Democratic committee, and that she did not support Neffinger, a Republican, during his run for mayor.

Rapinchuk also questioned Cooley about a press release issued by her and Keefe. Cooley said it was intended to clarify issues raised in a press release from Neffinger about his support for tax relief for nonprofit social clubs. If the sole intent was to clarify the facts, then why did Cooley and Keefe's press release take a political dig at Neffinger, Rapinchuk asked Cooley.

The release claimed the West Springfield assessors were being asked to break state law for Neffinger's "personal political gain," although the mayor was not identified by name in the statement. Cooley said she did not write that line.

By late Friday afternoon, Judge Edward J. McDonough Jr. sent jurors home for the weekend, ordering them not to discuss, research or read about the case. The trial is scheduled to resume Monday at 9 a.m. in Hampden Superior Court.

Neffinger, who was in the news again recently after being fired as interim town administrator in East Longmeadow, is expected to take the stand during the trial. Closing arguments could take place as early as Wednesday, McDonough said.
Watershed Consulting Inc. http://www.watershedconsulting.com/ recruited the help of Sentinel High School science teacher Will Pererias junior class and the Watershed Education Network on Thursday to set afloat three Biohaven Floating Islands into the Pattee Creek retention pond. If the floating sustainable habitats work like theyre supposed to, theyll remove harmful metals and chemicals from the water and increase the biodiversity of aquatic plant and insect life in the pond.

DAVID ERICKSON [email protected]

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/business/local/local-company-partners-with-city-to-test-floating-wetland-islands/article_ea7f4420-cb77-55ef-bc88-a35a11518dce.html
by Karin Drakenberg , Columnist, June 3, 2016

Mom is a hard word in business. I know firsthand that women can be both productive professionals and happy parents. Its not that difficult. Still, it requires a little rethinking of the old-fashioned, male-dominated leadership hierarchy in most businesses, especially in marketing and advertising.

Why? Women drive an estimated 70 -80% of consumer spending through purchase power and influence. In fact, 50% of products marketed to men are actually purchased by women. Globally, women control $20 trillion in annual spending. In the next five years, that figure is expected to rise to $30 trillion.

So how can there be so few women, in general, and mothers, in particular, actually devising the strategies to engage mom, or the content to enthrall her and even far fewer in corporate leadership roles?

Consider that women have been graduating from colleges at a greater rate than men for the last 20 years and are now starting to overtake men in graduate degrees. Next, imagine the day a woman gives birth. At that moment, consciously or not, she is forced to face the question to leave or not to leave the work force. What a question. And if she leaves, what a terrible waste of education and talent.

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Why would she consider leaving? Inadequate parental leave, and in addition, peer judgment pressuring her either to not take much leave for the sake of her job or to leave for the sake of the children.

I recently spoke with Holly Gordon, the founder of Girl Rising, who told me this conversation is a timely and vital call-to-action to keep mothers in the workforce  and in leadership positions  especially in culture-defining sectors like advertising, marketing and media. Too many women start promising careers but leave when they have children, not because they want to, but because traditional workforce structures dont work. The system has to change.

In a recent article on this particular work place bias, Patricia Cohen of The New York Times wrote, "... Researchers have repeatedly found ample evidence of discrimination against mothers in the hiring process and the workplace."

Now's the time for change as the new economy needs new ideas and new leadership. A report by the Pew Research Center shows that the majority of Americans think women are just as capable as men of being good political and business leaders. Women are perceived as indistinguishable from their male peers when it comes to leadership qualities such as intelligence and capacity for innovation. When it comes to other qualitieshonesty, fairness, compassion and willingness to compromisemany Americans actually judge women as superior.

Its tempting to read the report as a sign of progress. After all, the 114th Congress includes a record number of women (104) serving in the House and Senate. On the corporate front, 26 women now lead as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, up from zero in 1995. But, in fact, the 104 congresswomen only make up 19% of Congress and the female CEOs represent just 5% of all Fortune 500 CEOs.

As an industry that prides itself on understanding and shaping our culture, our numbers are creeping along, but theyre still staggeringly low, and they are low because there is a talent leak.

Lisen Stromberg, consultant and COO of the 3% Movement, said: "At the base, we see lots of women, there is no pipeline issue. But we have a leaky pipeline. When we get to the top there are very few women with children. And those with children tend to have stay-at-home husbands. So something's happening in that frozen middle where we are losing women and the question is why?"

One reason is weve all just settled for a system that makes it difficult to be a parent and a professional in advertising, in journalism, or in any profession for that matter. So when faced with being a parent, many mothers choose motherhood over careers. But they should not have to choose.

Mothers are an extraordinary resource for business. I'm originally from Sweden, which has long been a laboratory for a better workplace balance. The government, together with business leaders and corporations, years ago developed a system where parents receive more than a year of paid leave upon the birth of a child, and both parents take it.

This is good for the children, good for parents, good for productivity, and good for business.

The systems and structures of the past are not the systems and structures of the future. They are out of date. Weve had 60 years of a work-week that leads to lower productivity, more sick days and, moreover, few women in leadership positions. Its time for a new discussion in all industries about work and moms in the workplace.
by Ari Rosenberg , Op-Ed Contributor, June 2, 2016

When people hear complicated communication, they nod their heads so they dont seem confused  but inside, their gut is pushing the someone is trying to sell us something panic button.

The words used to describe private exchanges are still unnecessarily complicated.

Its time to put away the overused analogies and misunderstood metaphors. The digital ad business is not a community of living organisms living in conjunction with non-living components, so we can drop the term ecosystem and other words we never needed, like supply side and demand side.

We get it.

Publishers sell ads targeted to specific audience segments, and the price they get should go up when more media buyers demand to buy those ads.

We get it.

Giving ad buyers a chance to review the targeting data of every ad impression so they can choose to bid or pass is an unbelievable innovation.

advertisement advertisement

We get it.

Executing the sale of an ad to the highest bidder in real time, based on data associated with that particular impression, is stunningly complex.

A publisher who does not participate in a private exchange can appear out of touch, perhaps creating perception problems at the agencies they want to do more direct business with. For that reason alone, having their own private exchange  or, being part of a network of sites that allow publishers to select which advertisers they offer this kind of access  seems like a good idea.

What gets lost in this current complicated technology pitch to publishers is a core question: What is the likely business outcome if a publisher with its own sales team also sells ads in a private exchange?

The Lumascapees want publishers to believe a competitive bidding process to buy ads will ultimately increase rates. They like to tout this growth by comparing the increase in private-exchange CPMs versus open-exchange CPMs.

I would like you guys to stop doing that. You are better than that. There are more obvious and relevant comparisons that can be made to see if private exchange CPMs rise or fall year over year for publishers.

Regardless, private exchanges as they work now are not yielding higher CPMs, and they likely never will. Thats because ads bought through an exchange (of any kind) are 100% audience-driven. The value of the content where the ad appears is not considered, so value is solely determined by performance, which gets defined by the buyer. Performance expectations will always increase plan over plan, which means prices will always be forced down, especially when there is an oversupply of ad impressions for sale. Traditional publishers are not search/Google. They dont have the term auto insurance to auction off.

Prices will also always drop in an exchange because they are correlated to fill rates  a.k.a., how much money the publisher actually earns. Publishers learn quickly that if they lower their floor bid price, the checks they get from private exchange advertisers get slightly bigger. More money tied to pressing a button to lower prices will always result in lower prices.

So what business outcome can publishers expect when they open or join a private exchange? A lower overall eCPM for all impressions sold (direct and programmatic combined).

Someone who knows this space better than most (and certainly me), opened my eyes when he recently said that the ad impressions a publisher sells via a private exchange should be just another line item in an overall ad buy.

That got me thinking about how selling impressions via a private exchange can work more profitably for premium publishers:

1. Only allow advertisers who buy ads direct to include ad impressions from your private exchange.

2. Instead of charging a bidded or guaranteed CPM for these private exchange ad impressions, charge nothing.

3. Then demand advertisers pay a 20% CPM premium for direct ads bought, and a 20% increase in the overall budget commitment, in order to earn this new form of added value.

Somewhere along the way in this evolving media business, added value got a bad rap. In my experience, taking the most valuable item on the media plan and making it free has always helped drive a bigger overall dollar commitment and higher CPMs for the other ads sold as part of the buy.

Using private exchange ad impressions as added value is just crazy enough to make this whole thing work.
Having radiotherapy once a day for six and a half weeks or twice a day for three weeks - when combined with chemotherapy - is equally good at treating small cell lung cancer that hasn't spread.

These results - from a Cancer Research UK-funded clinical trial presented at the ASCO cancer conference today (Sunday) - mean patients and doctors can choose together which treatment suits them best.

The CONVERT clinical trial* - the largest trial ever completed in this group of patients - looked to find the best way** of giving radiotherapy alongside chemotherapy for patients with small cell lung cancer.

The trial also found that small cell lung cancer patients live longer and with fewer side effects than previous studies suggested which is likely to be because of the modern radiotherapy techniques used.

Around 550 patients from around the world were split into two groups - one receiving radiotherapy twice a day over three weeks and the other once a day at a higher dose over six and a half weeks. All patients also had chemotherapy.

Scientists from the University of Manchester and the Christie Hospital with others in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Canada compared survival and side effects for both groups.

They found that survival in both groups was similar with 56 per cent of patients who had radiotherapy twice a day surviving for two years compared with 51 per cent of those given it once a day.

Importantly, the majority of side effects from radiotherapy were similar in both groups, apart from neutropenia - weakening of the immune system - which happened more often in twice daily treatment group (in 74 per cent of the patients who had twice daily radiotherapy compared with 65 per cent of the once daily group).

The trial results support the use of either once daily or twice daily radiotherapy with chemotherapy as standard treatment for small cell lung cancer that hasn't spread. This means that individual patients' treatment can be planned with their doctor according to what works best for them and their hospital.

Previously there was no agreed dose for giving radiotherapy once or twice a day, but this trial has identified the best amounts as 66 grays once a day and 45 grays twice a day.

Although the trial will still be followed up for the full five years, the results have already changed clinical practice within the UK and internationally.

Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn, trial lead and Cancer Research UK-funded scientist from the University of Manchester and the Christie, said: "Before this study it was unclear whether having radiotherapy once or twice a day helped more patients survive for longer and what level of side effects was expected with modern radiotherapy techniques.

"We're pleased to provide answers to these questions and our results have already begun to change practice around the world. Based on our findings, small cell lung cancer patients will be able to choose between a shorter course of radiotherapy given twice a day and a longer course given once a day."

Jane Jepson, a 51 year-old grandmother from Southport, who took part in the CONVERT trial four years ago and had radiotherapy twice a day for three weeks, said: "It's great to hear the good news from this trial, and I'm really pleased to have been involved in something that will change how other patients like me are treated. I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in August 2012 - I was initially admitted to hospital with a kidney infection but an X-ray showed something on my lung.

"Since my treatment I have got married, my granddaughter has turned four and I've got another grandchild on the way. I shouldn't be here really but I am, and I'm eternally grateful to everyone involved in my treatment."

Dr Ian Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of clinical research, said: "Finding the most appropriate way to give treatments like radiotherapy is a crucial part of treating cancer. Before this study began there had been few large clinical trials of this type in small cell lung cancer.

"Outcomes for lung cancers have been very poor for a long time, so at Cancer Research UK we're dramatically increasing the amount we're spending on research in this area, and we're delighted that the CONVERT trial is making a real difference in how we treat these patients."

The cancer strategy for England called for national funding to urgently update and replace outdated radiotherapy equipment, but the Government and NHS England are yet to commit to this.
There has been public concern about the safety of nanoparticle sunscreens, but the available evidence indicates that they are both effective and safe to use, according to a Perspective published in Medical Journal of Australia.

The concern about nano-sunscreens began in 2008, following a report that nanoparticles could bleach the painted surfaces of coated steel.

According to Associate Professor Paul Wright from RMIT University in Melbourne, this is a different exposure situation to the use of nano-sunscreens by people.

"Here they are formulated to remain on the skin's surface, which is constantly shedding its outer layer of dead cells," he wrote.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles are considered beneficial in sunscreens because they are broad spectrum UV filters, UV-stable, non-irritating, hypoallergenic, and transparent.

They also have "a greater UV-attenuating capacity than bulk material (particles larger than 100 nm in diameter) on a per weight basis," writes A/Prof Wright.

Many studies have shown metal oxide nanoparticles do not readily penetrate the skin's outer layer.

Additional fears are that nanoparticles might increase free radical levels in human skin, but, according to A/Prof Wright, the evidence points to the opposite being the case.

"We have seen that zinc oxide and rutile titanium dioxide nanoparticles directly reduce the quantity of damaging free radicals in human immune cells in vitro when they are co-exposed to the more penetrating UV-A wavelengths of sunlight."

A/Prof Wright writes that it was vital to re-assure concerned people that the benefits of nano- sunscreens clearly outweigh the risks.

"The important message to be communicated to the Australian public is that the danger of excessive UV light itself with respect to skin damage and cancer is far greater than the perceived risk posed by nano-sunscreens, which is not supported by the scientific literature," he concluded.

Article: Potential risks and benefits of nanotechnology: perceptions of risk in sunscreens, Paul FA Wright, Medical Journal of Australia, doi: 10.5694/mja15.01128, published 6 June 2016.
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The study used data from the Colorado Central Cancer Registry. Overall, the incidence of CRC was about 20 times less in patients under age 50. However, not only is the incidence of young CRC rising, but the majority of these cancers are diagnosed only once they have reached stage IV disease. In fact, the diagnosis of late stage CRC in young patients is rising more than three times as fast as diagnosis of early-stage disease in the same population."We 're finding this later in young people," Lieu says. Again, this is most likely due in part to screening guidelines that lead to earlier discovery in the over-50 population. Lieu also points out that younger patients (and their doctors) may overlook or discount CRC symptoms that would have been treated more carefully in older patients."I think the implication is not that screening age should be decreased. We don't want to do colonoscopies on people who don't need it, which could do more harm than good. What we need is awareness," Lieu says. He points out that awareness can include recognition of symptoms, but may also include awareness of the need for increased care in genetically predisposed populations or those with a family history of the disease. At ASCO 2016, Lieu will also present results showing that CRC in young patients may be genetically distinct from the disease in older patients, leading to a more aggressive profile. "This is an important finding for the state and an important finding for young patients in general," Lieu says.Source: Newswise
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100 million tonnes of fish

440,000 tonnes of plants that are medicinal

1.5 million live birds

3200 tigers in 2014

Only 2500 breeding adults

Between the years of 2000 to 2014, 1590 parts of tigers were identified in places where tigers roam.

China has tiger farms that are illegally run and which supply tiger meat as food and tiger bones for medicinal use.

Stop using animal products, whether its leather bags or shoes or even wallets.

Stop using beauty products that are tested on animals

Stop buying ornamental products made from animal parts like ivory tables.

Do not litter the environment

Don't light bonfires in a forest, if you do, extinguish it completely before you leave. Bonfires left unattended have led to massive forest fires that have destroyed flora and fauna.

Conserve water, do not use more than you need to

Fix leaky taps immediately.

Recycle, re-use and sustain the environment

Carry cloth bags to grocery stores

Illegal wildlife trade continues to flourish owing to the huge demand for the animals and the animal products. People are used to the luxury and do not change their mindsets to use products that are not from animals. The demand for wildlife trade is largely in rich sections of the society which can afford to pay high amounts and which view animal products as a status symbol.Some people believe that consuming certain animal products improves their health and well being. There has been a drastic increase in the number of rhinos that are being poached owing to the belief that rhino horns cure cancer . The price for rhino horns is sold equal to its weight in gold, driven by the greed of society that has encouraged killing.In one year, there is recorded trade ofThe major difference between animal trade that is legal and illegal wildlife trade is that many species of endangered animals are transported illegally. This leads to depletion in their numbers with widespread poaching. The animals are mercilessly killed for their tusks and fur or are transported under great stress in unhygienic conditions.The most disheartening aspect of illegal wildlife trade is that masterminds and kingpins who spearhead the trade are most often unidentified while poor people who take to poaching to gain their next meal are arrested and punished, letting the kingpins go scot free.Tiger is the national animal of India but its dwindling numbers are a cause of concern.Recently a Thai temple for tigers came under the scanner when it was raided and found to be exporting tiger parts to China. This temple was hugely popular among tourists as tigers lived peacefully along with humans. For a small fee, a tourist could feed the tiger or sit next to the tiger and take a photograph. A raid recently by government agencies found that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Nearly 5000 tigers were illegally trafficked and 40 tiger cubs were found dead in 2 freezers in the temple premises, shocking environmentalists and laying open the filth associated with illegal wildlife trade.Illegal wildlife trade is the fourth in the list of illegal trades across the world. Colman O'Criodain, WWF's wildlife trade specialist says "We don't want to see tigers commercialised in any way. The fact is, the wilder the tiger, the better the medicine is considered. It's also very expensive to rear tigers in captivity. With the difficulty of separating farmed products from wild ones, it's too much of a risk. There is too much temptation to cash in."The World environment day is not only about illegal wildlife trade but about protecting the environment and saving resources for the future. Indian prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has said that conserving forests and water is every citizen's duty and that the Earth should be kept clean and green Here are some ways of safeguarding our environment1. http://www.traffic.org/tigers/2. http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade3. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/species/problems/illegal_trade/Source: Medindia
Why go the natural way to treat hypertension? The answer to this question is because of the potential side effects of most commonly used antihypertensive drugs. Comparatively, natural therapy for blood pressure control such as the use of garlic and other herbs can be used quite safely with almost negligible side effects. In addition, certain anti-hypertensives are ineffective by themselves and garlic can be given to improve their effectiveness, this means even if you are on an anti-hypertensive, adding garlic could help with better control and lesser dose of the drug.

One must consume 2-3 cloves of garlic everyday to get the therapeutic benefit for the treatment of hypertension. Preferably, one must take garlic in the natural or raw form so that the active component of garlic called allicin is not destroyed. Allicin can be destroyed by cooking and even by cutting in seconds. Many patients also prefer to take garlic supplements as an odor-free substitute.

It is preferable to take garlic in the natural form rather than supplements, as it gives the maximum benefit. However, garlic is beneficial in any form whether taken raw or added in food taken throughout the day. Evidently garlic sulphides are also useful in the treatment of hypertension, which is not destroyed by any cooking process.

Role of Garlic for High Blood Pressure - There have been numerous clinical trails and research based studies to establish the effect of garlic in the treatment of hypertension. These studies have not only studied the effect of garlic on blood pressure relative to placebo and other antihypertensive agents, but also garlic by itself in blood pressure management.

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As a common consensus, garlic has been shown to cause a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) with a slightly lesser reduction in diastolic blood pressure (DBP), as comparable to patients given a placebo, in mild or moderate hypertension. This report is validated when there are other lifestyle changes such as weight loss, reduced salt intake, stress reduction etc; together with taking garlic as a supplement.

However, there is a requirement of more well organized studies without the methodological shortcomings, as there is still an insufficient evidence to recommend its use routinely as a therapy for the treatment of hypertensive subjects.

Nevertheless, the effect of garlic as an adjuvant (drugs used additionally to improve the efficacy of a particular medication) with other antihypertensive drugs have shown a positive difference in blood pressure management.

Mechanism of Action of Garlic:

The hypertension reducing properties of garlic is because of a biologically active substance called allicin and garlic sulphides or s-methyl-1-cysteine sulfoxide.

Evidently allicin not only relaxes the blood vessels, which reduces blood pressure and damage, but it also interferes with the function of angiotensin I which is an enzyme produced by the kidney responsible for smooth muscle contraction and blood pressure elevation.

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Garlic might also be hypotensive indirectly by reducing cholesterol levels, reducing the platelet aggregation and thrombosis, because of its blood fibrinolytic (breaks down the fibrin) activity.

The antihypertensive effect of garlic is also because it activates the production of nitric oxide synthase and hydrogen sulphide, which helps relax blood vessels. This is because nitric oxide synthase causes the chronic reduction of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by Nu-nitro-L-arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME) responsible for the induction of arterial hypertension in rats.
Jordanian-Palestinian cleric Sheikh Mashhoor bin Hassan Aal Salman said that the Jews living in Israel were not Israelites, "just like the followers of Jesus of Nazareth are not Christians." Sheikh Aal Salman further said that "the Jews' state is an Abode of War, not merely an Abode of Heresy." His fatwa session was posted online on April 29, 2016.

Following are excerpts

Mashhoor bin Hassan Aal Salman: What is the guiding principle in distinguishing between the Abode of Islam and the Abode of Heresy? Is the state of the Israelites considered the Abode of Islam? These people are Jews, Israel - Allah's prophet Jacob - has nothing to do with them. not Israelites. Israel - Allah's prophet Jacob - has nothing to do with them. People call them "Israelis," but they are not, just like the followers of Jesus of Nazareth are not Christians. Christ has nothing to do with those who deify him. It is forbidden to call the Jews "Israelis," and to call the followers of Jesus "Christians." [The Prophet] Israel has nothing to do with the Jews, and Jesus has nothing to do with the Christians.

[...]

The Jews' state is an Abode of War, not merely an Abode of Heresy. The Jews oppressing Palestine are enemy combatants, not people with whom there should be a covenant. It is not haram [to kill] them. The Jews in Palestine are enemy combatants. They are not dhimmis, protected by a covenant. It is not haram to shed their blood and to take their property. This is the situation with the Jews. Whether they should be killed depends on whether it is beneficial or detrimental. It is not an issue of whether there is a covenant of protection with them or not.

[...]
EMMETT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)  Authorities in southern Michigan are investigating the shooting deaths of a Calhoun County Sheriff's deputy and his wife.

The bodies were found in Emmett Township, southwest of Battle Creek, about 7:50 a.m. Sunday. Emmett Township Police Chief Mike Olson tells the Battle Creek Enquirer (http://bcene.ws/1ZoUHr8) the bodies of a man and a woman were found in the back yard of a house by a family member.
CALAIS, Vt. (AP)  A Vermont village is hosting a festival to celebrate a nuisance of spring in New England: the blackfly.

The 13th annual Adamant Blackfly Festival on Saturday includes a fashion show, a blackfly poetry slam and a blackfly pie contest in which entries are judged on their taste and blackfly homage. Blackflies aren't actually an ingredient in the pies, though. Some cooks try to make designs that resemble blackflies.

"It's just about being festive and happy, and damn the flies!" said Janet MacLeod, an artist with a studio in Adamant.

MacLeod said one year a participant actually made the pies fly by shooting them off into the woods.

Festival organizers say about 40 species of blackfly exist in Vermont, with only four or five that bite humans. In late April or May, they emerge from streams in droves in search of blood.

In other parts of the world, they spread diseases like river blindness but not in New England.

"Up here they are just basically protectors of our wild areas," said Alan Graham, Vermont state entomologist.

Adamant, a village in the 1,600-resident town of Calais in central Vermont, has conditions that blackflies like: clean moving water in the form of streams.

The festival schedule also includes live music, an auction and the annual Blackfly Parade, with a marching band, tractors and floats. Somebody might even bring their goats this year, MacLeod said.

"We never kind of know what's going to be there until 2:00 when people start lining up," MacLeod said.

The event, which is expected to draw 100 to 200 people, raises money for the Adamant Co-op, a community-run general store and post office.

The festival ends between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. at which time the schedule notes: "Blackflies all die."

"That's optimistic," MacLeod said.
The A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft supplied by the U.S. to the Afghan air force have been used extensively since arriving in January, flying hundreds of sorties including close-air support missions, NATO's Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul said Tuesday.

"Since January, Afghan Air Force A-29 pilots have flown more than 260 sorties, supporting operational and training missions," Resolute Support said in an e-mail statement on the milestone achievement for the turboprop aircraft.

The statement did not specify how many of the sorties were operational but Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said last week that the A-29s "are providing close air support." He also did not specify how many close air support missions had been flown or describe their effectiveness.

Cleveland said the first four A-29s arrived in Afghanistan in January and became operational on April 1. Another four A-29s have been delivered to the Afghan Air Force since then, he said in a video briefing to the Pentagon from Kabul.

The second group of A-29s "are now going through their paces and they are going through their training effort right now. We expect to see them become operational and we don't have a hard date for it, but we think probably the June time frame," he said.

The Afghans have released few details on the operations of the A-29s. Last month, the Afghan army public relations directorate said 42 militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, had been killed in a joint air and ground operation by Afghan forces in southeastern Nangarhar province, Reuters reported.

The Afghan army did not specify whether A-29s were involved in the attack. The U.S. has also supplied the Afghan Air Force with MD-530 attack helicopters.

Army Gen. John Nicholson, the new commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, told Reuters last month that the A-29s carried out their first independent strike operation in the northern province of Badakhshan on April 14. He said the Afghan air force was steadily improving its targeting to avoid civilian casualties.

"It's much more than just the pilot being able to fly the plane and release the ordnance -- there's a whole system that surrounds this," Nicholson told Reuters.

A U.S.-funded $427 million contract calls for a total of 20 A-29s to be delivered to Afghanistan by 2018.

Eight Afghan pilots completed training late last year on the A-29s with U.S. pilots from the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. The aircraft, which were designed for close air support, carry a 20mm cannon below the fuselage, one 12.7mm machine gun under each wing and can also fire 70mm rockets and launch precision-guided bombs.

The A-29s began arriving in Afghanistan nearly five years after the Brazilian firm Embraer, and its U.S. partner Sierra Nevada Corp., won a Light Air Support competition with the A-29 against the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6B Texan II, leading to contract disputes and delays in the program.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

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Afghanistan's new A-29 Super Tucano ground attack aircraft have increasingly been used against Taliban targets, but only with unguided "dumb" bombs, an official said.

The single-prop A-29s and the new MD-530 helicopters, both supplied by the U.S., were part of the "new capabilities" of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces that have improved their performance over last year, when the Taliban took over several districts and briefly overran the provincial capital of Kunduz, said Army Gen. Charles Cleveland.

"We are cautiously optimistic about the coming months because overall we do believe that they have some momentum right now," said Cleveland, the main spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and NATO's Resolute Support mission, in a video briefing this week from Kabul to the Pentagon.

"We do believe that the ANDSF has performed better this year than they were performing last year," he said, referring to the Afghan forces. "They are getting better in employing their newer capabilities."

Currently, there are eight A-29s in Afghanistan but only four "have reached their initial operating capability. So as of about the first of April, those four aircraft were certified to begin conducting close air support operations," Cleveland said.

"The other four are still going through their train-up period. I don't know exactly when they will become active, but we think it will be sometime in June," he said.

Cleveland said he had no firm statistics on the number of airstrikes conducted by the A-29s, or estimates on their effectiveness, "but I would characterize it as they are conducting multiple strikes a week. When I say multiple, we're not talking double digits, but they are certainly conducting two, three, four strikes at this point every week, maybe even more."

Last week, Afghanistan's Khaama Press, citing Afghan National Army sources, said two Taliban commanders and 15 other insurgents were killed in airstrikes by A-29s in eastern Kunar province.

"At this point, they are not using precision-guided munitions," Cleveland said of the A-29s, "but that certainly is in the forecast and we expect to see that in the coming months."

The A-29s began arriving in Afghanistan in January as part of a U.S.-funded $427 million contract calling for a total of 20 A-29s to be delivered to Afghanistan by 2018.

Eight Afghan Air Force pilots completed training late last year on the A-29s with U.S. pilots from the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. The A-29s, which were designed for close air support, carry a 20mm cannon below the fuselage, one 12.7mm machine gun under each wing and can also fire 70mm rockets and launch precision-guided bombs.

--Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related Video:
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.
China pushed back against U.S. pressure to stop its activity in the South China Sea Sunday, insisting that it has sovereignty over most of the disputed territory in the region and saying it "has no fear of trouble."

Chinese Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied in the South China Sea and will not back down over a pending U.N. ruling over its claims in a vital trade route.

"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun said at Asia's biggest security summit in Singapore, where more than 600 security, military and government delegates had gathered over three days, Reuters reported.

"China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea," Sun said.

The South China Sea has become a hotly contested issue for the U.S. and China. Both sides have traded accusations of militarizing the strategic waterway as China continues its buildup of artificial islands and constructed airfields and lighthouses on top of some of them.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter warned Beijing Saturday at the summit that Beijing risks creating a "great wall of self-isolation" if it continues its militarization of the South China Sea.

"There is growing anxiety in this region, and in this room, about China's activities on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region's airspace," he said. "Indeed, in the South China Sea, China has taken some expansive and unprecedented actions, that have generated concerns about China's strategic intentions."

Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in Mongolia early Sunday and lectured China against establishing an air defense zone in the South China Sea. He said it would be a "provocative and destabilizing act."

Furthermore, Kerry said such an action would raise tension between China and its Asian neighbors and undermine China's commitment to diplomatically resolve disputes over islands and maritime claims. The matter is likely to be a major focus of discussions in the next days.

Sun rejected the notion that China is isolating itself, saying that many of its neighbors at the security summit were "warmer" and "friendlier" to China than last year.

"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future," Sun said. "Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Red Sox have placed catcher Ryan Hanigan and catcher/left fielder Blake Swihart on the 15-day disabled list, brought up outfielder Rusney Castillo, right-hander Heath Hembree and backstop Sandy Leon from Triple-A Pawtucket, and optioned righty Noe Ramirez, the team announced.

Both Hanigan and Swihart left Bostons win over Toronto on Saturday with injuries. Hanigan departed in the sixth inning with a neck strain, while Swihart exited in the seventh after crashing into the wall down the left field line on a catch and hurting his left ankle.

Hanigan hasnt offered much at the plate this year, having hit an ugly .186/.250/.229 in 70 plate appearances, though he has thrown out six of 19 would-be base stealers (good for an above-average 32 percent rate). Swihart has provided a decent .258/.365/.355 line in 74 PAs while adjusting to an outfield role. The losses of him and Hanigan will obviously have a negative effect on the Red Soxs catcher depth behind Christian Vazquez, which is why the club promoted Leon. In 129 PAs with Pawtucket this season, Leon has batted .237/.310/.333 with two home runs. He owns a .187/.258/.225 line in 235 major league trips to the plate.

With Swihart down, Castillo could now have a chance to reenter the picture for the Red Sox, though hell sit Sunday in favor of Chris Young. Since signing a $72MM deal with Boston in 2014, the Cuba native has garnered just 333 big league PAs, hitting an underwhelming .265/.304/.383. He has spent nearly all of this year in the minors, where he has continued to post less-than-stellar statistics (.241/.302/.317 with one homer in 159 PAs).

Hembree, on the other hand, has been successful for the Red Sox this season. The 27-year-old has compiled a 2.14 ERA, 7.71 K/9 and 2.14 BB/9 in 21 big league innings. Those numbers are relatively similar to his career totals (2.81, 7.17 and 2.95, respectively) over 64 frames. Hembree has also pitched to a solid 3.07 ERA, complemented by a superb 11.0 K/9, in 246 1/3 minor league innings.

Since debuting in the majors last season, Ramirez has racked up 24 innings of 5.25 ERA ball to accompany a 9.00 K/9 and 5.25 BB/9. Ramirezs minor league career has been a different story, though, as he has a 2.86 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 283 innings at lower levels.
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Students walk through the Diag on the University of Michigan campus on Tuesday, April 22, 2014. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News

ANN ARBOR, MI -- The University of Michigan has asked federal investigators looking into the handling of sexual assault complaints on campus for at least a dozen deadline extensions for providing thousands of documents, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press.

The university also has tried to limit the scope of the ongoing U.S. Department of Education investigation -- now more than 27 months old -- by asking investigators to review fewer incidents than they requested, according to e-mails obtained by the Free Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

The investigation initially focused on three cases filed in 2014 that alleged mishandling of sexual assault complaints, but the USDE's Office for Civil Rights has now said it wants to look at documents related to about 180 cases and thousands of documents.

The Free Press filed a FOIA request for any communication between the university and OCR on Feb. 11, 2016. The department returned 122 pages of e-mails in response. It exempted 137 pages from disclosure, citing privacy guidelines. The last e-mail the newspaper received was dated Feb. 24, 2016.



The OCR notified U-M on Feb. 24, 2014, that it would investigate a complaint that the university "failed to promptly and equitably respond to complaints, reports, and/or incidents of sexual violence of which it had notice ... and, as a result, students were subjected to a sexually hostile environment."

In a letter to then-President Mary Sue Coleman, the OCR requested 21 different documents, including a copy of all documentation concerning formal or informal complaints or reports of sexual assault, the names of university personnel responsible for investigating incidents of discrimination and harassment based on sex and a description of law enforcement's role in the University's Title IX investigation process.

In February 2014, the OCR began investigating U-M's response to sexual misconduct allegations against former Wolverine kicker and fifth-year senior Brendan Gibbons, who was permanently separated from U-M in December 2013.

Gibbons was expelled after U-M found he had violated the university's sexual misconduct policy.

He was arrested on Nov. 22, 2009, during a police investigation into a reported sexual assault at the Chi Psi fraternity house. Gibbons was never charged in the case.

The DOE is investigating, among other things, why more than four years passed between the incident in question and the university's response.

U-M is one of three Michigan higher education institutions currently subject to investigation by the OCR, along with Grand Valley State University and Alma College.



Data from The Chronicle of Higher Education tracking Title IX investigations showed the OCR currently is investigating 243 investigations of colleges for possibly mishandling reports of sexual violence. So far, 48 cases have been resolved. The average case duration is 1.3 years.

In the OCR's investigation into Michigan State University, which was resolved in September 2015, the U.S. Department of Education determined the university did not do enough to investigate two Title IX complaints and had a poor process for dealing with sexual assault accusations.

The report claimed MSU did not "promptly investigate" the two complaints made to the Office of Civil Rights that sparked the investigation. The case took more than four years to resolve.

According to survey results released by U-M in June 2015, 22.5 percent of undergraduate women and 6.8 percent of undergraduate men reported having been victims of sexual assault in the past year.

The survey, issued to 3,000 students with a 67 percent response rate, defined sexual assault as any form of nonconsensual touching and kissing or oral, vaginal or anal penetration.

The survey was administered about six weeks after U-M released its first-ever report solely devoted to sexual misconduct. The sexual misconduct report revealed that sexual misconduct rose to 129 incidents in 2014 from 83 the previous year.

The report broke down the 129 complaints into categories. Fifty-one percent of the complaints were sexual assaults, 26 percent were sexual harassment, 14 percent were stalking, 8 percent were categorized as "other" and 1 percent involved retaliation, according to the report.

The reporting of sexual misconduct at U-M has risen in recent years after the university made changes in its complaint reporting policy in 2011. After receiving just two and three reported sexual misconduct incidents in 2009 and 2010, respectively, the number rose to 68 incidents in 2011 and 75 in 2012, according to U-M Office of Student Conflict Resolution annual reports.

Colleges and universities are required to respond to such complaints separately from any criminal investigations for Title IX compliance, as the Department of Education classifies sexual assault as a form of sexual harassment prohibited by Title IX.

U-M requires employees to report alleged assaults to both campus law enforcement and to each university's Title IX compliance office for investigation.

In addition to requiring a separate investigation, Title IX also holds suspects to a different legal standard for proof when compared to a criminal investigation. In order to be found guilty of violating the university's policies under Title IX, it must only be more likely than not that the alleged incident took place, while a criminal investigation requires proving the suspect committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

The education department's investigation is designed to determine whether universities followed its policies for looking into alleged incidents, and the penalties could be stiff, depending on the outcome. The Department of Education has the power to withhold all federal aid to schools, although that power has never been used.

Martin Slagter covers higher education for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at mslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter.
The line of well-wishers stretched out of the hall of the All Saints Parish hall, off the property and down the street to say well done to retiring educator Sister Julie Gatza.

"I've seen very sad children become happy, children who were told they couldn't learn, learn," Gatza recounted of her 49 years furthering Catholic education in Bay City.

Gatza, 76, taught first grade at All Saints Central Elementary School for 35 years before presiding over the building as principal for another 14 years.

Come June 30, she'll retire, bringing an end to a 143-year tradition of nuns leading education at the school. Next year, Lisa Rhodus, 13-year education veteran who is not a nun, will be the principal.

Gatza estimated she's taught at least 1,000 students in her tenure as a teacher.

"They're my life," she said. "They're why I get up in the morning."

Her warm and understanding approach to educating young minds found her lifelong admirers.

Helene Lochinski, a teacher aid at the elementary school and former student of Gatza's some 40 years ago, said even as students graduated to second grade, third grade and beyond, Gatza still kept tabs on them, offered advice and gave "the greatest hugs ever."

"It was almost like she followed her students to make sure they were on the right track," Lochinski said.

Sunday, May 29, Gatza stood at the door of a church gathering hall and greeted some of those former pupils with hugs, laughs and memories during her retirement party.

What she didn't expect, she said, was a line that stretched off the church grounds and down a nearby street.

"It touched me so much that people would give up some of a Sunday afternoon," she said.

Gatza was born, raised and schooled in Bay City, and plans to live out the rest of her life here, she said. It was in those early years that she decided on her life path, her mission.

"When I was in sixth grade, I wanted to be like the sister who stood in front of me and taught me," she said. "Later on I thought, 'I want to teach somebody, and God's been bugging me, maybe I should be in school teaching.'"

Shortly after high school graduation, she traveled to Ohio and joined the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, beginning her 55-year-journey as an educator and servant of the Lord.

Gatza has two mottoes she recites to console herself and others and keep focused on the path forward.

The first, "Everything is in God's hands -- I don't have to worry," has been a staple of hers for years, she said. But the second, "It is what it is," came about in recent years, and is displayed front and center on a desktop plaque.

Although she's retiring at month's end, don't count Gatza done with her mission.

"When I'm no longer the principal, who am I after I retire?" Gatza said. "I still have a lot of life left. I'm going to look for what the Lord wants me to do with it."
IMG_1690.JPG

A vehicle involved in a crash on 1-96 near Jordan Lake Road on Sunday, June 5.

(Courtesy Photo | Ionia County Sheriff's Office)

IONIA COUNTY, MI - Ionia County Sheriff's deputies believe alcohol and drug use are contributing factors in a head-on crash Sunday morning.

The crash occurred at 8:42 a.m. on eastbound I-96 near Jordan Lake Road when a 2000 Chrysler convertible was being driven by a 16-year-old male from Hastings westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-96.

The Chrysler crashed head on into a 2008 Pontiac being driven by a 24 year old female from Monroe.

Both vehicles received major damage from the crash, however both drivers and a 27-year old passenger in the Pontiac were all transported from the scene by LIFE EMS with non-life threatening injuries. The crash closed eastbound I-96 for two hours.

Deputies are awaiting toxicology results before sending the case to the Ionia County Prosecutors office for review.

Sheriff's deputies were assisted at the scene by the Michigan State Police, Berlin/Orange Fire Department and Saranac Fire Department. The Vehicles were removed from the Scene by Reed & Hoppes Towing.

Brandon Champion is a journalist for MLive.com. Email him at bchampio@mlive.com and follow him Facebook and Twitter.
Paris (AFP) - The prime minister of Libya's UN-backed unity government has ruled out an international military intervention to fight the Islamic State group, which has had a growing presence in the country since 2014.

Some 25 nations including the United States and Russia agreed last month to help Libya arm itself against the jihadists, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he would not allow foreign troops on the ground.

"It's true that we need help from the international community in our fight against terrorism and it's true that this is something we have already received," he said in the interview, published Sunday.

"But we are not talking about international intervention," Sarraj said, adding that the presence of foreign ground troops would be "contrary to our principles".

"Rather we need satellite images, intelligence, technical help... not bombardments," he said.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.

However, it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar.

Both bodies are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive the Islamic State group out of the coastal city of Sirte, a bastion for jihadists in the country.

On Saturday, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken a jihadist air base near the city.

Sarraj told Journal du Dimanche that "total victory over IS in Sirte is close".

"(We hope) that this war against terrorism will be able to unite Libya. But it will be long. And the international community knows that," he said.
05.06.2016 LISTEN

On Friday 3rd June 2016, the trial of the engineers that handled the construction of the collapsed guest house belonging to The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) resumed at Lagos High Court, Ikeja.

A witness from the Lagos State Government, Engineer Victor Oyenuga presented a report of the panel set up by the Counsel of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) and the Nigerian Building and Roads Research Institute (NIBRRI) to investigate the possible cause of the controversial collapse in September 2014.

While being cross-examined by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Idowu Alakija, Oyenuga, who is the former President of the Institution of Structural Engineers of Nigeria, revealed that the only fault found in the buildings structure was on beam seven which he claimed was not adequate enough to carry the weight of the building.

He however told the court that the purported inadequacy of the said beam was not significant enough to be blamed for the collapse of the building, observing that only God can determine the actual cause.

Testifying further, Engineer Oyenuga overruled the possibility of foundational failure being the cause of the collapse. He observed that independent investigations revealed that the collapsed building had a loading capacity of 330 kN/m2whereas 800 is the maximum capacity for a structure of that size.

He concluded by admitting that the foundation did not exceed the loading capacity even when the initial report from COREN and NBBRI estimated the capacity at 550 kN/m2. This revelation contradicts one of the findings of the coroners court that stated that foundational failure was one of the causes of the buildings collapse.

It would be recalled that the ongoing trial was one of the recommendations of the coroners court, which stated that structural errors were behind the collapse. The outcome was immediately dismissed by The SCOAN as being biased and one-sided, an assertion reiterated by several human rights groups and concerned observers, who have since called on the government to review the report of the coroner.

Counsel to the defendants, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) thereafter urged the court to adjourn for further hearing. Justice Lawal Akapo, who was commended by court observers for his calm and impartial disposition, adjourned further hearing to Monday, June 20, 2016.

Nosa Osazuwa was present during court proceedings. He wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria
The Chief Executive Officer of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Mr. Senyo Hosi, has criticized Government for encouraging cover up in the investigations into what has come to be known as the June 3 Disaster that befell the nation in 2015. He further accused government of playing politics with the disaster.

He said these in an interview granted to Akwasi Aboagye of Neat FM.

When asked to explain further, he retorted with a question: Do you think fire would erupt if someone drops a lit cigarette into water?" He also condemned Ghanaians for enrolling in schools only to pass their exams and not to learn to solve problems. He encouraged all to dare to learn to solve problems and ask useful and critical questions.

He asserted that the real cause of the accident was the leaked fuel and called on Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) and the managers of the petroleum service station where over 150 persons lost their lives to accept responsibility, indemnify all those who lost properties and livelihoods and compensate all who lost breadwinners and loved ones.

Expectedly, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, appeared on the same show and attempted to blame the people for the June 3 disaster. But when he was questioned if he had seen the report of the committee set up to investigate the disaster, he answered "NO".

However, he hinted that the Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) was asked to accept responsibility for the disaster.

Further, he failed to tell listeners what punishment was meted out to the Metropolitan Chief Executive.

It is recalled that over 150 persons died on the night of 3rd June 2015 at a GOIL fuel service station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra-Ghana.

The disaster was reportedly caused by flooding and fire that erupted from a lit cigarette dropped into the flood water on that fateful night.
The first-ever United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit (COPS) was formally opened in New York today with a reminder that terrorist groups and organized criminal networks are exploiting and manipulating various factors to their advantage by "using conflicts and weakened states to achieve their own objectives".

In his remarks at the summit at the UN headquarters which is discussing the current and future trends for United Nations Police, Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy UN Secretary General pointed out that the security environment in which the UN operates has changed significantly with direct threats in an ever more complex, continually changing environment and the need to operate in a more dangerous and challenging locations.

"While some of the work of the United Nations is focused on finding political solutions to conflicts, hostile elements do not make any distinctions between humanitarian efforts and these peace and security mandated tasks", he stated adding that "We are part of the solution, we are also increasingly at risk because of this role".

In this direction, the Deputy Secretary General asked what the those underlying factors that create an environment conducive for terrorism and that allow organized crime to prosper.

Identifying the causes of the insecurity, Mr. Eliasson mentioned that societal factors contribute to creating an environment vulnerable to extremist sentiment and ideology. These include strongly engrained religious, tribal and social divides: poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities.

"There are national security factors such as porous borders, easy access to weapons, the absence of effective import and export controls: poorly regulated or unforced legal restrictions to counter trafficking, poorly developed or funded security services and corruption.

"Corruption in particular can be catastrophic - not only does it pervert the rule of law: it hampers economic development: undermines democracy, discourages foreign direct investment, and it undermines people's confidence in governments and can allow terrorists and criminal organizations to operate with impunity ".Mr. Jan Eliasson said.

The Deputy Secretary General observed that there is now a complex interaction between armed conflict, terrorism and the organized global criminal trade in illicit goods (drugs, people, arms and counterfeit currency) with each one feeding off the other.

To buttress his argument, he said in the Sahel, where overlapping threats of armed conflict, insurgency, terrorism and organized crime are prevalent, large areas are left without an effective State presence. Increased fragmentation of armed groups renders the security situation all the more complex, fluid, volatile and prone to rapid changes.

Mr. Herve Ladsous, Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations said more women were needed in current UN Police duties, apart from equipping and training personnel in particular to help in rooting out sexual exploitation and abuse.

At his turn, Mr. Atul Khare, Under Secretary General for Field Support explained that the aim of the summit is to chart the way forward for UN Police to deliver with greater impact on the ground, while tackling challenges of the 21st century, apart from reinforcing strategic partnership with Member States.

In his contribution, Mr. Miroslav Jenca, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs harped on the fact that public perceptions of police are critical to easing political tensions, explaining that "where national police are seen as instruments of power and abuse, threatening the physical integrity of civilians, it complicates already volatile situations".

PICTUREs- by R. Harry Reynolds shows Ghana's Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor(left) listening attentively to the proceedings. on his left is Ambassador Martha Pobee, ACP Michael Avadetsi,(#rd from left) Director International Relations, Ghana Police, DSP Emmanuel K. Dade, (behind the IGP) Police Advisor, and ACP Mohammed Suraji, UN Police Mission in Sudan.
05.06.2016 LISTEN

The local food processing industry in Ghana is still budding and requires boosting in order to meet required standards, to offer consumers high quality products, owners the right satisfaction and good profit margins. Operating as small medium scale enterprises (SMEs), the food processing sector largely found in the informal sector of the economy, employs a huge chunk of people.

In Ghana, readily available data on SMEs is scarce but statistics from the Registrar Generals Department suggests that 92 per cent of companies registered are micro, small and medium enterprises. SMEs in Ghana have also been noted to provide about 85 per cent of employment and contributing 70 per cent to Ghanas Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which has catalytic impacts on economic growth, income and employment.

Apart from being an important source of employment and income in many developing countries, SMEs with their flexible nature have a better adaptability to changing market conditions, making them better suited to withstand cyclical downturns. The dispersion of SMEs across the nation also promotes better distribution of income, and generates additional value in raw materials and products, even as they bring about efficiencies in domestic markets.

Small businesses however thrive because larger public companies create opportunities through forward and backward linkages, and governments serve as effective institutional support for creating market access and providing a conducive environment.

SMEs in Ghana are now exposed to greater opportunities than ever for expansion and diversification across the sectors. While developed global markets may be shrinking on account of the financial and economic crises prevailing, Ghanas market size is growing and opportunities within Africa are also beginning to look attractive for SMEs in manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceutical, IT and agro and service sector, among others, transportation difficulties discounted.

SMEs in Ghana have not always obtained the required support from concerned Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as the Banks, Financial Institutions and other bigger corporate entities. This lack of support is a challenge to developing competitiveness locally and globally.

A myriad of challenges which confronts this sector includes, the lack adequate and timely banking finance, limited capital and knowledge, non-availability of suitable technology, low production capacity, ineffective marketing strategies, lack of capacity to identify new markets, constraints on modernisation & expansions, non-availability of highly skilled labour at affordable cost, bureaucratic delays and the complex maze of rules in following up with various government agencies to resolve problems.

Quality processing of food products which meet international standards for both local and foreign consumption is lacking in this sector. Problems of unsuitable packaging materials, inadequate and effective packaging especially during transportation, together with associated cost hinder the progress of the food processing sector. The lack of standards, specifications and environmental issues also cripple the industry which has the potential to fetch lots of revenue for business owners.

To address some of the challenges confronting the sector, a female Ghanaian food scientist Mavis Owureku-Asare, is empowering food processors in the sector to position local food processors to attract both local and international customers. Mrs Owurek-Asare has wealth of experience in product development and postharvest management (PHL) of fruits and vegetables. She is currently a 2015 Borlaug LEAP fellow and visiting scholar at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University in Indiana, USA.

As a fellow of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) her research is gender responsive and focused on promoting practical agricultural technologies and solutions which l benefit smallholder farmers and improve livelihoods of women in Ghana. She does this through building capacity and empowering small holder processors to position their products and improve their livelihood.

Mavis is the CEO of Kasmalink Consult, a non- profit consultancies aimed at helping food processors to position their products, boost production and stimulate demand. She works with small scale food processors on product formulation, food quality analysis, branding and food packaging to help create competitive advantage for them.

She collaborates with a network of sponsors and research scientists who volunteer their time, expertise, and money to support the processors and entrepreneurs. She believes that given the chance and support, women can contribute substantially to the development of the food processing industry in Ghana.

She has worked on food products such as sobolo (Hibiscus drink), cereals such as tom brown, Hausa koko mix, shito (pepper sauce), and some local snacks and confectionery. She admits that the local food industry is a very lucrative one; however consumers in Ghana should patronize locally processed foods which tend to be more nutritious and healthier than imported foods.

We can begin by feeding our families especially our children with some locally processed cereals and snacks such as asana, nkati cake, kube toffeeand adaakoa which is made from maize, groundnuts and spices is highly nutritious than some processed snacks imported into the country, Mrs Owurek-Asare noted.

She stresses the need for processors need the right expertise and training to enhance their products and is on a quest to promote the production and consumption of locally processed foods. She is calling for a strategic look at our local food industry and calling for technical support for food processors and vendors in making products that are healthier, hygienic and attractive to consumers.

Cee ChoCho, a husband and wife team have been making/selling plantain chips from both ripe and unripe plantains since 2005. The production of Cee Chochoo Plantain Chips started on a small-table top with cool-pot using charcoal as fuel with a very small frying pan, after a few years in the business the pace of production and sales have improved. They plan on expanding and setting up in plantain growing areas so they can have direct access to the crop, reducing the cost of transportation and losses incurred along the plantain value chain.

High post-harvest losses occur along the plantain value chain. These losses occur when moving from production areas to the capital Accra (where business is set up). During the lean (April to August) it is difficult to get plantain to process into chip, thus affecting production and profits. The ideal thing is to process when plantain is in season so as to reduce the losses incurred.

Operating for over a decade, Mr. Henry Nortey says coming into contact with Kasmalink Consult has improved the business through the introduction to foreign markets. Sales were mainly local and orders are normally for parties, funerals, weddings and conferences. However, orders are placed by individuals from the United States and United Kingdom and products are tailored to their specifications. A day's turnover is around GH300.00  GH500.00 on a good day it raises GH500.00 - GH1,000.00.

The processes involved in the production of plantain chips is still mostly done on manual basis and is labour intensive and time consuming. There is the need for mechanization of current manual processes and storage facilities to manage the growing market for their products. Cee ChoCho is hoping to forge any partnership that will inject some capital into the business to acquire equipment-to slide and shred the plantain that can facilitate mass production for both local and international market

Comfort Teye, a toffee seller, made from condensed milk says working with Kasmalink Consult has benefited her business immensely, noting: My business was supported with product formulation, shelf life assessment, sensory evaluation and labelling of her products, which initially was non-existent. Teye, who was spotted by Mavis on the streets of Accra, emphasised that Kasmalink Consult created market opportunities and direct link to potential clients so she no longer sells on the streets of Accra.

She wholesales her candies to other retailers who sell her products. Kasmalink also uses social media to promote their business which helps boost income level as well. She now makes GHS 250-400 profit from daily sales of her products compared to previous GHS 20.

Empowering entrepreneurs with the required skills and help as is being done by Kasmalink Consult will strengthen the food processing industry and boost food production in Ghana.

2016-06-05 070727
05.06.2016 LISTEN

The constituency executives for the Convention People's Party in the Jomoro constituency of the western region are fighting with Samia Yaba Nkrumah.

The daughter of the first president of Ghana Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Samia Yaba Nkrumah is making her way to recapture the Jomoro seat for the CPP when she lost the Jomoro seat to the governing National Democratic Party in 2012.

Samia Yaba Nkrumah lost her presidential ambition to Mr Ivor Greenstreet on the CPP presidential primaries held in Accra on 30th January 2016 and after she lost the presidential primaries, she declared to come back to contest as member of parliament in Jomoro for the CPP.

Information gathered by GhanaPoliticsonline.com indicates that Samia Yaba Nkrumah has divided the Jomoro constituency executives into apart.

Samia Yaba Nkrumah divide and rule tactics have led the executives go wild over her.

Mr Thomas Amochie who is the constituency organizer for the CPP broke silence on a locally based radio station New Day FM drive show hosted by "R.B.S The Don" on Wednesday, 1st June 2016 that Samia Yaba Nkrumah is killing the spirit of the CPP party in the Jomoro constituency.

Mr Thomas Amochie told the listeners that Samia Yaba Nkrumah is being manipulated by the national youth organizer Ernesto Yeboah.

The organizer made a strong statement that just recently the party had a meeting at the party's office and wen the meeting was going on, Ernesto Yeboah took Samia Yaba Nkrumah the aspiring candidate for the party away from the meeting without consulting some of the executives for another meeting held at Elubo.

"Ernesto Yeboah is opportunistic national youth organizer as compare to Joseph Kwabena Bonfeh known in a political circle as Kabila"

"When Kwabena Bonfeh was the national youth organizer for the party, he campaigned strongly for Samia Yaba Nkrumah in 2008 and Kabila donated 300 T-shirts plus amount of 10million old Ghana cedis to Samia but Ernesto Yeboah as a current national youth organizer has failed to make any impact towards the campaign activities of the CPP in the constituency"

"Ernesto Yeboah wants the downfall of Samia Yaba Nkrumah because recently our presidential candidate donated one vehicle for Samia to be used as campaign in the constituency but Ernesto Yeboah told Samia Yaba Nkrumah not to take the vehicle and Samia Yaba Nkrumah refused to take the vehicle"

"Ernesto Yeboah always come to the Jomoro constituency to meet party members without any consultation from the entire executives but only move with the constituency youth organizer Evans Enbiah"

"Samia Yaba Nkrumah is not listening to some of us but only listen to the constituency youth organizer and we are telling Samia Yaba Nkrumah to change her political lifestyle or else we will advice ourselves", the organizer lamented.

GhanaPoliticsonline.com spoke to the constituency youth organizer about the accusations levelled against him and his national boss by the constituency organizer, he denied those accusations as lies and they are mere fabrications without bases.

Rhetorically, GhanaPoliticsonline.com ask that with the divide and rule tactics playing by Samia Yaba Nkrumah is clearly proving Mr Kwasi Pratt Jnr the Chief in Editor for The Daily Dispatch as political prophet?

Kwasi Pratt Jnr made strong remarks after the CPP presidential primaries on Peace FM morning show, " Kokrokoo" on 2nd February, 2016 that Samia Yaba Nkrumah should not make her plans to go back to Jomoro constituency to contest as parliamentary candidate.

"It is not prudent for Samia Yaba Nkrumah to contest the Jomoro seat and it will be a disaster for her so she should stop contesting the Jomoro seat again", Kwesi Pratt Jnr stressed.
05.06.2016 LISTEN

I know. That sometimes, when the brutal and uncomfortable truths are told against people we adore we rain insults and unprintable words on the teller. Let me first put this straight that I am only expressing my commonsense thoughts on the ruling on Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako vs. Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) and the Attorney-General (referred subsequently as "2016 Ramadan case") by the Supreme Court of Ghana (SCOG in subsequent reference). I am neither a lawyer nor a law student.

I am not some jurisconsult rendering a professional service or discharging my social responsibility. So, don't even bother to remind me that I am a pedestrian. I am a wayside lawyer (humour). You may have a differing verdict to my position. But channel your disagreements to the issues I raise. In this writeup, I seek to put forward my interpretation of 2016 Ramadan case in key areas and analyse interpretations given by dissenting lawyers and their followers of the case. I do that under the following major subheadings.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

In 2014, the Plaintiffs invoked the SCOG to interprete and declare that the use of National Health Insurance (NHI) card as proof of citizenship and qualification to register and vote in Ghana as unconstitutional. Prior to the 2012 general elections, the EC sponsored an instrument (CI 72) for the registration of voters.

Under regulation 1 (3)(d) of the instrument, a prospective voter could use NHI card as basis to be captured in Ghana's electoral roll. Upon hearing the case, the SCOG pronounced that upon a fair and true interpretation regulation 1 (3)(d) of CI 72 is inconsistent with Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution and thus unconstitutional.

Fast forward to 2016, the Plaintiffs returned to the SCOG. This time, relying upon the ruling of the earlier Ramadan case (supra) to get the names of NHI card registrants on the electoral roll in 2012 expunged by the EC as we approach another elections. This move was necessitated by the EC's incessant refusal to give in to calls to implement the ruling of the earlier Ramadan case (supra).

The EC refused to implement the ruling; claiming the Commission does not interprete the ruling to mean automatic deletion or de-registration of NHI card registrants. There have since been varying interpretations of the 2016 Ramadan case ruling in the wide cross-section of the public. Not even the unprecedented intervention of Jones Dotse (JSC) has settled the dust.

Abu Ramadan promised to return to the SCOG with a contempt suit against the EC. In my humble opinion, the SCOG did order the EC to delete or de-register all those who entered into Ghana's voters' register with NHI card as proof of qualification.

This is based on the fact that the NHI card is eligible and accessible to all mere residents in Ghana for at least 6 months (not necessarily citizens of Ghana). Conscious of guaranteeing the sacred right to vote, the SCOG ordered the EC to, upon automatic deletion of NHI card registrants, re-register the affected who can establish their qualifications consistent with the 1992 Constitution.

CONSTITUTIONALITY AND VOIDNESS

This is where lawyers had varied, heated arguments as to whether the SCOG was right to hold that an act is unconstitutional but interestingly held that the same unconstitutional act is not void. The premise is that any act that is inconsistent with a provision of a constitution is unconstitutional. And, our Constitution says any unconstitutional act "to the extent of the inconsistency [is] void". However, the SCOG through Gbadegbe (JSC) seemed to have digressed from this trite knowledge. The SCOG said through Gbadegbe (JSC):

The said registrations were conducted under CI 72, which was the applicable legislation under which eligible citizens were registered before the 2012 elections. As the registrations were made under a law that was then in force, they were made in good faith and the subsequent declaration of the unconstitutionality of the use of [NHIS] cards should not automatically render them void.

If sustained, this assertion by the SCOG will make an interesting (if not unprecedented too) citation for constitutional law.

Like I indicated already, I do not have the authority or capacity to talk law. What I say is my layman view and you may reason along with me or not. That reiterated, I humbly disagree with the SCOG here. I have so much respect for the SCOG though and still. Why do I disagree with the honourable SCOG? The apex court is an establishment or baby of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

I remember the Court in the same case, clarifying the independence of the EC, and said that even the SCOG itself is not utterly independent. Thus the SCOG is subject to the whims and dictates of the 1992 Constitution, like the EC, and is duty-bound to act in tandem with the Constitution. I have a worry in establishing whether the SCOG acted (based on its pronouncement on the unconstitutionality and voidness of NHI card registrants) in line with the doctrines of our Constitution.

Since the act was declared unconstitutional, one would have thought that the act "to the extent of the inconsistency [is] void", as the Constitution states. The question is, did the SCOG through Gbadegbe (JSC) speak the language of the Constitution in respect of unconstitutionality and voidness of the act (supra)? The moment the 2016 Ramadan case was filed and pursued, the act of registering with NHI card became voidable - that which has some force or effect, but which, in consequence of some inherent quality, may be legally annulled or avoided.

Moreover, any act that is declared unconstitutional and void is also void ab initio - that which was never legitimate or valid. With this, I struggle to understand what the SCOG meant by "...a law that was then in force...made in good faith...subsequent declaration of the unconstitutionality...should not automatically render them void."

Maybe, the unconstitutionality of NHI card registrants should not render the entire voters' register void. The voidness is only limited to the NHI card registrants, as our Constitution purports to put it. Now since the EC disclosed it could still identify the NHI card registrants through their Form 1As, the unconstitutionality and voidness of the act could be corrected. I understand that holding the unconstitutionality and voidness of the NHI card registrants against the entire voters' register (when the unconstitutionality is curable) is needless. Finally, I humbly hold that to the extent of the inconsistency of regulation 1 (3)(d) of CI 72 with Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution it is also void apart from its unconstitutionality.

ACCURACY AND CREDIBILITY OF THE VOTERS' REGISTER

According to Dr. Raymond Atuguba on Newsfile, "the elections can be run on a register that is not credible and that is not accurate. In fact, 99% of all registers all over the world - as Jon Benjamin (UK High Commissioner) has told us - is not credible and not accurate; it is impossible to register millions and millions of voters and get an accurate register". This is rather very amusing, isn't it? I am pretty sure Jon Benjamin's reaction would have enlightened Dr. Atuguba and his supporters if he [Jon Benjamin] were probed further - particularly on the reasonableness or otherwise of the inaccuracies of the voters' registers across the world.

It is true that 99% of voters' registers across the world is inaccurate or not credible, what is truer is that those voters' registers are reasonably inaccurate or not credible but Ghana's is simply unreasonably inaccurate or not credible as upheld by the SCOG. Lest we forget, reasonable inaccuracy in the truest sense of its meaning is permissible but unreasonable inaccuracy of a voters' register is unfit for any credible elections.

The Court's declaration that "...the current register of voters which contains the names of persons who have not established qualification to be registered is not reasonably accurate or credible" is not immaterial but fundamental. In simple terms, the SCOG held that the current voters' register containing names of "ineligible and outlawed" NHI card registrants is flawed and unkept for any credible future elections. Even indirectly, here, the SCOG ordered the EC to delete names of NHI card registrants and re-register the qualified ones amongst them. To conclude, the current voters' register is not reasonably accurate or credible for the 2016 general elections and something must be done about it (definitely not the usual voters exhibition). Maybe, the recommendations of the Justice VCRAC Crabbe Panel could be the "misplaced" key to this debacle.

LEGAL WRITINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Lawyers are supposed to be taught that words (and adjectives and adverbs for that matter) are not introduced or used in legal writings for decorative effect. If they are not, I humbly submit that they should be. Judges do justice to words like they do to people, such that every word has the same and equal rights in the interpretations of legal writings (and 2016 Ramadan case is not an exception).

It appears to me that some lawyers did not ponder over and consider the use of "not reasonably" accurate for any credible elections in the ruling of the SCOG, and thus confused it with "99% of voters' registers across the world is not accurate or not credible". That therefore, we can use the current flawed voters' register for the 2016 general elections without any problems. That analogy is incredible as the crooked voters' register itself!

The SCOG did direct the EC to clean the voters' register in line with the laws of Ghana. As to what follows, the EC can still sponsor an instrument to clean the register to the satisfaction of majority of Ghanaians than maintaining their argument that exhibition exercise is the only lawful way (per current existing laws) to cleaning the register. That is exactly how the EC's own eminent Justice VCRAC Crabbe Panel recommended the cleaning of the voters' register. Lest anybody can point to me where the SCOG barred the EC from doing so, I submit (and humbly) that it will be in our common interest for the EC to sponsor an instrument to implement the recommendations of the Justice VCRAC Crabbe Panel.

CONCLUSION

Why would the EC deny citizens without voter registration or undoubted minors from registering to vote on election day? The same reason should make it automatically delete names of persons who registered with the NHI cards (after same was declared unconstitutional). The length of period a foreigner stays in Ghana does not automatically make the person a citizen of Ghana. Our laws are unambiguous on who is a citizen of Ghana and qualified to register and vote. Ending, let me remind the EC of the SCOG's warning that failure to adhere to the orders of the Court because it [EC] feels utterly independent amounts to committing a "high crime".

God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong!

Mohammed A. Razak Wumpini

(Coordinator, CENAB Northern Region)

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0249240121/0200792758
Dear Afia,

Your opinion on funerals to your friends during the Geography lecture has kept me in a pensive mood. I was sitting right behind you when you told your friends that you will lavish much money on your parents funeral in order to honour them. As your secret admirer, I decided to confront you and tell you my opinion but i dont want you to know me now.

As Plato rightly put it at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet so i thought it wise to exhibit my poetic and writing skills by writing to you instead. By the way i am very sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation during that lecture. In fact when I heard your comment, not only did i see myself in hot water but the lives of other secret admirers who may admire your beauty like I do?

Afia, I beg to differ in this opinion of yours. As a matter of fact one of the most serious attitudinal problems creeping in to the Ghanaian society is this canker of expensive funerals. According to a funeral planner in Kumasi an average funeral should cost between $15000- $20,000. I jumped out of my skin when i read this on CNNs news page. I must admit that this is not a cynical ploy to take your attention from your parents but of what benefit will it be if we invest in the dead to the detriment of the living?

The fact that its now common in our communities doesnt mean we should also imitate this bizarre tradition of investing too much in the dead. It is an eyesore to see people hero-worshipping a pauper when he dies meanwhile they were dime a dozen when they were alive.

Sometimes I even wonder if its partying or mourning. Men of great calibre are seen passing derogatory remarks over meals served at a funeral as if they were cooked by their wives. the multi-million question asked is; did they go there to eat or console the bereaved? Our funerals are reduced to partying and feasting. This is the very ground where they show their masculinity. The ancient times of fasting when bereaved are washed down the drain.

Monies are spent to design billboards and hire loud sound systems. Why dont we use these monies to take care of the deceased children and other relatives in the family? So I was not surprise when one man who was mentally ill was abandoned in the hospital by his own relatives . But it will surprise you to know that they were eager to take the corpse when the doctors announced that he was dead. This is due to the fact that the people of our land kiss and adorn the dead than the living. Funerals are seen to be lucrative in our societies today.

Afia, Im not trying to say that honouring your parents is a bad idea. If there is something you can do for your parents in order for them to feel honoured it should be now and not when they are dead. Why should much money be spent on the dead when you definitely know that some people are looking so dishevelled in the family. Throughout history never has it been said that a corpse once arose to congratulate its mourners on lavishing money during his funeral. This is to tell you that we should think of the living and not the dead.

In the name of honour the corpse of the deceased is made to pass through excruciating pain. They make them to assume a certain posture with an old rugged corroded steering wheel in their hands depicting that they were drivers while alive. They are made to be in this posture for hours. I know they would have complained if they could talk at that time. Why dont we allow them to rest in peace but not in pieces?

This is not the time to show off by wearing different attire to the funeral grounds. People make arrangements for the shirts to wear during the burial service, at the funeral grounds and during the thanksgiving service if only they are Christians.

The most irritating aspect of it all is the people who are trained professionally to cry during the funeral rites of a deceased. And all these people will be paid after the funeral. Afia, never make the mistake of inviting people who will shed crocodile tears and be paid at the end. Dont even think of the professional dancers. All these are a heap of debt. Funerals are meant to celebrate the life of the deceased and not a reason to go into gargantuan debt.

Afia, I can only imagine the grimace of disgust on your face right now since you may think i will be irresponsible in the future. But dont get it twisted; there is a clear distinction between one trying not to be extravagant and irresponsibility. Archbishop Charles Gabriel Buckle of the Catholic Church puts it this way the surest way to remember the dead is not the type of coffin used to bury them nor it is the type of cloth worn during their funerals but doing something positive for the dead which will benefit the living

Afia, i will not bore you with many words but always keep this safe. Dont bother to ask of me during one of our lecture periods. I will definitely gather momentum and show up one day. As I always say, it is not for your friends but if out of curiosity they insist of knowing the content of this letter, dont hesitate to give it to them.

Your secret admirer,

Elvis.

ELVIS (SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENT OF UCC)
The provision of health care services is an important proviso in every society and the nation at large. It is against this background that every government in an attempt to safeguard the life of its citizenry ensures that health care services are readily available. What would become of a society or nation with a population of ill health? What becomes of the productive manpower?

There are dire consequences for a nation that relegates healthcare delivery to the background. Productivity is not only affected but such a society or nation stands a greater probability of extinction since mortality rate will increase astronomically.

The people of Afram Plains [an agrarian community] have not been left out of the share of this national cake-health care services. There are hospitals, clinics and CHPS compounds in almost every major town in this part of the countryside.

But what has become of the culture of healthcare delivery by healthcare professionals in these hospitals, clinics and CHPS compounds in Afram Plains? I have been propelled to write this article when I visited the Presbyterian health centre at Tease, the district capital of Afram Plains south constituency.

The fact is incontrovertible and I will not mince with words-the healthcare delivery system at Tease Presbyterian Health Centre is next to nothing, and nothing good to write home about. This is a health centre where human dignity has been rendered as absolute trash. Disrespect for clients has climbed onto a legendary status. I do not intend to, by this article mention any names but want to clearly state my position on the actions and inactions of healthcare professionals at this healthcare centre.

Oh but let me first ask is healthcare delivery a right or privilege Well your guess may be as good as mine. Dont these healthcare workers know that a sound mind lives in a healthy body?

Let me quickly give you a routine about the wack health delivery system here. This is a true account of what I witnessed when I visited the healthcare centre.

A parent brings in her sick child at about 10:06 am, pulse and temperature is checked within a matter of five minutes. The sick child is then taken to the lab for test. The laboratory technician after picking the blood sample leaves his post/room [with the lab office opened] only to return after an hour and thirty minutes to attend to a now queuing clients who have gone through the initial stages of pulse and temperature checks. [ Had the microscope been stolen after his return what would be his story to tell?] He then hands the lab report to the parent of the sick child thirty minutes after his return. This sick child is then taken to the consulting room to see the one and only supposed Doctor who reported to work at about 10:30 am. They spend about 10 minutes in the consulting room after which drugs were prescribed to be taken at the dispensary for a fee. At the dispensary again, another drama unfolds. The dispensary attendants are on break enjoying their meals to the full glare of clients. They therefore ask the parent of the sick child to wait patiently while they do justice to their food. And they spent well over 40 minutes on their meal.

All these dramatic scenes are showcased at this health centre without any one to supervise what goes in and out of this health centre. Oh perhaps its for the government and we all know what government workers do at their places of work. I bet you cant pretend you knoweth not.

Clearly give a picturesque view of the incident. Now assuming without admitting that this sick child is in an emergency and needs urgent medical treatment what would have become of the situation? For the child to die and cry foul afterwards. In fact, the welfare of clients is not at the heart of these so called health professionals. Another mind boggling drama I witnessed was how these officials were moving to and fro from one office to the other and discussing issues best known to them whilst clients were suffering in long queues in wait of treatment.

While I wouldnt like to be seen as overly critical, it is equally important that some of these healthcare workers are cautioned with immediate effect to desist from their I dont care attitude displayed at their place of work. The insatiable appetite by health care workers to humiliate and embarrass clients is something way out of health care practice.

It beats my wildest imagination why people dressed in white, green and white, brown etc. mandated to provided health care delivery to the people treat clients as if they are doing them a great service. Arent they paid for services they render?

The earlier an effortful attempt is geared towards redeeming the image of this healthcare centre, the better it would be for all of us. It has attracted a bad name for itself for far too long.

I may perhaps become the next Anas to bring you the unprofessional attitudes of healthcare workers that happens at this healthcare centre. Watch OutGAGAE!!!

Asante Louis

0540939125/0206819170

[email protected]
05.06.2016 LISTEN

Soon, the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood, will proceed on retirement. Her service to Ghana and being at the service of the citizens of Ghana will have come to an end due to old age, and the limitation of length of time she could spend serving her people and nation.

One will expect that she is remembered for being the first female Chief Justice in Ghana. Yes, she is, but that alone does not give her the historic recognition many a discerning Ghanaian will like to remember her for. Shall we not say it was during her tenure as Chief Justice that judicial corruption was investigated and exposed, and some judges and court clerks subsequently expelled from the judicial service? Is this not a plus to her credit or in her cap? Yes it is!

However, will others not say it was during her time that Law and Order broke down hence some judges selling justice to the highest bidder without restraints?

I am torn in-between two schools of thought about the legacy the Chief Justice will soon bequeath to Ghana when she finally proceeds on retirement to enjoy the rest of her days on earth until she is finally called home to avail herself of eternal rest by her Maker.

Opinions are like noses, everybody has got one. I am entitled to my opinion although; I shall not cut my nose to spite my face. It hurts to tell the truth but in the end, it brings comfort. It brings comfort to both the person telling the truth and the one being told the truth.

I shall remember the Chief Justice for both the good things and the bad things that have happened during her stewardship to the people of Ghana and the nation. Nonetheless, it was during her time that the nation collapsed under the weight of officialdom, corruption, practice of selective justice, unprecedented armed robberies, create, loot and share judgment debt payments, ineffective judicial system and the emergence of near-total monarchy in Asanteman where their Overlord, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II claimed superiority to the laws of the land.

She could have acted to stop the nation collapsing yet, she chose not to crack the whip on the back of the corrupt judges who were selling justice to the highest bidders who would normally be the guilty parties were true justice served. Being the head of the judiciary which is the arm of government that has oversight of the interpretation of the Constitution and the laws of the land, if she had put her foot down to exercise her powers as is required by the law and as is expected of her, Ghana would have been a better place to live, but would not have collapsed.

If judges had acted faithfully to the ethics of their profession, Law and Order would have been maintained. With the prevalence of Law and Order, most of the corruption, abuse of power, an Overlord shamelessly declaring that he is above the laws of Ghana to act criminally with impunity - the bane of Ghanas socio-politico-economic prosperity - would not have occurred.

Apart from lackadaisically looking on and moaning while the very judges she heads were accepting bribes of all sorts with court clerks and registrars deliberately stealing or hiding dockets to influence the outcome of court cases, did she directly participate in any act that can be deemed as twisting justice? That is a hard question to answer nevertheless I shall cite the following case for the public to tell if she did act untowardly if indeed, she took that action.

There is an ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy dispute. The Asante Overlord Otumfuo Osei Tutu II who has no traditional and customary power over the stool and the lands of Kumawu has contrarily dubiously been exercising such powers to the detriment of the subjects of Kumawuman. In a nutshell, he has colluded to not only impose one Dr Yaw Sarfo going by the stool name of Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua on Kumawuman as their paramount chief (Omanhene) but also, had him gazetted.

The forms Dr Yaw Sarfo filled out subsequent upon which he was accepted and gazetted as Kumawuhene by the National House of Chiefs has become a public record that any Ghanaian of sound mind can avail themselves of at any time any day. However, the registrars of Kumawu Traditional Council, Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs and National House of Chiefs, Kumasi are refusing, access to, and a request for, a true form copy.

When a mandamus was issued by Mampong Regional High Court to oblige the registrar of the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, to provide the applicants with a copy, or appear in court to explain why he would not release a certified true form copy to them, he petitioned the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood. Subsequently, proceedings have been adjourned sine die by the Mampong High Court judge.

To add insult to injury, the Chief Justice has officially reassigned the case to a Kumasi High Court judge. The said registrar had initially insisted at one occasion that the Mampong High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case. What the heck does the registrar want to tell me? Why should the Chief Justice reassign the case in the first place? Is she aiding the registrar not to release the public record to interested persons? By her action, is she not directly encouraging judicial corruption in another shape and form?

Anyway, the case was never tried in the first place. How could the Chief Justice conclude that the judge would be biased as opined by the registrar? Whether the judge would be biased or not, does it have to permit the registrar not to provide to the court a copy of the forms filled in by Dr Yaw Sarfo before he was dubiously or otherwise accepted and gazetted as Kumawuhene?

Yes, the Chief Justice has the power, as bestowed upon her by the Constitution and the Act of Court, to reassign cases. However, certain procedures must be followed or else she will be exercising her authority arbitrarily corruptly. How could the registrars of the above mentioned Traditional Council and House of Chiefs prove that the judge was biased or was going to be biased hence petitioning the Chief Justice to stop him from starting or continuing with hearing of the case?

Why do we have Appellate Courts (A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court)? Are they not there for people who feel they have been wrongly treated in a lower court to make appeals to for the decisions to be further looked into or reversed?

Why the registrars could not avail themselves of that opportunity but maliciously solicited the Chief Justice to bend the rules in their favour?

Did the Mampong Regional High Court judge request the Chief Justice to transfer the case for reasons bordering on conflict of interest? NO!!!!!

No, I shall be writing the proper legacy of the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood, for the benefit of posterity.

I am really not happy at the level of judicial corruption still going on in Ghana after the ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas risking his life to expose them for the betterment of Ghana. What the Chief Justice has done, if indeed she did it herself, amounts to corruption that must be deplored.
05.06.2016 LISTEN

A writing revolution spearheaded by Sir Article is coming soon. Anticipate! In fact, it will certainly be a rare revolution in Ghana's writing arena and even beyond. Do you know why? That literary movement is incredibly defiant, so controversial and simply weird. Yes, it will definitely break the archaic rules and set whole new ones in our Ghanaian society plagued with sheer mediocrity.

Indeed, it will also defy the odds to the dismay of shallow minds. Interestingly, few people may join my artistic bandwagon while most people may be bent on obstructing it. However, my incredible crusade will eventually become victorious by divine providence.

Well, a lot of people still struggle to appreciate the very essence of my writing life. Some say I am just a mere braggart, others think I am obstinately hyperambitious, and even few people believe I am only having fun with my dazzling aspirations. Anyway, the difference between those folks and I is that I am a maverick and they are all servants of the status quo. Hey, who/what shall separate me from the love of writing? Shall the scepticism of my family, the indifference of my friends, the mediocrity of our society, or any other sickening challenge? None!

Moreover, my spirit, soul and body are jointly inseparable from the art of writing. Ha-ha, I wish you were God to know the depths of my heart in order to get convinced that it is true. Besides, my mission and vision statements as a writer validate it. My mission is to meet the knowledge needs of our society. And my vision is to emerge as a rare titan in the world of writing.

Look! Writing is not just a mere habit or secondary commitment of mine; it actually takes centre stage of my life. Remember that my value as a writer is simply priceless. That is why no one or organisation can employ me, because they will have to pay me the opportunity cost of working for them, which is my dream of establishing a billion dollar writing empire in the world.

Gosh, are you amazed? Nothing is impossible on earth as long you are still alive; you believe, persist and do the right things. For if you are not crazy enough about your dreams, then real success will always elude you. And know that accomplishing extraordinary feats has always been the true hallmark of geniuses. Okay, have you heard of the mind-boggling story of Dashrath Manjhi?

His wife died in Bihar, a village in India because medical treatment could only be found in the nearest town which was about 70km away. So he single-handedly carved a path through a huge mountain with a hammer, chisel and crowbar for 22 long years. In the end, he reduced the distance from 70km to just 1km.
The Member of Parliament for the Tano North Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, Freda Prempeh, has defended a directive by the Public Affairs department of Parliament which restricts journalists access to the offices of MPs.

The acting Director of Parliament's Public Affairs Department, Kate Addo, issued a circular which prevents journalists from accessing MPs' offices at the Job 600 without proper clearance.

Per the new directive, journalists who want to access the Job 600 complex would have to seek clearance from the Public Affairs Department before being allowed into the building to interview MPs.

Directive will enhance MPs security

The Parliamentary Press Corps, angered by the directive, have threatened an indefinite boycott of activities of the House if the directive is not reversed. But the MP for Tano North, in an interview with Citi News, backed the directive.

According to her, the directive will enhance the security of legislators.

If you seek clearance from the public affairs department and I am informed that you are coming to my office, then I know I am secured so I think it is in the right direction. To come to my office I think you need clearance, Mrs. Prempeh stated.

Directive not targeting press corps

The journalists who feel offended by the directive have described it as unfortunate after efforts by the leadership of the Parliamentary Press Corps to reverse it failed.

The Secretary of Parliamentary Press Corps, Stephen Odoi Larbi, has said the Press Corp will meet with the leadership of the Public Affairs Department on Tuesday to clarify the matter.

He is however of the view the directive is not targeting members of the Press Corps. According to him, their only problem is that they are yet to receive the ID cards that will grant them clearance to the Job 600 offices.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Airtel Ghana, Best CSR Company for Education and Community Relations has commissioned a multipurpose state of the art Library and ICT centre for the La Wireless Cluster of Schools.

The project under the companys School Adoption Programme of which is expected to improve teaching and learning especially in the area of ICT with the provision of computers fully connected to the internet. Through the Schools Adoption Programme, Airtel Ghana works closely with key stakeholders including community leadership, Municipal and District Assemblies to make quality education accessible to deprived communities across the country.

Since its inception, schools such as Himankrom Methodist Primary School and Adaklu Salvation Army Primary School in the Western and Volta Regions respectively have benefitted from infrastructure development and capacity building of teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the beneficiary schools.

Speaking at the event, Hannah Agbozo, Legal and Corporate Affairs Director at Airtel Ghana said, At Airtel, we passionately believe in the power of potential  that each and every one has the inherent potential to be the best they can be given the right environment, support system, education and self-belief.

She continued, As the fastest growing telecommunications network in a technology driven industry, it is worthwhile to pair education with ICT to drive innovation required for a better society. In view of this, we have over the years invested in ICT centres, libraries, and classroom blocks, such as this facility we are commissioning today, to empower young people to fully realise their potential.

Quite recently, we launched the Evolve with STEM initiative to inspire belief and transform mindsets of young people towards the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics because we believe that these subjects are empowering, inculcates problem solving in young people and prepares them for any future career path they choose to pursue.

Furtherance to this, the investment at the La Wireless Cluster of Schools is a demonstration of our commitment to support education and truly empower young people with the requisite skills to excel in our technology driven society.

For her part, La Dadekotopon MCE, Hon. Rita Odoley Sowah commended Airtel Ghana for its commitment to educational development in the country, adding, You have proven by your commitment that you [Airtel] are a worthy ally in community development, education and in empowering young people through the many initiatives you support.

On behalf of the parents, teaching body and the students of this cluster we want to say a big thank you for investing in this multipurpose facility that will definitely impact the lives of the thousands of students who will pass through this institution.

Airtel Ghana has over the years gained recognition for its role in the promotion and improvement of education and infrastructural developments across the country as the Best CSR Company of the Year for Education by Ghana CR Excellence Awards.

The companys flagship CSR programme- Airtel Touching Lives has also won CIMG TV Programme of the Year, IPR Best Community Programme of the Year on three consecutive occasions and Bharti Change Marker Award (Gold Category) in 2014 and 2015.

About Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 353 millioncustomers across its operations at the end of January 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

About Airtel in Africa

Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com , or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana.
05.06.2016 LISTEN

I have continued to read with interest, threats by some foreign Airlines that they will stop flying into Nigeria as a result of their inability to remit their earnings from Nigeria. I say I read the threats with interest because some of these foreign nations still harbour illicit funds stolen from Nigeria. They have contributed substantially to the economic misfortunes of Nigeria as accomplices of thieves that stole funds from the Federal Government of Nigeria to lodge them in the vaults of some other nations, particularly the United Kingdom and the West.

I wish to advise the federal government of Nigeria not to take the threats of these foreign nations on repatriation of profits from Nigeria seriously. Nigeria should only consider the requests of foreign companies wishing to repatriate their profits out of Nigeria only if it is ascertained that such foreign countries are not illegally holding in their economies, illicit funds transferred from Nigeria's into their countries.

Specifically, all nations, specifically the United Kingdom that have proven to be accomplices in illegal transfer of Nigeria's stolen funds to develop their economies should be prepared to help Nigeria by returning our stolen ealth. Therefore, British Airways should not be allowed to repatriate profits from Nigeria. All British companies should be similarly affected. Let our country enter into an agreement with the United. Kingdom and its tax havens, Switzerland, the United States, as well as other nations that have held on to stolen funds that should ideally be returned to Nigeria to use part of the stolen funds being held in UK banks and vaults to settle IATA bills and similar issues. NIgeria should be allowed to reconcile such funds and ask for interest payable on the withheld funds.

All Nigeria needs to do is to write to the British Prime Minister to authorise him to settle the remittances that are due to British Airways from Nigeria's funds held in Britain by David Cameron and co since it has been established that Britain is holding funds that legitimately belong to Nigeria, and some of these funds have been in the economy of Britain for about 3 decades.

The same approach should be used to settle Airlines from the United States from Nigeria's funds being held in that country. To me, this makes sense since Nigeria has the right to spend its hard-earned foreign currency the way it pleases. It will also go a long way in easing the current bottlenecks occasioned by scarcity of foreign currency in Nigeria.

These foreign nations should not attempt to intimidate Nigeria with the threats of halting Overseas Development Assistance. The assistance that they are bragging about is by far smaller than funds illegally taken out of Nigeria to Western nations.

The Federal Government must act in public interest. They cannot be holding Nigeria's proven legitimate funds for decades to develop their economies while Nigeria is suffering as a result of illicit funds now resting in banks and financial institutions of foreign countries. Foreign governments holding Nigeria's funds must realize that continued holding on to funds legitimately belonging to Nigerians is illegal and painful to Nigeria's economy.

These nations should respect sovereignty and international conventions and regulations. Efficient and immediate repatriation of funds belonging to Nigeria are very critical for Nigeria to be able to settle its creditors and obligations. It is not reasonable for foreign nations to seize Nigeria's funds illegally in their vaults and yet expect Nigeria to source for foreign currencies to settle IATA bills and related demands. Blocked funds in Europe and the United States are causing very significant economic challenges to Nigeria while the West, particularly Britain are using Nigeria's funds to develop their economies.

This is one of the causes of the current forex problems that Nigeria is battling. It is definitely in the interest of both Nigeria and the developed world to ensure that Nigeria's funds illicitly moved abroad are returned urgently and without conditionalities. The major point is: how can foreign nations illegally holding huge funds belonging to Nigeria in their economies expect that Nigeria will be comfortable at this period of economic crunch?.

Let all those foreign airlines and IATA boycott Nigeria and let all Nigerians resolve to stay at home to build our country. This is the price we must pay for a better tomorrow. Already, Liverpool Street Market in London is already feeling the impact of the noose on the neck of illicit funds traffickers. The situation is the same in Dubai and New-York. The West must not be allowed to continue to fantastically rape our nation.

Akin Babajide contributed this piece from Abuja, Nigeria.
By Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA

Asiafo-Amanfrom, June 5, GNA - An opinion leader of the Asiafo-Amanfrom community, in the Yilo-Krobo District of the Eastern Region, Mr Jonathan Odonkor has appealed to government to take over the running of the only school in the area.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, he, said, would enable the school to benefit from the School Feeding Programme and Capitation Grant.

The school which started eight years ago, by an American Philanthropist, Ms Lauren Grimamis, is the only basic school in the community and provides education to children from four adjoining communities.

Children of school going age in these communities began schooling late because of the eight kilometre journey, they had to make each day to attend school at Akpamu, an adjoining community, with a public school.

Currently the school has a student population of 123 from the kindergarten to primary six and a staff strength of eight made up of seven volunteers from the community.

There is also a retired educationist who serves as the school's administrator.

According to Mr Odonkor, the school started through 'The Akaa Project' a non-governmental organisation (NGO) established by members of the community with support and funding from Ms Grigmamis to improve the wellbeing of the people in the areas of education and health.

Mr Odonkor who is also the Project Manager of the Akaa Project, recalled that he used to walk more than eight kilometres to attend school during his childhood and noted that it was the reason for many parents in the village to shun education.

He said for the past eight years, the Philanthropist, pays the teachers and the entire staff from her own resources.

She also provided a six classroom block and a library centre for the community school to enhance teaching and learning.

He said parents are made to pay some fees such as teaching materials and feeding for their children, but this has become a burden, hence his appeal for government to absorb the school into the public school system.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, June 5, GNA - The Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) Mr George Atta-Boateng has called for the promotion of the domain name .gh in Ghana to accelerate the development of the nation's emerging ICT landscape.

The domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the internet.

He said .gh is a source of national pride and identity and therefore corporate entities and individuals must patronise it.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Atta-Boateng said the domain name system had come to stay; explaining that 'you cannot do business on the internet without a website and you can't have a website without the domain name, so fortunately for us we have the .com.gh which is being hosted by NITA, Ghana's own'.

'For commercial purposes in Ghana you need an identity on the internet, every country has an internet extension or a domain name extension, so the .gh has come to stay and NITA is promoting its usage,' he added.

He said with the completion and automation of the .gh registry, there is the need to create a vibrant domain name system business ecosystems that would make the .gh domain name a preferred choice.

The Director-General said NITA's principal objective is to ensure the systematic adoption of ICT technologies in Ghana.

He said in line with this objective, NITA has developed an extensive 4G and fibre optics access infrastructure and National Data centre where both government and private sector could collocate and purchase datacentre services.

Mr Atta-Boateng said NITA is looking for private sector partners to make both access and datacentre available to private sector for use in their ICT development.

He noted that the National Data centre currently hosts the Ghana Internet Exchange Point (GIXP), the Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) exchange switch and the .GHccTLD servers and is gradually becoming the Accra Internet Hub.

He said a root server project is in the offering and would also be sited at the National Datacentre; declaring that 'when completed, Ghana will see reasonable increase in internet speeds when accessing information'.

GNA
By Kodjo Adams, GNA

Accra, June 5, GNA - The Very Reverend Father Nicholas Afriyie, General Secretary of the National Catholic Secretariat, has urged Catholic faithful to trust and stand firm in the faith irrespective of any temptation that may come their way.

He admonished Catholics not to lose hope in God but be resolute and believe in Him.

He entreated Christians to trust in God's faithfulness and wait to receive their blessings from Him.

Rev Fr Afriyie said this in Accra on Sunday in a sermon at his farewell thanksgiving mass and the feast of St Kizito.

The farewell mass for Rev Afriyie, who was also the visiting priest at St Kizito Catholic Church in Nima in Accra for nine years was to show appreciation for his unflinching service and support to the Church.

Rev Fr Afriyie said the Book of first Kings 17:7-24 talks about God coming to the rescue of widows and returning their dead sons to life and also how life could be rough and tough when a dear one passes away.

He explained that God is the husband and father of widows and orphans, and that it behooves Christians to show them love of the family to bridge the gap created through the death of their loved ones.

The Reverend Minister encouraged all and sundry to be moved with compassion and offer help to widows and the needy in the society and not wait for a special invitation to reach out to those who need help.

He challenged Catholics as bearers of the good news to bring about change in the lives of people, relying not on ourselves but on the grace of God.

Rev Fr Afriyie urged Christians not to give up when faced with problems, but have faith and seek the grace of God, since Psalm 46: 'Gives us hope that God is our refuge and strength, and always there in times of trouble and tribulations.'

'Challenges and trials are part of life, we need to be patient with one another, respect and tolerate each other and desist from social vices that prevents us from receiving God's favour and grace,' he added.

He urged the church and all religious body to pray fervently for peace to prevail before, during and after the November 7 polls.

Rev Fr Michael Owusu, the Acting Parish Priest of St Kizito Catholic Church on behalf of the Church thanked Rev Fr Afriyie for supporting the Church in celebrating mass over the years, and prayed for success in his endeavors.

Rev Fr Owusu explained that St Kizito was one of the Martyrs of Uganda, baptized on 1886, by Charles Lwanga, the leader of Uganda's Christian community at Munyonyo.

He was burned alive on June 3, 1886 in Namugongo, and was canonised on 18 October 1964 by Pope Paul VI at Rome. His feast day is on June 3.

As part of activities to bid farewell to Rev Fr Afriyie, the church organised choreography, a durbar to display tribal culture, and presented gifts to him as appreciation for his selfless contribution to the church.

Rev Afriyie thanked members of the Church for their love, prayers and presentations and pledge to remember them in prayers.

GNA
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Thousands have been laid off. Tax collections are plummeting. Many are on the brink of homelessness. Rows of drilling rigs and white company trucks sit idle  theres no telling for how long.

And, yet, amid the worst oil bust in decades, the energy capital of West Texas hasnt slowed down much.

Several oil companies have recently built office complexes in the area, and drilling continues, albeit at a more sluggish pace. The city plans to build a new convention center, and construction of a municipal courthouse is underway. Several more hotels, apartment complexes and eateries are expected to open this year, and a second H-E-B grocery store just came online. For hire signs are ample, road crews prolific. And people still complain about the traffic.

People from the outside come in expecting to see boarded-up windows, for sale signs everywhere, just, the city come to a standstill, and in fact its really the opposite, said Mayor Jerry Morales, a restaurateur who bought a local cafe earlier this year, months after oil prices tanked. The Midland native made the purchase not without some trepidation, he said, but knowing that things would bounce back eventually.

There still is plenty of oil in the ground and no shortage of places to drill, they note. Thanks to the advent of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, the technology exists to retrieve it. It may not be totally profitable to do so right now, but it will be eventually. The prolonged bustle is partly because the city is playing catch-up, recovering from a period of frenetic growth during the recent boom, when housing was impossible to find  and more expensive  and heavy truck traffic obliterated roads. But Midlands leaders say its also because everyone is optimistic that another boom is just around the bend.

Downturn not a funeral

That perspective is what makes this bust different from the others, when the viability of the entire industry was questioned, said Robert Rendall, a former Midland councilman and county attorney who grew up in the city and now serves on the Midland Development Corp.

Theres not a feeling here that were going to drop and blow away, the corporate and commercial real estate lawyer said.

During the big bust of the 1980s, Rendall  then a councilman  recalls city of Midland revenue dropping by one-third, prompting more than 100 layoffs.

I dont think were going to see anything that comes close to that, he said.

The opening line of a recent editorial in the Midland Reporter-Telegram declared, This is a downturn not a funeral. The next days front page prominently featured a Houston Chronicle story about how there is growing optimism that the oil bust is nearing its bottom.

For independent oil producer Don McClure, the optimism is specific to the Permian Basin, the ancient seabed teeming with hydrocarbons that spans West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Extracting energy from the ground is cheaper to do here than in other places, McClure says, meaning it is generally the last place producers leave and the first place they return to. Permian wells also produce for decades longer on average, he said.

Nowhere in the United States is there another oil province as prolific and substantial, McClure said in a recent interview at his office in downtown Midland, where electronic billboards display the rig count and current price of crude.

With more than 130 rigs still operating, the Permian has the most of any oil-producing basin in the mainland United States by far, the latest rig count data shows. Only about 400 are operating in the country now, down more than half from a year ago and nearly fivefold since a peak in late 2014.

McClure and others also noted communities in the Permian are far more familiar with the boom-bust cycle than those in energy-producing regions like South Texas Eagle Ford Shale, where only a few dozen rigs are still operating and the recent boom was also the first. Not as many Midlanders splurged on luxury vehicles and toy airplanes this time around, they said.

People are definitely hurting, they say  but they also point to the numerous signs around town that industry, and residents, are hunkering down and preparing for a comeback.

An active economy

Chevron and other oil companies have recently built fancy, new office complexes, and others are moving forward with plans to grow their footprint  something Midland officials point to as a sign that the industry is here to stay for awhile.

Youre seeing companies make really long-term commitments, Rendall said.

Midlands population has held steady, or even grown slightly, if school enrollment is any indication.

The district was expecting to lose 700 students during this past school year, but instead it added about 300, said Superintendent Ryder Warren.

That tells me that teachers didnt leave, families didnt leave, said Morales. People are going to ride this one out, and we better be prepared because when it comes back again, it might be a little busier than the last time.

Morales and others also pointed to other indicators of an active economy.

The number of people flying out of the local airport hasnt declined too much either, with boardings down 9 percent from last year and 11 percent from the banner year of 2014, according to information provided by the city. And hotel occupancy hasnt fallen much even with the hundreds of new hotel rooms that have come online in the past two years; hotel occupancy tax revenue dropped less than 3 percent between 2014 and last year.

If the signs of impending comeback are all around, though, so too are the ones of fallout.

Pawn shops are bustling, and several fancy, new pickup trucks slapped with for sale signs can be seen sitting on the side of the road.

The Midland and Odessa metropolitan area shed a combined 9,252 oil- and gas-related jobs between 2014 and 2015, according to data provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Sales tax collections have plummeted by about 20 percent, which Morales described as a major concern, while noting they still are at healthy levels  about where they were in 2011 during the first years of the boom.

The city is still growing, he said, but needed some breathing room after growing at an unsustainable, kind of scary pace for much of 2014. That year, rents and home prices soared so high that many had trouble affording to live here.

Homelessness, housing and budget holes

While housing costs have decreased significantly since then and availability is no longer an issue, officials say people who have been laid off, had their hours cut or taken lower-paying jobs are struggling to stay in their homes.

Juan Carlos Pacheco, a Child Protective Services worker in Odessa who struggled to find affordable housing during the boom, said he and his co-workers are worried about the state eliminating a $1,000 monthly housing stipend it put in place to offset housing costs during the boom and boost recruitment.

If that happens, he said, were going to be facing a different problem because people are not going to be able to afford to be here.

In the past few months, a homeless camp has popped up alongside the interstate frontage road, near the Wal-mart Supercenter.

A woman panhandling near the camp on a recent weekday was raising money to get back to East Texas after seven years in Midland. A carpenter by trade like Jesus, Leslie Kimmey said she helped build many of the new hotels, pharmacies and other businesses that popped up during the boom. She and her husband have been living in a nearby storage unit for several months since he was laid off from his oil field job.

Hes tried to find work at local fast-food restaurants, but has been told hes overqualified.

Hes tried. Hes tried his best, she said.

Homelessness is an ongoing, important challenge, said Midland Chamber of Commerce President Bobby Burns. The former mayor serves on the board of the local Salvation Army, which plans to build a new emergency shelter  open only at night  that will help people get back on their feet.

Board Chairwoman Barbara Mamoulides said the Salvation Army has seen more of an increase in requests for food and help with utility bills than it has in homelessness, but she said that could change this summer as people have been without work longer and they try to run their air conditioners and run up an electric bill they cant pay.

Midland, which had the highest median home price in the state in 2014, is still one of the most expensive places to live in Texas, said Jim Gaines, chief economist at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, while noting the entire state is considered affordable.

The median home price in Midland, which topped $280,000 in mid-2014, had fallen to $205,000 last month, according to the Permian Basin Board of Realtors. That is on par with the statewide median home price.

Average rent has decreased from about $1,200 per month for a one-bedroom in 2014 to $900 per month now, said Rhonda Lesley, the head of the Permian Basin Apartment Association.

Still, she said she recalls a time before the boom when average rent was more like $500. Apartment occupancy, which reached almost 100 percent in 2014, has fallen to 80 percent, she said.

Pacheco, the CPS worker, said he bought a house in December 2014 and paid more for it than he wanted to, but still considers himself not a miracle, but ... lucky.

Not over yet

Meanwhile, Warren says hes facing the worst budget situation of his career. With mineral values expected to drop 20 percent, the district is facing a $25 million budget shortfall. It also will have to send a large chunk of money, possibly its largest ever, back to the state to buoy property-poor districts, as required by state law. That payment could top $60 million.

There are very few districts that have to deal with such fluctuations of their tax base, Warren said. Its been crazy trying to figure out what were going to do now.

The deficit will make hiring more teachers difficult at a time when the district has been serving about 1,000 more kids than it was expecting to. The 2015-2016 school year was the first one during a bust cycle that the district didnt lose a single kid, Warren said.

And, its not over yet, warned McClure, the independent oil producer, predicting more layoffs and industry turmoil for the unforeseeable future. But he said that the hard times wont go on forever.

If you squint real hard, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, he said.

Wes Pixley is banking on it.

The Louisianan, who has worked in the industry for decades, recently started his own oil field services company after he was laid off. Choice Completion Systems started out in the Haynesville Shale, which spans parts of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, but is now expanding to the Permian, which Pixley describes as the most active basin in the U.S.

While some have called him crazy for starting a business during a bust, he said, now is the time to snatch up quality employees and cheap equipment.

What were trying to do, he said in an interview during a recent job fair he held in Midland, is to just be ready for when the turnaround comes around.

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Disclosure: Texas A&M University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune.

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The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
News trickled out before Memorial Day weekend that on May 28 XCOR Aerospace laid off several members of its workforce, including much of its staff working on the Lynx suborbital space plane envisioned to someday take off and land regularly at Midland International Air & Space Port.

While XCOR is one of two tenants of the local spaceport  Orbital Outfitters is the other  worries arose that the layoffs meant the millions of dollars poured into luring the company to move its headquarters from Mojave, California, to Midland, obtaining a spaceport license from the FAA, enforcing required restrictive re-zonings and developing a business park to attract more tenants is an investment all for naught.

City leaders, Midland Development Corp. and even the founder who brought XCOR to Midland who has since left to start a different aerospace firm say the layoffs wont significantly impact the citys future as a space-business hub.

People hear news stories about this stuff, and they think its all going to happen next Tuesday, and then it doesnt happen next Tuesday and people think its the end of the world, Jeff Greason told the Report-Telegram in a phone interview last week. Greason, who was XCORs CEO and later chief technology officer, left XCOR in November with two other managers to start Agile Aero, a Midland-based company that is pursuing the business of prototype development for other aerospace companies.

Private spaceflight is a very young industry. Making the seemingly impossible possible comes with setbacks and successes.

Its not about the latest good or bad news, Greason said. What its about is the industry just keeps getting bigger, the scope of things that only governments can do that now get done by private companies expands every year, the opportunities expand every year, the availability of investment capital expands every year  the industry just keeps growing.

The fact that there are cycles of hype and cycles of despair doesnt change the underlying reality, Greason said.

Getting to space is big business  very big. According to MDC President Brent Hilliard, $330 billion was spent by the space business -- $140 billion of that was spent by the commercial industry alone, in 2014. Speaking about the potential for the industry statewide, Hilliard said, Why would Texas not want a part of that business?

We have a spaceport in Houston; we have the first international spaceport in Midland; we have a launch facility in Van Horn.  I cannot think of a single reason why the governor and state leadership wouldnt be chasing this business, he said. Its a global business that has historically had most of its funds spent through government agencies. Now, the majority of that money is being transitioned from government spending into private industry. Private industry is doing things with it that are unimaginable.

Enabling Midland to benefit from achieving the unimaginable is why MDC invested in XCOR.

XCOR splits development operations between Midland and Mojave, though it continues to move the majority of its staff to the Tall City. XCOR agreed to move its headquarters from Mojave to Midland in 2012 after agreeing to a $10 million incentive deal with Midland Development Corp., an economic development organization funded by the type 4A quarter-cent sales tax, according to previous Reporter-Telegram reports.

Hilliard stressed during a meeting with the Reporter-Telegram last week that XCORs layoffs dont change the outlook for whats possible for the space industry in Midland.

Our airport and the resources that it has, thats our foundation. XCOR is one of the houses that sits on it, but its not the foundation, he said. The foundation is the space license, the fact that we have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of runways.  Its a huge rock. Its just sitting out there, waiting to be built upon. As horizontal landers look at our airport, they see that as an asset, they see that as a rock. Therefore, there are other companies that are considering landing and taking off at our airport.

And the pursuit of drawing more spaceport tenants continues.

Were currently in talks with several companies about coming to Midland, Hilliard said. (They have) big, strong balance sheets; theyre large players.

Getting a company to uproot, however, can be challenging.

My caveat is that this is a very difficult business, Hilliard said. When you think about going to a company that has 100 employees or 150 or 40  it doesnt matter the number  and youre trying to convince their management who are very happy with where theyre at to come to Midland ... it takes a while to nurture that relationship that were going to be there for them and that this is the right decision for them.

Hilliard, who owns the diversely invested Hilliard Cos., put himself into the shoes of the companies MDC and the city pursue.

It would be like asking me to go where theyre at and convincing my staff to move there. They have loved ones who are there, they have families who are there. There are all these extraneous things that go into making these decisions, and theyre very difficult and complicated transaction, to say the least.

Despite the challenges, City Councilman J.Ross Lacy, who is also Midland Spaceport Development Corp. president and a member of the Texas Aerospace and Aviation Advisory Committee, said the spaceport is in a really good position to grow and add additional companies.

Were in negotiations with numerous companies about relocating to the Midland spaceport as they see it as a feasible option in the near future, said Lacy, whose is the councilman for District 4, which includes the airport and spaceport. I cant talk about any of those due to non-disclosure agreements, but were continuing to grow.

Lacy said bids will go out in July to build the first phase of the spaceport business park, which includes roads and other infrastructure. The city- and MDC-owned altitude chamber complex will also be debuted in July, a facility that will be key to get space companies to come to Midland.

Its a recruiting tool for other companies for testing capabilities since theres pretty much not anything else like it outside of NASA, Lacy said.

The altitude chamber is a 360-degree see-through acrylic facility. It has a 10-person-chamber, a two-person chamber and a small-instrument chamber and will be used to test satellites, equipment going to the International Space Station, spacesuits and anything that needs testing for rapid decompression. It will simulate going from 200,000 feet to ground level in eight seconds, Lacy said.

For the testing for any component that goes up to space, its extremely important that you get it correct on the ground here on Earth because when you send it up to space, you cant work on it up there, he said. The testing and repetitive nature of that business, it makes the chamber a really unbelievable recruitment tool.

Another recruitment tool will be the debut of the University of Texas of the Permian Basins aeronautical engineering program, which begins this September. The engineering college is located near the air and space port. Greason said the aeronautical engineering program is a very smart move.

In my own experience, my kids have a technical bent. They come out of parents who have a technical bent. There are all kinds of technical people in the area. It would not be shocking if a lot of their kids would like to get that kind of education.

Its Midlands already-existing technical base that convinced Greason to move XCOR here and why he has stayed to develop Agile Aero.

Back when I was looking around for where to move XCOR, I searched through the United States for places that had the right combination of factors. I didnt pick Midland out of a hat, Greason said. All of the fundamentals that made Midland a good location for aerospace industry are still there.

Its really a hard combination of elements to find. Its the combination of the airport, of the good land-use planning that keeps the encroachment from surrounding the airport, the sparsely populated areas nearby that make a good place for doing experimental flight tests, relatively uncongested airspace, a good industrial base of technical people as well as the suppliers for valves and pipefittings and materials and machine shops, and the talent pool of engineers and technicians who cant wait to do something thats different and new compared to the oil industry.

Greason said that when he talks with other aerospace professionals, he shares his various Midland connections in hopes to get them to move operations here. Its more than just because the city has the technical base to support the space industry.

Often, when people think about Midland, theyre comparing themselves to the great urban centers of the country, such as San Francisco and New York, Greason said. If youre in aerospace, you dont get to live in places like that and test and fly your product. Its just not happening. So, youre comparing for aerospace with other communities that have places you can fly that are very sparsely populated.

Ive never been any place that has that capability where there is a quarter-million people, trees on every street, every kind of shopping  I can walk to the store here. Of all the places I looked at for doing aerospace-testing work, I cant think of one that can possibly touch this place.

When talking about Midland, City Councilman John Love says the space industry will be key for diversification and that steps like the spaceport, altitude chamber complex, engine testing facilities, re-zonings to allow for horizontal takeoffs and landings are critical to expanding the young industry.

So thats exactly what were trying to do: diversify our economy with space development and space exploration, and were also trying to diversify the space industry within Midland by reaching out and enticing other companies to come here and develop, explore, do research and possibly do launches.

Love, who is the councilman for District 2 and is the former Midland Spaceport Development Corp. president, recognizes the challenges in the space industry; however, Its exciting to be on the cutting edge of an industry in its infancy.

I think that as we recruit more companies, and as the industry matures, that will also be a great feather in the cap of Midland, allowing us to diversify our income. If space travel originates out here, that would be tremendous for Midland. It would revitalize our tourism industry and all the ancillary things that come with it.

Space industry veteran Greason warns that getting to that point will be difficult. However, Midland must stay the course, keep investing and stay hopeful.

Its the limitlessness of the opportunity that fires the imagination so much. ... Once we can do commercially viable things off the planet, theres no limit to how far we can go. We can just keep on going.

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him in Twitter at @HowdyHawes.
SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP)  Navajo Technical University student Jayvion Chee hopes to raise awareness of the potential environmental effects that oil and gas operations have on the Navajo Nation and San Juan County.

Over the last year, Chee has developed a map of recently drilled oil and gas wells that he documented using GIT, or geographic information technology, to show their proximity to communities and major sources of water, including the San Juan River. Chees project was funded through an internship with a South Dakota-based geospatial company, Kiksapa Consulting.

Chees work earned him recognition from his school. In March, the 21-year-old was named NTUs Student of the Year at the American Indian College Funds banquet in Minneapolis, reported The Daily Times (http://bit.ly/1TIbKAC).

Ramsey Seweingyawma, assistant professor of Geospatial Engineering Technology at NTU, said he studies water on the Navajo Nation and asked Chee to come up with a project idea.

Previous internships have studied renewable energy, drought analysis, mostly, Seweingyawma said. Jayvion came along and said he came up with fracking water. Im very proud of him. Im a little jealous, too. Hes gotten farther than I have. Hes an example of a young person getting a voice out there I wish I could get a second version. At that point, he can be a huge influence to younger generations.

This summer, Seweingyawma and other NTU students will head to Adelphi, Maryland, to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to use the facilitys super computer to process a lot of the data Chee has collected.

Chee has been busy presenting his research at various conferences nationwide. In November, he presented at the All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation conference in Washington, D.C., and then again in December at the First Americans Land-Grant Consortiums annual conference in Denver, Colorado. Chee also presented at NTUs annual Research Day in February in Crownpoint and at the American Indian Higher Education Consortiums student conference in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Chee said he hopes to use his research to help raise awareness of oil and gas development by speaking at chapter houses throughout the Navajo Nation. Ultimately, he would like to develop course curriculum to enhance the GIT curriculum at NTU and other colleges and universities.

Chee also plans to continue his studies at NTU, where he is seeking a bachelors degree in environmental science and natural resources.

This summer, Chee will take part in a methane study at Navajo Mine as part of an internship program with Koveva Ltd., a Colorado-based company that works on projects to study, convert and harness unused energy sources.

With the help of a drone, Chee is now adding video and still photography data to his mapping project.

Through a $1,000 grant from the University of New Mexico for the New Mexico Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Chee recently outfitted a drone with a camera that he has started piloting around the county based on the data points for his map. The goal is to add interactivity and interest in his maps data, he said.

Seweingyawma said this fall he hopes to post Chees map on the NTU website. Until then, he said, he updates progress on Chees and other students work on the NTU Spatial Science Facebook page. Videos shot by Chees drone are posted there.

Chee said he hopes to one day work for the military or federal government to explore the use of technology in the collection of scientific data. He also would like to work on projects that benefit the Navajo Nation.

Through his research, Chee located and mapped 87 wells that he said were drilled from January 2011 to July last year. Jayvions brother, Teverrick Chee, who is an environmental science major, collaborated on the project.

I wanted to prove that there are some (wells drilled) on the Navajo Nation, some on the Eastern Agency, Jayvion Chee said. What I wanted to do was to see where they are at. I discovered that some are close by the (Navajo Agricultural Products Industry) land farming area. I wanted to show how close to the city limits these wells are.

Since last summer, Chee, who lives in the community of Rabbitbrush, said his research has led him to his grandfathers farm on the west side of Shiprock. He said he found a well site nearby.

Chees grandfather, Gary Clark, said he lost 75 percent of his alfalfa, corn, cantaloupe and watermelon crops after he was unable to access irrigation water last August after 3 million gallons of contaminated water from the Gold King Mine in Colorado was carried down the Animas and San Juan rivers. Farmers like Clark rely exclusively on the San Juan River to irrigate their crops.

Clark said he is concerned about pollution from all fronts and sees his grandsons project as a positive way to make more people on the Navajo Nation aware of the degree of oil and gas development and the risks that it represents.

Chee said finding oil and gas development so close to water sources and seeing the problems his grandfather faced last summer have raised his awareness and concerns.

Theyre fracking all over San Juan County. The rivers so close to it. The river water, he said. If we dont bring it to everybodys attention now, its going to lead up to contamination of the (San Juan) river.

His brother added that its not the actual process of fracking that leads to pollution.

The true cause is flow-back, said Teverrick Chee. When they shoot that water back in, they only catch 30 percent of the water. And what they do catch, they usually shoot back into the ground. Theyre not required by law to clean it. They take the closest source of water, which, often, is potable water.

Earlier in May, a Center for Western Priorities report showed there were 1,477 reported spills by the oil and gas industry in the state in 2015. Although the majority of those spills occurred in the Permian Basin in the southeastern corner of the state, the occurrence of spills and potential ground and water contamination gives Chees project heightened focus.

Industry officials defend their practices of drilling for oil and gas. Susan Alvillar, a spokeswoman for WPX Energy, which is actively drilling in the San Juan Basin, said concerns over water contamination caused by the industry are overblown.

Alvillar said that if there ever is a spill, several lines of defense are in place to mitigate any possible pollution hazard.

In my experience, (any spills) get taken care of immediately, Alvillar said. With the quantity of water we handle and the human beings and equipment we use, we are always prepared.

Alvillar said well sites have built-in containment systems to control possible spills of production water or oil, and workers are dedicated toward resolving any leaks or spills if they occur.

If its a coffee cup-full, WPX wants to know about it, and we take care of it, Alvillar said.



Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.daily-times.com
Between Saudi Arabias new oil minister and the rest of OPEC, a fragile peace reigns.

Khalid al-Falih, who replaced Ali al-Naimi a month ago, faced a daunting premiere on the world stage at OPECs 169th ministerial gathering in Vienna.

It took what Ed Morse of Citigroup called a publicity blitz for Al-Falih to ensure that Thursdays assembly would run smoothly. That included pre-meeting head-to-head confabs with representatives from six member countries plus cozy dinners and meet-and-greets with consultants who advise hedge funds and oil traders.

Even Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Irans oil minister, was won over, at least for now. After four years of quarreling, Tehran and Riyadh parked their differences at the door and agreed on a new secretary-general for the group, Mohammed Barkindo of Nigeria. The atmosphere in todays meeting was calm without any tensions, Zanganeh said Thursday.

The calm is tentative. Viennas atmosphere of bonhomie had as much to do with oil prices flirting with a six-month high of $50 a barrel as it did Al-Falihs overtures. Wide differences among OPEC nations remain, especially when it comes to restoring the production targets that were scrapped in December. And Thursdays meeting, for all its ballyhooed friendliness, produced no new policy pronouncements.

Al-Falih, 56, is Saudi Arabias first new oil minister in more than 20 years. He took over as OPEC members resentment toward the kingdom erupted. In April, countries that favored a freeze in production levels blamed Saudi Arabia for sinking it; the same month, Al-Falihs boss, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said the kingdom didnt care whether oil prices were at $30 or $70, sending a shock wave through OPEC members such as Venezuela, whose faltering economy is dependent on higher prices; and just a few weeks ago, Saudi Arabias longtime rivalry with Iran exploded into public finger-pointing at a preparatory meeting in Vienna.

It had gotten so bad that critics were wondering whether the Saudis envisioned a continued purpose for OPEC. Al-Falih turned that around.

Al-Falih clearly still sees a role and need for OPEC, even in a world of shale oil, said Jamie Webster, a fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York.

As Al-Falih was making the right noises in Vienna, the Saudi state-owned oil company announced its first-ever contract to supply refiners in the Baltics -- another example of the intense campaign for market share.

Al-Falih began his diplomatic tour after arriving in Vienna before everyone else. He landed Monday night and went straight to his suite on the top floor of the luxurious Hyatt Hotel, skirting the media -- something his predecessor rarely did.

Early the next morning, he visited nearby OPEC headquarters to meet the groups secretary-general. Al-Falih delivered the message that OPEC was important for Saudi Arabia, according a person briefed on the conversation who asked not to be named because the discussions werent public.

Al-Falih made it clear that, contrary to public speculation, the kingdom was still engaged with OPEC, wanted to listen to the diverse views of its members and would be flexible in its approach, the person said.

Over the next two days -- and with the support of the kings son, the deputy oil minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman -- Al-Falih delivered the same message of cooperation in bilateral discussions with representatives of Nigeria, Venezuela, Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

After a one-hour get-together on Wednesday, Venezuelas Eulogio del Pino, who often clashed with Al-Naimi, told reporters he had an excellent meeting with the new Saudi minister.

Al-Falih, in his first extended remarks to reporters since becoming minister last month, delivered a conciliatory message before the ministerial meeting began.

Saudi Arabia realizes that price is a key part of the oil-market formula -- it balances supply and demand, he told reporters. We realize that a long time under lower prices doesnt bring enough supply to meet the rise in demand.

He added later than $50 a barrel wasnt enough to encourage investment in new production capacity -- music to the ears of OPEC counterparts such as Venezuela.
Mitch Mamoulides, who began his Chevron career in 1984 as an engineer in Denver City, is ending his fourth Permian Basin stay and relocating to Houston.

The Chevron veteran will be trading his title as Midland/Delaware Basin area manager for Chevrons Mid-Continent Business Unit for the title of manager, Joint Ventures in the companys Gulf of Mexico business unit.

He was named Midland/Delaware Basin area manager in 2013, leading field management teams in Big Lake, Ozona, Fort Stockton and Hobbs, Eunice and Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Succeeding Mamoulides will be Andrew Rawicki as Delaware Basin area manager and Michelle Obatoyinbo as Midland Basin area manager. Rawicki, who joined Chevron in 1984, most recently managed oil and gas operations in East and North Texas. Obatoyinbo, who joined Chevron in 2003, most recently was operations manager for Chevron fields in East and North Texas and Oklahoma.

As he prepares to say farewell to co-workers and the friends he has made through his involvement in a number of community organizations, Mamoulides took a few moments to answer some emailed questions from the Reporter-Telegram, reflecting on his career, his time in Midland and his industry.

Q. Looking back on your time in Midland and the Permian Basin, what would you say is your proudest achievement?

A. Being part of a great team, without a doubt. Chevron has been in the Basin since the very beginning of oil and gas production here 90 years ago. We are the only major company that never left and have always been one of the top few largest producers.

However, through most of my career, our production  along with that of the whole basin  was declining. The last several years, we have grown production and are continuing to do so. Most importantly, we have done it with the best safety and environmental performance I have ever seen in this basin from our company or anyone else.

I am extremely grateful to all of our employees, management, business partners and the community that have worked so hard to accomplish that.

Q. Why are there two people replacing you? Are they splitting your duties?

A. My title was Midland/Delaware area manager. We planned to split the area into two areas at the right time. As we grew production and increased development levels, we have arrived at that time.

Chevrons Permian position is strong  with large, high-quality acreage and a royalty advantage. Our Midland and Delaware leases have over 2 million surface acres, which is equal to over 7 million reservoir acres. Our new area managers, Michelle Obatoyinbo and Andrew Rawicki, along with our other Midland leaders, will oversee a significant level of activity.

Q. Having arrived here in 1984, youve seen some significant peaks and valleys in the industry. What is your take on the current downturn?

A. Supply and demand work just like we were taught in school. Energy is a commodity and has always had cyclical fluctuations in price and always will.

However, this is the first time I have seen the increase in supply from U.S. production outpace world demand growth. U.S. production of oil grew faster in 2010 through 2014 than ever in history.

World population continues to grow and demand for energy will continue to grow with it. The imbalance of supply and demand is a short-term issue. That doesnt mean it hasnt been painful and doesnt mean its over, but we are getting close to supply-and-demand balance.

As oil and gas production grew over the last decade we saw a dramatic drop in price to the consumer, which has fueled a resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S. It also has allowed an affordable shift to use more gas to generate electricity. The result is lower electricity costs and the lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions in decades for this country. Increased energy production in this country is positive for the environment, manufacturing, jobs, our trade deficit and economy in general.

Q. Youve spent your Chevron career here in the Permian Basin. Whats your outlook for the region?

A. I have lived in the Permian Basin four times, three of those in Midland. In between those assignments I have lived and worked in several other basins. The Permian Basin has produced more oil than any other region in this country for decades. I expect that to continue. Production in the Permian today is higher than it has been in decades. As supply and demand reach a balance and commodity prices go up, so will investment in the region. The Permian has opportunities that are among the best in the world. (Last) week our team moved into the new campus, having outgrown our existing building. The long-term outlook for this region is bright.

Q. Youve been very involved in the community. What would you like to say to the people of Midland as you prepare to move to Houston?

A. It has been a blessing to live in Midland and I am a better person for it. I have been so lucky to live in a great place, work in an amazing industry and be part of an awesome Chevron team. My family is very thankful to the people of Midland, Odessa and the surrounding Permian Basin.

This community has been incredibly welcoming and encourages volunteer opportunities, committee and board memberships. Those opportunities have been rewarding to me personally and allowed me to be mentored by many community and business leaders. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to work with so many amazing nonprofits that improve the quality of life for others.

If you arent volunteering and serving at your church, school, nonprofit or community board, the community is missing out on your gifts and you are missing out on the personal growth and joy that comes from a shared mission to serve others.
People typically dont line up to donate their organs, but for Al Perry of Hobbs, New Mexico, that was the case. More than 10 people volunteered to go through the kidney-matching process after both of Perrys organs failed three years ago.

As it turns out, the right donor was San Jacinto art teacher Candice Hicks, Perry's daughter.

There were like 10 or 15 people willing to do it. It was crazy because ... it just doesnt happen that way, said Hicks, who moved to Midland nine years ago. People arent lining up to give an organ, but to me its a testament of what kind of man (my dad) is.

Perry had been on dialysis for three years, which involved him sitting in a chair for four hours, three days a week as a machine acted as his kidneys. After getting his weight down, he was admitted to a clinic in Lubbock to await a transplant, but the clinic was shut down.

The next clinic, one in Fort Worth, rejected him.

They told him he would never get a kidney, Hicks said. They told him no one would ever give him a kidney. They told him he had a condition that as soon as he went to operate, he would bleed out.

Perry could spend the rest of his life on dialysis, but it would be costly and affect his quality of life. Perry stayed positive through it all and the family wondered if it might be Gods plan, but they kept trying.

We just didnt want to believe thats what the truth was, Hicks said.

They looked toward San Antonios Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, which kept coming on their radar as a top-notch facility. The team there shot down the previous diagnosis that Perry would bleed out and, after initially losing the paperwork, accepted Perry last fall.

Perry still had one more obstacle: costs and finding an actual kidney. Several of his volunteers were not matched because of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, being overweight or high risk of becoming diabetic in the event of having only one kidney, Hicks said.

You have to be in the most optimal health that you can, Hicks said.

Only one person goes through the matching process at a time because of expenses, and a woman at Perrys church -- Cowboy Junction Church in Hobbs -- was expected to be the right donor.

In February, there were health complications with the woman, and Hicks was the next in line. When she was deemed to be a match, the process went fast, she said.

Up until the day of the surgery on May 13, the surgeons, nurses and two different social workers kept asking Hicks if she wanted to go through with it.

(They) wanted me to understand, Youre healthy and youre taking a risk to help somebody, and for me, it was never a question, because hes my dad, Hicks said. When it became a reality to me, there was never a doubt in my mind.

Because they were father and daughter, Perry and Hicks sat in the same room pre-surgery. The waiting room filled up with like 25 people to support them, Hicks said.

The theme of support dominated much of Perrys journey: The Working Guys Store, located in Hobbs, donated a gun for a raffle to help with Perrys bills. Friends and relatives from New Mexico, Texas, Kansas and Florida bought tickets, sometimes just to help, Hicks said.

It was a really big success and everything else just came from there. I have been very overwhelmed (by) it all -- in a good wa, she said. For things to be so bleak and for it to come full circle and become something so amazing ... I feel like we waited our whole lives for this moment.

Hicks said that less than three weeks after the surgery the experience felt very surreal because of how quickly she was healing. Perry, meanwhile, had been told he would need to stay in the clinic for four to six weeks, and instead was home eating French toast, red beans and cornbread -- foods he hadnt been able to eat in years.

I feel like its a fairy tale, Hicks said. I dont know how else to explain it. People wouldnt really believe it if it didnt happen to you. It just kept falling into place and I really feel like we waited this whole time for the right opportunity. It was a great experience. I wouldnt trade it.

Hicks had left school three weeks early for the surgery. SJ had been nothing but supportive of Hicks, and in some ways it was a reflection of her efforts to help a co-worker who knew much of what Perry went through.

Charles Tony Testerment, a shop teacher at San Jacinto, was in his first year at Midland ISD. Last fall, things began to go wrong with his kidneys. Hicks was there from the start, Testerment said.

Its hard to put into words, he said. It was a relief and a lot of stress and worry because everything hit me at once as the semester went on. She really helped a lot, and when my kidneys failed, she kind of took the lead with help at the school for that.

Hicks said she frequently visited Testerment since it was his first year at a new school and grew concerned because she recognized the signs of kidney failure. Once Testerment opened up, Hicks jumped in to raise money, Principal Deborah Kendrick said.

Hicks had kept Kendrick updated on her fathers health needs. Her willingness to donate a kidney and help a co-worker was not surprising, according to Kendrick.

I wasnt surprised that she stepped up and I wasnt surprised in her eagerness to help her father, Kendrick. Shes just that type of person. Shes always willing to help anybody. She was the first one to jump in and help (Testerment) out. When she decided to be the lucky one to give the kidney to her dad, it was just part of her. Its who she is.

Hicks said that her experiences with her dad and his search for a kidney, especially after being told no by one clinic, were puzzle pieces that helped to prepare her to support Testerment.

We were the told the same things (Testerment) has been told. We were told, It isnt going to happen, Hicks said. All this did is show him, Here is hope. I hope thats what can come out of it because everybody needs that glimpse of something bright.

The school organized fundraisers for Testerment, including a GoFundMe page called Team Testerment started by SJs cheerleading squad. Hicks efforts helped Testerment after he lost his health insurance and missed work, he said.

I dont know what I would have done, Testerment said. I came close to being homeless quite a few times this spring and if it wasnt for her, I would have been. The thing about Candice is, you dont even have to ask her for anything. Shes there before you even think of it.

Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51
"If it requires removing all cabinet ...
Sandbags are being made available to Central Florida residents in anticipation of heavy rains.

That's why officials in counties across the area want to make sure residents are prepared.

Experts are expecting 4 to 6 inches of rain so there is a potential for flooding throughout all of Central Florida.

Even in the rain, residents came out to load up and pick up sandbags. I mean you wait until the last minute things happen. Murphys law if it can happen it will happen, said Osceola County resident Joe Beggalry.

He along with many others in the community are worried as they live in Buenaventura Lakes, an area known for flooding.



Its already getting really bad. So when I go home now, I am going to put the sandbags around my front and back door patio because I have a pool, so thats my biggest concern, said Harry Clark, who also lives in the Buenaventura Lakes area.



County workers helped residents shovel sand into bags and load them into peoples cars.

There was a 25 household limit. And in one day alone, Osceola County gave out more than 7,000 sandbags.

We are expecting anywhere from 4-6 inches of rain, so there is a potential for flooding throughout certain low lying areas of Central Florida, like Buenaventura Lakes.

Brevard County

Residents can pick up sandbags daily at the Sheriff's Work Farm, 2955 Pluckebaum Road in Cocoa. You can get sandbags between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Only 10 sandbags are permitted per car.

Lake County

Residents in Lake County can fill sandbags at four locations throughout the county:

ASTOR

Fire Station 10

23023 State Road 40

Fire Station 10 23023 State Road 40 ALTOONA

Fire Station 14

42700 State Road 19

Fire Station 14 42700 State Road 19 FRUITLAND PARK

Fire Station 53

2505 Spring Lake Road

Fire Station 53 2505 Spring Lake Road CLERMONT

Fire Station 110

6234 County Road 561

Residents must bring their own shovels. They are allowed to take up to 20 bags of sand per household. Hours of pickup are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until further notice.

Clermont

Clermont's Public Works Dept. will make sandbags available to residents starting Monday at 9 a.m.

The bags will be available at the department's offices located at 400 12th Street.



Osceola County

Residents in Osceola County can fill and make sandbags at several locations from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Residents are encouraged to bring their own shovel and someone to help fill the bags.

There is a 25-bag limit. Help will be available for those unable to fill the bags themselves.

Road & Bridge Department 3850 Old Canoe Creek Road

Road & Bridge Department 1698 S. Hoagland Boulevard in Kissimmee, 34741

Poinciana Library 101 N. Doverplum Avenue in Poinciana, 34758

Robert Guevara Community Center 501 Florida Parkway, 34743

Kenansville Community Center 1178 S. Canoe Creek Road in Kenansville, 34739

Holopaw Community Center 8801 Community Center Road in Holopaw, 34773

Celebration Library 305 Campus Street, 34747

City of Kissimmee Residents:

Residents in the City of Kissimmee will be limited to three sand bags. Proof of residency with the city limits must be provided.

The Corner of Mabbette Street and Alaska Avenue, across from the YMCA

City of St. Cloud Residents:

No locations have been listed. St. Cloud residents are encouraged to use the above county sites.



For more information, residents are encouraged to visit osceola.org. The Citizen Information Center will also open Sunday at noon. To contact, call (407) 742-0000.

Volusia County



Volusia County has not opened sandbag locations. However, they say they will if conditions escalate.

The county will, however, open a Citizens Information Center that residents can call for updates starting at 9 a.m. Monday. The number to call is 866-345-0345.



City of New Smyrna Beach Residents:

Residents can pick up sandbags on Monday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sand and bags will be provided, but residents must bring their own shovels and fill their own bags.

Proof of New Smyrna Beach residency required.

New Smyrna Beach Maintenance Operations Department 124 Industrial Park Avenue

For more information about sandbags, residents can call 386-424-2209 during business hours.


The pregnant woman who drove her van filled with children into the ocean in Volusia County went before a judge again Saturday.

Wilkerson was arrested again in Orange County, accused of violating her release

Judge ordered that she remain in jail until her next hearing

Wilkerson was arrested in 2014 for driving her van into the ocean with her kids inside

A judge ruled that Ebony Wilkerson would remain in a Volusia County jail until her next court appearance Wednesday.

Wilkerson was arrested again last week in Orange County for violating the terms of her release, authorities said. She was transferred to the Volusia County Branch Jail after authorities said she stopped taking her medication and had a psychotic episode at a treatment facility.

In 2014, Wilkerson drove her van into the Atlantic Ocean with her three children inside. Lifeguards and bystanders pulled the children out of the van as it began to submerge.

Wilkerson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on three charges of child neglect and endangerment. Under a plea agreement, she was placed in the Lake Wales mental facility and ordered to take her medication.
Here's what you need to know about Central Florida's weather for Tuesday:



Tropical storm effects throughout the night



Break in the clouds, wind will come later in the morning



Rain chances up all week

Tropical Storm warning continues overnight. Wind could still be from 20 to 30 mph with gusts over 40 mph with individual storms. A flood watch is also in effect through 4 a.m. With already saturated ground, any additional rain could lead to more flooding. Wind will decrease throughout Tuesday morning as the bulk of rain from Colin continues to move into the Atlantic.

WEATHER ON THE GO: Download the News 13+ app and get StormTracker 13 & Safety Net alerts wherever you are.



GET WEATHER ALERTS: Sign up to receive weather text alerts from News 13.

As Colin quickly moves up the East Coast, our wind will slowly relax through the morning with some breaks in the clouds between scattered showers. By Wednesday, we will start to return to our typical pattern with afternoon sea breeze storms possible and highs in the low 90s.

Surfing conditions still poor for Tuesday with only 1 to 2 foot wave heights. Larger waves will be building move offshore as Colin moves ne up the eastern seaboard. For any adventurous swimmers, rip current threat remains high, so it might be best to wait a day or two before going too far into the water. UV is low but is expected to rise the rest of the week.

And be sure to check out News 13's Hurricane Center. It has all the information you need, from storm-tracking and interactive maps to emergency procedures.

StormTracker 13 Radar



View LIVE Interactive StormTracker 13 Radar Map

We want your pictures!

Show us what the weather looks like in your neighborhood. Your photo could end up on News 13 and mynews13.com/weatherpics.
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We want to read about some of the memories youve made in one or more of the countrys national parks.

With more than 400 places across the United States that are part of the National Park Service, the choices  and potential for memories of special preserved places  are almost endless.

We want to read your stories about visits to national parks  recent or long ago  that had a lasting effect on you.

This years centennial celebration of the parks is a great time to reflect on these national treasures and how they change us, leaving indeligible memories.

The actual anniversary will be marked Aug. 26, but the NPS is celebrating its centennial year throughout 2016.

National parks can be magical places where we can unplug and create awesome memories  of time spent with someone dear, nurturing a love of nature, appreciating the wildlife or scenery we dont see near home, while reflecting on vistas we never could have imagined. Whether your story involves a special moment, location or experience, we hope youll share it with our EN readers.

Write your story in 300 words or fewer, send a high-resolution photo to illustrate it if you can (as a jpeg attachment) and email it to Travel Editor Terry Scott Bertling by Friday, June 10.

If you dont use email, stories and photos (copies, please, because they cant be returned) can be mailed to Bertling at the San Antonio Express-News, 301 Ave. E, San Antonio, TX 78205.

We look forward to reading your story and sharing the best with Express-News and www.mySA.com readers.

Terry Bertling can be reached at tbertling@express-news. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram: @TerryBertling.
In the fall of 1912, scholars from across the globe gathered just outside of Houston where a palatial building had risen on the prairie.

The opening of the Rice Institute was "celebrated in the same spirit as might have been the dedication of a new Cathedral in the Middle Ages," wrote Julian Huxley, Rice's first biology professor, who traveled from Oxford for the event and took a job there a year later. Scholars traveled from as far as Japan for the ceremony, several Nobel prize winners among them. The New York Times called it "an array of learning such as has seldom been assembled in the United States," according to "University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute," a book by Rice historian John Boles.

In 1912, Houston had just about 85,000 residents. Were it not for Rice, most of these foreign visitors would likely have never heard of the city. But the opening celebration offered an early glimpse at what Houston would become: An international city with the power to lure people from across the world.

Rice was built on a dream of an ambitious young university president on a world tour. One-third of its founding board were European. Its first faculty featured professors from across the globe.

"I think that framing of the ambitions of Rice - that global context for our ambition as a university - that was something that over the following century we didn't always live up to, but was always there in Rice's conscience," Rice President David Leebron said.

But that was far from what the man for whom the school is named originally envisioned. William Marsh Rice, an import-export merchant from Massachusetts who made a fortune in Texas and gave the money to found the school, did not include the word "university" in the school's charter. The school would be for "the white inhabitants of the City of Houston, and State of Texas."

More Information Rice Institute, the beginning $4.6 million: Amount William Marsh Rice left to start his institute after his valet killed him. Nine months: Time Rice President Edgar Odell Lovett spent traveling the globe, looking for ideas and faculty. 1912: The Rice Institute opens its doors. 59: Students first enrolled at Rice in the fall of 1912. 85,000: Residents in Houston when Rice first opened. William Marsh Rice planned to be a centenarian, but he failed to reckon with the avarice of Charles Jones or Albert Patrick. See More Collapse

Rice, who lived in New York City late in life, but traveled back to Houston for business matters, had been persuaded by colleagues here that he should use some of his money to start a college. He was fascinated with the Cooper Union, a trade school for working men and women in New York, and set out to start something like it in Houston. In 1891, Rice signed a deed with six trustees who agreed to hold a $200,000 note, the income from which would be used to make Rice's vision a reality - but only after his death.

Nine years later, Rice was found dead in his Madison Avenue apartment. The millionaire had been chloroformed to death by his valet in a plot hatched by a New York lawyer to steal Rice's money. The valet confessed and the attorney spent a decade in prison.

Rice's death left the six trustees in Houston with about $4.6 million - what amounted to the seventh-largest college endowment in the nation at the time. None of them was college educated, so they began writing and visiting colleges across the country. The narrow focus of the charter began to widen some. One of the trustees was from Switzerland, another was from England.

"As a group they were decidedly un-provincial in their thinking about what should be done," Boles wrote in his book "A University So Conceived."

Their search for a leader for the new school came at a time when American higher education was on the upswing. Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago and Stanford were all founded in the decade before. Harvard was totally updating its curriculum. And in 1902 Woodrow Wilson was named president at Princeton, which he quickly worked to reinvigorate.

The trustees wrote to Wilson, who suggested they hire Edgar Odell Lovett, a young, ambitious mathematician teaching astronomy there. Lovett had two doctorates - one from the University of Virginia and another from the University of Leipzig in Germany. He knew higher education in America and abroad. The trustees offered him the top job and he accepted in January 1908.

At the time, higher education had yet to really take root in Texas. The total income for all 15 colleges in the state was 40 percent less than that of Princeton's alone, according to Boles' book. Lovett had big ideas. He wanted a school that would hold up "to university standing of the highest grade," Boles wrote.

The trustees sent Lovett on a world tour. He traveled for nine months, literally across the globe, gathering ideas for the new institute - while also taking an early stab at recruiting faculty and launching a public relations campaign that would culminate in the huge 1912 opening ceremony. With a plan in hand, much further reaching than Rice's original charter, Lovett and the trustees set out to build the university. Lovett wanted the campus to inspire those who saw it.

"He was almost hallucinating. This is not even in Houston, this piece of property. There are no paved roads," said Melissa Kean, Rice's centennial historian.

Lovett visited many architects, but chose Ralph Adams Cram, who was a bit turned off by the bare prairie upon which he would build the school. With the Mediterranean in mind, Cram sought to bring "all the color we could command" to the barren land plot.

And now Lovett had to show it off.

"He (Lovett) realizes  that he has to capture people's imagination," Kean said.

"He sets about capturing people's imagination - all over the world."

Lovett sent 2-foot-long calf-skin invitations to scholars across the globe, many of whom he'd met in his travels. More than 1,000 scholars - "a galaxy of outstanding savants," according to Huxley - descended upon Rice in October 1912 for a multiday opening ceremony of celebratory dinners, presentations and panel discussions. There Lovett laid out his vision for this small school - at the time just a handful of buildings, including a dormitory and a commons, a building for classrooms and administrative offices. The Rice Institute would emphasize research as much as teaching, he said.

"Lovett was announcing to the world, here was a new university that just had incredible ambition," Boles said. "People were just kind of boggled. When they went home, you could tell from their letters they had never seen such a thing."

Several of the scholars, including Huxley, were so impressed that they came back to take teaching jobs at the new Rice Institute, renamed Rice University in 1960. An "uninstructed Englishman, or even an arrogant New Yorker" might have expected the Houston school to be small, locally minded and "ultrapractical," Huxley wrote, according to Boles' book. But Rice was "a real university ... the reverse of parochial in all its ideas," Huxley concluded.
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A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was living in a transitional housing center has been arrested and charged with murder in the brutal killing of 11-year-old Josue Flores, who was stabbed to death last month while walking home from school in north Houston.

Andre Timothy Jackson Jr., 27, was charged Friday after being questioned by police about the May 17 attack. He is being held in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Officials said Saturday there appears to be no connection between Josue and Jackson.

Police arrested a different man the day following the killing, but he was released two days later after providing a solid alibi.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Saturday that Houston Police Department officials are confident with this arrest and commended the Near Northside residents for their patience and understanding during the investigation.

"We believe we have the person who is responsible for the death of Josue Flores," the mayor said during a morning news conference at HPD headquarters. "From the beginning, the call has been for justice for Josue. ... We cannot bring him back, but I hope today's announcement can perhaps bring a little bit of comfort to those who loved him. I hope it will also ease the fears of the community."

Court records list Jackson's address as 7329 Fannin, which houses the Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans.

Jackson was arrested at The Salvation Army, 2407 N. Main, where he had maintained a room since mid-April, according to HPD Homicide Lt. John McGalin.

Police believe Jackson is the man shown running in a surveillance video taken within one minute of the stabbing, a source told the Houston Chronicle. Tips began pouring in on Thursday after HPD released the footage and a still image from the video.

Josue's relatives, who did not attend the news conference, were comforted to learn that the man believed to be the killer had been arrested.

"They are relieved that this person is off the street and thankful that this person is off the street," HPD Homicide Sgt. Tommy Ruland said.

Jackson is the right person and a killer is no longer on the loose, authorities said.

"After hearing the evidence that they've collected over the last couple of weeks, I feel confident that we can secure a conviction in this case. We feel like we have the right guy," Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said.

A murder conviction in Texas carries a penalty of five years to 99 years or life in prison.

Anderson said the charge could be upgraded to capital murder, which carries the death penalty as a punishment, "if there becomes some evidence that capital murder is a more appropriate charge."

McGalin also emphasized that this arrest was solid.

"We conducted an extensive investigation. We have video of him in the area," the lieutenant said. "He provided a statement that corroborated a lot of things that we knew to be true and led us to believe we have the right guy."

Jackson did not provide an alibi and investigators have no motive or reason why the killer attacked Josue.

A knife found Wednesday in a sewer near the crime scene is not believed to be connected to the stabbing. McGalin declined to reveal whether authorities have a murder weapon.

Video footage in various forms helped investigators track the suspect's movements from the murder scene.

"What we basically had to do is go back and track, from the scene of the crime, the path that we believe the suspect took. We had to go to each individual resident and each individual business to see if they had video," McGalin said. "People didn't know what they had until we went and knocked on their door. ... That took a lot of time. We had to build as part of our probable cause."

RELATED: Police release surveillance video of man running near stabbing scene

At 5'11" and 155 pounds, Jackson fits the general description of a tall, slender man provided by witnesses. He also has a goatee as described by witnesses. Video surveillance showed him wearing a distinctive jacket.

"We verified that he had a room at the Salvation Army. We went in and found him and arrested him at the Salvation Army. We conducted a search of his residence. He was taken into custody without incident," McGalin said, adding authorities recovered the jacket and that there was no indication that he had been trying to hide or evade arrest in the last 2 weeks.

The investigation by police and prosecutors continues and there is potential reward money to be distributed.

"We still have a lot of work to be done as far as witness statements. Our DNA stuff still has to be processed. Everything that we collected from the crime scene, everything we collected at the search warrant scene  all of that still has to be processed," McGalin said.

Josue wanted to become a physician. The sixth-grader was walking the seven blocks home from Marshall Middle School on May 17  after staying a little late for a Science Club party  when witnesses said he was accosted by a man who stabbed him repeatedly, then fled on foot.

"It was senseless, it was brutal, it was cold blooded and someone needs to pay the price for it so justice can be rendered," the mayor said on Saturday.

The video released Thursday shows a man running down a street near the shooting, wearing the same type of clothes that witnesses said the killer wore.

On Wednesday, Crime Stoppers of Houston increased the reward in the case to $45,000 for information leading to an arrest.

HPD officials are providing information to help the crime-prevention organization determine how to distribute that reward money.

"It's obviously going to have to go in front of the board of Crime Stoppers to determine who gets paid and who does not get paid," McGalin said. "We will be making recommendations to Crime Stoppers as to what we think should happen and who should be paid."

RELATED: Police recover knife near site where boy was killed

Jackson, who was discharged from the military in 2011, has been arrested twice before in Harris County. Both were misdemeanor offenses.

On March 4, 2016, he was apprehended on a misdemeanor trespassing charge. He reached a plea bargain with prosecutors to admit to the crime. He was sentenced to eight days in the Harris County Jail and given credit for four days served.

Last year, on May 2, 2015, he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon  a handgun. He reached another plea bargain and was sentenced to 15 days in the Harris County Jail.

Court records indicate he was born in California.

Worried Near Northside neighbors have expressed concerns that a new light rail line that opened in the area in December 2013 brought homeless people and drug users into the community.

Turner emphasized that Jackson "is the individual who we believe committed the crime" and warned against "generalizing" about potential crime beyond him.

Acting HPD Chief Martha Montalvo said Saturday that her agency is working with law enforcement authorities who overlap in the area to provide more "visibility" and have made arrests. She added that Houston Independent School District police will be providing heightened security at Marshall Middle during summer school.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said she is committed to working with the Northside and agencies like the Salvation Army to find better ways to protect the community.

"This vile act where a child was killed innocently coming home from school should never have happened and should never happen again," she said in a prepared statement. "The Houston community will always come together to insure that our innocent children are not murdered in the streets."
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The ninth soldier who died during a training accident on June 2 at Owl Creek is Spc. Yingming Sun, Fort Hood officials said Sunday in a news release.

Sun, 25, from Monterey Park, Calif., entered active-duty military service in October 2013 as a motor transport operator.

The release notes he had been stationed at Fort Hood since August 2014.

The identities of the other eight soldiers were released Saturday night.

They were Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, of Brooklyn, New York; Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, of Twentynine Palms, Calif.; Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, of Milton, Fla.; Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, of Palmetto Fla.; Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, of San Angelo, Texas; Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, of Dunn, N.C.; Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, 21, of Jersey City, N.J.; and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, of Valparaiso, Ind.

The soldiers died Thursday during a convoy training exercise when a rush of water overturned the 2-ton Light Medium Tactical Vehicle they were in.

Two bodies were found in the vehicle and three others were found downstream from it hours later. The last four missing soldiers were found dead downstream on Friday.

Nineteen-year-old Deleon was the only soldier from Texas. Records show he entered active-duty military service in November 2015 as a motor transport operator. He had been stationed at Fort Hood for only two months.

Deleon's awards and decorations include a National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
Fear is often wielded as a dangerous tool to influence public opinion and impact public policy. In Texas and beyond, many groups that are funded to oppose oil and natural gas development use misinformation and outright fabrication to create fear and confusion. For many of us, it can be hard to tell the difference between sound science and junk science.

Dan Hill, head of the petroleum engineering department at Texas A&M University, once urged his neighbors to be savvy consumers of information about oil and natural gas issues and to keep an eye out for claims masquerading as science, which have been widely discredited by scientists and experts.

Hill explained that many claims about increased cancer risks and degradation of air quality  are based on flawed research and inappropriate comparisons of air test results and safety thresholds.

When researchers use appropriate comparisons, he continued, studies show that natural gas activity doesn't result in air exposures that would pose health concerns.

In fact, experts have dispelled all of the most frequently repeated myths about oil and natural gas development, and water and air issues.

For example, researchers from Stanford, Syracuse, Yale, the California Council on Science & Technology and the University of Colorado have all concluded that hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) is not contaminating drinking water.

The well-worn claim that people within a mile of a natural gas well are at increased risk of cancer has been thoroughly debunked because researchers used flawed methodology and inflated data to reach their conclusions. Local and national organizations that are funded to oppose oil and natural gas development repeatedly cite this and other discredited studies, despite the body of research that refutes their claims.

Others intent on stopping oil and natural gas development did not hesitate to deep-six research concluding that oil and natural gas development is safe.

In this case, the University of Cincinnati conducted a three-year study to examine the impact of hydraulic fracturing on local water supplies and found no evidence that natural gas production contaminates drinking water. So why didnt anyone publicize these findings?

One of the lead researchers of the study explained, Our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results. They feel that fracking is scary and so they were hoping our data could point to a reason to ban it.

Nonacademic groups often manufacture misleading reports and attempt to pass them off as credible research. When such a report recently alleged serious air emission violations in Texas, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times called out the reports lack of context and encouraged its readers to peel back a layer when considering its conclusions. This is good advice given these groups well-documented history of publishing inflated numbers, omitting context and misrepresenting information.

By design, these reports are heavy on figures and slim on facts. Advancing understanding is not the goal. Derailing oil and natural gas development is the goal, an agenda that threatens energy security, affordable electricity and jobs.

The oil and natural gas industry is one of the most regulated industries in the state. If companies dont comply with regulations they can lose their permits to operate. In fact, Texas is a global example for its policies that protect our environment and grow the economy.

Science-based regulation is one reason Texas is the nations top producer of oil and natural gas and the United States holds the No. 1 spot in the world. As a result, we are less dependent on other countries, and net imports of foreign oil have dropped to a 30-year low. A robust oil and natural gas industry funds Texas schools, roads and essential services through state and local taxes and royalties, paying $13.8 billion last year alone. This progress is occurring while Texans and our environment remain safe.

Peddlers of junk science do a disservice to Texans who are more secure across the board because of safe and responsible production of oil and natural gas. Facts, not fear, should drive discussions and decisions about our nations energy needs, our economy and our planet.

Todd Staples is president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association.
Re: Selective morality, Your Turn, May 26:

It seems the letter writer likes to vent outrage at what she calls selective morality in her diatribe against the pro-life folks. She blames them for the myriad ways children are not only devalued but despised here in Texas.

She is guilty of the very thing she hates. In her view, until liberals can guarantee enough wealth distribution to make all outcomes equal, no one should criticize the murder of unborn babies. Would you dare call that selective morality?

William Jones, New Braunfels

Abbotts agenda

After studying Gov. Greg Abbotts recent statements, I have compiled a list of his personal agenda items that he would like to accomplish this year, including:

Ensure open carry for Bibles and handguns everywhere.

Minimize rights for women, minorities and the LGBT community.

Eliminate the growing problem of widespread voter fraud.

Dispel the myth that Texas ranks among the lowest of all states in health care, education and welfare of children.

Finally, appoint Ken Paxton head to a state commission investigating, waste, fraud and abuse in Austin!

Lloyd R. Mathews

Build the bridge

Re: Fund, build Hardberger land bridge, Editorial, May 28:

If we build a bridge over Wurzbach Parkway, people say, it would bring visitors from around the world because it would be unique. In the summer of 2012, I passed under the Wildlife Overpass in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. I believe it also has cameras where one can go online and view the wildlife using it.

I applaud our citys effort to build one in Hardberger Park.

Marlene Richardson

Embracing GOP

The two main reasons why the GOP exists  to lower taxes on the ultra-wealthy and their corporations, and to reduce regulations on these companies  were reflected when Donald Trump reached the 1,237 delegates to secure the nomination.

It is clear, as he embraces the GOP establishment, that he will need to take their money to mount an effective campaign for the general election.

Stanley Hall

Fixed incomes

Government agencies are constantly looking for ways to add money to their coffers. Unfortunately, they have no consideration for how they impact their communities.

A minor increase in fees or increases in home valuation may have only a minimum effect on most families. But what about seniors on fixed incomes? Any thought about how they will handle these minor increases?

What government official has any consideration for this group? Most cannot go back to work, for a variety of reasons, even part time. Where could they get the funds to handle the impact of these minor increases?

If these increases are enacted, there must be a measure of protection for these seniors. What are the reasons behind these additional taxes or fees? Will they be used for additional programs designed to bring in more votes and political power?

So far, I have seen nothing to help this group. Government must take responsibility before pushing these men and women to a point where they just cannot pay.

Hank Forrest
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms establishes freedom of conscience and religion as a right of all Canadians. The Charter is right to recognize the importance of deeply-held convictions as these are the basis on which all other freedoms flourish. For example, what good is freedom of expression if you cant express your innermost beliefs?

This is why it matters that conscience rights are given due consideration when any piece of legislation is proposed by a government. In the case of the Liberal Governments physician-assisted suicide (PAS) bill, Bill C-14, freedom of conscience is not getting the attention it deserves.

Forcing physicians and other health care workers to participate in PAS is not in the spirit of the Charter. If physicians were forced to give effective referrals despite their consciences, Canada would be the first and only jurisdiction in the world that would take such a dogmatic approach. There are better models that would protect physicians conscience rights and provide the necessary medical services.

I sit as the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights  the Committee tasked with examining Bill C-14 and improving it. We presented an amendment that would have provided meaningful protection for individuals and institutions that do not want to participate in PAS for reasons of conscience. I and my Conservative colleagues on the Committee also sought to ensure that no one would be forced to provide or refer for PAS. But we were met with excuses. The Minister of Justice insisted that this was a provincial matter while knowing full well that similar federal legislation had conscience protections enshrined within it. Unfortunately, the Liberals only accepted an amendment that merely discussed them.

Conscience protection is too important to ignore. Its important to physicians and health care workers, but regular Canadians care about this issue deeply too. This was on full display as Conservatives met in Vancouver and voted in favour of ensuring that robust conscience protections are part of party policy. Adding conscience protections to this legislation will not hurt health care in any way. Ensuring that the rights of all Canadians are protected will strengthen our democracy and affirm the rights we have.
Vancouvers former Olympic Village is now home to urban beavers Global Post (frosty zoom)

Glimpse into Onbashira, the Dangerous Japanese Log Moving Festival Colossal (resilc). Be sure to watch the video.

For young fish, plastic is basically the McDonalds all-day breakfast Quartz

Sudden appearance of crater dubbed the Gateway to the Underworld in Siberia is a warning to our warming planet Independent (Chuck L)

Cooling down Chicago Science Daily (Chuck L)

How to Prepare for a Collapse in 9 Steps  a Case Study with David Holmgren Walden Labs (Chuck L). You have to be pretty well off to do the initial setup. And I hate to say it, but my first step in preparing for collapse would be: Procure a 20 year supply of antibiotics, alcohol (both the potable and medical type), bandages, and computer parts. And set up your library.

TV: Truly unsettling discovery at Fukushima problem far greater than previously thought  Boss reveals 600 tons of fuel melted, cant find it eneNews (furzy). Yes, this is eneNews, but it cites ABC, which is Australias BBC. Here is the segment.

The Internet Back in the 1990s Compared to Now Laughing Squid (resilc)

The False Promise of DNA Testing Atlantic (Chuck L). Important.

New Chewable ADHD Medication, Adzenys, Has Some Worried PsychCentral (Emma). Not letting boys be boys any more allows for new ways to create speed addicts even younger. More at Motherboard: Orange-Flavored, Dissolvable Amphetamine for Children Approved by FDA

Pope scraps abuse tribunal for negligent bishops Washington Post (furzy)

China?

Hong Kong Vigil Remembers the Tiananmen Square Massacre Time (furzy)

European Bail-In Regulation Threatens Banks Trade Business Wall Street Journal

Brexit?

Russias Bad Relations With the West Makes Good Economic Sense Russia Insider (Chuck L)

Syraqistan

Imperial Collapse Watch

Clinton E-mail Tar Baby

Madeleine Albright Unhinged Nutcase? Sic Semper Tyrannis

2016

Campus rapist given lenient sentence to avoid severe impact on him Boing Boing (resilc)

Corruption

Gunz

A Weekend in Chicago: Where Gunfire Is a Terrifying NormNew York Times (furzy)

Dems Should Be Worried About This Jobs Report New York Magazine

Credit Suisse Boss Faces Revolt From Bankers Over Strategy Shift New York Times (furzy)

Letting Wall Street Walk Consortiumnews (Chuck L)

When Your 401(k) Is Better for Your Employer Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times. More nasties in fine print.

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (furzy):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
By Gareth Vaughan and Denise McNabb of www.interest.co.nz, and Richard Smith of Naked Capitalism

A secretive organisation using a name that looks like a play on that of investment bank Goldman Sachs appears to have run a Ponzi scheme via a New Zealand registered company using an ANZ bank account.

In yet another demonstration of the exploitation for nefarious purposes of NZs soft touch company formation and oversight regime, Fennas Finance Ltd is at the centre of the scheme, which appears to have illegally pooled funds from investors, probably located in Europe, and deposited them in an account at NZs biggest bank, ANZ.

For its part, ANZ acknowledges it was used by these entities, but says it was only for a short time before bank staff picked up the strange activity and returned money to investors.

A world class investment academy

Well start this story at Icon Sachs, which describes itself as a world class investment academy, and whose website says its based in Dubai. In what is at times broken English, and with pricing in euros, Icon Sachs website sets out some very sketchy background on the entity and those behind it, and talks up the potential for high investor returns. Heres a flavour:

Icon Sachs is the result of the meeting between a group of sophisticated investors that met in Geneva, Switzerland during mid 2000. Among this group, two gentlemen from Switzerland had worked for large investment banks and hedge funds, one had experience from the trading floor in Frankfurt, and two more were asset managers working out of Dubai.

And:

The Icon Sachs member mission is to provide opportunities for its members to obtain outstanding financial returns by becoming a better investor through education and training. The mission of Icon Sachs is also to foster an engaged and smart investment environment in an effort to enhance the opportunities for members to succeed. The Icon Sachs program is a self-directed training and Education Package for people seeking knowledge and expertise in alternative investing including hedge funds, private equity, structured products, commodities, and real assets.

An Icon Sachs presentation talks about investment pools that make it possible for everyone to access the worlds leading industry and profit making strategy through our unique online members club iPic. This club is purportedly the result of Icon Sachs founders years of investment experience with structured leverage products, which uniquely enables the possibility to earn high returns with a relatively small investment.

It says its investment pool data is a structured product with multiple elements for diversification and High use of leverage elements, to reach high returns  compounding effect starts after 3 months (2 months if you qualify for Fast Track)  indicative return per year is 40%.

A range of education packages priced from 95 to 1,775 are outlined, with maximum investment ranging from 250 to 8,000.

Then were told; The moment you join Icon Sachs, you can see your iPic Investment and directly be able to show the fantastic performance of your own trade to other interested people. (Theres a video here).

An ANZ Napier branch

Smelling a rat, the investigative website behindmlm published this article about Icon Sachs last year. It features information not available on the public version of Icon Sachs website, detailing that investors should make payments into an ANZ bank account under the name Fennas Finance, at the banks branch at 90 Hastings Street, Napier.

Fennas Finance, a company registered in New Zealand, describes itself as payment provider and multi-level marketing company (MLM), adding:

By building a truly unique portfolio of products and services including gold backed digital currency, Fennas is moving towards becoming a very important financial partner for the global direct selling industry. The combination of products are ideal to secure customer acquisition as well as recurring use of the payment services, including in the fast growing Chinese market. (Fennas services are not yet available for New Zealand citizens)

Fennas also says;

Fennas Investment portal will offer a service based on Angel project fundings. The angels in the Fennas system shall be primarily very successful MLM leaders and the projects should be related to the MLM sector primarily. Selected MLM leaders may become Angels and head up a syndicate of investors to back projects related to the MLM industry. The benefit for the Angel will be that, as the leader of the syndicate, they may leverage their investments in the projects they select themselves. The Angel will choose a type of project or company to invest in, estimate how many investments they will make per year and promote this to their followers who then may take part in their investment pool.

Interestingly, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has warned investors to beware of pyramid schemes posing as multi-level marketing programs, and the US Federal Trade Commission also has a long standing warning here.

They were a customer very, very briefly

For its part ANZ confirmed to us that an ANZ bank account was indeed used by this scheme, meaning at least one individual involved either was, or managed to become, an ANZ customer.

They were a customer very, very briefly last year. Not in that [Icon Sachs] companys name. Our AML [anti-money laundering] team closed them down quickly and we returned the money to the depositors, an ANZ spokesman said.

He declined to say how much money was returned, or where the investors were located.

Below are the bank account details as outlined by behindmlm.

Investors who have raised concerns about Icon Sachs, for instance here, note it has been registered since April 2015, but its domain name has been kept private along with its address and who is behind the scheme.

The rural Hawkes Bay, Johnsonville & the Christchurch red zone

So what do we know of Fennas Finance? It was incorporated as a company in May last year with an Adrian Douglas Brough, who provided a rural Hawkes Bay address, presenting documents to Companies Office. Brough is a shareholder with a stake of just over 5%. We have been unable to reach him thus far.

Fennas Finances director is Australian resident Michael John Ivkovic. Other shareholders include Gabrioli Ltd of the US Virgin Islands, and Trans Global Trading Ltd of Dubai. Both have 42.85% stakes. Theres also Henning Witte of Stockholm with 9.29%.

Meanwhile, Fennas Finance is in the process of changing the address of its registered office from 12 Manor Place, Bryndwr, in earthquake-damaged Christchurch, to 24b Moorefield Road, Johnsonville, Wellington. The Christchurch address has been the home of Wairakei Welcome Bed & Breakfast, but the phone number has been disconnected.

The Johnsonville address is the same one used as a mailing address by registered financial service provider NZ OSL Services, which featured in our previous article here. NZ OSLs shareholder, Steve Medley of Los Angeles, and his small cap stock market shenanigans, also featured in our previous article.

Paul McDonald, who uses the 12 Manor Place address, is a director of NZ OSL Services. He was also briefly a director of Fennas Finance last year. Elusive in person, but clearly involved in the software development business, McDonald appears to be extricating himself from these business associations.

I dont know who you are talking about

Michael John Ivkovic, Fennas Finances director, resides in the Sydney suburb of Mosman and is said to be in funds management. Heres some information about Ivkovic that can be found on several websites including that of IVS Holdings Ltd;

Michael has extensive experience in the structured finance, funds management and investment banking industry in Australia and Asia. Michael was formerly the Chairman of Brick Securities Limited, and Executive Chairman of NZI Securities Limited and NZI Investment Services Limited. Michael established The Australian Private Capital Advisory Services Group in 1988 and retired from that position in 1998 following a management buyout. Since that time Michael has served as a Director of Paramount Securities Limited and the publicly listed Harrington Limited, AFT Limited, and Capital Mining Limited. Michael is a Director of Global Payment Solutions Limited, Reckon Health Care Holdings Ltd and Hightower Enterprises Pty Limited. Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales.

Brick Securities was dissolved some years ago. It received some media coverage in Australia over the firms attempts to peddle Auckland real estate to Australians.

Ivkovic has a Bloomberg profile here. The phone number listed on the profile is that of NZ serviced office provider Servcorp, where the woman who answered the phone said: I dont know who you are talking about. Ivkovic has no phone number listed in Mosman.

Aside from Fennas Finance, NZ Companies Office records show Ivkovic was a director of Orator Technologies and Trentham Goldrush Ltd. Orators liquidation wrapped up 10 years ago with liquidator Geoffrey McDonald saying; The company was clearly insolvent at the time of my appointment. The liquidation coincided with a corporate restructure at Orators Australian parent AFT Ltd.

Ivkovic, Global Payment Solutions and a collapsed pyramid scheme, Towah

Ivkovic was also chairman of a company called Global Payment Solutions, which sought to raise funds on the Australian sharemarket last year. Its prospectus showed many of its shareholders were connected to the Towah group of companies, which is not a good pedigree.

Towah Norway AS is a collapsed pyramid scheme, with heavy Norwegian coverage here. Towahs implosion appears to have cost the Newcastle Building Society, of the UK, EUR2.6Mn, via Towahs UK company. The Newcastle Building Society requested an investigation by the Norwegian regulator. According to one Norwegian press report, there eventually turned out to be 200,000 victims.

Meanwhile, the Henning Witte who is listed as a Fennas shareholder appears to be the conspiracy theorist featured here who warns against mind control via implanted integrated circuit chips and propounds the pseudoscientific theory of Scalar waves.

Companies Office records also show a now deregistered NZ company, Mirian Payments Ltd, with a cast of characters familiar from Fennas Finances shareholder list: Witte, Brough and Gabrioli Ltd were all Mirian shareholders. Aristander Holdings Ltd, of the British Virgin Islands, was a Fennas shareholder between May and August last year, before its holding was transferred to Trans Global Trading Ltd. A company called Aristander Holdings Limited (with a Dubai address this time, rather than the BVI) also shows up as a major shareholder of Global Payment Solutions.

There is one last connection of note: Icon Sachss web site tells investors that Towah is the payment platform for Fennas.

Bank grade security from a mail services company

At Fennas Finances new address, 24b Moorefield Road, we find Private Box Ltd, located in the same building as a medical centre. Private Box is primarily a mail forwarding company that also offers registered office services, and boasts on its website of bank grade security, we protect your privacy.

Director and co-owner Gareth Foster says at last count Private Box had 700 to 800 companies on its books. But its staff dont necessarily know much about the business these companies undertake.

[But] generally speaking if it does have a financial sounding name we tend to take a very hard look at them if we are a registered office provider because of the money laundering risk associated with that, Foster said. But if it is a mail only customer weve got a pretty standard process for vetting them around checking their ID, making sure they are who they say they are.

Private Box is a reporting entity as a trust and company service provider under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT Act) supervised by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). Fennas Finance, however is not supervised for compliance with the AML/CFT Act by any of the Acts three supervisors: the DIA, Financial Markets Authority or Reserve Bank.

Were pretty good in terms of vetting the account holder and all that sort of stuff. If theyre just getting mail the risk from our point of view is quite low in terms of money laundering because its just a mailing address, says Foster.

Fennas is due to change its registered office to Private Boxs Johnsonville address on June 9.

Once that comes through well go through some extra steps with them, says Foster.

Asked if he had met anyone from either Fennas or NZ OSL Services, Foster said no. The firms staff do sometimes do Skype calls with overseas customers and ask for certified documents and make sure they come from someone contactable.

So we always do match a face to an ID. Its more a check that the ID theyre supplying is sufficient or is actually connected to the person, Foster says.

(The picture below shows Private Boxs small Johnsonville office, on the left, and the sign outside the medical-centre-dominated building its located in, on the right).

Irresistible

NZs simple company establishment process, the countrys good international reputation and lax regulatory enforcement, have proven irresistible attractions to assorted international rogues and crooks over recent years. Key planks of the good reputation include consistently being ranked one of the least corrupt countries in the world in Transparency Internationals Corruptions Perception Index, and being regarded as one of the easiest places in the world to do business by the World Bank.

After it emerged that NZ registered SP Trading Ltd had arranged the charter of a Georgia-registered cargo plane in 2009 to fly 35 tonnes of weapons from North Korea to Bangkok, and ultimately to Iran, the Government attempted to toughen company rules through the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Act, under which all companies must have one or more directors resident in NZ or Australia. Other changes introduced by this Act include in an application for registration every director must register their full name and place of birth (yes, really), and where the company has an ultimate holding company, prescribed information about that holding company must be disclosed.

Thus it remains a simple process to establish a NZ company, as the Companies Office notes here;

Starting a company online (incorporating) is as simple as reserving your company name ($10.22), completing the incorporation application ($150) and returning your signed consent forms. Here we will take you through how to incorporate the most common type of company  the New Zealand limited company  but you can incorporate or register all company types online.

Whilst this is great for legitimate business people, those scouring the globe for regulatory arbitrage opportunities are clearly still seeing NZ as a soft touch, as highlighted by the likes of Fennas Finance and companies that featured in our first article such as United Global Holdings and Breder Suasso. NZ is somewhere they can establish a company simply and cheaply with the assistance of an obliging local or two, and then operate in jurisdictions of their choice, trading off NZs good reputation.
Submitted Stock Signature Homes offers 12 floor plans at Hidden Harbor. Shown is the Sanibel model.

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Submitted By Whalen Public Relations

The first homes have closed and residents are moving into Hidden Harbor, a 55-acre, amenity-rich boating community between Naples and Fort Myers. Stock Signature Homes has 76 coastal contemporary estate homes, most of which provide access to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Ten Mile Canal and Estero Bay.

There are 12 floor plans are offered at Hidden Harbor with inventory homes available.

"In an exciting new development, we have just added three new floor plans priced starting in the mid-$400s, providing even more options for homebuyers," said Leger-Wetzel. "These plans will feature the same beautiful Contemporary Coastal architecture as our original plans and the community clubhouse."

These three- and four-bedroom homes ranged from 2,327 to more than 3,100 square feet of living area. Stock Development is currently offering homebuyers at Hidden Harbor a free pool or up to $50,000 toward options.

Hidden Harbor residents may boat, kayak and canoe directly from their personal boat dock. The private harbor is a sport fisherman's paradise and a haven for manatees and provides access to The Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail, a 190-mile marked canoe and kayak trail that meanders through the coastal waters and inland tributaries of Lee County.

With its beautifully designed homes and a clubhouse overlooking the Gulf-access harbor, Hidden Harbor earned the 2015 Community of the Year award from the Lee Building Industry Association (BIA).

All of the homesites are near the 4,484-square-foot community clubhouse, which will be on a waterfront site at the entrance to the harbor. Construction of the clubhouse will begin this year.

The clubhouse will feature waterfront views from two sides and include a fitness center, a lounge area and a club room for social events. Outside will be a resort-style pool with a fire pit, a barbecue area and a furnished sun deck. There will also be a kayak launch and open green space.

Hidden Harbor's on-site sales center is at 17270 Hidden Estates Circle. From Interstate 75, Exit 128, travel west on Alico Road. Turn south on U.S. 41. At Michael Rippe Parkway, turn west into the Sandy Parrot Plaza, then immediately turn left and follow the flags. Online at stockdevelopment.com.
Submitted Moorings Park is holding an informational event describing its Platinum and Diamond Membership Programs and prioritized access Thursday, June 16 at 11 a.m. at The Center for Healthy Living on the Moorings Park campus.

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Submitted By Caffrey & Associates

Moorings Park is holding an informational event describing its Platinum and Diamond membership programs on Thursday, June 16 at 11 a.m. in the Sheffield Theatre at The Center for Healthy Living, 132 Moorings Park Drive, on the Moorings Park campus. The event will be followed by lunch at the Trio Restaurant at Moorings Park.

The Platinum and Diamond membership programs are designed to provide those looking forward to making Moorings Park their future home an opportunity to experience the community's on-site health care, engaging social activities, and celebrated dining before committing to residency. Members will enjoy the benefits of Moorings Park's amenities that are currently in development, including enhancements to the community's clubhouse and expanded dining opportunities. Most importantly, the programs offer the peace of mind that comes from knowing a plan for the future that offers an active lifestyle and a continuum of care is available at Moorings Park.

Those wishing to attend the June 16 event are asked to RSVP by 5 p.m. on Friday, June 10 by calling 239-643-9111. Additional information about the Platinum and Diamond Membership programs and prioritized placement is available at www.mooringspark.org.

Moorings Park's Platinum Membership Program is suited to individuals and couples who are within one to two years of making their residency decision. The Diamond Membership is available to individuals and couples who are in the early stages of finalizing their retirement plans. Both the Platinum and Diamond Membership programs are available for a one-time membership fee plus a monthly charge. The membership fees can be applied to residency entrance fees at Moorings Park or at the Moorings Park at Grey Oaks campus once the decision to move into Moorings Park is made.

Platinum Membership provides prioritized access to all available Moorings Park residences, Orchid Terrace Assisted Living and Memory Care and to The Chateau Skilled Nursing on a private rate basis. Upon approval, Platinum Members will receive 24-Month Moorings Assessment Protocol (MAP) protection. All residents of Moorings Park are required to undergo an assessment which qualifies them for independent living. Platinum Members may choose to undergo this assessment and defer admission to Moorings Park for up to 24 months from the date of the assessment while protecting the opportunity to secure a residence.

In addition to the benefits afforded through the personalized physician services, integrated rehabilitation programs, and licensed professional staff at The Center for Healthy Living, a comprehensive medical assessment is provided to Platinum members. The thorough evaluation encompasses medical, psychological and functional capabilities. The assessment evaluates risk factors for functional decline and provides a plan to optimize functional well-being while putting together processes to facilitate achieving the goals outlined in the plan and to promote an independent lifestyle.

Additional services available to Platinum members at the Center for Healthy Living include a complimentary monthly spa treatment at the Rejuvenate Salon and Spa that features hair styling, facials, manicures and pedicures, massages and aromatherapy; a complimentary monthly personal training session tailored to meet individual fitness needs; outpatient rehabilitation services; and access to the Center for Healthy Living's Sheffield Theatre, special events, and Internet cafe.

Platinum members are also provided access to events at the Bower Chapel and may enjoy two complimentary dinners per month at one of Moorings Park's five casual and fine dining venues, including the Trio Restaurant and its waterfront veranda. A Platinum Personal Charge Card entitles cardholders to charge meals at the dining facilities and to access additional services at the Center for Healthy Living. A Personal Concierge is available to members Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to secure dinner reservations, tickets, salon appointments, transportation, personal trainer appointments and more.

Among the Platinum and Diamond Memberships' array of benefits is access to the wellness services at Moorings Park's Center for Healthy Living, a center offering resident and member-focused physician based services. The Center offers personalized physician services, integrated rehabilitation programs, and licensed professional staff. On-site, primary care physician services are provided to members through Moorings Park's Premier Senior Health Care Program that offers personalized health care. Patients can expect care that emphasizes accessibility, personal attention, and compassion. The Premier Senior Health Care Program is available to Platinum and Diamond members with no additional charges, other than typical co-pays. Third-party billing to Medicare will occur for services when appropriate.

The Center for Healthy Living's features include cardio and strength programming geared toward seniors, as well as cognitive and memory training. Licensed physical, occupational and speech therapists establish customized treatment plans with patients and their physicians to meet specific needs. The Center is home to the Sheffield Theatre that is suitable for feature films and lectures, the full-service Rejuvenate Salon and Spa, and a Max-Wellness retail store with products ranging from natural vitamins and supplements to fitness items and mobility devices. The Center for Healthy Living's Internet Cafe offers an opportunity to socialize with friends over healthy fare and beverages. Additional charges will apply for all meals, spa treatment services, personal trainers, and purchases in the Max-Wellness retail store.

The Diamond Membership Program rewards members with preferred access over nonresidents to Moorings Park's Orchid Terrace Assisted Living and Memory Care and to The Chateau Skilled Nursing on a private rate basis. Orchid Terrace provides members 24-hour assistance with the activities of daily living, as well as memory care. The Chateau at Moorings Park, accorded both 5-Star and Gold Seal ratings, is a Medicare certified facility providing short-term rehabilitation, outpatient rehab, and long-term care.

Other benefits of a Diamond Membership include access to the Bower Chapel's worship services and concert series subject to availability; clubhouse privileges, including all lectures and special social events; and dining privileges in the clubhouse main dining room, grill room, and the upscale Trio Restaurant subject to availability. A members-only Diamond Personal Charge Card entitles cardholders to charge for meals and retail purchases.

Moorings Park recently announced it is developing plans for the construction of new Mid-Rise II Residences. As planned, Mid-Rise II will include three residential floors over parking and is slated to include 18 beautifully designed residences ranging from 2,200 to 3,300 square feet under air plus covered outdoor terrace spaces. As planned, eight two- and three-bedroom plus den great room floor plans will be offered. Construction of the Mid-Rise II building is expected to begin in late 2016.

Moorings Park is a nationally accredited, nonprofit, Medicare certified community and the only A+ S & P and Fitch rated Continuing Care Retirement Community in the country. Moorings Park has been repeatedly acknowledged as Southwest Florida's premier retirement community for more than 30 years and is the only Continuing Care Retirement Community located in the city of Naples. Moorings Park's holistic approach to living well and continuum of care are provided at a predictable and affordable cost with no increase in monthly fees if a change in the level of care is required.
There are so many places where this column could begin.

With the startling increase in opioid use among the area's homeless.

With opiates overtaking alcohol as the most common reason people end up at the David Lawrence Center.

With Southwest Florida being among the hardest hit areas in the country when it comes to deaths due to opioid overdoses.

With the death of Prince being tied to opioid abuse.

With the flurry of recent and proposed laws seeking to address opioid abuse.

Wherever it begins, it all leads to the same conclusion: Abuse of prescription opioids like oxycodone and nonprescription cousins such as heroin, is a nationwide crisis that is being felt acutely right here. Experts have recognized it and are taking action.

Let's start with the homeless.

Vann Ellison, president of St. Matthew's House Shelter in East Naples, was an addiction counselor long before he was involved with the homeless. Addiction is one of the leading causes of homelessness and St. Matthew's House runs a yearlong residential recovery program, so he's still keenly interested in what's happening on the streets.

Going back 30 years, heroin use was rare, Ellison said, the drug having been stigmatized by images of addicts shooting up in the 1960s. "They were the dinosaurs of the drug abusers," he said of the occasional heroin addict.

But now, the number of clients admitting to using heroin has almost tripled in the last three years, approaching 300 this year. The increase roughly parallels the state's crackdown on pill mills, where doctors would notoriously overprescribe painkillers such as oxycodone.

"When they started shutting down the pill mills, people started looking for opioids and heroin became an issue again. It's not as dirty as it was in the '60s," he said.

Nancy Dauphinais, chief clinical officer of the David Lawrence Center, agreed with Ellison's assessment. As pill mills close and pharmacies become more adept at recognizing abuse, "heroin becomes the replacement," she said. "It's good news, bad news."

For years, alcohol addiction was the root cause of most residential stays at the DLC, Dauphinais said. In the past couple of years, opioid addiction has overtaken alcohol as the most common diagnosis.

Brenda Iliff, executive director of the Hazelden treatment center, said prescription painkillers remain a big problem in Southwest Florida, where an older population tries to cope with joint replacement and other painful conditions. "As a society, we don't want people in pain," she said.

Nationally, heroin addiction tends to hit males in their 20s. But abuse of prescription painkillers is prevalent in older adults and women. "In Collier County half of our overdoses a couple of years ago were people over 50," Iliff said.

The problem isn't unique to Southwest Florida, but statistics suggest it's as bad here as anywhere else.

Using 2015 statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Medical Examiners Commission, St. Matthew's House researcher Jim Pettit found Collier County ranks sixth in the state in the frequency of heroin showing up in the system of a deceased person. Lee County is fourth on the list.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control place Collier and Lee counties in the same category as hard-hit parts of Appalachia and the American Southwest in terms of the frequency of opioid overdose deaths.

Ana DiMercurio, assistant director of Drug Free Collier, says evidence of the heroin epidemic literally can be found on the streets. Community service crews picking up roadside litter have found as many as a dozen used needles in a given weekend in a single neighborhood.

Working with a task force consisting of law enforcement, EMS, treatment centers and others, Drug Free Collier has organized a pair of informational forums later this month.

On June 16, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a New York-based national expert on opioid abuse, will lead a workshop for doctors geared toward helping them recognize and prevent abuse.

On June 17, a similar forum will be held for the entire community, from school officials to government leaders to parents and anyone else interested in combating the epidemic. It's especially important to get the word out to the broader community, Iliff said. "This really has to be a grass roots thing. What can be done to address this?" she said.

Both events are free but organizers suggest registering through the Drug Free Collier website.

Ellison says he's seeing as many as 25 opioid-related deaths a year among people who've been a client of one of St. Matthew's House's programs.

"The statistics are compelling but what's more compelling to me, I know these people. I know the families. I think about the faces," he said.

Additional educational events will be needed, Ellison said, adding he's hoping to organize more in the fall.

As far as addressing the problem, he knows where to begin. "First off is raising the alarm," he said.

(Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter@NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten)
Tim Aten In The Know SHARE Tim Atens In the Know column, published every Monday and Wednesday in the Naples Daily News, marks its 10th anniversary in June 2016.

Tim Atens In the Know column, published every Monday and Wednesday in the Naples Daily News, marks its 10th anniversary in June 2016.

The "In the Know" column, launched in June 2002 by freelancer Lisa Fleming, was briefly taken over by staffer Kris Kudenholdt in 2004. Aten started writing the weekly column in June 2006, taking it twice a week in 2012.

"People love being the first to know something. Information in the column resonates with readers," Aten said. "It satisfies a natural curiosity about who is breaking ground and whats coming to that corner. Its exciting and fulfilling to know whats going on in the 239."

For the latest in local restaurants and developments coming and going, see In the Know columns archived at naplesnews.com/intheknow, and on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.

Have a local question or news tip? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com.

Some of the most popular columns:

Watch the "Tim Knows" segment on the next Behind The Headlines show, Sunday, June 5, at 10 a.m. on ABC-7.
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By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

Lee County School Board candidate Chris Patricca engaged with voters at a forum Saturday, promoting acceptance of the Common Core-based Florida Standards and warning against continued borrowing for new capital projects.

Organizers had hoped for a debate between both candidates running for the District 3 seat, but instead hosted only Patricca after a last-minute cancellation from candidate Lori Fayhee.

"She committed to this event. This event has been planned for quite some time," Patricca said in kicking off Saturday's event. "This is the only opportunity we will have for the two candidates in this race to discuss the issues with the public."

In a message to the Naples Daily News, Fayhee said she didn't make the decision lightly and hoped to address questions in the future.

"I regret that I am not able to be with you all during this evening's debate as I am out of town for an important event with my family," Fayhee told the Daily News via text message. "Missing [Saturday's] event was not an easy decision."

In an email to organizers obtained by the Daily News, Fayhee said she decided to miss the forum in part because she felt the event wasn't advertised enough.

"At this time, I do not believe that this event is a good use of my time," she wrote June 3.

In what she called an "in-depth interview" as opposed to a debate, Patricca took questions from a room of 40 attendees inside the headquarters of the Estero Fire District.

Patricca spent much time clarifying her stance on the Florida Standards, calling it a "benign set of skills students should have to be successful."

She said that while she has also worked to adjust to new methods  specifically in math  she believes in the new approach and in the opportunity for parents to seek out resources to better assist their children with homework.

She also emphasized that the school board has little legal recourse for eliminating or even altering the standards and the tests that accompany them.

"Some [candidates] are running on a platform that they will repeal the Common Core and standardized testing. They either don't understand the law or are telling you that they will break the law when they step into the Lee County School District," Patricca said.

"I understand that there are problems with the way we do testing, but I also understand the legal system ... and the rule of law. Politicians make promises all the time. I promise I will follow the law."

She said that while the board's power is limited, she didn't oppose parents who choose to opt their children out of the tests by prompting them to not answer the questions in the testing booklet.

"That's civil disobedience. And I'm OK with that," she added.

District 3 represents the school system's south zone  which includes Bonita Springs and Estero. When asked about one of the area's most pressing issues  the need for a new high school  Patricca said the district's capital budget shortfall is a "crisis."

"The word crisis is not an exaggeration. It's an absolute fact," she said. She pointed to the $70 million price tag on the new high school planned for Bonita Springs, and the school board decision to use bonds to build it.

"We are borrowing money to buy the land and build that school. It's fiscally irresponsible for us to continue borrowing money to build our schools," she said.

She said that the first step she would take to remedy the district's budget shortfall would be to conduct an operational audit that would look at how much money is spent on different district initiatives.

"I want to make sure that we are spending on programs that work, that we are not wasting money," Patricca said.
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The debate is escalating as opposing sides argue pros and cons of Amendment 1 and big money pours into a campaign to persuade Florida residents how to vote.

Meanwhile, the debate is escalating as opposing sides argue the pros and cons of Amendment 1 and big money pours into the state budget and legal fees while judges decide what Florida residents meant when they voted.

Amendment 1, circa 2016, centers on solar energy.

Amendment 1, circa 2014, centers on environmental protection.

Don't be confused into thinking the Amendment 1 vote you cast 19 months ago is resolved. Don't be surprised if the Amendment 1 vote you cast five months from now isn't resolved by the 2018 election.

Here's how the system works  or doesn't. We rely on the Florida Supreme Court to determine if an amendment goes on the ballot. Justices make sure the initiative, once it has enough (683,149) valid voter signatures, is limited to a single subject, the ballot summary meets the maximum 75-word limit and most importantly to us, isn't ambiguous in its intent.

Any amendment needs at least 60 percent voter approval.

Yet if state lawmakers don't like the outcome of a vote on an amendment, they've been prone to spin their own interpretation, so it's off to court. We've seen that with Amendment 1, circa 2014. We've seen that with the five-year legal battle the League of Women Voters of Florida pursued before courts determined the Legislature wasn't adhering to the November 2010 wishes of about 63 percent of voters who called for an end to gerrymandering, the drawing of political districts to favor a political party or incumbents.

Back to court

A few days ago, four environmental groups went back to court calling for an immediate determination of what the Legislature was supposed to do after 75 percent of voters approved Amendment 1, circa 2014.

The Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida  representing nearly 25 groups  submitted the filing, called a motion for summary judgment. Don't be surprised if the Legislature's attorneys oppose an immediate resolution.

That would be unfortunate. Taxpayers are at risk the longer this drags out for what, to us, seems like an inevitable conclusion. Amendment 1, circa 2014, required that a third of all proceeds from Florida real estate transaction taxes be set aside. The title of the amendment voters backed: "Water and Land Conservation  Dedicates funds to acquire and restore Florida conservation and recreation lands."

That's about $750 million a year, but environmental groups say about a third of that was misappropriated in 2015 to bolster other areas of the state budget, including salaries. The Legislature since passed a 2016 budget, this time including the Legacy Florida act with $200 million for Everglades restoration.

Next spring, lawmakers will pass a 2017 budget. The longer it takes to determine how much misdirected money should be restored, the bigger the hole taxpayers should worry they may have to fill in the state budget.

Broken system

This isn't the only broken "amendment" system of concern to Southwest Florida's environment.

The Energy and Water Appropriations bill failed to pass the U.S. House in late May by a 305-112 vote. It would provide money for Everglades restoration and federal water quality, flood control and beach renourishment projects in Florida.

That's not why it failed. House Democrats attached an amendment barring contractors from discriminating against anyone lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Republicans' amendments also tanked it, including one barring federal spending for sanctuary cities that shield some immigrants in the U.S. illegally. What's the connection between Everglades restoration, LGBT protection and sanctuary cities? That's a riddle awaiting an answer.

The answer

Thankfully, this is an election year. Florida voters will decide on many legislative and congressional seats. Before you cast your vote, be sure to ask the candidates if they actually are going to listen to what the majority wants.
By Michael Braun, The News-Press

A low pressure area near the northeastern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico has been upgraded to a tropical depression.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami is reporting that this system has become a tropical depression and has up to a 90-percent chance to become a tropical storm by Sunday night or on Monday while it moves north-northeastward toward the Florida Peninsula.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the Gulf coast of Florida from Indian Pass to Englewood.

The warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours. Interests along the coast of northeastern Florida through southern South Carolina should monitor the progress of this system.

The system is currently producing a large area of showers and thunderstorms over the north.

The speed of Tropical Depression Three was expected to move at a faster speed later today through Monday. On this track, the center of the depression is forecast to approach the coast of the Florida Big Bend area Monday afternoon.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast, and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm before reaching the coast of Florida, western Caribbean Sea and western Cuba.

The Lee County Public Safety/Emergency Management continues to monitor the developing weather system. Regardless of storm development, the area likely will receive significant rainfall from Sunday night into Tuesday. National Weather Service predicted two to four inches of rainfall from Sunday through Wednesday.

Currently, the Lee County area is outside the forecast cone.

There also will be an increased risk for severe weather and tornadoes as well as the possibility of above-normal tides as this system impacts our region.

Lee County Public Safety/Emergency Management made the following suggestions: We encourage residents to monitor local media and visit www.LeeEOC.com to stay informed and get information on developing a family disaster plan; Never drive through flooded roadways. Take another route; Ensure your NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio is on and programmed for the most current severe weather alerts and warnings; If a tornado warning is issued for your area, take shelter in an interior room away from windows; Additional resources to help prepare and respond to storm conditions are available at ww.leegov.com/publicsafety/emergencymanagement/plan/mediaresources.

The depression is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches with isolated maximum totals of 8 inches possible across the northeastern Yucatan peninsula, western Cuba and Florida.

The combination of the storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters. The water could reach the following heights above ground if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide.

Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle and can vary greatly over short distances.

Tropical storm conditions are expected to first reach the coast within the warning area by Monday afternoon.

An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the low later today.

The National Weather Service forecast for Lee County is as follow for Sunday through Wednesday:

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 99. South southeast wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 75. South southeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Monday

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 85. Breezy, with a southeast wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Monday Night

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 77. Breezy, with a south wind 18 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.

Tuesday

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 88. Southwest wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Tuesday Night

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 76. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Wednesday

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 88. Southwest wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent.
Credit: National Hurricane Center

By Ashley Collins of the Naples Daily News

Tropical Storm Colin emerged from a system heading across the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday afternoon with the threat of heavy rains and high wind moving quickly northeast toward Florida.

Colin, the third named storm of the season, is expected to gain speed as it moves north-northeast over the Gulf, according to the 8 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

In response to the approaching storm, the Florida Division of Emergency Management activated its operating center in order to assist county emergency management response teams in the event of a natural disaster.

The low pressure area near the northeastern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico was initially upgraded to a tropical depression Sunday morning and the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it had a good chance to become a tropical storm by Sunday night or on Monday while it was moving north-northeastward toward the Florida Peninsula.

That status upgrade came around 4:30 p.m. after reports were received from an Air Force Reserve Unit Hurricane Hunter aircraft.

Tropical storm warnings had been issued earlier for the Gulf coast of Florida from Indian Pass to Englewood.

In a press release, Bryan Koon, director of the state Division of Emergency Management said, "As the tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico approaches the state, county emergency management officials are enacting their proactive actions in accordance with their local plans."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott oversees the division. According to the release, he plans to meet with staff at the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee on Monday morning, canceling a meeting in New York with likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

"As we continue to closely monitor this tropical depression, Floridians should remain vigilant and have an emergency plan for their families and businesses in place today," Scott said in the release.

Rainfall amounts could reach anywhere from 5 to 10 inches.

To stay informed and learn about hurricane preparedness, follow Collier County Emergency Management on Facebook or visit www.colliergov.net/home and click on the tab, your government, to find the county's emergency management page.

As a result of the storm, there will also be a potential for flooding, severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes across portions of Florida and southern Georgia.

Waves will increase along the Gulf coast, but there's no threat to rip currents or coastal erosion, according to the press release.

Naples Daily News reporter Arek Sarkissian and News-Press reporter Mike Braun contributed to this report.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was back in the Bay Area on Sunday, making a stop in Vallejo to speak with community leaders, before heading to Sacramento, as she made a last-ditch effort to sew up support before California's primary on Tuesday.

Clinton first appeared at the Good Day Cafe in Vallejo for a meeting with community leaders, similar to the chat she had with small business owners at House of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland in May.

In Vallejo, Clinton discussed issues related to education, police, incarceration and mental health. She also spoke about gun control.

"We have to take on the gun lobby," she said. "We have to stand up and say, 'No.' We're going to have comprehensive backgorund checks. We're going to close the gun show loophole and the online loophole. We're going to close what's called the Charleston loophole."

The so-called Charleston loophole allows gun buyers to take possession of a gun after three days, regardless of whether a background check has been completed.

Clinton then was scheduled to apprear at Sacramento City College for a public event in the school's North Gym.

While her competitor Bernie Sanders has made waves with impassioned speeches and huge rallies, Clinton has held quieter events that attempt to hone in on both national and hyperlocal issues with the help of local politicians.

At the Vallejo and Sacramento events, she continued to speak about "breaking down barriers," a theme that has been running throughout her presidential campaign. She talked about better pathways to college for children and apprentice programs to help those who don't go to college get jobs.

Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have been barnstorming through the Bay Area making the East Bay ground zero in their efforts to get out the vote.

Both candidates have campaign offices in Oakland, where Clinton has appeared twice this month, and Sanders has recently held his characteristically huge rallies in Vallejo and the South Bay

Clinton, Sanders and Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump have been barnstorming through the Bay Area in the past few weeks, making the region ground zero in their efforts to get out the vote in the Golden State. All three have appeared at talks, rallies and organizing events several times in the last few months.

Former President Bill Clinton was in Los Gatos on Sunday attending a fundraising event at a private residence. He is scheduled to make five Bay Area appearances Monday on behalf of his wife. He'll be making stops at Hayward City Hall at 10:45 a.m., the Fox Theater in Oakland at 12:15 p.m., Marsh Elementary School in Antioch at 2 p.m., the Richmond Art Center in Richmond at 3:45 p.m. and the Joseph Lee Recreation Center in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m.

At each event, the doors open one hour before the scheduled start.
A former Marine has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of an 11-year-old Houston boy who was attacked while walking home from school last month, NBC News reported.

Andre Timothy Jackson Jr., 27, was charged with murder Friday following his arrest at a Salvation Army where he was living, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Jackson was discharged from the Marine Corps in 2011.

On May 17, witnesses heard loud screaming and saw a man and the boy, identified as sixth-grader Josue Flores, struggle before Flores collapsed. The boy died from multiple stab wounds.

Another man was originally arrested and charged with murder, but was later released when his alibi checked out. Surveillance video released by police led to a tip of another video, which led investigators to Jackson. He was being held on a $100,000 bond at the Harris County Jail.
The families of Urban Prep Academy's 2016 graduating class shared a proud moment at the school's commencement on Saturday. But this ceremony had a special meaning, as school administrators say all 252 graduating seniors have been accepted into a four-year college or university.

"I'm so excited. I'm going to get emotional," said proud mom Ebony Muhammad.

The graduating seniors are all African-American males from the charter school's Englewood, West, and Bronzeville campuses. The class of 2016 is carrying on a tradition, as every single Urban Prep graduate since 2010 has been accepted into four-year colleges and universities.

"It's like a dream come true. I've been waiting on this a long time," one student said.

Graduating senior Rudolph Long said he's the first in his family to not only graduate high school, but to go on to college. And the young man from Auburn Gresham is doing so on a full-ride scholarship.

"I don't think it'll ever sink it. It hasn't, but it just means that I'm changing the narrative for people not only from my family, but for African-Americans as a whole," Long said.

Juwaun Cooper-Muhammad is going to Georgetown University in the fall.

"Urban Prep was the best thing that ever happened to me, along with my mother," Cooper-Muhammad said. "We're breaking barriers and this is a moment that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life."

No one is more proud of Juwaun than his mother.

"I was a teen mom and it makes me know that we can jump over these hurdles," Ebony Muhammad said, choking back tears. "These obstacles that were in our way, we were able to do it."

To add to the joy of the celebration, the seniors were awarded more than $11 million combined in scholarships to help pay for their tuition.

And these students say that this milestone is just the beginning.

"I just want to give back to whole city really, for making me who I am today," Long added.
Seven people are dead and dozens more wounded in another violent weekend in Chicago.

The first 22 were shot in less than ten hours from Friday night to Saturday morning, and several victims were juveniles as young as 14. This weekend also saw the 21st recorded shooting on an expressway in Chicago this year.

The weekends shootings are as follows:

FRIDAY

The first shooting of the weekend occurred in the Ashburn neighborhood at 6:40 p.m. A 16-year-old boy was walking on the sidewalk in the 7700 block of S Trumbull when occupants in an unknown vehicle opened fire, police said. He sustained a gunshot wound to the lower left leg, according to police, and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition.

The first fatal shooting of the weekend happened on the Northwest Side, in Logan Square at 6:45 p.m., police said. A 20-year-old man later identified by the Cook County Medical Examiners office as Daniel Alcantana of the 900 block of N Harding Ave was with a 21-year-old man in the 2900 block of W Armitage when both were shot. Alcantana was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The other man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Two men were shot in the Far South Side Hegewisch neighborhood at 9:50 p.m., according to police. A group of men got into a verbal altercation in the 13300 block of S Torrence when one of the men opened fire, police said. The men, ages 40 and 44, both sustained gunshot wounds to the leg, according to police, and took themselves to St. Margarets Hospital in Hammond, Indiana. They were listed in stable condition, according to police.

Two people were hospitalized after a shooting on the Stevenson Expressway Friday night, according to police. The Illinois State Police received calls of a shooter on northbound I-55 near Halsted around 9:43 p.m., but didnt find anything. Two people later arrived at St. Anthonys, according to the Chicago Police Department, with gunshot wounds sustained on the expressway. No information about the victims gender or age was available, police said, but one victim was treated and released, the other transferred to Stroger Hospital in stable condition. ISP later recovered three shell casings from the scene.

Around 10 p.m., a 35-year-old man was standing on the street in the 4700 block of N Virginia in Ravenswood when another man approached on foot and fired shots, according to police. He sustained a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital where his condition was stabilized, police said.

A 19-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk at 10 p.m. in the 300 block of E Kensington in the West Pullman neighborhood when a man in a gray sedan opened fire, striking the victim, police said. He arrived at Advocate Trinity Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left buttocks, according to police, and was listed in stable condition. Authorities said he was expected to be transferred to Advocate Christ Medical Center.

Around 11 p.m., a 20-year-old woman was walking on the sidewalk in the 1100 block of W 72nd St in Englewood when she heard shots and felt pain, police said. She arrived at St Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center with a gunshot wound to her left forearm, according to police, and was listed in stable condition.

A 49-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk at 11:40 p.m. in the 4600 block of W Erie in Austin when he heard shots and felt pain, authorities said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition with a graze wound to the chest, according to police.

SATURDAY

Just after midnight, a 21-year-old man was sitting with several other people on the front porch of a home in the 2000 block of W 71st St in West Englewood, police said. Someone in a passing gray sedan opened fire, striking the victim, according to police. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to left hip, authorities said.

A man and a woman were standing on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of W Potomac in Humboldt Park around 12:15 a.m. when they heard shots and felt pain, according to police. The 18-year-old woman was shot in the lower right leg and the 20-year-old man was shot in the left buttocks. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Around 1:30 a.m., a 27-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the first block of N Mason in Austin, according to police. He heard shots and felt pain, police said, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the lower back.

Just after 2 a.m., a 20-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the 500 block of N Springfield in Humboldt Park, according to police. He heard shots and felt pain, police said, and sustained a gunshot wound to right leg. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition, according to police.

Saturdays first fatal shooting occurred in the 200 block of N Laramie in the West Side Austin neighborhood, according to police. Officers responded to a call of a person shot around 2:50 a.m., and arrived to find a 35-year-old man in an alley. He had a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head, police said, and was pronounced dead at the scene. He has not been identified.

At 2:54 a.m., a 31-year-old man was discovered in a van in the 12700 block of S Halsted in the West Pullman neighborhood, police said. He had a gunshot to the back, and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition, officials said. Authorities said he was not cooperating with investigators.

A 14-year-old boy was in an alley in the 700 block of W Marquette in Englewood at 3 a.m., police said, when he heard shots and felt pain. He was taken to Comer Childrens Hospital in stable condition, according to police.

A man was fatally shot in the 900 block of W 96th St in the Washington Heights neighborhood at 3:15 a.m., authorities said. He was approached on the sidewalk by two men, according to police, who opened fire. The man sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body, police said, and was pronounced dead on the scene. He has not been identified.

At 3:55 a.m., a 34-year-old woman was driving in a car in the 6400 block of S Keeler in the West Lawn neighborhood, police said. A person in the vehicle driving behind her fired from the car in her direction, officials said, striking her in the shoulder and left hand. She took herself to Mount Sinai Medical Center and was listed in stable condition.

A man later identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner as 32-year-old William Palmer was shot and killed outside his home in Englewood, according to police. He was sitting in a parked car in the 6300 block of S Honore when a male offender approached on foot and fired shots, police said. He sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials said he was a documented gang member and a convicted felon.

Two teenagers were wounded in a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood at 3:45 p.m., police said. They were standing on the corner in the 1600 block of E 70th St when an unknown offender approached on foot and fired shots, according to police. An 18-year-old man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the left elbow, and a 17-year-old boy was taken in stable condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach, police said.

A 20-year-old man was shot and killed in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Saturday around 6 p.m., according to police. The victim, later identified by the Cook County Medical Examiners office as Kori Sellers of the 7900 block of S Sangamon, was sitting in the passenger seat of a car in the 8600 block of S Ashland when the offender reached into the vehicle, across the driver, and opened fire. He sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and right arm, and was taken in serious condition to St Bernard Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

At 11:25 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was sitting in the passenger seat of a car stopped at a red light in the 4700 block of S Ashland in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, according to police, when a man approached the car on foot and opened fire. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said.

SUNDAY

Sundays first shooting was fatal, at 12:50 a.m. in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. A black man in his 20s was found sitting in a car in an alley in the 7600 block of S Drexel, police said. He had two gunshot wounds to the neck and was pronounced dead on the scene, according to police. His identity has not been released.

A 15-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting at the same time in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, police said. At 12:50 a.m., he was walking in the 4400 block of S Marshfield when he heard shots and felt pain, according to police. He was taken in stable condition to Stroger Hospital with gunshot wounds to the left leg and back, authorities said.

A 25-year-old man was wounded in the a shooting at 2:05 a.m. in the South Side Douglas neighborhood, police said. He was driving northbound on the 3500 block of S Vincennes when he heard shots and felt pain, according to police. He arrived at Provident Hospital in good condition with a gunshot wound to the left arm, police said.

A 36-year-old man was shot multiple times while on a back porch in the Bridgeport neighborhood, police said. He was in the 600 block of W 28th St around 3 a.m. when shots rang out. He was taken to Stroger Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds in critical condition, police said.

A 27-year-old man was meeting someone he knew around 6 a.m. at a gas station in the Irving Park/Avondale area, according to police. The two got in an argument, and the offender pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the head, police said. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.

According to police, a woman, thought to be in her 30s, was sitting in a car in the 2500 block of S Francisco in Little Village at 9:44 p.m. when she heard shots and felt pain. She took herself to St. Anthony Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left arm, police said. Officials did not have any further information on her condition.

At 2:57 p.m., a 23-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Fuller Park neighborhood. He was in the 4400 block of S Wentworth, police said, when he sustained gunshot wounds to the left eye and right leg. He took himself to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, according to police, and no further narrative was available.

At 6:18 p.m., a 22-year-old man was near a parked vehicle in the 900 block of N Lamon in Austin when an unknown man approached and fired several shots before fleeing, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the left arm, according to police.

In each of these shootings, there are no suspects in custody and the investigations are ongoing, police said.
A South Side man has been charged with a fatal shooting inside a Portage Park neighborhood store over Memorial Day weekend on the Northwest Side.

Florin Mulosmani, 24, faces one count of first-degree murder for the attack that happened about 5:15 a.m. May 28 in the 6300 block of West Montrose, according to Chicago Police.

Mulosmani and another man got into a fight with 23-year-old Damien Cionzynski, who was then shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiners office. Police did not say if Mulosmani pulled the trigger.

Cionzynski lived in the 4400 block of North Nashville Avenue in Harwood Heights. Mulosmani is from the 1900 block of South Grove Street, police said.

A judge ordered him held without bond at a Saturday hearing, according to the Cook County sheriffs office. He is due back in court Monday.

Cionzynski was among six people killed and 63 wounded in shootings over the holiday weekend.
A man was shot Saturday morning at a gas station on the city's Northwest Side, according to police.

The 27-year-old man was shot around 6:00 a.m. in the 4000 block of W Belmont Ave in the city's Irving Park neighborhood, officials said.

According to police, the man drove to the gas station to meet the offender. Witnesses said they saw three people in the car, who appeared to be arguing with a group of people. The offender fired several shots before fleeing on foot, police said.

The victim, a documented gang member, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police. No further information on his condition was immediately available.

No one is in custody and the investigation is ongoing.
The family of missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer issued a heartfelt, emotional message on Friday, the five-year anniversary of her disappearance.

"You can feel the anxiety build as June 3 approaches," a post on the "Official Lauren Spierer Updates from Her Family" Facebook page begins. "The pall that surrounds every room in our home and the unspoken words between Robbie and me again bring that all too familiar silence that has become an unwelcomed visitor in our lives."

Lauren was 20 years old when she vanished in June 2011 after a night out with her friends. Her disappearance generated national headlines, and her mother Charlene Spierer has made countless pleas for information that would help authorities uncover what happened to Lauren.

Charlene's post gives a heart-breaking look into the family's years-long nightmare.

"Each milestone since her disappearance is accompanied by an awful weight of missing someone so loved it is palpable, but no day is as paralyzing as June 3," her post reads. "Physically, my throat tightens, my temples pound, my heartbeat quickens and I wonder how I am going to get through the days leading up to the worst day of our lives."

The Bloomington Police Department also issued a lengthy statement on Friday, revealing that authorities have combed through more than 3,500 tips related to Laurens disappearance.

Even though it has been 5 years since Lauren disappeared, the case continues to be a priority for the investigators assigned and there is work being done on the case literally every day, a Facebook post said. The investigation into Laurens disappearance has never been considered or labeled a cold case by the Department.

The BPD said the Department has worked with multiple agencies, including the FBI and Indiana State Police. Detectives have traveled throughout Indiana and to other states during the investigation, authorities said, and officers have documented more than 2,505 hours of overtime over the past five years.

Remember: Anything small could be big, the post ends, asking for further information from the public.

As of Saturday afternoon, Charlene Spierers post had been shared nearly 1000 times, with many supporters commenting to express sympathy, personal stories of loss, and even their own experiences with the search.

Indescribable, unbelievable, unconscionable, Charlene writes. Will we ever know the truth of what happened to Lauren? I still believe we will. Will those responsible ever be held accountable? I still believe justice will be served. Will we ever be able to bring Lauren home? I am just not sure anymore.

Hoping today is the day, her message ends, with information on contacting the authorities conducting the search for Lauren.

Anyone with information on Lauren's disappearance is asked to call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477, or email policetips@bloomington.in.gov or helpfindlauren@gmail.com.
Authorities are investigating a sexual assault that occurred in a high school classroom on Chicago's Southwest Side.

The incident took place in the 4900 block of S Archer Ave in the Archer Heights neighborhood, according to police, which is where Curie Metropolitan High School is located.

Authorities said the incident occurred Friday at 3 p.m. A female juvenile said a male, approximately 17 or 18 years old, sexually assaulted her in a classroom before fleeing on foot.

Her family took her to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where she was listed in good condition, police said.

Chicago Public Schools confirmed in a statement Monday that "an allegation of inappropriate sexual activity involving two students took place Friday afternoon."

The district said the parents of both students were notified and police are investigating.

While we can't comment on an ongoing investigation, there was no immediate threat to this school," the district said. "The school is continuing to work with CPD and the CPS Office of Safety and Security to ensure a safe environment for all of our students.

No one was in custody Monday and authorities said an investigation was ongoing.
A second man has been charged with murder in connection with the attempted robbery on Lake Shore Drive that ultimately led to a woman's death.

Devonte M. Dodd, 20, of the 400 block of E. Chicago Ave faces two felony counts of murder, one felony count of attempted robbery with a firearm, and one misdemeanor count of mob action, police said in a release Saturday.

Officials said Dodd approached the victims, 32-year-old Pamela Johnson and her 43-year-old boyfriend, and announced a robbery. He then chased the victims as 18-year-old Semaj Waters, who is also facing charges, pointed a handgun in their direction, police said.

The victims attempted to flee across Lake Shore Drive and were struck by a pick-up truck, killing Johnson and injuring her boyfriend.

Semaj Waters was charged Friday with attempted armed robbery, mob action and felony murder in the incident.

Multiple people believed to be involved in the attempted robbery turned themselves in to police for questioning last week. Police said the attack may have involved up to eight men, but no other suspects have been charged as of Sunday afternoon.

Were asking parents to step up and theyre stepping up, community activist Andrew Holmes said. Everybody has to come together to be on the same page. Everything must stop in this city and if we dont put our foot down and help them, itll keep going on like a revolving door.

Anyone who recognizes any other suspects in the photos is asked to call Area Central detectives at (312) 747-8380. Those looking to make anonymous tips can also call (800) 883-5587.
An 18-year-old reported missing from Bristol was found in Bridgeport and police have canceled the Silver Alert for her.

Ashley Tanguay's father reported her missing on Sunday morning after she failed to arrive on a bus to Clarksville, Tennessee, to meet her mother.

Police said Bridgeport police found her at 2:15 p.m. on Monday and she is safe.

Police said Tanguay is autistic and suffers from mental health issues and a social skills disorder and her father told them he believes these issues left her vulnerable and that she has engaged in dangerous behavior in the past.
A massive brush fire Saturday in the Calabasas area forced mandatory evacuations as rapid flames consumed 516 acres and threatened 3,000 homes, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

"This is a fast-moving, dangerous fire," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Dennis Cross said. "It's hard for people to see where this fire is because of the dense canopy and the canyons."

The fire forced the mandatory evacuations of 5,000 people in the Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville neighborhoods, fire officials said.

"Nobody can sit in their driveways or sit in their houses and ride this out. They need to get in their car and evacuate immediately," Cross said.

As of 6:45 a.m. Sunday, the blaze was 30 percent contained, Capt. Keith Mora said.

Homeowners were emotional as they packed their cars with anything they could grab and were forced to evacuate.

Deputies grabbed hoses and began defending strangers' townhomes before firefighters arrived.

Residents living as far away as Studio City found ash sprinkled on their cars as smoke permeated through SoCal.

The fire was reported at 4 p.m. in the area of 23062 Mulholland Highway, and began edging closer to homes.

Old Topanga Boulevard was closed between Pacific Coast Highway and Cezanne Avenue as 1,000 firefighters, three water-dropping helicopters, and 24 engines were working to extinguish the blaze.

At least three homes were damaged, fire officials said, in addition to a nature conservancy building at Mulholland Highway and Old Topanga Canyon Road that was completely gutted by the blaze.

The fire was ignited after a driver lost control of a sport utility vehicle and crashed into power poles, downing lines in three different places, Mora said. All of the hot spots merged into one massive blaze, dubbed the "Old Fire."

A propane tank exploded into flames in front of Calabasas Klubhouse Pre-School as the heat from the fire crept closer to the structure, located at 3655 Old Topanga Canyon Road. A team of firefighters was defending the preschool.

Initially, a few thousand Southern California Edison customers experienced power outages after the car slammed into the power pole, David Song of SoCal Edison said. By 7 p.m., fewer than 200 were experiencing outages. Song said power should be fully restored by 3 p.m. Sunday.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported that one firefighter suffered a minor injury while battling the blaze.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills Station was in charge of evacuations. Residents were being evacuated to Agoura High School at 28545 West Driver Avenue.

Anyone with large animals was asked to evacuate to Los Angeles Pierce College at 6201 Winnetka Avenue in Woodland Hills.

The mandatory evacuations were extended to the zones in Old Topanga Canyon area until 8 a.m., the California Highway Patrol said.

Residents in the Calabasas area would be allowed to return home by 2 a.m., but power may still be out, LA County Fire officials said.

The large fire came as NBC4 Meteorologist Shanna Mendiola warned of excessive heat warnings across SoCal, along with dry winds.

A second fire began burning at 4:20 p.m. in the West Hills area, the same time as the Old Fire. Light wind was fueling the two-acre blaze, pushing it downhill into a ravine at Kittridge Street and Valley Circle, according to LA County Fire.

The blaze was about five miles north of the Calabasas blaze, and was extinguished by 6:40 p.m., with no injuries or homes burned.

Earlier in the morning, a brush fire in Temecula put drivers on high alert as it scorched 70 acres, forcing a closure of lanes on the southbound 15 Freeway. By the evening, and it was 20 percent contained.

Another smaller blaze was reported in the Santa Clarita area amid rising temperatures, burning one-eighth of an acre near Decoro Drive and McBean Parkway.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department compiled tips for what do if confronted with a fire. Experts advise to not stop to gather your belongings  just get out of the house if mandatory evacuations are ordered. "Call the Fire Department from a neighbors telephone after you are out of the house," a tip sheet read.

Calabasas is a city of about 24,000 residents in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It is home to several affluent gated communities and numerous celebrities.

Read more here.
Massachusetts state police have arrested a Connecticut man for possessing a large-capacity firearm.

Troopers stopped a vehicle being driven by Hartford resident Dominic Cauley at about 2 a.m. Saturday at a sobriety checkpoint in Springfield.

Police say a search of the vehicle turned up a 9mm Sig Sauer firearm loaded with three rounds of ammunition.

Police say the 22-year-old Cauley does not have a license to carry a firearm in Massachusetts.

Cauley is charged with possession of a large-capacity firearm, carrying ammunition with a firearm and related crimes.

He's being held at the Hampshire County jail in Northampton pending his arraignment.

It's unclear whether Cauley has a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
The U.S. Army has identified the ninth soldier who died, along with eight others, during a training accident a Central Texas Army post on June 2 as Spc. Yingming Sun.

The 25-year-old from Monterey Park, California, entered active-duty military service in October 2013 as a motor transport operator and has been stationed in Fort Hood, since August 2014.

The soldiers died when their tactical vehicle was washed away while crossing the rain-swollen Owl Creek on the Fort Hood Army post.

Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, Brooklyn, New York, Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, Twentynine Palms, California, Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, Milton, Florida, Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, Palmetto, Florida, Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, San Angelo, Texas, Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, Dunn, North Carolina, Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, Jersey City, New Jersey, Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, Valparaiso, Indiana, were also killed Thursday.

Three more soldiers were injured in but survived. They were released from Fort Hood's hospital Friday.

The mother of Pvt. Gates spoke with NBC affiliate WRAL-TV.

"I'm hoping that this is still a dream, that's what I'm really hoping for. She is always defending someone else," Gates said. "That has been her nature to defend someone else."
Hundreds were on-hand to honor the man who helped bridge Dallass racial gap with a bridge of his own.

On Saturday morning, the Continental Avenue Bridge was rededicated as the Ambassador Ron Kirk Pedestrian Bridge.

Kirk, who turns 62 this month, was elected as the citys first African American mayor in 1995.

During his time in office he pushed through several historic projects for the city, but also worked to bridge the racial divide that had long stood between old Dallas and new.

Our partners at The Dallas Morning News said in an article about Kirk that he did for blacks in Dallas what President Barack Obama did for African Americans nationwide.

Kirk would go on to serve the Obama Administration as US Trade Representative until stepping down in 2013.

Current city leaders said it was fitting that the iconic pedestrian bridge that unites two sides of the city was being named for Kirk.

According to city representatives, the bridge itself dates back to the 1930s and was converted to a pedestrian bridge in the early 21st century.

Kirk told the crowd, nearly 21 years to the day since he swore in as mayor of Dallas, that the community did this together.

"This bridge is for you," said Kirk.
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The latest news from around North Texas.
A pair of powerful Senate Republicans on Sunday warned Donald Trump to drop his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, joining the widespread rejection of their presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of the federal jurist.

A third prominent Republican who also supports Trump urged the candidate to start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."

"We're all behind him now," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned, adding that it's time for unifying the party, not "settling scores and grudges." "I hope he'll change his direction."

So far, Trump has refused, reiterating in interviews broadcast Sunday that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial involving a billionaire who wants to build a border wall to keep people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-born parents  making him, in Trump's view, "a hater of Donald Trump."

CBS' "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson asked Trump on Sunday whether he believed a Muslim judge would also be biased because of his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

"It's possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely," Trump said.

"I couldn't disagree more" with Trump's central argument, McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press." McConnell distanced himself from Trump's comments, but dodged three times when asked if they were racist.

"I don't condone the comments," added Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on ABC's "This Week."

And Newt Gingrich, who became speaker of the House promising to open the GOP more to minorities, delivered the harshest warning of all.

"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it's inexcusable," Gingrich, a former presidential contender, said on "Fox News Sunday."

Their remarks solidify the line GOP leaders have drawn in recent days between themselves and Trump, with whom they've made a fragile peace over their sense that almost anyone would be a better president than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The GOP pushback against Trump comes two days before presidential primaries in California, home to more Latinos than whites. It's the final major battleground between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Far ahead of Sanders in the delegate race, Clinton is poised to clinch her party's nomination in the next few days.

Trump has no more competition for the GOP nomination, but he does have significant issues with the most senior elected members of the party he hopes to lead.

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan tepidly endorsed Trump  but 24 hours later disavowed the billionaire's remarks about Curiel.

Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in New York that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate. Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. Trump's legal team has not sought to have Curiel removed.

For a party that in 2012 explicitly pinned its survival on drawing support from Hispanics, Trump's words create an ugly series of headaches.

Racial politics, for one. Asked on CNN whether it was racist to link Curiel's ethnicity to his ability to be fair, Trump replied, "No."

Asked the same question three times, McConnell thrice refused to respond directly and repeated a statement about disagreeing.

"I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans," said McConnell, R-Ky.

Gingrich answered was: "I think that it was a mistake ... I hope it was sloppiness," he said of Trump's attacks on Curiel. "(Trump) says on other occasions that he has many Mexican friends, et cetera, but that's irrelevant. This judge is not Mexican. This judge is an American citizen."

Corker, R-Tenn., expressed the same discomfort many other Republicans in Congress have complained about when they're asked to respond to, or justify, Trump's remarks. "I thought this interview was going to be more about the foreign policy arena," Corker said on ABC.

Like Ryan, all three Republicans have endorsed Trump. But their comments carried the implicit caveat that their support depends at least in part on Trump dropping his criticism of Curiel. All three also suggested ways Trump could move beyond his legal issues.

Corker, who recently met with Trump in New York, said Trump "has a tremendous opportunity" to build out his foreign policy agenda.

Gingrich urged Trump to become more of a statesman.

"Trump has got to, I think, move to a new level," he said. "This is no longer the primaries. He's no longer an interesting contender. He is now the potential leader of the United States and he's got to move his game up to the level of being a potential leader."

Trump has already rejected calls for him to change. "You think I'm going to change?" he asked during a combative news conference last week at Trump Tower in New York. "I'm not changing."

McConnell's advice was blunt.

"This is a good time, it seems to me, to begin to try to unify the party and you unify the party by not settling scores and grudges against people you've been competing with," he said. "I'd like to see him reach out and pull us all together and give us a real shot at winning this November."
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders visited San Diego again Sunday for another rally, this time at Qualcomm Stadium.

"Freedom is never given to people, people have to struggle and fight for their freedom," Sanders told a large crowd of supporters in the stadium parking lot.

During his speech Sanders criticized presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump over his statements about women and minorities and his stance on issues like climate change and raising the minimum wage.

He also pointed out the differences between his campaign and Hillary Clinton's, reminding voters he does not have a Super Pac. He also said he and Clinton have different views on raising the minimum wage and ending fracking.

He railed against "billionaires buying elections," having a "rigged economy" and the "broken criminal justice system."

Instead of building jail after jail he said he wants "to build school after school."

"We need to have the best educated workforce in the world," he said. He said the cost of college should not stop anyone from getting an education and he believes college should be tuition free.

Enough is enough!! Says #BernieSanders. Students are tired of leaving school thousand of dollars in debt #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/q0mYAlqX9A  Omari Fleming (@OmariNBCSD) June 6, 2016

Sanders explained he would pay for free tuition by "imposing a tax on Wall Street speculation."

"When we come together as one people there isn't anything we cannot accomplish," Sanders told supporters Sunday.

Our job is to unite families not divide families," Sanders said while talking about immigration reform explaining he would push for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

He called California's primary on Tuesday "the most important primary of the entire nominating process," and said if turnout was high he believed his campaign would win.

The rally included appearances by celebrities like George Lopez and Shailene Woodley, as well as Nahko and Medicine for the People, Michael Mowgli & The Altruists and Joel Rafael.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Kendrick Sampson and Dr. Cornel West also joined in support of Sanders.

The U.S. Senator has already visited San Diego several times, including a two-day trip two weeks ago, when he rallied in National City on May 21 and in Vista on May 22.

Even if you don't #FeelTheBern, gotta feel Sander's Rally music selection. "Give the People What They Want" #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/3h7znFpift  Omari Fleming (@OmariNBCSD) June 5, 2016

Comedian and actor George Lopez joined Sanders at his National City rally, while Divergent actress Shailene Woodley introduced Sanders at his Vista event.

Sanders trip to San Diego comes within two days of the June 7 California Primary.

In recent weeks, Sanders' rivals have visited San Diego too, including Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton also rallied on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign in San Diego on May 21.
A brush fire that burned in San Diegos North County was 100 percent contained by Tuesday morning, but remains at 70 acres, Cal Fire confirmed.

By 6 p.m. Sunday all evacuation orders had been lifted, and all roads that were closed in the area were opened.

After being 95 percent contained Thursday, the fire flared up again Friday, scorching 70 fresh acres and requiring new efforts on the fire line, officials said.

The fire, along the 38000 block of Pala Temecula Road in Pala, California, kicked up again at around 3:10 p.m. Friday, Cal Fire officials said. The winds in the area blew embers and fueled hot spots left over from a 45-acre blaze that firefighters had been tackling ever since Tuesday, when it initially sparked at a home on Pala Temecula Road and then quickly spread to surrounding vegetation.

[G] Pala Fire Hot Spots Amid Heat Wave, Mandatory Evacuations Ordered

From the time it reignited, the Pala Fire scorched another 70 acres, forcing mandatory evacuations for residents on the east side of Pala Temecula Road. The fire was 90 percent contained as of 12:30 p.m. Sunday, crews said.

Pala Temecula Road, initially shut down, was opened in both directions to everyone.

#PalaFire update: IC reports wind kicked up several spot fires across the line. Multiple units entoute from the air and ground. 1-2 acres.  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) June 3, 2016

Cal Fire officials said 70 to 100 structures were threatened by the flames. Evacuations were ordered around 5 p.m. Friday as the fire crept towards Rancho Heights, and some residents were later allowed to return to their homes.

An evacuation shelter was established at Great Oak High School on Deer Hollow Way in Temecula for those impacted by the blaze. Humane Society volunteers were also on-hand to help evacuate livestock in the rural neighborhood.

[G] Mandatory Evacuations Ordered, Pala Fire Spreads to 45 Acres

Some residents had to evacuate not just once, but twice over the course of both rounds of the Pala Fire, including John Almendarez.

"I couldnt get home and my wife was there today and saw smoke again and saw flames from our property that were kind of across the canyon," Almendarez told NBC 7.

Multiple ground units and air tankers were sent to the fire line.

At around 10 p.m. Friday, evacuees were allowed to return to their homes, Cal Fire officials said, as firefighters held the Pala Fire at 70 acres. Just before 11 p.m., authorities reopened some roads in the area, but only to residents making their way back into their homes.

#PalaFire Update:

Acres- 70

Containment: 35%  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) June 4, 2016

Cal Fire and County Fire Chief Tony Mecham said the forward rate of spread of the fire was stopped Saturday. At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, officials said Pala Temecula Road had reopened in both directions, for residents only.

"Drivers are encouraged to be extra cautious and drive slowly because firefighters are still working in the surrounding areas," fire officials added.

On Sunday, NBC 7 meteorologist Greg Bledsoe said high winds may hinder firefighting efforts as expected 20 mile-per-hour gusts swept into the county.

Well see slightly stronger winds today, which means firefighters may be dealing with a few gusts around 20mph as they work to put out the Pala fire," said Bledsoe.

Cal Fire officials also assured they had an upperhand on the situation Saturday.

"Firefighters are making good progress. Please watch out for fire personnel and equipment nearby," officials said in an 8 a.m. update.

According to Cal Fire officials, the first round of the Pala Fire destroyed eight unoccupied outbuildings in the area. By the time Thursday evening rolled around, the fire was 95 percent contained.

Good Morning,#PalaFire update #11:

Acres: 45

Containment: 95%



Have a fire safe day!  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) June 3, 2016

However, soaring temperatures and a heat wave in Southern California proved to be a setback in the fight against the fire Friday, when it reignited.

A house fire spread to surrounding brush Tuesday afternoon, burning 45 acres in the Pala area. Mandatory evacuations were ordered as crews worked to contain the flames. NBC 7s Candice Nguyen has more.

Cal Fire officials said approximately 250 fire personnel from agencies in San Diego's North County and Riverside County worked together to fight the Pala Fire. Crews enlisted the help of seven water tankers and five helicopters.

Cal Fire spokesman Kendall Bortisser said the steep terrain where the Pala Fire sparked hasnt burned since the 1940s, so fire crews were challenged with thick, heavy brush.

A house fire that sparked in Pala on Tuesday injured three people and damaged several county-owned buildings. The fire is now 45 percent contained after the flames consumed about 45 acres. NBC 7s Greg Bledsoe has the story.
Evacuation orders were lifted Sunday afternoon in the 516-acre Calabasas, California, fire that damaged several structures and forced thousands to flee their homes.

"One day it's there and the next day, it's smoldering like a wasteland," said Calabasas resident Pete Seltzer.

Three firefighters were injured during the fight, including two who suffered knee injuries and one who suffered a cardiac event, authorities said.

The massive blaze, which ignited just after 4 p.m. Saturday and was dubbed the Old Fire, forced the mandatory evacuations of 5,000 people in the Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville neighborhoods, and voluntary evacuations in adjacent areas, fire officials said.

The fire went from 30 percent containment early Sunday morning to 80 percent as of 5 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Evacuation orders were lifted at 6 p.m., meaning residents could return home. Blocked-off roads also reopened.

Officials initially said two homes sustained minor damage, but later confirmed only one had been damaged by fire retardant. A commercial building was destroyed by the blaze, while four other structures were damaged, according to LA County Fire.

The fire sparked after a driver lost control of a sport utility vehicle and crashed into power poles, downing lines in three different places, Captain Keith Mora said. The three fires broke out in the area near the 23000 block of Mulholland Highway and merged into one massive blaze which began edging closer to homes Saturday afternoon.

Up to 400 firefighters continued to fight the blaze Sunday morning, which was expected to flare up again. Fire officials said the head of the fire was moving east, towards a steep area of Topanga Canyon and firefighters may have to be airlifted to fight the blaze there.

A grateful homeowner delivered muffins to firefighters, thanking them for their tireless work as they ensured hot spots were under control.

The large fire came as NBC4 Meteorologist Shanna Mendiola warned of excessive heat warnings across SoCal, along with dry winds. Officials said they feared southwest winds could push the flames to the east Sunday, which could pose a challenge. Residents in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley were advised to avoid any vigorous outdoor activities as a smoke advisory was in effect through midnight.

CHP officers had closed Topanga Canyon Boulevard to all traffic between Mulholland Highway and Old Topanga Canyon Road, in the heart of the canyon village. The southern part of the unincorporated Topanga Canyon community was not evacuated, and a roadblock at Pacific Coast Highway prevented all but residents from approaching the village from the Malibu coast.

Residents were being evacuated to Agoura High School at 28545 West Driver Avenue. Anyone with large animals was asked to evacuate to Los Angeles Pierce College at 6201 Winnetka Avenue in Woodland Hills. Anyone with small animals should evacuate to the Agoura Animal Care Center at 29525 Agoura Road.

Long line of residents who live on Topanga Canyon Rd. No one allowed in right now. @NBCLA #OldFire pic.twitter.com/dXWb7IbVq5  Marin Austin (@MarinNBCLA) June 5, 2016

The Los Angeles County Fire Department compiled tips on what do if confronted with a fire. Experts advise against stopping to gather your belongings  just get out of the house if mandatory evacuations are ordered. Call the fire department from a neighbor's house.

Calabasas is a city of about 24,000 residents in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It is home to several affluent gated communities and numerous celebrities.
The U.S. Army has identified the ninth soldier who died, along with eight others, during a training accident at a Central Texas Army post on Thursday as Spc. Yingming Sun.

The 25-year-old from Monterey Park, California, entered active-duty military service in October 2013 as a motor transport operator and has been stationed in Fort Hood, since August 2014.

Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, of Twentynine Palms, California, was previously identified as one of the soldiers killed.

The soldiers died when their tactical vehicle was washed away while crossing the rain-swollen Owl Creek on the Fort Hood Army base.

Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, Brooklyn, New York, Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, Milton, Florida, Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, Palmetto, Florida, Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, San Angelo, Texas, Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, Dunn, North Carolina, Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, Jersey City, New Jersey, Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, Valparaiso, Indiana, were also killed Thursday.

Sun's awards and decorations include National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and Overseas Service Ribbon.

Three more soldiers were injured but survived. They were released from Fort Hood's hospital Friday.
A Florida man is in jail after Collier County's sheriff's deputies say he shot two unoccupied patrol cars.

The patrol cars were in adjacent parking lots Saturday near a Naples shopping and dining complex. Deputies outside a bar said they heard gunshots around 1:30 a.m. and then found a single bullet hole in each of the two cars.

They later arrested 22-year-old Stefan Morales and charged him with possession of a concealed firearm and shooting into an unoccupied vehicle.

It was not immediately known if Morales had an attorney.
New Jersey authorities have encountered a second case of dog hoarding this week.

The state's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and local police rescued 47 dogs on Saturday from a residence in Hopatcong, authorities told NBC 4 New York.

A 4-day-old puppy and several pregnant dogs were among those rescued.

Many of the dogs were covered in urine and feces, police said.

The dogs have been take to the Roxbury Animal Hospital and will eventually made available for adoption.

On Thursday, authorities seized more than 270 small dogs from a home in Howell in Monmouth County.

Many were sitting on bookshelves. One shelf was specially built near the ceiling of the living room, "like a hamster cage for dogs," according to Tierney Park, a Monmouth Sheriff's deputy. "They have steps that go up to the shelf and there were dogs looking down and barking."

There were others living under beds and even between walls. Many appeared petrified as they were brought out, having never been exposed to the outdoors.

The owners, Charlene and Joseph Handrick, are expected to face charges.
Over a dozen people were injured when a deck collapsed during a party in Brooklyn on Sunday, police said.

First responders received a call around 12:30 a.m. of reports over collapse at Bushwick Avenue in Bushwick, police said.

Authorities say 16 people were taken to local hospitals for injuries. Some sustained broken legs and broken ankles, though none of the injuries were life-threatening.

The building, known as Cook Mansion, was constructed in the late 1880s.

FDNY Battalion Chief Dennis Murphy said the collapse was likely caused by old age, rot and disrepair.

Kirstyn Peterson saw from her apartment across the street a scramble to help dozens of partygoers.

"When you saw them bringing stretchers and starting to mill through stuff, we realized there was, like, rubble and that's when we realized and we saw the deck wasn't there anymore," Peterson said.

Witness Noah Prebish said the scene was "pretty chaotic."

"We were about to walk into the party cause some of our friends were there," Prebish said, adding that he is glad nobody died.

The NYC Buildings Department told NBC 4 New York the landlord has been issued a violation for failing to maintain the deck in a safe manner.
Two people were injured Saturday when an explosion demolished a house in a small town in northwestern New Jersey, authorities said.

The blast occurred just after 5 p.m. in the town of Phillipsburg, police said.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation. No fatalities have been reported.

Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis told lehighvalleylive.com that one person was badly burned and flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital. The other individual sustained a minor injury, he said.

The mayor said authorities detected an odor of gas around the site after the explosion.

The town is located at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers on the border of Pennsylvania.
A knife-wielding thief wanted in a string of robberies at small businesses has struck again at a fast-food restaurant in Queens, police said Saturday.

The suspect entered a Subway restaurant at about 9 p.m. Friday on 108th Street, brandished a knife and demanded money, investigators said. He made off with as much as $400, police said.

The suspect left the area in what might have been a gray Honda, police said.

The robbery would marked the fifth by this suspect in Queens, police said. He's believed to have committed 17 robberies across Long Island.

In many of the robberies, a hooded man with a knife targets employees as they close up shop for the night.

No one has been injured in any of the hold-ups.

The robber has hit several donut shops, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.
A woman who helped her bookkeeper husband steal $234,500 from former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Joe Piscopo has been spared a prison term, prosecutors said Saturday.

Jennifer Larocca instead was sentenced on Friday to three years of probation. That came one week after her husband received a three-year state prison term.

The New Jersey woman had pleaded guilty in February to theft.

Prosecutors say Piscopo hired Frank Larocca to pay the comedian's bills and manage his bank account. The thefts occurred between February 2010 and March 2014.

The couple was wrestling with serious financial problems and used the money for personal expenses, investigators said. The couple has agreed to make full restitution and have already paid back nearly $64,000.

Piscopo's run on "SNL" lasted from 1980 to 1984.
Four people were wounded in a shooting Sunday in Coney Island, according to authorities.

The shooting at Neptune Ave and 16th Street took place around 2:40 p.m., police said.

When investigators arrived at the scene, they found a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and a 31-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the hand.

Both were taken to Lutheran Medical Center.

Police learned that two other wounded men had been driven in a private vehicle to Coney Island Hospital.

Both men are 21 years old. Police said one was shot in the thigh; the other was shot in the hand.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, authorities said.

Police recovered a gun at the scene. No charges have been reported.
Hostess Brands is recalling snack cakes and donuts because they may have come in contact with peanut residue.

The company said it was recalling 710,000 cases of different brands of snack foods out of an abundance of caution.

The products affected include single serve (snack cakes and donuts), multipack boxes and bagged donuts. Brands include Ding Dongs and Zingers.

They were sold in grocery stores, dollar stores, drug stores and convenience stores across the United states and Mexico.

The products, Hostess said in the recall, were produced using flour that came into contact with peanut residue.

Anyone with an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts who consumes any of the snacks involved in the recall may run into the risk of a serious or life-threatening reaction. Hostess has only received notices of two allergic reactions related to the products to date.

The company urges anyone who bought the affected snack items to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

The full list of products is on the FDA's website.
Thomas E. Schaefer, a retired Air Force colonel who was the ranking military officer among the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days before being released in 1981, has died in Arizona. He was 85.

David Schaefer said Friday that his father died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at a hospice in Scottsdale.

Schaefer was a military attache at the U.S. embassy in Tehran when militants seized the compound on Nov. 4, 1979, and 66 people were taken hostage.

From the first day of the takeover, Schaefer was singled out for special attention. As the ranking U.S. military officer in the embassy, he was accused of running a "nest of spies."

His captors paraded him blindfolded in front of television cameras and threatened repeatedly to put him on trial and execute him.

He spent 150 days in solitary confinement and began his captivity enduring 14 days of relentless interrogation in a freezing prison cell with damp floors and only a thin blanket for warmth.

"I could see my breath the entire time," Schaefer said in a 2004 interview. "They were breaking me down both physically and mentally. I could feel myself losing it."

He said he used a pin to punch a code into his Bible daily to get through the hostage ordeal.

Schaefer was among the last hostages who were released on Jan. 20, 1981. Just before the aircraft bringing the hostages home entered U.S. airspace, the co-pilot invited Schaefer to take his seat in the cockpit.

Schaefer retired from the Air Force less than two years later and was a professional speaker for decades.

His family said he spoke to more than a quarter-million students and adults about facing adversity.

"Really, he was a positive guy," David Schaefer said Friday. "He tried to educate and help people deal with really bad situations in their lives."

In 1998, Schaefer said the United States should re-establish relations with Iran for strategic reasons. But in 2013 he denounced the Iran nuclear deal as "foolishness," saying he didn't know of any Iranian leaders who could be trusted.

Born in Rochester, N.Y., Schaefer was a bomber pilot for the Air Force  first flying B-47s and then B-52s before he switched to administrative positions.

In retirement, Schaefer and his wife lived in Arizona for the last 30 years, first in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria and then in Scottsdale since 2013.

Schaefer is survived by his wife of 63 years, Anita; two sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

There will be a service at Arlington National Cemetery this fall.
Donald Trump flipped his position Sunday on the American-led coalitions intervention in Libya, NBC News reports.

Trump told CBS Face the Nation host John Dickerson he would have endorsed Moammar Gadhafis removal with surgical American strikes.

"I was never for strong intervention. I could have seen surgical where you take out Gadhafi and his group," Trump said Sunday.

This position contradicts the arguments hes made in the past. In two separate interviews in October 2015, Trump told NBCs Chuck Todd and CNN that the Middle East would be better off if the Libyan leader was still in power.

During the primary race, Trump argued that Gadhafi should have stayed in power because his leadership benefited American interests  not that the methods to depose him were wrong.
With the primary season near its end, a defiant Bernie Sanders declared Saturday that the Democratic presidential process should not be decided by party leaders and elected officials, predicting a contested summer convention against rival Hillary Clinton.

Speaking to reporters three days before the California primary, Sanders showed few signs of surrender, vowing to take his bid to the Philadelphia convention in July. He urged news organizations not to anoint Clinton as the presumptive nominee through a combination of pledged delegates and superdelegates.

"It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night," Sanders said. "Now I have heard reports that Secretary Clinton has said it's all going to be over on Tuesday night. I have reports that the media, after the New Jersey results come in, are going to declare that it is all over. That simply is not accurate."

Sanders said by the end of the primaries on June 14 neither candidate would have enough pledged delegates to declare victory and would be dependent upon superdelegates to reach the magic number. "In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention," he said.

Clinton currently leads Sanders among pledged delegates by a count of 1,769 to 1,501, an edge of 268 pledged delegates. An Associated Press count of superdelegates shows Clinton leading 547 to 46. Clinton is currently 67 delegates short of clinching the nomination through the combination of the two and is poised to cross that threshold in the coming days.

Sanders wants Democrats to break with tradition. In 2008, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama clinched the nomination against Clinton through a mix of both types of delegates. And superdelegates have historically backed the candidate who wins the most delegates from primaries and caucuses, a threshold Clinton is likely to cross this week.

"It is a deeply flawed process," Sanders said Saturday, "and whether I win this nomination or I do not win this nomination, I will do everything I can to change it."

Thousands are planning on protesting the Democratic National Convention. NBC10s Aundrea Cline-Thomas spent time with groups who plan to rally for Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic nominee.

The Vermont senator is seeking a victory in California, New Jersey and four other contests on Tuesday. A win in the Golden State, where polls show a tight contest, would be an embarrassment for Clinton and embolden Sanders to aggressively lobby superdelegates to switch their support to him, arguing he's the best candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Clinton has begun forcefully attacking Trump on national security and his overall temperament for the White House and has largely looked past Sanders, hitting hard at the GOP real estate mogul. She told supporters Friday that "if all goes well, I will have the great honor as of Tuesday to be the Democratic nominee for president."

Sanders is expected to return to his Vermont home on Wednesday and advisers say he intends to ramp up his courtship of the party's superdelegates, a process that is already underway, pointing to polls showing him faring better than Clinton in head-to-head matchups with Trump.

He will compete in the District of Columbia primary on June 14, the final contest. Beyond that, Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said they are considering whether Sanders might appear at more rallies around the country after the primaries and speak in Chicago at a gathering of Sanders' activists on June 17-19.

But a loss in California, the nation's most populous state, would undercut his case against Clinton.

"Once the numbers come in, I think we can begin a serious discussion among ourselves about what the right path for us is," said Tad Devine, Sanders' senior adviser. He added: "If he wins California and a lot of states, he'll want to make a closing argument to the superdelegates."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., says he has earned the right to have a strong influence on the partys platform at the DNC in Philadelphia this summer.

Sanders is pushing for his policy views to be included in the party's platform and wants the party to become more inclusive of independent and working-class voters.

"I am running for president because I want to give the American people a real choice in this election - a choice not just to vote against somebody but to vote for a vision for where our great country can become," Sanders said at the Los Angeles news conference. "It is very clear that Donald Trump's negative ratings are enormously high, unprecedented for a major party presidential candidate, and Secretary Clinton's negative ratings are also very, very high."

Recalling her own campaign against Obama in 2008, Clinton's team has avoided urging Sanders to leave the race. But if Sanders loses California, he's likely to face pressure to drop out.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this week that "sometimes you just have to give up," a sign of what could come next.

Sanders has said he will work "day and night" to defeat Trump, whom he repeatedly assails as a divisive figure. Yet few expect Sanders to quickly follow the example set by Clinton, who campaigned extensively for Obama after suspending the roll call vote at the 2008 convention and later, became his secretary of state.

Said Weaver: "Given what he has said I suspect there will certainly be a roll call vote at the convention."

Neither Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden have endorsed Clinton but their nod of approval would send a strong signal to Democrats and could marginalize Sanders' quest to push forward into the convention.

The AFL-CIO, the labor federation representing 12.5 million workers, has also withheld an endorsement but could send a powerful message to union members by backing Clinton. And progressive icons like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has stayed neutral in the primaries, could help bridge the gap between Sanders and Clinton loyalists.
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Environmental crews worked Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire, but officials said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife.

Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed Friday near Mosier, Oregon, about 70 miles east of Portland. Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2 a.m. Saturday.

No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine. Officials said they would consider lifting the evacuation order Saturday evening.

"I want to apologize to the community," Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said at a news conference, adding that the company would pick up the tab for the response costs. "This is the type of accident we work to prevent every day."

The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail  especially through populated areas or along a river that's a hub of recreation and commerce. The tank cars were carrying especially volatile crude from the Northern Plains' Bakken region, which has a higher gas content and vapor pressure than other types of oil.

More than 100 people rallied and marched in nearby Hood River, Oregon, on Saturday to call for a halt to the practice. Emily Reed, the city council president in Mosier, joined them.

In a telephone interview, Reed said her son was evacuated from school because of the derailment. Her husband, a firefighter, was a first responder. The family evacuated their house, and her father was unable to ship the first crop from his small cherry orchard.

"I've just listed four major risks that I have, and I don't see the benefit I'm getting in exchange for this risk," Reed said. "There is no safe way for these fossil fuel trains to come through our town, and I'd like to see them stopped until there are standards and we know it's safe.

"This isn't a one-off," Reed said. "It's happening in my town, but next time it'll be somebody else's town."

At first light Saturday, crews noticed a light sheen in the Columbia at the mouth of Rock Creek. Responders deployed about 1,000 feet of boom to contain it. It wasn't clear how much oil had spilled from the trains.

By Saturday afternoon, three of the cars had been re-railed. Crews had been waiting for the cars to cool before transferring the oil into tank trucks.

Union Pacific officials said Saturday the company had inspected the section of track where the derailment occurred at least six times since March 21. It was most recently checked last Tuesday, and within the past month, the company had used checked for imperfections and inspected the ground along the track.

To get to refineries on the East and West coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, oil trains move through more than 400 counties, including major metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia; Seattle; Chicago; Newark, New Jersey; and dozens of other cities, according to railroad disclosures filed with regulators.

Including Friday's incident, at least 26 oil trains have been involved in major fires or derailments during the past decade in the U.S. and Canada, according to Associated Press analysis of accident records from the two countries.

The worst was a 2013 derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Damage from that accident has been estimated at $1.2 billion or higher.

At least 12 of the oil trains that derailed over the past decade were carrying crude from the Northern Plains' Bakken region. Of those, eight resulted in fires.

Since last spring, North Dakota regulators have required companies to treat oil before it's shipped by rail to make it less combustible.

Reducing the explosiveness of the crude moved by rail was not supposed to be a cure-all to prevent accidents. Department of Transportation rules imposed last year require companies to use stronger tank cars that are better able to withstand derailments.

The tank cars that derailed in Oregon were newer model CPC-1232s, said Union Pacific spokesman Justin Jacobs.

Critics say the upgraded models still aren't safe enough to transport volatile Bakken oil.
Syrian troops reached the edge of the northern province of Raqqa on Saturday, home to the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's self-styled caliphate, in a push that leaves the extremists fighting fierce battles on four fronts in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

ISIS, which controls large swaths of territory in both countries, is fighting Syrian troops, U.S.-backed fighters and opposition militants in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces on their stronghold of Fallujah.

The Syrian government has had no presence in Raqqa since August 2014, when ISIS captured the Tabqa air base and killed scores of government soldiers. The provincial capital, Raqqa, became the militants' first city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops reached the "administrative border" of Raqqa province under the cover of Russian airstrikes. It said that during three days of fighting 26 ISIS fighters and nine troops and pro-government gunmen were killed.

The media arm of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces, said Syrian troops reached the border of Raqqa province after advancing about six kilometers (4 miles) on Saturday afternoon.

The front line is around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the city of Raqqa.

Syrian troops began their advance toward the province Wednesday, the same day that U.S.-backed forces launched an attack on the ISIS-stronghold of Manbij, some 115 kilometers (72 miles) to the northwest of Raqqa. It is unclear if the attacks were coordinated.

The U.S.-backed predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces advanced closer to Manbij, which lies on a key supply route linking the Turkish border to the city of Raqqa, Saturday.

The Observatory said SDF fighters had captured 34 villages near Manbij. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the fighting is now concentrated on the south of the town.

ISIS fighters are also engaged in fierce battles for the rebel-held stronghold of Marea, a town some 70 kilometers west of Manbij. ISIS has surrounded Marea on three sides but has failed to capture the city, which is under control of rebels and fighters from the al-Qaida affiliated Nusra Front.

"The fighting is very intense on three fronts in Marea," said opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby, who is based in northern Syria.

While battles rage in Raqqa province, Manbij and Marea, ISIS fighters are also coming under fire in their Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah. Iraqi forces launched their offensive on the city almost two weeks ago, and say they have reached the edge of town.

On the city's northern edge, Iraq's military issued a statement announcing that ISIS had been pushed out of the neighborhood of Saqlawiya, Saturday. The statement also said an Iraqi flag had been raised above the area.

However the main push into the city center has been slow. Heavy ISIS counterattacks and concerns for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside the city have slowed Iraq's elite counterterrorism troops, who are leading the push, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider alAbadi.

Meanwhile, violence in and around the contested northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and once commercial center, claimed more lives Saturday. The city has been the scene of fierce fighting, even during a truce brokered by the U.S. and Russia that went into effect in late February and collapsed weeks later.

The Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria said in a statement that the Nusra Front heavily shelled several government-held neighborhoods of the city.

Syrian state TV said the shelling of government-held parts of contested Aleppo killed 22 and wounded 23 people, while opposition activists said dozens were killed or wounded in rebel-held neighborhoods.

Intense fighting also took place south of Aleppo, where insurgents led by the Nusra Front attacked Syrian army position near the Khan Touman area, according to the Observatory and the activist, al-Halaby.

"The aim of the attack south of Aleppo is to reduce pressure on the city" by government forces, al-Halaby said.

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Jim Heintz in Moscow, Qassim Abdul Zahra in Camp Tariq, Iraq, and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.
I love the music scene in San Diego, but one little thing that has always gotten under my skin is the petty radio wars. I understand it's a business (note the irony of writing this on a property owned by a television broadcasting network), but if you like alternative, indie or progressive rock -- or whatever the term du jour may be -- chances are you flip your radio dial around, especially between 91x and FM 94/9. For the two major alt-rock stations to host their big annual shows on the same day is either some massive coincidence, or it was a choroeographed move to make fans choose one or the other. The thing is, they differ in size and scope, and they are two very different events. So check out the lineups and take your pick, but check each station's website for set times before you go. If you stay out of the radio battle altogether, Adia Victoria performs at the Casbah, Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers is at Soda Bar, and Los Van Van is at Music Box.

Sunday, June 5:

FM 94/9's SPF 94/9 2016 feat. Lucius, Jake Bugg, the Wombats, Awolnation, the Heavy, the Strumbellas and Finish Ticket @ Junior Seau Amphitheatre at Oceanside Pier

91x's X-Fest 2016 with Cheap Trick, the Offspring, Wolfmother, Kongos, Iration, Grace Mitchell, the Frights and SWMRS @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre

Los Van Van, Combo Libertad @ Music Box

Lady Antebellum @ San Diego County Fair

Adia Victoria, Dreams Made Flesh, AJ Froman @ Casbah

Eric Bachmann, John Meeks @ Soda Bar

Mainly Mozart Festival: Youth Orchestra @ Balboa Theatre

Rat Sabbath @ Bar Pink

Junior Brown, Adrian & Jim of Brawley @ Belly Up

Armored Saint, Metal Church, Sin Circus, Alchemy @ Brick By Brick

Civic Youth Orchestra End Of Season @ California Center For the Arts, Escondido

The Hotelier, Told Slant, Loone @ Che Cafe Collective

Courtney Bourgeois @ Java Joe's

Sir Julius, Acal, One Hunned, Young Assassin, Benny Bun, Eranetik, Shogunna @ The Merrow

The Couch Bombs, Sideshow, Punch Card @ The Bancroft

Reggae Sunday @ U-31

Jason Brown @ Humphreys Backstage Live (10 a.m.)

Funk's Most Wanted @ Humphreys Backstage Live (8 p.m.)

Tardeadas, Colour @ Tio Leo's

The Skaliticians @ Winston's (5 p.m.)

The Manhattan Transfer @ Sycuan

Open Mic Comedy @ Til-Two Club

Reggae Sunday w/ Throwback 80s & 90s Fashion Party @ Spin

Rosemary Bystrak is the publicist for the Casbah, the content manager for DoSD, and writes about the San Diego music scene, events and general musings about life in San Diego on San Diego: Dialed In. Follow her updates on Twitter or contact her directly.
SUMMERTIME SKI TIME: While many peak-pretty resorts push on into Memorial Day Weekend, in terms of keeping the slopes open, there are some decisions to make when June is fast on approach. Is it time to wrap the whole shebang up for another season? Should the poles be stowed and the knit caps put away and should skiers and snowboarders enjoy their final run? Several factors are weighed, and then the party parties on, or, conversely, the light switch is flipped. Mammoth Mountain, which did stay open through Memorial Day, has determined that there shall be no switch-flipping on the 2015-2016 season: It will schuss on right to Fourth of July.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: This isn't the first Fourth that the Sierra destination has celebrated via snow -- let's pause to say summer activities like hiking and biking are big on the mountain, too -- but it has been rather touch-and-go the last few years, precipitation-wise, to see how deep into spring or summer the final date could go. That's Monday, July 4, 2016, a late date thanks to the 361" of snowfall at Mammoth Mountain. How's the summit doing in early June? It has a base of 130", which is nothing to shake a pole at (not that you'd even consider it). As for hours? The mountain is moving to a mostly morning schedule on Monday, June 6, with opening times from 7:30 a.m. to a pinch after lunch -- 1 o'clock -- each day.
A Tustin man was injured Friday night when an e-cigarette exploded in his face, officials said.

Firefighters responded to reports of a person burned in the 14600 block of Carfax Drive just before 10:30 p.m., according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

Officials said a man in his 20s was smoking an e-cigarette in his bedroom when it exploded.

The man suffered burns and cuts to his face. He was taken to a hospital in unknown condition.

Others have been hurt in e-cigarette explosions as well. In April, an Orange County man lost his eye when the battery in an e-cigarette exploded next to him. In a February incident, a man in San Diego was taken to a hospital with burns on his leg caused by one such explosion.

The Food and Drug Administration announced last month it will begin reviewing hundreds of e-cigarette brands.
AF/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter jets and E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft launched from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) from the Mediterranean Sea Friday to help in the fight against ISIS.

Its the first time airstrikes have been conducted from the Mediterranean since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The airstrikes are aiding Iraqi troops who are fighting to retake Fallujah, Iraq and a northern border city in Syria from ISIS.

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, and the carrier is homeported in San Diego.
Donald Trump has been railing against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel for months, calling him everything from negative to a hater to very hostile."

Most recently, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Trump said Judge Curiels Mexican heritage created an absolute conflict in the Trump University case.

"I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest," Trump told the Wall Street Journal.

Judge Curiel is presiding over two of the three lawsuits against Trump University in San Diego.

Trump has brought up the judges heritage before, but this is the first time he has said it creates a conflict of interest in the case.

Youll be very hard-pressed to find anybody to say anything negative about [Judge Curiel], Federal attorney Guadalupe Valencia told NBC 7. Hes one of those people who are just really considerate, thoughtful and compassionate. Hes a judge whois extremely fair to both sides.

Valencia said he has known Judge Curiel the entirety of his 17-year-career, and when Curiel was a federal prosecutor he had an extremely good reputation for being a really good trial lawyer.

Valencia and Curiel met at the Federal Defenders Office when Valencia was starting as a federal defense lawyer. He explained when Curiel was part of Narcotics Enforcement in the 1990s There was an assassination plot against him, by the Tijuana drug cartel. There were some phone calls intercepted that there had been approval to assassinate him as a result of his work. He even had U.S. Marshall protection for a time because of the threat.

I dont think that or anything Donald Trump is saying about him ever deterred him or is going to deter him, Valencia said. Hes a determined lawyer, prosecutor and judge who really believes in what he does.

Valencia called Trumps comments about Curiels heritage offensive and illogical.

I think to attack a judges race and say thats the reason hes ruling against youis pretty ignorant, Valencia said. Race has no place inany court.

Curiel was appointed to the state supreme court by Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was later appointed to the federal district court by President Obama.

He treats every single lawyer with respect, Valencia explained. I dont think Ive ever heard a lawyer complain about him being rude or not thoughtful or not being fair. He is among the fairest judges in this town. Hes a really smart person. Hes got a long history of being involved with very serious cases and I dont think theres any litigant that youre going to find in this townwhos going to say he was unfair somehow.

Valencia explained if Trump feels the judge is biased he needs to articulate specifically what ruling is unfair.

In this particular case Donald Trump is bringing into the arena the fact that hes of Hispanic heritage, he said. Thats irrelevant.

He said hed be shocked if Trumps lawyers put in a motion wanting to recuse Judge Gonzalo because of his ethnicity. Obviously this is a lot of nonsense. This is an issue Donald Trump has tried to createbut Im certain the judge is unmoved by this.

Judge Curiel will continue to focus on the case and not be bothered by Trumps comments, he said. Valencia also pointed out that targeting the judges race is offensive because Curiel is an American who was born in the United States. He has a brother who is a federal prosecutor and another brother who served in Vietnam. Curiel was born the son of immigrants in East Chicago, Indiana.

For someone to point out that his parents come from another country is pretty offensive, he said. In fact [Trumps] family comes from another country and everybody in the United States, their family at some point came from another country also, so I just dont see the relevance.

He explained under Trumps argument no one would ever be able to preside over a case involving a person from another race or ethnicity.

Trumps statement should be offensive to all Americans, Valencia told NBC 7. [Judge Curiel] has served this country honorably.
A man in San Diegos North Park community has dumped chocolate chips in his yard in an effort to deter dogs, but the act is upsetting neighbors.

Frustrated with neighborhood dogs leaving waste on his lawn and dog owners not picking up after their pets, a man known as "John" recently scattered several pounds of chocolate chips in the grass in front of his home on Lincoln Avenue and in a nearby easement.

John said it was an experiment  and that it worked. Over the last several days pet owners have been steering clear of his property, with some neighbors afraid the candy will make their animals sick.

Some concerned residents have called San Diego County Animal Control and the San Diego Police Department to complain, saying this is threatening the lives of their pets.

Sarah Fisher is one of those worried residents, and shes warning others in North Park not to walk near Johns home.

[Residents] are scared of what he might do, Fisher told NBC 7. If he is doing this  which is like an animal genocide  pretty much, he's putting it out for animals to ingest and get sick.

Through social media and a neighborhood phone app, Fisher has been alerting local pet owners of the chocolate chips left in John's yard.

Fisher has a two-year-old golden doodle named Lucy that she walks with regularly. She is now avoiding Johns property but fears unsuspecting animals will stumble upon the candy and get sick.

John agreed to an interview Tuesday with NBC 7, if his face wasnt shown on camera. He said irresponsible dog owners are constantly not picking up after their pets and leaving piles of waste in his yard.

He said he has left signs in front of his home  including a note written on a yoga mat that suggests an animal could be electrocuted if it urinates on his tires.

However, those signs dont seem to work, John said, so he came up with the chocolate chips idea.

They can walk on the other side of the street, he said. I am tired of it. People disrespect my yard; I'm tired of the stuff.

John insists chocolate won't harm the animals. Still, there is a large school of thought that says it can be toxic to dogs and can lead to illness and even death, depending on what kind of chocolate it is and how much a dog ingests.

John said he plans to mow the grass in the next few days to get rid of the remaining chocolate morsels. However, his neighbors want something done about the situation immediately.

San Diego County Animal Control Deputy Director Dan DeSousa said animal services investigators were notified of this incident by North Park residents on Monday.

He said the investigation is ongoing, and no further details would be released at this time.



On Wednesday John said someone had broken the mirror on his car in what he believes is retaliation against him putting the chocolate chips in his yard.
A 23-year-old man was stabbed in Worcester, Massachusetts, Saturday, according to police.

Worcester Police responded to a report around 4:30 p.m. that a man was stabbed near Lincoln and Highland Streets.

The victim was found with wounds to his neck and arms. He was taken by ambulance for treatment.

Preliminary reports indicate the victim was in a dispute with another man, identified as 30-year-old Mark Lindstrom.

It's reported that Lindstrom stabbed the victim with a broken beer bottle before fleeing the scene.

With the aid of witnesses, Worcester Police were able to track down Lindstrom as he ran between houses on Moen Street. Lindstrom was found with fresh blood on his shirt, according to police.

Multiple witnesses identified Lindstrom as the man who committed the crime.

Lindstrom was arrested and charged with Armed Assault with Intent to Murder and Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon.
A motorcyclist fled the scene after striking a Massachusetts State Police trooper while drunk, the department said Saturday night.

The trooper was hit by the motorcycle around 5:30 p.m. Saturday on Revere Beach Boulevard. He had just gotten out of his cruiser after stopping another car.

Police say the rider had been seen moments earlier speeding and riding recklessly.

The motorcyclist hit the trooper, who was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital. He sustained injuries to his head and his upper body; he was undergoing tests Saturday night.

The operator, 26-year-old Danilo DiRoche of Lynn, was taken to Whidden Hospital for possible minor injuries. He faces charges including operating under the influence of liquor, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, leaving the scene of a crash that caused personal injury, failure to stop, driving to endanger and other driving violations.

Diroche is expected to be booked by state police upon his release from the hospital. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

The trooper sustained a contusion, laceration injuries and possibly a concussion.

State police initially said the trooper was on foot and had been trying to stop the motorcyclist, but explained in an updated press release that these details were incorrect.
A trooper police say was struck Saturday by a drunk motorcyclist in Revere, Massachusetts, has been released from the hospital.

The department confirmed Sunday that the injured trooper was returning home after being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for injuries to his head and upper body.

Police say 26-year-old Danilo DiRoche of Lynn was drunk when he slammed his bike into the trooper, who had just gotten out of his cruiser after stopping another vehicle.

DiRoche faces a list of charges including operating under the influence, leaving the scene of a crash causing injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, driving to endanger and failure to stop.

The suspect was taken to Whidden Hospital Saturday night. State police said Saturday they expected to book him upon his release. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
A man has been arrested in Brattleboro, Vermont, after police say he assaulted a 5-year-old girl.

On May 14, Brattleboro Police say they were called with the Vermont Department of Children and Families to a hospital room, where they found the young girl had "significant injuries to her face and body."

Police investigated and arrested 27-year-old Nikolaus Trombley of Brattleboro on Friday.

While authorities have not revealed Trombley's relation to the victim, they confirm that he faces charges of second degree aggravated domestic assault and cruelty to a child.

Trombley is being held without bail on a parole violation. He is due to be arraigned Monday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
A group of churches in Dereham have launched an ambitious project which aims to meet needs in the town, including the provision of food and skills training.

A group of churches in Dereham have launched an ambitious project which aims to meet needs in the town, including the provision of food and skills training.

Emilys art boosts growing Yarmouth foodbank A pupil at a primary school in Bradwell has been selling her pictures in order to raise money for the Yarmouth and Magdalen Foodbank, which is expanding its capacity and is seeking more volunteers. Read more

Patrick Regan helps Norwich to bounce forwards On Saturday St Stephens in Norwich hosted Bouncing Forwards as part of a national tour by the mental health charity Kintsugi Hope. Read more

Painting and biblical feasting in Overstrand There will be opportunities to improve your painting skills and indulge in some biblical feasting next month at the Pleasaunce in Overstrand in North Norfolk. Read more

Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more

National award for Dereham Christian bookshop The Green Pastures Christian bookshop in Dereham has won a national award for providing boxes of Christian books to 21 local schools. Read more

Norma's care home jigsaw challenge complete A resident at Norwich-based care home Corton House has completed an incredible 70 jigsaw puzzles in celebration of the homes 70th anniversary this year. Read more

Norwich charity's appeal to support Palestinian students A Norwich educational charity, set up in memory of a Norwich Anglican priest, to support students from a Palestinian refugee camp, is inviting people to support its Christmas appeal  to be launched on November 29. Read more

Norfolk drug and alcohol charity pays tribute to its founder Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley. Read more

Cliff look alike at Cromer Church breakfast Cliff Richard tribute performer Will Chandler will be the speaker at a special Mens Breakfast at Cromer Parish Hall next month, and all men are welcome to come along. Read more

Heartsease Lane Methodist church to close As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Read more

Free Julian of Norwich reflection and prayer day The Friends of Julian of Norwich present a free Quiet Half-Day with Robert Fruehwirth, author and former Priest Director of the Julian Centre, on Saturday November 12, 10.30am-2pm. Read more

What it means for us to repent Nigel Fox believes that now is the time for a tide of repentance, and shares his thoughts about what that actually means for our society. Read more

Christmas card shop opens in Norwich church Thousands of Christmas cards from around 30 local Norfolk charities have gone on sale today (October 19) at the Original Norwich Charity Christmas Card Shop inside St Peter Mancroft church in Norwich city centre. Read more

Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none. Read more

Farewell as Yarmouth church leader moves on Captain Marie Burr, the Salvation Army leader in Great Yarmouth, has paid tribute to everyone at the church and charity after she left her post at the end of last month to move to a new role. Read more

Norwich Cathedral chorister in BBC final Norwich Cathedral chorister Alice Platten has her sights set on being crowned BBC Young Chorister of the Year after reaching the final stages of the prestigious nationwide competition. Read more

Norwich to hear pastor, Policeman and tramp tale Essex Baptist Pastor Dave McDowell has been a Policeman, fed orphans in India and lived under a boat as a tramp. He will tell his remarkable story at the October dinner of Norwich FGB on Wednesday October 26. Read more


Pope supports Diocese as it celebrates in Norwich

Pope Francis has offered his prayers and support for the Diocese of East Anglia, which on Friday night (June 3) celebrated its 40th anniversary with a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Norwich. Keith Morris reports.

Up to 1,500 people, many of whom came from the 50 parishes of the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, attended the Mass when the preacher was Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and the chief celebrant was the Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Alan Hopes.



Cardinal Nichols said: The Cathedral houses the images of three East Anglian saints of the first millennium: St Felix, St Etheldreda and St Edmund: a bishop, an abbess and a king. They remind us that faith in these parts is as old as the hills. And they offer us a challenge to be diligent in our mission to live out the faith, playing our part in the continuing story of Christianity in East Anglia now and into the future.



The Solemn Diocesan Mass was presided over by Bishop Alan, who said: In the 2,000 year history of our Church, our 40 years may seem rather small and insignificant but, of course, these few years mark not only a beginning but also a fruition of a long period of evangelisation and Christian witness in this part of England.



Over the past 40 years, the Diocese has made its mark in the life of the whole Christian community, in its involvement with and outreach to the neediest and most vulnerable in our society. The Catholic community has played its full part in working together and co-operating with other Christians, especially in seeking the common good of all.



Apostolic Nuncio to the UK, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, brought Pope Francis message of support and prayers with him to the Mass, and it will be read out at Masses across the Diocese this weekend. The Nuncio also presented a Year of Mercy medal from Pope Francis, which will be displayed at the Cathedral.



The Popes message reads: His Holiness prays that you may all be renewed in your love of Christ and, in turn, revitalize your parishes, so that all may be a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey and a centre of constant missionary outreach (Evangelii Gaudium 28). In this way, you will manifest Gods love and mercy to the broader community and share the richness of our faith in Christ Jesus. Commending the Diocese of East Anglia to the loving protection of Our Lady of Walsingham, Pope Francis willingly imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord.



Other guests at the Mass included the Archbishop of Southwark (a former bishop of East Anglia), together with six other bishops, as well as local civic and religious leaders representing each area of the diocese which covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambs and Peterborough.



The Diocese came into existence 40 years ago, when Pope Paul VI approved the creation of the Diocese of East Anglia, and, on June 2, 1976, Bishop Alan Clark was installed as its first bishop. At the same time the church of St John the Baptist in Norwich became a Cathedral church, one of the largest in the country.



The congregation enjoyed a reception after the Mass and a special piece of anniversary birthday cake.



Pictured above is the Diocese of East Anglia's Anniversary Thanksgiving Mass and, above centre, from the left, Apostolic Nuncio to the UK Archbishop Antonio Mennini, Bishop of East Anglia Rt Rev Alan Hopes, Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster.




Everyone who has a personal story about Muhammad Ali is sharing it today, including this remarkable anecdote from Dan Bricklin, father of the spreadsheet, originally posted online in 1999.

For those of you too young to remember Ali as the most famous person in the world, let me tell you about the one time I saw him in person. I was at Ben Rosen / Esther Dyson's PC conference in Palm Springs, California; January 1983, I think. Ali was attending a fighter's training camp at the same hotel. We were walking to some event outside. I was next to Steve Jobs and maybe Bill Gates was there. Ali walked down the street. I just remember how we all stopped to watch, mouths open, even Steve. I remember how well he carried himself and his tailored clothes. It made our industry seem small -- here were our top people and all we could do was stand and stare as the Greatest walked by oblivious to us and our industry.

Mouths open, even Steve.

(UPDATE: There's no photo of the encounter -- or photo of Jobs and Ali together that I could find -- but here's the next best thing.)

(UPDATE, June 5: Apple has devoted its homepage to a tribute to Ali.

It reads: Muhammad Ali  1942-2016  The man who has no imagination has no wings. Here's a screen shot.

Coincidentally, the homepage picture of Ali appears to be the same one from Getty Images that I linked to above, only there you see Jobs standing beneath the photo of Ali in an Apple Store genius bar.)

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.
A plethora of people with the remote desktop tool TeamViewer have been in an uproar after their machines were remotely hijacked; in some cases over the past month or so, users had their bank or PayPal accounts sucked dry. TeamViewer denied it has been hacked and launched two new security measures.

After experiencing a TeamViewer takeover, IBM security researcher Nick Bradley thinks password reuse may be the problem. Bradley said he was gaming on his PC when he lost control of his mouse and TeamViewer popped up. He killed the app and dashed downstairs to another PC which had TeamViewer.

Sure enough, TeamViewer popped up on that machine and an attacker opened a browser to access a web page. Had he not been there to witness and thwart the takeover, he said he would likely be writing about his personal data leak instead of how he was almost hacked. He noted that some Reddit users have claimed to have had their TeamViewer accounts compromised, bank accounts drained, gift cards purchased and more.

Bradley had not used TeamViewer recently and had forgotten it was even installed on multiple machines. He mentioned the LinkedIn breach and that he had changed his password. At this point, I figured this was most likely due to me not changing my leaked password on TeamViewer, he wrote.

Bradley added:

My speculation on the actual activity I witnessed is that it was basic recon. The attacker was simply going from one compromised machine to the next to identify who the victim was and what the timezone was, as demonstrated by the URL the attacker tried to go to.

Yet Bradley did question if TeamViewer was breached or if some DNS mischief took place.

TeamViewer did experience an outage on June 1 due to a denial-of-service attack aimed at the TeamViewer DNS-server infrastructure. The company claimed it had nothing to do with users accounts being hijacked. It warned against careless use of account credentials by reusing passwords across multiple accounts.

Accusations that TeamViewer was hacked had been flying even before the DoS attack. On May 23 in response to an article which claimed users were having their bank accounts emptied by hackers gaining full-system access, the company said, There is no evidence to suggest that TeamViewer has been hacked. Neither do we have any information that would suggest that there is a security hole in TeamViewer. Therefore it is important to stress there are no TeamViewer hackers, but rather data thieves that will steal information from other sources.

But still, there continues to be a flood of TeamViewer-related tweets and threads on Reddit.

TeamViewer issued a new statement on Friday, June 3, and announced launching Trusted Devices and Data Integrity security features. In an open letter to all TeamViewer users, the company wrote:

As you have probably heard, there have been unprecedented large scale data thefts on popular social media platforms and other web service providers. Unfortunately, credentials stolen in these external breaches have been used to access TeamViewer accounts, as well as other services. We are appalled by the behavior of cyber criminals, and are disgusted by their actions towards TeamViewer users. They have taken advantage of common use of the same account information across multiple services to cause damage. At this point we want to underscore that TeamViewer account authentication uses the Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP) and therefore does not store any password-equivalent data.

To prevent an attacker from accessing your TeamViewer account, the company introduced Trusted Devices. When a new device attempts to sign into your TeamViewer account, you must click on a link in an email to confirm the device is trusted.

The Data Integrity security feature will monitor TeamViewer accounts for unusual behavior, such as being accessed from a new location as that might indicate an account has been compromised. To safeguard your data integrity, your TeamViewer account will be marked for an enforced password reset. In this case, you will receive an email from us with instructions to reset your password.

With over 642 million passwords being sold in the cybercriminal underground from the megabreaches involving LinkedIn, MySpace, Tumblr and Fling, it could be that TeamViewer was not hacked and users have been reusing passwords.

As Brain Krebs said on Krebs on Security:

My guess is that a large number of Teamviewer users either re-used passwords at some of the social networking services whose usernames and hashed passwords were posted online this week, or they are Teamviewer users who unfortunately were caught up in the day-to-day churn of systems compromised through other malware. In any case, there is a lengthy thread on Reddit populated by Teamviewer users who mostly claim they didnt re-use their Teamviewer password anywhere else.

Details from 129 people listed as TeamViewer victims spun off from a single Reddit thread. Check your logs if you have TeamViewer for any suspicious logins. If you plan to keep TeamViewer installed but step up security, then a Reddit post warned that if you enable 2FA or reset your password, it will wipe the list of active logins on the TeamViewer management console website.

It should go without saying, but please use a unique and strong password for each account. If you reused a password across multiple sites and accounts, and that password was part of the megabreaches, and if you still havent changed it, then you are playing Russian roulette.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Osaka: Amid 10 state-run lenders suffering losses of over Rs 15,000 crore in the March quarter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised greater capital support to banks while warning that defaulters cannot be allowed to "sleep well", leaving all the worry to bankers.



He also rejected suggestions that huge losses being posted by public sector banks (PSBs) were like "skeletons tumbling out", saying NPAs were mostly due to business-related losses in certain sectors, rather than due to frauds, and one must "distinguish between chalk and cheese".



Jaitley, who was on a six-day visit to Japan to attract investments, said the losses were because of provisioning to cover for bad debt and most of the banks including State Bank of India and PNB had good profits at operational level.



"Look at the balance sheets of these banks. Punjab National Bank operationally had a good profit, SBI had a good profit. It is the provisioning which makes it look like a loss," the Finance Minister told PTI.



Stating that non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans have always been there, Jaitley said: "Whether you keep it below the carpet or you bring it into the balance sheet... I think a transparent balance sheet is the best way of doing business and that's what the banks are today doing."



"I am very clear, the government will fully strengthen the banks and fully support the banks where it is needed. I have declared a figure in the Budget, but I am willing to look at a higher figure if that is necessary," he added.



On measures being taken to empower the banks, he said bankruptcy law is one empowerment while the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) mechanism of RBI is also there.



"What we are doing to several other recovery laws the Securitisation, Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) itself is an empowerment. Therefore you cannot indefinitely have a situation where people who owe money sleep well and bankers have to worry. I think the people who owe these monies will also have to act," he said.



Asserting that all NPAs are not bank frauds, he said there may be some improper loans but there were a large volume of loans resulting from business losses or on account of sectoral losses.



"The loans were rightly given, sectors haven't done well. So to say that these are all skeletons stumbling out (is not correct). A business loss is not a skeleton. A skeleton is something which is done as a scam or a scandal and therefore we must be careful to distinguish between chalk and cheese as far as the banking NPAs are concerned," he said.



Additionally, the three critical areas of future will be to continue the spend on infrastructure, rural India and social security, the Finance Minister said.



Infrastructure spending would involve building modern railways and trains, better air services, more electricity than what is required, bigger highways, toilets and more ports, he added.



Stating that rural India has been neglected the most, he said maximum resources should flow there.



"I think this whole series of steps we have taken now have to become bigger leaps as far as social security is concerned. Any developed economy in the world cannot be without a social security bracket.



"So far people have not even spoken about it in India and I think this is the first government which is taking steps in that direction and that will have to consolidate over the next three years," Jaitley added.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday summoned Raninder Singh, son of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, for violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act.



Sources said Raninder has been summoned by the agency at its Chandigarh office to explain the alleged movement of funds to Switzerland and creation of a trust and few subsidiaries in the tax haven of British Virgin Islands. The said instances have earlier been investigated by the Income Tax department and a case in this regard is currently in court in Punjab. The next hearing in this case is slated for July 26.



When contacted, Raninder said said he has nothing to hide and was willing to cooperate on the issue.



"This was already being looked into by the Income Tax authorities. We have nothing to hide and we will fully cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate," he said. The case came to fore when Income Tax department received details of Raninder allegedly holding the offshore account in the alpine nation as part of details received in this regard by the Central Board of Direct Taxes from their French counterparts in 2011.







The sources said ED investigators have gathered necessary documents in this regard from the tax department and the RBI and they suspect alleged "contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act" by Raninder and hence require him to join investigations.



Both Raninder and his father Amarinder Singh, a Lok Sabha Member, have denied any wrongdoing and have termed as false these charges made against them.



(With PTI inputs)
Chandigarh: Security arrangements in Haryana have been tightened after Jat leaders called for a fresh agitation on Sunday to press for their demand seeking reservation in jobs government organisations.



The Manohar Lal Khattar government is not taking any chances and has asked multiple security forces to ensure law and order situation in the state.



Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Ram Niwas said, "Apart from the state police, 4,800 paramilitary jawans have been deployed in all the sensitive areas and the administration is on high alert to prevent any untoward incident."



Sources said, khap panchayats have decided not to take part in the agitation but All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) is going ahead with the protest to press their demand.



The Centre is likely to send additional forces of 15 companies in Haryana as a back up. Unlike the previous agitation in February, this time the state government has restricted the protesters to hold dharnas in a specific place (fixed by the government) in all the districts.



Special security measures have been taken to guard the Western Yamuna Canal in Sonipat district, railway stations, railway tracks and highways. Internet and bulk SMS services have been blocked in many areas as this could be used to spread misinformation. The restriction will remain in force until further notice from the state government.



In February, the agitators had blocked the water supply to the national capital by damaging the Carrier-Lined Channel (CLC) of Munak Canal and also indulged in large scale violence paralysing the state for several days.







Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPc have already been imposed in seven sensitive districts of Haryana. In some of the high sensitive zones, paramilitary forces were asked to conduct flag marches.



Meanwhile, the business community which faced massive financial loss during the first phase of quota stir appealed for peaceful protest.



"We appeal to Jat leaders that they should keep their agitation peaceful and there should not be any kind of disorder so that nobody should face any loss," Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal, President, Bajrang Dass Garg said.



(With inputs from PTI)
Pathankot (Punjab): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday came down heavily on Pakistan saying if the latter does not allow an National Investigation Agency team to visit the country for probe into the attack on the Pathankot airbase, it would be a "betrayal" to India.



Addressing a gathering of prominent persons and intellectuals in Pathankot, the Home Minister said when the Joint Investigation Team of Pakistan proposed to visit India for investigating the Pathankot terror attack case, it was mutually agreed that after the visit of the Pakistani investigators to India, a team of NIA would also visit the neighbouring country for probe and interrogate some people.



"But so far Pakistan has not given permission to the NIA to visit there. If the NIA team is not allowed to visit Pakistan, it will be a betrayal to India," he said.



The Home Minister said Pakistan should prove that it was not supporting terrorism by allowing the NIA team to visit Pakistan.



Singh said it was established that the attackers of Pathankot airbase came from Pakistan and India has taken the issue very seriously.



Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, the Home Minister said Kashmir has never been an issue for India and Pakistan.



"If there is an issue, it is the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, not Kashmir, he said.


London: 'Britain's loneliest dog', who has been living in an animal shelter for six years and has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, has landed a role in the the new Transformers movie.



Freya the Staffordshire bull terrier was dubbed 'Britain's loneliest dog' after spending almost her entire life living in animal shelters, watching more than 50 of her kennel mates be re-homed during her time at the centre.



Freya was spotted on Facebook by animal loving Hollywood movie director Michael Bay, who decided to cast her in the fifth instalment of the blockbuster Transformers series.



Bay, 51, said that if the role did not find the dog a home, he would keep her, 'The Mirror' reported.



"We are thrilled at the opportunity of a movie deal for Freya and at such interest and support from a major film director who is also a dedicated animal advocate," a spokesperson for Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, where Freya is currently lodged, said.



Till now, Freya has been rejected by 18,000 potential owners, but staff at Freshfields hope that she will now find a loving home.



"Freya is a beautiful dog with a beautiful personality, and that will shine through to the right person," said Debbie Hughes, fundraiser at the shelter.
New research has found that some men can increase how masculine they come across to the opposite sex just by applying deodorant.



A team at the University of Stirling, UK looked into what effect wearing deodorant had on perceptions of masculinity and femininity.



The team recruited 130 female and male participants and asked them to rate facial masculinity and femininity using photographs.



A further 239 men and women were recruited to rate odor samples of 40 opposite sex individuals.



The team found that all the women, no matter what their initial femininity rating was without deodorant, were rated as more feminine-smelling by men once deodorant was applied.



As for the men however, only those rated as low in masculinity were then rated as significantly more masculine after applying deodorant, making the two male groups essentially indistinguishable in terms of perceived masculinity -- men who already were perceived as highly masculine were rated the same whether they applied deodorant or not.



The findings suggest that women are not only more sensitive or attentive to odor cues than men, but also that all the women saw their own femininity rating boosted through fragrance use.



As for the men's more complex results, Dr Caroline Allen, lead author of the study, commented that, "This means that men are able to use deodorant to artificially raise their game so to speak, levelling the playing field by making themselves comparable, at least as far as odor is concerned, to more masculine men. Our evolutionary preferences have likely shaped this difference in fragrance design: research findings show that we actually don't like high levels of masculinity which are often associated with aggressiveness and hostility, but we show no upper limit on our femininity preferences."



The study can be found online in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
Lucknow: Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan was all praise for young girls, who are promoting menstrual health and hygiene in the Uttar Pradesh (UP), under UNICEF's 'Garima' project.



The 35-year-old UNICEF Goodwill Advocate said the girls are "champions of change" and are contributing a lot in empowering women across the state.



"All the girls I met today are brave and empowered adolescents. They are champions of change and without their contributions we can't break the silence around gender equality and the rights of girls and women."



"We have countless number of empowered adolescent girls in India and I had the privilege to meet some of them from UP. I would like to thank UNICEF for supporting these girls in their journey. They are now champions of promoting a crucial cause," Kareena said.



'Garima', a UNICEF- spearheaded project addresses and strengthens menstrual hygiene management in UP.



It aims at piloting a social and behavioral change and communication strategy for menstrual health and hygiene management among rural adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years, who have experienced or are about to experience menarche.



MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav said, "Today is a very special day, because we are talking about menstrual hygiene, publicly for the first time. Mother-daughter bonds are very strong and we talk about so many issues but often not about menstruation.



"We as mothers do not teach our daughters often as they might get scared. Talking about menstrual hygiene is a very important issue. We need to talk about this issue and no longer should it be considered as a social taboo."



After meeting the girls, the 'Ki & Ka' star attended a felicitation event along with government officials, UNICEF team and its partners.



"Despite numerous interventions on sanitation and health, menstrual hygiene and management has not yet received adequate attention.



"Given the social and cultural taboos around menstruation, addressing it is crucial towards impacting the well-being and empowerment of adolescent girls and also to reduce school drop-out among them," said Niloufar Pourzand, chief of the UNICEF office, UP.
Filmmaker Kiran Rao has lodged a complaint with Cyber Crime Cell against an impostor who has created her fake facebook account.



According to media reports Rao has stated that someone has opened a fictitious Facebook account in her name and has been chatting with her friends and family members.



The cyber crime police station registered a FIR against an unknown person for cheating by impersonation and identity theft.



K M M Prasanna, Additional commissioner of police (crime) confirmed that such a complaint had been lodged but declined to give out any further details quoting it as a "sensitive matter".



According to media sources, Rao submitted a written application to the cyber police, complaining that recently her friends told her about a series of chats on Facebook, which she was clueless about.



"After going through her application, we have registered an offence and have started investigation," said a police officer.



Well, looks like impersonation and identity theft of celebrities has become common and cyber security has become a grave concern for all the known people of the industry.




First sched wrap of #badrinathkidulhania ShashankKhaitan @karanjohar. Miss @aliaa08 you missed it but we missed you pic.twitter.com/M1tSKx80rS  Varun JUNAID dhawan (@Varun_dvn) June 5, 2016

Actor Varun Dhawan has wrapped up shooting of the first schedule of 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania', which also has actress Alia Bhatt in the lead.The 29-year-old actor shared the update about the film with his fans and followers on Twitter on Sunday.Varun posted an image of himself with the entire crew of the film, saying that he will miss them all.He shared: First schedule wrap of 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' Shashank Khaitan, Karan Johar. Miss Alia Bhatt you missed it but we missed you."After working in 'Student of the Year' and 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania', Varun and Alia will be seen together in the upcoming film. They will also share screen space with each other in Karan Malhotra's directorial 'Shuddhi'.Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar and presented by Fox Star Studios, 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' is being helmed by Shashank Khaitan.The film's motion poster shows Varun and Alia in a "desi" avatar, amidst a rural backdrop set in a fair.The Dharma Productions film is set to release the film on March 10, 2017.
Mumbai: Actress Zareen Khan, who has been lauded for her physical transformation, says weight loss was not due to any pressure.



"It wasn't due to any pressure...I never do anything under anyone's pressure. I have always strived to lead a fit life whether I was a part of this industry or not since I was an overweight teenager," she said.



The actress says she "really liked everything about this journey of fitness".



Zareen, who is all set to be seen in the upcoming film 'Divine Lovers' by Sai Kabir, says there is no looking back now.



"I had started my initial steps towards it and so, that's why there's no looking back now," she added.


San Francisco: Amazon on Friday boasted that its virtual assistant Alexa is capable of 1,000 "skills," as the online retail giant bolsters defenses against rivals such as Google and Apple.



The Seattle-based company said in a blog post that the programs were developed specifically for the voice-commanded Alexa software used in Amazon devices such as Echo and Fire TV.



Amazon released voice-enabled wireless speaker Echo in late 2014, infusing it with virtual assistant smarts that enable it to answer questions or control linked devices upon command.



A kit lets outside software developers create "experiences," similar in concept to apps, for Alexa.



Alexa director Rob Pulciani said tens of thousands of developers are learning about and crafting programs that introduce users "to the magic and simplicity of hands-free, voice-driven interactions."



Amazon is out to put Echo and Alexa at the heart of the connected home.



Alexa's skills include selecting music, appointment reminders, checking bank balances, ordering food, summoning Uber rides and more.



Amazon has not disclosed sales figures for Echo, but the device appears to be having success in the market due, in part, to beating rivals out of the starting gate.



Google Home coming



Google last month 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 said at the opening of the Internet giant's annual developers conference.



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 conference.



"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.



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.



Google did not disclose pricing on Home devices.



"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.



Apple is expected to enter the market with a home assistant device of its own, perhaps unveiled at its annual developers conference taking place later this month in San Francisco, according to rumors swirling ahead of the event.


They were among dozens of IS members killed by their own leadership in recent months in a vicious purge after a string of airstrikes killed prominent figures.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest city held by IS across its "caliphate" stretching across Syria and Iraq, a succession of militants who held the post of "wali," or governor, in the province have died in airstrikes.

In March, a senior commander with the Islamic State group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead terrorists in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion.The killing of Abu Hayjaa al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadi, sparked a panicked hunt within the group's ranks for spies who could have tipped off the US-led coalition about his closely guarded movements. By the time it was over, the group would kill 38 of its own members on suspicion of acting as informants.Others have disappeared into prisons and still more have fled, fearing they could be next as the jihadi group turns on itself in the hunt for moles, according to Syrian opposition activists, Kurdish militia commanders, several Iraqi intelligence officials and an informant for the Iraqi government who worked within IS ranks.The fear of informants has fueled paranoia among the militants' ranks. A mobile phone or internet connection can raise suspicions.As a warning to others, IS has displayed the bodies of some suspected spies in public or used particularly gruesome methods, including reportedly dropping some into a vat of acid.IS "commanders don't dare come from Iraq to Syria because they are being liquidated" by airstrikes, said Bebars al-Talawy, an opposition activist in Syria who monitors the jihadi group.Over the past months, American officials have said that the US has killed a string of top commanders from the group, including its "minister of war" Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, also known as Abu Wahib, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Haji Iman, Abu Alaa al-Afari or Abu Ali Al-Anbari.As a result, those appointed to governor posts have asked not to be identified and they limit their movements, the Iraqi informant told The Associated Press. Iraqi intelligence officials allowed the AP to speak by phone with the informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his life.The purge comes at a time when IS has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi government offensive recaptured the western city of Ramadi from IS earlier this year, and another mission is underway to retake the nearby city of Fallujah.Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some IS fighters began feeding information to the coalition about targets and movements of the group's officials because they needed money after the extremist group sharply reduced salaries in the wake of coalition and Russian airstrikes on IS-held oil facilities earlier this year.
Los Angeles: When an active shooter alert spread across the UCLA campus Wednesday, some students found themselves in a frightening predicament: They were told to go into lockdown but couldn't lock their classroom doors.



Images of students piling tables, chairs and printers against doors on social media sparked alarm and raised questions - yet it was hardly the first time students at a university or school were unable to lock their doors during a shooting.



The same issue arose during other recent deadly attacks, including one at Virginia Tech in 2007 where students barricaded themselves inside rooms and at Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 where teachers did the same.



Some schools have installed locks in recent years following attacks, but experts say wider adoption has been hindered by the cost to retrofit doors and local fire codes that require doors to open in one motion during emergencies.



Yet once an active shooter is in a building, most security experts agree getting into a locked room is one of the most effective deterrents against getting injured or shot.



"How many deaths would it have taken for us to address this issue more seriously?" said Jesus Villahermosa, president of Crisis Reality Training, noting that an assailant, knowing police are on the way, usually won't bother trying to access a locked room.



The former deputy sheriff said UCLA was fortunate in that shooter Mainak Sarkar targeted professor William Klug and then committed suicide. If he'd gone on a rampage, he might have easily found students unable to defend themselves.



The university said yesterday it was "assessing safety measures" across the campus and will make appropriate changes.



It's unknown exactly how many school and university classrooms don't have doors that can lock from the inside.



Villahermosa said the issue is more prevalent on college campuses than K-12 schools.



There are a variety of reasons why a school may not have classroom locks.



Older buildings constructed at a time when classrooms typically contained just desks and a chalkboard and not the expensive technology many have today frequently did not include them.



Fire safety regulations for rooms with 50 or more students typically require that doors swing outward and be opened in one motion, meaning a bolt that has to be turned first would be a violation.



Others worry locking doors from the inside in itself could pose a threat. If an attacker walked inside and locked the door, students would be trapped. And the cost of installing new doors and locks can stretch into the millions.



In March, Sarkar posted online that Klug the man he had praised in his 2013 dissertation as a mentor had made him "really sick."



"He was a little bit of a loner," said Ajit Mal, an engineering professor who taught Sarkar in one of his earliest classes at UCLA, where he enrolled in 2006.


Pioneer of local Ethiopian Orthodox Church remembered

Springer, aged 89, died on May 26 (Corpus Christi). The funeral service for him is being held at Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Old Golden Grove Road, Arouca.

His son, Zene Amlak Mengist, told Sunday Newsday that from his birth and a young age there were signs that his father was destined for great things.

EARLY YEARS Garnet Cecil Springer was born on July 10, 1926 to parents Guy Springer and Louiser Williams- Springer. In what would have been a surprise to many, he was born with locks that touched his shoulder, teeth and a cord over his eyes.

Special works are ascribed to person so born, says tradition and his works do testify, his church stated in a profile.

One of six children, he spent his early years in Freeport Village and attended St Marys RC school.

Mengist said that from a young age his father began having visions. At age six he fell into a trance for 20 hours. With an undetectable heartbeat his family believed that he was dead but he eventually awakened.

He told his relatives that he was in a room with white roses and the music nearer to God. His church pointed out that even at age 89 he had a sterling memory and could recount every detail of the experience.

His parents were members of the Church of England but they had difficulty getting the young Springer to attend. Mengist said his father would say that any time he went he felt like his life was coming out. He would run out of the church and would not remain even though his parents would beat him.

Eventually his mother decided that if he did not want to go they should leave him. At age nine his mother died and Springer had said he knew it would happen. At age 17 he was at shop and heard two men arguing that no one could read the entire Bible without going mad. Springer took this as a challenge and did so in three weeks.

That changed his whole outlook of life, Mengist pointed out.

He said that his father visualised the dismantling of the British Empire and the Caribbean islands and African states gaining independence.

Springer, despite objections by his father, gave up on his secondary education and pursuing a career in dentistry to focus on liberation of African people through the scriptures and also through language and culture. His grandfather once tied his father to a tree and threatened to shoot him unless he changed. Springer, however, refused and his father, Mengists grandfather, put down his gun and released him, telling him he was crazy.

STARTING A MOVEMENT Springer began learning the Niger- Congo language of Yoruba from a Nigerian studying at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, now The University of the West Indies.

Around 1944, following an introduction by his aunt, Springer met David Modeste, a chaplain in The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) founded by Jamaican political leader and Pan African proponent Marcus Mosiah Garvey. In early 1945 the two began teaching Yoruba classes in Claxton Bay and also revived the UNIA with the help of Joseph Thomas, who had previously visited Ethiopia.

With the help of Thomas daughter in New York, they secured the Charter, which was launched on October 16, 1946, at St Margarets Village, Claxton Bay and was unveiled by politician Chanka Maharaj.

They had 16 branches with approximately 3000 members throughout the country.

The church reported that in 1949, disenchantment within the UNIA led Modeste and Springer to leave and form the more spiritual, Universal African Nationalist Pioneering Association (UANPA), and this gave them a vehicle to continue their work.

The church pointed out that Springer and Modeste organised the first emancipation day celebration on August 1, 1947; it would not become an official holiday until 1985. The celebration took the form of a train pilgrimage from Siparia to Rio Claro to Sangre Grande to Princess Building Grounds, Port-of-Spain.

Springer, however, sought a connection to the Church of Ethiopia; Mengist explained his father viewed this as the mother church.

Springer contacted Davidson Kwati Arthur (Arthur Mar Lukas) a Nigerian residing in Ghana who was believed to be an Ethiopian Coptic Bishop. Mar Lukas arrived in Trinidad in October 1950.

MEETING EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE The following year Springer made contact with Father Gabre Eyesus Hailu, who was in Rome translating Geez (the liturgical language of the Ethiopian church) and Amharic text (a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia) into Latin and Italian for the Vatican. Mengist said that they were surprised to find out that Hailu was actually a Roman Catholic priest. He pointed out that despite the error his visit boosted the movement and Hailu was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the visit to Ethiopia by Springer and Mar Lukas in 1952 by recommending the pioneers to Emperor Haile Selassie and His Holiness, Abuna Basilios, The Patriarch of Ethiopia.

Mengist said when his father arrived in Ethiopia he felt like a prodigal son coming back home to greet his brother sand sisters.

Springer and Mar Lukas met with the Emperor and shared a tenpoint plan which included sending missionaries to Trinidad and Tobago.

After some legal difficulties over sending Ethiopian missionaries to what was still a British colony, Rev Abba Gabre Eyesus Meshesha and Deacon Abera Jembre arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on December 16, 1952. Union pioneer Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler and members of the Spiritual Baptists faith were on hand to welcome the Ethiopians and the pioneers. There was a procession from the Port of Portof- Spain to Arouca. On February 9, 1956 the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago by an Act of Parliament.

Mengist said his father became an evangelist for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and spread the message to 12 Caribbean countries and helped promote the church in the United States, Canada, London and Germany.

He loved to preach, he recalled.

Mengist said because of his father growing up he felt a sense of pride as an African and not a negro or a Trinidadian. I felt proud of my colour, he added.

In 1959 Springer was ordained deacon and later in September 1993 was ordained as a Kes (married priest). He had married his wife Merle and fathered three children.

He also became the churchs administrator and archpriest (Lique Kihanet) in charge of Holy Trinity (Kidus Selassie) parish, in Port-of-Spain, positions he held until his death.

Mengist said his fathers death was very sad for the church and he had been a father figure to the youths, encouraging them to get married and stay away from common law arrangements. He also taught them to respect all human beings. Mengist stressed that though his father preached about the injustice of Africans by Europeans and the Church of Rome and he encouraged people to show love and have no hate or prejudice towards them.

Springer was also a director in the Agricultural Development Bank, a member of the cooperative movement, helped organised Grenadas Expo in 1969, in the 1960s helped broker peace between the government and Rastafarians in Jamaica, was involved in the NGO movement and in 1986 represented this country at the 7th People to People International Worldwide Conference and met former US President Ronald Reagan. He was widely traveled and addressed international audiences. In May 2014 he returned to Ethiopia and he was given an unprecedented opportunity as the only West Indian, to address the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) for which he received a standing ovation.

Following this address, Springer received written personal commendations from His Holiness, Abuna Matias, Archbishop of Aksum and Echegue of the See of St Teklehaimanot, the sixth Partiarch of Ethiopia. The correspondence stated inter alia It was a great pleasure for all of us to meet you and listen to your blessed and kind words, You are truly the son of God who committed your entire life serving the EOTC. You will be remembered by our Holy Church for your relentless efforts to introduce the parish Church of our Holy Church for the first time, decades ago, in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has eight branches in Trinidad and one in Tobago and thousands of members. And that would not have been possible without the vision and efforts of Dr Liqe Kihanet Abraham Garnet Cecil Springer.
50 pregnant girls get help

.The girls are among 150 in the same age group that the authority has identified being in relationships with adult men says Childrens Authority Public Education and Communications Manager Cheryl Moses-Williams.

The authority has been investigating the cases and providing support and other interventions to the girls in this age group, she said.

Some are in places of safety and childrens homes, while others are with their families, Moses- Williams told Sunday Newsday on Friday.

Families have been reporting because the age of consent was raised to 18 with the proclamation of the Childrens Act which criminalises sexual conduct between adult and children, she noted.

As of May 18, 2015, the age of consent for sexual intercourse in Trinidad and Tobago (TT) was raised to 18 with the proclamation of the Childrens Act by President Anthony Carmona.

However, even though the age has been raised the local laws under the marriage acts of TT still provide for marriage from as low as 12 years under religious grounds. Marriage in TT is considered a union between a man and a woman as husband and wife.

Asked about the authoritys role in taking legal action against the adult men who would have committed statutory rape against the girls, Moses-Williams said that criminal investigations were conducted by the Child Protection Unit of the TT Police Service.

The authority, she said, was responsible for the initial investigation, assessment and coordination of care services for the girls.

Noting that the Childrens Authority was very concerned about the issue of teenage pregnancy, she said that it was a priority area in terms of prevention and advocacy strategy.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi told religious leaders at a meeting at his Portof- Spain office that between 2008 and 2015, a total of 35 girls under 12 years were made pregnant by adult men, and 2,654 girls between the ages of 13 to 16 were also made pregnant by adult men.

Birth certificates, he said, showed that some of the men who made the girls pregnant were between 16 to 40 years.

Al-Rawi also noted that 81 girls between ages 13 and 16 had pregnancies terminated from 2011 to 2015, and 683 girls between 17 and 19 years terminated pregnancies (764 in total) over the same period.

Meanwhile, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan, South West Regional Health Authority former chairman and gynaecologist Dr Lackram Bodoe, and public relations officer of the Network of NGOs Marcus Kissoon have said the issues of teenage pregnancy and teenage abortion need to remain high on the national agenda to protect girls after Al-Rawis disclosure that 764 teenage girls terminated pregnancies in three public health institutions between 2011 and 2015.

Khan said he was glad Al-Rawi made the figures public, while indicating that abortions may have occurred in private hospitals and in unsafe conditions.

If in the last four years this has occurred, Khan said, Mr Al-Rawi has indicated that the time limit has not yet expired to go after the perpetrators of the under-aged pregnancies.

That is statutory rape, and gynaecologists would have been obligated to report the cases to the police. Kissoon said that looking at the statistics of teen abortions and teenage pregnancies in the last years, and according to the Sexual Offences Act, crimes have been committed. According to Al-Rawi a total of 2,258 sexual offences matters involving girls below 18 years of age, during 2000 and 2015, were before the courts.

This includes 44 cases of under 14-year-olds in 2000, a total of 81 involving the same age cohort in 2007, and 93 in 2014. The numbers were higher for the 14 to 16 age group.

Bodoe expressed concern at the high figure of teen abortions in the public health system and noted the need for clarification by either Al-Rawi or Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh as to whether they were termination of viable pregnancies or whether they were done due to unhealthy pregnancies. In his experience, Bodoe said that a pregnancy was terminated only when it was unhealthy or it was a miscarriage.

The public hospitals, he said, will not terminate healthy pregnancies.

They will only do so if there is no heartbeat, or there is abnormality or things like that. Boy, 9, victim of sex abuse Also yesterday, the Childrens Authority revealed it was investigating alleged reports of sexual abuse of a nine-year-old boy.

In a press release, the Authority said it took steps to ensure the safety of the child and the matter is being treated with the sensitivity and confidentiality which it requires.
Depression high among teen moms

That is the opinion of Dr Cathy Minto-Bain, part-time lecturer in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of the West Indies in response to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawis revelation on Wednesday that 764 abortions were conducted at public hospitals on girls between the ages of 13 to 19.

Minto-Bain stated that girls, especially between the ages of 12 to 14, were not physically or mentally ready to be sexually active, much less for pregnancy. Also, that poor social circumstances, and a womans psychological state could be a threat to her life.

If somebody really doesnt want to be pregnant and they are so distraught about it, suicide could be a threat to her life as well, she said, adding that she believes doctors would take that into consideration.

She also said young teenagers were less able to deal with the pain of labour, and the complications of pregnancy and so have higher rates of post natal depression.

Therefore, she believes that, because the numbers were so high, in the majority of cases, abortions were being performed although there was no physical threat to the mothers life directly from the pregnancy.

However, there are cases where pregnancy could threaten the woman such as preeclampsia with high blood pressure, or if the woman had some severe medical issue, such as a kidney transplant.

Pre-eclampsia or toxaemia is a serious disorder where small blood vessels in the liver, the kidneys, the brain, and other organs clamp down. It is marked by high blood pressure and high levels of protein in the urine. Minto-Bain noted that pre-eclampsia, which could lead to other life-threatening problems in a pregnancy, is common in a womans first pregnancy and even more common in teenagers.

She added that the rate of preterm labour is higher in young girls so that babies are more likely to be born premature or have a low birth weight, so teen pregnancy is not safe or healthy for either the mother or the baby
Panmen cant get work

These were some of the concerns raised yesterday during the opening of the Music Room at the MIC Institute of Technology OMeara Technology Centre in Arima.

Jessel Murray, University of the West Indies (UWI) senior lecturer and head of the Department for Creative and Festival Arts, in his remarks spoke about music literacy and how it impacts the people in the steelband movement.

All musicians have to be musically literate, he stressed.

He said for the past 30 years he has been pushing for pan players to be musically literate.

He reported that students coming from secondary schools are already musically literate.

Murray said 30 years ago steelband players had command of the instrument but no literacy and the musicians were not able to access their independence.

He explained that in Panorama competition players have to wait for a person to arrive in a panyard and hand up music and they are incapable of independent rehearsal and practice.

He said the unfortunate result of this is these compositions are discarded after Carnival.

They only exist in pan persons memories, he added.

Murray said music literacy is not only about how we input music but saving it for future generations.

He also said too many Panorama compositions were being scored by foreign nationals.

He reported that a 2000 composition by Len Boogsie Sharpe In the Rainforest, through which Skiffle Bunch won the International Pan Competition, was recreated in 2014. He said it was available for both local and international consumers.

Murray said he strongly encouraged both Pan Trinbago and the Education Ministry to have music literacy.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia recalled that one of the most accomplished arrangers for Arima All Stars and Arima Golden Symphony visited him at his home and told him he cannot read music and had difficulty with getting employment.

We have to do something to assist a gentleman like this, he stressed.

He said opportunities for employment were being stymied because the steelpan men cannot read music.
Recall of Sleep

Apnea Device

Is Not Going Well
A new study carried out by a team of researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom suggests that the Alzheimer's test should actually look a wider range of signs related to memory loss that take place during the early stages of the disease.

According to the researchers, tests conducted on animals indicate that patients suffering from Alzheimer's could be benefitted, especially in terms of long-term memory loss, if they undergo earlier tests. These tests are currently not a part of the usual line of tests done on the patients.

In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, the researchers explain that identifying early signs of Alzheimer's is a crucial step toward devising an effective line of treatment for the patient. However, the team does agree on the fact that early signs are often difficult to identify and diagnose.

Richard Morris, study co-author from the University of Edinburgh says that a majority of research conducted around this disease usually focus on easily identifiable and severe symptoms associated with Alzheimer's, which usually show up during the later stages of life.

Morris further explains how treatment becomes difficult for patients during the late stage of the disease. By then, plaques are formed in the human brain and there is hardly anything that the doctors are able to do.

Therefore, it is important to diagnose the early signs associated with the disease. It leaves time for the physicians to think about the drug they could use to curb the progression and the future course of treatment that would help cure the disease.

To arrive at the findings, the researchers conducted their study on a group of transgenic mice. The mice were treated with mutations that form Alzheimer-like condition in them. The group of mice with early signs of Alzheimer's and another group of healthy mice were trained to navigate their way through a hidden pool of water using specific signs and markers.

The team discovered that the mice with Alzheimer's performed worst on the test and they were not able to remember the position of the markers. In addition, these mice showed a drop in the amount of glucose that their brains were using.
Wondering what Samsung will call its next phablet? You may not have to wait longer than first week of August to know.

New reports suggest Samsung will unveil the next phablet, rumored to be called Note 7, well ahead of Apple to steal the thunder from its rival. This a strategy in work since the launch of last year's Note 5 earned Samsung loyal customers, thanks to a launch well ahead of Apple's flagship devices.

Leaks from trusted tipsters also indicate an impending launch in August. According to Evan Blass, known through his Twitter handle evleaks, the next Galaxy Note will launch in August. Blass has considerable success in predicting launch of Samsung devices.

Recent reports about the next Note also speculate it could be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon chipset supported by 6 GB or more RAM. Galaxy Note devices are known to push hardware limits on phones but the next Note may take it to a whole new level. With QHD display slim RGB display, possibly a dual-curved display like the Galaxy Edge series, a massive 4000 mAh battery and rumored dual-camera, it could be a device worth emulating. It must be noted that Samsung has not confirmed or commented about rumors.

One rumor floated last week may particularly prove true. Samsung is reportedly going to skip its naming convention and call its next Note 7 and not Note 6. This is to bring some congruence to branding and marketing of its devices. According to various reports, Samsung feels a Note 6 suggests a last-gen device when viewed alongside Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Finally but most importantly, latest reports claim Note 7 surfaced online. A listing here suggests the phablet, technically referred as SM-N935G, could be equipped with a curved and not flat display, reports suggest.
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New Delhi:

To give a fresh boost to their demands of an increased quota in government jobs and educational institutes, the Jat community will begin a second round agitation starting today. Considering the scale of uproar and violent protests that had erupted after the Jat quota stir and claimed many lives earlier in February, the police and administration have beefed up the security in Haryana.

To check violence and avoid any destruction, 55 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in the state. Section 144 has also been imposed in all districts, specially in 1 km range on both sides of national highway & railway tracks.

However the concerned Gram panchayats & khap panchayats have assured the government that it will not support the protests this time.

The call for fresh agitation comes from the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS). Dharnas are planned in 15 districts in the state and this time the protesters do not intend to block highways or railway lines but have warned of intensifying the agitation if demands are not met.

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New Delhi:

17 people were killed and around 30 others were injured when a bus crashed into two cars and fell into a 20-feet deep ditch on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The accident took place in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

As the initial reports came, a Swift had stopped on the side of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway as the driver was changing a punctured tyre. An Innova car had stopped in the first lane to help the driver. A bus coming from Satara crashed into the Innova and the Desire and fell into a 20-feet deep ditch.

The injured were rushed to the hospital in Panvel. Death toll could rise further as some of the passengers have been grievously injured.

More details are awaited

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Puducherry:

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi joined civic workers on the World Environment Day today to lift garbage as part of efforts to make the Union Territory clean and environmentally good to attract tourists.

Wearing mask, hand gloves and yellow coloured cap, she removed garbages along with the municipal workers at Lal Bahadhur Sastri street and Gingee Salai.

I will take up the operation garbage work every Sunday along with the civic workers as my intention is to ensure that Puducherry becomes a clean city. Police and civic workers are most important sections and the welfare of the personnel attached to these two wings should be taken care of, she said.

Bedi said she was doing it not to gain any publicity. I really want to ensure that Puducherry emerged a clean city, she said. Secretary to Lt Governor Theva Needhi Dhas, officials of Raj Nivas and high ranking police officers also joined with her in the task.

As promised at one of her public functions earlier, she dispensed with using of siren in the pilot or escort vehicles that accompanied her to the venue.

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Mumbai:

Actor Pulkit Samrat, who is sharing screen space with rumoured girlfriend Yami Gautam in yet another romantic film, says its difficult to express love on screen.

Pulkit and Yami were seen romancing each other in Sanam Re. The two have now teamed up again for another romantic film Junooniyat.

I think saying I love you is the most difficult thing to do on screen and most boring thing to do off screen. On screen you have to put so much effort to say or do things in a such a way that it looks romantic, otherwise it might look fake. Its only the eyes that speak when it comes to express things, Pulkit told PTI.

It is difficult to express love on screen as difficult it is to do a comedy or action film. There are other people on sets who help in making romance look good on screen, he said.

In the Vivek Agnihotri-directed movie, the 32-year-old actor plays the role of an Army officer.

The uniform itself is so special. The respect and strength comes organically. There is a certain aura that the uniform has. People look at you differently, you walk and talk differently, he said.

He (the role played by Pulkit) is a strong person who is ready to take bullet on his chest for his country, how passionate he can be with a woman he falls in love with. That is interesting, he said. The Fukrey actor feels lucky to have shot the film in Army bases.

We would like to thank Army people for all the help. Having access to Army people helped me in picking up some nuances from them, he said. The love story produced by Bhushan Kumar is set to release on June 24.

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Washington:

Two Indian-American brothers have been sentenced to over seven years in prison for committing fraud in H1B visa programme, popular among IT and software professionals, to create a low-cost workforce in the US.

Atul Nanda, 46, and Jiten Jay Nanda, 45, were each sentenced by Chief US District Judge Barbara MG Lynn in Texas to 87 months in federal prison.

Each was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, one count of conspiracy to harbour illegal aliens and four counts of wire fraud. The brothers, who have been on bond, were remanded to the custody of the US Marshals Service.

The H-1B visa program is a powerful and positive tool for businesses and foreign workers alike when properly used. When employers abuse the program, the foreign workers become a captive stable of cheap labour, victimised to the companys financial benefit, said US Attorney John Parker.

Owners of Dibon Solutions, an IT consulting company located in Texas, Nanda brothers recruited foreign workers with expertise who wanted to work in the US. They sponsored the workers H-1B visa with the stated purpose of working at Dibon headquarters in Carrolton, Texas but did not have an actual position at the time they were recruited and knew the workers would ultimately provide consulting services to third-party companies located throughout the US.

Contrary to representations made by the conspirators to the workers (and the government), Jay and Atul directed that the workers only be paid for time spent working at a third-party company and only if the third-party company actually first paid Dibon for the workers services.

They falsely represented that the workers had full-time positions and were paid an annual salary, as required by regulation to secure the visas. This scheme provided the conspirators with a labour pool of inexpensive, skilled foreign workers who could be used on an as needed basis.

The scheme was profitable as it required minimal overhead and Dibon could charge significant hourly rates for a computer consultants services, the Department of Justice said.

Thus, the Nandas earned a substantial profit margin when a consultant was assigned to a project and incurred few costs when a worker was without billable work.

This scheme is known as benching. Dibon actively recruited H-1B workers for the bench, the Department said. They made the H-1B visa candidates to pay the processing fees that according to the law should be paid by the company.

Three others Siva Sugavanam, 37, Vivek Sharma, 48, and Rohit Mehra, 39, who each pleaded guilty before trial to one count of aiding and abetting visa fraud, were each sentenced earlier this month by Judge Lynn to two years probation.

Sugavanam was the lead recruiter for Dibon, Sharma acted as Dibons office manager and Mehra recruited employees for the bench and transported benched employees to and from Dibon Headquarters. All three had knowledge of and/or involvement in the filing of false documents with the Department of Labour and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in securing recruits employment with Dibon.

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New Delhi:

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5. The day marks global awareness on environment and ways to protect it. World Environment Day is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). To encourage people to devote to the cause of environment every year this day comes with different themes and this year World Environment Day theme is Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife trade.

Aiming to fight the bane of wildlife crime, this day is dedicated to supporting the cause of wildlife. The day was established in 1972 by the United Nation.

Elephants, Rhinos, Turtules, Whales are just some of the species that are mercilessly killed and smuggled for their meat, fur, skin, tusks etc.

Here are some of the quick facts about World Environment Day:

It was UN that started the day: World Environment Day was founded in 1974, since then it has become a global platform for public outreach.

Theme based years: Every year the World Environment Day is celebrated every year on different themes. This year theme is Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife trade.

Angola- the host: Every year, one nation hosts World Environment Day every year, and in 2016 that country is Angola. Why Angola? Because this nation has particular interest in preserving its wildlife and rebuilding its elephant population.

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Mumbai:

Kiran Rao, film director and wife of superstar Aamir Khan, has lodged a complaint with Cyber Crime police station at Bandra Kurla Complex against an unidentified person, who has created her fake Facebook account and impersonating her on social media.

Rao, 42, registered the complaint yesterday and said that the impersonator has uploaded Kiran Rao's picture on Facebook and is also chatting with her friends and family members, police said. A case has been registered in this connection and probe initiated, they said, refusing to divulge further details.

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Puli Alam:

Taliban gunmen stormed a court complex in a city south of Kabul today, killing at least seven people in the insurgents third so-called revenge attack for last months execution of Taliban-linked prisoners.



The attack in Pul-i-Alam, capital of volatile Logar province, also left 23 prosecutors wounded as they were meeting to decide the fate of six newly arrested Taliban militants. The head of the court was among those killed in the attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive after naming a new leader late last month.



Three gunmen entered the court building and started shooting people at close range, Salim Saleh, the provincial governors spokesman, told AFP.



Seven people were killed including Mohammad Akram Nejat, the newly appointed head of the court. Hasib Stanakzai, a member of Logars provincial council, confirmed the death toll.



The Taliban said the attack was in retaliation for the execution of six Taliban-linked inmates in early May, part of President Ashraf Ghanis new hardline policy against the insurgents.The martyrdom attack was carried out in revenge for the execution of our mujahideen, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.



The violence underscores Afghanistans fragile security situation as the militants intensify attacks against the Western-backed government. On June 1 Taliban suicide bombers wearing police uniforms raided a courthouse in the eastern city of Ghazni, killing six people.



Besides, on May 25, 11 people were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing that targeted court employees near Kabul. The Taliban on the same day announced Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after officially confirming the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike.



The drone attack was the first known American assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil. Observers say Akhundzada, who is seen as more of a spiritual figurehead than a military commander, will emulate Mansour in shunning peace talks and intensifying attacks against the Afghan government.

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Doha:

With an intent to give a push to India-Qatar ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday held detailed talks here on a wide range of issues.



At the outset, Modi personally extended greetings to the Emir, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days back. The Prime Minister had called him on that day to convey the greetings over phone.



Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatars ruler.



The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.



Cooperation in energy is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks that were to cover various aspects of the relationship.



Qatar is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 standing at USD 15.67 billion.



Qatar is also one of Indias key sources of crude oil.



This Arab country has a large population of Indians who number over 6.3 lakh.



While landing here yesterday, Modi had said India attaches great priority to strong ties with Qatar and that his visit seeks to expand the bilateral ties further.



The Prime Minister has been focusing on improving ties with the Gulf region which is crucial for Indias energy security. He has already visited United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.



His trip marks a Prime Ministerial visit after eight years. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Doha in 2008.



The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.





Modi invites Qatari businessmen to invest in India

Describing India as a land of opportunity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Qatars business leaders to take advantage of it by investing in the country and promised to address bottlenecks identified by them.



India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity, Modi said in a roundtable meeting with Qatari business leaders, his first engagement on the second day of his visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation.



The Prime Minister identified agro processing, railways and solar energy as very promising areas for Qatari investment.



All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks you have identified, Modi said.



He described 800 million youth in India as the countrys biggest strength.



Indias 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion & upgradation & manufacturing are my other priorities, Modi said.



He added that projects like smart cities, metros and urban waste management are geared towards upgrading quality of life of people.



The Prime Minister also praised the role of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in promoting India-Qatar business ties.



Earlier, Qatars Minister of Trade & Economy Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani welcomed Modi and sought more intensive economic engagement with India.



The size of annual bilateral trade between India and Qatar is around USD 10 billion and both the countries would like to expand it significantly. Qatar has a major sovereign wealth fund and India is eyeing to attract investment from it.



Modi is on a five-nation visit and has landed in Qatar yesterday from Afghanistan.



Modi will also visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico as part of the tour.

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Beijing:

Two tourists were killed and 15 others injured in southwest China after a tree fell on them at a World Heritage site during a rare windstorm, officials said.



Sudden windstorms occurred around 4 pm yesterday, destroying trees, damaging wooden walkways and displacing rocks in Jiuzhaigou Valley of Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou Valley scenic area administration said.



We have never seen such harsh weather before, Yang Fuying, an official with the administration as was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.



The injured are being treated at a local hospital. Repair work on the damaged walkways has begun.The scenic area was open as usual today and a health aid and safety inspection have been launched, the report said.

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Geneva:

In a global first, the Swiss voted today on a radical proposal to provide the entire population with enough money to live on, no strings attached.



In a measure almost certain to fail, voters are being asked whether they want all Swiss citizens, along with foreigners who have been legal residents in Switzerland for at least five years, to receive an unconditional basic income, or UBI.



Polling stations in most places opened at 10:00 am (local time) and were set to close at noon, but most people in the wealthy Alpine nation vote in advance.



In Geneva for instance, 47.4 per cent of eligible voters had already cast their ballot yesterday evening, according to the regional voting service.



Supporters of the UBI initiative say providing such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are becoming harder to find.



The idea is controversial, to say the least. The Swiss government and nearly all the countrys political parties have urged voters to reject the initiativeadvice which 71 percent are inclined to follow, according to the latest opinion poll.



Critics have slammed the initiative as a Marxist dream, warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, to the detriment of the economy.



Proponents reject that, arguing people naturally want to be productive and that a basic income would simply provide them more flexibility to choose the activities they find most valuable.



For centuries this has been considered a utopia, but today it has not only become possible, but indispensible, Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told AFP.



The amount to be paid has yet to be determined, but the non-political group behind the initiative has suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs (USD 2,500/2,300 euros) a month to each adult, and 625 francs for each child.



That may sound like a lot, but it is barely enough to get by on in one of the worlds priciest nationsleaving plenty of incentive to work, campaigners say.



Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.

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Dublin:

Anirban Lahiri endured a lot of missed putts and a few bad breaks while shooting three-under 69 in the third round of the Memorial here.



Lahiri, who made the cut narrowly, moved up to tied 29 at one stage before he dropped down and finally ended the day at tied 51st.



He opened with birdies on second and third but suffered a double bogey on Par-4 sixth, before recovering with a birdie on seventh. He bogeyed the eighth again and turned in even par 36. On the back nine, birdied 10th and 11th and then he landed a superb eagle on Par-5 15th. Two pars later, he got a bad break on 18th and ended with a bogey for a 69.



I played really well, but got a few bad breaks and some misses. On the 18th, my ball hit the tree on the edge of the fairway and got stymied. I could do little, he said.



About the week as such, he added, It has been a week of what could have been. I am a bit tired, though. I will rest and try to make the most of the final round.



Matt Kuchar shared the 54-hole lead with Gary Woodland (69) and William McGirt (64). Kuchar rallied from a rough start and wound up with a two-under 70 to join Woodland and McGirt at 14-under 202.



Twenty players were separated by four shots. Eight of them have never won on the PGA TOUR. Three of them can avoid US Open qualifying if they were to win.



Jason Day, a Muirfield Village member, ran off two quick birdies to get within one of the lead, only to watch a chip roll back past him into the fairway on the 18th hole for a double bogey and a 68. He was three shots behind.



Rory McIlroy was making headway until he dropped a shot at the last for a 70 that put him five back.



Jordan Spieth, after two quick birdies, went through a stretch of poor swings and missed putts, and dropped four shots in a six-hole stretch. He had a 74 and was 10 behind.



Emiliano Grillo had the lead at 15-under when there was a two and a half hour delay and he promptly made double bogey on return. Grillo was at 13-under 203, along with Adam Hadwin (67), Jon Curran (68) and Dustin Johnson, who returned from the delay to tap in a short birdie putt for a 68.



The starting times were moved up for Sunday with players going off both tees in an effort to beat more bad weather in the forecast.
Doha:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for Switzerland after finishing his engagements in Qatar, where he held wide-ranging talks with the leadership of the gas-rich Gulf nation to curb hawala and terror financing.



Maa Salama Qatar! After a productive visit, PM @narendramodi departs for Geneva, the third leg of his journey, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swaroop tweeted.



My gratitude to the people and Government of Qatar for their exceptional warmth & hospitality during this visit: PM @narendramodi, the Prime Ministers Office tweeted.



During his two-day stay in Qatar, the two countries agreed to share intelligence to combat hawala transactions and terror financing.



The two countries signed seven agreements and decided to move beyond trading relationshipto strategic investments.



The prime minister also addressed the Indian diaspora.



The Indian diaspora of over 6,30,000 Indians comprise the largest expatriate community in Qatar and are engaged in a wide spectrum of professions, including medicine; engineering; education, finance; banking; business; media and labour.



From Doha, Modi heads to Switzerland on his way to the US and Mexico.

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There is a bend in the Pomperaug River in Southbury where the moving water is eating away at the riverbank.

Because the Pomperaug flows into the Housatonic River, there was $180,000 in grant money available to stabilize that bank. The money came from the $7.5 million General Electric Co. apportioned out to the state in 2000 to compensate for polluting the Housatonic with PCBs.

The work in Southbury began last year. But it is on hold  thankfully so. For that bend in the river may be the site of one of the earliest Native American campsites in the state, dating back 8,000 to 10,000 years. Archaeologists know of only six other places in the state that old.

I dont know if were surprised, given what we know about Native Americans, said Cindy Harrison, assistant to Southbury First Selectman Jeff Manville. Maybe a better word is amazed. Its very exciting.

While people are very willing to talk about the project, theyre understandably shy about talking about its location. Amateur artifact hunters  not knowing what theyre looking for  could skulk in, damage the work thats been done, and possibly end up causing more erosion. Valuable clues to what the settlement was could get washed into the river.

But the archaeological investigation there is set to proceed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is administering the GE grant money, is now writing a memorandum of understanding between all the interested parties. After everyone signs on, archaeologists from Historical Perspectives Inc. of Westport, which did the initial studies of the property, should be back in Southbury by this summer.

Luc Litwinionek, field director for Historical Perspectives, said what his team has found so far are lithics  the scrapers, flakes and debris humans leave as they fashion a piece of stone into a tool.

Lucianne Lavin, director of research and collections at the Institute of American Indian Studies in Washington, Connecticut, said stone artifacts and pottery are the only things archaeologists find in the state when it comes to Native American settlements of any age. The states acidic soils eat up anything that isnt made of rock, she said.

But the lithics in Southbury were found in a layer of soil just above soil deposits left as the glaciers retreated.

At that time, a big glacial lake that once covered the Pomperaug Valley had drained away. What was left was a fertile river valley and a big marsh.

This is an ideal spot for a group of ancient people to set up camp.

Wetlands offer a huge diversity of food, Lavin said. They also offered building materials, like grasses for mats and bags.

Wetlands were like grocery stores for these people, Litwinionek said.

Being along the Pomperaug also placed them on a travel corridor. The archaeologists found two lithics that were not made of native stone. Instead, they were chert and jasper. Chert comes from the Hudson River Valley, Lavin said. Jasper comes from eastern Pennsylvania.

Native people were actively traders, Lavin said. When Roger Williams, the founding father of Rhode Island, lived with native people, in the 17th century, he witnessed those long-distance routes of enterprise.

The same thing might apply to the people at the Pomperaug camp.

Maybe they were trading, Lavin said. Maybe they were carrying those stones as they traveled.

Lavin said these ancient people did not group themselves into any sort of tribal structure. That happened about 2,000 to 2,500 years ago, she said.

Instead, these people traveled in small groups. They were hunter-gatherers. They used spears to kill the big game available to them in the state  mastodons, caribou, moose, elk. They established kinship ties with other groups through marriage, Lavin said. They stayed in one place for a while in a landscape far different than modern Connecticut, then moved on.

Molly Sperduto of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said this is one case where things worked out in the best way. GE, wanting to reach a settlement with the federal government, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, put up the restoration money for the project. The fish and wildlife service liked the Pomperaug plan.

Then, because regulations require a historical analysis before work could begin, the archaeologists arrived and found something amazing.

This could have just eroded down the river, Sperduto said. Now we have a chance to excavate and study and interpret whats there.

Contact Robert Miller at Earthmattersrgm@gmail.com
In Asia, Hong Kong is seen as the "gateway to China" and is a target destination for entrepreneurs in the fintech, logistics and hardware realms.

According to a Compass ecosystem report, Hong Kong is a densely-populated city of 7.3 million people but is known among international business circles for its ease of doing business, sound legal environment and advantageous geographical location. It also ranks first across the globe for economic freedom, scoring the top spot for 21 consecutive years.

The report notes that the city-states proximity to Chinas Pearl River Delta makes Hong Kong an ideal place for IoT (Internet of Things) startups to land -- mainly due to Shenzhens position as a globally competitive hardware prototyping and manufacturing hub.

To top it all off, its mobile and broadband penetration is also one of the highest in the world which makes Hong Kong an attractive place to run a global business.

Related: Hong Kong: A Business Traveler-Friendly Destination

With all of this being said, should you, as a U.S.-based IoT startup founder, follow in the footsteps of tech entrepreneurs who already have moved to Hong Kong?

Bay McLaughlin, the co-founder and COO of IoT accelerator Brinc moved to Hong Kong after spending a decade in Silicon Valley. The serial entrepreneur and ex-Apple employee built his career in the software space but came to Asia to get involved in the hardware movement.

Just as it was obvious to be in San Francisco for software back in the 90s and early 2000s because other cities werent as accepting and supportive of software startups then, Hong Kong is now the most supportive place for hardware and IoT startups, he said.

McLaughlin believes that Hong Kong has all the elements that IoT startups need to thrive and thinks it has to do with a combination of cultural acceptance and a history of making, financing and distributing physical goods.

As a new hardware entrepreneur, you need all the support you can get and its really refreshing to be in a place that understands and relishes physical trade-based businesses, he added.

Related: Overcoming Startup Obstacles, Hong Kong Style

He also said that a surefire sign Hong Kong is becoming a hub is the droves of western IoT startups setting up shop. Every quarter we see more and more IoT founders funded by well-known investors showing up on our doorstep, and lists Lumos, Bluesmart and Eight (formerly Luna) as a few examples.

Brincs Co-founder and CEO Manav Gupta echoes McLaughlins sentiment and shares two examples of IoT entrepreneurs who have moved from the western world to Hong Kong to build their business.

Founder and CEO Paul Lee is from Hong Kong and also a former Silicon Valley veteran who returned to Hong Kong to launch his startup, Aumeo Audio, maker of the worlds first tailored audio device which optimizes audio quality by customizing sound to suit each users unique hearing profile, he said. Aumeo raised almost $300,000 from Indiegogo and was also backed by angel investors with an additional $250,000.

Soundbrenner, makers of the worlds first wearable for musicians, another shining example. Co-founder and CEO Florian Simmendinger, started Soundbrenner in Berlin but ended up relocating and incorporating his company in Hong Kong. Then, the good news kept on pouring in.

Related: 4 Reasons to Be Excited by the 'Internet of Things'

After raising $200,000 in pre-sales and closing a $500,000 seed round Soundbrenner began shipping globally and received numerous accolades including Best in Show at the HKDTC Consumer Electronics Fair and at NAMM (the worlds largest tradeshow for music products). Simmendinger was recently added to the Forbes 30 under 30 in Asia list.

Having started in the first batch of startups at Brinc, hes now gone on to become a founder of a global business with seven employees across Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Berlin. Hes truly a great indicator of why Hong Kong is a great place for promising and talented entrepreneurs to set up and IoT company, said Gupta.

Another Brinc portfolio company, Kello, makers of a smart alarm clock, also moved from Europe to Hong Kong in order to be closer to manufacturers. The founders originally hail from France and decided to relocate to Hong Kong to build their product. Since their move, theyve validated the product design and features through Brincs head of manufacturing and has already started on their functional prototype.

Although Hong Kong has a lot of the elements needed to build an IoT hub, the Compass report notes a number of challenges.The World Economic Forums "Global Competitiveness Report" points out that Hong Kongs main challenge is to evolve from one of the worlds foremost financial hubs to an innovative powerhouse. But fostering innovation has been a challenge for Hong Kong.

The Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute (GEDI) also notes that Hong Kong ranked 40th on their 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Index (they were ranked 30th in 2012). This indicates that support for entrepreneurs in Hong Kong is not as globally competitive as it should be.

To combat this, Compass recommends that Hong Kong invest more into programs that help entrepreneurs think globally and also close the gaps in talent and angel funding.

Related:

Why U.S. IoT Entrepreneurs Should Consider Moving to Hong Kong

For Entrepreneurs Looking to Disrupt the Internet of Things Industry, Here is How to Ensure Customers Feel Safe Using Your Products

How To Be A Better Startup Founder In 2016



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the group, which has led the attacks on oil assets in the country, says it needs God more than anything r...

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the group, which has led the attacks on oil assets in the country, says it needs God more than anything right now.The statement comes after the Nigerian air force deployed fighter jets, gunships and other arsenal of war to the region.The air force had said it was out to crush the militants and end the indiscriminate attacks across the Niger Delta.But boasting that the NDA was not frightened, Mudoch Agbinibo, spokesman of the militants, said the military warplanes hovering round our towns and villages have not struck a soul or destroyed any property, so those groups with anti-aircraft missiles should dry their gunpowder.The liberation of the Niger delta people has taken a new swing with the daily emergence of new groups all over the region. The avengers are calling on all groups in the region to be strong and resolute as it is obvious that God is on our side, Agbinibo said in a statement.The groups are much now both real and unreal but if you really fighting for the liberation of the Niger Delta people. The high command of the avengers is calling on you not to attack any soldier and those claiming to have anti-aircraft missiles should deist from targeting any aircraft.Let us be careful not offend God in the process of trying to liberate our people from the shackles of the Nigerian government because we need God more than anything right now. We also need the international bodies as well. Hence, we must desist from any life threatening actions that will derail our genuine struggle for our people.All groups are hereby discouraged from indulging in harassing oil workers and soldiers. We urge you all to help any oil workers or soldiers you see in distress.Agbinibo said the NDA will not hesitate to deal with any group that goes against its instruction, saying when the times comes for having a confrontation with the military comes, the message will be communicated.The avengers will deal with any group that refuses and attack military, he said.When it is time to engage the military in combat the whole world will know they started the war not the Avengers. The Niger delta avengers high command will pass the message round that its time to engage on gun battle when it is time.So far, we have not engaged the Nigeria military in combat; despite the heavy presence of military on the pipelines. we still find way to carry out our actions without attacking soldiers.God is our strength; he is going to see the people of Niger delta through.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has described the failure of the Ondo State Government to pay salaries of workers and pensions for months as...

The Nigeria Labour Congress has described the failure of the Ondo State Government to pay salaries of workers and pensions for months as an act of criminality against the workers, pensioners and members of their families.The President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, made the comment in a letter, dated June 3, 2016, to the State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, over unpaid salaries and pension arrears for state workers and four months of unpaid salaries/pension arrears for local government employees.He said that the non-payment of salaries and pensions constituted a danger to the workers, their families, their self esteem and moral.Wabba said that the issue of the payment of workers salaries which had resulted in strike in the state should be treated with seriousness, as Mimiko, who according to him, had an activitists background, had collaborated with the NLC on similar issues in the past.The NLCs President said the current socio-economic challenges in the country would not be enough to deprive workers and pensioners their deserved salaries and pensions.I wish to convey to you the compliments of the Nigeria Labour Congress and to request your urgent re-consideration and intervention in the matter of non-payment of salaries and pensions which has led to a strike action in the state.Your Excellency, we are not unaware of the present socio-economic challenges in the country. However, in our estimation, this should not be an acceptable reason for not paying five months salaries and pensions at the level of the state, and four months salaries and pensions at the level of local government and teachers.Sir, you do not need a lecture from anyone, to know that non-payment of salaries and pensions for months on end, constitutes a crime against the workers, pensioners and their families whose lives and obligation to Man and God and their sense of self-worth have been put in jeopardy.As one with activist background and one with whom we have had collaboration, these issues are clear and self-evident, and therefore need no belabouring.Wabba argued that while the nation was faced with limited choices in recent time, the governor should take a critical look at government expenditure in the area of political appointments.He also called on the governor to inject more effort in the area of generating revenue internally.




Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ready to sign for Manchester United this week.Reportsnin England have it that Ibrahimovic will complete his projected transfer to Manchester United this week.The Swede has been repeatedly linked with United ever since he revealed he would not be renewing his contract at Paris Saint-Germain earlier this year.And it is now clear he will join up with Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, signing a one-year deal worth 300,000-a-week.
The Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI), has condemned the murder of a market woman in Kano, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, by a mob for alleged blasphe...

The Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI), has condemned the murder of a market woman in Kano, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, by a mob for alleged blasphemy.JNI, an Islamic organisation headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Saad Abubakar III, described the killing as most unfortunate. In a statement in Kaduna by its Secretary-General, Dr Khalid Aliyu, the JNI stated that this ugly incident perpetrated by miscreants and criminals utterly stand condemned and regarded as criminal and unislamic.The unfortunate incident was reported to have happened in Wambai Area of Kano, Kano State. It is hardly believable that such dastardly act could happen in the name of religion, considering the various enlightenment programmes on interfaith and mutual co-existence being put in place by Muslim scholars and the leadership.We, however, commend the various efforts of the Kano State Government and the Ulama in nipping the unfortunate crisis in the bud, which will have escalated. We commiserate with Mr Agbahime of Deeper Life Bible Church of Kano over the death of his wife as a result of injuries she sustained in the fracas that ensued between her and the hoodlums. We also want to commend him for swiftly setting the record straight against all odds, by stating that his wife was not beheaded as reported by the media.The secretary-general said the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Saad III, who is the President-General of JNI had urged all to remain calm and avoid actions that could lead to breach of law and order. We urged Muslims and Nigerians in general to pray fervently for the restoration of peace and security in the country, bearing in mind that without Nigeria there will be no Nigerians.
Behind the immortal legend of Muhammad Ali lay a distinctly mortal private life that saw the great boxer married four times and have at least nine children  including two love-children - leaving behind a complex and divisive family legacy that threatens to tarnish his memory.In the years before Alis death, family disputes have broken out into the open between his last wife and widow, Yolanda Lonnie Williams, and Alis younger brother, Rahman, and his estranged only son, Muhammad Ali Jr.A cousin of Alis cousin, Charlotte Waddell, also claimed in an interview two years ago that Lonnie controls everything that Ali does, admitting to The Daily Mail, that I cant stand to be around her. It wouldnt take me two seconds to spit in her face!Lonnie, who married Ali in 1986 after moving to California to be Alis full-time nurse three years after his diagnosis with Parkinsons disease, is reported to have used her power of attorney over his affairs to estrange unwanted family members from Alis complex web of relationships.In a separate interview, Muhammad Ali Jnr was reported to be living in a garret in a Chicago ghetto, telling a newspaper in 2013 that he had been almost entirely ostracised from his father since 2004.Rahman Ali, now 72 and himself a former professional boxer who reportedly had six wives and was a main member of the Ali entourage after he finished his own brief career, was reported to have been forced by Lonnie out of their mothers family home into a modest flat.However over the years, Lonnies supporters have credited her with restoring order over Alis chaotic life which saw him make and lose several fortunes until financial stability was restored in 2006 when Ali sold his worldwide image rights for 30m.Lonnie and Ali never had children of their own, but soon after they got married they adopted a five-year-old boy, Asaad Amin, who they raised as their own.When the end of Alis life finally came, it was reported that Lonnie was at his bedside, along with Hana Yasmeen Ali and her sister Laila, who were the children from Alis third marriage to Veronica Porsche that lasted from 1977-1986.Laila has pursued her own career as a professional fighter, remaining close to her father who would often appear at her fights, including the much anticipated 2001 bout between Laila and Joe Fraziers daughter, Jackie Frazier-Lyde.Alis relationship with Porsche  struck up during the 1975 Thrilla in Manila fight against Joe Frazier where Porsche was working as a poster girl to add glamour to the occasion - effectively ended his second marriage to Belinda Boyd.Boyd - renamed Khalilah Camacho-Ali after converting to Islam soon after their wedding - had four children with Ali during their decade-long marriage which began in 1967 when Boyd was only 17, three years after first catching the boxers eye while working in a Kentucky bakery.Together they had three daughters, Maryum (a rapper and author who was also reportedly at the boxers death bed), Jamillah, Rasheda, and his only son, Muhammad Ali Jr.Boyd fought tenaciously to keep her husband from straying, but in the end was unable to break his infatuation with Porsche. After their divorce Ms Boyd herself subsequently married three times, working briefly as an actress appearing in the Jane Fonda film, The China Syndrome.During his turbulent marriage to Boyd, Ali is also reported to have had two love-children, the first, Miya, came in 1972 with a woman reportedly named Patricia Harvell and the second, Khaliah, in 1974, to a 16-year-old woman, Wanda Bolton, who changed her name to Aaisha Ali.According to a proposal for her memoir, "Butterflies and Bees: A Woman's Search for Her Father" reported by the New York Daily News, Khaliah and her mother lived at Alis then-training camp where Alis then wife, Belinda Boyd, shared the parenting.There have been several others who have claimed to be Alis children, including in 2014 Kiiursti Mensah Ali, a 35-year-old from Houston Texas who bears a striking resemblance to Ali and whose mother, Barbara Mensah, claims to have had a relationship with Ali in his hey-day.By the time of his death, Ali has been married four times, including a childless first marriage to Sonji Roi, a 23-year-old model and cocktail waitress, who Ali met in 1964, the year he won his first world title.The marriage lasted only 16-months. Roi, who died in 2005, later blamed the break up on the insufferable pressure she was under to adopt Muslim dress codes and convert to Islam, later claiming she had been threatened with reprisals if she failed to conform.I wasnt going to take on all the Muslims, she said after the divorce in January 1966, If I had, I probably would have ended up dead.Source: Telegraph
The South-South Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed the current attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta regio...

The South-South Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed the current attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta region on the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the attacks are sponsored to derail President Muhammadu Buharis government.The APC stakeholders who also praised Governor Adams Oshiomhole for his commendable performance in the delivery of infrastructure noted that the June 18 primary of the party in the state will be free and fair.In a communique, party leaders from the five states in the SouthSouth at a Stakeholders meeting in Benin City, weekend, noted that it is erroneous for agitators for the state of Biafra to categorise any part of the South-South as part of constituency, saying the Niger Delta is not, cannot, and will never be part of Biafra.The communique reads in part: The Zone commends the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on his performance in his first year in office, support his fight against corruption and his effort to restructure the countrys dwindling economy and building a viable Nigeria.The Zone acknowledges the commendable performance of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the delivery of infrastructure and other dividends of governance to the good people of Edo State.The Zone notes the upsurge of the renewed militancy in the area, in the name of The Avengers and condemns its activities in its entirety. The Zone does not believe that their nefarious activities are driven by any patriotic fervor, rather we have cause to believe that they are instigated by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to derail President Buharis government in order to avoid the long arm of the law on their criminal activities while in government.The Zone notes the present agitation for the State of Biafra and the inclusion of the Niger Delta in the map of the constituency representing the Biafra State.The Zone states unequivocally that Niger Delta is not, cannot, will never be and can never be part of Biafra The South-South APC also urged the national secretariat of the party to provide a level-playing field for all aspirants of the party in Edo State while it praised President Muhammadu Buhari for commencing the clean-up of Ogoniland as recommended by UNEP.Earlier, the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had assured that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will conduct free and fair primaries in the state. He said: in the contest of the forthcoming election, I am happy that we have some of the aspirants in this room.I have spoken to them over and again. Our party has a tradition; elections are conducted by the national body, not by the state chapter of the party. And we are fortunate to have at the national body the very head coming from Edo State.So, the primary should be free and fair. It is not a choice. It is not a favour. On his part, National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who was represented on the occasion by the Deputy National Chairman, Engr. Segun Oni said, we are the incumbent government here, and as the incumbent government, our government has done very well. so, we can campaign in the name of the government, and we know the reaction of the people will be positive. In spite of this, we will not rest on our oars. We know that the opposition has reduced itself to a rag-tag army.As at the last count, they already have about three and half chief executives already running the party together. He continued, I am sure a state that is as sophisticated as Edo State, and its people who have always been in the forefront in the fight for liberty, the fight for progressive politics cannot put their destiny in the hands of people who cannot manage themselves.Therefore, we know when the time comes, they will only be regarded as jokers. Therefore, it is a done deal, but we will not rest on our oars. National Vice-Chairman, South-South, of the party, Prince Hilliard Eta said, While celebrating a distinguished Governor and the party in Edo, this gathering of progressives today should be used as a unique occasion for reflecting on the successful consummation of the merger process of the legacy parties that formed our great party and the journey so far.It is also an opportunity to put our immediate past in perspective to remind ourselves of the obligations and assurances we have given and would have to continue to give to Nigerians as we assume the onerous task of fixing the country. He said, Let me urge all the aspirants that are contesting the party primaries to play by the rules; there should be no campaign of calumny, no fighting, and no bigotry. As we go into the primary election, one mindset is real, one of you will emerge and whoever that person is, he is a candidate of all and his subsequent victory will be for all.For us as a party, we want to come back to Edo, have a roundtable with all of the aspirants and the candidate and decide on how to jointly move Edo forward from where Governor Oshiomhole has left it.
As muslims nationwide start off the 30 months fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, president Mohammadu has urged traders no to increase...

As muslims nationwide start off the 30 months fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, president Mohammadu has urged traders no to increase the prices of goods and services. He however asked them to use the opportunity to seek forgiveness and get closer to Allah through Worship (Ibadah) and good deeds during the period. In his message to mark the beginning of the fasting period, the President who spoke through his Special Media Assistant, Malam Garba Sadhu, said the month of Ramadan is a time of spiritual reawakening which demanded not only abstention from food and drinks, but also all wrongdoing in their lives.The President said he was always wondered why people seek to make brisk profits by hiking food prices as soon as the month of Ramadan starts.He called on Muslim traders, businessmen and women, civil servants and political office holders to use the month of Ramadan to seek forgiveness of God by abandoning wrong practices for personal gains at the expense of others.According to the President, a religion should serve as a moral restraint from bad practices, regretting that those stealing national resources are merely paying lip service to religion. He advised leaders and those holding positions of trust to primarily remember that they would be accountable one day.He said the government is working towards bringing relief to their lives through palliative measures and faithful implementation of the 2016 national budget. According to him, no elected government would intentionally want to make life difficult for the people that gave it the mandate to serve.
Muslims across the country have been advised to look out for the new moon of Ramadan today. Ramadan is the sacred month in the Islamic ...

Muslims across the country have been advised to look out for the new moon of Ramadan today.Ramadan is the sacred month in the Islamic calendar in which Muslims across the world observe a month-long fasting as one of the fundamental pillars of the faith.It is also a month in which they strive to uphold the virtues and teachings of the prophet (SAW) through increased moral acts, sacrifice and dedication as well as charity to the poor and needy.A statement yesterday from the Sultanate Council, Sokoto by the Chairman, Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs, Professor Sambo Wali Junaidu, said: This is to inform the Muslim Ummah that Sunday 5th June, 2016 which is equivalent to 29th day of Shaaban 1437AH shall be the day to look for the new moon of Ramadan of 1437AH.Muslims are therefore requested to start looking for the new moon of Ramadan 1437AH on Sunday and report its sighting to the nearest District or Village Head for onward communication to His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar III.
Some financial experts on Saturday, urged the Federal Government to channel the funds it recovered from looters into critical infrastruc...

Some financial experts on Saturday, urged the Federal Government to channel the funds it recovered from looters into critical infrastructure.The financial experts told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos while reacting to interim report on financial, assets recoveries released by the government; said that the money must be used for capital project.Dr Uche Uwaleke, Head of Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, said that the recovered funds should be project tied for Nigerians to see what the money was used for.Uwaleke stated that the fund must be reinvested for capital projects such as power or into coastal rail line projects to reinvigorate economic activities.He explained that the recovered monies must not be used for payment of salaries or for consumption purposes.We have some critical infrastructure needs affecting growth and development of the country. So, government should look at the most critical areas and channel the funds there, Uwaleke added.He noted that the recovered funds should be shared between the three-tiers of the government if stolen from state government coffers too; but if not should be for the federal government.Also speaking, Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), described the development as a good thing Nigerians had been waiting for.Unegbu stated that government should use some of the recovered loots to address the issue of unemployment in the country.He said that some of the funds should be used to revive the textile industry currently in comatose to boost employment rate.He added that, small and medium businesses should be encouraged to come back to life by addressing the power problem of the country.Unegbu stated that state governors should be encouraged to look inwards to increase internal generated revenue through diversification for prompt payment of salaries instead of depending on federal allocation.Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture in a statement said that the Federal Government made cash recoveries totaling N78.33 billion; 185.12 million dollars; 3.51 million pounds sterling; and 11, 250 euros from May 29, 2015 to May, 25 2016.The statement said that funds awaiting return from foreign jurisdictions stood at 321.32 million dollars; 6.9 million pounds and 11.8million euros.It also added that non-cash recoveries comprising farmlands, plots of land, uncompleted buildings, completed buildings, vehicles and maritime vessels during the period stood at N239 billion.The statement was based on the interim report on the financial and assets recoveries made by the various government agencies between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016
Seven factors were cited last night for the inability of the federal government to name the treasury looters from whom it said it had r...

These include the need to recover more funds from other looters; avoiding a web of litigations which may drag on for many years and make recovery difficult; and respect for the spirit of alternative dispute resolution as the situation in some foreign jurisdictions.The rest, according to a well placed source, are: avoiding allegation that government was out to blackmail looters if it opted for the name and shame option; curtailing possible backlash of political and ethnic biases against the government since the looting appears one-sided; some of those who made refund were victims of circumstances without knowing the sources of the funds; and ensuring fairness and equity by separating the chaff from the wheat.Our ultimate objective is to recover looted funds or illegally taken away from the treasury for doing nothing. We have received cooperation from suspects who accounted for the recovered funds, said the source.The fact that we have gone far in making huge recovery suggests that this quiet option is good and reliable. We will continue to apply this method to recover more funds.If we go ahead to name and shame, others who want to refund might not do so. In fact, the decency with which we have tried many high-profile suspects has encouraged others to make voluntary refund.The list is much more than what you might have read in newspapers in the past few months. Most of those making refunds actually admitted that they did not know the source(s) of such.The top source also cited some legal reasons for not releasing the names of looters.The source said the wheel of justice is slow and might be hijacked for selfish reasons by suspects.For instance, if we go ahead to publish names, some of the suspected looters will go to court with frivolous applications that the federal government is trying to blackmail them. They will use such suits to distract the attention of the government.Some of the suspects also opted for alternative dispute resolution by returning looted funds and it confers a responsibility on the government to respect such obligation.If we push ahead to recover looted funds through the court, we might not be able to get to this recovery level.Asked if some of the looters would not be tried, the source added: Each case will be treated on its merit.Some suspects are already on trial, others might follow suit based on circumstances of the fraud and the weight of allegations against them.The trial will however take note of alternative dispute resolution as in other jurisdictions.It was also learnt that the government was worried about the likely backlash of political and ethnic biases against the government in releasing the names of the looters.The government is being careful in handling the release of the looters. In some cases, the list appears one sided and before you know it, they will come up with ethnic and religious biases.We are already experiencing this when some suspects have started reading imputations to even ordinary invitation by anti-graft agencies.We do not want this government distracted, we dont want the anti-graft derailed on the altar of politics.The source however claimed that the government was being careful in ensuring fairness and equity in not naming the looters.The source said: Some of these suspects did not know the source(s) of the looted funds shared to them. For instance, most newspapers were not told where the money came from.Look at the case of a publisher whose newspapers office was burnt. There was a proclamation by the government to assist the newspaper but the source of the funds landed the medium in trouble.It was also learnt that not all the suspected looters will face trial.The trial of any looter will be determined by circumstances behind the remittance of such funds, refund rate and cooperation with security agencies.The Federal Government was said, last night, to be considering every case on its merit because there were victims of circumstances.Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed yesterday released the details of funds recovered from some former public officers, beneficiaries of looted funds, and politicians of various cadres in accordance with the pledge of President Muhammadu Buhari to make the loot recovery public
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Englewood detectives responded to a shooting early Saturday morning, police say.

(File Photo)

ENGLEWOOD -- City police responded to a report of shots fired early Saturday morning just blocks from where police had previously responded to a similar report on Thursday night.

Officers responded about 3:35 a.m. Saturday to a location on West Palisade Avenue near the intersection of Mattlage Place and Cleveland Street, Englewood Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said.

No one appears to have been shot during the incident, Torell said, but shell casings and slugs were found nearby. Officers were called to the intersection after several residents reported gunfire to the Englewood Communications Center.

The Bergen County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Unit is assisting city police in the investigation.

About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 100 block of Lafayette Place, Torell said. Police confirmed shots were fired inside a multi-family residence.

Police do not believe anyone was struck during that incident either. The County Crime Scene Unit responded and "again collected significant ballistic evidence," Torell said.

That investigation is also ongoing by city detectives. Police did not know if the incidents are related.

Anyone with information about either incident is being asked by police to call Crimestoppers at 844-466-6789.

Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
CAMDEN -- A dispute between two men after a concert led to one stabbing the other in the throat, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

The man who was stabbed is listed in stable condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The alleged stabber, George Kelly, 25, of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, was charged with aggravated assault and weapons possession.

The stabbing occurred on the Camden Waterfront near Campbell's Field at 9:05 p.m. Saturday.

Kelly and an unidentified 26-year-old man got into a physical altercation, according to the prosecutor's office. During the fight, Kelly allegedly stabbed the 26-year-old man in the throat.

Camden County Sheriff's Department arrested Kelly, who was held in Camden County Jail.

The incident is under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Jason Rowello at 856-225-8475 or Camden County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Dan Wells at 856-225-7661.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WEST ORANGE -- As summer draws near, perhaps one of the best ways to cool down on a hot day is with a water slide -- a 1,000-foot slip-and-slide, that is.

Slide the City, a traveling setup of inflatable vinyl that has drawn crowds at various fairs and festivals across the nation, came to New Jersey for the first time on Saturday at the West Orange Street Fair, set up along Mount Pleasant Avenue, stretching from Interstate 280 to Main Street.

More than 2,000 people registered for the day-long event, said West Orange Mayor Robert Parisi, while hundreds more signed up throughout the day.

The padded slide has three lanes -- one for single sliders, a family lane for children and parents to ride at the same time while holding onto each others tubes and a party lane, "reserved for those craving a more wild ride," according to the company's website.

One of the only injuries of the day came when a woman lost her tooth after she fell off her tube and hit another slider, a police officer working the event said. She was treated at a local hospital.

Slide the City is responsible for everything associated with the attraction, according to a TAP Into West Orange report, including covering the cost of township-provided fire fighters, EMS and police, so there is no cost to the town.

Joel Chaviano, 42, of Jersey City, said it cost about $40 for himself and his 12-year-old son Sebastian to come out, which he said was "absolutely worth it." He said he hopes the slide comes back to New Jersey soon.

Mahogany Laveau and Kiorie Hammond, both 18 and from Newark, echoed Chaviano's sentiments. While Laveau wished the slide would have been longer, she hopes "they have it again because it's really great for the kids to come out to."

Slide the City has made hundreds of stops across the United States since the company started in 2014. It generally takes 9,000 and 20,000 gallons of recirculated water to run the slide for one day, according to the company's website. Town officials required the water to be chlorinated and flow through the slide, as per Health Department regulations for safety, according to the TAP Into West Orange report.

"It was very nice and very good," Jicky Seron, 43, of West Orange, said after coming down the slide with his 5-year-old daughter Mia. "We really enjoyed it."

Luke Nozicka contributed to this report.

Sydney Shaw may be reached at sshaw@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SydneyLShaw.

Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka.

Find NJ.com on Facebook and Twitter.
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A 26-year-old man was arrested early this morning after an off-duty police officer saw him fire shots in the south side of the city, a city spokeswoman said

(Journal file photo)

JERSEY CITY -- A 26-year-old man was arrested early this morning after an off-duty police officer saw him fire shots in the south side of the city, a city spokeswoman said.

Darell Maxwell, of Montgomery Street, was charged with the shooting near Bergen and Grant avenues, spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

Sometime after 2:30 a.m., an off-duty police officer was leaving the South District station at the end of his shift. The officer heard the shots fired and saw Maxwell leaving the scene, Morrill said.

The officer radioed a description of the suspect, and police on patrol nearby arrested Maxwell, she said.

Police recovered a silver and black handgun from Maxwell's sweatshirt, Morrill said.

No one was injured in the shooting. Maxwell was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

This morning's shooting comes after a violent Saturday morning in Jersey City. One person was killed and two others were injured in two separate shootings.
Heavy rain didn't stop North Hudson from celebrating Cuban heritage this afternoon.

The annual New Jersey Cuban parade made its way down Bergenline Avenue with singing, dancing and flag waving.

This year's parade was dedicated to North Hudson icon Jesus "Manito" Perez, a driving force behind the parade's founding in 2000. Perez, a Secaucus resident and founder of Casa Manito furniture stores and senior daycare centers, died last year.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was this year's Cuban man of the year.

"The first celebration is really (about) the contributions the Cuban community has made to the North Hudson (community) and New Jersey," Menendez said.

Menendez said while Obama administration has opened up relations, "the reality is nothing has changed for Cuba," and it's important to recommit to making sure a "free and independent Cuba still becomes a reality."

Scroll through the gallery above for photos from today's parade.
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Tysheena Lynette James, 21, of Jersey City, was killed during a training accident in Texas. Facebook photo

A Jersey City native has been identified as one of nine soldiers killed during a training accident at a Texas army base, officials announced.

Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, 21, was killed on June 2 when a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle overturned at Owl Creek. She entered active military service in November, according a statement released by the U.S. Army.

During her service, James was awarded a National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, and Army Service Ribbon.

She was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood since April.

On Thursday morning, Fort Hood Emergency Personnel were called to rescue the soldiers after their vehicle got stuck near East Range Road. Wide spread flooding was reported across Texas at the time of the accident, the Army Times reported.

The other victims have been identified as Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey.

The ninth victim's name has not been released pending notification of the solider's family. Six soldiers were reported missing after the accident with three confirmed dead. Three other soldiers were rescued and survived.

"This is a tragedy affecting not only Jersey City, but all of the communities who have lost a soldier as a result of this accident at Fort Hood," Mayor Steve Fulop said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to the family and loved ones of Pvt. James."

Additional information surrounding the incident has not been made available. The accident is under investigation by the Army Combat Readiness Center, Fort Rucker, Alabama.
FREEHOLD -- Seven teenagers were taken to a local hospital Saturday night after they were overcome with excitement at a Dolan Twins show at iPlay America.

Freehold police Officer Daniel Rehberg said 21 other show-goers were treated at the scene by EMS personnel from several local towns.

He said the seven that were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune were treated for panic attacks, anxiety and shortness of breadth.

More than 2,000 people crammed into the iPlay America Event Center to catch the Dolan Twins, two 16-year-old brothers who have become an Internet sensation. The brothers, Grayson and Ethan, have nearly 2 million subscribers on their YouTube channel, where they post videos of themselves and their antics.

Rehberg said police arrived at iPlay America around 7:30 p.m. The Dolan Twins stopped the show for about an hour, Rehberg said, but then came back on stage to finish the show and held a meet-and-greet afterwards.

In a tweet during the break, Grayson Dolan urged fans to calm down.

For everyone at the New Jersey show right now. Please take a seat and a deep breath. Once everyone is seated the show will continue love u  Grayson Dolan (@GraysonDolan) June 4, 2016

Attendees Meghan Roberts and Piper Scheiffele, both 14, told the Asbury Park Press that hoards of revelers in the front two rows "started trampling each other" when the Dolan Twins came on stage.

Another concert-goer, Amanda Brown, told the newspaper the frenzy started even before the two boys came on stage.

"When a video of them started, that's when it started," Brown told the Asbury Park Press.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
ASBURY PARK -- Tom Smith remembers when the state's largest Pride celebration was "isolated" and "desolate" 15 years ago.

That was the last time the 48-year-old Philadelphia resident attended the annual Pride festival -- now in its 25

th

year -- in Asbury Park.

"It wasn't as spread out," Smith explained, as he eagerly awaited the arrival of the parade at the corner of 5

th

and Grand avenues. "The community at large is very opening and accepting."

Laura Pople, president of Jersey Pride and organizer of the event, said she remembers when the parade used to get 1,000 participants and was limited to just two blocks near the boardwalk back in the early 90s.

"It was really cute," she said with a chuckle. "There wasn't really much to it. Now the parade is huge. Everything has just gotten so much bigger."

Despite the hazy and cloudy skies, thousands of parade revelers lined the streets of Asbury Park and gathered at a large park on 5

th

and Ocean avenues Sunday for the LGBTI -- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or intersex -- Pride celebration.

Pople said about 20,000 to 25,000 people attended the celebration last year, its largest gathering to date. She was hoping for about the same in 2016, but said she knew the pre-parade rain might have scared some attendees away.

The parade kicked off at City Hall around noon and snaked through downtown and toward Convention Hall on Ocean Avenue. It featured corporate sponsors, such as Bank of America and Uber, to local church groups and politicians, and members of the various LGBTI sub-communities from across the region.

Scores of people lined the streets, some cloaked in rainbow flags, waiving, cheering and shouting "Happy Pride."

Pople said the Asbury Park community has always accepted the LGBTI community but now it's more inclusive of families and businesses.

"Pride is a shared public affirmation of the right to love whomever you want with all the joys and heartache that goes with that, regardless of your gender or the other person's," she said.

Jess and Jen, who have been dating for five months and did not want to give their last names, both agreed that the Pride celebration has becomes less about a fight for equality and more of a celebration.

"I like that even people who are just coming out can be comfortable with who they are (at Pride)," Jess, an Asbury Park resident, said.

Jen, a Brick resident, said the community has come a long way, and that's also a reason to celebrate.

"It's fun to celebrate the progress, you get to celebrate who you are," she said.

Both Jess and Jen, along with Tom Smith, said the rainy weather wasn't going to stop them from enjoying the celebration. And despite the fear that Sunday would be a wash-out, by the time the last float crossed over Sunset Bridge on Grand Avenue, the sun peaked out from underneath the clouds.

"It's still a beautiful day, that's how I look at it," Smith said.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
PHILADELPHIA -- A body pulled out of the Delaware River was so decomposed that authorities could not determine the person's gender or race, according to reports.

The boater discovered the floating body Saturday around 7 p.m. near the Navy Yard on the 4500 block of South Broad Street in South Philadelphia, 6ABC.com reported. The boater called Philadelphia Police Department, which sent its marine unit to pull the body from the water.

According to NBCPhiladelpha.com, authorities were unable to determine the body's sex or gender due to the extent of its decomposition.

The body was sent to the medical examiner's office for further investigation.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP -- A two-story home became engulfed in flames Saturday night after a personal watercraft caught fire in the garage.

Fire officials responded to the Bay Terrace home shortly before 7 p.m. after receiving a report of a fire in the garage.

The first officials on the scene saw flames shooting from the garage and heavy black smoke emanating from the home, the Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Company said in a post on Facebook. The fire then spread quickly to the top floors of the residence.

Once the crews knocked down the fire from the outside of the home, they were able enter the house and extinguish the flames inside.

All fire companies on Long Beach Island responded to the scene, as well as several county agencies and fire departments off the Island.

The Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Company, in its Facebook post, thanked the following fire companies: Ship Bottom, Surf City, High Point Fire, Barnegat Light, Stafford Township, Forked River, Tuckerton, Barnegat and West Tuckerton.

Also responding to the scene were the following agencies: Beach Haven First Aid, Barnegat Light First Aid, Stafford EMS, Beach Haven Fire Company Auxiliary, Long Beach Township Police Department and the Beach Haven Police Department.

The fire is under investigation by the Ocean County Fire Marshal's Office and the Long Beach Township Police Department.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
ATLANTIC CITY - Approximately 600 high school students filed into the Sheraton Atlantic City Hotel on Saturday night for Southern Regional High School's 2016 senior prom.

The students were dressed to impress and ready to dance the night away as they arrived at the prom via cars, limousines and party buses.

NJ.com was there on Saturday night to capture images of some of the students as they arrived for the celebration.

Southern Regional High School senior prom: Gallery 1

Check back at nj.com/ocean for other local high school prom coverage in the coming weeks. And be sure to check out our complete prom coverage at nj.com/prom.

BUY THESE PHOTOS

Are you one of the people pictured at this prom? Want to buy the photo and keep it forever? Look for a link in the photo caption or click here to purchase the picture. You'll have the ability to order prints in a variety of sizes, or products like magnets, keychains, coffee mugs and more.

SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Let's see your prom photos. Post your pictures on Twitter and Instragram with #njprom. We'll retweet and repost our favorites on Twitter @njdotcom and Instagram @njdotcompix.

Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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Senator Sam Thompson, R-Old Bridge, wants the Motor Vehicle Commission to stop issuing license plates for the front of vehicles.

(Facebook via Sen. Thompson website)

Nobody will deny New Jersey needs to cut back on unnecessary expenses to keep taxes and costs low for all of us. But thinking of Albert Einstein's "everything is relative" comment, I wonder if the latest flap in Trenton is worth the money that'll be spent on advocacy.

Senator Sam Thompson, R-Old Bridge, wants the Motor Vehicle Commission to stop issuing license plates for the front of vehicles. Plenty of people agree with him, arguing they are costly, unnecessary and spoil the looks of their cars.

Let's talk about costly. According to records, there are about 6.8 million licensed drivers here. MVC's budget is $340 million a year. MVC officials informally estimate that eliminating one plate per vehicle would save close to a million dollars annually. Wow! Seven cents per driver. Big deal.

Senator Thompson, however, says "We're looking for ways to economize. It's a fair amount of money."

Supporters point out that only 31 states require front licenses and they think New Jersey ought to join the 19 who don't. Law enforcement sources strongly disagree. I expect there'll be a full line-up of police agencies testifying against the bill whenever it comes up for a hearing.

Meanwhile, I contacted my personal favorites among retired law enforcement officers. The ex-trooper told me on high-speed or divided highways the front plate isn't very useful at all. And since most people tend to park head-in, a front plate doesn't help identify vehicles in parking lots when cops are requested to be on the lookout for someone.

However, he says, they are great for vehicle identification wherever cameras are being used, like in patrol cars, at intersections or around parking lots. The retired local captain said the front plate also provides officers and witnesses a much better opportunity to see or record a license plate on a car moving toward them. And the license plate readers at checkpoints looking at the fronts of cars heading toward bridges and tunnels can identify suspected terrorists before they ever get a chance to wreck our infrastructure.

MVC headquarters in Trenton is contacted daily by law enforcement not only from New Jersey but from other states, as well. Often callers will have only a partial plate, a few numbers or letters, and perhaps the color or make of the vehicle. MVC officials will comb through their computer records, and more often than not, they'll be able to identify the vehicle in question and provide information about its owner. A single plate would cut their odds in half.

Not long ago Texas A&M conducted a study comparing states with two plates to those with only one. Their report concluded that a lack of front plates makes it more difficult to identify toll cheats, reduces the rate of identification by automatic license plate readers, and makes it more difficult for police to read the numbers on parked and moving vehicles.

Senator Thompson has introduced similar bills in the past and the Legislature usually ignored them, but in 2007, one bill was actually voted down. Indiana, one of the one-plate states, has been having similar troubles trying to get its Legislature to require two plates.

3M, one of the companies which makes license plate materials, not surprisingly opposes Thompson's bill. I don't expect anyone is going to ask the prison inmates how they'd feel about having only half the work to do. But maybe they could be assigned to make fancy plate holders for those vehicle owners who think front plates are just too darn ugly.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A former assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of the North Hudson Community Action Corp. in Union City.
By Christine Todd Whitman

On Tuesday, New Jersey voters have a chance to be heard.

For Republicans, the party has a candidate in Donald Trump, but that does not diminish the importance of going to the polls. If Donald Trump is your candidate, fine, but if you do not feel he represents you or your values, send a message to the party and vote for John Kasich or Ted Cruz, who are still on the ballot in New Jersey.

Right now the leading candidates of the two major political parties have the highest disapproval ratings ever recorded for potential presidential candidates, so it is fair to ask: How did we get here? I would argue we have to look in the mirror for the answer.

For too many years those eligible to vote in primary or general elections did not bother to do so. Those sensible centrists who do not go to rallies, but care deeply about our country, effectively silenced their own voices. That sent the message to incumbents that they were either doing the right thing or that we just did not care. Either way, it resulted in more of the same in governance, with Washington getting more and more distanced from the people they serve.

As frustration grew at the tone-deafness of our governments, more and more people declined to vote because they did not like their choices. That vicious cycle continued until we find ourselves where we are today.

Trump's recent attack on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a federal court judge who is overseeing a civil suit against Trump University for defrauding and misleading customers who spent $1,500 for three-day seminars that promised to teach Trump's secrets of success in real estate, is the latest example of why I will be voting against him on Tuesday. Curiel ordered the unsealing of 1,000 pages of documents related to the case, which is standard legal procedure.

In response, Trump spent more than 10 minutes at a rally attacking the judge in a racially tinged diatribe and complaining that the legal system is "rigged." He noted to rally-goers that the judge was Mexican, and proceeded to rehash several of his critiques of immigrants from that country, even though Curiel is actually from Indiana.

These statements in themselves are rude and inappropriate, to say nothing of revealing of his lack of knowledge of the judicial system. But the real danger of this -- just one of literally hundreds of similar incidents on the campaign trail -- is that it incites his supporters to racism and a sense that the "system" is out to get them. Trump is not the victim of the judicial system; he is or has been the defendant in 3,500 lawsuits -- that's not the mark of a victim, but rather a perpetrator.

The New York Times editorial board summed up this situation well:

"Mr. Trump has said so many irresponsible or dangerous things so often and in so many settings that there is a real risk that many voters will simply tune out and his campaign will somehow be normalized. So it is particularly important to note when Mr. Trump's statements go beyond the merely provocative or absurd and instead represent a threat to America's carefully balanced political system. This is such a moment. It is not too late for Republicans who revere that system to question how they can embrace a nominee who has so little regard for it."

Voting is the only way to make change in a democracy.

Give Trump and Bernie Sanders credit. They have brought more people to the polls than we have seen years. Even though the primary season is near its end, it is never too late to send a message.

I will be voting Tuesday and with my vote will let the Republican leaders know that I do not believe that Donald Trump represents the best of my party or what is good for the country I love.

Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican, was the governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003.

Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter @NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
Fox News published a national poll a few weeks ago showing Donald Trump ahead of Hillary Clinton by three points. My heart flipped.

But then I thought, Fox News? Aren't they the ones who deny climate change? Maybe they're as bad at math as they are at science.

Then the Washington Post published a poll, with ABC News, that showed Trump winning by two. Uh-oh.

With terror in my soul, I set out to investigate at a Hillary Clinton rally in downtown Newark on Wednesday.

And I came away feeling much better, convinced that she has found a path to victory.

Not an inspiring one full of promise and hope, like President Obama's campaigns. But a path to victory, nonetheless.

First, let me confess to mixed feelings about Clinton. She's has always been a warrior for good causes, and half the stuff they throw at her is as bogus as Benghazi.

But I stopped trusting her long ago, after she earned a fortune trading cattle futures in Arkansas on the advice of a "friend" who did business with the state government. The $250,000 speeches at Goldman Sachs didn't help.

Put it this way: If she were in Jersey politics, she'd fit right in. Not criminal, but slippery.

So I was struck by the determined crowd as I arrived at her Newark rally. The sun was hot, and she wasn't scheduled to speak for two more hours. But hundreds of people were lined up around the block, three deep.

Maybe people loved Clinton after all. Maybe the media was getting this wrong, too.

Not quite. I searched hard, and I found only a scrap of heartfelt affection for Clinton, from middle-aged women only.

This was not about love for Hillary. This was about fear of Donald.

"I'm not so enthused about Clinton," said David Tucker of Montclair. "But I have no choice. Trump will be at war within a few months."

"She's not perfect," said Laurie Rufolo of Summit. "But Trump is scary."

"He reminds me of Hitler," said Carol Bilsky-Bieniek of Lodi. "It's scary so many people in America are willing to vote for him."

It hit me that Clinton didn't really need to capture America's heart to win this thing. She just needs to remind people how awful Trump is.

Because in politics, fear can be even more potent than love.

Look at her "major speech" on foreign policy Thursday. She didn't make a single policy proposal. Not did she defend herself against critics of her performance as Secretary of State.

Instead, she tapped into the fear of Trump that was so palpable on that line in Newark.

"Imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Situation Room, making life-or-death decisions on behalf of the United States," she said. "Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he's angry, but America's entire arsenal."

Yes, this is going negative. But it's fair. And it needs to be said.

Trump says he would order the torture of ISIS fighters, and the killing of their children and wives to send a message. That would make him a war criminal. Should Clinton be quiet about that?

He has suggested that Japan and South Korea should build their own nuclear weapons, a move that would invite a host of countries to do the same. Should she be quiet about that?

In her Newark speech, Clinton took the same approach, spending the first 10 minutes smashing The Donald in the teeth before she mentioned her own program.

She pointed to the con-job that executives at Trump University recently described in court affidavits, and warned that he is trying to con America in the same way.

"This is more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud," she said.

I wish we lived in a more elevated world where the best candidate in each party competed over policy ideas. I also wish that good scotch and bacon-cheeseburgers didn't have calories.

But Clinton has to do this. She has the megaphone. And she shouldn't waste it on a futile campaign to win love and affection. She should use it to warn America about a real peril.

She is not lying about Trump. This is not like the Swift Boat campaign that smeared John Kerry in 2004. So far, at least, her criticism of Trump has been fair.

I'm not looking for love in this election, or hope, or even change.

I am scared to death. And my guess is that the best way to beat Trump is with good, clean punches, all above the belt. So please, Hillary, have at him.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
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The governor, now free from any sense of obligation to actually govern the state of New Jersey, has taken up a new hobby. It seems he enjoys nothing more than kicking back and telling other people to get to work. Just this week Christie admonished the mayor of Atlantic City for not digging out from under several hundred million dollars of budget deficit in a week.

Then he turned his gaze towards the Democratically lead legislature and asked why they haven't fixed a problem he's neglected for nearly seven years. That problem is, of course, the impending insolvency of the Transportation Trust Fund and the eventual disintegration of our statewide infrastructure rendering us a Mad Max type dystopian wasteland.

Christie has spent the last few years proclaiming that the spectre of the complete collapse of our transportation system is no big deal and that he could probably solve it over the weekend if he really wanted to. Over the past few weeks, however, his position has shifted and now amounts to him shouting "NOT IT!" throughout the hallways of the State Capitol. An inspiring leader to be sure.

Hopefully the governor and the legislature can take a quick break from their busy schedule of not doing a damn thing and spend a few hours making sure we all don't plummet to our deaths from a highway overpass.

More Sheneman Cartoons

Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter@NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
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The School City of Hobart has taken much pride in preparing our students to be college and career ready upon graduation.

Throughout this school year, the corporation has surpassed great milestones to reach out to parents and students of all ages, from the elementary level up through high school students, with numerous events to keep students and parents prepared. Our mission for them is Develop Your Plan, Purpose and Potential.

Our guidance department at the high school is a stopping point for all of students who need resources to help them reach this mission.

Within this department is the Office of Student Placement where students meet to discuss college and/or career goals. The plan is designed by the student while our staff makes sure to assist them by making the plan as realistic as possible, along with helping them see that success takes hard work and a commitment to lifelong learning.

Hobart High School offers students a variety of career pathways to choose from as another way to help them advance their post-high school plans. Those pathways include: School of Human Services, School of Communication and Fine Arts, School of Health and Natural Sciences, School of Business Services and Information Technology, and School of Engineering and Industrial Technology. These career pathways include career cluster electives, many of which are dual college credit classes, to support the goals of our students.

This past April, 12th grade students took part in a Career & Workforce Expectations workshop hosted by the Office of Student Placement. Later that same day, all of our students and the public took part in a career fair.

With the support of Ready NWI, the Center of Workforce Innovations, and the Hobart Chamber of Commerce, students heard from key employers in Northwest Indiana on how to meet their expectations and land a job in mini breakout type sessions.

The School City of Hobart also has many partnerships within the community that allow us to meet the needs and goals of students as they embark on becoming productive citizens. Students are involved with work-based learning programs during the school day, and we have many who are ready to enter the workforce and learn from great employers in the community.

It is our goal to continue to add to our list of partners in the community so that students are exposed to the many career options available in Northwest Indiana.

We thank in advance those employers who are assisting our Brickies in becoming dynamic leaders as we aim to help students define their success at the highest levels possible!
A developer is planning one of the largest new industrial projects in East Chicago in years, after Hoist Liftruck and Chrome LLC recently moved into existing buildings in the city.

Chicago-based Kelly Construction and Design intends to develop a 14-acre industrial park at 4400 Homerlee Avenue near downtown East Chicago. Commercial Advantage President Lori Tubbs, whos marketing the property to potential tenants, said the multimillion-dollar business park development would be called Park 145.

Build-to-suit buildings on the site could accommodate one large manufacturing company or  in theory  as many as 50 smaller ones. Tentative plans call for seven buildings ranging in size from 13,900 square feet to 132,000 square feet, but the land will be divided up and developed based on who wants to move in. A building as big as 320,000 square feet could be built if a company needs it.

The new industrial park will be home to light or moderate manufacturers.

They are open to many things, Tubbs said. Weve already met with several companies looking to get pricing on build-to-suit spaces for lease or for sale.

A recent market report from commercial real estate firm NAI Hiffman found a need for more industrial spaces in Northwest Indiana to keep up with demand. Tubbs said Illinois companies also have been expressing more interest since Hoist Lifttruck relocated from Bedford Park to East Chicago, where it estimates its saving $2 million a year on taxes, workmans compensation and other expenses.

It definitely shows the opportunities, Tubbs said. Chrome also came to 3600 Michigan Avenue. When the community is pulling businesses in, it causes excitement and leads to more opportunity.

Kelly Construction and Commercial Advantage are working to get rail access to the 14-acre site. In addition to the planned CSX rail spur, it's 4 miles from Interstate 80/94 and 2 miles from the Indiana Toll Road.

The goal is to start construction this summer, Tubbs said.

Were hoping to have occupants by late fall, early winter, she said.

For more information, call Tubbs at (312) 446-7059 or email ltubbs@commercial-adv.com.
Memorial Day weekend was more than a symbolic start to summer this year, as temperatures pushed mid-summer highs and sunny skies encouraged outdoor activity, including a full crowd at local beaches.

"Last weekend was very, very busy," said Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Ranger Bruce Rowe. "Our West Beach filled up, and our smaller eastern beaches did, too. When West Beach fills up, you know it's busy."

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management lists on its Indiana Beach Guide website a total of 25 beaches along the state's Lake Michigan shoreline. They range from the state and national parks' best-known beaches to popular local beaches like Whihala in Whiting and Washington Park in Michigan City, with a variety of others dotting the lakeshore.

At the larger beaches, the Memorial Day weekend warm-up served as a lead-in to a summer augmented by anniversary celebrations: The National Park Service and Indiana State Parks are celebrating their centennials; the Indiana Dunes State Park is 90; and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is 50. All those are happening in conjunction with Indiana's bicentennial as a state.

The National Park Service's centennial celebrations, along with the national lakeshore's 50th anniversary, will continue through the summer. This weekend's program, "Before Bailly," is at the Bailly Homestead.

It continues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, with more than 80 volunteers giving interpretive presentations allowing visitors to "get a glimpse into the life of people who inhabited, or traveled through, the southern Great Lakes area before Joseph Bailly settled in the Indiana Dunes."

"That'll be a really neat program," Rowe said.

The Bailly/Chellberg parking lot is on Mineral Springs Road between U.S. 20 and U.S. 12 in Porter.

At the beach, Mount Baldy will continue to be closed this summer, but rangers will offer a total of 27 guided hikes along the western edge of the dune. The areas involved in the 27 hike suggestions were deemed safe by scientists who have been studying Mt. Baldy since July 2013, when a 6-year-old boy became buried in sand after a hole developed in the dune.

"It's very carefully controlled," Rowe said of the ranger-guided hike. "It's a really interesting tour."

The tours, lasting about one and a half hours, will be offered at 10 a.m. Sundays and at 5 p.m. most Fridays. On some Friday nights, a sunset hike will be offered instead. Space for the tours is limited; call the park's information line at (219) 395-1882 and make a reservation to be able to attend.

Another closure involves Central Avenue Beach in Pines, which is off limits because of erosion.

"The erosion really took out the vast majority of the beach over the winter," Rowe said. He said it's possible access will be opened at some point. "We'll have to see what Mother Nature does this summer."

But even with the closure almost all of the parks 15,000 acres are open to the public, including Lake View, Dunbar, Kemil, Porter, Portage Lakefront and West beaches.

Get there early if you want to park, especially at beaches such as Kemil and Dunbar, Rowe said.

The full impact of the lake is best seen when cresting a dune just yards from the water line.

"A lot of people just think of the National Lakeshore as beaches and dunes in the summer," Rowe acknowledged. But the national and state parks are famous for their trails winding up, down and through the dunes landscape.

Rowe noted the National Lakeshore's opening of the Hobart Woodland Trail at Hobart Prairie Grove on Saturday has brought its trail network to 50 miles  a fun coincidence during the lakeshore's 50th anniversary year.

And those trails can be combined with a beach visit, if you travel lightly. The National Lakeshore's Cowles Bog leads hikers along a trail rich with animal and plant life, ranging from prickly pear cactus to blueberries, to a relatively private beach at the foot of a steep dune.

It's a good option "if you want to get to a more isolated beach and are willing to do a two-mile round-trip hike," Rowe said.

Getting to the beach does require descending  then ascending  a steep dune. But, some visitors enjoy packing a lunch and taking advantage of the often overlooked option.

That beach also offers access to boaters, he noted. "Some people like to spend the day," Rowe said.

The year 1916 saw a surge of activity focused on preservation of natural areas and the physical and social well-being they can promote. In Indiana, that included creation of a state park system.

At the heart of the National Lakeshore, the Indiana Dunes State Park is marking its anniversary with various activities and opening itself up to everyone with some old-fashioned pricing.

This weekend, the admission price at state parks is being rolled back to the 1916 price, only 10 cents per person. And while normal admission is only $7 for Indiana-registered vehicles, the Indiana Department of Natural resources has made a state park pass available for checkout from each of the state's public libraries this year.

Special events this month include a June 11 anniversary presentation on the wreck of the J.D. Marshall, and on June 30, fireworks at the lakeshore.
Each day, about 10 people die from unintentional drowning, which is the leading cause of injury deaths for children 1 to 4  sobering statistics as beach and pool season is now here.

While much of summer is spent outdoors for many families, there are several dangers lurking, from bug bites to sun poisoning and water hazards.

Water safety

As temperatures heat up and vacation season sets in, many families will take to the water.

The American Red Cross is stressing the importance of constant, active adult supervision and ensuring that everyone learns to swim as critical layers of protection to help prevent drowning, says Sue Gulley, executive director of the American Red Cross of Northern Indiana.

According to a Red Cross survey, more than half of all Americans either cant swim or dont have all of the basic swimming skills.

In response, the organization and its Scientific Advisory Council have recommended that everyone learn to perform critical water safety skills, referred to as water competency.

The skills, performed sequentially, include being able to step or jump into the water over your head, return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute, rotate in a full circle and find an exit, swim 25 yards to the exit, and exit from the water without the use of a ladder.

Learn to swim well enough that you can perform all five water competency skills, Gulley said. If you or a family member cant, look for Red Cross Learn-to-Swim classes offered in your area.

Though its recommended to swim in public areas that are protected by lifeguards, not all popular swimming spots in Northwest Indiana are staffed, including along Lake Michigan. Along the National Lakeshore, West Beach is the only lifeguarded beach.

When there are dangerous conditions due to high waves and rip currents, lightning or high bacteria counts in the water, the guards will not let people in the guarded waters of West Beach, said Bruce Rowe, supervisory park ranger and public information officer of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Because the beaches are unguarded, it is critical that visitors understand the dangers.

We recommend that an adult is constantly watching children or other non-swimmers in or around the water, he said. Stay near your children and dont read, talk on the phone, or engage in any other distracting activity while supervising children. Children can step off a sand bar into deep water without warning.

Rowe also says to avoid swimming when there are breaking waves.

The waves themselves can overwhelm swimmers and can also create dangerous rip currents, he said. We recommend that you do not swim alone.

While the National Lakeshore places water safety information signs at all official access points to the beaches, visitors can also call an information line at (219) 395-1882 to learn if there are dangerous conditions.

Sun safety

Prevent heat illnesses by drinking water and taking it easy on hot days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Heat exhaustion symptoms include heavy sweating, weakness, clammy skin, a fast and weak pulse, and nausea or vomiting. The CDC recommends moving to a cooler location, loosening clothing and applying cool, wet cloths to the body.

A heat strokes symptoms include high body temperature, rapid and strong pulse, possible unconsciousness and hot, red, dry or moist skin. The CDC advises to move the person to a cooler environment, call 911, apply cool cloths and do not give fluids.

Nature safety

In addition to water and sun dangers, summer also brings the risk of bug bites. Though most are harmless, some can cause more serious diseases.

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park recommend avoid low-lying brush to reduce the chance of tick and mosquito bites.

Other recommendations include using insect repellent and wearing light-colored clothing, long-sleeved shirts and tucked-in pants.

Plants, such as poison ivy, can also be treacherous. If contact is made, wash yourself as soon as possible.
MUNSTER  All four lanes of Calumet Avenue just south of Fisher Street will close to all traffic for nearly three days beginning Friday, so NIPSCO can continue replacing a natural gas pipeline as part of its $779 million natural gas modernization plan.

The road closure 100 feet south of Fisher Street begins at 8 p.m. Friday and is slated to reopen at 3 p.m. June 13, said Peter Faberbock, project manager for NiSource. Crews will work 24 hours a day during that time to finish installing the natural gas pipeline.

Both the east and west lanes of Fisher Street located north of Calumet Avenue will remain open, allowing access to Community Hospital for emergency vehicles and other traffic, Faberbock said.

An alternate access to the hospital will be from Columbia Avenue on MacArthur Boulevard, said Marie Forszt, spokeswoman for Community Hospital.

We have notified physicians, staff and ambulance services about the closure and these alternatives, she said.

Earlier this spring, NIPSCO crews began replacing 3.5 miles of natural gas pipeline at the Illinois/Indiana state line in Munster as part of NIPSCOs natural gas modernization projects that began in 2014.

We went through the utility corridor on Fisher Street, said Rick Calinski, NIPSCO public affairs manager.

This is a very large transmission line, serving hundreds of thousands of customers. It even supports our industrial base along the shores of Lake Michigan.

The pipeline's route takes it from the Illinois/Indiana state line at Fisher Street to the intersection of Ridge Road and Indianapolis Boulevard, and into Highland just east of Kennedy Avenue, Faberbock said.

It will run to the western end of LaPorte Street, which is where the post office is located on Kennedy Avenue in Highland, he said.

This part of the pipeline should be completed by the end of August. Then we have some station work starting in September that will carry over into the first or second quarter of 2017, Faberbock said.

The project has led to some road and bike trail closures.

We will keep the bike trails closed until the project is completed, Calinski said. There will be intermittent closures in the Brantwood subdivision (in Highland) until the end of June.

For more than a year, NIPSCO has been meeting with stakeholders including officials from the towns of Munster and Highland, the School Town of Munster and Community Hospital to gather their input, Calinski said.

We are having weekly meetings with stakeholders, he said.

We considered the option of having intermittent closures of Calumet Avenue that would take 10 to 14 days.

The 67-hour closure of all four lanes of Calumet Avenue will minimize the long-term traffic impact on the community, he said, adding that public and private schools have completed their academic year.

They do have summer-school sessions, but the class sizes are small, and there is no bus transportation, Calinski said.

Its also the safest option for both drivers and work crews, he said.

Signs posted along Calumet Avenue continue to announce the closure. Calinski said the town of Munster and schools have been encouraged to use their Nextel notification systems.

Detours been planned by Munster officials, said Town Manager Dustin Anderson.

We are trying to push truck traffic to U.S. 30 and to Indianapolis Boulevard, so that we dont have tractor-trailers on Ridge Road or 45th Street, Anderson said.

Trucks that service Munsters businesses south of Fisher Street along Calumet Avenue such as Pepsi will be directed to travel north on Calumet from U.S. 30, he said.

Alternate routes for other traffic include Fran-Lin Parkway to Columbia Avenue, and Ridge Road to Columbia Avenue. Area residents also could take White Oak Avenue, Anderson said.

Contingencies have been built into the project, and the utility is confident this part of the project will be completed on time, Faberbock and Calinski said.

NIPSCO wants to remind customers to exercise caution to ensure their personal safety and the safety of construction crews working on this project, Calinski said.

And we appreciate the patience of our customers as we continue this important system modernization project that will provide future benefits to all customers in Northwest Indiana.
Freshman Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., recently made headlines with an impassioned plea for a healthy alternative to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

He denounced not only the two presumptive candidates, who he said are dishonest and have little chance of leading American forward, but also their parties, which he said bicker like children about tiny things, and yet  cant even identify the biggest issues we face.

Says Sasse: These two national political parties are enough of a mess that I believe they will come apart. It might not happen fully in 2016  but when peoples needs arent being met, they ultimately find other solutions.

At some level, that last part has to be right. The lines of political contestation between the two dominant political parties have changed before, and they seem to be changing again. And so it is natural to ask whether a major third party can force its way into contention, disrupting our political duopoly.

There are plenty of reasons for skepticism. Ballot access laws vary greatly across the country, but many states require hundreds of thousands of signatures. That makes it expensive for new parties to break in. By long habit, most Americans think of voting for a third party as a purely expressive act with no hope of immediate impact. And Americas first-past-the-post elections strongly push toward a two-party equilibrium.

All these factors mean that recurrent dreams about the emergence of a centrist or non-political party face especially long odds. The moment someone tries to call such a party into existence, it will be attacked on both flanks by the established parties.

And it is hard to generate the needed grassroots excitement around a message of resolute centrism or a suspension of normal political hostilities. Michael Bloombergs decision not to run confirms this logic.

To make a lasting difference, a third party must organize around some issue that divides the public and, yet, is mostly neglected by the two major parties. In the late 1840s and 1850s, this issue was slavery: in spite of deep anxieties about the peculiar institution in both the north and south, Democrats and Whigs worked to suppress the issue in national politics.

That allowed the Free Soil and Republican parties, which featured opposition to slaverys expansion as their central issue, to emerge as disruptive forces. Abraham Lincoln took the White House for Republicans six and a half years after the party was founded, and the rest is history.

Third parties today can hope to catalyze some kind of similar transformation. Even if the labels Democrat and Republican stay with us, the ideas and commitments of each party may be profoundly altered such that more citizens are satisfied by one of the choices on offer.

The question then becomes: when people like Sasse reject both sides of the choice between Hillarys Democrats and Trumps Republicans, what sort of concerns are going unaddressed?

For #NeverTrump die-hards like Sasse, the answer is a respect for Americas constitutional heritage, conservative values and tradition of limited government. These ideas, central to movement conservatisms self-image, seem suddenly divergent from what the Republican Party is becoming.

Arguably the Libertarian Party might be positioned to benefit. It will be the only third party on all 50 state ballots. Its standard-bearer in 2012, Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, received nearly 1.3 million votes, or 1 percent of all ballots cast. This year, Johnson looks set to run again, this time with former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as his running mate.

Armed with this respectable ticket and the message that they will support economic and social freedoms no longer protected by Democrats or Republicans, this year may be Libertarians best chance for a breakthrough. A long institutional history of putting doctrinal purity ahead of political success may make it difficult for them to seize the opportunity, though.

Whatever shape it might ultimately take, an issue-driven third party contesting the shared assumptions of Democrats and Trumpian Republicans could play a constructive role in reorienting American political conflict.

Like Britains Liberal Democrats, who defied the tendency toward a two-party system and forced their way into a coalition government with David Camerons Conservatives from 2010 to 2015, such a party could do a great deal to help America through one of our nations most confusing political moments.
CROWN POINT  Calumet Quester No. 154 celebrated their 55th Anniversary at a State Spring Convention held at the Crown Point Courthouse Maki Ballroom hosted by the Chapter. The Calumet Questers No. 154 received a grant from the Crown Point Community Foundation to assist in the event which entertained Questers from all of the 30 State Chapters.
HAMMOND  Bouncing cancer to the curb. Cancer doesnt sleep. Neither will we. Our goal is to stamp out cancer.

That fight-back spirit filled the Jean Shepherd Community Center gymnasium Saturday for the Relay for Life of North Lake County.

This American Cancer Societys overnight 12-hour community fundraising walk brought together cancer survivors, caregivers, families, companies, unions, students and individuals of all ages whose goal remains to fight back and win the battle with the disease that touches so many lives.

Although rain fell outside, the centers gym and indoor track provided a weatherproof haven for 19 teams of 310 registered walkers who signed up to repeatedly make the trek around the track.

Our goal is to raise $55,500. We are $22,000 away from that goal, but we have until Aug. 31, said Janet Wartman of Schererville, community representative at the American Cancer Society. She has been the community manager for the Relay for Life since 2011.

This years sponsors included The Times Media Co., Huhtamaki Inc., Horseshoe Casino, the city of Hammond, the Hammond Parks Department, Food For Less, Haylees Inflatables, Z107.1 and Next Generation D.J.

For the fourth year, Larita Tinoko, 44, and her husband, Santiago Tinoko, 43, of Blue Island, Illinois, signed up to walk in the Relay for Life in Hammond  she as a cancer survivor, he as a caregiver.

On Dec. 8, Ill be an eight-year breast cancer survivor. It was caught early. I had four lumpectomies and didnt do the traditional chemotherapy, she said. The couple were part of the Fighting for A Cure Team. I lost my mom to breast cancer and my father to prostate cancer. Hopefully this walk will help someone and they will find a cure.

Santiago wiped away tears as he said, I participate to be at her side. I saw what she went through. I dont want others to go through that.

The 20 members of the 3 Angels Above Us team ranged from ages 3 to 65 and walked to keep alive the memory of three family who were lost to cancer in the last 18 months, said Joellen Klut, of Hammond, who has been participating in Relay for Life events for 10 years.

Our brother-in-law, John Hartman, died in October 2014 of liver cancer. Another brother-in-law, Jerry Wilkins, died in December 2015 of esophageal cancer. My sister, Becky Wilkins, fought kidney cancer for four years and died in March of 2016, Klut said.

Newly added to the list on the teams display table was the name of 16-year old DZ Lilman Santos of Hammond, who lost his battle with stage 4 brain cancer on Wednesday.

He was my friend. His birthday was May 25. They didnt know if he would live until then, but he made it, sobbed Haley Neyhart as Klut enveloped her in a hug.

Team Huhtamaki, representing the global manufacturer of consumer and specialty packaging with a facility in Hammond, brought together corporate leaders and salaried and union employees. The back of their purple T-shirts read Supporting the Fighters, Admiring the Survivors, Honoring the Taken, and Never, Ever Giving Up.

The companys corporate leaders included Marc Doiron, senior director of operations at the Huhtamaki Inc. corporate office in DeSoto, Kansas, who flew in for the event.

Over an 18-hour period, about 60 of our employees participated with donations, T-shirt sales and raised about $6,000, Doiron said.

Robert Lofton, USW International staff representative of the union representing workers, joined the Huhtamaki team to walk.

This is the company and union working together. Its for a good cause, Lofton said.

We just lost one of our own  Isabel Hinojosa, the wife of former Hammond City Councilman Chico Hinojosa  a month ago to pancreatic cancer, said Rich Blastic, Hammond plant manager. She was a wonderful, beautiful, kind, loving co-worker. She gave us motivation.

To signal the noon start of the Relay for Life, teams of walkers and ROTC student from Gavit High School carried a massive American flag into the gym as Dionne Robinson, of Lake Station, sang the national anthem.

During the opening ceremonies, Channelle Glover of the Horseshoe Casino team, told those gathered, I am a 25-year and six-month cancer survivor. I have to give thanks and praise to God."

She also thanked her Horseshoe Family and her own family.

I said (when diagnosed with cancer) Im going to fight and give it all I got,' she said. Im here for each one of you. We have to continue this fight. Our goal is to stamp out cancer, give cancer a run for its money.

Then to the strains of Reba McEntires Im a Survivor, those who have survived cancer took the first victory lap to the applause and shouts of support.
HAMMOND  The Midwest Youth Choir (MYC) is now accepting new students for its annual summer camp held from July 11 to July 25.

Books, Brushes & Bands for Educations (BBB4E) MYC summer camp is an eight-day camp Monday-Thursday for young voice ages 7-18 of all different musical levels throughout Northwest Indiana and Illinois. Camp is held at BBB4Es class location in the former St. Catherine of Siena School and is open to any student in any zip code.

Students have the opportunity to learn a music repertoire that includes a variety of languages as well as traditional and contemporary selections. Students also learn how to read and understand musical compositions.

What really makes the MYC music camp is the level of instruction provided, comments President Michelle Golden. Director Jade Maze comes from the acclaimed Merit School of Music with a background in performance. Her background and degree of teaching prepares our students for their performance tour.

All students who enroll will end with an all-day performance tour to different businesses around Northwest Indiana on Monday, July 25 followed by a free, public performance at Edison Pool and a family pool party.

The students always look forward to the performance tour on the final day, Golden said. Its a way to culminate the camp as well as to get our students outside of the classroom and into the community, especially businesses they may never have stepped inside of otherwise.

Camp will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Monday-Thursday at the former St. Catherine of Siena School, 6525 Kentucky Ave. The performance tour is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 25 with the public performance starting at 5:15 p.m. at Edison Pool in Hammond.

For more information about BBB4E and how you can register for the Midwest Youth Choirs summer camp, contact Shelley Lohr at (219) 932-3232 or visit www.bbb4e.org.
Southlake County Reporter

Carmen is an award-winning journalist who has worked at The Times newspaper for 20 years. Before that she also had stints at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., The Post-Tribune and The News Dispatch in Michigan City.
MUNSTER  Cancer Resource Centre, 926 Ridge Road, offers free education programs and support groups for those with a cancer diagnosis and their caregivers.

For more information or to register, call (219) 836-3349.

To join a support group, call or visit www.cancerresourcecentre.com.

Wellness Support Group, 10 to 11:30 a.m. or 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. This group provides an opportunity to share feelings, receive support and learn ways to cope with the experience of having cancer.

Caregiver support group, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. This is a supportive program series for spouses/family caretakers to explore and develop strategies to help cope when you have a loved one diagnosed with cancer.

Reiki, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Reiki is a technique that aids the body in releasing stress and tension by creating deep relaxation and inner balance. Reiki restores energy, balance and vitality. A prescription from you physician is required prior to attending.

Yoga, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Monday and 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. Breathe and stretch your body and mind. Yoga classes are therapeutic as well as restorative. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Lung cancer support group, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. All with a lung cancer diagnosis are invited to come together to share experiences and concerns. Develop strategies to help cope and move forward in your personal journey. Explore factors that impact mood and develop skills to counter depression and anxiety when facing cancer as a patient or family caregiver.

Chi Gong, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Learn this ancient healing art of breath, movement, non-movement and meditation. You will be led through a one-hour session of warm ups, positions and focused movements. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Knit OneNurture Too, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Knitting and crocheting squares, scarves or blankets. Any skill level welcome. Supplies are provided or bring your own. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Chair Yoga, 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday. Designed for those who have difficulty with the regular yoga environment. You may sit or use a chair for balance. Chair Yoga works to calm the nervous system and strengthens and quiets the mind and body. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Ukulele, 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Learn to play the ukulele from one of the Regions best! Rima Krutulis will instruct the class. Please call the center if you are a beginner. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Tai Chi, Fri, June 10, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday. The art of Tai Chi is considered meditation in motion. Classes emphasize balance, posture, breathing techniques, concentration and complete relaxation. A prescription from your physician is required prior to attending.

Expressive Art Therapy, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.. Art Therapy provides an inner outlet for your thoughts and feelings while giving you a sense of control over your surroundings that cannot be put into words.
SCHERERVILE  The Schererville Parks and Recreation Department, in coordination with the Town of Schererville, will be hosting the 25th annual Celebrate Schererville Parade on June 18. This years parade theme will be Celebrating 150 Years, honoring the Town of Scherervilles 150th Anniversary.

As part of this years theme, the Schererville Parks and Recreation Department would like participants to #Scherer their past and present fondest memories of Schererville, while including the 150th Anniversary theme into floats. This years parade will start at 5 p.m. at the intersection of Joliet Street and Roman Road and head east. At the intersection of Joliet Street and Austin Avenue, the parade will then begin traveling south until its conclusion at Redar Park.

All residents and non-residents are invited to join the parade. Children are asked to bring a bag for the candy that will be distributed by businesses, schools, churches, and organizations participating in the parade.

Any interested businesses, schools, churches, or organizations wishing to participate in the parade can contact Maddie Grimm, Recreation Coordinator, at (219) 865-5530 ext. 6102 or mgrimm@schererville.org. Parade applications can be obtained at the Schererville Clerk Treasurers Office, Schererville Community Center, or www.schererville.org and must be turned in no later than noon on June 15.
ST. JOHN  During his first week as St. John police chief, James Kveton was introduced to a Region malady: blocked railroad crossings.

Kveton said he was stuck waiting for trains at the Patterson Street crossing of the CSX Railroad and soon received complaints from residents of a similar problem at 81st Avenue. The trains frequently blocked the crossings for 30 to 45 minutes while delivering lumber to Schillings home improvement center.

Problems with railroads were nothing new to Kveton, who said, while a member of the Elmhurst, Illinois, Police Department in 1994, he started a railroad safety program that he helped teach across the country and around the world. At the time, Elmhurst was experiencing two or three fatalities a year at railroad crossings. After implementing the program, the city had only one fatality for the next 21 years.

"We did write tickets to the railroad all the time when they blocked the crossings for more than 10 minutes," he said. "Then the court ruled that, because railroads travel through so many communities, it would be impossible for them to maintain a knowledge of the laws of each one. Therefore, it should be a federal responsibility."

Kveton said he understood it to be a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. When he began looking into the rail crossing issue in Indiana, he discovered it was an Illinois court ruling. He began working with the Federal Railroad Administration and CSX to try to come up with a solution to blocked crossings at Patterson and 81st, either by changing the order the cars are aligned on the trains or by delivering the material at night when there is less traffic.

While working on a solution to avoid issuing a lot of tickets, Kveton discovered both crossings are outside the town's boundaries, and he would have to get the Lake County Sheriff's Department help to ticket the trains. He said he's confident that can be worked out, but another issue has arisen.

"I found a law in Indiana that regulates the blocking of crossings for more than 10 minutes. When I called the railroad to let them know of the Indiana law and that we would have to start enforcing it, the railroad said there is a court case that, if the blockage is related to commerce, there is an exemption. I'm researching that now."

Kveton gave a report of his efforts to deal with the blockages at recent Town Council meeting. Later in the meeting, resident Mary Therese Robert complained of the blockages. Kveton said he has been working with Robert and other residents, urging anyone to document the blockages and report them to the railroad or him.

Each crossing has a blue sign with an identification number for the crossing and an "800" number to contact the railroad or residents can call or email Kveton. Meanwhile, he continues to work with CSX and received an email saying the railroad's scheduler was looking for a way to alleviate the problem.

"There are no viable alternative routes for emergency vehicles to get around the blockages," he said. "There was one person with an elderly mom, who could need assistance, and it could mean a five-minute delay in getting to her. I'm using that argument with them.

At a subsequent meeting, Kveton reported the problem almost has been eliminated, partly by Schilling having the deliveries made late at night, but he is continuing to work with the railroad.

"If not for the railroads, none of our communities would be here. They are a very important business. They also are very big. To write them a $50 or $100 ticket, it's easier for them to pay the ticket," Kveton said. "The approach to collaborate with them might be more successful. Tickets might eventually be warranted, but I think we need to solve the problem.

"Through the entire process, we will continue to collaborate with the railroad and the railroad administration to get cooperation to minimize the impact on residents and eliminate the safety issue," Kveton added. "Safety is the No. 1 thing here. We're working hard on this."
LAPORTE  Not even a fire could stop the effort to open a faith-based home designed to help females released from prison overcome their addictions and become productive residents.

Worthy Women Recovery Home at 1001 Maple Ave. accepted its first resident May 14 and during a recent ribbon cutting much gratitude was expressed to the many financial contributors and volunteers who made it all possible.

"Thank you for adding value not only to us, but to LaPorte County with all of the help and the money and the resources and the love and the prayers that you've given to us," said Sonshine Troche, the director of the 4,800-square-foot brick structure with a capacity to house 14 women.

Presently, just one woman lives there, but the goal is to have four women by the end of summer and eight residents before the end of the year then keep adding more until reaching full occupancy.

The idea of starting slow is to allow women to get used to their new surroundings and raise additional funds to hire more staff.

"You can't just stick them in here and expect them to do what you want them to. Otherwise, it would be utter chaos," said Troche, who's following a faith-based program similar to one she already runs in the LaPorte County Jail to help female offenders.

Troche is living at the home to ensure a staff member is there around the clock.

There's also one part-time employee to relieve Troche when she has to leave and fulfill her obligations in the jail.

For the first 30 days, Troche said the women are not allowed to leave the home unless they go with her to church or some other place.

The reason is to prevent a relapse during a period when users are most susceptible, but later they must get a job and pay rent along with any other fees mandated by the court as part of their sentencing.

Women will stay anywhere from six months to two years depending on need.

There will be a strong emphasis on things like accepting responsibility, furthering their education, the value of hard work as opposed to stealing and illustrating what their lives can be like by letting go of bad experiences from their past.

The house was acquired in 2011 then completely gutted and rebuilt under a $600,000 budget made possible by monetary donations and fundraisers.

Costs were kept down with donated materials and more than 500 volunteers.

The accidental fire on the night before Thanksgiving last year started in the kitchen on the main level where damage was heaviest.

Funds from an insurance claim along with additional donations of labor and materials helped expedite the repairs.

Troche said the women will come from the LaPorte County Jail along with the Indiana Women's Prison, the Madison Correctional Facility and the Rockville Prison.

All must be residents of LaPorte County and fill out an application prior to their release that expresses a desire to be in the home.

No children will be living at the home because the women going there have already lost parental rights due to their incarceration.

"They say they love their children and I'm sure they do, but they are children themselves who are trying to learn to grow up and be responsible. Once they earn the right to have visits from the children, they're more than welcome to do that, but they can't do that right away," Troche said.
VALPARAISO  John Hodson voluntarily took nearly 150 acres of land he owns along the Kankakee River and placed them into federal programs designed, in part, to protect and enhance wetlands.

As a result, he decided to appeal when he received a bill for the land as part of Porter County government's new stormwater fee, which aims to raise money to better address area flooding concerns.

Hodson is among 30 property owners who have appealed the new fee thus far, according to Bob Thompson, executive director of the county's new Department of Development & Storm Water Management.

The fee, which amounts to about $10 a month for most homes throughout the unincorporated areas of the county not in a conservancy district, made its debut on this year's property tax bills.

Hodson's argument, which may be different than others challenging the fee, is that he should not have to pay the same amount as those with developed properties that are actually contributing to flooding and other drainage problems.

Hodson said he dug low lying areas on seven acres of his property to hold water and planted native grasses over 34 acres.

"The idea is to recreate a marsh," he said.

A marsh is valuable in controlling stomwater because it acts like a giant sponge by holding water following heavy rainfalls and slowly releasing the water as the conditions become more dry, Hodson said. Marshes also clean the water before releasing it.

A similar argument is being made by the local Shirley Heinze Land Trust, which is appealing the roughly $2,000 bill it received for the 19 parcels it owns throughout the unincorporated areas of the county, said Executive Director Kristopher Krouse.

These undeveloped properties, which help to fulfill the group's mission to restore and preserve high quality natural areas, are already contributing to the county's goal of better managing stormwater, he said.

Wetlands and forests serve as gathering places for water and filters for pollutants before the water finds it way back into the ground water tables, Krouse said. This is unlike developed parcels, which have impervious surfaces such as parking lots and buildings, which result in runoff and contamination of water.

"They're critical for stormwater management  these open spaces," he said.

Ditches can also contribute to the problem by moving water off the land and into waterways, which are burdened with a build up of sediments, Krouse said. The increased water from unnatural surfaces also speeds up the flow and reduces a waterway's ability to remove contaminants.

The Shirley Heinze Land Trust, which has successfully made its case to receive a break from a similar fee in Gary, is seeking a bill from Porter County that is more in line with the type of use of the property in question, he said.

The public hearings on the appeal process begin at 5 p.m. June 13 before the stormwater advisory board, which is made up of one county commissioner, one county council member and five citizen members, Thompson said.

The group's recommendation will then be taken up by the three county commissioners and county surveyor, who make up the official Stormwater Management Board.

Hodson said he came away pleased after presenting his case to county officials.

"To me, it's a fair and square solution," he said.

While appeals to the stormwater fee can be filed at any time, they must be in by July 1 to affect this year's billing cycle, Thompson said.
Talk to a greeter who welcomed visitors to the Pierogi Fest last summer, and youll hear about a great experience of meeting people and forming friendships.

Some of the 200 or so greeters marked their first visit to the Pierogi Fest and learned what brings more than a quarter million visitors to Whiting each July.

They volunteered  some in a group  in the Community Civility Counts-led greeting initiative. By all accounts, visitors appreciated a simple welcome and volunteers enjoyed it.

So well be back and we invite you to join us July 29-31. You can volunteer for two-hour segments, either individually or with friends or family.

Serve on a board or involved in an organization? Bring a group and enjoy the festival.

We kicked off this second year at a news conference before Memorial Day weekend in Whiting. There, three greeters from last year shared their experience and said theyll be back.

State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, said he met visitors from Poland, Germany and France in his two hours as a greeter.

Lake County Treasurer Peggy Katona said the festival and greeting put the county on the map, and Marjorie Watt of Lake County 911 said volunteering there made her feel at home.

Pierogi Fest made Lake County home for me, and I think it would benefit people to come and be part of something beyond the neighborhood, she said.

Greeting will start at 11 a.m. each day of the festival and end Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. To volunteer for a two-hour stretch just call Debbie Reilly in our office at (219) 933-3329 or email her at debbie.reilly@nwi.com.

Thanks in advance for considering this #CivilityCounts initiative that makes Pierogi Fest visitors feel welcome.

Super Sunday

Today could be called Super Sunday for high school graduations in the Region. There are 15.

Congratulations to these graduates and their families, and look for our expanded coverage tomorrow in print and online.

Its been a great year of education stories in The Times, led by the weekly Making the Grade series by Carmen McCollum.

Again this year, McCollum visited classes around the Region for the highly read stories that were published on Mondays.

I truly enjoy sitting in classrooms and watching teachers and students, McCollum said. Im looking for great things from the students and teachers I met this year, and others who are following in their footsteps next year.

This years Making the Grade stories have been made into a slideshow at nwi.com for you to access at any time. Its attached to this column for convenience.

By reading them one after another youll be #RegionProud about whats going on in our schools.

Thanks for reading us, and please contact me with any questions about The Times or our many publications.
America is looking at the end of civilization in a couple of decades, in the lifetime of the Millennial generation, posits Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Strong words from someone who willingly admits she has no chance of occupying the Oval Office as president of the United States. But rather than dissect her prediction of a second burning of Rome, let's ask this question: what are Millennials going to do about it?

Last month we young'uns made history, which has kind of become our jam (that's how cool kids talk). The share of Millennials eligible to vote virtually matched that of our baby boomer parents for the first time, according to a Pew Research analysis of Census data. With 31 percent of the American electorate comprised of Millennials (and 31 percent made up of boomers), we could make a huge difference come November. But will we? So far, the data present some mixed results.

In Harvard University's Institute of Politics semi-annual survey of American youth release in April, 50 percent of 18-29 year olds (which, as a reminder, does not account for all Millennials) said they would definitely vote in November. Another 14 percent indicated they would probably vote and 15 percent said it was a coin-toss (or 50-50 in the poll's language). A combined 20 percent did not plan to vote.

It gets worse. While 15 percent in the same survey said our nation is on the wrong track, 48 percent don't believe politics is the answer to solving our problems.

That, in and of itself, is a problem. If young people do not see utility to voting in November, the vast collective power of the generation will fail to prevent the collapse of civilization Stein believes is coming our way.

With Bernie Sanders' campaign coming to a slow roll, and the alarmingly high negative ratings of the two major party candidates, the number of young people willing to sit this one out may increase. And if we aren't careful, we will cede choosing the nation's direction, which we ourselves believe is on the wrong track, to other generations for another four years.

I can't get spun up about this numbers, though. It's June, and the election is still five full months away. A lot can change between now and then. Hence I'm comforted by the words of Republican pollster Christine Matthews, who told me on my podcast, The Front Row Seat Presents, that rather than obsess about summer polls we should all go outside and look at the sky. Taking her advice, I shall commence looking up and hope we will do our part to prop civilization up for more than a few decades.
Today is to high school graduations what Super Tuesday is to primary elections. It makes us think of launching graduates into the real world  and wondering where they'll land.

We hope they'll consider living their adult lives in the Region, too.

It's up to the rest of us to see that we continue to create the Region that will entice them to return.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's push to increase passenger rail service in Northwest Indiana included an impassioned speech he began using in September 2013 that likened Northwest Indiana to Hamelin in 1284. You know the fairy tale as the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

The Hamelin officials refused to pay the piper for getting rid of the mice, so he led the children away.

Since the 1970s, the Region has lost 9 percent of its population even as other regions have gained population. Personal income has stalled, too.

"The Pied Piper has taken our children away from us. He has taken our wealth away from us," Visclosky, D-Ind., said in that speech.

This isn't just about providing additional transportation options, although that is important. It's about building a quality of life  and, of course, luring jobs  that will attract young people to consider coming back to the Region once they've received their postsecondary training.

Compliments are due to communities like Valparaiso and Whiting that are working hard to reinvent themselves. Valparaiso is building a vibrant downtown; Whiting is developing a lakefront jewel that is difficult not to notice. Other communities are stepping up their game, too.

There are conversations taking place in the Region about where we're headed. These are essential.

The Let's Talk initiative by the Region's United Way chapters are one example. The NWI Next initiative being done by The Times Media Co., Valparaiso University's Center for Civic Reflection and local historical society partners is another.

On June 16, the NWI Next discussion will center on public safety and first responders. Join us at 6:30 p.m. at the Munster Town Hall. The Munster Historical Society is our partner for this event. Contact JoAnn Shafer at munsterhistory@sbcglobal.net or (219) 836-6530 for directions or questions about the event.

The important thing is to keep focusing on both the quality of life and the economy to make the Region desirable for young people. It's not just about what we want, but also about what will attract future generations.

As we send high school and college graduates out into the world, we need to entice them to consider staying in, or returning to, the Region.
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PORTER  Two people died and one was hurt in a fiery crash late Saturday afternoon on U.S. 20 near the intersection of East Hjelm Road.

Porter Police Chief J. Spanier said four vans were headed west in a caravan on the highway in Porter County from an event at a Harley-Davidson dealership in Michigan City earlier that day when another van, which was going the wrong way while trying to merge onto the highway, collided with them head-on.

Eunice Castellanos, of Gary, 63, reportedly drove the Ford Windstar van into the caravan, resulting in a crash and large fire, according to the Porter County coroner's officials. The fatal crash took place around 3:45 p.m. in the Duneland area.

Castellanos and Christopher C. Karson, 46, of Portage, who was riding in the rear seat of a Chevrolet van, both died in accident, according to the coroner's office.

Spanier said another person in the Chevy van, whose identity and condition were not immediately available, was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A crash reconstruction team was investigating. The coroner's office also is doing routine toxicology to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order Sunday for the state to take a firm stand against anti-Israel boycotters.

Cuomo signed the order  rather than seek legislation  that orders state agencies to stop doing business with any group that aligns itself with the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

The governor announced the executive order moments before the annual Celebrate Israel Parade kicked off in Midtown, Manhattan.

Cuomo said the BDS movement wages an "economic attack" against Israel, and that New York and Israel have to both defend against a "common enemy."

"If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you," Cuomo said. "If you divert revenues from Israel, New York will divert revenues from you. If you sanction Israel, New York will sanction you."

Cuomo is the first governor in the country to sign an executive order denouncing the BDS movement, which Palestinian independence supporters began about a decade ago. BDS opponents say the movement is anti-Semitic.

In 2014, Cuomo visited Israel to show solidarity with the country following its month-long war with Hamas.

NY1 has reached out to BDS officials for comment.
Frankie Thomas, the daughter of Jamie Bernstein of New York and David E. Thomas of Newport, R.I., was married June 4 to Dr. Ian William Tattersall, the son of Susan F. Cotmore and Peter J. Tattersall of Guilford, Conn. Dr. Chase W. Shutak, a friend of the groom who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, led a ceremony that incorporated some Quaker traditions at the weekend house of the brides family in Fairfield, Conn.

On June 3, the bride, 29, received an undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the City College of New York, where she is a writing tutor. She is also a freelance transcriber, mainly for journalists and documentary filmmakers, and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in literary journals, blogs and online magazines.

The bride is a granddaughter of the composer Leonard Bernstein.

On May 18, Dr. Tattersall, also 29, received a medical degree and Ph.D. in vascular biology from Columbia. This month, he is to become a medical intern at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He graduated cum laude from Yale.

The couple were introduced in June 2011 by a mutual friend, who had gathered a group at a karaoke bar in the East Village. Dr. Tattersall arrived in time to catch what he described as Ms. Thomass spirited rendition of Dusty Springfields Son of a Preacher Man.
Jennifer Anne Rudin and Andrew Carl Finkelstein were married June 4 at Larchmont Temple in Larchmont, N.Y. Rabbi Eve Rudin, the brides sister, officiated, assisted by their father, Rabbi A. James Rudin.

The bride, 43, is keeping her name. She is a casting director in New York and the author of Confessions of a Casting Director. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin and is pursuing a masters in dramatic writing from N.Y.U. Her previous marriage ended in divorce.

Her father and mother, Marcia R. Rudin, live on Sanibel Island, Fla. The brides father retired as the national interreligious affairs director at the American Jewish Committee in New York, for which he now is an adviser and a member of its board of governors. Her mother retired as the director of the international cult education program at the International Cultic Studies Association in New York.

The groom, 60, works in New York as a digital video editor for the NBC program Dateline. He graduated from N.Y.U. His previous marriage ended in divorce.
Kathryn Tracy Farley and Richard Jay Lipton were married June 4 at the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta. Msgr. Henry Grancz performed the ceremony.

The bride, 52, is keeping her name. She is an adjunct assistant professor of performance studies at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga., and an adjunct lecturer in digital arts at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. She graduated from Georgetown and received a masters degree in theater and a doctorate in performance studies from Northwestern.

The groom, 69, is a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech. He is the founder and an author of Godels Lost Letter, a math and science blog. He graduated from Case Western Reserve and received a doctorate in computer science from Carnegie Mellon. The grooms previous marriage ended in divorce.

The couple met when the bride was interested in collaborating with the groom on an experimental theater project that would incorporate content from his blog. Distracted by their instant connection, they abandoned the play idea and instead planned a first date.
Laura Elizabeth Deck and Charles William Stones IV were married June 4. Donald M. ODay, a friend of the couple who received permission from Massachusetts to solemnize the marriage, officiated at Glen Magna Farms, a historic house and event space in Danvers, Mass.

Mrs. Stones, 31, is an attorney-adviser in the office of the legal adviser at the State Department in Washington. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science, received a masters degree in security studies from Georgetown and has a law degree from Vanderbilt.

She is a daughter of Priscilla Conwell Deck of Beverly, Mass., and the late Raymond H. Deck Jr. The brides father was a business management consultant in Burlington, Mass. Her mother is the fund-raising director at Voice of the Faithful, an organization in Needham, Mass., that supports survivors of clergy sexual abuse and advocates for changes in the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Stones, 30, is a senior associate in the tax department of the law firm Hogan Lovells in Washington. He graduated from Boston University and received both a law degree and a Master of Laws degree in taxation from Georgetown.
Sarah Kathleen Trigg Rapp, a daughter of Mary Kathleen Trigg and Ronald J. Rapp of Bernardsville, N.J., was married June 4 to Adam Zachary Wilson, a son of Sharon A. Kaitz and Dr. Jonathan M. Wilson of Newton, Mass. Sarah Sliwa, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated at the Farm at Pond Lily in Elizaville, N.Y.

The bride, 29, works in New York as the head of product marketing at Behance, a network for creative professionals to showcase their graphic design and other artwork. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard.

The groom, 34, is an adjunct professor of creative writing at Columbia and N.Y.U. He is the author of the Whats Important Is Feeling and Flatscreen. He graduated from Tufts and received a masters degree in creative writing at Columbia.

The couple met in September 2006 through mutual friends at a bar on the Upper West Side, when Ms. Rapp was a sophomore at Barnard and Mr. Wilson was in the first year of his masters program at Columbia.
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is a chef and co-founder of the restaurant chains Nobu and Matsuhisa.

Q. What is your family background?

A. I was born in 1949 in Saitama, a city near Tokyo where my parents had moved during the Second World War. I was the youngest of four children. My father died in a motorcycle accident when I was eight. My mother lived to be 93, and passed away 10 years ago.

Q. When did you first become interested in cuisine?

A. My mother and brothers worked outside the house, and I spent most of my time at home, watching my grandmother cook in the kitchen. Back then, men did not go much into the kitchen, but as a child, I was always in the kitchen. When I turned 12, my brother took me for the first time to a sushi restaurant. Sushi was a very high-end food then, unlike today where it is sold in every supermarket. I remember walking into the restaurant through the sliding doors, being greeted ceremoniously, and sitting nervously at the counter. I was both impressed and excited and decided then and there that I wanted to become a sushi chef.

At school, I was a bad boy and was always getting into trouble. I was expelled from school before I could obtain a high school diploma. So I took a job in a family-run sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
I kept telling them, you have to raise money like crazy this year for next, Mr. Buzenberg said. Im not sure that happened.

The center is expected to raise $9.3 million this year, down from around $11 million last year, Mr. Bale said, noting that grants to the center are often paid out over multiple years.

He has had to consider cuts anywhere he can find them, not just at the consortium. The Center for Public Integrity laid off two prizewinning senior investigative reporters of its own in May and is delaying hiring for open positions.

The financial woes have strained the relationship between two organizations that David E. Kaplan, who ran the consortium from 2008 to 2011, says have always been awkward partners. The consortium was founded in 1997 as a branch of the center to focus on international investigations, but it quickly developed its own ethos.

These are two different organizations in culture, structure and methodology, said Mr. Kaplan, who resigned in protest in 2011 during a period of particular tension between the groups.

The differences have only intensified as the consortium has grown under Mr. Ryle, an Irish-born investigative journalist who worked in Australia before taking the position. Its budget has roughly tripled, to almost $2 million this year, and its staff has grown threefold, to about a dozen, including contractors, after the cuts.

It has also deliberately moved away from the journalistic model of its parent organization, in search of a more effective way to investigate and distribute stories across borders at a relatively low cost.
The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.

At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.30 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.43 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.19 percent.

The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week:



MONDAY

Florida Board of Education, $145.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

TUESDAY

Corning City, N.Y., School District, $69.8 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

Georgia, $1.34 billion of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

Lawrence, Kan., $67.5 million of water and sewage system revenue bonds. Competitive.
The question is how long women should continue to take these drugs. Guidelines from the oncology society recommend women take tamoxifen for 10 years rather than five, because studies have shown this prevents cancer recurrence and improves survival. Or they can take five years of an aromatase inhibitor after five years of tamoxifen.

But the majority of postmenopausal women now start on an aromatase inhibitor, not tamoxifen. For those women, there has been insufficient evidence to recommend continuing beyond five years. The new study provides some such evidence.

The trial involved about 1,900 postmenopausal women in Canada and the United States who had already received about five years of treatment with an aromatase inhibitor. Many of the women had also taken tamoxifen for about five years before that, meaning they were entering the trial about 10 years after their diagnosis.

Half the women were randomly assigned to take letrozole once a day for five years and the other half a daily placebo.

After a median follow-up of a little over six years, 67 women in the letrozole group, or 7 percent, had experienced either a recurrence of their cancer or development of a new cancer in the opposite breast. That was lower than the 98 women, or 10.2 percent, in the placebo group. Using a statistical measure known as the hazard ratio, the risk of a recurrence or of new breast cancer was reduced by 34 percent.

The strongest effect of letrozole was to prevent a new cancer in the other breast. Only 1.4 percent of those taking the drug developed one compared with 3.2 percent of those on the placebo. In terms of recurrence of the original cancer  most of which occurred in bones, livers and other places outside the breast  there was a smaller difference between the groups, 5.7 percent for the letrozole group versus 7.1 percent for the control group.

Dr. Winer said it was most important to prevent recurrence outside the breast because that is what kills people. The small effect of the drug on such recurrences could explain why there was no difference in mortality, he said.
Alphonso David, the counsel to the governor, said that the executive order was specifically aimed at the B.D.S. movement launched in 2005, but that it would apply to any boycott targeting Israel.

Several states have moved to support Israel and prevent their governments and agencies from doing business with companies or individuals that endorse the boycotts. Similar bills have been introduced in both houses of the New York Legislature, and a Republican-sponsored bill passed the State Senate, which the party leads, in January.

But on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, flexed his executive power  a more familiar demonstration in the governors second term  joking that passing legislation can often be a tedious affair, and saying instead he wanted immediate action on B.D.S., while challenging other governors to do the same.

According to the executive order, Mr. Cuomo will command the commissioner of the Office of General Services to devise a list over the next six months of businesses and groups engaged in any boycott, divestment or sanctions activity targeting Israel, either directly or through a parent or subsidiary.

The list will be compiled from credible information available to the public, according to the order, and subject to appeal by the companies and entities included on it. Once the designation process is completed, however, all executive-branch agencies and departments  which make up a large portion of state government  as well as public boards, authorities, commissions and all public-benefit corporations will be required to divest themselves of any company on the list.
The building superintendents name was Vincent Bostick, and he was good with his hands, reliable and quick on snowy days to get outside with a shovel.

But he did have one quirk.

He put all these cameras up, Michael Garcia, a tenant in the building, on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, said as he pointed them out in the hall. The city didnt put these cameras up. He did. He had TVs in his apartment.

Mr. Garcia said he had thought Mr. Bostick was being cautious, if a little extreme. But revelations about Mr. Bostick, starting with his name, suggest a different reason for the cameras presence: Maybe he was watching for the day when his past would catch up with him.

That past took shape at a house party 26 years ago and about 170 miles away, in Worcester, Mass. On Aug. 26, 1990, Anibal Vargas, 39, one of about 30 people at the party, got into a fight, pulled out a gun and fired it, wounding a rival and accidentally hitting someone else in the leg, the police said.
LONDON  It begins with the scene that ended the final book.

Right now, we know little more about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the breathlessly awaited new play that  to the joy of fans worldwide  promises an eighth installment of J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter saga. Set 19 years after Harry has defeated his nemesis, Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the play gives us a 30-something Harry and centers on his son, Albus Potter, entering his first year at Hogwarts just as Harry did at the start of the series.

The play, which has a story line by Ms. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, begins previews at the Palace Theater here on Tuesday, and everything about the production has been shrouded in tantalizing secrecy. A few details  wand design, the stitching on a cloak, cast photos  were revealed to excited fans on Pottermore.com, Ms. Rowlings website. Even these tidbits received a level of online speculation and enthusiasm worthy of a major political event.

None of us, all quite experienced in the theater world, have ever experienced anything of this magnitude and intensity before, said Colin Callender, who with Sonia Friedman has produced the show, which is composed of two parts that can be viewed together or on separate days. Mr. Callender was speaking during a round-table conversation on Thursday. With him were Ms. Friedman; Mr. Thorne, who wrote the play; Mr. Tiffany, its director; Jamie Parker, who plays Harry; and Noma Dumezweni, who plays Hermione. Here are edited excerpts from their conversation about everything but the plot.

Why a play? Was it J. K. Rowlings idea?

Sonia Friedman It was absolutely Colins and my idea. We knew that many other producers had approached her and she had rejected their pitches. But thats because they were all ideas about musicals or arena spectacles. We went to her with the simple idea of a straight play. We were clear we didnt want to adapt a novel, and we suggested exploring how Harry, an orphan, would cope as an adult and a parent.
We need a real change in this country, Mr. Sanders said to a cheering crowd at the restaurant, Hamburger Marys, in West Hollywood, and we need a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent.

During a news conference on Saturday in Los Angeles, Mr. Sanders said it would be wrong for Mrs. Clinton to claim victory on Tuesday based on her total delegate count. News media outlets should not call the race, he said, unless she reaches the threshold with only pledged delegates.

It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night, Mr. Sanders said. Now, I have heard reports that Secretary Clinton has said its all going to be over on Tuesday night. I have reports that the media, after the New Jersey results come in, are going to declare that it is all over. That simply is not accurate.

Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders in both pledged and total delegates.

In a sign of his campaigns urgency to win in California, Mr. Sanders criticized the Clinton Foundation during an interview on Sunday on CNNs State of the Union.

If you ask me about the Clinton Foundation, do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars from foreign governments, governments which are dictatorships? Mr. Sanders said.

You dont have a lot of civil liberties or democratic rights in Saudi Arabia, he told the interviewer, Jake Tapper. You dont have a lot of respect there for opposition points of view for gay rights, for womens rights. Yes, do I have a problem with that? Yes, I do.

Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton spent Sunday campaigning in California, where polls indicated a tight race. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Clinton visited black churches, appealing to a demographic that had given her important support in past nominating contests.
He is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine, Mr. Trump said. But I say hes got bias. I want to build a wall. Im going to build a wall. Im doing very well with the Latinos, with the Hispanics, with the Mexicans, Im doing very well with them, in my opinion.

Judge Curiel, 62, was born in East Chicago, Ind., to parents who had emigrated from Mexico. He graduated from Indiana Universitys law school and worked as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of California before being appointed in 2007 to the bench in San Diego by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. President Obama nominated Judge Curiel to the federal bench in late 2011, and he was confirmed by the Senate in 2012.

Mr. Trumps broadside against Judge Curiel was one of the most overtly racial remarks he had made in the presidential race, and it exacerbated the tension between some Republicans and their nominee. White, older, working-class voters make up a large portion of the partys base, and Republicans need to keep the presidential campaign close in order to hold their majority in the Senate. But Mr. Trumps remarks have offended wide blocs of voters to whom the party must appeal amid national demographic shifts.

And the critiques have raised concerns about how, as president, Mr. Trump would handle the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government. That issue is sacred to conservatives, who have railed against what they see as an abuse of power by Mr. Obama.
Its rare that President Obama and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, agree. In recent weeks, they both have said that the presidential nominating process is not rigged.

They are right. But that hasnt stopped those displeased with the results  not only establishment Republicans but also Democrats who support Senator Bernie Sanders  from insisting on changing the rules for the next election.

Some tweaks are always in order, but both sides are trying to craft procedures that would have benefited them this time. As with generals fighting the last war, experience shows this rarely works and often backfires.

Every time someone tries to game out this system, said Benjamin Ginsberg, a leading Republican election lawyer, the great law of unintended consequences rears its head.
WASHINGTON  There are few relationships between President Obama and another world leader more unlikely than the one he has with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

The two have a public warmth  or chemistry, as the Indian news media like to describe it  and that is likely to be on display Tuesday when Mr. Modi visits the White House for the second time in two years. It will be the seventh time the two leaders have met.

There are compelling reasons the leaders of the worlds largest democracies would find common cause. The United States is encouraging the rise of India as a giant Asian partner to balance China, and India is trying to accelerate its economy with an injection of investment from American companies.

It is true that Obama and I have a special friendship, a special wavelength, Mr. Modi said last month in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Benjamin J. Rhodes, the presidents deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, said on Saturday that the two leaders have each invested in developing a close relationship.
KABUL, Afghanistan  The newly appointed attorney general of Logar Province, just one hour into his job, was among seven people killed on Sunday when two Taliban insurgents attacked as his inauguration ceremony was ending, Afghan government officials said.

Salim Saleh, the spokesman for the governor of Logar, said the insurgents attacked the location of the ceremony in the appeals court building in Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital, at 10:30 a.m., killing the new attorney general, Akram Nejat, and four other government employees as well as two civilians. Twenty-three others were wounded.

The episode was the third court-related attack in Afghanistan in the past two weeks.

The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the Logar attack. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the attack was revenge for the governments execution of six Taliban prisoners last month, the first such executions in years.

Ahmad Nader Naderi, a senior adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, said that Mr. Nejat was one of more than 100 new judicial officials appointed in an anticorruption drive.
DHAKA, Bangladesh  Three attackers fatally shot and stabbed the wife of a police superintendent in southern Bangladesh on Sunday morning, the police said, the latest in a series of killings in which Islamist militants are the primary suspects.

The woman, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, 30, and her young son were walking through a narrow lane near their home in Chittagong on the way to a school bus stop when three men arriving on a motorcycle stabbed her and shot her in the head, said Mohiuddin Mahmood, the officer in charge of the Panchlaish police station in Chittagong. The son was unhurt.
Some opponents of a Swiss guaranteed income also attacked it as a return to Marxist economics, even if the idea has far older roots, dating to the 16th-century writings of Thomas More and the 18th-century works of Thomas Paine.

After World War II, the concept of a guaranteed income was promoted as a way of redistributing income by some free-market economists led by Milton Friedman, who in part argued that it would be more efficient than the bureaucracy of running dozens of separate programs to help the poor.

Still, the current discussion, in Switzerland and elsewhere, has been not only about wealth redistribution but also about how modern societies can continue to create jobs while pushing technological advances such as factory robots and driverless trucks.

Campaigners in favor of a guaranteed income used robots as street stunts to warn what the jobless society of the future would entail. Some people gave out 10-franc notes at the Zurichs main train station while supporters in Geneva set up, on a public esplanade, a giant banner that asked, What would you do if your income were taken care of?

I understand that a new generation is worried about how and where young people will next find work, but this proposal was pure nonsense, said Curdin Pirovino, a Swiss industrial designer. You cannot give a society the idea that money is available for doing nothing.

But at a Sunday market in Geneva, several people defended the proposal in the context of returning to a more equitable society.

Some also presented their vote as another challenge to industrialization, similar to their motivation for buying organic food from the stalls of local farmers rather than cheaper supermarkets. A third of voters in Geneva backed the idea of a guaranteed income.
KABUL, Afghanistan  An American journalist for NPR was killed on Sunday afternoon along with his Afghan translator in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan military confirmed. NPR also confirmed their deaths on Sunday.

The victims were identified as David Gilkey, a photographer and videographer who was part of a four-person NPR team embedded with Afghan Special Forces in Helmand Province, and his translator, Zabihullah Tamanna. The other two American journalists on the team were unhurt.

Mr. Gilkey was the first civilian American journalist killed during the 15-year-long Afghan conflict; since 1992, at least 27 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2010, James P. Hunter, a staff sergeant and journalist with the 101st Airborne Division, was killed by an improvised explosive device.
JERUSALEM  In a sign of growing cooperation, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has agreed to return to Israel a tank that was seized during a disastrous 1982 battle with Syrian forces in southern Lebanon, an episode that left three Israeli soldiers missing in action and has haunted Israel for more than 30 years.

The gesture of good will was announced before a visit to Moscow, starting Monday, by Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to commemorate 25 years since the resumption of diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia. The Soviet Union had severed ties in 1967, after the Arab-Israeli War.

This will be Mr. Netanyahus third visit to Moscow since September. After his most recent visit, in April, Mr. Netanyahu said the two sides also planned to sign an agreement dealing with state pensions for tens of thousands of immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. The April visit focused on security coordination between the Israeli and Russian militaries to avoid any mishaps as they operate in the Middle East.

But it is the promised return of the tank that will have symbolic value for many Israelis. There has been nothing to remember the boys by and no grave to visit for 34 years now, Mr. Netanyahu said, referring to the families of the missing soldiers. The tank is the only evidence of the battle, and now it is coming back to Israel thanks to President Putins response to my request.
In November 2012, about 40 employees of BLB Resources, an Irvine real estate firm, gathered in a room festooned with balloons to celebrate a colleague who was deploying to Afghanistan.

Kevin Ziober, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, dug into a cake decorated with an American flag and the words, Best Wishes Kevin in red, white and blue. I texted my brother, my mom and my grandma to tell them, What a great sendoff! he recalls.

Three hours later, as he was packing up his desk, the 43-year-old was terminated from his $180,000 a year job. He was told, he said, that the project he was working on would likely not outlast his year overseas.

A federal law, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, gives military service members the right to recover their jobs when they return from war. But since 2014, after Ziober got back to Orange County and filed a lawsuit, BLB has been battling to force him into a private arbitration proceeding, rather than allow his court case to proceed.

Ziobers case comes as opposition to mandatory arbitration is gaining national traction, part of a growing debate over whether corporate policies are fueling economic inequality. Last month, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to prevent banks and credit card companies from using arbitration to prevent customers from filing class-action lawsuits.

Forced arbitration contracts in the nonunion workforce, once rare, have exploded since a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door for companies to require them as a condition of employment.

Six years ago, a UC Berkeley study estimated that 27 percent of employers were making workers sign agreements waiving their rights to a court hearing in the event of a dispute  a figure that experts say has risen since then.

Consumer and labor groups say arbitration, which takes place behind closed doors with no public accountability and no right of appeal, can be unfair to workers. Private arbitrators, paid by companies, depend on employers for repeat business and so have been accused of bias.

Businesses, however, prefer arbitration to open court proceedings, which can be more costly and protracted. Arbitration, by requiring individual treatment of each case, also protects companies from class-action lawsuits in which employees might be more likely to prevail.

BLB Resources, the company that fired Ziober, believes an arbitration agreement provides a more efficient and expeditious manner to resolve claims, said BLBs attorney Lonnie Giamela, adding that the Navy reservist had voluntarily signed the arbitration agreement shortly after he was hired.

A U.S. district court in Santa Ana ruled in July 2014 that Ziobers case had to go to arbitration. Next month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena will hear his claim that the federal law protecting service members jobs also protects their right to go to court.

Last year, the California Legislature passed a bill to forbid retaliation against workers who refuse to sign mandatory arbitration agreements giving up their right to sue. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill after the California Chamber of Commerce labeled it a job killer.

However, Browns veto message left open a small window, saying, If abuses remain, they should be specified and solved by targeted legislation, not a blanket prohibition.

With that in mind, the Consumer Attorneys of California, a Sacramento-based association, teamed up this year with Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, on a bill to prohibit employers from forcing reservists into arbitration over disputes arising when they are called to deploy.

Eight veterans groups, including the National Guard Association of California, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, backed the bill, AB2879. According to the National Guard, 583 cases of employer retaliation against its members arose in California last year.

The bill passed two Assembly committees after veterans, including a Rancho Cordova Army reservist who was forced into arbitration after losing his auto parts sales job, testified in favor.

But the state Chamber of Commerce placed the bill on its 2016 job killer list, saying it would lead to confusion and litigation. Business lobbying against the measure was fierce.

In a Sacramento Bee op-ed, chamber ally Ken Barnes, executive director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, wrote that arbitration agreements allow for higher wages, because without them, employers would be forced to set aside large amounts of cash for legal expenses.

On Thursday, Stone withdrew the bill after opposition from Republicans, allied with a caucus of business-backed Democrats, made clear it would be defeated.

With mandatory arbitration, most workers have no idea they are signing away their constitutional right to a jury trial in favor of a rigged system, said Elise Sanguinetti, president of the Consumer Attorneys of California. She expressed surprise that certain members of the Assembly would choose to side with big business over protecting our veterans.

On Wednesday, the day before the veterans bill died, the full Assembly voted to defeat a separate measure that would have limited mandatory arbitration in civil rights and discrimination cases.

In one case, a woman with breast cancer was forced into arbitration over an age and disability claim after being dismissed by her college. Because arbitrators are not bound by the same rules as courts, her counsel was unable to compel any documents or take depositions, which were needed to corroborate disparate treatment between their client and younger, healthier students, according to the consumer attorneys group.

All Orange County Assembly members voted against the civil rights arbitration measure, with the exception of the delegations lone Democrat, Tom Daly, who did not vote. Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, who voted against both bills  the veterans measure in committee and the civil rights legislation on the floor  did not respond to a request for comment.

Three other bills to limit mandatory arbitration, all narrowly tailored, have passed the California Senate and will move to Assembly committees in coming weeks.

One addresses elder abuse claims against nursing homes. Another concerns California plaintiffs forced to travel long distances for arbitration because their company headquarters are located outside the state. A third bill seeks to place ethics-related rules on arbitration companies.

Meanwhile, Ziober, theNavy reservist, is hoping for the passage of federal legislation introduced last month by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to clarify that reservists are exempt from mandatory arbitration.

Ziober is settled in a new job as a real estate manager for a federal agency in Santa Ana, albeit at half his old salary. But he plans to pursue his arbitration case up to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to shed light on discrimination by companies who find it inconvenient to have their workers take leave to serve in the armed forces.

We have the strongest military in the world, which makes us the safest nation in the world, Ziober said. We cant have soldiers and sailors afraid to represent their country because they might lose their jobs through an arbitration process which is pro-employer.

Contact the writer: mroosevelt@ocregister.com; Twitter @MargotRoosevelt
BELFAST, Northern Ireland  When the U.S. political calendar switched to June, politically engaged Americans turned their attention to the California primary, where voters Tuesday will put their stamp on this contentious portion of the 2016 presidential election.

With Donald Trump having laid waste to a crowded Republican field, the spotlight is on the Democrats. Hillary Clinton found herself, to her teeth-clenching chagrin, still fending off a pesky 74-year-old socialist whose disdain for politics-as-usual nearly matches Trumps  making him another nice fit with a sour electorate.

With her nomination not really in doubt, Clinton reacted to Bernie Sanders challenge with a bank shot. Speaking in San Diego five days before the last set of primaries, she ushered in June by attacking Trump in a foreign policy-themed speech that, even by the churlish standards of 2016, was notable for its nasty tone.

Here in this city, June means something else, however. Its signifies the beginning of marching season, a phrase that conjures up the sights and sounds of colorful parades with flags, drums and bagpipes. The marches have all that, to be sure. But the patterns on those flags, the tunes played, the colors worn by marchers  and the routes chosen  have previously led to riots, murder and mayhem.

Americans who only invoke their own alleged Irish-ness each March 17 can tell you, even in their St. Patricks Day stupor, that Irelands tricolor flag is made up of green, white, and orange. Here in the six Ulster counties that were retained by Great Britain, green-clad, Catholic nationalists who want Ireland to be united remain locked in a war of wills with Protestant, pro-British Orangemen.

Last year, on July 12, their ultimate marching day, loyalists were so perturbed that the Orange Order was prevented by authorities from parading through a Catholic neighborhood here that they attacked riot police by hurling bottles and metal bolts at them. It wasnt a pretty scene, but for those with a longer memory, it was an improvement. Twenty years ago, the tensions of marching season ignited riots all over Northern Ireland, not to mention an Irish Republican Army bomb in Manchester, England, that wounded 200 people.

Those days  and we must cross our fingers and knock on wood  are over now, thanks to heavy lifting by English, Irish and American political leaders. And, not to put too fine a point on it, one of them was Hillary Clintons husband. I wont recount the history of Anglo-Irish relations or even the highlights of the 1990s peace process. But I will say that I covered Bill Clintons administration and reported extensively on his involvement in that effort. This city was an armed encampment when he became president, complete with barbed wire, British troops checkpoints, and machine-gun turrets.

Today, it has none of that because President Clinton, his envoy George Mitchell, British Prime Minister John Major and a succession of three Irish taoisigh joined with Northern Irish politicians in the hard work of diplomacy.

From the outside, U.S. involvement seemed extraneous. Here in the British Isles, however, it was understood to be necessary. It was former (and future) California Gov. Jerry Brown who first figured this out. During the 1992 New York primary campaign, Brown immersed himself in Anglo-Irish politics. At that point, some 3,000 people had been killed in Northern Irelands low-grade civil war.

A former Jesuit seminarian and descendant of a County Tipperary clan, Brown felt unbound by existing U.S. policy. He announced in New York that, as president, hed appoint a special envoy to Northern Ireland, investigate human rights abuses by British troops, and issue a visa to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to visit the U.S.

Not wanting any daylight between himself and Brown on a festering issue among New Yorks Catholic Democrats, Clinton followed suit. The real work came after Clinton was elected president. He not only issued the visa, but invited Gerry Adams to the White House  along with Northern Ireland politicians, Protestant and Catholic. What these meetings did was create an atmosphere of trust that ultimately resulted in a peace accord. True to form, neither side even agrees on what it should be called. The Orangemen refer to it as the Belfast Agreement. The Nationalist side prefers the phrase Good Friday Agreement. The operative word, though, is agreement.

Which brings us back to Hillary Clintons anti-Trump screed Thursday. The former secretary of state excoriated her November opponent as emotionally unstable, fundamentally unfit and too ignorant on foreign affairs to serve as Americas commander in chief.

Donald Trumps ideas arent just different  they are dangerously incoherent, she said. Theyre not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.

Clinton added that she could easily imagine Trump starting a nuclear war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.

Her rant received approving news coverage from a media establishment that largely shares Mrs. Clintons view of the GOP nominee. But a little critical thinking is in order. First of all, Clinton has a reputation for being thin-skinned herself. So, by her own definition, should she be precluded from having the nuclear codes?

More curious, at least to me, was Clintons assertion that Trumps level of veracity should disqualify him from serving as Americas representative to the world. Thats a standard one assumes should apply both ways. I mention that because when she ran for president in 2008, Hillary asserted that shed played an instrumental role in the Northern Irelands peace process, a claim with as much merit as her account of dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.

Yet, Mrs. Clintons larger point rings true. As first lady, she drew attention to the plight of women and girls around the world, and did so respectfully and deftly. As secretary of state, she helped effectuate mutual nuclear reduction agreements with Russia, negotiated global sanctions against Iran, engaged with the Chinese over greenhouse emissions and helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

She mentioned all those endeavors in San Diego. This last point is worth dwelling on for a moment.

Although a solution in the Mideast has proven maddeningly elusive, Northern Ireland shows that even the most intractable sectarian and political divisions can be tackled. There are people alive in Belfast today because a president named Clinton was willing to try. Abating the violence required patience, a steady hand and a willingness to study and learn.

And when it came time to speak publicly, to do so with temperance and care. Despite Americans current anger with the status quo, thats the kind of U.S. president the world needs.

Carl M. Cannon is executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com.
LOS ANGELES  The Dodgers have designated veteran outfielder Carl Crawford for assignment, setting themselves up to eat the remaining $34 million in his contract.

The Dodgers have 10 days to trade, waive or release the 34-year-old outfielder  a period that almost surely will end with Crawfords release. Any team claiming Crawford on waivers or trading for him would assume the remainder of his seven-year, $142 million contract, which runs through 2017.

Given Crawfords declining skills, he might not find another job. Crawford batted .185 in 30 games for the Dodgers this season, losing playing time to rookie Trayce Thompson and converted infielder Howie Kendrick in left field. The return of Scott Van Slyke from the disabled list this weekend left the Dodgers with even less use for Crawford.

A four-time All-Star with the Tampa Bay Rays, Crawford signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent following the 2010 season (spurning the Angels, most prominently). His career began an immediate downturn characterized by numerous injuries. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow when the Dodgers acquired him as part of their blockbuster trade with the Red Sox in August 2012.

Crawford joins Alex Guerrero as expensive veterans recently designated for assignment by the Dodgers. The team is set to swallow as much as $8 million in salary with Guerrero, who is also signed through 2017. A year ago, the Dodgers spent over $80 million in dead money to shed themselves of unwanted players and contracts.

Catcher Austin Barnes was promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City Sunday to take Crawfords roster spot.
LOS ANGELES  Charter schools and civil rights advocates are sparring with the Los Angeles Unified School District over a policy requiring random checks of students with metal detectors.

The groups  along with United Teachers Los Angeles  wrote a letter to the district saying the searches will undermine the safety that comes from having strong relationships between students and teachers, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday (http://lat.ms/1Xrx3wW).

Los Angeles Unified officials said the policy has been in place since the early 1990s but was revised in October to clearly state that charter schools on district property must conduct the random daily searches.

Nearly 840 weapons were collected in the district during the 2014-15 school year, according to a district report.

Unless and until we come up with a better policy, to simply abandon a safety measure in favor of nothing or trying to build a culture of trust that will hopefully discourage people from bringing guns on campus, is just not the kind of situation that I want to defend the district on, said David Holmquist, the school districts general counsel.

Kristin Botello, principal of Animo Jackie Robinson High School, received a box of hand-held metal detectors in December but her charter school has refused to carry out the random searches.

Nico Conanan, a student at Central High School, said the policy doesnt make him feel any safer. He was pulled from class last year and scanned with a metal detector.

It was invasive, he said. It was basically violating everything we had worked to do in the classroom.
LOS ANGELES  When an active-shooter alert spread across the UCLA campus Wednesday, some students found themselves in a frightening predicament: They were told to go into lockdown, but they couldnt lock their classroom doors.

Images on social media of students piling tables, chairs and printers against doors sparked alarm and raised questions, yet it was hardly the first time students at a university or school were unable to lock doors during a shooting.

The same issue arose during other deadly attacks, including one at Virginia Tech in 2007 where students barricaded themselves inside rooms and at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 where teachers did the same.

Some schools have installed locks in recent years after attacks, but experts say wider adoption has been hindered by the cost to retrofit doors and local fire codes that require doors to open in one motion during emergencies.

Yet once a shooter is in a building, most security experts agree that a locked room is one of the most effective deterrents against getting injured or shot.

How many deaths would it have taken for us to address this issue more seriously? said Jesus Villahermosa, president of Crisis Reality Training. He noted that an assailant, knowing police are on the way, usually wont bother trying to access a locked room.

There are a variety of reasons a school might not have classroom locks.

Older buildings constructed at a time when classrooms typically contained just desks and a chalkboard  and not the expensive technology many have today  frequently did not include locks.

Fire safety regulations for rooms with 50 or more students typically require that doors swing outward and be opened in one motion, meaning a bolt that has to be turned first would be a violation.

But theres concern that locking doors from the inside could pose a threat. If an attacker walked inside the classroom and locked the door, students could be trapped.

And the cost of installing new doors and locks can stretch into the millions.

Cal State Fullerton has started installing classroom locks.

If were asking students and our faculty to shelter in place, CSUF Police Department Capt. John Brockie said, we feel that its important to give them the tools to effectively do that.
Opioids like Vicodin and Percocet are commonly prescribed to dull pain after medical procedures and to treat chronic pain. They also commonly languish in medicine cabinets, sometimes for years, making easy pickings for someone with an addiction.

The consequences can be deadly: More than 165,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids between 1999 and 2014, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Im guilty of keeping them too long myself. Until last month, when I turned over a freezer bag full of unwanted and expired medications on the twice-a-year National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, I had a bottle left over from a dental procedure three years ago.

What are consumers to do the rest of the year if they want a safe alternative to flushing unwanted drugs down the toilet or tossing them into the garbage? Drugs that are flushed can taint our rivers, lakes and water supplies. Drugs in the trash also may harm the environment, and can be found by children, pets  and even adults looking for a high.

There are a growing number of year-round disposal sites in California, but your options depend largely on where you live and what kind of drugs youre trying to unload.

For instance, it might be difficult to find a place that will accept controlled drugs, which include legal drugs that are closely regulated by the government, such as addictive opiates.

In reality, it might be hard for you to find a convenient place at all.

Its very time-consuming and you may get the runaround, warns Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the California Product Stewardship Council, a nonprofit that created the website DontRushToFlush.org. (The group also calls on pharmaceutical companies to share in the cost of drug disposal.)

The safest and most environmentally responsible option is to take unwanted medications to a drug take-back site.

But theres no consistent, statewide collection system because theres no consistent source of funding, Sanborn says. Its whoever can afford to offer it and whoever wants to do it, she says.

Some communities, mostly in Northern California, have adopted ordinances to operate drug collection programs funded by drug makers. They include Alameda, Marin and Santa Cruz Counties. One is pending before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

But most of these programs are not yet up and running, Sanborn says.

So, to find sites near you, start with DontRushToFlush.org, where you can search by California zip code.

Pay attention to the search results, which explain whether controlled drugs are accepted. (Some other medications  such as chemotherapy drugs  also come with specific disposal instructions and locations. Same with sharps, such as hypodermic needles.)

For more options, try the states CalRecycle website at www.calrecycle.ca.gov. Click on the Consumers tab and then on the Medication Waste link, where youll be directed to a not-very-user-friendly search page.

To find take-back sites that definitely accept controlled drugs, check the federal Drug Enforcement Administrations website at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/ or call 800-882-9539.

It turns out the most convenient option may be a new one. The drugstore chain Walgreens announced plans to install medication disposal bins at 500 stores nationwide.

The effort began last month in California with 50 stores, says Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso.

The bins are available during pharmacy hours  usually 24-hours  and accept prescription medications, including controlled drugs, and over-the-counter medications. They dont accept sharps.

Our goal is to get at the misuse of medications as well as to help curb the rise in overdose deaths, Caruso says.

DontRushToFlush.org has integrated participating Walgreens stores into its search results, or find a list of stores here: http://bit.ly/246LNQ4.

If your search is still coming up short, try checking with your garbage hauler, local household hazardous waste program, pharmacy or hospital, or local law-enforcement agency.

Finally, if you cant find a convenient disposal site, most government agencies  including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  suggest you throw unwanted drugs into the trash following these rules:

 Remove the drugs from their containers and mix them with dirt, kitty litter or used coffee grounds to make them unappealing to kids and pets, and to dissuade anyone who might be hunting for drugs.

 Before tossing in the trash, place the mixture in a sealable plastic bag or other container to prevent it from leaking.

 Scratch out any personal information on prescription labels to protect your privacy before disposing of medicine containers.

And though Sanborn and some others disagree, the FDA says some drugs should be flushed if you cant find a take-back site because they may be especially harmful and, in some cases, fatal with just one dose, says spokesman Christopher Kelly. The list of drugs, which you can find at http://1.usa.gov/1YWB4q7, includes Fentanyl, Oxycodone and other opioids.

The list of drugs, which you can find at http://1.usa.gov/1YWB4q7, includes Fentanyl, Oxycodone and other opioids.

We believe that this risk far outweighs any potential risk to human health or the environment that may come from disposal by flushing, the FDA says.

Questions for Emily: AskEmily@kff.org. This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California HealthCare Foundation.
Re: Summer travel plans? [Opinion, May 31]: Travel and vacations are a top priority for us this summer  and always. Yes, its a lot harder to fly than ever, with long security lines and ongoing random terrorism attacks  but no worse than the hassles of driving the L.A. and O.C. freeways or navigating downtown Huntington Beach or Laguna Beach in this summer. Traveling to new destinations and experiencing diverse cultures is so broadening and inspirational. People have the same needs and wants all over the world and are thrilled to have you visit and learn about their country and lifestyle  so crucial to global harmony. Having flown Air France to tour Egypt last November the week of the Paris attacks, we still felt perfectly safe and welcome during our travels. This summer, we will visit our favorite spots in Lake Tahoe and Mammoth and look forward to vacationing in Switzerland or yet another incredible destination on my ever growing bucket list.

Lorraine June Crawford

Huntington Beach

  

Terror threats and airport snarls have definitely contributed to my way of vacationing; not to mention the cattle-car planes.

My wife and I decided to buy a small RV and see America that way.

Sam Scalleat

Laguna Woods

Everything is new again

Re: Voting districts mapping proceeds [News, May 25]: In the beginning, the new city of San Juan Capistrano decided on at-large voting  as they feared districts would become little fiefdoms and could cause many problems and dissension rather than benefit all of the city.

I remember, too, when Dana Points Del Prado and PCH two-way streets were changed to one-way each to move traffic easier and to help business on Del Prado to get more visibility and result in more customers. Now, its back to two-way each again. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Ruth A. Clark

San Juan Capistrano

Gun-free zones

The UCLA campus is a gun-free zone. I was quite impressed how well the gun-free zone concept actually worked in keeping guns off campus and preventing shootings. I saw that success today. Since gun-free zones were implemented, almost all mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. have occurred in gun-free zones.

You cant get better success in gun control than setting up defined-killing areas as we did when we initiated gun-free zones and made them easily available to the crazy people who use them as safe-zones for the shooter and a killing-zone for the unarmed victims.

Next, well implement 10-day waiting periods before selling a gun. Then well finally be safe. Yeah.

Larry Elliott

Orange

  

Re: Bills or ballot: Let voters decide [Letters, May 29]: Wow, eight people wrote letters to the Register complaining about gun control running amok. What they probably dont know or care about is that only 20 percent of adults in this country own guns, which you might call an extreme minority of the population. The other 80 percent get to make or change the laws with regard to what type of guns we can have. Well, except the NRA seems to scare our folks in Congress, who are probably afraid of getting shot if they enact gun control changes.

The average owner has eight guns, which Im sure is very important to them. The vast majority seem to be fixated on their need to be armed so they can shoot bad guys, and their paranoia that big brother government is going to knock on their doors and take their guns away from them. What they dont seem to realize is that the folks that might come to take their guns away from them would be the police, sheriffs, military and national guard, who are actually citizens of this country and are usually admired for their duty to protect us from harm.

The fearful folks should think seriously about moving to Texas, where they can carry their rifles around town, and even take them into banks, restaurants and bars. Im sure they dont have many bank robberies in Texas, but there might be some innocent bystanders that get shot in the process. And, what could go wrong at a bar, with drunks deciding that they should settle disputes with their guns? Even our founding fathers, when insulted, liked to slap their opponent with their white glove and challenge him to a duel with the intent of one or both of them getting killed. Instead of gun control running amok, I think we have paranoia running amok.

Chuck Feeney

Irvine
I find it odd that in your Reflecting on Hiroshima [Front page, May 27] article there is not even a mention of what led up to those bombs being dropped  you know, that Pearl Harbor thing? The story line is about the civilian devastation the bombs caused, immediate and lasting. I get that. But did America just pick this area of the world at random and say, Well drop one here and over here to see what happens? There is not even a question by anyone familiar with the war in the Pacific that using those weapons actually saved many, many lives, not just American, but even more Japanese.

Just for some perspective, in the Battle of Saipan, Emperor Hirohito sent an imperial order encouraging the civilians of that island to commit mass suicide, which many did. Saipan was not even considered a home island by Japan. This is but one example. Is it a stretch to conclude that this fanaticism would have continued, and surely increased, with the invasion of Japan?

Japan set the wheels in motion for Hiroshima and Nagasaki on December 7, 1941. Lets not forget that. If any questions linger about it, I suggest readers watch the HBO miniseries The Pacific, if you can. Brutal does not even begin to describe it.

Joel Rule

Buena Park

  

Ryan Kartje and Katie Richcreek did a fine job outlining the horrific tragedy that was Hiroshima and the two opposing viewpoints on the issue. However, I think they neglected to put the bomb in the context of historical memory and Japans war guilt.

I studied abroad in Japan this past semester and it was a wonderful experience. Yet, I felt very uncomfortable when I went to the Yasukuni Shrine and museum. These two places exonerate 14 Class A war criminals and exonerate soldiers who were involved in horrific atrocities in China, Korea, the Philippines and other places. Originally, it was supposed to be a mourning site for relatives of soldiers who died in the Pacific War that had no burial site. Yet, it morphed into this thorn in Japanese-Chinese relations over the years because the Japanese later used the site to exonerate these war criminals.

The Chinese cannot easily forget the horrors they endured during WWII. In fact, the historian Michael Clodfelter, in his book, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1494-2007, estimates that 17-22 million Chinese civilians alone died as a result of the war. This does not include the atrocities the Filipinos, Koreans and other Asian nationalities endured in the form of slave labor camps, massacres, rapes and from Unit 731. Japan apologized for these war crimes in a few statements, yet retracts them, downplays them or outright denies them in others. If the United States was to apologize for the bomb, then Japan would need to buck up and apologize for the millions of deaths it caused due to imperial aggression.

Blake Altenberg

Tustin

  

It angers me that Obama apologized about a rain of death from the skies over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Those two bombs ended the run of militant imperialists that were ready to sacrifice their own civilians to stay in power. I wish Obama had mentioned the raid on Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March and World War II slave labor in China. Instead, his message seems to be, If you mess with the United States, we apologize.

Charles Young

Laguna Woods

  

Its estimated that an invasion of Japan would have cost 250,000 American lives and many more Japanese lives. By the time we dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, we had already firebombed most of Japans major cities, killing over 300,000 civilians. Instead of hundreds of planes and thousands of bombs, we used one plane and one bomb, but the end result was the same.

The atomic bomb brought an end to the war and saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.

Sam Pinterpe

Huntington Beach
BANGKOK  The appointment of former Sen. Bob Kerrey to lead a new U.S.-backed university in Vietnam has set off a sharp debate among Vietnamese over whether he should be disqualified because of his part in killing women and children as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War.

While the Vietnamese are willing to let bygones be bygones, Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Vietnams former ambassador to the European Union, said by email, the decision to appoint Bob Kerrey to be chairman of the board of the first American-style university in Vietnam strikes me as insensitive to the Vietnamese at best, and taking us for granted at worst.

The university, Fulbright University Vietnam, the first independent, private university in Vietnam, made news after President Barack Obama announced its opening during a visit to Vietnam last week.

Kerrey admitted 15 years ago that he and the team of commandos he led in the Mekong Delta in 1969 killed innocent women and children during a midnight raid in the village of Thanh Phong. Survivors of the attack said 20 civilians were killed, including 13 children and a pregnant woman. Kerrey was awarded a Bronze Star after his squad falsely reported that it had killed 21 Viet Cong guerrillas.

Kerrey was silent about the slaughter for more than three decades until The New York Times and CBS News were on the verge of publishing a joint investigation in 2001.

The discussion of Kerreys war history  which has bubbled up in posts on Facebook and in articles in online news portals  threatens to reopen old wounds from what is known in Vietnam as the American War. About 3 million people died in the war, including more than 58,000 Americans.

I cannot look at his face, Pham Thuy Huong, 40, of Hanoi, wrote on Facebook. All the gruesome details of that genocide are still there.

But since the war ended in 1975, the Vietnamese government and many Vietnamese have adopted an attitude of forgiveness, and that view was also widely represented.

It is easy to hate Bob Kerrey and ask him to resign as the head of the board of Fulbright University Vietnam, Luong Hoai Nam, an aviation businessman, wrote in a column in the online newspaper VnExpress. I can do that. But after a half day of thinking, I decided on the harder choice. That is to forgive. I forgive Bob Kerrey, and I want many Vietnamese also to forgive him.

Responding to questions by email, Kerrey said that he would resign if he felt his role were jeopardizing the joint American-Vietnamese education venture.

If I have cause to believe that remaining chairman puts this project at risk, I will step down, he said. I have come to admire the Vietnamese people greatly and intend to continue doing all I can to help them.

Along with Kerrey, Orange County developer Frank Jao, who built Little Saigons Asian Garden Mall, has made numerous trips to Capitol Hill to lobby for the project. Jao also helped raise money for it. Jao declined to comment on Saturday.

Staff writer Margot Roosevelt contributed to this report.
Citivest Commercial LLC, a Newport Beach-based commercial real estate firm that specializes in retail investments, has acquired Jackson Creek Center for roughly $5.4 million in Medford, Ore. The grocery-anchored, 87,847-square-foot shopping center is the firms first acquisition in Oregon. The property is situated along the 5 freeway in the southwest region of the city. The seller, JS Western, was the original developer of the center. Citivest plans to renew and reposition the property, which has not been renovated since 2000, in order to increase the centers value and maximize rent appreciation.

Design firm Ware Malcomb in Irvine has completed work on the new FCA US offices on the 10th floor of 5000 Birch in Newport Beach. Ware Malcomb provided interior architecture and design services, along with branding for the project. FCA US (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), which is relocating from offices in Irvine, designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands as well as the SRT performance vehicle designation. The company also distributes the Alfa Romeo 4C model and Mopar products. The new offices will serve as the companys California business center responsible for all sales, service, parts, service contracts, and dealer initiatives for the entire organization. The general contractor for the project was Servco Builders.

Park West in Rancho Santa Margarita has been selected by the Crystal Cove Community Association to provide landscape management services for the Newport Beach residential development. Founded in 1978, Park West offers a wide range of commercial landscape construction, management and tree care services.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Brian Griewe has been promoted to vice president of development at SmartStop Asset Management, a real estate company in Ladera Ranch. Griewe will be responsible for expanding the companys acquisitions and commitment to creating environmentally friendly, energy-efficient buildings. Griewe has more than 18 years of experience in facilities management, project management, construction management and personnel training, development and supervision. SmartStop manages a portfolio that includes approximately 47,200 self storage units and approximately 5.2 million rentable square feet.

Peter Bethea has joined Costa Mesa-based Westar Associates as a leasing manager. He will handle the daily leasing activities for the companys 2 million-square-foot retail portfolio in Southern California. Westars projects include Sendero Marketplace, a 98,000-square-foot center under construction in the master-planned community of Rancho Mission Viejo in South Orange County. Before joining Westar, Bethea worked in brokerage for five years at Cushman & Wakefield in their Irvine office. Westar Associates is engaged in the acquisition, development and management of real estate including neighborhood, community, and freeway shopping centers, apartments, self-storage facilities, and hotels. Westar has developed and acquired 55 properties totaling more than 5.6 million square feet, valued in excess of $1.2 billion.

Nathan Kierstens has been appointed vice president and manager of engineering services at Pfeiler & Associates Engineers, a civil engineering and land surveying services firm in Yorba Linda. Kierstens is a licensed civil engineer with a background in planning and design for public and private developments in Southern California. He brings with him over 17 years of experience in civil engineering, land development design and master planning for residential, commercial and municipal projects.

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PITTSBURGH  The curse that seems to have been cast over the Angels starting rotation now struck Nick Tropeano.

Tropeano was placed on the disabled list Saturday with shoulder discomfort, making him the sixth Angels starter to have a medical issue this season.

Tropeano, who was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday, said he felt a little discomfort and stiffness following his last start Sunday. He had an MRI on Saturday morning that showed no structural damage, so hell just take a few days before throwing again.

Nothing really serious, Tropeano said. Nothing Im worried about.

Tropeano said he felt he needed only a few days, but the Angels obviously decided he wasnt going to be able to pitch this time through the rotation, so they put him on the disabled list.

The Angels called up reliever Deolis Guerra to take Tropeanos roster spot. Tropeano is eligible to come off the DL on June 14.

The Angels dont need a fifth starter until Tuesday in New York, and they could go a few directions.

They could go with a bullpen game, or they could call up a pitcher from Triple-A. Nate Smith, the best pitcher this season at Salt Lake City, is not an option because he pitched Friday night.

Tim Lincecum, whose normal turn would fall on Tuesday, is also not a possibility, Manager Mike Scioscia said. The Angels want Lincecum to make at least one more start at Triple-A before they consider him for the majors.

Rotation juggling has been standard procedure for the Angels this season.

C.J. Wilson has been hurt since the start of spring training. Tyler Skaggs, who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, has had shoulder trouble that cost him about a month. He just threw four innings in extended spring training Friday.

Andrew Heaney and Garrett Richards are out with elbow problems and both could end up having Tommy John surgery.

The only starter who has overcome his issue is Jered Weaver, who was briefly shut down in spring training with a neck problem.

The injuries opened the door for Tropeano, who probably came into the spring as No. 8 on the depth chart. Tropeano made the most of his opportunity, posting a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts.

This is hopefully a little bump in the road for this year, Scioscia said. Hes been throwing the ball extremely well.
A bulldozer molds a building pad on a dirt lot in Newport Beach. A welder perched eight stories up assembles a high rises steel frame at the Irvine Spectrum. A giant mechanical arm pumps concrete from a mixer truck high into into a new buildings third floor off Sand Canyon Avenue.

Building cranes are cropping up throughout Orange County.

Office construction in the county is on the rise again, hitting a high not seen for nearly a decade.

Almost 2.8 million square feet of office space was under construction during the first quarter of the year, commercial brokerage CBRE reported. Thats up a whopping 461 percent from the winter quarter of 2015 and the most for any quarter since the summer of 2007.

Its a dramatic comeback. From October 2009 through March 2010, no new offices were built anywhere in Orange County.

This is the most office development weve seen since the last go-round, definitely, said Kurt Strasmann, a senior managing director for CBREs Orange County operation.

In addition to a lot of speculative office construction, developers are remodeling older buildings, replacing traditional offices with sleek, modern designs and outdoor work and meeting spaces to enhance collaboration. Wellness and fitness centers, restaurants and shopping are making it easier for younger employees to spend more time at work.

Job gains boost demand

The reason for all this activity is simple, Strasmann said. The market fundamentals have been really strong, he said.

With steady job growth and a more diversified economy, demand for new office space has gone through the roof. Businesses have filled 10.2 million square feet of vacant office space here since early 2010.

As a result, office vacancies fell to 9.7 percent in the first quarter this year, down from 18 percent six years ago.

And monthly rent shot back up, rising steadily over three consecutive years. First-quarter asking rent averaged $2.46 per square foot a month, up 55 cents from three years ago.

Thats equivalent to paying $27,500 more each month for a 50,000-square-foot office.

Orange County, Strasmann said, is certainly one of the strongest markets in the nation.

Jerry Holdner, the director of research for Kidder Mathews Western region, said there are at least 10 office-construction projects underway in Orange County, ranging from 5,000 to over 1 million square feet.

When the vacancy rate gets down to 12 percent in Orange County, thats when construction begins, said Holdner. Lease rates are going up, so it pencils. So construction begins. It actually began 18 months ago.

High rent and housing costs elsewhere also boosted demand for Orange County workspaces, said Jared Dienstag, a commercial real estate analyst with JLL.

Orange County is not looked at as a cheap place to live, but compared to Silicon Valley, the Bay Area and even West L.A., Orange County is more affordable, Dienstag said. Companies that normally would be looking up north are starting to look down here.

For example, Silicon Valleys average lease rate for office space was $4.53 per square foot in the first quarter, compared with Orange Countys $2.46, according to CBRE. In the San Francisco Peninsula, average lease rates were $5.54.

Ahead of everyone

Orange Countys biggest landlord  the Irvine Co.  saw an office shortage coming more than three years ago.

The firm broke ground as far back as 2011 on the new 20-story Pimco headquarters at Fashion Island. In late 2012, work began a couple of blocks away on its first speculative project, the 20-story 520 Newport Center Drive.

In all, the Irvine Co. has been adding 1.7 million square feet to its office inventory here.

The Irvine Co. was way ahead of everyone with that Fashion Island building, said Kidder Mathews Holdner. They actually timed it pretty well.

Howd it do it?

Doug Holte, president of the firms office-properties division, said that although countywide office vacancy rates were around 14 percent-15 percent at the time, the companys vacancy was far lower  less than 5 percent. Today, its 3 percent.

We were the first to recover occupancy, Holte said. That gave us the confidence to come to the market.

Remodeling comes first

In addition to new construction, developers have been gutting existing offices and producing sleek new workspaces.

Theres been more renovation work in my mind than new construction, said Jeff Ingham, senior managing director of JLLs Orange County office.

Newport Beach-based Bixby Land Co. has embarked on 27 office remodeling jobs from San Diego to San Francisco in recent years.

The theme of all these are pretty similar, said Bill Halford, Bixby president and CEO. Taking a building thats fully vacant or mostly vacant and make it something more architecturally interesting.

Whether its new space or remodeled space, however, modern, creative designs predominate.

Most users no longer want a commodity office, Halford said. They want something thats aesthetically an interesting space to help attract and retain top employees.

The companies that are growing today arent looking for traditional office space, Halford said. Theyre looking for talent to drive their business, and one way to (attract that talent) is to provide a more interesting office space.

Office designs increasingly are inspired by the Google and Apple workspaces in Silicon Valley.

They include things like high ceilings, large windows, lots of natural light and plenty of nearby amenities for eating, socializing and fitness.

There are outdoor meeting and work areas, Wi-Fi access everywhere, fire pits, bocce ball courts, restaurants and shopping.

Tenants are searching for unique space that offers the ability to brand or differentiate their organization, said Tom Bak of Trammell Crow Co.s Newport Beach office. An organizations office space helps express its culture.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com
Bailey Grebbin recalls nasty notes being left on her mothers car at their Dana Point home  notes commenting on the Barack Obama bumper sticker.

Hows that hope and change working for you? things like that, recalled the 19-year-old environmental studies major while walking the family dog, an Independence Day adoptee named Yankee. Her mom eventually removed the sticker because of the notes and fear the car might be keyed, Grebbin said.

The incident is not entirely surprising, given Orange Countys reputation as a Republican stronghold  a reputation built on the days when the GOPs advantage over Democrats in voter registration soared as high as 22 percentage points.

But the final tally for Tuesdays primary shows that lead is now less than 7 percentage points. The shift is being driven in large measure by Grebbin and her fellow millennials  those 18 to 34 years old  who favor the Democratic Party over the GOP, 36 percent to 26 percent, according to Political Data Inc.

As recently as 2002, that age group favored the GOP in Orange County, 42 percent to 29 percent. Young peoples share of unaffiliated voters increased from 22 percent to 32 percent over that period.

We saw our families and friends go through a lot of difficulties during the Great Recession, and it came from (George W.) Bush policies, said Grebbin, back in town after her sophomore year of college.

Additionally, young voters are more likely to support gay marriage, immigration reform and legalized marijuana  positions more aligned with the Democratic Party  according to Fullerton College political scientist Jodi Balma.

Yet Grebbin finds herself in the minority within her own age group.

Sure, shes a Democrat. But she supports former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Among millennials, Sen. Bernie Sanders is the heavy favorite, according to polls. The two sides disdain for each other can get emotionally charged, although Grebbin expressed a philosophical attitude.

It can be a little awkward because a lot of my friends support Bernie, said Grebbin, whos especially aware of the difference at her school  Green Mountain College in Sanders home state of Vermont. But its good to have different views. It brings more to the conversation.

TRUMP MILLENNIAL

Not all millennials are steering clear of the GOP. But even those who embrace the Republican Party often have views that diverge from their parents generation of Republicans.

While Anaheims Ethan Morse opposes abortion rights and legalizing marijuana, he doesnt object to current laws regarding gay marriage, thinks transgender people should be able to use the bathrooms appropriate to their appearance and supports legalizing those in the country illegally, as long as those whove committed crimes are deported.

He said most friends his age are Democrats and those who are Republicans tend to be on the side of legal pot, gay marriage and other social issues typically championed by Democrats.

But there are more important issues spurring his ardent support of the GOP.

I believe the Republican Party has a better understanding of small business, the American dream and our responsibility as the worlds greatest superpower, said Morse, a 34-year-old film producer.

In many ways, Morse is classic Republican. His parents, both Republicans, were dairy farmers in northern New York state, which he credits for his work ethic.

Hes an evangelical Christian who served three years in the Army. That included 18 months as a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, which informed his just-released Kickstarter-funded documentary, The Unknowns.

Morse has favored Donald Trump from the start, applauding the billionaires non-establishment credentials, his financial independence and his willingness to say whatever he feels. Hes willing to overlook some of Trumps more controversial and impractical proposals.

Donald Trump is a charismatic leader who obviously likes to hear his own voice, Morse said, adding he thinks the presumptive Republican nominee will present more measured positions as his research and understanding of issues increases. You should be able to change your views and make more informed opinions.

Morse is adamant he would never vote for a Democrat, complaining that the party backs abortion rights, big government and a hand-tied military.

Does that cause friction with his Democratic friends?

We seldom talk about politics because we each think the other is crazy.

GROWING INDEPENDENTS

While young voters are giving Orange County Democrats a boost, perhaps more significant is the growth of young voters who want nothing to do with either party.

I decided the best way to voice my distrust in and disdain for the current political climate was to become unaffiliated, said Breas Beverly Falco, 25.

Falco originally registered as a Republican, which she attributes to the influence of her Republican mother. She soon became disillusioned with the GOP over issues of abortion rights and gay marriage, but saw the Democratic Party as an inadequate alternative. She re-registered with no party preference and supports Sanders.

Both Clinton and Trump are incredibly wealthy and dont necessarily connect or understand problems facing the lower or disappearing middle class, said Falco, who works for a nonprofit giving presentations at local high schools on sexual consent and sexual assault. I appreciate Sanders calling out big businesses and I think their influence is much deeper than weve been led to believe.

Statewide, independent voters such as Falco are the biggest slice of millennials, at 41 percent. Democrats are 39 percent and Republicans are 20 percent of Californias millennial voters, according to the Pew Reserach Center.

And while Democratic millennials outnumber both Republican and unaffiliated millennials in Orange County, independents are on a trajectory to overtake Democrats here in the next few years. They already outnumber county Republicans.

It seems as if the dynamics of Orange County and the country are changing, but our political parties do not seem to be changing with us, Falco said. Many people my age feel alienated from the process and from the major political parties.

DEMOCRATS AT ODDS

Sanders is a phenomenon among millennials, who have helped pull him to victory in the 20 states hes won so far and whove also favored him in most states hes lost. Nationwide, 55 percent of young voters have a favorable view of him, 38 percent have a favorable view of Clinton and 22 percent have a favorable view of Trump, according to a Gallup poll of 20- to 36-year-olds in April.

In Orange County, half of all new registrations since the beginning of the year have been millennials and Sanders is the main reason, according to political scientist Balma.

Theyve grown up with documentaries and media that have exposed them to issues the government either refuses to deal with  a broken immigration system, climate change  or seems bought and paid for  Wall Street, income inequity, Balma said.

Now theres a candidate who is discussing these issues. They like his message and they like him.

Kevin Christensen, a senator in the Fullerton College student body government, has been casting about for such a candidate for a few years. The offspring of Republicans and a veteran who served in Afghanistan, Christensen had been a Libertarian and voted for Ron Paul in the past two presidential primaries.

Now, he shares the same Democratic Party affiliation as Grebbin  but is on the other side of the Clinton-Sanders divide.

Grebbin says she likes what Sanders stands for, but complains about the lack of details. She thinks an insider like Clinton is needed to change the system.

Christensen counters that Sanders has detailed plans and that whoever is president will face the obstacle of an often- recalcitrant Congress. He says that Sanders was first with the right position on key issues, including support for gay marriage and opposition to the Iraq war. And hes wary of some of Clintons position changes.

It makes me wonder whether her true ideological alignments fall left of center or right of center, said the 27-year-old, wholl be studying playwriting at Columbia University in the fall. I dont just take a candidates word that they have had a change of heart.

For many Democratic leaders, including Orange County party chairman Henry Vandermeir, a big question is whether the millennials drawn to Sanders will turn out in November to vote for Clinton, the expected Democratic nominee.

Falco said it was was likely she would. Christensen sounded less certain  and pointed out that because California is overwhelmingly Democratic, a vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein wouldnt hurt Clinton.

If we lived in a swing state, I would have to really address where my convictions lie and put even more thought into the election, he said. Because a Trump presidency is a frightening one.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
There is room to argue that among the hefty names sharing the billing for the Power 106 FM summer kickoff, Powerhouse 2016 was a radio concert of unlikely radio stars.

Along with a few surprises no one saw coming, Powerhouse 2016 was certainly one for the books, punctuated by an unannounced appearance from none other than Kanye West.

The opening third of the production aimed to set the bar high from the start as a trio of hip-hops buzzworthy prospects all turned in strong sets. Not listed, K Camp began the show to the surprise of fans smart enough to be prompt, turning in selections such as Money Baby and his latest 5 Minutes. Powerhouse quickly became a party.

Brooklyns Joey Bada$$ channeled the 90s New York-era of hp-hop with tracks such as Christ Conscious and Like Water. Opting to deliver lyrical bars instead of hook heavy singles, his continued momentum is as impressive as it is improbable. Last, the king of Memphis, Yo Gotti, hit the stage to drop his current club smash, Down In the DM. The ode to social media sent the Honda Center into hysterics.

Among the veterans of the night, both Fat Joe with Remy Ma as well as Too Short with E-40 displayed an interesting ability to reach different generations of fans during their own sets.

Fat Joe rehashed Terror Squad anthems as he dove into cuts like the Ja Rule collaboration, New York and the 2009 smash, Lean Back. Though the older selections went over well, Joe and Remys latest, All The Way Up proved the most powerful as the entire floor participated in the hook.

For the Bay Area tandem of Too Short and E-40, the arena became a packed nightclub as tracks like B-, Shake That Monkey and Tell Me When To Go prompted random fits of movement in the aisles. Sharing the stage, E-40 would welcome Problem out to perform their joint effort, Function, only for Problem to then bring out DJ Quik to perform Tonite and Lets Get Down. The welcomed tangent served as a reminder that the classics never go out of style.

The final third of the night began with the kind of showing from Chicagos Chance the Rapper that really did transform hip-hop into high art. Performing along with the Social Experiment, Chance bounced from his features on Heaven Only Knows and Kanyes Ultralight Beam to his own work such as Everybodys Something, Summer Friends and Sunday Candy with the kind of enthusiasm that justifies all his critical acclaim. A brilliant balance of lyrical fluidity and intelligent instrumentation, everything about Chance the Rapper is a breath of fresh air.

Big Sean checked in and began what seemed to be a predictable, albeit entertaining set of his singles, that is until he began Mercy and Kanye West decided to drop in. Ditching a jacket he used to veil himself, West entered to a shrill cheer from the sell-out crowd that drowned out anything happening onstage.

West and Sean would run through a few tunes including Clique, I Dont Like, and would debut the live version of G.O.O.D. Musics first single off Cruel Winter called Champions. The song was so new it only hit the internet just hours before the duo performed it at Powerhouse.

Through billed separately, DJ Mustard and neighborhood champion YG would finish out the festivities as the dynamic duo most familiar to fans. Running through the collaborative catalog that included hits like Left, Right, My N, and Dont Tell Em, the team candidly addressed their year-long separation and seemed to celebrate their reunion with each song. Before putting down the mic, YG would stoke the fire with his controversial track, FDT featuring Nipsey Hussle.

In much the same way N.W.A took aim at law enforcement in the 1980s, YG sets his sights on presidential hopeful Donald Trump and the four-letter word rang loud and clear as an entire arena chanted it enthusiastically.
Mahmood Omid misses hearing the call for prayer.

Back in his hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan, hed hear it five times a day  or more  during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins at dawn Monday.

Now, in Anaheim, where he lives with his wife and children, all Omid hears is the sound of traffic. He keeps track of prayer times with a Ramadan calendar he picked up from a local mosque.

Its just not the same, he says.

Omid and hundreds of Muslim refugees in Orange County are still getting used to being in a community, city and country where Ramadan isnt the big deal it is back home.

They gathered Saturday night at the Pearson Park Amphitheater to celebrate World Refugee Day. They mingled, hearing familiar languages, taking in the aroma of pilaf and falafel, smiling at the few faces they recognized in the crowd.

Alaa Alamour isnt even thinking about Ramadan anymore. He left his native town of Daraa in Syria three years ago when the bombing got worse, with his wife and five children, abandoning the home hed been fixing up for six years.

Our choice was to leave our home or die in it, said his wife, Mona Alrebdawi, her eyes welling up.

In her home, she would prepare for Ramadan as if she were getting ready for a wedding, Alrebdawi said.

Its different now. The couple and their five children are crammed in a tiny apartment they cant afford. Their lease is up next month and Alamour doesnt know if theyll have a roof over their heads.

Alamour described his familys harrowing experience when they left Daraa. The hike to Jordan took six hours. They arrived in a refugee camp, their shoes shredded, feet bleeding. Three days later, the couple heard their home had been razed to the ground.

The family remained in Jordan until they received asylum and came to the U.S. in December. With help from local refugee aid groups, including Access California Services, they have been able to get $1,000 a month in government assistance. But they say its not enough to build a life on.

Were not feeling the pleasure of Ramadan, Alamour said. We dont feel the peace and joy. When I talk to my kids, they dont even respond. They just sit there. My wife and I dont know what to do. We feel  alone.

Abbas Almusawi, who arrived 10 months ago after spending 12 years in Syria and Turkey, said its a miracle that he and his family are alive. But he becomes nostalgic about home, particularly during Ramadan.

In Iraq, we had this tradition of breaking fast with family and friends, sharing food with one another, he said. I feel a little lost here. I dont know where the mosque is. I dont even know where to begin.

Getting used to new culture and surroundings can be challenging, but its possible with a little help and large doses of optimism, says Sabeeha Hajazi, a Baghdad native who arrived in Anaheim five years ago. Last month, Hajazi became a naturalized U.S. citizen and this month, shell cast her vote for the very first time.

My first Ramadan was not much of a celebration, she said. But this year, I have reasons to celebrate. Im part of a community, I have friends. I contribute to my community and Im free to practice my religion.

She now helps other refugees make the adjustment, teaching them about American culture and cheering them on as they make a tough transition.

If I had a choice, Id still live in Iraq, she said. But Im happy to be here. I now have hope and most importantly, I have freedom.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
BEIRUT  Syrian troops reached the edge of the northern province of Raqqa on Saturday, home to the de facto capital of the Islamic State groups self-styled caliphate, in a push that leaves the extremists fighting fierce battles on four fronts in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Islamic State, which controls large swaths of territory in both countries, is fighting Syrian troops, U.S.-backed fighters and opposition militants in northern Syria and is facing an offensive by Iraqi government forces on their stronghold of Fallujah.

The Syrian government has had no presence in Raqqa since August 2014, when Islamic State captured the Tabqa air base and killed scores of government soldiers. The provincial capital, Raqqa, became the militants first city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops reached the administrative border of Raqqa province under the cover of Russian airstrikes. It said that during three days of fighting 26 Islamic State fighters and nine troops and pro-government gunmen were killed.

Syrian troops began their advance toward the province Wednesday, the same day that U.S.-backed forces launched an attack on the Islamic State-stronghold of Manbij, some 72 miles to the northwest of Raqqa. It is unclear whether the attacks were coordinated.

The U.S.-backed predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces advanced closer Saturday to Manbij, which lies on a key supply route from the Turkish border to Raqqa.

While battles rage in Raqqa province and Manbij, Islamic State fighters are also coming under fire in Fallujah. Iraqi forces launched their offensive on the city almost two weeks ago, and say they have reached the edge of town.

Meanwhile, violence in and around the contested northern city of Aleppo, Syrias largest and once commercial center, claimed more lives Saturday. The city has been the scene of fierce fighting, even during a truce brokered by the U.S. and Russia that went into effect in late February and collapsed weeks later.
SACRAMENTO  If you want to watch a heated political feud, forget about the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. That presidential bad blood is toxic, but seems tame compared with whats going on between Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. The two Republicans have been mixing it up for years, with Spitzer hoping one day to replace Rackauckas as the countys top cop.

The latest incident involves Measure A  an effort by county good-government activists to start an independent ethics commission to police campaign-finance rules. Spitzer is a key supporter of the measure, which will be on Tuesdays ballot. After Spitzer recorded a robocall backing it, Rackauckas called a press conference to accuse Spitzer of falsely impersonating an assistant district attorney.

Rackauckas pointed to this part of the script that Spitzer read: I have always played by the rules. As an assistant district attorney, I know that many politicians do not. Spitzer used to be an assistant district attorney until he was shown the door by Rackauckas in 2010, and hasnt worked for the office since.

Said Rackauckas at the presser: Stunning isnt it? Not only does he falsely impersonate an assistant district attorney, he does not appear to follow campaign laws requiring paid telephone calls must identify the candidate who paid for or authorized the call.

Spitzer, as quoted by the Register, responded: The only person who could misinterpret what Im saying in this robocall is a paranoid district attorney who has failed to do his job as the district attorney of Orange County. He said he identified himself as a county supervisor at the beginning the call and that everyone knows a person cant have both positions at once.

The D.A.s office sent me Spitzers latest campaign statement, in which he identifies himself as a business owner, father and assistant district attorney, and a video in which he previously has identified himself as a former Los Angeles police officer  even though he was only a reserve officer.

Rackauckas isnt going to press charges or do anything else about it. He told me, The main thing we can do is what weve done and make it public. Thats a good thing given these seem like fairly minor infractions at best.

Ive always been startled by Spitzers tendency to play the first-responder card for maximum political impact. An amusing example: As a state assemblyman, he attended a press conference (regarding wildfires) dressed in yellow firefighter boots and a vest. In a less-amusing episode, last year he made a citizens arrest of an unarmed man at a restaurant. After a youth counselor approached him to talk about the Bible, Spitzer went back to his car, grabbed a loaded gun and handcuffs and detained him until cops arrived.

Spitzer said he was concerned for his safety because the man was acting in a bizarre way. He told the Register his law enforcement background gives him some kind of weird sixth sense when somethings not right. My journalistic background gives me a similar sense about politicians.

In this most recent instance, neither the supervisor nor the D.A. is behaving in a manner that inspires confidence. The incident makes me more skeptical than ever that an ethics commission can fix what is fundamentally wrong in county government.

After I contacted Spitzer, his office sent me a press release that references a new Orange County grand jury report about the reorganization of the public administrator and public guardian offices. From the informant scandal committee to the grand jury, every independent and neutral observer who reviews the district attorneys management style is in complete agreement that the district attorney has allowed his office to become a rudderless ship with a culture of favoritism that endangers the public, Spitzer said in the statement.

Spitzer has yet to decide whether to run for D.A. in 2018, but the statement, which accuses Rackauckas of putting politics before principles, is hard to consider outside the context of Spitzers political ambitions, which is too bad, given the serious issues the report raises.

This brings us back to Measure A, which was the measure that sparked the latest Spitzer-Rackauckas battle. Spitzer is for it. Rackauckas is neutral. But does anyone think creating a new panel will take the toxicity out of the political process? Or will it just give dueling politicians another weapon with which to embarrass each other? Given this latest episode, Im thinking the latter is a safe bet.

Steven Greenhut is a Sacramento-based writer. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998-2009. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.
More people than ever are flocking to Orange Countys trails, with disputes and body contact rising among equestrians, mountain bikers, trail runners, birders and hikers.

Battles have become so bad, at least three organizations recently formed in an effort to bring peace to the outback.

Saturday mornings are the worst period. Groups of hikers step aside or stand their ground while mountain bikers zoom by on narrow trails in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.

Above the land side of Crystal Cove State Park, known as El Moro, hundreds of people descend spacious fire roads, yet often leave little or no room for mountain bikers.

In Chino Hills State Park, bewildered families with young children try to sort out what it means when a cyclist shouts, On your left.

In 2008, county parks had 10.7 million visitors. Last years record saw 13.8 million people.

Outdoor enthusiasts go so far as to cut illegal trails. Some paths wind through protected habitat or private land. But its complicated. These trails often connect official trails to one another, allowing longer excursions that avoid dangerous road traffic.

If this sounds like mountain bikers are the only ones to blame, they arent. Every group has a few bad apples.

Several weeks ago, a mountain biker on Borrego Trail in Whiting Ranch slowed to pass a hiker. The man on foot could have made room, but didnt. The cyclist pedaled in brush, lost his balance and tipped into the hiker.

Both went down.

Making matters trickier is that the illegal yet long-used trails are being closed by developers and government agencies.

TRAIL ETIQUETTE

With OC Parks reporting a total 682 miles of trails  167 miles devoted to riding and hiking  trail wars seem to make no sense.

But large chunks of Orange Countys natural world are nestled in urban areas and have become increasingly popular. As county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who oversees canyon areas, points out, People are much more aware of the need to exercise, and they take getting outdoors more seriously.

In the 1990s, it was rare to see groups of mountain bikers and hikers on local trails. That remains true in remote wilderness areas, miles from trailheads. But on shorter trails with easy access, there are traffic jams.

Trail runners thread their way between hikers. Mountain bikers frequently grumble about other mountain bikers who stop and block paths.

Terry Hanly helps with the Anaheim Hills Hiking Club. She and her husband, Tim, usually hike in Santiago Oaks Regional Park and say there has been a marked increase in the past year in the number of visitors, especially mountain bikers.

Many mountain bikers slow down, ring a bell and offer a thank you when the Hanlys step aside to create more room. But there have been times when Hanly had to leap off the trail to avoid a mountain biker out of control.

They have the attitude, Tim Hanly says, that they own the road and that hikers are a nuisance.

With support ranging from Audubon of California to the Sierra Club, Safe Trails Coalition was born in Newport Beach four years ago. One of its goals is to address and change unauthorized and unsafe trail activities that threaten public safety and damages our parklands.

The coalition, as part of its mission, hopes to curb trail misuse and abuse such as use of the parks at night, illegal trail cutting, creation of paintball courses.

Hikers, bikers and equestrians, runners, birders, students, families, dog walkers, have potentially conflicting needs, says Melanie Schlotterbeck, coalition coordinator. Of the coalitions work, she says, Education is the most important piece, like how to pass safely by somebodys horse.

The rules are clear: Everybody yields to equestrians; mountain bikers yield to everyone else.

ILLEGAL TRAILS

On a recent backpacking trip through Chino Hills State Park, Schlotterbeck reports, she discovered seven illegal trails.

Theres a huge amount of biodiversity in Orange County, Schlotterbeck says. When people create their own trails, theres a lack of knowledge, respect and understanding. Its not good placement; there are erosion issues.

A month ago, I unknowingly tried to mountain bike one of those illegal trails. I rode from the Ladera Ranch fire station off Antonio Parkway up the Ladera Ridge Trail. I started to turn left at the top but ran into a locked steel gate.

Several mountain bikers joked that the route had been closed so developers could save the wilderness by building homes. But just as the reasons for building trails are complicated, so is balancing recreation, development and protecting the environment.

An OC Parks news release explains that OC Parks and the Rancho Mission Viejo Co. agreed to close the route because of environmental damage. The closure turned into a cause celebre.

Chris Messina lives in Ladera Ranch, is a mountain biker and decided to try to unlock the gate not with force but diplomacy. His work signals possible compromises for dozens of illegal trails.

More than 70 mountain bikers and hikers gathered last month for the first meeting of Messinas South OC Trail Coalition. Recently weve seen several areas of trail closed in and around the Ladera Ranch, he wrote on the groups Facebook site, Las Flores, Rancho Santa Margarita, Wagon Wheel and Coto de Caza.

In an effort to understand why the trails have been closed, Messina wrote, the community needs to learn the history.

A few days ago, Messina said his coalition is making progress, and he is hopeful the gate will be unlocked in the months to come. The tone of the conversation with the county is positive and if I had to summarize, Id say they are looking for ways to help.

When people cut new trails, OC Parks Public Information Officer Marisa ONeil told me, it makes it more difficult for us to keep existing trails open, or to add trails. It sets the whole process two steps back.

ONeil added, Increased trail use means a healthier population but it also means that as land managers, we have to take a close look at how the trails are being used and by whom.

To help resolve these issues, OC Parks two months ago created a Trails Subcommittee. July 8 is the deadline to step up.

Contact the writer: dwhiting@ocregister.com
PALO ALTO  A six-month jail term for a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus after both attended a fraternity party is being decried as a slap on the wrist.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced 20-year-old Brock Turner to six months in county jail and three years probation after the woman who was assaulted read the court an emotional statement that has gone viral. Turner must also complete a sex offender management program and register as a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.

In her statement, the woman described how the attack left her emotionally scarred.

My independence, natural joy, gentleness, and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition. I became closed off, angry, self-deprecating, tired, irritable, empty, she said.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he was disappointed the judge did not sentence Turner to prison.

The punishment does not fit the crime, Rosen said in a statement. The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victims ongoing trauma.

A jury in March found Turner guilty of three felony sexual assault counts for the January 2015 attack, which was interrupted by two graduate students who saw him assaulting a partially clothed woman behind a trash bin. Turner tried to flee, but the students tackled and pinned him down until police arrived and arrested him.

The all-American high school swimmer from Dayton, Ohio, withdrew from Stanford after his arrest.

The woman, who was not a student, told investigators she drank about four shot glasses of whiskey before the fraternity party, and then drank vodka there. The next thing she said she remembered was waking up at a hospital in San Jose, where a deputy told her she may have been a victim of sexual assault.

I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I dont want my body anymore. I was terrified of it, the woman wrote in a letter to Turner and Judge Persky that she read in the courtroom during the sentencing. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.

In an editorial, the Mercury News called the six-month jail sentence a slap on the wrist.

Staff writer Jacqueline Lee contributed to this report.
At Virginia Tech nine years ago, site of the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, the gunman was a student.

At UC Santa Barbara in 2014, the shooter had recently dropped out of a nearby community college.

And at UCLA on Wednesday, the accused gunman was a former student who drove cross-country to pursue a perceived injustice.

We dont have a crystal ball, said Scot Willey, administrative captain for the Cal State Fullerton University Police Department. We cant see the end product for every student who comes through.

Marcelle Holmes, associate vice chancellor for wellness, health and counseling at UC Irvine, echoed that statement.

It isnt just, Oh, shes graduated. We dont have to worry about her anymore, Holmes said. Graduation doesnt end it for some people.

What college employees and students throughout Southern California and beyond do know is that the threat of campus violence reverberates far and wide  and with increasing urgency.

Its becoming scarier and scarier to be a college student in California, said Julia Schemmer, a public policy major at UC Riverside. It shouldnt take an act of courage to go to college.

Joe Gutierrez, a spokesman for Cal State San Bernardino, said his school held an active-shooter drill just a week before the UCLA shooting.

Sadly, its something you have to prepare for, he said. It just brings it home to you. You realize that this could happen.

Since the Virginia Tech tragedy, active-shooter drills and other preparations have become commonplace at most California universities.

We train staff to mentally prepare for every situation, Willey said. Whether you run, hide or fight depends on the circumstances.

Annual drills at Fullerton and at Cal State Long Beach involve police officers bursting through doors to simulate the actions of shooters. A few fighters are selected from the staff  people designated to throw objects and grab the pretend gun.

Often, people balk at such dress rehearsals, Willey said. Its like, If were not talking about it, it wont happen to us.

And while practicing strategies might work in campus offices, translating them to the classroom is another matter.

How many professors want to say, Welcome to my classroom. Now lets talk about active shooters? Willey said. But we hope that conversation does go on in classrooms.

Both the CSU and UC systems have introduced the Red Folder Initiative, a reference guide of mental health resources given to faculty and staff.

The manual lists signs of distress in students.

Red flags include a decline in academic work, papers or presentations that have a bizarre quality, frequent demands for attention, a change in physical appearance or hygiene and, of course, overt threats, said UCIs Holmes.

Both university systems also have behavior intervention teams  counselors, deans, police officers and other representatives who meet regularly to review trouble spots.

Private schools have installed similar programs.

At Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles police officers and firefighters train on campus to demonstrate what a response would look like, said Devra Schwartz, assistant director of emergency management.

Chapman University in Orange involves everyone in re-enactments. We had a scenario where there was a supposed active shooter, and students volunteered to play roles, spokeswoman Mary Platt said.

Platt cant help but sigh when discussing such campus drills.

Universities are supposed to be bastions of learning, and now we have to train like theyre battlefields, she said. Its such a sad situation, but its the way of the world now.

The seemingly unanswerable question: Why is this the way of the world now?

In the 90s, we dealt with things like eating disorders, Holmes said. Students seem to be under more pressure today. Our consultation activity has skyrocketed.

However, she emphasized, The vast majority of people with mental illness are not dangerous to anyone but themselves.

Depression and anxiety have mushroomed in college students because of a variety of potential factors, some say.

There have been all kinds of theories, including a loss of resilience due to helicopter parenting and everyone gets a trophy, Holmes said.

Willey, who also sees a clear uptick in hopelessness and stress, wonders what role social media play.

Theres not as much personal contact  everything goes through texts and Facebook, he said. Its one thing to courageously express yourself from behind a computer screen, and another to diplomatically challenge another persons ideas in face-to-face conversation.

Whatever the causes and effects, Brittany Caisse, a freshman drama major at UCI, noted that shootings like the one at UCLA can happen anytime, anyplace.

Just live your life, she said, and be aware of your surroundings.

Staff writers Josh Dulaney

and Larry Altman

contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6766 or sgoulding@ocregister.com
LAOIS/Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Agriculture of the advance payment of 487 million in Single Farm Payments (SFP) to 101,000 farmers nationally.

LAOIS/Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Agriculture of the advance payment of 487 million in Single Farm Payments (SFP) to 101,000 farmers nationally.

The payments have been brought forward from December to October following representations made by Minister Coveney to the EU Commission. Just under 15 million was paid to Offaly farmers.

Mr Flanagan commented, Payments have started issuing directly into farmers bank accounts as of Monday, October 17. Cash-flow has become a critical issue for farmers, particularly those on low incomes, and the timing of these payments is extremely important. Thats why these payments are so important for farmers and for the rural economy.

Upon entering office, Minister Coveney made it a priority to bring forward the payments from December to October. In doing so he has shown that he is in tune with the challenges that farmers are facing. Farmers in Laois and Offaly will no doubt welcome the advance payment of these figures upon which their livelihoods depend. In Offaly alone, 2,496 farmers have received payments resulting in a total payment figure of 14,986,326.

The Fine Gael TD added that the Single Farm Payment forms a considerable part of the annual income of farmers.

It has taken on increased significance in the current economic climate. Huge numbers of farmers rely on the SFP to subsidise the running costs of the farm the payment often constitutes an amount greater than the net farm income.

Additional payments will be made up to December 1 when the 50% balancing payments are scheduled to commence issuing. By the end of the year the vast majority of the SFP will have been paid, the total value of which will be in excess of 1.2 billion, he concluded.
SCALLYS Centra, Arden Road, Tullamore is celebrating having been awarded the Centra Store of the Year title for 2011, in a tough competition which saw stiff opposition from nine other excellent finalists from around the country.

SCALLYS Centra, Arden Road, Tullamore is celebrating having been awarded the Centra Store of the Year title for 2011, in a tough competition which saw stiff opposition from nine other excellent finalists from around the country.

The National Award was presented at the groups National Conference to owner Ben Scally and store manager Fiona Leavy by Martin Kelleher, Centra Managing Director, Michael Morgan, Centra Sales Director and Alan Brown, Business Sales Director O2, award sponsor.

All 468 Centra stores throughout the Republic of Ireland are assessed for the Centra Store of the Year competition by independent retail consultant, Alan Collins. The audit focuses on value, fresh food offering, product range, hygiene and customer care.

Scallys extensive range of products, with a concentration on hot-food, deli, fresh bread, bakery and an exceptional selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, all combine to provide an exceptional store.

Commenting on the award, competition judge, Alan Collins said Theres something about this store that makes it feel just perfect. It has that unique shopping experience and it all comes together at the deli counter. From morning straight through to evening, instore chefs are cooking from scratch to provide a range of meals, designed to exceed any customers expectations in a manner that would challenge many restaurants.

The bakery also adds another key dimension to this stores offer, driving daily traffic and complementing the value added offers throughout the store. Scallys work hard to provide the best value for money on a full range of goods to meet all their customers needs and budgets.

The store also places a huge emphasis on providing good customer service and the friendliness evident throughout the store is contagious. Its a bright beacon with a welcoming atmosphere and the kind of store everyone would want on their doorstep.

Delighted with the win, Ben Scally paid tribute to his team and said that their constant dedication and professional approach was what singled out the Tullamore store for the award. We work hard as a team on a daily basis to provide our customers with first-rate customer service and excellent value throughout the store.

The strong performance of our Deli and Good-to-Go offering, catering for the busy and value lead consumer keeps us very focused on areas such as price, hygiene, quality and customer service. We are delighted with this award, as it recognises and endorses the work we do to provide our customers with a top-class local shopping facility. Mr Scally said.

Martin Kelleher, Managing Director of Centra said the groups auditing standards in all areas of the business are second to none and are important to the overall success of Centra as a group. Centra stores such as Scallys, work hard to succeed in a very competitive market, by meeting the needs of their local community and providing choice, good value and excellent service in a convenient location. Scallys Centra is a perfect example of a local independent retailer working hard for their local community and delivering a store that is recognised as the best in Ireland.
IM so grateful to my donor, says one kidney transplant recipient from Edenderry this week as she urged people to become organ donors.

IM so grateful to my donor, says one kidney transplant recipient from Edenderry this week as she urged people to become organ donors.

Having had a kidney transplant in September 2009, 20 year old Niamh Lawton is only too happy to tell her story as part of the annual awareness campaign, which runs from Saturday March 31 to April 7 to highlight the importance of becoming an organ donor.

Niamh believes that organ donation is not something that perhaps young people in particularly know a lot about. I or my family had no idea about it and I am assuming its the same for a lot of people. It is something to be aware. It is one of the most difficult conversations to have with a loved one but take five minutes out of your life to discuss the issue of peoples wishes.

You never know when or if it could be you.

She acknowledges that it is probably one of the most horrible, horrible things to have to do but she adds that it can be a source of great comfort to many people later on when they have donated their loved ones organs.

Niamhs story is that she had been on a family holiday in 2008 when she suddenly fell ill and following tests, it was discovered she had kidney failure. She then had to remain in Cyprus for 6 weeks where she received dialysis treatment before being well enough to travel home. When home, the 20 year old commenced dialysis treatment at the Midlands Regional hospital, Tullamore.

I am very thankful for the care I received here. I got some amount of care. It was amazing.

Niamh continued her treatment at the Tullamore based unit for a further year during which time she was in fifth year of secondary school. However, due to her illness she lost copious amounts of days at school and fell behind in her studies.

When you are receiving dialysis, you are playing catch up in school all the time.

At this stage, she made the decision to repeat fifth year in an effort to catch up with her studies.

And, it was that September that she received that life changing phone call to say that she could be getting a kidney. It was late on Saturday night when we got the call. I got a shock when it rang. You know that it could come but when it does come, there is joy, shock, elation and anxiety.

Niamh then headed to Beaumount hospital, Dublin where she underwent tests for her suitability for the kidney and thankfully, she never looked back since and even returned to school two months after her transplant.

It was so different to be there every day, for every class, instead spending three to three and half hours in the hospital. And, she is so grateful to her donor and enthuses that the transplant has made a huge difference to her quality of life.

The 20 year old is now a first year student in DCU where she studies European Business and French. There is no way I would be as well here today if that hadnt happened. It definitely changed things for me.

OFFALY LAUNCH

The Offaly branch of the Irish Kidney Association will launch its awareness campaign in the Tullamore Court Hotel this Wednesday, March 28 at 8pm and people with an interest in organ donation and transplantation are urged to come along.

Among those attending will be Cllr Sinead Dooley, Offaly County Council, Chairman of the Offaly Branch of the Irish Kidney Association, Jerome Burke and speakers will include the recently appointed Consultant Nephrologist Frank Kelly, Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore and Mike Kelly, Co-ordinator Counselling Services, Irish Kidney Association.

Organ Donor Cards can be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association LoCall 1890 543639 or Free text the word DONOR to 50050. Visit website www.ika.ie

It is also now possible to store an organ donor card, the ecard on Smart mobile phones. Simply search for Donor ECard at the IPhone Store or Android Market Place.
French authorities raided the Paris headquarters of two American corporate giants last month, Google and McDonalds. The European Commission is investigating tax deals Amazon and Apple reached in Luxembourg and Ireland. And the commission also has accused the Netherlands of allowing Starbucks to avoid more than $30 million in taxes.

Across Europe, just how much  or little  U.S. multinational firms are paying in taxes is coming under intense scrutiny.

While the U.S. companies say they are paying what they owe, European authorities have argued that many firms have developed complex tax strategies to lower their tax bills, sometimes with the help of countries hungry for the jobs they can bring.

The battle playing out across Europe mimics, in many ways, a debate that has sparked populist anger in the United States: Are U.S. companies getting special treatment or are they being unfairly targeted?

The fight, in essence, centers on the more than $2 trillion in overseas profits that U.S. corporations have refused to bring back to the United States, where they would face a hefty tax bill. U.S. lawmakers and regulators have lamented the practice but have had little success in pressing the corporations to bring the funds home.

Now European tax authorities also are eying this money, international tax experts say. The profits often have been routed through low-tax European countries, potentially cheating others nations in which the companies operate, they argue.

The Americans, we havent been doing anything about this. In the meantime, the Europeans, facing serious austerity, they look at this (money) and say some of it belongs to us,  said Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, a professor at Michigan University School of Law who specializes in corporate and international taxation.

It looks to me that they are going to tax it first. What worries me is that we will lose the opportunity to collect some of that income, especially on the stuff that has been earned already.

If Europe is successful in increasing the amount U.S. companies pay in overseas taxes, that would lower the amount that could be collected by American taxpayers, international tax experts say.

Many U.S. multinational corporations have established European headquarters in low-tax countries. Apple runs its European operations from Ireland, which has a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate. In 2005, Amazon set up its European operations from Luxembourg, which is known for striking generous tax arrangements.

But with public spending in many European countries restrained following the financial crisis of 2008, and amid a growing global debate over wealth inequality, the practice is getting increasing scrutiny. (Most of the investigations revolve around the issue of transfer pricing, when one part of a large company sells goods or services to another part of the company.)

Late last year, Apple agreed to pay $350 million in back taxes to Italy to settle a dispute there, but some estimate the tech giant could owe the Irish government $8 billion to $19 billion for underpaid taxes, depending on the outcome of a European Commission investigation.

McDonalds, which has nearly 8,000 restaurants in Europe, has acknowledged that French authorities had searched its Paris headquarters on May 18. In a statement, the company said it complies with all tax laws, including payments of tax owed in each country in which it operates. The European Commission also is investigating the companys tax deals in Luxembourg.

Google also has become a flashpoint in the debate. The search giant, which is owned by the holding company Alphabet, has its European headquarters in Ireland.

In January, Google agreed to pay $185 million in back taxes to Britain. But the settlement has many critics, who say the company should have paid much more.

Also last month, French police raided Googles French headquarters, looking for evidence of aggravated tax fraud and organized money laundering, Frances financial prosecutors office said in its statement, according to the Associated Press.

Europes strong response has angered the Obama administration, which worries U.S. firms are being targeted for unfair treatment that could ultimately hurt American taxpayers.
Crash-test dummies, who have dutifully endured thousands of simulated accidents from the front seat, are about to get a ride in the back.

Regulators are making the move as part of a new emphasis on the safety of back-seat passengers, including children in car seats, which has lagged advances made for those riding up front. Lending urgency to the effort: the rise of Uber, Lyft and a new car-sharing economy that has more people riding in the rear.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to test dummies in back seats in new models as part of its 5-Star Safety Ratings Program beginning in 2019. The program, started in 1978, has so far measured safety only for drivers and front-seat passengers.

People assume a 5-star rating extends to all seating locations, but it doesnt, said Kristy Arbogast, engineering director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. The back seat hasnt kept up.

Advocates say automakers should make greater use of air bags in the back, improve seat belts so they work more like the ones in front that tighten during abrupt speed changes, and conduct education campaigns to encourage buckling up in the rear.

That could help match the substantial gains that have been made in safety for drivers and front-seat passengers, thanks to such developments as better restraints, air bags and seats designed to absorb shock by giving way in accidents.

Safety advocates say the design changes to front seats have had an unintended consequence for those in the back: Some have a tendency to collapse in even low-speed rear-end collisions, killing their occupants or the children seated behind them.

Thats what happened to Andrew Warner. In November 2010, Warner and his wife, Liz, were driving their new Honda Odyssey with 3-year-old Jake and 16-month-old Taylor in the back seat. They were waiting to turn into their suburban Houston neighborhood when another minivan rammed them from behind at 55 mph.

Warner says he remembers a jolt and being pushed back into his seat by the G-force like a rocket. After the crash, Liz said there was something wrong with Taylor. The seat had hit her on the head. She later died.

In emergency rooms in New York and other major U.S. cities, doctors have a nickname for another type of head injury: partition face. Its what happens when a back-seat passenger riding in a cab doesnt bother to wear a seat belt. In a rear-end collision, his head is thrust into the Plexiglas barrier. That can lead to a concussion, stitches or a fractured eye socket.

New York City authorities estimate about half of all cab riders are going without seat belts, perhaps under the mistaken belief that because theyre in a commercial vehicle theyre safe. For the U.S. population as a whole, about 87 percent of all car passengers are belted.

The National Transportation Safety Board convened a meeting of auto-safety experts, like Arbogast and executives from Volvo Car and ZF TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., that looked at the issue from vehicle design to public education and ways to increase seat-belt use.

I dont think its malicious, its just expensive, NTSB member Bella Dinh-Zarr said about the industrys lagging attention to the back seat. Rear-seat safety is going to get more important as more people use ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, she said.

The auto industry believes the single best safety system to protect occupants in the rear seats is the safety belt, said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The Washington-based trade group whose 13 members include General Motors, Ford and Toyota has recommended NHTSA include seat-belt reminders as part of its crash-testing program.

Its challenging to migrate all front-seat technology like full-size frontal air bags to the back seat, Bergquist said.

Other measures like side-impact air bags and inflatable seat belts have been introduced, and things like belt pre-tensioners should work in the back seat, she said.

Every seat on the market today exceeds NHTSAs standard, and most seats are three or four times stronger than required, she said.
In Washington, some lawmakers are calling for research into whether Agent Orange and other toxic substances are responsible for the health problems of veterans children and grandchildren.

The Toxic Exposure Research Act is the latest incarnation of a bill that would establish a research center within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of establishing the center at $74 million over the next four years.

Supporters come from both parties and include about half of the members of Congress. In the House, all Nebraska and Iowa representatives are co-sponsors except for Adrian Smith, R-Neb. In the Senate, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is the only one from Nebraska or Iowa who has signed on.

The Vietnam Veterans of America is one veterans group that is pushing hard to pass the bill to spur Agent Orange research.

Without the scientific proof, said Mokie Pratt Porter, the groups communications director, we cant get off ground zero.

VA officials say they support more research but dont agree that their agency is the right one to study next-generation health impacts, because the VA lacks experience with childrens health issues.

We dont have a lot of pediatricians on our staff, said Dr. Ralph Erickson, the VAs post-deployment health consultant. The National Institutes of Health probably should have the lead in this type of research.

Thats the reason U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., hasnt signed on.

She remains committed to ensuring our veterans receive the care they need, said Tom Doheny, Fischers communications director, but he said she would like lawmakers to explore the details further.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., supports the bills goals and is reviewing it, a spokesman said.

And while Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has not sponsored that particular measure, she supports the Veterans First Act, a comprehensive VA reform bill that includes a provision establishing a research center, said Brook Hougesen, an Ernst spokeswoman.

Sen. Ernst agrees that there needs to be additional research over Agent Orange and the potential impact it might have on veterans and their family members, Hougesen wrote in an email.

In the House, the measure has been folded into a larger bill called the VA Construction and Lease Authorization, Health, and Benefits Enhancement Act, Porter said.

To build support for the bill, the VVA has been running a series of town hall-style symposiums across the country for the past eight years called Faces of Agent Orange.

These seminars offer a chance for veterans and their relatives to tell their own stories about suffering from diseases they believe stem from Agent Orange exposure. One was held in Des Moines in April and drew about 300 people. Another is planned for Aug. 12-13 in Omaha.

Some of these stories are very ugly, Nancy Switzer, co-chairwoman of the VVAs Toxic Exposure Committee, said during the Des Moines event. But we need to hear them.

Lisa Allison of Des Moines was born in 1976, seven years after her father, Bob Allison, returned home from Vietnam. She testified at the seminar that she suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare genetic defect of the connective tissues that many veterans suspect is triggered by exposure to Agent Orange. The disease, which is incurable, causes joints to be excessively loose, makes skin stretchy and fragile, and makes blood vessels thin and easily ruptured.

Its like being Gumby, but in a really, really bad way, Lisa Allison said. Ive dislocated every single joint that is possible to dislocate. My ribs slip out of place walking down the street.

Jim Biegger of Maxwell, Iowa, served in Vietnam with the Marines in 1967 and 68, and returned home with a severe rash on his back and chest. In 1970 he and his wife had a daughter who was born with an opening in her skull, a problem he attributes to his Agent Orange exposure. She had fluid on the brain and developed severe scoliosis. Her health problems continue, Biegger said.

Shes legally blind. Shes almost deaf, he said. If theres any kind of disability (pension), I would love for her to get it.

Since theres been little research into the second- and third-generation effects of Agent Orange, there is no proof so far that these birth defects are linked.

Dan Gannon, a Marine Corps veteran from Ankeny, Iowa, who serves on the states Commission of Veterans Affairs, helped moderate the Des Moines event.

An infantry platoon leader in Vietnam, he later fathered a daughter, Kelli, who became gravely ill from Type 1 diabetes when she was 14 months old. She died of hypoglycemia in 2010, at age 36. He himself survived Stage 4 prostate cancer in 2003. There was no family history.

In my opinion, it all came from my exposure to dioxin, Gannon said. Weve got to get these bills passed for our children down the road.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com
COUNCIL BLUFFS - Call it a "win-win" for families in need.

In June, the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Council Bluffs Fire Department will collect necessary household items, like cleaning supplies and hygienic products, for families helped by Boys Town Iowa.

Boys Town Iowa helps families in 30 western Iowa counties, but the contest between the police and fire departments, called the Boys Town Iowa Drive, will make life easier for Council Bluffs families, said Debbie Orduna, director of Iowa operations.

Each department has six collection boxes located throughout Council Bluffs at the police stations, fire department stations, local Hy-Vee grocery stores, Hy-Vee Drug Store and The Center (Council Bluffs' senior center) on South Main Street.

We feel very fortunate that the police and firefighters are helping our cause, Orduna said. They put their lives on the line everyday to ensure our safety, and they also have a true understanding of the importance to help families receive basic needs. We are very appreciative of the passion they have put behind this cause. Its just another way they go above and beyond.

Council Bluffs Fire Chief Justin James said Boys Town has helped him in a personal way by assisting a boy he knows.

I think (Boys Town Iowa) is trying to get into something that is missed right now. A lot of time these children are in very rough conditions, James said. The kids and their parents are living in poverty and they dont have any money to go out and buy cleaning supplies or hygiene products, so we are just trying to done those items so they can have a better and more successful home, a cleaner environment for the children.

I dont believe there is a charity out there that provides these necessities, he said. Theres nowhere else for them to go.

Council Bluffs Police Officer Jill Knotek said for many people items such as toothpaste and toilet paper are necessities, but for some needy families those items are luxuries.

A lot of families live in poverty and they have to decide how they are going to spend their money. They have to decide whether to spend it on transportation, items for their children or food. Oftentimes, there is not a lot of money left over."

On July 1, the donations will be weighed at a ceremony at the Boys Town Iowa office at 1851 Madison Ave. After the weigh-in, a winner will be crowned.

It makes it a little more fun, Knotek said. Its for bragging rights.

James joked that since the fire department traditionally comes out on top in competitions with the police department it isnt that big of deal. Of course, providing necessities to needy family is a big deal.

Our guys love kids and we see many families in terrible spots, James said. We want to do whatever we can to help.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb.  For 24 years, Jennifer Hardie-Fehrer has replayed over and over in her mind what little she remembers of a 1992 car accident near North Platte that almost killed her.

On March 30, she turned to social media for help in finding the man who helped save her life that day. By June 3, the post had been shared 1,800 times, with still no hint of her heros whereabouts. That all changed with a phone call Friday evening.

* * * * *

Jennifer shifted in the passenger seat of her sisters red Pontiac Grand Am. She opened her eyes and unbuckled her seat belt so she could take off a layer of clothing; it was hot in the car.

It was June 4, 1992, and the girls were on their way from Colorado to Iowa to stay at their fathers house. Jennifer was 12, eager to enjoy her summer break. She drifted off to sleep without rebuckling her seat belt.

Not wanting to wake Jennifer, her sister Trisha, 23, reached behind her for something to drink. She lost control of the car near the Interstate 80 mile marker 163, just west of Hershey.

I remember that it sounded like we were turning onto a gravel road, Jennifer said. I thought, Thats really strange. 

Jennifer opened her eyes, saw Trisha fighting with the steering wheel and heard a crash that she describes as the sound of 1,000 pots and pans being thrown off a building and hitting the pavement at once.

According to the accident report, the car rolled multiple times. It stopped in the median and Jennifer was ejected. She landed in the passing lane of eastbound I-80.

As she tumbled through the air, she saw flashes of green. When she landed, everything went black. The concrete was warm against her back; her arms were wet, but she didnt know why. She opened her eyes and screamed.

A man peered into the drivers side window of the Grand Am, and Trisha realized the passenger seat was empty. Then they heard Jennifer screaming for her mother. He told Trisha that help was on the way and that she needed to get out of the car. Then he ran to Jennifer.

Jennifer doesnt remember the mans face. Just the flashes of green, the warm pavement and waking up in the emergency room of what is now Great Plains Health in North Platte.

She had a compound fracture in her left femur. Hospital staff began sliding boards under her, Jennifer said, she assumes for X-rays. She remembers crying; everything hurt.

* * * * *

Back in Colorado, their mother, Jane Huff, had been notified of the accident. She planned to drive to North Platte, but her co-workers pooled resources and got her a plane ticket instead.

Before she left, she called the Nebraska State Patrol. She told them a man in a black Ford Mustang would be speeding west down the Interstate from Iowa. He was trying to get to his little girl.

If you have to pull him over, wait until hes in North Platte, Jane said to the officer on the other end.

Jennifers father, Bill Hardie, made it to the Iowa-Nebraska state line and was met by a Nebraska state patrolman. He turned on his lights and escorted Bill to North Platte.

* * * * *

The sounds of beeping machines and muffled voices surrounded Jennifers hospital bed. She heard her mother say, Thank God Chris was there. Jennifers brothers name was Chris, and she briefly wondered what he was doing in North Platte. She didnt know about the man who had saved her, who was also named Chris.

Jennifer was later flown to Childrens Hospital in Denver to undergo surgery. Recuperation was a long road, with some complications. She went home eventually, although shes not sure when.

Jennifer kept hearing about Chris and finally asked Jane whom she was talking about. Jane told her about the truck driver who saw the accident and stopped to help, the man who wasnt deterred by the pool of blood surrounding Jennifer.

Chris had helped keep her stable until she could be transported and called the hospital to find out how she was doing after the accident.

The family kept in touch with Chris as Jennifer healed. He visited once; Jennifer stared at the man in front of her, and she felt bad  she wanted to remember, but she couldnt.

Chris invited them to his wedding later that year.

I dont remember going to the wedding, Jennifer said. I remember the reception.

Chris introduced Jennifer and her family to the other guests. Several asked Jennifer to tell them about how Chris saved her life, but she didnt know what to say.

I remember thinking, He didnt save my life. Twelve-year-olds dont die, Jennifer said.

As she grew into adulthood, Jennifer often thought of Chris, but his last name had been forgotten. She tried searching for him but had no luck.

While his role in her life had been brief, it influenced her future. She said his heroism made her more concrete in her faith.

It also paved the way for my career, Jennifer said. She went to nursing school and works as a registered nurse in Chariton, Iowa.

On May 30, Jennifer and her friend, Gina Brown, put together a post on Facebook asking for help locating Chris.

I wanted to do a better job saying thank you than I was capable of at 12, Jennifer said.

A Telegraph reporter reached out to Jennifer and offered to help. After reading through archived newspapers, obtaining accident reports, sending countless emails and calling people from Colorado to Pennsylvania, Chris was located.

* * * * *

Chris Scaff never forgot Jennifer.

I remember it like it was yesterday, Chris said over the phone Friday evening.

Chris spent most of his life working as an EMT, a paramedic and a firefighter, and had been to thousands of calls. Just a few stick out in his mind.

Hers is one of them, he said.

He was an emergency medical technician at the time of the accident, but drove a truck part time to pay for additional education. Chris said he was westbound on I-80 that day when he saw Trishas car roll.

I remember seeing (Jennifer) land on the eastbound side of the Interstate, Chris said.

He pulled his truck into the median just as an old Ford pickup slammed on the brakes. It stopped a few feet from Jennifer.

Jen was bleeding out, Chris said.

He told the woman driving the pickup to get his medical kit out of his truck. He tried to stop the bleeding and eventually ran out of bandages, so he had the woman grab his favorite blanket.

Others stopped, but no one would help him.

I asked one guy to help me and he said, No way, Im not touching her, and left, Chris said.

He had other passers-by keep Trisha away from her sister, because he wasnt sure if Jennifer was going to make it. It felt like a decade passed before help arrived.

Jennifer asked him to ride in the ambulance with her, but he told her he couldnt. He promised hed follow her to the hospital, but authorities couldnt tell him where she was being taken because she was a minor.

Chris kept calling law enforcement, asking someone to pass a message along to the girls mother. Eventually, Jane called him back. He found out they were in Colorado a town about half an hour away from where he lived at the time.

I was able to find out how she was doing and give her a hug, Chris said.

He saw her one more time and lost touch. He assumed hed never hear from her again. In the years since the accident, Chris moved from Colorado to Indiana, where he owned a motorcycle dealership. In 2013, an ATV accident left him paralyzed. Confined to his hospital bed, he had time to think about all those calls, and his mind kept going back to Jennifer.

He moved to Loganton, Pennsylvania, to be closer to family during his recovery. He now teaches fire and EMS classes at the local fire department. He said hed been thinking about Jennifer lately as the anniversary of her accident approached. I didnt even know if she was still alive, Chris said. It was nearly 9 p.m. Friday when Jennifers phone rang. Did you find him? she asked the Telegraph reporter on the other end of the phone. She hadnt expected that anyone would track down the man shed been looking for; she figured the newspaper would just help her get the word out about her search. Seven minutes later, Jennifer hung up the phone. She had Chris Scaffs phone number and full name. She decided to call him on Saturday morning. Their first conversation in 24 years was a long one, full of tears and catching up. Speaking later, Chris said it wasnt at all awkward and Jennifer added that it was like reconnecting with an old friend. Jennifer told Chris that she thought he was a hero, but he denied it. He said he was doing his job and that it was God who saved her life. Im not a hero, honey, Chris said. I was just somebody doing what I was supposed to do. He told her that 24 years of wondering about her had taken a toll on him, and he felt a weight lifted from his chest when he found out she was alive and doing well. She told him shed wanted to say thank you for years. Its all good now, Chris said. Hearing your voice is more than enough of a thank you. The pair are trying to find a way to reunite in person, but for now phone calls make the 931-mile gap between them seem a little smaller. We will never lose touch again, I promise, Jennifer said. Correction: A headline on a previous version of this story misstated where Jennifer Hardie-Fehrer lives. She lives in Iowa.
Initiatives of MoEFCC to protect India's Environment

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

As the pollution level rises and people across the globe started facing the negative consequences of the pollution it became imperative that all the nations will have to work together to save our planet Earth as it is our only home.

India too has never lagged behind when it comes to fighting climate change. Today on the World Environment Day, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar launched an initiative where he shared a selfie with the sapling he planted today and also requested fellow Indians too plant saplings and click and share their selfies with the planted selfies.

The theme is "Plant a tree and create your own Oxygen Bank". The selfies are to be shared on wedselfie.nic.in.

To celebrate #WorldEnvironmentDay,I took selfie with my planted sapling,u too click&share on https://t.co/I4K1gCVNDg pic.twitter.com/B8mtcgpUTp  Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) June 4, 2016

This World Environment Day:

Each year World Environment Day is celebrated on the 5th of June since 1974. This is UN's most important day for creating worldwide awareness about our environment. Since 1974 it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.

Each World Environment Day is celebrated around a theme that focuses the attention of the people on a particularly pressing environmental concern. This year the theme is on the illegal trading of wild animals. The year's slogan is 'Go Wild for Life'. This theme is to encourage people to think about all the species of animals which are under the threat and people are to take action to help safeguard the wild animals for the future generations.

People can work to protect animals or plants that are threatened within their local area as well as at national or global level. People must know that when animals or plants become extinct at local level it adds to the species getting extinct at global level. On this World Environment Day the UN has urged people that whoever you are, and wherever you live, show zero tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife in word and deed and make a difference.

Initiatives of India for protecting environment:

During two years as Minister of State for Environment Mr. Javadekar has undertaken various initiatives to ensure that India moves fast on the path of development but in a very responsible manner.

Here are some of the initiatives of his ministry:

1. Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 2015 with an aim to provide an appropriate institutional mechanism both at the Centre and in each State and Union Territory to ensure expeditious utilisation in efficient and transparent manner of amounts realised in lieu of forest land diverted for non-forest purpose.

2. e-Green Watch was developed as an integrated and online system that is completely transparent, reliable and accountable. It presents the data regarding Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds in real time and is accessible to all stakeholders and public at large. It allows for monitoring, evaluation, social and ecological audits by independent organisations, researchers and the public.

3. The National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) aims at preventing pollution of rivers and improving water quality. Users can access information on specific action plans for various rivers, details of sewage treatment plants, water quality monitoring and implementing agencies.

4. The Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management (CBIPM) project helps the Government of India to build capacity at the state and central level, and develop a framework to address these issues in a comprehensive and systemic manner under an area-wide management approach. The project is aligned with the endeavour of the GoI to establish a National Program for Rehabilitation of Polluted Sites (NPRPS) as a framework for scaling up the clean-up and rehabilitation of polluted sites and facilitate the reduction of environmental and health risks associated with legacy polluted sites.

5. The National Green Tribunal provides speedy environmental justice and helps reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts. The Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals finally within six months of filing of the same.

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Story first published: Sunday, June 5, 2016, 12:59 [IST]
DGP visits house of rape victim

India

oi-PTI

Kochi, Jun 5: Newly appointed Kerala Police chief Loknath Behera today visited the house of the 30-year-old Dalit woman, who was raped and murdered near Perumabavoor in Ernakulam district more than a month ago.

Behera, who visited the house of the law student, said a scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits involved in the crime. "We are doing the investigation. Investigation is not like magic. A scientific probe has been launched to nab the culprits," he told reporters in Perumbavoor.

Noting that the probe into the sensational case was progressing well, he said it might take some time to nab the criminals. Facing flak over the delay in arresting the people involved in the crime, Behera said in some cases arrests can be made in 24 hours but in some cases it may take at least a year to arrest the culprits.

The DGP also met the victim's mother who is admitted in a Government Taluk Hospital in Perumbavoor. He also held a meeting with the recently constituted investigation team headed by ADGP B Sandhya and other officers at the Aluva Police club.

The LDF government in one of its first decisions appointed senior woman IPS officer Sandhya as the head of a new team to probe the case. The Kerala High Court had last week rejected the plea for a CBI probe into the case noting that a new Special Investigation Team had been set up in the case.

The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was allegedly raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house on April 28.

The murder was in focus during the Assembly polls campaign with political parties attacking the then UDF regime for "tardy" progress in the investigation and failure to nab the culprits.

PTI
DRG Constable injured in naxal attack

India

oi-PTI

Raipur, June 5: A District Reserve Group jawan was injured today when Maoists attacked his patrolling team in Chhattisgarh's naxal-affected Kodagaon district, police said.

DRG Constable Danchu Salam was injured when naxals attacked a joint team of Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts DRG, who were patrolling in Gardapal village area, they said.

The naxals fled the spot when the team retaliated.

More police personnel have been rushed to the spot and the injured jawan has been evacuated, a senior official said, adding that the injured jawan has been admitted to a hospital in Raipur. Combing operation has been launched to arrest the naxals, they added.

PTI
HC stays ban on DJB employees' kin taking part in tenders

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 5: The Delhi High Court has stayed the operation of a provision in the rules for enlistment of contractors in Delhi Jal Board (DJB) that puts a "blanket ban" on participation in tenders by relatives of the employees of the civic body.

Justice Manmohan issued the interim direction on the plea of a man whose father is an assistant engineer in DJB.

The court also sought response of the civic body on the issue raised by the petitioner, a contractor. As per the petition, the provision which imposes the blanket ban was introduced by way of an amendment in March 2015.

Prior to amendment, there was a prohibition on relatives of DJB employees participating in tenders, but it was limited to those "circles/divisions/departments where such near/close relative of a contractor was employed", the petition by Madhav Goel said.

He claimed that this is the practice followed by other government bodies. "Amended clause has introduced a blanket ban and it prohibits all contractors whose close family members are employed in DJB from participating in any tender process by any circle/division thereby, rendering all such contractors ineligible to work," the petition filed through advocate Sudhir Naagar said.

PTI
Jat quota stir begins on tepid note amid tight security

India

oi-PTI

Chandigarh, Jun 5: Three months after their violent agitation left 30 dead, Jat leaders today renewed their quota stir in Haryana which was restricted to small meetings in 15 districts amid tight security by the BJP government which had drawn flak over its handling of the protest last time.

"It has been peaceful so far," Haryana's Additional Director General Police (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil said as nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.

Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a 'havan' as they started the second round of the agitation on a tepid note with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which gave the call for the protest, pitched a tent along the Rohtak-Panipat highway just outside Jassia and also held dharnas in 15 of the state's 21 districts. The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.

Explained: All about Jat crisis in Haryana

The agitation this time was restricted to so called 'Jat belt' comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind.

"There are small groups of protesters mainly in the rural areas. At some places, the protesters handed over memorandums to district authorities," an official said. Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in these districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.

A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, the state DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.

AIJASS Hisar president Rambhagat Malik said, "We are committed to holding dharnas in a peaceful manner." After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi and other neighbouring states too, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.

However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir. In Hisar, members of the Jat community started an indefinite dharna at a stadium in village Mayyar away from railway tracks and national highway, police said.

Addressing the protesters, Jat leaders accused the Haryana government of not being serious towards their demand for reservation. The Jat leaders said in case the government did not respond to their demands in a positive manner, they would be left with no other option but to take to the streets.

"The dharnas have been peaceful. People have the right to put forth their views in a democratic set up but it should be within the ambit of law," state Agricultural Minister O P Dhankar said. "We had fulfilled their demand but it was challenged in court. The state government is doing the needful," he said.

PTI
Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution

Kejriwal speaks to family of slain SHO

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 5: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, June 5 spoke to the family of Station Officer Santosh Yadav, who was killed in the clashes in Mathura, and conveyed his condolences.

"The Delhi Chief Minister talked to the brother of Yadav over phone and conveyed his condolences. The CM also offered help to the Yadav family," said a senior Delhi Government official.

He said the Chief Minister could not talk to the wife of Yadav as she is still in a state of shock over her husband's death.

Yadav was a Station Officer (SO) at Farah Police station in Mathura Yesterday, Kejriwal had spoken to the family of slain Mathura Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukul Dwivedi who was also killed in the clashes that claimed 27 lives.

PTI
Madrasas along Bangladesh border breeding ground of anti-national activities: Bengal BJP

India

oi-PTI

Kolkata, Jun 5: The BJP in West Bengal has demanded immediate sealing of the Indo-Bangla border, claiming madrasas operating along it are a breeding ground of terrorism and anti-national activities in the country.

"We all know that these madrasas in bordering areas are breeding ground of anti-national elements. These madrasas get funds from foreign countries. These madrasas are creating a chain, which is making the Indo-Bangla border vulnerable to anti-national activities, illegal cattle trade and smuggling," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claimed.

Seeking to justify his claim, he referred to a purported statement of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya that a section of madrasas in border areas were functioning as breeding ground of fundamentalism.

"Few years ago, the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said that madrasas in bordering areas of West Bengal are breeding grounds of fundamentalism. But later on he had retracted his statement due to pressure from his party. But you can't take a chief minister's comment lightly. Whatever he had said was on the basis of reports of IB and police," Ghosh claimed.

He said the porous border that West Bengal shares with Bangladesh is a threat to national security.

"Infiltration has stopped in northern and western part of India where it shares border with Pakistan. But infiltration from this side of Indo-Bangla border is still on. Whenever there has been a terror attack or blast, during investigation some of the clues have led to Bengal and its bordering areas. The anti-national and anti-social elements are using this route to enter India," Ghosh told PTI.

"Why isn't the state government, like the newly-elected government in Assam taking up the matter of sealing the Indo- Bangla border in Bengal," said the 52-year-old MLA, who won the recent assembly elections from Kharagpur Sadar constituency in West Midnapore district.

The firebrand leader, who was inducted from RSS into the state BJP in early 2015, became the state president in December.

"We will fight against these bordering madrasas. Politically also we will inform the people about the anti- national activities going there. We will raise this issue in the state assembly and will also ask the state government to take action against these madrasas which are helping anti- national elements," he said.

Ghosh, who time and again has courted controversies for his comments, claimed anti-national elements have chosen JNU, Jadavpur University and Hyderabad University to flare up anti-national sentiments across the country.

"These three universities have the same character - you will see anti-national slogans are being raised, slogans shouted in favour of Afzal Guru. You won't find any controversy in other universities...

"We won't allow such activities in university campus which is against the culture and heritage of our country. These are nothing but indecency and shameless act," he said.

The BJP, which had lost some steam after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, put up a spirited show in the West Bengal Assembly elections this time and played spoilsport for the opposition Left Front-Congress alliance in more than 70 seats.

Although BJP's vote share in West Bengal dipped since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from 17.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent in the recently concluded Assembly polls, yet for the first time the party won three seats fighting on its own in the state.

Earlier, BJP had won twice in by-polls and had polled around 4.06 per cent votes in 2011. In this assembly polls, BJP garnered around 56 lakh votes, up from 19.5 lakh in 2011, and polled more than 10,000 votes in 262 out of 294 Assembly segments.

Ghosh said BJP will oppose anti-people policies of the TMC government and will emerge as the main opposition in the days to come. Apart from Ghosh, who defeated veteran Congress leader Gyan Singh Sohanpal, BJP won Malda's Baishnabnagar seat and Madarihat seat in North Bengal.

"In 2014, we had secured 17 per cent votes because of the Narendra Modi wave across the country. We didn't have any organisational base in Bengal. This time there was no such wave. What we have got is because of the organisational strength of our party," he said.

PTI
Subramanian Swamy my "hero", believe his word on Ram temple: Bharti

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 5: Once the fiery mascot of the Ram temple movement, Union Minister Uma Bharti wants a resolution to the lingering dispute through dialogue even as she hails controversial BJP MP Subramanian Swamy as her "hero", saying she believes his words that work on the temple in Ayodhya will start by the end of this year.

Bharti ruled herself out as a possible chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but voiced confidence that BJP will be able to form its government in the key Hindi heartland state with Amit Shah at the helm of the party.

On the issue of Ram temple construction and Swamy's remarks that the work on it will start this year, Bharti told PTI in an interview, "I respect Swamy very much. He is my hero. I was 15-16 years old when Emergency was imposed and Dr Swamy, George Fernandes were my heroes. For me he is a heroic figure. So whatever he says, I will believe that."

The remarks by BJP's yesteryear Hindutva mascot comes at a time when the party leadership is skirting questions on Ram temple and repeatedly insisting that development will be the party's poll plank in UP as it seeks to wrest the politically important state from Samajwadi Party.

Speaking at an event in Mumbai in April, Swamy had claimed that work to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya would begin by this year-end. He had expressed confidence that next year Hindus would celebrate Ram Navami at the Ram temple.

"The issue in the Ram temple movement was whether it was the birthplace of Lord Rama or not. The three-judge bench of Allahabad HC said one thing undisputedly that the dome in the middle is of Ramlala. The Ram temple movement got legal sanction with that declaration.

"Now the dispute that remains is the dispute of land. There is no dispute now on whether it is Ram Janmabhoomi or not. Movements are not needed to resolve land disputes. It has to be resolved either through a dialogue or a legislation. I feel that the most beautiful solution to Ram janmabhoomi issue can be found through dialogue," she said.

Bharti suggested that parties to the dispute should sit together and saints and religious leaders of both sides facilitate dialogue between the two communities and tell the court they have resolved the issue.

"And a magnificent temple is built there. I am very proud that I took part in the movement, which has also got the stamp of the court that I was right," she said, referring to the Allahabad High Court judgement.

In September 2010, a three-judge bench of Allahbad High Court, comprising Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma had ruled that the disputed land be split into three parts.

The court had said that the portion below the central dome under which the idols of Lord Ram and other Gods were placed, belonged to Hindus.

Lauding BJP chief Amit Shah's organisational skills, Bharti said, "This time we have a leader who functions properly, does not come under pressure from anybody. The magic mantra for Uttar Pradesh is that you decide without coming under pressure and with an independent mind.

"Our national president takes decisions with an independent mind, takes focused decisions, works very hard himself and makes others also work hard, has no place for sycophancy," she said.

When asked if BJP should declare a chief ministerial candidate for UP polls, she referred to assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana where the party won without announcing a CM nominee and Assam where it named Sarbananda Sonowal for the top job, saying,"Whatever decision Amit Shah takes will be right. We will work hard."

Replying to a query about whether she was in contention for CM's post, Bharti said, "I have not even remotest interest in it. I have no interest even in talking on this issue. It's an unrelated subject for me. I am not concerned with any other subject than Ganga water. I am not ready to discuss it."

The Union Minister expressed confidence that BJP will get a majority in UP this time as it had got in 1991. BJP had then won 221 of state's 425 seats.

"We will form government with a clear majority as we had in 1991. A similar situation prevails in Uttar Pradesh even today, people are suffering due to insecurity, corruption and the rising crime graph. See what happened in Mathura, people have dared to kill a Superintendent of Police.

"Mathura incident is very serious. If you go into the nitty-gritty of the incident... who gave political protection to the 2,000-odd people who stayed there for these many days? Can 2,000 people encroach upon the land without the ruling party's protection? Were those people so dangerous that the entire UP government could not tackle them? This shows how poor the administration under this government is," she said.

PTI
Fashion and fitness influencer Anjali Kapoor gets nostalgic while sharing her memories of yoga

Some countries want to patent Yoga, but it belongs to India: RSS chief

Top yoga institutions hold training programmes for International Yoga Day

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 5: Eminent yoga institutions are conducting training programmes for trainers from central government offices across the country to ensure the success of the second International Yoga Day on June 21.

"The celebration of International Day of Yoga would involve a very elaborate training programme on common yoga protocol for mass yoga performance as well as discourses, lectures and talks by eminent yoga experts.

"Various reputed and eminent yoga institutions have agreed to support the efforts of the government by providing training to trainers and other expert advice in celebration of International Day of Yoga, 2016," a letter issued to all secretaries of central government ministries said.

The secretaries have been asked to "issue necessary instructions to all officers" of their ministries, departments, attached and subordinate offices located in different parts of the country to prepare a detailed action plan for celebrating the International Yoga Day.

Most departments have sent the action plans to Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) in this regard, a senior government official said.

He said the participation of employees in yoga day celebrations is voluntary and they have been asked to follow the common yoga protocols in case they plan to attend it.

"The government of India has decided to take forward the momentum created by International Day of Yoga, 2015 with greater and more active participation of youth during the current year celebrations. "The main programme would be the mass yoga demonstrations from 7 AM to 8 AM by following the common yoga protocol at the state, district, block and panchayat levels," the letter reads.

All ministries have also been asked to organise events like yoga fests, seminars, workshops and musical and cultural programmes based on yoga.

There are nearly 50 lakh central government employees working across the country. In a first, India has decided to give tourist visa and e-tourist visa to foreigners willing to undergo short term course in yoga in its bid to popularise the ancient discipline for physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing globally.

PTI
Bahrain jailbreak sparks manhunt

International

oi-PTI

Dubai, June 5: Bahraini security forces on Sunday, June 5 captured 11 inmates who broke out of jail, leaving six others still on the run a day after their escape, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said a total of 17 prisoners had broken out of Al-Hadd jail near the dry dock on the island of Muharraq, east of the capital Manama, late on Friday. Apart from 11 escapees, five accomplices were also arrested, it said, and a search was still under way for six other inmates aged 20 and 21.

There was no immediate word on whether the prisoners were common criminals or political activists jailed in a sweeping five-year-old crackdown on dissent among the kingdom's Shiite majority. Bahrain's Akhbar Al-Khaleej newspaper had said earlier that around 20 prisoners escaped.

"They managed to seize a bus and get away after assaulting warders and police and wounding several of them," the paper said. Police set up roadblocks on the causeways linking Muharraq to Bahrain's main island, where Manama is located, the paper added.

The tiny but strategic Gulf state has been shaken by unrest since its Sunni minority rulers crushed a month-long, Shiite-led uprising demanding reforms in 2011.

Despite the crackdown, protesters still frequently clash with police in Shiite villages outside the capital. The kingdom, which is connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway, lies across the Gulf from Shiite Iran and is home to the US Fifth Fleet.

PTI
PM Modi to interact with participants of Smart India Hackathon finale on August 25: MoE

IT industry veteran appeals to PM for a 'corruption-free' Karnataka

Thailand: PM Prayuth can stay in office, court says

UK PM Liz Truss resigns after 45 days in office, successor to be elected next week

Modi in Qatar: PM Meets business leaders in Doha

International

oi-Jagriti

Doha, June 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met with the Qatari business leaders on second day of his visit to the nation.

PM Modi landed in Doha on Saturday from Afghanistan where he was received by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

During the addressed he praised the trole of Emir of Qatar in promoting India Qatar business ties

Qatar is the second stop of PM Modi on his five-nation tour. He met Indian workers and shared meals with them at a medical camp in Doha on Saturday night.

He also held meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani on Saturday, who also hosted a banquet in his honour.

Qatar is India's largest supplier of LNG requirements, accounting for 65 per cent of the country's total imports last financial year.

Business First. For first engagement of the day, PM attends roundtable meeting with Qatari Business Leaders pic.twitter.com/DOhpXGn8ZE  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

Qatar's Minister of Trade & Economy welcomes PM @narendramodi, seeks more intensive eco engagement with India pic.twitter.com/0LQ4btZOwc  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

PM @narendramodi addresses business leaders. Praises role of Emir of Qatar in promoting India Qatar business ties pic.twitter.com/zLAvaazfzx  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 5, 2016

OneIndia News
UK launches global hunt for Indian-origin child rapist

International

oi-PTI

London, Jun 5: An international hunt has been launched for an Indian-origin man found guilty of repeatedly raping a six-year-old child in the UK.

Paedophile Vijesh Kooriyil fled to India earlier this week, just a day before his trial was due to commence in Oxford on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old business manager boarded a plane to Delhi on Monday night and was unanimously convicted of two rapes and sentenced in absentia to an extended prison term of 18 years at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, 'Daily Mirror' reported.

Kooriyil, who hails from Kerala, had been charged with repeatedly raping the boy after trapping him in his bedroom in Oxford in 2010 and 2011. He had been permitted to keep his passport under his bail conditions, which were unconditional because he had no previous cautions or convictions.

"Vijesh Kooriyil deployed the all too familiar ways of gaining a child's trust. He would often call the boy to come and play with him. Some of those games were innocent enough, but others took place in the defendant's bedroom," Judge Peter Ross said during sentencing.

"It was there, having secured the door with string and a nail, that the defendant began to rape a six-year-old, then-seven-year-old boy," he added. Now a global manhunt is under way for the child rapist from Eastbourne in East Sussex county of England to be brought back to the UK.

Man held for raping minor in day care centre

Kooriyil had come to UK from India as a student and was living in Oxford when he carried out the abuse. Prosecutor David Smith told the court the crimes only came to light after the boy started learning about sex at school and realised what had happened to him.

"He started to feel ashamed about what had happened to him, it made him feel angry and confused. He is very suspicious, not with children, but with adults. He cannot understand why he did such a thing to him," he said.

Kooriyil was summoned by post to attend Oxford Crown Court for trial and attended on November 13 last year to deny both charges. But he failed to turn up on Tuesday, having 'misled his solicitors' and fled the country, before the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Allister Tavner said the police were working with other authorities to bring Kooriyil back to the UK to face justice.

"Kooriyil has been found guilty and sentenced for some extremely serious offences, we are working very closely with the CPS and other authorities in order to locate him," he said. "This is in the very early stages but every power available will be used to return him to the UK to serve his sentence," he added.

PTI
'Ram Setu' movie review: Here's what audience say about Akshay-starrer

'Thank God' movie review: Check what audience say about Devgn-starrer

Mumbai: Two men get 6-month imprisonment for manhandling traffic cop

Rupee gains 26 paise to 82.62 against US dollar in early trade

At least 17 dead in Mumbai-Pune expressway accident

Mumbai

oi-Shalini

Mumbai, June 5: At least 17 persons were killed in a ghastly road accident involving a bus and two private vehicles on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Panvel on Sunday, officials said.

According to State Highway Control, the accident occurred near Shendug curve on the Pune-Mumbai arm of the E-Way around 4.00 a.m.

Due to the impact of the collision, one of the private cars was thrown into a 40-feet deep ditch.

Among the victims are seven women and one child.

Four of the injured victims were rushed to hospitals in Panvel.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)
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by  Graham Pierrepoint



It has been a week in which one of Hollywoods biggest stars has been gracing world headlines for all the wrong reasons  Johnny Depp, who recently starred in Disney sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, is facing accusations that he assaulted his wife, actor Amber Heard, who is also in the process of divorcing the star  and with alleged evidence being brought forward to solidify her claim, it seems unlikely that this will be a story that will disappear from the headlines any time soon. While it has yet to be proven whether or not the accusations are true  and Depp has a number of people at his defence  the charitable organisation Womens Aid has advised that certain action needs to be taken regarding the actors position with Dior should the allegations be justified.

According to The Guardian, following the granting of a restraining order to Heard to prevent Depp from contacting her, a spokesperson for Womens Aid spoke to the newspaper to advise that they hoped suitable action would be taken on behalf of the fashion house should the accusations against Depp be proven to be true. The source stated that a strong message needed to be delivered to show that domestic abuse will not be condoned or tolerated  suggesting that Depp be dropped as the face of Diors Sauvage product range. Dior have yet to comment on the matter, but it may be reasonable expect the fashion house to make a full statement once claims against Depp are handled via law in due course.

Lawyers representing Amber Heard claim that Depp had inflicted violence upon his wife of over a year on two separate occasions within the past six months, with Heard claiming that she had been subjected to physical, verbal and emotional violence. Depps representation states that the actor is denying such claims, meaning that the case could be set to become a lengthy and potentially public affair  certainly if the mass media continues to take interest.

Depps future as the face of Sauvage may hang in the balance in the meantime until a statement is procured from Dior, but this will likely to continue to be a rather public case for all parties involved. Until the merits of the case are proven either way, however, members of the press and followers of Depps career may have to wait on tenterhooks in the meantime.
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Mediatech to Integrate Endorphina Content

Published June 5, 2016 by Mike P

A June deal means that Mediatech casino users will get to play Endorphina slots from now and into the future.

Mediatech Solutions has completed a deal that will see the igaming platform provider integrate new content from software developer Endorphina. Both parties announced the deal on 2 June, with a view to deploying the content from this point on.

At present, Mediatechs groundbreaking IRIS platform of more than 1,500 games will expand even further when the Czech-based Endorphina adds its content the collection. In 2016, players at Mediatech sites will have an even larger gaming selection than before.

G2E Asia 2016

The deal came about when key personnel from Mediatech met with their Endorphina counterparts at the 2016 G2E Asia conference, which was hosted in Macau, China. Mediatech Solutions executive director Daniel Graetzer said the company was extremely impressed with the content it had seen from Endorphina so far.

For Endorphina, the deal was extra special because secured at the developers very first time presenting its games in Asia. By committing to HD design standards, the developer found that many attendees  not just Mediatech  were interested in the content.

Endorphinas Creative Drive

Endorphina currently specialises in the creation of online slot games for casino sites. Thus far, the developer has explored numerous different themes to bring players a wide selection of options. Titles like The Ninja, The Vikings, Stone Age, Ice Pirates, Fairytale, and Geisha are pretty clear in what they can offer players.

Beyond those games, Endorphina has displayed creative ambition in its production of Jetsetter to celebrate the five-star travelling lifestyle, Minotaurus to explore the myths of ancient Greece, and the genre-defying Satoshis Secret, which was made as the worlds first Bitcoin slot when it launched in 2015.

Fundamentally, Bitcoin plays a wider in Endorphina slots, as the developer has contributed its slots to multiple Bitcoin casinos. In addition to wagering with the cryptocurrency, players can also access the slots by using their favourite smartphones and tablets.
Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appeared on "This Week with George Stephanopolous" this morning to discuss the presumptive Republican nominee for president's positions on foreign relations. Senator Corker admitted that he would not support Mr. Trump's ban on Muslim's into this country. He also said with regard to having Mexico pay for a wall between our two countries: that while he believed the increased security of our borders has long been an issue, how that would actually come about is something Congress would debate. So, apparently in the face of the Senator's less than wholehearted support of some of the nominee's main foreign policy statements, Mr. Stephanopolous asked Senator Corker which ones he is actually enthusiastic about.

Without getting specific, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee proceeded to use the word "maturity" no less than three times to describe what he says Donald Trump is bringing to the United States' foreign relations establishment.





It looks like the Republican strategy for accommodating the sheer outrageousness of Mr. Trump has become "The Big Lie": that age-old method of- if you repeat something enough times, no matter how preposterous it is, people will eventually come to believe it is true:





Please go 8:50 into the video for Senator Bob Corker's extolling of Donald Trump's "maturity":









(Article changed on June 5, 2016 at 14:15)

(Article changed on June 5, 2016 at 14:30)


(Image by John D Rachel) Details DMCA





Most people don't like to talk politics. Many simply refuse to talk politics, fearing a possibly acrimonious argument, or having to endure what they would view as an assault on their dearly-held unassailable beliefs.

On the other hand, it seems to me that Americans love to complain and quite freely carry on about personal problems, things which annoy them or thwart their pursuit of a decent life.

Now consider this . . .

Just as all politics are local, all politics are personal.

That is, what happens in the remote, unfathomable corridors of power affects people every day of their lives on a very personal level.

Cut Social Security and Medicare, grandma must choose between medications and buying nutritious plum pudding.

Keep the minimum wage low, both parents have to work two or three jobs and there's no one home to watch the kids. Families disintegrate.



Keep the country at war, there's no money to fix to potholes which rattle the car when you drive to the funeral for your son or daughter who got sent back from the battlefield in a body bag.

You get the point.

There's no reason to "talk politics" per se with people. There is very good reason to talk about problems we're all to one degree or another victims of -- specifically the problems which are NOT BEING REMEDIED by our elected representatives. These are personal problems which happen to be the direct consequences of political action and inaction on the part of these elected officials. There is no need to argue politics here. We are all just human beings facing often unnecessary trials and challenges. We're all in this together.



I promised in the previous article in this series, I would suggest what to say after "Would you like a cupcake?" or "Nice weather we're having today."



I can't dictate specific sentences. There's no set-in-stone script for this. I can offer general guidelines and the overall direction such conversations should take.

First off, what to avoid: There should be no reference to ideologies or ideological leanings or loyalties -- conservative, liberal, socialist, libertarian -- nor any discussion or mention of political parties. Period!

The labels don't matter. We live in the same community. We're all Americans.

Second: Stay away from generalities. "All politicians are crooks." Like Abraham Lincoln? "I believe in America and the Constitution." So what? "Our congressman is a good man." He probably is, but he is still not doing his job. "My family has always voted Democrat." Right. And there are people who always eat ice cream for breakfast. That doesn't mean it's a very smart thing to do.

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Reprinted from Capitol Hill Blue

Since his unpredictable rise to the top of the once-crowded field of Republican Presidential wannabes, those who shake their head in despair have frequently predicted his political demise, buried under the collapsing house of cards that illustrates his carefully crafted "brand."

Each prediction, to date, has proved wrong as gullible Trumpites flock around in the latest celebrity-driven orgy of greed and lust.

But Trump's pursuit of a Presidency he neither deserves or should achieve is coming apart as more and more details of his questionable business antics and fraudulent activities emerge.

Disclosures this week of the flagrant drive to bury people who can't afford it into thousands of dollars in debt through his illegal, immoral and outright con called Trump University show Trump, the flashy "billionaire" may be a man who is barely hanging on in a con game of a debt-ridden, failed businessman who is one-step away from losing it all.

Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, says the past week alone shows Trump is a desperate man who is trying to manipulate his presidential run into a last-gap for financial survival.

Some people who have real money have been whispering for months that Trump is nowhere as rich as he claims and is debt up to his ass, paying overdue bills with money raised in fraudulent schemes like "Trump University" and by turning a run for President into an endless "infomercial" to hawk his "brand" by even using campaign press conferences to promote his wine, his steaks, water and even playing cards.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, described by Drezner as "a real billionaire," told WABC radio in New York this week that he doubts Trump is worth anywhere near what he claims and may not even be a billionaire. Cuban is not alone. Forbes Magazine, which keeps track of who earns what among the high-dollar types, puts Trump's net worth far below what he claims.

Cuban says Trump's branding stunts is "more a reflection of desperation" by a bad businessman in need of money fast.

"I asked, 'What the hell are you doing?' Are you that desperate for money?'" Cuban said.

In close examination of Trump's filings with the FEC, Cuban said:

"Before all the Trumpians jump on me on who has more money, the reason I know is when you file your federal election campaign reports, you have to list all your cash and liquid securities and bonds. You have to list them one by one. So we know without any question that as of May 27, Donald doesn't have more than $165 million in cash and securities and bonds. I've got a lot of more than that in cash, securities, and bonds, And so you know, I'm willing to bet dimes against dollars that that's pretty much what he's got."

Drezner suggests Trump is failing in so many areas of his business "empire" that he has turned to running for President as a last gasp.

"Yes, it is sad. Trump is using his presidential campaign to try to counteract reversals he might be suffering in the business world," Drezner wrote Thursday in The Washington Post. "But anyone who thinks that Trump would not use the vast powers of the presidency to advance his own business interests is delusional. Trump's behavior over the past few days raises a disturbing scenario; that he intends to use the power of the presidency to arrest any slide in his business enterprises."

He concludes his observations with:
Reprinted from WSWS





With the US primary campaigns drawing to a close, the two parties of the US ruling elite, Democrats and Republicans, are preparing to nominate candidates who may be subject to criminal indictment between now and the general election.

The Republicans have as their presumptive nominee Donald Trump, a man who made his billions through various scams and insider dealings. US newspapers have been filled this week with details of the fraudulent methods he employed to enhance his fortune. Court documents in the lawsuit joined by numerous former students at Trump University allege that the supposed training in real estate provided by the school was a fiction.

It was a fraud on two levels. At an enormous price, up to $35,000 for the "Gold Elite" program, students were told little more than "buy low" and "sell high." As many as 5,000 students paid a total of $40 million for the worthless instructions, most of which could be obtained, according to press accounts, through a simple Internet search.

As for the claim that Trump would be personally involved in sharing his supposed real estate expertise, with instructors who "are handpicked by me," the documents show that Trump played no role in the "education" program except allowing his name and face to be used to promote the venture, and then cashing the checks -- his cut of loot was at least $5 million.

New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman, appearing on two television interview programs Thursday morning, said, "We have laws against running an illegal, unlicensed university. This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization." He added, "It was really a fraud from beginning to end."

While Trump U. accounts for only a small fraction of the real estate mogul's personal wealth, the methods used were representative of his "business model" as a whole, and for that matter, of his presidential campaign, which has been focused largely on appealing to increasingly desperate sections of workers and the lower middle class, offering Trump's billionaire persona as the solution to deepening economic afflictions.

There is something extraordinary in the fact that one of the principal parties of the ruling class is preparing to choose an individual like Trump as its presidential candidate. Despite the initial hypocritical criticisms of his vulgar and racist pronouncements, nearly all Republican Party leaders have now reconciled themselves with Trump, culminating in Thursday's statement by House Speaker Paul Ryan that he will support his candidacy.

This can only explained in relation to broader social tendencies that have produced an immense degradation of American politics. Trump personifies the descent of corporate America into every more brazen methods of speculation, swindling and outright theft, which culminated in the economic crash of 2008. Over the past 40 years, the operations of the American ruling class have taken on an ever more parasitic character, with a mass of financial operations covering over a long-term industrial decline.

On the Democratic Party side, Hillary Clinton is currently under investigation for conducting all her government communications while Secretary of State on a private email server, an arrangement clearly intended to keep her correspondence under her control, regardless of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Later this summer she is expected to be interviewed by the FBI, which could lead to criminal charges over the mishandling of classified materials or perjury.

Clinton represents a more polished version of the same social processes that have created Trump. Bill and Hillary Clinton have accumulated a personal fortune topping $150 million by serving as speechmakers to corporate audiences, backed by their "fundraising" work at the Clinton Foundation, which connects corporate donors and charitable organizations in return for lucrative fees.

The foundation has become the center of a web of international influence-peddling that keeps the Clintons in front of their real constituency, the world's billionaires, making them fabulously wealthy in the process.

Clinton is also more directly associated with the crimes of the state and the military-intelligence apparatus. The criminalization of the American financial aristocracy has found its reflection in foreign policy -- in the casting aside of all legality and the adoption of torture, assassination and "preemptive war" as principal means for asserting the interests of the ruling class abroad.

It is significant that as the viability of her candidacy is being called into question as a result of the continued successes of her rival, Bernie Sanders, Clinton decided to focus a major speech in San Diego California on a critique of Trump's foreign policy views. Clinton made her pitch to the military, based on the argument that she, and not Trump (or Sanders, or some other candidate) would be the most effective "commander-in-chief" of US imperialism.

Clinton focused her speech on the decision by President Obama and his top military and foreign policy advisers, including Clinton herself, to authorize the Navy Seal Team 6 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. She made no reference to the foreign policy debacle with which she is most closely identified, the US-NATO bombing of Libya, although it "accomplished" the same end. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was murdered in his home town of Sirte by US-backed rebels, an event that Clinton celebrated at the time with the infamous wisecrack, "We came, we saw, he died," touching off gales of laughter among her claque of traveling aides.








Three excellent examples of letters to Mr. Bharara, the first from a lady whose has profound insights into larger questions of Foreign Policy, particularly regarding Israel, as well as having great energy to contact editorial page editors to publish this letter, which takes only a few seconds. If the press continues to pretend to not comprehend or to not evaluate what we are asking for as "newsworthy," the readers of the editorial pages in NY will have no problems comprehending this loud and clear, when letters like this are published widely across NY. Editors don't publish "open letters," however, so your submissions should quote your own letter in part, then drive the larger central points home. All of the newspapers in the US are listed by state at USNPL.com, and the contacts are quickly and easily made. We will publish more as they come to me by email: stephen@santafefineart.com

The Honorable Preet Bharara

US Attorney's Office

1 St. Andrews Plaza New York, NY 10007

Dear Mr. Bharara:

Many of us are incensed at blatant "irregularities" in the NY State presidential primary, that news media euphemism for outright fraud and theft of votes. The disenfranchisement of some 200,000+ voters is not a trivial offense. It means that someone or some group has stolen a pivotal election, and it must not stand if we are to retain faith in our Democratic system.

Please go to Federal Court for an order to redo the entire NY Primary based on civil rights violations. Please ask that they decertify prior results as bogus. Such a request should be entirely sought as appropriate relief, based on Federal Civil Rights and Election law violations.

The criminality and related indictments can be determined later. You could first ask for a de-certification ruling from the Federal Court. After all, 200,000+, and perhaps as many as 350,000 were denied their right to vote.

We look forward to your response on this, especially given your long line of Wall Street convictions, plus that of Sheldon Silver and the Speaker of the Assembly.

We can try to discern what part different parties played in this action later, along with the appropriate assessments of criminality and the subsequent indictments.

The important thing is to redo that election and bring justice to the democratic process. Thank you for your much needed help in resolving this travesty of justice.

Marcia Slatkin

Rhinebeck, New York

>>>>

June 4, 2016

The Honorable Preet Bharara

United States Attorney's Office

1 St. Andrew's Plaza

New York City, NY 10007

Dear Mr. Bharara:

I am writing to ask you to file a request in Federal Court for an order to redo the New York primary, based strictly on the civil rights violations. These 200,000+ disenfranchisements are very strong grounds for granting this relief, starting with a federal order for the decertification of the prior results as bogus.

I am a mathematical analyst with experience dating to the time of the proposal to certify electronic voting machines for use in US elections. I strongly suspect there has been rigging of the primary vote count in New York this year. For the integrity of US elections I ask that you take this unprecedented action. If elections are not honest and secure we do not have a democracy.

Sincerely yours,

Jerry J. Lobdill

Fort Worth, Texas

>>>>

4 June 2016

The Honorable Preet Bharara

United States Attorney's Office

1 St. Andrew's Plaza

New York City, NY 10007

Re: New York Primary Debacle

Dear Hon. Bharara:

The purpose of this letter is to request that you spearhead the ongoing efforts for a new New York Primary.

There are many undisputed facts, as well as shady probabilities that as part of this equation, do in fact point to a contaminated electoral process.

126,000 Voters Dropped from Voting Rolls



Shortly before the election, 126,000 Democrats in Brooklyn alone were purged from the rolls. This is so significant that Mayor de Blasio (who is himself a Hillary Clinton supporter) demanded an explanation. Voters were removed for a number of reasons, often because they were "inactive





Voter Registrations Changed on a Massive Scale

Party affiliations were changed, and while many people can give their

experience, no one was curious enough about it to look into some kind of software hack. It's ridiculous that there is so much burden placed on voters. Voters should not be expected to travel to a court, speak to a judge, and receive a court order to vote.





Voters refused ballots

This is just an unknown amount, but added together with what we do know,

it further complicates any claim that this was a fair primary.





No Working Machines; This speaks for itself.

The fact that New York had the 2nd lowest turnout up to the time of the

NY Primary. This is unacceptable, when so many people showed up to vote.





Voters Listed in Wrong Location; "provisional affidavits?"

Come on! I think we all know into which pile those ended up.





Three million voters left out of the process because they weren't properly affiliated with the party.

Only the highly savvy political animals would have known to change their affiliation 6 months prior to the Primary here. That is not a kind of rule that invites voters and it is deemed by many to equate to voter suppression.

Kind regards

Shannon Bertuch

Amsterdam, NY

>>>>

For background, and for the very best and first letter in this context to Mr. Bharara, read Alison Landes' letter to him that started off this shift from Mr. Schneiderman in Albany to Mr. Bharara.

US Attorney for Southern New York Preet Bharara Requested to Lead Drive for Redo of NY Primary





How does this all fit into the effort to win the nomination for Bernie Sanders? My interview with OpEdNews Senior Editor, Joan Brunwasser, lays it all out as clearly as possible, particularly the struggle to illuminate the blind spots in the mainstream media, which are not only real, but much much blinder than most people even begin to realize.

Stephen Fox's "Bernie Sanders: Advice and Strategies to Help Him Win!"





To just begin to understand vote "flipping"? Watch the 80 minute YouTube video, UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections
Because life is a little different right now, make sure you have the most up-to-date information for your situation, including scholarships and online study options.

For new international students currently in New Zealand

For new international students currently offshore

International Prospectus

The International Prospectus is designed to provide full degree students applying to the University of Otago with the information they require to make an informed decision on their course of study.

Note that some information may have changed since the International Prospectus was produced.

Please visit our How do I apply page for up-to-date information on studying at the University of Otago.

International Prospectus (eBook)

International Prospectus (PDF)

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Study Abroad and Exchange Guide

The Study Abroad and Exchange Guide is designed to provide incoming students with the information they require to make an informed decision on their course of study.

Note that some information may have changed since the Study Abroad and Exchange Guide was produced.

Please visit our How do I apply page for up-to-date information on studying at the University of Otago.

Study Abroad and Exchange Guide (PDF)

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International Mini Guide

The International Mini Guide is designed to provide incoming students with an overview of what it would be like to study at Otago.

Note that some information may have changed since the International Mini Guide was produced.

Please visit our How do I apply page for up-to-date information on studying at the University of Otago.

International Mini Guide (PDF)

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Publications in other languages

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For international students when English is a second language

Study options for international students when English is a second language (PDF)
Internationalisation Framework

Te Aka Whakaranea a-Ao | Internationalisation Framework 20212025 is the key strategic framework for internationalisation at the University of Otago.

Te Aka Whakaranea a-Ao 20212025 Internationalisation Framework (PDF)

Internationalisation Committee

The University of Otagos Internationalisation Committee supports and co-ordinates our internationalisation strategy. It also makes decisions on funding for a range of international initiatives.

Internationalisation Committee webpage

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The Education Code of Practice

The University of Otago is a signatory to The Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 (the Code), which supports the wellbeing of tertiary and international learners enrolled with New Zealand education providers.

Tertiary and International Learners Code of Practice ( NZQA website)

Contact:

International Student Services

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Otago's international networks and partnerships

The University of Otago's international partnerships provide opportunities for our students and staff to strengthen their participation as global citizens.

Matariki Network of Universities ( MNU )

The Matariki Network is an international group of leading, historic universities of which the University of Otago is a founding member.

Matariki Network website

Funding opportunities with the MNU

Contact:

Otago International Partnerships Co-ordinator

Email international.partnerships@otago.ac.nz

Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)

The Association of Commonwealth Universities is an international organisation dedicated to building a better world through higher education.

ACU website

Funding opportunities with the ACU

Contact:

Otago International Partnerships Co-ordinator

Email international.partnerships@otago.ac.nz

Other international partnerships

Otago office of the Confucius Institute in Auckland

The aim of the Otago office of the Confucius Institute in Auckland is to enhance the knowledge of Chinese language and culture to all staff, students, and their families.

Confucius Institute in Auckland

Contact:

Otago International Partnerships Co-ordinator

Email international.partnerships@otago.ac.nz

New Zealand Centre at Peking University

The aim of the New Zealand Centre at Peking University is to raise the profile of New Zealand at Peking University, enhancing academic and cultural exchange between China and New Zealand.

New Zealand Centre at Peking University

University of Otago House, National University of Samoa

The University of Otago House provides accommodation for University of Otago staff and students conducting research with the National University of Samoa, or in the Samoan Islands.

For bookings, contact:

Property Management

Email ps.propertymanagement@otago.ac.nz

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International partnership agreements

Partnership agreements can take many forms, including:

Memorandums of Understanding, (a formal, strategic partnership)

Letters of Intent, (a formal letter of introduction, authorising topics for discussion)

Articulation Agreements (for transfer credit arrangements)

Advanced Standing Agreements (for recoding accepted pre-requisites for admission)

Study Abroad Agreements (for inbound students)

Exchange Agreements (for students participating in bilateral, reciprocal study exchanges)

Education Agent Agreements, and

any other new form of partnership

Staff seeking advice about the process for establishing new  and managing existing  partner relationships with international institutions should contact:

The International Partnerships Co-ordinator

Email international.partnerships@otago.ac.nz

Partnership Arrangements with International Institutions Policy

International Memoranda of Understanding

The University of Otago has MOUs in place with institutions in many countries.

View the list of countries with partnership agreements

For more information, contact:

The International Partnerships Co-ordinator

Email international.partnerships@otago.ac.nz

International Student Exchange Agreements

The University of Otago has Exchange Agreements with institutions in many countries.

View the list of Exchange Partners

For more information, contact:

The International Mobility Team

Study Abroad Agreements

The University of Otago has Study Abroad Agreements with a range of partner institutes and Study Abroad providers across several countries.

There agreements are managed by:

The International Marketing and Recruitment Regional Market Managers

Education Agent Agreements

The University of Otago has Education Agent Agreements in the many countries.

View the list of countries and their approved education representatives

These agreements are managed by:

The International Marketing and Recruitment team

Email international.marketing@otago.ac.nz

Articulation Agreements

The University of Otago has Articulation Agreements (credit transfer arrangements) in place with partner institutes in a range of countries. Articulation Agreements are primarily led and developed at the department/division level, with support from the respective Associate Dean International, Divisional Board and Pro Vice Chancellor.

Academics can access practical advice and assistance from the International Office to support the development of Articulation Agreements. This includes the International Programme Development Team, International Marketing and Recruitment Team (Regional Market Managers) and International Partnerships Co-ordinator.

Contact:

International Programmes Development Team

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International visits  notable visitor procedure

To ensure appropriate arrangements are in place, and to maximise the benefit of the visit, international visits with notable guests are to be notified to:

The office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, External Engagement

Email dvc.ee@otago.ac.nz

Notable Visitor Notification Procedure

Information for visitors regarding planning a visit

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Official Visits

The International Relations Co-ordinator arranges and organises official visits to the University of Otago.

Whenever possible we are happy to organise official visits to the University  we enjoy showcasing our world-class facilities and our beautiful campus. Unfortunately there are times when the necessary resources and/or staff are not available and we are unable to do so.

If you would like to explore the possibility of an official visit, please complete the International visit request form (151KB in PDF format) and return it to the International Relations Co-ordinator at international.visits@otago.ac.nz

It is really important that you describe the purpose of your visit and what you would like to achieve while you are visiting. Please note that all meetings will be conducted in English and regretfully the University is not able to provide translators for visitors.

We would really appreciate 3-4 weeks advance notice of your visit to enable scheduling of appropriate meetings and other arrangements.

Timing your visit

The most effective and successful visits are those that are planned during the regular academic year. This is the time when the campus is staffed with a full complement of faculty and administrators.

Visits are possible during the summer and semester breaks, but as many faculty and administrators are away, not all requests can be accommodated. Visits during weekends and University holidays when the campus is closed are not possible.

Campus locations

The University of Otago main campus is located in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand (www.dunedinnz.com). Dunedin is the home to the academic and administrative centre of the University and this is where the majority of our students reside.

We do have smaller campuses in Wellington (North Island) and Christchurch (South Island) primarily related to postgraduate health sciences and medicine as well as a centre in Auckland. Most visitors visit our main Dunedin Campus, but we are happy to facilitate visits to our Christchurch and Wellington Campuses if requested.

More information about our Christchurch and Wellington campuses and the Auckland Centre is available at the following websites:

Academic Scholars with a specific or singular scholarly interest should contact the relevant division or department within the University of Otago. A full list of departments can be found on the University of Otagos subject listing page.

Further information

If you would like more information or you have any questions about arranging an official visit, please email international.visits@otago.ac.nz .
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Maori Centre - Te Huka Matauraka

Visit the Maori Centre website

Tenei ra te mihi atu ki a koe, otira, ki a koutou katoa kua tae mai ki tenei wahanga o te ipurangi kimi korero ai mo nga mahi e haria ana i Te Whare Wananga o Otago. No reira,nau mai, haere mai . Kia kaha mai ki te kimi i nga whakamarama mo nga akoranga e pirangi ana koe. Ko to matou hiahia kei to matou nei Whare Wananga nga akoranga e hangai ana ki tau e hiahia ai.

The Maori Centre is a support service for all students of iwi descent. The Centre aims to encourage Iwi Maori to participate and succeed in tertiary education. The Centre offers support for academic, cultural and social needs from pre-enrolment through to graduation and operates from a kaupapa Maori base (Maori philosophy) and provides services such as:

Liaison Academic Resources Recruitment/school visits

Turaka Hou

Scholarships/Grants

Student support groups

Welfare advice

Iwi/Community networks Supplementary tutorials

Mentoring support

Study skills

Exam preparation

Peer study groups

Divisional support Library books

Old examination papers

Lecture notes

TV, Video & OHP

Study & seminar rooms

The Maori Centre will also give you the opportunity to meet other Maori students and whanaunga studying at Otago.

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Te Roopu Maori - Maori Students Association

Te Roopu is the Maori Student Association at The University of Otago. As the Maori Student Association on campus we represent all Maori Students. Te Roopu Maori is the parallel student association to (OUSA) Otago University Students Association).

For further information about Te Roopu Maori contact

Tumuaki - President

Tel +64 3 479 8563

Email teroopu.maori@otago.ac.nz

Visit the Te Roopu Maori website

Maori Student Support Officers - Kaiawhina Maori

Maori Student Support Officer (Division of Humanities) - Kaiawhina Maori

Tena koutou katoa

Tenaya Brown

Kia ora mai tatou,

Ko Titirangi te maunga

Ko Uawanui-a-Ruamatua te awa

Ko Horouta te waka

Ko Puketawai raua ko Hinemaurea oku marae

Ko Te-Aitanga-a-Hauiti te hapu

Ko Ngati Porou te iwi

Ko Tenaya Hera-Maree Brown toku ingoa.



I am beyond privileged to be given the opportunity to support our tauira (students) Maori in the Humanities Division/ Te Kete Aronui. I am a graduate of the School of Performing Arts and have high hopes to endeavour down a postgraduate teaching pathway. I look forward to meeting our first year tauira, making connections with all our support staff around campus and supporting all Humanities tauira with their academic studies and their journeys at the University of Otago.

As the support person for tauira Maori enrolled in Humanities papers and degrees, my key responsibilities are:

To liaise with academic departments and support services with respect to any issues relating to you and your course of study

To act as a point of contact for all Maori students enrolled in Humanities papers and degrees

To facilitate access to pastoral care, student services, course planning advice within the university

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, feedback or concerns. Please be assured that all information you share will be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Visit the Kaiawhina Maori website

Contacts:

Tel +64 3 479 8681

Mobile +64 21 279 8681

Email humanities.kaiawhina@otago.ac.nz

Office: 5C9, 5th Floor, Whare Kete Aronui - Arts Building

95 Albany Street, Dunedin

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Other Roopu on Campus
Jon Allan, director of the Office of the Great Lakes, will visit Alma to listen to concerns about the Pine River.

Healthy Pine River is sponsoring the event at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 9, at the Dow Science Building, Room L2, on the Alma College campus.
DETROIT (AP)  A program is being offered to help Detroit residents become available for jobs by expunging nonviolent criminal backgrounds.

Project Clean Slate starts Saturday morning at Fellowship Chapel in northwest Detroit. The program will be held quarterly at locations across the city.
DETROIT (AP)  Prosecutors charged a man Saturday with kidnapping in the case of a 13-year-old Detroit boy who was found dead in a vacant lot this week after being abducted from a city street.

Earnest Coleman, 26, was charged with kidnapping and will be arraigned Sunday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said in a statement.

Coleman and other people allegedly kidnapped Deontae Mitchell at about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday outside of a market, Worthy said. She did not provide further details, except to say that the investigation is ongoing.

Three other people have been arrested, including a 45-year-old Detroit man who is waiting to be extradited from Ohio.

Deontae's body was found Thursday on Detroit's east side, and an autopsy found no indication that he was shot.

Deontae disappeared Tuesday night while riding bikes with a cousin, who told police that Deontae had picked up money dropped by a man who was urinating outside a market. Surveillance video shows Deontae being pursued by a man, who grabbed the boy by his arm and forced him into a car.

Police believe the man in the video was 45-year-old Gregory Walker, who was arrested Thursday with a woman in Toledo, Ohio. Walker is being held on a probation violation warrant.

"The alleged facts in this case explicitly show that the lives of some of Detroit's children continue to be less important than everything else?  in this case a few dollars dropped from a pocket," Worthy said in her statement. "May we all re-examine the worth of our children and we in the criminal justice system will handle the senseless murder of Deontae."
Peter Visel moved to Hudson six years ago from California to help care for his mother in Hudson.

In California, voter registration is done through the states Department of Motor Vehicles. So, as soon as Peter and family made the move, he registered all the Visel vehicles in Illinois, then sent proof of Illinois registration to California, so that state would close the file and quit sending them notices to pay the annual fees for California license-plate stickers.

That all worked out fine.

That is  until oddly one day last week when, six years later, Peter and his wife, Candy, both received their official ballots ... for Tuesdays California primary.

The ballots were not forwarded in the mail but instead addressed to them, at their Hudson, Ill., address. The Visels apparently are now considered California residents who just haven't lived there since 2010, or voted there, since 2008.

Move over, Chicago!

The dead may legendarily vote there, but now apparently the living vote in California  even if they don't live there.

New at TV-25: After six months at TV-25 of going solo  after co-anchor Libby Allison left in December to work in communications for OSF Healthcare  anchor Tyler Lopez next week again gets someone to sit by and share the news-reading load.

Joining him on WEEK June 13 will be Caitlin (Weinstein) Knute, moving from Raleigh, N.C., where she was a weekend morning anchor.

If the face looks familiar, she originally is from Pekin, interned at WHOI and, according to a WEEK-TV release, was also briefly a morning anchor at WMBD-Peoria.

In what was surely a Freudian slip, the TV-25 release referred to Caitlin at one point as Allison Knute. But Allison, as in Libby, is gone.

`Minor has never quit being so big: Bill Kemp is the archivist at the McLean County Museum of History whose "Pages From Our Past" columns are a popular read in this Sunday paper.

Occasionally Kemp also finds a news artifact that a century later is coincidental, ironic or just downright funny.

Like a news clip he's found from a Jan. 11, 1902 Pantagraph.

It was headlined, A Session of Talk: City Council Consumes One Hour and Twenty Minutes Debating Questions of Minor Importance. Here's story's first graph: "The Bloomington aldermanic bund held a little social talkfest last night at which matters of about as much importance as at a kaffe klatch were discussed."

No one, of course, would ever contend that goes on at meetings today ... would they?

B-N, home of the richest downstate: Named the best place in America for a short commute to work ... in a recent "Wired" top 20 list of the "tech-iest" cities in the U.S. ... hailed in Huffington Post as one of the "11 Amazing Cities in America You Don't Think About Moving, But Should."

Bloomington-Normal, as you might have noticed, is especially popular in all those lists these days.

Here's another, released last week by NerdWallet.com, a personal finance site:

B-N is the 20th most wealthy city in the Midwest and the wealthiest of all cities in downstate Illinois.

Among its finds:

 The median household here earns $59,614, well over twice the $26,890 national average.

 The average credit limit for credit-card holders in Bloomington-Normal is $35,777, one of the highest in the Midwest, an apparent testimonial that Twin Citians will pay off on what we buy.

Perhaps most eye-opening: 30 percent of homes in B-N have no mortgage  they're already paid off.

B-N apparently won't make a list of the best places to be a mortgage lender.

Time goes, but projects obviously dont: Normal these days is considering an underground pedestrian underpass at its Uptown Station so passengers approaching the station from its south can safely pass under the tracks to reach the terminal.

Talk about irony of timing.

Did you see this newspaper's "How Time Flies" feature the other day, under the "100 Years Ago category?

"May 15, 1916: Construction began today on the new pedestrian underpass beneath the C&A rail yards at Chestnut Street. It will be accessible by steps at the east and west end, and will take about months to complete."

Yes, once again, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

We did check and there is one difference, though: Estimates on the cost of an underground underpass here in 1916 were $42,000. Estimates on the cost of an underground underpass here in 2016 are between $12.7 million and $13.4 million.
PONTIAC  When Kris Peterson studied crop sciences and agri-business, he thought his education would keep him close to the ground.

I wanted to do something in production agriculture. I really enjoyed it, Peterson said.

He didnt expect to join the family business  following his father, Scott, into the sky doing aerial applications at Pontiac Flying Service in Livingston County  for one big reason: He gets air sick.

He eventually grew out of air sickness, for the most part. Peterson is still not a fan of heights, especially on ladders, and may start to feel a little queasy in the air, but he has become a professional agricultural pilot and aerial ag applicator.

He earned his pilots license when he was 20 years old, and now, four years later, combines his agricultural and aerial skills at Pontiac Flying Service. In addition to flying, he does mapping and chemical sales.

The industry has moved away from the term crop duster because it doesnt reflect the modern technology and safety involved today, he explained.

Some people think crop dusters are show-offs in the air because of a bad reputation years ago, but Peterson said they have a good reason not to be: Its our butts in the seats.

He knows he is fortunate to have the job at age 24.

Im lucky to break into the industry, he said.

Often young pilots want to fly agricultural planes to gain hours and experience to get into commercial aviation.

But they cant get training hours in the aerial application industry because of safety and insurance requirements. Some who really want to do aerial application start on the ground crew and eventually earn their seat in the $500,000 Air Tractor.

Theres only a couple thousand pilots in the nation that do this, said Peterson, who hopes to eventually find work in other states when flying is in the off season here.

He continues to increase his education and is now working on his Aircraft Maintenance Technician accreditation.

His parents moved Kris and his two sisters from Nebraska in 1997 and started building Pontiac Flying Services. At the time, the closest aerial business was in Hudson, about 35 miles away.

Theres a lot of corn here, Peterson noted.

His dad, Scott, is a pilot, aircraft mechanic and flight instructor, all skills he uses regularly in their business.

And father and son are active in the National Agricultural Aviation Association, which lobbies for pilots concerning regulatory and safety issues, including drone safety.

Petersons brothers-in-law farm, growing corn and soybeans, and the rest of his immediate family, including his wife, work on the ground in the flying business. He and his father and six to eight hired pilots do the flying during the busy season.

There are a couple weeks in the spring when he will get 10 to 12 hours of air time in a 15-hour work day.

When he had previously worked the same long hours as ground service, he teased the pilots when they complained about being tired, but now he understands.
Prince, worth hundreds of millions, dies and no will has yet been found. Almost beyond belief but it sure gives all of us a lot to talk about. Estate and financial planning are for everyone who doesnt want the government to decide where their stuff will go.

Prince had a full-blood sister with whom he was close and numerous half-blood siblings. They will share his estate equally under current law. Is that what he wanted? The equal shares will be zero if a descendant comes out of the woodwork. The law on that has evolved over time.

A hard working and thrifty Welshman deserted his pregnant girlfriend in the 1880s and headed for Iowa, where he amassed a fortune of $20,000 ($475,000 modern). The money safe in Iowa, he left New York to return to Wales on May 1, 1915. Neither he nor the Lusitania made it. Iowa law said the out-of-wedlock (but fully acknowledged) daughter got the money; the law of England and Wales said his siblings should get it. Since he had not re-established his new domicile in Wales, Iowa law applied.

A will is always an option, but in the 20th century, typically an out-of-wedlock child could inherit from the mother. It was then a mixed bag on taking from the father if the child had been acknowledged.

A 1970s Illinois case modified the rule and said a child could take from the father when there was clear and convincing evidence of paternity. When paternity was less certain, the law left room for disparate treatment. Today with DNA testing, that uncertainty is removed.

Federal and Minnesota tax collectors will take about half of Prince's large estate. The federal estate tax rate is a brutal 40 percent. The $5.45 million exemption keeps most of us out of harms way. A simple will could have provided for his siblings, protected against an unknown descendant, set up a foundation, and left the tax collectors hanging.

One more story to scare you into good planning: A couple got married and set off for their dream honeymoon in the British Isles. He was worth $1.5 million and she was worth $2 million. They were fellow passengers of our hard-working Welshman and they didnt make it, either, and had no will.

His body was found in the water and an autopsy showed he died of exposure in the 50-degree water about two hours after the ship went down. She was last seen in a dining area right above where the torpedo went into the ship. The court held that he lived longer, so his family got all the money.

Assume a 30-some married couple with several kids. If there is only one breadwinner, I recommend term insurance on the breadwinner. Chances of dying at 30-some are slim, so you can buy a lot of insurance cheap.

The couple probably faces a mortgage, college for the kids and their own student loans. The will should give everything to the surviving spouse. He or she will need the money for all those things, so you don't want the complexity of sharing with the kids.

If you win the lottery, it's time to rethink. Assume the couple is past 50 or even 60 and had done well. Anglo-American law allows you to do whatever you want with your property, except disinherit your spouse. Suppose you die; your spouse, on the rebound, remarries; then the spouse dies, leaving that new partner rolling in your money. Probably not what you want. A will can create a trust to take care of the survivor and assure that the money goes to the kids or a favorite charity. A prenup can be a good idea if you think if it before the marriage.

Our laws and ways arent universal. This past year, I had a law student from Sweden in my classes. She remarked that things were very different in Europe. Parents, according to their means, are required to pay for their kids college and may not write them out of their will. In turn, kids are required to support their parents if they lack means in old age.
HONOLULU  Six miles from the scenic beaches of south Maui sits a small, deserted island with a rich history and a big problem.

Researchers say Hawaiians traveled to Kahoolawe Island as early as 400 A.D., and it's home to nearly 3,000 archaeological sites. It's also littered with unexploded ordnance.

The U.S. Navy used the barren island as a bombing range for decades, starting in World War II. It later joined with the state and spent millions on cleanup, but they didn't finish the job.

Today, live grenades and bombs remain scattered across about a quarter of the 45-square-mile island. But the agency tasked with restoring Kahoolawe is likely on its own next year after lawmakers passed a bill pushing it to become financially self-sufficient.

Now, the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission and community advocates are looking for ways to fund the rest of the cleanup so they can bring back native wildlife and use the island as a Native Hawaiian educational center.

It's no small effort. Restoring and then replanting the entire island could take decades and cost billions of dollars, despite about $400 million spent between the commission and the Navy since 1994, the agency said. The commission also has depleted a $44 million federal trust fund since the state gained control of the island in 2004.

"It speaks volumes to the amount of bombing Kahoolawe sustained that so much work still needs to be done to complete this effort," U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said. She added she will work to help find solutions to finish the cleanup at the culturally significant site, which is banned from commercial use.

On a clear day, the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai are visible from the shores of Kahoolawe, which archaeological evidence suggests Hawaiians used as a navigational center for voyaging, a workshop for making stone tools and for cultural ceremonies. Fortunately, many of the cultural sites such as fishing shrines were on the coast and were spared from the military bombing, which went on for 50 years, said Michael Nahoopii, the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission's executive director.

Still, gold-colored grenades that explode if touched, bombs weighing up to 2,000 pounds and hundreds of projectiles remain.

"You walk across this line, and it is night and day. One side of the line is very clean. There's no scrap metal. There's nothing on the ground," Nahoopii said. "You walk across this line, and there's bombs sticking out of the ground. There are pieces of razor-sharp metal."

A 2013 financial audit criticized the Kahoolawe commission for lacking a comprehensive cleanup plan and measures to gauge if objectives are being met.

Lawmakers recently passed a measure giving the agency $450,000 for restoration during the upcoming year, but no money after 2017. One of the requirements is that the commission come up with a plan for being self-sufficient. The proposal has been sent to Gov. David Ige, who hasn't said whether he will sign it into law.

Ideas for future funding include running the island off renewable energy and charging tuition for educational programs.

Josh Kaakua, a commissioner and member of the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana, said the state should help fund Kahoolawe's restoration since it took responsibility for the island after the Navy ended the federal cleanup.

The island was also ravaged by years of cattle and goat ranching before its military use  the Army first trained there in 1925  and faces problems with severe erosion and a lack of fresh water sources.

"I think people only care about what's in their backyard, so often I think Kahoolawe gets put to the side," Kaakua said. "Kahoolawe is a treasure. It's a resource. But we're losing it. We're slipping. Nobody is paying attention."

Kahoolawe is one of about 100 formerly used defense sites throughout the Pacific, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District. Right now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District is working on about 10 cleanup projects, including the Waikoloa Maneuver Area on the Big Island, which alone is expected to cost about $723 million to clean up.
It's likely anyone reading this has not heard of heroin. It conjures up various images: needles and spoons; a disheveled man in dirty clothes nodding off; plunging a needle in Uma Thurmans heart in Pulp Fiction.

Heroin has been in the United States since 1898, 24 years after it was invented by British chemist C.R. Alder Wright. Its popularity has ebbed and flowed, but has recently hit an all-time high.

According to statistics released by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, the number of heroin users increased from 373,000 in 2007 to 914,000 in 2014. The same report estimates the amount of pure heroin produced in Mexico rose to 70 metric tons in 2015, a 67 percent increase over 2014, and a 169 percent increase over 2013. Most of the heroin in the U.S. comes from Mexico.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths increased 286 percent from 2002 to 2013, when more than 8,200 people died of heroin-related overdose; that number rose to 10,574 deaths last year.

When heroin came to the U.S., it was legal and sold over-the-counter in drugstores.

According to the book Heroin: Its History, Pharmacology, and Treatment, heroin was first produced and sold in the U.S. by Bayer, the same company that later struck it rich with aspirin.

It was pitched as a non-addictive cough suppressant that also was effective in treating chest pain, pneumonia and tuberculosis. It was available in liquid or powder form.

By 1913, as addiction and overdoses began to pile up, Bayer exited the heroin business. The next year, the Harrison Act was passed, requiring doctors and pharmacists who prescribed narcotics to register and pay a tax. In 1924, the Heroin Act made the manufacture and possession of heroin illegal.

Heroin, like all opiates, is derived from the seed bulbs of opium poppy plants. Cultures have been using opium as far back as the Sumerians in 3300 BC. Today, there are natural opiates, such as codeine and morphine, semi-synthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. There are hundreds of other types of opioids.

But heroin, unlike the majority of available opioids, is much cheaper because its not made by prescription drug companies.

Grown on remote mountain hillsides in Colombia, Myanmar, Mexico, Thailand, Laos, Afghanistan and Pakistan, poppy plants are harvested twice a year. Sap from the seed bulb is scraped and collected in burlap bags that are taken to clandestine chemical processing plants, where the raw opium is transformed into pure morphine, then heroin.

After becoming illegal, heroin emerged on the black market in 1933, following the repeal of Prohibition. Looking to make up for lost revenue, organized crime stepped in.

Responding to the growing problem, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created. The U.S. addict population dropped from more than 200,000 at its peak to 20,000 in 1945. Increased port security during the war also helped curtail importation.

Heroin use remained low for the next 20 years, but during the Vietnam conflict, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, high-quality heroin from the Golden Triangle (where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have common borders) began making its way to soldiers in South Vietnam. After the U.S. withdrew, the Golden Triangle labs began exporting directly to the U.S.

Since then, heroin use in the U.S. has been cyclical, rising then waning in favor of other drugs such as crack cocaine, crystal meth, and, more recently, prescription opioids.

A crackdown on prescription painkillers has led to the heroin boom in the U.S. in the past decade, but the movement toward legal and decriminalized marijuana possession also has played a role.

According to a Jan. 11, 2015 story in the Washington Post, higher-quality marijuana being grown in the western part of the U.S. is displacing the cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested in Mexicos Sierra Madre mountains. In turn, Mexican drug farmers have planted more opium poppies, and the heroin they produce is channeled by Mexican drug cartel traffickers into the U.S., offering addicts a cheaper alternative to suddenly expensive oxycodone.

Until recently, heroin from Mexico was called black tar heroin, considered substandard to heroin produced in Afghanistan, still the largest producer in the world. But thats changed. Now Mexican heroin is pure, up to eight times more pure than it was up until a decade ago.

It used to be some people would snort it, but most would use a needle, said Bruce Angleman, manager for addictions and criminal justice services for Heritage Behavioral Health Center's Drug Court division in Decatur. And for a lot of people, there was this line people wouldnt cross  'I wont inject because Im not a junkie.'

But now, with the potency so strong, people who are snorting it can get pretty high and get a habit pretty quick. And once they have a habit, its usually just a matter of time before they start injecting it.
NORMAL  Despite delays, the company behind Normal's first medical marijuana dispensary remains confident the facility will open sooner rather than later.

"Our inspection with (the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation) is scheduled for mid-July, and we anticipate opening shortly thereafter," Tanya Griffin, vice president of local expansion for Denver, Colo.-based marijuana company The Green Solution, said last week.

She added "construction should be complete within the next couple of weeks" at the former Curves building at 501 Northtown Road.

A "gut rehab" of the building was previously scheduled to wrap up in May; before that, the facility was set to open in mid-April, but getting permits took longer than expected.

Griffin added the delayed opening "will be timely given the recent good news with (Senate Bill 10) making its way through the (Illinois) House and Senate."

The bill would move the end of the state's medical marijuana pilot program from Jan. 1, 2018, to July 1, 2020, and make victims of two more medical conditions  post-traumatic stress disorder and terminal illnesses that leave patients with fewer than six months to live  eligible to receive medical marijuana.

The proposal passed the General Assembly, and Gov. Bruce Rauner, who vetoed similar legislation last fall, has announced he supports it.

TGS Illinois Inc., a subsidiary of the Colorado company, received the only retail dispensary license in Illinois' 6th State Police District when licenses were awarded in 2014. That district stretches from Pontiac to the Twin Cities.

Griffin said previously a reasonable "shot in the dark" is the Normal dispensary will have 500 patients within a year of opening. TGS' Denver locations average more than 1,000 customers per day, she added.

The state has about 7,000 registered patients and 37 dispensaries, the Associated Press reported last week. TGS also built and operates a dispensary in Sauget, near St. Louis.

Medical marijuana stores across the state served more than 5,100 patients in May, AP reported, and sales rose to $2.3 million for the month. Since sales started Nov. 9, $10.8 million in medical marijuana has been sold in Illinois.
NEW YORK  In a phone-toting, social media-mad age, you might think trying to keep your wedding offline would be crazy.

Yet we did just that. We asked our guests to stay off their phones during our ceremony and other key moments. In doing so, we were hoping to make the celebration more enjoyable for everyone.

As fun as smartphones, Facebook and Instagram are, they've turned us into part-time documentarians. We think about how to photograph something as soon as we see it. And we distance ourselves from the feelings that go along with these moments.

"Everyone is kind of watching your entire big moment in life through a little 5-inch screen," says Lizzie Post, a great-great-granddaughter of etiquette expert Emily Post and president of the Emily Post Institute. "We're not really in the moment. We're recording the moment."

That's why my then-fiancee Amber Marlow knew what she wanted: an unplugged wedding, in which you ask guests to put away their phones for all or part of the festivities. She's a wedding photographer, and she's been recommending that clients go unplugged for years.

The fact that "put your phones away" is a style of wedding instead of an obvious point shows how much mobile phones have altered even the most emotional moments of our lives.

And as we worked to spread the word and plan our wedding, we learned even more about our relationship with technology  'til death or logging out do us part.

Smartphones have become an all-or-nothing phenomenon: When one person at the table pulls out a phone, everyone else takes it as permission to do the same. Sometimes people start giving advice and tech support. The next thing you know, everyone is checking texts and social media.

Not to mention those horrible photos we regret the next morning. It's incredibly easy to take photos with your phone, which means it's incredibly easy to shoot subjects looking terrible, utterly intoxicated or twice their actual age.

And because of Amber's professional experience, we both knew what we didn't want to see in our wedding photos: guests glued to their screens as we walked down the aisle or holding up iPads to record the first dance. Phones can take good photos, but with their distracting glow, they don't make for good photos.

Not that we're pining for a simpler, low-tech way of life. Amber and I met on a dating website, and we used our smartphones to navigate to our venue.

Because we didn't want to annoy or inconvenience guests, we nixed phones only for our 15-minute ceremony, first dance and cake-cutting. We allowed phones during cocktail hour and the rest of the reception, and we told our guests they could take all the selfies they wanted. But we asked them not to post any photos of us online. We did hire a professional photographer to capture the evening for us, including the ceremony. We wanted to make sure her photos were full of smiling faces, not screens.

We made our request gently, but often. Maybe a little more often than we needed to. We mentioned the unplugged-ness of our wedding in our invitations and explained it on our wedding website. But we were careful not to make threats or demands, and we never thought about asking people to hand over their phones.

A funny pattern emerged: Our 20- and 30-something friends, the supposedly tech-addicted millennials, thought ditching phones was a great idea.

"I don't like them controlling my life," says our friend Katie Morse, a social media professional.

It was a tougher sell for my mom and my aunt, both in their 60s and relatively new to technology. They just wanted to show us off on Facebook.

It's the same generational dynamic that can make social media exasperating to people who have older relatives as Facebook friends. People who've spent a lot of their lives online have internalized a certain kind of etiquette, a sense of when it's proper to contact someone or share a photo. An older relative without that sensibility might appear ... a little overenthusiastic.

We sympathized with my mom. Some of her best friends couldn't attend, and she wanted to include them. But if we let one person start taking and posting photos of us, everyone would do it.

Dorian D'Angelo, who works in marketing for a financial firm in New York, had a different reason for banning smartphones at her wedding in 2010: She and her husband weren't able to invite all their friends and didn't want anyone to feel hurt when they see party photos on social media.

"They would wonder 'Why were they invited and I wasn't?'" she says.

Figuring that our guests wouldn't feel the need to take selfies if they had a chance to take better pictures, we set up a photo booth with a beautiful backdrop. It was busy all night. There's a photo of some of my friends carrying me sideways. Thanks to champagne, I don't quite remember why that happened.

While D'Angelo had to confront one guest who ignored the ban, but agreed to delete the posted photo, our guests honored our requests.
Torch Run begins Sunday

NORMAL  Local police will participate in the Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run to raise funds for Special Olympics Illinois.

The intrastate relay, which begins Sunday, includes about 3,000 officers covering 23 race legs across Illinois, all converging Friday in Normal for the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics Illinois State Summer Games.

Officers will meet in Illinois State Universitys Hancock Stadium with torches lit to hand off the Flame of Hope to Special Olympics athletes.

The run has raised $39 million for Special Olympics Illinois since its beginning in 1986.
BLOOMINGTON  Heroin has moved from back alleys to the family room.

"It's in everyone's backyard," said Tamara Childress, director of mental health for Bloomington-based Chestnut Health Systems. Sixty percent of clients treated in Chestnut's crisis stabilization unit are dependent on heroin or another opioid, she said.

"It's happening everywhere," agreed Dr. Darrell Rust, an emergency department physician at OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center, Pontiac, and medical director of Chestnut's crisis unit.

At Saint James's emergency department, two to three patients are treated a week for a heroin addiction, Rust said. Some have overdosed, some are having difficult withdrawal symptoms and others have complications, such as infections from using dirty needles.

"I have been an emergency department physician for 30 years and I've seen more heroin problems in the last five years than I have the previous 25," he said.

"These are not homeless, skid row junkies," Rust said. "They are our neighbors, caught up in a terrible problem."

The crisis took center stage last week when it was learned that pop icon Prince had died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, an opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

"There are 525,000 to 600,000 people (nationwide) who are actively using heroin, meaning in the past month," said Mark Godley, Chestnut senior scientist. "I don't know how many are abusing all opioids."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose was the leading cause of accidental death in the country in 2014 with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses. Opioid addiction is driving the epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers and another 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin.

Throughout Central Illinois, thousands of people are treated each year for addiction to opioids, including heroin, and hundreds end up in hospitals.

At Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, 258 people were treated for opioid addiction during 2015 and 92 from Jan. 1 through May 16 this year, said Lori Ritter, trauma quality coordinator in Advocate BroMenn's emergency department.

McLean County Area EMS providers administered Naloxone (Narcan) 134 times in 2015 to people experiencing an opioid overdose, said EMS Director Dylan Ferguson. So far this year, Naloxone administrations are up 31 percent, he said.

"Usually, when someone has overdosed on an opioid, we find them unconscious and not breathing or breathing shallowly," Ferguson said. In addition to restoring breathing, paramedics or EMTs administer Naloxone to reverse the overdose.

"Typically, within 60 to 90 seconds, the patient will begin breathing on his own again and will become fully conscious," Ferguson said.

"Heroin just ruins peoples' lives," said Joe Vaughan, executive director of IHR (Institute for Human Resources) Counseling Services, Livingston County's mental health and substance abuse agency.

"We serve 400 to 500 people in our substance abuse program and 150 of them" use heroin or another opioid, Vaughan said.

Addiction is quick

The opioid epidemic is different from other prior drug epidemics.

First, heroin and other opioids give people quick relief and it's easier to become addicted to opioids than other drugs, Vaughan said.

"A person can become addicted within weeks rather than months or years," said Ed Betzelberger, director of addiction services for Tazwood Center for Wellness that provides mental health services in Tazewell, Woodford and Logan counties.

The second difference is the avenue to heroin. Most people begin by using prescription pain killers.

"Every heroin addict I have worked with has said they never believed they would do heroin," Betzelberger said.

The heroin epidemic is rooted, in part, in over-prescription of opioids painkillers beginning in the mid-1990s, said Sandra Beecher and Brittany Ott of Unity Point Health and the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Advocate BroMenn.

"OxyContin (a prescription opioid painkiller) came on the market in mid-1990s," said Godley, noting in 1996, 94 million painkiller prescriptions were written in the U.S. By 2013, that number was 207 million.

Frequently, addiction begins with a well-intended effort to control pain following an injury or surgery, said substance abuse treatment providers.

The medical community had been criticized for not doing enough to control patients' pain, said Rust, but some doctors prescribed too many pain killers.

Some people who enjoyed the high continued to take the prescription pain killers after no longer needing them to control pain. Some sold it or gave it to others  or it was stolen by others  who used it to get high rather than controlling pain.

When the prescriptions weren't refilled, some people who had been addicted turned to buying an illegal opioid  heroin  on the street. Heroin is cheaper than prescription pain killers and is available in large quantities.

Eighty percent of heroin users report using opioid prescriptions non-medically prior to heroin use, Beecher and Ott said.

"Some people start by snorting a powder form," Betzelberger said. Then, IV use becomes the preferred method because it's injected directly into the blood stream so users get high quicker.

"Opioids react with nerve cells in the brain and nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain," Godley said. "It's more addicting than other drugs. It happens quite fast and the withdrawal is a painful process."

The withdrawal, described as a severe and painful flu, is another reason people stay addicted to heroin.

Response building

While heroin is dangerous, what's even more dangerous is how it's cut.

Sometimes, heroin is laced with fentanyl, which increases the risk of overdose, Beecher and Ott said. Fentanyl, the drug Prince took, is much more powerful than heroin, added Ralph Weisheit, Illinois State University professor of criminal justice sciences.

"Anytime you mix medications together, it's going to have a more pronounced, dangerous effect," Betzelberger said.

"Even a recreational user can OD if it's cut with fentanyl," Weisheit said.

The effect is slowing the body down to the point that people lose consciousness and in some cases stop breathing.

But even people who don't overdose experience compromised health, including HIV from sharing needles and a decline in mental health as their addiction takes over their life.

Addiction results in a rewiring of the brain, Betzelberger said. People lose interest in activities they once enjoyed and their personalities change.

Half of the people contemplating suicide last year who were assisted by the crisis team of Center for Human Services (CHS) of McLean County had attempted suicide using heroin or another opioid, said crisis program manager Meghan Moser.

"It's hard to stop using, so that increases the feeling of hopelessness, and heroin use causes family problems, which increases isolation," she said. Both of those things increase risk of suicide.

The medical community is responding.

Rust said many doctors are limiting prescriptions of pain killers.

Melinda Roth, CHS advanced practice nurse and program manager for psychiatric services, said because psychotropic and pain meds can dangerously interact, she always checks the Illinois prescription monitoring program website to make sure patients aren't getting more controlled substances than they need.

In addition, CHS prescribes limited supplies (a seven-day prescription rather than 30-day prescription) and partners with a pharmacy that packages single doses, Roth said. Both steps decrease the odds of drug dependency.

"Advocate Medical Group physicians...continue to work very closely with patients and pharmacists to ensure that these medications are prescribed safely and appropriately, in ways that help lessen the risk of dependency," said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kevin McCune.

In Logan County, a collaborative of health professionals, substance abuse prevention and treatment providers, police and fire chiefs and political leaders is working to coordinate community-wide solutions to the heroin epidemic.

Last week, the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network, which represents small, rural hospitals, hosted a summit in Springfield called "Opioid Crisis Next Door."

Individuals need to know it's OK to seek help, treatment providers said. "They need to know that this isn't the end of their story," Childress said.

And, treatment works. It may consist of four to seven days of detox to help with withdrawal, 28 days of residential treatment, outpatient treatment for as long as needed and support from a 12-step program, providers said.

A medicine called Vivitrol (Naltrexone)  essentially, a longer-acting form of Naloxone  can help, Rust said.

Family members should be supportive, not judgmental, treatment providers said.

"Recovery is possible," Vaughan said, but it takes work, a support system that understands and is a lifelong process.

"A relapse doesn't mean failure," Godley said. "If at first you don't succeed, quit again."

"I'm glad that there's talk about this," Childress said. "We need to realize that this can happen to anyone."
MATTOON  Tom Thoele returned from his U.S. Navy service in the Korean War with no fanfare and went straight back to work on the farm.

"There was no parade. No welcome home. No nothing," said Thoele, of Mattoon, who served as a machinist mate 2nd class on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer.

With this memory in mind, Thoele said he was amazed by the reception that he and his fellow veterans received on May 18 when they returned from a trip with the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight program to see the military and war memorials in Washington.

Thoele said well over a thousand supporters, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, turned out to cheer for the veterans and shake their hands at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. Thoele was accompanied on the Honor Flight by his son, Eric, and saw his other three children and many of his grandchildren cheering him on in the crowd.

"That was emotional, seeing my family there," Thoele said. "That took a lot of work on (the Honor Flight's) part to get all those people together."

The Honor Flight program is a nationwide network dedicated to providing veterans with a free trip to Washington to visit memorials honoring their service and sacrifice.

In Illinois, the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight and Greater Peoria Honor Flight nonprofit groups organize trips to the nation's capital and provide volunteer guardians as needed to accompany the veterans on their flights.

Cheryl Grose of Mattoon, an Air Force veteran, said she was honored to be asked by her longtime friend, World War II Coast Guard veteran Marion Howard of Bloomington, to serve as her guardian during a May 3 trip with the Greater Peoria Honor Flight.

"It was really a trip of a lifetime," Grose said. "Basically, they treated all the veterans like royalty."

These recent trips each began with a dinner for veterans and supporters the night before the flights.

Grose said Howard was joined at dinner by Coast Guard Lt. Eric Neussl, who visited with the World War II veteran and presented her with a letter from the Coast Guard honoring her service.

The veterans flew out early the next morning to Washington, where they were greeted at the airport by a large group of well-wishers. These World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans then headed out for tours of their memorials and other points of interest. This was the first visit for both Howard and Thoele to the memorials in Washington.

Grose said Howard, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was impressed by the architectural design of the World War II memorial and glad to see it include 56 pillars representing each of the U.S. states and territories at the time of the war.

The tours included stops at Arlington National Cemetery, where participants watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Thoele said he was emotionally moved by the ceremony and awed by the large size of the cemetery.

On their flights home, a "mail call" was held for the veterans. Each of them received a packet full of cards from family, friends and other well-wishers. More than a thousand supporters were waiting to greet the veterans when they returned to the airports in Peoria and Springfield.

Thoele said his day on the Honor Flight lasted from his departure at 4:30 a.m. to his return at 9 p.m., but he never minded the length of this day.

"There was a lot of adrenaline though. I did not get tired during the day," Thoele said. "Without a doubt, it's worth it."

More information about the Honor Flight program and upcoming flights is available by going online to www.landoflincolnhonorflight.org or www.greaterpeoriahonorflight.org/, or by calling Greater Peoria Honor Flight at 1-309-397-6975.
PONTIAC  For years, Becca Hinshaw's life was an amusement park ride from hell.

"It was a roller coaster," she said of her heroin-using years that included loss of jobs, an overdose that landed her in the hospital and jail time for stealing to feed her addiction.

Heroin took the lives of her estranged husband, then her boyfriend.

"I was not being the mom I was supposed to be," she said with tears in her eyes, looking at her younger son, Marcus Martinez, 10.

Frequently, she was chasing the next high. "I had built up a tolerance so I kept using more."

But  thanks to a second chance from a judge, help from others and her own grit  she has steered her life in the right direction.

On April 11, she marked six years of being clean and sober.

"It wasn't easy, but we did it together," said the 36-year-old Pontiac woman, looking at Marcus. "I knew I needed to do this if I wanted him back."

"She's awesome," Marcus said.

Hinshaw shared her story at the Institute for Human Resources (IHR) in Pontiac  where she successfully underwent outpatient treatment  as Marcus and Teresa Diemer, IHR substance abuse program director, listened.

"Anybody can recover," said Hinshaw. "It takes work. If I can do it, anybody can do it."

Her troubles began when she began drinking alcohol at age 14. "Everybody was drinking around me," she said, noting that within a year she had moved onto drugs: "That's what people were doing."

Hinshaw also did it to cope with anger. Growing up, her parents were separated. She was sexually molested at age 7.

"It took away anything I was feeling," she explained of the alcohol and drugs. "It was fun at the time. I didn't need to cope with issues. I wanted to rebel."

"I did cocaine, acid, weed, crystal meth and prescription drugs off the streets," she said. "It's pretty easy to get whatever you want." The drugs were given or sold to her by friends or family.

Her older son was born when she was 17 and she married his father when she was 18.

"He was into drugs and drinking," said Hinshaw. He physically abused her, so she left him.

"After I moved out, I really started drinking because I was away from my son. I didn't know what to do.

"I was introduced to heroin at age 18 or 19 by a family member," she said. "Everybody was doing it.

"I started snorting it. The high you get from it numbs every pain, every hurt. There's not a care in the world. It's an amazing feeling."

"It was on weekends at first. Then I wanted that feeling more. I got to the point that I was using it every day."

Hinshaw was waitressing so she was making enough money to buy heroin. When she'd stop taking it, she'd get "dope sick," which she described as worse than the flu. So she'd start using it again.

She took heroin by needle the first time at age 19. "With snorting, it could take 20 minutes to get high. Shooting up, you instantly get high. It took the sickness away," she said, adding she began shooting up daily  in her arms, feet, legs, fingers and hands.

"I quit working. I found you could go to Chicago and get heroin on the streets very cheaply." She'd buy 15 bags for $100. Each bag would have one or two uses.

"I'd ask people for money. I'd lie about what I needed it for."

Sometimes, she'd steal. "Heroin made me mean."

She ignored her positive relationships. "I had my using friends. We got along if we were going to get drugs."

From ages 16 to 30, she was arrested 16 times. Charges included marijuana possession, forgery and theft. In 2003, she spent nine months in prison for felony forgery.

Her estranged husband died of a heroin overdose. Her older son was raised by his paternal grandparents.

Hinshaw was bartending when she became reacquainted with Marcus's father. They used pain pills. She curtailed her use when she became pregnant with Marcus, who was born in 2006.

When she had an appendectomy, she was prescribed pain pills. Soon, she again was using heroin, as was Marcus's father, John Garcia Martinez Jr., and his mother.

Hinshaw lost her job so she began to sell drugs to make money to buy heroin and gasoline for trips to Chicago. Along the way, she saved lives when her heroin-using friends would overdose. She'd put them in a cold shower, administer rescue breaths and call an ambulance.

She overdosed once, walking out of the hospital after she woke up.

"I wanted to get clean. I tried treatment four or five times, but I always went back."

In 2010, after she and Marcus's father were arrested for stealing a computer to sell to make money for heroin, she went to a detox facility in Chicago for two months, then to jail.

"I knew I was facing five years in prison, but the judge (Jennifer Bauknecht) decided to give me this chance called intensive drug probation." It included going to the probation department daily for urine tests and intensive outpatient treatment at IHR. She also got involved with a 12-step recovery program.

Not wanting to be separated from Marcus again, Hinshaw embraced the chance. She completed outpatient treatment in January 2011.

"It was a lot of work but it was well worth it," she said. "It kept me on the right track. And Marcus was with me every step of the way."

When Marcus's father got out of prison, he went to talk with his mother. Several people were there using heroin. He did as well and died of an overdose on Jan. 31, 2011. His mother was convicted of drug-induced homicide.

"It was the worst experience ever," Hinshaw recalled. "He was the love of my life. We had plans to be married. The drugs weren't him as a person."

Becca graduated from the program in June 2012.

Today, she spends her days being a mom to Marcus and being involved with his sporting activities. Through IHR, she has begun speaking publicly about her experiences.

"It's difficult for me to get a job with a felony," she said, adding she hopes to get a job assisting people with their heroin recovery.

"Becca has worked really hard," Diemer said. "She deserves her recovery."

"I have a life now," said Hinshaw. "I want to continue to be a good mom and to stay clean.

"And I want to help people. This is my community."
The General Assembly has once again failed Central Illinois.

The announcement on Thursday that Exelon was closing its nuclear power plants in Clinton and near the Quad Cities is an illustration of our dysfunctional government. The people who will pay for this are the 1,500 employees at the two plants. Clinton and DeWitt County also will suffer, as it loses an estimated $15 million in property taxes each year. Communities from Decatur to Bloomington-Normal also will suffer.

Its also important to remember the families most directly affected. The loss or anticipated loss of a job is a stressful event and workers at both plants have our sympathy.

We dont go in for Chicago bashing, but no one should kid themselves. If these jobs were located in or near Chicago, this situation would have never happened.

A functional government would have addressed the issue, or at least given it a lot more effort. Instead, our political leaders spent the session bickering over a budget. The failure of legislation to address the nuclear plant issue is a direct result of the budget taking up the time of leaders, and rank-and-file legislators not having the power to move bills through the process.

The solution suggested by Exelon in its Next Generation Energy Plan is to provide nuclear power incentives similar to those given to wind and solar power. That makes a certain amount of sense, since nuclear power does not carry the environmental baggage that coal-based power plants have.

Exelon contends it has lost $800 million at the two plants over the last seven years and asked for a surcharge on the bills of electric customers to pay for the incentives.

The companys solution was, and is not, perfect. One problem is customers of Ameren Illinois would be asked for pay the surcharge, but would not benefit from the nuclear plants staying on the grid.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, didnt help with her over-the-top criticism of the companys plan. Showing no regard for the loss of jobs, Madigan said electric ratepayers shouldnt have to pay more in order to increase the profits of Exelon and ComEd. But taking these two power plants off the grid also will likely result in a rate increase. If Madigan wanted to insert herself in this issue, it should have been to help find a solution.

The situation required legislators and interest groups working out a compromise that would secure jobs in both communities. A compromise was possible, if the interested political parties had put the appropriate amount of time and energy into the process.

There remains a glimmer of hope that in the overtime special session the General Assembly can craft a bill that will work. But Exelon officials have made clear that the clock is ticking and time is short. The Clinton plant is expected to close in about a year, with the Quad Cities plant following a year later. De-commissioning a nuclear plant is a long, complicated process and there is a point of no return.

Illinois needs the clean power created by nuclear plants and the area needs the good-paying jobs at these plants. Our political leaders need to stand up for once and quit their bickering long enough to pass legislation that could benefit nearly everyone.
New data from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest the universe is expanding faster than expected. Scientists believe the rapid expansion rate could be caused by unknown subatomic particles or a mysterious anti-gravity force known as dark energy.

Astounding Numbers

In a joint statement released this week, NASA and the European Space Agency revealed that the universe is now expanding at a rate of 73.2 kilometers per second per megaparsec. That's 5 to 9 percent faster than what space experts previously predicted.

According to The Guardian, the new expansion rate means that the distances between heavenly bodies will double in another 10 billion years. Scientists accurately measured the value by studying and comparing the brightness of 2,400 Cepheid stars and 300 Type Ia supernovae stars in 19 galaxies.

Possible Scenarios

Dr. Brad Tucker, an astronomer at the Australian National University, said the increased rate of expansion could speed up what many astrophysicists call "The Big Rip," a concept in which the universe inflates to the point that it rips itself apart.

"The fabric of space and time will rip apart, causing the universe to end," Tucker told ABC. "The universe also could just keep growing and so it just runs out of stuff and turns into what we call the Big Freeze or an empty cold universe with no stars."

Some of Tucker's colleagues theorized that the increased expansion rate is due to the presence of yet to be determined subatomic particles lurking across the universe. Meanwhile, others say it is caused by dark energy, an anti-gravity force that's pushing galaxies away from each other more powerfully than ever before.

"Either something else is missing, as in there's a new type of substance we don't know, or the things we already know of are really weird and crazy and something funny is going on," said Tucker. "We either add something new or we really have to figure out what do we think about dark matter and dark energy and what they are."

In Topmost Condition

Phys.org reported that images from the Hubble Space Telescope were taken from Hubble's sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3. The Supernova H0 for the Equation of State (SHOES) team is the one responsible for rendering the images and making sure Hubble's cameras remain precise and accurate.
As tech moguls pave the new era of artificial intelligence (AI), the humanity is entering a dangerous time that might lead to the end of the world. A leading researcher has warned that AI is bound to wipe out humanity if scientists continue to create AI products that are not aligned with human's values and objectives.

AI Is Leading Humanity To The End Of The World

Ukrainian researcher Viktoriya Krakovna, co-founder of Future of Life Institute and Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University, told Express.co.uk that the extreme benefits brought by AI come with threats that might lead to the end of the world. Krakovna, who is one of the speakers at Europe's Brain Bar Budapest, said that scientists should be careful in creating AI that is more intelligent than humans as it might go beyond its purpose.

"The risk that human-level intelligent AI is not aligned with human values would be quite a large risk," Krakovna explained her theory about the possible end of the world. She cited an example that if scientists will build super-intelligent AI that can eradicate cancer, the machine might misinterpret that ending human life is the best way to get rid of cancer. She said that scientists should clearly specify that the purpose is to eradicate the cancer suffering while preserving human life.

"If we end up with a misspecified idea of human values then that could be really bad," Krakovna said. She, however, added that there is nothing to fear about AI and the possible end of the world as long as scientists would pay attention and align AI with human's values and objectives.

The Challenges Of AI Aside From The Possible End Of The World

The concerns of Krakovna about the possible end of the world have been echoed by Bill Gates during the recent Code Conference. The Microsoft boss said that while he is excited about the rise of AI, the real challenge is how to make sure that humans stay in control with the machines. He also added that another major challenge about the arrival of super-intelligent AI is that it will eliminate a lot of existing jobs.

Do you believe that the rise of AI leads humanity to the end of the world? Share your thoughts below.
Undergoing early intervention programs is vastly considered as a vital step for children with autism spectrum disorder to achieve their potential. A mother from Midlothian, Virginia agreed that early intervention works for autistic kids, but unfortunately, it is not being provided properly during the preschool years.

Early Intervention Programs Are Working For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Wendy Wender, a mother of an autistic boy named Milo, spoke to NBC 12 in an attempt to create awareness that early intervention programs are indeed working for children with autism spectrum disorder and her son is the proof. Unfortunately, though, the Virginia mom said that not all autistic kids are being provided with proper early intervention program during the preschool years.

Wender narrated that her son Milo, who was diagnosed with mild to moderate autism spectrum disorder when he was 18 months old, used to behave like a "wild animal." The Virginia mom said that after undergoing an early intervention program known as Applied Behavioral Analysis or ABA therapy for almost a year, Milo has now improved a lot.

ABA therapy has been validated by many studies as an effective early intervention program for children with autism spectrum disorder. Past research studies found that this early intervention program is highly effective in honing basic communication, play, motor and daily living skills of autistic kids.

Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Are Not Getting Proper Early Intervention Programs

Wender stated that it is very unfortunate that the federal government has made ABA therapy out of reach from families of children with autism spectrum disorder. The Virginia mom said that the federal government thought that the early intervention program is a mistake.

Now that the government removed the early intervention program, Wender said that she is worried about Milo's future. She also added that she feels bad for other parents whose children with autism spectrum disorder did not get ABA therapy. The Virginia mom pointed out that without the government, ABA therapy can be very expensive and not all families can afford it.

"They are not getting their right to thrive as a human being, our basic human rights," Wender asserted. With these, the Virginia mom is urging families of children with autism spectrum disorder to contact their lawmakers and encourage them to make early intervention programs like ABA therapy be accessible again.

Share your thoughts about the inaccessibility of proper early intervention programs for preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Leave some comments below.
Johnny Depp reportedly has a new girlfriend even while the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" actor has yet to settle divorce issues with ex-wife Amber Heard. The new woman Johnny Depp has been seen with is stealing attention away from the actor's dispute with ex-wife Amber Heard.

Perez Hilton reports that link between Johnny Depp and his alleged new girlfriend broke through while the "Black Mass" actor toured Denmark with his band, The Hollywood Vampires. Johnny Depp had reportedly been keeping busy with his night life despite domestic issues being aired out by Amber Heard.

According to E! News, the new woman that Johnny Depp had been seen with while Amber Heard issues flourished is stylist and make up artist Tina Deleuran. When Johnny Depp walked into the Under Masken bar in Denmark, Tina Deleuran had been hanging out with some friends.

Tina Deleuran admitted to trying to flirt with Johnny Depp and asking the ex of Amber Heard for a cigarette. Johnny Depp obliged and spent a bit of time talking with Tina Deleuran and her friends.

At no point did Johnny Depp bring up the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" actor's issues with Amber Heard. On her part, Tina Deleuran said she did not know about the news surrounding Johnny Depp and Amber Heard so no one brought up anything about the disputes.

Tina Deleuran also related that Johnny Depp had a bodyguard keeping watch over them the whole night. Earlier in the meeting between Johnny Depp and Tina Deleuran, the bodyguard suggested calling it a night so the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" actor could rest.

Johnny Depp, however, reportedly insisted on staying out a few more hours but gave his bodyguard a hug of appreciation. Johnny Depp therefrom spent an hour more or so to chat and laugh with Tina Deleuran and her friends.

Perez Hilton reports that Johnny Depp went back to his hotel with his staff and without Tina Deleuran. Johnny Depp also left Tina Deleuran and friends his packet of tobacco before he left Under Masken.
The pilot episode of "Outcast" has definitely set the pace for the new Cinemax show based on Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta's horror comic series. But what could happen after "A Darkness Surrounds Him?" Will Patrick Fugit's Kyle Barnes finally learn how he was able to exorcise the possessed young boy? And will he continue working with Philip Glenister's Reverend Anderson to save Rome from the demons in "Outcast" Episode 2?

"Outcast" Pilot Episode "A Darkness Surrounds Him" Recap

The first episode of "Outcast" opens with an unflinching look at a troubled young boy named Joshua Austin, who may or may not be possessed (via Vulture). "A Darkness Surrounds Him" also introduces Kyle Barnes, who is revealed to have been abused by his adoptive mother when he was a child but somehow managed to exorcise her on his own. A quick trip to the grocery with his sister helps Kyle find out about Joshua and he finds himself drawn to helping the boy. The confused Kyle tries to exorcise Joshua the way he dealt with his mother (and ex-wife) but discovers that there is an unusual way to drive the demons out.

The "Outcast" pilot hints that Robert Kirkman's new Cinemax series will get more terrifying with each episode, as Kyle Barnes slowly realizes that he could be the key to defeating the demons that are terrorizing the residents of Rome. But before that, Kyle Barnes needs to understand just what happened to his family.

What Will Happen In "Outcast" Episode 2 "(I Remember) When She Loved Me?"

The second episode of Robert Kirkman's "Outcast" will find Patrick Fugit's Kyle Barnes trying to learn about his past and understanding his family history. If the episode will be based on the "Outcast" comic book issue of the same name, "(I Remember) When She Loved Me" could feature another horrific possession that Kyle Barnes needs to deal with. "Outcast" Episode 2 will air on Cinemax on June 10.
The nation wants to ditch the letter grades and fully transition to a standard-based reporting system. Many schools across the country have started to do away with the A to F grading, but while some experience a success, parents of children in other schools are pushing back the traditional report card.

Too Long And Confusing

The new reporting system where the performance of a student is reported based on progress guides is deemed by many parents as confusing, lame and too long. "This tells me nothing," Kylie Spahn, a mother of a seventh-grader Jessica in Downers Grove, told the Chicago Tribune as she reviews several pages of her daughter's report card. It contains progress guides on each subject and details which standards Jessica has already achieved or is still working on.

Clearly, there are parents who are having a hard time comprehending the detailed report card and some don't bother to read them anymore because they are "information overload." Kids themselves agree with their parents. Sam, 8, of Central Bucks told Philly.com, "They're too vague."

Why Ditch A to F Grades

Academic experts say that A to F grades tend to be problematic because they are a mix of several factors and not just on student achievements. In addition to student's learnings on subject areas, factors such as their study habits and attitude, like whether they submit their work on time, are also given points and calculated into the final grade, per the Chicago Tribune. Meanwhile, in the standards-based grading, these habits and attitude are taken separately. How they are progressing based on specific standards are described by simple phrases such as "exceeding standards" or "progressing toward standards."

Parents don't seem ready yet to get into this culture shift and that means a lot more work for the academe. The backlash from parents is still strong at this point that some schools decided to revert to the old-school report cards. "We decided we would keep the letter grades for now. We don't believe in that, but we work for the parents, and we respect their input," said Jeff Zoul, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at Lake County's Deerfield Public School District 109.
Did you know that a public health emergency fund for health threats, such as the Ebola virus and the recent global epidemic Zika Virus, exists? Unfortunately, the said fund is reportedly empty, making several public health experts and advocates feel frustrated.

The citizens of the United States may already have an idea that there's a standing fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency for calamities and disasters. It can reportedly be replenished if the funds are spent to address natural disasters.

No Zika Virus Funding?

Several experts, however, are disappointed that the said fund is limited for disastrous responses. But how about in times when health threats strike? According to NPR, officials need to beg Congress for money and they also have to patiently wait for approval.

In contrary to the belief that a fund for health threats is nonexistent, there has been such a fund known as the public health emergency fund, which was established in 1983 by Congress with an initial funding appropriation of $30 million. However, no money is in it today.

Congress Not Supporting Obama's $1.9 Billion Request For Zika Virus Response?

Based on an Annenberg Public Policy Center survey, 63 percent of the public reportedly backed U.S. President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion request in February for a fund to deal with health threats without begging the Congress. Sadly, the House didn't allocate any money to combat the virus.

Due to the lack of support from Congress, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Thomas Frieden criticized the House. According to Frieden, the Congress is allowing people to drown when they have "the ability to stop" it, The New Yorker reports.

"You're standing by and you see someone drowning, and you have the ability to stop them from drowning, but you can't," Frieden told Congress.

Senate Approves Zika Response Bill

Even though Congress only agreed to allocate $622 million for the Zika virus response, the Senate has approved a spending bill that will give the administration $1.1 billion for the efforts to combat the burgeoning Zika cases. The fund will reportedly be used to control the virus-carrying mosquitoes as well as for research purposes.

It will also fund the efforts to find a vaccine and to develop more accurate Zika infection. The $1.1 billion fund also aims to find effective approaches to deal with the birth defects associated with the virus.

CDC Calls For Permanent Fund

Due to the "urgent and usual" emergence of Zika virus, Frieden is urging the government to allot a permanent fund to combat the virus. He also called for an immediate action from the legislators so funds will be available after three months.

"In a public health emergency, speed is critical," Frieden said in his speech at the National Press Club. "A day, a week, a month can make all of the difference."

WHO Expanding List Of Birth Defects Linked To Zika Virus

As Zike virus becomes a global health threat, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reportedly expanded the list of birth defects associated with the virus. WHO warned that Zika does not also cause microcephaly but there are also indications that the virus can possibly cause cardiac issues, disproportionate faces, seizures, eye problems and feeding difficulties, Quartz reveals.

What do you think about the government's response to stop the Zika Virus? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
So I checked my twitter feed this morning and saw a link to an article on the impact of the $15 minimum wage in New York on car washes. According to the article, New York, unlike much of the rest of the country, relied on manual labor rather than automated car washes because of the abundance of cheap, immigrant labor, which, until a decade ago, worked under the table for small hourly wages plus tips. But, as the Reason article describes,

The situation started to change in 2008, when state investigators conducted the first car wash sweeps in recent memory. The following year, the U.S. Department of Labor settled a lawsuit against one of the citys largest operators, with cumulative back wages and damages totaling $4.7 million. In 2012, the retail workers union and two affiliated labor groups launched WASH New York, a campaign to organize employees of the citys more than 200 car washes. Last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the Car Wash Accountability Act, which created a punitive new licensing regime.

The article goes on to say that, inevitably, New York car wash companies will move to automation, and, instead of $15/hour jobs, the employees will have no jobs at all.

And that may indeed be true for these particular companies, because the close attention from the city, and the unionization, means they wont be able to just slip back into the shadow economy.

But it seems to me that for a large number of small businesses, the impact of a dramatic increase in the minimum wage will be exactly that: a move to paying (some of) their employees off the books.

Back many, many years ago, I had a part-time job at a dry cleaners in high school, and it was well-known that the white high school girls who worked at the counter for minimum wage were paid on the up-and-up, but that the black men in the back were paid in cash, off the books, or paid a mix of cash and properly-recorded time. (Remember, this was a Detroit suburb, in the 1980s; in other times and places, itd be immigrants, but there, it was men from Detroit coming to the suburbs for work.) How much they were paid, and whether they accepted a lower-than-market wage, because they didnt need to pay taxes (and could keep welfare benefits, or perhaps pay less in child suport), I dont know. Whether this still continues there, or how prevalent it is, I also dont know, and theres not much out there to be found via google, with the largest number of links saying, its hard to measure.

But here are a couple links:

A study from 2011, which was footnoted in the Wikipedia article on the topic, the key bit of which is this table:

The details behind the calculation of these two figures are in the article itself, but they seem to track each other well, and whichever method is correct, this is a high level of unreported income.

and a CNBC article from 2013, which reports:

I think the underground economy is quite big in the U.S., said Alexandre Padilla, associate professor of economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Whether its using undocumented workers or those here legally, its pretty large. You normally see underground economies in places like Brazil or in southern Europe, said Laura Gonzalez, professor of personal finance at Fordham University. But with the job situation and the uncertainty in the economy, its not all that surprising to have it growing here in the United States. Estimates are that underground activity last year totaled as much as $2 trillion, according to a study by Edgar Feige, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thats double the amount in 2009, according to a study by Friedrich Schneider, a professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. The study said the shadow economy amounts to nearly 8 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.

Absent from this latter article, or similar ones, is any attempt by the feds to stop the practice. In fact, it wasnt all that long ago that we read about communities establishing day worker centers that explicitly accomodate such practices when it comes to immigrant workers.

So what happens if more work shifts to the underground economy, or a hybrid like the dry cleaners workers receiving their pay partly in cash? Would the government be more willing to ramp up its efforts to eliminate it if it otherwise risks being an even larger share of the economy?

Image: a car wash. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACar_Wash%2C_San_Bernardino%2C_CA.jpg; By Cogart Strangehill (Ext. Car Wash, San Bernardino, CA) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Tierra Sagrada (Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust) is the name of a Global Day of Prayer and action for Climate Change on June 12 .

June 12 marks six months after the Paris Climate Agreement and coincides with the celebration of International Environment Day (June 5) and the first anniversary of the publication of Pope Franciscos Encyclical Laudato Si (June 18).

A record 175 countries have already signed the Paris Climate Agreement. Laudable yes; but we are still set for temperature rises well above the critical 1.5  C limit that governments approved, and that scientists, activists and vulnerable communities are fighting for with the weltschmerz cry of 1.5 to Stay Alive. We must stand with them and we must be heard!

The participation of each and every one of us at this point is key, not only to pressure governments to comply with the Paris Agreement but to increase their commitments and the chances of survival for human beings and many other species that are Gods creation.

Latin America is Leading the Way

In Santiago de Chile, the Ecumenical Coalition for Creation Care is organizing a major interfaith Earth act simultaneously highlighting the alarming fallout of communities in socio-environmental conflicts in the regions.

In Colombia, Bogotas Interfaith Ecotheology Group will host a major event at a metropolitan park which will be shared through an innovative social media network created for the purpose of promoting integral ecology.

In the Dominican Republic, the Capuchins will hold a course about the encyclical Laudato Si and will unite their voices with those who profess that the earth is One Sacred and Interconnected Web of Life, in need of our moral stewardship and corresponding reverence.

You are invited to join this campaign for an Earth that is sacred. She nourishes, sustains, and welcomes us. Gaia is our home, our sacred charge deserving of our time, awareness, and contemplative attention.

The Dylan Connection

Bob Dylans legendary ballad, Blowin in the Wind poses a series of rhetorical questions: How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? How many years must some people exist before theyre allowed to be free? How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesnt see?

The refrain, The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous; either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind. *

When I reflect on the contentious and inflammatory issue of climate change on our planet, I contend that the answer to our strife is not to be found in the impenetrable ambiguity of political posturing: It is to be found in the human heart.

We are all aware of the indisputable and threatening climate data of our times. Thats the heady, intellectual hardware we mostly operate from. Now With uplifted hearts, lets give thanks for Earths many blessings, celebrate our amazement at how wonderful the planet is and our outrage at the extent of its destruction and contamination. Let us show inter-species solidarity with all the living, conscious forms of life who share this planet with us.

So mark your calendars: June 12 Global Day of Prayer and Climate Action. Logo: 1.5C to Stay Alive: paint it on your forehead; on a school mural; compose a YouTube Video (Song); or simply post it using #SacredEearth2016 on Twitter, Instagram, FB . . you get the drift.

Join the Universal Cause for a Safer, Healthier, more prosperous and ultimately Flourishing Planet we call home.

Image Insert: Pixabay

* Mick Gold, Life and Life Only: Dylan at 60, in Judas! Magazine, April 2002, p.43


News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
"Lantouri" wins best film award at 2nd Zurich Iranian Film Festival

06/05/16

Source: Tehran Times

The social drama "Lantouri" by Reza Dormishian, has won the Best Film Award at the 2nd Zurich Iranian Film Festival which was held in Zurich, Switzerland from May 26 to June 1, 2016.



Director Reza Dormishian holds his award which is in the shape of the Cyrus Cylinder.



Starring Baran Kowsari and Milad Mohammadzadeh, the film is about a lower class young man who falls in love with a beautiful, upper class young woman. But after the woman refuses to marry the man, he pours acid over her in a vicious act of revenge.





A scene from Lantouri



Shahram Shah-Hosseini's social drama "The Girl's House" also won the Audience Award, while the jury honored "The Man Who Became a Horse" by Amir-Hossein Saqafi, the organizers have announced on the festival website.

"The Girl's House" tells the bitter story of Samira, a girl who is found dead on the eve of her wedding ceremony, and the investigation into the cause of her suspicious death.

"The Man Who Became a Horse" is about a middle-aged man who conveys his wife to the hospital as a narrative comes to explore the extremely deranged state of the inner world of the man who is overwhelmed by self-pity.

Bernadette "Bernie" Meier, archivist at various TV and press archives for the Swiss Film Archive in Zurich, Robert M. Richter, Managing Director of Cinelibre (Swiss Association of Film Societies and Non Profit Cinemas), Olivia Heussler, a freelance photographer, Martin Girod, active in film programming and managing arthouse cinemas, along with Annette Scharnberg, working for "Kulturplatz" - Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen were the jury members of the feature film category.



Zurich Iranian Film Festival


Kerry Deplores Doctoring Of Official Video On Iran Nuclear Talks

06/05/16

Source: RFE/RL

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "clumsy and stupid and inappropriate" that someone in the department's press office edited out embarrassing footage in a press briefing on the Iran nuclear talks.



U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had back-channel talks over the Iran nuclear deal.



Two committees of Congress said on June 3 that they were investigating evidence that several minutes of a videotape of a December 2, 2013 department news briefing were deleted, during which a spokeswoman was answering a question about the secret negotiations between the United States and Iran which led to last year's Iran nuclear deal.

In the edited section, then department spokeswoman Jen Psaki appeared to confirm a Fox News reporter's assertion that a previous spokesman had deliberately concealed the back-channel talks when they were occurring behind the scenes.

A key quote by Psaki, who is now director of communications at the White House, was edited out: "There are times where diplomacy needs privacy. This is a good example of that."

Speaking to reporters in Paris on June 3, Kerry said the doctoring was "unacceptable," and he is investigating the matter.

"Whatever happened was both clumsy and stupid and inappropriate, and I'm trying to find out more details... I would like to find out exactly what happened and why," he said.

Psaki has denied ordering the doctoring, and Kerry said he believed her.

"There's no question in my mind she didn't even know about this and was as surprised and taken aback as I am," he said.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked the department for more information, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has asked the department's inspector general to investigate the matter.

In a letter to Kerry released on June 3, Representative Jason Chaffetz asked for documents identifying the official or officials involved in editing the videotape. Chaffetz, the oversight and government reform panel's chairman, said he was making the request "to better understand the facts and circumstances surrounding the deletion."

Separately, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce asked the department's Inspector General Steve Linnick on June 3 to open an investigation, saying that the department's explanation "raises disturbing questions."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Kaboovand, Jailed Iranian Rights Activist On Hunger Strike, Close To Death

06/05/16 Source: Radio Zamaneh

Mohammad Sedigh Kaboodvand jailed Iranian journalist and activist is approaching 30 days on hunger strike and doctors have been trying to prevent him from going into cardiac arrest. His potassium levels dropping to dangerously low levels.



Mohammad Sedigh Kaboovand



Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on that despite the gravity of his health the judiciary has not made any attempts at addressing the protesting political prisoners' demands.

Since winter of 2015, Kaboodvand has been repeatedly summoned to court and slapped with new charges. He has denied all the charges and since May 8, Kaboodvand begun a hunger strike in protest to the judiciary's failure to consolidate the proceedings.

Low potassium levels due to the persistent hunger strike are causing blood cloths and putting Kaboodvand at immediate danger of cardiac arrest.

The political activist was hospitalized on the 13th day of his hunger strike when his health had already taken a turn for the worse but was returned to Evin Prison on May 22.

Iran: Wrongfully imprisoned Kurdish human rights defender's life hangs in the balance https://t.co/AfWAi7zMPi pic.twitter.com/Ql69Ua7744  amnestypress (@amnestypress) June 2, 2016

Mohammad Sedigh Kaboodvand was arrested in July of 2007 for "acting against national security" by running the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also sentenced to an additional year in jail for "propaganda against the regime".

Kaboodvand's publishing of Payam-e Mardom weekly magazine also earned him another year in prison and five years ban from media activities.

New charges have now been laid against Kaboodvand in connection with publishing a booklet regarding women's rights and the violation of these rights in Iran.

Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi issued a statement on Tuesday May 31 drawing attention to Kaboodvand's dire situation and calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Many Iranian political prisoners in recent years have chosen to go on hunger strike and seriously compromise their health in protest to the failure of the judiciary to address their challenges against the justice system.
US must take concrete, objective steps on JCPOA: Iranian FM

06/05/16

Source: Press TV

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the US should take more objective steps to guarantee international banking transactions with Iran under last years nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries.



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) shakes hands with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Tehran on June 5, 2016. (photo by

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) shakes hands with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Tehran on June 5, 2016. (photo by Islamic Republic News Agency

In our view, the first step toward facilitating banking transactions has been taken, but the Americans must now resolutely and seriously take objective steps [in this regard], Zarif said in a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Tehran on Sunday.

He added that Iran is closely monitoring all the outcomes of the process.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - plus Germany started implementing the nuclear agreement clinched by the two sides, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on January 16.

Under the deal, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US would be lifted. Iran has, in return, put some limitations on its nuclear activities. However, many large European banks still refrain from engaging in transactions with Iran for the fear of US penalties.

Zarif also pointed to cordial relations between Iran and Armenia and the exchange of visits between their officials and expressed hope that constant consultations will help expand the two countries relations and promote regional peace, development and welfare.

He said Tehran and Yerevan have the potential to strengthen cooperation in the international scene, adding, Regarding the recent crisis in the Karabakh region, we urge the two sides to exercise self-restraint and are ready to make all efforts for the establishment of peace and security in the region.

In early April, Azerbaijani and Armenian troops used artillery, tanks, and other armaments against each other on a scale not seen since a separatist war concluded in 1994. According to reports, nearly 75 servicemen from both sides along with a number of civilians were killed in the latest skirmishes between the hostile neighbors.

A Russian-mediated truce went into effect later that month, but sporadic clashes have since continued.

The Karabakh region, which is located in the Azerbaijan Republic but is populated by Armenians, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian militia and the Armenian troops since a three-year war which claimed over 30,000 lives and ended in 1994.

Zarif further called for an appropriate level of economic cooperation between Tehran and Yerevan and said the two sides can expand and facilitate projects with regional countries in the gas, electricity and railway sectors.

The Armenian foreign minister, for his part, said his country regards the JCPOA as the biggest political event in 2015, adding that the nuclear agreement can be a model for the settlement of many conflicts.

Nalbandian added that Armenia is ready to boost banking transactions with Iran.
Iran Blasts US Report That Tehran Sponsors Terrorism

06/05/16

Source: VOA

As it has in previous years, Iran on Sunday denounced a recent U.S. State Department report that identified the country as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.





cartoon by Javad Tarighi Akbarpor, Fars News Agency, Iran



An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman instead charged that U.S. ally Saudi Arabia was the real leader in funding terrorist activity and claimed that Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world."

"While U.S. allies in the region in various ways support Daesh [IS] and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria," Hossein Jaber Ansari is quoted as saying on state-run Iranian television.

State Department report

The U.S. State Department published its latest annual report Thursday, in which it said Iran increased its support of Palestinian militants in Gaza last year and supported Hezbollah fighters trying to bolster the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In addition to supporting these groups, Iran also provides weapons and financial support to anti-Israel militants like Hamas, the report said.

Iran, however, defended its support for Palestinian militants, saying they have the right to resist Israel's occupation.
Lockheed may sell Iran commercial helicopters

06/05/16

Source: Press TV

Lockheed Martin Corp, the largest arms maker in the US, is said to be considering the idea, Reuters reported Saturday, citing an official with Sikorsky, a subsidiary of the company. The choppers could be Sikorsky's S-76 and longer-range S-92.

Sikorsky vice-president of sales and marketing Nathalie Previte made the comments at the Berlin Air Show, further seeking a green light from authorities in Washington.

"I want to understand the US government's policy about what can be done and what can we not do, and really clear everything with the U.S. government even before we start completing the analysis," Previte said.

Apart from working on the US government's regulatory and compliance issues, the company is also studying which of its products could be sold in Iran.

Another Lockheed vice-president, Steve O'Bryan said the company would approach the sales with caution.

"We're looking at it, of course, but we're going to take a very conservative approach on this," he said.

This is the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that the company is looking into a transaction with Tehran.

Boeing and Airbus are two other Western companies vying to enter the Iranian market.

Myriads of foreign companies are rushing to invest in Iran after last year's nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers.
In November 2012, about 40 employees of BLB Resources, an Irvine real estate firm, gathered in a room festooned with balloons to celebrate a colleague who was deploying to Afghanistan.

Kevin Ziober, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, dug into a cake decorated with an American flag and the words, Best Wishes Kevin in red, white and blue. I texted my brother, my mom and my grandma to tell them, What a great sendoff! he recalls.

Three hours later, as he was packing up his desk, the 43-year-old was terminated from his $180,000 a year job. He was told, he said, that the project he was working on would likely not outlast his year overseas.

A federal law, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, gives military service members the right to recover their jobs when they return from war. But since 2014, after Ziober got back to Orange County and filed a lawsuit, BLB has been battling to force him into a private arbitration proceeding, rather than allow his court case to proceed.

Ziobers case comes as opposition to mandatory arbitration is gaining national traction, part of a growing debate over whether corporate policies are fueling economic inequality. Last month, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to prevent banks and credit card companies from using arbitration to prevent customers from filing class-action lawsuits.

Forced arbitration contracts in the nonunion workforce, once rare, have exploded since a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door for companies to require them as a condition of employment.

Six years ago, a UC Berkeley study estimated that 27 percent of employers were making workers sign agreements waiving their rights to a court hearing in the event of a dispute  a figure that experts say has risen since then.

Consumer and labor groups say arbitration, which takes place behind closed doors with no public accountability and no right of appeal, can be unfair to workers. Private arbitrators, paid by companies, depend on employers for repeat business and so have been accused of bias.

Businesses, however, prefer arbitration to open court proceedings, which can be more costly and protracted. Arbitration, by requiring individual treatment of each case, also protects companies from class-action lawsuits in which employees might be more likely to prevail.

BLB Resources, the company that fired Ziober, believes an arbitration agreement provides a more efficient and expeditious manner to resolve claims, said BLBs attorney Lonnie Giamela, adding that the Navy reservist had voluntarily signed the arbitration agreement shortly after he was hired.

A U.S. district court in Santa Ana ruled in July 2014 that Ziobers case had to go to arbitration. Next month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena will hear his claim that the federal law protecting service members jobs also protects their right to go to court.

Last year, the California Legislature passed a bill to forbid retaliation against workers who refuse to sign mandatory arbitration agreements giving up their right to sue. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown after the California Chamber of Commerce labeled it a job killer.

However, Browns veto message left open a small window, saying, If abuses remain, they should be specified and solved by targeted legislation, not a blanket prohibition.

With that in mind, the Consumer Attorneys of California, a Sacramento-based association, teamed up this year with Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, on a bill to prohibit employers from forcing reservists into arbitration over disputes arising when they are called to deploy.

Eight veterans groups, including the National Guard Association of California, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, backed the bill, AB2879. According to the National Guard, 583 cases of employer retaliation against its members arose in California last year.

The bill passed two Assembly committees after veterans, including a Rancho Cordova Army reservist who was forced into arbitration after losing his auto parts sales job, testified in favor.

But the state Chamber of Commerce placed the bill on its 2016 job killer list, saying it would lead to confusion and litigation. Business lobbying against the measure was fierce.

In a Sacramento Bee op-ed, chamber ally Ken Barnes, executive director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, wrote that arbitration agreements allow for higher wages, because without them, employers would be forced to set aside large amounts of cash for legal expenses.

On Thursday, Stone withdrew the bill after opposition from Republicans, allied with a caucus of business-backed Democrats, made clear it would be defeated.

With mandatory arbitration, most workers have no idea they are signing away their constitutional right to a jury trial in favor of a rigged system, said Elise Sanguinetti, president of the Consumer Attorneys of California. She expressed surprise that certain members of the Assembly would choose to side with big business over protecting our veterans.

On Wednesday, the day before the veterans bill died, the full Assembly voted to defeat a separate measure that would have limited mandatory arbitration in civil rights and discrimination cases.

In one case, a woman with breast cancer was forced into arbitration over an age and disability claim after being dismissed by her college. Because arbitrators are not bound by the same rules as courts, her counsel was unable to compel any documents or take depositions, which were needed to corroborate disparate treatment between their client and younger, healthier students, according to the consumer attorneys group.

All Orange County Assembly members voted against the civil rights arbitration measure, with the exception of the delegations lone Democrat, Tom Daly, who did not vote. Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, who voted against both bills  the veterans measure in committee and the civil rights legislation on the floor  did not respond to a request for comment.

Three other bills to limit mandatory arbitration, all narrowly tailored, have passed the California Senate and will move to Assembly committees in coming weeks.

One addresses elder abuse claims against nursing homes. Another concerns California plaintiffs forced to travel long distances for arbitration because their company headquarters are located outside the state. A third bill seeks to place ethics-related rules on arbitration companies.

Meanwhile, Ziober, theNavy reservist, is hoping for the passage of federal legislation introduced last month by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to clarify that reservists are exempt from mandatory arbitration.

Ziober is settled in a new job as a real estate manager for a federal agency in Santa Ana, albeit at half his old salary. But he plans to pursue his arbitration case up to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to shed light on discrimination by companies who find it inconvenient to have their workers take leave to serve in the armed forces.

We have the strongest military in the world, which makes us the safest nation in the world, Ziober said. We cant have soldiers and sailors afraid to represent their country because they might lose their jobs through an arbitration process which is pro-employer.

Contact the writer: mroosevelt@ocregister.com; Twitter @MargotRoosevelt
9:35 a.m. UPDATE

Authorities cautiously lifted some evacuation orders but warned serious challenges remained Sunday as crews working in thick brush and jagged terrain protected homes and worked around the clock to stop the progress of a brush fire that torched the populated hills northwest of Los Angeles.

Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and calmer winds as they attacked the eastern and southern edges of the blaze, which was held to just over 500 acres, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said.

He said it was our number one priority to get those two flanks contained, adding that the fire was hung up on the mid-slope of steep canyons, making a direct attack difficult. Hot, dry conditions a day earlier led to spot fires that had crews scrambling, Tripp said.

The fire was 30 percent contained and residents of the prosperous and semi-rural area of Calabasas were being allowed back into their homes, many of which were without electricity. Evacuation orders remained in the hilly enclave of Topanga.

Sheriffs officials said some 3,000 homes were threatened and about 5,000 residents were evacuated at the height of the fire, which was sparked by a car crash that downed power lines.

Three homes were damaged, but the extent of the damage wasnt clear, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Keith Mora said. Other buildings, including some at a city park, also were damaged.

Fifty-foot-high flames erupted on ridges and embers turned trees into torches Saturday afternoon. The fire flared as Southern California sweltered under temperatures that hit the mid-90s in many places. Sundays high in Calabasas was expected to be around 86.

Flames raced through drought-dry brush and came within yards of million-dollar homes. The smoke could be seen across the region and a dusting of ash rained down on neighborhoods more than 30 miles away.

Some horse owners in the area put the animals in trailers and hauled them away.

Authorities set up an evacuation center for people with large animals at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Around 200 firefighters, aided by bulldozers and water-dropping helicopters were on the scene. Three firefighters sustained minor injuries, officials said.

8:10 a.m. UPDATE

CALABASAS  Authorities lifted some evacuation orders after crews working through the night protected homes and held a brush fire in the populated hills northwest of Los Angeles to just over 500 acres  but serious challenges remain.

Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp says firefighters hope to get the eastern and southern flanks of the blaze surrounded before temperatures soar again Sunday. Tripp says hot, dry conditions a day earlier led to spot fires that had crews scrambling.

The fire is 30 percent contained and residents of Calabasas are being allowed back into their homes, which may be without electricity. Evacuation orders remain in the hilly enclave of Topanga.

Sheriffs officials said some 3,000 homes were threatened and about 5,000 residents were evacuated at the fires height Saturday. Three homes sustained minor damage.



EARLIER COVERAGE:

CALABASAS  A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter is expected to fly above the scene of a brush fire in Calabasas this morning to determine an approximate time of when a fire that has consumed about 516 acres in Calabasas will be contained.

Dozens of fire units from Los Angeles County and city departments were battling a brush fire that was threatening about 3,000 homes in Calabasas, according to Los Angeles County Supervising Dispatcher Michael Pittman..

Around a half-dozen neighborhoods in the path of the fire were evacuated, including mandatory evacuations at Calabasas Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville and voluntary evacuations in adjacent areas forcing an estimated 5,000 people out of their homes, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Roland Sprewell.

Three fires that broke out in the area were reported just after 4 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Two of the blazes were in the area of Mulholland Highway and Old Topanga Canyon Road in Calabasas; the other at Kittridge Street and Valley Circle in West Hills.

The West Hills fire was doused at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday, but the Calabasas fires combined and have grown to consume about 516 acres, fire officials said

A captain at the scene said at about 11 p.m. Saturday that the blaze  a result of the two fires that joined  was 20 percent contained as the flames receded some in increased humidity and lower breezes and temperatures.

Three homes were damaged, according to reports from the scene.

Up to 1,000 fire personnel were assigned to the blaze, Sprewell said. They include Los Angeles County firefighters and mutual aid from Los Angeles city, Ventura and other area departments.

Some may be released during the night because the fire has died down quite a bit, he said.

The flames were expected to flare up again this morning, Sprewell said.

One firefighter suffered a minor injury, he said.

The cause was still under investigation.

A vehicle hit a pole at 4:06 p.m. Saturday, downing lines and causing outages, David Song of Southern California Edison said, but he left it to fire officials to determine if the downed power lines were linked to the blaze.

About 180 customers were without power, and Edison will try to restore it Sunday.

Video from news helicopters overhead showed water drops from fire helicopters and tankers over Calabasas homes to prevent the nearby flames from spreading to them.

Fixed wing aircraft were released from the fire due to nightfall, authorities said. Three helicopters have night vision capabilities but have less water capacity than tankers.

Evacuation centers were set up at Agoura High School 28545 W. Driver Ave. and at Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills for people with animals, Sprewell said.

The California Highway Patrol has issued a SigAlert closing Topanga Canyon Boulevard from Pacific Coast Highway and Cezanne Avenue due to the brush fire.
Young people all over the Inland area are graduating from high school this month, and some may not yet know what they want to do with their lives.

Thats where their smartphone may be able to help.

Riverside architecture firm Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke created a free career finder app for iPhones as the first project of its new innovation lab.

Be  Career Discovery launched in May and already has several hundred users, said Josh Sanabria, the architect who built the app.

WHAT IS THE APP?

The app offers information about more than 200 careers in STEAM fields  science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Each career slide briefly describes the job, the level of required education, the pay range from entry level to advanced and the type of skills that would be useful, such as logic, creativity and teamwork.

Its featured careers range from artistic to technical, such as glass blower, cybersecurity engineer, auditor, veterinarian and dialysis technician. Sanabria said he plans to add more careers.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Its similar to the dating app Tinder.

Users swipe right if they like what they read about a job and want to know more. They swipe left if theyre not interested. Individuals can scroll through the information, rank their top three career choices and share them on social media. So far, toy designer is in first place by a long shot, Sanabria said.

WHY DID ARCHITECTS MAKE THIS?

Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke is a 65-year-old company that designed Riverside City Hall, the county law library and numerous homes around town. But much of its work has been educational facilities, with more than 1,800 of them to its name in Southern California. Roger Clarke, a principal at the company established, said that after designing many learning environments, he wanted to create something fun students could relate to.

The company created its innovation lab in January to branch out from its business focus to other creative endeavors. Exploring interests makes people more well-rounded, Clarke said, which can help them improve at their career.

COULD THIS APP REALLY HELP?

Robin Ellison, a guidance counselor at Moreno Valleys Rancho Verde High School, said the app is a valuable tool.

The Val Verde Unified School District, uses career inventory tests to point students toward fields that match their skills. It also hosts college and career days. But not every student finds his path that way, Ellison said.

I would say probably more than half of them are not sure what they want to do after high school, she said.

Ellison has heard of other career apps for smartphones and thinks they could be a good way to reach young people.

As many avenues as we can provide them to use, I think is a good opportunity  they cant live without their cellphones.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com
A nationwide recall of more than 7,000 2014 and 2015 Ford Police Interceptor SUVs has prompted Southern California law enforcement agencies to take precautions, inspecting same-year models in their fleets for safety and making repairs if necessary.

At least one accident and one injury have occurred related to the problem that sparked the recall, according to Ford Motor Co.s recall notice.

A majority of law enforcement agencies across the country began transitioning to the Police Interceptor SUVs two years ago after Ford retired the Crown Victoria, the longtime signature patrol vehicle for law enforcement.

The recall, announced April 27, covers all 2014 and 2015 Police Interceptor SUVs built at Fords Chicago assembly plant from Jan. 21, 2014, through May 13, 2014, said Elizabeth Weigandt, safety communications manager for Ford.

Poor welding of the left and right rear suspension toe links could cause them to fracture, resulting in rear suspension noise, difficulty steering or loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.

Weigandt said the recall affects 7,675 Interceptors nationwide, but she could not say how many law enforcement agencies received recall notices.

We are working with our suppliers to expedite parts as quickly as possible, she said.

While representatives from most of the law enforcement agencies contacted for this story said they have not received recall notices, they are having their vehicles inspected for safety none-theless.

INLAND EMPIRE

The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department is garaging all 58 of its 2014 and 2015 Interceptors until they are inspected by a qualified Ford mechanic to ensure they are safe, department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.

Nearly every station has a vehicle affected and taken out of service, Bachman said. It is not affecting our entire fleet, and we have enough vehicles to supplement until repairs can be made by Ford.

As such, the streets will see no reduction in the number of vehicles on patrol, she said.

We still have Crown Victorias within our fleet that are being utilized as substitutions, Bachman said.

A sheriffs deputy, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some deputies have been assigned old Crown Victorias that were taken out of service after 100,000 miles and stripped of their radios, shotgun racks and wire mesh screens, per department policy.

The decommissioned vehicles are either sold at auction or used for driver training courses at the departments Emergency Vehicle Operations Center in Devore, the deputy said.

Bachman said that when the Interceptor SUVs were taken out of service, two vehicles from the Emergency Vehicle Operations Center were temporarily used, but they had low mileage and were in great shape.

The San Bernardino Police Department has two 2015 Explorers in its fleet, but the vehicle identification numbers were checked and neither vehicle is subject to the recall, Chief Jarrod Burguan said.

In Riverside County, sheriffs Deputy Michael Vasquez said his departments fleet services division contacted Ford and learned that none of the departments patrol units has been recalled.

We are still looking into other non-patrol vehicles used in day-to-day operations to see if any are subject to the recall, Vasquez said in an email.

Fifty percent of Riverside Police Departments fleet are Ford Explorer models, but to date, the department has not received a recall notice, said Riverside police Lt. Christian Dinko.

Our fleet manager had checked and confirmed we didnt have any that had recalls pending for them, Dinco said.

But the department historically has had protocol in place to address vehicle recalls as they occur.

When we have recalls on vehicles, we have a couple dealers in town that will handle the recall issues and make sure parts are available for us, Dinko said. The dealers pick up the vehicles, repair and deliver them as quick as possible.

Ontario police Sgt. Jeff Higbee said his department has 47 Police Interceptors in its fleet that are being inspected to see if they are subject to the recall, but none has been identified yet.

None of the 15 2015 Interceptors in the Rialto Police Departments fleet has been recalled because none originated from the Chicago assembly line, Rialto police Chief Randy DeAnda said.

Our cars came from Michigan, said DeAnda, adding that his department received the vehicles last summer.

LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTIES

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department is the only law enforcement agency contacted for this story that has had vehicles in its fleet subject to the recall.

Of the agencys roughly 200 Ford Explorers, three were recalled, and all three were 2014 models, department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said.

The department did not receive a recall notice from Ford but learned the vehicles were recalled through the VIN numbers, Nishida said.

The Los Angeles Police Department could not provide its fleet numbers or say if any of its vehicles were recalled.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department has 48 Interceptors in service, 20 in stock being outfitted for future service and 100 on order. While the department has not received any recall notices, its fleet manager touched base with a Ford representative, department spokeswoman Carrie Braun said.

The determination for now is that they will leave all of their vehicles in service until Ford releases an official list of affected VIN numbers, Braun said.

At least six other Orange County law enforcement agencies  the Anaheim, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach and La Palma police departments  have Interceptors in their fleets or are phasing them into their fleets. None, however, has received recall notices, representatives of those agencies said.

RECALLS RISING

Ross Macdonald, chief marketing officer for AutoAP, a Portland, Ore.-based company that offers safety recall management services for public and private fleets, said recalls pose an administrative burden on fleet commanders, especially those working for law enforcement agencies.

He said VIN numbers should be checked daily to see if any vehicles are affected by a recall.

If youre not checking every VIN every day, you could be missing recalls, Macdonald said.

Vehicle recalls have proliferated in the past two years. Since 2014, the auto industry has issued an average of 2.3 recalls a day, affecting about 139,000 vehicles daily, Macdonald said.

While a push for stronger automotive safety standards by the government and consumer advocacy groups is one popular belief attributed to increasing recalls, Macdonald believes another reason could be defective components provided to automakers by their suppliers.

An example, he said, is the recall of millions of vehicles because of defective Takata airbag inflators.

Among the automakers that have recalled vehicles are BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and Mitsubishi, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ford spokeswoman Weigandt said customers can see if a vehicle has been recalled by going to Ford.com, clicking on the link Safety Recalls near the bottom of the page, and entering the VIN number.

Staff writers Susan Abram and Joshua Sudock

contributed to this report.
Fire officials Sunday declared the Pala Fire in northern San Diego County 95 percent contained.

The fire, which proved troublesome to firefighters after starting on May 31, burned 70 acres but winds rekindled the blaze as it was inching toward control.

The fire threatened more than 70 structures and forced on-again/off again evacuations, according to updates from Cal Fire San Diego, and created traffic snarls for some Southwest Riverside County residents.

Seven buildings were destroyed, Cal Fire said, all of them unoccupied outbuildings. More than 250 firefighters battled the blaze.

Pala Temecula Road, which during the fire had only been accessible to residents, is open to through traffic, according to a Cal Fire San Diego update.

The fire broke out Tuesday and originally scorched about 45 acres of land, but had been almost completely contained by midday Friday.

However, winds kicked the blaze back up, causing it to travel into a new area and burn an additional 25 acres.

During both flare-ups  Tuesday and Friday  evacuations were called for and Pala Temecula Road was blocked off. Both times, the road was reopened and evacuations were lifted after a number of hours.
BOGALUSA, La.  The knock on the door, strong and quick, jolted Barbara Hicks Collins awake. It was the middle of the night. Someone must be in trouble, she thought. She flung open her front door to the shocking sight of her car engulfed in flames.

Investigators later determined someone had deliberately set fire to her Mercedes and also tried to burn down the one-story brick house she shared with her mother in this eastern Louisiana town, once known as a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity. Hicks Collins, a black woman, had no doubt the fire  set on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2012  was racially motivated. Her father had been a prominent civil rights leader who filed lawsuits that desegregated local schools and forced police to protect protesters, and her family remained active in the community.

Despite the circumstances, the case was never counted in the nations annual tally of hate crimes. In fact, neither the police department nor the local sheriff has filed a hate crime report with the FBI since at least 2009.

And thats not unusual, an investigation by The Associated Press found. The AP identified more than 2,700 city police and county sheriffs departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBIs annual crime tally during the past six years  about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Advocates worry that the lack of a comprehensive, annual accounting disguises the extent of bias crimes at a time of heightened racial, religious and ethnic tensions. The nation was stunned last June when nine black parishioners were shot dead at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, in an attack labeled a hate crime, and community groups have reported a notable increase in violence against Muslims and mosques in the wake of last years terror acts in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Gay and transgender people also are regular targets.

A better accounting of hate crimes, the FBI and other proponents say, would not only increase awareness but also boost efforts to combat such crimes with more resources for law enforcement training and community outreach.

We need the reporting to happen, said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlantas historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. Without a diagnosis, we dont know how serious the illness is. And without a diagnosis, there is no prescription. And without a prescription, there is no healing.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offenders bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Filing reports for the federal count is voluntary and guidelines call for reports to be submitted even if they list zero hate crimes, a signal to both the FBI and the community that local departments are taking such crimes seriously.

FBI Director James Comey has called on all agencies to do a more aggressive job tracking hate crimes, and also has initiated training sessions on bias attacks for hundreds of law enforcement officers nationwide.

In response to an inquiry about Hicks Collins case, officials with both the Bogalusa Police and the Washington Parish Sheriffs Department said they did not know hate crime information was not being reported and blamed clerical errors.

Four years later, no arrests have been made in the attack on her house and the state fire marshals office, which ultimately conducted the investigation, said it was unable to determine whether the setting of the fires constituted a hate crime or not.

Under FBI guidelines, an incident should be reported as a suspected hate crime if a reasonable and prudent person would conclude a crime was motivated by bias. Among the criteria for evaluation is whether an incident coincided with a significant holiday or date, specifically citing the King holiday. A suspect need not be identified to meet the threshold for reporting.

For Hicks Collins, the failure to count the 2012 attack as a hate crime is a painful reminder of the continuing struggle for racial progress.

The more things change, she said, the more they remain the same.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 hate crime incidents are catalogued each year in the FBI report, with nearly half of all victims in recent years targeted because of their race.

It is the most important data collection initiative, but it is far from complete, Michael Lieberman, the Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, said of the FBIs survey.

The ADL has launched a 50 States Against Hate campaign that includes improved data collection by law enforcement as a top priority, and also is seeking passage of hate crime laws in the five states that do not have them: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming.

Lieberman, who worked with the FBI and others on updating the agencys hate crimes training manual published last year, said law enforcement agencies must neutralize the issues that can lead to non-reporting, such as departments fearing negative publicity and victims who may not trust the police.

If these crimes are never really counted, its a way of saying they are not important, said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S. For many black people, its another form of being victimized. Its a way of saying your life doesnt matter.



The AP examined FBI hate crime reports for the years 2009 through 2014 and matched those against lists of every city and county law enforcement agency in each state, obtained separately from all 50 states.

An analysis revealed that law enforcement reporting is spotty even beyond the more than 2,700 agencies that never filed even a single hate crime report. For example, thousands of city police and county sheriffs departments  which handle the vast majority of local law enforcement responses and investigations  reported in some years but not others. And, in some cases, departments reported for, say, only one quarter of a year without submitting reports covering the rest of that span.

Some agencies said they thought they were reporting, even though they were not, and some thought they didnt have to file reports because they hadnt investigated any hate crimes. Others that oversee jails might have assumed they were exempt because they dont patrol the streets, but the FBI encourages reporting by all law enforcement agencies whose officers are empowered to make arrests.

The vast majority of the departments that did not file any reports during the six-year period represented small towns, often consisting of just a few thousand residents or less. But the list also included the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office, which handles law enforcement in a heavily populated and sprawling region around Portland, Oregon.

A number of larger cities with a history of racial troubles also were missing, including Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Jackson Police did not file any hate crimes information to the FBI between 2009 and 2012, followed by only spotty reporting the next two years. And yet, during that time, state and federal charges were filed in connection with the June 2011 death of James Craig Anderson, a black man who was beaten and run over by a truck containing a group of white teenagers, some of whom yelled racial epithets during the assault.

Jackson Police spokeswoman Colendula D. Green insisted the FBI investigates potential hate crimes in the city and thus would be the reporting agency, even though that is not what the guidelines specify. A Birmingham Police spokesman said his agency had submitted the reports to the state, and it was unclear why they didnt make it to the FBI.

The statistics analyzed by the AP also revealed wide disparities in how seriously states take the reporting. Nationwide, there were 16 states in which more than 25 percent of local law enforcement agencies did not appear at all in the FBI hate crime database between 2009 and 2014. That included 64 percent of agencies in Mississippi and 59 percent in Louisiana.

In March 2009 in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, nine inmates were charged with hate crimes following three attacks at the Lafourche Parish Detention Center, but the sheriffs office is among the agencies submitting no information in the six-year span the AP studied.

Sheriffs Sgt. Brennan Matherne said his agency had been directed to report crimes through the state crime reporting system based on the most significant charge, and that hate crimes are considered a secondary offense. He said the sheriffs office would review the process going forward.

He noted that the department had recorded 17 hate crimes locally in 2009, three in 2010, three in 2011, six in 2012 and three in 2013.

According to officials in Hawaii, nine hate crimes were recorded in the state in the years 2009 through 2014, but they were not reflected in the national statistics because the states police agencies did not send such information to the FBI, despite submitting data on violent crimes such as homicide and rape. State officials have been compiling their own hate crimes report with information collected from local prosecutors rather than police, but the state will be switching to a new police filing system with hate crimes reporting built into it.

The APs analysis determined that some states clearly make reporting a priority. In Nevada, not a single police or sheriffs department failed to report for all six years. In two of the nations most populous and diverse states, California and Florida, compliance also is nearly universal.

Nearly all the roughly 350 local law enforcement agencies in Tennessee routinely file. State officials there point to a robust state system for reporting crimes, along with regular training and audits of crime reports. Also helping with compliance is a state law under which law enforcement agencies can lose funds for failing to file.

Nationwide, the APs analysis found signs that the FBIs efforts to step up reporting could be starting to pay off. In 2014, about 200 local law enforcement agencies that had not reported in the previous five-year period submitted information to the FBI.

We must continue to impress upon our state and local colleagues in every jurisdiction the need to track and report hate crime, Comey, the agencys director, said in a speech that year. It is not something we can ignore or sweep under the rug.



Its not just law enforcement departments that fail to report hate crimes. Many victims do not report them either.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics projected that just 40 percent of the hate crime victimizations it recorded in 2012 were reported to authorities. Among the top reasons given for staying silent, the agency said: fears of reprisals, a feeling that police could not or would not help, or the incident being considered a personal or private matter.

In recent years, members of the Sikh community have been targeted by attackers who, in some cases, confused them with Muslims because of their turbans or other head coverings. But S. Gulbarg Singh Basi, chairman of the American Sikh Council, said that some in his community fear that reporting those incidents might invite even more hate crimes.

Keep your eyes closed and the problem will go away, said Basi. Im not saying that is right, but quite a few people think that.

In Atlanta, authorities are trying to give officers an increased understanding of hate crimes and emphasizing more community outreach and a greater response to complaints in hopes that more victims speak up.

The departments two-person LGBT Liaison Unit has been working to build relationships within the citys gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, as well as increasing awareness, training and knowledge of LGBT issues within the department itself.

One of the biggest challenges that I think will take many years to resolve is the general mistrust the police have with the LGBT community, especially in terms of LGBT people of color, said Officer Eric King, who is assigned to the unit. The community has to feel confident that if they experience something, that we will be there to not only listen but take action and help them toward some sort of resolution, whatever that might be.

Another challenge for law enforcement is that investigators looking into hate crimes must gather evidence not only of what happened, but why. And thats not always easy to determine.

Serious injuries might indicate an assault. But without clear evidence that the infliction of the injuries was motivated by bias, it can be difficult to say whether the assault qualifies as a hate crime.

The FBI standard is that a reasonable person would conclude the perpetrator was motivated by bias. The agencys guidelines suggest investigators take into account whether victims are members of a minority group where the incidents took place and whether a substantial portion of the community believes bias was the motive.

In the course of any investigation, there is not always a bright line saying, OK, its a hate crime, said Brian Edgell, a supervisor with the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting program. Its really up to their discretion, and we give them the mechanism to report that to us.



David Beltier and his boyfriend were on an afternoon walk with their standard poodle, Beauty, in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro in March 2013. Beautys fur had been dyed a light pink color, and a few passers-by already had made derogatory remarks.

Then a man yelling gay slurs out the window of an SUV made a U-turn, headed straight for Beltier and his boyfriend. Beltier said he seemed determined to fight, so he told his boyfriend to take Beauty and get away.

I knew something bad was going to happen, he said.

Beltier, who had martial arts training, was able to block most of the mans punches, but the assailant then grabbed a metal tool from his SUV and hit Beltier in the head.

The man was arrested and ultimately faced a federal hate crime charge, in addition to state charges. After a federal jury deadlocked, he pleaded guilty to an assault charge in state court and the federal case was dismissed.

Yet what happened to Beltier was never included in the FBIs national hate crimes report because the Hillsboro Police Department was among those found to be not reporting to the FBI during the six-year period.

Hillsboro Police Lt. Michael Rouches blamed the lapse on a technical problem between his department and the state, and said the problem was discovered last year when the department was in the process of applying for a grant and noticed the data was missing.

The lack of reporting should not suggest the department didnt aggressively investigate what happened to Beltier and his boyfriend, Rouches said.

We ran with it as soon as we got it, and we got to the bottom of it, he said.

To this day, however, Beltier avoids walking in the dark and hates to be alone, although he takes comfort from the bystanders who stopped to help him and tracked down his assailant.

He feels grateful to the police  but also he wants to know that future hate crimes will be reported.

The community needs to be aware that this is happening in their own town, he said. It will give everyone the chance to help fix it and bring a better future.

Associated Press data journalist Michelle Minkoff in Washington, D.C., Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.
INGLEWOOD A capacity crowd at UFC 199 at the Forum in Inglewood was intent on willing Temeculas Dan Henderson to victory Saturday night.

Turns out the elder statesman of the UFC still has quite a bit of his own will to win.

Henderson, 45, was nearly finished at more than one point in the first round of his middleweight fight against Hector Lombard.

But he recovered to flatten the 38-year-old Cuban at the 1:27 mark of the second round with a head kick, back elbow combination in whats sure to go down as one of most crowd-pleasing finishes in a 19-year career filled with them.

And it may be the last.

Henderson (32-14, 16 knockouts) has previously acknowledged Saturdays fight, the last on his current UFC contract, could be the final chapter and during his postfight interview in the Octagon once again foreshadowed his retirement.

This is the first time all of my kids have been here to watch me fight, Im happy I got to share this with them, said Henderson, the oldest active fighter in the UFC, where he improved his record to 9-8. Its definitely an emotional night and its definitely a possibility that this was my last time in the Octagon. Well see what happens from here.

From the moment Hendersons theme music blared through the speakers, the crowd, perhaps sensing the potential finality of the moment, came alive. By the time he entered the octagon the house was giving him a standing ovation.

Chants of Lets go, Hendo and USA rose up throughout the first round and when Henderson weathered a jarring knockdown and a submission attempt just to make it to the second round, he got another booming ovation.

After regrouping, Henderson really gave them something to cheer about.

His right-leg head kick connected, but Lombard held onto the foot in an attempt to take Henderson down. Lombard (34-6-1) never saw the right elbow that hit him flush in the side of the head.

He may have been out cold with that blow, but Henderson still had time to bring two full-power forearm strikes down right on Lombards face in the seconds before referee Herb Dean was able to stop the fight.

Its not something I practice in practice that much, Henderson said of the back elbow. I did say I was going to knock him out with a head kick. I came close but I guess I had to finish him with some elbows.

Hes a tough guy, but that felt good.

In the opening round, Henderson connected with a right hand that electrified the crowd, but Lombard then quickly took Henderson down and applied an arm bar. Henderson escaped the threat, but no sooner was he back on his feet than Lombard caught him with a left hand that clearly hurt Henderson and sent him slumping into the cage.

Lombard continued to press the attack with punches, but Henderson survived and rode out the round on his back, effectively keeping Lombard from doing any more serious damage.

He hits hard and I was in trouble the first round, Henderson said. I just kind of weathered the storm.

After an 18-month layoff, Fontana native Bobby Greens return to the octagon lasted just over two minutes in a first-round knockout at the hands of Dustin Poirier.

Greens gameplan in his lightweight bout that kicked off the Pay Per View portion of the card, was peculiar, to say the least.

Never really putting his hands up at any point in the fight, Green (23-7) seemed intent on testing Poiriers power from the opening bell and he eventually got what he was looking for.

As Green taunted Poirier (20-4) with his hands at his sides, the southpaw caught him with a crisp left for a knockdown just seconds into the fight and followed it up with some punches to the head on the ground.

Green popped up, but went right back to daring Poirier to hit him. For the next 15 seconds, Green seemed to be employing some kind of rope-a-dope strategy with his back against the cage. He then slipped out and had his back to the center of the cage, but again started trash talking and this time Poirier took full advantage.

Another overhand left dropped Green and Poirier went straight to the canvas to follow up with a right forearm to the prone Greens head. Green rolled over and turned his back to Poirier, who rained down a few more rights before referee Mike Beltran intervened.

Team Quest welterweight Sean Strickland closed the UFC Fight Pass prelims with a split-decision win over previously unbeaten Tom Breese (10-1) to improve to 18-1 and 5-1 in the UFC.

San Bernardino light heavyweight Jonathan Wilson (7-1) suffered his first loss and fell to 1-1 in the UFC with a second-round TKO at the hands of Luis Henrique da Silva (11-0).

Contact the writer: grizk@pressenterprise.com
Oftentimes, when I ask musicians or comedians what their favorite songs or jokes are, they tell me its nearly impossible to choose, because so many are brilliant and wonderful.

Well, thats how I feel tasked with picking the three favorite Varsity Arts subjects I wrote about. But I will give it my best shot.

Its been truly inspiring to discover, get to know and tell the stories of several Inland high school students and groups who are excelling in the performing arts.

From aspiring fashion and graphic designers to artists, dancers and musicians, writing these stories opened my eyes to the abundance of amazing and gifted students in the region. The heart, dedication and unwavering focus demonstrated by everyone I spoke with has proved to be tremendously inspiring to me, and I hope their stories inspired readers as well.

See you next school year.

ALL ABOUT ACTING

A handful of students from Nuview Bridge Early College, Temescal Canyon and Heritage high schools and a few home schooled kids competed in an acting competition in March. The weekend competition culminated in the group learning they were selected to attend the International Thespian Society Festival in Lincoln, Neb., this month.

The weeklong festival is filled with workshops, performances and other thespian activities.

RELATED: Inland actors headed on thespian adventure

On the afternoon I visited the Simpson Hall at Nuview Bridge Early College High School, junior Madsion Demaris, Julie Lopez and Noah Buyak were rehearsing a heavy scene from the play Proof, which tackles mental illness and mathematics. The trio laughed through the intensity while drama teacher Cassie Hammond guided them.

And it was Hammonds comments that stuck with me. Her eyes beamed with pride and excitement as she explained when she was a student at Paloma Valley High School, she qualified not once, but three times to to take the same trip to Nebraska, but due to funding she was not able to attend.

She said when they found out they were going, the troupe hugged and cried for hours.

GUITAR STRIKES CHORD IN TEEN

Great Oak High School teen Martin Cueto grew up surrounded by music as his family often played instruments at family gatherings. At age 8, Cueto asked his mom if she would buy him a guitar and she did, after he cleaned his room. And he never looked back.

His band, The End Return, won the Local Rising Star contest hosted by radio station Q103.3, garnering them a spot in the musical line-up at the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival in May.

RELATED: Teen drummer strums to his dream

The trio met up in high school and realized they all loved to jam and began writing songs and rehearsing. They practice about once a week in bassist Steven Hardings house, which is filled with amplifiers, rows of guitars and sound proofing foam.

They regularly perform at local pubs and clubs and have even played at the House of Blues in San Diego.

Cueto said when he listened to Stadium Arcadium by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2006, he was entranced by guitarist John Frusciante.

He is my absolute favorite. There is so much passion in every note he plays, Cueto said during the May interview. The way he writes reaches me deep.

Cueto said he plans to keep playing with the band and is happy to earn money doing what he loves.

YUCAIPAS KNITTERS

In teacher Lori Giffords art class at Yucaipa High School, students toiled away with knitting needles and skeins of yarn on a warm April morning. The room was calm and the kids were chatty as volunteers from Hands On Knitting Center in Redlands helped. It is the fourth year Gifford has offered the course.

Several students agreed that knitting is more challenging than what they imagined, but still enjoyed being able to create something with the colorful yarn. Some made flowers, others made scarves and beanies.

RELATED: Knitting offered at Yucaipa High School

Gifford said the concentration it takes to work the needles and materials is an excellent way to help the kids focus. And completing a creation proves a big confidence builder.

Student Dillon Heller said he was thrilled when he learned the knitting class would be offered again. Last year, he knitted a blanket for his father who was sick at the time to help keep him warm. He also said his grandmother loved to crotchet and felt a connection to her by doing something she loved.

All of the materials for the course are donated by Hands On Knitting Center.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

 Banning High Schools Samira Claros is a jazz singer.

A singer since she was 3, Claros sang the national anthem at the Riverside County State of the County address and is a regular vocalist at Banning Nazarene Church.

RELATED: Singer sees no musical limits

I know I am very passionate about music, she said earlier this year. Whatever I can expand on, I will do that.

 Riversides Ramona High School is a magnet for the arts. Literally.

Students from across the massive Riverside Unified School District who want to perform, play or craft artwork can choose the campus.

The Ramona High School Creative and Performing Arts Magnet, established in 1999, offers theater arts, orchestra, guitar, piano, dance and video production.

RELATED: Ramona High program makes students masters of the arts

Our slogan is, We will create your future through the arts,  coordinator Ronda Barnes said in the fall.

 Inland marching bands rock.

In fall, several played at the L.A. County Fair at the Fairplex in Pomona. Young musicians represented schools that included Riversides King High School and Coronas Santiago High School.

Contact the writer: sschulte@pressenterprise.com
Fort Hood officials have identified the last of nine soldiers who died in Texas floodwaters during a training exercise as a 25-year-old Army specialist from Monterey Park.

Army officials said Sunday that Spc. Yingming Sun enlisted in 2013 and first arrived at Fort Hood nearly two years ago.

Late Saturday night, Fort Hood officials released the names of the initial eight of the nine soldiers who died. They identified them as Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, 38, of Brooklyn, New York; Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, 27, of Twentynine Palms; Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, 22, of Milton, Florida; Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, 23, of Palmetto, Florida; Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, 19, of San Angelo, Texas; Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, 20, of Dunn, North Carolina; Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, 21, of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey, 21, of Valparaiso, Indiana.

The soldiers died when fast-moving waters washed a 2 1/2 -ton vehicle from a low-water crossing Thursday. Three others soldiers survived and have returned to duty.

Texas began drying out Sunday from drenching storms that caused the deadly floodwaters.

Forecasts showed Texas was finally catching a break in the weather, but emergency officials near Houston still couldnt catch their breath Sunday as they ordered more Brazoria County residents to leave their homes near the swollen Brazos River.

At least 2,000 homes have been affected by evacuation orders around Rosharon, about 30 miles southeast of Houston, county spokeswoman Sharon Trower said. The river appeared to have finally crested at more than 52 feet but was expected to remain at high flood stages for several more days.

Sprinkles are not as bad as downpours but it does affect our areas because water has nowhere to go but up and out, Trower said. Its continuing to spread across the floodplain.

The small community of Bailey Prairies was the latest area to be included in evacuation orders. Trower said despite the lurking danger to homes there were no reports of injuries or people missing.

More than a foot of rain soaked parts of Texas over the past two weeks. The downpours filled a usually dry creek at Fort Hood with fast-moving floodwaters that killed nine soldiers on Thursday and broke a 50-year-old rainfall record for May at Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

Hot and dry weather that is normal for June in Texas is expected to return in the coming week, according to the National Weather Service.

A good chunk of the state saw some heavy rain for long periods of time. That kind of necessitated the need for flash flood warnings nearly daily, National Weather Service meteorologist Lamont Bain said.
Election Day is tomorrow, but thousands of Inland residents have already cast their ballots by mail or at early-voting centers in Riverside or San Bernardino counties. Perhaps youre one of them.

But maybe youre part of a shrinking minority who still likes to go to a polling place and actually vote the old-fashioned way, in person, on a ballot that you drop through a slot in a sealed ballot box when youre done.

Admit it, theres a little patriotic thrill that goes with polling-place voting. And walking out with your I Voted sticker, isnt your head held just a little higher?

I wondered what its like for the poll workers who make that experience possible. These are tireless people who set up the polling places at 6:15 a.m. and dont get to go home until theyve packed up the ballots, dismantled the equipment and packed everything off to the registrars office at 9 or 10 p.m.

Its a long day, including lulls between waves of voters. If poll workers get a break, its to eat snacks of brown-bag lunches theyve brought with them. Then they prepare for the biggest wave of voters as folks get off work for the day.

I attended poll worker training in San Bernardino County a few weeks ago to learn more about this task.

I discovered poll workers are paid $115; supervisors and assistants supervisors, $180. Bilingual workers  fluent in both English and another high-demand language (Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese and several others)  earn an extra $10.

In Riverside County, poll workers make $110, inspectors $130 and range inspectors, responsible for 8 to 10 polling places, are paid hourly, Registrar Rebecca Spencer said.

The two-hour course gave me a new appreciation for the workers who serve on the front lines of our democracy.

Poll workers must be courteous and professional, and remain politically neutral at all times. (No campaign hats, T-shirts or buttons supporting a candidate or political party.)

Business casual attire is encouraged. Bringing reading material to get one through slow periods is recommended, but workers are not to read in front of a voter.

Poll workers are instructed to greet voters as they arrive, welcoming them to check in at the roster table. Each voter is asked to say his or her name and address. Once the roster clerk finds the name, he or she reads the address back to the voter. Its part of the verification process.

The clerk then tells the voter, Youre voting a paper ballot today. Its not a question. If the voter wants to use a touch-screen voting machine, he or she must say so. (Every voter has a right to use the touch-screen machine.)

There is a lot to learn. With Californias complex election system, poll workers have to know which of eight ballot types to hand the voter. In some precincts, with city council races or local measures, there can be dozens of ballot types. (Spencer told me in her county there are 496 ballot types in this election.)

In San Bernardino County, the ballot types are color-coded to help poll workers select the right one.

I was surprised to find out a voter can be asked to show identification under some circumstances. Its rare, but sometimes a voter has transposed numbers for a drivers license number or other government-issued ID when registering, so the Secretary of State hasnt been able to verify the information, said Melissa Eickman, spokeswoman for San Bernardino County registrar Michael Scarpello.

Poll workers must do that. But once the identity has been verified, the next time the person votes, he or she shouldnt be asked for ID, Eickman said.

Still, voting in person is falling out of favor in both counties. The percentage of voters preferring to cast ballots by mail has been growing.

In San Bernardino County, the proportion casting mail-in ballots was 70.2 percent in the June 2014 primary election. In last Novembers election, it rose to 83.7 percent.

Spencer said Riverside County has been encouraging voters to choose voting by mail to reduce the pressure on polling places.

Speaking of mailing, her office had a close call with sample ballots for the June election. Riverside Countys longtime mailing-service contractor was unable to meet the deadline to mail out the sample ballots, and Spencer had to confiscate them and find a new contractor.

A week later, after trying to reconcile the number of voters with the number of sample ballots confiscated, Spencer discovered 75,000 sample ballots were missing. The contractor wasnt returning phone calls, and she had to get the Sheriffs Department to help her seize the missing materials from the contractors warehouse.

Needless to say, the contract with that vendor has been canceled.

With so many moving parts, there are sure to be a few hiccups in each election cycle. But the democratic process is too important to let them go uncorrected, and our Inland registrars are doing a Herculean task.

I voted in person for this primary, at the registrars early-voting center, so I wont be visiting my polling place Tuesday. But when I do in November, I will appreciate the job the poll workers do.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9470 or cmacduff@pressenterprise.com
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) plans to develop an Energy City to house all major oil companies under one roof, Minister for Petroleum, Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah has hinted.



Today as we speak, Tullow, Kosmos and all the multinational oil companies are renting a house at over US$20million a year. Government has studied models around the world and we have decided that it is most cost-effective and good for the people of Ghana for GNPC to be an anchor-tenant to bring all these oil companies to come and pay, the minister said.



That is why we are strategically working with GNPC to create an Energy City where all these oil companies that are spending these monies renting will be housed by GNPC, he said in reaction to concerns that the state-owned oil company is spending too much on office accommodation.



The Energy City plan could hit a snag since Parliament has suspended the 2016 budget for the operations of the corporation.



This comes after the Minority rejected a report by the Mines and Energy Committee over what they describe as inadequate information on allocations in the budget.



The Minority is, among other things, questioning the allocation of GH115million for constructing a new head office for the Corporation.



Although the Majority has justified the budget, saying it is meant to well-position the GNPC in the oil and gas industry, the Minority is against it.



The minority in Parliament felt it does not make economic sense for such a colossal budget to be approved for office accommodation, and expects proper scrutiny to be conducted before it is approved.



The GNPC has said it wants to become a global player able to take on projects on its own; not just in Ghana but also in other parts of the world.



It therefore sees construction of the GH115million head office complex as part of the grand scheme to improve its image and earn it greater respect at home and abroad.

Source: B&FT









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An MP in whose constituency the Komenda Sugar Factory has been cited says 60 per tonne offer from government to sugarcane farmers is too low to sustain their interest.



Dr. Stephen Nana Ato Arthur explained that the governments offer means a KIA truck full of sugarcane factory will go for 180, an amount he said poses a danger to the supply of raw material for the facility.



The Komenda sugar factory was recently commissioned by President Mahama to cut down 200million of sugar imports and create 7,000 jobs.



President John Mahama said government would pay for the transportation of the sugarcane by outgrowers in addition to the buying price.



At least 60% of the raw material will be supplied by the farmers while 40% will be supplied through the factorys own farm.



Critics are not buying into the governments optimism when the Communications Minister Omane Boamah maintained that the factory has a very, very bright future.



According to KEEA MP, government failed to do adequate economic feasibility of the $36.5m project.



If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, Dr. Ato Arthur told Joy News.



He said the transportation cost of a KIA truck load is more than 100 but government is offering to pay 180 for the three tonnes of sugarcane it carries.



He said even the market price of one sugar cane is 5, a tonne for 60 will not encourage any farmer to sell to government.



Minority spokesperson on Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie has also raised questions about why government would set up a factory when it has no guarantees on raw material supply.



He said considerable effort is needed to feed the factorys 1,200 metric tonnes capacity.



1,200metric tonnes a day, translated into nearly 140,000 tonnes of sugar cane [in a year] and thats a lot of sugar cane. Who is going to produce that when you leave that to chance?



He also believes that poor planning will be the bane of the factory.



The President described the revamping as a resurrection of the dream of Ghanas first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.



Dr Kwame Nkrumah built the factory in 1966. It ceased operations 1981 and later liquidated in 1998 under NDC government for about 5,100 cedis.



But the Komenda Sugar Factory was however shut down, barely 48 hours after President Mahama commissioned it. The latest shut down has been explained by government as part of a maintenance schedule to last six months.



It is another move which critics say confirms their suspicion that the factory is a vote-buying gimmick as November 2016 elections approach.



A policy expert Kofi Bentil has criticised government saying the Komenda sugar factory will produce more propaganda than sugar.

Source: Myjoyonline.com









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Over the past four weeks, the Ghana Health Service has received reports of confirmed Yellow Fever (YF) cases from the Brong-Ahafo and Volta regions.



A total of four cases with no deaths have been reported.



Three (3) are from Jaman South district in the Brong-Ahafo region & one (1) from Central Tongu district in the Volta Region.



**THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC AS THE CASES ARE CONFINED TO A FEW COMMUNITIES IN THE AFOREMENTIONED DISTRICTS, AND PREVIOUS WIDESPREAD VACCINATION IN 2011 IN THOSE DISTRICTS PROVIDED MOST PEOPLE WITH IMMUNITY AGAINST YELLOW FEVER. (THE YELLOW FEVER VACCINE IS PROTECTIVE FOR LIFE)**



SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF YELLOW FEVER

Yellow Fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease. It causes bleeding which may come out from any of the body openings (e.g.: the Nose, Mouth, Bloody stools, Vomiting Blood at the end stage). The symptoms may also include fever with jaundice in the early stages and with multiple organ dysfunctions resulting in kidney and liver failure.



TREATMENT: Treatment is mostly symptomatic.



MODE OF SPREAD: Spread is through the bite of infected Aedes mosquito.



PREVENTIVE MEASURES:

1. Prevention is by vaccination - The vaccine is very effective. One injection of the vaccine protects one for life.

2. Avoidance and protection against mosquito bites.



CONTAINMENT MEASURES AND RESPONSE ACTIONS DONE

1. Public education on signs, symptoms and prevention.

2. Yellow Fever vaccination coverage in the affected districts has been assessed & found to be high in those districts. Preventive vaccination coverage was done in the affected communities in 2011 & Yellow fever vaccination protects one for life.

3. Planned selective reactive mop up vaccination in the affected communities / sub-districts.

4. Alert sent to all regions and nearby districts of the affected areas.

5. Surveillance has been enhanced across the country.



WAY FORWARD:

The risk of further transmission is low due to high Yellow fever vaccination coverage in routine EPI and previous preventive vaccination campaign. However, we need to sustain Enhanced surveillance, Intensive public education of the disease, Preventive measures and what to do if one suspects Yellow Fever.



Thank you.



SIGNED:

(THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, GHANA HEALTH SERVICE)

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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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.
A NAKED man who jumped into the big cat enclosure at a Chilean zoo in a desperate 'suicide bid' survived - but only after the lions attacking him were shot dead.



Santiago authorities confirmed the two beasts were killed as they mauled the 20-year-old who had broken into their compound early on Saturday.



The man, who has not been named, was accidently hit with a tranquiliser as zookeepers frantically tried to put the lions to sleep.



He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and was said to be in a "grave" condition. Director of the city's Metropolitan Zoo Alejandra Montalba said the park was crowded with visitors at the time of the incident.



The young man broke into the enclosure, took off his clothes and jumped into the middle, shocking families who witnessed the attack. "The zoo has an established protocol because people's lives are very important to us," said Montalba.



She added that there were no fast-acting tranquilizers available to stop the lions quickly. The zoo director said she was 'deeply affected' by the deaths of the two lions, a male and a female.



A suicide note was reportedly later found in the man's clothing.Witness reported he shouted religious statements as he was mauled.



"Everyone started screaming when they saw him," a man told news channel Chilevision.



Another said: "There were a lot of children there, and parents covered their eyes while it was going on.



"He was screaming religious things."

Source: mirror.co.uk









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Audio Attachment: Very Rev. Fr. Louis Tuffuor on 'kokrokoo'

Very Rev. Fr. Louis Tuffuor, the Vicar General of the Kumasi Archdiocese of the Catholic Church has asked government to treat Ghanaians better.



He does not understand why there should be high taxes and huge electricity bills when government claims to be working in the interest of Ghanaians.



Speaking to Nana Yaw Kesse, sit-in host of PEACE FM morning show Kokrokoo, the Vicar General said government must implement policies which will make Ghanaians comfortable and not frustrated.



Speaking to the huge electricity bills Ghanaians are receiving, Very Rev. Fr. Louis Tuffuor said the President needs to direct institutions responsible to act swiftly.



If there is a problem with the billing system, stop it . . . I dont belong to any side . . . the fact is that if you are ruling a country you need to make sure the citizens are comfortable . . . the citizens must be safe, he passionately said.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and head of United Nations Office for West Africa Dr Ibn Chambas has urged Ghana and Gambia to ensure that their upcoming presidential elections are peaceful and free from intimidation and violence.



To this end, he has asked the leaders of the two countries who will be going to the polls this year to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in their respective countries.



Speaking at the opening ceremony of the ongoing 49th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Dakar, Senegal, Dr Ibn Chambas admonished Ghana and The Gambia to create the needed conditions in their countries to ensure the elections are without any incident.



Dr Ibn Chambas called for measures such as protection for the various flagbearers and also ensuring that the media was free to act within an allowable space to ensure legitimacy of the results that will come out of the process.



He said: Naturally, we expect that Ghana and The Gambia will follow suit by holding inclusive, credible, transparent, and peaceful elections. To that end, necessary conditions should be created to ensure level playing fields including security for candidates and unhindered access to the media and to all parts of the territory for campaign as prerequisite for acceptance of elections which accord legitimacy.

Source: Classfmonline.com









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Nigeria's government has recovered $9.1 billion in stolen money and assets, its information and culture minister said on Saturday, as its corruption crackdown continues against the backdrop of the country's worst economic crisis in years.



President Muhammadu Buhari, elected last year largely on his vow to fight corruption, has vowed to recover "mind-boggling" sums of money stolen from the oil sector and said public coffers were "virtually empty" when he took office last May.



Since then the country has endured an economic crisis caused by the sharp fall in global oil prices, making the need to recoup lost money more acute. Crude sales account for around 70 percent of national income.



In a statement, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said cash and assets recovered between May 29 last year, when Buhari took office, and May 25 this year totalled $9.1 billion.



The government has said it plans to generate 3.38 trillion naira ($17 billion) this year from non-oil sources to help fund the $30.6 billion budget signed into law by Buhari last month.



It was not immediately clear how much outstanding money in total is still being sought by the government.



"All these are monies recovered from individuals and entities who had either hidden, stolen, diverted or were in possession of monies belonging to the nation," the minister's special adviser, Segun Adeyemi, told Reuters.



"These recovered funds include monies withheld by past government officials, monies kept in private accounts, monies diverted to private pockets and monies in possession of government officials not disclosed after leaving government."



The information minister told Reuters he could not name any individuals from whom money had been recovered for legal reasons.





He said some of the money came after companies that had failed to pay taxes were forced to do so retrospectively.



The ministry also said a total of $321 million was yet to be recovered from Nigerians in Switzerland, the Britain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates or their assets held in those countries.



Last month Buhari urged other countries and the United Nations to speed up the process of repatriating stolen money held abroad, which he said was becoming "tedious". ($1 = 198.8000 naira) (Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Alison Williams).

Source: Reuters









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One year on after the June 3 fiery floods, Members of Parliament (MPS) in Ghana have urged the city authorities for more interventions to prevent a recurrence in Accra and other parts of the country.



Forceful flood waters caused an explosion of a fuel filling station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on June 3, 2015, resulting in an inferno that claimed numerous lives, pegged around 150.



However, the MPs said it was clear that one year after the sad and tragic event, not much had been done to ensure that the fire and flood disaster, does not recur.



Mr Patrick Boamah, MP for Okaikoi Central, in a statement, described June 3, 2015 as "Black Wednesday" and a day, which would be indelible on the minds of many people, even those who did not lose loved ones and property.



"It is a blot on the conscience of a city and a day of great depression to the nation," he said.



Ms Freda Prempeh, MP for Tano North who was caught in the floods on that fateful day, emotionally recounted her experience and said it appeared that the nation had not learnt any lesson.



She said the gutters in the city are still filled with silt while buildings are still sited in waterways.



She wanted to know if the city authorities did enough due diligence before issuing building permits.



Why are buildings earmarked for demolition because they were situated in water courses still standing? she asked.



She called for a well-coordinated disaster management system, the retraining of disaster management personnel as well as the provision of adequate financial resources for the National Disaster Management Organisation to enable them to discharge their duties affectively.



Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh MP for Wa West, commended the media, for its communication of the disaster, and doing publications devoted pages to remember the day and said it served as a reminder to all of the lapses that led to the disaster.



As a nation, he said, Ghanaians need to ensure that the disaster do not recur.



He also urged the relevant committees of Parliament to liaise with the relevant Departments and Agencies to reduce the occurrence of such disasters.



Mr Chireh said efforts should be made to give befitting burials to bodies of the disaster that are still unclaimed.



Ms Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome/Kwabenya, questioned why the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies were issuing permits for the construction of fuel stations close to residential areas.



She said all over the country fuel stations were springing up close to schools, hospitals, churches, and living quarters and urged the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and the National Petroleum Authority to be proactive and desist from the wanton granting of permits for the establishment of fuel stations and depots.



Ms Safo also called for compensation for the victims and said if the survivors of the disaster.



If and the relations of the dead were to embark on a successful legal action against the government or GOIL, the monies the two institutions would have to pay would be huge, she advocated.

Source: GNA









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Drama unfolded at a birthday party in Sakumono, near Accra, on Saturday evening when angry youth beat up a married woman, Mrs. Rukiyatu Morrison, who was allegedly caught red-handed engaging in acts of lesbianism with another lady whose name was only given as Felicia.



According to eyewitness accounts, the woman whose husband is a businessman and so travels frequently had for long been suspected, but not until Saturday when she was caught with the other woman fondling and kissing each other busily in the washroom at the party.



Mrs. Morrison incurred the wrath of the angry Muslim youth in the area who accused her of tarnishing the image of her late father, Alhassan Hibba, who was a renowned Islamic scholar and Imam and whose daughter had the best Muslim training that frowns on acts such as lesbianism.



They attacked and beat up the mother of two and her companion so badly it could have been tragic had it not been for the intervention of a Police patrol team who came to her rescue. According to neighbours, her husband is currently out of the country on business.

Source: adacommunityonline.com









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The Ghana Police Service has said it is considering shutting down social media services in the country on November 7, the day of the general elections.



According to the Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor, the abuse of social media platforms by both political parties and ordinary Ghanaians has often created unnecessary tension in the country.



He believes that given the strain that preparations towards the elections have put on the countrys security apparatus, it would be unwise to ignore the potential of social media as an incendiary point for violence.



At one stage I said that if it becomes critical on the eve and also on the election day, we shall block all social media as other countries have done. Were thinking about it, John Kudalor said.



In February, the Ugandan government shut down social media in the country in what president Yoweri Museveni called a security measure to avert lies as he was re-elected for a fifth term in office.



This was repeated when he was sworn into office in May, with many human rights activists advocates accusing the government of suppressing free speech.



Jonh Kudalor said that the police were following the example set by other countries but added that the police was also mulling over the possibility of setting up social media accounts of their own.



He said this would enable them to counter the actions of potential troublemakers who might compromise security operations during the elections.



We are also thinking about the other alternative that the police should be IT compliant and get our own social media [account] to be able to stop these things on time, John Kudalor explained.



We are looking at the variables and come D-Day, well come out with a decision, he added.





Source: citifmonline.com









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Ghanas police chief has said if it gets to the crunch, nothing and nobody can stop him from blocking social media sites on Election Day if that is what it would take to safeguard the peace and security in the country.



I dont want to use some words, I think everybody has his opinion, everybody is entitled to his opinion, Im talking as a security person, and I know where Im coming from and I know what has happened. The world is now a global village and we have to compare with best practices, so, I dont see what they are talking about. If it gets to the crunch I think there is nothing that can stop anybody from going that way if its necessary, Mr John Kudalor told Atiewin Mbillah of Class News on Friday May 27 in an exclusive interview.



Mr Kudalors comment was in response to flaks hurled at him by critics over his proposal to black out social media during the November 7 general elections to ensure the process is peaceful.



The IGP said the use of social media by politicians, especially from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for election-related activities, has created tensions in the country, hence his proposal.



At one stage, I said that if it becomes critical on the eve and also on the Election Day, we shall block all social media [sites] as other countries have done. Were thinking about it, John Kudalor told journalists at a press conference the day before.



Jonh Kudalor said that the police were following the example of other countries.



In February, the Ugandan government shut down social media in the country in what President Yoweri Museveni called a security measure to avert lies.



He was eventually re-elected for a fifth term in office.



The IGP said the move would enable the police in Ghana to counter the actions of potential troublemakers who might compromise security operations during the elections.



We are also thinking about the other alternative, that the police should be IT-compliant and get our own social media [account] to be able to stop these things on time, Mr Kudalor explained.



We are looking at the variables and come D-Day, well come out with a decision, he added.



Following the IGPs proposal, Prof Audrey Gadzekpo of the School of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana warned that: We have a strong social media-loving public and social movement that will protest, and I will be one of those included in the protests.



Apart from sparking street protests, Prof Gadzekpo is of the conviction that an action of the sort will dent the countrys democratic image.



Why are we following moves by countries whose democracy is in question? Why would they be our role model? I hope [the IGP] rethinks it, Prof Gadzekpo told Class FMs Ridwan Karim Dini Osman on Thursday May 26.



According to her, the move is too much of a knee-jerk reaction to social media.



What they will also now begin to encourage is the culture of going underground to communicate. It is better for them to allow citizens to communicate the way they want to communicate. Social media is here to stay just as how radio, television or any other platforms of communication exist, the academic added.



Prof Gadzekpo felt the consideration alone to ban social media was absurd, saying she cannot imagine a situation in which they will say that they will ban radio, television or they will ban email because people will make irresponsible statements or exchange information in that way.



She questioned if the IGP will also go ahead to ban social media for anything that is of high concern in the country, arguing that such a move is almost like censorship.



Prof Gadzekpo continued: There is no evidence whatsoever that social media has been used in this instance to cause alarm. So, you cannot, in anticipation, ban social media because it could be used for wrong things, I do not think that is the [best] approach.



Also, pressure group Alliance for Accountable Governance has also kicked against any intentions to block social media on voting day. They are in good company with Ghanas biggest opposition party, NPP, which has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of being behind the intention.

Source: classfmonline.com









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The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin has denied reports that the Central Regional Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Allotey Jacobs has been arrested in the UK.

Reports of Allotey Jacobs busted at the Heathrow Airport on Sunday by the UK National Crime Agency on suspected money laundering went viral on social media. But Jon Benjamin in responding to the report on Twitter said the story is not true. I can confirm that the rumour about Mr. Jacobs is definitely not trueMr. Allotey Jacobs transited Heathrow this morning without incident, he added.

How The Story Unfolded On Social Media

BREAKING NEWS!!!



ALLOTEY JACOBS BUSTED BY UK NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY ON SUSPECTED MONEY LAUNDERING, COCAINE CHARGES



Allotey Jacobs, the Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and right-hand man of President John Mahama was busted early this morning in a dramatic arrest on a British Airways Flight at Heathrow Airport by armed officers of the National Crime Agency, the UK's equivalent of the US's FBI.



He joins the long list of Government officials busted for drug-related money laundering activities which includes the First Lady, Lordina Mahama by UK officials.



The severity of the offences was indicated in the manner of his arrest, which bore similarities with how the notorious Nayeli Ametepe (Rubygate) was arrested: NCA officials boarded the BA Flight No. 078 from Accra which arrived in Heathrow this morning and arrested him right there on the plane for carrying cash in excess of 500,000.



Allotey Jacobs was escorted off the plane, his wife in tow, under heavy security and is still being held by the NCA.







Source: citi news









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Supreme Court judge William Atuguba has lashed out at lawyers in the country claiming some of them appear before courts ill-prepared.



The respected judge has also expressed concerns about situations where some lawyers take monies from their clients but refuse to show up in court when cases are due.



There is now great laxity in legal preparations on the part of counsel [lawyers] appearing before the courts, particularly the Supreme Court.



Others just come on some legal holiday; they just walk into the court and even forget what their briefs are about. You ask a simple question [and] they dont know where it is, Mr. Atuguba stated at a legal ethics training programme for law students in Accra.



Atuguba who presided over the 2012 election petition trial called on both law students and practicing laws to be professional and ethical in the discharge of their duties.



The Dean of the Faculty of Law at GIMPA Kofi Abotsi who also spoke at the event bemoaned fallen standards in the legal profession.



Very often lawyers do not show up in court when theyve been paid for it and clients end up in court without representation.

Source: starrfmonline.com









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The family of a one-year-old baby girl is crying foul about the mysterious death of the baby at school.



The deceased, Aurelia Nana Akua Arkoh, was allegedly hit by a student mattress, leading to her untimely death at Globen School located at Abeka Lapaz last Friday noon.



Her death is causing fear and panic to parents whose wards are enrolled in the school that has been in existence for the past 20 years and has a student population of over 500 pupils including toddlers.



The parents are wondering how the falling of a students mattress could cause the death of a child.



Aggrieved father of Aurelia Arkoh, Mr Barvel Arkoh, in a narration, said his daughter who was only one year one month old was enrolled in the school in January this year.



On Friday, May 27, 2016, we bathed Aurelia, who was very strong and healthy, and gave her some food before taking her to school.



Around 12:30pm that fateful day, I received a telephone call from authorities of the school that a mattress fell on my daughter, injuring her in the process, and so they were taking her to Lapaz Community Hospital and needed my presence (sic), he told DAILY GUIDE.



Mr Arkoh said he rushed to the hospital but on arrival, he was told the girl had died.



Medical officers reportedly pronounced the girl dead on arrival at the hospital.



Mr Arkoh said when he enquired from the teachers how the mattress fell on his daughter, he was told the children were playing with the mattresses while the teachers were at the other side of the room and suddenly they saw Aurelia lying underneath one of the mattresses and crying.



When they lifted her up, they saw blood oozing from her nostrils and so they immediately rushed her to the Lapaz Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.



The medical officers immediately asked us to report the matter to the police before taking the body to the morgue and so the matter was reported to the Tesano police for investigations to be conducted into it.



I am really surprised that a mere mattress could fall on a human being and cause her death, he lamented.



The grieving father, who claimed the deceased was his only child, said the body had since been deposited at the police hospital pending autopsy to determine the cause of death.



Arrest



Meanwhile, DSP Edward Tetteh, the Tesano District Police Commander, when contacted, said two female teachers of the school, aged 49 and 50 years, who are caregivers of the children at the school, had been arrested to assist the police to investigate the matter.



He said the police were doing the best to get a judge to sign a coronas form for autopsy to be conducted on the body to determine the cause of death before the suspects arrested could be charged with murder.



Due to the strike action by the Judicial Service Workers, court is not sitting but we will arrange for a judge to sign the coronas report so that the autopsy can be done immediately before the body will be released to the family for burial, he said.



The two women have provisionally been charged with negligently causing harm and abandonment of an infant and will be taken to court while the autopsy is done.

Source: Daily Guide









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Like most of the people who were affected by the June 3 flood and fire disaster last year, 34-year-old Alex Mensah, popularly known as Mr Lee, had gone to the Goil filling station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to seek shelter from the rain on that fateful day.



Little did he know that fire and flood would soon engulf the very place he considered safe. Although Mr Lee was the only survivor among eight other colleagues who were also drivers at the Apaa-Wa Co-operative Transport Society, he is yet to recover from the disaster as he suffered severe burns on his legs, hands, face and eye.



He said after he was discharged from hospital, his three children disowned him and screamed each time they saw him because of the level of his deformity. They will run away and say I am kakai, he added. As a result of this, he had to relocate to his mothers house as his children would cry anytime they set eyes on him.



While thanking God for sparing his life, he admitted that life after the accident has been difficult as he is now unable to work because of his condition and has become a liability to his family. To make matters worse, his wife, who sold food near the interchange, had to quit selling after they were sacked to make way for the construction.



He said he was now living on the charity of friends and his 67-year-old mother. Added to his woes, the accident has affected his eyes and he has to go to the 37 Military Hospital every week for review.



At the moment, I am being asked to buy some medicine for the eye but unfortunately, times are hard for me and I am unable to buy them. I am not working and my wife too is not working, our three children have been forced out of school because we cannot afford their fees and the other daily expenses on them, he said.



Failed promises



Alex Mensah noted that while on admission at the 37 Military Hospital after the accident, many top government officials visited him and other victims of the accident and promised to help them rebuild their lives as soon as they were discharged.



Though he admitted that his medical bills were settled by the government and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mensah said after he was discharged from hospital, he had gone to the AMA several times with the hope of getting some form of assistance, but to no avail.



Anytime I go to the AMA office, they tell me to hold on and promise they will call me but I never hear from them. After many fruitless attempts to and fro, I lost interest and decided not go there at all because I cant continue wasting my little money to board trotro without getting something concrete, the obviously disappointed Mensah said.



Disappointed family members



Meanwhile, Mr Frank Osei, a businessman, whose brother was one of the people who perished in the accident, says, the family has not received the money that was promised them by the AMA.



He said after the incident, they incurred a lot of cost, including hiring a car at the cost of GH1,200 which sent the remains of his brother to their hometown, Asokore Mampong, in the Ashanti Region.



To be a beneficiary of the AMA fund, the family was asked to get a burial permit which cost GH420 and a hospital card at GH 65 from the Police Hospital in addition to other expenses.



I have gone to the AMA office countless times but I havent received anything. All the time, they would tell me they are still working on the documentation process. I have now realised they are lying to me and have decided not to follow up again.



My brother left behind a child and I have decided to fend for the child, but what hurts me is the time I have wasted trying to get some money to compensate our family, he added.

Trauma beyond scars



Nana Osafo Ampaw, a herbalist, who also suffered severe burns on his head and face, also said he was yet to receive any money from the authorities as they were promised.



He explained that after he was discharged from the hospital, he started applying herbal medicine on his face and other parts of the body where he sustained injuries.



Fortunately for him, the herbal medicine healed his wound and subsequently cleared most of the scars on his head, face and hands.



Nana Osafo said because his wounds healed quickly, most people assumed he was fit and did not need any form of support.



While on the hospital bed, several promises were made to us by the people who visited us and till date, none of those promises have been fulfilled. Although I do not have scars on my body, the infections from swallowing dirty oil water for over two hours has affected me.The trauma I went through alone is enough to kill anyone, so it would be very unfair to judge the depth of damage based on what you see on the outside, he stated.



I live at Kwahu and since I was discharged from hospital last year, I have made several visits to both the AMA and NADMO offices but there is no better response. Sometimes, some of the feedbacks we get from these places are insulting.



Nana Osafo said if the authorities had nothing to offer, they should tell them instead of giving them false hopes.



Life after the disaster



However, Mr Andy Best, Chief Porter at the Apaa-Wa Co-operative Transport Society, who was part of the rescue team during the disaster, said a lot of people still feared to come near the place, especially when there were signs of rain.



Just a couple of days ago, when it started drizzling, people started running from the place. We used to work 24/7 but after the incident, by 10-11p.m., the place becomes dead because people fear to come here.



Honest Chef, a restaurant situated close to the Goil filling station that went in flames, is still counting its losses a year down the lane.



Operators of the restaurant say sales have dipped following the disaster because the restaurant is forced to close earlier than usual since people do not spend long hours deep into the night as was the norm.



We have two shifts, some come in the morning and close at 5:00 p.m. while others come and continue till daybreak but now, by 10:00-10:30, the place becomes deserted and it is really affecting our business, a worker at the restaurant told The Mirror.



She revealed that two of their workers were involved in the accident but luckily for them, they all survived.



She, however, said promises by the government and the AMA to refurbish the place were not fulfilled.



My manager made many fruitless attempts to get some help but nothing came out of that. He had to get this place working again out of his own sweat, she added.



Sex workers



The recent fire outbreak at the Vienna City Night Club at Circle, which is directly opposite the disaster spot, has also worsened the fear and panic as people perceive the area as a disaster-prone area. The Goil filling station served as a safe haven for commercial sex workers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle due to its proximity to the Vienna City, a popular night club.



There were reports that some of the sex workers perished in the inferno. According to Mr Best , some of the sex workers had moved to the railways area because of fear of the June 3 disaster and the recent fire at Vienna City.



He said there were others who were also not perturbed by the June 3 disaster and the recent fire at Vienna City, so they went about their business normally. Some friends and family members, who lost their relatives through the disaster, will have memorial services for their departed relatives today.



The Apaa-Wa Co-operative Transport Society will also have a joint memorial service for eight of their members who perished in the disaster and also try to raise funds for Mr Lee.



There would also be non-denominational church service at the Ernest Bruce Methodist Church at Adabraka followed by a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of all the departed.



When contacted the Chief Executive Officer of the AMA, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, said the Assembly was still paying compensations to families of victims of the disaster.



By last Wednesday, a total of 71 familes had been paid an amount of GH10,000 each.





Source: Daily Graphic









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The successful development of the giant Kibali gold mine in the northeast province of the DRC has demonstrated the capacity of mining to boost the economies of African countries and improve the lives of their people, says Randgold Resources chief executive Mark Bristow.



Bristow was speaking to local media on a facility visit to the mine shortly after arriving there with his BoyzonBikes fundraising motorbike ride. Titled Safari Kwa Afrika Bora  Swahili for Journey for a Better Africa  the more than 8 000 kilometre charity ride is crossing the continent from the east coast of Kenya to the west coast of the DRC through dense equatorial jungle. The fourth of its kind Bristow has undertaken, it aims to raise $3 million for the independent charitable foundation Nos Vies en Partage which Randgold established in 2014. The foundation plans to donate this to programmes which support neglected children and abused women across Africa, with this years focus being the widows and orphans of past conflicts and the rehabilitation of child soldiers.



With a resource base of 20 million ounces of gold and reserves of 11 million ounces, the Kibali mine ranks as one of the largest gold mining projects in the world. While it will only be completely developed by 2018, when its underground operation comes into full production, it is already producing more than 600 000 ounces of gold annually and employs more than 4 000 people, almost all Congolese nationals.



Bristow said Kibali represents an investment of $1.8 billion to date of which some $1 billion has already been spent with Congolese contractors and suppliers, many of whom have established local operations leading to the creation of a new economic frontier in this remote region of the country.



Kibali has brought new life and opportunity to this province, resettling more than 20 000 people from very basic villages in a model town with comprehensive amenities, including provision for healthcare and education, building an effective infrastructure and attracting the providers of the goods and services required by a developing society, he said. That so much has been achieved in such a short time is a tribute to the cooperation Randgold has received from our DRC business partners, central and local government as well as the community. And we should not forget the vital role played by the international investors who were prepared to risk their capital on this venture.



There have been stresses and strains along the way but, by working together towards a common goal, Randgold and Kibalis stakeholders have been able to overcome these. It is in this same spirit of partnership that Randgold is now working with the authorities and the community to unlock the potential of the northeast provinces great mineral and agricultural resources. A number of projects are already in an advanced planning stage, he said. The palm oil project, initiated by Kibali, progressed this week when the government issued an arrete granting the project full exoneration from duties on all capital items needed in the milling and refining operations as well as the plantation establishment. A further two arretes, regulating all fiscal and land matters, are expected shortly to complete the agreement with the government regarding the projects investment framework.



In a related move, it has launched a good citizen initiative, in which Kibali is working closely with local stakeholders, security forces and civil society, to establish a structure for peaceful conflict resolution and the maintenance of public assets and infrastructure.



The company is also making a significant investment in the development of the countrys human capital by training Congolese as professional managers in line with its policy that all its operations should be run by local nationals.



Were not just creating jobs, were creating careers, and for generations to come Kibali will be managed by Congolese citizens with world-class skills, he said.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Ghana has affirmed its commitment to ensure that no child is left behind in education as required by Sustainable Development Goal 4.



The government in pursuit of its commitment will therefore continue to develop programmes and interventions aimed at ensuring that the right of children to education is realised.



Ghana will ensure that more girls and boys enroll and remain in school. We will also continue to equip the educational system with skill teachers, teaching and learning materials to enhance the quality of education provided to Ghanaian children, Nana Oye Lithur Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.



Nana Oye Lithur, stated at Permata International Conference high level forum on quality education to shape a nations future on behalf of the Mrs Lordina Mahama the first lady of Ghana.



The High Level Forum was hosted by Mrs Datin Paduka Seri Hjh Rosmah Mansor, Wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia and was attended by other First Ladies across the world and Representatives of Heads of State as well as representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations.



The forum was to discuss different efforts by various countries to ensure children have quality education that would in turn shape the future of the nation for the better.



Nana Oye Lithur noted that the Government, under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, has introduced various social protection interventions in education, which has led to impressive improvement in school enrolment.



She said retention, especially for girls who would have dropped out of school due to the challenges they face have also improved due to governments initiatives in the education sector and other social protection interventions.



The Gender Minister said from 2013 - 2015 Pre-School enrollment has increased from 1,645,541 to 1,766,715 which represent 7.36 per cent; at the level of primary education there has been an increment from 4,117,152 to 4,342,315, which also represents 5.47 per cent from 2013 to 2015.



Increment in enrollment at the senior high school and technical education level stands from seven 7 per cent to nine 9 per cent from 2013-2015.



Nana Oye Lithur said the government considers teachers and education service providers as central pillars within the countrys educational system as a result it has ensured that they are trained to deliver quality education.



Over the period 13,637 teachers, in the Ghana Education Service, received various in-service training to upgrade their skills under Science, Technology, Mathematics and Innovation Education (STMIE) programme.



Additional 1,500 mathematics teachers have also been trained on innovative approaches in the teaching of mathematics.



The Gender Minister said the Government has also ensured that there are quality teach and learning materials for both teachers and school children.



She said a total of 42,000 Teachers Note Books, 98,736 Class Attendance Registers and 1,195,250 boxes of white chalk were supplied to all public basic schools across the country.



In addition other supplementary reading materials were procured and distributed as well to supplement Teaching and Learning Materials provided by schools under the Capitation Grant scheme.



Nana Oye Lithur explained that under the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant (GPEG), 14,642 pieces of furniture were procured by the districts for selected public basic schools.



The Gender Minister however noted that notwithstanding the progress Ghana has experienced, there are some challenges that need to be addressed to ensure we are able to sustain the gains made.



She also acknowledged governments limited resources to continue most of the interventions which she concede poses as a key challenges to the country and threatens the sustainability of the achievements in ensuring that children have access to quality education and remain in school.



There are still socio-cultural beliefs and economic challenges that hinder children from staying in school after enrollment.



Girls especially face issues with child marriage, the need to support their parents in economic ventures during school hours and sexual and physical abuse, Nana Oye Lithur said.



The Permata International Conference was on the general theme: Children Beyond Tomorrow, aims to create greater awareness and understanding on the development of young individuals and their optimal growth through sharing.



It also seeks to draw attention to global developments and efforts that impact children and childhood today; how childhood experience contributes to the sustainability and well-being of communities and nation building; and the importance of innovation, collaboration, and best practices in promoting positive childhood outcomes.

Source: GNA









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The atmosphere at the Reverend Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church at Adabraka was sombre as people thronged the mission to mark the first anniversary of the June 3, 2015 twin disaster.



The victims of the fire and flood disasters saw various dignitaries including President John Dramani Mahama and Ministers of State as well as survivors of the disaster and relatives of the deceased in attendance.



Traders and residents of the area also filled the church and the streets.



Mr Alfred Okoh Vanderpuije, Chief Executive Officer of Accra Metropolitan Assembly encouraged Ghanaians to turn to God in their time of grief as they remember those who lost their lives on the night of June 3, 2015.



We must resolve to work together to prevent a recurrence of such a disaster, he said.



He noted that Ghana had learnt a lot of lessons from the disaster and had undertaken a number initiatives since June 3.



He explained that government had so far been able to identify 108 of the victims and had paid compensation to their families.



However there are still bodies of some victim who are yet to be identified and called on families whose relatives had not been found since the fateful night to come and help identify the remaining bodies.



Government, he noted, had also paid the medical bills of survivors who were injured and paid about 15 of them so far.



About 420,000 metric tonnes of silt had also been dredged from the Korle Lagoon and Odaw River, constituting about 45 per cent of the work to be done on the project.



Mr Vanderpuije said clean-up exercises would continue to be done around the circle, Abossey Okai and Kaneshie areas to dispose of the refuse generated, while drains across the city would be desilted to ensure the tragedy did not recur.



Right Reverend Samuel Kofi Osabutey, Bishop of the Accra Archdiocese of the Methodist Church Ghana, who gave the sermon entreated Ghanaians to be morally responsible and to act responsibly towards the environment and towards each other.



Development without moral responsibility is irresponsibility that can lead to the destruction of our common humanity, he stated.



Rt Rev Osabutey noted that it is important in such disasters to turn to God for help, look up to scripture, offer praises to God and learn lessons from the incident.



He said the disaster should make us recognise Gods ownership of the land and to recognise that we were only stewards.



President John Dramani Mahama and others, after the memorial service, laid wreaths at the site of the former GOIL Filling Station where the twin fire and flood disaster claimed 160 lives and left several others injured at a short ceremony on the theme: Never Again-June 3rd Disaster; Focus on Health and Safety.



President Mahama laid a wreath on behalf of the people and the government, Greater Accra Regional Minister Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, laid one on behalf of the Region, Mr Vanderpuije, on behalf of the city of Accra and Mr Moses Asaga, Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority on behalf of the Oil Marketing Companies.



Madam Faustina Asare, a relative of one of the deceased also laid a wreath on behalf of the bereaved families.



Nii Duodu Nsarkie III, Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council and Nii Armah Ashitey, Member of Parliament for the Korle Klottey were also at the scene of the disaster.



Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, Chief Fire Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service interacting with the media said it is a collective national responsibility to ensure that such an event did not happen again.



He said during such incidents, emergency services like the Ghana National Fire Service also suffer as their lives were in danger, thus the body had taken the responsibility to continue to educate the public on fire safety, prevention, precaution and protection.



We would need the cooperation of the public to ensure fire safety, that is the only way we can ensure adequate fire safety in this country, he said.



Madam Sarah Asare Quao, mother of one of the victims-Millicent Tagoe who lost her life at 45, said coping with the loss of her daughter had been very difficult for the family, especially as she was a single mother with three children.



Razak Abdul, a survivor, who sustained serious burns on his face, which has left him scared bemoaned the stigmatisation that he had to endure as a result of his burns.



He said life after the incident had been mostly hard for him although there were some good days.



He said some people are afraid to come near him and run away at the sight of his scars, while others sometimes sympathise with him.



People sometimes get scared of you and even run away. That is where if you dont encourage yourself, you cannot live, he said.



Other activities lined up to mark the anniversary of the disaster include a choral night at the Rev Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church on Friday night, a service at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Saturday; June 4, and final remembrance services in churches across the nation on Sunday.

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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Leading member of the defunct National Reform Party (NRP), Dr. David Percy has launched a scathing attack on the New Patriotic Party (NPP), claiming the opposition party is putting on airs and acting as if Ghana is their birthright.



According to him, the NPP apparently perceive themselves as forebears of the country and only believe in their own ideologies.



Speaking on Radio Gold's "Alhaji Alhaji" programme, Dr. Percy argued that the NPP's request for a new voter's register coupled with other electoral issues is somehow a ploy by the party to ensure that those with contrary views to their standpoint, give up for them to take their birthright.



He however stressed that the NPP is acting in bad faith, adding that "this silly business about getting a new register because you find a flaw of 10%, even less than 10%; beggars beliefGiving the fact that we know that were constantly losing peopleIm almost certain that my brother who died close to 10 years ago is still on the register. Im certain that my sister who died in January is still on the register. So, by constantly coming up with absurd demands; we guarantee that there will be constant tension. It will generate anxiety; fear and hopefully the rest of us will give up and say, look, take your birthright and be done with it.



Dr. David Percy further described as "foolishness" the position of the NPP on the electoral issues.



In a certain sense, all our parties are accomplices to this buffooneryAnd what amazes me is that persistently the NPP has acted on the basis of utmost bad faith. They go into caucuses. They go into IPAC. Consensus positions are adopted. They come out and run a contrary storyI have no problem with their foolishness. But what really amazes me is that other parties who are with them in those caucuses permit this nonsense to go on.



He further opined that the opposition NPP does not uphold their democratic traditions and do not believe in multi-party rule.



To him, they will do anything at all cost to lay claims to the nation.



Unless we decide that in fact, the business of running Ghana is their birthright, well continue on this path for the next 100 yearsThe NPP does not believe in multi-party rule. The NPP has never believed in multi-party rule. One of the biggest wonders of the world is that somehow they have managed to get you to believe that they have democratic traditions. They have never believed in that," he stated.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana/email address:[email protected]









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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Presidential Staffer Kojo Adu Asare is daring the main opposition party, NPP and its flagbearer to be bold and respond to allegations made by pro NPP group SAVE NPP NOW.



Mr Adu Asare says he finds it strange that the Nana Addo and the NPP have avoided all the serious allegations by a member of their own party. The group which held a news conference on last Monday, claimed among other things that Nana Akufo Addo is behind the siphoning of party funds.



According to the outspoken Baah Acheamfuor, Director of Communications of the group, the money was one of the key reasons why Chairman Paul Afoko was suspended for trying to stop its diversion into a secret unauthorized account for the purposes of sharing.



The group which is demanding Nan Addo steps down is bitter about his leadership qualities which has divided the party.



What is even more shocking is that they stated that the siphoning of party funds into the illegal and unauthorized account was done with the explicit and express permission of the flag bearer Nana Akufo Addo. One wonders why Nana who is supposed to lead the party by example and campaign on the need to weed out corruption from our governance as a country will fully and without any hesitation endorse the diversion of party funds amounting to 5.2 million cedis into a secret Ecobank account he said.



Mr Acheamfour further alleged...What is even worse is that as we speak today a huge chunk of those monies which were intended to be used for party activities in the constituencies and polling stations across the country have been unlawfully expended on the flag bearers numerous trips to the UK and elsewhere. Of course we have documentary evidence to prove this fact.



Today in NPP, it is more expensive to maintain the travelling expenses of the flagbearer than maintaining the party machinery at the grassroots. If Ghanaians want to know the fate of the countrys finances under an Akufo-Addo presidency, they should look that the way he is superintending over the swindling of NPPs party funds added Mr Acheamfuor.



These allegations according to the former Adenta MP are too serious to be ignored. He maintained that Nana Addo who is claiming to have clean hands and has promised not to steal Ghanas money if he should be elected President must prove issues raised against him are wrong.



Nana Akomeah cannot issue instructions to NPP Communicators to remain silent to save Nana Addo from being further exposed by his own people. Just as they cannot pinpoint any issue against Mahama yet are demanding extra commitment to fight the menace, Nana Addo must defend criminality exposed by people in his kown house Adu Asare told the Citizens Mail.



He added Nana Addo cannot claim he wants to better the lot of Ghanaians when he cant even ensure that the partys finances are managed properly. Is he really serious about ever becoming the President of this country and can manage the resources of the country judiciously? I dont think so. Its quite obvious he just wants become President.



He maintained the NPP has something to hide because they have been silent on revelations and statements by Mr Paul Afoko, Dr Arthur Kennedy, Sammy Crabbe and other critics of Nana Addos style of leadership which is full of vindictiveness.



Mr Adu Asare added that Nana Addos decision to prevent his own people from commenting on Afoko, Acheamfour and others is more or less a gag order.



Something he argued sends a very strong signal to what is likely to affect the masses should they make a mistake of electing him as President.

Source: Citizens Mail









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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President John Dramani Mahama has observed that people abuse him on the airwaves when they have unresolved issues with their partners.



He believes most people vent their spleen on him by raining insults on his persona daily on media discourse.



According to him, people use corruption as political propaganda without backing their claims with facts.



Perception can be heightened because is being discussed long in the media. And When you have a country like Ghana where everybody is free to discuss corruption, if you wake up and you are angry with your husband or wife you take it out on the President, abuse him on the radio, when you have that kind of society, there are all kinds of issues that come up, he stated.



He accused people of using social media to heighten peoples perception about corruption in Ghana.



And then we have the addition of social media, because of the anonymity, people just fix some blatant lies and put it on WhatsApp. And sometimes they are so creative and I said these people the way they are creative if they channel this creativity into lucrative thing Ghana would not be where it is.



They would create something about you and if it is not because I am myself and I know that it is not true anybody who sees it would believe it. We have all that floating in the system and all that so it heightens peoples perception about corruption. And so it is easy to say that there is more corruption in this regime than in that regime, where would comparison of between corruption take us it wont take us anywhere, he emphasised.



Speaking to a gathering of Ghanaian citizens living in London, he called for proper systems to check corruption in Ghana.



The President challenged Ghanaians to be bold in naming and shaming state officials involved in corruption.



The important thing is to put in the systems that prevent corruption is taking place. Have the political willingness to expose it and investigate it and sanction it and I have said I am willing if any allegations are made a lot of times somebody comes and says oh this guy he is stealing and I ask him how do you know eer you put your ears on the ground.



Your ministers are all thieves, which one tell me so that I can get the person, na wonte you dont listen you are not listening to these things. You know, you need to deal with it in a more systematic manner and thats why we are putting in place a legislation that protects whistle blowers, because whistle blowers are important, he said.



He assured that the Attorney Generals (AG) department is working assiduously on the whistle blowers amendment bill and witness protection scheme for easy flow of information.



The person who sees corruption happening, you must put in the regulation that ensures that when he has blown the whistle, he is protected, he said.

Source: Ultimate1069.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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Audio Attachment: Listen to Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, says the Supreme Court cannot order the Electoral Commission (EC) to delete names from the voters' register.



He punched holes in the assertion by Justice Jones Dotse, a Supreme Court Judge, who in a rare interview, clarified a recent judgment of the apex court which had divided opinion.

Justice Dotse's comments were in respect of varying interpretations given to the Supreme Court's judgment on a case brought against the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Attorney-General by a former Youth Organizer of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan and one Evans Nimako.



The respected judge, who was a panel member of the Supreme Court (SC) Justices who ordered the EC to delete NHIS Card registrants, stressed that the ruling was 'clear' and so urged people who misunderstand the ruling to return to the court.



...I dont want to interpret the judgment but as you heard it the Supreme Court was quite forthright and clear that the use of the NHIS cards is unconstitutional..." he stated.



Addressing the issue to the media, Justice Dotse interpreted the basis for the SC ruling, saying "the criterion for the NHIS cards was not based on Ghanaian citizenship but only on residents in Ghana. So any foreigner who is resident in Ghana for six months and more can register under the NHIS card; that was the basis for our decision in 2014. The recent one we said the use of the NHIS cards is therefore unconstitutional; they should take the opportunity to clean the register of those undesirable persons. Therefore we also did not want to disenfranchise anybody; so the Supreme Court went on to say anybody who will be affected by that exercise must be given the opportunity to register according to the law and the constitution."



But Mr. Pratt cast doubts over Justice Dotse's assertions saying he (Dotse) is not an authority on whether the EC should delete names from the register or not.



The Senior Journalist pointed out that the EC doesn't have the right to delete any names from the register under the existing laws governing the Commission.



He stated emphatically during a panel discussion on PeaceFM's "Kokrokoo" that the EC can only remove names from the register through an arbitration process.



"The point is that the Electoral Commission must act within the law. When you look at all the constitutional instruments up to CI 91 and so on, none of them give the power - sole motto - to delete names on the register."



He further held strongly that Justice Dotse's comments do not represent the Supreme Court's decision on the registration of NHIS Card holders during the limited registration exercise.



"Justice Dotse is not the Supreme Court," he claimed.



Suggesting the way forward, he concluded that "what we have to do is to properly go back to the Supreme Court for the Supreme Court to give us what it meant by that judgment...It's not for one member of the panel to make a statement which settles everything."



Meanwhile, touching on the same issue on Kokrokoo, the Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) John Boadu argued that "it is not entirely correct to state that the Electoral Commission doesn't have the right to delete names of people on the register. We have existing processes that as we speak now, Electoral Commission don't need any law or additional law to do so."





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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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Thirty-nine-year-old undefeated boxer Braimah Kamoko, aka Bukom Banku, has appealed to former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, to stay committed to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



He said their current position, status and influence in the ruling NDC were unquestionable, the more reason why they should stay committed to the party.



According to him, the Rawlingses must speak their mind clearly on their commitment to the NDC or as to whether those who formed the party are no longer interested in the party.



This, Bukom Banku indicated, would enable him (Banku) to advise himself on whether to leave or stay in the NDC.



According to him, as an avowed member of the party, he was worried about the seeming support the Rawlingses gave to the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) in their recent comments, actions and inaction.



How can you take us to the riverside, deep inside the river and jump out and leave us alone inside, Banku wondered, referring to what looks like a departure of the Rawlingses from the NDC.



The theatrical pugilist, who referred to President Rawlings and his wife as his grandfather and grandmother, appealed to them to re-commit to the NDC for victory in 2016.



The Bukom-born fighter told the Daily Graphic in an interview last Friday that he believed President Mahama would win the upcoming election convincingly, and therefore called for unity to ensure a decisive victory.



Banku on NDC MPs



The boxer also warned aspiring Members of Parliament (MPs) of the NDC to win their seats or risk his ire.



He challenged them to work extra hard to ensure victory in the coming polls.

Source: Daily Graphic









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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Founder and Leader of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) Madam Akua Donkor is the first to have applied to the police administration for police details ahead of the vigorous 2016 campaigns.



The Ghana Police Service last month, announced plans to provide protection for Presidential Candidates and their running mates before and during the November 7 general election.



The package according to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. John Kudalor forms part of security arrangements being put in place to ensure a peaceful electioneering process.



But Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service Superintendent Cephas Arthur on the Ultimate Breakfast Show hosted by Lantam Papanko disclosed that it is only the leader of the GFP who has so far applied.



He disclosed that the others are eligible for police protection but as per his last check, they were yet to apply for the opportunity.



In principle, all the political parties have accepted the offer but nobody has come forward to indicate his choice except Madam Akua Donkor, he revealed.



Superintendent Arthur also revealed that a lot of progress has been made as far as providing police protection to flagbearers and running mates is concerned.



He indicated that if the rest fail to apply for the services police within the mandatory two weeks period, it will not affect the police from discharging its duties professionally.

Source: Ultimate1069.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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Deputy General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress, Koku Anyidoho is all rage, and he says he has had to spend the better part of Wednesday trying to cool the anger of party followers.



He, like the angry party followers, finds some tax proposals remarks by Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, particularly a move to tax pensions and allowances when the latter spoke at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Breakfast Meeting on Tuesday, as a drawback on the partys quest to retain power.



The Finance Minister was a keynote speaker at the forum in Accra that assembled the cream of the business community, tax experts and tax administrators.



"Yes, allowances must be taxed. They are income," Terkper had said, explaining also that it is a thorny issue taxing pensions.



Its a thorny one because you are exiting. But remember that as you make your social security contributions, they are exempt from tax even though it is part of your income, he had explained.



However Koku who reacted to the comments which formed the lead story of the Daily Graphic Wednesday, told Accra-based Muntie FM that The NDC party will not sit down again, repeating severally, the NDC party we are tired, yabr, we will not sit down again No individual minister will walk us into opposition. No individual minister will walk us into opposition, it will not happen, it cannot happen



Koku who wondered if all tax tools need to be deployed at a go when it could be rolled out gradually to afford the taxpayer some breathing space, said the governments tax policies are overburdening the Ghanaian and threatens to overshadow all its good works.



Who would appreciate your good works when taxes drown the people, he quipped, and followed it up with Why? Why? It will not continue and cannot continue.



Koku said it did not make sense to tax pensions and that henceforth, the party would not sit unconcerned for any political appointee to derail the partys ambitions with unpopular decisions and warned  let any appointee make the mistake and dare the party and they will see the anger of the party.



Taxes are good, said Koku, it builds schools, constructs roads, supplies water and light, but please, tell Seth Terkper, do not incur the wrath of the party.



Koku continued that the Finance Minister may have his say in intellectual discourses on taxation but he should not hang the burden on the neck of the party.



Go to your business forum, go and make your submissions as a tax expert and receive applause. Never, never, never hang it on our neck.



He said at a time when agro-businesses are collapsing, industries are suffocating and workers are being laid off, a situation that requires that the people are given hope, further taxes of pensions and allowances are a no, no and the Finance Minister cannot be telling Ghanaians to look out for more.



Seth Terkper, please watch your language. The NDC does not belong to you, it does not belong to me, it belongs to the grassroots. Seth Terkper do not incur the wrath of the party, counseled Koku, who said "the next time it happens the party would lead demonstrations against the government for while they would support the government any day, they bear allegiance first to the party.

Source: Graphic.com.gh









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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Atik Mohammed, PNC General Secretary of People's National Convention (PNC), has called on former President John Agyekum Kufour to intervene in the affairs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).



According to Atik Mohammed, there is what he terms as a "cold war" going on in the New Patriotic Party.



Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Atik Mohammed was keen on the instrumental role that the NPP plays in the country's political climate.



He urged former President Kufour to ensure order in the party.



He noted that the cold war in the NPP comes in the form of "proxy wars" and therefore believed it is time for the former President and the NPP flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to join forces together at "resolving their differences..."



"...in the interest of saving his party and to repositioning it well in such a stead that we can fight the fight," Atik Mohammed said, stressing that former President Kufour can help build the NPP to be a strong force.



His comment came on the heels of an Accra High Court dismissal of a suit filed by the second National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammy Crabbe challenging his suspension from the party.



The court dismissed the case on "unmeritorious" grounds.



Atik Mohammed advised members of the NPP to put the interest of the party above their parochial self-interests.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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.

Featured Video
Holy shit.

According to a stack of documents obtained through freedom of information requests, Comcare  which is the body in charge of overseeing health and safety regulations in Australias offshore detention centres  chose not to investigate nearly 850 of 1092 dangerous incidents reported to it on Manus Island and Nauru.

Furthermore, that number doesnt even include the multitude of sexual assaults against detainees reported elsewhere; the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and its contractors are only required to inform Comcare of notifiable incidents, including death and serious injury.

A spokesperson for Comcare told Fairfax incidents of self-harm and sexual assault, for example, may not satisfy the definition of a notifiable incident.

That means of the multitude of sexual assaults that have occurred in our offshore detention system, none were investigated by the authority legally in charge of worker and detainee safety.

Even then, considering the 18 recorded deaths in Australias immigration detention system over a two year period, Comcare only saw it fit to call four notifiable. Four.







The Australian Lawyers Alliance, the body who sought the documents, has called for Comcare to seek legal action against the Department of Immigration for not providing those safe working and living environments.

At the same time, spokesperson Greg Barnes said for Comcare to take the view that these [~850 events] are not notifiable incidents under the Act is disturbing.

The ALA said the under-reporting of incidents was a best-case scenario, but intimated the oversights may even constitute concealment at worst.

Its just terrible, all the way down.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Photo: Pacific Press / Getty.
Australian actor Dominic Purcell narrowly escaped serious injury this week on the set of Prison Break, when an iron bar fell on his head, breaking his nose in two places.

Purcell was on-set in Morocco when the accident occurred, and he was airlifted from Marrakesh to Casablanca for urgent medical treatment, where he was told that he was lucky to be alive.

Had a little accident on set, the actor later said on Instagram. Pays to have a thick skull when an iron bar falls on your head  Haha. I got a free nose job out of it  Stoked to be alive. All good.

According to Purcells doctors, his unusually tough tissue fibre saved him from more serious injury.

Oh, being flown out on a helicopter was another adventure I didnt expect, he continued. Thought the bloody thing was going to fall from the sky!!! What a day it was. Grateful to be alive.

I wish I could say I discovered something profound out of my near miss. Ummmmm nothing yet just a broken nose and a hundred stitches in my head.

Prison Break returns early 2017, for a 10-episode season.

Source: Dominic Purcell / Instagram.
A lot of celebrity Twitter accounts have been hacked recently. First it was Katy Perry. Then, last night, someone got into Tenacious Ds account and sent out a fake announcement that Jack Black had died.

Now, Aussie psych rockers Tame Impala have copped it, and whoever did it is inexplicably sending out bomb threats to major airlines in-between shoutouts to their mates Instagram accounts. If they really are his friends accounts, thats what we in the biz would call leaving a paper trail.

Cop a gander at this nonsense:

The tweets were deleted pretty quickly, as you might imagine. I think they should have left this gem up, though:

Let me say this: there are potentially better and less illegal ways to bolster your crews Insty likes than sending bomb threats to Malaysia Airlines via a popular bands Twitter page. Then again, I only have like 500 Instagram followers so what the hell do I know?

Source: Twitter.

Photo: Getty Images.
On June 4, 1942, just six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the the Battle of Midway began during World War II.

The battle lasted through June 7. In the end seven ships sunk and 3,364 men died.

The U.S. faced four Japanese aircraft carriers. The U.S. Navy won using only three - the Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown.

The Battle of Midway was called the "turning point in the Pacific" during World War II. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare."

Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg will commemorate the Battle of Midway at 11 a.m. June 3 with a short ceremony in front of Building 310. Rear Admiral Jonathan Yuen, chief of the supply corps, and commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, is guest speaker.
Donald Trump

In this May 26, 2016, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Rimrock Auto Arena, in Billings, Mont.

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

WASHINGTON -- A pair of powerful Senate Republicans on Sunday warned Donald Trump to drop his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, joining the widespread rejection of their presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of the federal jurist. A third prominent Republican who also supports Trump urged the candidate to start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."

"We're all behind him now," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned, adding that it's time for unifying the party, not "settling scores and grudges." "I hope he'll change his direction."

So far, Trump has refused, reiterating in interviews broadcast Sunday that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial involving a billionaire who wants to build a border wall to keep people from illegally entering the United States from Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-born parents -- making him, in Trump's view, "a hater of Donald Trump."

"I couldn't disagree more" with Trump's central argument, McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."



"I don't condone the comments," added Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on ABC's "This Week."



And Newt Gingrich, who became speaker of the House promising to open the GOP more to minorities, delivered the harshest warning of all.



"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it's inexcusable," Gingrich, a former presidential contender, said on "Fox News Sunday."



Their remarks solidify the line GOP leaders have drawn in recent days between themselves and Trump, with whom they've made a fragile peace over their shared sense that almost anyone would be a better president than Democrat Hillary Clinton.



The GOP pushback against Trump comes two days before presidential primaries in California, home to more Latinos than whites. It's the final major battleground between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Far ahead of Sanders in the delegate race, Clinton is poised to clinch her party's nomination in the next few days.



Trump has no more competition for the GOP nomination, but he does have significant issues with the most senior elected members of the party he hopes to lead.



On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan tepidly endorsed Trump -- but 24 hours later disavowed the billionaire's remarks about Curiel.



Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in New York that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate. Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. Trump's legal team has not sought to have Curiel removed.



Trump already has rejected calls for him adjust his approach.



"I'm not changing," he said Tuesday at a fiery news conference at Trump Tower.



On Sunday, Trump doubled down on the idea. Asked on CBS whether a Muslim judge would be unfair given Trump's plan to ban Muslims from the U.S, Trump responded: "Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely."

"Absolutely" possible Muslim judge would treat me unfairly https://t.co/6oebSHpjML  Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) June 5, 2016

Trump singles out supporter at rally: 'Look at my African-American over here!'



For a party that in 2012 explicitly pinned its survival on drawing support from Hispanics, Trump's words create an ugly series of headaches.



Asked three times whether Trump's attack on Curiel was racist, McConnell thrice refused to respond directly and repeated a statement about disagreeing.



"I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans," said McConnell, R-Ky.



Gingrich answered: "I think that it was a mistake ... I hope it was sloppiness. "(Trump) says on other occasions that he has many Mexican friends, et cetera, but that's irrelevant. This judge is not Mexican. This judge is an American citizen."



Corker, R-Tenn., expressed the same discomfort many other Republicans in Congress have complained about when they're asked to respond to, or justify, Trump's remarks. "I thought this interview was going to be more about the foreign policy arena," Corker said on ABC.



Like Ryan, all three Republicans have endorsed Trump. But their comments carried the implicit caveat that their support depends at least in part on Trump dropping his criticism of Curiel. All three also suggested ways Trump could move beyond his legal issues.



Corker, who recently met with Trump in New York, said Trump "has a tremendous opportunity" to build out his foreign policy agenda.



Gingrich urged Trump to become more of a statesman.



"Trump has got to, I think, move to a new level," he said. "This is no longer the primaries. He's no longer an interesting contender. He is now the potential leader of the United States and he's got to move his game up to the level of being a potential leader."



McConnell's advice was blunt.



"This is a good time, it seems to me, to begin to try to unify the party and you unify the party by not settling scores and grudges against people you've been competing with," he said. "I'd like to see him reach out and pull us all together and give us a real shot at winning this November."
Update: Crash cleared.

A crash on Interstate 283 is slowing Sunday traffic.

There is a ramp restriction at the end of I-283 southbound due to a crash that occurred around 1:51 p.m., according to the Pennsylvania Department of transportation.

Drivers should use caution.

For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources.

Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here.

Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.
GARY JOHNSON ART.jpg

In a Friday, May 27, 2016 file photo, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks to supporters and delegates at the National Libertarian Party Convention, in Orlando, Fla. Omn Sunday, May 29, 2016, The Libertarian Party again nominated former New Mexico Gov. Johnson as its presidential candidate, believing he can challenge presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton because of their poor showing in popularity polls. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

By Tony May

Can libertarianism outpoll authoritarianism? Looks like we're going to have a chance to find out in November.

Tony May (PennLive File)

The Libertarian Party, at a convention last week punctuated by a portly candidate for party chairman dancing around the dais clad only in a thong, did the "Stop Trump at Any Cost" movement a favor by slating candidates for president and vice president who are not - as far as we know - whackadoodles and yahoos (a literary reference - look it up on Yahoo.com).

The Libertarian Party, which will be on the ballot in all 50 states has done embarrassed Republicans a favor.

Can't stand Trump? Don't like Hillary?

How about a former two-term governor of New Mexico named Gary Johnson?

Want some gravitas and Eastern elitism to temper Johnson's inner cowboy?

How about a former two-term, Republican governor of Massachusetts named William Weld?

A former federal prosecutor, Weld was once nominated - unsuccessfully - by Bill Clinton to serve as ambassador to Mexico (Jess Helms blocked his nomination, so he can't be all that bad).

Historically, third party candidates don't have much impact.

They rarely get more than a couple of percent of all votes cast. But every generation or so, third parties play a factor.

The last time a third party candidate won votes in the Electoral College was 1968 when George Corley Wallace, the segregationist, tallied 46 electoral votes while polling some 10 million votes overall and winning five states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas).

He effectively brought an end to the perennial Solid South vote for the Democrats and ensured a Nixon victory. Wallace's repeated efforts campaigns for president were widely regarded as the high water mark of racism in modern America (even though Wallace, himself, repudiated segregation late in life).

The last time a third party candidate had an impact was in 2000 when Ralph Nader turned out to be an accessory before the fact when George W. Bush stole the Florida vote - and the presidency - from Al Gore.

If you accept the final tally in Florida in 2000, Bush beat Gore by 507 votes. Nader, flying the flag of the Green Party, received 97,000 votes.

Exit polls suggested that if Nader were not on the ballot, Gore would have gotten 38,000 of the Nader votes while Bush would have received 25,000. Winner, sans Ralph: Gore - chads or no chads.

Can a third party candidacy make a difference this year? And who would it help? Trump or Clinton?

First off, in this rambunctious political year that started out with a "clown car" full of Republican candidates, one has to admit that Johnson and Weld are credible - at least on a par with or maybe a cut above some of the GOP "titans" slain by Trump.

Both wear suits, stop at traffic lights and are generally affable around the hired help. And then there's this nugget: Johnson not only admits to having smoked pot this year, he's on the board of directors of a legal marijuana production company.

Weld was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, yes; but there is a good chance that the spoon was made by Paul Revere - his Boston roots go back that far.

But, hold on; where do they stand on the issues? Johnson has waffled on abortion. He's rational on immigration (keeping in mind that New Mexico shares a border with old Mexico). He doesn't want to abolish Social Security or Medicare. But does want to abolish the IRS - and most of our existing tax system.

Both Johnson and Weld say they pretty much support most of the Libertarian Party platform, which reads like it was written by Rand Paul.

But they seem exceedingly normal - especially for this bizarre political year. They may well be seen as a credible alternative - especially to Trump-averse Republicans. Will be enough of a factor to change the outcome in November?

The quick answer is no, not unless the Libertarians stumble over a buried chest of pirate treasure. They would need at least $100 million to compete against Hillary's $1 billion plus for the fall and the priceless Trump free media barrage.

Maybe one of the Koch brothers will clean out the pockets of some old suits. Then things could get really interesting.
Muhammad Ali

Spray flies from the head of challenger Joe Frazier, left, as heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali connects with a right in the ninth round of their title fight in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 1, 1975. Ali won the fight on a decision to retain the title. (AP Photo/Mitsunori Chigita, File)

By Doug Morris

"Ali, give us a poem!" a Harvard student yelled after Ali completed a commencement speech. Ali paused, reflected, and returned to the podium to share the world's shortest and perhaps profoundest poem: "Me, We."

It is a statement of solidarity, acknowledging we are in this together, responsible for one another.

It recognizes our common/universal humanity while understanding how individuation is also crucial.

It is one reason why Ali said "I never looked down on anyone who looked up to me." The commonality makes life possible; the difference makes life interesting.

One thing that made Ali different was his refusal to serve and service the interests of unjust and dehumanizing systems of power and domination; he located that refusal in the context of a struggle all oppressed, exploited, and subjugated people share in common against injustice, indignity, and inequality.

Ali connected violence, oppression and destruction abroad with the same at home - a still vital lesson.

Ali's most penetrating, courageous, and arguably ardent statements related to matters of war and peace.

Ali, as a black man in a deeply and systemically racist society, stood up to the most violent and powerful force in human history - the U.S. empire.

He both refused to serve the interests of imperial U.S. power in Vietnam and also denounced the criminal act of aggression that killed up to five million people in Southeast Asia and left three countries in ruins.

His own words tell it well:

"Why should they ask me to...drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I'm not going 10,000 miles...to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. I will not [...become] a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality....So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years."

It is this courage and righteousness that led billions of people around the world to respect and love Ali and it is why he has been called "the most important athlete who ever lived."

Ali did not sell-out his conscience and dignity to serve power - political, economic, or military. Not many, inside or outside the ring, can make that claim.

It should be recalled that he was hated and denigrated by the toadies for imperialist white supremacist capitalist power.

He refused to be silent.

And it should be recalled how powerful was the impact of the anti-war and anti-racism stances of the most famous, "prettiest" black man in the world (and Heavyweight Champion!), and how those resonated with young black and white men and women fighting against racist oppression and war.

Martin Luther King, in speaking out against U.S. power's attack on Southeast Asia, said he agreed with Ali's pronouncement "we are all...victims of the same system of oppression" and thus must fight together to overcome such systems.

Ali was called a "warrior-saint" not because of his fighting in the ring but because of his struggles for peace, dignity, and freedom-for-all outside the ring.

In his actions outside the ring, Ali helped people rethink what it means to be tenacious and tough and redefine the notion of "hero."

It takes little courage to serve the interests of tyrannical power but a great deal to stand up to and challenge that power.

Mass killing is not heroic, it is brutal and destructive; working to stop the machineries of death and devastation, knowing in advance one will be vilified, marginalized, or worse, by those systems, requires fearlessness and bravery too few express.

Ali's mettle gave others courage to stand-up, speak out, and fight back, against racism, war, and inequality.

Ali should be remembered for many things, key among them is acting according to a conscience that recognized systemic violence, exploitation, oppression, and domination as wrong and demonstrated our duty and right to stand, speak, and act against them whenever they arise and wherever they exist.

If enough of us hear and act on that basic message of solidarity, peace and struggle, Ali's example might fuel battles necessary to ensure there is a human future.

Doug Morris, of Mechanicsburg, teaches at West Chester University.
Bernie Sanders

Did this man have the best week in politics?

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Good Sunday Morning, all.

It was quite a week for state and national politics. So we'll dispense with the pleasantries and get right to it.

DOWN ARROW END Katie McGinty: A pair of tough reports made for a bumpy end of the week for the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. Last week, Buzzfeed broke the news that McGinty had falsely claimed to be the first member of her family to attend college. In fact, that honor went her brother, John P. McGinty, who attended the Community College of Philadelphia, obtained an undergraduate degree from La Salle University and went on to get a Master's degree from Temple University, How McGinty could forget she had a brother who attended college before her is not clear. Her campaign clarified, saying McGinty was the first member of her family to attend a four-year college directly after high school. Later in the week, The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication, reported that a Dept. of Energy Loan Director who doled out federal funds to an energy company on whose board McGinty once sat also hosted a Washington fund-raiser for her last week. McGinty has been criticized for her ties to the energy industry, which some have characterized as too cozy.

Though it was announced before the Memorial Day holiday,

Chuck Ardo'

s exit as

AG Kathleen Kane's

press secretary

The onetime mouthpiece to

ex-Gov. Ed Rendell

,

Democratic State Committee

and ex-

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson

was

Kane's

seventh press secretary since 2013. Rare for a spokesman,

Ardo

was sharply critical on his way out the door, saying he could no longer explain the "inexplicable." Some in Harrisburg's PR community criticized the move, saying it was a break from protocol. But the candor was classic

Ardo

.

Hillary Clinton:

We're guessing there may be days when the former Secretary of State wishes the election was just over already. The former IT staffer who set up

Clinton's

private email server announced

. According to multiple reports, the staffer,

Bryan Pagliano

, is going to refuse "any and all questions that may be put to him." In court documents filed Wednesday, his attorney's said

Pagliano

is

"caught up in a lawsuit with an undisputed political agenda."

Pagliano's

attorneys also asked that the Monday deposition not be recorded,

CNN

reported.

UP ARROW END Bernie Sanders: Meanwhile, even though Clinton appears to have the Democratic nomination locked up, rival Bernie Sanders was promising a floor fight during this July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. According to CNN, "Clinton currently has 2,313 total delegates -- 1,769 of which are pledged and 544 of which are super-delegates -- and she is expected to cross the 2,383-deelgate threshold in the next few days to clinch the nomination. But Sanders, who has 1,501 pledged delegates and only 46 super-delegates, says he can still woo enough of her super-delegates between now and the Democratic convention in July to swing the nomination his way." Sanders told CNN that "The media is in error when they lump super-delegates with pledged delegates. Pledged delegates are real," Sanders said. "Hillary Clinton will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination at the end of the nominating process on June 14. Won't happen. She will be dependent on super-delegates." And did we mention that whole "Bernie or Bust" movement that popped up last week?

DOWN ARROW END Donald Trump: The Republican presidential frontrunner took serious heat last week for his remarks about the Indiana-born federal judge who's hearing a civil case against the now-defunct Trump University. Trump has accused the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, of being biased against him, and has called for his recusal, because Curiel is of Mexican descent. But the tone of Trump's rhetoric and his call that "someone should look into" Curiel earned him a rebuke from several of his fellow Republicans, including U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., who'd endorsed Trump only a day earlier: "He clearly says and does things I don't agree with," Ryan told ABC News. "I've had to speak up from time to time when that has occurred, and I'll continue to do that when it's necessary. I hope it's not." Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who's occasionally mentioned as a Trump Veep, was also critical: "I don't know what Trump's reasoning was, and I don't care," Gingrich told The Washington Post. "His description of the judge in terms of his parentage is completely unacceptable."

The Anti-Trump Protesters in San Jose:

Yes, you can disagree. Yes, you can even be loud about it. No,

Ever. That shouldn't be hard to understand.

And that's the week. Enjoy your Sunday. See you all back here on Monday.
FILE - In this April 29, 2016 file photo, presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte answers questions from the media in Manila, Philippines. The Philippine president-elect encouraged the public to help him in his war against crime and urged citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers who would resist arrest and fight back in their neighborhoods. Duterte told a huge crowd celebrating his presidential victory late Saturday, June 4 in the southern city of Davao that Filipinos who would help him in the bloody war against criminality would be rewarded. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
A firefighter walks down a road past a burnt out hillside as fire continues to burn in the foothills outside of Calabasas, Calif. on Saturday, June 4, 2016. A fast-moving brush fire sweeping through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles has damaged homes and prompted neighborhood evacuations. Los Angeles County fire officials now say the brushfire is threatening about 3,000 homes in the Calabasas neighborhood. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A woman walks through floodwaters Saturday, June 4, 2016, near Holiday Lakes, Texas. Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state has been under flood watches or warnings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
FILE - In this May 14, 2016 file pictire a huge poster reading What would you do if your income were taken care of? is pictured on the Plaine de Plainpalais square in Geneva, Switzerland. The poster hints at a national referendum on June 5, were Swiss voters will have to decide on the introduction of an unconditional basic income for all. ( Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
Whitmer and Dixon highlight differences in final debate

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon stepped up the rhetoric in their second and final debate before the Nov. 8 election,.
ISSUES....

Inside, confidential and off the record

Nigeria turning critical



The Niger Delta Avengers militant group has claimed responsibility for three new attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure, promising to cut production to zero- Reuters/6/5/2016



ON THE POLITICAL FRONT we turn to Africa this morning where... and we are not at all surprised by this fact...Nigeria's President, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, had promised to visit the states of that country's sout heast but where, yesterday, he had decided against doing so. He sent his Vice President, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, there in his stead, offering no explanation for his decision. At the same time, the Niger Delta Avengers, having already attacked two pipelines earlier this week, attacked two other pipelines, having promised only two days earlier to do precisely that.

The Avengers... whose sophistic ation regarding military equipment and capabilities conti nues to astonish us on a regular basis... issued the following terse comment:

At about 2:00 a.m today [we] below up the Ogboinbir to Tebidaba and Clough Creek Crude oil pipelines in Bayelsa State. This is in line with our promise to all international oil companies and indigenous oil companies that Nigeria oil production will be zero.

Vice President Osinbajo said that despite the attacks, the government in Abuja is

Determined to put right the things of the past were the people of this land were treated unfairly and the environment unduly polluted and degraded. The cleanup of this land will require change on the part of those who deal with the Niger River environment, particularly the oil companies and our communities.

The problem for Mr. Buhari and Mr. Osinbajo is that this has become a religious war for the Avengers whereas Buhari and Osinbajo see it merely as a separatist threat in the South once again... reminding them of the Biafra War in the late 60s and early 70's

[Ed. Note: We've included a map this page of that part of southeastern Nigeria that sets off the area known then as Biafra. This was the region encompassing the present states of Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Imo and Anambra states. The estimates of those killed in the 26 month long separatist, civil war range between 45-75 thousand!]...

as well as an environmental battle. Buhari & Company refuse to publically acknowledge that this has become a war between the predominately Christian, Igbo tribe of 6 the southeast and Mr. Buhari, a former General in the Nigerian Army, and a Muslim. The Avengers are convinced that Buhari and his government are intent upon destroying the Christian South and have taken up arms against that threat
Shell's Colombian PB 19 crude gets the eye from U.S. refiners



New Colombian crude has an API gravity of 19.8 degrees and 1.6 percent of sulfur content

HOUSTON

Petroleumworld.com 06 06 2016

The United States has started to import small batches of Colombia's Puerto Bahia heavy crude, an unusual development that underscores at least a temporary shift in the type of heavy oil flowing into U.S. refineries.

Typically, U.S. refineries have received their heavy oil from Canada, Venezuela and Mexico. But shipments of those grades have been limited by Canada wildfires, and slipping output in Mexico and Venezuela.

The first shipment of the Colombian heavy crude arrived at Lake Charles, Louisiana in February co-loaded with Vasconia crude for refiner Phillips 66, followed by a 260,000-barrel cargo in March for the same customer, according to sources and data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A third vessel, the Genmar Compatriot, discharged in mid-May in New Orleans about 350,000 barrels of several Colombian grades, including Puerto Bahia crude, according to the sources and Thomson Reuters vessel tracking data.

The new grade, also known as PB 19, has an API gravity of 19.8 degrees and 1.6 percent of sulfur content. It is produced in small volumes by Royal Dutch Shell and shipped from Barranquilla port, according to sources.

Until now, Puerto Bahia crude had been mostly sent to terminals in the Caribbean, where Shell mixed it with imported naphtha to convert it to the popular Castilla heavy blend, according to traders close to these operations.

The latest import of the heavy crude comes as a raging wildfire in Alberta's vast oil sands region has taken out more than 1 million barrels per day of oil production, curtailing shipments of heavy Canadian oil to the U.S and making refiners more open to new foreign crudes needed to combine with domestic light sweet grades.

A spokesman for Shell declined to comment.

This year's change in flows also comes after Colombia reshuffled its crude exports in mid-2015 to focus on marketing its Vasconia blend, which could fetch better sale prices.

In consequence, exporting companies reduced offers of Castilla, especially Colombia's main private producer, Pacific Exploration and Production, which no longer launches regular offers for it on the open market, a company source confirmed.

The last Castilla crude cargo sold by Pacific on the open market was in December, while state-run Ecopetrol, the largest producer of this grade, has also replaced Castilla sales with lighter, more expensive Vasconia.

At the same time, recent rebel attacks on Colombia's 210,000 barrel per day Cano-Limon Convenas pipeline have disrupted supplies of Vasconia crude.






Saudis reassure OPEC importance to oil producers



New Saudi oil minister's diplomacy blitz heals OPEC rifts

VIENNA

Petroleumworld.com 06 06 2016

Between Saudi Arabia's new oil minister and the rest of OPEC, a fragile peace reigns.

Khalid al-Falih, who replaced Ali al-Naimi a month ago, faced a daunting premiere on the world stage at OPEC's 169th ministerial gathering in Vienna.

It took what Ed Morse of Citigroup Inc. called a publicity blitz for Al-Falih to ensure that Thursday's assembly would run smoothly. That included pre-meeting head-to-head confabs with representatives from six member countries plus cozy dinners and meet-and-greets with consultants who advise hedge funds and oil traders.

Even Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran's oil minister, was won over, at least for now. After four years of quarreling, Tehran and Riyadh parked their differences at the door and agreed on a new secretary-general for the group, Mohammed Barkindo of Nigeria.

We had a meeting without any tension, Zanganeh said in an interview in Vienna on Friday. We should work with each other, we are neighbors, we are counterparts in OPEC, he said, referring to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states.

The calm is tentative. Vienna's atmosphere of bonhomie had as much to do with oil prices flirting with a six-month high of $50 a barrel as it did Al-Falih's overtures. Wide differences among OPEC nations remain, especially when it comes to restoring the production targets that were scrapped in December. And Thursday's meeting, for all its ballyhooed friendliness, produced no new policy pronouncements.

Al-Falih, 56, is Saudi Arabia's first new oil minister in more than 20 years. He took over as OPEC members' resentment toward the kingdom erupted. In April, countries that favored a freeze in production levels blamed Saudi Arabia for sinking it; the same month, Al-Falih's boss, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said the kingdom didn't care whether oil prices were at $30 or $70, sending a shock wave through OPEC members such as Venezuela, whose faltering economy is dependent on higher prices; and just a few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia's longtime rivalry with Iran exploded into public finger-pointing at a preparatory meeting in Vienna.

OPEC Role

It had gotten so bad that critics were wondering whether the Saudis envisioned a continued purpose for OPEC. Al-Falih turned that around.

Al-Falih clearly still sees a role and need for OPEC, even in a world of shale oil, said Jamie Webster, a fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York.

As Al-Falih was making the right noises in Vienna, the Saudi state-owned oil company announced its first-ever contract to supply refiners in the Baltics -- another example of the intense campaign for market share.

Al-Falih began his diplomatic tour after arriving in Vienna before everyone else. He landed Monday night and went straight to his suite on the top floor of the luxurious Hyatt Hotel, skirting the media -- something his predecessor rarely did.

Early the next morning, he visited nearby OPEC headquarters to meet the group's secretary-general. Al-Falih delivered the message that OPEC was important for Saudi Arabia, according a person briefed on the conversation who asked not to be named because the discussions weren't public.

Still Engaged

Al-Falih made it clear that, contrary to public speculation, the kingdom was still engaged with OPEC, wanted to listen to the diverse views of its members and would be flexible in its approach, the person said.

Over the next two days -- and with the support of the king's son, the deputy oil minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman -- Al-Falih delivered the same message of cooperation in bilateral discussions with representatives of Nigeria, Venezuela, Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

After a one-hour get-together on Wednesday, Venezuela's Eulogio del Pino, who often clashed with Al-Naimi, told reporters he had an excellent meeting with the new Saudi minister.

In an apparent easing of tensions created at the Doha meeting -- when Saudi Arabia blocked a freeze deal because Iran wouldn't participate while it was still restoring exports that had been choked by sanctions -- Zanganeh said Friday that all OPEC members now  accepted the return of Iran to the market.

Al-Falih, in his first extended remarks to reporters since becoming minister last month, delivered a conciliatory message before the ministerial meeting began.

Saudi Arabia realizes that price is a key part of the oil-market formula -- it balances supply and demand, he told reporters. We realize that a long time under lower prices doesn't bring enough supply to meet the rise in demand.

He added later that $50 a barrel wasn't a high enough price to encourage investment in new production capacity -- music to the ears of OPEC counterparts such as Venezuela.






No web allowed, so like everyone else heading for Wizard World at the Convention Center on Sunday, Spiderman had to take an escalator to get to the upper floors. Read more

Maddi Levine, 15, has been attending comic-book conventions since she was 10, but Wizard World Comic Con Philadelphia was her biggest one yet. Dressed as Marvel Comics' Black Widow and eager to get an autograph from Captain America star Chris Evans, she said her favorite part of the festivities was the sense of community.

"[People here] might look intimidating because of their costumes, but everyone here is really just a big nerd," the Baltimore native said as crowds filed into the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Some had paid $90 for full four days; some $45 only for Sunday, the final day.

The convention drew tens of thousands of fans, many of them in costume as a wide range of comic-book and anime characters. After waiting in long lines, attendees arrived excited for photo-ops with celebrities, rows of comic-themed merchandise, costume contests, and more.

Greg Meyer, 55, a resident of Mays Landing, N.J., and a "huge X-Files fan," came to the convention Sunday looking forward to meeting David Duchovny, who played Fox Mulder on the sci-fi show.

For 5-year-old South Jersey resident Alaina Moore, dressed as Spider Girl, the main draw of the event was the super heroes. Her father, Jason Moore, 31, came dressed as the Marvel character Thor, a costume he says his daughter picked out for him. "She loves it," he said of the Philadelphia convention. "We've come here every year since she was 3."

Wizard World will host conventions in a number of cities in coming months, including Sacramento, Calif., Chicago, and Austin, Texas. Jerry Milani, public relations manager for the company, says comic cons have been growing in popularity in recent years. He said the demographics of the conventions themselves have also diversified, with more women and families attending.

For Robin Dannen, 45, who dressed as DC Comics' Robin, that rings true. Dannen, who drove to Philadelphia from her native Chancellor, S.D., has been attending conventions since she was 7. She goes to four or five a year.

Dannen said she sees more women at events today than she did when she was younger. "I used to be the only girl at the comic-book store," she remembered with a laugh. "I used to hide my comic books under my brother's bed."

Levine said she sees progress, but thinks there's still room for the comic-book community to become more inclusive. "I'll see a comic cover where the girl looks like a Barbie doll times three or something, and I do have a beef with that, because most people don't look like that," she said.

For now, Levine looks forward to attending more conventions. Comic books aren't the most popular hobby at her high school, she said, so "this really is kind of like a refuge."

Her father, Charlie Levine, 57, agreed. "I think everybody here respects each other for who they are and who they aren't," he said, adding: "Awesome people-watching - it's the ultimate Halloween party."

jchadha@philly.com

215-854-4524
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In a display of complete cowardice, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused on three occasions to call Donald Trumps attacks on the Trump University case judge racist during an interview on Meet The Press.

Video:

Transcript via Meet The Press:

CHUCK TODD:

You know what he has said about this federal judge thats overseeing the Trump University lawsuit. He has essentially said he cannot be impartial because hes Hispanic. Is that not a racist statement?



SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL:

I couldnt disagree more with a statement like that.



CHUCK TODD:

Is it a racist statement?

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL:

I couldnt disagree more with what he had to say.

CHUCK TODD:

Okay. But do you think its a racist statement to say?



SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL:

I dont agree with what he had to say. This is a man who is born in Indiana. All of us came here from somewhere else. Almost all Americans are either near term immigrants, like my wife, who came here at age eight, not speaking a word of English, or the rest of us is ancestors were risk takers, and who got up from wherever they were and came here and made this country great. Thats an important part of what makes America work.

Of course, Trumps attacks on the Trump University case judge are racist. The Republican nominee is claiming that the American-born judge is biased against him because he is Mexican.

Majority Leader McConnell could have blazed a path away from Donald Trump by admitting that Tumps comments were based on race and that they were inappropriate. Instead, McConnell took the cowards way out. He refused to answer the question and admit that Donald Trumps comments were racist. Moments like this one are why Trump is going to be the anchor that will sink the Republican Party.

McConnells refusal to criticize Trump made him look like a coward and a fool. The best way for McConnell to save his Senate majority would be to run away from Trump. By refusing to show some backbone, Mitch McConnell may have just handed the Senate back to the Democrats.
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Donald Trumps appearances on CNNs State Of The Union and CBSs Face The Nation were total disasters for the presumptive Republican nominee after both networks used the interviews to call out his lies.

Video of Trump on CNNs State Of The Union:

The trouble began for Trump after he repeated his claim that he always opposed the Iraq war.

Transcript via CNNs State Of The Union:

TAPPER: Can I just say one point on that? I have looked so long and hard for any evidence of you TRUMP: I will give it to you. 2004, they had newspaper articles. TAPPER: But  but  right, but the war started in 2003. TRUMP: It did. And  but you know what? You look at  I did an interview with Howard. And that interview was the first time I was ever asked the question. Dont forget, I was an entrepreneur. Im a real estate person, asked me the question. TAPPER: But didnt you  didnt you say to Howard that you thought it was a good idea? TRUMP: No, I  this was before the war started, long before the war started. TAPPER: Right. TRUMP: And it was a very like, well, I dont know. First, nobody ever asked me the question. You know, when youre doing what I did, nobody was talking about a lot of the questions that you ask me today. And I was  I sort of said, like, well, I dont know, maybe  I dont know. By the time that started, I was totally against it. And from 2004 on, theres a lot of proof of that, because, as you know, there was articles in magazines. TAPPER: Yes. TRUMP: There was a lot of articles. TAPPER: Yes, a year after the war started.

Things werent any better for Trump on CBSs Face The Nation where host John Dickerson called out Trumps lie about opposing intervention in Libya.

Video:

Transcript via Face The Nation:



DICKERSON: Let me ask you about Libya. You have been highly critical of Libya and Hillary Clinton. You were also for military action to oust Gadhafi and military action to take care of humanitarian situation in Libya. You supported that.

TRUMP: When you say supported it, I supported Libya?

DICKERSON: Yes, you supported intervention in Libya.

TRUMP: I did? Where do you see that?

DICKERSON: In a video blog from 2011, you said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now, we should go in. We should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it and save these lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That`s a big difference from what we`re talking about.

DICKERSON: But you were for intervention.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Again, I`m only one. I made lot of money with Gadhafi. If you remember, he came to country and he had to make a deal with me because he needed a place to stay, and he paid me a fortune, never got to stay there. And it became sort of a big joke.

But fact is that Libya was a disaster from standpoint of way it was handled.

DICKERSON: But you were for intervention, just to clear that up?

TRUMP: I was for doing something, but I wasn`t for what you have right now.

.

DICKERSON: This is one of things that confuses some people about your positions. You said you weren`t for intervention, but you were for intervention in Libya.

TRUMP: I didn`t mind surgical. And I said surgical. You do a surgical shot and you take them out.

But I wasn`t for what happened. Look at way it`s  look at  with Benghazi and with all of problems that you have had. It was handled horribly.

(CROSSTALK)

DICKERSON: But you said you were never for intervention.

TRUMP: I was never for a strong intervention. I could have seen surgical, where you take out Gadhafi and his group.



It used to be rare for the media to fact check Trump in real time on any show, but a week after his press conference where he attacked the press, it happened twice on the same day. What happens when the press sits Trump down and calls him out on his lies and contradictions is that the Republican gets exposed.

Some members of the mainstream press arent allowing themselves to be steamrolled anymore, and the result is that Donald Trump is bombing in these interviews. Trump immediately goes on the defensive when challenged, and he cant hold up to the slightest bit of scrutiny. The press is finally starting to figure out that Donald Trump is a paper tiger, and the free ride is over for the soon to be Republican nominee.
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Donald Trump is suggesting that if he wins the presidential election, he is going to imprison Hillary Clinton, because, everyone knows shes guilty.

During an interview on CBSs Face The Nation, Trump said, I would have my attorney general look at it because everyone knows that shes guilty. Now I would say this, shes guilty but I would let my attorney general make that determination. Maybe they would disagree.

Trump would have his attorney general look at it, but everyone knows shes guilty suggest some North Korea style justice, will be coming Hillary Clintons way if Trump wins the election. These are the kinds of statements that confirm that Trump doesnt want to be president. He wants to be a dictator.

Presidents do not interfere with investigations by publicly proclaiming guilt and innocence. Does anyone think that Attorney General Ted Cruz, for example, would go against Donald Trump? A Trump cabinet will be full of know-nothings and yes people. Donald Trump isnt going to surround himself with competent people with an interest in governing.

The fact that Trump would entertain the idea of bringing criminal charges against his opponent in the presidential election after he wins shows that the United States will become a third rate banana republic overnight if Donald Trump is the next president.
WASHINGTON  If you look at the polls, it is clear who's winning in the 2016 presidential contest: Barack Obama.

There remains the technical impediment that the president is constitutionally barred from a third term. But the longer the campaign goes on, the higher Obama's approval rating rises. This should be bad for Donald Trump and good for the eventual Democratic nominee, almost certainly Hillary Clinton. But it is even better for Obama's legacy.

According to Gallup, which has been charting the nation's assessment of its presidents longer than anyone else, Obama's approval stands at 52 percent, compared with 44 percent disapproval. That may not look impressive but it is actually quite good for a president nearing the end of his second term; Ronald Reagan, by comparison, had 49 percent approval at this point in his tenure.

For most of last year, Obama's numbers were upside-down  more Americans disapproved than approved. So there are two obvious questions: What airport is going to be renamed Obama International? And why the turnaround?

I believe the increasingly warm feelings about the president must have something to do with the contrast between him and his potential successors. Trump and Clinton may be the most widely disliked major-party contenders ever (though Trump is arguably in a class of his own, with nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they would never, under any circumstances, vote for him as president.)

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The speculation about when Trump will shift tactics and begin acting "presidential" is laughable. It should be clear by now that Trump is not only unwilling to change but incapable of doing so. Look at the way he continues to lash out at anyone he perceives as having slighted him -- New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, for example, a potentially valuable ally whom Trump is determined to make into an enemy. Look at the news conference Tuesday at which he lashed out at a reporter, calling him a "sleaze," for having questioned Trump's record of charitable giving.

Then look at Obama. Whatever you think of his policies, not for a minute has he failed to comport himself with the dignity and gravitas required to serve as president. Never has he given the impression of acting out of pique rather than calculation. Never does he seem a threat to put ego-gratification above what he believes to be the best interests of the nation.

I'm setting a low bar here. The fact that Trump does not clear it has to engender a degree of fondness for Obama  and has to help Clinton, who does the gravitas thing just fine.

Another factor in Obama's rising approval has to be the realization that despite Republican proclamations of doom and gloom, on balance things are going pretty well. Slow but steady economic expansion has not only reduced unemployment to 5 percent but also perhaps begun to move the needle slightly on incomes. Consumer confidence, an important indicator, is up. The effect of the recovery hardly feels like a boom but is nothing like the total bust that Trump and other Republicans describe.

The president has been increasingly forthright in showcasing his administration's record -- his remarks in Indiana on the economy this week sounded almost like a vintage Obama campaign speech. He has also demonstrated his intention to do everything he can to ensure that his successor is a Democrat who seeks to build on his achievements, not dismantle them.

Like many presidents in their final months, Obama is spending considerable time and effort on foreign affairs. Here, too, we see contrast and legacy. He has fundamentally changed the U.S.-Cuba relationship in ways that will be hard for anyone to reverse. He has continued to act with extreme caution in the Middle East, resisting calls for substantial deployment of U.S. combat forces. He made a bold statement against nuclear proliferation by visiting Hiroshima and hugging a survivor of the atomic bombing that turned the city into a smoldering wasteland  confronting the past without apology but with sober reflection.

Trump, on the other hand, believes it would be fine if Japan and South Korea got nuclear weapons of their own.

We tend to appreciate presidents more after they leave office. The inevitable reassessment of the Obama years seems to be starting early  perhaps in apprehension of the years to come. Even Obama's harshest critics have to admit he was a steady hand in the White House. Reflection upon this fact can only increase Clinton's chances against a man who prides himself on being combative, capricious and cocksure.

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Eugene Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post.
LONDON  Misery loves company, so refugees from America's Republican Party should understand that theirs is not the only party that has chosen a leader who confirms caricatures of it while repudiating its purposes. Jeremy Corbyn, the silliest leader in the British Labour Party's 116-year history, might kill satire as well as whatever remains of socialism.

Labour was founded in 1900 to demonstrate that a 19th-century political prophet was mistaken. Karl Marx had proclaimed that meaningful amelioration of working-class conditions could not be achieved by non-revolutionary, parliamentary means. Labour helped make modern Britain into a mostly middle- class, generally temperate nation impervious to exotic politics.

In the 1983 election, the last time Labour flirted with serious socialism, its manifesto (platform) was described as "the longest suicide note in history," and a party activist advocated "no compromise with the electorate." The electorate was not amused, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher continued residing at 10 Downing Street.

That year, Corbyn was elected to the House of Commons. He spent his next 32 years opposing the monarchy; writing columns for a Communist newspaper; expressing admiration for Hugo Chavez, whose socialism propelled Venezuela toward today's chaos; proposing that taxpayers should be permitted to opt out of paying for Britain's army; advocating that Britain leave NATO and unilaterally scrap its nuclear deterrent; blaming NATO, meaning the United States, for Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine; calling the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah "friends"; appearing with and funding Holocaust deniers and other anti-Semites; criticizing China's Communist regime for deviationism in accepting some free markets; demanding that Tony Blair, the only Labour leader since 1976 to win a general election (three of them), be tried as a war criminal (for supporting the Iraq War); praising Iraqi insurgents killing Americans; and calling the killing of Osama bin Laden a "tragedy." Along the way, Corbyn got divorced because his wife insisted on sending their eldest son to a selective school whose admissions policy recognized merit.

Last September, in a Labour Party process in which an intense fraction of 1 percent of the British electorate participated  a cohort intensely interested in things other than winning the next election  Corbyn was elected party leader with 59.5 percent of the vote in a four-way contest. He promptly named as shadow chancellor of the exchequer a former union official who lists in "Who's Who" his hobby as "fomenting the overthrow of capitalism," who says he was joking when he said that if he could relive the 1980s he would have assassinated Thatcher but who was serious when he praised IRA terrorist bombers. Corbyn's shadow farming minister, a vegan, says, "Meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it." Corbyn, appearing with unmatched jacket and trousers and with his tie loosened at a St. Paul's Cathedral service commemorating the Royal Air Force's heroism in the Battle of Britain, refused to sing the national anthem.

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In 1937, George Orwell, a socialist disgusted with many socialists, published "The Road to Wigan Pier," half of which consisted of reportage about working-class privations in England's industrial north. In the other half, which the publisher of the Left Book Club wanted to omit from the club's edition, Orwell decried the socialist movement's "smell of crankishness," "the sandals and the pistachio-colored shirts" of "every vegetarian, teetotaler" and other exemplars of "priggishness" and "half-baked 'progressivism.'"

Corbyn is an apple that did not fall far from the tree: His parents met at a rally advocating peace in the Spanish Civil War. They got their wish. Peace came. When Gen. Francisco Franco came to Madrid. Corbyn is a vegetarian who does not own a car. He does own -- perhaps Al Gore knows why; Gore went through an earth tones phase -- many beige clothes bought from street vendors.

With his Greek fisherman's cap, Corbyn is a reactionary dressed as a revolutionary whose slogan could be "Onward to 1945!" Nostalgic for Labour's commitment (long dead when interred by Blair in 1995) to "common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange," Corbyn favors re-nationalizing the railroads and some energy companies.

Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh sees Corbyn as a symptom of broad social contentment. Corbynism is the persuasion "of people who can afford to treat politics as a source of gaiety and affirmation. ... They are in politics for the dopamine squirt that comes with total belief and immersion in like-minded company." So, they are not unlike America's Sandernistas and Trumpkins.

George F. Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post.
Without knowing what the artist had in mind, one might mistake Carson Youngs toilet paper roll as a variation of Marcel Duchamps urinal prank called Fountain. What may look like a whimsical piece that typically characterizes postmodern art s actually the an expression of the artists lamentation of a culture being reduced to commodity. Presented as a toilet paper, the sacredness and value of gnatu or tapa is momentarily suspended, the Fiji artist writes in his statement, Instead, it is subversively represented as a mere utilitarian object. In doing so, this piece seeks to confront consumerism, cultural accommodation, misappropriation and estrangement.

Currently on display at the newly opened Guam Museum are hundreds of art pieces by Pacific island artists participating in the 20016 Festival of the Pacific Arts. Thrown into the mix of traditional artwork are contemporary pieces that make social commentaries and political statements resonating the Pacific islanders confrontation with colonialism, climate change and cultural dilution.

Another piece by Young is a huge eraser made of silicon sand, acrylic, sand, timber and filler with inscriptions that read History Book Eraser, and Decolonize Your Mind. Young describes the untitled piece as an existential inquiry that attempts erase the concept of emancipatory restoration in post-colonial Oceania. It rejects the simple story narrative and suggests personal audit that seeks liberation from chronic post-colonial psychology al and psycho-social epigenetic maleficence, all amidst todays neo-colonist currents.

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Sue Pearsons piece titled Deep depicts grief and violence on an old canvas cloth. The piece, according to Norfolk Island artist, is a personal response to Australias abolition of my peoples parliament in 2015 and the following destructive colonization of my homeland and people.

Pearson is a descendant of the mutineers of the HMS and the Tahitian women, who settled Pitcairn and whose descendants later accepted English Queen Victorias generous offer of Norfolk Island as a new homeland.

Pearson said upon completion of this artwork on Anzac Day 2016, elders of the Norfolk Islands submitted a petition to the United Nations, seeking the islanders right to self-determination. Norfolk people have reoccupied our parliament ground in peaceful reclamation, she writes. Deep is our shock. Deep is our wound. Deep is our distress. Deep is our conviction.

An acrylic painting, titled Mind of Determination by Solomon Islands artist Nelson Horipua depicts his peoples quest for self-rule. Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

Another piece by Horipua, titled Food Security, represents the Pacific islands sustainability challenge amid the ravages of climate change.

At the CAHA Aallery, a wooded sculpture by Guam artist Joseph Guerrero Jr. depicts a figure of an indigenous man wearing a woven head gear in the shape of Uncle Sams hat. Guerrero said the piece titled Thoughts of Being Colonized represents the paradox of the colonial mentality adopted by people in search of self-determination.
We are all painfully familiar with the journalistic genre portraying the suffering of favored groups. That would be groups favored by the journalists. The satirical headline that captures the genre gives us the New York Timess take on the apocalypse: World ends, women & minorities hardest hit.

Credit is due to someone for the shaft of light cast by that parody headline. NewsBusters credits comedian Mort Sahl, still going strong at age 89. I saw Sahl perform many times including once in June 1968 at the hungry i in San Francisco just before it closed. I loved him; it sounds like something he would say.

Minnesotas Somali community has given rise to a subgenre of the form that has become a Times specialty. With respect to the terrorism trial that just concluded with a raft of guilty verdicts agains three Minnesota men charged with seeking to join ISIS, the Los Angeles Timess Matt Pearce parachuted in for a few days on the Prince beat at the opening of the trial and promptly delivered I was just another reporter sent to cover radicalization in Minneapolis. Then 2 local Somalis took me on a tour.

The Washington Posts Abigail Hauslohner visited the trial for the first week (which included just three days of testimony). Hauslohner contributed to the subgenre in Terror dragnet sweeps up Somali-Americans sons: Now everything is broken. Hauslohners article should be an embarrassment to the Post. It is pathetic. (Has Hauslohner broken it to Post readers that the son on trial was found guilty? I dont think so.)

With their Somalis hardest hit stories, Pearce and Hauslohner got a jump on the Star Tribune this time around. On Friday as the jury deliberated the Star Tribune published ISIL case triggers fear in a community. Not in the community that is hated by the terrorist wannabes, of course, but rather in the community that decries the efforts of law enforcement to protect us from them.

And thats not all! After the guilty verdicts came in on Friday, the Star Tribune went back for more and came up with For Somali-Americans, verdicts are discouraging.

Once upon a time the charges against the Minnesota men made it to page one of the New York Times. Yesterday Jack Healy and Matt Furber reported on the verdicts inside the A section of the New York Times at page 9: 3 Somali-Americans found guilty of trying to join the Islamic State. (Healy, incidentally, is the author of the excellent 2014 Times story For jihad recruits, a pipeline from Minnesota to militancy.)

I dont think any New York Times reporter was around for even a single day of the trial. Healy and Furber would therefore have missed the scene of Judge Davis throwing community organizer Burhan Mohumed out of the courthouse for multiple violations of the protocol he enforced during the trial. Healy and Furber work a bit of the subgenre into their article on the verdicts by inserting a quote from Mohumed:

The verdict was not much of a surprise to Burhan Mohumed, 26, a friend of the defendants who had been banned from the courthouse by the judge. He called the process purely political. I left a little hope that they wouldnt be convicted on a conspiracy to murder charge, he said. I didnt think they had enough evidence to convict them on that. I think that was an overreach.

Now this is almost funny. Having been expelled from the courthouse for a key part of the trial, Mohumed missed a lot of the evidence. He is a friend of the terrorist wannabes. He lacks any obvious qualification to opine on the the sufficiency of the evidence to support the guilty verdicts against his friends, yet the Times finds his comment worthy of a platform in the newspaper of record.

Here is a thought foreign to the subgenre under discussion. The evidence at trial and the articles above show that Minnesota has proved a welcoming host to a huge immigrant community with ambivalent feelings at best about those of us who have generously supported it with our tax dollars. How about going to one of us for a quote about our feelings?
Eni, the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, said the oil firms production had been cut short by 65,000 barrels per day following Fridays attack on its pipeline in Bayelsa.

Earlier attacks in the oilfield on May 18 and 24 resulted in shutdown of some 5,200 barrels of the Enis equity share of oil output.

A spokesperson for Eni confirmed the development in a short e-mail response to NAN on Sunday.

The total deferred production due to the attack is 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily

I can confirm that. There is no further impact on production, since all production from the swamp area has already been stopped days ago, the e-mail from Enis Media Relations Unit said.

According to crude production figures provided by the oil firm, the country is losing about 3.12 million dollars in revenue each day the NAOC operated facility remains out of production.

Also, Shola Omole, the spokesman for Aiteo, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line which came under attack by Niger Delta Avengers on May 28, said the line which conveyed crude to Bonny export terminal had been shut.

Mr. Omole said some 75,000 barrels daily production was deferred as the line remained out of service.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said on Thursday that Nigeria was producing 1.6 million barrels of crude per day which excludes further production outages due to attack on Agip, Chevron and Shell facilities.

A militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks. The group rejected dialogue with the federal government calling instead for a Niger Delta republic.

The Nigerian military has vowed to deal with the militants and has deployed attack aircraft, and Naval war boats to the region.

(NAN)
Thursdays brazen killing of a market woman, Bridget Agbahime, at Kofar Wambai market in Kano, who was alleged to have blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad has left many people the world over shocked, saddened, and even infuriated.

As the smoke cleared and as the Kano State Government and the Nigeria Police announced the arrest of the prime suspects in the killing, PREMIUM TIMES requested its in-house faith writer (Islam) to conduct extensive research in the Quran and the Hadith with a view to establishing Islams position on blasphemy and killings.

Below is the result of his research.

As a Muslim, I was left having to grapple with  and answer- questions about the Islams stance towards free speech and whether this incidence was a natural consequence of mocking or abusing Muslim sentiments.

I call on all civil and community leaders to cooperate in ensuring lasting peace. And I urged all Nigerian leaders to emulate Governor Umar Gandujes initiative in ensuring brotherly co-existence in the country.

Blashemy and Islam

Blasphemy is a very controversial topic in Islam that has taken on new importance due to the proliferation of instant global communication. Muslim extremists incorrectly cite a precedent in classical Islamic law to justify gross acts of vigilante violence and murder.

Therefore, it is important for us to understand the context of the classical ruling and to view this issue in the larger perspective of the Quran and Sunnah as a consistent whole.

The general answer to blasphemy (Sabb ala Allah wa Rasulihi) as commanded in the Quran is to respond with patience, beautiful preaching, and graceful avoidance. The Quran records the fact that the Prophet was called a sorcerer, a madman, and a liar, yet Allah commanded him to be patient and to increase his acts of worship.

Allah Said:

Be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance. (Surah Al-Muzzamil 73:10)

And Allah said:

So be patient over what they say and exalt with the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting. (Surah Qaf 50:39)

And Allah said:

So be patient over what they say and exalt with the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting. (Surah Ta Ha 20:130)

These insults deeply hurt the feelings of the Prophet and his Companions, but Allah did not prescribe revenge for them.

Allah said:

We already know that your heart is constrained by what they say, so glorify the praises of your Lord and be among those who prostrate. (Surah Al-Hijr 15:97-98)

In fact, Allah told the Prophet and his Companions to expect more insults and mockery from the followers of other religions, and that they should remain patient and not let their abuse shake their faith.

Allah said:

You will surely be tested in your possessions and in yourselves, and you will surely hear from those who were given the scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah much abuse. But if you are patient and fear Allah that is of the matters requiring resolve. (Surah Ali Imran 3:186)

In other verses, Allah commands the believers to simply avoid those who mock Islam and not to sit with them until they discuss something else.

Allah said:

When you see those who engage in offensive discourse concerning our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversion. (Surah Al-Anam 6:68)

And Allah said:

It has already been revealed to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah, they are denied and ridiculed. So do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Verily, you would then be like them. (Surah An-Nisa 4:140)

Generally, the Prophet was commanded to endure any insult or mockery from his enemies which resulted from their bad character.

Allah said:

Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant. (Surah Al-Araf 7:199)

Abdullah ibn Zubair explained this verse, saying:

The Prophet was commanded to forgive the peoples bad character. (Sunan Abu Dawud 4787)

There are many recorded incidents in the life of the Prophet in which he was mocked, defamed, and even physically attacked for his faith in Islam, but despite this abuse the Prophet responded with patience, forbearance, mercy, and forgiveness.

In one incident, a group of Jews insulted the Prophet in his own home. Although the Prophet was the leader of Madinah at the time, he did not order these men to be harmed. Rather, he used the incident to teach his Companions an important lesson about kindness.

Aisha reported:

A group of Jews asked permission to visit the Prophet and when they were admitted they said, Death be upon you. I said to them, Rather death and the curse of Allah be upon you! The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: O Aisha, Allah is kind and He loves kindness in all matters. I said, Have you not heard what they said? The Prophet said: I said to them: And upon you. (Sahih Bukhari 6528).

Al-Bukhari records this narration in his chapter regarding those who curse and abuse the Prophet, which strongly implies that he did not believe legal punishment should be applied to every case of blasphemy.

Badr ud-Din Al-Ayni, a scholar of the Hanafi School, comments on this chapter heading:

Al-Bukhari has adopted the method of the people of Kufi on this issue, that if someone curses or berates the Prophet and he is a non-Muslim citizen, then he is rebuked but he is not killed. This is the opinion of Ath-Thawri. (Umdat al-Qari fi Sharh Sahih Al-Bukhari 34/412).

In another incident, the Prophet was defamed and insulted by one of the men of Madinah who was upset with his method of distributing charity. The Prophet did not retaliate against him even though he was very disturbed by it, citing the fact that Musa (Moses), peace be upon him, was harmed by his people with much greater abuse.

Ibn Masud reported:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was distributing charity among the people when a man from the Ansar said, By Allah, Muhammad did not intend to please Allah with this distribution! I came to the Prophet and informed him about this, then anger could be seen on his face and the Prophet said: Moses was hurt with more than this, yet he remained patient. (Sahih Bukhari)

Indeed, it was the practice of all the Prophets to patiently endure the harm they received from their people, even to the point of asking Allah to forgive their oppressors.

Allah said:

They said: We will surely be patient with whatever harm you cause us, and let them rely on who would rely upon Allah. (Surah Ibrahim 14:12)

Ibn Masud reported:

I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, tell the story of a Prophet who was beaten by his people and he wiped the blood from his face, saying: My Lord, forgive my people for they do not know. (Sahih Bukhari 6530)

An-Nawawi comments on this narration, saying:

In this is what the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, were upon of forbearance, patience, forgiveness, and compassion for their people, their supplications for them to receive guidance and to be forgiven, and that they should be excused for their sins because they did not know. (Sharh Sahih Muslim 1792)

The Prophet continued to set this example throughout his life, even to the point of forgiving several people who tried to kill him.

In one incident, a woman came to the Prophet and fed him with a poisoned sheep. When the Prophet began to suffer and it was discovered what she had done, the companions asked him if they should kill her. In this case, it would have been a justified retaliation against attempted murder, but the Prophet pardoned her instead.

Anas ibn Malik reported:

A Jewish woman came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, with a poisoned sheep and he ate from it. She was brought to him and he asked her about it. She said, I wanted to kill you. The Prophet said: Allah has given you no authority over me. It was said, Should we kill her? The Prophet said: No. (Sahih Bukhari 2474)

In another incident, a man from an opposing tribe attempted to kill the Prophet while he was sleeping. Allah miraculously saved the Prophet by causing the mans hand to slip, after which the Prophet gained power him. Even so, in this position of strength the Prophet continued to show clemency.

Jabir reported:

We took part in the expedition with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, against Najd and when the time for afternoon rest approached, he was in a valley of thorny trees. He dismounted under a tree to rest in its shade and hung his sword upon it. The people dispersed among the trees in order to use their shade. While we were like this, the Prophet called us and we came to find a Bedouin sitting in front of him. The Prophet said: This person came to me while I was asleep and he quietly took my sword. I woke up while he was standing over my head, holding my unsheathed sword. He said: Who will protect you from me? I said three times: Allah. Jabir said: The Prophet did not punish him and he sat down. (Sahih Bukhari 2753)

In another narration, the Prophet said to the man:

Will you bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I am the Messenger of Allah? The man said, No, but I give you my word that I will not fight you and I will not join anyone who is fighting you. So the Prophet let him go. The man returned to his people and said: I have just come to you from the best of people! (Musnad Ahmad 14768)

The man was impressed by the Prophets character so much that he returned to his people and praised him. This is an excellent example of how mercy and forgiveness are among the best deeds for winning the hearts and minds to Islam.

In one of the most famous incidents, the Prophet finally gained power over his enemies after being persecuted for 23 years. He could have easily ordered their execution and the companions would have complied. However, the Prophet used this moment to teach the lesson of mercy just as Yusuf (Joseph), peace be upon him, had forgiven his brothers.

Al-Qasim ibn Salim reported:

When they came to the Kabah they were holding onto its door and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: What do you say? What do you think? They said three times, We say you are the son of our brother. The Prophet said: I say to you as Joseph said to his brothers: No blame upon you today. Allah will forgive you and He is the most merciful of the merciful. (12:92)

Abu Yusuf reported:

When they had gathered in front of the sacred Mosque, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: What do you think I will do with you? They said, Only good, O noble brother, son of a noble brother. The Prophet said: Go, you are free. (Sunan Al-Kubra of al-Bayhaqi 17714).

All of this evidence indicates the general rule that Muslims should respond to blasphemy with patience, forbearance, and graceful discussion. We need to behave in the serene manner of the Prophet as well as publish articles, set up websites, and otherwise spread authentic information about his life and teachings.

That said, the classical ruling in Islamic law imposes the death penalty upon those who blaspheme against Islam. This ruling is derived from handful of instances in which the Prophet executed some people for treason, not for merely insulting Islam.

For example, the Prophet ordered the execution of Kaab ibn Al-Ashraf as he conspired to wage war against Madinah. Kaab also wrote poetry satirizing the Prophet and his Companions, although this was not his only offence. Rather, he posed an imminent danger to the Muslim community due to his support for gathering an army.

Badr ud-Din Al-Ayni comments on the story of Kaab and other narrations:

In these traditions it is shown that they were not killed merely for their insults. Indeed, they were only killed due to their aid of the enemy and gathering together for war and supporting it. (Umdat al-Qari fi Sharh Sahih Al-Bukhari 34/413)

This was the general social and political context within which the classical ruling against blasphemy had developed.

Intisar Rabb, a one-time director of Harvard Universitys Islamic Legal Studies programme, explains:

The rationale underlying this rule was an argument linking several steps. To curse God was to blaspheme Him, which was implicitly to signal a departure from the community of Muslims and the laws governing them. The presumption was that a person could not possibly be a Muslim, fitting squarely within its system of laws and confessing to the oneness and supremacy of God, if he or she at the same time cursed God. The same applied to cursing the Prophet, the family of the Prophet, and the revered Companions of the Prophet. For (the jurists), if religious speech acts akin to confessing the Muslim creed reflected societal commitments to uphold the law, much as an oath of citizenship might in the contemporary world, then renouncing such an oath would conceptually signal a threat or possibility of treason, combat against the state, and opposition to the social order itself. In other words, members of the Muslim community under Muslim rule were expected to play by its rules, including its call to honour reputation, lineage, and religious status. For the jurists, signaling absolution from those expectations could very well pose a threat of violence against the state and its public order or rule of law. (See Ellis Mark S. 2012 Islamic law and international human rights law: searching for common ground? P. 158/164)

Therefore, it is not mere blasphemy that warrants the death penalty, but rather only when it is combined with acts of treason and sedition.

There is one particular proof-text being used in support of vigilante violence which we must critically examine. Extremists and Mob cite this narration in isolation and without context to justify the murder of anyone who insults the Prophet. The fault in their interpretation results from their attempt to derive a legal ruling from an anomalous narration and in disregard for general rules and principles firmly established in stronger texts.

Ibn Abbas reported:

A blind man had a lady servant who would abuse the Prophet and disparage him. He forbade her from doing it but she did not stop. He rebuked her and she still did not stop. One night she was reviling the Prophet, so he took a dagger and pressed it on her stomach and killed her. In the morning, it was mentioned to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and he said: I ask by Allah and by my right over whoever did this to stand up. The blind man said, O Messenger of Allah, I am her master and she used to abuse and disparage you. I forbade her but she did not stop, and I rebuked her but she did not stop. I have two sons like pearls from her and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse you and disparage you, so I took a dagger and pressed it on her stomach until she died. The Prophet said: Bear witness that there is no punishment for her killing. (Sunan Abu Dawud 4361)

There are problems with this narration both in its chain of authorities and in the text itself. This is a solitary (Ahad) narration coming by route of the sub-narrator Uthman Ash-Shaham who is widely regarded as trustworthy, but upon whom some scholars have cast doubt.

Yusuf ibn Abdur Rahman Al-Mizzi reported:

An-Nasai said: from what I have read, Uthman Ash-Shaham is not strong. And he said on other topics there is nothing wrong with him. (Tahdhib Al-Kamal 5495)

An Nasai expressed doubt on Uthman Ash-Shahams ability to narrate about certain topics. In addition, Al-Bukhari, the leading scholar of prophetic narrations, did not narrate from him. Certainly a narration involving such strong legal implications should be narrated by a wide range of authorities whose capabilities are beyond question, yet this is not the case. It is possible that Uthman Ash-Shaham made an error relating the narrations context, details, and implication.

Furthermore, there is a degree of anomaly (shadh) in this narration as it apparently contradicts several of the verses and traditions we previously mentioned. An anomalous narration is one that is related from trustworthy sources, but is contradicted by stronger sources.

Ibn Salah reported:

Ash-Shafii said: An anomalous narration is not one that has been narrated by a single trustworthy person and not narrated by others. Rather, and anomalous narration is a report from a trustworthy person that contradicts what is narrated from other people. (Ulum Al-Hadith of Ibn Salah)

The fact that this narration contradicts what is authentically and abundantly reported elsewhere should make us very cautious about deriving a general rule from it.

And if we accept the narration as authentic (sahih) or at least trustworthy (hasan), as most scholars of prophetic narrations have done, then we must understand it in proper context and in agreement with the abundance of conflicting evidence.

This single incident occurred at time when the Makkans were waging war against Madinah. Repeated and stubborn expressions of defamation against the Prophet during this time would have strongly implied sympathy with the enemy forces. This means the woman potentially would have been in a position to relay sensitive information to the enemy, such as troop movements, which could have placed the entire community in danger. Consistent with the whole of Islamic scripture, we should conclude that her offence involved not simply insults on account of her bad character, but rather a repudiation of her loyalty to the community.

Moreover, the Prophet did not command or prescribe her execution. He initially considered it an evil deed that demanded an explanation. Upon hearing that the woman had posed a threat to the community, he only judged that the man not be punished for murder in this particular case, this makes the narration a description of a localized event rather than a universal prescription for all cases.

As such, we should not extract from this narration the idea that common Muslims may punish blasphemy against Islam without legal authorization. Islam does not authorize individual Muslims to appropriate for themselves the role of judge, jury, and executioner. It is a well-established principle in Islam that legal punishment may only be carried out by authorities who act upon due process. This solitary narration cannot be used to overturn this essential principle of Islamic law.

Does this mean that blasphemy should be tolerated in every case? Free speech is not merely a human right, but rather it is a responsibility. The purpose of free speech is to facilitate discussion in search of truth and justice. Consequently, the general rule is that people are free to speak their minds respectfully, but speech that serves no purpose other than to slander, defame, offend, or incite to violence is not worthy of protection. Indeed, the Muslims have been prohibited from cursing other religions and evens idols.

Allah said

Do not insult those they invoke besides Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. (Surah Al-Anam 6:108)

For this reason, many Muslim countries have statutes against defaming Islam as well as Judaism, Christianity, and other religions, as this harms the cohesion of peaceful communities. Most countries in the world impose legal or at least social restraints on free speech with laws against slander and defamation, as well as what they consider blasphemy, such as the many European countries that prohibit profaning the memory of the Holocaust .

Muslims and all people should respect such limits as it is the responsibility of good citizens to refrain from harming social order and peace.

However, the best way to counter false speech is by speaking the truth. The problem of blasphemy can usually be remedied by a number of peaceful solutions such as publishing articles, setting up websites, holding conferences, and arguing with good manners. Every non-violent means should be used to counter blasphemous speech before resorting to legal action and especially the death penalty. No doubt, the least likely to resort to killing are the true believers.

Ibn Masud reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

The most restrained of the people regarding killing are the people of faith. (Musnad Ahmad 3720)

Muslims must avoid calling for the death penalty whenever possible, because indulgence in this matter indicates a lack of strong faith.

We also need to view this matter from the legal principle of public welfare (maslahah mursalah). Ibn Taymiyyah defines this principle as follows:

The principle of public welfare is the case when a distinguished jurist views another action as more likely to bring benefit and there is nothing in the law to negate it. (MajmuAl-fatawa 11/342)

In so many cases, we see that the prosecution of blasphemy can cause greater harm to the community and the image of Islam than the blasphemy itself. We have a precedent in the practice of the Prophet to withhold such punishments when they cause greater harm.

Jabir ibn Abdullah reported:

A man came to the Messenger of Allah on his way back from Hunain while there was some silver in the backpack of Bilal. The Messenger of Allah took a handful from it and distributed it among the people. The man said to him, O Muhammad! Be just! Umar ibn Al-Khattab said, O Messenger of Allah, allow me to kill this hypocrite! The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: I seek refuge in Allah that the people will say I am killing my Companions. (Sahih Muslim 1063)

In this case, the Prophet refused to punish a dangerous man, a hypocrite who was pretending to be a Muslim in order to attack the community from within, on the grounds that it would have harmed the image of Islam in the eyes of the people.

Likewise, the age of instant communication ensures that cases of blasphemy are no longer confined to local areas, but instead they have global implications. Prosecution for mere childish insults and thoughtless, impromptu remarks, without evidence of treasonous intent, only project an image of Islam as intolerant and draconian. Rather, judges need to carefully consider the unintended consequences and they must justify any prosecution in terms greater than mere insults and hurt feelings.

Furthermore, we have the lessons of history which compel us to seek mitigation and restriction of the classical blasphemy law. Numerous Muslim scholars were imprisoned and persecuted because their views were considered blasphemy by the ruling regime. Most notably is the case of Ahmad ibn Hanbal who was imprisoned and tortured by the ruling Mutazilte regime for his alleged blasphemy of affirming the Quran was uncreated. An uncompromising and loosely interpreted blasphemy statute increases the possibility of it being misused by a corrupt regime to victimize callers to truth.

Therefore it is not permissible for a Muslim without judicial authority to implement Islamic legal punishments on his own initiative. Vigilante justice, or taking the law into your own hands, is unlawful in Islam because it will lead to chaos and possibly greater harm than the crimes themselves. Likewise, it is not permissible for a Muslim to declare war or to commit an act of war without lawful authority.

Abu Hurairah reported: Saad ibn Ubadah said:

O Messenger of Allah, if I find another man with my wife, should I leave him alone until I bring four witnesses? The Prophet said yes, Saad said, Never! By the one who sent you with the truth, if that happened to me I would quickly grab the sword! The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Listen to what your leader is saying. (Sahih Muslim 1498)

In this example, the Prophet has forbidden a man who witnesses his wife committing adultery from implementing legal punishment by his own initiative. This is because legal punishments may only be applied by appointed judges and because the punishment for adultery requires the testimony of four reliable witnesses.

Ibn Muflih writes:

It is forbidden to establish a legal punishment unless it is done by the leader or his deputy. (See Al-Furu 6/53)

Sheikh Hani Al-jubayr, judge at the Jeddah Supreme Court, writes:

The prescribed punishments in Islamic Law are only to be issued by the judge, since due process and proper procedures of evidence must be observed. They must thereafter only be carried out by properly empowered government officials. Otherwise things will deteriorate into public violence that may bring about dire consequences.

Therefore, a Muslim who witnesses a crime (any kind) should inform the local authorities who will take appropriate action. He should never attempt to implement legal punishments on his own.

Sheikh Ahmad Deedat said:

The biggest enemy of Islam is the ignorant Muslim, whose ignorance leads him to intolerance, whose actions destroy the true image of Islam, and when the people look at him they think that Islam is what he is.

In conclusion, numerous verses and traditions in Islam demonstrate that the general rule for responding to blasphemy is to counter it with patience, forbearance, and speaking the truth in a beautiful manner. Muslims ought to behave this way in the overwhelming majority of cases.

The only exception to this rule is derived from the specific cases in which the Prophet punished some people for treason in addition to their harmful utterances. We must not expand this specific rule to all cases, thereby negating the general teachings of mercy, patience, and tolerance.

A PREMIUM TIMES faith writer and columnist, Murtada Muhammad Gusau is Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuat Mosque and Alhaji Abdurrahman Okene s Mosque, Okene Kogi State Nigeria.

He can be reached via: +2348038289761.
Nigerian lawmakers insist on zonal intervention or constituency projects because it is the only way to attract federal presence to their constituencies, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said.

Mr. Dogara said without constituency projects, majority of Nigerias 360 federal constituencies and 109 senatorial districts would not have any federal project due to lopsided nature of project allocation in the budget.

He spoke on Saturday in Billiri town, Gombe State, at the empowerment programme organised by Ali Isa, the lawmaker representing Balanga/Billiri federal constituency.

The projects get appropriations under suitable Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, after recommendations by the lawmakers.

The 2016 budget contains N100 billion appropriated for constituency projects.

Nigerians have criticised the constituency projects especially the roles of the lawmakers in it. The lawmakers are known to influence the MDAs to award contracts for the projects to companies favoured by the former. There have also been reports of non-execution of projects by companies linked to lawmakers despite collecting the contract sums from the MDAs.

While defending the constituency projects, Mr. Dogara argued that although it is not the responsibility of lawmakers to provide some of the things people request from them, it is in the realisation of the fact that conditions are hard for the people, and because service to humanity is at the centre of the representation that we do.

He said but for the instrumentality of the zonal intervention that lawmakers have in the federal budget, it would have been absolutely difficult, if not impossible, for the Honourable members to provide the things they do and even train some of their constituents.

The only way through which we can maintain fairness in governance, fairness across the length and breadth of this country is by patronizing federal constituencies, when you patronize federal constituencies you have touched every nook and corner of Nigeria and that is why we will continue as leaders to ensure that we have programmes in governance that touches directly on constituencies of this country, he said.
The Kogi State governorship election tribunal is set to deliver judgments in petitions filed by different political parties, challenging the emergence of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as governor.

The tribunal, chaired by Halima Mohammed, is sitting at the premises of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court in Jabi Abuja. It will on Monday deliver judgment on the petition filed by a member of the House of Representatives, James Faleke, challenging the emergence of Mr. Bello as the governor. Mr. Bello was nominated by the APC to replace its late candidate, Abubakar Audu.

Mr. Faleke was running as the deputy governorship candidate under Mr. Audu and they were coasting to victory as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, collated results; before Mr. Audu suddenly died.

INEC declared the election inconclusive and asked the APC to nominate a replacement for the deceased. Mr. Bello was nominated and he selected Mr. Faleke as his deputy with the latter refusing the selection.

Mr. Faleke refused to abide by the decision of the party and approached the tribunal asking it to declare him governor elect.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Idris Wada, and other smaller parties such as the Labour Party and the African Democratic Congress, ADC, also approached the tribunal asking it to remove Mr. Bello.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that after listening to all parties to the various petitions, the tribunal is ready to deliver judgment in all the petitions.

It will however, begin, with Mr. Falekes petition on Monday, after which that of Mr. Wada will be delivered on Tuesday.

Judgment on the petition by the other parties will also be delivered on Wednesday.

Before reserving judgment, the tribunal had listened to the final addresses of all counsels to the parties.

While delivering his closing address, lawyer to Mr. Faleke, Wole Olanipekun, said INEC simply plotted a coup against Nigerias constitution by declaring Mr. Bello as Kogi State governor.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said Nigerias constitution was self explanatory and that Mr. Faleke has a locus standi for him to have channelled his complaint to the tribunal.

He urged the tribunal to use the case of the late President Umar YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan as a case study where the former president died paving the way for Mr. Jonathan to become president.

The lawyer said Mr. Faleke was never a running mate to Mr. Bello in the supplementary poll conducted by INEC and also agreed that what happened with the death of Mr. Audu was the first of its kind in the country.

The petitioner has a locus standi, I agree that this kind of issue has never happened before but this is a coup set up by the 1st respondent.

This is also the first time in the history of democracy where someone will contest without a running mate, he said.

He further argued that Mr. Bello was not even a registered voter in Kogi state, saying his nomination was therefore, unconstitutional.

The constitution said that you should vote and be voted for which the 2nd respondent does not even meet up with any of the provision, he said.

On his part, Counsel to INEC, Alex Izinyon, urged the tribunal to dismiss Mr. Falekes petition for lacking in merit.

Mr. Izinyon cited Section 33 of the Electoral Act, which, he said, allowed the emergence of Mr. Bello as governor under special circumstances.

The petitioner doesnt have the right to hinge on qualification being a member of the same party with the 2nd respondent. If an outsider is not saying this, why should he who happened to be in the same party with the respondent say it.

The other side where the petitioner said that the 2nd respondent does not have deputy does not also make meaning, Mr. Izinyon said.

Mr. Bellos counsel, Joseph Daudu, on his part told the tribunal that he was surprised that the APC was not joined as co-respondent in the suit brought by Mr. Faleke.

He argued that the votes cast during the supplementary poll did not belong to the candidate but to the party.

This case is not in any jurisprudence of the Electoral Act because it is happening for the first time where the first runner died before the conclusion of the election.

This tribunal will be making history in giving direction to the lacuna that has never happened before, he said.

Mr. Daudu said the arguments by Mr. Olanipekun, could have only made sense if the election was declared conclusive in the first instance. He prayed the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking merit.
President Muhammadu Buhari will travel to London for 10 days to seek medical attention and take a rest, his verified Twitter handle announced on Sunday.

The decision of the president to seek medication for his ear infection confirms PREMIUM TIMES story published on Saturday.

The presidents verified Twitter handle, @NGRPresident, tweeted on Sunday, During the holiday, the President will see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for a persistent ear infection.

President Buhari proceeds on 10-day vacation, from Monday June 6, 2016https://t.co/m9o5xOQUUG pic.twitter.com/mclG1qsFtH  President Buhari (@NGRPresident) June 5, 2016

The post added, The President was examined by his personal physician and an E.N.T Specialist in Abuja and was treated.

Both Nigerian doctors recommended further evaluation purely as a precaution.

PREMIUM TIMES had on Saturday informed Nigerians of the presidents illness, a report his media adviser, Femi Adesina, described as figment of the reporters imagination.

According to a popular American healthcare provider, Mayo Clinic, Menieres disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes episodes in which you feel as if youre spinning (vertigo), and you have fluctuating hearing loss with a progressive, ultimately permanent loss of hearing, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ear. In most cases, Menieres disease affects only one ear.

Mayo Clinic, which is the worlds largest non-profit medical provider, further stated that the disease can occur at any age, but it usually starts between the ages of 20 and 50. Its considered a chronic condition, but various treatments can help relieve symptoms and minimize the long-term impact on your life.

Get well soon, Mr. President

Shortly after the announcement, prayers and consolation began to pour in for Mr. Buhari.

Commenting on PREMIUM TIMES Facebook page, Yusuf Annabi said, Wishing you quick and speedy recovery. Get well soon sir as I know President Muhammadu Buhari is like any other person. He is sick and that does not mean the end of his life. Enemies of the president should stop wailing.

Yusuf Tsakan said, Im not a fan of Buhari, but as a good Christian, my Bible order me to pray for my leader and so Im praying for our dear President Buhari for quick recovery. It shall be well with you PMB, it shall be well with our dear Country Nigeria, and may God give you wisdom to get us out of this hardship. In Jesus Name, Amen!
Nigeria will continue consultations within the country regarding its stance on the Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, between ECOWAS and the European Union, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said at the just concluded Dakar meeting of West African leaders.

According to him there are ongoing negotiations on it. We are discussing with the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) and some other key economic players about it.

In addition, the VP noted that we understand some of the terms of this agreement are capable of restricting their-manufacturers-trading activities and we would not want this to happen.

Prof. Osinbajo explained that in the consultation process it is equally important that as we make the decision, we take into consideration the concerns of these critical stakeholders and tread cautiously.

He noted at the meeting which ended later on Saturday that Nigeria is yet to fully endorse the agreement because of these concerns.

He stated that for now the federal government will continue to engage in wide consultations with relevant stakeholders before coming to a conclusion on the Economic Partnership Agreement.

While a number of West African nations have endorsed the deal, a few including Nigeria have raised issues regarding the implications of the deal, being championed by the European Union.

The EPA is a free trade deal that had been initialled by EU and ECOWAS negotiators covering trade in goods and development cooperation.

Speaking at the end of the 49th Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which took place in Dakar, Senegal this weekend where he represented President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Osinbajo stated that Nigeria cannot be committed to such an agreement without wide consultations.

Meanwhile, the Vice President also restated Nigerias constant commitment and obligations to the regional body having recently paid its dues. This is coming against the background of worries that some of the members of the body are not up-to-date in their financial obligations, with a call raised at the Dakar summit for such nations to do so.

Indeed Nigeria was openly commended at the summit for fulfilling its obligations by paying the community levies.

We are also very committed to ECOWAS . As the largest economy in the region, we have constantly fulfilled our obligations and we intend to continue to do this,  the Vice President declared.

Presidents, Prime Ministers and very top officials from the 16 ECOWAS members gathered in Dakar over the weekend to deliberate on important issues. The summit also witnessed the swearing-in of the new ECOWAS commission President, Marcel A. de Souza.

The meeting also featured commendations from ECOWAS leaders to the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the nation on the progress recorded by the country against terrorists.

At the end of the summit, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson was chosen as the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government taking over from her Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall.
The Minister of Interior, Retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, on Sunday said the Federal Government had concluded plans to host regional protection dialogue for victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

The minister said this in Abuja at a news conference, adding that the dialogue would take place from June 6 to June 8 in Abuja.

He explained that participants from Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, which made up the Chad Basin, would be present at the meeting.

He said the dialogue would be held in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the adverse effects of insurgency on the population of Lake Chad Basin.

The minister noted that the primary objective of the event would be to identify the protection risks of the population affected and adopt concrete measures to support refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

He added that emphasis would be on the vulnerable groups such as women, children and the elderly.

According to him, the dialogue will provide the opportunity to decide on common solutions to the problems of those affected by the violence.

Mr. Dambazau expressed concern over the devastating effects of the insurgency on the livelihood and local economies of the Lake Chad Basin region.

Participants at the dialogue will include ministers of interior of the affected countries and other important stakeholders.

(NAN)
The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has condemned the murder of a woman who allegedly blasphemed Islams Prophet Muhammed.

Bridget Agbawe, an Igbo trader, was beheaded on Thursday at Kofar Wambai market, Kano, by an irate mob.

On Saturday, Nigeria police spokesperson, Kolawole Olabisi, said in a statement that two key suspects  Dauda Ahmed and Subeiru Abubakar  had been arrested and would be speedily prosecuted.

In order to ensure a diligent and professional investigation, the Inspector General of Police has directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in- charge of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) to deploy the Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation of the case and ensure a meticulous investigation and speedy prosecution of the arrested suspects, Mrs. Olabisi added.

But MURIC, in a statement on Sunday by its Director, Ishaq Akintola, said the police action was not enough.

As we sum up, we recall that there are reports that the police have arrested two suspects, it said.

We dare say this is not good enough. Two people cannot publicly hold a woman down and cut off her head. Available evidence point at the participation of a large number of people.

The presidency has also shown interest. Heads must roll on this if we must make it a deterrent. We therefore urge the police to dig deeper in order to prevent future carnage. Enough is enough.

The Islamic group described the murder as preposterous, barbaric and unIslamic.

It said Islam frowns upon mob action and there are laid down procedures for apprehending anyone who breaks the law.

Even where blasphemy is committed, the woman should have been taken to the police station instead of being brutally attacked. There is no jungle justice in Islam.

We charge the Nigerian Police to get to the root of the matter and deal with the culprits according to the law. Nobody has the right to take to take the law into his hands. We will not stand akimbo while some misled Muslims smear the name of Islam, the group said.

Citing Quranic injunctions against jungle justice, it said, Quran chapter 4 verse 59 commands Muslims to obey those in position of authority and, by inference, the laws of the land. There must be decorum in social interface. Anybody can fall victim of mob action if we continue like this. Any false claim can be made against a perceived enemy and a wild mob will descend on an innocent person or persons before you can say Jack Robinson.

The group said that the victim was a woman made the crime more heinous.

The fact that the victim is a woman makes it more Bohemian, more anti-social and most unacceptable by Islamic standards. Islam teaches respect for the women folk. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said the noblest of men are those who honour women.

In addition, the fact that the Glorious Quran prohibits the killing of an innocent soul (Quran 6:151 and this poor woman must be deemed innocent until proved otherwise by a competent court of law) is enough to denounce the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

It appealed to the federal government, religious leaders and traditional rulers across Nigeria to enlighten citizens particularly on religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
The President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Sunday said burglars stormed his country home in Ilorin, Kwara State, and carted away N12 million.

Mr. Saraki said the incident occurred 2 weeks ago at an administrative quarters in the house. He said the incident had been reported to the police.

In a statement signed by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the lawmaker said a report that his domestic aides were responsible for the theft is not true; saying the perpetrators were yet to be identified. He also said the money stolen was N12 million and not N300 million.

Mr. Olaniyonu did not disclose why the Senate President, who is being prosecuted for false asset declaration, needed that much cash in his house. He, however, said the money was not public funds.

The latest heist of Mr. Sarakis funds is coming 6 months after two State Security Services agents in his security detail allegedly participated in an armed robbery of a bureau de change operator.

The two officials, Ahmadu Maigari and George Ibbi, colluded with other colleagues in the service and military personnel to carry out the heist, the SSS said

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Abdulrasheed Ahmadu Maigari of the DSS, conspired with four other colleagues of his namely: Solomon Inusa, Peter Okoye, Patrick Ishaya and George IBBI, to carry out this reprehensible act.

While three of the DSS staff are now at large, the Military Authorities have commenced a detailed investigation of five of its personnel involved in the crime, the security service said in a December 6, 2015 statement.

Read Mr. Olaniyonus full statement on the recent incident below:

SaharaReporters Story Full of Falsehood and Exaggeration

The report yesterday by SaharaReporters about a burglary in the Ilorin home of Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki contained series of falsehood and at best an exaggeration of an incident which happened two weeks ago in which N12 million was stolen by some unknown persons inside the Administrative Office located next door to the house.

In a statement, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity stated that the unknown persons broke into the safe in the Administrative Office and stole the N12 million. The incident had since been reported to the police and the Kwara State Police command are investigating the matter with a view to nail the culprits.

There is therefore no truth in the claim by SaharaReporters that the money ran into hundreds of millions, that it was in foreign currency or that the incident happened in Dr. Sarakis room. The amount was simply in Naira. Also, the money has nothing to do with Kwara State Government.

For the umpteenth time, we need to reiterate the fact that SaharaReporters fixation that any money spent by Saraki or that is in his possession is from Kwara State Government is unfounded, unwarranted, lacks any basis and irresponsible.

We wonder whether Saraki was such a poor man before 2003 when he was elected Governor that he could no longer own any money without SaharaReporters attributing the source to the State Government.

In its usual unethical and disgraceful haste to assassinate the Character of the Senate President, SaharaReporters ignored the simple professional practice for it to contact the Police to find out the facts of the incident. It merely created its own usually fictional story and published it. This is an online publication that cares not about its credibility or the journalism credo that facts are sacred and opinion is free.

We call on all members of the public to ignore all the claims in the story. Dr. Saraki will allow the police to do their work and unravel the person or persons behind this theft in the Administrative Office, he stated.
The Jamaatu Nasril Islam, JNI, an Islamic coalition led by the Sultan of Sokoto, has condemned the murder of Bridget Agbahime.

The victim was murdered in Kano by Muslim youth who accused her of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammed.

In a statement by its Secretary General, Khalid Aliyu, the JNI also highlighted a similar attack which it said claimed four lives in Pandogari, Rafi Local Government Council of Niger State.

These ugly incidences utterly stand condemned and are regarded as criminal and un-Islamic, perpetrated by miscreants and criminals, the group said.

The JNI called on state governments to the occasion in protecting the lives of the citizenry, for it is a primary constitutional responsibility upon which their legitimacy is derived.

Read the JNIs full statement below:

With pains and sobriety Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI) received with shock the most unfortunate alleged blasphemy of the Prophet (SAW) by one Mrs. Bridget Agbahime that was reported to have happened in Wambai Area of Kano, Kano State and another one that claimed four lives in Pandogari, Rafi Local Government Council of Niger State. These ugly incidences utterly stand condemned and are regarded as criminal and un-Islamic, perpetrated by miscreants and criminals.

It is hardly believable that such dastardly acts could happen in the name of religion, considering the various enlightenment programs on interfaith and mutual co-existence being put in place by the Muslim scholars and the leadership.

In the light of the above, we commend the various untiring efforts of the Kano and Niger State Governments and also the respective states Ulama in nipping in the bud, the unfortunate crises that would have engulfed both states. Likewise, the proactive measures of all the security agencies are also commendable and we implore that same be sustained.

We equally commiserate with Mr. Agbahime of Deeper Life Bible Church of Kano, over the death of his wife, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime as a result of injuries she sustained due to the mob action meted against her by the hoodlums. Similarly, the husband is commended for swiftly setting the record straight against all odds, by stating that his wife was not beheaded as reported by the media.

Finally, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, JNI calls on all to remain calm and avoid all actions that could lead to the breach of law and order. The generality of Muslims are also implored to fervently pray for the restoration of peace and security in Nigeria bearing in mind that without Nigeria there will be no Nigerians. On the other hand, respective state governments must rise to the occasion in protecting the lives of the citizenry, for it is a primary constitutional responsibility upon which their legitimacy is derived.
Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Sunday said the renovation of 4,000 primary schools across the state would gulp N60 billion.

He made the disclosure at the 50th anniversary of Nuhu Baturen Makaranta Primary School at Anguwan Kahu, Samaru in Zaria-City, Kaduna State.

He said government had so far spent N6 billion in renovating some selected 400 primary schools in the state.

Mr. El-Rufai added that the state government was considering the possibility of converting all primary schools into storey buildings so as to accommodate more pupils.

Commenting on the ongoing primary school breakfast programme in the state, the governor said government was looking at the possibility of incorporating nursery pupils into the system to give them a sense of belonging.

In a message, the Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris, described the efforts of the state government toward revitalising the lost glory of education as a gigantic step in the right direction.

The royal father called on the people of the state to rally round the present administration at all levels to enable it deliver dividends of democracy to all.

(NAN)
Residents of Benin, the Edo State capital, on Sunday ate cold foods in honour of their late monarch, Akpolokpolo Erediauwa.

PREMIUM TIMES observed that the situation led to a scarcity of fast foods.

Notable eateries, restaurants, hang outs and markets in the city were either closed to businesses, unlike before, or deserted by customers as a result of partial operation for the day.

The Benin Traditional Council on Friday asked residents not to cook with fire or use any process that generates heat on Sunday.

The directive marked the Edenagberen-Mwiwu in the funeral rites programme for the transition of the late monarch and the process of coronation of a new one.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, has appealed to the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, to pay striking workers their dues.

Mr. Wabba, in an open letter sent to PREMIUM TIMES, highlighted the four major reasons for which the workers in the South-west state have been on strike. They include non-payment of five months salaries and pensions, non-implementation of promotion for workers, controversy of workers verification, and refusal of the state government to disclose its internal revenue.

The labour leader said the NLC was not unconcerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the polity.

In our view, however, this does not constitute an acceptable rationale for owing workers and pensioners for so long, he said.

Despite the threat of mass sack, the Ekiti workers have continued with their strike.

It is not clear how far Mr. Wabbas intervention will help resolve the crisis.

Read the labour leaders letter to Mr. Fayose below.

REQUEST FOR INTERVENTION

I convey to you the compliments of the Nigeria Labour Congress as well request your personal intervention in the strike action by workers in Ekiti State.

The issues that led to this strike action are well known to you and include the following:

 Non-payment of five months salary arrears and pensions;

 Non-implementation of promotion report since 2014;

 Issues around staff verification exercise in 2015; and

 Refusal of government disclose the actual monthly IGR.

Your Excellency, we are not unconcerned about the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the polity. In our view, however, this does not constitute an acceptable rationale for owing workers and pensioners for so long. A Labourer, the Holy Books, tell us, deserves his wages. Stripped of his wages, he is reduced to a slave without rights or privileges.

In the instant case, the workers and pensioners in the State have been pulverised into submission due to the default in the payment of their salaries and pensions to the extent that they are unable to perform their obligations to God, Man and the State.

We believe this painful situation could be minimised, if not entirely reduced, if government gives consideration to managing the cost of governance, raising the IGR profile and appropriately applying the bail-out funds given by the Federal Government.

Your Excellency, we urge you to bring this strike action speedily to an end by commencing the process of payment and establishing a platform for dialogue at which the leadership of the workers at the state level could be availed of what accrues to the coffers of the state monthly.

We are prepared to sit with you and our members to broker the necessary peace in the interest of industrial harmony and general well-being of the state.

While we await your intervention, please accept the assurances of our highest esteem.
Business / Local

by Liberty Dube

PREPARATIONS for this year's Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Manicaland business awards to be held on June 24 at Golden Peacock Villa Hotel have commenced with five new categories added to the list.ZNCC regional manageress for Manicaland and Chiredzi, Perpetual Guwila, said the provincial awards were meant to motivate, encourage and applaud outstanding business entities as well as individuals who have excelled despite economic challenges bedevilling most industries in Manicaland.Five new categories that have been added to this year's category list are Lifetime achievement award, Enterprise Development support award, Small and Medium Enterprise award, Public Enterprise award and Business person of the year award."It is that time of the year where we would be honouring outstanding business organisations and individuals who excelled in their business endeavours. It is our duty to recognise these particularly bearing in mind that some industries in Mutare have crumbled due to hard economic situations. We have dispatched nomination forms to business persons and stakeholders who would be part of this year's edition.Those who did not get hold of the nominations forms should come and collect at our local offices at Office 16 in Agribank Complex. The forms should be returned to our offices for adju" she said.She added that the name of the guest of honour would be announced in due course."We have added in five new categories such as Lifetime achievement award where we would be honouring an outstanding businessperson who was exemplary and stood the test of time for several years till now.Business people and organisations will battle it out in fifteen categories which include Businessman of the year, Businesswoman of the year, Exporters of the year, Young Entrepreneur, Public Enterprise, Transporter and Logistics, ICT, Tertiary Institution and Best Bank Supporting.Last year, Mutare transporter Tino Macharika of Tinmac Motors scooped the ZNCC Manicaland Business Person of the Year while John Masamvu was the first runner up.Tsitsi Molly Mupfunya was the businesswoman of the year and Nancy Saungweme of Aloe Enterprise came second.The Rural Electrification Agency won the outstanding service delivery for parastatals with Rusape Town Council and Makoni Rural District Council winning the best service excellence in local government and utilities awards.The City of Mutare won the innovation in local government and utilities award while NetOne scooped numerous awards in the information communication technology category.CBZ Bank won the best corporate social responsibility award.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has urged the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, to put in place the necessary machinery for the payment of salaries and pensions of striking workers in the state.

The NLC letter dated June 5 and signed by its President, Ayuba Wabba, also requested the governors intervention in the payment due to the striking workers.

The workers began a strike on Wednesday for being owed five months salaries and pensions.

The NLC letter is coming after a meeting between the governor and the leaders of the organised labour in the state on Thursday did not resolve the issues.

Your Excellency, we are not unaware of the present socio-economic challenges in the country, the letter read.

However, in our estimation, this should not be an acceptable reason for not paying five months salaries and pensions at the level of the state, and four months salaries and pensions at the level of local government and teachers.

Sir, you do not need a lecture from anyone, to know that non-payment of salaries and pensions for months on end, constitutes a crime against the workers, pensioners and their families whose lives and obligation to Man and God and their sense of self-worth have been put in jeopardy.

As one with activist background and one with whom we have had collaboration these issues are clear and self-evident, and therefore need no belabouring.

The union also informed Mr. Mimiko that at this critical time there were limited choices, which would include taking a critical look at government expenditure especially in the areas of political appointments, patronage and allied costs.

We similarly call for the renewed drive in the internally-generated revenue. We have reason to believe that when these initiatives are complimented by the bail-out funds released by the Federal Government, the twin issues of salaries and pensions will not be such a burden, the union said.

As we noted in our letter to you on the 40th anniversary celebration of Ondo State, you have left a legacy. We urge you to do all that is necessary to sustain this legacy.

Accordingly, we will not relent in urging you to put in motion the necessary logistics for the commencement of the payment of these salaries and pensions.
Striking workers in Ekiti State on Sunday told Governor Ayodele Fayose to pay workers their salaries rather than engage in a solidarity strike with them.

What we want is our money to alleviate our poverty, said the chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Odunayo Adesoye.

Mr. Fayose had on Friday declared that he had placed himself on indefinite strike in solidarity with the workers who had been on strike for about two weeks over non-payment of five months outstanding salaries.

We appreciate the governor for sharing our pains and anguish. But the workers will appreciate and commend him the more if he can pay at least two or three months salaries out of five months owed, he said.

Our situation has gone beyond the governor declaring mere solidarity strike. We need more of actions now than talks because our situation is gradually becoming hopeless.

Some of us have the intention of going to work, but no money to pay for transport fare. Some of us could not take two square meal a day. Some could not cook soup with ordinary fish, so our situation has gone beyond what anyone could trivialize.

Mr. Adesoye, however, noted that the striking workers were resolved to fight on, because it was an issue that borders on our welfare, careers and prosperity.

We are hearing that the federal government want to give grants to states , so if Mr Governor could pay three months now, it will be easy to use the grant to pay the remaining two months and still help in paying for the subsequent months, he said.

We appeal to the workers to be law abiding. We want them to be civil, even in the face of provocation. By the grace of God, we shall all rejoice in the end.

While explaining Mr. Fayoses solidarity strike, his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, told PREMIUM TIMES that all the commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors of ministries also joined the solidarity strike.

Mr. Olayinka said the solidarity strike would go on until the workers return to work, since Mr. Fayose and others will not be able to function if the states civil service is inactive.

If he approves money, whos going to process it? If he wants to award contract, can he do that alone? the spokesperson said . So what hes saying is that he wont bother getting the senior government officials to come to work since they also need the civil servants to work with them.

In a similar response as his TUC counterpart, the chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, Ade Adesanmi, said the workers prefer to be paid rather than be shown such solidarity.

Mr. Adesanmi, who said he had not been informed of any deliberation scheduled for next week with Mr. Fayose, saying his team had already met with government officials twice last week.

Ive not been officially informed about any meeting with the governor, Mr. Adesanmi told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday. Weve already met with them last Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr. Adesanmi said the workers were demanding that the state should settle at least three out of five months salaries they were being owed.

Our request is that 3 months out of the 5 months should be paid. Government is saying one month. Even if 2 months are paid, 90 per cent of them would not take anything home. They have loan obligations to meet and banks would automatically take their money. We wont have money to even get to work.

Mr. Adesanmi said the strike had taken a terrible toll on the workers in the state. He said about five of his members had died within the last few weeks.

At least 5 of our members died because of the situation.

Mr. Adesanmi chided Mr. Fayose for embarking on a solidarity action, saying it was tantamount to a mockery of their forlorn situation.

If government doesnt have money, government should be persuasive, the issue of going on strike with us in this miserable condition is unwarranted and not funny like he thinks.

Governor Fayose had said he hoped that common sense prevails when the two parties meet next week to resolve the impasse.

In January, lawmakers approved aN68 billion appropriation bill proposed by Mr. Fayose for 2016. The budget contained N24 billion and N44 billion for capital and recurrent expenditures, respectively.

With a dwindling federal allocation and less than N300 million internally-generated revenue, the agrarian state is projected to have a budget shortfall of about N46 billion at the end of the year.
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.




A survey for the period 19902000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked South Africa second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita and first for rapes per capita in a data set of 60 countries. Total crime per capita was 10th out of the 60 countries in the dataset. Street violence has become the first choice for conflict resolution. The problem is seemingly insurmountable, yet a small mobile app called Cell 411 is empowering the South African public and helping them gain control of their personal safety without help from police or government employees.

The mobile app, available both on Android and iOS, has become an overnight sensation in South Africa and has been downloaded by thousands of citizens who have been desperately looking for a way to establish a trusted way to receive help in case of emergencies. The app allows citizens to bypass calling police for help and instead build cells or groups of friends, neighbors and family members who can be instantly notified in case an emergency takes place.

With the tap of a finger, the user can summon help from 1, 2 or 200 trusted friends, neighbors or relatives. The exact coordinates of the incident are instantly sent out to his friends, with directions to the location of the incident. The user can even stream live video of an incident in case evidence is needed for a criminal case.

South African farmers use Cell 411 to track down cut fences, tag the location with exact GPS coordinates and organize with other farmers in decentralized, independent groups to provide mutual aid and security in the farming community. Neighborhood watchers all over Johannesburg are using the app to keep their neighborhoods safer and even owners of security firms are using it to dispatch help and security guards to their clients.

Virgil Vaduva, creator of Cell 411 said, "I am happy that what started as a small personal project has become something that is helping tens of thousands of people all over the world, especially in places where police are unwilling or unable to help those who are most vulnerable."

The app is now listed at #15 in the top most popular social networking iPhone apps in South Africa.

In addition to its world-wide popularity, in March 2016 the U.S.-based Cell 411 has received an initial angel investment of $200,000 which gives the team enough operating capital for 2016, allowing them to develop and release version 3 of the app in the summer of 2016.

You can download Cell 411 at http://getcell411.com

Related Links

http://getcell411.com



SOURCE Cell 411
DOHA, Qatar, June 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

GEZE Middle East added another showroom facility to its lineup in the Middle East. Located in Salwa Road in Doha Qatar, the 3,000sqft facility showcases the latest range of GEZE's automated doors and windows solutions and gives architectures a firsthand demonstration of how the technology can be craftily integrated into any interior design.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160209/331044LOGO )



"The opening of our newest showroom works in with GEZE Middle East's Qatar 2020 strategic market expansion plan in Qatar," commented Charles Constantin, Managing Director of GEZE Middle East. "Architects, interior designers, homeowners and the build and design community as a whole know that clients are always on the lookout for the latest in technology, be it for a commercial or residential property. The challenge is usually keeping up with the ever changing trends in the market. Our team of experts at the showroom provides clients with the assistance they need to help them fully realize the possibilities we can offer in terms of design and build. On the other hand, the showroom is equipped with the resources and the latest technologies in automation with a diverse range of products on display adding the value of seamlessly integrated solutions to our clients," Charles concluded.

The inaugural event took place on Wednesday 1st June at the beautifully appointed GEZE-DORSPEC facility which is GEZE's second showroom in Qatar with 4 others located in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai and Lebanon. The ceremony was attended by 100 delegates from the construction and design industry and representatives from GEZE, Dorspec and SASCO Group.

The facility showcases the latest range of GEZE's automatic and mechanical door solutions and offers architects and consultants a firsthand demonstration of how the moving door technology can be craftily integrated into any interior and exterior design.

For more information on GEZE products, please visit http://www.geze.com/ .

About GEZE

GEZE GmbH is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of construction systems for door, window and safety technology. GEZE offers a comprehensive range of products including automatic door systems and door technology, glass systems, smoke and heat extraction systems, safety technology as well as window and ventilation technology.

As one of the market, innovation and design leaders, the independently-managed family company has decisively influenced facility engineering and building technology with pioneering developments. These developments are constantly being driven onwards in the company's technology centre. The highest of quality standards means that GEZE products contribute towards some of the most innovative building concepts in the world and ensure convenience and security in building technology.

SOURCE GEZE Middle East
Business / Local

by Staff Reporter

A TOTAL of 120 local and foreign buyers and exhibitors have so far confirmed to take part in this year's Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo to be held from June 16 to 18 in Bulawayo as preparations for the Africa's largest showcase intensify.The ninth edition of the event will be held at Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority head of corporate affairs, Sugar Chagonda, said in an interview recently that preparations were on course.He said they were expecting a bigger and better event that would focus more on quality than quantity.Chagonda said the expo was moved to its founding venue, Bulawayo and it will, in the future, be held in other cities to stimulate growth and development."A total of 12 foreign exhibitors, the likes of Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Namibia have confirmed participation while 50 buyers from countries such as the United Kingdom, India, China and South Africa will be part of this event. Response has been overwhelming and we are confident that we will surpass last year's number of exhibitors which was 128. Registration is still in progress and we urge exhibitors to come in their numbers to be part of this year's event which will be bigger and better," said Chagonda.Most previous editions of the expo have been held in Harare and the return of the Sanganai/Hlanganani to Bulawayo has been viewed as a positive development, as more tourism players in the region will be showcasing their products during the fair.The event is expected to play a significant role in creating employment and boost downstream industries."This year we are putting emphasis on quality not quantity and we are optimistic that the three-day event will provide a productive engagement with regional and international exhibitors. Local industry is ready to capitalise on the synergies and we are working flat out to make sure the event will be a resounding success," he added.Exhibitors across the country willing to be part of this year's potentially explosive expo have been urged to register through the ZTA offices in their respective regions.The Eastern Highlands, as one of the country's tourism hubs, is expected to ride on the successes gained by the previous editions and showcase a unique grandeur that the region offers. Hoteliers and tertiary colleges in Manicaland are expected to attend the three-day jamboree in numbers.Eastern Highlands Experience chairman, William Chatigu, said this was Manicaland's grand opportunity to let the world know about unique and fascinating products the region offers."I urge tourism players and other organisations in Manicaland to maximise on such events since it only comes once a year," said Chatigu.The Expo is an annual tourism trade fair organised by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. It showcases the widest variety of Africa's best tourism products, and attracts international visitors and media from across the world.The fair is the successor of Shanyai/Vakatshani, the Zimbabwe International Travel Expo (ZITE) that is held annually at the Harare International Conference Centre. ZITE started as a small expo in 1982 and grew over the years to become one of Africa's leading tourism showcases by 2007
"Southwest's arrival in Long Beach brings much needed competition not just with our unique value and unparalleled Customer Service, but with unmatched access to the rest of the country through our Oakland gateway," said Paul Cullen , Southwest Airlines' Vice President of Corporate Planning and Financial Planning and Analysis, at a morning news conference before the airport's first Southwest departure. "The initial schedule for Long Beach offers long reach with easy connections to 19 cities through our four flights a day to Oakland."

"I'm thrilled to welcome Southwest Airlines to Long Beach," said Mayor Garcia. "This is an exciting and positive development for our city and the entire region, and one more great reason to fly through Long Beach Airport."

"We are delighted to welcome this new partner and one of the most recognizable airline carriers to Long Beach," said Stacy Mungo, Long Beach Councilwoman. "At the center of Southwest's business model are people and culture, which is only fitting given our city's unique sense of community."

"Southwest is a welcomed addition to Long Beach Airport, where our customers value the convenience and excellent customer service that we provide," said Juan Lopez-Rios, Interim Director. "We are proud to be able to provide that same service to our Southwest customers as they enjoy the relaxed travel experience for which LGB is known."

Beginning today, Southwest offers a peak summer schedule of nearly 60 flights a day in each direction between Oakland and Southern California's five airports in the greater L.A. region, plus San Diego. Last week, Southwest filed an application for route authority to add new daily international service later this year from LAX to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos in Mexico, alongside daily service to Costa Rica which began in April. Southwest also flies internationally from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos.

Book Southwest's great low fares from Long Beach to Oakland at southwest.com.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

In its 45th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 50,000 Employees to more than 100 million Customers annually. Southwest operates more than 3,900 departures a day during peak travel season across a network of 97 destinations in the United States and seven additional countries. Service to Long Beach, California, the carrier's 98th city, begins June 5, 2016.

Based on the U.S. Department of Transportation's most recent data, Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded. The Company operates the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world, the majority of which are equipped with satellite-based WiFi providing gate-to-gate connectivity. That connectivity enables Customers to use their personal devices to view video on-demand movies and television shows, as well as more than 20 channels of free, live TV compliments of our valued Partners. Southwest created Transfarency, a philosophy which treats Customers honestly and fairly, and in which low fares actually stay low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some airlines may allow free checked bags on select routes or for qualified circumstances), and there are no change fees, though fare differences might apply. In 2014, the airline proudly unveiled a bold new look: Heart. The new aircraft livery, airport experience, and logo, showcase the dedication of Southwest Employees to connect Customers with what's important in their lives.

From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel described by the U.S. Department of Transportation as "The Southwest Effect," a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic whenever the carrier enters new markets. With 43 consecutive years of profitability, Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. The 2015 Southwest Airlines One Report can be found at SouthwestOneReport.com.

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SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Related Links

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New Delhi, May 31 : An enquiry has been ordered into the massive fire that engulfed one of the Indian Army's largest ammunition depots in Maharashtra's Pulgaon early on Tuesday and left 16 dead including two officers, a top army official said.

"The cause of the fire is not yet known. Actions to assess the damage are in progress. The army has ordered an enquiry to investigate the incident," said Director General, Military Operations, Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh.

He put toll at 16 - three soldiers and 13 fire brigade staff, he said.

"The fire has been completely doused and situation brought under control. However, in our efforts to douse the fire, two officers and 14 personnel (one army jawan and 13 civilian fire fighting staff) lost their lives and two officers and 15 personnel (nine army jawans and six civilian fire fighting staff) were injured," Singh said.

"As per last reports, all the injured are stable," he added.

All the injured have been admitted to a super speciality hospital at Wardha and a team of especialised doctors from Pune has also rushed there, said the DGMO.

Singh said that the fire started in one of the sheds at approximately 1 a.m. and immediate action was taken by the fire fighting parties and Quick Reaction Teams at the depot to putting the fire fighting mechanism into place as per the laid down procedures.

This restricted the fire to one shed only which contained highly sensitive ammunition.

Spread over an area of more than 7,000 acres, Pulgaon is an important ammunition depot of the Indian Army, storing a variety of ammunition.
Chandigarh, May 31 : The Parkash Singh Committee report on the large-scale violence during the Jat agitation for reservation in February, has blasted the civil and police administration, particularly senior officers, for abandoning their authority which it said led to the agitation paralysing the state for days.

Damning observations have been made by the committee against officers and officials of the Haryana government and Haryana Police while highlighting the "complete failure" of the state machinery in reacting appropriately to the situation turning out of control.

The committee, headed by former Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Parkash Singh, which submitted its report to Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party government earlier this month, did not mince words to point out to particular officers and even name some of them.

"One Inspector General suffered almost a nervous breakdown and suffered delusions. The government has to be very careful in posting officers to sensitive districts which have potential for trouble of any kind," the committee pointed out.

"The Committee was disappointed to find that even at the state level, the highest functionaries were almost paralysed, and the kind of guidance, direction and control one expected in such a situation was just not there. The Director General of Police remained confined to Chandigarh and was content with issuing some orders. He did not lead from the front and did not care to inspire or motivate the personnel in the field," the report pointed out.

"The Home Department was a washout. The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) could not produce before the Committee even one page of directions/instructions which he may have issued to the Deputy Commissioners or the Superintendents of Police. The Home Department remained dormant. No wonder, officers in the field felt leaderless," it stated.

The committee named the then Additional Chief Secretary (Home) P.K. Das and DGP Yash Pal Singhal for virtually abdicating authority and not leading from the front.

"Yash Pal Singal, Director General of Police, Haryana, said that he was not able to visit the districts during the riots due to his poor health those days. The DGP found time to visit the places affected by violence on 23 and 24 February. It would have been better if he had visited by chopper at least the districts worst affected while the agitation was at its peak."

"The Committee was also disappointed that the DGP did not even have video conference with the Superintendents of Police when they were battling a very critical law and order situation. A police chief is expected to lead from the front in a crisis situation. Sh. Yash Pal Singal unfortunately did not give that impression," the report stated.

Pointing out instances, the committee said: "The judicial officers in Rohtak and Jajjhar were scared of their lives. At Jajjhar, the IG Police ordered LMG (light machine gun) to be mounted in the colony to inspire confidence. The IGP Rohtak was so unnerved that he made elaborate arrangements for his own protection, forgetting his responsibility towards the people of the town."

"The Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak, was apprehensive that his own house may be attacked. The state -- in Rohtak at least -- appeared to have withered away on February 19 and 20," the report said.

Rohtak was worst affected during the violence by Jat community agitators.

"Thirty lives were lost and, on a conservative estimate, property worth Rs 20,000 crore was devastated. It is estimated that 1,196 shops were set ablaze, 371 vehicles were damaged or set on fire, 30 schools/colleges were burnt, 75 houses were set on fire, 53 hotels/marriage palaces were devastated, 23 petrol pumps were attacked and 15 religious institutions vandalised," the committee, which went around the affected districts, pointed out.

The committee clearly pointed out to the caste bias of civil and police officers in the state, which is dominated by Jats.

"The caste bias of the officers, both of the civil administration and the police, was seen inaction against rioters, connivance with the vandals, absence from duty/desertion and abetment of the hooligans. The bias was conspicuous at the level of SDM/DSP/SHOs."

"The reservation riots which convulsed the state of Haryana in February 2016 were unprecedented in their scale, dimensions and intensity," the committee stated.

Pointing out to the environmental damage during the agitation, the committee said that a total 7,232 trees were cut by the agitators to block the roads and disrupt movement of traffic. Police establishments were not spared, with 29 police station/post buildings set ablaze, and police weapons were looted.

"The Committee saw the video footage of riots at different places sent by members of the public. There are horrifying scenes of wanton destruction. You can see people coming in scores on trolleys and moving through market areas unchallenged."

"Prohibitory orders were in force but there are no policemen to intercept the marauding crowds. The youth walk into the stores or malls, loot property at will and destroy whatever they cannot carry. These gangs are in no hurry. They have all the time in the world to carry out their depredations. They know that the police would not check them, let alone arrest them or take any other action," it pointed out.

The committee regretted that even the property of Haryana's finance minister was vandalised on two consecutive days.

The committee pointed out that the authority of senior officers, including the chief secretary, had been eroded in Haryana over the years owing to politicization of civil and police administration.

"Army was utilised in a big way in Haryana. There were a maximum of 74 columns on a particular day. The presence of army did make an impact. The situation was thereafter gradually brought under control. However, there have been disturbing whispers that the rioters were not particularly scared of the army," the committee said.

"The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the State had no hesitation in saying that the agitators were not daunted by the presence of the Army'. This is not a happy situation and should cause us concern. One reason could be that the Army is getting over-exposed," the committee said.

Expressing its concern over the "disturbing polarization in Haryana society", the committee said that the agitation had left the Jats on one side and the remaining communities on the other.

"The kind of polarization which earlier one saw between the Hindus and Muslims is today, tragically, being witnessed among different Hindu communities, thanks to the conflicting claims over reservation," the report pointed out.
Manila, June 2 : Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte will not apologise for his controversial remarks justifying the killing of corrupt journalists, his spokesperson said on Thursday.

Salvador Panelo, Duterte's spokesperson, told Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN, the question of apology arises when something wrong has been done and added the president-elect's remarks were misinterpreted.

Duterte, who will take office on June 30, triggered a wave of criticism after his remarks in a press conference on Tuesday that many of the journalists, who had been killed in the country in recent years, had been murdered because they were corrupt.

"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination," Duterte told reporters in the southern Davao city.

On Wednesday, non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the Philippine media to boycott the Duterte administration's news conferences until the leader issues a public apology and also asked the media to press lawsuits against him, EFE news reported.

"We urge organisations that represent the media to not overlook comments of this kind and to bring lawsuits," said Benjamin Ismail, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk.

"Not only are these statements unworthy of a president but they could also be regarded as violations of the law on defamation or even the law on inciting hatred and violence," he added.

Duterte has also been criticised by other Philippine media organisations, family members of the murdered journalists and the outgoing government, as well as prominent politicians and lawyers.

The National Union of Journalist in the Philippines (NJUP) said it was "appalling" that Duterte should "justify the murder of journalists in the country by playing the corruption card".

Murders of Filipino journalists who criticise local politicians or investigate corruption are frequent in the country.

Seven journalists were killed in the Philippines in 2015, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

In its latest report, the IFJ said the Philippines had the second largest number of journalists murdered since 1990, surpassed only by Iraq.
Mumbai, June 4 : Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, the de facto No.2 in the BJP-led state government, quit on Saturday after getting embroiled in multiple controversies, including graft allegations in a questionable land deal and his alleged links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Khadse, who also held nearly a dozen other major portfolios in the state government, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and put in his papers to resign from all his ministerial portfolios, sources said.

The fast-paced developments happened a day after Fadnavis met Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and submitted a detailed report in New Delhi on the issues confronting Khadse.

Fadnavis later followed it up by a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him of the row that was denting the BJP's "clean image" in the state.

Khadse, 63, has been under fire during the past few weeks from the ruling alliance partner Shiv Sena, as also the opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and activists for various acts of commission and omission.

However, presenting a brave face, Khadse, who hails from Jalgaon, strongly refuted all the allegations against him and vowed to prove himself innocent.

Among the major accusations hurled at Khadse was alloting a prime industrial plot in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) complex in Pune at a throwaway price and an allegation by an "ethical hacker" that his name figured on the regular call lists of absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim from his Karachi home.

The other charges against the minister related to an aide, Gajanan Patil, demanding a bribe of Rs 30 crore in connection with a land proposal file in Kalyan, Thane.

Former AAP activist Anjali Damania's allegations linked him to the multi-thousand crore rupees irrigation scam. The latest were graft charges leveled by a fishermen's society.

Once a claimant to chief minister's post, Khadse was assigned the departments of revenue, minorities development and Wakf, state excise, relief and rehabilitation, earthquake rehabilitation, agriculture an dhorticulture, animal husbandly, dairy development and fisheries.
Herat (Afghanistan), June 4 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Saturday conferred with Afghanistan's highest civilian honour, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani conferred the award on Modi after the two leaders jointly inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier known as Salma Dam, that was rebuilt with India's aid.

"A true brotherhood honoured. PM is awarded with the Amir Amanullah Khan Award, Afghanistan's highest civilian honour," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Modi arrived here earlier on Saturday on the first leg of his five-nation tour.

He will leave for Qatar later in the day on the second leg of his tour.
News / Local

by Tendai Gukutikwa

A STUDENT with a Mutare college was sentenced to nine months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to stealing his friend's bank ATM card and went on to withdraw cash without his knowledge.Manica Post reported that Takesure Mushumbi (26) will, however, serve an effective three months after six months were suspended on condition of good behaviour and that he restitutes Bornface Mandiuraya of his $924.Mushumbi was convicted on his own guilty plea when he appeared before Mutare provincial magistrate, Lucie-Anne Mungwari last week.Fletcher Karombe prosecuted.Circumstances surrounding the matter were that sometime in April, Mandiuraya misplaced his CABS ATM bank card in his house and told Mushumbi about the lost card.A few days later Mushumbi requested the complainant's PIN number saying he wanted to help him block the lost card at the bank."After being given the PIN number, Mushumbi went on to withdraw $924, 95 from Mandiuraya's bank account in Mutare," said Karombe.It was further alleged that on May 7, Mandiuraya went to CABS Dangamvura with the intention of withdrawing money, but only found $352 in his savings account.After requesting for an account statement from the bank, Mandiuraya found out that someone had withdrawn the money from his account at a point of sale at TM Mutare.He visited the supermarket and requested for CCTV footage which showed that the money was withdrawn by Mushumbi as it was visible from the CCTV shots," said Karombe.
Herat (Afghanistan), June 4 : India's development assistance in Afghanistan scaled a new high on Saturday with the inauguration of the Salma Dam in Herat province, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani pressed a button to open the sluice gates of the Rs 1,700 crore mega dam built by India.

Modi, who arrived in Herat on Saturday, reiterated India's commitment to the development of Afghanistan.

Modi was also conferred with Afghanistan's highest civilian honour, the Amir Aminullah Khan Award, by President Ghani.

"Afghanistan's success is a deeply held hope and desire of every Indian," Modi said after the inauguration of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, also known as Salma Dam.

"It comes from the love and admiration for Afghans in our hearts," he said.

"We want to see your democracy strike deep roots; your people unite; and, your economy prosper."

Modi said his visit to Afghanistan's Herat was not just about launching a project that would irrigate land and light up homes.

"We are reviving a region, restoring hope, renewing life and redefining Afghanistan's future," he said.

"The dam is a generator not just of electricity but also of optimism and belief in the future of Afghanistan."

Apart from irrigating the fields of 640 villages in Chiste, Obe, Pashtun Zarghun, Karokh, Gozara, Injil, Zindjan, Kohsan and Ghoryan in Herat province in western Afghanistan, the hydro electric project is expected to bring light to over 250,000 homes in the region.

"This dam has not been built by bricks and mortar, but by the faith of our friendship and the valour of Afghans and Indians," he said.

Modi said India has partnered Afghanistan in building schools, health centres and irrigation facilities for rural communities.

He said that India's investment in the Chahbahar port in Iran will give Afghanistan "a new route to the world and a new path to prosperity". India, Iran and Afghanistan last month signed a trilateral agreement in Tehran to develop the Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman for a trade and transit corridor through Afghanistan to Central Asia and beyond to Russia and Europe.

President Ghani, speaking at the inauguration, welcomed Modi to his "second home" Afghanistan and said that with India's help a longstanding dream of Afghanistan has been realised after 40 years.

"The assistance of the people and the Government of India in constructing this splendid dam re-institutes the ancient ties of Herat and India," he said.

"Our people identify India with roads, dams and over 200 small developmental projects."

"Contrary to those who spread chaos and destruction, we two countries have taken the joint decision to build and grow," said Ghani.

Originally constructed in 1976 on the Hari river basin, the Salma Dam suffered extensive damage during the Afghan civil war.

It was built at a cost of approximately Rs 1,700 crore by 1,500 Indian and Afghan engineers, technocrats and other professionals.

Three turbines on the dam will produce 42 MW of electricity and the water will irrigate around 75,000 hectares of land.

The dam is a landmark infrastructure project undertaken by the Indian government and has been executed and implemented by Wapcos, an Indian government undertaking under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

The Salma Dam, which is 20 km in length and three km in width, started filling up its reservoirs in July last year, ahead of its completion. The event had been widely heralded by grateful residents of Herat, who took out joyful processions, beating traditional drums.

A group of local musicians had then gathered at the Indian consulate and sung Indian songs, including Bollywood number "Yamma Yamma", and presented flowers to workers of the consulate -- marking their gratitude to see waters flowing in the dam again.

In December last year, Modi had and Ghani had jointly inaugurated Afghanistan's new Parliament building, built by India at Rs 170 crore -- another key development project undertaken by India.

India's development assistance programme in Afghanistan stands at around $2 billion, making India the fifth largest bilateral donor.

Modi and Ghani later held a meeting after the inauguration programme.

"Thank you President Ashraf Ghani. We had fruitful discussions on enhancing ties between our nations," the Prime Minister tweeted.

He also visited the Indian consulate in Herat that had come under a terror attack in May 2014 and interacted with the consular staff Modi arrived here earlier on Saturday on the first leg of his five-nation tour. This was his second visit to Afghanistan in five months, after his Kabul visit in December.

He later left for Doha, Qatar, on Saturday afternoon on the second leg of his tour that will also take him to Switzerland, the US and Mexico.
Manama, June 5 : Bahrain's Interior Ministry on Saturday announced it foiled an attempt to smuggle eight fugitives convicted in terror cases via a boat heading to Iran.

The ministry said the trafficking attempt was foiled after the boat was spotted by the coastguard sailing off the coast of Northern Bahrain.

"The boat was chased and then interdicted when those onboard refused to stop," said the ministry.

It released names and photographs of the fugitives who are jailed between 10 to 15 years in the Bahrain court in different cases, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry in a statement identified the two masterminds operating from Iran, who were wanted by Bahrain authorities.

It further said the boat captain is a resident of Bilad Al Qadeem and his assistant is resident of Juffair, were also arrested.

"The arrestees' ID cards, money, mobile phones, personal belongings, a GPS and a large quantity of petrol were confiscated, " stated the ministry on Saturday adding legal proceedings were taken.

In October last year Bahrain asked its ambassador in Tehran to leave immediately as it accused Iran of meddling in its domestic affairs and even expelled Tehran's envoy in Manama.

Bahrain authorities in the past have seized weapons shipments which they claim were sent by Iran to create instability in the Gulf.

In November last year, a major counter terrorism operation was conducted by Bahrain's security authorities in which it foiled a terrorist network and the arrest of 47 suspects.

The Interior Ministry said a range of high-grade explosives, bomb making materials and weapons were seized from several locations within populated residential areas in Bahrain.

In addition to the materials seized, a bomb-making facility and an explosives laboratory were discovered.

Bahrain investigators had then said that as with previous terrorist incidents in 2015 the suspects arrested hold strong connections with terrorist organisations in Iran.

Bahrain is a close US ally and hosts its Navy Fifth Fleet, which in this year alone has stopped three dhows in separate incidents that were loaded with large cache of weapons which it claimed were destined for Houthi rebels in Yemen originated from Tehran
Panaji, June 5 : Goa's Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza has accused migrants of committing majority of the crimes in the tourist state, citing it as one of the major issues which is "troubling the government".

D'Souza was speaking at a function organised by the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa held near Panaji on Saturday night.

"Migration into Goa does makes it a little difficult to handle the issue. See the crime statistics. Most of the crime is committed by migrants. So how do we take care of it, handle the situation? It is one of the issues which is troubling the government," D'Souza said.

D'Souza's migrant-bashing comes a few days after Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar triggered controversy by saying that Goans were annoyed with Nigerians, blaming them for their lifestyle and attitude.

The statements by Parsekar and Parulekar created a controversy in the national media and the opposition blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Goa of being biased towards Africans.

"You have to be very sensitive towards tourism. Sensitive because the whole world is focused towards Goa. The smallest thing that happens in Goa is big news, international news. You can't stop it. But we will have to take care that the news doesn't happen," D'Souza said.

D'Souza also said that efforts need to be made to ensure that tourists feel safe in Goa, whether in the day or at night.

"So we have to work in (the) direction of safety of the tourist, comfort of the tourist. The ease of movement day and night They like to move around. Tourists actually sleep the whole day and move the whole night. It happens that way," he said.

Goa one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country attracts nearly four million tourists every year, half a million of which are foreign nationals.
Chennai, June 5 : If you're in Mumbai and wondering how to watch the latest Malayalam film, then just head to the nearest multiplex, for you might be pleasantly surprised to catch the film with English subtitles. With the emergence of multiplexes, Malayalam films have found audiences beyond boundaries and in the process have conquered new lands.

Although Malayalam films have been releasing outside Kerala for many years, they have attracted non-Malayali audiences in the last few years.

"Cities like Coimbatore, Mysore and some places in Gujarat have been screening Malayalam films for many years. Traditionally, it has always been one show in the morning during the weekends. However, it all changed when multiplexes replaced single screens, paving way for many shows on a single day," Sreedhar Pillai, trade analyst and industry tracker, told IANS.

Pillai pointed out that the market is slowly expanding thanks to multiplexes.

"The new-age Malayalam movies with English subtitles are attracting non-Malayali audiences too. A film like 'Jacobinte Swargarajyam' ran for four weeks in Vijayawada, and that's a rare feat," Pillai said, adding that strong marketing and distribution has also helped these films.

According to producer Prem Menon of Global United Media, language has never been a barrier for good content.

"Audiences have become more aware. With internet, the world has shrunk and producers have to be careful of what is dished out to the audience. Today, good content has no boundaries and we have realised this with hits like 'Premam' and 'Bangalore Days'," Menon said.

In Mumbai, both "Premam" and "Bangalore Days" celebrated a 50-day run in theatres.

"Mohanlal's 'Drishyam' ran for 100 days in Mumbai. Post 'Drishyam' and 'Bangalore Days', the percentage of non-Malayali viewers of Malayalam films has increased, because these movies make it to Mumbai on the same day of the release in Kerala," Sethumadhavan, a Mumbai-based independent film critic, told IANS.

In the rest of India territory, Sethumadhavan says Malayalam films also release in Pune, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.

"Every second week, there's a Malayalam release in Mumbai. Popular Malayalam actors like Nivin Pauly, Dulquer Salmaan and Prithviraj have very good market outside. A Nivin film, especially after 'Premam', would get around 20 screens in Mumbai," he said, and added that on an average a successful Malayalam film would collect around Rs 2 million from Mumbai alone.

While admitting that actors like Nivin and Dulquer have opened the doors for Kerala films outside, Menon said: "These young actors have an appeal among the youth but one shouldn't forget that stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal and Jayaram have made a mark outside Kerala much before."

Typically, a Malayalam film releases in around 40-50 screens in north India.

"Besides Mumbai, a Malayalam film releases in five to six screens in Pune, three to four screens in Delhi and eight to 10 screens across Gujarat. In the south, outside Kerala, it also releases in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore," Sethumadhavan said.

Global United Media's latest Malayalam release "Kammati Paadam" had a wide release and made it to cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Goa, Mysore and Vishakhapatnam.

"The pre-release buzz of 'Kammati Paadam' helped in its wide release. The excellent response to the film's teaser, which clocked over 500,000 views in less than a week, helped in creating lot of anticipation before the release," Menon said.

Dulquer Salmaan-starrer "Kammati Paadam" did exceptional even outside Kerala.

With the market for Malayalam films outside Kerala expanding with each passing day, Menon believes it's how one can cleverly tap this situation to reap maximum benefit.

(Haricharan Pudipeddi can be contacted at haricharan.p@ians.in)
Kabul, June 5 : At least seven people, including a senior local judge, were killed and 19 others wounded after militants stormed a court in Afghanistan's Logar province on Sunday, police said.

The attack took place around 11.00 a.m. in the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam city, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The initial reports found five civilians were killed and 19 others wounded in Sunday morning's attack on Logar provincial Appeal Court office building," a senior police official said.

Among the killed was Akram Nejat, head of the provincial Appellate Court, the official confirmed.

"The attack took place when an official ceremony was underway in the building. Nejat was appointed recently to serve as the chairman of provincial court," the police official said.

Two suicide bombers were also killed in the attack and at least one explosion occurred inside the building's yard, he added.
Doha, June 5 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called on the Father Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani here.

"Final bilateral engagement is an important meeting with the Father Emir of Qatar. PM Narendra Modi calls on him at Old Emiri Diwan," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Sheikh Hamad was the Emir of Qatar from 1995 till 2013.

Earlier on Sunday, India and Qatar signed seven agreements, including on investment and tourism following delegation level talks headed by Modi and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani here.

Modi also attended a meeting of Qatari business leaders and invited them to invest in India.

Modi will interact with the Indian community here later in the day. Qatar is home to around 630,000 expatriate Indians -- comprising the single largest group of migrants in Qatar.

The Prime Minister, who arrived here on Saturday from Afghanistan on the second leg of his five-nation tour, visited a health camp organised for Indian workers here soon after his arrival.

He was later hosted for dinner by Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah Biv Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Modi's is the first prime ministerial visit from India to energy-rich Qatar since the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's in 2008.

Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit four countries in the Gulf region having visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier.

On Sunday evening, Modi will depart for Switzerland on the third leg of his tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.
Doha, June 5 : India and Qatar on Sunday decided to address the menace of global terrorism through a comprehensive approach to stop flow of foreign terrorists, dismantle terrorist infrastructures and counter terror propaganda through internet among other things.

"Both sides noted that addressing the menace of global terrorism should be based on a comprehensive approach which should include, but not limited to, countering violent extremism, combating radicalisation and recruitment, disrupting terrorist movements, stopping all sources for financing of terrorism, stopping flow of foreign terrorist fighters, dismantling terrorist infrastructure, and countering terrorist propaganda through the internet," a joint statement issued at the end of a series of high-level meetings Prime Minister Narendra Modi held here.

Modi visited Qatar at the invitation of Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, and interacted with top leaders including the Emir and the Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

"The two sides discussed ways and means to further promote cooperation in cyber security, including prevention of use of cyberspace for terrorism, radicalisation and for disturbing social harmony," the statement said.

Leaders from both sides welcomed exchanges and dialogue between religious scholars and intellectuals from both the countries and the organisation of conferences and seminars to promote values of peace, tolerance, inclusiveness and welfare, inherent in all religions.

Expressing appreciation for their ongoing bilateral cooperation in the area of security, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, intelligence-sharing, developing best practices and technologies, capacity-building and to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement, anti-money laundering, drug-trafficking and other transnational crimes.

The Indian side appreciated Qatar's participation in the International Fleet Review and DEFEXPO in India in February and March 2016, respectively, and the increasing visits of Qatari delegations to India's Naval and Coast Guard establishments.

The Qatari side evinced interest in the opportunities offered under the "Make in India" initiative for joint production of defence equipment in India, the statement said.

Both Prime Minister Modi and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani at the delegation level talks highlighted that countering terrorism required a strong collective action by the global community.

"They further agreed to strengthen their cooperation in combating terrorism within the relevant multilateral institutions," the statement said.

"The two sides described bilateral trade ties as an abiding link between the two countries," it said, adding both sides also agreed upon the need to further strengthen these ties, particularly through diversifying the trade basket.

They agreed to encourage regular participation in each other's trade fairs and exhibitions and to facilitate trade promotion measures.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the growing presence of Indian and Qatari companies in each other's markets and agreed to further encourage such participation, the joint statement said.
Doha, June 5 : With the enhancement of India's image globally, the whole world is attracted to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Sunday.

"Today the whole world is attracted to India, is curious about India," Modi said while addressing an Indian community reception here on the second and concluding day of his two-day visit to Qatar.

"Even you must have felt the change underway in India," he said after arriving to a rousing welcome to the reception.

"India's image has been enhanced globally," he said as members of the gathering chanted "Modi, Modi".

Modi said that people of India living in Qatar were never away from India even for a minute.

"They are reliving India on the soil of Qatar," he said.

At around 630,000, Indians comprise the largest expatriate population in this Gulf nation.

Modi said that the change in India has not happened due to Narendra Modi, but due to India's 1.25 billion people.

"Global agencies are in agreement that is there is a fastest growing economy, it is India. Our growth rate is high," the prime minister said, while pointing out that the world economy too was not doing well at the moment.

"While global purchasing power has gone down and adversely affected our exports, despite that we have clocked this high growth rate," he said.

"The quarterly figures, even as India has faced two consecutive droughts, reflect a praiseworthy 7.9 percent growth."

Stating that corruption has troubled India for long, Modi said that "we are determined to eliminate it".

"We have introduced several schemes for combating corruption, for fiscal discipline and economic reforms," he said.

The Prime Minister concluded by saying that when the leaders of other nations he visits praise the achievements of the Indian diaspora, "my hear fills with pride and joy".

Modi, who arrived here on Saturday afternoon from Afghanistan, visited a health camp for Indian workers soon after his arrival.

On Sunday, India and Qatar signed seven agreements following delegation level talks led by Modi and Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Modi also met with top business leaders of Qatar and invited them to invest in India.

Later on Sunday, he will leave for Switzerland on the third leg of his foreign tour that will also take him to the US and Mexico.
Doha, June 5 : India and Qatar on Sunday signed seven agreements, including on investment and tourism promotion, as the two sides discussed ways to take bilateral ties beyond the current normal trading relationship.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led delegation-level talks with the Qatari leadrship, as well as holding restricted meetings with Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Qatar Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani.

"The main issues that were discussed, first of course, the Indian community's welfare. The Prime Minister thanked them (the Qatari leadership) for taking care of them (Indian community) plus their security and their general welfare," Amar Sinha, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a media briefing here following the day's official engagements.

"Second issue of critical importance was how we could partner together in investments and go beyond this trading relationship," Sinha said.

Though Qatar was the largest source of LNG for India, both sides felt that the time has come to move beyond the trading relationship and get into strategic investments, he said.

"So a lot of sectors were discussed," he said.

"The key sectors we felt from our perspective were railways, agro-processing, solar energy, and also even defence manufacturing."

Sinha said that apart from these key sectors, the two sides also discussed opportunities in India like the railways bond, smart cities, and asset reconstruction and possibilities of getting FDI into these sectors.

On the political front, according to the Secretary, both sides expressed happiness at the level of high-level visits with Modi coming to Qatar just 14 months after the Emir's visit to India.

"But both sides felt that there is a need to raise the level of annual consultation and so in principle we have decided to form what we call high-level committee both for follow-up and review as well as for charting the path forward," Sinha said.

The issue of security and terrorism also came up for discussion.

"They also realised that terror does hold a threat for both of us," the Secretary said, adding that Qatar was part of India's extended neighbourhood.

The welfare of Indian workers and the problems they face also came up for discussion.

"Basically the problems are contractual," Sinha said but added that part of the problems lie in India too as recruiting agents have to checked.

Of the 630,000 expatriate Indians in Qatar, many are blue collar workers involved in the gulf country's construction sector.

Sinha said issues of the workers' welfare, how they lived, the arrangements made for them and their security were also discussed at length.

Following the delegation-level talks, seven agreements were signed between the two sides in the areas of investment, skill development and entrepreneurship, tourism cooperation, health, financial intelligence sharing, mutual assistance in customs matters, and youth and sports.

The two countries also issued a joint statement in which both sides agreed to address the menace of global terrorism through a comprehensive approach to stop flow of foreign terrorists, dismantle terrorist infrastructures and counter-terror propaganda through internet, among other things.

Earlier on Sunday, Modi also met a group of top Qatari business leaders and invited them to invest in India.

India's Ambassador to Qatar Sanjiv Arora said there were 20 top investors in the meeting from diverse sectors like construction, real estate, infrastructure, financial services, and hospitality.

"The Prime Minister really gave the floor to them," Arora said.

"They really appreciated that here was the leader of the world's third largest economy in purchasing power parity terms who was listening to them very carefully and taking on board their perceptions and then giving them first hand information on all the far-reaching initiatives."

The Ambassador said the investors had much appreciation for several progressive changes made in India.

Following Sunday's delegation level talks, Sheikh Tamim hosted a lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary.

Modi later called Father Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, here.

He also addressed the Indian community at a reception organised by the Indian Ambassador during which he said that the whole world was attracted to India for its economic progress and praised the Indian diaspora for their achievements.

The Prime Minister, who arrived here from Afghanistan on Saturday, visited a health camp for Indian workers soon after his arrival.

He left Qatar for Switzerland on Sunday on the third leg of his foreign tour which will also take him to the US and Mexico.
Imphal/New Delhi, June 5 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed his unhappiness over the way the issue of anti-migrant bills of Manipur, awaiting presidential assent, is being "politicised" and that Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had never sought an appointment.

He conveyed his sentiments when a Bharatiya Janata Party team from Manipur called on him in New Delhi in connection with the three pending bills.

"Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh never sought appointment with me. If he seeks one I am always ready to talk with the delegates," he said against the chief minister's public statement that he had sought appointments with the prime minister, the home minister and others from the middle of May but not received any response.

"If appointments are sought, meetings could be held. But the prime minister can be met only when he returns from his foreign tour," he said.

Delegates of all political parties with the exclusion of the Naga People's Front have been camping in Delhi to meet the leaders on the issue.

During Sunday's meeting, the BJP team, led by state president Khetrimayum Bhabananda, urged the home minister to take up steps to give assent to the 3 bills and as he wanted to know whether all political parties in the state support the same, told him that there was "no objection".

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju was also present in the meeting.
News / Local

by Vusumuzi Dube

PROVINCIAL Affairs ministers and mayors of major cities are due to travel to China where they are expected to sign a number of investment deals meant to help further developmental issues in their provinces and cities.Sunday News reported that the high level delegation, which will also include representatives of the business community will be travelling to the Qingdao province of China where they are also expected to study how the province has managed to successfully turn around their economy through the implementation of Special Economic Zones.Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Dr Obert Mpofu said the goal of the visit was to ensure that development is pushed from the roots hence the need for the learning visit.He said the meeting would also allow delegates to meet various Chinese businesspeople where they will be expected to sign a number of Memorandum of Understandings and investment deals.Dr Mpofu said among the other objectives of the visit would be to ensure that concrete deals are discussed and cemented for the mutual benefit of both business parties and countries."A delegation from Qingdao province was actually in the country early this year where Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo, their Harare counterparts and a number of businesspeople held various meetings with them, on possible engagement areas."It was during these meetings where the province suggested that if there were any specific areas where they can assist they will then be able to extend an invitation for a delegation from Zimbabwe.What has happened since then is that the invitation has been made and all the Provincial Affairs ministers and selected mayors will be travelling to the province on this business visit," said Dr Mpofu.The minister said for a city like Bulawayo it was expected that they benefit a great deal noting that the city has since been earmarked to be a Special Economic Zone.
Kabul, June 6 : An Afghan lawmaker was killed and 11 others were wounded in a bomb attack in Kabul, an Interior Ministry spokesman has said.

"A member of the Lower House of Afghanistan's parliament, Shir Wali Wardak, martyred as a result of an explosion in Kabul this evening," spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The blast occurred near Wardak's house in Kabul's Qambar Square area.

An investigation was launched and more information will be released later, Sediqqi said.

The killed parliamentarian was the brother of Farooq Wardak, a former minister of education and well-known politician.

The Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Geneva, June 6 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Switzerland from Qatar on the third leg of his five-nation tour with the issues of black money and India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) high on agenda.

On Monday, Modi will hold talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Amman during which the issues of black money and India's membership in the NSG are likely to figure.

In a pre-departure media briefing in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said Switzerland was an important member of the NSG and he definitely expected the issue of India's membership to come up during the discussions.

India has already formally applied for membership of the group.

On the black money issue, Jaishankar said India has already been in touch with the Swiss government under the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) mandate and added that India hoped "to engage as early as possible in the automatic exchange of information with Switzerland".

Monday's discussions may also veer around renewable energy and vocational education, sectors Switzerland is strong in.

Switzerland is India's fifth largest trade partner and 11th largest investor.

After his engagements in Switzerland, the Prime Minister will proceed to the US later on Monday and on Wednesday to Mexico.

Modi had arrived in Qatar on Saturday from Afghanistan.
Compass Intelligence, a metrics-based market research and analytics firm, released new research on the impact rising mobile data costs will have on U.S. businesses. Compass Intelligence estimates that the average price per GB on high volume cellular data plans will drop 55% between 2014 and 2018. But even this steep price cut will not reduce enterprise spend for cellular data services, due to exploding traffic volume. Businesses will increasingly explore more affordable ways to support bandwidth needs for mobile data-driven enterprise applications. Reliance on Wi-Fi and other less expensive mobile data services will grow, and collectively save U.S. businesses $8.5 billion in reduced mobile data costs in 2020. This report explores emerging mobile data cost cutting business models and services including intelligent steering apps, unlocked devices, new-generation Wi-Fi networks, and MVNOs providing less expensive business pricing options.

As Wi-Fi continues to grow in availability, quality and sophistication, businesses will increasingly ask, When does my workforce need cellular data? explains Mark Beccue, Senior Contributing Analyst at Compass Intelligence. They will look for ways to move some workers completely off of cellular data plans or for solutions that can offer intelligent hybrid cellular-Wi-Fi connectivity that can be configured based on best price/best signal parameters.

Some of the key questions and topics explored in this study include the following:



What solutions have the most potential for curbing cellular data costs for U.S. businesses?

What solutions have the least potential for curbing cellular data costs for U.S. businesses?

How much will U.S. businesses save by finding alternative solutions to cellular data service?

What impact will mobile cost reduction solutions have legacy mobile service providers?

When will mobile cost reduction be recognized in the marketplace?

Who will be the winners and losers around mobile cost reduction solutions?

Key vendors or companies explored, mentioned, or reviewed in this research include FreedomPop, Apple, Republic Wireless, iPass/Devicescape, Smith Micro Technologies, Google, Forager Networks, and others.

To get more information including the table of contents, list of figures, and introduction to the market, please click here: http://www.compassintelligence.com/uploads/2/6/7/4/26740724/controlling_enterprise_mobile_costs_execsummary.pdf

About Compass Intelligence

Compass Intelligence, founded in 2005, is market acceleration research and advisory firm who provides strategic services to high-tech companies across the globe. Compass Intelligence services include deep-level segmentation analysis, consulting/advisory services, market forecasting/modeling, industry tracking, market research/intelligence, and competitive analysis in the telecom, mobility, and IT industries. We specialize in helping our clients leverage metrics-driven intelligence & insights to make salient strategy decisions to enter into new markets, grow existing business, enhance partnership and alliance programs, and remain relevant to the changing needs of businesses and consumers. Visit our website today at http://www.compassintelligence.com

For More Information

Stephanie Atkinson

satkinson(at)compassintelligence(dot)com

+1 (830) 796-4498
Everyone loves a good discount, especially on SEO books and Social Media Marketing books!

Jason McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area expert consultant in SEO and social media marketing at https://www.jasonmcdonald.org/, is proud to announce that his books, the SEO Fitness Workbook 2016 and the Social Media Marketing Workbook 2016, are now available on the website, Half.com. Half.com is a leading discount retailer of print books.

Everyone loves a good discount, including those who are seeking to master search engine optimization and/or social media marketing, explained Dr. McDonald, Director of the Jason McDonald SEO Consulting Agency. By expanding the availability of my books to Half.com, I hope to expand their reach into more price-sensitive communities.

The books are available for $12.99 until June 30, 2016. To view the SEO Fitness Workbook please visit http://ebay.to/1sWyGFm. To view the Social Media Marketing Workbook, please visit http://ebay.to/1sWyE0c.

WHY PRINT BOOKS ON SEO AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING REMAIN RELEVANT

Even with the rise of eBooks as on Amazons popular Kindle format, the reality is that many people still prefer printed copies. This is true, in particular, for the workbook format made popular by Dr. McDonald in his books on SEO and Social Media Marketing. The books are now available not only on Amazon.com as print copies but also on Half.com. Here is a summary of the book contents.

SEO FITNESS WORKBOOK 2016

This book is an in-depth exploration of SEO, the art and science of propelling a company, product or service to the top of search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The book begins with a motivational chapter explaining that the average marketer or small business owner can, indeed, do SEO successfully, despite the disparaging information aimed at them by the technical cognoscenti. Next, it moves through On Page SEO, which is how to construct a Google-friendly website using HTML page tags, content, and the cross-linking of pages to one another. Third, it explores Off Page SEO, which is the effort to build inbound links to a website. Google and other search engines prioritize websites that enjoy inbound links. Finally, the book ends with metrics and a discussion of Googles Google Analytics platform. Throughout, the book has links to videos, worksheets, and other hands on resources to help the busy marketer succeed. Related to the Workbook, Dr. McDonald produces a list of the best books on SEO at https://www.jm-seo.org/2015/05/best-seo-books/.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORKBOOK 2016

This book is an in-depth exploration of social media marketing, which is the use of social media sites to build a strong brand. The book starts with an explanation that social media is like a party, and social media marketing is like throwing a party. Next, it explores Facebook, the largest social media network. It then proceeds network-by-network with in-depth coverage of LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as coverage of emerging networks such as Instagram and Pinterest. Throughout the book points to worksheets to guide the busy marketer in the art and science of how to market via social media.

Both books have companion toolbooks, which identify zero cost tools available on the Internet to support Internet marketing efforts.

ABOUT JASON MCDONALD

Jason McDonald is director of The JM Internet Group, a leading online training company. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1992, and now both teaches and consults to San Francisco Bay Area businesses in SEO, Social Media Marketing, and AdWords. In addition to those services, he has been recognized as an expert witness in litigation on Internet marketing. He has several popular books on Amazon on the topic of Internet marketing.

Media Relations, Tel. 800-298-4065
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political commentator Simbarashe Manhanga has said the current on going corruption established in the President Robert Mugabe's government should be a ground for the Zimbabweans to revolt against the government."This last May has shown how insensitive Zanu PF and Mugabe really are. We have heard of Udengegate (Samuel Undenge), Chinamasagate, Chikoregate, Chivhayogate ( Wicknell Chivhayo) all in one month. All these gates obviously impoverishes the people more but not a whiff from the Singaporean resident who globetrottes like there is no tomorrow," he said. "I wanted to say resident of state house but that would be lying because he sometimes visits that place now. What we are bound to is an uncaring admin hell bent on ensuring we are as poor as humanly possible."He said Magufuli is busy dealing with corruption whilst our own Pan-Africanist president nurtures the same."All these gates should be ground for a revolt with people asking for accountability but not us Zimbabweans. We would rather watch national sponsored porn on newspapers and internet," he said.
News / National

by Langton Nyakwenda

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has assembled a crack team to compel all businesses to bank their money in line with a strategy to enhance cash circulation in the formal system.Point of sale and Real Time Gross Settlement charges will soon be reduced to encourage cashless transactions, while banks will be greatly involved in promoting the use of multiple currencies.In addition, the central bank will import at least US$10 million weekly and enforce the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Act.Zimbabwe has been battling to end cash shortages that began in April 2016 on the back of illicit financial flows, a huge trade deficit and the lack of a savings culture.Bond notes worth US$200 million will be introduced around October to help ease the situation, although quick-win strategies are already being pursued.Authorities reason that unbanked businesses are partly to blame for constipated money circulation as they mop up cash from customers but do not inject it back into formal channels.Now, a crack unit has been assigned to swoop on them to check compliance with banking laws, and shut down unruly establishments.The small and medium enterprises sector - which reportedly has US$7 billion-plus and is predominantly unbanked - will not be spared.Section 11 of the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Act (Chapter 24) requires all traders and parastatals to bank their money at the close of business.It reads, "(1) Every trader, and parastatal shall, unless it has good cause for not doing so, deposit in an account with a financial institution no later than the close of normal business hours on the day following that on which the cash is received or on the next banking day -(a) cash that is surplus to the requirements of the trader or parastatal; or(b) cash in excess of ten million dollars (or such other amount in excess of ten million dollars as the Minister may prescribe from time to time); whichever is the lesser amount.z) A trader or parastatal shall have the burden of proving, to the satisfaction of an inspector, police officer or any court, that it has good cause for not complying with subsection (1)."RBZ Governor, Dr John Mangudya told The Sunday Mail that the special unit hit the field last Friday."The problem we have today is caused by non-circulation of money. Therefore, with immediate effect, we have put in place a team that will make sure all businesses are compelled to bank money."This includes any business, anyone who is into selling products, both informal and formal businesses. We are saying money should be banked. We are importing between US$10 million and US$15 million every week, but the problem is there is a short circuit in the circulation system."We are, therefore, taking the bull by the horns, and invoking the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Act which compels businesses to bank money."It is an offence not to bank money, and those caught on the wrong side (of the law) risk losing their licences or incurring huge penalties."Dr Mangudya advocated cashless transactions, revealing that the RBZ and financial institutions are discussing reducing bank and point of sale charges."Zimbabwe has a cash culture, we are overusing cash. The way forward is to go cashless."So, we have engaged banks and are persuading them to reduce charges on Real Time Gross Settlement and point of sale transactions."Why would you need cash if you can use your bank card to purchase whichever goods you want, or when you can transfer money into someone's account?"I know the prevailing charges are discouraging people from using plastic money, but within the coming two weeks, we will be announcing reduced charges on those transactions."He added: "There is also no harm in transacting with bank cheques. Let us also use the other currencies in the multi-currency basket; that is the South African rand and euros because we have overburdened the United States dollar."We want a win-win situation for everyone involved, we do not want long queues at banking halls."He also warned that the central bank would come down hard on retailers who are shortchanging customers by sticking two different price tags on one product."We know there are businesses that have two prices (for one product) - one for cash payment and another for plastic transactions."That should stop. We will also come down hard on those institutions selling cash at a premium," he said.
News / National

by Africa Moyo

THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) and the Ministry of Energy and Power Development are finalising consultations on the imminent power tariff hike, as energy experts raised alarm that continued sub-optimal prices will bloat Zesa (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority)'s debt.There are real fears that a delay in effecting a tariff hike will likely feed into Zesa's huge debt as the power utility is currently importing power at US14c per kilowatt hours (kWh) and selling it at US9,6c.The cost is even higher for emergency power imports at US18c.For the past six months, the country has been enjoying uninterrupted power supplies on the back of imports from South Africa's power utility, Eskom.Last week, Zera's chief executive officer, Engineer Gloria Magombo said a new tariff will be ready soon."Zera conducted its analysis based on the submissions made by various stakeholders and the final determination is made in terms of a consultation process between Zera and the Ministry of Energy and Power Development as provided for by the Electricity Act (Chapter 13:19) of 2002, Section 53 (1)."This process is currently going on (and) the new tariff will be announced in due course but the determination takes into account stakeholders' inputs, proposition and suggestions," said Eng Magombo.Section 53(1) of the Electricity Act (Chapter 13:19) indicates that "no prices or tariffs in connection with the provision of electricity service or operation of an electric power system by a licensee or proposed license shall have to effect unless such prices or tariffs have been approved or, in the case of any service determined by the commission after consultation with the Minister, fixed by the Commission in terms of this section".The new tariff will be determined using the approved Rate of Return (RoR) methodology as provided in Section 52 of the Electricity Act.The RoR methodology was approved by Government in 2004.Energy experts say the current tariffs do not reflect the cost of imported power, a development that might have the adverse effect of choking the parastatal with new debt.Former Zesa chief executive officer, Engineer Ben Rafemoyo told The Sunday Mail Business recently that a new tariff, although uncomfortable for industry, "is a bullet we must bite" as imports are coming "at a higher price"."Not doing it in time will just delay the right thing but later on it will catch up with us. Admittedly, our economy is not in its best shape and whatever figure, no matter how justifiable it is, will become a burden to customers, but guess what: the cost of not having power is a lot more than having power at the right price."In my view, it is not sustainable (to continue with a lower tariff). We will reach a stage where they (Zesa) will fail to service their creditors. That is the fear."As a country, we need to quickly put our house in order in terms of pricing tariffs and so on," said Eng Rafemoyo.He said it is important for Zesa to show the cost build up of the new tariff in order to promote transparency.Zesa is believed to have applied for a tariff increase to US14c per kWh, which is in line with regional averages.Eng Rafemoyo also contends that using the RoR methodology to determine the new tariff will not only allow Zesa to break even but build up cash reserves for future contingencies.Local power projects such as the expansion of Kariba South and Hwange's units 6 and 7  expected to add a cumulative 900MW to the grid by 2018  are currently underway.Peak power demand has since declined to 1 400 megawatts (MW) from 2 200MW in 1999 owing to reduced economic activity.Independent contractors will also set up three solar plants that will feed an additional 300MW to the grid.Added Eng Rafemoyo: "So, overally, as an energy enthusiast, I am happy that a number of projects which were talked about for many, many years have seen the light of day and the more we do, the more we get out of this mess because depending on power imports as you know; they can only sell excess to their requirements and you cannot have security of supply when you depend on other people."It is forecasted that the country will be a net exporter of power in the medium term.
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News / National

by Staff reporter

EVER since fully establishing himself as a force to reckon with on the local music scene a few years ago, Jah Prayzah has been growing from strength to strength, dazzling crowds everywhere he performs.However, a segment of the market he had not tapped into was the white community, which has belonged to the likes of Tuku, Mokoomba and Hope Masike, just to name a few.Many always wondered how Musoja, as he is fondly called by his fans, would fare when he got an opportunity to perform for this crowd.Now, picture this; internationally acclaimed band Mokoomba has just dazzled a multi-racial crowd at a festival. Everyone has been dancing, they are tired and would not complain if they are asked to retire to their homes. After all, they have just enjoyed a five-star performance.In comes Jah Prayzah, not big in the white community, and those who know him hold their breaths. They are not sure whether he will deliver and steal the festival-goers' hearts.But as soon as he walks onto the stage donning his trademark army fatigues, music lovers are blown away.This was by no means an easy task for Jah Prayzah who was debuting at Miombo Magic Music Festival as the last act of the festival after a scintillating act from multi-award winning group Mokoomba.The latter had set the bar very high and it was seemingly impossible for Jah Prayzah to match or even surpass their standard. But the "Eriza" hit-maker had it all figured out.For starters, his military gear got this unique audience captivated as they wondered what musical gifts lay beneath the army uniform so even before his performance commenced, he had grabbed the crowd's attention.When it was show time, Jah Prayzah did not disappoint. His massive presence on stage got the white ladies screaming. His fusion of traditional instruments such as the mbira, hosho and marimba together with conventional ones like the saxophone, keyboard and guitars made his act stand out from the 344 other acts that the festival-goers had watched since the start of the festival three days earlier.Dropping hit tracks "Eriza", "Jerusarema", "Mwanasikana", "Chinamira" and "Hello"; Jah Prayzah whipped the crowd into a frenzy. It was ecstatic. Unreleased tracks such as "Goto" and "Hossana" off his forthcoming album "Mudhara Achauya" were also warmly received by the fans."Jah Prayzah was amazing," said festival director, Gus Le Briepon, "When you have a festival crowd where everyone is relaxed and happy and suddenly this guy jumps on stage in military uniform, you really get to wonder what is about to happen. Then they start jumping around on the stage and you see everyone in the crowd getting up and dancing along, you know you watching a great artiste."He added: "No doubt he has all the ingredients to be a successful artiste on the global stage but there are some elements he really needs to modify to get the appeal of an international audience. For instance, we all know what his military regalia means locally but it might be difficult for others outside our context to comprehend that. I believe there is need for transformation in such areas if he is to get the attention of international audiences. But, he really has got what it takes to make it big."But, is Jah Prayzah cut out for an international audience?Music Crossroads director, Melody Zambuko believes he is, but has some work to do."Jah Prayzah's music in comparison to other musicians who have made it on the international scene (Bhundu Boys, Oliver Mtukudzi, Bongo Luv, Mokoomba, etcetera), is heavily Zimbabwean. The music arrangement, the lyrics and the cultural undertones are clearly Zimbabwean, which is a positive in the one hand and a negative in that anyone who is not familiar with the language he uses may find themselves totally lost and alienated from what his music seeks to achieve."What makes his music transcend borders is his outstanding packaging of a production from sound quality to arrangement and videography. He still has a lot to learn though in ensuring his music is not arranged predictably in almost the same way for the majority of his songs. While he may get away with it on the local scene because his lyrics have a different message from one song to the other, he may have to work harder for the international audience which does not understand the language."But despite this major setback, which can be rectified with diversified creative thinking from the artiste, there is no doubt that Jah Prayzah is definitely contributing to placing Zimbabwean music on a good spot on the global scene. Music Crossroads Academy teaches musicians such attributes and more," said Zambuko.Jah Prayzah's manager, Keen Mushapaidze said he believes his band's performance at Miombo was another step in the direction of winning over an international audience."The festival was exciting not only in terms of the crowd but the platform to perform for a diverse international audience with some fans flying in from as far as Belgium. The people loved our music and danced to every track, even going with the flow of the band's choreography."For us, such steps towards growth are always welcome and this comes as an addition to equally huge events that we have performed at in the past few years. These include the Gaborone International Music and Culture Week last year. The majority of the fans were Tswana and South African with a few Zimbabweans in attendance."Performing at concerts in any given country and having the majority of people in attendance being nationals of that country is what we are hoping to achieve both in the short and long term," said Mushapaidze.Mushapaidze says every major event they have performed at has led to many opportunities, many of them being of an international nature. The band has a busy international schedule for July and early August this year."We are also privileged to be travelling to Canada just a week before we launch our album. We will be performing at the Edmonton Folk Music festival, which is regarded as one of the biggest music festivals in Canada. This will be part of a tour of greater Canada courtesy of Slice International Artist Management. The festival will also come just a week after we visit the USA for yet another tour. Already the hype around that visit has got us geared and we are sure it will be another exciting performance," said Mushapaidze.Jah Prayzah and his team have a strategy to conquer the world market."We will continue to make music that appeals to our traditional lines while still producing songs that modernise our tradition. We are working flat out as well to create relationships with other big players in other markets and with this we hope it will get us into those desired markets."What we have realised of late is that it is not the music we should change so as to get recognition out there  it is how we get it out there for people to listen because once they do, we know they will love it."More on the festival under Leisure section
News / National

by Prince Mushawevato

THE Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has said that it will not be lenient with commercial radio stations that acquired broadcasting licences early last year if they fail to meet the stipulated September deadline to commence operations.Fifteen months after eight local commercial radio stations were issued with broadcasting service licences, only Zimpapers-owned Diamond FM in Mutare and Ray of Hope trading as YA FM in Zvishavane have started business.It remains to be seen if the other six stations will be able to beat the statutory set time for commencing business with less than three months remaining.Investigations conducted by The Sunday Mail Leisure revealed that most of the licence holders have been set back by the prevailing liquidity squeeze. The equipment required to set up the studios is yet to arrive in the country and in worst cases, it is yet to be ordered from the suppliers.Much of the equipment is being imported from Europe with France and Germany being the lead suppliers.Speaking in an interview with this publication, BAZ chief executive, Obert Muganyura highlighted that the authority will not hesitate to pull the plug on stations that fail to meet the deadline."It's a statutory requirement that they need to meet. The 18 months will lapse in September and those that fail to meet the deadline run a serious risk of having their licences cancelled. The regulation requires that the licence be cancelled upon the lapsing of the deadline," said the BAZ top official.However, Muganyura added that he is in touch with the stations and most of them are working flat out to meet the cut-off date."According to our records, it is only the Mutare and Zvishavane-based stations that have officially opened for business. The good thing though is that the other stations are making every effort to ensure they start operations within the statutory 18 months," he said."Gweru and Masvingo stations told us that their equipment is on the way and we hope it gets here on time. We will also be talking to the other stations to assess progress so that I get a proper update on developments."Apart from the aforesaid stations, BAZ also licenced Fairtalk Communications' two stations. Breeze FM will broadcast in Victoria Falls while Skyz Metro FM will broadcast in Bulawayo.Also on the list is Kingstons' two radio stations  KE100.4 FM and Nyaminyami FM which will be broadcasting in Harare and Kariba respectively.AB Communications' Gogogoi FM and FAYA FM will be broadcasting in Masvingo and Gweru respectively.When contacted last week, oficials from some of the stations were reluctant to shed light on the progress they have made thus far.The general assumption is either they have little or no positive news to share or they have simply chosen to remain tight-lipped as a market strategy.AB Communications chief executive, Susan Makore, who said she was out of the county, simply said the establishment will comply with the law."They (BAZ) are our regulators and whatever they say or decide goes. We cannot challenge them," she said.Famed arts practitioner, Cont Mhlanga who has links to Skyz Metro FM, was evasive.The firebrand artiste could not divulge details pertaining to the station's launch date and or progress made thus far. Instead, he referred all questions to the station's chief executive, Dr Qhubani Moyo, whose mobile phone was not reachable.Initially, the Bulawayo-based station, Skyz Metro FM, targeted to go on air before the end of 2015."I think if you talk to the chief executive (Moyo) you will get better answers. He is the best person to answer every question that you have," said Mhlanga.The eight stations were chosen after BAZ invited applications for the provision of local commercial radio broadcasting in 25 areas of the county and received 21 applicants for only nine areas. Out of the 21 applicants, 18 were shortlisted while the other three failed to meet the qualification criteria in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act.Of the 18 shortlisted applicants, five failed to pay the statutory public inquiry fees while one applicant withdrew from the process.If they all meet the deadline, the eight licences will be in addition to the two commercial broadcasting licences that were recently granted to AB Communications' ZiFM and Zimpapers' Star FM.Meanwhile, the BAZ chief executive said imminent completion of the digitalisation process will result in new television broadcasting licences being issued."We are currently held back by the ongoing digitalisation programme. Once it's done we are going to open up. Television licences will be issued since the platform will now be allowing for such developments," said Muganyura.
Cypress Square, one of Redding's older shopping centers, is under new ownership and at least one longtime tenant is anxious about changes ahead.

After years of being operated by the Wilson family, the mission-style center was purchased in March by Barber Auto Mall Properties out of Fairfield. Shasta County property records show the property at Locust Street and Athens Avenue sold for $4.5 million.

Tenants I interviewed agreed that Cypress Square, which opened in the 1950s, needs an update.

And Karen Knorr, of Knorr Management Inc., the shopping center's new property manager, said change is coming. Knorr understands anytime you have a shopping center that was owned by one family for so many years and then is sold to an out-of-town entity, there might be some apprehension about what lies ahead.

But it also can be a positive, Knorr said.

"The first buyer that wanted to buy the center wanted to come in and tear everything down, kick out all of the tenants and build a new center," said Knorr, who also manages the Goodwill-Sportsman's Warehouse shopping center on Hilltop Drive. "So this new owner respects the fact there is a lot of history  a lot of tenants that have been there for 30-plus years."

Knorr said Barber Auto Mall Properties has been meeting with Cypress Square tenants and getting feedback, while also being open about its plans to upgrade the aging center.

But Kathie Steers and Millie Ellis, the sisters who own and operate the Klassique Kafe in Cypress Square, are concerned about what upgrading the shopping center means for rent prices.

The sisters agree the center needs an update but "not at our expense," Steers told me recently. The restaurant opened in Cypress Square in October 1986. Its latest lease expires next June.

"We have been paying $838.18 a month and we have been doing that for quite some time," Steers said.

Knorr was upfront about rental prices. Bottom line, they are "stuck somewhere in 1975" and they will be going up.

"It will still be the cheapest shopping center in Redding," said Knorr, adding Barber Auto Mall Properties has been candid to the tenants about rents.

As for other changes, the new owners would like to update the facade and frontage of the building where Klassique Kafe resides. There also is talk of erecting a new building where the car wash once stood in an effort to redevelop that area near the corner of Locust and Athens.

New paint and replacing the roof are among other updates in the works, Knorr said.

Joe Martino, who owns Orchard Nutrition Center, said he is taking a wait-and-see approach. Martino's organic and natural food store is a large draw as Cypress Square's anchor.

"I think the guy is workable; he isn't unreasonable," Martino said of the new owner. "Of course, he wants to make his money back as soon as he can on his investment, but he doesn't have two deaf ears."

Among the work Barber Auto Mall Properties wants to do is cut back the vegetation along the canal on the south side between the shopping center and Cypress Avenue to make storefronts more visible.

"They have been engaging with the leaseholders here in regards to changes ... making the property more visible from Cypress Avenue," said Stan Pottkotter of Marshall's Florist. The flower shop fronts Cypress Avenue.

Pottkotter thinks cleaning up the canal would be a huge upgrade.

"As it is now, it (shopping center) is almost nonexistent, except the incidental clay, terra cotta roof you can see as you whiz by in your car," Pottkotter said.

The new ownership held a meeting with Cypress Square tenants, Pottkotter said.

"They are active in trying to have strong relationships and a stronger center," he added.

Stay tuned.

SHASTA WINE VILLAGE UPDATE

The first buildings of the Shasta Wine Village north of Redding will start going up this year, at least that is the hope of developer Marcus Partin.

Partin's vision cleared a big hurdle about two weeks ago when he said he got a letter from the county that basically said the development is in compliance with Shasta County and state building codes.

The village will be built east of Interstate 5 at Old Oregon Trail and Holiday Road in Mountain Gate.

"We kind of had a celebration for us, but the real celebration will be when we start construction and we open the doors," Partin said.

Partin is confident construction will start this year and he wants to open in phases, starting with two buildings that will feature tasting rooms, casual dining and a retail store. He isn't sure if that portion of the village will open this year.

"Our goal is the same it has been the last two years, to open as quickly as possible," Partin said.

BITE IS BACK FOR ANDERSON FESTIVAL

Two years ago, Anderson decided to rebrand its popular musical festival, the Mosquito Serenade, the Summer Serenade. They called it the Mosquito Summer Serenade last year.

This year, it's back to the future. The 35th Mosquito Serenade opens Wednesday with a special event in partnership with Health Shasta and Safe Routes to School.

They're calling it "Walkin' and Rollin' to Mosquito Serenade." Organizers are encouraging concertgoers to meet in the Meadow Lane School parking lot on Balls Ferry Road at 5:30 p.m. to walk, bike, roll or stroll along the new River Point Trail, which starts at Balls Ferry Road and ends at Anderson River Park, site of the serenade.

There will be bike valet parking and goodies for those who participate.

Wednesday's band is Tennessee River, a Tribute to Alabama.

For the second straight year, the serenade will be bring your own beverage, as there will be no beer and wine sales at the city-sponsored event.

"People can still bring what they want to drink," Anderson City Manager Jeff Kiser said. "The rules are simple: no glass, no smoking and no dogs."

Selling alcohol at the Mosquito Serenade was a big fundraiser for the Anderson Chamber of Commerce. So the chamber decided last year to stage its own music festival, complete with beer sales.

This year's Sunset River Jam at Anderson River Park kicks off Aug. 17 with Hill Street Bank.
The chickens may be coming home to roost. One issue that I have discussed with individuals and small businesses since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is the reality that many individuals simply don't understand that they are not eligible for subsidies.

Since enforcement process was not really in place, many have likely gotten away with it. But now the process is in place. Remember those 1095 forms that you recently completed? That is one step in the data matching process. The other is the individual's application. Individuals are now asked to complete information regarding employment on their application for coverage.

Department of Health and Human Services recently published a sample employer notice regarding employees who obtained a subsidy on the exchange. Employers will want to be on the lookout for these notices since they are new and may not be readily understood by the staff opening the mail.

The letter will notify the employer that the employee reported one of the following scenarios:

 Didn't have an offer of health care coverage from the employer.

 Did have an offer of health coverage, but it wasn't affordable or didn't provide minimum value; or

 Was in a waiting period and unable to enroll in health care coverage.

Employer are then advised that they may be required to pay a shared responsibility payment, or penalty, if they have more than 50 employees. Employer are advised that they have an option to appeal the action.

If an employer has fewer than 50 employees, it may feel it can simply state so and that's the end of it. But it's important to understand that even if the employer has fewer than 50 employees and offer creditable  affordable and minimum value  coverage, it should also report this information.

Prior to this year, it could be argued that an employee made an honest mistake when answering the application question about "affordable insurance." There really wasn't any readily available guidance for employees, unless they searched for it.

So employees may simply have answered the question about whether they had "affordable" coverage available to them as "no." Most people would not consider a premium of 9.5 percent of their income affordable. Add in the cost for dependents, if there is no employer payment toward dependents and most people would answer a resounding no to the question.

This year, the Covered California site has provided more guidance to the individual completing the application via a little question mark. Whether the individual clicks to see the guidance is questionable.

In reality, some people know full well that they are not eligible, but decide to proceed anyway. In fact, I have had people come to my office and when I explained that they were not eligible, they suggested that they would just go online themselves and apply with different answers to the questions.

In the past, there really was not a way to check this information. With the new process and cross-referencing, it's clear that this will now be addressed.

Large group employers might find themselves annoyed that employees appeared to be committing fraud. However, the employer is prohibited from doing anything that involves termination of employment for this action. However, there are some who believe you can at least discipline the employee for the actions.

The International Foundation of Employee Benefits has prepared a sample letter to give to an employee if you are appealing their ACA subsidy. I am happy to share this upon request. Remember you only have 90 days to respond, so be sure to let your staff know to watch the mail this summer.

Margaret R. Beck is a licensed insurance broker. She can be reached at 225-8583.
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 file photo, Surrounded by plainclothes policemen, Egyptian prominent blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah, left, speaks to the crowd after attending, with his sister Sanaa, right, their father Ahmed Seif funeral in Cairo, Egypt. When 22-year-old Sanaa was summoned for questioning on accusations of inciting protests, she refused to answer the investigating judges questions. She told him she would not participate in the charade and said the courts and prosecutors all follow the will of the government. On May 14, 2016 Sanaa gave herself up to authorities and is now serving her sentence in a prison just outside Cairo. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

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By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press

CAIRO (AP)  Egyptian activist Sanaa Seif decided she had had enough of Egypt's justice system.

When the 22-year-old was summoned for questioning on accusations of inciting protests, she refused to answer the investigating judge's questions. She told him she would not participate in the "charade" and said the courts and prosecutors all follow the will of the government.

Stunned and offended, the investigator didn't charge her with incitement; he charged her instead with insulting a government employee while performing his duties. Within days, Seif was tried, convicted and sentenced to six months in prison. She refused to attend the trial and then refused to appeal the verdict.

On May 14, she gave herself up to authorities and is now serving her sentence in a prison outside Cairo.

"It's not an act of bravado. Being jailed is not easy and I know it," Seif wrote on her Facebook page before turning herself in.

Her unusual protest reflects the deep frustration among Egypt's pro-democracy activists who led the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Five years later, they say, the system has become entirely stacked against them under the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

In the media, memories of the 2011 "revolution" have been silenced, replaced by what authorities call the 2013 "revolution," in which the military  led by el-Sissi  removed the first freely elected president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi, after massive protests against him and his Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sissi was elected president almost a year later, claiming a mandate to do whatever was needed to bring stability after years of turmoil.

A law issued in late 2013 virtually banned street protests and largely succeeded in suppressing demonstrations. Along with thousands of Islamists, many of the top secular activists have been jailed. Pro-government media have fanned public bitterness against the 2011 activists and critics of el-Sissi, depicting them, at best, as naive youth who cause chaos  or, at worst, as traitors intentionally trying to wreck the country.

El-Sissi insists the judiciary is independent and that its verdicts must not be criticized outside the courts. But whether following government pressure or its own devices, the judicial system has largely followed the lead of the security forces in the fierce crackdown on dissent.

Courts have issued heavy prison sentences against Islamists, secular activists and protesters, often with little evidence or due process, rights groups say. Prosecutors have vigorously applied vague charges like endangering security or stability, while turning a blind eye to police abuses ranging from torture and forced disappearances to long detentions without charge.

Seif's confrontation with her investigators "was the most honest thing anyone can ever say about Egypt's justice system," Wael Iskandar, a prominent political blogger and a Seif acquaintance, told The Associated Press.

Many activists are convinced the judiciary is beholden to el-Sissi's government. But rights lawyer Negad Borai noted that judges and prosecutors have their own interest in ensuring that Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, now outlawed and branded a terrorist group, does not return to power and they believe the activists threaten stability.

"The judiciary, just like the middle class that supports el-Sissi, is filled with fear. Fear of the Brotherhood, fear of lack of security and fear of a repeat here of what's happened in Iraq and Syria," he said. "It feels that el-Sissi saved them from the Brotherhood," which judges feared intended to purge the judiciary and stack it with its supporters while in power.

Seif, a film editor who worked on "The Square," a 2013 Oscar-nominated documentary on the 2011 uprising, hails from Egypt's best known family of activists. Her father, Ahmed Seif al-Islam, who died in 2014, was a renowned human rights lawyer. Her mother, Leila Soueif, a mathematician, is a prominent advocate of academic independence.

Seif's older brother, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, is an iconic figure in Egypt's pro-democracy movement. He is serving a five-year prison sentence for taking part in a 2013 demonstration. Mona, her sister, is an outspoken critic of el-Sissi's government. Her aunt, Ahdaf Soueif, is a novelist and rights advocate.

Seif had her first direct run-in with authorities in December 2011, when she took part in a sit-in protest against the appointment of a leading Mubarak-era politician as prime minister. She was detained for a day and beaten in the military's custody, said Soueif, her mother.

Seif raised a case against the army officer who beat her, backed by a medical report on her injuries. "But like always in these cases, it came to nothing," Soueif said.

In 2014, Seif was sentenced to three years in prison for joining a demonstration against the protest law. After serving 15 months, she was among a number of activists freed in a pardon by el-Sissi last September.

Months later, on Jan. 25, when police had fanned out in the streets to prevent any demonstrations marking the anniversary of the 2011 uprising, Seif made a bold, solo protest, risking arrest: She walked alone to Tahrir Square retracing the steps of one of the biggest anti-Mubarak marches with a sign on her back reading, "It's still the January Revolution."

Seif described her confrontation with the investigator on her Facebook page.

"In the past, I took the 'justice system' seriously," she wrote, but she said she became disillusioned. She said one prosecutor in her 2014 case told her he didn't want to jail her but was under pressure to do so. A judge, she wrote, ignored her when she told him she was being held in so-called "protective custody," used by police to detain suspects without charge for lengthy periods.

Taher Abu el-Nasr, a lawyer who was present during Seif's questioning, confirmed her account to the AP. "She knew what she was saying and that she will pay the price," he said. "Her delivery was not violent, but not weak either. She was confident."

Rights lawyers say the justice system has been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of arrests since 2013  as many as 40,000 by some accounts.

"The justice system has suffered a partial meltdown in the past 18 months," said Nasser Amin, a prominent rights lawyer and a member of the state's National Council for Human Rights, or NCHR.

"The Egyptian judicial system is carrying an unbearable load. It has become a partner in safeguarding security, not justice," he added.

Last month, 152 protesters, some of them randomly arrested, were convicted and sentenced to up to five years in prison for participating in demonstrations denouncing the government's decision to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Last week, the sentences for 47 of them were overturned on appeal but they still face fines of about $10,000 each.

Ghada Shahbender, a human rights advocate and friend of Seif's, said some call her form of protest unorthodox and abnormal.

"But the truth is," she said, "Sanaa is unorthodox only because hypocrisy is the new orthodox in Egypt and abnormal because adulation of the general is now the only acceptable norm."
In this Sept. 3, 2015, photo, a man buys bread at a Wal-Mart Ekono convenience store in Santiago, Chile. Chile is one of the worlds top three bread-consuming countries, along with Germany and Switzerland. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo)

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By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO and PAUL WISEMAN, AP Business Writers

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)  As Wal-Mart tries to build an international juggernaut, it has had no greater success than in Chile, where even its failures show a commitment to adapting quickly to local shopping habits.

Take, for example, the company's bread snafu.

Bread is a big deal in Chile. The average household downs nearly 200 pounds of soft marraqueta rolls, hallulla biscuits and other breads a year, making Chile one of the world's top three bread-consuming countries along with Germany and Switzerland. Shoppers visit Wal-Mart's Lider stores two to three times a week for the staple.

But after company officials decided to economize by shifting bread-making to a centralized, company-owned bakery and away from individual stores, some customers complained the bread wasn't crunchy enough.

"There is no color. It's pretty much pale. It doesn't have that crunchy aspect," said Francisco Eguiguren, manager of one of Wal-Mart's Lider stores in Santiago.

Wal-Mart listened. It's tweaking the process as it monitors the rollout in the Santiago area.

Chile is a bright spot in Wal-Mart's international business, which has become ever more important as growth in the U.S. has slowed. But it hasn't been easy; the world's largest retailer has struggled in Brazil, the United Kingdom and in China, which is the ultimate challenge. Chile, though, is a success  and one that company officials hope to replicate elsewhere.

Since entering Chile in 2009 with its acquisition of the country's largest supermarket chain Distribucion y Servicio, S.A., Wal-Mart has worked hard to win over Chilean consumers. Sales have soared, carrying Wal-Mart's grocery market share to 34 percent, according to Euromonitor International.

Wal-Mart Chile's consumer research group, which tracks shoppers' perception of prices and shopping habits, is one of the company's most sophisticated. Chilean consumers are convinced the price gap between Wal-Mart's Lider and its competitors is twice what it actually is  the largest in any of its operations.

It's also worked hard to coax its more than 1,000 suppliers to get on board with its way of doing business.

Conditions in Chile were favorable to begin with. The Chilean economy is stable, and Chilean customers are more similar to Americans than other, more finicky shoppers like the Chinese. And it also helps that Wal-Mart bought a successful chain that was a price leader, which operates under Lider and other brands. Such factors allowed Wal-Mart to swiftly convert the Chile business to its "everyday low price" model.

"We are obsessed with price leadership," said Horacio Barbeito, CEO of Wal-Mart's Chile operations. "That is something that Chile does very well."

CATERING TO SHOPPERS

Like many shoppers in emerging countries, Chileans like to find fresh fruits and vegetables daily at open markets. In recent years, Wal-Mart has been pushing more frozen food to appeal to working Chilean women who don't have time to cook.

A big part of Wal-Mart Chile's success is tracking shoppers' perception on price. That involves visiting customers' homes daily and monitoring 1,500 people in 11 cities. And it has made adjustments accordingly.

In fact, soon after it took over D&S, Wal-Mart made red the signature color for price signs for its Lider supercenters because Chileans associate red with good deals. It found a message that resonates with pragmatic Chilean shoppers: "Precios Bajos Todos Los dias. Compruebalo en el Total de tu Boleto." In English: "Everyday low prices. Check the receipt as proof."

A slowing economy has made the environment more competitive, so Wal-Mart is offering more eye-catching discounts. That includes using promotions it borrowed from its British Asda chain, such as offering 1,000 basic items for a single low price.

But Wal-Mart's Chile has another weapon to attract shoppers in a cooling economy, one that it is replicating elsewhere: Its key global store brand, Great Value, is seen as a premium label in Chile and is a way to introduce new products to Chile's fast-growing middle class, says Euromonitor's Santiago-based analyst David Mackinson.

BUYING A SUCCESSFUL CHAIN

Wal-Mart often enters a country through an acquisition. And it generally does well when it buys a successful chain like D&S. The new addition had already been trying to do things the Wal-Mart way; D&S had admired Wal-Mart's U.S. culture and was trying to copy its everyday low prices strategy, though it struggled to keep costs low.

Still, blending Wal-Mart's corporate culture into the business without forcing it on non-American workers has been key. Wal-Mart educated Chilean workers about key principles espoused by its late founder Sam Walton, such as an emphasis on customer service. And it was more sensitive to the local rules and regulations when making the acquisition.

This new approach was developed by a new integration team created in the wake of its big failures in Germany and South Korea, where it was forced to pull out in 2006. Chile was the first country where the final version was used and it now serves a template for other countries.

When Wal-Mart bought D&S in 2009, the Chilean company generated annual revenue of $2.1 billion and operated fewer than 200 stores. Last year, it took in $3.8 billion in revenue and ran about 400 stores.

COAXING SUPPLIERS

Wal-Mart's success depends on its ability to squeeze costs out of suppliers and pass those savings onto shoppers. Unlike emerging countries like China, where suppliers are far flung, Chile's suppliers are more concentrated.

Still, Wal-Mart found there was some skepticism among the manufacturers, and it worked to educate its suppliers one by one on its way of doing business, says Manuel Lopez, CEO of Wal-Mart's real estate business in Chile, who had been a key player during the transition.

It took some time for Unilever Chile to get on board.

"I find that Wal-Mart is a tough negotiator," says Erik Lange at Unilever's supermarket business in Chile. "They really push against the company to achieve an everyday low cost."

But he added that Wal-Mart is "quite reasonable" about working with his company to find savings.

Wal-Mart worked with Unilever to make sure that trucks going back and forth to the supplier's distribution centers and its own stores are full, resulting in costs savings. Also, Unilever factories run more efficiently because Wal-Mart's consistently low prices smooth customer demand, and Unilever doesn't have to pay to have factories run on the weekends to keep up with unexpected spikes in sales.

Wal-Mart also encourages Unilever Chile to develop exclusive, profitable products such as a decaffeinated tea it offers only in Chilean Wal-Mart stores.

Pressure from Wal-Mart has forced the family-run egg supplier Fuenzalida Moure y Cia Ltda., whose main brand is Huevos de Talca, to cut costs and improve quality. The relationship with Wal-Mart has paid off for the family-run firm. Business with Wal-Mart has grown to $13 million from $1.7 million in 2009.

But it hasn't always been easy.

Environmental and safety regulations  some pushed by Wal-Mart  have driven up costs. Workers at the supplier's complex in Talca, 160 miles from Santiago, must put on special safety boots and dip their feet into a sanitized solution before walking onto the premises, where 800,000 hens produce 3.5 million to 4.2 million eggs a week.

That's a lot of eggs to keep track of, and last year the company spent $50,000 on egg counters fastened on each row of cages to better monitor egg laying  a Wal-Mart inspired efficiency that means an estimated $200,000 in cost savings over the long term for Fuenzalida Moure y Cia Ltda.

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AP Business Writer Paul Wiseman reported from Washington, D.C.
News / National

by Desire Ncube

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya has called upon the church to pray for God's direction as a crisis has taken a toll on the local economy.He was speaking during the Roman Catholic Church Archdioceses of Harare Social Communication business breakfast meeting last Tuesday.While addressing the gathering, Dr Mangudya said churches need to spread the correct message on bond notes before their introduction in October.He explained that bond notes are an export bonus scheme meant to assist exporters to be competitive and produce more goods for export. He said the central bank has no intention to bring back the Zimbabwean dollar now but their aim is to bring sanity into the economy."As the central bank we have seen it fit to engage all stakeholders including the church to clarify the issue of bond notes."I have been talking of this export incentive scheme for quite a long time but what continues to worry me is that the general populace is speculating that we want to introduce the local currency."People should understand that we are talking about export incentives, not the re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar, the multi currency system will remain in place," he said.During an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail Religion on the sidelines of the event, Dr Mangudya spoke of the need to work together as a nation."It's not easy but we should push together, knowing that God in Jeremiah 29 v 11 promised that He will give us the future with hope.It's a blessing that today I have addressed the church, it is critical for them to understand that the export incentive that we intend to introduce will be financed by the bond notes. And we will give the export bonus scheme to exporters."If they have understood, I know they will spread the message to their friends, family and neighbours," he said. Recently, Dr Mangudya met Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader Prophet Walter Magaya and also clarified the issue of bond notes."I am keen to explain this issue to everyone so that we walk together, people are free to visit our offices. I have met so many people including lawyers, bishops, and prophets; I am pleased to say that the responses are overwhelming.""Every Zimbabwean, the church included, should know that as a nation where we are today we need to look on things with a different eye, we should understand that we need to look after the goose that lay the egg and that goose is the exporter."If we fail to do that it means the sustainability of the economic system is threatened," added Dr Mangudya.Speaking at the same event, Roman Catholic Vicar-General, Father Kennedy Muguti said political will is required to ensure that the new policy measures that aim to revive the economy succed. Father Muguti noted that depositors and captains of industry are skeptical about the new measures."While the Government is making frantic efforts, including you (RBZ Governor) to allay the fears by the depositors and investors, the situation on the ground shows that the people have lost trust and confidence in the economic policies," Father Muguti said. Father Muguti said the central bank was supposed to have consulted all stakeholders before pronouncing the introduction of bond notes. "However, what the Governor is doing now (engaging stakeholders) show that progress is being made," he said.
3rd seat on Shasta Lake council headed for special election

The Shasta Lake City Council is expected to decide next Tuesday whether to call a special election.
SHARE Timmathy Elwin Morton Date of birth: Feb. 16, 1989 Vitals: 5 feet, 7 inches; 160 pounds; brown hair, blue eyes Charge: Vehicle theft James Michael Caudel Date of birth: April 22, 1997 Vitals: 5 feet; 115 pounds; brown hair, brown eyes Charge: Revocation of probation Herman Robert Pando Date of birth: Oct. 4, 1973 Vitals: 5 feet, 2 inches; 150 pounds; black hair, brown eyes Charge: Revocation of probation Shawn Christopher Moran Date of birth: July 23, 1985 Vitals: 5 feet, 11 inches; 170 pounds; blond hair, hazel eyes Charge: Assault with a deadly weapon

By Staff Reports

Shasta's Most Wanted, featured in the Record Searchlight in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, targets people who have failed to show up in court for sentencing after being convicted.

As of Friday a total of 617 arrests have been made through the Most Wanted program since it began in September 2013. Authorities say they have seen an increase in criminals failing to appear in court since the onset of Assembly Bill 109. Also known as prison realignment, the state program shifted certain state prison inmates to county supervision.

Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti said court appearances have been going up since the rollout.

Five new people are added each week. Those caught will be held until at least their next court appearances. Shasta County Secret Witness is offering a reward of up to $250 for information leading to an arrest. Tips can be provided anonymously at 530-243-2319 or at www.scsecretwitness.com/home/submit-a-tip.

Anyone with information also can call SHASCOM at 245-6540. The feature appears Sundays in the Record Searchlight's Northern California section and on Redding.com.
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Police: DUI driver arrested in crashes

Redding police on Friday arrested a 53-year-old Anderson woman who twice hit vehicles and drove off while drunk, officers said.

The first of the two crashes happened at 2:14 p.m. when a black 1998 Acura sedan hit a 2006 Chevy Impala driven by Allison Thomasson, 26, of Redding. Thomasson, who was wearing a seat belt, complained of pain after the crash, Redding police Sgt. Chris Smyrnos said.

The crash occurred at North Market Street and Benton Drive, police said.

About eight minutes later dispatchers received report of another crash at North Market Street and Riverside Drive, just south of the Sacramento River.

Lisa Hastings, 60, of Redding, was driving east on Riverside when the same black Acura from the first crash hit her car, police said. The Acura drove off, while Hastings was uninjured.

A minute later Richard Nunez, 50, of Anderson reported to dispatchers he was riding inside the black Acura during the crashes. Police found him at the 7-Eleven on Eureka Way. Nunez said the driver let him out before driving away.

Nunez complained of neck and back pain from the crashes, Smyrnos said.

Just after 3:30 p.m. officers received reports of the black Acura driving through downtown Redding. Police searched the area and eventually found it on Ox Yoke Road off Interstate 5 near Anderson with damage consistent with the crashes, Smyrnos said.

The driver of the Acura, Cecilia Russell, was arrested on suspicion of DUI causing injury, hit-and-run causing injury and driving without a license, police said.

Sheriff's Office warns of scam

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office warned residents Saturday to avoid being scammed by a caller who falsely claims to be a lieutenant and asks for the payment of fines or bail.

The Sheriff's Office has received recent reports of the caller saying he was with the warrants/citation department and asking for a call back. Anyone saying they're with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and who asks for the payment of a fine or bail over the phone is trying to rip you off, officials said.

Sheriff's officials say don't provide financial information over the phone, and to report the scam to the sheriff's office at 245-6025.
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Redding police on Friday arrested a 53-year-old Anderson woman who twice hit vehicles and drove off while drunk, officers said.

The first of the two crashes happened at 2:14 p.m. when a black 1998 Acura sedan hit a 2006 Chevy Impala driven by Allison Thomasson, 26, of Redding. Thomasson, who was wearing a seatbelt, complained of pain after the crash, Redding Police Sgt. Chris Smyrnos said.

The crash occurred at North Market Street and Benton Drive, police said.

About eight minutes later, dispatchers received report of another crash at Market and Riverside Drive, just south of the Sacramento River.

Lisa Hastings, 60, of Redding, was driving east on Riverside when the same black Acura from the first crash hit her car, police said. The Acura drove off, while Hastings was uninjured.

A minute later Richard Nunez, 50, of Anderson reported to dispatchers he was riding inside the black Acura during the crashes. Police found him at the 7-11 on Eureka Way and he said the driver let him out before driving away.

Nunez complained of neck and back pain from the crashes, Smyrnos said.

Just after 3:30 p.m. officers received reports of the black Acura driving through downtown Redding. Police searched the area but eventually found it on Ox Yoke Road off Interstate 5 near Anderson with damage consistent with the crashes, Smyrnos said.

The driver, Cecilia Russell, was arrested on suspicion of DUI causing injury, hit-and-run causing injury and driving without a license, police said.
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By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight

Red Bluff's City Council will take up whether to allow a new bar in town and to approve salary increases for some police officers Tuesday evening.

The meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers, 555 Washington St., will start with discussion about a liquor license application from Francisco Bobadilla. He is asking the council to sign off on a license to sell beer and wine at his proposed tavern, the Downtown Ale House at 343 Walnut St., according to his application.

Because the Red Bluff area has 17 liquor licenses  three times the legal limit  Bobadilla must persuade the council to declare a "public convenience or necessity" that would be served, wrote Scott Friend, director of community development with the city, in his staff report.

No one younger than 21 would be allowed in, Friend wrote.

Bartenders would serve craft beer and wine at the tavern, which would also feature music and art, Friend said.

In a letter to the council, Bobadilla describes a "relaxed and safe" atmosphere inspired by From the Hearth Cafe and Enjoy The Store.

"The Downtown Ale House will be centered around revitalizing the historic downtown area with a secure and tasteful environment where the community can come and enjoy great works from our local region," he said.

Bobadilla has already acquired the space, which had previously housed The End Up Tavern and the Brunswick full service bar, Friend wrote.

Both the Red Bluff Police Department and Friend said they have no objections to the bar, Friend said.

The average wait time for a non-contested license is about two months after it is submitted, according to the state's department Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Council members will also decide whether to increase the pay of officers who transfer from other agencies, according to a report by Kyle Sanders, the police chief.

Because it would affect future employees, its exact cost would be unclear, he said. However, it would cost $9,830.84 in the upcoming fiscal year.

Currently, officers receive a 5 percent salary increase after five and 10 years with the city of Red Bluff, he wrote.

But to help with recruiting woes, Sanders is asking the council to count all years of law enforcement service, regardless of which agency or municipality, for the bonus.

The police department has for years encountered trouble trying to recruit officers, especially from other agencies, known as lateral hires, Sanders said.

"On several occasions we have lost out on a number of interested individuals from surrounding agencies who desired to test for supervisory roles but chose not to due to pay losses they would sustain," Sanders said.

Many agencies also typically target the same pool of potential officers, he said.

In a letter submitted to the council, the police union's representative, Aaron Murray, said several reasons have been given for the attrition problems.

But low pay is "foundational," he wrote, adding that the union embraced the idea.

If you go

Who: Red Bluff City Council

What: Allow a new downtown craft-beer and wine bar to move forward and expand longevity bonuses for police officers

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: City Hall, 555 Washington St., Red Bluff

If you go

Who: Red Bluff City Council

What: Allow a new downtown craft-beer and wine bar to move forward and expand longevity bonuses for police officers

When: 7 p.m. TuesdayWhere: City Hall, 555 Washington St., Red Bluff
Sandy and Bryan Tuvera

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By Ryan Sabalow

Though it's been nearly five years since an escaped inmate shot and killed her son, a San Francisco police officer, Sandy Tuvera still struggles to talk about her loss.

"I talked with him until he took his last breath," the 56-year-old South San Francisco woman said Thursday, her voice quavering over the phone. "That is nothing that a mother should have to do."

While Bryan Tuvera's death is tough to discuss, she has no problem expressing her lingering frustration with a state prison system that continues to place violent felons in the state's minimum-security fire camps, even though after her son's death she lobbied lawmakers to change camp policies. His killer escaped from a fire camp in Humboldt County.

"These aren't Cub Scouts," she said. "This isn't the honor system there. What are they thinking? What are they thinking? ... They need more stringent guidelines of who they put in there."

Tuvera said she's hoping to again voice her concerns to lawmakers later this month in Sacramento. In response to a Record Searchlight investigation this spring that revealed one in five of the state's fire camp inmates has been convicted of violent felonies, State Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, organized bipartisan hearings. LaMalfa had hoped to hold the hearings July 14, but his spokesman said Friday that a firm date had yet to be set.

"If I can do this, if I can speak to get them to make a change, I can do something positive out of a terrible, terrible, God-awful tragedy," she said.

It wouldn't be the first time she's tried.

In 2007, Sandy Tuvera testified before the Assembly Public Safety Committee with her son's widow, fellow police officer Salina Tuvera, about the need to monitor fire camp inmates with GPS-tracking ankle bracelets.

The testimony came in support of Assembly Bill 439, the "Bryan Tuvera Fire Camp Safety Act" authored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, a San Francisco Democrat.

The bill passed the committee but was later gutted in the appropriations process.

It would be too expensive, lawmakers determined, to place GPS devices on all 4,000 inmates on the fire crews at the state's 41 fire camps.

"That costs money, but you can't put a price tag on a life," Sandy Tuvera said.

Sandy Tuvera is outraged that nothing has changed since February 2005, when 33-year-old Marlon Ruff, who had been convicted of beating and robbing an armored car guard, walked away from Eel River Conservation Camp in Humboldt County.

After eluding capture for nearly two years, Ruff shot and killed Sandy Tuvera's 28-year-old son when the officer chased him into a parking garage in December 2006.

Though news reports from the time said Tuvera's partner returned fire, killing Ruff, Sandy Tuvera said investigators later determined Ruff shot himself.

She said her son died 12 years to the day after his father, a police dispatcher, had died.

Bryan and Salina Tuvera had been married for 70 days.

After her son's death, Sandy Tuvera's outrage grew as she heard police, prosecutors and even Ruff's public defender say they were stunned to learn he'd been placed in an inmate work crew, given his violent history.

Ruff first was convicted of grand theft in San Francisco in 1996. He was in and out of prison and jail in the years that followed, racking up two more felony convictions for receiving stolen property and being a felon with a gun, The San Francisco Chronicle reported after the shooting.

Ruff was on parole in 2003 when he began following a Brinks courier driver named Miguel Galang, according to Gregg Oglesby, the Daly City police detective who investigated Ruff's robbery.

Ruff overwhelmed the unarmed Galang in a covered area attached to a shopping center parking lot, repeatedly punching the man's face, knocking him unconscious, Oglesby said.

Since he didn't use a weapon in the attack, a jury later convicted Ruff of second-degree robbery.

"It never, ever, ever should have happened," Sandy Tuvera said of Ruff's camp placement.

Her reaction was similar to what local law enforcement officials said last summer when they learned a 36-year-old suspected white supremacist named Jeffory Shook walked away from Washington Ridge Conservation Camp in Nevada City.

Before his conviction, Shook had twice been shot by police after leading officers on car chases.

During the three weeks after his escape, he led officers on three more car chases before he was recaptured in Siskiyou County.

After Shook was recaptured, state prison officials said he was eligible for camp placement because he hadn't actually been convicted of violent crimes.

LaMalfa spokesman Mark Spannagel said that as the senator's staff members investigate the fire camp issue in preparation for the hearing, that's an oft-repeated explanation from prison officials describing why inmates with violent pasts are being placed under light guard at the camps.

"That's not a sufficient answer," Spannagel said of the prison officials' explanations.

But Facilities Capt. Rae Stewart, who oversees the camps for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the prison system's screening process weeds out the unsafe inmates.

Though around a dozen inmates escape each year, he said the camp program is hugely beneficial to the state's firefighting efforts and the inmates, who learn a trade for when they transition back to society.

"The benefit far outweighs the potential risk," Stewart said. "There's always going to be some cases that draw (negative) attention."
America is looking at electing her last baby boomer president. And oh, what a run it has been, starting with Bill Clinton in 1994, when he swept into the White House buoyed by grandiose dreams and plans.

Back then we imagined that once our new generation grabbed hold, the course of history would be forever changed. We didn't need to add "for the better" because we assumed that. We just forgot to define what "better" meant.

We ground our way through Clinton and George W. Bush, both early boomers, onward to Barack Obama, a late-term baby boomer, then on to today's crop of baby boomers  Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and Jill Stein, the Green Party's nominee. Born during World War II, Bernie Sanders falls more into the older brother category. He grew up during those same post-war formative years when America was reinventing herself after winning the war.

Winning World War II is what defined us as a country. We even dubbed that generation as the "Greatest." That's a hard act to follow, when you think about it, yet it's the environment we grew up in. America was on the biggest building spree in history as it built houses and suburbs and schools, and families to fill them all. Some 65 million babies were born between 1945 and 1961, the largest birth rate surge in the nation's history to that time.

Ours was the first generation that truly had the freedom of childhood. Our grandparents may have gone into the coal mines and the textile mills when they were children at the turn of the 20th century. Our parents may have dropped out of school during the Great Depression to follow the crops to earn money to send home to their families. But not us. We were handed childhood, opportunities for college that had never before existed thanks to the guaranteed student loan programs, and careers that opened up in fields that had always before been closed to women and minorities, such as medicine and the law.

We were told how special we were  and we believed it.

We spearheaded, worked for and witnessed profound change in the tapestry of the nation  civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, even animal rights. In retrospect, I suspect that most of us liked to talk about justice and fairness and equality more than we enjoyed practicing it, especially if we could ease our way out by writing a check when all else failed.

We grew up in a post-war society that was constantly at war. We blamed our elders for the Korean War and certainly Vietnam. By the Gulf War and Iraq and Afghanistan, we had no one left to blame but ourselves.

And now we have a high-stakes election that is a collage of all that the baby boom is. And the picture really isn't all that pretty.

We have Donald Trump, the bombastic reality TV star, our ultimate Peter Pan candidate, sporting an eternal sun tan and blond locks despite turning 70 in a few days. His plans are gargantuan dreams filled with holes, yet he's promising to take us home, back to easier times. It's a sales-worthy message, given the number of people who already have voted for him.

Then there's Hillary Clinton, a stereotypical feminist who is smart, savvy, experienced, a serious woman. Meanwhile polls focus upon likability and the quality of her voice, while the right zeroes in on which server she used to send out email, and the left decries her ties to Wall Street. She's caught in a phenomenon best explained as damned if you do, equally damned if you don't that seems to affect mostly women looking to advance their positions.

Bernie Sanders, the only technical non-baby boomer in the mix, has captured the imagination of younger voters despite being the eldest of the candidates. They see his ideas as fresh and daring  and they are to a new generation of voters. Mostly though the ideas aren't so much new as trampled and forgotten after being kicked to the curb by Reaganomics.

Barring divine intervention, one of these three will be America's last baby boom president, for good or for ill. That president will be the last who will be able to look back and clearly remember the building of post-World War II America, what that sensation of growing into greatness truly felt like. And maybe, just maybe, we can figure out together how to get there again.

Nisa Donnelly can be reached at Nisa.Donnelly@gmx.com.
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James Gibson, Redding

I am writing in support of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, in his quest for re-election to the House of Representatives. As a veteran who uses the VA medical services here in Northern California, I and many other veterans appreciate the hard work that the Congressman and his staff have put forth in our behalf. The order of magnitude of problems in the Veterans Administration medical system, which they have uncovered and caused to be corrected, is absolutely noteworthy. LaMalfa and his staff make themselves available at all times for assistance on behalf of all of us veterans with our service-connected problems. I am sure I speak for many of my fellow veterans in my support for Congressman LaMalfa.
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Bill Head, Redding

President Obama's directives to open bathrooms along with locker/shower rooms to transgenders or anyone who identified as the opposite sex at that moment has become front and center, trumping seriously urgent world issues.

The logical progression of the self-identification will spread to other issues such as a male business owner identifying as female to be awarded contracts with the minority preference of women owned businesses.

Maybe future directives will allow anyone to identify by their preferred nationality, age, height, weight, skill level, education, etc.

The left believes Utopia is in sight and there are no difference between male and female with everyone being equal in all aspects.

No need to have signs on bathrooms, age requirements, affirmative action or preferential treatment of any kind since all may identify what they prefer at the moment.

People worldwide are belly laughing and rolling in the streets at America's priorities.
News / National

by Fatima Bulla

While traditionally, pastors have relied on the benevolence of the church for their upkeep; the world's turbulent economic situation has seen most clerics pursuing business interests for self sustenance.Some have become highly entrepreneurial, thereby firmly establishing themselves in various industries.However, this has ignited debate on the kind of businesses that pastors can engage in vis-a-vis what they preach.News Cafe is an upmarket bar run by a pastor.A recent media report stated that Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe president and Faith Ministries senior pastor, Shingi Munyeza, runs News Cafe  an upmarket bar in Borrowdale.The question is, is there a line to be drawn between the kind of business that is deemed appropriate and inappropriate for the men of cloth?Pastor Munyeza feels this is a tired conversation."I've had enough debates and discussions on this and I believe that this is a tired conversation which I don't want to get involved in. Besides, it does not help those suffering."There are more pressing issues that can be discussed, like how pastors should be involved in getting our economy out of the current crisis," he said.Another pastor who preferred anonymity argued that pastors are trained in theology and other disciplines."Our God is not limited to space or time. We take opportunities as they come. Let us not limit theology."What is the problem if a pastor farms tobacco or owns a bar? We say Christians should not smoke, yet men of God are cultivating it," he said.However, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian pastor Gibson Botomani said it is difficult for pastors to speak from positions of authority when they participate in such business ventures."How do you rebuke evil? Imagine this, you run a bar and a couple comes through for counselling on issues emanating from alcohol, how do you handle that? Bars only operate like a secret sin but God is watching. He is going to judge."Paul was a tent maker, he was not selling alcohol. Businesses that do not compromise Christians are available, they should venture into those," Pastor Botomani said.Entrepreneur Mr Forget Chigede said Christians' businesses should be ethical and morally upright."Pastors should follow God's commandments and their actions should turn people from darkness to light. Pastors as agents of God should act and show good direction to their followers. Those who operate compromising businesses are fake pastors who pretend to work for God while in actual fact they are acting for the kingdom of the devil," he said.Tiri Nheweyembwa chipped in: "While the current economic condition has not spared anyone, the men of cloth included, some businesses pose problems as they are contrary to the word of God."Morally and ethically, it is at variance with the teaching of the Word of God. One cannot run a brothel and then preach about sexual immorality when they are promoting it." Another believer stressed that all Christians should be righteous and stick to 'clean' businesses."Wearing that church uniform is an oath to live a morally upright life. The men of cloth are no exception when it comes to breaking such oaths," he said.Mr Shingirayi Gwete highlighted: "Imagine on Friday night, a pastor who owns a bar prays that God blesses his business to record high sales. Come Sunday morning, he preaches from 1 Corinthians 6:10 which states that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God."He calls for his customers to repent (to stop taking alcohol) and at the same time he prays for his bar to prosper. Can a man serve two masters?He hates one and loves the other."The issue boils down to the love of money which 1 Timothy 6:10 says is the root of all evil. What is evil is not money in itself but the love for money. The moment one is prepared to gain an extra dollar at the expense of their own salvation or the salvation of others, then that is evil," he said He went on to say, "Jesus said in Luke 17:1-2 (NKJV), 'It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."People will always drink alcohol, they will always engage in gambling, they will always sell their bodies, they will always engage in various evils, but woe unto that person who causes or supports other people to engage in such activities."No matter how profitable the business might be, one needs to ask himself this question, 'For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?' (Matthew 16:26)," Mr Gwete said.
Ashish Chowdhry took off on a holiday after four years! He went to the Maldives along with his actress wife, Samita Bangargi.

Talking about the trip he said, "I was surfing the Net for potential holiday spots and I picked out one nice picture and tweeted it. That particular hotel in the Maldives retweeted, saying we are waiting to welcome you here. When I took them up on the offer, I didn't know I would be in for VVIP treatment. When I reached the Maldives, a sea plane was arranged to pick us up. I had booked a villa for four nights and five days, but they gave me the sunset water suite instead; it is a premium room in the hotel," he recalls.

The actor had been to the Maldives earlier to shoot for Fight Club with Dino Morea and Sohail Khan. This trip, however, was much more memorable.

"The hotel welcomed us with a lot of warmth. The chef made every kind of food possible, including Japanese, Thai, sea food and hand-made chocolates. They also got me to try out every possible sport," says Ashish, who felt the trip was a welcome break from his hectic schedule, that included recovering from an injury and shifting to a new house.

"I always wanted to go to places like London, but the Maldives turned out to be heaven on earth. Sometimes, you feel the need to party or just go and roam around, but to find peace you have to go to a place like the Maldives," he gushes.

Check out the cool pictures!
'An ardent advocate of nuclear disarmament, Obama may even be secretly heaving a sigh of relief that the NSG is unlikely to reach unanimity of opinion on India's candidature,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

IMAGE: US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold talks at Hyderabad House, January 25, 2015, on a day when it was announced that India and the US had sealed a landmark civil nuclear deal. Photograph: MEA/Flickr

The folks in the Ministry of External Affairs have traditionally had a very poor opinion bordering on contempt toward Indian media persons covering the foreign-policy 'beat'.

They thought of them as innocents abroad with little grasp of diplomacy and international affairs -- and even less intellectual curiosity. The result is that spin doctors have had a whale of a time, tying our cub reporters (and even editors) in knots.

However, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar's media remarks on Friday, June 3, regarding India's candidacy for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG, sets a new record. Let me quote some passages:

'The NSG is a regime. It is a sort of a flexible arrangement amongst States which is quite different from the NPT which is a treaty. If you look at the central word in that acronym NSG, it is "supplier". If you look there, it is proliferation.'

'So, I think the objectives are different and I would not really confuse apples for oranges... So, our view is, do not confuse the NSG and the NPT. They are two somewhat different things.'

'The merits of our joining NSG derive from the fact that we have a substantial expansion of our nuclear energy segment ahead of us..\'

'I would also flag to your attention that the NSG has already made one exception for us. So, in a sense, our credentials have been examined; a judgement was arrived at in 2008; in 2008 we gave some commitments.'

'We gave commitments on separation of our nuclear programme between civil and the strategic side. We agreed to accept and implement the additional protocol. And if you look at all the commitments we made in 2008, we have very faithfully followed up. So, we think it is a sort of logical next phase.'

Really? What the FS didn't say are the following: One, the NSG's creation in 1975 was an American initiative in response to the Indian nuclear test in May the previous year. Its cardinal objective was to coerce India to join the NPT.

Its business is to limit the export of nuclear equipment, materials or technology to India. The Zangger List ('Trigger List') drawn up in 1978 and subsequently revised in 1992 as the 'Dual-use List' specifies the items that come under the embargo.

Two, the NSG is not in the least concerned with the issue of India's power deficit (or the facts of life in India such as our drought and famine or infant mortality rate and illiteracy.)

Three, the NSG waiver for the US-India 123 Agreement was conditional. The waiver was obtained, thanks to the George W Bush administration (which was enamoured of the prospect of highly lucrative arms deals and nuclear commerce with India) putting its weight behind it -- but, even then, only after extracting a series of concessions out of India.

The pressure on signing the so-called 'foundational agreements' (which are a hot issue even today) can be traced to that period too.

All the same, the NSG waiver, when it came, still provides for periodic NSG review. Besides, the waiver insisted on India agreeing to uphold the NPT regime. Furthermore, the NSG also ensured that India will be bound by the NSG guidelines and any future modifications of the Guidelines, while not being a part of the NSG.

Suffice it to say, India's only right will be to be consulted by the chair of the NSG.

Put differently, the NSG is a nuclear suppliers' cartel and, in principle, it can change its waiver for India at any time it chooses. India will be expected to keep its pledge of moratorium on nuclear tests; India's 'performance' will be subject to periodical scrutiny; and, there is no guarantee of transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology to India.

President Pranab Mukherjee will be the best person to explain why the UPA government accepted all these stringent conditions -- and to what end.

Therefore, the Chinese foreign ministry statement of June 4 in Beijing is spot on:

'The international community has forged consensus long ago that this (NSG) regime is rooted upon the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, which was reaffirmed in the New York NPT review session held in the mid of last year. This is exactly why the NSG has always made the "NPT signatory status" a prerequisite to accept new members.' (Press Trust of India)

The crux of the matter is that India needs to climb the NSG mountain on its own and the US is unwilling or incapable (or both) of being anything more than a 'sherpa'.

An ardent advocate of nuclear disarmament, President Barack Obama (who had, incidentally, disfavoured as a senator the signing of the US-India nuclear deal), may even be secretly heaving a sigh of relief that the NSG is unlikely to reach unanimity of opinion on India's candidature.

The point is, India finds itself in a pitiable situation today and the proponents of the nuclear deal don't know where to go and hide. If one were to dip into the archives and read some of those absurd columns regrading the negotiations over the 2008 nuclear deal, written by our pundits, one feels like sitting on the ground and crying as to what a pedestrian strategic community lacking integrity our great nation is been saddled with in critical times.

Therefore, it must come as natural justice that on the very same day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to land in Washington, The New York Times, the venerable American newspaper of the foreign policy establishment has featured an extraordinary editorial on this topic entitled, 'No Exceptions for a Nuclear India.'

It says effectively that India does not merit NSG membership 'until the country meets the group's standards,' which, of course, implies that India should 'legally binding commitments to pursue disarmament negotiations, halt the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and not test nuclear weapons.'

The New York Times editorial cautions against the NSG setting a bad precedent by admitting India, but excluding Pakistan (or North Korea). Furthermore, it concurs with the consistent Pakistani stance that India's NSG membership impacts the regional strategic balance.

Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who comments on diplomacy and strategic affairs, blogs at http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/
A Christian businessman was on Sunday hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church in Bangladesh, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists.

Sunil Gomes, 65, was found dead inside his grocery shop at around midday in northwestern Notore district, police superintendent Shyamal Mukherjee told PTI over the phone.

The assailants fled the scene immediately after hacking to death Gomes inside his shop at the commercial hub near a church at Banpara village at the outskirts of the district town, he said.

"We are yet to know the details of the incident but our policemen are gathering information about the murder," Mukherjee said.

The motive behind Gomes' murder was now known immediately, the police said.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the wife of a top Bangladeshi police officer who carried out several raids against militants was stabbed and shot dead by three bike- borne assailants in front of her minor son in the port city of Chittagong.

Mahmuda Aktar, 33, was targeted by the gunmen at around 6:45 am (local time) while she was on her way to drop her six- year-old first-grader son to a nearby bus stop for school in Chittagong.

The police suspect religious extremists were behind her murder, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said. She was the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, now posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka.

Babul has led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated several terror-related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the detective branch in Chittagong.

Babul, who was promoted in April, played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and arrest of its military wing chief Mohamed Javed in October last year.

"Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed was quoted by bdnews24 as saying.

Quoting witnesses, Chittagong metro police's Deputy Commissioner Paritosh Ghose said that three bike-borne attackers ambushed Mahmuda in front of her minor son. The boy said the attackers first took him away and then one of them stabbed his mother with a knife before shooting her.

The police said that Mahmuda was shot in the head. "We found three live ammunition and a used casing on the spot. The bullet hit her on the left side of the head," said Police Bureau of Investigation's Additional Superintendent Bashir Ahmed. She is survived by a four-year-old daughter.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city. There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent weeks especially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

In the recent attacks, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in April by machete-wielding Islamic State militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city.

Two days later, Bangladesh's first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

On April 30, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants in his shop in central Bangladesh.

The IS and Al Qaeda in IndianPeninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.
The death toll in the clashes between the police and encroachers of Jawahar Bagh has risen to 29 with two more persons succumbing to their injuries even as police registered 45 cases against the occupants.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital and one Pinakoo, resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers in which 3000 persons have made the accused.

He said some more arrests are possible in the case as police teams are trying to ascertain the accomplices of Ram Vriksh Yadav, the chief of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, who were providing financial support and arms to him.

Operations in Jawahar Bagh would continue till Monday in search of explosives and weapons, he said. Bodies of ten encroachers, including two women, have been identified by their accomplices who are lodged in jail.

Efforts are on to identify the other bodies, Singh said. If relatives do not come forward to claim the bodies within 72 hours, their postmortem would be carried out at 11 am on Monday following which their last rites would be conducted, he said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti accused Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav of being responsible for the violence and demanded that a case be registered against him.

Seeking strict action against him, she alleged that the encroachers had the protection of Shivpal which is why no action was taken against them even after over two years of encroachment.

She alleged that the administration was not given permission to take strict action against the occupants and adequate police force was also not deployed for the eviction. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders claimed that they were not allowed entry into Jawahar Bagh.

"We had an argument with the police that out high-power committee wants to go inside and see the system of kitchens, water etc which was in place there since the past two and a half years. But they are not letting us go inside," a local BJP leader said.
Three months after their violent agitation left 30 dead, Jat leaders on Sunday renewed their quota stir in Haryana which was restricted to small meetings in 15 districts amid tight security by the Bharatiya Janata Party government which had drawn flak over its handling of the protest last time.

"It has been peaceful so far," Haryana's Additional Director General Police (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil said as nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.

Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a 'havan' as they started the second round of the agitation on a tepid note with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, which gave the call for the protest, pitched a tent along the Rohtak-Panipat highway just outside Jassia and also held dharnas in 15 of the state's 21 districts.

The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.

The agitation this time was restricted to so called 'Jat belt' comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind. "There are small groups of protesters mainly in the rural areas. At some places, the protesters handed over memorandums to district authorities," an official said.

Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in these districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.

A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the Chief Secretary, the home secretary, the state DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.

AIJASS Hisar president Rambhagat Malik said, "We are committed to holding dharnas in a peaceful manner." After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi and other neighbouring states too, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.

However, the high court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.

In Hisar, members of the Jat community started an indefinite dharna at a stadium in village Mayyar away from railway tracks and national highway, the police said. Addressing the protesters, Jat leaders accused the Haryana government of not being serious towards their demand for reservation.

The Jat leaders said in case the government did not respond to their demands in a positive manner, they would be left with no other option but to take to the streets.

"The dharnas have been peaceful. People have the right to put forth their views in a democratic set up but it should be within the ambit of law," state Agricultural Minister O P Dhankar said.

"We had fulfilled their demand but it was challenged in court. The state government is doing the needful," he said.

IMAGE: Security personnel guard at the railway station in Gurgaon as they are being deployed at various sensitive places in the view of Jat agitation. Photoghraph: PTI
Amid deepening divisions over the disputed South China Sea, China and US will hold their high level annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing ion Monday during which a host of issues including differences over India's entry into the NSG are expected to be discussed.

Billed as the most comprehensive dialogue between the world's two largest economies, it will be attended by top officials from both sides, including US Secretary of State John Kerry.

While the South China Sea issue which has now become a major flash point between the two countries is expected to dominate the two-day talks, a host of other issues including

Taiwan, Tibet and India's inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group are also expected to figure.

While the US has expressed its firm backing to India's inclusion into the 48-member nuclear club building on the India-US nuclear accord, China has been insisting that there should be consensus among the members about inclusion of countries who have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India has not signed the NPT on the ground that it is discriminatory.

Officials are hopeful of a solution as China-US dialogue is taking place ahead of two of NSG's key plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul during which the issue is expected to come up.

As India pressed its case, Pakistan too has applied amid reports that China is trying to push the case of its all-weather ally.

India itself has taken up this issue with top Chinese leadership as part of high profile diplomacy, specially during last month's President Pranab Mukherjee's visit. However, China last night said that differences still prevailed among the NSG members about non-NPT members.

"Discussion within the NSG is still going on about the accession of non-NPT countries, and NSG members remain divided on this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry told PTI.

Still sticking to its stand that that new members should sign the NPT, the Ministry said "the NSG is part and parcel of the international non-proliferation regime". About the Pakistan application which China is reportedly backing, the Ministry said "China has noted Pakistan's official application for NSG membership. Pakistan is not a party state to the NPT."

Ahead of the US-China dialogue, Chinese officials said besides the SCS, China will bring up topics related to its major concerns, including the Taiwan question, Tibet and maritime security.

The two countries have differing pursuits on major issues at the strategic level. However, the two still have many common interests, official media here quoted Chinese officials as saying.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Chinese President Xi Jinping, September 2014. Photograph: Press Information Bureau
In the wake of Jat leaders in Haryana launching fresh stir over quota, prohibitory orders will be imposed in certain areas of the national capital bordering the neighbouring state along with a few other places by Monday, the Delhi police said on Sunday.

"The Delhi police to impose CrPC section 144 in the bordering districts of Delhi and other parts of city which are likely to have protests in connection with Jat quota demand," a statement by the Delhi police said.

The prohibitory orders will be implemented in five police sub-divisions -Dwarka and Najafgarh in South West Delhi, Alipur and Bawana in outer Delhi and Mukherjee Nagar in North West Delhi, the senior police said. These five sub-divisions cover over 15 police stations.

In the first phase of the Jat agitation, violence was witnessed in and around Mukherjee Nagar and Najafgarh areas.

"Adequate arrangements have been made to ensure no law and order issue occurs," the official added. In February, the agitating members of Jat community had held demonstrations at several places in the city, leading to severe disruption of traffic on key arterial roads.

Damage to public property by the protesters, who blocked major state border entry points, including Sindhu border, Nangloi-Bahadurgarh Road, Karnal road, Tikari, Jharoda and Madhuban Chowk in southwest and outer Delhi, creating major traffic snarls which affected many areas in the city.

IMAGE: Police personnel stand guard as they are being deployed at various sensitive places in the view of Jat agitation for the reservation, in Gurgaon. Photograph: PTI
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha. Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani can also be seen. Photographs: MEA/Twitter



With an intent to give a push to India-Qatar ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday held detailed talks on a wide range of issues.

At the outset, Modi personally extended greetings to the Emir, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days ago. The prime minister had called him on that day to convey the greetings over phone. Al-Thani became Emir of Qatar on 25 June 2013 after his father's abdication.

Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler. "The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

Cooperation in energy is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks that were to cover various aspects of the relationship.

Qatar is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 standing at $15.67 billion.

IMAGE: Prime Miniser Narendra Modi inspects the guard of honour at Emiri Diwan in Doha.

Qatar is also one of India's key sources of crude oil. This Arab country has a large population of Indians who number over 6.3 lakh.

While landing in Doha on Saturday, Modi had said India attaches great priority to strong ties with Qatar and that his visit seeks to expand the bilateral ties further. The prime minister has been focusing on improving ties with the Gulf region which is crucial for India's energy security. He has already visited United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His trip marks a prime ministerial visit after eight years. The then prime minister Manmohan Singh had visited Doha in 2008.

The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.
Issuing a stern warning, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said if Pakistan doesn't allow the National investigation Agency to visit the neighbouring nation to probe the Pathankot air base attack then it would be a 'betrayal' to India.

"When the Joint Investigation Team of Pakistan proposed to visit India for investigating the Pathankot attack, it was mutually agreed that after their visit, a team of the NIA would also visit the neighbouring country for the probe and interrogate some people," Singh said while addressing a rally in Amroha.

"But so far Pakistan has not given permission to the NIA to visit there. If the NIA team is not allowed to visit Pakistan, it will be a betrayal to India," he added.

The Union Home minister on Saturday visited the Pathankot airbase, which was attacked by the terrorists on January 2.

Speaking about security concerns in the state, Singh said that the safety of citizens was the foremost priority of the Bharatiya Janata Party govt.

"We know that the first step to development is security; every citizen needs to feel secure and borders too need to be secure", said the Home minister while addressing a rally in Pathankot.

He also touched upon the sensitive Kashmir issue and said that Kashmir as a whole has never been an issue; it is always the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and this issue needs to be addressed with priority.

Four terrorists were killed when they carried out a suicide attack on the strategic Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1-2. Seven security personnel were also killed during the 80-hour-long gun battle.

The Pathankot air base was attacked by heavily armed terrorists during the intervening night of January 1-2 reportedly having allegiance to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in which four terrorists and three security forces personnel were killed.

A five-member Pakistani JIT, comprising Additional inspector general of police, a deputy inspector general of police, two Lt. Colonels and one inspector, from Pakistan had visited India between March 27-31 to collect, review and document physical evidences and to interview key witnesses and victims through the NIA in connection with the Pathankot attack.

Just a few days after the Pakistani JIT probing the Pathankot attack admitted that the four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base were from Pakistan, the JIT had said that the attack had been staged by India, according to a Pakistani media report.

The JIT "says the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan," according to a report in Pakistan Today.

It further said that the JIT report, which was submitted to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the next few days, had even concluded that Indian authorities had prior information about the terrorists.

Meanwhile, on April 28, the Centre had told the Rajya Sabha that Pakistan had been clearly told that it should allow an Indian probe team to visit that country in connection with Pathankot terror attack as reciprocity was the principle on which Pakistan's JIT was allowed to visit.
Vowing to root out corruption in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he has "faced problems" by depriving the "sweets of many" and saved over Rs 36,000 crore annually by stopping leakage and theft in government schemes.

Addressing the Indian diaspora at the end of his two-day visit to Qatar, Modi said, "We have only cleaned up the0020surface (on corruption) and a detailed clean-up remains."

"We have stopped the sweets of many and in doing so, I have also faced problems. But I get the strength to face these problems from the love received from 125 crore Indians," he said, likening criticism of the government's action to a child getting angry on being deprived of a sweet by his mother.

Modi, who was repeatedly cheered by the Indian community members, said efforts to ensure financial transparency, discipline and efficiency have started yielding good results

"Can you imagine? We have saved Rs 36,000 crore per year by stopping leakage and theft in various government schemes," he said.

Modi said 1.62 crore fake ration cards have been detected and saved crores through subsidised wheat, rice, kerosene and LPG.

"Corruption has made our country hollow, eating into its vitals like termite," he said.

In a veiled attack on the earlier Congress regimes, Modi said: "Today across the world, India's image has been enhanced and the country is being viewed respectably. Everyone is being attracted to India. You would have noticed the change when people from other countries meet Indians."

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Indian diaspora at the end of his two-day visit to Qatar. Photograph: MEA/Twitter
News / National

by Enacy Mapakame

THE only Zimbabwean on the 2016 Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list, Mr Nkosana Mazibisa, plans to create more than 2 000 jobs in manufacturing by 2022.Forbes Africa 30 under 30 is a list of the most promising and influential entrepreneurs under the age of 30 across various sectors from the continent.The 28-year-old Bulawayo-based entrepreneur, who is the chief executive officer of Mazibisa Inc, said his company is having preliminary talks with an investment group and an international company that plans to set up a manufacturing plant in Bulawayo.The investment will be channelled through Swaad, a food retail brand and subsidiary of Mazibisa Inc.Bulawayo, which used to be the country's industrial hub, seeks to reclaim its status.Industry has struggled to access funding for re-tooling and product development, while imports are still posing stiff competition for locally manufactured goods.According to the youthful entrepreneur, Bulawayo has turned into a ghost town despite the presence of companies such as United Refineries, Datlabs and Arenel that are operating at "decent capacity".However, he said companies such as Swaad represent efforts towards re-industrialisation of the city."By 2022, Swaad should have created 2190 jobs in Bulawayo."We are already underway through strategic alliances with G26 Investment Group owned by Nicola Grace Hove  a distinguished young entrepreneur," he said.Mazibisa Inc is a brand strategy consultancy firm that helps marketers of emerging brands create enduring foundations for competitive advantage and business success.This includes launching new businesses and products and positioning brands for the next level of growth."Our purpose is to inspire and guide business leaders and marketing teams of start-up and emerging companies to bring new value to the marketplace."We collaborate with them to build the foundations of competitive advantage at the early stages of their business success. We help them discover, define and focus on what their brand must stand for to influence and engage customers and lead the market," he said.Mr Mazibisa assisted in the construction of a state-of-the-art computer laboratory at Mawaba School in Bulawayo, which has since been adopted as the model for all Bulawayo City Council and Government schools.He is currently working on a $2 million project, which involves the construction of a double storey lecture theatre room and a swimming pool at the school.The project is expected to be completed in 2017.Mr Mazibisa is the only Zimbabwean on the Forbes list of under 30 entrepreneurs that was released last week.The list, which was chosen from 250 nominations, feature entrepreneurs from South Africa, Gambia, Benin, Madagascar, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Senegal and Tanzania.
News / National

by Livingstone Marufu

THIRD party insurance premiums for motor vehicles have been hiked by 20 percent to $36 per term from $30 last year for light vehicles, while premiums paid by commuter omnibuses have been revised to $88 from $60, it has been established.The increase coincides with the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara)'s computerisation programme, which has seen only 20 insurance firms being accredited on its new digital database.The computerisation exercise of motor vehicle insurance is designed to stem the issue of fake insurance cover to unsuspecting motorists.Over the years, the manual entry system has been making it difficult for the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) to collect the statutory 12 percent levy that is paid from third party insurance firms.So far, a total of 20 out of 22 insurance companies have registered to access Zinara's new transacting platform.The system records every transaction detail and can provide an audit trail for the benefit of all stakeholders that include TSCZ, Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) as well as the insurance companies. Government intends to create a road fund to promote road safety.Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Dr Joram Gumbo said fake insurance policies were affecting the effective mobilisation of the fund."All along, third party insurance was one boulevard to compensate road victims, but had not helped matters as it was exacerbated by the proliferation of fake insurance policies."I have set up a Road Accident Fund which will go a long way in helping accidents victims," said Dr Gumbo.If the programme is fully implemented, more than $108 million will be realised per year through third party insurance given that about 1, 2 million vehicles are currently registered on Zinara's database.Estimates suggest that Government loses $5,4 million annually through fake premiums.Through the new system, which began on May 2, 2016; Government will be able to easily verify revenues collected through insurance companies.The Insurance Council of Zimbabwe, which superintends over the insurance sector, could not respond to questions sent a fortnight ago pertaining to the premium increases.
See what to expect in coming months along I-69 Finish Line corridor

As the leaves begin to fall and air temperatures begin to cool, the 2022 road construction season will soon slow down.
Hendrick Health receives award

Hendrick Health System recently was presented with the Gallup Talent Maximization Award, which recognizes organizations based on quality hiring and professional development practices. Only winners of the Gallup Great Workplace Award, which Hendrick has received for the past 10 years, are eligible.

Tom's Tire Pros celebrates 40 years

Tom's Tire Pros, which was founded in Abilene in 1976, will celebrate its 40th anniversary Monday through Saturday at its Abilene store at 1434 S. Clack St. Sales and prizes will be available, with winners announced at a car show and customer appreciation event at 3 p.m. Saturday. Car show registration proceeds will go to the Dyess We Care Team.

ServiceMaster names partner, COO

Gary Glenn, owner of ServiceMaster by A-Town/Hi-Tech, has announced that Chris Jeter, general manager, has become a partner and chief operating officer of the company. Jeter's wife, Sharon, now oversees the office and office staff. Glenn has retired from day-to-day operations.

Day Nursery honors employees

The Day Nursery of Abilene recently named its employees of first quarter of 2016:

Maria Huerta, a caregiver for two-year-olds at the Cedar Street Center, has worked for Day Nursery for one and a half years.

Marisol Arrazola, a caregiver for 0-6 month infants at the Sherry Lane Center, has worked for Day Nursery for almost two years.

Lenay Malicoat, who works with all age groups at the Vine Street Center, has worked for Day Nursery since 2011.

Business workshop

The Texas Tech Small Business Development Center Abilene will conduct a Texas Comptroller Workshop from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday in the Texas Tech Training Center, 749 Gateway St., Suite 301. For reservations, call 325-670-0300.

First Financial announces new Fort Worth location

First Financial Bank, N.A. announced Thursday that its newest location has opened at 1000 Forest Park Blvd. in Fort Worth.

Martin Noto, president and CEO of First Financial Bank, Fort Worth Region, said in a news release, 'The new four-story facility will house our Fort Worth branch, mortgage and trust offices. We will be able to provide our customers full-service concierge banking for all their needs. Located just south of the intersection of Forest Park at Interstate 30 and Chisholm Trail Parkway, we are very convenient for all our friends and customers across Texas.'
News / National

by Tinomuda Chakanyuka

THE Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Dr Jorum Gumbo has announced plans to reshuffle all boards of parastatals that fall under his ministry. Dr Gumbo said the move was meant to achieve gender and regional parity on boards of state enterprises. He was responding to concerns over skewed regional representation on boards of parastatals.The transport minister revealed that he would start by appointing a new Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) board with 50 percent of the members being female. He said he will also select suitable candidates from all the country's 10 province to achieve regional parity."Take it from me. I have not appointed heads of parastatals, but I will. I will change them because I want gender balance. Most of those parastatals are biased towards men. We have got more men than women. I'm appointing a new CAAZ board and it will be 50/50 (male and female representation). I will not forget you (Bulawayo), I will go province by province. That's what I will do."All heads of my parastatals are not coming from Bulawayo. Let me be frank with you which I normally do. I have not myself appointed those heads, I found them there. I only appointed and replaced one that is at NRZ. The person who was there does not come from Matabeleland, he comes from the Midlands province and was replaced by another Midlander (sic) again, Larry Mavhima. Other than that, those that are there were appointed by the former minister (Dr Obert Mpofu), that's the truth," he said.Dr Gumbo in March this year appointed businessman Mr Larry Mavhima as NRZ board chairman to replace Mr Alvord Mabhena who was relieved of his duties in November last year. There have been concerns on the manner in which candidates for boards of State enterprises were being selected. Apart from NRZ and CAAZ, other parastatals under the ministry include Air Zimbabwe, Zinara, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, CMED and Zupco.
So, I, a 'Hispanic Macho man,' can go to the woman's bathroom at Target! Wow! That is crazy. What is this world coming to?

Our U.S. President has said that all public schools must provide 'a transgender bathroom' and if not, the schools will lose federal funds. And, our U.S. Supreme Court  the law of the land  says it is legal for a man to marry another man; or a woman to marry another woman. That is pathetic! That is sick! That is wrong! That is a sin!

In schools, prayer cannot be said or the Bible read because it might offend someone. Hogwash! All of our children and teachers will benefit from prayer and what is in the Bible. And the atheist wants to remove every cross in the country that sets on public land! That is crazy, too! Without God, the Bible and prayer this nation would be in ruins! George Washington and many other early American leaders prayed for this country. Years ago in many public schools and universities the Bible was used as a textbook.

But, we as Americans are not defending our rights. We are permitting a small minority of people and some crazy judges to run this great country of ours. It is time to WAKE UP and take some action. OK, we may not be able to save or change the world, but we CAN do many things right in our communities.

Grandparents and parents need to teach their children and grandchildren about what is right and what is wrong.

Just because the Supreme Court OKed same sex marriage, that does not make it right in the eyes of God. Biblical marriage is between a man and a woman.

Grandparents and parents need to tell their boys: 'You are a boy, and you will be a boy until you die!' Then tell the girls: 'You are a girl, and you will be a girl until you die!' Parents and grandparents need to say, 'You are special and God has a plan and a purpose for you!'

Sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend before marriage is common and popular but it is not right. It is a sin. The Bible calls it fornication! Young people are good at saying, (whatever they want to do) 'Everybody is doing it!' But you and I both know that just because 'Everybody is doing it,' does not make it right.

Most churches and ministers are just standing by and saying nothing. Ministers need to speak out! When was the last time you heard your preacher (minister, priest) bring a sermon on 'hell?' When was the last time you heard a minister preach against divorce? When was the last time you heard a minister preach against illicit sex? I think most ministers want to keep their congregations happy, so they keep away from these topics.

Yes, I know, the minority (the homosexuals, the lesbians, the transverts or transgender) will not like these type of sermons. They will find some judge to sue the minister and the church. Wow! That would be an interesting case! Military chaplains also have their hands tied and cannot properly minister to the needs of the military personnel.

I am challenging all ministers to preach what is in the Bible. If some preachers go to jail because of preaching the truth in the pulpit, more power to them. The Bible says that men and women will be persecuted for standing for righteous things. Matthew 10: 22 reads, 'All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.'

Why did Target come out with this crazy bathroom law? Three possible answers: money, to please the transgender, and to be ahead of the gang in being politically correct. The people who run Target have forgotten the traditional words of 'honor' and 'respect,' for women. Yes, I know, that in many other countries bathrooms are unisex. OK, but that is in other countries. They can do what they wish. America, is a different country where wholesome, healthy living is encouraged, supported and defended.

I am challenging all American citizens to speak up and defend the good morals of our country. Everywhere you live or everywhere you go encourage people to do what is right. If you believe in the Bible and prayer, say so. Don't be afraid. If you think sleeping around with someone who is not your spouse is a sin, say so. Speak up! And, yes, I know, you cannot change anyone; but trust me, people watch what you do. So, let us be good role models for our children, grandchildren, and anyone that is watching!

Joe Alcorta is a professor of Spanish at Hardin-Simmons University.
Dear members of Congress:

I have tried to live by the rules. I have served my country, paid my taxes, worked hard, volunteered and donated my fair share of money and time. Today, as I approach my 84th birthday, I am heart broken when I look at my country and government. I shall only point out a few things abysmally wrong which you can multiply by a thousand fold.

America's taxpayers are paying a hefty price for the well groomed appearances of the U.S. Senate's members and staff. Since 1997 the Senate Hair Care Shop has consistently run deficits of about $340,000 annually.

Only a few tight-lipped actuarial types know what the Senate dining room costs the taxpayers.

You only earn $174,000 per year, so please, enjoy your haircuts, hairdos and meals on us, and while the lowly privates and seamen in our military, who have signed a blank check payable with their lives, pay for their own hair styling as required.

In the middle of the night, you voted in the Affordable Health Care Act, aka 'Obamacare,' a bill which, according to Ms. Pelosi, 'needed to be passed so we can find out what's in it' and no more than a handful of senators or representatives read more than several paragraphs, crammed it down our throats, and then promptly exempted yourselves from it, substituting your own taxpayer-subsidized golden health care insurance.

You live exceedingly well, eat, drink, party and travel as well as the 'one percenters,' consistently vote yourselves perks and pay raises while making 3.5 times the average U.S. individual income, and give up nothing while you (as well as the President and Vice President) ask us to sacrifice due to sequestration.

You understand the only two rules you need to know; (1) How to get elected, and (2) How to get re-elected. And you do this with the aid of an eagerly willing and partisan press, speeches permeated with a questionable economy of truth, and by buying the votes of the greedy, long passed, ill-informed and undereducated citizens (and noncitizens, many of whom vote) who are looking for a handout rather than a job. Your so-called 'safety net' has become hammock for the lazy.

I would offer that you are not entirely to blame. What changed you is the seductive environment of power in which you have immersed yourselves. It is the nature of both houses of Congress which requires you to subordinate your virtue to get anything done. To paraphrase President Reagan, 'it appears the second oldest profession (politics), bears a remarkably strong resemblance to the oldest profession (prostitution).'

While we middle class citizens continue to struggle, our government becomes less and less transparent, and ever so much dictatorial, using Czars and Secretaries to tell us what kind of light bulbs we must purchase, how much soda or hamburgers we can drink and eat, what cars we can drive, what gasoline to use and what health care we must buy. Countless thousands of pages of regulations strangle our businesses and make our U.S. made products unable to profitably compete with the endless flood of foreign goods. For decades, you couldn't drink the water in Mexico and cars were made in Flint, Michigan now, you can't drink the water in Flint and the cars are made in Mexico what happened?

In early November, Congress recklessly increased American spending and debt by another $1.14 trillion, erasing all limits to printing money and creating debt backed by nothing. Borrowers intend for you to pay those debts! If you don't have a magical crystal ball to see the future, then a good history book (if you can now find one in America) will do the job. History has taught many lessons about bankrupt governments. As the governments fear losing control, they tighten the reins on citizen liberties as the citizens reject the notion that debt is wealth or that debt buys freedom, realizing that 'debt is the money of slaves.'

The chances of you reading this letter are practically zero as your staff will not pass it on, but with a little luck, a form letter response with an auto signature will be received hoping to convince me that you heard my message and actually care.

And for you Sir/Mam, you will never stand up to the rascals in your House who constantly deceive the American people. That is how power has corrupted you and the entire Congress. The only answer to clean up this cesspool is term limits. This, of course, will kill the goose that lays your golden eggs.

And woe be to him (or her) who would dare bring it up.
Today in history: On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles and died the next day. The brother of late President John F. Kennedy was running for the presidency when Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shot him after a speech in the Ambassador Hotel. Sirhan, who is now 72, was convicted and is serving a life sentence at a prison in San Diego County, California.
UPDATE

Lake O.H. Ivie, impounded on New Year's Day 1989, is 23.9 percent full with 132,485 acre feet of water.

According to the Texas Water Development Board, the lake was only 14.8 percent full a year ago, holding 81,908 acre feet of water.

While more than half of Big Country lakes are overflowing or full right now, a half dozen are still way below capacity - even though they all have gained year-over-year.

LAKE 2016% 2015% 2016 ac-ft 2015 ac-ft Champion 25.6 6 10,651 2,502 Colorado City 26.2 24.9 8,044 7,670 Spence 10.2 5.3 52,585 27,323 O.H. Ivie 23.9 14.8 132,485 81,908 Oak Creek 48.6 21.3 19,203 8,497 Sweetwater 22.2 13.6 2,729 1,664 NOTE: ac-ft means acre-feet



ORIGINAL STORY

(Via GoSanAngelo.com)

SAN ANGELO - Rains over the past week have the potential to nearly double the volume of water in O.H. Ivie Reservoir, the lake east of San Angelo that is the city's main source of drinking water, according to a former city manager who monitors runoff.

With streams east of Ballinger still flowing heavily into the Colorado River, the daily data from the Texas Water Development Board showed 116,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir as of early Saturday morning.

Stephen Brown has been watching streamflows across the area on small tributaries of the Colorado River and estimates that Ivie by early this week will hold at 130,000 acre-feet of water, up from the 66,000 measured on April 16, the most recent low point. He said Chuck Brown, who monitors water for the Upper Colorado River Authority, concurred with his calculations.

Stephen Brown said he and his wife drove out Saturday to check flows in some of the creeks east of Ballinger after hearing about fresh rainfalls Friday night.

He said Brushy Creek, Fuzzy Creek and Pony Creek, all of which flow into the Concho River downstream from Paint Rock, and Mustang Creek, which dumps into the Colorado below Ballinger, combined are 'likely contributing an additional 1,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) to the river in addition to the measured flow of the Colorado River at Ballinger.

'In addition, Elm Creek at Ballinger was capturing the title of biggest runoff producer for Ivie. Elm Creek for much of Friday flowed between 2,500 CFS to 3,000 CFS. Elm Creek's and the Colorado River's confluence is at Ballinger and both have separate USGS measuring stations to record their flows. The Colorado River at Ballinger for much of Friday night and Saturday flowed between 1,000 and 2,000 CFS,' Brown said in an email early Saturday.

Brown based his projections on those measured flows added into measurements Saturday that showed Ivie at 118,000 acre-feet.

An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre to the depth of one foot, the equivalent of about 325,000 gallons.

'The main Concho at Paint Rock was also a major contributor to Ivie runoff for the past several days, discharging the storms which hit San Angelo, eastern Tom Green County and western Concho County ... showing 1,500 to 2,200 CFS for two days,' he said. 'This morning it is at 850 CFS.

'Therefore, my estimate and (better than a swag) is that Ivie by late Monday or Tuesday morning will have a minimum of 130,000 acre-feet impounded.'

Rains have been extraordinarily generous this year. As of June 3, 17.53 inches had been recorded at the National Weather Service station at Mathis Field/San Angelo Regional Airport  more than double the normal rainfall for year-to-date.

The full storage capacity for Ivie is about 554,000 acre-feet. Texas Water Development Board data showed the lake holding 116,000 acre-feet as of Saturday morning, just over 20 percent of its capacity.

Ivie is the primary surface water source for municipal drinking water in San Angelo, which uses about 14,000 acre-feet a year. The Ivie water is shared among several municipalities. The most recent estimates from the city shows it has 30 months of drinking water available. Brown said that estimate should be adjusted to 44 months.

Brown said the impact of recent rainfall was most dramatic at Ivie but because of the locations where it fell, the effect on storage at Twin Buttes and O.C. Fisher is expected to be minor.
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News / National

by Staff reporter

OPPOSITION Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) leader and former vice-president, Joice Mujuru has set the campaign ball rolling as she braces for a bruising electoral fight against her ex-mentor President Robert Mugabe.Mujuru is reportedly at the fore, leading her party into a formidable opposition ahead of the 2018 elections, with a number of programmes lined up to strengthen the party for the next general elections.This comes amid allegations that there was growing discontent among members, who felt their leadership was not doing enough to set up a strong and competitive opposition.But impeccable sources told The Standard that Mujuru would soon plunge headlong into Zimbabwe's political minefield, with two rallies planned for Bulawayo and Harare "very soon"."The president [Mujuru] is set to address rallies in Bulawayo and Harare soon to formally introduce the party to Zimbabweans ahead of the congress in October. There will be other rallies in between but these are the flagship events that could define ZimPF's future," The Standard heard.Party spokesperson and liberation war luminary Rugare Gumbo would neither deny nor confirm the development."We have a lot going as a new party and cannot at the moment say much, suffice to say we will make proper announcements to Zimbabweans when the right time comes. We are working on mobilisation and recruitment, creating co-ordinating committees at various levels of our structures," Gumbo said, adding Mujuru was heavily involved in the processes currently underway.ZimPF Harare spokesperson, Jealous Mawarire said Mujuru had instructed the mobilisation team to put in place five teams that were covering all provinces to do an audit of the party's structures."The teams have the mandate to look at whether the structures are inclusive, whether they reflect gender equality and to see if they reflect the issue of youth representation," Mawarire said."We want to ensure the structures reflect the inclusivity doctrine that we are pushing as a political party. This should reflect we are an organisation comprised of people with different backgrounds such as Zanu-PF, MDC-T, other MDCs, MKD and other political parties, as well as people who were previously not into politics."He said there were several programmes going ahead in the party as it worked to mobilise the electorate and explaining their economic blueprint, Build.Mawarire said Mujuru had been meeting different social groups from within the country, particularly representatives of NGOs, churches and different professional backgrounds such as lawyers and accountants and many others to understand the day to day socio-economic realities experienced by them."The key issue at this stage is voter mobilisation and recruitment so that the electorate understands the party policy especially programmes that we will proffer so that when we say we are a government in waiting people will understand what we are offering," he said.Mawarire said they were finalising their party constitution and getting feedback from the electorate concerning their economic blueprint.He said critical input from different sectors was being consolidated to enrich the policy."We are reviewing BUILD based on the input that we have been receiving from different sectors. We sent out the blueprint so that we provoke debate and we are getting feedback to enrich the document," he said.Mawarire said their programmes and meetings were oversubscribed and they had what it took to win the next elections.ZimPF was allegedly rocked by chaotic scenes two weeks ago characterised by an impromptu demonstration at Mujuru's residence during an interim executive meeting after a reported public spat between senior leaders pitting Gumbo and former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa on one hand and former Zanu-PF Mbire lawmaker David Butau on the other.Mujuru reportedly convened an emergency meeting to deal with the issue.Gumbo has insisted that there was nothing wrong with "contradictions in a big party like ZimPF"."We are a big organisation and people have different opinions every day. The important thing is how we deal with these contradictions as a democratic movement. We will deal with these issues in the best way possible," he said.Insiders said Mujuru was likely to meet the party's leaders at different levels to audit structures."We have finished setting up structures at section, ward, constituency and provincial level. We have also been advised that membership cards are almost ready for distribution," a close source said.
Afghan authorities say a member of the country's parliament was killed and 11 other people injured when a bomb planted near his Kabul home exploded on June 5.



The attack on Sher Wali Wardak, a lawmaker from the eastern Wardak Province, came hours after Taliban militants stormed a court building south of Kabul, killing at least seven people, including a chief prosecutor.



Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the explosive device was hidden in an electrical box attached to a wall and detonated as Wardak left his home.



"It could either have been a bomb on a timer or one that was remotely detonated," Sediqqi said.



Among the 11 others injured in the blast were five of Wardak's bodyguards, Sediqqi added.



He said on Twitter that "police and other security forces have been advised to investigate the cause of today's explosion."



No group had immediately claimed responsibility for the blast on June 5.



A member of Afghanistan's parliament in March survived after he was targeted in a suicide attack that killed three people and wounded eight others.



Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa
Taliban gunmen stormed a courthouse in eastern Afghanistan on June 5, killing a chief prosecutor and at least six others in an assault that came amid a spate of recent attacks on employees of the judiciary.



The attack on the courthouse in Puli Alim, capital of the eastern Logar Province, came as newly appointed chief prosecutor Mohammad Akram Nejat was being introduced to the public.



The Interior Ministry said in a statement that 21 others, including six police officers, were injured in the deadly assault, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for.



Nesar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai, deputy police chief of the Logar Province, said all three gunmen who carried out the June 5 assault were killed by security forces.



The provincial governor, Mohammad Halim Fedayee, was quoted by AFP as saying that the gunmen were wearing police uniforms "when they entered the court building and started shooting people."



"Unfortunately, seven people were killed, including Mohammad Akram Nejat, the newly appointed head of the court," Fedayee said.



The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack in a June 5 statement, saying that among those killed was a junior prosecutor and that those injured included three judges.



UNAMA head Nicholas Haysom said in the statement that he urged "authorities to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions."



"Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted," Haysom added.



Militants have targeted judicial officials in recent weeks after six convicted insurgents -- including four Taliban members -- were executed last month.



In late May, 10 people were killed and four injured in a suicide-bomb attack on a bus carrying judicial officials from Kabul to Wardak Province.

Based on reporting by dpa and AP
The leader of Germanys Green Party is under police protection following death threats received in the wake of the German parliaments vote to recognize the World War I-era Ottoman Turk mass killings of ethnic Armenians as genocide.

Party leader Cem Ozdemirs spokesman was quoted by Die Welt on June 5 as saying we have never experienced such a high number of death threats.

Germanys Bundestag on June 2 nearly unanimously adopted a Green Party resolution to recognize the killings of some 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Turkey, the Ottoman successor state, says that Armenians died in much smaller numbers and because of civil strife rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to annihilate the Christian minority.

On June 4, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Armenian issue is used all over the world as a convenient instrument for blackmailing Turkey.

We will never accept the accusations of genocide, he said. Erdogan added that, given Germanys own record during World War II, it has no right to comment on the killings of Armenians.

With the June 2 vote, Germany became the 23rd country to label the mass killings as genocide.

Based on reporting by dpa, AFP, and AP
Iran has rejected accusations by the United States that it is a sponsor of terrorism, saying it only supports the legitimate struggle of nations that are occupied.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari made the comments on June 5, shortly after the U.S. State Department issued its annual report naming Iran as the worlds major state sponsor of terrorism.

The U.S. report said Tehran is fueling conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain.

Ansari said, on the contrary, that the U.S. military has supported terrorist groups in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Yemen. He also said that Washington turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support [of terrorism] by Saudi Arabia and its other allies.

He also criticized U.S. support for Israel and defended Tehrans support for Palestinian groups, saying they have the right to resist Israeli occupation.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Two Russian bridges, one in St. Petersburg and the other in Moscow, are at the heart of passionate eponymic disputes between authorities and residents.



In St. Petersburg, a decision by local officials to name a new bridge after the father of Ramzan Kadyrov, the former warlord who has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for almost a decade, has sparked outrage among residents of the northern Russian city.



Akhmad Kadyrov was also a former Chechen separatist warlord who fought Russian forces before switching sides and becoming president of Chechnya in 2003. He was assassinated less than a year later.



Angry residents have taken to the street to protest the initiative, stressing that neither Kadyrov has any ties to St. Petersburg. The next protest is scheduled for June 6.



An online petition has already gathered more than 74,000 signatures.

A number of St. Petersburg cultural luminaries, including renowned film director Aleksandr Sokurov and actor Oleg Basilashvili, have joined the chorus of indignation.



St. Petersburg residents will be outraged to have a reference to this infamous family, Sokurov wrote in an open letter to St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.

Rights Abuses

Sokurov cautioned authorities against naming the bridge in honor of a man associated with a bloody conflict.



We should not forget that during the first Chechen war it was precisely him who called for a jihad and who called on Chechens to kill as many Russians as possible, he wrote. Hundreds of people who died in this war are buried in our city, many people living here have not forgotten this.



Akhmad Kadyrovs son, Ramzan, is not particularly popular outside the southern republic of Chechnya, where he has been leader since 2007. He has long been accused of corruption and widespread abuses that include abductions, torture, and executions.

He has called for a return of polygamy in Russia and routinely posts pictures of himself on Instagram lifting weights, frolicking with exotic animals, and in shirts featuring likenesses of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the man who brought him to power.



A group of St. Petersburg residents has launched a campaign to name the bridge instead after Anna Akhmatova, one of Russias best-loved poets.



Unlike Akhmad Kadyrov, Anna Akhmatova spent most of her life and died in St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad.



Her first husband, poet Nikolai Gumilyov, was executed by the Soviet secret police in 1921. Her son spent many years in the gulag and her common-law husband, art scholar Nikolai Punin, died in the gulag in 1953.



The activists filmed themselves declaiming poems written by Akhmatova in front of the unnamed bridge and called on others to do the same.





St. Petersburgs commission for the naming of sites and structures, which voted on May 30 to name the bridge after Akhmad Kadyrov, has already warned it will not budge.

'Nemtsov Bridge'



Meanwhile in Moscow, activists and authorities have been clashing over a downtown bridge where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in February 2015.



Allies of Nemtsov have dubbed the Moskvoretsky Bridge, which stands a stones throw from the Kremlin, the "Nemtsov Bridge."



Their attempts to officially rename the bridge after Nemtsov, however, have been thwarted.



An ongoing memorial at the bridge, comprising portraits, flowers, and a makeshift street sign reading Nemtsov Bridge, is regularly vandalized.



Authorities have also turned down numerous requests to put up a monument or a plaque to commemorate the slain politician, a former deputy prime minister and fierce critic of Putin.
Iraqi officials say government forces have discovered a mass grave containing the remains of around 400 people near Fallujah during their push to retake the city from the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.



Unidentified security sources were quoted by news agencies as saying on June 5 that Iraqi forces discovered the grave in the suburb of Saqlawiya northwest of Fallujah.



"Most of the remains belonged to military personnel who were detained and killed by [IS fighters]," one military official told dpa on condition of anonymity.



A police colonel in the Anbar Province, where Fallujah is located, was quoted by AFP as saying that the mass burial site was uncovered during a mine-clearing operation in the Shuhada neighborhood of Saqlawiya.



"The mass grave contains about 400 bodies of members of the military. There are also some civilians," the police colonel told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.



Rajeh Barakat, a member of the Anbar provincial council, confirmed the discovery to AFP.



"The mass grave also includes civilians executed by [IS militants] on various charges such as spying or breaking the organization's rules," Barakat told AFP.



Iraqi forces, with air support from the U.S.-led coalition and backing from Shi'ite militias, launched the offensive to retake Fallujah two weeks ago.



Iraqi officials said earlier on June 5 that that they had secured the the southern edge of the city.



Based on reporting by dpa and AFP
Russia has warned the United States not to use North Koreas nuclear-weapons program as a pretext for changing the military-political balance in the region, including by implementing U.S. plans to deploy missile-defense systems there.

Speaking at a security conference in Singapore on June 5, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said it is very dangerous when one state is providing its own security at the expense of others.

He said Russia is not opposed to missile defense in principle, but criticized the United States for not maintaining dialogue on this issue.

Antonov also criticized the overall security architecture in the Asia-Pacific Rim region.

The current regional security system based mainly on a network of closed military alliances does not help create an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding, Antonov argued.

Based on reporting by Interfax, AFP, and TASS
Residents and a monitoring group say Russian and Syrian government aircraft have pummeled rebel-held areas in Aleppo amid an escalating battle for what was Syria's largest city before the five-year-old war.



The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, and residents recorded nearly 50 air strikes in and around Aleppo on June 5, saying at least 16 civilians were killed in the bombardments.



Meanwhile, a civil defense worker was quoted by Reuters as saying that the air strikes killed at least 32 people in parts of the city controlled by rebels, with the bodies of 18 people having been pulled from destroyed buildings in Aleppo's Qaterji neighborhood.



Syrian state media said insurgents killed at least 20 people in June 5 attacks on Hamadaniyah, Midan, and other Aleppo neighborhoods.



Aleppo, about 50 kilometers south of the Turkish border, is divided between the government and rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been backed by the Kremlin in the war.



A truce was brokered by Washington and Moscow in February. But the agreement has since unraveled, with fighting and bombardment in Aleppo playing a major role in its collapse.





Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and the Telegraph
Iraqi security forces say they have seized the southern edge of the city of Fallujah in a push by the government to recapture the stronghold of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.



Lieutenant General Abdel Wahab al-Saadi said on June 5 that his forces are prepared to enter Fallujah after they secured the Naymiyah neighborhood south of the main city.



Fallujah became the first city in Iraq captured by IS forces when it fell in January 2014.



Iraqi forces, with air support from the U.S.-led coalition and backing from Shi'ite militias, launched the offensive to retake Fallujah two weeks ago but have faced heavy resistance from IS fighters and concerns about the presence of some 50,000 civilians there.



The city is one of the last strongholds in Iraq for IS forces, which also control the country's second-largest city, Mosul.



Al-Saadi added that IS fighters battling elite Iraqi forces on Fallujah's southern edge on June 5 were offering "some resistance" but "a little less than in previous days."



He said that police forces on the northern edge of Fallujah were nearing the train station but had yet to reach the city limits.

Based on reporting Reuters and AFP
News / National

by Staff Reporter

VICE-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has blamed Minister Sithembiso Nyoni's Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for the externalization of the United States Dollar which has caused serious cash shortages in the country.Mnangagwa said the liquidity crunch was due to externalisation of money by small to medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as foreign owned companies that are shunning local banks.He made the remarks while addressing members of the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries (CZI), Ministry of Industry and Commerce officials and Zimasco employees in Kwekwe on Friday. He said said most companies and small retail shops owned by foreigners were externalising hard cash from Zimbabwe and circulating it in the informal sector.VP Mnangagwa said the Government was putting drastic measures to curb externalisation of money by small businesses some of whom were operating illegally. He said this while responding to a statement by South African Company Portnex Official Mr Frikkie Laubster that Zimbabwe was a fishing pond for hard currency (US dollar)."As we were going round and when Laubster was explaining why we have this liquidity crunch in the country, he said Zimbabwe was a fishing pond for hard currency. So we are a fishing pond for the Southern African region to acquire and access hard currency. Therefore, we must find some methods to implement to reduce the country from being a fishing pond for the US dollar. One other measure is the introduction of bond notes. This won't trade in other countries in the region but locally it can trade and facilitate commercial transactions. Bond notes will oil commercial transactions in the country," said VP Mnangagwa.VP Mnangagwa said the introduction of bond notes does not mean that Zimbabweans will not have access to the US dollars. He, however, urged companies to embrace new technologies and move with technology to increase efficiency of production. VP Mnangagwa said most companies were limping because they were using obsolete technologies and machinery and have been overtaken by time.He said there was a need for the country to also upgrade its infrastructure. VP Mnangagwa said there was a need to mordenise the rail gauge adding that the Government had plans of constructing a railway line linking Harare and Beira through Mashonaland Central Province."We have a system of railway line which is colonial but now we need to integrate our rail gauge so that it interrelates with countries in the region such as South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique. We have a research committee to work out the interrelations of the rail gauge. Also we are behind in terms of the type of locomotives that we are using locally so we have to spend about $6 billion for the infrastructure and mordenise our railway system."We need a railway line from Harare to Beira through Mashonaland Central, about 865km. These are some of the programmes, we have to mordenise the railway line. We are targeting to put tarmac on over 4 000km of the road. Some roads are going to be widened while some will be dualised, this will improve the road networking and enhance business and make sure we catch up with other countries in the region," he said.
Curators are putting the finishing touches on exhibits at a new museum in Dnipropetrovsk devoted to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The first exhibit to open is an outdoor display called "The Roads of Donbas," where streets signs point the way to the sites of major battles, littered with armored vehicles, ambulances, artillery, and other artifacts of war. The indoor part of the museum will open later this year.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, says his order restoring voting rights to 206,000 felons is legal; that he can re-enfranchise an entire class of Virginians in a single stroke. Speaker Bill Howell and Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, both Republicans, say thats illegal; that the governor can act only on a case-by-case basis.

Whos correct  given that there is little precedent to support either argument  will be decided this summer by the Virginia Supreme Court, whose seven members owe their jobs to the Republicans who control judicial spoils through their legislative majority. The judiciary finds itself in an uncomfortable position that, history shows, it often tries to avoid: settling a political dispute between the executive and the legislature.

On one level, its a civics book exercise, a reminder of the occasionally fractious interplay of the three branches of government, as guided by the Constitution of Virginia, seen more as a doctrine of limitations than one of powers. On another level, its a nasty argument among top elective officials who deeply dislike one another and  in their ever-escalating battle over policy  are looking to the Supreme Court to provide one side a truncheon with which it can bludgeon the other.

In announcing this past week that it would hear the Republican challenge to the McAuliffe decree, the states highest court left no doubt it would decide the case.

The decision, some lawyers suggest, could be technical  and evasive. In other words, the justices wouldnt rule because theres no evidence that Howell, Norment and four other plaintiffs have been wronged by McAuliffe. In the argot of the law, the plaintiffs lack standing, despite their claims that elections would be tainted by unqualified felons swept up by the broad order. For McAuliffe, that would be a temporary win.

However, the Supreme Court has considerable latitude to explore the issues on its docket  in this instance, the bounds of a governors clemency powers. If facts are in dispute, the court could order both sides to file additional briefs. It may even want to hear from experts and could direct that they appear in Richmond.

Its possible the case could come down to a pronoun in one section of the constitution thats missing from another. Article II, dealing with voting and qualifications for office, says a felon is ineligible to vote unless his rights are restored by the governor. Article V, on the executive, outlines a governors authority to remove political disabilities. Unlike Article II, it makes no reference to an individual covered by clemency.

That the court, for the first time since 1993, is convening in special session  that is, during the long summer gap in its calendar  is an acknowledgment that this latest executive-legislative dispute, because of the approaching presidential and congressional elections, is time-sensitive but has implications beyond November.

A speedy turnaround is by no means unusual. A year ago this month, the Supreme Court needed about a week to hear arguments and issue an opinion in the lawsuit to keep open women-only Sweet Briar College. Time was of the essence if the financially struggling school outside Lynchburg was to admit students for the 2015-16 academic year.

That the Supreme Court is hearing the voting rights case in tandem with a government transparency question tied to a redistricting lawsuit on which the clock also is ticking may be more than a coincidence.

The challenge to allegedly gerrymandered House of Delegates and Virginia Senate districts is scheduled for trial in Richmond Circuit Court in September. But the Supreme Court must first decide whether six current and former senators should surrender records to the redistricting reform group contesting legislative boundaries.

Were the two cases not heard until the fall, and given that there is no deadline for the court to rule, the disputes might not be resolved until sometime in 2017, a gubernatorial and House election year.

In both matters, there could be a delay attributed to legislators and their special privilege: They are shielded from legal action during a General Assembly session as well as 30 days before it and 30 days after it. That means it could be late March 2017, at the earliest, before either case is resolved.

Ergo, the Supreme Courts special-session provision ensures resolution  or what passes for it  a lot sooner than later.

Over the past 35 years, a period during which Virginias politics have become more competitive and even more contentious, the court has become an arena in which Republicans and Democrats settle their immediate differences or the justices  and the government authorities who rely on their findings  issue edicts with which one political party clobbers the other.

In the early 1980s, the Supreme Court made clear that the election of judges by the General Assembly requires separate majority votes of the House and the Senate. At the time, the Democrats who controlled both chambers were fumbling to fill a vacancy on the State Corporation Commission.

The ruling had implications this year, thwarting for months Republicans efforts to fire McAuliffes interim pick for the Supreme Court, Jane Marum Roush, replacing her with one of their own; ultimately, Steve McCullough, an appeals court judge whos burnished his conservative legal credentials as a deputy to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

In the mid-1990s, the Supreme Court narrowly decided the limits of a governors power to veto portions of the state budget. Gov. George Allen, a Republican, had struck Democrat-written policy language. The court said the veto could not be used to make editorial changes; that a governor could only reject language tied to an appropriation.

This issue flared last month, when McAuliffe vetoed a provision preventing him from implementing without legislative approval a Medicaid-financed expansion of Obamacare. Should he attempt to do so, over warnings by Howell that the veto is unconstitutional, Republicans could again dash to the Supreme Court, likely invoking the Allen-era decision and others.

In the early 2000s, the Supreme Court junked as taxation-without-representation a bipartisan transportation-financing scheme under which unelected regional authorities would impose new levies in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. It was designed as an end-run on Republican anti-taxers who still dominate the General Assembly.

The ruling forced a promise-breaking retreat in 2013 by members of the no-new-tax crowd, most notably Gov. Bob McDonnell and Speaker Howell. Because of continuing resistance by fellow Republicans, McDonnell and Howell were dependent on Democrats to win a tax fix for roads and rails.

Ahead of  and immediately after  the July 19 hearing, there will be considerable handicapping on how the Supreme Court might divide on the voting rights lawsuit and whether some of the justices would be looking over their shoulders at the Republican legislators who have the last word on judicial patronage.

The chief justice, Don Lemons, hits mandatory retirement in 2022; so politics could be the last thing on his mind. Bernard Goodwyn and Bill Mims are up for re-election in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Maybe thats enough time for Republicans to forgive and forget, should Goodwyn and Mims side with McAuliffe.

Elizabeth McClanahan, Cleo Powell and Arthur Kelsey are considered reliable conservatives. Their terms extend well beyond the next redistricting in 2021. Theyre likely secure if Republicans are still in the majority. Ditto McCullough, though as the junior justice, hes yet to fully establish a profile.

Thatll change soon enough.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe is nothing if not proud of his executive order restoring voting rights to felons en masse. But he is not so proud that he is willing to tell the public whom it actually affects.

His administration has refused to release the list of the roughly 206,000 felons whose voting and other rights the order restores. That has created headaches for local voting offices, which are still obliged by law to certify that a person registering to vote is eligible to do so.

The order also makes it much easier for felons to apply for restoration of their gun rights. Getting their civil rights back is a prerequisite for that change, which is not included in the executive order. Regaining their civil rights used to be an arduous process; now its all but automatic. The governors lofty rhetoric about returning ex-cons to full citizenship notwithstanding, he didnt want to increase felon access to guns. But he clearly didnt think through the implications of his executive order. My action, I didnt think it had anything to do with gun rights, he said not long ago. Oops. Now 206,000 felons are much closer to regaining their gun rights, but McAuliffe wont say who they are. On Friday, the public learned they include some particularly infamous killers.

Those felons now can serve on juries, too. Some prosecutors would like to see the list of those affected by McAuliffes order, to cross-check it against pools of potential jurors. Its easy to see why: A felon might be much more partial to the defense, or hostile to cops and prosecutors, than a law-abiding citizen would be.

Yet the governors office has refused a Freedom of Information request for the list by the commonwealths attorney of Loudoun, claiming that it constitutes the governors working papers  which are exempt. This is scurrilous, for three reasons.

First, that loophole is big enough to hide a herd of elephants. A two-dollar ink pad and a rubber stamp with the words working papers is all a governor (or university president or agency head) needs to keep much of what he or she does from public view. The General Assembly needs to fix that.

Second, its questionable whether the list truly constitutes working papers  especially given that the governors spokesman, Brian Coy, says the administration will turn over the list to the General Assembly at its next regular session. If so, why wait?

More to the point: In what way does the list amount to working papers? What makes that particular list a set of working papers but not, say, the list of appointees to boards and commissions? Or does the administration contend that any list it keeps is automatically exempt from FOIA, just because it involves some work to create? What criteria does it use to designate which lists are working papers and which arent? Lets have some explanation.

Third, even if the list does include working papers, the administration need not invoke the loophole. An exemption under FOIA means that a government body is allowed to withhold certain information  not that it must do so. The administration remains perfectly free to release the list if it wants to. It just doesnt want to.
On May 24, The Times-Dispatch welcomed Keith Harward to its 65th Public Square. Harward spent 33 years in Virginia prisons after being convicted in a Newport News homicide and rape case. DNA evidence later proved he did not commit the crimes. He was joined by Olga Akselrod, an attorney for The Innocence Project, which helped Harward win his freedom, and by RTD reporter Frank Green, whose reporting helped accelerate Virginias sometimes creaky criminal justice system. Green interviewed Harward and Akselrod on stage, a low-key lesson in how responsible journalism works. The audience of more than 100 people joined in the question-and-answer session, moderated by RTD Publisher Tom Silvestri. To watch the entire Public Square, go to Richmond.com. Today, we publish the many highlights.

***

Tom Silvestri, RTD publisher: Welcome to the 65th Public Square. ... Keith Harward spent 33 years behind bars, innocent of the crimes of which he was convicted. Now, for the first time in coming back to Virginia, hes going to sit down with us. Youre going to hear his story. Hes going to tell you about his experiences. In the middle, theres Keith himself. (APPLAUSE) A little bit of biography. Keiths 60. An innocent North Carolina man, arrested when he was 26 years old. Spent 33 years, three decades, behind bars for a 1982 murder of Jesse Perron, and the rape of his wife in Newport News, largely on erroneous bite-mark comparison evidence from so-called experts. More on that from Keith.

To his right is his attorney, Olga Akselrod, senior staff attorney for The Innocence Project. Out of New York, she helped exonerate Keith. And among other cases, helped free another man in a story you might have heard about, Richmonds Thomas Haynesworth, wrongly-convicted in a series of 1984 rapes committed by serial rapist Leon Davis Jr. ... We have our journalist, Frank Green. Youve read his stories. Thats probably why youre here. Frank Green has been covering criminal justice and all sorts of major issues since he joined The Times-Dispatch in 1980. He happens to be this years reigning Virginia Press Association Journalist of the Year, and were quite proud of him.

Im going to turn this over to Keith. He and Frank are going to conduct a live interview. Some of you dont always get a chance to see a reporter in action, but thats part of this years Public Square specialty. Youve seen our reporters in action. ...

***

Frank Green, RTD staff writer: Well, Keith got to Richmond yesterday. And as Tom mentioned, its his first trip back to Virginia since he was ruled completely innocent of the crime. And he wanted to make sure everybody had gotten that word. Keith, whats it like being in prison for decades, knowing youre innocent? How do you cope?

Keith Harward: Well, what I actually did was, I was just so overwhelmed by the fact that the state had convicted me when I knew I didnt commit the crime, that I held my head up high. I was proud of the fact that I didnt cave in. I didnt confess to anything I didnt do, or anything like that. And I just knew all along that I didnt do it. I was in a tough spot, and I couldnt get depressed or down on myself, because it wasnt my fault. So I just went day to day, just trying to be upbeat and trying to be respectful of others, and just thinking that  you know, maybe someday somebody would say, Oh, we made a mistake. We need to let this guy out.

Which actually did finally happen, through the help from The Innocence Project, and Frank. He  you all have a great writer here in Richmond. He wouldnt let it go. And because of that, I got out early. I wasnt even expecting to be out til maybe Christmas, because the Supreme Court would have to act on it. But because it came to Frank throwing those articles out there, telling my truth, next thing I know, people decided, Well, we need to do something about that. You may have seen on TV where the  whats his name, the attorney general?

Green: Mark Herring?

Harward: Mark Herring  got on TV and said, We need to let this guy out. We got it wrong. And next thing I know, Im out, like, two days later. Im standing out, and did a press conference. There at Nottoway prison. But thats how I got through. I just told myself, I cant beat myself up over it, because it wasnt my fault. So I had to go day to day. I couldnt get down and depressed. I mean, theres no future in that. I mean, you know. You just  it just was so overwhelming that the state did what they did to me. Because, you know, this is America. And if somebodys innocent, youre not going to be found guilty. And I cooperated from the very beginning. I told them, answered all their questions. Did everything they wanted me to do. And I said, Well, theyre not gonna convict me. And the next thing I know, Im in prison. And its like, Wow. How did this happen?

And now we know that it was a lot of wrongdoing on behalf of detectives and other people that were involved. Serologists lying at trials, and crazy bite-mark evidence. ... How can they take a bite mark? I mean, I can understand they can take remains and identify through dental records. But to take somebodys  a person or a thing thats been bitten, and say, Oh, well, this matches. How is that possible? But theres people out there making money, testifying in cases. Identifying wrong people. That whats happened. Six odonatologists all together said I did it beyond a shadow of a doubt, because of bite marks. Regardless of the DNA and the hypnotism of witnesses. And the lying of serologists. Six odonatologists, who just had to make their living, said, Hey. He did it. No question about it, he did it. But we found out different.

***

Green: You were tried twice, and the first time, the death sentence was on the table. Were you afraid you might get the death sentence?

Harward: Well, once again, it comes back to that proud thing. I knew I didnt do it. And they  my lawyers had offered to discuss a plea agreement. And I said, No, theres no way I could do that. I cant admit to something I didnt do. And I would rather be put to death knowing that I didnt do it, than to sit in prison for the rest of my life, saying I admitted to something I didnt do. Because Id have to spend all those years  I didnt think I would ever get out, honestly. I didnt think  until The Innocence Project took up my case. I was set to die in prison. I figured that was going to be my future.

So I dealt with it and lived with it. You know, you have to work with the cards that youre dealt. You know, everybody out here, every day, you have to deal with whats given to you. So, you know, I was in prison. So I had to say, OK. Dont beat myself up. Do the best I can. Treat people right, and try to be happy and upbeat about things. But here I am today. Because of The Innocence Project, and Frank writing all those stories.

Silvestri: When you heard back from The Innocence Project, did you get your hopes up? Or did you try to temper your expectations?

Harward: Well, the city of Newport News and the State of Virginia already convicted me for something I didnt do. So I wasnt going to jump up and down and be excited, because, you know, they beat me down. They defeated me, even though I told the truth. And until I was standing out in that parking lot that day, I kept myself calm. Because theres no need to get excited over something that may never happen. Who knows  theres people out there, guys out there now, that are innocent or undeserving of the sentences theyve got, that theyve got to deal with and live with that. And I told myself, I said, Well, until I get in that parking lot, Im gonna remain calm. Because I dont want to get excited just to get let down. Because Id already been let down once before, when I went to two different trials. Or, actually been let down twice. I was hoping somebody would step forward. Oh, we made a mistake. You know. Were gonna let you go. But that never happened. Because, you know, egos got involved, and people telling lies, and that kind of thing. You know, their jobs depended on  their reputation depended on it. They werent going to say, Oh, I made a mistake. This guys not the guy that did it. They werent going to do it.

***

Green: Can you describe how you found out that the Virginia Supreme Court had exonerated you, and how you felt?

Harward: Well, I was sitting in the cell trying to read one of your latest articles. Cause I already try to read em. You know, try to keep em if I could. But I had to share my newspapers with everybody in my pod in the prison. But they called me, told me I needed to go to medical. So I went  off to medical I went. And they got there and said, Well, youre gonna spend the night here. Were not going to let you go back to your cell. I said, What? I dont want to  Ive been here before. Ive had medical issues and Ive had to stay in the infirmary. I said, I dont want to  this is the walking dead. I dont want to stay here. Im healthy. Nothings wrong with me. And they said, Calm down. Calm down.

So next thing I know, theyre taking the handcuffs off of me, and Im walking up to part of the prison where inmates dont go. Youve got that line. Do not pass that line, or troubles going to be bestowed upon you. And then Im sitting in this nice room, carpet on the floor, big-backed chairs and stuff. And the warden walks in. He says, Mr. Harward, youve been exonerated. The Supreme Court of Virginia signed the papers. Youre a free man, and I cant let you back in the prison, because youll be a security risk. Cause they didnt want me to be hurt by somebody else. Because now Im a free person, sitting inside of a prison. And  you know, other than employees and stuff, that doesnt happen. So.

***

Silvestri: Olga, what went wrong in this case, and how did an innocent man get convicted of crimes like this?

Olga Akselrod, attorney for The Innocence Project: Well, a lot went wrong with this case, unfortunately. You know, the thing that was clear that went wrong when we first looked at the case, was that he was convicted based almost exclusively on the testimony of bite-mark experts. And youve heard Keith mention that. I mean, literally, what these experts did is, they had photographs of bite marks on the victims legs  the perpetrator bit her during this assault. And they compared those marks to molds of Keiths teeth.

Well, theres several problems with that. The first question is, are teeth unique? Right? So are Keiths teeth so different from Franks teeth, so different from the many, many other people, such that we can tell them apart? Thats the first issue. The second is, can human skin accurately create an image of teeth? We know skin bruises and swells and all the stuff that can happen with skin. And so these experts testified that to medical certainty, that theyre positive that Keith Harward bit this victim. And thats what convicted him. And what we have learned over time is that theres absolutely no scientific basis for that whatsoever. This has never been scientifically validated. And yet these experts were allowed to come into court and convict Keith based on this testimony. And potentially subject him to the death penalty. Its really quite frightening. ...

But other things went wrong as well that we discovered as we were working on the case. We discovered first that there was very important exculpatory information that had never been turned over to Keiths attorneys. One of those pieces being that in addition to the bite marks, there was a security guard at the Newport News dock who testified that he saw somebody with blood on him stagger into the dock, which is where they thought the perpetrator was from. And his testimony was already pretty problematic. He saw this guy for a couple of seconds and didnt make the ID until seven months later. He identified Keith.

Well, what we learned is that he was hypnotized. He had been hypnotized prior to the identification. There were major changes in his testimony or in his story, from the pre-hypnosis to after. The defense attorneys never knew that, so the jury never heard that. And the other big thing was that they had done testing on samples collected from the victim at the hospital. And the serologist from the Department of Forensic Science testified, Well, I tested this one sample and I got nothing. I got no results and that could mean that there just wasnt enough there to get a result. Well, what we learned when we actually got a copy of the bench notes, which is his notes that hes taking as hes actually doing the testing, is that he had actually tested many samples, not just that one. And one of them contained serological results that would have excluded Keith.

So the reality is that this conviction should have never happened. This is not just, you know, a mistakes happen. This was a preventable situation. And Keith should have never spent 33 years incarcerated for a crime that he did not commit. Thank God that there is DNA that was able to prove it. But the reality is that he should never have been convicted.

***

Green: Were Virginia authorities at Newport News and the Attorney Generals Office cooperative in this case?

Akselrod: They were very cooperative with us with the post-conviction investigation. Howard Gwynns office  hes the Newport News commonwealths attorney  he consented to the DNA testing in this case. If he hadnt have done that, we might have been litigating for years. The other really big thing that Howard did was, he consented to releasing the police file. And thats huge. People need to understand that  you know, in Virginia, there is no standard that commonwealths attorneys have, where they have to turn over files. Even at the time of trial, its really kind of up to the commonwealths attorney and what their individual practices are with regards to what they turn over to the defense attorneys.

Post-conviction, we pretty much have no right to anything. And most of the time, if Im trying to get documents, once somebodys been convicted, I cant get them. And so some of the things that we discovered in Keiths case, we wouldnt have been able to discover were it not for the fact that Howard Gwynn allowed for the Newport News Police Department to turn over their file. So, he was very cooperative. And the Attorney Generals Office, as Keith mentioned, was very cooperative once we actually got the exculpatory results. They fairly quickly made the determination that he was innocent and that he should be released. And were grateful for that.

***

Green: Id like to point out to everyone here, we have another exonoree here, Mr. Thomas Haynesworth, who was exonerated  was it 11? 2011. And  27 years in prison. (APPLAUSE) Keith, youve been out 48 days.

Harward: Forty-eight days today.

Green: Whats been the best and whats been the hardest part of that?

Harward: Well, the best, I guess, is the food. ... You know, theyre not gonna spend a lot of money on convicts  prisoners, inmates, offenders, whatever they want to call them. And the hardest part is technology. Everybody here, youve had a chance to learn, every day, something new. How this works, how that works. ... I had to start running right at the beginning. You know, cell phones. I have a little flip phone that The Innocence Project gave to me to use, and half the time Im hanging up on people. I dont know how that thing works.

Going into public restrooms. Years ago, and also in prison, everythings handles. Flush the toilet, turn the water on. Going into airports and restaurants and things like that, you have to do a little happy dance to get things to work. So you walk in, Im standing here, and Im like this. And theyll say, Whats that creep doing standing around looking at the sink? Im trying to figure out how it works. Where to put my hand, you know? And the worst part is to find one that does not work. So Im there half an hour doing this. Not knowing that its broke. The technology, its difficult. But Im learning. You know, its not yalls fault. You all are there, and Ive got to catch up. Its gonna take me a while to do it. One day at a time. But.

I mean, everythings great. Pouring down rain, lightning, people say, How you doing? I say, Its a wonderful day. Its a beautiful day. Because it is. You know, you dont realize. Everybody takes so much for granted. But when youre behind bars, behind fences and stuff, you know, just the simplest things  to be able to see things without a fence in the way. Just that alone. And just to be able to go places and do stuff and be with family, and like that. So, its all great. Theres nothing wrong. I mean, I havent had a meal yet that I didnt love. Deep fry me a stick, Ill eat it and its great. You know. Cause in prison, you dont  nowadays, you dont get deep-fried foods. Theres the whole thing about the  they had the french fry riot some years ago and they took all the french fries out. So deep-fryings not a way to go. But Im from North Carolina. So, you know, its fried foods. Whatever it is, give it to me, its fried. So, everythings great. I mean, its wonderful. Being here. To be here. And its because of these people. They helped me get out. ...

***

Green: Olga, can you talk about why you pursued Keiths case, and how difficult it is in general to find cases, to pick through the people who ask for help?

Akselrod: We are absolutely overwhelmed with requests for assistance. We get about 2,000 new requests for assistance per year. And sifting through all those is an enormous task. Because our project just handles DNA cases. So we have a lot of people writing to us who may be innocent, but its not a DNA case. And figuring that out  is it a case where DNA can prove innocence?  is something that can take a lot of collection of documents, and a lot of review. A lot of time to figure that out. So its an enormously difficult task.

Keith wrote to us in 2007. And he was basically in a wait list, waiting to have us decide whether or not we would take on his case. We, unfortunately, have a very long wait list, years, as a result of just how overwhelmed with requests we are. And in 2014, we started to say, you know, Well, look. We know that bite marks are particularly problematic. Lets go in our queue and see if we have cases where in our system, it actually says they were convicted based on bite marks. And we were able to find Keiths case that way. And we sort of bumped him out of the line, and started working on his case right away. And then a couple years later, we were able to get him out.

Green: Were you surprised at how quickly the Virginia Supreme Court acted? And can you tell the folks a little bit about what that did to your work?

Akselrod: We were very surprised at how quickly it happened. You know, we had filed our Writ of Actual Innocence in March, but there was some additional DNA testing that needed to happen after our initial filing. And as soon as the additional DNA testing was done, we filed supplemental papers. And about  I think maybe a week or two later, the attorney general filed a response saying, Yes, Keith is innocent.

Well, we, from past experience, thought that it was going to take months. In Thomas (Haynesworths) case  Thomas is sitting right here, as Frank mentioned  we had similarly very compelling DNA results, that the attorney general agreed Thomas was innocent. And he had a very complicated case in other ways. We were in front of the Supreme Court, and later in front of the Court of Appeals. But in the Supreme Court, even though everybody agreed he was innocent, and even though the Supreme Court granted an order to expedite, they still took four months to issue that decision. And so going based on that, we thought it was actually going to take quite a while for them to make a decision.

And we were absolutely shocked when the very day after the attorney general filed their response, the Supreme Court issued a writ. Keiths entire legal team was actually in Texas for a conference that we have every year where all of The Innocence Projects around the country get together. And so we were frantically getting ourselves booked on flights to come to Virginia while also making arrangements for getting him out. Making arrangements for his family to be there. So it was quite a whirlwind.

***

Green: I didnt know this til yesterday evening. But Keith is quite an artist. Can you talk a little bit about that? How you got into that?

Harward: Well, in prison you find things to do. Right or wrong, good or bad. And I always liked birds when I was little. So I started doing a little bit of artwork. Drawing, and things like that. And youve got plenty of time to do things, in between the eating, going to chow hall and outside rec, that kind of stuff. So I just  and basically what it was, was I was trying to make a little bit of money. I would draw on envelopes, and sell them to guys. And then I used to do some little pictures of birds. And just to kill some time. And have something to look forward to. Something to do, and feel like you accomplished something. You know, its hard to do in prison, to feel like you accomplished anything, because its a routine.

And, you know, now in the state of Virginia since (Ron) Angelone, (director of the Virginia Department of Corrections from 1994 to 2002), you dont get many opportunities to accomplish things. They have a few classes and courses and stuff like that. But its dire. You know. Its real bad. It doesnt give  its warehousing in the state of Virginia as far as the Department of Corrections is concerned.

But I would do the artwork, and I just wanted to try and make a little bit of money. And I made  you know, a little bit here and there. Not a lot. But since Ive been released, a friend of mine, a pen pal out in California, shes taken and had some of my pictures made of prints, and shes selling them through P.A.T.H., which is (Prison Arts Touching Hearts, prisonartstouchinghearts.org). ... And theyre setting stuff up to try to help me out, get a little funds. You know, that kind of thing, so I buy more fried food. (LAUGHTER) ...

***

Green: Id like to ask both of you. This is a horrible tragedy. Is there any good that you hope can come from this? Any lessons to be learned?

Harward: Well, I mean, it shines a bright light on the fact that theres wrongdoings in the justice system. I mean, you think this is America. But you see it all the time, where police officers are bad, or detectives are bad or judges are bad, and that type of thing. But it just instills the fact that just because somebodys in prison, doesnt necessarily mean that they should be there or be there as long as they are. Because honestly, prisons, corrections, its a business. And one thing relies on the other which relies on the other. So to be able to have a Department of Corrections, you have to have inmates, or offenders, or convicts. And to be able to support the companies that deal with prisons and things like that.

But anyway. Theres a whole lot of stuff going on with the justice system in Virginia and around the country, where people dont realize  because unless youve got a family member thats been convicted, you have no idea. But once you find out, when you have a family member, you find out theres stuff going on that should not be going on. And maybe in some way some light can be shown on it. People can see. ...

Akselrod: Well, one good thing has already come of this case, which is that the Department of Forensic Science has agreed to do an audit of serology cases. And thats something they agreed to very quickly, and were very happy about that. I would not be surprised if more cases like Keiths are found, where improper serological testimony was given.

But, you know, one thing that we really hope comes out of this case, is that we hope that this case will mean that courts will stop allowing bite-mark testimony. This is not a thing of the past. This is testimony that experts are still using to this day, that people are being convicted on today. And its our sincere hope that Keiths case will be a major warning. And that it will mean, hopefully, that prosecutors in Virginia will stop allowing this into their courts. Will stop presenting it. The Texas Forensics Science Commission recently issued a directive that bite-mark testimony no longer be allowed in, until its scientifically validated. We dont expect that it ever would be scientifically validated, given the problems that I mentioned earlier. And we really hope that Virginia follows in that footstep of Texas. Stops allowing it in the courts. And also does an audit of the old bite mark cases.

Its very hard for us to find these old cases. But theyre out there. Keith is not the only person in Virginia who would have been convicted based on bite-mark testimony. And the people that are in the best position to find those cases and review them are the authorities of the commonwealth. So we would very much hope that the commonwealth would take that up.

Also, theres legal fixes that need to happen. People need to understand that Virginia  I litigate all over the country  and Virginia is one of the hardest places to overturn convictions where people have been wrongfully convicted. The legal standard that you have to meet in Virginia is so much higher than it is in most states. And there are these enormous barriers. In Virginia, for example, if you have evidence that proves that you have a major constitutional violation, where there is a really unfair trial  if you have that kind of new evidence but you discover it more than two years after your trial, or more than a year after your appeal, you cant get that into court in Virginia. And that is very different than the law in just about every other state. ... Theres a lot of changes that need to happen here with regards to the criminal justice system in Virginia. And I really, really hope that Keiths case is a springboard for those changes.

***

Silvestri: ... Im wondering if Mr. Haynesworth would say a few words. If you will. I dont mean to put you on the spot. But we had mentioned your case before you came here. And all of a sudden, instead of hiding in the back, youre up front over here. You heard Keiths story. What can you add to it from your perspective?

Thomas Haynesworth: I can relate with Keith  I was going through the same thing. You know, when youve been in a place that youve got no say in the matter  you know, I was 18 years old when I went in the system. Came home at the age of 46. And I was a senior in high school. But I made the best of a worst situation. I got my GED. I got four years of college. And I got six trades learned in prison. So I kind of bettered myself. But the whole thing, I just want to prove that the judicial system there was wrong. In my case, Im a child accused of raping and attacking five females. And the real perpetrator, in my case, he lived right down the street from me, named Leon Davis Jr.. And I told my lawyer and I told the detective in my case, Look at this dude named Leon Davis. But they were so bent on my case, that they got five witnesses who picked me out. They said all five couldnt be wrong. And so the detectives, they never looked at my neighbor. By them not looking at my neighbor, they allowed this man to rape 25 more women. ... I went to the conference (Olga) mentioned out in San Antonio, and Keith  when you got exonerated, we were up there cheering for you. ...

I work for the Office of the Attorney General. And he came to me the day before he had a press conference. He said, What can we do to help Keith? And I gave him some pointers, what they could do to help this man. And I said, What you can do is meet with this man and meet with his family. Let them know that yall got his back, and that hes an innocent man, and open up the doors for him.

Twenty-some years it took me, I had to fight  I mean, I fought for everything. Like Olga said, I wrote the Innocence Project in 2004. And I was on the waiting list, you know? But they got back to me in 2010. And 2011, I was fully exonerated. And when youre going through something at the age of 18  like Keith said  when I first got home, I didnt know how to work a gas pump. You know? When I got there ... I stood there about 15 minutes. I said, Miss, can you help me? And the whole thing is, you lose touch with reality when you go in so young. And all I had to do is put the switch up. I didnt know how to do that. When I came I was so frustrated, because a lot of things at my age, I should know how its done. And I was robbed of that.

But now, Ive been a civilian and back in the community for five years. I work with the Office of the Attorney General. Im a co-owner of a mechanics shop. I made the best out of a worst situation. And Keith, itll take time. But you can get there, though. Last night I went to Walmart  I went about (midnight). My niece said, Whyre you going out? I said, I want some ice cream. But in prison, you cant do that. Youre in a cell with somebody else, youve got rules and regulations. And every morning I woke up in prison, the first thing I said, Lord, I thank you for another day. I hate this place. When youve been in a place where you have no amount of say in, and your life has been taken from you, and you go tell people that youre innocent but nobody hears you, nobody pays attention to you.

Then I got The Innocence Project with Olga. Frank Green  we became close over the course of the year. This man came to the prison and wrote my story. One thing that you knew about Frank is that when my case was going through court, Frank was new at this. And to this day, Frank Green says he feels bad that as a young journalist, he could not connect the dots between me and the Leon Davis case. Because everything in my case and Leon Davis case, this man was doing the same thing and doing the same thing to his victims that I was supposed to be saying, and doing the same thing. And we lived right in the same neighborhood. Same blood type. One year apart.

You know, I kept telling them, Look at this dude named Leon Davis. And this man, to this day, had not come forward and confessed, and accepted what he had done. But, you know, through my trial and journey, I just want to say, when you just live in a place where youre at, and youve just got that perseverance to press on  I never gave up. I wrote numerous organizations. When doors were slammed in my face I said, Ill never give up. I didnt lay there and accept this. Every day, I wrote  I wrote until somebody took my cases on and listened to my cry.

And the same thing, what I do is, I never forget. I go back to prison. I visit the guys on a constant basis. Every weekend Im at the prison seeing somebody. Because I know what theyre going through, you know. Everybody makes mistakes. Nobodys perfect. But I understand what Ive been through. And where I came from, where Im at. And I made the best out of a worst situation. ...

(Keith), through your trials and your situation, what can you say that  you know, one of the uplifting things that you can say, you can give to somebody whos coming after you. What kind of hope you can give them?

Harward: Well, the thing is that theres support systems set up now that really helped me. I mean, I was lucky in the fact that I have a family that was there for me when I got out. I constantly think about the guys that get out on parole. They step out that gate, and theres no one there. See, I had family. I had nine lawyers with me. So, I had great support. But I think about the guys that get out, that theres nobody there. And then when you go on parole, you know, you get the bus ticket and a few dollars. Thats not going to get you halfway down the street. And then youre standing there, What do I do now? Wheres my health? And thats why recidivism is so great. Because after a while, youre going to return back to what you were doing before to get you through. And then youre right back in again. And I think that for exonorees, theres a whole lot of support. Great people like yall coming to see me. But for everyday guys thats getting out, there needs to be some type of system set up.

When (Ron) Angelone came in (at DOC) ... one of the first statements was  and you probably remember this  that prisoners in Virginia were living a country club lifestyle  so we got to do away with that. This is prison. OK, its prison. You go in there because you did something wrong. But when you start jerking out classes and programs and things that guys have something to look forward to, something to do like that, thats wrong. Its a warehouse. Thats all we are, were in a warehouse. ... I mean, so youve got no support on the inside. And youve got no support on the outside. Youve got no way to do anything once you get out that gate. I was extremely lucky. But most everyday guys getting out, theres nothing there. The familys either died or wont have anything to do with them because they committed crimes. Theyre criminal. So where do they turn? You know, churches look out for them a lot. But thats not enough. They need to start setting up more halfway houses. The state, if they spent some money on setting up programs to help people when they get out, they wont have to pay for them when they go back in, you see. You know, spend a hundred, two, three hundred dollars on them now, or $30,000 later here. ...

But hold hope. Dont give up. I mean, it took me 34 years, because I was 11 months in jail before I was convicted. And then I spent 33 years. So it was 34 years altogether. I didnt give up hope. Even though I didnt think I would ever get out of prison. But there was no need to beat up on myself. And have hope. You know, you never know. And Virginia now has that 85 percent deal, where guys are spending 85 percent of their conviction time. Whereas it used to be less before. But, you know, theyre always hoping that the legislatures going to come up and say, Well, you know, weve got people in here for drugs and small crimes and stuff like that, that doesnt need to be here forever. We need to let them out. Give them another opportunity. Or find other avenues. You know, they dont need to lock people up in prison because they have drugs. I mean, its big in the Department of Corrections. Drugs are bad. You know, people being convicted of it. And its a disease. In a lot of cases, its something that cant be helped, just like alcoholism and things like that.

And if theres no programs, or no way in prison to do it, well, find alternatives outside of prison  drug treatment, things like that. You all see stuff on the news all the time where other states are doing things. And theyre not wasting the money. Because the prison system is set up to make you fail. Because if you do get on parole, there are so many restrictions on you that youre going to fail. And it gets back to that thing about the money. You know, the Department of Corrections is a big business. People rely on that big business to make their money.

Silvestri: All right, well go to the audience. ...

***

Roy Fauber, Richmond: This is a question for Olga. What is our political or legal justification for giving so much authority to commonwealths attorneys to decide whether or not theyll release information? Whether or not they will let things proceed, and so forth? It sounds like its pretty much in their hands.

Akselrod: ... In most states, you have more centralized discovery rules at the time of trial that say this or that has to be turned over. In Virginia, its really left up to individual commonwealths attorneys. And a lot of commonwealths attorneys have what they call an open file policy, which sounds like that means, our files are open. You can see them. Right?

But in reality, what open file policy often means is that the commonwealths attorneys are sort of deciding what goes in there. And thats what the defense attorney gets, and not something else. So the reality is at the trial level that there needs to be clearer rules. ... You shouldnt have different access to information in Richmond than you do in Newport News. But thats the reality of how it is. So there needs to be laws that really establish what the practice should be across the board in Virginia.

And with regards to post-conviction, its just, again, theres no clear access to it. In Texas, in response to one of the exonerations, theres now a rule that allows you to actually get  very clearly allows you to get files post-conviction. And there needs to be something like that in Virginia. In addition to what happens in the course of litigation, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act laws are also more restrictive than they are in most places. In a lot of states  and Frank probably knows this from doing reporting work  in a lot of states, I can actually get information on my clients cases through Freedom of Information Act requests. In Virginia, its very rare that you can get that. Theres a law enforcement exception, and most of the time the police actually use that discretion to deny you your request.

So these are all things that can be changed. They are creatures of Virginia law. And so to the extent that the proper pressure is being put on the lawmakers, they can be changed. But the reality is that right now in Virginia its very, very hard to get information. And once you have it, its very, very hard to actually get legal relief based on the information that you got.

***

Dale Brumfield, Doswell: I have a question I guess for The Innocence Project. There have been 16 or 17 DNA exonerations in Virginia since over the last few years, I guess. And all of these were crimes where conviction and sentencing occurred in the 1979 to 1989 time period. Now, while the No. 1 cause of improper conviction is victim misidentification, the second leading cause appears to be improper or faulty forensics. Is there any type of top-to-bottom review of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science during this time period, over and above just bite marks?

Akselrod: Well, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science wasnt doing bite-mark analysis. That was actually being done by what Keith referred to, odontologists. So theyre kind of like independent experts. So what was happening is that if you had a bite-mark case, the authorities ... were contacting these forensic dentists to come and do the analysis. So it wasnt actually being done by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. And in some ways, if it had been done by them, it would be easier to find the cases. Because we could go to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. Theyre willing to do the serology audit. If it was a centralized body that had been doing it, it would actually be easier to find these older cases.

There is a movement actually nationwide to try to deal with some of these problems. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences came out with a report that was sort of a study of forensic sciences across the board. And in some ways, bite marks are kind of the worse of the worse. But theres a lot of other forensic disciplines that are equally problematic, that have not been scientifically validated. Hair comparison is one that we hear about a lot now, where experts were taking hairs and putting them next to each other under a microscope and saying, This hair matches. There have been a lot of wrongful convictions based on that.

Even stuff that people think is more established is problematic. Ballistics. There actually isnt a ton of testing thats been done to support something like ballistics, where were comparing a bullet, and whether it could have come from a particular gun. So this is a problem sort of across the board. There is some movement to establish national standards around forensics, but its really just at the beginning. Were really just beginning to deal with this problem. And the reality is that the experts that have been working in these fields for years and years are hesitant to admit that theyve been testifying that something is a science, and there actually isnt any backing to it. The courts are hesitant to admit that theyve been allowing this stuff in for years and years, and there may be a lot of wrongful convictions based on it. So we know that its a major problem. And people are just beginning to deal with it.

***

Dave Burton, Midlothian: I wondered whether either of you gentlemen has received a sincere expression of regret from anyone involved in your prosecution, be it a prosecutor or a detective, or anybody like that, has come to you and said, We really messed this up, and I cannot tell you how sorry I am, or how much I regret it.

Harward: Well, the attorney general called me the day I was released. We were sitting in Farmville at a restaurant, and I was eating my first free meal. We had some fried stuff around. I keep bringing that up. I dont know why. It gets a laugh, so I guess it works. And he called me on the phone and told me, he apologized. Just like he did on his press conference. He said, you know, in 30 years, he had gotten married and had children and lived a life and was able to be prosperous, and that kind of thing. And he was sorry he couldnt realize what it was for me to lose 30 years. Because I was older than Tom (Haynesworth) was. I was 26 years old. And if you think back to when you were 25, 30 years old, and you take 30 years outta that, and then you jump back in  those are the best years of your lives. Because you had kids. Your kids had kids. You got to go to graduation. You got to be able to earn a living, become somebody. Retire, maybe, from your work. I didnt get that. Those criminals down in Newport News that wanted a conviction and not the truth  thats what they were after. A conviction, not the truth. Just like with him. They were so mystified at the period of time they couldnt find anybody, so when I came along they latched on to me. And you heard what they did to me. They didnt do. Those years were gone. You know. Those years were taken away from me.

Green: The prosecutor, the judge, and the lead detective in Keiths case are all deceased.

Harward: But the attorney general did call and apologize. And I told him, I said, Well, theres one thing wrong about this. The fact that Im from North Carolina and I cant vote for you.

***

Mark Ailsworth, Richmond: Mr. Harward, at the time of your prosecution and conviction, I was a young, wet-behind-the-ears attorney in Newport News, Virginia. I had no involvement in your case in any way. But I do want you to be aware of the fact that your case was the subject of great conversation among many members of the defense bar at the time of the prosecution and at the time of the trial. I knew all of the people who were involved in your trial, from the detectives right down  I even noticed in a Times-Dispatch photo, I even recognized one of the bailiffs.

And our discussion centered on the fact that there seemed to be a great deal of  there was a great question about whether or not the evidence that your conviction rested on was legitimate evidence, and whether it should have been admissible. My great regret  and I will offer you an apology for this  is that all we did was talk about it. We didnt act on it. And for that, as an officer of the court and as a member of the bar, Im very, very sorry for that. Because we could have taken action, and we didnt do it. We just talked about it.

I do have a question for your attorney. You mentioned that your organization only deals with cases involving DNA evidence. Its been mentioned before, but certainly there are scores of individuals convicted in this country on a daily basis, convicted of violent crimes, on the basis of very, very persuasive but often very unreliable evidence, and thats eyewitness identification. Is there an organization similar to yours that is addressing that issue? And if so, could you tell us about it?

Akselrod: Thomas mentioned this, because eyewitness identification was the reason that he was convicted. Five different women mistakenly identified Thomas as their attacker, and all five of them were wrong. Their real attacker was actually Leon Davis Jr. And thats just one case amongst many. In about 75 percent of our cases, we see mistaken identifications. Our organization just handles cases where DNA can prove innocence one way or the other. But we do actually do a lot of work trying to change police practices around how identifications are done.

And theres a lot of reasons for mistaken identifications that police cant control. They cant control how well-lit the crime scene was. They cant control how long a witness was able to see the perpetrator. They cant control the race of the perpetrator. Cross-race identifications are much more unreliable than when people are identifying somebody of the same race. So theres a lot of things that police cant control.

But theres also a lot of things that they can control. And theres been a ton of social science research showing that the traditional way that we all know line-ups occur  I mean, weve all seen line-ups on TV at least, right? So, you know, they get five or six guys in a room. One of them is the suspect, right? And then youve got  theyre called fillers. The other guys are in the room together, and the witness looks at the line-up all at once and says, OK, its that guy. Well, it turns out that what witnesses do when faced with that kind of line-up is that theyre not comparing the people they see to their memory of the perpetrator. Theyre comparing them to each other. And theyre saying, Oh, that person looks the most like the perpetrator. And if, instead of doing it that way, you actually show the people one at a time, it actually has a huge impact in leading to more reliable identifications.

The other big thing that police can do is, instead of having an officer who knows who the suspect is conduct the line-up, they should have somebody who doesnt know anything about the case do it. And what that allows for is, it allows us to protect from  you know, I think most of the time the officers are actually trying to do the right thing, and theyre not intentionally contaminating. But you do have some officers that are gonna give some cues to the witness, and say, Why dont you take another look at number three, right? But even putting that aside, you have officers who are trying to do their job, but they unwittingly give cues. And things like telling a witness, You did a good job, after they pick somebody, can actually lead a witness whos maybe not that certain to becoming very certain by the time of trial. So theres things that police can do. We are working with police departments directly to try to get them to adopt best practices. Were working with legislatures to try to get them to mandate best practices, and courts to try to change the laws around this stuff. ...

***

Donovan Unland, Mechanicsville: I was a Navy corpsman the same time you served, and then I was a prison medic for 20 years at a maximum prison in Joliet, Illinois. I just gotta say, I know what goes on behind those walls. So Keith and Thomas, you guys ... youre the true survivor men. So my question is, 24 hours. Thats got to drag, drag. Compare 24 hours now that youre physically free again, compared to the 24 hours locked up.

Harward: Well, theres  now, theres more than 24 hours in a day, it seems like. I mean, theres so much stuff to do and things I have to do, that by the end of the day, I am beat. But when youre in prison, you know, other than  you go to chow. You might have a little outside rec. If you take a class or something, if youre lucky enough to have a class to take. The rest of the time, its  youre just sitting around, just vegetating. And a lotta guys, theyll sleep. Ive known guys that, theyll get up and go to breakfast. Go back and go to sleep. Get up for lunch. Go back, go to sleep. Go to dinner. And they sit up and watch TV til four, five in the morning. Go to sleep, go to breakfast. Over and over again.

Its cause theres not a lot of stuff to do. And its a routine. You being in the military, thank you for your service to our country, sir. With that routine, you know, you kind of meld it in. Well, Ill walk back slow from the chow hall. That way, you know, when I get back to the bunk or back to the pod, I can kind of drag that out. So you make  and I used to do artwork. You know, I did that for a while, to occupy some time, because it seemed like there was so much time. And you get in that routine. And every day, you know, youve got those periods where youre just like, Wow. What can I do? And you find something to do. I mean, you can take the simplest things. You know, rearranging envelopes, or moving things around in your cell. You dont have much, but you can spend a couple hours with just a little bit. Because you get that routine. And you just find ways to fill time.

But now, I mean, its  I get up at 6:00 in the morning. I hit the ground running. And by 10:00 at night, Im through. I mean, phew. Im done. And every day its something I have to do. Like today, the day was scheduled for this. So thats what occupied my day. Thinking about it, doing it. Realizing afterwards how well I did, or what I should have done or should have said. Then I got  Im on a little adventure. I took a bus up here. I could have flown, took a train. They would have come got me. Im in Greensboro, four hours away, something like that. But, I want to ride a bus. So I rode a bus yesterday. And that was fun. I had a great time. (LAUGHTER) I mean, you know, its kind of like the scene from Star Wars, the bar scene in Star Wars. But it was great. You meet people. You want to meet people? And theyre not the same kind of people that I was. You know, in prison, everybody kind of becomes the same. Because you do the same. You have the same clothes, you eat the same meals, and all that kind of stuff.

But to be on a bus, and ride. Im gonna take one back. And be able to look out the window, and things like that. So theres 48, 50 hours in my day right now. And Im kind of enjoying that. I hope it doesnt run out, but it will. You know. But Im kind of  cause everythings new. I mean, its just  everythings new. ...

***

Silvestri: Olga, the family situation. Youve got the person in jail, and the family. Can you talk about the lawyer relationship in The Innocence Project, and how the family plays a role in that?

Akselrod: Keith mentioned that he has a very supportive family. And thats something that makes all the difference. I have had several clients released who dont have family. Keith has talked about the incredibly difficult journey that hes on right now, and sort of reintegrating back into this world. Well, imagine how that journey would be if he didnt have his brother to live with, and to get that support. Thats a situation that several of our clients are in. Thomas, thank God, has his mother that he could live with when he got out. So family plays a huge, huge role in standing by their wrongfully-convicted loved one while theyre incarcerated. And in helping them back into the world when they get out. Because its a very, very difficult thing that Keith is going through, and that Thomas has gone through and probably is still going through, even though its been a few years. Its very, very difficult to do if you dont have the support of loved ones.

Harward: ... And here Im going to get emotional. I lost my parents while I was in prison. And that was the worst part about it. Because they knew I was innocent. And now theyre dead, and thats the worst part about it. ...

***

Emily Irwin, Manakin Sabot: As a college student and an aspiring journalist, I have a question for Frank and Keith. I just want to know what its like to be on the reporting side of things, knowing that you have the power of journalism, but you dont have any sort of legal power, so to speak. What was that like? And Keith, how much did it mean to you to have a journalist on your side? Someone that could report on what was going on, and how powerful is that, to have just sort of the journalism on your side?

Frank Green: Well, these are very sad stories. But also, in a way, very happy ones. I like telling important, good stories. And thats what these are. I dont get people out of prison. People like Olga do it. Theyre the ones with the skills and the means of doing it. Thats why I write about what they do. And I think its important. I dont think we have a bad justice system, but it can certainly be improved. And these are the kinds of cases that can really lend themselves to improving our justice system. Anything that involves people, there are going to be errors. And hopefully we catch them, and do something to make sure they dont happen in the future.

Harward: Well, dont sell yourself short. The Innocence Project did all the law work. Because of you, Im here today. Otherwise, Id still be sitting at Nottoway, waiting for the justice system to act. Because you turned that light on. And those that didnt scurry away realized, Weve got to do something. This is wrong. Weve got to get this guy out. And thats because of you, Frank. I know you dont want to accept that, but thats the truth. If you  (APPLAUSE). So to have someone like Frank Green, which  all you people from Virginia are lucky to have a man  this is Woodward/Bernstein right here. Because its true. If it werent for him, Id still be sitting in a prison, waiting for the system to play itself out. And I always said it might be Christmas before I got out. But to an aspiring journalist, do good stuff. This is the kind of guy you want to mold yourself after, right here.

***

Rhonda Rowland, Farmville: I commend you, Mr. Green, for your journalism. Thats why Im here. I followed all of your articles about Keith. And when I found out (he was) going to be released from Nottaway ... I came over there. Not knowing that I would be able to come in. But I want you to know, that was one of the highlights of my life. To be able to see you walk out of that prison as a free man. I was upset that our governor, nor anyone from his office, was there. So I would like to apologize to you from 

Harward: It wasnt your fault.

Rowland:  for those of us from the state of Virginia. I am so happy for you. And you made a very interesting comment that day, that there were a lot of evil and sadistic people back there. And you said, And there are some bad inmates, too. (LAUGHTER) I know some people who work at Nottaway, so I would be interested in what you have to say, to elaborate on that.

Harward: Well, I mean, there are some great people there. Just like anywhere. You know, youve got a percentage of great people, and a percentage of bad people. Its a tendency, I would say, in the Department of Corrections  maybe 75 percent are kind of sketchy. For the pure fact that for some, thats their last step before living in a box under the bridge. Ive said that many times. So theyve got issues already. So you take those people and put them in charge of other people that have issues. Inmates, convicts, offenders. Thats not a good soup. But there are some great, great staff members with the Department of Corrections. There are. Some with good hearts. But theyre very few and far between.

***

Deborah Miller, Mechanicsville: In your 34 years, youve had a lot of conversations with a lot of men. What percentage of those men do you think shared your predicament, that they were there unjustly?

Harward: Well, its really hard to say. Thomas will tell you, everybody in prison, nobodys guilty. I mean, you know, because theyre afraid of what they did, or denying themselves the truth, or whatever the case may be. But theres a lot of guys that are in there, that shouldnt be in there that long. You know. I run across people every day, and I  you know, youre good people. You shouldnt be here like this. And they got  theyve been taken away from their families. And young guys have children and things like that. Thats the worst thing you can do to to a child, is take their father away  or a mother  away from them for a long period of time for something that shouldnt be like that. I get back to that drug thing. Theres a lot of guys that are in prison because of drugs, either because of selling them or being on them, or whatever the case may be. And as far as being on the drugs, you know, to incarcerate people for long periods of time, theres no future in that. You know, youre just throwing money away. Youre just throwing money away. ...

I just recently found out that the detective in my case, he took  after the trial was over and I was convicted, he took the molds and had brass molds made of my teeth for paperweights for his desk. Now, he knew what he did to me. But he still said, I got him. It was a bad situation. ...

But a lot of times, you know, I tell people, If you run into any kind of problem with the justice system, seek help. Dont do like I did. I just freely gave information and went about like, Well, Im innocent. So what do I got to hide? I got nothing to hide. Ill cooperate. But in hindsight, if I would have knew, I would have lawyered up like that. And maybe, maybe prevented what happened to me.

***

Deb Durant, Richmond: God bless you, Keith. And you too, Thomas. We want you around for a little while, so knock off the fried food. (LAUGHTER) I want to thank The Richmond Times-Dispatch, too, for keeping this story alive. And all these stories. ...

***

Diane Boone, Ruther Glen: Keith, you seem to be a mild-mannered man. You know, youre not of large stature. How did the other inmates treat you? You seem like you would be encouraging to other people that you were with.

Harward: Well, thats what got me through my time. Ive always been kind of happy and upbeat. And like Ive told other people before, you know, I use humor. You all have laughed at a few of my jokes. But I used humor a lot, and I was respectful. And like I tell em, I say, Well, as long as theyre laughing, theyre not stabbing or beating. So, you know, they give you the opportunity to get away. But I treat everybody with respect. You know? Im not a hater. People can be whatever they want to be. And I always kept everything upbeat. If I saw that  you know, misery loves company. And if I saw that coming, I would try to find some way to avoid it. Because  for my own self, you know? I want to stay upbeat. And people want to drag you down in prison.

But I  you know, they treated me good. Im still writing guys now. I hope one day to be able to  once I get a few months or years down the road, I want to be able to go visit. Plus, I want to walk in there and say, Hey. Im on this side now.You dont have to put handcuffs on me anymore. You know? Show em, say, See, I told you. I told you I was innocent. But no, you didnt believe me. Its been proven. But thats the way I got through. I did OK.

***

Andy Jenks, Henrico: ... What are two or three additional examples of things youd like to see, do, or learn, that youve been hoping to but maybe havent had a chance to do just yet?
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Unless you are subsequently advised otherwise by Lee BHM Corp., you are hereby licensed to create hyperlinks to the content on the Web site, provided that the hyperlink accurately describes the content as it appears on the Web site. Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to revoke this license generally, or your right to use specific links, at any time, and may normally break any hyperlink after 14 days. Under no circumstances may you "frame" the Web site or any of its content or copy portions of the Web site to a server, except as part of an Internet service provider's incidental caching of pages. Each page within the Web site must be displayed in full (including all trademarks, branding, advertising and promotional materials), without any accompanying frame, border, margin, design, branding, trademark, advertising or promotional materials not originally displayed on the page within the Web site.

Software Available on Web Site

Any software that is made available to download from this Web site is the copyrighted work of Lee BHM Corp. and/or its suppliers. Your use of the software is governed by the terms of the End User License Agreement, if any, that accompanies or is included with the software. You may not install or use any software without first agreeing to the terms of such End User License Agreement. For any software not accompanied by an End User License Agreement, Lee BHM Corp. hereby grants to you a personal, nontransferable, non-sublicensable license to use the software for viewing and other purposes within the scope of use of such software anticipated by Lee BHM Corp. in accordance with these terms and conditions, and for no other purpose. Any such software is provided to you subject to the warranty and liability exclusions set forth in these terms and conditions.

Copyright

Except for material in the public domain under United States copyright law, all material contained on the Web site (including all software, HTML code, Java applets, Active X controls and other code) is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. Except as otherwise expressly provided in these terms and conditions, you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, modify, rewrite, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any material contained on the Web site without the prior consent of the copyright owner. None of the material contained on the Lee BHM Corp. site may be reverse-engineered, disassembled, decompiled, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, retransmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photo reproduction, recordation or otherwise), resold or redistributed without the prior written consent of Lee BHM Corp.. Violation of this provision may result in severe civil and criminal penalties.

You may make single copies of materials displayed on the Web site for your own personal and noncommercial use only, provided any copies include the copyright and other notices displayed with the materials on the Web site. You may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written permission from Lee BHM Corp. or the copyright owner of the copied material. Requests to reproduce materials on the Web site for distribution or other purposes should be mailed to:

Lee BHM Corp.

Contact us via e-mail

Trademarks

Trademarks appear on the Web site with permission from their respective owners. Your unauthorized use of trademarks appearing on the Web site may constitute trademark infringement, which could subject you to substantial civil penalties.

Termination of Privileges

Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to terminate your privilege of using all or any portion of the Web site if you breach any of these terms and conditions of use. If Lee BHM Corp. receives notice or otherwise discovers that you have posted material that infringes another party's copyright or trademark rights or violates another party's rights of privacy or publicity, Lee BHM Corp. may terminate your access to the Web site, including all of your privileges or accounts that you may have established in connection with the Web site.

Copyright Infringement

Lee BHM Corp. will not tolerate copyright infringement of any kind. Lee BHM Corp. does not, however, monitor user-submitted materials for copyright infringement. If you believe that any material on the Web site infringes your copyright, you may seek to have the material removed by sending Lee BHM Corp. notice that includes all of the following information:

your full name, address and telephone number

your e-mail address

identification of the copyrighted work(s) that you believe is being infringed

identification of the infringing material and information sufficient for Lee BHM Corp. to locate the material

your statement of good faith belief that (a) the material infringes your copyrights, (b) the information provided in the notice is accurate and (c) under penalty of perjury, you are authorized to act for the copyright owner

your physical or electronic signature

Direct such notice to Lee BHM Corp. designated agent for receiving copyright infringement notices:

Lee BHM Corp.

1314 Douglas Street, Suite 800 Omaha, NE 68102-1811

Contact us via e-mail

Upon receipt of notice complying with the above requirements, Lee BHM Corp. will act to remove infringing materials and, if applicable, send notice to the user that posted such materials on the Web site.

If Lee BHM Corp. removes materials posted by you as a user due to alleged copyright infringement, you may seek to have the materials reinstated by notifying Lee BHM Corp.'s designated agent in writing and including the following information:

your full name, address and telephone number

your e-mail address

identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, including its location before it was removed or disabled

your statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material

your statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the district in which your address is located, or, if you reside outside of the United States, Omaha, Nebraska (where Lee BHM Corp. may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notice of copyright infringement or from such person's agent

your physical or electronic signature

Upon receipt of a notice meeting the above requirements, Lee BHM Corp. will send a copy of the notice to the copyright owner who initially claimed copyright infringement. Within 10 to 14 days following receipt of the notice, Lee BHM Corp. will replace or enable access to the removed material unless Lee BHM Corp. receives notice from the copyright owner who submitted the first notification that it has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the user that posted the materials from engaging in infringing activity. Please note that parties who misrepresent that materials are infringing or were removed by mistake or misidentification are subject to substantial civil liability to Lee BHM Corp. and/or the copyright owner or Web site user.

User Content

Lee BHM Corp. may allow you to upload, post, transmit or otherwise provide content to Lee BHM Corp. Web sites, including, but not limited to, photos, video, audio, comments, articles, blogs, forums and any other such communication in which you provide content to the Web site ("User Content"). You agree that you are solely responsible for your communications and any content you provide.

Rules Governing User Content: In consideration for being allowed to post or contribute content, you agree that your failure to abide by the following rules in using the Web site shall constitute a material breach of these Terms and Conditions:

Do not disrespect the privacy and views of others, or use the service to stalk or harass another;

Do not use or provide User Content for commercial purposes, including but not limited to the promotion of any specific goods or services;

Do not provide User Content that is harmful to minors in any way;

Do not provide obscene, profane, sexually explicit, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, harmful, threatening, illegal or knowingly false User Content;

Do not provide User Content containing expressions of bigotry, racism or hate;

Do not provide User Content encouraging conduct that may constitute or contribute to a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or violate any national, state or local law, regulation or authority;

Do not impersonate another person, or permit any other person or entity to use your identification to post or view User Content;

Do not provide User Content that infringes on the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property rights of others;

Do not provide User Content that violates the privacy or publicity rights of others;

Do not provide User Content that supports or provides resources to any organization(s) designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act; and

Do not provide User Content containing malicious code, including but not limited to computer viruses, Trojan horses, or other programs designed to disrupt, damage or restrict the use of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.

Respect the Intellectual Property Rights of Others. You may not post or transmit content belonging to any person or party other than yourself, without the prior written consent of such owner. Simply because material is available on the Internet does not mean it is in the public domain. The vast majority of materials on the Internet are protected by copyright and trademark laws. Lee BHM Corp. shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor any User Content areas of the Web site to determine compliance with these Terms and Conditions and any other operating rules that may be established by Lee BHM Corp. from time to time.

Lee BHM Corp.'s Right to Remove User Content. Lee BHM Corp. does not assume any responsibility for the consequences of any user-generated or contributed content on the Lee BHM Corp. site. If notified by a user of communications that are alleged not to conform to the rules set forth in this Section, Lee BHM Corp. may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the communications. Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to remove communications that fail to conform to these Terms and Conditions. In addition, Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right (but is not obligated) to delete any User Content posted on the Lee BHM Corp. site, regardless of whether such communications violate these Terms and Conditions.

Lee BHM Corp.'s Right to Use User Content. Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to record, re-purpose or re-publish User Content on its Web sites, newspapers, broadcast stations or other publishing forums. By posting User Content, you are granting to Lee BHM Corp. and its licensees a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive and irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any posting by you (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed.

Responsibility for User Content. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Lee BHM Corp. and its officers, directors, affiliated companies, employees, agents, licensors and suppliers, from and against any and all claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your use of any User-generated or Contributed Content or use by others of any User-generated or Contributed Content with respect to you, including, without limitation, any claim of libel, defamation, harassment, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service or infringement of intellectual property or other rights, or violation of these Terms and Conditions.

NOTE TO USERS. Lee BHM Corp. does not represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy or reliability of any User Content or endorse any opinions expressed by such users. ANY RELIANCE UPON USER CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Termination of Privileges

Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to terminate your privilege of using all or any portion of the Web site if you breach any of these terms and conditions of use. If Lee BHM Corp. receives notice or otherwise discovers that you have posted material that infringes another party's copyright or trademark rights or violates another party's rights of privacy or publicity, Lee BHM Corp. may terminate your access to the Web site, including all of your privileges or accounts that you may have established in connection with the Web site.

General

These Terms and Conditions (including the privacy policy attached hereto, which shall be deemed to be a part of these Terms and Conditions) constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and Lee BHM Corp. with respect to use of the Web site, superseding all prior or contemporaneous communications and/or proposals. These Terms and Conditions also are severable, and in the event any provision is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not in any way affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to make changes to these Terms and Conditions immediately by posting the changed Terms and Conditions in this location. By continuing to use the Web site, you are agreeing to all changes made by Lee BHM Corp.. A printed version of these Terms and Conditions shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to use of the Web site to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

Jurisdiction

The Web site is controlled and operated by Lee BHM Corp. from its principal office at 1314 Douglas Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America. Lee BHM Corp. makes no representation that materials on the Web site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access the Web site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. The Web site is not intended to subject Lee BHM Corp. to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than Omaha, Nebraska and the United States of America.

Lee BHM Corp. PRIVACY POLICY

For each visitor to the Web site, Lee BHM Corp.'s servers automatically collect information about which pages are visited and the domain name of visitors. This information is used for internal review, to tailor information to individual visitors and for Web site traffic audits. We also provide this information (as well as information from third-party market researchers) about our users on an aggregated, anonymous basis to our advertisers.

Lee BHM Corp. may place a "cookie" on the browser of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain any personally identifying information. A cookie may be used to tell when your computer has contacted the Web site. Lee BHM Corp. uses the information for editorial purposes and for other purposes such as delivery of features and advertisements, so Lee BHM Corp. can customize delivery of information to you without compromising privacy. For example, cookies may be used to ensure that you will not see the same banner advertisement too often in a single session.

Lee BHM Corp. may, in the course of providing services through its Web sites, ask you to disclose voluntarily certain information about yourself. This could include information that identifies you or your household. Any information in Lee BHM Corp.'s possession solely as a result of your use of the Web site and that is associated with you or your household is considered "Personal Information." It consists of both information supplied by you (e.g. name, address, telephone number and e-mail address) and information collected about how you use the Web site (e.g. the fact that you have bought merchandise through the Web site). 'Personal Information' does not include statistical data about large numbers of users, none of whom are identifiable, nor does it include information that you have posted for public view on the Web site or otherwise publicly disclosed.

Like many other commercial sites, our site may utilize an electronic file called a Web beacon to count users who have visited a page or recognize users by accessing certain cookies. Our site and/or the Web sites of advertisers and merchants with which we have a relationship may use Web beacons (a) for auditing purposes and to collect information from the Web sites of certain advertisers or merchants; (b) to report anonymous individual and/or aggregate information about our users from such advertisers or merchants. Aggregate information may include demographic and usage information. No personally identifiable information about you is shared with such advertisers or merchants. You may choose to opt-out by contacting us in accordance with the information set forth at the bottom of this policy.

In addition, Lee BHM Corp. service providers and third-party advertising service providers may use their own cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect the information listed above. The data collected in connection with ad serving and ad targeting does not include your name, postal address, email address, telephone number, birthdate or gender unless you affirmatively provide information within the ad. However, it may include device identifying information such as the IP address, MAC address, cookie or other device-specific unique ID. These service providers also may assign an anonymous identifier to the tracking pixel or session cookie.

The collection of information by our service providers and third-party advertising service providers is governed by their relevant privacy notices, for which we have no responsibility or liability, and are not covered by our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions regarding the privacy notice of one of our service providers, you should contact the service provider directly for more information.

If you would like more information about the information collection practices of a particular third-party advertising service provider, or if you would like more information on how to opt out of a third-party advertising service providers information collection practices, go to www.aboutads.info, or for apps, at www.aboutads.info/appchoices.

Additionally, some of our third-party advertising service providers are members of the Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI"). You can obtain more information about these third-party advertising service providers' information collection practices, and opt out of such practices (and at the same time opt out of the collection practices of other, or all, NAI members) by following the opt out instructions on the NAI's website at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.

Please note that one of our third-party advertising service providers is DoubleClick. You can opt out of the use of cookies by DoubleClick by visiting http://www.google.com/settings/ads.

How does the Web site use the information it gathers?

Information collected on the Web site, including traffic patterns and user behavior, is used primarily for the following purposes:

Internal research. The Web site is continuously assessing how visitors use the site. This data assists us in making decisions about how to improve the site and to better serve our users. Research data are aggregated and do not include data about specific individuals. We may share aggregated research (but not individual user information) with our advertisers or business partners. Additionally, the Web site may use your information to contact you to ask for your participation in a focus group, survey, or some other type of research effort.

To customize your experience on the Web site. As the Web site improves its service, it may offer users more opportunities to customize content and other aspects of the site. Information provided by you may be used to assist in the customization process, if you elect to participate in these features.

To tailor advertising efforts. Most of the information and services available to you at the Web site are free. In order to continue providing services free of charge, the Web site sells advertising. Advertisers prefer to target their communication toward audiences who are most likely to be interested in their products. The information gathered on the Web site helps us advise advertisers in general terms about certain aspects of site visitors (e.g. how visitors use the site, general demographic attributes of visitors, usage patterns on various parts of our site, etc.). This information helps both advertisers and the Web site make better decisions about where to place advertising. This information may also be used to send targeted marketing, such as emails, to users that we think would be interested in such marketing. Visitors who choose to conduct financial transactions with advertisers on the Web site may also provide specific data to those advertisers during the process of their transactions. Additionally, any information provided during the purchase on the Web site of products or services will result in the collection of certain information required to complete the transaction.

To use third party service providers. We provide some services and products through third parties. These third party service providers may perform functions on our behalf, like sending out and distributing promotional emails. We may share your personally identifiable information with such service providers as necessary to allow those service providers to fulfill orders, send mail or email, administer contests or sweepstakes, remove repetitive information on customer lists, analyze data, provide marketing assistance, provide search results and links, process credit card payments, operate the Web site, troubleshoot, or provide customer service. We may also collect personal information from individuals and companies with whom we have business relationships ("Affiliates") and may share your information with service providers to accomplish our administrative tasks. For example, when you order a service, the third party payment processor we use releases your credit card information to the card-issuing bank to confirm payment for the service. The use of your personally identifiable information by these third parties is governed by the privacy policies of these third parties and is not subject to our control.

More specifically, here is how the Web site may use information you provide:

E-mail addresses. If you supply the Web site with your e-mail address, either by registering on the site, by communicating with us via e-mail, or signing up for promotional offers or emails we may, from time to time, send you information that we believe would be of interest to you via e-mail. This information may be from the Web site or sent by us on behalf of one of our quality advertisers. Note: If we send you e-mail on behalf of another company, your personally identifiable information is not disclosed to that company unless you purchase a product or service from that company in which case it may need your information to fulfill your purchase. Rather, the company provides us with the information it wants to send, and we prepare and send the e-mail directly to you. We may use a third party service provider to manage or send emails on our behalf, but that third party is only authorized to use your information as necessary to send our email to you and it is not authorized to sell or transfer your information.

Postal addresses. If you supply the Web site with your postal address, we may send you periodic mailings with information on new products, coming events, surveys or other research materials, or other information we think might be of interest to you.

Telephone numbers. If you provide your telephone number or cell phone number, the Web site may call or text you regarding orders you have placed online, to tell you about new products, services, or coming events, or to offer other information that may interest you. Additionally, the Web site or one of its agents may call you for research purposes.

Sale transaction information. From time to time, we provide offers from our advertisers who, as part of their offer, request information on customers who purchased their offer in order to allow the advertiser to fulfill the purchase. In those cases, we share some of your personally identifiable information with that advertiser. Sharing this Information may allow that advertiser to market directly to you should it choose to do so. However, we will only share personally identifiable information with an advertiser if you provide us that information and enter into a transaction with that advertiser on or through our Web site. We are not responsible or liable for the actions of such advertiser.

Business transfer. We may also share your information in the case our business is sold or transferred. If this occurs, the successor company would acquire the information we maintain, including personally identifiable information.

Except as necessary to process your requests or orders placed with advertisers or merchants featured on the Web site, or as otherwise described above, Lee BHM Corp. does not rent, sell, barter or give away any lists containing Personal Information for use by any outside company. Lee BHM Corp. also respects the privacy of data on your personal computer and does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from your private files without your authorization.

Prohibited Uses

This Site is not intended for use by persons located within the European Economic Area (EEA). We do not request or accept personal information concerning or supplied by persons who are located within the EEA at the time they access this Site. If you have accessed this Site from within the EEA, you should immediately discontinue your use. If you have supplied personal information to us in violation of this provision, whether through the registration of new user accounts or otherwise, please contact us via e-mail.

Facebook Connect

Our Web site may allow users to access Facebook Connect to interact with friends and to share on Facebook through Wall and friends' News Feeds. If you are logged into our Web site and Facebook, when you click on "Connect with Facebook" your profiles will merge if the email addresses match. If the email addresses don't match, we ask you if you want to merge them and you must enter your Web site password to validate that they control that account. If you are already logged into our Web site but not logged into Facebook, when you click on "Connect with Facebook" you will be prompted to enter your Facebook credentials or to "Sign up for Facebook." By proceeding you are allowing the Web site to access your information and you are agreeing to the Facebook Terms of Use in your use of our Web site. Similar access to your information may occur if the Web site allows users to access other social applications similar to Facebook.

Conversely, if you are not currently registered as an the Web site user and you click on "Sign in Using Facebook," you will first be asked to enter your Facebook credentials and then be given the option to register and join the Web site. Once you register on our Web site and Connect with Facebook, you will be able to automatically post recent activity back to Facebook. You have the option to disable Facebook Connect at any time by logging into "My Profile" and clicking on "My Facebook Profile." Further, you can edit privacy settings for the reviews that appear on Facebook or disconnect this service by visiting the Facebook Application Settings page.

Links

The Lee BHM Corp. site contains links to other sites. Lee BHM Corp. is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites, including any sites that may indicate a special relationship or partnership with Lee BHM Corp. (such as co-branded pages or "powered by" or "in cooperation with" relationships). Lee BHM Corp. does not disclose personally identifiable information or unique identifiers to those responsible for the linked sites. The linked sites, however, may collect personal information from you that is not subject to Lee BHM Corp.'s control. To ensure protection of your privacy, always review the privacy policy of the sites you may visit by linking from the Lee BHM Corp. site.

Opt Out Procedures

You always may opt out of receiving future mailings or other information from Lee BHM Corp.. If the mailing does not have an e-mail cancellation form, send us an e-mail the type of information that you no longer desire to receive.

You may opt out of any or all contacts from the Web site at any time. All e-mails sent to you from the Web site will allow you to opt out of any further e-mail from us. You may e-mail us to opt out of our email programs. You may also write or call us at the following address and phone number to notify us regarding use of your information: 333 Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23219; phone: 804.649.6588.

When you register on the Web site, you will be given the opportunity to opt out of further communication from us.

You may accept certain kinds of contact and decline others. For example, you may choose to accept e-mails, but not postal mail or telephone calls.

If, at any time in the future, the Web site decides to use information provided by you in a way not described here, we will contact you beforehand to explain the use of the information and give you the opportunity to decline that use.

Children's Privacy

The following additional terms, conditions and notices apply to use of the Web site by children under the age of 13 years whenever Lee BHM Corp. becomes aware that a user is in that age range:

Users under 13 years of age may not submit or post information on the Web site without the consent of the user's parent or legal guardian. Prior to collecting any personal information about a child under 13, Lee BHM Corp. makes reasonable efforts to obtain consent from the child's parent after informing the parent about the types of information Lee BHM Corp. will collect, how it will be used, and under what circumstances it will be disclosed.

Although Lee BHM Corp. will apply these children's terms and conditions whenever it becomes aware that a user who submits Personal Information is less than 13 years old, no method is foolproof. Lee BHM Corp. strongly encourages parents and guardians to supervise their children's online activities and consider using parental control tools available from online services and software manufacturers to help provide a child-friendly online environment. These tools also can prevent children from disclosing online their name, address, and other personal information without parental permission.

"Personal information" collected from children may include any of the information defined above as "Personal Information" with respect to general users of the Web site and may be used by Lee BHM Corp. for the same purposes. Except as necessary to process a child's requests or orders placed with advertisers or merchants featured on the Web site, Lee BHM Corp. does not rent, sell, barter or give away any lists containing a child's Personal Information for use by any outside company.

If a child enters a game, contest or other activity sponsored by Lee BHM Corp. on the Web site, the child may be required by Lee BHM Corp. to provide the minimum Personal Information reasonably necessary for the child to participate in such activity.

A child's parent or legal guardian may request Lee BHM Corp. to provide a description of the Personal Information that Lee BHM Corp. has collected from the child, as well as instruct Lee BHM Corp. to cease further use, maintenance and collection of Personal Information from the child.

If a child voluntarily discloses his or her name, e-mail address or other personally-identifying information on chat areas, bulletin boards or other forums or public posting areas, such disclosures may result in unsolicited messages from other parties.

Cancellation

Your subscription will not automatically stop at expiration. To cancel your subscription, please contact customer service. Returning subscribers wishing to opt-out of premium editions must do so when restarting.

Refund Policies

Subscriber refunds will be issued within two weeks of cancellation. Refunds will be issued per the original method of payment. There is a $5 processing fee for all refunds remitted to the customer.

Advertiser refunds will be granted upon cancellation of an entire run schedule if notice of cancellation is received from the advertiser prior to the beginning of the run schedule. Refunds will be issued per the original method of payment and will be processed within 10 business days of the request.

Account Setup Fee

All new subscriptions and restarts of subscriptions stopped for 30 days or more may be charged a one-time account setup fee of $8.95; if not paid in advance, this may shorten your subscription expiration date.

Mailed Subscription Renewal Charge

Your renewal notice now includes a $3.95 charge for mailing it. This fee will defray our cost associated with printing as well as postage and handling. You can avoid the fee by signing up for EasyPay or eBilling.

General

These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and Lee BHM Corp. with respect to use of the Web site, superseding all prior or contemporaneous communications and/or proposals. Lee BHM Corp. reserves the right to make changes to these Terms and Conditions immediately by posting the changed Terms and Conditions in this location. By continuing to use the Web site, you are agreeing to all changes made by Lee BHM Corp.. A printed version of these Terms and Conditions shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to use of the Web site to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

The Web site is controlled and operated by Lee BHM Corp. from its principal office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. Lee BHM Corp. makes no representation that materials on the Web site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who choose to access the Web site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. The Web site is not intended to subject Lee BHM Corp. to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than the State/Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.

Premium Editions

The Richmond Times Dispatch, Powhatan Today, Mechanicsville Local and Goochland Gazette may enhance the newspaper with up to six premium editions annually. These special editions are not included in our standard subscription price, so they require an additional charge that could result in a slightly shortened subscription length. If you prefer to opt out, please contact us at the customer service phone number just above the remittance stub.

Current Pricing

Your subscription expiration date is based on current pricing and subject to change based on future price adjustments.

Vacation No Credit

We no longer offer vacation credit. All print subscribers are eligible for All Access, which will allow access to all on-line content, including the digital replica of the newspaper.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of the Lee BHM Corp. site, or your dealings with Lee BHM Corp., you may contact us at:

Lee BHM Corp.

Contact us via e-mail
News / National

by Staff reporter

VUYO Mokoena took a secret to his grave only known by his closest gospel music friend 'Sis Ribbs' Rebecca Malope, reported a newspaper.The big secrete is that Vuyo Mokoena who passed on in 2008 succumbing to a brain tumor was Zimbabwean by birth.At the time of his death, he had taken a sabbatical from music as he battled blood cancer and leukemia."Vuyo was Zimbabwean. The fact that I didn't know for years is amazing because I think that he didn't want to talk about it and I don't know why. Later on at some stage that's when I found out that he was Zimbabwean," said Malope.Malope said she discovered that Vuyo arrived in South Africa as a child (6 years old) with his father who came in search of greener pastures.That could be the reason why he was conversant in Shona."Every time we were on stage he loved singing Shona songs. That's when I said OK," added Malope.Malope poured her heart out on how Mokoena's death took her by surprise."Vuyo was a very healthy person, he didn't drink or smoke," she said.Malope was in Zimbabwe where she had shows in Harare and Bulawayo celebrating 30 years in the music industry.
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A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
CHATTANOOGA  Larry Walker still finds amusement in the fictional frustration of Tony Stark, the comic book and movie superhero who once lamented the lack of high-speed Internet in the Tennessee town known as Gig City.

The nickname stems from Chattanoogas claim that its gigabit Internet service is the fastest in the Western Hemisphere.

Its always amazing to me when I go to bigger cities like [Philadelphia] or Milwaukee, and the Internet in little Chattanooga is so much faster, Walker, a director at a local religious nonprofit group, said one Friday morning while staring at his laptop inside the popular Camp House cafe on East Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Where Chattanooga already has gone, the Roanoke Valley hopes to follow, though on a scale far smaller. The region has established a $5 million municipal broadband system that has spurred the kinds of questions movies like Iron Man raise in advance of their release: Will it be a flop or a hit?

In Chattanooga, a city of 173,000 people on Tennessees southeastern border, the reviews are in and the praise is lavish.

A $330 million gigabit network provides web access at speeds that dwarf the national average, helping lure high-tech industry to the old iron-making town once called Americas dirtiest city.

Launched in 2009, Chattanoogas initiative reflects a growing perception that high-speed broadband is about more than convenience.

Its an essential infrastructure need like water, sewer and gas, said Roanoke Economic Development Director Wayne Bowers. Thats what you got to have.

In April, the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority  made up of the cities of Salem and Roanoke and Roanoke and Botetourt counties  completed a 47-mile fiber broadband network that initially will target government and large business customers.

Supporters of the taxpayer-financed system say its needed to help the Roanoke Valley stand out among peer communities for offering established and prospective employers more broadband options.

Opponents contend the network duplicates services and creates unfair competition for private providers. Similar arguments arose in Chattanooga.

Others cite concerns over money.

Can you create a long-term, sustainable network that can fund itself? said Dennis Reece, the chief operating officer at Citizens Telephone Cooperative, a Floyd-based telecom provider. It may take years before you answer that.

Building broadband

When the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority moved forward last year with plans to procure fiber, choose a contractor and look for an executive director, some backers among elected Roanoke officials immediately pointed to a need  successful bids against peer cities in attracting prospective employers.

Chattanooga was one of the peer cities mentioned.

Through the Electric Power Board, the long-time city-owned utility, Chattanoogas fiber broadband network opened to its first customers in September 2009 and became widely available across the area in February 2011.

The network offers minimum home and small business speeds of 100 megabits and a maximum bandwidth of 10 gigabits.

Internet speed is measured by bits of data transferred per second  1 billion bits for 1 gigabit, 1 million bits for 1 megabit. Chattanoogas maximum speed is more than 700 times faster than the national average of 14.2 megabits, according to the most recent report from Akamai, a Massachusetts tech firm.

The power board manages 9,000 miles of fiber optic lines over a 600-square-mile area, including Chattanooga and Hamilton County and parts of eight other counties in southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. Subscribers to the service include about 67,000 residential and 6,000 business customers. The power board estimates it controls slightly less than 60 percent of its broadband market.

Comcast and AT&T provide competition, but the municipal service offers faster speed and better prices.

Faster Internet service came to Chattanooga only because the utility made it happen, said Danna Bailey, a spokeswoman for the power board.

If we want true next-generation communication infrastructure, we need to build it ourselves, Bailey said. We just wanted to make sure anybody here could do whatever they wanted to do without being constrained by bandwidth.

Blazing Internet speeds helped lure innovators to town, said Mike Bradshaw, executive director of Co.Lab, a nonprofit firm aimed at boosting startup businesses. Since 2010, more than 100 small companies have been part of the Co.Lab program, which has helped the firms land $21 million from investors.

Chattanooga established an innovation district in January 2015 around the 10-story Edney Building, where Co.Lab is housed. The designation was created to draw entrepreneurs, students and researchers all into one place where they could bounce around ideas, said Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke.

The approach is working, the mayor said.

Bellhops, which launched an app to connect people with movers, is an example. Over the past three and a half years, the company has created 135 jobs in Chattanooga. Co-founder Cam Doody said municipal-based broadband has been critical.

Fast Internet is essential for our company. We operate a network of thousands of contractors all over the country and field thousands of inquiries a day through the web, he said. Slow Internet does not bode well for companies like ours.

VaynerMedia also moved into the innovation district. The social marketing firm, which operates offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, employs 20 people in Chattanooga, but expects to add another 55 jobs in two years.

Businesses arent alone in being drawn to Chattanooga by high-speed Internet. The influx of new professionals working downtown and interested in living there has roused the local real estate market, said Kim White, president and CEO of the River City Company, a nonprofit development arm of Chattanooga.

These are developers who can develop anywhere in the country, and they see the potential in Chattanooga, she said. There is young talent thats moving here. They want to be part of the city.

High-speed connections are the driving force, said James Cowan, CEO of ProviderLinc, which develops telemedicine services.

Cities that dont have gig connections or high-speed connections may have a difficult time attracting businesses in spaces like broadcast applications, crowdfunding, things that will draw many, many users to the web to absorb information, Cowan said. You have to have a certain infrastructure to execute that.

Doubts over need

Private providers Cox and Comcast say the broadband infrastructure already exists in the Roanoke Valley.

Weve been saying it for a long time, said Jeff Merritt, Coxs market vice president for Roanoke. Its a replication of not only what we have, but there are other providers that provide services in those locations.

Debate intensified following Roanoke Countys proposal to spend $3.4 million to expand the municipal network. Supervisors later approved the plan.

Cox took out a full-page ad in the May 11 edition of The Roanoke Times highlighting the companys provision of speeds of up to 10 gigabits for businesses and plans to bring 1 gigabit Internet to apartments being built in downtown Roanoke.

In what Merritt described as a rare move, Cox also published a map of its fiber throughout the Roanoke Valley, showing lines stretching from the rural areas southwest of Roanoke and Salem to the area east past Hollins and Vinton.

The company noted places where Roanoke Countys 25-mile addition would overlap with fiber belonging to Cox. Those areas include a stretch between Glenvar and Salem, Cave Spring, Vinton and the area just west of Hollins.

Merritt said he doesnt recall Cox publishing fiber maps for any of its other markets across the country.

He didnt specify how much fiber Cox operates in the region, but said several hundred miles extend through the Roanoke Valley.

A Comcast spokeswoman said in an email that the company already provides its customers in Salem and the Roanoke area with home speeds ranging from 10 megabits to 2 gigabits and, for businesses, scalable, high-capacity Internet ranging from 100 megabits to 10 gigabits.

Roanoke County Supervisor Al Bedrosian, who cast the lone dissenting vote on spending for the expansion, said the municipal network undercuts private providers and puts taxpayer money at risk.

They dont care about making a profit, Bedrosian said, referring to municipal providers. All they want to do is secure customers, so they put the private sector at a disadvantage.

In Chattanooga, the Electric Power Board showed $69.1 million in fiber optics expenses and $106.8 million in sales last fiscal year, according to the utilitys 2015 financial report.

Competitive edge

Municipal broadband backers say the competition the authority brings will be good for the regions economy.

Bowers, the Roanoke economic development director, said prospective businesses might consider the city a more attractive destination because the broadband options and prices are more flexible here than elsewhere.

Pricing disparity between cities is pretty significant, said David Carter, the chief technology officer at Advanced Logic Industries, a Blacksburg company that provides IT services for clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Carter worked for Roanoke City Public Schools from 2007 to 2009, undertaking a project to bring gigabit service to all schools in the district. An Advanced Logic client, the Western Virginia Water Authority, is now a broadband authority customer.

Carter said private telecom providers often take a conservative approach to upgrading services because of uncertainty over the return on investment for expensive modern networks and customers willingness to pay more.

Competition from municipal authorities, he said, can prompt private providers to upgrade services while keeping a lid on prices.

This makes [private providers] uncomfortable and everyone should be happy about that, Carter said. When you introduce new competitors, you get an opportunity for better services and better pricing.

Bailey, the power board spokeswoman, declined to share more details on the utilitys Internet business packages, but said one example includes a $499 monthly deal for 1 gigabit service for small business without contract or bundling discounts. A similar client pays $1,500 a month for 10 gigabits.

While Merritt declined to divulge Coxs business rates, the companys new contract to provide Internet to Roanoke County Public Schools costs the division $46,318 a month.

Monthly rates for authority customers seeking both data transport and the Internet are $550 for 10-megabit service and $5,687 for 1 gigabit.

Disaster in UTOPIA

Municipal broadband initiatives can short-circuit.

During the early 2000s, 16 localities, mostly in northern central Utah, formed a broadband network provider called the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, or UTOPIA. Eleven of the 16 cities pledged financial commitments.

Those pledges haunt those communities now.

Construction delays, missed goals and huge annual operating losses have put the cities on the hook for more than $475 million in potential debt through 2040.

It was enough to prompt consideration of a private takeover that could have added $20 a month to utility bills for residents in six cities on the network. Those residents would have been required to pay the charge regardless of whether they had service with the network.

UTOPIA is among municipal providers discussed in a 183-page 2014 report co-authored by Michael Santorelli and Charles Davidson, directors of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute, a think tank at New York Law School.

Government-owned broadband networks are risky investments, Santorelli said. Success is tough to guarantee, he said. UTOPIA, for example, badly missed projections on subscribers.

There have been instances where networks have failed outright and put the debt on taxpayers, Santorelli said.

Major debt incurred because of failing broadband networks also can result in credit downgrades, which affect a municipalitys ability to borrow money, Santorelli said.

A long-term vision

But broadbands importance is difficult to deny.

High-speed service was among the conditions Deschutes Brewery sought before settling on Roanoke for its East Coast facility, Bowers said. Documents he provided showed the brewery wanted access to Internet speeds of up to 100 megabits.

The Roanoke Center for Industry and Technology, site of Deschutes planned East Coast brewery, is fed by lines from Cox, Verizon, Lumos and now the broadband authority.

Bowers said he anticipates the authority will make a move for Deschutes account once the brewery is built.

High-speed Internet is a need for virtually all businesses, said broadband authority CEO and President Frank Smith.

Roanoke Countys 25-mile addition to the municipal network will run near 650 commercial properties just outside Roanoke and Salem.

When businesses look for locations, they basically have a check list and broadband has always been an issue here, said Roanoke County Supervisor Jason Peters. So how many businesses have we lost because we didnt have the infrastructure?

I think thats where a lot of the frustration Im hearing is, Peters added. I dont look at this for fiber, but as infrastructure for our community long term.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte exits the final financial reporting period ahead of the June 14 primary with a colossal money lead over challenger Harry Griego.

The gap continued growing after the April 1 to May 25 deadline with more than a dozen contributions to the Goodlatte campaign of more than $1,000, mostly from large political action committees.

The Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports were due Thursday at 11:59 p.m. in advance of the primary election June 14 for the 6th Congressional District in which the two-decade incumbent faces the upstart Roanoke County-based pilot.

The district that includes Lynchburg and Amherst County and northern Bedford County stretches from Warren County in the north along Virginias backbone to Roanoke County in the southwest.

Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, reported having raised $150,171 during the reporting period. The report showed expense of $162,076 during the period, leaving the campaign $1.32 million cash on-hand.

Griegos report showed the campaign raised $2,355 during the period and spent $2,480. The campaign reported $669 cash on-hand.

Since the reporting period ended, Goodlattes campaign filed three 48-hour notices, required for contributions of $1,000 or more within 20 days of the election.

A June 1 48-hour notice showed 12 contributions of more than $1,000, including $5,000 from Norfolk Southern Corp. Government Fund, two $2,500 contributions from the BNSF RailPAC, and $1,000 from the Association of American Railroads PAC.

That notice also shows $1,000 from Frank E. Longaker, of Roanoke, listed as president of online for-profit school American National University.

ExxonMobils company-sponsored political action committee out of Irving, Texas contributed $2,500 on May 31, a notice said.

A report dated for May 26 showed a $1,000 donation from CSM Inc. CEO Robert McNichols, out of Roanoke. CSM is a long-term care management firm for retirement communities.

The next required report for the 6th Congressional District is due July 15.
Standing in a church sanctuary Saturday morning, Alvin Crutchfield described how he felt when he learned he could once again vote in Virginia.

"Hallelujah," he said. "... I've been praying to have my rights restored."

Crutchfield, 64, of Roanoke, is among an estimated 206,000 ex-offenders whose rights were restored under a sweeping executive order signed in April by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The order, which is being challenged in court, has spurred a heated political debate and drew new scrutiny last week as prosecutors discovered errors in the list of names compiled by McAuliffe's administration.

Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom found the state was listing three people linked to a violent Roanoke Valley gang who are all still in federal prison as having had their rights restored.

Similar mistakes were found by prosecutors in Loudoun and Fauquier counties.

Republican leaders pointed to the discoveries as evidence the executive order was rushed through without due diligence.

"I'm frankly stunned at what we've learned. It's incredibly reckless," said House Speaker Bill Howell, one of the plaintiffs in the GOP-led lawsuit challenging the governor's authority to issue a mass rights restoration order.

The governor's office said some issues are bound to arise in a large undertaking that involved compiling over 17 million pieces of state data.

Spokesman Brian Coy said work to refine the list continues and described critics as seizing on technical problems to undermine the initiative.

Coy said he wasn't aware of anyone trying to register to vote after erroneously appearing on the state list.

On Saturday, supporters of the rights restoration order held a trio of rallies across the state, including one at Mt. Zion AME Roanoke Church attended by about 50 people.

"I'm happy and I'm honored to be part of working to get as many of these ex-offenders registered to vote as possible," said Eddie Seay of the group Your Vote, Your Voice, which followed the local rally with a voter registration canvas.

"People shouldn't be punished forever and ever and ever for a mistake they made in the past. They paid that debt."

Crutchfield, who also spoke at the rally, said he's been unable to vote in Virginia since 1975 when he was convicted on drug possession and distribution charges.

"I've been a law-abiding citizen for almost 40 years," he said, adding after his release he lived for awhile in North Carolina, which automatically restores rights to those who've completed their sentence and probation or parole.

When he returned to Virginia, he was surprised to discover he couldn't vote. Rights restoration requests made through the application process previously used by Virginia's governors were denied, he said, because he still had unpaid court fees that, with interest, now total more than $8,000.

"I work hard, but I don't have $8,000," said Crutchfield, a heating and air technician. "But I would love to have my rights back ... I just don't feel whole in the community."

The requirement that court costs be paid was dropped from the restoration process by McAuliffe last year and isn't part of the criteria for the executive order -- a point that drew criticism from those who feel court costs and restitution should be paid first.

The initial executive order automatically restored the right to vote, serve on juries and run for public office to all felons who had served their sentence and completed any supervised probation or parole as of April 22.

McAuliffe intends to keep signing orders to cover those who meet the criteria after that point. A second order he signed Tuesday added an estimated 1,200 people.

The governor's administration has refused requests to release the list of names it's assembled to date as part of the initiative.

Officials said the information would be in an annual report made to the General Assembly next year. But Republican lawmakers said it should be released now so others can check its accuracy.

The list was used to create an online database where a person's status can be checked using their name, date of birth and social security number.

The prosecutors discovered the mistakes reported by entering information from past cases. Branscom said he found errors during only about 20 minutes of searching.

"I'm afraid to think of what it looks like on a large scale around the commonwealth," he said. "I just looked at a small sampling."

The lapses included listing the names of three people linked to the Goonz, a local gang that in the words of one federal prosecutor was turning home invasions into a "cottage industry."

The people, sentenced in 2011, are all still serving time in out-of-state federal prisons, according to online federal inmate information.

Coy said the state data didn't initially account for inmates who'd been moved out of Virginia. Officials are working to correct errors and remove ineligible people, he said.

Being listed in the state database alone doesn't make it legal to register to vote if you don't meet the criteria spelled out in the executive order, he said

Branscom said the errors raised questions about how the order is being enacted, and he wished stakeholders had been allowed more input into the process.

"It would have been nice to look at this before we did it," he said, "instead of putting our fingers into the leaks afterward."
News / National

by Staff reporter

FORMER Cabinet Minister and war veterans chairperson Chris Mutsvangwa has hit out at Vice president Phelekezela Mphoko, describing him as uneducated and a war deserter "given to uninformed vanity, parochial regionalism and petty tribalism".Mutsvangwa said Mphoko does not think on his own, but takes advice from "another war deserter Prof Jonathan Moyo whom he idolises to shocking levels". He described the pair "as indeed two birds of shared cowardice in the national liberation war".Further, the war vets leader said Mphoko "is mentally inebriated by a cocktail of stunted ambition, crass ignorance, morbid paranoia and compulsive dependence on Jonathan Moyo and his G40 agenda".Mphoko and the war vets have been engaged in an increasingly bitter ding dong as the ruling Zanu-PF party's succession war continues.Mutsvangwa was responding after Mphoko said the war vets leader, his deputy Headman Moyo, Douglas Mahiya (spokesperson) and secretary general Victor Matemadanda were engaging in treasonous conduct.The vice president spoke after the war vets held a meeting in the Midlands province where they openly endorsed vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa as the "only succession candidate" and demanded the expulsion of Mphoko and his allies from the ruling party.Mphoko is said to be one of the heavies in the so-called G40 Zanu-PF faction which reportedly includes first lady Grace Mugabe and cabinet ministers such as Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.The group is said to be determined to stop a Mnangagwa succession, but what remains unclear is their choice for Zimbabwe's next leader after the 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe with Grace affecting disinterest in the job.In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, Mutsvangwa said, unlike Mphoko, he was chairman of war veterans' association and was elected to champion and defend his constituency of "heroic freedom fighters"."President Mugabe and Vice president Mnangagwa fall under that ambit, Mphoko has challenges because he went AWOL from ZIPRA military operations after ZIPA collapsed in 1976," said Mutsvangwa."I have it on good record that the late national hero Akim Ndhlovu, founder and consistent commander of ZIPRA, said as much to him (Mphoko) in Maputo during the struggle.Mutsvangwa mocked Mphoko saying the VP preferred to enjoy wedding parties with Jacob Zuma as best man in leafy Maputo suburbs while other "comrades were in the midst of blazing battles at the front as they fought Ian Smith"."He (Mphoko) went on to live a happy married life in Mozambique while other regrouped ZIPRA comrades fought from Zambia."He did not join ZANLA in the Mozambique-based military operations."Mutsvangwa said it was shocking that the vice president "did not bother to utilise the time he was enjoying in Mozambique to further his studies  when bursaries were galore for freedom fighters"."He (Mphoko) did not bother to use the AWOL time to further his education as other comrades did at Edward Mondlane University during his marital sojourn in Maputo."He also failed to similarly go back to school after independence notwithstanding the new educational opportunities.The row between the rival Zanu-PF actions escalated last week after minutes of the war veterans meeting in Gweru were leaked to the media.Mutsvangwa accused Prof Moyo and Mphoko of concocting the leaked record of the meeting which was attended by the war veterans national executive and provincial executives.
News / Regional

by Ngqwele Dube

SPENDING her teen years in her home country and living her adult life in another enabled Nonhlanhla Matshazi to embrace a Pan-African embodiment that later gave birth to a multi-disciplinary arts festival celebrating African creativity. Matshazi was born in Zambia, moved to Zimbabwe aged nine, when colonial rule ended before heading to South Africa as a young adult at 21.Her experiences with different cultures on the continent and her passion for the arts saw her come up with the Sanaa Africa Festival to celebrate the continent in her adopted home country, South Africa.In an interview at the close of the fifth edition of the Sanaa Festival held at St Stithians College in Sandton, Matshazi said she was born of Zimbabwean parents in Livingstone, Zambia in 1971 and they moved back to Zimbabwe when the country attained independence in 1980 and moved to South Africa in 1992 when her father, Prof Misheck Matshazi was offered a job at Fort Hare University."When I came up with the idea of the Sanaa, I believe I was influenced by my multicultural background that saw me interact with a diverse range of people and live amongst different cultures. However, I felt the impact of apartheid in South Africa had left a huge chasm between them and other Africans, which didn't reflect a shared history, shared culture that exists between the people of Africa," she said.Having worked as a consultant for W K Kellogg Foundationin South Africa, Matshazi got the opportunity to travel to the United States and attend the Santa Fe Folk Art Market where she managed to learn the ropes of organising and managing a festival.She said Prof Mandivamba Rukuni, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana and Dr Thokozile Chitepo, who at the time were with the Kellog Foundation recommended that she be given the opportunity to travel to America in 2009 and learn more about festivals.In 2011 Sanaa was born, with a small launch that introduced the festival to the market and the following year it was a full blown festival commemorating creativity on the African continent and has been held every year coincide with Africa Day that is celebrated on 25 May, the day the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) came into being in 1963."When we started the festival, it was one of the few to celebrate being an African in South Africa and our uniqueness about us is that we embraced other art forms besides music and dance. Most festivalsare about music, music and music but there is more to Africa than just music and dance there is fine art, dance, theatre, film, poetry and this year we decided to expand those platforms to a wider audience and although we didn't get that in numbers I believe we got it in people's eyes that there is more to being an African than just music and dance. Luckily we managed to get a main sponsor, the MTN SA Foundation who have been pivotal in support the festival," said the multi-lingual Matshazi who speaks Ndebele, English, Chewa, Pemba, Xhosa, Zulu, Nyanja, SeSwati and Shona.While it was previously held at Zoo Lake, the festival moved to St Stithians as they sought to catch a bigger market. This year the festival which ran from 26 to 28 May was graced by SA-based Zimbabwean jazz musician, Mr Prince, Zimbabwean choreographer and dancer Mclntosh Jerahuni, Zimbabwean-born visual artist, Vulindlela Nyoni, visual artist, Riva-MengaMakabi from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angolan-born, Joao Ladeira.In film there was Denise Khumalo, daughter of TV personality, Musi Khumalo, Nozizwe Jele from SA, while Mozambique's Matanayne presented a dance piece among other artists who performed at the showcase.Matshazi who was once the Junior Mayoress of Bulawayo went to Girls College in the city before enrolling for an arts degree at the University of Zimbabwe. She later did an honours degree in English at Fort Hare before studying for a masters in African Literature at Wits University. She has her roots in Filabusi, Matabeleland South and revealed she is proud of her Ndebele background.
News / Regional

by Tatenda Gapare

A FORM Four pupil at a local secondary school has blamed his former step-father for producing poor results, as she could not concentrate after he raped her and tried to buy her silence with $1.The man (43) from Cowdray Park suburb who is also employed at the National Railways of Zimbabwe, appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Temba Chimiso facing rape charges. He was remanded out of custody to 14 June for trial.It is alleged that the girl's mother separated with the accused after a misunderstanding, before she knew that he had raped her daughter. Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza said sometime last year, the girl was asleep in her bedroom and her mother had gone to South Africa."He entered the girl's bedroom and found her asleep, he then locked the door and slept next to her. The girl was awakened by his movements and he quickly covered her mouth using his hand. He then removed the girl's pants and also unzipped his trousers. He had sexual intercourse with her once, without her consent and without protection," he said.The court heard that after raping her, he gave the girl $1 and ordered her not to tell anyone what had happened."The matter came to light when the girl's mother separated with the accused after having a misunderstanding concerning the girl's poor results at school. The girl told her mother what had happened when she was not around and she accompanied her to the police to report the case," said Mr Mufaro.The girl was referred to Mpilo Central Hospital for medical examination.
Hireling bombing kills many people in Taiz





SANA'A, June 04 (Saba) - Many people were killed by Riyadh's hirelings bombing in Taiz province, a military official said Saturday.



The hirelings bombed with artillery and mortar shells on the Military hospital in al-Jahmalia neighborhood and al-Abab al-Kaber Souk in al-Jomlah neighborhood in Taiz downtown causing dozens of killed and wounded civilians.



A farmer was also killed and five others injured due to exploding a bomblet of cluster bombs dropped by the Saudi aggression on Taiz, the official added.



The army and popular committees repulsed an attempt of the hirelings to advance towards Tha'abat and al-Jahmalia areas in Taiz. The hirelings have kidnapped citizens from their houses at al-Khayateen and Althawra School neighborhoods, the official said.



In Sana'a province, the hirelings struck, using medium weapons and missiles, areas of Mabda'a, Bani Bariq, al-Hawl, Wadi Malh and al-Tabah al-Hamra'a in Nihm district.



The Saudi warplanes waged two air raids on Usailan district of Shabwa province, however the army and popular committees destroyed a tank belong to the hirelings in al-Safra area in the same district.



In Jawf province, the Saudi warplanes waged an air raid on al-Ghail district, while the hirelings targeted houses in al-Moton district with artillery shells.



The hirelings in Mareb province pounded al-Makhdra area in Serwah district with Katyusha rockets.



According to the official, the Saudi war jets waged an air raid on Hodeida city, five raids on Mandaba area in Baqem district of Sa'ada province and two raids on al-Shurfa area in Najran province.



HA/AF

Saba

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[04/June/2016]
News / Regional

by Vusumuzi Dube

THE Bulawayo City Council was allegedly forced to recommend the appointment of Acting Town Clerk, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou as the choice candidate for the position of the city's substantive Town Clerk, after an alleged instruction from the MDC-T party, it has emerged.MDC-T secretary for Local Government, Mr Eddie Cross reportedly called an urgent meeting with councillors on Wednesday where he allegedly instructed councillors to push Mrs Zhou to the front of the list instead of their preferred candidate, Victoria Falls Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube.This is despite Mrs Zhou having been placed fourth in interviews that were held by the local authority's general purposes committee a couple of weeks ago.Contacted for comment, Mr Cross confirmed the meeting with the councillors regarding the issue of the appointment of the city's Town Clerk, but could neither confirm nor deny the allegations that the councillors had been told which candidate to endorse."Yes, I had a meeting with the councillors at 10am (Wednesday). The meeting's agenda was mainly to do with the appointment of the city's town clerk, where among other things I was telling them to keep this issue of the appointment of the town clerk away from the public domain, hence I am surprised that they have already leaked this information to you."Anyway since you are already in the know I should confirm to you that today (Wednesday), they will be discussing it at their full council meeting and then a special council meeting will be called to finalise the matter, after which the final list of three will be sent to the Local Government Board. I am told that a total of 40 people applied for the job, of which they came up with an initial shortlist of eight before coming up with the final three," said Mr Cross.Mr Cross defended the "interference" in council affairs saying his party was acting in the best interest for Bulawayo."We are not interfering but just want the best for the city," said Mr Cross.On the list that had been compiled by the local authority, Victoria Falls town clerk Mr Dube had come out tops followed by former Tsholotsho Rural District Council chief executive officer Ronnie Dube, while there was a tie in fourth place between acting town clerk, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou and Hwange Colliery finance manager Mr Gift Sibanda.Meanwhile, the Affirmative Action Group (Matabeleland Charter) last week wrote a letter addressed to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Saviour Kasukuwere where they challenged the whole process arguing that councillors had no capacity to conduct the process."In light of the impending publication of inquiry set by your ministry to investigate the corrupt practices and conduct by officials of the Bulawayo City Council, which is both administrators and councillors, we request that your office suspends the confirmation of names (for town clerk position) that have been seconded to the Local Government Board for selection"The general purposes committee that held interviews has no capacity as this committee is made up of a shelf packer employed by (named retail shop), a retired nurse aid, unemployed councillors and the mayor who is a former teacher. Based on basic analysis of their background and track record, they thus sit at the top of BCC's mismanagement maladies," reads the letter signed by the AAG chief executive officer, Mr Denzel Sita.AAG further questioned the logic behind the local authority's human resources manager being part of the interviewing panel."This is in itself a clear sign of dysfunctional standards, as it is mind boggling how one can sit on a panel that serves to choose your superior let alone interview your current leader," reads part of the letter.Efforts to get a comment from the city's mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo were fruitless. Contacted for comment Minister Kasukuwere said they would review the process and if they find anything wrong."The Local Government Board is there to review such things and ensure that there is no anomaly in such appointments," he said.
News / Regional

by Munyaradzi Musiiwa

MIDLANDS State University (MSU) bursar Mamelo Moyo and her husband Melusi who formed a briefcase company that saw the institution of higher learning being siphoned of more than $150 000 through unprocedural business transactions have been slapped with a five-year jail sentence.The two were, however, lucky to escape jail when Gweru regional magistrate Mr Morgan Nemadire suspended two years from their sentence on condition that they pay $4 000 each and a further three years suspended on condition of good behaviour.Moyo and her husband Melusi who was also employed by MSU as the acting director of works had pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned before Mr Nemadire facing 30 counts of fraud and corruption. They were convicted and sentenced last Friday.The State led by Mr Munyaradzi Guvheya told the court that on 26 October last year, MSU represented by Mr Erasmus Mupfiga, got a tip-off that the two had an undisclosed relationship with one of the university's suppliers of stationery and computer accessories called Netabelt Investments Pvt Limited. The institution then called Deloitte and Touche to investigate the relationship between the pair and the company."On realising that procurement procedures of the university were about to be audited, Mamelo completed declaration of conflicts form and declared that Melusi was her husband and director of Netabelt Investments Pvt Limited," said Mr Guvheya."She also brought a declaration of conflicts form completed by her husband declaring he was the director of the company." The court heard that she went on and forced her two subordinates Nyaradzai Kutsira and Jonathan Satande to sign in the forms as witnesses.Mr Guvheya said the audit, however, disclosed that Melusi also had 30 transactions through Netabelt Investment Pvt Limited worth $154 393, 65 with MSU for the supply of stationery and food which were preceded through Competitive Quotation Bidding process. He said his wife would authorise the payments made to the company.Mamelo appeared before the same court facing a count of abuse of duty as a public officer after she authorised payments which were supposed to be done by another office.Mr Guvheya told the court that sometime in December 2013, Moyo phoned her sister's husband Tinashe Shumba who then was based in Botswana and requested him to supply toner cartridges to the university."Shumba then sent a quotation of $9 860 to Moyo via e-mail for 25 toner cartridges and Moyo responded and told him to supply the cartridges. And this was contrary to the university's requirements as the process is initiated by assistant buyers who will then recommend the supplier to the procurement manager," he said.The court heard that on 22 February, 2014, Shumba delivered the 25 cartridges under the name of Black Brain Operations Pvt Limited which is an unregistered company. Moyo then authorised the payment of $9 860 and signed for it in the cash register on behalf of Shumba and went on to hand over the money to him.Mr Gucheya said Shumba then gave Moyo $200 as appreciation.
KWU's Pioneer Hall set for National Historic place nomination

Pioneer Hall, the centerpiece of the Kansas Wesleyan University campus in Salina, is a step closer to being nominated as a national historic site.
Lets see. When it comes to health care in Samoa, we all have our stories to tell, especially experiences at the national hospital at Motootua. Some stories are great, some are good, there is the bad and of course the very ugly.

Weve heard it all before. What with the unwelcoming attitude of some staff members, poor service, facilities and those infamous security guards who seem to love the sound of their voices at the oddest of hours when patients are trying to sleep. Hardly anything new!

Let me tell you a little story. It happens to all of us. Now and then the engine needs to be overhauled and when the time comes there is simply nothing you can do about it. It doesnt matter if youre strong, busy, fit or whatever, there will always be that time when one must be at the hospital  not as a visitor but as a patient.

My turn  for the first time ever  was two weeks ago. Ill spare you the details about what landed me up there but I spent four days in the facility being cared for by some of the most loving souls who exist in Samoa.

Over the years, Ive spent countless hours visiting patients, families and friends but to be hospitlised for the first time can be quite intimidating, especially when you sit on my chair where youve read all the nasty stories about the service.

Most of the time though, the staff are bagged and they cop a lot of unnecessary flak for issues with the service  even when whats at the heart of the matter is totally beyond their control. Let me explain.

The first point of contention is getting through the crowd at the Emergency Room. The wait can take hours. As a patient, you dont want to hear the fancy Samoan oratory by the security guards when youre there. You only want to see a doctor and if you are in extreme pain, it can be excruciatingly frustrating. This is what seems to tick off a lot of people. They have a point and I found that the moment I arrived.

But the wait is not because they want to keep you waiting. There is a reason for this. You see, the limited number of doctors and nurses available to tend to patients is a big part of the problem, I found. When you have two or three doctors attending to hundreds of different patients, surely we can all appreciate the challenge. At worst, there might only be one doctor for all those patients. And he/she might be on her second day of round the clock work after having being on call the night before. They can barely keep their concentration.

The chronic shortage of doctors and to an extent nurses is nothing new for Samoa. It has been a well-documented problem for years and it remains so although it is heartening to see that there are really innovative ways being worked out by O.U.M, N.U.S and their partners to nurture our own and upskill local health workers.

Its also good to remember that Samoa is not the only country struggling with the retention of doctors and nurses. Although their situation is not as bad, you hear similar stories in Fiji, New Zealand and many other bigger countries.

Coming back to Samoa, one of the biggest changes at the hospital is the improvement in the facility  as in the building. Thanks to China and the proactive-ness of the government in terms of development, the people of Samoa are blessed with such a facility. Its not the flashest place in the world but if youve been there before and you know what the facilities were like, you can only be grateful.

Suffice to say, its a building you want to be in if you are sick (not that anybody would want to be sick). Compared to the hot, stuffy, run down and widely exposed facility of yesteryears where mice, stray cats and dogs were a common menace, the hospital we have now is a class above.

Its clean, air-conditioned and user friendly.

Whats more, it must be said that the staff really try their best in their very own unique way. There will the exceptionally rude ones (especially depending on their mood) but not everyone up there can be painted with the same paintbrush. There are many wonderful and warm souls, which can sometimes be hard to find in a very depressing environment where they deal with life and death each day.

Speaking of rudeness, this brings me to an issue Ive always heard about the hospital, especially in relation to the security guards. I dont need to tell you the story and in some cases, they are very true. A little bit of common sense, courtesy and a willingness to give and take would solve all our problems.

But to be fair to the security officers, they too have a job to do. And some times they are hated for doing just that.

Take for example the monitoring of people smuggling in food and violating visiting hours. It is hospital policy that outside food for patients are prohibited. For good reason. For a lot of the patients, it is the very food their families are smuggling in for them that sent them to the hospital in the first place.

Whats the use of doctors and nurses trying to cure a patient when families and friends defy medical instructions and feed him deep fried chicken and everything else he is not supposed to eat behind their back? Why waste their time?

Folks, that is not love. That is stupidity.

Lets be reminded here and now that health care is about team and collective work. Its about the doctors and nurses doing their work while we play our part. Since they are the experts with qualified opinions, we should listen when they tell us what we can and cannot eat. And when we do, we will find that the security officials will no longer confront our relatives and friends at the door.

The best thing to do, if you feel you must show your love for the patient or the carers at the hospital, is give them money so the carers can walk across the road and buy themselves some food. I say this because at the hospital, there is plenty of quality and healthy food for patients. To give you an idea, they serve breakfast, midmorning tea, lunch, midafternoon tea, dinner and then an evening snack. The portions are just what the doctor ordered. And they are delicious. Where else in the world can you get this service for the prices we are charging in Samoa?

With reference to the visiting hours, let me tell you this. If you are a person who is always on the go like me, the best thing I found at the hospital is that it gave me an opportunity to sleep and rest. It was priceless. And it was there I finally understood why the security guards insist on visiting hours. Keep in mind that doctors and nurses too need time for their work - like inspection visits at the lot.

If doctors thought that loud noises were the best thing for patients, they would have sent us to a nightclub or the Fugalei market. But patients need peace and quiet at all times. They are suffering; they dont want to be bothered and they certainly can do without what old folks would often refer to as your ata tauvalaau (annoying and unnecessary loud laugh) at the corridor. They just want to rest.

I was fortunate to share an isolation room at Acute Seven with another patient. It had its own bathroom, shower and with a stunning view of the Apia Township. All of this in air-conditioned comfort, the treatment, medication and the food for $30 a day. Im not kidding.

And there was certain glow on the faces of the staff in this particular ward. They were helpful, considerate and they genuinely wanted their patients to get well. This can be a difficult task especially in Samoa where we Samoans think we are experts in everything.

But the health workers try, they really do and we can only commend them given the circumstances. I can go on and on but Ill stop here.

The point I really want to make is that its easy to take pot shots and pour cold water on the efforts being made to improve things when we dont want to understand the reality.

But knowledge and experience is power.

My first hospital experience as a patient is something I will not forget in a hurry. You go in there and you trust God that he will work through the doctors and nurses who are part of a system designed to provide quality health care for everyone. Some patients are admitted and dont walk out. If you are a doctor or a nurse, that takes a toll on you. It must hurt.

I saw the challenges; struggles and I saw the small victories they celebrate quietly. I also witnessed how the system needs to improve to make things better.

There is no doubt that we need more doctors, we need more nurses. We need this government to stop wasting taxpayers monies on useless white elephants and corruption while the poor health workers are copping the blame for being overworked and underpaid.

This is pure madness. It must stop.

If the government is serious about placing the nations health first, it must put its money where its mouth is. Recover the millions lost through collusion, abuse and corruption and inject it back into the health system. And the government must play a more active role on the prevention of the illnesses that are killing our people. Leaders too should lead by example and look the part.

Having said all that, this is not by any means to suggest that the hospital experience at Motootua will be the same for everyone. Not at all. Your experience might be different. Whats comforting to know is that our health service is a work in progress and from what I saw up there; its making positive strides.

There will be the odd cases here and there where there will be problems and criticisms that will eventually end up on these news pages. Such is life. But appreciation and giving praises where it is due can go a long way.

And take it from someone whose first time experience at a hospital included a surgery and rehabilitation, I am extremely grateful. Forever grateful!

On that note, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Ponifasio, Dr. Aleki Fuimaono, Dr. Raymond Laulu, Dr. Faitasi Gaee and all the doctors who helped - including the team who operated on me.

I want to mention Leoo Dr. John Adams whose professionalism as a private doctor saw the immediate referral of my case to the right hands, just at the right time. I also commend the professionalism of the staff at the X-Ray division and CT Scan Department. Thank you to Nurse Taapena Solofuti Alo and her team of smiling nurses at Acute 7. You make all the difference.

Last but not the least, to all the health workers in Samoa, keep up the good work.

In an increasingly sick country, you will continue to be called upon.

If you are underpaid and overworked, God Almighty sees you. He has blessed and ordained you for such a time as this and greener pastures are on the way. Believe it.

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless!
Opinion / Columnist

Now a key security threat

African armies fight back

Who is a terrorist?

Counterstrokes

Is terrorism becoming the dominant mode of conflict in Africa? This is a question many are asking following the recent surge in terror attacks across Africa. Since January about a dozen African countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, COte d'ivoire and Somalia, have suffered terror attacks in which thousands of civilians have been killed.The attacks at the beginning of the year in Burkina Faso, in which 30 people died, reveal a new pattern in that the attackers - without any apparent base or network of support in the country, and with no clear strategic local goals - came from elsewhere and targeted distinct tourist attractions with no known connection to either government or the military.The groups perpetrating these attacks are embryonic: their only definable characteristic is that they profess extremist Islamic tendencies. For this reason they respect neither political nor geographical boundaries; and, except perhaps for Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, the attackers do not articulate clear local political goals.From what societal wellspring does this deadly militancy arise? And how is Africa tackling it?In the 1990s, terror attacks in Africa were somewhat episodic and limited to relatively well-defined local contexts (in Algeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda, for example). But now the emergence of groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria (with its regional reach), and the spread of Somalia's Al-Shabaab attacks into Kenya and Uganda, have made terrorism a key security threat in Africa.According to research by veteran African security analyst Jakkie Cilliers, head of the Institute of Security Studies, about 37% of the 39,286 violence-related fatalities recorded in Africa in 2014 occurred in Nigeria, mainly as a result of attacks by Boko Haram. This is followed closely by the percentage of such fatalities related to attacks by Al-Shabaab in Somalia.In 2014, for example, Boko Haram killed 6,664 people  mostly civilians  in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, not to mention the kidnapping of hundreds of people, including the 250 girl students of Chibok over a year ago. That's more than the 6,073 deaths attributed to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).In all, Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced more than 2.1 million Nigerians since it began its extremist activities a few years ago. Mr. Cilliers's research shows that largely due to terrorist activities, armed-conflict incidents in Africa rose from 40% of the global total in 2013 to 52% in 2014. This is despite the fact that Africa has barely 16% of the world's population.Africa currently hosts several terrorist groups that are affiliated with or influenced by Al-Qaeda. They operate across the vast expanse of the Sahel in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, as well as in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Somalia, Mali and Kenya.The deadly attacks on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, on 20 November 2015, which killed 22 people, including two attackers, and an eerily similar attack on the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on 15 January this year, which killed 30, have been claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).Nigeria has spent billions of dollars and dedicated tens of thousands of troops to fight Boko Haram, as have other African countries, with significant outside support. These efforts have blunted the power of these groups. Since the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria in March 2015, Boko Haram appears to have been pushed out of large swaths of territory it once occupiedbut the militants remain active in Nigeria and surrounding countries.In eastern Africa powerful armies from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda are confronting Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya. The presence of regional troops operating under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has prevented Al-Shabaab from taking over the country. Except for the failed bombing of a Daallo Airlines flight departing Mogadishu earlier this year, the group has lately been unable to carry out any serious attacks on the neighbouring countries.Within the African Union, discussions about what constitutes a terrorist group are highly contentious. Countries in western and eastern Africa that are directly affected by such attacks are more ready to label militant groups as terrorists; southern African countries whose liberation struggles against white domination were routinely described as terrorist are invariably wary of the term. After all, they argue, even Nelson Mandela was once described by major Western powers as a terrorist.As a result the African Union has adopted a fairly convoluted definition of terrorism, describing it merely by implication. Armed struggles waged by people in accordance with "the principles of international law for their liberation or self-determination, including armed struggle against colonialism, occupation, aggression and domination by foreign forces" shall not be considered as terrorism, it states. The burden is therefore to determine the causes, determinants and course of each violent action or manifestation of extremism.Some experts assert that some terrorist acts are due to some unresolved local issues. Most of the attacks may be terroristic, but are the militants therefore terrorist groups by the oblique definition of the African Union? These experts believe it might be better to isolate each group's distinct social roots - what it draws upon and what makes it persist amid the powerful forces ranged against it.Boko Haram started as a local rebellion in northern Nigeria and for many years remained so. It has roots in the widespread resentment of economic and social dereliction and official neglect in the largely impoverished northern half of Nigeria. The election of Mr. Buhari, a northerner, has undermined the group's appeal, which is partly why it has lost territory.In West Africa the recent reorganization of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin to tackle Boko Haram offered immense hope in many quarters. The force was set up in 1994 by the Nigerian government to "checkmate banditry activities and to facilitate free movement" along its northern border. But an early setback for the force came in January 2015, when Boko Haram fighters overran its headquarters at Baga, Nigeria. After that the MNJTF headquarters was moved to N'Djamena, Chad, and troops were increased.A new concept of operations, under the supervision of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, was also recently agreed upon, and in October 2015 the United States deployed 300 Special Forces personnel to Cameroon to help in the surveillance of Boko Haram and to support the MNJTF. News reports also suggest that US president Barack Obama might be considering increasing counterinsurgency activities against the Islamic State in Libya.Meanwhile the UN Security Council continues its support for AMISOM as well as for the African-dominated UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) - both of them combating militant activities. Militant attacks, including against peacekeepers, continue in both countries.Security Council resolution 2231 of July 2015 urged the African Union to undertake "a structured and targeted reconfiguration of AMISOM to boost its efficiency, in particular by strengthening command and control structures, and enhancing cross-sector operations."All that notwithstanding, the 12 November 2015 UN report on the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel paints a grim picture, noting that "terrorist groups have intensified asymmetric attacks in the north and have even moved southwards with attacks in the centre too, including in the Malian capital, Bamako, at the border with Burkina Faso and Mauritania, as well as in the south at the border region with Cote d'Ivoire."Despite an increase in terrorist activities, many believe that Africa should still celebrate the end of major warsin Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and elsewhere. The efforts by African governments and their armies, with international support, to defeat terrorism should ensure the important achievement of ending many warsis not undercut.
Dear Editor,

Re: PM issues caution to A.C.P

I have never felt prouder to be Samoan than to read this exceptional speech by the honorable prime minister!

May this be the impetus for a brave new future for the A.C.P.

Often Ive been very suspicious and critical of our prime minister and his government, but this speech really shows depth and vision (Read speech in full on page 15).

It is also interesting that the group met in P.N.G, next door to West Papua, our brothers and sisters who are enduring terrible oppression and extermination by the Indonesian government, their coloniser.

With Samoas proud celebration of independence still fresh on our nations consciousness, it would be meritorious and exemplary of our leadership to take any opportunity to make mention and show support for the independence struggles of our neighbours.

Auimatagi V.R.




The Pacific boa (Candoia bibroni) is a non-venomous snake endemic to Melanesia and Polynesia with a range extending from parts of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji through to Samoa and American Samoa.

Sometimes referred to as the Fiji boa or the Pacific tree boa, this species is a small type of boa constrictor that crushes its prey to death using its body as a constrictive coil.

It is believed to prey upon lizards, rats as well as small birds and their eggs.

Pacific boa population numbers are thought to be consistently underestimated as these snakes are true masters of camouflage, thanks to their disruptive colour patterning  which can range from red to almost black.

This colour variation has, at times, led people to believe that they are different species but currently there is no evidence to suggest that this is the case.

Unlike pythons which lay eggs, the Pacific boa gives birth to live young which, endearingly, are independent from birth and simply wriggle off to lead their own lives.

This trait may have contributed to the Pacific boa surviving the introduction of egg-loving mongooses to Fiji, whereas many bird species were not so fortunate.

The harmless Pacific boa looks a lot like another snake species  the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis), which has had an absolutely devastating impact on native birds and bats in other parts of the Pacific, especially on Guam.

Thankfully, the similarity between the two snakes stops at their visual appearance.

In Samoa it is highly unusual to see Pacific boas on Upolu but they are still found on Savai'i. These snakes pose no threat to humans aside from potentially giving them a fright! If you are lucky enough to see one, we suggest you enjoy the experience before leaving it in peace.

Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P).








Members of the National Council of Churches have a near new office thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints and an anonymous donor.

The renovation job cost $59,000 and was blessed on Tuesday.

Member of the L.D.S Church, Elder Meliula Fata, said their help was in response to a call from the Council.

We contacted our leaders and they agreed to do the work, he said. However we could not renovate the whole building because the budget was not enough and it was only enough to renovate just the ground floor.

So we agreed to do this but the owner of the Construction Company that did the work offered to paint the whole building free of charge.

Most of the things inside the building like the curtains and portraits were offered by the company for free.

Elder Fata said the Good Samaritan wants to remain anonymous but confirmed that she is a member of the L.D.S Church.

The Chairman of the National Council of Churches, Rev. Kasiano Leaupepe, thanked the leaders of the L.D.S Church for their support.

We have nothing to repay your love and kindness but we pray that the Lord may fulfill what has been spent on this project, he said.

It is a beautiful building now and we just want to thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts for your support.
Members of the public have been warned about a gang of youths who are making rounds in Apia, beating up people, stealing food and whatever else they can find on them.

The group has not only caused fear to individuals who regularly hangout in town but even businesses are concerned about the violence and the damage they are causing.

One woman who felt threatened by the youths has spoken up about her ordeal.

Jay Retzlaff, her spouse and other friends were sharing a pizza behind the government building last Friday when they were attacked. She told the Sunday Samoan that out of nowhere a gang of youth attacked her spouse.

We were eating there (government building) when a bunch of lowlife kids came and threw punches at my spouse, she told the Sunday Samoan. We didnt do anything wrong. They grabbed our pizza and coke, ate it and threw bottles at our carthey even tried to open the car to steal more from us. Not only that but they stole our phones.

Ms. Retzlaff said the sad thing about it is the offenders are very young.

These little boys around 14 to 19 years kicked, punched and swore at my partner threatening to kill him. We were lucky to hop in the car and drive off to the Police stationmy partner managed to escape when he got in the car and drove off to the Police station and I was also spared.

The woman is so concerned about the safety of the public she decided to share her story with people on a social media forum called the Makeki Online, warning them about the culprits.

There are some kids who come in crew and beat anybody who sits at that area and rob people, she warned. If anyone knows about this incident please report to police as we are trying to find them. We will offer a reward.

Ms. Retzlaff suspects that the youngsters were part of a popular dance contest that took place in front of the government building on that night.

She added its hard to forget what these youths had done to them as they have left a scar on her.

Another male of Luatuanuu, Gordon Viliamu, went through the same trouble on the same night.

I was heading back from Pinati restaurant where I went to buy some food when they attacked me, said Mr. Viliamu. Two of them were standing on one side of the bridge (in front of Mulivai) and more than ten others were on the other corner. I wasnt paying attention to them until I fell down when I was punched from the back. They took my food and ran off.

According to Mr. Viliamu the gang looked like teenagers.

There was too many of them I wont stand a chance, he said.

Even the taxi drivers that cruise around the area are familiar with the groups antics.

Isaia Fogatia who serves the Matafele taxi stand, about 10 meters away from where Mr. Viliamu was attacked, said the attacks are becoming the norm.

It happens almost every weekend, said Mr. Fogatia.

Last week there was a van that came and stopped there at the bridge and the youths got out and started throwing glass bottles and stones everywhere.

Our youths nowadays have become something else. Every week there is always someone that is attacked around this area and even us we get worried when they throw stones because we dont want any damages on our cars.

Mr. Fogatia pointed out that while the taxi drivers want to intervene with the youth, they pull back for the fear of their cars being damaged and worse threats to their lives.

Of course we call the police when it happens, he said.

Even though they are just down the road it takes them almost half an hour to attend to the call. By that time the youths have fled and they continue to get away from the mess they do.

The taxi driver also believes that the youth gatherings in front of the government building is attracting the wrong crowd.

Its been used as an opportunity for young people to gang up on each other and battle. Its creating more problems than what was initiated for.

On the same day that Mr. Viliamu and Ms. Retzlaff were attacked, a young man was beaten and stabbed at Matafele. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

It was not possible to get an official comment from the Police yesterday.
The Supreme Court Justice Mata Tuatagaloa substituted 12 months supervision and 60 hours of community service sentence for a convicted female, Andrea Ah Chong.

Ms Ah Chong was arrested and charged together with her partner Stewart Webber for possession of illegal drugs in Samoa

The pair changed their pleas to the charges against them, and only Ms Ah Chong was convicted of one count of possession of marijuana seeds.

She was convicted and sentenced to 12 months supervision and 60 community hours service in March this year

The sentence was replaced with a monetary sentence of $500 for the remaining months of supervision and $100 for the remaining hours of community service after receipt of an application filed by the Probation Office.

In that way you can go have your baby and you dont have to return after that, said Justice Tuatagaloa.

The application by the probation office is to cancel the sentencing already imposed for the accused so that she can travel overseas to give birth to her unborn child.

However it was not taken lightly by Justice Tuatagaloa and she did not accept the application to cancel her sentencing but replaced it with a monetary fine.

After revealing all the circumstances and the effect of this application brought before the court, Justice Tuatagaloa warned the probation office about this kind of application.

It was also the reason why she wanted the matter to be called before the court so that the Prosecution could be aware of it to avoid any misunderstandings. Not only that, but also to avoid Prosecution from coming back and appealing the decision already being made for the accused.
A story in the Samoa Observer about members of a family living overseas asking for help in tracing their birth mother, has had a happy ending.

Afton Faapuna contacted the Samoa Observer online with this request and photographs in late May.

Hello my name is Afton and first off Im not at all selling anything! The lady circled in the pics is my birth mom Ruta Sunia, well Sunia is her maiden name. she's from the village of Alamagoto, Samoa. And Ive been praying for help to get back in contact with her!

The 3 girls at the bottom are her daughters, my younger sisters. Please if you know of anyone or anything that could help me Id be more then grateful! Thank you for your time and God Bless.

Following a short article published in the Samoa Observer , Afton wrote again. Im speechless and very grateful beyond words on your quick response. I also sent a part of my adoption papers which might help. Thank you so much and God bless!

Thank you so much for getting in contact with my family! I've had the opportunity of taking with them on FB. God bless you! And then further to that, another family member wrote: A friend send me an article regarding my cousin Afton looking for her mother Ruta Sunia of Alamagoto. I am Yvonne Sunia of Alamagoto. Yes we lost contact long time ago and I'm happy because this article will help us reunite.




For student writers from American Samoa; the long wait was finally over.

Last Wednesday, the prizegiving for the Samoa Observer story competition took place at the American Samoa Community College (A.S.C.C.) lecture theatre.

Sponsored by Samoa Stationery and Books, Pago and Eveni Pago, the competition was the first of its kind in the Territory.

Students from Grade 6 through to 1st and 2nd year students were invited to write in English or Samoan on the topic My World.

Samoa Observers Newspapers in Education Co-ordinator, Marj Moore said the writers could write about their world as it is or dream a little and imagine the world as it could be.

We received entries that were as interesting as they were diverse. They included worlds that are hopeful, realistic, wistful, sad and funny and most importantly, they are a glimpse into what our young people think and believe.

This topic is one that has resonated with young people and the importance of what they are saying should not be underestimated or ignored. Our nations leaders could learn a lot from what this section of our community has to say. Moore said they were astounded to receive over 200 entries from 15 different schools. Modelled on the national Samoa competition, Moore said that the response from a smaller population showed that interest in story writing by young Samoans in the territory is strong.

The stories were blind judged by Samoas Silafau Dr Sina Vaai, Papalii Momoe Malietoa von Reiche, Mrs Anne Leauga and Mrs Julie Perelini.

And although there were considerably less stories written in Samoan, Moore is confident that with time, more students will be encouraged to write in their mother tongue

A highlight of the event, was a stirring Keynote Address by author and A.S.C.C. music lecturer, Poe Mageo.

Mageo was one of the authors who took part in the 2015 Samoa Observer Tusitala Short Story Competition and whose story, A Miscall appears in the subsequent publication, Our Heritage, the Ocean.

In his address, he provided encouragement to all the writers who had taken part in the competition as well as the prize winners who were present by reminding them to be aware of the world around them and to practice their craft.

He gave a brief history of oral story telling in Samoa and pointed out to the audience, the dangers of letting others tell our stories in the Pacific.

Citing examples including Margaret Mead, he encouraged the students to read as a means of learning, looking at writing styles and improving the presentation of their stories.

Moore said the feedback from students, parents and teachers following the presentation of prizes was rewarding.

Parents and teachers came up to say how happy they were that the Samoa Observer had provided this opportunity for their children to share their ideas, she said.

We have also had an offer of additional sponsorship for the competition.

Credit must also go to our two sponsors, S.S.A.B. and Eveni who contributed much more that the financial support to make this competition possible. They also assisted with publicising the competition and following up with schools.

We would also like to thank the Management at A.S.C.C. who allowed us to use their lecture theatre, free of charge.

Moore said that some of the winning stories will be published in the coming weeks in the Monday editions of the Samoa Observer.
Opinion / Columnist

Last week, we ran a story on the frequency and spacing of road blocks and the seemingly extortionate behaviour of the police at these road blocks. The story, which was widely received, drew mixed reactions from our readers. Below is a selection of the comments that came through the comments' section on our website.Tough game. I also encountered the police in Hatfield yesterday and spent time at Hatfield Police station. It is just fund-raising. I insisted on paying later but even at the police station they said they don't have anything like that - it is pay now or go to court whilst leaving your vehicle at the police station. You cannot pay at another police station also because zvepano ndezve pano. The Honourable Minister (of Home Affairs) said something about spot fines but the police just don't care. Ndivo vari kutotitonga. As long as these guys are not remitting their revenues to Treasury, this sham will continue. - Garikai Chivasa*****So what should we do about it? You have written about it, then what? The police don't give a hoot about your little article, in fact they will probably be laughing their lungs out kuti takamugadzirisa anofunga kuti zvinoshamisira kuti ndireporter! Even during the Smith regime the police were not as brazenly unreasonable as this. People are now fed up by the police and it is sad that the police hierarchy are not doing anything to address this. - Tinashe*****An educated person is one who can tell between right and wrong. These sort of issues have been highlighted for several years and have never found space in the State media. Way back in 2004 Mukanya sang "Disaster" and we are only just waking up to the reality of corruption in our country. Evil triumphs when good people choose to do nothing. What we are seeing today is the result of years of corruption which is out of control because the judicial system has been decimated and packed with corrupt cronies. Sorry about your experience, welcome to the real world. When people say you should stand up for what is right, they are saying let us work together to prevent these sort of social ills.- Jojo*****I once approached a roadblock towards Kwekwe and as the officer was about to stop me, a Merdeces Benz driver overtook me, almost side-swiping me as he dodged their road block and to my surprise I was stopped and interrogated for not having honeycomb reflectors but I was bitter as I questioned them why they hadn't pursued the dangerous driver who almost dented my car and rammed the police drum. I was told that it was his wish to die, "ibenzi". But then, isn't it our police is supposed to be stopping these dangerous drivers instead of charging the law-abiding drivers? I would have thought that if the law says pay $10 then it can never be $5  in short, we are being robbed. - Boss K*****The police in Zimbabwe are a nightmare. Instead of focusing on real criminals and kombi drivers who are driving recklessly dicing with people's lives, they focus on the compliant drivers. In this age where one does not have ready cash because it is a problem they still insist you pay. I had an encounter with them on the Chitungwiza road, I asked to go and get some money they refused, I asked to stay and my brother and my sister go look for the money they refused.They wanted us to leave the car. My other brother walked to get some cash from a mobile cash service and only managed to get $15 they refused. The sergeant at the road block had the audacity to call us "madofo".We had to call another policeman from Harare Central (police station) to talk to them to accept the $15. They said we don't care that there is no money, that's your problem. What I want to know is, what is the duty of a policeman? A couple of months back it was announced that you should not leave your licence with the police, you can get a ticket and pay within seven days, and they cannot impound your vehicle.Can someone tell me what the law says because when I asked the police to show me the law where it is written that they can impound my car over a $20 fine they said they just have power to do that, they cannot show me where it is. In light of the problems we have with cash, they must invest in point-of-sale machines but they would not like it because they will not have "cash".I feel I am so oppressed in my country which I thought was a sovereign state and we were set free from colonialists. Our own police have become the oppressors. If we look at what we saw growing up, is that a roadblock should have signs to warn motorists that there is road block ahead, asking motorists to reduce speed to 90km/hr, 60km/hr, 30km/hr and stop at the painted drums but none of that is happening at the roadblocks these days. Can they abide by the law first and then caution motorists? Can someone enlighten us on what the law says? - Oppressed*****I can totally relate to this. I was also once fined for third plate violation and I asked the officer if she could write a ticket for me to pay within seven days since everything else on my car was in check. She refused, she said I had to pay $20 or else leave my car there. I think the traffic laws in Zimbabwe are designed to make motorists as "fineable" as possible. I am in Turkey and here you are not even required to stick anything on your car. No windscreen stickers, no additional reflectors, and the police are not out to raise money like our fellow Zimbabwean police, they are out to catch criminals! - Tendekayi*****I dont understand, in Gweru they were busy writing tickets a few metres away from where someone had bumped into my car but they refused totally to assist me and were telling me to go either to the charge office or the bus rank since they were busy looking for people who were going through red robots. I now don't understand if their job is to assist and protect us or theirs is to just write tickets? - Norbert*****Although I sympathise with your plight but I have problems when you take your readers for a ride. You said: "My friend had gone. I didn't have money, even for a kombi, to take me back to the road block." But earlier on you had said: "Three hours later, $20 in my pocket, I headed back to the road block. Imagine my astonishment when I was told that the fine had somehow reduced to $15. This was after I told Sgt Chagweda that I had found $15." To me it means you finally paid $15 instead of $20 and you can't tell me that you right away gave back the $5 change to the person who had given you the money. These are the small loopholes that spoil the whole story as fabrication. I am not disputing the fact that some officers stick to the book without using their discretion to warn and caution but you should also play your part of telling the whole truth without spicing it up. - Kondozi---------------(Editor's Note: It would have been pointless and insignificant to mention every detail of the ordeal, suffice to say that the $5 was offered as "lunch" to the friend for the ride to the roadblock).
Opinion / Columnist

The failure to get MDC to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU is one of the most frustrating things SADC Heads of States, notably President Ian Khama of Botswana and President Jacob Zuma of SA, found about the Zimbabwe crisis. The solution is staring you in the face just getting Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement it was the bridge too far! MDC leaders had five years to implement the reforms everyone agreed were necessary for free, fair and credible elections and yet surprise, surprise they failed to get even one reform implemented. Not even one "yamatanda nyadzi!", (for shame's sake), as one would say in Shona.Now history is set to repeat itself; we will have the 2018 elections and still have not even one reform implemented.Whilst the unscrupulous MDC leaders like Tsvangirai were quick to acknowledge that Mugabe had blatantly rigged the July 2013 elections; the evidence of the rigging was there for the entire world to see, even Zanu PF apologists like George Charamba have reminded Zanu PF big-mouth, Chris Mutsvangwa, the elections were rigged; they have only grudgingly acknowledged they should have implemented the reformed and, more significantly, that they should have paid heed to SADC's warning."We failed to secure critical reforms before participating in the elections," explained former MDC Minister Samuel Sipape Nkomo soon after the rigged July 2013. "The whole world advised us not to get into the elections without reforms, and so in everything that we have been saying we have failed to acknowledge that we also made a mistake."It is common knowledge that Lindiwe Zulu (President Jacob Zuma's international relations adviser) advised us. Zuma also advised us and even the SADC Heads of State meeting in Maputo (Mozambique) also advised not to participate in the elections without electoral, media and security sector reforms, among others."There is no doubt that MDC leaders did not implement even one reform because they are corrupt (Mugabe did bribe them with the gravy train lifestyles plus the $ 4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai) and incompetent (MDC leaders believed they would win the elections regardless of Mugabe's "vote rigging shenanigans", as Tsvangirai latter admitted).Since the July 2013 rigged elections Zimbabwe's opposition should have focused all their political energy and time into making sure that the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections are implemented BEFORE the 2018 elections.Still, full marks to Mugabe for successfully stopping MDC from implementing any reforms given that SADC leaders were doing their best to rouse MDC leaders from their comatose sleep. How did he do it?During the GNU years Mugabe employed PR and think tank companies to spruce his image and to feed the opposition with false information, sending the opposition on endless fools' errands whilst keeping them away from implementing even one of the all-important critical reforms. Since the rigged July 2013 elections, Mugabe has employed the same dirty double tactic of stopping the opposition from implementing the reforms on the mistaken believe that they can win the elections regardless of Mugabe's vote rigging shenanigans. This time he has NKC African Economics (NKC), a Cape Town based "Think Tank" doing his dirty work. "The formation of Coalition of Democrats (Code) is an important development in Zimbabwe party politics, but the new formation has some way to go yet before it poses a realistic challenge to Zanu-PF andMugabe," came the dubious NKC advice. Five of Zimbabwe's small political parties have been the first to sign on to this coalition after all the time and energy wasted in this wild goose chase."Important to its prospects would be the inclusion of the major opposition groupings such as MDC-T and ZPF, in particular. Without at least one of these, the chances of success come 2018 will fall away.NKC is talking nonsense; MDC-T did not lose the 2008 and 2013 elections because the opposition was not united but because Mugabe blatantly rig the vote using his unfettered access to state resources and undemocratic abuse of state institutions like ZEC, the Police to help him rig the vote."We were ill-prepared," admitted Sipape Nkomo after the rigged July 2013 elections. "Zanu PF gave its parliamentary candidates as much as US$15 000 each, a car, tee-shirts and campaign posters. But we gave our own parliamentary candidates only US$700 each, the councillors US$100  all of which simply demonstrated a lack of seriousness. We were also misled by the numbers that came to our rallies particularly in Bulawayo, and the cross-over rally in Harare where people were told that (party leader Morgan) Tsvangirai would be crossing over into State House."Two months ago Mugabe admitted that $15 billion of diamond revenue was looted; so far no one has been arrested and, worse still, it would be naive to believe that the looting has stopped. Some of the looted fortune was used to pay NIKUV, the Israeli company's $ 10 million bill to tamper with the voters roll; to pay Zanu PF candidates' their extravagant elections expenses; etc.The only to stop Mugabe having all these unfair and undemocratic electoral advantages is by implementing all the democratic reforms agreed at the start of the GNU. NKC is telling us getting more opposition parties to unity will increase their chance of defeating Mugabe in the next elections and yet they have not said how the coalition will stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!"The whole world advised us not to get into the elections without reforms," admitted Sipape Nkomo after the rigged July 2013. That advice was valid before the 2013 elections and it is just as valid for the 2018 elections.Whilst the Zimbabwe opposition political leaders are free to join to form any coalition they wish what they must not do is gamble with the people's basic democratic right to free, fair and credible elections and the nation's future. Tsvangirai gambled with the people's right to free elections during the GNU and lost and landed the nation in the political and economic mess we are in today. The opposition parties must snap out of their comatose state, implement all the democratic reforms and stop being led by the nose by Zanu PF paid sink-tanks like NKC.-----------Wilbert Mukori
Rumors about Microsoft's highly anticipated Surface Pro 5 has been making round these days. While the software giant is yet to provide specific details with regard to Surface Pro 5 development and release date, the laptop-tablet hybrid is expected to get unveiled in September, reported Australia Network News.

In fact, there are conflicting speculations being made about the device's release date. Some reports claim that the next generation Surface Pro release might get delayed to 2017.

According to Yibada, Microsoft is apparently keen in using the upcoming Intel Kaby Lake processing chip for its line of hybrid devices. It is expected that use of Kaby Lake chip will double the efficiency of Microsoft Surface Pro 5. But the problem is that the chip will not be ready before the end of 2016 and this will indirectly postpone the release date of Microsoft Surface Pro 5. The current Surface Pro 4 lineup is powered by Intel's latest Skylake processors.

Talking about the specifications, the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 is rumored to feature a 4K Ultra HD screen display with a resolution of 3840 pixels in width - a major improvement from the 2736 x 1824 resolution of the Surface Pro 4.

The new Surface Pro is expected to feature a larger screen of about 13.3 inches and an improved stylus. Microsoft claims that the pen will be a stylus that will provide an active functionality powered by a rechargeable battery.

Other rumors features of the new Surface Pro 5 include USB type-C port, on-Board Fingerprint Scanner and microSD slot for memory expansion. The next gen Surface Pro device is most likely get a more powerful battery than its predecessor.

The device is expected to come out with a starting price of $899, with an Intel Core i7 model to cost $999, and an i7 Extreme version to cost $1,599, reported CNET.

As Microsoft is yet to confirm Surface Pro 5 specifications, we would advise you to take the unconfirmed reports with a pinch of salt.

Are you excited about Microsoft Surface Pro 5 release? Let us know in comments below.
Thousands of people were forced to evacuate after a heavy rainfall has caused a deadly flooding in central and northeastern France this week. The Paris's most celebrated museums such as the Louvre and Orsay began evacuating their artworks from their galleries, which might be vulnerable to flooding.

The Louvre had practiced moving its art in case of Paris flooding https://t.co/lt4o7AhglF pic.twitter.com/GvLjIiPpbJ  Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) June 3, 2016

After days of heavy rainfall, the Seine River augmented to its highest level since 1982 on Friday. It rose to 18 feet. This caused flooding the lower embankments and closing several roads but there were no significant damages, according to Washington Post.

Paris's metro and major tourist attractions are closed due to flooding: https://t.co/uy5nfMIkwe pic.twitter.com/d72tgTug0g  Travel + Leisure (@TravelLeisure) June 4, 2016

The New York Times reports that a man on horseback was seized by floodwaters on Thursday. He was spotted dead in Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, which is 30 miles southeast of Paris. Meanwhile, in Germany, there were heavy rains too and killed nine people.

Paris is flooding like never before.https://t.co/EpVwbybN1P  The WorldPost (@TheWorldPost) June 3, 2016

Louvre, the largest art museum in the world and the most visited in Europe started to relocate 250,000 artworks from the flood-risk areas. The world renowned painting, the Mona Lisa, is already exhibited on a higher floor.

Likewise, the French government made emergency plans to leave the nearby Elysee Palace, the seat of the French government, to the Chateau de Vincennes located outside the city. This will take effect when the water reaches 21.3 feet above its normal height.

It is expected that the Seine River will reach its summit approximately 21 feet, which is nearly 17 feet above its normal level, by Friday evening. The authorities said that it might gradually recede next week.
Many countries all around the globe have incidences of the Zika virus. These include Central America, South American Countries, South Pacific Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Mexico and some parts of Asia.

According to Centers for Disease and Control, the number of pregnant women with any laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection is 195 in U.S. states and the District of Columbia as of May 26. Meanwhile, in U.S. territories, there are about 146 pregnant women with any laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection as of the said date.

The CDC Arboviral Disease Branch involves provisional data reported to Arbonet for January 1, 2015, to June 1, 2016. These include 618 cases of Zika virus in US states (travel-associated cases reported). For U.S. territories, there are 4 travel-associated cases reported and 1,110 locally acquired cases reported.

According to AAP News, the federal health officials are urging on pediatricians to supervise and report any congenital Zika infections in infants. This virus causes birth defects which include brain abnormalities and microcephaly.

Eric Dziuban, M.D., D.T.M., FAAP, team lead for the CDC Children's Preparedness Unit said that one of the most important things they can do as pediatricians are to be attentive, so recognizing a child who may be at risk for Zika infections and help facilitate the testing process with the local and state health authorities making sure that children affected by Zika virus are included in the registries and reporting tools.

There is no vaccine yet for the Zika virus. Experts advise the people to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Use insect repellent but you have to coat your exposed body parts with sunscreen first. The repellent must have active ingredients like oil of lemon eucalyptus, DEET, IR3535, picaridin or para-methane-diol. Your arms and legs must be covered. This mosquito, the Aedes Aegypti, which transmits the virus, usually bites during the daytime.
Researchers from Harvard University have managed to have developed a new clean technology to drastically turn sunlight into fuel. This could shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while fighting climate change at the same time.

According to CS Monitor, researchers compare their invention with the natural process of photosynthesis in plants. They dubbed it "bionic leaf" or "artificial leaf," and say that the level of efficiency they have achieved where more than other similar systems, including photosynthesis itself.

The paper described the work as addressing two fundamental goals: saving the energy of the sun, not only converting it for immediate use, and also building something useful from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus reducing a huge level of greenhouse gas.

This (new energy source) is not competing with food for agricultural land," Harvard University Professor of Energy Daniel Nocera told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A study from the University of Virginia said that crops like corn and sugar cane have been found to be cultivated increasingly to produce biofuels. About 4 percent of the world's farmland is used to grow crops mainly for fuel than food. There have been tens of thousands of small-scale farmers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America which have been disturbed by plantations growing crops in order to make biofuel, said GRAIN, a land rights group based in Barcelona.

The new technology could help protect their land rights while also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, Nocera said. "The (land) footprint these solar panels need is about one tenth the size of what you would need for sugar cane," he said.

Reuters also reported that if government sells carbon dioxide emissions, the "bionic leaf" would be very appealing to investors as an alternative source of cost-effective energy, Professor Nocera added. Nocera also that today, it is still cheaper to grow biofuel crops or extract fossil fuels than to produce renewable energy, he said.
Opinion / Columnist

"However, Mr Mugabe could easily get more than US$200 million if he changed his mind on granting the estimated 3-4 million Zimbabweans abroad the right to vote and dual citizenship. At the stroke of the pen of doing so money and investments will pour into the country and one does not need to be one of those several self-appointed prophets to know that. It's just that simple," wrote Dr Clifford Chitupa Mashiri. See Bulawayo opinion, How Zimbabwe can solve its current debilitating cash shortages.Dr Mashiri, I wish things were indeed "that simple"; the truth is that there are not that simple.How many Zimbabweans who are in the country and have been since independence and yet have yet to cast a free, fair and democratic vote? They have either been intimidated, harassed, beaten, raped and many have long since lost their very lives as the regime forced them to vote for President Mugabe and Zanu PF. Even when the individual has risked life and limp to vote for the candidate and party of their choice; the regime has always had other ways of denying them the vote by tampering with the voters roll and/or neutralizing the vote by bussing in Zanu PF supporters to cast multiple votes.So Dr Mashiri what makes you so sure that President Mugabe will not devise devious ways of denying and/or rigging the diaspora vote just as he has done with the local vote?I think you are exaggerating the finance prowess of the people in the diaspora; I do not believe "money and investments will pour into the country", putting aside the issue of those in the diaspora trusting Mugabe not to rig the vote. Zimbabweans in the diaspora are already sending billions of dollars back home; the diaspora dollar is now a very significant part of the country's GPA, making Zimbabwe the Philippines of Africa.There are reports that Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, accompanied by a high powered delegation, is visiting the UK with a proposal to entice people in the diaspora to send even more money back home. This is just a waste of time because most people in the diaspora are giving as much assistance as they can already.Indeed, Zimbabweans in the diaspora want free and fair elections and good and competent government in Zimbabwe a.s.a.p. because they want to see an end to the economic misery 36 years of Zanu PF mismanagement and corruption have brought. They know their diaspora dollar has help alleviate the suffering but nonetheless the situation has grown worse and worse because the misrule has too got worse and worse. The people in the diaspora want to see meaningful political change in the country because they know this is the only way of ending the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe.As for the people in the diaspora investing in Zimbabwe (again assuming there are many Zimbabweans with millions of dollars to invest); they do not have to worry about the obnoxious indigenisation law but they too will have to face the other challenges of bureaucratic red-tape, corrupt officials whose palms must be greased, collapsing economic infrastructure, etc. that other would-be investor are facing.To the people in the diaspora the right to vote and to dual citizenship are important but what they must understand that unless the country implements the comprehensive democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections, the diaspora vote will be just as worthless as the local vote.As for the solution to Zimbabwe's worsening economic meltdown, the cash crunch is just one of the symptoms; Zimbabwe must end the criminal waste of human and material resources brought on by the mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness. Since it is the misrule by President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies that brought on this criminal waste and it is nonsense that they can end it since the situation has got progressively worse not better with each passing year. The country needs to make its own decision who will rule without the regime imposing itself on the nation.The short term, medium term, long term and, indeed, only solution to Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and political chaos is for the country to implement the democratic reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections!---------------Nomusa Garikai
KINGSTREE, S.C. - Anthony James Burgess, 24, of 11 Burgess Court, Sumter, was arrested and charged by the Williamsburg County Sheriffs Office with armed robbery Saturday, following an investigation into a May incident in Williamsburg County.

Burgess turned himself into the Williamsburg County Sheriffs Office following a report that investigators were looking for him. Burgess and another man were wanted in connection to the May 18 armed robbery and shooting that occurred at 86 Lincoln Drive, Kingstree.

According to Investigators, Burgess and Kendall Karon Rious are alleged to have robbed a male victim at gunpoint, and then to have shot him.

Burgess is in custody at the Williamsburg County Detention Center and appeared before a Williamsburg County Magistrate for an explanation of the charge against him. He will remain in custody until bond is posted.

Rious, 22, of 7645 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia was arrested and charged by the Williamsburg County Sheriffs Office with armed robbery, to include assault and battery first degree in connection with the incident.

According to WCSO PIO and Investigator Alex Edwards, on June 1, at approximately noon, the Myrtle Beach Police Department, along with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, apprehended Rious within the Myrtle Beach city limits.

The Williamsburg County Sheriffs Office received a tip that Rious was in the Myrtle Beach area driving a stolen vehicle.

The tip was passed on to appropriate law enforcement officers and Rious was taken into custody without incident. He was arrested in connection with the May 18 armed robbery and shooting at 86 Lincoln Drive, Kingstree. According to investigators, Rious is alleged to have robbed the male victim at gun point, along with shooting him.

Rious is in custody at the Myrtle Beach Police Department, awaiting bond hearing on unrelated charges, Edwards said.

The WCSO will make arrangements to pick up Rious from the Horry County Detention Center when bond is posted. Investigation into this incident is ongoing.
First in a series

FLORENCE, S.C. -- In 1993, 40 school districts from across South Carolina became plaintiffs in a case against the state government, referred to as Abbeville v. South Carolina. These districts, representing over a third of school districts in the state, argued that their students had not been given the opportunity to receive a minimally adequate education.

Every school district in the Pee Dee region except for Darlington County is a member of that plaintiff list.

After 21 years of dismissals, rehearings, referrals and appeals, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the states education funding scheme is a fractured formula denying students  the constitutionally required opportunity. The court originally charged the General Assembly with providing drafts of comprehensive legislation addressing the problems by February, but settled on the end of the 2016 legislative period after complaints by state politicians.

Last week, the legislative period ended, and only a few proposals made it into legislation.

It wasnt due to a lack of ideas. Gov. Nikki Haley brought a number of potential solutions to her State of the State address in January: a $200 million-a-year borrowing plan to fix infrastructure, a revisal of teacher loan forgiveness programs to attract more teachers to these districts and a plan to bring wireless hot spots to 10,000 low-income families were among the top of the list. None of those proposals saw a final vote.

The House Education Policy Review and Reform Task Force proposed that an Office of Transformation be set up to support school districts, especially underperforming and impoverished ones. This measure passed, but other recommendations, such as the creation of Regional Service Centers to provide nearby assistance and the creation of the School Infrastructure Bank to finance school renovations, never made it to the floor.

And many of these responses, both passed and unpassed, have been shot down by district officials and policy experts across the state.

For instance, the South Carolina Policy Council rejected the Office of Transformation, calling it a vague, broad, and poorly-constructed plan to solve our education woes in South Carolina.

Superintendents from Chesterfield, Dillon 3 and Florence 5 school districts cast doubt on the efficacy of Haleys $200 million-a-year borrowing plan. All expressed concern for how poorer districts would be able to create enough revenue to pay back the loan.

Even the hundreds of millions of dollars proposed in the new budget, which would increase dollars per pupil weighting based on poverty levels, will do relatively little after the academic assistance funding cutoff score was lowered earlier this year. Since many of these poor districts underachieve but not to the new, lower level of performance, the increase in per pupil dollars based on poverty will only provide what was lost to the new testing cutoff.

The failure to pass effective legislation reflects a common trend in the way state politicians think about poor, rural districts, says Dillon 3 Superintendent John Kirby.

After all those many years, it kind of boils down to a mentality, he said, and their mentality is that they dont need us.

As local school districts wait for next years legislative period to potentially break the stagnation on the issue and better support them, they must continue to draw up solutions on their own to recurring problems that have plagued Pee Dee schools this year.

Some have a head start, with long-term plans in motion and creative, targeted programming gaining ground.

Dillon 3 reached a new high rate of enrollment in its International Baccalaureate program last year (21.2 percent) with a projected increase to more than 50 percent by 2018. Florence 1 has achieved an Excellent rating for its growth in the last three years, according to State Department of Education data.

But many are attempting to recover, with new administration and struggles to support teachers and students.

Three representatives of the State Department of Education moved into Florence 4 in April after a state of crisis was declared for two of its schools. The list of vacancies in Marlboro County administration, staff and teacher positions extends from the superintendents office down to custodial and maintenance workers. All the while, schools in these districts often struggle to get half of their students to pass end-of-course exams in one or two subject areas, much less all four.

The answer to what will fix the problems varies depending on who you ask and where they are. Chesterfield County Superintendent Harrison Goodwin says the answer is high-quality professionals in the classroom (and) in leadership roles, while Kirby emphasizes a community and leadership teams with strong expectations. Retired teacher Betty Ann Souther of Marlboro County says that the key to making schools work is "adequate time to run programs."

But the "what" of fixing the problems is not as simple as answering another question.

Ive worked in every region of the state except the coast, Goodwin said, and I dont know the answer to the 'how.'

Over the next several weeks, we will explore how schools in the Pee Dee got here and where they are headed. We will ask district officials, principals and teachers, as well as nonprofits and education specialists, where the state government is focusing its educational resources and policies and what areas it should be exploring more thoroughly. Most important, we will dig for solutions issue by issue, offered by those both here and around the state, to the problems that have plagued the region for decades.
Its scary that the 2016 race for president has turned into such a clown show, because this is an election that could decide whether our democratic republic will survive.

While Donald Trump, the Republicans self-inflicted wound, piles up amazing TV time with his antics and a sort of senatorial loner who is not even a member of the Democratic Party unnecessarily strings out their nomination process, many voters seem so disgusted that they would rather not be part of it or just consider it a sick joke.

Voters need to pay better attention, because we might be nearing a period that could seriously jeopardize the future of the land we so praise while letting it drift.

Besides the obvious problem of having had U.S. troops on the ground in Asia in pretty much unwinnable situations for more than a half-century, we have created a massive debt that could break our treasury and create a monetary crisis that could lead to turmoil all over the globe. Not getting the attention it deserves is the fact that the next president is likely to appoint two, maybe three, Supreme Court justices.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seriously deadlocked between left- and right-leaning judges, and the Republican Congress obviously means to keep it that way until the next president takes office. If The Donald is the next president, you probably can count on him to appoint right-wing judges that would protect the worst ruling the court has ever made, Citizens United.

Dress that any way you like, but the decision allowing unlimited corporate money to be dumped into politics can be guaranteed to buy politicians. To think otherwise is like believing that the cow really jumped over the moon. To believe there is no coordination between huge donations and so-called independent political organizations and campaigns is to ignore reality and human nature.

One result of the 2016 election desperately needs to be appointment of one or two judges who will create a majority that will reverse the Citizens United decision so there is some chance that the feelings of the majority of Americans are not pushed aside by huge money. And ask yourself this: Are the big corporations that are allowed to buy our politicians owned by Americans? Certainly not entirely.

It also seems to me that it might be good to resurrect the military draft. Remember the college campuses during the Vietnam adventure? We who were around and adult during the Vietnam period know that if we had a draft now, the college campuses would be a scene of demonstrations and riots worse than those of the 1960s and 70s.

The rage over Vietnam was what ended the draft, but its return might reduce the enthusiasm some people have for these current wars if a draft might force members of their families to get involved.

But then, these adventures make huge money for arms makers and sellers.

There is the big problem that many people love to complain about and use as a campaign issue but are unwilling to face, a national debt that eventually could cause everything to collapse. There are two ways to get relief from debt. One is to walk away from it. If we did that, the consequences from economic collapse to possible wars are terrifying to contemplate, let alone experience. Another solution is politically unlikely and painful.  Pay it.

One way to reduce the debt is to pay enough taxes. Only a demagogue would get up there loudly denouncing the deficit and proposing tax cuts at the same time. On the other hand, it would be politically risky to propose elimination of domestic social services people like.

Its too bad our system makes it nearly impossible to put this question directly to the voters: Do you want to pay for these programs or eliminate them? It would be good to have voters face either having to cough up the taxes for the programs they enjoy or do without the programs. Voters should decide whether they want military adventures enough both to pay for them and endure the heartbreak that comes with them.

Unending military campaigns, huge national debt and paid-for politicians are serious threats to our country, and voters should take those problems seriously.

Thom Anderson is a former editor of the Morning News. Email him at thidbit@aol.com.
Opinion / Columnist

The Vigil salutes the activists who are staging a sixteen-day round-the-clock protest in Harare's Africa Unity Square against Zimbabwe's worsening economic and political situation.The protest was launched on Wednesday when eleven people from the Zimbabwe Activist Alliance and other civil society organisations bedded down in the square. They said they wanted to raise a number of issues for public debate. Lynette Mudehwe, coordinator of the Activist Alliance, called for the rejection of the bond notes to be introduced by the Reserve Bank in October and said people should also not accept bank withdrawals being limited to only $50 a day.Lynda Masarira, leader of Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance, said the government had shown it did not care for the needs of the people especially women. She complained of 'black oppression'. The Secretary-General of the National Students' Union, Makomborero Haruzivishe, also joined the protest, saying they were tired of watching while the fruits of Zimbabwe's independence were being squandered by just a few individuals.The Occupy Africa Unity Square facebook page today said they had come under attack early on Saturday morning by fourteen men. It said Lynette was grabbed and her IDtaken out of her wallet. After inspecting it, they wiped their fingerprints off and returned it, holding it with what they had wiped it with, clearly indicating that they were trained. One disabled woman, Naspar Manyau, was indecently assaulted and tipped from her wheelchair towards the stove at which she hadbeen warming her feet. The men grabbed blankets and other possessions and several activists were attacked and injured. Patson Dzamara, brother of the missing activist Itai, who was sleeping nearby managed to recover the blankets.A meeting of the Zimbabwe Action Forum after the Vigil passed a resolution ofsolidarity with the demonstrators: 'The Zimbabwe Action Forum salutes the activists taking part in the sixteen-day round-the-clock protest in Africa Unity Square in Harare. We have demonstrated outside Zimbabwe House in London for fourteen years in support of human rights and free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. Only by reclaiming our human rights as guaranteed by the constitution can we achieve change and rebuild our country. Your action encourages us to continue the struggle for justice, equality and a better future for our children.'Patson Dzamara on Monday released a photograph of what looked like his brother with his hands tied behind his back and a bandage around his head. He told a news conference: 'Some individuals from within the evil establishment volunteered information regarding who abducted Itai Dzamara, why and where he was kept. The heinous act was executed by state security agents, in particular the military intelligence.' He went on: 'We can't allow Mr Mugabe's Mafia to continue abusing us like this. This is abnormal and we are not going to normalise the abnormal.'Even Zanu PF's Minister of Higher Education, Professor Jonathan Moyo, has changed his tune and now admits that Dzamara was abducted. But he says he hasn't a clue who did it . . . Clearly the professor is not as bright as he thinks he is!The revived Occupy Africa Unity Square protest, together with Pastor Evan Mawawire's #ThisFlag campaign with its 'hatichada, hadichatya' slogan, reflects widening unrest at the government's failure to turn around the economy. Some fifty civic organisations under the banner of the Zimbabwe National Agreement Platform have also urged the public to reject bond notes. Spokesman Bishop Ancelimo Magaya said that following the illegitimate 2013 elections Zanu PF wanted to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar to fund their 2018 election campaign. 'The decision to print bond notes will not help anyone but the political leaders. There is no positive to bond notes and we are certain they are externalising their money. They are making massive withdrawals to relocate their wealth outside the country.'A different picture was not surprisingly given by the Chief Secretary to the President Dr Misheck Sibanda who said the country was on the verge of economic recovery. The Vigil notes that his optimism flies in the face of all evidence, including indications from China that itwill suspend the so-called megadeals involving energy and infrastructure investment in protest at the booting out of the Chinese from the Chiadza diamond fields. The Chinese have taken the government to court over the matter and have complained of a lack of respect for property rights.
Opinion / Speeches

04 June 2016, Jotsholo, Matebeleland North, ZimbabweGreetings and slogan(s)Salutation - All protocol observedComrades and FriendsIt is a rare opportunity that we have a public meeting these days organized by veterans of the armed struggle for liberation and national independence. I therefore want to start my remarks by thanking those who decided to have today's function and to give me a chance to address fellow freedom fighters.The people took up armsWhen we negotiated for independence in 1979 the people of Zimbabwe had shifted the balance of power against the white racist regime within a period of less than twenty years. This remarkable story of self-empowerment by Zimbabweans cannot be told without recounting the role of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZPRA). This formidable force was of course built by the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), the fountain from which has sprung the modern nationalist parties in our country.In turn, ZAPU was the successor of earlier movements (ANC, NDP etc.) that grew from trade unions, cultural and social movements that fought for human rights and against discrimination of people by their color, particularly the black people. I am deliberately starting with the sources of our struggle because quite often the deserved glorification of our valiant armed fighters is taken out of context. There is a tendency to forget that we resorted to the armed struggle only after we exhausted other avenues towards getting our rights and a just society. Furthermore, areas like Jotsholo in Matebeleland North witnessed and took part in many phases of the struggle. These areas supplied a steady stream of recruits who later came back as seasoned fighters and martyrs for freedom. The areas also became a theatre of war in which ordinary people of all ages were brutalized by the enemy for providing our forces key intelligence, food and other support. It is therefore not an exaggeration that "the people" took up arms, and that ZPRA represents the population in arms, literally.Evolution of the struggle and the burden of geography for Matebeleland NorthWhen you look back at the struggle against occupation of this country by colonial forces, the areas near here have a remarkable history. This includes the landmark battle of Pupu near Shangane River in 1893 in which the forces accompanying King Lobhengula kaMzilikazi kaMatshobana turned back on the enemy that was pursuing him after he abandoned his capital, Bulawayo. The Allan Wilson contingent was completely annihilated by the King's forces and one soldier escaped or was left to report their devastation.Today's event is a suitable time to remember and honour the contribution of so many people who made this country free from colonial rule and racial oppression of black people. We are not glorifying war because it was imposed on us, and it cost the lives of numerous young people in camps and in combat operations. In many areas in Matebeleland North (as happened in Mashonaland West), because of proximity to borders of friendly countries like Zambia, the escalation of the struggle involving our forces was felt more directly.ZPRA veterans who are in this event today were in some cases very young people when they got pulled into the armed struggle the in the 1970s. There are even some who were with some of us in the 1960s when the nucleus of an army was started from the party's offices based in Lusaka. The ZAPU Department of Special Affairs under James Chikerema assisted by the likes of Jason Ziyapapa Moyo built up an armed wing on the instructions of far-sighted Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo. This move was a continuation and part of the progression of the freedom struggle. Old people and those following our history will recall the sequence: mass mobilization for political agitation and peaceful change, growing militancy and sabotage activities, smuggling in of arms, then the phase of enhanced training in friendly countries and direct confrontation of enemy forces in combat. This sequence of events is important to recount at today's event because Matebeleland North is the province in which the famous Wankie battles of 1967 took place. These battles involved the alliance of ZAPU forces and those of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC)  Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK). The alliance forces repeated this onslaught on Rhodesians and their South African backers in Sipolilo in Mashonaland in 1968.The momentum generated from the Wankie battles was an important driver because it came with experience and demonstration that well-trained and well-equipped fighters could effectively turn the tide against colonial forces. This is the background to the formation of ZPRA, an army designed to give ZAPU the means to take on the colonial war machine beyond guerrilla operations. Our commander Dr. Joshua Nkomo presided over the "Turning Point" in 1977, a strategic move in which ZPRA prepared to go head-to-head with the Rhodesian army in a sustained assault to overrun the regime. ZPRA forces already repelled regime air and ground attacks on camps and supply lines in Angola and Zambia. The formidable force was going to be irresistible in the alliance with the other part of the Patriotic Front: the ZANLA forces of ZANU operating from the North East and Eastern areas in incursions from Mozambique. This is what compelled Britain to convene peace talks that culminated in the 1979 Lancaster House agreement that preceded independence in 1980.Benefits yet to come: marginalization and underdevelopment insteadIn spite of being second to none in contributing to and supporting the independence struggle, Matebeleland North is lagging behind in development. Last week a professional from this province reminded us that Nkayi is the poorest district in Zimbabwe. Other districts in the province are not much better than this in spite of their potential and what should be a "peace dividend" in recognition of their sterling support for the liberation struggle. In fact, like other Ndebele speaking areas in the country, this province was subjected to the politically and ethnically inspired "Gukurahundi" killings of the early 1980s in which over 20,000 unarmed civilians were killed by soldiers. The cover for these killings was that there were "dissidents" who needed to be flushed out from the population and who were alleged to be connected to Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU. You all know that this climate of terror was only lifted when Nkomo agreed to a lop-sided "Unity Accord" of 1987 in which ZAPU was swallowed into ZANU-PF and lost its independent existence until we revived it in 2010.Before we leave the subject, the ruling circles and their apologists are unhappy each time the subject of "Gukurahundi" massacres is brought up, yet at the same time they talk of the need for reconciliation. This ambivalence is really queer because even racist South Africa found it necessary to atone for "Apartheid" and to start a peace and reconciliation process that built on admission of culpability before forgiveness could be expected. What makes our situation difficult is that when the transition to genuine democracy was supposed to start, parts of the country were subjected to a punitive and brutal campaign whose consequences will take long to be overcome, let alone forgotten. Many comrades from here and young people too had to flee the country for safety, and this was later compounded by economic decline (due to bad governance) that forced unemployed youth to seek employment in neighboring countries.Zimbabwe continues to experience economic problems that show no sign of ending soon. Meanwhile, areas of Matebeleland North serve as sources of unprocessed raw materials (like timber, minerals and wildlife products) which are extracted and transported elsewhere in the country and abroad. This unbalanced development can be reduced if meaningful devolution is implemented'. Such devolution would ensure that the priorities of the province are set by its people and a substantial proportion of the resources is used for local development. Indeed, all provinces in the country need devolution in order to reduce outflow of resources before host communities have a meaningful share for their development. It is encouraging in this regard that political patronage and arbitrary allocation of land is being resisted by communities and local leadership, including traditional chiefs.Respecting fallen fightersThe ZPRA Veterans Association will no doubt make reference to the unmarked graves of many fighters who lost their lives in the war and in the post-war atrocities after independence. Today we can only give moral support to initiatives that are required to identify, wherever possible, the victims and to construct appropriate memorials.ConclusionToday Zimbabwe is experiencing racial, tribal and class polarization that would have been surprising to those who assumed that the independence they fought for would be the beginning of a new world not just in the complexion of rulers but in the empowerment of all citizens without distinction. I would like to end by saluting on behalf of ZAPU, the sacrifice of young people, both women and men, who did not shy away from injury and death in order to achieve national independence. The guerilla forces and ZPRA forces fought for our vision of a free society, but in this case this invincible force won the war and lost the peace because politics started the war and apportioned the spoils.I want to conclude by throwing a challenge to the young and not-so-young. Those that were beginning school when we gained independence in 1980 or are really the "born free" generation born during our independence year, are much older than what many veterans who are here today were when the ceasefire, integration of the armies and the demobilization of many freedom fighters took place. It has been said quite often that the youth are leaders of tomorrow, but every passing day is a "tomorrow" gone by. In a relay you are supposed to hand the baton to someone who is beginning to sprint, not waiting and losing valuable momentum. We too were young when we made our mark on our country's history, but we did not wait to be invited to step into the shoes of our leaders. The fight for the future of today's youth is not going to start tomorrow. During the independence struggle, young people sometimes even too young to fight heard the clarion of history and decided they were relevant to the fight. I am appealing to those who are much younger than us to take their future into their own hands, not only by running away from the economic and political crisis but by joining the new struggle.
But contrary to many experts opinions, the commissioning of more and more mega-vessels is not focusing business merely on hub ports, but is also generating new demand in smaller secondary ports and feeder facilities.

According to Stefan Behn, Member of the Executive Board of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), the new alliances are adding more ports to their schedules and smaller ports are also being served on new service loops. Once ships can get in, theyll go in, he told journalists in Hamburg last week. He added that one port call involving a 20,000 teu vessel could well generate transport demand for six feeder vessels, 53 trains and 2,640 trucks

Behn was outlining HHLAs strategy as new initiatives are introduced to service the latest generation of 20,000 teu-plus vessels. The port and logistics group, 70% owned by the Port of Hamburg with the balance traded on the stock market, operates three container terminals, all of which are being upgraded and expanded to raise both throughput capacity and operating efficiency.

At the highly automated Altenwerder Container Terminal, Germany largest container railhead, HHLA is investing in two more tracks, taking the total to nine and increasing annual capacity from 790,000 teu to 930,000 teu. A new train gate will automatically record container data on incoming trains as they enter the terminal, replacing the existing manual system and saving space.

Meanwhile new gantry cranes capable of handling boxships with 24 rows of containers across decks are being introduced at the Tollerort and Burchardkai terminals. Although the final details of other expansion initiatives at the Tollerort facility have yet to be decided, the HHLA has already signed up for two, option three, new cranes from Liebherr for the terminal. The gantries will be capable of twin lifts and will have a maximum payload of 63 tonnes.

This contract follows an earlier deal with Chinas ZPMC for three new gantries for the Burchardkai terminal. Each of these will have a maximum payload of 110 tonnes and capacity to handle two forty-footers or four twenties simultaneously. Four new storage blocks are to be commissioned to help absorb the peak loads associated with the arrival of mega-ships and will start operating in 2017.

Meanwhile the Nautical Terminal Coordination (NTC), set up by HHLA and Eurogate in October 2014, now manages the logistics of ULCS arrivals and departures, as well as cruise ships and bulk carriers, around the clock. Container ships are constantly monitored from the Straits of Gibraltar across the Bay of Biscay. Ships can be told to speed up or slow down to avoid potential conflicts and logjams in Hamburg or its approaches in the River Elbe.
The company said that due to market requests, it has significantly improved release gear for lifeboats with the updated TOR MKII on-load release hook.

Another new design is the GES 21, a totally enclosed lifeboat taking up to 26 people that is suitable for all ships that use free-fall lifeboats including LNG, chemical and dry bulk vessels. The boat can be launched from a hydraulic ramp, which ensures it enters the water at a safe distance from the ship.

To find out more about these and other products visitors are invited to a Norsafe/Intra Mare cocktail party accompanied by jazz music on Thursday 9 June at 3-30pm.
Michigan has 19.3 million acres of forest --

-- a

We talked to two of those sets of eyes. DNR forest health specialists Bob Heyd, who keeps an eye on the U.P.'s thick wilderness from his office in Marquette, and Roger Mech, who mans the front lines of invasions coming from the south from his base in Brighton. (The third, Scott Lint in Cadillac, keeps his eyes on the Northern Mitten.)

These foresters spend their days flying above the canopy in single-prop planes, looking for sick and dead trees. On the ground, they have tools ranging from specially designed root cutters to racket balls covered in velcro, all designed to sleuth out enemies infiltrating Michigan's woodlands.

Michigan DNR forest health specialist Roger Mech, with vibratory plow in the background used to separate oak-wilt-infected tree roots from the roots of healthy oak.

They are on the lookout for invasive insect infestations like the emerald ash borer, which decimated Michigan's native ash tree over the past 15 years, while also keeping an eye out for new threats on the horizon and a resurgence of old pests

Mech points out that the gypsy moth was "probably the grandfather" of invasive bugs eating Michigan trees. It first showed up in the state in the '70s, and in ten years, hungry caterpillars defoliated forest land at a rate of a million acres a year.

"Yet in retrospect, it hasn't had the impact some of the more recent exotics have had," he says.

Invasive species and pathogens are the number one concern for Michigan's forests, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' latest

"What we see in Michigan's forests, generally, is good," Heyd says. "We see ash mortality (from

But the state's woodlands are not without challenges.

For one, major species die-offs like the decline of ash impact forest diversity, negatively. Diverse trees mean a diverse variety of other plant species, and diverse animal life --

"As species such as ash become rare, we have to look at how to improve the diversity of our resource," says Heyd.

Mech points out that in many areas where you'd find beech, you'd also find ash. And where both species are dying simultaneously, acres of forested land will need help to recover.

What often remains after a die-off, says Mech, is scrub brush, weak saplings and dead trees that create a fire hazard. Invasive weeds like garlic mustard and buckthorn can then become dominant at ground-level, choking out native plants and saplings. It takes generations for a productive forest, even with human help, to grow again.

"It's the permanency of these problems that's so sobering, and makes this such an important thing," Mech says.

Threats new and old

"There's always something new" in the world of invasive forest pests, both native and non-native, says Mech. Right now, Michigan is bracing for an onslaught of an exotic pest called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

It's a tiny bug, native to Asia. The first signs that a hemlock is infested are small, woolly growths on stems at the base of needles, usually high up in the tree. The adelgid is tiny, but it can kill a hemlock in a few years.

Adelgid likely arrived here via infected nursery and landscape stock from eastern states. Michigan's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has a quarantine in effect, banning the importation of hemlock from the HWA-infested east.

A sign of hemlock woolly adelgid infestation: Wool-like ovisacs, which protect the insect and its eggs. Ovisacs appear between late fall to early summer. It' a big concern because we have "enormous forests of pure hemlock." In the eastern U.P.'s state parks, "you're talking trees that are centuries and centuries old."

Because the Hemlock is a slow-growing tree, it will take a lifetime for others to replace dead trees, if they can. Tourists might still come to see the Tahquamenon Falls, but it just won't be the same with denuded banks.

So far, Michigan's adelgid infestations have been limited to isolated outbreaks detected in a few Michigan counties, the latest being in Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan.

Another impending threat is the Spruce Budworm, a native greenish-brown little caterpillar with a bud-like black head. Aside from turning evergreens brown, it has the charming habit of dangling at face level from web strands. They eventually become brown moths that spread the infestation.

Major budworm infestations come and go in 30- to 50-year cycles (because it's native, natural predators eventually take care of it) and it looks like its population starting to boom again around the Great Lakes. If it reaches peak infestation as in other cycles "we'll lose 60 percent of our mature balsam fir, and something less than half of our spruce," Heyd says.

Yet another threat is Beech Bark Disease. Caused by an insect from Europe that makes trees susceptible to a native fungus, the nearly microscopic bug is spreading through the eastern upper and northern lower peninsula. It forms white, waxy or woolly scales as it feeds on sap, causing wounds that become infected by fungi, killing the tree. Tree trunks appear white-washed by the disease.

Heyd says the DNR is looking at replanting decimated areas with oak and white pine. He notes that any forest dominated by a single species, such as beech, is susceptible to major damage due to pests and disease that target that species.

Oak Wilt kills oak trees during the spring and early summer across southern Michigan. One bit of good news is the discovery that some beech are disease-resistant. Mech says that he's seen acres of beech "just white-washed" by scale and fungi, but in the middle of diseased trees stand the occasional untouched tree. The DNR is working with the U.S. Forest Service to breed resistant beech. Two seed orchards are growing them now, and test trees planted in diseased areas of the U.P. are doing well, according to Mech.

Another big challenge is Oak Wilt. Caused by an exotic pathogenic fungus, it is transported between trees via underground root connections as well as by sap beetles that carry the fungal spores. The disease is most prevalent in the southern lower peninsula.

Michigan has had some success defending its forests against alien invaders with natural weapons. One early example is when the state fought the birch leafminer, which was a big problem when Heyd started his career in 1979. Parasites were found in the insect's native Europe that only attacked the leafminer. Those parasites were released in Michigan 35 years ago.

"I don't map any birch leafminer anymore," says Heyd.

Using the same idea, the state's foresters are

The wasps, which are harmless to humans and native life, may help control the borers enough to allow ash to grow again in Michigan. But it'll be years until we know if it's a success, Heyd says.

More eyes on the woods

While flying over millions of acres, DNR's forest health specialists use a digital mobile sketch mapping (DMSM) system, a GPS-connected tablet computers containing detailed satellite maps. In the air they can mark where a suspicious tree is, and the DMSM can later take them directly to it on the ground.

"Years and years ago, we'd go up with paper maps and wax pencils and do our best to circle on the map what we're seeing out the window," Mech says.

The DNR is getting a lot of outside help from Michigan State University, which is conducting extensive research on invasive pests and how to combat them. And

But they could always use the eyes of regular Michiganders. So if you see a sick tree, look up its symptoms, and report it.

"Just drop us an email or give us a call," Mech says. Emails can be sent to

And there's another kind of "eyes on the woods" that Heyd encourages --

On his off hours, Heyd hikes into the deep woods of Marquette County, places where no one goes, where bear are common, wolves are present, and even cougar have been spotted.

"I like to climb to the top of one of these ridges and just sit there for two hours, overlooking a valley. Or climb a tree and watch the wildlife walk beneath me."

He sees the forest as a complex living system --

Michigan's economy is damaged when the trees are damaged. But there are also "intangibles" in tree value, Heyd says. That intangible value can't be measured in dollars.

"I'm in the business because of that. My goal is to stand in the forest and understand what's under my feet and all around me and why it's there and what's going on. The more I understand, the better I feel."

For more information and to report invasives: MSU's

DNR's 2015 Forest Health Highlights:

One of the most important things yu can do to help stop the spread of forest pests is to manage firewood properly. Learn the rules for firewood use on the Michigan page of the Nature Conservancy's

Contact the DNR's Forest Health program directly with concerns and questions:

Phone:

This story is a part of a statewide Invasive Species Community Impact Series edited by Nina Ignaczak. Support for this series is provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
It's been another busy month for development news in metropolitan Detroit. Let's catch up on some more development stories from the past four weeks.is being held in the settlement of Lakeville in Addison Township, which is located in northeast Oakland County. The event will focus on the civic benefits of historic preservation. Bruce Pearson, Addison Township Supervisor, will show how preservation techniques have improved life in the township while Todd Elder, owner of the Lakeville Mill, will demonstrate his own restoration methods that saved the mill. The event is being held at the Celtic Knot in Leonard on Friday, June 3. Tickets are available online Michigan's Main Streets are set to see a boost as the state readjusts its historic downtown and commercial district revitalization efforts. The newly rebrandeda, formerly Main Street Network, will adopt a more preservation-focused philosophy in its attempts to reinvigorate downtown areas across southeastern Michigan and throughout the state., the high-performance automotive engineering and manufacturing company based in Northampton, UK, is setting up shop in Shelby Township. At least 50 jobs will be created as Cosworth establishes its U.S. presence, producing high-performance cylinder heads for an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Michigan raced past Indiana in winning the company over, offering a $2.1 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based loan in the process. If Cosworth reaches certain job creation milestones, the loan becomes a grant.Thehas begun the last phase of its multi-year overhaul with the closing of the Corner. The 2,000 sq. ft. bar is being redeveloped as a private dining and meeting space. Since renovations began in 2012, the well-renowned Birmingham hotel has refreshed all of its 150 guest rooms, meeting facilities, public areas, and the Rugby Grille restaurant.Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith




Macomb County residents with an affinity for trees, shade and the outdoors have reason to celebrate as officials announce a new program designed to increase tree canopy coverage south of the Clinton River.The program, Green Macomb Urban Forestry Partnership , is an initiative of the Macomb County Department of Planning & Economic Development and is made possible through a grant from the U.S. Forestry Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Forestry Division. ITC Holdings provided matching money to secure the grant.According to officials, the initiative focuses on communities south of the Clinton River because they have the highest population density in the county while simultaneously having the lowest tree canopy coverage. Warren, Sterling Heights, and Clinton Township, some of Michigan's largest cities, are locatedat least in partsouth of the Clinton River. The targeted area also has some of the county's oldest infrastructure and its sub-watersheds are heavily impacted by urbanization.Plans for the affected area include the systematic implementation of a coordinated green infrastructure strategy to improve economic vitality, quality of life and ecological integrity in the affected areas. Green infrastructure uses plants and soil to help filter and purify stormwater runoff while creating habitat and greenspace.Meanwhile, the city of Utica, itself nestled along the Clinton River, is hoping to invigorate its commercial and industrial districts through the creation of a five-year master plan. Area business owners are invited to attend a public input workshop from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 12 at the Utica Public Library.Proposals include extending downtown, zoning ordinance reviews and continued focus on recreation and water assets. Says John Paul Rea, director of the Macomb County Department of Planning & Economic Development, "Public input is essential for developing a realistic and achievable plan for the future of one of Macomb County's most historic and vibrant cities."Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith
Regional Transit Authority Draft Master Plan. Source: Regional Transit Authority

Bus rapid transit on Woodward, Gratiot and Michigan Avenues connecting downtown Detroit with the suburbs. The service would run continuously without transfers and feature Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant level boarding and prepaid ticketing. The service would have dedicated lanes, signal priority and limited stops.

on Woodward, Gratiot and Michigan Avenues connecting downtown Detroit with the suburbs. The service would run continuously without transfers and feature Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant level boarding and prepaid ticketing. The service would have dedicated lanes, signal priority and limited stops. Cross-county connector bus service on major east-west corridors crossing county boundaries including 15 Mile, 12 Mile, 9 Mile, 8 Mile, Jefferson, Van Dyke, Grand River, Plymouth Rd. and Eureka. Cross-county connector buses mix with traffic and would provide service more frequently than local bus service.

on major east-west corridors crossing county boundaries including 15 Mile, 12 Mile, 9 Mile, 8 Mile, Jefferson, Van Dyke, Grand River, Plymouth Rd. and Eureka. Cross-county connector buses mix with traffic and would provide service more frequently than local bus service. New local bus service will include service in locations which currently do not have bus service.

Commuter express bus service including weekday, rush-hour service between employment centers; for example, along I-75 and M-59

including weekday, rush-hour service between employment centers; for example, along I-75 and M-59 Airport express service connecting Detroit Metropolitan Airport to regional centers including Mt. Clemens, Detroit, Birmingham and Ann Arbor.

connecting Detroit Metropolitan Airport to regional centers including Mt. Clemens, Detroit, Birmingham and Ann Arbor. Paratransit, demand response and mobility management for qualifying passengers with special needs.

for qualifying passengers with special needs. QLine streetcar along Woodward between New Center and downtown Detroit.

along Woodward between New Center and downtown Detroit. Regional commuter rail connecting Detroit and Ann Arbor.

The Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority unveiled its draft master regional transit plan this morning in a public event at Lawrence Technological University, where hundreds of transit advocates, professionals, public officials and interested citizens were invited to get a first glimpse of the proposed plan and provide comment.Megan Owens, executive director of transit advocacy group Transit Riders United says the plan reflects the needs of people in the region."People say we need to be able to connect to jobs, and so this plan connects to places like Novi and Livonia and Rochester that don't currently have transit, yet have a lot of jobs," says Owens.Renard Monczunski, transit organizer with the social justice advocacy organization Detroit People's Platform , organizes bus riders in the city of Detroit and engages them in learning about the regional transit system."My interest is in seeing how this regional transit master plan will affect Detroiters, who comprise 85 percent of the bus riders in the region," he says. "We are looking for improved services and to see if this plan is equitable for the majority African American, low-income population that has significant challenges using the system today."Here are five things to know about the draft regional transit plan:To implement the plan, the RTA will ask voters in Oakland, Wayne, Washtenaw and Macomb counties to approve a 1.2-mill property tax over 20 years on Nov. 8, 2016. The millage equates to $7.92 per month for the average southeast Michigan household and is expected to generate $2.9 billion in funds over its term. Additional funding in the form of state and federal grants are expected to bring total funding to $4.6 billion. There will be no option for cities, villages or townships to opt-out of the millage.The plan includes eight main elements:The plan is now open for a four-week public comment period. Multiple presentations will take place in each of the four affected counties. Based on public comment, the plan will be refined if necessary and then voted on by the RTA's 10-member board, who will also approve the budget and ballot language.Residents will then be asked to approve a 20-year, 1.2-mill property tax on Nov. 8, 2016 to fund implementation.The plan will be carried out in stages, starting with express bus service along Gratiot and Woodward, paratransit and mobility management and airport express service in 2017. Bus rapid transit on Michigan and Washtenaw Avenues is planned for 2026.See the full implementation schedule here Read the plan here or attend one of the upcoming workshops in your county.
A two-story Success Center is the academic focus of the investment made by the business college. Renovations to existing facilities are also among the improvements. They include more classroom spaces and improved electrical access for smartphones, tablets, and laptops.The addition is designed to enhance students' business communication skills, including written communication, public speaking, and executive presence. On the second floor, a modern open office-style area with collaborative spaces and meeting rooms will be available.The new features are many. There is a Mother's Room for nursing students and staff, a Veteran's Room for active duty and veteran students, and ten new student study rooms. There's a new space for Student Services, an Alumni Room, and a Student Organizations Room. A 40-seat auditorium, Cyber Lab, and Testing Center have also been added. The new Fireside Student Lounge and a cafe offer students places to unwind."Students and employers expect high quality from our programs. These outstanding facilities reflect that quality," Stephanie Bergeron, president and CEO Walsh College, says in a statement. "We look forward to building our legacy for excellence well into our second century."The improvements occurred on Walsh College's main campus in Troy, in which it occupies 30 acres at the intersection of Livernois and E. Wattles roads. The business college was founded by accountant Mervyn Walsh in Detroit in 1922, where it operated out of the Capitol Theatre Buildingwhich is now the home of the Detroit Opera House. Walsh College left Detroit for Troy in 1970, where it has been located ever since. The school now has additional locations in Novi, Clinton Township, and Port Huron.Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith
Roseann Nathan, ReStores

Chris Nemeth, Hopeful Harvest

The term social enterprise has become common parlance in southeast Michigan in recent years, thanks to a growing number of local ventures that identify themselves with the term.But while there may be some general awareness of the phrase, its exact meaning remains elusive for a lot of folks.To gain a better understanding, Metromode reached out to Jaymes Vettraino, director of Rochester College's Center for Social Entrepreneurship and an assistant professor of business at the school. Students in the program receive education on the history, theory and practice of social enterprises (as well as business basics). That education is bolstered with visits to local social enterprise organizations.Vettraino defines a social enterprise as an organization that combines sustainable and ethical revenue-generating methods with a social mission dedicated to making a community better. He says social enterprises blur the lines between nonprofits and for-profits in a way that allows for practical business techniques to be put into the service of humanitarian and ecologically-friendly goals.Its a fairly open framework that has room enough for do-good businesses, nonprofits, co-ops and even governmental entities."People are really looking for companies to purchase products and services from in a way that is consistent with their opinion of how the earth and people should be treated," he says.At the same time, nonprofits are feeling the pull to establish business operations that foster long-term economic, social and environmental health; Vettraino sees philanthropic organizations and other funders "becoming much more demanding of nonprofits," often expecting them "to think up ways to make sure what they're doing is sustainable."Vettraino directed Metromode to several local organizations, each with their own unique place on the spectrum between nonprofit and for-profit enterprise. We got in touch with three of them to see how they were applying social entrepreneurial ideas in the real world.Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County's ReStores offers a great example of how entrepreneurial methods can be used to further nonprofit goals.Essentially a discount home goods store with a social mission, there are more than 900 ReStores in North America. Oakland Countys are located in Farmington and Pontiac. The outlets collect used and donated home goods like furniture, paint, appliances, cabinets and lights and sell them to help fund Habitat for Humanity's work building homes for people in need.Donated ReStore items cost about 50 percent less on average than what you might find at regular retail outlets, and donors get a tax receipt for bringing in used goods."We are saving landfills by people donating items they cant use but others can use," says Rose-Ann Nathan. "One persons trash is another persons treasure!"Products are often dropped off at the ReStores, but the organization also picks up donations with a service truck. In addition to individuals, items are also donated by retailers like Lowe's and Home Hardware.The Pontiac and Farmington stores are a new venture for Habitat of Oakland County, which took over running the shops and pick-up operations from Detroits Habitat branch this past April. With the recent change in management, the nonprofit is eager to educate the public about what products they take and to recruit folks to help with intake, sorting, stocking, customer service and other tasks."We are just starting up in Oakland and many ReStores support 50 percent of their respective Habitat organization's top line revenue," says Nathan. "The more volunteers we have, the more we can support the mission through revenue supporting the home program."The food hub Hopeful Harvest is a social enterprise spinoff of Forgotten Harvest , a nonprofit that feeds people by collecting donated surplus food. Established in 2014, Hopeful Harvest directs its efforts to helping fledgling food entrepreneurs get off the ground. It does this by providing aspiring ventures with a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen space; prep rooms; dry, refrigerated and frozen storage space; and professional development support. The food preparation facilities are housed at the organization's Oak Park headquarters."We recognized there was a shortage of facilities and support for the burgeoning small food entrepreneurial market," says President Chris Nemeth. "We offer complete co-packing services, a la carte support services and kitchen rental space for each manufacturer to utilize to make their own products. "Hopeful Harvest now has a staff of nine, who work with a variety of organizations, educational institutions and businesses. The enterprise has been pretty successful at its work, too; twenty-three people now take advantage of its food prep facilities, it's outgrown its initial business plan three times and is looking into getting a new facility.Even though Forgotten Harvest and Hopeful Harvest physically share the same Oak Park facility, legally-speaking, they're separate entities. However, while the food hub operates as a stand-alone for-profit S Corp, 100 percent of its shares are owned by Forgotten Harvest and all profits are donated to the nonprofit."It is rewarding, exciting and energizing," says Nemeth of Hopeful Harvest's work. "Social enterprises are catalysts for the continued growth and revitalization of metro Detroit and beyond."Daniel Brian Advertising (DBA) comes to social entrepreneurship from a somewhat different angle. Based in Rochester, the marketing agency has dedicated itself to the idea of "better brands for a better human condition.""What that means is that we will look at the things that matter to our consumers and we look towards creating more value in their lives through our brands," explains founder and CEO Daniel Cobb. "When you find a way to bring more value in various ways, you bring more results to your clients. "Founded in 1992, DBA focused its early efforts in the healthcare field, where they found it made more sense to craft campaigns geared towards helping patients than ones pitting different hospitals against another. Now, more than two decades later, DBA has a staff of about 50 people and caters to retail brands like Hungry Howie's Pizza and Sony.But, while the company has shifted focus, its still retained the idea of helping people through its marketing.Take, for example, the pink pizza boxes that Hungry Howie's uses to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month each October. The DBA-created campaign, which donates a portion of pizza sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, has raised more than $1.5 million since 2008. Another of their socially-oriented projects has involved creating daddy-daughter date nights at Chick-fil-A restaurant franchises to encourage family bonding.The firm is also in the process of establishing an orphanage in India. The DBA Dream House will eventually house 12 children. It will also feature three computers with Microsoft and Adobe software packages that will allow the youth to learn the essentials of the advertising trade.Asked about the benefits of incorporating good deeds into a business model, Cobb says he believes consumers respond to firms they feel are helping make the world a better place."When people feel they're getting value, they tend to want to give that value back in some sense," he says, "so when you're a giver, you generally get a result of a return investment."


The new headquarters will provide more space for research and development of



Delphinus Medical Technologies signed a lease on its new office with the idea of providing enough room for R&D and also to act as a showcase for that technology. Forchette expects to host frequent visits from healthcare leaders, customers and vendors, so the company has added a dedicated demonstration room.



"We have room to grow," Forchette says. "We have a facility here that is multifunctional. We have lab space and office space and demonstration space."



Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at The new headquarters will provide more space for research and development of SoftVue . Delphinus Medical Technologies has hired eight people so far this year, growing its team to just shy of 50 people.Delphinus Medical Technologies signed a lease on its new office with the idea of providing enough room for R&D and also to act as a showcase for that technology. Forchette expects to host frequent visits from healthcare leaders, customers and vendors, so the company has added a dedicated demonstration room."We have room to grow," Forchette says. "We have a facility here that is multifunctional. We have lab space and office space and demonstration space."Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com

Newer, bigger and better offices often come to startups that lock down a multi-million-dollar venture capital raises. Add Delphinus Medical Technologies to that list now that it has moved on up to a newer, bigger and better headquarters in Novi.The biotech startup has called Plymouth its home for most of its five years. Then it landed one of the largest rounds of venture capital in Michigan history last fall. The $40 million Series C round (led by Farmington Hills-based Beringea ) will go toward developing and selling its whole breast ultrasound system, growing its team and finding a bigger place to house that team. At 21,000 square feet, the company's new home in Novi is three times larger than its previous office in Plymouth."It's just a fabulous facility," says Mark Forchette, president and CEO of Delphinus Medical Technologies . "It has a great, inspiring cultural vibe to it."Delphinus Medical Technologies is creating a new way to detect breast cancer utilizing technology spun out of Wayne State University and the Karmanos Cancer Institute . SoftVue is a whole breast ultrasound system that allows physicians to image the entire breast, including the chest wall. The technology platform incorporates a circular ultrasound transducer, producing cross-sectional ultrasound cross-sections through the entire volume of breast tissue.




"Smart cars with advanced safety and self-driving features are already here today," says KaC Cheok, co-chairman and co-founder of Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition and an engineering professor Oakland University. "The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition challenges students around the world, in their college years, to become involved with engineering and technologies that lead into autonomous vehicles."



Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at For instance, robotics teams from universities around the world will compete in the 24th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition at Oakland University next week. Their teams will build and operate autonomous robotic vehicles on an outdoor course with defined lanes, GPS waypoints and obstacles."Smart cars with advanced safety and self-driving features are already here today," says KaC Cheok, co-chairman and co-founder of Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition and an engineering professor Oakland University. "The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition challenges students around the world, in their college years, to become involved with engineering and technologies that lead into autonomous vehicles."Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com

Metro Detroiters have always been about cars and driving. The two have been practically inseparable for the last 100 years. Now in the 21st century, motorists are taking that relationship to the next level by separating the two.Developing technology for driverless cars is the next big thing in tech. Companies of all shapes and sizes and locations are pursuing it, ranging from local automakers to big tech firms in Silicon Valley to small college robotics teams.Michigan's state legislature has introduced comprehensive legislation to pave the way for autonomous vehicles, according to a recent Detroit News story. The idea is to make the state a leader in what is widely viewed as the next big thing in automotive technology.Members of the Big Three have brokered partnerships with big names in Silicon Valley to make inroads in autonomous vehicle technology. GM has invested in Lyft , the ride-sharing startup to create the equivalent of driverless taxis. Ford is partnering with Google to pursue similar technology. Google announced plans this week, according to a Detroit Free Press story, to open a vehicle development center in Novi for its Self-Driving Car Project All of this recent activity is built on years worth of research and development into it by the engineers and innovators across Metro Detroit, primarily in the region's research universities.
Lots of tech companies claim they can solve big problems in business with big data analytics. A new startup in Northville, Loven Systems, believes it can do it better than everyone else by making technology that can mimic its users decision-making process."We look at how people make decisions," says Satyendra Rana, CTO of Loven Systems Loven Systems is developing a cognitive software solution that will help business users outside of the IT department gain valuable insights from their available data. Rana is a serial entrepreneur who has worked in data analytics for decades. He co-founded Wayne State University's Big Data and Business Analytics Symposium and has worked to expand the data industry in the region.Rana knows where the pitfalls are when it comes to big datas potential and its reality."There is a big gap between what businesses want and what technology can produce," Rana says.Loven Systems bridges that gap by crafting its software to think like its users. The idea is that if it makes decisions like its user would, then they will be more comfortable with the software's results and follow through on the insights. Rana points out that too often big data analytics firms come up short because they are used to running perfect information, which isnt easily found in the real world."In the business world there is no perfect information," Rana says.Loven Systems got its start 18 months ago with just Rana. By January of 2015, the company had a team of four people. Today it employs 30 individuals who are helping the firm lock up new clients in the retail and healthcare sectors. It's aiming to add financial sector firms soon, which will create the need for more hiring."We will probably have 40 people by the end of the year," Rana says.Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com
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Within weeks construction will begin on a retail center, the latest project at the Corner@Drake, developed by AVB at the interchange of US-131 and Stadium Drive.The new retail center, known as Corner Shoppes@Drake, will feature 20,000 square feet of retail space in two separate buildings. In addition to the usual spaces for retailers in the shopping center, the spots on the ends of the buildings will have drive-through capabilities attractive to restaurants or retailers.The Corner Shoppes will front on Drake Road and are expected to be completed by winter of 2016. Negotiations are underway with potential tenants and AVB expects the available shopping center space to fill.The company says local and national tenants are talking with them. "We are keeping our eyes open to all opportunities that present themselves as we continue those discussions." The company expects several tenants will be new concepts to this market.Construction on the 40-acre Corner@Drake development began in November of 2013. It is proceeding as anticipated by AVB and the Corner Shoppes portion of the development is not its final phase.The new regional retail center is home to Costco, Field & Stream and Consumers Credit Union. AVB reports that large crowds accompanied the opening of Field & Stream and the momentum for development continues to build.Corner@Drake serves as a central retail hub to the 524,000-plus residents in the region. It is centrally located at Stadium Drive and Drake Road and is quickly and easily accessed by the entire region. It also is close to downtown Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University, and Kalamazoo College.Source: AVB
Dale Pitchure want to create a place where businesses can grow Inside the offices at CherryPointe The foyer at CherryPointe

Dale Pitchure has finished the renovations and expansion of CherryPointe Offices & Suites, 71 S. 20th St., Battle Creek and hes ready to show them to the community.



There are 26 individual offices and suites that Pitchure plans to offer at a rate that makes them affordable for business start-ups--starting at $199 a month. The project is intended to serve and encourage the growth of area businesses.



Renovations included new ceilings, electrical, carpeting, paint, trim, and doors, with new furnishings and decor throughout. Each office also comes with its own 4 x 5 window, providing plenty of natural lighting. The development also offers a commons area, professional conference room, and staff break room and ample parking.



CherryPointe has optional two, three, and four office suites and features secure Wi-Fi for a small upcharge. Pitchure believes new businesses also will benefit from the location of the offices, five minutes from I-94 highway and close to Ft. Custer Industrial Park.



There will be a ribbon cutting celebration for the project at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 24.



With affordable rent, we can provide space for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses in a professional, relaxing, and modern environment, says Pitchure, President and founder of the CherryPointe complex.



Theres nothing like this dedicated to the incubator concept in Battle Creek, Pitchure adds. Pitchure says he feels inspired by this group of entrepreneurs: Im learning from them every day, and am glad I can contribute to their growth while enhancing our community in return.



Sources: CherryPointe Offices & Suites, a division Annex Investments, LLC, and Greenstreet Marketing


Signing day is not just for athletes anymore. Western Michigan University hosted close to 1,500 graduating seniors May 2 who were there to announce the colleges and universities to which they have committed for fall 2016.The president of the areas' three colleges--WMU's John M. Dunn, Kalamazoo College's Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran and Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Marilyn Schlack--were all on hand to congratulate the graduating seniors. So were Michigan State Superintendent Brian J. WhistonKalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell, and representatives of 10 other Michigan and out-of-state colleges.During the two-hour event, students were entertained by a WMU Greek organization, the Loy Norrix Drumline, Portage Central Choir, local D.J. Chuck Welch and a surprise guest artist, Matt Giraud, the musician who achieved national recognition and acclaim for his performances on American Idol and finished 5th on Season 8 of the musical competition television show. Dr. D.F. Arnold, a motivational speaker who specializes in personal and professional development, delivered a keynote address to the high school seniors.Kalamazoo County College Signing Day, was organized by Western Michigan University and the College and Career Action Network of Kalamazoo County, for all graduating seniors in the county.This was the second major College Signing Day in Michigan. The first was took place in May 2015 at Detroit's Wayne State University. First Lady Michele Obama launched the initiative and presided over a citywide signing day. The May date for the local event was chosen to reflect the traditional May 1 deadline for students to accept admissions offers.Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan UniversityPhotos: Amanda Lozier, Western Michigan University
Donya Davis' world has been the stuff of nightmares. Wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced to prison. The common claim of innocence that no one believes. Little access to information and resources. No money for legal help. A nightmare.Davis, 38, and father of 12, was convicted in 2007 of car jacking, armed robbery and rape -- crimes he insisted he didn't commit. He was sentenced to 67 years in prison. And in 2014 -- seven years into his sentence -- the WMU Cooley Law Innocence Project was able to obtain post-conviction DNA evidence that supported his innocence.Three months after that evidence was presented to the Wayne County prosecutor's office, Davis was released from prison. And five months after that charges against him were dismissed based on insufficient evidence.Davis says his mom spent the seven years he was in prison grieving, going financially and emotionally bankrupt in her attempts to help her son prove he was not guilty. Seeing her upon his release was everything, he says.It was almost like she was in prison with me, mentally. It tore her up bad, he says. I think it took more of a toll on her than it did me. My main thing was getting home to her to get that problem off of her.You would think Davis' release and subsequent reunion with his family would be the beginning of a fairytale ending, right? Well, not quite. After the tears and hugs and rejoicing were over, it was time to re-integrate into the real world again. A real world that didn't stop in those years that he was in prison; a real world in which even exonerated individuals still carry arrest and conviction records. A real world in which Davis continues to struggle in his ongoing battle to find sustainable income.Marla Mitchell-Cichon is a lawyer, professor at WMU Cooley Law School, and the director of The Western Michigan Cooley Law Innocence Project. The program falls under the national network, The Innocence Project, and like the umbrella organization, Mitchell-Cichon says that her office works to clear factually innocent people by obtaining and reviewing DNA and forensics evidence post-conviction.The Cooley project was started in 2001, shortly after Michigan passed MCL 770.16, the State's post-conviction DNA testing law. That law provides a clear avenue for wrongfully convicted individuals to prove their innocence through DNA evidence and also helps to ensure that the actual perpetrator of the crime is identified and brought to justice.Since then, three people have been exonerated through the efforts of the Cooley Law Innocence Project, its portion of the 329 prisoners released nationwide after the results of DNA testing showed they were wrongfully accused as a result of the work of the Innocence Network.Last year, The Cooley Innocence Project was awarded a Department of Justice grant, which allows funding for a full-time staff attorney for two years, and helps engage undergraduate students at WMU in the case screening and review process. It also provides money for DNA testing, investigative services and the hiring of experts to assist on casework. The $418,000 grant was one of the largest awarded for reversing wrongful convictions by the DOJ in 2015.It's a wonder Mitchell-Cichon finds any time to sleep. It's a Saturday afternoon and she and Davis meet in her office to go over what's happening in his life and to find out how Mitchell-Cichon can support him. He's only in town for a few days, having recently moved to Alabama for work, following two years of nothing but dead ends in Michigan. They invite me to call them and chat about Davis' case and how the Innocence Project helped him. Two years out from exoneration, Mitchell-Cichon's professional obligation to Davis is certainly over, but it's clear it's not that easy to let go and ignore someone who's foundering in the aftermath of a wrongful conviction.As I listen to them joke about how Davis could school Mitchell-Cichon on DNA science after all of the reading he did on the topic while in prison (he pored through 20 to 30 books a day, he says, and thousands and thousands of pages), and hear the emotion in Davis' voice, when he describes the feeling he had when the Cooley Innocence Project took his case, it becomes obvious why Mitchell-Cichon can't work on these cases, forget about them, and move on.Davis' freedom was obtained  and that's huge  but, trying to reintegrate into a society that isn't set up to support people like him feels a little like a fish trying to swim upstream. He's treading water at best, and drifting downriver at worst.As his pro-bono legal support for the last five of his seven years served, Mitchell-Cichon has grown invested in way more than his release. My office isn't designed to assist these individuals with all of the collateral issues that they face (post-exoneration), Mitchell-Cichon says. We do it and I do it because I want to and because I want Donya to succeed because I believe in him. But if I had three guys come out this year, that would be basically impossible for my office to do that work.Mitchell-Cichon says that, while imperfect, parolees have access to certain programs that are in place to help them re-enter society. A person who has been exonerated, like Davis, doesn't have access to those programs. And what's worse, he's stuck with the arrest and criminal records that he has to continually try to explain away. Most employers -- even sympathetic ones -- don't want to take a chance.Sen. Steven Bieda from Macomb County has sponsored a bill, which would provide compensation for people who have been wrongfully imprisoned. Bieda became interested in post-release issues of those who have been exonerated when he learned about a case from his constituency.The bill, SB 291, is a proposed law that would offer those who have been exonerated some compensation for the time that they served. The bill would provide annual monetary compensation for each year of wrongful incarceration; economic damages for lost wages and attorney fees; and expungement of records of the person's criminal history. The bill is waiting to be heard on the senate floor for a vote.Mitchell-Cichon says that more than half of the states in the nation already have compensation laws on the books. The idea (behind a compensation law) is not about punishing anybody. You can never make somebody whole by giving them money. But, she says, you can try to at least level the playing field so that they have the resources and the time that they would have otherwise had, or that they certainly missed, because they were in prison, wrongfully.When Mitchell-Cichon is not trying cases, she's working to educate people about how critically important it is to support those who have been exonerated when they get out of prison.We're doing a disservice to our communities, as well, because if we're going to get parolees services, we've got to give people who didn't go to prison for the right reasons services, she says. Years of their life has been taken away from them through no fault of their own.You can learn more about The WMU Cooley Law Innocence Project by visiting its website . If you'd like to tell your state senator how you feel about the proposed wrongful imprisonment compensation bill, you can find him or her, here Kathi Valeii is a freelance writer, living in Kalamazoo. You can find her at her website, kathivaleii.com
Special event



The Can-Do Kitchen is having an Open House from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 20. The public is invited to tour the kitchen, enjoy food samples made in the Can-Do Kitchen, and learn about the organization



When your name is Can-Do theres a certain expectation you will live up to that name.The Can-Do Kitchen, the areas first food business incubator, is ready to show the community what it can do now that its moved into a larger space and what it hopes to achieve next.For the past five years, the Can-Do Kitchen has shared space in the Peoples Food Co-op building with the PFC deli. Soon after the two moved in together, the deli business grew to the point that it was routinely using one of the two cooking stations available.Both the deli operation and the number of Can-Do clients continued to grow.So about 18 months ago, the Can-Do Kitchen started a search for a location that would have more room for its clients. Oddly enough, there arent that many commercial kitchens out there, Can-Do Kitchen executive director Lucy Dilley, says with a chuckle.Earlier this year, it found a space at 3501 Lake Street. Its still sharing. This time with C&M Catering. C&M uses the space from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then is out at catering events. That leaves a lot of time in the 24-hour operation of the kitchen for Can-Do clients to get their cooking or baking done.Dilley expects the kitchen will be able to increase the number of companies it assists in the new space considering it has gone from a 1,300-square-foot space to one with 2,500 square feet and access to two separate stations.We can have two companies working at one time, Dilley says. At its previous peak, usually in summer during Farmers Market season when food companies are getting their products in front of market goers, the Can-Do Kitchen served about 25 clients and has consistently had at least 15 clients.The experience of working with Peoples Food Co-op was a positive one, but at times it was confusing. Some people thought the Can-Do Kitchen was part of the Co-op. Which was not a bad thing, Dilley says. But with this location, we expect it will help to clarify that we have our own organization. It will make more sense to people.The move to Lake Street was in part possible because the Co-op purchased equipment from the Can-Do Kitchen. Cabinets and the color scheme came with Can-Do to the new site. Since then, C&M Catering has been very helpful in explaining its equipment and sharing the space, Dilley says.Moving its physical location is only one move made this year for the Can-Do Kitchen. In April, it received its 501c3 status as a nonprofit. It formerly was a project of Fair Food Matters; the two organizations separated in January.By becoming an independent nonprofit organization and moving into the new space, the Can-Do Kitchen has more capacity than ever to serve our community by working to increase the availability of local food products and removing barriers to help small food producers succeed, says Bailey Mead, board treasurer.The Can-Do Kitchen has launched a lot of businesses since its beginnings during the summer eight years ago when clients used the kitchen in a trailer on the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds to get their start. Then, two years in the kitchen of First Baptist Church preceded the move to PFCs new building. Through the recent changes, the kitchen tried to keep the disruption to its clients to a minimum though the kitchen was shut down for nine days as the move was made and the state licensed its new location.The services they offer will not change with the move, though some are evolving as the kitchen gets more assistance with translation in meetings with clients for whom English is a second language. Spanish and Mandarin translators are now working with the kitchen.Its so helpful, Dilley says, when you start to understand in a deeper way what they are saying and its because they are saying it in their own words, their own language. And its more than language. Its cultural barriers. We are going to bump up against those and do our best to see our way through those.What else does it mean when it says it is working to remove barriers for small food businesses? In weekly meetings with clients, the Can-Do Kitchen staff goes through requirements for food safety and labeling. It helps clients understand branding and why its necessary. It assists them in making connections with the Small Business Administration for its financial planning expertise. Theres a lot of marketing advice, from how to approach buyers, how to get the most out of sampling events, and how to break into markets with well-established brands.We learned early on that when clients come to us they know their recipes inside and out. But the recipe is only 30 percent of it when you're starting a small food business. We provide the help they need with everything else they need to do.One piece of advice for the new food entrepreneur is that they are embarking on an emotional roller coaster. There will be huge ups and downs at different phases of the business growth. We want them to know they are not alone, Dilley says. Its not because they are doing anything wrong. Thats just how it is.An advisory board of six members in various parts of the food industry or with knowledge of the business also assists the fledgling companies. And Can-Do Kitchen staff works to make sure the new business owner knows who to connect with for their business to grow.Even though the Can-Do Kitchen just moved into its new location, the organization recognizes this is an interim space. Eventually, it wants to have a location with space not only for cooking, storage, and offices but room for classes and other aspects of the educational side of its work. A capital campaign to raise funds for its own location could be in the works.Dilley does not yet have a timeline for such a fund drive as there is some preliminary work that needs to be done. The Can-Do Kitchen board of trustees needs to grow from its current size of three members. Strategic planning to further identify the needs the kitchen should serve will also be done.Then again, one need she already has identified is assistance for businesses that have outgrown the incubator kitchen but are not ready to move into their own production facility. Dilley says food business incubators across the country are realizing the need for some kind of assistance for businesses making the intermediate step.Well need a variety of people at the table to figure it out because it will take outside the box thinking, Dilley says.What wont change is the Can-Do Kitchens commitment to helping businesses grow, even if the spotlight on startups that currently is shining brightly goes out in the future. As Dilley says, I want to keep building things that are structurally sound, that will last, and that is not about following the next trend.These are clients currently working in the Can-Do Kitchen.--They make eight varieties of premium home style granola: Cherry Pecan, Just the Berries, Apple Spice and Everything Nice, Nutty Maple, Hazelnut Chocolate Cherry, Lemon Kissed Berry, Ginger!....Honey!, and PB&J. It also offers two nut mixes--Fruit and Nut with three fruits, three nuts, and dark chocolate chips, and No Regrets, which has almonds, walnuts, blueberries, apricots, and dried plums. Barb & Tammy biscotti flavors are: Cranberry Pecan and Lemon Pistachio.--Ageless Pantry L.L.C., is a family company. Its Zenuine Brew teas are adapted from recipes the founders family has enjoyed for generations. Its goal has been to bring customers herbal teas made from the highest quality organic and natural ingredients.--Makers of salsa, Bloody Mary Mix, and gourmet chocolates. Crazed Cravings offers recipes, support, and a place to upload your crazed creations to share with the company, and the snacking community.--This mother and daughter team create tasty, nutrient dense, and convenient food for busy and active people, including the Chia Crunch, Midnight Crunch, and Kara Comet.The latter is made from raw natural ingredients including gluten-free oats and cocoa.--With a 12 oz. carbonated beverage and a bag of Fizzy Bread mix, the company say deliciousness is inevitable. Use any type of beer or soda pop to create a flavored bread of your choice. They also have four kinds of dips for that freshly baked bread.--When Derek Richmond and his daughter sampled 15 different brands of pickles and were disappointed with all of them, they decided to make their own. In April, their first pickle, the Richmond, became available in limited quantities at Water Street Coffee Joint locations.--In 2002 Jesse Forbes, in a nearly fatal car crash, broke her neck, fractured her skull and was in a coma for seven day. Remarkably, she had an extremely rapid healing process and swift rehabilitation that doctors accredited to her healthy lifestyle. She came out of it determined to help others live well. Her Original Brain Food Walnuts and Brain Food Seasoning is part of that plan.--High quality, organic, fairly traded coffee is used to craft Mamaleelu Cold Brew. Cold brew, also known as cold press, is brewed without heat over a long period of time. The companys small batch, hand crafted Cold Brew begins by steeping freshly roasted coffee in room temperature water for 18 to 24 hours, using a double filtration process to procure the end result: a smooth, buttery, balanced brew with a low acidity.--Produced by Kalamazoos Claras Kitchen by Michael Kruk, who got his start offering his bean dip to friends at parties and potlucks He got serious about making it for retail with the assistance of the Can-Do Kitchen.--Company owners say when you combine the soothing blends of unique coffees mouth-watering desserts, you have a Perfect Blend. It offers a variety of blended coffee recipes to create a unique taste. Some of our blends have Biblical names which provides the company with a way to evangelize and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.--The company creates handcrafted seasoned salt. It likes to describe its products as "salt with a kick." They encourage customers to try it on anything you would normally put salt on.Learn more at www.candokitchen.org Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Second Wave Media Southwest Michigan. She is a freelance writer and editor.
The small African nation of Djibouti will soon be home to China's first major overseas military base. In fact, several world powers have outposts in Djibouti, which turns out to be one of the most valuable patches of real estate on the planet.

In today's Seeker Daily video, we take a look at why this small republic on the Horn of Africa is so popular on the international scene.

As Jules Suzdaltsev explains, it really boils down to three things: Location, location, location. Djibouti is close to multiple conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East, including Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Strike forces staged out of Djibouti can reach trouble spots within minutes.

The U.S. military base in Djibouti, Camp Lemonnier, is critical to maintaining U.S. interests in the region. The country remains a major hub for counterterrorism operations. A 2013 Washington Post report estimated that upwards of 16 drone flights each day were deployed out of Camp Lemonnier.

RELATED: What Is Al-Shabaab And What Do They Want In East Africa?

Djibouti is also close to the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping routes and a constant target for pirates. Several countries stage their own anti-piracy operations out of Djibouti. The country also shares a border with Somalia, home to what some term a regional piracy industry. In addition to the U.S. and China, France and Japan have large military facilities in the country.

So what does Djibouti get out this arrangement? Rent, for one thing: The U.S. pays the country about $70 million per year and China is likely to pay upwards of $100 million, according to recent reports. Djibouti also enjoys the security of having multiple military allies heavily invested in the country's well-being.

The downside of the arrangement is a familiar one. Western powers greatly value Djibouti's strategic location and relative political stability. As such, they tend to look past the country's autocratic government. Despite recent elections, Djibouti is a de facto dictatorship: The national parliament has no opposition legislators and current president Ismail Omar Guelleh recently extended his own term limits.

-- Glenn McDonald

Learn More:

BBC: Why are there so many military bases in Djibouti?

NPR: China Breaks Ground on Naval Base in Africa

The Diplomat: Confirmed: Construction Begins on China's First Overseas Military Base in Djibouti

Washington Post: Remote U.S. base at core of secret operations


Last month, we reported on Youth Entrepreneurship in Action (YEA), a series of student-run businesses in Brightmoor. YEA is a unique endeavor in which kids create and sell custom goods like hand carved signage. Visit YEA's website to view and purchase the products of these youth entrepreneurs.Last week, YEA launched a Kickstarter campaign to build out an entrepreneurial incubator for youth in a derelict garage on the grounds of the Detroit Community Schools. The garage is named the Bagley Quad Shop, referencing the garage on Bagley Street where Henry Ford built his first automobile, the Quadricycle.Currently, students make their products in the school's art studio on weekends when there are no classes. You can help these student entrepreneurs achieve their goal of raising $50,000 to create a dedicated space to run their businesses, which include the Brightmoor Woodworkers and Brightmoor Bikes and Trailers, by donating here This Kickstarter campaign is open for donations until Dec. 4. Show your support by donating to the youth entrepreneurs who are transforming Brightmoor and Detroit.
The BizGrid is a physical infographic designed to help Detroit entrepreneurs navigate the landscape of organizations providing business assistance within the city. If you've ever needed help exploring Detroit's many resources, you'll love the BizGrid, say our friends at Open City.Come see for yourself what this new tool is about at the next Open City event, Monday Oct. 19, 6-8 p.m., at Cliff Bell's (2030 Park Ave. downtown Detroit).Jim Boyle of the New Economy Initiative will open the discussion. Panelists include: Spencer Olinek, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation ; Devita Davison, Detroit Kitchen Connect ; April Anderson of Good Cakes and Bakes The talk is moderated by Amy Haimerl Crain's Detroit Business Open City is also partnering with FoodLab Detroit and D:hive BUILD to feature a lineup of revolving up and coming food entrepreneurs each month.This event is free and open to the public 21 and over with a complimentary drink for the first 80 people.
Plymouth-based Celsee Diagnostics firm is currently building out its team and growing revenue streams that support its cancer-detection technology.The life sciences startup formerly known as DeNovo Sciences employs 11 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees after hiring two more over the last year. Those new hires include a new chief science officer and vice president of commercial operations."We're building out a leadership team to get our commercialization up and moving quickly," says Kalyan Handique, CEO of Celsee Diagnostics Celsee Diagnostics is developing a platform for early detection of cancer from blood samples. Its fully automated system can detect cancer, primarily breast and colon cancers. The idea is to create a less-invasive method than the traditionally painful route of biopsies. Celsee is in the midst of starting clinical trials on this platform. The trials for European approval are expected to be done within six months. U.S. trials are expected to run into next year.Celsee Diagnostics also raised a small amount of money from investors last year, but it is focusing on generating more revenues to cover its expenses, selling its platform to researchers in the U.S. and overseas."We expect to cross $1 million this year," Handique says. "It will make investing in our product easier."Celsee Diagnostics is also selling its platform in Israel and some developing countries, including Brazil and China."We're starting to get more traction in those countries," Handique says.Source: Kalyan Handique, CEO of Celsee DiagnosticsWriter: Jon Zemke




Think southeast Michigan business don't spend its fair share of time ahead of the curve? You're not concentrating. Remember when the iPhone came out? Ann Arbor- based Mobiata adopted the idea of smartphone application creation so early Steve Jobs personally highlighted its FlightTrack app. Remember when the Internet went mainstream? The guys behind Southfield's Detroit Trading Company were one of the first to sell cars online in the mid 1990s. Remember when that guy, Larry Pag e, went to the University of Michigan... You get the idea.




Follow the money and you'll find that more and more paths are leading to southeast Michigan. No, it's not Silicon Valley or even Sand Hill Road, but the Motor City is asserting itself as a place for investments and the venture capital firms that make them to pay attention to with its growing pool of start-ups and commitment to enriching its entrepreneurial ecosystem.




Women have long played key roles on Metro Detroit's stage, ranging from big-time politicians like Gov. Granholm (a product of Metro Detroit) to small business owners like Cynthia Pasky , founder of downtown Detroit-based Strategic Staffing Solutions . They don't have Y chromosomes but you don't have to listen for long before you hear one of them roar in southeast Michigan, and know she's the boss.
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Tensions are rising between Democratic state Senate candidates Scott Wiener and Jane Kim ahead of Tuesdays primary election  and now a last-minute letter from state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton endorsing Kim as the real Democrat has set off a fresh round of allegations of foul play.

Wiener won the endorsement in February of the state Democratic Party itself, receiving 80 percent of the vote at the partys convention over Kim, his fellow San Francisco supervisor.

In the letter put out by Kims campaign, Burton said he is fighting to elect fellow Democrats who will stand up for our kids, protect seniors, heal our environment, and most of all  stand up for the values we share.

Wiener called the letter unethical, given his overwhelming endorsement by the party.

Its a very fine line as to whether there is a violation of the California Democratic Party laws, said Jeffrey Adair, party chairman in San Mateo County. He tells us hes contemplating sending out a separate message to voters making clear that Wiener is the partys officially endorsed candidate.

As for whats really behind Burtons support for Kim? Wiener thinks its because hes called for homeless peoples tents to be removed from San Francisco sidewalks.

Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle

Right after Wiener urged city departments to do that back in January, Burton fired off a letter to him him suggesting he stop by the nearest butcher shop and buy yourself a heart.

Asked if the tent fight had factored heavily in his endorsement of Kim, Burton said, Im supporting Jane Kim because I want somebody representing me who Im happy to vote for. ... I dont believe in Scott  its that simple.

He added, There is nothing unethical about endorsing Kim and using his official title. As party chairman, said the former congressman and state Senate president, he can support whomever he wants.

Escort service: San Franciscos police motorcycle unit has been doing some unusual protection duty of late.

The motorcycle cops escorted the Budweiser Clydesdales during Super Bowl week. Last month, they were dispatched to the airport to see to it that the Rolls-Royce containing Chinatown powerhouse Rose Pak made it smoothly into town. And last week, they were out in force for the funeral of former Police Chief Greg Suhrs mother, Sharon Suhr.

The funeral Mass was said by Archbishop Emeritus John Quinn. Those in attendance included Mayor Ed Lee, Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White  and some 60 uniformed SFPD motorcycle cops who lined the street outside St. Ignatius Church.

Motorcycle cops are routinely dispatched to escort funeral processions for officers and even their family members, but the size of the contingent at the Sharon Suhr service had heads turning.

The cops escorted the funeral procession to Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, said police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak. We will do that from time to time as a matter of ceremony and to safely facilitate the flow of the funeral procession, he said.

The contingent was unusually large this time, Andraychak said, because the chief had protesters show up outside his house (before he resigned), and we werent sure if any form of protest was going to try and disrupt the funeral.

Motorcycle escorts were also provided for two funerals last weekend involving family members of police officers. In one case, some 20 motorcycle cops were spotted escorting a procession near City Hall.

Andraychak tells us theres a practical side to such escorts  the cops use them as training for when theyre required to protect visiting VIPs, from the president on down.

How its played: The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to hand a $1 million bailout to Youth UpRising after the nonprofit East Oakland youth center came up short in what officials described as a budget error.

One of those voting for the bailout was Supervisor Nate Miley, who also happens to sit on Youth UpRisings nine-member board of directors.

Might that be a conflict of interest?

Miley, who is being challenged Tuesday for re-election by health executive Bryan Parker, tells us he was advised by the countys lawyers that there was no conflict because hes an unpaid board member and Youth UpRising is a nonprofit.

Its worth noting that Youth UpRising CEO Olis Simmons  whose group already receives $2 million a year in county subsidies and hundreds of thousands of dollars more in county contracts  is a prominent endorser of Mileys re-election and is featured on his campaign website.

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
Eyebrows rose last week when Uber announced that Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund would invest $3.5 billion in the fast-growing ride service and take a seat on Ubers board.

While some critics slammed Uber for taking money from a repressive government whose female citizens arent even allowed to drive, analysts say the deal gives the San Francisco company fuel to expand worldwide without resorting to the public markets.

The deal gave Uber an unprecedented financial cushion  which means more time to work out its kinks before going public.

Valued at $62.5 billion, Uber is among more than 200 unicorn startups  each valued at more than $1 billion  that have remained private since the market for initial public offerings has all but stalled.

While high regulatory costs and low investor demand have stopped many startups from entering the public market, perhaps the biggest deterrent for Uber is the intense scrutiny that going public brings, said Ajay Chopra, managing partner at Trinity Ventures.

IOULEX/NYT

Uber is growing very, very fast at the top line, but what is in question is whether they would be able to survive the scrutiny of public-market investors and analysts, Chopra said.

Before entering the public market, Uber needs to address mounting competition  both at home and in China  and spell out a plan to become profitable, Chopra said. The imminent development of autonomous cars also means that Uber will have to shift from an asset-light business model, where drivers provide and care for their own cars, to one where the company has to manage its own vehicles.

Public markets are very unforgiving, Chopra said. When the company is trying to make massive strategic bets, its better for them to stay private.

Leaked Uber financial data obtained by the Informations Amir Efrati in January showed that Uber lost close to $1 billion in the first half of 2015. Apples $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing competitor Didi Chuxing means that Uber also will need more capital to compete in China, Chopra said.

They have to figure out how do they chart out a path to profitability in a market that is getting highly competitive, Chopra said.

In the meantime, Uber needs enough cash to stay afloat, which makes big funding rounds a necessity, said Bob Ackerman, founder and managing director of Allegis Capital.

Venture capitalists collectively raised about $12 billion in the first quarter, according to a report by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters. Although this is the most the industry has raised since 2006, the amount of capital required to feed the unicorns until they enter the public market is beyond Silicon Valleys means, Ackerman said.

Silicon Valley is not optimized to be writing checks for $3.5 billion for a single company, Ackerman said. When you start raising that much capital, there is a limited number of people you can talk to.

Sovereign wealth funds have the deepest pockets, so they look for low-risk deals in which they can invest a large chunk of money, Ackerman said. That usually means investing in late-stage companies while leaving early-stage investments to venture funds.

When you have that much money, you cant afford to write a small check, he said.

Saudi Arabias investment is part of its recently announced Vision 2030, an economic growth plan to reduce the kingdoms dependency on the oil industry and promote entrepreneurship, according to the managing director of Saudi Arabias public investment fund, who joined Ubers board Wednesday.

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is excited to have completed this important strategic investment with Uber, an extraordinary company with an inspiring mission, managing director Al Rumayyan said in a statement. Weve seen first-hand how this company has improved urban mobility around the world and were looking forward to being part of that progress.

Saudi Arabia is hardly the first sovereign wealth fund to invest directly in a company. The Kuwait Investment Authority invested $165 million in Jawbone in January. The Qatar Investment Authority teamed with two venture capital firms to invest $1.2 billion in Uber in December 2014.

However, Saudi Arabias Uber investment is highly unusual because of its size and the fact that its coming from a single investor, Ackerman said.

You would expect to see big chunks that lead up to a very big number, he said. They have so much money.

Critics argue that Saudi Arabian politics should have deterred Uber from accepting the countrys funds.

Fortunes Dan Primack chastised Uber for making a deal with Saudi Arabia, a kingdom where women are not allowed to drive and homosexuality is prosecuted as a crime. He argued that Uber could continue to provide women with mobility through its services without offering a repressive political regime a seat at the table. He contended the company should have denied Saudi Arabias investing interest until the country accelerates social change.

Rather than trying to be a maker, Uber chose to be a taker, he wrote.

Others saw the investment as an opportunity to effect change within the country.

Professor Kellie McElhaney at UC Berkeleys Haas School of Business sees Uber increasing its presence in Saudi Arabia as an opportunity for the company to influence and accelerate social development.

Just because its a good business deal doesnt mean that it doesnt also have the potential for positive social change, said McElhaney, who teaches corporate social responsibility. It is now incumbent on Uber to use its presence in Saudi Arabia  to the extent that they can  for good.

Uber has operated in Saudi Arabia since early 2014. Saudi women make up 80 percent of Ubers riders in the kingdom, according to the company. Saudi Arabias Princess Reema sits on its advisory board.

Just giving women this flexibility and mobility is going to be on the path to give women more freedom, McElhaney said.

Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jfloum@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jfloum
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D-Day  June 6, 1944  represented a dearly bought triumph for the Allies, a true fulcrum of World War II, but there are surprisingly few movies about it.

There are a plethora of documentaries, including D-Day: The Price of Freedom, D-Day 70th Anniversary, D-Day Minus One (all these and others are available on various streaming services) and an interesting-sounding entry about the campaign of deception leading up to the invasion, Operation Bodyguard.

Perhaps because Operation Overlord was so hugely complex  it involved more than 2 million Allied troops from air, sea and land and coordination with the French Resistance  D-Day has proved a daunting subject for narratives. The three best known of these cinematic depictions combine to attack on multiple fronts.

The Longest Day (1962): Super-producer Darryl F. Zanucks epic takes a pseudo-documentary approach, ably conveying the countless moving parts. The nearly three-hour film with three credited directors presents vignettes from the perspectives of Americans, British, Scottish, French and even Germans.

The narrative can feel scattershot, and characters are drawn in thumbnail sketches. Its not exactly an emotional experience, but its impressive unbroken tracking shots of combat won it a cinematography Oscar.

Even more impressive is the cast, including Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Rod Steiger and many, many others. Richard Todd was one of the many combat veterans in the cast; he had participated in the actual D-Day. He also starred in one of the few other well-known movies on the topic, D-Day the Sixth of June. Crooner Paul Anka makes a cameo as a Ranger and wrote the theme, which the Canadian Airborne Regiment adopted as its official song.

Saving Private Ryan (1998): Despite its indelible battle sequences, the film that won Steven Spielberg his second directing Oscar essentially takes the opposite tack from The Longest Day.

Ryan also won Oscars for sound, editing and cinematography. Its in that small handful of films that represent a watershed moment: Its brilliant, shocking, immersive depiction of the horrors of the Omaha Beach landings changed how warfare is depicted onscreen. Ryan derives much of its impact from those scenes, which essentially traumatized viewers by presenting something so real and so much more hellish than anything Hollywood war movies previously imagined.

Beyond that is an only somewhat interesting story about a squad on an extremely dangerous mission to extract one soldier whose brothers have just been killed in action. It amounts to a road movie with moments of calm expository conversation to develop characters. Its sort of the other flank to The Longest Day. Rather than addressing the arc of the invasion, it seeks to humanize the experience through a small group on a focused mission.

Band of Brothers (2001): The 2001 HBO miniseries makes canny use of its extended format  in 10 installments, it covers an enormous narrative expanse while also focusing on individuals, episode by episode.

Brothers follows the 101st Airborne Divisions Easy Company from jump training through the end of the war, with emphasis on the Normandy invasion. Band is compelling history with the imprimatur of men who lived through it  several members of Easy Company provide introductory interviews to episodes and were involved in production.

Co-produced by Ryan star Tom Hanks and director Spielberg, it wears its technical ties to that film on its sleeve and won a host of awards.

The second episode occurs on June 6 and includes Easy Companys famed destruction of deadly German guns. The cinematography, editing and visual effects keep the action clear while dropping the viewer into the midst pf battle.

The Band was largely made up of then-unknowns, with Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Donnie Wahlberg (probably still best known as a New Kid on the Block) likely the most famous at the time. David Schwimmer appeared in three episodes and memorably starred in one. Among those receiving some of their first exposure to American audiences: Damien Lewis (now a stateside star due to Homeland), James McAvoy, Simon Pegg, Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy.

Other notable D-Day narratives: D-Day the Sixth of June (1956, confines the invasion to the end of the film, following a love triangle tale), The Americanization of Emily (1964, James Garner and Julie Andrews in a Paddy Chayefsky-adapted comedy-drama of sex, compromise and cowardice as a not-so-bad thing, culminating in the protagonists reluctant participation in the Normandy landings) and 36 Hours (1965, also starring Garner in a fascinating-sounding brainwash plot from a Roald Dahl story).

Sam Fullers epic The Big Red One (1980) follows men of the 1st Infantry Division all over the war, including Omaha Beach. Its not particularly known as a D-Day film because of its scope. It is, however, a lean, involving piece of filmmaking  and this writer hasnt even seen the 2004 reconstructed version, with 49 minutes of extra footage.

Trivia question: A pre-Bond Sean Connery makes a brief comic appearance as a Scottish soldier in The Longest Day. What actor who later played one of the most famous Bond villains appears as Coffee Pot (Unteroffizier Kaffeekanne)?

Trivia answer: Gert Frobe, best known as Auric Goldfinger.

Michael Ordona is a Los Angeles freelance writer. Twitter: michaelordona.

To hear Paul Ankas Longest Day theme, go to https://youtu.be/hpaTwpWt8BQ

To see a brief clip of Tom Hardys appearance in Band of Brothers, go to https://youtu.be/VzuaW8GD3X8

To see parts of Michael Fassbenders fleeting appearances in Band of Brothers, go to https://youtu.be/SoNCeT_9RXU
It was one of the most traumatic moments in a year defined by tragedy.

The Chronicles front page from June 5, 1968, covers the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, though at the time he was still clinging to life.

Kennedy was shot in the head early today by a gunman who turned a victory celebration into a scene of terror, the Associated Press-United Press story on The Chronicles front page read. Six neurosurgeons began a delicate operation to try to remove a bullet in the brain and save his life.

They would not succeed.

Kennedy would die the following day.

His brother President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated four-and-a-half years before in Dallas. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead by an assassin in April 1968.

RFK was shaking hands with a busboy in a kitchen walkway of the Ambassador Hotel when he was shot three times by a 24-year-old Palestinian, Sirhan Sirhan, following Kennedys crucial victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. As the senator lay bleeding with a head wound, the busboy, Juan Romero, put a rosary in his hands. Its seen in the photo on the front page.

Is everybody OK? Kennedy asked Romero.

Yes, everybodys OK, Romero responded.

Everythings going to be OK, the senator said.

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.

More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.

Chronicle Covers is a yearlong project highlighting one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken, producer s Kimberly Chua and Michelle Devera , and editorial assistant Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: TimothyORourke

(Click to enlarge)




Hoping to spare a 47-year-old California woman with terminal cancer from dying in excruciating pain, her lawyers are presenting a new argument to an appellate court: that an 1874 state law against aiding in suicide was never intended to prohibit a doctor from prescribing life-ending drugs, as long as the final decision is left to the patient.

Christy ODonnells case, now before the states Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Diego, is the first to reach the appellate level among a recent wave of lawsuits by patients challenging the states ban on physician assistance in dying. A state Assembly committee, meanwhile, is scheduled to hear a bill next week that would repeal the ban, part of a special legislative sessiorightn on health care.

The measure could take effect early next year if passed and signed into law. But it faces substantial opposition from disability-rights groups and the Catholic Church, which fought right-to-die legislation that stalled in the Assembly during the regular session this year.

ODonnell says she doesnt have time to wait for the legislative process, or for the normal judicial process, which usually takes at least a year to resolve appeals. Her lawyers have asked the court for immediate action, and the justices have told state lawyers to respond by Sept. 8.

I do not want to die, but the harsh reality is I have only a few months left to live, ODonnell said Thursday in a statement released by her lawyers, who include attorneys from the right-to-die group Compassion and Choices. I dont want my daughters last memory of me to be watching me die in agony.

ODonnell, a lawyer and former Los Angeles police sergeant, lives in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, with her 21-year-old daughter. She has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer that has spread to her brain and other organs. Doctors say she cannot take morphine or many other common forms of pain relief because she is physically intolerant to them.

Her suit, like others still pending, appears to face long odds. The ban on aid in dying has been repeatedly upheld by California courts. In ODonnells case, a San Diego County Superior Court judge said in July that any changes in the law were up to the Legislature or the voters. Attorney General Kamala Harris office has made similar statements in its defense of the law in the current cases, including ODonnells.

Kendrick Brinson

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a case from Washington state, denied a claim of a constitutional right to a doctor-assisted death in 1997.

It strikes me as an uphill battle, Henry Greely, a Stanford law professor who teaches courses on health care law, said of ODonnells request for court intervention.

Although medical and pharmaceutical practices have changed since 1874, he said, lawmakers were aware then that people sometimes used drugs from physicians to commit suicide. California courts might eventually conclude that prosecuting doctors for prescribing drugs is unconstitutional, Greely said, but I think (lower) courts will be reluctant to decide something that important in a hurried manner. He said they would probably await a future ruling by the state Supreme Court, he said.

But ODonnells lawyers say California courts have never squarely addressed the arguments theyre now making, that the 19th century state law prohibited only hands-on assistance in suicide and not a doctors indirect help in making medication available  and that a contrary interpretation would violate Californias powerful, voter-approved constitutional right to privacy.

The state law declares that anyone who deliberately aids, or advises, or encourages another to commit suicide is guilty of a felony.

ODonnells lawyers concede the language can be reasonably interpreted to apply to a doctor whose only act is writing a prescription. But the attorneys say the California Legislature, and others at the time, based their laws on a set of statutes from New York. One was the law that California adopted, but the second, passed by other states but not California, applied the criminal prohibition to anyone who willfully furnishes another person with any deadly weapon or poisonous drug, knowing the person intends suicide.

In view of that intentional omission, the lawyers say, courts should interpret the ban on deliberately aiding in a suicide as applying only to a doctor who personally administers a lethal drug or encourages or coerces the patient to use it, and not to one who leaves the choice up to the patient.

Legislators couldnt have intended to apply their ban to doctors who wrote prescriptions, because prescriptions werent needed in those days. Druggists and doctors were selling medication directly to patients, ODonnells lead attorney, Jon Eisenberg of Oakland, said in Thursdays court filing.

Kendrick Brinson

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Eisenberg said one California appeals court has interpreted the law broadly, to prohibit any assistance in dying. The First District Court of Appeal in 2001 upheld the conviction of a San Francisco youth who bought potentially lethal drugs for an acquaintance, gave them to her and urged her to take them. She recovered and testified against him.

That ruling, which found that direct ... and intentional participation in the events leading to the suicide is a crime, ignored the history of the state law, Eisenberg wrote. He urged the state court to follow the lead of the Montana Supreme Court, which said in 2009 that a physician who prescribes fatal medication to a terminally ill patient is not directly involved in the final decision or the final act.

Kevin Diaz, legal director of Compassion and Choices, noted that California courts have ruled that a terminally ill adult has a right to refuse medical treatment.

We believe the same constitutional right to privacy applies to medical aid in dying, he said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Photos: We Visited The Only Festival For Redheads In The U.S.

By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 5, 2016 3:46PM

Even a deluge of rain on Saturday couldn't stop the fire atRedhead Days in Highwood, Illinois. The second-annual free festival drew attendees from as far as Berlin seeking to unite the global redhead community.

The only festival in the United States dedicated to celebrating red hair launched last year in the northern Chicago suburb. The success of the 2015 festival, which drew 2,500 attendees, prompted organizers to expand the event into Everts Park (130 Highwood Ave.).

The festivities kicked off with a set by School of Rocks Evanston House Band followed by Charlie Cruce of the Redhead Piano Bar. Heavy rainfall diminished attendance, but the spirit of those present was far from dampened. Festival goers enjoyed food trucks, a petting zoo, and hair demonstrations by Paul Mitchell the School Chicago. North Shore bakeries competed in the Carrot Cake Throwdown. Others took shelter under drink tents serving red-hued cocktails, Bloody Marys, and Van Gogh Vodka (a famous redhead).

Stephanie and Adrienne Vendetti, authors of How to Be a Redhead, voiced a common concern for the copper-coiffed during their book signing: Rain isnt the best for this type of hair.

One return attendee from Appleton, WI, was interested in seeing how much the festival had expanded since 2015. Another couple drove in from Detroit to participate, admitting, We came for the red hair.

The weather doesnt matter, were here for the experience, said a group of three San Diego flight attendants who arranged their work schedule to meet at Redhead Days. One among the group had attended a redhead festival in Amsterdam and jumped at the chance to participate in an American affiliate.

It was a similar Dutch festival that inspired Redhead Days founder, Jim Stoecker, to bring the festival to Highwood. It feels great to have red heads show up and feel a sense of comradery, Stoecker told Chicagoist.

Highwood will continue to paint the town red Sunday, with activities from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Redheads are asked to register in order to track attendance of the most Redheads gathered in one city. At 2 p.m. an aerial drone will photograph the group from above, with organizers hoping the turnout will surpass last years count.

The festivals stated goals are bonding, pride, and recognition for redheads. Attendee David, age 5, of Highwood, said its a success whatever the weather.

I like having red hair, he told us.

Redhead Days Chicago will be a free festival held in City Hall Park (17 Highwood Ave.) and Everts Park (130 Highwood Ave.) on June 4 and June 5 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Redheads are asked to register.
Its not often that interest groups call out public officials by their race, but as environmentalists evaluated state lawmakers voting records last year, that is just what they did.

Black and Latino Democrats must do better to buck the interests of the petroleum industry and help the communities they represent, the California Environmental Justice Alliance wrote in its scorecard. We cannot sit on the sidelines as communities of color are used as a wedge for the interests of industry lobbyists.

The report followed a bruising fight that split Democrats over a proposal to slash vehicles petroleum use to slow global warming. Business-friendly Democrats  many of them African Americans and Latinos representing economically depressed regions  sided with the oil industry against the plan, arguing it would hurt working-class Californians by raising the price of gas.

They won  the provision was stripped from legislation. Now, oil companies are pouring millions of dollars into legislative contests across the state. And the Democrats they most visibly support are black and Latino.

The intersection of environmental and ethnic politics reflects a state dominated by Democrats in which 62 percent of the population is nonwhite. As the Republican Party  the traditional industry ally  has shrunk, many business interests have shifted political spending to buoy friendly Democrats.

Nuances in party

Oils support for black and Latino Democrats also reflects cultural and economic divides. The economy is booming in coastal areas, where more whites live, while its stagnant in heavily Latino regions inland. Although blacks and Latinos historically have aligned with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, the economic divide has created fertile ground for industry arguments about the financial burden of some environmental policies.

Big Oil has not been at the top of most Democrats friends lists, said Roger Salazar, a Democratic political consultant. But energy businesses have been very smart in looking at some of the internal play. ... Theyve started to figure out that there is a difference between your coastal, liberal, more affluent Democrat and your inland, urban, less-affluent Democrat.

Not every lawmaker fits the pattern. The Legislatures Democratic leaders are both Latinos from Los Angeles with strong environmental records: state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, who carried the bill on petroleum use, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon of Paramount (Los Angeles County), who led the California League of Conservation Voters before being elected.

Mostly white

But the environmental movement remains largely white, creating an opening for the oil industry to court ethnic communities, said Marce Gutierrez, who heads an ocean conservation group called Azul.

When you have a historical failure of the environmental movement to engage meaningfully with Latinos and people of color, you open it up for that sort of thing to happen, Gutierrez said.

Hoping to bolster the Legislatures caucus of moderate Democrats, businesses are pouring millions into advertising campaigns that are not controlled by candidates. Some political committees combine oil money with funds from other interests to support an array of candidates, including white Democrats.

One committee, the Coalition to Restore Californias Middle Class, is funded entirely by oil: Chevron, Tesoro, Valero and the California Resources Corp. The group had spent nearly $2 million as of May 31 to benefit eight candidates. Two are white Republicans. The rest are Latino or African American Democrats.

A representative of the group declined an interview, instead emailing a statement saying it supports leaders who have protected California jobs and the middle class and share our commitment to policies that help businesses thrive.

The committee has created a series of ads directed at working-class Californians. One praises Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernardino, for blocking the petroleum reduction proposed by fancy-pants politicians.

Ad campaigns

A spot supporting Democrat Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in an agricultural region shows a picnic table brimming with strawberries and grapes and says energy companies make the clean fuels that bring our food from farm to fork. An ad for Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, who is challenging an incumbent Democrat for state Senate, touts her work on maternity health care as a Latina hangs onesies on a clothesline.

Aguiar-Curry and Campos are each competing against white men campaigning on their environmental records. Campos declined an interview request. Her campaign consultant, Ed McGovern, sent an email decrying the proliferation of special-interest money in politics and noting that Campos main opponent, state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, is benefiting from $500,000 from billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer.

Beall said oil companies are trying to oust him because hes rebuffed their efforts to repeal Californias low-carbon fuel standard that requires cleaner blends. I have to say no to them when they come up with something that hurts people, like dirtier air, Beall said. Theyre opposing me on my record.

CALmatters is a nonprofit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics. For more stories by Laurel Rosenhall, go to www.calmatters.org/newsanalysis.
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SACRAMENTO  Inside her Placerville home in a meticulously decorated bedroom with views of pine trees and the Sierra Nevada, Kristy Allan hopes to die. In her sleep preferably, the 63-year-old terminally ill woman says.

But she has a backup plan.

She will become one of the first Californians to use the states aid-in-dying law to ask her doctor for prescription drugs that would end her life if she ultimately chooses to swallow them. The law takes effect Wednesday.

The national organization that helped pass the law in California estimates 34,000 people across the state will inquire about the lethal drugs this year and that 1,500 will actually meet the requirements to receive them.

Allan wants the barbiturates to control how she dies. The pills will give her comfort, knowing that when her stage-four colon cancer has claimed enough of her, she will be able to wave a white flag.

But first, Allan has to meet the laws rules: A doctor has to determine that she has six months or less to live, confirm that she is mentally competent and make sure she understands treatment options, such as palliative care and pain control. A second physician would have to confirm that Allan has six months or less to live.

She would have to give her doctor a written request for the lethal prescription and make two oral requests at least 15 days apart. If the drugs are prescribed, she could decide whether to take them, but she would have to administer them without assistance.

Only then can she end her life in the home she and her husband, Ken Smith, filled with memories since leaving San Jose to retire in the foothills. Its the home shes filled with fresh-baked banana breads and elaborate quilts that she plans to leave to her adult children.

The last time both children were here together, I asked them if they want to be present and they both said yes, Allan said, her voice cracking with emotion.

If that worked out ... she said before trailing off. Im very grateful the law passed.

A long fight

For decades, advocates fought to change laws in California that made it illegal to help a dying person die sooner.

They failed at the ballot box in 1992 and four times in the Legislature between 1995 and 2008. Oregon became the first state in the nation in 1997 to make it legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminal patients. Washington, Vermont and Montana followed.

But California remained a battleground too tough to win.

Then came Brittany Maynard.

The 29-year-old UC Berkeley graduate was working as an intervention specialist with elementary students in the East Bay, was newly married and trying to get pregnant when she was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma in 2014. Doctors gave her six months to live.

Her decision to move to Oregon because of aid-in-dying laws there would spark a national movement unlike anything supporters had seen before. Millions of people watched a video of Maynard discussing her decision to take the life-ending drugs. The fact that she had circled a date on the calendar  Nov. 1  drew intense interest.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

Maynard died, as she planned, on Nov. 1 after ingesting a prescription of barbiturates. Her husband, Dan Diaz, said that after months of pain and seizures, Maynard died peacefully in their bed in Portland.

Framed pictures of Maynard were a regular fixture in the California Capitol in 2015 after lawmakers introduced a bill modeled after Oregons law.

The Legislature passed the bill in September and, the next month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law. Brown wrote in an unusually personal statement that he had reflected on what I would want in the face of my own death and decided that those in such situations should have the choice.

After a flurry of aid-in-dying bills were introduced in Legislatures across the nation last year in the wake of Maynards advocacy, only California passed legislation. Currently, five states have bills that are active in their Legislatures: Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Utah.

California doctors are not required to participate in prescribing the deadly prescriptions and would be under no obligation to inform patients of the option. Hospitals can also opt out of providing the option.

Some have already announced they will not participate, including the states 48 Catholic and Catholic-affiliated hospitals, said Lori Dangberg, vice president for the Alliance of Catholic Health Care. That includes the San Francisco-based not-for-profit Catholic-affiliated hospital chain Dignity Health and its hospitals, St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City and St. Marys Medical Center.

Though we do not participate in activities intended to hasten the end of life, we respect the personal nature of end of life decisions and make no obligation for patients to begin or continue life-sustaining treatment if it is not their wish to do so, Dignity Health said.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

Hospitals prepare

Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, UCSF Medical Center and Stanford Medical Center will all allow doctors to decide whether they want to participate in writing aid-in-dying prescriptions.

We dont have a good sense of demand since these conversations take place between physicians and their patients and are private, said Amy Thoma, spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente.

As for the costs, the law does not require insurance companies to cover the drugs, such as a barbiturate called Seconal, which can cost about $4,000. Medi-Cal, the states health plan for low-income people, will cover the cost. Brown included $2.3 million in his budget proposal to cover the life-ending drug for 443 people on Medi-Cal during the fiscal year starting July 1. Private health plans have not said yet whether they will cover the drugs.

Matt Whitaker, California state director for Compassion and Choices, the nonprofit that has worked to create aid-in-dying laws, said many hospitals are waiting until the law becomes effective to release statements on whether they will allow their doctors to participate.

Last year, doctors in Oregon wrote 215 prescriptions under the states Death with Dignity Act, and 132 people died after ingesting the medication. Data have shown that the vast majority of patients who have received the prescriptions were white, college educated and dying of cancer.

What weve learned from years of experience is that there is a danger that this will be marginalized to those who have the ability to shop around and go system to system, Whitaker said. We encourage people to engage this issue early on and encourage physicians to support their patients.

I dont want to die

Sacramento resident Elizabeth Wallner did exactly that. She asked her Kaiser doctor last year if she would be willing to prescribe the aid-in-dying drugs should her cancer spread and the California law pass. The answer was no.

But, Wallner said her surgeon told her he would if it came to it.

Wallner, who was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2011, does not currently qualify for a life-ending prescription because she is not terminal. Shes hoping for many more years ahead with her 20-year-old son. She recently had parts of her liver, diaphragm, gallbladder and lung removed to take out cancerous tumors.

I dont want to die, said Wallner, an education consultant, as she petted her cat Franky in her Sacramento home. Im freaking happy. I want to see where my kid ends up. But when there is no more hope, there are no more treatments, when there is nothing else and Im in agony, thats it. Im good. Check me out. Thats when I want to do this.

Across the state, hospitals and medical professionals are preparing for the monumental shift in how doctors are allowed to treat dying patients. Doctors who have opposed the law said it goes against their oath to do no harm.

The California Medical Association withdrew its opposition to the law, but the Catholic Church, some disability rights organizations and the Association of Northern California Oncologists remain opposed to aid in dying.

Tim Rosales, a spokesman for Californians Against Assisted Suicide, said the coalition will continue to advocate against the law by informing doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and other medical professionals of their ability to opt out.

Rosales said that next week, the coalition will launch a website where people can report abuse, coercion or someone not being properly evaluated for mental health issues related to the implementation of the new law.

Bioethics emergency

Bioethics scholar Barbara Koenig, director of UCSFs bioethics program, said she was shocked that Brown signed the law, but that quickly wore off. Then, she said, her focus turned to whether California was ready to implement the law.

Koenig brought together more than 100 medical professionals just before Christmas to talk about the implications.

Do you require everyone to be seen by a palliative care specialist, require mental health evaluations above what is required in the law, allow patients to ingest the medicine on the premise? Koenig said. Everyone is doing this different.

I saw it as bioethics emergency, Koenig said. This is such a difficult and contentious issue.

Berkeley physician Lonny Shavelson said he thinks California is ready. He opened a practice to see patients - for $200 hell go to their home to discuss end-of-life options. He charges $1,800 to assist a patient who wishes to proceed with the life-ending drugs.

Shavelson said his main focus is educating physicians so that they are comfortable discussing all of the options for a terminal patient, including aid in dying.

On the 9th, we will all be rapidly learning how this works, Shavelson said.

He said patients have already scheduled appointments with him after Wednesday.

Most of the patients who think they would like to consider this option, they wont need this option, he said. On the other hand, there are those few who in spite of the best care have what I call end-of-life angst, meaning they say they are done. Its usually not about pain, its that they dont want to linger those last two weeks. For those few patients, we need to respect that and thats what the law is for.

This article has been updated since it appeared in print editions.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: MelodyGutierrez

Aid in dying

Where is it legal: California, Oregon, Vermont and Montana

Where its being considered: Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Utah.

How it works in California:

Mentally competent patients must be 18 years or older with six months or less to live.

The terminal diagnosis must be confirmed by a second doctor.

Both physicians must agree the patient is mentally competent.

If a physician is concerned about the patients mental state, the doctor is required to refer the patient to a psychiatrist or psychologist.

A patient must make two verbal requests to the doctor, at least 15 days apart, for the lethal prescription. A written request to the doctor is also required.

The doctor must discuss other end-of-life treatment options, such as palliative care and pain control.

Patients must affirm 48 hours in advance of taking the lethal pills that they are taking the prescription on their own accord.

The patient must self-administer the prescription without assistance.

The law will sunset in 2026 unless the Legislature renews it.

For more information, contact Compassion & Choices at (800) 893-4548 or www.compassionandchoices.org
No matter what happens in Californias primary Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders has forged a piece of political gold that has the potential to outlast his time in the spotlight.

Call what Sanders has inspired Bernies List. And protecting its future should be what every left-leaning American should be concerned about after Tuesday.

Calling this gift a list doesnt give it due credit, though. Bernies List is the community that has coalesced around Sanders presidential campaign over the past year, and it could be the future of the Democratic Party. Its members are younger  average age 27  and more progressive  bring on single-payer health care! Most are students, teachers and young tech programmers, according to one of its architects, Sanders digital director Kenneth Pennington, a native of El Dorado in the Sierra foothills.

Individually, they arent lavish political donors  weve all heard Sanders talk about the $27 average donation to his campaign. The more impressive number is that 2.5 million people in this community have opened their wallets for the Vermont independents campaign multiple times. The campaign has received 8 million donations  thats enough to keep pace with Hillary Clintons campaign, whose donor list includes people who have given money to her and her husbands campaigns for three decades.

The real value of Bernies List is that it is a community of doers. A year ago, Sanders was 63 points behind Clinton in California. Last weeks Public Policy Institute of California and Field polls put them in a statistical dead heat. Sanders didnt close that gap by chatting up the gang on MSNBCs Morning Joe every day for the past year. He pulled even through the grunt work of the people in this community, who have made 60 million calls on his behalf.

Unlike other campaigns, Sanders digital team doesnt hit up his followers with relentless fundraising emails. Three in 10 of the solicitations ask for time, not money.

Theres a lot of power in Bernies following, and that resides in Bernies message, Pennington told me. People arent coming out to the rallies or going on social media because they love Bernie Sanders, the man. Hes a funny guy and all, but its a great progressive message that brings people together.

Lists dont do that.

Calling it a list makes it sound like its an ATM. Its not, said Ben Wikler, the Washington, D.C., director of MoveOn.org, the influential progressive hub and Sanders endorser that has now been around for 18 years  ancient next to Bernies people. It is something very unique and could be very powerful in the progressive world.

That raises the big question: If Sanders doesnt win the Democratic nomination, what happens to Bernies List? What that next step looks like is being discussed behind the scenes in Sanders world. Does it become a younger, more action-based MoveOn? Does it focus on specific national issues, like raising the minimum wage? And does Sanders have to direct this fire hose or can somebody else?

Right now, I dont want to speculate as to what happens, Sanders told me during a recent campaign swing through Oakland. I would be happy to talk about it, but right now my focus is on winning.

But then, tucked into his familiar riff about sparking a political revolution, he offered a hint.

What this campaign is about it is not just electing Bernie Sanders, he said. It is bringing forth a political revolution where people demand their government listen to them, not just the 1 percent.

Thats the core of what is powerful about this community. If Sanders doesnt win the nomination, there will be pressure on him to turn over the list to the party or to Clinton.

But as Ive spoken to dozens of Sanders supporters over the past several weeks, its become clear this community doesnt work like that. Its members are organized around a set of ideas, not a cult of personality. Sanders just happened to be the right man at the right time. Theyre not going to fall in line behind Clinton unless they feel their political wish list will be addressed.

One thing that people get wrong in politics is thinking that this is a list that will do things for me, Wikler said.

After hearing Sanders speak in Palo Alto last week, Bay Area environmental activist Timmy Lu told me: Yeah, the candidate is important. But this is more the work of a number of people. And once theyre engaged in politics, theyre going to be powerful.

The challenge will be keeping Bernies List engaged long beyond Tuesday.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: joegarofoli
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SACRAMENTO  Dying Californians can ask their doctors for a lethal prescription to end their lives beginning June 9.

Californias law, which was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, is modeled after Oregons Death With Dignity Act, which was enacted in 1997 to give terminal patients the option of dying earlier. Before being prescribed a lethal dose of drugs, two California physicians would have to agree that a mentally competent person has six months or less to live. The patient would then decide whether and when to take the prescription. Those who do so would have to ingest the drugs on their own, without assistance from another person.

Californias law requires a patient to affirm 48 hours in advance of taking the drugs that they are doing so of their own accord. The law expires in 10 years.

Efforts to legalize aid-in-dying were buoyed in 2014 when Brittany Maynard talked openly and publicly about her decision to move from her East Bay home in Alamo to Portland, Ore., to access a lethal prescription that she ultimately used.

Maynard, who was dying of brain cancer, used her final days to advocate for California to adopt a similar law so others would not have to move out of the state for similar relief.

Its crazy to me that other patients suffering with terminal illness dont have the same choice and may not have the same flexibility to pick up and move with their family, Maynard told The Chronicle before she died Nov. 1, 2014.

Her husband, Dan Diaz, took up her cause, repeatedly returning to the state Capitol to share Maynards story.

I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to the governor and to legislators, Diaz said Thursday. Most importantly, what I feel is immense pride in Brittany for speaking up and bringing about this change. We should not have had to leave our home in California and her legacy is that now no one else will have to if they find themselves in this predicament.

Diaz has traveled in recent days to New York, Colorado, New Jersey, Nebraska and Massachusetts to advocate for other states to follow California in passing similar legislation.

Thats the promise I made Brittany, he said.

The state law could not take effect until 90 days after the adjournment of a special legislative session on health care. That session, which began last year, was adjourned Thursday after lawmakers passed the last of the health bills  to minimize tobacco use in the state.

In the intervening days since the governor signed the bill, our offices have received a lot of calls from families and terminally ill patients wanting to know when the law would become effective, said Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, who authored the bill with Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, and Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis.

We finally have an answer for them, Monning said.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
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The results of Californias primary election wont have the race-rattling national implications predicted a month ago when there was a contested Republican presidential race. But tucked inside Tuesdays results will be harbingers of truth about the future of several national and state campaigns.

Polls say the Democratic presidential matchup between Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a statistical dead heat. If Sanders wins California, the nations largest, most-diverse state, Clintons campaign will limp into the partys national convention in July. For the next two months she will have to fight a two-front war: Sanders on her left, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on her right. If Clinton wins, pressure will grow on Sanders to shepherd his supporters into Clintons flock, something hes shown no inclination of doing so far.

Thats the marquee race to watch, but the close of polls Tuesday will provide some answers to other political questions as well:

Will all those new voters actually vote? A record-breaking 2.3 million new voters have registered. Roughly two-thirds of them are under 35 and 26 percent are Latino, according to Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., which does a running tally of voter registration.

But so far, only about 10 percent of those new voters have cast early ballots. And only 1 in 8 of early voters have been Latino, leading some  like Mitchell  to wonder what to make of this registration surge.

The question on Tuesday is who turns out and whether that enthusiasm to register is reflected in enthusiasm to vote, Mitchell said. Or was registering just a cathartic exercise in reaction to what theyre seeing happening, and that is where it stops.

The answer to that question matters, because 60 percent of voters younger than 40 back Sanders, according to last weeks Field Poll, while Clinton enjoys a slight edge (46 to 42 percent) among Latino Democrats.

Peter DaSilva/Special to The Chronicle

Will there be a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in November? Its not looking good, according to the polls. The Field Poll released Friday showed two Democrats  state Attorney General Kamala Harris (at 30 percent) and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana (at 14 percent)  far ahead of any of their numerous Republican opponents. The top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election in November.

If Harris and Sanchez are those two, it would be the first time that a pair of Democrats have squared off in a Senate race  and would represent a devastating blow for the California Republican Party.

Any other outcome would be a surprising development, said Melinda Jackson, a professor of political science at San Jose State University.

One key to watch for in Tuesdays exit polls is where the independents go, Jackson said. That could provide a clue as to how a November matchup between Harris and Sanchez might turn out, as the states next senator would have to attract moderate and conservative voters to win.

Keep an eye on this wild card: Polls show at least 1 in 4 voters remains undecided. If those voters coalesce around one of the Republicans, it could push that candidate into the top two.

Peter DaSilva/Special to The Chronicle

Will Trump do better than Mitt Romney in California? Trump boasts hes going to put California back in play in the general election. That sounds more like Trump braggadocio than a trend line  a Republican hasnt won California since George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis in 1988. Last weeks Field Poll concludes that Trump would lose California in a head-to-head matchup with either Clinton (by 19 points) or Sanders (by 29 points).

Heres another way to forecast Trumps potential to take California in the general election: Does he win a greater share of Tuesdays vote than Romney did in the 2012 GOP primary? Like Trumps this year, Romneys GOP challengers didnt actively campaign here four years ago, and picked up 80 percent of the vote.

If Trump is stuck in the 60s (percent), then thats a pretty sizable protest vote against someone who is the presumptive nominee, said Carson Bruno, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Thats a reason for the Trump camp to be concerned, because it shows he isnt bringing the party together.

Plus, Trump surely wouldnt like being bested by Romney, an archenemy whom he called a choking dog during a recent campaign stop in Fresno.

Leah Millis/The Chronicle

Could what happens on the Atlantic coast affect what happens on the Pacific coast? Polls in New Jersey  where Clinton has a 17-point lead over Sanders in the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls  close at 5 p.m. California time. Should she win the New Jersey primary and gain enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party nomination, the TV networks will immediately call the state and the nomination for her.

Sanders supporters worry that an early nomination call could discourage their voters in California, even as the polls are still open.

The idea here in California would be that people who are working people, who are getting off work, would think that its over, RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the pro-Sanders National Nurses United union, said at a Sanders event on health care issues last week in Emeryville.

The media would be blasting out the narrative that this is over, and it wouldnt be over, DeMoro said. Not only would it discourage Bernie voters, but all of the other progressive candidates who are running down-ballot also would not have the votes of the people after 5 p.m. if they think this election is over.

If voters vote to restore the bays wetlands, will they want to stop gentrification next? Buried under the presidential primary shadow is Measure AA, which will be on the ballot in the nine Bay Area counties. The measure, which would create a $12-per-parcel tax for the next 20 years, is designed to raise $25 million a year to restore marshes and wetlands along San Francisco Bay.

Because its a tax measure, it needs a two-thirds majority to pass. If it does pass, it could lead to more regional ballot measures aimed at tackling issues like housing or transportation.

If this is victorious, then I wouldnt be surprised to see Sacramento handing more of this off to regional authorities, Bruno said. It goes much beyond what happens in the Bay Area. It could be something that Southern California and the Central Valley start trying to do more of.

Laura Morton/Special to The Chronicle

Will independent mail-in voters be able to vote for Sanders? A key to Sanders success Tuesday will be whether independent voters turn out for him. The campaign is worried that of the states 2.2 million no-party-preference voters, many of the ones who vote by mail wont be able to cast ballots in the Democratic primary because they didnt request a Democratic ballot by the May 31 deadline.

Early signs show this could be a legitimate concern. As of last week, roughly 200,000 of the 322,000 nonpartisan voters who had cast mail ballots didnt include a presidential candidate, according to Political Data and Capitol Weekly.

Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin worries that there are potentially hundreds of thousands of independents who get disenfranchised  if those voters didnt know they had to request a Democratic ballot.

And if they cant vote, Jackson said it feeds into this sense among Sanders supporters that the system is rigged. And that could affect how they feel down the road about the political system and the Democratic Party. They are already not aligned with the party. This wouldnt help.

Just how establishment is Silicon Valley? While there is no such thing as a tech vote  at least not yet  keep an eye on the Democratic presidential results, and the exit polls, in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. And in San Francisco, too, as the Valley stretches farther north now.

While the regions CEOs and top execs are some of the nations top Democratic Party (and Clinton) donors, there is huge income inequality here, said Jackson, the San Jose State professor. And even young, highly educated tech workers who may be making a lot of money still generationally resonate with (Sanders) message.

Does Clinton get the Valleys campaign donations, while Sanders gets its vote?

How much of a loss is a win for Ro Khanna? Eight-term Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, is the favorite to win his primary against challenger Ro Khanna, whom he defeated in the 2014 general election by four points  and in the primary that year by 20 points.

But whats important to watch Tuesday is Hondas margin of victory, if he in fact wins. If its under 10 percentage points, then Khanna  with the help of independent voters and Republicans  could upset Honda in November. If the margin is over 20 points, that becomes much less likely.

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: joegarofoli

Online Extra

See The Chronicles recommendations for local and state races on the June 7 ballot: www.sfchronicle.com/election/2016/
Drinks clink and strangers faces flicker in candlelight as a performer in a sailor costume plays a sullen song on the piano. Silhouettes pass between large windows framing the San Francisco skyline.

Its an intimate scene within the speakeasy, one reminiscent of times past, where conversation, storytelling and live music replace the ubiquitous selfie.

As the bartender mixes up a Negroni, a bright light shines across the walls and ceiling, and candles are quickly extinguished.

I think its a cop, echo the small group.

From the top of the old signal tower on Treasure Island, they duck from view. Everyone hushes, and someone begins to tell a story while they wait to see if they pass unnoticed.

For Eugene Ashton-Gonzalez, 30, a seventh-generation San Franciscan with dark eyes and an old soul, the signal tower, built in 1944, is the place where he feels in touch with his home. The tower sits on the apex of Yerba Buena Island, nestled between Oakland and San Francisco, and for many years was a beacon for naval operations, ushering ships around the bay.

When you're surrounded by your homeland, you feel held, Ashton-Gonzalez says. Which paradoxically is not a feeling you get in this cool gray city of love where everyone is looking at their cell phone most of the time.

He leads one of his last groups up the old stone steps and opens a briefcase for each guest to deposit their cell phone. The only reason you can hang onto it is if you have children with a babysitter and you want to remain in contact for emergency reasons.

And with a snap of the locks, the phones are gone.

The group of about 20 people enters the four-story tower from a bottom trap door and ascends to a room with windows on all sides.

Wow, look at the clouds out there, one person says.

The participants, both old and young, are wide-eyed as they gaze at the view. On one side, the Bay Bridge shuttles traffic into the San Francisco skyline as the sunset casts golden light. A purple fog of twilight starts to engulf the distant hills. Toward the East Bay, the lights of Oakland illuminate and cargo ship cranes wait to offload freight.

Since Ashton-Gonzalez started hosting speakeasies here one year ago, he estimates hes brought around 1,000 people to the tower, from city politicians to artists to journalists.

When he found out the the tower was planned to be demolished last September as part of a Treasure Island Redevelopment Authoritys plan to build for San Franciscos newest neighborhood, he came up with a plan: to save the tower and hang onto the old world of San Francisco he feels is being washed away. He started reaching out to city officials and journalists to bring them up to the tower to see for themselves.

Dont we want to hang onto some of our history? We dug up all of the Indian graves on this island a long time ago. This is our history now that were wiping over. I dont like that.

The tower stands in an area that is slated to be Hilltop Park. He hopes it can be included in the redevelopment plan as a lookout tower or a place for public art.

But on this night, its still his illegal speakeasy. Its a risk hes willing to take, not only to share the towers views but to share the experience.

When we challenge our fears and we bring our friends along to participate and challenge those fears with us, we create community and we also grow as people. Its in those moments when we risk something that we really enhance our capacity to learn.

After avoiding a few close calls with authorities below, the hum of the party picks back up and the San Francisco deep in Ashton-Gonzalezs ancestry lives on another night.

This was one of the last nights that Ashton-Gonzalez hosted an event in the signal tower. After his operation was exposed in the media, authorities closed off access to the tower and have begun construction on the island.

See Eugene Ashton-Gonzalez host a speakeasy in the Signal Tower at www.sfchronicle.com/theregulars. The Regulars is a weekly photo and video column by Erin Brethauer and Tim Hussin that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life. If you know a regular, email regulars@sfchronicle.com.
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Although the yellow brick road is still in the planning stage, staff at the recently renamed Monterey Zoo are already calling its spacious new animal enclosures Oz.

Thats because the lions, tigers and bears are the first round of animals in or moving soon to larger, more natural digs at the former Wild Things compound in the Salinas Valley. Eventually well have a yellow brick path going up to that area, said founder and animal trainer Charlie Sammut.

In August, the zoos four Bengal tigers  two males, two females  moved into a 12,000-square-foot playground with a 25-foot swimming hole and a waterfall, and viewing windows for visitors. In February, the zoo finished nearly identical facilities for its three lions.

In late May, the zoo broke ground on a new home for its two cinnamon black bears. That in turn will allow for expanded quarters for the three camels.

Sammut opened Wild Things in 1983, at the start of his career handling show business animals. Along the way he acquired or rescued big cats, smaller cats, elephants, primates, birds and what he lovingly calls oddballs  a hyena, capybara and aged kangaroo among them  that now total more than 180 creatures on his 51-acre Vision Quest ranch near the Gabilan Range.

As filming in California moved to other locations, Sammut said, he wanted something better for his animals  and for families in the surrounding agricultural community, who have few educational leisure options.

It was amazing, said Kaiya Torres, 9, after a recent tour. I really like the lions and the tigers.

She was visiting with her family from Aspen, Colo., and grandmother Lydia Torres of Salinas, who added, Its so cool there. Its beautiful.

 Jeanne Cooper

If you go

Monterey Zoo, 400 River Road, Salinas. (800) 228-7382, (831) 455-1901, http://montereyzoo.org. Daily public tours at 1 p.m., $12 adult, $10 ages 14 and younger; elephant feeding $5 extra. Private tours, day safaris and bed-and-breakfast stays also available; see website for details.
LOS ANGELES  When an active shooter alert spread across the UCLA campus Wednesday, some students found themselves in a frightening predicament: They were told to go into lockdown but couldnt lock their classroom doors.

Images of students piling tables, chairs and printers against doors on social media sparked alarm and raised questions  yet it was hardly the first time students at a university or school were unable to lock their doors during an attack.

The same issue arose at Virginia Tech in 2007 when students barricaded themselves inside rooms and at Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 when teachers did the same.

Some schools have installed locks in recent years, but experts say wider adoption has been hindered by the cost to retrofit doors and local fire codes that require doors to open in one motion during emergencies.

Effective deterrent

Yet once an active shooter is in a building, most security experts agree getting into a locked room is one of the most effective deterrents against getting injured or shot.

How many deaths would it have taken for us to address this issue more seriously? said Jesus Villahermosa, president of Crisis Reality Training, noting that an assailant, knowing police are on the way, usually wont bother trying to access a locked room.

The former deputy sheriff said UCLA was fortunate in that shooter Mainak Sarkar targeted professor William Klug and then committed suicide. If hed gone on a rampage, he might have easily found students unable to defend themselves.

The university said it is assessing safety measures across the campus and will make appropriate changes.

Its unknown exactly how many school and university classrooms dont have doors that can lock from the inside. Villahermosa said the issue is more prevalent on college campuses than K-12 schools.

Lack of locks

There are a variety of reasons why a school may not have classroom locks.

Older buildings constructed at a time when classrooms typically contained just desks and a chalkboard  and not the expensive technology many have today  frequently did not include them.

Fire safety regulations for rooms with 50 or more students typically require that doors open in one motion, meaning a bolt that has to be turned first would be a violation.

Others worry locking doors from the inside in itself could pose a threat. If an attacker walked inside and locked the door, students would be trapped. And the cost of installing new doors and locks can stretch into the millions.

Even when there is a lock, the shooter has often been a student with access to the classroom or building.

We should be spending more time on prevention than door locks, said Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia.

Expensive hardware

The National Fire Protection Associations life safety code adopted in 38 states does not prohibit putting locks on doors, division manager Robert Solomon said. But there are certain types of locks schools must install.

Solomon said the types of locks found in many hotel rooms are an effective example. The door can be bolted from the inside but it opens in one motion when the handle is turned. Locks like those can cost up to $500 to install.

Schools usually dont have a lot of extra capital money sitting around, he said. But its something that theyre thinking about now.
More than 100 foreign students from universities in Shanghai have attended the first special recruitment fair in the municipal's pilot free trade zone.

According to Hu Chen, who works in the human resources department for a Shanghai animation company, most applicants showed confidence, logical expression and excellent language abilities during the interview, with many speaking more than four languages, which he said was attractive for his company.

Since August 2015, foreign graduates seeking a job in Shanghai haven't had to show two years of work experience, as had been the case before.

Xu Wen, director of Pudong New District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, said the FTZ welcomes talents from across the world to make a career in Shanghai.

Data shows 29 companies from the FTZ offered 224 positions in total for this year's new foreign graduates. 66 students have already reached primary agreements with employers for a position.
Born into a family of renowned Indian musicians, violinist Kala Ramnath didnt plan on exploring outside of the Hindustani tradition. It wasnt until a 1996 encounter that her door to musical perception swung open, when a mutual friend in Los Angeles brought her to the house of keyboardist Ray Manzarek and suggested they do some playing.

Impressed with her intensely lyrical sound, Manzarek proposed staging a concert together. Not particularly clear on his musical history, she called her younger brother to do some reconnaissance, asking: Have you heard of the Doors?

Playing with Ray was an eye opener that put me on the path to listening to different types of music, Ramnath said of collaborating with the founder of the Doors. I started keeping my eyes and ears open all the time.

Ramnath  who was speaking by phone from the United Kingdom, where she was in the midst of a project with the London Philharmonic  has worked with a glittering array of master musicians, including conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, bassist Edgar Meyer, and banjo star Bela Fleck. Shes forged particularly deep ties with Berkeley saxophonist George Brooks, with whom she performs Saturday, June 25, at Dinkelspiel Auditorium as part of the Stanford Jazz Festival.

George Brooks

The ensemble also features Egyptian pianist Osam Ezzeldin and Cuban-born drum master Dafnis Prieto, whove both traveled to India in recent years to perform with Brooks and Ramnath. In many ways, the quartet embodies the increasingly global nature of jazz, and the way cross-pollination blurs once-distinct boundaries.

A lot of people get upset about various things being called jazz, Brooks said. Ive played a lot of jazz, but I dont know what the term means anymore.

Introduced to Ramnath by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, with whom hes collaborated extensively over the past two decades, Brooks has carved out a singular niche as an American improviser capable of meeting classical Indian musicians on their own terms. He and Ramnath have also performed widely with Dutch harp virtuoso Gwyneth Wentink as the trio Elements.

George knows a lot about Indian music, and he can understand what Im thinking and where Im coming from, Ramnath said. Its very hard to find people who can give you a musical reply to what your doing, keeping with the continuity of the thought. Thats what makes Georges music really stand out.

Ramnath, born and raised in the southern Indian city of Chennai, represents the seventh generation of her family to play the violin. While Chennai is the heart of the Carnatic classical world, she was drawn to the North Indian Hindustani tradition, spending more than a decade studying intensively with revered Mewati vocalist Pandit Jasraj.

Her extraordinary technique and lush, singing tone have attracted fans from across the music world. American classical violinist Hilary Hahn commissioned her to contribute a piece to the Grammy Award-winning 2013 album In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. And the prodigious old-time fiddling siblings Tristan and Tashina Clarridge recruited her to teach at their annual summer Shasta String Summit, a musical exchange so fruitful that she ended up leading a trip of fellow faculty members to India this year for two weeks of intensive study.

For Ramnath, every musical encounter is grist for her ever-expanding creative realm, a journey that started with an unexpected door.

Theres something to learn from every musician I meet, she said. Whether its classical or jazz or flamenco, I learn something from every genre, and it comes out in my writing. Before, I wasnt looking outside of what I was doing. Now my vision has become really wide.

Andrew Gilbert is a freelance writer.

India Jazz with George Brooks, featuring Kala Ramnath: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 25. $15-$35. Dinkelspiel Auditorium, 471 Lagunita Drive, Stanford. (650) 725-2787. https://stanfordjazz.org
CALABASAS, Los  A fast-moving brush fire swept through hills northwest of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, threatening 3,000 homes, damaging a few and forcing hundreds of people to flee.

The fire erupted in late afternoon in tinder-dry brush as temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees in the canyons and ridges.

A handful of fires erupted in Calabasas and the neighboring West Hills area of Los Angeles. The West Hills blaze was quickly doused while the other fires combined and grew to more than 200 acres in a matter of hours, fire officials said.

At its peak, 50-foot-high flames raced along ridgelines and torched trees and brush very close to million-dollar homes below.

Several homes reportedly had some damage but details werent clear, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Keith Mora said.

Three neighborhoods that crowded on twisty streets below the hillsides were ordered evacuated. They might not be able to return until Sunday afternoon, Mora said.

About 200 homes and some 500 to 600 people were under the mandatory evauation orders, Mora said, but he urged the others to consider leaving.

Were dealing with a fire thats moving in every direction simultaneously. ... We cant get to everybody, Battalion Chief Dennis Cross told KNBC-TV.

Some horse-owners in the area put the animals in trailers and hauled them away.

Authorities set up an evacuation center for people with large animals at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.

Around 200 firefighters, aided by bulldozers and water-dropping helicopters, battled the blaze and as night fell and the weather cooled, they reported making significant progress.
U.S. Forest Service / /

A wildfire that has burned about 3,200 acres of dry grass and brush in the Monterey County wilderness was about 10 percent contained Sunday evening, firefighters said.

The Coleman Fire broke out around 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Los Padres National Forest about 60 miles southeast of Big Sur, according to the U.S. Forest Service. High temperatures and strong winds caused it to move rapidly, forcing some evacuations, firefighters said.
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China on Saturday dismissed a statement by the U.S. Department of State on the political turbulence in 1989, urging the United States not to harm bilateral ties.

"The Chinese government has already had the final verdict on the political turbulence that took place in the late 1980s as well as other relevant issues," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a press release.

Hua said that the wrong remarks, which the U.S. side has made year after year, have severely infringed on China's internal affairs and violated the basic norms of international relations.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to that," Hua said.

She urged the United States to abandon political prejudice and rectify its wrongdoings to prevent obstructing and harming China-U.S. relations.
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The U.S. Diplomatic Mission to South Africa on Saturday issued a terror warning to U.S. citizens in South Africa.

The U.S. Government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where U.S. citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the mission said.

"This information comes against the backdrop of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the mission said without giving further details.

The South African authorities have not responded to the warning. A call to the State Security Agency went unanswered.

The U.S. issued a similar alert in September last year, saying it had received information that extremists may be targeting U.S. interests in the country.

The warning put South Africa on alert, but Security Minister David Mahlobo said then that there was no need to panic as its information from the ground was that there was no imminent danger or threat that is being posed by any terrorist group to South Africa.

Fears for terror attacks on Western targets in South Africa have existed for some time. There have been reports that "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite was seen spying on Western embassies in South Africa before she allegedly masterminded the West Gate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013.

The 31-year-old Briton is known to have been in South Africa between 2008 and 2011, travelling under the assumed name Natalie Faye Webb on a fraudulently obtained South African passport.

In January and February 2013, she was allegedly caught on CCTV cameras watching embassies in the Arcadia area of Pretoria, including the British High Commission.

Arcadia is home to the Union Buildings and South African president's official residence, in addition to the U.S. embassy and many other foreign embassies.
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After the outbreak of the water contamination crisis in the U.S. city of Flint, Michigan, more U.S. cities have been exposed to have similar problems, according to an investigation by The Guardian newspaper.

At least 33 cities across 17 U.S. states have used water testing "cheats" that potentially conceal dangerous levels of lead over the past decade, the British newspaper reported on Thursday.

Testing methods that can avoid detecting lead include asking testers to run faucets before the test period, known as "pre-flushing;" to remove faucet filters, called "aerators;" and to slowly fill sample bottles.

The investigation found that big cities like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee were among the cities using poor testing methods.

For 25 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required water utilities to test a small pool of households for lead contamination at least every three years.

But the way residents are instructed to sample their water, as well as which households are chosen for testing, can profoundly impact how much lead is detected, said the report.

Two states, Michigan and New Hampshire, advised water departments to give themselves extra time to complete tests so that if lead contamination exceeded federal limits, officials could re-sample and remove results with high lead levels, it said.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech scientist who first uncovered the crisis in Flint, described water testing in some of America's largest cities as an "outrage."

"They make lead in water low when collecting samples from EPA compliance, even as it poisons kids who drink the water," Edwards said. "Clearly, the cheating and lax enforcement are needlessly harming children all over the United States."

Flint, a city northwest of Detroit in Michigan, switched off Detroit's Lake Huron water supply in April 2014 and turned to the Flint River as an interim source while a new regional pipeline was being built.

Residents immediately complained about the water's color and odor, and independent investigators discovered elevated lead levels in the water and blood of children.

The State of Michigan initially downplayed people's concerns, but eventually confirmed finding lead in Flint water supply in October 2015 and began taking steps to address the crisis.

As a result, the state Department of Environmental Quality director and a department spokesman resigned and another official has been fired. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder called for an investigation into the state Health Department.

U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit started investigating into Flint water crisis in January this year, along with the EPA.

Eastern U.S. states are considered to have a high risk of lead contamination due to their aging infrastructure.
VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis proclaimed two new saints on Sunday: A Lutheran convert who hid Jews during World War II and the Polish founder of the first mens religious order dedicated to the immaculate conception.

Francis called Swedish-born Elizabeth Hesselblad and Stanislaus Papczynski exemplary witnesses to this mystery of resurrection during the canonization Mass in St. Peters Square. Polish President Andrzej Duda and first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda attended the ceremony.

Hesselblad saved the lives of 12 Jewish members of the Piperno-Sed families by hiding them in the convent in Rome where she was superior from December 1943 until the capitals liberation on June 4, 1944.

Hesselblad, who was baptized in the Reform Church, migrated to the U.S. where she worked as a nurse and converted to Catholicism. She later moved to Rome, where she became a nun and dedicated her life to her religious order. She died of natural causes in 1957 and was beatified in 2000.

She is Swedens second saint in 625 years, following Saint Bridget, who was canonized in 1391.

Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, as he is known, supported hospitals and shelters for the poor and cared for the sick in 17th Century Poland. In his early years he himself experienced serious sickness and begged in the streets.

Papczynski preached mercy and encouraged people to do acts of mercy, the Polish Episcopate said on its website.

His crowning achievement was founding the order of Marian Fathers, which preached the cult of Holy Mary.

Papczynski was born in 1631 to the family of an ironsmith in the village of Podegrodzie, in southern Poland. He had one brother and six sisters, and died in 1701.
1 Militants killed: Nigers defense ministry said Saturday that Boko Haram extremists attacked a military post near the countrys border with Nigeria, killing at least 32 soldiers. Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters attacked the post Friday night, killing at least 30 Niger soldiers and two soldiers from Nigeria, the ministry said, adding that the military reclaimed the post Saturday morning. Dozens gathered Saturday in Nigers capital of Niamey to march against the insecurity in the region.

2 Poland politics: Two former presidents  Aleksander Kwasniewski, a left-winger, and Bronislaw Komorowski, a centrist  led tens of thousands of marchers Saturday in Warsaw to protest the right-wing governments policies and mark 27 years since the ouster of communism in Poland. The march was another in a series organized against the government that took office in November. Its policies have strained Polands relations with the European Union and the U.S.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sunday marks National Cancer Survivors Day -- a day to celebrate the lives of the thousands of people who beat cancer -- and the odds.

"National Cancer Survivors Day is an annual, treasured celebration of life that is held in hundreds of communities nationwide, and around the world, on the first Sunday in June," explains the official Website of National Cancer Survivors Day.

"It is a celebration for those who have survived, an inspiration for those recently diagnosed, a gathering of support for families, and an outreach to the community. On National Cancer Survivors Day, thousands gather across the globe to honor cancer survivors and to show the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be fruitful, rewarding, and even inspiring."

Recently, Advance columnist Dr. Gracelyn F. Santos chronicled the heroic battle fought by Miriam Sajecki, an Advance employee, who battled two cancers in three years.

GIVE A SHOUT OUT

Whether it was breast, colon, thyroid or another cancer, that you, a loved one or friend has beat, give them a "shot out" in the comments section below.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Here's some inspirational National Cancer Survivors Day posts on social media.

Honoring all our #CWSG players and volunteers who are celebrating National Cancer Survivor Day. pic.twitter.com/KqFolki8wZ  CWSoftballGame (@CWSoftballGame) June 5, 2016

Happy National Cancer Survivor Day!! I hope one day and one day soon that no one will ever have to hear the words, "You have cancer."  Hannah Adams (@HannahAdams06) June 5, 2016
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police arrested an assistant school principal in connection with a stabbing that occurred shortly before noon Saturday in the parking lot of a Great Kills shopping strip.

Vincent Scotto, 43, of Middle Loop Rd., Great Kills, was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, after allegedly slashing an unidentified male victim, age 59, according to police.

While police wouldn't confirm the public school where Scotto works, sources said he is employed at PS 22 in Graniteville.

The victim was stabbed two times in the torso, and three times in the left arm, in the parking lot of the Evergreen Shopping Plaza, 150 Greaves Ave., off Amboy Road, said police.

The victim was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, where his wounds were said to be non-life-threatening.

Police said the victim may have known Scotto. It was unclear on Sunday what the two men were fighting about.

Late Sunday afternoon NYPD detectives were seen searching a black Hyundai Elantra in front of Scotto's home.

A city Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson didn't immediately respond to inquiries about what actions, if any, the DOE will take regarding Scotto's arrest.

The scene was roped off and droplets of blood could be seen on the pavement on Saturday afternoon. One person, who did not witness the stabbing, said the altercation may have occurred over a parking spot.

Advance Reporter Paul Liotta contributed to this report.

FOLLOW Tracey Porpora on
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Jewish Community Center held the SunriseWALK at Catholic Charities of Staten Island in Pleasant Plains on Sunday in an effort to bring Sunrise Day Camp -- for children with cancer and their siblings-- to the borough.

If successful, the camp will be the fifth in the world able to provide free summer day camp for children with cancer and their siblings, and it'll be the only one of its kind in New York City. There's one in Long Island and Westchester.

"It's a huge message to the Staten Island public that JCC and Catholic Charities are coming together for this important event," said Vincent Ignizio, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of Staten Island. "This is 100 percent all about these kids, regardless of medical issues, to having a great time at camp. That message in and of itself is powerful."

Oakwood resident Susan Buerkle, and her son, Jake -- diagnosed with leukemia in March 2014 -- said they are both looking forward to the day camp.

"10-out-of-10 on a number scale," said Jake of his excitement about the camp.

"Here he doesn't have to worry about anything," said his mom. "I'm ecstatic that they're affiliated with the hospitals, doctors and nurses because that's one of the biggest problems no matter where I take him. ...So it (would) ease my mind that he has some place to go to have fun, and all the kids are going through the same thing. Nobody is out of place. Nobody stands out from anybody else."

The camp's director, Chris Gomez, said they've already raised $131,000, and are seeking more donations.

The expectation is that most of the camp's attendees will be Island residents, but the camp would be open to children from other boroughs and New Jersey, organizers said.

For more information, contact Chris Gomez at 718-475-5274 or at cgomez@sijcc.com; Ilene Rosen, SunriseWALK Coordinator, at 718-475-5213 or at irosen@sijcc.com; or visit sunrise-walks.org.
Page Content

Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Ingrid Arrindell, said that the dual destination St. Maarten/St. Martin, was proud to hosts guests for SMART (St. Maarten/St. Martin Annual Regional Tradeshows) last month.





SMART was scheduled to take place May 18 -20, 2016, but had to be cancelled due to the fact that the event was conflicting with similar events taking place in Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and Antigua, which resulted in very low registration numbers of buyers and sellers who would be attending.





Despite the postponement of SMART 2016, a number of wholesalers/tour operators traveled to the Island between May 15 -22, 2016 to conduct business.





We were thrilled to learn that over twenty wholesalers/tour operators deemed it very important to travel to the Island (despite the cancellation of SMART) to meet with the respective DMC operators and hoteliers, to conduct site visits/inspections, as well as to visit the neighboring islands in order to conduct business.





The delegates were very enthusiastic with their visit to the Island, and were pleased with the fact that the on-island partners rolled out the red carpet for them, which resulted in their leaving the Island motivated, energized, and ready to sell the Island, said Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Ingrid Arrindell.





The delegates were hosted for a lunch reception on the Northern side of the Island by the Office de Tourism on Thursday May 19, followed by a cocktail and dinner reception at the Azul Restaurant at the Ocean Point by the Sonesta Group of Companies and the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau.





SMART is a regional tradeshow that allows suppliers such as tourism boards, hoteliers, car rental agencies, DMCs and other tourism suppliers to meet with buyers (tour operators/wholesalers) and develop marketing initiatives, promotional campaigns, and sales activities.




Page Content

Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), announces that road works will be carried out at Pigeon road in Point Blanche.

Trench work for the placement of lines, sleeves and splice boxes will start on June 6 from 7.00AM to 5.00PM. These works should continue up to and including June 12.

There might be a partial road closure and if this is the case, there will be workmen on the scene directing traffic and therefore motorists should drive with caution.

Heavy machinery and trucks will be on site during the aforementioned working hours.

The civil works will be carried out by Clean St. Maarten.

Ministry VROMI apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause.
2016 SkS Weekly Digest #23

Posted on 5 June 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights... El Nino Impacts... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Using the metric of comments garnered, the two most popular of the articles posted on SkS during the past week were:

El Nino Impacts

El Nino is over, but has left its mark across the world by Andrew B. Watkins, Blair Trewin & Catherine Ganter, The Conversation AU, May 26, 2016

Toon of the Week

Hat tip to I Heart Climate Scientists

Quote of the Week

Buildings currently being constructed at an increasing rate in developing countries are locking the world into high greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, the worlds leading authority on energy has warned.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian that the worlds number one priority in tackling climate change must be to ensure those buildings meet higher standards of efficiency and safety.

This would be the single most important step I want governments to take, and they can take it tomorrow, he said. Politicians could enact higher standards in regulations immediately, though ensuring they are always enforced might take a little longer and involve cooperation between different authorities.

There are many economic benefits to mandating standards, and this can be done by governments very easily, said Birol. They would have positive effects on growth, improve the conditions of the population [including their safety] and to do it they just need to make different government departments work together.

Make building standards top priority for tackling climate change, says IEA chief by Fiona Harvey, Guardian, June 1, 2016

He Said What?

Gov. Paul LePage (R) stepped up his attacks on the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) in dramatic fashion this week by sending personal letters to the environmental groups donors.

I would request that you carefully review NRCMs policy positions before donating to them in the future, the governor wrote, after directing members of his staff to find addresses of donors posted in the environmental organizations public documents. It is an activist group that says no to every opportunity to allow Mainers to prosper.

Unsurprisingly, the group and its donors were outraged.

Governor Sends Threatening Letter To Environmental Donors by Smantha Page, Climate Progress, Jun 3, 2016

SkS in the News

Bill Nye, magical as he is, cant be everywhere hes needed when it comes to debating climate change deniers. Sometimes that responsibility will fall to you, and when it does, will you be ready?

You sure will if you download Skeptical Science, an app built specifically to give you ammunition to shut down the misconceived arguments that lead a person to stray from the inconvenient truth of global climate change.

The app was conceived by helpful Australian scientist John Cook who drew together peer-reviewed scientific literature to create rebuttals to some of the most common arguments used to deny climate change.

App of the Week: Skeptical Science helps you combat climate change deniers by Rose Behar, MobileSyrup, June 4, 2016

Coming Soon on SkS

The Value of Daring (Joseph Robertson)

(Joseph Robertson) Scientists: 2016 likely to be hottest year on record despite looming La Nina (Roz Pidcock)

(Roz Pidcock) Trump and global warming: Americans are failing risk management (Dana)

(Dana) Ocean Heat Comes Back to Haunt Coral Reefs (Rob Painting)

(Rob Painting) Study: Most fossil fuels unburnable without carbon capture (Simon Evans)

(Simon Evans) 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #24 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #24 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review

97 Hours of Consensus: Michael Oppenheimer

Michael Oppenheimer's bio page

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Drawing an analogy to the original development of the global telephone industry, he said he would prefer the industry to put in place their own protocols rather than having regulators insist upon them. Mr Medcraft also revealed global regulators want to ensure that investors and markets fully understand the risks that blockchain pose, including the potential for bugs and errors. The regulated entities using blockchains would need to stand behind the technology to ensure that consumers were not harmed in the case of failures, he said. "Somebody will need to stand behind and guarantee performance for the market. Someone is going to have to guarantee that the thing works." IOSCO's research and risk department is currently preparing a report on the regulatory issues for blockchain that will be completed by the end of 2016. IOSCO may then issue guidance on the appropriate risk framework for regulated entities to have in place when using blockchains.

The IOSCO board was briefed in February by Blythe Masters, the chief executive of New York-based blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings, which is working to build blockchains for the clearing and settlement of equities for the Australian Securities Exchange and Deutsche Borse, and representatives of the US Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. Despite the risks, Mr Medcraft, who was replaced as IOSCO chair in May by Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission CEO Ashley Alder, said global regulators wanted to encourage the development of blockchain technology because it promised to reduce overall risk in the financial system and would provide regulators with more transparency into markets . "We have been watching it extremely closely. I think it is going to happen much faster than people expect," he said. There are two types of blockchain systems: 'permissionless' blockchains, such as bitcoin, which are open to the public and operated by all users of the network; and 'permissioned' systems, where direct access to the blockchain is restricted to pre-defined users whose identities are known. R3, Ripple and Digital Asset Holdings are all developing 'permissioned' systems.

"Probably the way this will evolve to start with will be in permissioned networks, where they are known parties, rather than anonymous networks. Permissioned networks also give you more comfort dealing with cyber security," Mr Medcraft said. As lawyers begin to consider how 'smart contracts' or computer code which facilitates a set of business rules, can be programmed onto blockchains such as Ethereum, Mr Medcraft said: "If you are going to have a smart contract on your blockchain and you are a regulated entity, we would want to make sure you have appropriate risk management systems in place. These would probably include testing, to make sure they work properly." He pointed to the regulation of high frequency trading and robo-advisers as a precedent; ASIC requires both to test algorithms. Furthermore, ASIC requires high frequency traders to have a "kill switch" that stops the computers executing the trades. Mr Medcraft suggested global regulators might require regulated institutions using smart contracts to use similar devices. "Maybe that is something they might want to look at," he said.
When people talk about Aldi on social media they tend to use words such as "cage egg", "healthiest grocery", "organic" and "wine".

When they talk about the No.1 supermarket chain Woolworths, they discuss its failed hardware chain Masters and cheap milk. Resurgent No.2 chain Coles is similarly linked to milk and battling dairy farmers.

Aldi is likely to expand its store network by as much as 16 per cent a year for the next two years.

The big two chains get plenty of mentions in the most toxic of hashtags, #auspol, and attracted plenty of chatter for selling toxic lettuce at the start of the year.

If any publicity is good publicity, Woolworths, Coles and Aldi are doing very well online, being among the top 10 companies discussed on people's public Facebook accounts, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.
Gender dominates our mailbag. Here's two from each side. "Leave all the sex out of it, the Americanism of Guys came over with the Yanks in WWII , and stayed," says Doug Cameron, of Normanhurst. "Our original word was Bloke. Really passionate Australians still respond to being addressed as "you blokes ", very unifying. However the term Sheila fell into disrepute once the grog usurped our everyday wisdom and we lost a part of our language."

"In light of all the rabbiting on about PC and gender specific words, could you tell me how the following words, together with many more, managed to sneak past the thought police?" asks Colin Hadden, of Emu Plains. "Each of the words includes letters forming words normally applied to the male sex. Person, human, manifold, manual, cheer. And so on. I'm astonished that at least some of the more rabid feminists, etc haven't tried to have these words expunged from the English language."

"I am certainly not one to be offended by the gender-neutral term of "guys", says Pam Janes, of Killcare. "However if Middle Aged Men in Lycra can be MAMILS, I think that female cyclists deserve their own acronym. OWIL, Older Woman in Lycra (singular, or perhaps as a collective noun a Parliament of OWILS)." She is expecting her humble thoughts to go viral! We'll see.

Last word on this to Jenny Archbold, of Bellingen. "Thank you Richard Stewart (Column 8, Friday) and welcome to my world. I have been on the warpath with "Guys" (shudder cringe) for months. Every time I have that word hurled in my direction I inform the offender that I am definitely not one now and never will be."

Last month saw the introduction of new swimming pool safety fencing laws in NSW," says David Rose, of North Narrabeen. "One section relates to the maximum distance allowed between the vertical balusters being 100mm.Whilst I was recently visiting Circular Quay I noticed the beautiful metal baluster fencing which surrounds Sydney Harbour from the Opera House to the Bridge has a repeat pattern with spaces of 110mm, certainly large enough for a toddler to squeeze through. I wouldn't like to see it changed in any way but why is Sydney's busy tourist spot not complying to the law imposed so strictly on the rest of us?" Any other offenders out there?
Name recognition will help decide who lands the final Senate seats in Queensland. Even though we have compulsory voting, name recognition can greatly advantage a candidate.

There are four contenders for the final Senate seats in Queensland. They are: former Democrat senator Andrew Bartlett for the Greens, Pauline Hanson, Glenn Lazarus and Suzanne Grant for the Nick Xenophon Team. Suzanne who? Suzanne Grant, a self-confessed newbie to politics, is from Brisbane's western suburbs and a former small business owner with a UQ doctorate in politics. She will be relying heavily on the Xenophon name to get any traction against Hanson and Lazarus.

Glenn Lazarus could end up in a four-way dogfight for the last Queensland Senate spot.

Xenophon began to get national attention this week as the work of his opponents' dirt units began appearing on the front pages. At the end of last week, the Prime Minister seemed anchored, even becalmed, in South Australia, where Xenophon is tipped to win three, possibly four Senate seats, and the House of Reps seat of Mayo. The Greens will struggle to get a second Senator elected in South Australia.

The Greens vote in Queensland, at 7 per cent according to the weekend Fairfax Ipsos poll, is the lowest of all the states; approximately half of that of NSW (13 per cent) and Victoria (15 per cent). Thus it is unlikely that Andrew Bartlett will be back in the Senate as a second Greens senator. The real wildcard in Queensland is the 11 per cent of first preference votes shown as "Other" in the poll. This category bundles up votes for Hanson, Lazarus and Xenophon. I understand that nearly half of that can be attributed to Xenophon, but opinion polls are insufficiently fine grained to track precisely the source or destination of these votes.
When Joseph Stalin coined the term in 1929, "American exceptionalism" was not meant as a compliment. It first appeared in correspondence between Stalin and Jay Lovestone, leader of the Communist Party of America. Lovestone was desperately trying to explain why the unique history of the US meant that, while communism was sweeping the globe, it was not being embraced by the US proletariat. Stalin's response was to suggest forcefully that Lovestone end this "heresy of American exceptionalism".

This US presidential election year we'll hear a lot about "American exceptionalism", but nothing about how the term's century-long historical twists and linguistic wrong turns have influenced today's US gun death rate. In the minds of US justices and individual gun owners, the Second Amendment is inconsequential compared to the misunderstood legacy of American exceptionalism.

Governments of those revolutionary colonies desperately implored civilians to upgrade their arms from primitive shotguns used for hunting to contemporary military-grade muskets and rifles. Now, in 2016, after lengthy community discussion, residents hope Lexington will be the site that silences the ongoing shots. After all, according to New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof and verified by Politifact, "more Americans have died from guns in the United States since 1968 than on battlefields of all the wars in American history".

In the words of "the first truly American writer", Mark Twain, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme". The history of American policy toward firearms, however, is more rollercoaster than rhyme. The town of Lexington, Massachusetts, might soon ban semi-automatic weapons capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Ironically, this town is known for just one thing: being the site of the "shot heard around the world" that started the American Revolution.

Stalin's original accusation that the US was no exception to global norms soon gave way to the myth that it is positively exceptional. Stalin was wrong about the inevitable American embrace of communism, but he could not foresee that perceived American exceptionalism would contribute to more violent deaths than a century-long battle with communism ever could.

The problem with the myth of America as an exceptional nation is that it has trickled down to make individuals think they are exceptions too. In Alabama, I once hitched a ride with a man who opened his truck door and immediately announced, "I'll take you wherever you need to go, but don't f*** with me 'cause I got a .45 here". I asked why he had a gun, knowing it was more likely to be used against him. He countered that, as a Hispanic male in Alabama, he was the exception to the rule, and was routinely targeted by racist locals who wanted to rob him and send home the message that Hispanics were not welcome in Alabama. In a bar in Albuquerque, another gun owner confessed: He knew the numbers, that guns are more likely to be used against their owners and their families than a home-invader or carjacker, "but look, I'm a gay guy in New Mexico. It's different for me".

What makes America so exceptional is that it is the only nation where 80 million gun owners think they are all statistical outliers. It's like 80 million perennially drunk drivers believing they'll drive better while under the influence.

This sentiment is echoed in a 2013 Gallup poll that found 60 per cent of gun owners cited personal protection as their main reason for owning a gun, followed by hunting at a distant second and "Second Amendment right" far down the list at just 5 per cent. A comparative Pew survey of reasons for gun ownership in 1997 and 2013 reveals that the proportions of people citing hunting and personal protection as their main reason for gun ownership has switched places over the 16-year period, while the number citing Second Amendment rights has halved.

Throughout history, the chief ideological argument against gun control in the US has been that limiting access to guns is to invite tyrannical government, foreign or domestic. A well-armed citizenry is necessary to keep in check the naturally tyrannical instincts of government. Let's test this 230-year-old theory against the data. First, set aside the fact that a well-armed citizenry is no match for a standing army, or an aircraft carrier, or a squadron of B-52 bombers. When asked, "in American history, has a well-armed citizenry actually served as a check on government power?" some of the most prominent living American historians succinctly responded, "Nope, no, it hasn't". According to these historians, Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers and Brian Balogh, armed citizens merely (at most) keep in check other armed citizens.
Marco Pannella, a political provocateur who, as a co-founder and long-time leader of Italy's Radical Party, used hunger strikes to help spur the legalisation of divorce and abortion in his country, has died at a clinic in Rome aged 86.

In the seven decades since World War II, dozens of governments have formed and fallen in Italy, where the long-dominant Christian Democrats squared off against the Communists and an array of other parties in what at times seemed a continuous political melee.

A constant amid the turbulence was Pannella, a consummate showman, protesting, striking, holding court and holding forth. He served in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, from 1976 to 1994 and in the European Parliament from 1979 to 2009.

Founded in 1955, the Radical Party promoted itself over the years as a challenge to the entrenched and often corrupt Italian political establishment and to the influence of the Catholic Church. Its platform included expanded rights for women, gays and lesbians, prisoners and conscientious objectors, as well as the legalisation of marijuana and euthanasia, disarmament and the discontinued use of nuclear energy.

News reports over the years described Pannella as "eccentric" and his party as "quixotic". In elections, the party polled in single digits. What Pannella did not win in votes he won in affection, endearing himself to the public in Italy and beyond with his spirit.
Amid the tribal warfare of an election campaign, dirt units letting rip as politicians grasp for power at any cost, it was a moment to pause and look at the bigger picture.

It was an unwanted moment. All politicians know their time on the stage can be swiftly ended, and even serving a full standard term is just four years in the NSW Parliament.

But not like this.

The death of NSW Greens MP John Kaye, who in February vowed to be back in the chamber by the end of March, but never made it, ricocheted around Macquarie Street last month.
DOWNRIVER



MA, 99 minutes. Cinema Nova and Lido Cinemas, opens Thursday, June 16.

It's becoming ever more difficult for Australian independent features to attain a cinema release. Whether that means they're pursuing the wrong distribution model or we're in danger of losing the necessary representations of our distinct Australian experiences is a question not easily answered, but there's no doubt the debut film from writer/director Grant Scicluna  which first screened almost a year ago at the Melbourne International Film Festival  deserves to be seen. Downriver is a harrowing exploration of atonement that establishes a stark atmosphere from the opening scene, where a still grieving mother comes to ask James (Reef Ireland), a youth facility inmate about to be paroled, where the body of her young son, who he was convicted of killing while a child himself, can be found. Hardened but also capable of nurturing acts of care, James doesn't have an explanation, and when he returns to the holiday cabins and rural riverbank where the crime was committed he's searching for more than one answer to more than one question.

Tom Green and Reef Ireland star in Grant Scicluna's harrowing debut film Downriver.

The film begins as a bleak thriller, assured in the information it does and doesn't dispense, as James encounters Anthony (Tom Green), the childhood friend and instigator who escaped punishment by offering James up to the police. Anthony's mocking sympathy and ready disdain are casually chilling, revealing a self-loathing sociopath whose predatory ways soon engulf James' innocent neighbour, Damien (Charlie Grounds). Still teenagers, the young men in Downriver are capable of sexual acts with each other that can be gentle or violent, and the film suggests the dividing line is dangerously narrow. James and his initially distant mother, Paige (Kerry Fox), try to fill in the incomplete timeline from the fateful day, and as the movie progresses the narrative acquires the feel of an everyday horror story as acts of investigation  particularly the journey along a darkened tunnel under a bridge and the exploration of a flooded chamber  reveal an acute psychological perception; some of Scicluna's shots feel like they're wrenched from his protagonist's damaged psyche. There are moments of tenderness and efforts at understanding, but the movie does not try to reduce what James did by requiring him to articulate his horrific failing. Studded by bleakness, and occasionally too focused on unremitting violence, Downriver bears comparison to another impressive debut by an Australian filmmaker: Justin Kurzel's 2011 descent Snowtown.
Quick, quick, I've got to get home ... the premiere of Secret City is about to air  who are these idiots running across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge .. get out of the way  ahh, maybe not so close to the railing there dude .. you didn't have to jump into the lake to avoid me .. what's going on?

Secret City is what's going on, Foxtel's latest Showcase mini-series shot here in town and inspired by the books by political journalist Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis (I've known Chris for 25 years, worked with him on my first night here at The Canberra Times). He knows how to tell a good story, this is going to be good.

First up, though, we detour to Beijing, "Free Tibet, free Tibet", some young woman is yelling and then, whoops, she sets herself on fire. Six months later we're on the Bridge, a guy swallows a SIM card and jumps into the lake.

Now we're in the bedroom of an unknown woman, she must be a journalist because she's 30 something and still gets the actual paper delivered. Or is she, because next thing she's rowing on the lake, on a clear Canberra day. Show me a journalist who's out of bed at 6am and rowing on the lake.
DNA NATION

Series final ***1/2

The engaging personal journeys of Ernie, Julia and Thorpie in DNA Nation.

8.30pm, SBS

The personal journeys of Ernie, Julia and Thorpie are certainly engaging but what's really been fascinating about this series is the insight into the detail of human evolution over the millennia. So, for instance, ancient tools survive in Africa and Australia because they were made out of stone; in Asia, where bamboo was the material of choice, the evidence has long since vanished. Tonight, among other things, we discover which cohort had the clever idea of drinking another animal's milk  and why some cultural groups still can't digest it properly.
BRITAIN'S ULTIMATE PILOTS: INSIDE THE RAF

***

9.30pm, SBS

Things finally get interesting when the overheated narrator starts explaining to us the physical difficulties of flying a jet fighter upside down and sideways for an extended length of time. Elsewhere  despite that narration, or perhaps because of it  our time spent with the RAF's stunt flying team, the Red Arrows, as it prepares for a weekend of daredevilry feels decidedly over-egged. Which is a shame, because these chaps are obviously incredibly gifted airmen. It's just that flying over Buckingham Palace and worrying about getting rained on don't seem quite as demanding as, say, flying sorties over Iraq.

Britain's Ultimate Pilots: Inside the RAF is on at 9.30pm. Credit:SBS Publicity

ADAM LOOKING FOR EVE

Season final ***

9.20pm, SBS2

It's a source of constant surprise and delight how not lascivious this series is, despite various hot young things wandering about a tropical island completely in the nude. Perhaps the contestants are screened for good manners as well as startling good looks. It's all beautifully polite. Tonight's final instalment is especially fraught, too, as a promising proto-relationship between Enrico and Anna is thrown into disarray when Tobias and Janine arrive on the scene. Needless to say, though, nothing untoward happens  but you will have to watch yourself to discover if anyone finds true love.
It would be a difficult task for a professional photographer of today to snap this view of Menomonies Main Street of today. It would be a risk for anyone to set up a tripod and camera to photograph the busy thoroughfare on any day of the year in this day and age.

Menomonies Main Street is one of the busiest in town today and that was certainly true at the turn of the century. But you cant prove that statement after looking at this photograph. The nonchalance of the two pedestrians, a young lady with a skirt that was capable of sweeping the street , followed by a young lad who has no fear of the non-automobile traffic on Menomonies business thoroughfare at the turn of the century.

And remember this photograph is not a snapshot. It was necessary to use a tripod to steady the camera on this occasion. It is evident that traffic was not a problem in those early years.

With the renowned Mabel Tainter Memorial building, pictured here on the left and the First National Bank building on the immediate right, we know that camera was facing east on the citys Main Street. At that time the bank occupied only about a quarter of the building, renting out the bulk of the ground floor of the building to other business ventures.

Next door was the Arcade Building that still serves the public. And next door to the east is the lighter frame building shown here that housed a stage theater on the second floor, one of Mabel Tainters favorite sites in town along with the larger Grand Opera House that was located on Broadway.

Across the street are two frame buildings that shared the space of the 200 block of Main Street with the Tainter Memorial Building. I have identified the occupants of the two-story building, shown here standing in the middle of the block in past columns.

Unfortunately I have not been able to recall the role of the narrow two-story building appearing here in the middle of the block, but at the end of the block is the location of a Chinese enterprise on the current location of Menomonies downtown post office.

Note that the row of utility poles that lined the north side of Main Street are dedicated to the distribution of electric power to its customers, while the lineup of poles on the south side of the street provided early telephone services. And one cannot ignore the double-joined flag pole, adjacent to the Mabel Tainter Memorial Building.

Although it is difficult to be certain, I believe that Main Street had been paved with brick at the time this photograph was taken. One thing that is certain is that the unidentified photographer, with his camera setup on a tripod in the middle of Main Street, was not hit by any passing vehicles while he was taking this photograph.
COMEDY As part of Black, Yellow and Red Dwarf, Giant Dwarf's week focused on Aboriginal talent, the popular oratorical night Story Club puts on a special edition titled Going Down Swinging featuring tales from Miranda Tapsell, Nakkiah Lui and more. 8pm, Giant Dwarf, 199 Cleveland Street, Redfern, $25, giantdwarf.com.au. See past winners and finalists from RuPaul's Drag Race at a live show that mixes the glamour and cattiness that made the reality TV competition such a hit. Credit:Nicole Elphick FILM See where the space saga all began with a free screening of the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars (rated PG) at The Argyle's outdoor cinema complete with complimentary popcorn. To get into the intergalactic mood there will also be DJs on the decks dressed up as characters from the series and extraterrestrial roving performers. 8.30pm, The Argyle, 18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, free, theargylerocks.com.

Get some fresh reading material with the DIY publications on display at the MCA Zine Fair (until June 12). Visitors can also sign up to do classes in drawing, storytelling and digital zine making. Tuesday, June 7 ART Ken Done steps away from his famous bright colours to embrace a slightly different palette for his exhibition Paintings from Antarctica (until July 5), the works resulting from a trip the artist made late last year to the Antarctic Peninsula. Proceeds from the sales of the pieces go to the McGrath Foundation and the Mawson's Huts Foundation. 10am-5.30pm, The Ken Done Gallery, 1-5 Hickson Road, The Rocks, free, 8274 4599. STAGE

Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1988 play The Heidi Chronicles (until July 9) remains relevant even today with its dissection of gender and politics as it follows the evolution of the baby boomer generation over multiple decades. 7.30pm, New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown, $17, newtheatre.org.au.

Wednesday, June 8 FILM Cinephiles will be in heaven as the Sydney Film Festival (until June 19) kicks off. Tickets to the opening night movie Goldstone have already sold out but there are still seats available to see English director Terence Davies' take on the Scottish literary classic Sunset Song, starring Agyness Deyn and Peter Mullan.

6.30pm, Hayden Orpheum, 380 Military Road, Cremorne, $19.90, sff.org.au. STAGE The satirical 1988 cult film Heathers skewered the high school hierarchy and has continued to maintain its popularity, with the latest iteration being Heathers: The Musical (until June 26) featuring Lucy Maunder, Rebecca Hetherington and Libby Asciak as the titular trio. 7.30pm, Sydney Opera House, $64.90-$89.90, 9250 7777. Thursday, June 9

STAGE Tree of Life (until June 10) tells the personal stories of the highs and lows of 20 young refugees. To develop the production, Treehouse Theatre worked with Miller Technology High School using therapeutic drama and storytelling workshops. 10am and 12.30pm, The Concourse, 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, $30.60, treehousetheatre.org.au. MUSIC After touring Asia, Brisbane indie rockers Last Dinosaurs have returned and sold out two intimate shows at the Newtown Social Club. There are still tickets to catch them tonight playing tracks from their second album, Wellness.

7.30pm, Newtown Social Club, 387 King Street, Newtown, $29.95, newtownsocialclub.com. Friday, June 10 STAGE Burlesque producer Russall S. Beattie is leaving The Vanguard but plans to go out with a bang with his final ever show at the venue, Sweet Meat (until June 12). The night is a blend of live music, dance, circus and more with appearances from Mojo Juju, Frankie Valentine and Drew Fairley. 6.30pm, The Vanguard, 42 King Street, Newtown, $40, thevanguard.com.au.

MUSIC Global social enterprise The Human Sound Project aims to connect cultures through song. No musical experience is necessary to be involved, so get along to their community song-making experience, where participants will create a new tune through spontaneous collaboration. 7.30pm, Abraham Mott Hall, 17 Argyle Place, Millers Point, $20, vividsydney.com. Saturday, June 11 MARKETS

Get some fresh reading material with the DIY publications on display at the MCA Zine Fair (until June 12). Visitors can also sign up to do classes in drawing, storytelling and digital zine making. 10am-6pm, Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George Street, The Rocks, free, mca.com.au. MUSIC Rock outfit The Living End take to the stage to show off their recently released album, Shift, which Rolling Stone praised as having a "welcome growth and maturity". They're joined by support slots from Adelaide band Bad Dreems and punk rockers 131's. 7.30pm, Enmore Theatre, 118 Enmore Road, Newtown, $65, ticketek.com.au.

Sunday, June 12 CLASS Make dough the old-fashioned way at a hands-on colonial gastronomy workshop in bread making with food and history whiz Jacqui Newling and artisan baker Nonie Dwyer. 2-4pm, Elizabeth Bay House, 7 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, $65, sydneylivingmuseums.com.au. FESTIVAL

Queer festival Heaps Gay puts on a massive night out with an all-inclusive extravaganza of music, art and performance happening across three stages. Groove along to duo Collarbones, disco rock band The Blow Waves and the experimental pop of Rainbow Chan. 4pm-midnight, Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Road, Marrickville, $55, vividsydney.com. LOOKING AHEAD NEXT WEEK Playwright Lally Katz was inspired by the real-life events that brought her parents together for her new romance, Back at the Dojo. The play stars the talented Luke Mullins in a role written for him. June 18 to July 17, Belvoir, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, $40-$72, 9699 3444.
1. Stormageddon - no understatement

Emergency services have rescued trapped residents from the roofs of their flooded homes in Picton and across Wollondilly, and coastal properties at Narrabeen and Collaroy on Sydney's northern beaches have been damaged overnight.

It's been a massive night for the SES, which has carried out 50 flood rescues in Picton and Wollondilly alone.

As daylight breaks, much of NSW is going to be in a sorry state. Late last night, police issued evacuation orders for low lying parts of Woronora, Milperra, Picton and other parts of Wollondilly. Residents in some areas of Sydney's northern beaches were on standby to leave. The East Coast Low has moved south after drenching parts of Sydney with 380mm of rain in two days. Police issued flooding warnings for the Nepean, Hawkesbury, Moruya, Georges and Bega rivers.
Radiologists were going to ask patients to sign a petition opposing the cuts in the final weeks of the federal election campaign, similar to the pathology sector's own campaign against the cuts, which are expected to save $650 million in total over four years.

The Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association planned to launch a public campaign on Saturday, warning that thousands of Australians with cancer would avoid getting tested if the cuts went ahead, because scans would become more expensive.

Patients could pay less for diagnostic scans such as mammograms and ultrasounds, with radiologists abandoning their public campaign against the Turnbull government's planned cuts to bulk-billing incentives at the last minute in exchange for a review of the sector.

The Association told Fairfax Media last week that the cuts would force many more providers to stop bulk-billing - the practice of accepting patients' Medicare rebates as direct payment - and instead charge patients up-front for tests for conditions such as melanoma and breast cancer.

The Turnbull government forged a deal with the sector late on Friday, promising to delay the cuts for non-concession holders till next January if elected, and to evaluate commercial pressures on the sector, which has had its Medicare rebates frozen for 18 years.

Health Minister Sussan Ley conceded on Sunday that some Medicare rebates for diagnostic imaging services may not be in line with their true value, and flagged there may be up to $50 million a year in savings from the sector that could be used to raise government subsidies for certain tests.

While she has previously argued the bulk-billing rate in pathology had only grown about one per cent since the incentive payments were introduced in 2009, the Association said it has grown 10 per cent in diagnostic imaging services in that time.

Ms Ley said the evaluation would help improve the sector and ensure government investment in frontline scans and imaging procedures were best targeted for patients.
Australia's powerful gaming and alcohol lobby is targeting independent senator Nick Xenophon and the Greens as it tips hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pokie-friendly major parties ahead of the July 2 poll.

Well-placed sources have confirmed the Australian Hotels Association is supporting the major parties with a particular focus on opposing the popular Senator Xenophon and his team in South Australia and the Greens in vulnerable seats across the country.

Senator Xenophon  who has built a political empire from his roots as an anti-pokies campaigner  is tipped to win as many as three Senate seats and is a chance in two lower house seats in South Australia. The major parties are increasingly alarmed at the prospect of him holding the Senate balance of power with the Greens in the next Parliament.

The Greens are hoping to have more senators elected but are also campaigning hard for Coalition and Labor lower house seats; they are a real threat in particular in Batman in Melbourne's north, currently held by Labor's embattled David Feeney.
A re-elected Turnbull government would establish a new fund to help local communities from the Top End to Tasmania protect Australia's most vulnerable wildlife.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt will make the $5 million Threatened Species Recovery Fund promise as part of World Environment Day on Sunday.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt.

The fund would provide seed money and community grants for local projects seeking to protect endangered animals as diverse as the Golden Bandicoot, the Mahogany Glider and the Helmeted Honeyeater bird.

"Across Australian local communities, environment groups and 'friends of' groups are working tirelessly to protect our vulnerable species," Mr Hunt said. "We want to support their efforts."
Former Greens leader Bob Brown is embarking on a campaign unlike any he has been involved with before. He wants backing for a 100-kilometre development through pristine wilderness  in order to save it.

The man most synonymous with Australia's environmental movement is calling for cross-party support for a walking track in north-west Tasmania's Tarkine region, through the country's largest temperate rainforest.

Bob Brown and Jenny Weber, of the Bob Brown Foundation, in the Tarkine.

The Bob Brown Foundation is banking on agreement that a $20 million eco-tourism project across the Norfolk Range highlands to the coast offers more chance of prosperity to the state's north-west than mining or forestry.

"It is a very unusual proposal coming from the environment movement, but we've done our homework," Dr Brown told Fairfax Media. "It fits into the ideas of the bigger parties that a place like the Tarkine needs to have economic and employment opportunities for the region.
My three year old is climbing  then jumping off  ever taller objects. Far taller already than it's possible for my short self to reach.

She does so with almost maniacal anticipation, sometimes stopping halfway up to gleefully mimic my stern: "Careful!"

Warnings of danger are not always heeded, as proved at a Newcastle beach. Credit:Max Mason Hubers

Meanwhile, thus far from the safety of the ground, her six-year-old brother watches in fascination and futilely warns: "That's daaangerous."

The thing is, 90 per cent of the time Daredevil Daughter comes out smiling, which only fuels her upwards addiction (and intrigues Sensible Son).
A potentially cancer-causing chemical that led to bans on commercial fishing and depressed housing values when it was discovered north of Newcastle has been found at dozens of sites across Sydney, including Sydney Airport and the Richmond RAAF Base.

A report commissioned by the Baird government has revealed that legacy contamination from perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid exists at sites across Sydney.

Two men fishing at Botany Bay as planes come into land and prepare to take off at Sydney Airport. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Also known as PFOS and PFOA, the toxic perfluorinated compounds were used for decades in firefighting foams and household products like non-stick pans.

Prepared by Mark Taylor of Macquarie University, the report says that Airservices Australia, a Commonwealth body responsible for airport firefighting, has told the NSW EPA of "issues" surrounding the historical use of the foams at Sydney and Bankstown airports.
NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP)  A delegation of West African and Mississippi officials are looking to build a bridge between Natchez and Senegal.

Natchez and Adams County officials, along with members of the local tourism industry, historians and others met Thursday with dignitaries from two cities in Senegal, West Africa, and the Caravan for the Promotion of Cultures of Africa at the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture.

The Natchez Democrat reports the groups met to start a dialogue about establishing a sister city pact between Natchez and a city in Senegal.

Two mayors from cities in Senegal  Falou Sylla of Mbour and Aminate Kante of Sam Notaire  attended the meeting and have already formed similar partnerships.. Mbour has signed a pact with Jackson and Sam Notaire with Philadelphia.

Natchez native Shirley Mock of One Voice Mississippi and her son, Berthrone Mock-Muhammad, a Jackson cardiologist and board member for the International Museum of Muslim Cultures, have helped coordinate the sister city program idea.

This city is rich in culture, rich in ethnicity, Mock said. We celebrate our ethnicities in Natchez, because culture is what makes up the roots of Natchez. We need to celebrate that.

CAPCA Executive Director Ndeye Ndao outlined the basics of a sister city partnership that would allow residents of both cities to explore various aspects of a different culture.

Youre not just sitting in your borders, she said. Youre exploring a whole different culture, a different language, different people.

Sister city partnerships also can include performance art exchanges, community development programs, music exchanges, museum exchanges and community service projects, Ndao said.

Sylla and Kante said they were overwhelmed with the hospitality and warmth they have felt since arriving in Mississippi. Sylla said one of the purposes of the trip was to learn more about the impact slavery had on Africans in America.

We know what happened in the motherland, but we are looking forward to knowing what happened to our ancestors here, Ndao said, translating for Sylla.

Kante said she was surprised to see so many African-Americans in the U.S.

Thats not what (we) see on TV, Ndao said, translating for Kante. It was a big eye-opener. I have been around the world, and (I have) never felt more welcome than (I) do here. (I) feel like (I) am still home.

Mayor Butch Brown said the sister city program can be beneficial to Natchez in many ways, including tourism.

African-American history is what we are here about today, he said. Its what this building is about and what tourism in our city and our state is about now . recognizing those who have not been recognized.

Mock-Muhammad said the most successful sister city partnerships have a strong grassroots component.

Whats different here is that you have a really strong link of elected officials that are in line, he said. You have great leaders among you . keep focused and stay ahead, and we will get to the target.
A driver who looked on in horror as rapidly rising floodwaters swept his car away has issued a dire warning for other motorists.

Jaffar Kamali, 42, was driving to visit a friend in Brisbane's north on Saturday morning as a notoriously flood-prone creek burst its banks into the Toombul Shopping Centre car park.

He lives to the north of the raging waterway, with his friend just to the south of the centre, where he saw what he thought was shallow water flowing across the bridge over the Schulz Canal.

It wasn't until two or three cars successfully navigated the bridge from the other direction that Mr Kamali made his huge mistake.
The 2016 Brisbane Times City2South presented by Westpac raised more money for charity than last year's event, largely thanks to one outstanding runner's campaign inspired by the passing of her partner.

Erica Williams raised just over $23,000 for the Brain Foundation after her partner, Andrew, died in January from a brain tumour diagnosed in July 2015.

"We had done a lot of training together and we used to do the Noosa Triathlon all of the time so I thought I would run in memory of him and try to raise some funds for research," said Ms Williams.

"People were just amazing, I sent emails out to friends who had been in touch during Andrew's illness and they were really happy to help and wanted to make a difference."
Is this the most important "pop up" ever?

The endless dusty paddocks and abject misery of Syrian refugee camps are hardly an obvious place for Silicon Valley jargon like "start-up" and "disruption".

A child plays around a temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria. Credit:AP

But thousands of people displaced by war or natural disaster may soon be relying on a foldable hut invented by two South Australian entrepreneurs, and it's getting global market attention.

Former soldier and UN observer Neale Sutton and businessman Andrew Hamilton's self-designed "Humanihut" was last week plucked from relative obscurity to be on the Disrupt 100 list, an index of the most promising start-ups around the world.
A woman diver has been killed at Mindarie after being attacked by a shark that witnesses described as being longer than their 5.5-metre boat.

WA Police's Inspector Danny Mulligan revealed on Sunday afternoon that the 60-year-old woman, who was mauled late on Sunday morning, had been with a male diver partner between One and Three-Mile Reefs.

The 43-year-old man said he thought he felt something in the water and surfaced, where he found the woman with severe injuries - apparently as the result of a shark attack.

Three men in another boat arrived to assist and said they saw the shark and positioned the boat between the creature and the man, enabling him to lift the woman onto the boat the pair were using.
Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian fisherman is adamant he saw missing Australian backpacker Rye Hunt alive on an island in Rio de Janeiro's harbour the day after his disappearance.

The 25-year-old Tasmanian has been missing since May 21, after a fight with travel companion Mitchell Sheppard at the city's international airport.

Rye Hunt has now been missing for more than two weeks.

On May 30, the fisherman contacted police after recognising Mr Hunt's photo in local media, to report seeing him eight days earlier.

The man told Rio's O Globo newspaper that he and his girlfriend were fishing from a boat near Ilha Cotunduba, an uninhabited island about three kilometres from Copacabana Beach, when they spotted the man on the island.
Hillary Clinton is widely expected to clinch the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, when voters in six states, including New Jersey and California, go the polls.

But could it happen even sooner?

It may be far-fetched, but two lesser-watched contests this weekend, in the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, could put Clinton over the top - if she wins very lopsided victories over Bernie Sanders and picks up the remaining superdelegates from the two territories along the way.

Clinton needs 70 more delegates to reach the threshold of 2383, after which she and much of the news media will consider her the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee.
GREAT BAY(DCOMM):--- Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Ingrid Arrindell, said that the dual destination St. Maarten/St. Martin, was proud to hosts guests for SMART (St. Maarten/St. Martin Annual Regional Tradeshows) last month.

SMART was scheduled to take place May 18 -20, 2016, but had to be cancelled due to the fact that the event was conflicting with similar events taking place in Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and Antigua, which resulted in very low registration numbers of buyers and sellers who would be attending.

Despite the postponement of SMART 2016, a number of wholesalers/tour operators traveled to the Island between May 15 -22, 2016 to conduct business.

We were thrilled to learn that over twenty wholesalers/tour operators deemed it very important to travel to the Island (despite the cancellation of SMART) to meet with the respective DMC operators and hoteliers, to conduct site visits/inspections, as well as to visit the neighboring islands in order to conduct business.

The delegates were very enthusiastic with their visit to the Island, and were pleased with the fact that the on-island partners rolled out the red carpet for them, which resulted in their leaving the Island motivated, energized, and ready to sell the Island, said Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Ingrid Arrindell.

The delegates were hosted for a lunch reception on the Northern side of the Island by the Office de Tourism on Thursday May 19, followed by a cocktail and dinner reception at the Azul Restaurant at the Ocean Point by the Sonesta Group of Companies and the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau.

SMART is a regional tradeshow that allows suppliers such as tourism boards, hoteliers, car rental agencies, DMCs and other tourism suppliers to meet with buyers (tour operators/wholesalers) and develop marketing initiatives, promotional campaigns, and sales activities.
Sanders within 2 points of Hillary Clinton in Latest Polls

Update: Bernie Sanders is in Santa Monica again tonight, Sunday night, campaigning this time at the Santa Monica Pier. In Culver City, has has been seen at Tanner's Coffee on Sepulveda. The guy is really trying hard, that's for sure!

In the last 30 days, the State of California has registered 650,000 new voters, 500,000 Democrats, and 138,000 Republicans. This is a hint that young people are registering, specifically so they can vote for Bernie Sanders. This author predicts he will win the California primary, and surprise the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The New York Times and LA Times agree that the Vermont Senator is close to leading Hillary Clinton in the polls. In fact one poll, released May 26 by the Public Policy Institute of California, showed Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Sanders among likely voters.

About half of California voters will have voted by mail prior to the polls even opening on Tuesday, June 7th. But the polling places are also important, and Sanders Voters are much more energized and much more likely to show up than Clinton supporters.

This was supposed to be a showdown between two family scions; Hillary of the Clinton's, and Jeb of the Bushes. On the Republican side, "Low Energy Jeb" was almost the first candidate of 17 to drop out.

On the Democratic side, ironically, almost the diametric opposite has happened. A total of six major candidates entered the race starting April 12, 2015, when former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency. She was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb, and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig. There was some speculation that incumbent Vice President Joe Biden would also enter the race, but he chose not to run. A draft movement was started to encourage Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency, but Warren declined to run.

The other candidates quickly dropped out of the democratic primary.

Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016, Webb (citing frustration with Democratic Party leadership) and Chafee withdrew due to low polling numbers. Lawrence Lessig withdrew after the rules of a debate were changed such that he would no longer qualify to participate.[3] Clinton won Iowa by the closest margin in the history of the caucuses over Sanders, in what would be a rare caucus victory for her. O'Malley suspended his campaign after a distant third-place finish, leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two candidates. The electoral battle turned out to be more competitive than expected, with Sanders winning the New Hampshire primary while Clinton scored victories in the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary. On three different Super Tuesdays Clinton secured numerous important wins while Sanders scored various victories in between.

Precisely because of the tenacity of the Sanders campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton is perceived as weak, both by the electorate and the Washington elite. The two are neck and neck in the California Democratic primary, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released today. Among surveyed voters likely to participate in the California primary, the former Secretary of State polled at 49 percent and Sanders at 47 percent. These numbers are similar to those in a poll released last week from PPIC, which showed Clinton at 46 percent and Sanders at 44 percent.

Clinton continues to hold a sizable lead over Sanders in her national delegate count, merely 73 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination. Clinton currently has 2,310 bound delegates and super-delegates who have pledged to vote for Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.

The California primary has reasonably been considered the last big prizes of the primary season. Sanders and Clinton will be battling for 546 delegates in the California Democratic primary, scheduled for June 7. Mrs. Clinton will probably garner the number of delegates she needs to win the Democratic nomination after votes are counted in New Jersey, where polls will close before California's because of the difference in time zones. But her loss in California will haunt her campaign into the convention.

According to NBC, the poll also showed that Sanders held a 36-percent advantage among voters younger than 45 and a 44-point lead among first-time voters. Even if Clinton wins the primary in California, these voters will continue to play an important role in the general election.

Also on June 7, Clinton and Sanders will compete in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Dakota for 235 delegates.
Insider: How Colts will try to help Sam Ehlinger in first NFL start
home World Christian villagers flee after Muslim attacks in Nigeria

Residents flee from the Christian villages in Kaduna state of Nigeria fearing threats of another attack by Muslim Fulani herdsmen who assaulted the Christian homes and killed three people on Tuesday, May 31.

Naomi Sali, a 45-year-old survivor of the Fulani's most recent attack and resident of the nearby Andaha village, said that Tuesday's attack prompted residents to leave the Christian villages of Dangwa, Nandu, Zakkan, Farin Hauwa 1 and 2, Mante, Gada Biyu, Golkofa, Angwan Anjo, and Akwa.

Sali also reported that 40-year-old Zakka Kagoma and two unidentified Christians were killed in their houses when the militant herdsmen attacked Ninte village, Jema'a Local Government Area at about 2 a.m that day. The herdsmen also burned some of the houses, including a pastor's house.

"There were gunshots throughout the night as we hid in the bushes," Sali told Morning Star News.

She added, "They burned down houses, and set fire to the house of the pastor of ECWA [Evangelical Church Winning All] Church-Ninte, the Rev. Saleh Yamusa. He escaped with his family unhurt before the Fulani herdsmen burned his house."

Sali and other residents managed to escape by hiding into the bushes the entire night before taking refuge at Jos, Plateau state.

According to Sali, a 55-year-old Christian man named Ango was attacked on May 25 by three machete-armed Fulani herdsmen who left him for dead at the bush near a stream. He was discovered by a Baptist pastor who took him to Kafanchan General Hospital where he is now recovering. Ango is the treasurer of the Men's Fellowship of the ECWA-Zakkan Local Church Council.

Sali also recalled a female victim taken to the same hospital on May 29 after being shot in the thigh by armed men wearing police uniforms.

Local chuch leaders perceive the attacks as a war by "Islam to eliminate Christianity."

WorldWatchMonitor reported earlier in March that about 20,000 people have already fled from what is widely believed to be the worst massacre staged by the Fulani herdsmen since 2010.
Shahid El Hafed (Refugee camps)- Sahrawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Salem Ould Salek affirmed Friday that the Sahrawi people are making an offer of peace to Morocco to end its occupation of Western Sahara.

The Sahrawi people and leaders want that the Moroccan regime stops this adventure which cost Morocco and the entire region a lot, said the Sahrawi minister in a statement to APS on the sidelines of the funeral of Sahrawi President Mohamed Abdelaziz.

The Sahrawi people are making an offer of peace on the basis of justice and respect of the Sahrawi peoples right to self-determination, he said.

The Sahrawi people and the Polisario Front are determined to continue their struggle until the total liberation of the Sahrawi territories and the end of the Moroccan occupation, said Ould Salek, underlining that the Sahrawi people are today saying their farewells to a great man and valiant military leader who led great battles and showed to the Moroccan forces that they could not defeat the Sahrawi forces.

Late Mohamed Abdelaziz vested the Sahrawi people with a heavy responsibility after the progress achieved in favour of the Sahrawi cause as the world today doesnt recognize Moroccos sovereignty over Western Sahara and totally supports the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination, he added. (SPS)

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Windhoek, June 5, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Republic of Namibia, Dr. Hage G. Geingob, reiterated his countrys firm support to the struggle of the Sahrawi people for the independence, sovereignty and integrity of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, in a letter to the Speaker of the National Council, the acting President of the Republic, Khatri Adouh, over the passing on Tuesday of President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz.

Here is the full text of the letter:

I have learned with deep sadness of the passing on of His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, on May31, 2016.

During this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with the government and people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as you mourn the death of your courageous and tenacious leader. Comrade Abdelaziz embodied the character of a true revolutionary and his leadership was guided by the ethos of bravery.

Namibia shares in your loss and mourning and hopes that the people of Sahrawi will find strength during these trying times of bereavement while at the same time reinforcing their resolve to continue fighting for the liberation of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. We stand by you as you continue to fight for the independence, sovereignty and integrity of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

On behalf of the government and people of the Republic of Namibia and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to convey our deepest condolences and sympathies to you, Honourable Speaker, and through you, to the people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

May the soul of Comrade Abdelaziz, rest in eternal peace. Aluta Continua!

Yours sincerely,

HAGE G. GEINGOB (SPS)

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G raffiti artist Banksys true identity could be revealed today if, as expected, he makes a rare public appearance a London awards ceremony.

The elusive artist, who keeps his true identity a secret, is expected at the Savoy Hotel this afternoon after his Dismaland theme park was nominated in the Sky Arts Awards.

The controversial attraction, which opened in a derelict lido in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in August, featured migrant boats and an anarchist training camp.

It was later dismantled and sent to Calais to provide shelter for migrants.

Dismaland Bemusement Park will compete against Cornelia Parker for Magna Carta (An Embroidery) at The British Library and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Verses After Dusk at the Serpentine Gallery for the visual arts prize.

In 2011, Banksy was reportedly refused permission to attend the Oscars in disguise over fears of imposters turning up.

He said at the time: "I don't agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I'm prepared to make an exception for the ones I'm nominated for.

"The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me."

Banksy releases trailer for new theme park Dismaland

Hosted by Lord Melvyn Bragg, the broad arts awards celebrate their 20th anniversary with a star-studded guest list that includes Sir Lenny Henry, Martin Freeman, Russell T Davies, Stormzy, Maxine Peake, Elaine Paige and Matthew Bourne.

Londoner Michaela Coel's E4 sitcom Chewing Gum has received a nod in the comedy category, while virtuoso clarinettist Mark Simpson is nominated for The Immortal in the classical music category.
A south east London station was evacuated last night after a man claiming to have a gun ran on to the tracks and started singing a UB40 song, passengers say.

Shocked bystanders watched as the man allegedly jumped on to the railway line and started "running up and down" while belting out a hit by the Birmingham reggae outfit.

Officers from British Transport Police and the Met arrived swiftly at the station and travellers were told to leave.

Charlie Kenward tweeted: "A man running up and down the station at Lewisham shouting he has a gun. Now been detained by the police."

And Ed Quigley wrote: "Armed police and at least 8 cars at an evacuated Lewisham Station.

"I'm told there is a civilian, not wearing much, dancing on the train track singing UB40."

A spokesman for British Transport Police confirmed they were called to the station at 8pm yesterday after reports a man was on the railway line.

They said a 32-year-old man was arrested 12 minutes later and is assisting police with their enquiries.
P olice investigating the murder of an elderly man and the disappearance of his wife have made an arrest.

A 61-year-old man from Leicester was arrested on suspicion of murdering Peter Stuart, 75, after a body was found in woodland in Weybread, Suffolk, on Friday evening, police said.

He was detained in the east midlands city at about 8.30am this morning.

Authorities are still searching for missing Sylvia Stuart, 69, who has not been seen since May 28.

Detective chief superintendent Simon Parkes said: "While we have made an arrest, our investigation continues. We are absolutely committed to finding Sylvia and this remains a priority for us.

"We would ask anyone who may have information that may help to come forward."

Search teams are continuing to comb the area near the couple's home to try to locate Mrs Stuart.

Meanwhile the arrested man will be taken to Suffolk from Leicester to face questions from detectives, police said.

The couple were reported missing at around 7.15am on Friday after checks with friends, neighbours and hospitals failed to locate them.

Police launched a search after their car was found still at their home in Mill Lane.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out on the body, believed to be that of Mr Stuart, later on Sunday.

Police officers from a number of wider regions, including Essex and Cambridge, have been drafted in to assist the investigation.

Some 20 trained officers spent Sunday searching the woodland near to where the couple lived, police said.

Meanwhile, Suffolk and Norfolk major investigation team are carrying out extensive background inquiries in an effort to identify Mrs Stuart's whereabouts.

Police are asking anyone who may be able to assist to call 01473 782000 or 101, quoting CAD number 49 of Friday June 3.
A van loaded with expensive kitchen equipment due to be used to feed dozens of children with cancer has been stolen in north London.

The Luton box van was taken from Palmers Green overnight  just hours before it was set to be driven to a charity-run three-day retreat for youngsters with life-threatening illnesses.

It was filled with ovens, fridges and barbecues worth thousands of pounds which were bound for the latest Camp Simcha event, which started today.

The charity Camp Simcha helps Jewish children with cancer and other serious illnesses by hosting a three-day retreat at a hotel in Oxford, three times a year.

Martin Spencer, who runs catering firm Royale Cuisine, the vans owners, has launched a public appeal for help tracking down the vehicle.

The 56-year-old told the Standard: Most of the equipment is only used for this event, which we do three times a year.

Whoever has taken it has affected these kids who are very, very sick and just ruined their weekend.

Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim is also appealing for the van's return.

"While vehicle theft is often viewed as just another theft, on this occasion it has affected dozens of children suffering with cancer and chronic illness," a Shomrim spokesman said.

Mr Spencer said about 200 people attend the event and it was still going ahead.

However, the preparations suffered a huge setback with the theft of the van, which disappeared from Oakthorpe Road overnight.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: It is believed it was stolen sometime between 9pm on June 4 and 5.30am this morning.

Officers from Enfield investigate. No arrests, enquiries continue.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A cyclist is fighting for his life in hospital after he collided with a bus in the Strand.

The collision happened just after 5pm today, at the junction with Arundel Street.

The man, in his 40s, suffered a serious head injury and was airlifted to hospital where he remains in a critical condition.

Detectives are appealing for information and witnesses following a serious road traffic collision in the Strand.

The driver of the bus stopped at the scene and is assisting police with their enquiries.

Officers from the Roads and Transport Policing Command are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information about the collision to come forward.

A Met Police spokesman said no arrests had been made.

Temporary road closures were put in place around the area, but have now been lifted.

Anyone with information is urged to call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A Belsize Park homeowner has become locked in a lengthy planning dispute with Camden Council after she painted her house a slightly darker shade of pink.

Su Rose, 70, has lived in the property in Buckland Crescent for more than 40 years and the house was last painted - in a shade of pastel pink - in the early 1990s.

Mrs Rose had contracted a builder to carry out repair work on the property, who advised her that as scaffolding would have to be erected it may be worth painting the house at the same time.

She agreed, and selected a colour, Cinder Rose by Farrow & Ball, which she believed tonaly matched other buildings within the local Conservation Area.

The house was painted last summer, and it was not until November that Mrs Rose received a letter from Camden Council saying there had been a complaint.

The local authority told Mrs Rose that she should have applied for planning permission for the paint job, and she was advised to apply for retrospective permission.

She told the Standard: "I was really sorry, I didn't realise you needed planning permission to repaint your house - it had been pink anyway.

"They said the law changed in 2010 and I should get retrospective planning permission."

Paint job: the house was painted in pink, with a white trim / Henry Jacobsen

Mrs Rose had to shell out for architects drawings, and enlisted the help of a photographer friend to take pictures of other properties in the area, which are painted in similar colours, to support her application.

"I'm now waiting to find out what's going to happen," she said.

"I didn't do this as a political statement, or an act of aggression against Camden, or to upset my neighbours.

"It's not graffitied, or painted in psychedelic bubbles, or stripes.

Colourful: another house within the Conservation Area is painted blue / Henry Jacobsen

"I felt it was a nicer version of the original colour, which was a light rose pink.

"Quite a lot of the Georgian terraces have been painted in colour.

"I happen to like colour, but we don't all like the same things.

"If Camden want to repaint it at their own cost I wouldn't make a fuss, but I'm not rich, it would be too much of an expense for me, I can't afford it."

Mrs Rose said her neighbours have rallied round in support of her, and have offered to make her case to the council.

"I've had a lot of support from neighbours," she said.

"They're eager to write and say how much they like the colour.

"I don't know why the person who objected didn't say something while the house was being painted - it didn't go up overnight."

Before: the house was previously painted a lighter shade of pink / Henry Jacobsen

Camden Council said it had been made aware of the choice of colour and had begun an enforcement investigation.

Labour cabinet councillor Phil Jones told the Camden New Journal: Planning permission is not normally required to paint your property. However, in this case the property is in the Belsize Park conservation area, where this development right has been removed.

This matter was brought to the councils attention and an enforcement investigation opened. A retrospective planning application has since been submitted to retain the pink colour, which is currently being considered.
T wo former Met Police commisisoners have warned that quitting the EU will make Britain less safe and poses a "gamble with our security.

Lord Condon and Lord Blair are among a group of ex-police chiefs who signed an open letter warning against Brexit.

The group insisted leaving the bloc would put the country at a disadvantage in the fight against terrorism and organised crime.

And it said claims the UK is more vulnerable if it remains a member lack credibility, arguing that "all the evidence" shows the opposite.

The group wrote: "The EU helps our police forces to work together, making it harder for criminals and terrorists to evade justice.

"The arrest of Hussain Osman, who plotted a bomb attack in London and tried to flee to Italy, was thanks to European Arrest Warrant.

"We do not believe that staying in Europe makes us more vulnerable, it is not credible to argue so, all the evidence is to the contrary. We can see no case for taking such a gamble with our security that leaving the EU would entail."

TODO: define component type apester

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire insisted Britain must work "even more closely" with other EU countries in the fight against terror.

He said: "At a time of continuing terrorist threat our domestic security requires us to work even more closely with our European partners.

"It's difficult to see how we can possibly do this by shouting from the sidelines rather than sitting at the table as an equal member."

The groups' comments come after Nigel Farage warned the possibility of migrant sex attacks on women such as the one seen in Cologne would be the "nuclear bomb" of the EU referendum campaign.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
L abour leader Jeremy Corbyn has slammed "inequality" in the British labour market, saying workplaces in the UK have become some of the most unequal of any modern economy.

He told a union conference that the next Labour government would tackle the issue by extending employment and union rights and by increasing the living wage.

Mr Corbyn has launched a Workplace 2020 programme to look at what rights would be needed in future years, he said at the GMB annual conference in Bournemouth.

"We start at David Cameron's agency Britain, with zero hour contracts and a race to the bottom on jobs, pay and rights," he told delegates.

"We want full employment, with decent pay and a voice for workers through collective bargaining.

"We need a new business settlement, one that benefits all and breaks with the low pay, low productivity of Tory Britain."

Mr Corbyn said the growth in technology had led to inequality, with massive wealth at the top and low pay at the bottom.

"Technology should be an opportunity to share wealth more fairly, rather than following the path of the Conservatives' economy where the next generation will have less than the current one."
A critically endangered rhino who was given the royal seal of approval before being released back into the wild has given birth to a healthy baby calf.

Grumeti, who was born at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent, was visited by the Duke of Cambridge in 2012 before she made the journey to her native Tanzania.

After three years in the wild, the eastern black rhino gave birth to baby Mobo three weeks ago - bringing hope for the survival of the species in their native homelands.

Grumeti was moved to the foothills of mount Kilimanjaro by conservation charity The Aspinall Foundation as part of its mission to return captive-bred animals to their natural breeding grounds.

She was flown out to Tanzania by DHL in an adapted Boeing 757 with two other rhinos from Port Lympne, named Zawadi and Monduli, in December 2012.

Port Lympne's owner Damian Aspinall told the Press Association at the time that the idea of breeding the animals and keeping them in zoos for the rest of their lives made "no sense".

"To breed these animals in captivity, the end game has to be to return them home," he said.
J ohnny Depp and Amber Heard are at war over the future of their infamous dogs, according to reports.

The estranged Hollywood couple are said to be locked in a bitter dispute over the future of their pet dogs Pistol and Boo as part of their divorce battle.

Depp, 52, is said to be fighting to keep both of their beloved Yorkshire terriers so the animals can stay together.

But Heard, 30, has filed papers saying she wants one of the dogs, according to The Mirror.

She is thought to want to hang onto Boo. The actress was given the dog by her ex-girlfriend Tasya van Ree, while it is not known who bought Pistol.

The paper reported a source as saying: Johnny adores both dogs.

He wants them to be happy and finds it unbelievable she is suggesting dividing them For Johnny, this is war.

The dogs made international headlines last year when they were smuggled into Australia and Heard admitted falsifying their papers.

Amber Heard divorces Johnny Depp: The celebrity splits of 2016 so far

The couple were widely mocked after appearing together in a YouTube apology.

The couples increasingly bitter divorce has seen Heard accuse Depp of throwing a mobile phone at her.

Police attending the alleged incident reportedly found no evidence of any crime.
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If it succeeds in buying Monsanto, German company Bayer will be doubling down on a strategy its competitors abandoned long ago.

Its called life sciences, and it involves making drugs to improve human health plus the seeds and chemicals needed to grow our food. Pharmaceutical chemistry and farm chemistry seem like a logical combination for a research-oriented company with a patient, forward-thinking management team.

Thats the theory, anyway. Monsanto itself was a pioneer in life sciences thinking in the 1990s when it bought a series of seed companies to go with its ownership of drugmaker G.D. Searle.

It didnt end well. Burdened with debt from all the acquisitions, Monsanto would merge with Pharmacia, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2003. Pfizer had no interest in a cyclical agriculture business with big public-perception issues, so it cut loose a new Monsanto as a separate company.

European competitors Novartis, AstraZeneca and Sanofi would also get rid of their big agriculture divisions to become pure-play drug companies, and now U.S. companies Dow Chemical and DuPont are bowing to similar market logic. They plan to merge and then split into three pure-play companies focused on agriculture, basic materials and specialty chemicals.

Bayer, though, continues to insist that one plus one are worth more than two. It gets 45 percent of its revenue from pharmaceuticals and 30 percent from agriculture, with the rest coming from animal medicines and consumer products.

If it succeeds in buying Monsanto, which rejected an initial offer worth $62 billion, agriculture will be half of the combined company. Shareholders who bought into a company dominated by pharmaceuticals would find themselves owning something dramatically different.

Damien Conover, a pharmaceutical analyst at Morningstar, thinks the changing business mix is one reason  along with worries about the steep price tag  why Bayer shares are down 11 percent since its Monsanto bid came to light.

When we think about Bayer, a lot of the acquisitions and capital deployment have been on the health care side, Conover said. When you see a big shift in priorities, there is probably going to be a lot of concern among some shareholders.

Theres little scientific overlap between Bayers drug research and its plant research. I personally think theres not a lot of synergy, Conover said. Theres probably no strategic reason to have the two pieces under one umbrella.

The classic argument for creating a diversified business, such as a conglomerate, is that it can weather cyclical ups and downs. Managers can keep investing when a business is in a downturn, as agriculture is now.

The counterargument is that managers dont always allocate capital wisely, and Conover says thats a concern for Bayer. People were anticipating that this capital theyre putting toward Monsanto would have been used to rebuild the pharmaceutical product pipeline, he said.

Of course, there are ways for Monsanto and Bayer to create a pure-play company. Bayer could sell its crop science business, something Monsanto reportedly has suggested. Or Bayer could buy Monsanto and spin off the combined agriculture business, similar to what Dow and DuPont are doing.

Bayer is having none of that. We have always said that crop science is an integral part of our life science portfolio, the company says in a page of questions and answers about its bid.

Bayer may yet figure out the winning formula that eluded other farming and pharma companies. The longer its stock price stays low, however, the more pressure it will feel to separate the two businesses.
Walking Cherokee Street on a sunny Thursday afternoon, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay gives off a certain rock star vibe.

With a passel of staffers and a reporter in tow, he chats in this iconic South Side neighborhood with nearly everybody. Drivers roll down their windows and wave. At the intersection with Jefferson Avenue, Nyeisha Muldrew stops the four-term mayor and asks for a picture.

The mayor abides.

Then he tells Muldrew why heres here, at this corner, on this day.

Were looking at expanding MetroLink, Slay tells the 29-year-old who lives on Cherokee. Wed have a stop right here.

Muldrews smile cant be contained.

Oh, that would be perfect, she gushes. Then she explains.

She takes public transportation every day to get to her job in Webster Groves. But from where she lives, theres no easy way to get there. She takes the No. 73 bus to Union Station downtown, where she connects to the MetroLink Shrewsbury line. Its better than being on the highway, she says, but shed welcome a better, quicker route.

In his last year as mayor, Slay has decided to make helping people such as Muldrew become better connected to jobs one of his top priorities.

Getting to and from work is very difficult in many parts of the city, Slay told me.

Indeed, according to Census Bureau statistics, some residents of poorer neighborhoods on the citys north side have longer average commutes to work than do many downtown commuters who start their days on the citys west side or across the Mississippi River into the Metro East suburbs.

We were on Cherokee last week because I asked the mayor to drive with me the length of the long-planned north-south MetroLink extension that would bring light-rail mass transit into the populous South Side and connect to the more abandoned North Side. That area is hopeful of a renaissance, beginning with the now official news that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Center will build its new $1.7 billion facility to house 3,000-plus jobs there.

The request came after the mayor, as he sometimes does, signaled a major policy shift with a tweet.

Its not like the mayor hasnt advocated for transit before, but to name it a top priority so quickly after announcing that his 16th year would be his last as mayor struck me as something big.

The mayor hopes it will be.

It will start with a $2 million conceptual design study that Slay hopes will be funded from the citys parking division. He has had talks with Treasurer Tishaura Jones about using the money to help move the north-south line forward. Next would be a $40 million detailed design and land-use study, getting very specific about where each of the stops would go. Finally, theres the matter of finding the more than $1 billion it would take to build such a system. City leaders have been meeting with county leaders and consulting with the federal Department of Transportation. In an ideal world, the city and county would go in this together, and build out the full north-south line, through the city and the county. But the challenge starts with getting beyond the thought that expanding MetroLink is so expensive, and would take so long, that its simply too overwhelming for St. Louis to handle.

City leaders believe they will be able to leverage the city and county Promise Zone designation to help secure some federal money. And they look at the expansion of transit in other cities  Minneapolis, Portland, Houston and Denver, to name a few  and believe the time is right for St. Louis to act.

I think its doable, Slay said. Its not just important. Its transformational.

Slays not alone in this opinion.

The Ferguson Commission identified development of the north-south MetroLink line as one of its 148 calls to action in its Forward Through Ferguson report.

Why?

What happened in Ferguson shined a really strong light on issues that we in St. Louis are facing, Slay said. Key among them are dealing with racial inequities and poverty. Expanding MetroLink through the citys north and south sides addresses both of those situations, connecting people to jobs and bringing economic investment to areas that need it.

For Slay, a drive through the proposed route is like a walk down memory lane.

He points to the old YMCA on Loughborough Avenue, near where the southern terminus of the citys route would be.

This is where I learned to swim, he said. He had to take two city buses to get there. Future city residents might just take the MetroLink and get dropped off near the front door of the citys Carondelet recreation center. Later, on the north side, he points to St. Liborius Church, just west of where the MetroLink would run, near the new site of the NGA headquarters.

My mother graduated from elementary school there, he said.

It was 1945. The school is long gone and the neighborhood has seen better days.

Build the MetroLink, the mayor says, and a revival could be on the way.
Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri?
A WARWICKSHIRE Police has been jailed for two years nine months for misconduct in a public office and making an indecent image of a child.

Balraj Paul, 30, pleaded guilty to both offences at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday.

Paul was arrested on 1st October 2015 after it was alleged that he had formed an inappropriate relationship with a vulnerable female.

During this investigation, he was then arrested on suspicion of making an indecent image of a child.

He was suspended from his role as a patrol officer based at Bedworth with Warwickshire Police the following day and charged with both offences on 24th March 2016.

Det Supt Gary Watson, Head of Professional Standards for Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police said: "Balraj Paul has committed a serious criminal offence for which he has now been sentenced to a significant custodial sentence.

"His behaviour was appalling and represented a serious breach of the trust placed in him by a vulnerable female and the wider community of Warwickshire.

"As soon as his behaviour was suspected he was the subject of robust and proactive police action.

"This type of behaviour is very rare and I would like to reassure the community that we will take decisive action in such cases, and I would encourage anyone who has concerns about conduct of a similar nature to contact the Professional Standards Department."

Paul, of Burbage, Hinckley, is expected to be sacked when a Special Case Misconduct Hearing is held before Warwickshire Chief Constable, Martin Jelley, on Friday, 10th June.
MONTREAL, CANADA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/05/16 -- Rogers Sugar Inc. (the "Corporation") (TSX: RSI) is pleased to announce that the Corporation and the union representatives of the operation and maintenance employees of the Montreal refinery have reached an agreement in principle. This agreement is subject to a ratification vote that is expected to be held on June 5, 2016.

The Montreal refinery employs approximately 200 unionized workers. Collective bargaining talks between Lantic Inc. ("Lantic") and its Montreal union began in March 2016 following the expiry, on February 28, 2016, of a three-year collective agreement. On May 31 2016, the union members of the operation and maintenance group exercised their right to strike resulting in the interruption of production at the Montreal refinery.

The Montreal refinery is operated by Lantic, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation.

About Rogers Sugar Inc.

The Corporation is a corporation established under the laws of Canada. The Corporation holds all of the common shares of Lantic Inc. Lantic Inc. operates cane sugar refineries in Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as the only Canadian sugar beet processing facility in Taber, Alberta. Lantic Inc.'s sugar products are marketed under the "Lantic" trademark in Eastern Canada, and the "Rogers" trademark in Western Canada and include granulated, icing, cube, yellow and brown sugars, liquid sugars and specialty syrups.

This document contains certain forward-looking statements, relating to the Corporation's operations or to the environment in which it operates, which are based on the Corporation's operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and/or are beyond the Corporation's control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. These factors include those set forth in other public filings. In addition, these forward-looking statements related to the date on which they are made. 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 required by applicable laws.

Contacts: MaisonBrison Communications Pierre Boucher (514) 731-0000

Source: Rogers Sugar Inc.
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Thirty soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed in a Boko Haram attack by "hundreds of assailants" on Friday on the southeastern town of Bosso close to the border with Nigeria, the Niger defense ministry said on Saturday.

It was the deadliest attack carried out in Niger by the Islamist group since April 2015, when at least 74 people, including 28 civilians, were killed at the Lake Chad island of Karamga.

"The counter-offensive conducted early this morning helped to retake control of all the positions in the city of Bosso. The situation is under control," the defense ministry said in a statement. "A sweep is ongoing in the area with the mobilization of all land and air means".

Seven others from Niger and eight from Nigeria were injured in the attack that targeted a military post, according to the ministry, which reported "several deaths" among the assailants.

In a statement released later, Boko Haram claimed killing 35 soldiers and wounding nearly 70 from the Nigerien and Nigerian armies, according to the US-based jihadist monitoring service SITE. Boko Haram also said it seized a "large quantity of weapons and ammunition" during the attack.

The town of Bosso is part of the Diffa region, where many refugees and internally displaced people have sought shelter from Boko Haram violence elsewhere. The region has been targeted numerous times in attacks blamed on the militants.

Around 200 people took the streets on Saturday in the capital Niamey to voice support for the population in Diffa and to ask for an audit of military spending as they denounced a "lack of results" from army action.

Along with Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin, Niger has contributed troops to a 9,000-strong regional task force dedicated to fighting the group that has so far survived attempts by African armies to destroy it.

"The terrorist threat remains a concern to our subregion," said Senegal's president Macky Sall, the incumbent chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

"We must face it by combining all our resources in a comprehensive long-term perspective," he told an Ecowas summit in Dakar on Saturday.

"We must at the same time remove any confusion in terminology: there is no Islamic state in West Africa matching the terrorist aims of Boko Haram. Boko Haram remains Boko Haram and Islam has nothing to do with terrorism and its killing spree".

Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamic state adhering to strict Sharia law in northeast Nigeria since 2009. About 2.1 million people have been displaced and thousands have been killed during the seven-year insurgency.

(Reporting by Boureima Balima; Writing by Marine Pennetier; Editing by Ruth Pitchford and Clelia Oziel)
The headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are seen in Washington, July 6, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

By Suzanne Barlyn

(Reuters) - A California couple raised $27 million from at least 50 Chinese investors seeking U.S. immigration visas but misused two-thirds of the money, instead of building a cancer treatment center they had proposed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

Charles C. Liu and Xin Lisa Wang, both of Laguna Niguel, California, promoted the facility as a project that would help the Chinese investors obtain permanent U.S. immigration visas through a federal program known as EB-5, the SEC said.

But Liu transferred $11.8 million of the funds to three firms in China, including one in which he is chief executive and chairman, according to the SEC's civil complaint, unsealed in a Los Angeles federal court on Thursday.

Liu also diverted another $7 million to personal accounts for him and Wang, the SEC said. No construction has started at the proposed facility site more than 18 months after the couple began taking investments, the SEC said.

A lawyer for Liu and Wang did not return a call requesting comment.

The SEC obtained a court order freezing the assets and accounts of Liu, Wang, and their entities, as well as barring them from collecting additional funds, the agency said.

Under the federal EB-5 program, wealthy foreigners can in effect buy U.S. immigration visas for themselves and families by investing at least $500,000 in certain development projects. In the past two decades, much of the investment has gone into commercial real-estate projects such as luxury hotels, ski resorts and gas stations.

But the program has also sparked concerns about possible scams, which the SEC addressed in a 2013 investor warning. The Liu case is one of several EB-5 fraud cases filed the agency has filed since that warning.

The project's investors were told that the center would provide a cancer treatment that uses protons, instead of x-rays, to treat cancer, and create more than 4,500 full-time jobs. The proposed building, slated for Montebello, California, would contain 125,000 square feet, according to the SEC's complaint.

Most of Liu's fund transfers occurred in February and March, just after the SEC subpoenaed Liu in its investigation, according to the SEC's complaint.

The SEC, whose lawsuit also names business entities related to the purported treatment center, is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties.

The case is U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Liu U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 8:16-cv-00974-CJC-AGR.
A billionaire property investor, senior members of the judiciary and a legendary footballer are among the 177 New Zealanders in the Queen's 90th birthday honours.

Science innovators, Maori leaders, business luminaries, sporting stars and defence force personnel are also among the recipients.

The list has no new members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZ), the highest honour, but there are two dames (DNZM), five knights (KNZM), eight companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), 37 officers (ONZM) and 66 new members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM).

Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ Justice Ellen France will become a dame on Monday in the Queen's 90th birthday honours.

There are 107 men in the birthday list and 70 women.

READ MORE:

* The Queen graces magazine cover

* Royal family portraits released

SUPPLIED Christopher Mace was made a Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit.

MILITARY SERVICE

Three serving military personnel were awarded the Distinguished Service Decoration.

The identities of two members of the New Zealand Defence Force servicemen honoured for work in Iraq were withheld from the list to protect operations and the families.



Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Childs, commander of the New Zealand contingent at the headquarters of the Multi-national Force and Observers in the Sinai Peninsula, was the third recipient.



DAMES



The Honourable Dame Justice Ellen France, the sitting president of the Court of Appeal, was recognised for her services to the judiciary.



France was appointed a judge in the High Court in 2002 and moved to the Court of Appeal a decade ago.

Ross Giblin The Honourable Dame Karen Sewell, QSO, receives her damehood. Sewell has had a career in education that has spanned 50 years.

She started legal practice in Auckland in 1981.

Dame Karen Sewell has had a career in education that has spanned 50 years, most recently contributing as a consultant to a number of education and governance activities.

She has held senior roles in the Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the only Kiwi to have held all these roles in the education sector.

Maarten Holl Retired High Court judge Ron Young in his chambers in 2015.

Sewell has been chairperson of the body responsible for helping children's education in isolated communities and also led the implementation of national standards.

KNIGHTS

The new Knight Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit are Michael Friedlander, Christopher Mace, Rob Fenwick, Matiu Te Rei and Justice Ron Young.

ROBERT KITCHIN/FAIRFAX NZ Sir Rob Fenwick of Auckland.

The Honourable Justice Ron Young was a Judge of the High Court from 2001 until his retirement in 2015. He was one of longest serving members of the judiciary and served as chief district court judge fro 1993 to 2001.

Friedlander, an Auckland billionaire property investor, was awarded a knighthood for services to philanthropy, funding research programmes for dyslexia in children and involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh International Award since 1990.

Mace, who chairs the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research division, was honoured for services to science and education, particularly his work advancing marine science.

STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ Former All Whites captain Steve Sumner.

Sir Rob Fenwick was made a Knight Companion for services to business and conservation, a mere two months after he was named as one of the inductees into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame and was one of three finalists for New Zealanders of the Year 2016.

He said it has been an "amazing" year so far and receiving a knighthood took him completely by surprise.

Matiu Te Rei was knighted for services to Maori in health, education, economic development, culture and Treaty of Waitangi Resolution. Since 1986, he has been the leader of Ngati Toa's Treaty of Waitangi claim.

Alice Te Puni Te reo Maori tutor Pou Temara.

COMPANIONS

Recipients represented the fields of medicine, heritage and conservation, Maori culture, business, sport, education and medicine.

They were Maori health Professor John Broughton, business identity Jan Dawson, Dr Dianne McCarthy for services to heritage, Dr Tom Miller for his contribution to medicine over 60 years, Professor Pou Temara for services to Maori identity and Jenny Prince, for dedication to children's services.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

There were 37 people appointed as officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit and 66 people appointed as members.

Steve Sumner is the most prominent former sportsperson to be included in the Queen's Birthday Honours list with the English-born 61-year-old being made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Sumner, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, was capped 105 times between 1976 and 1988 and since retiring as a player he has been active as an administrator.

Eight New Zealanders were made companions of the Queen's Service Order and 48 people were awarded the Queen's Service Medal.

For more information on the honours and seniority, visit here.
Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki stood ankle deep in cash at the church's annual conference on Saturday.

A controversial American preacher who has faced allegations he sexually abused young men during a previous trip to New Zealand urged Destiny Church followers to "repent, repent, repent" at their annual conference.

American evangelist Eddie Long was the guest of honour at Destiny's annual get together at the "City of God" in Manukau, south Auckland, which attracted about 1000 followers who paid $120 for a weekend pass.

"To ease the burden in the head . . . repent, repent, repent, repent . . ," Long said on Saturday morning.

SIMON MAUDE / FAIRFAX NZ American preacher Eddie Long, centre, preaches to Destiny Church attendees as Bishop Brian Tamaki, left, and wife Hannah cheer him on.

Standing just metres away in the church's hangar sized 'Sanctuary', ankle deep in tithed banknotes, stood self-appointed Destiny Church 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki who had invited Long as a special guest to the church's weekend Australasian 'Invasion' conference.

READ MORE:

* Founder's sex scandal threatens mega-church

* Beleaguered pastor suspends preaching

* Church attacked for Jesus tweet

* Destiny criticised for flashing cash

Both men refused to answer questions over Long's suitability to preach given past sexual abuse allegations.

DON SCOTT / FAIRFAX NZ "Let's face it, all churches are good at covering this stuff up, so I suppose they don't see it as anything wrong," Ken Clearwater said.

In 2010, several young men of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in US state Georgia, sued staunchly anti-gay Long for alleged grooming and sexual abuse, some of which allegedly happened in New Zealand.

By 2011 four lawsuits resulting from those allegations, according to US media, were all subsequently dismissed, unable to proceed in court.

The four former members of a youth group Long ran had accused him of repeatedly coercing them into homosexual sex acts, and of abusing his moral authority over them while plying them with cash, new cars, lodging and lavish trips overseas trips including, for one of the four, a trip to New Zealand.

SIMON MAUDE / FAIRFAX NZ Following Long's preaching, Destiny Church 'Invasion' conference attendees enjoyed a Kanyesque style christian hip hop jam.

Maurice Robinson's lawsuit alleged Long lavished attention on him. Robinson was rewarded with a Chevy Malibu before him and Long travelled to New Zealand in 2008  during that trip where Robinson turned 18, they began a sexual relationship.

Manager of Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Ken Clearwater said the unresolved historic allegations against Long are concerning and Bishop Brian Tamaki is turning a blind eye.

In 2010, Tamaki, who considers Long his 'spiritual father', said he was shocked by the allegations but had reserved judgment on Long.

On Saturday Tamaki's spokespeople refused media access to the 'Invasion' event which borrows its theme from Long's approach to mentoring young men.

In an effort to get a response from Tamaki and Long Stuff attended the Manukau, South Auckland event, but was once again refused an interview with the men.

"Let's face it, all churches are good at covering this stuff up, so I suppose they don't see it as anything wrong," Clearwater, a sexual abuse survivor himself, said.

It was easier in America for people in positions of power to bargain their way out of such cases, he said.

A beautiful powhiri to welcome Bishop Eddie L. Long, First Lady Vanessa + the New Birth team! It's all on now! pic.twitter.com/fODvup2GFq  Destiny Church (@DestinyChurchNZ) June 1, 2016

Clearwater said because Long had never been convicted it was difficult to stop him appearing in public.

"You can only go on hearsay."

Brian Tamaki had "definitely turned a blind eye. It's no different to how the Catholic church has turned a blind eye to child abuse...they don't want to know that stuff. If this guy is a mentor of his he's definitely not going to say anything bad against him."

He said when celebrities accused of sex abuse continued to appear in public it was "massively" tough for the victims. "It re-traumatises them. They get angry and think, 'what's the point of coming forward?'"

Meanwhile, Destiny continue to seek new revenue streams, releasing mobile phone covers for sale at the conference this week.

The his and hers models feature quotes from Hannah and Brian Tamaki.

"I don't just blend into the crowd," said Hannah's, while Brian's said: "I'm not born to live and do nothing."
A controversial American preacher who has faced allegations he sexually abused young men during a previous trip to New Zealand urged Destiny Church followers to "repent, repent, repent" at their annual conference.

American evangelist Eddie Long was the guest of honour at Destinys annual get together at the "City of God" in Manukau, south Auckland, which attracted about 1000 followers who paid $120 for a weekend pass.
Irene More was outside sweeping her porch when this reporter turned up for a visit.

Nails perfectly filed and painted, make-up on, jewellery matching, clothes tidy and co-ordinating.
Livingston County Drug Bust.JPG

Rebekah Schreppel, 27, and Dennis Nelson, 29, were each charged with second-degree criminal possession of marijuana and unlawful growing marijuana. Both formerly resided in the town of Lima.

(New York State Police)

LIMA, N.Y. -- A couple in western New York is accused of running a sophisticated marijuana growing and processing operation out of their home, the New York State Police said.

Rebekah Schreppel, 27, and Dennis Nelson, 29, were each charged with second-degree criminal possession of marijuana and unlawful growing marijuana. Both formerly resided in the town of Lima.

State police said the couple was arrested following a two-month investigation by troopers in Livingston County, south of Rochester.

Troopers executed a search warrant at the couple's home and seized more than 8 pounds of processed marijuana, 146 marijuana plants from inside the home, a third of a pound of concentrated THC, growing equipment and about $19,000 in cash.

The pair had two indoor grow enclosures and a third room in their basement that they had converted into a grow area, state police said. All three grow rooms were outfitted with grow lights and an elaborate ventilation system to try to hide the odor of the marijuana. State police said the pair also had a system to extract THC from the plants to produce concentrated oil and a crystallized form of THC known as Shatter.

State police said it was not clear exactly how long the pair had the grow operation running inside their home. But troopers seized detailed journals documenting growing activity going back several years, state police said.

Schreppel and Nelson were arraigned in Lima Town Court and are scheduled to reappear in court on July 11.
SYRACUSE, NY -- Recent Syracuse University Law School graduate Kevin Belbey ate seven complete hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes Saturday at the Taste of Syracuse.

Emcee Sam Barclay calls time during Saturday's Taste of Syracuse qualifying round for the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. The contestants had to eat as many hot dogs and buns as possible in 10 minutes.

Sounds impressive, unless you consider the woman a few steps away who downed 21. Or the guy a few feet from her who consumed and digested 34.5.

"It was a lot of fun and I feel good," said Belbey, one of the amateurs competing against the pro eaters in the contest, a qualifying round for the renowned Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4. "I don't think I'll do it again, though. It's off my bucket list."

Winners in the Taste of Syracuse qualifying round of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest: Geoffrey Esper of Oxford, Mass. (34.5 dogs eaten), and Meredith Boxberger, of Barrie Ont. (21).

The top female and male qualifiers, in this case both pros on the Major League Eating circuit, won seats at the July 4 Nathan's finals at Coney Island.

Meredith "Deep Fried Diva" Boxberger, of Barrie, Ontario, won a spot in the women's finals with her 21 downed dogs. She had just one female opponent, Larell "The Real Deal" Mele.

The rest of the field of 12 were men. Reigning MLE Rookie of the Year Geoffrey Esper of Oxford, Mass. set a personal best record for hot dogs with his 34.5. That was just enough to beat Yasir Salem, of New York City, who ate 31.

Kevin Belbey, a recent Syracuse University Law School grad,competed Saturday in his first (and probably last) Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Esper, one of the few MLE pros without a nickname, acknowledged beating his personal contest record.

"I've done better in practice," he said, but refused to give the number for competitive reasons.

MLE superstar Eric "Badlands" Booker, previously announced as a Syracuse contestant, did not compete.

The contest took place on the main stage of the Taste of Syracuse, which hosted a Nathan's round for the first time. Before and during the contest, emcee and carnival barker Sam Barclay, in a blue sportcoat, straw boater hat and posh British accent, kept the large crowd entertained.

This is the 20th year for the Taste and the 100th anniversary of the Nathan's contest.

The July 4 finals will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Belbey will be watching.

Noting that Esper, Saturday's winner, ate almost five times as many hot dogs as he did, Belbey said, "The crazy thing is the winner at Coney Island might double that."

So Belbey's days as a competitor are over. "Now I'm just a fan," he said.

Our complete guide to the Taste of Syracuse 2016

Don Cazentre writes about food, beverages, restaurants and bars for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him by email, on Twitter, at Google+ or via Facebook.
Students of Fayetteville-Manlius High School attended their senior ball Saturday evening. The event was held at the Oncenter in Syracuse.

Above is our gallery of photos from the event.

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Set to be the biggest comedy production of Easter term, this years Footlights international tour show, Lagoon, has  as always- got a lot to live up to.

Set to perform to over twenty thousand people across two continents, the two week run at the ADC opens on Tuesday and will give exam weary students the first glimpse of the skits and sketches before they hit the road. The reputation of the troupe adds extra pressure on the writers and performers who seek to emulate some of the famous alumni and produce new and topical material that has universal appeal.

Producer and tour manager Alex Cartlidge told TCS, it's going to be very exciting and interesting to track the progress and development of the show. We have some really strong sketches which we are looking forward to putting out there!

Once the fortnight long run at the ADC show closes at the end of May Week, the performers are set to take to the road and play to audiences in London, the Edinburgh Fringe and North America. I think I'm most excited for L.A. and Las Vegas. It's going to be an amazing experience and a great way to finish university! Alex added.

Director and writer Tom Fairbairn is looking forward to watching the varied audience reactions in Cambridge and on tour: The material we've got at the moment is really good, he told TCS, there's some more experimental audio-visual elements in the show but also some classic sketchy-sketches. It will be great finally to have contact with an audience and see how it goes down.

The show is set to return to the ADC for week 0 of Michaelmas, and is likely to have had made many tweaks and changes. As a director, I believe acting is 99% reacting. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the show develops over the next few months, Tom added.

The stamina needed for such a long run is always a test any young performer has to pass, ad as for making sure that the cast on their toes over the summer, Tom has a game plan already. I'm going to keep the cast motivated by acting as a kind of drill sergeant, especially as the tour goes on and they begin to fatigue. 'I don't care if it's 5.30am, get out of bed and get in the kayak now!!' is the kind of phrase I look forward to using. 

The Footlights International Show Tour, Lagoon, runs at the ADC between June 7th- June 18th.
Survival rates of pancreatic cancer patients will improve with a new combination cancer therapy, a new study has suggested.

The results of the clinical trial conducted by Cancer Research UK showed that an additional 13 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer will live at least five years if they are on combination chemotherapy rather than having the standard treatment alone.

For their study, the researchers analyzed 732 patients from different hospitals who underwent surgical removal of their tumors. Half of them were given the standard treatment of gemcitabine, while the remainder of patients received the combination therapy of capecitabine and gemcitabine.

The researchers noted that 29 percent of the patients who had the combination therapy survived at least five years than those in the standard therapy group and that the side effects did not differ between the two groups.

"The difference in short-term survival may seem modest, but improvement in long-term survival is substantial for this cancer," said University of Liverpool professor and lead researcher John Neoptolemos.

Because of this, Neoptolemos said that the combination therapy of capecitabine and gemcitabine would become the new standard treatment for pancreatic cancer. He added that identifying drugs that can shrink the tumor to make surgery possible is a significant step toward curing the disease and improving survival rates in patients.

Chief clinician of Cancer Research UK Professor Peter Johnson acknowledged that pancreatic cancer is a challenge to treat but it is good that progress is being achieved. In the UK, pancreatic cancer afflicts nearly 10,000 individuals every year and ranks as the fifth most common cause of death, with 8,800 patients dying yearly.

"We still have a long way to go, but Cancer Research UK is investing heavily into research to take on pancreatic cancer, and we are just starting to see the results," Johnson said.

The trial, which started in 2008, is currently in its third phase and is only recruiting participants who have ampullary cancer or the cancer that originates from the ampulla of Vater, the part where the pancreatic and bile ducts join and meet the bowel.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have earlier developed an implantable device that would increase the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs for pancreatic cancer patients. Will it work with the combination therapy to treat pancreatic cancer better?

Photo: Nicki Dugan Pogue | Flickr

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Todd May from Ogden, Utah has always had a knack for finding interesting things during his long walks near his home, but what he found on one particular hike ended up making him the talk of the town.

Instead of coming across the usual rocks and fossils, May stumbled upon a large 75-pound object, which he claims could be a well-preserved skull of a Bigfoot.

Fans of the occult know Bigfoots as giant, mysterious creatures that are said to roam the wilderness of the Northwestern United States.

While tales about these ape-like beings have sprung up more than a few times in the past, no one has ever produced any concrete evidence of their existence. May, however, stressed that what he had found is the proof many people have been waiting for.

May said he has been interested in Bigfoots for quite some time, especially since he lives in one of the hot spots for the creatures' sightings. In fact, he claims to have seen two of the mysterious creatures in the past.

He said the first time he encountered a Bigfoot, he was startled by its ape-like features. He added that the Bigfoot had appeared suddenly out of nowhere but it ran off as soon as they made eye contact with each other.

It was then that May decided to visit Ogden Canyon more often in the hopes of catching another glimpse of the giant creature. He also met a few other people who said they saw a Bigfoot during these trips.

In one of his visits to the canyon, May said he came across another creature, this time it was larger than the one before and had red fur. He said the second encounter frightened him even more.

Despite receiving criticism from other people who dismiss his claims as hoaxes, May remains convinced that what he had found and experienced is true.

"There's haters out there, other Bigfoot enthusiasts that don't like that I found something first," the amateur Bigfoot hunter said.

Prof. Jesse Carlucci, a geoscience expert from Midwestern State University who examined the large object May found, said that it is nothing more than a piece of rock that went through severe weathering.

Carlucci pointed to the natural fractures on the rock as proof of chemical breakdown, which often occurs when it is exposed to rainwater.

Fossil skulls, on the other hand, are very fragile objects made of bone. They have a totally different composition and texture compared to rocks. This means the object that May found is not a skull of a Bigfoot, Carlucci explained.

Photo: Bob Doran | Flickr

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Small European country Luxembourg has allotted $223 million in funds for space mining ventures.

On June 3, Luxembourg showcased how determined it is to be on top of all nations in the industry of bringing space materials on Earth.

"We have a first budget to get started but if we need more money, we will be able to provide it," says economy minister Etienne Schneider in a news conference.

Luxembourg's Ambitious Aim

In February, Luxembourg unveiled its plans to become a big player in the space mining industry. In fact, it has announced its plans of building a legal and regulatory framework that will facilitate the ownership issues of space materials in the future.

The country has clearly made known to the world how serious it is to lead space mining, and with a reputation for efficient fund management and private banking industry, it aims to soar higher in the space exploration sector.

Schneider says Luxembourg is looking to be included in the top 10 countries in the world with a prosperous space industry.

The country appears well on its way with its SES, which is among the biggest communication satellites operator in the world.

Schneider recalls the launch of the first satellite back in 1985. During that time, they had big talks about whether people would need such satellites up there or the possibility that they could plunge down into Earth.

Because of the highly ambitious visions of Luxembourg, the country has attracted interests from startup space mining companies in the U.S. such as Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources. Both of these firms are even planning to have offices in Luxembourg.

Space Mining

The space mining industry may fully take off soon, with experts saying that a first exploration mission to look for nearby asteroids may occur after three years.

Space mining missions will not only discover and bring back asteroids from space to Earth, but can also contribute to studies about more distant planets by generating fuel for missions set for farther locations.

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In 2015, the ScanPyramids project was launched to help unlock the secrets of Egypt's pyramids. Today, a team of French scientists is testing a new telescope that can scan the ancient structures for untold secrets.

Developed by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the new telescope utilizes muon particles, which are quite similar to cosmic rays.

The French team's goal is to use the new scanning device to locate and visualize the pyramids' hidden chambers as well as other undiscovered structures inside the pyramids.

"We're trying to discover the Pyramids of Giza and other pyramids as well, and whether or not there lies anything behind them, or any secrets we do not know about," said Yasser Elshayeb, who is part of the French team.

The plan is to focus first on the pyramids' known areas. After covering the known bases, the French team will sweep the pyramids' unknown sections. The team is scheduled to present their findings by early July.

"It's running right now, and if it manages to detect one of the three chambers we already know exist inside, then we will continue the scans," said famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who is also the former antiquities minister of Egypt.

In November 2015, thermal scans discovered major anomalies in the ancient structures. They found three adjacent stones whose temperatures are higher than the others.

In the past, Hawass downplayed the effectiveness of these new scanners on ancient structures. His stance even led to his public clash with Nicolas Reeves, a British Egyptologist who theorized that secret chambers could be located just behind King Tutankhamun's tomb walls.

The secret chamber theory behind King Tut's tomb wall was prompted using the scanning devices.

Just last month, Polytechnic University of Milan's Daniela Comelli published a research detailing a rare iron dagger that was found inside King Tut's tomb.

The team utilized an X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, which is a portable scanner that enabled them to analyze that the dagger was most likely fashioned from an iron meteorite.

Comelli added that analyzing more pre-Iron Age artifacts could lead to important discoveries about the metal work technologies that existed in ancient Egypt.

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Rumors have been rife that Samsung has a quintet of flagships in the works for release in 2017. While the Galaxy Note 7, Galaxy Note 7 edge, Galaxy 8 and Galaxy 8 edge smartphones are a given, the fifth handset in question is the all-new foldable Galaxy X.

The Samsung Galaxy X smartphone is allegedly a part of an internal project code-named Project Valley and will be a foldable smartphone.

It was at CES 2013 when Samsung showed off its foldable display technology, the OLED Youm display panel. The notion of Samsung working on a flexible smartphone gained further traction with rumors of the secret project coming to light.

Reports have suggested that the foldable smartphone will be a 5-inch handset, but when opened, it can be used as a 7-inch tablet. The South Korean OEM has supposedly partnered with both local and international business outfits to help it in the development of the novel foldable Galaxy X smartphone.

The Galaxy X smartphone is also alleged to bear the model number SM-G929F and will reportedly be released in the UK, Italy, Germany, Poland, Nordic countries, France, Ireland and South Korea. Notably, the U.S. market is missing from the Galaxy X's list.

Not only will the Galaxy X smartphone have a foldable screen but also a 4K resolution display. This display per reports will have the "diamond PenTile sub-pixel arrangement." Samsung has the intellectual property rights for the PenTile matrix display, and it has deployed this architecture in its Galaxy S7 lineup as well.

The foldable Samsung smartphone will possibly come preloaded with the Android N operating system and house the next-gen Snapdragon 830 processor from Qualcomm. Whether Samsung will be able to offer support for a microSD card slot, a camera module and water resistance will be interesting given that the handset will be foldable.

Judging by the rumors, the Galaxy X will debut next year, possibly spring, as that is the time when the company unveiled its Galaxy S lineup. The handset is expected to be priced higher than the Galaxy S7, as it will be a potential game changer. Therefore, we could be looking at a starting price of $650 or higher.

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The creation of a synthetic human genome is now within the reach of researchers, and the possibility of forming a genetic blueprint of a human being is stirring controversy. While one group of researchers praises the vision of the project, others are urging their fellow scientists to wait to develop a synthetic human genome until the moral implications of such a development can be decided.

Human Genome Project-write (HGP-write) presents a significant goal for researchers as, so far, only the genes of baker's yeast and simple bacteria have been developed in the laboratory.

In May, a group of scientists met at a closed-door meeting held at Harvard University. Although organizers of the event claimed the secrecy was due to discussion of a non-public scientific paper, the nature of the meeting drew ire from around the globe.

"I think it's a brilliant project. If you want to do this, it's going to be on the same scale as the Human Genome Project, it's going to need some big funding agencies and hundreds and hundreds of researchers around the world," Paul Fremont, a synthetic biologist at Imperial College London and attendee at the meeting, said.

Current technology is too costly, as well as too slow, to form a completely synthetic genome of a human being. One path toward the development of such a gene could be to form segments of code to carry out specific functions. Such a plan could save a significant portion of the full project cost.

Developing a complete human genome from scratch is a project which would take a decade or more to complete, at a cost of billions of dollars. Developers of the technology are hoping to raise $100 million from a variety of sources in order to launch their project.

Some critics are concerned that focus on a synthetic human genome could draw attention and resources away from other research. Proponents of HGP-write believe their work will contribute greatly to knowledge of the genetics of other species.

"Exponential improvements in genome engineering technologies and functional testing provide an opportunity to deepen the understanding of our genetic blueprint and use this knowledge to address many of the global problems facing humanity," George Church of Harvard Medical School said.

Developers of HGP-write state their project will uncover the mechanisms by which genes are tied to biological mechanisms and functions. This research could assist in the development of new medicines and targeted treatments for a wide variety of ailments.

Investigators will first focus on synthesizing a segment of about 1 percent of the human genome, in order to test if such a complete undertaking is feasible.

Information and knowledge gained from the development of HGP-write will be made available for free to the general public. The portions of genes selected for this test of concept are those likely to yield results advantageous to medical research.

The greatest fears of opponents of HGP-write could center on nightmarish visions of clones and a modern age of eugenics. For now, however, scientists are not yet even able to insert functional synthetic genomes into a working cell of a mammal.

Photo: Caroline Davis | Flickr

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Android smartphone users who own the Microsoft Band 2 will be pleased to learn that the Redmond-based company has pushed out an update for the Microsoft Health app, which brings support for Cortana, the intelligent personal assistant.

Even though the Microsoft Band 2 can pair with compatible Android smartphones with ease, the Cortana support was only available for Windows Phone users. Thanks to Microsoft pushing out the firmware update on Thursday, June 2, Android users of the Band 2 now finally benefit from Cortana integration as well.

"Cortana is now available on Android - With Cortana on your Band, you can access your personal assistant for instant notifications of important events, communications, and voice-active info without reaching for your phone. Speak into the mic on your Band to Cortana to take actions for you, get facts, and more," notes Microsoft.

The firmware update not only lets Android users of the Microsoft Band 2 dole out commands to Cortana via the mic - negating the need to physically touch the handset - it also brings bug fixes.

The update to the Health app also brings the zoned heart rate tracking feature. Basically, this feature will let the Heart Rate counter automatically alter its colors based on the level the Band 2 user reaches.

Android users of the Microsoft Band 2 in the U.S.  since the app's availability is limited  will also be able to connect and contest with their mates. They can also generate challenges for runs, cardio score, bike rides, steps etc. between their Facebook friends and themselves, if the former use the Microsoft Health app.

To get Cortana support on their Microsoft Band 2, Android users are required to download the Cortana app for Android from the Play Store. Install the app and ensure the app notification services are on. Since the app is installed on the Android smartphone, one needs to turn the tile "on" on the Band 2  it is now switched on by default.

Make sure your Band 2 is synced with the Android smartphone. You need to use the Microsoft Health app for Android to sync the two devices. Once the Cortana app has been installed on your smartphone, switch it on in the Health app. To do so follow these steps:

1. Tap on the Menu icon > Manage Tiles

2. Toggle Cortana "On"

You are now good to go and can use Cortana to give instructions!

Photo: iphonedigital | Flickr

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GhostShell hacker back with a bang, leaks 36 million user records from 110 misconfigured MangoDB servers

Twenty-four-year-old Romanian hacker GhostShell has returned with yet another leak of 36 million user records obtained from 110 misconfigured MongoDB servers, of which 3.6 million also include passwords. The hacker was in the news couple of months ago for doxing himself.

The hacker announced the data leak on Twitter and posted a link to a PasteBin URL where he wrote that the leak was aimed at raising awareness about what happens when you decide not to even add a username and password as root or check for open ports. The users also can find a statement regarding his reasons behind the hack, screenshots from all the hacked servers, and several links from where users can download the data.

The hacker added that most system administrators dont bother checking for open ports on their newly configured servers, which can lead to anyone infiltrating the network and managing their internal data without any interference. You dont even have to elevate your privileges, you just connect and have total access. You can create new databases, delete existing ones, alter data, and so much more.

The download package is a 598 MB ZIP file, which when decompressed sizes up to 5.6 GB of data containing 110 folders named based on the hacked servers IP. Each of these folders contains a screenshot as proof of the hackers access to the server, a text file with information about the hacked server, and the complete database dump.

The data includes user information such as real names, usernames, email addresses, passwords, gender, browser information, geolocation info, information about the users smartphone model, API credentials, social media details, and even avatar images.

In his statements, GhostShell says that he only used simple scanners like Shodan to reveal these databases. The hacker explains Project Vori Dazel, as he names his recent MongoDB hacking spree, as a public protest against poor security practices.

GhostShell says that all the databases he accessed had no username or password for the root account and had a large number of open ports.

According to a report by ZNet, security researcher Lee Johnston of Cyber War News discovered 626,000 unique email addresses as part of the data dump, which included over 1,300 government addresses from the US Department of Homeland Security, the IRS, the FBI, the FAA and the US Navy.

GhostShell also revealed that around 140,000 exclusive email addresses from one of the databases included information on the top IT of the most wealthy corporations from the US, such as Apple, Microsoft and IBM.

All these hacks from GhostShell are part of his Light Hacktivism campaign, which flourishes on finding and uncovering susceptibilities and poor security practices in order to have them modified. Earlier, the hacker also embarked on a more aggressive campaign called Dark Hacktivism. However, the hacker this time around has an issue with companies that deploy MongoDB without safeguarding them properly.

You can read the complete statement from GhostShell on Pastebin paste here.
The Venezuelan government expects the immediate release of the plane held in Argentina after the release of its 19 crew members; the foreign minister of this Caribbean nation, Carlos Faria,... | Read More
Dead tiger cubs are displayed by Thai officials after they were found in a raid on the controversial Tiger Temple, a popular tourist destination which has come under fire in recent years over the welfare of its big cats, in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, Thailand June 1, 2016. Photo: Reuters

This years World Environment Day on June 5 puts the spotlight on the illegal trade in wildlife. The problem has particular significance in Asia, which is the destination for most of the ivory taken from 20,000 to 25,000 elephants and the horns of more than 1,200 rhinos killed in Africa every year. Demand in the region is driven by fast growing middle and upper classes with an appetite for exotic pets, decor, food and fashion.

While several iconic species including rhinos, tigers and elephants are now in decline, with some populations pushed to the brink of extinction, it is actually less known species such as pangolins, turtles and reptiles that are most frequently smuggled across borders in Southeast Asia. And although it is difficult to obtain an accurate valuation of the regional wildlife trade, it is known that prices of some species are subject to speculation  often driven by proximity to extinction  and that the profits made by organized crime are significant.

Despite a variety of national and international instruments to counter the problem, transnational criminal groups have been able to circumvent regulations and to launder illegally sourced wildlife into legal markets. This often happens through fraud, advanced smuggling techniques, or more simply with corruption. The size of some recent seizures  several tonnes of ivory were intercepted over the past few years in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam  and the variety of nationalities of the couriers arrested leaves no doubt about the organized and transnational nature of wildlife trafficking.

We are paying a heavy price. The illegal wildlife trade undermines our ability to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda adopted last year. Ivory from a poached elephant is worth about US$21,000 a kilogram while a living elephant can generate more than $1.6 million in economic activity. The illegal wildlife trade also has serious negative impacts on biodiversity, leading to the extinction of species and damage to habitat. The environmental impact of the illegal wildlife trade also goes beyond the immediate detrimental effects on target species, and can result in the spread of diseases or introduction of invasive species when live animals are moved across international borders.

In a landmark resolution last year the United Nations General Assembly called on countries to declare the illegal wildlife trade a serious criminal offense. Discussions at the second United Nations Environment Assembly that has just taken place in Kenya May 23-27 reaffirmed the urgency of stepping up efforts to combat wildlife crime through concrete actions at the national level and through expanded international cooperation. There are also signs that leaders in this region have started recognize the significance of the problem  the last ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime added trafficking in wildlife and timber to the list of priority transnational crimes for the region to address. Given the size of the market for wildlife in Asia it is important that political statements in the region are followed up with concrete actions, and that the illegal wildlife trade is treated as a serious organized crime like drug trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, terrorism, and arms smuggling.

Addressing the illegal trade in wildlife will require collective coordinated action, working across source, transit and destination countries, in the most strategic hotspots across the supply chain. It is important to shift the focus of the criminal justice response from couriers and poachers to trade controllers and corrupt facilitators. Legal loopholes need to be closed and laws and penalties made tougher in conjunction with anti-corruption provisions. And hopefully greater public awareness will bring pressure to bear on governments to enforce laws.

As we mark World Environment Day, the United Nations is calling on everyone to stop wildlife trafficking. Everyone has a role to play from lawmakers, community leaders, police and customs officers, prosecutors and judges, to businesses and average citizens.

We urge you to join us in calling for zero tolerance. Wildlife trafficking needs to be stopped.

* Isabelle Louis is acting regional director, United Nations Environment Program Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and Jeremy Douglas is regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The opinions expressed are their own.
This might be the best news for parents in Da Nang: authorities in the central city plan to provide swimming lessons to all students from next year.

Nguyen Dinh Vinh, director of the education department, said the proposal is for each school to set up a portable swimming pool and offers classes all year round, and this could take a year.

[This] will ensure that all students learn to swim and avoid drowning, news website VnExpress quoted him as saying.

He said the department has authorized school principals to attract investments.

A US organization has offered funds and provided equipment to several schools to set up pools, he said.

His department has signed agreements with several hotels, restaurants, and military and police offices to allow use of their pools for childrens classes this summer.

The classes cost VND200,000 (US$9) per student.

Drowning is the leading cause of death in Vietnam among children aged five to 14, according to the World Health Organization.

Vietnams social affairs ministry said there are an average of 10 child drowning deaths a day, the highest in Southeast Asia and 10 times the number in developed countries.

As a country with 3,260 kilometers of coastline, innumerable rivers, canals and ponds, Vietnam has yet to make swimming lessons part of the standard school curriculum.

Most swimming classes are either organized by charity groups in rural areas or in large urban schools.
Images from the video clip show an employee at a Hanoi hospital receiving envelopes from a patient's relative.

The health ministry's Department of Health Examination and Treatment has instructed the Hospital K to investigate allegations that a hospital employee received bribe from a patient's relative.

The directorate of the Hanoi-based prime oncology hospital was told to clarify allegations, take strict measures against violation and report to the agency by June 9.

The instruction was made after a video clip of a hospitals employee receiving stack of envelopes from a patients relative has gone viral online since it was posted on June 2.

The alleged female employee of the hospitals branch No. 3 in Thanh Tri District also tipped the elder woman, whose relative was about to undergo a surgery, to bribe others at anesthetic ward.

I only keep [the money] for the surgeon. For anesthetic [nurse], you should go over there, she said in the clip.

The hospital director Bui Dieu said on June 3 that the hospital has suspended the employee, identified only as T, for inspection.

A still image from the video clip posted on June 2 shows a woman hospital employee taking envelopes allegedly as bribes from patients' relatives. On April 14, health minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien during a visit to Hospital K said a number of patients there told her that a hospital doctor had received bribes from patients' relatives.

Tien urged the hospital to investigate and impose strict punishment of the violated person, if any.

The hospital later confirmed that one of its doctors, Dao Thanh Lam, had received VND3.2 million (US$143) from a patient.

Lam was officially rebuked and reassigned to work at a position that does not directly deal with patients.
An operation at Viet Duc Hospital, one of several in Hanoi having committed to not receiving unofficial bonuses from patients. But the practice is still happening.

In October last year, a campaign was launched against unofficial payment at five of Hanoi's largest hospitals general hospitals Bach Mai, Viet Duc and E; cancer care facility K; and the Central Obstetrics Hospital.

But reports by VnExpress found bribery is still popular at the hospitals.

Lam, whose son was a patient at Viet Duc, paid a surgeon VND2 million ($100) after a recent brain operation. "Once in a hospital, you know that you have to pay extra to doctors, especially when your son's life is threatened."

Though not a surveyed subject, the father has reflected the finding of a recent behind the scenes survey of Vietnam's healthcare system, that medical practitioners start taking bribes once they have their official title.

The survey, published in Hanoi Wednesday, was conducted between August 2010 and February 2010 in Hanoi, Son La Province in northern Vietnam, Dak Lak in the Central Highlands and Can Tho in the Mekong Delta.

"Unofficial payment" for health services in Vietnam became popular in 2000 and those in the health care industry have continued to receive cash, gifts and other "opportunities," such as the chance to purchase real estate at reduced prices or send their children to elite schools, the news website VnExpress reported.

Findings came from interviews with 17 policy makers and management officials, 119 doctors, nurses and patients.

Experts from the Transparency International Vietnam and Vietnam Research and Training Center for Community Development which conducted the survey, said the study subjects were given in-depth interviews which allowed investigators to uncover the root causes of many issues related to medical bribery.

"My friend had managed to meet a high-ranking doctor one time she went to a hospital. After several words, she offered different opportunities to the doctor, provoking the doctor to ask for her phone number. After just two phone calls, they were close like family," said Tran Thi Thu Ha, a member of the survey.

"After that, every time she or her family or friends became ill, the doctor would come with a phone call, even if it was in the middle of the night," Ha said.

She said there exists a big difference between the bonuses at small and large hospitals, in rural and urban areas, like VND50,000 (US$2.5) compared to VND5 million, or even several dozen million dong, but it is a common practice.

Half of the surveyed patients said they "saw others do that" and one third said the nurses and doctors demanded the money "in a very clever way."

Nurses and doctors said the bonuses did not create much difference in the treatment quality, but patients who paid extra received longer, more gentle consultations and better post-surgery care.

Doctor Tran Tuan from the community development research center said the treatment quality in general was "surely" affected "as the treatment priority was not based on the patients' conditions but manipulated by money."

Both doctors and policymakers questioned said that the bribery destroyed people's trust and respect for the healthcare system, and could create internal conflicts within hospitals.

Tuan said the healthcare sector has institutionalized the practice, as patients now feel guilty when they do not give bonuses to their doctors.

Nguyen Duc Vy, former director of the Central Obstetrics Hospital in Hanoi, told VnExpress that bribery at hospitals can only be stopped when the medical fees are raised and doctors do not feel the need to earn extra.
The Vietnam Medical Corps will send its personnel abroad to assist the United Nations' peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, an official said.

Major General Nguyen Hong Son, director of the 175 Military Hospital under the corps, told local media that his staff has been preparing to work overseas.

The hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday concluded four days of exchange activities with the US Medical Corps. Both sides have shared experience especially in aviation medicine to improve their rescuing skills in disasters, Son said.

We need to prepare before sending military forces abroad. Exchange activities with the US are important and necessary, Son was quoted by Mot The Gioi as saying.

According to Son, Vietnam plays an important role in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Vietnam Medical Corps has always been ready to cope with issues in the East Sea, including disasters and dangerous situations, he said.

Last May, Vietnam launched its peacekeeping center and sent its first officers to assist the UN peacekeeping forces in South Sudan.
United Nations Deputy Secretary General Ameerah Haq ( 2nd from right) poses for a photo with Vietnamese military officers Lieutenant Colonel Tran Nam Ngan (R) and Lieutenant Colonel Mac Duc Trong after an inauguration ceremony for Vietnam's Peacekeeping Center in Hanoi on May 27. Photo credit: Vietnam News Agency Vietnam is working on a plan to send a company of sappers and a second-level field hospital to the Republic of South Sudan as part of the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission there.

On Monday (July 14), Lieutenant-General Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff, chaired a meeting with the newly-established Vietnam Peacekeeping Center to discuss the plan, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, the Center's director, briefed Tuan on the center's recent activities along with the two officers who have already been deployed to South Sudan.

The officers made a number of proposals related to the center's future implementation of the mission.

Representatives from the Military Medicine Department under the General Logistics Department and the High Command of Engineering said their units have worked out training plans and are preparing personnel for peacekeeping missions.

Lt. Gen. Tuan instructed the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center to arrange forces for peacekeeping missions abroad and continue to improve the center's infrastructure.

He also agreed with the centers proposals on sending teams to work with the UN and make field trips in preparation for the deployment of the sapper company and the second-level field hospital in South Sudan.

On May 27, two Vietnamese officers took off to join the United Nations peacekeeping forces in South Sudan.

Vietnam opened its peacekeeping center in June.

Lieutenant Colonel Mac Duc Trong, 43, and, Tran Nam Ngan, 42, will serve as communication officers from their African base.


A tourism cruiser went on fire in Ha Long Bay on Tuesday night, but all 25 people aboard including 16 foreigners were rescued just in time. A tourism cruiser went on fire in Ha Long Bay on Tuesday night, but all 25 people aboard including 16 foreigners were rescued just in time.

Authorities in Ha Long, a favorite tourist destination in northern Vietnam, said flames swept through the boat operated by a local company at around 8:10 p.m. while it was anchored at the bay, local media reported.

The three-star boat was carrying 16 foreign tourists, a tour guide, a cruise attendant and seven crew members.

The crew informed local authorities once they discovered a small fire starting in the cabin.

Firefighters and coast guards rushed over and rescued the tourists together with their belongings to the nearby Titop island.

They spent hours trying to put out the fire but it was so strong it burned down the whole boat.

The boat reportedly received some maintenance recently and just resumed service after meeting security and tourism service requirements.

It had 18 beds and private bathrooms for customers, as well as a dining area for 30 people.

This is not the first tourism boat accidents at the worlds heritage bay, which draws flocks of tourists every day.

At least two boats went on fire last year and another capsized, but no causalities were reported.

Police are investigating the cause of the latest incident.
Rescuers are searching for the missing people after a tourism boat sank in the Han River in Da Nang City June 4, 2016. Photo: Nguyen Tu/Thanh Nien Rescuers in the central city of Da Nang are searching for survivors Sunday morning after a tourism boat sank in the Han River on Saturday nightg.

The incident happened at around 8:30 p.m. when the Thao Van 2 tourism boat suddenly turned over at a river section in front of the Novotel Hotel in the city downtown.

The number of people onboard could be 46 instead of 38 as reported by the boat owner previously, Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy chairman of Da Nang People's Committee, said.

By 2 a.m. Sunday, 43 people, including four Malaysian tourists, were rescued and rushed to hospitals in the city.

Three passengers - two children from the northern province of Thai Nguyen, and a man from the central province of Binh Dinh -- are still missing.

Four of the survivors, including a Malaysian couple, are in critical condition.

A survivor, who wanted to remain unnamed, said the boat turned over around 15 minutes into the cruise and no emergency call was made.

No passenger managed to wear life jacket but many were lucky to hold on to them. There were 4 foreigners among the passengers, she said.

Witnesses said they saw the boat turning over and sinking without colliding with any boat or floating object.

Do Thi Huong, one of the survivors, said the passengers were not told to wear life jackets.

"The boat has movable chairs just like at a cafe. The boat tilted aside when too many people sat on one side. They were terrified and ran to the other side, forcing the boat to turn over," she said.

Da Nang authorities have mobilized around 200 rescuers to search for the missing people.

By 11 p.m. on Saturday, the boat was retrieved but there was no person inside. Rescuers assumed that there may be other victims being washed down the river.

Nguyen Son, director of Da Nang Pediatric and Gynecology Hospital said the hospital has admitted 11 victims, aged from 3-11, including 2 with serious respiratory failure.

The Da Nang general hospital has admitted 18 victims, including 9 children that were transferred to the pediatric hospital.

Da Nang authorities also found that the boat had been modified from a fishing boat and did not register to carry tourists.

In 2014, the Thao Van 2 sank when carrying 10 tourists on the Han River. Luckily, all of them were rescued.

Da Nang's rescuers rush some survivors to hospital on Saturday night. Photo: Nguyen Tu/Thanh Nien

Van chua het bang hoang, ba o Thi Huong (Thai Nguyen) cho biet gia inh ba gom 3 con trai, 3 con dau, 2 ua con gai va 9 ua chau i du lich a Nang. Luc len tau, moi nguoi khong uoc khuyen cao mac ao phao. Tren tau trang bi loai ghe ngoi giong ghe quan nuoc, khong co inh ma ngoi lon xon nen khi nhieu nguoi ngoi don 1 ben tau nen tau lat nghieng. Sau o cac hanh khach hoang loan, chay, treo don ve ben con lai nen tau lat up.
A beach in Phu Quoc where a tourist died in a jet-ski accident on June 26, 2015. Photo credit: Tuoi Tre

A 44-year-old man from northern Vietnam died in the resort island Phu Quoc on Friday after his water scooter collided with a tourism boat.

Nguyen Thanh Hung was speeding out when the tourism boat was sailing back to shore. He failed to steer away and hit the cruiser head-on.

Hung and his friend sitting behind fell into the sea and staff members of the resort which rented him the scooter rescued him.

They were conscious at first, but Hung started to feel tired and vomit ten minutes later.

He was rushed to a hospital five kilometers away but doctors declared him dead.

His family asked to fly his body home in Bac Ninh Province the same day, saying they will take care of everything and will not file complaints.

The resort requires water scooters to be driven by one of its qualified guides. But Hung wanted to drive on his own and he had reportedly signed an agreement to take full responsibility for any consequences.
Here are 10 of the most memorable snapshots on Instagram that you should not miss

A photo posted by @hunguy on May 23, 2016 at 10:59am PDT

Lang Co Bay in Hue in central Vietnam

A photo posted by Venus Wong  (@venuswongisun) on May 23, 2016 at 6:41pm PDT

Bun cha, a Hanoi specialty with rice vermicelli, grilled pork slices, pork pies and fresh herbs

A photo posted by wild wind (@bao_an_nguyen) on May 26, 2016 at 11:23pm PDT

"Saigon signature," says the caption for this photo of Ho Chi Minh City's Notre Dame Cathedral

A photo posted by Alba Battolini (@albetta82) on May 28, 2016 at 5:26pm PDT

A lotus pond at the Perfume Pagoda in Hanoi

A photo posted by Buildings&streetslifeandmore (@buildingstreetslifeandmore) on May 28, 2016 at 4:13pm PDT

Rice papers in the sidewalk in Hoi An, central Vietnam

A photo posted by Khanh Nguyen (@run_out_of_name) on May 28, 2016 at 12:43pm PDT

Vietnamese fishermen back from a night trip

A photo posted by @natgeoyourshot on Jun 1, 2016 at 10:55am PDT

"Playing cheerfully, what more is needed?" says photographer Lukas Kuzma about the scene captured on a street in Vietnam

A photo posted by Trotter - Curated City Guides (@trottermag) on May 28, 2016 at 8:13am PDT

A house boat in Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam

A photo posted by The Economist (@theeconomist) on May 29, 2016 at 6:05am PDT

Colorful Ho Chi Minh City as captured by King Fung Wong. This is an entry at the National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2016

A photo posted by Soai Ka | Vietnam | Nguoi Hue (@soaipham) on Jun 1, 2016 at 7:30pm PDT

Inside a mangrove forest in Hue in central Vietnam
China should explain its island building program in the South China Sea or it will continue to fuel insecurity among countries whose economies depend on free trade, including smaller nations many miles away, New Zealand Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said.

What we are looking to see from the Chinese is some better understanding about what it is about, Brownlee said, referring to islands China has created that now cover more than 3,000 acres of land. It is extremely important for the whole worlds economies that that remains a peaceable area and that open sea lanes and skies are available, he said in an interview on Friday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore.

Chinas land reclamation, along with its claims to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, has spooked nations that rely on the $5.3 trillion of seaborne trade that passes through its waters each year. China bases its assertion on a vague line drawn on a 1940s map and has said its primary reasons for building the islands is for civilian purposes like maritime search and rescue.

Despite its rhetoric, China actions contradicts its assertions that the primary purpose for building the islands was peaceful, Brownlee said. There was concern, he said, that China may turn more reefs into islands that could be capable of supporting communities, and then claim territorial or even exclusive economic zones around them.

In that part of the world, the proximity of those countries would mean that it is a very difficult circumstance to resolve, he said. About 80 percent of New Zealands annual trade passes through the South China Sea.

At Shangri-La last year, Brownlee said he was told by a Chinese general that the tensions were not an issue for New Zealand. So I said, well, from the point of view of being a small trading nation we do have these concerns, and outlined them.

More broadly, the pace of Chinas land reclamation presents a whole new circumstance for any particular law of the sea, territorial laws to deal with, Brownlee said. That is the concern, that there is no particular rules around this.

Surveillance aircraft

Theres no doubt theres a degree of asserting what are believed to be long-held rights, but I think youve also got to see that some of those claims are, in history, no greater than the claims that Britain might have had over all of Australia, or all of New Zealand, he said. Its hard to imagine, though, that China will want to have any particular conflict over this issue.

New Zealand sends surveillance aircraft regularly over the South China Sea, and they have never been directly hailed or asked to leave the area by the Chinese, Brownlee said. U.S. aircraft and ships have been told on multiple occasions to leave territory China claims.

Brownlee said passing the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact was essential to maintaining U.S. influence in Asia. All three contenders for the U.S. presidential election have said they are opposed to the 12-nation pact, which needs to be passed by Congress.

It would be regrettable if TPP fell over on the back of what would be essentially a U.S. nationalistic policy that might in effect lead to a weakening of U.S. influence in the world, he said.
China rebuffed U.S. pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it "has no fear of trouble".

On the last day of Asia's biggest security summit, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route.

"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where more than 600 security, military and government delegates had gathered over three days.

"China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea."

The waterway has become a flashpoint between the United States, which increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific under President Barack Obama's "pivot", and China, which is projecting ever greater economic, political and military power in the region.

The two have traded accusations of militarizing the waterway as Beijing undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while Washington has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Saturday, top U.S. officials including Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned China of the risk of isolating itself internationally and pledged to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades.

Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries at the gathering were "warmer" and "friendlier" to China than a year ago. China had 17 bilateral meetings this year, compared with 13 in 2015.

"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future," Sun said.

"Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves."

During a visit to Mongolia on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

Kerry, who will visit China next, said an ADIZ would be "a provocative and destabilizing act", which would question Beijing's commitment to diplomatically manage the dispute.

The South China Sea is expected to feature prominently at annual high-level China-U.S. talks starting in Beijing on Monday, also attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

U.S. concerns about Chinese trade policy and the difficulty foreign businesses say they face operating in China will add to what will likely be difficult discussions.

Court decision

On the upcoming decision by the international tribunal in The Hague in the case brought by the Philippines to contest China's claims in the territory, Sun reiterated Beijing does not recognize the court's authority.

Sun said China wanted to solve the dispute with the Philippines bilaterally and said the door was open for dialogue with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte said on Thursday he would not surrender the country's rights over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, which China seized in 2012.

China claims almost the entire sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

"China has the patience and wisdom to settle any disputes through dialogue. We also believe the related countries have the wisdom and patience to make peace," Sun said. "I've always believed that shaking hands is better than clenching fists."

Vietnam's deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh warned the rising tensions could lead to an arms race with "disastrous and unpredictable consequences" if not addressed. The United States lifted Vietnam's arms embargo last month.

Most countries at the summit stressed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters, through which trillions of dollars in trade is shipped every year.

Sun denied such concerns should be focused on China.

"If there is any restriction ...it will definitely not be China's fault. If you don't believe it, just wait and see."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, May 17, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Leonhard Foeger

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act".

U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.

"So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative."

Kerry will visit China after Mongolia.

China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea.

China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.

China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies.

Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
About 250 survivors of the latest migrant tragedy off Crete arrive in the Sicilian port of Augusta, as more bodies wash up on the shores of Libya.
For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms.

In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China.

From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project.

The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. As Chinas economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas.

But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbors protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavorable financing conditions.

They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and canceled its part of the project in 2014.

For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

Land-linked

In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began.

The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December.

Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said.

It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane.

Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked.

"There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that."

The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled.

They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favorable for China.

Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese.

"The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues.

Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said.

With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said.

Unrealistic

China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being unrealistic.

Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidized, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.

"You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge."

After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border.

"They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route.

"I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said.

A view of the construction site of the new Kunming South Railway Station in Chenggong District of Kunming, Yunnan province, April 14, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Wong Campion

Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea.

"The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China.

Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering.

"We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster."

Big gap

The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming.

Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centers.

But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads.

Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town".

"One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't."
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All airline passengers will soon be able to check in on their smartphones and use permanent luggage tags to avoid the need for printed stickers, says Star Alliance chief executive Mark Schwab.

The 28 members of the airline alliance, including Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines and Thai Airways, agreed to step up automation efforts to help improve the check-in and baggage experience at a meeting in Zurich on Saturday.

Star Alliance wants to provide seamless connections for passengers. Credit:Bloomberg

By the end of next year, Star Alliance wants all airlines to have facilities in place for passengers to check in online or using an automated kiosk and to be able to print a baggage tag at home or at the airport kiosk.

Mr Schwab said when Terminal 2 at London Heathrow used by the Star Alliance carriers opened in 2014, there had been a target of 70 per cent of passengers using self-service transactions that had seemed ambitious at the time.
Former Telstra boss Sol Trujillo says Donald Trump is "bad for our country". Which is pretty much what Australia was saying about Sol not that long ago.

The straight-talking former telco boss, and confirmed Republican, indicated that he was not about to cross the Hispanic line and support Trump's bid for the White House.

Sol told USA Today that Trump's campaign has been "bad for our country" and worried that a win would involve damaging a significant portion of the population.

No need to guess which part Sol means.
Separately to this, The Age broke the news that Melbourne-based fast-food chain Hunky Dory has been accused of selling frozen basa fillets under the misleading name of "dory", which it later changed to "Pacific dory".

More than 65 per cent of Australian consumers have opted to buy free-range eggs in the past year  it's the fastest-growing sector of the egg market, but substandard labelling laws mean those consumers are not getting what they are paying for.

Restaurants, cafes and fish and chip shops are not obliged to disclose the country of origin or even accurately identify the species of what they serve.

New rules governing the branding of "free-range eggs" have failed, amid revelations more than 200million of the free-range eggs on the market do not meet the code of practice adopted by the industry.

You are what you eat. It's an adage that has been handed down through generations. Unfortunately, as highlighted by a number of recent stories published by The Age, in many instances consumers have little idea what they are actually eating.

Basa is a freshwater catfish farmed in the Mekong River delta, considered some of the most highly polluted waters in the world. It is biologically unrelated to a dory and lives nowhere near the Pacific Ocean, yet Australian law allows basa to be sold as "Pacific dory" once it has been cooked.

Testing has shown that basa can contain high levels of mercury. So high that Food Standards Australia and New Zealand recommends that pregnant women, and children under the age of six, consume no more than one serve a week, and should also be careful to consume no other fish in that week. In addition, some of the farming techniques employed involve the use of hormones and antibiotics to promote faster growth rates.

Dory, on the other hand, is considered low in mercury. It is listed by a number of government-funded health bodies as one of the safer fish for pregnant women and young children to consume. The Age deplores misrepresentation of cheaper imported basa fillets as dory, but we accept Hunky Dory has broken no laws. Since 2006, country-of-origin and labelling laws have applied only to fresh seafood sold by wholesalers, fish retailers and supermarkets. Once that fish is cooked, the laws no longer apply.

Restaurants, cafes and fish and chip shops are not obliged to disclose the country of origin or even accurately identify the species of what they serve, an abject failure of the law that makes it almost impossible for consumers to make an informed choice.

It is estimated that 70 per cent of the fish sold by restaurants and food outlets in Australia is imported. Much of the flathead sold by Australia's restaurant industry is "stick fish" sourced from Argentina, another species known to be high in mercury. Of the 20,000 tonnes of barramundi eaten by Australians each year, just 40 per cent is produced locally.
Time for a reality check So Tony Lamb is concerned that legislative changes have slowed the growth of his retirement benefits. For someone who made the massive contribution of $35,297 over nine years to so far reap a benefit of $1.3million since retirement, I'm not sure where he's coming from. Frank Stipic, Mentone No room to buy policy Data by the Electoral Commission shows large donations to the Liberal party by Chinese interests on the eve of the signing of the Aust-Chinese Free Trade Agreement ('China cash for parties' coffers', 22/4). In the interest of good governance for the whole Australian community, all Australian governments, state and federal, need to follow the lead of NSW and legislate to outlaw donations, not just from developers, but also from foreign individuals and organisations.

Phyllis Vespucci, Reservoir The high price of political donations I was dismayed to read in The Sunday Age (22/5) that a Chinese Government backed propaganda unit has been making donations to political parties in this country. On the one hand we are told that the Chinese represent a strategic threat, then we allow them to operate in this country as they wish. I wonder what would happen if we behaved the same way in China? Rod Slater, Sandringham Cashed up, sold out

'Party favours' (22/5) clearly outlines the methods used by big business to donate funds to political parties in exchange for access to politicians. It is disheartening that Melbourne's "green wedge" protection zones have been consistently eroded by successive governments allowing developers access. We need to get serious about stopping those with inexhaustible resources from hijacking good governance. Susan Gay, Ballarat IN THE NEWS Right to choose I write to highlight the importance of Farrah Tomazin's article 'Dying with dignity: Coroners Court weighs in', 29/5). The Coroners Court's stories are real evidence of the necessity to change the law about assisted death. We say that we are a humane and caring society but we are repeatedly condemning the aged and ill to undignified, lonely and painful deaths. Having legal avenues for assisted death does not mean that all terminally ill people will choose that option. However, those who wish to should be able to exercise their rights over their own lives. The eagerly awaited report of the state parliamentary committee on assisted death will hopefully reinforce our society's core values of freedom of choice and humanity for all.

Carmel McNaught, Balwyn North There's another way As with marriage, there is a small minority absolutely opposed to letting adults make their own choices. As the Coroner notes, competent dying people will make their own choices no matter what the law. It doesn't have to be this horrendous. Janine Truter, The Basin Heed the call

Farrah Tomazin points out how the desperately and terminally ill are resorting to suicides because society and democracy has failed them. Despite overwhelming support for voluntary assisted dying, governments refuse to listen respond to a desperate need of the dying to change the law. This is shameful and undemocratic. Kishor Dabke, Mount Waverley To the left What a fabulous article by Andrew Masterson (Opinion, 29/5) on how we have slipped to the right wing without realising. I have undertaken the ABC vote compass and found myself in the dead zone of the north-west corner. But worse, in my work as a researcher, I have recently been crunching the numbers of a survey of business leaders who profess to be Christian and find them sadly lacking any insight into these important issues. They are leaders of profit-making companies and appear to see no contradiction between their religious beliefs and their responsibility to find ever increasing profits for their shareholders, which must surely come at the expense of the marginalised on occasion. I am not suggesting this small sample is true of all, but it causes me to wonder why we can't have a more humane system in place and why those who believe in Christian values don't even see the possibility. Kate Dempsey, Brighton East

Let's get radical Great column, Andrew Masterson, advocating at least a reconsideration of ideas way off the top left corner of the ABC's vote compass. Many of us out here are totally frustrated with the two major parties with their mantra of free-market neoliberal jobs and growth  but especially with the "greens" who seem to think it's more important to pander to vaguely unhappy Labor voters than to articulate any radically new ideas. Mick Webster, Chiltern Policing's positives It was a damning picture of policing in Ballarat painted by your reporter Chris Johnston in The Sunday Age (22/5) that was fair to neither the people of this city nor its police. There is no doubt, it has been a difficult few weeks for the police in Ballarat; the IBAC hearing has made for grim reading.

While I am unable to comment directly on these proceedings, I am compelled to point out a number of assertions in the article that do not represent contemporary policing in one of Victoria's largest regional cities. The fact is there is a tremendous bond between the city of Ballarat and its police as is evidenced by the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing which shows police in Ballarat enjoy a community confidence rating of 92.1 per cent, 5per cent higher than the state average. The challenges of policing a community such as Ballarat are dramatically different to other localities cited in the article. Our growing population means increased calls for police services in the areas of crime, domestic violence, mental illness, public order and road policing. It's a tough, demanding job which we take very seriously, as we do our commitment to strong ethical performance. Where corrective action is identified it is enacted through my leadership and management team. I make no apologies for the observation made in your report that I have been known to turn up at crime scenes and help manage traffic when road accidents have occurred. Leading from the front is a key virtue for all police, and I will always support my members whenever I can.

I believe the wider community understands the challenges police face and am confident the people of Ballarat support our efforts in reducing crime across this most liveable and safe community. Andrew Allen APM, superintendent, Ballarat Police Division Fear well-founded The report on Iranian youth at a mixed-gender party being lashed (29/5) should serve as a corrective to those  such as our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop  who harbour a view of Iran as a nation undergoing a liberal transformation. The Iranian asylum seekers, many of them from middle-class backgrounds, making up a large proportion of those detained on Nauru and Manus Island have long been derided for claiming "a well-founded fear of persecution" as their reason for fleeing their homeland. Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza

Damned by a few In response to Dr Sarah Russell's article 'Aged care providers seeking profit instead of residents' wellbeing', (29/5): not-for-profit aged care providers care for more than 1million frail older Australians and operate about 65 per cent of residential aged care beds in Australia. In order to remain sustainable, funding is required to not only cover costs of quality care, it also needs to allow for future refurbishment and development of facilities. The vast majority of aged care providers in Australia deliver quality services and for Dr Russell to base her article on a few media articles is offensive. However, there is significant and growing concern about the impact of the budget cuts proposed by the federal government. These cuts will directly impact on older people who need increasingly specialised and complex care and support. John Kelly, CEO, Aged and Community Services Australia Better facility, not care Dr Sarah Russel's article on aged care homes profiteering gave credence to many of the concerns I had about my mother's care when she was in a for profit facility. The money spent on the facility (with elaborate floral displays and two cafes) did not trickle down to better nursing for high-care residents. And despite many people complaining of the inadequacies, their accreditation still came in at 100 per cent.

Bernadette Clohesy, East Burwood Eroding science The CSIRO has been at the cutting edge of scientific research since the 1920s. Its work in improving our industrial, agricultural and general skills has been outstanding. Now we have a government that is slashing funding for its research into climate change and rises in sea levels. The Sunday Age (29/5) made the point that Australian research into climate change is vital for world-wide understanding of these matters, given our location and scientific expertise. Australia's current government policy will be condemned globally, especially when our funding to less necessary areas, such as building submarines, has been increased. Leo Gamble, Mentone A price too high
Is it really impolite? We have to overcome our knee-jerk defensiveness in race debates. Each of us can be ignorant, unthinking and casual about racism. And here is the most fundamental, obvious and ignored point: white people are not the best informed and most knowledgable about what racism looks like and what it feels like. It is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people  and others  who must tell us that.

Take the council of the West Australian shire of Carnarvon, which voted against raising the Aboriginal flag at their office for NAIDOC. In defence of their decision, Edward Garrett, councillor and long-time resident of the shire, wrote an open letter.

"If only those who love to be able to claim the moral high ground by proclaiming me to be racist could speak for themselves," he wrote, "instead of claiming to represent all Australians, we could have a reasoned and informed debate. I stand by my statement that all Australians should be respected under the current Australian flag and that the Aboriginal flag is not unifying (how can it be when it clearly represents only people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent while the Southern Cross and Union Jack represent all who are citizens of Australia?)."

We all want an informed debate. But there's a reason WA Premier Colin Barnett intervened to tell the council to raise that flag: it's important to people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. And aren't we all asking the same question: Does this represent all of us?

Justin Mohamed, the chief executive officer of Reconciliation Australia, said on The Drum on ABC TV on Thursday night that every Australia Day Aboriginal people asked: "Is this the flag we should be looking up to?" They also ask if Australia Day really is for everyone: "For Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, this is not a day we can celebrate."
Election campaigns are weird ordeals. Not just for you and me, I mean; mostly, they are a sprawling social experiment in which grown men and women are subjected to a series of vicious humiliations in the most artificial of circumstances, and judged on their ability to act normal.

In the past week  to take a random example  Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition leader Bill Shorten have both been obliged to interact with rats, while under the gaze of multiple TV cameras.

This is a new area for them both, and while rat-handling is nowhere in the prime ministerial KPIs, the incidents told us tiny things about each of them.

The viewer could sense  in Shorten's preparedness to touch his rat only with a tentative fingernail  his lightning-fast and almost certainly accurate judgment that a man who has knocked over two Labor leaders should not tarry over-long in any broadcast situation involving rattus rattus.
Three prime ministers back, which is to say just three years ago, the federal opposition's communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, was a pretty hot ticket at the Sydney Writers' Festival.

Turnbull had long been the favourite among non-Liberal voting liberals  an ex-leader loathed by reactionaries for his mix of economic liberalism, expressed through his commitment to a market solution to carbon abatement, and social liberalism, expressed through his support for multiculturalism, marriage equality, and an Australian republic.

Participating in a panel lamenting the decline of the landmark political speech in the era of social media, the loquacious Turnbull charmed the audience even as he delivered a trademark mini-lecture  by way of interjection  on "probably the greatest writer of English prose", Edmund Burke. It was a typically big call.

But it was the father of modern conservatism's famous 1774 discourse to the electors of Bristol on the nature of parliamentary representation, that Turnbull singled out among what he characterised as the classics of conservative thought.
A group representing Melbourne's Aboriginal population is aiming to raise $200,000 by Tuesday to buy a rare picture by esteemed historical figure William Barak  but even if they succeed, it may not be enough.

William Barak's Ceremony (1897) has an estimated price range of $180,000 to $250,000.

Ceremony, a relatively small work in earth, ink and charcoal on paper, will go to auction at Bonham's in Sydney on Tuesday night. The picture was created by Wurundjeri elder Barak  known by some in the Aboriginal community as "Uncle William" or "Grandfather"  in 1897. It was exchanged by its creator for a glass work by English craftsman Frank Piggott Webb, and has remained with Webb's descendants until now.

"As a community, we know it's time for Grandfather's work to come back home to Wurundjeri Country, to family, and to the broader community," the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council, a registered charity that works on behalf of the traditional owners of Melbourne, says on its page on crowdfunding platform chuffed.org.
A koala habitat has been placed on sale in an online auction by the Baird government in a move community groups say is aimed at limiting public opposition.

Seven lots totalling more than six hectares that abut the Port Stephens-Great Lake Marine Park Sanctuary Zone will be open for bids for four days from Monday.

Koalas are known to head to the nearby sands for a salt lick every spring, a route locals say will be cut off if the forest is sold off for development.

The land sale poses an "unacceptable risk" of development to an area classified as being of high environmental and indigenous heritage value by the government, Port Stephens Council said.
Flights from Sydney Airport are continuing to experience delays of up to two hours, with the airport operating only one runway for a second day as wild weather lashes the NSW coast.

People taking public transport to the airport are also experiencing delays, as buses replace trains due to track work on all airport lines.

"Obviously the whole network is delayed due to the bad weather and heavy traffic," a spokeswoman for the Transport Management Centre said.
Blair Cottrell in one of his Facebook posts. Credit:Facebook Malcolm Turnbull has deliberately sought to strike a new tone from that of his predecessor, making a much publicised first visit by a prime minister to the Islamic Council of Victoria. Whereas Austria came within a whisker last month of electing a far-right president, Australia looks likely to turn away. Protesters from rival anti-racism and anti-Islam rallies in Coburg on May 28, 2016. Credit:Mathew Lynn In October, Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders blew in to launch a new political party. The Australian Liberty Alliance pledged to campaign across the country, echoing Wilders' rallying cry to defend Western democracy against the "totalitarian ideology" of Islam.

The ALA manifesto calls for a ban on face coverings in public along with a 10-year freeze on permanent resident visas from Muslim countries. It rejects same-sex marriage and declares "resettling people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia is counter-productive and drains these nations [sic] of their most valuable assets". The ALA's NSW Senate candidate Kirralie Smith with Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders. Credit:Kirralie Smith Facebook But political analysts say the new darling of Australia's far right has failed to gain traction. "I'd be surprised if they got somebody over the line," said Duncan McDonnell, a specialist on populist politics at Griffith University. A fresh set of senate voting rules intended to quash micro parties trading preferences has also reshaped the political landscape.

"They've got no chance," said Nick Economou, a senior lecturer in politics at Monash University. "Anybody who thinks they do doesn't understand the election changes. We effectively now have a first-past-the-post system for the senate." Other groups of the far-right  which political analysts say are more interested in picking a fight than running for election  have splintered through rivalry and personality clashes. Cottrell, who took charge of the United Patriots Front street movement last year had pledged to set up a party, Fortitude, to contest the election. No party by that name has been registered. The best hope of the radical fringe is the resurrection of Pauline Hanson. She is seen as having a 50 per cent chance of winning the last senate seat in Queensland. Her popularity is likely to rob the new far right parties of supporters, as she pledges to run One Nation candidates across the country. "Essentially what Hanson has done, is she has stolen the main ALA policy and made it her own  anti-Muslim, anti Muslim immigration, the idea that Islam is not a religion, it's a political ideology," said Dr McDonnell.

"Now, of course, she has the great advantage that they don't have, in that she has great name recognition. She's got a brand, and all she has to do is open her mouth and the media  especially here in Queensland  are all over her." But media coverage, at least by the mainstream media, is as fiercely contested as the election itself. Prominent anti-halal food activist Kirralie Smith is running for the Australian Liberty Alliance, and believes her party has a good chance of snaring seats, especially as a double-dissolution election means a lower quota of votes is required to win a spot in the upper house. "I think we're going really, really well," Smith told Fairfax Media. "I'm travelling in New South Wales and meeting thousands of people, and the media  I don't really know what the media do or don't focus on  I don't watch television and I only read articles that people send to me.

"So what the mainstream media are talking about and what everyone else is talking about are often two different things". The ALA has turned to social media to reach supporters and directly counter what are seen as misrepresentations. "I often open my talks by saying once upon a time, journalists reported the facts; now they create perceptions," Ms Smith told Fairfax Media. "I appreciate your style. I'll wait and see what the outcome is. I always critique what people write or say about me on Facebook anyway, so you can look forward to that, but if it's a fair and balanced report, that's OK." Smith posted a video on Facebook defending a "stop the mosques" banner unfurled at an AFL game in April. It attracted condemnation by the mainstream media but almost 270,000 views on social media. She said she routinely gets up to 60,000 views for her videos.
That a former Labor deputy prime minister might be fighting to retain his seat against a high-profile unionist would once have seemed absurd.

But that's the scenario playing out in Grayndler, the inner-Sydney seat held by 53-year old Anthony Albanese for the last 20 years. His Greens party rival is Jim Casey, 46, a forthright firefighter with an honours degree in arts who has taken leave from his job as head of the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union to fight the campaign. So far it's proving one of the campaign's more colourful contests, with Mr Albanese lambasting his rival for past associations with the International Socialist Organisation while Casey accuses the Labor frontbencher of running a "reds under the beds" scare campaign.

Grayndler will not only determine the fate of Mr Albanese, a potential future Labor leadership contender who was Bill Shorten's only challenger when the party ran its last leadership contest after the 2013 election.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has remembered his childhood struggles and the influence of his father in a new ad released at the start of week five of the election campaign.

After weeks of being labelled out of touch by Labor, the new ad focuses on Mr Turnbull's relationship with father Bruce Turnbull, who raised the future prime minister as a single parent after his wife left the family.

Mr Turnbull, who is campaigning in Melbourne on Monday, posted the ad on his Facebook page overnight, describing Bruce Turnbull as a hardworking man of modest means.
Many farmers believe plans to grow the CSG industry in NSW to match the scale of Queensland have gone quiet rather than gone away and a recent ABC Vote Compass survey of 250,000 people found two-thirds of voters oppose easing restrictions on CSG exploration - a level of opposition that has risen significantly since the 2013 federal election. Santos has remained largely silent on its CSG expansion plans amid ardent resistance across regional and North Coast communities, but was forced to update its intentions under the Baird Government's so-called "use it or lose it" licence provisions. The company's renewal application for PEL 1 was obtained under freedom of information laws by the Wilderness Society of Newcastle. It sets out almost $4 million to be spent over three years to "explore and appraise two possible CSG targets identified in the Gunnedah Basin". Due to more than 35 redacted pages in the 50-page renewal application, the exact location of its four drilling target areas remains a secret, but Santos has flagged exploration of "the late permian coals of the Black Jack Group and the early permian coals of the Maules Creek formation".

The PEL 1 application identifies ten other PELs as part of its "contiguous exploration plans". Santos owns exploration acreage covering 200,000 kilometres of Australia. In a statement, the miner downplayed its intentions in the Liverpool Plains, saying the company's focus remained its existing gas-producing project at Narrabri on the edge of the less-fertile Pilliga Scrub. Santos' general manager of energy in NSW, Peter Mitchley, said: "The licence obligations are consistent with those carried over from 2009. Santos' Narrabri Gas Project is a 'Strategic Energy Project' under the NSW Gas Plan, meaning the company is focused on developing much needed gas in the Pilliga and that all other work obligations in surrounding licences (including in PEL 1) are in abeyance. "Santos has no plans to work outside the Narrabri Gas Project area at this time. Any future work, should it be planned, would be subject to landowner consent, community consultation, and rigorous regulatory assessment."

A spokesman for Mr Joyce said the granting and renewal of mining exploration licences were "entirely the responsibility of the NSW Government". "However, it's worth noting that petroleum exploration licenses were handed out indiscriminately under the previous NSW Labor Government. It has taken the current NSW Government to implement a Gas Plan that has seen the CSG footprint in NSW reduced from over 60 per cent to less than 8 per cent," Mr Joyce's spokesman said. Mr Joyce remained opposed to mining on prime agricultural land and on the Liverpool Plains in particular, he said. But farmers will pursue Mr Joyce on the issue, saying the federal government can intervene and must state its clear position before election day. David Quince, a farmer from Mullaley, south-west of Gunnedah, said: "For too long the National Party has tried to hoodwink voters into thinking that CSG is a state issue, or that they don't have any powers, but the reality is they have all the power they need at a federal level to protect land, water and communities  they just don't want to.
Your school's busted toilets, leaking rooves and broken windows might have to wait. The Department of Education has hoarded millions from its school maintenance budget, leaving a growing list of damage and repair work undone.

Despite a maintenance backlog worth $732 million in 2015 - an increase of 36 per cent on the previous year - the department spent $26 million less than it had budgeted for school repairs, according to the department's 2015 annual report, released this week.

Department questioned over unused funds: The Department of Education spent $26 million less than last year. Credit:Photo: Quentin Jones

And the forecast spend for the current financial year is tighter again, down from $360 million to $342 million, raising questions about how the department plans to catch up with the works required.

It follows last week's revelation that the department kept more than $200 million in federal funding earmarked for early childhood education, while high fees are blamed for keeping the most disadvantaged NSW families out of preschool and childcare.
Australians have been called upon to donate their DNA and help establish the country's first historical DNA database, providing researchers with a crucial tool for solving wartime mysteries - some which date back 100 years.

To be managed by the Centre for Ancient DNA at Adelaide University, the database will provide scientists and historians with a snapshot of the genetic makeup of the Australian population in the early 1900s. Currently, nothing like it exists.

Jeremy Austin, director at the Centre for Ancient DNA at Adelaide University. Credit:David Mariuz

The DNA database would prove a vital tool for any number of projects, including identifying unrecovered war dead and even solving decades-old missing person cases. It will paint a picture of Australia before post-war immigration dramatically altered the genetic composition of the population.

The March discovery of a World War II mass grave in Papua New Guinea containing the bodies of up to eight Australians and the discovery of a second mass grave nearby in May highlights the need for such a database.
Tuggeranong father of five David McMillan got sick of hand-written notes for his children's schools, so he did something about it.

"There were 11 absences that needed to be explained for my eldest son in 2013, and we had legitimate excuses," he said.

Appsence director David McMillan outside Lake Tuggeranong College, which has used his app for student absences and permissions since February last year. Credit:Rohan Thomson

"I thought there's got to be a better way."

Less than three years later, his solution, the Appsence app, is in eight ACT public schools.
Booze has been available to order online from major outlets for ages, but what sets these new operators apart is speed - for a fee, you can have a drink in your hand in under an hour.

A small but growing number of rapid-delivery online liquor services - including one that boasts the first mobile app in Australia - raise interesting questions about how to measure the social impact of virtual businesses.

The liquor industry has woken up to the fact Melburnians have a growing appetite for ordering goods online and direct to their lounge room.

Brothers Ryan and Shane Barrington opened their business - tipple.com.au - to St Kilda residents last November, and now employ 40 delivery drivers, with drop offs all over the CBD and 120 inner suburbs.

Ryan Barrington has been working in the liquor industry for 15 years, and says he has a good understanding of alcohol regulation and policing. All the Tipple drivers have a Responsible Serving of Alcohol certificate, even though this is not a legal requirement.

Drivers have to deliver to a street address and are required to check ID on delivery. If customers are underage their delivery will be cancelled, and they cop a penalty fee (in thousands of deliveries, this is yet to happen).

Their main clients are corporate customers and people over 25 years old who live in the city, don't have a car, and don't fancy carrying heavy boxes up the stairs, says Barrington.

"We don't discount, we don't do bulk deals to encourage the younger market and we don't target parties. It's aimed at people who are entertaining, and who are busy."
But in the cash-strapped '80s and early '90s, two Liberal governments and one Labor government tried to close the Upfield line rather than spend the millions of dollars needed to modernise it. A report for the Cain Labor government concluded that the line had too few passengers. That it duplicated tram route 19 so wasn't really needed, and that its antiquated signals and staffed boom gates were too old and too expensive to operate. So the government announced a plan to convert it to light rail and get rid of the tram tracks on Sydney Road. Traders were in uproar, but with no bulldozer to lie in front of, the campaign to save the line had to get creative. "We held the tram up for maybe two minutes trying to get wheelchairs and surfboards and bicycles on it," Mr Dow says. "We gave out leaflets and let them go on their way and then we'd do the next tram. We might be there for half an hour, just getting the word out."

In the end the plan to kill a rail line that ran through its own safe seats became too politically damaging for Labor and they dropped it, only for the Kennett government to sweep in and announce the line would be shut, along with several other rail lines across Victoria. The southern section of the Upfield line was in the path of CityLink, the Liberals' signature road project. Mr Dow believes the line "came very close to being closed" in the early '90s. Upgrade Upfield Co-ordinating Committee Newsletter June 1993 a Credit:Sue Carabott Alan Brown was transport minister in the Kennett government. He deferred the date of execution while a panel of planning experts assessed the best alignment for CityLink.

"When we became the government, Victoria's finances were in a very parlous state, there's no question about that, and we did look to where we could make change that was sensible and that would make substantial savings, but also we were conscious of the future of Melbourne's growth," Mr Brown says. Ultimately he chose to keep the Upfield line and build CityLink over the top of it, becoming an unlikely saviour of the chronically neglected public transport link through Labor's heartland. "There was really nothing in it for us politically," he says. "It was a line that serviced electorates that the Labor Party held and would clearly continue to hold, but it was the right decision for Melbourne." It's his proudest achievement in the transport portfolio, along with the city circle tram, he says. It is just 21 years since the line was spared from closure and Mr Brown says he shudders to think what congestion would be like without it.

Commuters got a rude taste last week of what life would be like with just one rail line servicing the city's north-west. A major power failure shut the Craigieburn line for hours on Tuesday, and Metro bussed hundreds of passengers over to Upfield in the morning peak. Among those caught up in the meltdown was Louis Ziras, a regular Upfield line commuter to the city from Batman station in Coburg North. He uses a motorised wheelchair and was unable to board a train, even though he was just five stops from the start of the line. "You really can't make people make way for a wheelchair when there is no space," Mr Ziras said.

"The train was full by Batman, because it was being filled up by Craigieburn passengers." The next city-bound train was cancelled, and with a 20-minute wait between trains, he was stranded on the platform for more than an hour. The Age, News, 31/05/2016. photo by Justin McManus. Train cancellations and delays cause commuter chaos at Nth Melbourne train station. Alan Brown admitted when he announced the Upfield line would be kept open in April 1995 that it was "the poor relation" of Melbourne's rail network. But these days it is the third-fastest growing line in Melbourne, its patronage forecast to more than double in the next 20 years due to rapid urban development.

In Moreland, where 23 per cent of residents catch public transport to work, new buildings are springing up near the line that have no car parking, residents given a yearly myki pass instead. And there are new plans for the line's extension in coming years, although the Andrews government has been fairly quiet about them. Upgrade Upfield a Credit:Sue Carabott Buried in the detail of the 2016-17 state budget is $5 million towards reopening the line north of Upfield through industrial Somerton, to connect it to the Craigieburn line. That stretch of the line was shut in 1956 but will be reopened within five to 10 years so V/Line's Seymour trains, which currently run on the congested Craigieburn line, can use the Upfield line instead.
Beijing: China has pushed back on US pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea, reiterating its sovereignty claims over most of the disputed waters and insisting it had "no fear of trouble".

Addressing global defence chiefs at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday, Chinese Admiral Sun Jianguo responded to US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, who earlier said China risked erecting a "Great Wall of self-isolation" through its "expansive and unprecedented actions" in the South China Sea.

China's Deputy Chief Admiral Sun Jianguo delivers his speech in Singapore. Credit:AP

"Actually, I am worried some people and countries are still holding a cold war mentality and prejudice  they may build a wall in their mind and end up isolating themselves." Admiral Sun said, referencing Mr Carter's comments while also hitting out at the US Navy's so-called freedom of navigation operations which has seen it sail warships within close proximity of reefs and islands claimed by Beijing.

"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble. China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea."
"We have the desire to govern, the desire to change this city," Ms Raggi said. "There is no alternative."

Capitalising on growing discontent with corruption, Virginia Raggi, the 37-year-old candidate of the populist, anti-establishment and Eurosceptic Five Star Movement, is leading opinion polls ahead of the first round of voting held over the weekend. Barring a major upset, she seems certain to make the June 19 run-off and is on course to take the high-profile role.

Rome: As Romans head to the polls to elect a new mayor, a young lawyer is poised to become the city's first female in the job, promising to clean up the Eternal City's tarnished reputation.

It's the first mayoral election in Rome since the sordid "Mafia Capital" scandal broke in late 2014, revealing a web of corruption between politicians and mobsters, many of whom are still being tried for rigging contracts and embezzling millions of euros in city funds.

Amid such scandals, the Five Star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo has become the latest example of populist parties across Europe surging on the back of public distrust of traditional political elites.

The election is critical for Five Star and for the government of Matteo Renzi, whose Democratic Party ran the capital until a special administrator was brought in last year after former mayor Ignazio Marino quit over an expenses scandal.

Victory in Rome would help cement Mr Grillo's party as a political force to be reckoned with, and provide a strong base for it to challenge the Democratic Party in nationwide elections due to be held before 2018.

Voters are asking which candidate has what it takes to restore social services, rid the city of a rising tide of rubbish and graffiti and make the buses and trains run on time. "We have made a personal commitment [to changing the city] and I think there are a lot of our fellow citizens who are also now ready to do the same," Ms Raggi said.
Warsaw, Poland: Poland's two former presidents led tens of thousands of marchers Saturday in Warsaw to protest the right-wing government's policies and mark 27 years since the ouster of communism.

The march was yet another in a series organised by a new civic movement, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, or KOD, against the conservative government that took office in November. The government's policies have strained Poland's relations with the European Union and the US and angered many in Poland. But the ruling party insists it has a mandate from Poland's voters.

People march to protest the policies of the right-wing Law and Justice government, on the 27th anniversary of the partly free elections that led to overthrowing communism, in Warsaw. Credit:AP

Poland's nationalist government has focused on helping those left out of Poland's economic growth and increased its grip on state institutions. The moves have paralysed the nation's Constitutional Tribunal, put state-owned media under government control and increased police surveillance powers.

The EU says Poland's rule of law and democracy are in danger.
London: Britain is set for a showdown with the UN over its next secretary-general, after sources in Washington indicated the US was preparing to back the candidate from Argentina.

Susana Malcorra, its foreign minister, is said to be supported by both the White House and Susan Rice, national security adviser to Barack Obama.

Argentina's Minister of Foreign Affairs Susana Malcorra. Credit:AP

The prospect of an Argentine head of the UN puts Britain in a diplomatic dilemma given the lengthy dispute over the Falklands which Argentina and the UN say must be "decolonised" and returned to Argentina.

President Obama is said to have been won over by arguments for Ms Malcorra from Mauricio Macri, his Argentine counterpart, on a visit to Buenos Aires in March - widely seen as an attempt to re-set US-Argentine relations.
Toyota and KDDI to Jointly Promote Establishment of Global Communications Platform to Support Car Connectivity







Toyota City, Japan, Jun, 02 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and KDDI Corporation (KDDI) have partnered to establish a global communications platform. The platform will enable the operation of communications networks throughout the world to support car connectivity.

Toyota aims to bring greater connectivity to its vehicles throughout the world. To do so, a broad-reaching, robust communications platform and the use of a uniform data communications module (DCM) will be essential. Toyota will develop such globally uniform DCMs by 2019. DCMs will be the standard equipment in nearly all new Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in Japan and the U.S. by 2020, and will gradually be installed in a range of new vehicles in other major markets over time.

To work toward this goal, and to support communications between DCMs and Cloud services, TMC and KDDI will jointly plan and design a global communications platform which KDDI will develop and operate.

With the advent of this platform, globally uniform DCMs will be automatically connected with telecommunications carriers in different countries, based on where each car is located and used. Following a changeover of carriers-carried out by overwriting SIM settings via communications technology-DCMs can be connected without relying on global roaming services. In order to maintain stable, high-quality communications globally at a lower cost, status and quality of telecommunications will be monitored in an integrated manner. While adhering to all applicable regulations in each country and region, this will allow Toyota to enhance its product-related R&D and the quality of its services by making use of vehicle data collected via DCMs.

Over a period of around 60 years, KDDI has built relationships with more than 600 telecommunications carriers all over the world. Based on such relationships, Toyota and KDDI will jointly choose and procure communications networks in each country to incorporate into the platform. The aim will be to popularize the platform by making it available to other companies upon request.

Shigeki Tomoyama, Senior Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation, stated:

"Communications technology is essential to enhance vehicle connectivity and Toyota has been making efforts in this field for years. The joint establishment of this global communications platform with KDDI will help us offer a more stable and higher quality connectivity service to customers all over the world."

Takashi Tanaka, President of KDDI Corporation, said:

"It is a great honor for KDDI to be able to conclude a global-scale partnership agreement with Toyota regarding connected vehicle initiatives. We are excited to participate in this large project which aims for a future where vehicles are connected in a variety of countries all over the world, and we are committed to doing everything possible to lead the project to success. Putting together the capability of the entire KDDI Group which deploys business globally, we plan to fully support the vehicle connectivity initiative."

With KDDI as its partner, Toyota plans to accelerate its vehicle connectivity initiative in order to provide all of its customers with a safe, secure, and convenient mobility infrastructure.

Reference: Conceptual diagram of the global communications platform

About Toyota Supported by people around the world, Toyota Motor Corporation , has endeavored since its establishment in 1937 to serve society by creating better products. As of the end of December 2013, Toyota conducts its business worldwide with 52 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries and regions. Toyota's vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Fords 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine is named 2016 International Engine of the Year Best Engine Under 1.0-litre for the fifth consecutive year  despite increased competition from major global automotive manufacturers in the sub 1.0-litre class

Ford achieves ninth win for fuel-efficient and sporty engine, previously overall winner a record three times, and best newcomer; powers one in five Ford vehicles sold in Europe

Ground-breaking 1.0-litre EcoBoost is class winner for drivability, performance, economy, refinement and technology. EcoBoost ingenuity now being employed in new EcoBlue diesel engines

STUTTGART, Germany, June 1, 2016  Fords tiny yet powerful 1.0litre EcoBoost engine has been voted best in class at the International Engine of the Year Awards for the fifth year in a row. Judges praised the combination of drivability, performance, economy, refinement and technology that continues to set the standard.

The frugal three-cylinder EcoBoost engine was named Best Engine Under 1.0-litre by a panel of 65 automotive journalists, from 31 countries, to win its class each and every year since launch. This year it finished ahead of 32 competitor engines, 19 more than it competed against in 2012. Significantly, 2015 also saw an increase in competition from global automotive manufacturers of sub 1.0-litre, turbocharged engines with direct fuel injection.

In 2014, the 1.0-litre EcoBoost became the first engine to be named overall International Engine of the Year for a third time in a row, and also was in 2012 named Best New Engine.

The 1.0-litre EcoBoost was a game-changer, and despite others following our lead, it remains the undisputed benchmark in its class five years on, said Joe Bakaj, vice president, Product Development, Ford of Europe. The spirit of innovation continues to drive us as we look to use the same smart thinking for a new breed of efficient, clean and powerful down-sized diesel engines.

Available with 100 PS, 125 PS and 140 PS, and even 180 PS in the Ford Fiesta R2 rally car, the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine powers vehicles in 72 countries worldwide. In 140 PS form, the engine delivers a bigger power-to-litre ratio than a Bugatti Veyron. A road-legal Formula Ford fitted with a 205 PS version of the engine also lapped the famous Nurburgring circuit, in Germany, in 7 minutes 22 seconds; a performance that put it ahead of a host of supercars including the 600+ horsepower Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari Enzo and Pagani Zonda.

Eleven models, including Fiesta, EcoSport, B-MAX, Focus, C-MAX, Grand CMAX, Tourneo and Transit Connect, Tourneo and Transit Courier, and Mondeo are available in Europe with the multiaward winning engine. One in five all-new Ford vehicles sold in Europe in 2015 were equipped with the 1.0-litre unit, including almost two in five Fiestas.

The technology of Fords EcoBoost petrol engines is now being employed in the newest downsized diesel engine from Ford, the 2.0-litre EcoBlue launched in Ford Transit earlier this year. Utilising a low inertia turbocharger, high pressure direct fuel injection, integrated manifolds, belt-in-oil and other low friction elements it delivers a 13 per cent increase in fuel efficiency and 20 per cent more low-end torque. *

Globally, Fords range of powerful yet fuel-efficient EcoBoost engines includes 1.5-litre, 1.6litre, 2.0-litre and 2.3-litre four-cylinder engines, and 2.7-litre and 3.5-litre V6 engines. The latter powers the all-new Ford GT supercar that will return to racing in Le Mans later this month.

That its won the overall award three times and keeps getting the jurors votes now highlights just how special Fords 1.0-litre EcoBoost is, said Dean Slavnich, co-chairman of the 18th International Engine of the Year awards that were held in Stuttgart, Germany, and editor-in-chief of Engine Technology International magazine. Its a fantastic testament to how down-sizing and greater fuel efficiency neednt mean sacrifice in other areas like power, refinement and drivability, and can even help enhance these elements.
SAKAWIYA, Syria  The body of a dead, bearded ISIS fighter lay beside the road as we left the front-line village of Sakawiya on Saturday in a convoy guided by a senior Kurdish fighter. With the support of the United States, Arab and Kurdish troops launched this operation last week to cut the supply lines of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) near the Turkish border at a town called Manbij.

So far, ISIS is resisting with artillery, snipers and rocket fire, but it is slowly losing village by village under pressure from heavy coalition airstrikes. Local combatants say ISIS wants to hold this position at all costs. In the past, it has been able to smuggle in about 500 fighters a month across the Syrian-Turkish border in this area. They use it for transferring weapons, bullets and fighters, said Abdo Muslim, an Arab fighter from the town of Serrin. They dont want to lose it.So far, we didnt face each other directly, Munzir Eris, a young Kurdish fighter told The Daily Beast, only rockets, artillery and snipers. [But] since yesterday we have taken six villages.

The fog of war is complicated here by the fog of politics.

For the last two years, the most effective forces fighting ISIS on the ground in this region have come from the YPG, the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units that Ankara says are closely tied to the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, that has waged a decades-long war against the Turkish government. And for most of this war on the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate, Ankara has treated the Kurds as a greater threat to its interests than ISIS.

The fact that the U.S. has thrown its weight behind the Kurdish fighters by deploying U.S. Special Forces advisors among them, some of whom wear YPG badges, has complicated efforts to coordinate the offensive with Ankara.

So the question of who is leading this fightSyrian Arabs or the Kurds of the YPGhas become extremely sensitive. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkish intelligence is watching closely to make sure Arabs will be the main force in the operation.

The Americans are taking the same position: The Syrian Arabs are leading the operation and have more than 2,000 fighters in the operation. The Kurds have approximately 500 supporting the operation, Col. Chris Garver, a spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition told The Daily Beast. This does not discount Kurdish contributions.  But to say the Kurds are leading the Manbij operation is inaccurate.

On the ground in Syria it is, frankly, difficult to see whether this is true or not.

From the Syrian town of Kobani, where I am based, it seems Kurdish fighters of the YPG dominate the fight. On May 30, already, the first Kurdish reinforcements were deployed and now Kobani is saddened by regular funeral marches for those whove died in this operation. Last Thursday four Kurdish fighters were buried, and on Saturday eight fighters were buried who were killed in an ISIS rocket attack. But senior Kurdish officials assure me that mostly Arab fighters are involved in this operation in order to calm Turkeys concerns about the increased Kurdish-U.S. cooperation.Although the U.S. says it supports the Arabs as part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with training and weapons, local Arabs say the support is limited and that they havent seen any training. We ask the international community to provide us with more weapons to defeat ISIS, Abdo Muslim said.

In order to embrace the several elements joined together here, the offensive is being conducted in the name of the Manbij Military Council.Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to visit front lines after a local photographer took pictures showing U.S. Special Forces with patches of Kurdish fighters, angering Turkey and the U.S.

Although Kurdish officials initially were happy with the pictures, they slowly realized it could compromise the fight against ISIS and now see the photos as a public relations disaster.

This campaign is dependent on politics, Munzir Eris, a young Kurdish fighter, told The Daily Beast. It is a very sensitive campaign and any wrong behavior could lead to problems. So far it seems the operation has at least tacit approval from Turkey due to U.S. pressure and guarantees that Arabs will be in charge.

The operation is dominated for 60 per cent by Arabs and 40 per cent by Kurds, Turkmen and other ethnic groups, Mohamed Abu Amdil, an Arab commander of the Manbij military council assured The Daily Beast. Of course Turkey will accept liberating Manbij, because just the [Arab] people of Manbij will protect their city.Salih Haji Mohammed, the Kurdish deputy and co-chair of the Manbij city council set up at the beginning of April says the council strives for good relations with Turkey. In our social contract, we say we want to have good relations with neighboring countries like Turkey. Any country that does not interfere in Manbij and our areas, we will have good relations with, he said. Such as statement is rare. Normally, Syrian Kurdish officials are hostile towards Turkey and accuse the Turks of supporting ISIS and massacring Kurds in Turkey.Although the Kurds have been accused of ethnic cleansing of Arabs and Turkmen, on the ground it seems that civilians welcome both Kurdish and Arab fighters by singing, kissing them on the cheeks and throwing away the dark veils they were forced to wear by ISIS.The Kurdish soldiers liberated our village and brought us here, said Behiste Fawaz, 48, a displaced Arab civilian in a makeshift IDP camp near Tisreen dam, who begged reporters and fighters for cigarettes. We have never seen in the world such injustice. I wish ISIS fighters die like dogs in the wild and I wish God destroys them, she said.Other Arab civilians were even more vocal as we talked under a burning sun.

They kill us, they slaughter us, they cut our hands and legs, said Mustafa Aloush, who is originally from the village of Halula. We are in hell. Even Israel didnt do this to us, Israel is merciful compared to ISIS, he told The Daily Beast.Under their control, I couldnt smoke, they insulted us and forced us to wear clothes as women. He pointed at his feet, showing how he was forced to wear his pants above his ankles. All the people support the fighters, my God help you, he told me. Another Arab woman from a village occupied by ISIS started spontaneously to curse ISIS as I recorded her on video, but she changed her mind quickly and begged me not to publish the video. I am afraid of ISIS, they will slaughter my sons, she said.Local officials reject the reports suggesting the Kurds drive out Arabs. Mansour Saloum, a senior Arab official from Tal Abyad and a leader of the Kurdish project to set up a federal region in northern Syria, rejected such claims. The people who will drive out ISIS from the town are people from Manbij, he said.Senior Arab officials and civilians living in the self-administered areas led by Kurds often get annoyed when I ask them about accusations by the Syrian activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, based in Turkey, that accuse Kurds of driving out Arabs from their villages, and claim Arabs in Raqqah are joining ISIS to defend themselves against Kurds.Why do journalists always ask these sectarian questions? Sheikh Farouk al-Mashi, a former member of the Syrian parliament, wanted to know. He will lead the Arab-dominated Manbij city council after the town is liberated from ISIS. I have a Syrian ID, and Kurds have a Syrian ID. Let those people who talk against us in Turkey and Europe come here and fight ISIS. Why this distortion in media about problems between Kurds and Arabs?

Meanwhile more than 50,000 Iraqi Sunni Arabs are expected to flee to the Kurdish-led areas in northern Syria to escape the coming battle for Mosul, across the frontier in Iraq, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR). Already, 4,266 Iraqi refugees are living in the al-Hol refugee camp under dire conditions awaiting international support. Most of the aid given to the Kurds, thus far, as been for making war, not supporting those displaced by it.

The campaign to take Manbij will most likely last weeks. Taking these villages is easy, Abdo Muslim said. But taking Manbij is difficult. Its a big city and a needs a lot of work, he added. The frontlines are wide, and they [ISIS] are not withdrawing.
A few years ago I sat down with Issa Ibrahim at the Washington Square Diner in the West Village of Manhattan for an interview. I knew his storythat in 1990 he had killed his mom, that it was at the apex of an undiagnosed and untreated schizophrenic break with reality. I knew that he was found innocent by reason of insanity, and that he had spent the next 20 years in a psychiatric facility battling with hospital administrators, his own family, and the demons of his interior. Those are the factsbut what I wanted to know, and what Issa shared with me, was a different kind of story, the story he mulled over for years. What happened in his mind to lead him into a place so strange and dangerous?

Issa remembers July 4 of 1989 as the day he really lost his mind. His family was having a barbeque. His mom, Audrey, was cooking burgers. Friends and family members smoked and played chess while Issa painted. All of a sudden he felt something, a shiver of energy, and looked over at one of the guests. I felt in my mind he said, youre weak, youre all heart. Issas friend hadnt actually said anything at all. I shot back with my mind, Issa says, at least I have a heart mothafucker. And then he looked away and sort of scratched his ear as if to say, in my mind, I hear you. No words had actually been exchanged. Ill never forget it. That was the moment when I crossed the line.

Issa described what ensued in the next nine months as a complete descent into madness.

I didnt really smoke pot as a kid, Issa says, but his house was filled with it. He would come home and find artistic reverie, wafting pot smoke, and music pouring out of their home in Jamaica, Queens. He always had a gift for rendering, painting, and drawing, and his mother was also a painter and writer. His father, Jamil Ibrahim, was a jazz musician andvafter Jamils death, when Issa was 22, a family friend gave Issa some weed to calm him down. I always hated it [pot] and avoided it all my life but I thought, hey this is my dads smoke, Ill get to know him. I knew he was a philanderer and a womanizer, and that she [his mother Audrey] loved him, but not much other than that. From that point on, Issa smoked pot obsessively, but it did nothing to quiet the growing discord in his mind.

Issa began to notice things, a lot of things. All at once: looks, gesticulations, and mannerisms. A word or a nervous laugh could set him off into paranoia. It felt like hearing other peoples thoughts, all at once. He began to make micro-connections between all the little behavioral cues of the people around him, wondering what they really meant. I was always waiting for someone to stab me in the back with what I called subspeak, or subtle speak: the words beneath the words, Issa says.

He believed that a change was about to happen: a big looming event that was going to take place. And he was convinced that everyone was communicating about it behind his back. I was so paranoid that everything anyone was saying was a part of it. Issa was getting frightened and began to avoid people. If anyone said anything to me, even talking about their day, I would assume they were talking about me in relation to this big change that was coming. The fantastical plot that was forming in his mind became very real to him. I thought some scary-ass shit was about to go down.

Though Issas paranoia didnt go unnoticed his family was hesitant to seek outside help.

The African American community is fearful of the medical system, Issa explains. He had never been taken to see a doctor and had never been medicated. The way I see it now, I was self medicating, Issa says in regard to his dependence on weed. He says his sister, a nurse, warned him of the dangers of diagnosis. What, do you want to be locked up in the crazy house? Have a bunch of crazy white people tell you whats wrong with you? Doped up on medication? he says. His mother and siblings tried to manage him as best they could, but Issas sisters were both in tumultuous second marriages and his brothers were being swept up in the crack epidemic of the 1980s. Issas delusions were growing larger and pretty soon his concept of reality had morphed into a nightmarish fantasy.

Signs of the big change, this struggle between good and evil were all around him. Issa saw the eye of the CBS logo as a harbinger of truth, and a rocket launch as a warning that they were going to kill all the chosen people. The chosen werent all black people, but they were mostly black people. It wasnt like an exclusively black and white thingbut theyre definitely killin all the n**gas!

Voices began telling him that his mother had become possessed, and that she was in league with the demons on the wrong side of the looming catastrophe. My mother had tarot cards around and this made me think she was into witchcraft type stuff, he says. He remembers walking into her room and seeing a torn photograph of himself as a young boy, and the tear touched [my] head in the photo. He took this as a sign that she had been messing with his mind, and decided to confront her.

I asked her if I was Jesus and to this day I dont know why she answered yes. Her heavy mascara had cast ominous looking shadows across her face and Issa was convinced that she was somewhere in there, but that she was compromised. The voices were now booming, occupying the loudest part of his mind.

Issa grabbed his mother and wrestled with her. I just wanted to talk to my mom, my real mom. He says he was trying to perform an exorcism of sorts. They wrestled for a long time as he tried to get to his mother, past the demon that had taken her. (I thought they had taken over my mother, he explains. Who exactly? I wasnt sure.) During the tussle, they became mutually exhausted and stopped for moments to breath.

All of a sudden the voices were gone. Issa remembers thinking, What do I do? Tell me how to do an exorcism! He grew weary, and Audrey was trying to wriggle away. Somebody help me! Talk to me! I dont know what to do! he thought.

In order to keep his mother still for a moment, to gather his thoughts, he placed his knee on her chest. I didnt realize I exerted too much pressure. I didnt know my weight, and I heard, CRUSH, CRUNCH, and a splattering noise, and that was it. In a brief moment of clarity, Issa realized things had gone horribly wrong. He had cracked his mothers sternum. I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up. That wasnt supposed to happen. As he recalls the events of that evening, he pauses. I think of her, and what she was thinking and

I was too much of a pussy to just cut my wrists, he confesses, but he did break a mirror and roll around in the pieces, hoping that one of them would fatally cut him. He then decided to drive up to Canada in the family car, where he hoped to find his mothers soul still present in their vacation home. Along the way, thoroughly stoned and out of his mind, Issa hit a tree. The cops took him to a hospital, where he was medicated for the first time.

Finally feeling a bit of clarity, Issa told the doctors what had happened. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which usually develops between the ages of 18 and 25. (Issa was 24 at the time of his arrest.) Rather than going to prison, he would be committed to the Creedmore psychiatric facility in Queens for an indeterminate amount of time. A series of mishaps ended up keeping him there for two decades.

While at Creedmore, Issa started to draw again. Autopsy of the Damned was the first painting Issa made in the facilitys extensive art studio, called The Living Museum, a hospital building repurposed for the artistic endeavours of the patients. Autopsy is me feeling like the worst of the worst. I was a mental patient, I was a criminal, I had lost everything. I lost my mom and my family and it felt like there was a void inside.

Issa was in his mid-twenties and after a year, he became involved in several romantic relationships in the hospital. He entered into a courtship with a woman named Susan. They would be on-again, off-again for the remainder of his stay. At the age of 27, Issa also began sleeping with a 65-year-old social worker. Hey, the sex was amazing, he says. She resigned after they were found out, and the administration confiscated all his artwork and decided to take him off the medication to see how he would react. By Issas account this was a punishment. However, some of the artwork did feature the legs of said social worker and other members of the hospital administration staff in highly submissive sexualized positions. The administrators wanted to study the artwork for pathology.

Issa cites an enormous regression in his mental state following this, and for the next decade he tried unsuccessfully to get released. The legal battle that ensued was the subject of a 2013 NPR program entitled The Hospital Always Wins by Laura Starecheski. When assessed, he was diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder on top of paranoid schizophrenia by Dr. Angela Hegarty. In 2002 Dr. Hegarty was the new forensic psychiatrist at Creedmore, and her 40-page report would weigh heavily against his petition for release. In her written explanation for this diagnoses she called his fantasies of success grossly unrealistic. He disputed her assessment in court for the next 7 years. After a long legal battle, Issa was released from the hospital in 2009.

Though still on probation, Issa has been a prolific artist and musician in the six years since his release. His paintings depict Civil Rights activists and black leaders as superheroes, as well as iconic cartoon characters in BDSM positions. In one, Dick Tracy slyly reveals an enormous erection, side-glancing toward the viewer, while the Hulk sits on a toilet reading the paper in another. The superhero theme runs strong through his body of work.

But it was the music video for a song about a guy who cuts his girlfriends head off, called Head Case, that got Issa in a bit of trouble with the hospital, even after he had been living on his own for four years.

The hospital administrators called him back in to review his state of mind. Do you really feel like cutting your girlfriends head off? his doctor asked. It put me right back to when I was a small, little, ugly mental patient sitting in front of a big desk full of people. Issa was scared that he may be forced to stay on probation for a lot longer, or worse, be readmitted.

Its Pagliacci. Its a laugh to keep from crying. I have a very bitter, sarcastic wit or sense of humor because its a bitter sarcastic world. It dealt me a fucked up hand, and Im trying to make the best of it, really, as best as I can.

He still has no contact with his family, although occasionally one of his sisters will post reprisals on his Facebook page. ISSA, YOU ARE A MATRICIDAL SELFISH LIAR! YOUR MOTHER DESERVES TO BE ALIVE, NOT YOU! WE SUFFER WITHOUT HER; YOU DONT! HELL IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU, BROTHER!!!

During Issas book launch and gallery opening at on Thursday, June 2nd at the Local Project Gallery in Long Island City one of his brothers stood outside in protest. His arms folded, he glared at the security guard stationed at the door, while his wife sat in the car across the street. Toward the end of the night he yelled, All the art in the world doesnt bring our mom back! He [Issa] is a coward, a MURDERER! His whole family hates him. Another attendee replied, you have no idea what psychosis is like, you cant know what is real. She was encouraged to not engage. (Issas brother declined to comment to me directly.)

Issas book, The Hospital Always Wins, put out by The Chicago Review Press, came out this month, and in it he chronicles how the unimaginable came to be, how his own mind betrayed him, and how he fought to get released for 20 years.

His closest confidant is his girlfriend, Susan, from Creedmore. After her release she stayed with Issa off and on even though he was still inside. She is an artist as well, and is featured in several of his videos.Together, they run around Queens making films and music videos like partners in art crime. When you walk into their ground floor apartment, its a memorabilia wonderland: a James Brown Bobble head is positioned next to Issas portrait of The Hulk sitting on a toilet, and there is always a project in the works. Currently the living room has been taken over by a mammoth portrait of Trump and family with gruesome expressions.

Issa still has a studio at The Living Museum and beneath his Autopsy of the Damned hangs a new self-portrait. This one has light emanating from his chest and a picture of his mother at the center. Its the sequel to Autopsy of the Damned. Its telling the story of me and my mom, coming to the hospital, hating yourself, wanting to die, and getting to the point where you kind of forgive yourself. Your mother comes to you and you dont know if its a psychotic process or just God, and if there is a God or if its just you finally forgiving yourself.
This is part of our weekly series, Lost Masterpieces, about the greatest buildings and works of art that were destroyed or never completed.

One day, over five centuries ago, a miner or explorer or just a lucky wanderer in the right place at the right time pulled an enormous hunk of carbon from the earth in India.

His identity (for at the time, it was surely a man), has been lost in the vanishing winds of history. But, dusted off, professionally cut, and polished, his find gleamed with the brilliance of 137.27 carats and 126 facets of glittering greenish-yellow crystal.

The Florentine Diamond was born.

One would think a stone this large, this valuable, this spectacular wouldnt be too hard to keep track of. But the Florentine Diamond enjoyed centuries of adventure, a slew of noble owners, and a position of prestige, before it went missing for what is likely the final time.

While its early history is a bit murky, legend has it that, as of 1477, the Florentine Diamond was in the possession of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. His Grace, the Duke of Burgundy, allegedly liked to go into battle armed with his weapons and a choice piece or two from his collection of priceless gems.

Did he think this sign of wealth would intimidate his enemies? Did he consider these pieces a good luck charm? We will never know. But, whatever his reason, even one of his finest gems couldnt save him on January 5, 1477 when Charles was struck down by the Swiss during the Battle of Nancy.

The Dukeand his precious Florentine Diamondwere left on the battlefield where they fell.

Several days later, a manthis time one who didnt realize his luckwandered by. Some say he was a foot soldier, others a peasant. But whoever he was, he had no idea what he had stumbled across. Thinking the gem was just glass, he picked it up and allegedly sold it for a single florin. A game of musical owners quickly followed, some saying the list even included Pope Julius II.

While this legend is the prevailing tale of the early whereabouts of what would become known as the Florentine diamond, an alternate history has also been suggested. Its a little less colorful, but just as dramatic.

This version of events suggests that the diamond was in the possession of the local ruler of the Indian region of Vijayanagar when the Portuguese invaded the area in the 1500s.

One of the occupiers eventually installed as Governor of Goa, Ludwig Castro, Count of Montesano, took the giant diamond from the King of Vijayanagar and gifted it to his wife.

In the early 1600s, they sold it to the Medici family.

And this is where the known trail of the Florentine Diamond begins. Whatever its early history and exploits, the diamond was confirmed to be in the possession of the powerful Medici family of Florence by the mid-17th century.

A fervent traveler and well-known gem merchant, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, documented seeing the stone in the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II dd Medici, in 1657.

And there it stayed until the familys final fall when the Medici line came to an end. When the last of the powerful family, Anna Maria Luisa, died in 1743, the gem fell into the hands of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francis I.

While the Grand Duke may have ruled over the local region of Tuscany, the Florentine diamonds fate was decided by his wife, Maria Theresa, who was the last of the Hapsburg ruling family.

It was Maria Theresawho enjoyed such numerous titles as Holy Roman Empress, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, along with Mother of Marie Antoinettewho moved the Florentine diamond out of the land that gave it its name and put it on display in Vienna along with the rest of the Hapsburg Crown Jewels. It was installed in the oldest wing of the Hofburg Palace, called the Schweitzer-hoff.

The London-based periodical, The Ladys Newspaper, described its illustrious setting among the other treasures of the royal family in an article published on November 4, 1848. The passage describes the large gallery, containing the imperial treasury, in which is deposited all the jewels, plate, vases, clocks, religious relics, gems, etc. belonging to the Austrian Crown, some of which are extremely rare and of immense value, especially the Florentine diamond, which is valued at 1,043,334 florins (102,166. 14s.).

It was a prize among a trove of treasures. And that may have been the causeor curseof its downfall. After the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated during World War I, the royal family fled to Switzerland, smuggling out many of their valuable possessions including the Florentine Diamond. (A decree in 1919 officially outlawed the Austrian nobility.)

Swiss papers state on what is termed the best authority that the children of ex-Emperor Charles, who rejoined their parents last week, took with them the greater part of the crown jewels of Austria, including the famous Florentine diamond. The value of the jewels reported taken to the ex-Emperor is said to be about 25,000,000 Swiss francs, reported The New York Times on February 7, 1922.

While the Italian government claimed that the Florentine Diamond and other jewels originally owned by the Medici family should legally be returned to Italy, the country would never regain possession of its giant yellow gem.

The long and adventurous life of the Florentine diamond ends in exileat least as far as we know.

As with any good mystery, especially that of the priceless jewel variety, there are many theories about what happened to this unique piece. Some say that the exiled Austrian royal family, desperate for cash, covertly sold the diamond.

Others agree, but suggest that it was first cut into smaller stones, all the better to be sold on the legal market. But a competing theory posits that a servant close to the family stole the Florentine diamond and took it to South America.

Whether its adventure covertly continues today or whether it was lost forever, the Florentine diamondin its massive, multi-faceted gleaming yellow formis unlikely to ever be publicly seen again.
When you think of the Christian Right and politics, probably you think of abortion, homosexuality, and religious exemptions. You probably dont think of campaign finance.

James Bopp does.

Although youve probably never heard his name before, Bopp was one of the leading minds behind Citizens United and other efforts to deregulate political spending. Hes also been the lawyer for leading Christian Right organizations including the National Right to Life Committee, National Organization for Marriage, the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family.

That is not a coincidence. In fact, these organizations, ostensibly devoted to social issues, have been the lead plaintiffs in over 70 lawsuits challenging campaign finance laws, as first disclosed in a report last year by the liberal group Common Cause.

Though he didnt argue the Citizens United case at the Supreme Courthe was deemed too ideologically divisiveBopp masterminded the conservative groups overall strategy, and gloated to the New York Times that we had a ten year plan to take all this down we have been awfully successful and we are not done yet.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, however, Bopp told a different story.

I really didnt set out to be involved in campaign finance, Bopp said. It was just a fortuitous chain of events The Right-to-Life movement felt it was under serious threat of attacks from the Federal Election Commission. Bopp was hired by Indiana Right-to-Life in 1976 and then the National Right to Life Committee, beginning in 1978.

After the 1980 election, Bopp explained, the NRLC, which distributed thousands of voter guides was either credited or blamed for having a major impact in the election, including the defeat of twelve incumbent Democratic pro-choice senators replaced by twelve Republican pro-life senators.

That attracted the attention of the FEC.

The FEC decided that if voter guides were going to influence elections, it was time to outlaw them and so they proceeded to adopt a series of regulations that led to my very first campaign finance case.

In fact, the FEC argued that the voter guides constituted political campaigning by a nonprofit, which it clearly was. But Bopp was successful in persuading courts that because they werent directly campaigning for a single candidate, the nonprofit itself, not just its political action committees (PACs), should be allowed to distribute the guideseven though contributions to it are tax deductible and not meant to be for political campaigns.

If that sounds familiar, its because theres a direct line from that case to Citizens United, which overturned bans on electioneering by corporations. In fact, Bopp, and the Christian Right, were involved at many steps along the way.

In 2007, Bopp told The Daily Beast, I won a case for Wisconsin Right to Life in the U.S. Supreme Court, and that summer, Citizens United called me, saying we want to do a movie on Hillary Clinton, but we want to make sure we can run it. That ended up in a lawsuit because we felt that the FEC would view it to be a violation of the law, and they did.

I asked Bopp what he would say to the many moderate Americans who feel that Citizens United has harmed our democracy by enabling huge corporations and organizationsoften funded by a handful of super-rich donorsto spend unlimited amounts of money. Surprisingly, his response was that the case actually was good for democracy.

Citizens United was about whether or not people of average means can come together in an organization, and by pooling their resources thereby be effective in doing things that rich people can do already, he said. Individuals have always been able to spend their own money to advocate the election of candidates. The problem with being a person of average means is you dont have the money. So your only outlet is to pool your resources, which means you join a group. then you can do what a rich person can do, which is advocate for the election of a candidate.

But arent most of those groups actually large corporations, or organizations funded by a few wealthy donors?

A corporation is just a forma legal form of how to associate together, just like a union, Bopp said. You know, I helped incorporate the Wabash Valley Girls Volleyball Association. Its a corporation. just a form for people to associate. Yeah, there are big ones but there are lots of small ones. And theres nothing inherent in a corporation being big or small.

The numbers tell a different story. In 1980, the top 0.01 percent of the population contributed 15 percent of total political contributions. But between 2010 and 2014, just 195 donorsthe top .0013 percent of the populationfunded 60 percent of super PACs, which, as (supposedly) independent corporations are exempt from both donation limits and spending limits, thanks to the progeny of Citizens United.

Corporate spending on politics is also, obviously, mostly done by huge businesses, not volleyball leagues. Its mostly undisclosedin 2012, almost $320 million was spent without any disclosure of donors. And its tilted rightward, with conservative outside spending outpacing liberal outside spending by a rate of over 2-to-1.

But its the intersection with the Christian Right that is perhaps the most puzzling. Why, and how, are conservative religious groups fighting to destroy election laws? Didnt Jesus say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?

Bopp says it was a matter of necessity.

The Right To Life movement felt it was under serious threat by attacks from the FEC, he said. They decided to be pro-active, not wait until the eve of an election to get whacked by some law, but to be pro-active and try to monitor and influence campaign finance legislation, and bring suit if it looks like it would jeopardize their activities.

Common Cause found that between 1993 and 1998, Bopp brought lawsuits in 26 states on behalf of the NRLC and its affiliates alone. Bopp is still general counsel at NRLC, and hes been special counsel to the RNC, special counsel to Focus on the Family, attorney for NOM, and lead counsel for the Christian Coalition. Other clients have included the Susan B. Anthony List, Christian Broadcasting Network, Traditional Values Coalition, Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women of America, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Club for Growth, the Libertarian Party, Republican National Committee, and the state Republican parties of Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont.

Bopp also has an unusual relationship with a nonprofit called the James Madison Center for Free Speech. Set up in 1996 with Mitch McConnellhimself a prodigious fundraiser and super PAC founderthe Center has no staff, no phone line, and no office. It shares an address with Bopps (for-profit) law firm, and its tiny board is made up of Bopps colleagues at the RNC and NRLCtogether with Betsy DeVos, whose family foundation is perhaps the leading funder of hard-right Christian extremism in America.

Moreover, nearly all of the Centers revenue has gone directly to Bopps firm, in the form of fees. The Common Cause report suggested that the Center is merely a conduit; it takes tax-deductible donations and pays them out to Bopp. And the liberal Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint about the James Madison Center in 2013, which is still being investigated.

Bopp denies any wrongdoing.

The purpose of the Center is to fund litigation. Its just like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, whose purpose is to fund litigation. It [The NAACP LDF] is obviously hugely bigger and has multiple lawyers that it is funding. The Madison Center is small, and frankly they hired one of the most successful campaign finance lawyers in the country at very reasonable prices. Theyre fulfilling their purpose.

As for the fact that the Center is basically located within Bopps for-profit law firm, he said I provide all of the organizational and administrative and bookkeeping services to the Madison Center for free, pro bono I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

Of course, some would say that close relationship between a non-profit and a for-profit is precisely the point. But Bopp told me that while the IRS investigation is still pending, he has been cleared by the Indiana Secretary of State and the Indiana Supreme Court. Moreover, he said, the Center also funds legal actions where Bopp is only one among many attorneys.

As to the IRS, he said, Ive heard nothing. Maybe they put this in the CREW round file. I.e., the garbage.

Whatever the nature of the nonprofit center, its the Christian Rights outsized prominence in campaign finance litigation that is probably most surprising. Most Christians have likely never heard of Jim Bopp, and probably wouldnt think of opposing campaign finance regulation as a Christian religious issue. And yet these organizations have led the fight for more than 30 years.

Is enabling corporations and anonymous wealthy individuals to influence What Jesus Would Do? Who knows. Then again, if memory serves, Christ decided to the moneylenders out of the Templenot help them elect the High Priest.
After being translated into hundreds of languages, disseminated across the globe, and burned by persecutors, the most popular book in human history has recently reached a new milestone  the Bible has been translated into emojis.

The emoji Bible (subtitled Scripture 4 Millenials), a translation of the King James Version of the Bible, comes in at 3,300 pages and became available on the iTunes store for $2.99 last Sunday. The translator of the Bible has chosen to conceal his or her identity, identifying themselves only with the cool dude with sunglasses emoji and accessible at the @BibleEmoji account. The author told The Guardian that I wanted to make it similar to how you might text or tweet a Bible verse, by shrinking the total character count.

The book has met with a mixed reaction: the author said that they had received some really nice and some not-so nice feedback. (Can we insert a sad face emoji here?) And thats understandable: to many, the appearance of an emoji Bible seems like a combination of irreverent frivolity and evangelical desperation. Can anyone really find spiritual succor in this way? Is this a crashingly embarrassing attempt to tap into the millennial Zeitgeist? Or, given that the author has not admitted to being Christian, perhaps this is just a cynical way to tap into Christian cash?

Certainly established religions have been using social media as a means of reaching out to people for several years. Even though he has confessed to not owning a PC, Pope Francis has posed for selfies, participated in Google hangouts with school children, and become a prolific user of Twitter. There have been Bible apps almost since the beginning of the smartphone, and theres even in an online guide to confessing ones sins in the Catholic Church.

But many of these are about facilitating greater engagement with Christianity, rather than replacing fundamentals. The confessional app doesnt replace the sacrament; its a how-to about what to do once youre inside the confessional (which is, lets face it, a fairly high-stress situation for those out of practice).

The emoji Bible, on the other hand, taps into a long history of controversy about translating the Word of God. Among Christians, there are a variety of perspectives about the status of the Bible  whether or not it is the verbatim word of God, inerrant, divinely inspired, or just high-status ethically-significant literature. And the loftier ones view of the Bible and its authorship is, the more problematic the question of its translation becomes.

Until the end of the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church used the Latin Vulgate while Eastern Orthodox Churches used the Greek Byzantine text. The translation of the Bible into vernacular languages was the cause of considerable controversy. In the late fourteenth century, a number of translations of the Bible into Middle English began to circulate in England. They were attributed to Oxford scholar John Wycliffe, the founder of the Lollard movement, who was critical of the clergy and monasticism and argued that the Bible was the only reliable guide to the nature and will of God.

Wycliffes ideas and the translations ascribed to him (it is thought that they are the work of several hands) landed him in hot water at the Vatican, but during his lifetime he escaped relatively unscathed. It was only after his death in 1415 that he was declared a heretic. William Tyndale, a leading figure in the Protestant reformation, was not so lucky. He was executed by strangulation and subsequently burned at the stake. His translation was the first English Bible to draw directly from the Hebrew and the Greek and it became a foundational text for many other versions. Among them is the 1611 King James Bible, which continues to be viewed as the inerrant word of God by many fundamentalist Protestants.

The scandal of Biblical translation is the question of its ability to properly confer, without alteration or error, the sanctity and intent of a presumably divine author. Whatever we learned in elementary school, words have different valences in different languages. When people are pouring over a text trying to decipher a deeper meaning, those different valences become increasingly important. If a valence is present in a translation that is not in the original language, its effectively a mistake.

The desire for vernacular translations is easy to understand. In the Middle Ages when Roman Catholics heard the Mass and Biblical readings in Latin, only a small percentage of the congregation understood what was being read to them. Translating the Bible into the vernacular makes the Bible accessible. Perhaps emojis do the same, but it is an imprecise and almost self-consciously satirical language. To pose an overly serious question of the project, is there a theological problem with using the halo emoji to represent God?

The intention to make the Bible accessible to all can have a dark side, though. In the past two hundred years, numerous Bible translations have focused on missionary activity. Biblical translation coincided with colonialization and the imposition of both power and the culture of the translators. Numerous studies on how translation impacts communities in Africa, in South America, and among the Inuit have shown how Biblical translations often strip indigenous peoples of their autonomy and own ability to interpret. Theres a great deal of colonial interference in Biblical translation, and that leads to the imposition of Western values that sometimes have very little to do with the ancient Mediterranean world.

While it seems unlikely that the emoji Bible will have that kind of an impact, it still represents Western culture. The prayer hands emoji is a representation of a particular kind of prayer but it doesnt represent those religious traditions that pray without outstretched hands. Representations of supernatural figures  angels, the devil, the halo emoji  these are all pop Western cultural depictions of these figures, reduced to the least detail possible. And there are real translational problems here. In a world in which #blessed is both overtly commercial and smugly narcissistic, does the concept of a blessing have any real counterpart? Perhaps those who want pictograms in their religious texts are better off sticking to hieroglyphics.
Killary Clinton is stealing the nomination and the system is rigged against Bernie Sanders, said the two young white guys standing behind me in line. They rambled incessantly about how she was cheating and could not be trusted. Superdelegates were their greatest frustration. Unelected delegates who could decide the nomination proved that the process was a sham that was intentionally set up to prevent Sanders from winning.

At first I tried to ignore the conversation and thought they were Trump supporters (Killary is usually a right-wing thing). But once it became clear that these guys were Sanders supporters, I had to jump in. For years, these guys had been my people. I have been a fan of Sanders long before his presidential run and have made many friends due to our mutual admiration of his policies. Surely, Id be able to have a civil, rational conversation with these guys, right?

When, I chimed in it was evident that we were speaking different languages. We agreed on most of the substantive policy issues, and I told them how I even interned for Sanders about a decade ago. We should have been able to see eye to eye, but we could not. The main source of their frustration was merely the fact that they had lost. The fact that she is ahead in the popular vote, has won more primaries and caucuses, and has earned more delegates was to them a minor nuisance. They had their absurd talking points and were unwilling to deviate into reality.

The more I reflected on them, the more I realized the key point: They felt entitled to win, and a defeat meant that someone must have cheated or that their opinions did not matter, which of course couldnt be true. They preferred to suspend reality and fabricate injustices rather than concede that Sanders has lost fair and square.

Essentially, we disagreed on what America supposedly promised or owed us. They felt success was promised to them. The entitlement to believe that you should always win allowed them to overlook how the system in many ways has always been unjustly rigged in their favor because theyre white. I brought up race during our conversation and how Im very aware of how a system can be rigged against you. These guys acknowledged my point, but it was obvious that this reality did not factor much into their thinking. They felt aggrieved and cheated, and that was all that mattered.

They could not understand the perspectives of blacks, Latinos and other minorities in America who are regularly treated as threats to society before their voices can be heard. We are often silenced before we even have the chance to win. And as a result, we know that losing is a reality we will confront and that success can be a difficult and long process that may only show its face in the lives of our children or grandchildren who have more opportunities because weve spent a lifetime fighting for positive change.

These guys could not understand this struggle. They wanted immediate success and gratification, and they were not used to things not going their way. The issues and the lives of others had become irrelevant. All they wanted was for me to agree that they had been unjustly cheated, and that Killary and the DNC had rigged everything against them. I could not agree, so I had to walk away.

Sanderss message has resonated mostly with a younger, predominantly white electorate like those two guys. Their message and frustrations have been heard loud and clear, but their electoral defeats have resulted in an intensified pack or tribalist mentality that unfortunately has similarities to the white tribalism that has guided Trumps campaign. Sanders and Trump are mining similar disaffections amongst the white electorate.

On Face the Nation, Sanders recently attempted to pour cold water on some of the rage and rhetoric of his supporters, I wouldnt use the word riggedI think its just a dumb process which has certainly disadvantaged our campaign.

Trump on the other hand regularly feeds and emboldens these sentiments. He is speaking to voters like a commenter to The Atlantic whose perspective was so striking that the publication published his unsolicited comment in their Notes section, which regularly incorporates a more conversational and untraditional approach to covering the news. The commenter is a Midwestern, working-class white male in his late 30s who intends to vote for Trump if Sanders does not win the nomination because if it is all going to be tribal politics, then well, I guess you have to go with your own tribeif not for your sake, then for the sake of your kids.

Sanders has broadened the Democratic electorate to include voters who may not normally participate in the primaries and caucuses, but now they need to combat the tribalism that could negatively impact Clinton and other Democrats in the general election. Sanders, unfortunately, has said that he has no obligation to convince his supporters to throw in with Clinton.

A beguiling component of Sanderss campaign is how the unintentional white tribalism that has been forged on shared economic hardships has boosted his campaign, while at the same time rendering him unappealing to the minorities he needed to win the nomination.

Sanderss class-based, inequality and economy focused agenda was not intended to stoke racial divisions, but even progressives are impacted by the class and race-based structures that American society has been built upon. Minorities agree with Sanderss commitment to crack down on big banks and Wall Street, but many of the economic and social injustices we face exist on Main Street and within the police precincts that are supposed to protect us. And while Sanders may see this distinction, some of his supporters appear not to.

As an African American I could not join the tribe of Sanderss belligerent, incensed supporters. But I should not have to as long as both they and I are committed to working together to combat structures that disenfranchise Americans electorally and economically. The fact that we could not should be incredibly disconcerting to Sanders, Clinton, and the DNC.

White entitlement is shaping up to be a critical issue during this election for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Trump and the GOP are championing the entitled white life of yore. But the Democrats have another dilemma and must figure out a way for their diverse electorate to converse and unite around the shared goals of equity and progress without the archaic divisions and privileges of the past. Thus far it looks like the Democrats and the Sanders campaign still have a lot of work to do.
How to Find Local Job Listings

Are you looking for a job and not having much luck finding local job listings? There are variety of ways to narrow down your local job search to focus on jobs near you  or in the locations where you are interested in working.
 Sara Beth Krusekopf of College Station graduated summa cum laude from Austin College in Sherman recently with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and a minor in Spanish. She is the daughter of Deborah and Kurt Krusekopf.

 Huda Naeem of College Station graduated with a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center's commencement ceremony, May 21 in Fort Worth. Naeem is a graduate of A&M Consolidated High School, Blinn College and Texas A&M. She will continue her medical training in the Detroit area as an emergency medicine resident at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital.

 Lisa Dubois of Bryan has been named to the Chancellor's List at Troy University in Troy, Alabama, for the spring semester. The Chancellor's List honors full-time undergraduate students who are registered for at least 12 semester hours and who earn a grade-point average of 4.0.

 Caleb Smith of Somerville has been named to the Dean's List for spring 2016 semester at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Students named to the list earned at least a 3.75 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, completed at least 12 hours of standard graded credit, achieved no grade below a B and received no failing grades.

 Alec Jeffery Paradowski of College Station received a bachelor of arts degree in business economics with a minor in mathematics, cum laude, from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 Cade Simpson, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Bryan, was named to the spring 2016 Dean's List at LeTourneau University in Longview. The Dean's List recognizes students who earned a grade-point average between 3.5 and 3.99.

 Marilee Rodgers of College Station has been named to the Dean's List at William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri, for academic accomplishments during the 2016 spring term.

To be named to the Dean's List, a student must have achieved a minimum 3.6 semester and cumulative grade-point average.

 Ethan Bassham of Bryan will spend the summer on a mission trip to Canada as part of the Global Outreach program at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.

Bassham, a social science major, is one of more than 80 students that will complete internships and mission trips in more than 20 countries as a part of the program this summer.

 Frank Scanlin of Bryan has graduated from Ohio Christian University in Circleville, Ohio, with a bachelor of arts in leadership and ministry.

 Emma Tamplin of College Station has been named to the spring 2016 Dean's List at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a grade-point average of 3.5 with no grade below a C.
There are so many reasons to say Bryan and College Station is a great place to call home. Over the years, The Eagle repeatedly has pointed out many of them.

Perhaps the biggest reason we are so good is because of the amazing people who live in this area. If there were any doubts, they were removed on May 26 when a tornado roared through parts of Bryan and heavy rains pelted the entire area, bringing the resulting floods.

Thee tornado damaged or destroyed almost 140 homes in the Wheeler Ridge subdivision on Bryan's east side. We've all seen the aftermath of tornadoes that have devastated communities throughout the American Midwest and have been moved to provide food and clothing and other needed items to the residents of those locales. It always is heart-warming to see the response of our community reaching out to help people they don't even know. The help didn't come because our government ordered it or even organized it. No, it came because residents of the Brazos Valley care and want to help.

Now, though, the destruction was close to home, affecting many of our family, friends and neighbors. Now, 10 days after the tornado plowed through Wheeler Ridge, residents of that subdivision still are dealing with the pain and destruction caused by that tornado.

Many more people are coping with the extensive flooding throughout much of this area and areas to the south and east. One observer said the Brazos River in the Richmond area looks like pictures he has seen of the Amazon River. Flood the river in that area is six feet higher than ever recorded -- and more rains are threatened for this weekend.

Almost as soon as the tornado returned to the sky, neighbors began reaching out to its victims. They offered safety in their homes, helped look for lost pets and helped those affected reach out to family members to say they were OK. Central Baptist Church, just down Boonville Road from Wheeler Ridge, opened its doors as a shelter to those affected by the storm. No one asked what faith the survivors are or where they go to church, if at all. The church opened its doors because it was the right thing to do and the faith of its members required it.

Also quick to respond was the American Red Cross, always among the first responders in any emergency. Red Cross workers assisted those left homeless find a safe place to stay and provided things the devastated families would need in the coming days. The response shows why it is so important to give to the Red Cross even when there is no crisis.

At the end of last week, the Red Cross opened a shelter at First Baptist Church in College Station in anticipation of new flooding this weekend. Later today, the shelter will relocate to the Texas A&M campus. At the shelter, the Red Cross provides those who are hurting with a cot on which to sleep, food and a package of needed toiletries and other necessary items. Free mental health assistance is offered to those trying to deal with having their world turned upside down.

Also among the first to offer assistance were members of the Bryan Firefighters Association, who have pitched in every day since the tornado to help clean up debris and start the rebuilding process. Every morning, some 12 to 15 firefighters gather to head to the devastated areas, some after working a 24-hour shift on duty. Our firefighters don't get the thanks they deserve but, thank God, they are always here to respond to every emergency this community has to handle.

And then there are the dedicated city of Bryan workers. Utility crews went to work immediately after the storm to restore power to those homes and businesses that had lost electricity. And city crews worked long hours picking up downed trees and debris from damaged homes.

The Eagle is proud to join with our friends at Bryan Broadcasting and KBTX Media to collect money needed to help victims recover and move on. Donations will be accepted through Friday at any local Bank and Trust location: 2900 S. Texas Ave.: 3400 Texas 21; or 1716 Briarcrest Drive, Suite 400, all in Bryan, or at either 2305 Texas Ave. S. or 4450 Texas 6 S. at Tower Point in College Station. Checks should be made out to BV Media Giving Back with a note in the "memo" line that it's for May 2016 storm victims.

People rushed in to help tornado victims in Navasota and flooding victims in Brenham. Compounding the sense of loss in Brenham was the death of 16-year-old Jarrett Russell Halfmann, who was killed Monday morning when a tree limb fell on him as he was helping with the cleanup in that Washington County Community. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to his family and friends as they deal with their grief.

This area may have more bad weather in the days and weeks to come. Please take every precaution. When you know a storm is coming, take shelter. Don't wait until the last moment to decide the best place to go. When roadways flood, don't drive through the standing water. As the saying goes, "Turn around, don't drown." Whatever happens, stay safe.

Thank you to the people of this community and the entire area. We are glad to call you friends and neighbors.
New Burlington Area Homeless Shelter director carrying mission forward

The new executive director of the Burlington Area Homeless Shelter says she's excited for her new role and here to serve the community.
NORWALK  DreAna Grant went through four years of high school envisioning herself on graduation day: what shoes she would wear, how the diploma would look in her hand and the way the pure white cap and gown would envelop it all.

So when a group of Brien McMahon High School students approached their student government, of which she was social chair, and asked that the color of their graduation gowns not be separated by gender, she wasnt totally on board.

I was like Another gown? No, no, I want the white gown. I want it, said Grant. That was hard for me. Im the kind of person where change is hard.

Since the schools inception, the graduation gowns have corresponded to the gender of the student: white for girls, blue for boys. But this year, the student government approached Brien McMahon Principal Suzanne Koroshetz and asked her if they could unify the gown colors.Making this decision this year really makes a statement that we are an inclusive school and we dont want to separate you because of your gender, said Keily Calderon, the student body president.Theres a couple of students at Brien McMahon who dont identify yet with either gender, and we dont want to force them to make that decision, she said.

The students request comes after a year of increasing awareness of transgender people, who dont identify as either male or female, but rather float in the grey area between the two. President Barack Obama recently sent a letter to all public schools demanding that they let students choose the bathroom they feel most comfortable with, regardless of their sex. And last year prominent pop culture figures, including Caitlin (formerly Bruce) Jenner, came out as transgender to the public.

As the younger generation continues to perceive gender and sex as more fluid than past generations, people are questioning traditions in schools like different colored graduation gowns and gendered bathrooms.

People like tradition. We respect that. But its 2016 and we dont want to segregate by gender like we did in the old days, said Victor Borges, vice-president of the schools student government council.

When they spoke with Keroshetz in February this year, she said she would talk with other administrators, but that they only had three days to come to a decision.

Initially, Borges and Calderon were the only two of the five members of the student government council who were proponents of the change. But after they spoke with Keroshetz, teachers and staff, their mindsets started to change.

Grant said she realized she didnt want to make anyone uncomfortable on such a special day. And the color of her dress just started to matter less to her.

When the five student body representatives convened on Feb. 26 to vote on whether or not to change the gown color, the result was surprising. All voted in favor.

The fact that we all made a unanimous decision when three out of five of us were against it, it was kind of a big deal, said Calderon.

When we made the decision, she had tears in her eyes, she was so happy, said Grant of Keroshetz.

Backlash

At first, many of the larger student body didnt take kindly to their representatives decision to unify the graduation gown colors.

I make the announcement during lunch and then I hear half the cafeteria clapping and half the cafeteria booing. Id say for two or three days we were the most hated people in school, said Borges.

Students formed petitions, both on social media and on paper, trying to gather enough signatures to overturn the councils decision. But a lot of the signatures were forged  Calderon said her own even appeared on one petition  and in a couple weeks, the whole thing seemed to die down.

Calderon, Borges and Grant acknowledged that they didnt adequately engage the larger student body for that decision, in large part due to the time crunch.

The main thing was we only had three days to make the decision, said Borges. I think it hit everyone out of nowhere. People felt they really didnt have a say.

Council members took turns going to each classroom to explain their decision.

We clarified the misunderstandings people had, said Grant. And after about a week it started to die down and now its completely poof!

Graduation

This graduation, there wont be female students dressed in white and male students dressed in blue. The girls wont sit on one side of the field while the males sit on the other. And they wont get paired up, one girl and one guy, until the guys run out and a line of girls continues on its own.

The students will sit in alphabetical order wearing identical blue gowns with a white stripe down the front and white caps.

Its just so everybody can be equal, said Grant.

When you look back at pictures of graduation you dont want there to be negative memories for some people, just because they had to choose something they werent ready to decide, said Calderon. Everyone should be able to celebrate that they got through four long years. We should care about that 1 percent, those few individuals, so we can be one class, one color.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 5, 2016

Online supermarket Sukamart will cease operations on June 27. We would like to announce to our customers that we will stop individual service operations at sukamart.com and brand.sukamart.com on June 27, the company wrote on its website.

Sukamart operates three websites, namely sukamart.com, brand.sukamart.com and office.sukamart.com. Kompas.com reports the company will only continue the operations of the latter, Our company will continue to operate, and corporate customers will still be able to place orders via office.sukamart.com as usual.

The company stated that it had shifted its focus to corporate customers via office.sukamart.com. Sukamart has also shifted company control to MonotaRO, a Japanese e-commerce platform focused on industrial goods.

Aside from closing down the website, Sukamart will also stop services on its mobile platforms, both iOS and Android. Customers are encouraged to uninstall the apps after June 27. Those with credits within the app can receive refunds by emailing cs@sukamart.com. (asw)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

A budgetary watchdog is demanding that regional administrations review their spending on organizing local elections, as previously they had spent a large amount of money on tools for balloting and for paying the salaries of the members of the poll committees.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said the spending on salaries for members of poll committees could be reduced, particularly by cutting the numbers of committee members.

The government needs to reconsider the number of local administrators or committees for elections. I think five people are more than enough, Fitra secretary-general Yenny Sucipto told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

Driving license (SIM) applicants welcome with open arms the strict regulations imposed on them by the Jakarta Police to measure their competency and ability to drive.

Feby Triono, 35, an employee with a private company, said he was not disappointed, even though he failed to pass the compulsory written test for the second time to earn a SIM A, the legal license to drive a car.

He said he was familiar with the things being tested and understood what they implied when he drove a car, but he struggled to find the correct answers according to the regulation-based descriptions.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that extremism may emerge from poverty and social injustice, particularly when the state fails to handle problems in the country.

Kallas statement came only two days after President Joko Jokowi Widodo declared June 1 a national holiday to remember the founding of Pancasila in a bold move to promote tolerance as one pillar of the countrys foundations and amid growing threats of radicalism and terrorism.

As the countrys ideology, Pancasila promotes the five principles of divinity, humanism, nationalism, consensual decision-making and social justice.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

Even though the dry season in Jakarta usually starts in April, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that parts of the city will continue receiving some high intensity rain at intervals through June and July.

Central and South Jakarta may still have high intensity rains, while other parts of the city could see rain with low intensity, the agencys head of early warnings Kukuh Ribudiyanto told The Jakarta Post recently.

Flooding, therefore, might happen in certain areas of the city, particularly in neighborhoods where waterways are not cleared from silt and garbage, Kukuh said.

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Linkedin Deviana Wijaya Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

Gender equality has been among the most mentioned development priorities for the past decade. Indeed, moving on from the third Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), the global agenda aims at achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Gender equality is not just a goal on its own, as recognized by the UN. It is also a critical means for achieving all other development goals, as these goals necessitate systemic attention to the needs, priorities and contributions of both women and men.

When we talk about womens empowerment programs and activities, we expect women to actively participate in economic, social and political life.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 4 2016

The National Awakening Museum in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, once used by the Dutch Indies School for Native Physicians (STOVIA), was witness to a student movement that ignited a national consciousness to fight for the countrys independence back in 1908.



Some 108 years later, the building witnessed another breakthrough, as Noor Liesnani Pamella, 61, a businesswoman from Yogyakarta, was granted the 2016 Tobacco Control Award for her contribution to efforts to curb smoking in one of the worlds largest cigarette-puffing nations.



On Friday, the National Commission for Tobacco Control (Komnas PT) bestowed the accolade upon Noor, who refuses to sell cigarettes in the seven outlets of her supermarket chain Pamella in Yogyakarta.



Noor said, however, that she would still be selling cigarettes in her stores if her son, Subhan Khadafi, had not alerted her to the dangers of smoking to health in 1999.



My son, who was pursuing his studies in Medina back then, said to me that smoking was dangerous and considered haram [unlawful] in Saudi Arabia. But I insisted that smoking was merely deemed makruh [odious, but not forbidden], seeing that smoking was normal in Indonesia, Noor told reporters on the sidelines of the event.



She became more alarmed at what her son had said on smoking when she frequently saw health warnings in cigarette advertisements on billboards and television.



Seeing the health warnings, I felt distraught, because I was contributing to peoples health problems if I insisted on selling cigarettes, said Noor, who started her venture in the retail business in 1975.



But it was not until 2003 that the mother of five decided to cease selling cigarettes in her Pamella stores.



When I went on the haj, my haj advisor told me that smoking was haram. His advice led me to stop selling cigarettes, Noor said.



Youths can contribute to the efforts to control tobacco consumption. I took the initiative to stop selling cigarettes from my son.



Noor said she was disconcerted by the fact that a lot of Indonesians started to smoke as youths.



Currently, the country ranks fourth on the list of countries with the highest number of smokers, behind China, Russia and the US. But while other heavy-smoking countries are enforcing tough tobacco controls, Indonesia is planning to double tobacco production.



Indonesia already has the worlds highest smoking prevalence among the male population, with 67.4 percent of men and boys over 15 years of age smoking. The cost of treating tobacco-related diseases in the country is currently estimated at Rp 11 trillion per year, equivalent to 0.29 percent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP).



The 2013 national Basic Health Survey (Riskesdas) revealed that three out of 10 smokers are between 15 and 30 years of age, while most start to smoke before they turn 19.



Komnas PT, which was established in 1998 by several NGOs and health activists, targets youths in its nationwide campaign to curb smoking, following an initiative by President Joko Jokowi Widodo to improve public health, including by decreasing the prevalence of smoking.



We used that momentum to reassess our campaign. For years, we would only concentrate on saying that smoking could cause several health problems. As simple as that, Komnas PT chairman Prijo Sidipratomo told The Jakarta Post on Friday.



Prijo said, however, that he had so far seen no concrete policies from the President to address the issue.



The most important thing to do for Jokowi is to sign the World Health Organizations [WHO] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. But it seems very difficult to bring about, probably due to divisions within the government over tobacco control, he said.



He was referring to a move by the Industry Ministry that advocates doubling production from the 260 billion cigarettes stipulated in a previous decree to 524.2 billion in 2020. On the other hand, a 2013 Health Ministry decree stipulates several directives aimed at curbing smoking in the country. (mos)

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Linkedin Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 5, 2016

Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said celebrated his second wedding with a modest ceremony on Sunday morning in Jakarta, a day before the start of Ramadhan, the Muslim fasting month.

Sudirman married Astried Swastika Ayuningtyas, a former journalist for economic and business magazine Swa who currently works as the corporate secretary for Sarana Multi Inrastruktur.

Allow me to inform you that this morning I held a wedding ceremony [..] Having been a solo player for several years, allow me to ask for your prayers and blessings to start a new life as a duo player, Sudirman stated in a message to the Indonesian Chief Editor clubs.

Sudirman, a widower with six children, married Astried, a widower with one child.

The Islamic wedding ceremony (akad nikah) was held at the house of his spouse in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, at 7 a.m.

My apologies for not having invited all the Chief Editors. We held a very simple wedding, only the akad nikah, Sudirman further said. (ags)
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Linkedin Ida I. Khouw (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 5, 2016

It was such a surprise to read that our senior editor Sabam Siagian (May 4, 1932 - June 3, 2016) mentioned the name Jahidi in the acknowledgement section of a book titled Sabam P. Siagian Perenungan dan Pemikiran (Sabam P. Siagian Contemplation and Thought).

I never expected Sabam, a high-profile journalist, diplomat, politician and public intellectual whose presence in The Jakarta Post newsroom was always both frightening and intimidating, would mention my friend Jahidi as an office boy [whom] from time to time contains my exasperation not caused by [him], in his book.

The newsroom staff mostly hoped SS (referring to him by his initials), who regularly appeared in the office up until his last days, would not approach them at their desks, as he would usually pose questions and comment on even small things in an intimidating tone.

Who are you? was his only response when in 1996 I passed on to him regards from his close friend, noted church hymn and patriotic song composer Alfred Simanjuntak (1920-2014), a teacher of mine.

Since then, I was never willing to pass neither messages nor regards to our first chief editor.

Youre better off asking me to write an essay than to pass your regards onto Pak Sabam, I jokingly told University of Indonesia (UI) philosopher Rocky Gerung. We both laughed.

I couldnt figure out whether he believed that his communication style could push us to become better journalists, but for sure he always set a high journalism standard.

[] the quality of a newspaper is mostly determined by small things, details[] As chief editor [of the Post] I am forced to be firm [to make sure the quality], [that is] what you describe as grumpy, Sabam told a team of Kompas journalists in an interview in 1991.

Thus, it of course gave me a sense of pride to learn that such a great journalist wanted to discuss with me the data in my weekly column Save Old Batavia, which appeared in the Post between 1999 and 2001.

Pak Sabam is happy with what you are doing, my mentor, late senior journalist Thayeb I. Sabil told me.

The work desk of the late Sabam Siagian at The Jakarta Post. (JP/Damar Harsanto)

Years later, once again Sabam made me proud as an editor of a series of articles addressing various urban issues, criticizing Jakarta as an unfriendly city for the marginalized; elaborating on the effects of gentrification; describing the mushrooming of gated communities and ways to narrow the social gap with the surrounding areas; showing successful private sector initiatives in kampung development or on the informal sector as well as on the concept of social [shopping] malls.

We need to produce these kinds of pieces more often, Sabam was quoted as saying.

He never showed his appreciation directly to me, and vice versa. I had the privilege of listening to his sharp comments, insights and visions on various issues, be it geopolitics, national politics and economy as well as urban problems and even popular culture, when he was present at editorial meetings.

In my opinion, his intimidating persona hindered the Posts younger generation from tapping the knowledge, skills and various other talents the late resourceful journalist had, despite him being around the newsroom.

It was both an honor and surprise for me when in 2012 the senior editor met my invitation to attend the Pangumbaran Ing Bang Wetan. The Dutch Reformed Church in Late Eighteenth Century Java: an Eastern Adventure book discussion. The author of the book was church historian Yusak Soleiman, my husband, who happened to be baptized by Rev. Isaac Siagian at GKI Kwitang Church in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, in 1967.

As a son of Dominee Siagian, Sabam was likely familiar with church history. He enthusiastically suggested that the audience delve into the contribution of the Gereformeerde Kerk, one of the denominations of the Dutch Reformed Church, in Indonesia.

The church, with its noted theologian-cum-church minister J. Verkuyl who worked at the GKI Kwitang, was known for supporting Indonesian independence from Dutch colonialism before and after the 1945 proclamation of independence.

Sabams formative years were mainly shaped by Protestant education institutions. His father was a figure behind the existence of the famous Perkumpulan Sekolah Kristen Djakarta (the Association of Jakarta Christian Schools) (PSKD), which was the legacy of the Gereformeerde Kerk.

Later on, he was active in the Indonesian Christian Student Movement (GMKI) while studying at UIs School of Law, and served as the movements chairman between 1957 and 1959. He never finished his undergraduate studies.

Sabam studied several disciplines at several universities and was active in journalism and in diplomatic affairs while he resided in the US for 14 years, where he married in 1962 Stella Maris, with whom he had two sons.

Upon returning to Indonesia, he was pushed by his father and noted statesman Gen.TB Simatupang into journalism. In 1973 he started his career at Sinar Harapan afternoon daily, which later on was dissolved by the authoritarian New Order government under President Soeharto in 1986 and finally transformed into Suara Pembaruan.

He was assigned to lead The Jakarta Post as chief editor when it was established in 1983, a position he held until 1991, and became senior editor upon completing his tenure as the Indonesian ambassador to Australia (1991-1995).

Sabam also ever served as a Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) member between 1999 and 2005 as a representative of the Indonesian Union of Christian Intellectuals (PIKI).

Despite being a Christian political figure, he never showed his Christian identity while he in the Posts newsroom.

I never knew that he resorted to prayer when facing situations too difficult to handle. Pak Sabam ever served us lunch and prayed for us when we, by accident, met him at Suara Pembaruan in 2013, said Bona Sigalingging, a fighter for the rights of the years-long beleaguered GKI Yasmin congregation, whose house of worship in Bogor, West Java, was locked down by the Bogor administration despite the buildings legality.

At that time, Pembaruan leaders were not that sympathetic toward GKI Yasmins struggle, according to Bona. But Pak Sabam invited us to pray for [Gods] protection and strength for our struggle.

Because [GKI Yasmins] struggle is not aimed for their own sake, but for that of our nation; so that justice, the Constitution and plurality of our country are maintained, Bona quoted Sabams prayer that was deemed heartening for the congregation, which holds a Sunday service in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta every two weeks.

Try to get to know Oom [uncle] Sabam better, prominent children choir activist Aida Swenson once suggested to me, and you will find he is actually a nice guy, the daughter of Alfred Simanjuntak added.

Sabam Siagian, journalist par excellence, as the Post's current editor-in-chief Endy M. Bayuni regarded him, passed away in Jakarta on June 3 due to extended health complications, including diabetes. He will be buried on Sunday at Menteng Pulo Cemetery in South Jakarta.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Tegucigalpa  Sun, June 5, 2016

A leader in Honduras' gay community has been buried several days after he was kidnapped and killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.

Rene Martinez, 39, was a city employee working in anti-violence outreach programs and a rising member of the National Party.

The attorney general's office said in a statement that his body showed signs of having been strangled. No motive for his murder was given.

Martinez's family said in a statement that assailants kidnapped him on Wednesday after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighborhood. He was buried on Saturday.

In a statement Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras condemned his murder and called for a thorough investigation.

Joani Garcia, director of the National Forum on AIDS, called Martinez "one of the main defenders of lesbians, gays, transsexuals and intransexuals in the country." (ags)
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Linkedin Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 5, 2016

The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore has refuted claims by supporters of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama grouped under Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) that two of its fellow supporters were detained by the Singaporean official during their visit to the country on Saturday.

The claim, which went viral through social media and media outlets on Saturday, said two Teman Ahok supporters, Amalia Ayuningtyas and Richard Handris Saerang, were detained after arriving in the neighboring country on Saturday.

Teman Ahok coordinator Aditya Yogi Prabowo said that  the Indonesian embassy was unable to meet with them. He warned Singaporean authorities to release the supporters, otherwise Teman Ahok would use "all of its resources" to swarm the detainment center.

However, in a press statement, the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore said it was aware of the case and that the two Indonesian citizens were merely interviewed by Singaporean authorities in relation to their activities in the country.

The Indonesian Embassy coordinated with the Singaporean authorities to help them get on their flight on June 4. But due to technical issues, they were unable to depart for Jakarta on their Garuda Indonesia flight, so we secured seats for them on Garuda's first flight on June 5, the embassy stated on Sunday.

The embassy underlined that the Singaporean immigration office accommodated the Teman Ahok supporters with proper facilities and services while waiting for their flight.

The supporters were not detained, as rumored on social media, the statement said, highlighting that Singaporean law prohibited foreign political activity in the country, and that this rule should be respected.

Meanwhile, the Singaporean embassy in Indonesia said the two members of Teman Ahok were not detained. They were denied entry into Singapore because their visit was to conduct political activities including raising campaign funds.

"They were aware that they were not allowed to conduct any political activities in Singapore but nevertheless still decided to travel to Singapore. They have left Singapore in the morning of 5 June. The Indonesian Embassy was kept informed of this matter and allowed consular access to the two activists," said the embassy in the statement. (ags)
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Sun, June 5, 2016

The body of Captain Karmanam, the pilot of the Bell 204 LA helicopter that crashed in Papua on Saturday during a flight from Nabire to Degewo, has been sent to Jakarta on a Garuda Indonesia Tbk flight.

Three of the passengers, Asmar, Hadi Mustari, and Danius Kogoya received treatment at Nabire Hospital and are said to be in a stable condition, said Nabire Police Chief AKBP Semmy Ronny Thabba.

'Before being flown to Jakarta from Biak, the body was delivered from Nabire on an SAS Air flight. The funeral will be held in Tangerang,'' Semmy told The Jakarta Post, on Saturday.

The Amur Aviation Indonesia helicopter went down beside the Degewo River, 99 kilometers from Paniai at 8 a.m. local time. A sudden gush of wind is alleged to be the cause of the incident.

'According to Asmar, strong wind caused the chopper to become unsteady before the crash,'' said Paniai Police Chief Adj. Sr. Cmdr. Leo Nabu.

A representative of the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) Norbert Tunyanan said a team from KNKT Jakarta were dispatched to Nabire to investigate the incident. (ags)
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Linkedin Veeramalla Anjaiah (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Sun, June 5, 2016

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu was stunned at an international gathering when ministers, senior officials, scholars and journalists bombarded him with questions about terrorism and communism.

Speaking at the 15th Asian Security Summit under the theme of Making Defense Policy in Uncertain Times, Ryamizard said the Asia-Pacific region had faced three major challenges; terrorism, maritime security and natural disastersin recent years.

After his speech, more than half of the questions (eight out of 13 questions) were posed to him by the participants. International journalists did not spare him after the session, especially in regard to the Islamic State (IS) movement, which has been the single biggest threat to the world since al-Qaeda.

IS is very dangerous. Though it began as a militant group in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, now it has transformed into a global terror group. It launched attacks in Paris, Brussels, Pakistan and Indonesia, he said in Singapore on Saturday.

He cited a December 2015 survey about IS in Indonesia, where more than 200 million of the population are Muslims. According to this survey, 96 percent of Indonesians out rightly rejected IS and its ideology.

Only 4 percent of people didnt respond to the question. So there is a big danger from some of this 4 percent [] IS has nothing to do with Islam. It has an ideology that deviated from the main message of Islam, the minister said.

Indonesia, according to Ryamizard, must make effort, including through soft and hard approaches, and international cooperation in exchange of intelligence information to raise awareness among the public.

We have been teaching students from primary school to the university level about the dangers of terrorism. We have also used the services of religious scholars, police and military, Ryamizard said.

On communism

Questions raised about communism at the meeting were responded to by the minister with a soft statement.

It is not that we dont like communism as an ideology. But the communists in Indonesia in the past launched two major revolts in 1948 and 1965 against the government. We cannot allow them to rise again. We cannot relax, Ryamizard said.

Echoing a similar view, defense expert and chief of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) Agus Wijdjojo said Indonesia must find a solution to the problem of communism, specifically on the reconciliation process to heal the wounds of the past.

We have just started by organizing a symposium at Aryaduta hotel in Jakarta recently. We should encourage mutual trust between victims of the 1965 tragedy and the military. The feeling of solidarity is very important, Agus said on the side lines of the SLD meeting in Singapore.

This years Asian Security Summit is being attended by 560 delegatesmostly defense ministers, military chiefs and security analysts--mainly from Asia Pacific and Europe. It was organized by the London-based the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

Indonesia was successful in defeating terrorism through raising awareness about the dangers of terrorism, IISS executive director in Asia, Tim Huxley, said during the launch of the Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2016 report in Singapore on Friday. (ags)
The Philippine president-elect has encouraged the public to help him in his war against crime and urged citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers who would resist arrest and fight back.

Rodrigo Duterte told a huge crowd celebrating his presidential victory late Saturday in the southern city of Davao that Filipinos who would help him in the bloody war against criminality would be rewarded.

The longtime Davao mayor won the May 9 presidential election on a bold promise to end crime and corruption within six months of his presidency. That vow resonated among crime-weary Filipinos though many police officials consider it an impossible feat to accomplish.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm his anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations. (ags)
Colombian anti-narcotics police have confiscated 1,050 kilos of cocaine inside a warehouse in the city of Santa Marta.

The cocaine was located by a drug sniffing dog in the warehouse allegedly being rented by the Usuga clan.

The Usuga clan is one of Colombias most powerful drug trafficking, neo-paramilitary groups.

Thanks to the police intelligence work and other efforts the were able to find the chlorinated cocaine, which was destined for the Port of Rotterdam in Holland.

One month previously, authorities intercepted more than eight tonnes of cocaine, belonging to the same drug clan.

Thats a lot of drugs
Capital XTRAs Music Potential Chad Ariss, a 21-year-old from Birmingham, has recently completed's four-week MPX course in singing and songwriting, and is garnering a significant amount of attention.

Ariss told the crowd how music became his escape after his childhood was overshadowed by domestic violence, and his singing blew the crowd away with

emotive lyrics and an incredible voice.

Punch are so proud to see Chad Ariss perform at the official @bigmusicUK @MusicPotential launch #Bhamtalent pic.twitter.com/QjewNzlas8  Punch #Gallery37 (@punchrecords) May 12, 2016

Speaking at Capital XTRA, which runs the Music Potential programme Chad was selected for, he explained how

he grew up in Birmingham and lived with his mum, his identical twin brother, and his dad  who he says was violent to his whole family.

I grew up with massive abuse and no good male role model, says Chad. Music was an escape from reality. I used to practise with my mum every day. It would pick me up.

(Becky Barnes/PA)

Ariss' mum was a dancer in her youth and introduced him to music from an early age, with one of his earliest memories being singing blues and soul tunes together in the kitchen.

It was when Ariss turned 12 that he started writing poetry and putting his feelings down on paper.

Some of the teachers realised there were problems at home with the violence and stuff so my support tutor said I should start writing it down, he says. I wrote a few poems and she said I should start writing music because I was able to put emotion into words and I would be able do it with music. When she read what I had written she was very emotional.

By mimicking artists such as Tupac and Immortal Technique, Ariss developed his musical stylings; he said:

I liked people who wanted to make a change in the world and stop abuse and oppression.

When he was 14, Ariss and his mother were thrown out the family home and they were homeless for a while, before receiving emergency housing.

Determined to not be pulled down by the negativity around him, he continued to work hard at his music.

(Becky Barnes/PA)

Ariss attended college to study music performance and, three years ago,

he first picked up a guitar thanks to a supportive college tutor.

He is a great family man and great guitarist, says Ariss of his tutor. I sat with him every day and every week and as long as I learnt something, we would continue. I played so much that my fingertips were sore.

And this is when Ariss first started performing his music to others, receiving an overwhelming response.

The first time I performed I knew music was what I wanted to do, says Chad. I had some amazing feedback and compliments.

It put everything into perspective and showed what I can do with music to help people.

I could do a lot to help society and inspire people. It got to me how I used to struggle and keep everything in.

People came up to me and said if you did that song for me when I was younger it would have helped me, so I have written a lot of personal stuff to help people who have gone through a lot.

There are many vulnerable children and I want to try and educate children and inspire them because they are the future.

While he was at Access To Music, Music Potential came and did two workshops he was involved in  singing and songwriting and music production. The course tutors recognised Ariss' potential and offered him a place on the four-week course in singing and songwriting.

Every time things perhaps died down a little bit I met someone else I was meant to meet, Ariss says. When I met the Music Potential singing and songwriting tutor, we clicked straight away. I felt like he was my friend.

Speaking about the course, Ariss said:

It helped me become more professional and it helped me figure out my weaknesses, which is the social side, he says. It gave me the social confidence and contacts to become an all-round better musician.

He was one of the select few chosen to play at a Music Potentials UNLEASHED gig at KOKO London last year, alongside big name artists such as Krept & Konan, Stormzy, Yungen and Melissa Steel.

Ariss is turning down record label deals at the moment, so that he can retain

absolute freedom when it comes to his music, instead focusing on trying to use music to change the world and help people with similar problems.

I write about conscious change  things that I see as a problem such as poverty, he explains. I try and write from my perspective and the crowds.

People are the lifeline for each other and the relationship between the crowd and the artist can take them out of lifes struggle.

I am trying to write hard-hitting things to get people to listen  things that concern me and the future. I am trying to write a song that can say it for everyone.

At the same time I am trying to become the best all-round musician I can to step out into the industry.

Find out a bit about me and watch my performance at #MusicPotential Unleashedhttps://t.co/bfqHTiPo5V  Chad Ariss (@ArissChad) June 2, 2016

Ariss hopes to move from

Birmingham to London later this year to study music recording and performance at the University of West London. He is also working with homeless charities in Birmingham as he has a serious passion for the underprivileged.

The young musician is also keen to promote his rapping alter ego  Anarchy  who focuses on the meaning no control of government or any system of control.

I dont want to sign to anyone yet, he says. I want absolute freedom. I want to be as free as possible to make music for people.

On discussing his difficult start in life, Ariss said:

It made me who I am  the negative things made me a positive person."

I looked at my dad and wanted to be the opposite  like of the way he treated women. He would never be supportive of me.

With authoritarian parenting you go one way or the other and my dad just wanted me to have a horrible life of violence and crime, so I am proud of myself for actually trying to help people and make a positive change even coming from a negative place.

I dont know where I would be without music and my mum.

Music gave me something to live for.

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EDITORIAL: Persecuting the persecuted in the 'land of the free'

OPINION: In the past couple of weeks Rohingya migrants have once again made headlines, but not for getting caught while being trafficked as part of their long and dangerous journey to freedom.

opinionMyanmarimmigrationpoliceanimals

By The Phuket News

Sunday 5 June 2016, 07:00AM

Rohingyans endure difficult circumstances on their journey to freedom. Many get caught and end up caged in detention.

The latest Rohingya controversy was stirred when one of them was shot dead as a group attempted to escape from where they were being detained at the Phang Nga immigration detention centre, some 60 kilometres from Phuket.

Most have probably read reports about why these persecuted migrants are fleeing the Rakhine State in Myanmar, but it is highly unlikely that anyone will ever get to read the true story of why 21 of them desperately tried to escape detention in Phang Nga on the morning of Monday, May 23.

Likely all we will be able to read is the reports that have continually been republished by the Human Rights Watch, regarding the abysmal conditions in Thai detention centres, including severe overcrowding, putrid sanitation, and an atmosphere of violence.

Or accounts such as that, in 2013, when journalists found 276 male Rohingyas detained in two small cages meant to hold no more than 15 people at the Phang Nga detention centre.

Based on such reports, it wouldnt take a brain surgeon to work out why anyone would want to risk their lives to escape such conditions, and its easy to sympathise with the migrants, who had already escaped persecution from what should be their homeland, only to be caged like abused animals, indefinitely.

To add insult to injury, as a result of their attempted escape, said migrants now face charges under section 90 of the Criminal Code: Escape during Confinement  in which participation of three or more persons in an escape is subject to up to five years imprisonment, or a fine of up to B1000, or both. Just what they need, dont you think?

To think that these persecuted migrants have already been confined against their will in the detention centre for over a year, and now face further imprisonment of up to five more years.

The Phuket News can only hope that Thai officials take notice of the international outcry, and seriously consider reforming how migrants, illegal or otherwise, are treated, and processed. After all, Thailand, by definition, is supposed to be the "land of the free.
Iraqi families risking all to flee Islamic State

IRAQ: Eight hands stretch towards the aluminium plate  its the first meal of rice this Iraqi family who just escaped jihadist rule in the Fallujah area has had in two years.

violencereligionmilitary

By AFP

Sunday 5 June 2016, 11:00AM

Displaced Iraqi children stand outside a tent at a newly-opened camp in the government-held town of Amriyat al-Fallujah 50 kilometres southwest of Baghdad. Photo: Ahmad Mousa/AFP

The tent has just been put up, a sheet of bubble wrap strewn on the gravel as a makeshift rug and the heat is searing but Nasra Najm, her daughter and grandchildren have a smile on their face.

We had been dreaming of this. I wasnt sure rice existed any more, so when we saw this plate, we couldnt believe it, said the elderly woman.

She and her relatives reached the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah 12 hours earlier, after walking through much of the night to dodge the surveillance of Islamic State (IS).

Iraqi forces a week ago launched a broad operation aimed at retaking the city of Fallujah, one of ISs most emblematic bastions, in the western province of Anbar.

The progress of pro-government forces has created a window for some civilians to flee from the citys outlying areas and attempt to reach safety.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs several camps in Amriyat al-Fallujah, south of Fallujah, is providing shelter and assistance to around 3,000 people who fled over the past week.

Their stories give an insight into the dire conditions endured by the estimated 50,000 people still trapped inside a city which has been largely cut off from the rest of Iraq for months.

In Ms Najms tent, Maher Sabih, a tall middle-aged man explained it this way: Look, I used to weigh 103kg, now Im on 71.

All the newly-arrived displaced civilians from the Fallujah area have the same stories of being deprived of rice or bread.

It was an ordeal over there. We had to grind the stones from dates to make flour, said Madiha Khudhair, sitting in her empty tent with her two daughters.

Its very sour, no one wants to eat that, said the woman, who had been living in a village under IS rule near Fallujah.

Her sunken eyes, framed by a red scarf wrapped around her head, started watering when she recounted their flight.

We just left it up to God, picked up our things and left. Actually, we ran. At one point, we spotted one of their [IS] trucks and we all crouched. Eventually, we made it, she said.

Rasmiya Abbas, a black-cloaked elderly woman cradling her five-day-old grandson, said IS fighters would ration the population and keep the good food for themselves.

A bag of sugar lately was around 50,000 dinars [about B1,500]. For the rice, they sometimes gave a quarter of a kilo, barely enough to make a meal for the children, she said.

We only had that dark barley bread. If you saw it, you wouldnt eat it. Daesh kept the rice, the good bread and all the best things for themselves, she added.

All of the 252 families housed in the Fallujah camp that opened last Saturday (May 28) arrived over the weekend.

In the sand-coloured tents all tethered in neat lines, exhausted children sleep in the shade to recover from their journey and shelter from the noon sun.

Those who are awake fill plastic bottles from a water truck while others queue with their mothers in front of an ambulance handing out basic medicine.

Nearby, workers scramble to build latrines for the brand new camps booming population.

The Fallujah battle yielded its biggest wave of displaced civilians last Sunday (May 29) but as the fighting intensifies  forces led by Iraqs elite counter-terrorism service entered the streets of the city on Monday (May 30)  a bigger influx is to be expected.

Were positioning more aid to give it to more families were hoping will be able to escape, said Becky Bakr Abdulla, the Norwegian Refugee Councils Iraq media coordinator.

Ahmad Sabih said reaching the camp is dangerous.

You have to try to pick a clear road but those who didnt know their way very well got killed, said the 40-year-old father, who reached the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah late afternoon.

I just decided to risk everything. I was either going to save my children or die with my children.
Thailand marks World Environment Day 2016

PHUKET: No official events are planned in Phuket to mark World Environment Day 2016 today, with this year's theme emphasizing the need to combat wildlife trafficking and poaching worldwide.

Sunday 5 June 2016, 07:12AM

Though Phuket and adjacent provinces have faced its share of issues with "wildlife", environment and natural resources, today on the island will be relatively quiet on that front.

There are unconfirmed reports that members from the Phuket City Municipality may have planted a few trees and flowers on June 1, "as they usually do to mark World Environment Day", which is typically done along the Bang Yai Canal, which is the waterway that carries the Phuket city's wastewater through town and to a treatment facility in Saphan Hin, next to the at-capacity incinerator and overflowing landfills, where the wastewater is then treated before ultimately being released into the ocean, at Phuket's southeast coast.

However, those reports could not be confirmed at the time of press.

Meanwhile, an event to mark World Environment Day in Thailand has been held this weekend in Chiang Mai, and another event will be held at the end of the month in Bangkok, June 29, cofirms a few reports from the National News Bureua of Thailand

The Government Public Relations Department (PRD) and other related agencies will co-host an event to mark World Environment Day, aiming to encourage better management of garbage.



As June 5 of every year is World Environment Day, the PRD this year is joining hands with the Pollution Control Department, the Thai Society of Environmental Journalists and Siam Technology College to hold an event under the concept of promoting efficient garbage and environmental management.



Ms Pichaya Muangnao, Executive Director of the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand, stated that this activity is made possible by all relevant sectors in accordance with the government policy to improve the quality of life and save the environment by teaching the public to reduce, separate and reuse their garbage in a correct manner.



The World Environment Day event is set to take place at Central Festival Department Store in Chiang Mai from June 4-5 and at Siam Paragon Shopping Center in Bangkok on June 29. It will feature exhibitions on garbage management, talks between representatives of the public sector and various communities and a display of solar-powered vehicles invented by students of Siam Technology College.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Surasak Kanchanarat said Thailand is organizing World Environment Day 2016 under the theme: Go Wild For Life.

This year's theme, which falls on June 5, apparently involves Life on Land and calls for global support for efforts to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species and to increase the capacity of local communities to pursue opportunities of sustainable livelihood.

The minister said the World Environment Day focuses on the involvement of all sectors and the realization of shared responsibility of every member of society to help preserve natural resources and the environment.

Thailand has come up with a solution against illegal wildlife trafficking by suppressing alleged offenders, revising and making new laws to step up the efficiency in solving the problems.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will organize World Environment Day 2016 on June 29, 2016, at the Royal Paragon Hall in Siam Paragon shopping complex.

MEANWHILE, Eco-crime has hit a record high at up to US$258 billion, outstripping the illegal trade in small arms, as international criminal gangs and militant groups profit from the plunder of Earth's resources, a report has revealed

The news was revealed by a report published on the World Environment Day 2016 website (link here) as follows:

Nairobi, 4 June 2016 - The value of environmental crime is 26 per cent larger than previous estimates, at $91-258 billion today compared to $70-213 billion in 2014, according to a rapid response report published today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL.

The Rise of Environmental Crime, released on the eve of World Environment Day (WED), finds that weak laws and poorly funded security forces are enabling international criminal networks and armed rebels to profit from a trade that fuels conflicts, devastates ecosystems and is threatening species with extinction.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "Interpol and UNEP have joined forces to bring to the attention of the world the sheer scale of environmental crime. The vast sums of money generated from these crimes keep sophisticated international criminal gangs in business, and fuel insecurity around the world.

"The result is not only devastating to the environment and local economies, but to all those who are menaced by these criminal enterprises. The world needs to come together now to take strong national and international action to bring environmental crime to an end."

Environmental crime dwarfs the illegal trade in small arms, which is valued at about $3 billion. It is the world's fourth-largest criminal enterprise after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking. The amount of money lost due to environmental crime is 10,000 times greater than the amount of money spent by international agencies on combatting it - just $20-30 million.

INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock said, "Environmental crime is growing at an alarming pace. The complexity of this type of criminality requires a multi-sector response underpinned by collaboration across borders. Through its global policing capabilities, INTERPOL is resolutely committed to working with its member countries to combat the organized crime networks active in environmental crime."

The report recommends strong action, legislation and sanctions at the national and international level, including measures targeted at disrupting overseas tax havens; an increase in financial support commensurate with the serious threat that environmental crime poses to sustainable development; and economic incentives and alternative livelihoods for those at the bottom of the environmental crime chain.

The last decade has seen environmental crime rise by at least 5-7 per cent per year. This means that environmental crime - which includes the illegal trade in wildlife, corporate crime in the forestry sector, the illegal exploitation and sale of gold and other minerals, illegal fisheries, the trafficking of hazardous waste and carbon credit fraud - is growing two to three times faster than global GDP.

To combat the illegal trade in wildlife, the United Nations system and partners have launched their Wild For Life campaign, which draws on support from celebrities such as Gisele Bundchen, Yaya Toure and Neymar Jr. to mobilize millions to take action against poaching and the trafficking of illegal wildlife products.

Already, thousands of people and more than 25 ministers have chosen a species to show their commitment to protecting wildlife. The host of this year's World Environment Day, the Government of Angola, has joined the fight, promising to shut down its domestic trade in illegal ivory, toughen border controls and restore its elephant population through conservation measures.

More than one quarter of the world's elephant population has been killed in a decade. Some of world's most vulnerable wildlife, like rhinos and elephants, are being killed at a rate that has grown by more than 25 per cent every year in the last decade.

The report also looks at how money generated from the illegal exploitation of natural resources funds rebel groups, terrorist networks and international criminal cartels. In the last decade, for example, poachers have killed an average of 3,000 elephants per year in Tanzania. That's an annual street market value for ivory traffickers of $10.5 million, an amount that is five times greater than the entire national budget of the country's wildlife division.

ORGANIZED CRIMINAL CARTELS

The report notes that transnational organized criminal networks are using environmental crime to launder drug money. Illegal gold mining in Colombia, for example, is now considered one of the easiest ways to launder money from the country's drug trade.

International criminal cartels are also involved in the trafficking of hazardous waste and chemicals, often mislabelling this type of waste in order to evade law enforcement agencies. In 2013, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that the illegal trade in e-waste to Southeast Asia and the Pacific was estimated at $3.75 billion annually.

REBEL GROUPS

Criminal networks linked to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have spent about 2 per cent of their proceeds to fund up to 49 different rebel groups. According to some estimates by the UN, the illegal exploitation of natural resources in eastern DRC is valued at $722-862 million annually.

ILLEGAL LOGGING

The value of forestry crimes, including corporate crimes and illegal logging, is estimated at $50-152 billion per year.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME

The report looks at the rise of white collar environmental crime, from the use of shell companies in tax havens to launder money generated from illegal logging to transfer mispricing, hacking and identity theft. Carbon trading is the world's fastest growing commodities market. Carbon credit fraud cases have involved sums of transfers and profits that stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tens of thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 4, 2016 to commemorate victims of the 1989 military crackdown in Beijing. China's bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests was a pivotal moment in the country's political development. Despite the Communist Party's efforts to erase memories of the event, every year its anniversary triggers heightened security and surveillance on the mainland, along with furtive commemorations by a handful of activists. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
The US Diplomatic Mission to South Africa on Saturday issued a terror warning to US citizens in South Africa.

The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the mission said.

"This information comes against the backdrop of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the mission said without giving further details, Xinhua reported.

The South African authorities have not responded to the warning. A call to the state security agency went unanswered.

The US issued a similar alert in September last year, saying it had received information that extremists may be targeting US interests in the country.

The warning put South Africa on alert, but Security Minister David Mahlobo said then that there was no need to panic as its information from the ground was that there was no imminent danger or threat being posed by any terrorist group to South Africa.

Fears for terror attacks on Western targets in South Africa have existed for some time. There have been reports that "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite was seen spying on Western embassies in South Africa before she allegedly masterminded the West Gate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013.

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Arcadia is home to the Union Buildings and South African president's official residence, in addition to the US embassy and many other foreign embassies.
Iran on Sunday rejected an annual U.S. State Department report that called it the worlds leading sponsor of terrorism.

State TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari as saying the report is false and further evidence of the lack of credibility of reports by the U.S. State Department.

As in many previous years, the report identified Iran as the worlds foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015 through its financing, training and equipping of various armed groups, notably Lebanons Hezbollah, as well as the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Shiite-majority Iran is helping Iraqi and Syrian forces battle the Islamic State, a Sunni extremist group, but Tehran has defended its support for Palestinian militant groups, saying they have the right to resist Israels occupation.

Ansari said the U.S. provides unconditional support for Israel as it deprives the Palestinians of basic rights and that Washington ignores the role of allies like Saudi Arabia in supporting extremist groups.

The report said that despite reaching a landmark agreement with world powers on its nuclear program, Iran continued to use the Quds Force of its Revolutionary Guard to create instability throughout the Middle East.

In addition to arming Hezbollah and the Assad government, Iran also provided weapons and other assistance to militants in Bahrain and remained active in supporting anti-Israel groups such as Hamas, the report said.

Iran is also widely suspected of helping Houthi rebels in Yemen, although the report did not mention the alleged connection. Iran denies backing the rebels, saying it has only provided humanitarian aid to Yemen.

(AP)
Despite tenacious efforts using social media and other platforms to turn the international investment community against Israel, Bchasdei Hashem it is reported that the BDS (Boycott, Divest, & Sanctions) movement has by and large failed. Foreign investment in Israel reached an unprecedented $285 billion despite the anti-Israel efforts, Bloomberg News reports.

According to the Bloomberg report, despite the efforts to target companies based in Yehuda and Shomron, nine of these companies show an increase as BDS seeking to cripple them economically. That is not to say BDS has not enjoyed partial success, and some companies have been impacted negatively, but the big picture BH shows the BDS effort is a failure.

The IVC Research Center adds that last year Israeli start-ups raised $3.76 billion from non-Israeli investors despite BDS efforts. This is reportedly the largest amount raised for start-ups in a decade.

BDS activists remain committed to their cause, to isolate Israel economically and despite the report, they are continuing their anti-Israel efforts.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri warns Israels homefront is not prepared for the eventuality of a war, which would include missile attacks against cities around the country, Channel 2 News reported. The report adds that Deri argued with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman at a cabinet meeting, insisting the homefront is not prepared for a wartime scenario despite reports to the contrary.

Deri feels the matter is urgent and must be addressed by the Security Cabinet. He warns We cannot just look Heavenward but must act, adding there is a lack of emergency supply inventory, a lack of a standardized plan and an overall lack of preparedness.

Deri adds he is fine with undertaking the responsibility for taking the necessary actions providing he is given the appropriate budget required.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Puerto Ricans frustrated by the islands economic crisis voted Sunday in the U.S. territorys Democratic presidential primary and local elections, as front-runner Hillary Clinton drew closer to securing the number of delegates needed to win her partys White House nomination.

After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Clinton was just 60 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination and advance to the November general election, according to an Associated Press count.

There were 60 pledged delegates at stake in Puerto Rico, and Clinton would need a commanding performance to get them all.

But voters focus was mostly on the islands economic crisis.

Clinton and her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have visited Puerto Rico and pledged to help as the islands government tries to restructure $70 billion worth of public debt the governor has said is unpayable.

This is one of the most important political moments for Puerto Rico, said Emanuel Rosado, a 29-year-old Clinton supporter. Im taking action as a result of the economic crisis.

Two weeks before the primary, Sanders criticized a rescue deal, negotiated by U.S. House leaders and the Obama administration, as having colonialist overtones.

In a letter to fellow Senate Democrats, Sanders said the House bill to create a federal control board and allow some restructuring of the territorys $70 billion debt would make a terrible situation even worse.

That bill is anti-democratic and its not in the best interest of Puerto Rico, said Jorge Gaskins, a 67-year-old farmer who supports Sanders and opposes a control board. What we have now is a colonial relationship with the U.S.

Clinton has said she has serious concerns about the boards powers, but believes the legislation should move forward, or too many Puerto Ricans will continue to suffer.

Nearly 2.9 million people are registered to vote. Turnout was expected to be high given that Puerto Ricans also were narrowing down their choice for the next governor, as well as senators, representatives and mayors.

Polls closed at 3 p.m. Some voters waited in line for hours in the heat, fanning themselves and requesting chairs.

Juan Carlos Rosario, a 40-year-old designer and Sanders supporter, said he was disappointed about the House bill.

I havent seen anything that would help improve Puerto Ricos economy, he said. The thing Im most worried about is lobbyists aligning themselves with some candidates who obviously are not seeking whats best for Puerto Rico, but whats best for those who have donated to their campaigns and made them rich.

While they can participate in presidential primaries, Puerto Ricans do not vote in the November presidential election.

No matter, said former Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila. He supports Puerto Ricos current political status as a commonwealth and urged voters to participate in the primary.

Many in the past and today think that these presidential primaries are a sham without consequences, he said. But given the threat that comes from the North and the powerful allies it has here, not taking advantage of this sham to make our voice heard could be a precious wasted opportunity.

Among those voting was Democratic Party superdelegate Andres Lopez, one of the insiders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at the summer convention. He had remained uncommitted, but said Sunday he will support Clinton.

Clinton has 1,776 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,501. When including superdelegates, her lead over Sanders is substantial  2,323 to 1,547.

It takes 2,383 to win.

With Lopezs endorsement, all seven of Puerto Ricos superdelegates have pledged their support for Clinton.

It is time to focus on squashing El Trumpo,' he said, referring to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

(AP)
WPP REVOLT

Sir Martin Sorrell is facing an investor backlash this week at WPPs annual meeting over his record 70million pay package.

The 71-year-old marketing chief executive is one of the best paid business leaders in the world and has taken the eye-watering sum despite fierce protests from investors.

Investor backlash: Sir Martin Sorrell is one of the best paid business leaders in the world

FACTORY FLOP

Struggling world economies, cutbacks in oil and gas investment and the steel crisis are weighing on Britains manufacturers.

Over the second quarter output and orders failed to climb back to positive territory according to a manufacturing outlook survey by lobby group EEF.

TAX PROGRESS

The battle to stamp out firms like Google booking profits abroad to save paying UK tax has made early progress, research shows.

The number of investigations into big firms the taxman suspect of using so-called transfer pricing to avoid tax has fallen by 15 per cent in a year according to accountant UHY Hacker Young.

SAINSBURY SLUMP

Sainsburys is likely to say first quarter sales have fallen after it scrapped a key price promotion in a bid to simplify its strategy.

Britains third largest grocer axed its buy one get one free offer while also ditching its brand-match guarantee.

These are likely to have a short term impact which analysts say could mean flat underlying sales when it delivers an update on Wednesday.

OIL CRISIS

The weak oil price continues to hammer the UKs North Sea oil industry, with half of firms surveyed planning to cut costs further this year.

Scottish firms have been worst hit by the slump, with almost six in 10 admitting their business has been severely or quite badly affected.
The pensions cost of large scale business failures like that of BHS should not be borne by incensed small and medium-sized enterprises, the British Chambers of Commerce has said.

The Government-sponsored Pension Protection Fund, funded through levies to protect pensions of employees of insolvent companies, will pay out millions to cover BHSs retirement schemes.

Dr Adam Marshall, acting director general of the BCC, which represents businesses of all sizes, said: When big companies go bust, it doesnt seem fair to make small and medium-sized firms and taxpayers cover the pension deficits that are left behind.

Dr Adam Marshall, acting director general of the BCC
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By Frederick R. Bedell Jr.

How would you like to save someones life? Life is such a precious commodity and I think some of us wonder if there is something we can do to help someone in need.

I have a suggestion. St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus Council # 5911 is hosting a blood drive at St. Anastasia Parish in Douglaston. It will take place on June 5 between the hours of 8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. in Father Smith Hall. The address is 45-14 245th St.

This is a great opportunity for many to truly give the gift of life by donating blood. There is no substitute for human blood. One in three people will need blood sometime during their lives. Blood lasts only 42 days. Your donation now is critically important. Close to 2,000 men, women and children in our communities, including cancer, transplant and surgery patients, trauma victims, newborn babies and many others need blood transfusions each day.

For more information or to places closer to your homes go to the New York Blood Center at www.nyblo odcen ter.org . Please give the gift of life.

Frederick R. Bedell Jr.

Glen Oaks Village
South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on Sunday on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.

The south\s foreign affairs, defence, interior and oil ministers travelled to Khartoum for the talks, the first since a unity government was formed in Juba last month in a bid to end its devastating civil war.

"There are some difficulties in our relations," South Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor acknowledged at a joint press conference with his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour.

"I delivered a message from our President Salva Kiir to President (Omar) al-Bashir calling for fast resolution of bilateral issues."

The south\s independence in 2011 left a raft of issues unresolved, including the status of the Khartoum-occupied border district of Abyei, which had been supposed to hold a plebiscite on its future, and the payments Juba should make for the use of an oil export pipeline through Sudan.

Ghandour said that he would hold further talks with Alor to resolve the issues.

"Sudan\s top priority is to build relations with South Sudan given our historical links," he said.

South Sudan\s oil production virtually ground to a halt during the civil war that erupted after the dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar in December 2013.

Khartoum is hoping that Machar\s return as vice president in a unity government last month will lead to renewed exports through the pipeline to Port Sudan on its Red Sea coast and resumed transit fee payments.

It is also hoping that improved relations will help resolve persistent rebellions on both sides of the border that have sparked a prolonged war of words between the two governments.

SOURCE: AFP
Mushcup's Brian Steff takes his turn in 'My Favorite Guitar'

Mushcup's Brian Steff has an arsenal of guitars though his favorite is one loved and admired by fans
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The Environmental Protection Agency's new methane emissions regulations have drawn criticism from the oil and gas industry and a growing number of members of Congress.

EPA finalized the regulations on May 12, and industry quickly responded that the massive regulations will be burdensome financially and that it will take many man-hours to come into compliance with the information demanded.

"These regulations cover all segments of the industry," Bob Osborne, chairman of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said. "The Alliance fought to get EPA to exempt low-producing marginal oil and gas wells, but they refused."

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, stated in a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on May 24 that "these mandates, as shown by the EPA's own data, will produce no meaningful climate benefits."

Inhofe's letter points out that EPA's own greenhouse gas inventory states that "U.S. oil and gas system represent only 3.5 percent of overall domestic GHG emissions."

Inhofe also states that even if EPA's methane regulations reach its stated goal of reducing emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025, the reduction would yield only a 0.004 degree Celsius reduction in global temperature by 2100.

Although the new rule is directed at new, modified, and reconstructed sources, the action also includes an Information Collection Request that the EPA will send to more than 22,500 companies to gather data on existing facility sources and responding to the information request is mandatory.

"The EPA's own estimate is that just the labor costs in responding to the new rule will require 3,800,000 man-hours annually in 2025," Osborne said. "Add the equipment costs and the math gets a lot worse."

Despite U.S. oil and natural gas production being, until recently, at its highest level in nearly 30 years, EPA data shows that methane emissions in the United States have decreased 15 percent since 1990. The proposed rule, therefore, only adds an additional regulatory layer, with the accompanying regulatory compliance costs, to achieve what may be limited practical effect on methane emissions.

The rule is particularly unwelcome as producers are facing some of the lowest oil and natural gas prices in recent memory.

EPA seeks to collect facility-level information, such as facility name, location, contact information and number of wells, tanks and compressors. The regulation also requires a listing of all buildings, equipment, structures and other stationary equipment that are located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties and that are under common ownership or control.

There's little doubt that existing facilities are the next target. Using EPA's own numbers, that's 1,397,600 wells, 698,000 oil and gas production facilities, 5,000 gas gathering and boosting facilities, 668 gas processing plants, 1,400 compressor stations, 939 gas transmission pipelines, 418 underground storage facilities, 100 LNG storage facilities and 11 import/export facilities.

Though this final rule can be challenged in the courts, such a challenge has not yet been filed. Industry groups are exploring the legal options to stay or delay its implementation.

However, unlike the final methane rule, the ICR is believed to be within the jurisdiction of the EPA, as it relates to existing facilities, and a legal challenge probably is not available. As stated on the EPA website, "The industry will be legally required to respond to the final ICR." The Phase 1 ICR will be finalized after a 60-day comment period.
Rain makes small dent in drought, more on the way

It wasn't enough to end a drought, but a couple of days of rain in Wichita Falls kept the numbers from getting worse.
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Jerry Fort, Wichita Falls

The way Donald Trump speaks about his disike for muslims means that he if he is elected president he would, as he has said, bomb them. But because he hates muslims so much I doubt he would keep colateral damage to a minimum and would, therefore, bomb schools and hospitals. Women and children who have nothing to do with this will be hurt or killed just because they are muslim.

If a leader of another country did that we would call him a war criminal. So for the sake of the world and of our own country, don't elect Donald Trump to be our president.
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LONDON  Misery loves company, so refugees from America's Republican Party should understand that theirs is not the only party that has chosen a leader who confirms caricatures of it while repudiating its purposes. Jeremy Corbyn, the silliest leader in the British Labour Party's 116-year history, might kill satire as well as whatever remains of socialism.

Labour was founded in 1900 to demonstrate that a 19th-century political prophet was mistaken. Karl Marx had proclaimed that meaningful amelioration of working-class conditions could not be achieved by non-revolutionary, parliamentary means. Labour helped make modern Britain into a mostly middle- class, generally temperate nation impervious to exotic politics.

In the 1983 election, the last time Labour flirted with serious socialism, its manifesto (platform) was described as "the longest suicide note in history," and a party activist advocated "no compromise with the electorate." The electorate was not amused, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher continued residing at 10 Downing Street.

That year, Corbyn was elected to the House of Commons. He spent his next 32 years opposing the monarchy; writing columns for a Communist newspaper; expressing admiration for Hugo Chavez, whose socialism propelled Venezuela toward today's chaos; proposing that taxpayers should be permitted to opt out of paying for Britain's army; advocating that Britain leave NATO and unilaterally scrap its nuclear deterrent; blaming NATO, meaning the United States, for Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine; calling the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah "friends"; appearing with and funding Holocaust deniers and other anti-Semites; criticizing China's Communist regime for deviationism in accepting some free markets; demanding that Tony Blair, the only Labour leader since 1976 to win a general election (three of them), be tried as a war criminal (for supporting the Iraq War); praising Iraqi insurgents killing Americans; and calling the killing of Osama bin Laden a "tragedy."

Last September, in a Labour Party process in which an intense fraction of 1 percent of the British electorate participated  a cohort intensely interested in things other than winning the next election  Corbyn was elected party leader with 59.5 percent of the vote in a four-way contest. He promptly named as shadow chancellor of the exchequer a former union official who lists in "Who's Who" his hobby as "fomenting the overthrow of capitalism," who says he was joking when he said that if he could relive the 1980s he would have assassinated Thatcher but who was serious when he praised IRA terrorist bombers. Corbyn's shadow farming minister, a vegan, says, "Meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it." Corbyn, appearing with unmatched jacket and trousers and with his tie loosened at a St. Paul's Cathedral service commemorating the Royal Air Force's heroism in the Battle of Britain, refused to sing the national anthem.

In 1937, George Orwell, a socialist disgusted with many socialists, published "The Road to Wigan Pier," half of which consisted of reportage about working-class privations in England's industrial north. In the other half, which the publisher of the Left Book Club wanted to omit from the club's edition, Orwell decried the socialist movement's "smell of crankishness," and other exemplars of "priggishness" and "half-baked 'progressivism.'"

Corbyn is an apple that did not fall far from the tree: His parents met at a rally advocating peace in the Spanish Civil War. They got their wish. Peace came. When Gen. Francisco Franco came to Madrid. Corbyn is a vegetarian who does not own a car.

Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh sees Corbyn as a symptom of broad social contentment. Corbynism is the persuasion "of people who can afford to treat politics as a source of gaiety and affirmation. ... They are in politics for the dopamine squirt that comes with total belief and immersion in like-minded company." So, they are not unlike America's Sandernistas and Trumpkins.

George Will's email address is georgewillwashpost.com.
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The U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cost 100,000 lives while saving millions who would have died defending and invading the Japanese islands otherwise. It was justified given the circumstances, and the existence of nuclear weapons may also have prevented a third world war.

But, for 70 years, Hiroshima has also been a reminder of a means by which the world as we know it could be wiped out, and President Barack Obama recently went there to tell us how to avoid that possibility.

We've all of us got to get lots more moral, even to the extent of getting rid of war, he said. And yes, maybe someday we will get that moral, at least enough of us to make a difference. But, in the intervening eons, what do we do about the nuclear threat?

What seems obvious is that lofty ideals, as important as they are, are not solid, practical, down-to-earth plans that get followed by concrete actions that produce positive results. If utopian hopes are used as a substitute for shrewd calculation, they can actually increase endangerment, and that sums up much if not all of Obama's foreign policy.

From Day 1 of his administration, Obama has rather obviously seen himself as a transformative figure, and nuclear rescue was part of that. Proliferation must come to an end. All the menacing weapons must go.

To that end, he started having summits on the issue and dreamily aimed for a reset with Russia. It mostly went kablooey. Vladimir Putin had his Ukraine ambitions, dodged diplomacy and delighted in Obama responding to snarls with pullbacks of missile defense programs in Europe. We've reduced our nuclear heft in hopes of enticement, while Russia has increased its in hopes of bullying.

Naive enthusiasms don't die easily, and Obama agreed to an Iran deal that would drop sanctions and return billions to this terrorist-sponsoring, Israel-threatening, missile-testing, America-hating country. Inspections of the promised kind would not happen after all, and what did we get back?

Iran said it would not build nuclear weapons for maybe another 10 years and shipped away some enriched uranium that could slow down such a project by some months. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia and other Iran-fearful countries are thinking about building their own nuclear weapons to cope with what might eventuate.

We are hardly safer now than before, and there's more, such as China feeling bolder, North Korea going crazy and the Islamic State saying thank you for mistaken Obama decisions in Syria and Iraq. What's stranger than fiction is that this president, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in anticipation of what he would achieve, will be the only one in U.S. history to have presided over wars for two full terms, as The New York Times recently pointed out.

It's not as if he has done nothing right, that there are no forces at play beyond his control or that his trip to Hiroshima was a mistake  cementing relations with at least one ally matters. But he has flunked the reality test.

A president who didn't was Ronald Reagan. He likewise shuddered at nuclear weaponry. Yet, a review reminds us, his answer was to play from strength. He built up the military. He pushed a defensive missile system that the Soviets feared and lacked the funds to match. He assisted freedom forces in countries the Soviets were intimidating. He was tough in negotiations. And he got a treaty in which both countries agreed to destroy a class of nuclear weapons

Many believe the Reagan strategy contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with that collapse came a sigh of relief. It seemed the nuclear threat had ended, but now we know it hasn't. The Obama administration is at this stage furthering a project to modernize our weapons. There is some realism there, and maybe a future government can build on it in even more constructive ways.

Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may email him at speaktojay@aol.com.
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Rotterdam

Sarah Dingley said she is still haunted by her late-night encounter with Mayor Gary McCarthy on a quiet city street nearly three weeks ago that ended up in the police station a few miles away.

"Every time I see a vehicle behind me with bright lights, I think it's him," said the Rotterdam woman during an interview Friday at a city park in the Bellevue neighborhood of Schenectady, where at times she read prepared statements from her cellphone. "I don't understand what his intention was and I don't know what he was doing because he certainly was not taking garbage out."

Still, she said she feels McCarthy, who she maintains was drunk during the confrontation with her and her female friend shortly after 1 a.m. May 19, made a terrible "mistake" and should publicly apologize for it.

McCarthy, who Saturday did not respond to a text and voice mail message to his cellphone seeking comment, has denied being intoxicated.

Dingley said Friday that she also thinks the police officers who kept her and her female friend waiting outside the police station for nearly 10 minutes before responding bungled the call and she still hopes the mayor will face criminal charges.

The case will likely be reviewed by a special prosecutor.

Dingley said her friend, who she declined to identify, is not ready yet to speak publicly about what happened.

"I believe there should be an investigation into this and some sort of charges should be pressed," Dingley, 38, added. "I would want the videos to be released because they will corroborate my story. I would want an inquiry into the police department, and I would definitely want a public apology."

Schenectady County has so far refused to release the surveillance footage from street cameras Dingley is referring to.

A Freedom of Information requested submitted by the Times Union to the county seeking those recordings was rejected on grounds that the cameras, maintained by the District Attorney's Office, are "compiled for law enforcement purposes" and providing images could jeopardize investigative methods.

On Saturday, police Lt. Mark McCracken, during a brief interview, reiterated that police interviewed Dingley and McCarthy separately and determined neither committed a crime before letting them go.

Dingley said police only asked for her identification and ran her name through the system.

McCarthy has insisted he was taking out the trash to the curb of his Lexington Avenue home when he spied Dingley going through recyclables.

He previously said he was concerned Dingley and the other woman were trying to break into cars, identified himself as the mayor, and confronted her and her friend.

Dingley tells a different story.

She said she was leaving a friend's house on Nott Street after watching a movie, and first noticed McCarthy on Lexington Avenue, where he lives with his wife.

"He never got close enough to see what we were doing. He thought either we were going through recyclables or doing drugs, or looking for houses or cars to burglarize, which we were doing none of," she said. "There were no reports of any vehicles or houses being vandalized, burglarized."

She also said that the mayor told her she was being arrested and ordered her out the vehicle at Union and Lexington streets.

Dingley is adamant that she was close enough to McCarthy that she could smell the alcohol on him. Those were her observations contained in 911 calls to a police dispatcher that were made public by the county.

She and her friend waited for nearly 10 minutes before police emerged from the station, said Dingley, who added that she feared for her life when she was being followed by McCarthy.

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She said she thinks people are asking the wrong questions about the incident.

"Why were the police not outside the station waiting for us?" she asked. "Why didn't anybody provide some kind of sobriety test if only for anything but to clear his name?

Dingley refused to get into her past or her criminal history, which includes arrests for attempted drug possession and attempted tampering with physical evidence, according to county records. The records also show Dingley faced disciplinary action for breaking rules while behind bars at the county jail.

"My past, I feel like it is irrelevant, but it has made me a stronger person," said Dingley. "My past has made me the better person that I am now, and regardless of any negative light that's being shined on me right now, it doesn't take away from the good that I've done for the community."

A self-professed animal-lover, Dingley talked about volunteering with a local group that works to find homes for abused dogs, the Make a Wish Foundation and the American Heart Association.

Dingley spoke proudly about her 22-year-old nephew, who is in the Marines in California being her "favorite person in the world" and being able to travel the globe to places like Barbados because her mother, now retired, worked for American Airlines as airline flight attendant and ticket agent for 26 years.

She declined to say if she has met with an attorney or is considering any legal action.

Dingley said McCarthy, with police nearby in front of police headquarters, screamed that she better "leave town" as she drove off.

"There seems to be power there that I can't compete with," she added. "I don't essentially know where to go from here."

pnelson@timesunion.com  518-454-5347  @apaulnelson
[June 05, 2016] Promising Response Rates with Opdivo (nivolumab) Observed in Advanced Form of Bladder Cancer from Phase 1/2 Study CheckMate -032

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) announced today the first presentation of results for Opdivo in the cohort of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (n=78), the most common type of bladder cancer, after platinum-based therapy from CheckMate -032, a Phase 1/2 open-label trial. In the trial, the primary endpoint of investigator-assessed confirmed objective response rate (ORR), was 24.4% (95% CI: 15.3-35.4) in patients treated with Opdivo, with a minimum follow-up of nine months. Response rates by tumor PD-L1 expression, evaluated as an exploratory endpoint, were similar regardless of PD-L1 expression levels. In patients with PD-L1 <1%, the ORR was 26.8%, and in patients with PD-L1 =1%, the ORR was 24%. At one year, patients treated with Opdivo had an overall survival (OS, a secondary endpoint) rate of 45.6%, with a median OS of 9.72 months (95% CI: 7.26-16.16). The safety profile of Opdivo in CheckMate -032 was consistent with the known safety profile of Opdivo in other tumor types. These data will be presented today, Sunday, June 5, at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in an oral abstract session from 8:12 AM - 8:24 AM CDT (News - Alert) (Abstract #4501). Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., study investigator and professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, commented, "Urothelial carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer, accounting for approximately 90% of bladder cancer cases. Patients with advanced stages of the disease face high rates of disease recurrence and progression, making new research an extremely important factor to address this high unmet medical need. We are pleased with the findings from the Phase 1/2 study, CheckMate -032, which provide support for further study of Opdivo in patients with this cancer to assess outcomes and survival." Bladder cancer is the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, with an estimated 430,000 new cases diagnosed per year and over 165,000 deaths per year. The majority of bladder cancers are diagnosed at an early stage, but rates of recurrence and progression are high, and approximately 78% of patients will experience a recurrence within five years. Survival rates vary depending on the stage and type of the cancer and when it is diagnosed. For Stage IV bladder cancer, the five-year survival rate is 15%. Jean Viallet, M.D., Global Clinical Research Lead, Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb, commented, "We are excited to present for the first time results for Opdivo in previously treated metastatic urothelial cancer, a type of bladder cancer. We are encouraged by the response rates and overall survival data observed with Opdivo in CheckMate -032, which supports the ongoing Phase 2 study in this cancer. Through our Immuno-Oncology research across different tumor types, our goal is to help more patients achieve quality long-term survival, and we look forward to further study of our Immuno-Oncology agents, including the Opdivo and Yervoy combination, in advanced bladder cancer." About CheckMate -032 CheckMate -032 is an ongoing Phase 1/2 open-label trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy of Opdivo monotherapy, or Opdivo combined with Yervoy in advanced or metastatic solid tumors. The trial enrolled patients regardless of PD-L1 expression. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed confirmed objective response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included safety, duration of response, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Data presented at ASCO specific to metastatic or locally advanced urothelial cancer were from a cohort of 78 patients who have received one or more prior lines of platinum-based therapy. In this analysis, patients received Opdivo monotherapy (3 mg/kg administered intravenously every two weeks) until progression or discontinuation. Patients treated with Opdivo monotherapy were allowed to continue treatment beyond progression if Opdivo was tolerated and clinical benefit was noted, or patients could cross over to receive the combination of Opdivo and Yervoy if they met prespecified criteria. In the trial, the investigator-assessed confirmed ORR was 24.4% (95% CI: 15.3-35.4) for the cohort of patients treated with Opdivo. Median duration of response was not estimable (9.92-NE). In addition, the one-year OS rate reported for the Opdivo-cohort was 45.6%, based on Kaplan-Meier estimates, with a median OS of 9.72 months (95% CI: 7.26-16.16). Median PFS was 2.78 months (95% CI: 1.45-5.85). Of randomized patients, 67 patients had quantifiable tumor PD-L1 expression, with 37.3% expressing PD-L1 at =1%. Objective response rate was 26.8% (14.2-42.9) in patients with PD-L1 <1%, and 24% (9.4-45.1) in patients with PD-L1 =1%. Efficacy of Opdivo by PD-L1 expression was an exploratory endpoint in CheckMate -032. The safety profile of Opdivo in CheckMate -032 was consistent with the known safety profile of Opdivo in other tumor types. Grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events (AEs) occurred in 22% of patients receiving Opdivo, with the most frequent AEs of any grade reported in =10% of patients being fatigue (36%), pruritus (30%), maculopapular rash (18%), increased lipase (14%), nausea (13%), arthralgia (12%), and anemia (10%). Two Grade 5 treatment-related AEs occurred in patients treated with Opdivo (pneumonitis [n=1] and thrombocytopenia [n=1]). No Grade 3 or 4 pneumonitis or thrombocytopenia was reported. 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 choice alongside surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapies 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. Our ongoing Immuno-Oncology clinical program is looking at broad patient populations, across multiple solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, and lines of therapy and histologies, with the intent of powering our trials for overall survival and other important measures like durability of response. 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. We are also investigating other immune system pathways in the treatment of cancer including CTLA-4, CD-137, KIR, SLAMF7, PD-1, GITR, CSF1R, IDO, and LAG-3. These pathways may lead to potential new treatment options - in combination or monotherapy - to help patients fight different types of cancers. Our collaboration with academia, as well as small and large biotech companies, to research the potential of Immuno-Oncology and non-Immuno-Oncology combinations, helps achieve our goal of providing new treatment options in clinical practice. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are committed to changing survival expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer. About Opdivo Cancer cells may exploit "regulatory" pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. Opdivo is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells, and blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, preventing the PD-1 pathway's suppressive signaling on the immune system, including the interference with an anti-tumor immune response. Opdivo's broad global development program is based on Bristol-Myers Squibb's understanding of the biology behind Immuno-Oncology. Our company is at the forefront of researching the potential of Immuno-Oncology to extend survival in hard-to-treat cancers. This scientific expertise serves as the basis for the Opdivo development program, which includes a broad range of Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating overall survival as the primary endpoint across a variety of tumor types. The Opdivo trials have also contributed toward the clinical and scientific understanding of the role of biomarkers and how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has enrolled more than 18,000 patients. Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world in July 2014, and currently has regulatory approval in 51 countries including the United States, Japan, and in the European Union. U.S. FDA APPROVED INDICATIONS FOR OPDIVO 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=2). 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 lung cancer (NSCLC); Checkmate 025 - renal cell carcinoma; Checkmate 205/039 - classical Hodgkin lymphoma About the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Collaboration In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Ono) Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono further expanded the companies' strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies - as single agents and combination regimens - for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. About Bristol-Myers Squibb Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that Opdivo will receive regulatory approval for the additional indication described herein. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160605005065/en/

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'A true blessing:' Meet the family behind the viral photo from UK's scrimmage

Micheal McGuire didn't know his photo was going to go viral after he rushed to meet his family at the Blue-White Scrimmage in Pikeville on Saturday.
Corsair announced a new Neutron series SSD at Computex 2016. The Neutron XTI replaces the aging Neutron XT at the top of the company's SSD stack. The drive uses a new memory configuration that we have yet to see, with a Phison S10 quad-core, 8-channel controller. Corsair doubled the DRAM density to improve performance consistency and lower the storage latency.

Corsair and Phison have also worked to increase performance via the firmware, the magic sauce that ties the hardware together. Programming performance is difficult but rewarding. In the past, we've seen products increase performance by a significant amount just by finding and tuning the correct settings.

Product Corsair Neutron XTI Controller Phison S10 With Expanded Cache Flash Toshiba 15nm MLC Capacity Sizes 240 GB480 GB960 GB Sequential Read Up to 560 MB/s Sequential Write Up to 540 MB/s Random Read Up to 100,000 IOPS Random Write Up to 90,000 IOPS Warranty 5-Years

We managed to get the Neutron XTI feature list. This data will appear on Corsair's website soon, along with an official product page for this series.

 High Performance Quad-Core SSD Controller: Low command latency and top tier sustained performance achieved by utilizing unique quad-core controller.

 Exceptional transfer speeds: Effectively saturating SATA 6Gbps interface, SSD provides a sequential read of 560MB/s, sequential write of 540MB/s, 4KB random reads of 100K IOPS and 4K random writes of 90K IOPS.

 Consistent Performance: Very high sustained transfer rates enabled by expanded cache make it possible to capture and edit professional FullHD and 4K uncompressed video in real-time, as well as play PC games at the highest detail levels.

 End-to-End Data Path Protection: The entire data path within the SSD controller, from the host to the NAND gate, is fully protected against data corruption.

 Low Power Consumption: 95 percent less power consumption than HDD means better energy efficiency for your desktop machine and longer battery life for your laptop. Includes support for DEVSLP.

 Power Loss Protection: Data is protected with advanced SmartFlush and GuaranteedFlush technologies.

 Enhanced Error Correction: SmartECC and SmartRefresh features improve data retention and error correction.

 Static and Dynamic Wear-Leveling: The lifespan of the drive and its overall reliability are greatly enhanced by wear-leveling.

 Advanced Garbage Collection: Overall performance and NAND endurance are enhanced.

 Compatible with Corsair SSD Toolbox: Access a number of crucial software tools for getting the most out of your SSD

The performance and features list show us as much as we need to know for now. With products in hand, we can begin testing next week after our annual trip to Taipei, Taiwan. We expect to see an increase in performance consistency and reduced latency but neither appear on standard specification lists.

MORE: Best SSDs For The MoneyMORE: Latest Storage News

MORE: Storage in the Forums

Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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"My special needs brother was put in a choke hold by a teacher's aid J C Harmon high school on April 6th, 2016. My brother was taken to Children's Mercy on April 7th & suffered minor neck pain. The school's police department keeps refusing to make a police report for us and this is after a Sergeant said he made my police report and lied to me. The school district failed to respond to my formal complaint about the incident until after I started complaining about it on social media then I started re-emailing my formal complaint. I finally heard back from the school district and a lady said she investigated it and said my brother did nothing wrong that day. The teacher's aid messed up. I asked this lady if she watched the video footage of the incident and she had no clue there was any video footage. During their so called investigation nobody from the school district contacted me to interview me about the incident. Now they're doing another investigation but still refuses us a police report. Finally we called the city police back out and they made us a report. But the city police still can't really get involved it's not in their jurisdiction. Please share this video. We need help. This is the 1st video."

This morningwas sent our way featuring a clip of a family searching for justice after an alleged assault.Here's the sitch according to the family . . .You decide . . .
stolen

"At an undisclosed coffeeshop in Midtown. A certain news anchor, from a popular local TV station, is here with a woman clearly 25 years his junior (who looks like a model). From the content of their conversation, the parts NOT being whispered, it damn sure ain't his daughter. Guess when they say they're "working for you" they MEAN IT."

Kansas City newsie insightquoted from the social media feed of one of Kansas City's best entertainers . . .Of course this kinda talk leads to speculation and most of it is just plain wrong except for the fact that 30 seems to be the cut off point for women competing in TV "journalism" and just about every news lady working in Kansas City could almost pass for model.You decide . . .
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Leading British engineering and public services provider Amey said its consulting team has achieved a major milestone in the region by securing a Grade A Civil Engineering Registration in Qatar.



With this move, Amey's team can now tender for a wide array of projects in Qatar that would not normally be open to international firms, said a statement from the company.



Completing the registration has taken over a year and has involved establishing a permanent business in Qatar, undergoing written exams and submitting a case to the Engineering Committee at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).



Steven Yule, the international business development manager, at Amey said: "Obtaining Engineering Registration has been one of the more significant challenges during my four years working for Amey in Qatar."



It is a feat that cements the companys commitment to growing its business in Qatar and further strengthens Ameys reputation for delivering world-class highway management services, he stated.



"Through the professional commitment and support of our dedicated engineers, and through the wider support of our colleagues in the UK, we have achieved a major milestone for Ameys committed presence in Qatar," added Yule.



Richard Allen, the business director in Qatar for Amey, said: "Achieving engineering registration in Qatar supports our international growth aspirations, and further demonstrates our commitment to the local and regional market."



A leading UK public and regulated services provider with over 21,000 employees, Amey has had a presence in Qatar since 2012.



The company has been providing a comprehensive range of professional services to the countrys highways authority, Ashghal, as well as providing asset management advisory services to a number of work streams for Kahramaa, the state owned utilities provider.



Amey is owned by Ferrovial, one of the worlds leading infrastructure management and investment companies. It operates over 320 contracts, providing a range of services including utilities, highways, waste management, rail, justice solutions, social housing and facilities management.-TradeArabia News Service
Silah Gulf, a customer experience solutions provider, plans to expand its network of clientele across the region over the next three years, offering 1,500 job opportunities to Bahrainis, the companys chairman said.



The company will also train larger numbers for the purpose of supplying the Bahraini market with qualified national workforce within the contact center service sector and Business Processes Outsourcing (BPO), added Mohammed Ali AlQaed.



He was speaking at a press conference held yesterday (June 4) with the attendance of Silah Gulf CEO Ricardo Langwieder-Goerner along with a number of members of the Board of Directors and officials in Bahrain.



AlQaed declared that the company has succeeded in achieving all of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which have been launched since its establishment.



The company has exceeded its first performance indicator which aims at employing 250 employees by reaching over 500 employees with the end of the fifth year; together with 800 employees during six years. Silah has also contributed in supplying the labour market with 700 trained employees to become of the largest 20 companies that employ Bahrainis during a record period of only six years.



In addition, AlQaed expressed his pride with the companys high percentage of Bahrainisation which has amounted to 70 per cent, where more than 95 per cent is within the National Contact Center. The number of staff has reached up to 809 employees with 70 per cent being males and 30 per cent females; where females represent a percentage of 50 per cent amongst the executive management positions.



He also explained that most private sector companies, which have reached such a large number of employees, have been established since the sixties, seventies and eighties; while Silah was able to reach such figure within only six years.



The company was also capable of achieving other KPIs during the specified time period; as it was able to develop an electronic system with numerous channels that provide all the services. In addition, Silah has achieved in delivering integrated services for a group of entities under one roof, in order to reach financial independence from the shareholders, it has also effectively contributed in supporting the Economic Vision 2030 in establishing a regional BPO, said AlQaed.



Moreover, results of an EDB study of the sector have shown a steady growth of reaching a cumulative growth rate of 12.8 per cent during 2013-2020.



During the first stage of its establishment, Silah Gulf was capable of forming a strong name in the Bahraini market through its interest to build an institution, effectiveness and efficiency in its internal operations. It was also greatly keen on adhering to the principals of governance in order to raise the companys ability and readiness to provide high-quality exceptional services in the region, continued AlQaed.



The second stage included completing a package of services that the company offers to its clients from various sectors such as the governmental, aviation, banking, telecommunication, retail sectors along with a chain of international restaurants in an aim to showcase its capability of local and regional competition in providing innovative and integrated services within the contact center and BPO fields. Such step made Bahrain a center of BPO, he added.



AlQaed also revealed that the company looks forward to the third stage of expanding regionally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait; through supporting the GCC economic by providing services to the private and public sectors in these countries as well as creating job opportunities to the GCC citizens.



Only few organizations in the Middle East customer service industry are integrated customer experience solution providers; they may serve only a part of the consultancy but not in fact provide a holistic package, said Langwieder-Goerner.



The only country which can support the Arabic GCC requirement at high-quality with local talent and the right scalability is Bahrain where Silah Gulf is the leading provider. Silah is not just a typical call center provider; it is a true people company which is demonstrated by the way it has grown. Its strong infrastructure, the right people, delivery of end-to-end customer service solutions is what makes it a strong competitor not only on a national level but regional as well.



Work at the company proceeds according to professional standards that include diligence, innovation, excellence, passion for work as well as respect. In addition to involving employees and customers in developing and implementing the business strategy which we ensure on achieving its objectives every three months with the customers, he added.



Langwieder-Goerner showcased the nature of services that the company provides such as consultancy, sourcing, technology and training. He also presented a number of successful experiences with the company clients as he praised the efforts of more than 800 employees were able to maintain 100 per cent of the companys customers  an initiative that qualified the company to receive 30 industry awards.  TradeArabia News Service
Lockheed Martin Corp, the largest US arms maker and parent of Sikorsky, has begun to study the possibility of selling commercial helicopters to Iran, but said the market may be small and the company still needed guidance from the US government.



Lockheed, along with Boeing Co, is one of the first major US aerospace companies looking into selling to Iran for the first time since US sanctions were imposed following Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979.



European aircraft manufacturers already are starting to get orders from Iran after sanctions were lifted on January 16.



Nathalie Previte, vice-president of sales and marketing for Sikorsky, said the company had received numerous inquiries from existing customers, including leasing companies and operators, interested in possible helicopter operations in Iran.



Sikorsky's S-76 and longer-range S-92 commercial helicopters could be options for Iran, Previte said, although she added that the country has little of the offshore drilling activity that drives helicopter demand in the oil and gas sector.



"I want to understand the US government's policy about what can be done and what can we not do, and really clear everything with the US government even before we start completing the analysis," Previte told Reuters at the Berlin Air Show.



Previte's comments marked the first time Lockheed has acknowledged looking into possible sales to Iran. The company is mainly a government and defence contractor, but entered into the commercial market with its purchase of helicopter maker Sikorsky from United Technologies Corp last year.



Sikorsky is studying which of its products could be sold in Iran but is still working through the regulatory and compliance issues with the US government, Previte said. She added it was unclear how big the market could be.



Boeing Co Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg on Thursday said Iran's demand for airliners was real, and the prospect of a major order there was moving closer.



Airbus in January agreed to sell Iran 118 planes worth about $27 billion at list prices, and says it also sees Iranian demand for helicopters.



AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Leonardo Finmeccanica, also has seen interest in its helicopters from operators looking to do business in Iran, industry sources said. - Reuters
Umniah Telecom has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Waseela, a leading Jordanian and regional provider of integrated ICT solutions and services, for a key Ministry of Education project in the kingdom.



The agreement, signed by Umniah CEO Engineer Ziad Shatara and by Waseela CEO Dr Samer Taha, will see Waseelas microwave technology adopted by Umniah to implement the Connect and Protect electronic project for the Ministry of Education's schools and directorates, which was recently launched by the ministry in cooperation with the Special Communications Commission, said a statement.



Shatara said: "We are proud to be a partner in the process of developing and growing the education sector through the provision of modern and innovative technological solutions that contribute to improving the quality of education for our children. This is where the importance of partnership with companies such as Waseela becomes clear, to ensure the best use of available technological services and the means to implement the project.



Dr Taha said: "Waseela is honored by the trust that Umniah Telecom has shown it, and we are proud to be a main partner in the implementation of this important national project by executing the necessary telecommunications infrastructure, a field that Waseela has been specialized in for more than eight years."



Through this project, Umniah will prepare the necessary infrastructure to link the Ministry of Education with around 3,000 schools around the kingdom, providing Internet and communications services through a private intranet network and increasing Internet speeds between the schools and the directorates from one to 15 megabytes, and between the ministry and its directorates by more than 50 megabytes. This will provide users with the ability to communicate rapidly, facilitating the decision-making process.



The project will develop education tools in a manner that will benefit nearly 1.5 million students and 80,000 teachers by providing advanced technological solutions, including an internal communications network using Voice over IP (VoIP), enabling the ministry to communicate with its directorates without any additional financial costs.



The network will also enable the teaching staff to conduct meetings and outreach virtually through video conferencing, eliminating the need for movement among the directorates. Additionally, this move will help control official working hours at the ministry, its schools and its directorates by installing the necessary equipment to establish an electronic monitoring and protection system, as well as prepare the correct infrastructure to carry out online exams in the future.



Umniah was selected to implement this project, the first of its kind in both the Kingdom and the Arab region, after its offer complied with all the standards and conditions set forth by the Ministry of Education and the Special Communications Commission in a tender proposed by the Jordanian Armed Forces, said the statement. - TradeArabia News Service
Ebrahim K Kanoo, the exclusive distributors of leading window films brand LLumar in Bahrain, was named Eastman Performance Films 2016 Regional Distributor of the Year for Architectural Window Film Development at the LLumar Middle East Conference for Distributors in Doha, Qatar.



The excellence award lauded the company for doing an outstanding job in developing the architectural window film category in Bahrain, and for its strong technical know-how and first-class customer service, said a statement.



The two-day conference brought together LLumars distributors from across the Middle East and South Africa, as well as senior management officials from Eastman, LLumars parent company, to discuss LLumars global and regional performance, product updates, and new marketing strategies.



Receiving the award, LLumar Bahrain general manager Jamie Bowen said: I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the LLumar Bahrain team, including the sales staff and technicians, without whose efforts this would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Eastmans management for recognising and appreciating our hard work. This award will motivate us to perform even better and achieve greater results next year.



The Eastman/EK Kanoo distribution partnership has been in place for eight years, and continues to grow from strength to strength, he said.



"Eastman feels proud to be closely associated with EK Kanoo and looks forward to many good years ahead," said Andrew Vickers, Eastman Performance Films commercial manager, ESMERA.



LLumar is currently the worlds number one window film brand for architectural and automotive use. The brand has been recognised by the British Skin Foundation for its contribution to sun protection. LLumars product portfolio includes a complete line of automotive window tinting, including commercial and residential architectural window films, safety/security films, anti-graffiti films, and decorative films. - TradeArabia News Service


Opec's strategy of letting the oil market balance itself is working as investment in the industry is falling and any recovery will take time to bring new supplies, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Friday.



The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries shifted policy in 2014 to focus on market share rather than cutting production to support prices, and at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday left the strategy in place.



"Opec let the market work and so far they are succeeding, because it's affected investment," Falah Alamri, the head of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (Somo), told Reuters. Iraq is Opec's second-largest producer.



"Investment now is declining. When investment comes to the market it will take time to produce oil - one year, two years."



Oil prices at $50 a barrel are about half the levels of two years ago, before the strategy shift. But crude has risen more than 80 per cent from a 12-year low in January, supported by signs that the price collapse is curbing output of US shale oil and other higher-cost supplies.



"So far, so good," Alamri said, asked whether he thought Opec's strategy was working.



"The fields that should survive are the low-cost fields. The high-cost fields should go out."



A potential negative for Opec may come from a significant drop in world oil demand, said Alamri, who was cautious on the outlook for prices over the rest of the year.



"Oil prices may continue the same current trends for a few months then in the last months of the year may take a different trend, if demand growth slows and supply remains stable or increases," he said.



Iraq last year was Opec's fastest source of supply growth, boosting output by more than 500,000 barrels per day, despite spending cuts and conflict with Islamic State militants.



Iraqi officials expect further growth in the country's exports this year, but at a slower rate than 2015.-Reuters
A Union Pacific train carrying crude oil derailed and burst into flames along Oregon's scenic Columbia River gorge on Friday in the first major rail accident involving crude in a year.

While no injuries were reported, the train remained engulfed in flames six hours after the derailment, officials said. The accident has already renewed calls for stronger regulation to guard communities against crude-by-rail accidents.

Union Pacific Corp, owner of the line, said 11 rail cars from a 96-car train carrying crude oil derailed about 110 km east of Portland, near the tiny town of Mosier.

Oil spilled from one car, but multiple cars of Bakken crude caught fire, said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Fuller. Firefighters were still fighting the flames several hours later.

The crude was bought by TrailStone's US Oil & Refining Co and bound for its refinery in Tacoma, Washington, some 200 miles (322 km) northwest of the derailment, the company said.

Television footage showed smoke and flames along with overturned black tanker cars snaking across the tracks, which weave through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

"I looked outside and there was black and white smoke blowing across the sky, and I could hear the flames," said Mosier resident Dan Hoffman, 32, whose house is about 100 meters (328 ft) from the derailment. "A sheriff's official in an SUV told me to get the hell out."

While rail shipments have dipped from more than 1 million barrels per day in 2014 as a result of the lengthy slump in oil prices, the first such crash in a year will likely reignite the debate over safety concerns surrounding transporting crude by rail.

"Seeing our beautiful Columbia River Gorge on fire today should be a wake-up call for federal and state agencies  underscoring the need to complete comprehensive environmental reviews of oil-by-rail in the Pacific Northwest," said US Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon.

Ecology officials from Washington state said there was no sign of oil in the Columbia River or Rock Creek.

SAFETY MEASURES DELAYED

Since 2008, there have been at least 10 major oil-train derailments across the US and Canada, including a disaster that killed 47 people in a Quebec town in July 2013.

The incident comes eight months after lawmakers extended a deadline until the end of 2018 for rail operators to implement advanced safety technology, known as positive train control, or PTC, which safety experts say can avoid derailments and other major accidents.

The measures included phasing out older tank cars, adding electronic braking systems and imposing speed limits, all meant to reduce the frequency and severity of oil train crashes.

The tank cars involved in Friday's crash were CPC-1232 models, which elected officials have raised concerns about in the past even though they are an upgrade from older models considered less safe. On Friday, US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon repeated his call from last year for federal officials to look into whether the newer cars were safe enough.

"It's clear with this crash - as it has been for years - that more must be done to protect our communities," Wyden said.

Rail operators such as Union Pacific are required under federal law to disclose crude rail movements to state officials to help prepare for emergencies. The rule was put in place after a string of fiery derailments.

EVACUATIONS

Union Pacific hazardous materials workers responded to the scene along with contractors packing firefighting foam and a boom for oil spill containment.

In its latest disclosure with the state, Union Pacific said it moved light volumes of Bakken crude oil along its state network, which includes the Oregon line. In March, it transported six unit trains, which generally carry about 75,000 barrels each.

As emergency responders descended on the crash site, Interstate 84 was closed and residents were ordered to leave the area.

Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of the Columbia Riverkeeper advocacy group, said the crash should raise concerns about Tesoro Corp's proposed 360,000 barrels-per-day railport in Vancouver, Washington, which would be the country's largest.

"We are very concerned about additional oil trains passing through our community because of their safety record, the risk of fires, of explosions, the risks of spills," he said. --Reuters
The Slovenian Tourist Board has appointed Mladen Ljubisic as its new head of tourism UK and Ireland.



Ljubisic will continue the Tourist Boards promotion of Slovenia in the UK with a strong focus on travel trade, complimented by marketing and communications campaigns.



A new UK and Ireland strategy is currently being implemented by Ljubisic, which will aim to have a stronger focus on travel trade, with tour operator and agent management playing a very prominent role. It will also ensure that Slovenias reputation and identity continues to grow as one of Europes most tourist-friendly, green and sustainable destinations, putting responsible tourism at the heart of the marketing agenda.



The Slovenian Tourism Board has also placed emphasis on positioning itself as one of the EU's leading eco and green tourism countries after the capital, Ljubljana, was awarded the EU Green Capital for 2016. The city will host the Global Green Destinations Day, a two-day conference on September 27 and 28.



The three core objectives that Ljubisic has pinned down for this new role are:

- Connecting and creating a new tour operator travel agent system;

- Providing a better understanding of online travel trade for new trade partners

- Continuing to build Slovenias appeal to UK consumers through ongoing marketing and PR campaigns. - TradeArabia News Service


AccorHotels, a leading international hotel operator, has announced the opening of Pullman ZamZam Madinah, a new five-star hotel in the Saudi Arabian holy city.



The property, standing within 150 meters of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the second-holiest mosque in Islam, combines two towers offering a total of 836 rooms and suites.



Olivier Granet, managing director and chief operating officer of AccorHotels Middle East, said: We are proud to introduce our Pullman brand to Madinah in time for the Holy month of Ramadan and peak Umrah season, which will see millions of travellers enter the kingdom to visit the two holy cities. The new Pullman ZamZam Madinah follows the 1,315-key Pullman ZamZam Makkah which remains the largest property operated by AccorHotels worldwide.



Guests at the new Pullman ZamZam Madinah can stay at Tower A or Tower B; the first offers 321 standard rooms and three different types of suites (70, 80 and 140 keys respectively), while the latter houses 200 standard rooms and 25 suites. International and oriental culinary delicacies are available at four unique venues within the property, including a classic all-day dining restaurant, a roof-top restaurant and a cafe lounge. The hotel also has a terrace and meeting room facilities.



Salah Oumoudden, vice president of operations at AccorHotels Saudi Arabia & Egypt, said: We are pleased to open Pullman ZamZam in Madinah and complement our Pullman Zamzam offering in Makkah. The property provides guests with all the amenities and features associated with five-star accommodation alongside direct access to Al Haram. AccorHotels will continue to implement its strong sales strategy in the new property, benefiting from its expertise and dedicated resources in the two holy cities.



In addition to being strategically located in close proximity to the Holy Mosque, Pullman ZamZam Madinah is a 15-minute drive away from local landmarks such as Quba Mosque and Mount Uhud.



Granet added: The consistently high demand registered in the Saudi market reveals a shortage of quality accommodation and a pressing need to develop the kingdoms hotel infrastructure across all segments, from luxury to economy. In line with the ambitious growth strategy that AccorHotels has set out for Saudi Arabia, we remain committed to helping the Kingdom diversify its offerings and cater to the evolving needs of its visitors.



Pullman ZamZam Madinah is owned by Munshaat for Projects & Contracting Co, an esteemed real estate developer and subsidiary of Munshaat Real Estate Projects Company.



AccorHotels has a strong presence in Saudi Arabia, with a network of more than 15 properties in operation with over 4,500 opened rooms, and close to 35 properties under development bringing an additional 9,000 rooms. The Groups Saudi portfolio, encompassing 50 hotels in total, spans a wide range of world-class brands, from luxury Sofitel, upscale Pullman and Majlis Grand Mercure, to midscale Novotel and Mercure, and the economy ibis.



AccorHotels currently operates 75 hotels in the Middle East, encompassing close to 20,000 rooms across the luxury to economy segments. The groups regional network also includes 55 hotels under development, bringing over 14,000 additional rooms to the Middle East. - TradeArabia News Service
Qatar-based Al Sawari Holding, a leading diversified private firm, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and two management agreements with leading hospitality companies to mark its entry into India.



The collaborations were formalised on the occasion of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Qatar.



An MoU has been signed by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, chairman of Al Sawari Holding, and Vivek Nair, chairman and managing director, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. Under this agreement, the Al Sawari Group will purchase a six-acre site from The Leela Group in the historical city of Agra to develop a hotel complex.



Al Sawari Holding has also entered into a management agreement with The Leela Group to operate a 100-room Leela Palace Hotel on this site.

Another management agreement has been signed with Aiana Hotels and Resorts, a global hotel management company, to operate a 150-room Aiana Hotel on the same plot.



Qatar has a long history of bilateral relations with India and there is a lot of synergy between the two cultures. We are delighted to enter into these landmark agreements with The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts and Aiana Hotels and Resorts during the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Qatar. We are confident that Al Sawari Holdings foray into the Indian hospitality industry will further enhance the economic and culture relations between the two countries, said Sheikh Faisal.



In line with our strategy to acquire key assets in strategic global locations, the property is located less than one kilometre from the Taj Mahal and will offer unparalleled views of the historic monument.



The two new hotels will offer a host of signature restaurants and lounges along with spacious banquet halls and state of the art health centres and spas. Both hotels will cater to the upmarket leisure tourists and the MICE segment. Construction is expected to commence soon and will be completed within 36 months.



These agreements are the first of many that we as a group plan to enter into in India. We firmly believe in the potential of the Indian market and will continue to seek growth opportunities to create value and expand our portfolio in India, said Mohammed Shafiek, managing director, Al Sawari Holding.



We are delighted to partner with Al Sawari Holdings, and view this agreement as a forerunner to several other developments in India and overseas. The proposed Palace hotel will combine unparalleled views of the Taj Mahal with a truly luxurious hospitality experience in Agra. We are also looking forward to further strengthening our presence within the golden triangle by adding a Palace hotel in Jaipur and will continue our efforts to expand in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, said Vivek Nair.



We are delighted to announce the expansion of the Aiana portfolio in India with the signing of a management agreement with Al Sawari Holding to operate Aiana Agra - a 150 room hotel in one of the most visited leisure destinations in India, said Amruda Nair, joint managing director and chief executive officer, Aiana Hotels & Resorts.



With the signing of our sixth hotel in India, we will continue to follow the cluster strategy that has been successful for the Aiana brand in India. Our next focus will be to complete the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and further enhance our existing developments, she said.  TradeArabia News Service
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has appointed three UAE nationals as airport managers in South Korea, Seychelles, and Saudi Arabia.



This brings to eight the number of Etihad Airways Emirati airport managers across the world.



Fatima Al Hashemi has been appointed aairport manager for Incheon, South Korea; Yousuf Mohammed joins as airport manager for Madinah, Saudi Arabia; and Mansour Hamad will be airport manager for Seychelles, in Mahe.



Ray Gammell, Etihad Aviation Groups chief people and performance officer, said: These new appointments embody the success of our UAE National Development Programme and also demonstrates our ability to attract top Emirati talent from elsewhere. Our new airport managers are excellent examples of our Emirati employees enthusiasm to become leaders in aviation, and I look forward to watching their careers continue to flourish.



An important part of developing the UAE national workforce is the opportunity to work in a dynamic, multi-cultural environment and to be posted on international assignments to accelerate their development. More than 90 UAE nationals are positioned at the airlines offices and airports across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas.



Al Hashemi is the airlines second Emirati female airport manager. She joined Etihad Airways in 2012 as a graduate manager and has worked in Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Al Hashemi graduated from Zayed University in Dubai with a degree in Business Administration and Information Technology.



Mohammed began his career in the aviation industry in 2004 as an airport services agent. He joined Etihad Airways in 2011 as an operations duty manager and has worked in Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, and most recently, Muscat.



Hamad is a 13 year veteran of the UAE Air Force, where he worked in roles as diverse as Air Defence, Search and Rescue, and Air Traffic Control. He joined Etihad Airways in 2011 and has worked in operations in Doha, Manchester and Riyadh. His last position was as duty manager in Riyadh.



Geert W. Boven, Etihad Airways senior vice-president Global Airport Services, said: Its great to have staff of this calibre on our team. They will have overall responsibility for our operations at their airports, including safety, security, and station performance management. These are challenging roles requiring a number of diverse skills sets that have been carefully developed during their careers with us.



The UAEs national airline employs over 3,000 Emiratis globally. In 2015 the airline welcomed more than 1,200 UAE nationals to its global workforce, representing 30 per cent of its core staff  the largest nationality group of the 140 nationalities within Etihad Airways multicultural global team. - TradeArabia News Service
Last August 24, on the great American holiday known as National Waffle Day, I got confused and thought it was the Swedish waffle day tradition Vaffeldagen, which falls on March 25th. According to Wikipeidia it actually is an old Christian holiday, Varfrudagen ("Our Lady's Day"), but they got confused because they evidently sound alike, and now celebrate it with waffles. Other sources say that it is a celebration of spring, waffles use a lot of eggs which are a symbol of new life, so there you go. I prefer the confused story.

A reader corrected me and I promised that I would run the story again on the proper date, and correct my previously confused posts about concrete waffle slabs, a technology that gets longer spans out of less concrete. For those who might remember that TreeHugger normally is not fond of concrete, I admit a fondness for older concrete done well.

 National Arts CentreAs for replacing concrete with wood, that is even coming to waffle slabs, with the new addition to National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where they picked up on the existing waffle slab architecture, and have built a waffle slab out of cross-laminated timber, a first. More coverage on that to come.

Here are my two waffle posts, reposted in honour of the upcoming Vaffeldagen.

What Are Waffle Slabs?

Lloyd Alter/ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts/CC BY 2.0

In the Washington Post, they write about How pancakes and waffles divide the nation. I have always preferred waffles to pancakes, which I consider to be limp and formless. Waffles, on the other hand, have form and real substance, structure and rigidity.

It is much the same in architecture. A concrete slab is- just a slab, and a thick one at that, using a lot of concrete to get to the depth it needs to span a significant distance without limply sagging. You don't look at it because it is boring, and the electrical or mechanical services are hanging from it so they are covered with even more boring drywall.

Lloyd Alter/ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts/CC BY 2.0

Waffle slabs are different. They are designed to be thick where you need it, for the structure in the ribs, and thin for the slab. They are designed to be exposed and seen and enjoyed. Today I was walking through the wonderful Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' decorative art collection in the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion and had trouble looking at the fabulous stuff because I was entranced by the ceiling, layers of the tastiest waffle slabs I had ever seen. The entire structure is there for you to see: nothing but the concrete that it holding itself up.

 Engineering Heritage Australia

Almost nobody really does waffle slabs anymore; they can be expensive, with the reinforcing carefully placed in narrow ribs between forms.

 John B. Parkin

They can be really hard to repair; one of the reasons that Toronto's iconic John Parkin Terminal was demolished was because he built the parking garage with waffle slabs, and one should not put salt on waffles.

But while we are no fan of concrete on TreeHugger, there are good things to say about waffle slabs. They use less concrete, and they look good enough to leave exposed so you use less of everything else.

Lloyd Alter/ National Theatre/CC BY 2.0

Examples of Waffle Slab Architecture

There are wonderful waffles at the National Theatre in Britain;

Lloyd Alter/ Confederation Centre/CC BY 2.0

And really cool ones at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where in one section, they even left off the slab itself and put on great pyramidal skylights.

 Alarcon + Asociados via Designboom

Holedeck has figured out a great way to integrate services into them. Perhaps it is time to say that if we have to use concrete in our buildings, then we should let concrete be concrete, exposed and beautiful through thick and thin. It's time to bring back tasty waffle slabs. Mmmmm.

 Goldstein House/ John Lautner

This post has been corrected to reflect information about Vaffeldagen.

In Sweden, they celebrate Vaffeldagen or Waffle Day on March 25; In America, we waffle a bit and celebrate Waffle Day on August 24, the day the patent on the waffle iron was issued. That's two opportunities to celebrate the tasty waffle slab, a form of construction that used to be popular but has fallen out of flavor or favor or whatever.

Which is a shame; we are not usually fond of concrete because of its carbon footprint, but waffle slabs let designers get much larger spans with less material. They also look so nice as architectural elements that they are left exposed instead of getting covered up with drywall- the structure is the finish. And being concrete, they are durable. We have covered tasty waffles that I have known here, but there are some others worth looking at. I have been criticized for not mentioning some other very famous waffles, starting with John Lautner's Goldstein house in Los Angeles, a rare residential use of waffles. It has been donated to the The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) by its owner so it is likely that it will remain intact and accessible.

 Robarts Library

A number of readers berated me for not including Toronto's Robarts Library in the list; I am a fan of this building and have written about it before, but had forgotten about its waffle slabs.

 Louis Kahn, restored by Polshek Partnership

The Robarts waffles are triangular and appear to be a homage to Louis Kahn, and his Yale Art Gallery, which was recently restored and upgraded by the Polshek Partnership.

 LGA architects

Another demonstration of how well waffle slabs hold up over the years, both aesthetically and functionally, is this renovation of the Kitchener Public Library by LGA architects and Phil Carter; those 1961 vintage waffles still look good.

Lloyd Alter/ Barbican waffles/CC BY 2.0

Waffles can be very dramatic with low ceilings, like these at the Barbican in London. The wonderful housing project, one of the world's best, is full of waffles that also act as light fixtures.

Lloyd Alter/ Lights in Washington Metro platform/CC BY 2.0

Waffles are dramatic high up as well, as shown in the Washington Metro. The trains may not be holding up so well, but the roof certainly is. I did not originally think of this as a waffle slab; I thought of it as a coffered ceiling. But others do not waffle about it, so here it is.

Lloyd Alter/ Fiat factory, Turin/CC BY 1.0

Similarly, I did not include Nervi's Fiat factory in Turin but all the waffle sites do, so I include it here.

Lloyd Alter/ Marcel Breur MET/CC BY 2.0

On this waffle day, spend some time looking up at ceilings. You will see few as beautiful as those waffle slabs; few that have lasted so long. They are at once decorative, structural (though this one by Marcel Breuer at the MET Modern is totally decorative, hanging below the ceiling) and durable, all attributes of green building. Happy Vaffeldagen!

For more waffles, see the waffle slab archive on Tumblr
After showing Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion Deployment Unit made from grain silo parts, a reader pointed out that in fact, you could still buy a home made like this, the Sukup Safe T Home.

 Sukup

Really, compare these to the shipping container houses that everyone loves so much. 14 of these can fit into one container. They are designed for proper ventilation, with a continuous ridge vent, a double roof and a cupola vent at the top. They collect rainwater around the edge of the eaves. The windows come with 16 gauge perforated mesh screens. Sukup, which makes the buildings in Sheffield, Indiana, donated seven of them to an orphanage in Haiti last year, which are shown in the photos here.

 Sukup

 Sukup

The whole thing locks up tight for security, and even comes with decorative planters, that are in fact ballast boxes to add weight and help it withstand high winds. (As Bucky noted, the round shape helps it resist wind as well). At 18' diameter and 256 square feet, it can be subdivided and can accommodate a family. That's a lot of space, particularly since it is high enough that you could build a loft into it.

The manufacturer says that it is easy to build:

Each shipment comes complete with everything needed to erect a complete Safe T Home. Homes are shipped as one unit and assembled on-site with basic hand tools, which are provided. Inexperienced laborers can erect a home in less than two days. All sidewall and roof sheets have the bolt holes pre- punched and aligned. Every home is manufactured with advanced roll forming equipment to ensure close tolerances for a high quality shelter.



 Sukup

According to Mother Earth News, non-profits can buy them for $ 5,700 each. That is of course, just for the shell; A permanent structure an an environment cooler than Haiti's would need a floor and insulation, but it is a great start. More at Sukup.
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 4

The protest of farmers started by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta-Ugrahan entered its 12th day here today.

The farmers today condemned Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal for holding a meeting over whitefly attack without meeting them.

They also condemned government officials for just holding meetings instead of doing anything concrete on the ground.

The protesters also criticized the meager hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and other crops. They termed the hike as a cruel joke with farmers who are demanding the implementation of Swaminathan report from long time. They said the various governments had promised to implement the report in their manifestoes but all went in vain.

Government officials are trying to befool the public and farmers by holding meetings to curb whitefly. The subsidy over various cereal crops and other crops has been stopped by the government, who always beat the drum of promoting diversification. The farmers, this time, preferred desi cotton but seeds were unavailable. Most of the farmers looked for cereal crops seeds but the subsidy over them was also found to be stopped. At the time, when Swaminathan report will be implemented then the farmers cannot be saved. The wrong policies of both the centre and state governments are collectively responsible for the suicides of farmers. said, BKU Ugraha Bathinda president Shingara Singh Mann.

We demand that the government should make and implement pro-farmer policies to save them from the ongoing farming crisis and to avoid the suicides. Farming is becoming a non-profitable profession but farmers are not aware from any other work. We would intensify our agitation if the government fails to meet our demands. added Mann.

The agitators are demanding the waiver of the debt of farmers and farm labourers, who are unable to pay their loans; paying of compensation to the tune of Rs 5 lakh each immediately to the families of suicide victims; survey of suicides from 1990 onwards; release of motor connections to farmers; full compensation of Rs 40,000 to farmers who faced damage to the cotton crop following the whitefly attack and making laws in favour of farmers instead of corporate houses or arhtiyas.

Besides, the farmers are also demanding a solution to the problem of stray cattle. They are also demanding Rs 40,000 as compensation for the damaged wheat crop due to fire following a short-circuit as some farmers whose crop was burnt had reportedly committed suicide.

The farmers are also demanding round- the-clock electricity supply ahead of the paddy season; quashing of false cases against the protesting farmers and compensation to those injured or dead during the agitation.
Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 5

Local Congress MLA and former Union Minister Preneet Kaur today extended support to the protesting contractual nursing and ancillary staff of the Government Rajindra Hospital promising to fulfil their demands at the earlier once the Congress comes to the power in the state.

The Congress MLA, who participated in the demonstration being held by the nurses on the hospital premises, condemned the Akali-BJP government for failing to fulfil the promises made to various sections of society. Terming it to be the Akali-BJP misrule, the Congress legislator said it was the right of the contractual employees to get regular jobs.

She said while the state government had been making tall claims of offering lakhs of jobs, those already in the jobs were being subjected to exploitation.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who was here to preside over an award ceremony, said it was wrong on part of the nursing staff to cripple health care facilities.

He said the state government was sensitive towards the demand being raised by them and efforts were being made to resolve their issues. However, the staff should not resort to pressure tactics to get their demands fulfilled.

The health care services, including general operation theatres and OPD, remained suspended at the Government Rajindra Hospital and the local TB Hospital due to the ongoing protest. The patients remained at the receiving end and had to face a lot of harassment. Only emergency departments and emergency operation theatres along with labour room were functioning.

The Patiala Medial College administration and the Police Department have been consistently requesting them to call off the protest so that patients do not suffer. However, the protesters refused to relent claiming that they would move only when they get the notification regarding the regularisation of their services by the state government.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

Basking in the glory of getting the much-awaited nod for 100 MBBS seats from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today, the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, has another reason to celebrate. The college has been ranked the 10th best among the medical institutions in the country.

Giving details, Dr Atul Sachdev, Director-Principal of the college, told Chandigarh Tribune that the ranking was special as it had given the GMCH its long-due recognition as a world-class medical institution.

The ranking has come from a renowned magazine, Career 360 Degree. Coming along with the news of approval of 100 MBBS seats, this is indeed special, Dr Sachdev said.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda today announced that on the recommendations of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Health Ministry had approved the renewal of 100 seats for the GMCH.

Interacting with mediapersons at the international airport, Mohali, he said this would give a big relief to medical aspirants.

MP Kirron Kher thanked Nadda for approving the renewal. The MCI inspects the college every year to determine the number of seats it should have. The number of seats, which was 50 until the 2012-13 session, was increased to 100 for the subsequent two sessions. This year, the MCI had raised an objection to an increase in the number of seats from 50 to 100, saying that the college had many deficiencies.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

The city today witnessed another organ donation wherein the corneas, kidneys and the liver of an 18-year-old girl were donated by her family after she was declared brain dead this morning. The noble cause gave a new lease of life to five patients.

Anju Dhiman, a BCom first-year student from Yamunanagar, Haryana, was grievously injured in an accident while riding pillion on a two-wheeler with her brother. She was rushed to a local hospital from where she was brought to the PGI on June 3.

Talking about the donation, Anjus uncle Surinder Dhiman said she was an extremely helpful girl and very compassionate. The organ donation has given a rightful meaning to her lifes will, he said with tears in his eyes.

Significantly, with todays cadaver donation, the number of such cases has gone up to 12 so far this year. In all 12 cadaver donations, a new lease of life has been given to over 50 patients. So far this year, all cadavers have been received from the PGI.

And though the PGI sees nearly 120 brain-dead patients in a month, the institute does not have a long list of cadaver transplants. However, the number is quickly picking up. A total of 197 cadaveric (only from brain-dead patients) donations have been made so far, including kidneys, livers, hearts and pancreas.

Donors who gave life to others
Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

With the mercury hovering around the 42C mark, the water level of Sukhna Lake is receding at an alarming rate due to evaporation.

A report of the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, has also mentioned that one of the major reasons for the loss of water in the lake was evaporation.

The water level of the lake has depleted by over 1 ft in the past one month. The water level recorded today was 1,153.70 ft against 1,154.85 ft recorded a month ago. Experts fear the situation could turn worse if the rains get delayed.

GS Dhillon, former Chief Engineer-cum-Director, Irrigation and Power Research Institute, Amritsar, said it was time the Administration started the desilting process. He said the UT should immediately call a meeting of the expert committee constituted on the directions of the High Court to decide the future course of action.

He said the weather conditions were ideal for desilting as the lake bed had dried up at many places. The lake bed had become visible at the regulator end.

He said the problem of silt accumulation at Sukhna Lake was a major environmental concern that needed to be dealt with at the earliest.

The water-holding capacity of the lake has also drastically reduced due to sand deposits.

The lake is at the foothills of the Shivaliks, said to be one of the most erodable hills. Silt-retention dams were also constructed in the catchment area, but silt continued to enter the lake.

Low water level at Sukhna Lake is is common in summer.

However, this is the first time in several years that the water level has receded so much in a month. The management of the lake was under the High Court scanner after some people filed a public interest petition. The High Court had ordered that required steps should be taken to increase the water level following which the committee was formed to suggest ways to save the lake.
Dinesh Kumar

Politicians and religious leaders find it easy to engage in revivalism and, then, crank up a politics of memory. The more gory the memory, the better politics it makes. But more importantly, such memories are likely to find acceptance among sections of the public and makes a collectively accepted closure, all that more difficult to emerge.

Such is the case with Operation Blue Star. Even after 32 years, it continues to be a topic of discourse this time every year. Of late, Operation Blue Star has been figuring with greater intensity and even a memorial commemorating the incident has been raised in the precincts of the Golden Temple three decades later in April 2014 which was followed by a clash between SGPC guards and members of Sikh extremist groups in June 2014.

When viewed clinically, the Army operation ( June 5-6) was aimed at evicting 37- year-old Damdami Taksal chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed militia who had converted the holy shrine into an armed fortress from where he was running a virtual parallel government, provoking wanton violence across the state and publicly spewing venom against a particular community. Bhindranwale, who had caught the imagination of sections of the Sikh community, had come to command fear among the general public, politicians and all wings of the state government. The government chose to remain a silent spectator to reports of arms and ammunition, ranging from rifles to rocket launchers, being regularly transported in kar sewa trucks entering the temple complex.

But for a majority of the Sikh community, Operation Blue Star became an attack on their most revered and historic shrine and that too barely two days after Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom day. Indeed when it comes to matters of faith, it is difficult to view a single action in isolation or to rationalise it.

Operation Blue Star, the name given by the Army, will remain a tragic event in India's post-Independence history from which no winners emerged. It neither ended terrorism nor religious militant politics, which in fact manifested itself in horrific proportions thereafter. In a series of revenge killings, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated (October 1984), followed by horrific reprisal anti-Sikh violence (November 1984), two hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft (July and August 1984), downing of an Air India Boeing 747 in a mid-air explosion caused by Canada-based militants killing all 329 on board (June 1985), the assassination of General Arun Shridhar Vaidya (August 1986), who was the Army Chief during Operation Blue Star, and the knifing of Lt General Kuldeep Singh Brar in London (September 2012), who as major general, led Operation Blue Star.

Historians are still divided on whether the operation could be conducted differently. And, more pertinently, whether we have learnt any lessons. A professional, apolitical and secular Army was asked to undertake a severely traumatic and thankless mission on the directions of the government. Lt General Brar, then a major general commanding 9 Infantry Division, was given just 48 hours to draft his plan for an unprecedented operation of such magnitude and sensitivity. It was first discussed on June 3 and then finetuned before embarking on the operation, which began at 10.30 pm on June 5. Unprepared troops with no training of close quarter battle warfare in built-up areas and having no inkling of the operation were moved at short notice from Meerut.

The only troops which had undergone prior training for such an operation was a Company strength (about 125 soldiers) of the Special Frontier Force about which Brar was informed a day earlier (June 4). As both Brar and then Western Army Commander, Lt General (later General) Krishnaswamy Sundarji, were to later say, intelligence was limited and the impression given was that they were a motley bunch armed with antiquated rifles, an assortment of pistols and revolvers and only a few machine guns.

Tanks were ordered to fire from their main cannon after receiving a clearance from Delhi only at 7.30 am on June 6, a full nine hours after facing stiff resistance from approximately 100 well-armed militants entrenched in the heavily fortified Akal Takht building of which all openings had been closed with bricks and sandbags, with specially created small loopholes and pill boxes to tactically well site 31 machine guns (of a total 51 later recovered), two rocket launchers, innumerable rifles, grenades and other small arms. The Army, which was engaged in a suicidal frontal attack, had by 7.30 am lost over 50 soldiers (of the total 88 killed), with over twice that number wounded (of the total 248) in the vicinity of the temporal seat alone.

Operation Blue Star is an event for which politicians at the Centre and the state need to take collective responsibility. Why was the situation allowed to build up in the first place? Why was the Golden Temple permitted to be converted into an armed fortress? Who promoted and mollycoddled Bhindranwale and why, are some of the many questions that need to be honestly accounted for. The then politics at play is what needs to be severely condemned and never repeated. To some extent the government has learnt its lessons by exercising restraint during Operation Black Thunder-II in Amritsar (May 1988) and the almost month-long Hazratbal crisis in Srinagar (October-November 1993). Above all, this much should be clear: religious leaders must ensure that places of worship are not misused and politicians must never play politics with religious sentiments.

dkumar@tribunemail.com
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

Delhi Police has served notices to the Apollo Hospital authorities, directing them to join the investigation into the kidney trading racket and provide documents related to transplants in the hospital in the past few months.

The police are suspecting the involvement of some senior staffers and doctors of the Delhi-based hospital in the racket. Five persons, including two personal secretaries of a doctor in Apollo Hospital have been arrested in connection with the racket.

The police said they have served notices under the Code of Criminal Procedure Sections 90 and 160 to the authorities of the hospital, asking them to join the probe into the racket and provide documents related to kidney transplants in the hospital in the past few months. The authorities will be examined by a special investigation team, consisting of 25 members, which has been formed to probe the racket.

The police have also identified at least three recipients and five donors having links with the racket and are considering further legal action.

While two of the donors are women who are presently in hospitals, three recipients are from Kolhapur, Jammu and Ghaziabad.

A police team visited the address of the Ghaziabad-recipient, but he had left that place.

Meanwhile, five separate teams are conducting raids at Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad to look for further clues to the racket. They are trying to zero in on the racket's mastermind Rajukumar Rao.

He has allegedly been running the racket for the past few years and is connected to similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, an official said.
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, June 5

Faridabad and Palwal districts remained unaffected from the Jat agitation by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) today.

The authorities, however, did not take any chance and kept vigil at anti-social elements. No dharna was staged anywhere in the two districts.

Section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed.

The district remained peaceful today. There was no report of any dharna or protest from anywhere. The police kept a watch on highways, bus stands, railway stations and markets, said Police Commissioner Hanif Qureshi.

More than 10 police teams have been patrolling sensitive places since last night.

Palwal Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sharma said panchayats had been asked to report any disturbance to the district administration.

In February, Jats had staged a dharna outside the Mini-Secretariat in Faridabad and a couple of spots in Palwal. About 100 persons were booked in the two districts on the charge of blocking highways and damaging buses.

Jats in Faridabad and Palwal have decided to stay away from the agitation this time in view of the cases against several residents. Harassment at the hands of police and the threat of penal action are keeping them away, said a member of the AIJASS on the condition of anonymity.

The district unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), meanwhile, took out a peace march in the evening.
Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Ballah (Karnal), June 5

The district unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS) today served on the state government June 15 deadline to cancel cases against 130 persons during the agitation in February, among other demands.

If the demands were not met, the samiti would formulate a new strategy for the agitation, it said.

The ultimatum was issued during a peaceful dharna by the samiti and other members of the community at Ballah village, around 35km from the district headquarters.

The other demands include compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a job for a member of family of persons who died during the agitation. Besides, reservation given by the state government should be included in the ninth schedule of Constitution for it to pass judicial scrutiny.

They declared to continue the indefinite dharna at Ballah.

Security agencies, meanwhile, were put on high alert. The police and intelligence wing kept a vigil on the dharna site.

Assandh Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Baljinder Singh and Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Sushil Malik and other officials were deployed near the dharna site.

Nafe Singh Mann, district president of the ABJASS, led the dharna and said Jats were sitting on a peaceful dharna and would abide by law. We are ready for a dialogue with the government.e condemned the violence during the February agitation.

Jats organised a chabeel on the Assandh-Kutail road for commuters.
Trbune News Service

Chandigarh/ Rohtak, June 5

Haryana remained on high alert on Sunday as Jats renewed their agitation for reservation.



Although the protest remained peaceful in Hisar, Karnal, Jhajjar and Sonepat, more than 50 people were booked in Rohtak for having violated the governments prohibitory orders as they assembled at a village on Rohtak-Panipat National Highway.

Among those booked were Rithal sarpanch Umed Singh.

Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Atul Kumar, also the District Magistrate, said organisers were issued notices against the assembly, although the latter said they have yet to receive any notices.

However, Rohtak Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand, who was also present at the protest site, said the situation was under control.

Meanwhile, protesters marched towards the Rohtak-range IGP's office in a failed attempt at court arrest.

Read: Prohibitory orders to be imposed in Delhi-Haryana border areas



The state remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any part. Also, the traffic was normal as neither any highway nor any railway line was blocked by the protesters, Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said.

He said in many districts, no protests were held by Jat community members. At some places where the protesters sat on dharna, they submitted memorandums to the Deputy Commissioners and lifted the dharna after some time, he said.

Protesters at Jhajjar submitted a memorandum to the district sub-divisional magistrate seeking release of Jats arrested for Februarys protests and cancellation of FIRs registered then.

Yashpal Maliks faction of the All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) is leading the protest, although Hawa Singh Sangwan faction of the AIJASS, the All-India Jat Mahasabha and various khap panchayats have announced they will not support it.

Although Jat leaders have promised that the protests will remain peaceful, the Haryana Government is taking no chances: it has stationed 55 companies of paramilitary forces in various parts of the state; imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code prohibiting assembly of more than five people in parts of the state such as Rohtak; and has even banned Internet in Sonepat and Rohtak.

"We have imposed Section 144 practically 8-9 districts that have recorded agitations in the past agitation. These districts primarily are Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Bhiwani , Hisar, Fatehabad, Jind and Kaithal: Ram Niwas, Additonal Chief Secretary (Home) said earlier in the day. We have made adequate arrangements in order to prevent any kind of road or rail blockade. Section 144 has been imposed in all districts, specially in 1 km range on both sides of national highways and railway tracks.

A violent protests by Jats in February for reservation killed, by government's estimates, 30 people and lead to property worth crores being destroyed.

The Haryana Assembly had later passed a law sanctioning reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, but it was stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

Hisar INLD Parliamentarian Dushyant Singh Chautala threatened to take legal action against the state government if it did not withdraw Parkash Singh Committees report on Februarys violent Jat protests within seven days.

Chautala claimed the committee defamed Jats by equating them with LeT militants and even accused Singh  a former policeman who headed the panel  of overstepping his brief by commenting on politicians, including former chief ministers of the state.

The Committee has blamed the state government for its poor handling Februarys protests and has also indicted some of the states high-ranking policemen of not having the will to act against rioters and arsonists.

The Haryana Government recently made part of the report public.

By the governments estimates, the violent protest in February killed 30 people and led to losses worth crores.
Our Correspondent

Nurpur, June 5

The Indora police on Friday registered a forgery case against Rajesh Thakur, a suspended Class IV employee of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) and his two accomplices, Seema and Monica of Pathankot, for allegedly defrauding the bank of Rs 58.50 lakh.

As per police information, Rajesh Thakur was the mastermind of the alleged forgery case. Rajesh, while posted in the office of Assistant General Manager (AGM) at Nurpur, had committed some irregularity in the Indora bank branch and had been placed under suspension. Pushap Renu Sharma, AGM, Nurpur, had lodged a complaint to the police against the trio after the completion of internal vigilance inquiry into the forgery case.

DSP Manhinder Singh Minhas said a case under Sections 420 and 120-B and Section 66-C of the IT Act had been registered against the accused. Rajesh had transferred Rs 58.50 lakh in the account of Seema Devi on April 22 from the Indora branch of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank from its internal head office account allegedly by hacking the banks ID and password from the AGM office (Nurpur) when the AGM was away . He started withdrawing amount from Seemas bank account from Dhangupeer, Damtal,Thakurdwara, Jassur and Gangath bank branches through cheques on different dates with different amounts.

On April 30, one of the accused presented a cheque for Rs 49,000 at Nurpur KCC Bank (main). Dalip Singh, a junior clerk in the bank, got suspicious when he examined the bank account of Seema Devi in whose account Rs 58.5 lakh had been transferred from internal account of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank of Indora branch and found that amount to the tune of Rs 8.47 lakh had been withdrawn through cheques from different bank branches. He reportedly informed the branch manager who immediately approached the Indora bank branch and got frozen the suspicious account.

The DSP said after procuring the requisite bank record relating to the forgery, the police would arrest the culprits.
Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, June 4

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways said successive Congress governments at the Centre had failed to watch the interest of Himachal and only four national highways were granted by them.

He said while crores had been spent on buying aircrafts little had been done to ameliorate the lot of the rural agrarian community.

He said Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister whose visionary ideas had led to substantial development of national highways along the length and breadth of the country. Taking his vision forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi was now laying special emphasis on this crucial issue as the government was committed to uplift the rural economy. He said four NHs had been granted by Vajpayee to Himachal during his tenure and the number had now risen to 17.

Elaborating on his initiatives, he said it was appalling to note that 40 per cent of the nations traffic was plying on national highways which comprised merely two per cent of the total chunk of roads. He said the rising accidents were a cause of concern and Rs 11,000 crore had been set aside for improving the accident-prone black spots. The state government should utilize this fund to bring down the rate of accidents.

He said political commitment was more crucial to ensure development and availability of funds came next. He said works worth Rs 25 lakh crore would be executed in his five year tenure and said there was no dearth of funds.

Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal said the state government had a key role to play in ensuring timely permissions for the 17 new national highways for which in principle approval has been accorded by the union ministry. He urged the MLAs to ensure that the detailed project reports (DPRs) were not delayed.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda said the Congress government had always created an illusion about development while failing to do much for the improvement of road network in the state. He urged the MLAs to monitor work on 17 new highways for their speedier completion.

Satpal Satti, state BJP president, said the BJP was trying to develop the far-flung areas while the Congress had barely indulged in rhetoric for vote bank politics.
Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, June 5

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, today said there should be no politics over development and he would concede the demands raised by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as well as various public representatives as there was no dearth of funds.

Addressing a gathering here today after laying the foundation stone of Rs 2,545 crore 90-km four-laning project of three sections of the Parwanoo-Shimla stretch of the National Highways-22 here today, he said works worth Rs 50,000 crore would be executed in the next two years as against the present spending of Rs 27,000 crore in Himachal on national highways.

He said since delay in the land acquisition inordinately hampered execution of the projects, his ministry had decided to initiate projects only after 80 per cent of the land acquisition had been done. Gadkari said when he had taken over 403 projects worth Rs 3,85,000 crore were pending out of which 41 had to be terminated while 10-12 were abandoned for various reasons and the remaining were being pursued now.

The union minister urged the Chief Minister to explore the possibility of undertaking ropeways and electric modes of mass transportation in the state in view of the rising cost of construction and fuel. He said the modern technical know-how was available with them. He said the ministry was exploring the possibility of floating small packages for the small contractors of various hill states, including Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand where they would be imparted the latest technical know-how.

He said workshops would be organized by the officials of the ministry for contractors. They would be given 10 per cent advance money to purchase modern machinery. Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal has been asserting the need to develop such packages for the small contractors and his idea would be translated into reality. Gadkari urged the Chief Minister to make use of low cost cement available at the rate ranging from Rs 120 per bag to Rs 140 per bag for various government works as they had worked out an agreement with various cement manufacturers.

Earlier, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while thanking the union minster said Gadkari was a man known for action and his efforts in the last three years had helped in enormous development of the national highways. He said the other ministers should also emulate the perseverance shown by him in his ministry. The Chief Minister said roads were the lifeline of the people in this hill state and use of modern technology for construction of roads was the need of the hour.

It was a rare occasion when the Chief Minister shared stage with Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal and other BJP leaders.

Others present on the occasion included Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda, state BJP president Satpal Satti, Shimla MP Virender Kashyap, state minister Karan Singh and project director, National Highways Authority of India, RK Puri.
Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 5

The much-awaited artificial lake on the Tawi river still seems to be a distant dream as the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) has set another deadline of March, 2017, for completion of civil work.

The Rs 69.70-crore artificial lake project, started in 2010, has missed six deadlines till now as work has remained suspended for more than 20 months since 2010.

The department claims that the work is being done in a full swing, but surprisingly the proportion of civil work done has not increased from 95 per cent since 2015.

In July, 2015, while replying to an RTI application, the government said that the date of completion of the barrage portion of the lake project stood revised to 2016.

The department had revealed that 95 per cent civil work and 90 per cent mechanical work had been completed and Rs 54.68 crore had been spent on Tawi barrage project, which would be completed by the end of March 31, 2016.

I&FC Chief Engineer Rajeev Gandotra said, The deadline for the civil work and barrage is March, 2017, this will be done by our department. Rest will be done by the Jammu Development Authority (JDA).

As much as 95 per cent of the civil work has been done. The work is in a full swing and will be completed by March, 2017, he added.

The project landed into controversy when then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed announced on May 15, 2015, in the presence of incumbent Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh that this lake project was not feasible on the river.

Later, the then PHE Minister, Sukhnandan Chowdhary, contradicting the CMs statement said that the project would be completed within the set time frame. He also sought intervention of the Union Water Resources Ministry to get it completed.

Notably, Sukhnandan was not given a Cabinet birth in Mehbooba Muftis government after the death of Mufti Sayeed.
There is a sudden rush of blood and some anti-Pakistan voices, born more out of their political expediency than conviction, have attempted to include Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in their rank after she unequivocally condemned certain acts of terror and demanded of Islamabad to tell how it gains by the bloodbath.

Anyones blood would boil when innocents are killed for no reason. How as Chief Minister can she condone the murderous campaign against the police and security forces, which are assigned the duty to protect people? She never minced words when the security forces overstepped their limits. A total recall of her words ever since she joined politics in 1996 has a consistent record of speaking against the human rights abuses.

It will be a great disservice to the Chief Minister and her idea of peace in Kashmir if an argument is peddled that her utterances against Pakistan for the recent killings should be adopted as ultranationalist rhetoric to pin down Pakistan. That is misreading of her intentions. She made a statement of facts, bringing reality across the border to the fore.

A globally known fact about Pakistan is that it is a breeding ground for terrorism, and it has used terrorists as its foreign policy tool. Americans have censured Pakistan on this count, although Washingtons double standard is obvious for it continues to finance Pakistan despite knowing about the diversion of funds.

Mehbooba has always spoken of realisation of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds vision  peace for the people of the state and friendly relations between India and Pakistan. This is a pragmatic way of looking at things in Kashmir, given what the place has undergone in the past 26 years. She is certain that the route to peace in Kashmir lies in the bonhomie between the two nuclear-powered South Asian nations. There is no alternative to it.

Many a time, Mehbooba faced hard-hitting criticism for voicing sympathy for those killed on the other side of the border during the exchange of fire on borders. She was accused of not drawing a distinction between the aggressor (Pakistan) and the victim (India). Her concern was that civilians  Indians or Pakistanis  should not die such unnatural deaths.

Perhaps, the profoundness of her message to Pakistan  maintain peace on borders because civilians were dying on both sides for no fault of theirs  was misunderstood. The same message has been reiterated after the killing of two policemen and three Border Security Force men.

Mehbooba is asking: Why innocents are being killed. She had raised the same pitch after five people were killed in police and Army firing in the aftermath of an alleged incident of molestation of a young girl in Handwara. She stands for her people. Giving it a pro or anti notion would be a travesty of facts. She is in favour of her people and against the enemies of peace.

Her commitment to friendship with Pakistan  a crucial factor in determining peace and progress of Kashmir  is unqualified. She did not call for bombardment of Pakistan. Nor did she ask the security forces to go in for indiscriminate raids. Viewing Pakistan as an enemy doesnt figure in her agenda. Peoples on both sides want peace. There are state as well as non-state actors who are out to kill peace in Kashmir. Mehbooba has spoken against the anti-peace actors.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

Jat leaders in Haryana today resumed their quota stir amid stringent security measures, drawing a rather tepid response. Despite the prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 in nine districts, protesters owing allegiance to the Yashpal Malik faction of the All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti held dharnas at various places.

With most Jat organisations keeping away, the response was lukewarm even in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat and Bhiwani districts that witnessed large-scale violence in February.

Reports from Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kaithal and Jind said the protests remained peaceful. A strong posse of police and paramilitary forces kept a vigil in these districts. We are happy with the response we have received. Besides the dharnas across Haryana, these will be held at the Narela border (UP) on June 8, Punjab on June 9, MP on June 10 and Uttarakhand and Rajasthan on June 11, Malik said.

Sukhbir Singh Hooda, spokesperson for the All-India Jat Mahasabha, claimed his organisation as well as khap panchayats had been successful in keeping the Jats away from the agitation as they had complete faith in the state governments intentions and efforts.

Home Secretary Ram Niwas said no untoward incident was reported. The traffic was normal and no highway or railway track was blocked by the protesters. In many districts, no dharnas were staged. At some places, the protesters submitted memorandums to the Deputy Commissioners concerned and dispersed.

Warning that some anti-social elements were trying to vitiate peace, Niwas asked the people not to pay heed to rumours. The government is on a constant vigil. Some people did try to add fuel to the fire on the social media. Cases have been registered against them, he said.

Sonepat District Magistrate K Makarand Pandurang issued orders banning internet services, including GPRS and bulk SMS via mobile. The ban will remain till further orders. Apprehending a repeat of February protests that claimed at least 30 lives, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has this time deployed 48 companies of paramilitary forces is the state.

Meanwhile, prohibitory orders will be imposed in certain areas of the national Capital bordering Haryana and a few other places on Monday, the Delhi Police said.
Seema Kaul

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

Citing an instance of an anganwari in Himachal Pradesh serving pakoras to children instead of a nutritious meal, WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi has said the food at anganwaris is a disaster and that children are just being fed rubbish. She said she was working on identifying nutritious food mixes which can be served to children at ICDS centres.

I have been from state to state, tasting the food in anganwaris, and it has been painful, the Women and Child Development Minister said. She has been visiting anganwari centres across India for the past few months. She visited some centres without giving them much advance notice of her arrival and was horrified with the quality of food being served. At some places, food was not even being cooked, empty gas cylinders were kept for show, she said.

As part of a complete overhaul and reform of ICDS centres across India, the minister said she wanted to introduce nutritious food packs in anganwaris which could be heated up before it is served to the children. The food mix, which will be without preservatives, can be brought and stored at anganwari centres a few days before it is to be served.

It is not possible to do anything in Rs 6 anymore. We have asked for an increase of Rs 2. Once we find something within the price line, we will give it to the states for the ICDS, she said. The ministry has sought an increase  from Rs 6 to Rs 8  in the allocation of money per child per ICDS meal.
Patna: The Bihar Public Grievance Redressal Act 2016, the first of its kind in the country, was on Sunday implemented in the state. Launching the scheme, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Act would empower the people to get their grievances redressed within two months. Grievances redressal centres have been opened at district and sub-division level where people can register their complaints, he said.  tns
New Delhi, June 5

The Group of Ministers, which finalised the draft Memorandum of Procedure, is likely to respond to the objections raised by the Supreme Court collegium to the document that will guide future appointments of judges to the apex court and the high courts within three weeks.

The collegium had on May 30 returned to the government the revised MoP suggesting changes to certain clauses.

There are various clauses (see box) that have not gone down well with the collegium. The government is likely to take three weeks to respond to the collegiums observations on the MoP, the sources said.

A copy of the observations made by collegium has already been sent to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi seeking his opinion. The AG had played a key role in finalising the draft MoP.

The GoM, headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, had drafted the document that was handed over to Chief Justice of India TS Thakur by Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda in March.

Since it was the GoM that had finalised the draft, it is natural that it responds to the observations made by the collegium. But first we have to await what the AG says on the observations made by the collegium, a senior functionary said.

The memorandum was revised after a Supreme Court bench asked the government to rewrite it in a bid to make the collegium system more transparent.

Addressing a press conference on April 24 after the joint conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers here, the CJI had said the core of the document, based on a Supreme Court judgement, will remain unaltered that the collegium will make recommendations.

Things like the number of judgements a candidate has delivered are contributory in nature, he had said.

Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act to overturn the over two-decade old collegium system where judges appoint judges. The law was struck down by the apex court in October last year, paving the way for the return of the collegium system.  PTI
Syed Ali Ahmed

After a weeklong diplomatic row on attacks on African nationals residing in Delhi, the government, on the intervention of Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, has taken steps, such as English language training programme for policemen, regular interaction with resident welfare associations and Africans, and increased police patrolling in colonies where Africans reside.

African nationals held a meeting in Delhi to find out the reason for the local residents hostility towards them. Late night loitering, high volume music and drinking openly in the streets was some of the reasons identified by them. against the Indian culture. The African nationals association decided to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 on any African found loitering latein the night.

To communicate better with foreign nationals specially Africans, the police have decided to train officers to not only converse in English but also pick up different accents. Representatives of 24 associations of African nationals in Delhi have been approached for translators to ensure better communication. They have been asked to nominate a coordinator each to represent their country at meetings with the city police or local residents.

A senior police officer said the trained staff would be posted in the New Delhi district control room to take calls on the recently launched helpline for foreigners. Some of the trained personnel would be deployed in the central police control room that receives over 21,000 calls every day.

Joint Commissioner of Police (South-Eastern Range), RP Upadhyay, who is nodal officer, said the police had written to embassy officials of African countries to provide translators because any language barrier delayed police action, Upadhyay said.

Deputy Speaker quits

Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly Bandana Kumari resigned owning moral responsibility for the defeat of an AAP candidate from a municipal ward that falls in her Assembly constituency, Shalimar Bagh. Bypoll was held for 13 seats and AAP won five.

However, there is a buzz in the party that she may have resigned for fear of being forced to quit for two reasons  her husbands alleged involvement in anti-party activities during the municipal bypoll leading to tthe defeat of the AAP candidate and his interference in the functioning of the Azadpur fruit and vegetable market, the Asias biggest.

Mehrauli memorial

The SADs Delhi unit started construction of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Memorial at a park in Mehrauli owned by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a body of the Union Government, without taking permission from the authorities concerned. The plan seems simpleIf the memorial is raised without any impediment, the credit will go to the SAD. If stopped, it will be used against AAP in the Assembly elections in Punjab early next year.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

India and Qatar today agreed to share intelligence to combat hawala transactions and terror financing as the two countries signed seven agreements and decided to get into strategic investments.

Both the countries stressed to isolate the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and agreed on urgent action against all such entities, which support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy.

The joint statement laid great emphasis on dealing with global terror. Both noted that the spread of terrorist organisations at the global and regional level, and the significant rise in acts of terrorism directly undermined the international peace and security.

Enhanced Defence cooperation between the two countries was another major highlight of the statement and. Both countries agreed that the Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in 2008 provided the framework to strengthen bilateral defence ties. Both sides also agreed to strengthen maritime security in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean region.

Earlier in the day, the PM, on the second leg of his five- nation tour, made a pitch to the business community in Qatar. He invited them to come and invest in India, saying the country's 800 million youth is its largest strength.

The PM arrived in Qatar last evening after a successful visit to Afghanistan. He held delegation-level talks today with the Qatar leadership and both countries signed seven agreements. From investments to skills, health to tourism, leaders witness signing of agreements to strengthen India-Qatar ties," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

According to one of the pacts, Qatar will invest in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund set up with a corpus of Rs 40,000 crore last year.

In his meeting with Qatari business leaders today, Modi made a pitch for investments in India. He promised to address the "bottlenecks" identified by the business community in doing business in India.

"India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion and up-gradation and manufacturing are my other priorities," Modi said, highlighting projects like smart cities, metros and urban waste management.

The PM was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler. Qatar is one of India's key sources of crude oil and has a large population of Indians over 6.3 lakh. The PM later left for Switzerland.

(With agency inputs)
Panaji, June 5

The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday scotched speculation that its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal could be projected as chief ministerial candidate in Punjab Assembly elections due next year.

"It is baseless. It's all rumours. There is no substance in it. Kejriwal will not leave Delhi government," AAP national spokesman Ashutosh told PTI.

He said the party has not yet decided its chief ministerial face for Punjab polls, and it will first take a call on whether to project someone for the post or not.

"We have not decided who will be chief ministerial candidate. We believe that the democratic process in due course of time will throw up a leader. We have many competent leaders and any of them can take up the responsibility," Ashutosh said.

"At the right time, the democratic process will throw a leader. Everybody is asking the question who will be the CM candidate in Punjab or Goa. Let the democracy decide.

"Whether to go with the face and contest election or go without a face, is the call that the party will have to take," the AAP leader said.

"It is a matter of strategy whether we want to go ahead with the CM face or not," he further said.

Ashutosh said Kejriwal's major focus now will be on Punjab and Goa, besides Delhi.

"But the party is trying to expand its organisational base in every state. Major work is happening in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra and all the southern states," he said.

"The party knows that it has national appeal, but before deciding to jump in the electoral fray, it would like to strengthen its organisation. When our organisation is well placed, then the party will take a call on whether to contest election or not," he said.

Responding to a question, Ashutosh ruled out that Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's absence from the national capital during campaigning for Goa and Punjab would affect the functioning of his government.

"Everybody says AAP is a one-man party and without Arvind the party has no existence. This belies logic. There is enough talent in Delhi. Our Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is a very competent Cabinet minister," he said.

"The systems are already in place. (Delhi) Government is very well settled I don't see that his coming here will have any kind of effect on Delhi government functioning. If there is any consultation then in today's age of technological revolution, he is available on phone and skype for any kind of consultation," Ashutosh added.  PTI
Mathura, June 4

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s Mathura MP Hema Malini on Saturday accused the district administration of having poorly handled Thursday's violence in the town and has demanded an inquiry by the Central Investigation Agency (CBI) into the incident.

The Parliamentarian  who is in town after some pictures she posted on Twitter while the tensions prevailed in the temple town drew criticism  was also stopped from entering Jawahar Bagh  the site of the recent violence  citing ongoing searches in the area a day after some 24 people, among them two policemen, died in clashes between members of a sect and law enforcement agencies.

Police said they had restricted civilians entry into the area. "This is not a big issue and there was no ulterior motive to bar the MP from entering the area. Combing operations are underway and the area is being examined by police teams and experts.

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"The place has still not been declared safe. It would be difficult for us to answer if there are any further casualties, Police said.

The Mathura MP met some injured policemen in the hospital and condoled the death of Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi, and Santosh Yadav, Farah Station House officer, both of who died in the violence.

"UP Government really needs to look into the law and order situation in which they had given some liberties. In the past two years all this has been happening. I have got to hear so. But, whenever I have come here in the past two years, people have been talking to me only about development. So what I have to do I have been doing," she told reporters.

The actress-politician was also scheduled to participate in a 'dharna' at the Collectorate, called by BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma.

Sharma was sent by BJP President Amit Shah after an anti-encroachment drive on the orders of the Allahabad High Court turned violent.

The temple town of Mathura was on the edge after massive violence claimed several lives as police clashed with about 3,000 members of a little-known sect whose leaders fled. Some 368 people were arrested.

'Why target me?'



The actress, who represents Mathura constituency in the Lok Sabha, took to Twitter on Saturday to clarify her stance.

In a series of tweets, she wrote: "In Mathura and condoled with the bereaved families. I still can't understand how the great media thinks the sansad (parliament) is responsible for law and order.

"They seem to be diverting attention from the main issue - that law and order is purely the state government's responsibility. Why target me? I'm doing my job." After the violence, various opposition parties, especially the BJP, targetted the ruling Samajwadi Party and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over "complete breakdown" of the administration and law and order in the state.

Malini also wrote: "Anyone in Mathura will vouch for my sincerity - I'm improving living conditions, providing roads and drinking water... A sansad's duty is not to head the police force or quell rebels or evict encroachers. Development is my line of duty and I'm sincere in my job". She also invited the accusers to visit Mathura and see her work themselves.

"I'm dedicating so much time to Mathura. Sometimes it is days before I even see my family or my house. I'm attending to public needs sincerely. What do I get in return for my sincerity? Brickbats and loud accusations. I sincerely thank all of you who have supported me in this controversy," she tweeted.

The actress-politician was criticised for tweeting details of how convenient it has become to commute between mainland Mumbai and Madh Island, where she was shooting for the film Ek Thi Rani.

This caused Hema to draw flak as many reacted negatively. The BJP MP then deleted the tweets, and expressed her concern for the situation in Mathura.

Hema also posted photographs of her visiting a local hospital "to enquire about the welfare of the injured police personnel".

She also met the family members of Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi, who was killed in the violence.  Agencies
Doha, June 5

Describing India as a "land of opportunity", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday invited Qatar's business leaders to take advantage of it by investing in the country and promised to address "bottlenecks" they identified.

"India is a land of opportunity. I have come to personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity," Modi said in a roundtable meeting with Qatari business leaders, his first engagement on the second day of his visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation.

The Prime Minister identified agro processing, railways and solar energy as promising areas for investment.

"All of you recognise the potential of India. I will address the bottlenecks you have identified," Modi said.

He described 800 million youth in India as the country's biggest strength.

"India's 800 million youth are its biggest strength. Infrastructure expansion and upgrade and manufacturing are my other priorities," Modi said.

The Prime Minister also praised the role of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in promoting India-Qatar business ties.

Earlier, Qatar's Minister of Trade & Economy Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani welcomed Modi and sought more intensive economic engagement with India.

The size of annual bilateral trade between India and Qatar is around USD 10 billion and both the countries would like to expand it significantly. Qatar has a major sovereign wealth fund and India is eyeing to attract investment from it.

Modi is on a five-nation visit and has landed in Qatar yesterday from Afghanistan.

Modi will also visit Switzerland, the US and Mexico as part of the tour.  PTI
Doha, June 5

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday held talks on bilateral trade between the two countries in Doha on Sunday.

Before the talks, Modi was given a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan, the seat of power of Qatar's ruler.

"The full splendour of an Arab welcome as PM @narendramodi receives ceremonial honours at Emiri Diwan in Doha," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with a photo.

Cooperation in energy is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks that were to cover various aspects of the relationship.

Qatar is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 standing at USD 15.67 billion.

Qatar is also one of India's key sources of crude oil.

This Arab country has a large population of Indians who number over 6.3 lakh.

Modi said on Saturday that India considered strong ties with Qatar very important and that his visit sought to expand the bilateral ties further.

The Prime Minister has been focusing on improving ties with the Gulf region, which is crucial for India's energy security. He has already visited United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His trip marks a Prime Ministerial visit after eight years. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Doha in 2008.

The Emir of Qatar had visited India in March 2015.

Former Emirs of Qatar have visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.  PTI
Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which will go all out to retain its power in Punjab, has set in motion the process to identity seats and prepare a list of probable candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year.

The SAD recently set up its UP unit and appointed Dr Rai Singh, a former IAS officer and once Chief Vigilance Commissioner of the state, as its president.

The party leadership has constituted a committee consisting of central leaders to assist me in identification of constituencies and panel of prospective candidates, Singh said.

His wife Raj Rai Singh represented the Pilibhit seat and was a BJP Minister in the BSP-BJP government in the state.

Since assuming charge of the party, Singh has toured six districts and held a series of meetings, including in Gaziabad today. He said the UP SAD has already informed the central leadership that it would stake claim on about 40 of the 403 seats in the state.

The state SAD unit does not want to disturb the partys long-standing alliance with the BJP. However, it will be compelled to reach an understanding with others, except the Congress in case the BJP rode rough-shod on its electoral claims in the state. The central leadership has been conveyed of the stand, Singh said.

SAD claims that there are more than a crore of Punjabis in UP having presence in about 40 Assembly seats encompassing more than a dozen districts  Lucknow, Kanpur, Merut, Gaziabad, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur  and the areas related to Terai region.
Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 5

Leaving nothing to chance, the SGPC, civil and police administration in the holy city have made elaborate security arrangements ahead of the Operation Bluestar anniversary tomorrow.

After the "bhog" of the "akhand path" at the Golden Temple, a religious ceremony is expected to commence at about 7 am. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh will read a message to the Sikh community.

Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder today took stock of the arrangements at the Sikh shrine on the directions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. He also held a meeting with SGPC chief secretary, Harcharan Singh.

SGPC on alert

Sources said the SGPC has deployed about 500 of its employees from its different gurdwaras here. The SAD has also asked its party workers to reach the anniversary programme in maximum numbers so as to avoid any untoward incident.

Officials of the intelligence and police department in civil clothes will be present at the Golden Temple complex.

Security arrangement

Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal said vigilance had been increased. He said three-tier security arrangement had been made. The first circle around the Golden temple, another outside the walled city and the third one encircles the bypasses.

He said no forcible closure of shops and commercial establishments would be allowed. Besides, there would be a prohibition over brandishing of swords.

He said the entire 4,000 strong police force of Amritsar commissionerate had been deployed to maintain law and order and an equal number of force had been brought here from various districts. Besides, jawans of the RAF, CRPF and the ITBP had been deployed. IG (Law and Order) Amit Prasad is camping in the city to oversee the security and surveillance arrangements.

Call for bandh today

Sikh hardliner group Dal Khalsa has called for Amritsar bandh tomorrow. United Akali Dal president Bhai Mohkam Singh has called for peaceful observance of the event. The Damdami Taksal will hold a separate programme at its headquarters at Mehta village. Taksal head Harnam Singh Dhumma will, however, expected to take part in the religious programme at Akal Takht in the morning.
Gurminder Singh Grewal

Bhaini Sahib, June 5

Punjab Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh today demanded the imposition of President's rule in Punjab saying that the law and order situation was out of control with anarchy prevailing all over.

"Given the present situation, Punjab is a fit case for President's rule to restore confidence of the people," he said, while referring to the attack on Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale and the killing of Mata Chand Kaur, besides other serious incidents of violence in the state.

He said there was an atmosphere of fear prevailing in the state and the Badals were responsible for it.

Amarinder today visited Khasi Kalan village to meet the family of Bhupinder Singh, who was killed in the attack on Dhadrianwale.

He supported the demand for a CBI probe into the attack. He assured the family that once the Congress formed the government in the state, all culprits would be brought to book. He alleged that Badal was shielding the culprits.

He hailed the "ardasia" who refused to present a "siropa" to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, saying it was the expression of widespread anger prevailing among the people against him (Badal).

"The sewadar was right as those responsible for the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib do not deserve a siropa," he said, adding that if Badal "still has some grace he should not allow the persecution of the ardasia".

Amarinder also visited Bhaini Sahib to condole the killing of Mata Chand Kaur. He expressed concern that even after two months of the incident, the killers had not even been identified,

Amarinder also attended the bhog ceremony of Harkirat Singh, son of former minister Tej Parkash.
Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 5

While the alleged mastermind behind the Mathura carnage, Ram Vriksh Yadav, who had grabbed a huge chunk of prime government land, was killed following an ugly clash which led to the death of nearly 25 people, many such small-time self-proclaimed preachers are running their shops by constructing shrines on forest land.

Mushrooming of such shrines on forest land is eating the green cover near Sirhind Feeder Canal and Sutlej River near Ladhowal.

Besides, the shrines also pose a serious threat to the wildlife near the canal bank. Despite directions of the Supreme Court to remove encroachments, these structures are spreading with each passing day.

Due to corruption in the Forest and Irrigation Department, a huge chunk of land, located on the banks of the Sirhind Feeder canal at Neelon Bridge, has been illegally occupied by a shrine operator.

The shrine is operating alongside the Deer Park at Neelon and causing a serious threat to the wild animals kept in the park.

Watavaran Sambhal Society founder Jagjit Singh Mann said, On Thursday, followers of the shrine operator visit the place and beat the drum till late night, which causes panic among wildlife animals, especially deer. Interestingly, the office of the Wildlife Department is located in the deer park, but no effort has ever been made to remove the encroachments.

District Forest Officer (DFO) SS Sahota refused to comment on the issue.

Accusing the Forest Department of encouraging land grabbers, Brij Bhushan Goyal, organising secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Mission, Gandhi Dham, Phillaur, said, Till a few years ago the shrine was housed in one room, but now it has extended to nearly over 100 m. As the shrine operators were making good business from the place another subsidiary shrine has cropped up on the forest land a few kilometres away on the Neelon-Ropar highway. Further a few other religious places are also coming up alongside the forest land. It clearly shows the connivance of the Forest Department as despite the Supreme Court orders, no action has been taken to raze these illegal structures which are playing havoc with the ecological system.

Goyal said a similar structure had been constructed on the banks of the Sutlej river near the Ladhowal toll plaza, but the department never took any action against it.

Despite repeated attempts, Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon was not available for comment.
Pratibha Chauhan in Shimla

Dharamsala has given Shimla a run for its money. The apotheosis of hill beauty, largely due to it being the summer capital of the British, has been brought down to earth what with its oversized character, haphazard planning and environmental degradation. But then smart city Dharamsala has happened. So, the Himachal government is straining every nerve to match its status.

Theres hope in the second round, but the state capital will have to compete with 67 other cities in the country vying for a slot in the Smart City scheme. Thats a challenge and a window of opportunity for the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the State Urban Development Department. With the experience of Dharamshala, we are in a much better position to prepare the case for Shimla, says Minister for Urban Development and Town and Country Planning Sudhir Sharma. But how?

The State Government intends hiring the services of The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), Delhi, for preparing the Shimla proposal as Dharamshalas case was also prepared by their experts. A sum of Rs two crore is provided by Union Urban Development Ministry for getting the proposal prepared. Shimlas case is very different from Dharamshalas. One of the major components will be redevelopment and decongestion of the over saturated areas such as Lower Bazaar, Middle Bazaar, Ganj (Grain Market), Mall and Old Bus Stand area, says Sudhir. Another major challenge is management of traffic by way of an effective City Mobility Plan.

The Shimla MC has also taken many initiatives to make Shimlas case strong. We are already in possession of the City Development Plan, Solar City Plan, City Mobility Plan, High Risk Vulnerable Index, City Resilience Index and Green House Gas Emission Inventory, says Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor of Shimla MC. All this involves a lot of catching up if Shimla wants a place on the list of 20 smart cities. Panwar says the city with a population of 2.30 lakh has already been included in the Centres AMRUT scheme so a lot of documentation and preparation has already been done.

With a population of over two lakh besides the floating population of tourists not just during peak season in summer but every weekend has put a lot of strain on the limited resources of the town and all these issues can be addressed under Smart City Mission, says local MLA Suresh Bhardwaj.

The State Government also plans to acquire additional land in the periphery to decongest the town. The Smart City Plan has to be a people-centric plan for its successful implementation, says Panwar. He stresses that the entire strategy of developmental plan will be linked to green growth.
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, June 5

Governor Dr KK Paul offered prayers at the Gangotri temple in Uttarkashi district today.

He reached the Harsil helipad around 10.15 am and after inspecting various stopovers on the route reached the Gangotri temple by road journey. He offered prayers to Goddess Ganga. He met temple priests and members of the Gangotri Mandir Samiti and had a talk with them about the arrangements. The members of the temple samiti appealed to the Governor to direct officials to make the arrangement more effective considering the rush for the yatra this season.

The Governor said he was satisfied with the arrangements and said the same should be maintained during the whole yatra season. He directed officials to remain alert on the yatra route. The Governor said he would try to resolve the problems. The DM Uttarakshi Dipendar Kumar Chaudhry, SP Uttarkashi Dadan Pal and others were present on the occasion.
SMA Kazmi

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 5

To win the lone Rajya Sabha seat, the election for which is scheduled on June 11, is proving to be another litmus test for Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Facing the flak for the selection of Congress candidate for the seat within his own party, Harish Rawat faces another uphill task of ensuring a victory for his protege and Congress candidate Pradeep Tamta.

Despite enjoying a majority in the House with the support of six members of the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) after the suspension of eight rebel Congress legislators, the situation has not been encouraging for Harish Rawat since the Opposition BJP has put up two candidates as independents. Moreover, as part of the BJP plan to increase its tally of Rajya Sabha seats throughout the country, the party has also targeted the Uttarakhand seat.

Taking advantage of the growing resentment against Chief Minister Harish Rawat among Congress legislators, the BJP has been trying hard to win over at least four or five legislators from the Congress and the PDF to vote for one of the independent candidates.

The Congress has 27 legislators and enjoys the support of six PDF members. They also has the support of a BJP legislator, Bhim Lal Arya, who voted against his own party in the crucial floor test in May.

The Opposition BJP has also 27 legislators and also enjoys the support of Rekha Arya who crossed over to the BJP from the Congress during the trust vote.

Interestingly, Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal will have to take a decision on the fate of Rekha Arya and Bhim Lal Arya on June 7 for defying the whip of their party in the floor test on May 11.

According to sources, the BJP has targeted Congress legislators who are unhappy with the style of functioning of Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

It will be difficult for the Chief Minister and his managers to hold on to Congress and PDF members in Rajya Sabha poll as whips are not effective and anti-defection laws are not applicable as stated by the Supreme Court in the Kuldip Nayyar case.

Moreover, there is secret voting for the Rajya Sabha elections. These factors could benefit the BJP in winning over at least three or four legislators.
Dhaka, June 5

The wife of a senior Bangladeshi police official known for battling Islamist militants was stabbed and shot to death on Sunday, and machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident.

Both attacks appeared to be the work of Islamist militants who have killed at least 30 people, including religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics, since February last year, police said.

Three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, while she was on her way to put her son onto a school bus near her home in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said.

"She was stabbed first. Then they shot her in the head three times," Humayan Kabir, deputy police commissioner of Chittagong, said.

Her husband, Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, has played an important role in cracking down on militants in the region.

"Babul Aktar is an efficient police officer and played a key role in apprehending Islamists. They might have killed his wife because they failed to get him," Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.

Aktar, who was recently posted to police headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, busted several hideouts of the banned group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. His team also arrested one of the group's leaders, who was later killed in a grenade blast during a police raid in October.

The government has launched a crackdown on militant groups who want to impose strict Islamic law on Bangladesh, whose population of 160 million are mostly moderate Muslims.

In Sunday's other killing, Sunil Gomes, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, was hacked to death in his shop in the northern district of Natore, local police official Manirul Islam said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing Gomes

Islamic State and Al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for many killings in the past but the government denies either group has a presence in Bangladesh and says home-grown radicals are responsible.  Reuters
SINGAPORE, June 5

China rebuffed US pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it "has no fear of trouble".

On the last day of Asia's biggest security summit in Singapore, Admiral Sun Jianguo said China will not be bullied, including over a pending international court ruling over its claims in the vital trade route.

"We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun told the Shangri-La Dialogue. "China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interest, or stay indifferent to some countries creating chaos in the South China Sea." China and the United States have traded accusations of militarising the waterway as Beijing undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while Washington has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Saturday, top US officials  including Defense Secretary Ash Carter  warned China of the risk of isolating itself internationally and pledged to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades.

Despite repeated notes of concern from countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea, Sun rejected the prospect of isolation, saying that many of the Asian countries present at the Shangri-La Dialogue were "warmer" and "friendlier" to China than a year ago.

"We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future," Sun said. "Actually I am worried that some people and countries are still looking at China with the Cold War mentality and prejudice. They may build a wall in their minds and end up isolating themselves."

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing not to establish an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.

"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilising act that would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.

On the upcoming decision by the international tribunal in The Hague in the case brought by the Philippines to contest China's claims in the territory, Sun reiterated Beijing does not recognise the court's authority.

Sun said China wanted to solve the dispute with the Philippines bilaterally and said the door was open for dialogue with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte said on Thursday he would not surrender the country's rights over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, which China seized in 2012.

China claims almost the entire sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which trillions of dollars in trade is shipped every year.

"China has the patience and wisdom to settle any disputes through dialogue. We also believe the related countries have the wisdom and patience to make peace," Sun said. "I've always believed that shaking hands is better than clenching fists." Vietnam's deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh warned of a "deteriorating trend of security" in the South China Sea.

"If not addressed timely and successfully, it is likely to entail arms race, strategic rivalry of powers with disastrous and unpredictable consequences," Vinh said.  Reuters
Sydney: A woman was fatally mauled by a huge shark, described by witnesses as larger than their boat, near Perth on Sunday. The attack on the woman off the northern Perth suburb of Mindarie comes just two days after a surfer died after having his leg bitten off by a shark along the same coastline. Police Inspector Danny Mulligan added that three fishermen who tried to help the woman and her partner described the shark as being longer than their 5.3-metre boat. AFP

US ally Saudi Arabia the real terrorism sponsor

Tehran: Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies, including Riyadh, that were the real culprits. The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia. AFP

Sarkar did not impress in class: Indian-origin prof

Los Angeles: An Indian-American professor has said Mainak Sarkar, who was behind the UCLA murder-suicide, left little impression as a student in his class and never used to greet him when they passed each other despite both hailing from West Bengal. Professor Ajit Mal was in his University of California, Los Angeles, office on Wednesday getting ready to teach his engineering class when IIT-Kharagpur alumni Mainak Sarkar shot and killed professor William Klug. PTI

7 dead as Taliban gunmen raid Afghan courthouse

Puli Alam: Taliban gunmen stormed a court complex in a city south of Kabul on Sunday, killing at least seven persons in the insurgents' third so-called "revenge" attack for last month's execution of Taliban-linked prisoners. The attack in Pul-i-Alam, capital of volatile Logar province, also left 23 prosecutors wounded as they were meeting to decide the fate of six newly arrested Taliban militants. AFP

Two killed in storm at World Heritage site in China

Beijing: Two tourists were killed and 15 others injured in southwest China after a tree fell on them at a World Heritage site during a windstorm, officials said. Sudden windstorms occurred around 4 pm on Saturday, destroying trees, damaging wooden walkways and displacing rocks in Jiuzhaigou Valley of Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou Valley scenic area administration said. PTI
Two recent out-of-state visitors remarked to me that Oklahoma is a friendly state. They were incredulous that they heard no horns blaring in downtown traffic and that fellow motorists respected their turn signals and allowed them to easily change lanes.

Oklahomans do pride themselves on hospitality, but the news about the University of Oklahoma fraternitys racist song should make us all question how welcoming we really are.

I know better than to paint this negative situation with a broad brush; there are many good people living in this state who exemplify those Oklahoma values our politicians often refer to when embarrassing, disgraceful behavior makes it to the national news. The Oklahoma Standard was real during the tragic 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

At that time the national news portrayed us in the best light, and rightly so. Some people live those values of tolerance and stand up when they see injustice. Even so, each one of us should examine our hidden biases. Everyone has them. We all fear the other person when we are ignorant of how the other lives.

What is the solution to deep-seated racism? Certainly education can play a role. As OU football player Eric Striker stated recently, hes seen white students minds totally changed by taking African-American courses. Opening our minds to learn about the other can create lasting change. The stakes are greater than just how the rest of the nation sees us; our bias negatively impacts lives, robs people of education and opportunity, and prevents every person in our state from being a true citizen who enjoys a safe community and hopes of a good life.

For over forty years, our organization has told the human story, offering people new perspectives so they can make informed decisions and participate knowledgeably in civic life. I know that this work has been important and effective.

Weve sponsored programs that highlight Oklahomas heritage and history, the history of all its people. On a national level, our council participated in the 2013 national humanities conference in Birmingham, Ala.

Our opening session took place across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church, where 50 years earlier a bomb killed four young black girls as they prepared for the Sunday church service. The assembled state humanities councils commemorated this event and had inspired conversations about the state of our country and our ongoing efforts to erase racism.

These are necessary commemorations, certainly, and we must keep the legacy of the civil rights movement alive, but obviously as a nation, as a state, we have not overcome blatant racism or quiet, hidden discrimination.

Its painfully ironic that the OU incident occurred at the exact moment the nation was commemorating the Selma to Montgomery march of 1965. At that event President Obama stated that America is not yet finished, that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals. This applies to our state.

We can appeal to the better angels of our nature and be an example to the nation. The OU incident can serve as our motivation to do something meaningful. The campus outcry against the fraternity members shows us that this is not an isolated occurrence. Its a microcosm of a larger problem, but there is a solution if we stop our complaisance and act together.

My own experience reflects a common theme of white privilege. Im old enough to have attended segregated schools and remember seeing the Colored Day sign posted at a museum in Memphis where I lived as a child. When as a teenager in Chicago I was fortunate to hear Jesse Jackson preach during his Operation Breadbasket initiative, my white privilege was apparent to me. I cannot pretend to truly understand how the other lives, but my mind was opened at that time to the concept that discrimination exists and that it degrades our whole society.

Michael Owens, the Executive Director of the Ralph Ellison Foundation in Oklahoma City, was the featured speaker at Oklahoma Citys recent Martin Luther King, Jr. Day commemoration. He echoed the sentiment of many when he stated, Im tired of waiting  of fighting the same battles that we fought decades ago. We should all be tired of waiting for justice and equality, sick and tired. We all have a responsibility to address racial injustice and to take action in our everyday lives to make Oklahoma a truly welcoming state.

Ann Thompson became Executive Director of the Oklahoma Humanities Council in 2006. Previously, she held administrative positions in various museums and archives nationwide. Thompson holds a B.A. in American History from the University of Illinois, and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from the University of Oklahoma with an emphasis on the American Southwest and museum studies. She serves on the national board of directors for the Federation of State Humanities Councils and several Oklahoma-based organizations.
Meanwhile... the Movement for Social Justice is questioning if the lights from the deyas lit
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JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Debbie Triatik (left) laughs with Tom Kemmer, a loyal customer, at Country Harvest in Newbury Park. Triatik is leaving the business to take care of her mother.

Colleen Cason Columnist SHARE JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Debbie Triatik hugs Beverly Pyle, a loyal customer, at Country Harvest in Newbury Park. Triatik is leaving the business to take care of her mother. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Debbie Triatik serves bread to Beverly Pyle at her restaurant, Country Harvest.

Were I to tell you I visited a certain restaurant on potato-cheese soup Thursday, more than a few of you could pinpoint my location better than the latest GPS.

Yep, it's Country Harvest in Newbury Park. The cafe has been serving up homestyle fare at its Kimber Drive location for a dozen years.

"If we don't have that soup on Thursday, we are in trouble," owner Debbie Triatik said.

For Country Harvest patrons and workers, the real trouble these days is that Triatik is taking herself off the menu. She is retiring to return to her native Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to help care for her aging mother.

"Debbie is one of a kind. She's like a mom," said Jim Curry, who has worked for Triatik at two different restaurants.

Curry jokes that he plans to circulate a petition to force her to stay. He'll have no problem convincing diners to sign it. Even Triatik herself might be tempted. She calls the decision to leave "bittersweet."

Triatik has been a prime purveyor of comfort food for 40 years on both sides of the Conejo Grade. The country-fried steak and supersized strawberry shortcake come with a side of emotional comfort from Triatik, who most often can be spotted visiting with guests during her 60-hour-plus work weeks.

While some may consider restaurant work something to do until a "real" job comes along, the 61-year-old Triatik says it is in her blood.

At 15, she scrubbed kettles at a supper club. During college, she worked part-time in Fond du Lac at Sambo's, a restaurant chain founded in the Eisenhower Era. She came west in 1976 when her boss took on another Sambo's in Santa Barbara. A year later, she opened the Newbury Park location that closed in 1979 when the chain went bankrupt, in part due to protests over the racial overtones of the name.

She rebounded, managing Gilhooly's Irish Pub and Restaurant in the basement of the long-gone May Company at The Oaks shopping center. Old-timers may recall it as a friendly watering hole to escape the bustle of the mall. It will forever hold a fond place in my heart; The Husby and I had our first date there.

In 1989, she and a partner opened the first Country Harvest on Wendy Drive near Highway 101. There, she established the concept of tasty, no-surprises food served in an Americana atmosphere by servers who would at least try to remember your grandkids' names.

When she and the partner parted ways, Triatik bought the Hill Street Cafe across from the Ventura County Government Center.

Manuel Castillo was 16 years old when he went to work for her at Hill Street.

"She taught me to always treat people the way you wanted to be treated," he told me.

In 2004, she sold Hill Street and took a chance on opening a restaurant without a liquor license deep within Newbury Park, a few miles off the freeway.

The community embraced it, with its pot roast evenings and prime rib weekends you can set your watch by. Families brought kids in to celebrate graduations. Recent widows and widowers came by to share their stories over coffee and conversation with servers. In some cases, Country Harvest catered the memorial services.

On a recent potato-cheese soup Thursday, a couple walked in and immediately announced to the staff that they were the grandparents of a 7-pound, 7-ounce baby boy.

Even when Triatik or her staff struggle recalling patrons' names, they remember their favorite dishes.

"That's the Potato Salad Man," Triatik whispered to me.

The new owner, she said, will keep the menu and the staff. All are invited to a free reception at the restaurant from 3-6 p.m. Sunday to wish her well. She will hand out her last leatherette menu in a few weeks.

Now 31, Castillo still works for Triatik. He followed her from Hill Street to Country Harvest and now fills in for his boss on her days off.

"She's always there for you. She's part of my life," Castillo said as his eyes filled with tears.

He's not alone. Triatik herself puddles up.

Somehow, I don't think it's the onions in the potato salad causing their tears or those that will be shed in the weeks to come.

For Triatik's regulars, it's going to take some comfort food to get through this.

Email Colleen Cason at casonpoint101@gmail.com.
SHARE JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton comes out to greet the crowd during her rally Saturday at Hueneme High School in Oxnard. The "Get Out the Vote" event took place in the school's gym. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears during her rally Saturday at Hueneme High School in Oxnard. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears during her rally Saturday at Hueneme High School in Oxnard. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets the crowd after her speech Saturday in the gym at Hueneme High School.

By Arlene Martinez, amartinez@vcstar.com

As her Democratic rival did less than two weeks ago, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Tuesday's primary election in California one of the most important in history.

The stakes are high, she said Saturday at Hueneme High School in Oxnard, and "every day that goes by, they get even higher."

Clinton spoke to roughly 700 people inside the school's gymnasium during a hastily organized "Get Out the Vote" event. Oxnard fire officials estimated more than 3,000 people remained outside.

Clinton spent much of her roughly 30-minute speech focused on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, calling him ill-prepared to lead the nation.

She focused on her experience, as well as that of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, calling them "men who understood the seriousness and responsibility of the job."

She said people should ask three things of all potential presidents:

Can they get things done?

Can they protect America?

Can they unify the country?

"On each of these tests, Donald Trump fails," she said.

She said she would be effective on all three. She said she would push to raise the minimum wage; improve infrastructure; work to power every U.S. home with renewable energy, creating jobs related to that; and implement measures to combat climate change.

She said Trump has accused her of playing the women's card.

"If equal pay, raising the minimum wage, making child care affordable, protecting a woman's right to choose, is playing the women's card, then deal me in," she said, with the crowd chanting the last few words with her.

The speech took a serious turn when she mentioned the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At that time, she was a New York senator. She said she was part of the group that supported sending in special forces to find Osama bin Laden, founder of the militant group al-Qaida.

Before the U.S. forces left bin Laden's compound in 2011, the military took the women and children with them, she said.

"That, my friends, is what American honor looks like," she said.

She said that if elected, she would immediately push for immigration reform, continue to defend a woman's right to choose, defend Planned Parenthood and work for "common-sense gun-safety reforms."

As she finished her speech, she promised not to forget the community. She said she would work hard, listen and do her best to improve life "for the hardworking folks in Oxnard, California."

Oxnard Union High School District officials said they first heard Friday morning that Clinton might be coming to Hueneme.

They were told there would be 300 people at most, Assistant Superintendent Stephen Dickinson said.

"Somehow, it turned into a pretty wide-open event," he said.

Despite that, it went off without a hitch, he said.

"They ran it very well," Dickinson said.

A handful of anti-Clinton protesters attended the event and engaged in some shouting with the candidate's supporters. The situation never escalated beyond that.
RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Alfonso Salinas (left) and Sandra Blanchard cross the finish line atop the Morgan Stanley tower in Oxnard. The two were racing in Saturday's Tower 2 Tower stair climb race. The event benefits the Oxnard Youth Fire Explorers.

SHARE RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Running in his full brush gear, U.S. Forest Service firefighter Josue Cornejo carries a fire hose in the obstacle course of the Tower 2 Tower stair climb race Saturday in Oxnard. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Michael Caviston makes his way up the first flight of stairs in the City National Bank tower on his way to the top floor during the Tower 2 Tower stair climb race Saturday in Oxnard. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Competitors exit the 14-story City National Bank tower in Oxnard after running to the top and back down on Saturday. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Amanda Lopez communicates with family members and friends from the roof of the Morgan Stanley tower in Oxnard. Lopez had just finished the Tower 2 Tower Stair Climb race on Saturday.

By Jeremy Foster, Special to The Star

The Tower to Tower stair climb in Oxnard billed itself as a 9,000-step challenge through two towers.

By 73-year-old George Burnham Sr.'s estimation, that meant he would be toughing twice that number during the event that drew more than 700 people Saturday.

Burnham, of Phoenix, looked up at the 14-story City National Bank tower and then toward the 22-story Morgan Stanley tower.

Not too formidable for a regular climber whose third challenge was up 108 stories of the building formerly known as Sears Tower in Chicago.

Saturday marked Burnham's 184th stair-climbing challenge.

"I did my first one in 1996, but that was it until 2009," said Burnham, who took an immediate liking to tower climbing but had no idea it was a popular test of endurance all over the world.

"I found a website showing where these races happened, and I was surprised," he said. "I've since done these from Anchorage, Alaska, to Miami, Florida, and from California to Maine and everywhere in between."

Burnham especially loved Saturday's event, which raised funds for the Oxnard Youth Fire Explorers, which is geared to those ages 15 to 21.

Climbers in Saturday's event ascended the smaller Oxnard tower, ran across the top floor and descended down the opposite side in the stairwell. Then they ran across the parking lot into the north stairwell of the nearby Morgan Stanley building, where they finished at its summit.

The event, presented by the Oxnard Fire Department, was supported by members of Oxnard's Kiwanis Club, who assisted with registration and other volunteer duties.

"Our event has participants from several states and as young as 7 all the way to 81 years old," said Chad Carroll, of Santa Paula, the lead Fire Explorer adviser for Oxnard's program.

Some participants aimed to top their times, but others simply wanted to get to the top of each building.

Daniela Koulakis, of Oxnard, wanted to run in last year's climb but was pregnant. This year, she brought 4-month-old Johnny Jett Koulakis in a torso sling and set a pace.

"My strategy is to pray," she said with a laugh. "I am happy that I'm here and supporting a good cause."

Mary Hodges, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, climbed in support of the Explorers program and was eager to get a good workout.

"It's high-intensity, low impact, and it promises a great view at the top," she said. "I like climbing stairs for exercise, and people always ask me if I'm climbing for fun. It's nice to be here without people thinking I'm crazy."

If going up and down the first tower wasn't challenging enough before taking on the second, participants also ran through an obstacle course that included climbing over haystacks, balancing on wood planks and pulling heavy truck tires with shoulder harnesses.

"I absolutely loved it," said Rachel Urango, of Port Hueneme. "It's nice to test yourself."

In addition to pushing herself physically and having fun, she also wanted to support firefighters and the youth program.

"You aren't intimidated because firefighters in heavy gear are climbing up the stairs alongside you," she said. "You are amazed at your own sense of accomplishment and at the amazing endurance they test every day."
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/MICHELLE ONTIVEROS Christopher Paul Bishop Jr., 18, of Santa Paula.

By Megan Diskin of the Ventura County Star

Five people were arrested last month in connection with the fatal Norwalk shooting of a Santa Paula man, officials said.

The arrests came just a few months after Christopher Paul Bishop Jr., 18, was gunned down about 4:30 p.m. Feb. 23 outside a 7-Eleven on Alondra Boulevard, said Sgt. Troy Ewing, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Bishop was targeted because his tattoos identified him as a Norwalk gang member, Ewing said.

A group of rival gang members approached Bishop and his father inside the store, where a verbal argument occurred, Ewing said. The pair then ran outside, but one of the rival gang members followed them and shot Bishop multiple times, Ewing said.

Ewing said witness statements and surveillance video helped lead investigators to the suspects, who are all members of the Varrio Norwalk street gang. Ewing said several people were arrested May 5: two 15-year-old males; Victor Roberts, 18; Luis Aguilar, 18; and Giovanny Tejeda, 22. Soon after, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed criminal charges against all five in connection with Bishop's murder, but they have not yet entered pleas, Ewing said.

Michelle Ontiveros, Bishop's mother, said she feels blessed that these arrests were made so quickly after her son's death.

"I'm at a loss for words because of how everything has gone so fast," Ontiveros said.

She said her faith and the work of officers have helped her through the ordeal. She plans to follow the trial, with the next proceeding scheduled for July 13.
SHARE FILE PHOTO Covered California officials confirmed that UnitedHealth will drop out of the state insurance exchange on Jan. 1.

By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star

Less than a year after Covered California officials announced UnitedHealth Group would offer coverage in Ventura County and elsewhere, the insurer has said it will leave the state's insurance exchange.

The introduction of the nation's largest insurer into California's Affordable Care Act marketplace  created to give previously uninsurable people a chance at coverage  was characterized locally as a way to give consumers more options.

About 1,200 people in five regions of the state opted for UnitedHealth's Covered California offerings. And in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, about 400 people bought coverage.

"It's a small footprint," Covered California spokesman James Scullary said.

Plans from all insurers in Covered California cover about 1.4 million people statewide.

In April, UnitedHealth announced it would drop out of all but a handful of Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges across the country. The California exit happens on Jan. 1.

"The smaller overall market size and shorter term, higher risk profile within this market segment continue to suggest we cannot broadly serve it on an effective and sustained basis," spokesman Matt Rodriguez said Wednesday in a written statement.

People who have bought UnitedHealth plans through Covered California don't have to do anything immediately, Scullary said.

Their coverage remains valid until the end of the year. In the fall, they will have to pick a plan for 2017 coverage.

Before UnitedHealth joined Covered California, three insurers offered Covered California plans in Ventura County, triggering concern about choices and, in some cases, access to care. The trio  Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente  have offered plans since the marketplace's launch more than two years ago.

Scullary said coverage intentions for those insurers and others in 2017 are expected to be revealed in July.

"We'll see if any new plans join the network or any of the existing plans expand the coverage," he said, asserting that providing choices remains a priority.
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By Staff Reports

Ventura police said they arrested four people in connection with the robbery of a medical marijuana deliverer.

Officers were called just before 4:15 p.m. Friday to a report of a strong-arm robbery in the 900 block of South Wells Road, police said. The victim, a 27-year-old Santa Barbara man, said he went to deliver marijuana to a patient when the patient and two other men got into his car, assaulted him and demanded his money and the pot, authorities said.

A Ventura police detective monitoring the incident over a police radio heard the men had fled in a small, dark-colored vehicle and directed a patrol officer in the area to Jamestown Street and Providence Avenue. The detective suspected the report may be related to a similar incident in May, police said.

The patrol officer found the suspected getaway vehicle and stopped it in the 700 block of Springfield Avenue after it briefly evaded authorities, officials said. The victim's property was found in the vehicle, police said.

More stolen property was recovered later when a search warrant was served at a home on Providence Avenue, authorities said. As a result, Oxnard residents Deondre Vines and Malikk Williams, both 18, were arrested on suspicion of robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to police. Nicholas Jones, 19, of Moorpark, was arrested in connection with the same violations, police said. A third Oxnard resident, 19, was arrested in connection with stolen property, police said.
SHARE Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff 02-04-10 Camarillo studio: John Weigle, columnist for the Ventura County Star.

Ten stamps featuring scenes from TV's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" were the most popular U.S. stamps of 2015, according to readers of Linn's Stamp News, a weekly philatelic newspaper.

Every year, Linn's asks its readers to pick their overall favorite stamp of the year, and the best design, worst design, most important and least necessary commemoratives, definitives and postal stationery.

The paper said it received 1,477 ballots from adults and youths.

"The poll is neither scientific nor statistically valid," it emphasizes every year, but it is "a fun way for readers to voice their opinions about the U.S. stamp program." The poll began in 1948 with only two categories: best stamp and worst stamp.

Readers generally pick sets of stamps as their favorites rather than single stamps. The U.S. Postal Service considers the Charlie Brown stamps as definitives despite their size and designs. Commemoratives are generally larger than definitive stamps, are available for a shorter time and usually honor an event, place or person. Definitive stamps are usually smaller than commemoratives and generally picture famous people, the flag and similar subjects.

The winners by category:

Commemoratives: best design, Gifts of Friendship; most important, Medal of Honor: Vietnam War; worst design, From Me to You; and least necessary, From Me to You.

Definitives: best design, "A Charlie Brown Christmas"; worst design, Patriotic Wave; most important, Stars and Stripes; least necessary, Patriotic Wave.

Postal stationery: best design, Glade Creek stamped envelope; worst design, Fanciful Flowers postal card; most important, Forget-Me-Not stamped envelope; and least necessary, Fanciful Flowers postal card.

If you need to refresh your memory, pictures of last year's stamps are available at http://virtualstampclub.com/2015usnew.html.

Adult education program

Last month's adult education stamp seminar and evaluations were a success, drawing more people than most members of the Ventura County Philatelic Society expected. We had eight people at the morning session, which featured presentations about how to collect, what to collect, and understanding stamp catalogs. The afternoon session, where three society members evaluated collections and gave the collectors an indication of the value and most important or expensive items, had more than 20 visitors and ran an hour longer than scheduled.

Everyone who attended seemed interested and happy to get the information, although I imagine some of them had hoped their collections were more valuable than the evaluators said.

The society plans to hold a similar event next May and might change at least one of the presentations in an attempt to draw more and different people.

It's too early to know whether any of those who attended will join a stamp club, but members of the county's stamp clubs all hope they will.

County Stamp Clubs

Goebel Adult Community Center Stamp Club meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the Goebel Adult Community Center, 1385 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks. Call President Rick McHenry at 498-2085 for more information. Website: http://stamps.org/Goebel-Stamp-Club.

Simi Valley Stamp Club meets at 1 p.m. on the first and third Monday of each month (except in January, February and September) at the Simi Valley Senior Center, 3900 Avenida Simi. Contact Steve Thomas at 818-312-6898 or thomascwcc2000@aol.com or Allen Conrad at 818-489-7678 or aconrad@socal.rr.com. Website: http://stamps.org/Simi-Valley.

Ventura County Philatelic Society meets on the first and third Mondays of each month, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and meetings at 7:30 p.m. at Church of the Foothills, 6279 Foothill Road, Ventura, Website: http://www.vcphilatelic.com/index.html.

USS Ronald Reagan Chapter No. 107 of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society meets on the third Wednesday of February, May and September. The meeting location varies. Call President Lee Zeller at 983-0683 for more information. Email leezeller@aol.com for more information. Website: http://www.uscs.org.

John Weigle, jweigle@cipcug, is a longtime collector and member of the Ventura County Philatelic Society. On the Net: http://stamps.org http://virtualstampclub.com


Last night, award-winning rapper and actor Bow Wow, aka Shad Moss, celebrated his 29th birthday by performing live at Foxtail Nightclub inside SLS Las Vegas (Pictured: Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri  Photo credit: Andrew Dang).

To usher in his special day, the renowned hip-hop star gave an incredible and highly energetic performance, dropping his most memorable hits including Thats My Name, Bounce With Me, Puppy Love, Ghetto Girls, and Thank You.

Rising to fame at the age of 13, Bow Wow proved he is still the rap superstar he has always been, hyping up the crowd with his contagious energy and chart-topping lyrics. Fellow hip-hop artist Jermaine Dupri joined in on the birthday festivities, jumping on stage with Bow Wow during his performance.

Following the unforgettable set, Bow Wow returned to his VIP section where he and his friends sipped on Cavoda Pink vodka, Hennessy and Patron while the Foxes of Foxtail surprised him with a gigantic birthday cake.


Mariah Carey spoiled her husband Nick Cannon with scrumptious sweets from Sugar Factory at his 30th birthday party in Los Angeles on Saturday night (Photo credit: Sugar Factory).

Cannon indulged in Sugar Factorys signature Couture Pops, along with other sweet treats from the Las Vegas-based confection hot-spot. Carey made a special request for the custom, candy-stocked bar Sugar Factory created as her husband has a notorious sweet tooth. The sprawling display included dozens of Cannons favorite confections, including gummy bears, gumballs, Sour Patch Kids, chocolate-covered gummy bears, Now and Later candies, cotton candy, Jawbreakers, chocolate bars and more, as well as an over-the-top gift basket crafted by Sugar Factorys gifting specialist.

All of Sugar Factorys products are available online at www.SugarFactory.com, in addition to Sugar Factorys two Las Vegas stores, located at The Mirage and Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.
Government needs to butt out of the gender debate
Speak up! Put yourself out there!

American society seems to put a great deal of value on being outspoken and outgoing. That can be stressful for introverts, who are more reserved and prefer solitary to social activities.

Expert Susan Cain, an introvert herself, has become the voice of those quiet people. In 2012, her book, Quiet: The Power of the Introvert in a World that Cant Stop Talking was a success. In her new book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, Cain take her positive message about introverts to teenagers.

Her goal is to help parents and teachers understand their introvert teens and nurture their secret power.

Facts vs. misconceptions

Introverted kids arent necessarily shy and they can be socially skilled. However, they tend to enjoy being alone, doing quieter things or hanging out with just one close friend at a time. Susan Cain says thats how they get their energy. Their "batteries" are actually drained by loud activities.

If you imagine an introvert going into a party where theyre having a good time," she explains. "At the end of two hours, youre going to wish you were home because your battery is running low, whereas an extrovert in the exact situation, their battery is getting charged.

"So they kind of want more time at the party. This has everything to do with how youre wired; how our nervous system reacts to stimulations," Cain said.

The notion that extroverts are more successful than the introverts, she said, is a misconception.

If you look around, you see introverts contributing to this culture in all kinds of ways, people like Bill Gates, J.K Rowling (British novelist best known as the author of Harry Potter) Dr. Seuss (American childrens book author) -- any number people you could name who are contributing introverts contributing because of their quiet temperament, not in spite of it," she says. "But somehow this doesnt add up and we live in a society that really encourages everyone, starting from the time theyre very young children, to be very gregarious and outgoing even if they are not at all.

Cain also notes that there are more introverts than people think.

Youre talking about one in every two or three people is introvert. Thats in the US. But then there are other studies that look comparatively at the world and find that the US is more on the extroversive side of the spectrum. So there are probably more introverts in other countries," she said.

Quiet leaders

To explore more about introversion among teens, Cain interviewed hundreds of teens, parents and teachers.

One of her important findings is that introverts can be effective leaders.

One of the things we wanted to do in the book was look at the kids who were becoming leaders in their own ways," Cain adds. "For example there was one guy we profiled named Davis, who decided to run for president in his class. He was running against one of the most popular, sociable girls in the school who ran on a platform of more parties for everyone.

"Davis ... ran on a serious-substance platform proposals and his classmates really recognized the value of that and ended up voting for him. ... I want all kids to know that they can tap into their own ways of doing things and be powerful," she said.

Tips for parents, teachers

In her book, Cain gives some tips to both parents and teachers. She makes clear to parents that introverts usually want to come home at the end of the day and recharge their batteries, which means being alone. They shouldn't be pushed into after-school activities.

For teachers, she said, introvert students might not thrive in large-scale study groups.

For many introverts by their nature they prefer to learn independently," she said. "They dont want to be learning calculus in a group. They want to be putting their heads down, thinking the problems through.

"I also believe, having watched a lot of groups in action, that some groups work a lot better than others," she said. "They need to be managed properly by the teachers for introverts and extrovert. Is the teacher making sure that everybody has a specific role and knows what their role is? Is the group small enough is size so everybody is really contributing?

Cain also urges teachers to give students a chance to participate at their own pace in class discussions.

The simple act of waiting a few seconds after you ask a question and before calling on students will get a lot more participation than the normal thing as asking the question and one second later calling out for answers, she explains.

"Because when you do that you get the most extroverted kids who dont need to think and process before they speak. Introverts want to process. So just that extra six or seven seconds, which can actually can feel excruciating, can lead to a much broader participation.
Fighters battling to retake Fallujah from Islamic State said on Sunday they had the Iraqi city almost completely encircled, as civilians risked their lives trying to flee.

At least four people drowned and nine were missing after trying to cross the Euphrates river to escape the Islamic State stronghold city just west of Baghdad, medics and officials said.

The drowned bodies of two children, a women and an older man were taken to a hospital in Ameriyat Fallujah, a town downstream under government control, a local official said. Police said they were looking for nine other people believed to have been on the same boat.

About 50,000 civilians live in Fallujah, 50 km (32 miles) from Baghdad, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to a U.N. estimate.

Iraqi forces, with backing from Shi'ite militias and air support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on May 23 to retake the Sunni city, the first to fall to Islamic State in Iraq, in January 2014.

A leader of the Iran-backed Shi'ite coalition taking part in the offensive said the only side of Fallujah that remained to be secured by pro-Baghdad forces was part of the western bank of the Euphrates.

"We are now at the gates of Fallujah," Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Force, told a news conference broadcast on state TV.

People fleeing Falluja have been using anything that floats to help them get across the river, which is about 250 to 300 meters (yards) wide at the crossing point in farmland just south of the city, provincial council head Shakir al-Essawi said.

"They are using empty refrigerators, wooden cupboards and kerosene barrels as makeshift boats to cross the river," Essawi told Reuters. "It's totally unsafe and this is why innocent people are drowning."

Pictures broadcast by Dubai-based Arabiya TV in recent days showed families using rafts and sometimes just swimming across.

Young men were seen helping old men and women disembark when reaching the opposite side and carrying them onto the bank.

Some of those who were trying to reach the river were killed by sniper fire coming from the lines held by the militants, or by explosive devices planted along the roads, said Jassim Alwan, a police captain in Ameriyat Fallujah.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive on Fallujah had been slowed down in order to protect civilians.

Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shi'ite militias alongside the army in the battle could lead to an increase in sectarian violence.

Fallujah is a historic bastion of the insurgency against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Shi'ite-led authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003.
Niger says hundreds of Boko Haram extremists attacked a military outpost late Friday, killing at least 32 soldiers and wounding nearly 70 others near its southern borders with Nigeria and Chad.

The Niger Defense Ministry said the attackers burned homes and stores near Bosso, before fleeing early Saturday with arms and munitions.

Boko Haram later claimed responsibility, saying 35 soldiers were killed. The Nigeria-based Islamists pledged support for the Islamic State extremist group last year.

The Niger military said it launched a counterattack with air and land forces. Defense officials quoted by the French news agency said at least 19 attackers were killed.

The region, known as the Lake Chad Basin, has been the target of hundreds of Boko Haram attacks that have killed at least 20,000 people and displace nearly 3 million others since militants launched an insurgency in 2009.

The militant group, seeking to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has also struck repeatedly in nearby Cameroon.
Voters in Peru are selecting a new president Sunday.

The most recent public opinion polls indicate that candidates Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Kuczynski are virtually tied in the runoff election.

Fujimori, 41, is the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori. He is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption during his term.

Kuczynski, 77, is a former World Bank economist.

Both candidates are right-leaning conservatives. Kuczynski endorsed Fujimori when she ran for president in the 2011 election against outgoing President Ollanta Humala.

Fujimori had been leading in public opinion polls until recently, but the scandal around money-laundering allegations against a senior aide has taken a toll, transforming the race into a repeat performance of Fujimori's 2011 bid when she lost by a razor's edge to Humala.

In addition, many Peruvians have vowed to never vote for anyone associated with her father. She has tried to distance herself from her father's authoritarian rule of Peru from 1990 to 2000.

If Fujimori wins Sunday's runoff, she would become Peru's first female president.
Two Israeli companies say they used a specialized 3-D printer to create an environment in which stem cells could grow into a specific tissue.

In the near future, the technology could be used for testing new drugs, but it also opens up the possibility of growing organ replacements.

In 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka and his team discovered that common human cells, such as skin cells, can be turned into stem cells, previously harvested from embryos.

With ethical concerns about using embryonic stem cells removed, many researchers around the world started experimenting with tissue regeneration.

The so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPS cells, are now being used for replacing simpler tissues in the human body lost to disease or injury.

Human stem cells

The process is still slow, but Israeli 3-D printer manufacturer Nano Dimension, and Accellta, a company that produces IPS cells, now say they have tested a 3-D printer capable of fast production of human stem cells.

I have to emphasize that what we have done so far is a proof of concept. We didn't grow a fully functional human tissue that is actually going to all kind of medical usages," Amit Dror, CEO of Nano Dimension, said.

"What we have proven [is] that we have the ability by combining the know-how and IP [intellectual property] of both companies to get to the right materials and basically being able to print very fast an array which resembles a tissue by using human stem cells," Dror said.

He said special ink containing living stem cells, combined with other substances that stabilize the environment and support their growth, can be printed very quickly.

Another advantage of 3-D printing over manual preparation of substrate for growth of stem cells is the ability to precisely control the ingredients and sequence of their layering.

It's not good enough just to mix the different components," Dror said. "You want to set them in a way that resembles a human body, because it's not that every layer of tissue within any organ, or skin, or any part of the body has just a mixture of cells. They are located in different concentrations in different places.

"It could be that you have a few cells of one type in one spot and then next to it some different types of cells. The ability to accurately place in the right position the type of cells give them advantage in order to generate a tissue that really resembles the human body," he added.

Functional tissue

William Wagner, director of the University of Pittsburghs McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said printing stem cells in a certain shape is relatively easy, but turning them into functional tissue is going to be a challenge.

However, Wagner said printing a representative slice that behaves like a certain tissue can be very useful.

Let's say you're looking at a drug that would fix liver disease that causes the liver to not be able to automatically degrade some substance," he said. "Now you have the ability to do a thousand experiments in parallel, with liver tissue, with your drug, assessing the effectiveness of it.

Wagner said regeneration of complicated human tissues, such as full organs, is still a long way off, so the most likely successes for tissue printing are going to be simpler tissues like skin or muscle, or maybe even as complicated as intestinal wall.
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The results of at least one of the ballot measures facing Swiss voters Sunday is being watched around the world: Should all Swiss citizens receive an unconditional basic income (UBI) each month?

Sunday's referendum doesn't name a specific figure -- just if they want to approve an "unconditional basic income" -- but some experts estimate the monthly allotment would be about $2,560 for each adult and $640 for each child.

The country is the first to hold a referendum on such an issue.

There are a few caveats: Salaried workers making more than $2,560 a month would not get the UBI, and foreigners would have to be residents in the country for at least five years before receiving the monthly payment.

Pros and cons

Proponents -- Basic Income Earth Network President Ralph Kundig is among those pushing for it -- say providing the income would help fight poverty and inequality. They cite the allotment as an offset to 21st-century economic changes, such as robots displacing factory workers, that make it harder to find a good job that pays a decent living wage.

Opponents -- the Swiss government, nearly all its political parties, and nearly 71 percent of respondents in the latest national poll -- are calling for voters to reject the measure, saying it would cripple the state budget.

Switzerland is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is also one of the priciest to live in. Swiss officials have estimated it would take $25.6 billion to cover the annual costs of the proposal, and that would lead to deep spending cuts or significant tax increases.

Proponents, however, say there are other ways to pay for the initiative, such as through savings from welfare programs that would be discontinued, or including a fee on salaries of people who earn more than the UBI.

The initiative has been labeled "a Marxist dream" by its critics. They warn people would quit their jobs in droves.

"If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing," Charles Wyplosz, economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP.

Open to entrepreneurship

Kundig disagreed, saying pilot projects showed the UBI would not lead to people just doing nothing.

He said the UBI would act as a stimulant to the economy, because people would be less afraid to take risks and more open to entrepreneurship.

A group of small businesses in Switzerland, however, condemn the proposal, writing on its website "No bread without work," and saying the idea is an "absolute danger."

Kundig replied that all such advances in society are first viewed negatively. "Everybody who resists social progress always says it can't be paid for, but that's just talk," he told The Associated Press.

While it took 100,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot, there is little chance it will pass. But Kundig called it a victory just to see the public debate that has been generated by the plan.

While not quite as controversial as the UBI referendum, Swiss voters also will consider four other ballot measures including speeding up the application procedure for asylum-seekers, raising money for public services, and allowing genetic testing of embryos for parental hereditary diseases.
The Syrian army continues to move into the northern province of Raqqa, home to the de facto capital of the self-claimed caliphate of the Islamic State group fighting in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The army first pushed into Raqqa Saturday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian troops have reached the administrative border of Raqqa province, backed by Russian airstrikes.

According to the activist group, Syrian troops engaged with IS fighters along the highway that links Raqqa with the Hama province in the southwest.

Syrian troops are hoping to reach Lake Assad and the main road that links Raqqa to Aleppo, another IS stronghold.

IS extremists have held Raqqa city since 2013 when it seized the city from rebels opposing President Bashar al-Assad.

State media in Syria report heavy casualties among the Islamist militants. The Syrian army has yet to release any official statement on the number of dead.

The observatory said Saturday that during three days of fighting at least 26 Islamic State militants had been killed along with nine from the Syrian troops and allied forces.

Syrian troops began to move toward the province Wednesday, the same day U.S.-backed forces attacked the IS-stronghold of Manbij, abput 115 kilometers to the northwest of Raqqa.

Troops with the U.S.-backed, predominantly Kurdish, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advanced closer to Manbij Saturday. The observatory said SDF fighters had captured 34 villages near Manbij.

IS fighters are also engaged in fierce battles with the al-Nusra front for the rebel-held stronghold of Marea, a town nearly 70 kilometers west of Manbij, but so far have not captured the city.

While fighting continues in Raqqa province, Manbij and Marea, IS fighters are also coming under fire in their stronghold of Fallujah by Iraqi government forces that launched their offensive on the city almost two weeks ago.

Violence in and around the contested northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and once commercial center, claimed more lives Saturday, according to Russian sources that put the number of killed at 40 and wounded at 100.

The city has been the scene of fierce fighting, even during a cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia that took effect in late February before collapsing weeks later.
Taliban militants opened fire in a courthouse in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing seven people and wounding 21.

Officials say the court's newly appointed prosecutor was among those killed in the attack in Puli Alim in Logar province, just south of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

All three gunmen were killed by Afghan security forces.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for the government's execution of six Taliban prisoners in May. Officials say the executions signaled the beginning of Afghanistan taking a tougher stance on the insurgents.
Colonel Terry Virts always knew he wanted to be a pilot or an astronaut.

He had pictures of galaxies and planes on his walls as a child. He never thought he could actually become an astronaut, but he did the things he had to do to qualify. He got a mathematics degree, went into the Air Force, and eventually became a test pilot. In 2000, he was accepted to the astronaut candidate program.

As an active astronaut with the U.S. Space Program -- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- Virts has one of the most demanding jobs in the world. He has flown the space shuttle, conducted spacewalks, and was the commander of the International Space Station in spring 2015.

'Excited beyond belief'

Upon being selected for the astronaut program, I was excited beyond belief. This is my boyhood dream, and I finally made it happen," Virts said.

"The initial training was fun. It was something different every day. As a pilot I had to learn how to fly the space shuttle, for launch and landing, and rendezvous, and all the piloting tasks," he added.

Virts received training in medicine, science and the Russian language. And he learned how to repair and maintain the International Space Station. Eventually he was taught how to walk in space.

His first trip to space was in 2010, when he piloted the shuttle Endeavor.

The first space flight is amazing. First of all, walking out to the space shuttle is an amazing experience," he said. "Ive never been so proud of being an American because I know Americans have built that. ... It was the most amazing flying machine ever built, and I got to fly it as pilot. It was awesome.

Four years later, Virts returned to space as flight engineer of the International Space Station, later assuming command. That mission lasted 200 days, during which he conducted three spacewalks, totaling almost 20 hours.

Theres nothing like spacewalking. Its a very unique experience," he said.

"Youre in this very heavy, very stiff spacesuit thats basically a space ship. It has its own oxygen and carbon dioxide systems, a cooling system, communication, has a jet pack. Its a small spaceship. Except for theres a one-milimeter-thin plastic glass, and on the other side of that is space. You almost felt like you can see or hear God out there. Its really an awesome experience," he said.

Photographs from space

Virts said one of his favorite things to do in space is to take photographs. He has shared hundreds of pictures of our planet on Twitter.

Its just beautiful. You feel like youre seeing the heavens and earth. Your home planet is over there, and youre over here. Its a surreal, emotional experience, and so the little silly things you watch on the news every night just dont matter. They are just not a big deal. So, from that point of view, your perspective changes," he remembered.

Virts said every astronauts favorite mission is the next one. He is waiting his turn to go back to space.
Who wins a war? The scrappy upstarts with passion in their hearts and righteousness in their eyes? Or the well-established, well-organized, well-trained armies of the establishment? Every so often, as in the case of the American Revolution, a band of rebels will eke out an unlikely win. Far more often, uprisings end the way the student revolt does in Les Miserables, with a bitter, lonely survivor surveying the wreckage and saying, Oh my friends, my friends, dont ask me what your sacrifice was for

Even when an insurgency thinks its ready, it probably isnt; its merely raring to go. That is certainly the case in this pretty grim episode  titled, dryly, Je Suis Prest (medieval French for I am ready, after the Fraser family motto)  in which Jamie frets that he has too little time to turn a bunch of farmers into soldiers who stand any chance against the British. Dougal, his headstrong and impulsive uncle, tries to convince Jamie that Highlander enthusiasm will carry the day. Sorry, Dougal. Like Hamlet says, the readiness is all. And Jamie knows it.

As the episode begins, Claire and Jamie reunite with more of the MacKenzies whom we remember from season one. They have synced up with the other new recruits for some training before everyone joins Bonnie Prince Charlies army to fight the Redcoats. Claire gives a big smile to old pals Rupert and Angus, but Dougal gets a more tight-lipped welcome. The last time she saw that bald bastard, he was wrestling with her in a cave, trying to stop her from saving Jamies life  and to instead accept him as her marital substitute.

It is our time, Dougal now tells Jamie, full of pride to be fighting alongside his nephew against the usurper on the English throne. As you may recall, he pimped out the sight of Jamies body on various country roads to raise funds for the Jacobite cause; hes thrilled that its finally time for action, and the nephew whom he had to bully into showing his scars now stands with him. For glory. For Scotland, Dougal says. Hes drunk on his own Kool-Aid. Our heroes arent, but that doesnt matter. Theyve committed to this fight, so theyre going to do their damnedest to win.

Plaids, bagpipes, bannocks for breakfast: Were planted so securely back in the Highlands that the detour to Paris may as well as have been a fever dream, save for the welcome presence of Fergus. Murtagh has found his calling as a drill sergeant, barking at his recruits as if he were auditioning for a Kubrick film. Jamie is in his element, leading and disciplining and making speeches to his men, though he doesnt seem to take much pleasure in any of it. Hes seen battle, hes trained in France with a real army, and he knows true soldiers when he sees them. So does Claire, who keeps flashing back  flashing forward?  to her time as a battle nurse, when she made small-talk with cute Yanks destined never to see Texarkana or Yonkers again.

The burden of the future, and her inability to change it, presses on Claire. Shes been a Cassandra since she arrived in the past, but the stakes are much higher now, and the knowledge shes cursed with weighs more heavily. These men will be cannon fodder. Worse, shes suffering from PTSD. It makes her jump every time she hears a gunshot and curse at men who dont deserve it  as well as Dougal, who most certainly does.

Jamies uncle is busy undermining him, although at least hes spurred by a surplus of enthusiasm rather than malice. (And narcissism, as Claire points out, in a clunky and unnecessary scene.) At one point, Dougal goes all Braveheart with his men and disrupts a training session by charging in with a war cry, chest bare and face painted. God is on their side, Dougal argues, so a good ol Highland battle cry is all they need to scatter the British. Dougal doesnt seem to remember or care that William Wallaces rebellion failed; Wallace, who was actually hanged, drawn, and quartered, faced the same gory end that Claire heard about in Paris.

In any event, Jamie is unswayed by Dougals wishful thinking, and he assigns Dougal and the MacKenzies the much more mundane task of sentry duty after his own men fail him. (Which, again, underlines the point of the episode: If these proto-soldiers cant patrol their own camp effectively, how on Earth do they expect to take on a global superpower?)

Then, Dougal and the MacKenzies fail him too. A little English spy, drawn by the fires, slips into camp and nearly manages to slit Jamies throat. Jamie saves his own life, and Claires quick thinking saves the spy himself. She starts play-acting being Jamies English captive so that the young Redcoat, in lieu of trying to withstand torture, can sacrifice his honor to save hers. In exchange for a promise that the monstrous Red Jamie, as the boy calls our hero, will not molest Claire, he agrees to reveal his name (William Grey) and lots of details about the English camp where hes stationed, including its location and the number of men stationed there. Since his information turns out to be accurate, the boy is left tied to a tree rather than killed and the Frasers get to do a little raiding. Who wouldve guessed that sabotage agrees with our hero? Jamie finally looks like hes having some fun.

Before he leaves the camp, Grey tells Jamie that hes in his debt, and he hopes to discharge that obligation as soon as possible. Grey is humiliated and furious so, as he puts it, in a rather stilted way, he wants to repay the debt so hell then be free to kill Jamie. In that case, Jamie replies, he hopes they never meet again. They will, of course: The laws of television and of Chekhovs gun demand it. And probably quite soon.

Thats because, as the episode ends, its clear Jamie thinks that he and his soldiers have done all the preparation they can. He has won their respect and their loyalty, in part by taking off his shirt to voluntarily submit to the same physical punishment doled out earlier to the sentries who were taken unaware. The moment serves as a nice call out to (and implicit rebuke of) Dougal, who made Jamie take off his shirt to gin up feeling against the British. This time, Jamie does it to show that his scars dont define him, that he will add more to the collection if necessary, and to build cohesion among his men.

Afterwards, Jamie leads the crew up to join Bonnie Prince Charlies army, to meet their fate at last.
Interpol was one of the bands that set a fire under us when we were starting out, Killers front man Brandon Flowers said. The Killers have added Obstacle 1, the second track from Interpols seminal debut album Turn on the Bright Lights, to their setlist, and played the song to a thrilled crowd at Governors Ball last night. Its like being back in the mid-aughts.
Veteran rock band 38 Special will join Wade Bowen and many other performers at the annual Bowen MusicFest at 2 p.m. Sunday at Indian Spring Park.

Other performers will include Cody Canada and the Departed, Mickey and the Motorcars, Pat Green, Randy Rogers, Southern Brothers, Stoney LaRue, Reckless Kelly, Jamie Lin Wilson and Courtney Patton, Bleu Edmonson and Parker McCollum.

The event will include a KidZone with face painting and other activities.

Tickets cost $25 at the gate, and are free to ages 12 and younger. Proceeds will benefit the Bowen Family Foundation and the March of Dimes NICU Family Support Program.

Pathways to Success

Viable Options in Community Endeavors (VOICE) will accept applications through June 20 for its 2016-2017 Pathways to Success program.

The program provides an opportunity for McLennan County high school students to gain the knowledge and skills needed to be effective leaders, volunteers and employees in the community.

Monthly meetings are held from September through May. Participants who complete the program will receive a $500 college scholarship.

For more information, including how to apply, email info@voiceinc.org or call 741-9222.

Rotary Club of Waco

Diane Rose, known as The Amazing Quilter, will speak to the Rotary Club of Waco at noon Monday at the Lions Den, 1716 N. 42nd St.

Rose, who lost her vision in an accident in 1984, operates Rose of Sharon Ministries, through which she sells quilts and offers motivational speaking.

Cost is $10 for a lunch catered by Uncle Dans Barbecue.

For more information, call 776-2115.

UHS classes of 1960-61

The University High School classes of 1960 and 1961 will have a joint reunion at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hotel Indigo, 211 Clay Ave.

Cost is $30 per person, which will include a meal and a live band performing classic songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

Members of other UHS classes can attend at a cost of $40.

For more information, call Dean Earhart at 751-7958 or email deanearhart @aol.com, or call Donna Herbelin Benton at 857-3343.

Free legal advice

Mission Waco Legal Services will have a free legal advice clinic for low-income residents from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Meyer Center, 1226 Washington Ave.

Participants receive a free 20- to 30-minute consultation with a lawyer.

Appointments are not required, but are strongly recommended.
Lets Gel Inc., which designs and manufactures gel-filled floor mats, has announced it will spend $600,000 and hire 15 more people as it expands operations at its facility at 501 Precision Drive. The moves will increase employment at the production facility to 50, according to the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.

The Austin-based company entered the Waco market with its purchase of a 64,000-square-foot building in 2014.

Its product line popularity has accelerated company growth plans, creating the need for added production capacity, said Kris Collins, senior vice president of economic development at the Waco chamber.

The floor mats made by Lets Gel Inc. are sold online, and the company targets those who have to work long hours on their feet.

We appreciate the Greater Waco Chamber and, in particular, the Economic Development Committee, which continues to be instrumental in the growth of our manufacturing facility, said Robb McMahan, who founded the company and oversees production at its Waco facility, which the company refers to as Area 51 Manufacturing. Waco has always been a strong, pro-business community, and we are excited at the prospect of continued growth of both business and manufacturing in the area.

He added, We are committed to the ongoing expansion of our employment footprint in Waco, as we begin manufacturing several new product lines this year.

Gas prices climb

Gasoline prices continue to creep upward as summer approaches, with the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Waco on Friday hitting $2.097, a 3-cent jump from Thursday.

That represents an increase of 5 cents from a week earlier and 14 cents from a month earlier, when the average had dipped below $2 a gallon to $1.965.

Still, prices a remain a bargain from one year ago, when motorists were shelling out $2.42 a gallon for regular unleaded.

The AAA Texas auto club reported Thursday that the gas price average in Texas had reached $2.12, which was 4 cents higher than the previous week.

Of the major metropolitan areas surveyed in the Lone Star State, drivers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are paying the most on average at $2.19, while drivers in Corpus Christi are paying the least at $2.04 per gallon.

Nationwide, drivers are paying an average of $2.33, which is 2 cents higher than the previous week.

Gas prices for the 2016 Memorial Day were the cheapest since 2005, according to AAA, which predicts gasoline demand during the summer driving season could challenge records set in 2007, Still, it says, if refineries can keep pace with Americans yearn to travel, gas prices should remain relatively low.

A wild card for gas prices in the coming months is the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, AAA said. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Climate Prediction Center, this years season likely will be near normal, which means of the 10 to 16 named storms, four to eight could become hurricanes. Should any of these severe storms or hurricanes reach landfall, production, refining and distribution could be impacted.

The Gulf Coast, which includes Texas, is home to more than 45 percent of the U.S.s total petroleum refining capacity.

Grande buys out Centrovision

Texas-based Grande Communications, which opened for business 15 years ago and chose Waco among its first cities to serve with internet, television and phone services, has announced a buyout of Temple-based Centrovision. The deal means an expansion of its customer base in Central Texas.

Cities formerly served by Centrovision include Temple, Belton, Salado, Troy, Morgans Point Resort, Moody, Rogers, Little River-Academy and Pendleton.

Grande is deeply rooted in Texas, so it has been exciting for us to continue expansion throughout our home state and to bring advanced telecommunications services to these growing Texas communities, said Matt Rohre, senior vice president of operations and general manager for Grande Communications.

Larger communities now served by Grande include, besides Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, San Marcos, Corpus Christi, Midland and Odessa.

Christian Brothers honored

Sterling and Leigh Woody, owners of Christian Brothers Automotive on Woodway Drive, recently received the Founders Award from company founder and president Mark Carr, beating out more than 155 locations nationwide. They opened the local Christian Brothers Automotive franchise four years ago.

The couple attribute their success to maintaining high expectations for employees; ensuring that customers feel their product and service is trustworthy; and strong concentration on community initiatives, according to a news release from the company to announce the win by the Woodys.

They also have experienced year-over-year growth, for which the couple credit the thriving Waco economy.

Sterling Woody recently attended a news conference to hear a report on Wacos economic climate prepared by Amarillo-based economist Karr Ingham. He noted during a question-and-answer session that Christian Brothers Automotive has made repairs to about 20,000 vehicles during the past four years and has served 9,000 customers.

Forbes Global 2000 released

Forbes magazine has released its list of the worlds largest public companies, called the Global 2000, and it shows that 587 call the U.S. home and 57 are based in Texas.

Chinas banking giant, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, ranked No. 1 on the list for the fourth consecutive year. China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China remain at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational company founded by Warren Buffett and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest public company in the United States and ranks No. 4 on the world list. It wholly owns such companies as Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds and Lubrizol, among others, while holding significant shares of IBM, Apple, Wells Fargo, The Coca-Cola Co. and Kraft/Heinz, to name a few.

Berkshire Hathaway also controls a media group that includes many daily newspapers, including the Waco Tribune-Herald.

The top 10 Texas-based companies are Exxon Mobil Corp. (9), AT&T Inc. (12), Phillips 66 (141), Schlumberger NV (176), Valero Energy Corp. (182), American Airlines Group (209), Southwest Airlines Co. (343), Texas Instruments Inc. (396), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (478) and ConocoPhillips (480).

The Dr Pepper Snapple Group, anchored by the soft drink formulated in Waco, now ranks 1,012 on the list of 2000 largest companies in the world.
Three more bikers arrested after the Twin Peaks shootout in Waco filed a civil rights lawsuit Friday, claiming they were improperly arrested and denied due process.

Theron Rhoten, Jonathan Lopez and Ryan William Craft, all members of the Vice Grip Motorcycle Club from Travis County, bring the total of bikers who have filed civil lawsuits to 13.

All 13 filed suit in federal court in Austin and all are represented by Dallas attorney Don Tittle, who successfully represented nine sheriffs deputies who sued McLennan County and Sheriff Parnell McNamara on claims they were retaliated against for backing McNamaras political opponent.

These three guys have not been indicted, nor should they, Tittle said. These are guys who love building and restoring old bikes. They are not members of a gang. They are defined by their love of vintage motorcycles, and everybody out there that day remembered them because they were in love with their old bikes. I dont know why they decided to arrest them and I dont think my clients have any idea, either.

The lawsuit names McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna, Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman, Waco police Detective Manuel Chavez and an unnamed Department of Public Safety agent as defendants.

All defendants previously have declined to comment on the lawsuits.

The suit alleges unlawful arrest and due process violations and claims the plaintiffs were arrested with no evidence that they committed any crimes or had any ties to warring biker groups the Bandidos or the Cossacks.

Despite a total lack of particularized evidence relating to specific individuals, defendants Stroman, Chavez and Reyna determined that individuals would be arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity based entirely on their presence at Twin Peaks, the motorcycle club that defendants presumed an individual was associated with, and/or the clothing they were wearing at the time of the incident, the suit alleges. Rather than investigating the incident and relying on actual facts to establish probable cause, defendants theorized that a conspiracy of epic proportion between dozens of people had taken place, and willfully ignored the total absence of facts to support their theory. 

The suit claims the arrest warrant affidavit, which was identical for all arrested that day, falsely alleges that the bikers all were members of a criminal street gang. The document was drafted by the DAs office and obtained by Chavez.

An indisputable fact

That statement is categorically false, the lawsuit says. It is an indisputable fact that defendants did not possess any reliable, particularized information to indicate that plaintiffs themselves were members of a criminal street gang on or before the date such fact was sworn to by defendant Chavez.

Biker Ray Nelson filed a motion to disqualify Reyna from prosecuting the cases because of his role in the investigation and his decision to charge the wide array of bikers. A hearing on that motion is set for June 13. His attorney charged that Reyna commandeered the investigation after Waco police detectives had already processed a busload of bikers, identified them and allowed them to go home that evening.

In the aftermath of the incident at Twin Peaks, defendants apparently concluded that the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution ceased to apply and could be ignored given what they perceived as an immediate need to announce the re-establishment of law and order in their town, the suit alleges.
In Vietnam, George Weaver was called Chocolate by his buddies. Drafted at 18 into the U.S. Army, he didnt drink or smoke, so he traded most of his Army-issued rations for chocolate, hence the nickname. He had no idea at the time that the military would practically become his way of life.

Now 67, the Waco native grew up in Bosqueville and eventually attended four different high schools, the result of integration. When he was drafted, he had yet to graduate. He eventually earned a GED certificate.

Weaver went through basic training at Fort Bliss, followed by advanced infantry training at Fort Ord in California. In February 1969, he left for Vietnam.

Calling himself a grunt, he served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company with the 1st/29th Infantry, 197th Infantry Battalion in the I Corps area at Chu Lai. It was his job to hump 81 mm guns, meaning carry the heavy stuff. He usually carried the barrel, he said, and he fired the weapon in the field.

They called it the light infantry division, but there wasnt anything light about it, Weaver said.

It was an exciting, intense year. His unit was often deployed by helicopter. Once, he was dropped off over what he thought was dirt, only to sink in mud that went halfway up his thighs. The helicopters usually hovered above open fields, risking enemy fire.

You just got the hell out of it quick  as soon as you could, he said.

Every soldiers worst 20 days

Weaver said the most frightening time in Vietnam for all soldiers was the first 10 days and the last 10 days  because they know theyre going home. After the first 10 days, he said, you no longer worry about yourself, you worry about your buddies. And during the last 10 days, You get paranoid. Out of the whole year, those 20 days were the scariest, he said.

While in Vietnam, Weaver earned a Bronze Star, but declined to talk about it. To this day, its a painful memory. Its not I its us  and someones not here to tell it, he said. It was a team effort.

When Weaver returned to the States, he enlisted in the Army Reserves and worked in the Department of Military Intelligence. He went to school in Wisconsin and spent five years examining and researching documents, but the pay was too slow, he said. So, he joined the National Guard as a medic. By this time, he was working at the VA hospital in Waco where he had learned first aid. He wanted to help others.

In 1985, he rejoined the Army Reserves with the 94th General Hospital in Dallas, working as an operating room technician. In 1991, the entire unit went to Heidelberg, Germany, where he spent six months  with weekends off. It gave him time to explore the country.

Weaver also had an opportunity to go to South America to Guatemala, where his unit was attached to an engineering and construction division tasked with building two schools. While there, he earned an Army Commendation Medal when he volunteered to go to the scene of a particularly gruesome truck wreck.

The commendation reads, Staff Sgt. Weaver, while serving with Joint Task Force Jaguar . . . did distinguish himself with meritorious service in valiantly attempting to save the life of a fellow soldier. His extreme efforts reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army Reserve. Upon completion, the schools were named for the two men killed in the crash.

Travels across the world

Weaver ended up going back to Germany and traveled to Bosnia, Turkey, Budapest and Hungary, among other places. In addition, while in the reserves, he was called up into the regular Army to work in a hospital in Germany during Desert Storm. All told, including his time spent in the regular Army, he served over two decades. In addition, he worked for the VA for 36 years.

During his career, Weaver earned 15 decorations, including the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two service stars, the Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 device and the Bronze Star.

Weaver said his time spent in Vietnam still affects him. Understandably, he doesnt care for holidays such as New Years Eve and the 4th of July. He also tends to eat too fast, a habit he developed in basic training due to the short time allotted for meals.

Although hes proud to have served, Weaver knows he wouldnt be here today without his fellow soldiers. We came back because our brothers helped us get back, he said. It was just God and us. I prayed every day.

The only people who understand us is the people that served. Our club is permanent. If you served, youre brothers for life.

Voices of Valor, featuring stories about Central Texas veterans, publishes every Sunday in the Waco Trib. To suggest a story about a Central Texas veteran, email voicesofvalor@wacotrib.com. Voices of Valor is proudly sponsored by Johnson Roofing.
The flier on a Facebook page last month read: Attempted Lynching of 12 Year Old Black Girl in Waco, TX; Concerned Citizens Community Meeting at Live Oak Classical School. It went on to give the time and day this meeting was to take place: the afternoon of Friday, May 27.

My first thought: Wow! County Commissioner Gibson sure got that meeting set up quickly after our failure to get even one response from administrators of Live Oak Classical School after calling several times.

I was curious to know about this planned meeting because we had just met the preceding Monday to discuss an incident that has garnered headlines far and wide: that of a 12-year-old girl who is black and apparently suffered rope burns around her neck in what her familys attorney contends is a racially motivated attack involving other students at Live Oak Classical School. I had written to McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson explaining my concern about the incident.

After all, were making too much progress on race relations in Waco and McLennan County to not address this matter immediately.

Only a week earlier our community commemorated the 100th anniversary of the horrific Waco lynching of Jesse Washington, a black laborer tortured, hanged and set afire before a massive crowd in the death of his employers wife. Our community came together for this solemn commemoration as then-Waco Mayor Malcolm Duncan Jr. acknowledged the lynching and faulted leaders of the time for allowing this disgrace to happen. He spoke about the marker that will go downtown in the near future.

Now, it seemed, Waco had a chance to demonstrate its commitment to healing and moving forward upon news coverage about the 12-year-old Live Oak student who returned home from a school camping trip with rope burns around her neck. It seemed like a good time for measured questions and forthright answers in the spirit of real justice and thoughtful social inquiry.

So even though the heading of this flier sure didnt sound like something Commissioner Gibson would ever compose, I called our areas civil rights icon to see if he was leading this meeting because I wanted more details. Surprise: He had no idea what I was talking about. In fact, he asked me to let him know if I found out more about the meeting.

I made several inquiries but found only one person familiar with it. She told me she had received an email invite. This was the most information I could obtain till the day of the meeting.

That Friday afternoon, I went to the local meeting, which turned out to be no local meeting at all but an organized, well-attended rally mounted by the Black Womens Defense League of Dallas and other Dallas organizations. The rally was lively, too. Some 60 or 70 people congregated on the sidewalk, listening to various protest leaders reviewing details regarding widely conflicting accounts about the 12-year-old girl and the lacerations around her neck from a rope reportedly used to pull her down to the ground and drag her.

Some speakers repeatedly called for answers and the filing of criminal charges. They peppered their rhetoric with a demand here or a question there  and then a chant. Three questions seemed to dominate:

 Why werent parents of the child notified immediately?

 Why havent the teenage boys reportedly involved been charged?

 Why did the school not report this immediately to Blanco County law enforcement officials and pursue a proper investigation?

These questions  as raised by rally participants  were usually followed by a chant such as: Whose streets? Our streets! We want answers! and If we dont get it, shut it down! Then the chants proceeded to Whose child? Our child! These were accompanied by fists thrust defiantly into the air, followed by chants of Black Power! Black Power!

Speaking with several individuals attending the protest, it was obvious emotions ran high about an ordeal reminiscent of the bad old days gone by. But the rally was a mixed bag for some. There were those who expressed gratitude at finally seeing the community come out to address this issue, which has many in the black community frustrated, angry, even feeling alienated.

However, others were less comfortable, given the yelling through a megaphone and the occasional profanity.

One local minister said she was glad to see people coming to the rally. She wondered aloud where other ministers in Waco were. Before the hour was over, though, she saw things in a different light and agreed with a young lady who reasoned that coming together for a prayer rally might have been better. There was some understandable concern about the profanity being used around children.

Some were also uncomfortable about disrespectful references to policemen as pigs. In fact, the job that Waco police officers did of directing traffic and politely redirecting protesters back from the street and off Live Oak school property when necessary was commendable. Happily, our police were stoically above angry rants from these out-of-town protesters. That speaks well of them.

And some of the rhetoric was incendiary. One protester from Dallas said: We came here to bring awareness and to show the people that we can unite as a people to stand up for our children because it makes no sense for our children to be lynched in these times in 2016  it really dont make any sense!

Then there was this from one of the rally protesters, also from Dallas: The rope was placed around her neck . . . she looked behind her and saw three white boys and asked them, Did you do this? They looked her straight in her eyes and said, No. The community of Waco didnt know anything about it until Dallas activists found out about it and came down here.

Can anyone really believe this?

If rally organizers had checked with our community leaders, they might have learned that this incident is being fully discussed and investigated by several organizations. At the Fred Batts Monday Leadership Forum, plans were already in place to organize community leaders and meet with Live Oak school officials. Commissioner Gibson and other community leaders eventually met with the Live Oak Classical School attorney and administrators. Our community leaders will discuss the matter again noon Monday.

The Fred Batts Monday Leadership Forum has gathered regularly for more than 24 years and, though smaller than in times past, it continues to be the place where any social or political transgression can be addressed in a way that prioritizes solutions, not reckless rhetoric. Thats exactly what Commissioner Gibson and other leaders are doing as they quietly and purposefully seek answers to the questions many of us share about one traumatized Waco student. And raising good folks temperatures sure wont help.

Local civic leader Bettie V. Beard, of Waco, is a freelance writer with a background in social work and gerontology. She covers politics, education and social issues.
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Documents provided to Fairfax Media show that Comcare, which is responsible for the health and safety of all people in Australian government workplaces, including workers and detainees in mainland and offshore detention centres, has not investigated abuse and injuries on a vast scale.

Comcare has not visited the Nauru or Manus Island facilities this year. Credit:Angela Wylie

Under Australian law, her injuries should have been investigated by workplace safety authority Comcare but - like hundreds of other injuries, assaults and even deaths on the immigration department's watch over two years - it was not reported to the authority.

Asha was only 12 months old when she pulled over a container of boiling water on Nauru, severely scalding herself.

Reams of internal Comcare and Department of Immigration and Border Protection documents - released to the Australian Lawyers' Alliance (ALA) under freedom of information laws - paint a damning picture of what the ALA calls under-reporting of safety breaches "at best", and concealment at worst.

They show that of 1092 injuries,and assaults reported to Comcare by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and its contractors over two years, almost 850 went uninvestigated.

Comcare is required to investigate so-called "notifiable incidents" and to put in place measures to improve safety based on those investigations. But the ALA claims Comcare takes a narrow view of the sort of incidents it should investigate in detention centres.

A Comcare spokesman said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection was only required to notify the authority about "deaths, serious injury or dangerous incidents", and that sexual assault may not be seen as serious enough to warrant a Comcare investigation.

"Incidents of self-harm and sexual assault, for example, may not satisfy the definition of a notifiable incident," the spokesman said.
A long-time WA fishing company says the latest fatal shark attack in coastal waters makes a case for commercial fishers to be able to catch great whites again.

Surfer Ben Gerring, 29, died in hospital on Friday night after being attacked by a shark in the ocean off Falcon on Tuesday.

Shark fishing off the metropolitan coast was banned in 2007 but on Saturday Southwestern Fresh Fish took to Facebook writing a long post arguing in favour of shark fishing off metro beaches.

"Over more than 35 years here at Southwestern Fresh Fish we have encountered hundreds of great white sharks. In our opinion they are definitely increasing with the main time of year to see them now increasing from just a few months per year to around eight months per year," said the Bunbury firm.
Leigh Mathews, an Australian child protection specialist, told Fairfax Media that Sunrise Cambodia should immediately remove the campaign from its website and issue a statement of apology. Images from Sunrise Cambodia's charity campaign in question. "Unfortunately, the campaign has also been sent to thousands of supporters across Australia in hard copy," she said. "Whilst the young girl pictured may have given her consent for her image to be used she will also have to live with the ramifications of being labelled a sex worker." Ms Mathews, co-ordinator of ReThink Orphanages, which works to prevent the institutionalisation of children, said the campaign breached ethical standards by labelling clearly identifiable children as "trafficked", "sex worker" and "homeless" and "utilising children that are visibly unclean and unkempt to promote pity". Lucy Perry, left, and Geraldine Cox of Sunrise Cambodia. Credit:Lachlan Hind

"Fundraising campaigns should only ever show their beneficiaries in the most dignified light. Using degrading images and labels in order to shock and manipulate generous people into donating is highly unethical," she said. Sunrise Cambodia's chief executive, Lucy Perry, defended use of the children in the "Rebuild Brains Trust" appeal. She said they were recruited as "models" and their stories have been "tweaked". 'Pisey' is not a sex worker, in contrast to her depiction on Sunrise Cambodia's website. "The poverty porn debate is misinformed. People need to see the problem in order to respond to the need. Simple," she told Fairfax Media after tweeting "it's the only way to bring the horror home ... [people] won't donate if you show a photograph of a seamstress looking happy." Ms Perry declined to provide any of the children's personal details, such as their real names or where they live, saying it would be a "breach of their privacy". But she told the Phnom Penh Post the children were "real people" who live near a Sunrise orphanage and healthcare centre.

Ms Perry said the appeal was tested with donors before it was launched and the feedback was that the images were "beautiful and brave"."It shows the background to the problems, the real need, the positive outcomes and tangible cost to train a school leaver." Ms Perry, who raised $7 million in less than three years for a network of hospitals and a midwifery school in Ethiopia before joining Sunrise Cambodia, said there was no need for successful advertising to shock people. "You have to touch their hearts ... I think the images we used did that," she said."Sometimes it requires a little bit of discomfort." Asked whether it was proper to portray a young girl as a sex worker, Ms Perry said: "It's a scenario." She said the children were treated ethically and photographed in their usual clothes "and in their normal context with appropriate consent". She denied Pisey's face was smeared with mud.

The campaign portrays Cambodia as a country that still has not recovered from Pol Pot's 1970s genocide and "needs your help to rebuild the brains trust and restore one of the basic tenets of a prosperous society: education". Geraldine Cox, a 70-year-old Australian who founded Sunrise orphanages in 1997, defends the Pol Pot pitch even though the atrocities occurred decades ago and says Cambodia has been run for 30 years by a corrupt and brutal regime, some of them former Khmer Rouge cadres. "Age and time doesn't lessen the cruelty and suffering," she said, adding children have heard the horror stories and remain fearful. Ms Perry insists the campaign, which aims to raise $500,000 by June 30 to provide vocational training for 1000 children, was created within a code approved by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), a grouping of Australia's non-government aid and international development organisations. But critics disagree. The code states, in part, that images of women and men and boys and girls must respect the dignity, values, history and culture of the people portrayed.

A Department of Foreign Affairs guideline on ethical photography states that images must be an honest representation of the context and facts and no payment or any other form of compensation should be provided to subjects in exchange for their photographs. The controversy comes after Cambodia's world celebrity anti-child sex slavery campaigner Somaly Mam was forced to resign from her foundation over revelations she fabricated child-sex slave stories to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Sebastien Marot from Friends International, an organisation that has campaigned for decades to raise awareness about Cambodia's orphanages, said a large number of organisations get sucked into using children to raise funds, such as making them speak in front of a camera about the abuse they survived, having their picture in a pitiful situation published for everyone to see and allowing non-professional visitors to physically interact with institutionalised children. He acknowledged that the organisations were trying to get the income they needed in an environment hungry for emotional stimulus. But he said in the worst cases the truth was distorted or the stories invented to attract more compensation and money. "The impact on the lives of these children is terrible," he said. "If they come from an abusive situation, such a process re-traumatises them and in any case it stigmatises them forever."
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Presentations

Presentations to our School Board

To view each presentation, please click on the image below the presentation topic.

Human Resources Report



Strategic Planning Update



K-12 Social Studies Materials Adoption

Referendum Discussion

Human Resources Report

Wayne Township Library Collection Development and Reconsideration Processes

2022 Budget

2022 Elementary Classroom Additions

Office of Special Services

SpendBridge

Breakdown of ESSER II and ESSER III

Advanced Turf Solutions

Area31 / WTAE School Board Presentation  June 14, 2021

Return-to-School Information, Reviewed 6/9/21. Updates Coming for 2021-22 School Year

25 Year Preventative Maintenance Plan

ESSER II and ARP Presentation

Math K-12 Adoption Presentation

Teacher Compensation Report

2020 IT Services & Operations Overview

Human Resources Board Report

District Equity Team Board Report

Office of Special Services Presentation

In House Wellness Program to Replace On Target Health

Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Budget Presentation

Elementary Wayne@Home

2020 Architect and Construction Manager RFI

eLearning Update

Recruitment and Retention Sharing the Wayne Way

Office of Special Services

Social Emotional Learning in Wayne

Why Do Our Schools Have Two Letter Grades?

25 Year Plan And Our Next Projects

View Our Archived District Presentations


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By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 15, 2016 | 09:58 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Paducah Aero Modelers will host a fundraiser, "Taking Flight for Charity" on June 10, starting at noon and on June 11 and 12 from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm. The event's opening ceremonies will begin at 9:00 am June 11.

According to the Paducah Aero Modelers, all proceeds from the event will go to the nonprofit organization Wounded Warrior Project. This donation will support a full range of programs and services for this generation of veterans who have been injured in the line of duty and their families.

The Paducah Aero Modelers' club consists of airplane, control line, and helicopter pilots with over 50 model aviation pilots in its membership. Their annual charity event attracts pilots from several states to support the initiative.

Events will include all venues of model aviation on display and in the air throughout the day including control line stunt, radio control electric powered glider, drones, ducted fan jets, foamy scale, electric and glow powered extreme 3-D helicopter, giant scale sport, 3-D, nostalgia, WWI and WWII model airplanes. The public will also have an opportunity to fly a model aircraft under the instruction of one of the club's flight instructors utilizing a buddy box training system.

Phillip Rudd, event coordinator said; "For the past 241 years, all who have worn the uniform of the United States Military and carried the Stars & Stripes into battle to ensure our freedoms, have given, and some have paid the ultimate sacrifice. The Paducah Aero Modelers are presenting everyone an opportunity to give back to those who have given so much!"

Donations to the Paducah Aero Modelers goal for the WWP can be made online at the link below.



Donations can be mailed to:

Tom Riley

Treasurer, Paducah Aero Modelers

33 Sanderson Road

Mayfield, KY 42066

c/o Wounded Warrior Project Benefit

Donations will also be accepted at the fundraiser on the event days in June.

On the Net:
One arrested, two to the hospital after hit-and-run crash on I-24 in Christian County
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By Bill Hughes/Greg Dunker

Jun. 04, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By Bill Hughes/Greg Dunker Jun. 04, 2016 | 11:23 AM | PADUCAH, KY

Local money from an event has already changed the lives of Carribean people who needed clean drinking water.



After the local Walk 4 Water event on April 16 raised over $30,000 for Healing Hands International, the organization asked local event worker Ginger Moore to go with them to Haiti. She just returned on Wednesday, and told the Greg Dunker Show she visited two locations.



"One was a small village where we had a big drilling rig that was actually drilling for the water. The Drill Master, Curt, let me get up on the drilling rig and I got to drill some," Moore said.



She said that women in the village would sing while they were drilling, and if the women stopped, Curt would turn off the rig.



Moore said, "They would look at him and he would say, 'Well, you aren't singing!' So, once they started back with their singing he would turn the machine back on. (It was) just really exciting to hit water there."



The second site had already found water about two weeks earlier, so Moore helped put in a concrete pad and run piping about 300 feet to the water source.



The oldest man of the village was chosen to pump the water to the top, but it took more work than he was able to do.



"It takes 200-300 pumps to get the water from down deep up to the surface. So the elderly man tired before the water started coming out. A younger gentleman took over for him. When the water came out, the children all ran and drank as much as they wanted and splashed!" Moore said.



A 15-year-old boy named Encito spoke English, and told Ginger that prior to the well's installation, he walked several miles to get water each day before he went to school.



She said the organization didn't waste time after the money was raised by the walk, since it's been less than two months, and two communities now have clean water.
By National Weather Service May. 07, 2016 | 12:42 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The National Weather Service office in Paducah has issued a special weather statement for a chance of isolated heavy rains and localized flooding this evening.Small lines of showers, some with locally heavy rain have developed this afternoon across parts of western Kentucky. The rain is highly efficient, capable of producing 3/4 to an inch of rain within an hour.As the evening progresses, thunderstorm activity could increase, especially across the southern Purchase and Pennyrile areas.Heavy rain fell in the last 24 hours south of a line from Clinton to Greenville, and these areas may once again see heavy rains this evening. This could cause rapid rises in small creeks, streams and ditches, and may lead to brief flooding of low-lying areas.The southern half of western Kentucky will be monitored for a possible flash flood watch, should conditions warrant. In the meantime, use caution while driving this evening across western Kentucky, especially after a local thunderstorm.

On the Net:
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
Ronald Koeman is now within the width of a gnats goolies of becoming the new Everton manager, at least according to his agent.

Koemans Mr 10%, Rob Jansen, is reported to have told Dutch website Voetbal International that we have reached an agreement with Everton and that now it is up to the clubs to agree on a compensation package for Koeman, who still has a year to run on his contract at St Marys.

Such is the lure of being reunited with Arouna Kone, whom Koeman managed during his time in charge at PSV.

Anyway, many are seeing this is something of a sideways move for Koeman, especially with Southampton on the up and Everton very much stagnating over the past season or two.

However, there must be something enticing in there to lure the Dutchman up to Goodison and Pies think weve a hunch what it might be.

Bright Oranje new away kit, eh? What a coincidence.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/06/2016 (2333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair delivered a message of cautious optimism for the future of the federal-municipal relationship at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Winnipeg Sunday.

Mulcair highlighted the importance of municipal leadership  and federal-municipal partnership  on climate change, social infrastructure and reconciliation with Canadas Indigenous peoples.

The municipal level can lead with regard to green, renewable energy, he said, as well as building retrofits and capturing methane coming out of landfills. We think thats a wonderful opportunity that we could be fulfilling.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS NDP leader Tom Mulcair addresses the crowd at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which is wrapping up Sunday.

Many of you (Canadas mayors) have First Nations communities within the limits of your cities, and I think the federal government should be playing a major role there, helping cities to adjust and deal with that.

Mulcair was less enthusiastic about the Liberal initiative to create a new infrastructure bank.

Ive been in politics a long time, and I know that theres nothing easier than to tell people what you think they might want to hear, he said. I dont think that its so much a new structure that we need, as to actually just make sure the moneys there, the program makes sense, that we dont impose one-size-fits-all (policies).

Id be a bit more reticent about creating a new structure, because it sometimes takes up a lot of energy that should be better spent making sure the money is flowing and that the purpose is being attained, he said.

Mulcair also took time to praise what he called a change of tone in Canadian politics regarding federal-municipal relations and climate change ushered in by the new Liberal government, although he remained cautious, saying the NDP would continue to pressure the government to ensure the Liberals deliver on promises.

Mulcairs speech was the first of two keynote speeches on the final day of the four-day-long conference. Green leader Elizabeth May spoke later Sunday.

The national conference was held at the RBC Convention Centre and included addresses by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

aidan.geary@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/06/2016 (2333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was nearly 30 years ago, but Vic Hooper still remembers Winnipegs first Pride Parades. Moreover, he remembers being too scared to go.

I was afraid to go to Pride, because I was afraid of being discovered and outed, said Hooper. As a teacher, he said he feared he would lose his job if the school system discovered he was gay.

Standing atop the parkade at The Forks, looking out over the tens of thousands of vividly-dressed Winnipeggers celebrating the Pride Festival on Sunday afternoon, Hooper said a lot has changed.

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Rainbow-garbed Pride Parade participants display colourful signs as part of Sunday's event.

When you take a look at whats happening here, particularly with the Human Rights Museum as a backdrop to this wonderful setting at the Forks, its stunning, he said, recalling the late 80s version of Pride.

In those days, it wasnt necessarily a celebration  it was a movement, for action, so that we had our rights and were accepted.

Sunday was the final day of the annual Pride Winnipeg Festival, wrapping up 10 days of celebrations with the customary Pride Parade. With 92 entrants, 2,000 people and tens of thousands more gathered to watch, it was the biggest parade yet in terms of entrants, handily topping last years 70 entrants and nearly doubling the approximately 50 entrants from 2014.

Parade participants marched up from the Legislature up Memorial Boulevard to York Avenue, then up York until turning onto Garry Street and looping back down Broadway to the Legislature. This years parade was so long that the front-runners crossed the finish line before the tail-end passed the start.

As usual, the parade was preceded by a rally at the Legislature. This years event boasted political heft in the form of Premier Brian Pallister, Mayor Brian Bowman, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and more, as well as Gilbert Baker, who created the now-famous rainbow flag in 1978.

Pallisters appearance was highly anticipated.

Dressed in a sport coat and James Taylor T-shirt, the premier quoted the musicians songs of self-acceptance and tolerance, and praised Manitobans as a community that celebrates differences. But, he acknowledged, theres progress to be made in every respect.

I think in the past, for example, advancing womens rights, advancing indigenous peoples rights, these are things that happen when people set aside partisan politics and just join together arm in arm and just try to do whats right and best for all of us, he said. I look forward to continuing that challenge. Theres more to do.

During the election campaign in April, 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.

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.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks to the crowd gathered on the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building before to Pride Parade Sunday morning.

Reflecting on the Premiers appearance, Pride Winnipeg president Jonathan Niemczak said he hoped it signalled the province will soon provide more than symbolic support.

While Niemczak said Manitoba is a progressive province, like Pallister, he stressed some things still need to change.

The time has come that we do need to have the LGBTTQ* rights movement included in the school curriculum and taught as part of history courses, Niemczak said, adding it was for students safety as much as their education.

I feel like until we include the LGBTTQ* rights within that, were always going to have this struggle with safe schools, he went on. You can print policies all you want, but its not going to make a difference if students are closed-minded and not exposed to those topics throughout their school term.

Niemczak said Pride Winnipeg will discuss the issue over the summer, then put together a task force to present it to the province.

Bowman also addressed the crowd at the rally. This Wednesday, he is expected to introduce a motion to the executive policy committee requesting a comprehensive policy review of the City of Winnipegs programs and services to look for opportunities to improve inclusivity. Data collection, for instance, frequently asks respondents to identify as either male or female, leaving out many Winnipeggers who dont fit into the gender binary.

For Hooper, the day was exciting, not only because of the political punch it packed, but because of the popular support.

After the parade, walking down Broadway It was wall-to-wall, all four lanes or five lanes, all across, walking towards The Forks. It was like Toronto on Yonge Street, you know? It was just packed with people who were celebrating gay pride.

Visibly emotional, Hooper was laughing as he teared up.

Its starting to hit my emotions, he said. Its just great. I dont know what to say.

aidan.geary@freepress.mb.ca
The Winona Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade choirs participated in the Trills and Thrills Music Festival at Highland Park High School and Valleyfair in the Twin Cities on May 20.

The choir, directed by Courtney Zupancich, performed for a panel of master adjudicators, who provided written and audio comments/critique as well as an overall rating for each performance. The choir received a Superior rating, as well as a plaque and ribbon for its achievements.

The trip was made possible by the generous support of the WMS PTA, the Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools, WAPS, and parent volunteers.
Principal Marianne Texley had some help in her office at Madison Elementary School on Friday morning.

Fourth-grader Bailey Grinsteinner and second-grader Kiley Pollock were with her as principals for the day, positions they won in a drawing.

Their duties for the day didnt include hiring new staff or leading meetings, but they were important nonetheless.

Well go around and check on all the classes, Texley said, maybe even do a fire drill. Hopefully no discipline. But their first task for the day was counting summer brochures for each classroom.

Oh, Ive done this all myself before, Grinsteinner said confidently, as she looked at the piles of flyers about the BK5K run, free lunches, summer reading program, summer camps.

All the summer stuff, Pollock said. Are we just supposed to count them and make them in piles?

Yes, Texley answered, showing the girls a count of students in each class.

The spotlight was on Grinsteinner and Pollock, but the day was significant for Texley, too. It was her last Friday with the students, as shes retiring later this month after 23 years with Winona Area Public Schools. In that time, shes worked at all of the districts schools except Jefferson Elementary and the high school.

Shes been at Madison and Goodview for the past year, and said shes picked up un poquito Spanish at Madison, which has a Spanish language immersion program.

Texley, originally from South Dakota, attended the College of St. Teresa in Winona, graduating in 1976. After that she returned to South Dakota, where she taught for 15 years, in grade levels ranging from second to eighth.

Ready for a change, Texley went back to school for administration. When a position was available in Winona, she and her husband decided to move back, a longtime dream theyd had.

Texley said the switch from teaching was pretty smooth. She was ready for something different, and she still got to be around kids.

The job comes with its challenges, including dealing with budget cuts, letting people go.

Youre the instructional leader, youre the manager, and no two days are alike, she said.

All things considered, Texley said the highlight of her career has been spending time around young learners.

Even if you are having a hard day, all you have to do is go visit the kids, she said.

Technology has been the biggest change over Texleys career.

Her first position was as principal of Dakota and Ridgeway schools. At the time, the schools didnt have a single computer between them.

Today, kids at all the districts elementary schools use tablets and laptops daily.

Technology has really infused our work, and its changed our work, she said. Youre always learning how to do something different.

In the years ahead, Texley said shes looking forward to spending more time with her young grandchildren in St. Paul, and hopes to pursue more volunteer opportunities here in Winona.

Im ready to start the next chapter, and its time to let the next generation of principals come in, she said.
As a fairly new Minnesota resident, Im often asked, Why Minnesota? I respond without hesitation, Minnesota values education!

Many people know Winona State University was the first normal school west of the Mississippi River, and one of the first normal schools in the nation. But what they may not know is that the act passed to establish three state normal schools occurred near the close of the session of the first Legislature of the state on August 2, 1858, just 93 days after becoming the 32nd state admitted into the union.

Much like today, it was an historic time for the Minnesota Legislature and the citizens of Minnesota, and the close of the session represented a pivotal moment in the history of teacher preparation.

According to my Volume II History of Winona CountyMinnesota (1913), legislators historically have been supportive of WSU, primarily because Minnesotans across the state have been actively involved in promoting teacher education. In fact, the 1858 Minnesota legislative act that established Winona Normal School was successful because of the advocacy of a local legislator, Dr. John D. Ford of Winona, and through the earnest efforts on the part of the citizens.

In 1864, citizens of Winona called for an act establishing permanent appropriations to the Winona Normal School. In 1866, funding was awarded to design and build the first Winona Normal School building on the WSU campus. This Phase I funding was followed with additional funding to complete the building, or some might say Phase II.

The story of the historical precedence of legislative support for higher education, and particularly for teacher education, is still relevant today. During the 2014 legislative session, Phase I money for design and development of the Education Village was appropriated, due to the advocacy of Rep. Gene Pelowski and Sen. Jeremy Miller. This years legislative session considered a bonding bill that included Phase II funding for the WSU Education Village, a project that is as historic as the creation of the first normal school building at WSU.

More recently, the earnest efforts on the part of the citizens have focused on designing the WSU Education Village. Thanks to the continued commitment of faculty, students, staff, K-12 representatives, community members and administrators, the Education Village project is now shovel-ready. Three vacated buildings will be repurposed and revitalized to become the home of the WSU College of Education  a world-class, 21st century learning environment for training teachers to serve Minnesotas children. This is our history and our future.

Our Minnesota workforce relies on workers with basic skills learned in schools, and the current teacher shortage across the state demonstrates just how essential our teachers are to the economic vitality and development of good citizens in the state. Through the Education Village, we will provide opportunities for Minnesotans to create a better future for themselves, for their families and for their communities.

The Legislatures past support of our colleges and universities has created a state that is known to value education, and I was thrilled to see full funding for Phase II supported by Gov. Mark Dayton, and the bonding bills presented by the House and the Senate. Traveling the region and giving presentations with Rep. Pelowski, WSU President Scott Olson and former Winona Area Public Schools Superintendent Scott Hannon, who have shown unfailing dedication to this project, has been a humbling experience for me.

Because of all this, it was extremely difficult to watch the 2016 legislative session end without a bonding bill and with very minimal supplemental funding for higher education. It is my hope our legislators will work together toward agreement, and Gov. Dayton will call a special session to pass a bonding bill and increased supplemental funding for higher education.

Why Minnesota? you might ask. Our history tells us that Minnesota values education, and what Ive observed so far during my time here shows me that Minnesota still values education. So lets show the future citizens of Minnesota how much we value education and ask for a special session to fund Minnesotas future.

I am ready to put a shovel in the ground and begin building the WSU Education Village.
BEIJING  Commemorations were held in Taiwan and elsewhere Friday ahead of the 27th anniversary of Chinas bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centered on Beijings Tiananmen Square, while the government in China, where the incident remains a taboo topic, said it had long ago turned the page on the political turmoil.

Former student leader Wuer Kaixi was joined by lawmakers at Taiwans legislature on Friday to mark the June 4, 1989, military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Taiwans democratic politics and open society have long served as a counterpoint to Chinas authoritarian one-party system, which permits no discussion of the crackdown or memorials for the victims.

Wuer said the Chinese government continues to prevent him from returning to China and bars his elderly parents from traveling to meet him and their grandson outside the country.

This is what a so-called great nation has done to me, Wuer told participants in the gathering outside Taiwans parliament. We are facing a nasty and brutal China.

Wuer fled China after the crackdown, in which he was named the second most wanted among the student leaders. Unable to return home, he married a Taiwanese woman and settled on the island in 1996. Earlier this year he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the legislature.

With the anniversary looming, security in China has been tightened and victims family members have been placed under additional restrictions. At least half a dozen people have reportedly been detained for attempting to commemorate the events, although a small group wearing T-shirts condemning the crackdown converged on the square on Sunday, among them former house painter Qi Zhiyong, who had both of his legs amputated after being shot by martial law troops early on June 4, 1989.

In Washington, D.C., the State Department called for a full public accounting of those killed, detained, or missing and for an end to censorship of discussions about the events of June 4, 1989, as well as an end to harassment and detention of those who wish to peacefully commemorate the anniversary.

In a statement, it also urged the Chinese government to respect the rights and freedoms of all its citizens.

Asked about the anniversary, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had long ago reached a clear conclusion about the political turmoil at the end of 1980s and other related issues.

Chinas explosive economic growth in the years that followed proves that the path of socialism with Chinese characters we chose to follow ... is in line with the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, and it represents a wish shared by them all, Hua told reporters at a daily news briefing.

Another former student leader, Wang Dan, told a commemorative event in Tokyo that Chinas post-crackdown development proves it isnt necessarily true that economic growth will eventually lead to democracy.

Wang, now a professor in Taiwan, said holding such memorials was about more than just remembering the 1989 events.

Its a gesture to show your political position, he said. Its a gesture to fight against the view of the Communist Party.
Page Content

 UW Law School students pose for a photo in April 2022 during a visit to the State Bar Center.

Become a State Bar of Wisconsin Law Student Associate today and take steps now to boost your future legal career. The State Bar of Wisconsin offers a variety of resources to help you connect with the legal profession while youre a student. You can network with your future colleagues at events, stay up-to-date on whats happening in the law, be added to the monthly Law Student Associate Newsletter, and access research and career resources.

Join today for free and start making connections! If you have questions, please contact staff liaison Jacque Evans,  jevans@wisbar.org, (608) 250-6083.





Law Student Associate News



Supreme Court Rule Ch. 50: Practical Training of Law Students



For more information regarding Practical Training of Law Students, please visit the following resources:

Clerk's Office: Clerk of Supreme Court

University of Wisconsin Law School: UW Law

Marquette University Law School: MU Law




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The State Bar of Wisconsin is a mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for all attorneys who hold a Wisconsin law license. With more than 25,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education and other services for its members, supports the education of law students, and educates the public about the legal system. The State Bar of Wisconsin also provides public services, including attorney referrals, public education and reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents.

Although it was created by the Supreme Court, the State Bar is not a state agency and its operations are not supported with tax revenues. Instead, the private association is supported by member dues and earned revenues (e.g., from the sale of books, legal seminars, and other products). The State Bar does not license or discipline attorneys. These and related activities are administered by separate state agencies.

Admission to Practice

The Wisconsin Supreme Court requires lawyers to be admitted to practice by the court and to join the State Bar of Wisconsin as a condition of practicing law in the state. Lawyers seeking to practice law in Wisconsin must go through the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), an 11-member board appointed by the supreme court. BBE evaluates the skills, character, and fitness of lawyers, and also writes and grades the Wisconsin Bar Examination.

Visit the BBE website to find information regarding the admission to practice law, and applications.

Continuing Education

In general, active member lawyers who were admitted to practice law in Wisconsin are required to comply with the 30-hour Wisconsin mandatory continuing legal education (CLE) requirements for each two-year reporting period. There are some exceptions for newly admitted attorneys and emeritus members.

Visit the BBE website for details on the CLE requirements.

In-House Counsel Registration

In addition, attorneys licensed in other states that are not admitted to practice law in Wisconsin and are in-house counsel must register with the BBE within 60 after the commencement of employment as a lawyer in this state.

Visit the BBE website to learn about these registration requirements.

Pro Hac Vice

Non-member attorneys can appear and participate in a particular action or proceeding in association with an active member of the State Bar of Wisconsin after filing the required pro hac vice application and application fee with the State Bar of Wisconsin. Other requirements for pro hac vice admission are governed by Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules and certain Wisconsin Circuit Court Local Rules.

File application for pro hac vice admission.

Visit the Wisconsin Court System website for more information on pro hac vice requirements.

Procedure to Regain Admission after a Voluntary Resignation

To regain admission after resignation, a member must contact the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Page Content

The State Bar of Wisconsin is a mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for all attorneys who hold a Wisconsin law license. With more than 25,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education and other services for its members, supports the education of law students, and educates the public about the legal system. The State Bar of Wisconsin also provides public services, including attorney referrals, public education and reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents.

Although it was created by the Supreme Court, the State Bar is not a state agency and its operations are not supported with tax revenues. Instead, the private association is supported by member dues and earned revenues (e.g., from the sale of books, legal seminars, and other products). The State Bar does not license or discipline attorneys. These and related activities are administered by separate state agencies.

The State Bar's Vision: Our members are the respected guardians of the dignity and integrity of the rule of law within a fair and accessible justice system.

The State Bar's Mission: We support our members in a dynamic and diverse society in delivering valued professional services, promoting access to justice and pursuing professional satisfaction.

The State Bar's Strategic Plan establishes priorities, goals and expectations that are supported by volunteer leadership, members, and staff. The plan serves as a concrete map for fulfilling the mission of the State Bar and for making budget and operational decisions while providing measurable targets to promote management and board accountability.

Establishment of the State Bar of Wisconsin

SCR Chapter 10, commonly referred to as the State Bar rules, specify the organization, governance and operations of the State Bar. The rule also allows the State Bar to adopt "bylaws and regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter, for the orderly administration of the association's affairs and activities."

Regulatory Agencies

While all states have a bar association, they vary widely in terms of structure and mission. While some state bars operate attorney admission and discipline systems, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has created regulatory agencies within the judicial branch of state government for these purposes. These include the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) to oversee admission to the bar and the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) to protect the public from misconduct by persons practicing law in Wisconsin.


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A large part of the State Bar of Wisconsins mission is to improve the administration of justice and the delivery of legal services to the public.

To fulfill this important mission and to strategize for the future, the State Bar researches critical issues affecting the community. The State Bar then prepares credible, evidence-based reports on how the public interacts with the legal system.

If you would like further information on any of the reports below, please contact Customer Service.

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Bridging the Justice Gap

A 2007 study, Bridging the Gap: Wisconsin's Unmet Legal Needs, commissioned by the State Bar of Wisconsin showed that more than 500,000 of our state's residents face serious civil legal problems without any assistance. This report and its recommendations were adopted by the State Bar Board of Governors on May 8, 2007.

Public Understanding of the Legal System

A key strategic goal (responsibility) of the State Bar of Wisconsin is to ensure Wisconsin's residents understand the importance, value and relevancy of the law and the legal system to their daily lives. In order to guide priority setting, the Public Understanding of the Legal System Committee commissioned a study to determine baseline levels of understanding among those Wisconsinites surveyed.

Ethics 2000 Committee

The Wisconsin Supreme Court created the Ethics 2000 Committee to study the ABA's proposed changes to the model rules. The Ethics Committee's report and petition, which was filed on July 29, 2004, set forth its recommendations. This is the most comprehensive proposal for changes to SCR Chapter 20, Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, since the mid-1980s.
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Effective Date: February 2, 2018
Sign you up.

Thats one of the things of which youre most proud: you freely give of your time. Rotary, Jaycees, Lions, your local hospital, if they need help, your name is on the list. Sign you up and they benefit but, if youre honest with yourself, so do you. In the new book Tribe by Sebastian Junger, youll see why it comes naturally.

In examining American history, one startling fact is that a good number of early settlers voluntarily went to live with American Indians. They eschewed the familiar European community theyd always known, and chose a different, sometimes harder, way of life that offered the personal values theyd come to want. Even former captives, once rescued from warring tribes, often escaped back to their captors.

Within that difficult (but arguably simpler) life those settlers sought were three basic things humans require for contentment: feelings of competency, connection, and authenticity. The settlers got what they needed from Indian society but, says Junger, modern humans arent always so lucky.

From birth, we are isolated from others. Hunter-gatherer mothers, conversely, carry their infants nearly constantly, and would be horrified at the idea of separate bedrooms. Their children grow up with a different sense of community than do North American children, but a craving for closeness is universal and timeless; Junger says he felt it when he spent time overseas with military troops. Personnel slept tightly packed in canvas tents, and he felt safer because of it.

We are, he says, hard-wired to live communally, just as were hard-wired to shun those who exhibit needlessly-selfish behavior. Ancient societies had to share to survive, and personal items were few; today, we rush to help those who endure disaster  indeed, we may act heroically  and we scorn wealthy CEOs who we think are greedy. And what we need to do to preserve our humanity, Junger says, is to embrace a mind-set of community, understand the need for sacrifice, and find a sense of solidarity.

It may be the only thing that allows us to survive

At well under 200 pages in length, Tribe seems like it would be a quick, light read.

Its not. No, youll be hanging onto every word of this book.

From post-collegiate hitchhiking and sharing resources, to ancient civilizations, the One Percent, PTSD, and a surprising discovery from wartime survivors, author Sebastian Junger offers readers a look at humanity thats graceful, and laced with a plea.

That plea is quiet, but it comes through in every anecdote, personal story, and historical fact set forth here: to wit, we must return to the Old Ways of belonging. Thats the message Junger gently pokes us with, but he does it with a sense of urgency thats compelling. You truly wont be able to forget it.

Without a doubt, therefore, this is a make-you-think kind of book. Its filled with interesting ideas and points, but its ocean-deep in meaning and introspection. You cant ignore what youll learn inside Tribe, and if that sounds good, then sign you up.
I view our current political scene with alarm and dismay.

Groups of citizens, after years of being exposed to false information on talk radio and TV have taken on many beliefs based not on fact and reality, but on myths and historical distortions meant to divide the middle class and the working poor.

Political and religious biases are exploited to the point of having intelligent citizens voting against their own best interests. Well-intentioned leaders are demonized, while those who fulfill the wishes of the rich and powerful are canonized. Voters are encouraged to put political party loyalty over the welfare of this nation. Our society is populated by honest citizens who have played by the rules only to have these rules (which were fair and equitable) tossed aside with a heartless disregard for the consequences.

As a child of the Great Depression, I have had the opportunity to see what good government can accomplish. The reforms of the 1930s, put in place to counteract the misery of this social and economic disaster and to prevent it from ever reoccurring, have been steadily and intentionally eliminated since the 1980s. The results have been devastating to the middle class and generations have been confused by the misleading information funded by the wealthy who benefit from the manipulations of Wall Street. The confusion of the voters is manifested by the enthusiasm displayed when one of the exploiters runs for office.

Remember a hedge fund manager with no military experience was nearly elected commander-in-chief of our nation. How many voters know what a hedge fund manager does? How many have heard of the Koch brothers, or Sheldon Adelson, or ALEC or the trade agreements that have cost America our best paying jobs while further enriching those who were already wealthy. The results on citizens who actually work for a living have been devastating and those who have health concerns are exploited beyond reason.

How did our society become in such disarray politically and so confused? The incessant misinformation spewed forth by right-wing think tanks disguised as talk radio and TV over decades has been effective. The generation that should be politically astute has instead been disillusioned by the hate-filled rhetoric and thus has chosen to ignore politicians and politics. The cynicism that has resulted has led to indifference or decisions based strictly on emotions rather than knowledge.

There is only one candidate who is not beholden to greedy billionaires, and his name is Bernie Sanders. This may be the last chance for America to provide a future for our children and grandchildren. Dont take this election lightly; it is too important.

Wilford Zeamer, Beaver Dam
Dont blame it on Automotion, and dont let unruly behavior by an idiotic few upend a long-time, successful Wisconsin Dells weekend.

These were the two dominant themes voiced by local law enforcement, government and tourism officials Monday following an Automotion weekend that saw near-perfect weather and strong attendance at several local automobile-related events  accompanied by an increase in traffic jams, reckless driving and some untoward behavior by some attendees.

A dramatic increase in complaints and citations  with many infractions of the reckless-driving variety  were logged by local police forces between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, as a throng well above an expected 100,000 streamed into the Dells-Delton area during the 30th annual Automation classic car rally at Noahs Ark Waterpark.

The stream of automobile enthusiasts flocked not only to the venerable classic car rally at Noahs Ark, but also to auto rallies of varying sorts on tap at Mt. Olympus Resort, Bobbers restaurant and the Edge-O-Dells camping resort.

Significant traffic jams and gridlock, accompanied by the occasional squealing tires  known as burnouts  and, in general, reckless driving, especially throughout the day Saturday  kept Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells law enforcement officials on their toes throughout the weekend.

Complaints to the Dells Police Department were up by 50 percent, reported Police Chief Jody Ward, along with a marked increase in citations issued, ordinance violations and written warnings.

Wisconsin Dells police logged 130 complaints  up from 90 in 2015  and issued 94 citations, with 50 ordinance violations and 35 written warnings issued.

Lake Delton police received 178 calls for service, issued 440 citations with a reported 42 crimes, and issued a minimum of 2,000 warnings, according to Lake Delton Police Chief Daniel Hardman.

But while the violations and police citations  along with the reckless driving and unruly behavior that generated them  were dramatically increased over 2015, local officials universally agreed that the weekends events  especially Automotion  are here to stay and will not be sullied by a few so-called idiots.

This is not Automotion. Because we didnt have any problems with Automotion  its the other freak show, said Lake Delton Police Chief Daniel Hardman. Its not fair to Automotion that these idiots and other people do this stuff.

The rednecks that are cruising around and acting like a bunch of idiots, those are the people that are detracting from this event, said Dells Mayor Brian Landers. I dont think theyre here spending money at all, theyre only adding to the congestion and the problems the police are having.

Suggesting that the fines handed out for reckless driving  in the $600 range  arent discouraging people, Landers called for bringing in a fleet of tow trucks to remove offending vehicles when their drivers are out of control.

With a bunch of tow trucks staged and ready to tow vehicles, we let the towing companies charge whatever they want, Landers said. That could be a pretty hefty cost for squealing tires.

Both Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells augmented their full-time staffs with help from other departments in the area, and Ward said that approach will be taken in even greater measure a year from now.

I think this thing has grown to the point where we have to beef up our force even more next year and strategize about how to more effectively deal with the crowds, Ward said. I think its great for the community, however I think we will continue to increase enforcement efforts because theres too many reckless drivers and too many disturbances with the motor vehicles. Well keep dealing with it  thats what we get paid to do.

Automobile-related crashes apparently were fewer than in recent years in the Dells, which had two, and most of the dozens of auto mishaps reported were not serious  thanks in large part, officials said, to the weekend-long gridlock on major thoroughfares that at times slowed traffic to a standstill.

Maybe because the traffic volume was higher than normal, (Wisconsin Dells Parkway) was really like a big parking lot  there really wasnt a lot for people to do but inch along, said Lake Delton Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Darren Jorgenson. I dont recall ever seeing the Parkway get that much of a gridlock for that long a period of time, 

The exception to that trend was a hit-and-run, multi-collision set of accidents Saturday evening in Lake Delton, on the part of a single driver who was suspected of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a news release from the Lake Delton Police Department.

The driver allegedly fled the first accident scene, where the vehicle he was driving collided with a motorcycle, then struck two pedestrians at a second scene before crashing into a telephone pole and metal railing a short distance away.

The motorcyclist involved in the first accident refused treatment, and the two pedestrians involved in the second incident were transported to a local hospital for treatment  as was the driver of the vehicle who fled.

The driver was later released from the hospital and booked into the Sauk County jail on multiple criminal charges, according to the news release, with names of the individuals involved being withheld until the investigation (by Lake Delton police) is complete.




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Yvonne Barnes Montgomery

By: Feng Qian

Police in Pennsylvania, released a video, showing an attorney being aggressive against a woman.

Police asked the public for help in identifying the woman.

One month after the incident, the Philadelphia police identified the aggressor who was seen on video throwing coffee and beating another woman outside the Starbucks at 1600 Arch Street.

Police said that one month after the incident took place, 47-year-old Yvonne Barnes Montgomery of Wyncote, turned herself in.

According to public records, Montgomery is a partner at the Tucker Law Group, which is located at 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City, just around the corner of where the attack took place.

Montgomery was charged with making terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct by engaging in fighting.

According to police, around 9:15 a.m., Montgomery became involved in an argument with the 54-year-old victim. She allegedly threw a coffee stirrer at the victim inside the Starbucks.

The two them took the fight to the street, where they were seen on video arguing before the lawyer threw coffee in the victimas face.

Montgomery then punched, kicked and pulled the victimas hair until witnesses pulled them apart.
Orlando Coleman

By: Tanya Malhotra

Police in Mississippi, were called to a home after two brothers got into a fight.

Police said that one man shot his brother over a pair of underpants on Friday morning.

Police said that 21-year-old Wardell Greenlee, was taken to the hospital after he was shot in the leg by his half-brother, Orlando Coleman, 31.

The two were arguing over a pair of underwear when Coleman pulled a gun.

Greenlee was transported to a hospital, where he is said to be in stable condition.

Police said that Coleman fled from the scene before they arrived.

However, he was found on Wilshire Street, and he was arrested without incident. Coleman faces a charge of aggravated assault.
It was 40 years ago, June 7, 1976 to be exact, that I attended my first Epsom Derby. That is the follies part of this column. The following year I returned to England for Royal Ascot, and then in 1978, I went all-in and attended both the Derby and Royal Ascot. A few months later I met my wife-to-be and thus ended my annual racing sojourns to England.

With the Derby normally run on the same day as the Belmont Stakes, and with me covering the Belmont for Daily Racing Form and then Blood-Horse for so many years, I either missed the race or was able to catch it at the Morning Line kitchen on the Belmont backstretch.

But this year, with the Belmont being run so late, I had the Epsom Derby all to myself in the comfort of my den. Although it was an exciting finish, it wasnt the race itself that brought back a flood of memories, but a name in several pedigrees. I discovered, much to my delight, that the first, second, fourth, and fifth-place finishers of the Derby all traced (in their female family) to Mill Reefs son Shirley Heights.

Thats when the images of the 1978 Epsom Derby flashed before my eyes as if it were yesterday. Robert Sangster had a 25-1 shot in the race named Hawaiian Sound, and he shocked the world by doing the unthinkable. He went against all tradition and logic and named Bill Shoemaker to ride the son of Hawaii.

An American jockey, even one as legendary as Shoemaker, riding such an irregular course as Epsom, with its uphill and downhill runs and banked straightaway in the Derby seemed insane. There was no way Shoemaker could get the hang of such a tricky course and keep a horse balanced and judge the pace, especially handling that nasty downhill run to Tattenham Corner and then an uphill run to the finish. Epsom made Churchill Downs look like a merry-go-round.

Hawaiian Sound was a horse who had natural early speed, and Shoemaker took his near-impossible task to another level by actually attempting to wire his field. This wasnt America. It is extremely rare for a horse to lead every step of the way in the Derby, especially considering there is often a pacesetter or two in the race. But Sangster and trainer Barry Hills obviously felt that an American rider had a better chance on the front end, where he was more comfortable than a European rider, especially after Braulio Baeza had wired his field aboard Roberto in the 1972 Benson and Hedges Gold Cup in course-record time, handing the great Brigadier Gerard his first career defeat. That was the idea of Robertos owner John Galbreath, and Sangster decided to try the same tactics.

Shoemaker sent Hawaiian Sound to the lead and, much to the amazement of everyone at Epsom, just kept going. With two furlongs to go, Hawaiian Sound was still in front and actually looked like he could pull it off. Having bet the horse only because of Shoemaker, I was already counting my money. Then, in the final furlong, here came Shirley Heights darting to the inside of Hawaiian Sound and just getting up to win by a head under veteran rider Greville Starkey. Everyone paid tribute to Shoemaker for his outstanding ride.

Hawaiian Sound, who Sangster purchased as a yearling for a mere $32,000, went on to be a group I winner and placed in the Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After returning to his birthplace, Arthur B. Hancock IIIs Stone Farm in Paris, Kentucky, he eventually wound up standing at stud in Texas and died in the same state in which Bill Shoemaker was born, so very far away from Epsom, where they almost pulled off one of the greatest and miraculous victories in Derby history.

The 1978 Epsom Derby may very well be Bill Shoemakers greatest ride that no one remembers. I was there and I remember.

Shirley Heights, whose sire, Mill Reef, was one of my all-time favorite horses, and whom I visited at Englands National Stud, became one of the most influential sires of his time, and it is obvious his impact on the breed is still being felt in a major way.

Now, lets back up two years to the follies, and my memorable first Epsom Derby 40 years ago.

When I landed at Heathrow Airport, I was already obsessed with Epsom and the Derby, thanks to names like Sea-Bird, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, and Roberto. I was in my European racing phase, and all I wanted to do was see Epsom with my own eyes, and because of my often obsessive behavior it had to be that first day.

The first foolish thing I did was to arrange to pick up a rental car at Heathrow. Needless to say that while driving to London on the wrong side of the road it did not take me long to realize that I may have made an error in judgment. As soon as I entered the city I ran into a massive traffic jam and found myself creeping along past Harrads Department Store. But I needed to check into my hotel and then get right back in the car and drive to Epsom, as warped a plan as that may have been.

Unfortunately, I first had to drive through Piccadilly Circus, not knowing it was I who would be the clown in this circus. The streets were so narrow, every turn would send my car up onto the curb. Driving down one of the streets, it was so narrow I literally could not fit through, and a gentleman was kind enough to get in my car and extricate it from the tight squeeze in which I had put it.

After driving aimlessly through one befuddling intersection after another, I finally made it to my hotel, which was a major chain and looked nice, and jet lag or no jet lag, the impulsive me was determined to drive to Epsom. It was there and I needed to see it and take photos...that day. A Pakistani man behind the desk gave me some cryptic directions, telling me to cross over the Thames River and follow Brixton Road, which would turn into the A23 or A24, or something to that effect. Well, I pictured the A23 to be a major highway like I-95. Uh, no. Not a highway, freeway, thruway or turnpike in sight; just the same London road that would never end.

I was told the drive was about 30 or 40 minutes. No sweat, I would be there with plenty of daylight left to walk the course and take photos. Two hours later I was still on Brixton Road. Three hours later I had no idea where I was. I had people telling me to follow them, but lost them. I had people opening up their street map on my fender and giving me directions. I encountered my first roundabout and managed to cut off two police cars that were whizzing around it with their sirens blaring. I immediately pictured myself spending my first day in England in jail. Surely, I would play dumb American and they would let me go with a scolding. Thankfully, they had more important matters to attend to and ignored my horrific driving and my attempt to impede justice.

So I kept driving aimlessly, having no idea if I was on the A23 or A24 or some other bingo number. It was now getting late. The day was almost over and not a sign of Epsom. Would I have to attempt to return to London in the dark?

Finally, I saw a sign that read Brighton 6 kilomoters. Now, even I knew that Brighton was the end of England. There was nothing beyond Brighton but the English Channel. That was it. I was donedefeatedbroken. I turned around in the hope of finding my way back to London before dark. Going back the opposite way there were constant signs for London, so no problem. Just then, I saw it, in flashing, glittering letters that beamed Emerald City. A sign for Epsom, and I was close.

So I followed the signs and there it was in all its glory -- people frolicking about, driving across the course, walking their dogs, picnicking. It had taken me four hours, but here I was walking on the hallowed ground of Epsom Downs, strolling down the steep hill of Tattenham Corner and looking down that mind-boggling stretch, where the ground was actually tilted to the left, and then that crazy uphill run to the finish. I took my pictures, got back in my car, followed the signs to London and whizzed back, crossing the Thames, and then taking another hour to find my hotel.

Knocked out from the jet lag and the longest, most aggravating day of my life, I flopped down on my bed, which for some reason was on wheels, and conked out, only to wake up hours later with my bed literally on the other side of the room. OK, so I also picked a bad hotel.

But in the end, I attended my first Derby and Oaks with my friend Peter Scott of the Daily Telegraph, saw the magnificent filly Pawneese romp in the Oaks and French invader Empery, trained by Maurice Zilber and owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt, win a rather uneventful Derby under Lester Piggott, took pictures of The Queen in her box, survived a visit to the infield, which made the Kentucky Derby infield look like a tea party, and watched people running stark naked on the course after the races.

Oh, by the way, when I returned to my hotel that first day, I immediately call Swan Rent-a-Car and told them to send someone to my hotel and take back their car. I never drove in England again.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - State officials giving good reviews of Florida's tourism marketing agency.

Earlier this year Governor Rick Scott called for reviews of both Visit Florida and Space Florida. All of this comes after the Orlando Sentinel reported that taxpayers paid thousands of dollars for foreign journalist and bloggers to vacation in the keys.

The state also paid for celebrities to promote the sunshine state. However the department of economic opportunity found that Visit Florida had a sound business operation, but said the agency should make more information about it's operations public.
About 20 years ago, I was a French teacher in a girls high school outside of Philadelphia and was picked to chaperone 40 of my students on a class trip to Paris. I spent two nights at the local gendarmerie trying to calm several girls who had slipped out of the hotel with the intention of losing one thing and instead, lost something infinitely more replaceable: their passports.

I accepted the responsibility, because thats what I was raised to do. Fortunately, my negligence resulted only in a lecture from my supervisor, and pursed lips from the nuns. The girls were fine, and to this day I believe that being raked over the coals by French police officers scared them straight.

As we all know, because we all spend so much of our lives on social media, a rare and endangered gorilla housed at the Cincinnati Zoo was euthanized over the weekend when a 4-year-old boy fell into its preserve. The child had either jumped over or under a fence on the perimeter of the preserve, and had fallen into the actual pit where the gorilla, named Harambe, lived. Video of the incident shows the little boy being dragged by the gorilla some distance, and then sitting in front of the animal almost as if they were having a discussion. It is a surreal circumstance, and one which should strike fear into the heart of anyone who has ever loved a child.

Ultimately, the gorilla was shot and killed, and the little boy was taken to the hospital where he was treated for non life-threatening injuries.

As expected, there was outrage on the internet. There were the usual suspects who believe that zoos are horrible places and that these majestic animals of the wild should not be caged for our human enjoyment. I always discount them as the PETA crazies, who have no problem with trashing medical laboratories that house experiments that might yield a cure for cancer, simply because some of those experiments are being performed on animals. Im sorry, but while I adore my dog Chance and dont want to see any animal suffer, Im of the surprisingly controversial opinion that human life is more valuable than that of an animal.

For that reason, while I mourn the loss of that majestic primate, I understand why the zoo took the steps it needed to. So do renowned animal rights activists like Jack Hanna and Jane Goodall.

But I am convinced that none of this would be necessary and that the tragedy could have been avoided if the mother of this hapless child would have done her job, which is to make damn sure her child is not placed in danger unnecessarily.

To me, when your child falls into a primate pit at the zoo, it is prima facie evidence of negligence. I dont care if you have other kids with you, I dont care if you are momentarily distracted, I dont care if you are otherwise mother of the year. If your toddler tumbles into a pit with a wild animal, your maternal instinct isnt as developed as that wild animals.

Some may see this as woman bashing, but Id say the same thing if the father were in charge. This is not a gender thing. This is a common sense thing.

Some have tried to blame the zoo by saying the primate exhibit was poorly designed. That might be the case. But if so, it is even more incumbent on a parent to make sure their child is insulated from that heightened danger. This is not the lawyer in me speaking. This is the human being with a fully functional brain.

I am not a mother. But it is ridiculous to believe that you have to give birth to understand the consequences of even momentary neglect. We can wring our hands and say all we want that its impossible to be perfect, but when an innocent child depends upon you for his safety, you damn well better be as close to perfect as possible.

Letting a child fall into the arms of a gorilla doesnt come anywhere close to satisfying that standard.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.
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Wapato's High Schools yearbook advisor Cynthia Jorgensen-Johnson has been a yearbook advisor for 10 years. As a teacher at Selah High School she advised the yearbook staff there for eight years. She began teaching and advising the yearbook staff at Wapato High School two years ago. Her goal each year is to make a better book than the year before. (ISRAEL MARTINEZ/Wapato High School)
Military drills are set to take place starting Sunday in the Gush Dan region and will continue until Wednesday. The exercises will take place in a number of locations including in Century Tower in Tel Aviv until Wednesday and the industrial area of Holon on Tuesday.
Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog indicated on Saturday that he remains open to discussing his factions conditional entry into the government. Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists, and I dont see him separating from them," said Herzog during an event in the city of Modiin. "However, if he does separate from the extreme right, we will meet and decide. I am the leader of a strong and ideological group. I am the leader of the group, but I am not a dictator.

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The comments come just days after Herzog came under fire from his own party for engaging in surreptitious negotiations with Netanyahu. Moreover, the apparent backtrack comes just days after Herzog took to his Twitter account to slam the door shut on any further rounds of negotiations.

Netanyahu, in response to your moves during the last few days to renew negotiations on joining the government, I want to clarify publicly what I have said to you: The door is closed. This chapter has ended. You are a prisoner of extremists and we will fight against this and against them.

MK Erel Margalit (Zionist Union) responded on Saturday night to Herzogs comments with contempt, stating, At this rate, the Labor party will be transformed from an alternative to Likud to an alternative to Ale Yarok (the Green Leaf Party). We will sink in the polls and. Netanyahu has created the most extreme government in the states history and instead of toppling it we are waiting outside in the rain until he lets us come in.

Photo: Amit Shavi

MK Shelly Yachimovich, who was at the forefront of the opposition to the negotiaions conducted between Herzog and Netanyahu, contended that the opposition needed to make more dramatic demands for the Zionist Union to agree to to even consider entering the government. If there is a practical political move and not only one of talk, the story could be reopened, said Yachomovich.

I promise that, if there is a real opportunity, I'll be the one who makes sure that we don't miss it. If there is a genuinely united government and not a casual crawl to the right-wing government...which doesnt only include words but also deeds, which leads to a breakthrough and, of course, a fundamental change in the guidelines and commitments of the coalition, I wont say no to this. At the moment, this is far away from the current situation.

Yachimovich further attacked the recent statements of peace made by Netanyahu and Lieberman last week. When I see Netanyahu and Lieberman suddenly spouting the words of peace, I cannot help but think that they will lure us in with the the dove of peace and then finish whatever is left of the Labor party if, God forbid, we join them based on these words.

Another MK from her party, Itzik Shmuli, commented on the timing of the message of peace of Netanyahu, and said Since the beginning of the investigations and reports, Netanyahu is suddenly bringing up the two-state solution and is running to wave the dove of peace. It seems that the extent of the governments withdrawal depends on the extent of the investigation. But they are all empty declarations with absolutely nothing behind them except smoke screens.
Asher Yadlin, a senior politician in the Labor party in the 70s, passed away on Friday at the age of 93. No funeral procession will be held for Yaldin since he donated his body for scientific research. Yadlin, who was a candidate for the position of governor of the Bank of Israel, served three-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted in 1977 for four charges of bribery.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced that financial assistance will be provided to children whose parents cannot afford high school trips to Poland to visit Holocaust-related sites. The assistance will be conditional upon hours of community volunteering. Some school staff, however, vehemently oppose the initiative, claiming that it would cause embarrassment and ridicule for the students affected.

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Bennett's initiative to fund trips to Poland for children from families who cannot afford the high costs has been met by unexpected opposition from parents and school principals who have urged the Education Ministry to scrap the stipulation requiring the recipients children to partake in community volunteering. In their opinion, such provisions risk humiliating the students.

Aside from the fact that the Education Ministry has not yet set aside sufficient funds for the initiative, school principals have warned that the conditions will expose the financial difficulties of the children's families and therefore humiliate them before their friends and fellow students.

Israeli students visiting Auschwitz (Photo: Reuters)

Recognizing the potential consequences, some school principals stated, We are working with sensitivity and with discretion to avoid embarrassing the students. Most of the students do not know that their parents applied for assistance. It is absurd to make the students work in the community because of a grant their parents requested.

Furthermore, the principals said that many parents requesting grants to fund their children's trip to Poland specifically ask that their children not be informed. In light of the new initiative, they claimed that some of the parents have said that if their children's grants are provisional upon volunteer work, they will refrain from requesting the funding and will not allow their children to participate in the visits.

Even though Bennett announced in the Knesset that the main thing which stops children participating in trips because of economic hardships is also true of trips to Poland, trips there can cost as much as 5,200 shekels. According to the principals, the average grant of 1,000 shekels is insufficient, which is why Bennetts program is, in practice, disconnected from reality.

The price of the trips is also expensive to families of moderate socio-economic background because of the cost of living. At the moment, parents who request subsidies for their children's trips are required to write a letter explaining their request to which they must attach their pay slips, pension slips or proof of unemployment. The subsidies can range between 1,0003,000 shekels, depending on family's income.

However, many principals claim that this is not enough: A student will receive a scholarship of 1,000 shekels if the family can prove that its income per person is between 2,201 and 3,000 shekels gross, including benefits; then they have to find another 4,200 shekels and decide between paying the electric bill, municipal taxes, or the trip."

MK Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union) demanded that the Ministry of Education to cancel the conditions of the financial assistance: The thought that what prevents thousands of children from going to see the remains of Auschwitz is that their parents cannot afford it is not an excuse.

The Education Ministry emphasized that this year they reduced the price of of the Poland trips by 1,200 shekels and offered its response to the criticism: All Israeli students must contribute as of today to the community on the belief that involvement in the community is education so that no one is discriminated against. Minister Bennett decided that no child should be left behind. The ministry was instructed to treat each case individually so that a child does not miss a trip because his parents couldnt afford it. The ministry further claimed that this year has already seen the figure of scholarships awarded to children has reached 20 million shekels, which have enabled some 7,000 students to participate in the trip.
The trial of a platoon leader in the Paratroopers is currently underway in a military court in Jaffa. He was indicted at the beginning of 2016 for hurling a tear gas grenade, which is commonly used to disperse Palestinian demonstrations and riots, into a tent full of soldiers because they failed to wake up on time.

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In recent months, the platoon leader was returned to his command position in spite of his actions. The investigation of the incident, which was conducted by Brigade Commander Col. Nimrod Aloni, along with testimony from soldiers and the commander himself which was obtained by Ynet, paints a worrying picture and raises the question: Why was he returned to his military post?

According to the investigation, the platoon leader in question asked one of his soldiers to awaken the platoon at 7am. The soldier failed to do so because, he claimed, his telephone turned off. The commander, who two days earlier had warned his soldiers that he would throw a tear gas grenade into the tent if they failed to wake up on time, fulfilled his threat.

The soldiers inside the tent woke up in shock and ran outside while coughing, choking and suffering a whole series of other side effects.

One soldier who was in the tent at the time explained, The commander came into the tent at 7:15am while we were sleeping. He threw a grenade, and the whole tent went white. After a minute everyone got out, but there was one injured soldier with crutches inside a sleeping bag and it took him a few minutes to get out with the help of his friends. The soldiers were tearing up, and they started choking from all the smoke. Another soldier was vomiting, and another one hit himself on a metal peg of the tent. I broke my toe, myself he said.

Photo: IDF spokesperson's unit

The platoon leader was a violent person, and we had told him this. He once ran after me with a stick and hit me hard on the leg with it.

Another witness described the commander as intolerant and as someone who was in the custom of using violence. He would tip over soldiers beds while they were sleeping to wake them up or pour water on them.

After he threw the grenade, he went and hid behind the bathroom for twenty minutes. He gathered us all together and said he was sorry and said that the platoon could now either be broken or it could overcome the incident and move on, he recalled.

Another soldier said, I was choking. My eyes swelled up. There were burns on my face. I vomited. He would always wake us up violently.

According to the company commander involved in the investigation, disciplinary transgressions were a common phenomenon within this particular platoon: The platoon was punished in the past for similar instances, he wrote. During the period of the current leader's predecessor, the platoon was known for it lack of discipline and for unusual normssomething which left behind many negative standards. Discipline and norms are a central component of the job of a platoon commander, he declared.

The investigation exposed that for two and a half months in which the platoon leader served in his role, three soldiers were dismissed following misconduct upon returning from an exercise. Additionally, two soldiers were kept on base after they were found in the field with magazines inside their guns (only permitted on the instructions of commanders ed.) while other soldiers were punished for safety, order and discipline violations.

The commander of the brigade claimed that the suspect did not consult with anyone before throwing the grenade and did not inform anyone of his responsibility for it.

Reflecting on the consequences of the incident, he added that it constituted a blow to the trust between a platoon leader and a soldier. There are red lines. It is forbidden to violate the honor of a soldier, of a Palestinian etc. The most basic contract is the one between a commander and a soldier.

Nevertheless, while acknowledging that the commander under investigation needed to be punished in accordance with the severity of his transgression, he insisted, In light of the fact that it was carried out in an environment in which unconventional acts such as these prevailed, he should not be dismissed...The main message is that the correct path is to fight againsts incidents such as these.

Nimrod Aloni (Photo: IDF spokesperson's unit)

The platoon leader himself sought to justify his actions on the grounds of love for his soldiers. I am a commander who gets his hands deep in dirt and as a result I argue sometimes with soldiers who think that they deserve too much, he continued. I did it out of love and an attempt not to deprive them of going home, which is the most important thing to them. (Preventing soldiers from going home during weekends off is a punishment frequently employed in the IDF ed.)

I made a mistake but, this notwithstanding, no one can be harmed by a gas grenade. I know the dangers, and that is why I made sure two or three times that no one was left in the tent. I moved sleeping bags and I, myself, absorbed the gas, he continued.

Citing his credentials, his lawyers also offered a similar line of defense after stating that the outstanding officer simply made a mistake. Until this mistake he never committed the smallest disciplinary offense during his military service or anywhere else...He understands that he made a mistake, he regrets it and he apologized for it to all his soldiers and commanders. It is important to emphasize that he also stayed in the tent to make sure that all the soldiers had left and only then left the tent.

Addressing the incident, the IDF spokespersons unit described it as very serious and exceptional which does not correspond with the values of of the IDF or the expectations of his commanders.
Israeli security forces arrested a 17-year-old Gazan who was a member of Hamas's military wing last month, it was cleared for publication on Sunday. The teenager was arrested in a joint operation between the IDF, police, and the Shin Bet after the Palestinainn crossed the border fence into Israel.

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The Palestinian wasn't carrying any weapons when he was arrested, and had no connections to any of the other Hamas members who've been arrested.

He revealed during his interrogation that he was affiliated with the Hamas Beit Lahiya Battalion, and dealt with tunnels for the majority of his Hamas service.

The suspect admitted that the tunnels were to be used by the Hamas Special Forces Nakhba unit to kidnap IDF soldiers, commit suicide attacks, and commit other large scale attacks on Israeli towns.

Hamas terror tunnel (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Hamas, the prisoner said, is working to create a warren of tunnels under Gaza for its fighters to enable them to traverse the length and breadth of the strip completely underground. The tunnels contain rooms and structures to be used for the benefit of Hamas Special Forces fighters.

The majority of tunnel entrances are located in and around schools, mosques, and private homes, built with the knowledge that Israel is less likely to attack these structures.

The Palestinian also spoke to the Shin Bet about the courses he underwent alongside work he carried out with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades brigades.

This is the second such arrest in the past month, with another 17 year old having been arrested at the beginning of May. Investigations of that teenager also revealed a wealth of information on Hamas tunnels
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced a 17-year-old Palestinian from Birzeit on Sunday after being found guilty of stabbing an Israeli Jew at IDF Sq. in Jerusalem in February 2015. The young Palestinian then continued on a stabbing spree, wounding others in his path.

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It was Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and his bodyguard who eventually managed to subdue the attacker . After arriving on the scene, Barkats bodyguard pulled out his weapon, which caused the terrorist to drop his knife. After that, Barkat and his bodyguard neutralized him and offered assistance to his stabbing victim.

J'lem Mayor takes down terrorist

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In addition to being convicted of two attempted murders, the young Palestinian was ordered to pay his first victim, who was moderately wounded, 100,000 shekels in damages.

The indictment also listed the offenders other terror attempts, which included throwing a pipe bomb, rocks and Molotov cocktails at IDF soldiers during the summer of 2015.

Presiding Judge Moshe Bar referred to the growing number of nationalistic attacks over the last year. A wave of terror has been sweeping Israel in the recent past. As a result, people have lost their lives while others have suffered physical and mental injuries, he said during the sentence reading, adding that It is also becoming clearer that this trend includes a growing number of very young children.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and his bodyguard overtake the terrorist

In todays tough reality, there is no avoiding harsher punishment, with the verdict itself expressing the value of integrity of the body and the sanctity of life for the general public, Bar continued. The current security situation in our area forces us to use a harsh and deterring hand to return peace to the citizens of Israel and particularly to the city of Jerusalem, which is suffering from acts of terror and disruptions to their daily lives.

The Jerusalem District Attorneys Office reacted with satisfaction to the verdict, saying that "Handing down such a severe verdict sends a clear message that anyone committing an act of terror with a murderous intent will spend many years behind bars, even if they happen to be a minor.
More than 100 leaders from the US LGBT Jewish community came to Israel in a first of its kind trip called "Visiting Israel with Pride."

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The delegation was jointly organized through the US Jewish Federation and Israeli and groups. One of the goals of the trip was to help improve the dialogue between the US and Israel - primarily amongst liberal groups, which have a tendency to be more critical of Israel.

Stuart Kurlander, the leader of the delegation, said that, "this trip is historic because it is the largest delegation of Jewish LGBT leaders to ever come to Israel, and comes at a time when discussions of discussions about the rights of the LGBT community are getting attention both in the US and in Israel."





Stuart Kurlander introduces Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: The Jewish Federation)



"We feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity to have open conversations with the Israeli gay community to see how we can help each other in our struggles for equality and against discrimination," Kurlander continued.

Stuart Kurlander is a Jewish lawyer from Washington DC and former President of the Washington DC Jewish Federation.

"Despite all the positive changes which have occurred over the past few years, there is still a lot of work to do to create a shared Jewish community, and more progress needs to be made in this regard," he said.

He continued, "we are still dealing with human rights issues and we continue to fight for fairness and equality both in the workplace and in all other areas of life. This trip will enable us to stand with the members of the LGBT community in Israel. We will continue their fight for more rights."

The delegation participated in a memorial ceremony for Shira Banki who was murdered in last year's gay pride parade in Jerusalem. They also visited the Western Wall, and had a Sabbath service while wearing rainbow colored kippas. The delegation also visited the Yad Vashem holocaust museum in Jerusalem, where they were given a lecture on the persecution of both the Jewish and non-Jewish members of the LGBT community.

Members of the LGBT delegation at the Western Wall (Photo: The Jewish Federation)

They also visited various startups in Tel Aviv and met with leading Israeli LGBT artists, businessmen, and LGBT community leaders, and learned about the struggle these face in the fight for equality and against discrimination in Israeli society.

However, one of the highlights of the trip was when the delegation met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who hosted the delegation at their homes in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

President Rivlin told the delegation that he had the honor of receiving the first ever LGBT delegation to the Knesset 23 years ago. He went on to say that when he was chosen to become president, he happily welcomed a similar delegation of LGBT leaders, and was proud to receive the current delegation in his home.

"I know that you've met people from many different communities and saw many different and beautiful faces in this country. You saw the strength of our democracy, of duality, and of the society. You've seen this country as Jewish and democratic. It's not difficult to convince you all of the fact that there's no disparity between Israel as a Jewish state and Israel as democratic, because democracy in Israel is for every Israeli citizen," the president said.

Rivlin continued, saying "in Israel today, we're dealing with many challenges which are changing the face of Israeli society. We are four equal tribes: seculars, traditionalists, Israeli Arabs, and ultra-Orthodox. Different tribes with different aspirations and different rights. They read different newspapers, live in different cities, and study in different schools. This new reality calls for a new agenda. I hope that this visit will help you to see past the news headlines and see that despite the challenges, Israel is still a lighthouse of democracy and equality in the Middle East and the world."

President Reuven Rivlin (center) with Stuart Kurlander and partner David Martin with the LGBT delegation (Photo: The Jewish Federation)

Kurlander called on President Rivlin to continue to stand with the LGBT community in Israel, to stand for equal rights, and to stand against discrimination.

Another one of the heads of the delegation, Matt Nosanchuk, a high ranking advisor in the US State Department and advisor to the Whitehouse and National Security Council, said that "this trip enabled more than 100 LGBT Jewish-Americans the opportunity to discuss important issues such as religion, pluralism, co-existence and equality, and to highlight the values which we share with (the Israeli LGBT community)."

Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade (Photo: EPA)

Dara Papo, an LGBT activist from the US West Coast said, "it's hard to support Israel in many places in the San Francisco Bay area. Despite the fact that I come from a very involved family, I've never been to Israel and never felt comfortable speaking about my support for Israel. This trip helped me to believe in Israel and the way its citizens deal with difficult issues. Through my connections in the US LGBT community and its struggle, I can genuinely say that I feel a lot closer to Israel than I did before."

They ended the trip at the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Jerusalem will never be redivided in a ceremony marking 49 years since the unification of Jerusalem on Sunday.

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"49 years ago, Jerusalem was released from its shackles. We will not return to a reality whereby the city is torn, divided, and wounded," Netanyahu said.

President Reuven Rivlin also spoke at the ceremony, and called on the government not to empty the city of its symbols, touching upon the issue whereby government ministries are moving out of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Rivlin at the Jerusalem Day ceremony (Photo: Amit Shabi)

The ceremony took place on Mt. Herzl and was attended by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Police Comissioner Roni Alsheikh, and various government ministers and mayors.

The ceremony began with torches being lit by various representatives of the IDF regional commands to remember those who fell trying to liberate the city from the Jordanians. Netanyahu also shared his memories of Jerusalem and said that the current, magical reality was at one time very different.

"It was a reality of huge concrete walls with snipers on top, no mans lands and minefields," Netanyahu said.

He continued saying, "The veterans here remember what the soldiers wrote on the military vehicles  'there will not be a second Auschwitz, and there will not be a second Masada.' I remember the feeling of threatening danger and adrenaline and the spirit of our fighters, which thanks to them, our situation changed from one side to the other. This was proven once again  that the only way to guarantee our existence is our presence and ability to defend ourselves and to protect the security of the state of Israel."

Netanyahu, who is flying on to Moscow on Monday, said that "placing the Israeli flag on the Western Wall was the second most important moment after the declaration of the State of Israel. This spiritual ascendance encompassed the entire nation, both in Israel and in the Diaspora. It was at that moment that a national consciousness was launched amongst Jews in the former Soviet Union."

"Tomorrow, I'm flying to Moscow to mark 25 years of relations between Russia and Israel. But on the eve of the Six Day War, the armies which surrounded us were all armed and funded by the USSR. Russia is a global power, and our relations are getting stronger. The strengthening of this relationship strengthens our national security and prevents unnecessary friction on our northern border."

The prime minister also referred to the peace process and said that nobody would force upon Israel international dictates. "Peace is achieved through direct and free negotiations between the parties. We've seen it with peace with Egypt and Jordan. It was not achieved by international dictates. In the period after the Six Day War, when the military campaign was over, the political campaign began," said Netanyahu. "The same players in the international arena who did not lift a finger to help us when the threat of destruction hovered over us were those who tried to impose a political settlement on us. It did not work then and will not work today. Any international dictate hardens the Palestinians positions. Anyone who denies our connection to Jerusalem, transforms the Temple Mount into a center of religious incitement, who does not renounce terrorism - still has a long way to peace. "

President Rivlin said at the ceremony: "Our eyes were raised towards you Jerusalem. 49 years ago our prayers were answered. The city opened its closed heart to her lovers who were knocking at her gates. Prophetic vision became reality. Jerusalem returned to its children. Here, on this heroic hill, one of the symbols of the heroism of the State of Israel , a blood-soaked battle took place in which more than 180 fighters, within whom the fire of Jerusalem burned, were killed We sacrificed ourselves for Jerusalem because we knew that one must insist when it comes to her.

Rivlin also spoke about the planned move of the Public Broadcasting Authority from Jerusalem and expressed his joy that the Prime Minister decided to stop the process. "I hope this is so. This is because it is not possible that 80 years to the day after the first Hebrew broadcast, from the Voice of Jerusalem radio station, public broadcasting from Jerusalem will cease, "said the president. "One does not give up on symbols. We must not empty Jerusalem of its symbols. Jerusalem is not just a strip of land, it is a spiritual legacy, the spirit of the Jewish people.
News

Washington, DC - Guled Ali Omar, Abdurahman Yasin Daud and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah were convicted by a federal jury Friday of conspiring to commit murder in Syria on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and to provide material support to the designated foreign terrorist organization. Omar was also convicted of one count of attempted financial aid fraud, and Farah was also convicted of one count of perjury and providing a false statement.

The convictions were announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota and Special Agent in Charge Richard T. Thornton of the FBIs Minneapolis Division.

In the first multi-defendant ISIL-related trial, Mohamed Farah, Abdirahman Daud and Guled Omar were convicted of conspiring to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization and other federal offenses, said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. The defendants conspired with a larger group of individuals to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of ISIL. Countering terrorist threats remains the highest priority of the National Security Division. We will continue to work to disrupt the recruitment and radicalization of Americans by terrorist organizations, and bring to justice those who conspire to provide material support to terrorists. I would like to thank the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who worked tirelessly to secure these convictions.

The evidence in this case made clear that the defendants made a deeply personal and deliberate decision back in 2014, said U.S. Attorney Luger. They wanted to fight for a brutal terrorist organization, kill innocent people and destroy their own families in the process. This trial should serve as a wake-up call that it will take the entire community to stop terror recruiting in Minnesota.

These verdicts affirm the FBI's investigative efforts, said Special Agent in Charge Thornton. The FBI will not induce people to break our laws. However, the FBI, through all legal means at its disposal, will investigate and pursue those who aim to bring about harm to others.

Between May 2014 and April 19, 2015, the three defendants and their co-conspirators made multiple attempts to join ISIL in Syria.

In May 2014, some members of the conspiracy, including Omar and co-conspirators Abdi Nur and Abdullahi Yusuf, traveled or attempted to travel to Syria to join ISIL. To facilitate the travel of his co-conspirators, Daud provided contact information for an ISIL member in Turkey to Nur and Yusuf so that they could gain assistance crossing the border from Turkey into Syria. Nur succeeded in his plan, joining ISIL in Syria in June 2014. Yusuf was stopped at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and was later arrested.

Omar and two other members of the conspiracy also made an attempt to join ISIL by traveling across the U.S.Mexico border near San Diego in May 2014, but failed when members of Omars family prevented his travel.

In October 2014, members of the conspiracy communicated with Antar, a self-described member of ISIL in Syria, about how best to travel to Syria to join ISIL. Members of the conspiracy met with one another to discuss routes, methods and the timing of leaving the United States to join ISIL in Syria.

Omar again attempted to join ISIL in Syria on Nov. 6, 2014, by flying from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to San Diego, crossing the border into Mexico and traveling onward to Syria. Before he could board the flight in Minnesota, Omar was stopped at the airport and prevented from boarding the plane. In order to fund this second attempt to join ISIL in Syria, Omar intended to use federal financial aid provided to him by the U.S. Department of Education to attend college.

Also in November 2014, Farah and three of his co-conspirators, Zacharia Abdurahman, Hanad Musse and Hamza Ahmed, took a bus from Minneapolis to New York City and attempted to board flights to Europe with an eventual destination of Syria. Federal agents in New York prevented the four from traveling abroad.

In April 2015, Daud and Farah drove from Minneapolis to San Diego, where they intended to purchase fake passports, cross the border into Mexico and travel to Syria to join ISIL. Unbeknownst to them, the individual from whom they purchased the fake passports was a law enforcement officer and both were arrested by federal agents immediately after obtaining the phony travel documents.

Ten Minnesotans were charged as part of this conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. The men are all associates and friends of one another. Six defendants pleaded guilty before trial and Nur remains a fugitive.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew R. Winter, John Docherty and Julie Allyn of the District of Minnesota with assistance provided by the National Security Divisions Counterterrorism Section. The department would also like to thank the FBIs San Diego and New York Field Offices and the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of California for their contributions.
Arizona News

Grand Canyon, Arizona - ISB Special Agents and US Park Rangers of Grand Canyon National Park are seeking information about two people who may have vandalized rocks near the Yavapai Geology Museum.

On May 22, 2016, a visitor at the South Rim of the park observed a couple spray painting graffiti, and was able to capture images of the people and the vandalism.

After painting "Evans 16" on a rock feature, the couple left before US Park Rangers could contact them.

If you were in the park that day and may have seen these people, or if you recognize them from the image, please contact us. You don't have to tell us who you are, but please tell us what you know:

-Call our Tip Line at 888-653-0009

-Send us an online Tip

-Email us

-Send us a Message on Facebook
Border News

Victoria, Texas - A former fugitive who was illegally residing in Houston pleaded guilty Tuesday to engaging in an alien smuggling conspiracy that resulted in two deaths, and to kidnapping two women, one of whom was killed.

The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Departments Criminal Division. The case was investigated by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); U.S. Border Patrol agents with the South Texas Campaign and South Texas Border Intelligence Center; Houston Police Department; Harris County Sheriffs Office; and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Noe Aranda-Soto, aka Diablo, 36, of San Carlos, Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in death, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death, and conspiracy to transport aliens for private financial gain resulting in death. The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey, with sentencing set for Sept. 12. Aranda-Soto faces a mandatory term of life in federal prison.

In his plea agreement, Aranda-Soto admitted that from 2010 until his arrest in 2012, he led an alien-smuggling and hostage-taking organization that transported aliens from areas near the south-Texas checkpoints to local stash houses in Houston and points north. On Aug. 1, 2010, his brother was driving a vehicle loaded with illegal aliens when it rolled over near Victoria, Texas. One victim died as a result of the accident, while another was left behind in the brush and died of exposure and dehydration. A third victim was in a coma for nearly a year and now suffers from permanent injuries, according to the plea.

Law enforcement stopped Aranda-Soto a few days later, but he fled. Still a fugitive on the 2010 charges, Aranda-Soto admitted he returned to Houston in 2012 and began holding aliens hostage in Houston-area stash houses. After law enforcement rescued a group of aliens being held hostage and arrested several of Aranda-Sotos employees from one of the locations in October 2012, Aranda-Soto planned to escape from Houston with two female employees.

According to the plea agreement, while on Interstate 10 near Katy, Texas, Aranda-Soto became agitated and shot both the driver and the other female passenger multiple times. The injured driver jumped from the moving car and survived. Aranda-Soto then purposefully drove the car erratically, causing the other woman to be ejected from the moving vehicle onto the highway where she was subsequently run over by multiple other vehicles and killed, according to admissions in the plea agreement.

At the hearing Tuesday, the court heard that as the driver jumped from the moving car, she had apologized to the other woman. That victim then screamed in return tell my children I love them.

Law enforcement arrested Aranda-Soto a week later at yet another stash house, which was full of illegal aliens whom Aranda-Soto and his co-conspirators were holding hostage.

With Aranda-Sotos plea, all of those charged in relation to the 2010 and 2012 criminal activity have now been convicted.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patti H. Booth and Casey N. MacDonald, are prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorney Jeffrey Zick of the Criminal Divisions Capital Case Section, Southern District of Texas.
Border News

Edinburg, Texas - Border Patrol agents assigned to the Falfurrias station saved the life of an immigrant in distress after he activated a rescue beacon. It happened early this morning and agents rapidly responded to the area and began treating the migrant for dehydration. The migrant was transported to Christus Spohn hospital, he will be processed accordingly.

Agents also recovered remains of three victims that succumbed to the harsh conditions they endured at the hands of smugglers. Those deaths occurred in Brooks and Kenedy Counties.

Many illegal immigrants smuggled into the United States are unaware of the extreme danger they face in regard to harsh environmental conditions. They also do not realize that they must walk for several days with very little, if any, food and water, said Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr.

To report suspicious activity, call the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sectors toll-free telephone number at 800-863-9382.
Border News

San Luis, Arizona - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of San Luis arrested a U.S. Citizen attempting to smuggle $156,000 in methamphetamine on Thursday.

Officers removed and seized more than 52 pounds of the drug from the rocker panels of a Ford sedan driven by the 47-year-old male after a CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to the vehicle. In addition officers seized the drugs and vehicle, while the subject was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations.
Latest News

New York - A commodity pool operator has been charged with defrauding more than 20 individual investors out of $23 million. The arrest follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Dorado Task Force.

HSI special agents arrested Haena Park, 40, of New York, Thursday on commodities fraud and wire fraud charges, stemming from her alleged scheme to defraud investors. Park solicited investments for the purpose of trading in a variety of securities and commodities, including off-exchange foreign currency contacts through the use of false and misleading statements.

HSI Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez said: It is alleged that Haena Park defrauded investors and covered up millions of dollars in financial losses with fake documents and lies that may devastate the financial security of these victims. HSI and its El Dorado Task Force partners are committed to investigating those who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: Haena Park is charged with lying to prospective investors about her remarkably high returns and trading expertise in the forex markets to lure them into investing with her. Through deceit, weve alleged, she raised more than $23 million from victims and lost nearly all of it. Then to cover up trading losses, she allegedly sent fictitious statements to investors and used money from new investors to pay other investors back.

According to the complaint unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court:

From in or about January 2010 through in or about June 2016, Haena Park, the defendant, raised more than $23 million from more than 20 individual investors, purportedly for the purpose of trading in a variety of securities and commodities, including equities, futures, and off-exchange foreign currency (forex) transactions. In connection with the scheme, Park made a series of false and misleading representations to investors, including that Park was an accomplished forex trading advisor earning annualized returns as high as 48.9 percent for her investors.

In truth and in fact, Park was not an accomplished forex trader, her trading was consistently unsuccessful, and the trading results emailed to investors by Park were false and did not reflect the trading losses actually incurred by Park. Rather, from in or about January 2010 through in or about June 2016, Park lost approximately $19.5 million of the $20 million that she traded, including in commissions and fees, principally in highly leveraged futures and forex transactions.

To prevent or forestall redemptions by investors, and to continue to raise money from investors to fund her scheme, Park generated fictitious account statements, which she sent to investors on a monthly basis. Instead of accurately reporting the trading losses Park was suffering, the account statements indicated that the investors were making money nearly every month. To hide her trading losses, Park used new investor funds to pay back other investors in a Ponzi-like fashion. In total, Park distributed approximately $3 million back to investors from funds deposited by new investors.

Park is charged with one count of commodities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense; and one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
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My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends. <BR><BR> When I went to college I read about globalisation, about the invasion of markets by foreign goods and of absolute wiping out of the local economy by organized production houses. But I could not understand these things till one day while crossing from near my school my eyes failed to spot that old ice cream walla whose presence had become such an inseparable part of the entire set up. It came as a rude shock to me that his place was now taken by three four colourful wheeled vans endorsing attractive logos and pictures of branded ice cream. <BR><BR> That changes are always for better or worse is like putting an emotion into plain black and white. I may have in my own personal way some attachment with the white stick ice cream or with the more expensive soapy, frothy softie of my school days but the accessibility, taste and variety that the present day ice cream industry is offering is no doubt incomparable. <BR><BR> Who would have thought barely a decade ago of eating ice creams made of real fresh fruits- a la Gelato Vittorio or a cool creamy liquid fried in hot boiling oil or what is called today the fried ice cream. <BR><BR> In India the ice cream industry took sometimes to catch the global cue because the country has an indigenous rich and well developed dessert market. What ice cream would stand in competition against Indian sweets? But no you cant say so just because you are born in the land of Kulfi. You will have the authority only when you taste Baked Alaska (an ice-cream sponge cake dish topped with meringue), Arctic roll (British dessert made of vanilla and flour), Adzuki (Japanese red bean ice cream) and Dondruma( a Turkish ice made of salep and mastic resin). <BR><BR> We Indians who generally go gaga over a handful of varieties that Baskin Robbins offers are unaware of the fact that the company actually makes 1000 flavours! What we get in India generally as branded ice cream is nothing but milk and corn flour seasoned with a few chemicals and packed in attractive cones, cups and cornettos. Our knowledge of Ice cream is so poor that we do not even know what cornetto is! Most of us think it is the name of an ice cream that Kwality offers. Update your dictionary- it is actually the registered name of an improved variety of waffle cone that does not become soggy and that was invented and patented by an Italian firm called Spica in 1960! <BR><BR> The world offers so much in shape of that delicate, cool, tender delight called ice cream that I being a lover of it feel choked with emotion at my own minisculeness and misfortune of not having tasted even a fraction of that tremendous, rich and inexhaustible treasure. What is thy life O mortal, my heart cries out, if thou hast not known the glories of the Australian Giant Sandwich Monster, the Manoco Bar, the Irish Scottish Sliders, the Argentine Helado, the Greek Kimaki and the Japanese Macha! <BR><BR> Sometimes I wonder whether there is an intricate connection between the survival of a race and its appetite for ice cream! Otherwise why would the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese and the Persians survive the ravages of time and the Glorious Harappan civilization fade into oblivion? And let us be pragmatic and not blame some harmless ecology or innocent river for their decline. The reason I am sure was hidden in their food habits-they having failed to secure the divine blessings of the Gods. Yes, thats precisely what the ancient Greeks called ice cream! Imagine what foodies they must have been that nearly 4000 years ago they got for themselves ice houses constructed at the banks of Euphrates and as early as 5th century BC they began its marketing by selling ice cones mixed with fruit and honey. A honey flavoured cornetto.! <BR><BR> Roman emperor Nero (62 AD) was fond of fruit ice cream and hence sent his servants to fetch ice from mountains! The Falooda that we eat today is actually a Persian dish Faloodeh made from starch and has its origin around 400BC. The Chinese who claim to be the pioneers in almost everything -be it the first currency notes, the first stint with silk or the first to flood the markets of neighbours with cheap plastic goods-were not far behind in making ice cream too. They are credited to have invented a device that made quick ice using salt peter (no, it was not imported from Bihar, China had enough of it). <BR><BR> The unfortunate Charles I whom the world knows as an autocrat, a despot, a tyrant, an enemy of democracy and parliament was also a lover of ice cream! It is said that he made his chef keep the formula a secret so that it remained a royal prerogative. <BR><BR> Our great Mughals, we should not forget were the die hard lovers of food and all that is rich and luxurious in the modern Indian cuisine has a Mughal origin. So they too loved ice cream and they too enjoyed it in royal feasts and ceremonies. When they could get choicest fruits from Farghana and Samarquand and the best wines from Persia, why couldnt they send relays of horsemen to bring ice from Hindukush for their aromatic fruit sherbets? <BR><BR> But were sending horsemen to run and fetch ice or storing ice in underground icehouses near rivers, the only way of making ice creams in those days? Sadly, yes. And thats why the common man remained deprived of and unknown to its delectable taste. But lets thank Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia who first got the patent for a small hand run ice cream freezer. Gradually with the coming of electricity there also came a revolution in ice cream making. Thereafter Giant corporates like Howard Johnson, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Gelato Vittorio, Ben and Jerrys, Haagen Dazs and Carvel changed the concept of ice cream in the world. Soft serves, Sundaes and super premiums began to be offered by shops next door. <BR><BR> Thanks to globalisation, the world has really become a small place to live in. Today I can access any ice cream from the world over in my local confectionary shop. but among the confused tastes of multitudinous flavours I some how always try to find that one singular taste of the white stick ice-cream which trickled through my fingers and ran into my nursery uniformspoiling it but leaving an imprint on my memory which has failed to faint in all these years.
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Cape Town: The United States on Saturday warned its citizens in South Africa of possibly imminent terror attacks by Islamic extremists in the country's major cities.

"The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town," the local embassy said on its website.

The warning came against the background of the Islamic State group's "public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the embassy said

South Africa's foreign affairs ministry played down the threat.

"The state security agency and other security agencies in this country are very much capable of keeping South Africa safe and everybody in this country, including Americans," spokesman Clayson Monyela was quoted as saying by local media.

"The last time they did this, towards the end of last year, nothing came out of that advisory."

In September last year the US advised its citizens in South Africa to be on heightened alert against attack, saying extremists may target American interests in the country.

The US regularly warns its citizens around the world to beware of terror attacks, but Saturday's note was specific about the targets and the imminence of the threat.

South Africa has so far escaped the militant Islamist attacks seen in several other African countries.
Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Recently a Sumatran rhino has given birth to an adorable female calf Indonesias Way Kambas National Park, according to EcoWatch reports.

Conservationists worldwide are celebrating this event, which has showed a silver lining in the critical state of endangered Sumatran Rhinos.

International Rhino Foundation (IRF) confirmed that the new calf and her mother Ratu, both are healthy and in active state.

Sumatran rhinos are extremely rare species, with only 100 believed to exist around the world.

Watch the miraculous birth-story of newborn calf here:

(Video: INQUIRER.net)
Illegal wildlife trade is an unrivaled, flourishing business and is continually on the rise. The kind of torture and harassment that innocent animals are subjected to in the hands of poachers and traders is unfathomable.

As per the WWF, the trade involves hundreds of millions of wild plants and animals from tens of thousands of species. To provide a glimpse of the scale of wildlife trafficking, there are records of over 100 million tonnes of fish, 1.5 million live birds and 440,000 tonnes of medicinal plants in trade in just one year.

It is all courtesy illegal wildlife trade that human livelihood and the balance of nature is at stake.

This World Environment Day, the United Nations Organisation (UN) has pledged Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife Trade, making it the theme for 2016.

Last month, a leading online retailer came under fire for selling wildlife specimens and hunting equipment on their website, thereby appearing to encourage the illegal practice.

Soon after, this month, a wildlife trafficker was caught red-handed in Vietnam, for attempting to sell the frozen remains of Tiger cubs in order to make some sort of healing glue.

The shock and horror of this act had barely worn off, when news of the raid in Thailand's Tiger Temple began doing the rounds, wherein, remains of over 40 tiger cubs were discovered in the temple's kitchen freezer. A day later, a Thai monk who was trying to flee with tiger skins and fangs, was nabbed by the police within the temple's premises.

Similarly, a wounded elephant was in the news a few days ago, that went in search for help to a safari lodge because it was in pain due to a failed poaching attempt.

Tigers, Elephants, Frogs, Snakes and many more animals come under the radar of wildlife traffickers and traders, due to the immense demand for their various body parts, which apparently contain healing properties.

Below, we have compiled a few facts that would aid you in understanding the magnitude of the threat to wildlife that is prevalent due to illegal wildlife trade.

1. African Elephants:

Elephants are a massive target for poachers and wildlife traffickers across the world for their ivory tusks. Since the 1970s, ivory poaching has cut the African elephant population in half. It is estimated that the African elephant will be extinct within the next 10 years if this practice does not cease. According to reports from the wildlife organization Save the Elephants, the price for raw ivory in China was $2,100 per kilogram, in 2014. Between 35,000  50,000 African elephants are poached every year.

2. Tigers:

The illegal wildlife trade also paves the way for the exotic pet trade. Tigers are one of the top most animals in the world's growing list of endangered species. They are mainly hunted down for their skins and fangs. The WWF estimates that there are 5,000 tigers being kept in US backyards, whereas, there are only around 3,000 left in the wild.

3. Rhinos:

The Rhino horn is one of the most sought-after animal body part for its apparent medicinal properties. Although, there is no scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of the rhino horn to treat illnesses such as cancer, it still remains a popular ingredient in traditional medicine. Statistics released by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) showed that 1,215 rhinos were killed in South Africa in 2014. A minimum of three rhinos are poached every single day.

4. Pangolins:

Largely trafficked and sold for their scales or as bush meat, Pangolins are hughly endangered animals. More than a million Pangolins have been traded in the past 10 years. A report released by Chinas Public Security Bureau for Forests and the University of Oxford found that the average price for a kilogram of pangolin scales is available for sale for $600. The price of a kilogram of pangolin scales for sale in 2013 was twice the amount as compared to 2008.

5. Marine Turtles:

Extensively used as pets and food, freshwater turtle shells are used for medicinal purposes as well. Currently, around 80 percent of Asias freshwater turtle species are in danger of extinction, while approximately 28,300 freshwater turtles are traded each day.

6. Asian Elephants:

Like the African elephant, the Asian elephant is also at a grave risk of extinction. There are an estimated 32,000 Asian elephants left in the wild. One-third of the remaining population, which is approximately 30 per cent, are being held captive in zoos, circuses, or used as tourist attractions.

7. Red Pandas:

There have been rising reports of Red Pandas being traded as pets in China.With less than 10,000 individuals left in the world, the population of the Red Panda appears to decline further. The high demand for wild meat, medicine and pelts, seems to be the reason behind their poaching and trading, while logging is consistently shrinking their natural habitats.
Haridwar: Former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and four party MLAs were arrested on Saturday when they tried to enter Landhaura area here in violation of prohibitory orders clamped there in the wake of clashes between members of two communities recently.

Accompanied by party MLAs Yatishwaranand, Sanjay Gupta, Chandra Shekhar and Premchand Agrawal, the Haridwar MP managed to reach Ransura near Landhaura via Sarai and Pitpura villages hoodwinking police and intelligence

officials who kept looking for them along National Highway 58.

SP (rural) Pramendra Dobhal and SP city Navneet Singh Bhullar stopped Nishank's convoy at Ransura and took them straight to the police lines where they were released after furnishing a personal bail bond, Bhullar said.

He said the BJP leaders were not allowed to go to Landhaura as it could "worsen" the law and order situation there.

However, talking to reporters later, Nishank said they wanted to go to Landhaura to make an appeal to people to maintain peace.

Nishank alleged that tension in the area was deliberately created by Chief Minister Harish Rawat who wanted to divert people?s attention from the rebellion he was facing from within his party, his ministers and MLAs.

At least 32 people, including 12 police personnel, were injured on Wednesday as forcible evacuation of a scrap dealer's shop allegedly by supporters of a local politician took a communal turn in Landhaura of Roorkee in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, prompting authorities to impose prohibitory orders.
Chandigarh: Three months after their violent agitation left 30 people dead, Jat leaders in Haryana on Sunday renewed their quota stir, drawing lukewarm response amid tight security by the BJP government which had drawn severe flak over its handling of the protest last time.

"The state remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any part. Also, the traffic was normal as neither any highway nor any railway line was blocked by the protesters," Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said.

He said that in many districts, no protests were held by Jat community members. At some places where the protesters sat on dharna, they submitted memorandums to the Deputy Commissioners and lifted the dharna after some time, he said.

Nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.

Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a 'havan', as the second round of the agitation started on a tepid note with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which gave the call for the protest, said they held dharnas in 15 of the state's 21 districts and in Delhi and will hold more protests in the national capital as well as other states in the region to garner support for their demand.

AIJASS president Yashpal Malik said the protests were peaceful.

He said the AIJASS will also hold symbolic dharnas at other places including Delhi, where one such protest was held this evening, and other states to garner support for the demands raised by the Jats in Haryana.

"We started from Haryana today. We also held dharna in Delhi this evening. Afterwards, we will decide on further dates for Delhi," Malik said, adding in days to come these 'symbolic dharnas' will also be held in states including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttrakhand.

The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.

The agitation this time was restricted to so called 'Jat belt' comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind.

"There are small groups of protesters mainly in the rural areas. The total number throughout the state would have been no more than 2000," an official said.

At places like Yamunanagar, Panchkula, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Palwal and Sirsa, no dharna was held.

"It has been peaceful. We are fully geared up to meet any kind of situation during the agitation," Haryana's Additional Director General Police (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil said.

Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in eight districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.

Protesters at Jhajjar submitted a memorandum to the district sub-divisional magistrate seeking release of Jats arrested for February's protests and cancellation of FIRs registered then.

A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, the state DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.

The state government today asserted that it was pursuing the matter related to reservation to Jats in court and warned of strict action against if anyone tried to disturb law and order.

"In a democratic set-up, there cannot be any objection to holding a peaceful demonstration. However, those who disturb law and order, would be dealt strictly as per law," Khattar said.

The state Home Secretary also warned that some anti-social elements may try to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the state and urged the people not to be misled by rumour mongers.

"The government is maintaining vigil. Video recording is also being done and anyone who tries to indulge in vitiating peaceful atmosphere of the State would be dealt as per law," Niwas said.

He also said that ahead of the fresh round of Jat stir, cases have been registered against people indulging in such activities through social media.

He also urged the people, especially the elderly and children, not to stay in the open due to prevailing heat wave.

After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi and other neighbouring states too, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.

However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.

In Hisar, members of the Jat community started an indefinite dharna at a stadium in village Mayyar away from railway tracks and national highway, police said.

Addressing the protesters, Jat leaders accused the Haryana government of not being serious towards their demand for reservation.

The Jat leaders said in case the government did not respond to their demands in a positive manner, they would be left with no other option but to take to the streets.

In Jind, the AIJASS members staged a dharna at Jhanj Kalan village near Jind-Patiala highway in support of their demands.

In the wake of severe criticism for failing to check violence, the Khattar Government had set up Prakash Singh Committee whose inqury report had indicted 90 officials for "deliberate negligence" during the stir.

The panel, in its 451-page report, had said that "administrative paralysis" had gripped the state and the "highest functionaries in the government failed to show the kind of guidance, direction and control that is expected in a crisis of such proportions".

Although Jat leaders have promised that the protests will remain peaceful, the Haryana Government is taking no chances.

"Fifty-five companies of paramilitary personnel drawn from CRPF, ITBP and BSF have been deployed in sensitive districts in the state," Niwas said. One company comprises nearly 100 personnel.

Apart from it, state police forces were deployed and all leaves were cancelled. "An estimated 20,000 security personnel are keeping vigil," a senior polic official said.
New Delhi: In its drive to sensitise locals about issues concerning people from African nations living in the city, Delhi Police on Saturday held a meeting of resident welfare associations in south Delhi's Hauz Khas area.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Southeast) R P Upadhyay presided over the meeting, held at Delhi Police's south district office in Hauz Khas, which was attended by the Presidents of Resident Welfare Association of the localities in and around Hauz Khas area.

The objective of the meeting was to sensitize them about issues concerning African persons living in the colonies where they reside, a senior police official said.

Delhi Police had started sensitization programme following a series of alleged assault on Africans in south Delhi.

The first such big meeting was chaired by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh.

Later, another sensitisation meeting, attended by Africans and locals both, was chaired by Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma among several other meetings chaired by senior police officials at local levels.

The police's efforts in this regard was also appreciated by Union External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
Illinois: Using a patient`s individual tumor biomarkers to determine the best treatment can improve success rates, studies showed Saturday.

Unlike chemotherapy and radiation therapy, targeted medicine allows to preserve healthy cells.

This approach, especially immunotherapy, which boosts the immune system to destroy tumor cells -- is revolutionizing oncology, according to the study released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Scientists hailed "encouraging" preliminary results of a Phase 2 clinical trial detailed at the world`s largest conference on cancer meeting this weekend in Chicago.

Of the 129 participants, 29 patients with a total 12 kinds of advanced cancers responded well to molecules that have not been approved for treatment of these tumors by the Food and Drug Administration.

Promising responses observed in four cancer types, including carrier-specific molecular alterations, have already helped widen the cohort of patients participating in this clinical trial, the researchers said.

"With genomic testing of tumors becoming increasingly available, studies such as ours will help more patients benefit from precision medicine approaches," said lead study author John Hainsworth, senior investigator at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville.

"Although it is still early to draw conclusions, our findings suggest that, for example, HER2-targeted therapy could be expanded beyond the current indications of HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers."

Mutation in the HER2 gene favors the growth of cancer cells.

The most promising results of this approach have been reported in patients with HER2 mutation, seven out of 20 suffering from colorectal cancer, three out of eight with bladder tumors and three out of six biliary tract cancer.

They all showed a reduction of at least 30 percent of their tumor. Based on the data, researchers recruited more patients for the study, which is ongoing and expected to reach 500 participants.Another group of patients with lung cancer with genetic mutations in the BRAF gene, which regulates proteins involved in the processes of division and cellular differentiation, has also been expanded, given the encouraging data.

A meta-analysis of 346 Phase 1 experimental trials with more than 13,000 patients also presented at ASCO showed similar results.

In 58 of the precision medicine studies, cancerous tumors shrunk by more than 31 percent when the molecules used for the treatment specifically targeting the weaknesses of the tumor, against 5.1 percent when that was not the case, said lead study author Maria Schwaederle, an expert on personalized cancer therapy at the University of California, San Diego.

"Targeted drugs in and of themselves were not effective. They absolutely need to be given to the right patients," Schwaederle said.

"A biomarker-based approach was the most significant independent predictor of improved outcomes in Phase I studies."

Certain types of biomarkers triggered even higher response rates for those patients treated via a personalized approach -- 42 percent, against 22.4 percent for those chosen via protein expression.

Sumanta Kumar Pal of City of Hope National Medical Center, who did not take part in the research, said the study also "underscores the need to explore this genomic-based testing and treatment approach in a learning environment,

like a clinical trial."
New Delhi: With several states grappling with drought and water shortage, an RSS affiliate has said the government should "control or close down" cola units, saying soft drink industry is "wasting" water.

It also said the government should not make a push for development at the expense of ecology, insisting that "survival is more important than so called development" and seeking "severe restrictions" on cutting trees for development projects as ecological imbalances may endanger the human race.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, in a resolution passed at its national council meeting, suggested several measures that include shutting down the cola units in the country, besides giving top priority to rejuvenation of water tanks and water bodies.

"Government should understand that survival is more important than the so called development," the resolution passed at its recent meeting held in Bhopal said.

"In these life threatening circumstances, Swadeshi Jagran Manch urges the government, to tackle global warming and climate change with all the seriousness it deserves. Control or even close down coca-cola, pepsi-cola and such other water wasting soft drinks industries," the Manch said.

These cola units are creating trouble for the local population as they are causing water shortage and pollution in areas around them, SJM's national co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said, adding the organisation had earlier also opposed setting up of such units due to their negative impact on environment.

"Big corporate interests give a damn to environmental concerns. The ecological imbalances created by such industries will endanger the survival of human race," Mahajan told PTI.

In an apparent dig at government's push for higher GDP, Mahajan said, "Talking about growth does not mean anything if the very survival of human beings is in danger."

The RSS-linked outfit also sought control on cultivation of sugarcane and other water intensive crops and imposing curbs on cutting trees for developmental projects.
New Delhi: India may bag a membership into the influential Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, a media report said on Sunday.

The MTCR membership will allow India to export hi-tech missiles to other nations as well as buy predator drones from America, NDTV reported.

An announcement in this regard may happen during PM Modi's visit to the US, it added.

India had applied for MTCR membership last year but faced strong opposition from some countries, the report added.

The Obama administration is reportedly backing India's membership to MTCR, which was set up in 1987 with an aim to limit the spread of ballistic missiles.

India is also seeking a berth in the 28-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which will reportedly meet next week to consider its application.
Washington: India should meet the Nuclear Suppliers Group's standards and open talks with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons if it wants to push its case for membership in the 48-nation elite group, a leading US daily said today.

In a lead editorial 'The New York Times' said that America should press for India to adhere to the standards on nuclear proliferation to which other nuclear weapons states adhere.

India's application for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is slated for discussion later this month.

"Obama is lobbying for India to win membership through a special exception," 'The Times' editorial board said, ahead of the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will meet with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

"If he succeeds, India would be in a position to keep Pakistan, which has also applied for membership, from gaining membership because group decisions must be unanimous," the editorial said, adding that this could give Pakistan, which at one time provided nuclear technology to North Korea and Iran, new incentives to misbehave.

Opposition from China, which is close to Pakistan and views India as a rival, could doom India's bid for now, it said, adding that the issue, however, will not go away.

India is growing in importance and seeking greater integration into organisations that govern international affairs, it said.

"If it wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state, it should be required to meet the nuclear group's standards, including opening negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons and halting the production of nuclear fuel for bombs," the editorial said.

The report alleged that for years the US had sought to bend the rules for India's nuclear programme to maintain India's cooperation on trade and to counter China's growing influence.

"As part of the 2008 deal, the Indians promised they would be 'ready to assume the same responsibilities and practices' as other nations with advanced nuclear technology.

"But they have fallen far short by continuing to produce fissile material and to expand their nuclear arsenal," alleged the editorial board of the newspaper.

The NSG governs trade in nuclear-related exports and aims to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military uses.
Mathura: A large amount of explosives were on Saturday found during the search operation at Jawahar Bag where 24 people, including two police officers, died following a clash between police and encroachers.

"Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag today," SP Rural Arun Kumar Singh said.

Nine company of PAC, along with police personnel, have been deployed in Jawahar Bag to carry out search operation, he said.

"The search operation is on and till the forensic team complete there work Jawahar Bag would remain out of bounds for everyone," he added.

He also said that associates of Ram Virksha Yadav, the chief of the violent encroachers in Jawahar Bagh, was among those killed in the clashes.

"After seeing the photograph, associates of Ram Virksha Yadav in jail, have confirmed that he had been killed," Singh said when asked about the status of Yadav.

Asked about the reason of delay in conducting post-mortem, he said "it is legally binding to give 72 hours to the family members or well wishers before conducting post-mortem."
Kolkata: The BJP in West Bengal has demanded immediate sealing of the Indo-Bangla border, claiming madrasas operating along it are a breeding ground of terrorism and anti-national activities in the country.

"We all know that these madrasas in bordering areas are breeding ground of anti-national elements. These madrasas get funds from foreign countries. These madrasas are creating a chain, which is making the Indo-Bangla border vulnerable to anti-national activities, illegal cattle trade and smuggling," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claimed.

Seeking to justify his claim, he referred to a purported statement of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya that a section of madrasas in border areas were functioning as breeding ground of fundamentalism.

"Few years ago, the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said that madrasas in bordering areas of West Bengal are breeding grounds of fundamentalism. But later on he had retracted his statement due to pressure from his party. But you can't take a chief minister's comment lightly. Whatever he had said was on the basis of reports of IB and police," Ghosh claimed.

He said the porous border that West Bengal shares with Bangladesh is a threat to national security.

"Infiltration has stopped in northern and western part of India where it shares border with Pakistan. But infiltration from this side of Indo-Bangla border is still on. Whenever there has been a terror attack or blast, during investigation some of the clues have led to Bengal and its bordering areas. The anti-national and anti-social elements are using this route to enter India," Ghosh told PTI.

"Why isn't the state government, like the newly-elected government in Assam taking up the matter of sealing the Indo- Bangla border in Bengal," said the 52-year-old MLA, who won the recent assembly elections from Kharagpur Sadar constituency in West Midnapore district.

The firebrand leader, who was inducted from RSS into the state BJP in early 2015, became the state president in December.

"We will fight against these bordering madrasas. Politically also we will inform the people about the anti- national activities going there. We will raise this issue in the state assembly and will also ask the state government to take action against these madrasas which are helping anti- national elements," he said.

Ghosh, who time and again has courted controversies for his comments, claimed anti-national elements have chosen JNU, Jadavpur University and Hyderabad University to flare up anti-national sentiments across the country.

"These three universities have the same character - you will see anti-national slogans are being raised, slogans shouted in favour of Afzal Guru. You won't find any controversy in other universities...

"We won't allow such activities in university campus which is against the culture and heritage of our country. These are nothing but indecency and shameless act," he said.

The BJP, which had lost some steam after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, put up a spirited show in the West Bengal Assembly elections this time and played spoilsport for the opposition Left Front-Congress alliance in more than 70 seats.

Although BJP's vote share in West Bengal dipped since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from 17.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent in the recently concluded Assembly polls, yet for the first time the party won three seats fighting on its own in the state.

Earlier, BJP had won twice in by-polls and had polled around 4.06 per cent votes in 2011.

In this assembly polls, BJP garnered around 56 lakh votes, up from 19.5 lakh in 2011, and polled more than 10,000 votes in 262 out of 294 Assembly segments.

Ghosh said BJP will oppose anti-people policies of the TMC government and will emerge as the main opposition in the days to come.

Apart from Ghosh, who defeated veteran Congress leader Gyan Singh Sohanpal, BJP won Malda's Baishnabnagar seat and Madarihat seat in North Bengal.

"In 2014, we had secured 17 per cent votes because of the Narendra Modi wave across the country. We didn't have any organisational base in Bengal. This time there was no such wave. What we have got is because of the organisational strength of our party," he said.
Mathura: In Uttar Pradesh, the probe ordered by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav into the violence at the Jawahar Bagh of Mathura, will begin on Sunday, as the Presiding officer of the high power administrative probe committee and Commissioner of Aligarh, Chandrakant will first visit the spot and take stock of the situation.

The Commissioner said that if somebody wants to present any evidence or information on the incident, he will be heard.

Meanwhile, a large amount of explosives were found during the search operation yesterday at the Jawahar Bagh where 25 people, including two police officers, killed following a clash between police and encroachers.

The State government has reportedly announced an enhanced compensation to the kin of slain police officers from twenty to fifty lakhs.

Facing flak from all corners for offering a compensation of only twenty lakh Rupees to the kin of policemen killed in Mathura violence, the state government reportedly swung into damage control and increased the amount of compensation from 20 lakh to 50 lakhs yesterday.

It also announced that that the kin of the deceased security men will also be provided with extra ordinary pension.

To show solidarity with their martyred colleagues, the policemen of nearby districts of Mathurahave decided to donate their one day salary to the families of the two officers who laid their life for nation.
Doha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday night held a meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, who also hosted a banquet in his honour.

The meeting with the Qatari Premier was the last of Modi's the engagements on the first day of his two-day visit here.

"Ist day in Doha ends with a meeting with PM Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani who also holds banquet in PM's honour," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Earlier, Modi, who arrived here this evening, was received warmly by the Prime Minister of Qatar at the Hamad International Airport.

Modi's visit here is focused on giving a new push to the economic ties, particularly in the hydrocarbon sector, between India and the energy-rich Qatar.

He will hold detailed talks tomorrow with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and address the business community of Qatar, a country which is India's largest supplier of LNG requirements, accounting for 65 per cent of the country's total imports last financial year.
Geneva: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Sunday on the third leg of his five-nation tour during which he will hold talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Modi, who visited Afghanistan on Saturday, arrived here after his two-day visit to Qatar during which he held talks with the leadership there on a host of issues.

"Bon Soir Geneve! A late night arrival in the picturesque Swiss city marks beginning of third leg of PM's journey," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Ahead of his five-nation tour, Modi had described Switzerland as India's key partner in Europe.

"I will hold talks with President Schneider-Ammann to deepen our bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

"In Geneva, I will meet prominent businesspersons. Our agenda will be to expand economic and investment ties. I will meet Indian scientists working at CERN. India takes pride in their contribution to exploring new frontiers of science in the service of humanity," he had said.

The Prime Minister is likely to raise the issue of black money stashed by Indians in Swiss banks.

Modi is also likely to seek Switzerland's support for India's membership of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group as it is a key member of the elite grouping.

From here, Modi will travel to the US and then to Mexico before returning to India.
Pune: Launching an attack on Jawaharlal Nehru, BJP president Amit Shah today said the first Prime Minister's idea of nation building was based on "discarding" old traditions and replacing them with "imported ideas" unlike Jana Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyaya who tried to safeguard the "Indian values".

"Jawaharlal Nehru's idea of nation building was based on discarding the old values and traditions and importing foreign ideas, however, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was believer of preserving the same old traditions and values, which paved the way for foundation of Bhartiya Jan Sangh and later BJP," Shah said.

The BJP president was speaking at a function to release Upadhyaya's biography 'Rashtradrashta' here.

"During the independence struggle, several people belonging to various ideologies fought for the freedom, however, after the independence the entire credit went into Congress' account.

"Congress made Nehru as Prime Minister of the country, who was believer of bringing foreign ideas and discarded the age-old values and traditions while building the nation," Shah said.

He said Upadhyaya and other members worked tirelessly to draft the roadmap of the nation on the basis of the same Indian values and traditions that Nehru was trying to discard and founded Bhartiya Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the Bhartiya Janata Party.

"Later the Jan Sangh transformed into BJP, which has now become the largest party of the country and has been following the same path shown by Upadhyaya," the BJP chief said.

He said the country is in the "safe hands" now and is becoming the global leader without forgetting the values and traditions "and the foundation of this transformation was the ideology of Upadhyaya".
Tarmala: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday asked the people of the state to exercise restraint while observing the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar tomorrow peacefully even as police continued to crack down on radicals across the state.

On the sidelines of Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi assembly segment here, the Chief Minister said the state government was committed to maintaining peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state.

He said the state government is keeping a strict vigil and every effort is being made to maintain law and order.

The Chief Minister said peace and communal harmony should be our priority as they are catalysts for overall development of any state.

He bemoaned that Punjab had already suffered a lot during the "black days" of the militancy due to which the economic development of state was stalled and several thousand precious lives were lost.

"So the need of the hour is that all of us should join hands to strengthen the ethos of peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state," Badal said.

On the proposed agitation of Congress in Balad Kalan village on June 18, the Chief Minister termed it as a 'political gimmick'.

He said the state government is already probing the issue of lathicharge by the Bhawanigarh police on agitating Dalits on May 24 at Balad Kalan village and there was no need for a protest by Congress leadership.

The party is only wasting energy by politicising the issue, the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, as part of a statewide police crackdown on radical Sikhs ahead of the anniversary of Operation BlueStar, police has rounded up SAD(A) and Damdami Taksal activists from several places.

SAD (A) state executive committee member Rajinder Singh Fauji was arrested as a preventive measure from Phagwara, police said.

Members of Damdami Taksal, Dal Khalsa and SAD (A) are also being held as preventive steps, they said.

A crackdown on Sikh radicals was being made in view of the intelligence reports of a possible trouble by them during the observance of BlueStar anniversary at Akal Takht Sahib inside Golden Temple Complex tomorrow, police said.
Islamabad: At least 18 Indian fishermen were freed on Sunday by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture, an official source here said.

The fishermen would arrive in Lahore on Monday from Landhi jail in the port city of Karachi, the source said.

"The fishermen will be taken to Wagah border by a special bus from Lahore railway station," it said.

Another official said India must reciprocate the gesture and release the Pakistani fishermen lodged in Indian jails.

Fishermen are frequently arrested by both India and Pakistan's maritime security for entering each other's territorial waters.

Pakistan has so far released 199 Indian fishermen this year.
Islamabad: At least 18 Indian fishermen will be freed on Monday by Pakistan as a goodwill gesture, an official said.

A spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation told The Nation on Saturday that the fishermen would arrive in Lahore from the port city of Karachi.

"The fishermen will be taken to Wagah border by a special bus from Lahore railway station," he said.

Another official said India must reciprocate the gesture and release the Pakistani fishermen lodged in Indian jails.

Fishermen are frequently arrested by both India and Pakistan's maritime security for entering into each other's waters.
Doha (Qatar): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet business leaders in Qatar on Sunday and he will also hold bilateral talks with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar.

Some agreements in different fields including skill development, recognition of qualification, and tourism and co operation in customs matter are likely to be inked.

Earlier, in a Facebook post, Prime Minister Modi said, "Look forward to meeting His Highness Sheikh Tamim whose landmark visit to India last year had ushered in a new momentum in our relations. I will have the honour to meet Father Emir who personally guided our relations for nearly two decades. This visit will nourish the historical bonds of friendship deeply rooted in people to people contacts, energy, trade and investment partnership."

Signing of agreements will facilitate workforce mobility, skill development and placement of youth in overseas jobs in Qatar.

He will begin his day meeting with business leaders, where he will discuss trade, investment and persuade captains of industry to invest in India as it has made doing business easier.

Prime Minister Modi will also be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Emiri Diwan.

The two nations will sign agreements in various field including skill development and recognition of qualifications to facilitate workforce mobility and placement of youth in overseas jobs in Qatar.

Prime Minister Modi yesterday visited Afghanistan and inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier know as Salma Dam in Herat.

He arrived in Doha for the second leg of his five-nation tour, after concluding the first leg of his trip in Afghanistan yesterday.

He was greeted by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani at the airport.

The Prime Minister interacted with Indian workers at a medical camp in downtown Doha, where he assured them of taking up problems faced by them during his talks with leaders of Qatar.

He ended his first day here with a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani.

He also attended a banquet held in his honour by Prime Minister Al Thani.

After visiting Qatar, he will travel to Switzerland, the United States and Mexico.

The focus will be on broadening bilateral trade, energy and security cooperation and push for India's bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
New Delhi: "Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure" and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said today.

Ramesh also said it was high time that the Congress changed in tune with changing India as "our communication strategy is not very effective" and "we need an aggressive outreach" with various sections of society against the backdrop of successive poll debacles.

"Challenges are very heavy but there is no room for despondency. Those who are writing off Congress party are writing its premature obituary," the former Union Minister told PTI, apparently referring to Modi's repeated calls for a "Congress-mukt Bharat".

Making a strong pitch for Gandhi's leadership, Ramesh said "uncertainty does not help". He said the challenges faced by Congress were akin to those that prevailed when Sonia Gandhi had taken over the party in March 1998.

Ramesh insisted that the Congress vice president has "a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into position very soon. He is de facto, but he should become de jure".

Noting that Congress presidentship has its own institutional importance, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi should take charge "as soon as possible".

"He has got a clear concept of strategy. He knows people he wants to bring. One thing should be clear that when Rahul Gandhi takes over, a team takes over. When? that is the big question," he said.

He recalled that when Sonia Gandhi took over as party chief, Congress had only two states with it. Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister of MP and Giridhar Gamang of Odisha. But at that time the Congress' strength in the Lok Sabha was 140.

Ramesh said, for the first time, the party was very weak in the Lok Sabha, had reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha and was in power in very few states. "It is a difficult situation," he said.

Ramesh's strong pitch for Rahul's elevation has come at a time when opinion appears to be divided in the organisation on the timing of his taking over.

Punjab PCC Chief Amarinder Singh had made a pitch for Rahul's elevation saying that Sonia is now approaching 70 and her deputy can get into her shoes if she was feeling tired. Senior leader Ambika Soni, however, said Sonia was working tirelessly and should continue, a view shared by another party leader Kamal Nath.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the union cabinet's approval for extending the metro rail service here.

In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said: "I understand that the Union Cabinet has accorded approval to the proposal to extend Corridor I of Phase I of the Chennai Metro Rail Project from Washermanpet to Tiruvotriyur / Wimco Nagar covering a further 9.51 km at a cost of Rs 3,770 crore."

She said more than 95 per cent of the physical work and financial expenditure on the Chennai Metro Rail Project so far, has been completed since work began in May 2011.

"On behalf of the government of Tamil Nadu and the people of Chennai, I thank you for having accorded clearance for the implementation of the Chennai Metro Project Phase I Extension," she said.

Jayalalithaa also thanked Modi for special allocation of food grains for a period of three months from April to June for Tamil Nadu in keeping with the state's request to continue such special allocations.
Jammu: Four persons were killed and nine others injured in an accident on the Pathankot-Jammu national highway, officials said on Sunday.

"A trailer coming from Kathua to Jammu turned turtle in Samba chowk on the Pathankot-Jammu national highway on Saturday night at around 9.00 p.m.," a senior police official told IANS.

"It hit several pedestrians, vehicles and shops along the highway. Two vehicles were completely crushed under the trailer."

"Traffic on the busy highway remained suspended for several hours due to the accident," the official added.
Srinagar/New Delhi: A new app 'calculator' has been found on smart phones of terrorists infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir which helps them to remain in touch with their handlers in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) without being detected by technical surveillance mounted by army.

With the number of militants infiltrating from PoK showing a steep rise this year, the Army found that terrorists carried a smart phone with no messages stored in it.

The Army's signal unit, which relies mainly on technical intercepts like usage of wireless and mobile phones by infiltrating terror groups to track them, is burning midnight oil along with National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and other agencies to crack this mechanism used by the terrorists.

The technology was first used by a US-based company during Hurricane 'Katrina' so that the affected residents could remain in touch with each other.

During interrogation of some of the terrorists of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), the agencies came to know that the terror outfit had modified it and created an application 'calculator' which can be downloaded on smart phones attached to the off-air network created specifically for them.

The technology is based on the concept of 'cognitive digital radio' that enables users to turn their smartphones into peer-to-peer, off-grid communication tools.

The network generates its own signal through proprietary adhoc networking protocols and automatically coordinates with other units within range which enables users to send and receive text messages, share their GPS locations on offline maps regardless of access to WiFi or cellular service.

The terrorists apprehended had their phones paired with the radio sets along the border and were receiving instructions about the route and terrain, official sources quoting interrogation details of some apprehended militants said.

In a related development, the army is trying to plug the holes in the anti-infiltration grid and has already started redeployment of troops.

The infiltration of terrorists from across the border by end of April this year stands at around 35 in Kashmir area.

All the security agencies were unanimous about infiltration from the Jammu side where they claimed militants made three infiltration bids which were foiled by troops.

According to the sources, the militants, who infiltrated recently, have already gone to higher reaches of Bandipora from where they have moved towards central and south Kashmir.

During winter, infiltration is always low. However, this year, winter did not last long and terrorists are suspected to have taken advantage of the favourable weather conditions, sources said.

There were 121 infiltration attempts along the border in Jammu and Kashmir in entire 2015 of which 33 were successful.

In 2014, there were 222 infiltration attempts in the state of which 65 were successful.
New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the President's office to provide details of process followed in inviting guests including their names during the swearing in ceremony of former CIC Vijai Sharma and CVC K V Chowdary in June 2015.

The President's office had refused to disclose the information to activist R K Jain, who had filed an RTI seeking to know the guests invited during the ceremony, communication exchanged, file notings, procedure followed and norms for extending such invitations.

Citing one of the exemption provisions, the Central Public Information Officer had said it will involve sharing of personal information which has no bearing on any larger public interest and cannot be given under the RTI Act.

"The appellant (Jain) referred to his RTI application and stated that the sought for information has not been provided to him by the respondent. The appellant stated that the oath ceremony was an official function and was held with public fund," Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur noted.

Mathur said the CPIO has given no justification/reasons for applicability of section 8(1)(j) in this case.

"The list of the invitees and the file number and file details in which the invitations for the aforesaid Oath Ceremony has been dealt with can be provided to the appellant," he said.
Mumbai: An unfortunate incident has claimed 17 lives on Sunday morning.

At least 17 people died after a bus crashed into two cars and fell into a 20-feet deep ditch on Mumbai-Pune expressway. Around 33 were left injured.

The deceased include 13 males and four females.

What led to the accident?

The driver of a swift desire car was changing a punctured tyre and an Innova stopped to help him.

Tragedy struck when a bus coming from Satara collided with both the cars and then fell into a 20 feet ditch on the left side of the road.

The injured were immediately rushed to the MGM hospital in Panvel.
Dhaka: A Christian businessman was hacked to death in Bangladesh today by machete-wielding men near a church in an attack claimed by the Islamic State, hours after a top anti-terror police officer's wife was shot dead in the Muslim-majority nation that has been witnessing brutal assaults on minorities and secular writers.

Sunil Gomes, 65, was murdered near a church in Banpara village, home to one of the oldest Christian communities in Bangladesh, in northwestern Notore district.

The assailants fled immediately from the scene after killing Gomes. His body was recovered from his grocery shop, police superintendent Shyamal Mukherjee told PTI over phone.

"We are yet to know the details, but our policemen are gathering information about the murder," Mukherjee said.

But hours after the incident, US-based SITE Intelligence Group quoted Islamic State's 'Amaq agency' to report that the terror group claimed responsibility for the murder.

Gomes's murder happened just hours after the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar, who led drives against militants and drug cartels, was stabbed and shot dead by three bike-borne assailants in front of her minor son in Chittagong.

Mahmuda Aktar, 33, was targeted at around 6:45 AM (local time) while she was on her way to drop her six-year-old son to a nearby bus stop for school, about 275 kilometres from here.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said police suspect that religious extremists were behind her murder.

Kamal, who was in the port city, told reporters that the Islamists likely have killed Babul's wife as he played a key role in the campaign against Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Babul, posted at the police headquarters in Dhaka, has led several raids on militant hideouts and investigated terror- related cases as the additional deputy commissioner with the Detective Branch in Chittagong.

He played a key role in nabbing top militants and busting their hideouts in the southern coastal district. It was his investigations which led to the busting of a hideout of banned JMB and arrest of its military wing chief Mohamed Javed in October last year.

"Since Babul Aktar was in counter-terrorism, we suspect that militants are behind the murder of his wife," Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Moktar Ahmed said.
Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today banned use of sirens in cars of VIPs, which would also be applicable in escort and pilot vehicles of Raj Nivas.

However, emergency services like ambulances and fire service vehicles would be exempted from the restriction on use of sirens, a press release from the Secretary to Lt Governor Theva Needhi Das said.

The Lt Governor had also directed that no special privileges would be accorded for cars of VIPs such as stopping of traffic, so that people's right to freedom of movement is not hindered in any manner, it said.

The Lt Governor, the release said, had also directed that?traffic police to also ensure that sufficient number of personnel are present?for regulating traffic without halting it or inconveniencing commuters.
Mathura/Amroha: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday dared the Uttar Pradesh government to recommend a CBI probe into the Mathura incident as the death toll from Thursday's clashes between encroachers and police at Jawahar Bagh rose to 29 with two more persons succumbing to injuries.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinkoo, a resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against 3000 encroachers belonging to a cult - Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi - an outfit that claimed to owe allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The Akhilesh Yadav government came under fresh fire over the incident, with Singh alleging law and order had collapsed in the state and asking it to write to the Centre to institute a CBI probe.

"There is more to it than meets the eye. What does not meet the eye needs to be revealed. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, you should write to the Centre seeking a CBI probe. If UP government recommends a CBI probe we will surely accept it. It is not an ordinary incident," Singh told a rally in Amroha.

Targeting the government, Singh wondered how 3000 people occupied a government land for two years and "they could not see it".

He said being the Union Home Minister he cannot interfere in the law and order of the state "otherwise such an incident would not have happened".

Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chandra Kant, meanwhile, launched a probe to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident, which has left the Samajwadi Party government red-faced and invited sharp criticism from the opposition.

Kant, who said he would go into the reasons for the incident and ascertain the likely lapses, said he would submit his report to the government within a fortnight.

The Divisional Commissioner, who met top district officials including DM Rajesh Kumar, SSP Rakesh Singh and other top officials, as part of the "recommendatory probe", said he would visit Jawahar Bagh, the scene of violent clashes which also left two police officers, including a Superintendent of police, dead, to record the statements of eyewitnesses and others.

"Why the incident took place, whether it was properly tackled, shortcomings in operation Jawahar Bagh, what was the level of shortcomings, whether firing orders were given late... Any other points will be looked into," Kant told reporters.

Combing operations are underway to look for explosives and hidden weapons and would continue even tomorrow, SSP Rakesh Singh said, adding some more arrests were likely to track down people who provided financial support and firearms to Ram Vriksha Yadav, the cult leader, who was among those dead during the clashes. His body was found among 11 charred to death in the fire that was caused by gas cylinder explosions set off by the squatters who were occupying the public park for the last two years.

Bodies of ten encroachers, including two women, have been identified by their accomplices lodged in jail. Efforts are on to identify the other bodies, Singh said.

If relatives do not come forward to claim the bodies their postmortem would be carried out at 11 AM on Monday following which their last rites would be conducted, he said.

A veritable armoury was recovered from the township the cult had established at the park following the clashes.

Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag yesterday. Besides, 47 country-made pistols, six rifles, 178 live cartridges, 15 four wheelers and 6 two-wheelers were also impounded from the site of the clashes.

The secretive cult had occupied nearly 300 acres of Jawahar Bagh and erected temporary dwellings for the followers.

They had set up their own administration, including courts and barracks, where inmates violating rules were pronounced guilty and punished, according to IG (Agra Zone) D C Mishra. The cult repudiated the Indian Constitution.
New Delhi: Reiterating its demand for a CBI probe in the Mathura violence, the BJP on Sunday threatened to launch a statewide stir against the Uttar Pradesh government.

"A Commissioner-level inquiry ordered by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is to cover up the issue and to protect the main culprits. We reject this inquiry and reiterate our demand for a CBI probe," Bharatiya Janata Praty (BJP) secretary Srikant Sharma told IANS.

He said that if a CBI probe was not ordered, the BJP will begin a statewide protest against the ruling Samajwadi Party at every district headquarter.

The Chief Minister has ordered a Commissioner-level inquiry into the Mathura violence in which 24 people including two police officers, were killed.

"Despite being a green belt area, how was permission given for agitation? How food items were allowed to reach there? Why police was not allowed to fire at encroachers despite knowing there were arms and ammunition inside," he asked.

Training his guns at senior state minister Shivpal Yadav, who is also brother of SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP leader said the state government was trying to shield the perpetrators of the Mathura violence.

"Shivpal Yadav must resign and if he doesn't, he should be sacked," he said.

BJP president Amit Shah had on Saturday said that if Mulayam Singh Yadav had self-respect, he should immediately seek resignation of Shivpal Yadav.
Mathura: Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, which clashed with the police in Mathura during an eviction drive last week, were giving arms training to young children.

At the same time, they were running a parallel judicial system and had its own constitution, jails and several 'battalions' of soldiers.

A senior police officer, DC Mishra told AFP news agency, "Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms."

Nine children were sent to a children's home in the city yesterday. They were living in the illegal colony.

NDTV spoke to three of them, all aged 9.

"We hid behind the trees. Bombs were being thrown around, stones hurled, bullets fired everywhere," one child was quoted as saying.

He also said that they were taken to Govind Nagar jail in Mathura and then brought to the children's home.

As per the report, his siblings, 8 and 12 years of age, as well as his mother, were still in jail.

But the police said that all children who were rounded up have been sent to various children's homes in Mathura and Agra.

"They were talking about a fight. They were abusing the administration and were saying that Jawahar Bagh will never be vacated," another child told the TV channel.

One more child, brought to Jawahar Bagh by his aunt, said that she was asked to move to the area by sect leader Ram Vriksh Yadav.

"She brought me here because there's a Netaji called Ram Vriksh Yadav. She said he'll free Bharat. He will come and give us all a gold coin and that is the only currency that will work in India," she said.

If there is no one to take custody of the children, they'll continue to live at the children's home, otherwise they will be allowed to meet their parents before being handed over to their relatives, superintendent of the children's home was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Thursday's clashes between encroachers of Jawahar Bagh and the police today rose to 29 with two more people succumbing to injuries even as the Aligarh Divisional Commissioner launched a probe into the incident.

Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against 3000 encroachers belonging to a cult, owing allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinkoo, a resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chandra Kant, meanwhile, launched a probe to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident, which has left the Samajwadi Party government of Uttar Pradesh red-faced and invited sharp criticism from the Opposition.

Kant, who said he would go into the reasons for the incident and ascertain the likely lapses, said he would submit his report to the government within a fortnight.

A veritable armoury was recovered from the township the cult had established at the park.

Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag yesterday. Besides, 47 country-made pistols, six rifles, 178 live cartridges, 15 four wheelers and 6 two-wheelers were also impounded from the site of the clashes.

The secretive cult had occupied nearly 300 acres of Jawahar Bagh and erected temporary dwellings for the followers.

(With PTI inputs)
Mathura: Even after losing two of their brave officers during the recent violent clashes here at Jawahar Bagh area on Thursday, it seems that more trouble is brewing-up for the Uttar Pradesh Police.

As the probe into the violence began today, a Zee Media report said on Sunday that the District Magistrate (DM) of Mathura Rajesh Kumar and Superintendent of Police (SP) could be suspended from their posts due to lack of coordination while handling the violent clashes between the protestors and the cops.

Meanwhile, death toll in the clashes today rose to 29, according to media reports,

The development comes shortly after a high-level meeting took place at Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's official residence here.

An inquiry into the incident is now being conducted by Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chandrakant.

According to media reports, the DM didnt had any idea about police operation in Jawahar Bagh.

On Thursday night, police went for patrolling and was attacked by 3000 protesters. Akhilesh Yadav had ordered a commissioner-level inquiry into the violence. Over 300 people were arrested in the violence that also left 23 policemen injured, including many seriously hurt.

Twenty-four people were killed in the clash which mounted to twenty-seven later, between police and encroachers during an anti-encroachment drive on Thursday in Jawahar bagh in Mathura.

Those killed also include Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi and Farah Police Station SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav.

BJP workers meanwhile have been booked for holding an unlawful protest in connection with the Mathura incident here.

"An FIR has been registered against over 50 BJP workers on a compliant of Samajwadi Party leader in Sambhal Mahmood Akhtar for gathering unlawfully to protest at Malviya Chowk yesterday," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kamlesh Dixit said.

During the protest, they had burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and raised anti-government slogans charging it with being responsible for the Mathura incident, Dixit said.

The FIR was registered yesterday under section IPC 143 (unlawful assembly), he said.

BJP MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti also lashed out at police officials for not allowing her to go inside Jawahar Bagh.

Police officials in Mathura had yesterday decided to provide a financial help of Rs 76 lakh each to the families of the two police officers killed during the clashes.

Additional SP (Rural) Arun Kumar Singh said all gazetted officers will give their seven days salary, Sub-inspector rank officers their five days salary and personnel below the rank of SI will give their three days salary to the two families.

Similarly, district administration officers and employees have decided to donate their one day salary for the police officers' families, an official release said.

A large amount of explosives were today found during the search operation at Jawahar Bag where 24 people, including two police officers, died following a clash between police and encroachers.

"Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag today," SP Rural Arun Kumar Singh said.

Nine company of PAC, along with police personnel, have been deployed in Jawahar Bag to carry out search operation, he said.

"The search operation is on and till the forensic team complete there work Jawahar Bag would remain out of bounds for everyone," he added.

He also said that associates of Ram Virksha Yadav, the chief of the violent encroachers in Jawahar Bagh, was among those killed in the clashes.

"After seeing the photograph, associates of Ram Virksha Yadav in jail, have confirmed that he had been killed," Singh said when asked about the status of Yadav.

Asked about the reason of delay in conducting post-mortem, he said "it is legally binding to give 72 hours to the family members or well wishers before conducting post-mortem."
Mathura: Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, which clashed with the police in Mathura during an eviction drive last week, were giving arms training to young children.

At the same time, they were running a parallel judicial system and had its own constitution, jails and several 'battalions' of soldiers.

A senior police officer, DC Mishra told AFP news agency, "Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms."



Nine children were sent to a children's home in the city yesterday. They were living in the illegal colony.

NDTV spoke to three of them, all aged 9.

"We hid behind the trees. Bombs were being thrown around, stones hurled, bullets fired everywhere," one child was quoted as saying.

He also said that they were taken to Govind Nagar jail in Mathura and then brought to the children's home.

As per the report, his siblings, 8 and 12 years of age, as well as his mother, were still in jail.

But the police said that all children who were rounded up have been sent to various children's homes in Mathura and Agra.



"They were talking about a fight. They were abusing the administration and were saying that Jawahar Bagh will never be vacated," another child told the TV channel.

One more child, brought to Jawahar Bagh by his aunt, said that she was asked to move to the area by sect leader Ram Vriksh Yadav.



"She brought me here because there's a Netaji called Ram Vriksh Yadav. She said he'll free Bharat. He will come and give us all a gold coin and that is the only currency that will work in India," she said.



If there is no one to take custody of the children, they'll continue to live at the children's home, otherwise they will be allowed to meet their parents before being handed over to their relatives, superintendent of the children's home was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Thursday's clashes between encroachers of Jawahar Bagh and the police today rose to 29 with two more people succumbing to injuries even as the Aligarh Divisional Commissioner launched a probe into the incident.

Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against 3000 encroachers belonging to a cult, owing allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinkoo, a resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chandra Kant, meanwhile, launched a probe to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident, which has left the Samajwadi Party government of Uttar Pradesh red-faced and invited sharp criticism from the Opposition.

Kant, who said he would go into the reasons for the incident and ascertain the likely lapses, said he would submit his report to the government within a fortnight.

A veritable armoury was recovered from the township the cult had established at the park.

Five kg of sulphur, 2.5 kg of gun powder, one kg potash, 500 grams of small iron balls and an electronic plate were found during the search operation in Jawahar Bag yesterday. Besides, 47 country-made pistols, six rifles, 178 live cartridges, 15 four wheelers and 6 two-wheelers were also impounded from the site of the clashes.

The secretive cult had occupied nearly 300 acres of Jawahar Bagh and erected temporary dwellings for the followers.

(With PTI inputs)
Kolkata: The results of WBSCTE JEXPO 2016 are expected to be announced by West Bengal State Council of Technical Education on June 5, 2016.

The students can access their results on webscte.org and www.wbscte.net

The exam was conducted in May for admission to Engineering/Technology diploma courses in polytechnics.

A total of 92,135 students had appeared in the exam this year.

Those who will clear the written leg of the examination will be called for the counselling/interview round.

How to check JEXPO results 2016:JEXPO results 2016:

1. Visit the official websites of the board: www.webscte.org or www.wbscte.net

2. Fill in the required information like the name and roll number

3. Click on the Submit

4. Your result will appear on the page

About WBSCTE:

Within the National Framework of Polytechnic Education, few polytechnics started functioning in our State immediately after independence. To look after the academic activities of polytechnic education, State Council for Engineering & Technical Education was set-up as a Government outfit by an Executive Order. The Council was a part of the Chief Inspectorate of Technical Education and thereafter with the Directorate of Technical Education.

AICTE started as an Advisory Body of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. By an Act of Parliament, AICTE was made a Statutory Body in 1987. The Statutory Council advised all States to give autonomous status to the State Councils of Technical Education. On the basis of aforesaid guideline, Government set-up a committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. Sankar Sen, the then Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University to suggest procedure for setting-up a Statutory Council for the Technical Education. After examining the recommendations, Government in the Technical Education & Training Department moved a Bill before the Legislative Assembly for setting-up a Statutory Council of Technical Education. West Bengal State Council of Technical Education became a Statutory Body under West Bengal Act XXI of 1995. The Council started its activities as a Statutory Body after Gazette Notification on 12th June, 1996.
Kolkata: The West Bengal State Council of Technical Education (WBSCTE) is expected to release the results of the VOCLET examination on Sunday on 5th June 2016 on its official website.

The exam was conducted in May for admission to Engineering/Technology diploma courses in polytechnics.

A total of 92,135 students appeared in the exam this year.

Those who clear the written leg of the examination will be called for the counselling/interview round.

Students can check the results on the official websites of WBSCTE: www.webscte.org or www.wbscte.net

How to check JEXPO/VOCLET exam results 2016:

1. Visit the official websites of the board: www.webscte.org or www.wbscte.net

2. Fill in the required information like the name and roll number

3. Click on the Submit

4. Your result will appear on the page

[WBSCTE JEXPO/VOCLET results 2016]

About West Bengal State Council of Technical Education (WBSCTE):

The West Bengal State Council of Technical Education became a Statutory Body under West Bengal Act XXI of 1995. The Council started its activities as a Statutory Body after Gazette Notification on 12th June, 1996.

The aim of WBSCTE is to impart technical education & training, to provide substantial number of technicians in different disciplines for the emerging industrial fields of the state. It also strives to organize diverse training programmes from non-technical subjects to vocational areas for the educated boys and girls of urban as well as rural areas.

It also seeks to encourage Madhyamik and Higher Secondary passed out candidates towards job oriented programme in order to develop an aura of self employment endeavour.
Manama: Bahrain`s Interior Ministry on Saturday announced it foiled an attempt to smuggle eight fugitives convicted in terror cases via a boat heading to Iran.

The ministry said the trafficking attempt was foiled after the boat was spotted by the coastguard sailing off the coast of Northern Bahrain.

"The boat was chased and then interdicted when those onboard refused to stop," said the ministry.

It released names and photographs of the fugitives who are jailed between 10 to 15 years in the Bahrain court in different cases, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry in a statement identified the two masterminds operating from Iran, who were wanted by Bahrain authorities.

It further said the boat captain is a resident of Bilad Al Qadeem and his assistant is resident of Juffair, were also arrested.

"The arrestees` ID cards, money, mobile phones, personal belongings, a GPS and a large quantity of petrol were confiscated, " stated the ministry on Saturday adding legal proceedings were taken.

In October last year Bahrain asked its ambassador in Tehran to leave immediately as it accused Iran of meddling in its domestic affairs and even expelled Tehran`s envoy in Manama.

Bahrain authorities in the past have seized weapons shipments which they claim were sent by Iran to create instability in the Gulf.

In November last year, a major counter terrorism operation was conducted by Bahrain`s security authorities in which it foiled a terrorist network and the arrest of 47 suspects.

The Interior Ministry said a range of high-grade explosives, bomb making materials and weapons were seized from several locations within populated residential areas in Bahrain.

In addition to the materials seized, a bomb-making facility and an explosives laboratory were discovered.

Bahrain investigators had then said that as with previous terrorist incidents in 2015 the suspects arrested hold strong connections with terrorist organisations in Iran.

Bahrain is a close US ally and hosts its Navy Fifth Fleet, which in this year alone has stopped three dhows in separate incidents that were loaded with large cache of weapons which it claimed were destined for Houthi rebels in Yemen originated from Tehran.
Vatican City: Catholic bishops guilty of negligence in child abuse cases can now be dismissed from office, Pope Francis said Saturday in a move hiking pressure on the Church`s hierarchy.

The move was announced just two weeks after the pope came under fire for meeting a top French cardinal accused of covering up for a paedophile priest in a scandal that has shaken France`s Catholic Church.

The decision, which will also apply to other senior Church officials, was unveiled in a papal decree which said such cases would now fall under existing canon law allowing for prelates to be sacked for "serious reasons".

"The Church, like a loving mother, loves all her children, but treats and protects with special affection the smallest and most helpless," the papal decree said.

Pope Francis came to power promising a crackdown on cover-ups and a zero tolerance approach to abuse itself, but victims` groups have expressed discontent with his record on ridding the Church of the taint of paedophilia.

Known as an Apostolic letter, the text stresses the need for "special diligence" in caring for minors and vulnerable adults, with those who demonstrate negligence in tackling cases of abuse facing the threat of dismissal.

That diligence is required even "without grave moral culpability" on the part of the bishop involved, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in an explanatory statement.

"For removal from office, in the case of abuse of minors, it is `sufficient for the lack of diligence to be grave` while in other cases a `very grave` lack of diligence must be demonstrated," he added.

A "college of legal experts" -- cardinals and bishops -- has been set up to assist the pope reach a decision arriving at a definitive decision in a particular case.

The new approach will take effect from September 5, Lombardi said.A string of historic paedophilia cases in North America and Europe has unleashed widespread criticism of the Catholic hierarchy, including allegations that in some cases bishops were aware of sexual predators among the priesthood but failed to curb them.

Last month, Francis held a surprise meeting with French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the under-fire Archbishop of Lyon who is suspected of covering up for a paedophile priest.

The meeting came just days after the pope was quoted as saying it would be "nonsensical and imprudent" to seek Barbarin`s resignation at this stage.

It was not immediately clear whether the papal decree would impact on the Barbarin case.

French examining magistrates are currently carrying out two preliminary investigations to decide whether to pursue charges against the archbishop for his handling of the allegations against Bernard Preynat, a priest in his diocese who has been charged with sex abuse.

Police this week raided the offices of Nicolas de Boccard, a clerical judicial adviser to the Lyon diocese, sources close to the case said Saturday.

Barbarin will be questioned by police shortly, the sources told AFP.A US group representing victims of paedophile priests suggested that the Vatican`s initiative on Saturday sought to put a brake on efforts to stop abusers and bring them to justice.

"We`re extraordinarily sceptical," David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement.

"Popes and bishops have long had the power, but not the will, to oust those who protect predators and endanger kids. They refuse to do this, and the consequences are devastating," Clohessy said.

"When it`s advantageous to move quickly, Catholic officials move quickly. When they want to move slowly, or not at all, they set up commissions and `processes` and the like."
Rhone: Six Czech tourists were injured when their bus was hit by gunfire while travelling through south-eastern France, a prosecutor said Sunday.

The bus was carrying 75 Czech tourists from Spain to the Czech Republic when the incident described as an "isolated act" occurred on a highway on Saturday night.

"An initial shot smashed the front windscreen and a second exploded the rear window of the vehicle a few seconds later," said prosecutor Valence Alex Perrin.

Six passengers were hurt by broken glass, including a woman whose eye was seriously damaged, and a child.

Perrin said initial investigations had revealed the shooter used a hunting rifle. One of the bullets was found inside the bus.

"We don`t have any reason to believe this bus was targeted instead of any other," said Perrin.

All the passengers who were not hospitalised have returned to their home country.
Tehran: Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria."

Ansari said Washington's support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the "biggest sponsor of state terrorism".

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also "increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State."

Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the government's fightback against the Sunni extremists of IS.
Rome: Italians go to the polls Sunday for municipal elections that represent tests for both Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the country`s divided right, with both fearing a chastening defeat in Rome.

More than 1,300 municipal councils will be elected in a two-round ballot to be completed on June 19.

The primary focus on the major cities of Bologna, Milan, Naples, Turin, and especially the capital, where the populist, anti-establishment Five Star is heading the race for the mayor`s seat.

Rome has been without an elected leader since last October, when Ignazio Marino, a member of Renzi`s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), was forced to quit over an expenses scandal.

That episode and a much bigger, unrelated scandal over organised crime`s infiltration of City Hall have bolstered Five Star`s Virginia Raggi.

She goes into Sunday`s vote with polls indicating she could secure around 30 percent of first round votes. The PD`s Roberto Giachetti was trailing on around 24 percent.

Losing Rome would not augur well for Renzi four months before he puts his position on the line in a referendum on constitutional reforms designed to end decades of gridlock in parliament.

And the setback would be even greater if, as looks possible, the PD candidate in Milan is also defeated.

Five Star meanwhile is hoping that success in Rome will give it the platform it needs to transform itself into Italy`s principal opposition in the run-up to national elections due by June 2018 at the latest.

Perhaps concerned about the impact of losing both Rome and Milan for the momentum of his reform programme, Renzi has played down the significance of the local elections.

"The municipals are about mayors, the people whose job it is to repair the streets, not the government of the country," he said recently.

With former premier Silvio Berlusconi now a fading figure on the national stage, Italy`s right is being reshaped and the battle for leadership is being played out in the capital.

Giorgia Meloni, a candidate put up by one of several grouplets that emerged from Italy`s neo-fascist movement, is being backed by the anti-immigrant Northern League, whose leader Matteo Salvini wants to unite all the right behind himself.

But Berlusconi has backed another candidate, Alfio Marchini, having told the pregnant Meloni that the role of mayor was not compatible with motherhood.

Some 16,000 polling stations open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 11:00 pm.

There are concerns the turnout could be low with millions of Italians enjoying a long holiday weekend as a result of Republic Day falling on Thursday.
Paris: The prime minister of Libya`s UN-backed unity government has ruled out an international military intervention to fight the Islamic State group, which has had a growing presence in the country since 2014.

Some 25 nations including the United States and Russia agreed last month to help Libya arm itself against the jihadists, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he would not allow foreign troops on the ground.

"It`s true that we need help from the international community in our fight against terrorism and it`s true that this is something we have already received," he said in the interview, published Sunday.

"But we are not talking about international intervention," Sarraj said, adding that the presence of foreign ground troops would be "contrary to our principles".

"Rather we need satellite images, intelligence, technical help... not bombardments," he said.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.

However, it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar.

Both bodies are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive the Islamic State group out of the coastal city ofLibya, international military intervention, Islamic State, United States, Russia, jihadists, Fayez al-Sarraj, world news Sirte, a bastion for jihadists in the country.

On Saturday, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken a jihadist air base near the city.

Sarraj told Journal du Dimanche that "total victory over IS in Sirte is close".

"(We hope) that this war against terrorism will be able to unite Libya. But it will be long. And the international community knows that," he said.
Geneva: In a global first, the Swiss voted on Sunday on a radical proposal to provide the entire population with enough money to live on, no strings attached.

In a measure almost certain to fail, voters are being asked whether they want all Swiss citizens, along with foreigners who have been legal residents in Switzerland for at least five years, to receive an unconditional basic income, or UBI.

Polling stations in most places opened at 10:00 am (local time) and were set to close at noon, but most people in the wealthy Alpine nation vote in advance.

In Geneva for instance, 47.4 per cent of eligible voters had already cast their ballot yesterday evening, according to the regional voting service.

Supporters of the UBI initiative say providing such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are becoming harder to find.

The idea is controversial, to say the least. The Swiss government and nearly all the country's political parties have urged voters to reject the initiative -- advice which 71 percent are inclined to follow, according to the latest opinion poll.

Critics have slammed the initiative as "a Marxist dream", warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, to the detriment of the economy.

Proponents reject that, arguing people naturally want to be productive and that a basic income would simply provide them more flexibility to choose the activities they find most valuable.

"For centuries this has been considered a utopia, but today it has not only become possible, but indispensible," Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told AFP.

The amount to be paid has yet to be determined, but the non-political group behind the initiative has suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs (USD 2,500/2,300 euros) a month to each adult, and 625 francs for each child.

That may sound like a lot, but it is barely enough to get by on in one of the world's priciest nations - leaving plenty of incentive to work, campaigners say.

Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.
Beirut: US-backed Syrian fighters advancing on the Islamic State group in the strategic northern town of Manbij have progressed to within five kilometres of the jihadist bastion, a monitor said on Sunday.

Supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition battling IS in Syria and Iraq, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias launched an assault last week on Manbij.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces are now within about five kilometres of the strategic city of Manbij," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

Manbij is located along a route connecting Raqa - the IS group's de facto capital in Syria -- to the Turkish border, a vital conduit for supplies and foreign fighters.

At least 74 people have died in the fighting since the start of the offensive last Monday, including 32 civilians mainly killed as a result of coalition air strikes, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of medics and activists to monitor the conflict.

Thirty jihadists were also killed, it said, along with 12 SDF fighters.

After taking the village of Khirbet al-Rus, about 20 kilometres southeast of Manbij, the SDF rescued a group of Yazidis -- six women and 16 children -- who were being held captive by IS, the Observatory said.

The women and children were among hundreds of Yazidis taken captive in mid-2014 as IS carried out a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against members of the Yazidi minority.

US Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said yesterday that SDF fighters had seized more than 100 square kilometres of territory during the advance.

More than 55 air strikes have been carried out since the offensive began, he said, adding that the goal was to hamper IS's ability "to move fighters, weapons, finances (and) supplies into and out of Syria and Iraq."

Some 3,000 Arab fighters were taking part in the offensive, backed by around 500 Kurdish militia members, he said, adding that US special forces were working "at the command and control level" in the operation.

Russian-backed Syrian troops are also advancing against IS in Raqa and yesterday pushed into the province from the southwest, moving to within 40 kilometres of the Euphrates Valley town of Tabqa, site of the country's biggest dam.
Cape Town: The US Diplomatic Mission to South Africa on Saturday issued a terror warning to US citizens in South Africa.

The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in South Africa, such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the mission said.

"This information comes against the backdrop of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's public call for its adherents to carry out terrorist attacks globally during the upcoming month of Ramadan," the mission said without giving further details, Xinhua reported.

The South African authorities have not responded to the warning. A call to the state security agency went unanswered.

The US issued a similar alert in September last year, saying it had received information that extremists may be targeting US interests in the country.

The warning put South Africa on alert, but Security Minister David Mahlobo said then that there was no need to panic as its information from the ground was that there was no imminent danger or threat being posed by any terrorist group to South Africa.

Fears for terror attacks on Western targets in South Africa have existed for some time. There have been reports that "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite was seen spying on Western embassies in South Africa before she allegedly masterminded the West Gate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013.

The 31-year-old Briton is known to have been in South Africa between 2008 and 2011, travelling under the assumed name Natalie Faye Webb on a fraudulently obtained South African passport.

In January and February 2013, she was allegedly caught on CCTV cameras watching embassies in the Arcadia area of Pretoria, including the British High Commission.

Arcadia is home to the Union Buildings and South African president's official residence, in addition to the US embassy and many other foreign embassies.
Ulan Bator: US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Mongolia on Saturday, the latest senior US official to make the trip to the mineral-rich country neighboured by Russia and China.

Kerry will stop in the capital Ulan Bator for several hours, where he is scheduled to meet with President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, launch a new USAID programme and attend a festival of horse-racing and Mongolian wrestling.

"I think the label that attaches itself pretty naturally to Mongolia is 'plucky democracy'," a senior State Department official said ahead of Kerry's visit.

Mongolia is "in a very, very tough neighbourhood", the official added, noting the country depends on Russia for three-quarters of its oil and China for about 90 percent of their trade.

"So it's not an easy place to operate," the official said, adding "Mongolia is a terrific partner to the United States and a good friend".

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and US Vice President Joe Biden are among other top officials to have visited the country in recent years as America "pivots to Asia".

The former Soviet nation of about three million people possesses enormous mineral resources and deposits of gold, copper and uranium, still largely untapped.

Its mineral resources saw the country achieve over 17 percent growth in 2011, but that has since drastically fallen to under 3 percent last year along with plummeting metal prices and capital flight.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, one of the country's key investors, has been hit by rising nationalist sentiment among Mongolians concerned about the growth of foreign firms as well as environmental damage from mining.

In 2012 the country passed a strict law on investment in "strategic" sectors and foreign direct investment collapsed. Parliament has since cancelled the controversial law.

In May Rio Tinto announced it would start work on an expansion of its giant gold and copper Oyu Tolgoi mine after years of gridlock, a huge project requiring a $5.3 billion investment.

The State Department official acknowledged, in an answer to a question posed by a member of the press, that a US bid for the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine several years ago was hampered by a very slow process. The bid ultimately went to a Chinese contractor.

"We think that the regulatory environment and the legal environment in Mongolia needs to be improved," the official said, after he was asked about transparency within the key sector.
Nairobi: Criminal syndicates are currently generating an estimated $258 billion from illegal plunder of the planet`s natural capital, says a joint UNEP-Interpol report launched on Saturday ahead of the World Environment Day.

The `Rise of Environmental Crime` report reveals that illegal exploitation and trafficking of flora and fauna has spiked by 26 percent thanks to weak policing alongside lethargic enforcement of existing laws.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner decried the rise in environmental crimes terming it a threat to livelihoods, stability and sustainable development, Xinhua reported.

"The vast sums of money generated from environmental crimes keep sophisticated international criminal gangs in business, fuels insecurity and devastates ecosystems and local economies," Steiner said.

Environmental crimes have surpassed illegal trade in small arms in terms of profits accrued and the sophistication of perpetrators.

The joint UNEP-Interpol report reveals that illegal trade in small arms is worth $3 billion compared to $258 billion generated from cross border trafficking of species.

Steiner emphasised the need for global solidarity to bring an end to environmental crimes that have become pervasive in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"The world needs to come together now to take strong national and international action to bring environmental crime to an end," said the UNEP chief

Illegal trade in flora and fauna ranks the fourth largest criminal enterprise after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking.

The joint report indicates the amount of money lost due to environmental crimes is 10,000 times higher than the amount spent by international agencies to combat it.

Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock said that innovative and collaborative approaches were an imperative to help root out illegal trafficking of species.

"Environmental crime is growing at an alarming pace. The complexity of this type of criminality requires a multi sector response underpinned by collaboration across borders," Stock said.

He added that Interpol will strengthen collaboration with member states to help identify and crack down on criminal syndicates involved in illegal trade in rare species.

The joint report notes that international criminal networks are involved in a series of environmental crimes that includes poaching, illegal logging, fishing and dumping of toxic waste.

It recommends robust public awareness, capacity building for law enforcement agencies, collaboration and adoption of state of the art technology to help minimise environmental crimes.


YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. A consultation over the draft Tax Code took place at the Government chaired by PM Abrahamyan. The consultation was attended by the representatives of the private sector, including SMEs.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Government of Armenia, issues referring to changes in the legislation were discussed. The representatives of the private sector introduced their proposals and remarks.

The Prime Minister assigned to organize another discussion with the state agencies and the private sector and to submit its results to the Government.
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS. Vladimir Vardanyan, expert on international rights of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, highlights the fact that the German Bundestag has finally given a concrete assessment via a legal document on describing the Armenian massacres of 1915 as Genocide.

According to him, to some extent this decision was also a response to the suspicious position of the European Court of Human Rights on the Perincek case, which was questioning the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide.

With the Bundestags decision rises the geography of the Armenian Genocide recognition process, which is a serious factor for carrying out the recognition process even more in the European continent, he said.

He stressed the importance of the fact that the Bundestag resolution includes the issue of the German responsibility.

Germany was not the country which had a concrete pro-Armenian position, and this recognition is in some extent a surprise for us. The fact that various representatives of different factions presented a united position was also a surprise, which is unprecedented, as the German Parliament is a very difficult Parliament, where various issues are being seriously discussed, he said.
There it was on my Facebook feed this week: Trending: Prince. Why was Prince a trending topic when he'd been found dead a month ago? Then I learned his official cause of death had just been released: "Accidental Fentanyl toxicity." In other words, he unintentionally overdosed on a drug he was taking to treat chronic pain. After reading the comments on the various new Prince articles, it hit me: though Prince's body died of opioid overdose, the autopsy report may as well have said "death by ignorance and fear," both his own, and the public's.

If "death by ignorance and fear" sounds inflammatory and sensational, stop and think about it. Why on earth would anyone wait to get medical help for something that could kill them? Would you furtively seek treatment if you realized you had something potentially fatal? Would you wait until things were so bad that your life was literally falling apart and you were afraid you might die? No. You'd rightly engage in proactive self-care and get professional medical treatment, with no fear that anyone would proclaim you as weak-willed and morally bankrupt. You would do it with no fear that it might permanently damage your reputation, your career, or negatively affect your family. But that's not the case with addiction and mental health.

Because of his fear of what had become his "secret" getting out to the public, Prince passed off an emergency plane landing due to overdose as "the flu." The public's eyes were on him, and treatment that would have saved his life was delayed. Why? It is primarily the ignorance and fear of an addiction-shaming and tabloid culture that drives public figures to make such insane decisions. The press and public surely would have turned the very normal act of Prince seeking medical treatment for his condition into scandalous fodder, something the very private Princeor anyonewould likely choose to avoid.

Most of the reactions to the cause of death news were disheartening to read, partly because I used to work for Prince, who was as straight an arrow as they come. I was 22 years old and got a gig as the production secretary for his second film, "Graffiti Bridge," shot at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. I wasn't on set much, mostly working in the production office, which was on the main floor, right across from the elevator that led upstairs and to Prince's private quarters. That was usually where I saw him, stepping out of the elevator door in the morning. So when I heard that his body was found in the elevator, it was a jarring visual contrast to the spry cannon of energy that bounced out of that door every day in four inch heels.

I liked working at Paisley Park, it was a very professional environment, but also had a community feel to it, and I felt like I was a part of something. When George Clinton would do his scenes, he would ask me to watch his grandson for him and we got chatty over time. I was even able to get my brother a job on the film, doing security patrol. It seemed to me that Prince took the good will that Warner Bros. showed in building Paisley Park, very seriously, and passed it on to others. It was a not a glorified man-cave or over-priced party house. Prince ran the place like what it wasa world class production facility with a massive soundstage, recording studio, and performance space. From my observations, the partying took place offsite and did not involve Prince. (It was apparently in George Clinton's wheelhouse, however.)

I remember processing Prince's W-9 form for payroll and seeing that his legal first name really was Prince. "Prince Rogers Nelson," it read, and then his social security number. Prince was humana person working hard for his paycheck just like everybody else. I remember him taking some actors into the hallway to teach them complicated dance moves for an upcoming sceneagain, in 4-inch heels. Prince was a petite guy, but he wore those heels well, and could move nimbly in them, and he seemed to be moving all the time. I can't help but fast forward now to the ensuing decades of performance and the toll it obviously took on his body, leading to his double hip replacement surgery in 2010. The surgery failed to relieve his pain, and so his long-term chronic pain treatment began.

That job was my first experience in major studio film production, and I learned a ton. I was grateful for the opportunity and the stories I had from it. The last time I saw Prince was when he threw the film's wrap party at Paisley Park. Everyone was invited and could bring guests, from production assistants on up, and were treated by our host as equals.

At that time, I had only just begun teaching myself how to play bass, so I would never have believed that in years to come we'd both have stars on the wall outside of the Minneapolis rock club he made famous, First Avenue. His, of course, for being Prince, and mine for my years as the bassist in Minneapolis band Babes in Toyland. I've played numerous gigs at that club, and we shot a music video there, but it was an indescribable honor for our band to be on the same wall as him.

Though Prince and I may have both been musicians who shared a city, I am sure as hell not drawing parallels in our careers. I have not gone on to sell 100 million records like he did. And I didn't blow people's minds playing the Superbowl. I can't dance in 4-inch heels. I can't write hit songs as easily as jotting down a shopping list. Nor was it my time working for him that feeds my empathy about his death and the public's reaction to it. What I have in common with Prince are my personal experiences with chronic pain and addiction. I'm a recovering addict 12 years sober, but an addict nonetheless, and I deal with pain daily. Glancing at comments like "He did it to himself," "Surprise, another rock star drug addict," and other victim-blaming attitudes, angers and upsets me.

I know what it's like to live in chronic pain. I've survived four car accidents, none of which I caused, surprisingly. Each one incrementally worsened my neck pain to the point that after the third one in 2011, I agreed to have cervical spine surgery to relieve it. Surgery was risky, and not a quick fix, but I couldn't imagine living in pain like that any longer. It also involved an extremely long recoveryand being on painkillers most of that time. I struggled with them, but it was an unavoidable part of my treatment.

My doctor knew I was an addict, but it was the only option for treating the inevitable and severe painand severe it was. Sure, it killed the pain as I recovered, but it also gave me a wonderful feelingpeaceful and anxiety-freean instant vending machine happiness, which, for someone with Depression, is delightful. That is what I struggled not to cling to. That, I knew, was addiction. I was weaned off of them, and thankfully I lived pain-free for four years. Last year, another accident brought it back. Though it is chronic, the pain is not as severe as before, so I am able to avoid opioids. It is nothing like the pain Prince was enduring. I can't imagine living with severe pain for the rest of my life, like he was facing.

In the case of prescription opioids, these people are not addicts looking for a high, but for relief from their pain. Fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Even when taken in small amounts, it can be fatal. Neuroscientists know that addiction is a brain disease, but most people don't. There is a huge gap in the public's understanding of it as a medical condition, not a choice or moral failing, but a progressive, fatal disease.

Though my original addiction was to another substance, it almost killed me, as it does so many. Prince wasn't as lucky as me. My incident happened two blocks away from a hospital. I was saved, the ER doctor later told me, by how quickly I got to the hospital. Five minutes later and it would have been curtains, as she put it. It was shortly afterwards that I got sober.

Prince may not have been happy about the need for addiction treatment, but he knew it was time, and he had a close enough call on the plane to ponder the thought that his addiction could end his life. Clearly, he wanted to live. But he didn't want anyone to know. Sadly, addiction is particularly lethal in the case of performing artists with egos and identities whose destruction could mean the end of their careers. Hide it, hide it, hide it. Hide it from you. Hide it from us.

From my perspective, lumping Prince into the bin of rock stars done in by overdose, dismissing the tragedy as another example of excess and bad choices, is not only inaccurate, it perpetuates dangerous attitudes and ignorance about chronic pain and addiction. Every medical treatment has inherent risks. So why the shame?

We didn't disavow David Bowie for treating his cancer with chemotherapy, though the side effects made him sick in many ways. Bowie was a patient seeking relief, and that's what Prince was doing, too. In his case, it was chronic pain. The most common treatment for that calls for a dependency on prescription painkillers. It's not like he became addicted by surprise or chance. It is a known side effect of treating pain with painkillers. The management of that pain is tricky business, as pain is measured by self-report and not observation. Where I believe mistakes were made is in secrecy and shame, which our culture demands in exchange for perceived indulgence in narcotics, prescribed or not.

The tragedy that treatment had been delayed and sought through back channels to avoid detectionthat is what the focus should be on. Shaming for the treatment of addiction and mental illness is everywhere, and its impact is very real. In my own first year of sobriety, I met a young woman in AA who, like me, also suffered from clinical Depression and was on prescribed anti-depressants. Unfortunately, her sponsor was one of those people who believe that ANY drug is bad and that you should be clean of all drugs no matter what. This is not an attitude that AA as an organization shares, in fact, it explicitly encourages members to seek outside professional medical and psychiatric help if needed, including taking prescribed medication. Unfortunately, I think a pretty broad swath of the public believes the same thingthat being dependent on a prescription for your well-being is somehow weak and wrong. But tell that to a diabetic who takes insulin, or the chronic pain sufferer who takes opioids, then tell it to this girl, who listened to this ignorant woman, went off her meds, and killed herself about a month later.

I've experienced the shaming and ignorance many times, and was once let go from a music project partly because someone said I was "not really sober" because I took prescribed psychiatric medication for Major Depressive Disorder. It is the dangerous attitudes of people like that, and people like the misguided woman at the AA meeting that contribute to the deadliness of addiction.

Both the broader medical community and public turn a blind eye to the plight of those in chronic pain, and the majority deny that their inevitable opioid addictions are a progressive, potentially fatal disease worthy of compassion, treatment, and medical resources. Resources like treatment with the drug Suboxone (aka Buprenorphine), which is a narcotic used to treat opiate addiction for not only heroin addicts, but the chronic pain sufferer, whose treatment relies on opioids to live their lives. They aren't asking for addiction. It's a side effect of their treatment and it can be lethal. The man who found Prince in the elevator wrote about the limited access to Suboxone both in Minnesota and the nation in treatment for opioid addiction.

Prince's pain management treatment, like so many others, had led to long-term physical dependence on prescription painkillers, which in turn evolved into an addiction, which he was actively seeking help for. What's the difference between dependence and addiction?

According to the National Institutes of Health:

Physical dependence can happen with the chronic use of many drugsincluding many prescription drugs, even if taken as instructed. Physical dependence in and of itself does not constitute addiction, but it often accompanies addiction. This distinction can be difficult to discern, particularly with prescribed pain medications, for which the need for increasing dosages can represent tolerance or a worsening underlying problem, as opposed to the beginning of abuse or addiction. Addictionor compulsive drug use despite harmful consequencesis characterized by an inability to stop using a drug; failure to meet work, social, or family obligations; and, sometimes (depending on the drug), tolerance and withdrawal.

It's not like some people get addicted to these drugs and others don't. Anyone taking them for longer than a few days becomes physically dependent on these drugs. That, right now, is the best the medical community has to offer for chronic pain management.

To me, addiction-shaming is akin to rape victim-shaming. Both inhibit disclosure, reporting, and ultimately, getting help. In one case, it allows the perpetrators to accrue more victims, and in the case of addiction, accrue more casualties. Ignorance has a price, and too often, it is someone's life. Every derogatory comment made about Prince for his chronic pain and addiction is like another nail in his coffin, or the next friend, or the next brother, or sister, or son, or daughter.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the cost of substance abuse costs the US more than $700 billion annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity, and health care. It's not going away. Prescription drug use has the second fastest-growing use rate among 8th through 12th graders. (Marijuana is number one, and I'd be curious if that had more to do with access and legalization rather than a growing trend.)

So more kids are doing it, more people are dying, it's costing us more money, yet so many intelligent people I know roll their eyes at calling addiction and alcoholism a disease, or dismiss 12-step recovery groups as cults, or leave negative comments about a dead rock star who asked for help on his last day on earth.

I'm sorry Prince is gone because he was a musical genius and masterful performer. But I am more haunted by the prospect of what a world with a sober Prince in recovery might have been like. Maybe he'd be an advocate for the need for alternatives in chronic pain management, or the need for access to addiction treatment. Maybe he wouldn't talk about it, maybe he'd stay "anonymous," but maybe people would see that recovery is possible. Maybe they'd start to have compassion for people suffering with the afflictions instead of calling for their incarceration and damnation. Maybe they'd speak up when someone was ranting cluelessly about someone else's addiction.

I don't know. But I'm still here somehow, and I don't stay quiet, or anonymous, because I'm happy to be sober and wish more people got to experience it. That's just me, and though I am sometimes criticized for it, I know that my life was transformed when I stopped living in shame and silence about my medical disorders. I hope that if there's anything to learn from Prince's unnecessary death, it's that we could all use a more open mind and some compassion when discussing someone else's problems. As Prince said, "It's a hurtful place, the world, in and of itself. We don't need to add to it. And we're in a place now where we all need one another, and it's going to get rougher." I agree.

Maureen Herman, author and musician, is currently writing her first book, It's a Memoir, Motherfucker on Macmillan's Flatiron Books imprint, due out 2017. She was the bassist of Babes in Toyland from 1992 until 1996 and from 2014 to mid-2015. She lives in Los Angeles with her amazing daughter. She's also known to be activist-y.
By Brenda Goh and Simon Webb

KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE (Reuters) - For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms.

In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China.

From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project.

The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion (1.72 trillion) in the next decade. As Chinas economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas.

But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbours protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavourable financing conditions.

They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and cancelled its part of the project in 2014.

For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

Story continues

China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment.

LAND-LINKED

In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began.

The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December.

Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said.

It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane.

Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked.

"There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that."

The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled.

They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favourable for China.

Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese.

"The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues.

Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said.

With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said.

UNREALISTIC

China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being unrealistic.

Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidised, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.

"You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge."

After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border.

"They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route.

"I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said.

Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea.

"The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China.

Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering.

"We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster."

BIG GAP

The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming.

Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centres.

But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads.

Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town".

"One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't."

(Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana in BANGKOK; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Neil Fullick)
TRENTO, Italy (Reuters) - Excessive capital requirements can backfire, Italy's economy minister said on Saturday, defending a joint French-Italian proposal to cap the amount of reserves that euro zone banks should have to wipe out before they can be rescued.

Rules in force since the beginning of this year require euro zone banks to respect a minimum requirement for their own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in order to qualify for access to a bank-financed rescue fund in case of failure, and avoid full liquidation.

In a joint paper, seen by Reuters, Paris and Rome raised doubts on the rationale of introducing a floor for MREL and urged instead a cap that should not exceed 8 percent of banks' debt.

Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told an economic conference on Saturday there was a risk banks could be asked to raise too much capital too quickly, which would leave them vulnerable if tough markets made it hard to raise funds.

"Instead of stronger banks we end up with weaker ones," he said.

"The French-Italian initiative at this very delicate stage of the creation of a banking union is a voice calling for caution. We're all going in the same direction, a stronger banking system, let's do so at the right pace, let's not exaggerate please."

Following the euro zone debt and banking crisis, EU countries have designed a banking union meant to strengthen lenders' financial stability, but have not yet brought the plan to completion.

Germany, the dominant power in the euro zone, is dragging its feet on a European bank deposit guarantee scheme, widely regarded as a missing link in the project.

"If we don't accept risk-sharing why are we wasting our time with the euro?," Padoan said.

Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco on Tuesday warned that incomplete progress in establishing a banking union risked making the euro zone more vulnerable because authorities may be unable to stop contagion in a crisis.

Padoan also saw potential contagion risks from 'bail in' rules hitting bank investors and large depositors before public money can be tapped to rescue a bank.

"We're building a banking union, let's try not to get hurt in the process. This, I think, was the message from the (Bank of Italy) governor whom I tend to agree with," Padoan said.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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At a recent Town Hall meeting, Obama was put on the spot by gun store owner, who asked him why he wants to restrict gun use for law-abiding citizens. The video has since gone viral among liberals who think that the president gave a stellar response. In reality, he merely showed us his true colors.



First of all, the notion that I or Hillary or Democrats or whoever you want to choose are hell-bent on taking away folks guns is just not true, he claims And I dont care how many times the NRA says it. Obama then goes on to make the case for restricting gun ownership for people who find themselves on the no fly list, and cites an example of someone who has been visiting ISIS websites but is still allowed to buy firearms.

So sir I just have to say respectfully, that there is a way for us to have common sense gun laws. There is a way for us to make sure that lawful responsible gun owners like yourself, are able to use them for sporting, hunting, protecting yourself. But the only way were going to do that is if we dont have a situation in which anything that is proposed is viewed as some tyrannical destruction of the Second Amendment.

Unfortunately, his idea to restrict gun ownership for people on the no-fly list is exactly the kind of thing that could lead to the tyrannical destruction of the Second Amendment. In a perfect world it would be nice if we could keep guns away from terrorists, but restricting the gun rights of people who are on the no-fly list is anything but reasonable or common sense.

Thats because literally anyone can find themselves on the no-fly list. You dont have to commit a crime and you dont need to visit any suspicious websites. They can take away your right to travel freely without any due process whatsoever. At best, all the government needs to do is hear that you might have some sympathies for a terrorist organization, and youll be barred from being on a plane for life.

As Techdirt.com pointed out last year, more than a third of the people on the no-fly list have no known terrorist affiliations. If Obamas plan were ever put in place, you could lose your right to bear arms over nothing more than a hunch or a rumor.

Leaks to the Intercept revealed that the process by which people are put on either the no fly list or the terrorist watch list basically involves hunches, and revelations from just a few months ago show that DHS still uses flim flam pseudo science to put people on the list based on hunches that the government laughably calls predictive judgment, but which experts have said has no scientific basis whatsoever.

If you want to understand how incredibly wrong this proposal is, you just need to replace buy guns with something else, like the right to assemble or the right to use the internet. Its easy to say: What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to use the internet? But then you remember that these arent actual suspects  theyre just people put on a list by law enforcement with no thorough process, let alone due process to defend themselves or to get off the list. And, of course, being a suspect doesnt mean youre guilty. Innocent until proven guilty used to actually mean something.

And lets not forget, that our government has a very broad definition of terrorist, and has in the past claimed that conservatives, libertarians, veterans, and Christians should be watched closely for their supposed terrorist potential (i.e., the groups that are most likely to own firearms).

Sorry Obama, but youre a gun grabber plain and simple. At best perhaps, youre ignorant of what your proposal could do to our rights, and at worse youre lying to the American people. You know exactly what a no-buy list would lead to. Furthermore, the fact that more guns were sold during your administration than any other in history does not prove that youre not trying to take our guns, its only proof that youve failed to take them. You can sugarcoat your anti-Second Amendment vision, and claim that you just want to make us all a little safer, but we know what your ideas would do to our rights.
The group of kids in the sunglasses, holding plastic buckets, standing on Main Street in Lebanon on Saturday knew one thing for certain: There would be candy.

Just up the road from their staked-out location stood the Lebanon High School Junior ROTC Drill Team, the spearhead of the 107th Strawberry Festival Grand Parade. The team was minutes away from stepping off and launching the procession, and the kids could barely contain their excitement.

Asked what the best part of the parade would be, a resounding "candy!" jumped from the pack. One young boy named Zach was so excited he just started volunteering information that at first glance appeared to have little to do with the parade.

"My favorite animal is the cheetah!" he shouted.

"And what do you like about the parade?" a reporter asked.

"I think I forgot," he replied.

Beyond his excitement, Zach was proud that his brother, Joshua Boniface, would be marching as an ROTC cadet.

As small town parades go, the Lebanon Strawberry Festival Grand parade is up there with the Rose Bowl Parade or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hundreds of parade-goers lined the street, some having reserved their spots well in advance.

Five-year-old Isabelle Farthing, from Sweet Home, sat in an inflatable pool, languishing in the cool water while her family relaxed in the shade. Her family friend, Amanda Cowdry, from Lebanon, had claimed the spot the night before, laying down an area rug, the inflated pool, and some chairs. her reservation tactic worked this time. Last year's reservation scheme, which relied on sidewalk chalk to claim the spot, didn't work.

After all, it's the Grand Parade. Spectator real estate is at a premium.

Speaking from poolside, Farthing said she was also there for the candy, and she would get it. A flatbed trailer loaded with the stuff rolled with the parade, towed by a quad, volunteers heaving bucket loads onto the streets. The goodies would be snatched up by swarms of kids almost before they could come to rest on the pavement.

Amid the drill teams, cheerleaders and marching bands, Parade Grand Marshal Mac McNulty, a Marine who fought in the Pacific with the Second Marine Division during World War II, said it was an honor to ride as grand marshal, but said it was odd to be riding, rather than watching.

The Linn County Sheriff's Posse and the Rock 'n' Roll Cowgirls from Corvallis, another equestrian team, marched in the parade as well. And the vaqueros from IXtapa Mexican restaurant dazzled with their dancing horses. They seemed to almost curtsy as they hopped and pranced, performing hoof work that made them seem lighter than they are, as their sombrero-wearing riders maintained a straight-backed posture.

Of course, the World's Largest Shortcake, festival mainstay, rolled with the procession, this time covered with a white plastic tent to shield the massive cake from the sun. To stand near the shortcake was to catch a massive waft of heated cake and strawberries.

As the parade continued, the procession became more eclectic. Old guys on choppers, zigzagging slow through the streets; the Lebanon Fire Department, lights and sirens blaring; a gigantic inflatable strawberry, casting a stark and surreal shadow on the pavement, tethers handled dutifully by volunteers; and, of course, Shriners, without which it would not be a parade, it seems. They spun and darted about, rolling at speed in great loops, figure eights and long crisscrossing arcs on their miniature firetrucks.

Two of the Shriners, however, rolled along in a full-size red Corvette. When asked if they, too, would be performing the signature stunts, they shook their heads and smiled.

"We're too old for that (stuff)," one of them added.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
Luther College is committed to creating and maintaining a campus environment that is welcoming and inclusive, free from discrimination or harassment.This commitment includes providing an atmosphere where all members of the community  students, faculty, staff and visitors  are treated with respect and dignity.
- The government has deployed more security in the Nyanza region in preparation for the anti-IEBC protests

- Police have sent two water cannons in Kisumu to disperse protesters

- Three people were killed and more than 30 others injured in the last demonstrations against the IEBC in Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori

The government has deployed more security personnel and equipment across Nyanza in preparation for protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Among the equipment sent to Kisumu to contain the demonstrators are two water cannons.

Man s rushed to Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu after he was injured during anti-IEBC protests in Kisumu on Monday May, 23. He succumbed to the wounds. Photo by The Star.

According to the Standard, the water cannons were driven to Kisumu under the cover of darkness last week.

READ ALSO: This is the amount Cord compensated families of anti-IEBC demo victims

The two beasts were driven along the busy Dunga road in Kisumu as residents rushed to a get glimpse of them.

One of the water cannons spotted in Kisumu. Photo/the Standard.

According to several reports in Kenya the government is said to have bought 10 water cannons from China to be used to contain rioters in the country.

The water cannons were to be sent to Mombasa and Kisumu with each getting two vehicles while the rest will be in Nairobi.

READ ALSO: PHOTOS: Raila Odinga leads rally in Aden Duales Garissa backyard

Police disperse opposition demonstrators in Nairobi in a previous demo.Cord has said the domos wil resume on Monday,June 5 across the country.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) said it will continue with its Monday protests against the IEBC after dialogue with the government failed.

Cord wants the IEBC bosses including its Chairman Issak Hassan removed from office as they are incompetent.

In the last one month the opposition has held four demonstrations against the electoral body which have all turned violent.

In the last demonstrations held by Cord against the IEBC, three people were killed and more than 30 others injured after violent protests in Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori.

READ ALSO: Details of Raila Odingas secret meeting with Musalia Mudavadi revealed

Cover photo: Raila Odinga/Facebook

Source: TUKO.co.ke
By Jake Spring

BEIJING (Reuters) - Jaguar Land Rover is suing Chinese automaker Jiangling Motor for allegedly copying the British firm's Range Rover Evoque, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said - a rare move by a foreign automaker to fight copycats in the world's biggest autos market.

A spokesman for JLR, owned by India's Tata Motors (TAMO.NS), said in brief emailed comments to Reuters that a court in Beijing's eastern Chaoyang district "served Jiangling with newly filed actions surrounding copyright and unfair competition." He declined to elaborate.

The suit relates to Jiangling's Landwind X7 sport utility vehicle copying the design of the Evoque, JLR's first China-made model that went on sale last year, said the person with knowledge of the legal proceedings, who is not authorised to talk to the media and didn't want to be named.

A spokesman for Landwind declined to comment.

Despite widespread and often blatant copying, global automakers generally don't take legal action in China as they feel the odds of winning against local firms are low. Also, a lawsuit can be bad for branding if the Chinese public think a foreign company is bullying domestic competitors.

If JLR wins its case, it could prompt other automakers to also take legal action, said Chen Jihong, a Beijing-based lawyer at Zhong Lun Law Firm, speeding up a shift to stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights.

CLOSE RESEMBLANCE

Landwind unveiled a new version of its X7 SUV in November 2014, drawing criticism for its striking likeness to the Evoque, an imported version of which was already on sale in China.

The two SUVs have a similar shape, with the roof and windows tapering from front to back, and near identical tail lights and character lines on the side panelling. The X7's front grille is slightly more rounded than the hard edges of the Evoque.

The slight differences between the two cars can be virtually eliminated using widely available kits that allow a Range Rover grille, logo and Land Rover badges to be put on an X7. Kits on Alibaba's (BABA.N) Taobao shopping website cost around 128 yuan ($19.43).

Story continues

The X7 costs around a third of the price of an Evoque, and is some way behind in technology and performance, said Yale Zhang, managing director of Automotive Foresight.

The JLR spokesman said Jiangling has been barred by injunction from selling the X7 in Brazil, where it recently appointed an importer.

Separately, the source said with knowledge of the newly filed suit said the two automakers are also discussing what Landwind can and can't do in any X7 design update.

JLR sales fell by a fifth in China in January-March of last year - when it launched its China-made Evoque - after rising 36 percent in the same 2014 period. In the same period this year, JLR's China sales rose 19 percent.

A lawsuit could be a long and gruelling process.

It took Honda Motor , for example, 12 years to win a case in China against a little-known local automaker - for copying its best-selling CR-V SUV - according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency, confirmed by a Honda spokesman.

Even then, the Japanese firm was awarded only 16 million yuan ($2.43 million) in compensation. It had sought 300 million yuan.

(This story corrects to make clear sale of X7 in Brazil prevented by injunction, not agreement, paragraph 11)

(Reporting by Jake Spring, with additional reporting by Michael Martina and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the Standing Committee of Foreign Relations of the Parliament A. Zakaryan says a closed meeting will soon take place between the Committee and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The Chairmans statement comes as a response to MP N. Pashinyans proposal to invite the FM to the Parliament for a briefing on the measures on ensuring the engagement of NKR in the negotiations.

I find your proposal appropriate, Mr. Pashinyan. We have talked about this during the previous session as well, and we took steps for this meeting to happen. We also think that the time has come, and we already reached an agreement with the ministry, and soon the meeting will take place. The meetings agenda will include not only the NKR issue, but all issues of concern which require additional information, he said.

MP Samvel Farmanyan said the Armenian side has always stated that without the engagement of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations process there will be no result and no decision can be made without its participation.

MP Artashes Geghamyan said an important step for engaging NKR in the talks has already been done in Vienna.

According to MP Karen Bekaryan, the closed meeting with the Foreign Minister is indeed necessary.
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Armed Forces Lieutenant-Colonel Shant Avetisyan has been charged with bribery.

Avetisyan is the head of the 2nd Department of the Yerevan Military Commissariat.

Preliminary investigation evidence suggests Avetisyan has demanded a large sum of money for issuing a 3 year deferment from military service to a civilian.

Avetisyan was earlier arrested red handed, upon receiving the bribe.

Investigation continues.
Hanoi has invited investors to consider pouring money into 95 projects in the capital over the 2016-2020 period, the Vietnamese government said in a statement Saturday.

The projects will need total investment of $33.5 billion. The plans were announced during the conference Hanoi 2016-Cooperation, Investment and Development, which was attended by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, local and foreign investors on June 4.

At the conference. Photo by VGP/Quang Hieu

Of the total, 52 are public-private partnership projects, worth $16 billion, and the remaining 43 projects need investment of $17.5 billion, Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung said at the meeting.

Hanoi attracted $1.6 billion of new foreign investment during January-May this year, three times higher year on year. The city granted permission for 68 new projects, worth $3.1 billion in the period.

To support investment in the capital, Chung committed to process online registrations for establishment of a new company within two working days from this June, one day less than before, and cut 40 percent of time that investors have to spend on the investment procedures. The city also pledged to reduce 20 percent of administrative procedures in site clearance, cut half of the administrative procedures in planning, and shorten the time to get electricity supply by 10-15 days to 21-26 days. The capital promised to provide electronic tax payment services to all companies in the city.

The Peoples Committee of Hanoi signed eight memoranda of understanding with investors during the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Phuc wanted Hanoi to be a pioneer in investment, a center for start-ups and creativity. He also asked the capital to reduce the number of state-run companies and create a strong municipal government to support business operations.

In late April this year, Prime Minister Phuc chaired his first business meeting with around 1,000 people in Ho Chi Minh City and met with about 10,000 people online across the country, including government officials and representatives from local and foreign companies.
Legit.ng analyses the good, bad and ugly sides of the fuel subsidy which was removed by the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari. The removal has generated different reactions from citizens.

Mr Chukwudi Odinkalu is a regular traveler on the Onitsha-Lagos road. He deals in electronics at Alaba international market, Lagos. He also has a shop in Onitsha; an extension of his electronics shop in Lagos. As a businessman he has a vehicle, but when transporting his electronics from Lagos to Onitsha he makes do with public transport.

As usual, he uses any of the transport companies operating on the Onitsha-Lagos road. He has done this for years. He pays the usual fare from Lagos to Onitsha. He pays for himself and for the space his goods occupy on the bus. At times, his goods take over almost two rolls and he pays without blinking an eye.

But following the increase in the price of fuel, he miscalculated. He thought the fare would be as usual and went to the park with the same cash he was used to taking. He was embarrassed to discover that the fare had sky-rocketed. But luckily for him, he had his ATM card, and he had to quickly run to the nearest machine to withdraw the balance.

That was in January 2012 when the former president Goodluck Jonathan took Nigerians by surprise when he attempted to remove the fuel subsidy. Nigerians fought against Jonathan's move.

There were massive protests across the nation. Lagos was the worst hit. Ojota, Oshodi and other areas of Lagos became home to massive protests which were allegedly sponsored by the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Jonathan government.

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Many slept and woke, cooked and ate at Ojota, while the unlucky ones died while protesting against the removal of the fuel subsidy by Jonathans government.

Many easterners who traveled from Lagos to the east and others who travelled from other states to Lagos were stranded and there was a wild uproar across the nation, forcing Jonathan to review the subsidy removal in 2012. President Muhammadu Buhari and his party members lambasted Jonathan for the move, saying it was anti-people and should be reversed.

But in May 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari surprised Nigerians when he removed the subsidy; a policy he had vehemently stood against in 2012.

However, it transpired that the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, and the 36 state governors were the brains behind the removal of the subsidy, which thereby increased the fuel price from N87 to N145.

Apparently Buhari was concerned about the effects of a fuel price hike on the average Nigerian, and hence he had strongly resisted the proposal by Kachikwu for several months, but succumbed reluctantly in May when he was presented with the stark reality of the dropping oil earnings and the state of the foreign reserves.

The pressure from state governors, whose allocation from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has been dropping, was also a significant factor that swayed the president to append his signature to the subsidy removal proposal.

An official of the federal government, who asked not to be named, said Buhari would not have agreed to the new fuel price regime if he had not been presented with compelling evidence that Nigerias declining foreign earnings from oil would be further devastated, unless independent oil marketers and other interested parties are encouraged to import fuel.

The increment spurred the recent strike action by the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

However, the industrial action was marred by the non-participation of relevant unions like the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).

It was also marred by factionalism in the NLC, leading to few states participating in the strike action.

It is necessary to look critically at the subsidy and examine the pros and cons of subsidy removal. For Sen. Shehu Sani, APC- Kaduna Central, the removal of the fuel subsidy was unacceptable because it will lead to great hardship.

He said: I am from a civil rights movement. We struggle against the removal of oil subsidy. I remain so; I believe that fuel needs to be subsidized from the very fact that if it is removed, it will lead to untold hardship for the common man.

Most importantly, we need to get our refineries back on track, we also need to ensure that fraudulent companies and personalities do not exploit our position on subsidy to defraud the nation.

The senator said the subsidy was very necessary for Nigeria because most nations were giving subsidies to their citizens, and my position remained like that.

Also, Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West in the Senate, criticised the removal of the fuel subsidy, hinging his argument on the overall effect on the Nigerian masses.

At the removal of the subsidy he gave President Buhari seven days to reverse the policy or he would organize the mother of all rallies against Buhari to compel him to reverse the policy.

Melaye, who participated actively in the #OccupyNigeria protests which forced the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve the idea of removing the fuel subsidy, accused Buharis administration of going against the campaign promises of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

READ ALSO: Niger Delta Avengers: Why the war remains unwinnable

On his Facebook page he wrote: My sincere advice is for the National Chairman of our party is to suggest that the federal government immediately reverse the announced increase in the pump price of premium motor spirit.

"If after 7days there is no reversal, I will mobilize Nigerians from all walks of life for the mother of all protest. This is not what we promised Nigerians. The time is not right and the negative effects will be unbearable. A word is enough for the wise.

Other proponents of the fuel subsidy are of the view that the subsidy protects the vulnerable groups in the society.

They say subsidies ensure that the most vulnerable among the population do not fall through the cracks which are the consequences of economic and social policy decisions.

Proponents also say that since it is a universal practice, it should continue. To the average Nigerian, Nigeria is not the only country providing subsidies to its people. Countries all over the world provide diverse forms of subsidies.

In Europe, farm subsidies have been the most controversial, yet they have been maintained to shore up the incomes of farmers. According to Africas Pulse brochure, over half of all African countries have some subsidy in place for fuel products, and these subsidies consumed, on the average, 1.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

It is also the view of the average Nigerian that subsidies are not entirely a waste as Nigerians are made to believe. Subsidies are taxes spent on taxpayers and so they are not a waste.

The problem with the subsidy, however, has to do with unintended beneficiaries benefiting from the package. This calls for better targeting and not total withdrawal of the support.

Also, it is believed that the fuel subsidy cushions workers from otherwise high transport fares. Without fuel subsidies, transport fares would be higher than ordinary Nigerians can bear, taking up a substantial percentage of the average workers monthly income.

Fuel subsidies therefore put money in workers pocket and reduce expenses, especially on transport. Subsidies keep food prices at affordable levels. Because 98% of food consumed in urban centres is hauled by road transport, fuel subsidy withdrawal will certainly lead to an increase in food prices.

In such a scenario, the percentage of the workers income spent on food will go up if wages remain as they are, leaving the worker poorer. A petroleum subsidy therefore puts food on the table of millions of Nigerians.

Farmers and farmers groups have complained much about the rising cost of production; of fertilizer and other expenses.

At the inception of this administration, subsidies on agriculture were removed leaving farmers at a disadvantage in an ever more competitive world. Increases in road haulage fares as a result of fuel subsidy withdrawal will increase farmers cost of transporting their produce to market centres and thereby reduce their disposable income.

Two of the most essential utilities, water and electricity, depend a great deal on petroleum products. This is because while the bulk of Nigeria's power generation is from gas and crude oil, water is distributed to consumers by pumps that are driven by electricity and diesel power.

Therefore, an increase in the prices of gas and diesel will spark off an automatic increase in electricity and water tariffs.

Fuel subsidy provides safety nets for the ordinary Nigerian. Under the social contract, people elect governments to take care of their needs and welfare. This is why providing safety nets for the marginalized has become the business of responsible governments.

This is how nations are stabilized and foster cohesion. Subsidies are therefore inevitable in carrying out the functions of government.

But as against the mass action that followed the threat to the subsidy in 2012, many Nigerians now seem to have thrown their weight behind the move which many of them fought vehemently at that time.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state both fought against the removal in 2012 but now are the main proponents of the removal in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Many reasons have, however, been adduced for the removal of the subsidy and the support it is gathering from a wide spectrum of Nigerians.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state also said that all 36 Nigerian governors are in support of the fuel subsidy removal and the eventual increase in the price of fuel. He said the reforms are necessary in the oil sector, maintaining that though the reforms would cause immediate pain to the average Nigerian, the long terms benefit cannot be quantified.

If the refineries succeed, Nigeria will succeed and different states will succeed because the importation of fuel has impacted negatively on the revenue of government.

"All the state governments are in support of the liberalisation of the downstream oil sector of the economy because we are caught in the web as the price of oil is very low and there is no foreign exchange to continue to import fuel.

I sympathize with all Nigerians. We did not anticipate this situation. I believe the federal government will find ways to cushion the effects of the liberalisation but, above all, there are lessons to be learnt from the situation. We need to diversify our economy as quickly as possible.

Ahmed Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that Buharis action was in the best interests of Nigerians.

He said the government has to allow the market forces to determine the price of the product because of its long term benefits to the people. He argued that while the governments policy of fixing prices was done with good intentions, it became obvious that it had been overtaken by corruption.

He said that though the government had yielded to the call to allow the forces of demand and supply to determine the price of petrol, it had no intention of adopting a completely hands-off approach, as it intends to keep a close watch on how prices are determined to prevent unjust enrichment and collusion hiking prices unnecessarily.

He said many people are against the removal of the subsidy because it has been going for a long time and people are already used to it.

However, he said the policy had to go because it no longer served the people as its intended benefits had been hijacked by profiteers.

The decision to end the subsidy was hard but it was also inevitable. It had distorted into a system where wrongdoers benefited at the expense of the innocent. The bogus supplier was paid for supplying nothing while you sweated in long lines for fuel that was never there. The smuggler secreted fuel across the border while our economy crossed the border into fuel scarcity, he said.

He added that the subsidy regime also prevented investment and growth in the sector, as most investors, instead of putting funds into the construction of refineries, rather settled for the importation of fuel, due to the uncertainty that pervaded the subsidy regime.

The issue of fuel subsidy has become a touchy political issue and has polarized the country down the middle, with organised labour in the vanguard of those opposed to its complete removal.

Those calling for the removal of the subsidy insist that its discontinuance will attract investors to the downstream sub-sector of the oil industry.

But, critically, the management of the entire subsidy scheme needs to be looked into as it has become an unmitigated scam. For instance, in 2013, ten oil marketers were prosecuted before the Federal High Court for a N2.7bn subsidy fraud. N1.5bn was paid for fuel products that were never supplied.

READ ALSO: Revealed! The truth behind the scarcity of tomatoes in Nigeria

A forensic audit into the NNPC by Pricewaterhouse Coopers(PwC) revealed that the subsidy scheme is a scam as many oil marketers were reported to have received multiple payments.

A total of 128 companies were engaged in fuel importation under the old regime, thus providing an opportunity for the abuse of the system. Statistics from government show that since 2012, the country has lost on average N971bn yearly to fuel subsidy fraud.

A thorough investigation of the subsidy scheme is therefore imperative. All the same, removal of the subsidy when the nations refineries are not functional might lead to unpleasant consequences. Government must look at these issues and be mindful of the plight of the vast majority of the people who the subsidy removal will affect.

Senator Ben Murray Bruce, representing Bayelsa Central in the National Assembly, said that if the whole idea of the fuel subsidy is to pass on benefits to the poor, then we must all agree that it is not working.

Fuel scarcity has long been a major problem in Nigeria

According to him, the benefits of the subsidy are going to importers of fuel, oil majors and upper- and middle-class Nigerians.

He argued: Our people in the north-east and the Niger Delta have been buying petrol at black market prices for decades. Of what use is fuel subsidy to them? Is this not part of the reason why they sometimes feel alienated from Nigeria?

In the most recent data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Democratic Republic of Congo is rated the poorest nation in the world with a per capita income of less than $400.

"But the truth is that if you isolate the north-east of Nigeria from the rest of Nigeria and you compare their per capita income to that of the Congo DRC, it will be clear that the north-east of Nigeria is the poorest part of planet Earth.

"Fuel in the north-east and the Niger Delta goes for N300 per litre while fuel in Ikoyi in Lagos sells for N87! Now tell me, who are we subsidizing the fuel for, the rich or the poor?"

In order to cushion the effect of the removal on the poor masses, he is of the view that the federal government should gather all the providers of mass transport and register all of them in a central database, noting that the federal government should find out the unit cost of transporting an individual passenger.

Then the federal government should sign an agreement that it would pay the increased cost of a unit of transport that would ensue following the removal of the fuel subsidy.

In this manner, he argued, the federal government will be able to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry while at the same time providing relief for the poorest Nigerians from the effect of the fuel price increase.

But Senator Bruces view has earned him the anger of some Nigerians. Cairo Okeke said: Senator Ben should tell Nigerians why a simple subsidy scheme should nearly bring Nigeria to her knees.

He said: Ben thinks that once the fuel subsidy is jettisoned, it can be replaced with transport subsidy and Nigerian will thereafter live happily forever is common sense gone awry. He is wrong because a new subsidy scheme will suffer the same fate. It will still be invaded by the same locust. We need therefore to address what went wrong with the fuel subsidy arrangements."

Amador Kester, a business mogul, also said the subsidy business has never helped the masses in any way and it is better to drop it like a hot potato, and that whether you deftly call it deregulation or subsidy removal does not matter.

He also said that deregulation should go the full mile and not just a thousand yards or half measures that could bring it back through the back door; it should permanently be removed.

However, Obe Amadi is of the view that the fuel price hike is for the benefit of the Nigerian government.

He said: I have always known that all the increases in fuel price is not about subsidy. It is simply the federal government's idea of making money. But why would a country decide to use over 75% of its revenue to pay salaries of public servants, and turn to fuel price increase and laying off of workers as a way of making money?

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Investigations have revealed that the Nigerian oil market is fraught with corruption and fraud. The scale of corruption revealed in the oil sector is horrifying. The information released to the public about the oil money is usually opaque and loaded with myriad of numbers that baffle the ordinary Nigerian.

Nigerians queue for fuel

In the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, different government ministries gave conflicting figures on how much oil Nigeria produces, suggesting that they cannot agree on what amount Nigeria produces, or they do not know, and hence whatever is released by the body concerned, that becomes the official figure.

A former senior official of the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili, reckons that $400 billion of Nigerias oil revenue has been stolen or misspent since the countrys independence in 1960.

Nigeria is certainly Africas biggest oil-producer and, according to British Petroleum, Nigeria has the worlds ninth-largest gas reserves. But the corrupt tendencies of Nigerian leaders, especially those in charge of the oil industry, have reduced the country's economy to an all time low.

A report on Nigerias oil exposed a fraud amounting to $6.8 billion over the subsidy of petrol imports.

When Okonjo Iweala was in office as finance minister, she brought to book several fuel marketers for overcharging the government for refined products they never delivered.

Naming and shaming them has worked: some are said to have paid back the money. But so far the crackdown has not affected fraudulent politicians in the system.

A Petroleum Industry Bill has been in the works for 15 years, intended to overhaul the industry, make it more transparent, improve regulatory institutions and fiscal policies, and bring everything up to global standards.

But the law has been stuck between government and parliament for five years, holding back many billions of dollars in investment. Oil majors are loathe to inject cash in the industry because they do not know how much tax they will have to pay.

The bill, signed and sealed by Jonathan and his cabinet, is back in parliament. Jonathan wanted it speedily passed, though its original aims have been watered down, and many oil companies say its monetary terms will deter investment.

The federal government's oil arm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), still controls every aspect of the industry, from exploration and production to refining, pipelines and petrochemicals.

Ibe Kachikwu

The NNPC has been judged one of the worlds least transparent oil companies. A joint report by Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption monitor, and the Revenue Watch Institute in New York judged the NNPC to have the worst record among the 44 national and foreign companies it examined.

A recent external audit said the NNPC was accountable to no one. It has been called a slush fund for the government. The directors there seem free to do what they deem fit and hence, divert funds and fuel at will without being made to answer questions from anyone.

In 2015, prior to his troubles with the code of conduct tribunal, Senate President Bukola Saraki said fake fuel subsidy operators are responsible for one of the most massive frauds in Nigeria. Inappropriate fuel subsidy management annually results in drainage of $2 billion from the treasury.

Saraki said the Muhammadu Buhari government should urgently remove the fuel subsidies and return to normal deregulated business in the fuel market. He also accused the Jonathan government of giving import licenses to 82 shady companies with the sole purpose of draining money from the Nigerian budget.

He estimated yearly losses of $2 billion due to the activity of these bogus firms.

No matter what is happening now, if you go back to look at it, the major issue that dwindled us was the subsidy management, Saraki said, noting that we are talking of about a minimum of over $32 billion wasted on subsidy for the last five to six years.

Source: Legit.ng
Three found dead as Vietnam PM arrives in Da Nang after cruise ship accident

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived to a tragic scene in Da Nang City on Sunday shortly before two children and a man were found dead following a cruise ship accident on the Han River.

Rescue forces recovered the bodies of a brother and sister from Bac Kan province and a 46-year old man from Binh Dinh Province today who were reported missing after the cruise ship capsized on the Han River in Da Nang on Saturday.

The man and the boy were discovered 8 km down-river, while the girl was found just 800 meters from the scene of the accident.

A military vehicle on duty at the site. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong

53 people, including a pilot and two crew members, have been rescued after the cruise ship carrying them overturned on the Han River near Novotel Hotel in the central city of Da Nang on June 4.

The ship had only 28 seats but was carrying 56 people in total.

Da Nang is one of the top destinations for foreign and local tourists in the central region.
- Some Nigerians are insisting the names of those who returned their loot must be published

- They said President Muhammadu Buhari has to fulfil his promise of naming those who stole from the countrys treasury

- Femi Falana said the looters list released was not correct as the amount the government said it had recovered was far less than the true amount

- The failure of the president to mention the names of the countrys treasury looters showed he had succumbed to pressure from the looters, the Ijaw National Congress said

The failure of the federal government to release the name of looters of Nigerias treasury has generated widespread reactions from some prominent Nigerians.

Many are insisting that the names of those who returned their loot must be published to make the loot recovery process more transparent, The Punch reports.

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, stated that the amount listed by the government, that it had recovered from looters are not accurate as it was far less.

He said: Let me tell you this: That list is not correct. I know that the EFCC has recovered about $3.1bn. I think this is just the report from a department; it is not a comprehensive one.

READ ALSO: Recovered loots: Why the names of treasury looters were not released  Presidency opens up

The figure announced has not taken cognizance of the totality of the fund that has been recovered by all the anti-graft agencies. From the information at my disposal, the figure announced by the information minister is a fraction of what the EFCC has recovered and deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

According to him, the federal government might not want to name looters yet in order not to discourage more looters from returning stolen funds in their possession.

The Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, also said the amount released as recovered loot was less than the total amount of figures bandied about by the federal government and its agencies since the anti-corruption campaign began.

The publicity secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin said: As far as we are concerned, there is nothing new on the list shown to Nigerians. Anybody can just put figures together. Where are the particulars of the recovery? From who were they (the loot) recovered?

We need the particulars; from who were the monies recovered? If they dont do that, then, they are just wasting our time; they are just making a mockery of the whole process. They talked about naming and shaming, let them release the names. As it is now, there is no revelation yet before Nigerians.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG releases interim report on financial, assets recoveries

The president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), said it was important for President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill his promise by releasing the names of looters for citizens to gain closure.

He said: It is also important that we know the quantum of recoveries made from various persons so that it will be something that is known to every Nigerian and there would be no challenge. How did you arrive at the figures that are out there if you dont put not just names but reasons (to the recovered loots)?

Tomorrow, you could hear that (after) all the amounts that Mr. A or Mr. B looted, nothing was done. You could also start to hear that the loot recovery was only targeted at those who werent supporting the president.

The Ijaw National Congress said Buharis failure to mention the names of the countrys treasury looters was an indication that he had succumbed to pressure from the looters.

Buhari had on May 13, in an interview promised to disclose to Nigerians the amount his government had so far recovered from those who looted the nations treasury and their names on May 29.

On the said day, being Democracy Day, Buhari disappointed Nigerians when he failed to reveal the list as promised.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Finally, Buhari reveals information on recovered loots, (photos)

He however, promised that Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information would publish the details.

In fulfillment of the promise to make public the details of recovered loot on his first anniversary in office, the federal government released the first set of information cash recoveries totaling N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; 3,508,355.46 and 11, 250, from May 29, 2015 to May 25, 2016.

Source: Legit.ng
(Photo: Canton Ticino State Archives)A postal services bus crossing the Alps in the early 20th Century showing how the mountain range can be an obstacle to communications between northern and southern Europe.

It's the world's longest and deepest rail tunnel operating to Switzerland, after almost two decades of construction work and it was completed on time.

It will ease traffic congestion, increasing trade and tourism.

Swiss voters approved the $12.5 billion project in 1992 and it took 17 years of meticulous construction and it's a focal communications point for Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Swiss Federal President Johann Schneider-Ammann, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande rode through the tunnel for the opening.

They were present for an extravagant celebration at which musical bands, dancers, took part with a tunnel theme song and yodellers added a Swiss touch.

Represenatatives from Christianity, Islam and Judaism attended a blessing inside the tunnel.

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The route will slash travel times, making roadway traffic easier and cut the number of lorries disgorging pollution between Europe's north and south.

Passenger trains will be able to travel up to 250 km/h (155.3 mph) through the tunnel, reducing travel times for trans-Alpine train journeys by 50 minutes.

The two-way tunnel will open for commercial service in December taking up to 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains a day.

Switzerland has many tunnels intersecting the mountains on its borders and there are already two passes through the Swiss Alps.

The first was also a railway tunnel, built in 1882, which the president of Switzerland at the time, Simeon Bavier, enthused was, "A triumph of art and science, a monument to work and diligence! The barrier which divided nations has fallen, the [Swiss Alps] have been breached. Countries have moved closer to each other, the world market is open!".

The Gotthard Base Tunnel overtakes Japan's 53.8 kilometer (33.4 mile) Seikan Tunnel as the world's longest and is the deepest, running some 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) underground at its maximum depth.

Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, but had a strong turnout from EU political leaders as the tunnel is a key shortcut for traffic in the region.

(Photo: www.swisstravelsystem.com)

"Switzerland leaves Germany looking old," was the headline in Die Welt newspaper in Germany, Swissinfo reported.

By finishing the Gotthard Tunnel on time, "a small country has shown how to achieve something great", alluding to the never-ending construction of Berlin's new airport.

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted, "Little Switzerland has once again put the rest of Europe to shame with its professionalism." The country had proved "there is no law of nature according to which costs for large construction projects must multiply".

The Swiss Berner Zeitung wrote of the symbolism of a structure that brings European countries closer together "at a time when Switzerland's relationship with the EU has never been so open and unclear."

It said the main reason for the tunnel is getting freight off roads and onto rail tracks, "but this shift will only work if our neighbours keep their side of the bargain."

The Nordwestschweiz also focused on the European Union. "Switzerland opened the new tunnel yesterday with plenty of self-confidence.

"It should look after its interests with Europe with the same self-confidence  not only concerning the approach routes to the tunnel, but also our bilateral relations and the rules of immigration."

Switzerland's fame may be relatively short-lived, however, The Irish Times reported.

Austria's 64-kilometer (39.75 miles) Brenner Base tunnel is set to open in 2026. And a proposed 80-kilometer (50 mile) underground train link connecting Helsinki in Finland and Tallin in Estonia is awaiting approval.

And then China says it plans to build a 123-kilometre (76 mile) tunnel underneath the Bohai straits to reduce journey times between the port cities of Dalian and Yantai from eight hours to 45 minutes.
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The new season of The Bachelor has reportedly finished filming, with the final rose ceremony taking place in Bali on Wednesday, and while our bodies are beyond ready to take it all in, its fair to say that the producers dont want pesky paps to spoil any surprises.

Reports indicate that, after flying Richie Strahan and three hopeful bachelorettes to Indonesia on separate Air Asia flights, then spiriting them out of the terminal through a special Bachelor-only exit, the show enlisted some military muscle to watch over them.

The cast and crew were put up at the Sofitel in Nusa Dua, and while there, where they were under guard by security as well as members of the Indonesian army, who are believed to have been employed to keep photographers way from the sacred handing-over of the final rose.

All helicopters on the island were grounded for maintenance at the time of filming, to keep anyone from getting any sneaky aerial action, however, it seems possible that someone still managed to sneak in.

Per reports in the Daily Telegraph, a paparazzi photographer approached host Osher Gunsberg soon after he touched down at home in Sydney yesterday, and surprised him by correctly identifying the name of the winner.

This has reportedly been a fairly hectic season all round, with paps flying drones over the shows Glenorie set to try and catch money shots,and the situation compared with Gaza.

So yeah, paps of Australia, if you could go ahead and not spoil The Bachelor for us before it even airs, thatd be great.

Source: Daily Telegraph.

Photo: Instagram.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine have found that adding increasing doses of an approved Type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, to a chemotherapy and radiation treatment regimen in head and neck cancer patients is not well tolerated if escalated too quickly, but allowing slower escalation could be beneficial.

These findings are being presented via poster June 4 at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting: Collective Wisdom, being held June 3-7 in Chicago.

Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Hematology Oncology at the UC College of Medicine, a member of both the Cincinnati Cancer Center and UC Cancer Institute and principal investigator on this study, says retrospective studies have shown improved outcomes in tumors treated with chemotherapy and radiation if they were also on metformin for diabetes.

"In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which develops in the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and throat, diabetic patients taking a medication called metformin had better overall survival compared to those not on metformin when also treated with chemotherapy and radiation," she says. "Additionally, pancreatic cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and metformin required higher doses of metformin--1,000 milligrams twice a day--to experience positive results.

"In basic science studies, metformin has been shown to stop mTOR, a molecular pathway present and active in this type of head and neck cancer, and pretreatment with metformin resulted in a decrease in the occurrence of oral cavity tumors in animal models. In this study, we wanted to see if the combination of escalating doses of metformin with the chemotherapy agent cisplatin and radiation for head and neck cancer tumors in non-diabetic patients would be effective."

Wise-Draper says that metformin, which is an approved Type 2 diabetes medication, was provided by their investigational pharmacy. Metformin was administered orally in escalating doses for 7 to 14 days prior to starting the cisplatin and radiation and continued throughout standard treatment. Blood samples were collected before and after metformin treatment as well as during chemotherapy. Flow cytometry, a technique used to count cells, was used to detect the percent of circulating immune activated cells, and clinical laboratory tests including glucose, B12 and C-peptide (an amino acid that is important for controlling insulin) were performed.

"This is part of an ongoing clinical trial," says Wise-Draper. "We found that eight patients with advanced head and neck cancer have been enrolled so far; we plan to have 30 total. Due to the relatively quick escalation of metformin, the patients' tolerance was poor with higher doses of metformin when initiated 7 days prior to their chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimen.

"Therefore, the protocol was modified to allow slower escalation over 14 days. The most common toxicities observed included nausea (71 percent of patients) and vomiting (43 percent of patients), increase in creatinine (57 percent of patients), decreased white blood cell count (43 percent of patients) and pain when swallowing (43 percent of patients) with only nausea being directly attributed to metformin and the rest attributed to cisplatin and radiation."

She adds that there wasn't a substantial change in T cell or glucose levels with administration of metformin in the small sample of patients but that there were increased C-peptide levels in response to metformin administration.

"These results show that the combination of metformin and cisplatin and radiation was poorly tolerated when metformin was escalated quickly. However, there has been no significant increase in side effects thus far with the addition of metformin," Wise-Draper says. "The trial is continuing with escalation of metformin over a longer period of time to provide more data; we will also try to increase our sample size."
The immune checkpoint blockade drug nivolumab reduced tumor burden in 24.4 percent of patients with metastatic bladder cancer, regardless of whether their tumors had a biomarker related to the drug's target, according to clinical trial results from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study will be presented Sunday, June 5, at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

"The response rate is better than we've seen for other potential second-line treatments and nivolumab is really well-tolerated, which is important because bladder cancer patients are a fragile group after frontline treatment with platinum chemotherapy," said Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson.

Nivolumab unleashes an immune system attack on cancer by blocking activation of a protein called PD-1 on T cells, white blood cells that find and attack cells, viruses or bacteria that have specific targets. PD-1 acts as a brake, or checkpoint, to shut down activated T cells. PD-1 is turned on by a ligand called PD-L1, which is often found on cancer cells and other types of cells.

The presence of PD-L1 on a patient's tumor has been considered a potential biomarker to guide treatment. The study found no significant difference in response rates between those with little to no PD-L1 on their tumors (26 percent) and those with greater PD-L1 expression (24 percent).

"We can get good results without choosing to treat patients based on PD-L1 status," said Sharma, who also is scientific director of MD Anderson's immunotherapy platform and an investigator with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson. The platform is part of MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program, launched in 2013 to reduce cancer deaths by accelerating development of therapies, prevention efforts and early detection from scientific discoveries.

This Phase I/II clinical trial treated 78 patients: five (6.4 percent) had complete responses, 14 (18 percent) had partial responses, in which tumor burden shrinks by at least 30 percent, and 22 (28.2 percent) had stable disease. Thirty (38 percent) patients had disease progression.

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Treatment-related side effects included mainly low-grade fatigue, itching, elevated lipase, rash, nausea, joint pain and anemia. Grade 3 or 4 side effects occurred in 20.5 percent of patients. Two patients discontinued therapy because of adverse events related to the drug.

At a median follow up of 213 days, 33.3 percent remained on treatment, and 45.6 percent of patients survived for at least one year, which Sharma noted "is better than anything we've seen in the past."

Overall survival will be analyzed in conjunction with the Phase II portion of this clinical trial, which provides nivolumab or a combination of nivolumab plus the immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab. The trial allows patients to cross over to the combination if nivolumab alone fails.

Initial results from the Phase II portion of the trial will be presented later this year.

Both nivolumab, known as Opdivo, and ipilimumab, known as Yervoy, were developed and marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which funded the clinical trial.

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Ipilimumab targets the CTLA-4 checkpoint on T cells and was the first immune checkpoint inhibitor. It was based on the research of Jim Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology, executive director of the immunotherapy platform and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson.

Ipilimumab was the first drug ever shown to extend the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. Long-term follow up shows 22 percent of those treated with the drug survive 10 years or longer.

Nivolumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced melanoma, lung cancer, kidney cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma. The five-year survival rate for those with metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab is 34 percent. The two-year survival rate of patients treated with both drugs in combination is 69 percent.

Until May 18, there were no drugs approved for second-line treatment of metastatic bladder cancer. The U.S. FDA approved atezolizumab, which blocks PD-L1, for these patients.

Co-authors with Sharma, who presented the data at ASCO, are Petri Bono, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; Joseph Kim, Yale Cancer Center; Pavlina Spiliopoulou, Beatson, West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow; Emiliano Calvo, Centro Integral Oncologico Clara Campal, Madrid,Spain; Rathi Pillai, Emory Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta; Patrick Ott, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Filippo DeBraud, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy; Michael Morse, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.; Dung Le, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore; Dirk Jaeger, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany; Emily Chan, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Chris Harbison, Chen-Sheng Lin, Marina Tschaika, Alex Azrilevich, of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Jonathan Rosenberg of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Spanning nearly 300 years, Yaa Gyasis accomplished debut is a grand family epic. Homegoing begins in the late 1700s in a Fante village on the Gold Coast (of what became Ghana) and follows the lineage of one family through to the present day.

Esi and Effia are half-sisters, born into vastly different circumstances. Through the stories of their descendants, Gyasi has created a rich and critical novel, working through the legacy of colonialism and slavery in both Ghana and the United States. Homegoing is assured and propulsive, feeling as inevitable as time itself in its pacing, each chapter delving deep into the life of one woman or man, reeling through lives burned by histories both global and domestic.

Soon after her wedding, Esi asks her husband whats going on in the basement of the castle compound where they live, and he informs her that cargo is stored down there. In the next chapter, Gyasi takes her readers into the basement, where Esis half-sister Effia has been captured and is being held before being forced to travel to America in the lightless belly of a slave ship. For most of the novel, Esis descendants remain in Ghana, complicit in evil through their work trading slaves to the British for economic gain. The mirrored fates of these two women allow Gyasi to indict the slave trade and its generations-long effects across the world.

While it shares a thematic and structural link with existing books, particularly Alex Haleys 1976 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Roots, Homegoing is in a league of its own, contemporary and complex and astoundingly assured, especially when you consider its author is a mere 26 years old.

The novel was reportedly born out of Gyasis realization that powerful players in Africas 17th-century tribal politics were highly complicit in the horrors of that eras worldwide slave trade. Gyasi, who emigrated with her family from Ghana to America when she was a toddler, told the Wall Street Journal that visiting the Cape Coast Castle, where white British and Dutch officers lived with their African brides as they stored and shipped human beings into the slave market, made her realize the necessity of telling this story with an emphasis on Ghana as much as America. Its conveniently left out that there was this complicity on our side, too, she said.

Its in the interweaving of historical, but nonetheless perfectly individually idiosyncratic people that Homegoing draws its extraordinary power. Gyasi unfalteringly depicts each of her flawed characters with compelling intimacy, and by telling each generations story through the heartbreaking and tender lives of these finely realized people, shes created a stellar work thats sure to endure. With Homegoing, Gyasi arrives, already a major and inspiring literary talent.

Emily Keeler is the editor of Little Brother.

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BANGKOK, THAILAND-From meditation to mindfulness, to yoga classes and retreats, the Western world seem to be yearning for answers from outside our own cultural traditions.

In Thailand, one of the most Buddhist countries in the world, you can explore the philosophy that has taken hold of the West.

More than 93 per cent of Thailand is Buddhist. Bangkok boasts a density of temples and a skyline full of spindly glistening spires. Every Thai community, no matter how small or how poor, pools its resources to build an ornate temple to ensure everyone has a place to practice.

There are numerous shrines, dangling colourful offerings attached to rear-view mirrors in the citys tuk-tuks, and the swishes of orange robes as a line of monks goes by.

At Wat Pho, Bangkoks most visited temple, lies the impressive Reclining Buddha. Stretched out across 46 metres and decked head to toe in gold, you might get the impression that Buddhists worship an all-powerful deity. Theravada Buddhism, the sect most practiced in Thailand, is not a deity-worshipping religion. The resplendent images of Buddha seen all around here are symbolic, not literal. Buddha was a man, not a god.

Across Southeast Asia (in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) there is a similar refrain: Buddhism is about practising a philosophy of life, not believing in a supernatural entity.

Its three directives seem quite simple, really: lead a moral life, be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and develop wisdom and understanding.

In northern Thailand at Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, a 720-year-old temple on a mountain, the seamless integration of Buddhist ideology and daily life becomes even clearer.

Perhaps intentionally, the 309 steep steps to reach the temple entrance force visitors to slow down and become more aware of their surroundings.

There are, of course, crowds of tourists. But there are just as many Thais, going about daily rituals, quite indifferent to the picture-snapping hoards.

At the centre of the complex we witness monks chanting in an offering ceremony. A glut of tourists peers into the small hall with cameras at the ready. Our guide says Buddhism does not shut people out and everyone is welcome here.

Buddhist ideology isnt contained to temple life, either.

Many Thais grow jackfruit trees as a symbol of support  the name for jackfruit in Thai literally means support. Likewise, the purchase of eels is considered a form of good luck, as the name for eel in Thai means slippery, that things will come to you easily.

There are between 200,000 and 300,000 actively practising monks in Thailand at any given time, and many more who have practised at some point in their lives. Many women prefer to marry men who have been monks since its a tough ordeal that should instil good morals.

You dont need expensive yoga pants and cold-pressed juices to pursue nirvana here. Buddhism in Thailand is about how you live your whole life, not just parts of it. It exists in every moment, from deep meditation to scrubbing the floors.

Nicola Browns trip was supported by Intrepid Travel and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, neither of which reviewed or approved this story.

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A private Christian university that forbids sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage will be in Ontarios top court this week, seeking a green light for its proposed law school after the provinces law society denied it accreditation.

Its the latest legal battle for British Columbia-based Trinity Western University, which is fighting similar cases at appeal courts in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

The case that will be heard Monday at Ontarios Court of Appeal sees the university go up against the Law Society of Upper Canada, with both sides arguing the other is being discriminatory.

At the core of the dispute is Trinity Westerns community covenant or code of conduct, which the Evangelical Christian institution requires all students to agree to.

It includes requiring students to abstain from gossip, obscene language, prejudice, harassment, lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, drunkenness and sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.

The university notes, however, that it does not ban admission to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender students or faculty, and said its community offers an environment in which sexual minorities are supported, loved and respected.

This appeal is about protecting the members of a minority religion in our pluralistic society. TWU serves Canadas evangelical Christian community. Its law school will allow evangelical Christians to study and contemplate the law according to, and in an environment that supports their beliefs, lawyers for the university argue in documents submitted to the appeal court.

The LSUC refused to accredit TWU because of those religious beliefs, and not because TWUs students would not meet appropriate standards of learning, professional competence and professional conduct.

The law society voted in April 2014 not to accredit the universitys proposed law school, citing its controversial covenant as discriminatory. The university applied for judicial review of the decision but was dismissed by an Ontario court, paving the way for its latest round of legal sparring.

The university argues that the law society infringed not only on freedom of religion rights, but also on freedom of expression, freedom of association and equality rights with its decision.

The LSUCs decision is incorrect and, at the least, unreasonable, lawyers for the university wrote.

Absent any evidence that the Community Covenant will impair TWUs graduates from being appropriately educated, competent or ethical (and there is none), there is no basis for the LSUC to violate TWUs and its students fundamental constitutional rights in the name of the public interest.

The Law Society of Upper Canada, however, found Trinity Westerns covenant highly problematic.

Accrediting TWU would violate the law societys core commitment to equality of individuals and groups of diverse beliefs and backgrounds, and would discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation, gender, marital status and religion, the societys lawyers argued.

The appellants are not entitled to compel the law society to abandon its policy of ensuring equal access to the legal profession, or to violate its obligations of equality under the Charter and the Code.

The society further argued its decision does not infringe on the universitys rights.

The law society has determined that it is in the public interest not only to have equal access to the profession, but also to have a profession that is diverse and reflective of the population of Ontario. Hence, the law society has adopted policies that promote equity and diversity and combat discrimination on any basis.

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Toronto police and the province have settled a human rights complaint lodged by a transsexual man who was arrested, placed in a womens jail and forced to put on womens undergarments and a prison gown.

After a series of mediations, the parties agreed Thursday to set out terms to, within 18 months, develop and revise policies, procedures and training for interaction with trans people, from searches to detention, in conjunction with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the trans community.

I feel a mix of emotions. Im pleased with the remedy we got. Everything was dealt with and theres a willingness on their part to make changes and involve the community in doing so, said the complainant, Boyd Kodak.

I will never forget the humiliation. I am still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. I am still paranoid when I hear sirens and see people in uniforms. But we felt we have moved mountains.

In recent years, the rights of transgender people have been hotly debated. In Canada, complaints about mistreatment have included that of British visitor Avery Edison, who was misgendered while detained at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex for men. She, too, has filed a human rights complaint.

In the United States, communities, politicians and courts are battling over whether transgender people should be allowed to use bathrooms that match their gender identity rather than their biological gender.

We are excited about what has transpired. We hope the systemic remedies will lead to reduction in such incidents and bring about the societal changes that are needed, said Khizer Anwar, who represented Boyd with co-counsel Aditi Agnihotri. The settlement couldnt have come at a better time than Pride Month.

According to Boyds complaint, York Region police came to his house in Gormley on Dec. 6, 2012, to execute a warrant issued by their counterparts in Toronto over harassment charges laid by his estranged business partner.

Kodak, a prominent transsexual activist in Toronto, was transferred to Toronto police and placed in the womens holding area, even though he is identified as male in his personal documents, is long past surgery and continues to take hormones. Later, he was taken to the Vanier Centre for Women, a jail in Milton. His penile prosthesis was also confiscated.

In 2012, Ontario passed whats known as Tobys Law, amending the Human Rights Code to reaffirm the protection of trans people. It states that every person has a right to equal treatment without discrimination regardless of gender identity and gender expression.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services adopted guidelines in 2015 that require jail guards to ask trans people in custody to identify their own gender and about their preference to be searched by male or female guards. It has already developed mandatory staff training on treating trans inmates.

All inmates in Ontario correctional facilities deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, said Minister Yasir Naqvi. Human rights are a fundamental part of the social fabric of Ontario; thats why we were proud to announce our new policy for trans inmates last year.

Anwar said the Toronto police have agreed to honour the gender preference in their policy.

If a member of the trans community self-identifies as male, hes going to a male prison. If a member of the community self-identifies as female, shes going to a female prison or holding area, he said.

Renu Mandhane, Ontarios chief human rights commissioner, said trans people are one of the most vulnerable populations in custody situations, which involve being searched and held in gender-segregated areas.

It is critical for police to respect the rights of trans people, and the commission urges police services across the province to ensure that their practices meet the needs of this community, said Mandhane.

The police service credited Kodak for the agreement.

Todays settlement complements the efforts of the service over the last number of years when it comes to improving relations with the LGBTQ community and, specifically, trans persons, the force said in a statement.

The service has trans-specific procedures and training in place. Ongoing projects include the creation of a guide to policing for the trans communities. The service is pleased to be moving forward in these areas.

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The State Department has designated the Tariq Gidar Group, or TGG, and Jamaat ul Dawa al-Quran, or JDQ, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. This designation imposes sanctions on foreign entities determined to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of Americans, or the United States.

As a result of these designations, all property under U.S. jurisdiction in which the TGG or JDQ have any interest is blocked and American citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the TGG or JDQ.

The TGG is a Pakistani Taliban linked group based in Darra Adam Khel, Pakistan. The TGG is responsible for multiple large-scale, fatal attacks, including the December 2014 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, that left 132 schoolchildren and nine staffers dead  the deadliest terrorist attack in Pakistans history.

TGGs leader Umar Mansoor is also known as the mastermind of the January 2016 attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, that killed 20 and wounded between 50 and 60 others. In addition to these devastating attacks, the TGG is responsible for the 2010 kidnapping of a British journalist traveling to North Waziristan, Pakistan, and the 2008 kidnapping and beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak in Attock, Pakistan.

JDQ is a terrorist group based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and eastern Afghanistan, which pledged allegiance in 2010 to now-deceased Taliban emir Mullah Omar, and has long-standing ties to al-Qaida and Lashkar e-Tayyiba. JDQ has been responsible for various attacks, including the infamous 2010 kidnapping and death of British aid work Linda Norgrove in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

The imposition of sanctions are a powerful tool against terrorists. With these actions the U.S. is notifying the American public and the international community that TGG and JDQ are actively engaged in terrorism. Terrorism designations enable the government to coordinate actions to disrupt the activities of terrorists, including denying them access to the U.S. financial system and enabling U.S. law enforcement actions.

The United States will continue to expose, isolate, and sanction those who commit acts of terrorism.
Toronto landlords are urging tenants to oppose a licensing system for apartment buildings, claiming the proposed annual fee of $12 to $15 per unit will increase the rents and taxes paid by tenants without improving the quality of rental housing.

The campaign, sponsored by the Greater Toronto Apartment Association, advises tenants to email councillors on the issue before the initiative  intended to give the city tools to crack down on bad landlords  is debated at their meeting this week.

But Councillor Josh Matlow, head of the citys tenant issues sub-committee, is crying foul. Im really concerned about a campaign based on misinformation, he said of the landlord-sponsored website and door-hanger notices that began appearing in apartment buildings Thursday.

The landlord lobby is claiming this is a new city hall tax on tenants, which it is not. It is a fee on landlords to cover the cost of a licensing system to ensure tenants have a safe, healthy and respectful places to live, he said.

It seems like the landlord lobby is deliberately trying to manipulate tenants into advocating against their own interests. And I think thats shameful, he added.

His committee has been pushing to require landlords to be licensed, at what city staff say would be an annual administrative fee of $12 to $15 per unit.

Daryl Chong, of the Greater Toronto Apartment Association, said there is nothing misleading about the website and door hanger, which clearly identify his association as the sponsor.

The increased fees are going to be passed on to tenants, Chong said. Landlords can apply for an above-guideline increase for something like this.

A spokesman for Housing Minister Ted McMeekin confirmed that landlords could seek an above-guideline increase from the provincial Landlord and Tenant Board to recoup the cost.

But ultimately, it would be up to the board to decide, said Mark Cripps. Our expectation is that licensing fees would not be passed on to tenants.

Under the citys proposal, which would cover about 3,300 apartment buildings three storeys or higher and with 10 units or more, landlords would face annual inspections of common areas. They would be required to develop detailed plans for building maintenance, cleaning and pest control. Tenants would have to be notified of service disruptions such as malfunctioning elevators and outstanding city work orders. And state-of-good-repair capital plans would have to be filed with the city.

If council gives the https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/05/19/landlord-licensing-passes-first-major-hurdle-at-city-hall.html green light this week END , city licensing staff would hold public consultations over the summer and produce a draft bylaw for approval in the fall.

Tenant Diane Campbell, who lives in Matlows ward, arrived home last Thursdaynight to find a notice hanging on her doorknob urging her to say no to the apartment tax and immediately saw red.

I thought: An apartment tax? What is this? I already pay enough rent. I dont need to be paying any more, she said, adding she immediately tweeted Matlow for an explanation.

Campbell admits she wasnt aware the city was planning to license landlords. And even after searching online for more information, shes still not sure what to think.

My apartment is in pretty good shape, but if it means people living in buildings that are poorly kept can get them fixed, then its probably a good idea, she said. But tenants shouldnt have to pay more to get their basic rights addressed.

Tenant advocacy groups have been waging their own campaign in support of the plan.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which has been calling for landlord licensing for 12 years, has launched an online petition and a video.

We are petitioning councillors, too, said ACORN organizer Andrew Marciniak. We dont know how the landlords can say licensing is an apartment tax. The city staff report said the fees would not increase rents.

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At first, all Gregory Sutton really wanted to know was why flowers looked so different.

He was naive, the University of Bristol biologist told the Christian Science Monitor. He didnt know then that the question would launch him on a years-long quest to understand the invisible interaction between flowers and the bees that pollinate them.

It turned out that flowers develop varied sizes and shapes in order to force bees into a monogamous relationship with them  since the insects have to invest a lot of time in learning how to extract nectar, once they figure out how to do so theyre reluctant to keep flying around. But even more surprising was how bees are able to tell what kind of flower theyre looking at.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week, Sutton reported that the fuzz that covers bees bodies helps the tiny critters sense flowers natural electric fields, allowing them to home in on their favourite plants to pollinate.

The bumblebees can feel that hair bend and use that feeling to tell the difference between flowers, Sutton told NPR.

The 2013 discovery that bees can sense electric fields came as a surprise to Sutton and his colleagues. Though lots of creatures have that ability  sharks, eels, platypuses  they all need to be in water to use it.

But the bees that the British researchers studied seemed able to discern minute fluctuations in the electric charge of an artificial flower (flowers generate a faint electric field through their interactions with the earth and air around them), which helped them track down the sweet treats at the bottom.

They could also sense the natural changes in charge emitted by petunias. Indeed, bees could tell when the charge of a flower had been altered by another bee landing on it.

But how did they do it?

Initially, Sutton suspected that the bees were using their antennae. But when he tested that theory, the feelers werent particularly responsive.

So, we looked at the big fuzzy hairs on the bumblebees: theyre so fuzzy! Sutton told the Christian Science Monitor.

So fuzzy indeed. Using a laser beam capable of detecting very small motions in the bees hairs  and a electrode that could record activity in nerve cells at the bottoms of the hairs  they found that the fuzzy strands bent in response to the electric fields, much the same way human hair will stand up when mussed with a balloon. The bee hairs then sent signals to the bees nervous system, allowing them to sense the electric fields and react accordingly.

Im very excited by this because these little mechanically sensitive hairs are common all over the insect world, Sutton told NPR. I think this might be something we see in more insects than just bumblebees.

Robert Gegear, who studies pollinating insects at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., agrees.

Basically this just adds to the long list of incredible things that bees can do, he told NPR.

But its still not clear whether the bees are really using their electric sensors to find the flowers they like, he added. Flowers have plenty of other distinguishing characteristics, and its possible that the bees rely on the hairs for another purpose entirely  such as navigation.

And so the one question I have is What is the functional relevance? Gegear said. Not just from the bee side but from the plant side as well.

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MANILA, PHILIPPINESThe Philippine president-elect has encouraged the public to help him in his war against crime, urging citizens with guns to shoot and kill drug dealers who resist arrest and fight back in their neighbourhoods.

In a nationally televised speech late Saturday, Rodrigo Duterte told a huge crowd in the southern city of Davao that Filipinos who help him battle crime will be rewarded.

Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun  you have my support, Duterte said, warning of an extensive illegal drug trade that involves even the countrys police.

If a drug dealer resists arrest or refuses to be brought to a police station and threatens a citizen with a gun or a knife, you can kill him, Duterte said. Shoot him and Ill give you a medal.

The 71-year-old Duterte won the May 9 presidential election on a bold promise to end crime and corruption within six months of the start of his presidency. That vow resonated among crime-weary Filipinos, though police officials considered it campaign rhetoric that was impossible to accomplish.

Human rights watchdogs have expressed alarm that his anti-crime drive may lead to widespread rights violations.

Duterte, a longtime Davao mayor, has been suspected of playing a role in many killings of suspected criminals in his city by motorcycle-riding assassins known as the Davao death squads, but human rights watchdogs say he has not been criminally charged because nobody has dared to testify against him in court

In his speech on Saturday, Duterte asked three police generals based in the main national police camp in the capital to resign for involvement in crimes that he did not specify. He threatened to humiliate them in public if they did not quit and said he would order a review of dismissed criminal cases of active policemen, suggesting some may have bribed their way back onto the force.

They go back again crucifying the Filipino, he said. I wont agree to that.

If youre still into drugs, I will kill you. Dont take this as a joke. Im not trying to make you laugh, son of a bitch, I will really kill you, Duterte said to loud jeers and applause.

The foul-mouthed former government prosecutor said crimes were committed by law enforcers because of extreme greed and extreme need. He said that he would provide a small amount to an officer who was tempted because his wife has cancer or a mother died, but that those who would break the law because of extreme greed will also be dealt with by me. Ill have you killed.

Duterte, who starts his six-year presidential term on June 30, repeated a plan to offer huge bounties to those who can turn in drug lords, dead or alive.

While it remains to be seen what will happen to his threats when he takes office, some policemen have heeded his call for a tougher anti-crime approach.

In suburban Las Pinas city in the Manila metropolis, police have apprehended more than 100 minors who defied a night curfew, and men who were either having drinking sprees in public or roaming around shirtless in violation of a local ordinance. The crackdown was dubbed Oplan Rody  after Dutertes nickname  or Rid the Streets of Drinkers and Youth.

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KABULTaliban gunmen stormed a court building in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor, the latest in a series of insurgent attacks on judicial employees.

The attack began as the prosecutor, Akram Nejat, was addressing a ceremony to introduce him in his new position, said Nesar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai, deputy police chief of Logar province.

A statement from the interior ministry said 21 others, including six police officers, were wounded in the attack on the courthouse in Puli Alim, the provincial capital.

The three attackers were shot dead by Afghan security forces, the statement said.

The Taliban have increasingly targeted the judiciary since the government executed six convicted insurgents last month. The executions signalled a tougher approach to the Taliban after two years of failed government efforts to revive peace talks.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack. In a statement, it said that one of those killed was a junior prosecutor and that three judges were among the wounded. In the statement, the head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom, said he urged authorities to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions.

Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted, he said.

Last week, four Taliban gunmen disguised in womens burqas and wearing military uniforms underneath attacked a court building in eastern Ghazni province, killing five civilians and a policeman, Afghan officials said.

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The Tiananmen Mothers, as they call themselves, have grown old waiting for justice for their children, the victims of the military crackdown on June 4, 1989 in the vicinity of Tiananmen Square. Students and citizens had for weeks engaged in peaceful protest in the hope of making their demands heard for a more democratic form of government than the one-party system. Some of them  41 in total  have died waiting for a response to three appeals to the government of China for truth, accountability, and compensation.

In the spring of 1989, I was a young teacher who decided to teach for a year in China, a country that had only begun to welcome academic exchanges with the West. I came to China as a new professor. I came as a friend of China, with immense hope in my heart for the future of the students I taught at a provincial university in the city of Hefei in Anhui Province.

In a June 1 statement the Tiananmen Mothers wrote: A government that unscrupulously slaughters its own fellow citizens, a government that does not know how to cherish its own fellow citizens, and a government that forgets, conceals, and covers up the truth of historical suffering has no future.

The recent apologies offered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne for the historical suffering caused by the residential schools, show that there is another way. For the Chinese government to admit its errors is not to show weakness, but to begin the healing of the wounds such errors cause.

Tiananmen Mothers invoke maternal love to tell future generations: do not succumb to brute force, confront all evil forces with courage ... In this way, justice will prevail. The Tiananmen Mothers tell the young to learn from the loss and sorrow that is the inevitable result of state violence  and never to forget Tiananmen.

Each year, on the morning of June 4, I return to the time when I opened the door of my room in the Foreign Guest House and saw before me the tear-stained faces of my students and heard their heart-wrenching tale of the slaughter of innocent people at the hands of the Chinese army. I remember that a fresh rain had swept the countryside and the air, cleared of dust, seemed to open up to our eyes new vistas. But though we could see for miles, I remember that none of us felt we could see any future ahead of us.

Tiananmen Mothers, now that I have a child the same age many of yours were when they lost their lives, I can scarcely imagine the shock you must have felt when you heard the terrible news or the grief you have suffered these 27 long years. Though you were under house arrest, alone in the darkness of your despair, know that I and others like me continue to remember you and the future you lost on the night of June 4. To remember is to bear witness and to shine the light of truth on what has been hidden.

Though the years have passed and countless tears have been shed, I believe the Tiananmen Mothers will endure for, as it is said, The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome. But let justice come in the lifetimes of those who remain to fight for it. It is time for the truth to be spoken. It is time for the healing to begin.

Dr. Sandra Lynn Hutchison is on faculty at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. She is the editor of the literary journal, e*lix*ir, and the author of two books: Chinese Brushstrokes: Stories of China and The Art of Nesting.

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Its hard to believe that a large part of the blame for Canadas latest drug-addiction crisis lies not with dealers, but with doctors. That is the conclusion of a growing number of health experts across the country who say our ballooning opioid problem cant be solved until physicians stem the flow of prescriptions for the highly addictive painkillers.

Indeed, from 2006 to 2011, opioid use in Canada rose by 32 per cent, putting us among the top-prescribing countries per capita in the world.

As a result, the death count is rising. In Ontario, opioids killed 2,500 people between 2011 and 2014. And B.C. has blamed 200 deaths this year on the strong opioid fentanyl alone, prompting the Provincial Health Officer to declare a public health emergency.

In response, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia has taken an important step by releasing new mandatory standards for prescribing opioids. The college is the first medical regulatory body in Canada to release such standards. Others, including Ontarios College of Physicians and Surgeons, should quickly follow suit. While Canadas guidelines for opioid-prescription are expected to be updated in January, the death toll is mounting too quickly to wait.

The stories of the drugs toll are harrowing  and instructive for policy-makers.

Consider the downward spiral of Donna Mays daughter Jac after she was prescribed OxyContin to cope with pain after a fall down the stairs at her home in Sault Ste. Marie. When her prescription ran out, she turned to illicitly procured fentanyl, which is 20 times stronger than heroin and easily available on the street. Then she began selling drugs to finance her habit, lost custody of her three daughters and ended up in a B.C. hospital with plural septic pneumonia and hepatitis C. In 2012 she died from complications related to drug use.

Under B.C.s new standards, modelled on recently released national guidelines in the U.S., Jac may never have gotten a prescription for opioids in the first place. The 13 mandatory standards urge doctors to first try non-drug approaches to treat chronic pain, and then, only if necessary, to start patients on low doses of opioids  one quarter of the amount recommended in the current Canadian guidelines. Even then, doctors are required to prescribe only a few days supply and to bring the patient back for a follow-up session.

B.C. has shown the way for other provincial regulatory bodies. Colleges across the country, including Ontarios, should follow its example and set informed rules now. Injudicious prescriptions have already destroyed the lives of too many Canadians.

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Torontos Catholic schools will have 118 fewer staff members this fall as part of $16.4 million in cuts made by the board to balance its 2016-17 budget.

Educational assistants will take the hardest hit, with 56 positions eliminated, but six vice-principals, 10 student supervisors, 21 reading specialists and five child/youth workers are also affected.

The board is also looking to cut board and central administration costs and find transportation, caretaking and energy cost savings. It also plans to raise money by charging for parking in school lots after-hours. (A controversial proposal to charge teachers for daytime parking privileges was earlier defeated.)

Theres no real way of eliminating a total impact on the classroom, because everything we do is for the classroom in one way or another, said Angela Gauthier, director of education for the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

The greatest impact will probably be felt in the Fifth Block literacy program, she said, noting that this September, it will have 11 full-time teachers working at 18 locations in the citys neediest areas.

It will definitely mean that children who are struggling at those early stages of reading will have to get different supports within the classroom, she said. The staff left behind will have a different role, (still) intervening with students  (but also) sharing strategies with classroom teachers.

As for educational assistants, the cut of 56 positions comes from a pool of 999 who work with special education students. Even with the reduced numbers, staffing levels are fairly rich compared to other boards, and give an average of four or five per school, though thats not the way they are deployed; they are deployed by need.

The board already spends $19 million more than it receives from the province for special education, and even with the changes, its still a substantial overspend. But the need is always great.

In a written statement, vice-chair Frank DAmico called it a difficult process to balance the budget of more than $1 billion.

Given the size of the accumulated deficit, and the increase to costs in many areas, combined with provincial government funding cuts  we had to make some tough decisions. We have done what we can to minimize the impact on the students in the classroom, but we have had to consider some reductions in order to stay on track with our multi-year recovery plan.

The board noted since 2014, the province has cut its funding by almost $33 million.

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Business

Automakers reported lower sales for May compared to the same month a year ago. General Motorss sales fell 18 percent, Fords were down 6 percent and Toyotas sales dropped 10 percent. Volkswagens sales declined 17 percent. Hondas sales were 5 percent lower; Nissans fell 1 percent. Fiat Chrysler and Subaru bucked the trend, with sales up 1 percent each.

General Motors announced its largest recall of Takata air-bag inflaters yet, but the worlds biggest automaker said the parts are unique to its trucks and SUVs and do not pose a safety risk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disagreed. It said GM must proceed with two recalls adding up to 1.9 million trucks from the 2007 through 2011 model years.

American International Group former chief executive Maurice Hank Greenberg and ex-chief financial officer Howard Smith failed for a second time to have a New York state suit dismissed accusing them of engaging in fraudulent reinsurance transactions to conceal a deteriorating financial condition prior to the financial crisis.

General Mills on Tuesday issued a voluntary recall of about 10 million pounds of flour, saying it was working with health officials to investigate an outbreak of E. coli that had sickened 38 people in 20 states.

Walmart plans to begin testing the delivery of groceries using Uber and Lyft drivers, aiming to match the convenience of services offered by other e-commerce companies. The retailer said it would start trying out Uber in Phoenix and Lyft in Denver within the next two weeks.

Capital Business

Blackstreet Capital Management, the Chevy Chase, Md., private equity fund run by Murry N. Gunty, agreed to pay more than $3.1 million to settle government charges it engaged in brokerage activity and charged fees without registering as a broker dealer.

JBG, the Chevy Chase, Md., privately held development firm, announced it would acquire the publicly traded New York REIT in a deal that would create a new $8.4 billion public firm spanning the two cities.

Deals

Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, disclosed he has taken a large position in drugmaker Allergan. Icahn also said he supported Allergan chief executive Brent Saunders, whom Icahn helped place at Forest Laboratories, which was later bought by Allergan.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Celator Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 billion to gain an experimental medicine for a blood cancer.

Talen Energy, an electricity producer, said private equity firm Riverstone Holdings plans to buy the remaining stake it does not already own in the company for about $1.8 billion, the latest in a string of deals in the U.S. power industry. Talen was formed when Riverstones generation assets were merged with Pennsylvania power company PPL Corp.s merchant generation business.

Economy

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree on a clear oil-output strategy Thursday as Iran insisted on steeply raising its production, though archrival Saudi Arabia promised not to flood the market and sought to mend fences within the organization.

Washington

The Labor Department said the U.S. jobs market stumbled in May, adding just 38,000 positions, falling far short of analysts expectations for 160,000. Still, the unemployment rate fell from 5 percent to 4.7 percent in May.

The Federal Reserve reported the U.S. economy expanded at a modest pace across most of the country since mid-April, causing the labor market to tighten as employers continued adding jobs and nudging wages higher.

 A former Barclays director has been arrested on charges he illegally fed stock tips to a New York plumber in exchange for cash and home renovations. Steven McClatchey, 58, was freed on bail after an initial appearance in federal court in Manhattan.

Transitions

Ron Sargent  , chief executive of Staples, announced plans to step down next month, handing the reins to Shira Goodman, after his strategy to acquire Office Depot was blocked earlier this month.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of struggling blood-testing firm Theranos, saw her net worth revised by Forbes from $4.5 billion to $0.
The title of a new Phillips Collection exhibition, William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master, may baffle some visitors. Chase was certainly a master artist, and there is some stunning, bravura work among the more than 75 paintings and pastels gathered in this retrospective. But a modern master?

Chase died in 1916 at the age of 66, so his career overlapped with the rise of Picasso, the fauvist years of Matisse and the heyday of cubism. Compared with all that, Chase seems very much a man of the 19th century, enamored of beautiful women, light-drenched landscapes, elegant portraits of distinguished people, and the illusionist delight of making paint capture the glint of light on metal, glass and the opalescent scales of dead fish.

But modern isnt limited to just one definition or moment of the avant-garde, and its meaning changed over the several overlapping generations of artists who spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When Chase, who was born in Indiana, left the United States to study painting in Munich, he allied himself with the artists he considered most innovative and earned himself a reputation as an unconventional, individual and even wild painter, according to his critics. It was considered modern, at the time, to paint everyday life and to eschew the fine, polished, meticulous brushwork of academic art. Chase was drawn to unconventional material and odd and striking perspectives, and he placed his subjects in novel ways.

An early and infamous portrait of a fellow artist (known today through an etching of the lost original) showed the man sitting sideways on a ratty old chair, with only his head, hands and legs visible. One critic felt it was cheap and noisy, while another thought it was designed to be deliberately shocking to bourgeois sensibilities.

[The Phillips Collection explores the impact of photography on French art]

Evidence of Chases independent vision is apparent in every room, and his mastery of different styles, different national tendencies gleaned from cosmopolitan exposure to the breadth of Europes art scene, can make it seem as if multiple painters are represented. In the first room, several of his early calling-card works are on view, evidence of a capacious and eclectic vision. In The Leader, a portrait of a ragged boy smoking the stub of a cigar, the paint is pulled in thick streaks to capture the highlights on his forehead, a blunt but telling gesture, while the grime under boys fingernails is carefully rendered. Nearby is the dark, almost monochromatic Ready for the Ride, an 1877 image of an elegant woman looking slightly sideways at the viewer; this full-length portrait, full of moody glamour, suggests he knew the work of Whistler well before he met the artist in 1885. On another wall hangs The Turkish Page, from 1876, a bit of Orientalist exotica reminiscent of Manet.

Sometimes, as in later full-length portraits done in the spirit of Whistler, the paint is so thinly and evenly applied that the texture of the canvas shows through; but Chase was also given to bold, flat regions of bright color, as in the garishly yellow, silky cloth that hangs as background in his 1882-1883 Portrait of Dora Wheeler. He was a master of pastels, and its worth checking twice to be certain whether you are viewing a painting or a pastel; the techniques peculiar to one medium sometimes migrate into the other, as when streaks of white paint that look a bit like an errant chalk smudge turn out to be virtuoso indications of sunlight.

Chase was a canny painter and an artist who kept abreast of the latest fashions. His images of parks in Brooklyn, cloudy skies made on Long Island, or a late-in-life painting of an olive grove suggest he was well aware of what the impressionists were about. Chase was a prominent teacher and advised his students to create a rectangular viewfinder out of paper, to practice finding and framing subject matter as if they were photographers. The Lone Fisherman, a small painting of a man sitting on a breakwater, proves he used his own technique for exploiting the visual discoveries of photography to good effect.

[Kennicott on Gustave Caillebotte, 1848-1894]

Among the merits of being a teacher, he once said, is the power of students to keep you young. Chase was both a prominent teacher and a consummate student of the past; both seem to have kept his pool of ideas and techniques at full flood. In a late self-portrait, made in 1915-1916, he stands near a large gray canvas, mostly empty but for a crowd of meaningless streaks in one corner. Perhaps this was meant to show the first, preparatory stages of an unfinished work; perhaps it hinted at something critics sometimes held against him, a mastery of technique in which the reach never exceeded the grasp; or perhaps it was a sly acknowledgment of the radical new direction that the larger art world was taking late in his life.

Its hard to be sure. He was capable of caprice, but not much genuine idiosyncrasy. His work is easy to admire but sometimes hard to love. This refrain may come to mind: This painting is magnificent, and its almost interesting.

He liked to dress up in costumes, stage tableaux vivants and pay homage to past masters, but theres never much certainty that he had any strong beliefs about the world, other than the importance of finding and rendering the beautiful within it. He lived through the Gilded Age, but the only images of poverty in this exhibition are charming and ornamental ragamuffins. He was modern, after a fashion. But the world he depicted is languid, comfortable and static. Art is peacefully asleep, serene and beautiful, and waiting for someone to wake it up.

The call came, loud and commanding, and history started moving, but Chase was not part of the crowd. By the time you have discovered what was modern about masters like Chase, you may be just as eager for a more trenchant idea of modernism as the many artists a century ago who would rebel against everything his generation represented.

William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master is on view at the Phillips Collection through Sept. 11. For more information visit phillipscollection.org.
Hi, Carolyn: Im nearly 22 and I will begin my senior year of college this fall. I recently moved back in with my parents for the summer and was lucky enough to be offered a summer job that is related to my field and would be a great resume-builder for me.

The job is located an hour and a half away from my parents house, so I planned on moving in with my boyfriend of 2 years, who lives in the area. My parents do not approve.

My parents have supported me 100 percent financially throughout the last three years of my college education, for which I am extremely grateful. However, theyve threatened to withhold my last year of college tuition if I accept the job.

I feel this job would be a great opportunity for me and it would be such a shame for me to have to decline. My parents live in a small rural community that offers no similar opportunities in the area. The only alternative work for me would be factory work, which I have done in the past.

I am sick of being treated like a child and constantly having my parents hold financial leverage over me. Am I crazy to consider taking out student loans so I can accept the job and have my freedom? Or should I just suck it up and deal with it for one more year in order to graduate free of debt?

Twenty-One Going On Twelve

Twenty-One Going On Twelve: If I told you to take the job and the loans  or to suck it up and appease your parents for ooooone more summer  then Id just be replacing your parents in the adult role. Time to do your own cost-benefit analysis.

How much would you have to borrow, have you missed any application deadlines, how much of a career advantage would this summer job give you, how much of your rationale is just a fig leaf for wanting to be with your boyfriend/out on your own (not that theres anything wrong with either), and most important, to my mind, how much say in your life do you think this tuition money buys your parents?

Has that last answer changed since you were 18 and a freshman, or is the fact of their financial support the decisive one?

When youre funding a someday-kids education, will your financing have strings attached?

At your age, it would be a problem if you werent sick of being treated like a child. I also disagree strongly with parents who hold tuition hostage to control their children; make tuition contingent on doing schoolwork, of course, but moral puppetry is both insulting and futile.

However: Your parents are adults who get to use their money as insultingly and futilely as they choose. You, in turn, are an adult who gets to decide what course of action your integrity demands, including whether to accept a gift when you fundamentally object to the terms.

Dear Carolyn: I am a working, single mom with tight finances with a group of friends who are all very well-off. When we go out to dinner for a friends birthday, they always choose expensive restaurants, order lots of expensive items, and sometimes even make the decision (in the moment, in front of the birthday girl, who is being treated) to get an expensive, fixed-price menu or to split the bill evenly. These approaches negate my intention to come to the outing but order something inexpensive, so that I can support my friend, be social and stay within my budget. The group is big enough that its hard to intervene, much less do so discreetly; I dont want to make the birthday girl feel uncomfortable or take away from anyones fun.

But I also cannot afford to be bashful. I feel like my choices are to either not go (which no one wants) or to say something ahead of time, the wording of which would be tricky.

I think they know money is tight for me, but I dont think they know just how tight it is.

Just Spent Way Too Much at a Restaurant for a Friends Birthday

Just Spent Way Too Much at a Restaurant for a Friends Birthday: Why is the wording tricky? Next time youre planning a birthday, or, even better, just hanging out together on a non-birthday: Since I have the attention of a bunch of you: The birthdays are killing me. I cant afford them. Can we please choose less-expensive restaurants, or not split the check evenly? when all I have is a side salad Im to the point of not being able to go.

Then you see who gets it. If your little boat gets swamped again by the group impulse to spend as if you never spoke up, then you opt out of the next birthday dinner. Painful but necessary. You also say exactly why  because theres no shame in having to watch what you spend.
Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Michael McKinley recently recognized 300 women civil society leaders for their work to empower the women of Afghanistan and encouraged the continuation of their efforts.

Speaking to the women at the Government Media and Information Center, CEO Dr. Abdullah said: I am honored to have the opportunity to address so many brave, committed women from across Afghanistan.

I firmly believe that the work you are doing with Promote Musharikat is of critical importance for Afghanistan  empowering women leads to stronger families and communities and, ultimately, to a more equitable and peaceful country.

The National Summit is the culmination of a series of regional forums held from January through April 2016, during which women-focused civil society organizations and activists throughout Afghanistan collectively identified and prioritized the most critical issues impacting Afghan women.

The National Summit gathered more than 300 representatives from all 34 provinces to form inclusive coalitions and develop preliminary plans to address these challenges. During the closing ceremony, the representatives introduced the first three Musharikat Issues-based Coalitions which will focus on the highest priority issues selected by Summit delegates. These are access to education; violence against women; and access to economic opportunity.

Ambassador McKinley commended the women on their strong start.

The United States has always prioritized investment in Afghan women in every sector: health, economic growth, education, and agriculture. However, there is a change in politics being pursued at this conference that is extraordinarily significant for contextualizing the U.S. commitment to women. You have laid the foundation with your voice on how we can work together in the future with greater urgency and immediacy, he said.

The Promote Musharikat project will work with more than 50 civil society organizations and 5,000 activists across all 34 provinces to prioritize and address the most critical issues which limit womens full participation in Afghan society.

Musharikat is part of the USAID Promote initiative, a joint commitment by the U.S. and Afghan governments to empower over 75,000 women across Afghanistan over the next five years.

The United States is proud to work with its partner Afghanistan to help the women of Afghanistan achieve their full potential and enjoy their fundamental human rights.
A group of youths broke into a Southeast Washington school Saturday night and vandalized the parking lot, hours after early voters cast primary ballots at the site, authorities said Sunday.

The incident, which occurred about 10:15 p.m. at Malcolm X Elementary School in Ward 8, is being investigated as a burglary, according to Officer Sean Hickman, a D.C. police spokesman. A review of security footage shows six youths entering the building. Police said the youths littered the parking lot with paper and water bottles and sprayed it with fire extinguishers.

No arrests had been made as of late Sunday afternoon.

Coming on the first day of early voting in the Districts June 14 primary, the incident raised concerns about whether the offenders had possibly tampered with ballots.

The D.C. Board of Elections, which sent investigators to the school immediately after the incident was reported, said no election materials were compromised. Board spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova said the papers available could have consisted of comment cards or various Board of Elections forms  none of which would threaten the integrity of the vote.

The board said 528 ballots were cast Saturday at the school; voting took place between 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. A tally of votes was taken after the last ballot was cast and all were accounted for after the reported burglary, she said.

Theres absolutely no cause for concern, Mikhaylova said. Nothing was taken, no ballot boxes were disturbed and elections are continuing as before.

According to elections officials, voters use touch screens to make their choices, which are then printed on a paper ballot. Voters then place the ballots into locked tabulators.

The incident took place amid a heated race for the Ward 8 council seat of the late Marion Barry, who was replaced by LaRuby May in a special election last year. Her challenger, Trayon White, a well-known city activist, called for a full and detailed accounting of the incident by election officials.

[Trayon White trounces LaRuby May in straw poll for Ward 8 council seat]

Were just asking for a full investigation of what happened so we can get clarity on what is missing and what has been touched, White said Sunday.

Mays campaign spokesman, Everett Hamilton, said it was the responsibility of the board to ensure that nothing went wrong with the vote.

Voters expect, and we demand, the highest level of accountability from the Board of Elections to protect the integrity of the vote in our community.

White arrived at the site shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday. He saw papers strewn on the ground outside the building and said some cars had been sprayed with a fire extinguisher.

A Facebook post from Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes said it appeared the youths were in the building for six to seven minutes, but no voting machines were damaged.

In a separate incident, two D.C. police cruisers were involved in a crash in the same block as the school about 30 minutes after the burglary was reported. Hickman said the crash resulted in minor injuries, and one officer was hospitalized and released.

Voting resumed at the school at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.
Daniel Guth, now a senior at the California Institute of Technology, wanted to take Advanced Placement biology and AP physics when he was a 12th-grader at Annapolis High School in Marylands Anne Arundel County. He was told he could not do that unless he agreed to take two additional seminar courses, one in biology and one in physics, designed to support students struggling in those AP subjects.

Guth was an academic star at his high school. He already had passed several AP courses with high test scores. Why force him, he asked, to take courses he didnt need? He would lose two precious class periods for which he had other plans, such as orchestra. He eventually got the school to drop the seminar requirement for biology, but he had to give up on AP physics.

[Americas Most Challenging High Schools]

In my column last week, Guth and Jacqueline Stomski, another Annapolis High graduate, told me the school had pushed too many unprepared students into AP courses. That, they said, forced teachers to spend too much time with those who struggled and not enough time with top students such as themselves. They blame in part the Americas Most Challenging High Schools list I designed for The Washington Post, because it encourages schools to let anyone who wants a college-level experience into AP and the similar International Baccalaureate or Cambridge courses.

[Why two bright students say I messed up their high school]

Anne Arundel schools spokesman Bob Mosier said the two students, despite their accomplishments and sincerity, ignored the soaring numbers of students succeeding because of supportive efforts, such as the seminars.

He said Anne Arundel welcomes all students into AP and IB courses as part of its announced goal to elevate all students and eliminate all gaps. He said that University of Texas researchers found that students who take AP courses in high school are more likely to graduate from college within four years and have higher grade-point averages in college than similar students who did not take AP courses.

There are certainly students for whom AP is not the right course placement, but there are many who can handle the rigor with the right support and encouragement, he said.

My research shows that the number of AP and IB tests that Annapolis High students pass has increased nearly 300 percent since 1997. The percentage of seniors passing at least one AP exam has increased to 54 percent, from 21 percent, since 2006. As for mixed classes, Benjamin Klybor, a 2015 Annapolis High graduate, told me that one of the reasons he liked helping struggling AP classmates was that it clarified points in his own mind.

I think the Anne Arundel schools have done an admirable job of extending the benefits of AP and IB classes to more students. They have one of the best support structures I have seen. No Washington-area district has as great a commitment to the Advancement Via Individual Determination program, with its inquiry-based tutoring and time-management lessons.

But Annapolis Highs attempt to force a student like Guth into seminar courses makes no sense. Mosier said, Seminar classes are options, although individualized counseling may be strongly recommended to support student success. Somebody blew it in Guths case. Mosier said he was not familiar with the incident, which happened four years ago.

Guth also spoke favorably of an AP chemistry teacher who fought very hard to scare off people who werent prepared for it. I have encountered teachers like that who did great harm, blocking low-income students who were working hard and ready for a challenge. I wonder how the teacher decided who was ready and who was not. Mosier said the district does not sanction such behavior.

Guth and Stomski seem to be shining examples of how well their high school prepared them. He is a senior math student at Caltech. She is a sophomore Arabic studies student at the University of Maryland. They think Annapolis High could have helped them more, but high schools that produce students like them have to be doing something right.
THE DISTRICT

Three men wounded

in shootings Sunday

Three men were shot and wounded in apparently unrelated incidents in the District early Sunday.

All were conscious when taken to hospitals, said officer Sean Hickman, a D.C. police spokesman.

The first shooting occurred about 12:15 a.m. in the 200 block of K Street SW. The second was about 1:45 a.m. in the 5300 block of Dix Street NE, and the third, a few blocks from there, was a half-hour later, in the 300 block of 50th Street NE.

Police said there was no immediate indication of any connection among the shootings

 Michael Smith

MARYLAND

D.C. man shot, killed

in Prince Georges

A D.C. man was shot and killed early Sunday in Temple Hills, Prince Georges County police said.

Edward Payne, 48, of Northeast Washington was found shortly before 1:30 a.m., in the 4800 block of Stamp Road, police said.

Police said the shooting did not appear to be random.

 Faiz Siddiqui

VIRGINIA

Man fatally shot

in Woodbridge

A man was fatally shot in Woodbridge on Saturday night, the Prince William County police said.

Najee Alexander Mason, 24, was found in the 14900 block of Potomac Heights Place about 9:15 p.m., police said.

He was found near the Elan Potomac Heights luxury apartments and the Masjid al-Falah mosque, which is off Jefferson Davis Highway.

No arrests have been made.
Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Charles S. Blankstein, lawyer, USAID officer

Charles S. Blankstein, 80, a lawyer and former officer of the U.S. Agency for International Development whose specialties included improving business practices for farmers and rural development programs, died April 30 at a medical care center in Washington. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his wife, Lucy J. Blankstein.

Mr. Blankstein, a District resident, was born in the Bronx. He was an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission and later worked for NASA before joining U.S. AID in 1967. His postings included Bolivia and Ecuador, and he also traveled extensively in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He directed the office of project development from 1979 until retiring in 1983.

Donald E. Smith, CIA officer

Donald E. Smith, 90, a former director of training and education for the CIA who in retirement became a dealer and author of studies on American prints, died May 4 at an assisted-living center in Burtonsville, Md. The cause was pulmonary fibrosis, said a daughter, Veronica Lallier.

Dr. Smith, a Washington resident, was born in Kalida, Ohio. From 1949 until his 1981 retirement, he served mostly with the CIA but also for limited periods with other federal agencies. His writing on American prints included a catalogue on the prints of Emil Ganso and a bibliography of 20th-century American printmakers.

Anna Siefken, businesswoman

Anna Siefken, 60, a specialist in business development who worked at Lockheed Martin from 1998 to 2006, followed by four years with Native American Industrial Distributors, a business specializing in personnel support, died May 2 at a hospital in Bethesda, Md. The cause was cancer, said her husband, William Siefken.

Mrs. Siefken, a resident of Silver Spring, Md., was born Anna Platek in Warsaw. She was an office administrator at U.S. embassies in Africa and Canada and joined the World Bank in Washington in 1989.

Marian E. Beratan, librarian

Marian E. Beratan, 89, who spent 15 years as a reference librarian at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Md., before retiring in 1995, died April 19 at her home in Potomac, Md. The cause was ovarian cancer, said a son, Howard Beratan.

Mrs. Beratan was born Marian Eisenberg in Philadelphia and moved to the Washington area in 1970. In retirement, she was a volunteer at the Jewish Council for the Aging.

Ardon B. Judd Jr., lawyer

Ardon B. Judd Jr., 79, former attorney for what then was Dresser Industries, which produced technology products and services for developing energy and natural resources, died April 25 at his home in Houston. The cause was cancer, said his wife, Ruina Wallace Judd.

Mr. Judd, a Houston native, came to Washington in 1963 as a trial lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission. Later, he practiced law with the firm of OConnor and Hannah. From 1970 to 2000, he was an attorney for Dresser, which in 1998 merged with business rival Halliburton, which later sold the business to an investment banking firm. He moved to Houston from Washington in 2003. He was a member of the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland and St. Johns Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in Washington.

James E. Delaney, CIA officer

James E. Delaney, 85, a CIA senior intelligence officer who specialized in Asian matters, died April 26 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. The cause was cancer, said a daughter, Patricia Delaney.

Mr. Delaney, a native of Newton, Mass., began his CIA career in 1951 and remained with the agency while serving in the Army during the Korean War. He later served in CIA stations in Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan and was station chief in Korea and Japan. He retired in 1993 and received the CIAs Distinguished Intelligence Medal. In retirement, he was a senior fellow at the National Defense Universitys Institute for National Strategic Studies and a consultant for the Institute for Defense Analyses.

 From staff reports
The signs of summer have appeared in profusion, from graduations to thunderstorms, and from the buzz of insects to the beginning of June. One of the most significant signs arrived Saturday, when the sun set in Washington at 8:30 p.m.

Along with the increase in steaminess and approach of the solstice, it is the lingering of the sun and the long, languorous evenings it connotes that for many represent the true essence of summer.

On Friday, according to the Time and Date website, the sun went down in Washington at 8:29 p.m. But on Saturday, it sank in the west one minute later. Not until July 20, according to the website, will sunset again arrive as early as 8:29.

The day of the solstice is June 20. It is the longest day, in terms of the time elapsed between sunrise and sunset. But for about a week before and a week after the solstice, that interval varies by only seconds.

Conventionally, the day of the solstice is regarded as the first day of summer. For meteorologists, however, summer is considered to be the three-month spell that begins on June 1 and ends on Aug. 31.

Many also regard summer to be the days that elapse between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a time of showing interns the ropes, taking vacation and heading off to the beach.

Still another informal criterion for the start of summer in Washington is the arrival of the first day on which the temperature reaches 90 degrees.

That has not happened yet at Reagan National Airport, the official measuring station for the city.

So, sunset after 8:30 p.m. might be as good a standard as any, meaning that Saturday may have been the true start of summer.
Purse-snatching may sound like the most trivial of robberies, but it still goes on in Washington, even as gun-related offenses evoke greater concern.

In addition, robbers have continued to grab the single commonly carried item that may have even more attraction than a purse: the cellphone. In both cases, the robberies may be violent. In some of the recent robberies of each of the items, victims have been assaulted, police said.

On Saturday, D.C. police announced several arrests in connection with recent robberies involving both phones and purses.

In one of the latest, police said they made two arrests after a phone was snatched at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the 4500 block of Wisconsin Avenue NW, in the Tenleytown area. They said they are looking for a third suspect.

In one of the more violent of the reported offenses, two robbers took a cellphone in the 600 block of Florida Avenue NW about 6 p.m. on May 27. One robber assaulted the victim; the other used a stun gun, the police said. Two arrests were made, police said.

On Wednesday, police said, a robber grabbed a phone from someones hand about 6 p.m. in the 5700 block of Georgia Avenue NW. Police said a teenage girl was arrested the same day.

On May 30, police said, purses were taken in the 800 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW, and in the 1300 block of 11th Street NW. In the Rhode Island Avenue robbery, police said, the robber pulled the victim to the ground, then ran off with her purse.

Police said the same man was arrested for both incidents.

One incident reported by police Saturday involved both a phone and a purse. They said they made an arrest Tuesday in an incident that occurred about noon April 8 in the 5900 block of Georgia Avenue NW.

After reaching into the victims purse, police said, the robber took her phone.
The police officer who faces the most serious charge in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray heads to court this week as prosecutors continue to seek a victory in the high-profile case that set off demonstrations and riots in Baltimore.

The third trial in the case will focus on what responsibility officer Caesar Goodson Jr., 46, had for Gray the day he suffered a fatal neck injury in the back of a police van. Goodson was the vans driver.

Prosecutors allege that Goodson is responsible for Grays death because he failed to buckle the 25-year-old inside the vehicle or get him medical help. They argue Goodson acted recklessly and callously, despite Mr. Grays obvious and recognized need for medical assistance.

Goodsons attorneys counter that their client acted as any reasonable officer would that April day last year and that the failure of a police officer to seatbelt [a] detainee cannot alone constitute a criminally reckless omission.

Goodson, one of six officers charged in the case, is the only one to face a murder charge. The count against him  second-

degree depraved-heart murder  carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors will have to prove that Goodsons actions or lack of actions created a very high risk to Grays life and that despite being aware of such risks, Goodson acted with extreme disregard of the life-endangering consequences.

Two officers have gone to trial. One was acquitted; the other case ended in mistrial.

Goodsons trial will revolve around what he knew of Grays condition, what decisions he made as a result and whether he was the person who had final charge over any decisions made about Grays care and custody, said Marshall Henslee, a Baltimore defense attorney who is not connected to the case.

[Timeline and charges in Freddie Gray case]

When youre the police and youve taken someone into your custody, youre responsible, Henslee said.

There are rules and regulations and police policies, but as with all these police policies and procedures, officers are always given a certain amount of discretion to assess the situation and do what they think is best, he said.

Gray was arrested in his West Baltimore neighborhood on April 12, 2015, after making eye contact with police and running away. Police chased and detained Gray and put him in the back of a police van that made a series of stops on the way to central booking.

A booking photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. (Baltimore Police Department)

An autopsy report said Gray suffered a broken neck in the back of the van. The medical examiner concluded that it occurred when Gray stood up in the vehicle with shackled arms and legs and could not break his fall during an abrupt turn or stop.

One week after suffering his severe injury, Gray died, fueling national tension over the deaths of young black men in police custody.

[Events leading to Freddie Grays death, explained in augmented reality.]

A gag order prevents prosecutors and defense attorneys from speaking publicly about the case.

Goodsons trial follows the acquittal of officer Edward Nero last month and will probably mirror many of the arguments set out in the trial of officer William G. Porter in December.

In Porters trial, which ended in a hung jury, prosecutors argued that the officer had numerous opportunities to secure Gray in the back of the police van and get Gray medical help after he requested a medic, yet the officer ignored Grays safety and health.

But Porter, who took the stand in his own defense, argued that Gray was known to feign injury to avoid jail and officers rarely buckled detainees in the back of transport vans.

Porter also appeared to shift responsibility for Grays care to Goodson, testifying that it was typically understood that van drivers have custody over detainees.

[A Freddie Gray primer: Who was he, how did he die, why is there so much anger?]

The notion that the van driver has ultimate responsibility over a detainee is one that Judge Barry G. Williams alluded to in his acquittal of Nero last month.

Prosecutors also said that Nero, who assisted in detaining Gray, was negligent for failing to put Gray in a seat belt.

Williams disagreed.

It is certainly reasonable to believe that before a vehicle pulls off, the officer who is charged with transporting a detainee may have the duty to make sure that the person being transported is properly secured and, if not, seek help from other officers if there is a need to do so, Williams said in announcing Neros verdict.

Nero had chosen a trial by a judge rather than a jury.

Porter, who faces retrial this summer, is expected to be a key witness against Goodson. Prosecutors said their case against the van driver would be gutted without Porter.

After fierce legal wrangling that delayed trials in the case for months, the Maryland Court of Appeals determined Porter can be forced to take the stand against other officers with the promise that prosecutors wont use what he says against him at his retrial.

Goodson has requested a jury trial. Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday after motions hearings Monday.
Judy Robb, a member of Arlington Presbyterian Church since 1989, wipes away tears during an emotional last service at the church, which is moving to make room for an affordable housing apartment complex. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

For 86 years, the Arlington Presbyterian Church congregation gathered in the stone sanctuary near the corner of Columbia Pike and South Glebe Road. Sunday was the last.

More than 80 souls prayed there for the final time in its creaky wooden pews. The rumbling throat of the organ pipes trembled no more after the concluding hymn Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.

Today we will remember with thanksgiving the many ways in which God has blessed our ministry and our lives in this place, the Rev. Sharon Core said.

The last service came after what members of the church described as a radical proposal: sell the church and its surrounding property to make way for the construction of an affording housing apartment complex to serve the community.

The idea initially divided the congregation. The drawn-out process  and the prospect of abandoning the building  made some members despondent and they left the church. Others, such as church elder Susan Etherton, saw the redevelopment of the property as an opportunity to help families in need and further the churchs mission.

The congregation will relocate for three years, Core said, as they await the demolition and the construction of a new space to be built where the church once stood. The theme of the service marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

For members of the church, Sundays worship service brought finality to a decision four years in the making.

Today Im not sad, said Etherton, who was married in the church in 1992 and whose two children were later baptized there. But come and see me next spring when they tear it down.

Others sitting in the pews wiped away tears as the congregation took part in a litany of leave-taking, expressing gratitude for the symbols that bonded the members of the church.

This cross has been a visible reminder of our faith, said Manfred Soughe, a 20-year member of the congregation, as he stood beneath the wooden beams in the front of the church. It is also a reminder that death is a part of life and that the Christian hope that is ours transcends that experience. It has been a symbol to all who have worshiped God here of Gods promise of a new life in the here and now.

Core said that the churchs communal table will be donated for a chapel in a homeless shelter. The cross will be given to local Presbyterian church, as will the organ and its pipes.

This is such a wonderful opportunity to be generous, Core said.

The congregation will no longer meet at the church on Sundays, but instead will participate in giveaways and cleanup days until the end of July to prepare the old building for its eventual demise.

The property at 3507 Columbia Pike was sold in December for $8.5 million to the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing. It will be razed and replaced with a 173-unit apartment complex for low-income residents. More than half of the new apartments will be studio or one-bedroom units marketed for senior citizens.

Arlington Presbyterian will rent space in the complex for its new church.

The new site will be named Gilliam Place, in honor of a longtime elder of the church, Ronda Gilliam, who became the congregations first African American member.

The facade of the apartment complex will incorporate stones that once made up the steeple and exterior walls of the church.

Halfway through the Sunday service, church members stood and carried their hymnals and the bread and wine for communion to their new temporary worship space down the block.

This building has served as a witness for Gods presence for 86 years, Core said, before joining a processional out the doors.

As they walked to the new location, at the Arlington United Methodist Center chapel a quarter-mile down the road, some members of the congregation got lost.

But all were ultimately found  and found the chapel  and participated in prayer and Communion in their new temporary sanctuary.

God remains with us, Core said.

The congregation answered: Though we let go of our cherished place.

Core acknowledged that the Sunday service marked a transition for the congregants. But she pointed out that Jesus had no fixed place back when he taught. . . . What was important was that the people were gathering.

Core said that shes performed countless baptisms and memorial services at the church.

I value those memories, Core said. No one can take that away from me.
Two men disappeared in the Potomac River upstream from Washington on Sunday when their boat capsized, authorities said.

Lawrence W. Grey Jr., 62, of Brunswick, Md., and Robert Evonne Lee, 51, of Frederick, Md., had gone fishing near the Route 15 bridge between Loudoun County, Va., and Frederick County, Md., the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

Divers were sent to the Point of Rocks, Md., area to search. The search was to resume Monday morning.

It was not known why the mens boat capsized. Candy Thomson, a spokeswoman for Marylands Natural Resources Police, said the incident occurred in the morning, well before storms arrived.

In another incident, the body of an Anne Arundel County man who had jumped into the South River on Saturday was recovered Sunday, police said.

Thomson said Joseph Vincent Rossi of Edgewater had been in a rented motorboat with his wife and two children when a hat flew off and he tried to retrieve it.

Rossis wife was unable to stop the boat, Thomson said. Another boater helped get it stopped.

Friday was Rossis 47th birthday, Thomson said.
In recent testimony before Congress, Stephen Mull, the State Departments Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation, said that all the participants of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have so far fully implemented their commitments under the terms of the deal:

Its important that we recognize what an accomplishment that is towards advancing, not only our national security, but that of our closest friends and allies, particularly those in Middle East.

The JCPOA, as it is known, was reached in July 2015 by Iran, the European Union and the P5+1 countries. In exchange for the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions, Iran agreed to take a series of verifiable steps to ensure that its nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful.

Mr. Mull said that Iran has completed dozens of specific actions to limit, freeze or roll back its nuclear program and subject it to full transparency by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In exchange, the nuclear related sanctions imposed on Iran have been lifted.

In order to clarify what business is now permitted with Iran, the United States, at the request of foreign governments and partners, has been engaging in outreach to the public and private sectors.

As long as Iran continues to meet its nuclear commitments, well continue to meet our commitments on sanctions, said Mr. Mull.

But to enjoy the full economic benefit from the lifting of the nuclear sanctions, Iran must make sure it financial house is in order. Acting Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin noted that some companies and banks around the world continue to have concerns about doing business in Iran.

"Some are concerned about their financial transparency.  Others are noting concerns about corruption as well as regulatory and other obstacles to conducting business in Iran; and still others cite Irans provocative behavior outside the nuclear file, including its active support for terrorism and its ballistic missile testing.

As Iran pursues more business, it is incumbent on Iran to address such problems, to undertake meaningful reforms and create an environment in which businesses feel secure, said Undersecretary Szubin.

Mr. Szubin called the JCPOA a tremendous breakthrough, that represents a peaceful solution to what had been one of the worlds most serious security threats. It is incumbent on all parties to ensure it works as intended and stands the test of time.
Looking for ways to save money and improve care, Medicare officials are returning to an old-fashioned idea: house calls.

But the experiment, called Independence at Home, is more than a throwback to the way medicine was practiced decades ago, when the doctor arrived at the patients door carrying a big black bag. Done right and paid right, house calls could prove to be a better way of treating very sick, elderly patients while they can still live at home.

House calls go back to the origins of medicine, but in many ways I think this is the next generation, said Patrick Conway, who heads the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which oversees Independence at Home.

In the first year of the experiment, Housecall Providers of Portland, Ore., which had been operating at a loss, saved Medicare almost $13,600 per patient. In the District, the house-calls practice at MedStar Washington Hospital Center cut the cost of care an average of $12,000 per patient.

Medicare reported overall savings of $25 million in the pilots first year. From that money, nine practices earned bonuses totaling nearly $12 million

There are now 14 around the country participating in the project, including five run by the Visiting Physicians Association.

By all accounts, saving any money on these patients is a surprise. Independence at Home targets patients with complicated chronic health problems and disabilities who are among the most expensive Medicare beneficiaries. But a key study, published in 2014, found that primary care delivered at home to Medicare patients saved 17 percent in health spending by reducing their need to go to a hospital or nursing home.

In addition to Medicares usual house-calls payment, doctors in the Independence at Home project get a bonus if patients have at least 5 percent lower total Medicare costs than what is expected for a similar group of beneficiaries. Medicare keeps the first 5 percent of the savings, and the providers can receive the rest. The doctors must meet at least three of the six performance goals, which include reducing emergency room visits and hospital readmissions, and monitoring patients medications for chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.

Under the law creating the program, practices could join only if they make house calls to at least 200 patients with traditional Medicare who have been hospitalized and received rehab or other home health care within the past year. These patients also must have trouble with at least two activities of daily living, such as dressing or eating. The providers must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They make visits at least once a month, more often if patients become sick or theres an emergency.

You never know what youre walking into, said Terri Hobbs, executive director of Housecall Providers in Portland. This is a very sick group of people, with multiple chronic conditions, taking multiple medications, and [they] have a very long problem list. About half the patients have some degree of dementia.

Yet the Medicare reimbursement for house calls is about the same as for an office visit, and it doesnt cover travel time or the extra time needed to take care of complex patients. Thats not enough to convince most doctors to leave the relatively comfortable controlled environment of an office or hospital to do this sort of work, said William Zafirau, medical director for the Cleveland Clinics house-calls program, which has 200 patients in the Medicare pilot and plans to add 150 more.

A house-calls doctor can see only five to seven patients a day. One reason is that a visit can take longer than an office appointment. After Zafirau examines a patient, he takes a look around the home. He may open the refrigerator to make sure theres enough food or check to see whether supplies of medicine are running low. He may arrange home-delivered meals or other social services.

How people are functioning is often the best indicator of their overall health, he said.

The care can also extend to other professional services. Housecalls Providers hired a nurse and a social worker to serve as an advocate for patients who enter the hospital. When the patient returns home, they visit. They make sure if patients are supposed to get an antibiotic, a hospital bed or oxygen, that they get them, Hobbs said.

Hospital admissions dropped so significantly that Hobbs expanded these transition teams to serve patients who were not part of the pilot program.

A similar team serves MedStar Washington Hospital Centers house-calls patients, said Eric De Jonge, director of geriatrics at the hospital and president-elect of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine. When patients go to the hospital, there is very little contact from the primary-care doctor with the hospital care, he said. Independence at Home is actually pushing back to reverse that trend.

Medicare doesnt pay for the transition team even though Hobbs said it saves Medicare a tremendous amount of money.

Congress has authorized the Independence at Home program through October 2017, but some lawmakers hope to extend it nationwide. If not, Conway said, his agency will not be able to continue it.
texas

Floods threaten area near Gulf Coast

The heavy rain that has been hovering over parts of southeast and central Texas and caused deadly flooding began to lift Saturday, but officials said the flooding emergency near the Gulf Coast was worsening, and Army officials kept up their investigation of a training exercise that went horribly wrong at Fort Hood.

Only the wheels of an Army transport truck were visible after swift floodwaters washed the 2-ton vehicle from a low-water crossing on Thursday, killing nine soldiers, Coryell County emergency medical services chief Jeff Mincy told the Killeen Daily Herald. Mincy said he arrived at the scene about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and that firefighters had already pulled the three surviving soldiers from the rushing waters of usually dry Owl Creek.

I cant estimate how fast it was flowing, but it was faster than I would have felt comfortable putting anything into the water, Mincy said.

The bodies of five soldiers were recovered Thursday and four were found Friday, while the three surviving soldiers were discharged Friday from Fort Hoods hospital and returned to duty.

To the southeast, water levels began to recede along upstream portions of the Brazos River in southeast Texas on Saturday, but the peril increased downstream as the water churned toward the Gulf of Mexico. Emergency officials in Brazoria County warned residents in East Columbia, Baileys Prairie and Bar-X to be prepared to evacuate their homes.

Widespread flooding around Texas has left several people dead. Here's what's behind the severe floods. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The Brazos River stood at 52.55 feet near midday Saturday at Rosharon in northern Brazoria County, which is 9.55 feet above flood stage. It is expected to crest at 52.8 feet late Sunday morning  the third-highest crest on record at that gauge.

 Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Oil appears in river after train derailment

Environmental crews worked Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia River along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire, but officials said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife.

Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed Friday near Mosier, Ore., about 70 miles east of Portland. Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2 a.m. Saturday.

No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine. Officials said they would consider lifting the evacuation order Saturday evening.

I want to apologize to the community, Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said at a news conference, adding that the company would pick up the tab for the response costs. This is the type of accident we work to prevent every day.

The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail  especially through populated areas or along a river that is a hub of recreation and commerce. The tank cars were carrying especially volatile crude from the Northern Plains Bakken region, which has a higher gas content and vapor pressure than other types of oil.

 Associated Press

Latino students upset after classmates build wall in N.C. school: A group of students at a western North Carolina high school built a wall made of boxes and blocked access to a common area, alarming their Latino classmates. Local media outlets reported that the students were allowed into McDowell High School in Marion, about 100 miles northwest of Charlotte, on Wednesday to perform a prank as a teacher supervised them. A photo of the wall with about 30 students standing in front of it was shared on Instagram and captioned, We built the wall first. Principal Edwin Spivey said one of the students wanted to put a Donald Trump logo on the wall but was told he couldnt. The wall was taken down before classes began Thursday. A school district spokesman said the students will not face disciplinary action.

 Associated Press
BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO REPUBLICANS

They took a big step toward unifying the party. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan's endorsement of Donald Trump wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but it did settle the awkward and potentially damaging question of whether Washingtons highest-ranking Republican would support the partys presidential nominee. Now both Republican leaders of Congress  Ryan (Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)  say they'll support Trump. That gives on-the-fence lawmakers cover to do the same. And Trump's coalition on Capitol Hill is growing: Nine House committee chairmen support him. Even better news for Republicans: They have about a month head start on Democrats, who are still locked in a divisive presidential primary, in unifying their party.

BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton successfully went for Donald Trumps jugular. In what was billed as a major foreign policy speech Thursday, Clinton spent about 35 minutes taunting Trump as a know-nothing whose incoherent ramblings and bizarre rants are not only useless but dangerous for the country and world. The most effective part of the speech was that Clinton used Trumps own words to make her case  her claims about Trump's foreign policy platform were mostly spot on, The Washington Posts Fact Checker team said. It was one of her strongest performances of the campaign, said The Fixs Chris Cillizza, and a reminder that Clinton is best when on the attack. And if theres one thing she can expect from Trump this general election, its to be attacked.

 Amber Phillips
VATICAN CITY

Pope scraps tribunal for bad bishops

Pope Francis on Saturday scrapped his proposed tribunal to prosecute bishops who covered up for pedophile priests after the plan ran into opposition. He instead clarified legal procedures in which he would remove them if the Vatican finds they were negligent.

The scrapped procedures sought to answer long-standing demands by survivors of abuse that the Vatican hold bishops accountable for botching abuse cases. Victims have long accused bishops of covering up for pedophiles, moving rapists from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police  and suffering no consequences.

But the new law was immediately criticized by survivors of abuse as essentially window dressing since there were already ways to investigate and dismiss bishops for wrongdoing  they were just rarely used against bishops who failed to protect their flocks from pedophiles.

The pope already has the power to remove bishops for grave causes, but Saturdays apostolic letter specified the pope would now act in relation to cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. The pope would be assisted in disciplinary decisions by a new dedicated college of jurists made up of bishops and cardinals.

 Associated Press

1 of 47 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  After heavy rain, France sees historic flooding View Photos Some towns in central France are suffering their worst floods in more than a century. Caption Some towns in central France are suffering their worst floods in more than a century. June 5, 2016 The Cher River at the Castle of Chenonceau, in France. Across Europe, at least 18 people have been killed in floods that trapped people in their homes, felled trees and power lines and cut off roads and rail lines. Guillaume Souvant/AFP/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue.

SOUTH AFRICA

U.S. Embassy warns of possible attacks

The U.S. Embassy in South Africa warned Americans on Saturday of possible attacks by Islamist militants on U.S. facilities or shopping malls during the upcoming month of Ramadan. The South African government, however, said the country was safe.

It was the second such warning in less than a year from the embassy, which issued a similar alert in September in a country that has significant numbers of expatriates and tourists but has seldom been associated with Islamist militancy.

The U.S. Embassy said up-market shopping areas in the commercial hub of Johannesburg and Cape Town were the main target areas in the suspected planned attacks.

 Associated Press

FRANCE

Seine floodwaters start to recede in Paris

The death toll from the flooding in France has risen to four, officials said Saturday, as the water level of the Seine River in Paris slowly started to decrease after reaching its peak overnight. But authorities warned it could take up to 10 days for the river to return to normal after swelling to its highest level in nearly 35 years, about 15 feet above average.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said several ministerial meetings will be held next week to ensure quick financial help to the people affected. He also urged Paris visitors and residents to take care to observe safety precautions because many have been walking along the river banks to observe the rare phenomena.

Nearly a week of heavy rain led to serious flooding across parts of France, Germany, Romania and Belgium. Frances meteorological service said Saturday that high flood alerts remained in effect in 14 regions, mostly in central and western France, including Paris.

 Associated Press

Lightning strike injures dozens at rock concert in Germany: A rock music festival in Germany was halted for five hours on Saturday with organizers urging more than 90,000 fans to seek shelter in cars and tents as another thunderstorm approached hours after lightning strikes injured 71 people. The sellout Rock am Ring festival takes place at the airport in Mendig, near the Nuerburgring motor racing track.

Syrian army pushes into Raqqa province: The Syrian army pushed into Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State, after a major Russian-backed offensive against the militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. Raqqa city is Islamic States de facto capital in Syria and, along with Mosul in Iraq, the ultimate target of those seeking to destroy the group.

China says it wont abide by arbitration ruling: China said Saturday that it will ignore the decision of an international arbitration panel in the Philippines lawsuit against Beijings sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Philippines has filed a case in the United Nations under the U.N. Convention on Law of the Sea, questioning Chinas territorial claim in the South China Sea. An arbitration panel is expected to rule on the case soon. Chinese Rear Adm. Guan Youfei, however, said such arbitration rulings are illegal, and China will not abide by them.

Boko Haram fighters attack military post, kill 32: Hundreds of Boko Haram extremists attacked a military post in Niger near the countrys border with Nigeria, killing at least 32 soldiers, Nigers defense ministry said Saturday. The attack in Bosso on Friday left 30 Niger soldiers and two soldiers from Nigeria dead, the ministry said in a statement, adding that at least 67 other soldiers were wounded.

 From news services
MEXICO

Violence reported in gubernatorial elections

Government and political leaders reported scattered incidents of election-related violence in Mexico on Sunday as 12 states voted for new governors.

In Veracruz, a two-party alliance backing an opposition candidate complained of attacks against party members in seven municipalities, including vehicles being burned and gasoline bombs thrown at a party office in the state capital, Xalapa.

Jose Mancha Alarcon, the state leader of the National Action Party, said attackers burst into the home of the mayor of Acajete and set it on fire.

In the town of Emiliano Zapata, near Xalapa, a severed human head was left in a park just steps from a polling station.

Veracruz Public Security Secretary Arturo Bermudez confirmed that the driver for a local lawmaker was kidnapped. The lawmaker is part of the opposition alliances gubernatorial campaign.

Meanwhile, text messages warning people not to vote were sent to cellphones in Veracruz.

The newspaper El Universal reported that attackers damaged dozens of buses carrying campaign material in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. It said a mob in the southern state of Oaxaca burned ballots and threatened to prevent polling stations from opening, while a gasoline bomb was tossed at the door of the state congress in Zacatecas.

Veracruz is the biggest prize in the gubernatorial elections, which could shape the fortunes of the countrys ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in its bid to hold on to the presidency in 2018.

 Associated Press

SYRIA

Kurdish commander killed in Raqqa mission

A top Syrian Kurdish commander died Sunday, days after suffering injuries during a U.S.-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State from the militant groups de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.

Abu Layla, who commanded a brigade inside the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, was hit by Islamic State sniper fire on the outskirts of Manbij, a stronghold of the militant group that controls the supply route between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the Kurdish website Rudaw said. U.S. forces evacuated him to a hospital in Iraq, where he died.

The commander fought against militants in Kobane in early 2015, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Those battles, the first major setback to the Islamic State advance in northern Syria, were seen as instrumental to securing U.S. support for Kurdish forces in the countrys multi-layered conflict.

The SDF is advancing on Manbij, about 70 miles to the northwest of Raqqa, as Syrian government forces backed by Iranian, Lebanese and Russian firepower advance on the Islamic States capital from the south.

Government and Russian airstrikes, meanwhile, killed at least 23 people in opposition-held parts of Aleppo, once Syrias largest city, activists said, and killed or wounded dozens in Idlib, a rebel-held city in the northwest.

The Civil Defense, a first-responder group, reported 50 airstrikes in Aleppo on Sunday. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said the strikes killed at least 30. The Observatory put the toll at 23.

Activists also said a warplane crashed south of Aleppo. It was not clear whether it had malfunctioned or been shot down, the Observatory said.

 Associated Press

U.S. sailor arrested in Japan: An American sailor was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and causing an accident on Japans southern island of Okinawa, where public anger has run high over crimes by U.S. military personnel. Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, was arrested after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles, a police spokesman said. Mejia was not hurt, but two people in the other cars were injured, the spokesman said.

Prosecutor, 6 others killed in Afghan court attack: Taliban gunmen stormed a court in eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor. The Interior Ministry said 21 others, including six police officers, were wounded in the attack in Puli Alim, the capital of Logar province. The three attackers were killed by security forces, the ministry said.

Malaysia Airlines passengers, crew injured by turbulence: A Malaysia Airlines flight from London to Kuala Lumpur experienced severe turbulence, causing minor injuries to some passengers and crew members, the airline said. The brief turbulence occurred when Flight 1, with 378 people aboard, was over the Bay of Bengal, it said. The flight landed safely in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia Airlines is still trying to recover from two disasters in 2014  the disappearance of Flight 370 and the shooting down of a plane over Ukraine.

 From news services
The Fallen Roof granaries, constructed more than 800 years ago, still contain a dried corn cob. Maize accounted for roughly 80 percent of the ancestral Pueblo diet. (Juliet Eilperin/The Washington Post)

For centuries, humans have used the red sandstone canyons here as a way to mark their existence.

First came archaic hunter-gatherers who worked in Glen Canyon Linear, a crude geometrical style dating back more than 3,500 years. Then about 2,000 years later, early ancestral Pueblo farmers of the Basketmaker period used more subtle lines to produce a man in headdress. A little more than 700 years ago came their descendants, who used the same kind of hard river stone to make drawings of bighorn sheep and a flute player in the ancient rock.

Now, President Obama is weighing whether and how he can leave his own permanent imprint on history by designating about 2 million acres of land, known as the Bears Ears, as a national monument.

And despite the uniformly acknowledged historical significance of the area, some people regard the conservation efforts by the White House as classic federal overreach. In the current-era conflict between Washington and rural Westerners, the idea of a Bears Ears national monument has produced warnings of a possible armed insurrection.

In a state where the federal government owns 65 percent of the land, many conservatives already resent existing restrictions because they bar development that could generate additional revenue. Out-of-state militias came to San Juan County two years ago, when Commissioner Phil Lyman helped lead an all-terrain-vehicle protest ride through a canyon the Bureau of Land Management had closed to motorized traffic in 2007. Lyman is appealing the 10-day jail sentence he received in connection with the protest, and he argues that his case shows how BLM officials place the priorities of environmentalists over those of local residents.

Proponents and opponents of a proposed national monument in Utah sound off on whether Bears Ears should be protected. (Peter Stevenson,Juliet Eilperin/The Washington Post)

I would hope that my fellow Utahans would not use violence, but there are some deeply held positions that cannot just be ignored, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, the veteran Republican lawmaker, said in an interview.

Cedar Mesa is one of the best preserved and most archeologically rich sites in the United States. The dry climate and rock overhangs have protected important artifacts for millennia, and there are tens of thousands of ancient objects and structures preserved, including ones in which the original wood beams in cliff dwellings remain intact. In a granary where the Pueblo people kept maize, a single dried cob lies on a dusty floor.

But some lawmakers have suggested that unilateral action by the president, under the 1906 Antiquities Act, could provoke the same sort of resistance that led to the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon earlier this year.

There is a lot of conflict that has escalated into being on the precipice of violence that is unnecessary and unwarranted, said Rep. Jason Chaffetz

(R-Utah), who opposes the designation.

Obama has approached the designation of national monuments as a way to bolster the countrys defenses against climate change and as a way to make the national narrative more inclusive, in addition to his obligation to safeguard the countrys national treasures.





[How Obama helped Harry Reid leave an indelible mark in Nevadas desert]

Looting incidents

In the case of Bears Ears, there is no question that the area is imperiled by the kind of looting and pillaging that first inspired the Antiquities Act, as well as more modern threats, such as ATVs and motorbikes tearing through the desert terrain.

There have been six confirmed looting incidents in the past six months, and at least two dozen over the past five years. In one, a vandal used a rock saw to remove a petroglyph; in one this year someone dug up a pristine ceremonial chamber, or kiva, that had never been professionally excavated. Although the BLM has allocated $400,000 over two years to stabilize 10 archeological sites and trained about 20 people to serve as volunteer site stewards, it employs just two law enforcement officers to patrol 1.8 million acres.

Without help from Washington, preservationists worry that the looting and destruction will continue. Word of the regions treasures has spread from academics and archaeologists to pot hunters and other looters, said Don Simonis, the BLMs archeologist for the area. For years weve been reluctant to talk about it, but if we dont talk about it, how else can we convince the powers that be that we need protection here, and get the resources we need to protect it?

But in the Bears Ears region, named for the twin buttes that define the landscape, and surrounding San Juan County there are competing claims to the land and its history. The area has been home over the centuries to Native American tribes, Mormon settlers who reshaped the land in the late 1800s and the energy prospectors, ranchers and thrill-seekers drawn to it today.

All lay claim to pieces of the regions past and all are determined to have a voice in its future.

On May 19, Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R) signed a resolution, passed in a special session, specifically opposing a national monument. But even that measure stipulated that the legislature and governor were in favor of protection and conservation of the Bears Ears area if done in a constitutionally sound, locally driven legislative approach.

Chaffetz and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) have spent more than three years crafting a lands bill that affects seven counties in eastern Utah, spanning 18 million acres. The process involved extensive deliberations with a wide range of interestsmore than 1,200 meetings and more than 120 different groups, according to staffers, as one of Bishops aides racked up more than 65,000 miles on his Nissan Versa traveling from one meeting to another.

Forces of opposition

The lawmakers may introduce a bill this month, and earlier drafts set aside four times as much land for conservation as for development. But those proposals have drawn sharp criticism from environmentalists and tribal leaders, in part because they give state and local officials greater say over managing federal lands and redefine what activities can take place in protected areas.

Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, has dubbed the plan the Plundered Lands Initiative. He said it gives away vast amounts of public land, sacrifices landscapes to energy development, rolls back existing protection and fails to protect the Bears Ears.

And a coalition of tribal groups  including representatives from the Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and Pueblo of Zuni  abandoned what had been fitful negotiations with Utah Republicans in December, saying they were not given a proper voice in shaping the deal. Leaders of the tribes, some of which had warred against each other in the past, said they have found a common cause because of their spiritual and historical connection to the area.

We put aside the sense of who came here first and who came here last, said Carleton Bowekaty, a Pueblo of Zuni councilman. Were not confined by reservation lines. Were not confined by state lines.

A nonprofit Navajo group started pressing for federal protection six years ago, but tribal leaders say the states current members of Congress havent given them as much say as the late Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), who started the talks. Kenneth Maryboy, who at the time served as one of San Juan Countys three commissioners, attended a listening session with the two lawmakers and members of the community where one rancher openly scoffed at the idea of recognizing tribal claims.

The damn Indians dont need another reservation, Maryboy recalled the rancher saying.

One prominent Navajo backs the congressional approach. Rebecca Benally, a Democrat who defeated Maryboy and sits on the county commission, argues that the federal government cannot be trusted to properly manage a monument.

[Retelling the American narrative with national monument designations]

Feelings are so brittle here that one Utah conservationist, Black Diamond Equipment chief executive Peter Metcalf, remarked in an interview that it embodies William Faulkners famous phrase: The past is never dead. Its not even past.

Lyman, a critic of both the national monument proposal and the lawmakers broader lands bill, lives in Blanding, the town his great-grandfather helped found a century ago. Walter C. Lyman and other Mormon pioneers came from southwestern Utah in the arduous, six-month Hole-in-the-Rock expedition and first established the town of Bluff, which abuts the proposed monument designation. After repeated flooding ruined the settlers crops, Lyman managed to bring water onto White Mesa, about 25 miles away, and most of the settlers relocated.

When Lyman discusses his disputes with federal officials, environmentalists and some Navajo activists, he cites historic markers such as the 1865 law Abraham Lincoln gave Utahans, granting the right-of-way to build roads, and a 1933 agreement county leaders forged with the Navajos that gave them 500,00 acres south of the San Juan River, which is now part of a reservation that spans multiple states.

The whole purpose of it was to create certainty: This is yours and this is ours, he said. It was supposed to have settled this.

At this point, Native Americans  mostly Navajos and some Utes  make up 46 percent of San Juan Countys population. The countys unemployment rate is more than double the state average, and about a quarter of county residents receive food stamps and medical assistance.

And the fossil fuel and mineral extraction that once drove the local economy have dwindled: The last time a rig drilled a hole in the county was February 2014, according to the oil service company Baker Hughes.

Helpful or hazardous?

Some argue that a monument designation could prove to be an economic asset to the region, in the same way tourism increased at Utahs Grand Staircase-

Escalante National Monument after Bill Clinton designated it in 1996, as well as other sites that received similar presidential recognition.

Friends of Cedar Mesa Executive Director Josh Ewing, who has sought to broker a legislative compromise, noted that Utahs Mighty Five advertising blitz touts four national parks that were initially protected under the Antiquities Act.

Last week Herbert and Hatch held an event at one of those well-known sites, Natural Bridges National Monument, to reiterate their opposition to another presidential designation in the state.

Its the sort of thing that will die down quickly, said Ewing, an avid rock climber who regularly scales the areas canyons and cliffs.

Still, Hatch was concerned enough that he warned Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in a private meeting in his office on March 8 that a repeat of what Clinton did 20 years ago could prompt an armed confrontation.

Obama was briefed on the conversation with Hatch, according to several individuals, and instructed his aides to continue exploring the possibility of designating a monument. Jewell plans to visit the area this summer, and no final decision has been made.

But Obama pledged in November that his administration would review tribal proposals to permanently protect sacred lands for future generations. Those who have spoken to him about it, including presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, say Obama keenly wants to do some things [recognizing] Native American culture, and the proposal meets that test.

Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh, who served as one of the Interior Departments top officials before switching jobs about 18 months ago, said that when it comes to such monuments, You usually wait for the harder ones for the last moment . . . and the window is closing for permanent protection of some of the grandest landscapes, I think, in the entire United States.

Jonah Yellowman, who was forced at age 6 to attend a boarding school in New Mexico where he was physically punished for speaking his native language, is waiting for that sort of recognition. Yellowman walks easily along the landscape, pointing out where he collects firewood and the plants Navajos use to camouflage their faces in one ritual and scent sweat lodges in another.

Both Anglo and Navajo politicians have disappointed him before  Yellowman doesnt have running water or electricity at his remote home near Monument Valley, where iconic Westerns were filmed decades ago. He thinks the tribes have started a movement that can succeed.

My people, they start something and it doesnt go nowhere, he said. You can tell that this is different. This one, theres hope.
A growing number of Republican lawmakers and strategists fear that Donald Trumps hostile remarks about minorities and his unorthodox strategy have imperiled his campaign at the end of a five-week head start on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton that they hoped would fortify him heading into the general election.

Their concerns increased again Sunday after Trump said he thought a Muslim judge might treat him unfairly because he wants to temporarily ban most foreign Muslims from entering the country. The remark was an expansion on repeated assertions over the past week that an American-born judge overseeing a fraud case against him should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage.

If it were a Muslim judge, would you also feel like they wouldnt be able to treat you fairly because of that policy of yours? host John Dickerson asked on CBSs Face the Nation.

Its possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely, Trump replied.

While Republicans credit Trump for making some strides after vanquishing his final GOP opponents last month, many are concerned about repeated comments singling out people for criticism on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. The attacks in the Trump University case also underscore the extent to which Trump, who is traveling overseas later this month to visit some of his golf courses, commingles his private business interests with his presidential campaign.

The campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, is sparking a surge in the number of citizenship applications and voter registrations among Hispanics fearful of his immigration policies. Since January, California alone has seen a boost of 218 percent in Democratic registration and among Hispanics, registration is up 123 percent. (Alice Li/The Washington Post)

Finally, many Republicans are also unnerved by Trumps decision to continue picking fights with fellow Republicans and to spend time and resources campaigning in California and other Democratic-leaning states that he is extremely unlikely to win in November.

The prevailing view among prominent Republicans is that Trump still has the time and ability to make the necessary course corrections, especially given Clintons vulnerabilities. But they see some acute problems in the way he has conducted himself in recent days.

[Pushing racial boundaries, Trump draws rebuke from a fretful GOP]

Republican strategist Brian Walsh, a former spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, quickly took to social media after Trumps remarks on Muslims on Sunday: I dont care if hes the nominee  Republicans should loudly condemn this racist, nonsensical rhetoric by Trump, Walsh tweeted.

Walsh, who does not support Trump at the moment, said in an interview that Republican leaders should not hesitate to condemn comments that are the definition of racism.

Its very toxic for other Republican campaigns and for the party as a whole, he said. Its very concerning.

In the latest sign of the separation down-ballot Republicans are seeking from Trump, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) responded to Trumps latest comments with a strongly worded statement to The Washington Post.

Republicans and Democrats alike are slamming Donald Trump for his comments about a federal judge. Here are six times something Trump said made sparked a huge backlash from critics. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

His comments are offensive and wrong and he should retract them, said Ayotte, who is in a challenging reelection campaign.

Trumps remark on a theoretical Muslim judge followed his repeated comments arguing that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over fraud lawsuits against his Trump University education business, should have recused himself because hes a Mexican. Trump says his desire to build a wall on the border with Mexico was in conflict with the judges ethnic background; Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents.

Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who both support Trump, have criticized those statements.

I couldnt disagree more with a statement like that, McConnell said on NBCs Meet the Press, though he repeatedly refused to say whether the comments were by definition racist.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, another Trump booster, also criticized him on Fox News Sunday.

This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made, and I think its inexcusable, said Gingrich. He added: If a liberal were to attack Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds that hes black, we would all go crazy.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a longtime party strategist and Trump supporter, said in an interview that the real estate mogul needs to move from a primary message to more of a general-election message and to start trying to find ways to reach out to groups he doesnt need to win, but he needs to make sure hes not annihilated among, such as African Americans and Hispanics.

Trump has consistently struggled throughout his campaign with both his rhetoric and policies relating to minorities. At a rally in Redding, Calif., on Friday, Trump pointed to a black man in the crowd and exclaimed, Oh, look at my African American over here  look at him.

[Since clinching the GOP nomination, Trump has gone off stride, off message]

It seems the campaign has been a tad slow to a full transition to a general-election strategy, said Greg Mueller, who has worked on several presidential campaigns and backs Trump. But they have time and a bully pulpit like few other Republican candidates in recent times.

Rick Wilson, a longtime GOP operative who has been one of the most aggressive critics of Trump, penned a column to fellow Republicans this weekend warning that candidates up for election will be yoked to Trump: You own his politics. You own his policies, even the ones that only last as long as the next contradiction. You own the racial animus that started out as a bug, became a feature and is now the defining characteristic of his campaign. You own every crazy, vile chunk of word vomit that spews from his mouth.

Wilson said in an interview Sunday that Trumps comments about Curiel and a hypothetical Muslim judge are overtly racist and contradict the freedoms outlined in the Constitution. Wilson said that it is mortifying that Trump would use a judges ethnic heritage as an excuse for why Trump University has lost court decisions.

For everyone who cries wolf on racism  and there are a lot of them on the other side  they are now validated forever, Wilson said.

Republican concerns over Trumps campaign extend beyond his comments to his strategy. After cementing his claim to the nomination after the May 3 Indiana primary, Trump has taken long stretches off the trail and, when he is campaigning, has focused his time on blue states that still have primaries to come but are virtually unwinnable for a Republican in the general election. California, where Trump held rallies over the past two weeks, was last won by a Republican nominee in 1988 by George H.W. Bush; a recent survey showed Clinton with a double-digit lead over Trump there.

By any stretch of the GOP imagination, as many as 18 other states that Mitt Romney lost would probably be better targets for Donald Trump than California, said Neil Newhouse, who was GOP nominee Romneys pollster in 2012. Recent polling indicates that it may not be far-fetched for the Trump campaign to believe they can expand the electoral playing field, but overreaching can expend scarce resources and divert them from states that are more realistic targets.

[The new Trump is a no-show]

During a three-day swing through the Golden State last week, Trump repeatedly told supporters he intends to contest the state in the fall. Im going to play heavy in California, Trump said in Redding on Friday. Right? I think we can win.

Trump also said he harbors ambitions to wrest Oregon and Washington from Democratic hands. Neither state has gone Republican since Ronald Reagan won them in his 1984 landslide.

Were going to play in places where Republicans dont traditionally play in  thats in addition to the Floridas of the world, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in a recent interview.

Trump had been scheduled to meet with Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday in New York to discuss strategy in the Sunshine State, which is a quadrennial battleground. But Scott decided to postpone the meeting Sunday to stay in Florida and monitor a storm.

There are also concerns about Trumps continued targeting of fellow Republicans.

During an event in New Mexico last month, he criticized Gov. Susana Martinez  the first Latina governor in the nation  only to reverse course the following week by telling a local newspaper he would like her endorsement. In response, Martinezs office said she would meet with the mogul.

[Trumps personal, racially tinged attacks on federal judge alarm legal experts]

Trumps initial criticism of Martinez dominated news coverage, at least partly overshadowing events such as the release of a highly critical analysis of Clintons use of email as secretary of state.

There have been a number of missed opportunities, said Republican strategist Kevin Madden, who worked for Romney. They seem to be a product of a campaign that is winging it from day to day.

Even amid such criticism, some Republicans see upsides for Trump. Cole said that according to polling he has conducted in his congressional district, Trumps favorability among Republicans is on the rise. Some recent public polling has also showed Clinton and Trump in close competition in key swing states.

Cole also pointed to Trump gaining the endorsement last week of Ryan, the nations highest-ranking Republican. After refusing to back Trump for weeks, Ryan wrote a guest column for his hometown newspaper Thursday explaining that he would vote for Trump while still voicing disagreements when necessary.

The next day, Ryan followed through  criticizing Trumps comment about Curiel as out of left field.

He clearly says and does things I dont agree with, and Ive had to speak up on time to time when that has occurred, and Ill continue to do that if its necessary, Ryan told a Wisconsin radio station. I hope its not.

Trump shows little sign of changing course and continues to champion policies that Ryan and other establishment Republicans oppose. At his Redding rally last week, for example, Trump led one of his regular chants on building a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Build that wall! Trump said to the cheering crowd.

The wall got 10 feet higher! one man yelled out in response.
On Thursday night, Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University was an absolute conflict because of the real estate moguls proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

On Sunday, Trump doubled down on those comments, insisting to John Dickerson of CBS that the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, was treating him in a hostile manner. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee added cryptically: Theres something going on.

(Side note: Its not just people of Mexican heritage. Trump, who earlier in his campaign called for instituting a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, told Dickerson that he might have issues with a Muslim judge, too.)

[Judge bashed by Trump orders release of company records]

Where to start? That trying to disqualify judges based on heritage  Curiel was born in Indiana to parents of Mexican descent  would effectively disqualify scores of jurists across the country from the bench? Or that the idea of considering ethnicity, religion or some other characteristic when discussing how a federal judge does his job is anathema to the foundational principles of our judicial system?

1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican candidate continues to dominate the presidential contest. Caption Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

At this point, conversations about Trumps ability and willingness to offend are almost pointless. Ditto debates about whether and how Trumps comments will affect his standing in the 2016 race. He does and says things that not only would be poison for any other politician of either party but also play dangerously with racial and ethnic politics. Yet, to date, he has prospered.

[Pushing racial boundaries, Trump draws rebuke from a fretful GOP]

What is important is that we can now dismiss the notion that Trump will adjust his rhetoric or his positions on issues to accommodate the general electorate. That idea is totally and completely false. There is no Trump 2.0, no reinvention of Trump as more inclusive or less combative waiting just on the horizon. This is it.

Trump has said as much.

You think Im going to change? he asked rhetorically during a combative news conference Tuesday at Trump Tower. Im not changing.

He has said some version of Trump gonna Trump for weeks, even while occasionally promising to maybe be a little bit nicer and amid promises from chief campaign strategist Paul Manafort that the new Trump was coming soon.

A placid debate here. A nice comment about a former rival there. Republicans desperate for some sign that they had not picked the least-predictable nominee in modern history have tried to interpret it all as evidence that Trump could and would be managed. That he got it and knew he could not keep acting the way he acted to win the Republican primary contest.

Donald Trump greets the audience before he speaks on foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on April 27, 2016. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

But then, inevitably, comes a comment like the one about Curiel. Or Trumps shot at New Mexicos popular Republican governor, Susana Martinez, whom he accused of doing a bad job. Or whatever offensive thing he will say this week.

The reality is this: Trump cant escape  and doesnt seem to want to escape  from being exactly and unapologetically who he is.

Think about it from Trumps perspective. Everyone  and I do mean everyone  laughed at him when he got into the presidential race almost a year ago. They said he was nothing more than a reality-TV star. A loud-talking know-nothing who would not go anywhere.

Then Trump beat the other Republican candidates. Convincingly.

What possible lesson could he draw from that? This one: The people who say they know what works in politics have no clue. And the people who matter (voters) love his over-the-top rhetoric and willingness to be controversial all the time.

Plus, remember that Trump is 69. How many people of that age, particularly those who have lived as public and successful a life as Trump, make major changes in who they are and how they approach the world? The answer is very, very few.

If you are a Republican elected official, cough, Paul Ryan, cough, desperately hoping that a more cerebral, more serious, less I-will-say-whatever-is-on-my-mind-at-this-exact-second Trump is just about to emerge, I have some news for you: Youre out of luck.

Trump is who he is. Republican voters, or at least a decent chunk of them, liked that person enough to hand him the partys presidential nomination. And thats the person Trump will be between now and Nov. 8  and the one the GOP has pinned all of its hopes on. Gulp.
Indian navy personnel after attending the decommissioning ceremony of India's first indigenously designed and built warship, the INS Godavari, at a naval base in Mumbai in December. (Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

In a recent speech in New Delhi, the outspoken commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., was nearly poetic when he discussed the growing relationship between India and the United States, saying he was a bit moonstruck about the possibilities.

In the not too distant future, American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Asia-Pacific waters, he said, as we work together to maintain freedom of the seas for all nations.

The comments struck a chord  though, perhaps, not the note Harris wanted. Just a few days later, Indias defense minister, Manohar Parrikar, publicly rebuked him, saying India does not participate in joint patrols.

Growing concern over China and its naval activity in Indias back yard  the vast Indian Ocean  have brought the two once-distant militaries closer than ever before.

India participates in more military exercises with the United States than with any other country, and the two are close to signing an agreement that would allow refueling and repair of vehicles at each others bases  a controversial proposal that has been under discussion for more than a decade.

Yet Harriss misfire shows that overcoming years of mistrust  during the Cold War and over U.S. support of Pakistan  will take time.

The United States is looking to shore up its reach in the region with freedom-of-navigation patrols to counter Chinese territorial encroachment in the South China Sea. India has been critical of some Chinese actions and deployed four warships to the area for exercises last month but has generally moved with caution to avoid antagonizing its mighty neighbor and key economic partner.

Where the South China Sea is concerned, the Indian government understands the risk very clearly of getting needlessly tangled there, Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, said in an interview. In a recent opinion piece, Joshi described the U.S. approach to India as an almost brash Pentagon wooing, coupled with more sophisticated approach by the State Department.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives Monday for a short visit to the United States, to meet President Obama and address Congress  a historic moment for a leader who was once banned from entering the United States.

In 2005, the United States government denied Modi a visa on religious-freedom grounds, after charges that he had not acted to stop Hindu-Muslim rioting in Gujarat, the state where he was chief minister in 2002, that left more than 1,000 dead.

The visit will mark the seventh time Modi and President Obama have met since the prime minister came to power in May 2014, a measure of both Indias strategic importance to the United States and what aides say is a genuine rapport between the two men. They will discuss climate change, a clean-energy partnership, and security and defense cooperation.

After India performed a series of nuclear tests in 1998, a near-blackout of military cooperation followed. Relations improved after President Bill Clinton visited in 2000, and, in 2008, the countries ratified a landmark agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. The agreement has yet to bear fruit, but Westinghouse Electric may announce a plan to build six reactors in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in the coming weeks.

India is really a legacy issue for Obama, said C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi. After the nuclear-cooperation issue was settled in 2008, past estrangement moved to tentative partnership, he said.

Now, a new phase. The Modi government seems more interested in cooperating than previous governments, analysts say, and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter has made India a top priority, with an expansion of defense technology and trade and collaboration on aircraft-carrier design.

The United States is one of Indias top defense suppliers, resulting in $14 billion in defense contracts since 2007.

India is also seeking U.S. support as it attempts to overcome Chinas opposition to its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an organization of 48 countries that aims to limit nuclear proliferation through export controls.

Yet India hedged its bets for years on the key logistics agreement that would enable the United States to refuel and repair vehicles at Indian ports and bases.

The two countries have agreed in principle to the deal, but the final draft has not been signed. Two other agreements  one that would provide access for India to advanced radio and satellite communications systems from the United States, another that would provide exchange of geospatial data for military and civilian use  are also pending.

The Indians had long been reluctant to sign the logistics agreement because of fears it would obligate India to support a U.S. role in future military conflicts, experts say, a fear the United States thinks is unfounded.

There are certain apprehensions in our minds because of past experience, said Alok Bansal, a former naval officer who is now the director of the Center for Security and Strategy at the India Foundation in Delhi. Most people in India think that U.S. linkages come with strings attached.

But, he added, its changing. As a new generation comes, the historical baggage gives way.

Read more

U.S. denies visa to Indian Hindu nationalist

U.S. senators attack Indias human rights record before Modis visit

Indian government bars another activist from leaving the country

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
An Israeli security officer stands guard during a march marking Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Thousands of Israelis marched through the alleys of Jerusalems Old City on Sunday in a controversial parade through the Muslim Quarter that marks Israels capture of the ancient walled metropolis in the 1967 war against Arab armies.

The Jerusalem Flag Parade can be a tense episode because revelers, many of them high school students from nationalist religious schools accompanied by their rabbis, wind their way through the Arab section of the city, celebrating the Jews return to the holy city  but also shouting abuse at the few Palestinians out on the streets.

On Sunday, Israeli police vowed there would be zero tolerance for the racist chants that marked past parades. Although the march featured some pushing and shoving, there were few arrests and no serious violence and few arrests.

Arab shopkeepers were ordered to close their stores along the route, but a few remained open.

I am not afraid. This is my shop. This is my Jerusalem. I am not closing, said Ahmed Dandes, a tailor who sells mens trousers at the Damascus Gate.

An hour later, Dandes had shuttered his shop and was headed home.

Israeli police were especially anxious about the march because it took place on the eve of Ramadan, Islams month-long celebration of daytime fasting and nighttime feasts. It begins Monday at sunset.

Israeli media reported scattered chants against the Muslims  shouts of Muhammad is dead! and Burn down the mosque!

At one Palestinian sweets shop, youths surged forward, singing, The people of Israel live! while giving the Arab bakers their middle fingers.

Police swept in and pushed them away.

At another store selling lanterns to celebrate Ramadan, a Jewish parade warden not much older than the high-school marchers yelled at them to leave the Arab shopkeeper alone.

At the Damascus Gate, Rabbi Andrew Sacks was with fellow activists, handing out red roses to Palestinians. This flag parade is an excuse for needless racism and provocation, and we are opposed to this, he said.

One member of his group handed a flower to a Muslim youth who walked a few feet away and made a show of dropping it on the street.

Earlier in the day, Israels High Court of Justice turned down a last-minute appeal and ruled that the annual parade could take place on its scheduled route through the Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall, a site of Jewish prayer and devotion.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said the parade should follow its traditional route, but he urged participants to be peaceful.

There were 1,200 police officers to meet an estimated 10,000 marchers and maintain order.

A police spokesman warned that attendees carrying signs or wearing clothes promoting incitement would be stopped from taking part. But hundreds of marchers could be seen wearing T-shirts that showed the destruction of the al-Aqsa Mosque and the imagined rebuilding of the Third Jewish Temple on the raised esplanade in the Old City that is holy to both religions.

As in past years, the march Jerusalem Flag March was a hot topic on radio stations throughout the morning. The question was why the parade needed to pass through the Muslim Quarter when there are alternative routes  through the Armenian, Christian or Jewish quarters to the Western Wall.

Its almost like spitting in the face of the Muslims, well-known Israel Army Radio host Razi Barkai said during an interview with Nati Rom, a lawyer representing the organization behind the parade.

It is not a provocation; it is something very moving that we do only once a year, Rom said. We celebrate Jerusalem, and according to the law here, Jerusalem is one city, so why cant we celebrate that?

But why this route? Barkai asked. If the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem was allowed to pass through [the Jewish ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of] Mea Shaarim, would you approve of it going there?

Amir Heshen, a lawyer representing the Israeli human rights group Ir Amim, which petitioned the High Court to change the route, said celebrating a united Jerusalem was a falsehood because Jerusalem  which is about 63 percent Jewish and 37 percent Palestinian Muslim and Christian  has remained divided since Israel declared reunification 49 years ago following the Six-Day War.

Yoni Cohen, 18, was wrapped in an Israeli flag and marching in the parade for the third year. He said, This is our city. This is our day. Jews died to be here. They should let us pass. The Arabs can go home. We dont want to see them.

Jerusalem Mayor Barkat said there have always been frictions in Jerusalem between the populations  and there always will be.

When you talk about a united city, that does not mean everyone has to be the same. There are different people in the city with different interests. but we need to learn how to build bridges between them, Barkat said.

On Sunday, Israels Central Bureau of Statistics released population statistics for Jerusalem. The citys population has reached 870,000, with two-thirds Jewish and one-third Arab. More than a third of the Jews identify as ultra-Orthodox; about 1 in 5 called themselves secular. The number of Christians in Jerusalem has dwindled over the years, from 20 percent of the population in 1946 to less than 2 percent today.

Ruth Eglash contributed to this report.

Read more

In a first, Israel lets Jordanian workers cross border for jobs

When some famous writers went to visit some hardcore Jewish settlers

An Israeli leader wants to put Jerusalems Arabs on the other side of new walls

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
David Gilkey, a longtime news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio, and Zabihullah Tamanna, an Afghan interpreter, were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

NPR spokeswoman Isabel Lara said in a statement that Gilkey and Tamanna were traveling with an Afghan army unit when the convoy came under fire and their vehicle was struck. Two other NPR journalists traveling with them were unharmed.

Gilkey covered national and international news for the radio network and its website, and he made numerous trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, according to NPRs website.

His work has been recognized with many awards, including the George Polk Award and a national Emmy. The White House Photographers Association named him Still Photographer of the Year in 2011.

Tamanna was a freelancer who often worked for NPR, Lara, the spokeswoman, said in an email, but offered few details.

As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him, Michael Oreskes, NPRs senior vice president of news and editorial director, said in a statement. He let us see the world and each other through his eyes.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
The Brexit referendum takes place under conditions of a rising tide of social struggle throughout the world. All over Europe the working class is deserting the old national organisations that have subordinated it to the capitalist order promising reforms that have never been honoured. They are looking for a more radical solution to the capitalist crisis. In Greece, France and Belgium this has taken the form of open mass strikes and protests.

The support for a Brexitboth in the form of the openly right-wing Vote Leave and of the pseudo-left Left Leave campaignis directed against this social movement. It is an attempt to channel the opposition of the working class into the dead end of nationalism and the straightjacket of the capitalist state. The only way to fight the European Union, an instrument of the major banks and corporations, is an active boycott of the referendum and the unification of the European working class on the perspective of the United Socialist States of Europe.

Peter Schwarz, secretary of the International Committee of the Fourth International and a leading member of the Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit in Germany, will speak on this perspective and the historical experience of the German workers movement, which paid a terrible price for the subordination of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to nationalism in the 1930s. The adaptation of the Stalinist KPD to the nationalism of the Nazis contributed significantly to Hitlers rise to power.

London Tuesday, June 14, 7 p.m.

Student Central, (formerly ULU)

Malet Street

WC1E 7HY (Nearest tube: Euston, Euston Square, Goodge St)
North Carolina police are seeking a 56-year-old woman who, they claim, last month sold a used deep freezer for $30, with her mother's lifeless body inside, PEOPLE confirms.



According to a police statement obtained by PEOPLE, an arrest warrant has been issued for Marcella Jean Lee of Goldsboro.



Lee is charged with one count for failing to report the death of her 75-year-old mother, Arma Ann Roush. Additional charges will likely be filed in the case as detectives continue their investigation, police said.



Police believe Lee moved from the Goldsboro area soon after selling the deep freezer. Roush lived with her daughter and had not been seen by neighbors since last summer, police said.







Roush's body was discovered on May 27 by the freezer's new owner, who told detectives she bought the freezer from Lee, her neighbor, who said she was moving to Virginia.



 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.



Prior to the transaction, Lee allegedly told the woman she'd promised to loan the unit to her church for an upcoming event.



Lee allegedly told the buyer that members of the church would soon swing by to retrieve the freezer, which had been secured with duct tape, according to police. When the church members failed to show after three weeks, the woman told police she decided to crack open her new freezer. Inside, she found Roush's body wrapped in a sheet.



An autopsy on Roush's remains showed no signs of foul play, but police are still awaiting the medical examiner's findings in determining Roush's cause of death.



Detectives ask that anyone with information about Roush's death or Lee's whereabouts call them at 919-735-2255 or send a text to 919-222-4230. Callers can remain anonymous.
This is the time of the year when young people are excited about closing a part of their life, school, and looking forward to something new. Perhaps more school, perhaps work, or travel. What did it take to get to this place? Was it easy? No, it was not easy nor was it cheap. Not only did it cost financially, but it cost physically and mentally. Hard work through blood sweat and even tears.

There is an inventor that we all are familiar with, Thomas Alva Edison. We all know about his many inventions, over 1,000 of them. But do you know about his struggle with education? He was born in Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847. In 1854, when he was seven his family moved to Michigan.

Al, as he was called as a boy, went to school only a short time. He did so poorly that his mother, a former teacher, taught her son at home. He learned to love reading, a habit he kept for the rest of his life. He also spent a great deal of time in the basement doing experiments.

At 15, he roamed the country as a tramp telegrapher, using a kind of alphabet called Morse Code. Even though he was already losing his hearing he still persevered, struggling to hear the clicks of the telegraph.

How does this connect with Scripture and your daily life? We have an example of a man who did not give up regardless of the circumstances. Philippians 4:13 says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Not alone, not by myself but with Christ.

Edison knew that having a good idea was not enough, it takes hard work to make dreams a reality. He liked to say, Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness and common sense.

In the Bible we read of Gideon and his men as they fought their enemy. Even through their exhaustion, Judges 8:4 tells us they were faint, yet pursuing. There will come a time in your life when you will feel faint due to exhaustion, just remember you can still pursue your goal with Gods help.

Wherever your life path leads claim Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall directly thy paths.
From Esquire

One of the most refreshing pieces of real journalism I've read in a while comes from The State, the flagship newspaper of the home office of American sedition. During our recent holiday blogging hiatus, the paper took a deep dive into the state of South Carolina's public services over the past decade. (Judging from the art that accompanied the piece, one can take a fairly deep dive in the middle of a state road these days.)

The state of the state, one can fairly say, is pretty damn sorry.

They are underfunded. They can't fill vacancies. The salaries they pay are not competitive. Work loads are oppressive, causing workers to quit, and threats to the public to go undiscovered until there is a crisis. South Carolinians are suffering as a result. Rural schools fail their students. Children die while in the care of the state Department of Social Services. Crumbling roads cost some S.C. drivers their lives and, according to a national research group, other residents about $3 billion a year. Dams collapse, causing hundreds of millions in damages. Violent youths riot, torching part of a state facility.

The dams are a good prism through which to observe the slow motion catastrophe that is state government in the home office of American sedition.

Last October, 31 state-regulated dams failed in a historic rain storm, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. The collapses followed shrinking spending on dam inspections by the Department of Health and Environmental Control. For years, that program's budget-one of the most poorly funded in the country, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials-hovered around $200,000 or less. After October's dam-busting rains, DHEC asked for $595,000 more to increase its dam-safety staffing.

Thirty-one dams failed in a single rainstorm. I believe I've spied something of a trend. So did The State and, mirabile dictu, the paper hung the responsibility right where it belongs, without equivocation or mock fairness.

Story continues

The recession took its toll. But so, too, has a one-party political system controlled by a small fraction of the state's residents, GOP primary voters who focus on lower taxes.

Even when the Republican bosses of South Carolina agree taxes must be increased to fix a problem-the state's crumbling roads, for example-they are unable to act. To OK a gas-tax hike, the state's GOP governor demands a larger income-tax cut. The GOP-controlled House and Senate debate the structure of roads agencies for more than a year and, finally, facing re-election, legislators agree to spend money from the state's general fund. That money, they agree, won't be enough to fix the roads problem but will come at the expense of other troubled state agencies. That is state government today, licking its financial losses after the recession and paralyzed by politics.

Holy reality, Batman. It turns out that Both Sides haven't done it.

Like almost all elements of the Republican Party, the S.C. GOP has been struck down by the prion disease because a sizable portion of its members ate the monkeybrains long ago, and the state is pretty much falling apart.

Here are a few things to keep in mind: One, Governor Nikki Haley is still considered in many places a viable candidate for some future spot on a natural ticket. Two, what's happening in South Carolina is what's happening in a lot of places blessed with one-party Republican government. And three, what's happening in South Carolina is exactly what the national Republican Party would like to do to the whole country.

This is what "devolving power" back to the states comes down to-a river in the middle of the road.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.
He was born Sean McEnroe, the son of John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal but last year, Sean decided to drop his father's last name and take his mom's as his surname.



"I changed my name to Sean O'Neal  it's nothing against my dad but I wanted to have my own path that is not so directly linked to him because it's just the way people have [always] perceived me," O'Neal, 28, tells PEOPLE. "I just wanted to forge my own identity."



As for his, at times, complex relationship with his father, he says, "We're trying to work things out. We have some differences regarding how I should live my life but I respect him and I just want to do things on my own and make it my own way.



"We are just getting though some normal father and son stuff. When you grow up in a family like mine, it's intense and everything is magnified in the media and when you have a lot of powerful people in one family and we have disagreements, they're more intensified."







O'Neal, a Los Angeles-based photographer, is hoping his first solo exhibition of pictures he took in Nepal after the earthquake  opening June 4, at Hollywood's LAM Gallery  will help others begin to see him in a new way, for his work, rather than just his name.



"I went to Nepal two months after the earthquake to photograph the aftermath after I was asked by the founder of CITTA.org who had seen some of my photos to accompany them," says O'Neal.



"They go to the most remote and poorest villages completely off the grid without electricity. One day we went in canoes made out of trees logs to cross a river to get to the village where they were bringing doctors and supplies. The purpose of the show is to immerse people in what it's like to live in Nepal where they badly need money for infrastructure after massive damage to homes and businesses and where even after one year they are still very little progress.



"I had never been to a third world country and I was struck how generous people were. No matter what they had, they would offer us food. Every village, there were 15 or more kids who'd want to carry my equipment for me and even when I'd lay down to rest, they would all pile in and surround me and kept asking me my name, and my age."



O'Neal first fell in love with art when he was a kid and his parents were going through a bitter divorce and custody fight over their three kids.



"Growing up, the Met was my sanctuary," he says. "When things were difficult and there were a lot of those times when I was growing up, I would find myself wandering there and I always found it comforting and soothing to imagine myself in the landscapes."





Story continues

Why Sean McEnroe Changed His Name to Sean O'Neal| News, Art, John McEnroe

Now, he says, "I respect my family and my grandpa, Ryan O'Neal. They have all shaped who I've become and they are part of me. There were things that were difficult with my family but they all are good people and everyone makes mistakes and it's best for me to have it as healthy as it can be where we can talk things out things in a cordial way and I hope they all come to my show."



"My mom has been super supportive of this show and she's a big advocate of my photographs," he says. As for her relationship last year with Rosie O'Donnell (which O'Donnellas rep denied) he says, "It was kind of interesting to meet her and it didnat matter to me. My mom can do whatever she wants. I'm pretty open minded and if she wants to date a woman or a man, thatas fine."





Why Sean McEnroe Changed His Name to Sean O'Neal| News, Art, John McEnroe

When O'Neal started a GoFundMe site in March to help fund his work, he was surprised by the controversy that ensued. "I've seen famous musicians and bands do GoFundMes and raise money for a new project," he explains. "There are some people who will think something negatively about it because they knew where I came from but I was trying to do pay for the framing myself on top of paying for a show. I have raised $500 I didn't expect to."



But he understands how it could be misunderstood as well. "I wanted to support myself without asking for my dad's help," he says. "I'm on my own, an adult and there is something powerful about starting from scratch and making your way on my own [but] some people really love the saga of the 'cursed' family."





Why Sean McEnroe Changed His Name to Sean O'Neal| News, Art, John McEnroe

Asked if he thinks his family is cursed, he says, "My family isn't cursed, it's just complicated."



In the end, O'Neal hopes his name will help the people he met in Nepal. "Twenty five percent of the proceeds from the show will go to Citta.org. and their ongoing work in Nepal," he says. "I want to use what is in my power to help the people I met and if my name helps, then that's great."


Blame it on spring fever if you must, but transformation is in the air. While our own Maria Del Russo recently dyed her dark locks platinum blond, shes just one of many who are seizing the new season as the perfect opportunity to mix things up.

Related: This Is What Female-Directed Porn Looks Like



Take Hollywood, for example. Rooney Mara just went platinum; Kim and Kylie both hit the blond bottle, and Taylor Swift? The pop star has officially ditched her red lips for something a bit edgier. All these changes have inspired us to round up the biggest beauty transformations from the past month or so. Some of these celebs were simply trying out a drastically new look for a night (ahem, Gwen), while others are far more committed to their swaps.

Related: How To Make Your Eyes Look Bigger



Either way, all of these women look beautiful before and after they opted for something new, which further drives home our point: It may be time to bust out a new look.

Related: This Is NOT Why Taylor and Calvin Broke Up



Which of these transformations would you try? Tell us in the comments below!



Christina Aguilera is known for her long, blond locks



but isnt afraid to rock a sleek, short bob, too.









Victorias Secret model Taylor Hill ditched her long hair



for a short, badass, pixie cut.





Gwen Stefani often shows off defined eyes and a punky do



but arrived at the Billboard Music Awards with monochromatic make-up and brushed-out waves.

Jessica Albas known for done hair and soft makeup



but mixed things up with futuristic hair and vibrant, blue shadow at the Billboards.

We all know Katy Perry is the queen of goth-punk beauty



But she arrived at Cannes with classic red lips and slicked back hair.

For more celeb 180s, visit Refinery29.

By: Jessica Chou



Related: The Beauty Emoji We Really Need In Our Life

Related: Glow International With These Asian Beauty Products
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

Sam Ehlinger officially becomes the starting quarterback of the Colts. If he fails or gets injured, Nick Foles will take over. And if Foles gets injured, the quarterback will be anyone but Matt Ryan. Ryan is done. Hes out. He wont play again, for reasons rooted in his contract. Put simply, once the team decided [more]
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f106174%2ftiger_trafficking

The illegal trade of wildlife is a much larger, far-reaching issue than you might realize, and it's something we can't afford to ignore.

Wildlife trafficking is one of the biggest threats to the environment, yet the realities of poaching and trade can be hard to picture  especially if you're a world away from the problem.

SEE ALSO: 13 dos and don'ts when taking a selfie with the earth

June 5 marks World Environment Day, which prompts us all to turn a critical eye to the state of our global environment. This year, advocates are asking the public to focus on wildlife crime, and the impact that trafficking of vulnerable animal populations has on our world.

To shed light on where attention and action is needed, we've rounded up six illuminating facts that will broaden your knowledge on wildlife trafficking  and what you can do to make a difference.

1. Between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 African elephants were killed out of a population of fewer than 500,000.

Approximately 470,000 African elephants are currently alive worldwide, making the species officially "vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. It's estimated that 96 African elephants are killed every day for their ivory  that's one elephant death every 15 minutes.

African elephants are vital to the environments in which they live, notably responsible for the dispersal and germination of up to 30% of tree species in Central African forests. But they're poached for their large ivory tusks, making ivory poaching one of the most noted examples of wildlife trafficking.

Though many countries, including the U.S., have recently taken radical steps to curb the practice, African elephants still need attention and support from the global conservation community.

How you can help: You're probably removed from the habitats in which African elephants thrive, but you do have the ability to support these animals and the environment by supporting organizations addressing the issue of elephant poaching.

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The World Wildlife Fund is a leader in animal conservation, along with elephant-specific organizations like Save the Elephants and the International Elephant Foundation.

You can also stay updated on the latest efforts to curb wildlife crime, and advocate for greater global legal protections, by visiting here.

2. The illegal trade of wildlife is worth $15 to $20 billion annually.

That's a massive number with hefty implications. Wildlife trafficking  ranging from African elephant ivory to tiger skin and bones  is one of the largest illegal trades in the world, on par with the trafficking of drugs, arms and humans.

The trading of vulnerable wildlife is unsustainable and dangerous, causing imbalances in global ecosystems and threatening biodiversity by throwing valuable and irreplaceable species into decline.

How you can help: Support efforts to dismantle illegal wildlife trade. Campaigns like Stop Wildlife Crime and organizations such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare are working to increase awareness of wildlife crime, but are also taking practical steps to strengthen national and global conservation laws.

Aside from supporting their efforts, you can also become an advocate on your own time. To learn more about the ins-and-outs of wildlife trafficking, find a good primer on the issue here.

3. Chimpanzees are now completely extinct in Gambia, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

Chimpanzees used to flourish in these African nations, and now the globally endangered animals are nearing extinction in many other countries, too.

Chimpanzees are essential to the biodiversity of Central African forests, acting as essential seed and pollen dispersers. However, only an estimated 173,000 to 300,000 chimpanzees exist worldwide, with only five nations housing significant populations.

Poaching, disease and habitat loss are the main culprits. Some advocates claim chimpanzees could disappear in 15 years if we don't take action.

How you can help: Give to those who are supporting chimpanzee populations around the world. You can give specifically to chimpanzee-related work via the World Wildlife Fund here, or give to dedicated organizations like the Jane Goodall Institute, which focuses specifically on the needs of chimps.

You should also shift your buying habits. When purchasing wood and paper, for example, make sure you aren't buying products that contribute to the habitat loss of chimpanzees and other Central African forest creatures. Find more information here.

4. People associated with illegal wildlife trade have killed 1,000 park rangers over the last decade.

When it comes to wildlife trafficking, park rangers don't just play an important role in curbing the practice  they're also threatened by the illegal trade. While protecting vulnerable wildlife populations through surveillance of poaching hotspots, rangers are often in harm's way.

According to the latest estimates, one park ranger is murdered every four days in trafficking-related killings. In 2014, the majority of trafficking-related park ranger fatalities took place in Asia, with the majority of those deaths occurring in India.

While countries around the globe have taken measures to protect rangers, it's still a wildly dangerous job to be on the front lines of conservation work.

How you can help: Supporting park rangers means supporting what they're working toward  the conservation of vulnerable wildlife populations.

Campaigns like Stop Wildlife Crime and organizations such as 96 Elephants work to support park rangers, taking steps to strengthen protections for both rangers and the animals they serve.

5. Pangolins are the most illegally trafficked animal in the world.

Pangolins, sometimes referred to as "scaly anteaters," are widely trafficked because their meat is considered a delicacy in various regions. Their scales are also used in some traditional medicines to treat a range of ailments, such as asthma and arthritis. But the plight of pangolins doesn't end with poaching  the animals also suffer severe habitat loss.

Both trafficking and environmental turmoil have left the animals critically endangered. Based on reported seizures between 2011 and 2013, an estimated 117,000 to 233,000 pangolins were killed by poachers throughout the three-year period.

How you can help: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has a specific group of specialists working to help the at-risk pangolin. To donate to its efforts, visit here. To find more groups doing pangolin-related conservation work, visit here.

Another simple way to support pangolins: Simply bring up the animals plight in conversations around wildlife trafficking. The most illegally trafficked animal globally is often overlooked  and you can have a role in making its hardship known.

6. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing accounts for an estimated 11-26 million metric tons of fish each year.

That massive amount of fish is worth between $10 billion and $23 billion per year.

Overfishing has devastating effects on the environment and global economy, leading to a depletion of fish populations, price increases in the market and the loss of livelihood for fishermen engaged in legal fishing practices.

Due to illegal and unregulated fishing, global fish populations have become severely threatened  which is a major cause for concern. Fish are a basic source of protein for nearly 3 billion people around the world. Threatening their populations not only threatens ocean biodiversity and health, but also the livelihood of global communities that rely on fish as nourishment.

How you can help: Support organizations working to eliminate illegal fishing, like the World Wildlife Fund, Oceana or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

But also take it a step further by keeping tabs on your own fish consumption. Start with this smart seafood resource, and then go global with these international resources.

To learn more about the complex issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, visit here.
By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) - When Fumiko Kasai returned to work a decade ago she found Japan's job market was very different to the one she had left in the 1980s to raise her four children.

Kasai, who had enjoyed a well-paid full-time job with a car firm before giving up work when she married, is now a temporary worker at a butcher's. Earning 200,000 yen ($1,835) a month, her hourly pay is around half that of a full-time worker doing the same job.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put tackling Japan's labor inequality at the center of his policy agenda as the number of temporary workers hits a record high, posing a challenge to his "Abenomics" stimulus package ahead of a summer election.

"At first I saw nothing strange about a housewife doing a low-paid part-time job," 59-year-old Kasai said.

"But no matter how hard I worked, my salary would not rise much even as I bear the responsibility as a team leader. I don't want employers to treat temporary workers as cheap labor force for the sake of cutting personnel costs."

With part-time and temporary workers now making up about 40 percent of the labor force, Abe vows to adopt an "equal pay for equal work" scheme, forcing firms to pay the same wage for workers doing the same job.

Abe is counting on the plan - a centerpiece of a mid-year raft of policy announcements - to boost flagging consumption and win votes ahead of a July upper house election.

The move follows his decision to delay a scheduled sales tax hike by two-and-a-half years, putting his plans for fiscal reform on the back burner amid stubborn weakness in the economy.

But the plan could backfire on Japanese firms by pushing up labor costs and squeezing profits, analysts say. It also faces resistance from the businesses who would have to implement it.

"It will be a step forward towards fixing a labor gap," said Yuriko Kinoshita, a member of the Seikyo Roren representing co-op workers. "But it's hard to carry it out without support from the management and understanding from regular employees who worry about pay cuts in the name of equal pay for equal work."

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Sadayuki Sakakibara, head of Japan's biggest business lobby Keidanren, has said he would support Abe's plan, but added: "We must consider Japan's own pay system and job practice, rather than just promising the same pay for the same job."

In the Reuters Corporate Survey earlier this year only 9 percent of Japanese firms described the plan as realistic.

LOST DECADES

Structural reform to boost consumption and revive growth is one of the "three arrows" of Abenomics - aimed at reviving the economy after two so-called lost decades of torpor and deflation - alongside fiscal stimulus and massive monetary easing.

But Abe has so far struggled to push labor reforms that would make it easier for companies to hire and fire, due in part to opposition from unions representing full-time employees.

Meanwhile, the gap has been growing between "regular" and "non-regular" workers. The former are full-time employees with permanent contracts and pay scales based on seniority; the latter are temps, part-timers and short-term contract workers with more precarious jobs.

Before Japan's bubble burst in the early 1990s, 80 percent of workers were full-time employees with job security, and most felt middle class. Last year, the share of non-regular workers in the labor force hit a record 37.5 percent.

Suzuka Watanabe, 53, a temporary store manager at a grocery, said her pay was about 60 percent of regular workers in the same job. Watanabe took up the job three years ago when her husband died and she had to raise their teenage son by herself.

"I agree there needs to be a system in which part-timers work for a short time and flexibly," Watanabe said. "But that doesn't mean part-timers should put up with lower hourly pay than full-time workers if they do the same job with the same responsibilities."

Masaki Kuwahara, senior economist at Nomura Securities, said Japan needed to make more use of women and older workers given its dwindling labor force.

"However, it will be difficult to implement such a policy anytime soon and the hurdle is high if you attempt to force it under Japan's traditional labor system, which is based on the lifetime employment and seniority-based wage system," he said.

CHEAP LABOR FORCE

Overall employees' annual pay stood at 4.15 million yen as of 2014, having peaked at 4.67 million yen in 1997, reflecting a steady decline in the number of well-paid full-time workers, government data shows.

Hourly wages for part-timers stand at 56.8 percent of those for full-time workers, excluding benefits.

In France, by comparison, the ratio is 89 percent, while in Germany it is 79 percent and in Britain and Italy about 70 percent, according to data from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, a semi-governmental institution.

The government aims to bring the wage differential between regular and non-regular workers to the same levels as in Europe.

"Labor inequality is becoming a serious problem even as companies are raising record profits," Masahiko Shibayama, special adviser to the premier, told Reuters. "To boost consumption, we must improve treatment of non-regular workers."

Fusako Hirasawa, a single mother of a seven-year-old girl, earns 150,000 yen-a-month as a temporary worker delivering door-to-door food and groceries near Tokyo five days a week, about 70 percent of what regular employees make.

"It's quite common nowadays for women to work regardless of being married or a single mother, so I hope companies treat workers more equally," she said.

($1 = 108.9800 yen)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; with additional reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Approximately 5,000 people were evacuated, and three buildings damaged or destroyed, after a 500-acre fire was sparked in Calabasas, California, on Saturday, authorities said.



However, no injuries have been reported, deputy Mike Baraza, a Los Angeles sheriff's spokesman, tells PEOPLE.



The 516-acre blaze, named "Old Fire," has been 30 percent contained, according to the latest Sunday morning update from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.



According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the fire was sparked Saturday afternoon  about 4:15 p.m. local time on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas  after, witnesses said, a pickup truck drove into a power pole, knocking the transformer to the ground and causing it to explode.







One "commercial-type" building was destroyed in the fire while two residences took minor damage, according to the fire department. Calabasas residents were set to return to their homes at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, according to the fire department, though an evacuation for nearby Topanga remained in effect.



Likely lost in the flames was much of the land used by a new summer camp opening out of the Mountains Restoration Trust, according to the Los Angeles Times: Camp Wildcraft owner Shari Davis told the paper, "I am kind of in despair at the moment."



"It looks like the whole area could be destroyed," she said.



"This was the first camp we were starting and everything was going so well with so much excitement and enthusiasm," she said. "We need to figure out a way to move ahead."



Calabasas, a tony western suburb of Los Angeles, is also home to several celebrities, some of whom shared their real-time experiences with the fire on social media.



Three members of the Kardashian-Jenner family took to Snapchat to document the blaze. Kendall Jenner shared a photo of the encroaching plumes of smoke, while younger sister Kylie Jenner wondered, "Am I going to have to evacuate?"





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'Am I Going to Have to Evacuate?': Kardashian-Jenners React to Blazing 500-Acre Fire in Calabasas| Real People Stories, Ellen DeGeneres, Kendall Jenner, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner

'Am I Going to Have to Evacuate?': Kardashian-Jenners React to Blazing 500-Acre Fire in Calabasas| Real People Stories, Ellen DeGeneres, Kendall Jenner, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner

'Am I Going to Have to Evacuate?': Kardashian-Jenners React to Blazing 500-Acre Fire in Calabasas| Real People Stories, Ellen DeGeneres, Kendall Jenner, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner





Not to worry, big sister Khloe Kardashian replied, via her own Snap: "No, Kylie, you won't have to evacuate, because it's closer to my house than yours, sadly, so let's pray nobody has to evacuate."









(Judging by their social media silence from there on, it appears all three were safe.)



Meanwhile, Ellen Degeneres took to Twitter to share the experience of someone else: Her brother-in-law Michael, a rescue worker at the scene of the fire.





Sending thanks to Portia's brother Michael & all the rescue workers on the scene of this dangerous fire in Calabasas pic.twitter.com/RZlAXzPWg0 a Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) June 5, 2016





"Sending thanks to Portia's brother Michael & all the rescue workers on the scene of this dangerous fire in Calabasas," she tweeted.
By Zainullah Stanekzai and Josh Smith LASHKAR GAH/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A veteran American photojournalist and a translator working for NPR were killed while accompanying Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, NPR and military officials said. NPR's David Gilkey and Afghan translator Zabihullah Tamanna were in an Afghan army Humvee traveling between the provincial capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, and Marjah, when their vehicle was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, Shakil Ahmad Tasal, a spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps told Reuters. The attack occurred around 2:30 p.m. local time and also killed the vehicle's driver, an army soldier, Tasal said. The pair were traveling on assignment with fellow NPR employees Tom Bowman and Monika Evstatieva, who were both unharmed, according to a statement from NPR. Gilkey was an award-winning veteran of covering Afghanistan and other conflict zones. "David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. He was devoted to helping the public see these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing that commitment," Michael Oreskes, NPR's Senior Vice President of News and Editorial Director, said in a statement. The road between Marjah and Lashkar Gah had only recently been reopened by security forces after heavy fighting in the area. The details of the attack and the journalists' deaths were confirmed by the 205th Corps commander, General Mohammed Amin. Helmand has been the scene of deadly fighting between Taliban insurgents and NATO-backed government troops. Afghanistan is among the most dangerous countries for media, with at least 27 journalists killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In January at least seven employees of a major Afghan TV station died in a suicide attack in Kabul, while the last foreign journalist killed in the country was Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was shot to death by an Afghan policeman while covering the elections in 2014. (Editing by Mary Milliken)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain's coast guard has arrested eight people who were trying to escape to Iran by boat, state news agency BNA reported on late on Saturday. Bahrain's official agency said two other men it described as "fugitives" had organized the escape from Iran. The eight men had already been convicted - in absentia - and sentenced to between 10 to 15 years in prison, BNA said. Six prisoners reported to have escaped from a Bahraini prison on Friday were not among the detainees, as the list of names for both groups of men published by BNA did not match. A total of 17 people convicted on unspecified charges had escaped Bahrain's Dry Dock Detention Center on Friday, but 11 were recaptured. Thousands of mainly Shi'ite Muslim Bahrainis are in jail on charges ranging from participating in anti-government protests to armed attacks on security forces in the Western-allied Gulf kingdom, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based. Bahrain was rocked in 2011 by Arab Spring-style mass protests staged mainly by the Shi'ite community demanding political and economic reforms, including a bigger share in running the country. (Reporting By Noah Browning. Editing by Jane Merriman)
By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - The wife of a senior Bangladeshi police official known for battling Islamist militants was stabbed and shot to death on Sunday, and machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident. Both attacks appeared to be the work of Islamist militants who have killed at least 30 people, including religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics, since February last year, police said. Three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, while she was on her way to put her son onto a school bus near her home in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said. "She was stabbed first. Then they shot her in the head three times," Humayan Kabir, deputy police commissioner of Chittagong, told Reuters. Her husband, police superintendent Babul Aktar, has played an important role in cracking down on militants in the region. Babul Aktar is an efficient police officer and played a key role in apprehending Islamists. They might have killed his wife because they failed to get him, Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters. Aktar, who was recently posted to police headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, busted several hideouts of the banned group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. His team also arrested one of the group's leaders, who was later killed in a grenade blast during a police raid in October. The government has launched a crackdown on militant groups who want to impose strict Islamic law on Bangladesh, whose population of 160 million are mostly moderate Muslims. In Sunday's other killing, Sunil Gomes, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, was hacked to death in his shop in the northern district of Natore, local police official Manirul Islam said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing Gomes, according to the U.S.-based monitoring service SITE. Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many killings in the past but the government denies either group has a presence in Bangladesh and says home-grown radicals are responsible. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told Reuters in an interview last month that Islamic State was trying to ride a wave of religious radicalization by falsely claiming killings, and said there was enough evidence implicating domestic militant groups. (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - While some world leaders have trumpeted support for Britain to stay in the European Union in this month's referendum, China has kept a low profile. But with an important stake in the economic consequences, Beijing also quietly wants the "remain" camp to win. Relations between Britain and China have been warming over the past few years, and economic links have multiplied in tandem. China has, for example, looked to London for help in developing its financial markets and regulation, and Britain has sought Chinese investment in fields such as power and high-speed rail. "Of course, if you are investing in Britain as a way into the European market, using Britain as a bridge into the EU's 27 other nations, then once Britain leaves the EU, that bridgehead will be curtailed," Yao Ling, deputy director of a research center under the Commerce Ministry, said in a ministry-run newspaper in May. Diplomatic sources say China has given coded support for the "remain" camp by calling for a strong, united Europe - something President Xi Jinping told British Prime Minister David Cameron in October, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated last month. "This is China getting the message out indirectly that it wants Britain to stay in the EU," said one Beijing-based Western diplomat, citing conversations with Chinese officials. And for the avoidance of doubt, Chinese state-run media have given broad coverage to the potential economic and financial consequences of a British exit, or "Brexit", with some questioning why Britain is putting such risks up for a vote. One Chinese financial news website, FX678.com, carried a cartoon last month showing a rocket called "British dreams" being waved away by the people of the EU, under the headline: "The Brexit referendum isn't a game. Are the people of Britain scared yet?" The website warned that leaving the bloc would hit British growth and the pound, while a lesser impact would "wash over the globe". BREXIT OPPORTUNITIES China has long avoided commenting on other nations' internal affairs lest it invite reciprocal interference in Chinese politics, and the media debate has also looked at the opportunities that could arise should Britain vote to quit on June 23. Last month's China Money magazine, published by the People's Bank of China, said it would leave Britain free to sign a free-trade deal directly with China, which could create opportunities for Chinese firms in Britain and vice versa. "China's vast market could satisfy the exports needs of Britain post-Brexit, and the countries' cooperation would broaden and deepen," the magazine wrote. Though China and Britain have a history of disputes over human rights and the future of former British colony Hong Kong, diplomats say export-reliant China values Britain as a strong advocate for free trade. Britain has been a prominent supporter of Beijing's in the EU regarding China's push for market economy status, which would make it easier for China to import into the bloc and defeat protectionist measures. "China would lose a big supporter of free trade in the EU if Britain were not there. China does not want a Europe dominated by France and Germany," said a second Beijing-based Western diplomat. Beijing is also worried about any weakening of the EU itself from losing its second-biggest economy and third most populous nation. Diplomats say it views the bloc as a vital counterbalance to the United States. One Chinese diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China expected British self-interest would ultimately deliver a win for the "remain" team, led by Cameron. "The British people, at the end of the day, will vote to remain as it's in their best interests. A vote to leave would likely end the United Kingdom, as Scotland inevitably would then vote for independence," the source said. (Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom)
bernie sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders is ramping up his attacks on Democratic presidential primary rival Hillary Clinton in the days before the final primary contests.

In a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union," host Jake Tapper asked Sanders whether it was ethical for the Clinton Foundation  an organization run by the Clintons and established to improve global health  to accept donations from governments that "don't represent" US values.

Sanders has mostly ignored the issue on the campaign trail. But on Sunday, he pounced.

"Do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars from foreign governments, governments which are dictatorships?" Sanders said. "You dont have a lot of civil liberties or democratic rights in Saudi Arabia. You dont have a lot of respect there for opposition points of view, for gay rights, for womens rights."

"Do I have a problem with that?" Sanders asked again. "Yes, I do."

Sanders also attempted to equate Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's judgment on foreign-policy issues. It came days after Clinton delivered a vociferous speech attacking Trump's views on national security, in what many observers say will be one of her strongest arguments against Trump.

Sanders reiterated that Clinton voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while Sanders opposed the war.

"Secretary Clintons temperament is not Donald Trumps. Thats for sure," Sanders said.

"But she and I  back in 2003, I was in the House she was in the Senate," he continued. "We all heard the evidence, the so-called evidence coming from Bush and Cheney about the need to go to war in Iraq. I studied that. I really did. I not only voted against the war in Iraq  I led the opposition to that war. She studied the same information. She supported that war."

For her part, Clinton has largely refrained from publicly criticizing Sanders after large victories in primary states like New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, instead turning her focus to her likely general-election opponent in Trump.

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In an interview with Tapper that also aired on Sunday, Clinton brushed off concerns that the Democratic primary was too contentious and pledged to attempt to unite the party against Trump.

"It's nothing like what we saw on the Republican side," Clinton said.

"And so after Tuesday, I'm going to do everything I can to reach out to try to unify the Democratic Party, and I expect Sen. Sanders to do the same. And we will come together and be prepared to go to the convention in a unified way to make our case, to leave the convention, to go into the general election to defeat Donald Trump.

Sanders' rhetorical jabs come as the senator's path to capturing the majority of pledged delegates in the remaining primary contests appears virtually impossible.

According to The New York Times delegate tracker, there are still 918 pledged delegates up for grabs. Following its primary on June 7, California will award 546 of the remaining delegates.

Most recent polls show the two Democratic candidates in a tight race in the Golden State, making it all but impossible for Sanders to close the pledged-delegate gap between himself and Clinton even if he pulls off a win in California.

As FiveThirtyEight has noted, strong showings in New Jersey and Puerto Rico could help the former secretary of state reach the combined number of pledged delegates and superdelegates needed to clinch the nomination before the polls close in California.

NOW WATCH: Here are all the big banks that paid Hillary Clinton for speeches in 2013





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Exclusive: Tackling issues like PTSD, the difficulty assimilating back into civilian life experienced by veterans, and good old fashioned psychological thriller, Blood Stripe has been making waves this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival where its June 2 premiere sold out and a second screening was added due to demand. The film follows a Sergeant just returned from her third tour in Afghanistan, struggling to readjust to life in her small Minnesota town. Wracked with PTSD and attendant anxiety, sleeplessness and paranoia, she flees to a nearby forest after having an explosive outburst during her homecoming party. There, she discovers a picturesque summer camp on a lakeshore, where she finds some solace until her own struggles and a new danger catch up with her. In the exclusive clip above, we see just how that plays out as she hides in terror from an unknown, seemingly threatening man.

The feature directorial debut of Remy Auberjonois, Blood Stripe stars Kate Nowlin (WGNs Outsiders, Young Adult), who co-wrote with Auberjonois. The film also stars Remys father Rene Auberjonois (Boston Legal, The Practice, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Julie Christeas and Schuyler Weiss produced the film, which is showing for the second time at LAFF on June 7.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCqLLuJeR7Q&w=970&h=546]

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By Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union without Britain would be financially poorer, less economically liberal and free-trading, less Atlanticist and less open to further enlargement. A British vote to leave the 28-nation EU in a referendum on June 23 would not only deal a severe blow to the union's self-confidence and international standing, amputating it of its second biggest economy and one of its two main military powers. It would also blow a hole in the EU's common budget and tilt the balance away from the open, competitive economy favoured by the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and central European states, towards protectionism and heavier regulation. Even committed European federalists acknowledge that Britain has made major contributions in opening up the community's internal market, promoting an outward-looking foreign policy and sharing a pragmatic, empirical administrative culture. "We would lose the intrinsic value of Great Britain - its global geopolitical vision, economic common sense and financial and legal know-how," said Sylvie Goulard, a French member of the European Parliament from the centrist liberal ALDE group. Supporters of a more deeply integrated political union centred on the 19-nation euro currency area would have no cause for rejoicing, since eurosceptics elsewhere would be emboldened to press for their own renegotiations and referendums. "The real risk is not (Britain) remaining in the EU, it is a leave vote, which could perpetuate the disintegration of the entire European Union," said former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. A keen federalist, he represented the European Parliament in negotiations between Prime Minister David Cameron and other EU leaders in February that led to a deal exempting Britain from the EU's treaty goal of "ever closer union". "Brexit would make the narrative of the EU about disintegration, not integration," researchers at the London-based Centre for European Reform said in a report entitled: "Europe after Brexit: unleashed or undone?" For one thing, much of the EU's time and energy would be consumed for the next two years or longer by wrangling over the terms of withdrawal and the UK's future relations with the bloc. Aside from that, the EU's historic Franco-German axis seems too weak to agree on any major strengthening of the euro zone, at least until after elections in both countries in 2017. "I don't think Europe can transform itself and make a bold leap forward in integration with the current cast of political characters. Perhaps with their successors," Goulard said. Unpopular French President Francois Hollande is in the last year of his term, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel is constrained by domestic resistance to an influx of refugees and to any more risk-sharing with southern euro zone countries. POWER DYNAMICS The power dynamics of European leadership would change if Britain quit. Germany would lose a counterweight to French economic dirigisme. France would lose its main partner in supporting EU military missions in Africa and elsewhere. Europe might be less inclined to stand up to Russia, or to work as closely with the United States. The EU would remain divided into a majority of countries which share the euro, and a minority that have not yet joined or have voted to stay out. But those non-euro countries - Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia - would have less clout without Britain's presence as the main financial centre outside the single currency area. Guntram Wolf, a German economist who heads the Bruegel economic think-tank in Brussels, said the Berlin establishment was in a funk, fearing that "we are left alone with all those Mediterranean spending countries with a preference for redistribution and we are going to pay for them and drift away from a liberal, pro-market, TTIP Europe. Thats the big angst." Among the headaches for the EU would be how to make up for Britain's contribution to the common European budget, most of which goes on subsidies to poorer regions and to farmers. The UK is the number three net contributor after Germany and France, paying in an average 9.23 billion euros a year more than it received from EU coffers in 2010-2014, according to the European Commission. It would continue to pay contributions for at least two years until it finally left. Britain's EU friends would lose a powerful ally on issues such as upholding free and unfettered competition, curbing state aid to industry, resisting tax harmonisation, and opposing barriers to trade with China and other emerging economies. A hub of EU-funded research and innovation would drift away. "I fear it would be a less open, liberal Europe without the Brits," said a Swedish diplomat. "That would make it harder for us to win the economic arguments." London was the biggest supporter of the EU's eastward enlargement to take in 12 mostly former Communist states in 2004 and 2007 - at least partly in the belief that a wider EU would slow centralisation. No country has fought harder for ambitious free trade pacts with the United States, Canada, Japan and other major economies. Without energetic British backing, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) under negotiation between Brussels and Washington is less likely to come to fruition. German and Austrian voters are reticent over data privacy and private arbitration courts, while the French are anxious over so-called "Frankenstein foods" - hormone-treated beef, chlorine-washed chicken and genetically modified crops. (Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Andrew Roche)
BERLIN (Reuters) - A British exit from the European Union would not end the idea of a unified Europe and should not be seen as a "horror scenario", European Parliament Vice President Alexander Lambsdorff said in a German radio interview. Lambsdorff, a German Liberal lawmaker, told the Deutschlandfunk station that he hoped British voters would decide to stay in the EU in a referendum on June 23. But he said the EU would survive, whatever the outcome. "A European Union without Germany or France is completely unimaginable, but we had a European Union without Britain at the very beginning," he said in an interview. "It won't be the end of 'Project Europe', as some are describing it." Group of Seven leaders and many others have warned that a British vote to leave the EU would be a serious risk to global economic growth. Lambsdorff said the EU would have to reform, no matter what happened. In a deal struck with fellow leaders in February, Prime Minister David Cameron won the right for Britain to opt out of the group's principle of "ever closer union" and for national parliaments, working in concert, to block some EU legislative proposals. If the UK left, EU rules would have to change to adjust the voting structure. In either event, Lambsdorff said, it would be critical to improve the organization's ability to act as one body, and might also make sense to have a two-tier European system with different members moving at different paces. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has already made its position clear about its foreign minister berating a Canadian journalist who asked a question about human rights, China's Foreign Ministry said, after Canada issued a complaint about the minister's behavior. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi lost his temper on Wednesday when pressed by a female reporter about human rights in China, saying the question was unacceptable and calling her arrogant and irresponsible. The incident occurred after a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, who raised the case of Kevin Garratt, a Canadian citizen charged with spying in China. On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had complained to China about Wang's behavior. China sought to draw a line under the incident in a short statement sent to Reuters late on Saturday in response to a question about Trudeau's complaint. "The Chinese side has already fully expressed our position on the relevant Canadian reporter asking a question," the ministry said, without elaborating. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last week, after the incident with Wang, that foreign media should ask themselves whether their reporting on human rights issues was objective, fair and accurately represented what was happening in China. "We welcome ever more media friends from all over the world to come and live and work in China, to use their eyes and souls to understand the development, changes and advances of the China of today," Hua said. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)
A car accident sparked a wildfire burning near Calabasas High School in Los Angeles County on Saturday afternoon, June 4. Three helicopters responded to the three-alarm fire, dubbed the Old Fire, with firefighters from Los Angeles County and the city of Calabasas on duty.

The fire started when a vehicle hit a pole, dropping live power lines onto the dry landscape, local media reported. Credit: Facebook/Oren Ovadia
donald trump

Donald Trump continued to dodge questions Sunday about whether he supports Japan obtaining nuclear weapons..

In an interview with CBS' "Face The Nation" that aired Sunday morning, host John Dickerson pressed Trump to answer whether he believed it was acceptable to walk away from the decades-old military alliance between the US and Japan, even if it meant the former would acquire nuclear weapons.

"It is a fair characterization of your view to say, if you walk and they get nuclear weapons, you said, you know  that'd be OK?" Dickerson asked.

"I didn't say get nuclear," Trump said, brushing aside previous comments to the contrary. "Maybe they will, maybe they won't."

Over the last several months, Trump has repeatedly suggested ending the decades-long strategic agreement between the US and Japan that allows the US military to maintain bases in the Japanese archipelago in exchange for American military protection in the case of an attack on Japan.

"Maybe they would be better off  including with nukes, yes, including with nukes," Trump said on "Fox News Sunday" in April.

In Sunday's interview with "Face The Nation," Trump insisted that the US needed to be "prepared to walk" from negotiations that Trump would initiate with Japan over the continued military alliance.

"At a certain point, you know Japan will, if they're not going to pay us what it's going to cost. The fact is, they are paying a small fraction of what it's costing. So is Germany, so is Saudi Arabia, so is South Korea. We are losing a fortune," Trump said.

Many critics have questioned Trump's suggestion that the US does not directly benefit from an alliance with Japan, pointing out that the alliance has kept the region from ratcheting up a military and arms race. As Foreign Policy has noted, most Americans are content with the state of the US-Japan relationship, though the relationship is less popular among Americans who identify as Republican.

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Trump has been a decades-long critic of the close economic and military relationship between the US and Japan.

The presumptive Republican nominee has repeatedly claimed that the Japanese  along with countries like Mexico, China, and South Korea  have unfairly benefited from globalization to America's detriment.

NOW WATCH: Jon Stewart broke his silence to call out 'man-baby' Trump and the medias 'corrupt' investment in his rise





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Dhaka (AFP) - A Christian was hacked to death after Sunday prayers near a church in northwest Bangladesh in an attack -- the latest in a series on religious minorities -- claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Police said unidentified attackers murdered the 65-year-old in the village of Bonpara, home to one of the oldest Christian communities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

"Sunil Gomes was hacked to death at his grocery store just near a church at Bonpara village," Shafiqul Islam, deputy police chief of Natore district that includes Bonpara, told AFP.

IS claimed responsibility for the murder through its Amaq news agency, according to the SITE monitoring group, saying it was "part of a series of operations" in Bangladesh.

The killing came just hours after the wife of a top anti-terror officer was brutally murdered in the southeastern city of Chittagong by suspected members of a banned local extremist group.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of murders of secular and liberal activists and religious minorities that have left more than 40 people dead in the last three years.

Authorities have blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, which have spiked in recent weeks, rejecting claims of responsibility from IS and a South Asia branch of Al-Qaeda.

Bangladesh's secular government accuses political rivals including the largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami of trying to destabilise the country. Experts say a government crackdown on opponents, including a ban on Jamaat following a protracted political crisis, has pushed many towards extremism.

An investigating officer, Inspector Abdur Razzak, said the motive for the latest killing was unclear, but it was similar to those of Hindus and members of other religious minorities in recent months.

- 'Innocent man' -

Father Bikash Hubert Rebeiro, from the Bonpara Catholic church, told AFP that Gomes, whose brother is a priest, used to work as a gardener at the church and was "known for his humility".

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"He attended Sunday prayers at my church and then went to his grocery store. The next thing we know he was hacked to death. I can't imagine how anyone can kill such an innocent man," Rebeiro said.

Hours before Gomes was killed, three unidentified men stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Begum in the head as she walked her son to a school bus stop near her home, said Chittagong deputy police commissioner Moktar Hossain.

Begum was the wife of Babul Akter, who led several high-profile operations against the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group in Chittagong in recent months.

"We suspect JMB or local Islamist extremists for the attack. Akter led successful anti-militant raids in Chittagong in which several JMB men were arrested," Hossain said.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the attack was revenge for Akter's role in tracking down militants.

"Babul Akter is a skilled and honest officer who played vital roles in combating militants. That's why they killed his wife as they could not find him," Khan told AFP.

A Hindu trader was hacked to death last week, days after a homoeopathic doctor was slaughtered along with a Buddhist monk.

IS on Sunday also claimed responsibility for the monks murder, with Amaq saying its fighters slaughtered him at a Buddhist temple in the remote southeast.

The group had previously claimed responsibility for the murder of the Hindu trader.

At least 10 people have been killed by suspected Islamist militants in the last ten weeks alone.

An Italian-born Catholic priest was shot and critically injured in the north last year -- an attack later claimed by IS. Unknown attackers also tried to slit the throat of a pastor in another northwestern town.
Hillary Clinton last month dusted off a long-standing proposal of hers to expand health care coverage by allowing uninsured people 55 and older to qualify for Medicare  the government health care program for the elderly.

Her proposal potentially could help nearly 13 million Americans below the age of 65 who are currently without insurance. It also provided the former secretary of state with a rejoinder to rival Sen. Bernie Sanders call for supplanting Obamacare with a European-style national health insurance program he called Medicare for All.

Related: Clinton Moves Towards Sanders on Medicare for All

Whether Clinton is serious about pursuing this proposal or putting it back on a dusty bookshelf after she finally prevails over Sanders in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination remains to be seen. Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have sharply differing views on health care issues  especially given Trumps call to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The looming bruising general election campaign between Clinton and Trump is likely to focus more on national security, trade, immigration, the economy, Clintons email woes and allegations that the defunct Trump University defrauded thousands of students than on the finer points of health care reform.

Clinton late last week denounced Trump as dangerous and unfit to lead the country, while Trump has labeled her Crooked Hillary and vows if elected president to seek her indictment for mishandling top-secret government emails.

But for now her idea is generating substantial buzz among health care experts and professionals, some of whom question whether it would be a panacea for millions of uninsured Americans or a bad fit for a health care system that has been revolutionized by the Affordable Care Act.

Related: How Obamacare Could Backfire on Hillary Clinton

Margo Sanger-Katz, writing last week in The New York Times, noted that much has changed since the passage of the 2010 Obamacare legislation -- leading health policy experts to wonder whether a Medicare buy-in would be a welcome new option, or a confounding misfit.

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Creating a completely new tier of younger beneficiaries in the half-century old health insurance program for seniors would have a major ripple effect on the existing Obamacare insurance markets. For instance, Sanger-Katz wrote, it would require significant adjustments to the Obamacare markets for calculating and awarding federal subsidies, and it could risk destabilizing those markets.

Other experts agree. If you went forward with this, I think there are more questions than there are answers, Joseph Antos, a health care expert for the American Enterprise Institute, said in an interview on Friday.

The Clinton campaign has yet to release specific details of her plan, although she has offered a number of other proposals to increase the availability of heath care, reduce premiums and out of pocket expenses and rein in the cost of prescription drugs. Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president of the health care consulting firm Avalere Health was the first to raise serious doubts about the feasibility of Clintons Medicare expansion plan when viewed within the context of the Affordable Care Act and other federal regulations.

Related: Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017

Pearson warned in an analysis that although traditional, fee-for-service Medicare tends to offer broader access to physicians than many other plans, Costs to beneficiaries may be higher than other coverage options, including plans purchased through the federal or state insurance exchanges.

According to Avalere, some people who currently purchase their coverage on the Obamacare exchanges but then move to an expanded Medicare program would "have higher costs and more benefit limits" than their existing health plans "because of the unusual structure of the Medicare fee-for-service program."

While Medicare is widely popular among Americans, Avalere experts say it is not immediately evident that Medicare coverage would be a better option for all people over 50, Pearson wrote.

A Medicare buy-in potentially could work, Pearson said, but it wouldnt be an easy fit with existing federal health insurance policies. Its an approach that is somewhat inconsistent with the Affordable Care Act, she said.

Related: Legal Experts Alarmed by Trumps Assault on Justice System

Antos is even more skeptical of Clintons plan, questioning whether it was designed more as a political fig leaf to placate liberals than a practical solution to expanding health care coverage. Whats more, he said, an expanded Medicare program would attract primarily the sickest and most costly patients, greatly adding to Medicares cost burden and possibly forcing a reduction in benefits for traditional Medicare beneficiaries.

If Clinton and other Democrats are eager to expand health insurance coverage, Antos said, they would be better off finding ways to increase funding for Obamacare subsidies than creating a whole new Medicare program.

Why not just cut through the baloney and admit that your problem is that you are not putting enough subsidy into the exchange plans? Antos said. So put money into the exchange plans. That would be the simple, undoubtedly non-politically attractive way to do it. But it really is a matter of money.



Clinton, the former first lady and long-time advocate of national health care reform, has been unflinching in her support of the Affordable Care act and has dismissed Sanderss call for a new single-payer national program that would guarantee all Americans health care.

Related: How Obamacare Could Backfire on Hillary Clinton

Clinton has argued that Sanders proposal is too costly and impractical  claims that prompted many of her liberal critics to charge she was a status-quo politician incapable of thinking outside of the box. But on May 9, as criticism grew, Clinton suggested during a campaign stop in Virginia that she would be open to allowing some people under the age of 65 to buy into Medicare as an alternative to Obamacare or employer-provided coverage.

The highly popular Medicare program provides comprehensive hospitalization, physician care and drugs to virtually all seniors 65 and older. Seniors are obliged to pay premiums to receive health care coverage, but a substantial portion of the cost is picked up by the federal government.

However, Medicare has its shortcomings. Unlike those covered by Obamacare, Medicare patients are asked to pay unlimited out-of-pocket costs. They may also be asked to pay a daily fee when they are hospitalized, and must pay 20 percent of the cost of a doctors visit.

Many seniors are forced to purchase supplemental health insurance  so-called Medigap policies  to cover those onerous added costs.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Les Gets (France) (AFP) - Alberto Contador laid down a Tour de France marker by storming to victory on Sunday's opening prologue of the Criterium du Dauphine.

Two-time Tour winner Contador set a stunning time of 11min 36sec in the 3.9km uphill time-trial to win by six seconds from Australian Richie Porte.

But perhaps more importantly, the 33-year-old Spaniard beat reigning Tour champion Chris Froome into third by 13sec.

Contador, who has never won this race before, suggested on the eve of the Dauphine that he was unsure of his form and was more interested in improving his physical condition than eyeing overall victory.

"It's a bit of a surprise to beat Froome and Porte but I knew that I could do well. I didn't think that I could win," said Contador.

Yet he mastered the tough prologue course which, although short, at a 9.7 percent average gradient was as tough as any climb the riders will face on the race this year and a useful gauge to who has the best climbing legs a month out from the start of the Tour.

Froome, who won the Dauphine in both 2013 and last year -- the same years he won the Tour -- set the early pace with a time of 11:49 having decided to go out early over concerns it might rain later in the afternoon.

"It was tough. I was running out of legs," he said before Contador and Porte had finished.

"I'm happy with that. Just the feeling makes me happy. I feel like I'm in good shape now.

"I still have some work to do and I hope to keep the momentum till the Tour de France."

Starting in the final five riders, Tinkoff's Contador set an incredible pace and took the lead before Froome was also beaten by his former Sky team-mate Porte, now with BMC.

It was, by contrast, a miserable day for several potential Dauphine winners and Tour challengers with Italy's Vuelta a Espana champion Fabio Aru finishing 36th at 1:08 and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot 17th at 52sec, both well off the pace.

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Contador has not won the Tour since 2009 -- he was stripped of his 2010 victory after failing a doping test -- and last year finished a disappointing fifth.

His best result in the Dauphine was second in 2010 and 2014 but while last year he arrived at the Tour following a victory in the Giro d'Italia, this year he has been 100 percent focussed on the Grand Boucle.

He had not raced since winning the Tour of the Basque Country two months ago.

Before that he had been in fine form, finishing second at the the Tour of Catalonia and Paris-Nice, as well as third at the Tour of the Algarve -- the latter two won by Froome's Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas while Nairo Quintana triumphed in Catalonia.

Froome has not raced since a disastrous Tour de Romandie in April where a puncture on the second stage left him well out of contention, although he did fight back to win the penultimate stage.

Quintana has been in good form, winning the tours of Catalonia and Romandie while finishing third in the Basque Country and Tour de San Luis.

He is skipping the two traditional Tour de France warm-up events -- the Dauphine and Tour of Switzerland -- to concentrate on altitude training.


Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Here's a wild guess--Jennifer Lawrence's Memorial Day weekend was way cooler than all of ours taken together? That is unless you jetted off to Tuscany, Italy, to attend your best friend's wedding where you hung out with Aziz Ansari. What's that? No. We thought so.

RELATED:All the Details About the Duke of Wellington's Daughter's Lavish Wedding (and Her Green Shoes!)

According to People, The Hunger Games actress flew in just for the big day (#BFFGoals, for sure) of her longtime pal Laura Simpson and was among 25 other guests in the majestic Borgo Stomennano Hotel in Tuscany. Lawrence looked absolutely beautiful in a lilac slip dress that she actually wore on The Tonight Show the same week. That, of course, makes us love J. Law even more, because, admit it, you stopped buying dresses to wear to your friends' weddings after you attended three in one summer.

RELATED: See Victoria Beckham Help Eva Longoria Get Dressed on Her Wedding Day



Credit: Theo Wargo

People also reports that another friend of Lawrence was there--Aziz Ansari who was accompanied by his brother. The actress's Winter Bones costar, Lauren Sweetser, was among the guests as well.

So this wedding definitely sounds like it was A LOT of fun.
The authors are professors at Dartmouth College and Public Voices fellows with the OpEd Project.

The dramatic rise in the use of opioids and associated deaths has created a new sense of urgency nationwide, and with it, widespread bipartisan support among legislators (who otherwise can barely agree that the sky is blue) for measures to address the problem. Yet every day it becomes clearer that legislation alone cannot stem the tide. Although opioids are the current villains in the long history of abused substances, the underlying problem is not a particular drug. It is addiction itself.

But how to tackle it?

Here in New Hampshire, where drug deaths are now at an all-time high, a remarkable program is achieving palpable results. Telling My Story is the 20-year-old brainchild of the amazingly energetic Chilean activist and artist Pati Hernandez. The venues change  from rehab facilities to jails  but the story is the same. Every week for two months, patients in rehab facilities or inmates in local jails come together with students at Dartmouth College and work toward a public presentation. These collaborations, staged at the end of each cycle, use theater, music and dance to bridge the chasm and build commonality between the haves and the have-nots. The performances also wrestle with the social isolation and hopelessness that often accompany addiction.

A final performance typically opens by staging fictionalized episodes in the lives of addicts. It can be difficult in these short, sometimes humorous skits to parse recovering addicts from Ivy League students. Interspersed among the performances are moving personal testimonies. Though the gaps in privilege between students and addicts remain, it is clear that the empathy that develops between the two groups is empowering for both.

Students who have entered the program wanting to help, with that words connotations of superiority, leave wanting to collaborate, recognizing how alike we all are under the skin. For patients and inmates, a wide gap remains between them and the students, who can walk out of the facility each night free from condemnatory labels. But for many, the ability to share their experiences publicly under the protection that role-playing affords allows them to make connections  with both other performers and a sympathetic audience. Its an important step toward replacing addiction with the rewards of a meaningful social network.

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Their work stands as a testament to the power of art to build bridges, and in doing so points to what may be a crucial tool against addiction. It remains one of our societys most entrenched medical problems. Consider one of our oldest addictions: alcohol. Excessive drinking was characterized as a disease over two millennia ago by the Roman medical writer Celsus. If only the picture had changed since then. It has not. In 2013, 7 percent of adults 18 years or older had an alcohol-use disorder. That translates to nearly 17 million people, and approximately 1.3 million of them required treatment at a specialized facility that year.

With the right support, the act of abstaining might substitute for the drug and become the reward itself.

A wealth of information on the genetics and neurobiology of addiction has underscored that the cause of addictions like alcoholism cannot easily be traced to a gene or molecule, despite some high-profile recent commentaries that simplistically suggest this may be so. Rather, we now know that biological and genetic predispositions interact with the environment to make some individuals more susceptible to addiction than others. It is the addition of so many complex cultural and social factors that makes addiction resistant to the quick fix of a pill or a shot.

Yet this awareness may also provide an avenue to address addiction. We know that part of the process of addiction involves learning, changing the processing in the parts of our brains that drive motivation and our sense of reward. But the neural systems involved are malleable, suggesting that environmental factors could also be manipulated to rewire them. With the right support, the act of abstaining might substitute for the drug and become the reward itself. Which is where programs like Telling My Story come in. Programs like this offer something that may be just as important as other forms of treatment: a way for diverse groups to see and feel beyond their differences, to combat the disabling stigma of addiction and to build a supportive community for sufferers.

Indeed, the healing power of the arts for those with addictions, and those who care for them, has received national recognition through programs such as the National Institutes of Healths Addiction Performance Project. Dramatization offers addicts and their families an avenue to make sense of the world through imagination  exploring lives that may be at several removes from theirs but that still echo something of their own lived reality. In engaging within the safety of fictional people, this program builds the empathy, sympathy and mindfulness that have come to the fore in both the scientific and popular press as a promising cognitive behavioral approach to address addiction.

As states across the country consider legislation to address each new epidemic of addiction  whether to opiates, crack, oxy or alcohol  and the ranks of three-strike minor offenders crush our prison systems, we need all the resources at our command to address a problem that, in one way or another, belongs to all of us. Though it will likely not replace the solutions to be found in clinics and laboratories, Telling My Story points compellingly to another, perhaps unexpected, place where support is to be found: in the theater and the arts.

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Watford (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Mixing spices in a searing hot pan, cooking naan in the tandoor oven and juggling takeaway orders, restaurant owner Saiful Alam is short-staffed and stressed -- a situation he hopes Brexit will improve.

Like many of those running Britain's 12,000 curry houses, the Bangladeshi chef is struggling to find suitable staff as new immigration rules have made it harder to hire people from Bangladesh and India.

The issue has taken on political heat ahead of the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, after the Vote Leave campaign claimed that the problem was the fault of uncontrolled EU migration pushing up numbers of arrivals.

It said that a so-called Brexit would herald a "fairer" immigration system that treats EU and non-EU workers, particularly from former colonies in the Commonwealth with family ties to Britain, equally.

The argument resonates with Alam as he puts together dishes on his own in the kitchen of the Prince of Bengal, a modest restaurant in Watford, north of London, after his new Romanian cook failed to turn up for work.

Alam has some British staff and eastern European employees, but complains to AFP about "the language barrier and the experience -- they're not familiar with the food, the cooking, the spices".

The Bangladesh Caterers Association, an industry body, claims four to five curry houses a week are closing in Britain because of a shortage of staff.

Vote Leave campaigner Priti Patel, a government minister, last month launched a "Save Our Curry Houses" campaign, blaming EU migration for the industry crisis.

With up to one million Commonwealth residents of Britain eligible to vote in the referendum, other "Leave" campaigners have also emphasised the potential to improve ties with those countries outside the EU.

"I want stronger relationships with the Commonwealth in terms of trade and I want an immigration system that doesn't discriminate against them in favour of people from southern and eastern Europe," UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage told AFP.

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While the UKIP and Vote Leave message resonates with some ethnic minority voters, research suggests that they are generally in favour of staying in the EU.

Pro-EU Labour lawmaker Keith Vaz said Vote Leave was making EU migrants a "scapegoat" for more complex problems in the curry industry, saying it was trying to "play people off against each other".

James McGrory, chief spokesman for the official "Remain" campaign, said the initiative was "a smokescreen to try and hoodwink people into voting for them".

"They do not have the interests of people from the Indian subcontinent at heart," he said.

- 'Pale and stale' -

Data from the British Election Study, which interviewed 22,000 voters up to May 4, found opinion among white voters is finely balanced on the EU but ethnic minority voters trended towards a "Remain" vote by two to one.

However, they are traditionally less likely to vote -- a situation that neither side has truly engaged with so far, according to Ashok Viswanathan, operations manager of Operation Black Vote.

OBV is a non-partisan group that works to increase engagement of black and ethnic minority groups in politics.

It faced its own criticism for a voter registration poster showing a woman in a sari on a see-saw with a skinhead pointing angrily at her, under the headline: "A vote is a vote".

Farage condemned the poster, developed by advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, as "divisive".

Viswanathan denied this but said it was intended to "provoke a debate that's not been happening".

"The whole political discourse of the EU referendum debate has been white, pale and stale," he told AFP.
As German Green Party co-chair Cem Ozdemir put it, there is never a favorable time to speak about something as dreadful as genocide. True. But there can still be counterproductive times.

On June 2, the German parliament officially recognized the Armenian genocide. In other circumstances, this might have been a healthy development: Germany, because of its own troubled past, could have played a unique role in pushing Turkey to reckon with a dark chapter in its history. Instead, by passing what certainly appears to be a politically motivated resolution on the subject at a particularly tense moment in Turkish-German relations, the Bundestag has played into the hands of Turkish genocide denialists, confirming their belief that the accusations are inspired by anti-Turkish politics rather than historical truth.

Its understandable why some in Germany may have felt a desire to take a swipe at Turkey. Between the slow-motion unraveling of the Turkish-EU refugee deal signed in March, and widespread accusations that Chancellor Angela Merkel has betrayed European values in order to appease an increasingly autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, relations between the two countries of late have become strained. The parliamentary genocide resolution has been presented by observers as either an effort to stand up to Turkey or, alternatively, to appear to be standing up to Turkey for domestic purposes. It is impossible to look inside the heads of those who voted for this resolution and know their motivations; most undoubtedly believed in the substance, and some have argued that, in delaying a vote on the resolution, originally scheduled for April, in deference to Turkey, Merkel actually made its timing appear more suspect. Yet as with the appearance of partiality in the law, the strong suggestion of an ulterior motive here is enough to undermine the whole enterprise.

To insist, as most people in Turkey do, that the events of 1915 were not a genocide requires a set of historical arguments about what exactly happened. But it also requires a political argument about why, today, so many people outside Turkey insist that it was. Thus, many Turks argue that Western genocide accusations, and particularly genocide resolutions of the type recently passed in Germany, are simply a stick that hostile powers use to beat Turkey when needed.

Indeed, it has not been forgotten that, before the term genocide even existed, the Ottoman governments murderous treatment of the Armenians was used to justify European imperial powers occupation of Anatolia after the Ottoman Empires defeat in World War I. Today, arguments about the anti-Turkish motives of foreign genocide recognition often veer into the conspiratorial. But when Western countries lend these arguments a degree of plausibility by seeming to use genocide recognition for political ends, they inadvertently help mask the profound implausibility of Turkish historical arguments about what actually happened in 1915.

In criticizing Germanys parliamentary resolution, Turkish politicians have been quick to portray it as politically motived. Turkeys new prime minister, Binali Yildirim, stated We know that those trying to blame Turkey for this are not well-intentioned. To use this as a political tool, or in political calculations would be a mistake. Ibrahim Kalin, an advisor to President Erdogan, struck a similar note, suggesting the bill was an effort to put pressure on Turkey using the 1915 events as an excuse.

Governments, of course, will always be in the business of legislating history, whether in the form of school textbooks or public monuments. Turkey, certainly, has often fallen back on the line that historians, not politicians, should decide  conveniently obscuring the fact that, on this issue, historians have almost all decided. Still, when governments approach history in a manner that comes off as too cynically political, their efforts tend to backfire, both as history and as politics.

In the end, this resolution is unlikely to convince anyone in Turkey to rethink their view of history, or for that matter, significantly alter Turkish-German relations. The economic importance of Turkish-German trade ties will provide a particular incentive for Turkey not to overreact, allowing the two countries to get back to arguing about the same things they were before  refugees, freedom of speech, and visa liberalization for Turks traveling to Europe. In the past, when other countries have passed similar resolutions, Turkey has initially made a show of threatening boycotts and withdrawing its ambassador, before quietly letting the matter drop.

In response to previous genocide resolutions, Turkey has also been quick to launch reciprocal genocide accusations of its own. When France passed a bill on the subject in 2011, Erdogan responded by accusing France of committing genocide in Algeria. And whenever the U.S. Congress debates a genocide resolution, the proposed response inevitably involves a Turkish resolution on the U.S. governments genocide against Americas native population. Within hours of the vote in Berlin, Turkeys justice minister told Germans: Look at your own history. Nothing can exonerate you. You are proud of having burned people alive in ovens. We have nothing to be ashamed of in our history.

But in this case, if Germanys unique history made the work of Turkish politicians easier, Germanys unique relationship with that history made it considerably harder. Against Germany, Turkish accusations of hypocrisy fall flat: Ankara can only accuse Germany of crimes to which it readily admits. Not only did yesterdays resolution mention the Holocaust six times, it also admitted the German governments complicity in the Armenian genocide as an ally of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The irony of this debate is that if people in Turkey are  rightly  worried about genocide accusations being used as political weapon against them, Germany provides the best example of how candor, rather than denial, can effectively serve as a defense. It is not as if other countries have never tried to score political points off Germany by bringing up the Holocaust. But when they do, most recently perhaps in the case of the Greek debt crisis, it often ends up looking desperate and immature  rather than as is often the case with Turkey, entirely legitimate.

Americas experience also serves as a revealing contrast to Turkeys. On his first visit to Turkey, Barack Obama told the Turkish parliament that America still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, as well as its past treatment of Native Americans. Each country, he went on, reckon with the past as history is often tragic but unresolved, it can be a heavy weight. Like Germany, America has discovered that even if wrestling with your past does not prevent other countries from using it as a political weapon, the process can still be a source of national strength.

Unlike Germany, however, America has been unusually lucky in being able to confront its history on its own terms  that is, without having to worry about having a particular view of it imposed by an occupying army. Which is to say that Turkeys relationship with its own past is different from Germanys and from Americas. Following its victory against Western occupying powers in in 1923, the country escaped the forced reckoning Germany experienced after World War II. Yet partly on account of this brief occupation, it was also denied the opportunity America had to approach its history from a position of confidence. The country has faced genocide accusations throughout its modern history from more powerful, often hostile countries; this has not been conducive to an open and honest debate.

Which brings us to today, and the need to guard against any hint that politics  real or imagined  might be driving any countrys decision to recognize the Armenian genocide. This is important for Armenians, who deserve to have the genocide recognized for its own sake, but also for Turks, who should recognize this history for their own sake as well.

In the meantime, as the German parliament revealed, Turkish denial continues to ensure that anyone looking to attack Ankara for foreign or domestic political gain will always have the perfect issue with which to do so.

Photo credit: Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
By Greg Torode and Masayuki Kitano SINGAPORE (Reuters) - When U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke at a key Asian summit at the weekend, he used the word "principled" 38 times, floating his vision of a U.S.-backed "security network" of countries in the region. Several delegations were quick to respond to the idea at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but it seemed to evolve into a form of diplomatic tag-team wrestling as a loose coalition of nations lined up to criticize China. Nations including Japan, India, France and Vietnam joined calls for greater respect for international law to resolve worsening tensions over the South China Sea, a dig at Beijing which has said it will not accept any ruling by a U.N.-backed court on the dispute. Chinese officials, meanwhile, stressed Beijing's commitment to being a peaceful, lawful and inclusive nation but said it would not be bullied. "No one has the right to point their fingers at China," said Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the joint staff department of China's Central Military Commission, as he faced a string of questions at one public forum at the summit on Sunday. "Belligerence does not make peace." Sun was sharing a podium with Vietnamese deputy defense minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, who said he was cutting short his own responses to allow his Chinese counterpart more time to rebut criticisms raised of Beijing. Concern at China's assertiveness over the vital trade route was deepening, several envoys said on the sidelines of the summit, particularly given the prospect of Chinese military facilities on new artificial islands built by on reefs in the South China Sea. Those concerns were forcing regional countries to band closer together to find new ways of standing up to Beijing. Carter's urging of greater regional efforts, particularly from China, to create his "principled security network" was underpinned by warnings that China risked isolating itself by its actions "on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region's airspace". Many militiaries in the region, he said, were working closer together, both among themselves and with the United Sates. Japan's defense minister, Gen Nakatani, said Japan would seek to participate annually in naval exercises together with the United States and India, similar to drills due to take place off the Japanese port of Sasebo later this week. "It is very meaningful from the standpoint of securing safety in the wide area of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, for Japan, the United States and India to cooperate on security and defense areas and to conduct training," Nakatani said. GREAT WALL OF ISOLATION Carter's warnings that China faced a looming "Great Wall of isolation" were rejected by Chinese officials, but some analysts said an "us versus them" divide may suit Beijing in current circumstances. "It might sound tough talk, but my worry is that China's leaders will simply welcome that kind of view," Lee Chung Min, a professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, told Reuters. "If its economy slows, China's leaders might welcome the chance for the isolationist talk to stir some domestic nationalism." Major General Yao Yunzhu, of China's Academy of Military Science and prominent figure during the weekend sessions, acknowledged perceptions that some nations might be "ganging up" on China but said this did not represent "objective reality". "The South China Sea is not the only security issue in the region, and events like this one are not quite full reality," she told Reuters. "Each nation has to think of its bilateral relations with China as well, and many other security issues, that pull us closer together." Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, made clear that while the U.S. military was attempting to engage and co-operate with China's rapidly modernizing military, it was prepared for a darker outcome. "The bottom line is this: we want to co-operate where we can, but we just have to be ready as a military to confront them if we must," he said. Malaysia defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein spelt out the costs to smaller regional countries if great power rivalries escalate, however. Whatever happens between major powers must not "leave us on the beach when the tide goes out". (Additional reporting by Lee Chyen Yee.; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
donald trump

For much of his nearly year-old presidential campaign, Donald Trump bragged about his ability to best his Republican rivals without even hiring a pollster.

But after he quietly hired his first high-profile data analyst, The New York Times reported last week that the real-estate magnate is considering bringing on more pollsters to help him with a bold goal: Winning the Democratic-heavy state of New York.

While the Clinton campaign sees a map of 10 to 12 battleground states, including some Rust Belt states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, Trump's campaign claims he can be competitive in 15 states. That includes electorally rich, longtime Democratic strongholds like New York and California.

But contrary to Trump's grand vision for winning the election on the backs of white working-class voters in the Northeast, it's not clear this will prove to be a winning strategy. And he may, in the end, be hampered by his own campaign apparatus  or lack thereof.

"So far things are looking more simple than he is making out," Princeton University professor and polling expert Sam Wang told Business Insider.

Last week, a new series of Bloomberg state polls found that middle-income voters in Rust Belt states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio backed Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton over Trump by 7 points. The group of voters is a key bloc that represents a large portion of the electorate in northern Rust Belt states  nearly 40% of eligible voters who cast ballots in the three states in recent elections, according to Bloomberg.

Many surveys conducted over the past several months have shown Clinton with a healthy lead in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, though Trump has climbed in national polls in recent weeks, suggesting the numbers may soon tighten in battleground states as well.

Trump's frequent assertion that he can woo working-class white voters has startled some Democrats, who worry that Clinton's high level of unpopularity and prolonged primary contest with Sen. Bernie Sanders could damage the Democratic presidential frontrunner.

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But many of Clinton's allies are publicly panicking just yet.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told Business Insider that he "rejects" the idea that Trump's rhetoric and proposals on immigration will help him win Rust Belt states.

"Millennials, younger Americans, even those who are Gen X overwhelmingly support immigration reform, even in the most working class, Midwestern, Rust Belt states," Garcetti said on a recent conference call.

Garcetti also warned that Trump's candidacy could permanently damage the Republican Party's prospects in future elections. The mayor cited the backlash to former California Gov. Pete Wilson's successful 1994 push to deny public services to immigrants living in the US illegally as proof of the political repercussions of anti-immigration rhetoric.

"California was the home of Reagan and Nixon, and for many years has been more libertarian than liberal, and has elected conservatives," Garcetti said.

Wilson's 1994 reelection, he said, "resulted in a state now where every single one of the state constitutional officers is a Democrat. Where Latinos and many Asian Pacific Islanders and other immigrants and people who believe in a diverse state don't feel welcome in that party. I think that's what he runs the risk of doing."

Indeed, early polls have suggested that Trump may have already scrambled the map in a way that negatively affects his campaign. Public-opinion surveys in Arizona and Georgia have displayed a tighter race between Trump and Clinton, which many experts attribute to Trump's inflammatory rhetoric along the campaign trail.

Analysts say Trump's candidacy hasn't altered the electoral map so far in the way the real-estate mogul claims he can.

Wang told Business Insider, in fact, that the electoral map looks very similar to many recent presidential contests.

"Polls so far show almost every state in the same 'rank order' ... R's stronger in GA than NC, stronger in NC than PA, the same order as in 2000-2012. All will be lifted together by the same tide, or fall together."

donald trump memorial

'Campaign malpractice'

Trump is already promising to campaign hard in the Rust Belt states. But some political observers say one of his biggest hurdles may be his own seeming unwillingness to embrace modern voter-targeting methods.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Trump said Obama's heralded 2008 and 2012 voter-turnout operation was not as meaningful as his message.

"I've always felt it was overrated," Trump said. "Obama got the votes much more so than his data-processing machine. And I think the same is true with me."

Despite his apparent lack of interest in organizing and sophisticated voter-turnout methods, Trump has dedicated some resources to collecting and analyzing data.

But the operation has experienced significant turbulence in the past several days. Last week, Trump abruptly fired Rick Wiley, who told The Associated Press earlier this month he was working with the Republican National Committee and was hiring a team to hit the ground in Ohio.

Jeremy Bird, the former grassroots organizing architect of the Obama campaigns, told Business Insider that Trump's inability to professionalize his campaign  as well as his relative lack of interest in voter-targeting data that could help him identify and turn out sympathetic voters in swing states  is "campaign malpractice."

"To not use the sophistication of 21st-century technology on the data side, on the digital side, on the organizing side  Im glad he's doing it. Its good for Democrats," said Bird, whose political-consulting firm, 270 Strategies, is working with the Clinton campaign.

obama campaign

Many top Democratic Party officials, such as Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey, contend that Democrats' investment in collecting and updating voter information is one of the greatest competitive advantages the party has over Trump.

"Weve certainly been investing in this much longer than the Republican Party, and I think that thats been one place where they need to catch up on this," Dacey told Business Insider in February.

Some observers pointed out that even Trump's Republican opponents in some states used data to successfully best Trump didn't reach the level of sophistication of the Obama campaign in 2008 or Clinton's campaign in 2016.

"Ted Cruz might have read the books on what we did, but Ted Cruz didnt do what we did," Bird said of the Texas senator. "He didnt even come close to doing what we did  he had less than five offices in Iowa."

"If he actually read the book about what we did in the campaign, he forgot basically page one to the last page. He didnt do anything that we did. None of those guys did," he added.

Still, Bird cautioned against overconfidence that organizing alone can win a campaign.

He contended that it was Obama's message that resonated with voters, and that organizing merely helped the campaign capitalize on a popular message.

Trump is "right that data in and of itself isnt going to win you an election," Bird said.

"But I think its a huge important piece of the puzzle," he added. "And it doesnt make sense not to use everything in your power to reach every last voter with your message and with your candidate."

NOW WATCH: Donald Trump claims he never said these things  lets look at the footage





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Parkinsons Disease is a chronic movement disorder whose symptoms worsen over time. A cure has not been developed and the cause of this disease is currently unknown.

According to the Parkinsons Disease Foundation, Parkinsons is the result of the malfunction and death of neurons, which are vital nerve cells within the brain. Every part of the body has a job and the job of many of these neurons is the production of dopamine, a chemical that sends signals to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As the amount of dopamine that is produced by the body decreases, a person progressively loses the ability to control movement normally.

The foundation also lists common symptoms of Parkinsons disease as tremors of the limbs and face, slowness of movement, stiff limbs and impaired coordination or movement.

According to Brittanica, Parkinsons disease received its name after British physician James Parkinson first described the disease in 1817 in a passage titled, Essay on the Shaking Palsy.

This disease has claimed the lives of Muhammad Ali, who passed late Friday night (June 3), and musician Maurice White, who passed away in February of 2016.
By Keith Wallis and Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - More than 20 European and Asian-owned supertankers are shipping Iranian crude oil, data seen by Reuters shows, allowing Tehran to ramp up exports much faster than market analysts had expected following the lifting of Western sanctions in January.

Iran had been struggling as recently as April to find partners to ship its crude, but after an agreement on a temporary insurance fix more than a third of Iran's crude shipments are now being handled by foreign vessels.

"Charterers are buying cargo from Iran and the rest of the world is OK with that," said Odysseus Valatsas, chartering manager at Dynacom Tankers Management. Greek owner Dynacom has fixed three of its supertankers to carry Iranian crude.

Some international shipowners remain reluctant to handle Iranian oil, however, due mainly to some U.S. restrictions on Tehran that remain in place and prohibit any trade in dollars or the involvement of U.S. firms, including banks and reinsurers.

Iran is seeking to make up for lost trade following the lifting of sanctions imposed in 2011 and 2012 over its nuclear program.

Port loading data seen by Reuters, as well as live shipping data, shows at least 21 foreign tankers with capacity to carry around 25 million barrels of light and heavy crude oil have either loaded crude or fuel oil in the last two weeks, or are about load at Iran's Kharg Island and Bandar Mahshahr terminals.

The resumption of international shipping of Iranian oil has been made possible by an increase in interim, limited, insurance cover by "P&I clubs" - maritime mutual associations that provide "protection and indemnity" insurance to shippers.

The International Group of P&I Clubs, which represents the world's top 13 ship insurers, increased the amount covered by so-called "fall-back" shipping insurance from 70 million to 100 million euros ($111.53 million) in April.

"In the first days after lifting sanctions only Iranian ships were loaded in the country, mainly due to several problems in finding insurance/reinsurance," said Luigi Bruzzone of ship broker Banchero Costa.

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"The strong interest of the market in these trades pushed all the stakeholders to solve all the problems ... and almost all P&I Clubs have granted their insurance."

INSURANCE RISK?

The "fall-back" cover is designed to offset any shortfall in payments from U.S. reinsurers, who are still not allowed to deal with Iran.

"We are not surprised to see the increase in Iranian cargoes given the progress made by the P&I clubs and obviously the increase in Iranian production," said Brian Gallagher, head of investor relations at leading Belgian tanker owner Euronav (EUAV.BR), which itself is not involved in Iran yet.

"We're interested in such trade ... (but) it will still take time for Iran to be fully integrated as there remain restrictions around dollar denominated transactions."

Indeed, while the partial lifting of sanctions means foreign tankers can now transport Iranian oil, there remains a risk to shipping it because large accidents might not be fully covered.

As a result, insurers say that large first-tier oil shippers, many of them publicly listed such as Euronav, Teekay Group (TNK.N) or Frontline (FRO.OL), still shy away from carrying Iranian oil.

If the fall-back cover is exhausted in an incident, Andrew Bardot, executive officer at the International Group of P&I Clubs, said that costs like "collision and cargo liabilities, will not be covered, and will remain with the shipowner".

A single Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) supertanker costs around $90 million, and the costs of a large oil spill can reach into the billions of dollars.

"The limitations of the 'fall-back' cover - together with other continuing restrictions, for example those relating to the U.S. dollar and use of the U.S. financial system - however have discouraged a number of shipowners, and in particular the large shipping groups, from resuming trade with Iran in which they were previously engaged," said Bardot.

NEAR PRE-SANCTIONS LEVELS

With international vessels supporting Iran's own tanker fleet, traders said that its oil production was now close to pre-sanction levels of around 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

"Iran has ramped up harder and faster than expected," Citi analysts said in a note to clients.

Iran's oil exports were between 2.1 and 2.3 million bpd in April and May, up from 1.3 million bpd a year ago, when Iran was shut out of the European market and dependent on limited shipments to Asian buyers.

Asia is the main destination for crude shipped by foreign vessels, with India, China and Japan the biggest takers, but at least four international tankers are also heading for Europe.

India, in particular, is taking a lead role as its demand soars and refiners such as Essar Oil (ESRO.CL), Reliance Energy (RELI.NS), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL.NS), and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS) enjoy good ties with Iran.

The non-Iranian companies currently chartered to carry its oil include Chinese state controlled shipper China Shipping Development , PetroVietnam (PPY.HN) and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan .

Greek, Turkish and Seychelles-owned tankers are also shipping Iranian crude. ($1 = 0.8966 euros)

(Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO, Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI, and Jonathan Saul in LONDON; Editing by Alex Richardson)
By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Former prime minister John Major on Sunday accused the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union of fatuous and squalid claims on immigration and the cost of membership to dupe the public into voting out at this month's referendum. Exposing the deep rifts caused by the vote, Major urged Britons to question the facts coming from the "court jester" Boris Johnson, a champion of the Out campaign and himself a possible future leader of Major's Conservative party. "What they have done ... is feed out to the British people a whole galaxy of inaccurate and frankly untrue information," he told the BBC, less than three weeks before the vote on June 23. "I think their campaign is verging on the squalid." Major was the last Conservative prime minister before current incumbent David Cameron, who wants Britain to remain in the EU. His 1990-1997 premiership was plagued by disputes within his party over Europe, including Britain's ignominious withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the predecessor to the single currency, in 1992. He said Leave campaigners were misleading voters by saying Britain paid 350 million pounds ($510 million) a week to Brussels, when two-thirds of that came back in subsidies and a rebate. Johnson dismissed his comments. Out supporters have said the money could be better spent on schools and hospitals in Britain, but Major said "these promises of expenditure on the National Health Service or elsewhere are frankly fatuous". "If they can't be straightforward and honest on a clear cut matter of fact like that upon what else can we trust them," he said, in his most outspoken intervention on the campaign. "I think this is a deceitful campaign and in terms of what they're saying about immigration, a really depressing and awful campaign, they are misleading people to an extraordinary extent." TAKING BACK CONTROL World leaders and international organizations have cautioned Britain about the risks of leaving the bloc it joined in 1973, while the Bank of England has said Brexit could tip the economy into recession. Despite the warnings, the Leave campaign has gained momentum in recent days by urging voters to "take back control" from Europe's elites, in particular over immigration. Figures published last week put net migration at 330,000 in 2015, of which a net 184,000 came from the EU, far above Cameron's ambition in 2011 to cut numbers to tens of thousands. The Leave campaign has said it could extend an Australian-style points-based system to EU citizens if Britain votes to leave the bloc. Justice Minister Michael Gove, a prominent Leave campaigner, said the scale of immigration was depressing wages and putting a strain on public services. "We would in due course bring it down to tens of thousands," he said on ITV's Peston on Sunday show. Johnson also deployed the "taking back control" argument on Sunday, in his case over the money Britain sent to Brussels, its borders and other parts of its economic future. "It's a question of democracy," he said. "I would like a situation where the government can fulfill its pledges to the people." Johnson said 350 million pounds was a "reasonable" figure to cite, arguing that although some of it was returned by the EU, it was not money Britain controlled. (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Kate Holton; Editing by Alison Williams and Stephen Powell)
PARIS (Reuters) - Chinese diversified group Fosun is in advanced talks to take a 10 to 15 percent stake in tourism and leisure group Compagnie des Alpes (CDAF.PA), Le Monde newspaper said in its weekend edition.

Compagnie des Alpes specialises in ski resorts, family parks and attractions.

The newspaper said the company, in which French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots (CDC) holds a 39.54 percent stake, is looking for partners to beef up its capital and accelerate its international development.

"We are in contact with several groups, not just Chinese," Dominique Marcel, Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie des Alpes told Le Monde. "In depth discussions are ongoing and I would like them to go faster."

The paper quoted an unnamed source as saying that among the candidates, "Fosun is one with which discussions are most advanced."

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, said in March that CDC would not sell shares in Compagnie des Alpes and would retain control.

(Reporting by Yann Le Guernigou and Bate Felix; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Revel Systems cofounders

Revel Systems CEO Lisa Falzone is 31 and a force to be reckoned with.

By "sheer willpower" she and her CTO cofounder, Chris Ciabarra, launched their startup in 2010 and built it into a 600-employee company that's raised over $100 million and is valued at $500 million by investors.

At one point, she even relentlessly hunted down a guy she met at a coffee shop and convinced him to angel invest $28,000 in her company on the spot.

In the process, Revel is one of the startups that helped create a new industry: the iPad point-of-sale market.

Revel turns an iPad into a cash register for restaurants, retail shops, and other small business. Today there are 20,000 Revel iPad systems out there and the company is growing quickly, she says.

And the story of how she got here is remarkable.

Bedridden and blogging

When Falzone was 24, she did something stupid and hurt her back: She lifted a couch.

She had recently graduated from Stanford with a degree in history and was working in the venture-capital industry. (She did an internship in London at a hedge fund, which led her to the world of finance.)

"When I hurt my back, I couldnt work at a normal desk job. I had to move back with my parents. I was bedridden and didnt have anything else do to do, so I started thinking of different business ideas," she tells Business Insider.

Revel Systems CEO Lisa Falzone

For instance, she did a prototype of a toy.

"It was supposed to be for my nephew who was turning 4. So I gave it to him and he didnt like it, but our dog did," she laughs. That ended that.

To keep her spirits up, she started a blog of inspirational quotes from entrepreneurs.

And that's how she met her cofounder, Ciabarra. He saw the blog on "like the 20th page of a Google search" and posted a comment that he liked it, she says.

"I was so excited that someone commented on my blog," she remembers. So she commented back, they started chatting and became friends. He was 10 years older, and had a background in IT. He was doing his own network-security company at the time.

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The iPad had just come out and apps were all the rage. Together, they came up with an idea for an app that let you order takeout from a restaurant ahead that worked with the classic point-of-sale systems.

A challenge to build a product

They held a meeting with their first prospective customer and showed him the app. He told them, "Good idea, kids, but what I really need is a new POS system," Falzone recalls.

When you are trying to get a company off the ground you have to have this mentality that you are going to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

In 2010, most POS systems used old technology and didn't work with apps or the cloud.

Falzone looked at Ciabarra and said, "We'll build that for you." The customer agreed. "So we actually sold the product before we created it."

This was new territory for the iPad. They were given a little over a month and had to solve technical problems like figuring out how to print from the iPad to a receipt printer and connecting the data port to a credit-card reader, she says.

An angel in the coffee shop

While Ciabarra was managing the technical stuff, hiring programmers and jury-rigging the iPad, Falzone was trying to keep the lights on. They had already put their life savings into the company and needed more money.

"We had a third cofounder but he dropped out. He was supposed to raise the money. So we didn't have enough money to pay the programmers that we hired from India to build this first prototype. We owed these programmers $28,000," she remembers.

Revel Systems

Unable to afford Bay Area office space, Falzone was working out of a coffee shop in Sausalito.

A guy in the coffee shop overheard her talking, approached her and said he was interested in the idea. "I said, 'Hey, we're looking for angel investors,'" she says.

He wasn't an accredited angel investor, or any kind of investor. "He was just a normal person," she said. And Falzone being so young, with no background in tech says, "I was not connected or involved in the whole investor Silicon Valley scene."

The guy left the shop, but Falzone didn't forget about him.

"I ended up hounding him down to get the money," she says. By "sheer willpower" she talked him into writing the $28,000 check on the spot just in time to pay the programmers, get the prototype working, and take it to the prospective customer.

It took them 40 days, she says, and Falzone admits that first prototype wasn't a work of art. "But it worked and we did it." The customer bought the product and "we've iterated on it ever since," she says.

As it turned out, the angel investor wasn't exceptionally wealthy so "$28,000 was a lot for the guy," she says. He didn't keep his stake. Revel paid him back.

Still, she keeps in touch with him, and she'll never forget that first angel deal.

"When you are trying to get a company off the ground you have to have this mentality that you are going to do whatever it takes to make it happen. If I have to hound this guy down for $28,000 to pay the programming bills so the company survives, you're going to make it happen," she says.

"It's just amazing what you can do when you really believe in something," she says.

NOW WATCH: The iPad Pro isn't a laptop killer  here's why





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Paris (AFP) - A seemingly endless parade of violent protests, transport strikes and paralysed infrastructure in recent months has once again given the impression of France as a country that cannot be governed.

But how much does the cliche reflect reality?

"This country often kills itself with its conservatism, with the impossibility of reform," bemoaned Prime Minister Manuel Valls recently after three months of unrest triggered by his government's attempt to reform the labour code.

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets on numerous occasions, accusing the government of trying to inject a distinctly un-French dose of neo-liberalism into their famously stringent worker protections.

The unions have gone to war with the government, launching strikes and blockades on multiple fronts -- from petrol refineries and nuclear power stations to trains and airlines -- and refusing to back down from their demand that the entire reform package be scrapped.

The Spanish daily El Pais summed up the foreign view of the country: "France does not allow deep reforms, only revolutions."

- 'Psychological block' -

The statistics are hard to compare, but Kurt Vandaele, a researcher with the Belgium-based European Trade Union Institute, said when it comes to the most strikes, France ranked in the top four in the European Union alongside Cyprus, Greece and Spain.

That is despite the fact that only 11 percent of the working population is actually part of a union.

"In France, the number of strike days per year is generally closely tied to reforms proposed by the government, almost always related to the labour market or pensions," said Vandaele.

Pascal Lamy, ex-head of the World Trade Organisation and himself a Frenchman, said his fellow citizens had "a psychological block" when it came to reforms.

"The French are scared of the outside world because they think it threatens our culture, our principles, our identity," he told Le Point magazine this week.

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"We don't have a method for carrying out reforms."

Stephane Sirot, an historian and specialist on labour affairs, said there was a "culture of conflict" that stretches back to the birth of the modern French state.

"Since the French Revolution, social regulation has been based on the idea of conflict first, followed by negotiation."

That model is replicated in other parts of southern Europe, he said, and it is the opposite of how things are usually done in northern Europe, where "conflict only happens when negotiation fails".

- 'Move towards negotiation' -

But he said other factors also helped explain differences between European countries -- for instance, the fact that German public sector workers are banned from going on strike by law.

The statistics also mask a significant decline in France's labour unrest, with the number of annual workdays lost to strikes falling from between three and four million between 1946 and 1975, to half that number in the past decade.

Since the 1980s, "France has tried to move towards a more peaceful model and a culture of collective negotiation has emerged bit by bit, at least within companies," said Sirot.

While only a few hundred agreements were reached between unions and companies in the 1970s, there are now nearly 40,000 in place.

Even the powerful CGT union, which is currently leading the charge against the governments reform bill, has agreed to 85 percent of the deals signed with management, he added.

The biggest challenge for the government in the current crisis has actually come from its own camp.

A sizeable number of Socialist MPs refused to back the reform bill, forcing the government to ram the bill through the lower house without a vote -- a move that seriously damaged its credibility and encouraged still more protests.

The leading presidential candidate of the opposition Republicans, Alain Juppe, argued that the real problem lay with the divisions inside the ruling Socialists.

Under his leadership, things would work out differently, he said.

"France is not unreformable. France is evolving. Reforms have been made," he told Le Monde newspaper.
PARIS (Reuters) - Weeks of strikes in France over planned labor reforms have not had a substantial impact on the economy but could hurt its tepid recovery if they continue and grow, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said in an interview. "So far, the strikes have been partial and limited to sectors," Sapin said in the interview with the business newspaper Les Echos published on Sunday. "I don't see any substantial impact on activities." "Naturally, there are many striking images, but I see no substantial economic effect on activity," he said. Sapin warned, however, that if the strikes went on for much longer and spread into more sectors, they could hurt France's economic recovery. The French economy grew a stronger-then-expected 0.6 percent in the first quarter, driven by a surge in consumer spending and a pick-up in business investment. In addition, unemployment fell in April, declining for a second month in a row. Speaking earlier on Sunday in an interview with LCI television, Sapin said floods in Paris, the worst the French capital has seen in 30 years, would not have a negative impact on the economy because only a limited area of the country was affected. (Reporting by Bate Felix, editing by Larry King)
(Spoiler alert: This post includes what could be considered spoilers for Game of Thrones and the Song of Ice and Fire novels on which the show is based, and also includes spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 6.)

If youve been watching Game of Thrones for a while, youll probably recall plenty of mentions of that time Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark overthrew the Targaryen dynasty and Jaime Lannister murdered the Mad King.

Those events, which took place 17 years before the present-day events of the show, were always important to the fabric of Game of Thrones  that old war is why Robert and Cersei were married, for one thing  but in Season 6 the importance of Roberts Rebellion seems to be growing in more tangible, immediate ways.

Also Read: Breaking Down 25 Key Shots from Latest 'Game of Thrones' Trailer (Photos)

Thus far, the show hasnt delved too much into the particulars of that war  weve had the ending discussed numerous times, and in Season 5 Littlefinger described the spark that started it, but most everything in between is a big question mark.

But thats only how it is on the show. George R.R. Martins written works  including the World of Ice and Fire reference book  have sketched out the backstory of Game of Thrones much more than the show itself has. And that means we know plenty about Roberts Rebellion and the long downfall of the Mad King.

And here were going to go through that history so youll be better equipped to handle any future references Game of Thrones decides to throw at you.

Also Read: 15 Big 'Game of Thrones' Fan Theories for Season 6 (Photos)

Keep in mind, of course, that HBOs Game of Thrones is an adaptation, and the showrunners may take liberties with the source material regarding Roberts Rebellion, just as theyve done with the main narrative across six seasons. So think of this as a guide, allowing for the possibility that events could be altered or subverted. Plus, as a very popular fan theory regarding the Mad King asserts, events may not be exactly what they seem.

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Seeds of madness

Though Aerys Targaryen (David Rintoul) is commonly referred to as the Mad King, he wasnt always mad. Well before the war, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) served as Aerys Hand of the King. Tywin ran the kingdom well, and Aerys mistrusted Tywin because Tywin was getting a lot of the credit for basically everything being good in the Seven Kingdoms. Aerys had previously declared his intent to be the greatest king the Seven Kingdoms had ever seen, so he got super jealous, and would undermine Tywin whenever he could.

Aerys would also drink a lot, and once made a particularly lewd remark to Joanna, Tywins wife, after which Tywin attempted to resign  though Aerys wouldnt allow it.

Five years before Roberts Rebellion, Aerys was kidnapped by Lord Denys Darklyn of Duskendale, and held for six months before he was rescued by Ser Barristan Selmy. That kidnapping kinda freaked Aerys out, and he became a recluse, staying in the Red Keep from then on. As an added bonus, Tywin leaving Aerys in captivity for so long only ramped up Aerys paranoia toward him.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': Did Bran Stark Cause the Mad King's Downfall?

Aerys finally left the Red Keep for the Tourney at Harrenhal, a jousting tournament won by his son Rhaegar. Tradition stated the winner of the tournament would name a Queen of Love and Beauty  typically the winners significant other, if he had one. Rhaegar, however, defied convention and shunned his wife, Elia Martell, instead naming Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love and Beauty.

That didnt sit well with Robert Baratheon, to whom Lyanna was pledged to be married. Ned Stark would later refer to that as the moment when all smiles died.

The rebellion

Some time later, Rhaegar (apparently) kidnapped Lyanna Stark. In response, her brother Brandon Stark and some pals traveled to Kings Landing, where Brandon stood outside the gates and demanded that Rhaegar come out and die. Aerys had the group arrested, and called for their fathers to come to Kings Landing and answer for them.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': The Key Events In the Series So Far (Photos)

Once the Stark patriarch Rickard arrived, Aerys had him suspended in his armor above a fire, which cooked him alive. He also had Brandon and the rest of his friends, and their fathers, killed, save for one. And then after all that, Aerys (definitely mad as hell at this point) called for the heads of Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark for good measure.

Robert and Ned were at the Eyrie at the time, as both had been fostered by Jon Arryn, and Lord Arryn refused to hand them over. Instead, he raised his banners  the signal for war.

The first order of business for both Robert and Ned was to travel to their respective homes  Roberts at Storms End and Neds at Winterfell  to raise their own banners so as to gather those pledged to them to fight. Not all those pledged joined the war on their side, however, as going to war against the Iron Throne was kind of a big deal.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': Children of the Forest, White Walkers and Westeros' Ancient History

The first big battle was at Summerhall, where Roberts forces took out the armies of three loyalist lords. This was followed by a battle at Ashford, where loyalist forces under Randyll Tarly (Sams father) and Mace Tyrell (father of Margaery and Loras Tyrell) defeated Roberts troops. From there, Mace attacked Storms End.

Meanwhile, Ned had managed to reach Winterfell and raise his banners, at which point he marched south and secured an alliance with House Tully by pledging himself to marry Catelyn Tully, who had previously been pledged to Neds late brother Brandon.

Stark and Tully forces arrived at the Stony Sept during the Battle of the Bells just in time to save Robert and his forces from certain defeat at the hands of loyalist forces. Once the Starks and Tullys entered the fray, Roberts troops counterattacked and won the battle.

At that point, Aerys was convinced to seek help from Tywin Lannister, who had exited his role as Hand of the King some time before. The Lannisters did not respond.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' 101: Explaining the Tyrion Targaryen Fan Theory

The Battle of the Trident

The biggest battle of the war came at the Trident, where the bulk of both loyalist and rebel forces met on the field. Rhaegar finally showed himself, and Robert slew him with his warhammer. Rhaegars armor was encrusted with jewels, and the legend goes that Robert hit him so hard, the hammer smashed them off, scattering rubies in the river at a spot that is now known as the Ruby Ford (there was a reference to this in Season 1). Robert didnt escape unscathed, though. Rhaegar wounded him pretty badly.

It was around this time that Robert announced that he was gunning for the throne himself  he had some legitimacy thanks to a Targaryen grandmother.

After the Battle of the Trident, the Greyjoys of the Iron Islands decided to get involved on the side of the rebels, though they didnt accomplish much beyond getting their lord, Quellon, killed in a naval battle at the mouth of the Mander River.

The taking of Kings Landing

At this point, Tywin Lannister showed up at Kings Landing offering aid to King Aerys with all his forces. The Mad King let them into the city, and that decision pretty much ended the war as the Lannister men started sacking the place. The Mad Kings madness also reached its pinnacle.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': Everything Bran Stark Saw in His Flashback Montage In 'Blood of My Blood'

The Mad King, as you probably know from watching the show, has instructed the pyromancers to manufacture huge amounts of the volatile substance wildfire, and has stashed them around Kings Landing. When the Lannisters sacked the city, Aerys ordered the wildfire stashes to be ignited, which only added to the chaos. Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister was a member of Aerys Kingsguard, and the Mad King ordered Jaime to kill his father, Tywin, while screaming Burn them all! over and over again.

Jaime decided to put an end to the madness right there. He killed the pyromancer to stop the wildfire from being ignited, and then killed the Mad King himself. When Ned Stark found him afterward, Jaime earned the pejorative nickname Kingslayer.

Lannister forces stormed the Red Keep and slaughtered any member of House Targaryen they could find, including Rhaegars children and widow, Elia Martell, who was raped and slaughtered by Gregor Clegaine, better known as the Mountain. (This was the source of Oberyn Martell of Dornes vendetta against the Lannisters in Season 4.)

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': Most Upsetting, Shocking and Disturbing Deaths Through Season 6 Episode 5 SPOILERS (Photos)

Loose ends

The war was pretty much over after Kings Landing was taken, but there remained some things to deal with. These tasks were left to Ned Stark, who had a falling out with Robert over that whole murdering of children thing at the Red Keep.

The first remaining order of business was breaking the siege of Storms End by Mace Tyrell, which had been ongoing for nearly a year. At that time, Storms End was held by Roberts brother Stannis, and all the people inside would have starved had Davos Seaworth not managed to bypass the Tyrell blockade with a shipment of onions. Once Ned showed up, the Tyrell forces broke up quickly and Mace Tyrell bent the knee to Robert.

Ned then took a small band to the Tower of Joy, which included Howland Reed, Jojen and Meeras father. There, Rhaegar had held Neds sister Lyanna throughout the war. The last of the Kingsguard loyal to Aerys, Lord Commander Gerold Hightower and Ser Arthur Dayne, Sword of the Morning, guarded the tower. In a tense battle, Ned was able to kill Hightower and, with Howlands help, defeated Dayne.

When Ned entered the tower, he found Lyanna pregnant and giving birth. The baby survived, but Lyanna died shortly afterward. Ned then marched back to the far north to Winterfell, bringing a baby, which he told everyone is his bastard son, presumably to hide his true identity. As revealed at the end of Season 6, this child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark would become Jon Snow.

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones': That Ned Stark Flashback, Jon Snow and the Prince That Was Promised

Even though Aerys, Rhaegar, and Rhaegars children were dead, the Targaryens hadnt been completely eliminated. There were still some Targaryens alive  Queen Rhaella and her son Viserys were on the island of Dragonstone when Kings Landing was sacked, and Rhaella was pregnant with Aerys child.

With Storms End free, Stannis assembled a fleet and sailed toward Dragonstone. Before he arrived, a massive storm ravaged the island, destroying most of the Targaryen ships. It was during this storm that Daenerys was born (thus her Stormborn middle name). Rhaella died giving birth. Viserys and baby Daenerys were smuggled to Braavos before Stannis arrived with his fleet and took the island. The two remaining Targaryen children would be protected by loyalists for the next 17 years.

The end

After everything settled down, Robert became king with Jon Arryn as his Hand. Robert married Cersei Lannister to unify the ruling House Baratheon with the rich House Lannister.

Aside from a brief rebellion by the Greyjoys a few years later, everything was calm for the most part from then until Game of Thrones begins 17 years later.

Related stories from TheWrap:

22 Big 'Game of Thrones' Fan Theories for Season 7 and Beyond (Photos)

'Game of Thrones': Most Upsetting, Shocking and Disturbing Deaths Through Season 6 Finale (Photos)

All 48 'Game of Thrones' Main Characters, Ranked Worst to Best (Photos)

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Credit: ABACAPRESS.COM

When George and Amal Clooney met Pope Francis earlier this week, all eyes were on Amal in her stunning Atelier Versace lace dress and matching hat. While the human rights lawyer and street style star was stealing the show, George was charming a room full of reporters with his "horrible" Italian.

The Money Monster star addressed reporters with an afternoon-appropriate greeting, "Buona sera," after checking his watch, and proceeded to apologize for his "horrible" Italian--in Italian, no less. "Scusi, non parlo italiano molto bene. Mi dispiace," he said (That's "Excuse me, I don't speak Italian very well. I'm sorry," in English).

Clearly, the actor, who has a summer home in Lake Como, speaks enough of the language to get around. Between his on-point accent and very Italian hand gestures, Clooney sounds like a pro, despite his modesty.

RELATED: Amal Clooney Leaves Rome in Style After Meeting the Pope

The 55-year-old was in Rome to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican, where the Pontiff awarded him a medal for his charity work. The actor works with the educational organization Scholas Occurrentes, which Pope Francis founded.

Watch the video above to fall further in love with the star.
Gigi Hadid is officially red carpet royalty!

The 21-year-old model stole the spotlight at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards in Culver City, California, on Saturday, walking the red carpet in a sexy, head-turning ensemble.

WATCH: Gigi Hadid Spotted Hanging Out With Kendall Jenner Amid Zayn Malik Breakup Rumors

Hadid sported a black high-neck David Koma dress with cut-out rings along the arms, chest and stomach. She completed the look with a pair of sky-high chrome stilettos and diamond stud earrings. Hadid opted for light makeup and wore her long locks loose for the occasion.

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Let's be honest, Hadid knew she looked good!

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NEWS: Gigi Hadid Lip Syncs to Zayn Malik's 'Pillowtalk' Amid Breakup Rumors

Interestingly enough, the hot frock looked incredibly similar to the navy blue mini she rocked from the same designer just one night earlier while hosting the Maybelline New York Beauty Bash in Los Angeles.

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Sexy and confident? It doesn't get much better than that!

Perhaps that's one of the reasons why she was honored with the Our New Girlfriend Award at the awards show. Before accepting the honor, Hadid was treated to a special musical introduction from Robin Thicke, who performed his song, "Give It 2 U."

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WATCH: Gigi Hadid Shares Cryptic Snaps After Rumored Split From Zayn Malik

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Amid recent rumors that Hadid called it quits with Zayn Malik, an eyewitness tells ET that she was "laughing" and acting "embarrassed" as she took the stage to accept the honor.

"So I thought I was going to come wing it. All week I was like, 'I'll be good, I'm just going to go,' and then I woke up this morning, and I was like, 'Gigi, there's no way you're going to be able to be calm or cool in front of Kobe [Bryant] ever in your life,'" she joked during her acceptance speech.

Hadid is a huge fan of Bryant, having proclaimed her love for the former Lakers star when he retired in April.

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NEWS: Chrissy Teigen Sports a Sexy, Plunging Tuxedo at Guys' Choice Awards

In her speech, the blond beauty revealed that she called a friend for advice about what jokes she could say on stage. The pal suggested that Hadid should "try to think of something you did mean to a crush in middle school." That's when Hadid realized she didn't have one of those stories!

"I've always been kind of like a good girlfriend," she explained. "Even in middle school when I had crushes, I've always been kind of nice. But what I appreciate this for is that everyone that is here to support me and would even think of me for this award, you guys let me be funny and you let me be myself and you support me for the things besides how I look and besides what models used to be only recognized for, and I really appreciate that, so thank you."

After receiving a solid round of applause, Hadid ended her speech by thanking Spike TV and the troops "here tonight, at home, with us in spirit." She also acknowledged Muhammad Ali, who died on Friday at age 74 from a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.

WATCH: Muhammad Ali's Final Tweets Included a Tribute to Prince

"I didn't get to post anything yet, so I just wanted to say, Muhammad Ali has touched me so much in my life," she said. "I'm so grateful to have met him, so I just wanted to openly say rest in peace, Muhammad. You're the champ."

The Guys' Choice Awards air June 9 on Spike TV.

Since news broke that the three-time World Heavyweight Champion died, athletes, entertainers and other celebrities have been paying their respects to Ali on social media. Hear more of the touching tributes in the video below.

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It hadnt been 24 hours since House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he was endorsing Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee before Ryan was forced to put some distance between himself and the GOPs new standard-bearer.

Asked about Trumps repeated insistence that an Indiana-born federal judge hearing a case against his now-defunct Trump University is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage, Ryan said he was baffled.

Related: After Endorsing Trump, Paul Ryan Decries Anger and Division in Politics

It's reasoning I don't relate to, Ryan said in a radio interview. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that. He also made the thoroughly unbelievable claim that Trumps comments came out of left field when the billionaire has been saying disparaging Hispanics and other minorities since the day he announced his candidacy.

On the same day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to respond to comments Trump made attacking Susana Martinez, the Republican governor of New Mexico. Completely unfortunate and unnecessary, he called them a big mistake.

After the candidates attack on Martinez, Team Trump decided it would be a good idea to send Sam Clovis, the dubiously credentialed self-described economist and Trumps chief policy advisor, to explain their mans position. What hes really saying is that weve got to energize the country, Clovis told CNNs Brooke Baldwin. Weve got to get things focused; weve got to do a better job across the board.

Related: Legal Experts Alarmed by Trumps Assault on Justice System

But youre not going to energize the country by [attacking] the governor of New Mexico, Baldwin interjected.

Well, YOU may not, Clovis said with an air of great sagacity. Weve taken the opportunity to highlight that there are things wrong in this country and they need to be fixed and we need everybody to be pulling on the rope at the same time.

If youre going to sit back and sit on your laurels and hope nobody notices -- thats not going to happen. Because when we come to Washington, D.C. in January and Donald Trump assumes the presidency of the United States, the whole country and certainly the government will be on notice that things are going to change.

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What did that mean? And what did it have to do with Trumps attack on Martinez? Its anybodys guess. But it suggests, at least, that within the Trump campaign, things like random verbal assaults on the partys highest-ranking Hispanic woman are part of the plan going forward.

Related: Donald Trump Out-Negotiates Paul Ryan in Endorsement Deal

And all this was before CNN host Jake Tapper, on Friday afternoon, asked Trump no fewer than 24 times over the course of a very uncomfortable interview whether his comments about the judge were racist. Trump repeatedly referred to the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, as a Mexican even as Tapper repeatedly reminded him hes an American from Indiana.

Trump followed up that interview by appearing at a rally in California during which he interrupted himself mid-sentence to point out a black man in the crowd. Oh, look at my African American over here -- look at him. Are you the greatest?

The bad news for Ryan, McConnell, and other leaders of the GOP like Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus is that this drumbeat is not likely to stop. Now that they have unambiguously boarded the Trump train, none of them is going to be able to set foot outside his office without someone shoving a microphone in his face demanding a response to Trumps latest offensive statement or erratic policy pronouncement.

And for vulnerable Republicans up for House and Senate elections this November, the outlook is even worse. Ryan and McConnell, at least, arent in danger of losing their seats over Trump. But the Democrats will be gleefully cataloging every offensive and bizarre thing that Trump has said and will say going forward, and demanding that Republican House and Senate candidates respond to them.

Related: Warren Tweaks Trump on Conflicts of Interest; Then He Proves Her Point

The many who have endorsed Trump can count on their Democratic challengers to keep Hispanic voters, women, African Americans, Muslims, and other minorities up to date on every outrage, and to claim that an endorsement of Trump is a de facto endorsement of his views.

As much as many in the GOP likely wish it werent so, the GOP is now truly the party of Trump, and theyll be hearing more about him on the campaign trail than any of them likely want to.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
New York (AFP) - New York's Governors Ball festival canceled its final day Sunday, which was to be headlined by rap superstar Kanye West, due to expected severe thunderstorms.

Organizers of the three-day festival on Randall's Island in the city's East River cited the risk of lightning amid heavy rain across the US East Coast.

"The safety of fans, artists and crew always comes first," Governors Ball said in a notice on its smartphone app. "We are just as devastated as you are."

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office had already issued a weather advisory for Sunday, warning of the possibility of flash floods and encouraging New Yorkers to consider staying inside.

The final day of the festival was set to be headlined by West, in one of the first concerts for the ever-in-the-news star since the release of his album "The Life of Pablo" in February.

Sunday was also due to feature an appearance, announced only the day before, of Prophets of Rage, the politically charged new supergroup with members of Rage Against the Machine and frontman Chuck D of rap legends Public Enemy.

Other scheduled performers included garage rockers Eagles of Death Metal, tragically now known best as the band who played the Bataclan club in Paris during the November 13 massacre by Islamic extremists.

Eagles of Death Metal was slated for Governors Ball even though two festivals in France recently canceled appearances by the band after frontman Jesse Hughes alleged a conspiracy by Muslim staff members at the club.

Alternative rock favorites Death Cab for Cutie and rising Australian indie songwriter Courtney Barnett were also on Sunday's lineup.
Los Angeles County firefighters battled a wildfire in the hills near Mulholland Highway in Calabasas, California, west of Los Angeles, on Saturday, June 4.

The blaze began when a vehicle hit a pole and knocked live power lines onto the dry landscape. The fire was approaching homes in the area, local media reported.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said it had three helicopters working to contain the flaze. These videos show the choppers filling up at Calabasas Lake. Credit: Twitter/Ross Feinstin
stem cells

Until now, the second-largest acquisition in the history of venture capital was largely based on clinical-trial data that hadn't been released.

In April, Stemcentrx, a startup with backing from Silicon Valley investors including Artis Ventures and Founders Fund, was acquired by AbbVie for $5.8 billion in cash and stock in a deal that in total could be worth up to $10.2 billion. The deal officially closed June 1.

In data released Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, Stemcentrx showed that its drug could extend the lives of certain patients with small-cell lung cancer. All of those patients had higher amounts of a specific protein.

Stemcentrx is researching drugs that are designed to treat cancer  specifically solid tumors  by targeting cancer stem cells. The intent is that by attacking those cells, it can stop the cancer from spreading.

Unlike general adult stem cells, which are found all over the body as unspecified cells that can regenerate, cancer stem cells are a specific type of cancer cell that some research suggests could play a key role in defeating the disease.

The Stemcentrx drug that's farthest along thus far is called rovalpitzumab tesirine, or Rova-T. It's currently in trials to treat small-cell lung cancer, a type of lung cancer that makes up about 10% to 15% of all cases. The targeted drug goes after a special protein that may be linked to cancer stem cells.

The protein, called DLL3, is highly expressed (meaning a genetic variation is telling the body to make a lot of it) in about 80% of tumors, Stemcentrx chief scientific officer Scott Dylla said on Friday at AbbVie's research and development day, based on data that he's seen. Rova-T works by latching onto the protein, delivering the deadly toxin to the cell, and cutting off the tumor growth at its source.

The Phase 1 study released Sunday, which had the goal of showing that Rova-T is effective and safe to use, looked at 74 people with small-cell lung cancer whose disease had gotten worse even with at least one other treatment option.

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Of the 60 who were able to be evaluated by the end of the trial, 11 saw tumor shrinkage. Those results started to look better when you look at the smaller group of 26 people with high levels of DLL3. Then, about 10 of those 26 responded to the treatment, and about one-third of those 26 people were alive after a year.

Although these results are preliminary, rovalpituzumab tesirine seems to be the first targeted therapy to show efficacy in small cell lung cancer, and we may have identified DLL3 as the first predictive biomarker in this disease, Dr. Charles Rudin, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering who led the study, said in a release. Rudin said later in a press briefing that the results should be taken with caution, as it was still just a small group and the first study done in humans.

What's next

San Francisco-based Stemcentrx, which has been working on its drugs since 2008 but only launched publicly in September 2015. Since the acquisition by AbbVie, CEO Brian Slingerland told Business Insider, not much has changed in the day-to-day operations.

Stemcentrx is currently enrolling patients in a phase 2 trial for Rova-T as a third-line treatment (meaning patients have already tried other approved drugs) in small-cell lung cancer, and AbbVie expects the drug to make it to market by 2018.

Beyond Rova-T, Stemcentrx has four other drugs in clinical development and is also collecting a library of patient-derived xenografts (PDX for short), which is a way to evaluate what other highly expressed genes beyond DLL3 might be worth by looking at human tumors in mice models.

Gary Gordon, AbbVie's vice president of oncology, told Business Insider that the addition of Stemcentrx is more exciting based on that library. "For us thinking long term, it's being able to find those tumor-initiating cells and then say what other types of targets exist and how else can we target them."

NOW WATCH: Doctors just replaced cancerous bones in a mans spine with 3D-printed vertebrae





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* Clauses can let buyers quit deals if UK votes to leave EU

* Brexit uncertainty causes collapse in transaction volume

* In campaign says Brexit would hurt property prices

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Esha Vaish

June 5 (Reuters) - Commercial property investors are writing clauses into contracts giving buyers the right to walk away from real estate deals if Britain votes to leave the European Union this month, as a way to unfreeze a sector stalled by uncertainty over Brexit.

Transactions in commercial property fell by 40 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bank of England, with many buyers and sellers waiting to see the outcome of the June 23 referendum in case an exit vote hurts property prices.

In one example from a commercial transaction seen by Reuters, a clause sets a deadline after the vote when the buyer would be permitted to terminate the contract if the referendum results in a decision to leave.

Sellers too are taking legal precautions, seeking language in contracts to ensure that Brexit will not be considered a "material adverse change" that would annul a deal.

Paul Firth, head of real estate at law firm Irwin Mitchell LLP, said a significant percent of the firm's "bigger investment deals" with values ranging from 10 to 80 million pounds either included Brexit clauses, or purchasers had sought to negotiate that they be included.

He said the use of such clauses had increased in recent weeks as the referendum date draws closer.

"(Investors) fear that the value and return on investment properties may decline and that it may not be as good an investment if Britain withdraws from the EU," he said.

Since commercial real estate deals are usually confidential, it was not possible to determine precisely how common such clauses are.

However, half of the 24 law firms, brokerages and commercial property firms Reuters spoke to said they had used Brexit clauses, brokered a deal with such a clause or had requests to include them in at least one deal. Some of the others said they had seen them.

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Prime Minister David Cameron and other politicians supporting the campaign to stay in the EU say a vote to leave would damage the economy and cause property prices to fall. Those campaigning to exit say any such threat is overblown and Britain can prosper outside the EU.

But whether overblown or not, it is a risk some buyers seem unwilling to take.

Guarantees are being offered not only for commercial property but also for homes. An invitation to a May 25 launch of some floors of Two Fifty One, a 41-storey luxury apartment tower going up in south London's gentrifying Elephant and Castle district, offered buyers a "money back Brexit guarantee pledge".

Buyers attending the launch would not have to exchange contracts until July 6 and could withdraw their offer and get their deposits back if they were unhappy with the outcome of the vote, said Martin Lent, chief executive of SCM, the development manager for the project by residential developer Oakmayne.

In commercial property, Brexit clauses are more common in higher value deals where the risks are greater, said Andrew Friend, director of a UK property fund at Henderson, one of Europe's largest investment managers.

"Deals that include these clauses tend to be at the higher lot size end of the market and they're more focused on sectors such as financial office space in London, which are more sensitive to a Brexit type situation," said Friend.

FOREIGN INVESTORS

Brexit clauses are particularly in demand among overseas investors. Two lawyers dealing with property said most enquiries about Brexit clauses were from foreign investors who were concerned that an "Out" vote could weaken sterling, as well as reduce appetite for leasing commercial space in Britain.

"When it comes to international investors looking to build global or European portfolios, we are either 'on hold' or would use a Brexit clause," said Rob Wilkinson, chief executive of AEW Europe, which managed property assets in the UK worth about 2.1 billion euros as of March 31.

Melanie Curtis, a real estate partner at law firm K&L Gates LLP, said she had worked on a deal with a Brexit clause in a commercial property transaction worth more than 10 million pounds, in which her firm acted on behalf of an overseas buyer.

"The buyer required a Brexit clause, as it may reassess its UK investment policy in the event of withdrawal from the EU."

James Crookes, head of real estate and property at law firm Pinsent Masons LLP, said some clauses, rather than giving the buyer the right to walk away or renegotiate, would automatically reduce the purchase price of a property in the event of a Brexit vote. In one deal, the price would be lowered by 1 million pounds.

"So they're factoring in a valuation on the assets based on Brexit."

Nick Lloyd, national head of capital markets at commercial property broker Lambert Smith Hampton, said offering Brexit clauses could also be beneficial for sellers, to secure deals while fewer transactions are taking place, in anticipation of a potential flood of properties returning to the market if Britain votes to remain in the EU.

"Whilst they mitigate downside risk for buyers, they can be attractive to a vendor who wants to avoid the risks of marketing during a potential oversupply of new stock after the referendum," said Lloyd.

But with less than a month to the vote, two law firms and one property broker said they were now advising clients to reject demands for a Brexit clause and simply put deals on ice.

"One seller recently asked the buyer to confirm it would proceed with the purchase irrespective of the outcome of the referendum," said Mark Payne, a partner in the real estate team at law firm Clifford Chance LLP.

"This proposal was, however, rejected." (Editing by Robin Paxton, Guy Faulconbridge and Peter Graff)
By Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Esha Vaish

(Reuters) - Commercial property investors are writing clauses into contracts giving buyers the right to walk away from real estate deals if Britain votes to leave the European Union this month, as a way to unfreeze a sector stalled by uncertainty over Brexit.

Transactions in commercial property fell by 40 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bank of England, with many buyers and sellers waiting to see the outcome of the June 23 referendum in case an exit vote hurts property prices.

In one example from a commercial transaction seen by Reuters, a clause sets a deadline after the vote when the buyer would be permitted to terminate the contract if the referendum results in a decision to leave.

Sellers too are taking legal precautions, seeking language in contracts to ensure that Brexit will not be considered a "material adverse change" that would annul a deal.

Paul Firth, head of real estate at law firm Irwin Mitchell LLP, said a significant percent of the firm's "bigger investment deals" with values ranging from 10 to 80 million pounds either included Brexit clauses, or purchasers had sought to negotiate that they be included.

He said the use of such clauses had increased in recent weeks as the referendum date draws closer.

"(Investors) fear that the value and return on investment properties may decline and that it may not be as good an investment if Britain withdraws from the EU," he said.

Since commercial real estate deals are usually confidential, it was not possible to determine precisely how common such clauses are.

However, half of the 24 law firms, brokerages and commercial property firms Reuters spoke to said they had used Brexit clauses, brokered a deal with such a clause or had requests to include them in at least one deal. Some of the others said they had seen them.

Prime Minister David Cameron and other politicians supporting the campaign to stay in the EU say a vote to leave would damage the economy and cause property prices to fall. Those campaigning to exit say any such threat is overblown and Britain can prosper outside the EU.

Story continues

But whether overblown or not, it is a risk some buyers seem unwilling to take.

Guarantees are being offered not only for commercial property but also for homes. An invitation to a May 25 launch of some floors of Two Fifty One, a 41-storey luxury apartment tower going up in south London's gentrifying Elephant and Castle district, offered buyers a "money back Brexit guarantee pledge".

Buyers attending the launch would not have to exchange contracts until July 6 and could withdraw their offer and get their deposits back if they were unhappy with the outcome of the vote, said Martin Lent, chief executive of SCM, the development manager for the project by residential developer Oakmayne.

In commercial property, Brexit clauses are more common in higher value deals where the risks are greater, said Andrew Friend, director of a UK property fund at Henderson, one of Europe's largest investment managers.

"Deals that include these clauses tend to be at the higher lot size end of the market and they're more focused on sectors such as financial office space in London, which are more sensitive to a Brexit type situation," said Friend.

FOREIGN INVESTORS

Brexit clauses are particularly in demand among overseas investors. Two lawyers dealing with property said most enquiries about Brexit clauses were from foreign investors who were concerned that an "Out" vote could weaken sterling, as well as reduce appetite for leasing commercial space in Britain.

"When it comes to international investors looking to build global or European portfolios, we are either 'on hold' or would use a Brexit clause," said Rob Wilkinson, chief executive of AEW Europe, which managed property assets in the UK worth about 2.1 billion euros as of March 31.

Melanie Curtis, a real estate partner at law firm K&L Gates LLP, said she had worked on a deal with a Brexit clause in a commercial property transaction worth more than 10 million pounds, in which her firm acted on behalf of an overseas buyer.

"The buyer required a Brexit clause, as it may reassess its UK investment policy in the event of withdrawal from the EU."

James Crookes, head of real estate and property at law firm Pinsent Masons LLP, said some clauses, rather than giving the buyer the right to walk away or renegotiate, would automatically reduce the purchase price of a property in the event of a Brexit vote. In one deal, the price would be lowered by 1 million pounds.

"So they're factoring in a valuation on the assets based on Brexit."

Nick Lloyd, national head of capital markets at commercial property broker Lambert Smith Hampton, said offering Brexit clauses could also be beneficial for sellers, to secure deals while fewer transactions are taking place, in anticipation of a potential flood of properties returning to the market if Britain votes to remain in the EU.

"Whilst they mitigate downside risk for buyers, they can be attractive to a vendor who wants to avoid the risks of marketing during a potential oversupply of new stock after the referendum," said Lloyd.

But with less than a month to the vote, two law firms and one property broker said they were now advising clients to reject demands for a Brexit clause and simply put deals on ice.

"One seller recently asked the buyer to confirm it would proceed with the purchase irrespective of the outcome of the referendum," said Mark Payne, a partner in the real estate team at law firm Clifford Chance LLP.

"This proposal was, however, rejected."

(Editing by Robin Paxton, Guy Faulconbridge and Peter Graff)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran rejected terrorism charges raised against it in an annual U.S. State Department report, Iranian media outlets reported on Sunday, saying the Islamic Republic merely supported nations fighting for freedom. "The legitimate struggle of nations which are occupied ... are not examples of terrorism, and such charges in the American report are rejected," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari, quoted by state news agency IRNA. Ansari in turn condemned "U.S. military interferences and destructive support for terrorist groups in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Yemen", the agency said. As in previous years, the report cited Iran as the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, saying Tehran supported conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and was implicated in violent Shi'ite opposition raids in Bahrain. Bahrain has accused Iran of fomenting unrest in its country and of supplying weapons to Shi'ite militants behind several bomb attacks on security forces. Iran has denied the claims. The U.S. global terrorism report said on Thursday that the number of terrorist attacks around the world declined last year for the first time since 2012, and that such attacks were becoming more decentralized and diffuse. (Reporting By Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Tehran (AFP) - Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits.

The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria."

Ansari said Washington's support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the "biggest sponsor of state terrorism".

In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also "increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State."

Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the government's fightback against the Sunni extremists of IS.
By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A boat carrying fleeing civilians across a river from the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja sank on Saturday, killing at least four people, as pro-Baghdad forces said they had the city almost completely encircled. Two children, their mother and a man drowned crossing the 300-metre (1,000-feet) wide Euphrates, one the few escape routes left for civilians hoping to leave the besieged town as the war against the militants intensifies. Nine other people believed to have been on the boat remained missing, police said. "I've seen with my own eyes my family disappear under the water," said Abu Tabarak, who watched from the Islamic State-held side of the river as the boat sank with his wife, son and daughter aboard. "There was no place for me on the departing boat, so I had waited with my second daughter for the next one," he said by telephone from hospital in Ameriyat Falluja a town downstream under government control where the drowned bodies were taken. "Life has become worse than hell in Falluja; hunger, death and shelling," he said, his voice breaking with grief. "And after all that suffering, I lost my family before my eyes." Abu Tabarak's family had spent four days picking their way across the city, moving slowly to avoid shelling, sniper fire and explosive devices. His story highlights the plight of an estimated 50,000 civilians in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) from Baghdad, the first Iraqi city taken by Islamic State, in January 2014, as it seized swathes of territory there and in Syria. Already suffering shortages of water, food and medicines, the city is now under bombardment from Iraqi forces, allied Shi'ite militias and aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition, as they pursue the battle to retake Falluja that began on May 23. "AT THE GATES" A leader of the Iran-backed Shi'ite coalition taking part in the offensive said Falluja was now all but encircled, the only side that had yet to be secured by pro-Baghdad forces being part of the western bank of the Euphrates. "We are now at the gates of Falluja," Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Force, told a televised news conference. Civilians have been using anything that floats to help them cross the river, provincial council head Shakir al-Essawi said. "They are using empty refrigerators, wooden cupboards and kerosene barrels as makeshift boats," Essawi told Reuters. He said more than 1,000 families had managed to get across. "It's totally unsafe and this is why innocent people are drowning." Some die before even reaching the river, killed by sniper fire from Islamic State lines or by explosive devices along the roads, said Jassim Alwan, a police captain in Ameriyat Falluja. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on June 1 the offensive on Falluja had been slowed down in order to protect civilians. Sunni politicians have voiced concern that the presence of Shi'ite militias alongside the army in the battle could lead to an increase in sectarian violence. Falluja is a historic bastion of the insurgency against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Shi'ite-led authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003. The United Nations refugee agency said a total of about 12,000 people had managed to flee since May 23, mostly from the outskirts of the city. For a graphic on Falluja, please click on: http://tmsnrt.rs/1Xu1Jxq (Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi forces discovered a mass grave on Sunday after retaking an area from the Islamic State group near Fallujah, where the jihadists are using thousands of civilians as human shields.

Growing numbers of families reaching camps south of Fallujah told horrific accounts of how IS shot at them as they fled, but there was still no escape for the tens of thousands believed trapped in the city centre.

In Saqlawiya, northwest of Fallujah, Iraqi forces found a burial site thought to contain the bodies of around 400 people, most of them soldiers executed by IS in 2014 and 2015.

"The security forces of the federal police, the army and the Hashed al-Shaabi found a mass grave in the Shuhada neighbourhood during a mine clearing operation," a police colonel said.

He said most of the victims, whose remains were being transferred for identification, appeared to have been shot in the head.

"The mass grave also includes civilians executed by Daesh (IS) on various charges such as spying or breaking the organisation's rules," said Rajeh Barakat, a member of the provincial council of Anbar, where Fallujah is located.

Iraqi forces launched a vast operation on May 22-23 to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions.

The first phase of the operation was aimed at sealing the siege on the city by cutting the jihadist group's supply lines in outlying areas, including in Saqlawiya.

- Rights committee -

A week ago, elite troops launched a second phase aimed at breaking through into Fallujah itself, a dense city where US soldiers in 2004 suffered some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War.

But the Iraqi forces have been moving slowly, only making some forays into some southern neighbourhoods.

The Baghdad government said concern for the fate of an estimated 50,000 civilians still inside the city was slowing the operation.

"The operation to liberate Fallujah could have been completed in days but we put the safety of civilians first," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said.

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Out of the approximately 18,000 people who have reached displacement camps south of Fallujah since the offensive began two weeks ago, only a handful lived in the city.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Sunday that those who arrived at its camps in Amriyat al-Fallujah, to the south, told of how IS would open fire on them to punish them for fleeing.

"An unidentified number of civilians have been shot and killed trying to cross the river," it said in a statement.

"This is the worst that we feared would happen to innocent men, women and children who have had to leave everything behind in order to save their lives," the statement quoted NRC country director Nasr Muflahi as saying.

The premier's spokesman said that the government would also investigate claims of abuses committed against the civilian population by Iraqi forces in the course of the operation.

He said Abadi had ordered the creation of a human rights committee to examine "any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians".

- Militia warning -

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has issued guidelines intended as a form of code of conduct for forces fighting IS and aimed at curbing abuses.

Officials including Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi have expressed concern over reports of abuses committed by the forces involved in the operation to recapture Fallujah.

Juburi spoke on Thursday of "information indicating that some violations were carried out by some members of the federal police and some volunteers against civilians".

The Hashed al-Shaabi taking part in the Fallujah operation is an umbrella organisation that includes Sunni tribal fighters but is dominated by powerful Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

It is nominally under Abadi's authority but some of its most powerful groups answer directly to Iran.

Those groups have been repeatedly accused of fuelling sectarianism, and their involvement in the Fallujah battle was seen as potentially explosive.

Their role so far has been confined to the initial phase of shaping operations, but their top military commander said on Sunday they would move into the city if progress was too slow.

"We're partners in the liberation, our mission is not yet done," Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis said at a press conference.

"We are still in the area and we'll continue to support (them) if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, we'll enter with them," he said.
That recently bae Deepika Padukone had a secret rendevous with Ranveer Singh in Paris, is known to all. However, theres a lil twist to the story. As per a popular tabloid, Homi Adajania posted some cute photos of himself and fat cheeks Deepika on social media when the actress flew down to Budapest to shoot for a special song in Raabta. Reportedly, those photos didnt go down too well with beau Ranveer who is shooting for Befikre in Paris, had a minor argument with her on the matter!

Remember, on her return to Mumbai, Deepika was asked to comment on the Befikre poster, where Ranveer and Vaani are engaged in a passionate lip-lock? DP refused to comment and said that she has not seen it yet.



Recommended Read: I dont need to be the apparent cynosure of all eyes, says Aishwarya Rai Bachchan



It is being said, that now when the things have cooled down between the lovebirds, they have zoomed off to an undisclosed destination for a romantic getaway but the destination still remains a mystery. Also, we heard that the couples parents will be joining them on this mini vaccation.

*Romantic Holidays*

The couple had flown to Maldives to ring in New Years. But where did the lovebirds fly off to this time?

Any guesses peeps?
Amid his legal drama with Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is proving that the show must go on.

The 52-year-old actor is scheduled to perform with his band, The Hollywood Vampires, on Monday in Bucharest, Romania, but the rock supergroup has already touched down in the country, where they've spent much of their time mingling with fans and sightseeing.

WATCH: Amber Heard Sues Johnny Depp's Friend Doug Stanhope

Alexandra Enachescu was one of the lucky fans who got to meet Depp, snapping a photo with the actor outside of Ristorante Il Calcio Herastrau, an upscale Italian restaurant in in the Herastrau Park district of Bucharest.

"Life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate after all," she captioned her Instagram post, quoting Depp's beloved Captain Jack Sparrow character from Pirates of the Caribbean.

WATCH: Johnny Depp Parties at Hotel Bar Following Release of Amber Heard's Text Messages Alleging Domestic Abuse

Lalu Madalina also got a photo with Depp, flashing a smile as she wrapped her arm around him.

A fan who met Depp tells ET that the actor was very kind about being asked to take photos. "He is quiet guy," the eyewitness said. "I hope what he's going through isn't true. He was a really nice guy."

When he wasn't busy snapping pics with locals, Depp and his bandmates, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, promoted their concert. In a surprise video posted to YouTube on Friday, Depp flashed a smile as he made his first on-screen appearance since news of his split from Heard broke. "We hope to see you there and have some big fun," he exclaimed.

The band also explored the city's attractions. The official Instagram page for The Hollywood Vampires released photos of the rockers at Bran Castle, aka Dracula's Castle, which were shot by photographers John Bionelli and Kyler Clark.

WATCH: New Photos of Amber Heard Detail Another Alleged 'Violent' Incident with Johnny Depp

Depp's Alice Through the Looking Glass producer and longtime friend, Tim Burton, even joined them on the excursion.

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WATCH: A Young Johnny Depp Opened Up About Alcohol-Addled Past in 1993 Interview

Prior to their arrival, Depp relaxed on the plane by reading a book, as one of his touring musicians, Bruce Witkin, passed the time by playing with water bottles. The moment was captured by Clark, who later posted it to his personal Instagram account.

As all of this was going on, Depp's estranged wife, Heard, filed a defamation lawsuit against the actor's friend, comedian Doug Stanhope, on Friday in Arizona.

As ET previously reported, the 30-year-old actress alleged that Stanhope accused her of blackmailing Depp in a "completely false and defamatory" guest column published on TheWrap.com on May 29.

WATCH: Johnny Depp & Amber Heard: A Timeline of Their Relationship, Divorce and Domestic Abuse Allegations

Last month, Heard was granted a temporary restraining order against Depp, less than a week after filing for divorce from the actor, alleging he had been abusive to her over the course of their one-year marriage.

In the newest court filing, Heard detailed another incident in which Depp allegedly "hit and kicked" her. Watch the video below to hear more.

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Johnny Depp is continuing his European adventures in Romania.



Depp, 52, has kept quiet about his now-highly publicized divorce from Amber Heard, but he reached out to fans to promote his band Hollywood Vampires in a YouTube video posted on Friday.



In the video, a guitar-wielding Depp  who is in the band with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith's Joe Perry  asks fans to attend the group's final European show in Bucharest, Romania, on Monday.



Depp has continued on through the band's European tour after Heard, 30, filed for divorce and was granted a temporary restraining order against him in late May.







And while the divorce drama continues, Depp has been seen partying around Europe and visiting places like Dracula's castle with his bandmates.



"The concerts and the tour are good for him," a source told PEOPLE. "He doesn't want to let his fans down. It's the best distraction."





Johnny Depp Promotes the Hollywood Vampire's Upcoming Romania Show in New Video| Hollywood Vampires, Alice Cooper, Amber Heard, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp





Depp and Heard met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011 and were married in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce from the actor on May 23 and later claimed in court documents filed on May 27 that he had allegedly been abusive towards her throughout their relationship, saying, "Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me."



In a response to Heard's restraining order request, Depp's lawyers said the actress was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."
During The Hollywood Reporter's Comedy Actor Roundtable, Keegan-Michael Key admitted that finding a smart way to address social issues with humor was a challenge for him and his Key & Peele partner Jordan Peele.

Following the tragic shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Key shared he felt a sense of responsibility to write timely sketches tackling issues of race.

"You check your Twitter feed and everyone is like, 'Why isn't Luther talking about this?'" he said, referencing a recurring character he plays on the show, President Obama's "anger translator."

Read more: Ouch! Aziz Ansari, Rob Lowe, Keegan-Michael Key Play 'Most Embarrassing Moment' in Comedy Actor Roundtable

Key credited his creative partner, Peele, for finding a thought-provoking way into the race conversation: "He's the base of the lightbulb and I'm the filament. I need him to go, 'Hey man, let's just keep writing our reality' and keep leaning into what we find comedically - structure-wise - is gonna work for us. Then, our reality is going to reflect off of other people and they'll think about it."

Citing the sketch "Hoodie," a response to the 2013 shooting of Trayvon Martin written by Peele, as an example of a "proactive sketch" that's also comedic, he explained, "It's fighting that didactic nature of satire sometimes."

Read more: Jordan Peele on Dodging Certain Network Notes: "We Have This Wonderful Thing Called the Race Card"

Key continued, "Very often, if you're a person of color, the fact that you have melanin in your skin makes the sketch exist on more than two or three levels."

He went on to note that sometimes ordinary sketch ideas, not focused on the topic of race, prove to be the most "revolutionary."

"We wanted to do a sketch about Victor Hugo and Les Miserables. ... We just happen to be people of color. [But] we're gonna put on our powdered wigs and our cravats and do our sketch. And that should just be OK. Let's just do that," he said. "Why do we have to justify why we have melanin?"

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The Key & Peele star also told THR his hopes for the sketch show's future: "100 years from now or 200 years from now, if you're looking at our archive - I would love someone to watch a Key & Peele sketch and go, 'I don't get this at all.' I'd love them to hate how stale our show is. That's my prayer for Earth, is that our show has no meaning in 200 years."

More roundtables featuring comedy actresses, drama actresses and actors and reality hosts and producers will roll out throughout June in print and online. Tune in to new episodes of Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter starting June 26 on SundanceTV, with the premiere of the Comedy Actors Roundtable on Sunday, July 17. And look for clips at THR.com/roundtables with full episodes on THR.com after broadcast.

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By Yeganeh Torbati ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed Mongolia as an "oasis of democracy" sitting in a tough location between Russia and China as he made a rare visit by a cabinet-level U.S. official on Sunday. Arriving from Paris, Kerry made the visit to Mongolia en route to Beijing to attend the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the high-level talks held between the United States and China each year. The Obama administration has sought to cultivate Mongolia as a partner, given its location between two increasingly assertive U.S. rivals  China and Russia, countries Mongolia relies on heavily for trade and energy imports. U.S. officials regularly tout Mongolia, a country of three million people, as an inspirational story of democratic transition since winning independence from the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago. "You really set a great example," Kerry told Mongolian and American embassy staff at the U.S. ambassador's residence. "You've got China on one side of you, and Russia on the other side of you, and there are always a lot of pressures, and here you are in this oasis of democracy fighting for your own identity." But Mongolia's democratic and human rights records have come under scrutiny. The 2015 State Department report on human rights in Mongolia noted "vague laws and a lack of transparency in legislative, executive, and judicial processes" that "undermined government efficiency and public confidence and invited corruption." Parliamentary elections are to be held this month, and democracy advocates have criticized a rule change by parliament last month that is expected to disadvantage smaller parties. The lack of transparency in business regulations has hampered foreign investment, officials say, badly needed in an economy where growth has all but halted, far from a peak of 17.5 percent in 2011. Falling prices for its chief exports, coal and copper, and weak demand from China, by far Mongolia's biggest trading partner, are behind the slowdown. Kerry said it was important the Mongolian government implement a transparency agreement with the United States, which would provide greater business confidence to foreign investors. The Mongolian and U.S. governments signed the agreement in 2013 after years of negotiations but its final implementation has been mired in red tape. The agreement would commit Mongolia to publish in English an explanation for proposed regulations, and allow for public comments on those regulations, among other measures. "The implementation of this agreement is really key, a very important step to be able to attract foreign direct investment," Kerry said. (Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act". U.S. officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013. "We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia. "So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative." Kerry will visit China after Mongolia. China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea. China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up. China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait and Lincoln Feast)
Paris (AFP) - Five facts on Sunday's French Open men's final between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray:

- It will be the seventh meeting between Djokovic and Murray in a Grand Slam final. Djokovic has a 7-2 win-loss record against Murray in all rounds at the Grand Slams, and a 4-2 win-loss record in finals. The only player Djokovic has beaten on more occasions than Murray at a Grand Slam is Roger Federer (nine times).

- Djokovic is looking to become just the eighth man -- and second oldest -- to complete the career Grand Slam after Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Roger Federer, Rod Laver, Rafael Nadal and Fred Perry. Only Budge and Laver have completed a calendar year Grand Slam -- Budge in 1938 and Laver in 1962 and 1969.

- Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam title that Djokovic has not won. He has won 11 Grand Slam titles -- at the Australian Open in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016, Wimbledon in 2011, 2014 and 2015, US Open in 2011 and 2015. Having won the 2016 Australian Open, Djokovic is looking to become the first man in 24 years to hold the first two legs of the calendar Grand Slam.

- Murray is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having defeated Djokovic in the final on both occasions. He became the first British male Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry won the 1936 US Open at the 2012 US Open, before becoming the first British man in 77 years to win the Wimbledon title in 2013.

- Murray is attempting to become the second British man to win the Roland Garros title after Fred Perry, who won the title in 1935. Murray is just the third British man to reach the final since the event became international in 1925 with Bunny Austin a runner-up in 1937.
Jakarta (AFP) - Lee Chong Wei beat Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen in a hard-fought final to win the Indonesia Open Sunday, raising hopes the Malaysian badminton ace may be on course for Olympic victory.

World number two Lee battled back from one set down to defeat Jorgensen 17-21, 21-19, 21-17 in a thriller featuring a series of long rallies and dramatic smashes.

Fifth seed Jorgensen dominated in the early stages of the men's singles final and appeared to be heading for victory as he took the lead in the second set.

But second seed Lee fought back doggedly, winning a series of tough rallies to cling on.

By the final stages of the third set, Lee was firmly in control, winning point after point as Jorgensen's initial confidence faded.

Lee said he was "very happy" to win his sixth Indonesia Open title after the tough match, that lasted one hour and five minutes, but admitted he did not play well at the start.

"In the second game he was leading 19-17, I was preparing myself to lose," he said.

Jorgensen said he was "very disappointed" at his loss.

"I felt that I had the game in my hand and I think I should have won it," he said.

The victory will be a boost for Lee as he heads to Rio this summer, where the 33-year-old will again try for Olympic gold.

At the last two Olympics, Lee lost in the final to his arch-rival, China's Lin Dan.

In another boost for the Malaysian, Lin was knocked out of the Indonesian Open earlier in the tournament, losing in a shock defeat to unseeded Indonesian Jonatan Christie.

Top seed Chen Long of China withdrew, blaming an injury.

Despite his loss in the final, Jorgensen's impressive performance will be a boost for the Danes, coming hot on the heels of their maiden Thomas Cup victory last month.

In the women's singles finals, unseeded Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan beat fourth seed Wang Yihan of China 21-17, 21-8, capping a miserable badminton tournament for China.

Chinese players were also beaten in the final of the women's doubles and men's doubles, although a Chinese pair won the mixed doubles.
By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM, June 5 (Reuters) - The partners in Israel's Leviathan natural gas field on Sunday shrugged off a lower estimate of its size from the country's Energy Ministry, which said the field could be 20 percent smaller than the companies have predicted.

The ministry included the estimate in its approval on Thursday of the development plan for the field. This was 17.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf), lower than the companies' 21.9 tcf estimate.

The ministry also said this could change after it receives more drilling data on one of the project's wells, Leviathan 5.

The companies are sticking with their assessment and are pushing ahead with plans to bring the field online by the end of 2019.

"The partnership clarifies that there has been no change in the resource estimate," the Israeli partners said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Found in 2010, Leviathan was one of the world's largest offshore discoveries of the decade, expected to bring Israel a major cash windfall and export deals which are waiting to be signed with countries like Egypt, Jordan and possibly Turkey.

Israeli conglomerate Delek Group, through subsidiaries Delek Drilling and Avner Oil, holds a 45.34 percent stake in Leviathan. Texas-based Noble Energy has a 39.66 percent share, and Israel's Ratio Oil has the remaining 15 percent.

The issue has had little impact on the companies' shares in Tel Aviv, which were mostly flat in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling and Avner Oil, told Reuters they were satisfied with the Energy Ministry's approval, which he said included a production capacity of 21 billion cubic meters a year.

"The reserves are enough to meet domestic demand and exporting contracts with neighboring countries as we plan, according to the approved development plan," he said.

Both the companies and the ministry used outside energy consultants to come up with their estimates.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)
During his landmark visit last month to Hiroshima, Japan, President Barack Obama declared that technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us.

Though he was reflecting on nuclear weapons and presenting a vision for a more peaceful future  a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening  Obamas reflections on institutions sluggish response to technological change could serve as a useful coda to documentarian Alex Gibneys new film, Zero Days.

The film chronicles the dawn of a new kind of warfare, in cyberspace, and explores how the United States pioneered it with Stuxnet, which will likely join Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, in the history books as a weapon that changed the character of war.

For all its wizardry  and there is a great deal  in telling a visually captivating story about computer code, Gibneys new film is also a plea for transparency in the U.S. governments growing arsenal of digital weapons, and how they would use them in a time of war. The film includes a rather remarkable montage of current and former government officials with knowledge of the Stuxnet worm refusing to comment on a weapon that has huge implications for the future of war.

Journalists and researchers who have tried to learn about Americas military and intelligence capabilities in cyberspace are familiar with this staggering secrecy. Though anonymous government officials have leaked to the media that Stuxnet was a joint U.S.-Israeli operation, Washington still formally refuses to acknowledge that it was behind the first example of a digital weapon causing physical damage. The White House on Friday declined to comment on the film and its revelations.

Such reticence to take responsibility for an act of war deeply disturbs Gibney. Nobody said after Hiroshima and Nagasaki: What bombs?' he told Foreign Policy in an interview.

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Gibney won an Oscar in 2008 for Taxi to the Dark Side, about American interrogation and detention practices in Afghanistan, and directed the combative 2015 documentary about Scientology, Going Clear. Asked whether he saw any parallels between the secretive church and Americas closed community of digital spies and soldiers, Gibney said they are both very much in the business of sculpting the narrative.

Authorized first by the Bush administration and continued by Obama, Stuxnet targeted Iranian nuclear enrichment by infiltrating the computers controlling the high-speed centrifuges that enrich uranium and are a key step in producing a nuclear warhead. By sabotaging the speed at which the centrifuges ran, Stuxnet destroyed many of the fragile machines, possibly setting back Irans nuclear program.

Gibneys film is one part detective story and relies heavily on interviews with Eric Chien and Liam OMurchu, the Symantec researchers who did much of the early work in trying to understand Stuxnets function after it escaped onto the open internet. In trying to humanize a story about ones and zeros, Gibney turned to nerd sleuths Chien and OMurchu to explain just what the virus was intended to accomplish. Their excitement and despair in trying to learn Stuxnets secrets provides the film with much of its emotional core.

As Chien and OMurchu chronicle their journey through Stuxnets complex structure  its probably the most advanced computer virus ever seen  sequences of its actual code speeds along the screen  in an aesthetic that recalls The Matrix.

The film credibly makes the case that the science-fiction future of warfare has arrived. In reporting the film, Gibney and co-producer Javier Botero talked to a variety of anonymous sources within the U.S. intelligence and military establishments and then combined those interviews into a composite character, a digitally rendered actress who speaks to the audience as if she were being interviewed.

Its a clever trick for a filmmaker working with sources terrified of being prosecuted  or being stripped of their security clearances and losing the prospect of lucrative private sector jobs. The typical approach to anonymous sources in a documentary film relies on a heavily backlit interview with a subject whose voice has been digitally altered. Its a dated approach that can be confusing when dealing with multiple subjects.

The composite digital character also serves Gibneys argument about transparency. The entire conceit of it was a comment on this over-obsession of secrecy, Gibney said.

The Obama administration has prosecuted a record number of government employees under the Espionage Act for speaking to the media, which has had a chilling effect on the work of reporters trying to bring classified information into the open. Hiding his sources behind this digital veil shows the extreme lengths that weve been pushed to tell the story, Gibney said.

The use of the composite character has its problems. It is impossible to evaluate the origin of the information Gibneys sources provide, and requires the viewer to put an enormous amount of trust in the filmmaker. Crucially for the films integrity, Gibney reveals at the films end that the source is a composite.

That source provides what is the films most gripping revelation: a far more extensive  and mind-bending  plan than Stuxnet for cyberwar against Iran.

As Obama sought a rapid means for striking Tehran, his generals and spies came back with a plan dubbed Nitro Zeus. It envisioned American operatives infiltrating Iranian computer networks to disable parts of the Iranian power grid, take down its air defenses, and strike its communications systems. The plan deployed thousands of U.S. personnel to penetrate Iranian networks and install the computer code necessary to carry out the attack. Nitro Zeus presented Obama with a way to turn off critical elements of the Iranian infrastructure without firing a shot, the New York Times reported.

The use of such weapons in conflicts between states will only increase in the 21st century. Late last year, hackers shut down power in a section of western Ukraine, leading Kiev to accuse Moscow of mounting a cyberattack. In recent months, U.S. officials have described dropping cyber bombs on Islamic State operatives in Syria.

But Gibney persuasively makes the case that these weapons and their implications remain poorly understood. Taking down a power grid through hacking is far easier than bringing it back, and the knock-on effects of such an attack are difficult to predict before it takes place.

Moreover, the use of such weapons exists in a legal gray area. Precisely how the law of war applies to cyber operations is not well-settled, and aspects of the law in this area are likely to continue to develop, especially as new cyber capabilities are developed and States determine their views in response to such developments, according to the most recent version of the Pentagons law of war manual, published in June 2015.

Nonetheless, cyber war is here to stay  its simply too attractive a tool of statecraft. At the tail end of the President George W. Bushs second term, Iran ramped up its nuclear program. But bogged down in two wars and dogged by his false allegations of Iraqi WMD development, Bush had few tools with which to counter Tehran. Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grew livid at American inaction and threatened to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Had he done so, the operation would all but certainly have dragged the United States into war with Iran.

But instead, and by joining with Israel to attack Iran with Stuxnet, the United States reassured its ally and perhaps even headed off outright war.

Gibneys film effectively weaves together these political and technological threads to show how scientific advances have remade war in the 21st century. This transformation has occurred, Gibney argues, without equivalent progress in human institutions, to borrow a phrase from Obama, the man who has overseen the American revolution in cyberwar.

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Mounting tensions over South China Sea territorial rows could overshadow US-China talks in Beijing Monday, after the two global powers exchanged barbs over the disputed waterway.

China claims nearly all of the sea despite competing declarations by several Southeast Asian neighbours and has built artificial islands suitable for military use in the South China Sea.

Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese-claimed reefs, angering Beijing.

Tensions mounted after the South China Morning Post reported last week Beijing could establish an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the sea -- which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers.

On a trip to Mongolia Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the establishment of such a zone would be considered "a provocative and destabilising act".

"We believe that it is critical that no country move unilaterally to militarise the region," he told reporters in Ulan Bator.

Kerry arrived later Sunday in Beijing for the two-day "Eighth US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue", which will also be chaired by US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang.

The meeting follows an Asian security summit in Singapore Sunday attended by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, where the South China Sea dispute was front and centre.

"The South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests," Admiral Sun Jianguo said at the meeting.

Despite the terse exchanges, Kerry insisted this week's dialogue with Beijing was about cooperation, not discord.

"Some people want to try to create a sense of tension and clash, but I think it's much more important to be working on the things that we can do to cooperate together and to make a difference," he told Hong Kong's Phoenix TV in an interview aired Sunday.

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He highlighted areas of collaboration between the global superpowers, including on the Iran nuclear deal, combating Ebola in west Africa and supporting UN sanctions against North Korea, Beijing's traditional ally.

- 'Concerned' -

Monday's meeting is set to cover issues beyond the South China Sea, including climate change, cyber-security, terrorism, trade and economic cooperation.

A US Treasury Department statement said talks will focus on "a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term economic and strategic interest".

But ahead of the meeting, a US official told AFP: "The tensions on the South China Sea are higher than last year. We remain concerned."

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims in the South China Sea, which encompasses vital global shipping routes and is believed to have significant oil and gas deposits.

Manila accuses China of taking effective control of the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and has brought a case against Beijing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. China has shunned the proceedings and says it will not recognise any ruling.

China's vice minister of foreign affairs Zheng Zeguang warned against rising tensions ahead of Monday's meeting.

"Confrontation between the US and China will only be disastrous for the two countries and for the world," he told reporters Thursday.

While in China, Kerry will also attend the annual US-China Consultation on People-to-People exchange, a forum bringing together government officials and private sector representatives to strengthen ties in fields such as education, culture and sports.

Kerry arrived in Beijing after visiting Mongolia, which he hailed as an "oasis of democracy" sandwiched between China and Russia.
(Reuters) - Mexico will elect 12 new state governors on Sunday, in a key test of the ruling party's ability to withstand public discontent over corruption, impunity and gang violence ahead of the 2018 presidential elections. President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, holds nine of the 12 governorships, while the center-right National Action Party (PAN) and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), jointly have three. GOVERNORSHIPS The PRI appeared unlikely to keep all nine states, facing a particularly tough battle in the state of Veracruz. Polls suggested the PRI was favorite to win at least four states, Sinaloa, Hidalgo, Chihuahua and Quintana Roo, and was trailing behind the PAN in Puebla. The PRI had a slight advantage in Zacatecas and Durango. The PAN and the PRD are locked in tight races with the PRI in Aguascalientes, Tlaxcala, Oaxaca, and Tamaulipas, but a loss for the PRI in Veracruz would give a boost to the opposition going into 2018. The PRI has never lost Veracruz, the third most populous state, or Tamaulipas, Durango, Hidalgo and Quintana Roo in gubernatorial contests. The PRI had never lost any governorship until 1989. The 12 states up for grabs, out of total of 31, represent approximately 30 percent of the population. Polls showed a virtual tie in Veracruz between the PRI and its smaller Green Party and New Alliance Party allies and the PAN-PRD coalition, in a campaign that has been dominated by allegations of vote-buying on behalf of the PRI and illicit enrichment of the PAN candidate. The PRI and the PAN-PRD were both seeking to distance themselves from Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte who has been assailed for corruption and impunity. Since Duarte took office in 2010, the state has seen the abduction of Mexicans by state police, the assassination of journalists, and accusations of money laundering among senior government officials, including the current governor. OPPOSITION ALLIANCES To have a unified front against PRI, Mexico's main opposition parties were fielding joint candidates for five governorships in Durango, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, in addition to Veracruz. Success for the PAN-PRD alliance on June 5 could help shape strategy for 2018 if neither side reckons it can independently beat the ruling party or the center-left National Regeneration Movement (Morena), led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Leaders of the PAN and the PRD have said they would be open to forging alliances ahead of the presidential election in 2018. The new Morena movement has benefited from voter fatigue over established political parties, making late inroads in the Veracruz election. The competitive race run by Morena was also strengthening the near-certain 2018 presidential bid of Lopez Obrador, who has name recognition among 96 percent of Mexicans, according to Parametria, a Mexican pollster. Senior government officials have said in private he is the man to beat. (Reporting by Natalie Ann Schachar and Dave Graham; Editing by Bill Rigby)
By Dave Graham XALAPA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican regional elections on Sunday pose a major test for the ruling party's hopes of retaining the presidency in 2018 as discontent over corruption and violence fuels support for the anti-establishment message of a resurgent leftist firebrand. Voters were choosing new governors in a dozen of Mexico's 31 states, including bastions of President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, that could fall to the opposition after more than 80 years of one-party rule. The biggest prize on offer is oil-rich Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico, the third most-populous state, which has been long dominated by a few families under nonstop PRI government. Turnout was patchy in the state capital, Xalapa, early on Sunday, with many voters expressing anger, fear and resignation over years of gang violence and a sluggish economy. Election officials said as many as a fifth of polling booths opened late. Turf wars between the gangs, mounting debts and allegations of corruption have turned Veracruz into a liability for Pena Nieto, and only thanks to splits in the opposition does the centrist PRI look to have any hope of holding on to it. Opinion polls show Cuitlahuac Garcia, candidate of the new National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, party of two-time presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, running neck and neck in Veracruz with the PRI's Hector Yunes and his cousin Miguel Angel Yunes, who heads a joint bid by the main center-right and center-left opposition parties. There were scattered reports of violence and fraud in the state, a common complaint in Mexican elections, where party campaigners often go door to door with gifts and incentives to entice poorer voters in particular to back their candidates. 'WAKE-UP CALL' Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon of the center-right opposition National Action Party, or PAN, said on Twitter that two party members had been kidnapped ahead of the election in Chihuahua, a state on the U.S. border that has experienced years of violence. Reuters could not independently verify the details. The party also said one of its mayors in Acajete, Veracruz, had his home attacked. Local media showed the building on fire. "We're seeing a climate of persecution against the opposition in Veracruz," PAN spokesman Fernando Rodriguez said. "Veracruz has a very authoritarian, very violent, very repressive governor and today ... they're still showing that." Accused by critics of not vigorously prosecuting crimes and misusing public funds, Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte has become such a lightning rod for anger that PRI candidate Hector Yunes said last year he was "embarrassed" to be in the same party as the 42-year-old official. Duarte, who is not seeking re-election, has denied wrongdoing. Since Duarte took office, Veracruz's debt has more than doubled to 46 billion pesos ($2.5 billion) according to official data, although other estimates put the figure far higher. The state has also become notorious for violent crime and the killings of journalists. Pedro Rivera, a 49-year-old entrepreneur in Xalapa backing the PAN, said many of his friends had been robbed or kidnapped under Duarte's rule and that graft was worse than ever. "There's always been a lot of corruption, but this time's it's been really bad," he said. "(Veracruz) has always been PRI. If the PRI loses, it could be a wake-up call for everyone." Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, routinely lumps all the established parties together as different faces of the same corrupt system, and if Morena wins Veracruz, it would be a powerful springboard for a presidential run in 2018. Polls show he has a real chance. Several contests heading into Sunday were too close to call and surveys suggest the PRI will struggle to defend all nine of the 12 governorships it currently holds. (Additional reporting by Noe Torres, Liz Diaz and Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Simon Gardner and Peter Cooney)
ATHENS (Reuters) - Migrants who survived a shipwreck on Friday off the island of Crete in the southern Mediterranean have told authorities their boat set sail from Egypt and carried about 350 people, the Greek coastguard said on Saturday. On Friday, Greek authorities said 340 people were rescued and nine bodies were recovered about 75 nautical miles off southern Crete, in territory which falls under Egypt's search and rescue jurisdiction. State broadcaster ERT carried unsourced accounts the vessel was carrying anything between 500 and 700 people. More and more people are trying to cross to Italy from the African coastline in recent weeks as the weather improves, particularly from Libya, where people-traffickers operate with relative impunity. Friday's incident was the third in a week involving migrant rescues or landings near Crete, Greece's southernmost island north of Libya and Egypt. A group of 113 mostly Afghan migrants who landed on a beach in Crete this week had set off from Turkey. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
(Reuters) - A 25-year-old specialist from California was the ninth soldier at the Fort Hood Army post killed last week when a military vehicle overturned in flood waters, officials said on Sunday. Yingming Sun was among those who died when a military vehicle overturned in a flood-swollen creek on June 2 at the military post in central Texas, the Fort Hood base said in a statement. The names of the other eight soldiers killed in the incident were released on Saturday. Three soldiers were rescued from the water and survived. The accident that occurred at a low-water crossing during a training exercise remains under investigation by the U.S. Army. Torrential rains that deluged Texas last week resulted in at least 16 weather-related deaths. (Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
Baghdad (AFP) - An Iraqi paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed militias is willing to send forces into Fallujah if efforts to retake the city are too slow, its top commander said on Sunday.

Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive on May 22-23 against Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the Islamic State group's main bastions.

The Hashed al-Shaabi militias have since the start of the operation confined their action to Fallujah's outskirts and left elite federal forces to conduct breaching operations.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has stated clearly that Hashed forces would not enter the city, amid fears of sectarian unrest and abuses against Fallujah's Sunni population.

But Hashed al-Shaabi's military commander, who goes by the name Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, said that could change if the fighting drags on.

"We're partners in the liberation, our mission is not yet done," he told reporters in Baghdad.

"We have accomplished the task given to us, which was to surround (Fallujah) while the liberation was assigned to other forces.

"We are still in the area and we'll continue to support (them) if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, we'll enter with them."

Hashed and other forces have almost completely surrounded the city, where Mohandis said 2,500 IS fighters are still holed up.

Backed by air strikes, Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service has over the past week tried to break into the city centre but has been slowed by tough resistance and concerns over the presence there of an estimated 50,000 civilians.

Leaders and fighters of the various militia groups fighting under the umbrella of the Hashed have sent mixed messages over the issue.

Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Tehran-backed Badr organisation whose armed wing is one of Iraq's most powerful militias, has repeatedly stressed that Hashed forces should not enter central Fallujah.

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- Slow progress -

Yet he told the Washington Post in article published on Saturday: "No one can stop us from going there."

Mohandis is a key figure in Iraq's battle to retake the territory lost to the jihadists in 2014.

He is considered one of the most powerful men in the country and has close ties to Iran.

Mohandis argued that the human and material cost would rise the longer the operation dragged on.

"A lengthy liberation operation would cost the security forces more and would inflict more destruction on the city, just like what happened in Ramadi," he said.

Ramadi is the capital of the vast Anbar province, in which Fallujah is also located. It was retaken by government forces early this year after falling to IS in May 2015.

Federal forces relied heavily on air support from the US-led coalition to recapture the city, entire areas of which have been levelled.

Asked about the Hashed al-Shaabi's role in Fallujah's liberation, the spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said Abadi would have to approve any change in the current plan.

"The Hashed al-Shaabi forces have already done their part by liberating hundreds of square kilometres (square miles) and surrounding the militants who are inside the city," Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told AFP.

"Only the commander-in-chief of the armed forces has the authority to decide who should be involved in breaching operations."

On Sunday, elite Iraqi forces were battling IS on the southern edge of Fallujah, in the Jbeil and Shuhada neighbourhoods.

"There is some resistance by Daesh, but a little less than in previous days," said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, using an Arab acronym for IS.

He added that on the northern side, police and other forces still had not reached the boundaries of the city but were nearing the train station.
Geneva (AFP) - The Swiss on Sunday flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income.

Final results in the referendum showed 76.9 percent of voters opposed the initiative to provide an unconditional, basic income (UBI) to each Swiss national, along with foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years.

Supporters had argued that such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are increasingly hard to come by.

The group behind the initiative had suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,500/2,300 euros) a month to each adult and 625 francs for each child.

Such a sum, however, would hardly cover basic living costs in Switzerland, which is one of the world's priciest nations where the median income is above 6,000 francs a month.

The idea, which stirred up debate both in Switzerland and abroad, was embraced in a few counties in the cantons of Jura and Vaud, while several neighbourhoods of Geneva and Zurich voted in favour.

But overall, the response from the 46 percent of eligible voters who cast their ballots was a resounding "no", in line with the recommendation from the government and nearly all political parties.

The scheme to dish out an income to people whether they work or not was controversial from the start in Switzerland --a country where craftmanship and work ethic are highly valued.

- 'Marxist dream' -

Andreas Ladner, a political scientist at Lausanne University, told RTS the Swiss were "realistic" in their assessment of the UBI plan.

Accepting that people can "be paid without having to work would have been a very big step" for the industrious Swiss, he said.

Critics condemned the initiative as "a Marxist dream", warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, causing economic chaos.

Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.

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That argument likely hit home with the Swiss who have previously turned up their nose at initiatives that would have ushered in a minimum wage and increased paid holidays from a minimum four to six weeks, fearing they would hurt competitiveness.

But supporters of the UBI initiative were not cowed by the resounding defeat, insisting that their main objective had been to get people talking about the idea.

"We are very happy," Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told the ATS news agency.

Supporters threw a party in Lausanne to celebrate the 23 percent of votes they had garnered.

"One out of five people voted for the unconditional basic income, so that is a success in itself," Sergio Rossi, an economics professor and backer of the initiative, told ATS.

- Europe-wide debate -

The idea of a basic income has been bouncing around in more radical circles for centuries, but it has recently entered mainstream thinking.

Projects to introduce some variation of the UBI, albeit at a lower level than the Swiss proposal, are underway in a range of countries, including in Finland and the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Sunday's referendum came after reformers mustered more than the 100,000 signatures required to hold a popular vote, a feature of the Swiss system of direct democracy.

While the UBI initiative was clobbered, several other contentious issues put to the vote Sunday sailed through.

A full 66.8 percent of voters and all 26 cantons embraced a government push to speed up the country's asylum process, despite harsh opposition from the populist rightwing Swiss People's Party.

The aim is for most cases to be handled within 140 days or less, compared to an average of around 400 days at the moment.

And 62.4 percent of voters and all but three half-cantons supported a call to allow genetic testing of embryos before they are inserted in the uterus in cases of in vitro fertilisation where either parent carries a serious hereditary disease.

No screening would be permitted for elements like gender, hair and eye colours, but that has not stopped opponents from dubbing the initiative the "eugenics law".
dinosaur

Passive investing is taking over the money-management world.

Exchange-traded funds, which simply track an index, have hoovered up assets at a rate over the past decade. The combined assets of ETFs in the US hitting $2.2 trillion in April, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The funds, which are low cost, tax efficient, and offer liquidity and transparency, pose an existential threat to the mutual-funds industry.

Actively managed (meaning run by a portfolio manager) mutual funds charge higher fees and have struggled for performance of late.

"ETF share in the US is 15% today, but we think it could eventually reach 40-60% over the next ten years," Credit Suisse analysts led by Craig Siegenthaler said in a note last week.

That is bad news for mutual-fund companies, which stand to see their revenues decline as assets migrate from more expensive actively managed funds toward cheaper, passive ETFs.

"So the question on every CEO's mind is  how can active traditional, benchmark-relative managers fight back?"

The answer, according to Credit Suisse, is to evolve.

Siegenthaler and his team highlighted a new kind of ETF structure that could give active managers a chance in their battle against the likes of iShares and Vanguard, which are giants of the passive-investing world.

The structure, which is called a nontransparent ETF, or NTETF, is being proposed by Precidian, which is partially owned by fund manager Legg Mason.

"We think the early adopters of Precidians NTETF could have a head-start in protecting their business from passives and new regulations, and also be successful in winning clients from competitors that only exist in the older mutual fund structures," Credit Suisse said.

The NTETF will function like an existing ETF, and investors will be able to buy and sell them through their existing accounts at traditional brokerage firms and financial supermarkets.

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The difference is that, as the name suggests, the NTETF is nontransparent. Like a mutual fund, the NTETF will only disclose its holdings on a quarterly basis, and the redemption process will be carried out through a "confidential" account.

NYSE refiled its application to permit the trading of 15 Precidian NTETFs late last month with the SEC's trading and markets division, so we'll likely find out if they've been permitted by September or October, according to Credit Suisse.

The investment world will be watching.

NOW WATCH: Barbara Corcoran shares her most profitable investment to date





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On Friday night, the National headlined the Welcome To Hamilton benefit concert in Hamilton, Ontario to raise money for young Syrian refugees in the city. During the performance at Centenary United Church, the band debuted two new songs, Sometimes I Dont Think and The Day I Die, both of which they performed again the following night at Torontos Field Trip festival. Watch some fan-shot footage of the National performing Sometimes I Dont Think at Field Trip and The Day I Die at Welcome To Hamilton below, and read our recent cover story on the band here.

An earlier version of this article referred to one of the songs as Hague Blue per the setlist above. A band rep tells us its actually titled Sometimes I Dont Think.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow Monday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, the premier's office said, with the two having held talks in recent months over the conflict in Syria.

Netanyahu's two-day trip is his third to Russia since September and also comes as the two nations mark 25 years since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.

The Israeli premier's office said the two leaders would discuss "implementing the understandings reached during Netanyahu's visit to Moscow in April".

They will also discuss "regional issues, including those pertaining to the fight against global terror, the situation in Syria and its surroundings, and the prospectives for the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians", a statement read.

With both Israel and Russia having carried out military operations in war-torn Syria, the two countries have sought to coordinate their actions to avoid accidental clashes.

Russian forces back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the conflict.

Israel opposes Assad but has sought to avoid being dragged into the war. However, it fears that the chaos in the neighbouring country could help strengthen its arch-enemy Hezbollah.

Netanyahu admitted publicly for the first time in April that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys in Syria which were transporting weapons to the Lebanese Shiite militia, which fights alongside Assad's forces.

In September, Netanyahu and Putin agreed to set up a "hotline" to avoid accidental clashes.

Joining him will be Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and Soviet-born Zeev Elkin, a minister with Netanyahu's Likud party who will finalise a deal regulating pensions for Russian expats who moved to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu will also visit the Moscow museum holding an Israeli tank taken by Syrian forces in the 1982 Lebanon war and later handed over to Russia, which Putin recently agreed to return to Israel.

Israel had sought the return of the tank in part to console the families of soldiers missing in action since the battle in which it was captured.
A rail grinding vehicle being operated at Jurong East MRT station early on Sunday (5 June) morning. (Photo: Safhras Khan/Yahoo Singapore)



Train services at 13 North-South and East-West Line MRT stations began about 90 minutes later than usual on Sunday (5 June) to allow more time for maintenance works to be carried out.

From Sunday to 18 Dec (the expected completion date for the works) commuters travelling between Joo Koon and Queenstown on the East-West line as well as Jurong East and Bukit Gombak on the North-South line will see train services commencing at 7am on Sundays.



These later starting times will equate to an extra 29 work nights over the period, which will be utilised to carry out works on the tracks connecting the 13 stations.

A new paid parallel bus service plying between Joo Koon and Bukit Gombak MRT stations also began operating on Sunday to help commuters needing to travel before 7am. Existing bus services are also available for commuters between Jurong East and Queenstown stations.

The parallel bus service will be available between 5.30am and 7am with a 10-minute interval between buses.

The new paid parallel bus service which will cater for commuters needing to travel before 7am. (Photo: Safhras Khan/Yahoo Singapore)



SMRT appreciates commuters support

Speaking to the media on Sunday morning, SMRT Corporation Ltd (SMRT) project director for track infrastructure Roger Lim said he appreciated the support from commuters in understanding the works being carried out by the company.

Explaining the need for the works, Lim said that it is important to focus on the two lines at Jurong East as the station is an interchange that serves both the North-South and East-West lines.

Lim stressed that he and his team will use the extra 90 minutes to intensify the re-sleepering, re-signalling and Third Rail replacement projects, as well as to carry out routine maintenance works and smoothen the running rails.

The extra 90 minutes allow us to double our productivity and there will also be extra people working on the projects. Works such as rail grinding are important to ensure that the rails are in pristine condition, he said.

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A queue of commuters formed outside Bukit Gombak MRT station while waiting for the parallel service bus. (Photo: Safhras Khan/Yahoo Singapore)



Marshals deployed at all stations

In the meantime, marshals from SMRT will be deployed at the stations to help inform commuters of the services available to them.



Yahoo Singapore understands that SMRT will be deploying 10 buses to run the route and will be monitoring the situation to see if there is a need to increase buses plying the route.

Commuters affected by the later train operating times said that it will not be too much of an inconvenience for them to travel on the affected lines as there are bus services available.

Cleaner Hamidah Yusoff, who works close to Jurong East station and commutes daily between the station and her home in Tebrau, Johor Bahru, said that she was informed about the changes in operating hours a few weeks ago.

I saw the poster put up in the train station and I am totally aware of it. It is easy as the bus service will still allow me to travel to Bukit Gombak and take a train from there to Kranji,  said the Malaysian who has been working in Singapore for two years.

George Loinsu, another Malaysian working in Singapore, added that the change is not inconvenient for him as the bus will stop right at Bukit Gombak station and that will allow him to hop on to a train and continue his journey to Tampoi in Johor Bahru.

However, Bukit Gombak resident Edmardo Remogano said that he was unaware of the disruption in services and was surprised when he found out about it on Sunday. Speaking to Yahoo Singapore at Bukit Gombak MRT station, Remogano, an engineer, lamented the disruption as he felt that it could be inconvenient for him.

I prefer the train to the bus and I will usually take the train if I need to head out early on Sunday mornings, he said.



When Yahoo Singapore visited Bukit Gombak MRT station at about 6am on Sunday, a queue had formed at the bus stop close to the train station.

The queue stretched for about 50m with commuters asking marshals about the parallel bus service. Some had made their way to the train station only to be informed that they needed to take the bus service to continue their journey.

Richard Lee, who works in sales, was all set to take the train to the airport at about 6am on Sunday but was dismayed that his plan for a leisurely ride to catch his flight was affected.

Lee, who has been living in Bukit Gombak for 10 years, said he was unprepared for the delay. I didnt know about it but I guess it is ok. I think I will have to take a taxi to the airport now to catch my flight, he said.


Los Angeles (AFP) - Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib was being treated in Dallas for a gunshot wound to his lower right leg, the NFL team confirmed.

Patrick Smyth, the Super Bowl champion team's vice president of public relations said on Twitter that Talib was "OK" and that the Broncos were "gathering more info".

The team later released a statement with a few more details.

"We are in communication with Aqib Talib, who remains at a Dallas hospital for observation as he recovers from a gunshot wound suffered to his lower right leg on Sunday.

"He is expected to be released from the hospital soon, and we are glad he is OK and will make a full recovery.

"Our organization has been in touch with the NFL on this matter, and we will provide additional updates as appropriate."

The exact circumstances of the shooting remained unclear, although multiple reports said Talib was injured early Sunday morning at a nightclub in Dallas, where he has an off-season home.

WFAA-TV in Dallas reported that Talib was one of three people shot at the V Live Club.

Talib is in the third year of a six-year, $57 million contract with the Broncos, who defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in February.

The Broncos are scheduled to travel as a team to Washington on Monday to be honored for the win at the White House.

Talib was indicted on an aggravated assault charge for an incident near Dallas in 2011, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.


Credit: Courtesy

The official start of summer is only a couple of weeks away, which means sunny weather style is just around the corner. We love this time of year, when everyday fashion seems to become more carefree and comfortable, and Nicole Richie is giving us one more reason to look forward to it this year. The stylish mom and fashion designer is launching a new ready-to-wear collection from her line, House of Harlow 1960, in collaboration with e-commerce giant Revolve. We caught up with the star at Revolve's West Hollywood showroom to talk about the line (which launches today, June 2), and we were not disappointed.

The collection, which the California-native aptly described as "free-spirited," perfectly emulates the laidback, bohemian style Richie is known for. "Revolve is LA-based and I'm from here and I was like, 'I want to do an LA-inspired collection,'" the designer told InStyle. "Everything is super easy to wear and extremely comfortable." The line is also inspired by Richie's stylish friend group, who got her thinking, "What do I see my friends wearing? What can we pair with other pieces that already exist in our closet? What is the summer vibe?"

RELATED: Nicole Richie's Daughter Looks Just Like Her in This Rare Family Photo



Credit: Courtesy

After sifting through clothing racks lined with floral patterns and the softest fabrics we've ever felt, it became pretty clear we were obsessed with everything we saw. The flowing silhouettes, rich colors, and bold prints already have us clearing space in our closets. When asked about her favorite pieces, Richie couldn't stop gushing about the bodysuits. "I already live in them, with a pair of 501s and some sandals," she confessed. The dreamy collection not only includes lightweight items like bodysuits and slip dresses, but there are lush jackets and pieces with sequined details, and all of it can be easily mixed and matched. With everything in the line priced under $400, we can't wait to get our hands on it.

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RELATED: Nicole Richie Glows in New No-Makeup Selfie



Credit: Courtesy

A new part of the collection will drop every month throughout the year, launching today exclusively on Revolve with select styles becoming available at House of Harlow 1960 online.
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to take a 10-day holiday during which he will travel to London and see a doctor regarding a persistent ear infection, his spokesman said on Sunday. It comes days after the 73-year-old former military ruler canceled a trip to the restive Niger Delta region at the last minute. Last month, he pulled out of what would have been his first official trip to the commercial capital, Lagos. "The president was examined by his personal physician and an E.N.T specialist in Abuja and was treated. Both Nigerian doctors recommended further evaluation purely as a precaution," said spokesman Femi Adesina. The statement also said the president would travel to London on Monday "to rest". Buhari took office in May 2015 after winning an election largely on his vows to crack down on corruption and end the insurgency waged by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation, which also has the continent's biggest economy. (Reporting by Felix Onuhah; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will take the next 10 days off work to undergo treatment for an ear infection in London, an official statement from his office said Sunday.

Speculation over the president's health has been swirling for weeks after he cancelled three official engagements.

"President Buhari will take 10 days off and travel to London from Monday June 6th, to rest," according to the statement signed by his spokesman Femi Adesina.

"During the holiday, the president will see an ear, nose and throat specialist for a persistent ear infection."

Buhari has been examined by his personal physician and a specialist in Abuja and both doctors "recommended further evaluation purely as a precaution," the statement added.

Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo will stand in for Buhari.

The Nigerian presidency is historically cagey about health matters concerning the head of state.

The influential Guardian newspaper on Sunday quoted Adesina as denying media reports that Buhari was seriously ill.

The reports indicated that the ear infection has given the president hearing difficulties, the newspaper said.
Some 700,000 Americans each year suffer a spinal fracture stemming from osteoporosis, or weakening of the bones. If you're one of them, there's a good chance that your doctor suggested treating it by injecting medical-grade cement into your spine to support the bone, a procedure called vertebroplasty.

The only problem: Researchers have known for almost a decade that this technique was ineffective for many people with a spinal fracture.

Here's why some doctor's continue to perform it and what you should do instead.



Old Thinking

When you have osteoporosis your bones weaken, including those in your spine. Those vertebrae can fracture, compress, or flatten, which can be painful and debilitating.

In the late 1990s, University of Virginia radiologists injected such compression fractures with medical-grade cementand some reported feeling better.

Within a few years tens of thousands of people were having vertebroplasty, and by the end of the 20th century it was a billion dollar per year industry, says Vinayak K. Prasad, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine, public health, and ethics at the Oregon Health & Science University and co-author of Ending Medical Reversal).



What to Do Instead

But in 2009, doctors at the Mayo Clinic compared patients with spinal fracture undergoing vertebroplasty with patients who had a sham procedure where saltwater was injected instead. They found no differences between the two groups.

Other studies have since found similar results, and a 2015 Cochrane review concluded that vertebroplasty was no better than the sham surgery for most people with a spinal fracture.



Yet many doctors continue to do the procedure, which carries risks of infection, bleeding, and numbness, says David Kallmes, M.D., the Mayo Clinic radiologist who authored the 2009 research.

Kallmes says that most osteoporotic spine fractures can instead be treated with more conservative methods, such as over-the-counter or prescription pain medicine, bracing, and physical therapy before healing on their own.

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If you remain in severe pain for a month or so despite those measures, vertebroplasty may be worth a try, he says.

And read more about how to treat back pain.







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Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
Q. I will be changing jobs and I have a small 401K. Should I leave it there or move it to my new employer's plan?

 Working

A. You have several options for your 401K.

It will partly depend on the balance in the account.

If the account has less than $1,000, your employer is permitted to cash out the account when you leave the company, said Marnie Aznar, a certified financial planner with Aznar Financial Advisors in Morris Plains, New Jersey.

She said you should be sure to fill out the necessary paperwork to roll the account over and avoid having it cashed out prior to your departure.

If the balance of your account is large enough  typically at least $5,000  you may be able to leave the 401K with your old company, she said.

But there are two other good options to consider.

Aznar said you can either roll the balance into your new company's 401K plan or roll the 401K into an IRA rollover with the custodian of your choosing. (This guide to common retirement lingo might be helpful as you navigate this decision.)

You also have one bad option: Take the money and run. That choice would mean the money is taxed at ordinary income tax rates and would probably be subject to penalties.

Not a good choice, Aznar said.

She said if you think that the investment options in your new company's 401K plans are good and the cost structure of the new plan is competitive, that would be the simplest and most efficient approach.

If, however, you do not think that the investment options in the new 401K plan are very good and/or you believe that the underlying expenses in the new plan are high, it would be worth considering doing a trustee-to-trustee transfer of your old 401K plan into an IRA rollover, Aznar said.

"When you opt for a trustee-to-trustee transfer, there are no income tax consequences associated with making the move and you are able to choose any investment options available to you at the new custodian," she said. "This option would give you the most flexibility from an investment perspective."

Story continues

[Editor's note: Sound retirement planning can help you avoid costly debt, and potential credit damage, later in life. You can manage your financial goals, like keeping tabs on your credit scores, for free on Credit.com.]



More from Credit.com


Need to catch up? Check out last weeks Outlander recap here.

Outlanders war, what is it good for? Leaving our heroine curled in the fetal position, apparently.

This weeks episode of the Starz drama delves into Claires experiences in World War II, which turn out to have been even more ghastly than we mightve realized. Unfortunately for Lady Broch Tuarach, shes not likely to be in any more comforting of an environment for some time to come, because Clan Fraser is officially marching off to battle.

RELATEDWas Outlander Oversight Exposed? And More TV Qs!

Not that I dont love impending bloody carnage and soul-crushing loss as much as the next girl, but knowing whats to come, how about we focus on some lighter fare for the moment? Dougal, Rupert and Angus are back  though Jamie might wish that werent the case  and we become acquainted with the boy who will become the man known as Lord John Grey. As Oldlanders know, this is a verra good thing, indeed.

Lets review the major events of Je Suis Prest.

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GETTING THE GANG BACK TOGETHER | Jamie, Claire and whats left of their contingent arrive at Perth to rendezvous with Murtagh and pretty much everyone else. As Claires voiceover informs us, a bunch of Lord Lovats men deserted along the way, so Young Simon was tasked with trying to bribe them back into the fold. Murtagh gives the Frasers a little good-natured ribbing about being five days late, and then  wait, that wink was at Claire, right? Im going with Claire. #Clairetagh4eva

Fergus acts like a big, curly-haired Labrador puppy when he sees them, and then Rupert and Angus are there, as well so you know that means Dougal cant be far behind. Claires surprised that the three men have broken with Colums desire to keep Clan MacKenzie neutral, which prompts Dougal to launch into the first of many for glory, for Scotland! speeches. Mistress Fraser rolls her eyes hard, and with relish.

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The army, such as it is, needs a lot of training. So rather than follow Dougals desire to march off and battle the Brits alongside the rest of the Jacobite forces, Jamie decrees that theyll camp where they are until the ragtag bunch of volunteers learn how to fight as one. Dougal acts like hes kind of OK with that, but hes verra much not OK with that.

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LOADED FOR BARE | How do we know? Because as Jamies putting the fear of God into his men, telling them horror stories from his time fighting in France, Dougal, Rupert and Angus come screaming down upon them, shirtless, muddy and demonstrating how warfare is done in the ancient Highland tradition. On a related note: Did someone change the MacKenzie battle cry to Tulloch Hardbody? Because damn, Dougal!

Well-aged washboard abs aside, Jamie is irked by his uncles refusal to let his nephew lead. I ken what these men will face, and I know how to prepare them for it, Jamie says with barely restrained anger. Ye dont. And though Dougal appears to back down, hes merely changing tack: He later tries to get Claire to lobby Jamie on his behalf, but she basically tells him to stick a bagpipe up his bahookie. She correctly susses out that Dougal doesnt want glory for Scotland, he wants power for himself. And to that, she says: Fk yourself.

WAR IS HELL | Yes, Jamies narcissistic uncle probably deserved that, but Claires a wee bit testy this episode, no? Turns out that being around all of the men preparing for battle has dredged up a very traumatic memory from her own time in World War II, in which some American soldiers with whom she was friendly were killed during a German ambush while she lay, helpless, in a trench nearby.

Her PTSD manifests itself in uncharacteristic quietness, then a higher-than-normal number of f-bombs dropped, then ultimately in a full-on panic attack that leaves her balled up behind a wagon, palms pressed to her ears. Thats where Jamie finds her, whispering, Please, shut up to the memory of a dying Allied soldier screaming for his mother.

RELATEDPerformer of the Week: Outlanders Caitriona Balfe

After Lady Broch Tuarach has pulled herself together, she realizes that she buried the nightmare: I just closed the door on that night. Walked away, she tells her husband, who is very understanding as he suggests that she should go back to Lallybroch in order to get away from the fighting. But she refuses, saying that returning to Jamies family home will be like being back in the ditch again, helpless and powerless to move, like a dragonfly in amber. Except this time, itll be worse.

You guys know already that Im a fan of the little things Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan do to make the Jamie-Claire relationship sing; for that reason, I wont wax too poetic about the look Big Red gives his lady as she says shes not going anywhere. Its a gaze full of love, solidarity, respect, a teeny bit of amusement and an insane amount of pride  and it all happens in a microsecond. He agrees that she should stay with him, then promises that shell never be left alone again. They kiss, and its a good one.

MEET JOHN GREY | OK, back to Dougals asshattery. He goes on an unauthorized walkabout and brings back a handful of volunteers who Jamie quickly realizes have been threatened into joining the Jacobite army. After releasing the men from their conscription, Fraser orders the men on sentry duty  who clearly werent doing their job, considering Dougals huge group of armed men just waltzed into camp  to be whipped as punishment in the morning. Along the way, Jamie stands and intones, Im James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. I command this army, and Im sure there are things that are sexier, but Im having trouble thinking of any of em right now.

RELATEDStarz Moving Original Programming to Sundays to Compete With HBO, AMC

Anyway, later that night, Jamie is peeing when hes attacked by a teenage member of the British army  marking the first time (but certainly not the last) that Lord John William Grey tries to get his hands on Jamies sweet D. I mean his dirk, aka his knife. Why, to what did you think I was referring? Those of you whove read ahead in Diana Gabaldons novels know that the young attacker, who introduces himself as William Grey when pressed, will become a major character as the years go on. But for now, hes just a scared kid whose attempt to infiltrate the Jacobite camp went horribly wrong. Oh, and Jamie broke his arm.

Still, Grey is quite prepared to die, he announces, and wont give up any details about his units movements until Claire wanders over and pretends to be Jamies captive; when Jamie says hell spare Claires virtue if the boy spills what he knows, Grey relents. (A little too early, in my opinion, because watching the silent looks Mr. and Mrs. Fraser shoot each other during the farce  including after she knees him in his standing stones  is pretty fun.)

I give you your life. I hope you use it well, Jamie says, releasing the boy. But young Grey is going to have the last word, which is quite ballsy, considering the circumstances: He vows to pay back the debt then kill Fraser. Then I must hope, sire, that we do not meet again, Jamie says, clearly tickled by the kids pluck. A Grey does not forget an obligation, sire, Grey replies.

RELATEDGillian Anderson Joins Starzs American Gods, Reuniting With Hannibals Bryan Fuller

CANNON MARAUDER | Sooooo. who was on watch and missed the intruder this time? That would be Dougal and his men, but Jamie points out that the unshielded fires drew Greys attention, so he  as commander  is responsible, too. So he asks Murtagh to whip him, as well. Wait, isnt poor Jamies back basically a piece of wet paper towel by this point? Is this really a good idea? But he doffs his shirt and takes his punishment, proving to his men that no one is exempt from responsibility. And when thats done, its time to raid Greys camp! Huzzah! Except for you, Dougal. Youre still in the naughty corner.

So Fraser and his men rub soot on their faces and sneak into the enemy encampment to steal the pins from their cannons and abscond with the wheels from the cannon wagons. Its a huge success, and when theyre back, Jamie triumphantly climbs on top of his sleeping wife and happily kisses her. While Im wondering how none of the schmutz on his face gets on her, he tells her to get dressed, because theyre about to take off. Claire (and I) lament that she was pretty sure she was going to get a little victorious lovin, but Jamie says theres no time. (Side note: If Dragonfly in Amber taught me anything, its that there is ALWAYS time for a quickie, no matter the circumstances. #justyouwait)

When Jamie and his group arrive at the Princes camp, Jamie throws Dougal a bone and allows him the honor of riding ahead to announce their arrival. The war is officially on.

Now its your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!

Launch Gallery: Outlander: Who Should Play Lord John?

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Paris (AFP) - The landmark Paris Ritz hotel will re-open its palatial doors to guests Monday after nearly four years of renovations and a major fire.

The classically styled hotel, owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, has undergone a top-to-bottom overhaul after promising a "legend to be reborn" when it closed for the works in 2012.

The Ritz, situated on the swanky Place Vendome, will only have 142 rooms and suites, compared to 159 previously, but not all of them will be immediately available as final touches are still taking place.

The hotel was supposed to have re-opened in March but a fire ravaged a section of the building in January, delaying the plans.

The hotel founded by Swiss entrepreneur Cesar Ritz in 1898 is storied as the lodging of choice of Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway, who has a small bar named after him.

"When I dream of afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place in the Paris Ritz," Hemingway once said of the hotel that inspired the word "ritzy".

The American writer famously rallied a group of Resistance fighters to go and liberate his beloved hotel which had been requisitioned in June 1940 by the Nazis and occupied by German brass including on occasions Hermann Goering and Joseph Goebbels.

However he was too late as the Nazis had already left, so he took to the bar where he is said to have run up a tab for 51 dry Martinis.

In more recent history however, the Ritz has become known as the place where Britain's Princess Diana spent her last hours before a car accident in a tunnel in the French capital while being pursued by paparazzi.

The refurbishment of the hotel, estimated at 140 million euros ($150 million) in 2012, was aimed at sprucing up the ageing hotel to cater to the tastes of its mega-rich clientele.

It now boasts a summer restaurant under a movable glass canopy, a larger ballroom and the latest technology in its rooms.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A passenger train crashed into the back of a goods train in the Belgian town of Hermalle-sous-Huy late on Sunday and there were casualties, a spokesman for the Belgian railway infrastructure manager Infrabel said. "Two trains were on the same track. The passenger train crashed into the back of the goods train," the spokesman, Frederic Sacre, was quoted as saying by Belga news agency. The crash caused a violent shock, the spokesman said, adding there were casualties, but gave no details. He said local emergency services and reinforcements from the nearest city of Liege were at the site of the crash. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Lima (AFP) - Peru's presidential candidates were headed for a photo finish in Sunday's election, exit polls showed at the close of voting.

Surveys by pollsters Ipsos and Gfk gave a slight lead to ex-Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

A poll by CPI put Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a jailed former president, slightly ahead.

In the Ipsos survey, Kuczynski had 50.4 percent of the vote to 49.6 percent for Fujimori.

GfK gave 51.2 percent to Kuczynski and 48.8 percent to Fujimori.

CPI had Fujimori in the lead on 51.1 percent with 48.9 for Kuczynski.

Whichever candidate eventually clinches a lead, however small, will win the vote, which is a runoff after a close first round on April 10.

First official results were expected around 0200 GMT on Monday.

Both candidates are right-leaning, US-educated politicians who have vowed to fight crime and create jobs in the nation of 31 million people.

Keiko Fujimori's father Alberto is in jail for corruption and the slaughter of alleged terrorists in the 1990s.
Manila (AFP) - The Philippines' president elect Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to join his anti-crime crackdown, offering people huge bounties for killing drug dealers.

His announcement late Saturday came as other officials began paying bounties for slain suspected criminals in an apparent attempt to ride on Duterte's success.

Duterte won the presidential election last month, running on a platform of a ruthless anti-crime campaign.

After previously saying he would unleash the military and police on criminals, Duterte said the public could go after them as well.

"If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support," he told his cheering followers.

"If he fights and fights to the death, you can kill him," he said, adding: "I will give you a medal."

He stressed that drug addicts could not be rehabilitated and warned, "if you are involved in drugs, I will kill you. You son of a whore, I will really kill you."

Duterte reiterated that his anti-crime campaign would be "a bloody war," as he offered money for slain drug lords.

"I will pay, for a drug lord: five million (pesos)($107,000) if he is dead. If he is alive, only 4.999 million," he laughed.

Duterte, who takes office on June 30 and is the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, also offered smaller amounts for lower-ranked figures involved in the drug trade.

He did not say how a private citizen could identify suspects.

Duterte has previously been linked with vigilante "death squads" that have killed scores of people in Davao and has vowed to widen his campaign when he becomes president.

Others have followed his lead with the elected mayor of the central city of Cebu, Tomas Osmena, admitting he paid more than $3,000 to police officers for killing drug traffickers.

Duterte and other officials have previously brushed aside warnings from human rights groups about the dangers of such a policy.
This week, Point Taken talked about sex. Specifically, one of the oldest and most controversial professions in history: sex work. Amnesty International, for one, recently came out in favor of decriminalizing the global sex trade. But are we there yet, in America and beyond? Some people are adamant that sex work is intrinsically exploitive and must remain a crime. Others contend that for those in poverty who lack educational and economic opportunity, sex work can be an understandable, and even respectable, path to a decent life.

On Point Taken this week, OZY co-founder Carlos Watson and company debate the question. Panelists include a former sex worker, who says she could make up to $4,000 a week, and who is advocating for both women who want to exit the trade and those who choose to make their living in it. Check out the full episode above, and let Carlos know what you think at carlos.watson@ozy.com.

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Donald Trump has said that he thinks he can win California in the general election, a statement that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says that he loves to hear.

I would love for him to spend some money in a very expensive media market, Garcetti tells Varietys PopPolitics on SiriusXM. I would love to spend some time here instead of some other battleground states.

Garcetti predicts that California will absolutely stay Democratic come November, even though Trump has been holding heavily attended rallies there in advance of the states primary on Tuesday. He is the presumptive nominee in the GOP contest, as all of his rivals have dropped out, but he has indicted that his campaign is building a base of support for the fall.

This is a man who is out of touch with our states values, who doesnt represent the initiatives that we have, and I think most importantly would be very dangerous for us economically, Garcetti says.

A Republican presidential candidate has not won Californias electoral votes since George H.W. Bush captured the state in 1988 over Michael Dukakis. Since then, it has been safely in the Democratic column. Trump has said that he will contest other states that have been Democratic bastions as well, like those in the industrial Midwest. But new voter registration in California has heavily favored the Democrats.

He says that Trumps appeal is something along the lines of subconscious. [Hes] someone who just promises us everything is going to be okay, who is the embodiment for some people of Oh wow, I could be a billionaire. I could have beautiful wives. I could do whatever I want. I could have a reality show. It is more a fantasy than I think anything of his record. He is not a great businessman. Hes a great con man.

Garcetti also gave his predictions for Tuesdays primary race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Garcetti endorsed Clinton, but says that he thinks it will be a close race, with the margin about 52% to 48% either way. Id like to think itd be a 50%-50% vote with Hillary Clinton maybe up 0.1% or 0.2%, he says.

Story continues

Garcetti also talks about how homelessness should be atop the list of issues in the general election, as the federal government has cut housing dollars that have forced cities like Los Angeles to scramble to come up with funds to deal with the crisis.

Listen below:

O.J.: Made in America

Ezra Edelman talks about his new ESPN docuseries, O.J.: Made in America, which examines the life and career of O.J. Simpson against the political and cultural forces at work from the 60s to the 90s. The Simpson trial in 1995 is just one aspect of the project, but Edelman convinced many of the principles to talk, including former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti.

As much as [Simpson] seduced us, we were also seduced by him, which explains why we were so crushed as a culture when he was accused of murder, Edelman says.

Listen below:

What If Bernie Wins California?

Clinton is likely to clinch the Democratic nomination this week, but what happens if Sanders wins California? Mary Murphy of USC Annenberg and David Cohen of Variety talk about whether this will stymie Clintons ability to unify the party in July, when Democrats meet in Philadelphia. They also talk about Trumps attacks on the press, and his threats to attack the media if he is in the White House.

Listen below:

PopPolitics, hosted by Varietys Ted Johnson, airs Thursdays at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on SiriusXMs political channel POTUS. It also is available on demand.

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Chicago (AFP) - Using a patient's individual tumor biomarkers to determine the best treatment can improve success rates, studies showed Saturday.

Unlike chemotherapy and radiation therapy, targeted medicine allows to preserve healthy cells.

This approach, especially immunotherapy, which boosts the immune system to destroy tumor cells -- is revolutionizing oncology, according to the study released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Scientists hailed "encouraging" preliminary results of a Phase 2 clinical trial detailed at the world's largest conference on cancer meeting this weekend in Chicago.

Of the 129 participants, 29 patients with a total 12 kinds of advanced cancers responded well to molecules that have not been approved for treatment of these tumors by the Food and Drug Administration.

Promising responses observed in four cancer types, including carrier-specific molecular alterations, have already helped widen the cohort of patients participating in this clinical trial, the researchers said.

"With genomic testing of tumors becoming increasingly available, studies such as ours will help more patients benefit from precision medicine approaches," said lead study author John Hainsworth, senior investigator at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville.

"Although it is still early to draw conclusions, our findings suggest that, for example, HER2-targeted therapy could be expanded beyond the current indications of HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers."

Mutation in the HER2 gene favors the growth of cancer cells.

The most promising results of this approach have been reported in patients with HER2 mutation, seven out of 20 suffering from colorectal cancer, three out of eight with bladder tumors and three out of six biliary tract cancer.

They all showed a reduction of at least 30 percent of their tumor. Based on the data, researchers recruited more patients for the study, which is ongoing and expected to reach 500 participants.

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- Keeping cells healthy -

Another group of patients with lung cancer with genetic mutations in the BRAF gene, which regulates proteins involved in the processes of division and cellular differentiation, has also been expanded, given the encouraging data.

A meta-analysis of 346 Phase 1 experimental trials with more than 13,000 patients also presented at ASCO showed similar results.

In 58 of the precision medicine studies, cancerous tumors shrunk by more than 31 percent when the molecules used for the treatment specifically targeting the weaknesses of the tumor, against 5.1 percent when that was not the case, said lead study author Maria Schwaederle, an expert on personalized cancer therapy at the University of California, San Diego.

"Targeted drugs in and of themselves were not effective. They absolutely need to be given to the right patients," Schwaederle said.

"A biomarker-based approach was the most significant independent predictor of improved outcomes in Phase I studies."

Certain types of biomarkers triggered even higher response rates for those patients treated via a personalized approach -- 42 percent, against 22.4 percent for those chosen via protein expression.

Sumanta Kumar Pal of City of Hope National Medical Center, who did not take part in the research, said the study also "underscores the need to explore this genomic-based testing and treatment approach in a learning environment, like a clinical trial."
President Barack Obama made a statement Sunday in commemoration of the first diagnosed AIDS case in the United States, news of which broke 35 years ago on this day. Obama reiterated his commitment to ending the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. He discussed progress made over the past three decades, and hurdles still ahead.

"We've learned that stigma and silence don't just fuel ignorance, they foster transmission and give life to a plague," he said. "We've seen that testing, treatment, education and acceptance can not only save and extend lives, but fight the discrimination that halted progress for too long. And we've reaffirmed that most American of ideas  that ordinary citizens can speak out, band ourselves together like a breathtaking quilt and change the course of our communities and our nation for the better."

From @POTUS statement on 35th anniversary of #HIV/AIDS in the US:pic.twitter.com/MTUc2gjH6L https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkNoyuJWkAAVEEZ.jpg:large

More than 1.2 million people in the United States live with HIV, and nearly 13% of them don't know they're infected. In 2010, Obama released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to reduce the number of new cases diagnosed annually, improve the quality of and access to health care for HIV/AIDS patients and reduce "HIV-related health disparities." On World AIDS Day 2015, he partnered with countries around the world in agreement to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, bolstering the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

"While there is more work to do  the economically disadvantaged; gay and bisexual men, especially those who are young and black; women of color; and transgender women all continue to face huge disparities  I'm confident that if we build upon the steps we've taken, we can finish the job," Obama said. "Let's rededicate ourselves to ending this epidemic once and for all.
Theres a U.S. Second Circuit judge, Denny Chin, who might be able to set Donald Trump straight on his allegations against the district judge Gonzalo Curielbut so could any second-year law student who has remained awake during professional-responsibility class.

Zero plus zero equals zero.

Most lawyers would call the 1998 case this lesson comes from, Macdraw Inc. v. CIT Equipment Financing, an ordinary caseone company agreed to help another finance a large sale of industrial equipment. The deal went south, the buyer went bankrupt, and the borrower sold the collateral. The lender, Macdraw, sued for its claimed share, and the case had dragged on for six years in a New York federal district court by the time Chin had to school Macdraws lawyers on legal ethics and judicial impartiality.

There was nothing ordinary about those lawyers. The lead attorney was Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch and the force behind dozens of politically minded lawsuits, including a recent one claiming that the Obama Administration engineered the spread of Ebola to exterminate the Caucasian race and Jewish-Christian religion.

Eventually, Chin dismissed Klaymans clients case with a few choice words for the way counsel had conducted it. Not long after, the judge got a letter from Klayman and his co-counsel, Paul Orfanedes, asking a few questions about the judges Asian American background and mentioning another case they had brought against the Clinton administration. They then filed a brief questioning the judges impartiality:

Mr. Klayman and Mr. Orfanedes became concerned that because the Court was a recent appointee of President Clinton  and Mr. Klayman had been prominently mentioned in the media for his role in the Commerce Department case, which focused in part on the White House, the Democratic National Committee, John Huang, Melinda Yee, and other persons in the Asian and AsianAmerican communities, and because the lawsuit had elicited such angry responses from the White House, Democrats and the AsianAmerican community, that the Court might be angry at them and unable to be fair and impartial ...

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In a written response, Chin noted that he hadnt been aware of Klaymans other lawsuit. As for the questions about his race, he said, This sentiment is absurd and demeans me individually and the Court as a whole.

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He then lowered the boom. Klayman and Orfanedes were required to withdraw as counsel from the case and would not be permitted to appear in Chins court on any matter ever again. They would be required to show his opinion to any other judge in the district in any future case. The court clerk would also report the sanctions to every court where they held bar membership.

Klayman and Orfanedes recruited former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (the lawyer for, among others, Lyndon LaRouche, Slobodan Milosevic, and the Branch Davidians) to appeal the sanctions. The Second Circuit briskly affirmed Chins order. Courts have repeatedly held that matters such as race or ethnicity are improper bases for challenging a judge's impartiality, wrote the chief judge, Ralph Winter, a Reagan appointee. Nor should one charge that a judge is not impartial solely because an attorney is embroiled in a controversy with the administration that appointed the judge.  Finally, appointment by a particular administration and membership in a particular racial or ethnic group are in combination not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality. Zero plus zero is zero.

That equation is a good way to think legally about Donald Trumps attack on Curiel, who is hearing a case against him as ordinary as Macdrawa civil class action alleging Trumps university was a scam aimed at defrauding its students by selling them worthless instruction.

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Trump has now made an issue out of Curiels ethnicity and his appointment to the bench by the Obama administration. His ire was raised because the judge allowed the release of some documents from Trump Universitydocuments that seem extremely damaging to Trumps case. The judge was appointed by Barack Obama, Trump told a rally last week. The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great, I think thats fine. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump went on to say that Curiels Mexican heritagehe was born in Indianashould disqualify him because Im building a wall. Its an inherent conflict of interest.

If background or sex or race of each judge were ... sufficient grounds for removal, no judge on this court could hear this case.

Curiel, as The New York Times noted, has faced down a Mexican drug cartel and is thus probably not intimidated by the likes of Trump. But Trumps ugly tantrum does offer a chance to look at some ignorant misconceptions about judicial impartiality.

Start with former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who on Saturday spoke up on Trumps behalf in The Washington Post. If Trump screams smoke! loudly enough, he suggested, we ought to start wondering whethernot saying there is, just raising the questionthere might be fire. In Trumpian form, Gonzales said, I am not judging whether Curiel is actually biased against Trump. Only he knows the answer to that question. Gonzales didnt mention there is no evidence of bias. After all, hes just, you know, saying.

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With similar primness, The Daily Caller noted, Curiel served on the selection committee in 2014 for the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego Scholarship Fund. Six of seven of the recipients of these scholarships ranging from $1500 to $1600 were born in Central America. One of them, Ricardo Elorza, described himself as undocumented. Curiel is a member of a group with La Raza in its name. Its not the National Council of La Raza, as Trump has suggested, just a staid lawyers group; but still, thats a Spanish word, pretty damning. He also appointed a lead class-action lawyer from a firm that has members who support Hillary Clinton. Of course, that appointment took place before anyone imagined Trump was a serious presidential candidate, but still, Gonzales said, it might not be unreasonable for a defendant in Trumps position to wonder who Curiel favors in the presidential election.

I wonder if this Latino judge doesnt like me because I go around saying bad things about people like him is actually not a reasonable thought for a litigant, and certainly not a legal argument for recusal. Trumps lawyers, I suspect, know they risk sanctions if they make it.

At least in the federal system, judges separate themselves from politics when going on the bench, and their life tenure reduces any felt reliance on political patrons, wrote Winter, the judge in Macdraw. To overcome that presumption, anyonea layperson or a lawyerneeds what is called extrajudicial evidence of actual bias. That is, not the fact that a judge is a Democrat, but that he or she expressed generalized bias to others, or spoke badly outside of court of the party or the lawyers. Absent that, a litigant has, as Winter said, zero.

A related misconception is that the impartiality of minority judges is inherently suspect. As David Graham noted, in the 1970s, this Trump-style claim of inherent bias was thrown at the great Leon Higginbotham, who rose to be chief judge of the Third Circuit. Higginbotham, an expert of the history of race and American law, crisply denied the motion:

By that standard, white judges will be permitted to keep the latitude they have enjoyed for centuries in discussing matters of intellectual substance, even issues of human rights and, because they are white, still be permitted to later decide specific factual situations involving the principles of human rights which they have discussed previously in a generalized fashion. But for black judges, defendants insist on a far more rigid standard, which would preclude black judges from ever discussing race relations even in the generalized fashion that other justices and judges have discussed issues of human rights.

Constance Baker Motley, the first female African American judge, faced a similar challenge in a 1975 sex-discrimination case. [I]f background or sex or race of each judge were, by definition, sufficient grounds for removal, she responded, no judge on this court could hear this case. Catholic and Mormon judges have also been challenged; Judge Michael Mukasey, an Orthodox Jew, was asked to step aside from a case against a Muslim defendant in 1994. Citing Higginbothams landmark opinion, he said that motion was the same rancid wine in a different bottle.

Trump wine has always been a little off, and this vintage fairly reeks. At its rawest, the claim amounts to, Who are youAfrican American, woman, Jews, Mexicanto judge a real citizen, a white man? Its no different, in essence, from the assertion of one Texas Ku Klux Klansman, being sued for harassing Asian American fishermen, that a female black judge should withdraw because of the prejudice of your people against the Klansmen.

The re-introduction of this crude, explicit racism into politics is repellent. More repellent yet, in a sense, is the effort now beginningby figures like Gonzales, Joel Pollak of Breitbart, The Daily Caller, and other conservative outletsto mainstream this dangerous deviancy.

It remains for the present to extend Winters equation to three terms. The Trump side has nothing. No law. No logic. No facts. In 2016, zero plus zero plus zero is even less than zero.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.


Credit: Pablo Cuadra/WireImage

While bodycon dresses are generally reserved for a night on the town, the ever stylish Queen Letizia knew just how to transform the look into a chic ensemble for one of her public appearances this week.

As the Queen of Spain headed to the National Culture Awards Wednesday in Palencia, Spain, she stunned in a fitted, panelled, magenta dress by Spanish designer Felipe Varela. It was a number that echoed the style of a bodycon dress, but had a more refined take with its longer length, tiered panels, and three-quarter sleeves. To complete the look, the royal sported textured pumps and carried an ostrich MBU clutch.

RELATED: See Queen Letizia of Spain's Most Captivating Style Moments

As Queen Letizia headed inside the San Antolin Cathedral, she was all smiles, and stood next to her husband, King Felipe VI, during the event. The queen, who is known to take fashion risks (that pay off), sported a faux croc structured suit Monday as she celebrated the opening of a Hieronymus Bosch exhibition at the Prado Museum. Prior to that, she rocked a pair of cropped, wide-legged culottes paired with a bold red blazer.

While royal fashions can often be buttoned up, It's clear Queen Letizia has no qualms about expressing herself through her clothing ... and we're captivated by each of her stellar style moments.
Providence (Guyana) (AFP) - David Warner scored an unbeaten half century as Australia romped to a six-wicket thrashing of West Indies in their opening Tri-Nation Series day-night game at the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday.

Warner's 55 not out saw Australia home with almost 25 overs to spare after the West Indies earlier collapsed from 50 for one to 116 all out from 32.3 overs.

Australia then wasted little time in getting to the modest target, Warner anchoring the effort to ensure a victory that was never in doubt despite the loss of three wickets for seven runs with the end in sight.

Spinners Sunil Narine, with two wickets in one over, and Sulieman Benn caused the discomfort but it was not enough to save the hosts.

The emphatic victory earned Australia a bonus point to move ahead of the West Indies in the three-team standings before Tuesdays final game at Providence against South Africa.

"Our batting is a real concern," said West Indies coach Phil Simmons.

"The bowlers and fielding side are doing a great job but we need to get it together with the bat for the next two matches in St Kitts."

- Starc back with a bang -

Boosted by a four-wicket win in the tournament-opener against the South Africans at the same venue two days earlier, the West Indies plummeted back down to earth at the feet of the World Cup-holders, whose frontline spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa did the bulk of the damage with three wickets apiece after the usual effective opening burst from Mitchell Starc.

"I really enjoyed it out there on that pitch," Zampa enthused after his performance.

"South Africa will be a big challenge though on Tuesday with so many quality batsmen."

Playing his first international match for more than six months after being sidelined by injury, the left-arm fast bowler breached the defences of openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles to finish with figures of two for 37 from nine overs.

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He showed signs of rustiness in delivering five wides and a no-ball, however his lethal pace proved more than a handful for the West Indies top order.

Starc's tally of ODI wickets is now at 92 in his 47th match and should he take eight more before the end of this competition he will eclipse Pakistan's Saqlain Mustaq for the record as the fastest to 100 wickets in terms of matches played in this format of the international game.

Charles topscored with a chancy 22 while all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite was last out for 21, Aaron Finch taking the catch at long-on to give Zampa his third wicket.

Notwithstanding the turgid surface, the home batsmen contributed to their swift demise with a succession of poor shots, exemplified by Darren Bravo's loose cover-drive at seamer Mitchell Marsh which offered a straightforward catch to Zampa at cover.

Lyon, the experienced off-spinner, had an almost instant impact in disposing of Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard off successive deliveries. Pollard, whose unbeaten 67 guided the West Indies to victory over the Proteas two days earlier, attempted a heave over long-on to be taken by Warner on the boundary.

Jason Holder gave mystery spinner Narine first use of the new ball from one end in hopes of an immediate breakthrough at the start of the Australian reply, but it was left to the captain to separate the opening pair as Warner and Finch got off to a flying start with a succession of boundaries on both sides of the wicket.

They had put on 44 by the eighth over when Finch was leg-before for 19 in Holder's first over, giving the gangling Barbadian his 50th wicket in One-Day International cricket.
Richard Simmons was reportedly taken to a hospital in Los Angeles on Friday.

The Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed to ET that they responded to a call at 11:52 p.m. at the 67-year-old fitness gurus home. One person was transported to the hospital via ambulance.

WATCH: The Real Reason Richard Simmons Has Been in Hiding

While the LAFD did not confirm if it was Simmons who was transported, TMZ reports that it was him after he was exhibiting bizarre conduct.

Sources told TMZ that Simmons was acting in an unusually strange manner, which resulted in someone inside his residence calling 911. They had not confirmed if Simmons was still hospitalized.

ET has reached out to Richard Simmons reps for comment.

In March, ET spoke with Simmons over the phone, and he explained why he had not been seen in the public in more than two years.

WATCH: Richard Simmons Speaks Out: No One Should Worry About Me

I am not kidnapped, he told ETs Brad Bessey. I am just in my house right now.

No one should be worried about me, Simmons added. The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me.

The conversation occurred one day after the New York Daily News published a very hurtful article about the Sweatin to the Oldies creator, claiming he was being held against his will inside his Hollywood Hills mansion and that his former friends had become concerned. His last public appearance was on December 13, 2013, at SPARKLE: An All-Star Holiday Concert at L.A.s ACME Comedy.

I love all the people who worry about me. But it was time for me to take some time to be by myself, Simmons said. For the last 40 years I have been traveling, teaching classes, and I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me. I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I havent done in a very long time.

WATCH: Richard Simmons Says Miley Cyrus 'Needs to Be Loved

Simmons explained that this is how he wants to live his life right now, urging people to not worry about him. If I was in any trouble, if I was hurting in any way, I would reach out, he assured ET. It is time right now for Richard Simmons to take care of Richard Simmons.

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To hear more, watch the video below.

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DUBAI, June 5 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's central bank has told banks it is banning the use of options and other derivatives to speculate against the riyal, in a new effort to reduce pressure on its currency peg, a senior executive at a Saudi bank told Reuters on Sunday.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "wants to make sure that there is no snowball effect against the riyal in the forwards markets", the executive said, declining to be named because of commercial sensitivities.

"So now banks in the country are banned from accepting any options against the riyal." Non-speculative trade in the riyal forwards market is not forbidden, the executive added.

The central bank did not respond to a telephone call to its headquarters seeking comment.

Its order is a renewed attempt to prevent low oil prices, which have saddled Saudi Arabia with big state budget and external deficits, from pressuring the riyal's three-decade-old peg of 3.75 to the U.S. dollar.

In January, commercial bankers in Saudi Arabia said the central bank had contacted them privately and urged them not to conduct derivatives trades against the riyal. The central bank has also been asking banks for information on their trades.

Since January, the riyal has rebounded in the onshore forwards market. But it has remained near multi-year lows in the offshore forwards market, which is not under the direct control of the central bank, and the cost of insuring Saudi sovereign debt against default has stayed high.

On Monday, the government is expected to announce details of a reform plan designed to reduce the economy's reliance on oil. A general announcement of the plan's goals in April won praise from foreign economists for its ambition, but was also criticised for lacking detail, which made it difficult to gauge whether the plan was feasible.

(Reporting by Celine Aswad; Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Larry King)
Riyadh (AFP) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen rejected on Sunday a UN report that placed it on an annual blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in air strikes.

"The report is imbalanced and does not rely on credible statistics, nor does it serve the Yemeni people," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It misleads the public with incorrect numbers and mostly relies on information from sources associated with the Huthi militia and the deposed (former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah) Saleh," he said.

The report, released on Thursday by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said 785 children had been killed and 1,168 injured in Yemen last year, blaming the Saudi-led coalition for 60 percent of the toll.

It blacklisted both the coalition and rebel forces for a "very large number of violations" including "attacks on schools and hospitals".

Saudi Arabia launched the intervention in Yemen in March last year in support of the internationally recognised government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Huthi rebels accused of having links with Iran and army units loyal to Saleh, who was forced out of office in 2012 under a Gulf-sponsored deal.

The war has left some 6,400 people dead, according to the UN.

Assiri said the coalition was in Yemen to "protect the Yemeni people, including children, from the actions of the Huthi militia."

He cited a $30 million Saudi aid programme for Yemen launched in cooperation with the UN children's fund (UNICEF).

In separate comments to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, he said Ban's report would not help peace talks underway in Kuwait, and would "complicate the mission" of the UN's envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about Saudi air strikes on urban areas in Yemen and accused the coalition of deliberately targeting civilians with cluster bombs, which would constitute a war crime.

In late May, US magazine Foreign Policy reported that the White House had frozen shipments of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia over concerns that its Gulf ally was using the weapons in areas where civilians were present.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Real Estate Co has agreed with U.S. firm Starwood Hotels and Resorts (HOT.N) to build two hotels next to a district of Riyadh which the government plans to develop into an international business zone.

Starwood will manage a five-star hotel under its Westin brand and a four-star hotel under its Element brand, Saudi Real Estate, which owns the land, said on Sunday without giving details of construction plans.

The project will be adjacent to the multibillion-dollar King Abdullah Financial District, the company said. The district was launched in 2006 to house banks and the financial regulator but has struggled to attract tenants.

The government said in April that it would rescue the financial district by transforming it into a special business zone with competitive regulations, visa exemptions for foreigners working there, and direct connections to Riyadh's international airport.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Toby Chopra)
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's National Transformation Plan, a pivotal element of the "Vision 2030" reforms announced in April by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will be put before the cabinet for approval on Monday, a senior Saudi source told Reuters. The plan is expected to flesh out sector-by-sector details of the implementation of Prince Mohammed's program, which is intended to restructure the kingdom's entire economy and make it less dependent on oil revenue. "The Council of Economic and Development Affairs has approved the final draft of the National Transformation Plan, which is one of the plans adopted and part of the 2030 vision, which was launched and adopted by the Saudi deputy crown prince, president of CEDA," the source said. Prince Mohammed was given a central role in decision making after his father, King Salman, became monarch early last year, taking charge of CEDA, a new supercommittee of top ministers charged with overseeing reforms. Saudi Arabia finances now depend on oil revenue and its economic performance closely tracks government spending. But energy prices have plummeted since mid-2014, causing steep declines in income and putting growth at risk. HIGH PROFILE The wider reforms are expected to include subsidy cuts, tax rises, sales of state assets, a government efficiency drive and efforts to spur private sector investment. Last month the International Monetary Fund said the plans were "appropriately bold and far reaching". Details of the plan, a program of wide-ranging economic reforms, will be disclosed in daily news conferences with government ministers starting Monday evening, the senior source said. Other parts of the Vision 2030, including a partial privatization of state oil giant Saudi Aramco and transformation of the government's Public Investment Fund into one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, have yet to be approved. The emphasis placed on the plan by Prince Mohammed is evident in the high-profile nature of its launch, with senior ministers expected to deliver rare briefings on how their departments will implement the program. The timing is also significant because Monday is the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when business and government activity in the conservative Islamic kingdom have historically slowed down. Launching the plan despite the start of the holiday signals a more energetic approach. Riyadh has been cutting spending and trying to raise fresh revenues as it grapples with its budget deficit, which totaled $98 billion in 2015. The IMF predicted the deficit would stay very large this year, at about 14 percent of gross domestic product compared to 16 percent last year. (Reporting By Samia Nakhoul and Angus McDowall, editing by William Maclean, Larry King)
Even for those of us who love to travel, Labor Day can sneak up on a body. Last year, almost 36 million Americans packed up their favorite inflatable pool toys and traveled that weekend. My guess is, a whole lot of them booked their trips at the last minute: and spent way more money on their long weekend getaway than necessary because of it. Warren Chang, Vice President and general manager of Fly.coman airfare search enginewould remind us that its never too early to book holiday travel, which includes Thanksgiving and winter break, as well as Labor Day. Here are a few other tips he gleaned by studying company data: Be flexible If you can stay an extra day, leave on Saturday instead of Friday. Or, in general, just have flexibility with your travel dates. Its quite easy to save at least 25 percent if you just adjust your departure date [or] return date by a day, says Chang. He studied a New York to Miami roundtrip flight, and notes that adding a day in Miami could drop the price from $244 to $153. Understand base loading Sometimes just knowing why flights are cheaper is enough to get us on top of our plans. One of the reasons flights are cheaper right now, says Chang, is that airlines fully expect travelers to start looking for airfare as the holidays get closer, and theyve priced [them] accordingly. Theyre interested in whats called base loadingselling a certain number of seats at a discounted rate so they have a certain percentage of the flight already full. The logic makes sense: Airlines want to fill flights, but theyll save pricey seats for last-minute travelers. Full-on Norman Rockwell Americana intimates that the only thing to do on a summer weekend is lounge on the beach, on a porch, near a lake, or by a grill. But if youre curious about, say, Europe, or Florida, know that those destinations might be less pricey, says Chang. The same probably wont be true of places like Portland, Maine and Provincetown, Massachusetts. Dont wait till the 4th of July Prices tend to take a big jump after the 4th, says Chang, when everyones minds seem to simultaneously turn to the next vacationand airlines take advantage by hiking prices. What you see is it just goes up along a curve, he says. As the date gets closer, the prices go up. Think about business travel destinations In a long-distance relationship between Chicago and New York? Good news: Business hubs tend to have lower rates at the end of the summer, since corporate travel takes a dip in popularity and airlines are desperately trying to fill those seats. Reserve cars and hotels now Its great to get a good, cheap flight now. But its the worst when you snag a cheap flight only to see that youve picked a destination with insanely expensive hotels. So check both before taking the plungeand for goodness sake, book cars and hotels now. And really, book your flight! Fly.com data from summer 2015 revealed that New York to Miami flights were approximately $270 in late May, dipping to $250 by June 4thand spiking to nearly $500 by the end of August. Think about how many golden inflatable swans and margaritas the saved $250 would buy you! So get out there and book. Alex Van Buren is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @alexvanburen.
Selena Gomez is showing support for her LGBTQ fans in North Carolina by taking a "show must go on" approach.

In a letter to Billboard, Gomez wrote, "I am very fortunate to have grown up in a home where I learned from an early age that everyone should be treated equally." That is exactly why she doesn't plan on cancelling her Revival Tour stop in North Carolina on the 7th of June. Instead, Gomez will donate proceeds from the show to a local LGBTQ charity.

"I went back and forth on whether I should cancel my concert in North Carolina," Gomez wrote. "And ultimately, I think what is right for me is to move forward with my show and donate a portion of the proceeds to Equality North Carolina and their effort to defeat this act of discrimination."

Gomez's announcement comes in light of HB2, the state's so-called "bathroom bill", which bans individuals from using public toilets that don't match their gender at birth.

The bill has been widely criticised for being discriminatory, with the U.S. Department of Justice filing a countersuit against the state for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Acts Amendment of 1972, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

Gomez said that she's been "reassured" that the venue has gender-neutral toilets. "I want everyone coming to my show to be welcomed," she wrote.

Gomez ended her statement by writing, "I feel like my generation is the most progressive one yet and believe there will be a day soon when laws like HB2 wont even be a consideration."

Now, that's how you really kill 'em with kindness.

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Taliban gunmen stormed a court complex in a city south of Kabul Sunday, killing at least seven people in the insurgents' third so-called "revenge" attack for last month's execution of Taliban-linked prisoners.

The attack in Pul-i-Alam, capital of volatile Logar province, also left 23 prosecutors wounded as they were meeting to decide the fate of six newly arrested Taliban militants.

The head of the court Mohammad Akram Nejat was among those killed in the attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive after naming a new leader late last month.

"Three gunmen wearing police uniform entered the court building and started shooting people," the provincial governor Mohammad Halim Fedayee told AFP.

"Unfortunately seven people were killed, including Mohammad Akram Nejat, the newly appointed head of the court."

Hasib Stanakzai, a member of Logar's provincial council, confirmed the death toll.

The Taliban said the attack was in retaliation for the execution of six Taliban-linked inmates in early May, part of President Ashraf Ghani's new hardline policy against the insurgents.

"The martyrdom attack was carried out in revenge for the execution of our mujahideen," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) was quick to condemn the attack.

The head of the mission, Nicholas Haysom urged Afghan authorities "to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection of judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions".

"Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a lawmaker was killed by an explosive device at his home in Kabul Sunday, though no group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The explosive that had been planted in front of the house of lawmaker Sher Wali Wardak martyred him, injuring 11 others," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.

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The latest violence underscores Afghanistan's fragile security situation as the Taliban intensify attacks against the Western-backed government.

On June 1 Taliban suicide bombers wearing police uniforms raided a courthouse in the eastern city of Ghazni, killing six people.

And on May 25, 11 people were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing that targeted court employees near Kabul.

The Taliban on the same day announced Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after officially confirming the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike.

The drone attack was the first known American assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil.

Observers say Akhundzada, who is seen as more of a spiritual figurehead than a military commander, will emulate Mansour in shunning peace talks and intensifying attacks against the Afghan government.
Kourtney Kardashian took a trip "Under the Sea"  err, to the Hollywood Bowl  over the weekend.



The mom of three embraced her family's love for Disney on Saturday night, attending the second concert performance of the studio's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid at the Los Angeles outdoor amphitheater.



"This is how you see a movie," she wrote on Instagram, capturing the impressive 71-piece orchestra in action.



The live concert was a star-studded experience, with Sara Bareilles performing as Ariel, Rebel Wilson as Ursula the Sea Witch, Darren Criss in the role of Prince Eric, Norm Lewis and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Tituss Burgess in their Broadway roles as King Triton and Sebastian, respectively, and John Stamos as Chef Louis.







During the show, which is at the Bowl until Monday, the original movie played on screens, pausing at the musical numbers for the actors and actresses to takeover onstage. In addition, four of the songs from the Broadway musical were performed.





@rebelwilson Rebel Wilson as everyone's beloved Sea Queen! A video posted by Ursula the Seawitch (@ursula_seawitch_) on Jun 4, 2016 at 1:15am PDT





Kardashian wasn't the only celebrity in attendance: Sarah Michelle Gellar posted a video of Bareilles performing to Instagram.











@sarabareilles killing it as #ariel in #thelittlemermaid at @hollywoodbowl Anyone have a #dinglehopper?? A video posted by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar) on Jun 5, 2016 at 8:14am PDT







RELATED VIDEO: Meet the Newest Disney Princess, Moana





Ahead of the concert series, Criss told PEOPLE of joining the cast, "Prince Eric is great, but let's be honest, I wanted to be Ariel."



" The Little Mermaid is a movie that meant so much to me as a kid," Criss said. "I just love that it is going to be celebrated  and that I get to be a part of it."
(Reuters) - The San Jose Sharks flipped the script on the Pittsburgh Penguins with a game-winning overtime goal that gave them a 3-2 win on Saturday and pulled them back into the Stanley Cup Final series. Finnish forward Joonas Donskoi scored at 12:18 in OT to snap a 2-2 tie and bring the SAP Center crowd to life, cutting the home team's deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven game series. San Jose, who dropped the first two games on late Pittsburgh goals, had appeared to be on the brink of elimination before Joel Ward made it 2-2 at 8:48 in the third period. Donskoi completed the comeback in the extra session where he skated around the back of the net, then flipped a shot behind Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray. "It was a great game, we never gave up. I think this was our best game so far so we had the confidence to keep going," Donskoi told reporters after his sixth goal of the playoffs. "Just keep sticking, thats how we want to play." The Sharks have waited 25 years to reach the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup Final, but it threatened to be a short stay there as the Penguins twice took the lead in Game Three. Pittsburgh, who has outshot San Jose by a combined 113 to 74 through three games, drew first blood in the opening period where Ben Lovejoy gave the visitors a lead. San Jose's Justin Braun struck back at 9:34 in the first to tie the game, but Patric Hornqvist reestablished Penguins' control at 19:07 in the second. Ward delivered a lengthy tying blast for the Sharks just as time was expiring on their power-play and sent them into the locker room with renewed optimism. "It was a huge turning point for us in the series," San Jose veteran Joe Thornton told reporters after finishing with two assists and four shots on goal, including close calls in the overtime. "Our coach was saying 'hey, weve been on the other end of this a couple times this postseason; its our turn.' And it was." Sharks goaltender Martin Jones was a critical reason why, recording 40 saves to keep his team afloat. The Penguins, who had their four-game playoff win streak snapped, are trying to seize their first Stanley Cup since 2009. They can still take commanding control with a victory in Game Four on Monday in San Jose. "I liked a lot of things we did in the game," said Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan. "We didnt get the result, but we played hard and had some great opportunities to score. It was a fairly even game." (Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
Khartoum (AFP) - South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on Sunday on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.

The south's foreign affairs, defence, interior and oil ministers travelled to Khartoum for the talks, the first since a unity government was formed in Juba last month in a bid to end its devastating civil war.

"There are some difficulties in our relations," South Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor acknowledged at a joint press conference with his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour.

"I delivered a message from our President Salva Kiir to President (Omar) al-Bashir calling for fast resolution of bilateral issues."

The south's independence in 2011 left a raft of issues unresolved, including the status of the Khartoum-occupied border district of Abyei, which had been supposed to hold a plebiscite on its future, and the payments Juba should make for the use of an oil export pipeline through Sudan.

Ghandour said that he would hold further talks with Alor to resolve the issues.

"Sudan's top priority is to build relations with South Sudan given our historical links," he said.

South Sudan's oil production virtually ground to a halt during the civil war that erupted after the dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar in December 2013.

Khartoum is hoping that Machar's return as vice president in a unity government last month will lead to renewed exports through the pipeline to Port Sudan on its Red Sea coast and resumed transit fee payments.

It is also hoping that improved relations will help resolve persistent rebellions on both sides of the border that have sparked a prolonged war of words between the two governments.
By Brenda Goh and Simon Webb KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE (Reuters) - For the southwestern city of Kunming, China's plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms. In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region's poorest, could struggle to finance even part of the $7 billion cost and has yet to agree financial terms with China. From Laos, the railway would enter Thailand. But Beijing's negotiations have soured there as well, in part over financing, adding to a growing headache for China and highlighting the sort of problems Beijing may face as it develops its economic highways beyond Southeast Asia and across Asia under its "One Belt, One Road" project. The ambitious plan to build land, sea and air routes reaching across the continent and beyond was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 with the aim of boosting trade by $2.5 trillion in the next decade. As Chinas economic growth slows, Beijing is encouraging its companies to win new markets overseas. But across the Southeast Asia border, China is facing the most complex and possibly most significant obstacles to its ambitions, as its neighbors protest what they say are excessive Chinese demands and unfavorable financing conditions. They have resisted Chinese demands for the rights to develop the land either side of the railway. Beijing says turning a profit on land development would make the rest of the project more commercially viable and allow it to make a greater upfront financial commitment. Myanmar, in addition, had environmental concerns and canceled its part of the project in 2014. For China, Southeast Asia's concerns are "going to be the first significant hurdle as they implement One Belt, One Road," said Peter Cai, a research fellow at Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. China's foreign ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China did not respond to requests for comment. LAND-LINKED In 2013, all signs pointed to fast completion of the Laos leg. Leaders from both countries agreed to speed up construction - China offered to loan most of the project funds. In November, construction on the line's terminus in Kunming began. The 2.1 billion yuan ($325 million) high-speed rail station in Kunming is now months from opening. Yet, there is no action in Vientiane despite an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in December. Without significant help from China, Laos lacks the financial muscle for the project, diplomats said. It is unclear why China, which has been vying with Vietnam for influence in Laos, could not offer terms acceptable to Vientiane. Both countries are invested politically in the scheme. China aims to increase its reach and influence in Southeast Asia and Laos says it wants to turn its country into one that is land-linked, rather than landlocked. "There were very high-ranking dignitaries from both sides at the signing," said a Western diplomat in Vientiane. "Most people believe it will cost more than $7 billion, and Laos is struggling to even finance $2 billion of that." The Laos government did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Diplomats though say the inaction reflected an internal Communist Party rift over how the negotiations with China were handled. They said a shock decision in January by the politburo to exclude Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad from the top decision-making body in part indicated concern at senior levels that the deal's terms were too favorable for China. Somsavat had led negotiations on China-related projects and had faced internal criticism for being too pro-Chinese. "The terms were good for Laos," Somsavat told Reuters. Construction was delayed because Laos was still "researching some details" and because of local opposition of land issues. Holding the ground-breaking ceremony on Dec 2 also raised eyebrows in the leadership because the date clashed with celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Laos People's Democratic Republic, diplomats said. With Somsavat out of the government "moves internally by the Laos government have been to renegotiate the terms of this rail agreement," a diplomat said. UNREALISTIC China has offered at least $30 billion in loans and credit lines for projects. Zhao Jian, transportation professor at the Beijing Jiaotong University, said China offers concessionary loans of between 2 percent and 7 percent, so any country pushing for cheaper loans was being unrealistic. Still, infrastructure projects like these need to be subsidized, said Kamalkant Agarwal, the head of commercial banking at Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank. "You can build these projects if you have a government or Santa Claus to pay for it," he said. "But otherwise, making these projects profitable is a huge challenge." After failing to bridge gaps on financing, investment and costs, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in Hainan in March that Thailand would go it alone on financing and for now build only part of the project. The Thai line would stop well short of the Laos border. "They will have to invest more because this is a strategic route that will benefit China," Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters earlier this year. Thailand refused Chinese requests to develop land along the railway route. "I have said since day one with China, that there will be no offer on land rights," Arkhom said. Thai finance ministry sources said the country could secure funds from Japan at much lower rates. Japan is Thailand's biggest investor but also a country jostling with a more assertive China for influence across Asia, so Beijing would be wary of this idea. "The ministry does not want to be condemned for borrowing an expensive loan compared with other options to support this project," said a Thai finance ministry official who attended some negotiations with China. Some Chinese local officials, for their part, see the delays as Southeast Asian dithering. "We are the face to Southeast Asia," said Sun Xiaoqiang, vice-director of the Kunming Investment Promotion Board. "Of course, we all hope they will build faster." BIG GAP The gap between China and Southeast Asia is clearest on the streets of Vientiane and Kunming. Hundreds of Chinese firms operate in Laos, including Wan Feng Shanghai Real Estate Company, which is building a $1.6 billion project to supply Chinese expatriates with condominiums and shopping centers. But the Laotian government has invested little in new rail and roads. Billions of dollars have poured into Kunming, including the district surrounding the new rail station - described by the World Bank six years ago as a "ghost town". "One Belt, One Road is good for Kunming," said Jin, a teacher, who only wanted to give his surname. "(Those countries) have a lot of issues over politics and governance. China is ready, but Southeast Asia isn't." (Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana in BANGKOK; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Neil Fullick)
The stepmother of an Alabama girl who was forced to run for hours in what became a fatal punishment for eating candy has pleaded guilty to her role in the 2012 death.

Jessica Mae Hardin, 31, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated child abuse for the mistreatment of her stepdaughter, Savannah Hardin.

According to a statement from Etowah County prosecutors, Hardin had been charged with murder but entered the plea as part of a deal that allows her to avoid additional time in custody.

Savannah's grandmother, Joyce Hardin Garrard, was previously convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Read: See Casey Anthony at Work As She Sets Up Photography Business

Prosecutors accused Jessica Hardin of failing to intervene on Savannah's behalf. According to the statement, prosecutors found that Hardin failed to do so because she was "extremely intimidated" by Garrard.

The AP reports that Savannah's mother and father were part of the negotiations that have won Hardin's release.

Hardin, who was pregnant when she was taken into custody and has since given birth to the child, was set to go to trial late this summer.

"Everyone who had been involved with the investigation and prosecution of these cases felt that the plea to aggravated child abuse was appropriate," prosecutor Marcus Reid said in a statement. "Each of us believed that this plea of guilty by Jessica Hardin would represent justice for Savannah."

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Less than a year into her life sentence for her role in the death of the 9-year-old, Joyce Garrard suffered an apparent heart attack minutes after she was visited by members of her family.

The 50-year-old collapsed and was airlifted to a hospital, where she was placed on life support.

Garrard was convicted of capital murder last March in the death of Hardin, who she forced to run for nearly three hours before the girl collapsed and fell into seizures and later died of dehydration and low sodium.

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Prosecutors showed that, in 2012, Garrard had forced the girl to run as a punishment for eating a candy bar and then lying about it.

Garrard told a bus driver at the time that the girl had a bladder condition and wasn't allowed to eat sweets.

A judge in the case overrided the jury's recommendation that Garrard be put to death.

Watch: Father of 18-Year-old Murder Victim Attacks Serial Killer in Courtroom

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The Obama administrations efforts to manage the narrative about the nuclear agreement with Tehran keep boomeranging and are now on the verge of becoming a full-blown PR disaster that is reigniting the controversial deal as a campaign issue.

First came the furor after a New York Times Magazine profile of deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes that called him the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself. The story suggested that Rhodes and the administration, using sympathetic journalists and social media, had largely manufactured the tale of how the Iran deal came about. In addition, by promoting the notion that there was a split in the regime and that the administration was engaging with the moderates, the president was able to sidestep what would have been a divisive but clarifying debate about the deal, the story said.

Related: More Proof that Iran Nuke Deal Talks Started Well Before 2013

Then on June 1, the State Department admitted that it had doctored the video of a 2013 press briefing in which former spokeswoman Jen Psaki, now the White House communications director, seemed to suggest that the administration was misleading Americans about whether secret talks with Iran were underway. The admission came after weeks of denials in which the State Department claimed that the deletion of Psakis statement (There are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that.) was a technical glitch.

In an op-ed, House Speaker Paul Ryan wrote: Everything the administration told us about the deal is starting to unravel. The administration assured us that it could reimposeor snap back sanctions if Iran cheated. That seems more improbable now that other countries and even American companies are racing back into the Iranian marketplace.

On Thursday, Ryan called for a further investigation into the missing minutes of the press briefing.

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Related: Iran Has a Surprising Favorite in the U.S. Presidential Race

The administrations Iran narrative took an additional hit on Thursday with the release of the State Departments annual Country Reports on Terrorism for 2015. Iran again took the top spot among state sponsors of terrorism, calling into question whether the nuclear negotiations or outreach to the so-called moderates have resulted in any change of behavior.

Curiously, the report cited as evidence of Irans terrorist activities its own direct attacks on ISIS and its support of groups seeking to destroy the Islamic State. In Iraq, Iranian combat forces employed rockets, artillery, and drones against ISIL. Iran also increased its arming and funding of Iraqi Shia terrorist groups in an effort to reverse ISIL gains in Iraq, the report said.

Despite the blunders and doubts, the selling of the Iran deal continues. In a foreign policy speech on Thursday in San Diego, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: We brought Iran to the table. We began talks. And eventually, we reached an agreement that should block every path for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. On the same day, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that the reason Clinton supports the Iran deal and President Obamas agenda is because she doesnt want to go to jail. And it wont end there.

The bungled managing of the Iran narrative seems to have made the nuclear deal only more of a hot-button issue.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Chicago (AFP) - Results of several clinical trials released Sunday show the revolutionary potential of immunotherapy in treating advanced cases of hard to treat types of cancer, such as bladder and lung cancer.

One has shown that the antibody Tecentriq -- a product of Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss pharmaceutical Roche -- reduced advanced bladder tumors in a quarter of 119 patients tested, with a median survival of almost 15 months. These results compare with a nine to 10 month survival rate typical with chemotherapy, the researchers said.

The findings were presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's largest cancer congress, held this weekend in Chicago.

Tecentriq, which allows the immune system to attack the cancer cells, was shown to be effective with patients who had advanced bladder cancer and were too weak for chemotherapy.

"Up to half of patients with advanced bladder cancer are too frail to receive the only known survival-prolonging treatment," said lead study author Arjun Vasant Balar, a medical doctor and assistant professor of medicine at New York University.

"We are encouraged to see that atezolizumab immunotherapy may help address this major unmet need," Balar said.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently authorized sales of Tecentriq on an expedited basis based on preliminary results of this clinical trial.

"This and other immunotherapies have brought new momentum to bladder cancer treatment, which until recently had seen practically no treatment advances in more than a decade," said Charles Ryan, a professor of clinical medicine and urology at the University of California at San Francisco who participated in the study.

"The fact that this treatment appears safe for elderly patients, who too often have few good options, is all the more encouraging," Ryan said.

The researchers plan to carry out a more extensive clinical trial with Tecentriq as first treatment for advanced bladder cancer that mainly affects older people, the vast majority of whom are smokers or former smokers.

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- Promising treatment -

A new immunotherapy combined with an agent that kills cancer cells has also shown to be promising in treating patients suffering from the most aggressive form of lung cancer, which amounts to 10 to 15 percent of all lung tumors, according to the results of a separate clinical trial with 74 patients that was presented at ASCO Sunday.

This treatment combines a new immunotherapy, rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), developed by the start-up Stemcentrx that was recently acquired by the US laboratory AbbVie.

This combination blocked tumor growth in 89 percent of patients with high levels of DLL3 protein, and resulted in a cancer regression in 39 percent of the group being tested, which included some who had been given only one more year to live.

"We've seen too few successes in recent years for small cell lung cancer, which makes these early signs of efficacy all the more encouraging," said lead study author Charles Rudin, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

A European study also presented at the ASCO conference showed encouraging results for an immunotherapy that targets the protein claudine18.2 in cases of advanced gastric cancer.

That immunotherapy, IMAB362 of Germany's Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, is also combined with chemotherapy.

The clinical study with 161 patients who suffered from aggressive gastric tumors showed that this antibody significantly prolonged their survival when combined with chemotherapy, with 13.2 months or 16.7 months against 8.4 or nine months in patients treated with chemotherapy alone.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swatch Group (UHR.S) has signed a contract with Chinese car maker Geely [GEELY.UL] allowing it to use an innovative battery developed by the watchmaker's research firm Belenos, its chief executive said in an interview on Sunday.

"We're giving Geely the possibly to use our revolutionary battery system," Nick Hayek told NZZ am Sonntag. "This is a first breakthrough for our invention and shows the huge interest industrial firms take in it."

Hayek has said that the performance of the new battery, co-developed with ETH Zurich, is at least 30 percent superior to ordinary batteries.

A memorandum of understanding with Geely was signed mid-May, Hayek said in the interview without giving financial details.

(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army pushed into Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State, after a major Russian-backed offensive against the militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. The offensive is the third big assault on the self-proclaimed caliphate in recent days after Iraqi forces attempted to storm Falluja in central Iraq and a Syrian militia advanced with U.S. support towards Manbij in the north near the Turkish border. The offensives are some of the most aggressive campaigns against Islamic State since it declared its aim to rule over all Muslims from parts of Iraq and Syria two years ago. Friday's assault saw the army reach the edge of Syria's Raqqa province after heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of neighboring Hama province. Raqqa city, further east, is Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria and, along with Mosul in Iraq, the ultimate target of those seeking to destroy the group. State media said on Friday the army had made territorial gains and inflicted heavy casualties on the militants. Syrian army spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. State media has given no indication of how many troops are involved in the offensive, or what weaponry they might be using. The Observatory also had no comment about numbers or weapons, but said at least 26 Islamic States militants had been killed along with nine from the Syrian and allied forces. The war monitor said the army advance meant it was now almost 40 km from an area in which U.S. backed rebels were also waging an offensive to isolate the militants' strongholds in northern Aleppo from their territories east of the Euphrates river, where Raqqa city is located. Should the army be able to reach the area where the rebels are also fighting Islamic State, that would leave the ultra hard line group hemmed in, albeit by forces highly unlikely to work together as they are on opposing sides in the multi-faceted conflict. ALEPPO OFFENSIVE The U.S.-backed rebels also continued to make rapid advances in an offensive against IS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area where they continued to seize more territory, according to Kurdish sources and the monitor. That thrust, supported by U.S. special forces, aims to deny Islamic State any access to the Turkish frontier, which is crucial for supplies of arms and food. The Observatory said that these forces were able to reach nearly 5 to 6 km from Manbij town, further tightening the noose around the militants by cutting the town's main supply routes with Raqqa and laying siege to their fighters dug in the city. "We made big progress and we are trying to ensure the safety of civilians before we begin our assault on the town," Sharfan Darweesh, a spokesman for the Military Council for Manbij, a tribal group affiliated with the U.S. backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) was quoted as saying. The influential pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said on Friday the army operation did not aim to reach Raqqa city within the coming weeks, but was to reach Tabqa city and Lake Assad, which Taqba overlooks. Islamic State captured Tabqa in 2014 at the height of its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq. Tabqa, the location of an air base, is some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city. The town is on a key route that links Raqqa with areas the ultra hardline militants control in northern Aleppo. Separately, militants from radical Islamic groups led by al-Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front consolidated gains in the last 24 hours in southern Aleppo, according to rebel groups. More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring center in Syria said in a statement on Saturday. The center also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city. The insurgent advance will make it more difficult for the army and its allies to encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo city where intensified bombing in the last 24 hours has killed scores of civilians mainly by barrel bombing of residential areas. An attack last month by Nusra Front in southern Aleppo delivered one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to a coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters, including Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah fighting in support of Syrian government forces. It was a major success in recent months for rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad. (The story was refiled to correct the second paragraph to show Falluja is in central Iraq, not Syria) (Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Additonal reporting by Rodi Said; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Bernard Orr)
(Reuters) - The campaign to get Britain out of the European Union has a 2-point lead over the "Remain" campaign, polling firm TNS said on Monday, citing a poll conducted in the third week of May. Forty-three percent of respondents wanted Britain out of the EU, while 41 percent wanted it to stay, according to the online poll of 1,213 Britons. The difference was within the poll's margin of error. Sixteen percent of respondents were undecided. The TNS poll was carried out between May 19-23, a month before the EU referendum date. Britons vote on June 23 on whether to remain in the 28-member bloc, with important implications for its trade, economic and political status. The campaign to stop Britain voting to leave the EU has seen its lead shrink recently, with polls in the past week showing gains for "Leave". Sterling fell sharply last Tuesday when both an online and a telephone poll for ICM showed a 3-percentage-point lead for the "Leave" campaign. (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Paris (AFP) - Toulon qualified directly for the semi-finals in France's end-of-season play-offs after snatching second spot in the table in a dramatic finish to the Top 14 regular season on Sunday.

A comprehensive bonus-point 44-3 win for Bernard Laporte's side against Bordeaux-Begles combined with a 40-25 defeat for Montpellier -- who had started the weekend in second spot -- away to Racing 92 was enough for Toulon.

Their win, which featured six tries including two from Josua Tuisova and one each by Jonathan Pelissie, Steffon Armitage, Jean-Charles Orioli and James O'Connor, allowed Toulon to finish second behind table-toppers Clermont.

It was the perfect send-off for charismatic Toulon manager Laporte in what was his last match in charge at their Stade Mayol.

"We have had a very difficult season with lots of injuries, but we are there," said Laporte.

"There are young players who have emerged and they deserve to be congratulated.

"We owe a lot to this generation that is coming through. They have made Toulon this year. We are among the top four clubs in France. Of course we will try to go as far as possible."

Meanwhile, the defeat for Bordeaux, who had the Fijian Metuisela Talebula red-carded after just 20 minutes, ended their play-off hopes.

Leaders Clermont thumped La Rochelle 57-8 and both they and Toulon now advance directly to the semi-finals in Rennes in two weeks time, the prelude to the final in Barcelona.

- Montpellier denied -

European Challenge Cup winners Montpellier, meanwhile, finish third and will face Castres in the play-offs next Sunday, with the winner of that going on to a semi-final against Toulon.

Racing and Toulouse will also face one another in the quarter-finals for the right to take on Clermont in the last four.

Jake White's Montpellier were looking to avoid defeat away in Paris and secure a direct pass to the semi-finals but they will now have to go again next weekend after a brace of tries from Juan Imhoff and two further efforts from Joe Rokocoko and Bernard Le Roux made the difference for the home side.

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Maxime Machenaud added three penalties and three conversions, while Johan Goosen kicked the remaining points, with Akapusi Qera, Pierre Spies and Nicolas Mas crossing for the visitors, ultimately in vain.

"It is disappointing because we wanted to win to qualify directly for the semi-finals and get a rest next weekend rather than play Castres," said White.

"But Racing played very well. We saw that they have learnt their lessons from their failure in the European Cup final."

Toulouse finished the regular season with a convincing 53-14 victory at Grenoble, their sixth straight win, that included eight tries, two of them from Gillian Galan.

Castres secured the final play-off spot by beating outgoing champions Stade Francais 35-14 as Rory Kockott scored two tries while also impressing with the boot.

At Clermont, three of the home side's nine tries against La Rochelle came from David Strettle as they recorded a big victory on Australian fly-half Brock James' final appearance for the club at their Stade Marcel-Michelin.

James will leave the club in the summer after 10 years of his service, with La Rochelle to be his next destination.

"I have loved playing here," remarked James. "There was a lot of emotion this evening. I have rarely seen the stadium like this.

"Now we need to look ahead. We played really well but now it's onto the final stages."

In other games, Brive defeated Pau 46-10 and Agen beat Oyonnax 23-19 in a meeting of the two relegated sides.
david nott

War surgeon David Nott gave a very moving interview on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" on Sunday.

Nott, one of Britain's top vascular surgeons, has spent more than 20 years working in crisis zones including Darfur, Sierra Leone, The Congo, Afghanistan, and Syria.

He has come close to death in war zones and witnessed abject horror on several occasions. And while he described the "most incredible adrenaline buzz" of the proximity to (his own) death in warzones and working in an austere environment to save the life of others as close to euphoric, his intense experiences led to him suffering severe, "almost psychotic" post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nott has been given an OBE (an Order of the British Empire medal) for his work and in 2014 he was invited for lunch with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, just 10 days after returning from one of his missions.

He described sitting at the table next to the Queen, but struggling to find the words to start up a conversation.

The Queen said: "I heard you have just come back from Aleppo," to which Nott responded: "Yes I have."

Nott said: "If you consider where I had just come from, the hospital was being blown, everything around me was being shelled, and I was coping with children who had been really badly damaged. And she must have detected something significant, because I didn't know what to say to her. It wasn't that I didn't want to speak to her, I just couldn't. I could not say anything."

"Why don't we feed the dogs?"

Then, Nott said, the Queen did something incredibly touching.

The Queen asked Nott: "Shall I help you?"

Nott had no idea what to say: The Queen? Helping him?

But then, Nott said, the courtiers brought in the Palace's Corgi dogs, who went under the table.

queen elizabeth

The Queen asked one of the courtiers to open up a box of dog biscuits.

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She broke a biscuit in two, handed one to Nott, and said: "OK, why don't we feed the dogs?"

"So for 20 minutes, the Queen and I, during this lunch, just fed the dogs," Nott said. "And she did it because she knew that I was so seriously traumatized. The humanity of what she was doing was unbelievable."

"Desert Island Discs" presenter Kirsty Young then asked Nott whether it helped.

"Very much so, I think stroking animals, touching dogs, feeding them  we just talked about her dogs and how many she had, and she was so warm and so wonderful, and I'll never forget it," Nott replied.

"Desert Island Discs" is a long-running radio show in which guests are interviewed about their lives and asked to select the eight records, one book, and one luxury item they would take with them to a desert island.

Nott chose:

Myfanwy  The Treorchy Male Choir and The Jonathan Price String Ensemble

Gadael  Triban

Stairway to Heaven  Led Zeppelin

Cavatina  from The Deer Hunter theme

Gimme Shelter  The Rolling Stones

Fix You  Coldplay

Clair De Lune  Claude Debussy

Good Golly Miss Molly  Little Richard

Book choice: Kallimni 'Arabi Mazboot by Saimia Louis

Luxury item: Fishing rod

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At the rate hes going, Donald Trumps controversial campaign proposals seem to be making it increasingly impossible for him get a fair trial in this country.

On CBSs Face the Nation Sunday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee suggested that its possible a Muslim judge could be biased against him.

The comment came in response to a question from host John Dickerson amid Trumps latest defense of the controversial claim that hes received unfair treatment in the ongoing civil lawsuits against Trump University because of the presiding judges Mexican heritage.

On Fox News Sunday, former House Speaker and Trump supporter Newt Gingrich joined critics from both sides of the aisle in calling the candidates comments inexcusable and one of the worst mistakes Trump has made.

U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel is a U.S. citizen who was born in Indiana. But according to Trump, the fact that Curiel is the son of Mexican immigrants makes it impossible for the judge to act impartially in the Trump University case.

Im building a wall, Trump told the Wall Street Journal last week, following an order by Curiel that internal Trump University documents be released. Its an inherent conflict of interest.

By that logic, Dickerson asked, might Trumps proposed ban on Muslim travel to the U.S. also cause a Muslim American judge to treat him unfairly?

Its possible, yes, Trump replied. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.

The White House hopeful has remained obstinate in his attack against Curiel despite widespread backlash from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, fellow Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, as well as a number of legal experts.

In America, it doesnt matter where your parents were born or what color your skin is. We should be judged by words and deedsnot our race.  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 4, 2016

.@realDonaldTrumps comments were ignorant, offensive & suggest a troubling disregard for the separation of powers https://t.co/osho3EozfF  Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) June 3, 2016

In an interview on CNNs The Lead Friday, host Jake Tapper asked bluntly, If you are saying he cant do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

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No, I dont think so at all, Trump replied, reiterating his call for the judge to recuse himself from the Trump University case. Hes a Mexican. Were building a wall between here and Mexico.

The conversation continued on CBS News Sunday Morning, where Trump showed no signs of backing down.

Isnt there sort of a tradition though in America that we dont judge people by who their parents were and where they came from? Dickerson asked.

Im not talking about tradition, Trump said. Im talking about common sense, OK? Hes somebody, hes proud of his heritage. And I think thats great that hes proud of his heritage.
Istanbul (AFP) - The co-leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said on Sunday he was "not afraid" of being put on trial after parliament scrapped the immunity of dozens of MPs in a hugely controversial move.

Selahattin Demirtas and the HDP co-leader Figen Yuksekdag and dozens of other party MPs risk being put on trial and even jailed on accusations of alleged support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We are are not afraid of being put on trial," Demirtas said at a party rally in Istanbul. "But we have the right to wait so that the judicial authority that judges us is a true judicial authority."

He added: "We are being sent before a tribunal to extract a political revenge."

Prosecutors have already opened criminal investigations against Demirtas and Yuksekdag over calls for demonstrations in 2014 that turned violent. Until now, their immunity prevented them from being charged.

Sunday's rally passed off largely peacefully although police detained several participants for brandishing banners supporting the PKK and jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, an AFP photographer said.

The legislation -- which was approved by parliament on May 20 but still requires President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's approval -- would lift the immunity of 138 deputies from all parties who face potential prosecution.

While the move in principle targets deputies from all parties, the HDP says the move is squarely aimed at evicting its members from parliament.

The HDP, the third largest party group in parliament, says the bill could lead to the prosecution of 50 HDP deputies out of its total contingent of 59.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month told Erdogan of her "deep concern" over the law.
LONDON (Reuters) - Two motorcycle riders have died in separate accidents on the opening day of the annual Isle of Man TT races, organizers said. ACU Events said in a statement that locally-based Australian Dwight Beare, 27, was killed in Saturday's sidecar race while his passenger Benjamin Binns was in a stable condition with a fractured ankle. English solo rider Paul Shoesmith, 50, died in evening practice in an accident on the Sulby Straight, with the session then abandoned. Saturday's action also saw Northern Irish rider Michael Dunlop record the first sub-17 minute lap on his way to winning the RST Superbike race. The TT races around the island off the north-west coast of England between Britain and Ireland have been run since 1907 and rank among the most dangerous in motorsport. Including the Manx Grand Prix races, held later in the year, there have been 250 rider fatalities to date on the Snaefell course. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted a total of 23 military strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Sunday. Thirteen of the strikes occurred in Syria through the use of bomber, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft, the coalition said. Another 10 strikes were carried out in Iraq using rocket artillery and bomber, ground attack, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Alison Williams)
Sirte, Libya

Libyans living under ISIS rule in Sirte have described public executions, kidnappings, and floggings carried out at the hands of the militants as they work toward building another stronghold in the Middle East.

As western countries ramp up strikes against the group's de-facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) sees Libya as a potential back-up option at which to base its operations.

ISIS' influence in Sirte has been growing over the past year, as it has evolved into what The New York Times described as an "actively managed colony" of the central group.

ISIS now has an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 fighters in Libya, and it has been able to seize territory, establish "media points" to distribute its propaganda, and set up Sharia courts to enforce its strict version of Islamic law.

Human Rights Watch recently interviewed 45 residents of Sirte who talked about how the city transformed after ISIS took over. All names used are pseudonyms.

Ahlam, 30, told HRW that "life in Sirte is unbearable."

"Everyone is living in fear. They are killing innocent people," Ahlam said. "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."

Here are some of the major changes ISIS has implemented in Sirte, according to HRW's report:

Morality police: "Hisba" authorities, similar to those found in Raqqa, are now patrolling the streets of Sirte. They've been known to threaten, fine, or beat people for smoking, listening to music, or allowing their wives and sisters to walk around uncovered in the head-to-toe black coverings that are mandatory for every woman living in ISIS territory. The morality police also force males to attend mosque for prayer and religious education classes.

Strict laws: ISIS has distributed a "Charter for the City" that lays out the laws under ISIS. From the HRW report: "The charter outlaws 'all taboos' including selling or consuming drugs and alcohol, and smoking. It 'encourages' residents to pray 'all together, and on time' in local mosques. It rejects gatherings, political parties, and flags or insignia, and says polytheistic or pagan shrines must be razed. The document orders women to cover themselves in 'loose robes and veil,' to spend their time 'settling in the home  refraining from leaving unless necessary.' All public funds belong to ISIS, the document says."

Public executions: ISIS has carried out public beheadings and "crucifixions," which consist of the militants hanging corpses in orange jumpsuits from scaffolding. ISIS uses loudspeakers to call residents to watch these executions in Sirte's central square.

Kidnappings: Masked men have reportedly been "snatching men from their beds in the night," according to the report.

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Anti-Gaddafi fighters fire a multiple rocket launcher near Sirte, September 24, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Schools: Sirte University has not conducted classes since late last year. ISIS reportedly banned history and law classes and tried to segregate male and female students. The group is also attempting to control primary and secondary schools to teach young students Islamic law.

Stores: ISIS has reportedly closed lingerie shops and stores that sell Western clothing.

Government and infrastructure: ISIS has "taken over Sirte's port, air base, main power station and radio station, along with all local government offices and finances," according to the report. The group has also set up three prisons, closed down banks, and established call centers so that it can control residents' communication with the outside world.

Military training for children: ISIS has conscripted fighters as young as 16 years old. The group is also training children younger than 16 in suicide bombing, booby trapping, and weapons.

The Libyans who talked to HRW described the despair Sirte residents are living with.

Ali, who has left the city, noted to HRW that the final stage of the 2011 revolution against ousted Libyan Prime Minister Muammar Gaddafi was in Sirte, the deceased leader's hometown.

"We were filled with hope," Ali said. "Then step by step, Daesh took over. Now we feel we are cursed."

ISIS killings have made residents afraid to venture outside.

"I do not leave my house except to go to the mosque: house to mosque, mosque to house," Salem, a former government employee, told HRW. "I keep my head down. I would stay in Misrata but I cant afford the rents here. Everyone wants to leave Sirte if they can find a way."

Residents have described horrifying kidnappings and executions of people ISIS perceives as enemies or suspects of being spies.

Another man identified by the pseudonym "Ali" told HRW about his relative, who was kidnapped and publicly executed by ISIS for being a "spy."

"He disappeared for three months," Ali said. "Then on January 16 [2016], they shot him dead. 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."

NOW WATCH: How ISIS makes over $1 billion a year





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Kabul (AFP) - Accolades poured in Monday for veteran American reporter David Gilkey and an Afghan reporter killed in southern Afghanistan when their vehicle came under Taliban fire, highlighting the growing dangers faced by journalists covering the worsening conflict.

Gilkey and his colleague, 38-year-old Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed Sunday while they were travelling with an Afghan army unit near the town of Marja in the volatile opium-rich province of Helmand.

Two other National Public Radio (NPR) journalists travelling with Gilkey in a separate vehicle, reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were unharmed.

"David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. He was devoted to helping the public see these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing that commitment," said Michael Oreskes, NPR's senior vice president of news and editorial director.

Gilkey's colleagues responded with shock at the news of his sudden death, the first time in NPR's 46-year history that it has lost a journalist on a reporting assignment.

One co-worker, Audie Cornish, tweeted that Gilkey was among the company's "greatest journalists" and his death was "an unimaginable loss".

Tributes also poured in for Tamanna, who is left behind by a wife and three young children, as Afghan journalists gathered outside his house in Kabul to offer condolences.

"We are shocked and saddened by the killing of Zabihullah Tamanna, who loved his job in the media," said Afghan journalist Abdul Halim, a close friend.

"He wanted to serve his people through journalism."

A Taliban hotbed, the province of Helmand is almost entirely under the control of the militants, waging a deadly insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government.

Afghan military spokesman Ahmad Shakil Tasal said Gilkey and Tamanna, who was hired as a translator, were heading to Marja to cover an army operation when they were hit by a Taliban rocket. The Afghan soldier driving the vehicle was also killed.

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A gunfight raged for at least 30 minutes before Afghan reinforcements backed by helicopters arrived, ending the Taliban onslaught, added army commander Moeen Faqiri.

Afghan troops recovered the bodies of the dead journalists and transported them to a base in Kandahar, he told AFP.

- 'Gifted storyteller' -

Even though much of the world's attention has shifted away, let no one doubt that Afghanistan remains a dangerous place for journalists -- local and foreign -- working to cover that protracted conflict," said Bob Dietz, the Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

"There are too many journalists who have given their lives to tell the Afghan story."

Prior to the deaths of Gilkey and Tamanna, 24 journalists and one media worker have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion, said the CPJ.

"History will remember (Zabihullah) & David as fighters for freedom of information and expression," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter.

"Those who committed the heinous crime will be remembered as forces of hatred."

US Secretary of State John Kerry praised Gilkey as a "gifted storyteller", and paid tribute to "intrepid journalists -- and their interpreters -- trying to convey that important story to the rest of the world".

Gilkey received a 2007 national Emmy award for a video series about Michigan Marines in Iraq.

"The things to do were amazing and the places to see were epic," he once said. "But the people, the people are what made it all worth the effort."

His photography also helped earn NPR a Peabody Award for its coverage of the Ebola epidemic.

"His coverage in Africa put a face to a disease and refused to let listeners think of the stricken individuals as separate from our own families," NPR said.

"He made a global story very personal."
A US naval officer was arrested Sunday for alleged drink-driving on Okinawa, Japanese police said, where military personnel are already under curfew after a suspected rape and murder by a base employee.

Naval officer Aimee Mejia, 21, was arrested shortly after midnight on Sunday on suspicion of drink-driving, an Okinawa police spokesman said.

She had been driving the wrong way down a street, hitting an oncoming vehicle and bouncing off to collide with another, leaving a local woman with a cracked breastbone, the spokesman added.

"She was arrested right on the spot for driving while intoxicated," he told AFP.

Public anger against the heavy US military presence on Okinawa was rekindled last month with the arrest a former US Marine, then a base employee, in connection with the death of a 20-year-old woman.

The arrest led to a month-long night-time curfew on US forces stationed on the island, as part of a "period of unity and mourning" over the killing.

Sunday's arrest is expected to refuel the anger among Okinawans, who plan a major rally this month to protest against the military bases as well as the behaviour of personnel.

The island was the site of a World War II battle and is now considered a strategic linchpin but the heavy burden of hosting US bases and soldiers has long been a thorn in the side of the two countries' relations.

It hosts the lion's share of US bases in Japan and more than half the 47,000 American military personnel in the country under a decades-long security alliance.

A series of crimes including rapes, assaults and hit-and-run accidents by US military personnel, dependants and civilians have long sparked local protests on the crowded island.
The Veterans Affairs Department recently unveiled a potentially controversial regulation that would eventually see taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries.

The agencys proposed rule, first reported by Time, would remove a decades-old ban on such procedures and comes at a time when the issue of transgender rights has become national cultural flashpoint.

Related: VA Chief Sticks with Tone-Deaf Disney Comment Amid Calls for Resignation

The Obama administration issued federal rules last month mandating public schools allow transgender students to use whatever restroom they want. Eleven states, led by North Carolina, are suing the White House over the directive, signaling a contentious legal battle as the country is split down the middle on the issue, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll.

In its notice, the VA states that surgical procedures were not deemed to be medically necessary in the past and there were questions over their safety and effectiveness.

However, increased understanding of gender dysphoria and surgical techniques in this area have improved significantly, and surgical procedures are now widely accepted in the medical community as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria, the notice says.

Additionally, recent medical research shows that gender dysphoria is a serious condition that has had severe medical consequences for certain patients if transition-related surgeries and procedures are not provided, it adds.

Related: Two Years After VA Scandal, Healthcare System Still Stacked Against Vets

If the department opts to push ahead with the new regulation it would bring it into line with Medicare, which made the decision to cover transgender operations in 2014. There are as many as 15,000 transgender people serving in the armed forces today, according to an estimate by the National Center for Transgender Equality.

The Center also figures there are around 134,000 transgender veterans, but given the fact that there are millions of vets across the country, its safe to bet that figure is higher.

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Any steps by the VA could run into stiff opposition in Congress.

Earlier this year the Defense Department offered adding non-surgical hormone therapy for gender dysphoria to the militarys insurance network, known as Tricare, and Pentagon chief Ash Carter could issue a directive before the end of 2016 that would allow transgender individuals to serve openly.

Related: Why Does the VA Own a 5-Star Luxury Hotel in Paris?

By turns, the moves brought swift condemnation from Republicans who charged that Obama was using the military to conduct social experiments.

Similar charges could be leveled against the VA, even though the proposal does not provide a timeline for when coverage might begin, meaning it could be several years before the policy is put into place.

Lawmakers could also not be thrilled with the idea of covering expensive male-to-female and female-to-male transition operations, which can total well over $100,000 according to some estimates. With the VAs poor history of providing healthcare, potentially adding tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer expenses is a longshot.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Dozens of activists were detained in Vietnam's two biggest cities Sunday as they tried to hold protests calling for greater government transparency over a recent spate of mass fish deaths.

Tonnes of dead fish and other marine life began washing up on central Vietnamese shores two months ago and continued to appear for two to three weeks, sparking widespread anger.

Frustration has been further fuelled by a perceived lack of clarity from the communist leadership about what caused the deaths.

Major streets in central Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were temporarily deserted on Sunday morning as security forces blanketed the area.

Activists used social media accounts to document many arrests, saying people had been detained in both cities either before or while they joined protests.

AFP saw one incident in Hanoi where plainclothes officers tackled an activist and dragged him off.

Another 30 people were detained after launching a brief protest in front of Hanoi's cathedral.

Activists posted pictures showing the protesters holding banners with slogans like "Fish dead, people dead" and "No Formosa".

Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa, which runs a steel mill in the area where the fish have died, is widely suspected of being the cause.

State media initially pointed the finger of blame at the company but have since rowed back, as anger grew in Vietnam against ethnic Chinese interests in the country.

Authorities have since responded with a crackdown against protesters, placing many activists under house arrest and at times interrupting the Internet.

Facebook has been intermittently unavailable since Saturday night.

Human rights groups hit out at the latest crackdown.

"The Vietnam government should be leading the investigation into what caused these fish kills, not suppressing peoples efforts to demand answers and accountability," said Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch.

On Thursday government official Mai Tien Dung was quoted in state media as saying that investigators have now concluded what was killing the fish.

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But they would only release the results after "independent consultation from domestic and foreign experts", he said.

Fishing and tourism in central Vietnam have been hit hard by the marine deaths.

Vietnam's communist rulers tolerate little dissent but anger over corruption and environmental degradation often spark significant protests.
The November election will be the first presidential contest to take place since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to strip some of the major protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required states with a history of voter discrimination to get federal clearance before changing their voting laws. Seventeen states will have new voting restrictions in place for the first time. Among them, Wisconsin, Texas, and North Carolina have tightened their photo ID requirements; Kansas now requires proof of citizenship to cast a ballot; and Arizona has made it a felony for people to collect ballots from others and take them to the polls.

Some peoplemostly Democratssay these laws disenfranchise poor and minority voters. But othersmostly Republicansdefend the stringent requirements as part of an effort to prevent voter fraud (an occurrence scholars largely consider to be a myth, and in some states, is more rare than a lightning strike).

But just as some states are making it more difficult to vote, others are passing legislation to make it easier.

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The Illinois House and Senate approved a measure on Tuesday to register people to vote automatically when they renew their drivers licenses at the DMV (with an option to opt out). If Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signs the legislationsomething he has shown support for in the pastthe Prairie State will be the fifth state to enact automatic voter registration, after Oregon, California, Vermont, and West Virginia. Dozens of other states are considering similar legislation.

The convergence of these two competing trends has brought the issue of voting rights to a boil in the United States, and Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law and the author of the new book The Fight to Vote, says America has reached a tipping point in its democratic process.

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I talked with Waldman about this tipping point, why he thinks automatic voter registration is the best solution, and why every state doesnt already have it. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Elaine Godfrey: Is voting a privilege or a right?

Waldman: Americans have grappled for centuries over whether voting is a right or a privilege. But in fact, it is viewed as a core right of citizenship and membership in the American community. The right to vote phrase did not appear in the original Constitution, and the states were left with the task of deciding who could vote. But over time, the right to vote has been added to the Constitution repeatedly, and its now recognized as a real right. The question is, how do we give life to that right? How do we protect it? How do we make that vote meaningful?

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Godfrey: Has voting always been a partisan issue?

Waldman: One of the lessons of history is that it shouldnt be surprising that voting is a partisan issue. There have always been some people pushing to expand the right to vote. Right now, the most restrictive voting laws are being passed by Republican legislatures, and other times its been Democrats. Whats encouraging is that we now see both parties engaged in the fight on this issue.

Were one of the only democracies that places the burden of registering to vote on the individual principally.

Godfrey: Your book covers the evolution of voting rights throughout the past two centuries. Why did you write this book now? Where is America on the timeline of voting rights?

Waldman: This is a time of great and intense pressure on many of the core institutions of American democracy. Were seeing battles over who can vote, over the rules of how we run elections, of the kind we havent seen in years and years. Seventeen states will have new laws on the books for the first time in a high turnout national election that make it harder for people to vote. Its the first presidential election in half a century without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act.

In the last election, voter turnout had plunged to its lowest level in 72 years. So American democracy is facing real stresses, and people are having to fight for their right to vote. And it turns out that these fights are intense, and they are consequential, but theyre not new. The fight to vote, it turns out, has been at the heart of American politics from the very beginning.

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Godfrey: Is it counterintuitive to you that every American doesnt have an automatic right to vote? Why dont we already have automatic voting in every state?

Waldman: Its one of the anomalies of the American system. Were one of the only democracies that places the burden of registering to vote on the individual principally. All the other modern democracies do it differently: Canada, England, Germany, wherever you look. The concept behind automatic registration is to shift the presumptions: For the first time, the government takes on the responsibility of ensuring that everybody whos eligible to vote is on the rolls. Its probably the single most significant change in how we run voting that could be made right now.

Back in the beginning, there wasnt voter registration because people voted in villages where everybody knew each other. It was first introduced in the late 1800s, and its understandable why youd want to have strong lists of who could vote. But the way it was instituted was done in a way that made it much harder for immigrants, working people, and non-English speakers of the time to vote.

Godfrey: Whats the argument for automatic voter registration?

Waldman: If automatic registration were implemented across the board, you would add 50 million eligible voters to the rolls, it would cost less, and it would curb error and the potential for abuse.

Theres encouraging bipartisan support for it. After the long voting lines in the 2012 election, President Obama appointed a bipartisan national commission chaired by Mitt Romneys lawyer and [Obamas] own lawyer. This panel came up with a bunch of really good reforms that pointed [toward automatic registration]. It was tremendously bipartisan and respected.

One of the things I like about automatic voter registration is that, in a sense, it solves the problems articulated by the left and right. It enfranchises tens of millions of people who are not on the rolls. For people who say theyre worried about voter fraud, it helps address that, as well.

Godfrey: Tell me about the new laws being implemented in states like Texas and Wisconsin to prevent voter fraud. What do those look like?

Waldman: These new laws take a variety of shapes, but theyre all crafted carefully, in a way that makes it harder for some people to vote, especially voters of color, students, poor peopleoften poor people. Some of them are voter ID laws. Im not against voter ID; I think its fine for people to have to prove who they are. But the problem is requiring ID that lots of people do not have.

Texas has perhaps the harshest voter ID law in the country. You cannot use your University of Texas student ID as a government ID, but you can use your concealed-carry gun permit. The mischievous part of the intent of that law is pretty plain. A federal court found that there were 608,000 registered voters who didnt have the ID, and it could be expensive, sometimes up to hundreds of dollars to get the paperwork needed.

Then there are cutbacks on early voting. One of the reasons turnout is low is that you have elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Thats very inconvenient in the modern age, especially for working people, people who have to care for their children. So, one positive development has been expanding opportunities to vote in different ways: About one-third of voters now dont vote on Election Day.

Very few of these new laws say in the manner of the brutal repression of the past, You no longer can vote, but they make it very, very hard for many people to vote. And that can have a really significant impact. Weve seen already plenty of reason to be worried about the impact of these laws.

Why would we say that when it comes to the most fundamental of rights, you need to work extra hard to make your voice heard?

Godfrey: Some people would defend those laws on the premise that there need to be certain barriers to voting, that participating in the voting process is an earned right. How would you respond to that?

Waldman: You have a lot of people saying, It should be a little hard to register to vote. Voting is a core element of citizenship. The idea that we should erect barriers to it because it somehow builds character is at odds with the most basic tenets of American democracy, especially barriers that are harder for some people than for other people.

All men have to sign up for selective service. Everybody has to pay taxes. Everybody has to serve on juries. Why would we say that when it comes to voting, the most fundamental of rights, you need to work a little extra hard to make your voice heard?

James Madison, behind closed doors at the Constitutional Convention indicated that he thought maybe a property requirement wasnt a bad idea, but when it came time to selling the idea to the public, he was eloquent in his defense of the right to vote. In Federalist 57 he wrote:

Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States.

Thats as good and elegant a credo for American democracy as anyones come up with since.

This is a time of demographic change, of widening economic inequality, and of a sudden and profound recognition of both of these facts.

Godfrey: Why are voting rights such a pressing issue right now?

Waldman: Youre right that theres a lot of ferment. You have some states making it harder to vote and other states enacting bold pro-voter reform. Theyre doing both. Its not all headed in one direction or another.

These issues of the rules of democracy are most intensely contested when theres a great deal of change in American society. We have surging demographic change and new groups rising in numbers, and existing political forces fear the change and think that they need to change the rules to slow it down. It also comes at a time when people feel that the institutions of government are not working or representing their interests. This is a time of demographic change, of widening economic inequality, and of a sudden and profound recognition of both of these facts.

Godfrey: Are there past examples of what were going through now?

Waldman: Through American history, those are times when these fights over the right to vote are the most intense. Just like in 1800, when the Federalists realized the new states coming into the Union were full of small farmers who would vote for Thomas Jefferson, and they tried to change the voting rules so that people couldnt vote for president anymore in a few states.

In the late 1800s in the South, the Jim-Crow laws were put into effect in part because the elites were worried that white populist farmers and black voters would make an alliance. And in the North, in cities filled with immigrants, there were efforts to make it harder for them to vote.

Now, we have surging participation rates by African Americans, Latinos, and Asian voters and the election of first African-American president. And the states with the fastest-rising voting rates of black and Latino voters are the states most likely to have laws in place to make it harder to vote.

In the late 1800s, democracy really was in retreat, you had voter suppression and Jim-Crow laws in the South that took away the right to vote for African Americans, and you had efforts to curb voting by immigrants and working people in the North; you had for the first time, the new role for big money in American politics, from the robber barons of the time, and voter turnout started to go down. American democracy really went backwards.

But after that was the Progressive Era, this period of reform where you had direct election of U.S. senators, and women won the right to vote. It was significant political reform in reaction to what happened in the Gilded Age.

This is the first election in a long time where how American politics works and who its working for are major topics of debate.

Godfrey: Are we about to enter a new Progressive Era?

Waldman: I feel as if were at a tipping point right now. We could really slide backwards with less participation, making it harder and harder for people to vote, with a bigger role for big money. Or this could be a period of rekindled optimism and renewal of the institutions of our democracy. Just in the law year or two, automatic voter registration is passing, redistricting is passing, and there are new forms of creative public financing to improve campaign finance.

Theres a lot happening, but we could go either way.

Godfrey: Will the November presidential election affect which way we go?

Waldman: This election will be a big part of the story. First of all, its clearly going to be very hard-fought, and these issues are part of the fighting. We saw already in the primaries that these voting law changes could have an impact.

In Arizona, there were long lines in heavily Hispanic Maricopa County. That would not have been allowed if the Voting Rights Act was still in full effect. We saw lines in Wisconsin and hundreds of thousands of people dropped from the rolls in New York. Who knows why? But it is, at the very least, incompetence.

This is the first election in a long time where how American politics works, how American government works, who its working for, are major topics of debatenot just what policies should be enacted.

Godfrey: Would automatic registration actually ensure that more people will vote?

Waldman: There are a lot of reasons why voter turnout is so low in the United States. Registration is only one of them, but theres starting to be great new evidence that automatic registration will lead to higher turnout. In Oregon, the first state that has put this into effect, they tripled registration at the DMV, and theres good reason to think its one of the reasons voter turnout was so high [in the Oregon primaries].

There are a lot of things that have to happen, but automatic registration is the biggest, immediately available change that can make the biggest immediate difference.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed to wrap up the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination by late Tuesday or early Wednesday -- regardless of whether she wins in California.

Were going to go all the way to the finish line, Clinton said hopefully to CNNs Jake Tapper in an interview aired by CNN on Sunday morning. After Tuesday, I am going to do everything I can to reach out to try to unify the Democratic Party, and I expect Sen. Sanders to do the same.

Related: Some Democrats Pray for Clintons Indictment as Sanders Pushes On

Clinton needs just 71 more delegates to put her over the top in the race for the nomination, and she almost certainly will pick up far more than that in New Jersey Tuesday evening, hours before the primary vote is concluded in delegate-rich California, where 546 delegates are on the line.

But democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders continued to argue that Clinton was only kidding herself if she thinks the will throw in the towel before he makes his final case at the national convention in July. Clinton will enter the convention with at least 2,383 pledged and super delegates she will need to claim the nomination on the first ballot.

However, Sanders believes he can convince hundreds of super delegates or party leaders attending the convention to switch their allegiance from Clinton to Sanders, especially if he prevails in the sprawling, racially diverse Golden State and continues to do better than Clinton in hypothetical polling matchups with Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

We dont know what the world is going to be like four weeks from now, five weeks, so lets not forget, Sanders told Tapper. The Democratic convention is at the end of July. Thats a long time from today.

Related: We Now Know Hillary Lied Multiple Times About Her Email Server

And on a more ominous note, Sanders insisted that if Clinton does prevail in the delegate county, it would be up to her  not him  to try to win many of Sanderss true-believer supporters to her side.

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After months of bashing Clinton as a tool of Wall Street who accepted millions of dollars in speaking fees and campaign contributions, and as the embodiment of the Democratic Party status quo, Sanders said today that it would take a lot of convincing for liberal Democrats and independents to rally behind her. Numerous polls show that most of Sanders supporters dont trust and dont like Clinton, and that as many as a third of them would not vote for her under any circumstances.

The idea that I can snap my fingers and have millions of supporters kind of march in line, that is not what our effort is about, Sanders told Tapper on the same CNN broadcast. I think if I am not the nominee  and were going to fight to become the nominee  it is Secretary Clintons job to explain to those people why she should get their support.

Secretary Clinton is going to have to make the convincing argument to them that how can it be she is getting huge amounts of money from Wall Street and other powerful special interests and she is going to stand up and fight for them, Sanders added.

Related: Trump Clinches Nomination, Then Gives GOP New Reasons to Worry

Sanders also seemed to go out of his way today to renew his sharp criticism of Clinton for voting as a U.S. senator in 2002 to support the invasion of Iraq and then encouraging President Obama to support the toppling Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi while she was secretary of state  a move that destabilized Libya and paved the way for infiltration by terrorists hostile to the U.S. But when pressed to say whether he would work with Clinton to defeat Trump regardless of the outcome of the Democratic primary battle, Sanders said simply, Yes.

It was once inconceivable that Clinton would lose in California, a state that strongly backed her in 2008 in the final weeks of her unsuccessful contest with Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. And for much of this years primary campaign season, Clinton has held sizeable, double-digit leads over Sanders.

But the race has tightened in recent weeks, as Sanders has poured more and more time and money into the campaign. A new survey by the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California shows the two locked in a statistical tie, with Sanders holding a one-point lead over Clinton, 44 percent to 43 percent.

As usual, Sanders has garnered most of his support among younger voters, including the fast growing Latino and Asian-American populations -- many of whom are new voters. Sanders 10-month investment of time and resources in California has paid off big dividends by attracting a far more racially diverse group of supporters than he was able to attract in most other states  where his supporters were typically white college students and younger voters.

However, Dan Schnur, the Los Angeles Times poll director, cautioned that Sanders appeal to young voters and independents in California could be a double-edged sword, because young voters are harder to turn out than older people are. Even if many of them turn out, that wont be enough unless they have been properly instructed to request a Democratic ballot.

Related: Clintons Staff Ignored Investigators as They Looked into Her Emails

That is not to say he [Sanders] cant pull it off, but this may be the biggest voter mobilization challenge California has seen in many, many years, Schnur told the Los Angeles Times.

Clinton could still pull out a narrow victory in California, and she is being helped to some extent by the endorsement of the highly popular Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, a one-time ardent political opponent of Clintons husband. But the final days of the California primary contest have become little more than background music to the blistering exchanges between Clinton and Trump  who will face off this fall in the general election campaign assuming Clinton finally shakes loose of Sanderss challenge.

Over the weekend, Clinton and Trump continued to snarl at each other from afar, with Clinton continuing to make the case that Trump lacks the temperament to be commander in chief and Trump insisting that Clinton is guilty as hell of violating federal rules against using private email servers to transmit sensitive documents, and that she has to go to jail.

During an appearance today on ABC News This Week, Clinton brushed off Trumps attacks on her improper use of email --which were documented in a recent State Department Inspector Generals report  as typical Trumpism.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
A Kuka technician programs a robot arm of German industrial robot maker Kuka at the company's stand during the Hannover Fair in Hanover, Germany, April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) - German industrial robot maker Kuka <KU2G.DE> would assess a possible European takeover bid but it is wrong to assume such an offer would take priority over the bid by China's Midea Group Co Ltd's <000333.SZ>, Chief Executive Till Reuter told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Kuka is the latest and biggest German industrial technology group to be targeted by a Chinese buyer as the world's second-largest economy makes the transition from a low-cost manufacturer into a high-tech industrial hub.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is trying to coordinate an alternative offer for Kuka, with government sources expressing concerns about losing German technology to China.

"Should new options arise because of politicians' efforts, then we will assess those the same way without prejudice as we are assessing the offer by Midea," Reuter said in an interview published on Sunday.

He said Kuka has been in contact with federal and regional governments since before home appliance maker Midea's 4.5 billion-euro ($5.12 billion) bid became public last month.

Asked whether a European counter offer would take priority should it come together, Reuter said: "This cannot be said in such a hard and fast way."

The CEO said Midea has already made "several concessions" to Kuka's management by pledging to keep jobs and R&D capacities in Germany, adding it may take several weeks for the Chinese bidder's final offer to arrive.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Alison Williams)
Even if you're not excited about the new Ghostbusters reboot/sequel, you might want to tune in to Jimmy Kimmel Live next Wednesday.

On June 8th, Kimmel will celebrate Ghostbusters Day (the anniversary of the original movie's release date) by uniting the cast of the original movies with the cast of the new movie. That's right: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts will all appear together on television for the first time in a very long time.

READ MORE: Almost half of Star Wars: Rogue One will need to be reshot

The four beloved Ghostbusters stars will be joined by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, who are taking over as the new Ghostbusters in the upcoming film.

"Seeing the original and new Ghostbusters all together (will be) like being in the presence of the comedy gods on Mount Olympus," Ghostbusters director Paul Feig told USA Today in a statement. "This is an epic summit of some of the funniest people on the planet. Long live the Ghostbusters!"

Continuing the celebration, the original Ghostbusters will be re-released in over 800 theaters around the US. The screenings will also feature a sneak peek at the new Ghostbusters movie, which is scheduled to release on July 15th.

Related stories

Donald Trump can't give Jimmy Kimmel a straight answer about transgender bathroom laws

Game of Thrones creators apologized for what they did to Hodor, and it was hilarious

Maybe everyone will hate this new 'Ghostbusters' trailer a little less

More from BGR: Apple is making me buy the iPhone 7 I dont want

This article was originally published on BGR.com




An animated cartoon entitled Watch Car will be shown at the third Vietnam-Korea Animation Cartoon Festival in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

The award ceremony was held on June 3rd to kick off the third Vietnam-Korea Animation Cartoon Festival in Hanoi.

Last year, the cartoon Lu and Robo earned Tuan a second-place prize and a one-week visit to Chuncheon Anitown Festival in the Republic of Korea.

The Adventure of Egg, Lime and Chilly was the shortest film at the contest, which draws about 23 works from both individual filmmakers and studios across the nation.

The cartoon is three-and-a-half minutes in length and tells the story of an egg, a lime and a chili who help each other escape from a kitchen.

I aimed to make a short cartoon that ended quickly, but was not boring to watch, said Tuan, who is chief executive officer of Colory Animation Studio. The studio was founded in 2011, and its debut cartoon Under the Tree Shadow was welcomed by the online community.

The Adventure of Egg, Lime and Chilly was produced to train young artists at Colory Studio.

Im happy with the first-place prize at the contest, Tuan said. I wish that Vietnam could organise a similar contest.

This year marked the second time the cartoon contest was held. It awards two first-place prizes and two second-place prizes to professional and amateur filmmakers.

A cartoon entitled Bong Hoa Mat Troi (Sun Flower) by the Vietnam Animation Studio grabbed the second-place prize, and Nguyen Thanh Tuyen and Huynh Anh Kiet took first- and second-place prizes for the amateur filmmaker category. Both hail from HCM City.

The seven judges decided to give the first-place prize to Tuyens film in the amateur category because it was professionally done, according to one of the jurors. However, the cartoon was made four years ago when Tuyen knew little about animated filmmaking.

It was developed from motions illustrating curriculum software, which I made for the Software Development Company for students, Tuyen said.

Tuyen and Tuan will have the chance to attend Chuncheon Anitown Festival in the RoK./.


Speaking at the event, Italian Ambassador Cecilia Piccioni highlighted the fruitful friendship between Vietnam and Italy in recent times, saying that bilateral ties have been strengthened and positively developed in all fields.

The Vietnamese market is more attractive to Italian enterprises and Vietnams participation in free trade agreements (FTA), especially the Vietnam-European Union FTA, open more cooperation opportunities for the two countries businesses.

Enhanced links between Italy with HCM City and other southern localities plays a crucial role in the Vietnam-Italy Partnership, said Italian Consul General in HCM City Carlotta Colli.

She revealed that her country is going to launch two vocational training centres in HCM City in the fields of textiles and footwear, which will use Italian technologies.

A group of Italian high-school students will visit Vietnam in the framework of a youth exchange programme between the two nations.

Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen said HCM City signed agreements on establishing friendship with Italys Torino city.

Tuyen thanked the Italian Government for its support for the municipal authorities to set up an educational information centre at the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, expressing his hope that the bond between HCM City and Italy will be stepped up in the coming time./.




Deputy head of Vietnamese National Assembly Committee for National Defence and Security Tran Dinh Nha speaks at meeting with Vietnamese embassy staff in Berlin (Source: VNA)

The Vietnamese delegation led by the committees deputy head Tran Dinh Nha is on a working visit to Germany from June 1st-4th.

At the meeting, the two sides informed each other of their respective countrys socio-economic and political situation, while exchanging notes on the regional and international situations, arising challenges and defence-security policies to deal with those challenges.

They reached a consensus that cooperation among nations is the most effective way to address conflicts.

They also shared opinions on recent developments in the East Sea, agreeing that the parties involved should restrain themselves and handle disputes by peacefull means on the basis of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Vietnamese official expressed his hope that the two countries will boost cooperation in economics, trade, investment, tourism, education, and science and technology to deepen their strategic partnership further.

During their stay in Berlin, the Vietnamese delegation also had working sessions with the Bundestags Committees of Defence and Home Affairs, and the Berlin Police Department./.




Photo for illustration (Source: cand.com.vn)



The Vietnam National Heart Institute under Bach Mai Hospital, over the last week, has received 20 percent more patients than on normal days.



Dr. Tran Viet Luc, head of the Central Geriatric Hospitals Medical Examination Faculty said the elderly suffer body water shortages and pneumonia due to prolonged hot weather, so latent diseases such as high-blood pressure and cardiovascular were striking.

Dr. Ta Huu Anh, deputy head of the hospitals intensive care unit, said patients suffering high blood pressure should take daily medicine under doctors guidance as a precaution against strokes.

However, the doctor said many patients above 65 ignored doctors guidance and only took medicine when they felt ill.

The National Paediatrics Hospital saw an increasing number of patients over the last few days, hospital deputy director Tran Minh Dien said, with most patients suffering from respiratory problems, diarrhea and viruses.

Childrens Hospital in Hai Phong City reported an increased number of encephalitis patients with 58 cases since early May against a total 130 cases in 2015.

Children who get encephalitis children on hot days are aged from 5 to 10. Parents easily mistake the signs of encephalitis for sunstroke, Dr Hoang Ngoc Anh of the hospital warned.

But, Anh said doctors havent determined what virus caused encephalitis in the area.

We are working with experts from the Hanoi-based National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, and from Britains Oxford University to find the cause of encephalitis, said Dr. Hoang Ngoc Anh.

The hospital reported 600 children came to the clinic every day, of which 100 were hospitalised for treatment.

In the south, HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital reported an encephalitis-affected child died in late May, the first Neisseria meningitidis bacterium case in the city this year.

HCM City Childrens Hospital No.1 has seen an increasing number of patients with Japanese encephalitis and meningitis in recent days.

HCM Citys Health Department reported that over the last week, there were 148 hand-foot-mouth disease cases, an increase by 10 percent against previous weeks.

Doctors have warned adults to keep children in airy homes during hot days, avoid bathing in the sea from 10am-4pm, vaccinate fully and maintain a clean living area./.


People.cn, founded on Jan. 1, 1997, is a large-scale news platform built by Peoples Daily, one of the top ten newspapers in the world. It is also one of the largest comprehensive media sources on the Internet. People.cn is available in seven ethnic minority languages and nine foreign languages. It publishes news in the form of text, picture, video, Weibo and Apps around the clock. It has formed a reliable and extensive readership consisting of users from 200 countries and regions around the world. Party and state leaders attach great importance to the role of People.cn. On April 26, 2000, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin watched the homepage of People.cn during his visit to South Africa. On his visit to People.cn on June 20, 2008, then Chinese President Hu Jintao talked with netizens through the Qiangguo Forum. On June 30, 2012, Xi Jinping attended the launching ceremony for the digital platform, which made a version of the paper available on cellular phones and, which was built through the joint efforts of the Party Member Education Center of the CPC Organization Department and CPC News of People.cn. During an inspection tour to the People's Daily on Feb. 19, 2016, President Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chatted online with villagers of Chixi Village in Ningde, southeast China's Fujian province, from the multi-media studio of People's Daily Online. People.cn also runs several news websites including the NPC News and CPPCC News. It has built official websites for the press center of the 17th and 18th CPC National Congress, and has constructed a number of websites for ministries and commissions. In 2015, more than 281 officials above vice-ministerial level, nearly 2,000 local officials, company executives, celebrities and foreign politicians communicated with netizens through People.cn. As a media organization with international influence, People.cn has conducted exclusive interviews with foreign leaders, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and etc. A total of 60 ambassadors have come to be interviewed on People.cn. People.cn owns a number of subsidiary companies and has established 31 local branches across China. It has strived to promote globalization by setting up bureaus and studios in Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, London, Moscow, Johannesburg, Sydney, Paris, and Sweden, which significantly boosts its influence abroad and its ability to disseminate internationally. The Peoples Daily Facebook (@PeoplesDaily) and Twitter (@PDChina) accounts, both operated by People.cn, have exceeded 18 million and 1.48M respectively. People.cn went public at the Shanghai Stock Exchange (code: 603000) on April 27, 2012, becoming the first news website listed on the A share market. (Updated: February, 2016)
BEIJING, June 4 -- China will strengthen policy support to rein in an unexpected slowdown in private investment growth.

China will improve laws, enhance governmental services and build a sound business environment to encourage private investors, said a official report after a month-long survey on hundreds of private firms nationwide.

Fixed-asset investment by private companies grew by only 5.2 percent year on year during the January-April period, retreating from the 10.1-percent growth last year and triggering concerns on the private sector.

The State Council dispatched teams comprised of officials, scholars and business elites to investigate into the slowdown.

The investigation found the private investment is mainly hindered by shrinking market demand, overcapacity, ineffective policy implementation, and high financing and labor costs.

The government has promised targeted measures to fix those problems.

China's private sector contributes 60 percent of the GDP, 80 percent of jobs, over half of tax revenues and 46 percent of exports.
FALLUJAH, Iraq, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Saturday pushed into the besieged city of Fallujah and seized part of a district in southern the city after fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, a security source told Xinhua.

The troops have made a significant breakthrough in the day when they pushed into the al-Nuaimia district after defeating the IS defensive line in southern Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The latest advance put the troops in new positions at the edges of adjacent districts of Shuhadaa and Jubail in southern Fallujah, the source said.

"The troops still have more than three kilometers of urban areas to reach the government compound in the central part of Fallujah," the source added.

Meanwhile, the source said that U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombarded IS positions in Shuhadaa district and killed at least nine IS militants.

The alliance's warplanes also bombarded IS militants in Azragiyah area in northwest of Fallujah, leaving 16 extremist militants dead and four of their vehicles destroyed, the source added.

In addition, the security forces repelled an attack of dozens of IS militants in Albu Hawa area in south of Fallujah, on the western bank of Euphrates River, killing some 24 IS militants, the source said without giving further details about casualties among the security forces.

Earlier in the day, the security forces and allied paramilitary Shiite and Sunni units, known as Hashd Shaabi, entered around noon Saqlawiyah in northwest of Fallujah and recaptured the central part of the town, a security source anonymously told Xinhua.

The troops, backed by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, took control of the government building and raised the Iraqi flag, while fierce clashes continued to drive out IS fighters from the southern part of the town, the source said.

The advance in Saqlawiyah came after several days of clashes with the extremist militants.

The troops' advance into Fallujah was slowed down during the past few days by heavy resistance from IS inside the city, in addition to hundreds of hidden bombs are believed to be planted by the militants.

The security forces also wanted to avoid heavy casualties among tens of thousands of civilians who are reportedly trapped inside Fallujah.

Earlier, Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul, spokesman for the Joint Military Command, said that intelligence reports indicate that about 400 to 600 militants are in Fallujah, many of them foreigners. He said about 50,000 to 70,000 civilians are expected to remain in Fallujah.

On Wednesday, the UN children fund warned that at least 20,000 Iraqi children remain trapped in the city of Fallujah where Iraqi security forces are fighting to drive out the extremist IS militants from the city.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on May 23 the launch of a major offensive to claim Fallujah and surrounding towns and areas.

Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who attempted to advance towards Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the IS controlled parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.
Editor's note: Located roughly one hour outside the city of Xi'an in northwest China, an army of Terracotta Warriors guards the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the country's first emperor. First discovered in 1974 by a local peasant, the Chinese government began coordinating an excavation, bringing in local workers to unearth the warriors who'd been buried over 2,000 years ago. At the time of their discovery, a number of the soldiers were badly damaged. Painstakingly reassembled, the first warriors went on display in 1979.

The largest pit contains a 3rd Century BC army standing in battle formation, with columns of infantry numbering in the thousands. A second pit includes archers, cavalry and additional infantry, while a third pit holds high-ranking officials.

Terracotta infantry soldiers stand in battle formation, still guarding the tomb of China's first emperor. [Photo by Kyle Calandra / China.org.cn]
HOUSTON, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral negotiation is the best way as arbitration is not a choice for China and other claimants to settle their disputes over the South China Sea islands, a senior Chinese diplomat said here Friday.

China has over the past few decades proposed putting aside disputes and seeking joint development as part of efforts to settle disputes over the South China Sea, China's Deputy Consul General in Houston Zhao Yumin said during a luncheon.

Zhao made the remarks in his keynote speech titled "Maintaining Peace and Stability in the South China Sea" at the event jointly organized by the Consulate General and Asia Society Texas Center.

To seek a win-win outcome through joint development and cooperation, both China and ASEAN member states should manage the disputes by establishing rules and mechanisms, Zhao said, adding that the Phillippines' unilateral initiation of the arbitration is against international law and China's lawful rights.

Despite territorial rows between China and other claimants, freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea have never been a problem. China also views the waters as being vital to global trade and its own development, he said.

"China wants freedom of navigation in the South China Sea the most as 40 percent of China's exports go through the South China Sea and 80 percent of China's imports of crude oil are shipped through the South China Sea," the diplomat said.

He stressed that China's final aim is to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Zhao's speech was welcomed by the more than 100 guests at the event, including U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Chairman for Asia Society Texas Center Charles Foster.

They believe that U.S.-China relationship is among the most important ones in the world, and that both countries, the largest developing country and the most developed country, should work together to safeguard regional and world peace.

Neil Bush, a private representative for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, told Xinhua, "I hope the United States and China will work together to find a peaceful and constructive resolution to whatever confrontation stemmed from the South China Sea."

Peter Li, a professor at the University of Houston, said the South China Sea issue, which concerns China's territory and sovereignty, is part of China's core interests but not the United States'.

Outsiders should withdraw their meddling hands and allow the parties directly involved to give their wisdom and pragmatism a full play, Li said.

Li Qiangmin, China's Consul General in Houston, said that the aim of organizing such a luncheon is to make it clear that the South China Sea islands belong to China historically and legally, and there is no other way but to go bilateral to resolve the disputes.
Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, met Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov in Singapore on Friday, and the two men pledged to step up military cooperation.

Sun, who met Antonov on the sidelines of the ongoing Shangri-La Dialogue, said that the two countries have seen a sound development trend in military cooperation, as overall relations between the two sides are running well.

He said both sides faced a more complicated international security situation, and closer cooperation is needed.

For his part, Antonov praised the effective cooperation between the two defense ministries.

"You see that we have excellent relations and military cooperation between our two countries. It is very important for our leaders to have an opportunity to meet together. They give us instructions how to develop this cooperation. Frankly, I cannot see any problem for facilitation, for the promotion, of our cooperation."

He also expressed a willingness to join hands with China in the fight against security threats including terrorism.

"We are ready to make new steps. It is very important that our ministers meet together. Recently your minister of defense visited Moscow. He participated in the 5th conference on international cooperation and stability. I hope that very soon our two ministers will meet together, and they will elaborate a lot of plans for the prosperity of China and the Russian Federation,"

Antonov also vowed to deepen mutual military cooperation under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

He said that the Russian military is keen to launch more joint maritime drills and anti-terror exercises with the China.

The Russian minister also suggested that countries should join hands at the forum to find solutions to tackle global challenges and problems.

"It is very important that this platform gives us an opportunity to sit together without protocols, without official speeches, but simply to understand where we are and what we have to do to improve the international situation."

The 15th Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia-Pacific defense and security summit, got underway in Singapore on Friday and runs through till Sunday.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

Trend:

Armenian armed forces have 45 times violated the ceasefire with Azerbaijan on the line of contact over the past 24 hours, said the message of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry June 5.

Armenian armed forces stationed in Barekamavan and Voskevan villages of Armenia's Noyemberyan district opened fire at the Azerbaijani positions located in Jafarli and Qushchu Ayrim villages of the Qazakh district.

Armenian armed forces stationed in Krasnoselsk region of Armenia opened fire at the Azerbaijani positions located in the nameless heights of the Gadabay district.

Armenian army violated ceasefire from the positions near Yusifjanli village of the Aghdam district, Goradiz, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages of the Fizuli district.

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, June 5

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

A meeting of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis was held in Baku June 4.

The Congress's documents were adopted. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was elected head of the Coordinating Council.

The participants of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis made an appeal to President Aliyev. The participants expressed gratitude to President Aliyev for the attention and support in organizing the Congress.

According to the appeal, the Congress will lay the foundation for a new stage in the history of the Azerbaijani diaspora and contribute to the further strengthening of national unity and solidarity.

It was also stressed that Azerbaijan has become a leading country in the region.

According to the appeal, the important international events, annually held in Azerbaijan, clearly demonstrate that as a supporter of security, stability and peace, Azerbaijan has become an important country where the topical issues are discussed.

The participants support President Aliyev's efforts and initiatives on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

It was also stated that all opportunities will be used for solidarity of the Azerbaijanis worldwide in the name of ensuring the national interests of the motherland, preserving and promoting the country's national and cultural heritage.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The participants of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis held in Baku June 4 appealed to the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The participants expressed deep concern about the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has continued for more than 20 years.

It was stressed that innocent civilians are killed, settlements, educational institutions, public facilities, historical monuments, located in the conflict zone, as well as flora and fauna, are destroyed as a result of military provocations of the Armenian armed forces.

The participants urged the world community, international organizations, heads of governments and parliaments of foreign countries to exert pressure on the Armenian leadership to liberate the Azerbaijani lands from the occupation and resolve the conflict peacefully.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The participants of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis held in Baku June 4 made an appeal to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the EU and the international community in connection with the activity of the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia.

According to the appeal, the Metsamor nuclear power plant poses a major threat to the region and the world.

According to the appeal, it has been proved that the Metsamor plant's waste is dumped into the rivers flowing through the territory of Azerbaijan.

Another factor of concern is Armenian officials' statement about the country's nuclear weapons called "dirty bomb".

"While appealing to all international organizations, especially the IAEA and the EU, we call for taking urgent actions to suspend the activity of the Metsamor nuclear power plant operating in Armenia to ensure security in the world," the appeal said. "We hope that the international community will not spare its efforts to prevent a disaster that can occur in the region."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

A meeting of the Coordinating Council of the World Azerbaijanis, chaired by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, will be held every year.

This decision was made at the final session of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis.

President Aliyev was re-elected chairman of the Coordinating Council of the World Azerbaijanis at a meeting of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis in Baku June 4.

Nazim Ibrahimov, chairman of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora, was re-elected executive secretary of the Coordinating Council.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Members of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States [Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan] will sign protocols on the application of common customs procedures and standards, Secretary General of the council Ramil Hasanov told Trend in Baku.

That will allow to actually unite the customs structures of all the countries of the council, as well as to apply more simplified and transparent customs procedures for transit cargo transportation, he said.

"The signing of these protocols will lead to further facilitation of intergovernmental work, and we will secure the application of the same standards in different countries at the same time," Hasanov said. "Currently, the council implements two projects - the Silk Road and Kervansaray, and we want to strengthen and expand them."

"These projects are aimed at an even greater simplification of the existing activities in the field of customs, as well as a full transition to e-systems not only in Azerbaijan but also in all the council member countries," Hasanov said.

He went on to add that currently these protocols are being prepared.

"Negotiations are currently going on between the members of the working group, and the good news is that the parties reached an initial agreement," Hasanov noted. "I hope these protocols will be applied in the future and the customs structures of our countries will be connected."

"For this purpose, it is necessary to sign relevant protocols which are currently under development," said Hasanov, adding that he expects those protocols to be signed by the Council's member states soon.

"As you know, the customs sphere is closely related to the transportation sector and economy in general," he said. "We, as the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, coordinate the activities of transportation and economic ministries, as well as the customs structures."

"Cargo transportation from China to Europe and back, especially, via the Trans-Caspian international transportation corridor, strengthening the customs activities, as well as holding discussions on resolving the problems plays a major role for us," Hasanov added.

He pointed out that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as Georgia are the key partners of Europe and Asia in this transportation corridor.

The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States or Turkic Council is an international organization aimed at developing comprehensive cooperation between member states. It was founded in 2009.

The member states of the Turkic Council are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. Its secretariat is located in Istanbul.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5



By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:



Turkey's demand for Azerbaijani gas can significantly exceed 6 billion cubic meters per year, the volume which Turkey will receive as part of the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field, Simon Pirani, senior researcher at the UK Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said in Baku.



Pirani made the remarks while delivering a report during the Caspian Oil & Gas-2016 conference in Baku.



Currently, Russia remains the primary exporter of gas to Turkey, as it accounts for over a half of Turkey's gas import, said the UK expert.



He pointed out that over the last two years Azerbaijan has gradually increased the gas export to Turkey by bringing the volume of sold gas to the maximum level reflected in the contract.



Turkey's policy regarding the import from Russia will be one of the decisive factors, according to Pirani.



Further, he noted that another important direction of Azerbaijan's gas import is Europe.



"Azerbaijan not only sells gas to Georgia and Turkey from the first phase of development of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field, but also secured its future by signing a contract for the sale of gas to Turkey and Europe within the second phase of the Shah Deniz field's development," said Pirani.



But it is worth considering that Europe's demand for gas is gradually reducing, he added.



"If Europe's demand was 560 billion cubic meters of per year in 2010, this figure dropped to 469 billion cubic meters per year at the end of 2015," explained Pirani.



On the other hand, the Russian gas continues to dominate in imports of European countries, and now it is worth to see how it will compete with the US's liquefied natural gas (LNG), he noted.



The expert also said Azerbaijan will have to conduct the right pricing policy, as it will play an important role in the European market.

"Today the average price of natural gas is $154.4 per thousand cubic meters, and by 2018, the average price is forecasted at the level of $176-206 per thousand cubic meters," said Pirani. "Thus, in order to compete with the US LNG, Russia can sell its gas for $140 per thousand cubic meters."



Therefore, in order to get its share of the European market, Azerbaijan should consider these players, the expert believes.



Shah Deniz- 2 project envisages drilling 26 subsea wells, construction of two platforms, underwater pipelines for gas and condensate, expansion of the oil and gas terminal in Sangachal township, construction of two gas compressor stations and connection of this infrastructure to the South Caucasus gas pipeline.



As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The contracts worth over $13 billion have been signed until today within the second phase of the development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field, Gordon Birrell, the BP regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, told reporters.

Birrell said that half of these contracts was awarded to local companies, or joint ventures with the participation of local companies.

He noted that 22,000 people work within the Shah Deniz 2 project and the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline in Azerbaijan, and more than 3,000 people work in Georgia.

Construction of a gas compressor station in Georgia as part of the South Caucasus Pipeline's expansion is ready by 42 percent, he said.

BP is satisfied with the work on these projects and is confident that the Azerbaijani gas will reach Turkey via the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) in 2018, added Birrell.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
At least 3 people killed and more than 20 people were injured on Sunday in a shooting in the northern Kazakhstan's city of Aktobe, while local authorities started evacuation of civilians, local media reported.

According to the local Diapazon newspaper, the criminals attacked arms shops to get weapons before reportedly taking hostages near a military unit and attacking a local police department. The newspaper added that police forces carry out special operation in three different districts of the Kazakh city. The evacuation of local residents in districts affected by the operation is reportedly underway.

The spokesman for Kazakh Interior Ministry on Sunday confirmed the fact of shootings in country's northern city of Aktobe, as well as casualties among attackers and Kazakh servicemen.

"Today at 15:45 Astana time [11:45 GMT] department of internal affairs responsible for Aktobe Region received a message about attack of unidentified individuals on 'Pallada' arms shop in the city of Aktobe. At 15:45 local time it was found out about an attack on one more arms shop and a military unit... During the attack Pallada's salesman was killed and one more person was injured. In a military unit an officer and a serviceman were killed. Nine more servicemen were injured," Almas Sadubayev said, as quoted by the Vlast magazine.

He added that at least three attackers were killed, one injured and one more detained.

"Several criminals have been blocked, several succeeded to flee The attackers allegedly are radical followers of non-conventional religious movements," Sadubayev added.

Earlier in the day, local media reported citing medical source, that dozens of people were injured, while there were still no reports about the killed people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 4

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iranian government's debt (including state-run companies) to the Central Bank of Iran banking system has reached 182.4 trillion rials (each 30,480 rials making one USD) by March 20, Fars news agency reported June 1.

The figure indicates a fall by 0.7 percent year on year.

Iranian government's debt to the Central Bank (CBI) was 183.58 trillion rials at the same time 2015, registering a 16 percent increase year on year.

However the government's net debts (debts subtracting government's deposits in CBI) witnessed a sharp rise by 274.2 percent and surpassed 124.6 trillion rials by March 20.

The government's deposits in the central bank have decreased in recent months as the Iranian administration has withdrawn money from the bank to meet the budget demands.

The country's monetary base volume also registered a rise by 17.1 percent in the fiscal year to March 20, 2016, accounting for 1535.7 trillion rials, according to the report.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5



By Fatih Karimov - Trend:



Iran is ready to synchronize its electricity grid with those of European countries, the Islamic Republic's energy minister, Hamid Chitchian, said.



Chitchian made the remarks in a meeting with Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak in Tehran, Mehr news agency reported June 4.



The Islamic Republic currently trades electricity with seven neighboring countries, Chitchian said, adding Iran and Russia have agreed to connect their power grids.



Chitchian added that Tehran and Baku has reached agreement to synchronize their power grids, and via Azerbaijan the Iranian electricity network will join to Russia's grid.



Iran is ready to link its electricity network with Europe as well, if the other side agrees, Iranian minister added.



He said that the Islamic Republic exports over 11 gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity to regional countries per year.



Tehran's electricity import also stands at four GWh annually, Chitchian added.



Rusnak in turn said that the issue can be discussed with European countries, if Iran submitters a proposal including its current electricity capacity, needs and future plans.



Iran eyes to increase its capacity for generating electricity to 100,000 MW by 2020 from the current 74,000 MW.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

Stock brokers have expressed contrary opinions on the possible outcome of a recent decision by Iranian government on exemption of some financial services from paying value added tax (VAT).

While Iranian capital market has been down over the past two months, a group of market observers have expressed hope that the government's recent decision would help the market to climb out of the recession.

However, there are some other brokers who believe the decision on tax exemption is unlikely to have a positive impact on the market's current situation.

The Iranian capital market slipped into recession after it demonstrated a positive reaction to the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Jan. 16, resulting in the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic's key energy and financial sectors.

The Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) released a directive June 1 announcing a list of financial services which are exempt from VAT.

Exemptions unlikely to help market

A financial manager in Tehran has told Trend that that there is no relation between the directive on exemptions and current recession on Iranian capital market.

"Tax exemptions will not have any impacts on the downward trend on the capital market as the directive is not anything new. The brokerage companies have been entitled to the exemptions over the past three years," Hossein Khezli Kharazi, CEO of Iran's Bank Keshavarzi Securities Company, said in an interview with Trend June 5.

Although the directive has been recently announced, financial services have been enjoying its advantages over the past three years as the regulation on tax exemption was earlier passed, the CEO explained.

There were some differences between the Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) and Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) over the implementation of the regulation which are now resolved with the official announcement, he noted.

Exemptions to remove ambiguities

Ali Eslami Bidgoli, a board member of Iranian Society of institutional investors, has expressed a conflicting opinion.

Eslami Bidgoli believes that the new directive will help reducing ambiguities on the Iranian capital market which will eventually lead to the growth of capital market.

He suggested that reducing the tax rates on the capital market will also contribute to increasing the number of trades on stock markets, Iran's Securities & Exchange News Agency (SANA) reported.

The recent directive will help increasing the public trust on the capital market, he stated.

INTA directive on tax exemptions

Under the recent directive, the fees which brokerage firms, stock exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) market, Central Securities Depository of Iran, and Tehran Securities Exchange Technology Management Company receive on transactions of securities will be exempt from VAT.

The directive also exempts the Securities and Exchange Organization from paying VAT for the fees that it receives as its right to monitor the securities transaction in stock exchanges and OTC.

The fees that companies have to pay to be allowed to sell their shares or their goods in stock exchanges are also free of VAT.

Meanwhile, membership fees received by exchanges, OTC and other financial entities are free of VAT.

The financial entities registered with the Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) will be free of paying VAT for the fees they receive for offering advice and consultation, portfolio management, underwriting commitment, and for guaranteeing securities.

All investment banks registered with the SEO will not either need to pay VAT for the fees they receive for offering services.

The fees on Murabaha, an Islamic Financial Instrument, and other Islamic bonds are also free of VAT.

The fees which Central Securities Depository of Iran receives for offering services to help traders transfer or clear securities are also exempt from VAT.

Farhad Daneshvar is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Farhad_Danesh
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 2

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

The Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) and Islamic Republic of Iran Railways have considered a plan for financing a railway project in Iran.

The EXIM is set to provide funds for launching Tehran-Mashhad railway electrification project in Iran, IRNA news agency reported.

According to the report, the representatives of the EXIM have been in Iran over the past four days to examine the railway project.

The EXIM Bank is expected to provide 85 percent of funds required to launch the project.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government will finance 15 percent of the project.

Under a $2 billion agreement, China will work on a 900-kilometer long railway electrification project in Iran.

Earlier, China's EXIM Bank inked a basic agreement with Iran's Transport Ministry on financing a high-speed train service between Iran's capital Tehran and Mashhad in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi in January.


Tehran, Iran, June 5

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iran denied reports that EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini had sent a secret letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the obligations of the sextet side of the Iranian nuclear deal.

An informed source in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the reports as false, Tasnim news agency reported June 5.

The dismissal came after news outlets in Iran claimed that Mogherini in a letter to Zarif had said the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) had acted to all their obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), refusing to accept that the group had to resolve the remaining banking problems against Iran as any part to the nuclear deal.

"Foreign Ministry officials are unaware of such letter and such letter does not exist," Tasnim quoted the source without giving his/her name.

Iran was hoping that the with January lift of sanctions in the wake of the nuclear deal, the way would be open for it to start international economic relations.

However, banking problems still exist, negating the possibility of any commercial deal with foreigners.

Tehran has repeatedly called on the West to uphold the spirit of the nuclear deal and work to raise the problems.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

A training plane, belonging to the Iran's army crashed in the central province of Isfahan June 5, Tasnim news agency reported.

The trainer plane crashed due to a technical problem near the village of Zafarqand, along a road between the cities of Naeen and Ardestan.

The aircraft's pilot and co-pilot were injured in the incident.

The PC-7 light trainer aircraft belonged to an air force base near the central city of Isfahan.

The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat aircraft, capable of basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument, tactical and night flying. It was commissioned in 1978.

Earlier, in April 27 an F-7 jet trainer of Iran's army from the same air base crashed in a desert near the city of Naein in Isfahan province.

However, the aircraft's pilot and co-pilot managed to bail out in safety.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a "provocative and destabilizing act", according to Reuters.



US officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.



"We would consider an ADIZ...over portions of the South China Sea as a provocative and destabilizing act which would automatically raise tensions and call into serious question China's commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial disputes of the South China Sea," Kerry said during a visit to Mongolia.



"So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative."



Kerry will visit China after Mongolia.



China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed its ADIZ, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea.



China has neither confirmed nor denied it plans such a zone for the South China Sea, saying that such a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.



China claims most of the South China Sea through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes every year and has been undertaking extensive reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs it occupies.



Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
A group of protesters on Sunday attacked a house of Greece's Minister of State Alekos Flambouraris in one of Athens' neighborhoods, local media reported.

According to the Proto Thema newspaper, some 40 people attacked the house at 4:30 a.m. local time (01:30 GMT) with stones and Molotov cocktails.

The newspaper added that police had rapidly responded to the attack, but one police officer was injured.

Flambouraris' house has been under police protection, as it had already been the target of protesters' attacks twice. The minister classified one of attempts to fire his house as a terrorist attack.

Greece has been hit by anti-austerity protests for months, as country's authorities implement highly unpopular reforms, including pension cuts and tax hikes in order to receive international aid to maintain Athens' economy.
President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a joint press conference in the Rose Garden at The White House on Sept. 25, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Photo : Getty Images)

China urged the United States to keep its word and not take any sides in the South China Sea maritime dispute ahead of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue set on Monday.



Zheng Zeguang, the vice foreign minister of China, made the remarks on Thursday during a warm-up forum for the upcoming dialogue in Beijing, CRI English reported.



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The outlet said that on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be joining China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi in the eighth round of dialogues in the country's capital.



China to U.S.: Stay Neutral



According to Zheng, the U.S. should maintain its neutral position in the territorial disputes even if its allies urge the country to side with them.



He pointed out that Washington itself is not a claimant country and, thus, should stay out of the issue.



"In reality the U.S. is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, they have said themselves that they don't hold a position on the territorial sovereignty disputes. So we hope that the U.S. can refrain from picking sides," Zheng said.



Furthermore, he called on to the U.S. government to decide its position "based on the truths and falsehoods of the issue and not on who their allies are."



"I think if they can do this, and if they can stop provocative acts targeted at China's sovereignty and security interests, then the U.S. can play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea and promote a lowering of the temperature on this issue," he added as quoted by Reuters.



In his statement featured on CRI English, Zheng reiterated China's position on the maritime grapple, saying that the country "has the right to safeguard its own territory and legitimate maritime interests" and that they own the disputed territories "since ancient times."



Monday's Dialogue



According to the South China Morning Post, one of the priorities during Monday's dialogue would be to find ways to contain the rising tensions between two of the world's biggest economies.



The dialogue would be focused more on minimizing "the likelihood of miscalculations" and "accidents or serious disruptions in bilateral ties," the SCMP reported.



Zheng said that aside from the South China Sea issue, the dialogue would also cover other issues including "the interactive relationship between China and the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region," "the deepening of bilateral practical cooperation, the management of differences and sensitive issues," and other global dilemmas the countries are faced with.



Monday's event would be the eighth of 24 sessions of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue that aims to bring the two nations in a consensus in terms of investments and economic track, said Zhu Guangyao, China's vice finance minister.






Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves to the supporters at the celebration of the 14th presidential inauguration on May 20, 2016, in Taipei, Taiwan. (Photo : Getty Images)

Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen is pushing away from China two weeks through her reign, which may cause conflict with the mainland, a report says.



According to Bloomberg News, Tsai is gradually clearing her position on the "one China" policy by indirect but significant moves that might "irk" Beijing.



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Interestingly, the outlet's analysis of the island's new government comes a day after Breitbart reported a recent poll that indicates the Taiwanese people's wish to become independent from the People's Republic of China.



Small Things, Big Effect



On Friday's report, Bloomberg cited a couple of moves Tsai and her new government under the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party made over her two weeks as the president of the country which might mean turbulence for "one China."



First, Tsai spent her first full day as the new leader of the island by creating a mechanism that would settle maritime disputes with Japan, a clear indication that she wanted warmer relations with the country.



Second, Taiwanese Premier Lin Chuan ordered that criminal charges against 126 protesters who rallied against a trade pact with the mainland in 2014 be dropped.



Third, Tsai used the term "ambassador" instead of "representative" when she confirmed the appointment of a new Taiwanese diplomat to the United States, which means she considers Taiwan as a country and not a province as Beijing repeatedly insisted.



Finally, the first female Taiwanese president is also seen to be looking beyond China to improve the island's economic growth based on her "New Go South" initiative.



"Tsai has made clear policy choices in her first few days in office, distinguishing Taiwan from China on nearly every front--political, economic, cultural and foreign relations," National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Ling-chen told Bloomberg.



Taiwan Polls



These small but significant moves by the Taiwanese president have not gone unnoticed by her subjects, according to a recent poll cited by Breitbart.



According to the outlet, more than half or 66.4 percent of the Taiwanese population who participated in the survey oppose unification with the mainland.



Only 18.5 percent are in favor of the "One China" policy, while the remaining 15.1 percent are noncommittal.



Furthermore, the poll found that Taiwan's younger generation, particularly those between 20 and 29 years old, are pro-independence as 72 percent of them said they supported independence.



According to Breitbart, these numbers are consistent with previous surveys, specifically one from 2005 which shows how more residents of Taiwan see themselves as "Taiwanese" and not "Chinese."






China considers Qatar as a major partner in its New Silk Road project. (Photo : Reuters)

China is eyeing Qatar as one of its key partners in completing the New Silk Road, with some reports noting that the Asian giant is also targeting better ties with the Middle Eastern country.



In May, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the Xinhua News Agency that Qatar is a major contributor to the completion of President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" initiative.



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According to the National Interest, Wang believes that China's economic bridging project "shares common cooperative opportunities" with Doha's future development roadmap launched in 2008.



Because of this, Qatar plays a vital role in the success of the New Silk Road that would connect China to Central Asia, Europe and Africa.



Qatar's Role



Wang's remarks came during a meeting with Emir H Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar's head of state, prior to the ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF).



He also confirmed speculations that China is eyeing better relations with Qatar because of its rich resources.



"China would like to further promote our bilateral cooperation in such fields as infrastructure, energy, productivity, finance, help Qatar to improve its independent development capacity, and further coordinate with Qatar over political solutions to the hot issues in this region," Wang stated.



According to the National Interest, it was no surprise that China would tap Qatar in the establishment of the Silk Road since it would be impossible for the Asian giant to make such massive project a success without the help of other countries.



Also, the outlet believes another reason why China is tapping Qatar is that it "is thirsty for energy resources to fuel its projects."



The New Silk Road



After it was introduced by President Xi in 2014, many speculated that China will be spending $1 trillion for the project to gain international attention and overcome the U.S.



China is now nearly three years into Xi Jinping's cooperative development strategy with European partners known as One Belt, One Road or the New Silk Road. The plan is part of China's push to leverage its economic potential to maximize geopolitical influence," Sputnik News said in May.



According to the outlet, the project is comprised of two parts, namely, the oceangoing Maritime Silk Road and the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt.



The Silk Road Economic Belt is said to cover the original "Silk Road" which runs through Central Asia, West Asia, Europe and the Middle East, while the Maritime Silk Road Initiative will serve as an expansion leg through the bodies of water covered therein including the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.






A worker from the Chinese cultural relic department takes pictures of a sector of the Great Wall on March 14, 2006, in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

Illegal mapping has become a serious problem in remote areas of western China, the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG) announced in its annual report.



Most of those areas in the region are underprivileged and lack sufficient information, leading to many being targets of espionage because of the presence of many national defense and military facilities stationed there, Zhao Kangning, former deputy director of China's National Administration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Applications, told the state-owned Global Times in a report posted on Friday.



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The disclosure of detailed geographic information linked to defense or military facilities leaves them vulnerable to attack, as modern military technology has now made long-range precise attacks a reality, the report said.



According to NASG, the most frequent violations include unauthorized mapping and the processing or printing of "problematic maps" that contain information that is erroneous or classified to protect national security.



Of the seven cases of illegal mapping revealed by the agency in April, three involved unauthorized mapping, including a case in which six Taiwanese nationals illegally entered a closed military area in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to collect geographic information.



One of the Taiwanese was fined 30,000 yuan ($4,560) after he was discovered to have used GPS receivers in the mainland to collect 35,207 sets of geographic coordinates from seven provinces and cities in the mainland since 2009, the NASG said in its announcement.



China's National Defense News reported that the illegal procurement of geographic information by foreign organizations and individuals is a common occurrence, particularly in Xinjiang, and the northern provinces of Shaanxi, Liaoning and Jilin.



"Shaanxi has captured many overseas individuals that conducted illegal mapping in recent years, and illegal mapping is on the rise," the report said, quoting an official from the Shaanxi Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation.



The official claimed that many foreigners and associates of overseas organizations have targeted national defense projects and military facilities in the guise of traveling, investigating water resources, hiking, or conducting archeological studies in the region.



In 2011, a Japanese national was deported after being caught illegally surveying and mapping in Shaanxi. Authorities from Yunnan Province have also investigated Coca-Cola for allegedly mapping part of the province using electronic devices without authorization in 2013, according to local media reports.



Xu Yitian, an expert at the National University of Defense Technology, said that the leaks of geographic information and cases of illegal mapping that have occurred in recent years were due mainly to the lack of national autonomy in collecting, supervising, and applying data needed for mapping.



According to the NASG report, domestically produced geographic technologies and equipment make up more than 50 percent of those available, although the long way to go realize autonomous control presents a potential danger that cannot be ignored.


Microsoft's logo seen in its office in New York. (Photo : Reuters)

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. is set to buy some 1,500 patents from Microsoft Corp. as the Chinese firm prepares to broaden its reach outside China, the Wall Street Journal reported.



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The deal to acquire intellectual property is part of Xiaomi's goal to sell its devices to overseas markets, including the U.S., according to the report.



This is Microsoft's latest move in its year-long effort to collect royalties from electronics makers that use its technology, such Google Inc.'s Android operating system.



Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella is scheduled to visit Beijing as part of a business trip to meet with Asian developers, a company spokesman said. The spokesman, however, did not say if the Microsoft official will meet with government regulators, as the company is facing an antitrust probe over software bundling.



Xiaomi is investing more on patent licensing, building physical stores and advertising as the company expands while maintaining costs. The company is now faced with a saturated market and regulatory obstacles overseas.



Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice president of international operations, said in an interview on Tuesday, May 31, that the company has temporarily deferred the launch of its new products in Brazil and it will bring back its international team to Beijing due to uncertainty in Brazil's policy.



Aside from the purchasing deal, Xiaomi also signed a cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft, similar to the deal between Samsung Electronics Co. and Dell Inc.



Under the agreement, Xiaomi devices, which include the Mi5, the Mi Max, the Redmi Note 3 and the Mi 4S, will carry Microsoft Office and Skype.



"Both Xiaomi and Microsoft respect intellectual-property rights," said Wang Xiang, Xiaomi's senior vice president of strategic cooperation. "We believe that with this kind of collaboration and also our commitment for the long-term investment in IP, we are going to build a very strong patent portfolio."



Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman in Microsoft's legal department, said that the patents sold to Xiaomi were only a small portion of more than 60,000 patents that the company holds.



The licensing agreement also included wireless communications patents as well as other technologies such as video, according to Microsoft Corporate Vice President Jonathan Tinter.



"This is much broader than some of the other partnerships we've had," Tinter said.



Meanwhile, Barra said that there is no definite date for Xiaomi's smartphone sales in the U.S., as analysts said that the company would need more patents and regulatory approval to be able to sell their devices in the region.



Rival Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co., Oppo Electronics Corp. and Vivo Electronics Corp. have overtaken Xiaomi among the world's top five smartphone sellers in the first quarter, according to market research firm IDC. Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. were the top two sellers.



This year, Xiaomi will focus on higher-end products instead of sales volume, Wang said.


Thirty-two troops have been killed in a clash with Boko Haram jihadists on Niger's border with Nigeria, Niger's defence ministry said on Saturday.

"Hundreds of assailants" attacked a military post at Bosso on Friday evening, it said in a statement that gave a "provisional toll" of 30 Nigerien and two Nigerian soldiers killed and 67 wounded.

"On the enemy's side, several dead and injured were taken away," the ministry said.

"Our defence and security forces carried out a counter-attack this morning which enabled them to retake all positions in the town of Bosso.

"The situation is under control and calm has returned."

Since February 2015, Niger has been plagued by Boko Haram attacks in its southeast region.

The Islamists frequently stage cross-border raids from their stronghold in neighbouring Nigeria.

The insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

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The French Defense Ministry has suspended five members of the country's forces in Central African Republic for violence against two of the citizens they were sent to protect.

Among the five are soldiers higher up in the military hierarchy "who assisted and failed to react to the violence," the ministry said on Saturday.

A statement said that four others who were aware of the acts but failed to report them were handed disciplinary sanctions.

The vague statement said neither when nor where the violent acts took place and didn't elaborate on them. No one was immediately available for comment.

The French mission to its former colony, sent in after sectarian violence erupted in late 2013, has been tarnished by allegations of sexual violence against children that are currently being investigated.

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A shark attacked an Egyptian man swimming "six kilometers offshore" in the Red Sea city of Ain Sokhna on Saturday, Suez governor Ahmed Helmi El-Hiatmi said.

The 23-year-old victim was transferred to Suez public hospital and had his leg amputated, state news agency MENA said. He is currently receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

"Sharks live in the Red Sea and it's normal to see them there, but the victim was swimming 6km from the beach, which makes it possible to encounter a shark," El-Hiatmi told Ahram Online.

"What may raise concerns, if we found a shark within 500 meters from the beach, where most of the locals and tourists swim," El-Haiatmi said, adding that he commissioned an environmental committee to investigate the incident.

Shark attacks in the Red Sea resort are exceedingly rare; the last recorded sighting of sharks in Ain Sokhna occurred in 2012 when eyewitnesses saw three sharks in the area. No casualties were reported at the time.

Ain Sokhna is a popular resort town lying on the western shore of the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez, about 120 kilometres east of Cairo.

Last year, a shark killed a 52-year-old German tourist in the Red Sea governorate in the first fatal shark attack in Egypt since a string of maulings in 2010 that killed a German woman and wounded three Russian tourists in another Red Sea resort near Sharm El-Sheikh.

Following the 2010 incident, local diving experts said single shark attacks were very rare in the area and were puzzled as to why so many people were attacked in such quick succession.

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The Egyptian parliament's Human Rights Committee is set to inspect Cairo prisons and police stations on the first week of the holy month of Ramadan.

The head of the committee in Parliament, MP Anwar El-Sadat, told Ahram Online the visit comes as part of a plan by the committee to inspect human rights conditions inside prisons and detentions areas, with the inspection starting in Cairo and then reaching out to other governorates

Sadat added that inspection visit officials would be limited to members of the committee following a "notice" to the general prosecutor and interior ministry, and would not include the semi-official body National Council for Human Rights (NHCR) or any other organizations.

The plan would also include visits to nursing homes and orphanages, according to Sadat.

Speaking to Ahram Online, the committee's first deputy, MP Atef Makhaleef, said the planned visit- which includes Tora and Aqrab prisons in addition to Ain Shams, El-Marg, and El-Khalifa police stations- comes following received complaints of "forced disappearances" by citizens.

He added that the committee would allow visits to be postponed for security reasons, but would not allow a refusal.

MP Sadat said that a request would be sent to the defense ministry to allow it to visit military prisons.

"A request will also be filed to the Assistant Defence Minister for Legal and Constitutional Affairs Mamdouh Shaheen in order to visit military prisons," Makhaleef said.

Freedom of the Brave, a grassroots campaign calling for the release of all detained activists, has reported the "disappearance" of many activists.

A social media campaign was launched in October 2015 to inquire about the whereabouts of activist Mostafa Massouny, who has been missing since June 2015. The interior ministry has denied that Massouny was arrested "by the police or any affiliated security apparatuses."

The semi-official NCHR has filed reports to the interior ministry regarding hundreds of people suspected to have been the victims of forced disappearances perpetrated by the government. The ministry often responded to the reports, saying that some were awaiting trial, temporarily detained pending investigations, or currently at large.

Egypt's interior ministry has multiply refuted the allegations of forced disappearances, saying "whoever claims otherwise must provide evidence".

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will head on Sunday a meeting of the National Defense Council according to presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef.

The National Defence Council includes the prime minister, head of the parliament, ministers of defence, foreign affairs, finance and interior along with head of the intelligence, military chief of staff, heads of navy and air force.

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A Giza prosecution launched an investigation into the alleged administrator of a Facebook page that leaked exams of the general secondary certificate, or Thanaweya Aama, as well as the Al-Azhar secondary certificate exams online.

According to preliminary investigations by the prosecution, a 19-year-old student was arrested in Giza on Sunday for allegedly running the Facebook page "Chao Ming leaks general secondary certificate exams."

The popular Facebook page repeatedly leaked exams over the past four years.

This year, the page released for the first time the model answers in addition to the exams.

Despite the arrest of one of its alleged administrators, the page continued to publish leaked exams and re-published a statement on why it was doing so.

"I will disappear when I reach my goal, to give teachers their rights and privileges, to cancel the current grading system for students to enroll in univserisities and to update the curriculum to a digital format, including the exams," said the admin of the Facebook page, which has received over 400,000 likes on the Facebook alone.

The general secondary certificate  essentially the latter part of high school  lasted for a period of two years before it was changed to one year in 2013, reviving a system adopted in the past.

Grades from Thanaweya Amma exams determine university and faculty prospects, and thus are often a source of pressure and stress for pupils and family alike, as they are regarded as key in determining a students future.

The leaking of the exams for the fourth year in a row was the top trending topic on Egyptian social media.



Exam cancelled



The Ministry of Education announced earlier on Sunday it would cancel the religion portion of the national secondary certificate exam after it was leaked online shortly before it was scheduled to take place.

Social media accounts circulated a leaked copy of the Arabic language exam on the first day of the Thanawya Aama.

Exam questions were being circulated online 40 minutes from the official start of the exams. Trending hashtags emerged on Twitter and Facebook concerning the leak.

This year, 560,000 students will sit for the annual examination.

Students are not allowed to use their phones during the annual examination, and following the exam leak students caught with their phones during the exam will be disqualified.

The Ministry of Education warned last week against anyone leaking the secondary certificate exam, noting that the perpetrators of any leak will be fined EGP 50,000.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year in which general secondary exams have been leaked as social media and the prevalence of smart phones has facilitated the process.

The Thanaweya Aama is the last stage of Egyptian high school education. Until 2013, the highly-competitive exams spanned two years, but afterwards were condensed into one.

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The council discussed a number of domestic and international issues

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi headed on Sunday a National Defence Council meeting where they discussed the armys 2016-2017 budget as well as a number of pending domestic and regional issues, state news agency MENA reported.

Article 203 of the constitution stipulates that the National Defence Council is tasked with discussing the armys budget.

In the domestic field, the council discussed the security plan for the country in the next period, as well as measures taken by the cabinet to control the hiking prices of basic goods.

El-Sisi ordered that any illegal attempt to monopolise commodities or increase their prices by merchants be thwarted.

The council also discussed the latest efforts to eradicate a decade-long Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai, which escalated three years ago.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry discussed the results of the recent Paris peace conference to reinitiate Palestinian-Israeli talks.

The council meeting was attended by parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Defence Minister Sedky Sobhi, army Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy, foreign affairs minister Sameh Shoukry, as well as the ministers of interior and finance and the heads of the general and military intelligence services.

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The prime minister of Libya's UN-backed unity government has ruled out an international military intervention to fight the Islamic State group, which has had a growing presence in the country since 2014.

Some 25 nations including the United States and Russia agreed last month to help Libya arm itself against the Islamist militants, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he would not allow foreign troops on the ground.

"It's true that we need help from the international community in our fight against terrorism and it's true that this is something we have already received," he said in the interview, published Sunday.

"But we are not talking about international intervention," Sarraj said, adding that the presence of foreign ground troops would be "contrary to our principles".

"Rather we need satellite images, intelligence, technical help... not bombardments," he said.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), established in Tripoli more than two months ago, has been trying to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country.

However, it faces opposition from a competing authority based in the east which has its own armed forces -- militias and some units of the national army -- commanded by controversial General Khalifa Haftar.

Both bodies are currently engaged in a race to be the first to drive the Islamic State group out of the coastal city of Sirte, a bastion for Islamist militants in the country.

On Saturday, forces loyal to the GNA said they had retaken an Islamist militants air base near the city.

Sarraj told Journal du Dimanche that "total victory over IS in Sirte is close".

"(We hope) that this war against terrorism will be able to unite Libya. But it will be long. And the international community knows that," he said.

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Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran, the armed forces said on Sunday.

Air strikes on Saturday destroyed gun positions and shelters and caves used by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Gara area of northern Iraq and the countryside of Lice district in Diyarbakir province, the statement said.

It did not give a death toll but state-run Anadolu Agency cited security sources as saying small groups of PKK militants were killed in those strikes.

Separately, seven PKK militants were killed in a clash in Semdinli near the Iraqi and Iranian borders on Saturday, while air strikes in Semdinli on Friday killed 20 PKK fighters, it said.

The air strikes in Lice were conducted after the Diyarbakir governor's office declared a curfew there on Saturday. It said the curfew was lifted on Sunday morning after the completion of military operations there.

Turkish security forces on Friday concluded operations targeting PKK fighters in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border and in Sirnak near the border with Iraq.

More than 1,000 people, mostly PKK fighters, were killed in three months of clashes in those areas, security sources say. The fighting resumed in the largely Kurdish southeast last July after the collapse of a two-year-old ceasefire.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, now at its most intense level in two decades.

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Bahrain's coast guard arrested eight men convicted or wanted on "terrorism" charges as they tried to escape to Iran by speedboat, the Bahraini news agency reported on Sunday.



The men were intercepted along with two smugglers after setting off from the tiny Gulf kingdom towards the Iranian coast, the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.



The agency published the men's names and said that seven had been sentenced to between 10 to 15 years in prison for "terrorism" activity and the eighth one was wanted also on terrorism charges, it said.



The men's attempt to cross the 193 kilometre (120 mile) stretch of water to the Iranian coast was planned by two Bahraini fugitives, BNA said.



One of the men has been convicted to life and the other to 10 years in prison, it said, adding that both had escaped previously to Iran.



The incident follows a jailbreak late on Friday in which 17 prisoners fled Al-Hadd jail near the dry dock on the island of Muharraq, east of the capital Manama.



On Saturday security forces recaptured 11 of the inmates, the interior ministry said but gave no indication of whether they were common criminals or political prisoners jailed in a sweeping five-year-old crackdown on dissent among the kingdom's Shiite majority.



Sunni-ruled Bahrain lies across the Gulf from Iran and is home to the US Navy's Fifth fleet. Relations between the two neighbours are tense and Manama has repeatedly accused Tehran of interfering in its affairs and inciting violence in the country. Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since its Sunni minority rulers crushed a month-long, Shiite-led uprising demanding reforms in 2011.



Despite the crackdown, protesters frequently attack police in Shiite villages outside the capital Manama. Bahraini courts have sentenced suspects convicted of violence to long prison sentences, while authorities regularly blame "terrorists" with alleged Iranian backing for stirring up unrest in the country.



Manama denies it discriminates against Bahraini Shiites, but members of the community are currently in prison including opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman.

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The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shia rebels in Yemen rejected on Sunday a UN report that placed it on an annual blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in air strikes.

"The report is imbalanced and does not rely on credible statistics, nor does it serve the Yemeni people," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri told the official Saudi Press Agency.

"It misleads the public with incorrect numbers and mostly relies on information from sources associated with the Houthi militia and the deposed (former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah) Saleh," he said.

The report, released on Thursday by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said 785 children had been killed and 1,168 injured in Yemen last year, blaming the Saudi-led coalition for 60 percent of the toll.

It blacklisted both the coalition and rebel forces for a "very large number of violations" including "attacks on schools and hospitals".

Saudi Arabia launched the intervention in Yemen in March last year in support of the internationally recognised government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi against Houthi rebels accused of having links with Iran and army units loyal to Saleh, who was forced out of office in 2012 under a Gulf-sponsored deal.

The war has left some 6,400 people dead, according to the UN.

Assiri said the coalition was in Yemen to "protect the Yemeni people, including children, from the actions of the Houthi militia."

He cited a $30 million Saudi aid programme for Yemen launched in cooperation with the UN children's fund (UNICEF).

In separate comments to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, he said Ban's report would not help peace talks underway in Kuwait, and would "complicate the mission" of the UN's envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about Saudi air strikes on urban areas in Yemen and accused the coalition of deliberately targeting civilians with cluster bombs, which would constitute a war crime.

In late May, US magazine Foreign Policy reported that the White House had frozen shipments of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia over concerns that its Gulf ally was using the weapons in areas where civilians were present.

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The Swiss on Sunday flatly rejected a radical proposal to provide the entire population with a basic income.

Final results in the referendum showed 76.9 percent of voters opposed the initiative to provide an unconditional, basic income (UBI) to each Swiss national, along with foreigners who have been legal residents for at least five years.

Supporters had argued that such an income would help fight poverty and inequality in a world where good jobs with steady salaries are increasingly hard to come by.

The group behind the initiative had suggested paying 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,500/2,300 euros) a month to each adult and 625 francs for each child.

Such a sum, however, would hardly cover basic living costs in Switzerland, which is one of the world's priciest nations where the median income is above 6,000 francs a month.

The idea, which stirred up debate both in Switzerland and abroad, was embraced in a few counties in the cantons of Jura and Vaud, while several neighbourhoods of Geneva and Zurich voted in favour.

But overall, the response from the 46 percent of eligible voters who cast their ballots was a resounding "no", in line with the recommendation from the government and nearly all political parties.

The scheme to dish out an income to people whether they work or not was controversial from the start in Switzerland --a country where craftmanship and work ethic are highly valued.

Andreas Ladner, a political scientist at Lausanne University, told RTS the Swiss were "realistic" in their assessment of the UBI plan.

Accepting that people can "be paid without having to work would have been a very big step" for the industrious Swiss, he said.

Critics condemned the initiative as "a Marxist dream", warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, causing economic chaos.

Authorities have estimated an additional 25 billion francs would be needed annually to cover the costs, requiring deep spending cuts or steep tax hikes.

That argument likely hit home with the Swiss who have previously turned up their nose at initiatives that would have ushered in a minimum wage and increased paid holidays from a minimum four to six weeks, fearing they would hurt competitiveness.

But supporters of the UBI initiative were not cowed by the resounding defeat, insisting that their main objective had been to get people talking about the idea.

"We are very happy," Ralph Kundig, one of the lead campaigners, told the ATS news agency.

Supporters threw a party in Lausanne to celebrate the 23 percent of votes they had garnered.

"One out of five people voted for the unconditional basic income, so that is a success in itself," Sergio Rossi, an economics professor and backer of the initiative, told ATS.

The idea of a basic income has been bouncing around in more radical circles for centuries, but it has recently entered mainstream thinking.

Projects to introduce some variation of the UBI, albeit at a lower level than the Swiss proposal, are underway in a range of countries, including in Finland and the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Sunday's referendum came after reformers mustered more than the 100,000 signatures required to hold a popular vote, a feature of the Swiss system of direct democracy.

While the UBI initiative was clobbered, several other contentious issues put to the vote Sunday sailed through.

A full 66.8 percent of voters and all 26 cantons embraced a government push to speed up the country's asylum process, despite harsh opposition from the populist rightwing Swiss People's Party.

The aim is for most cases to be handled within 140 days or less, compared to an average of around 400 days at the moment.

And 62.4 percent of voters and all but three half-cantons supported a call to allow genetic testing of embryos before they are inserted in the uterus in cases of in vitro fertilisation where either parent carries a serious hereditary disease.

No screening would be permitted for elements like gender, hair and eye colours, but that has not stopped opponents from dubbing the initiative the "eugenics law".

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The concert was scheduled to take place at the Nile Country Club, but was later moved to a villa in Sheikh Zayed

Police forces stopped a heavy metal concert featuring popular Brazilian band Sepultura that was planned for Saturday 4 June in Sheikh Zayed.

General Ahmed Hegazy, head of the Giza Security Directorate, told Ahram Online that police forces stormed into the villa and physically stopped the concert after necessary permissions for the show were not provided.

Hegazy added that security personnel negotiated with the organisers and asked the audience to leave the vicinity of the villa.

The concert was slated to take place on Saturday at the Nile Country Club, but was later moved to a villa in Sheikh Zayed on the outskirts of Cairo.

The organisers posted on social media shortly before the concert that it would still be taking place but would be hosted in a different venue.

A Nile Country Club representative, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed that incomplete permits were the cause of police action.

He told Ahram Online that the Nile Country Club asked the concert organiser, Nader Sadek, to submit a list of official permissions from several official bodies, including one from the National Security Agency, a few days prior to the event.

The representative added that that the organisers only delivered the permission of the Musicians Syndicate.

"We are a touristic location and we always have to receive several permissions. Other locations might not need all this paperwork," the Nile Country Club representative continued.

With the Nile Country Club declining to host the event, the organisers searched for another location in a private villa in Sheikh Zayed, which was announced to the audience shortly before the concert.

According to eye witnesses and assistants to Nader Sadek, shortly prior to the concert, police entered the private villa where the concert was supposed to be held and asked for the permissions.

When the organisers failed to provide the necessary documents, police asked the bands and the crew to leave and remove their equipment. Assistants to the organiser confirmed to Ahram Online that the audience left upon request of the police.

Nader Sadek and the owner of the villa were not available for immediate comment. Some eyewitnesses have claimed that the two were arrested and are currently being interrogated.

General Hegazy noted that a detailed statement will be published by the Interior Ministry's media office.

Privately owned newspaper Al-Watan reported that the Giza Investigation Bureau acquired information that the concert was going to take place in Sheikh Zayed. The report, titled "Police thwart Satanists concert", mentioned that three were arrested, including two of the organisers.

The article and the event's cancellation received wide criticism by metal fans who were eager to see live the international band's first performance in Egypt.

After the concert was cancelled, unconfirmed posts on social media claimed that the band took their gear and performed in a cafe in Maadi. Ahram Online could not confirm the authenticity of these posts.

Several assistants to the organisers, who planned bus trips and helped bring food to the concert, told Ahram Online that they fear persecution as the matter now is investigated by Egyptian National Security.

Sepultura held a press conference on Saturday and affirmed their excitement to play for the first time in Egypt.

The band told Ahram Online that they are happy to share with Egyptian metal fans their struggle and effort to hold concerts.

The concert was also supposed to include local heavy metal musicians Nader Sadek as well as bands Gorynov and Perpetual Ferocity.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Two restoration projects and a museum won the 2016 Best Practice Award from the Egyptian National Committee of the ICOM

Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy and National Archive Head Sherif Shahin along with archeologists, curators and the media gathered to celebrate the winners of the Egyptian National Committee of the International Council of Museums' (ICOM Egypt) 2016 Best Practice Award at the National Archives' conference hall in Cairo.

Eissa Zidan, Restoration Department Head at the Egyptian Museum and Khufu boat restoration supervisor told Ahram Online that this year the Museum of Islamic Art, Department of Restoration and Khufu restoration team won the conservation award, while the Fossils and Climate Change Museum (Wadi Al-Hitan Museum) and the Zoological Museum won the Exhibition award.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria, the Blind School at the Egyptian Museum and the Rashid National Museum won the community outreach award.

The second Khufu boat was discovered along with the first one inside two pits neighbouring each other in 1954, when Egyptian archaeologists Kamal Al-Mallakh and Zaki Nour were carrying out routine cleaning on the southern side of the Great Pyramid.

Zidan explains that the first boat was removed piece by piece under the supervision of restoration expert Ahmed Youssef, who spent more than 20 years restoring and reassembling the boat, which is now on display at Khufus Solar Boat Museum on the Giza Plateau.

The second boat remained sealed in the neighbouring pit until 1987 when it was examined by the American National Geographic Society in association with the Egyptian Office for Historical Monuments

In 2009, a Japanese scientific and archaeological team from Waseda University headed by Sakuji Yoshimura offered to remove the boat from the pit, restore and reassemble it and put it on show to the public. The team cleaned the pit of insects and inserted a camera through a hole in the chambers limestone ceiling in order to examine the boats condition and determine appropriate methods of restoration.

Restoration experts are removing the boat piece by piece and restoring it.

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The artefacts, from various historical periods, will undergo comprehensive restoration before exhibition

Tarek Tawfik, the supervisor-general of the Grand Egyptian Museum, told Ahram Online that a collection of 526 artefacts carefully selected from storehouses in Atfih, Giza are set to arrive Monday at Gizas Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) for display.

Tawfik explains that among the most important objects  which are from various historical periods  are four canopic jars decorated with lids depicting the four sons of the god Horus and a well preserved collection of gilded carttonage from the Greaco-Roman era.

Bronze statuettes of the god Osiris and 22 clay pots with small bases are also included.

Amulets and distinguished alabaster jars are also among the selected items.

Eissa Zidan, director of the Restoration Department at the GEM, said that preliminary restoration works were carried out before the packing and transportation of the artefacts.

The artefacts were handed over after being examined by an archaeological committee.

Upon their arrival at the GEM, comprehensive restoration will be carried out on all artefacts before exhibition.

Mohamed Badr, director of the GEM storehouses, asserted that all the objects were reviewed, photographed and registered in the GEM archives before transportation.

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More than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world will start celebrating Ramadan the first week of June, where they will start observing the fast during daylight hours.

For the latest news, features, arts and culture from Al-Ahram's English language website, click here.
Ahram Online presents live coverage of Egypt's highest state honours as voting at the Supreme Council of Culture takes place

Members of Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture (SCC) will vote shortly Sunday on Egypt's highest state awards in the fields of art, literature, and social sciences ahead of the 53rd edition of the awards.

The persons who are allowed to vote on nominees for the prestigious State Awards are the 64 members of the SCC, half of them appointed as members due to their cultural contributions as writers, intellectuals or artists. The other half were appointed due to their positions as heads of Egyptian cultural institutions, along with the ministers of education and information, and university presidents.

The vote is headed by the Minister of Culture, Hemly El-Namnam and the secretary general of the SCC, Amal El-Sabban.

The SCC receives nominations for the State Awards from cultural institutions several months before its meeting.

Voting on the state awards is public and was digitized for the first time last year.

The voting was secret under the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, but former culture minister Emad Abu-Ghazi in 2011 opened deliberations to the public in order to promote transparency. The awards ceremonies have been aired each year since 2011.

Fifty-two awards will be given out, with prize money reaching EGP 7 million (around $1 million), and are divided into four sections:

 32 Encouragement Awards of EGP 50,000 each

 7 Excellency Awards of EGP 100,000 and a silver medal

 10 Appreciation Awards of EGP 200,000 and a gold medal

 3 Nile Awards of EGP 400,000 and a gold medal

The 32 Encouragement Awards are divided as follows: eight for the arts, eight for literature, eight in the social sciences, and eight for law and economic research.

Of the seven Excellency Awards, two are for the arts, two for literature and three for the social sciences. Political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan and economy expert Ahmed El-Naggar were among the winners of the prize last year.

The vote also includes 10 Appreciation Awards: three for the arts, three for literature and four for the social sciences. This award was granted for the first time in 1999. Novelists Khairy Shalaby, Gamal El-Ghitani, poet Mohammed Afifi Mattar, and critic Gaber Asfour are among past winners.

The three Nile Awards are divided as follows: one for the arts, one for literature and one for the social sciences. The Nile Award was originally named the Mubarak Award, but was changed in the aftermath of 25 January 2011 revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power.

Poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, writers Bahaa Taher, Ibrahim Aslan and Waheed Hamed, and cinema director Youssef Chahine are the most prominent figures who have won the Nile Award.

The State Awards were launched in 1958 and have only been cancelled once, in 1967, during the Six Days War between Egypt and Israel.

The SCC is considered one of the most important institutions within Egypt's ministry of culture, responsible for setting ministry policy and organising ministry activities.

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Egypt's Highest Awards in the fields of Literature, Arts and Social Sciences for the year 2016 were announced Sunday after being voted on by the members of the Supreme Council for Culture.

The Nile Award, the highest honour, was awarded today to three winners: the Nile literature award went to poet Farouk Shousha, the Nile Award for Arts went to Actress Magda ElSabahy, and the Nile Award for Social Sciences went to Professor of Law at Cairo University Laila Takla.

The Nile Award is the highest honour and is worth 400,000 EGP and a Golden Medal.

The three Appreciation Awards in literature have gone to novelist Said El-Kafrawy, poet Ahmed Sweilam, and Salah El-Rawy, professor of folklore.

Appreciation awards in art went to actor Ashraf Abdel-Ghafour, scenarist Beshir El-Deek, with the third award withheld.

Appreciation Awards in social sciences went to Professor of Fine Arts Abla Hanafy Othman, Mostafa ElSaid and historian Ishaq Twadros, with the fourth being withheld

The State Awards for Excellency are given for three different categories: literature, arts and human sciences.

The Excellency Awards in Literature went to vernacular poet Zein El-Abedin Fouad and playwright Baheeg Ismail.

The Excellency Awards in Arts went to director Samiha Al-Ghonaimy, with the second and third awards being withheld.

The Excellency Awards in Social Sciences went to historian Khaled Azaband and Abdel-Meguied Mahmoud, the former general prosecutor and the last Mubarak-era attorney general. The third award was withheld.

Fact Box:

52 prizes worth EGP 7 million total (around $1 million), divided into four sections:

32 Encouragement Awards of EGP 50,000

7 Excellency Awards of EGP 100,000 and a silver medal

10 Appreciation Awards of EGP 200,000 and a gold medal

3 Nile Awards of EGP 400,000 and a gold medal

The 32 Encouragement Awards are divided as follows: eight for the arts, eight for literature, eight in social sciences and eight for law and economic research.

Of the seven Excellency Awards, two are for the arts, two for literature and three for social sciences. Political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan and economy expert Ahmed El-Naggar were among the winners of the prize last year.

The vote also includes 10 Appreciation Awards: three for the arts, three for literature and four for social sciences. This award was granted for the first time in 1999. Novelists Khairy Shalaby, Gamal El-Ghitani, poet Mohammed Afifi Mattar and critic Gaber Asfour are among past winners.

Finally, the three Nile Awards are divided as follows: one for the arts, one for literature and one for social sciences. The Nile Award was originally named the Mubarak Award but was changed in the aftermath of 25 January 2011 revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power.

Poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, writers Bahaa Taher, Ibrahim Aslan and Waheed Hamed, and cinema director Youssef Chahine are the most prominent figures to date who have won the Nile Award.

The State Awards were launched in 1958 and have only been cancelled once, in 1967, during the Six Days War between Egypt and Israel.

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The patriarch of the Coptic church of Egypt Pope Tawdros, ministers of culture and immigration and the editor in chief of Al-Ahram celebrated Thursday the memory of the beginning of the journey of the Holy Family to Egypt at the old Cairo Church of Saints Sergius and Bachuss, better known as Abou Serga Church.



The traditionally sombre event was market by with statements about the significance of the flight of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt and the subsequently discussion the status of Copts in the history of Egypt.



According to the accounts of historians, the Holy Family spent around four years in Egypt. Their trip started in the Sinai at Al-Farma, on the border with Gaza, where they arrived after fleeing Jerusalem. Their trip ended in Durnaka, Assiut, venue of the famous Monastery where the feast of Virgin Mary is celebrated in August each year.



The sight of the Abu Serga Church is supposed to have been the spot where the Holy Family rested towards the end of its journey through Egypt.



This is precisely the reason it has been chosen for the annual celebration of one of the most eventful periods in the history of Christianity and Egypt.



The journey of the Holy Family to Egypt is never properly celebrated  and here I am not talking about the religious side of it but I am particularly talking about the cultural and historic aspects, said Robert Al-Faress, a researcher in Coptic history.



Most people  and I mean by most people, Egyptians at large and not just Copts but Muslims too  would join the Moulids of Aladrah (Feast of Virgin Mary) in Assiut, not just because this was the last spot of the journey of the Holy Family, Al-Faress said.



He then noted, For the most part, Egyptians know that the Holy Family took refuge to Egypt from the tyranny of Herod, but that is about it.



Al-Faress argued that, This is only expected because the history of this journey is not in the history books and is not in the media  not really anyway.



This is part and parcel of the overall elimination of the Coptic history which is not featuring anywhere seriously in the collective Egyptian consciousness of the post-1952 Revolution  it is not in the history books and it is not in the media.



He added that the few books and documentaries that had been produced on the Holy Family sojourns in Egypt are neither reprinted nor aired.



This is because the trip is perceived as a Coptic rather than an Egyptian event  and this is such a pity; because had it been approached from a cultural side it could have prompted so many events and considerable tourism for the 22 spots where the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus had stopped, he said.



Two years ago, the then minister of tourism Hesham Zaazouaa, following a visit with Pope Tawdros, promised to place the locations of the Holy Family's trip on the summer tourism itinerary. However, it never happened  partially because of the decline of tourism according to one source at the Ministry of Tourism.



This might be part of the reason, but in fact, this promise had been made before and was never fulfilled  and the fact that it was made to the Coptic Patriarch is precisely the evidence to what I am saying: the matter is looked at as part of the Coptic history which is simply overlooked, Al- Faress said.



He argued that for the most part the average non-Coptic Egyptian knows almost nothing about the history of Copts prior to the Arab Conquest of Egypt.



The lack of general knowledge also pertains to Christianity as a religion  Copts know a great deal about Islam and Islamic feasts and fasts but not the other way round  this is because of education and media guidelines.



This almost deliberate marginalisaiton of Coptic history during the last 60 plus years, Al-Faress said, "had been behind the launch of Sunday Schools where most Coptic families would take their children to learn about the history of Copts in Egypt.



According to Al-Faress, this marked the unfortunate beginning of the isolation of Copts and Coptic culture  so you would have an invisible line that separates a certain part of society from the rest.



He added, Inevitably, we ended up with a situation where the other, in this case the Christians of Egypt, are like a black box to the larger society; so many Muslims would assume things about Christianity as a religion and about the way Christians pray in their churches and live in their houses  and I am talking about the larger masses. Of course there are exceptions.



With the second half of the ten-year rule of late President Anwar Sadat there was the rise of Saudi-style Islam in Egypt, where by the Christians were openly labeled in mosque preaches as the infidels.



In June 1981, Cairo saw one of the worst incidents of sectarian strife in the neighbourhood of Al-Zawyah Al-Hamra in the wake of what has later become a commonplace fight over the construction of a church between Muslim and Coptic neighbours.



The clashes left over 80 Copts dead and accentuated an escalated confrontation between Sadat and late Pope Shenouda that ended with the unprecedented isolation of the patriarch the Coptic Church in the monastery of Wadi Al-Natroun towards the end of Sadats rule in 1981.



This marked the beginning of a very deep forced-isolation of Copts; it also marked the clinging of Copts to their Church and the influence that the Church exercised over Copts  far beyond the accepted spiritual domain, Al-Faress suggested.



During the 1990s, the Coptic Church had been widely expanding its civil influence of its followers, while the mushrooming Salafi influence was also expanding its grip of larger segments of Muslims who had been already bought into the Salafi-Wahabi school of Islam in the wake of their work migration to oil rich Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, Al-Faress said.



According to Al-Faress, with such an atmosphere, it was out of the question that the history of the Holy Family's journey through Egypt would be remembered, and the very brief moment of hope for the end of this de facto religious and societal segregation that came with the 18 days of the January Revolution had fast dissipated.



It was not about the one-year rule of the Muslim Brotherhood; far from it: it was about this battle of power that was exercised by the Church as by the radical Muslim clergy each on its community, he argued.



Al-Faress argued that the attempt of ousted President Hosni Mubarak to appease Copts towards the end of his rule by marking Coptic Christmas as an official holiday, for obvious political gains that he was hoping for in favour of consolidating his over-stretching rule, had failed to be smart enough to place the journey of the Holy Family in its due cultural context and to make the beginning of this trip as a national holiday."



He added that despite the attempt of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to send reassuring signals to Copts in Egypt through the unprecedented participation of the president in the Coptic Christmas Mass, the journey of the Holy Family is kept in the cultural isolation.



In Minya, every year, the Bishop of Malawi marks the trip by inviting a group of intellectuals and foreign diplomats to a Nile trip on traditional boats whose sail carry the drawings of the Holy Family to recreate part of the blessed journey where by the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus and Joseph moved by land and by the Nile. Not once was this event given any serious media coverage  if at all, he said.



The only time where this trip was marked almost duly, Al-Faress recalled, was with the beginning of a new millennium in 2000.



Moreover, Al-Faress argued, the traditional popular accounts about the history of this blessed journey are fast falling from the collective memory.



There is a village in Ashmonin where all Pharaonic temples are said to have disappeared when Jesus arrived in recognition of the holy presence; there is a street in Al-Mattariya where people would not try to bake bread because it would not ferment in recognition of the failure of Virgin Mary to find wheat to bake bread; and there is a plant in Moustorod that soothes skin illness and it is said to have been planted by the waters that the Virgin Mary used to bath baby Jesus, Farres said.



He added, Of course these could just be folk tales that are inspired by actual events  or maybe not, but then again they are just falling off our memory.



We have nothing to remind the public of the Holy Family's journey; there are pictures at churches and monasteries but those are for the church goers  as for the rest of the public there is only the two-hour event of Abou Serga Church that barely gets any coverage, Al-Farres concluded.



In the book, History of the Coptic Nation, author Samy Saleh records that the Holy Family took the same route on their journey back to Palestine. They first descend to Al-Maadi, passing through Old Egypt, then followed the road to Ein Shams, back to the city of Mustorod, finally Al-Arish, and from there.

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By Joe Bavier

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will withhold future payments under its programme with Guinea-Bissau unless the government backtracks on loan bailouts for two private banks, the institution's country representative said.

Donors have also suspended budget support equal to 2.1 percent of GDP for this year, Oscar Melhado told Reuters by email. Total donor contributions, including direct budget support and financing for targeted sectors and projects, typically make up around 80 percent of the budget.

The tiny West African nation, which has been mired in a months-long political crisis, must submit a new 2016 budget factoring in this lost budget support before IMF payments resume.

"The IMF will not disburse any outstanding credit tranches as previously envisaged," Melhado said.

The IMF agreed a programme with Guinea-Bissau last July to help the frequently unstable state get back onto its feet after 2014 polls drew a line under a military coup two years earlier.

The former Portuguese colony has seen nine coups or attempts since 1980. Political turmoil has helped make it a major transit point for South American cocaine heading to Europe.

Last year the government rejected IMF advice and paid 34 billion CFA francs ($57.81 million), 5.5 percent of GDP, for bad loans off Banco da Africa Ocidental and Banco da Uniao.

A former prime minister who oversaw the deal told Reuters it was necessary to avoid bankrupting the private sector.

"The costly bank bailouts benefit the wealthiest people in the country and wealthy foreign shareholders, and come at the expense of urgently needed projects to improve the infrastructure and to reduce poverty," Melhado said.

"OUR REASONING WAS LOGICAL"

The public prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the bailouts last month.

"The State has asked the courts to cancel the contracts," Bakari Biaii, the magistrate handled the investigation, told Reuters. "We are awaiting the response."

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The bailouts occurred under former prime ministers Domingos Simoes Pereira and Carlos Correia. Pereira told Reuters they had been proposed by a previous transitional government and had been approved with a view to helping Guinea-Bissau's fragile recovery.

"We cannot allow the private sector as a whole to go into bankruptcy," he said. "Our reasoning was logical, but, yes, it goes against the agreement that was set out by the IMF."

Correia could not immediately be reached for comment.

The move by the IMF comes amid a deeping crisis caused by a power struggle within the ruling PAIGC party between a faction led by Pereira and one led by President Jose Mario Vaz.

Vaz's dismissal of Pereira as prime minister last August led to weeks of political instability until Correia was named to head the government as part of a compromise in October.

Vaz also sacked Correia last month and replaced him with political ally Baciro Dja. Dja named a new cabinet on Thursday but Correia's ministers have refused to leave their offices.

Without the IMF payments, this year's budgetary shortfall will climb to 3.1 percent of GDP, the IMF's Melhado said.

(Additional reporting by Alberto Dabo in Bissau; Editing by Tim Cocks and Richard Balmforth)
By Krishna N. Das and Jonathan Spicer

DHAKA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. The Feds decision to later fulfill a handful of resubmitted requests raises questions about whether it missed red flags.

The New York arm of the U.S. central bank initially denied the transfer requests because they lacked proper formatting for the SWIFT messaging system, the network banks use for international financial transfers, the two officials said.

The Bangladesh Bank official said they lacked the names of correspondent banks, which typically receive wired funds. The Fed rejected the requests, which came from hackers who had broken into the SWIFT network through Bangladesh Bank systems.

Later in the day, however, the cyber thieves resubmitted those 35 requests. On the second try, the messages had the proper formatting, the New York Fed official said. The requests had been authenticated by SWIFT, the first line of defense against fraudulent wire transfers.

Despite the technical compliance, the New York Fed rejected 30 of the requests a second time. But the Fed did approve five requests  for a total of $101 million. Later, one of those five transfers - a $20 million request - was reversed because of a misspelling.

The New York Fed has said it blocked the 30 resubmitted requests because they were flagged for economic sanctions review. Only afterward were they deemed potentially fraudulent.

The Bangladesh Bank official and another source close to the bank said the New York Fed should have rejected all the requests on both the first and second attempts.

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The source close to the bank, who also had direct knowledge of the matter, said anomalies in the four transfers that ultimately went through should have raised questions at the New York Fed. They were paid to individual recipients, a rarity for Bangladesh's central bank, and the false names on the four approved withdrawals also appeared on some of the 30 resubmitted requests rejected by the bank, said the source close to the Bangladesh Bank.

"Of course, we asked the Fed why the repetition of the names did not create red flags," the source said.

"They are saying they rejected 35 badly submitted ones," the source said. But when the requests were re-submitted, they "paid 5 of them and stopped 30. Why? They can give no answer."

Bangladesh Bank and SWIFT declined to comment. The New York Fed has said there were no problems with its procedures for approving SWIFT fund transfers, and declined to comment on whether it missed any warning signs.

The cyber theft from Bangladeshs central bank - and recent disclosures of other similar fraud attempts - have brought scrutiny on the SWIFT messaging system. SWIFT is a cooperative of global banks formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, and its transaction system was used as a conduit for one of the largest cyber bank heists in history.

In the United States, a congressional committee has launched a probe into the New York Fed's role in the bank heist. The Bangladeshi central bank might seek compensation for the funds from the Federal Reserve, and Bangladesh Bank police have said that recent installation of a new SWIFT settlement system at the bank last fall may have provided thieves an opportunity to gain access to the banks SWIFT servers.

RED FLAGS?

The New York Fed's reviews of payment requests that come over the SWIFT system are focused chiefly on guarding against money laundering and transfers to people and entities that are under U.S. government sanctions, Fed officials have said. But requests often also are temporarily halted to fix typos and other formatting problems.

The Fed branch has said its clients, including Bangladesh Bank, and SWIFT have primary responsibility for preventing unauthorized transfers.

Fed employees queried Bangladesh Bank about the purpose of the payments requested on Feb. 4 and again on Feb. 5, according to a letter to congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) by New York Fed General Counsel Thomas Baxter.

The four transfers totaling $81 million went to accounts in the Philippines. The money wound up with casinos and casino agents and remains missing. An attempt to transfer $20 million to a foundation in Sri Lanka was reversed because the word foundation was misspelled.

The source close to Bangladesh Bank said questions about the anomalies in the approved requests were discussed at a meeting in Basel last month between New York Fed President William Dudley, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir and representatives from SWIFT.

Rep. Maloney and Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, both have made inquiries to the New York Fed.

The House Science Committee informed the New York Fed in a letter this week that it is launching a probe into its handling of the transfer requests. The committee plans to examine the New York Feds response to the heist, the oversight of SWIFT, and whether additional measures are needed to address vulnerabilities to cyber attacks.

SWIFT, which has come under scrutiny after the Bangladesh Bank heist and cyber attacks in at least three other cases, plans a new program to improve security and also wants banks to "drastically" improve information sharing.

(Additional reporting by Tom Bergin in London; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and David Greising)
OPEC , which failed this week to reach an accord to stabilize oil prices, is a dysfunctional organization that has outlived its usefulness, analysts declared this week.

In its meeting Thursday in Vienna , the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree on a new production ceiling and therefore did not change its oil output policy. The cartel has been pumping oil at record levels despite the drop in global crude prices that began in 2014.



"OPEC is finished. OPEC is over," Oppenheimer senior energy analyst Fadel Gheit said Thursday in an interview with CNBC's " Power Lunch ."



"Shale production has completely changed the way we look at energy and it's not going to change. The fact of the matter is that OPEC and Saudi Arabia are no longer the swing producers they were only two years ago."

The OPEC meeting was the second high-profile policy failure in nearly as many months. In April, a summit in Doha between some of the largest oil producing economies also failed to reach a deal on setting output. The news reverberated through world markets, and left oil watchers looking for clarity provided by the OPEC meetingwhich also ultimately disappointed.

The meeting's outcome "reinforces the fact that control of the market has been handed to the market itself," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS and a top energy expert.

Although prices have rallied in recent months, they remain well below the $100 level crude had enjoyed before the rout.

Now, "the market will dictate where oil prices will be," said Gheit. He thinks the "new normal" for crude will be $60-$65 per barrel. He predicts that will happen in the next six to 12 months.

Those who think it will get to $80, $90 or $100 are barrel are "delusional," he added.

Gheit believes U.S. exploration and production companies will be the best-performing stocks going forward. That's because when oil prices crashed, they got creative in cutting costs and improving operating efficiency. Therefore, the break-even point for those companies has gone down.

Story continues

"Higher oil prices will create [a] profitable environment at $60-$65 oil," he said. "Only two years ago, you needed $80, $85 to $90 oil."

 CNBC's Jackie O'Sullivan, Patti Domm and Reuters contributed to this report.





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LONDON (Reuters) - The campaign to stop Britain voting to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum has seen its lead shrink over the past two weeks, an online poll published by market research company Opinium showed on Saturday. The poll conducted between May 31 and June 3 showed 43 percent of people planned to vote to stay in the EU while 41 percent wanted to leave, Opinium said on its website. This was a narrower lead than the 44-40 split in Opinium's last poll for The Observer newspaper on May 21. Other polls in the past week also showed gains for "Leave", and sterling fell sharply on Tuesday when both an online and a telephone poll for ICM showed a 3 percentage point lead for the "Leave" campaign. Opinium said there would have been a majority for "Leave" if it had not re-weighted its latest poll to reduce the impact of a disproportionate number of socially conservative voters in its sample, something which it had not done previously. The Observer said that without the adjustments, support for "Leave" stood at 43 percent while 40 percent backed "Remain", and focused on the unadjusted figures in its reporting of the poll it had commissioned. "A fuller explanation of these changes and the effect they have will be posted on Monday," Opinium said on its website. The polling company also said that when it asked undecided voters which direction they leant, this time there was a 36 percent to 33 percent split in favour of "Remain", while two weeks ago it was 47/32. (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Diane Craft)
Macy's shoes clearance

The retail industry is struggling.

Last month, many companies, from Gap Inc. to Macy's to Nordstrom reported dismal earnings.

One reason is that they've trained consumers to shop on sale.

Macy's has blamed many reasons for its nosediving sales, from unseasonal weather to a drop in tourist traffic. Both may be true, but a walk around the store's flagship in Herald Square in New York City proved that the company may be trapped in a vicious cycle.

The store was a mess, which detracts from any level of luxury the company may have had. It's difficult for consumers to want to throw down lots of cash for a Gucci bag when the experience unsettling.

Macy's

But everything is on sale, which has conditioned people to shop to do exactly that. (It's a losing game  the store is in disarray and putting everything on sale because fewer people are shopping there, which only in turn makes a company lose even more customers.)

Perhaps most notable is its huge "Last Act" clearance section, which renders the store an off-price bargain bin.

Macy's

J. Crew is yet another store fighting to retain its prestige amongst consumers. It has also been struggling to figure out how to get consumers to pay a premium.

j crew may 27

j crew may 27

Quality complaints and fashion misfires have hurt J. Crew more than anything, though it has been working on both. Fortunately, the excess inventory that it's trying to clear is making room for something promising: the forthcoming line from former Madewell designer Somsack Sikhounmuong which will launch this fall. It was met with adulation from critics at New York Fashion Week in February.

But will shoppers pay full price since they've come to know J. Crew as a discount retailer?

Banana Republic knows this all too well.

Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck has explained just how hard it is to wean people off of promotions.

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Banana Republic May 23

"Same is really true on Banana, where we have backed off" on promotions, Peck said, adding: "And I will be the first to say that when you start tightening up in promotion, you are playing a game of chicken with your customers ... And so we've been playing that now for really the last quarter. And we've seen more effects on this quite honestly."

In other words: it's hard to get them to do something other than shop on sale.

"It starts to train the customer to expect 30% off or 40% off going forward, and the only way to untrain her is to have a big fashion hit that they happen to buy very little of, and train her to start [shopping] more like [the store was] a fast fashion retailer," Mizuho Securities Managing Director, Betty Chen, told Business Insider.

The problem, though, is simply the way these companies were built: they do not operate like fast fashion brands  like Zara  which has the supply chain (and an internal data center) that permits it to react to what customers like and dislike, permitting it to not have to resort to incessant discounting all of the time. Zara can adapt rapidly to fickle consumers, helping keeping it immune from the current bloodbath that is the retail industry.

"If I had to condense the foundations for Zara's success, I would say it comes down to agility and flexibility," Neil Saunders, CEO of retail consulting firm Conlumino, said in an e-mail to Business Insider in December.

This has been troubling for traditional retailers who haven't been able to adapt so easily. Worse, the onslaught of discounting has put Nordstrom in a tricky spot: it's been forced to resort to lots of discounting  in hopes of stimulating sales and also to rid itself of excess inventory  but even the sales are misfiring at Nordstrom, arguably because there are so many sales out there already.

"Where we're seeing a big miss is in our clearance and promo  promotional business. So what we take away from that is, number one, the clearance and promotional environment is really noisy," Nordstrom copresident Erik Nordstrom said on a recent earnings call. "There's a lot of excess product out in the marketplace. It's certainly easy to shop online. There's some heavy, heavy discounting going on. And we're seeing that effect in our business."

There was arguably a time when there was a reason to shop at a premiere, traditional retailer versus a fast fashion store. It may have cost more, but the experience and quality gave people a reason to shop there. With companies competing to bottom out the next with sales  and clearance prices rivaling those of dirt cheap fast fashion retailers, which can churn out on-trend clothing much more quickly than traditional retailers can  consumers need more reasons than ever to purchase clothes at a premium price.

NOW WATCH: The one reason Zara is dominating the fashion industry right now





More From Business Insider


ZURICH (Reuters) - Swatch Group has signed a contract with Chinese car maker Geely [GEELY.UL] allowing it to use an innovative battery developed by the watchmaker's research firm Belenos, its chief executive said in an interview on Sunday. "We're giving Geely the possibly to use our revolutionary battery system," Nick Hayek told NZZ am Sonntag. "This is a first breakthrough for our invention and shows the huge interest industrial firms take in it." Hayek has said that the performance of the new battery, co-developed with ETH Zurich, is at least 30 percent superior to ordinary batteries. A memorandum of understanding with Geely was signed mid-May, Hayek said in the interview without giving financial details. (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Alison Williams)
I thought my college years were behind me. But Im seriously reconsidering the dorm life since visiting Manhattan's first-ever location of communal living startup WeLive.

WeWork, the $16 billion company thats disrupted office life, is trying to do the the same for your apartment in two locations so far: downtown Manhattan and Crystal City, Virginia.

Of course, the concept of communal housing isnt novel. But WeLive aims to combine the best aspects of dorms, boutique hotels and apartments, and it charges up to $2,800 a month for this unique living situation. If youve ever stepped into a WeWork, theres an inviting, modern, minimalist aesthetic thats been infused into WeLive, too.

When I first heard about WeLive, the image in my mind was far from glamorous. I imagined tenants living on top of each other, fighting to use communal bathrooms and kitchens. But this isnt your typical dorm situation: You have your own apartment but get access to a chefs kitchen, yoga studio, conference room, laundry/arcade room, and neighbors who actually want to talk to you.

After seeing the space and all of these amenities, I must admit: Ive had a change of heart. Most importantly, each apartment unit has its own bathroom and kitchen  so you can be by yourself whenever you want. This is a huge thing for me because I enjoy my alone time and need a break from people (who doesn't?). And they dont check your credit or charge a brokers fee.

The layouts in WeLives 400 units range from small studios to four-bedrooms, and all apartments come fully furnished. Per-tenant pricing begins at $1,375 but if you want a bit more privacy, youll have to dole out at least $2,000 per month. The most common setup is the studio plus, which comes with two beds (one is a Murphy hidden in the wall); these range from $2,500 to $2,800. A flat monthly utilities payment of $125 covers electric, water, cable, wifi and cleaning costs (yes, housekeeping is included).

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When I visited WeLive, I spoke with 26-year-old entrepreneur Tiffany Tibbot who moved there in March and finds the community enriching and inspiring. Despite having lived alone for the past five years, she opted for a four-bedroom at WeLive in order to save money and meet new people. The community building reminds me of college, she said. Its like a safety net.

Despite the many communal offerings, she says theres no pressure to constantly mingle and network. I can still be independent and in my room, she said. But if I want to experience the community, then I can engage freely at any time.

Theres a laundry room with ping pong and pool tables, arcade games and beer on tap. Members do have to pay for laundry  $2 for a wash, $2 for a dry. And theres an unmanned honesty corner with toiletries for sale. Members use their WeLive app to pick up a bottle of shampoo or a tube of toothpaste if theyre running low and are feeling too lazy to run to Walgreens (WBA). Essentially, WeLive wants to be your one-stop shop for anything you need.

Our goal is to be on par with other things in this area but to offer a higher level of service, says Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork.

You can rent out apartments for a few days, a month-to-month basis or commit to a year-long lease. So despite the suggestion that youll be a part of a larger community, youll be rubbing elbows with a fair share of transient travelers.

The WeWork phenomenon

Founded in 2010, WeWork started with the mission to disrupt the office space by renting out desks and full offices in hotspots around the world. This office 2.0 provides not only a place for freelancers, entrepreneurs and small businesses to set up shop but also tries to create a community by organizing events like rooftop parties, entrepreneur talks and powerpoint karaokes. There are 101 WeWorks in 29 cities, with 30 locations in New York alone.

Unlike other fledgling startups, WeWork is actually profitable. Although it doesnt disclose financials, tech news site The Information obtained internal documents and found that WeWork had $75 million in revenue in 2014, with $4.2 million in profits.

The company raised its latest $430 million round of funding from Chinese investors and has been plotting aggressive expansion into Asia. WeWork plans to open three locations in Shanghai next month and will enter Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney later this year.

With only two locations so far, its hard to consider WeLive a needle-mover in the larger context of WeWorks business model. Regardless, McKelvey emphasizes that its not a side project and hopes the two will become more equal in the long run.

Were deeply invested in WeLive because we know theres something special that weve created. But from a business perspective, its hard to ignore the fact that WeWork is incredibly successful, he says. We have a machine that is incredibly efficient at developing those projects.

In fact, the first six floors of WeLives Manhattan location, 110 Wall Street, are actually WeWork space, while floors seven through 27 are all WeLive apartment units.

When asked where the next WeLive location will be developed, McKelvey suggests hes in no hurry because of the complicated nature of leasing an entire building (WeWork does not own any of its properties): Nothing is specifically pending but were literally looking in all parts of the world.

Operationally, its much easier to stay domestic, but hes looking at Israel and major European cities like London that are going through a housing crunch, he says. The opportunities are there but it takes just the right moment and the right building.

Of course, WeLive could just end up being filled up with WeWorkers who want to sleep where they work and vice versa. It's certainly not for everyone, but it could potentially be the best of both worlds  having the convenience of community but only when you want it.

Would you live in a dorm for adults? Tell me in the comments or tweet me @melodyhahm.

Read more from Melody:

The incredible commercial power of Snapchat summed up in one slide

Europe has a huge problem with America tech giants

My Instagram feed has been taken over by an algorithm, and yours will be next
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Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Taipei and Beijing, deadlocked over the "1992 consensus," are testing each other's bottom lines in regard to the political foundation of their bilateral relations, the National Security Bureau (NSB) has said, suggesting that Taipei keep communicating with its rival and try to build a bridge of mutual trust.
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Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Environmentalists blasted the first reactor of Taiwan's No. 1 nuclear power plant Sunday as a very dangerous facility, and said they will sue the premier for an offense against public safety after he revealed that he might allow the reactivation of the reactor.
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Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Three out of six people washed away during a river-tracing trip in New Taipei Sunday were pronounced dead after being taken to hospitals, while the other three remained missing as of press time, according to the New Taipei City Fire Department.
The Liberal government has quietly reversed a controversial policy that saw opposition MPs barred from most military bases, continuing a trend of opening up the Canadian Armed Forces to increased public and parliamentary scrutiny.The base-visit policy came to light in September 2014, after several opposition MPs complained that their requests to tour military facilities outside their ridings had been rejected. Among those affected was the Liberal defence critic at the time, Joyce Murray, who had asked to visit nine bases.Then-defence minister Rob Nicholson blamed the ban on the military, saying the Conservative government was following a directive drawn up by senior commanders. The Conservatives said the policy applied to MPs from all parties, and was designed to ensure military resources were used effectively.But the opposition accused the Tories of playing political games, noting Conservative MPs were allowed to attend photo ops on bases outside their ridings. They said the ban was an obstacle to performing their roles as parliamentarians, which included understanding the military and its challenges.The Liberal government has opened up more than bases in recent weeks. Restrictions on interviewing and photographing military personnel have been relaxed to the point where select journalists were given unprecedented access to Canadian special forces troops in Iraq last month.This represented a sharp departure from recent practice. Under the Conservatives, access to military personnel was severely curtailed on security grounds. This included all military members, not only those involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said the move to make the military more accessible to the public and parliamentarians represents a marked change in tone. He said MPs are expected to understand the military given their role in holding the government to account.
is former patientA B.C. woman has been arrested for carrying out an arson attack on the Montreal surgical clinic that is the only place in Canada providing the most complex forms of gender reassignment surgery.Jayne Ellen Heideck, 42, was detained Monday by RCMP officers in Kelowna, B.C., and is being returned to Montreal.She will face charges stemming from a fire in early May at the Centre metropolitain de chirurgie in Montreal.The blaze started when an assailant burst through a backdoor opened by a staff member and ran up into a surgical suite with an incendiary device. Sprinklers dowsed the flames before firefighters arrived, but the blaze still caused $700,000 in damage.Police were considered the possibility the attack was a hate crime, because of the clinics specialty in gender reassignment surgery (or gender affirming surgery, as is the preferred term) as well as other plastic and bariatric procedures. While a trans person might be able to get cosmetic or upper body surgeries elsewhere in Canada, the private Montreal clinic is the only one in the country that performs the most complicated genital surgeries.mo
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Sign you up.

Thats one of the things of which youre most proud: you freely give of your time. Rotary, Jaycees, Lions, your local hospital, if they need help, your name is on the list.

Sign you up and they benefit but, if youre honest with yourself, so do you. In the new book Tribe by Sebastian Junger, youll see why it comes naturally.

In examining American history, one startling fact is that a good number of early settlers voluntarily went to live with American Indians. They eschewed the familiar European community theyd always known, and chose a different, sometimes harder, way of life that offered the personal values theyd come to want. Even former captives, once rescued from warring tribes, often escaped back to their captors.

Within that difficult (but arguably simpler) life those settlers sought were three basic things humans require for contentment: feelings of competency, connection, and authenticity. The settlers got what they needed from Indian society but, says Junger, modern humans arent always so lucky.

From birth, we are isolated from others. Hunter-gatherer mothers, conversely, carry their infants nearly constantly, and would be horrified at the idea of separate bedrooms. Their children grow up with a different sense of community than do North American children, but a craving for closeness is universal and timeless; Junger says he felt it when he spent time overseas with military troops. Personnel slept tightly packed in canvas tents, and he felt safer because of it.

We are, he says, hard-wired to live communally, just as were hard-wired to shun those who exhibit needlessly-selfish behavior.

Ancient societies had to share to survive, and personal items were few; today, we rush to help those who endure disaster  indeed, we may act heroically  and we scorn wealthy CEOs who we think are greedy.

And what we need to do to preserve our humanity, Junger says, is to embrace a mind-set of community, understand the need for sacrifice, and find a sense of solidarity.

It may ... be the only thing that allows us to survive

At well under 200 pages in length, Tribe seems like it would be a quick, light read.

Its not. No, youll be hanging onto every word of this book.

From post-collegiate hitchhiking and sharing resources, to ancient civilizations, the One Percent, PTSD, and a surprising discovery from wartime survivors, author Sebastian Junger offers readers a look at humanity thats graceful, and laced with a plea.

That plea is quiet, but it comes through in every anecdote, personal story, and historical fact set forth here: to wit, we must return to the Old Ways of belonging. Thats the message Junger gently pokes us with, but he does it with a sense of urgency thats compelling. You truly wont be able to forget it.

Without a doubt, therefore, this is a make-you-think kind of book. Its filled with interesting ideas and points, but its ocean-deep in meaning and introspection. You cant ignore what youll learn inside Tribe, and if that sounds good, then sign you up.
DES MOINES  Two out of five Iowa law enforcement agencies did not file any hate crime reports to the FBI over a six-year span, the seventh-highest rate in the nation, according to an Associated Press review of federal records.

The list of Iowa law enforcement agencies that did not file any hate crime reports from 2009 to 2014 is comprised almost exclusively of small towns, including several in North Iowa.

One state law enforcement official said that may be because hate crimes are rare in small Iowa communities.

But victim advocates and advocacy groups do not think that is the case.

Thats not true, said Nate Monson, executive director of Safe Iowa Schools, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gay, lesbian and transgender youth.

I have received calls from students who have been accosted walking home from school because theyre gay. And its not a bullying incident. Its not from a peer. Its from an adult in the community.

And theyve reported to law enforcement, and nothing has been done, and thats frustrating.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offenders bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.

Filing reports for the federal count is voluntary but encouraged, and guidelines call for reports to be submitted even if they list zero hate crimes, a signal to both the FBI and the community that local departments are taking such crimes seriously.

FBI Director James Comey has called on all agencies to do a more aggressive job tracking hate crimes, and he also has initiated training sessions on bias attacks for hundreds of law enforcement officers nationwide.

The AP identified almost 2,800 city police and county sheriffs departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBIs annual crime tally from 2009 to 2014. Thats about 17 percent of all city and county law enforcement agencies nationwide.

In Iowa, 164 agencies did not submit a hate crime report during that six-year span, about 41 percent of all of the states law enforcement agencies.

Thats the seventh-highest rate in the nation, which includes Mississippi at 65 percent, Louisiana at 59 percent and Indiana at 53 percent.

The Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau reached out to a handful of those law enforcement agencies; none returned messages.

Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdt, who responded to a request for comment to the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association, said he thinks hate crimes are rare in Iowa because of its demographics  fewer than 1 in 10 Iowans are minorities, according to census figures  and because Iowa is a very friendly state.

When you talk about rural Iowa, or I guess our beliefs and social makeup, I like to think were good people, Sandholdt said. I dont think theres a lot of issues.  I can speak for my county, that we dont have a lot of issues with hate crimes or anything that goes along with that.

I dont see it throughout Iowa when I talk to other sheriffs or police chiefs, whether it be a big metro or rural areas. I dont see a big problem with hate crimes. I think were very open, and I think were a very friendly state.  I just dont see its a huge issue.

Jennifer Eaton-Bertagnolli has a different explanation.

In 1988, her father Ken Eaton, an openly gay man who taught in a Des Moines school for 20 years, was stabbed to death by two teenagers who he had invited into his Des Moines home while Jennifer slept in the next room.

Eaton-Bertagnolli, who operates a foundation in her fathers name to raise awareness of violent crimes, said she thinks it is unfortunate that law enforcement agencies are not filing hate crime reports and she does not think it's because hate crimes aren't happening in rural Iowa.

I believe its happening. I think theyre just swept under the rug to be quiet, Eaton-Bertagnolli said, adding she thinks small-town law enforcement officials may be hesitant to classify incidents as a hate crime.

I just think statistics are statistics. Its just a number. But I think that the truth should be reported, she said.

The AP examined FBI hate crime reports for the years 2009 through 2014 and matched those against lists of every city and county law enforcement agency in each state, obtained separately from all 50 states.

An analysis revealed that law enforcement reporting is spotty even beyond the nearly 2,800 agencies that did not file even a single hate crime report.

For example, thousands of city police and county sheriffs departments, which handle the vast majority of local law enforcement responses and investigations, reported in some years but not others. And in some cases, departments reported for, say, only one quarter of a year without submitting reports covering the rest of that span.

Some agencies said they thought they were reporting, even though they were not, and some thought they didnt have to file reports because they hadnt investigated any hate crimes.

Others that oversee jails might have assumed they were exempt because they dont patrol the streets, but the FBI encourages reporting by all law enforcement agencies whose officers are empowered to make arrests.

Monson said he thinks law enforcement agencies should report hate crime data even when hate crimes are not occurring, so as to inform state and federal governments.

Monson, who is openly gay, said he was the victim of a hate crime while he was a student at Clarke University (then Clarke College) in Dubuque. Monson said someone mailed to him what he called a very creepy and threatening package that included a note that read, Repent now, God hates gays.

Monson said he was disappointed in law enforcements approach to the incident.

The officer gave me a card and said to call them if anyone follows me, Monson said.

Monson said he thinks law enforcement officials need better training to recognize hate crimes and how to investigate them.

A better accounting of hate crimes, the FBI and other proponents say, would not only increase awareness but also boost efforts to combat such crimes with more resources for law enforcement training and community outreach.

The issues in rural agencies may be preparing officers for the right questions to ask, Monson said. What I found, being a victim, is it takes a lot more training and a lot more commitment from law enforcement (to address hate crimes). 

We need to be working more with our law enforcement agencies. I think thats what this report tells us, that we need to do a better job of that.
MASON CITY  Mason City High School seniors celebrated the end of their high school careers on Sunday as they walked joyfully across the state for commencement.

The class of 2016 had 240 graduates, including students from the alternative high school. Ten MCHS students were entered into the school's Academic Hall of Fame earlier that afternoon for maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade-point average all four years.

Three seniors spoke at the ceremony: Student Council President Olivia Pederson, Quinn Slaven and Derek Tate.

[Editor's note: This story originally stated there were 209 students graduating from the high school. That number has been corrected to 240, including students from both MCHS and the alternative high school. The Globe regrets the error.]